Gebe's Birthday

Today is my mom's birthday.  I have called her Gebe since I was a kid.  I don't know where it came from or what it means, but it's just what I call her (hence the title of the post).  Anyway, I still don't have many stamp sets here in Florida (I really need to do something about that), so Gebe got a butterfly birthday card.  I stamped the butterfly from Garden Whimsy in Ruby Red on Whisper White and layered it on a piece of Chocolate Chip.  I then stamped my Ruby Red card on the bottom half with Polka Dot in Ruby Red.  I adhered the butterfly to the card and tied a bit of Chocolate Chip 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon around the card.  I didn't bring any sentiment stamp sets and the only birthday one I have is snappy birthday from Crab & Co., so I just hand wrote a message inside. 

Happy Birthday, Michele!!!

Today is my best friend, Michele's birthday, so I sent her this cute card.  It's the same old Crab & Co., but this time he's prepared for a birthday.  No Santa hat here.  I did stamp him and the presents  with Jet Black StazOn using a mask like I did with my Christmas cards, but this time I colored the presents in using my Real Red and Tempting Turquoise ink pads and blender pens.  I also stamped the cake in a shell and colored it in with my Creamy Caramel and Tempting Turquoise ink pads and blender pens.  I layered the crab on a piece of Basic Black.  I then took a larger piece of Tempting Turquoise and used my Spiral Punch down both sides.  I threaded a piece of Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon through two slots and tied it in a knot.  I then adhered my crab layers on top of the Tempting Turquoise.  I stamped my Real Red card base with my Polka Dot background in Real Red and adhered the Tempting Turquoise layer on top.  In the inside I stamped the sentiment "snappy birthday" in Jet Black StazOn.  I hope this card makes it to her on time!!!

Merry Christmas!

So I figured I should send you all Christmas wishes with one more crab!  I sure am going to miss this guy, since Crab & Co. is being retired. I won't bore you with all the details on this one as it's pretty much the same as all the rest.  I do want to mention, though, that I love using the Spiral Punch down the side of a layer and tying a ribbon around it.  I think it looks cute.  Anyway, from ours to yours, Merry Christmas!

Love You Much Promotion!!!

Today is the start of the Love You Much Bundle Promotion! Get a head start on your Valentine's cards with this great bundle. You get the Love You Much stamp set, Candy Lane Designer Series Paper, and Heart to Heart punch for $41.48. That's 20% off the list price of $51.85!! The promotion runs through Jan. 31st, but don't wait that long or you won't have time to get your Valentine's made! Click on the picture to the right for more information.

My Temporary Workspace

So we're in sunny Miami, FL right now for hubby's job. I love it here. It's 80 degrees almost every day!!! There's no snow!!!! There are a few downsides, though. Number one is I don't have internet access like I'm used to. We have to pack up the laptops and go down to the lobby and sign in for the public space. Then we have to wait upstairs outside the public space for someone to let us in. Now this isn't really a big deal, except I was kind of counting on the internet for recipes and directions. So we really have to plan ahead. Another draw back is the table space (or lack thereof). We have a small breakfast table and a coffee table. The breakfast table has a bunch of grooves in it, which doesn't make it conducive for stamping, so I'm forced to use the coffee table. There's not much space on the coffee table, but at least it's a flat surface. I either stack up the pillows and sit on the floor (until my feet fall asleep) or I still on the footstool and work (until my back starts to hurt from leaning over).

Also I was limited on what I could bring, so I have very few stamp sets here. I'm dying!!!!! I finished my Christmas cards and I've done some scrapbooking, but I'm desperate for different stamps! I just think of all those wonderful sets that I left at home and it breaks my heart!!! My hubby asked me if I stamped today and my reply was "No! I wasn't inspired by my stamps today." How sad is that? And the biggest bummer is that the new catalog is coming out next month and I can't get any stamps because we aren't receiving mail here. That also means that my new catalog isn't coming to me here!!!!!!!! Oh, the humanity!!!!! We're actually supposed to be out of this condo and moving on the 10th of January, but we're thinking of staying here. And I'm thinking of heading over to the UPS store to get me a mailing address!!!!

Play Ball

I found these great pictures of my nephew's tee ball game and realized they had never been scrapbooked! So, I took my retired Have a Ball stamp set and got to work. I started with a Brilliant Blue 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock. I layered my pictures on Real Red cardstock and rearranged them a million times until I decided on the layout I wanted. I stamped the baseball image in Brilliant Blue on my page and adhered the pictures. I then stamped my title in Brilliant Blue on Whisper White using Big Deal Alphabet. I stamped the bat and glove in Close to Cocoa and the baseball in Real Red. I layered my title on a piece of Close to Cocoa that I had punched with the Spiral Punch. I then took a piece of retired On Board Chipboard (sorry don't know which set it's from) and adhered some retired Real Red Prints DSP. I standed the edges and the hole and threaded some hemp twine through it. I looped my twine over the edge of my Spiral Punched edge and adhered the chipboard to the page. I then stamped the month using Rough Edges Alphabet in Close to Cocoa and wrote the date using my Real Red marker and punched it out with my 3/4" Circle punch. I then layered in on a Brilliant Blue 1" circle and adhered it to the chipboard.

