Grunge swap card

I made this card for a swap and loved the design!  It was really simple and came together very quickly.
The stamp sets I used were Extreme Elements and Grunge Rock – they are great sets for masculine or teen cards. The colors were Wild Wasabi and Marina Mist – accented with Early Espresso.  I used the new Postal Stamp punch and backed the punches pieces with coordinating squares.  The 3/8” grosgrain ribbon added a great finishing touch to the card.

Sharing my Creative Cave

So, last summer when my son married his amazing wife, Dawnmaire, I not only got a fantastic daughter I got a stamp space!  So, I realized I have never shared photos of my little heaven on earth.  Here they are! 
This is the room standing in the doorway looking in.  Going in a clockwise direction -

• color coordinated bookcase.  All the files are 12 x 12 scrapbook paper housed by color in RAINBOW order (red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue, violet) On top of the shelf are drawers with color coordinated embellishments (brads, buttons, etc.)
• my workspace desk.  It houses by stamp pads, ink refills, Stampin’ Up! embellishments, wheels, stamp blocks, markers, Big Shot die cutting machine
• under the desk are 3 13 x 13 file drawers – they have various supplies for scrapbooking or stamping like vellum, stickers, punches, refills for adhesive or trimmers.
• hanging on the wall above the desk is my Stampin’ Up! ribbon storage.  This is actually made from rain gutter that my DH hung on the wall for me. 
• DVD bookcase holding current Stampin’ Up! stamp sets. 
• On the right what you can’t see is a twin sized bed for when my missionary son, Nathan, returns home next summer. 

Here are some close up photos -

right side of my desk – usually my laptop sits in the open space.

Stamp set storage – many of these have moved to the other side of the room to the RETIRED stamp set storage for those sets I can’t bare to let go of yet!

The ribbon has had an overhaul and is more full now – Stampin’ UP! retired a lot of my fav ribbon, but I can’t get rid of it, so I keep it and add to it!  I’ll post a new photo in a few days.
I will share the OTHER side of the room tomorrow!  STAY TUNED!

July club cards– Pennant Parade

It is always a favorite when Stampin’ Up! creates a stamp set/punch that coordinates.  This is my favorite one right now – Pennant Parade stamp set and Pennant punch.  This was a fast, easy card with just three simple colors – Island Indigo, Pool Party (both new In colors) and Daffodil Delight.  Add an embossed Perfect Polka dots impression folder Top Note Die and a quick punched border with the Scalloped Ribbon border punch – and you have a great, simple card.

August Stamp Happenings

I simply had to create this month's calendar using a SNEAK PEAK item - NEW DSP!  Starting in September, the Holiday Mini catalog will be available and the background paper on the calendar is from a new Designer Series Paper pack. The Holiday Mini Catalog is set to ship to those of you in my Hostess Club around August 15; please let me know when your mini catalog arrives.  If you are not in my Hostess club and want a copy, just contact me.  I'll be happy to get one out to you!  I always have room for one more in my hostess clubs, so if you want to join - shoot me an email!  The purchase requirement is low - $20 per month - and the benefits are HIGH! including half-price items!
I have a number of fun events planned for August.  I know I always am rushing around come Mid November (reality is Mid December) and find I don't have Christmas and Holiday cards done. So to help you out of this predicament, I am offering a series of Christmas/Holiday cards beginning in August.  If you take the entire series which will be once a month from August to December, you will have completed 40 cards by mid December. Each month I will be adding an ADDITIONAL stamp-a-stack to the calendar.  This one is JUST for Christmas/Holiday cards and will still be 8 cards for $10.  However, I have an incentive for you if you want to attend all  of them.  If you commit to all five, and PREPAY for the entire series, you will get a Christmas/Holiday bonus from me!  What might it be, you may ask?  Well, since you will be making all those cards to give away, you certainly will need some for yourself in the new year to say Thank You for all the wonderful gifts you receive, so in January I will have an EXCLUSIVE Thank You card stamp a stack that you may attend FOR FREE.  Not ready to commit to the entire series by the August class - that's ok, you can still attend any and all, if you end up attending all 5 anyway, I'll have a different Thank You for you!

Another exciting this for August - Stampin' Up is having a terrific sale on their wonderful Designer Series Paper. When you buy 3 packages, you get a 4th for FREE!
Please let me know as soon as possible what Stampin' Events you would like to attend this month - I would LOVE to create with all of you!  Thank you for making my business be fun.  My calendar is filling up fast with workshops, so if you would like to have a group of your friends join us to decorate their lives with stamps, give me a call or an email.

Party time Scrapbook class style

For July the scrapbook gals made some wonderful layouts too.  Again - the inspiration for them came from fellow demos - on our demo blog.  

the first layout was a great sentimental one - it could be almost anything.  I used by favorite masculine stamp set these days- The Open Sea - I may shed some tears when it is not current anymore. HOWEVER, the upside will be that the new Holiday items will be available and I got a sneak peek.  All I can say is WOW! Stampin' UP!  has outdown themselves... but you'll have to wait until August to see the samples. 

Ok, so I digress----  the Nautical Expedition DSP was a lovely compliment to the first layout ... the left side ... I CASEd that from Jackie Topa.  I could not get away from the ship in a bottle - it was striking.  The colors were Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler and Not Quite Navy.  The distressing was done with Early Espresso.

the second set of pages was also inspired by the colors of a DSP - this one was the retired pack of Birthday Celebration.  The ladies were impressed how easy the title was to make with clear mount stamps - it was amazing; simply lay out the letters you want to spell out then press your clear block on the top - you get them exactly how you want them!  

Scrap that inspiration

June's scrapbook class was a great evening.  It was nice to visit while the ladies created their pages.  I was inspired by a couple of people on Stampin' Up!'s own demo blog .  thank you to the great demos who inspire me.

