Soooooo crazy!

My life has been a total whirlwind lately! Soccer has started and since hubby and I run the show it has been utter chaos around here! Hubby has been away quite a bit on travel with work so I have been doing the bulk of getting things going! I also run our local HS group and tomorrow is our big Back to School meeting! Did I mention busy?! LOL

I have had n0 time to stamp lately and it is bringing me dooown! I was up last night at 3:30am and stamped some of my new images on paper, but nothing came of it! Really like the new images though! I will try to get something done later today and share it with you in the morning! In the meantime I wanted to show you the sweetest thing ever!! On one of hubby's trips away he brought me a little souvenir! He picked these stamp sets out by himself... just because!! I was so excited that he brought me home stamps I could barely stand it! He is a keeper!

Back in the morning! Have a great day!

To Do Love List!

This has been a truly bizarre-o month! Between hubby's schedule, my oldest son's schedule and my schedule there has been almost constant travel this month! We have not been together at home as a 'whole unit' since the 1st of August. I am really missing everyone! : ( On my last out of town I rattled off about 100 to do's to sweet hubby! After his eyes glazed over I decided I better start writing stuff down! I didn't want to make a plain Honey Do list though, so I took out a pile of scraps and this is the To Do List he wound up with! I used a 12 X 12 piece of paper folded in half and then accordion folded to make pockets! I made a pull out book mark type card for each day that I would be gone and stuck a post it note on the back with that day's to do's! Worked great! I am not going to list the recipe because it is mostly scraps, but would be happy to answer any questions you may have! : )

Unfortunately, the travel schedule is still in progress! Hubby got home last night, but has to leave again Sunday for a week and then all of my boys have a weekend trip planned to Atlanta! I am hoping that September will less chaotic! Keeping my fingers crossed!

Have a super day!

Gift set for a friend!

I went to the scrap booking convention this past weekend with a very special friend of mine! We both have really crazy, busy lives and don't get the chance to hang out often so this annual weekend is something I have really come to look forward to! We gab all the way down there and gab all the way back! Feels kind of like we have to play catch up from the whole prior year in the the two 3 hour drives! She is super sweet and a really hard worker and I have tons of respect for her! I wanted to do a little something for her so I made her this little gift set just because! I used a note card from the Fresh Cut stamp set from SU! I used Almost Amethyst card stock and designer paper and added a daisy from the round spiral punch to the front of the little bag! I filled it with cherry filled Hershey's Kisses! Have you tried them?! They are AMAZING!!! Really!! Run out and grab a bag now! You will not be sorry! ; )

Recipe:
Stamps: Fresh Cuts and Canvas Background (center of daisy!)
Ink: Almost Amethyst and Old Olive
Paper: Almost Amethyst and AA designer paper
Extras: Spiral Circle Punch, Sparkle Bling, Brads and paper piercer

Bear hugs and birthday tags!

Hello everyone! Miss me?! I have missed you! : ) I had a wonderful time at the CK Scrap booking convention! I went with the greatest group of girls and got to see so many fun new products and make several fun projects! Two days of all day creativity does a person good! I will be posting some of my projects made there, but first want to catch up on the things I made before I left! : )

I needed a card for my son's girlfriend's going away gift. She left for college this weekend! Big sniffles! We truly miss her so much already! She is such a sweetie. We got her a fluffy stuffed elephant to let her know that she could never be forgotten and I wanted to make her a card to go with it! I chose one of my favorite all time stamps. It is just a generic, no name stamp that I found in some dollar bin several months ago! Don't even remember the store name! It was quite a find though! Look at that cute bear face!!

I also needed a card to send along with a small package for my mom! I was so happy with the first one that I made a similar one for my mom. I added a few different things and added faux stitching on the ribbon to give it a different look! I also added a faux cross stitch around the focal image with my paper piercer to give it a hand made feel. The blues on the card go perfectly with that cuddly looking fella!

Recipe:
Stamps: No Name and SU! One of a Kind
Paper: SU Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Pacific Point and Pink Pirouette
Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Pink Passion and Blue Bayou
Extras: Scalloped Edge Punch, Paper Piercer, Small and Large Oval Punch, Small and Large Tag Punch, Vanilla Ribbon and Sparkle Bling

Birthday Tags!

