Santa's Sleigh Surprise Card

Hello again! I finally made it back to share the second project I made with the Santa's Sleigh Bundle. First, I have to share the fun project we made at our Stampin' Up! meeting this weekend.

Isn't it cute? Each of us designed one square and brought all the pieces and parts to make it. At the meeting we went around the tables assembling one of each square. I actually have several extra squares to use on other projects. :o) Super fun and a great way to see some of the sets that I don't have.

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the things I volunteered to do for the meeting was to make 3 or 4 projects using the Santa's Sleigh bundle. Here's one of the 2 cards I made:

Once again, the sleigh dies are so easy to use and you get such an intricate design. I love it. But this card has a special surprise...

pull on the little bow...

and Santa's reindeer are all hitched up and ready to go. How fun is that? I think this might be one of the projects we make at my Christmas Open House next month. If you're interested in purchasing any of these items, please feel free to click on it below and it will take you straight to my store. Also, if you'd like to get a little extra, be sure to add the hostess code you see above in the appropriate place on your order and I will be sending a special goodie to you next month.

I still have a couple more projects to share with you later this week.

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Yep, it's officially fall here. It was kind of funny how the trees in my yard waited till the official first day of fall to really start changing colors. Now there's an explosion of yellows, reds and golds all over my deck and yard. Sigh. I love this time of year.

Anyway, fall means school is back in session and there's a little more routine to our day. I've been able to spend some of my evenings in the craft room playing with some of the new sets in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog. If you haven't seen it, you should really check it out. There are so many fun sets, I had a really hard time figuring out which ones to play with first. Since I volunteered to do a Product Spotlight of the Santa's Sleigh bundle for our demonstrator meeting tomorrow I pulled that one out to start. So much fun! Here's one of the items I made:

Isn't that the cutest? It's just the right size to hold a couple of chocolates or maybe a tiny gift box.The dies for this set are amazing! I love the sleigh pieces. So ornate, but super easy to use. I used Aqua Painters to add a little color to the deer hooves and noses. Here's a shot so you can see how I made it stand up:

When I did the original, I just used a couple of scrap pieces and cut and scored them to fit, but I sat down and measured it out just now and here's a quick diagram of how to cut the center pieces. They may not be the exact size as mine, but they should fit.

Oops, the left side should say "score 1/4 inch on each side".

I hope to have time tomorrow to share with you another one of the projects I made with this set.

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!

Birthday Bouquet Memo Board

Don't miss out on my Monthly Special! Details are below.

Hello there! Aack! I was planning on posting this last Thursday. I had the video all done, just needed to write the post, but got a last minute call to do a cake and well, let's just say I spent more time in my kitchen than I did at my computer. The cake came out super cute though. If you'd like to see it, you can check out my Frosted Memories page.

This project uses the Birthday Bouquet paper again. It's such a pretty paper. There's also a Sale-A-Bration item on it. Can you find it? You'll have to watch the video to find out what it is. :o)

My inspiration for this project came from the card on this post by Shannon of Crush On Colour. I cased her idea and made it into this fun memo board.

I found the acrylic "L" shaped frames at Wal-Mart, but I'm sure you can find them most anywhere you can find frames. I like that the frames were easy enough to stretch open to get the different layers in without squishing them and you can decide which way you want the frame to sit.

Here's the video. Hope you like it.

Below are the items I used for this project. You can click on any of them and it will take you straight to my "store". Remember, there are only a couple weeks left for Sale-a-Bration, so if you like FREE stuff, you better hurry.

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!

Monthly Special

Woohoo! We're on to the third month of the Monthly Special, which is my way of saying "Thank you" for ordering through me. I am adding a little extra goody to the Thank You Gift Pack I send out to my customers who placed an order that month. I already send out a Thank You card and little hand-made goodie of some sort, along with divvying up the hostess credit to those who use my monthly hostess code, but this will be an additional item from our catalog and it will change each month. For the month of March 2016, anyone who places an order of $65 or more will receive a package of Bow Paper Clips Embellishments.

