Where'd THAT Come From??

I have been a Stampin' Up Demo for about six years (and I was a VERY loyal customer for at least 3 years before I "signed up"). I LOVE looking through the catalog when it first comes out every year. It is SOOO exciting to see all the new goodies. And, being a demo, I am forEVER looking through the catalog for customers to check prices, current status and availability and products they want all the time. Which basically means that I should KNOW what's in there, pretty much ... right???

This set is one of those ones that just kinda snuck up on me ... from outta NOWHERE!! It actually showed up in LAST year's catalog ... so WHY did it take me until about four months ago to even realize it EXISTED??? Where in the heck have I BEEN??? I think I noticed a card that someone had done and thought, "Oooooooo, pretty!! Wonder where they got THAT stamp set??" DUH!!! I'm sure that this has NEVER happened to ANY of you, right??? (Okay, this is the part where I am actually hinting/begging for validation ... did ya catch that??)

Went to the high school last night to help out with the dinner/auction they have every year to help raise money for the choir so that they can take a trip (to Seattle, no less!) in the spring. Not only did the teacher ask me to be the auctioneer for the live auction (go figure!!), but I am now the proud owner of a George Foreman Grill from the silent auction (got it for $38!)!! Now I just gotta figure out WHERE I'm gonna PUT it!! Anyone wanna come over and grill somethin'??

Stamps: Uncharted Territory, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Early Espresso, Pool Party, Watercolor Paper, First Edition DSP, Spice Cake DSP
Ink: Early Espresso, Pool Party, Island Indigo, More Mustard, Soft Suede
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Neutrals Button, Crumb Cake Taffeta Ribbon, Paper Distressing Tool

Yo, Dude!!

Who ordered the cold weather??? It was actually trying to SNOW in my backyard yesterday!! WHAT??!!?? Soooo not ready for this ... "Batten Down the Hatches!" ... or so they say, right?? (at least I'm not on the East Coast where not only have they had SNOW, but tons of power outages as well!)

Doing just a quick fly-by with a "dude" card ... this patterned paper is my new fave ... Mocha Morning!! Gotta love it, Baby!! And the cowboy hat and boots make for a great "dude" card!!

I came home from work yesterday (sooo not my day to work, but we are prepping for a huge art show this weekend and I had a LOT of art to catalog/tag!), and did ... absolutely ... NOTHING!!! Surfed the 'net, bought the new Michael Buble' Christmas album on iTunes (SWOOOOON!!), surfed the 'net some more ... ate some MORE leftover Halloween candy, read a little bit of a book ... I feel kinda guilty, 'cause there is still laundry to do, filing to do, messes to clean up ... some days ya just GOTTA!!

Stamps: Out West, Family Reunion
Paper: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Mocha Morning DSP
Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Decorative Label Punch, Linen Thread, Star Punch, Small Silver Brads, Oval Nestabilities

Boo to YOU!!

Happy Halloween, Friends!! I soooo {{{heart}}} this crazy holiday!!! I'm not sure I'm EVER gonna outgrow it!!

First, I need to apologize for my absence ... the past week has been rather chaotic. Upon returning home from our Disneyland Adventure, I not only had to get back to the office to catch up on some things, but we also took my mom in for a pacemaker last Tuesday. She has been struggling with heart problems for nearly two years. We are very hopeful that this will solve most of her issues. Between running back and forth to the hospital, her place, work, school for the kids, AND our Annual Halloween Carnival (have been in charge of this with my friend, Holly for at LEAST 12 years ... maybe longer!), I didn't seem to have a spare second!! Hence, the delay in putting up the late-but-promised tutorial.

I posted this little treat box on my blog for the last Control Freaks Blog Tour. It is really quite easy and quick to make. Thanks to my BFF, Deb Felts, for her inspiration and permission to share this with you!



It uses one 6 x 6 inch piece of cardstock, scored in thirds tic-tac-toe style, at 2 and 4 inches, so its overall size is approximately two inches. This photo shows you where you need to score your paper. It actually works best with patterned paper, as it is not a s thick as cardstock, and folds much cleaner and easier.


