Sneek Peek Valentines Bundle Special!!!

How cute is this bundle! New paper, stamps, and a new heart punch that coordinates with the stamp set! And all at a 20% discount if you purchase the bundle! Get a head start on your valentines projects or finish that valentines scrapbook page you've been meaning to do from years past (hey, I'm right there with ya!)

The Valentines Bundle offer is good through January 31st!

Hangin' onto Christmas

Well, not really, I just posting these a few at a time, so it took me past Christmas!
The first picture isn't the best quality, I took it at night and didn't have good enough lighting. But you can at least get the idea of how it looks...

I made it with the Deer Friends and Best Yet sets. The paper was from last year, but can easily be re-created and substituted.
For the cardbase, I started with red cardstock, then stamped random snowflakes and 'sparkles' all over the card.
I then stamped the reindeer, filled in his nose with red marker leaving a 'highlight', filled in his eyes with a black marker, then punched out the image with a circle punch. The paper already had circles, so I put the punched pieces on there. I put the whole piece in brown cardstock.
Add a strip of patterned paper edged in brown to the cardbase, added the main image block on dimensionals, then stamped and embossed the sentiment in black, then added a button to the strip.
I don't know why, but this card reminds me of the Brady Bunch :)



The second card was one we did at my last class. Its another easy one, designed to be fairly quick, but to have a nice look. The stamp set is Snow Swirled (I think this is officially my favorite set this winter!) I substituted the sentiment that comes in the set for this one, which has the same feel. This one comes from A Cardinal Christmas.
To make this card, I started with Always Artichoke cardbase. I made a Mellow Moss panel and stamped it with the large and small snowflake in Mellow Moss (don't adhere it down yet, though!). On a Very Vanilla panel, I stamped the tree in Mellow Moss, then overstamped the sentiment in Black. I cut an Always Artichoke mat for the vanilla, then used the ticket corner punch on both before adhering them together. Cut a strip of Very Vanilla Grosgrain ribbon to go around the Mellow Moss panel. After adhering that, you can go ahead and adhere the mellow moss panel, then the image block on dimensionals. I like how this card kind of picks up the colors/feel of a nice tree.

I will be posting a few more Christmas cards, a fun new 'sneak peek' special, and some class info in the next few days, then it's on to valentines! so be sure to check back!

BIg on Christmas cards!

Well, it's Christmas Eve! A Merry Christmas to everyone!
Here are two more Christmas cards I made with the Big on Christmas set. Both are VERY easy, and took very little time.
I stamped both images in StazOn black ink, then used a gray marker to 'shadow' the letters. I used a combination of markers, colored pencils and the watercolor technique with the images.
I used pieces of patterned paper for the backgrounds for both, and for the Snow card, I used glitter along the tops of the letters, and along the top of the 'snow' at the bottom of the card. The snow card was done on a white shimmer cardstock.

I sure do like this stamp set! I have gotten a lot of use out of it this Christmas, and will also be using it again to start my cards for next year!!

Gold on gold

Some of you may remember this card from my Christmas in July class several months ago, but I thought I would add this picture to show everyone how easy and fast it can be to make a beautiful card, even now that there are only 2 days left until Christmas! If you have this stamp set or one similar, you still have time to make a card like this for a friend or loved one, and if not, you can always get a head start for next year!

This card uses a retired set called Peaceful Wishes, but there are several current sets you can use that would look really nice with this card. A few examples are: Christmas Classics (pg 32) Snow Swirled (pg 32) and Holiday Trinkets (pg 35) Or you can use any set you like!

This card is very easy. You can either make the whole card out of the gold shimmer cardstock, or do as I did, and use a Chocolate Chip cardbase with the Gold Shimmer panel.

I started by swiping the panel with Embossing Buddy, which helps keep the embossing powder from sticking where you don't want it. I then used versamark to ink the stamps, stamped both images, then sprinkled gold embossing powder over the images. I tapped off the excess, then used my heat tool to heat the images. I adhered the panel to the cardbase, and that's it! You could get TONS of these done in no time, and they look so nice!
As an alternative, if you don't have the supplies to emboss, you can also do this simple layout with colored ink and white or vanilla cardstock!
So if you still have someone you wanted to make a card for, start stamping! You can do it!

Items from craft bazaar

*edited to add that this is a long post, and a lot of the text ended up at the bottom after the pictures, so if you want to read it all, make sure you scroll down far enough to read the whole post! Thanks!
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Here are pictures of some of the items I had for sale. There were a few things that I didn't get photos of, but this was the bulk of the particular things I had.

First is the handmade gift tags. I made all tags inside and had roughly 14 in each bag. All tags were different, because I used nothing but scraps. (That is a great little tip - Utilize scraps to make gift tags of all kinds! I find the challenge of making something out of leftovers fun! It really exercises your creativity! )
I had not made too many of these, cause it can be time consuming considering each is different, but I made 4, sold all 4, and got an order for 2 more!