Lastly I stamped my picture captions using Brilliant Blue and Real Red with Rough Edges Alphabet and punched them out. I layered them all on a larger circle of Close to Cocoa. But before adhering "Jared" I adhered a Yo-Yo Yellow Large Star behind the circles.

BTW, Faith is eating high school pizza!! Does anyone else remember (and secretly love) the rectangular pizza you used to get in school??????

At the Park

I brought very few stamps and supplies with me to Florida since I had to pack things such as clothes and there was limited room in the car. I did print a bunch of pictures before leaving, though, and I tried to bring stamp sets to coordinate with the pictures I was going to scrapbook. For these pictures of my niece and her cousin at the park I chose Inspired by Nature. The girls were wearing pink and green so I used those as my colors for the page. Now this page may look kind of similar to Joanna's birthay card because I liked the way the flowers looked I had to repeat it. So I started with a Certainly Celery 12 x 12 page and I stamped the grass image from Inspired by Nature along the bottom in Certainly Celery. I then layered my two small pictures on Rose Red and my two larger pictures on Old Olive. I played around with the layout on this one for a long time until I finally settled on this one. I decided to overlap one of my larger pictures on my title. So for the title I took a piece of Whisper White and stamped my title in Chocolate Chip using Contempo Alphabet. I then stamped the flower from Inspired by Nature after coloring it with my Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, and Old Olive markers. I layered my title on a piece of Chocolate Chip and adhered it to my page. I then adhered my pictures, but not before adhering a piece of Chocolate Chip 1/4" grosgrain ribbon behind one of the pictures. I took a small piece of Whisper White and added my little bit of journaling and adhered it between the pictures. The bottom corner was looking a little plain so I stamped another flower on a scrap of Whisper White and punched it out with my 1 1/4" Circle punch. I layered in on a Certainly Celery 1 3/8" Circle and then on a Chocolate Chip Scallop Circle. I adhered it to the page and stamped "live with passion" in Chocolate Chip.

I turned out exactly like I wanted it to.

Joanna's Birthday

I wanted to share with you the card I made for Joanna's birthday. Her birthday was on Monday, but I couldn't share it then because I wasn't sure if it would make it on time. I don't know how long it takes a card to get from Miami, FL to Ohio.

I started with an Old Olive card and I stamped the grass image from Inspired by Nature on it in Old Olive. Then I inked up my flower image by coloring it with my Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, and Old Olive markers and stamped it onto a piece of Whisper White. I then mounted it on a piece of Real Red. I punched a hole in my card behind where I was going to attach my flower image and threaded a piece of Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon through it. I adhered the flower layer and tied the ribbon in a knot.

I know it isn't a "birthday" card, but I'm limited to what stamp sets I have on hand down here in Miami and I know she likes this stamp set, so there you go.

Sketch Challenge Christmas Card IV

And here is my last Christmas card using a sketch challenge from SCS. Again, I opted for the clam instead of the crab. I stamped him on Whisper White in Jet Black StazOn with a Santa hat using a mask and then stamped some shells on either side, also using a mask. I then colored them in using my Creamy Caramel and Real Red markers. I then layered my clam on a piece of Basic Black. I added a Creamy Caramel layer to the bottom of my Always Artichoke card and a Real Red layer to the upper part of my card. Before adhering the Real Red cardstock I added a piece of Always Artichoke 1/4" grosgrain ribbon (using the ribbon saving method). But before adhering the ribbon I stamped my sentiment in Always Artichoke on Whisper White and punched it out with my Large Oval Punch. I punched two holes in either side with my Crop-a-dile and threaded the ribbon through it. And to finish the card I adhered my Santa clam layers to it.

And I think that's the end of the Christmas card marathon!

Sketch Challenge Christmas Card III

For sketch challenge 200 I opted for a Christmas clam instead of the usual crab. So, on a scrap of Whisper White I stamped some shells using a mask, a present, and a clam with a Santa hat. I then punched them all out with my 1 1/4" Square punch. I colored them in with my Creamy Caramel and Real Red markers. I then punched out 3 Scallop Squares from a scrap of Basic Black and adhered my three colored images to them. I took a Real Red card and added some Always Artichoke Patterns Designer Series Paper to it. I wrapped a piece of Always Artichoke 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around the top of the Patterns paper and tied it off in a knot. I then added my 3 stamped images down the side of my card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

I hope you're enjoying the marathon of Christmas cards. I think I only have one more for you.

Sketch Challenge Christmas Card II

This card follows sketch challenge 199 on SCS. As always I started with my piece of Whisper White and stamped my crab (with Santa hat) and shells using a mask. I colored them in with my Real Red and Creamy Caramel markers. I layered a piece of Creamy Caramel underneath the Whisper White piece. I then layered a piece of Real Red underneath. I adhered the 3 layers on to an Always Artichoke card. I then stamped my sentiment on a scrap of Whisper White in Always Artichoke and punched it out with my 1" Circle Punch. I then layered in on a piece of Basic Black that was punched out with my 1 1/4" Circle Punch. And to finish it off I adhered my sentiment with a Stampin' Dimensional.

