Holiday Mini is Live

Just a note to let you know that the new Holiday Mini is LIVE as of August 1!  It is absolutely awesome and you can see it in my left sidebar so check it out, you'll be glad you did, but maybe not your wallet, lol.



I do have a couple of ATC's to show you today.  I made them for a swap I hosted.  They went to the two ladies that did two sets.  We only had 11 players, so I wanted to give them a little something extra for their trouble.  |I made these two cards and also sent them each a little notebook I made for them.  Will post those later.

Hope you like them, they were quick and easy.  have a great Thursday!

Kindness Matters

Hi All.  Just a quick share today.  This card is a fancy fold called a Double Gate Card.  I just love the chevron look on the front, plus the Labels Framelits are an elegant addition to it.

Really not sure why the picture is jacked up.  Probably user error, lol.   Stamp set is Kindness Matters.
Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great Monday.  Hugs.

Coffee Time with The Open Sea

Hello everyone, and Happy Friday!  Today's share is a fun little gift that would have been great for Father's Day, but could be used for any occasion.  This one holds some coffee bags.  I love coffee, so any chance to
give a gift of coffee, I jump at it.  Isn't this too cute?

I got the idea from another demo, and I will update when I remember where I got it, lol.  If it's yours, let me know, will ya?  

I used The Open Sea and Perk Up as my stamp sets.  Soft Suede ink and Crumb Cake Cardstock.  I also used some Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, some hemp twine, and the small tag punch. The filling is something every SU demo has loads of.  It is the packing paper from a SU order.  There are loads of uses for this great paper.   Thanks for stopping in today.  Hugs,

Father's Day

Hi!  Thanks for stopping by today. We had a wonderful day Sunday, just enjoying being together as a family.  We had my hubby's favorite meals, which I don't cook often. Stuffed Grape Leaves, Cucumber Yogurt Salad, and for dessert, a Semolina Cake with almonds called Harissa.  It is not a quickly prepared meal, but it is delicious.

 Hope you had a chance this weekend to join us on the amazing VC Rocks! Blog Hop.  I shared the card I made for my hubby in the hop, today I want to share a funny little
gift I made for him.  He has a mustache, has ALWAYS had a mustache, probably born with it. I've never
seen him without it. Not sure I'd recognize him, lol.

It's a candy bar wrapper.  Chocolate with Almonds, his favorite.  I wanted to put a tie on it, but he hates ties.  The only one he will wear without fussing, if he can get away with it, is a bolo tie and so I used some Hemp Twine and some retired Hardware to kinda sorta make one.  I thing I should have stuck with a regular or bow tie, but it just
wouldn't have been him. The mustache was freehand.  I used the sentiment YOU ROCK (my world) that was laying on my desk  from the VC blue butted monkeys, lol.  The set it is from is eluding my brain at the moment.  Typical....

Anyhoo, that's my little share for today.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Have a great day!

VC Rocks! June Blog Hop

Hello Everyone and welcome to VC Rocks! June Blog Hop.  There are 31 wonderful stops in this weekends hop, so get you a cup of coffee, a bit of chocolate, and get ready to see some awesome artwork from our talented Rockers.

VC Rocks is a group of fun ladies that get together each summer to celebrate Stampin' Up!  We have loads
of challenges, swaps, games, classes, a virtual hotel, and we develop friendships with some of the nicest people you will ever meet.  Membership is closed for this year, but keep an eye on our VC Rocks! blog for
our grand opening in Spring 2013.  Now on to our hop.  The home stop is Here at the VC blog, so if you
get lost, that's where you can be found again, lol.

 You may have come here by way of Janice's blog, Stamping With Janice, I know she had something awesome to share with you today.

My share for today is the card I made for my hubby for Father's Day.  My hubby loves anything with
horsepower, including horses, thus this card:

I used the Out West and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets, now retired.  Crumb Cake, Basic Black and Very Vanilla Card Stocks.  Crumb Cake, Riding Hood Red, More Mustard, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy and Chocolate Chip Markers with a Blender Pen. Houndstooth and Square Lattice Textured Impressions Folders, Corner and Square Punches, Hemp Twine and Silver Mini Brads.

I'm hoping he will like it, It was a lot of fun to make.  Love the Spotlighting Technique.  Haven't used it in
quite some time.

Thanks so much for hopping with us today!  Your next stop is going to be Mary's blog, Mimi to Jett.  She will definitely Wow you!

