12 Month Card Organizer

I was greatly inspired by Patty's Stamping Spot to create this project. It is so very easy to make and is a wonderful gift to give someone.

I used my Cricut Expressions to create the title, using the Calligraphy cartridge for the font, my DD picked out the colors and papers for the organizer so I'm giving it to her to be able to track and store the cards she makes for people's special occasions. We used the retired Bali Breeze DS and the coordinating card stock and ribbon.

The supply list is pretty short: 6 pieces 12 x 12 DS paper, the chipboard support piece from the pack of paper, BIA, large O rings (1" or larger), accent paper, embellishments.

Start by scoring your paper at 4" then turning and scoring it at 6". You want the score marks to cross on the paper. Fold at the 4" score mark first to create the pocket and then fold at the 6 " mark to create the two pages. Repeat for the remaining 5 pieces of DS paper.

This is what that stack should look like:

Next decorate your covers and punch your holes through all the pages and covers with the BIA. I chose to bind at the top and bottom of the book, but you could create the rings all the way down if you wanted.
I forgot to take a picture of the inside pages and the calender section, but you can go here and download the months from Splitcoast Stampers.

I hope everyone enjoyed my rambling first tutorial...I promise as I do more I will get better at it ;)

Blog Candy

So apparently I don't know the days of the week very well...I know I said I would offer this last weekend, but time just got away from me...

First let me show you a card I created using this wonderful stamp called Santa Collage...I first saw it a few years ago and absolutely fell in love with the design, little did I know then it was a very rare, hard to get stamp...so that made me want it all the more...

The background is by another great company that I have come to love - Peddler's Pack the backgrounds they offer are wonderfully detailed. I thought the snowflakes matched well with the Santa image.

Now on to the blog candy...I was fortunate enough to come across a couple of the Santa Collage stamps and I thought I would share my good fortune with one of you...I'm offering a brand new Santa Collage stamp, winter embellishments, Halloween acrylic embellishments and a mini book made from the Bella Rose DS paper, complete with tags and mats inside, ready to be customized.

Between now and January 2 leave me a comment to this post telling me what you want to accomplish in the new year. I will use mykids.org to pick the winner.

My goals for 2009 are to keep loosing weight (down 28 pounds since August), getting our finances under control, getting back on the FlyLady routine and being the best wife and mother I can be...I think these are do-able goals...I would love to know what other people are planning for 2009. I will post the winners name on January 2nd in the evening...Good Luck!!

How Many of Me??

Hi everyone!!

I came across this on someone's blog and I thought it was really neat!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 5 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I hope everyone has a great day!!!

Stay tuned ~ on Sat I will be posting my first ever blog candy, in honor of my and my DD's birthday which it today, Christmas and my upcoming blog-aversary...

Thanks Gift Card

Good Afternoon everyone! I have yet another card to share with you. I hope everyone is enjoying seeing all these cards! I know that everyone enjoyed getting these as gifts and are already putting in requests for more ;)

This was such a fun card to make! I got to play with one of the sets from the Spanish catalog, Flores Suaves. I love this tulip and the script! I did a gatefold card to be able to showcase the tulip. I colored this with my Koh-i-noor pencils which are woodless colored pencils and blended the pencils with odorless mineral spirtits and blending stumps. I used yellow, orange and green on my tulip to get that wonderful multi-colored look and added a shadow at the bottom to help ground the image. I wrapped some cream sheer ribbon around both panels to add some interest. I dipped into my retired colors for this card ~ the base is Wild Wasabi and it is layered with River Rock and Very Vanilla.

Sunset Gift Card

Hi everyone! I have another card to share from the gift cards I made for friends and family. I know I have said that I have a really hard time picking a favorite, but this one is in the top of my favorite cards! I catch myself just looking at it for no reason...