Sketch Challenge Christmas Card

Here's another one of my crabby Christmas cards. Since almost all of my cards are different I was starting to get in a slump with coming up with new layouts, so I hit up the challenges over at Splitcoast Stampers. This is sketch challenge 197. I started with a piece of Whisper White and stamped my crab, the clam, and the shell. I added the Santa hat and presents using a mask. I colored them in with my Real Red, Old Olive, and Creamy Caramel markers. The clam was colored in with a few layers of Versamarker. I punched a piece of Real Red with my slit punch and slid my piece of Whisper White down. I then stamped my sentiment in Jet Black StazOn. I also added a silver brad. I then took a piece of Basic Black and punched it with the slit punch and slid my Real Red piece in. I punched a hole in it using my Crop-a-dile and threaded a piece of Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon through it. And finally I adhered my 3 layers to an Old Olive card base.

Stampin' Up! Retired List and Lots of Savings!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, so just a quick post to let you know that the retired list is up and you can get 10% off all retiring stamp sets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can find the list here. I will add it to my sidebar later, as my computer is currently being fixed.

Also from now until Dec. 23 all orders over $70 will receive free shipping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So call or email me with your orders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or place you order online at heatherhawkins.stampinup.net.

Thanksgiving, a little late

Since we were moving to Florida Sunday after Thanksgiving my husband’s family decided to come visit us for the holiday. I decided to dress up the table a bit with some place cards. I used a piece of More Mustard for the base of each place card and added a layer of Autumn Vine DSP to each place card. I then took a strip of Whisper White and stamped the tree from Season of Friendship in Chocolate Chip and the leaves in More Mustard and Sage Shadow. I then stamped each person’s name in Ruby Red. I adhered them to a piece of Chocolate Chip, then adhered them to the DSP. I then set them at each person’s place at the table.

Punched Penguins

I saw the cutest gift card holders while perusing the SCS gallery, which you can see here. It was so cute I immediately headed down to the stamping studio to make my own version. I don't have all the punches she used so I had to recreate my penguin with a few less punches.

For the penguin:
The body is a Large Oval punched with Basic Black. I then layered a Small Oval in Whisper White. I added two Small Ovals in Basic Black behind the body for the wings. For the feet I cut the ends of a piece of Apricot Appeal that had been punched with the Word Window punch. The head is a 1" Basic Black circle attached to the body. I then took an Old Olive 1" circle and cut it in half. I used a shortened Word Window in Real Red to make the brim of the hat and a 1/2" circle for the ball on top of the hat. I adhered the hat to the penguin's head. I also used a shortened Word Window in Real Red for the scarf and took the scrap from the shortened Word Window to use as the hanging down part of the scarf. I added the scarf over where the head and body meet. I used a small Star punched from Apricot Appeal and cut of one of the points to use as the beak. Lastly I punched two 1/2" circles for the eyes and colored the pupils with my Basic Black Journaler.

For the tags:
The base is a 4 1/2" x 3 1/4" piece of Real Red. I then took a piece of 4 1/4" x 3" piece of Whisper White and punched a tab with my 1" circle. I adhered the Whisper White piece to the Real Red piece on 3 sides. (It helps to have a gift card on hand so you know where to adhere) I added a strip of Real Red Patterns DSP across the bottom of the Whisper White and adhered my punched penguin. I added a folded over 1" Basic Black circle to the top and punched a hole in it with my Crop-a-dile. I then threaded some Silver Elastic Cord through it, which I'm going to use to adhere the tag to some presents. (on one of the tags I attempted to "tag" the corners without the needed punch and they turned out lopsided, so I didn't do it on the second one)

Jingle Shells

Here is another Christmas card. This one, however, does not feature the cute little crab. I just took a small strip of Whisper White and stamped some shells across it using a mask. I also sneaked in a present and colored them in with my Creamy Caramel, Real Red, and Old Olive markers. I layered it on a piece of Real Red cardstock and distressed the edges. I stamped my Creamy Caramel card with the Canvas BG stamp and distressed the bottom of the card. I used some glue dots to adhere the hemp twine behind my shells and using a silver brad attached the image to my card. I then stamped my sentiment in the bottom corner using Jet Black StazOn. Beachy, huh?

Sandy Claws!

OK, here is one of my Christmas cards up close. So far no two Christmas cards are the same and seeing as how you probably don't want to see 30+ posts with Crab & Co. all in a row I'm only going to show you a few. I stamped the crab with Jet Black StazOn and masked his eyes and claw to stamp the Santa hat and present. I also stamped a few shells using the masking technique. The images were colored in using my Real Red, Old Olive, Summer Sun and Creamy Caramel markers. I layered my crab on a piece of Real Red that I punched with my slit punch. I then took a piece of Basic Black cardstock, punched it with my Spiral punch, tied a piece of Silver cord around one section and adhered it to an Old Olive card and layered my crab on top. One down, 29 more to go.

