Best Birthday Card Ever!!!

You know you have a wonderful husband when he takes the time to make you a birthday card, even if he was being silly! I just had to share this, because it is the best card I've ever received and it is mostly because it came from the best husband! I would like to mention that I believe that he could have done better than this (especially with everything I have) but I think he was being more silly than creative, but that's OK! I love it!

This is the front of the card. Another clue that I have that he was just being silly is that he can draw way better than this, but the whole card had me laughing so hard I was crying, so it had a good effect!


Here is the inside of the card. The Joann gift card is taped in with a lot of scotch tape! This is what it says: "Maybe this

will help you make better cards than I make" and the P.S. is "We need more tape." So funny. Then of course the back of the card:

You would have to know my husband to know just how funny this card is, but I hope you are able to get a laugh out of it and appreciate it as much as I did!

He is truly awesome!

A Simple Thank You!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had a nice Christmas at my Mom's. Unfortunately I got sick Christmas Eve and wasn't feeling well at all on Christmas, but I was still able to enjoy the day with my family. And it was my Birthday!!! Before I got sick I managed to churn out a couple of Thank You cards. I wanted something very simple and I went to went out on Sunday to buy the Thank You embossing folder for my cuttlebug and this is what I came up with:

For this one I used Mellow Moss as a base and then River Rock on the front. Then I used my scallop circle punch on a piece of Mellow Moss and stamped the Riveting Thanks So Much in River Rock. I put the white circle on the scallop circle using a dimensional and that's it! Simple, quick and cute! I need about 20 thank you cards so I am sticking with this card and pulling out some of my scrap paper. I did some red and pink, blue and alight blue and some purple and lavender. I won't post all of them, but here is the purple one. I added a flower on this one. I bought this package of 4 flowers from Joann's for $1.00. This paper is non-SU. But I stamped the Thanks so much in lavender lace. I probably made 12 cards total in less than an hour, so I am very pleased. I only need 8 more! Hopefully I feel better tomorrow and I can get some more done!

Time Well Spent casing!

I wanted to get a Thank You card out to my secret santa this week and I didn't really have time to be creative, so I cased a card from the Red-Eye Stamper - it is the post on December 1st. I wanted to do a horizontal pocket card, because I love pocket cards and I hadn't done one like this before. I originally saw hers in the Splitcoast gallery and then took a look at her blog too. I really liked what she did with the ribbon and the scallop punch, so that is what I took from her! I wanted something pretty so I grabbed a piece of SU's Flowers for You Designer series paper and went from there. I used Regal Rose as the base, Lovely Lilac for the insert with white. I stamped the Thanks So Much on White with Tempting Turquoise and layered it on a Regal Rose circle cut out and I used my Scallop Punch and cut another piece of the Flowers For you and used the other side. The ribbon is non-SU because I didn't have any SU ribbon that matched. For the insert I used my Time Well Spent stamp and colored it in with watercolor pencils, sponged around the edges a little with Lovely Lilac and voila! I love this card, I really didn't want to give it away, but what else would I do with it? I am really starting to like the Time Well Spent set! I can't wait to do more with it. Oh by the way, I got an early Christmas present on Monday....my Spring/Summer Catalog, err collection, whatever! Yay! I was so excited and surprised to get it! I found some great stuff in there, but not so much that its going to break my bank! That's great.

I feel like the energizer bunny!

Well last week started off like any other week, then Wednesday arrived and so did a horrible cold that basically put me out for 3 days and behind schedule. I started feeling better yesterday and got my party favors done form our upcoming Holiday Party and treats done for DD daycare. But today I woke up at 5 a.m. and this is the first time I've really sat down (it is 7:45 p.m. here). I organized and cleaned up my craft area (including organizing my paper -full sheet and scraps-by color, which was one of my new year resolutions for next year!)I cleaned most of the house, did all the laundry, wrapped all our Christmas gifts, hung up all the beautiful Christmas cards we've received, put all the candy we made into the glass jars I etched weeks ago and took pictures of all the things I made yesterday. Believe it or not, I'm not tired yet. I know it will come soon, but I am getting as much done while I still have the energy.

