Thursday, September 29, 2011

World Card Making Day - Saturday October 1st

I'm so excited for this weekend to get here.  Saturday is World Card Making Day and my regular group of Stampers are coming over for a fun Saturday of making cards, some fun times and always some great Pot Luck foods.  Yum!!!

Then on Sunday, Linda and I are attending a Calendar Class at Diana Gibbs' home and that's going to be great fun too, although I feel like I need to pack an overnight bag as she lives so far away.  LOL  It will be so worth it though.  I'm excited to have a chance to attend a class given by Diana - I'm always so amazed with her talent and it will be wonderful to have such a Creative Coach!

No pictures today, but just wanted to share my excitement for the upcoming weekend.

What plans do you have to celebrate World Card Making Day?  Share them with us here and I'll be posting pictures of our projects on Saturday evening.

Happy Thursday!

~ Donna

Monday, September 26, 2011

World Card Making Day - Stamp a Stack

This coming Saturday, October 1st, is World Card Making Day.  It's also going to be a Stamp-a-Stack for those who wish to.  Here's a peek at the cards we'll be doing for Stamp-a-Stack.  The idea came from Diana Gibbs - only difference is I'm using the Merry Christmas from "Four the Holidays" and using two different DSP's from Frostwood Lodge in the Holiday Mini.

Details to follow in another post.


Speaking of Diana Gibbs, I'm so excited for this weekend.  Linda and I are signed up for one of her classes on Sunday and I can hardly wait to meet her.  I've been following her blog for a while and really love her ideas and her energy that I see in her posts.  It's going to be a great weekend for Stampin' and Crafting!

Have a great week!

~ Donna

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Paper Organizing

Well, this weekend was spent cleaning and organizing some of my Stampin' stuff.  Whenever I make a project I have a box that I put my scraps of paper in for sorting later.  Well, three boxes later, I decided it was way past time to organize!  It does feel good to have it done.  I should have taken a picture with the colors sorted, but you get the idea. 

I have these great paper boxes by Iris with hanging folders where I store my cardstock.  So far I keep two colors per folder, but now that my paper stash is growing, I may have to expand a bit.  When I have small scraps I place them in a quart sized ziplock bag and place it in front of the full size sheets.  Perfect for those smaller pieces that are still very usable and even the larger pieces that aren't full size or pre-cut card size from kits that weren't used.  Saves time later too when I need something in a hurry.

You'll notice that Very Vanilla and Whisper White are in the very front of Box 1, since they are the most used. 

So, how do you store your paper?  Do you have a way that works really well for you?

Hope you had a great weekend.  Next Saturday is World Card Making Day - so be sure to plan something special and fun!








Sunday, September 18, 2011

Pumpkins, Ghosts and Fall... Oh My!

We had a wonderful workshop on Saturday filled with fun projects and some great creativity from the girls.  I'm so proud! 

Here is the original design that I found made by Frenchie at Stamp & Scrap with Frenchie.  She has some great ideas and I love listening to her videos and her accent.  Her sample had the three ghosts the way I put them here.


One of the newest stampers to our group, Tonia, made this one - notice the curly vine on the leaf?  What a GREAT idea and love the ghosty look to the one in the upper corner. 


Barbie made this one, adding some extra white ink all over the spider web.  It looks much shinier in real life.  She also stamped a pumpkin face to the front of the pumpkin.


 Here is Linda's - look at the little ghost peeking out from behind the Top Note die.  Everyone has their own creations and I love seeing it come out in each of them.


Teeny Tiny Wishes (115370) wood only

Paper - Pumpkin Pie (105117), Whisper White (100730), Basic Black (121045), Wild Wasabi (108641)
Cool Tools: Big Shot (113439), Spider Web Embossing Folder (120889), Top Note Bigz Die (113463), Large Oval Punch (119855), Bird Builder Punch (117191), Sponge Daubers (102892), SNAIL Adhesive (104332), Multipurpose Liquid Glue (110755)
Inks: StazOn White (106960), Soft Suede (115657) or Chocolate Chip (119670), Stampin’ Write Marker - Black (100082).

Extras (non-SU): Small paper bag.

This is the other card we made, also from Frenchie but using a different fall leaves set.  This one uses the "Rock 'n Roll" technique to make the pretty colors on the leaf.



Autumn Splendor wood only - (116503)
Paper - Cajun Craze (119684), More Mustard (100946), Very Vanilla (101650), Chocolate Chip (102128)
Cool Tools: Simply Scored Scoring Tool (122334), Bone Folder (102330),
Inks: More Mustard (103162), Cajun Craze (119669), Chocolate Chip (119670)
Finishing Touches: 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon - More Mustard and Chocolate Chip (both retired).

Score 8 ½” x 11" paper at 2 ½” and 5 ½” on the long side.
Very Vanilla - 3" x 2 ½"
More Mustard - 3 1/8" x 2 5/8"
Chocolate Chip - 3 3/8" x 2 7/8"

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Eeeek!!! A Mouse!!

I spotted this today on Splitcoast Stampers and instantly fell it love with it.  Thanks to Lynn Pratt for the inspiration!  I did add a little to our friend, he simply needed some ears, so I looked at my punches and found the perfect one.


The paper is Baja Breeze for the sky and Garden Green for the grass.  The sun was punched from Daffodil Delight using the 1 3/4" Scallop Circle and then turning it just a tad and punching it a 2nd time.  Ask me how, I'll be happy to share the technique. 

The plastic for the "mouse" is from an adhesive refill package.  He's filled with shredded Basic Gray cardstock that was run through the Paper Crimper (101618) first and then I cut it into shreds and crumpled it up a bit more. 