I've got Crabs!!!!!!

Lots of them!!! I was a slacker this year and didn't start my Christmas cards as early as I usually do. So for the last week or two I've been busting my butt trying to get them done before we leave for Florida. And because we will be spending Christmas in FL I thought it was appropriate to use Crab & Co. for my cards this year. So here's my table full of cards after I stamped the backs with my personalized stamp. I'll show you some close ups of a couple of my favorites in the coming days.

Holiday Extravaganza Sale!!!!

The Holiday Extravaganza Sale has begun!!! To see the bundles that are on sale click the flier to the right. When you're ready to place your order head over to heatherhawkins.stampinup.net or send me and email or give me a call. Be sure to order early as quantities are limited!!!

And, if you place an order of $75 or more through my website during this promo I will send you a Spring/Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog when they come out in January!

Stay Tuned!!

Tomorrow I will have all the details on the big Holiday Extravaganza Sale!!!! I'll post it first thing tomorrow or you can check it out at heatherhawkins.stampinup.net. Spoiler: Savings of up to 50%!!!!!

Cheers to Keith

Here's a little something I whipped up for my brother-in-law for his birthday. So, yeah, it seems that every man that needs a card is going to get a beer card from me (I love Cheers to You!). So, I stamped the beer with Jet Black StazOn using the masking technique and colored them in with More Mustard ink and blender pens. I stamped Cheers to You on Pumpkin Pie with Jet Black StazOn and punched it out with my Large Oval punch and adhered it to the Whisper White. I layered a piece of More Mustard Patterns DSP on my Basic Gray card. I layered my beer mugs onto a piece of So Saffron Patterns DSP and adhered it to my card. I was in a bit of a hurry to get this in the mail so I didn't fancy it up...well and also men don't seem to like frilly any way.

Sketch Challenge

While working on my Christmas cards I was running out of sketches (since I'm trying to make them all different) so I turned to Beate's sketch challenge. So, I stamped the crab from Crab & Company in Jet Black StazOn and using a mask I added the presents to his hands and his Santa hat. I colored them in with my Real Red, Old Olive and Creamy Caramel markers. A little Mono Multi on the dots and bow of the presents and I added a little Dazzling Diamonds. I layered the piece of Whisper White on a piece of Basic Black. I put a layer of Real Red Patterns DSP on a Old Olive card and then adhered my crab over top. I punched a hole to thread my Old Olive Polytwill ribbon through and tied it off. I stamped my sentiment in Creamy Caramel on a scrap of Whisper White and punched it out with my 1" Circle Punch. I layered it on a 1 1/4" Creamy Caramel punch. I adhered it to my card with some Stampin' Dimensionals.

November Scrapbook class

Last night was scrapbook class (the last one of the year, sigh) and I just love how the pages turned out. They're so pretty!!! We made ornaments using the Coluzzle and Round Tab punch. They look so cute "hanging" on silver cord. To "hang" the ornaments we pierced through the tab and the main page and threaded a piece of silver cord through it. We then tied the cord off and slid the bow down to cover the hole. The color scheme here is Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, and Very Vanilla. We added a little Always Artichoke 1/4" grosgrain ribbon to two of our photo mats and we used the ticket corner punch on our "Merry Christmas." These pages came together really quick (except the sharing the Coluzzle part) and my gals loved them. I love them, too.

Baby Monkey

This is the card that accompanied a baby gift that I recently gave to a friend who had a darling little boy. I was excited to use Sock Monkey Accessories as I really haven't broken them out too much except for the pumpkin. I stamped the rattle on a piece of Whisper White in Jet Black StazOn, then masked it and stamped the Sock Monkey over it. I colored the monkey in using my Chocolate Chip marker. I then colored in his mouth with my Pixie Pink ink pad and blender pen. The rattle was colored with Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery inks and a blender pen. I also colored over the Sock Monkey's eyes with my Signo white gel pen an added a little dot of black with my Basic Black Stampin' Write marker. I layered my monkey on a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock. I added two strips of Chocolate Chip across my Bashful Blue card and adhered the monkey on top. I punched the upper corner with my Spiral punch and added a little piece of Chocolate Chip Polytwill ribbon. I stamped my sentiment from Short & Sweet. I also stamped the rattle on the envelope and colored it in. Momma loved it of course.

Silhouette Candle

I wanted to show another one of the candles I recently made. I love, love, love how it turned out! I repeatedly stamped the image from Pocket Silhouettes in Chocolate Chip on my tissue paper until I had a long strip. I then trimmed it down to fit around the candle. I then lined the ends up and heat set my image. In my opinion it's a classy candle. Simple and striking.

