Inkin' up the Dogs!

ATC (Artist Trading Cards) swappin' again!

These are a couple of ATCs I made for some swaps at The Stamp Shack.  The one on the left is for a Pumpkin ATC swap, and the one on the right is for a Thanksgiving ATC swap.  They are both hosted by my friend Chris, who lives in Michigan.  I really had fun using these new Stampin' Up! stamp sets....both of them are available in the Holiday Mini Catalog starting on October 1st.  I will be posting a link to the Holiday Mini Catalog in my sidebar soon!  If you are my customer, you should have a paper copy already, or very soon!  I just mailed a batch of these out on Thursday.  So those of you that live further away from me can expect them this week. 

One of my favorite things about these ATCs is using the Stampin' Up! Linen Thread on the scarecrow one.  I think it just "goes" so well since the bottom of his pants are tied with twine.  Linen Thread is such an inexpensive, but fun embellishment!  I colored the scarecrow in using my favorite coloring method....SU classic inks and blender pens! 

There are a few things I want to point out about the Pumpkin ATC as well.  The ribbon is not Stampin' Up! (GASP!)  It's a ribbon that I've had in my stash for a long time, and I decided it would be perfect to use on these swaps, so I used it up!  The Designer Paper I used on my Pumpkin ATC is also retired.  It was available in our catalog a few years back.  One of the reason I love swapping ATCs with my friends at the Stamp Shack is it gives me an opportunity to use up some oldie-but-goodie supplies that I can't use when I demonstrate currently.  I used my markers to color the two different colors onto the pumpkin stamp. The stamp also coordinates wonderfully with our new Curvy Label Punch! 

 

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope everyone is having (or had!) a great weekend!

Scarecrow ATC Supplies:  Happy Blessing Stamp set; Bordering Blue, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard & Very Vanilla card stock; Basic Brown, Bordering Blue, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive classic inks; Linen Thread, Large Oval Punch

Pumpkin ATC Supplies:  Eat, Drink & Be Scary stamp set; Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Whisper White card stock; Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant Stampin' Write Markers; Curvy Label Punch; 1-3/4" Circle Punch; non SU ribbon. 

Teller Appreciation Cards......

     

I made these little note cards for Teller Appreciation Week this week.  (see my Movie Pass Holders post for more info.)   They are very simple 3x3 cards.  Sometimes less is more, don't you think??  I used the "Absolutely Fabulous" stamp set for the sentiment.  The inside of the cards say "no, seriously....you are!" 

I gave them to the tellers along with candles from my FAVORITE candle company, Swan Creek Candle.  They each got a different scent.  The three scents I bought were:  Lemon Icebox Cookies, Vanilla Pound Cake, and Warm Cinnamon Buns. I do promise you........they smell as good as they sound.   Swan Creek is a local company to me, and they produce clean burning and VERY yummy smelling candles!  I just want to eat them, they smell so good! 

I hope you're all having a great week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:  Absolutely Fabulous & Simply Said stamp sets; Whisper White card stock (6" x 3" folded to make a 3" x 3" card); Small Square Envelopes; Basic Black, Not Quite Navy, Tangerine Tango, & Kiwi Kiss Classic Ink; Striped Grosgrain Ribbon; Blender Pen.

Happy Birthday to my Mom.....and my new car came in today!!!!

Today is my Mom's birthday!!  Her name is Cheryl.  Happy Birthday Mom!!!  She reads my blog, so feel free to leave her Happy Birthday comments!

Create your own glittery text at pYzam.com

In celebration of her birthday, I am going to pick up my new car!  Okay...well one thing doesn't really have anything to do with the other, but it sounded good, didn't it??

I ordered my new car back in July.  It's a 2009 Ford Escape.  It seems like I have been waiting for it FOREVER.  I ran out of miles on my lease this past weekend, so I have been on pins and needles waiting for it.  I have been driving my husband crazy!  He is my car salesman.  (We met when he sold me a car about 8 years ago.)  I've been asking him every day for the past 2 weeks where it is.  Here is why I am so excited:

**28 MPG Highway Miles vs. the 16 MPG that I am getting in my Explorer now. 

**Navigation System!!!!!!!!!!! (I think it's even voice activated!)

**Electronic Jukebox with enough memory to hold 2,400 songs!!!!!!!!!  I can download songs from a CD into the memory, and it even has a USB port to hook up my flash drive.  Plus there is a plug-in for my MP3 player.  I don't think I'll be needing my MP3 player with that kind of memory though!

