Lacy And Lovely Thanks

I love the greetings in this set, Lacy and Lovely.  Last summer I realized I needed more greetings, LOTS more.  Most of my greeting sets were retired with the 2012-2013 catalog.  So I've slowly been stocking up on my greeting, hoping they wouldn't see the same fate this spring when the retired list comes out :)  This was one of the sets on my list, just because of the greetings.  This card would work with any of the greetings in this set. 

I ruffled a doily and stuck it behind the big circle.  I love the doilies, especially when they're ruffled and crumpled up, instead of just flat.  I love the texture and dimension they make!  The scallop along the top and bottom of the greeting was Megan's idea. She pulled that punch out and really wanted me to use it!  I love it! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

gee, thanks

How much do I love the new Occasions Catalog?  Well let's just say back in November when I was figuring out what to get on my budget, it was hardest preorder in a long time.  I got more than my budget allowed and my wishlist is still a mile long!!!  This catalog is one of the best!!  The best news, tomorrow it goes live.  You can begin ordering tomorrow!!!  Yay!!!!  Don't forget to check out all the bundles in it!  Like the Just Sayin' bundle I used on this card.  You get the Just Sayin' stamp set and the Word Bubble framelits.  I love this set!  And the word bubbles--LOVE!!!!

And how much do you love this color combo, Real Red and Coastal Cabana!  Yummy!  The Fresh Prints DSP stack in the catalog must go on your wish list, the patterns and colors are...well so fresh and fun!!!  Can't wait to dig into this DSP more!!!  I finished the card with a doily and the Decorative Dots Embossing folder (I did warn you!).  I love this card! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Vivid Vases

Happy 2014!!!  Another sneak peek coming your way!  This set was first to go on my wish list when I first went through the Occasions Catalog.  It's a single stamp but I love it!  This is the perfect set to watercolor with.  I only colored the flowers.  For the vases I used some of the new Watercolor Wonder DSP-LOVE-I stamped it on the DSP then cut out each vase and glued it to the white cardstock.  The flowers are all watercolored just using a blender pen in and ink pads. 

You might notice that yesterdays card, today's card and tomorrows card all use the notecards for bases.  I had a stack of them sitting on my desk and I thought-why not use these up!  They're a great size for quick cards.  They're already cut and scored-half my work is done!  Plus they come with envelopes!  They're a total win/win/win!  I also pulled out the Sale A Bration embossing folder.  Just a quick disclaimer: YOU WILL SEE THIS EMBOSSING FOLDER ALOT!  I wasn't sure any folder could ever take the place of my dots, but this one does!!  The dots are bigger, they're not perfectly lined up and I just love the look of it!  I hope you love it too, I'll be using it alot! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Goodbye 2013!

New Years Eve is upon us.  How this year went by so fast I'll never know!  We're all another year older, not sure we're any wiser, but older for sure.  The kids have grown and had milestones of their own.  So now we look forward to 2014, the year where Megan will finally be potty trained (guess how we've been spending our Christmas break!), the year that Logan will learn to play the guitar (Santa brought it, we'll see how interested he really is!), the year that maybe I'll finally get that silhouette (hello jury duty pay!).  Before we say hello to 2014 let's say goodbye to 2013.

Thank you, for stopping by everyday.  Thank you for all the kind words you share.  Thank you for attending classes.  Thank you for supporting my business, a business that wouldn't exist without your support!  Thank you for allowing me to share a little about me and my family and alot about my projects no matter how big, small, elaborate or detailed.  Thank you for a great 2013! 

Thanks for looking, see you next year!!!!

We're Back On Track

So after what seems like the longest December in the history of time (perhaps I'm exaggerating slightly) I think I can confidently say I'm back to blogging on schedule!  Last week when I finally had the chance to sit down and use my new stuff, that's been sitting there staring at me for almost a month, I had nothing!  No creativity! No desire! Nothing!  I wanted to use my new stamps, paper and accessories, but just couldn't find the will.  Stampers block is a very real issue!  I hadn't sat down to stamp in almost a month!  A month!!!  After doing it almost daily for so long and then taking such a long break, a break I blame solely on jury duty, it was hard to get back into the stamping groove.  But I somehow managed it.  Perhaps it was my brain that said, "If you're not going to stamp, there's a sink full of dishes"  that made me work through it.  Whatever it was, I finally stamped this card.  Then the next day whipped out 3 cards in an hour.  So I think whatever was in my way is gone.  Jury duty is done!  Christmas is done! 