Jingle All the Way

I guess today is a good day to share this with you since it's snowing. I saw this jar and thought it would make a cute Christmas jar, so I bought the Jingle All the Way Decor Elements in Old Olive to make my candy jar. After applying it to my jar I added a bow of Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around the bulb on the lid. I then stamp the swirl from Season of Joy with Versamark on Real Red and embossed it in silver. I punched it out with my 1 3/8" Circle punch and added a loop of Old Olive that was punched out with my Word Window punch. I threaded a piece of silver cord through it and attached it to my Real Red ribbon.

Right now it's in my kitchen filled with Tootsie Rolls and Hugs. mmmm.....

ETA: It is the small Jingle All the Way

Craft Fair Tomorrow!!!!!!

Come by the Beavercreek Golf Club tomorrow between 10 and 7 for the Holiday Craft Bazaar. Swing by my table and say hello, maybe purchase a few things, and check out what other vendors are there. If you're feeling up to it, you can also hang out with me since I'll be manning my booth alone.

Here's the vendor list.

Treasures from the Woodbox

Mary Kay

Silpada

Longaberger

Purse Peddlers

Creative Memories

Cathartic Slant

Jane Robinson

Tulip Tree Crafts

Specialty Gift Baskets by Marie Haase

Stampin' Up

Just Ducky

Bearcreek Designs

Pocketbook Parties

Jamie's Custom Jewels

Bellbrook Chocolates

Jacko's Jewerly

Panache

Tastefully Simple

Pillowcases Unlimited

Sage Designs

Village Artisans

Crafting Chicks

Phyllis Young Crafts

Wishing Shoppe

Avon

31 Gifts

Check us out

Gourds Galore

Flo's Cozy Scarves

Designs by Kathy Jones

Andrea Shoemaker

Southern Living at Home

Boro Bows

2800 New Germany-Trebein Road
Beavercreek, Ohio 45431

Nothing New

I apologize for my lack of blogging (how often do I start a post with that sentence?). I probably won't be for the next few weeks as I'm going to be moving to FL. It's a temporary move (for 3 months), but we weren't supposed to be leaving so soon so I am nowhere near prepared. So I have not had time to stamp and I don't know when I will again. So, bear with me. I'll be back soon. Or maybe I'll post some more of my craft fair items.....if I can find the time.

Evan's Monkey Birthday

I'm going to my nephew's first birthday party today. Since Evan's mom is a big fan of monkeys it was obvious which stamp set I had to use for Evan's birthday card. I started with my piece of Whisper White and stamped the birthday hat. Using a mask I stamped my Sock Monkey "under" the hat. I then added the flag to the monkey's hand. I colored all the bits in with watercolor pencils and used my blender pen to clean up the pencil marks. I then stamped the "E" on the flag with Brilliant Blue. I layered the piece of Whisper White onto a piece of Close to Cocoa. I adhered a strip of Real Red Patterns DSP and added the monkey on top. I Spiral punched down the side of my card and added a little piece of hemp twine to finish off my card. Oh, wait, to finish off my card I stamped my birthday sentiment from Hugs & Wishes in the inside. Happy 1st Birthday, Evan!!!

Halloween 2008

I already have my Halloween pages done!! Well, that's because I made these pages at my scrapbook class last month, so I just need to add the pictures. So, I don't have much of a description for the pages, since I've already posted them here. I would like to add, though, that I stamped my title with Contempo Alphabet in Basic Gray. I then used the weird number stamp from it and only colored in 2008 with my Old Olive marker and stamped it. I then stamped the pumpkin from Batty For You. I added an Old Olive and Perfect Plum photo corner behind the title. On the second page I added my smaller pictures to a piece of Whisper White that I also added Old Olive and Perfect Plum small Photo Corners behind. I don't know what's cuter, my dinosaur or the pages.............OK, the dinosaur wins.

Butterfly Candle

I've got a craft fair coming up in 2 weeks (2 weeks!!!!) and stamped candles are one of the items that I will have available. Here is one of the candles I made that I think turned out really cute! I stamped the butterfly in Ruby Red with the sentiment in Chocolate Chip and melted it into my white candle. Hopefully these will be a good seller for me at the fair.

If you are interested in coming to the craft fair here are the details.

Holiday Craft Bazaar
Beavercreek Golf Club
Sunday, Nov. 16th
10 am to 7 pm

More information, including vendor list at http://beavercreekgolfclub.com/specials.htm

Pixie Butterflies

I've got new stamps! So, there's this hostess promotion where you can get a free stamp set from the Sampler if you have a $400 workshop......so this is the stamp set I chose. Flight of the Butterfly. I love the two step stamps so naturally this was my first choice pick. So I stamped my flowers in So Saffron, Pixie Pink, and Tempting Turquoise. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the Pixie Pink dots on the So Saffron butterfly as well as the Tempting Turquoise sentiment. I then added a strip of Pixie Pink under my piece of Whisper White, which I had punched with my Spiral Punch. I then tied a piece of Tempting Turquoise 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon around one of the tabs from the Spiral Punch. I adhered this to a Certainly Celery card. I think it turned out super cute....and very girly. Too bad I don't have a girly birthday coming up.

Want Stamps for Christmas?

