What sort of place has NO Wi-Fi??? Man!!

So, as the last Tuesday of July got closer, I kept compiling a list of things I could do to keep myself occupied for the whole day, so the day would go faster. (Yeah, I know, I'm usually wishing that time would stand still, but not on days like yesterday.) My husband needed to have yet another "tweak" to help alleviate his obstructive sleep apnea, and yesterday was "Tweak Day."

We've done this, oh, I don't know, three, maybe four times already, so I know the routine all too well. We walk into the Day Surgery area of the hospital in the wee hours of the morning, with plans to leave somewhere in the middle of the afternoon. Afterall, this is just "day surgery," right? Uh-huh. In the past, "day" has always turned into something more extensive so I now just clear my schedule for the week and create that list I talked about earlier.

Before I go on any further, I'm happy to report that procedures went more according to plan than during previous visits and we actually made it home before Tuesday turned into Wednesday. The patient seemed to have a good night and is becoming demanding, so we're pretty sure he'll live. He has a shoebox full of pain meds and a "prescription" for LeDuc's frozen custard shakes for the next week, since solid food and throat surgery aren't really a good combo, so he'll be fine.

But now, on to MY problem!! :-) One of the things that I thought I could do during all that time I had to just sit on my butt was update my blog. I loaded the pictures I wanted to share before we left for the hospital and thought I could pass some time clicking away on the keys of my laptop, and that would've worked great IF there had been even one spot on the whole hospital campus where I could've picked up an internet connection!! What reasonably-populated place on earth doesn't have wi-fi in this day and age?? I couldn't believe it! Yes, I had swaps that needed finishing and a book to read, but a little internet diversion would've added some nice variety to the ol' stand-bys. Oh well. . .

What I had to show you were the two projects that everyone did at my New Catalog Open House last Friday. The first one uses the new Ronald McDonald House benefit set called "Very Thankful." This little turtle is my favorite of the 4 stamps in the set:

The card pairs the new stamp set with new Designer Paper from the "Tall Tales" pack and the new jumbo wheel called, "Texture." The So Saffron card base is wheeled with "Texture" in So Saffron ink, and the turtle and his wagon are colored with Watercolor Crayons and a Blender Pen (and now that I look at the picture, it looks as though I need to go back and give him a little color boost!) Seems like I've been pulling out all the wider ribbon these days, but the 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon (in Chocolate Chip) seemed to more appropriately fit the scale of the image.

The second of the Open House projects uses the new "Circle Circus" and "Teeny Tiny Wishes" stamp sets, yummy new In-Color paper and ribbon, and the "I'm gonna be using it constantly" Modern Label punch.
The card base is Melon Mambo, and the images were stamped in Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry. It's not visible in the picture, but glitter was added to the stamped images, in the center of the Melon images, on some of the smaller Bermuda Bay circles, and on the larger Crushed Curry dots. It added just the right amount of sparkle to this cheery card. The sentiment was stamped in Bermuda Bay ink, punched out with the Word Window punch, layered onto a Melon Mambo Modern Label punch-out, and adhered to the Bermuda Bay polka dot ribbon with Mini Glue Dots.

Time to go check on the patient again, and do all the stuff around here that "didn't just take care of itself" while I was gone yesterday. (Why IS that???) Talk to you later!

I just have to share this. . .

When I first started this blog, my intention was to reach customers who I might only see once or twice a year. Life is so busy and schedules sometimes just don't coincide, so I wanted a way to share little tips or ideas that could referenced anytime. I really didn't think about the possibility that people that I don't know would read it--but I've found that they do!! A truly unexpected-but-wonderful "side effect" of all my chattering here is that I hear from people that I've never met in person, and they sometimes share projects inspired by something I posted.

Lorree Bosworth sent me pictures of a fantastic pop-up card she made using the accordian-fold and window plastic strips method that I posted a couple of weeks ago after I showed my stamp clubs that technique. Just wait until you see it! Here's the front. . .


Now get ready, because it's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen . . .

She covered the accordian-fold with scallop circle punch bushes, created a woodland backdrop with stamped images from the "Season of Friendship" set, and colored the bear and raccoon (from the "Under the Stars" set) using watercolor pencils, an odorless mineral spirts product called Sansodor and paper blending stumps. (Of course, being the great enablers that all of us stampers are, I had to head right out and pick up those last two items so I could give it a try too! I'm going to need to play with it a little more before I get as good as Lorree.)

A big thanks to Lorree for letting me share her work here. I absolutely love it, don't you?

One other little thing to share today. . .

Seems that even if I'm not actually stamping, I'm still using stuff from my craft room for the other things I have to do around here. Was hanging a mirror last week, and I needed to mark EXACTLY where my screw had to start. What's better at poking a precise hole that a paper piercing tool? Now that they're available individually in the Stampin' Up! catalog (p. 191--yippee!) I have several of them, so I've designated the oldest one for such non-crafting purposes.

Another odd job on the list last week was finding a better way to hang the bell that the puppy uses to tell us she wants to go out. I wanted something that would sort of blend in with the woodwork. The new Dusty Durango 1/2" Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon to the rescue!!!

It's kind of neat that these fun In Color ribbons only have the dots printed on one side--it's like two ribbons in one. I cut a few inches, folded the dots to the inside, and made quick work of the job! I LOVE stamping!

Hope you have a great day!

Lazy Days of Summer???

Ah, yes, it's been another crazy week or two around here. When does the "vacation" portion of the summer start??? But I can't really complain, because some of the hectic pace around here involved some stamping events, and that's always the fun kind of busy!

Last Friday night was the "Last Chance for Summer Fun" party (AKA the retirement party). We all laughed and stamped and ate, and laughed some more! The running joke was that we all needed some sort of intervention for this "addiction" of ours, but agreed that that wouldn't be happening anytime soon!

The annual retirement party is one of the two "mystery hostess" events that I hold during the year where the hostess benefits get raffled off at the end of the evening. We had a first in the history of the mystery parties I've given: EVERY SINGLE PERSON who attended the party won either a hostess stamp set or $30 in free product! How cool is that??? After the party, I asked Melissa, the "official ticket picker," if she had somehow worked it so that everyone won something, but she swears up and down on a stack of new catalogs that it's just the way it worked out! Very cool!

Anyway, so I mentioned that we did get around to stamping during this event. Would you like to see what we did? Read on!

The first project used the now-retired "Wonderful You" stamp set and coordinating "Stems & Silhouettes" jumbo wheel, and Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Very Vanilla cardstock. The flower image was stamped on a scrap of vanilla cardstock with Basic Brown ink and colored in with a few strokes of a Regal Rose watercolor crayon and an Aquapainter. After cutting the flower out and adding it to the card with a Mini Glue Dot, another Mini Glue Dot was added to the center of the flower and covered with Micro Beads, just to give it a little shine and texture. Although this stamp set and wheel are now retired, you could easily substitute another set and create this same basic card. That's the great thing about stamping--it's so flexible!

This next project uses a background technique that was new to everyone. Called "Chalked Grid," it involves using daubers to add chalk circles (about the size of half dollars) to white cardstock. Then the white eraser that comes with the "Pastels" (chalk) set is used, along with a ruler, to remove lines of the chalk. To make the sample shown below I moved the the ruler about a half inch each time, but the grid squares could be larger or smaller, perhaps depending on the scale of your card.

The focal point of the card used the now-retired "Say It With Scallops" Ronald McDonald House Benefit stamp set. ($2 from each set sold throughout the year went to the RMH. The new set for this year is "Very Thankful," a nice selection of 4 thank-you stamps. Mine is coming on Monday! Yippee!!) The center image was stamped with Bashful Blue ink, layered onto a "Scallop Square" punchout, and dressed up a bit with a "Three for You" punched flower and a brad. An easy but cute card to send anytime!

Another stamping event that I held last week was an "Inter-Generational Tea" that a local church sponsored after one of the services last Sunday. About 35 people came for a little refreshment and stamping time. About a third of the stampers were children, and probably an equal number were grandmas! It was a delightful time as experienced stampers and those who had never touched a rubber stamp before came together for fellowship and a little crafting.

We did three different cards. Because of the diversity of the group, the projects were purposely kept simple. This first card is going to look remarkably familiar! I substituted Designer Paper for the chalked technique, and even eliminated the Scallop Square punchout, to make this project quick and simple for everyone.





