Spread the Love Award

I've just been given this award by my blogging buddy Jo. Needless to say, I was very surprised and honored. It really made my day! Jo's blog is fantastic, if you have time, please check it out! She's very creative! Jo's currently got a great blog candy challenge too, you need to share your creative space. Very cool to see the different work areas we all have!

I'd like to share this award with some people that inspire me and have been so very supportive! To Jo, right back at you girl! Thank you for visiting my blog and ALWAYS leaving wonderfully kind words! To Erin, my friend and stamping pal. Thanks for getting me hooked on stampin'! Not so sure that the hubby would think that's such a great thing though! :) And to all of you who take the time to visit my blog and leave such great feedback!

Altered Clipboard

Here's my stamping project for today! I wasn't really feeling the card making so I decided to alter a clipboard. Now actually I can give it to my mom for her birthday. I plan to add a photo of my kids, if I can get them to sit nicely together for more than three seconds!

To make these clipboards you will need...
A clipboard, designer or stamped paper, ribbons, embellishments, stamps, and glue. I use Sobo craft glue, it's easy to use and dries clear. My clipboard is one of the 9x9 from Stampin Up!. These clipboards come in three sizes and are very simple to alter. They make great gifts to showcase favorite photos!

Well, now I'm off to find some inspiration! Happy Stamping! :)

Recipe: Stamps: Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Wonderful Favorites Paper: Soft Sky and Blue Bayou DSP Ink: Soft Sky and Blue Bayou Accessories: Sobo glue, crystal effects, circle punch, flower punch, dew drops, pretties kit, ribbon, rhinestone brads

Whimsical Wednesday Challenge - Keep It Simple

Happy Wednesday Stampers!

For the challenge this week I propose a project that "keeps it simple!" I have a hard time with this myself, but I've seen absolutely gorgeous cards that are simple and clean. Take out your favorite stamps and inks and show us some simplicity!

I hope to upload a photo later tonight, been a long day here! Thanks for playing and be sure to post a comment with a link to your creation so we can all see it.

Edited: Here's my card for this week's challenge. I also submitted this card for the SCS Sketch Challenge. I had a chipboard flower sitting around and I thought, "Hey, I'll cover it in dew drops." Well, in theory, it looks good, but in reality, not so sure! I like the simplicity (well for me this is simple) of the card. The only stamping involved was the sentiment, but the effect of the dew drops isn't exactly what I thought it would be. What do you think?

Recipe: Stamps: For a Friend (hostess) Cardstock: White, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Celery DSP Ink: Celery, Pink Accessories: dew drops, ribbon, crystal effects, chipboard

New Stampin' Up! Bloggers Group

Happy Tuesday,

I've been out surfing the blog scene today looking for new and fresh ideas to share with my Stampin' Up! customers and friends. I've come across many, many, many, crafty and creative blogs. There are really lots and lots of truly talented people out there. Sometimes though, it's hard to find what we are looking for, not to mention hard to list all these great places on our own blogroll.

So, I've created a new blog to host a list of links to other bloggers that use primarily all Stampin' Up! products. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to see all the other fantastic products and ideas that are out there, but as a demo for Stampin' Up!, it's nice to come across blogs that use the same products that I demonstrate to my customers. It's often difficult to come up with new ideas for workshops, things that will impress and keep our customers wanting more! I need help sometimes, I need inspiration!

So, if your a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator or just a fan of Stampin' Up! and you would like a resource for quick and easy access to other Stampin' Up! bloggers, please visit my new site, Lovin' Stampin' Up! and leave a comment to have your blog or site added to the blogroll!

If you would like to help organize this site or have any feedback, please contact me!

Happy Stamping!

I've Been Tagged...Here Goes

I was tagged by my Blogging Sister Cassie - Here's her blog, check it out!