IMPORTANT: If you select NO CONTACT when you place your order, I cannot, by law, send anything to you, so if you'd like your free gift, please make sure that is deselected. I only use the contact information to send out your free goodies. 

Please do NOT add this item to your order, unless you want a duplicate, as this will be sent directly from me, not the company. This is not a competition, there is no single winner, everyone who qualifies gets the free gift. I will send it to you along with your Thank You Gift Pack at the end of the month. 

Timeless Textures Thank You

Don't miss out on my Monthly Special! Details are below.

Hello there! You probably already know my love for the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, so it will come as no surprise that I LOVE the new Timeless Textures stamp set. I used it on a project that I will share the tutorial for later this week, and since I had it out, I wanted to try my hand at making a card with it. It's just a one layer card (besides the sentiment), but the stamp set gives it lots of "texture" and depth.

 

I kept most of the stamping on one side, but I did sponge all the edges to help soften them a bit. It's hard to see in the finished card because I covered part of it with the sentiment, but after I inked the coffee ring stamp, I spritzed it with a little water and then stamped it on the paper. It definitely made it look more like an actual coffee ring. 

The pretty gold sequins were left overs from my Paper Pumpkin kit last month. And, of course, a couple of tiny flowers from the Itty Bitty Accents punch set gives it a bit of feminine flair. This card came together very quickly and used a minimal amount of supplies. I like that!

As mentioned earlier, I hope to be back later this week with a tutorial featuring the Timeless Texture stamp set. Hope to "see" you then.

Till next time,,,
God's love and blessing!

Monthly Special

Woohoo! We're on to the third month of the Monthly Special, which is my way of saying "Thank you" for ordering through me. I am adding a little extra goody to the Thank You Gift Pack I send out to my customers who placed an order that month. I already send out a Thank You card and little hand-made goodie of some sort, along with divvying up the hostess credit to those who use my monthly hostess code, but this will be an additional item from our catalog and it will change each month. For the month of March 2016, anyone who places an order of $65 or more will receive a package of Bow Paper Clips Embellishments.

IMPORTANT: If you select NO CONTACT when you place your order, I cannot, by law, send anything to you, so if you'd like your free gift, please make sure that is deselected. I only use the contact information to send out your free goodies. 

Please do NOT add this item to your order, unless you want a duplicate, as this will be sent directly from me, not the company. This is not a competition, there is no single winner, everyone who qualifies gets the free gift. I will send it to you along with your Thank You Gift Pack at the end of the month. 

Birthday bouquet Gift Bag

Don't miss out on my Monthly Special! Details are below.

Hello there! Yay! I did it! I figured out how to edit my videos. Unfortunately, it's not the greatest quality video, but it will work for now. I will have to look into how to get better lighting. Not sure how since I taped this in front of one of the biggest windows in our house on a pretty sunny day. Also, the video is a bit shaky. I had the tripod on my table and every time I moved it shook. Sorry about that. I hope I get better at this as I like being able to share my projects with you but I don't want anyone getting sick from my wiggly video. ;o)

 

What do you think? Isn't this paper gorgeous? I love it. Love the Glitter Ribbon too. It's very soft to the touch. The stamp set is Honeycomb Happiness from the Sale-A-Bration catalog. You know what that means...it's FREE with a $50 purchase. I love free. Well, please watch the video and let me know what you think. 

Dimensions:
Bag--6 x 12
      Score on long side--2 1/4, 5 3/4, 8, 11 1/2
      Score on short side--1 1/4, 5 1/4
Bottom of bag--2 1/4 x 3 1/2
Tag--2 x 4

I have more fun projects lined up for this month so I better get to editing those videos now so they'll be ready to post. 

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!

Monthly Special

Woohoo! We're on to the third month of the Monthly Special, which is my way of saying "Thank you" for ordering through me. I am adding a little extra goody to the Thank You Gift Pack I send out to my customers who placed an order that month. I already send out a Thank You card and little hand-made goody of some sort, along with divvying up the hostess credit to those who use my monthly hostess code, but this will be an additional item from our catalog and it will change each month. For the month of March 2016, anyone who places an order of $65 or more will receive a package of Bow Paper Clips Embellishments.

