Create with Connie and Mary Challenge

I have been reading the Create with Connie and Mary blog for quite some time and finally decided to join one of their challenges this week.

The color combo is:

Since we evidently live in a snowdome here (meaning every county but ours gets snow!!!), I decided to make my wishful snowman using my Button Buddies stamp set!

Now, if you’re looking very closely, you might just spy some Sale-a-Bration sneak peeks here! 

I spy a patterned paper, a button, and stamp!  Less than a month away until the fun begins!!!

P.S. – If you would like to book a party or make an order of $150 or more, you might just be able to get a free pack of  that gorgeous glimmer paper!

Stamps:  Button Buddies, Vintage Verses (SAB)

Ink:  Pool Party, Basic Grey

Paper:  Whisper White, Silver Glimmer, Pool Party, Sycamore Street DSP (SAB)

Accessories:  Northern Flurry Embossing Folder, Basic Rhinestones, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Sycamore Street Button Pack (SAB)

December club scrapbook layout

Today I have another club scrapbook layout for you.  I kept this one simple to keep the focus on the pictures.

I focused on Affection Collection for my stamp set – I liked that it was literally male or female oriented – not too girly or too grungy.

I used the shaving cream technique to create the swirly strips of paper on each page.

Shaving Cream Technique

Supplies: Glossy cardstock works best

Shaving Cream

Re-inkers in various colors

1. Fill a container with shaving cream.

2. Drop 3-4 colors of re-inker around the top of the shaving cream.

3. Swirl with a stick or toothpick.

4. Dip paper into the shaving cream.

5. Wipe off with paper towels.

6. Repeat until desired look is achieved!

Here I actually cut apart my 6X6 paper and inked the edges to allow for more pictures to be used.

Stamps:  Affection Collection

Ink:  Pool Party, Soft Suede

Paper:  Whisper White, Pool Party, Glossy Cardstock

Accessories:  Basic Rhinestone, Modern Label punch, corner rounder punch, Shaving Cream, Big plastic tub, paper towels, trash can!

November club scrapbook layout

I have finally made it home from family and friends’ homes after Christmas.  Miracle of all miracles, I even MADE a scrapbook layout last night!  Wow….it has been crazy busy lately.  When I sat down, I realized that I haven’t made a scrapbook layout with my pictures since November!  I got stuck on a set of pictures and couldn’t get the mojo going….plus we had my daughter’s birthday party, Thanksgiving, Christmas…you name it! 

I am finally getting around to posting a picture of this layout we created in November during our club meeting. 

Since we are keeping the Comfort Café theme for this scrapbook, I used the stamp set You Are Loved for the focus of the layout. 

I colored most of my images with markers to get the multi colored look that you see – even though it is only one layer, I think it adds a lot of depth to the page.

Stamps:  You Are Loved

Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Midnight Muse, Comfort Café DSP

Accessories:  Hearts framelits, Decorative label punch, Large oval punch

Christmas Treats

Halleigh and I worked hard last night getting all of her presents ready for her teachers at school.

I used the Snow Festival printed tags to label each present. I love that these tags are large enough to write a note to the teacher!
For the gym teacher, we gave him a 6-pack of Mountain Dew and wrote on the note, "Thanks for all you DEW."
Her teacher got a set of cookie stamps and some fresh cookies!
For the special area teachers and aides, we gave them a whisk filled with Hershey's kisses. Halleigh was so delighted to sing "We WHISK you a Merry KISS-mas" to them!
Finally, for our office staff and janitors we made cookies and wrapped them in the cookie envelopes.
I must say- if you haven't tried one of these kits from Stampin' Up, you simply must! They are so easy a 6 year old can make them!
All you have to do is drop the cookie into a cello bag and drop that inside the envelope.
Everything else was a sticker, so Halleigh signed her name and decorated the tags herself while I mixed cookies! I love letting her have so much ownership in the finished product! She was so excited to hand them out this morning!

Scrapbook pages using Comfort Cafe

I have a few 8X8” layouts that I have created for our club meetings that I’ll finally try and post this week.  The last few months have literally been so exhausting and busy that I just simply haven’t had much time to do anything other than work, clean house (when I’m lucky), do laundry, fix meals, and take care of the family…….I have a feeling some of you know what that’s like! 

Anyway, I had a few free moments this weekend, so I finally got around to taking pictures of all of those layouts.  One of these days I’ll actually get some of my real scrapbooking done, too!  I’m more than a little behind on that, too!!!

Ugh…life just gets in the way, doesn’t it?!  I wouldn’t trade it for the world, though.