 

I'm not sure when banners became so popular, but I've been putting them on everything for a while.  And somehow my banners keep getting bigger.  Then SU put some banner framelits in the Occasions catalog.  I DID NOT use the banner framelits on this card, I won't have them until later today when UPS delivers them :)  So these banners I just cut by hand.  I used the new DSP from the Sale a Bration catalog.  I LOVE this DSP!!!!  The stamp set is new too and from the Occasions Catalog which we can order from in just a few days!!!  I'll have lots more sneak peeks this week, check back!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Carving Up Tags

I've been a bad blogger lately.  I missed Friday's post and almost today.  Jury duty not only sucked the Christmas spirit out of me but also the creativity out of me.  Then there was the shopping, the wrapping, the baking, the hour lost standing in line at the post office and oh yeah and those 2 kids I have running around here somewhere :)  There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day.  But here we are, mere hours from Christmas and my kids know it!  But since we are at the doors of Christmas of course there will be baking, of course there will be baked goodies packaged and handed out for gifts, so of course you need custom tags!  This mixer stamp was carved using Stampin' Up! carving stamp set Undefined.  I'm not an expert carver.  This is my 3rd stamp that I've carved....I think....I got the idea, inspiration and tips from Allison at Nice People Stamp.  She really is an expert carver.  I can't believe the amazing stamps she's done.  If you have time head to her website and check it out.  

 

Really the whole tag was cased, I told you I'm lacking creativity!  The boxes I bought (at the dollar store) for my gifts were Pool Party and Real Red, one of my favorite color combos!!  (Really that's why I bought them!)  So my tags were easy, Pool party and Real Red.  I did add some Gold Bakers Twine---coming up in the new Occasions Catalog in January--to add a little sparkle to it. 

Here's my stamp.  I think it came out pretty well.  Even my husband knew it was a mixer so I guess that means it's a win!!!  I still have a ton of baking to do today and tomorrow.  Not to mention the gifts that still need wrapped :)  So I won't be making any promises for the rest of the year for posts :)  But check back, I may surprise you---and myself!  If I don't get to posting in the next 48 hours, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Our Christmas Card

I thought I'd show you today what our Christmas card this year looks like.  I think by now our family and friends should have all received theirs.  I try not to post them until they're mailed.  This year we did a trifold card.  So you'll have to imagine each picture folded into thirds.  For this the front, the first fold is right after the large picture of Logan and Megan, then again between the banner and the picture of Logan.  It's so fun when it's folded!  By the way I love these colors-Pool Party and Real Red! 

 

The back of the card show some pictures throughout the year.  You can see where the folds would be here.  It's broken up pretty well. I always leave a blank spot on my card to write a personal message to each person or family.  I think this is our favorite Christmas card so far!!  The front of the card captures Megan's mischievous yet angelic personality perfectly. 

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

My Penguin Pals

This post is short and sweet!  I've been on jury duty and I was called in for not one but two trials.  It ended yesterday, but my name is still in that 'pool' and I could be called back in at any time until December 31....let's hope not though.  I'm exhausted and haven't had time to get anything done, from stamping to Christmas prep nothing has been done.  Jury duty can suck the Christmas cheer right out of you.  But I'm hoping with the holiday's there's a good chance I won't get called back :)  Finger's crossed!  But for today, I have some sweet little penguin cards to share.

 

They're pretty big, I used the oval framelits and the two largest circle punches for these 'little' guys!  They'll be attached to some chocolate penguins that I bought for the kids teachers for Christmas.  Their little belly's open so we can write a quick message (typing that I know it sounds weird that their 'belly's open' but you know what I mean).  You have to understand that my brain is fried from lawyer jibber jabber and sitting in cold court rooms.  So I'm going to go nap, and then try to regain some of that Christmas cheer that's escaped me somehow..... 

