Do you know what this is??

Anyone know what is special about this post? Anyone? Anyone? (sorry, Ferris Bueller flashback) This is my 100th blog post!!  In February, my upline convinced me to start a blog and my first thought was 'who is going to look at this?' and the second thought was 'when will I find time to do this?'  Little did I know then, how many wonderful friends I would make throughout the world simply by posting pictures of my creations and sharing a little of myself! Most of my followers know that I am a blogging junkie and frequently stalk their blogs for new inspirations and frequently a laugh or two. And who would have thought I would have 100 things to post about in 8 short months!
But enough of the mushy background, on to today's post.  This is another of my scrap cards that I made over the weekend.  The image was one that I made at one of our team meetings.  We were learning a new technique for adding interest to solid stamp areas using a ziplock baggie to make swirls or swipes.  I kept meaning to do something with this and finally decided over the weekend that I would use it.

Card Recipe: Cardstock-whisper white, so saffron, pear pizzazz, Ink-pear pizzazz, basic black, rose red, Stamp Set-Awash with Flowers, Accessories-pear pizzazz seam binding, snow burst folder

I also wanted to share a picture of my oldest DD's warped  humor.  She is a very 'hands on' learner and still loves building and creating with Legos.  For Christmas, she received the Hogwarts Lego set and is constantly changing and adding to the original structure.  As I was working on cards the other day, she walks up and says "Look.  They're getting ready for their Halloween party." I glanced, not really paying attention until I noticed Harry. Then I had to laugh.  Here is her Hogwarts Halloween Line Up...

Hermione is the knight and Dumbledor is Squidward (from Spongebob). I'm not sure who the others are.  (They don't really look like the characters in the movie...)  I thought this was pretty cute! Glad my  almost teenager isn't completely growing up!  Happy Halloween!!

Card Swap

As this post is hitting my blog, I will be living it up in Louisville, KY for the Stampin' UP regional event!! I am carpooling with several of my Crafty SisTAHS and we are going to have a great time!  Since this is my first SU event, I'm not quite sure what to expect, but I know I'll have lots of fun (after all, it's a day full of stamping goodness, how can  it be anything but fun?!).  My upline told all of us to be sure to make card fronts for swapping because there are so many wonderful ideas out there and it's a fun way to meet people and trade talents.  So my 32 card fronts are with me and I hope to have some fabulous new ones to share when I come home!  Here is my card front...

 I wanted to have the sentiment backed by the DSP, but didn't want to be limited to fitting it in a smaller circle, so I temporarily stuck a strip of very vanilla (not sure what size, I used scraps) to a 2" strip of DSP, then I punched the circle and had a perfect area for stamping my sentiment.  I also distressed the edges of everything using soft suede ink and a sponge dauber.

Card Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, pear pizzazz, Spice Cake DSP, Ink-soft suede, pastels, Stamp Set-Faith in Nature, Accessories-square lattice embossing folder, 1 3/8 circle punch, linen thread

When Life Gives You Scraps...

I had a little free time tonight and decided to pull out my scraps box and see what I could find.  I ended up making 4 cards. I don't think anyone else would be able to tell I used anything out of the box, but at least I know that it has less in it than yesterday!!  The cards I'm posting tonight were inspired from some really old baseball pattern paper.  I bought the paper and the buttons when my oldest DD played T-Ball (she's in middle school now...). I made a few scrapbook pages years ago and somehow the last scrap got lost in the box until tonight.  I had to do some digging to get everything I needed for this card.  The SU blue that best matched this paper is now retired.  I had the paper with my other shades of blue cardstock, but the ink required a little hunting through my ink pads... I think the end results turned out pretty good!

 a simple little stamp on the inside too!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-brilliant blue (ret), real red, whisper white, and non SU DP, Ink-brilliant blue (ret), soft suede, crumb cake, and non su red marker, Stamp Set-Home Run (inside), sentiment is non SU, Accessories- non SU buttons