IMPORTANT: If you select NO CONTACT when you place your order, I cannot, by law, send anything to you, so if you'd like your free gift, please make sure that is deselected. I only use the contact information to send out your free goodies. 

Please do NOT add this item to your order, unless you want a duplicate, as this will be sent directly from me, not the company. This is not a competition, there is no single winner, everyone who qualifies gets the free gift. I will send it to you along with your Thank You Gift Pack at the end of the month. 

Circle of Spring Thank You Card and My Stampin' Up! Journey

Don't miss out on my Monthly Special! Details are below.

Warning! This post is a little long. Sorry, couldn't suppress my excitement.

Hello there! I was very productive last week. I had no cakes on the schedule so I was able to spend a lot of time in the craft room instead of the kitchen. I spent some time organizing my time and set aside a day just for designing projects for March classes. It was so fun! And guess what? I have ALL my projects for this month done and ready to go! I even spent a day video taping some tutorials for the blog, and if I can figure out how to get them edited, I will be posting the first one this Thursday. :o) So excited! Want a sneak peak of the projects I videotaped?

I'm also excited that I have my first 2 Stampin' Up! team members. These two ladies decided that Sale-a-Bration was a good time to sign up as a demonstrator. The starter kit is already a great deal--$125 in product for $99, but during Sale-A-Bration you get an additional $30 worth of product. That's $155 for just $99! Oh, and did I mention that shipping is free and you get to choose whatever product you'd like? Yep. Like I said, it's an awesome deal.

So why would someone sign up as a demonstrator, besides the awesome deal? There are lots of reasons. The two most common are to get a discount on products and to earn some extra income. The nice thing about being an independent demonstrator is that you set your own hours and decide what you want to do with it. I've actually been a demonstrator twice and both times I started for different reasons.

I first heard of SU when we were stationed in Japan and I decided to sign up simply so I could get supplies to fuel my crafting/scrapbooking habit. We didn't have a local craft store on our base to run to when we needed adhesive or paper, and supplies from the Japanese stores were quite limited and VERY expensive. I have to say that it was a lot easier to get my business going there because I already knew a lot of crafty friends and they were happy to buy from me.

Then we moved back stateside, and my business slowed down a LOT! We lived with my in-laws for 9 months and I really didn't have access to my craft stuff and didn't know anybody, so I went inactive and eventually no longer a demonstrator. That simply meant I hadn't placed enough orders in that time period to remain active and I could no longer get a discount on products, which was fine since I wasn't able to do much crafting at the time anyway. Fast forward a couple of years and we were settled in our new home and my oldest daughter was planning to get married. I decided it was time to sign back up as a demonstrator because I knew I was going to need a lot of paper products for the wedding and knew just where to get it--from myself! By then, I'd made some friends and decided to try offering some classes in my home and see where it went.

It's been a couple of years since I signed up and I'm quite happy with my little business. I LOVE teaching classes and sharing the projects that we make with others. With all the other things on my plate, I don't have a lot of time to invest in it, but I thoroughly enjoy the time that I do. I am looking forward to teaching and helping my new recruits and spending some fun time crafting and sharing ideas with each other. So, what about you? Even if you never plan on holding a class or workshop, the starter kit is an AMAZING deal.

OK, so now on to the cute card. This is one of the cards I designed for this month's Stamp-A-Stack. 

I've been using stamp sets from the Occasions catalog so much I thought some of my other ones might be getting jealous. :o) This is the pretty Circle Of Spring set and I used the coordinating Wonderful Wreath die to cut out just the middle part so the yellow would show through. Because the die is a Framelit set, it is really only meant to cut through 1 sheet of cardstock at a time, but I needed to cut through 2 layers. I didn't want to try and line up the die to cut the Wisteria Wonder layer to match, so I just used my paper trimmer to cut a rectangle out of the middle of it, wider than the opening. The flowers were simple to color in with inks and the Aqua Painter. And, while you can't see it in the photo very well, I added a little shimmer to the bow with the Wink of Stella pen. Love that thing!!