Wedding Dress

Hi.  Happy Sunday.  Just a quick post for you today.  Was checking out a blog that I just love, named Understand Blue by a very talented and funny demonstrator named Lydia F.  She was a guest at a wedding shop, and did some videos of some wedding type favors, etc.  One of them was a little gift box, inside a
gorgeous wedding dress.  I have been working on some things for my daughters friend, to give her some ideas
for her wedding, and thought this would be awesome.

So I set out to find the die, I know it isn't Stampin' Up! Well, I found it, but not only does it use my trusty Big Shot"s Big Brother, but the dies will not fit my Big Shot.  What to do?  Figure out a way to make it myself.
 I first cut a large oval from my retired Oval Frame Die and used it as a template for the bottom of the dress, then hand drew the rest of the dress, punching out the neck with the Wide Oval Punch.  It still needs some tweaking, especially on the flat bottom,  and a box on the inside to hold the gift, not sure yet which one will fit, but here it is.

I think it turned out ok.  Like I said, still needs some tweaking, but it's cute, and  made out of only 1/2 of a sheet of Shimmery White card stock.  I embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing folder, and tie a bow with some retired 5/8 Satin in White, then used our Pearls around the neck. I'm thinking, if I make another one, I will use smaller ribbon, maybe 3/8" and leave longer tails on it.

Thanks for looking today.  Enjoy the rest of your day.

Betsy's Blossoms in the new In Colors

Hi everyone, I'm back, sorry I haven't posted in a few days.  Life gets in the way sometimes.

I received my first order from the new Stampin' Up! catalog.  It contained the new In Colors, in the brand new
foam ink pads (which are AWESOME). and the Betsy's Blossoms set.  I decided to do a card using these new colors all at once.  Well, needed some help trying to figure out how to put it all together, so went to Stampin' Connection, and found the perfect card by a Hilary Smith, another demo.  I tweaked it a tad to make it my own.

Voila:

Cute, huh?  The new In Colors for 2012-2014 are: Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse,
Primrose Petals and Gumball Green.

Hope you have a great Friday.  Thanks for stopping in.

It's Here! The new Stampin' Up! Catalog!!

It's here, ladies!  The new 2012-13 Stampin' Up! Catalog!  Oh my gosh,  wait until you see this one.  There
are lots of new fun stuff that you are gonna HAVE to have, and so many gorgeous samples, as usual.

Check it out by clicking on the picture in my side bar.  You can always click on the Shop Now button to be
taken to my Stampin' Up! website and you can order from there, 24/7.

You can get a free catalog by hosting a workshop, or by placing a $50 through me or on my website, or if
you are one of my hostess club ladies.  Email me for more info on that.

Also new is the $99 starter kit.  Join my team for only $99.  Find out more by clicking the icon in the sidebar.

Well, got a busy day ahead. Will be back in a few days with more posts.  In the mean time, check out the new
catalog, you'll be so happy you did.

Hugs,

Another Goodbye

Happy Tuesday!  Did everyone have a great holiday?  Well, I sure hope so.   I did a little stamping this weekend and cased another card from the catalog.  I don't always case cards, but my mojo has been on
a long hiatus, and it's not quite sure it wants to come back full time, lol.  It has dropped in from time to time
lately, but those projects are swap projects and can't be posted yet.  Stay tuned.....

Anywho,  This card is made with a set called Three Little Words, that will be retiring in a couple of days.
It is a great set and I will miss it.

Colors used are Perfect Plum, Rich Razzleberry, and Whisper White.  Old Olive
1/8" ribbon, Ribbon Border Punch, and the Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder
and my trusty Big Shot.

Thanks for looking today.  Have a great day!

Memorial Day. Always Remember

Happy Memorial Day!  Hope your weekend is going great, but let's not forget why we have this holiday.

To those who serve or have served and their families and those who gave all.  Thank you.  We will
never forget.

Gnome Season

Goodmorning!  Happy Sunday!  Just a quick card today.  It's summer, it's hot here in Florida, and gnomes are popping up everywhere.  In our Occasions Mini that ended in April, we had a really cute set with Gnomes in it, and a sentiment set that went along called Gnomenclature.  Well, I was looking around on one of my favorite blogs, Addicted to Stamping by Jackie Topa, and found a punch art gnome she had made and just had to case it.  Especially since our gnome set didn't make it to the new catalog.  take a look:

The saying on the card is To gnome you is to love you.  Sorry about the picture, not sure why it uploaded
so blurry, but he is absolutely adorable.

