I have a really hard time coming up with my own ideas and usually rely on other people to copy from. I needed to come up with a birthday card for my grandson and although many of the Bugs and Kisses ideas were really cute, they just weren't what I was looking for, but in the process, I remembered my new grass stamp from "Inspired by Nature" and thought that would really be cute. So, I kind of just started there and WaLa..... this is what I came up with. I wouldn't want to do a lot of these cards at one time as I ended up cutting a lot. The caterpillar has lots of sharp points to cut but it wouldn't have looked right if I didn't cut into them. This was such a fun card to make. I've been wanting to do a "spiral" on the inside of a card since I saw it demonstrated at convention but I haven't had anything to try it with before now. The inside of this card has some of the same bugs, and some new ones, attached to the spirals.
Placing the cut-outs on the spirals are harder than you would think; though they did turn out really cute. I think I need some practice with this technique, what do you think???
I hope Alex likes this card. For me, a boy/masculine card is hard to visualize, having never been one of course.. LOL!
My husband thought this was cute, which is a HUGH compliment. :) Let me know what you think.
I played with my Big Shot last weekend and came up with lots of ideas for the TulipZ die that I want to show you tomorrow, as well as some of the other dies. The Big Shot is the most fun "toy" I've had in a VERY long time. If you don't already have it, you should really think about getting it and see all the fun ideas you can come up with. The more I play with it, the more dies I keep purchasing.....and tonight was no exception LOL.
Until tomorrow........ have a nice day.

Punch it Out

I love how you can use punches to create images. I fell in love with this sheep. I can't believe how easy this is to make. I used the Scallop Circle Punch, the "Word Window Punch, the "old" large oval punch, the 1/2" circle punch and the Three For You punch with the three flowers. I also added some pink gingham ribbon and the new Riding Hood Red, and Pink Pirouette cardstock and some Bella Rose designer series paper..... Oh, can't forget the "wiggly eyes" .... love those things. I know I had a stamp that said "love you" as part of the words, but think I can remember where it came from????? I finally just wrote it on the word window punch. My handwriting is not all that great, but it turned out OK. Sheep (scallop with the head attached) is set up on dimensionals over the "legs". This is just SO CUTE!!

Online Shopping

You can now shop Stampin’ Up! 24/7
Online ordering is finally here! I am so excited to be able to finally make this announcement! Whether you wake up in the middle of the night with the perfect plan for the perfect project, you need to make cards with no time for a workshop, or you want to shop for the perfect gift for the crafty person in your life, it’s no problem! Now you can order Stampin’ Up! ’s awesome products from me day or night from the convenience of your own home. Best of all, you can also receive hostess rewards with all qualifying orders. To start shopping go to my Stampin' Up Website and "start shopping".

Get Well Card

A very "deer" friend of mine sent my husband the loveliest Get Well Card. I'm not sure what stamp set she used, but it appears to be Noble Deer and only one of the deer is used. I absolutely love how she did the ground where the deer is standing and the sun is so gorgeous. My friend used to be a demonstrator, but has since moved out of the area and now owns a small grocery store in a beautiful little town in Oregon and absolutely loves living there with all the deer and other wild animals living on their property. Could be how she came up with this lovely background shot. The deer and tree is embossed in black and is set on whisper white cardstock using lots of different colors sponged on. The image is adhered to Basic Black and then adhered to the More Mustard basic card.

Big Shot

Since I've never had a die cut machine before the new Sizzix Big Shot, I'm sort of at a loss as to what I can really do with this. I've had so much fun playing with it and see what all I can do. This card is pretty much cased from another demonstrator, but instead of using the tulipz die cut (since I don't have it yet), I cut out leaves from the sizzlets set "Birds and Blooms". I think this is really pretty, but it's so soft you can hardly see the pattern in the designer series (bella rose) paper. Again, I used the BigZ Top Note for the background and sponged around the edge using the new Pink Pirouette. All of the pieces for the flowers is using the Birds & Blooms sizzlets set. I also used the scallop edge punch across the bottom and layered a strip of Bella Rose paper on the inside so it shows from the front when it's closed.