I call this one Sunset Flowers. I did this with my brayer and sponges. First I punched a 1.25" circle from a piece of post it note and brayered So Saffron onto a piece of Glossy card stock then I put the circle that I punched out over the sun I just created and sponged Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red and Night of Navy all around layering the colors a little to get a nice blend going. Then I lifted the post it note sun off and really like how I got the white shadow at the bottom of the sun. I stamped the flowers from Upsy Daisy in StazOn Black across the bottom of the paper, making sure to get the tall flower somewhere in the sun. I so love how this card turned out! It has such a peaceful look to it. The base of the card is Taken with Teal and it has a piece of Windsor Knot along the bottom 1/3 of the card. The main image is layered with So Saffron and Old Olive and I added a small piece of Tempting Turquoise ribbon to the side.

The inside turned out just as neat as the front I think. I used the same flowers as on the front except I stamped them in So Saffron and did my sentiment in Taken with Teal.

This is a card I can't wait to teach at one of my next classes ~ I'm sure my ladies will love creating this card as much as I did!!

Merry Christmas Gift Card

I have another Christmas card gift to share with everyone. I totally cased this card from Beate ~ here is her card. I didn't change much on mine, mostly just the color of the sentiment. I did change the placement of the of the grommet up just a little. This was such a fun and easy card to make. The colors are a little more vibrant IRL. My DH says it looks like a very masculine Christmas card. I was surprised that I had someone order 10 of these from me while I was showing them to a group. That is the first card order I have ever had and I had a smile that just wouldn't stop!!

I hope everyone had a great day!!

Merci Gift Card

Good Morning!! I have another gift card to share with everyone! I had so much fun making all these. I hope everyone is enjoying these as well.

This card is geared more towards Valentine's day, although it would work for an anniversary as well. I really like how this came out. The colors work really well together and the image is just too cute!! I painted the image using my twinkling H2O's so it really shimmers IRL.

The base of the card is Close to Cocoa, on top of that is Pretty in Pink that has been paper pierced in the corners. I also used Ballet Blue, Gable Green, Berry Bliss DS (retired) and Whisper White.

Fall Gift Card

Good afternoon everyone! I have more cards to share from the gifts we are giving. I am really hoping that everyone will like the cards I made for them and share them with others.

It is so hard for me to pick a favorite ~ I really like them all!! This is my favorite fall card...it uses the Joseph's Coat Technique kinda...I am calling this Faux Soot Stamping. I love to soot stamp, the only problem with it is that I tend to catch the paper on fire trying to get a good cover of soot so I thought this would give the same effect without all the singe marks. I brayered ink onto the background of the full sheet of glossy cardstock starting with More Mustard, then Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust and finishing with Ruby Red. I did overlap the colors and go in a random pattern. Once the 8.5 X 11 piece was brayered I cut it into smaller sections and embossed the leaves in clear in a random pattern. Then I brayered Basic Black over the entire piece of paper. I let the black dry a little before I buffed the ink off the embossing and let my fall image shine.

The inside of the card is just as festive as the outside I think. I stamped off once before stamping the inside of the card. I used Ruby Red as the base of the card and More Mustard, Really Rust and Whisper White as accent colors. I used the same ink colors and Chocolate Chip. I think this is a good Fall / Thanksgiving card to share with everyone.

Always Gift Card

This year we decided to make gifts for people ~ not only to help the pocketbook but to also share in the joy of giving hand crafted gifts to our friends and family. The kids are also getting in the handmade spirit by painting candle holders and making ornaments for everyone.

This is the first of the 10 card set I made for everyone. I know it seems weird to post all the details before Christmas ~ rest assured that the friends and family that are recieving these gifts will be getting them before this actually posts so all is safe ;)

I designed this card to be a birthday card. This is the first card I made using the set Always. I made a pocket card and used Close to Cocoa as my base and layered Gable Green and Pink Pirouette as my accent colors. I also pulled in Banbury DS. I used Certain Celery 5/8" ribbon to accent the card. The bird and saying are stamped in StazOn Black.

Here is the card with the tag pulled out. I tried to keep the stamping on the inside soft so it could be written over. I'm really liking how this card turned out.

