Friday, September 28, 2012

Have You Seen These?

Have you seen these amazingly cute 'can' around???  I just LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  But of course because I'm such a visual person I really needed some directions.  Thank goodness for the amazing Heather Summers!  She has a fun and easy video that shows how to make these.  They're fast and easy and soooo much fun!!!  I filled mine with some kisses, but really ANY chocolate will do :)  I topped mine with a fun paper flower instead of the ribbon.  Fun huh?  The best part....wait for it......they're made with SU button, brad, accessory boxes.  What an amazing way to recycle.  Thank goodness I have a ton (yes like 20 of these little boxes waiting for a new purpose!).  Yay!!!


The flower is 5 flowers that I broke the fibers in and separated the cardstock so that the suede like interior show.  I love doing that to cardstock :)  So after that I had 10 flowers.  They're folded, crumpled, ruffled and messed up purposely.  To finish it off I added a blue center with some DSP from the International Bazaar Pack (I think).  A button and a pearl top it all off. 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

It's Contest Day

Remember last week when I told you I'd be showing you my entries for the My Digital Studio Contests.  Well here's this weeks challenge creation!  I think I'm most pleased with this one, though there's one thing on here that bothers me and if/when it goes to print I'll have to fix it :)  Anyway the challenge was to use the following colors: Primrose Petals, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight, Midnight Muse, and Whisper White.  Even Peach Parfait is retired from the catalog that doesn't mean that you can't use it in MDS, all the old in colors are there-did you know that!!?!  One of the extra perks of this program!!!  Remember if you like my page head over to the My Digital Studio website and hit 'like'. 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Halloween Pumpkin, errr I Mean Owl!

How stinkin' adorable is this card!!!!  I'm seriously over the moon for this card.  Not only does it use punches-YAY! But it uses the owl punch-double YAY!  AND it's the owl dressed up for Halloween-shut the front door that's too cute!!!!!  There's lots going on with this card.  But surprisingly I only used a few punches.  I'll make sure to list them.  I saw the little pumpkin owl on Pintrest and thought I had pinned it but when I went back through my boards I couldn't find it so I guess I didn't pin it after all.  There's serious sponging on this card.  Every single layer is sponged.  The base is Gray sponged in Black, the moon is also sponged in black.  Everything else is sponged in Soft Suede. 
Here's the punches.  The owl, is the Owl Punch, the Small Oval Punch and the Pennants Punch for his beak.  That's it I swear!  For the fence I used the Word Window Punch and the moon is the 1 1/4 Circle Punch.  Don't you just love him!!!!!?!!!
I made another pumpkin and was going to place it on the ground in front of the fence, but it threw the card off and didn't look quite right.  So instead I put it on the inside and it pops up when you open the card.  Seriously there's no end to the cuteness of this card :)  It's hard to see that it pops up in the picture but it does.  I wouldn't lie to you :)  So that's it.  I hope you enjoyed the card. 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Starbucks Inspiration

Don't you just love the glimmer paper!!!  I know I love to use it!!!  I especially love this champagne color in the Holiday Catalog!  Today's post will be short and sweet.  This card was created after I got a card in the mail from Starbucks.  I loved the simplicity of their card and knew it could easily be redone.  So there's really not much to share on how I did this card.  The greeting is embossed and I used the heart framelits to cut out the 2 shapes of hearts. 

Here's the inside.  Isn't it great, I love the pop of glitter on the inside too!!! FUN!!!
Here's the card from Starbucks. Their gold lines aren't as big and bold as mine, but they also don't sparkle.  :) 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Nesting

This card is a perfect example of how you don't always need lots of layers or embellishments for a card to make a statement (and be cute!). The white on white on this card is very striking and really makes the bird stand out.  I love it!!!!  The base of the card is sponged in Marina Mist, every other layer on this card is sponged in Crumb Cake.  The clouds even have it, just lightly and just enough to make then stand out on the white background.  I sponged over the woodgrain on the embossed piece of white.  I think it just makes the woodgrain look more detailed.  The linen thread is so fun and goes so well with this card :)
For the bird, he's stamped in Staz On and colored with our markers.  I really love our markers.  Some of them I've had for years and they work just as well as my new ones!  I love this entire set!  I have to admit that I've used it quite a bit lately.  I just love the fun whimsical looking birds!  We have another busy week!  I have to start on the kids Halloween costumes soon or they're never going to get done.  Not to mention I have TONS of class prep to get to.  I'm certainly not complaining but if I don't start this week, I might not get it done :)  I should have started last week!  YIKES!!!  October will be a busy but amazing month and I can't wait!!!!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Did You Celebrate?

