Beautiful Blog Candy

http://more-than-heirlooms.blogspot.com/2009/09/grand-opening-of-my-new-etsy-shop-and.html

Check out the above link for some beautiful blog candy and some words about life that will lift your spirit.

Christmas Explosion Box/Album

I can't remember when I had so much fun with a project as I did working on this today. It was an all day thing but not hard and well worth the time and effort. It is a Christmas Explosion Box or Album. Each of the flat sides has two tag pockets, so you can use four pictures for a total of 16 pics if you are making an album. I used stickers, stamps, chipboard, pictures, flowers, gems, etc for my tags and a small bottle brush tree in the middle. (I think the tree needs a tree skirt.) You have to use 12 x 12 paper to make the box and pockets but then scraps of designer paper can be used for the covering of the base. I used Basic Grey Wassail that I had from last year. I only wish the red CS I had used was a burgundy but that was all I had. It's very sturdy because of the many layers. You could make these for almost any occasion such as birthdays, Fourth of July, showers, new home gift, etc. The only limit is your imagination. NOW, where did I get the directions for this beauty??? It is from a book called Outstanding Mini Albums and the only place I know that has it is JoAnn's. Amazon or ebay may also. I hope you like it. I sure had a ball making it!

Halloween Grunge

I CASED this card from Sherry Cheever at http://sherrycheever.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ . I love doing distressing and grungy stuff. This card has a lot of Tim Holtz elements--the key, the stamps, the grungeboard swirls. Sherry was kind enough to share a wonderful site about Edgar Allen Poe for the source of the quote from The Black Cat. Thanks so much Sherry.

A Wonderful Give Away!

Lesley at Flatwoods Folk Art is so talented and having a wonderful giveaway. First, I want to tell you about the classthat she's teaching at KC Willis' new studio in Colorado ~She will teach an altered book class,Bound Reliquaries,which will be held in KC's studio February 4 - 6, 2010Second, the class is limited to 10 people.When the first 5 sign up there will be a drawing andone of those lucky artists will receive the classat 50% off the class price!!And then, when the next and final 5 sign upanother drawing will be held and one of those lucky artistswill receive the same 50% off discount off of the class!How cool is that????HERE IS THE LINK TO READ MORE ABOUT IT,AND IF YOU SIGN UP...YOU MAY GET HALF OFF!!!!

Before and After

Well here you have it....the ugly truth. And may we all now observe a moment of silence for eight beautiful 20' hemlocks that went to their death. I have been a gardner all my life and to take a tree down just kills me. But when they are badly infested and dying there comes a time when we must part and today was it. I'm not actually as upset as I thought I'd be. When the fence goes
in, I think I will actually like it. The plus is I gained about 15 more feet of backyard!!!

BWA-HA-HA-HA

I'm showing you this card to keep myself humble. I messed up on the embossing. The black embossing powder was a bugger. Anyway, this is SU Dusty Durango CS and ribbon, with a DP from another company. The witches are a MS punch that I punched out four times, reversed two and glued them together. The sentiment is also MS. Added a little dimensional plastic spider on the ribbon. Done! Busy, busy today. We have eight huge hemlocks at the rear of our property that are coming down. I'll show you before and after pics when it's done. They are diseased and while we will miss the privacy, it must be done. I'm really down about it but life goes on! We'll be replacing them with a privacy fence. Blah!

Thankful Card

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. The weather here was absolutely beautiful and I made the most of it, spending most of my time outdoors doing some fall chores in the yard. I had a few minutes free late today and decided to make another of the daisy flowers....I choose to call it a mum this time...and background stamped a 5.25" square card of More Mustard with More Mustard ink and the leaves from SU Falling Leaves set. The sentiment is from the same set and is stamped on Naturals Ivory with Really Rust ink. This would have to be mailed or presented in a padded envelope or small box because of how dimensional the flower is. The more of these you make the easier they get. Have a great week wherever you are!

Altered Gift Jar

After watching the tutorial on making these gorgeous water lilly flowers from Connie at Constantly Stamping, I decided to try one and when it turned out pretty decent, I took a jar from my altering stash (I think this had a candle in it at one time) and made this into a gift. It could be filled with kisses, fall candies, bath salts, small stamping supplies, tags, etc. This is an all SU project as I used Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum and Barely Banana for the flower, then Whisper White and Cottage Wall paper, Rich Razzleberry ribbon, the scalloped stamp punch and the new modern label punch. The sentiment is from Sweet Little Sentiments, one of my favorite word stamps. The flower itself was made from the Daisy Die with the Big Shot Machine. We all have lots of nice little jars from food, candles, other gift items etc. than we can clean up and use. My tip for old candle jars is this. When they are burned down as far as they go, put them in the freezer and let the wax harden. Usually you can then pop it right out. Clean out any leftover sticky labels or whatever with Good Gone, put it through the dishwasher and you have a nice re-usable jar. Have a great day everyone!

Do You Like Red????