Next is a picture of the bookmark paperclips. What you see in the picture was all I had time to make, and I sold all of them. I also didn't want to make too many of them, cause I didn't know how well they would sell, but I know next year I will either double or triple the amount I made. They aren't difficult, but I do like to make them special and not just all the same. I am the kind of person that likes to make everything I do different.
I also made sure I had something for girls, boys, and something an adult might like. One lady bought two, and then another lady came by later and bought the rest. I did package them in little plastic bags with a sticker of my information on the back. I did this mostly to make them look "professional" and also to keep them protected.




The next picture is of the photo clips. These are made with a giant binder clip, with paper wrapped around it and some kind of fun little embellishment. When you tie the arms up with ribbon, it acts as a photo holder. These were a huge hit that day! Not only did the customers just love them, but the people at the tables around me were buying them too! I of course sold out of these and wish I had made more! Definitely next year!
For these, I had used chipboard flowers with white embossing powder in them, and misc. things like buttons, bling, and brads for the centers, depending on the style. I did have to end up hot glue-ing these flowers on, because glue dots and pop dots were just not holding them on like I wanted them to.

Now we come to the poop. As you can see, I made a version of Snowman/Reindeer poop. In my research, almost every blog, comment, etc., said that this was the hottest seller at their table! I sold ONE! And I only sold that one because the lady said her catchphrase is calling everyone "naughty" and it says that in the poem. I had made a whole bunch of these too! Nobody liked my poop! Oh well, now I know what my friends are getting for Christmas! lol!
As you can see, my version of these have chocolate and yogurt covered raisins in them. The original version has marshmallows, jelly beans, things like that. But I wanted to give people a little extra something in the bag besides marshmallows. Oh well, I guess next year I will only do like 5 of these, if any at all.

The last tow pictures are just a couple examples of the "Christmas Fudge" bars I made. If you don't know what those are, they are a giant Hershey bar wrapped up pretty with a poem on the front saying how you ran out of time this year so here is your version of homemade Christmas fudge. Its a cute little poem. There are a couple different versions out there, but I used the shorter one, so that it would fit nicely on the front.
I made about 9 of these, and sold out of them. They weren't selling at first, and a few people thought they were real fudge and I had to explain what it actually was, but by the end of the day, I had not only sold all of them, but got 2 orders for more! One lady wanted 5, the other 6!
I really like the way these turned out. They are very nice in person. I finished the others for the order just yesterday, and I REALLY like the way those turned out! I took pictures, but I wanted to post a few that I had for sale at the table first.

The things I had that I don't have pictures of, are a couple beaded pens, and some peppermint patties, sold individually, with a cute little scallop punch medallion of various Christmas stamps on them. I only sold one of those. In my chart below, I list cards and premium cards. I sold my regular cards at $1 each, or 6 for $5. That seemed to be the trick, as everyone went for the 6 for $5 deal. The $1 cards were just basic cards, nothing fancy, and came with plain envelopes. The premium cards were mostly birthday cards, were quite a bit more elaborate and fancy, and came with matching envelopes and were packaged up really nice. Those were the ones I had on the card rack and sold them at $2 each. I sold a few of those.
For the cards in general, I found that people went mostly for the Christmas and Birthday cards. I had a couple people really looking for masculine birthday cards. I do have to say, that is a tough one! Its hard to come up with them! I will have to really concentrate on doing a lot more guy cards for next year and double up on the Christmas cards! I pretty much sold out of all my Christmas cards! That made me happy! I really was just mostly thrilled people seemed to like my stuff! That makes me feel good!

This wasn't a strictly Stampin' Up booth, because I have been a scrapbooker for 15 years, and have accumulated 15 years worth of various papers and scrapbook stuff! I have been really trying to use up what I have, so I used some of everything while making my items. I had to come up with a name for my little "business" and I settled on "With Love" creations. So that is what I represented myself as. I did make sure though, that my cards had the special stamp on the back with the Stampin' Up copyright on it. :)


Ok, So here is a breakdown of what I had and how many I brought/sold:

-----------------------brought--------- sold
cards: .................................108....................60
premium cards:..................35......................7
photo clips:..........................8........................8
gift tags package:................4.......................4......orders for 2 more
homemade fudge:...............9.......................9.......orders for 11 more!
beaded pens:........................4......................0
paperclip/bookmarks.........7........................7
peppermint patties.............20....................1
snowman/reindeer poop...24......................1



Seeing as the table fee was only $2....yes, thats right, $2, I think I did pretty good! It was a great learning experience, and if my mom still works there a year from now, I will do it again for sure! I will say, the preparation was a little stressful, but seeing as it was my first one, I wanted to make sure that I had planned properly and hadn't forgotten anything. I'm completely happy with the outcome.