Some Halloween Treats

I just finished making over 30 Halloween treat bags for my preschoolers and wanted to share a quick picture of the tags I made for the bags. (If I didn't have to make so many, I would consider making the treat boxes, but goodness... that's a lot of treat boxes!)  I'm also sharing a picture of a really 'sweet' treat we made at our last team meeting.  I am making several of these for our trick or treaters and some close friends. Both of these projects were pretty simple, which is wonderful when you have a lot to make!  I also noticed that the challenges at Simply Stampin Challenge and Top Tip Tuesday were Halloween and Trick or Treat.  My creations fit both categories!!  So I also get to play along with a few challenge sites too!!
 Top Tip Tues was also asking for tips (who would have thought?!) and I thought I would share a tip that saves time.  When I already have my supplies out and my mojo is working, I usually create a few extra images or embellishments to use on a future project.  I made a few extra scallop tags to use on my kid's scrapbook pages.

Recipe for treat tags: Cardstock-rich razzleberry, the white is not SU (old stash) and I could tell a huge difference when I stamped my images..., Ink-Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Stamp Set-Batty for You

Recipe for Mummy: Hershey bar, Basic black cardstock (to glue the wiggle eyes on), wiggle eyes, white crepe paper

Some Clean and Simple Cards

I spent today getting some swap goodies together. I'm going to my first Stampin Up Regional event, next weekend, and can't wait to trade card fronts with all of the crafty people who will be there!  This took up a big part of my afternoon, but I managed to squeeze in some time to check out the current challenges on some of my favorite blogs.  When I saw the current sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping, I knew this was one that I wanted to use! I immediately thought of some felt flowers I received at a SU meeting a while back.  Then as I was getting my silver brads to attach the felt flowers, I came across some snowflake brads that I've had for years (hoarding intervention?!) and thought this sketch was perfect for them too.  I know that several of my fellow crafters will be physically cringing at all of the white space on these cards, but honestly, I love how they turned out and they were super quick to put together!

Card Recipes: Cardstock- soft suede, bashful blue, Ink-early espresso, bashful blue, Stamp Sets- Sassy Susie (happy birthday), non SU Christmas, Accessories-felt flowers (ret.), silver brads, snowflake brads (non SU)

Decor Elements and Prizes

I've been absent from my crafting area for the entire week (please enter sympathetic 'Awww' here).  We have fall break this weekend and that means lots last minute work for teachers.  We also had parent teacher conferences for both of our girls this week.  But, now my fall break is officially here and I actually got to spend this evening doing some scrapbooking.  I'm hoping to get some special projects completed tomorrow and will have pictures to post for them.  So be sure to check back!!
Last week at my upline's monthly meeting, I was the door prize winner! Tiffany made this super cute pumpkin decoration with Frightful Sight Decor Elements.  Be sure to visit her blog, My Crafty World, and see all of her amazing projects too!

I also won the individual stamp, From Santa, a package of silver glimmer paper, and a handmade Christmas card.  See! It pays to attend your team meetings!! It's also a fun way to connect with other demonstrators and share lots of great ideas.  The food's pretty yummy too!!

It's a little hard to tell from my slightly blurry pic (poor lighting) but she used the ornament punch to punch out the whisper white layer and allow the old olive layer show through.  I love how she made it look like it's hanging from the branch!

Holiday Mini Swap

This month I decided to join our team's monthly card swap.  The theme was 'Holiday Mini' and we are to use at least one item from the mini on our swap card.  I knew I wanted to use the beautiful DSP Spice Cake and found an old sketch (not sure where it was from...) that would work perfectly for my card.  To keep from ruining the surprise, I've had to post this for a later date so the participating team members don't have a sneak peek!!

The flowers were made with the floral fusion sizzlet.  I've had this for ages and recently rediscovered it. Sometimes I think I might have too much to play with, but then I chase those crazy thoughts out of my head ;D  

Card Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, soft suede, pool party, Spice Cake DSP, Ink-more mustard, Stamp Set-Batty for You, Accessories-floral fusion sizzlet, basic rhinestones, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, pear pizzazz seam binding, dimensionals

Fall Gifts

I love giving hand made gifts! There is something so fun about shopping for things to alter or dress up and then putting your very own special touches on them before giving them away. I found some fall theme scented candles at our local dollar store and thought they would make nice little gifts for my club members.

