Monday Morning Hellos

What a weekend I had here! The ceiling in my daughter's bathroom fell on Sunday! Ack!! A long story short: We had a leak last fall, the roofers came and "fixed" the leak, but left a bucket in the attic. I guess to catch anymore water or something??? Well, the bucket caught a lot of water apparently and then fell, hitting the ceiling of said bathroom, cracking the sheetrock and spilling lots of water everywhere. My husband went up and tried to stop the leak. The roofers were called. Almost a week later, when there was more rain and more water on the floors and walls in the bathroom(!!!), they were called again and finally came. The bucket was put back in place until they could fix the roof again. (Say what??) Then on Saturday we had VERY heavy rains...And sure 'nough the sheetrock was so soaked, that it fell, leaving a lovely view from the bathroom into the attic. Today I am still waiting on roofers and now sheetrock people to show up. Fun times. (OK, OK that wasn't *really* short, but hey, I tried.)

On Saturday, since it was too nasty to go out, I participated in a Mini Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) over on SCS. (yes, yes, that site again.) There were 6 challenges throughout the day. The theme was Viva Las VSN and so we had "Pit Bosses" who posted the challenges and each was based on a hotel in Vegas. Lots and Lots of Fun!! If you participate, for each challenge you have a set of rules specific to that challenge and you have 45 mins to create a card or project. I was able to participate in 5 of the 6. I did have a lot of fun, but by the end I was exhausted and my stamping area was a WRECK! It really pushed me to be creative and 45 minutes went by very quickly.

Are you curious about what I made?? Are ya?? Are ya?? Well, here they are then!

Challenge #1 Inspiration: Circus Circus. Special rules: Orange had to be used somewhere on the front of the card. I made a bird on a tightrope.


Challenge #2 Inspiration: The Bellagio's Lobby Ceilings. Special rules: Must use flowers somewhere and must use a transparency somehow. So I used a technique where I used a baby wipe and reinkers to make the background paper. It didn't really turn out like I had envisioned, but that's OK. Next time - when not under a time limit, I can play with it until I like the colors better. It's hard to see, but the transparency is on the outside of the celery card and the "heartfelt" is embossed in white on it. The ribbon holds it all together.


Challenge #3 Inspiration: The Venetian's Grand Lobby. Special Rules: Use the colors found in the lobby of Blue, White or Cream, Yellow or Gold, and Burgundy. Here is my card using the Soft Summer set that will be available April 1.


Challenge #4 Inspiration: Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef. Special Rules: Use a playing card somewhere on the project. It could be real or fake. I had to use a fake one, because I couldn't find a real one right then. And anyway, I ended up really liking the patterned paper that I used as my card back. This card was made for a friend who recently had a baby boy.


Challenge #5 Inspiration: The Paris. Special Rules: Make a View Finder Card. Wow! I had never made one before, but had seen several gorgeous examples on line. We were provided with a tutorial and it took me a little while to get it going. But now that I've made one, I think the next time will go faster. As you can see, I used the A Good Egg stamp set again. I am telling you I love this chick!!


Sorry the pictures aren't the best. It's hard to photograph when it's so dark outside. I don't have a professional type set up like some do. I rely on natural lighting and in times like this, I wish I had a better set up. Still, I hope you can enjoy them and I would love to hear what you think!!

Also, I am working hard to put the finishing touches on my Birthday to Go Kit. I hope to have it up by next week. Hope you have a Stamptacular Day!

A quick gift idea

Morning! I see that Blogger is going to be down for a while today, so I am popping in with a quick post. I just wanted to share with you a little gift I put together for my hostess tonight. (Ginger, if you are reading this, look away...I mean it... shoo! Besides, you'll get to see it in person tonight!) If I do say so my self, this turned out really cute!! I found the basic idea over on SCS (yes, I spend a lot of time there!) and just changed some things to fit my needs. I ADORE the A Good Egg stamp set and find myself wanting to use it all the time! I just love chicks (man - for you Soup fans). They are so cute. Especially this one.

