CHICKS AND CHOCOLATE FUN!

Happy Friday!!! YAY!! I love Friday - it means I get to see more of my husband, lol! Not so much with the teenagers, they always seem to have a PACKED schedule and this weekend is no exception, lol! Although I don't get to spend much time with any of them this weekend as my son and my husband are playing in a golf tournament that starts tonight and ends Sunday night...but, I am glad they have that time together :-) As for my daughter, between football games, sleepovers, and festivals, she is gone all weekend, lol!  I don't have any classes or anything scheduled this weekend, so I am looking forward to a little "me" time! However, my week was full of fun events, which is why the lack of posting this week, heehee! Last night was my Chicks and Chocolate class so I thought it would be fun to share a few of the projects we did! We made a total of four projects all involving chocolate - always fun, right??!! Combining stamping and chocolate is one of my absolute favorite things to do :-) The first one was a really big hit with all the ladies - they kept playing with them, lol! It is a Halloween slider card made with a standard sized Hershey bar!!!! It was hard to get a good picture of this for some reason so I apologize for that BUT you can still get the gist of this project :-) The base of this cute little holder is Basic Black card stock, and we used a few different Halloween sets for the stamping! The bats and the spider web are from the Wicked Cool stamp set and is one of my faves because it has such fun, cute images like these!  The spider web is stamped in Basic Gray ink and the bats are in Stazon ink. We used Naturals White card stock to stamp on, and sponged the edges with Peach Parfait classic ink. The spider is from a set called Batty For You, and it is one I used every year when Halloween comes around! We actually stamped this image twice - once in Stazon, which we then punched out, and once in Cherry Cobbler where we punched out just the spider and popped it up on dimensionals over the other one so that the words still show! Doesn't it look cute hanging in that web, LOL??!! Both the Naturals White and the Peach Parfait card stock layers are border punched using the Scalloped Trim border punch.  Before adhering the White layer, we wrapped a piece of Black Extra Wide striped Grosgrain ribbon around it, and tied it in a knot - or, I like to call it the faux bow, heehe! Once that was done, we adhered the whole piece to the front of the slider pocket.

There is an inside pocket as well that I would like to show you - it was super hard to get a good pic of because when the slider piece is extended, it is REALLY quite long, LOL! Here again though, you can get the idea!  How this works is as you pull the Hershey bar from the pocket at the top, the slider sentiment slides out from the bottom! The slider sentiments piece is made up of the same Peach Parfait and Naturals White card stock combination, and the sentiment is from the Grateful Greetings stamp set - super cute sayings in this set, so fun and very versatile! This is such a fun project to make, and you can do this with all kinds of things, it does not have to be a chocolate bar (although I like the chocolate bars, lol!) You could add licorice, a gift card, or any type of gift that would fit and lay flat inside!! I definitely think this project was the hit of the evening, although there was a lot of squealing going on through each and every one we created, so I am thinking they probably liked them all *wink* I enjoy this class so much - always a fun one to teach, and the ladies always have a wonderful time eating chocolate, stamping, laughing, and just having fun!! I will be holding another Chicks and Chocolate class for Christmas treats so watch the calendar and come on over if YOU like chocolate and stamping!! If you like the products you see here in THIS post, you can order them in my online store OR you can contact me and I will be happy to place your order for you!!! Now, I am off to do some fun stamping (meaning just for me, heehee) and then to pick up my daughter and drop her at a friends house! Have a wonderful weekend, and I will be back tomorrow with another fun Halloween project we did in class! I hope you take time to create something!!!
Slider Recipe:
Paper - Basic Black, Peach Parfait, Naturals White card stock
Inks - Black Stazon, Basic Gray, Cherry Cobbler classic inks
Stamps - Batty for You, Wicked Cool, Grateful Greetings
Tools - Scalloped Trim border punch, 1 1/4 inch and 1 inch circle punches, red sticky tape, dimensionals
Accessories - Basic Black wide striped grosgrain ribbon, Hershey chocolate bar

HOLIDAY MINI SPOTLIGHT - DAY TEN

Good morning!!! Today is the last day of my Holiday Mini Spotlight Series!! I hope you have enjoyed the last ten days of posts showcasing the fabulous products the mini has to offer!! I am sure you will see more projects from me using mini products, but I have a lot of other projects brewin' right now too *wink* Today I am going to share a Christmas card that uses several different products from the mini! The image is from the Christmas Lodge stamp set - the images in this set are just beautiful!!! I stamped the image in Always Artichoke CRAFT ink, then added clear embossing powder and embossed it using my heat tool.  I then added some subtle white accents on the edges and the bottom of the tree using my white gel pen!