My next posts will be some Christmas cards I have made recently. Hope you'll like them!

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Craft Bazaar!

Ok, I am finally posting about the craft bazaar from last week!

These are just a couple pictures of the table after I got it most of the way set up. This was my very first time doing anything like this, and had NO idea what to expect. I went for a simple approach, with no fancy frills or anything. I kept the 'background' basic and black. Black table cloth, black baskets, black shelf for some height. I did this to make the products pop, and to keep the distractions to a minimum. this helped bring attention to the products.



Thats my wonderful mother sitting behind the table. She helped me SO much that day! This bazaar was put on by the people where my mom works. She is funny, she is a great person, but she never smiles for the camera! She makes me laugh! Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, They turned out dark and I had to lighten them up a bit.

I was able to borrow a card rack from a lovely person in the group I belong to. It sure came in handy! I would eventually like to get one of my own, but that will be a long way down on my priority list unless I become serious about the craft fair circuit, but I don't see that happening any time soon! Everything you see on my table was the culmination of about 9 months worth of work! I really didn't have a whole lot of stuff, but since this was my first time, I just went with a few things to kind of get an idea of what sells and what doesn't. If I do it again next year, I may add a few things.

I will be posting pictures of some items I sold in the next few days. I thought I would start with pictures of the table so you can see that.

When I was initially planning for this, we were told that one person backed out so we would have 2 tables, but upon arrival, found out that wasn't the case, so we only had the 1 table to work with, which was ok, but I would have liked just about a half a table worth of a little more space.

In the end, I consider that day to be a complete success, as I sold over half of my cards, sold out of a few things, and sold at least one of every type of item I brought. I made a decent amount of money from it, way more than I had anticipated. I'm not saying I made a fortune or anything, but I can say that my expectations were low and I exceeded that by a lot!

I will however say that I sell my items for a lot less than what I have seen others sell their items for when I was researching craft fairs. I priced them to cover the cost of materials and tax, (they made us charge tax) and then settled on a fair price after that.
There were a few other people selling cards there, and at first I was a little worried, but I figured that I know they wouldn't have the same designs as me, so its not like we are selling the same exact product, so it was ok. I went over and visited with the other card maker tables, said hello and got to know them a little, and took a look at their cute cards. I didn't happen to see what they were asking for them, so I don't know what the price comparison was. But it was nice to talk with them and see their work!

I will post a list of the items I had, how many I sold of each, and a few pictures on my next blog. For now I should head off to bed, as it is getting late......
Until next time!

One layer Christmas card

Ok, I said I would post another card similar to the last one I posted, and here it is! I LOVE the way this card turned out! It was so simple, but really gives the feeling of winter. It doesn't look like much in the picture, you can click on it to get a better view, but in person it is super cute!

I started by using the adorable snowman from Jolliest time of the Year set and stamped him in Basic Gray on a really light gray cardstock. I then stamped with the large splatter from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in White Craft ink randomly around the card. I then did the same with the small snowflake from Snow Swirled. I used colored pencils to give the snowman life, then stamped the sentiment from Cardinal Christmas in Basic Gray using my Stamp-a-ma-jig (couldn't have gotten it straight without it!) and lastly, I highlighted the snowdrifts with Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds glitter!
My mom wanted to re-create these as part of her Christmas Card set. We were able to make 10 of these in about an hour, so not only is it a fun little card, but pretty quick and easy too! No cutting, measuring, or adhering!


On a personal note, the craft bazaar was this last monday, and I want to blog about it, but this week has been busy (again!) Hopefully I will get a chance to write about it soon! I will have pictures too! Check back in a couple days for that!

In the meantime, don't forget about the great specials happening right now! Check out the last post for details!

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sorry I've been away!

I know I promised to have this months sales posted a few days ago, but I hope you will forgive me for not having them up yet! I don't know what in the world happened to the hours/minutes of the last few days, they seemed to have disappeared! As I am typing this (in a frenzy, making tons of mistakes!), I am already terribly behind on something I need to finish before I go to bed tonight. I am actually booked solid until about 5pm on Monday night! I am participating in a craft bazaar on Monday, which is what I need to finish preparing for tonight because Sunday will be crazy busy, but I am really looking forward to the bazaar! I will post about it later, along with the specials this month, and also maybe a picture or two! So don't give up on me just yet! I see there are a few new people visiting my blog! Hi there! Its really nice to have you here! And thank you so much for your lovely comments!
Allrighty, bear with me a few more days, and I will update you all as soon as I am able!

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Happy December!

Welcome to December everyone! Gosh, where in the world has this year gone! 2 months from now will mark my 1 year stampiversary as a demonstrator!