I used some retired chocolate chip ribbon, some non-su buttons, linen thread, and Autumn Traditions DSP (ret).  I used sticky strip to ensure that everything stayed where I wanted it!

Snow Swirled

Here is another card from our most recent stampin' club. This is a really simple card that has such an elegant look!

It's hard to see in the picture, but we added some dazzling details to the snowflakes on the tree.

Card Recipe: Cardstock-cherry cobbler, wild wasabi, very vanilla, Holly Berry Bouquet dsp, Ink-chocolate chip, wild wasabi, soft suede (distressing), Stamp Set-Snow Swirled, Accessories-decorative label punch, dazzling details, dimensionals, chocolate chip satin ribbon

A Little Spice Cake!

When I first saw the Holiday Mini, I fell in love with the Spice Cake DSP, but since I couldn't buy EVERYTHING at once, I had to wait to order it! This month, my stampin' club made this card.  I really like the pumpkin from Batty for You and thought this makes the card a little more versatile than the other Halloween themed stamps in this set.

We used the square punch to make the clipped edges of the dsp. Soft Suede is the perfect color to 'age' paper and we used it on the edges of every piece of paper on this card!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, soft suede, Spice Cake dsp, Ink-soft suede, more mustard, Stamp Set-Batty for You, Accessories- linen thread, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, square punch, dimensionals

Tea Party and Butterflies

Today I had a little free time between laundry and housework to play along with Simply Stampin' Challenge.  Here is this week's sketch challenge...

I don't ever make square cards, but decided that this time I would stay true to the sketch and make one. When I saw the sketch, I started thinking about all of those layers and what image to use. I was thinking butterflies would be great for the two circles and wanted to go with a softer color palette.  I dug out my retired Tea Party DSP and got busy.   The top two butterflies were stamped, cut out, then attached to the main card.  I did end up changing one little thing about the sketch.  The layer on the left is taller in the sketch than on my card. When I put my layers together, the left piece pretty much covered up the ribbon and I didn't want that! So my left layer is just a bit shorter than the other two.

Card Recipe: Cardstock-whisper white, pretty in pink, Tea Party dsp (ret.), Ink-certainly celery, pretty in pink, so saffron, almost amethyst (ret.), Stamp Set- Precious Butterflies, Accessories- certainly celery ribbon (ret), basic pearls, white gel pen

The 411 Challenge

I love checking out the sketch challenges from Stamping 411. Even if I don't get to play along, I try to save the sketches for later inspiration!  But this week, I actually had the time to play along! Here is this week's sketch...

I needed to make a sympathy card for a friend of mine and thought this would be a good starting point.  I turned the sketch on it's side and swapped the oval for a rectangle. I also tried my hand at coloring the white bakers twine with a marker.  I wasn't thrilled with the coverage at first, but once I had it on the card with the crinkled seam binding, it looked a lot better.  I made two versions, changing the ribbon just a little each time.  I also added some vanilla shimmer. I love the pearly sheen that it gives my card!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-whisper white, pear pizzazz, blushing bride DSP from In Color pack, Ink-blushing bride, pear pizzazz, basic gray, Stamp Sets-Just Believe, Word Play, Accessories-vanilla shimmer smooch spritz, pear pizzazz seam binding, white bakers twine (dyed), floral fusion sizzlit, silver brad

Feeling Scrappy-The Final Chapter

OK, this will be my last wedding album post! I did make more pages, but they are either really simple to hold more pictures or similar to the ones I posted.

I noticed after downloading these pictures that there is a black line from my editing software. Grrr.....Sorry! Both pages will hold 3x3 pictures.  I had to seam the soft suede square on the second page because I realized after finishing the first page that I didn't have any 12x12 in that color.  It will be covered by pictures so I'm telling myself that it will be fine...  I hope you have enjoyed looking at these and maybe were even inspired a little to do some scrapping of your own!  I really enjoyed making this album, but now I completely understand why custom made albums are so expensive! The creative section of my brain wants a vacation and it was amazing how much time and material I used on 20 pages! Thanks again for looking!

