Happy Halloween to my kiddos!

Since they are all getting older and not Trick or Treating, I decided to make them a special Halloween goodie full of candy.  I even gave one to Mike.  I still have one box left for my oldest son, James and his wife Dawnmarie.  I will have to give it to them the next time we see them as they spent the weekend with her family.  Gotta love family!  I am glad that I have these wonderful kids in my life!  Happy Halloween!!!!

I used the Big Shot Fancy Favor BIGZ die, and the spider web impressions folder.  I painted a bit of Platinum Shimmer Paint on the web to make it stand out a bit.  I then used a strip of the Night Owl DSP to make a ruffle for the top of the box to look like tissue paper.  I used my favorite Halloween stamp set - Wicked Cool, to make the embellishment.  I filled the box with yummy candy, but not without adding some Pixie Stix topped with some scallop punched toppers using the Batty For You stamp set.

Wedding Cards

Before you get all crazy thinking I have ANOTHER kid getting married - calm yourself!  My dear friend Jamie asked me if I had any wedding invitation samples on my blog - well... the answer was NO.  So, I decided it was high time I did.  I have scanned the internet for others samples and well... stamp-lifted!  I praise those who made the origionals - where-ever you are and who ever you are!  I keep files full of ideas and my gratitude goes out to you.  If you see one of your cards here PLEASE let me know so I can give you proper credit for the idea! 

Enjoy - the cards were all made with either Pumpkin Pie and Cherry Cobbler, Riding Hood Red and Tangerine Tango, or Peach Perfection and Poppy Parade.

Which is YOUR favorite???? 

Elegant Thank You

This was the last card we did at the October Stamp-a-Stack last Saturday.  This card was so quick and easy.  It uses the Elegant Lines Impressions Folder, a sweet sentiment from the Perfect Punches set, a little Very Vanilla satin ribbon and some gorgeous Basic Pearls embellishments.  I am so tickled that Stampin' Up! carries self adhesive flat-back pearls and rhinestones! They are dazzling. 

SWEET Birthday!

Monday was my neices birthday.  She is named after me and so I sent her a great My Digital Studio card that I created for her.  I will share that tomorrow, but I wanted to send her the card I made at my October Stamp-a-Stack from last Saturday, but didn't get it off in time. And besides, the Canadian postal service might just keep it and eat the M&M's!  This was a great card using the Sweet Treat Cups from Stampin' Up! They are so cute and inexpensive too!  The stamps I used were Something Sweet and Got Treats.  I loved that I could use the 'OPEN' stamp!  The colors are perfect for celebrating - Real Red, Pacific Point and Daffodil Delight.  I also used the new punch available in the Holiday Mini Catalog - Decorative Label.  It is quickly becoming my favorite new punch!

OOO LAA LAA stamp-a-stack

Saturday was my October Stamp-a-stack. We had some fun projects that were all quite easy.  I chose 2 projects to share today that were monochromatic.  The first uses my favorite shade of yellow  -  Daffodil Delight.  It uses the sets Snow Swirled and Heart from the Heart.  Who knew snowflakes could look so NOT winter?  I have also found a new ribbon love - the striped grosgrain!  OOOOO LAAA LAAA!

The inspriation for the next monochromatic card was grom Ustamp with Dawn and Friends.  I am currently in their Cards with COOL Moves and the color combo suggestion was Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, and Concord Crush.  So... I gave it a try - what do you think?  I added a splash of that favorite yellow - Daffodil Delight with the 1/8" taffeta ribbon.  It used the sets On a Pedestal and Curly Cute.

Happy Thanksgiving to my family in Canada

So, I am actually Canadian.  I was born in Alberta and moved to the United States when I was 10.  I have American citizenship now but most of my family lives in Canada still, so I created this card with My Digital Studio to send to them to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving. This card took me about 15 minutes to put together using the images found on My Digital Studio.

If you want more information about this wonderful digital paper-crafting software please contact me.  I would love to come to your place or you come to mine to show you this amazing product that includes thousands of Stampin’ Up images that you can use to create cards, scrapbooks, calendars, and many other digital projects to email or print.  It really is super easy, super fast, and SUPER FUN!

Spooky Halloween

This card is also a card inspired from the UStamp with Dawn and Friends Cool Moves color combos.  This time I paired pumkpin pie, Old olive, Marina Mist and Basic Gray.  The stamp set is new to Stampin' Up! - Wicked Cool.  I have fallen in love with this Halloween set - I will be using it more later this week. 

Delicious Awash with Flowers

This set I earned for free last spring and haven't used much, but it is really lovely.  I think I need to spend more time with my stamps!  The colors on this card were inspired by UStamp with Dawn and Friends.  I won a pass to the latest edition - Cool Moves.  You can check that out at the blog here.  Every 12 hours there is a new card idea and color combination.  I am loving it!  The color combo for this card is one to make you hungry - Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Baja Breeze. 