All of the horizontal and vertical lines are folded peak-style, while the diagonal score lines are folded valley style, as in this photo...VERY easy! Add a 2"x4" piece of patterned paper, folded at 2" along the 4" side and adhere to back of box. I added the little tag from the Two Tags Bigz die and a Scalloped Circle Punch to the 2" x 4" patterned paper piece on this one. I used a Velcro dot to close the box.

I had planned to use some "current" SU patterned paper, but the only Halloween stuff I had this year was printed out on white cardstock using MDS ... which means the cardstock was a little too thick. Soooo ... I once again recycled some of my OLD SU patterned paper ... as well as the wonderful bat punch that was only current for ONE year, and the "Boo" sentiment from Best of Fiends (one of my bestest, most favoritist Halloween stamp sets EVER!!).

We celebrated Halloween a little early here ... had all my kids under one roof yesterday, so we had our traditional beef stew Halloween Dinner, as well as had the kids carve some pumpkins.







Devan's "Happy Face" ...

















Garrett during the creative process ...










Amelia and her "Totoro" pumpkin (she has a love for ALL things Animae!!)

Have a Spookalicious Day!!

Stamps: Best of Fiends
Paper: Basic Black, Creepy Crawly DSP (retired), Cajun Craze, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Simply Scored, Two Tags Bigz Die, 1 3/8" & 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Decorative Label Punch, Bitty Bat Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Rhinestone Basics, Chocolate Kisses

Shifting Gears ...

Why is it sooooo danged hard to recover from a vacation??? You workworkwork in getting ready to go ... then you playplayplay while you are gone. Coming back home it seems you are almost more tired from all the playing you did than you were from all the work it took to get there!! Why is that??? Sigh .... Our trip was fantastic!! Disneyland ALWAYS makes me happy!! It's totally/nearly IMPOSSIBLE not to have a good time in the Happiest Place On Earth. But, I digress ...

I created the pleated strip for this card by cutting out a piece of DSP (patterned paper) that was 1" x 12". Then, I scored at alternating intervals of 1" and 1/2". (Score your first vertical line at 1"; then at 1 1/2"; then at 2 1/2"; then at 3, etc.). Then, just fan-fold the strip of paper until it is as wide as your card front. Trim to fit. You can add a strip if you would like to make a horizontal or larger square card. Easy peasy ...

I should have the little treat box tutorial for you by the end of the week. Between catching up at work and having my mom headed in to the hospital today to have a pacemaker put in (FINALLY!), my week is a bit on the over-done side. We are quite confident that Mom's health should take a definite upswing after today's procedure. Sooo happy for modern science/medicine and those patient enough to learn how to perform such procedures.

TTFN!

Stamps: Cherish Friendship, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Watercolor, First Edition DSP, Striped Patterned Paper
Ink: Stazon Black, SU Watercolor Pencisl
Accessories: Circle Scissor, Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Folder, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Library Clip, Small Black Brads, Dimensionals

Fire! Fire! Fire!!

While you are reading this, I am still in Disneyland enjoying some time with Mickey and the gang with my family and friends!! (I totally LOVE that place!!)

Just thought I'd post this little fireman card I did for my cousin last week. William turned 5 ... what a great age!! I remember being 5, albeit barely!! Couldn't resist adding the fire hydrant ... and there IS a fire engine on the inside, but I didn't get the chance to take a photo of it, as I was in a hurry to get it in an envelope before the mailman came!

I'll be back home in a couple of days and back to the regular ol' grind!!

TTFN!!

Stamps: Family Phrases, Peachy Keen Faces
Paper: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Blush Blossom, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Basic Gray, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Cricut Everyday Paper Dolls, George and Basic Shapes, Bold Brights Button, Word Window Punch, Bricked Embossing Folder, Silver Brad, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Pop-Up Glue Dots

Bows & Boxes & Bags ... & FREAKS!!

Welcome Friends!! It's Freaky Tour Time again ... and I'm REALLY excited to be able to share a couple of things with you. You should have just come from the fantabulous blog of Patty Bennett ... the things that girl comes up with are ALWAYS amazing!! (and if you DIDN'T come from Patty's blog, no worries ... just keep hopping around the Blog Tour 'til you come back to her!)