**Sync!! (I can tell it to dial my phone, I can tell it to TEXT for me, I can answer my phone without picking my phone UP! I know there is a whole slew of other things it can do, but I'll have to figure those out)

**Heated Leather Seats!!!!!!!! (I know!  I'm spoiled!)

**It plays DVD's on the Navigation system!! (Unfortunately not while I'm driving though.   Dang it!  Why do they have to ruin all my fun just for a little safety??)

I pretty much got it loaded.  I really LOVED my Explorer, but I just couldn't afford the gas anymore.  I was a little bummed about having to go down to a 4-cylinder (I have a lead foot!), but I think all the bells and whistles will cheer me up.  Thankfully, Escapes are cheaper than Explorers, so I could afford to add some fun things!

Here is a picture of it on the delivery truck.  Brian just emailed this to me less than an hour ago (sorry it's not a great quality pic....from his cell phone):

 

 

So if y'all don't see me posting for a few days, you'll know it's because I'm busy loading songs into my Jukebox! LOL

Just kidding!!!!!

Movie Pass Holders.......

   

Aside from being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, my "other" job is an Operations Supervisor for a bank.  Part of my duties include managing 3 tellers.  This week is "Teller Appreciation Week".  The goal is to give the girls something fun each day this week just to let them know how special they are.  Unfortunately, I am not given a great deal of money to pull this off!  So I'm trying to make each gift as fun as possible by jazzing it up a bit.  I made these holders for movie passes that I'm giving them. 

I used my oldie but goodie (retired) Best of Cluck set for the Chick....as well as the bat from the Halloween Frights set.  I don't keep many retired sets around, but Best of Cluck is one I don't EVER see myself parting with!  It's just too much fun!  I was happy to have an excuse to use it.  I also used the Spiral Punch to give my black card stock that "filmstrip" look, and I used the Ticket Corner punch to make the tickets.  Everything else was computer generated.  I inked up my ticket with a sponge and some More Mustard ink. 

                

 

 

 

I'm sure I'll be sharing more Teller Appreciation Week goodies later in the week.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Flower for All Seasons Christmas card....

                                                                                         

I have been playing around with some more ideas for Christmas cards.  Working with an image as small as the ones in "A Flower for All Seasons" is sometimes difficult to do!  While I was cleaning up my stamping room today, I came across a card I did a while back that used a small image like this.  I decided maybe the layout would work with this set, so I gave it a whirl.  I'm not sure that I like these as much as the card I modeled them after, but I think they're okay.  What do you think?  Which one do you prefer?  The green one or the blue one??

                                                               

 

 

Supplies:  A Flower for All Seasons, Warm Words, Merry & Bright stamp sets; Baja Breeze, Old Olive (standard size card base), Riding Hood Red (2-1/4" x 2-1/2"), Whisper White (2" x 2-1/4") cardstock; Holiday Treasures Designer Series Paper; Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Pumpkin Pie & Basic Brown Classic Inks; Blender Pen; Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon; silver brad; Dazzling Diamonds, 2-way glue pen.

Online Ordering is Here!

 

Whether you wake up in the middle of the night with the perfect plan for the perfect project, or you need to make birthday cards with no time for a workshop, it’s no problem!  Now you can order fabulous Stampin’ Up! products from me, day or night.  Just visit  my web site  (and click on the "Shop Now" button in the upper right hand corner) for the best prices and shipping rates.  Best of all, you can also receive hostess rewards with all qualifying orders.

Spooky Spider!

Spooky Spider Décor Elements

 

Just in time for Halloween!

This fun image comes in three sizes and two colors and is designed to coordinate with our Ghostly Greetings Designer Series paper and our Chills & Thrills Rub-Ons from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog. Spooky Spider is a limited time offer, and will no longer be available after October 31, 2008, so order yours today!  Email me to place your order, or order online from my Stampin' Up! website.

Black	White	Description	Price
114761	114764	Spooky Spider Décor Elements (S)	$5.95
114762	114765	Spooky Spider Décor Elements (M)	$10.95
114763	114766	Spooky Spider Décor Elements (L)	$14.95

   

Click on the flyer to enlarge

Broomstick Treat Bag tutorial.....

This is a fun and easy project straight from page 29 of the Fall & Winter catalog!  You can fill it with candy, or the treat of your choice.  Do you want to know what is in my bag??  Caramel Apple Hershey Kisses!  Good thing they're wrapped up in this bag now, because you know what that means?  I will stop eating them!!!