This is called the middle name game. Here are the rules...
1. You must post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself for each letter of your middle name. Each fact must begin with that letter. If you don't have a middle name, just use your maiden name.
3. After you've been tagged, you need to update your blog with your middle name and answers.
4. At the end of your post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged & need to read your blog for the details.)

Well, here goes...
My middle name is Michelle. Funny, I never really even think about my middle name, do you?

M - Mom to two busy busy children, ages 4 and 2
I - Inky fingers, most of the time anyways!
C - Caring
H - Happy
E - Ex- elementary school teacher
L - Love to stamp
L - Live in NH
E - Exhausted at the end of the day

Now to tag 8 people, my that's a lot! If you've already been tagged, I apologize!
Erin, Elaine, Lynn W, Katie, April, Jo, Jana, and Andrea

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #32

Happy Friday Everyone!

This is a card I made for Beate's weekend sketch challenge. I was very excited to see it posted today. I needed a little inspiration to get out the stamps and be creative!

This is my first time using the stamp set Priceless from Stampin' Up!. I just love it! I also wanted to use some of my new glitter, so I went with this blue theme.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. If you're feeling the urge to stamp, surf around the blog scene and try some of the great challenges that are out there. Have fun!

Recipe: Stamps: Priceless, Warm Words Cardstock: Black, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, White Ink: Brocade and Navy Accessories: Paper piercer, oval punches, fine cosmo glitter, ribbon, distressing tool, brads, 1/4" circle punch, rhinestone brad.

Whimsical Wednesday Challenge - week 5

Happy Wednesday!

I recently received all my new Stampin' Up! goodies, which I've been having loads of fun using. I love everything of course, but my new favorites are all the fun glitters, the pretties kit, the bead duos, and the sticky cuts letters. So I thought for this week, we should have an all that sparkles, shimmers, and shines challenge! Let's dig out the heat guns and the crystal effects and all our bling and make a project that dazzles!

Be sure to leave a link to your creation in a comment on this post. Let's BLING it on!

Here's my shimmering creation, sorry I'm a little late with posting! I actually made this card for a swap I'm doing with Erin. If you'd like to join the swap, check out this thread on SCS. It is a demo only swap though.

Recipe: Stamps: To Have and To Hold Cardstock: Black, White, Elegant Eggplant Ink: Eggplant, White Stazon, Pale Plum Marker Accessories: Acetate, ribbon, crop-a-dile, Iridescent Ice EP, Versa marker, rhinestone brad

SCS Color Challenge 150

Here's my card for today's SCS color combination challenge. The challenge was to use Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, and Real Red as the main colors for your project. I chose to make a z-fold card so that I could combine this challenge with my tutorial for this week!

To make a z-fold card you need to cut your cardstock to 4 1/4" X 11" and then score on 2 3/4" and 5 1/2". Then cut your main image papers to fit over half of the front flap, this way it over laps onto the bottom of the card. Only adhere about half of your main image to the card base. When you open the card all the way, your front image will lay flat and still be visible.

Here is the recipe for making this card...

Stamps: Happy Heart Day

Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Real Red, and White

Ink: Bayou and Close to Cocoa, the image is colored with watercolor pencils and an aqua painter

Accessories: Photo corners punch, eyelets, ribbon

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #31

Here's my card for this past weekend's sketch challenge over on Beate's Blog. I like how the card turned out, just not sure about the sentiment. I couldn't get anything to work the way I wanted it to. I think I may end up ripping that oval off all together!

Recipe:
Stamps: Embrace Life, Warm Words
Cardstock: Kraft, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, and White.
Ink: River Rock, Wasabi, Sky, and Bayou
Accessories: Paper piercer, oval punch, build a brad, hodgepodge, blender pens, glitter

January Stamp Club Project

Hi All,

This is one of the projects we made at my monthly stamp club last night. Seeing as January's Stampin' Up! Promotion is the Valentine's Day Bundle, we made a card with a matching candy treat bag. I just love this Happy Heart Day set, it's super cute!