Because almost everyone loves to color, I always try to include a project that provides that opportunity. This card uses the "A Flower for All Seasons" stamp set for its focal point. The stampers were able to choose which of the four stamps they would use on their card, and after stamping the image with Staz On ink, they used a blender pen and the chalks to add their color. (This card has a Whisper White card base, which I realize now is a little hard to see in the scan, but I have a puppy begging for a little outside time, so I'll just leave it for now--the scan, not the puppy! Puppy, you ask? When did we get a puppy? I'll have to explain that later. TOLD you it's been busy around here!)

(One more thing about this card--I had some experienced stampers in the crowd too, and was happy that even though we were doing simple stuff, I was able to show them a trick or two! They liked "my" foolproof way of adding ribbon to the card--add some double-stick adhesive to the back of the stamped piece. Wrap a 4" piece of ribbon around the front and catch it on the adhesive on the back. Tie another 4" piece of ribbon onto the first piece and trim the ends. Voila! Perfect "bow.")



For this third project (quickly because I really do need to take Sydney for a "w."), I broke out some of the luscious Melon Mambo cardstock and ribbon that is part of the new collection of In Colors for 2009-2010. Because we had so many stampers, I had them use one of two different butterfly stamps from the "Garden Whimsey" stamp set. They were able to choose from the boxes of greeting stamps I brought so that they could make a card for an occasion they had coming up. We added 2-Way Glue and Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the white butterfly spots for a sparkly extra.

So, gotta scoot for today, but I want to remind you about the upcoming New Catalog Open House I'm holding on Friday, July 24th, from 11 AM to 7 PM. I'll have lots of things from our new catalog out on display, door prizes, and as always, a couple projects for you to stamp with some of the new stuff. Free shipping and tax on any orders placed that day (either in-person or via email.) Let me know if you are coming and it'll earn you an extra door prize slip!

Have a great Fourth of July holiday!

I Just HAD To Do It!

I must admit, a project I completed recently makes me feel a little sassy! The minute I saw the stamp set called "Totally Tool" I knew I just had to have it to make this little project that I used for a recent swap. The stamp set is a cute collection of tools with clever little phrases that relate to the specific tool: "You hit the nail on the head!" (hammer, of course); "Love beyond measure" (tape measure); "Thanks for helping me out of a tight spot" (wrench); "You came, you sawed, you fixed. Thanks for all you do." (hand saw) BUT when I saw the screwdriver, I just knew I had to "correct" what it said!


Because the original phrase leaned toward the masculine side, I just had to "pink" up this project with the much-needed S! Of course, as much as I do like to have the appropriate tools for home-fix-it jobs, I don't really think of such "mundane" tools when I look at this project! Stamping tools are so much more fun!

Speaking of those, I was able to put several of them to good use with this project! The oval scallop frame was made with the Big Shot Die of the same name, and I added the "eyelet" holes with my Crop-a-dile. Even though the frame is chipboard covered with Bella Rose Designer paper, both the Big Shot and the Crop-a-dile cut through the layers with ease! I used watercolor paper to emboss the image onto because I liked the weight and texture the paper added to the project. Used the Aquapainter and color picked up from the covers of ink pads (Riding Hood Red, Pirouette Pink, Basic Gray) to color in the image, making sure that I made the non-handle part of the screwdriver (what DO you call that part?) pink instead of silver or gray! Told you I was feeling sassy! Pirouette Pink Taffeta ribbon completed my "pink blitz."

When I sent my swaps off, I also included a 2-layer base of Riding Hood Red and Pirouette Pink cardstock, just in case the little "plaque" idea didn't appeal to my swap buddies and they wanted to snip the ribbon hanger and turn it into a card front. (The oval scallop is just the right size for the front of a card.) The swap groups I belong to have certain rules and 2-layers is one of the biggies! But I'm hoping that they'll like my tongue-in-cheek project and not object too much to my "bending" the rules.

Gotta scoot! Lots to do today! I'm getting ready for the Sale-A-Bration Mystery Hostess Party on Sunday (1:30-3:30 PM). If you haven't RSVP'd yet, check that calendar--actually CLEAR that calendar--and plan to join us! It's always a great time!