Were you aware that yesterday was National Punch Day?  I had no idea either!  I saw it on Facebook and thought well now there's a holiday I can support!!!!  So I had a few minutes.  Megan was up super early yesterday so she was in the middle of a rare morning nap.  I had about 20-30 minutes to get something made.  Then it hit me, I remembered a card similar to this on Pintrest that I pinned a while back. Well that was it I knew what I would do!!!!  How sweet and adorable is this little mouse??!!!
The mouse is made from the Wide Oval Punch, though I think they changed the name to the Extra Large Oval Punch???  Not positive on that one.  The tail is just a sliver of the same punch, the feet are one of the flowers from the Boho Blossom Punch, the rest of the punches used were circles of many different sizes.  Here's the original creator and her card.  If you didn't get a chance to celebrate National Punch Day I think it's ok to have a delayed celebration and spend some time today or over the weekend creating with your punches!!   
 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Stolen Camera

Be prepared that for every week that Stampin' Up! is holding MDS challenges you'll see at least one entry a week for that challenge :)  If I get ambitious I might make more than one project for the contest :)  This weeks contest is 10+ Photos.  That means your page has to have at least 10 pictures on it.  This page showcases the photographic talents of my little boy.  When he took these pictures he was 5 years old, while I was making dinner.  I had no idea until I turned on my camera and there were all these fun random pictures.  Megan and the animals were nice subjects for him, as was the toys, bags and other random things we have lying around our house.  It's a simple page.  But really fun!  Remember if you like my page, make sure to head to the My Digital Studio website and like it there and comment too! 
 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Bookmark It

I was asked by a member of our church to make up some bookmarks for her group.  She leads a grief counseling group.  She emailed me the verses and prayers to put on the bookmark and this is what I came up with.  I think they're really cute, simple and hopefully will be helpful to the recipients of them.  I used the Birds of a Feather DVD for MDS in the catalog.  There are so many cute little embellishments with it!!!  Can't wait to use it more.  But I thought the birds were cute and simple enough that they don't distract from the verse but still add a little something to the book mark. 
 
I made 18 of them.  I had 6 per page, then sent to Staples to print.  They really do a good job for small projects that need to be finished quickly.  And they're fast.  I sent this to print and got a conformation email in about 5 minutes that they were done!  Wow!!!   The finished bookmark is about 5 1/2x2 1/2.  I love the stitched satin ribbon and the bakers twine bow!!!  Don't forget you can still get the stitched ribbon for free with every $40 you spend this month!!  There's still time, email me for more details!!!!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Simply Beautiful

This is such a quick card, you could probably recreate it by the time you're done reading this post.  Well maybe not that quick but seriously this is a quick card!  Yet is so beautiful!  I used the set Blooming With Kindness from the main catalog.  I loved this set the moment I saw it.  I love the image and all the wonderful greetings that go with it.  This is a one stop set.  If you're just starting out and don't know what to get, this is a great set to invest in.  I used Riding Hood Red on this card.  A color I rarely use but I love the way it looks with More Mustard, again a color I don't use much.  I love the boldness of the flower and the subtleness of the splatter.  I also love the button and the thread there at the bottom. Sorry the picture has a little shadow, didn't see that until just now.  The button is a More Mustard button and I dyed some White Bakers Twine gray to match the card.  White would have worked too, but I wanted the gray :) 
 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Peek A Boo Pooch!