I'm off to try and finish editing one of the videos so I can get it posted on Thursday. Don't forget to check out the new monthly special below and the links to the products used in this card.

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!

Monthly Special

Woohoo! We're on to the third month of the Monthly Special, which is my way of saying "Thank you" for ordering through me. I am adding a little extra goody to the Thank You Gift Pack I send out to my customers who placed an order that month. I already send out a Thank You card and little hand-made goodie of some sort, along with divvying up the hostess credit to those who use my monthly hostess code, but this will be an additional item from our catalog and it will change each month. For the month of March 2016, anyone who places an order of $65 or more will receive a package of Bow Paper Clips Embellishments.

IMPORTANT: If you select NO CONTACT when you place your order, I cannot, by law, send anything to you, so if you'd like your free gift, please make sure that is deselected. I only use the contact information to send out your free goodies. 

Please do NOT add this item to your order, unless you want a duplicate, as this will be sent directly from me, not the company. This is not a competition, there is no single winner, everyone who qualifies gets the free gift. I will send it to you along with your Thank You Gift Pack at the end of the month. 

Valentine Wreath

Don't miss out on my Monthly Special! Details are below.

A couple of weeks ago I got a last minute invite to do a craft sale here in town. Unfortunately, I was sick for a week or so and didn't have a lot of time to make some projects for it, but I did make this wreath. I think I'd like to make a few more in different colors, but this one was great for Valentine's day.

I wrapped a wreath form with burlap ribbon I had in my stash and hot glued some spiral roses and several different sized butterflies. After I took this photo, I added some rhinestones to the butterflies, but forgot to get another photo before I sold the wreath. Just imagine pretty sparkly bodies on each of those, ok? 

It's hard to see, but I sponged a little Rose Red and Blushing Bride ink on the smaller butterflies. The yellow part of the larger butterfly was made by tracing the die cut onto vellum and cutting it out and then coloring it with markers. 

What do you think. It was easy to put together, a little time consuming, but I think it came out very nice. What do you think? 

This will be the second month of the Monthly Special as my way of saying "Thank you" for ordering through me. I am adding a little extra goody to the Thank You Gift Pack I send out to my customers who placed an order that month. I already send out a Thank You card and little hand-made goodie of some sort, along with divvying up the hostess credit to those who use my monthly hostess code, but this will be an additional item from our catalog and it will change each month. For the month of February 2016, anyone who places an order of $65 or more will receive a package of It's My Party Designer Washi Tape.

IMPORTANT: If you select NO CONTACT when you place your order, I cannot, by law send anything to you, so if you'd like your free gift, please make sure that is deselected. I only use the contact information to send out your free goodies. 

Please do NOT add this item to your order, unless you want a duplicate, as this will be sent directly from me, not the company. This is not a competition, there is no single winner, everyone who qualifies gets the free gift. I will send it to you along with your Thank You Gift Pack at the end of the month. 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!

A Nice Cuppa Gift Envelope

Don't miss out on my Monthly Special! Details are below.

I am loving the new Spring Catalog, and I especially love the A Nice Cuppa set. I collect teacups and teapots, so this set had me at hello, but I think it's a fun set to do random little gifts for people for no reason at all. Who doesn't like getting a little gift for no reason at all?

Here's a super quick and easy idea.

Using a 6 x 6 piece of paper, (I used the Have a Cuppa Designer Series Pack which happens to be 6 x 6), score a line from point to point.

Flip your paper over and turn the paper 90 degrees and this time score 2 lines, each 1 3/4 away from either side of the center. You can see that I lined the points up on the 1 3/4 mark and then scored.

Fold the 2 short triangles in and then fold the whole thing in half. You don't even have to glue this down.

