Sweater Weather for sure!

Here in Kentucky we have fickle fall days!  One day it is 75 and gorgeous…a few days later we are getting snow and shivering in 35 degree weather!  Today is one of the sweater weather days!  I thought the sweater weather DSP was perfect for fall pictures of my children at the pumpkin patch.  I also liked adding a few of the stamps from the Truly Grateful stamp set to the layout – the corn was perfect for all of those pictures set in the corn maze!  I believe the pumpkin stamp is from the Best of Fall stamp set.

• Best Of Autumn Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Truly Grateful Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad
• Jet Black StazOn Pad
• So Saffron Stampin' Write Marker
• Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad
• Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Marker
• Always Artichoke Stampin' Write Marker
• Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper
• Chocolate Chip 12" x 12"" Card Stock"
• Tangerine Tango 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Soft Sky 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

I am Me Scrapbook page

I had plenty of the I am Me Designer Series Paper leftover from our last club meeting, so I decided to use some more this past month.  I got the idea for this layout from Rachel Tessman, another Stampin’ Up demonstrator.  I love her scrapbook pages, so I always check them out when I need some inspiration.

We made these using the chalkboard technique.  It’s so easy, it almost doesn’t need a technique name!  I just stamped the sentiment on the background with Whisper White ink and swiped around the edges of the black mats with Whisper White ink.  How easy is that?  Really!

Here’s the opposing page – they can go in either order, really! 

And here is how they look together.  That sentiment is from the Baby Prints stamp set, but I really think that it is appropriate no matter what your stage in life and whether you have children or not!  So, this Thanksgiving….take time to Cherish the Moments!  And don’t forget the stuffing! 

Happy Turkey Day!  Gobble, gobble, gobble!

Wonderful Blessing

A while back, one of my friends and hostesses asked me to play with the Wonderful Blessing stamp and come up with some different ideas for a card using the stamp.  I was happy to oblige, of course!

Here were my first two attempts – I made a starburst using a large post-it not and spritzed the background with Smooch Spritz.  I embossed the image on Midnight Muse using the silver and gold ink and clear embossing powder.

Here I used the diagonal stripe embossing folder to emboss my Pool Party background.  I stamped the image in versamark on Pool Party paper and embossed again with clear powder.  This time I used sponges in Midnight Muse and Baked Brown Sugar to create an emboss resist so that it looked like the evening sky looking down on Bethlehem.

Using versamark on crumb cake, I got a tone on tone look here.  I think it needs a little splash of color somewhere, though.

Leslie liked this card the best, so to spruce up the card some, I used the silver ink, but when I heat embossed it this time, I used silver embossing powder.  What a world of difference!  The image is so much more crisp this time!  It is incredible the difference that made! 

So, have you been playing with any of your stamps lately?  Share with us all what you’ve made!!!

Another Gift Bow card

I made a similar card to this about a month ago.  It was not super easy to make and it wasn’t making me happy the way it opened and closed.  Thankfully, I found a tutorial for a simpler version of the same card!
This card was honestly so easy to make and so fun to make!  I had a few more, but I gave them to some of my club members at our last meeting. 

The inside of the card is just perfect for adding a gift card! 

• Gift Bow Bigz L Die
• Crumb Cake 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Gumball Green 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack

A Safari Party

Our family has decided to do DIY birthday parties at our home.  True, we can’t invite 50 children to every party, but our daughter really relishes in planning her themes and has enjoyed doing so for about 3 years now. So, her theme this year was a safari theme.  I set to work on Pinterest trying to find ideas that would make her party theme come to life as she envisioned it…on a budget, of course!

What’s a party without a cake?  My daughter decided she wanted safari animals on top of her cake, so I had to figure out if we could do a scene or something else.  Here was the end result.

I actually found these sugar sheets at Hobby Lobby – they are edible sugar created by Wilton in a flat sheet.  Literally, they look like paper.  I cut the brown pieces to look like giraffe spots using my kitchen scissors and made homemade frosting so I could have a light yellow color for the bottom layer.  On the top layer I found zebra striped sugar sheets, so I actually cut those sheets with my paper cutter and my Big Shot.  I used the large scalloped circle for the top of it and set all of the animals on top with some icing.

The inside of the cake looked like this, I found a tutorial on Pinterest to help make the inside of the cake look like a zebra. 

We also decided to make these little binoculars.  I saved toilet paper rolls and spray painted them black.  After they were dry, I covered the toilet paper rolls with animal print duct tape and added some ribbon.  That way all of the children could hunt for animals on their safari!

Announcing the birthday girl…now 7 years old.

My husband’s contribution was to borrow a jeep and a dune buggy and create a safari. 

For the decorations as well as the safari we borrowed lots of animals from the kindergarten teacher.

We’re going on a safari….using our binoculars….

Just a few of the animals we saw!

Hope you enjoyed the safari party! 