Thank You card with Big Shot

I've been browsing around and needed to make a Thank you card for my husband to send to work and found some cute ideas using the Sizzix. Actually, the only thing from the Sizzix is the BigZ Top Note. So Instead of using it on a bag, I attached it to a card front and added "sunflowers" made with the scallop punch and cut on each slit to make petals. The center is using the Bella Rose Designer Series Paper and the 1" circle punch. The Thank you greeting is from the new Ronald McDonald set "Say it with Scallops" and I got to use my new scallop square punch to cut it out. The ribbon is the new Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla satin Ribbon. Isn't so cool?? The leaves I made using the small oval punch, folding them in half length-wise and running them through the crimper. The Kiwi Kiss designer paper is also from the Bella Rose set.

My husband wanted a picture of him with his Flowers his work sent to him in a FIRE TRUCK, along with his cast to send to them in his thank you card..... looks like the life of leisure to me, what do you think? My son Brent came in from San Diego last weekend. It was really fun to see him; I think it's been 2 years since he's been here. We got a "really lovely" picture of him, my daugher Kim and me. I'm always so happy to be in a picture.

Then I was showing Brent the hat I made for the Mad Hatters Stamping day.... remember this? I had to show you how cute it is on Brent.... in my opinion it's much better than on me.

Have any of you been nursemaid to your husband???? Woh...... Now I know why I NEVER wanted to be a nurse. My husband had his foot run over at work by a trailer with a newly loaded 1600 lbs of hot oil three weeks ago. Since then it's been taking care of him, giving him meds, bringing/cooking meals, doing the yard work, taking care of the pond, feeding the birds, fish, squirrels, dogs, pick up after the dogs, mowing the lawn, weeding. What time is there for stamping since I work full time away from home????? Obviously not much since you haven't heard from me for so long.
In the mean time, I've been trying to get 100 card fronts done for a swap our group is having. What fun is there to have over 100 card ideas to show you and demonstrate for the next several months all out of the new catalog?
Since my clubs/technique classes are over (sort of, had to postpone some because of surgery issues) I have been home (nursemaiding) and working on my stamp room. This last week, I got out my husbands's drill/screwdriver and hung corkboards and dry erase boards on the wall inserted wall anchors, etc. and attached curtain rods underneath to hold my punches (31) can you believe I have so many? I realized while hanging the curtain rods I needed something shorter to the wall for the "really small punches". They are actually hanging by the skinny skin skin of their "teeth" until I bump them before they fall :)
I want to get you some really fun projects I've done and thought of this week, (maybe this weekend) and some new promotional events Stampin' Up has come up with because there are some awesome promotions with 15 and 20% off new stampin' up sets. There's also a special if you hold a workshop with $350.00 in merchandise sales; there are a number of stamp sets you can receive for "FREE' in addition to the hostess sets and free merchandise. when I send you the info in the next couple of days, think about holding a workshop in either your home or mine t0 earn free stamp sets and merchandise in addition to the normal hostess free sets.
If any of you would like a NEW CATALOG, please call.
ALSO, don't forget, you can join Stampin' Up as a demonstrator, hobby or otherwise, receive the 20% discount on your orders, hold workshops or not (but must meet the 300 per quarter minimum purchase (this is not hard if your friends or family order) you don't even have to hold workshops if you don't want to at this point. The cost to join until the middle of October is only $99.00 and most of the cost is in the stamps etc. that come with the fee. Not only do you get the discount, but you also have the opportunity to attend convention, regionals and any other stampin' up specials like pre-orders of any minis or catalogs that are available. There also are other promotional offers Stampin UP has for demonstrators. The last several years I have demonstrated, Stampin' up has sent free sets out to demonstrators "free" as Christmas gifts. You really think about it now as this if the BEST special I've ever seen Stampin' Up has offered...... $99.00 how can you even go WRONG???????