First I'd like to share this wintry cookie bag ... I just look at this and think BRrrrrrr!!! Winter is a-comin' ... and this would be a fun way to top off a treat bag for your friends and neighbors. Daisies at Christmas??? Why not?? And the new Cookie Stamps are FUNFUNFUN!!! My darling daughter made up these delicious shortbread cookies for me to use for my project ... she is the BESTEST!! (Love you, Amelia!!) I love how the Whisper White and Very Vanilla compliment each other and the wonderfully-sparkly Glitter Paper! This little bag holds three cookies, so just enough for sharing!

Stamps: NONE
Paper: Silver Glitter Paper, Whisper White, Very Vanilla
Ink: NONE
Accessories: Daisies #2 Bigz Die, Scallop Border Punch, Antique Brad, Whisper White Satin/Organza Ribbon

Next is a little "surprise" box/bag. I was thinking that this would be a GREAT little gift for your kids to give their friends ... or for sharing with coworkers. It's a quick and easy little fold up of a 6"x6" piece of paper (thanks to the inspiration from my friend, Deb Felts!). I will be sharing some instructions with you next week, so stay tuned for that!!




Peek-a-boo!! I am totally {{heart}}ing (is that a word??) the new little Peek-a-Boo Frames die. I've been using it in a lot of things ... it just makes me smile!! This is the little wreath stamp from 25 and Counting (day 12) ...




AND ... you can fit THREE chocolate kisses inside!!! YAY!!! Any time you can add chocolate to a gift is good, right???

Stamps: 25 and Counting
Paper: Frostwood Lodge DSP, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Ink: Garden Green
Accessories: Northern Frost Decorative Strip Strip Die, Peek-a-Boo Frames Bigz Die, Scallop Circle Punch, Red Glimmer Brad, Early Espresso Quilted Ribbon, Velcro Closure

That's pretty much it ... take a hop, skip and a jump on over to beautiful blog of my beautiful friend, Cindy Major. I love her style ... her creativity always blows my doors off!!

Richard's Bowtie

Here is the card I did for the second challenge I hosted last week on SCS ... the Free for All challenge. Seems there are challenges to do just about EVERYwhere these days ... which his great! Sometimes when the MoJo has taken a hike it is nice to have a sketch or an inspiration photo or an idea to help spark those creative juices, right? What I do find, however, is that many times I am just making a card to fit whatever challenge i may be doing with no recipient in mind. Soooo .... that is where my challenge last week filled in the gaps. "Cards with Character" ... my challenge was to have the crafty peeps make a card with a specific person in mind that head an element or two that directly reflected something about that person's character ... their favorite colors, a hobby, something they collect. For my sample I used my brother in law, Richard, as inspiration.

It was Richard's birthday last week, so I needed something that wouldn't be too girly (you KNOW how I have often lamented that I struggle with the "dude-card" thing, right?). Anywho ... Richard is a bowtie-wearing, riding-a-unicycle-to-work-everyday-come-rain-or-shine lawyer. AND a really amazingly wonderful and fantastic guy. Check this out:

Unicycling Lawyer

A few years back there was a Technique Lover's Challenge on SCS featuring this little origami shirts. They are sooo fun to make. Here is the one I did at the time with teeny-tiny shirts:

Dad's Many Shirts

Here are the basic instructions for making one (as copied from the Resources section on SCS):

If you want to make a smaller shirt that would fit on a normal sized card, use a piece of designer paper measuring 4¼” x 5 ½”.
Step 1 and 2: fold as directed.
Step 3: Fold back the top edge by ½”.
Step 4: Fold the corners in so that the corners meet at the center fold ½” down from the top folded edge.
Step 5: These folds will make the sleeves. Measure up 1 ½” from the bottom of the paper in the center (where the edges of the paper meet). From that point, make the triangles folding outward as shown.
Step 6: Fold the bottom edge up and wedge it under the collar flaps before creasing it. The front of the shirt from the top of the shoulders to the bottom is approximately 2 ¼”.