Stampin' Up! Retired Stamp List

Good Morning! I hope everyone is off to a wonderful start to this great day. I just got the info from Stampin' Up! regarding the retiring list and I think this is a first for them...SU! is offering 10% discount off all retiring sets from today, 12/9/08 thru Tue 12/23/08 and any order that is $70.00 or higher will also get free shipping, retiring sets or not...

Retiring List by Page Number
Retiring List Showing 10% Discount

Sunflower Wreath

Hi everyone! I finally decided to re-do my fall wreath. Not that there was anything wrong with the wreath I made last year but I was just ready for a change...most of my friends know that I LOVE sunflowers so it should not be surprising that I went from fall flowers to fall sunflowers. To me there is nothing better than adding some great color to my door. Unfortunately this wreath is much too thick to put on the outside of my door ~ so we get to enjoy all this great fall color in the living room instead! Which is fine with me ;)

Goofy me forgot to take a picture of the before but it was similar to this wreath (which was our fall wreath from 3 years ago) Yes I change the design of our wreaths almost yearly, what else would I do with all the flowers I have in my room?? I also make floral arrangements and wreaths and give them as gifts to friends and family. Nothing like putting my floral schooling to good use and making my house look a little more seasonal at the same time.

I will be re-doing our Christmas wreath shortly and will post pictures of that as well, only this time I will remember to take a before picture as well as an after picture.

More Mini's

I have been on a book making craze lately...it started with a MOPS group that had asked me to come and show them how to make my mini-books so I prep-ed about 25 books and then decided to go through my retired DS papers and make some extras in case anyone was interested in buying another little book...Unfortunately the MOPS night was canceled due to a Cub Scout Pack meeting and can't be rescheduled until late spring or early fall next year, so I have lots and lots of mini-books left - half completed I might add that I am slowly finishing and either going to give as gifts or sell...

Here is the book we were going to make for the MOPS night:And here is the basket full of "extras" I have...if anyone wants a book just let me know... :)

Camp Cards

Hi there everyone!! I have some new cards to share with you today. I had a stamp camp a couple of weeks ago and just realized that I forgot to share the cards with everyone...

This first card is another gift card holder, I'm so loving making these things!! Be on the lookout for my first tutorial...I will show everyone how to make this cute little holder...

I finally used my level 2 set Deer Friends. Yeah!! Another new set finally inked up!!! The snowflakes come from the set Short & Sweet and the Merry Christmas is from Holiday's & Wishes. The base of the card is Glorious Green and it is accented with Ballet Blue, Riding Hood Red and Whisper White. I'm so loving this DS paper Frosty Day. I thought those little trees would match the theme perfectly and a little Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon finishes it off nicely!

The next card is one I cased from SandiMac - you can see her card here. I just loved the color combination she used and the simple yet elegant layout she had for the Holy Triptych set - which is beautiful but a little intimidating to me. I think the ladies had a really good time with this card. I opted to add a few more swirls to the bottom instead of putting a sentiment. I used Whisper White, Brushed Gold and Shimmery White Cardstock and Encore Gold ink. Very simple to put together and very elegant to give.

The next card is one that seemed to be a fan favorite - not just at the camp but to most people I have shown these cards to...it is another case card, this time from BarbaraJackson - here is her card. I did change a few things from the original. I didn't watercolor the image and instead of using Square Fire Brads I used half-back pearls from the Pretties Kit to accent the flower. I love how simple and uncluttered this card it. I used Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White cardstock and Always Artichoke ink for the tree.

The final Christmas card we made used the Snow Swirled stamp set and we got to play with the ink resist emossing technique which looks just awesome for this tree...I am such a fan on blue and silver for Christmas, to me it looks very elegant. We also got to play with the silver elastic cord, which is just too fun!! I used Ballet Blue as my base and accented with Night of Navy and Whisper White. All ink is Ballet Blue. I used a sponge dauber to color the tree. I have been asked to come to my DD art class and help the kids make Christmas cards for their families and this is the card my DD picked, so hopefully all the 8th graders will have a blast playing with this technique as well.