I have had intentions all week of trying this out today on my day off.  I received a phone call last night around 7:00 from a lady that wanted to book a workshop.  She specifically requested the broomstick treat bag!  Her timing was impeccable!  I told her that would be perfect, since I was going to be trying it out today anyway! 

It was really easier than I thought it would be.  This bag is pretty big, and I actually think I might look for some smaller size brown sacks to make little "mini" versions.  This bag stands about 15-16 inches tall (including the stick!) 

You will need the following items for the bag:  2 lunch sacks; stick from your yard; scissors; twine or string; ribbon; card stock, stamps & ink to make a tag; hole punch; (and last but not least) CANDY or the treat of your choice.  Here are some photos for you to follow along.  Click on the photos to see them larger.

 

First:  Unfold one bag, and push the base of it out while folding in the left and right sides.  This is what my bag looked like after this step:

 

 

Next:  Using your scissors, cut the bag into thin strips, stopping just short of the base.  Here is what my bag looked like after all of my strips were cut:

 

 

 

Then:  Take your second bag, and cut thin strips into only the top inch or two.  Here is mine:

 

 

 

Now:  Open both bags, and place the second bag inside the base of the shredded bag.  Fill it with candy.  Here are my two bags together:

 

 

 

Finally:  Insert your stick into the bag and bring all of the shredded pieces of the bag up and fasten them with twine.  You can then decorate your bag as desired.  Here is a pic of my finished bag and a close-up of my tag:

 

 

 

 

 

I used a stamp set from the the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog called "Eat, Drink & Be Scary" to create my tag.  It will be available starting October 1st.  I also used the large and small tag punches, along with Pumpkin Pie Classic ink and a black Stampin' Write marker. 

I hope you'll try this out!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Big Birthday Cupcake.....

  This was such a fun card to make.  I love cupcakes, and when I saw this big cupcake in the new catalog I just had to have it!!  The stamp set is called "Simple Birthday Thanks" and it comes with fill-in-the-blank words in the middle of the base of the cupcake that a child can use to write a thank you note.  Well I don't have any kids....so I cut those words right out of my cupcake when I mounted my stamp set! 

To make the cupcake, I stamped the image several times on the different colors of card stock.  Then I just cut the pieces out separately and mounted them on the card with Stampin' Dimensionals.  I used a crimper on the bottom piece to give it that "cupcake" feel.  I added the ribbon and tag, and some glitter for sparkle....then put it all together.  I used Stampin' Write Markers to color in the little cupcake on the tag.  A tip for you when coloring with markers or blender pens.... Stampin' Up! Whisper White or Very Vanilla card stock is specially formulated for coloring when used with any of our "Basic" inkpad colors.  (Basic Black, Basic Brown, & Basic Grey.)  So if you don't get the results you like when you're coloring...maybe your card stock pills or maybe your ink runs.... it could be the paper or ink you're using.  I highly recommend the combination of SU card stock with SU "Basic" ink pads.  They work very well together. 

 

It's a really fun card to make and I hope you'll try it out sometime. 

A little birdie told me that this stamp set is going to be on sale starting October 1st to help celebrate Stampin' Up!'s 20th birthday!!!  There are several other birthday themed stamps on sale as well!  Email me if you're interested and I'll get back to you with the details.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies used:  Big Birthday Thanks, Short & Sweet, Think Happy Thoughts & Polka Dot Background stamp sets; Kraft (standard size card base), Whisper White (2" x 5-1/4"), Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Real Red card stock; Chocolate Chip, Real Red, & Basic Brown Classic Ink; 1-1/4" circle punch, 1/8" hole punch; Real Red, Creamy Caramel & Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write Markers; Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, Red Hemp Twine, Red Chunky Glitter, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 2-way glue pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, Paper Crimper. 

 

Eastern Blooms card....

Today I set out to use my new Hawaii Papaya designer series paper.  Instead, I ended up making a card with no designer paper on it at all!  I at least used it in the background of my picture.  It was the inspiration for my colors, afterall! 

I stamped the floral image from the Eastern Blooms stamp set in Tangerine Tango.  I used a q-tip to wipe off the color on the stems, and then I markered on the stems with my Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker.  After stamping a sentiment and tying on some ribbon....voila!  A nice and simple birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

Supplies:  Eastern Blooms, Sincere Salutations Stamp sets; Kiwi Kiss (standard size card base), Tangerine Tango (3-1/2" x 4-3/4"), Whisper White (3-1/4" x 3-1/2") card stock; Tangerine Tango Classic Ink, Old Olive Stampin' Write Marker, Kiwi Kiss Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.