Hot Tip!!!!

Well...maybe not Hot...but a good one!!!


Here's a cute little Eclipse Gum holder...I'm actually going to give this one to my son for his birthday next month...with a gift card in it as part of his gift...my goal is that everyone have a hand made gift this year.....Gift cards to the rescue, cause I can make the holder!!!
I'm not concentrating on the holder so much as the flower....especially if you have a project that has alot of flowers...I HATE cutting things out...and this TIP saves you a little time.....

Start by stamping your image, this works with images that are circular. Next pick a punch that is very close in size to the image....Stampin' Up! has loads of circle punches to pick from...this one actually cuts a teeny tiny bit of the image...which is good!!!!

Now all you have to cut are a few snips between the petals...and voila...you are done...I did the green part of the center the same way...a little more cutting...but not much!!!

Time for another Tutorial...

This one's another simple one...but the card came out really cute...

You are going to start with your card base, and you want to punch a 1 3/4" hole in one side.

Layer your next color layer onto that, flip your card to the inside, and line up your punch with the previous hole, and punch again. The punches are not designed to punch more then one layer of cardstock at a time, especially Stampin' Up! cardstock as it is heavier.....

Keep adding layers until you have it the way you want it. I mounted my bird within the circle using a dimensional to accentuate the circle.

Lazy Sunday

I'm sorry I didn't get anything posted yesterday...it was such a lazy day...I actually was able to take a nap...and then we were off to my Daughter, Kris' house for Princess Abbey's birthday ...which was actually Saturday...but we celabrated yesterday....and so you know what...I forgot my camera...so didn't get a picture of any of the princesses.....BooHoo...Princess Emma is growing so fast...and Princess Sarah...got her drivers permit this past week...oh my.....now I feel old....I remember teaching the girls to drive....

I did get a chance to play in the stamp studio...and worked on some old projects started, but not finished...:)

Here is a Valentines card that didn't get done in time!!!!

Quiet Day

Today was my Stampin' Free for All...and I think the weather kept everyone at home!!!! That's OK...cause I got a ton of scrapbooking done!!!

Precisly, 7 pages, one card and a mini album.....Woo Hoo...I was on a roll...Actually I used the Simply Scrappin' Kits again....I have tons of old partial ones from old classes....and tons of older papers...so I really want to get those used up instead of buying new product...trying to be Green!!!! It's nice to see the pile o fpages go up and the old albums go down!!!

Cleaning up and Show and Tell!!!

I've been trying to clean out my bookshelves in my office.....I have run out of space for my stamps...and we still have a few more months to go before I can purge.....so I have to find some space, and be creative about it....While cleanign I came accross lots of cards that you, my fans, loyal customers, and fantastic friends have sent me this past year....so I thought......I should be showing these off, since they are all fantastic.....

This first card was sent to m by Casey Ward....and I just love the way she carried over the circle theme here....in the layered circles and the glitter glue dot circles....Great card Casey...thanks.

Send me a card...you may see it posted here!!!!

Stamping 101

I've had quite a few people ask....so I will be presenting a Stamping 101 - Beginner, or not so Beginner Class. I will be covering basics, with 4 different cards...great for the beginner...but also good for us that need ideas!!!! It will be held on Thursday, June 3 at 6:30. Cost is $10.00 and the deadline is 5/27/2010. Want to see what we will be making????

Technique Class

Well....I ment to post this last weekend...and forgot....these are what we did for out Technique Class on Tuesday night, Friday nights class was cancelled as they closed the Rec Center early due to the snow(it would have been nice if someone had told me...I drove over there...and then I had to rush home to let all my students know so they wouldn't head over).....We will have a chance to make this one up in our make-up class!!!!(held every 6 months-you can also make your book covers then!!!)

This month we did an Altered Background Paper class....and this was our page for our Technique Book.

And this was a card using the Bride Specialty Paper...which lends itself so well to this technique!!!
If you are interested in joining us and learning a new technique each month....we meet the 3rd Tuesday at 6:30 at my house ($2.00 supply fee) or the 3rd Friday, 6:00 at Wooodman Hills Rec Center East, anyone may attend. Hope to see you there.

Tips and Babies

I'm getting a double dose of Baby Fixes, as I have Princess Emma again today. Mandy, Aaron's sister, who usually babysits, is still sick......So Princess Emma is telling me how to stamp today!!!!:)

Thought I'd throw in a Tip today!!!! I was trying to come up with a Manly card for Steven....why do we have such trouble with those....wanted that industrial look, and decided to play around with aluminum foil and the Big Shot....I attached a piece of foil to a piece of card stock and ran it thru the Polka Dot embossing folder.....and it came out great!!!!
Those of you who know Steven....know how much he loves our Golden Retriever, Rusty....so I had to use the D is for Dog set.....too cute!!!!