I have another wonderful Pintrest find for you!  Isn't this little dog just the cutest?!  Both my kids LOVE this card.  Megan loves to play with it so much we had to hid it from her, the dog was getting a little beat up from an almost 2 year olds playful hands.  Here's the original link to the card, and it really was pretty easy.  I followed the template that I printed out, but really these shapes are pretty basic.  What makes this card so stinkin' cute is when you pull (gently) on his tongue.  His ears pop up!!!  SO CUTE!!!
I also made this card pretty quickly and looking back, I should have sponged all the edges of my dog to give him a little more life and dimension.  Good to know for next time right!  The eyes and nose are punches.  I used the white gel pen to finish the nose and eyes.  It's amazing how just that tiny mark with the pen makes such a huge difference in the look of the card.
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!  

Friday, September 14, 2012

Hoppin' With My Digital Studio

It's time for out Ladybug INK. blog hop.  Remember that each blog should take you to another one.  You'll make an endless loop admiring everyone beautiful work and end up back here.  So whether you're starting here or you just arrived from Cassie's blog, WELCOME!  Today blog theme is My Digital Studio!  Whoo Hooo!!!!  Remember if you don't already own My Digital Studio you can try it free for 30 days.  MDS2 is amazing.  Every time I create with it I love it just a little more :)
Today I want to share some fun, not mind blowing, but fun tips with My Digital Studio.  If you're new to scrapbooking or the My Digital Studio world then Stampin' Up! custom made templates might be just for you.  They have templates for everything cards, albums, calendars, etc.  You can pick a template and be done in a matter of minutes.  Just plug in your pictures and you're done.  Or you can customize a template like I did here.  I started with one from the On The Go kit, it's an extra download, but a great one!!!  I didn't change much I kept all the photo boxes and DSP boxes the same.  I did change the title, the one with the template said Go Go Go, which would have worked, but I just wanted to customize it a little more.  So I deleted that title and added my own 'It's A Long Ride'.  The only other thing I changed was I added a few more cars with my journaling.  The template had an airplane I think, maybe something else too.  But since this page is about a road trip I wanted to stick with cars.  So easy peasy right!  Use the templates, they're great guides. 
 
Since I loved that layout so much I made a similar page just tweaking that layout a little.  I'm sure you can see the similarities to this page without me pointing them out.  Yes these are the same pictures from the page I posted on Tuesday afternoon.  I love these pictures and I'm not sure which page I love more to use in our book.  I think I'm leaning toward this one.  I think the colors are better and I LOVE the heart and the fun font used on this page. 
It's time for you to continue on with the hop.   Next you'll visit the wonderful Kim Madrid.  She's quite the crafter and I can't wait to see what fun MDS project she has to show you!  Here's the line up of our hop in case you've gotten lost along the way. 
 

Kim Madrid
Nichole Gonzales Jaramillo
Kay Jantz
Liz Kay
Carmelita Wasson
Cassie Rogers
Ruth Norton-YOU ARE HERE!!!
 
 



 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!


Thursday, September 13, 2012

Is It Too Early??

For Halloween decorations to go up?  I made this, I saw an idea similar to it on Pintrest.  I really really want to hang this on our door now, but I'm wondering if it's just a little too early for Halloween decorations, what do you think.  Too early or put it up!  Mine I think is slightly bigger, probably not by much though.  On Pintrest she used cork coasters.  I just used the cardboard that comes with our DSP, cut down to about 6x6, just a hair smaller than that.  I love it though!!!!  I also used a long piece of cardboard to mount all the squares too.  I covered that in the Vanilla Cotton Ribbon in the Holiday Catalog, looks very mummy-ish.
The spider is cute huh!  I know he's 2 legs short but all 8 just looked like too much :)  I used pipe cleaners for his legs.  Cute huh?!!!  His eyes are circle punches and his mouth is hand drawn and cut out.  The Frankenstein came out really cute too!!  I debated alot on the right green.  In the end I went with Gumball Green, seems to fit.  His hair is hand cut, just randomly there's really no rhyme or reason to it.  His squiggly mouth is hand drawn as well. 
The ghost is so cute huh!!!  I love him!!!!  The eyes are oval punches.  This punch may be retired.  I didn't get rid of my oval punches and to be honest with you I'm not sure why they were retired in the first place I know I miss them :(  But back to the ghost, his mouth is hand drawn and cut out as well.  The pumpkin was pretty easy too.  His eyes and nose are from the pennant punch and again a hand drawn and cut out mouth finishes him off. 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Spooky Spiders

