Watering Can

Did any of you see the really cute little Watering Can that was on Splitcoast Stampers today? It was the tutorial for this week and I HAD to make a couple. I have a very special friend that I made this first one for... I was ready to fill the cellophane bag with chocolates to put inside; then I remembered she is allergic to dairy products..... so I searched around and found some really fun fruit flavored suckers, so I put several of those in the bag..... not as much fun, but better for her. I used my Daisy Die and my Big Shot and punched out lots of flowers, then attached them all together alternately layering the petals and then used a Build-a-Brad in the center with a flower punched out of the Designer Series Paper for the center. I attached that with a Pop-Up glue dot; tied a satin white ribbon on the opposite side of the handle and wah-la. I think it's absolutely darling.

This is actually the first one I made just to try out the project. It's cute as well, but not the look I wanted for my gift. The only embellishment I put on this was the White Satin Bow..... it's cute even without a lot of bling.

This is a big enough pocket to hold any number of small gifts and what cute packaging for that gift.

If you want to try this for yourself, go the Splitcoast Stampers and click on the tutorial for this week. The template for the can and all the pieces are there for you to print onto your paper of choice. Take a look at the gallery of other watering cans; they are all fabulous.

Happy Stamping!!!!!

Digital Card

I needed a sympathy card and I don't have this stamp set or any other sympathy stamp set, so I thought, WOW, I have My Digital Studio and this stamp set is in the program as one of the stamp sets.

I wanted to print this all onto another piece of soft Suede cardstock, I don't know about you, but my printer DOES NOT like cardstock; I have to fight and fight it to go through. Well, I finally gave up and printed this out on Whisper White cardstock (without the ribbon and brads) and now I think I'm going to cut out the soft suede portion with the stamped image and layer it onto cardstock, put my "own" ribbon and brads on and it should look just like any other card we are used to making. This is really nice because now I can go back in and print one of the saying for the inside of the card and adhere the cardstock to the inside as usual!!!! I don't think the normal person is going to examine this to see if it is actually "stamped" do you?

By the way, did any of you see that there are new digital downloads ready to purchase and install into your My Digital Studio program? Stampin' Up added some Halloween papers as wellas 4 new stamp sets; the purchase prices are surprisingly low especially if you think about how many times you can use some of the items like the Designer Series Papers without running out like we do with the "real stuff". It might even work in a pinch if we run out of papers preparing for a class.... just print out some more and cut it to size along with the rest of the paper. I'm going to have to try it and see how it compares to the "real" thing. Have any of you actually tried this yet? I think I'll have to try this out and make duplicate projects and see if any of you can tell the difference........ ;)

HAPPY STAMPING!!

PS.....I had to edit this post to show you the final card I put together after printing out the images and attaching them to cardstock using my own ribbon and brads. The Soft Suede color is not "true", but it still looks good. Let me know what you think!!!

Wow, I was finally able to move this to share

I have lots of attempts at using My Digital Studio; however, I haven't ever figured out how to post any of the items...... I FINALLY DID IT. Even though this isn't really finished in my minds eye, at least it is a start. I will attempt more this week.

This really is a fun software; You just need to play and play with it to see what you can do. the program is amazing.

Now that I've been playing with it, I know of several items I would like to see in here that isn't yet, but I'm anxious to see what they have in some of their future updates.

I can't believe how many stamp sets, embellishments, editing, etc. that are available.

If you hold a $400.00 + workshop, you can purchase this product for 50% off or for $40.00 instead of the $80.00 it retails for. Give me a call to order so you can have as much fun as I'm having!!!

Wild West Train Robbery

I don't know about you guys, but I have the hardest time thinking of something for my husband for gifts..... he does like to watch old westerns and stuff so I found that we had a local train ride from Horseshoe Bend to Smith's Ferry. There are lots of different "types" of trips; but I found the "Wild West Train Robbery". I told my husband that we were going somewhere on the 26th, but I wouldn't tell him where... he doesn't like NOT KNOWING where he is going and he was a little grumpy about the whole thing. Anyway, I drove, which he also doesn't like and I took him to Horseshoe Bend, which is about 30 miles away from home. I turned off the main road, and he could see the trains ahead...... I think at that moment he was getting sort of excited.

When we getting ready to board the train, there was someone sitting on benches outside the train playing an instrument

Then once we got inside there was an open car with benches where we sat for the first half of the trip. There are several other cars that are all different from the others... One car has seats like on a regular train, then there is one that is like a dining car with tables and chairs, the one we first walked through which is off to the side sold trinkets, engineer hats, popcorn, etc.

Then once we started moving they acted out the Hatfields and McCoys; however, they called them the Hatcoys and McFields ha ha ha

Can you believe they came through the train and robbed us!!!!!!????