Yippee!! Today's the Day!!!

The Stampin' Up! Spring/Summer '09 Catalog "goes live" today at noon Mountain Time!! That means that at 1 PM my time I can take my new spreadsheet and translate it into NEW TOYS!!! I've made myself a to-do list to help me stay focused this morning--not that unusual of a thing for me--but I really need something to keep me on task today! I know, I know, even with expedited shipping (something I treat myself to only 2 or 3 times a year), the new stuff won't be here until Thursday, but I'm still excited about putting in the order for new stuff!! You'd think that after this many years, this many new catalogs, I'd be able to contain myself. NOPE!

Another good thing about the catalog starting today is that I can show you swaps that I made using new sets and accessories! This first card uses a new hostess set called "Goody-Goody Gumdrops." Although there is a gumdrop stamp and a greeting that says, "goody-goody gumdrops!," the name doesn't really do a lot to describe this 19 piece set (9 images and 10 greetings). No, I don't really have a better name, but for a set that can be used for just about every occasion except maybe Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter, it could use a different name.

Anyway, I made this little 3" X 6" window card using the flower and the greeting "thoughts of you. . . are happy thoughts." Those of you who know me can see that I've moved into my "winter doldrums" selection of colors already. Only colors and layouts that are warm and cheery will be finding a space on my desk for the next couple months!

I embossed the flower with black powder onto vellum cardstock, used my stylus and paper-piercing pad to dry-emboss the petals and leaves of the flower, giving the flower more texture, and then used markers to color both the front and back of the vellum so the flower looked the same from both sides of the window. The vellum piece then gets sandwiched between the white card base and the piece of Bashful Blue cardstock on the front. The trick to making the window line up the way you want it to is to lightly adhere the blue piece onto the front of the card in the position you want and then use the wide oval punch to punch through both layers at once. Pull away the blue a bit, slide the vellum in, add some more adhesive and you've got it!

Added a Barely Banana cardstock square that I stamped with the "Polka Dots" background stamp (currently on the dormant list, but still available!), some of the 1" Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, and one of those darling little clips with a bit of white taffeta ribbon to finish off the front. I stamped the greeting in Basic Gray ink because black was just a bit stark for this Soft Subtles card. I actually cut the 2-line greeting apart and mounted one line on each side of a wood block so that stamping was quicker. Of course, you can color one line with a marker, stamp, clean, and then color the second line and stamp, but when I'm making swaps I like to streamline the process if possible.

This next card is a swap I made using the set called "Sweet Stems." I like this set because it has lots of different stamping possibilities including watercoloring, and isn't too expensive, but I was really drawn to it because it has a Big Shot "Embosslit" that coordinates with it. An Embosslit is a small folder die that embosses an image AND cuts it out AT THE SAME TIME! How cool is that??? I just had to try it out:

For this 4" X 4" card, I stamped the flower image that goes with the Embosslit onto Apricot Appeal and Very Vanilla cardstock with Apricot Appeal ink. (Notice--WARM colors again!) Then I embossed the "thanks" from "Thank You Kindly" onto vellum using Pumpkin Pie Classic Ink and clear powder. (Yes, I seem to be on a vellum kick--the swap I'm currently working on uses it too!) Embossing with Classic ink (dye ink/water-based) works with vellum because the ink doesn't soak into the vellum, allowing more time to get the embossing powder onto the ink. Tied a little linen thread around the Embosslit cut-out, adhered it to the vellum with Mini Glue Dots, and the card was done.

Here's a close-up of the Embosslit. Getting such a detailed piece in one step is so great! Can't wait to see what some of the other new Big Shot accessories in the Spring/Summer catalog do!

If you'd like to get one of the first peeks at my new toys, come join me at the Birthday Bonanza stamp-a-stack this Friday and Saturday. I still have a spot or two available in each session.

Another way to get to play with new things from the catalog is to join a Stamp Club. I currently have openings in the Wednesday morning club, and will open more clubs as necessary.

Off to tackle that to-do list. . . I'm going to be watching the clock CLOSELY!

