CAS & Retiring!

Yesterday I cleared off my display board and discovered I need 17 new cards for it. Wow! I also happen to know I need 3 thank you's, and a few birthdays... 
Today I set out all my about-to-retire stamp supplies and got creating!

This card uses a tipped version of the current CAS sketch, and only retiring products!! I used a Gumball Green textured card stock base, and then the rectangles use Epic Day DP, which I stamped right over! Both stamp sets are retiring too! But the best part is I know exactly who this is going to! Yeay!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Wonderfall, Simply Sketched
Ink: Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Early Espresso, Soft Suede
Paper: Gumball Green textured card stock, Epic Day DP

A Paper Page!

At my workshop, I displayed and discussed plenty of MDS products- calendars, an 8x8 book, pages, and cards. But I demonstrated a traditional paper page to emphasize stamping in scrapbooks and the extra versatility of stamps. Using a sketch found on Pinterest (from Cheryl, haha, whose page sketches I use often!) here is the page I made-

Supplies:
Stamps: Papillion Potpourri
Ink: Real Red, Basic Gray
Paper: So Saffron, I Am Me DP
Accessories: Itty Bitty Butterfly punch, Dimensionals

The DP and the letter stamps are retiring- grab them soon!! The butterflies and punch are sticking around tho.... Yeay!

And the story behind the pictures? When my daughter was little she loved to eat pickles with her Daddy. She would ask for pickles with Daddy. I'm glad I thought to snap these pictures one afternoon, because suddenly one day she didn't like them anymore on anything and still won't eat them, silly girl!

The Demo'd Card

When I hold workshops, unless something specific is otherwise requested, I demonstrate one card, one scrapbook page and then we all make a card together. This is the card I demonstrated. It features Washi Tape, DP and tape from the Occasions Mini and two super-duper easy techniques- inking with markers, and dragging the card stock across the ink pad in place of matting it.
I also used the latest Mojo Monday sketch, and talked about the usefulness of sketches for creating!

Supplies:
Stamps: Perfect Pennants
Ink: So Saffron, Coastal Cabana marker, Baked Brown Sugar marker
Paper: So Saffron, Baked Brown Sugar, Very Vanilla, Retro Fresh DP
Accessories: Retro Fresh Washi Tape, Tag A Bag Accessories (striped tag and twine), Hung Up Cute Clips

The Tag and clip are retiring so if you love them, order them soon!!

Workshop Make & Take

Today was my workshop! We had so much fun! Its been few months since I had someone else host and I think that's what makes it so much fun. Who wants to host next time? haha...
I used this sketch on Tuesday, and now I'm showing you another idea with it- the one that we all made!

Supplies:
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes
Ink: Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky
Paper: Crumb Cake & Whisper White card stocks, I Am Me DP
Accessories: Chevron Ribbon, Brights Glimmer Brads

The pretty DP and the brad are retiring, but the rest of it is current- which I planned knowing that this workshop was after the retired list came out! Those can be swapped out pretty easily for other products if you want to recreate the card!

Double Challenge!

This is one of those cards that looked a lot better in my head, haha....but hey, it filled two challenges and its another card made so here you go, *smile And its a fact- you're not gonna love every card you make....
I used the latest Clean & Simple sketch, and the latest Nacho Average color challenge, even tho they had Crushed Curry on the list. I stamped it off once and then twice to make it less powerful, haha! I also used one of my favorite about-to-retire stamp set and some about-to-retire washi tape!

Supplies:
Stamps: Simply Sketched
Ink: Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay
Paper: Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay & Whisper White card stock
Accessories: Gingham Garden Washi Tape

Week 16

Yes, its true, I've skipped weeks 14 and 15 (sort of....I have the photos laid out, I just haven't gotten to the rest of it, LOL) but for right now I'm sharing Week 16. Because its my blog and I said so. hahaha!
With this page, I fit the latest 1-2-3 Get Scrappy challenge, to have lots of journaling, a yellow background and something silver. I thought highlighting the major events and funny picture with silver glimmer arrows was a good touch.
And for those wondering, the yellow is Daffodil Delight at 50% opacity! I really like it that way.

