Another display stample

Hi stampers!  I thought I'd share another one of my display samples today.  How about a fun and cheery card since it's FRIDAY!!!!!  I have to admit I'm a little sad not to be working a football game tonight as I miss my kids and think they have a chance of winning some games this year but I'm happy to not have to be out in the horrible heat and work until who knows when tonight (or into the morning and then work again when the sun comes up!).  I wish my kids good luck and if their first game wasn't out of town I'd be going!

Anyway, here is one of the first cards I made for the displays.  I got the cycle celebrations suite in my box of goodies and it's probably not something I would have gotten on my own so it was kind of fun to try to come up with ideas for it!

Stampin' Supplies:

Stamps:  Cycle celebrations

Paper:  Whisper white, bermuda bay, raspberry ripple, birthday basics DSP

Ink:  Bermuda bay, raspberry ripple

Accessories:  Stitched summer starfruit ribbon, basic rhinestones, labels collection frameits, stripes embossing folder

Bicycle images are kind of all the rage right now so this card and set are right on trend.  I love the vintage look of the stamp and the bikes on the paper! 

Don't ask me how many times I had to tie that bow to get it to look right:-)

And don't forget to sign up for My Paper Pumpkin by tomorrow to get two months for HALF price.  They also make great gifts....hint hint ;-)

Happy stamping!

Pumpkins & Butterflies

Hi stampers!  So you're asking what pumpkins and butterflies have to do with each other?  Well we have a couple of GREAT specials going on right now!

First, there is only a few days left to get two months of My Paper Pumpkin for just $10 each!  Thats half off AND includes shipping!    Make sure you choose me as your demonstrator when you sign up using the link above and don't forget to use the promo code: PUMPKINDEAL.  Hurry and sign up before the special ends!  You have until Saturday!

And now for the butterflies!  Until September 30th you can get a 15% savings on the papillion potpourri stamp set and the bitty butterfly punch!  Click on the picture to enlarge it!

I recently combined the July Paper Pumpkin kit with some butterflies after seeing a similar idea on teh SU blog and it turned out fantastic (aside from my crooked picture taking skills)!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Various My Paper Pumpkin kits, gorgeous grunge
Paper:  Whisper white, crumb cake, crisp cantaloupe, subway soho DSP
Ink:  Crumb cake, white craft, coastal cabana
Accessories:  Butterfly and bitty butterfly punch, vintage faceted buttons

It's actually much more stunning in real life and I just love that little honeycomb background!  It's so fun to get the pumpkin kits each month (who doesn't love a surprise in the mail...and one that's not a bill, lol) and you can use the kits in SO many other ways than what they are made for!  The butterfly stamps and punches SU have are also so fun and great for layering!

Contact me if you have any questions and don't forget to get your pumpkins and butterflies!

Happy stamping!

Washi Wednesday

Hi stampers!  Happy Wednesday!  How can the week be half over yet?  And how did I ever have time for my job?  LOL!  Seriously, I was worried about the days dragging after quitting my job (and I'm sure that some of them will) but the past few days have been busy busy!  Of course it helps that Monday I had to get the grocery shopping done and kind of clean up around here and get things in order after the wedding and being out of town and then yesterday was all sorts of crazy with my mom being in town on a whim (if you call getting a filling that fell out at my friends wedding a whim, lol) and Jon having a flat tire in the morning!  Geesh!  So by the time I ran around with my mom which was totally nice to be able to do that on the fly and got Jon's tire fixed I ran out of time and energy to stamp :-)

Geesh!  Good thing I'm not working now...Jon said the same thing last night, hahaha!  I will be glad when this week is over though because for my first two evenings of being a "housewife" I've had to eat dinner alone! :(  There is a big farm show here this week so Jon's been working a TON!!!  We've kind of traded places, haha!

Anyway let's have some fun with washi tape today!!  I wasn't as super excited about the tape as some people I know when SU came out with it but I have to say it's pretty fun stuff!  Did you know that it's repositionable?????  To me, that's pretty cool since I can't seem to get things to line up straight all the time.  Don't like what you did?  You can carefully unstick it and try again!  You can also make super simple but super cute cards like these two which were inspired by my friend and convention roomie, Marla!