Todays card I know is a little late for Thanksgiving, but I have been so busy with lots of this and that, I haven't had much time to work on cards, let alone photograph them and upload them!
As you can see, i used the colored pencil on colored paper technique again. I was on a kick for a while, cause when I start using a new technique, I tend to use it a lot for a while, kind of to get used to it and kind of see what effects I can get with different paper/colors/etc. The one in the background is the envelope, I actually did that with the watercolor technique because the pencils were a bit too harsh on the white for the look I was going for.

I started with More Mustard carstock, then stamped the 2 larger pumpkins from the Autumn Harvest set with Chocolate Chip ink. I colored them with pencils, adding highlights and shadows. I then stamped the little gourd on a separate scrap piece of summer sun, colored it, making sure that I toned down the brightness, cut it out, and adhered between the pumpkins. I then just used my pencils to fill in any gaps and give the image a finished look, and lastly, stamped the Happy Thanksgiving from the Holidays and Wishes set in Chocolate Chip.

I have another card that I am just dying to post, but I want to save it for next time. It is basically the same technique and has the same simplicity as this card, but it is a Christmas card, and I want to get Thanksgiving out of the way first. I will also be posting this months specials by tomorrow so you can start checking off your personal stamping wish list! There's been so many specials going on the last few weeks, some of which ended Monday, I want to make sure that I post all the current deals.

Ok, unitl next time, keep stampin' away!

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Yay!!!!!

I am so excited! I was wandering around the Stampin' Up demonstrator web site, and I saw one of my submissions on there!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!! This is really huge for me! It's my first time being 'published' so to speak, and I am just thrilled!

This is a picture of the set that I submitted for ideas. I hope you like it!
This was made primarily with the Snow Swirled set, and also the Merry Christmas from Many Merry Messages. All 3 cards were basically made with Basic Black, Very Vanilla, and Gold Shimmer paper, and I used Versamark and Gold, Silver, and Black embossing powders. I used small rhinestone brads on one of the trees.

He brought a flower!

my favorite little stinker has returned! This little guy has done some traveling (inside story!) and has returned to wish someone well.
I used another paper from last year, but again, you can use any patterned paper you like.

You may notice this layout is very similar to my Cup with a friend card I posted earlier. This just shows how you can take a basic layout to get you started, and apply it to any style card you want.

I stamped the skunk from Pun Fun in black StazOn and watercolored him. I then matted him in pink, then used a strip of patterned paper matted in white and tied pink stitched grosgrain ribbon around the piece, and adhered it to the card. Lastly, I stamped the get well sentiment from Curvy Verses in Black.
I'm sure this cutie with his sweet flower would make anyone feel better!

Sorry about the fuzzy picture, I had already packaged this card up and sealed it before I realized I didn't have a picture of it. The white around the outside is actually the envelope behind it.

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have a cup with a friend

I used some Chocolate Chip patterned paper from last year for this card, but I know there are lots of ways you can get the same look with polka dots, or whatever kind of patterned paper you like! Its just a simple piece along the bottom half of the Naturals cardbase, with a strip of brown along the middle. I stamped the sentiment from the Best Yet hostess set in Chocolate Chip ink, and the coffee cup from the Pun Fun set and colored it with the watercolor technique. For this technique, the best ink to stamp with is StazOn. I used the Black StazOn for this image. Just for fun, I added some glitter for the inside of the coffee cup and in the steam. It really adds that extra little something!

A nice little card I am sure your friends would love to receive!

Of Colored Pencils and Dragonflies

I was inspired by my other card that I made last week when I made this one. I really LOVE the look of colored pencils on the colored paper! Its such an easy technique, but looks so wonderful!
I basically stamped the images from Organic Grace hostess set in black ink, then colored them with colored pencils! Then I stamped a verse from the Gods Blessings set.
You should give this technique a try!


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Hello everyone! Hope all is well! Unfortunately, my poor little girl has been very sick the last few days. She is improving today, which makes me super happy! But of course since she needed her mommy, I spent most of my time with her, and didn't get much chance to do much else. So this week has been slim on the papercrafting side of life. I was able to do a few things last night after she was finally able to fall asleep, but i mostly worked on things for the rapidly approaching craft bazaar. I am actually getting close to being somewhat ready for that! I think I have all the projects in mind that I want to have for it, so that part is taken care of, and they are all in various stages of completion, so I have at least begun all of them.

Today's card is one I actually did last week, and wanted to adjust the picture a little bit, but I just don't have the time today, and wanted to get it posted so I would have something. So if you forgive the poor quality of the picture, here is today's card!
I used Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue, and Whisper White cardstock, Snow Swirled, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, and Many Merry Messages stamps, Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue inks, silver brads, and the ticket corner punch.

Ok, housework is calling!

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Fastest Card I've ever made!