Slide 2 tea packets, or maybe tea and a sugar packet, into the 2 pockets you just created.

Punch 2 holes in the top and thread some ribbon through to tie your packet closed. Embellish as you wish.

What do you think? I think I may make a bunch of these up and just keep them in my purse. You never know when someone you meet might just need a little pick-me-up. Well, it's currently 5 degrees outside, which is actually a heat wave compared to the last couple of days, but I think I'm going to go make me a cup of tea and go play with my new stamp sets that just arrived. :o) 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

I am starting a new Monthly Special as my way of saying "Thank you" for ordering through me. I will be adding a little extra goodie to the Thank You Gift Pack I send out to my customers who have placed an order that month. I already send out a Thank You card and little hand-made goodie of some sort, along with divvying up the hostess credit to those who use my monthly hostess code, but this will be an additional item from our catalog and it will change each month. For the month of January 2016, anyone who places an order of $65 or more will receive a pair of Paper Snips.

IMPORTANT: If you select NO CONTACT when you place your order, I cannot, by law send anything to you, so if you'd like your free gift, please make sure that is deselected. I only use the contact information to send out your free stuff. 

Please do NOT add this item to your order, unless you want a duplicate, as this will be sent directly from me, not the company. This is not a competition, there is no single winner, everyone who qualifies gets the free gift. I will send it to you along with your Thank You Gift Pack at the end of the month. 

 Hope you get a chance to do some crafting this week.

till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Note: please use the hostess code (you can find it in the upper right corner) when placing an order to get more free product! (hostess code is shown above). If your order is over $150 do not use the code as you are the hostess and get the rewards. 

Christmas Craft Sale Projects.

Warning! This post is going to be a bit heavy with photos.

I shared a little while back that I was able to do my first Craft Fair this last December. I have to say it was fun, stressful, exciting, encouraging, and I think it helped me grow as a crafter. Most of the stress was simply in the fact that I didn't prepare far enough in advance and I kept coming up with more ideas of things to make, but just didn't have enough time to make them. :o)

Anyway, here's some shots of most of the things I made:

These are the camera straps I made from leather and scarves. I also attached a cute camera charm to them.

 

These snowmen and reindeer chocolate bars were my best sellers by far. Only had a couple of them left. In front of them you can see the pretty Gift Card Holders. These were one of my favorites. 

I had lots of cards to choose from. 

These lip balm holders were good sellers as well. 

Here's my table all set up and ready. I had an awesome helper for the morning. ;o)

I picked up this display piece from a craft store that was going out of business. Thought it might come in handy someday. 

I had several of these wreaths. Each wreath came with 8 banners so you could switch it out with the different seasons. 

These were one of my favorites! I had two designs, these nutcrackers and some snowmen. So cute!!

My snowmen ornaments were pretty popular as well.

I have to say that my sales weren't that great that day, but then, it was a very small Craft Fair. I'm hoping next year to be ready earlier so I can be a part of the bigger one that is a bit north of us. I did actually sell quite a few things after the Craft Fair though, so all in all, I did pretty well and will definitely be doing it again.

I am going to close this here. Don't forget about my monthly special going on. Details below.

I am starting a new Monthly Special as my way of saying "Thank you" for ordering through me. I will be adding a little extra goodie to the Thank You Gift Pack I send out to my customers who have placed an order that month. I already send out a Thank You card and little hand-made goodie of some sort, along with divvying up the hostess credit to those who use my monthly hostess code, but this will be an additional item from our catalog and it will change each month. For the month of January 2016, anyone who places an order of $65 or more will receive a pair of Paper Snips.

IMPORTANT: If you select NO CONTACT when you place your order, I cannot, by law send anything to you, so if you'd like your free gift, please make sure that is deselected. I only use the contact information to send out your free stuff. 

Please do NOT add this item to your order, unless you want a duplicate, as this will be sent directly from me, not the company. This is not a competition, there is no single winner, everyone who qualifies gets the free gift. I will send it to you along with your Thank You Gift Pack at the end of the month. 

