My New Stampin' Up! Website!

Hello All.  It's been a while.  Things have been very busy.  I quickly wanted you to know that I have set up my own Stampin' Up! website.  This will keep you updated with all my Stampin' Up! news, sales, promotions, events,....  The other great thing about the website is if you are in need of a purchase from the catalog you can place your order yourself from my website.  WOW!

Also, I have started a Stampin' Up! Club night.  Every 2nd Monday of the month I will be at the Milan Township Hall (building with the clock tower on the square in Milan) from 7:00-8:30 pm.  I will have 3-4 projects--cards, 6x6 scrapbook page, and/or 3-D paper craft to work on.  The cost is $5.00 (for my supplies), but if you place an order for $20 or more in merchandise that night, there is no charge.  What a deal!!!

All you need to do is show up!  All supplies will be available.  You may want to bring you catalog & $$$ incase I WOW you to purchase something.  Please let me know if there is a technique you've been wanting to learn how to do, so I can prepare for that.

Looking forward to seeing you at club or on my website!

My Little Christmas Elf

I came down with the flu on Thursday and slept for the most part until Sunday. Not good timing. But my daughter stepped in my place and decorated the house, and tree (with help from her brother) and baked all the Christmas Cookies!

She is such a great girl. Love ya Becka!

On Hand Christmas Gifts

We all have few...those people in our lives that we tend to forget about. Not because their insignificant, but because we don't see them often. So I like to keep a few little gifts on hand just for this reason.

So I made many boxes from the SU Scallop Envelope Bigz Die (cut 4 and glue together). I used the scallop punch to make the christmas trees (4, also flocked it using the craft whisper white). I punched a word window in brown and cut it in 2 for the stump of the tree. Stamped the outside with an SU Merry and Bright set, the snowflake back ground. Cut a brown strip of paper and glued it around the box. Glued the tree on.

Put some chocolates in a candy bag and hard candies in another; tied them both up with ribbon.

I also made many ornaments made from aluminum bead containers that have a clear front. I stamped some snow flakes on a blue circle I punch, glued that in the bottom of the container. Bought some snowflakes (mini) glued those on (popped out one, glued one to the inside of the clear top and one on the back). Using the Crop-A-Dile I punched two holes on the side of the container top, slipped a ribbon through, added some Dazzling Diamonds and used crystal effect to glue the lid on.

So I was able to then put the 2 candy bags in the box and set the ornament on top and we have a cute little gift.

I also used the ornaments on another gift I made which was a container of Chocolate Creme Wafers. I decorated as I did the box and I closed the lid on the ribbon of the ornament so it hung from it. See pic below.

My thoughtful son.

What happens when a card making mom is approached by her son who has a paper route?:

44 Christmas Card for his route.

New Needle Felting Class

Instead of doing my Christmas shopping I've been playing again. I went to another felting class. This time we made a Santa Face that you could attach to a wreat or whatever. Mine ended up being 3x the size of the sample. I think he needs classes.

Christmas is here!

For me, Christmas is started each year by my church's "Women's Gathering".  It's a wonderful Christmas Program put on just for women (2,700 over 6 evenings). The men dress in black & white with red bow ties and graciously serve us and make us feel so wonderful while the very talented of the church do music, specials, drama, dance,... We sit at tables of 6 in a candle lit setting with lots of good things to snack on!

My mom, sister, niece & daughter were able to come with me this year. We rented a beautiful suite at the Milan Inn (see link on side bar) so we had a wonderful Girl's Night out.

This year some of the crafter's were asked to contribute to the door prizes. We were asked to make cards for the 6 baskets that would be given away. The theme this year was The Sparrow so many of us used birds in our cards. Below are the 3 that I submitted.




Sorry the last one is burry. I think Santa needs to bring me a new camera. The circle says Peace.

Darn That Spot!

I've tried and tried and I can't get that spot off the lens of my camera. It drives me crazy. Sorry.

Andrew Metz Fundraiser

One of my stampers grandson (who is one of my soccer players brother) was recently diagnosed with Lukemia--he found out 2 days after joining the Airforce; his life long dream. This past weekend a fundraiser was held to raise funds for the tremendous amount of medical bills and gas they have to spend going to Cleveland for treatments--2 hours round trip. Our little town is very good about helping each other out in time of need.

I made these cards, 2 of each and put them in a cute little box I made. I added a snowflake platter, dish towels, a little pail of hershey's chocolates, some snowman suckers, $10 Wal-Mart gift card and packaged it up to auction off. Thanks for all the inspiration from you stampers on Splitcoast.

