Christmas Card Class

Christmas will be here before we all know it. Get a head start on those Christmas Cards by attending a Christmas Card Class.

Saturday, September 22nd at 10:30 AM
Class Fee $25.00
Create 10 Christmas Card (5 designs, 2 of each design)

RSVP by September 20th.

Halloween Treats Class

Get a head start on those frightfully delightful Halloween treats!
Saturday, September 15th at 10:30 AM
Class Fee $15
RSVP by Thursday, September 13th.

Stylin' Stampin' September Blog Hop

It is that time again. Time to blog hop with the very talented Stylin' Stampin' Blog Hop crew. This month we are featuring Fall and Back to School. Well since Fall is my favorite season and my kids aren't school age just yet I decided to stick with Fall items this month.

You may have just come from Nancy's blog (I hope you enjoyed her fabulous projects) or you may just be starting the hop, which ever it is I hope you enjoy all of the creativity!

My first project is a simple fall thank you card. Like I said I love fall, so when I saw the Wonderfall Stamp set and the coordinating Autumn Accents Bigz die, I knew I had to have it and it was a no brainer this month when creating for the blog hop. This card is simple to make.

The Woodgrain Embossing folder is a perfect background for this stamp set too. I used a sentiment from the Perfectly Preserved Stamp set but you could use any sentiment for this card.

Items Used:
Stamp Set- Wonderfall, Perfectly Preserved
Paper- Crumb Cake, Really Rust, More Mustard, Very Vanilla
Ink, More Mustard, Crumb Cake
Other- Big Shot, Autumn Accents Bigz, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Sponge

For my second project I made something I have been wanting to make for a couple of years. I pumpkin decorated with DSP.

I bought the craft pumpkin at a local craft store and then cut my comfort cafe DSP into one inch squares and mod podged them to the pumpkin. I used about 12 pieces of each DSP to cover the whole 6.5 inch pumpkin. This pumpkin is going to look so adorable displayed in my home this Fall season. I cut some leaves from the Autumn Accents dies to go with the pumpkin. I sponged the edges and crumpled them up because no leaves are perfectly flat and one shade.

On this second picture you can see how the DSP goes all the way up to the trunk of the pumpkin. Part of me wishes I would have sponged all the squares but that would have been a lot of work. Oh well, maybe next time.

Items Used:
Paper: Comfort Cafe DSP, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Soft Suede

I hope you enjoyed my fall projects and that I have inspired you to create some fall items for you or your loved ones this season. Now make sure to hop on over to Tonya's blog to see some more great projects!

Blog Hop Participants:

1. Shellie G. of Creative Electica
2. Annie L. of Love Me Cards
3. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun!
4. Nancy B. of Lady Stamps-A-Lot
5. Rose C. of Stamp with Rose
6. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
7. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
8. Patricia T. of Sunnyone Stampin'
9. Heather W. of Stamping with Heather
10. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
11. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
12. Nancy B of Momma B Stampin'

I did it!

I see card sketch challenges all the time on blogs and craft sites and I rarely participate because I just have a hard time seeing beyond the sketch picture. I have been wanting to try new layouts so this past Friday I decided to participate in the Fab Friday's first challenge. Amazingly my kids let me craft without grabbing at all my stuff so I went to work.

Here is the card sketch they had


This is what I created. Drum roll please.....

Can you tell I am a little proud of myself for this one. Normally when I have tried to participate in a card sketch challenge I have to look at people's samples first so that I can get an idea as how to use the sketch but not this time. I knew I wanted to use the No Peeking stamp set, so I pulled that out, I also used a piece of scrap DSP from the Festival of Prints paper pack. I used Gumball Green and Cherry Cobbler. Underneath the cherry cobbler piece I used crochet trim. I didn't have any Gumball Green buttons but a Old Olive button coordinated very well.

Well I hope you all like my card. I am off to work on projects for this months Blog Hop.

Believe

I hadn't pulled out this set in a while but when I was going through samples on Stampin' Connection I saw a card almost just like this one made by Julie Gearinger.

I did change the colors and changed one other aspect but for the most part I totally copied her card, I am a professional caser! Hey someone once told me "the best ideas are usually copied from someone else." So my motto when I don't have any creative ideas of my own is Find something to CASE.

Well the munchkins are up and at um, so I better go play with them. Have a great day.

Leftovers

A couple of months ago I did a small card class at a ladies retreat but I wasn't sure how many people would be participating so I cut up enough for 15 people but only ended up with 9 ladies. So I've had 6 extra kits on my desk. I've used part of the kits for other projects but I still hadn't touched any supplies from the basic gray card I had done. I couldn't do that same card for my class because I had already done it. So I used the same materials but created a different card. Here is my card.

I hadn't used my Circle Circus stamp set in a long time either so it felt good to get out this set. This card is versatile and could be used for a man or a woman. I challenge you to pull out a stamp set you haven't used in a while and get to stamping.

Inspired

I love being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. When I started over five years ago I was married but had no children so playing with my stamps was pretty easy. Now that I have a two year old and a 7 month old it is pretty tricky. Now I have little hands that are grabbing my stuff and Malachi doesn't think spending hours in my craft room is all that fun. So for now I work around my husbands work schedule, nap time, and late nights to get my stamping done.

I wouldn't dream of giving up being a demonstrator or this as a hobby but sometimes my creativity is all gone by the time I sit down to create. That is when I am very thankful for the many other demonstrators that share their work on Stampin' Connection. Sometimes I case cards and other times it inspires me and I end up creating something completely different all together.