This is super fast to put together and you know teachers would love this. In fact, I think this is what I will be giving to the kid's teachers this year. (oh - goodness... if you happen to teach my kids...look away! Follow Ginger and shoo! Don't ruin the surprise already!!) Now, for those of you who are still with me, here it is:



Stamps: A Good Egg, Oval All Paper:DSP Delicate Dots(SAB), So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand Inks: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Brocade Blue, Pumpkin Pie Marker Other: Large Oval and Scallop Oval punches, Medium Cello Bag, Organdy ribbon, Pop dots

Basic instructions for the box can be found HERE.

I added the DSP to the front and back panels of the little box/pouch thingy. I stamped the For You stamp (from Oval All Set) twice, once on Sahara Sand with Sahara Sand ink and once on Bashful Blue with Brocade Blue ink. I punched out the SSand with the Scallop Oval and the Blue with the Large Oval. The chick is stamped twice also, once on DSP and once on So Saffron cardstock. I popped the egg up from the chick and the whole chick up from the pouch. The ovals are also popped up from the pouch. I filled the cello bag with mini robins eggs whoppers candy. Yummy! I had to try one... or two... ok, ok a handful. I had forgotten that I like whoppers. But I had plenty, so not to worry, Ginger won't be getting just crumbs. So there you have it.

I'd love to hear what you think! Have a Samptacular Day!

Don't Pass Out!

OK - watch out... I am going to post more projects today. I know you are shocked, and that's alright. After the crazy week I had, I am just so excited to be stamping again. And I just can't wait until tomorrow to share.

Here's a card I made this morning and I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I hope you like it, too.



Here's a close up so maybe you can see the scallop details.


Here's a peek at the inside. I'm telling you, it's rewarding to decorate the inside of a card. It finishes it off nicely and it really doesn't take a lot of effort.
Things I used: Stamps: Soft Summer and Oval All - both sneak peaks at what is coming out in the new mini catalog in April! Ink: VersaMark, Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana Papers: Whisper White, Rose Red, Barely Banana, Baja Breeze, Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery Other: Black Embossing Powder, Heat tool, Scallop Oval, Large Oval, Corner Rounder punches, Tool Kit, Pop Dots, Sponge, Bleach and Paint brushes.

The technique used here is Bleaching. I stamped the outline image onto Baja Breeze paper using VersaMark ink. Then it is embossed with black powder. Next, I brushed the bleach on with a fine paintbrush. Try your best to stay in the lines. The embossing contains the bleach so it doesn't spread too much. As the bleach dries, the paper will fade. Each color will react differently, so it's always good to test the bleach on a scrap piece of paper first. After the bleach has dried, I colored in the leaves, stems and centers with colored pencils. The ones I used were not SU - sorry, I try to use only SU as much as I can. You could color in using watercolor crayons or ink and an aqua painter. I left the petals of the dogwoods natural (just the bleach) because it's such a nice effect. I wish you could see it in person!! Don't you?

I cut out the Baja Breeze paper so that a little of the image hangs off the sides. Isn't that a neat look? I matted it on Cocoa and then on Rose Red. I paper pierced on the Red. I used the Scallop Oval Punch - also a sneak peek- and the Large Oval Punch to make the sentiment. The Oval All set has 4 stamps, two fit the scallop and 2 fit the large oval. Of course, you see that the large oval fits into the scallop. (Told ya they know what they are doin' out there!) The sentiment is up on popdots as is the Rose Red. It took 3 popdots on the right side of the oval and 1 on the left to get the frame to be even.

For the edge of the card, I used the corner rounder punch to create the scallops and then I backed it with a strip of Baja Breeze. Then I punched the holes in the centers of each of the scallops.

For the inside of the card, I simply used the ticket corner punch on Rose Red and Whisper White papers. I sponged on Barely Banana along the edges of the White paper. Then I used a Close to Cocoa Marker to ink up just one of the dogwood blooms to stamp on the bottom corner. I colored in the center with a colored pencil again here too, just a hint of color.

So there you have it. I'd love to hear what you think.