MOPS Volunteer Thank You

What is MOPS? Mother's Of Pre-Schoolers. I am the Volunteer coordinator for the one held at our church. I like to thank them by making a little something for them. This is what I made for November. It's a holder that I put a votive holder with a Gold Canyon candle in (thanks Rae Jean for the discount & bartering with me for cards). Then I put some candies in a bag, tied it up and put it in the other side.

I altered the size of this container that Lauren Meade had on her website - My Time, My Creations, My Stampendence . You need to check her site out. She is very talented and is an inspiration to all.

Time with my Sister

OH we had fun. My sister and I got together again--it doesn't happen very often because we are both so busy. We made cards most of the day and we also went and saw my daughter perform at the High School's Speech & Debate Meet. I'll have to talk about that some time--it's quite an experience if you've never gone to one. My daughter and her duo's partner came in 6th place.



Any how, we worked on techniques. She's a new stamper, but is very good. The card with just the evergreens on it we were trying to duplicate a technique that we saw on a card at Archivers last christmas. No one could tell us how they did it because the card came from the company. So we played until it came close. We stamped first. Then we outlined some of the tree parts with the Versa Mark pen. Embossed that in black. Then we stippled the sky with blues. Stippled the trees with green. Then we topped it off with some glitter. We thought it was successful. Though all the ones we did were just practices. I can't wait to see her final work!!!


We also worked on some miscellaneous cards she needed. Enjoy the pics:


It's hard to see but we did run the pink card through the Big Shot and embossed it with hands & feet. I love embossing!!!

Me & Mini Me

Too cute. This is Kore and our baby cat Chole aka me & mini me, because their markings are so much a like.

My baby girl's Homecoming dance.

Becka's school's homecoming was October 11th. She was asked to go by Chris B. As you can see on her face she had a great time. She asked Dave to take Black and White pictures. Chris' family took colors, so if I get one I'll post one.

Becka is 15 1/2 now, a great student and very involved with extra curricular activites. She is very involved with Drama and Speech & Debate.

One little Pumpkin sitting on the fence....

My first fall card. I used my new Big Shot from Stampin' Up! If you don't have an embossing/die cut machine, I encourage you to splurge on this item.

I embossed the background in leaves. I then took a paper towel and dipped it in the ink that I pressed onto the lid of the ink pad and I gently colored parts of the leaves. I did this with a few fall colors and this is what I got. If you only press gently you won't get pass the embossed part so the background stayed white. If you notice the brown strip is embossed as well. I die cut the pumpkin and his face with the Big Shot. I'm not thrilled with the card, but I just wanted to play and get use to my Big Shot.

If you're interested in learning abou the Big Shot you can call me and I can show you how it works! (PS there is a spot on my camera lens that is driving me batty. I can't seem to get it off. Any suggestions?!)

New Craft - Felting

This is my new craft. It hasn't replaced card making, but I just enjoy doing it. Believe it or not this is just wool that has been cleaned and dyed. Then with special needles you just begin to poke it into shape. Of course that sounds so easy and there's bit more to it, but not much. So the first thing I made was a wallet--I use it as my coupon book. Then I made 2 pumpkins and some leaves--I didn't take a picture of those because I gave them away as a gift as soon as I made them. Then I made these. The critter is suppose to be a bunny--not too bad for my first attempt. Of course the other thing is an acorn. I'm working on a purse. So I'll take a picture of my wallet and purse when I'm done.

Wedding Anniversary

Boy did I get a surprise today. The lady I get my wool from, Holly, called me today and said she had some in for me. So I went to pick it up. So she was showing me a few colors and then said it's your anniversary today isn't it. Right away I thought my daughter had told her daughter. But as she proceeded to the refridgeration unit (she owns the local flower shop) I realized it wasn't her. My hubby had called in flowers for me. He rarely does this so is was a wonderful surprise (I forgot to take a pic right away, so it's several days old in this picture). The card read:

"Two kids, Three houses, Eight jobs, 10 cars, Twenty one years....One Love

Love,

David"

Happy Anniversary Love! I'm up for a couple more "21 years".