They're not so much spooky as so incredibly adorable!  I saw these little spiders on Pintrest, here's a link to the original creator.  They're just so much fun, don't you think?  Plus they're super easy to make.  I used 5 circles punched from my 1 3/8 inch circle punch.  Just fold them in half and glue them together.  Really fun and easy!  I'm not a spider fan, but these spiders I couldn't totally love to pieces!   
To add some extra sparkle I put some Dazzling Details on the edges of the circles.  I LOVE GLITTER!!!!!  The sparkles on the spiders are so much fun in person!!!  I love the edges on this card too, I used the new edgelits aren't they fun!!!  Yay!!!!!  Make sure to check out my two posts yesterday!  Yep two posts!!! 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Bonus MDS Post!

I thought because I was a few hours late today with my post I'd give you a bonus post today.  If you're an MDSer make sure you check out the My Digital Studio Blog.  They have a weekly contest going on.  They'll announce a challenge on Saturday, you have a week to submit a project then on the following Saturday they'll announce the winner.  How fun right!?!  Well I'm always up for an MDS challenge!  Here's my submission for this weeks challenge.  SU provided a sketch and you created something following the sketch.  So what do you think???  If you like it head over to the MDS website and like it there too!  THANKS!!!!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

 

A Little Late

Yes my post is a little delayed today.  Truth is I was so caught up in stamping yesterday that I forgot to take pictures and post!  Ooops!  I had to wait until this morning to take a picture and then it had to be after Logan was off to school, we're not quite on schedule today :)  But here it is.  I hope it was worth the wait!  I think this card is super cute!!  I love the ribbon and the chevron folder.  FUN!!!
I used markers to color the birds and I added some faux stitching around it.  Just to add a little tiny bit extra.  Love faux stitching.  So that's it, quick and simple.  I have a few things ready that I did yesterday so we should be up and running tomorrow :) I have one project that I'm just so super excited about but I just need to add some finishing touches on it.  Hopefully I'll be able to share it in a day or two!!! 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Card Buffet Leftovers

I had a wonderful class on Saturday.  I sure hope my guests had a good time too.  This was my first ever Card Buffet.  I planned it with lots of leftover card kits in mind and a few new ones!  I had 10 tables set up with a different card at each table.  Normally at my classes you get to make one at each table (or more if it's a stamp a stack), however this class was designed so that my customers could choose which cards they wanted to make.  They could make all of one card, choose a couple designs or more or make one of each-which I think some still did.  Today I'll show you some of my favorite cards from Saturday. 
 
Every single card was designed to be able to finish in just a couple minutes.  They were also designed to show my customers that you don't need a whole lot of supplies to make a beautiful card.  This card for example has no accessories.  Just stamps, ink and paper! 
This one is my favorite, favorite one out of all 10!!!!  Don't forget this month you can get the new satin stitched ribbon FREE with every $40 you spend!!!  Isn't that a great deal!!!!!?!  This card showcases the Summer Starfruit and Raspberry Ripple ribbons but all 5 are beautiful!
I threw in a couple Christmas cards into my buffet.  Why not??!!  Right!!!  I love using non traditional colors on my Christmas cards too.  Just think, if your mantle is full of red and green cards isn't this Calypso Coral card going to pop right out at you?  The fact that it's cute helps too :)
Finally a fun, whimsical card.  This one is just plain fun!  Fun color, fun stamp, fun everything!!!!  I know you're counting and thinking this isn't 10 cards, these were just a few of my favorites.  I have big plans for stamping today so I'm hoping to have lots of fun stuff for you this week!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Friday, September 7, 2012

I Know I Promised You.....

