Sick as a Dog

Now isn't this puppy just adorable? Wellness Wishes is the name of the stamp set with this cute little guy. This is a great manly card.

I used Soft Suede, Night of Navy, and Very Vanilla card stock along with the Night of Navy stripped ribbon. This stripped ribbon is so pretty. I have many spools of this ribbon in different colors. I sure hope that SU! keeps this ribbon around, it is very popular.

This card would have been perfect to send to my boss/Pastor a couple of weeks ago when he was very sick but now it's to late. Oh, well. I am glad he is feeling a lot better now. I'll just add this to my stash of cards.

Heart with the Petal Cone

Yesterday I showed you the Petal Cone and I am showing it to you again today. Although today you might not recognize it because it looks like a heart. How awesome is that. Perfect for Valentine's treats! Now I must admit that I am not a genius because when I looked at the die in the catalog a heart did not stand out to me but when I received my Stampin' Success magazine there was a project in their that used the die as a heart pouch. It was just another reason I thought, I really need to get this die. I was so excited when Letty said I could borrow it from her so I could play with it before I ordered mine. I wanted to wait for Sale-A-Bration so that I could get some free stuff.

To make the petal cone you have to cut out the shape twice and then you would fold on all the crease lines and assemble but for this project you leave the petal cone flat. The only thing you do is glue the pieces together. I then decorated the heart with an image from the Wedding Sweet stamp set, then I stamped a heart from the I Heart Hearts Stamp set and punched it out and layered it on some Early Espresso. After I layered the heart image I ruffled some very vanilla ribbon around the circle. The little banner piece is another part of the die, I stamped the love you and glued it on the heart. Once again I used ribbon to make a handle for the pouch and I used the packaging paper as a filler.

Happy Sunday everyone!

I Heart the Petal Cone

I know I said I was going to wait until next week before showing another Valentine project but I just couldn't wait.

I seriously am loving the Petal Cone die, it's in the Occasions Mini Catalog. When I first saw it in the catalog I wasn't sure if I would order it because I thought it was going to be super small. So I didn't order it but I did borrow it from a friend. I can now say that mine is on it's way to my house from SU! along with my free Sale-A-Bration stuff. Oh, and the cone is bigger than I thought it would be.

I made several projects with this die and I will be showing you them to you over the next week. The brown paper that is sticking out of the box is packaging paper that comes in my SU! shipment boxes. I just shredded some of it and crinkled it up. It is a great filler. I used the I Heart Hearts stamp set to decorate the cone, then I punched a couple of holes on the side and used some pretty in pink satin ribbon as a handle. So cute and easy to make.

Vintage

Vintage is so popular right now so I have been trying to incorporate it in my cards and scrapbook pages.

Here is one of those attempts. I used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder along with the Friends 24-7 stamp set. The image really does compliment the embossing folder. I feel like it is a little plain but I wasn't real such what else to add so I left it alone. Maybe I will go back to it later and think of something else to do with this card.

Aviary

The Aviary stamp set has got to be one of the cutest stamp sets in the current IBC. When I first saw the new IBC in June of last year, I knew I was going to purchase it.

Well I have finally got it. Yippee! Since I went part time last year, after I had Malachi, I have had to make my purchases more cautiously so it took me a little while to get this set. I am glad I finally have it and was able to play with it. I need to work on getting some workshops booked and set up some classes so I can purchase all the stuff I want.

I paired my all time favorite, Baja Breeze with Poppy Parade for this card. I really like these two colors together. I think it may be the first time I even used Poppy Parade but it won't be the last time.

I am on a roll this week, I have been posting every day. That is a miracle! I also noticed that I will be breaking a record. The most I have ever posted in one month is 8 times. Well January 2011 will have more than 9 postings. I am proud of myself. My goal has always been to post at least once a week and if I post more than that then I really feel good. I think I might bump up my goal now.

Love

This is another one of the cards from my card class this past weekend. I basically cased the card from Mindy Backes, another SU! demo. I did change it a little bit because I didn't have any glimmer paper and I added the red hearts to the tree.

I really am glad that I chose this stamp set to purchase for Valentine's this year. Its fun but not to kiddish. Maybe this will be the card I give to my hubby for Valentine's Day this year.