Supplies:
MDS, Glimmer Paper download, "Learning Curve" font

Creative Elements

Sooo I haven't got to stamp a whole lot in recent weeks. Most of what I've shared is digital or like my class that used the journaling tags instead of stamping. ...basically, I've traded stamp time for workout time, which is good for ME but not so great on my business....or my creativity! Today I took some time to stamp a few things, and prepare for my workshop this weekend. And you get to enjoy the result!
First up, I wanted to try out the latest Retro Sketch to use with the make n take for my workshop, but maybe because of a lack of stamping, I was a bit overwhelmed with possibilities! Does that ever happen to you- when you could go a dozen different ways with one sketch? Well, I am going to miss Creative Elements, so that's what I played with first.
(no matter what I do, I cannot get the colors to look true to life...its really cloudy today, thinking about raining, and nothing seems to make it right, so just pretend with me, kay?)

Supplies:
Stamps: Creative Elements, Simply Sketched
Ink: Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Epic Day Washi Tape, Glimmer Brads

The stamps, and the brad are retiring very soon, and only available while supplies last- so place an order if you love these!

NEWS kind of day...

Happy Monday to you! I hope your Easter weekend was as lovely as mine!
Guess what?

The retired lists were released today!! You can view them HERE.
AND!
Check this out!

Yep! From April 21-25, you can order everything you need, without worrying about shipping costs!
So what are you waiting for?? Hurry and place your order!
You can go to the online store and choose me as your demonstrator, or you can get me your order and money asap!

Party Pages!

Today I have a quick post with a double page layout for you, using Cheryl's April Sketch and showcasing the party I posted about on Monday, haha....
Again, I used the MDS color combo to decide what colors to use besides Tempting Turquoise- and it gave me Pool Party, or Daffodil Delight and Calypso Coral. I thought they all worked together just fine, so there we go! I just lightened the Daffodil Delight background paper. Be sure and click the image to make it larger!

Supplies:
MDS

A girly birthday!

Since this is my crafting blog, haha, I'm posting all the crafting here. My daughter wanted a nail polish birthday party, so with the help of Pinterest (hahaha) here's what we came up with!

The invitations are suuuper simple- she had dreamed up a fancy tri-fold card with bits and pieces and I just did not have time, much less the interest in putting so much time into something that would likely be tossed next week! So this is what I came up with instead! I used retired card stock, printed the invite out onto the card stock, printed the details onto regular printer paper and attached that to the back. I stamped the nail polish image and hand wrote the 9.

On our Pinterest search, we found these cute treats. We didn't dip the marshmallows in icing, we just bought colored marshmallows! (pink- strawberry, and brown- chocolate/vanilla swirled) I used my fingers to split them open a little, and stuck the tootsie roll right in the top! We let the girls snack on these while waiting their turns

 

This was the first game we played- it was called Spin The Bottle, and they took turns spinning the spinner, and using the color of nail polish the spinner pointed to! They could pick any finger to paint. It was funny that out of 12 choices (one of these 13 shown didn't work) they still got lots of doubles!

 

Here was the cake! She doesn't like cake, so I made two 9x13 pans of brownies, and stacked them on top of each other. Then I cut it into the shape of a bottle of nail polish! She chose this bright blue frosting (from the store), and I had to do the top white because I got a little carried away with my crumb layer.... and she loved it. It was actually really tasty too!

And the final craftiness...we talked about making hair things, and I saw the idea to paint bobby pins with nail polish- perfect! So we bought some plain black clippies and bobby pins and gave each girl 3 clippies and 6 bobby pins. Here are the ones my daughter made- minus the really cool looking glittery clippy she wore to school today.....

So! There are some not-so-much-stamping ideas, but still some fun craftiness!