I'll be back later in the week with some more projects! Have a Stamptacular Day!

It's Time!

Since the open house is over, I can finally show you the projects I planned. You can pick yourself up off the floor, yes I am actually going to post pictures of stamped items today! I hope you stuck with me this last week since I didn't post much. And I hope you enjoy the projects! Let me know what you think.

Here's the first one. It's a fun birthday card that works well for men or women. Sometimes it's hard to find good masculine birthday cards. You know, ones that don't have fish or deer or Dale Jr on them. Not that there's anything really wrong with that, cause ya know, round these parts those come close to the trinity. Sooooo, anyway, when I was planning this one, I thought these colors would work for either a man or a woman. And even Junior would like it, I bet.



I got the layout from a card I saw on SCS, but to my eternal shame, I cannot find the original post. I try my very best to give credit, as I hope any who CASE would do. So, original designer, if you see this card, please let me know it's yours. And I will keep looking so that I may add the name if I can find it. It's hard to see in this picture, but the top of the candle has glitter on it. It's super cute. Also hard to see, the cupcake top (the icing) is up on pop dots. I used the coco ink on coco paper and then cut out the icing. But then I turned it over so the inked side is not showing and I used the coco marker to add little sprinkles. I also think glitter on the sprinkles would be cute, but since I was going for a more masculine card, I reigned myself in and kept the glitter to a small area.
Stamps: Big, Bold Birthday Inks: Certainly Celery, Close to Coco, Baja Breeze, So Saffron Marker Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Close to Coco Other:Tool kit, Pop dots, Large and Small Oval Punches, Word Window Punch, Sponge, Two Way Glue Stick and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

Next is a Happy little card that could come in handy for all sorts of occasions just by changing the sentiment. The stamp set from SU is called Happy Everything and has several different sayings to go along with the Happy! Well, idn't that just happy, she says in her best southern drawl.

Here's a picture with the Top Note Die Negative.





I don't have a big shot yet, but I am ordering it this week!!!! I am really excited! There are so many projects that I am just itching to try. Since I don't own one yet, I asked someone to cut me out a few and when she mailed them to me, she included, as a neat surprise, the negatives and a picture of a card using this sponging technique. I changed a few things about it to make it my own, and I am very happy with the outcome. I taped the negative over my white cardstock and used a sponge with So Saffron Ink and sponged the heck out of it. When I pull away the negative, which acts as a mask, I am left with the crisp white border. I know! Neat, right??!! BUT, before I took the mask/negative off, I went ahead and stamped my background images. This way, the images look like they are behind the white border. ummmhmmmm, I see you nodding in agreement. Here, I used a SaleABration set called Polka Dot Punches. It is called that because the stamps coordinate perfectly with our punches.... yes, they know what they are doing out there in Stampin' Up! land. It's cool I tell you. I used Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, the tool kit, sponge; Certainly Celery, Cameo Coral and So Saffron Inks and Papers, and Chocolate Chip (yummy)Ink.

And last, but certainly not least (actually it's one of my faves) is an adorable little box for chocolates. Everything's better with chocolate right? And this box perfectly holds 3 Ghirardelli Chocolate squares. Now, if you don't eat the whole bag (umm, I'm not speaking from experience here, nooooo) then you can make several of these boxes and fill them using one bag of the squares. Six to Seven boxes, actually. Plus, they are really fast after you make the first one. They would make great gifts for teachers for Easter or just for a little thank you or even a RAK (random act of kindness). And who wouldn't love a gift of chocolate. If they don't love your gift of chocolate, maybe you should consider crossing them off of your gift list...and then eat the chocolate yourself! There is a tutorial HERE on SCS by the fabulous Beate where you can learn how to make the box, then you can change the colors and theme to fit your needs.


and here it is open...don't drool on my chocolate, mmmm k?



I used A Good Egg stamp set on mine. Inks: So Saffron, StazOn Black, Pumpkin Pie and Regal Rose Paper: So Saffron, Regal Rose, Whisper White and the patterned paper is from the SAB pack. Other: Word Window and Corner Rounder Punches, Aqua Painter, Brad, Pop Dots, Tool Kit and the little flower is from a retired punch, but there is a really cute current one that would work as well.

