The little lamb

Surprise!! Another post from me in less than a day!! I had decided that no matter what, I was going to get some crafting time squeezed in this week.  Luckily, the girls were playing outside most of the afternoon and I managed to get several scrapbook pages finished.

As a Stampin' UP demo, I almost always use SU product on my creations, but I have only been a demo for a little less than a year and a scrapbooker for almost 13 years.  Needless to say, there is a lot of other goodies in my stash that are non SU.  Today's page uses a bit of my stash goodies and more of the lovely ribbon from the wonderful Sherry.  I apologize for the slightly crooked picture.

These pictures are several years old and were from my girls' years at daycare.  We brought one of my parents' lambs to the center to show the children.  Since the playground was fenced in, I thought the lamb could run around and the children would be able to see it in action. Well...the kids thought it would be a much better idea to carry the lamb around instead!  My oldest DD kept a close eye on things to make sure no one was hurting her little buddy!

The base and DP are from my stash.  The letters were cut w/ my cricut using pacific point cardstock.  When I finished the layout, the lower left corner was a little empty so I made a punch art sheep to finish it off.  Pretty basic, but I really like the way it turned out.

Page Recipe: Cardstock- whisper white, pacific point, basic black, Ink-baja breeze (to shade the edges of the sheep), white Signo gel pen (for the sheep's eyes), Accessories-large scallop circle punch, 5 petal flower punch

I hope everyone has a happy new year full of health, happiness, and plenty of crafting time!!

a scrapbook page

I had grand plans of making lots of scrapbook pages during my break, but of course, there are always many other things that demand my time as well. For some reason, my family thinks they need meals, clean clothes, and various other frivolous things! But I did manage to squeeze in some scrapping time and completed a few pages.

This page uses lots of retired things, but the product is not quite as old as the picture, so I think I'm still ok ; )

Although it's hard to see, I stamped the butterflies from Sprinkles to break up some of the 'white space' on the base.  And don't adjust your screens or rub your eyes...yes, you are seeing actual stitching on this page!! I broke out one of my piercing patterns and poked the holes before using white bakers twine to cross stitch the page. I love the texture it added to my page, but I'm being completely honest when I admit that I probably won't use this technique too often! I'm generally pretty CAS when I'm paper crafting.
The title and center of my flowers are some chipboard stickers from my stash and that beautiful pink ribbon is from my blogging friend, Sherry (Button Junkie). I won a selection of her hand dyed ribbon as blog candy and loved this fun color with the paper. You really should check out the beautiful colors she makes!

I'm hoping that the next few days will allow me so extra crafting time so I can get a few cards made and make an attempt to catch up on scrapbooking! Wish me luck!! Maybe that can be a new year's resolution...

Page Recipe: Cardstock-Tea Party DSP (ret), whisper white, Stamp Set-Sprinkles (ret), Inks-wisteria wonder marker, almost amethyst ink (ret), Accessories- white bakers twine, 5 petal flower punch, scallop border punch

Break time!

I always look forward to Christmas break! After the busyness of Christmas, I get a whole week to wind down, clean up, and of course, create! The first part of my week was spent doing laundry, cleaning out my closet, and trying to contain the new toys (sheesh...let me know if you can accomplish this one!). I even went through my paper crafting goodies and did a little reorganizing.  With the help of some handy little zip baggies, my scraps container is a little less overwhelming! I even used some of them to finish an album I had started over a year ago! As I was reorganizing, I came across a crafting kit I bought several years ago and I decided to dust it off and use it.  It looks so much nicer completed and on top of my desk than it did in the box! Who would have guessed?!

While the supplies used were part of a kit and not SU, this could so easily be copied using SU products.  The base is an 8X10 canvas.  I used Tombo glue (aka the green bottle glue) to adhere the paper to the canvas.  Everything else was attached with sticky strip. This is my 'go to adhesive for 3D projects (thanks Kelly B for introducing me to this awesomely sticky stuff!).  I also added some pearls to the centers of the silk flowers since they looked a little bare without them!

In my Christmas post, I jokingly commented that as my post was scheduled for 6 am, this would probably be about the time our youngest came running into the bedroom to let us know Santa came.  I was wrong... IT WAS 4:30!!! She informed us that she woke up at 2 am and checked the tree and stockings, but her big sister said it was too early to wake us. So she so considerately waited until 4:30 to tell us. We convinced her to go back to bed until 6:30, then we all went to the living room to open gifts.  Needless to say, a nice little nap occurred later that morning! But even with the early morning wake up call, it was a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas!

I can't believe that Christmas is here already! Through the magic of modern technology, I am able to post on Christmas day without actually sitting at my computer on Christmas day! My family understands my dedication to my blog and paper crafting, but I think they might draw the line at working on Christmas...  As this is posting, our girls are probably racing into the bedroom to inform us that Santa has visited us and asking if it's too early to wake up (I gave up trying to figure out that logic several years ago...).  Then I'll be dragging my sleepy self into the kitchen to make coffee, so we will actually be awake while opening  presents!

