Happy Halloween!!

Today, for the first time all school year, I managed to send cute notes in the kids' lunches! I know, who'd have thunk now that both of them take their lunches it would be *that* hard?? Well I didn't expect that. So today I planned a head and stuck these little 3x3 cards in some lunch boxes:

Supplies:
Stamps: Spooky Bingo Bits
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Wisteria Wonder, Basic Black, More Mustard, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Pumpkin Pie textured card stock, Whisper White card stock

And just for kicks, this is how I sent them on their day!


Rapunzel & Luke Skywalker

(actually, I took them to school, and stayed for the school costume parade..and then had them change into normal clothes for the rest of the day....because our school is insane...LOL!)

a project.

I am still trying to decide if I am insane, dedicated or ambitious. hee hee! First of all, I signed up to be my son's class room mother - a decision I wonder about frequently, LOL! Secondly, that made me in charge of class parties, which you'd THINK wouldn't be stressful, but...turns out...you'd be wrong. It is quite stressful for me, LOL! Plus, this is the first Halloween I've sewn a costume (just part of one...second time using a pattern...wow, stress!) and I'm working on Christmas card classes and working on getting a job, and my house has had three colds, pneumonia (coupled with pleurisy) and a sinus infection for me. ..its kinda been crazy 'round here this month!

So, me being me, decided to make Bingo boards for this class party. See that? That would be 30 boards, completely randomly spaced images, ready to go.

I'll share my process in case anyone else wants to do this too. (Altho to be honest, I would suggest something smaller, like a Halloween -or other holiday- party at home, haha!)
First, I stamped 30 Bingo Boards. Two fit on a 8x11 sheet without worry of overlapping. I chose the ink colors I own and laid them out, and then stuck a stamp (or two!) with each color. Then there's the trick of how to play the game, since this isn't letters and numbers...after a lot of thinking on my part, my brilliant husband came up with the plan to stamp each image 5 times and on the back write a B or an I, etc. That's how I used up the scraps of paper that I had stamped the boards onto. Worked out quite nicely!

the various boards... I tried hard to make it super random. Like I'd take the stamp and fit it on a B square, I square, etc, and also tried to keep the similar colors apart to make the boards prettier. Because I am *sure* these kids will appreciate the way it looks! hahaha!

After I wrote the letters on the backs of the squares to draw, I had my helper sort thru and make sure I had stamped each image. I was sure I would have missed at least one!

and here we are, ready to go! Each kid will get a handful of candy corn to use as markers and we'll see how it goes!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bingo Card, Spooky Bingo Bits
Ink: Peach Parfait, Basic Gray, Certainly Celery, More Mustard, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Classic Basic Black, Craft Basic Black, Lucky Limeade, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Pear Pizazz, Rich Razzelberry, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder, Early Espresso, Tangerine Tango inks!
Paper: Whisper White

A Hike!

This is one of the layouts we did at my scrapbook class last week. It is super quick and simple, and yet captures the essence of the photos I used. I figured it would be useful for anyone who hikes or camps or otherwise gets dirty outside! LOL! Plus I love this new Denim Jean Ribbon!

Supplies:
Stamps: Taffy Alphabet (retired!)
Ink: Not Quite Navy
Paper: Cajun Craze card stock, Well Worn DP
Accessories: Blue Denim Jean ribbon

Sparkly Christmas Card!

Here is a simple, and yet -I think- beautiful remake of cards I've made with this set and punch before. I love the sparkly red ornament, peeking behind the embossed white ornament on red card stock. This is definitely one we'll make at my Christmas card class. I think there will be a fair amount of embossing going on...!

Supplies:
Stamps: Delightful Decorations
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Whisper White, Always Artichoke & Real Red card stocks, Red Glimmer Paper
Accessories: Ornament Punch

Mini Books for Mom....

I have been busy enjoying Fall Break with my kids the past several days, and not stamping at all. So now I'll share some of the scrapbooks I've made with/for my mom in recent months.

First, we *had* to re-do her wedding book. It used to be a simple album with slots for 5x7 wedding shots, framed with gold lines. Weeellll, lest you think my love of photos/scrapbooks is a new thing, I looked thru her wedding book so many times as a child that it was literally falling apart, thanks to me. The pages were no longer held by the binding, some of the vinyl covers were torn...it was in bad shape. She ordered an 8x8 album from one of our Mini Catalogs and we finally managed to put some pages together for her! Best of all, we went thru her whole stack of proofs and added in a number of smaller prints than the original 5x7's she'd used in her album!