I needed some card/tags to go along with my niece's birthday gifts! I made these and tucked the back half into their gift bags and let the front half hang out. They are 3 years apart, but their mom likes to keep their gifts and themes the same, so I duplicated the tags! I used that cute little ballerina from Lizzie Anne Designs. I added a vellum butterfly cutout that I colored pink. I flipped up the wings so it looks like it just landed on the card! I used my Large Circle Punch as a template and sponged pink over the stamped image. They were a hit! : )

Recipe:
Stamps: Lizzie Anne Designs and SU Whimsical Alphabet
Paper: Bashful Blue and Vellum
Ink: Pink Passion, Almost Amethyst
Extras: Sponge and Large Giga Circle Punch

A gift for friend!

Sorry about the lackage of posting lately! Been super busy! I am on my way out the door in just a few minutes for a Creating Keepsakes Scrap booking Convention! I am soooooo excited! I wanted to share something with you guys before I left though! I made this gift set for Kristi of Hannah Stamps! She is so sweet and I thought it would be nice to do something for her!

I will have tons to share when I get back from convention...promise! Have a great weekend and see you in a couple of days!

Beautiful RAK from my sweet SBS2 Sister!!

I was so surprised and happy today when I checked my mail and found this gorgeous RAK (Random Act of Kindness!) waiting for me! My very sweet SBS2 sister, Becky sent this to me along with these adorable Changito monkey images!! I LOVE this little guy! Becky, I love my card and all of these fun images! Thank you so much for thinking of me! You are the greatest! You really made my day! Great big hug!!!

Butterfly box!

I needed a tiny little box to hold a tiny little trinket and so I played around until I made one that fit! I stamped swirls from the Autumn Leaves set Swirls in Pink Pirouette on Pink Pirouette card stock from Stampin Up! Then I stamped the butterfly from SU!'s Dreams du Jour in Blue Bayou randomly on top of the swirls! I made a belly band and stamped the same butterfly and layered it onto the round spiral punch from SU! I glitter-fied (is that even a word?!) the wings with Stickles and added a piece of designer paper from the new Bella Rose pack into the bottom of the box! LOVE that stuff! The box turned out to be a perfect fit! : )

Birthday totes!

My nieces both have birthdays this month and so I wanted to make them each a little something to wish them a happy birthday until their mutual party. I used the pattern from the mini purses that I have been making and altered it down some! I used stamps from Stampin Ups! Zoofari set and letters from the Michael's dollar spot to spell out each of their names! I stuffed them each with paper, crayons, a cool light up eraser and some chocolate! Happy birthday girls! : )

Goodies for Grandma!

My hubby had to go out of town this week for business and happens to be going very close to where my Grandma lives! He always makes the time to stop over for a visit (isn't he the sweetest!?) This time he is going over and bringing pizza for dinner so she won't have to cook! I thought I would send a little something up for her and my uncle! I made her one of these adorable little mini purses! These things are so much fun to make! You can find the instructions here on Chiaki Haverstick's wonderful site along with several other great templates! I made my uncle (and a family friend) these boxes in a bag...all to be filled with chocolate before being delivered! : )

Hope that you have a wonderful day! : )

Recipes:

Purse:
Stamps: Canvas Background
Paper: SU Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Yo Yo Yellow and Bella Rose DP
Ink: SU Markers and Tangerine Tango
Extras: Brads, Round Spiral Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch and Paper Piercer


Bags:
Paper: Paper Pizazz, SU Blue Bayou and Whisper White
Extras: Scalloped Punch, Tab Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Star Punch, 3 Flower Punch and Sparkle Gems from Target Dollar Spot, Ribbon and Brads

Almost time to get back in the swing of things!

August is here and that means that the time to get things up and running again is almost here! : )
As I have mentioned before, I coordinate our communities local home school group and hubby and I run soccer for our community. This is the time when we have to get all the planning done and get both things going again for a new year. Today I had a loooong planning meeting with the other two mom's that help me with our home school group! We met intending to plan out the entire year, but wound up doing a lot of gabbing! LOL It was a really nice meeting! I am excited about the upcoming year because we have some pretty big plans in place! I wanted to bring them each a little gift so I searched through my patterns and chose these cute little purses! I filled them both with 'planning meeting survival supplies'!!! (note pad, pen, light up daisy eraser, gum and of course chocolate!) I faux stitched the handles and side straps and held it all together with a ton of brads! Aren't they cute?! : ) I added those cheerful daisies to the front on a pop dot and there you have it! Hope you like them!

Have a great night!

Just a Note!

