Flower Patch & Flower Fair dies from Stampin' Up!

April Showers bring May Flowers - right?

Well.....it was still snowing in April....and May! At least it was here in Iowa.  So we are really JUST getting into full bloom here, in JUNE!  

But that's okay, because with the new (and much loved) photopolymer set - Flower Patch, I can create flowers any day of the week, in whatever color I'm in the mood for.  And they are BEAUTIFUL!

The Flower Fair die makes cutting these a breeze....

Because they are photopolymer, it's a breeze to see where you are stamping, and you can layer the stamped images quite easily.  Check out those leaves.  Super simple.

I layered all of the flowers onto a piece of Typeset Specialty DSP that I tore and roughed up a bit.  This DSP is lightweight and has the feel of old book pages.  With that in mind, don't be afraid to "dog-ear" your paper either....

Wouldn't this card make your day?

***NEW! CRAFT CLASS: Embossing Paste***

Learn to create your own embossing paste, make your own stencils, and lots more!

New Online Class - Envelope Punch Board Class

Create 5 boxes! Not envelopes!  Using the EPB!

Click here for details!

On Opportunity to DIE for!!!

***Edited to add - I am going to keep this post at the top of the blog for a while.  Be sure to scroll down to see new posts!***

Wow! If I wasn't a Demonstrator, I 'd be signing up to get one. If you already got one, no worries, how about $100.00 of free stuff?

Check out more information here.

If you've been looking for an opportunity to do what I do, while getting a 20% discount on your favorite products, now is the perfect time! During October, you'll get a FREE Big Shot when you join my awesome Stampin' Up! family as a Demonstrator. Use the Big Shot die-cutting machine and Stampin' Up!'s exclusive dies (dies are sold separately) to create uniquely beautiful projects in a flash. In addition, the new-demonstrator Starter Kit--a steal at just $175--contains over $345 worth of stamp sets, card stock, ink, accessories, and business supplies-everything you need to start your new business.

There are so many benefits of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, including

•A 20 percent product discount!
•A free monthly issue of Stampin' Up!'s demonstrator-only magazine, Stampin' Success!
•Sneak peeks at brand-new products!
•Invitations to exclusive Stampin' Up! events!
•Regular get-togethers to stamp!

•Free access to an online community of 30,000+ crafters/stampers and creative artists, as well as 160,000+ project samples!

•Plus, access to an exclusive video and training for your new Big Shot!

Don't miss this BIG deal! Contact me today to learn how you can take advantage of this great opportunity and get your FREE Big Shot! I would love to answer any questions you might have.

Don't forget about your free stamp set as a Welcome gift from me for joining my team (free stamp set is an incentive from me only and not Stampin' Up!)

Joining is easy and can be done on-line and you can begin placing orders right away!

More Quilting!

Here is another card that we made at my August Stamp Clubs....

This was a super simple card.  Seriously simple.  Take 6 squares of DSP, attach 5 to a piece of cardstock - 4 in the outer corners (leaving some border) and one in the center.  Take the sixth square and cut it in half across the diagonal.  Then cut those triangles in half again so that you have 4 triangles.  Adhere those in the empty spots and then run thru the Big Shot with the Lattice EF.  Seriously that simple!!!

I think the EF really enhances this quilt look and makes it really look like fabric.  I added the snowflake punch and button to break up the quiltiness (new cool word there for you!)

Go ahead, tell me what you think....I dare you!

Stamps: Heard from the Heart, Snow Swirled

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Letters to Santa DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Versamark, Whisper White
Accessories: Paper Piercing Tool, Snowflake Punch, buttons

Blissful Chocolate!

Anyone else tired of the FLU???? We've had a fairly germ free household ever since I made the move to stay at home. But this last month has been a struggle! Will is once again sick with a flu of some sort. He was complaining yesterday morning right away, and (now I feel guilty) I didn't believe that he was sick. He ate breakfast and lunch just fine and didn't have a fever or anything. Just complained that his head hurt. I did give him a Junior Motrin for his headache. He did take a morning nap, and that's not like him, so I was beginning to believe him. Mid afternoon his fever showed up. I thought I'd let it go for a bit to see if he could fight it off himself. By 7pm when the fever hadn't broke, I decided it was time for liquid Motrin. Bad idea. That came back up about 5 minutes later. He then fell asleep for the remainder of the night - well until about midnight anyway. Then we were up and down with the poor guy all night. He ran a fever all night and thru this morning. I finally decided we'd try Motrin again - this time the chewable stuff. Thankfully it stayed down, but the little dude is just not himself still. I'm ready for spring so I can open this house up and shu these germs right outta this house! Doesn't make me feel any better when I kind of feel the symptoms of the crud settling in my system again - I JUST got over this stuff!