I don't want to burn anyone out on Valentine's before it even gets here so I will post some other cards this week but I will be back with a couple of projects next week that are Valentine's related. Let me just say I am loving the Petal Cone die that is in the Occasions Mini.

Sale-A-Bration Time!

It's Sale-A-Bration time! Now through March 31st there are Three easy ways to earn free product:

Spend: Spend $50 and earn one Free Sale-A-Bration product of your choice.

Host: Host a workshop of at least $300 and earn one free Sale-A-Bration product of your choice in addition to the generous hostess benefits.

Join: Join Stampin' Up! by becoming a demonstrator during Sale-A-Bration and get 15% off your starter kit. Plus get a bonus bundle filled with over $50 in free products.

Contact me to take advantage of any of these three deals.

Wish Big

Saturday I had a card class so of course I was working on my cards on Friday. So in between cleaning and taking care of Malachi I searched online for ideas to inspire me or ideas that I could case.

Believe it or not but I got inspired for this card when looking at a card that was basic gray and pretty in pink. I don't remember if the card was a birthday card or not but this is what I came up with. This stamp set is called Birthday Bakery and it is a Hostess set. The sentiment is not in that set but in a set called Word Play.

On Friday when I was searching the web for ideas I was telling Eric how much I love looking at other people's creations because you just never know what will inspire you. This is just one of those instances where the talent of others helped to inspire me. I truly am glad that others are willing to share their ideas.

Tempting Turquoise Valentine

Like I said in my last blog post I wanted to make a Valentine card that wasn't in the traditional Red and Pink. I chose Tempting Turquoise, Early Espresso, and Whisper White.

I had decided on using the I Heart Hearts Stamp Set and the I Love Love Jumbo Wheel but in the end I tried a second card with the Valentine Defined Stamp Set too. So you get to see both cards, very much the same except for the focal image. I also used some Early Espresso ribbon. Ribbon is one of those staples, I love ribbon on my cards and my scrapbook pages. I guess that is why I own so many spools of ribbon. It is that or my obsession with buying all that I can buy for this hobby.

It was actually nice to sit down and stamp for fun this weekend instead of stamping because I had a class or club meeting coming up. Good thing these cards didn't take me long because Malachi got fussy and it was time to put him to bed. I wish I would of had the energy to stay up late and stamp but Malachi hasn't been sleeping very well so I have been trying to go to bed when he does so I can get as much sleep as possible. He is an early riser so there is no luck when it comes to sleeping in on my days off. My life is different then it use to be but I love it all the same.

Well I am off to do some stamping since I decided to have a card class this weekend. I'm hoping that there are some people that are able to make it this Saturday. If you plan on coming don't forget to R.S.V.P.

Roses

This is the second project we made at Stamp Club this month. Since I was doing Valentine projects I figured it was time to show how to make these roses. The good thing is these roses don't cost $80 a dozen just because it's Valentine's.

Although, it would be the cost of a Big Shot die and some paper. Oh, and a Big Shot if you don't already own one. The Table Settings Die is $42.95 but it doesn't wither in a week so it's a purchase/investment that just keeps on giving! The die also has numerous other shapes. I used this die to make my Merry Christmas banner last month.

These roses are great, you could even use fabric or felt and put them on a headband or make them into a pin. For this project we put them on a matchbox and put some candy in the boxes. These would look great for a party favor at a wedding or shower. I guess I just love the elegance of these roses.

Ok, I am off to try and make a Valentine card with non-traditional Valentine's colors. Let's see how that goes.... I guess you'll find out on my next post.

Love You

It took me over a week to actually make this card. With the party last weekend I just kept putting off everything non party related. I did start this card but then Malachi had woken up and was cranky so I left it on my desk and there it sat until yesterday.

I think this very well might be my favorite Valentine set that Stampin' Up! has come up with besides I Heart Hearts.

The ladies that were at club last night made this card along with another project. We were missing half our club members. Lorraine had to work, Erin is ready to deliver her baby girl, and Sharon is focusing on her husband right now. Sharon's husband was in a horrible accident last month. I missed all of them. The thing I love about Stamp club the most is that I have been able to build friendships with all the ladies that attend. If it wasn't for this great hobby and my venture into selling Stampin' Up! I may have never met some of these great people.