These are all the filled candy jars, not the best picture, but I wanted to document this! Also, notice the tree in the corner. That is a Paper Tree I made last night. I found the tutorial at Splitcost here's a link. It was very easy to make and really cute!

Next up is the party favors for our party. I also found this idea from Splitcoast (I don't know what I would do without that site!). The box is the Treat Box (tutorial here). I changed the size to a 9 inch square and did not put patterned paper on each fold, just on the four sides. I got the idea to do Snowman Soup from Stampinweeza at splitcost. The poem I used is:

"Was told you've been real good this year Always glad to hear it With freezing weather drawing near You'll need to warm the spirit So here's a little Snowman Soup Complete with stirring stick Just add hot water, sip it slow It's sure to do the trick!"

I did 20 of these! Here is a closeup of one:

My next project was something for my daughter's daycare. It didn't have to be elaborate so I went with a package of hot chocolate with a reindeer candy cane attached. Sorry my picture is blurry! I made 23 of these. I learned how to make the reindeer several years ago. You just take some wiggle eyes and a little pom-pom for the nose (I used red for Rudolph!) and 1 brown pipe cleaner per reindeer. Cut the pipe cleaner in half and then take one half and wrap it tightly around the top of the candy cane and cut the other half in half again and use one on each side of the other half for the antlers. Does that make sense? I hope so.

I think I'm done with crafty things until after Christmas. Which is good, because this week is going to be hectic! If I don't make it back here before Christmas I hope everyone has a very safe and happy holiday!

I'm finally finished!

I think I'm finally done with my Christmas Cards, yay! I am so happy to be finished. So today you get to see the rest of my cards. I stayed up until Midnight last night getting these done. The first one I call my Soft Snowman, I used Sage Shadow, Soft Sky, Wintergreen Designer Series Paper and White paper. I stamped the snowman in Sage Shadow and colored him in with my watercolor pencils (non-SU). I stamped the snowflakes in Soft Sky and put some stickles in the middle. I just love these colors together! I wish I had more Sage Shadow paper, but I ran out, so I could only make two of these. It so pretty, I want to keep it for myself (but what would I do with it?) Next is an idea I got from my SBS2 sister, The Lucky Clucker (check her site out...amazing!). It's a simple design, easy to do and just cute as can be. So for some reason my scanner cut off the right of the card, but the white piece is centered. I used Always Artichoke and White. I used the Cuttlebug Snowflake Embossing folder for have the white and tied Always Artichoke ribbon around the middle. Used Real Red to stamp Merry Christmas and the holly is Always Artichoke and Real Red. I didn't feel like adding any layers, so I left it at this, and I am very pleased. I also did a couple red ones. Thanks Lucky Clucker for the idea!!!! And lastly, I needed a Christmas Card for my niece who is coming for Christmas (yay!). She's a teenager and loves pink, so, this is what I came up with:

I did a 5x5 square card using Pixie Pink (I think) and Wild Wasabi (I saw a similar color combo on Rhonda's Design Haven (link here) and really liked it together, and I also liked how she did the ribbon). I stamped the snowflakes using Pink Passion, layered another Pixie Pink and Wild Wasabi and then used White. I stamped the snowman using Wild Wasabi and colored in the hat and scarf using Pixie Pink. You can't tell, but on the top of the hat and the buttons, I used some pink rhinestones and I also used stickles on the snow around and under the snowman. I added more rhinestones at the bottom. I am really happy how this turned out. I think she will really like it.

Place Cards

So Tuesday, my boss asked me if I wanted to make some place cards for a party he is having for one of our clients (because I'm so crafty and all =-) and I said sure!! Who doesn't want an opportunity to do something they love for someone who signs their check (so they can buy more stuff!) and at the same time show off their work!!! I immediately knew that I wanted it to be classy and I was going to have to use my Season of Joy stamp set and the Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon! It didn't take me long to come up with this. I used Always Artichoke as the base and white as the name part. I stamped the swirly in Purely Pomegranate. I did print off the names and information (I had to put what each person's dinner selection so that the wait staff can look at the place cards and know what everyone had!), but I used pretty fonts. I used my favorite ticket corner punch (it's actually my only ticket corner punch, but I'm just weird with words). I had to do 20 and the first couple I spent a long, long time on the ribbon. I finally broke down last week and bought a double rectangle punch, but that satin ribbon is so thick when your doing this technique (where you put the ribbon down each hole and then pull through each end of the ribbon through the opposite hole) anyway after 20 minutes and I broken slot, I finally thought of an ingenious idea (that I am sure no one has ever thought of, yeah right!), but I took my single rectangle punch and punched over each hole to make it just a bit bigger. I know I am a genius. ..please there is no need to bow...(seriously, I know how obvious this should have been at the beginning to me, but I'm slow OK?!) That saved me soo much time! I finished all 20 in an hour and a half! And if I do say so myself, they are marvelous!