....A handstamped project today, I failed miserably!  BUT don't judge me too harshly.  I spent all morning getting ready for my Card Buffet class tomorrow.  This is a HUGE class!!!  I'm going to have 10 card stations set up.  So by the time I was packed up for that class, I had about 6 ink pads left.  And my big shot was packed and we all know that you can't create without the big shot :)  So instead of crafting with paper I pulled out MDS----YES I know I'm pretty addicted!!!!  I saw last week on the My Digital Studio blog that they were having a weekly MDS contest.  Of course I was super excited!!!!  This weeks challenge is to use any of the August Downloads.  I used the Wonderfall DSP and the Knots and Ties Downloads.  These are pictures from last fall but I thought the colors went so well with the Wonderfall Paper.  So next week I PROMISE I will have some stamped stuff to show you.  I know the past few weeks have been a little MDS heavy, but it's such a great program and even though my pages always look complicated they're really not, so if you don't have MDS give it a try it's FREE for 30 days!!!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Finished Cards

Remember this post from a while back.  I was so excited to send in my little swatchbook cards to get printed.  Tuesday afternoon we hung the cards in Logan's room, we went over what the cards were for and what to do with them.  Logan seemed excited so I was pleased and hopeful our new system would work.  Wednesday morning, there was NO NAGGING!  NO ARGUEING!!!!  NO COMPLAINING!!!!  AND WE WERE OUT THE DOOR ON TIME!!!!  I just might be a genius :) This was what Logan's cards looked like when we got home from school.  They're hanging in his room, the top row is all the morning chores or tasks.  The bottom row is the afternoon tasks. 
 
Sorry the pictures aren't great.  His cards are hanging right next to the window and in the afternoon the light is a little harsh :)  But you guys get the idea.  Today I plan to stamp, STAMP!  I haven't had a chance to stamp just for fun and for me in over 2 weeks!  That's right people 2 weeks!  It's time for some stamp time just for ME!  I should have fun stuff to show you tomorrow!  Thanks for hanging in with me for these last 2 and half weeks.  I hope that even though my posts have often been brief you've enjoyed them!  Life is returning to normal!!
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Busy Doesn't Even Describe It!

I was under the impression that when school started things would settle down and we wouldn't be running around crazy busy.  BOY WAS I WRONG!  The last two and a half weeks have been crazy busy!  Last week and the week before Megan had some special speech therapy.  She doesn't seem to want to talk to us, at least in a language we understand so we took her to this therapy.  So for 30 minutes two times a day for 10 days in a row she would listen to these special headphones.  It wasn't so much what she was listening to but how she was listening, I guess the sounds are broken up somehow so that when she hears it it's focusing in on the speech part of the brain.  Far to technical for me.  But we did see some improvements in her speech and the improvements should continue for the next year.  Now she'll go in and meet one on one with a speech pathologist once a week.  But as a good MDSer I had to photograph so that I could scrapbook her time there.  She's just so cute with the giant headphones!  The journaling on the page was done when she was still doing the therapy, I think I'll go in and edit it, especially the part that says she's 20 months old, she's not she's 22-don't know why I put the wrong age in :)  This week I'm super busy hanging a new gallery show at my church.  Yep I'm the gallery director so every 3 months I get to change out the show :)  Next week we will get back to normal I'm sure...........
 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Swaps Round 2

Here's the rest of our swaps.  If you're in our group you might not have seen your card.  If not it's because I'm saving it to CASE for a class.  So just know if you didn't see me post your card it's not because I don't like it, it's because I like it so much I want to recreate it :)
Not sure who did this one, but I love the ribbon and the sweet mug!!!

Corrina did this one.  I love the ornaments, and I love how they're staggered. 

 
Pam did this one, I love the masking on this card.  So fun!!!

Angela did this card.  How fun is this one.  It's done with the bingo bits and the bow is so pretty!!!!!

Kay did this one.  I love the ornaments on it and I love that you only get to see pieces of them!

I think this one is Liz L.  Again I love this embossing folder, didn't think I'd like it so much but I do!!!!

This one is Kim M, this little owl is just too cute!!!!!
 
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Card Swap Round 1

We had a great swap at our meeting last Thursday.  Since it was a shoebox swap I don't know who did all of them so instead of telling you who did them, I'll tell you what I love about each one.  If I know who designed it I'll share with you anyway :)
Cassie did this one.  I love so many things about it, the snowflake and the iridescent ice embossing powder for sure!!!!

 
One of our new demo's Amber E did this one.  I love the colors.  She said the red was Riding Hood Red-I LOVE this color now!!

Not sure who did this one, I love the embossed folder though.  I really completes the card!

Kim S did this card.  The ornament is embossed, so much fun!!!

Not sure who did this one.  I LOVE the glitter paper though!!!!!

More tomorrow!  
Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!1