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. . . "

I was "SO rudely" awakened at 5:15 this morning! Our school district has an automated phone tree that lets us know when school is cancelled, etc. and school definitely needed to be cancelled today--but did they have to wake me up when I knew last night that we weren't going to be going ANYWHERE today?? It's currently snowing so hard that it looks like it's just foggy outside! SO, SO glad that everyone in my house is home with no plans of going anywhere today. If you're in this same winter storm area with me, I hope you get to do the same. Perfect time to get to some projects that have thus far fallen victim to the hustle 'n' bustle of the season!

So, I imagine that a lot of you have been wondering where I've been lately! Trust me, I haven't been sitting around eating bon bons (unless you count caramel scraps!) "Santa" has been working fast and feverishly on all the homemade gifts that have become tradition at Christmastime here: lots and lots of caramels in (of course) hand-stamped packaging.
















Every year 40+ packages of homemade caramels get sent to Mike's sales force and office staff, the kids' teachers, relatives, friends and neighbors. It gets to be quite the caramel factory here late in December!

The packages below are those that go to the kids' teachers. The tag on the caramel bag opens to hold a gift card. The "box" on the right is a carrier from a 4-pack of Starbucks Frappacino covered with Designer Paper that I had left from last year, embellished with Big Shot "Swirly" die cuts. Erik had ideas for several little things he wanted to give his orchestra teacher. She loves Starbucks, so we thought the holder would be a clever way to hold her gifts.

The gift card holder/tag is just a strip of cardstock 2-1/2" X 11", scored at 4-1/4" and 8-1/2". I rounded all the corners and secured the sides of the "pocket" with narrow strips of Sticky Strip.

Fortunately we were thinking ahead and delivered the gifts for the teachers yesterday, since Christmas break has started one day early.

I'm off to tackle something on the list! Stay safe and warm!

"Anything But A Card" Swap Projects

Now, without further delay! All the cool projects we swapped at the December Stamp Club meetings!! It's a time where it feel's like there really IS a St. Nick! Presents for all of us who spend most of the month orchestrating the holidays for others! We always have a great time oohing and aahing--and scarfing away our new-found treasures so we don't forget where we've put them!

This first picture shows (left to right) the altered clipboards made by Barb W., notecubes made by Lora M., and Santa triangle boxes made by Christine M.



Barb's clipboards were all a little different, using various patterns of Designer Series Paper. They each included a mini legal pad and some gift tags, and were even "wrapped" with a flourish of toile or ribbon. So festive!

Lora's notecubes are almost too cute to use--but in this house, where we always seem to be scrambling for a piece of paper (even though one room here is FULL of it!), the cube will be put into service shortly. Lora special-ordered the cubes and then used the large stamp from the "Season of Joy" set to stamp the sides with red ink. She said she just held the paper together firmly while stamping and it worked great! A Christmas greeting on the top and some red gingham ribbon finishes the project perfectly!

Christine decorated the triangle boxes she made to look like Santa with the help of the Scallop and Word Window punches, as well as other cut paper shapes. It's as sweet as can be, especially because she filled the box with those fancy-flavored Hershey's kisses. Can't tell you which kind were my favorite because, um, there was a little chocolate emergency around here a few days ago, but they were yummy!




Carla P. decorated this "brag book" photo album with pretty holiday Designer Series Paper from the Holiday Treasures collection. Her added embellishments will make the holiday photos that we put inside extra inviting to everyone we share our memories with!





Laurie R. spent lots of time to make us all one of these beautiful tag-punch star ornaments. She found scrapbook paper that coordinated nicely with the Almost Amethest tag frames she made. The sparkles on the paper make the ornament a beautiful addtion to the tree!




This last photo shows the Santa "bag" that I made for swaps, the holiday planner notebooks and coordinating paperclip bookmarks made by Barb D., the sweet little Tic-Tac folders that Nancy S. made, and the rose vases decorated with rub-ons from Dale N.



The Santa "bag" that I made started out as a little box with 1-inch sides. I then wrapped red cardstock around the base of the box and added punched details to make the project look like Santa's coat. (Sticky Strip is a must for this project!) I'm sure I found the majority of my inspiration on Splitcoast or somewhere, although I'm not really sure right now. Of course, I had to tuck a few caramels inside for good measure.