Bubblebella!

I got my first Stamping Bella in the mail a few days ago, yay! These stamps are a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e! I went with the Bubblebella because I wanted something to use for a "take care" card. It was so hard to choose! I also got the saying "take care of yourself". I made this card for my best friend because I think she's kinda stressed right now. I was in a hurry, so I'm not completely satisfied, but I do think its cute. I used some black textured paper that I found and I rounded the corners on the bottom (sorry, cut that off when I scanned) then I used Pretty in Pink (SU) and I distressed the edges and Whisper White (SU). I ticket corner punched the Whisper White and sponged around the edges with Pink Passion (SU) (I grabbed it and started sponging before I realized it was probably too dark for this, but it's not too bad). I colored Miss Bell in with my SU watercolor crayons and used a blender pen to blend a bit. The ribbon at the bottom is just some misc. ribbon I had laying around. I stamped "Take Care of Yourself" on a little piece of Pretty in Pink and glued it inside. I tried to find a place on the outside, but I couldn't come up with anything at the time. For the most part I am pleased with this card. I used a white marker to write a note and it looks kinda funky on the inside, but that's a good funky! I think my friend will really enjoy it! If you have not checked out the Stamping Bella site, please go there and look around! I'd also like to mention that I received my stamp in just over a week and they are located in Canada! I was so surprised to get it so quickly!

On a non-stamping note, we got our first snow of the season here in central Indiana last night! It almost covered the ground, but you can still see the grass popping through. The trees are nice and covered and I love that look.

My elf name is not politically correct!

Your Elf Name Is...

Happy Ho-Ho-Ho

What's" Your Elf Name?

Acetate Christmas!

I'm so close to getting my Christmas cards done! So very close! I finally bought some white Staz On so I could do an Acetate Card and I liked it so much I did 6! They turned out so cute. You can fine the tutorial here at Splitcoast. I did 2 different sizes and used various stamps and colors. Here is a picture of all of them:

I embossed the ones that used the Purely Pomegranate paper; the other two trees are using white craft ink.

Here is a close up picture of the one in the middle, sorry its a little blurry. I used Night of Navy paper and ink on this one. The ribbon is silver and sating that I found in my stash. I just love these cards. My DH said he thought they were the coolest cards I've made so far! I will definitely be using this technique a lot more!

Oldie but a goodie!

Back to Christmas cards! Yay! I decided to pull out one of the very first stamp sets I bought just a year ago! (Seems like longer than that!) Any way, this is from Favorite Teddy Bear which has sense been retired. I forgot that I could use it for the holidays! I decided to make these cards for my friends with young kids. I am really pleased with how it turned out. I did a square card (first one I made). This was a very simple card! I used basic black for the teddy bear and the merry christmas. And green and real read on the scarf. The scarf is 3d, attached using glue dots. And I used White Craft Ink for the snowflakes. The Snowflake is from Holiday Tag Team and the merry christmas is from Loads of Love. I just love it! Sometimes I really like the simple cards. I usually put more than one layer, but sometimes its just too much for me, you know?

Went grocery shopping today and found the mini composition books, finally! I don't know why it never occurred to me to look in the office supply section of Wal-Mart..duh! So I bought 4 to alter. This weekend I have to make 10 dozen cookies for a cookie swap next weekend. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I signed up for that, but hopefully it will be fun! Tonight I am going to a crop, so I'll get some scrapbooking in finally! Yay! Sadly, I am extremely behind on my scrapbooking and tonight I am working on gifts, so I'll have to play catch up next year! Everyone enjoy your weekend!