Whew! What a long post. But after the week plus of non posting I have had, it's nice to get some stuff out there. I hope you enjoyed it, and comments are always welcome. Have a Stamptacular Day!

Almost there!

Ok, so the Open House is tomorrow and after that I'll be able to breath a little easier. Not a lot to report today, still running crazy in preparation for tomorrow. But over at Stampin' Up! Shelli has created a great new video tutorial on how to use our Decor Stencils. I have added a link to the video in my side bar. Be sure to check it out! And I'll be back Sunday I hope with all the projects we are doing at the open house. Did I mention that chocolate will be involved??

Good Afternoon. Well, sort of. I hope you don't think I have abandoned you! I know it has been over a week since I last posted. It has been a doozy of a time around here. I am getting ready for my Open House this weekend. It's insane! I can't believe it's already Wednesday! I was out of town last weekend and Monday. So I was already behind on Tuesday. I do have my projects planned, and the stuff to make snacks has been purchased. Now, if my house would just clean itself all would be OK. Well, that and the kids could get themselves ready and off to school/soccer/scouts/church/etc! Oh and maybe the dinners could fix themselves also. That would be great! Then today, of course, I have a terrible allergy/asthma attack and now my eyes are swollen and my head and throat are killing me. I have to put off stamping for a little while. I am so missing doing the challenges this week, too! As long as I am better by Saturday it'll be OK!

So, I am sorry I don't have any new projects for you today, but after the open house, I'll have several! Please don't give up on me. I promise I'll be back with lots of fun stuff soon! Hope you have a Stamptacular Day!

More Challenges! Yea!!!

Just a quick drop by to post my card I finished this morning. I'll be back with more details after the little man stops demanding to use the computer to "go to my dot com games". lol OK - I'm back (1:30ish) to add details about today's card. Sorry I couldn't do it earlier! Forgive me???

Today's card used Tuesday's Color Combo Challenge from SCS. Rose Red, Always Artichoke, and Black. I love that combo. How fun! But I used a layout from Mojo Monday's from January 5, 2009. I love this layout. Isn't it pretty? So, let me know what you think of my card.

Here's the front


And here's a close up of the cracked glass technique used on the flowers. I hope you can see the detail. It's one of my favorite techniques but I don't use it as often as I should!


And this time, I decided to decorate the inside also. I always add a piece of white or vanilla cardstock inside of a card if the base is dark. But after seeing so many beautiful samples of decorated insides (mostly over on SCS again) I decided to step it up a little. Sorry the pic isn't great.


Like I said, I'll be back soon to give more details. I'm a little slow on the computer, so this has taken me quite some time to upload, and now the little man is *Really* making demands. Too bad Handy Manny couldn't last a little longer.haha

Here are the deets: SU only. Stamps: Heartfelt Thanks, All Holidays (for you). Paper: Artichoke, Black, White, Rose Red. Inks: Rose Red pad and marker, Artichoke marker, Saffron pad, VersaMark. Other: Black grosgrain ribbon, Glassy Glaze Enamel Powder, Heat Tool, Sponges, Ticket Corner punch, Small and Large Oval punches, 1 1/4" circle punch, Vintage Brads, Pop Dots, Glue Dots. Umm I'm pretty sure that's it.

For a great tutorial on the Cracked Glass Technique go HERE. SCS has some awesome tutorials over there!!

And some tips from little ole me:

• When using the BG technique, I like to use the versa mark pad inbetween each application of Glassy Glaze Powder. It's easier and it gives better coverage than trying to get the next layer of powder on while the paper is still warm.
• You will need to use a good amount of adheasive when you stick down the image that has been cracked. Here I used my ATG (like a double sided tape gun) and put about 6 strips on the back of the flowers and then again on the back of the black mat. And the strips went from edge to edge. Use more than you normally would to make sure that your image and mats will stay flat.
  