 Have a great day, and thanks for taking a few minutes out of your holiday weekend to drop in.

Goodbye Vintage Vogue

One of my favorite stamps sets in the past couple of years has been Vintage Vogue, and as we will be saying goodbye to it in a few days, I wanted to post one more card made with it.  This card was cased from the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog.

Colors used are Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Old Olive and Pear Pizazz.  Also used
the Scallop Circle #2 Die, White Bakers Twine, some DSP (sorry, don't remember which one) and mini
brads.

Hope you like it.  I love casing cards from the catalog.  After all, Stampin' Up! has great artists for their
samples, so why not case them?

Thanks for stopping in today. Have a great holiday weekend.

Have A Heart, VC Rocks Blog Hop #1 2012

Hi Everyone, and welcome to the first VC Rocks! Blog Hop for 2012. If you don't know what VC Rocks! is, where have you been, under a rock?  lol.  I know I talk about it alot this time of year, and today is no different. VC is a virtual convention.  It is a celebration of Stampin' Up!  We make loads of new friends, have lots of
fun, we have swaps, games, challenges, classes, a virtual hotel, and we just laugh, A LOT.  I have so many wonderful friends from my time at VC.  Click here for our blog, to find out more, or start at the beginning of the hop.


So,  If you started at the beginning, you may have come here from Marisol's blog, A Touch of Sol, Marisol is so talented.  I just love her blog.


Our theme for this year, and this hop is Have a Heart.  Our project must have at least one heart on it.
Not being one to overdo a theme, lol,  here is my card.

One of my daughter's friends is getting married this year and asked for some sample cards that
are wedding themed, so this is my first one for her.  I think it turned out pretty good, but sure hope
she doesn't end up wanting 100 of them cuz holey moley, all those little hearts and pearls were a pain
to put on, lol.   I hope you can see the shimmer, I really put my shimmer mist to work on this card.  Could have just used Shimmery White Card Stock, but didn't think about it until it was almost done.


This is a single layer card.  I used Whisper White card stock, my Simply Scored, with the Diagonal
Plate for the embossing.  Then added hearts punched from the heart punch from the Punch Trio, and the smaller one from the Owl Punch popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals, and lastly I used Stampin' Up's adhesive Pearls to finish it off.  Wasn't sure what kind of card this will be, so didn't use a sentiment, instead used lots of Shimmer spray made with our White Shimmer Paint.


Well, hope you enjoyed my card.  Your next stop on the hop will be Terri's blog, My Stamp Vault.  Terri is another awesome stamper, so I'm sure she will have something wonderful to share with you.


Thanks for hopping with us today!  Our Rockers are very talented, as I'm sure you have seen already, there are, I believe, 30 stops on this months hop.  Better get hopping!  Have fun!

Monkeying Around

Hi All, Sorry so late with this post, but hopefully it will be worth the wait.

As a member of VC Rocks! ( Check out our blog here and join us now by clicking on the icon in the
right sidebar.) We are a celebration of Stampin' Up!  A virtual convention.  We have games, challenges,
swaps galore, a virtual hotel, classes, and the most wonderful and funny group of ladies you will ever meet, virtually or not.

Now, that being said, we also have a problem.  We have a monkey problem.  Every year these monkeys,
of the blue butted variety are somehow turned loose in our virtual hotel and wreak all kinds of havoc.  They
crash our pool parties, they mess with our swaps, there is nothing they don't mess with.  They are cute and funny, but they always leave behind a mess.

I just happened to get a glimpse of one the other day and decided to make a look alike out of punches.

Here is our VC Rocks! Monkey 2012:

So, you'll notice that this guy is caged.  I have been sending them out to a few of our wonderful
Rockers and had to cage them to get the post office to take them, lol.  When uncaged, if you dare,
he can actually act as a bookmark, if you can get him to be still long enough.

And just to prove that he is of the blue-butted variety, I have a photo of him from the back, with another
monkey looking on. TeeHee.  Really this was a photo I took while working on these last weekend at Panera, my favorite place in the world to just sit, read, drink coffee, have a soup or salad, chat, or just
do a little crafting.  This was actually my prototype so he's not quite as finished on the back as the ones
I'm sending out.

