So Many Occasions!

I made this card for a friend's birthday this December. I love the Baroque Motifs stamp set, and use those Rhinestone Circle Brads whenever I can! I made a similar card for Christmas, using the Soft Sky/Blue Bayou combination, with "Warm Wishes" for the sentiment. I also decided it would look nice with Real Red and Whisper White for Christmas! So many ways to use this card! It is done with the Crayon Resist technique on glossy paper. For instructions on this technique, see my other Crayon Resist card here! This looks like a very fast card, but it is deceiving.... Adding crayon to all those little lines and loops is a lot of work - especially if you're making more than one (or ten! My fingers were cramping by the end of it!) ;) If you're going to make this card, take your time doing it, or you may find yourself with a stamping injury!

Wintergreen - Beautiful!

Awhile back I posted a card that I had made for a special class I did at a customer's church "Super Saturday" (see that card here). Well, I forgot to post the other projects! We actually did 2 different cards, as well as these cute tags and holder! I forgot to take a picture of the other card before I sent it as one of my own Christmas cards, but it was CASED from this card by girl3boys0 at Splitcoaststampers.com. Such a beautiful card, I couldn't resist! I actually made a bunch of them for my Christmas cards, with the only change being that I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the little snowflakes in the background (on the white card), and on some of them added Irredescent Ice to some White EP for the trees and saying.
These tags were gorgeous when I saw them on Splitcoast; I love that Wintergreen paper, and as soon as I saw this project on SCS, I knew it was just what I wanted for my class. Simple tags, but SO beautiful, and I love the holder. My friend asked what anyone would do with that holder after they'd used their tags, and I realized you could very easily turn it into a pocket card by slipping a piece of cardstock inside the pouch! I made a few of these and gave them away as prizes at my Hostess Christmas Appreciation Party and also included one in a Secret Santa gift exchange I was in at my upline Terri's Christmas party.
I'm a little sad they've retired this paper, but I anticipated it and bought a whole bunch! I love every project I see it on, and am looking forward to some stamping time this holiday to make a few more things with it.

Almost... But Not A Chance!

When I was at the Bloomin Inn this November, I brought everything I would need to make my Christmas cards; or at least what I had planned to be my Christmas cards. Then I sat down and made one. And that was the end, since it took me 2 hours to make!!! I had used some stamps from the Punch Pals set (beautiful set!), and every image I used was drawn double line. I decided to color them in; every tree, every trunk, every snowman. Add to that all the sponging and masking, and it was too much work to be a mass-produced Christmas card. Back at home, I tried again, using some different stamps. I thought that if I used different stamps (that had solid lines - not ones I thought needed to be more bold), it would go quicker. Well, maybe it did.... but not much quicker. At least not nearly fast enough for me to think I'd ever attempt to make a tonne of these! They were both fun to make, and turned out nice; whoever I send them to will be happy knowing they are each really one of a kind!

Beautiful Bloomin' Inn - In Any Kind Of Weather!

These are some pictures from my trip with some friends to a scrapbook retreat called the Bloomin' Inn, in Pincher Creek, Alberta. We went on the first weekend of November, and when we arrived, it was cool and VERY windy, but fairly typical fall weather. A couple of hours before we left for home, we were greeted with a blizzard! For driving home, that was the last thing we wanted, but it sure made for some beautiful pictures! We arrived Friday night, and scrapped until midnight, then crawled into bed. We scrapped all day Saturday and Sunday morning before our journey home as well! I loved this trip, especially because of the Inn itself. It was so warm and comfy; it was a place that encouraged you to relax and just enjoy being in the country with some good company and great food! The owners cooked every meal, and they were all delicious! One of my friend's also has a toddler at home, and we were both looking forward to sleeping in a bit each day (neither of our children sleep through the night). The food was too good to miss however, and breakfast was served at 8am; so no sleeping in for us! It was definitely a sacrifice we were willing to make though; the food was so good that we bought some to take home with us! They have farm eggs, sausages, steaks, baking, preserves, etc that you can buy before you go. I now know that next year I need to buy more; none of it lasted even a month in my house!

If you're thinking this is something you'd like to do,you'd better call early to book! They run this retreat every weekend of the year, and it takes about a year to get in! We've already booked for next year! :) Can't wait; next year I'll work on more of my own projects (I swear!) too. Here are a couple more pictures to leave you with:

The Retirement List Is Here!!!

I woke up early this morning to check the Stampin' Up website to see what stamp sets had made the retirement list. Well, the good news is, the list is short - much shorter than the last one! I was a little shocked to see some of the brand new sets make the list, but overall, I didn't fair too badly - I lost only 6 sets!

Click HERE for a link to the list, in order by page number.

SPECIAL: I am having a special on retired sets; from now until December 31st, order 1 set at 5% off, 2nd set at 10% off, 3rd set at 15% off and the 4th set at 20% off! Need more than 4 sets? No problem, because this offer will keep rolling over, every 4th set (so the 5th set will be 5% off, 2nd set at 10%, etc). This is a great way to get all the retiring stamp sets before they're gone! Email your order to me today!

Stay tuned for the Retiring Accessories list coming December 10th!

April 6x6 Bragbook Pages

It was nice to be able to think of spring a little bit this fall; I enjoyed using pink papers and making the tree with spring "blossoms". I'm not much of a scrapbooker, but managed to come up with this all by myself! Sometimes even I am struck by inspiration! ;)

This layout is for a 6x6 bragbook class I am offering in the new year. I was in a swap with 3 of my upline, and each of us had to come up with 2-page layouts for 3 months. I had April, May and June. For this one, I knew I wanted to use some fresh spring-like colors, and the striped paper from the Petals and Paisley DSP pack was just what I was looking for. I don't own any current Easter sets (yet! Stay tuned for the new 2008 Spring/Summer Catalog!), so I couldn't do an Easter themed layout. Instead I stuck to "Spring" as my theme, and that tree from "Lovely As A Tree" was perfect for this project. To make that tree multi-colored, I first colored it with my Marvelous Markers in Mellow Moss for the leaves and Chocolate Chip for the trunk. Then I used Pretty in Pink and Cameo Coral, and "bounced" them (one at a time) on the stamp. You need to use the paintbrush side of the marker to do this technique. Then I huffed and stamped! I didn't even mind doing this technique 4 times; it takes a little bit of time, but was not at all hard to do.

With spring on my mind, I have begun to look at my 2008 classes and clubs schedule. I'm starting 2 stamp clubs in January - one that will be held on a Friday of each month, and the other that will be either a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday of each month.
I also have a marker club starting, where there are 4 members and each month you receive a color family of markers, and one member will receive the box to store them in. Also each month I will teach this club 2 techniques using their markers.
February 1st I am holding a Valentine's card class. Please see my website for more information about this class.

Well, I'm off to get back in the Christmas frame of mind! Time to finish off my Christmas cards (before it's too late!) :)

A Penguin to Cow Twist!

I had my last Christmas Bundle class last week, where we made shaker cards. One of the ladies who came to the class is in love with cows. I don't mean she likes cows, I mean she's bonkers over anything cow! SO, she asked if she could bring her cow stamp to make special cow Christmas cards! It fit nicely where the penguin was supposed to go (see the original card here); I thought it was a nice way to personalize the card! We even sponged Green Galore around the cow, to give it a little extra something. I really like how it turned out, don't you? :)