• Sometimes when you crack the glass, it takes bending the paper almost in half. Just go slow and you'll be fine.
• For the brad placement here I used a pencil and a ruler to put little dots where I wanted the brads to go. That way, I could check the spacing before I punched the holes and not have to start all over with a new piece of paper after I punched the holes and found that they were lopsided. (Who me? Do that? Noooo.) Then I used the 1/16" punch to make the brad holes where my pencil marks were.
• I sponged the sides of the flower image, the sentiment oval, and the white cardstock on the inside. This adds depth and is so easy to do. Just use a quarter of a SU Sponge to dab onto your inkpad, then swipe it over the edges of the cardstock. Start out gently at first until you get a feel for how much sponging you want. You can always add more, but you can't take it off, right??!
• When you are wanting to stamp a sentiment onto a punched out shape, don't forget to stamp the word first and THEN punch it out. That way, it's a breeze to get the word centered. In fact this works for anytime you have an image inside a punched shape.

• For a quick and easy background paper like the Rose Red paper you see here, just turn your ink pad upside down and gently drag it across the paper. I used the Rose Red pad on the paper, but this also works with different combinations, like a lighter cardstock with a darker pad in the same color family. I hold the cardstock in my left hand and the pad in my right hand (I'm right handed) and then just drag the pad across the paper a little at a time. Sometimes on the edge, to get the darker lines, and sometimes on the flat surface to get more of a shadow. Try this on a scrap of cardstock to see how it feels. Then go for it!!

And if you try these techniques, I'd love to see how you did! Thanks for stopping by and have a Stamptacular Day!!

One long Monday and finally some Mojo!

Good Afternoon!!! Ok, it has been a Monday all day today!@#$#@$% eh,hem sorry. I feel better now. I won't bore you with all the details of today, but I will talk about my fridge for a second before I move on to the fun stuffs!! Our fridge decided to go on the fritz last Thursday. It has one of these funky control panels that is run by a computer I'm sure. Thursday night, I'm all comfy watching my Survivor when all of a sudden the little flap door thingy where the ice comes out starts opening and closing. And opening and closing. And Banging!!! And the lights start Blinking!!!! Well, we don't know what's going on. SO we plug the door thing with a towel so it won't make so much noise. We call the repair people on Friday. They'll come Monday. Guess when our one year warranty runs out? Tuesday. Thank goodness we got in under the wire!! Then, over the weekend, the fridge stops cooling so all of the food has to be taken out or thrown away. BLECH! I hate to waste food. We got it fixed today thank goodness. Listening to that banging constantly for 4 days was wearing down my nerves. Enjoying the silence, you ask? Yes, from the fridge, NO from the 3 year old. He has really been feeling his threes lately.

But now that the fridge is fixed, on to fun stuff. Today is Mojo Monday!!! Woo hoo! I am participating for the second time. It really is a lot of fun. You should check it out HERE. I worked for quite a while on my card. My mojo was just not flowing this morning. I'm sure it was mostly due to the fridge fritz. But here's what I finally came up with. Let me know what you think!
What I used: Stampin' Up! only. Papers: Certainly Celery, Pacific Point, Real Red, Whisper White, Vellum. Inks: Stazon, Pacific Point, Real Red Marker, Going Grey Watercolor Crayon. Stamp Set: Pun Fun. Other: Hodgepodge Hardware (this type is retired, but it's all I had right now), Vintage Brads, Word Window, Corner Rounder and Small Oval Punches, Celery Buttons, Paper Piercing tools, White Grosgrain ribbon, Aqua Painters.

I had to use the corner rounder punch for my scalloped edge on the vellum, because I don't own the scallop edge punch yet. Yet! The whale has been stamped twice and the top image has been colored, cut out and popped up from the bottom image. The red circle and the green oval have been popped up also. It's hard to see in the picture, but I have pierced the paper around the blue and under the oval. I wish you could see it better. I'm going to work on taking a better picture later.