Last week as I sat in my stamp room and was trying to work on cards for my stamp class, I was feeling very uninspired so I looked around at some blogs and online forums and ended up using one of Mary Fish's creations as inspiration for my own card. This card is very similar to hers but yet a little different. After I created my cards I felt a little more inspired. I am thankful to have found this hobby and business because it has led me to many new friendships and makes me feel creative.

I hope you are inspired today.

Items Used:
Stamps- Summer Smooches
Ink: Lucky Limeade & Tangerine Tango
Paper: Lucky Limeade, Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Other: Big Shot, Tasteful Trim Die, Scallop Rectangle die, Ruffled Ribbon in Lucky Limeade

Quick Cards Tuesday

I'm offering a new class once a month on a Tuesday night called Quick Cards Tuesday. You won't want to miss this quick class. You will create 4 cards (2 designs, 2 of each design).

Class Date: Tuesday, August 21st at 7:00 PM
Class Fee: $12.00
RSVP by Sunday, August 19th.

Cards were inspired from fellow demonstrators, Fran Bisailon & Carol McCarron.

Stylin' Stampin' Blog Hop

Welcome to the August Stylin' Stampin' Blog Hop. I am so excited because we are featuring items from the Holiday Catalog. I hope you are loving all of the holiday ideas or if this is your first stop make sure to hop around to all the blogs and leave comments.

I've decided to share three projects this month one Halloween, one Fall, and one Christmas. I was going to do a Top Three favorite items but then it turned into Top Fifteen and that just seemed a little much so I chose three project for the upcoming holidays and seasons. I love all of the items in this catalog so I used lots of new stuff and I hope you love it just as much as I do.

Here we go, my first project is my Halloween card. I used the Frightening Feline Stamp as my focal image. Isn't that cat adorable? I knew I needed it as soon as I saw the Holiday Catalog. I also used some Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP. I love this paper and you know what is even greater is that it doesn't have to be just for Halloween.

Items Used:
Stamps: Frightening Feline
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, and Whisper White, and Howlstooth & Scaringbone DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Other: Big Shot, Spider Web Folder, Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon, 3" Circle, 3.5" Circle

For my Fall project I created a Fall Scrapbook page, which I also used as a swap at Convention. Now fall is my favorite season and I wish SoCal had a true Fall but I will settle for cooler weather, leaves, pumpkins, and Thanksgiving.

I used some new DSP from the Annual Catalog Comfort Cafe, a new stamp set from the Holiday Catalog called Wonderfall, and a coordinating Bigz die Autumn Accents.

Items Used:
Stamp Set: Wonderfall
Paper: Cajun Craze, Pool Party, Midnight Muse, Soft Suede, Summer Starfruit, Very Vanilla, and Comfort Cafe DSP
Ink:Soft Suede, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit
Other: Big Shot, Autumn Accents Bigz Die, Corner Rounder Punch, Typeset Alphabet Bigz Dies, Tasteful Trim Die

Last but not least I created a Christmas Card. It is never to early to start on these cards. In the Holiday Catalog this year they are offering product bundles at a discount, now who doesn't love to save a little money? Does it still count as savings if I just used the money to buy more from the Holiday Catalog? Hmm....

Anyway I used the Scentsational Season Bundle which includes the Scentsational Season Stamp set and the Holiday Collection Framelit dies. Whenever I don't have to cut out the shapes by hand that is always a plus in my book. I also used Festival of Prints DSP stack, this 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" stack of dsp is packed with beautiful paper.

Items Used:
Stamps: Scentsational Season
Ink: Cherry Cobbler
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Festival of Prints DSP
Other: Bog Shot, Holiday Collection Framelits, Scallop Rectangle Clearlits, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding

Thank you for hopping by, I hope you enjoyed all of my projects today. Make sure to hop on over to my friend Tonya's Blog to see all of her beautiful projects.




Blog Hop Participants:

1. Shellie G. of Creative Electica
2. Annie L. of Love Me Cards
3. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun!
4. Nancy B. of Lady Stamps-A-Lot
5. Rose C. of Stamp with Rose
6. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
7. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
8. Patricia T. of Sunnyone Stampin'
9. Heather W. of Stamping with Heather
10. Pamela W. of Stinky Tofu
11. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
12. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim
13. Debra of Mommy Scraps

Howl-o-ween Project Kit Promotion Dates: August 1-31, 2012 Promotion Details: It's always more fun to stamp with friends! When you Sign Up to be a demonstrator in August, you will get a Howl-o-ween Printer's Tray project kit absolutely FREE-a $60 value! This exclusive kit contains the perfect elements of a spooktacular Halloween decoration!* Remember, you can only earn this special project kit when you sign up to be a demonstrator. *Project kit does not include ink Things to Remember You may choose the language of your stamp set (English or French; Spanish speakers may choose the English set or Pedacitos espeluznantes [Spooky Bingo Bits in Spanish]). The printer's tray included in the kit is limited to this kit. New recruits who earn a kit will be able to order it with their first demonstrator order beginning September 1. Demonstrators and new recruits will have until October 31 to redeem their free project kit. Use the new Online IDA to quickly and easily sign up Deadlines: Paper IDA: Must be received in Stampin' Up! office by Friday, August 31, 2012; 6:50 PM (MT). Online IDA: Must be submitted by Friday, August 31, 2012; 11:50 PM (MT). Contact me today to join my team!