Recipe: Cardstock: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, and Very Vanilla Ink: Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Basic Gray Accessories: oval punch, brads, dew drop beads, eyelets, crystal effects, tag punches, hemp twine, wide grosgrain ribbon and candy

And The Winner Is....

Thank you all for visiting my blog and leaving really great stamping and scrapping tips! It was a lot of fun reading them all. I hope you all had a chance to read them too.

The winner of this blog candy is Amie! Her stamping tip was ....
I keep a small disposable set of baby wipes in my stamping/scrapping tool kit to quickly clean off used stamps.

I've sent you an email Amie, please contact me with your address and I'll get your blog candy out in the mail this weekend!

Thanks again for playing! :)

You Make My Day Award

I received the You Make My Day award from Erin yesterday and then today, I saw in a comment on my blog, that Teresa nominated me as well. Thanks ladies! Please check out their blogs, they are both very creative!

Now my You Make My Day Award nominations! To all my SBS3 sisters. Thanks for visiting my blog and for the wonderful comments you all take the time to leave on my posts. To Cassie, it made my day to see the card I sent her posted on her blog. She also said some really lovely things about me. To Erin, who is a great upline and super friend! And to Krystie Lee, although I don't know her personally, I love to visit her blog. She is very talented and funny to boot!

Blog Candy!!!

This week I have a lot on my "stamping" plate and won't have time to do a weekly tutorial, so I've decided to give away some blog candy instead!

This blog candy includes a card kit and a stamp set. The kit includes supplies for making 5 note cards with envelopes and a matching tote bag. The stamp set is the retired hostess set, Party Punch!

To enter to win this blog candy, please post a comment with a stamping or scrapping tip that has been useful to you. The winner will be drawn at random by my four year old on Friday this week! I'll assign numbers based on the order of the post comments and he'll pull the number from a hat. I'll post the winner at noon on Friday!

Thanks for playing!

SCS Challenge - Kick Stand Card

Hi Everyone,

This week on SCS the sketch challenge was to make a kick stand card. I've never made one before and now that I have, I think it's my new favorite card style! Here's the card I made. I just love this hippo!

Check out this thread for a "how to" and more kick stand card samples! Give it a try yourself!

Recipe:
Cardstock: pretty in pink, purely pomegranate, very vanilla, chocolate chip, regal rose
Stamps: bundled in love, loads of love, short and sweet
Ink: chocolate chip, pretty in pink, regal rose, purely pomegranate
Accessories: paper piercer, crystal effects, dazzling diamonds glitter, blender pens, pink brads, ticket corner punch, slit punch, pomegranate double stitched ribbon
Technique: faux stitching, kick stand card, scalloped edge with slit punch

Punch Storage

In a recent post I told you about how my husband made me some storage this past weekend for my punches. Well, Teresa commented and was curious how it was done, so I thought I would share a couple photos of the way my punches are stored now.

I only have a closet for my stamp supplies, but it works great. A while back, my husband built a storage unit to fit the closet. Up until then, my stuff was a mess! Everything was in piles or in toolboxes, not very convenient at all!

I had read a thread on SCS one day about the different ways people store their supplies and someone mentioned storing punches on curtain rods. Because my storage area is made from wood, it was easy for my husband to add a few dowels to hang the punches on. They fit perfectly and he can just add more dowels when I need more punch storage! I hope this storage tip has helped! Happy Stamping! :)

Whimsical Wednesday Challenge - week 4

This weekend my husband made me a storage rack for all my punches. It's so much more convenient to have them on a rack in the open instead of in my toolbox. And because I don't need to dig through everything to find what I want, I've actually been using them more and more.

So my challenge for this week is to use punches to add paper accents to your cards. I love the added visual a small piece of paper can make.


For my card, I was inspired by a color combination I saw on Beate's Blog. I love this color combo, but had I not seen them used, I don't think I would have put them together. Beate has fantastic ideas!


