Christmas is in how many days...?!

My kids used to counts down the days to big events by counting 'how many sleeps' were left! They have started the Christmas countdown and so I thought it would be fun to make an advent calendar! We have never made one of these! I loved the tutorial on SplitCoast, but wasn't interested in paying that much for the tins to make it, so as per usual...we got creative! We used heart shaped baking tins ($1.00 for 24!), posterboard ($.47), wrapping paper ($2.00) tissue paper ($.97) some store bought stickers and bling ($3.00), candy ($3.00) and scrounged up the rest of the supplies from things we already had laying around the house! I wrapped all of the candy this morning before the kids woke up so that when it is their turn to open for the day it will be a surprise! I have four kids and they will get to take turns breaking the tissue paper and getting the candy! Youngest to oldest! I used the SU! spiral punch to stamp the numbers and we put them on the inside and the outside so that the numbers will still be visible after the tissue is broken! This was a fun project and the kids really enjoyed it!

Hanna has arrived!

Hanna made her way into my mailbox yesterday! She is so adorable! I do not have very much experience with acrylic stamps, but I have really enjoyed playing with these! She is such a happy stamp! She is just over flowing with positive attitude and spunk! I paper pieced Hanna's coat and boots! I added the little ducky on with a pop dot and glittered the whole thing up with Stickles! More Hanna to come...

Recipe:
Paper: SU River Rock and Very Vanilla Misc other papers
Stamps: Hanna's Rain Day
Inks: SU Navy, Basic Black, Groovy Guava and More Mustard Pads, Earth Elements Markers
Extras: Prima Flowers, Mauve Brads by SEI, Blender Pen and Pop Dots

Time Well Spent

I have to say the more I play with this set the more I really, really like it! It offers a ton of possibilities!! I used it to make a birthday card for someone special! I used pop up dots to add some dimension and used lots of Stickles to make everything sparkle! I used the masking technique to layer the flowers on top of each other and kept the colors bright and happy looking! It shimmers much nicer in person than in the photo! Happy, happy birthday!

Recipe:
Paper: SU!'s Pink Passion, Very Vanilla and Blue Bayou, Generic Burgandy
Stamps: SU!'s Time Well Spent & Holiday Cheer
Ink: SU!'s Sage Shadow, Orchid Opulence, More Mustard and Pink Passion
Extras: Stickles, Pop Up Dots, Eyelets, Blender Pen and Flower Embellishments

Wishing You Well!

My new Gina K Designs stamps arrived! I LOVE them! I ordered The Make a Wish set because a portion of the price goes to the Make A Wish Foundation. I really like this set! I also ordered some other goodies that I will share later as I make things from them! I am experimenting with non mounted stamps and thought this was a good place to start! I was right...they are so much fun! Gina has a great company and offers wonderful customer service! Plus she includes the cutest little thank you for ordering m&m's with her name on them!
I made this card with simplicity in mind. I kept the colors subtle and added a touch of bling to dress things up just a bit! I used a blender pen to shade the well and add a touch of green to the grass. I used my crop-o-dile to set the eyelets and left the inside blank.

Recipe:
Paper: SU!'s Old Olive, Close to Cocoa, River Rock and Very Vanilla
Stamps: Gina K Designs Make A Wish
Ink: SU!'s Bravo Burgandy
Extras: Silver Eyelets from M'Bellish!, Old Olive Ribbon and Finishing Accents by Darice

Free Stuff...Woo Hoo!!!

Stampin' Up! sent all of their demonstrators a free stamp set to say thank you for doing what we do! I received mine yesterday and absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! I will be mounting it tonight and hopefully will find a few free minutes tomorrow to play with it!

Thanks Stampin' Up! :)

A double pocket fold card!

This is a really fun little card to make! It is called the Double Pocket Fold card and despite the way it looks is very easy to put together! It is made from one piece of 8 1/2 X 11 piece of card stock! The inserts (bookmarks in this case!) take an additional piece or scraps! This would be a nice card to stick a gift card into!