This is the complete first layout - Sunny Day DSP, Heart from the Heart stamp set - Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade were the colors too.  I added a bit of Daffodil Delight satin ribbon to finish it off.

 The second set was all about animals and the zoo.  We created punch art animals (how fun is that!)  The colors were very safari -like; Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, More Mustard.
The background was done by using the edge of a Stampin' Around wheel.   

My Digital Studio gift-

The band teacher at the High School was retiring this year so I felt like I should do something special for him.  He taught the 3 boys for 8 years, so he has a special place in our hearts.  I popped open My Digital Studio, found a great music quote and got to designing.  He absolutely LOVED it and said it would be hanging in his house for years to come.

Thank you, Mr. Robert Gaston!

Christmas in July Stamp Camp projects -

There will be a fun day of crafting on July 30 at my home!  Any and all are welcome.  It will be a fabulous day of creating for all!  Check out the projects you can choose from.  I will be putting together tutorials for all the projects sometime next week or the first week of August. (thank you for the suggestion Joyce)

stamped CD clocks

$10.00

8 1/2" x 11" Family collage

$5.00

8 1/2" x 11" Friend collage

$5.00

11" x 8 1/2" Merry collage

$5.00 

Jingle Bell Glass Block

$15.00 

Memo Pad Case

$5.00 

 Nugget Boxes

$3.50 

Peace, Joy, Love wall hanging

$7.00

Recipe Card Apron Box (design from Ellen Kemper)

$5.00

Christmas Countdown

$10.00

Anniversary

It is so hard to believe that a year has passed by so quickly - it just seems like a short while ago that my oldest son, James, married his sweetheart Dawnmarie.  I love her so much and am so glad he found her.  I made them this card for their anniversary this past week.  It was all about the hearts!

Wedding invitations

My daughter in law and I have a crafting business we do together called Celebration Creations.  You can check that blog out with the linky on the left side bar of this blog.  We do all kinds of things to help celebrate any occaision - weddings, birthdays, showers (baby or wedding), quincinerras, you name it - we do it!  

I made some sample wedding invitations up and thought I'd share them here - 

Both use impressions folders and some heat embossing also.  I hope they inspire you today!

The Open Sea strikes again!

With the blessing of rain that Tucson has been receiving, I wanted to share another water inspired card.  This features my favorite set from the Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalog, The Open Sea.  It reminds me of my dad.

gifts to mail

Every year for the past 10 or so, I have showered my Mother in Law with a card shower for her birthday - literally.  I try to send her at least 50 cards to get her through most of the next year with birthday and anniversary cards and of course a couple of 'just because'.  She is an old fashioned LETTER WRITER!  I know, pick yourself off the floor - they DO still exist.  I love this about her; she tries to keep in contact with all those important people in her life.  She has forced herself to learn how to use email so she can keep up with her techie grandkids, but she still loves to put pen to paper!  I love her dearly and wanted to share a few of the cards I made for her.  

I know they will remain a secret to her - she is NOT a follower of my blog -but since you are --- pass the blog on to YOUR friends!  I would love to see your friends and family following my little creative journey!

This first one is a CASE from the a Stampin' Up! demo blog -SUDSOL.  Many demonstrators are getting ready to leave for the 2011Stampin' Up!  Convention.  Unfortunately, I can't attend this year again, but I love to be inspired by those who do!  Thank you Mary Brown for the inspiration for this card.  The stamp sets are Extreme Elements and Just Because.  The bright colors are from the Bright Collection - Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive and Pacific Point.

For these cards I was using up scraps on my table.  I love the triple layer punches and this is a fun way to use up leftover punchies from other projects.  I had punched out about 50 Real Red, Pear Pizzazz and Basic Black flowers using the Flower triple layer punch, and had a pile (not very small) of the leftovers.  I glued them on Whisper White CS and then ran that through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice impressions folder.  I layered that with a few other layers and stamped a simple greeting from my favorite 'go to' birthday set - On Your Birthday.  To add a punch of color, I added a couple of flowers using the new set Fabulous Florals.  I was so thrilled to find out it is carried over into the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog!

This last sample was a direct CASE from the Stampin' Up! demonstrator publication Stampin' Success.  Each month we get such wonderful ideas and inspiration in this.  I always look forward to the day it arrives and love to pour over the pages inside.  

Happy Fathers Day! (ok - so I'm a bit late)

I had some fun times making Father's Day cards.  I had one for the club members to make, but when it came right down to it, I wanted to make Mike a different one - sooooo here is the one I gave him.

it uses the stamp set Tool Time. I finally broke down and bought this set - I have eyed it for a while now (like 2 years) but remembered this fun card I have seen MANY places online and knew the time had come to buy it.  The letter 'a' is from a retired alphabet set and the "lucky you" quote is from another retired hostess set Afterthoughts.

Mike enjoyed his pampereing day- the kids got together and bought him a mini donut maker and he was showered with a HEART attack - REAL style- about 80 donuts!  The kids had me make mike his own heart attack card too - he has put that somewhere safe and since I forgot to take a photo of THAT card, I'll hunt and try to post it later.  

Tart and tangy farewell

Add a quick tag with the two different sizes of tag punches and you have a super quick gift to sneak some Starbursts or Skittles inside!

I will miss this fun set of fruits.  It is so bright and sunny - perfect for a summer sip of fun!  The club gals made this little pillow box with Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzaz, and Tangerine Tango.

June Club cards -farewell to the retired

Monochromatic cards are so easy to achieve and stunning to see!  I used retiring DSP - Bella Blue- for the color pallet - Pacific Point.  The focal point came from the set Engraved Greetings.  simple and stunning.  This card was found on a blog and all i did was change out the colors and DSP.