Happy Halloween

We haven't seen the Sock Monkey in a while, but here he is all dressed up for Halloween. I stamped the monkey with Jet Black StazOn on Whisper White and colored him with my watercolor pencils and blender pens. I then stamped the jack-o-lantern and colored it in with my watercolor pencils and blender pens as well. I cut it out and adhered it over my monkey's head. I layered a piece of Chocolate Chip underneath it, added a photo corner in Creamy Caramel and adhered it to a Pumpkin Pie card. Nothing fancy here, but I think the pumpkin head makes a statement.

Baby Gift

We had a baby shower lunch at work last week for one of the nurses who is due in November. All of our co-workers pitched in and bought the supplies to make a scrapbook for her. We then gathered at my house to put our pages together to fill her book. She loved it! This was the card I made to go on the gift. I started with a Bashful Blue card and added a strip of DSP from the Rock-a-Bye Boy Simple Scrappin' Kit. I stamped the elephant from Wild About you in Bashful Blue on Whisper White and mounted it to a piece of Chocolate Chip. I added a piece of 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon around the card and adhered my elephant. I then stamped "baby" from Everything Baby in Chocolate Chip an "welcome" in Old Olive. There were so many of us that worked on the scrapbook for her that there was barely room for everyone to sign the inside.

Again, sorry for the blurry picture. I'll try to remember to take my camera down to the stamping studio from now on and stop taking pictures on the fireplace mantel.

I love this!!!!

OK, this picture came out much better than the front of the card (see yesterday's post). I'm so excited because I finally caved and bought a personalized stamp. I typically use the old Angel Policy stamp that has the little tag like this one, but without my name on it. But now my cards will say they were stamped by ME!!!! I didn't realize just how much I would love having this stamp, but I'm ridiculously excited!!!

If you don't have a personalized stamp you need one!

Liam Takes the Cake!

So here is the kind of card you end up when you realize you have no birthday card for a 4 year old boy already made up and have to head out for a 4.5 hour drive for the party. It's quick. It's simple. And the picture is blurry (sorry). I used my Chocolate Chip and Barely Banana markers to ink up the cupcake from Party Hearty and stamped in on Whisper White. Using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up, I stamped the candles in Bashful Blue. I adhere my cupcake to a piece of Barely Banana, which I wrapped a little hemp twine around. I adhere a strip of Chocolate Chip to my Bashful Blue card and added my cupcake. I then stamped my sentiment in Chocolate Chip.

I hate to post and run, but I have a birthday party to get to.

Striped and Scalloped

This is a card I made for my new downline member, Leanne. I wanted to use my new Say it with Scallops set (which benefits Ronald McDonald House). I started with a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock which I stamped with Classic Stripes Background. I adhered it to an Old Olive card. I then took a scrap of Real Red and tied a piece of Alpine Ribbon (from the Holiday Mini) around it and adhered it to my card. I stamped my sentiment in Old Olive on Very Vanilla and punched it out with my Scallop Square punch. I adhered it to a slightly larger Chocolate Chip square and adhered it to the Real Red piece with Stampin' Dimensionals. This card was based on SC197 on SCS. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I'm sure Leanne will love it!

Party Hats

I love a simple card that comes together really quickly and uses up scraps. This is one of them. I stamped the row of hats from Party Hearty in Bashful Blue on Whisper White. I then stamped two of them in Night of Navy on a scrap of Whisper White and one in Real Red. I cut them out and glued them on top of the Bashful Blue ones. I adhered a scrap of Real Red behind it and then a scrap of Night of Navy underneath. I adhered it to my Bashful Blue card and stamped my sentiment in Night of Navy. Woo-hoo! No cutting (other than the Real Red and Night of Navy hats) involved! So quick and easy!

Girly Drink

Who doesn't need a girly drink on a Saturday? OK, I admit I'm not much of a drinker. But this stamp set is just so cute. I stamped the martini from Cheers to You with Jet Black StazOn and colored it in with my Old Olive, Real Red, and Gable Green markers. I cut it out with my Coluzzle, then using Tombo Mono Multi I added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I then layered my Basic Black, Gable Green, and Real Red pieces of cardstock onto a Old Olive card base. I did add a bit of Basic Black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon to the Gable Green piece. I added my martini glass and stamped the sentiment in the bottom corner. I used one of the sketches from SCS for this card, but I don't remember what sketch number it is.

Well, I won't be drinking tonight because I'm going to a crop. I'm not going to work on scrapbooking, though. I'm going to be making my Christmas cards. I hope you get some stamping time today!