Time Well Spent

Well, I've been wanting to mount this set since I got it a couple of weeks ago, but I've been focusing on Christmas. Tonight I decided to break it in and make a birthday card. I am not overly pleased with it, but my excuse is I've been sick the last couple days and I shouldn't have picked a card I had to color!! Oh well, I think it will do. I used Wild Wasabi and a SU pink (sorry, don't know which one). I've seen these colors used on other cards and love the combo. The greeting is from the Greetings Galore stamp set. I sponged the bottom using Wild Wasabi. Off to visit some blogs and then to dreamland!

Ho Ho Ho!

Although this is my favorite time of year, I will be glad when I am done with Christmas cards. I feel like I haven't had time to make any other card for months! I am enjoying it, don't get me wrong, its just I would like to mix it up a bit. I found the idea for this card from someone on Splitcoast Stampers, of course. Unfortunately, I don't remember who... so, if this looks like a card you created let me know and I will give you credit! I used lots of Real Red on this one, some whisper white, green galore and black. I used the oval punch in the corner to stamp the Merry Christmas, boy was it hard to get that straight. This is such a fun card! I wanted to do another card, but I wanted something simple, so I came up with this, very simple card:

I used Always Artichoke for the base, then Wintergreen designer paper, Sky blue and more Always Artichoke. I used White Craft ink for the Merry Christmas and Snowflakes. Very simple, but nice. I do wish I would have put the slots closer together on the ribbon. So now I am a little bit closer to being done with my Christmas cards. My goal was do be done by December 1st, but I don't think that is going to happen.

Gift Cards!

I stumbled upon this great blog a while back and finally had an opportunity to try one of her tutorials! Check out Cambria Turnbow's blog for instructions for this and some other great cards and altered items. I am going the gift card route this year with a few of my friends, but wanted something different for the presentation and I think these are perfect! I almost wish I was giving more gift cards so I could make some more. They are so easy to make too! I think I made all four of these in about 45 minutes (and the only reason it took me that long is I had a hard time deciding how to decorate!) I used Wintergreen and Dashing Designer Series Paper and various coordinating cardstock. My favorite one is the Merry Christmas one, I took individual pictures of it: I love this Merry Christmas stamp, I think it is from All Year Cheer, but I can't remember which one...

The inside looks like this:
I just love these colors, so pretty. Now I just need to buy the gift cards. Oddly enough, that's the hard part!

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers-2

Today I stumbled upon an interesting blog called Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers. It's basically a blog for all us stampers to meet new stampers and get feedback and inspiration from them. I am excited to join this group of talented stampers.

I have been married for 10 years, have one 2.5 year old little girl and work mostly from home. I also recently became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, mostly to support my habit. I've been a scrapbooker for a long time (probably 10 years) and in the last year journeyed into the art of card making and the rest is history! Looking forward to getting to know you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well I thought I better get a post on here today, because the next few days will be busy. I made a couple more Christmas cards this weekend. I love this first one. I'm pretty sure I got the idea from someone on Splitcoaststampers, but I don't know who from. I used Night of Navy, Sky Blue and White. I also used my Snowflake folder on my Cuttlebug. You can't tell in the picture, but I put some glitter on the snow flakes and at the bottom of the snowman. It is such a cute card.

I wanted to use my Cuttlebug some

more so

I came up with another one. This one I used Purely Pomegranate and Old Olive. I stamped the trees in Whisper White craft ink. I also put glitter around the edges of both trees. I finished all my glass etched jars this weekend too! Yay! Now I just need to make the candy to fill them and they are ready to go! That's still a couple weeks away though. This week my focus is Thanksgiving! I am thankful for so much this year! I am thankful I have a wonderful husband who is also my best friend. I am thankful to have a beautiful, little girl who gets cuter everyday. I am thankful that we are healthy and I am thankful to have a such wonderful family that I love very much. I am also very thankful for the awesome daycare provider that we have to watch our daughter! I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Gift Tags!

