Technique Class--Polished Stone

Falls colors always amaze me. I love the cold weather--the little nip in the air that comes with fall mornings. I am not a fan of the yardwork, but I do love being outdoors this time of year. Lately, the weather has been rainy and cold. I miss the October I love, so I am getting my fall colors in my stamping!

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree

Paper: Glossy White, Chocolate Chip, Dusty Durango, Kraft

Ink: Basic Brown

Accessories: Dusty Durango Reinker, Crushed Curry Reinker, Cotton Balls, Rubbing Alcohol, Heat gun (to speed drying), Scallop Oval Punch, Medium Oval Punch

The technique called Polished stone was modified for this project, as I lacked an ingredient many people use- a metallic reinker. I skipped that step, and just daubed on my reinker. I found it easier to cover a whole page, then cut out my images.

I find this a unique background, great for this kind of project. I can also almost picture a tye dye shirt card in my future!

Happy Stamping! (and Fall!)

Moving Day!

Not me, mind you, my sister and her family. The 100 something with rolling floors has been swapped for a nice, roomy, three level house a few blocks away. Whew!

Being a stamper and a Stampin' Up! customer of mine, she bought the Neighborhood wheel long ago. She wheeled black on Whisper White and colored with colored pencils. And Waited, and Waited, and Waited!

Finally, the house sold just after I got My Digital Studio, so we could make a coordinating back label for her change of address cards. Check it out:

I used the Family images from the software to create the family--mom, dad, kid 1, kid 2. Then, I added the new addy and voila! easy labels! She got all of her cards sent out in one evening and life couldn't be better in the new digs!

Stamps: Neighborhood Wheel, My Digital Studio

Paper: Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: My Digital Studio, colored pencils

Build a Bear and Boys

Last night, my nephews needed some after school care, (well, between football practice and Dad home from work), so I took them in at the beginning of our monthly scrapbook night. Well, once we got going, it was hard to stop.

They started by wanting to make a couple of cards. As Nathan says, "I need a FEW more cards for birthdays." He found purple paper and started using Party Hearty and was a happy soul. Tim, took a blank white paper, an animal set, and went to town. Nathan ended up with a few well made, almost Aunt Sara -like cards, and Tim had a fun picture story to share.

As I finished unpacking my stuff, I discovered the Build-a-Bear dies I had bought and not played with sufficiently. I took them out, showed the boys how to use the Big Shot, and two hours later, here's what they had:

Stamps: none

Paper: all sorts

Ink: none

Accessories: Big Shot, Build-a-bear Santa Bigz Die, Build-a-bear Bear Die, Build-a-bear Accessories Die

Here's some more:

and one more:

I've forgotten (since I didn't write it down) which boy created which, but I can guess that the bear with the spiky hair is Tim's!

I can think of no better way to entertain pre-teens for two hours without TV, video games, or radio!

Don't Get the Staples Confused!

Huh? You might ask? Well, I am a coffee and tea drinker. I also love K-cups. The tea ones and the coffee ones look a lot alike, especially in the morning, so I bought some basic jar-like containers to separate my faves. Then, I realized that the hostess level 1 Decor Elements were the perfect addition to my project:

I didn't use the flour one (yet), as I have no flour (yet) in the new house. I don't really cook during the week--I reheat rice and vegetables or a simple meal. However, I do drink coffee and tea--so now I am organized in a cool way!

Happy decorating!

Mm' Mm' Good!

Wow. Will my energy level ever get better? I had two good days, a terrible day, and today it's a little bit better. It's a good thing that Stampin' Up! thought of computer bugs like me and introduced the My Digital Studio just in time for flu season!

This morning, I began creating a scrapbook of all the events that I am behind on in my own scrapbooking. I plan to print them as individual pages to store in my book, but for now will share them as I create.

Here's #1:

Stamps: Bold Birthday

Paper: Real Red, Red Dotted Designer Series Paper

Ink: Real Red, Whisper White

Accessories: My Digital Studio, Black Grosgrain Ribbon

This was super fun and easy. Can I say that enough? I love just adding in the pictures, papers, embellishments, and journaling, all from the comfort of my couch with my warm laptop on my lap.

Happy Scrappin'

Holiday Ideas Galore!

ikes–with Halloween just around the corner, the end of the year is upon us!

For quick inspiration, check out the Stampin’ Addicts 2009 Holiday Mini Blog Hop. You’ll find lovely projects showcasing Holiday Mini items that can also give you ideas for using other sets in your collection.

1. Tracy/rosowskimom: Sweet Centers (Tracy’s Stamp Therapy)
2. Michelle/stampin’shell: Grateful Greetings (Come Stamp with Me)
3. Sarah/willsygirl: Pumpkin Patch (Sarah’s Ink Spot)
4. Twila/tjdstampsalot: Twick or Tweet (Stamp a Little Longer)
5. Sara/lilyinkpad: Haunting Hill & DSP (Lily’s Ink Pad)
6. Marie/mariemc: Night & Day DSP (From Combat Boots…)
7. Holly/hollylogic: Autumn Splendor & Tablesetting Die (InkPaperStamps)
8. Joyce/broncomom: Autumn Meadows DSP (Stampin’ Central)
9. Lyssa: Calendar Kit with Magnetic Box (Song of My Heart Stampers)
10. Trina/pepesmom: Gifts of the Earth (Stamps and Whiskers)
11. Kim/s1itcher46: Wandering Words (Stitchin’ N Stampin’ on Paper)
12. Carmen: Cold & Cuddly (Stamping Addiction)
13. Ashley/CoastieWife09: Just Beclause & Christmas Cocoa DSP (Stamp with Ashley)
14. Dawnmarie/dmdezigns: Berry Christmas (DM Dezigns)
15. Rhonda/rhondag: Holy Family (The Stampin’ Bunny)
16. Kat/uk79ee: Delightful Decorations and Punch (Kat’s Kards)
17. Cheryl/lovetostampandscrap: Icicle and Merry & Bright Rub-Ons (Love to Stamp and Scrap)
18. Holly/catrules: Serene Snowflakes (Holly’s Stampin’ Mania)
19. Paula/scrapshappen: Décor Elements & wood blocks (Stamping with Paula)
20. Linda/lindakeal: Charming (Olive Stamps)
21. Barbara/cre8tivestamper: Simply Adorned (Creative Stampin’ Spot)
22. Yapha: Bear Bigz Die and clothes (Yapha Stamps)