Fabulous

...might be an overstatement, lol...
This is a really simple card, but the image and colors suit the recipient!
I left this week with Spring Break, but I needed to make and mail a birthday card. I found a sketch, chose some pieces of card stock, a ribbon, and a stamp set and went! Not the best idea, I gotta say, haha, but here's the card, which is now in the postal system!

Supplies:
Stamps: Making a Point (hostess- Occasions Mini)
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise & Whisper White card stock
Accessories: Silver Ribbon (Occasions Mini)

Week 13

Today I've got the page for Week 13. I really love how this page turned out! I recolored the chevron paper to be Melon Mambo instead of Rich Razzleberry- and I found the color combo by using the "picker" tool under ink colors! This is the week I had the cold, which is why there are so few photos, haha....

Supplies:
MDS, Sycamore Street content disk, Burlap ribbon download, Paper Daisies download

Week 12

Last weekend I got 3 weekly pages done, haha....crazy how having a cold for a week gets me so behind on everything! So here's the page for week 12...and the base of the page uses a sketch I found on a facebook group I learned about thru the blog hop this month!  

Supplies:
MDS, Flirtatious content disk, Recolor Tool

I recolored all the DP (comes from the Flirtatious content disk), to shades of green for St Patricks' Day. Then I used the freehand brush for the back of the text box, and added some ink splatters too! I think it turned out pretty fun!

Upcoming Class #4

Today's card is the final one we'll make at my April class. Again, all the details can be found in THIS post. For this card, I used a slightly older sketch as the inspiration. The journaling tags make card making SO easy, but they can also be used in scrapbooking. I love versatile products!!

Supplies:
Paper: Coastal Cabana, Very Vanilla & Baked Brown Sugar card stocks,
Accessories: Retro Fresh Journaling Tags, Retro Fresh washi tape, Natural Buttons, Glue Dots

It can be a little tricky lining up washi tape on a card like this. So here's my little tip.... I laid the journaling tag a bit to the right --> from where I wanted it to end up. Then I drew a very light pencil line along the tag, and laid the strips of washi tape from there. Here's a pic if you need a visual:

Makes it very easy! And its a fun card for any friend or sister or whoever needs a reminder just how fabulous she is!

Upcoming Class #3

Happy Monday to you! I hope you had a nice weekend and were just as relaxed or productive as you wanted to be, haha!

I'll kick off this week with another sample from my April class, and also a reminder that I do need your RSVP and $35 today, if you're planning to attend. Otherwise we risk not having your supplies here, much less ready for you to use! And again, all the details on the class can be found in THIS post.

This card is super simple, using a basic, easy layout, but I think it might be my favorite, haha! I like the colors and I like the patterns together. What do you think?

Supplies:
Paper: Baked Brown Sugar & Very Vanilla card stocks, Retro Fresh DP
Accessories: Retro Fresh Journaling Tag, Dimensionals

Teacher Appreciation

Friday already! YEAY! And this one kicks off our Spring Break, which I am looking forward to enjoying! What about you? Got any special plans for the weekend, or for Spring Break?

This week our school has been doing Teacher Appreciation Week. This is actually the least effort I've ever put in to it, and that makes me feel bad because the teachers my kids have are fantastic. Between being sick and trying to catch up, and then everything else going on this week, I only managed to send a treat and a card on Thursday. Guess I'll have to do something extra nice at the end of the year....
Anyway, today I have both cards, using two different, but rather similar sketches, and the same stamp set. Isn't it funny how the universe seems to want the same shapes on the same weeks? Makes me laugh....

Up first, the card for my daughter's teacher. I used the latest Retro Sketch for this one. The note from the room mother said she likes blue, so here's some blue! I used this cute hostess set from the Occasions Mini, because it seems to me teachers tend to enjoy puns, and a pencil is perfect for a teacher, right? I put the card in an envelope and taped it to a king size Hershey bar, which is what my daughter thought she would like.

Supplies:

Stamps: Making a Point (hostess- Occasions Mini)

Ink: Island Indigo

Paper: Coastal Cabana, Island Indigo, Whisper White card stocks

Accessories: Soft Sky seam binding ribbon, Neutral Buttons, Tag a Bag Accessory Kit (twine)

 

And the card for my son's teacher, which uses the latest Mojo Monday sketch! She seems like a purple-person, if that makes any sense, so purple it is! She got a bag of MnM's, and a 20 oz diet coke because that's what my son was sure she would like too, haha! (and no, that's not because of me...first he said "Lets get Snickers and Pepsi. Wait...that's you....", hahahaha!)

Supplies:
Stamps: Making a Point (hostess- Occasions Mini)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant
Paper: Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White card stocks, I Am Me DP
Accessories: Mini Brads, Vintage Faceted buttons, White bakers twine

Upcoming Class #2

Today I have another card we'll make at the April class. All the details are in my side bar, or in THIS post.
This card uses a loose interpretation of last week's Mojo Monday Sketch. I like the arrows with the congrats, and the greeting makes me laugh. The bottom layer of DP is a subtle pattern, allowing the congrats to be the focus.

Supplies:

Paper: Very Vanilla cardstock, Retro Fresh DP

Accessories: Retro Fresh Journaling Tag, Retro Fresh Stickers, Brights Candy Dots

Upcoming Class!

I haven't managed to hold stamp classes much this 2014 year! I really miss classes- they're one of my favorite parts of this job! This month I've got a class planned for Tuesday, April 15.

We'll be getting the Retro Fresh products (the DSP, the washi tape, stickers, and journaling tags) which are all found on page 19 of the Occasions Mini. The class will cost $35, and the RSVP is due Monday the 7th so I have time to get your supplies here and prepped! *grin
I'll help you create 4 cards and 1 double page scrapbook layout, and you'll take home everything that's left for future crafting!

You can view the page we'll make HERE, and today I'm sharing the first of the cards...
I used the last Freshly Made Sketch for the layout.

Supplies:
Stamps: Peachy Keen
Ink: Coastal Cabana
Paper: So Saffron card stock, Retro Fresh DP, Retro Fresh Journaling Tags
Accessories: Hung Up Cute Clips

Let me know if you're interested in attending the class! Or if you'd like to order the supplies and follow along on your own, that works too!

Blog Hop: MDS!

A new month means a new blog hop!! This month we are really excited to show off what we can create using MDS- which is so fun and easy!

If you're debating about getting MDS, Stampin' Up! has put out plenty of video tutorials to teach you cool things to do with it.
While I don't think anything will ever replace how much I love hands-on crafting, it IS super-duper nice to not make a huge mess just to get a scrapbook page done. If you've read my blog for very long, you're likely familiar with me using MDS (used to be called My Digital Studio, and that's how its listed in my blog tags).
If you're new, you should know that it isn't just digital scrapbooking- the program was designed for cards, calendars, tags, and mixed media projects too! Personally, I have used it to make a slide-show dvd, several calendars, two books and lots and lots of scrapbook pages! But, I also use it to layout more complicated card ideas before trying it with paper, and to come up with "proto-types" before settling on an idea.

Now that you know why I love it, let me show you somethings I've made with it over the past week!
This scrapbook page uses this sketch and a challenge to layer the trim across the page. I did tip the direction of the photos, but I think you can still see the sketch.

Supplies:
MDS, Lemonade Stand content disk, Berry Blossoms content (DP)

And here is a card that I made with MDS. I haven't printed it yet, but I think I will! I definitely know someone I could send this to! For this project, I used the card sketch found on the same page as before, HERE, and we were supposed to recolor an embellishment. How's that for a handy feature?? Can't do that with traditional products! I recolored all the envelopes to shades of gray, where originally some were shades of yellow. I also cropped the edges of the "thinking of you" stamp to make it fit on the gray strip.

Supplies:
MDS, Keep In Touch content disk, recolor tool, crop tool

Well, what do you think about MDS? There is a free 30 day trial if you want to give it a shot! Or you can buy the entire program for only $19.95!
Now go see what every one else created with MDS! Be sure and tell us what you think! We love comments! *grin