Better late than never.....I entered a Using Red challenge on SCS that was posted about six days ago. I love red. It's my favorite color I think. So I saw a card like this in blue on SCS today by stamp2u so I cased her design and used red instead. CS is Real Red and Whisper White. Ribbon is Riding Hood Red but goes pretty well. Ink is Real Red. Stamps are the new Medallion and Snow Swirled which stamp2u discovered fit perfectly on the SU scalloped punch in the center of the medallion. I used Liquid Pearls to highlight the snowflakes. I am happy with how this turned out. To see all the challenge cards go to SCS and plug in the code WT235. Have a great evening everyone!

A Winner!!! Me.........

Just wanted to say that I won a beautiful set of stamps from Serendipity Stamps for the card posted below under Monochromatic. They should be arriving soon. Imagine that!

I'm really NOT pushing the season!

Here's a few Christmas cards I did while just playing around. The red one is cased from SCS and right now I can't find the designer. It is a really clever idea. You punch out a circle, use some removable adhesive on the back and then stamp around it. I used Pocket Silhouettes but there are many stamps that would work with this idea. Real Red is the ink and CS. I added a little bling with some gold Stickles. The other is Mindscape Christmas stamp from Inkadinkadoo which I embossed. Within the stamps image are other images. See how many you can find. I tied the bow with the Bow Easy. Enjoy!

Love This Halloween Card!!!

This little card was totally cased from Ali Manning at the New England Stamper. She has great talent. It uses Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, and Old Olive. Ali's was made for an inchie challenge. All the squares, of course, are one inch. I just thought it was a super idea. The SU stampset is House of Haunts.

Perfect Halloween-esque Day

It's a dark and dreary day here today with a ton of rain. Perfect to put you in the mood for Halloween. So I decided to try out my new stamps and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE this little witch. She was stamped with black ink and is resting on a bed of leaves which I first embossed and then sponged with fall colors. Her skirt has dots of silver Stickles and she's holding a sweet little jack0 in her hand. Such fun!

Whooooo....Whooooo.....

I have been wanting to try some stamps from this company for so long and I just love this little owl in her skirt and hat, all ready to go trick or treating. I used Copics to color her skirt and hat and used orange gems for her eyes. Kinda' evil looking! Anyway, she's yours to enjoy and inspire!

I can't believe it's been eight years already since that terrible morning. I remember thinking as I watched in horror "how can this be happening in the United States, on our shores?" We'd been engaged in many wars but this was the first time this unspeakable thing had come to us, right here where we live. I hope we will all stop and take a moment today to say a prayer for the many who lost their lives and for those who rushed to help and never came out of those buildings. I really fear the direction our country has been taking these last few years and I sure hope the American people wake up and see how their freedoms and their way of life has been impacted. What we have it too precious to lose. Let's work hard to see that this never happens again. Have a great weekend everyone!

Lil' Punkin'

Go here http://happileighscrappin.blogspot.com/ to get the directions for this wonderful little pumpkin made from scalloped ovals. You could use a punch for the ovals or you could use the scalloped oval Nestabilites. A few tiny scraps for the stem, leaves and curlies and you're done. The pumpkin takes two sheets of cs, depending on what size oval you use. If you click to enlarge the picture you can see where my tacky glue wasn't quite dry. Oops! Cute!

Autumn Splendor

This is a card I made to enter into Flourishes Fall Contest. It's 5" x 7"on a cream background with more mustard CS which I stamped with a leaf from Flourishes Autumn Flourishes set and the tree is from their Forest of Trees set. The punch of pumpkins and scalloped background is done on a very beautiful glittered paper. Enjoy!

Monochromatic

This is a card I entered in a Monochromatic Challenge for Serendipity Stamps. I also entered the one with the three little dresses I posted awhile back. This whole card is done in Dusty Durango. I guess I'm not supposed to mention the stamp company but I'm not posting a link!

Here's a little card for thanksgiving with a wonderful patterned leaf stamp that you can really have fun with coloring. Not my best effort but I feel stifled about what I can and can't say. I'm not sure I can stand this. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Getting on my soap box a minute.....

Today Stampin' Up! announced several changes to the demonstrator agreement which we sign when we join the company. Basically, the new requirements prohibit us from selling or promoting products other than Stampin' Up@ on our personal blogs, Facebook, Tweeter, etc. We can no longer post a card or a project, for instance and say that the brads used came from Michaels. Or that we bought the lace at JoAnn's. We also will not be allowed to have a blog roll that includes other people who sell or promote for companies other than SU and as I read it, that would include posting to SCS for example because they promote other stamp companies who sponsor them. I have chosen to remove the SU catalog link from my blog and I will no longer say where the materials I use can be purchased. You may of course email me privately for any information you need. . I don't think they control my email yet! Many demos have chosen to drop from SU because of this assault on their freedom of expression. I am still a Stampin' Up@ demonstrator and will be glad to take anyone's order. I don't know how long this will continue and I guess it depends on the fall out from all of this. I understand the company's reason for doing it but I think they have gone too far. I will continue to post my creative projects as always and I thank my readers and followers for their feedback and support.