I spent some time this evening working on Christmas Gift Tags and I think I may have enough to get us through the holidays! I made about 40 of all sizes. The Sizzix tag die cut that I bought to use with my Cuttlebug is awesome! It makes 3 different size tags. I used Old Olive, Purely Pomegranate; Real Read; Green Galore and Ballet Blue, then decorated white cardstock with corresponding colors. I bought some Fibers at a scrapbook store and tied some on the ends. I used Season of Joy and Tag Team stamp sets. I also used my scallop circle punch and my 1 3/8 inch circle punch. I had all these done in less than 2 hours, from start to finish! This picture is a few of my favorites:

They are now ready to be attached to presents! I was thinking how cool it would be if I had everything done for the holidays before December, then I could just sit back and relax! I'm not sure if its possible, but I'm going to try really hard to make it that way! I'm off to a pretty good start, I think. Just a few more things to do.

Paper Bags!

I needed something easy to make for my favors for Thanksgiving, I was going to go with a box of candy, but I decided to make the Pumpkin bread that I told you about in my previous post. So I needed something to put the breads in. I decided to go with a decorated lunch bag, however, the bread won't fit inside a regular size, so I had to go to the Flower Factor and I found a brown bag that will perfectly fit the loaves I made! Yay! Here is what I did:

I used the Fall Flowers Designer Series paper, and cut it to just about cover the paper bag. I then cut off the top of the paper bag and used my large oval punch to create a handle. I used my scallop circle punch and my 1 3/8 and 1 1/4 circle punches for the Grateful for You. I varied each of those between Really Rust, Old Olive and Sky Blue...depending on what paper was used. They turned out really cute! I will probably add some ribbon around the handle after I put the bread inside. While I was at Flower Factory I looked around for a centerpiece for my table and this is what I came up with:

I bought the plate for $2.75, the marbles for $2.00 and the candles were $4.05 for the 3, I tied them together with some raffia and voila, my centerpiece! For Christmas I will buy different colored marbles and candles. I got this idea in a candle store we were in a few weeks ago. If I would have bought the stuff there it would have cost me over $30! And I think mine is nicer =-) This would be a great gift for someone if you could figure out how to package it. I think I'm ready for Thanksgiving! All that's left is to cook!

The Crafts!

As promised, I have pictures of the crafts I made yesterday! What we have here is the basket I personally weaved, a Mary and Joseph figurine, a Snowman and an Angel bracelet. The basket was, of course, the hardest and time consuming. It was fun, but I'm not sure if I really need to do that again. I am very impressed with how it turned out, because I really thought it would look bad. And it was bigger than I expected. It took about 2.5 hours to weave, but the lady that was teaching the class was very patient with everyone and very helpful too. The other three crafts were done in about 10 minutes, each, very simple, but fun. They had all the supplies ready. The Mary and Joseph is just two upside down hearts and various additions for the face and baby Jesus, I bought a few xtra kits of this one to make as gifts (because I need more to do!!). The Angel bracelet was a small kit. I also bought an xtra one of these, I am going to give one to each of my nieces for Christmas. The snowman is two small straw hats painted white, glued together with pom poms for eyes and buttons. Very cute. This can be used for a magnet, ornament or a pin! Here is another picture of the basket to give you an idea of the size:

Today I got up and made some pumpkin bread to give away on Thanksgiving. I made 10 mini loaves and my husband, daughter and I split one of them to taste test it, ohhh they are yummy! As soon as they cooled I wrapped them and put them in the freezer, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist. Here is where I got the recipe. I highly recommend this recipe. It was so easy to make and very good.

Thanksgiving

I think I mentioned the other day that I have my place cards done for Thanksgiving. So I finally have a picture of one to show you: I used Sky Blue (notice that Sky Blue is the same color as the background of my blog! cool), Really Rust and White cardstock; and Really Rust and Old Olive ink. I stamped the names in Really Rust and used the Brushstroke Alphabet for the names and the Dotted Autumn Stamp set for the rest. This is similar to what is in the Stampin' Up! catalog, but a little different. I am happy with them. I have my menu planned and my party favors planned, I am going to work on the party favors this weekend. My next project is designing an invitation to our Christmas party. I will work on that next week, I think. Today I went to a craft event at a local church and had so much fun! I made 4 different crafts, be sure to check back to see pictures, I will try to get a picture tomorrow. My major craft was basket weaving, but I'll post more with the picture! I also wanted to share card I made for a friend's birthday:

On this one I used Blue Bayou, River Rock and Naturals Ivory cardstock; various inks and the Vases in Vogue stamp set. I also used a punch I purchased at a local scrapbook store. Hope everyone is enjoying there weekend! This fall weather is wonderful!!!!!