Halloween Sweet Treats

Spooks. Costumes. Jack-o-lanterns. Parties. My favorite- CANDY!

I love how Stampin' Up! anticipates what I love and gives me products that are fun and easy to work with so I can share what I love. The sweet treats line from the Holiday Mini-catalog have been a lot of fun for me lately as I can share this project with my hostesses:

Sorry for the bad picture. I gave my last one away before I realized I needed to retake the photo.

Stamps: Sweet treats

Papers: Orchid Opulance, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Day and Night Designer Series Paper

Ink: Versamark, Old Olive Marker, Pumpkin Pie Marker, Orchid Opulance Marker

Accessories: Embossing heat tool, Black Embossing powder, 1 3/4 Circle Punch, Mini Glue Dots, Sweet Treats Cups, Cropadile

I used the stained glass technique on the image. First, I stamped in Versamar and embossed in black. Then, I used markers to add color. I think it makes the entire image darker and more dense visually. Plus, it's fun.

The candy is accessible through a trap door. I punched holes all the way through my layers and slipped a piece of cardstock behind the cup between the image layer and the card layer.

Happy Stamping (and Sharing)!

My Digital Studio is HERE!

Those that know me well, know that I love my computer. I can sit on it for hours. I've always loved layouts and I love making digital posters look "goooood." Stampin' Up! has met that need for me with their new My Digital Studio Software. WOWZER, is it amazing.

The techies that designed the program did so on the advice of scrapbookers, making the use intuitive and easy. The day I ripped open the packing and installed the software, I began creating a scrapbook of love. I had the pictures added in less than 30 minutes. Now, that's a time-saver. Plus, the pages were all completed using exclusive Stampin' Up! Images, colors, paper designs, and embellishments! HOW COOL!

To celebrate the release of this great tool, friends at Stampin' Addicts and I are throwing a blog carnival. Below you will find projects I've created during the past weeks while working 10 hour days and fixing up my Shawano house. You will also find a list of blogs that are participating in this party. Just click on the name of the blog you'd wish to see and go visit. While there, click on another from that that person's post and visit another...in any order you want! Now, that's a party!

My first project had to be a scrapbook. Of course it did. I need to catch up. Now, of all the subjects that motivate me to scrapbook, my husband Bubba is the number one thing I love to scrapbook. In fact, after starting this scrapbook, I had a good cry, remembering the fun we've had. Enough sappyness--here is one page from the book:

I used the Summer Home kit for this one. That's right. The software comes with Simply Scrappin kits. All I did was add pictures and I had a page in minutes.

For this Christmas page, which I made using the Christmas Jingle kit, I added a different background paper, a text box, a corner label punch, and an extra snowflake embellishment from the original layout. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

Finally, I love the idea of making a scrapbook cookbook, but hate cutting and pasting, so I made this recipe book page:

I used a layout from the templates, but added Designer Series Paper, Stamps (in color), and embellishments. By the way, this is the dip I had at my first Neenah Stamp Club meeting this month. Yummy.

I hope my projects inspired you! Be sure to check out the projects created by the designers below!

Happy Digital Scrapbooking!

Blog Carnival Participants:

DMDezigns/Dawnmarie: My Digital Studio - The Birdseye Overview
HowManyCats?!/Comeka: Digitize Your Sketch Library with MDS
Yapha: Turning Templates into Treasures
Willysgirl/Sarah: MDS Xmas and Extras
Hollylogic/Holly: MDS as a Design Tool (or How Not to Slice Up All Your Brushed Gold)
Lyssa: Playing with Stamps You Don't Own
Lilysinkpad/Sara: Simply Scrappin' Kits Go Digi
JulieA/Julie: Wanna Little Music with Your Slideshow?
lovetostampandscrap/Cheryl: Creating a Calendar to Beat All Calendars
Melina Stamps!/Melina: Man-Scrapping with MDS
BroncoMom/Joyce: Build Your Own DSP
Britiney: Clever Album Covers - A Piece of (Cup)Cake
S1itcher46/Kim: Hybridizing and Cataloging Collections
Kelli: Side-by-Side Test: Is it Actual or Is It MDS?
Scrapbookmama/Ellie: Keeping the Spotlight on Your (Adorable!) Subjects

Coming Soon---a Blog Carnival!

Yesterday marks the availablity of the new My Digital Studio software and tomorrow marks the start of the Stampin' Addicts Blog Carnival to celebrate it's release. This new product from Stampin' Up! is truly amazing. Imagine finishing a scrapbook in a night, sending it off to a printer, making multiple copies and having all your Christmas shopping done at once! Plus, you can make cards, calendars, signs, anything your heart desires--all using Stampin' up!'s exclusive colors, embellishments, images, and papers!

Join me tomorrow through November 2nd on a Carnival Ride of great projects by amazing Stampin' Up! Demonstrators!

You'll be inspired to create!

Sara