Kitchen Sink Stamps & Sweet 'n Sassy Projects

I'm old...that's right, I'm old...It now takes me about three days to recover from a simple overnight trip! LOL! Today is the first day that I feel rested and ready to re-enter the wife/mommy world. I mean where are all of my stamping friends and the hours spent happily stamping in the beautiful countryside of rural PA? hee hee

Today, I want to share a few photos from our two Friday evening classes, sponsored by Kitchen Sink Stamps and Sweet 'n Sassy.

More details on the projects can be found at the Stamping Around site.

Our first class on Friday was offered by Julie and was sponsored by Kitchen Sink Stamps. Great class, where we had the opportunity to have a real hands on experience with the stamps. Julie did a great job of helping us all gain a better understanding of how to achieve the best results with these multi-step stamps.

We then surprised our attendees with a BONUS class from Korin, who is the owner of Sweet 'n Sassy stamps. She presented us with this super cute Christmas tree card, created by taking individual sentiment stamps and fashioning them into a tree. How cute is that??
I'll be back later this week with more photos!! Believe it or not I didn't finish all of my projects while in PA...ohh, bad stamper! I was in charge of watching baby Owen when Julie was busy...I mean I couldn't really turn down a newborn snuggle opportunity could I, even if it meant I took a break from stamping! :-)

Back from PA!!

I'm back safe and sound from our Stamping Around PA event!! It was a blast and I'll have more to share this week! For now, you can check out some photos of our location on the Stamping Around web site and I'll leave you with a photo of our group of instructors!

From left to right... Korin Sutherland, Tammy, Becky, me, and Julie Masse. In front is Charmaine Ikach and Kathi Rerek.

Check back later this week for more!

Ramblings

No new cards for posting today...have been spending my time this week getting ready for the next Stamping Around event, taking place starting tomorrow in PA! We are beyond excited!! The location is just amazing, we have packed classes, and fabulous teachers!! Oh yeah, and lots of amazing prizes for our attendees!! I'll do my best to get photos posted from the event...

So...I leave you with a few random pictures...First, a photo of a card I had published in the October issue of CARDS. Yeah! It's so funny the cards that get picked for publication...always seems to be the less complicated ones. I guess keeping it simple is a good rule of thumb!

Next...this excites me so much I have to share it with everyone I know...This fabulous chair that I purchased at a yard sale for $7.00...that's right $7.00! It is in perfect condition and is amazingly comfortable. I'm still on the fence on whether or not I'll recover it...it does go nicely with our new leather couch (not that couch shown in the background) but the fabric is a little funky. Maybe funky can be good..no?
And last, I'll leave you with a picture of my ugly mug...Complete with a brand new and blown straight hair cut! I had about five or six inches cut off and I love it...I can rarely get it as straight as my stylist but it's definitely easier with it shorter. Since I'm headed into my (***gasp***) mid-40's, I thought it was high time I went, at least sometimes, for a more grown up style. I mean how long can one wear big, curly hair? ;-)

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Holiday Workshop

Someone please tell me that Christmas isn't just around the corner...I am not ready I tell ya, not ready! Oh, I have a few ideas present ideas in my head but the time to shop just doesn't exist! LOL! Christmas is actually my favorite holiday...I love the music, decorating the tree, seeing the excitement on the kid's faces in the morning, spending time with friends and family...ahhh, it's all wonderful but sometimes it's too darn exhausting leading up to the actual day. I say let's throw out this whole gift giving thing and just spend quality time with the ones we love! Wouldn't that make things much less stressful?

At the very least, there should be time for some holiday card and gift making!! I taught a class last month at Wholly Scrap where we made a cardstock box that was filled with four tiny note cards, each 3.25" x 3.25". I found the box directions on Splitcoast and simply modified it to fit my needs.

The fabulous paper that I used on the cards is from Basic Grey and it is just lovely. It has this wonderful deep plum color in the papers that goes so nicely with the light blue and pink colors. Seems to be the hot holiday colors this year and I adore them! (If you click on the above photo you'll be able to get a better look at each of the cards.) The images are all from an Impression Obsession stamp set and these snowmen are just delightful! I love snowmen and have a hard time not making a purchase every time I see one during the holiday shopping season. Each image has been colored with Copics and the snowballs all have a hint of Stickles.

I am holding this class again on 11/20...so...if you're in the New England area and would like to attend, send me an email or leave a comment. If you're not in the immediate area but are interested, I'd be happy to send you a kit along with detailed instructions. The cost for the kit and class is $20. Please RSVP by 11/13..

Thanks so much and happy snowman days!

Keep it Simple Sunday

Today's Tip: Create magic with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and Just Rite stamps!

I had a lot on my plate last night and was slightly stressing over the fact that my brain was completely void of any brilliant ideas for this week's Keep it Simple Sunday post. (Truth be told, my brain was void of brilliant ideas pertaining to anything important!) Since my now 8x8 foot craft room is small and filled to the rim with far too many pieces of cardstock and ribbon, it's always a nice surprise when I'm riffling through my piles of unorganized scraps when I come upon not only the perfect piece of paper but the perfect idea!