I think I need some help!

So I haven't had a lot of time lately to surf the web! (Which means I haven't spent a lot of time at Splitcoast Stampers). Today I decided I needed to look for some inspiration for my Thanksgiving Goodie bags and head over there. Big mistake! In the five minutes I was at the site I found 3 things I want to do and none of them have anything to do with my Thanksgiving goodie bags!! =-( Here is what I want to do (1) Paper Bows; (2) Scallop Circle Ornaments and (3) Gift Card Holders. I just had to leave the site. I already have plenty to keep me busy for the next 3 months and I don't need anymore projects!!! And you know what I figured out? It doesn't matter how early you start for Christmas, there is always something that pops up that you like better. I'm about 1/3 done with my Christmas cards and at my card club Tuesday night we did a card that I just love and want to do some of those for Christmas, but I told myself NO NO NO NO! You have a plan, stick with it! Plus it would require buying another stamp set and I just don't need to do that now! Especially with the new Stampin' Up! catalog coming out soon. That is my vent (for lack of a better word) for today.

Stained Glass Technique

I wanted to try a new technique today, so I pulled out my latest Stampin' Success and found the stained glass technique. It was so easy and I really liked it. I did a birthday card and a Veteran's day card for my dad. First you stamp your image(s) onto vellum using staz on. After that drys, turn the vellum over and color the image using watercolor crayons or pencils and then use a blender pen to blend. Turn over and adhere the vellum to white paper and voila! It looks so nice in person, but this picture isn't too bad. I used the Vases in Vogue for this one, I didn't think I would like this set, but I really do! It's so cute! And now for the Veteran's Day card... I had a hard time getting this picture. I tried scanning it, but it didn't come out too well, so I took the picture. The technique aspect of the card doesn't really show up, but I think the colors and the image turned out good. I used the Land that I Love stamp set for this. I wanted to use the flag, but I don't think it would have been a good image for this particular technique. I did color in the stars as well. I think this is a very easy technique and it ads so much to the cards!

I don't have a title!

I can't believe another week has flown by! In just two weeks it will be Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving! I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time believing that in two weeks it will be Thanksgiving! OK I have issues, but there's nothing we can do about that now, so on to some fun stuff! I made a few cards to include in a bag of goodies I am donating to a church for a silent auction and here is what I made:

I recently purchased the Season of Joy stampset out of the Holiday Mini. Originally I didn't really like it, but I started seeing it used and I just had to have it! I am really enjoying playing with it. This card was very simple. I used used Purely Pomegranate cardstock and ink and Wild Wasabi ink and threw some White craft ink in and voila. The snowflake is from the Holiday Tag Team stamp set. I'm really happy with this card. This next one is pretty simple as well. I used Wild Wasabi and Purely Pomegranate, of course! I also used the Happy Harmony designer paper. A little sponging technique on the white card stock. Isn't the ribbon so cute?

This one is my favorite, it is a criss-cross card!

More Purely Pomegranate (love this color!) More Happy Harmony designer paper and some of the Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon. The inside is my favorite...I love the Merry Christmas stamp (it is from one of the All Year Cheer III), I am so glad I bought that set before it retired. I am going to make some of these my Christmas cards this year. Oh, by the way, did I mention it's only two weeks until Thanksgiving? I need to get busy on my menu!

Happy Halloween!!!