I was thinking about a friend and wanted to make a simple card to let her know she was on my mind! I really love making these cute daisy's! They are sooo easy and they just look so cheerful!! I used the round spiral punch from Stampin Up! to make the flower base and the canvas background stamp and a 1/2" circle punch to make the flower center. Aren't they adorable?! : ) I used SU!'s Pink Pirouette (my new favorite SU color!!)Bashful Blue and Blue Bayou (which is about to retire and be gone forever...sniffles!!). I stamped the butterfly from Dreams Du Jour in PP on the PP paper and then added the daisies. I double layered one of them and then added a fluttering butterfly on top of it all. I added sparkle to the wings and used a sentiment from SU! 's Sincere Salutations. I really like the soft feel of this card! : ) Take a minute to let someone that you care about today know! Life is short and can be very uncertain. Thanks for stopping by!

Big hug!

Recipe:
Stamps: Dreams Du Jour, Canvas Background and Sincere Salutations
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Yo Yo yellow and Blue Bayou
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Tangerine Tango and Blue Bayou
Extras: Round Spiral Punch, 1/2" circle punch, stickles, pop dot

Hey hey!! Two posts in one day!

I started out with such high hopes for this card! Now don't get me wrong...I like it! I just don't love it! I have seen so many pretty black and pink cards lately and so I thought I would try my hand at that color combo! Here is an example of a gorgeous pink and black card made by Sherry Cheever. So I figured how could I go wrong?! I used my Fiskars corner punch embosser on the edges of the pink and black and it gave it the optical illusion of being sort of oval! It isn't! LOL I used my awesome new Scalloped edge punch along the bottom and added little accents all over the place with my white gel pen. I used stamps from SU! Dreams Du Jour and cut out, layered and glitter glued those lovely butterflies in place! I used my new Very Vanilla ribbon to tie that ginormous bow and I stamped pink piroutte butterflies with pink piroutte ink on my base color of...you guess it pink piroutte! I really love that color! It is one of Stampin Ups! new In Colors! Anyhow this is my attempt at pink and black! I plan to send it to my Grandma because she would love it if I made it with my left hand and my eyes closed! LOL Have a wonderful day!

Recipe:
Stamps: SU! Dreams Du Jour
Paper: SU! Pink Piroutte, Basic Black and Whisper White
Ink: Pink Piroutte, Almost Amethyst and Miscellaneous markers
Extras: Very Vanilla ribbon, Glitter Glue, Scalloped edge punch, Fiskars punch/embosser and white gel pen

Thanks so much!

My son's adorable girlfriend recently asked me if I would help her to make several thank you cards. I was happy to help, but was stumped as to where we should start. They needed to be impersonal but be dripping with personal as they would be going to the folks in charge of handing out the many scholarships she received! She likes blue, so that is where I started! I kept it semi mono chromatic using several shades of blue and tried to keep it simple with a touch of elegance. I feel like she wanted them to have a little bit of that handmade feel so I added a few little ribbons to try to do just that. I used Sincerely Salutations from SU! for the sentiment and paper pierced and faux stitched around the edges of the whole card and corners of the sentiment. I used my Marvy punches for the two squares. I used a swirl from a great set made by Autumn Leaves for the accent. I stamped it twice, once with Cool Caribbean and then again with Blue Bayou to give it a rich 3d look.I layered blue on blue on blue! They should be pretty quick and simple to recreate! She will be coming over tomorrow so we can mass produce several of them! She is such a sweetie and I am happy to be able to help her out!

The second photo is of a beautiful long stemmed rose that my very sweet hubby brought me on Friday! He had been out of town all week and when he came home he brought this to me! He is a real keeper! Love you, Cory!

Recipe:
Stamps: Autumn Leaves and SU! Sincere Salutations
Paper: SU! Bashful Blue, Brilliant Blue, DP in Bashful Blue and Whisper White
Ink: Blue Bayou, Cool Caribbean and Not Quite Navy Marker
Extras: Vanilla Ribbon, Paper piercer tool and Marvy punches

Just a card!

I made this simple card with some of my new goodies! I had no plan in mind when I started! I had a huge pile of stuff in front of me at my work space and just kind of went with the flow! This card opens up instead of out like my usual creations. I used Stampin Ups! new in color Kiwi Kiss for the base. I was not crazy about this color when I first saw it, but I fully anticipate it growing on me! : ) I distressed a Very Vanilla layer and stamped a sentiment from Sincere Salutations on the bottom. I made a sunflower using the round spiral punch and by cutting all of the petals inward and layering a chocolate circle on top. I gave it some color with a SU! Only Orange marker. I added corrugated leaves using Patty's idea, but then added some detail. I first saw the idea to make a flower from the punch at one of my demonstrator meetings! I just love this sunflower look though! I layered the top layer on a generic yellow piece stamped with the Weathered background stamp and then layered that on a piece of distressed Chocolate paper! I added the flutterby's from the SU! set called Dreams Du Jour . They really made the card! I added some sparkle bling, cause well that's what I do! : ) I will be sending this card to someone very special! This person always manages to brighten my day with her perky attitude! Hope she likes it!

