Thursday, October 30, 2008

Trick or Treat!

My friend, Wanda (aka Darkside Stamper), made the CUTEST little treat buckets using the super-cheap pails in the $1 Spot at Target and Stampin' Up!'s Halloween rub-ons and I just had to make some, too. When I bought the buckets, they had been reduced to 50 cents for 2, so they're an AWESOME deal!! Keep in mind, they are VERY small - they'll hold about 5-6 fun-size candy bars - but they are perfect for teacher treats. I hope Bailey's teachers like them!! Happy Halloween!

Last-Minute Halloween Cards

OK, I have been literally thinking about Halloween for a month or more. I have researched project and card ideas, yummy recipes, decorations, the whole thing. So why is it that 2 days before Halloween, I am still making cards to send out and creating little treats for the teachers at school?!? UGH!!! I had marked this card as a favorite on SCS because I love the layout and the color combination. Since I was sick today, I sat on the couch and worked on a few cards all day . . . and believe me, they took ALL DAY! But I love the finished product so I'm glad I stuck it out! Have fun on Halloween!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Holiday Swap Card

I have a demonstrator meeting on Monday night and the theme is holiday cards. It's too close to Halloween to make scary cards, so I decided to make a Christmas card - with a twist! I used the set Party Hearty - the "trees" are actually the party hats. Cool, huh?!? And since this is one of the sets that's 20% off this month, this is a great demo card as well. It was hard not to use Deer Friends because I love it, but it's so popular that I'm sure my fellow demonstrators have seen every possible project I could create, so I had to get a little creative! Have a great weekend!

Birthday 3x3

I needed a card for a friend of my daughter who is turning 7 this week and this little 3x3 card is perfect to put on his gift! He will surely toss the card aside quickly, so I didn't get too precious about my design! I think this card is cute enough to impress the moms but easy enough that I won't collapse if it mistakenly gets thrown away!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

What a hoot!

How cute is this idea?!? I saw it in the September issue of "Stampin' Success," the magazine for SU! demonstrators, and I knew I had to make it for one of my hostesses who LOVES owls! It's VERY simple and uses lots of punches so it would be great to demo. I also used my favorite Bella Toile background stamp inked in Sage Shadow on Sage Shadow CS. It's really pretty! I don't use Sage Shadow much, but it's one of the coordinating colors for Creamy Caramel on the color wheel which meant I didn't have to think about picking a good color match, and the less thinking I have to do, THE BETTER!! Have a great week!

More Branching Out

I've always had a fear of demonstrating scrapbooking - always! It's such a personal hobby and my very simple style may be the farthest thing from your more intricate and detailed style. So these thoughts of self-doubt have always steered me clear of scrapboking demos - until Friday!! I saw in the latest issue of "Stampin' Success" the cutest little 2-page layout that really seemed doable! So I copied that bad boy straight out of the magazine and it turned out so cute!! I used a 6x6 format and the pieces were very simple to put together. It's one of those projects that you can add more or fewer embellishments based on your mood! ENJOY!!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

One-Sheet Wonder

I am truly branching out in my stamping, sweet friends! I have always been fascinated by the concept of the One-Sheet Wonder but I usually have trouble spacing out my stamped images - I'm a pretty crappy "random" stamper. But when I found this pretty card on . . . (drum roll, please!) SplitcoastStampers, I knew it would be perfect design for a One-Sheet Wonder. And I need several thank you notes for a workshop I did on Friday, so here they are! I love Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, & Chocolate Chip together, and I'm REALLY in love with my new set, Flight of the Butterfly. I had a stamped strip left over, so I made a card for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge, too! I think I'm going to be making a LOT of One-Sheet Wonder projects!! Have a great weekend and a great Fall Break for those of you who get one!!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Stamp-A-Ma-Jigs ROCK!!

Well, my once irrational loathing of the infamous Stamp-A-Ma-Jig (SAMJ) has turned into a love to end all others! It never made sense to me to try to systematically and methodically line up the images in a 2-Step Stampin' set - I just always eyeballed it and got close enough to look good, if whimsical at times. But since I got the Flight of the Butterfly set, I have faithfully used my SAMJ to perfectly place the details on the butterflies' wings and it is AMAZING!! Such a simple trick that makes a HUGE difference in the finished project! I found this card on SCS (crazy, huh?!?) and fell in love with it so I made it for a friend who is having surgery next week. It turned out PERFECTLY! There is a bit of a learning curve with the SAMJ, but I'm well past that now ;) And I take back every single snide remark about that precious piece of purple plastic. It ROCKS!!