More Challenge Cards

Hi there everyone! I'm finally getting around to posting some more of the cards I have done for the 5 card challenge I'm participating in and cards I made for a Stamp Camp I had in October. I'm curious if any of you are challenging yourselves to use your sets more than once??

This first project is a gift card holder and I thought it would make a wonderful masculine card Those are usually the hardest cards for me to come up with. The base is Going Gray and has Prestwick DS paper layered on the main part of the card and the image is matted with Garden Green. I used the Cheers to You set and water colored it to keep it from being too harsh. A few brads finish the card off nicely I think. This fits right into a standard envelope so it would be quite easy to mail off to that special someone...

This next card is one of my favorite techniques to do. You heat emboss on vellum and then ink the back side to create soft colors. I made my card look like a sunset but you could make your design look any way you want. I mounted the dried piece of vellum onto a strip of white paper with black brads to let the image really pop. This would make a good sympathy or masculine card. I used Lovely as a Tree for my image and Garden Green, Lovely Lilac, Pumpkin Pie and Summer Sun as my ink colors. The card base is textured Basic Gray.

This card is a tent topper style card and I think it is quite elegant. I fell in love with the Illuminations set when it first came out and surprisingly this is the first time I have used it...I decided to break out some of my Juntos DS paper from the Spanish version of the Stampin' Up! catalog and really like how it turned out. I matched it with Always Artichoke and More Mustard papers and added Really Rust ink into the mix as well. I used the French Script background stamp to stamp over my DS paper and the large swirl from Baroque Motifs. A little Mellow Moss taffeta ribbon finishes it off nicely. I really do like how this card came out.

For this next card I decided to try something new, at least for me...I took my circle scallop punch and my snips and created petals instead of scalloped circles. I used scraps of Kiwi Kiss for the stems and used the Hostess Set, Punches Three for the sentiment. A little Creamy Caramel textured carstock finishes off the Pink Pirouette flowers nicely. I was so afraid this card would look too plain, but my ladies really like the look of it.

The final card was a quick and easy fall-ish card. I was really looking forward to playing with my new scallop edge punch and this card just seemed to call out for it! I always use the large flower from the Heartfelt Thanks set so I decided to use the cluster flower instead this time. I stamped the image a total of 3 times without reinking the stamp to add some distance and interest to the card.

I hope you have enjoyed this set of cards...be on the lookout for more to follow soon...have a great day and happy stamping!!

Remember to Vote today!!

Hi everyone! Please remember today to go out and cast your vote! The lines are long in my neck of the woods, as they are across the country I'm sure...but it is a wonderful feeling to know that I got a chance to have a say in who will run our country for the next 4 years.

I made this card last year for a challenge on Splitcoast Stampers but I thought it would be a great card for today. The quote says: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

Gotta love technology...

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days, we had a lovely Trojan Virus break through and uninstall our anti-virus and wipe our main computer out...thankfully we had most of our files backed up and were able to re-load them onto our hard-drive once it was cleaned and re-formatted. However it takes time to get everything back up and running properly. I hope to be able to start posting new cards and projects soon.

Halloween is coming...

Halloween has to be one of my favorite holidays! We always go all out on decorating the house and yard. As a family we have tons of fun setting up the cemetery, the fog machines, the black lights, the spider webs...you get the picture I'm sure. I'll post pics of our house decked out this year...


On to the cards now!! This first card is an updated version of a Halloween card I made last year, and it is cute and simple. I really do like this Ghostly Greetings DS paper, and I thought the bats would be perfect for this card. I also used a wider ribbon than last year for the embellishment and boy does it make a difference!!!


After doing the first card I wanted to step it up a notch - so this is what I came up with...I'm loving this kicked up version! I used the idea on page 27 of the Fall-Winter IBC 2008 to color my cat green and added a Kiwi Kiss triangle to the front of the card to help balance the colors out.


These are the first two cards for my 5 card challenge using Haunting Halloween...be on the look out for more to follow soon.

Cheers!!