I am fairly happy with the way it turned out. Even if it did take me all day. Tomorrow I hope I'll have a chance to play the color combo challenge on SCS.
Have a Stamptacular Day!

Mama said there'd be days like this.....

But I don't think *my* Mama was talking about the fact that I haven't stamped at all today. Yikes! and ugh! and bleh! and so forth. I had to deliver the 5 dozen cookies this morning. Glad that's over. I made 1 dozen flip flops and 1 dozen sunglasses - all decorated sugar cookies, plus 3 dozen Citrus Shortbread cookies. Which, if I had not been soooo tired last night when I finished them, would have gone into some really cute tubes of DSP (double sided paper) that I like to make. As it was, I rolled each dozen in wax paper and just used some retired SU yellow organdy ribbon to tie the ends. Then we had to wait for the Termite inspector guy to show up. I didn't realize that they come in and look at all your baseboards, window sills, etc. I mean, like with a flashlight! And even in the closets!! Ok, yes, I want him to be thorough, because I don't want termites, but really? Every dust bunny (and I've got loads!!) was peered upon by this guy and his flashlight. And when was the last time I dusted the window sills behind the sofa??? Errmmm... when we moved in last year and I put the sofa there? Oy. Then it was off to the post office for supplies. Then we had to go to Taco Bell. The little man demanded that he have two cheese roll ups for lunch. I didn't want to eat there because I am trying to diet(haha), but we went anyway, of course. The drive through was to long, so we went in. I ordered two cheese rollups and one small drink. THEN, because I still wanted something to eat, we went to the drive through at Wendys for a salad. Uh-huh. I got a burger and a baked potato. At least I left off the cheese. So now we have food and we head home. I feel like I need to clean house thanks to Termite Man. And I am behind on laundry - am I the only one who never seems to get caught up with that?? Anyway, now it's almost time to pick up kids from school and I still haven't had a chance to stamp. Well, I had a chance, but as soon as I sat down at the desk, Little Man decides he needs paper airplanes and some tape and a punch and more paper and crayons and maybe some more tape.... I swear it's like the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie books. So I can't stamp anything, because he'll want to stamp and use the ATG and the paper trimmer and he needs more ink and a different stamp and.... you see??

So today, sadly, I have nothing new to share. My stamping desk is covered with half done projects and scraps of paper, but nothing I can take pictures of yet. Maybe tomorrow the DH will take all 3 kids to Number One Son's Quiz Bowl. Maybe....

Check back tomorrow won't you? Oh and check out the video link in the post below. It's a way cool new die for the Big Shot machine. Have a Stamptacular Day!

Just a quick post today. This week has been Craaazy!

Take a look at the awesome new video tutorial from Stampin' Up! showing how to use the new pop up ball die for the Big Shot!!

You'll have to click on the link below to go to the video until I can figure out how to put the video on here for you. Sorry 'bout that!

http://www.stampinup.com/us/enu/11120_13873.asp

Quick drop by just to show you the card I made for today's color combo challenge over on Splitcoaststampers. Today's colors are Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, and Pixie Pink. Now I don't love pink in and of itself because I am more of a red and black or maybe blues kind of girl. But when paired with chocolate, pink can be very pleasing. But then again, almost anything is better with some chocolate isn't it?? mmmmmm, chocolate..... oh, sorry, i was dreaming there for a second.

So here it is. Let me know what you think.
this card measures 6 1/2 x 3 1/4 and fits into SU's small open ended envelope.
Ingredients: Stamps: Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Fundamental Phrases, Seeing Spots;
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Pixie Pink, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White; Ink: Kiwi, Chocolate, P. Pink; Accessories: brads, sponge, tool kit, dimentionals (which I doubled up on because I wanted the image to really stand away from the background.)

I have a lot to share today, so I won't do much chit-chat. Also, I have a terrible cold and really just want to be in bed, but I have to make about 5 dozen cookies today. I guess that means no rest for the weary. On a more upbeat note, here are some of the things I have been working on.