I did this one first for Christmas (and I totally love it):

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Wishing you
Paper:  Whisper white, crumb cake, real red
Ink:  Real red, old olive
Accessories:  Decorative label and extra-large oval punches, linen thread, season of style wash tape

I love the layering of those two punches.  I did clip off the top and bottom little points otherwise they stick out a bit funky.  And it's so cute you don't notice I used real red instead of cherry cobbler which is the actual color of the washi tape :-)

And then I thought a Halloween one would be cute too!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Halloween hello
Paper:  Very vanilla, basic gray, pumpkin pie
Ink:  Basic gray
Accessories:  Decorative label and extra-large oval punches, linen thread, brights candy dots, witches brew washi tape

This one looked a little naked so I added the candy dots!  Done!

These cards would look great with any combination of punches used that would fit your sentiment!  To order some of this fabulous washi tape just click the shop 24/7 button over to the right!!!!!  And you too can have a Washi Wednesday!

Happy stamping!

HSS 167

Hi stampers!  Quick post today....being a housewife is a lot of work, lol!  Actually I'm still recovering from my BFF's beautiful wedding this weekend as well as trying to get the house/my life in order!  But more on all that later!

So, it's Tuesday which means it's time for a new challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments!  This week we have a fun sketch!

And you'll see I used MDS....again.   Well, it's just too easy and since I was busy, busy, busy this weekend it was easy to pull it out while we were traveling and come up with this super cute Halloween card for the sketch!

Spooky huh? :-)  Now head on over and see all the other great inspiration and play along!  We'd love to have you!

Happy stamping!

Merry Little Kit

Hi stampers!  It's Christmas in August today!  With the heat we've been having the past few days I'm dreaming of December :-)  Well maybe not but after having a mild summer and a few weeks recently of fall-like temps I'm not really digging the heat and humidity!

So, I whipped up this card with one of our new kits.  There are a lot of new kits in the holiday catalog and they are great! They make creating your own cards or projects super easy!  All the designing is already done for you or should you want to do your own thing, you can do that to!  They are also great for those short on time.  Most of them can be put together in an hour or under!  AND what's also great is that most of them come in bundles so you can save some $$$!

I especially love the Merry Little Christmas Simply Created Card Kit!  I love everything about it!  Love the colors and the cute little stamp that coordinates!  It's probably one of my top faves in the catalog!  And who would have thought coastal cabana would be such a fabulous Christmas color?????

This one comes with all your card bases, the DSP panels, the pre-cut tags (which are super cute), the red buttons, and the exclusive gumball green baker's twine.  All you need to do is add the ink and the adhesive!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Merry little Christmas
Ink:  Real red, gumball green, coastal cabana
Accessories:  Merry little Christmas simply sent card kit

I just LOVE the stamp!  All those different fonts just make me happy!

Today is my last day of work!  It's definitely time to go as I had a dream about work last night that was not so good and woke up sobbing!  Eek!  Haven't had one of those in a while.  Although, there will be some tears I'm sure at the school portion of my job as I'll miss the kids and coaches.  I'll be sure to go visit and see them play though! So, after all the wedding weekend fun I'm going to come home and hit the ground running with my stamping business (as soon as I clean the house and my stamp room up, ha)! I'm thinking of putting together a class with this kit!  So, be on the lookout for that!

I can't wait to do more with this kit and this stamp!

Happy stamping!

Wedding Wednesday

Hi stampers!  Since my BFF is getting married on Saturday (I'm so excited although I just realized I need to get my act together and make her a card AND work on my speech, eek!) so I thought I'd share the card I made for her shower as I don't think I have yet.

I had originally made the dress portion a long time ago figuring I would use it on an Artisan entry (I know, I know...I still have to show you those....) but I never ended up doing anything with it.  Well fast forward to the week of her shower and I went, crap, I haven't made a card yet, lol!  So, I did my favorite background technique for wedding cards with the simply scored diagonal plate.

 Sadly, the flower trim is retired...it was so pretty!  Her wedding color is silver so I used the new smoky slate color.  I better go get busy on my card and speech!

Happy stamping!

August 2013 Control Freaks Blog Hop!

Hi stampers!!!  I.  Cannot.  Believe.  I.  Am.  A. Freak.  Seriously excited to be hopping for the first time with so many of my stampy idols!  If you've just come from Mary Brown's awesome blog, welcome!  If not don't worry...we make an endless circle :-)  And don't fret if all the links aren't working.  The hop officially takes place on the 20th so if it's not quite up and running make sure to come back on the 20th!