This first page shows some of the little stamping we did... First we stamped this branch colored with markers, hanging off the page. (my mom's wedding colors were pastel pink, blue, purple, green, yellow and peach). Then we stamped it in Versamark, nearly right over the first time, and embossed it with Iridescent Ice powder to make it all sparkly. That's why it looks a little blurred, but its so pretty irl. (the photos are of my cute parents with my dad's brother- the best man)

See the bouquets in this picture? My mom kept them! We trimmed off some of the actual ribbon from the girls' bouquets and used it on the page below!

This page shows the ribbons, (which coordinated with the retired subtles brads!) and photos of my parents with their parents!

Isn't that fun?! I think so. We used a variety of embellishments and accessories throughout the book, all coordinating with my mom's colors.

The second book we made was an ABC book my mom has been hoping to make for years. In fact, the first time we went thru and planned a photo for each letter, my niece was going to be N- for New Baby...and she now has two younger siblings and another on the way! It was about time we got the book done!!
Since most of the pages are people's first names (for example, I am T for Tanya) I'm only sharing these two pages, but it gives you a good idea of what we did....

"D is for Darling grandchildren!"

 "Y is for Yellowstone!" (where we have gone at least 8 times as a family)

This book was a 6x6 album, and the page bases all come from the hostess 6x6 packs of DP that have been offered in recent years. We chose a photo to nicely represent the person or thing, then stamped the word in the coordinating ink. We have collected several alphabet sets over the years so I sort of randomized the sets for each "title".

Isn't it fun to think of the potential ideas for a small scrapbook? You can do a whole event or trip, or something like an alphabet book for a theme. Scrapbooking is truly a limitless way to preserve your memories!

Halloween pages!

I don't usually post incomplete projects but somehow, with all my huge photo orders, I have NO Halloween photos printed!! I also don't have very many scrapped so I guess I just don't print them very much... But this layout was part of my class yesterday and festive and fun for today, so I am sharing it anyway! ....someday I'll print photos, I promise!
This was kind of fun, even tho it was sort of a lot of work. I started by choosing my selection of inks; all my shades of oranges, greens, purples, yellows, browns and gray and black. Then I laid out my stamps with whichever color I felt would work best. I stamped it on the board and then on the border strips, and voila- a fun, quick Halloween page!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bingo card, Spooky Bingo Bits
Ink: Old Olive, Wild Wasabi, Always Artichoke, Pear Pizazz, Lucky Limeade, Certainly Celery, Rich Razzleberry, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Concord Crush, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Peach Parfait, More Mustard, So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Basic Black, Basic Gray
Paper: Old Olive textured card stock, Whisper White card stock
Accessories: Peach Parfait ribbon, Basic Black grosgrain ribbon

Scrapbook Class!

Tomorrow is my October Scrapbook Class, here at my house! This is one of the layouts we will be making. (If you are coming, I need your RSVP today, and it will be $10 when you arrive.) I'll let the attendee's choose the color of title strip and the color of their punched flowers, and which of the jumbo buttons to use. I chose the Pool Party because my daughter is wearing a similar shade of blue in these photos.
I am so in love with this new Spice Cake DP and now it makes me want the single stamp Triple Treat Flower (page 18), because the DP is totally based off of that design! I like these colors because while they are geared for autumn, they can easily be used for any other season. For example, these photos were taken in August.

Supplies:
Stamps: Faith In Nature (hostess), Just Perfect Alphabet
Ink: Soft Suede, Pear Pizazz & Pool Party markers
Paper: Soft Suede, Pool Party & Very Vanilla card stocks, Spice Cake DP (Holiday Mini)
Accessories: Spice Cake buttons (Holiday Mini), Linen Thread

Back to Halloween...!

Do you send Halloween cards? I only sometimes do, and only to those who love them, lol! My grandmother, her sister and my mother love to send Halloween cards so I do try to have at least one go out to each of them. Mostly I like to scrapbook Halloween themes, because its more about fun memories with the kids, than crafting and sending notes.

Here is the second card using the embossing folder. I did it with Elegant Eggplant ink this time, and added this sweet little witch! I colored her mostly using ink pads and blender pens, but the skin was colored with the Blush Blossom watercolor wonder crayon.