Barb D. not only decorated the notebooks she swapped, she MADE them from scratch! The "centerpiece" details on both the notebook and the bookmark are punched stamped images. The one on the notebook is from the current Hostess Set, "Punches Three."

I had Nancy S.'s little "snowman guy" displayed on my desk and it even caught the attention of my 16 year old son! I have a feeling that the Tic Tac's had a little something to do with it, but the fact that he even saw the snowman amid all the other projects says a lot! I love how the little "book" that wraps around the mint container cleverly has a circle punched out on the bottom to show the mints.

Dale N. used Stampin' Up! rub-ons to dress up simple glass vases. The rub-ons are water resistant so the vase can be used and even hand-washed without worrying about ruining the rub-on design. She added glass marbles, gingham ribbon and a realistic-looking silk rose to finish off her gift swap.

See what I mean about how Christmas comes early at our December Stamp Club meetings? It's wonderful! Thanks again to all!!

Now, being that this is the blustery stuff that I'm seeing out my window right now. . .

. . .I suppose it's time to go fire up the snowblower again!

Let me know what you think of that retiring stamps list!

So, What Do You Think I Did With My Battery Charger??

I've said it before--we just have a few too many gadgets, gizmoes and what-nots around here! All of the cords, cables, chargers and power packs look the same, although my son could give me a long recitation on all the differences, to which I would respond, in my best teenage-impression, "WHATEVER!" I just want the stuff to work, and when it's not, I want a quick fix!

Well, that's not to happen this morning! I was all excited! I found a way to use Tangerine Tango on a card! A card that used the beautiful mums that I found in the "3 for $10" bucket at the grocery story as inspiration! And when I go to take a picture, the screen says, "Change Battery Pack." Okay, um, yeah. Where might I have put that?" I have NO IDEA! I don't think I've had to charge the battery since we were on vacation this summer!

So, in order to share my mum-inspired, Tangerine Tango creation, I had to rely on the ol' stand-by (not so hot) camera and the scanner, neither of which are doing my creation, or the mums for that matter, any justice. I'll just have to wait until the teens get home and then maybe I will be able to take a decent picture. If not, I might have to bother my good stamping friend, Laurie, 'cuz she just happens to have the same camera I have! Maybe I can barter some cardstock for a battery charge!

Anyway, I arranged the mums in my turkey "vase" with hopes that they last until Thanksgiving. The colors that came together in one package were just incredible. So I decided to "save" them on a card. Let me tell you, my first idea was WAY too involved--punched flowers, scalloped edges, too much stuff. What a mess I made in four short minutes. Time for a different idea. I scaled it back and went with super simple.

The card uses the "Poppin' Pastels" technique with the large stamp from the "Upsy Daisy" stamp set. Stamp the image with Versamark ink and add colored chalk ("pastels") with a q-tip or sponge-tipped eye shadow applicator. The colors seem to blend themselves as you add more color. Any stray chalk can be removed with a clean, soft eraser. I used the Earth Elements family of chalk, mostly Summer Sun, Ruby Red, Really Rust and Garden Green. I threw a little of the Bravo Burgundy (from the Rich Regals family) in there because my mums had a few of a deep, deep red variety.

I matted the image (that was stamped on Very Vanilla) onto some Old Olive and a stray piece (oops!) of Purely Pomegranate (thought it was Riding Hood Red at the time!). The card base is Tangerine Tango that has been stamped with the Sanded background in Versamark.

On to the project du jour: carpet cleaning. yippee. . . I'd so much rather be stamping!!

I will be back later, however, when I can get a decent picture posted. Hope you have a great day!

47 Shades of White!!!

Some of you have inquired as to how our bathroom redecorating project is going, and I can only say, "slow and steady wins the race." This project, like any home "fix-it" task, had us spending an inordinate amount of time in the hardware store this weekend. We ended up changing the shade of green we thought we'd use about four times, but when it came to choosing what we were going to use for the ceiling and two "accent" walls, we simply picked a shade of white and called it done.

Yeah, that's what we thought until we started putting the white on the wall. . . and then it was off to the store again. After collecting a whole deck of paint chips, all of them proclaiming to be white, it took an hour of decision-making to finally pick what would work! (Do we REALLY need 47 different shades of white???)