I did quite a bit of research for this little guy, lots of blogs, the head came to me from here. Stasia had bought a gift bag at a retail store and decided to copy the monkey head on it.  Then I saw it at the "M" craft store and decided he was definitely the "VC" type.  The arms and legs were a mish mash of other monkey parts I saw on the web by googling punch art  monkeys, Stampin' Up!.

Well, enough for today, gotta go play in the stamp room a bit more today  Maybe finish up a few more of
these guys.  Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to check out VC Rocks!  We are open for new members throughout the month of May.  Hugs,

Yet Another Bookmark Card....Same But Different

Hello. So glad you took time out of your Sunday to stop by.  I was doing a little cleaning around in my craft area the other day and came across several punched pieces, some embossed pieces, some paper flowers, etc, so I decided to make something out of them.  Here is the card I made:

I'm not that happy with it, need to replace the little butterfly with a celery or pink butterfly, but I do like the  left hand side.  That Whisper White panel with the sentiment and
flower is a removable bookmark.  I have been a reading fool lately, (over 40 books read so far this year), so
I'm always in need of a bookmark or two.

Colors used:  Cardstock:  Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery. Inks: Chocolate Chip, Lucky Limeade.  DSP:  Print Patterns.  Accessories:  Designer Label and Butterfly Punches, Polka Dot and Elegant Lines Embossing Folders. Pretty in Pink 1/8" Ribbon.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day!

Because I Care

Hi, and Happy Friday!!!  Today is another card.  I hope you don't mind.  It is made with a set called Because I Care, that is retired, but it is oh so pretty and I just have to use it from time to time.

Isn't it pretty.  I took inspiration from Andrea G. another demo on Stampin' Connection, our SU demo only
website.  Our place for all things SU.  It's amazing how many wonderfully creative people there are at SU.

There is a special going on at Stampin` Up! right now.  When you join, you can put together a kit of any of
our current products, Your Choice.  That`s right! up to $125 of any SU products that you choose, plus a $65 business supply pack, and free shipping.  That`s a $190 value for only $99.  Click here to join.


Colors used are Concord Crush and Old Olive.  First Edition DSP (retired), Print Pack DSP,  Victoria Ribbon and Vintage Brads.

Thanks for having a look today.  See ya again soon.

Zindorf inspired Birds on a Wire

Oh my goodness!  This post was supposed to run yesterday. I thought I had it scheduled, but you know my feeble brain, lol.  Today's card is Zindorf inspired from her card here.  I used the baby wipe swipe technique to
make my background, then just punched some birds, and made a wire out of black cardstock (it's really more like a very large cable, lol)  and Voila!  this really cute card.

So sorry about the bad picture.  Taken with my phone until I get batteries for my camera.

Cardstock: So Saffron, Basic Black.  Inks: Basic Black, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, and Not Quite Navy.

Accessories: Bird Punch, Pinking Hearts Border Punch, Baby Wipes

Have a great day!  Comments are appreciated.

Dino Roar

Howdy!  Thanks for stopping in today!  Today's share is another card with a stamp set that I haven't used much.  Dino-Roar.  What a great set for little boys that love dinosaurs!  It is a simple card, and I'm not so sure whether I like it or not, but here it is:

Lots of coloring with Stampin' Write markers on this one.  Also some sponging.  I'm not sure of all
the colors used, lots of dino-type colors, lol, so I'm just gonna leave this a very quick post.

Come back again soon!    Comments are appreciated.

Hi again,  I'm back to share another card I made around Valentines Day.  I bought the Stamp Set Furry Folk, well, cuz it had furry little critters on it, and an Owl, so it was most definitely a must have for me.  Only I hadn't used it at all, sadly.  So I  decided it would make a cute little Valentines Day, or just an I Love You card.  I also made this one a 3D stand up card with a window. I know there's a name for it, but honestly, I am drawing a blank. Happens alot. Let's blame it on age, shall we?   Here you go:

Isn't this just the cutest little card?  I love making this type of card, and as usual, used lots of different Stampin' Up! products on it.  Cardstocks are Whisper White, Real Red, Pretty in Pink and Crumb Cake.  Inks are Bashful Blue, Real Red and Garden Green. The 2.5" Circle and Jewelry Tag Punch, Real Red 1/8 ribbon. Adorning Accents Embossing Folder. Stampin' Dimensionals,

Furry Fold is retiring May 30th, so if you want it, don't wait too long.

