Monday, September 30, 2013

Sally's Fall Regional

Hi there!  Hope you had a great weekend!  I sure did!  Saturday was an all day Demo event.  Stampin' Up! announced they were no longer having Fall Regionals.  Soooo...Sally Nusbaum being the organizer of previous local events for us Demonstrators, stepped up to the plate to plan a St Louis "Fall Regional".  It was FABULOUS!!!  The projects were awesome!  Of course, she had help from Cheyrl Renth, Jayne Singleton, and Kim Coulter designing projects and others helping with various tasks.  You know - it takes a village.  There was kind of an an owl theme with the decor, so Sally's team of helpers was affectionaly known as the "Hooter" girls.  lol  Everyone received the cute little owl bag above packed with treats.  Sally ordered them from Current found here.  This event was run a bit differently than those in the past.  The attendees signed up to bring a food item to share with the group, rather than have it catered.  Wow, we have some great cooks - lunch was the best and so much of it!  Yum!  OK, now for a look at some of the projects we made:
Cheryl had "Fall" so her projects were designed around that season.  The stamp set Truly Grateful used on this card can be found in the Holiday catalog.  Next we have a treat bag. The scarecrow is made from the Top Note die and Sweater Weather Designer Series Paper.
Isn't this adorable?  Love it!  This is what we had to put inside.  Cheryl already had this packaged for us.  The cello bag contains packaged apple cider mix, a cinnamon stick, and some candy corn to fix a warm drink on a chilly night.  (Click on the photo if you want to read the poem.)

See what I mean about the projects?  That's it for today.  Come back tomorrow for "Halloween" by Kim Coulter.  Thanks for stopping in today!



Friday, September 27, 2013

All Things Beach-y

Hi there!  What a crazy, busy week this has turned out to be!  One of the many things that has kept me busy is making invitations (and addressing them using my mad calligraphy skills! ha) for our daughter and future son-in-law's beach wedding.  It will be a small gathering of family present for the ceremony.  The real party will follow a week later here in St Louis!
I chose to make a pocket type card to include an insert with all the pertinent information.  The flip flops were scaled down from a pattern found on the internet.  The white "thong" pieces sparkle with the help of Stampin' Up!s Dazzling Diamonds and the pearl was just the right finishing touch.  The Crumb Cake pocket was sponged with Sahara Sand and Crumb Cake inks to get a sandy beach effect.  It was then lightly misted with a mixture of alcohol and Champagne Mist (now retired) for a subtle sparkle.  The shell is from the By the Tide stamp set.  A little Blushing Bride ink (how fitting, huh?  lol) was sponged inside of the shell for a little definition.
The insert representing the "ocean" was sponged with Marina Mist and Soft Sky inks.  Circle punches were used to make the "wedding rings" out of some metallic cardstock (non-SU).  The "diamond" was from our silver Glimmer paper.
The invitations  look so much better in real life - very sparkly.  They were delivered to the future bride and groom earlier this week to be mailed.  They both were very happy with the final product.  Whew!  lol 

OK, must run to meet with a friend to help celebrate her last chemo treatment!!!  Hope you have a great weekend and thank you for stopping by today!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Afternoon Picnic

Hi there!  It's been a busy day with a couple of appointments and working on some swaps for the upcoming Demo event Sally Nusbaum is organizing for Saturday.  I'll share those after the event.  But for now, I want to show you the card made for my friend, Jayne Singleton, wishing her a happy birthday.  It was CASE'd almost completely from Mary N. Davidson's card posted to our Demo site, Stampin' Connection.  I used a So Saffron card base and Pretty Print embossed piece to coordinate with the roses in the Afternoon Picnic Designer Series Paper (even though the color is Crushed Curry).  The DSP was adhered to a Wisteria Wonder mat on top of a doily.  The banner was added, along with a vintage button and some pearls. 

It's been a long day so I'm going to turn in now.  Thank you for stopping by!