Hi there - I have another card done for the 5 card challenge. For this one I used the set Cheers to You. I have to apologize for the fuzzy picture, my camera was having a hard time focusing on the stripes ;)
This was going to be for a stamp camp I have soon, until I remembered that there would be minors at the camp and I wasn't too sure about having them make alcohol related cards, so I changed the card for the camp, but still think this turned out pretty cute. I does need a little work, but right now I'm not sure what...

I will definitely be playing with the rest of the stamps in this set in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out. I will have to do some research, being I don't really drink, to find out how some of these drinks are suppose to look... ;)

Upsy Daisy part 1

Good Morning!! I have a few more cards to share with you for the 5 card challenge. I'm curious if any of you have decided to challenge yourselves as well? I can tell you it is quite fun to try to look at your stamps in a different way. Alot of the stamps I have I got because I saw "THE CARD" and wanted to just make it. Now I am trying to stretch my creative legs alittle to see what else I can make with all the wonderful stamps I have...

I was so excited to get this set and so far it seems justified!! I'm just loving the looks you can create with this bold, solid image.


My first card was inspired by pchefcindyw on SCS - here is her card. I changed a few things to help make it more mine. I flipped the card on it's side and changed the sentiment and the location of it. I stamped the image a total of four times without re-inking it to really give a look of depth to the image. I really love this monotone color pallete. I'm also loving the Prestwick DS paper. I am thinking of doing this same design in some other monotone colors.


The second card was what I came up with after seeing rohla's card on SCS - here is her card. I wanted to make it a little more me so I changed the direction of the card as well as the ribbon and sentiment. I also used my Sanded background stamp in Tangerine Tango on the card. Coloring on this stamp was loads of fun! I started with the Pumpking Pie marker and then used Always Artichoke for the stems and finished off with Really Rust for the tips. I also used the Thumping technique to add the Really Rust color.

Zoofari cards part 1

Hi there! So my kids challeneged me to use the Zoofari set for my next 5 card challenge...I have gotten 2 cards done with this set so far and I think it is starting to grow on me...This was a set I pre-ordered last year and just never really played with.


This was the first card I made, and by far one of my favorite cards to date! I played with the paper layering technique and am quite happy with how it turned out. I tried to watercolor a little on his body for shading, but am not quite happy with how his bottom turned out :(


Here is a close up of how the layers look together. I thought this would make a great kids birthday card of welcome baby card.

For this card I started with the CB'ed piece of Bravo Burgundy and build the rest of the card around it. I got the color combo from my Color Coach. This is Bravo Burgundy, Handsome Hunter, Mellow Moss and Apricot Appeal. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line all the birds up and watercolored them. It is hard to see in the picture, but the tag says "Time To".

Be on the look out for more cards to come as I keep playing with the 5 card challenge. I may not always make all five of one set at one time, but eventually they all will get done.

More Butterflies...

Hi there! I made a couple more cards for the 5 card challenge, and completed all 5 for the Kind Thoughts set...WooHoo!!!

I think this one is going to be one of my new favorites!! I love how this image looks cut into thirds and then mounted on a darker piece of paper. I have seen many cards like this on SCS and finally decided to try one for myself. Of course I had to add my layered butterflies.

This card was me just playing with some scraps that I had laying around...It is kind of cute, I think. I did get to play with the scallop edge punch we now carry and who can resist the yummy Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon...I used my Trio Flower punch to create the small flowers in the circles and stamped on them with the small flower detail stamp from Kind Thoughts.

I'm so thrilled to have one set completed! I can't wait to get started on some other sets!! I let my kids pick the next set they want me to work on so be prepared to see a lot of Zoofari cards in the near future!!

Butterflies Galore!!

How many times have you found a great stamp set that you just KNEW you had to have only to get it home and then nothing?? or even worse make the one project that inspired you to purchase the set and nothing else??? That has happened to me more times than I care to remember...because of that a bunch of my friends on Splitcoast Stampers and I have challenged ourselves to make at least 5 projects with each set we get, and the goal is to make those 5 projects BEFORE we purchase new sets to play with ;)

I did pretty good with the last catalog in making cards before I purchased new sets, but have slipped off the wagon a little with this AWESOME new catty...so I decided to get busy making cards with the great sets I have and try to postpone buying more sets until I have some great samples in my binder.