 Hope you get a chance to do some crafting this week.

till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Note: please use the hostess code (you can find it in the upper right corner) when placing an order to get more free product! (hostess code is shown above). If your order is over $150 do not use the code as you are the hostess and get the rewards.

Mini Composition Notebooks

Don't miss out on my Monthly Special! Details are below.

I found these cute, mini composition notebooks and knew they would make the perfect Thank You gifts for my customers. They are a great size to keep in your purse for jotting down notes. I used the Awesomely Artistic stamp set for these. I love the color combination: Pink Pirouette, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla. 

It's really hard to photograph, but I used the new Wink of Stella Clear pen to highlight the dragonfly and heart. It's so pretty, and the pen is super easy to use. Love the shimmer it gives the project. 

I covered the spine with some retired cotton ribbon so it would be flexible. I adhered it with Tear & Tape on the edges. You could use a piece of fabric as well if you don't have ribbon wide enough.

I'm sending these out as Thank You gifts for those who ordered from me recently. I hope they enjoy them.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

I am starting a new Monthly Special as my way of saying "Thank you" for ordering through me. I will be adding a little extra goodie to the Thank You Gift Pack I send out to my customers who have placed an order that month. I already send out a Thank You card and little hand-made goodie of some sort, along with divvying up the hostess credit to those who use my monthly hostess code, but this will be an additional item from our catalog and it will change each month. For the month of January 2016, anyone who places an order of $65 or more will receive a pair of Paper Snips.

IMPORTANT: If you select NO CONTACT when you place your order, I cannot, by law send anything to you, so if you'd like your free gift, please make sure that is deselected. I only use the contact information to send out your free stuff. 

Please do NOT add this item to your order, unless you want a duplicate, as this will be sent directly from me, not the company. This is not a competition, there is no single winner, everyone who qualifies gets the free gift. I will send it to you along with your Thank You Gift Pack at the end of the month. 

 Hope you get a chance to do some crafting this week.

till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Note: please use the hostess code (you can find it in the upper right corner) when placing an order to get more free product! (hostess code is shown above). If your order is over $150 do not use the code as you are the hostess and get the rewards. 

Sale-A-Bration and a Monthly Special

Happy New Year!! I am so excited! So many fun, crafty things going on right now.

First off, of course:

Woo hoo! It's that time of year again. For every $50 you spend you get a free item. Free stuff! Who doesn't like free stuff? I definitely do, and there are some great products to choose from too. You can see them all here. 

Second, we have a new Occasions catalog and it is AMAZING!! 

There are so many new products and project ideas, but I have to say that the It's My Party and Have a Cuppa are my absolute favorites. I can't wait till my order comes in tomorrow so I can play. You can check out the catalog here, or, if you'd like a hard copy, leave me a comment and I'll get one to you as soon as possible. 

Third, I am starting a new Monthly Special as my way of saying "Thank you" for ordering through me. I will be adding a little extra goodie to the Thank You Gift Pack I send out to my customers who have placed an order that month. I already send out a Thank You card and little hand-made goodie of some sort, along with divvying up the hostess credit to those who use my monthly hostess code, but this will be an additional item from our catalog and it will change each month. For the month of January 2016, anyone who places an order of $65 or more will receive a pair of Paper Snips.

IMPORTANT: If you select NO CONTACT when you place your order, I cannot, by law send anything to you, so if you'd like your free gift, please make sure that is deselected. I only use the contact information to send out your free stuff. 

Please do NOT add this item to your order, unless you want a duplicate, as this will be sent directly from me, not the company. This is not a competition, there is no single winner, everyone who qualifies gets the free gift. I will send it to you along with your Thank You Gift Pack at the end of the month. 

Whew, that's a lot of opportunities to get some great stuff, and a lot of it for free. Hope you get a chance to do some crafting this week and I hope to be back later with a project or two to share. 

till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Note: please use the hostess code when placing an order to get more free product! (hostess code is shown above). If your order is over $150 do not use the code as you are the hostess and get the rewards.