Monday, September 23, 2013

Elephant Baby

Hi there!  Hope you had a good weekend!  The weather was great here in the Midwest.  Saturday morning I had a Workshop that was near our weekend stamping retreat.  Took a few hours out of my retreat time to "work".  Most of the Hostesses guests had limited stamping skills but caught on very quickly!  It was so much fun interacting with this group of ladies!  I LOVE what I do!  Not only do I get to stamp, but I meet the nicest people!

Speaking of stamping, how about we get to the card shown above.  It was displayed on our Aug and Sep Card Buffets.  The banner from Banner Greetings could be changed to a sentiment for a birthday or other occasion.  The Alphabet Press embossing folder and the Zoo Babies stamp set are new items in our 2013-14 Stampin' Up! catalog.  Love them!

Must run for now to finish my list of chores.  Thank you for coming by for a visit today!
 
Stamps: Zoo Babies, Dictionary, Banner Greetings 
Paper: Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight, White 
Ink: Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Crushed Curry (for ear) 
Tools:  Alphabet Press embossing folder, Perfect Pennants die, 2-1/2” circle punch, 1/8” hole punch 
Other:  Dimensionals, toothpicks
Inspiration: Rita Wright  see her card here posted Jun 7, 2013

Friday, September 20, 2013

Last of the Gently Falling Set

Hi there and happy Friday to you!  Hope your week went well.  We are back into cooler temps today and for the rest of the weekend.  Yeah!

Here is the last card of the gift ensemble that I made from bits and pieces of projects that were left over or didn't make the cut.  This time the whole stamped panel of Gently Falling leaves was used for the background, along with a portion of a woodgrain embossed piece (non-SU!).  A couple of leaves from the Autumn Accents die and sentiment from Chalk Talk were added as an embellishment, as well as the ribbon (retired). 

A gift needs to be presented in some sort of packaging, right?  So, I made a box with our new Envelope Punch Board!  Love it, love it, love it!  This box was easy peasy with this awesome new tool from Stampin' Up!  Here is the box, which has an embellished belly band using more of my leftover bits and pieces.


And here is a look at the complete gift ensemble.


Must run to make sure everything is ready for a customer's Workshop tomorrow.  Afterwards, I'll be meeting up with my stamping peeps for an overnighter.  Need to get packed.  Hope you have a great weekend and thanks for stopping in today!

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Gently Falling Meets Gifts of Kindness

Hi there!  I have another card made with bits and pieces of projects that didn't "make the cut".  Here only one inch squares of a stamped leftover Gently Falling piece was used and matted on the now retired Stampin' Up! color, Bravo Burgundy.  The white panel is scored on the ends (another leftover) and was spritzed with the color spritzer tool (also retired) to coordinate with the stamped squares. The matted squares were adhered to the spritzed white panel.  A few brads and a sentiment from Gifts of Kindness were the finishing touches.  The focal piece was then added to a Bravo Burgundy card base to complete the card.

That's all for now - must tackle a long "to-do" list.  Thank you for stopping in today!


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Gently Falling Accents

Hi there!  Today is the last day of our cooler temperatures.  We're supposed to be back up in the 80's tomorrow, according to the forecast.  We shall see.  lol

Over the weekend I challenged myself to use up some of the ever-growing bits and pieces accumulated from previous projects.  I was using scraps stamped with the Gently Falling set.  Today's version is also a square focal piece, but placed on point.  The Cajun Craze leaf was cut from the Autumn Accents die.  (Still have a whole bag of those in various colors!)  A decorative strip (from the Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch) was added, along with a sentiment from Express Yourself on a piece from the Word Window punch and mat from the Modern Label punch.  The card base was spritzed to match the stamped leaves panel and square. 

Must finish preparing for a Workshop this Saturday.  Later I'll have dinner with our granddaughter, then go to Mary Taylor's Club meeting.  Marla Schack and I are filling in for Mary while she's recuperating from surgery. 