The ear was punched from the Blossom Petals Builder Punch (121808).  I free-handed the tail (several attempts) and the nose (several more attempts!).  They eye was punched from the Owl Builder Punch (118074).

This little guy will be for a gal at work that just "loves" mice.... oh, make that "doesn't love" mice.  We tend to have them scamper around our office from time to time whenever there's a bit of construction in the area, and of course they always find the people that like them the least.

So, tomorrow is her birthday and I just couldn't resist... I know, I'm terrible, but the temptation was just too strong.  haha! 

I hope you enjoy this great card.  Isn't it amazing the creativity of crafters... I only wish I'd thought of it! 

Have a great day!

~Donna

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Never Forget - 9-11-11

With today being the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 it only goes to reason that my card today will be a Patriotic Card. 

A friend of mine enjoys sending letters to our Soldiers serving far from home, as do I, so what a perfect time to begin again, only this time I'm making cards to send and I'm really excited about that. 

So, with that said, here's the card I just made and I'm planning to make several others for us to send our letters in. 


Stamp:  Land of the Free (Summer Mini - retired)
Cardstock:  Real Red, Night of Navy and Whisper White
Ink:  Real Red and Night of Navy
Embossing Folder:  Snow Burst (124096) -
they look enough like stars to me to be perfect!

The star punch is not SU.  There is an SU star punch that I think is too small and the other SU star punch is retired and too big.

I inked the stamp with the ink pads.  It was very easy to line up the pad to the stamp without overstamping onto an area that I didn't want to.  I realize this is a retired set, but it's the only patriotic stamp I currently have.  Looks like I need to do some shopping from SU and get the sets on page 50 of the catalog.  Courage - 115330 (wood only), Service & Sacrifice - 115992 (wood only) and Hero - 116229 (Jumbo Wheel).

So, take a minute today to say a prayer for all of our Military and Service Personnel that keep us safe and put their lives on the line every day.

God Bless Us All!

~ Donna

Sunday, September 4, 2011

It's A Boy!

Ok, don't panic, sadly, no babies in this family anytime soon, but a friend of mine is going to be a Grandma to her 2nd baby boy.  Today was the baby shower but I was unable to attend, even though I worked so hard on the card last night.  Grrrr... Guess I'll be mailing it.

I received one like this at the Henderson Regional last weekend and fell in love with it.  I wish I could give credit to who made it, but my copy of the card is at the office and I'm not even sure there was a name on the back.  I'll look on Tuesday when I am back at work.  If you're ever in swaps, be sure you put your name and the card recipe on the back, it makes it so much nicer and the only way you can get credit for what you've created.

Originally I started with Bashful Blue, but when I stamped the sentiment, it was too light, so I switched to Tempting Turquoise.  I also learned after a couple of attempts that you should punch the corners first, then run it through the embossing folder, otherwise, it will tear when punched.  I also started out using the Square Lattice, but it just didn't suit me, so used Perfect Polka Dots (117335)

Cardstock:  Tempting Tuquoise and Whisper White.
Stamps:  A Word For You (117032 - w / 120528 - c)
Punches:  Word Window (119857), 3/4" Circle (119873), 1/2" Circle (119869), 1 1/2" Circle and a 1 3/8" Circle (119860), Scallop Trim Corner (118870) and Scallop Trim Border (118402)
Ribbon:  1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon - Tempting Turquoise (124323).

This was such a fun and easy card - assuming you have the punches I suppose, but I do love punches and all the cute things that can be made with them.

Happy Sunday - Happy Crafting!

~ Donna

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Joy

So, have you checked out the Holiday Mini yet?  How long is your wish list... mine is still growing, but that's okay there's just so many fun things to choose from.

Here's one I made today and I really love how this turned out.  I actually got the idea from the Regional last weekend in Henderson.  Mine is a simple version, but that's what suits me most of the time.

I stamped the "star" from the stamp Set - The Sounding Joy (121967 - w / 121979 - c) in Cherry Cobbler ink on Very Vanilla cardstock, then stamped "Joy" with VersaMark and then sprinkled it with Stampin' Emboss Gold (109129) and used the Heat Tool (100005) to emboss the gold powder.  I also rubbed the edge of the cardstock along the VersaMark and embossed it with gold embossing powder.  The Very Vanilla is layered on Cherry Cobbler with a band of Cherry Cobbler from the Regals Patterned Designer Series Paper stack (117154).  On the side I added a bit of the new 3/8" Quilted Satin Ribbon (124105) and a bit of the Victoria Crochet Trim (118481) attached with a gold brad.


I really love the way the gold emboss brightens up the front of the card.  Everything looks better embossed, don't you think?

So, have a great LONG weekend and create something beautiful!

~ Donna

Thursday, September 1, 2011

It's Holiday Mini Time!

Today's the day... the beginning of the 2011 Holiday Mini!  If you haven't received a mini-catalog in the mail already, you're going to love being able to see it online here.  Check out all the wonderful new items being offered.

The Simply Scored Scoring Tool on page 7 has to be my favorite new tool.  It is so easy to score you paper with ease and comfort with the provided stylus.  No more sloppy lines and no more sore fingers from using your bone folder.  It is just awesome.  If you love Christmas Stockings, you'll love the stamp set and matching punch on page 34 - Stitched Stockings (w-123782 / c-123784) and Stocking Builder Punch (124095).


Take a look through the catalog (you can click the link above or the one in the side margin) and let me know what your favorite things will be!

Happy Holiday Shopping!

~Donna

Contributors