Matt is on his way home for work...and we have a big surprise for him...his car is finally finished and sitting in the driveway....he will be so happy after being without it for soo long!!!!! And we will be too...no more car juggling!!!!:)

Baby Days!!!! A Tutorial and a Contest!!!

Today, I'm getting my baby Fix....ya need those every once in a while!!!! Puts things into perspective. I have Princess Emma for the day!!!! She has been so good....I was gonna rearrange my schedule and do errands tomorrow....but it was looking like the storm front that is due tomorrow was coming in early...so I decided to take her with me, and we'd run, at least the in town ones.....First we had to figure out the car seat.....Actually got all but two errands run...and I forgot the things I needed for those so will run to Falcon tomorrow and finish up before the storm!!!!

Thought I'd share a very short Tutorial....Do you not just LOVE this Designer Paper!!!! IT is so delicate...it is the Pawsitively Prints, (118060, $9.95) sold in the Mini's with Build A Bear. All of the prints are tiny so that it can be used with the Die Cut clothing...but I just love this flower print!!!! I wanted to show you how to do the Punch and Poke part of the card...You can use the Paper Piercing Tool and the Paper Piercing Mat.....or you can use the low tec version....
I use the Foam Craft sheets, a few layers....and I found these giant Push Pins...I just keep a few on my bulletin board, so I can always find them......After you punch the flower out, lay your paper on the Foam sheet and take the push pin and pierce your paper around....these are much easier to hang onto!!!!! Lets go ahead and do a contest too!!!! Since I have a whole container of both...we will draw from those of you that comment....for a set...I also have a whole basket of Old 3-D projects I've been saving for ideas...I mean for years...have been doing house cleaning...some are very old...but the ideas are still good, so I will throw a couple of these in too!!! WE are coming up on 6000 Hits to the Blog...can you believe it....so leave comments, and I will draw when we get to 6000!!!! Good Luck!!!

Happy St. Patty's Day

Since St. Patricks day was a week day...we are celebrating with a family dinner tonite(Saturday)......Kris, Dale and the girls have left on their trip(Spring Break) so they will not be here....but Alli, Aaron & Emma, Nick and Matt will all be here!!!! The Corned Beef is starting to smell so.... good, I can't wait!!!! Made some killer brownies to have with ice cream for dessert.

Then, just had to sneak a picture in of Princess Emma....don't ya just love a sleeping baby!!!!

I ment to post all of this yesterday, but didn't get it all done before I went to bed early...still trying to catch up on the Snow Front that messed me up...not sure how...but I still don't feel up to snuff!!! Thought I would post pictures of the projects everyone brought to work on last Sunday...

Another Snow Day

The weather front came in last night fast and furious....and boy, did this old body know it...I ached all over....I'm finally starting to feel better, now it's just snowing!!! It's the kind of snow that gently piles up!!! I need to make a decision as to if I should cancel my class tonight!!!! Matt just got off of work, so I will see how the roads are when he comes home.

Here are some pictures of the swaps we did at the Stampin' get together on Saturday at Kim's house.





These were all great cards....I think our themes were St. Patty's Day, and Thank You's.

Kim did her Milk Carton favors....so cute!!!!

This was my swap...I was trying to use up some older Stampin' Up patterned paper.....

Good Day!!!

WooHoo...my son got a call today that he has a job...His background check passed at the Air Force Academy!!!! We were worried...we got a call yesterday from our Nephew who is processing out of the Army at Fort Carson...and his background checks kept coming up with outstanding warrents...and then they finally decided it wasn't Mike, but our Matt...He has misplaced(lost) his license so many times...we were afraid that someone was using it.....but his check came back good....WooHoo...someone got a job...not the job he wanted, but it is a paycheck!!!

Thought I would post the rest of the samples I showed at last weeks Stamper's 10 Clubs.

This one is just using the Circle Circus set again....I have fallen in love with this set!!!! We also did this card at my phenominal workshop on Saturday!!!

Then this cute little candy basket....which uses masking with the flowers.....I also used this for my workshop on Saturday, as they wanted to see how to use wheels, so I swapped out some designer paper for a wheel strip.

Here's another traditional masked one....I used the Autumn Harvest set...this set kind of lends itself to masking!!!

And lastly...this one uses a Retiform type of masking.

Brunch....Yummy!!!

One of my Neighbors hosted a brunch this morning for the neighborhood ladies....we haven't done this in years.....and it was so nice catching up with everyone, and meeting the new gals. Charlene hosted...and the food was so yummy!!!