That's it for today.  Thank you for visiting today!



Monday, September 16, 2013

Gently Falling

Hi there!  Hope you enjoyed your weekend.  I sure did.  Hung out with my stamping/scrapping friends at the St Ferdinand crop on Saturday and did a few chores yesterday, which included unloading my car. Finally!

While cleaning up the studio, I came across some bits and pieces of projects that had been tossed into a drawer.  I challenged myself to make some cards with the Gently Falling stamped pieces.  Here is the first card.  I had to use a Soft Suede marker and spritzing tool on the card base so that it would match the focal piece.  The sentiment is from Wetlands.

That's it for now - must run some errands.  Thanks for stopping in!

Friday, September 13, 2013

Time to Paws

Hi there!  Hope your week was a good one.  It went by quick!  The forecast is great - the high temp today is 74!  Last night we had our O'Fallon Card Buffet and that went very well.  Thanks to ALL the ladies who attended our Buffet this past Saturday and last night!  We had a great time! 

Now for one of the cards on our Buffet display is the paw print, which can be a pet sympathy (as shown above) or it can easily be made into a congratulations or birthday for a pet (shown below).  I sent Rocky (our granddog) a "miss you" card after having him for a week.  His parents got a kick out of that.  You could even make it for a Mizzou fan by changing the colors! 


All Stampin' Up! supplies used unless otherwise noted. 
Stamps: So Sorry 
Paper: White, Black, Cherry Cobbler 
Ink: Black 
Tools:  Hearts Framelits, Small Oval punch, Small Heart punch 
Other:  Dimensionals
Inspiration: Mary Fish   link to her video to make the paw


That's all for now.  Hope you have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by for a peek at my blog!


Thursday, September 12, 2013

Vintage Foliage

Hi there!  We finally have cooler temps today.  Maybe it will start feeling like Fall.  But Mother Nature has tricked us before! 

Today's card is one that I made a long time ago. There are so many occasions requiring cards this month that I raided my stash and pulled this one to mail out yesterday.  It was CASEd (Copy And Share Everything) from Sandi MacIver.  Love her work!   You can view Sandi's card and tutorial here, including measurements.  She used Mocha Morning Specialty DSP but I didn't have any.  Sooo, I improvised by stamping some doilies (Delicate Doilies set) onto black cardstock and embossed them with clear embossing powder.  This card was a labor of love but the results were stunning and will be appreciated by the recipient. 

OK, I have a busy day ahead with a doctor appointment (routine checkup) then our Card Buffet in O'Fallon this evening.  Thank you for stopping in for a visit today!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Just a Note



Hi there!  Here we are in the middle of the week - again.  Boy the weeks sure seem to go FAST!   Let's not waste another minute and get to today's project. 
Normally, I don't make 3-D projects but this little tote containing 3x3 notes and envelopes was just too cute not to replicate!  Pam D'Urso invited us Demos for a stamping retreat weekend at her home this past summer.  When Diane Mikles and I saw Pam's tote, we CASE'd hers but used different paper for our versions - some retired Not Quite Navy cardstock and DSP.  Pam gave us some written instructions with measurments, but I honestly don't remember the person's name who wrote the tutorial.  The stamps we used came from the Postage Due set and were then punched out with the coordinating punch.  The border strip was made from an image found in Mosaic Madness.  The Decorative Label punch was used to create a "handle".  The only directions I could find that are similar to Pam's version were on Beth Beard's blog.  You can view her video here.  This would make a darling little hostess gift.  The holiday season will soon be upon us and that means parties to attend!  I'm just saying... 

All Stampin' Up! supplies used unless otherwise noted.

Must run some errands.  Thanks for stopping in today!



Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Serene Butterflies

Hi there!  Thought I'd better get this posted before midnight.  You know what happens at midnight!  lol
My friend, Jayne Singleton, made this card and I just had to CASE it!  I changed the sentiment, though.  She was inspired by Dianne Sisneros.    The moon was masked off and a reverse mask technique used to sponge on Pool Party ink into the negative shape, which was cut from Apothecary Accents Collection Framelits.  A bit of piercing was added using the Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack.  The sentiment from Petite Pairs and the flowers from Serene Silhouettes were stamped with Crumb Cake ink.  The butterflies are from Papillion Potpourri and punched out with the coordinating punch.  Love how everything coordinates!

All Stampin' Up! supplies were used. 

Sorry for the short post - going to call it a night.  As always, thank you for coming by today!


Friday, September 6, 2013

Creative Crayon Technique

Hi there and happy Friday!  Hope you have a fun weekend in store.  Mine will be a busy one. 

Today I want to share a technique that has been around a long time but may be new to some of you.  It is called the crayon resist technique.  I stumbled across Paula Dobson's blog and her card incorporating this technique with the swirl image from Creative Elements.  I really liked her card, so basically CASEd it.  You can see Paula's card and tutorial here.  I'm not really sure what colors she used - maybe Pretty in Pink, Marina Mist, and Gumball Green.  I chose So Saffron, Pool Party, and Blushing Bride inks.  I also used a sentiment from the Feel Goods set and added some of our new Candy Dots.

That's it for this week.  Hope you have a great weekend and thank you for coming by today!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Feel Goods Friend

Hi there!  Hope your week is going well.  Yesterday I didn't visit my friend in the hospital after all - she wasn't having a good day.  So, maybe today.  Tomorrow evening is a dinner for grandparents at Miss M's school.  Saturday is our Card Buffet at DeLeo's.  A busy schedule for the rest of the week.  Enough chit chat - how about we get to the card?

This card was made at Sally Nusbaum's Card Buffet but I overlooked posting it.  Unfortunately, I stamped the sentiment a bit crooked.  (See!  We Demonstrators make mistakes, too, for those of you who think we don't!  lol)  The flower image is from the Oh, Hello set and the sentiment is from Feel Goods.  Such a pretty, feminine card.

All Stampin' Up! supplies were used unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Feel Goods, Oh Hello
Paper: Vanilla, Soft Suede
Ink: Soft Suede, Primrose Petals
Other: Lacy Brocade embossing folder, Primrose Petals 3/8" stitched satin ribbon

That's all for me today.  Must tend to a few things before heading out.  Thank you so much for stopping in for a visit today!



Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Gorgeous Grunge

Hi there!  Gosh, I can't believe it's already the middle of the week!  I'm on my way out the door so this will be a quick post.  I CASEd this card from Adriana Benetiz click here to see her card using the Gorgeous Grunge set in a unique way.  I wanted more of a starry night feel so chose to use a different color pallet - Marina Mist and Midnight Muse.  The sentiment is from Sweet Essentials and the star image is from Pennant Parade.  I used Dazzling Details on all of the stars except the one by the sentiment, which has a rhinestone.  Then I decided to step it up a bit......

Here a Midnight Muse card base was used for the stepped up version.  I wanted the "streaks" to be more centered and decided to use Dazzling Diamonds on the stars.  Unfortunately, they don't show up very well in the photo.  A rhinestone was still used on the star by the sentiment.

Ok, must get going to visit a friend in the hospital.  Thanks for stopping in today!

Bird of Happiness

Hi there!  Been busy all day but thought I'd better post a card real quick while it's still today!  lol  This morning I had a stack of cards that were mailed out, including this contraband card - nothing is Stampin' Up!  Gasp!  I've been going through my huge stash of cards to either use or give away.    (Sorry, but I don't recall what products were used.) 

OK, need to get to bed.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Monday, September 2, 2013

Envelope Punch Board


Hi there!  Our new Envelope Punch Board is now available! 
133774  Envelope Punch Board  $19.95
Order this great tool today by going to my online store by clicking here.  Or you can call or email me to place an order for you.  Thank you!

Happy Labor Day to all my US readers!