This is a little 3x3 gift card I made for a gift my daughter had to take to a school mate's party last weekend. She tells me about the party the day before and so of course I have to run out at the last minute and buy a gift for this kid that I have never met. Always the way! Ingredients: Stamps: Big Bold Birthday; Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Summer Sun, Celebrate DSP from Bold Birthday Scrap kit; Accessories: Silver Brads, Tool Kit, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Heat tool, Dimentionals; Ink: Turquoise, Versamark.

These are some "Thank Ewe" notecards I made to give to my hostesses. I made the one on the left first and it was too girly for me, so I made the one on the right and liked it enough that I made several to have on hand. Ingredients: Stamps:Pun Fun; Paper: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Rose Red, Whisper White; Ink:Stazon, Rose Red Marker; Accessories: White grosgrain ribbon, tool kit(hard to see, but the one on the right is paper pierced), Embossing tool (the flowers on the left are dry embossed), Watercolor Crayons, Aqua Painters.
Last one for now. Whew, I'm worn out! This is a little grasshopper gift box I made that coordinates with the bug card I posted a few days back. It's a 2-4-6-8 box and is so easy to make. They are great make and takes for workshops. Ingredients: Stamps: Bugs and Kisses; Paper: Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Real Red, So Saffron; Inks: Celery, Red; Accessories: Small Cello Bag, Hemp Twine, Key Tag punch, 1 1/4 adn 1 3/8 Square punches.

Right - now I am off to take some serious cold meds and try to rest a minute before the baking begins. And don't worry, germaphobes, I will take care when baking the cookies! :)
Have a Stamptacular Day!

It's Mojo Monday! (my day is looking up!)

Here's my entry for today's MojoMonday Sketch Challenge. So much fun!


Ingredients- All Stampin' Up!
Stamps: A Little Birdie Told Me, Sincere Salutations
Ink: StazOn, Basic Black
Paper: Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal, Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Other: Tool Kit (paper piercing), Dimensionals (pop dots), Turquoise and Celery Ribbons, Watercolor Crayons (Celery, Turquoise, Apricot), Aqua Painters, and Turquoise and Apricot Markers.

Good Morning?

Is it a good morning? Well, not really. My dear husband gave me his cold over the weekend. Yuck!! The little one had a bloody nose in the middle of the night Saturday, so we didn't get much rest. Then last night he had some sort of fit in his sleep, which woke us all up. Then he got in the bed with me and decided to kick and flail his arms the rest of the night. So, not much rest last night either. And! it's Monday morning. I am dragging here. I need more caffeine! One of my (many) obsessions is Dt. Dr. Pepper, but I have been trying to only drink one a day. It's tough! Plus, I am trying to cut out chocolate. I know! The horrors! SO today may just have to be a cheat day, KWIM??

Let's move on to the fun stuff! I did get to stamp a little over the weekend. Not nearly as much as I wanted, but that's OK. I have several things to share today. First up is a WAY Cute ribbon storage box. I found the coolest tutorial on it by The Squareheaded Stamper. She is unbelievably talented and I spend way too much time on her blog. Unfortunately I don't have any of the new DSPs in the SU catty - which I am Luuuving, BTW. So I had to use some retired papers, which I hoard! Here's the front, closed:


And here's the top open, so you can see the ribbon holders:

The little ribbon holders are made with the rounded tab punch by SU! Love it!! But winding all that ribbon up took forever. I think there are 16 of them. It took longer to wind the ribbons than it did to make the adorable holder! Here's another shot:

And one last one (did I mention that I LOVE this little box??)
Sorry the pictures are not clearer. It was rainy here when I took them and I don't have a nice photo set up like some folks (green with envy!). But hopefully you can enjoy it all the same. I would love to know what you think.

If I keep adding pictures, this post is going to be way too long, so I think I'll wait on uploading the other projects until tomorrow. Besides, I need to go work on my Mojo Monday challenge!!! Right after I drink some more DDP!! Waaaaaahhh, I can't get my little smileys to work and the IT guy, my 10 year old, doesn't come home until 3!! oh well, I'll go old school :) Have a Stamptacular Day!