Have you missed me? I'm sorry I've been MIA lately, its been busy...and I don't see it getting better before..oh February! That's OK, I'm really looking forward to the holidays and Halloween is fun! We had a little Halloween party this weekend, just got my best friend's family together to let the kids dress up and play! I made this very special treat for everyone:

I know what your thinking...ewwww! Kitty Litter! (OK, maybe you weren't thinking that, but I was!) But its not Kitty Litter, its a cake! And once you get past what it looks like, its actually not too bad! I found the recipe here. I'm telling you, you have to do this for your next Halloween party! The reaction to it is priceless and it is very easy to make. I just went to Wal-Mart and purchased a Kitty Litter Box and Scoop! I'm defiantly saving this for years to come! Sorry I don't have any cards or anything to add right now. I have been working on some Christmas Cards and will try to upload those over the weekend. I just really had to share this cake with you! My husband made fun of me because I put the Kitty poo a/k/a tootsie roll over the side...he said "What cat misses the litter box" and I replied the one that couldn't quite make it! Duh! Anyway, we had a great time! By the way, I made little Halloween bags for the kids, but I forgot to take a picture...sometimes I wonder about myself! I used the same concept as my holiday bag in the previous post, but used Halloween paper instead. Oh and I have my place cards done for Thanksgiving! Yay! Hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!

My first workshop as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator!

Well, I had my first "workshop" today! I invited some friends and family over for an open house to be my first audience! I had two sessions and they both went really well. I had 4 people that had never been to a Stampin' Up! workshop and they really enjoyed themselves! I had a few pros that enjoyed themselves as well! I made a couple of goodies to hand out! This was my door prize: I used the template from Julie Buhler's Paper Pleasing Ideas blog. This woman is very talented! Unfortunately I didn't have any Stampin' Up! holiday paper on hand, but this worked. I also made a beaded pen and 5 cards from a osw template. Here is a picture of everything included in the box:

Everyone really liked these and they were very easy to make. Then, because I always feel like I need to give something to everyone, I also made little gifts for each attendee! I made about 6 gift card tags for each person and put them in cello bags, decorated a topper and voila! I used my Cuttlebug for the tags, I also used the scallop circle for some tags. I attached ribbon to each tag and stamped them with various Christmas stamps. Everyone seemed to like these as well, plus it gave me ideas for tags for my Christmas presents! I had a really good time and look forward to doing more workshops! Plus, if this wasn't enough, my mom took my daughter for the afternoon and came back with a couple outfits for her and a winter coat! Yay! Another thing to check off of my to do list!!!

Mid-October, Already?!?!

Is it me or is this year flying by! Wow...I've been busy getting things ready for my open house this weekend. I've got all my cardstock cut and that's ready, I'm just working on my door prizes. In the meantime I have a couple of cards to show you! Last week there was a sketch challenge on SCS that I wanted to try. It is SC145 (info here). I knew as soon as I saw this challenge I wanted to make a Halloween card with the Haunting Halloween stamp set! Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Black, Whisper White; Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Black, Orchid Opulence, Yo Yo Yellow, Close to Cocoa; Stamps: Haunting Halloween. I really like this set, the kitty is so cute! The other one I did was for a birthday card. I wanted to use some pretty colors! Quite a contrast from the Halloween card! I don't have the recipe handy for this card, I'll have to post it later. It is hard to tell, but it is the same sketch challenge. Be sure to check back in a few days for my post about my door prize for my open house! I have to wait until the camera is available to take pictures, but I think you'll enjoy it!

Halloween Treats!

I wanted to do something special for the kids at my daughter's daycare, so I decided to make the 2-4-7-10 box (tutorial here). I am really pleased with how these turned out, especially the kitty! I used the Haunting Halloween stamp set; Pumpkin Pie cardstock, ribbon and ink. I put some candy and little Halloween notepads inside, the second picture shows all that I included. (M&Ms, Teddy Grahams, Necco Wafers and the notepads) I think the kids will like them! I had to make 15 total, and I did it in stages. I scored and cut all the paper first, then I cut the black pieces and white pieces, stamped the kitty and colored it. Then I stamped the pumpkin pie pieces (for the box) and then assembled it. Today I put all the candy inside and tied the ribbon. It really wasn't all that complicated, just a little time consuming. I think the most time consuming part was scoring and cutting the box. I only had to waste 2 pieces of cardstock, because I would get into a rhythm and forget what I was doing and cut to far! I think I can probably still use some of the cardstock as scrap though! I can't wait until Halloween to give these to the kids! Next big project will be Thanksgiving! I just ordered my paper and stamp sets last week, so I should be able to work on those in the next few weeks! Yay!