Grandma, Stacey, Roberta and I still had a good time last night. We ate, stamped, and talked. What better way to spend a Tuesday night but we missed you Rain, Sharon, and Erin!

Dr. Seuss Party

Warning: Picture Overload.
Saturday was Malachi's birthday party and his 1st birthday.
We did the whole Dr. Seuss theme with the decorating and even his outfit. He wore a Thing 1 shirt and his cousin Ryan wore the Thing 2 shirt. They both had on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish shoes. They both looked adorable. Everything was Red, White, and Turquoise.

We took many pictures at the party but I just thought I would share a few of the many. I wanted everyone to see the decorations since it took lots of work from auntie Berta and myself. I am thankful that my sister Roberta came to help decorate and my sister Alison helped with Malachi. Eric was at work and then when he got home he helped transport all the stuff to the club house and ran to the store for a couple of needed items. What would I have done without so many great sisters to help Eric and I?


All the kids wore the Thing hair instead of party hats. I found these online and a lot of them came in one package so that was great for me since I had such a huge party. I actually wish I could have invited more people but with my large family, a few close friends, and nursery age kids from church (plus their family) I ended up inviting well over 75 people. I don't know exactly how many showed up but there was at least 22 kids (I know this because of the candy boxes.)

We served BBQ pork sandwiches, potato salad, chips, punch, water, and cupcakes. I used little name cards with silly names like diffendoofer potato salad, Red Ink Drink, and so on to keep with the theme. That was so much better than serving green eggs and ham for dinner. I also printed some free clip art images and punched them out and laid them on the tables along with real red, whisper white, and taken with teal punched circles. I love polka dots so this was great! I made the banner with my Pennant banner die from SU!

We played one game, pin the heart on the Grinch. I got the idea from another blog. My step-father drew the Grinch and painted him for me. It looked great. There was a coloring station too for the kids. Since there were so many kids under three I didn't want to play to many games plus with so many people it gets kind of crazy. I think one game was perfect.

For centerpieces I used fish bowls (Dollar Tree) with blue cello paper scrunched in them and a fish (also Dollar Tree) popping out. The fish were so perfect because they looked like the Red fish from the book. Although we now have a ton of plastic fish because each bag came with several fish. Then we tied one balloon to each bowl. So easy and cute.

Instead of cake we made cupcakes with red liners and I punched out Thing 1 & 2 circles and glued them to the outside of the cupcakes. I then put cotton candy on top of the cupcakes. SO CUTE! Only thing is that I didn't realize that after a while the cotton candy would melt. So by the time we had cupcakes the cotton candy was melted. Lesson learned on that one, although I don't think it mattered at that point.

Malachi didn't really smash into his cake like we would have liked him to but I think he was just tired and ready for a nap. He just looked at everyone with wide eyes as they sang Happy Birthday! When Eric pushed his hand into the cake he looked at his messy hand and cried.

It was a great party and I loved planning it for my baby boy. Although I don't think I will be planning any big parties like this for him until he is older. I have great family and friends because they all pitched in and helped us clean up after the party. I am so thankful because it would have taken Eric and I forever. We were all wiped out by the time it was over.

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures of the party. If you want to view larger size pictures all you have to do is click on the photo.

Birthday madness

You could not, would not want to miss a celebration such as this!

Dr. Seuss and birthday stuff has taken over my life this week. Malachi's birthday and party is this Saturday. I can't belive my baby is turning 1. It has gone by way to fast.

I have been wanting to update my blog with a Valentine card made with my new stamp set but I haven't gotten to finish the card yet and it doesn't look like I am going to be able to until after the party. So I pulled out this card that I cased from someone else a few months ago because I can't update my blog without a picture. I can't remember who I copied this card from and I don't have the time to look or I would give them credit.

Anyway, I will update again next week with pictures from Malachi's party and some new cards or projects. Stamp club is next week so I know I will be making something before Tuesday.

I am off to go eat my green eggs and ham.... ok maybe not green eggs and ham but its lunch time.