This card was made in under 5 minutes. It was for our music director at the church for Pastor Appreciation Month! We were headed out the door to go to practice, and I remembered at the last minute I needed a card for him. I just happened to have a couple stamps already out, like Canvas Background and the Organic Grace hostess set. I grabbed a piece of Bordering Blue cardstock and stamped the Canvas stamp in Bordering Blue.
I then stamped the leaves and dragonfly in Night of Navy, added a brown strip, and made the sentiment piece. I stamped the thank you sentiment from God's Blessings on Very Vanilla paper in Night of Navy ink, then inked the dragonfly again in Night of Navy and stamped it off once, then on the piece. I matted it with an old piece of brown from my scrap pile, then put in silver eyelets with my crop-a-dile. I put it on dimensionals, took a quick picture of it, and ran out the door! I had to sign it on the way there. My husband is funny. Since he is a guy and doesn't understand the obsession that is papercrafting, when I showed this to him, I asked what he thought. He took a look for a couple seconds, then says: "Did you just put a bunch of stamps all over a card?" LOL! Well, I sort of did! In his defense, I don't think he meant it in a bad way. But I know that the recipient will like it! I left it on his desk and don't know if he has seen it yet.

Ok, everyone, hope you all have a wonderful day!


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You can do this!

If you can color a picture, you can make this card! I used the Big on Christmas set and stamped in Basic Black Classic ink on Whisper White. Then I stamped a piece of Certainly Celery with Polka Dot background stamp in Certainly Celery ink. Then I colored the image using a watercolor technique, but you can use colored pencils! Then I matted the image with Garden green, punched 2 small holes with the 1/16 circle punch and threaded silver chording through it and tied it in a bow. I put dimensionals behind the image block, and assembled the card on a Real Red cardbase. I used some glue and added glitter to the tree for some sparkle!

This would even be a great card for kids to help make! You can stamp the image, they can color and assemble it! What grandparent wouldn't love to get a card made by the little ones!

Have a great day!

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Featured Product of the Month:

Stamp-a-ma-jig

I just got one of these, and let me tell you, I don't know how I ever did without it! It is a very easy to use stamp positioner that helps you make a straight stamp every time! It comes with a T-shaped positioner and an imaging sheet.

You basically place the imaging sheet in the crook of the positioner, then ink your stamp and stamp the image on to the imaging sheet using the positioner as a guide. Then you would like up the imaging sheet where you want to stamp your image, then put the positioner against the imaging sheet, remove the sheet, then stamp your image again using the positioner as the guide. Your images will be right where you want them!
I have only had mine two weeks, and have used it on almost every card I have made, and plan on using it over and over again. If you are looking to move up a notch in your cardmaking, you should have one of these in your toolbox! I give it two thumbs up!

The Stamp-a-ma-jig is on page 194 of the Fall-Winter Catalog and is $11.95.



Bright Ideas!

What's Cookin'?
Use your stamping or scrapbooking supplies to make recipe cards, the box to put them in, or an entire recipe book! Handmade recipe books also make wonderful gifts!

"Water" you waiting for?
Use a watercolor brush or Aqua Painter and any Classic inkpad to make lovely watercolored images! Squeeze the inkpad while closed until there is a pool of ink on the inside of the lid, then use a wet brush to pick up the ink like you would with watercolor paint, and start creating! You can also use re-inkers for more options.

If the Shoe Fits...
Shoe boxes are a great way to inexpensively store your handmade cards. The standard size card fit wonderfully in most standard size shoe boxes, and they are FREE! (not including the cost of the shoes, of course!) You can easily decorate the outsides to your hearts desire, and you can make your own dividers to organize your cards by occasion! It's also a great way to recycle!

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V.I.P.!

V.I.P.!
Very-Inspiring-Papercrafter!
Those of you who received my newsletters before I started a blog might remember my VIP section where I would highlight the work of my customers, family and friends! This one was made by my wonderful mother! She did a great job, didn't she! I really like the vibrant colors on this card! It uses the Happy Blessings set from the Holiday Mini Catalog and the Sanded background stamp. What a great card!

If anyone has a card or project they would like to send me, email me a picture or scan of it, and you could be my next V.I.P.!

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Send some snow in the mail!

This is one of the cards we made at the Fantastic Fall/Wonderful Winter class. This little penguin comes to us from the Wild About You set. He looks right at home in this snow, doesn't he? He has stopped by to say thanks! This card is a christmas/winter thank you card. Its another easy and FAST card to make. Start with a bashful blue cardbase, stamp the background snow with the large spatter stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in craft white. Then tear a strip of whisper white and layer on the bottom of card. Stamp the thank you sentiment from Curvy Verses in Ballet Blue. Then run the tombow glue along the torn portion of the white and pour Dazzling Diamonds for some sparkle! set aside and let dry. In the meantime, stamp cute little penguin in basic black and cut out the image. put dimensionals on his back and place him on the card. Who wouldn't love to get a little bit of the south pole in the mail?