Birthday card class

Tomorrow fans of Stampin’ Up will join at my house for a Birthday Card stamp-a-stack.  They are making 4 birthday cards.  I have finished up 3 of them and will share the 4th tomorrow after they make them. (I want to keep SOME surprises for them) 

The first card is a fun one using Fox and Friends and the new saying set Curly Cute.  The colors I picked using the Color Coach – Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight and Concord Crush.The second card was an easy one layer card using a hostess set – Because I Care.  The colors are Regal Rose and Garden Green.

 

  The last card I am going to share is one that is using the Beautiful Butterflies die for the Big Shot.  This uses a retired Designer Series Paper from the Spring, but the colors are Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and a touch of black.  The stamping was done with a great birthday stamp set called On Your Birthday.

Baby Gifts

I had a couple of baby gifts to make for work.  So… I pulled out my paper and stamps and went to town creating some fun mini brag books!  I used shades of pink – Melon Mambo, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink.  I used a couple of stamp sets – Baby Bundle, Priceless, Lovely Letters, and Greeting Card Kids.  They were a HIT!  The ladies loved them and proudly put them in their purses to add photos later!

September Scrapbook Class

This Friday night fabulous friends will gather at my house for our monthly scrapbook class.  I have created 2 layouts fit for the season.  The first one is a Back to School layout ready for your class photo and some snapshots of the first days.  I used the colors Night of Navy, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight.  The stamp set is Schoolbook Serif I loved the punched owl and a big thank you goes out to Connie Babbert who I copied her wonderful idea.

The next layout they will make is a fall combo from the My Create Ink blog challenge.  I used the colors More Mustard, Chocolate Chip and Baja Breeze.  The layout was inspired by Gretchen Barron and the Soul Scrappers Challenge sketch.  The stamp set I used was Baroque Motifs.  It seems to be my 'go to' set!  I also used the Scallop Trim Border punch and the new Scallop Squares Duo Bigs Die.

Southwest Demonstrator meeting

Last night was our  Stampin’ UP! Southwest Demo meeting.  We always have a great time sharing business tips, creating, staying current with what is going on in the company, a few treats and some lovely ladies!  Thanks gals.  This month fellow demonstrator Sue Smedly was in charge of the Make and Take. We all made an adorable owl post it note holder.  She got the idea from Becky Roberts.  

One of the highlights is our card swap.  Here are a few Halloween cards that were shared -

From top left – card made by Kathy Huss, top right – made by Kendra Richardson (got the idea from Dawn Griffith), bottom left – made by T, and bottom right – made by Cathy Gray.

A special card

A few weeks ago, my daughter in law asked me if I had a sympathy card for her to send to her aunt. She had just been told she had cancer. She is doing ok at this point and undergoing very aggressive therapy. I was more than happy to make her a card to send to her - I love that about making cards--- you can send a smile across the miles, simply by taking a few minutes of your time to create something beautiful. The best part about a handmade card is that it is a HUG with a fold in the middle. Stampin' Up! allows me to be creative whenever, and however I need to be -

The card is using one of my favorite 'go to' sets - Thoughts and Prayers.

August Club Cards

We had a great Stampin’ Up! club workshop for August.  There were 11 people there!  It was busy to say the least.  We made some fun cards and a little project.  One of the techniques we learned was the Re-inker Spread. 

This used the Butterfly punch to create flowers that were then sprayed heavily with water.  Then we used the Stampin’ Up! re-inkers in Daffodil Delight and Poppy Parade and applied with an Aqua Painter.  Once they are dry you curl them and layer them, adding detail lines and a brad.  I can not take credit for the original idea, but a big thank you goes out to the many fellow Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators who have made great tutorials and videos.

The next project I am going to showcase today uses the Big Shot and the Mini Milk Carton Die.  I am in love with my Big Shot and am sort of obsessed with it (as the club members will agree with!)  It just makes crafting so much easier! 

Anyway… here is the cute Birthday carton we made -

We used a new stamp set for this project – Got Treats.  It is the cutest thing ever and is genuine milk carton style for Birthday, Halloween, Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day and others.  The colors we used were Tempting Turquoise, Real Red and Pumpkin Pie.  We also used the sweet tag set Tiny Tags.  We also used the Medium Jewelry Tag punch to punch out the ‘tiny’ tag.  Makes just the right accompaniment to this sweet little box.

I’ll post more of the cards later on – be watching!  Maybe even join our fun group some day!

September Calendar

Here is the calendar of events for September.  As with all of them, I used the My Digital Studio software to create it using the digital stamps, paper and embellishments available.  I am featuring 2 scrapbook pages this month along with a Birthday card Stamp-a-Stack.  I hope to see some of you attend.  Please let me know by the Thursday prior to the class if you plan to attend so I can have enough supplies ready.