This year has been so amazing!  I began a new adventure by becoming a demonstrator with Stampin' UP! and started this blog.  Along the way, I have met many incredibly talented crafters that have helped me grow and have been a great source of inspiration and support!  Fortunately, my family has embraced this new facet of my life and have supported me through my first year (even if they don't quite 'get' how I can be friends with people I have never physically met).

But enough of the chatter... I have one final Christmas card to share with everyone and I have been saving my most favorite for last! One of my wonderful, fellow blog stalking, slightly warped, but ever crafty and talented friends, Lisa at You Made Me Ink! created a sketch of a snow family portrait on her blog to share with others.  When I made a card using her digi, I ever so subtly suggested that it would look just like our family if only it had a dog to knock the kids down in the snow.  (Shadow does this on a regular basis as the girls are playing in the snow.) Well... Lisa is such a sharp observer that she picked up on my incredibly subtle comment and created a new sketch for me! So here is a snow person version of our family portrait on this year's family Christmas card.  I received many comments on the clever image and had to give all of the credit to my very talented friend!

Don't mind the blue clip; it's holding the card closed for photo purposes. I made a trifold and it didn't want to cooperate for the photo. Hmmm... a lot like my family...

And below is a close up shot of our happy little snow family. Lots of dazzling details for snow and crystal effects to add a little shine!

It even looks like Shadow! Well, except that he's never really took off the kids' heads as they've played in the snow...

I hope that Lisa is having a wonderful Christmas and that next year's Christmas will be even happier for her and her family!! And to all of you who made it to the end of this winded post, Merry Christmas and may your time spent with loved ones be thoroughly enjoyed!

One last picture... This is the nativity scene at our church and it never fails to put everything into perspective as we stop our busyness to remember our greatest gift.

Merry Christmas!

How many days left????

I don't know about everyone else, but this month has flown by for me!  I had a lot of cards made by the first week of December and I believe it tricked me into thinking I was prepared. WRONG!  There are still a few gifts to finish and a couple of last minute cards to make, plus all of the wrapping, baking, and cleaning...

I did take a little time to check out blogland and found that a card that I had floating in my head would fit well with some challenges!  SUO Challenges is looking for Merry, Happy, or Joyous greetings. My card has Merry right on the front! Top Tip Tuesday wants Anything Christmas and a tip. Here's my tip: when using a large focal image, I cut my strip or ribbon behind the image to save paper.  This is also a great way to use up smaller pieces of cardstock and ribbon. After all, no one will see it behind the focal point!  While this may not be a new tip for more seasoned stampers, it might be something new and less frugal (I refuse to call myself cheap!) stampers have not considered.  This card also fits The Squirrel and the Fox's request for Christmas.  Wow! One card, three challenges!!

This card is using some new 'sneak peek' items from Stampin' UP (demo perk!) and a stamp I have yet to ink up before this card!  

Hope all of your holiday preparations are going well and that you also find a little crafting time in the craziness! Thanks for looking!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-crumb cake, cherry cobbler, soft suede, very vanilla, Stamp Sets-Christmas Postcard, Bells & Boughs, Ink-crumb cake, soft suede, black Stazon, various markers, Accessories-framelits labels, cherry cobbler dazzling details, snow burst embossing folder, blender pen

A Sassy Little Gift

Each meeting, I  make my club members a little thank you gift that also can give them new ideas about how to use their materials in different ways.  Since this was our last club meeting of 2011, I altered the cover of new 2012 pocket calendars.  The ladies loved having new calendars and liked the idea of giving these as gifts for Christmas.  Because this is such a 'sassy' group of ladies, I just had to pull Sassy Suzie off of the retired shelf and ink her up again.  I also used various 'girl power' sentiments from Favorite Thoughts which is also retired.

Recipe: Cardstock-whisper white, bashful blue, retired DSP, Ink-Stazon black, wild wasabi, various markers, Stamp Sets-Sassy Suzie, Favorite Thoughts, Accessories-basic rhinestones

Tags Part 2

This is the #2 of the 3 tags I made for a swap.  The third was a 3-D ornament tag that can be viewed here.
I recently bought Winter Post and for the life of me, I don't know why I have waited so long!  I have stamped craft paper for wrapping, made tags, and altered some gift bags using this set. And I haven't even used it for a card yet!!!

For this tag, I stamped the deer first in versamark then chocolate chip ink.  I heat embossed with clear embossing powder to add a little shine.  I think the hardest part of making these tags will be watching others throw them away... I know some of the recipients will save them, and I will have the pleasure of walking in with the prettiest tags!