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Happy Blessings

I have been posting mostly easy/beginner level cards so far, and thought I would add one that would be more of an intermediate level. This was the first card I made when my Happy Blessings set arrived a few weeks ago! This set comes from the Holiday Mini catalog, and it is so cute! I just love the little scarecrow! But for this card, I used the pumpkins and wheat image. I began by stamping the image on Very Vanilla in Creamy Caramel. I then colored the image with the watercolor technique in varying colors, mostly from the Earth Elements set. I then used the splatter stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamped off once with Creamy Caramel ink. I also used my sponge daubers with Creamy Caramel to age the paper a bit. I then distressed the edges with my scissors. I put that on an Old Olive mat. On a strip of Creamy Caramel cardstock, I stamped the Canvas background stamp in Creamy Caramel. I matted that strip with elegant Eggplant. On the Pumpkin Pie cardbase, I stamped the Sanded background stamp in Pumpkin Pie ink. I then adhered the pieces, then punched two pieces from the Word Window punch in Elegant Eggplant, trimmed them down to fit, poked a hole on one side of each, and placed an antique gold brad in them, then adhered them to the card. Lastly, I used the sentiment from the Happy Blessings set in Elegant Eggplant to finish off the card!

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Let it Snow!

Well, we had a bit of snow here last Friday! That was surprising! Although it was ok with me, cause I love snow! We didn't have quite enough snow to make a snowman, but I can always make one on a card! I used the Big on Christmas set! Another easy one! (sorry about the terrible picture, though!) Just stamp the image with Staz On, use the watercolor technique to highlight the image with some bashful Blue, Basic Gray, Only Orange, Real Red and Garden Green. Stamp some snowflakes from the Snow Burst set in a random diagonal pattern on a Whisper White panel in Bashful Blue, add a strip of Bashful Blue cardstock with a silver chord and put it all on a Bashful Blue cardbase! You can't see it, but I added a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the holly and leaf in his hat. He sure is cute! Let it snow, anytime!
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Someone's at the door.....

Yay!! I got new stamps! It's always so exciting when UPS comes and rings my doorbell! I got the Holidays and Wishes set, and the Party Hearty set! I can't wait to use them! I had gotten a few things that totaled over $20 and was able to get the Party Hearty set at a 20% discount! This Birthday promotion that is going on right now is great! I always say that if you were to only have one stamp set, you need to get one either Birthday or Christmas themed! The Party Hearty set is really cute and is very versatile!

I also got my very first spool of Stampin' Up ribbon, the 5/8 Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon......I love it and haven't even used it on a card yet! It's very soft and feels so nice....now I need to design a card so I can use it asap! I love the fact that all of Stampin Up's products color coordinate. It really takes so much guess work out of the creative process!

I am looking forward to this Saturday's Fantastic Fall-Wonderful Winter class! We are making some fun projects, but I can't wait for the attendees to see the absolutely adorable card we are making for Thanksgiving! When I saw the idea, I was head over heels for it! And I am just beside myself with excitement to show it to the class! There is still room if you want to come!

I have been pretty busy with lots of little things (and several big things!) so I haven't been able to add much to my blog, but I should be adding some new stuff by next week. I already have a card ready to upload, but I just have to get to it and type it up!

Hope everyone is having a good week!



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Stinkin' Sweet!

Don't you just love this little skunk! He is just adorable! This is a VERY simple card that would be very easy to duplicate.
I started with a Pale Plum cardbase stamped in Versamark with the Fast Flowers wheel. Then I added a strip of Rose Red and Certainly Celery, with Black Gingham ribbon tied around it. I then stamped the sweet little skunk from the Pun Fun set in Staz On black, colored him with my blender pen and Stampin' Pastels, matted the image with Basic Black cardstock, placed Dimensionals on the back, and placed him a little askew, just for personality. For the last step, I stamped the thank you stamp from Curvy Verses in black.
This little guy is now ready to deliver that flower to the person you wish to thank!

A word from me

Well, I thought I had enough blog entries about business.....or should I call it pleasure? after all, the subject of stamping never seems like business! But as I was saying, I had so many entries about business, I should add one on a more personal level! So here it is!

I came to a conclusion today. I cannot be at my fullest creative potential unless I have my music playing in the background. Am I alone in that? or does any body else out there feel the same way? I also decided that if I had a day where I could just wake up and head to my scrap table and make stuff until it was time to go to sleep, I would be just fine with that. Oh stamping, what is this spell you have cast over me!