Recipe:
Stamps: SU! Wild Rose, Teddy Bear stamp by Whipper Snapper Designs and Priceless by Inkadinkadoo
Paper: No name find from Micheal's, Stampin Up! Old Olive, River Rock and Handsome Hunter
Ink: SU! Old Olive, Pink Passion and Pomegranate
Extras: Ribbon, Silver Eyelets and Gold cord from SU!

A double pocket fold card!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...!

Here are the gorgeous gift tags that I promised to share from my demo meeting! Aren't they preeeety?! These will dress my Christmas gifts up nicely this year! : ) We meet monthly and have a different themed swap each month. I love seeing all the creative ideas these ladies come up with! They are really amazing! Enjoy!

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers 2

I joined a bloggers group this morning and I must say I am really excited about it! It is called the Sisterhood 2 of Blogging Stampers! Cute, huh?! This is the beginning of a second group of stamping bloggers that were interested in exchanging comments and sharing things on their blog! There are 30 bloggers in the first group and I make #7 for the second group! As a member of this blogging group you agree to check out the blogs of your new sisters at least weekly and leave comments! Also, you agree to leave a tidbit or two about yourself on your own blog so your new sisters can get to know you and finally you agree to post links to their sites on your blog! I will be adding these as the group fills up!

Now for that tidbit:

I turned 20+17 a few months ago! I am a sahm to 4 pretty amazing kids! We homeschool! Been married for 17 years! I coach soccer even though I am the world's least athletic person ever! I am a chocolate addict! I LOVE pizza!! I like to exercise and am hopelessly addicted to rubber stamping! I have developed what may be a semi unhealthy addiction to paper and cutsie little embellishments! I love the beach! My mom (greatest mom ever!!) lives in Alaska. I am a Navy brat! I am allergic to vinegar...yuck!! I am a procrastinator extradonaire , but a pretty decent organizer/leader! I like things with wings...butterflies, dragonflies and fairies (but not flies!) Happy is my favorite mood! Thats me in a nutshell!

Ok, off to work on my new blog roll!

Have a great day! Pictures of something to follow soon...promise!

So, they say the mind is the first thing to go...!

I spent several hours working on swaps for my demonstrator's meeting today and was so excited about how they came out! I went to the meeting and had a really great time and then tonight after dinner it occurred to me that I completely forgot to take a picture of them! I made 84 Christmas gift tags! It was a fun project and I got several beautiful tags in return! I will spread those out tomorrow and take a picture of them to share!

Have a great night!:)

Well, we did it!

We made it through the soccer season! We had over 115 games (of which we personally attended 114+ of them!) including tournament games! Overall, it was a very successful season! We are a soccer family and really enjoy running the program, but the break will be a welcome one! It seems that everything in our lives gets put on a back burner because it is so time intensive. So, now I will have more time in my schedule to get back to my exercise routine and get my grungy house cleaned up and of course stamp! :) Stamping has become really good therapy for me! I really enjoy it...it challenges that creative side of my brain! As they say...use it or lose it! Happy Stamping!

I have a few things to share that I managed to squeeze in time wise over the last few weeks!

I will also be working on a holiday tag swap later today and will get that posted soonest!

AnnMarie : )

Hug a Coach!

If you have children that play a sport you should make a point of hugging your coach! I am a soccer coach and have been for several years! There is a lot that goes into coaching and sometimes it can be kind of a thankless job. Because I also organize our coaches I know how important it is to say a great big thank you to our coaches!! Sometimes you get lucky and your children get a good coach, sometimes you get really lucky though and your children get a wonderful coach! We were lucky in our league to have several wonderful coaches this year and so I wanted to do a little something for them to say a special thank you!

I made the baskets from 12 X 12 paper and stamped a simple thank you on them. I filled them with floral foam and then stamped the flowers and assembled them around wooden dowels. I made the center of each flower a soccer ball and mounted them onto the spiral punch. I filled the baskets with shredded paper and of course...chocolate! They were a a big hit!