Reindeer Food

If you blog-stalk at all, I know you've seen all the cute little test tube projects that are on the web. I didn't find the Martha Stewart ones, but I did find a close second at Hobby Lobby that works very well (they're with the beads). I put raw oatmeal mixed with red glitter in this one and voila! Reindeer food! Bailey got a bag of this at church several years ago and we sprinkled it in the front yard so Santa's reindeer would have a snack. On Christmas morning, it was gone! Cool, huh?!? Bailey LOVED it! Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Rebekah's Super-Awesome Gift Class



These pictures are the projects that my friend, and fellow SU! demonstrator, Rebekah Ellis made in her gift class. I was so lucky to get to make them, too, at our recent Design & Dine. The Haiku paper from SU! is BEAUTIFUL and all of Rebekah's projects are completely amazing. I think my favorite is the memo cube and matching pen. I am feverishly trying to find those plain memo cubes locally so I don't have to order them. I think all the teachers at Shannondale need one, don't you?!? The gift with the bow on it is a giant candy bar and, believe it or not, I haven't eaten it yet! I'm saving it for an especially gruesome day! The pocket calendar is another favorite. It's amazing what you can do with a 99 cent calendar and some designer paper!

Urban Garden Beauty

I found (and CASEd) this card created by Momscrzr on SCS and I think it is so lovely! I used the fabulous Urban Garden Designer Paper and the butterfly from Dreams du Jour. There's only a little stamping because of the pattern in the paper. I made a few of these to use as sympathy cards. Thanks for looking and have a great week!!!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Here's Frankie . . .

I have seen so many cute Frankenstein projects on the blogs I stalk, but this one is the best! I found it on Angie Juda's blog, Chic 'n' Scratch, and she does an easy-to-follow tutorial as well. How cool is that?!?! I can't believe how well these little Frankie boxes turned out. They are a little time-consuming but not hard to do. Since I didn't have decorative scissors or a die to cut out Frank's hair, I used my new Martha Stewart Goo Punch and I really like how it looks. I hope my stampin' buddies like these little cuties! Have a great weekend!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Spooky Jars - they're all the rage!!

I finally got the cool new Decor Elements spider (medium)from SU! and the giant 2-gallon jar from Target and LOOK HOW COOL THIS IS!! I knew I would need $100 worth of candy to fill up this monster, so instead, I spent $1.99 on bright green tissue paper and VOILA! The coolest jar in town that was a cinch to make!! I put up a bunch of Halloween decorations yesterday and I just love them! This is the best time of year! The colors, sights, sounds, tastes, smells - everything about Fall makes me happy!! Have a great day!!

We interrupt this blog for a public service announcement . . .

I know that Stampin' Up! demonstrators are always looking for great ideas to demonstrate so when I stumble upon something worth passing on, I like to do just that so HERE IS TODAY'S SUPER SMART IDEA which I actually figured out on my own (I know, right!?!)! I totally love the Christmas box that my dear, sweet friend, Cele, made for me, but the base is a 6" x 9" piece of cardstock which means you can only cut one out of a piece of 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock. Not a big deal if you're making one or two, but if you want to use it as a make-n-take, that's a lot of waste. So, here are the measurements if you use a half-sheet of cardstock. No applause necessary!
***Score your piece of 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" cardstock at 3/4" and 4 3/4" on the 5 1/2" side, then score at 3 7/8" and 4 5/8" on the 8 1/2" side. This will create 2 little squares that you will cut from the edge to the score line making 2 little tabs. Fold on all the score lines and assemble with sticky strip and you have a cute little box perfect for demonstrating at your next workshop!!***

I'm also demonstrating this beautiful Chrismtas card at my workshp on Sunday that is so easy, but uses so many of Stampin' Up!'s wonderful products that will impress your customers (and mine, too, I hope!!). This will be my second m-n-t. I think this might be my best workshop ever!