Recipe: Cardstock-garden green, crumb cake, Ink-chocolate chip, versamark, Stamp Set-Winter Post, Accessories- decorative label punch, early espresso satin quilted ribbon, basic rhinestone (colored w/ Sharpie), hemp twine

Am I Crazy?!,

This time of year is always hectic for me.  I teach 4 different preschool classes and I organize the Christmas program that they perform.  We also have 4 separate parties.  I also help the children at our church with the special children's service on Christmas Eve.  Add to these the normal holiday preparations and it gets quite busy!  This year was the first year I had a pretty good start on my Christmas cards and I came up with the 'brilliant' idea to make all of the tags for our gifts this year!! Am I CRAZY?!  Most of the tags are very simple, after all, I'm sure most of them will be thrown in the trash with the wrapping paper (sniffle...).  However, I put a little more effort into some of them, especially the ones I designed for our team's Christmas tag swap. We were to make a set of three tags.  This is one of the tags I took to the swap...

I love the little accents of glimmer and the stocking punch made this super easy!  Next week, I only have three days of school, so hopefully I will be able to catch up on my blogging!!

Recipe:  Cardstock-wild wasabi, cherry cobbler, whisper white, silver glimmer paper, Ink-wild wasabi, soft suede, Stamp Set- Stitched Stockings, Accessories-snow burst folder, stocking punch, ticket corner punch, cherry cobbler bakers twine

One Hot Gift Card Holder

With the holidays quickly approaching, I'm always looking for quick and easy gifts to make that can be a gift on their own, or  dress up something I've bought.  This month, my club ladies decided they wanted gift ideas for their projects, so this was a great way to get some of my projects finished while teaching others some fun new techniques.  I found the cutest *FREE* mug template at Mirkwood Designs and while I saw a sample where the mug held a hot cocoa mix packet, I thought using this as a gift card holder would make it a more versatile gift. Just a little stamping to decorate the front of the mug, adding adhesive to the bottom and side  of the flap, then adding a 'tea tag' for effect, was all that it took to make this sweet little gift card holder.

I think this ended up being the favorite project of our club meeting, since we all seem to give gift cards! And in case any of you fellow Starbuckaholics (you know who you are...) are drooling over my gift card, I regret to inform you that this is empty... Isn't that such a sad situation as winter approaches???  Maybe Santa will stash a new one in my stocking this year!  Although since I discovered a local coffee shop in a nearby town, he might surprise me with a gift card from there instead.  After all, I've been pretty good this year.  Well... there was that one time...

Card Recipe: Cardstock-very vanilla, Ink-soft suede, old olive, Stamp Set- Snow Swirled, Too Terrific Tags (ret), Accessories-template, large tag punch, white bakers twine

3-D Gift Tags

This was another project from our December club meeting.  I honestly can't remember where I first saw the 3-D art, but there were 3-D Christmas trees on a card.  That got the wheels turning in my head (could you see the steam and hear the grinding gears??) and I decided to use the ornament punch to make a fun little gift tag.

I punched 4 ornaments from some retired DSP and folded 3 of them in half, folding in the side I wanted to see.  Then I began attaching the halves together. After this step, I attached the first and last half to the unfolded piece (still with me?).   I don't have a picture of the back, but I used a to/from stamp for the names.  The last step is to pierce a hole near the top and run some linen thread through the hole to make a 'hanger'.  This could also be turned into a completely 3-D ornament by adding two more ornament pieces, folding all six in half, and then attaching the halves together.

Recipe: Cardstock-retired DSP, Accessories- ornament punch, linen thread, paper piercer

Club project-gift ideas

Wow! Feels like forever since I've posted! We had our first snow on the 29th... It was very pretty and best of all, by nightfall, everything was clear again.  I love watching snow fall, but hate shoveling and cleaning off my car, so this was a perfect snowfall for me!

My club ladies wanted some simple gift ideas for this month's club projects.  I received this wonderful post it note holder in a swap at the SU regional from Tamra Needles.

 It inspired me to make a wintery version.  This would be a great gift for co-workers, teachers, or friends. Who couldn't use post it notes?! I am notorious for using tons of them to write notes, jot down ideas, and them post them on my craft table where they are promptly forgotten until I unearth them about a week later... Maybe I need to create a wall mounted post it note organizer!

This is a pretty basic easel design, but if you need detailed instructions, just let me know.  I knew I wanted to use the sweet little girl from Gift Givers for this and hope the club ladies love this as much as I do!

Recipe: Cardstock-wild wasabi, very vanilla, Holly Berry Bouquet DSP, Ink- soft suede, wild wasabi, real red, blender pen, blush blossom & crumb cake markers, Stamp Set-Gift Givers, Accessories, scallop circle punch, dazzling details, mini post it notes