The colors here are Black, Sky, Pumpkin, and White with Bali Breeze DSP. The card is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4". I was actually able to make this card using only scrap pieces of paper. I used the Embrace Life stamp set, my new favorite! The punched paper accents are photo corners, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, and the ticket corner punch. I finished this card with silver brads, a rhinestone brad, some paper piercing, and double stitched Sky ribbon.

Now it's your turn, go ahead and punch away!

Another Card

This is just another card I made tonight after doing the SCS color combination challenge.

Recipe: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Barely Banana, and Whisper White cardstock. Embrace Life and All Holidays stamp sets. Brads, hodgepodge, ribbon, and faux stitching with gel pen and paper piercing, ticket corner punch, 1/4" circle punch.

SCS Tuesday Color Combo Challenge

So, today I decided to try a Splitcoast Challenge, my first ever! I just thought I'd share it with you, what do you think? It was a fun challenge and I think I'll be doing more.

Today's challenge, Wild Bananas, was to make a card using Wild Wasabi, Barely Banana, and Blue Bayou. Check out the other cards posted by SCS members. There are some beautiful creations by very talented stampers!

My card is 4x4 and I used the spotlight technique on the main image. I added some paper piercing, paper accents, eyelets and ribbon to complete this card. The stamps set are Embrace Life and All Holidays.

Weekly Tutorial - Card Accents

Good Morning,

Hope everyone is fully recovered from the holiday season and getting back to normal routines! I'm happy to report that I'm back and ready to start stamping and posting again!

This week I thought instead of the typical tutorial, I would show you how to jazz up your cards by adding embellishments and paper accents. We can all make a simple card, but we can also turn these simple cards into much, much more. So what do you say, let's kick it up a notch!

As you can see, the cards on the left are pretty basic, but with a few accents added, they become whole new cards! For these cards, I chose the colors from the new style watch section of the Spring/Summer Collection. The cards on top are the BoHo West color combos and the cards on the bottom are Eastern Eclectic color combos. Both sets of cards are made using the new Embrace Life stamp set.

For the card on the upper right, I added paper piercing to the main image, brads and ribbon for some embellishments, and some paper accents for color. For the card on the lower right, I added faux stitching with the All in a Row stamp set, paper piercing to the main image, dry embossing to the bottom of the card, paper accents for color, and finally brads for added embellishments. Now it's you turn, kick those cards up a notch!

My New Online Store

I just created a website to host my new online store! I will be selling handcrafted cards and gifts for all occasions. You may also place special orders for some items. Currently, I accept money orders, personal checks (orders will be placed after check clears bank), and credit card payments through Paypal. Please visit often as it's still a work in progress.

Whimsical Wednesday Challenge - Week 3

Happy New Year! Sorry that I haven't been posting lately, but with the holidays things have been a bit crazy.

For this week's challenge, I was inspired by the new Spring/Summer Collection catalog. The catalog is beautiful and filled with lots of new products and great sample ideas. If you would like to purchase a copy, please contact me.

I completed this card using only scrap pieces of cardstock and a few pieces of my new Ginger Blossom DSP. I also used the new stamp set Celebrate Everything. The color combo is Groovy Guava, Regal Rose, and River Rock. I chose them based on the colors from the Ginger Blossom DSP. I'm not totally sure that I like the look, but this challenge is about trying something new!

My card base is Regal Rose. I layered on Groovy Guava and then River Rock. I cut the Ginger Blossom DSP with my 1 3/8 square punch to make the perfect squares. I adhered those in a quilt type pattern and then stamped Celebrate at the bottom. I attached some Rose Ribbon (retired color I think) and last, I added a piece of chipboard colored with a Regal Rose marker and crystal effects and glitter.

Now it's your turn! Stamp something whimsical and fun!

Retiring Stampin' Up! Stamp Sets

I will be selling gently used retiring stamp sets from my Stampin' Up! collection beginning on January 2nd. All sets are listed at the bottom of this page in a slide show. Click on each picture to view set name and asking price. If you are interested, please contact me.