Scrapbook Class

Tonight was scrapbook class. I did class is two shifts tonight which was kind of fun and was nice because there was then a little more table room for everyone. We did Thanksgiving pages this month. I don't have a Thanksgiving stamp set, so I had to improvise. So we used Season of Friendship from the Holiday Mini catalog as well as Thanks for Everything. So we started with our Really Rust pages and we stamped the tree in the bottom corner in Chocolate Chip. We then stamped the leaves in Sage Shadow, Really Rust and More Mustard and punched them out with the 3/4" Circle Punch. Some of the gals also used the bird stamp for their tree. We then adhered each of the leaves to our tree. I let each of the gals pick which DSP from Autumn Vine they wanted for their pages. I don't think anyone picked the same pattern. We then adhered a 2" strip to the first page and a 3" strip to the second page. We added the 4 1/4" x 12" strip of More Mustard to each of the pages. The title was stamped in Chocolate Chip and Really Rust on Whisper White, layered on Chocolate Chip and added to our More Mustard strip. We then added a Sage Shadow leaf which was punched with the 3/4" Circle Punch and layered on a 1" Sage Shadow circle. We added two Sage Shadow photo mats. The mat on the second page as a Chocolate Chip Round Tab with a little Sage Shadow bird on it. If you look really closely at my page where the Round Tab is you can see dog snout marks as he kept sniffing my page while I was trying to take this picture.

Bold Bright Birthday

Here's a color family you don't see very often! I used all Bold Brights for this card. I started with a Tempting Turquoise card and added a piece of Real Red. I stamped the "b" image in Tempting Turquoise on Whisper White and mounted it on a piece of Basic Black. I adhered it over the piece of Real Red. I then stamped my sentiment "party hearty!" in Basic Black on Gable Green and adhered it over the Basic Black piece. OK, wow, that was an easy card. Um, the stamp set is Party Hearty, which is one of the stamp sets that is on sale right now with the Birthday Promotion. If you want more information on the Birthday Promotion, head over to my SU! website for more information and to place your order.

Cheers!

This seems like an appropriate card for my day today. We went to breakfast at The Pub and my hubby celebrated the 1st birthday of The Pub with cheap beer.
This was one of the cards we made at last week's World Card Making Day event. This stamp set, Cheers to You was available in Europe in last year's catalog and I was so excited when SU! added it to the US Fall/Winter IB&C. I started with a Basic Gray card and added a piece of More Mustard Patterns DSP to it. I added a piece of Whisper White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around it. I stamped my beer mug with Jet Black StazOn on Whisper White and colored it in with More Mustard and a blender pen. I adhered it to a piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock and stamped the sentiment with Jet Black StazOn.

I'm sure you'll see more cards with this set soon.

Don't forget today is the last day for the signing promotions. I'll be home watching football if you have any questions about submitting your demo agreement.

Reminder

Tomorrow is the last day for the signing promotion of either the $99 starter kit or the free additional stamp set with the full $199 kit. To sign up, head over to my Stampin' Up! website by clicking here and use the password "heather" to sign up. If you have any questions or need help picking out your stamp sets give me a call or shoot me an email.

Creepy Crawly

This cute little guy was my box for the Chinese Raffle at the Quarter Auction on Tuesday. It held a Small Star Punch, which was the raffle item. This box was so easy to make! I started with a piece of Basic Gray 12" x 12" cardstock. I cut a 4" x 4" square out of each corner, then scored each of the leftover "flaps" and folded them up. I used my Scallop Edge punch across the top of each piece and punched a hole in each corner to thread my Black Gingham ribbon through. I took a strip of Only Orange and scalloped one edge. I then added two of the strips that were left over from the scallops on the box. I added it to the front of my box. I stamped the spider from Batty for You in Basic Gray on Whisper White and punched it with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch. I mounted it on a Basic Black Scallop Circle. I added the dots to the scallops with my White Signo Gel Pen and added the scallop to my box. To finish it off I added some white tissue paper to the inside of the box and some Only Orange strips of paper that I ran through my crimper. Lastly, I placed the punch for the auction inside. This came together so quick and turned out so cute. I think the punch was much better received in this little box than it would have been by itself, therefore resulting in more raffle entries (which is good since the money went to charity).

Quarter Auction Door Prize

We always have a few small door prizes at the Quarter Auctions and this is my door prize for this month. I was feeling super adventurous (for me anyway) on Sunday and spent more hours that I'm willing to publicly admit in my stamping studio making cute little holders for things. This was one of them. Isn't it more fun to receive a door prize in a cute little pouch, then just by itself? I used a template from SU! for the pouch. I traced it onto a piece of Only Orange (again!) cardstock and scored where needed. I cut it out and assembled it. I then added a belly band of Basic Black which I had used my Scallop Edge punch on and added some Whisper White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon. I stamped Frankenstein from Batty For You in Old Olive and punched it out with the 1 3/8" circle punch. I then adhered it to an Old Olive scallop circle. I used my White Signo Gel Pen to add dots to the scallops on the scallop circle and the belly band and adhered the scallop to my pouch. I added my Stampin' Write Journaler to my pouch and some strips of Old Olive cardstock that I ran through my crimper. I hope the winner likes it.