And for those of you who are VISUAL learners, here's a photo of the step-by-step process ... fun, right?? To change the size of the shirt, just add/subtract from the 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" size listed above in proportionate increments (for example, add/subtract 1/2" from both the width and height.)




That's pretty much it! Be sure to tune back in on the 20th - Thursday (or for those of you who can't wait, the posts should be up by the evening of the 19th) for the Control Freaks Blog Tour. Always fun to see what the Freaks are doing!!



We are hitting the road tomorrow for Disneyland!! YAYHOORAYYIPPEE!! I sooooo need some FUN happening!!

Stamps: Create a Cupcake
Paper: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Pool Party, Spice Cake
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: Soft Suede Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Small Oval Punch, Word Window Punch, Circle Cutter, Stripes Textured Impressions Folder, Bitty Buttons and Punch, Dimensionals

Circle of Butterflies

I love being able to hostess challenges over on SCS. In addition to the F4A challenge last Friday, I was ALSO a hostess for the "Hope You Can Cling To" challenge on Thursday ... in honor of breast cancer awareness they are doing a different challenge every day during the month of October. And there are a TON of AWESOME prizes, too!! LOVE "free", don't you??

So.... this is the sample I made for the HYCCT Challenge ... "Butterflies of Hope" ... not surprising that I picked butterflies as my "theme" for this challenge, is it?? Since they have long symbolized hope and renewal, I figured that they were a perfect fit!!

I TOTALLY struggled putting this together ... y'know when ya have an idea stuck in your head and it chooses to STAY stuck?? I couldn't quite get the idea to transfer from the brain to the paper. BUT, I DO love this paper!! I think I'm going to have to order another package already!! (Spice Cake ... YUM!!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend ... manohman, I wish I had one more day of weekend ... BUT, we ARE going to Disneyland this week (we leave on Wednesday), so at least I have THAT to look forward to!! YAY!! LONG drive, but SOOO worth it!!

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases
Paper: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Spice Cake DSP
Ink: Early Espresso
Accessories: MFT Decorative Doily Dienamic Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Small Oval Punch, Pearl Stickers, Very Vanilla Seam Binding, Button, Pop-Up Glue Dots

See??? I TOLD Ya!!

FINALLY!! SUCCESS!! TA-DA!! My darling daughter had a FEW brief minutes to help me get this tutorial filmed ... and I have to apologize for the funky lighting ... it was late, so we had to just do it with no natural light. AND the back of my head keeps creepin' its way into the video ... the price one pays for FREE labor (thanks, Amelia!!). It's really kind of a lame "trick" ... but it DID make cutting out nearly 50 of the balloons from "Up, Up & Away" a bit more bearable ... (good thing I had another balloon card in my arsenal to share with ya!!)



(I hope you are not all saying, "What??!!?? That's IT??)

Stamps: Up, Up and Away
Paper: Baja Breeeze, Sweet Slumber DSP, Basic Black, Whsiper White, Baja Breeze
Ink: Baja Breeze Riding Hood Red, Basic Black
Accessories: 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Circle Scissor, Black Polka Dot Scalloped Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, Scallop Border Punch, Dimensionals

A Flower for Fall

Good help is SOOOO hard to find ... especially when it's FREE ... especially when it's your teenage daughter who seems to be too-too busy ALLTHETIME!! Sigh ... since same-said teenage daughter is ALSO my film crew, suffice it to say that she didn't have any time to help me ... again ... and I really only need about five minutes!! Which means it will be TOMORROW ... I may have to recruit the husband ... but one way or another, my hot-air-balloon shortcut trick will be here!!

In the mean time ... here's a card with a more fall-looking color scheme. I love this time of year, although it has been much colder the past few days than I would like it to be!! Oh well ... what's a girl to do? I need to get my camera outside and start taking some pictures. LOVE the colors, that's for sure!!

Stamps: Build a Blossom, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Very Vanilla, Designer Patterned Paper
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, More Mustard, Old Olive, Lucky Limeade
Accessories: Blossom Petals Punch, Curly Label Punch, Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Pearl Stickers, Locket Charm, Pop-Up Glue Dots