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Quick and Simple

Here are the two cards my customers got to make at my class.  Remember they're not fancy, they're meant to be quick and simple.  But both cards are so much fun and I love them both!!!  The first is a fun winter card.  Perhaps you have snow on the ground where you live!  Here's the perfect card!  The snowman is just 3 punches, 2 circles and a square!  You can add a 4th is you want to decorate his hat like we did but certainly not required!  The big shot makes cutting the letters go quickly so you can mass produce this card in no time!  By the way check out that embossing folder....don't you LOVE IT!!!  It's one of the new Sale a Bration products.  I think I've found my new favorite folder!!!  This card was inspired by this card.  After a long week of jury duty I needed all the help I could get for this class! 

 

The second card is a fun, everyday card.  We all need these!  This card was also inspired from another card, I couldn't find it on my Pintrest board.  I'm begining to wonder if I pinned it at all????  It uses a stamp set that I'm currently in a love/hate relationship with.  It's Regarding Dahlias, I love the samples that I see with it, but I'm just not a huge fan of the flower....though I do LOVE it on this card.  See where my love/hate relationship comes into play :)  I love the little doily peeking out the bottom of the tag!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Light Up The Tree

I had a class over the weekend.  We didn't make a ton of project---just 2 cards.  They weren't complicated or hard, just fun.  It was my end of the year customer appreciation class.  This class is free, I don't charge a fee or require any orders.  It's just a fun morning to stamp and get away from the crazy stores and busy life's at least for a little while.  As always I make small gifts to thank my customers for coming.  This time I used our sweet muslin bags and filled them with packets of hot cocoa and a candy cane.  The muslin bags are so much fun, they're so easy to stamp on and decorate!!!

These bags were inspired by this post by Martha.  So sweet and simple!!!  I used the letter stencils from the banner kit, I just used Garden Green and my stampin' sponge and sponged the color on.  I created a bag with every one's initials.  Then used some candy dots to add some ornaments (or lights) to the tree.  Draw a quick tree trunk and top it with a sparkly star and what a sweet little gift!  

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Tag It

Heather Summers, who is all together one of my favorite stampers ever, had the most brilliant idea on her blog on Monday.  She used MDS to create many Christmas items, card front's, invitations, etc.  But the idea I loved is the tags!  So I took a photo box, it's about 2x3 and filled it with pictures of Logan and Megan from the year.  I'll attach the proper tag to the gift so on Christmas morning they can find the presents with their pictures on it!  Such a cute idea and perfect for little one who can't read yet but want to help hand out gifts.   

I'll send these off to staples to have them printed quickly, then it will just be a quick run through the paper cutter and add some ribbon and they're done.  So simple and quick!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!! 

What's In The Box...Round 2!

Maybe I should create a game show, "What's In The Box!!!"  Last week I shared this box with you and left you for the weekend wondering what WAS in that box.  This time I won't make you wait!  These little gifts I made for Amber's girls for our party last week.  They're so sweet and often help out at classes and meetings.  So I thought they deserved gifts too.  The boxes are 2x2, they tiny cute little boxes :)  I pulled out my Season of Style Journaling tags again.

Quick, cute belly band and the boxes are done.  So what's in them???  I know you're dying to know!

I made the girls they're own little snowman ornament out of the clay (I warned you I was obsessed!!!).  These were really simple!!  Really just balls of clay.  I made them one night and left them to dry.  I added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter around their hats, everyone needs a little sparkle!  I'm not done with the clay, not by a long shot.  There's plenty of ideas rolling around my head!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!!

Busy Busy!

Has the holiday rush caught up with you too???  I feel like I'm moving non stop.  Do this, do that.  Why is it that we rush and rush during the holiday season?  Is it because it sneaks up on us?  I saw a card similar to this one on Pintrest....can't find it now though.  I thought it was perfect for the Holidays!  I used the Season of Style Journaling Tags.  There's no stamping on this card, none!  It's such a simple, fun, festive card! 

Sorry about the lighting on the pictures.  I really hate hate hate taking pictures at night.  I really try to use natural light.  But I haven't been home during the day in a week.  That's thanks to my jury duty punishment...I mean privilege and obligation as a US citizen.  I've been on a trial for the past week and really, everyone hates jury duty, it's always an inconvenience, but despite me not being home (at all!) it hasn't been that bad.  At least it's interesting and I'm learning soooo much.  And the other 13 people I'm with are in good spirits and are really nice people so it makes it less excruciating and hey I'm getting paid a whopping $6.25/hour.  Whoohooo! I should be back to taking pictures during the day soon, until then there will be some less than ideal photo opts :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!