Anyway, I decided to turn the whole rather-frustrating process into another "excuse of the day" and went to work making this card that only uses shades of white.

I grabbed some Whisper White, Very Vanilla and Shimmery White cardstock, my "Priceless" stamp set (only because I hadn't used it in forever), checked the ribbon drawer to see what my options were, and set out to see what might happen. I used white craft ink, stamped on the vanilla cardstock, and embossed with white embossing powder.

Then to add some texture while staying within the parameters of my "excuse," I ran some Shimmery White cardstock through my crimper twice, once in each direction, to produce sort of a "waffle" look.


To create "wide" taffeta ribbon, I placed two lengths of vanilla taffeta next to each other and then added a piece of white taffeta over the top to hide the "seam."


I used Dimensionals to adhere my center piece over the ribbon. A trick to use if you have difficulty getting the backing off of Dimensionals: push your thumb nail into the Dimensional to create a crease in the backing paper.

Don't know if I'll use this card for a wedding, or if it'll just be a notecard, but I was pleased with the results of "going all white."

Guess I'd better get back to my paintbrush!

Okay, so this isn't exactly what I had in mind. . .

So, over the weekend I set out to add a slideshow of holiday card ideas to this blog. I had a nice variety of samples thanks to all the talented stampers I've swapped with, and so far I've been able to navigate through all the clicks and downloads and HTML gobbledygook without completely pulling my hair out. I thought I'd just add a scrolling collection of cards over there in the right-hand column, just like I've seen on other stamping blogs.

Well, just call me the "little-too-confident-new-blog-builder!" After puttering around for most of today, watching time literally fly as I proceeded to reload, resize, rename and retry what I had in mind, I've decided to REDEFINE my expectations!! I'm sure I'll figure out how to get it over in the column at the right--or maybe one of you can clue me in--but it just won't be today!

Anyway, back to something I do know! Even before I had a collection of rubber stamps I made the holiday cards I sent to family and friends. Once such card involved a handmade stencil and a can of blue spray paint, before I had any idea of how much overspray even a small spritz of paint created! Ah, memories! Good thing my crafting area at the time was a college-rental and not my dad's garage floor!!

The neat thing about making your own Christmas cards is that it allows you send cards that reflect your personality and interpretation of the "perfect" Christmas card. I have a friend who never fails to send a red-and-green card, "because it wouldn't be Christmas" any other way. Another friend loves to enjoy the trends of the current season, surprising everyone with a new color combination each year.

No matter what says Christmas for you, you can include it in your design--and no, it's not too late to make cards for this year. Take note of the things you like about the card ideas below. The label you see on each of the cards in the slideshow designates the primary stamp set that was used to create it. If you see an idea or a stamp that interests you, whether it be here or from some other inspiration, I'd be more than happy to help you with the details to create the card that is just perfect for you.

Enjoy the show!

(Sidenote--Did you know that "gobbledygook" REALLY is a word?? And here I thought it was just one of those crazy words we used in my family!)

Presto! Chango! Secrets of a SU! Demo!

My stamp clubs meet during the first week of every month and we just finished our meetings for November. We usually do a couple of projects at each meeting, one that uses the technique that I'm teaching that month and another one that is more of the quick 'n' easy variety.

This month's "quick 'n' easy" card featured the "With Gratitude" and "Define Your Life" stamp sets and the awesome "Autumn Vine" Designer Series Paper that is in the current Holiday Mini Catalog. My "Define Your Life" set was a little dusty and begging to be used, and the colors in the "Autumn Vine" papers are so yummy I needed to use them before we get totally consumed with Christmas trees and snowflakes.

The dilemma I face when designing group projects that use Designer Papers is, that even though I've become a pro at getting lots of cards out of one sheet of 12 X 12, often the two sheets of each pattern don't always stretch far enough and I have to make project modifications. This was one of those months.

My stamp club members don't know it (until they read this!) but the evening club did a slightly different card than the morning club. Because the DSP patterns all coordinate with one another, it's not really that difficult to use the same colored card base and the same layout with different patterned paper. In this case I had to switch out the ribbon color too, because my much-loved roll of 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon was no more. I think the Very Vanilla ribbon works just as well--how 'bout you?