I am worn out tonight! I had to do some serious cleaning and rearranging of my 5 year old daughters room. She has a zillion stuffed animals, and of course she is attached to each in varying degrees. While she was away at kindergarten, I had the awful task of deciding which ones get to stay and which ones get to find new homes. That is a tough thing for a mother to do. But I have to say that I am proud of myself, for I was able to rid that room of 3 boxes of stuff animals and one box of misc. toys! hooray! I also took today to do my laundry and most of my major house cleaning. So unfortunately, I didn't get to stamp at all today, BUT! I told myself if I got it done today, I can take tomorrow to just stamp, stamp, stamp! Tomorrow can't come fast enough!

I will be posting more cards soon....we had an issue with our camera and it's at the camera doctor, so when I get it back, I will post one asap.

Ok, I have one more load of laundry to dry then I'm all done! Off I go!

Product of the Month

For those of you who might be either reading this for the first time, or who have not received any of my previous email newsletters, I usually will review one product per month and give my overview of the product, and my personal thoughts on it. This month is Staz On. Here is my review!

STAZ-ON

It’s like having a Sharpie in an inkpad!

StazOn is a quick drying, solvent-based, permanent inkpad, designed for decorating non-porous surfaces such as glass, metal, shrink plastic, cellophane, aluminum foil, leather and acrylic.

The Jet Black is ideal for stamping on paper or cardstock and will not smudge or bleed when watercoloring your images or using markers. The white is great, especially for stamping on acetate, glass, or plastic. There are so many crafting possibilities with these great little inks, and can be used well beyond just papercrafting!

Thanks to its mild smell, StazOn is much safer to use than other permanent inks.

Stampin Up offers StazOn in two colors, Jet Black, and White. The White Ink pad comes with a refill to help keep the pad nice and moist. They also offer refills for both colors seperately. For everything from papercrafting projects to garden art and home decor, StazOn is a must have for any stampers toolbox!

I would highly recommend StazOn All Purpose Cleaner when cleaning your stamps. StazOn cleaner is specially formulated to clean and condition your stamps after use with StazOn ink pads, and is safe on all your stamps and cleans dye based and pigment ink beautifully as well!

It's acid-free and has a wonderful lemon-scent.

The only downside to this product, is you will need to clean your stamps immediately after use, so as not to ruin them. Just as StazOn ink will stick to almost anything, so too, will it stick to your stamp if allowed to sit and dry for any length of time. But beyond that, I would give this product two thumbs up!

StazOn Inks, All Purpose Cleaner, and refills are sold on page 193 of the Fall~Winter 2008 Catalog.

Jet Black Ink Pad - $7.95 ea

White Ink Pad & Refill – $11.95

Refills - $4.95 ea

Cleaner - $4.95

Decor Elements Phase II

Our Decor Elements product line is an extension of our Definitely Decorative home décor line. Décor Elements is vinyl artwork for walls, mirrors, windows, or other hard, smooth surfaces.

Stampin' Up! has long advocated decorating your home using Definitely Decorative stamp sets. Décor Elements takes that same idea and uses a different medium to accomplish the same mission--making your home a beautiful representation of your style! Whether you want to spice up the walls of their house or frame a piece for display, Décor Elements is easy to apply, easy to love, and easy to remove.

Décor Elements Products
Stampin' Up! has incredible artwork that lends itself to beautiful home décor images. Our artwork really stands out when you see it on a wall, a mirror, or a window.

Décor Elements images also coordinate with our existing products. We brought you Two-Step Stampin', so why not two-step and three-step wall art that will really catch your customers' attention in our exclusive colors? For example, our Ginormous Flowers Décor Elements has multi-colored images create by two- and- three-step vinyl application.


There are some great new designs in Phase II! So many possibilities!

If you are interested in seeing the entire brochure including Phase I, contact me, and I can send you a PDF of the entire thing!

Spooky Spider!

Make your home and Halloween projects spooktacular this year with the Spooky Spider Décor Elements™! Decorate your candy jar to thrill the treaters, or adhere it above your door to scare off the tricksters. Whatever you do, you’ll be a Halloween hit! The exclusive Spooky Spider comes in three sizes and two colors and is designed to coordinate with our Ghostly Greetings Designer Series paper and our Chills & Thrills Rub-Ons from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog.
Spooky Spider is just in time to help you get ready for Halloween and is priced low so it won’t break your candy budget.


Spooky Spider
Small: 4-5/8" x 4"
Medium: 8-7/8" x 7-3/4"
Large: 14-15/16" x 13"
Extra Web Lengths (included)
Small: 4-1/2"
Medium: 8-11/16"
Large: 9-1/2"

black white Description price (us)
114761 114764 Spooky Spider(S) $5.95
114762 114765 Spooky Spider(M) $10.95
114763 114766 Spooky Spider(L) $14.95


These spiders won’t hang around long, so contact me to get your Spooky Spider Décor Elements before they vanish into the night!
Ends October 31st

Attention! Attention!