Remember to hug a coach today!

Recipe:
Stamps: Stampin' Ups Pick A Petal, Just Soccer and a Thank you Stamp (no brand name)
Paper: Stampin' Ups Old Olive, Groovy Guava, Sky Blue, Basic Black and Pixie Pink, Misc papers
Ink: Stampin' Ups! Purely Pomegranite, Old Olive, Brilliant Blue, Groovy Guava
Extras: Spiral Punch, Wooden Dowels, Floral Foam

Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!

Part of wrapping soccer up this season was to say thank you to some very special people! So, what better way to say thank you than a home made gift filled with chocolate! I made our referee's a little something! I filled bags with chocolate and made a little bag topper with a soccer ball as the center piece. I used Stampin' Ups! spiral punch and stamp sets. Yum! Thank you's should always be tasty! :)

Halloween Card!

Ok! I know a Halloween has come and gone, but since I am running so far behind I thought I would post this card anyhow! I mean how can you go wrong with such a cute witch?! This card made me laugh out loud! I bought this stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs (Sorry about the lack of link...I thought I had it figured out but for some reason it is still not working! Note to self...have hubby troubleshoot my lack of link trouble!!) They make some of the cutest stamps!! I plan on starting a fine little collection of those big guys!! : )

I will skip the recipe on this one since Halloween is a thing of this years past! I will, however, post a photo of both the outside and the inside!

Booooooooo!

BeeHave Dog!!

I saw this stamp and had to have it for my mom! She loves animals and this stamp had her name written all over it! Happy to say she loved it! She used to own a dog that was full of mischief and this stamp says it all! I tapped the background blue with a cranberry crisp stamp pad. I used my Crop-o-dile to set the eyelets (LOVE that toy!!) and used a blender pen and a sponge to color the image.

Recipe:
Stamps: Penny Black's BeeHave Stamp
Paper: Stampin' Ups Brocade Blue, River Rock, Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla
Ink: Cranberry Crisp Stamp Pad, Misc Bold Bright Markers
Extra's: White ribbon, Pastel Eyelets, Flower Eyelets, Stardust Stickles
Techniques: Sponging

Dare to be Fabulous!

This was such a fun card to make! I fell in love with Vellum the first time I saw it! It just looks and feels so soft and elegant. I liked the way the soft look of vellum balanced out the boldness of this stamp set! I was not crazy about this set the first time I saw it in the catalog, but it grew on me and has become one of my favorites! It is funny to me how that happens! I used white pigment ink on the vellum and used my heat gun to speed the drying process up! I plan to duplicate this design in the future! I really liked the way it came out!

Recipe:
Stamps: Stampin'Ups Dare to be Fabulous
Paper: Vellum, Stampin' Ups Groovy Guava and Wild Wasabi
Ink: White Pigment Ink and White Gel Pen
Extra's: Rhinestone Brads, Silver Eyelets, Stardust Stickles and double layered flower made from vellum

Wow!! 17 Years!

This October Cory and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary! I made a simple card that said simple things, but was full of love. Sometimes the things you don't say are heard the loudest! I am not going to post the recipe this time. Just wanted to share the photo! : ) Happy Anniversary to a very special man. <3

Hubby's birthday Card!

I LOVE this set from Stampin' Up! He just looks so festive and happy! The saying never trust a skinny chef comes to mind every time I see him! I paper layered the chef's shirt and the cake twice. It may be hard to see in the photo though. I paper pierced the edges and added gold brads to his buttons and some shiny red bling to his kerchief! Hubby scored with an Ipod this year so the card was simple! :) Happy Birthday, Cory!

Stamps: Stampin' Ups Viola'
Paper: Stampin' Ups Real Read, Basic Black and Very Vanilla
Extra's: Gold brads, Red crystal bead
Techniques: Paper Piercing and Paper Toling

I am still alive!!