When my stamping friend came over a few weeks ago she brought with her a few Cuttlebug embossing folders and some holiday-themed Just Rite stamps. So before she left I ran a few random pieces of cardstock through the Cuttlebug and stamped some of the Just Rite images onto another piece of cardstock and that, my friends, are the two pieces of paper I found in my giant pile 'ol scraps last night! The light bulb instantly went on and in under 15 minutes I had myself a quick and easy Christmas card, perfect for today's post!

The fun thing about these quick and easy cards (besides being...well...quick and easy) is that it's also quick and easy to recreate this card without a lot of instruction. I adore this embossed image and it's so pretty you really don't want to cover it up so using a the small circle in the middle of the card was perfect. I colored my Just Rite image with Copics, cut it out with my Nesties and layered onto a scalloped circle because, let's be honest, I have a thing for scalloped circles. I added a bit of lovely bright red ribbon from Papertryink and voila, I was finished with my card and ready to cross a few more things off of my very long to do list!

Later this week, I'm off to PA to celebrate the last Stamping Around event of 2009!! Be sure to check back in later in the week and over the weekend for updates and pictures from the event...We have a packed house in PA and we can not wait to meet everyone!!

SALT Challenge - Serving for God's Glory

"As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another,

as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." -I Peter 4:10

This week it was my turn to come up with a challenge for the SALT design team and I chose "Serving for God's Glory", using the above verse for inspiration and meditation. You can read my entire write up on the SALT blog, I'll just make a few brief comments here.

In verses 7-11, Peter turns to exhortation on how we are to treat others and reminds his readers to be "serious and watchful in their prayers" and to have "fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins." In verse 10 he pens our challenge verse, noted above.

As I considered this verse and how I can apply it to my life, I realized that I too frequently have failed to minister to the needs of others around me. I tend to be far too self-absorbed with my own life and struggles and don't stop to look for others in need. It's too easy for my focus to be only on my circumstances and not enough on Christ, the church, and my neighbor.

That simple saying, "it is better to give than to receive" is so true. In general, many of us have been abundantly blessed with material things, adequate finances, and generally good health. On top of that, we have Christ, do we need more? Yet there are so many who are in desperate need, either of practical help, a word of encouragement, a listening ear, or genuine love and friendship and we (at least I) have a tendency to pass them by. May God be pleased, and may we be willing, to use us to minister to those around us... not so we can pat ourselves on the back or enjoy the good feelings that come from helping someone but so that God can be glorified as we faithfully use the special gifts He has given to us.

Onto the project! When I went to create something for this week's challenge, I wanted to make an altered notebook to jot down notes about those who I think could use a phone call, a note of encouragement, or some practical help. (I plan to start with the folks in my own church!) And me without a list is like a dog without a bone...I need a list to stay organized!

I remembered this handmade note card holder that I picked up at a craft show a few years ago. It's been sitting in my desk, collecting dust ever since, even though I think it's an adorable project. It consists of a chipboard front and back and has a boatload of 3x5 index cards in between. The entire piece is held together with a metal ring. The picture of the original piece is below.

It was cute "as is" but not really my color scheme or style so I decided to change things up a bit! I recovered the front and back covers with these beautiful Bo Bunny papers, from Wholly Scrap, and then proceeded to embellish the front. I started with a chipboard frame that I covered with more Bo Bunny paper. To that I added another piece of swirl chipboard that I colored brown with a dye ink pad, the swirl is meant to represent a tree branch. Next came my wee little bird, from an Impression Obsession stamp set, also purchased from Wholly Scrap. A few teeny felt flowers, from Papertreyink and colored with Copics, were a fun addition to the branch, as well as tiny rhinestones from Taylored Expressions for the bird's eye and middle of each flower. I created the "serve" piece by stamping an alphabet stamp, cutting out the individual letters, and then piecing the word together. I really like the way the paper overlaps with each letter. Another chipboard heart, colored red, finished off the front. All I needed were a few ribbons to attach to the ring!I'm happy with the final piece and am looking forward to making some notes this week. The notebook is even small enough to fit in my purse so it's a perfect take along and it would be a piece of cake to recreate so why not give it a try!! And while you're at it, the SALT team would love to see your artwork, created based on this week's theme. Just leave us a comment with a link back to your blog or gallery and we'll come visit!

I also wanted to mention that the SALT team blog and my blog will be participating in the A Faith Perspective blog hop on November 14, 2009. The theme of the hop is "Thankful for Friends of Faith." Please stop by on the 14th for a list of participants and challenges!

Tim Holtz Holiday Tag

One more tag to share from my recent stamping weekend with a dear stamping friend of mine....This one is all Tim!

In the lower right hand corner, shown close up below, you can see the compass mask that was used to create the stencil....isn't that so cool? I then used Ranger distress inks to age the age and add small spots of blue. All of the images used on the tag are also from Tim Holtz line. These stamps are unmounted rubber, on a foam back. Love the images and the stamp quality. A clean image was easy to achieve and the stamps come with a nice cling sheet for easy storage.

I stamped the reindeer twice, once on the tag and once on kraft cardstock. The kraft reindeer was cut out and attached to the tag with dimensional tape. I finished off the piece by adding a the small calendar image, attached with an antique pin, and a big 'ol bow, courtesy of Stampin' Up!

Enjoy!