The theme this month is the Holiday Mini or seasonal catalog.  PERFECT since I think I own 80%+ of the thing, lol!

I chose to focus on "all things fall" since I'm kind of excited for fall!  I love the cooler weather and when the leaves change.  I'm also excited to break out my big sweaters, leggings, boots, and scarves!  Fall is just comfy, ha!

Of course Halloween is one of my favorite things about fall so I couldn't not do a couple H-week projects.  I did a little card and coordinating treat bag.  I just love those goofy looking little bats (I did NOT love the bat we had on our kitchen floor one night last spring!!!!!).

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Halloween Hello, tags 4 you
Paper:  Very vanilla, basic black, pumpkin pie, summer starfruit, witch's brew DSP
Ink:  Basic black, summer starfruit
Accessories:  Artisan label punch

And once I made the card I knew I needed a matching treat bag and how cute do these bats look on the chevron bags????  This may or may not be filled with some candy corn....  ;-)

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Halloween hello
Paper:  Whisper white
Ink:  Basic black, pumpkin pie, summer starfruit
Accessories:  Tag a bag gift bags, whisper white baker's twine, chalk talk framelits

And after all the candy comes the turkey....Thanksgiving!  I love thanksgiving too...I mean what's not to love?  Food and family...and shopping the day after!!!  I'm quite excited to be able to enjoy turkey day and the days after this year since I won't be working a mega basketball tourney for the first time in like 8 years!  Yay!   I just kept piling stuff on this one and I kind of love it!  I made my own background my stamping the large background stamp (which I love) on the paper in different directions a few times until it was covered.  Looks way cooler in person!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Truly grateful
Paper:  Very vanilla, chocolate chip, soft sky, sweater weather DSP
Ink:  Chocolate chip, crumb cake, tangerine tango, crushed curry
Accessories:  7/8" natural trim ribbon, naturals designer buttons, linen thread, apothecary accents framelits, deco labels framelits

I hope you enjoyed my projects as much as I did making them and doing my first ever control freaks blog hop!

Now it's time to hop on over to the wonderful and super sweet Patty Bennett's blog!

Happy hopping!

Mailable Monday - Display Sample Edition

Hi stampers!  Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend!  I did as it was the last day of the state fair here and we (my momma, step dad and Jon) always go and watch the draft horse pulls.  We had a lot of fun and the weather was so nice!  Usually it is SO hot but it was great this year!  And I love the fair!  Sadly, a lot of the animals we usually see were already gone.  They must have changed the schedule this year.  The fair always brings out the country girl in me who spent the summers on my grandparents farm!  I have to say I'm really looking forward to not having to work weekends so I can have more time to spend with my family!

I'm still sharing my display samples from convention and today I have a mailable.  I had a hard time switching gears from Artisan type over the top projects to display stamper....while I wanted to WOW everyone I wanted most of them to be really do-able since they were really made for inspiration for the convention sets.

This is pistachio pudding.  The lighting was a little off in my room it appears!  Sorry about that!  This card was super simple though!

Happy stamping!

Change is good

Hi stampers.  Yes, I've been absent for a while and I'm sorry but I'm trying to get my life together :-)  I've been in a bad place for a while due to a lot of reasons.  So, after much thought and discussion with my hubby and family I turned in my two weeks notice at work last Thursday.  Yikes!  I'm kind of sad to leave (mainly since football has started and I will miss my kids) but work was unnecessarily stressful and it was way past time to go.  My wonderful hubs has been telling me to quit for a LONG time.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet (other than take a few weeks to rest and refresh and focus on getting fit and happy and back to "me") but I think the stress of being "poor" (LOL....not really....we'll be fine for a while but will have to change a lot of things and that's ok) will be much less than the stress of a job that I have started to hate.  I'm excited for the future and to see what happens.  I'm also hoping that the stress reduction will help other "efforts" as there is no happy news there yet.  I do appreciate everyone's thoughts and messages and cards and everything!  You guys are the best!