Since I was so descriptive here I will refrain from listing the recipe, but will be happy to answer any questions!

We are off to a cook out now! Hope that you all have a wonderful Sunday!

Stella Stamper!

I was sooooo excited to stumble upon someone selling their Stampin Up! Stella Stamper stamp set (say that 3 times real fast!!) LOL recently! I bought it right away and was unbelievably tickled that when it arrived because it was in pristine condition!! It looked brand new!! This set is from an old, old Stampin Up! catalog that was waaaaay before my time as a demonstrator, but was very popular! I was bouncing when I bought it! Anyhow, I wanted to use it to make some thing stamp related! So I thought I would recycle an empty peanut container and use it to store some of my tall stand-y up-y supplies! Since it was for me I used some of my favorite things! The color combo is one of my favorites! You just can not beat pink, brown and green! I used SU! new Pink Pirouette which is one of their new in colors and Kiwi which is another. The brown I used was from a generic paper pack. I also used the new scalloped edge punch from SU! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this! It punches beautifully and is so easy to use! I added white polka dots to each scallop and stamped that adorable Stella (notice those cool bunny slippers!!) front and center! I colored her in lightly with chalks and gave her a gray shadow with a blender pen. I added some pink and white flowers and then some sparkle bling! Super fun project!!

Have a great night!

Stamps: SU! Stella Stamper
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss and Choclolate Brown
Ink: Blue Bayou, Going Gray and Chalks
Extras: Scallop Edge Punch, Flowers, White Gel Pen, Blender Pen, Sparkle Bling, and Ribbon Scraps

Soooo blue! : (

I am soooo sorry that I did not post yesterday, but it was one of those days. First we were without computer access all day....grrrrr! Then something terrible happened. Not someone was hurt kind of terrible, but the kind of terrible that makes you want to just sit down and cry. We live in the country. Right smack in the middle of the woods...literally! We are surrounded by woods and have an amazing view of the Blue Ridge Mountains! I love our woody perimeter!! It feels so safe and cozy to me! Well I found out the other day that our neighbor has decided to sell his timber. What does that mean to me?! Well his property butts up to ours. Sniffles! : ( That means that I have no say in what was about to happen. So the bulldozer showed up (on our land because that was the only way they could get to his timber) and just started dropping trees. They tore up the ground and cleared a giant path where the tress used to be. I know they are just trees and they will grow back, but it totally dinked with the aesthetics of our view. More sniffles. The worst part is that the person that said neighbor hired to cut down all of these trees is family (one of our favorite people in the whole world.) Sigh! I cannot even be upset with him because he was just doing his job. Anyhow the road crew people showed up right before the bulldozer and they posted this sign (picture #1) in my driveway?!!! We are at the top of an almost mile long driveway and it wasn't like there was going to be any traffic?! How assanign is that?! Picture #2 shows the newly created gap of no tress where there used to be a wall of trees and picture #3 is of the mess they made getting to the timber. Anyhow, it bummed me out and I never made it to my stamp table. I suppose tomorrow is another day. Thanks for listening to me whine. I will be back soon with something creative to post.

Have a nice night.

Baby cards!

I made a card to go with yesterdays baby gift, but then saw this adorable pattern for a onesie card and just couldn't resist! I found the pattern here on Lauren Meader's blog! She is super talented! How cute is that!?! And I just love that bunny from the SU! set New Little Someone! I only wound up sending one card though and tucked the second one away for another happy event! : )

I am off now to play with some new stamps that I received recently and am anxious to put to ink! I will be back in the morning with some new things to see!

Have a wonderful night!

Stamps: SU! New Little Someone and BoHo Backgrounds
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, Whisper White and Almost Amythest
Ink: Orchid Opulence, Old Olive and Rose Red
Extras: Spiral Punch, 1 3/8" Punch, Corner Rounder Punch, Sparkle bling, Pretty in Pink Ribbon, Gold Brads, flower and Marvy Circle Giga punch