Have a great Friday. Thanks for stopping by.

Bookmark Card

Hello all, and happy Wednesday!  Today I want to share a card with a little gift attached in the way of a bookmark.  This was a case from our awesome Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Only Magazine called Stampin' Success.  So many great ideas and samples for us to learn from and CASE.

I used so many SU products in this card, but I love it, and I love to read so it's perfect for me.  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla and Early Espresso Cardstocks. Early Espresso and Calypso Coral Inks The Boho Blossom, Curly Label, Eyelet Border and Modern Label punches.  Linen Thread, 1/8 Early Espresso and Early Espresso Polka Dotted Ribbons.  The Striped Embossing Folder with my trusty Big Shot, The awesome Simply Scored, the Crop o Dile and the Color Spritzer Tool with an Early Espresso Stampin' Write Marker.  Also, just had to add a Pearl.  Stamp Sets used are BroadSheet Alphabet, Best Friends Forever, My Friend, and Fine Flourish.

I hope you have enjoyed this card today.  If you have some time, read a book!  It's a wonderful way to expand your mind.

Have a great day,

Card Box

Hi All, and Happy Sunday!  Hope your weekend is going well.  I promised to show you a project I've been
working on and today's the day.  A friend of mine was at a training at her work and they had lunch brought in
for everyone.  They were in these cool little boxes, just the right size for a card box.  She brought one to me
and here's what I did with it.

I used the Everyday Elegance DSP that was free during Sale-A-Bration, then the matching cardstocks in Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Lucky Limeade and Very Vanilla for the flowers and butterfly.
I used the Flower Fest Die for the biggest Flower, the Framelits for the sentiment,and of course my trusty Big Shot. I also used the Scallop Circle for the Pool Party flower and the 5 Petal Punch (not the pointy one, lol, name of punch is escaping me at the moment)  The small ones on the sentiment are using the Boho Blossom Punch..  I also died some of my Pear |Pizazz Seam Binding Ribbon Lucky Limeade for the Bow.  There are some Pearls on the Butterfly. The texture on the butterfly is made with the Spiderweb embossing folder.  I also added some card index cards to the inside, but once again I can't get another picture to load, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Heehee.

Well thanks for stopping by again today.  Will be back on Tuesday with another post.  Have a great day!

Stamp Room part 2

Hi again.  I won't promise to post everyday, but just thought I would drop in with another picture of my stamp room.  Tomorrow I will show you the project I've been working on.  Finished it last night, so it's ready to photograph.

Ok, so here is my how I store my paper.  It is in magazine holders from IKEA.  I love it because I can tell
at a glance what I have.  Lots of little boxes for storage. The brown bookcase you see at bottom right holds
my current wood mount stamp sets.  So it is a mess right now, but it is definitely getting there.  More later.  Have a great weekend.

I'm Back......Really

I know I've said it before, but really, I'm back.

The VC Rocks! season is officially open, and what a better reason to start back on my poor neglected blog. For those of you who don't know what VC Rocks! is, it is a celebration of Stampin' UP!, a "virtual convention". It runs through the summer, has a high volume of emails, and the most wonderful group of women ever. We have swaps, loads of them, games, challenges, contests, classes, and all manner of fun. Registration for new members opens on May 1, 2012. Please join us, you will be glad you did!

Today I am gonna share a bit of my new stamping space, that I have been working on for several months. Not quite finished yet, probably never will be, but here goes.

This is my cutting station. Ikea rods for my punches, Gutter for some of my ribbon.

Ok, since I can't seem to get another picture to load on this post, I will show you another area next time, plus a project I have been working on today.

Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again soon.

Sale A Bration is here!!! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Hi all, and sorry I've been gone so long. Sometimes life gets in the way.

Just wanted to let you all know that Sale A Bration begins today! If you don't have your Sale A Bration catalog, look in my left sidebar to check it out. While you are there, check out the Occasions Mini, too.

Stampin' Up! has pulled out all stops this year with both of these minis. Soooo many beautiful stamp sets, dies, DSP, and lots of things you just can't live without.

I'm sorry I don't have a card for you, but I have made some stuff that I will try to take some pictures of today and get something posted for you. Hopefully I can get back into the habit of

posting with some regularity.

Thanks for understanding, hope you come back to visit again soon.