Anyway, one avenue that I want to explore it so possibly make a little something out of my SU hobby. In a perfect world I'd either work directly for SU (can you say dream job????) or be a business demo and do stamping as my full time job!  Will that happen?  I don't know but I'm going to give it a whirl now that I'll actually have some time to focus on it!  So, hopefully I'll have time to blog regularly and be looking for new and exciting things from me like classes!  Not being able to meet my minimums and stay a demo is probably one of my top fears so hopefully I can at least pay for my hobby!  Honestly it's probably part of the reason I've stayed at work for so long...silly I know...but that's me :-)  Even when/if I get a new job I'm hopeful it won't take up as much time and energy as my old job so I can continue to enjoy my hobby and have classes and what not!  So, while I don't want to be pushy/annoying please expect to see more "selling" and promotion on my blog.  I know this turns some people off but I really want to explore this avenue.  If you don't like it just skip to the pretty pictures, ok? -)  And if you have anything you'd like to see or ideas let me know!

So, since I've been gone sooo loong how about another display stamper project?  This is one of the 3-D items I made for the suite I received (it was cycle celebrations obviously).  As soon as I saw the suite I knew I had to do a gift bag!

I really liked the way this one turned out!

Hopefully I'll have more time to stamp and share soon!  This week may be nuts with finishing up work and my BFF's wedding is coming up this next weekend!

Happy stamping!

HSS 166

Hi stampers!  Quick post today as there's lots going on around here lately...I'll be back to fill you in in a few days.  But, in the meantime it's time for a new challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments!

These were the perfect colors for a card in MDS using the cute little pear from perfectly preserved.  I have to say I really liked the way this one came out!

Now check out all the other inspiration and play along!

Happy stamping!

Fab Friday 24

Hi stampers!  Oh my TGIF!!!!  I'm going to hang out with my mom this weekend and I get to have coffee and breakfast on her new deck overlooking the valley!  I'm so excited....it's just what I needed...some momma time and relaxation!

Before I go, wanna see the new Fab Friday challenge?

It's a nice soft color palate this time around.

I did some splattering with pistachio pudding although it's hard to see in to photo.  I'm kind of running late with this post so I don't have supplies for ya but it's a pretty simple one.

Don't forget to check out all the other member's creations and play along with us!  I'm off for some rest and relaxation at the farm!!!!

Happy stamping!

I was dirty again!

Hi stampers!  Quick post today!  I was all hyped up on diet coke and coffee last night so I decided to play along with some more of the Dare To Get Dirty Challenges over at Splitcoast!  If you want to find out all the details you'll have to go over there as it's super secret for the Fan Club Members!!!  Being part of the fan club is a great way to support an awesome online community!!!

I used lots of fun new stuff finally!  I hadn't stamped all week since it was a crummy week and I was always pooped from work :-)  So, here are my last four cards!

 Uses the new snowflake dies!  FUN!  Also love the A Banner Christmas set!  Very vintage or retro looking!

 Nothing new but it's still cute, no?

 New Halloween set!  Toil & Trouble and first H-ween card of 2013!

Ack!  The new thinlit dies!  LOVE them!!!!!  Also love the pattern from the July paper pumpkin stamp!

Happy stamping!

Christmas in....August?

Hi stampers! Yep, it's Christmas in August!  Why???  Well because you can shop from the HOLIDAY CATALOG now (PS my site has a cool new look now, yay)!  You can download the Layar app on your smart phone and interact with the paper copy too! FUN!  If you need a copy, let me know!

So, before I show you my card I want to apologize for not posting much this past week.  It's not been the best year around here as most of you know and it's not getting much better.  So, we found out that we aren't pregnant again and my hubby got a not-so-good diagnosis for some problems he's been dealing with for a while and just a lot of other life stuff.  So, I needed some alone time :-)  They are also changing up my hours/schedule at work and I'm a bit worried I won't have much time to blog or even stamp.  Kind of hard to stamp if you're working ALL day every day and nights and weekends too..... :/  Anyway I'll try to share more stuff soon!

So, in honor of the new catalog I have a Christmas card today!  This was a quick swap I whipped up before I left for convention.  I have a soft spot for vintage Santa's....sorry it's a bit blurry.  It says he's making a list and checking it twice.

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Santa's list
Paper:  Very vanilla, baked brown sugar, season of style DSP
Ink:  Cherry cobbler, baked brown sugar
Accessories:  None

Isn't he cute?  I love him and I'm glad I got him inked up so soon, hehe!  Make sure to check out the holiday catalog!  It's super!!!!!  I hope I have some time this weekend to play with some of the goodies!!!!

Happy Christmas in August!  And happy stamping!