Alright, say goodbye to the flu and onto better things folks.....




You guys remember that I had a Girls Night Out event last weekend. Well, it's about time I show you the little treat holder that we made!



Isn't this adorable? I made it out of two tags from the Two Tags die. FYI - totally not my idea - I snagged this us from the adorable Kimberly Van Diepen. She's got a great video that shows you how to make this. Granted, I did design my own. Her's was a fall style treat holder. You'll have to search You Tube for the video - or her blog. She has several brilliant ideas, besides the fact that she is as cute as can be!!!






On my sample, I used a little Smooch on the tag. We didn't do this at the event, too time consuming. In fact - I was doing make and takes from 3:30 to 9:30 and still didn't get thru everyone! Granted, the last group was a little winded, and well, wined too! But that made it a blast! Sometimes a good "Ink and Drink" is in order!

We wrapped 6 nuggets and tucked them in here. Too cha-cha for words and yummy too. This is a great way to use up some scraps.

Here is another that I saw a demo on. I liked it, but opted for the other version.

This one held three nuggets, but somehow those have disappeared!!! That happens around here.

Well, now I'm off to Sioux City for another girly event. A couple of scrapbooking stores have sponsored a crop for the weekend, so I'm headed over there to do some make and takes and hopefully meet some great new friends!

Before I go - just out of curiousity - does anyone have some great tips for the Smooch Spritz? I really like the stuff, but am finding it hard to control. I know that it's suppose to be a spritz, and isn't meant to be perfect. But, all of my spritzers have gotten clogged - I have to lift the sprayer between each spray in order to get it to "go" again. And when I shake up my Log Cabin spray, it wants to leak out of the sprayer portion. Then when I take the lid off, the lid is full of ink. It's a little frustrating to me. Anyone have good advice for this stuff?

That's it folks.....til next time.

Crafty day!

I had a baby shower to attend over the weekend. While shopping for the shower, I just could not find anything that spoke to me. Mind you, we do live in a small town with very limited shopping, and I wasn't up for a drive to "the city". So, how about altering some plain onesies and barettes to match?? Perfect!


You've seen the Fun Flowers Die in the new Occasions Mini, right?? This new die has seen so much playtime in my craft room, the other dies are getting jealous! Here I used some felt for the flower. I got my felt from Papertrey Ink. One thing about felt is that you want to use good quality felt. Don't even bother with those felt sheets that you can buy at the craft dept of your big box store. They won't cut nicely, they'll fray, and there isn't any stability to them. This felt from Papertrey Ink is thick, it holds it's shape, and cuts like buttah! Plus there are some great colors to choose from, and is already sized to fit thru the BIG SHOT.

I kept this barette super simple - just because the flower on the shirt was pretty bold. These little circles are part of the Fun Flowers Die - and made a perfect size for the petite barette!

These flowers are from a retired set of Felt Flowers that Stampin' Up! carried a few years back. This made for a real cheery onesie.

The back side of the barettes have three little holes so that I could literally sew the flowers right onto the barette. I thought this was important so that a little one didn't choke on a button that may have come loose. I used button thread to sew them on since it's a lot more sturdy.

More of those Felt Flowers. I'm now wishing I would have hoarded more of these gems!

I think this one is adorable! Here I used the Beautiful Butterflies die, and the center of the butterfly is one of those felt flowers again. Be still my beating heart! Doesn't it just make you smile. FYI - I did sew (with my sewing machine, but could be done by hand) down the bottom butterfly. I stratigically placed the stitches so that the green butterfly would cover up the stitching. I just didn't want the butterfly to go flapping off the shirt - or to get really wonked up in the wash!

And isn't this barette too cute? I cut a scallop circle (with the BIG SHOT!) and swirled it into a flower, then sewed it onto the barette. Isn't it sweet???

These are even cute on bigger girl t's. I bought Aubrie a little white t that the big box that was CHEAP! ($3) and added the flower from the first onesie - I can't wait til she's big enough to model it for me. I couldn't find any long sleeve t's or I'd have done one up for her to wear now!

If you would like to see how easy it is to make these, or to see more of what fun things you can make with the BIG SHOT, please contact me! I can even help you earn a BIG SHOT FREE!!!! Contact me today!

Happy New Year - New ME....

Howdy folks. Yeah - I've gone missing again. The holidays can get really chaotic in our household. And for that reason, I took a little blogging break. In fact, I really haven't made much in the terms of projects for quite a while. I did make some cards for Christmas gifts and I did make a scrapbook (x3) for all of the Great Grandparents of our kids over the last year. It was a My Digital Studio project that really made me realize just why I love that program so much. I created one 20 pagescrapbook and printed it three times. And I think it was a hit with all of them!
I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and just create. However, I did whip up these beauties today:



They are magnets! Aren't they just adorable? I cut them with the new Fun FlowersDie in the Occasions Mini. You all got your new Mini in the mail - right? If not, contact me, and I'll get one out to you! There are tons of things to ooohhh and aaaahhh over ! This is one of them.


The magnet sheets cut so easily in the Big Shot, and they are simple to use. One side of the magnet sheet is adhesive, so I adhered my patterned paper (which is not SU in this case) to the magnet, and ran it thru the Big Shot. Then I added a few more layers to give them some dimension.



And those brads? Yeah, aren't they just so stinking cute??? They are in the Occasions Mini too!

Do you know how fast an easy this project was? Well, it was - fast and easy! And I just love how adorable these magnets turned out! Who says you can't have cute magnets for your fridge? My thought - They are too cute to put anything behind them! I just want them to stand out in their glory.

So, there's the project of the day! I'm looking forward to school getting back in session, so hopefully I have a little more free time to ge crafty......

Ta-ta folks....

Virtual Open House, day 3

Are you familiar with all of the cool things that you can do with the Big Shot? You can make soemthing like this headband:
Or this hair band:

These are pins that I made to pin onto a VERY plain t-shirt to jazz it up. And on, they are super cute!

And check out these refrigerator magnets:

Yes - all cut with the Big Shot. You see, you can cut all types of things with the Big Shot. This year, Stampin' Up! is even carrying magnetic sheets, cork, and several colors of vinyl. All things that you can cut with your Big Shot.

Big Shot Materials List for Bigz and Originals Dies
The following materials work well when creating die cuts with the Big Shot machine and Bigz and Originals dies. Please note the maximum thickness of several materials. As a rule of thumb, you can cut a material with your Big Shot machine and Bigz or Originals dies if you can cut it using your Craft & Paper Scissors.

Thick corkboard
Thick chipboard (59 mil)
Colored magnet
Ruffle board
Paper wood
Balsa wood (3/32")
Bass wood (1/16")
Metal mesh
Aluminum (.016)
Tin (.008)
Adhesive and non-adhesive mat board
Drawer liner
Shelf liner
Vinyl
Static cling vinyl
Shrink film
Fine sandpaper
Clear acetate (20 mil)
Vellum
Card stock
Patterned paper
Flocked paper
Contact paper
Textured paper
Metallic paper
Linen paper
Suede paper
Embossed metallic paper
Basketball embossed paper
Faux alligator textured paper
Self-adhesive glitter paper
Fabric
Canvas
Iron-on fabric
Soft plush fabric
Burlap
Velvet
Corduroy
Lace
Heavyweight denim
Terry cloth
Funky fur
Thin leather
Quilt batting
Warm & natural batting
Fusible fleece
Self-adhesive craft metal
Self-adhesive cork
Self-adhesive foam
Self-adhesive magnet
Self-adhesive felt
Adhesive and non-adhesive rubber
Pop up sponge
Poly foam
100% pure beeswax (cut with parchment paper on top & bottom of beeswax.)

Now, isn't that an awesome list of things!!!

Here's a deal for you....purchase a Big Shot from me between today and July 21st and receive any one of the Originals Dies on page 213 of the 2010-11 Idea Book and Catalog for free!! Yep - that's right peeps! Hop on this deal, and you can get started right away crafting away. Contact me today to get yours ordered!!!!