Candy Corn

I typically stick to cards and scrapbook pages with the occasional altered item, but I don't know what got into me yesterday. I was making all sorts of boxes and pouches and other little items. This is one of the items I made that I didn't really have a purpose for, but thought it would be cute. I got this cone box template from SU! and traced and cut it out on Whisper White. I then cut a piece of Only Orange to fit the top and a piece of Yo-Yo Yellow to fit the middle. I adhered them to the box, then added the pumpkin image from Batty For You which I had stamped with Only Orange and punched with the 1 3/8" circle punch. OK, pause here for you to pick your jaws up off the floor since I used two colors that I never use. I used my double circle punch to make holes to thread the grosgrain ribbon through and then I added some crimped Only Orange and Yo-Yo Yellow paper strips to the inside. Now I just need to find a treat to put in it.

Spooky

So I'm sure you've seen this a hundred times over, but here's my take on it. Now most people have been using the medium Spooky Spider, but I went with the small one. I wasn't a huge fan of having to wrap the legs underneath the jar. So I got this huge jar, added my Spooky Spider and an extra web length. Then I added an extra web length to the lid, wrapped some Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon around the top, stamped an image from Batty For You, punched with the 1 3/8" circle punch, added it to a scallop circle and tied to the ribbon with some hemp twine (run-on sentence anyone?). I added some Hershey's Minitures candy because no one likes and empty candy jar. This is one of the items that will be available at the DDSN Quarter Auction on Tuesday, so be sure to RSVP and joins us there for your chance to win this cute (but spooky) jar.

And if you don't win and you'd like to make this project yourself the Spooky Spider Decor Element is available for purchase until Oct. 31st!

Color Inspired Tree

When I saw Kristina's color inspiration challenge this week I was so excited as it is the perfect color combo to use my new Season of Friendship stamp set which is now available in the Holiday Mini. I waited oh so patiently all morning for Mr. Brown to show up and when he finally did it was downstairs to the stamping studio to make my challenge creation. And here is what I came up with.

I started with a Pumpkin Pie card base to which I added a Chocolate Chip layer. I then took a piece of Very Vanilla and stamped the tree from Season of Friendship in Chocolate Chip and the leaves on the branches in Old Olive (in place of Kiwi Kiss for the color challenge) and Pumpkin Pie. I then added some fallen leaves below the tree in Pumpkin Pie. Some of the leaves had been stamped off before stamping them on my card layer. I wrapped some Alpine Originals felt ribbon around my tree and adhered it to my card with Stampin' Dimensionals. Once I saw it all put together I thought it still needed some sort of sentiment, so I stamped "thank you" from Short & Sweet in Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla, punched it out with my small oval punch and layered it on a piece of Chocolate Chip that was punched with the large oval punch and added the oval to my card.

I love how it turned out. If you'd like to try out this stamp set for yourself be sure to RSVP for my World Card Making Day event for tomorrow and you can play with it!

Stampin' Up! Customer Panel

The Stampin' Up! customer panel is a group of people who provide feedback on Stampin' Up! and its products in exchange for a free goodie box of stamping and/or crafting products every three months. Panelists participate by answering online surveys about stamping and crafts.

More about the Stampin' Up! customer panel:

• Stampin’ Up! uses feedback for research only and does not share answers or personal information with anyone else.
• Stampin’ Up! will not contact you and ask you to purchase anything, or attempt to recruit you to be a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator.
• Panel members can expect to participate in the panel for at least six months. The panel is occasionally refreshed to gain new insights as well as allow others the same opportunity.
• There is no cost for you to participate in the panel.
• Your only duty as a panel member is to answer surveys. Surveys typically take between five and ten minutes to complete.
• The frequency of surveys can vary depending on the research needs of Stampin Up! Panel members will receive no more than one survey a week, but typically should expect to receive one or two surveys a month.
• You can quit the panel at any time.
• You will be selected to join and notified via email if your background matches Stampin’ Up!’s research needs.
• You must live in the United States or Canada to be on the panel.
• You must complete at least 80% of the surveys sent to you to receive a goodie box.
• Stampin' Up! demonstrators are not eligible to be on the panel.
• While not anticipated, the research needs of Stampin' Up! may change at any time resulting in the dismissal of all or some of the panel members.

If you are interested in this exciting opportunity head over to stampinup.com/survey to sign up.

It's a Birthday Party

Stampin' Up! is celebrating their 20th birthday this month and you can celebrate with 20% off select birthday stamp sets with a $20 purchase. This promotion runs for the month of October. To see the stamp sets available at the sale price click the picture to the right. When you've got your stamps all picked out, head on over to my Stampin' Up! website to place your order!

The Holiday Mini is Here!!!!

The new Holiday Mini Catalog is now available. There are so many great items for the holidays in this catalog, as well as the Big Shot! Click on the picture to the right to see what this mini catalog has in store for you. When you are ready to place your order for those items in the mini catalog head on over to my Stampin' Up! website and visit the store.

Limited Decor Elements!!!!

Available for a limited time is the Spooky Spider Decor Element. Isn't he the cutest spider you've ever seen? I think so. To learn more about this limited time offer click on the picture to the right. If you are ready to order your Spooky Spider, head on over to my Stampin' Up! website to place your order!