When we stopped at the half way point, they had it out between the families but then the son and daughter from each family decided they wanted to be married and the son proposed. So the fight was over and on the way back the couple were married........... Instead of saying "til death do us part" they said "and I will never tell anyone about your pappy's still".
We had such a really fun time; the weather was great, the actors were good and this was something really different from what we usually do.
My grumpy husband, not liking to be surprised, now has plans to take friends and "surprise" them ha ha ha...... as the world turns!!!

Have a nice day.

Build a Bear.....

I received my Beary Best Friends and Beary Nice Wishes the other day so I had time to play today. These stamps are so Darling... I'm going to have fun with them.

The first card with the little Girl Bear, I used Chocolate Chip cardstock and mounted Regal Rose cardstock ontop with some Tall Tales Designer Series Paper at the bottom. I took a 1" strip of Close to Cocoa cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot using the Finial Press Textured Impressions and and tied some Close to Cocoa ribbon around it and attached it to the card base at the top of the DSP; then I took a smaller piece of ribbon and tied around the existing ribbon and tied it into a knot. I stamped my missy bear image on a piece of watercolor paper and colored her in using Close to Cocoa, Regal Rose and Rose Red Classic Inks using my Aqua Painter. Using some Bordering Blue classic ink, I also colored around her giving her some dimension. I stamped the string from the balloon onto her hand. Then on another piece of watercolor paper, I stamped the balloon and cut it out attaching it to the top of the string using dimensionals. The greeting is from the Beary Nice Wishes set, which I stamped on Whisper White cardstock and punched out using the Modern Label Punch. I also punched another piece using the Modern Label Punch and Close to Cocoa cardstock, which I cut in half and adhered to the back of each end.

The second card, I used To The Nines Designer Series Paper as the card base. I also used the backside of this same paper and cut a 2" strip and another strip of Ruby Red cardstock, punching one side out using the Scallop Edge Punch. I tied some red taffeta ribbon around it before adhering it to the card base. I stamped the Mr. Bear on some watercolor paper using StazOn and watercolored using Close to Cocoa, Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy and Ruby Red classic inks. I stamped the bear on some designer series paper from the Christmas Cocoa package and cut out the shirt portion and glued it onto the bear. Again, using Bordering Blue, I colored around the bear giving it some dimension. I then stamped the birthday hat and the gift sack on some watercolor paper, coloring them in using classic inks and my Aqua Painter. The hat was cut out and attached to the bear with dimensionals. I cut around the bear's paw and cut out the inside of the handle from the gift sack; then I slipped the sack over the bear's paw. I adhered the watercolor paper to a piece of Ruby Red cardstock then attached to the card base using dimensionals. The greeting "Happy Bearthday" is from the Beary Nice Wishes. Instead of stamping in a line like the stamp is, I used my Basic Black marker and colored each word separately, cleaning between stamps so I could stamp on a smaller area. I punched out the words using the large Oval Punch, then I punched out a Scalloped Oval from the Ruby Red Cardstock, cut it in half and adhered the greeting over the scalloped oval piece, attaching it to the card base.

Yesterday I treated my husband (surprised him) with a train ride that had a western theme. Tomorrow I will show you some photos of that really fun trip.

Phones for You!!

I'm a little delinquent posting card swaps I received at Convention. This is one of the cutest things I've seen in a long time; how creative some people are. This particular card was made with the "demonstrator" in mind, as the outside says "Phone Me to Place an Order", then the inside had the demonstrators business card attached. This layout can be used for lots off reasons to get in touch with friends and family.

The phone base is a half circle cut with the Circle Scissors Plus, then the dial is made with various circle punches and stamps all layered. You can see the number holes have been punched using the Crop-a-dile and the finger stop is using one of the new accessories from the Clips Assortment. The receiver piece is made from Big Shot Top Note Die, folded in half and the handle portion cut out with the Wide Oval Punch. How cute is the cord? She used the Crushed Curry Polka-Dot grosgrain ribbon and twisted it before attaching under the two card pieces. The phone base is using the new Melon Mambo cardstock and the receiver is using the new Raspberry Lemonade Designer Series Paper. These are all new in-colors..... don't they all work together well?

Things I LOVE

We made this cute little bag at Convention using the Things I Love stamp set. These are 4"X4" note cards in a cellophane bag with a topper. Each of the note cards has a different image (a shoe, a shopping bag and a piece of chocolate.
When my Club group started their new session this month, I asked them to all bring me a card and I would give them a special treat. Well, these are what I made for them. Don't you love the new in-colors? These are made using the Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay card stocks, inks and ribbons. Have I mentioned that this year for the first time Stampin' Up! came out with Stampin' Write Markers for the in-colors??? This is such an awesome product. We've been asking for them for years. It makes coloring the images so much easier and bright than using the blender pens for coloring. The girls that received these loved them.