Here are 3 cards I created with Kind Thoughts (pg 122, #111095, $25.95):

This card was greatly inspired by PickleTree on SCS - you can see her card here, I changed a few details to make it more my own. This is also a bigger card than I usually make, this one is 4.5 x 7. I'm just loving Chocolate Chip lately so of course it had to make it's way into this card, and this is really the first time I've played with Baja Breeze, which is one of our new In Colors for 2009. I wasn't too sure of it at first, but it is so elegant with the Chocolate...I stamped my butterflies in Chocolate Chip and them stamped them again on a scrap piece of paper in Baja Breeze with Chocolate Chip around the edges, using the Rock-n-Roll technique. I cut out the wings and them covered them with Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds glitter. Once the CE was dried I adhered the wings to the Chocolate Chip butterflies and finished my layering. I also got to use the new Scallop Edge punch and to help pull the scallops in I used my Scallop Circle punch to create 2 circles and then quartered them and adhered them to the corners of the card.

Here is the second card I created with Kind Thoughts:

I wanted the butterflies to be a little more whimsical for this card so I punched the circles out of my Pacific Point first in a random pattern and them stamped my butterflies in Chocolate Chip on a Whisper White background. I wanted to make sure their wings would be poking out of the circles so I purposely stamped them off center. I created a great faux background sheet by tearing a scrap piece of paper and adhered it to my card base with repositionable adhesive. I sponged Kiwi Kiss all over the bottom of the card and used 2 more pieces of scraps with straight edges to created a striped effect. I sponged the stripes with Old Olive to have a little contrast. Here is a tutorial for the faux tearing from SCS. This isn't the exact way I did it, but pretty close. Again I stamped my butterflies on a scrap piece of paper in different colors and cut out the wings to attach them to the card. This time I used my fingers to bend the wings up a little and only adhered the wings right next to the body.

For the third card I also got to play with the Little Tee's from Gina K:

I used Pink Pirouette for my base and did a tone-on-tone image of the great flourish from Kind Thoughts and also did tone-on-tone for the butterfly. I added a Baja Breeze panel down the left side and did tone-on-tone butterflies on this as well. For the Little Tees I sponged Pink Pirouette and Pretty in Pink onto the shirt after I stamped and colored Eeyore with his butterfly. Then I cut the shirt out and mounted it with pop-dots. I made this card for a co-worker who had a rough day on Sunday, so I thought this would help cheer her up.

I hope you have enjoyed these 3 cards, hopefully I will have a couple more to show you in the next couple of days.

On-Line Ordering is Finally Here!!!

I'm so very excited to be able to finally make this announcement! If you wake up in the middle of the night with the perfect plan for the perfect project, just pop on over and place your order! You need to make cards with no time for a workshop?? Head on over and order what ever you need!! You want to shop for the perfect gift for the crafty person in your life?? That's no problem either! Now you can order Stampin’ Up! ’s awesome products from me day or night from the convenience of your own home. All you have to do is visit my demonstrator’s web site http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/stampingsarah , click on the shop now button at the top right hand side of the page and order what ever you need.

I hope all of you are as excited about this great new feature as I am!!

Playing with Little Tee's

Hi everyone! I must apologize for the quality of this picture, my photoshop elements decided to stop working...so until I upgrade to the newest version my pics will be a little dark :(

I finally gave in and purchased this set from Gina K...I have been admiring it for quite awhile and doing my best to talk myself out of needing it until I saw this card on Hands, Head and Heart. I have made several little tee's lately, but this is the first one I turned into a card. For those of you who don't know Eeyore is my favorite character and I couldn't resist turning him into a cute shirt. I stamped the shirt in Pink Pirouette first then rocked & rolled it in Pretty in Pink to get some great shading on the sleeves and bottom of the shirt. I added the pink bling in the corners to help dress it up a little. I have a feeling this will be one of my new favorite non-Stampin' Up! sets.