I am back!!! It has been so nutso around here and I have had very little spare time to stamp! Between soccer and home schooling the hours in my days have run out waaay quicker than my to do lists have been marked as done! : ) I finally decided that I was taking Sunday off from everything to get some stamping done! I got quite a bit accomplished though and wanted to share! So here are some of the things I worked on!

A birthday card for Gus!

Gus is my step dad and is is such a great guy! He and my mom live in Alaska...picture Grizzly Adams! : ) I wanted to make him a special birthday card and this is what I came up with! I used Black, Very Vanilla, River Rock and Wild Wasabi card stock. I used the Wanted stamp set from Stampin' Up! and embossed the horse and cowboy in gold and used white ink on the Genuine stamp. I sponged the light card stock with cranberry crisp and used my edge distressor to rough up the edges. I used Antique and Pewter eyelets and set them with my crop-o-dile! It came out very masculine looking! I was pretty excited by this one!

Cindy's Birthday Card

This is the card I made for Cindy to go with her other goodies! I used the Joseph's Coat technique again with this card! I added a piece of shimmery card stock with butterflies to compliment the stamped and embossed butterflies! She really liked all of her goodies! : )

Cindy's Birthday paper bag album!

Here is a paper bag album that I made to go along with Cindy's gift! (See last post!) This was so much fun to make!! I plan to make more of these! I decorated the front with the Fabulous Flowers from Stampin' Up! and then used miscellaneous patterned papers throughout to make it an album ready for pictures! Cindy will be taking her daughter on a weekend trip soon and I thought this would be the perfect way to document their trip! : )

Some birthday gifts for a wonderful friend!

Do you have a friend that is always around when you need them?! Someone who is happy to listen to you gripe and puts up with you even when you are in the world's foulest mood and still loves you anyhow!? Someone who lets you be yourself and says things to make you feel better when you feel on the bottom of the heap?! I have a very dear friend like that! She is wonderful! Stable and normal and kind and supportive! She laughs at all of my jokes and is just fun to be with! I made her some goodies for her birthday because I wanted her to know how special I think she is! Happy Birthday, Cindy!! Big hug!

First thing is a book mark that I made from a jumbo paper clip! Those things are just fun!! I used very vanilla, the 1/4" circle punch, scallop punch, a few pop dots and the Whimsical alphabet stamp set. I tied a few ribbons on for color and stuck it in a card that I used the word window punch and The Watercolor Mini's stamp set from Stampin' Up! on! I used Groovy Guava paper and ink. I also used Old Olive and White ink on the flowers. Also pictured are the letter "C" covered with patterned paper, a few ribbons and one prima flower, a few glitzy flowers and the card that I stuck the bookmark into for delivery!

A card for my pen pal!

If you are reading this Julia...close your eyes now!! : ) I used the Joseph's Coat technique for this card! I LOVE this technique! I stamped Very Vanilla with Stampin Up's! French Flair background stamp and then sponged it with Groovy Guava, Old Olive and Orchid Opulence. Then I stamped a butterfly in Versamark and embossed it in white. I then used my new brayer (fun tool!!) to roll over the butterflies with the above mentioned colors. I sprayed a scrunched up paper towel with cleaning mist and wiped the color off of the embossed images. Then I added a little flower and hello stamp and a couple of purple and green brads and matted it against Orchid Opulence!

I want to play with this technique some more! It has a ton of color possibilities! I found the technique on JanTink's blog! (She is a riot!) I still do not know how to link, but you can find her blog in my blogroll to the left!

And the second of two!

Here is the second card I made for my pen pal! I used Close to Cocoa as my base and So Saffron and Orchid Opulence. I used a piece of no name patterned paper as my background. The stamp set I used was Polka Dot and Paisleys from Stampin' Up! I also added a little yellow shimmery flower to embellish the front! I thought it made it look happy! : ) I was pleased with the way it came out!