Supplies:
Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Craft Basic Black, Wisteria Wonder, Wild Wasabi, More Mustard, Peach Parfait, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Peach Parfait & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Blender Pens, Black grosgrain ribbon

Christmas Planning...!

Yes, it feels early to see Christmas things at the store, but, if you're anything like me and have dozens (...and dozens and dozens...ahem) of holiday cards to send out, its never too early to start creating for Christmas! Right now I am in the process of making the projects for my upcoming Christmas card class!

This card is one that we'll make for sure! It is based entirely on a card shared on the demonstrator side of the Stampin' Up! website. (you know you CAN still sign up with that awesome Big Shot promotion and have access to all these ideas...!) I just swapped out the DP, the punched image and how the greeting was. The only difference is that we'll use the white bakers twine, instead of the white/cherry cobbler. But for this sample, that's okay! Did you notice the DP? it comes from the Spice Cake package, which is my new super-favorite...!

Supplies:
Stamps: Delightful Decorations, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Soft Suede
Paper: Pear Pizazz, Soft Suede, Whisper White card stock, Spice Cake DP
Accessories: Ornament Punch, Word Window Punch, White/Cherry Cobbler Bakers' Twine

'Tis the Season...!

Nooo, not that season, a season to play with new toys to make fun Halloween projects! I got a fun box this week and last night I finally got a chance to use what was in it.
Today's sample uses two new stamp sets and an embossing folder!

Aren't mom's great?? My mom places orders, lets them come to my house and lets me play with her new toys before she even gets to see her things! When this spider web embossing folder came out in last years holiday mini catalog she wondered how she could use it without the Big Shot. Very recently, Splitcoaststampers.com showed me exactly how we could use it without purchasing the machine. Of course my mom ordered it immediately! If you follow that link you will see this awesome idea and fun new (to me at least!) technique! I don't have a brayer (my mom does...and its at her house) so instead I used an easy direct to paper technique, where I simply laid the ink pad down on the card stock and scrubbed back and forth until the color was as even as I liked. Then you just buff it with a tissue and voila! So striking and fun!
And then you see I got the bingo board background stamp, and filled this section with a variety of Halloween bits in all kinds of colors! I have a lot of plans for those two stamp sets, so just get comfy! haha!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bingo Board, Spooky Bingo Bits, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Tangerine Tango, Basic Black, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizazz, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi, Wisteria Wonder, More Mustard
Paper: Always Artichoke & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Black Grosgrain Ribbon

Are you ready for this season? We'll be decorating the house tomorrow, and then figuring out how to make my son the costume he very much wants....tricky, tricky!

Bright Birthday!

Here's a fun, bright birthday card, on a very dreary, rainy and snowy day! I love this Big Top Birthday DP, and this fun candy pattern is one of the biggest reasons I purchased it! This is for a friend of mine. I'm going ridiculously simple with the gift-giving this month and she is getting a package of skittles. I wanted to somehow coordinate the gift and card and thought this fit the bill! I used the current Stamping 411 sketch and liked the idea of a round button for the side embellishment to further coordinate everything! And yes, I threaded that thin ribbon through the button and then tied it! Pretty proud of that... lol!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Swirls & Curls Verses
Ink: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise
Paper: Daffodil Delight & Whisper White card stocks, Big Top Birthday DP
Accessories: 1/8 inch Real Red ribbon, Brights Buttons, Blender Pen

Masculine Birthdays!

Once again, its been too many days since I last stamped! Did you know Saturday was World Card Making Day? It sort of snuck up on me and then I ended up with no time to stamp all weekend. Today I made up for it, lol!
We have a couple masculine birthdays coming up this month in our family. Men can be difficult to create for, but I have to say, I love how this card turned out! I used Jen's October SFYTT for my starting point, pulled out my current birthday stamp set and I think this works well!

Supplies:
Stamps: Patterned Party
Ink: Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Night of Navy, Chocolate Chip markers
Paper: Night of Navy, Always Artichoke & Whisper White card stocks, Autumn Traditions DP (retired!)
Accessories: Twill Tape

This second card uses the sketch found HERE but I did flip the DP element to the other side of the card. Also, this is almost entirely made of retired supplies. But you know I love this nautical set sooo....!

Supplies:
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, The Open Sea (retired!)
Ink: Night of Navy, Early Espresso
Paper: Night of Navy & Whisper White card stocks, Nautical Expedition DP (RETIRED)