Here are the 2 projects that we did at last Thursday and Friday's Stampers 10 clubs.

This one was a Pop-Out Explosion Card...we did one years ago...and I just loved the colors and the Circle Cirus Set!!!!

This was one that we did showing different masking....did more cards to show other differnt ways to mask. Will post those tomorrow.

Successful Meeting!!!

Last night was the first meeting of our Etsy Entrepreneurs Group....and we had 14 Etsy Crafters show up...it was a very good meeting!!!! Lots of new ideas...now if I can find time to impliment them....that is the task!!! Met some really great people...Thanks Deb, for putting that together!!!

Thought I would show you my long awaited Stamper's 10 Gift. This was intended to be a Christmas Gift to all of my Stamper 10 gals....but I never got them done...so I was finally able to pass them out this past week. If you weren't there...yours will be in your bag. Each envelope had a Thank you card with the recipients initial and name....

And the gift was a Scissor Fob, with their initials on them...so when they take their scissors with them to classes and crops...they will know which ones are theirs!!!

Snowy Day and Good Company!!!

Yesterday was my Stamping Friends monthly get together....and it was a cold, dreary, snowy day...so it was so nice to be able to spend it in such wonderful company!!! Kim had some yummy pizza...and a scrumptious Hummingbird Cake....My teeth are still sceaming at the sugar high!!! We stamped the afternoon away...forgeting about what it was doing outside. I will post the swaps and projects later!!!

Thought you would enjoy the box that I made for the Red Hat Box Lunch. We all decorated boxes...and then drew numbers for what lunch we got....This was my box that I made...The Flowers are the Fleeced Rossettes we will be doing at the next Big Shot and Fabric class....I made them as 2 pins so the gal that got my box can take them off and use them as lapel pins!!!
and then I won the one I was coveting...So pretty!!!

Busy week

Hello all...didn't get much stampin' done for me this week....Had 2 Stamper's 10 Clubs...Love you ladies!!! And a workshop today....so that has kept me busy!!!! So I thought I'd post a picture of my new punch storage....Neat!!!! I am just so glad to get them out of the drawer, and out where I can see them!!! Just Cafe curtain rods!!!! I did have to move my computer so that I could gain access to a free wall!!!!

Quarterly Brayer Class

When I started playing with my Brayer and Sponges...to make landscapes...I knew I had to share these wonderful techniques with all of you.....I just wish I had more time to do more classes!!! So I decided on a Quarterly format....doing 2 projects each quarter. Our very first one is coming up in 2 weeks with the deadline being Monday, 3/15/10. We will be doing 2 simple projects to get us started, but alot of these classes will be building on past classes....you can come to one, or them all!!!! Cost is $5.00 per class...and if you sign up for 3, you get all 3 for $10.(I will issue coupons, in case there is a date you can't make) This quarters class is Monday, March 22, 6:30 at my house....so don't wait too long as seating is limited!!!
The first card is using the Brayer Resist Technique, and the second is sponging...sponging can add so much demesion to pictures!!!

Monday's March Madness Class

I posted these a while back ...but thought you'd like to see what we did at the March Maddness Class I held on Monday!!!

This is the CD Case we made. They make great gifts for those you need to send those pictures of the kids to!!! Kim was gong ot leave the ribbon off and then do a bunch to store in the Forget-Me-Not Keeper we sell. Great idea!!!

And here is the Gift Card Holder we made....I don't know about you , but I've been doing lots of gift cards lately!!! I love getting gift cards...and especial when they are packaged in a cute holder!!!! We also decided they could hold teabags, Giardeli chocolate, coupons....loads of things!!!

And here is a great card to put that Gift Card Holder into!!!

I plan on doing a Class this fall for just gift cards...I've got soo....many cute ideas!!! I think everyone is getting gift cards for Christmas this year!!!

Finally...Flower Class

Sorry this has taken me so long to get on here....But I finally have the pictures of the projects for the Big Shot and Fabric Class that I will be holding on Wednesday, May 19, at 6:30, my house. Cost is $5.00 and there will be a list of supplies that you will need to bring. Deadline is 5/12/2010. This is a great class for learning how to make some really cute embellishments for hats, bags, jackets, cards, gifts...I just did one for a Red Hat Box...will post later!!!

This is the Lollipop Flower...which does great with felt!!!

Here is the Rosette, using fleeced fabric and the Table Setting Die(yes it is still available!!!)

This one uses the Flower Folds Die...and it is the one I've been using on the Rag Quilt Bags!!!

These are a Hat and Gloves that I used the Lollipop Flower on...so cute!!!