Feeling Scrappy II

Here are a few more pages from the wedding album I recently created.  It was amazing how quickly I finished these when I knew I had a deadline.  Maybe I need to make deadlines for all of my scrapping pages :-)
It helped that I had all of my supplies for the album setting out where I could see them and just grab what I needed!!

The first page will have 3 pictures down the center.

This page will have a 5x7 and 3 smaller pics. I love the flowers on this one!

This page will have an assortment of different sized pictures on it. I don't usually do 2 page layouts, but there are several in this album.  Made designing the album a lot easier!!

Boo!

Today was a great day to play with my stamps and paper! I blog hopped and found a few challenges that I wanted to try. Sketches By Carly had a fun sketch that I wanted to try. Then I saw the color challenge at My Create Ink, rich razzleberry, basic gray, and lucky limeade. Hmmm... I checked in on the ladies at Hand Stamped Sentiments and they were having a Halloween challenge. Three challenges in one card? Too cool! (It doesn't take much to excite me!) I had lots of thoughts and ideas going through my head and then I remembered that I had seen the owl punch turned into a ghost somewhere in blogland. I don't usually work a lot with gray and was afraid that the only gray would be my ink.  Then I remembered the gray corduroy buttons & brads I had bought from the clearance rack a long time ago! Here is my 3 challenge card...

As you read my card recipe, you may be a little confused. Just where is that Word Play stamp set on this card?! Well, I knew I wanted to put B-O-O on my banner but the alphabet stamps that I own are too big to fit on the banner. So, I used the B from 'wish big' and the O from 'thanks a million'. Necessity is truly the mother of invention! After I had the card put together, I started thinking that I should have done some dry embossing or stamping on the base. It just looks a little bare... Let me know what you think!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-lucky limeade, rich razzleberry, whisper white, & rich razzleberry DSP from the brights pack, Inks-basic gray and rich razzleberry, Stamp Sets- 4 frames, Word Play, Fabulous Phrases, Accessories-decorative label punch, owl punch, 1 3/4" circle, 1" circle, 3/4" circle, basic gray corduroy brads (ret), spider web embossing folder, rich razzleberry 1/4 grosgrain ribbon, white bakers twine

Swirls and Pearls

Today my husband decided to go to Home Depot and run some errands and both girls wanted to go with him (crazy right?!). So, I have the house all to myself and can craft and blog to my heart's content!  I checked out this week's challenge at Simply Stampin' Challenge and they are challenging everyone to create using swirls and pearls. How fun is this!!  I immediately thought of one of my favorite Christmas stamp sets and dug around in my supplies til I found some retired DSP that I thought would look good with the image I wanted.  Generally my cards are very clean and simple. There are a few reasons for this. I like to mail most of my cards and heavy, lumpy cards don't mail so well. I also find that the more I try to add to my initial idea, the less I like it. But the main reason is because I share my crafting table with the rest of the family at mealtime.  But, today, my house is empty and I can get a little more involved!

I used the stamp set Snow Swirled and stamped the tree with VersaMark then covered with gold embossing powder. I haven't heat embossed in a little while and have to admit that I still get a little giddy as the powder goes from tiny crystals to liquid gold! The little snowflakes on the tree were the perfect location for my pearls.  I sponged all of the edges with soft suede ink. I love the aged look it adds. 

Wondering about my ribbon? It is the chocolate chip scallop dots ribbon (dot side down). I also spritzed the card with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz. It's difficult to see in the picture, but this gives the card such a soft,pearly, shimmer. I also put a few snowflakes on the inside to dress it up a little.

I am also entering this for Simply Stampin's DT call.  There are some incredible crafters submitting creations so wish me luck!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-ruby red (ret.), old olive, very vanilla, Holiday Treasures DSP (ret.), Ink-VersaMark, soft suede, ruby red (ret.), Stamp Set-Snow Swirled, Accessories-gold embossing powder, heat gun, chocolate chip scallop dots ribbon, basic pearls, decorative label punch, dimentionals, sponge daubers, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz.