Yesterday was my Holiday Stamp Camp where we made several different projects.  We finished a little bit early, and everyone was still game for one more project so we all made this "Smore Man" using the retiring "Cold Play" stamp set and stuck him on a small Hershey Bar.  One lady decided to add a little something to her guy, and put a little hat on him using the Tab Punch on Always Artichoke cardstock folded in half, outlined it, and took a scrap piece of Wintergreen Designer Paper for a little decoration on his hat!  We all thought he turned out so cute and deserved a spot on my blog!  Florence, you win for creativity of the day!  I think he has an Alpine look to him!

The coming of the new Stampin’ Up! catalog in January 2008 means new Hostess stamp sets!  We demonstrators are so fortunate to be associated with such a fine company that appreciates us SO MUCH that they sent us all FREE STAMPS!  Yes, Shelli Gardner herself sent each demonstrator a brand new Level 3 Hostess Set that will be in the new catalog in January!  These stamp sets are always the most prized because they come with the higher workshop totals.  This stamp set is called “Time Well Spent” and even came complete with a note from Shelli expressing her appreciation for us and reasons why she chose this particular stamp set.  First of all, she knows we would all love a gift stamp set.  She also loved these particular images and greetings.  It is a very cute set, with flowers, a heart, a butterfly and two great greetings.  Stampin’ Up! has already provided us with some ideas for using these stamps so here is one of their examples I have stamped.  It is so easy to be a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator because you don’t have to have an ounce of your own creativity, you can always find easy samples to duplicate.
If being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator might appeal to you, click here to read more about it or contact me!

Here are some examples of easy scrapbook pages to make for Christmas and how to tailor them to the size of scrapbook you want to use.   These are called Progressive scrapbook pages and really designed for a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator to show a group of people examples of scrapbook pages regardless of what size page they might want to make in the end.  However, if you are new to scrapbooking, this also is a rather easy way to start small and work up to a larger page.

Actually, this 2-page spread started as a 6×6 card using a 6×12 piece of Real Red cardstock with a fold at the top.  It really could be used as a card to give or mail with a photo enclosed on one or both pages.  In my demo, I cut the card apart at the top fold and… voila!…you have a 6×6 scrapbook layout!  I used the Season of Joy stamp set from the Holiday Mini along with the Dashing Designer Paper which is so popular right now in the Fall/Winter 2007 Collection.

Next I added one of the 6×6 pages to a piece of 8.5 x 11 cardstock.  I added another photo mat and stamped some embellishments for the side.  You can modify this layout different ways, just play with it!  Now the extra space can be used for journaling or more photos.

If I wanted a 12×12 scrapbook page, I could lay the 8.5 x 11 page on top of a 12×12 page.  This leaves some space on the side, so I wheeled a strip of Whisper White with the Stampin’ Around Jumbo Snowflakes Wheel.  I could also have used an alphabet set to stamp a title along this strip.  Very easily you have a great scrapbook page layout for your Christmas photos!

I think this is a good method to use even when you know you are trying to design a 12×12 page because it breaks it all down into smaller steps.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  This is a fun card I made with Stampin’ Up! punches!  I was inspired from lots of different demos’ versions of making a turkey with punches.  I think my only original contribution was using the Scallop Circle Punch for the body!  He was fun to make!  You can click on the photo to make it larger.  I only wish I would have mailed it out to someone to enjoy for Thanksgiving!  Obviously a lot of Oval punches were used for the tail feathers and head, which I did the dotted outline with a marker.  You can either punch the hearts or cut out freehand for the waddle and the feet.  The hat can be a square punch with a little scrap for the brim.

Here is another Thanksgiving card I made and then didn’t send!  It is pretty much entirely copied from another wonderful demonstrator whose name I do not have handy at the moment.  I used the Carved and Candlelit stamp set for the pumpkins of course.  I love the new designer paper, Apple Cider, in the new Holiday Mini catalog.  You can click on any of the highlighted words for a link to the catalog.  Remember, the Holiday Mini is only good until the end of November!  It has beautiful things in it for the holidays.  I also used the beautiful Wild Wasabi Double-Stitched Ribbon available in the Fall/Winter 2007  Collection catalog.

Happy Halloween!  The big day is finally here!  It feels a little different to celebrate Halloween in my "empty nest" with all the kids gone, but I’m hoping to have a lot of Trick-or-Treaters at my door tonight.  Since the little neighborhood carnival is just down the street from us, we usually get quite a few trick-or-treaters who come to the door after they leave the carnival.  I always enjoy that.  Our neighborhood in southwest Houston has held this carnival for 30 years I think.  We spent many years taking our kids there, from our first year when our daughter was only five months old up through the years that we helped man the Cub Scout booth.  I should try to scrapbook some of those old Halloween photos of the kids in their wonderful costumes!

For your Halloween greeting I have posted some of the Halloween projects I have stamped over the last month or so.  Some we would have done at my Halloween Stamp Camp had I not had to cancel due to my college freshman’s broken bones from spontaneously trying to jump over a culvert while walking back to his dorm over Parents Weekend.  Fortunately, we were already there and able to tend to him for a week, instead of a weekend, for doctor visits, surgery, and getting him set up as independently as possible to continue his semester at college.  Just goes to show that even if your nest is "empty" you really never are finished with parenting.  I was sad to miss out on stamping Halloween things with my customers, but we’ll just move on to the next holiday!

Here are the tiny Library Clips and the Gold Elastic cord in the Holiday Mini!  The clips are very cute, much tinier than you can imagine!  The cord is very fine and shiny!  I was excited to see the glistening roll of it!

Here is the new holiday Designer Wrapping Paper.  Two rolls are included in each assortment.  Besides wrapping beautiful gifts, this paper can also be used like designer paper on other stamping projects!  I chose this pattern, Celebration, because it can be used for other occasions besides Christmas.  I also love the plain white wrapping paper in the Fall/Winter Collection 2007.  It can be stamped or rolled with a wheel to suit any gift-giving occasion!

The Apple Cider Designer Paper in the Holiday Mini is also fabulous!  The colors and designs can be used for much more than just the fall season!

This is the Dashing Designer Double-sided Paper in the regular catalog.  It will look fantastic for lots of Christmas projects.  However, it can also be used for other occasions as well.

Here is a cute little box to make for any occasion, called the 2-5-7-10 box on Splitcoaststampers.  Click here for the tutorial on their site.  It really was easy to make.  Again I used the Booglie Eyes stamp set, first to stamp tone on tone on the Pumpkin Pie cardstock to make the box, and then used the witch on the front piece of cardstock.  To make the scalloped edge, I used the corner rounder punch.  To make the scalloped edge show up, I decided t just stick a strip of black cardstock underneath it.  Really fun to make!  Try it!

This was a fun and easy card I actually made after seeing a photo of it from the Stampin’ Up!(R) Louisville Regional meeting.  I just used an Old Olive cardstock base, then tore strips of Whisper White paper to form the strips.  Our punches made this card SO easy!  The eyes were made with circle punches and the tongue with the large oval punch!  What a fun card to send to someone for Halloween!

I have often seen stand-up pop-up cards like this one but this is my first try.  The card actually folds flat (as you will see in the second photo) to fit into an envelope but when you pull on the greeting, it stands up on its own base.  And it is very easy to make!

This one is made with the fun Booglie Eyes stamp set, colored in with Stampin’ Write Markers, along with the always useful Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamp set.  On the top of the base, I stamped some circles from the stamp set Priceless and used a strip of Creepy Crawly Designer Paper for a little interest on the side of the base.  The ribbon colors are retired but were the most Halloweeny I had on hand at the moment.

Here is the same card folded down into the base.

Remember, you can click on any of the photos for a larger image.

Here is another one I made!  I used the Home is Where the Haunt Is stamp set.  The words at the bottom are from the Creepy Crawly Designer Series Paper.  I have to admit I had a “Duh!” moment when I realized words I saw on a similar project were from the paper, not from the jumbo Batty wheel!  I kept looking at the words on that wheel in the catalog and wondering where these other Halloween words came from, if they were on the backside of the wheel or if I was forgetting about some other wheel!  But no, they are printed on the Creepy Crawly paper and you have a large assortment of different size words to choose from!

Now that the children are all back in school, we know it is time to start thinking about the upcoming holidays.  I always find that once I get past September the fall season is just a blur all the way into Christmas.  School activities get into full-swing, there are craft shows to go see, some fall birthdays thrown in and before you know it  Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all come in close succession.

Ever since I ordered the Stampin’ Up!® Creepy Crawly Designer Paper  I have been in the mood to stamp some Halloween projects!   This week on Splitcoaststampers the tutorial was about making Criss-Cross cards.  I decided to try it and this is what I came up with using several different stamp sets plus the new Creepy Crawly DS Paper.  For the pumpkin, I used the new Year After Year set and colored it in with my Aquapainter and Stampin’ Write Markers.  On the inside card, I used Party Punch and  Booglie Eyes .  I just love the Booglie Eyes set!  And of course to make the little tab at the top, I used the Round Tab Punch.

Wouldn’t you know all my photos of my cute little Love Notes that I made with my new Punch Box awhile back all came out blurry?!  This one is slightly decent, enough to give you an idea.

Stampin’ Up!® has announced a new special running from now until Sept. 30th.  Wish you could choose your own family sometimes??  Well, now you can…..family of ink pads, anyway!

Purchase the Starter Kit between August 10 and September 30, and you’ll get to pick the family of your choice!  Yes, you can pick the color family of Classic Stampin’ Pads® FREE. That’s a $57.95  value!

Click here to read all about it!  If you have ever wanted to be a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator with all the benefits and fun, now is the time!

New recruits may choose between our four color families (Bold Brights, Earth Elements, Rich Regals, and Soft Subtles) or choose a pack of our 2007 In Color pads. Color family packs include 12 ink pads, and the In Color selection includes six ink pads.

I guess it has really been awhile since I have posted.  My blog is never far from my mind but I seem to always put it off until the next day… and the next day…and now it is the middle of August!  And I have actually been doing some stamping this summer (never as much as I would like to do) so I do have some things to post. 

I think the summer has been speeding by so fast because I am sending my last child off to college this week.  While I would have said boys don’t need as much stuff at college as girls, and even though I have been through this twice before, it still has taken a significant amount of shopping and errands to get everything accomplished…or purchased.  And there are still probably a few more things to do before we leave in a couple of days, not to mention the actual packing.  To top it off, we had to think about possible hurricane preparations because of Hurricane Dean, but thankfully that seems to be avoiding the Texas coast as of now.

Here are a couple of cute things made with the Zoofari Stamp set.  I also used the new wheel, See You Around to make the little dotted background.  You could make lots of cute baby cards and things with the Zoofari set.

When I wanted to make a little gift for my neighbor who became a grandmother, I found a cute little album on SCS made with one 12×12 sheet of designer paper for the basic project.  The basic directions are to fold the 12×12 in half, then accordion fold, and on the end panels you can fold down one corner of the paper to make an opening for a tag.  On the "inside" panels I cut down on the folds about halfway and folded one piece down.  I used other pieces of designer paper and the Zoofari set to embellish.  I decided to decorate both sides as it could be used standing rather than folded and tied with ribbon.  I was pleased with how this project turned out with the cute little animals!



Here you can see the designer paper just folded in half.

This is one of Beate’s tutorials on Splitcoaststampers.  Just one sheet of 8.5 x 11 cardstock is used and folded a certain way.  There was only one tricky part and once I got it, it was easy!  I used the new In Color Sky Blue along with Chocolate Chip.  The stamp set is "Baroque Motifs".

One sheet scored, stamped and (un)folded.

The front of the box tied with the new Taffeta ribbon.

Box from the side.

Here is the cover of a travel album I made for a gift.  I just used less than half of the retired "Tickets and Tokens" Simply Scrappin’ Kit to decorate it.  I found this wonderful project on Amy Celona’s website.

Part of the inside.

The center has envelopes glued together to make pockets into which you can put photos or other travel memorabilia.