Cats for McCain - Meow

Alright I have to confess I have a mind that comes up with the craziest things sometimes. So my hubby and I are watching the Republican Convention. I was so amazed/amused by all the signs that people were holding: farmers for McCain, teachers for McCain and so on. Then I noticed that one of my cats was watching. So of course what does my mind think of: Cats for McCain. But of course by the time I made my sign and found my camera the cat disappeared and the convention was just about over. So if you look you'll see a stick with a feather on it between the McCains. That is so I could get my cat to watch again.

Felted Wallet

This is my first needle felted project
from a class I took.

Candy for MOPS Volunteers

I am the Moppets Coordinator for our local Mother of Pre-Schoolers program. My job is to be sure we have enough volunteer care givers to watch the kids of our 50 moms. This is no small task. I can't believe how hard it is to find people to volunteer. Any how, I made these little purses to hold some chocolate to give as a small token for their service. We try to give them something at every meeting! Thanks ladies you are very much appreciated.

Stampin' Up Birthday for Deb

July 26 was my sister's birthday. We always say we are twins 5 years apart. She had been on a mission trip to El Salvador, so we celebrated her birthday over Labor Day weekend. This is the third project from my SU party. It's "coffee" bottle filled with cadbury chocolate and then of course the 'flowers' from the Wow Flowers set. I found these flower suckers at Pat Catan's so I stuck a few in there as well. This makes a cute gift for many occassions. Happy Birthday sis!

First Day Back To School

Here's my babies going back to school. Becka is 15 and Collin is 13. There was a time when everyone thought they were twins. Now Collin is so much taller than Becka and me and his dad and all of his dad's family and most of mine (except my dad).

Stampin' Up! Party

Last night I demonstrated at a SU party. I had twelve ladies at that party--the biggest ever. These ladies were a lot of fun. I was very nervous, but they put me at ease. There were a few mutual friends that had been invited; but Paula kept that a secret, so I was very surprised when Janie & Janet walked in.

I had three projects to do, but we only were able to do 2 of them. Those took just about 2 hours, because of the numbers. These are the times when I wish I had two of every thing. But it went well. I did show them the 3rd project and I can say they were a little disappointed they we didn't get to it.

I think the party was a success. I am well on my way to getting the Big Shot!!! Enjoy the pics.

Stamping during the Olympics

OK, I was watching the Olympics with my family while I was getting ready for the SU Party. It is amazing how creative you can be with just "scraps". So I keep tossing these circles at my daughter. Eventually she made this:

A Little Behind

Today's card has nothing to do with babies. Although my niece will probably find herself in this state more often than not for a while: A Little Behind. I saw a similar card on SCS; kudos to whoever came up with this basic idea. You can use this for a belated birthday, late in returning something you borrowed from friend (that is what my husband is using this for) or if you're one of those people that are always late and hold up the group,... I used an old SU set called Wild Things. I printed the A Little Behind on the computer.

A New Arrival

Well my niece had her beautiful baby girl: Annabelle Lilia Rose P. Both are doing fine! I did her birth announcements, but shame on me I didn't keep even one to show you. But I made the card look like a onsie (keeping with her theme) using Regal Rose cardstock. I cut a scallope circle punch (one of my favorites) and then from the Bundle of Joy set I stamped the giraffe (head & neck only) in the center. I colored it with some Stampin' Up! markers and blender pens. Using that scallop circle punch and the 1 3/8" circle punch I made ruffles for the neck and leg holes. Too darn cute. If my niece sends me one I take a picture of it then and add it to my blog. Thanks to Lauren Meader for the onsie card pattern. Her blog is one of my favorites to visit.(http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/) Be sure to check hers out.

Baby Shower

Well it's been a while but I've been working on my niece's baby shower. We used the jumbo roller wheel "Wash Day" for her theme. My sister and I did all the invitations, decor, favors & game gifts. I will be doing the thank you cards & announcements. I've attached a picture of the invitations (now you'll see where I got the pattern for the 4th of July card). Now I'll have to admit that I cased the baby card from someone on Splitcoast Stampers--I'm not always creative. The favor is a really cute idea (original). Basically they are seeds that you can grow while the baby's "blooming".

Little Paper Shop Card Entry

OK, I think I did it. I hope I win, I could use a new set of stamps.
Thanks for the opportunity Renee.

JIB

Little Paper Shop - Renee

Hi All:

This is my first post and it will be to enter a contest that The Little Paper Shop is doing.  They given to their Designer Team a new stamp set to give away as blog candy.  Renee is requiring us to create a "shapes" card.  So check out my next post for my attempt at this contest and my first try at putting a picture up.

JIB