To stamp the leaf, we inked up the stamp with the More Mustard ink pad and then added Really Rust ink and just a touch of Chocolate Chip ink with daubers. As with so many stamping projects, all the leaves looked just a little bit different but equally great! The "gratitude" stamp ("Cause of happiness or joy. Expressing appreciation for something or someone") from the "Define Your Life" set works equally well for a Thanksgiving card or a thank you note. (Paper dimensions: Whisper White/Very Vanilla: 2-3/4" X 3-3/4"; patterned paper #1: 3" X 4"; patterned paper #2: 4-1/4" X 2")

To add the ribbon embellishment, wrap a 6" piece of ribbon around the patterned paper, adhering the ends of the ribbon on the backside of the paper. Tie a single knot in another 6" piece of ribbon and trim the ends to make the "bow." Add this to the card with a couple Mini Glue Dots.

One other idea for getting the most from a package of DSP: Piece scraps together if the seam can be hidden under another element. I had several scraps that were too small to use on this project by themselves, but when I taped them together and cut them to size, I was able to get a few more of these cards made. The tape gets hidden under the leaf element.

I'm thinking about making some quick Christmas cards using this layout, either the "wish" or "memories" definition, with the Christmas tree from "Season of Joy" and the "Holiday Treasures" DSP.

Hope you had the chance to do something creative today.

Bad khaki pants got me stamping!

Huh??? Well, you know how one project sort of leads to another??? The khaki pants weren't directly responsible for my ACTUALLY designing and stamping a card this afternoon, but they definitely got the ball rolling! I'll spare you every why and wherefore, but the card below came about because my husband and I tackled a closet cleaning/shopping project last weekend. Let's just say that he was in dire need of some new clothing choices.

A trip to the mall resulted in the much-needed pants and some other items, including a couple of new belts. Properly storing these new belts required a trip to find some sort of hook system, as the old system was failing miserably. In the process of looking for a suitable way to hang the belts, I happened to come across a very nice-looking rack of hooks that would substantionally upgrade the towel rack in my son's bathroom.

After an afternoon of removing the old towel rack, patching the wall, and installing the new set of hooks, it became painfully obvious that this improvement now made painting the wall a necessity. I mentioned this to my daughter, Melissa, and a whole new chapter (read: big project!) unfolded! Before I knew it we were looking at bathroom accessories, searching for the inspiration we needed to redo Erik's bath! And before I knew it, Melissa was telling me that she thought some version of Gable Green would be a great idea for the new paint color. Erik said he didn't care what color we painted the bathroom--AS LONG AS IT WASN'T PINK--but I'm not sure this shade of green is what we should be putting in a basement bathroom.

Decorator Melissa's vision for this room came from the liner of a storage basket we found (see striped fabric in photo)--except that she didn't like stripes; she wanted dots. We found some different-sized round mirrors to hang on one of the walls, and Melissa decided that painting a colored circle around each of the mirrors would be a cool thing. Okay, that has potential. So off we were to look at paint samples. . .

Hey! I spent last weekend shopping for menswear, and now this weekend is all about a bathroom??? That was when I decided that I needed to take a few minutes to get in some stamping!!! So, inspired by the mirrors, the dots, and the paint samples we brought home, I grabbed some cardstock, chose a layout sketch from this site I'd saved in my favorites, and got busy. I'm proud to say that 15 minutes later I had a finished card! Man, that was fun!!



Details: Stamp Set--Full of Life; Paper--Certainly Celery, Brilliant Blue, Brocade Blue, Baja Blue, Whisper White; Ink--Brilliant Blue, Versamark; Other--Silver Embossing Powder, Circle punches (1", 3/4", 1/2"), Brocade Blue 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, silver elastic cord, Dimensionals.

I covered a piece of Whisper White cardstock with Versamark and two rounds of silver embossing powder so that I would have some "representation" of the mirrors that are slated for this redecorating project; I just punched circles from the embossed piece. Three strands of silver cording put together took the place of the silver ribbon I would have liked to have. And I just had to use the John Lennon quote on the card, since it so typifies what my days have been like lately.

It was great fun to "sneak" a stamping project into the end of the afternoon. I highly recommend it!

I'll let you know how the redecorating comes along!