Here’s a layout I made a few club meetings ago – fairly simple.  We mostly focused on the Core-dinations paper and the paper piercing pack.

There at the top is part of an Apothecary Accents frame that I diecut.  I love how all of the new paper piercing packs match the framelits.  It makes all of your projects so cohesive!

The image in this right corner is just stamped with rhinestones to accent – very simple.

A word to the wise….there is a reason for the new sanding system….sanding all of that cardstock looks super cool and rustic, but I went through an entire piece of my old cheap sandpaper I had in my desk storage doing this.  I left a huge mess, too!  The new sanding blocks are really inexpensive and well worth the few dollars you are going to pay for them!  By the way, there are some great new colors in the spring catalogue coming in January!!!

Baby Jesus

I made this card for my club the other day.  I really love the idea of the baby Jesus under the star that shone so brightly.  I love great nativity sets, but often I forget to order them or I don’t like the look of the sets.  I loved the elegant look of this First Christmas stamp set and I wanted to make it look like Jesus was being illuminated by the light from the star. 

This is a non-traditional color combo, but I love the look of the More Mustard here.

Just for my mom, I tried another version of the same card.  I used Baja Breeze and Night of Navy for this version.  I stamped in versamark and added Irridescent Ice EP on top.  I like the stark look of this as well. 

I still want to try some more of these cards out…..I just need to actually make it down to the stamp cave to get something done!!!!  Snow day anyone?! 

Stamps:  First Christmas

Ink:  More Mustard, Night of Navy, VersaMark

Paper:  More Mustard, Baja Breeze, Night of Navy, Whisper White

Accessories:  Irridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Basic Rhinestones, Chevron and Houndstooth Textured Embossing Folders, Sponges

Petite Pocket Gift Card Holder

If you don’t own the Petite Pocket die, you are missing out on a great and useful diecut!  This die is just perfect for creating so many things – envelopes for journaling or small notes and more.  They are even the perfect size for gift cards! 

This really was a super duper, easy peasy gift card holder. 

1.  Cut a 4 1/4 X 11” sheet of cardstock and die cut the petite pocket.

2.  Stamp an image in Illuminate Glimmer Watermark ink all around the die cut. (Let dry or speed dry with heat gun).

3.  Adhere the sides of the petite pocket together with Sticky Strip.

4.  Wrap a Snow Festival Designer Printed Tag around the pocket and adhere with Sticky Strip. 

5.  Wrap a ribbon around the tag and insert gift card.

That’s really how easy it is – you can make this in just 5 easy steps!!!  Now all you need is some Christmas spirit! 

Happy Holidays from Stampin’ Up!

The Papercrafters 12 Days of Christmas!!!! LOVE IT!!!!

Guest Designer: Charlotte Keeney

I am proud to welcome another guest designer today!  Charlotte Keeney, has been a friend of mine for many years.  She is a fabulous woman who gives of her time not only as the head librarian, but also volunteers in Love on a Leash, teaching card classes, quilting, and even manages to sell Scentsy in her spare time.  Amazing lady, eh?!

Charlotte sent me these cards that she made for an upcoming card class she was having at her church.  I thought you might enjoy seeing some of her creations!

You’ll notice a few cards we have made in recent club meetings.  Two that I really love are the stocking card – I love the shimmer on those stockings! 

I also love the ornament card in the upper right hand corner – she stamped and die cut a few of them to create that 3-dimensional look!

Here you can get a closer look at that ornament card – isn’t it lovely?

I also think that Santa card is just absolutely darling – love that candy cane paper behind it! 

Thanks, Charlotte for sharing your lovely creations with us! 

I can’t wait to see who has some more fun cards or projects to share with us. 

Quick and Easy Snow Festival Tag Cards

Last night I was super tired, but I wanted to get my cards ready for my orders for my club gals.  Anyway, with a half-fried brain and these snow festival tags, quick and easy was the name of the game!  I just found a few card bases and DSP scraps and went to work.  I used the same Greeting for each card and added a little bling or something of that nature to each card. 

Here I used some Lucky Limeade scraps and Irridescent Smooch to accent a few pieces.

A few Basic Rhinestones on each side made it simple and sweet!

More Gumball Green – I just added a Dahlia this time!

Finally – this one is embossed with the Northern Flurry embossing folder – how easy can these get?

Stamps:  Greetings of the Season

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  Gumball Green, Baja Breeze, Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso, Candlelight DSP

Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones, Snow Festival Designer Printed Tags, Smooch, Northern Flurry embossing folder, Dazzling Details