The 2008 Holiday Mini Catalog should be arriving in your mailbox some time very soon! I’ve had the privilege of looking through it, and I LOVE what’s inside! I can’t wait for you to see it too!

Bright Ideas!

Let’s get one thing straight!
When cutting out a circle with decorative edged scissors, to keep it ‘straight’ and even, trace a circle on the back of whatever paper or cardstock you will be using. Then with your scissors, continuously line up the bottom portion of the blade decoration along the traced line as you are cutting. It still may not be perfect, but it is a pretty good trick to keep it on the right track, and all your scrappin’ friends will be amazed at how you cut such a great scalloped circle!!

Home Sweet Home

You can use a lot of your stamping supplies to make great home accessories! Make a scrapbook page, frame it and hang it on the wall or put in on the mantle. Stamp on a lampshade, dish towel, tablecloth, containers, or even walls! You can make personalized coasters, trivets, tiles, refrigerator magnets, candles, wall art, or make these projects and give them as gifts! Even better if wrapped in handmade gift wrap or a gift bag made by you!

Ribbon Rainbows!

Here’s a great way to make the most of what you have! Press white grosgrain ribbon onto any color Classic inkpad to create a ribbon in any color you need! You can also vary the colors for a two-tone or rainbow look!

This pretty card is easier than it looks, fast, and perfect as thank you or note card!

Stitched Exotics Stamp set

Ink: Bashful Blue

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue

Very Vanilla button

Glue Dot & Dimensionals

Cut a 5x7piece of Bashful Blue Cardstock for the cardbase.

Fold in half. Cut a strip of 1 5/8 ballet blue, and a 1 ½ of very vanilla. You will also need about 4 large very vanilla scraps.

On your cardbase, stamp a random pattern in Bashful Blue with the small flower stamp from Stitched Exotics. Then stamp the stitched leaf from the same set in Bashful blue on the Very Vanilla strip in a tight random pattern.

On your 4 scrap pieces of Very Vanilla, stamp the large round stitched flower, the medium flower, and 2 of the solid leafs, all in Bashful Blue. Cut out each, leaving a small border of vanilla on the medium flower and leaves. For the large flower, just cut along the largest outline.

Adhere the medium flower to the large flower. Bend the petals up slightly.

Adhere the Vanilla strip to the Ballet Blue strip, then adhere that to the cardbase. Place dimensionals on back of the flower, keeping them somewhat center. Add to card. Adhere the two leaves, tucking them under the flower.

Add the vanilla button with a glue dot.

Welcome!

Welcome to "Me Time", a blog created for when you want a little time to yourself!
I have been wanting to do this for a while, but only recently got the time! This is where I will be posting a lot of things I would normally post in my newsletter, but now I won't have to put your inbox at it's limit!
With this blog, I will have more updates, announcements, specials, and more than just one project a month! I will add content every few days, so hopefully I will be able to inspire you more often! I will still send reminders via email if there are any important updates to make sure you don't miss anything!

So without further adieu, hereby launch "Me Time"!



September 11, 2008

Here we are on the cusp of fall….ahh, fall. The cooler weather, the changing colors on the trees, the lovely reminders that the seasons are changing….

This is my favorite time of year. I’m absolutely crazy about fall colors! They make the most beautiful backdrops for pictures! I love taking pictures, especially of my kids! (They make great subjects!) And besides, it gives me more of an excuse to scrapbook!

There are some exciting things going on in the Stampin' Up world this month. There's a great discount still happening on some new stamp sets until the end of the month! See below for details:

Never before has Stampin’ Up!® offered a discount

on brand-new stamp sets!

From August 11-September 30, enjoy a 15% discount on select brand-new, die-cut stamp sets from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog—no additional purchase necessary!

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN SAVINGS ON BRAND-NEW STAMP SETS BY CONTACTING ME TODAY!

Item	page	Description	Regular Price	Promotional Price
111690	32	Snow Swirled	$24.95	$21.21
111586	55	It’s a Stretch	$23.95	$20.36
111544	81	Putt Putt	$24.95	$21.21
111626	91	Eastern Blooms	$21.95	$18.66
111672	98	Pocket Silhouettes	$18.95	$16.11
111710	101	Upsy Daisy	$18.95	$16.11
111556	109	Under the Stars	$29.95	$25.46
111644	145	Heard from the Heart	$22.95	$19.51
111570	157	Contempo Alphabet	$40.95	$34.81

These are great deals! If you were thinking about getting any of these stamps, now is the time!


ANNOUNCEMENTS:
I am planning a class for the beginning of October called Fantastic Fall/Wonderful Winter. This will be a beginner/easy level class designed for the newcomer or the busy stamper with little time. I already have several fun projects in mind, all perfect for the upcoming holidays! We will be using some items from the upcoming Winter Mini catalog! I know you will enjoy this class! I will be posting details as soon as they are set, and will be emailing flyers as well.