Zoo Review by Halleigh

My daughter, party planner extraordinaire, recently turned 7.  So she decided she wanted to help make her invitations this year.  I was happy to oblige! 
After looking at several ideas of cards on Pinterest and Splitcoaststampers, she came up with this idea.
We sponged Soft Sky, Pool Party, and Not Quite Navy at the top to create a sky.  To create the ground, we sponged So Saffron, More Mustard, and Soft Suede.  We created a mask with post it notes to create the horizon and sponged more Soft Suede in between that area.
Finally, we stamped the zebra in Staz On Jet Black ink and colored all of its body with Sahara Sand.  Next, we colored in striped using the Basic Black marker.  We finished with the White Asics gel pen.
The greeting comes from Regarding Dahlias.  And, of course, my daughter just had to add her own little flair to the card! 

• Regarding Dahlias Clear-mount Stamp Set
• Zoo Review - Clear-Mount Stamp
• Not Quite Navy 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad
• Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad
• Not Quite Navy Classic Stampin' Pad*
• So Saffron Classic Stampin' Pad
• More Mustard Classic Stampin' Pad
• Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad
• Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker
• Sahara Sand Stampin' Write Marker
• Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen
• Stamping Sponges

The Holiday Sale has begun!

The holiday sale has begun and there are a few items on sale for 24 hours only! 

Use hostess code F72ZANQM at checkout to be entered for up to $25 of free product!

Zoo Babies goes chevron

I was inspired to make this card the other day using some scraps around the scrapping table.  My daughter was making a set of thank you notes using the Zoo Babies stamp set, so I thought I’d play with the lion while she had them out.  My son (whose hand you see in the picture) just loves to make all the animal sounds when he sees those stamps.  Needless to say, he just loved swiping my tablecloth to pretend it was his blankie, too!  Cutie!

• Zoo Babies Wood-mount Stamp Set
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Crumb Cake 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Soft Suede 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
• Season Of Style Designer Series Paper Stack
• Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad
• Positively Chevron Wood-mount Stamp Set

Northern Lights Technique

My friend, Wanda, requested a project for our club meeting this weekend using the Northern Lights technique.  I always love a good challenge, so I checked out the technique and went to work.  Or, then again, maybe I should say I went to play!    You will probably notice that I kind of liked this technique! 

‘Nuff said, right?!  I think I went a little crazy….but I guess if you know me very well you know I’m crazy anyway! 

Here is the one I demonstrated at our club meeting – it uses Serene Silhouettes and Express Yourself.

The hubs wanted me to make one with a nativity….and then he said he liked it better with the sentiment at the bottom!

Take 2!

The original card that I made on my first try.

Just playing with the technique again at the beginning.  Both the Dasher and the nativity stamp come from the Best of Christmas stamp sets.

And finally, one more nativity scene – this time with the single stamp Wonderful Blessing and cut out with the Circle Framelits. 

• Old Olive 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Serene Silhouettes Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Wonderful Blessing Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Joy To The World Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Stamping Sponges
• Uni-Ball Signo Gel Pen
• Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad
• Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad
• Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad
• Rich Razzleberry 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
• Midnight Muse Classic Stampin' Pad
• Rich Razzleberry Classic Stampin' Pad
• Circles Collection Framelits Dies
• Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

Flower Shop rainbows

I got the idea for these lovely little cards from a card I pinned on Pinterest.  I loved how the card was so simple and full of color!  In fact, I loved it so much, I decided to make a few different cards using the different flowers from the flower shop stamp set!

Here is the first card.

This is my miracle card!  I was demonstrating this card at club yesterday and just as I finished stamping my Pistachio Pudding flowers my son began one of those terrifying blood curdling screams.  He and my daughter were playing upstairs happily until this happened, so I ran upstairs to find out it was merely a bloody nose.  I guess all the blood must have terrified him.  Amazingly, my card came out perfectly!  No blood drops, no smeared images….it was all okay. 
And my heart got a good little race in for the day, too! 

After everyone was gone, my daughter decided she wanted to make one, also.  I let her pick the colors using the ink pads we had used during our club meeting, so this is the color combo she came up with.  It turned out quite lovely, I think! 

Thanksgiving challenge

Our club challenge this month had to be any project related to thankfulness or Thanksgiving.  Hannah made this lovely scrapbook layout that reminds us all to be thankful for the little things in life.  She used the Day of Gratitude stamp set (now retired).

Wand made not just one, but two projects!

How gorgeous is this pumpkin?  She used the scallop circle die cut, the Island Oasis leaves and the Elegant Lines embossing folder.  As if this wasn’t wonderful enough, she showed us how you can make two envelope liners using the envelope punch board!!!  I’ll see if I can share that later – maybe next week.

Here’s a closup of this darling little turkey!  So cute – uses the owl punch, the star punch, and a scallop circle punch.  Adorable!