Here is a closeup so that you can see a little bit better although I know it is hard to see in the picture.  I stamped it on Naturals White card stock because I love the pigmentation of this paper, it looks fabulous with this stamp set! I used the Scalloped Oval Die Cut with my Big Shot to cut the oval and the Scalloped frame around the image. It fits perfectly inside there like it was made for it :-) The patterned paper is from the Frostwood Lodge Designer Series paper pack, also in the Holiday Mini and it has beautiful vintage pages that are perfect for all you holiday projects! I just love the woodgrain look of this paper - perfect for the tree, right?? The sentiment is also from the Christmas Lodge stamp set and is stamped in White CRAFT ink, then embossed using the white embossing powder because I really wanted it to stand out! I used my mat pack to add the textured border along the top and the bottom, and then I trimmed each end of the sentiment piece using the Designer Label punch! It is so fun to be able to use punches in lots of different ways, and I really love the design it leaves here on the edges! I then popped the whole sentiment piece up on dimensionals.  The ribbon is also from the mini and is Early Espresso Quilted ribbon - totally yummy ribbon!! It looks and feels rich!! Soooo pretty!! Lastly, I added some pearls to each scallop around the image - doesn't it look awesome??!! I love these pearls, they dress up every projects I used them for! This is a simple card, but very pretty, and would make a great Christmas card (hmmmm.....maybe I will use this one, lol!) If you like any of these products and would like them for your own, you can shop in my online store, or contact me and I will be happy to place your order for you! I had such a great time showing you all these wonderful projects using mini products - I hope you were inspired by at least one project that I shared!!Now, I am off to get ready for my downline meeting tonight - I just love seeing my gals, they are all so creative, sweet, and fun!! I hope you all have a fabulous day, and take time to create something!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Chery Cobbler, Early Espresso, Naturals White, Always Artichoke card stock, Frostwood Lodge Designer Series Paper
Inks - Always Artichoke and Whisper White CRAFT inks, Early Espresso classic ink, white gel pen
Stamps - Christmas Lodge
Tools - Big Shot, Scalloped Oval die, heat gun, clear and white embossing powder, Designer Label punch, Dimensionals
Accessories - Early Espresso Quilted ribbon, Basic Pearls

HOLIDAY MINI SPOTLIGHT SERIES - DAY NINE (SCROLL DOWN FOR PICS)

Good Monday morning ladies!!! I hope you all had a great weekend!! I have to tell you, mine was FABULOUS!! Yes, I took time off from blogging - I wanted to spend some time with my daughter this weekend!! Friday night was the Homecoming game and she had a blast! She was on the Homecoming Committee and worked very hard on the Freshman Float for the halftime show.  Well, for the first time in SIX YEARS, the Freshman Float TOOK FIRST PLACE!!!!  She was soooo excited - I was thrilled for her AND them!! She had two friends who stayed the whole weekend with us as their moms were at a Church Retreat so we did lots of fun things together! Movies, pizza, frozen yogurt, mall shopping, lunch out, ,etc. It was a great weekend! Tony was hunting and Tyler had to work, so it was just us girls :-)

Here are a couple of the pics from this weekend - these silly girls were snapping pics of themselves all weekend! They were laughing hysterically as they took these but they actually got some cute shots and just look a those smiles!! They tend to look in the mirror a lot and take pics of each other - I don't remember ever doing this, but I am glad they do because it lets me see what they are up too, and I then I have some silly shots of her and her friends to put in her Freshman scrapbook - and yes, I plan on putting them ALL in there so she can look back and remember how much fun she had, and who she spent the most time with! I think these girls will be friends forever :-)

And, of course, here is the most beautiful girl in the world - and yes, I am biased because she is mine!!! I think she has a beautiful smile - it warms my heart to see it!!! She did tell me that she is "adorable" LOL! And yes, she is *wink* It was really nice to spend time with these girls, and listen to them tease each other, sing at the of their lungs, and laugh over everything and anything that happened! It made me happy that they included me as well, even though I know THAT won't happen very often so I better take advantage of it while I can, heeheee! It was just the BEST weekend - spending precious time with my daughter before she is all grown up and on her own is very important to me!!

So, if you have stuck with me this far, I will now share a project with you - I know that is why you stopped by, lol! This is yet another project I did using products from the Holiday Mini! It is a mini book class that I taught on Friday night while the girls were at the game - it gave me some girl time too :-) I used the Spice Cake Suite again - I know, I know! It IS a fall book though, so it worked out perfectly, heehee! I have already shared the cover in this post, so now I am going to share the inside pages! This is an accordion style book that folds up nicely for storage, but makes a beautiful display piece as well! I am going to show you all six pages plus the inserts, and then I will briefly tell you what products I used. I can't list everything for each page because it will be a book, and not a blog post, lol! Here are the pages listed in order:

These are the first two pages of the mini! Lots of detail on these pages - the leaves are cut out on the Big Shot using the Leaves #2 die, and then lightly sponged with More Mustard and Cajun Craze classic inks. The images are from the Always Thankful and Gently Falling stamp sets, both of which can be found in the Holiday Mini. The Spice Cake Designer Series paper is used throughout this mini, and you can see some of it here! If you noticed the More Mustard Scalloped polka ribbon loops sticking out of the top of the book, those are actually attached to the four insert pages that are included in this mini book.  Four fun pockets for more pictures, journaling, or memorabilia, - fun, right?!

These are pages three and four of the mini book and these pages each have a pocket for insert pages as well! The images on the left side of the book are from the Faith in Nature Hostess set - this is a beautiful stamp set that goes well with lots of different projects! The punched flower on that page was made using the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer punch, love it!! That yummy ribbon along the bottom of that page is the Pool Party Ruffled ribbon, which I love!! The image and the sentiment on the right side of the book are from the Always Thankful stamp set: there are such great images in this set I think they are ALL used in this mini, lol! The sentiment is punched out using the Decorative Label punch and then popped up on dimensionals. See that button? That is also from the Holiday Mini - there are four colors of these jumbo buttons in the Spice Cake Designer Buttons pack and you get four of each color!! I took some Spice Cake fabric and threaded it through the button, then tied a bow - I just love how the fabric frays and looks soooo good with these fall pages! The Early Espresso Wide Striped grosgrain ribbon is laid across the center of the page, and looks great with the colors of the paper!

These are pages five and six of the mini book, and the left had side has the last of the four pockets that contain an insert page. The pear image you see on that page is also from the Faith in Nature Hostess set. It is stamped twice, once directly on the page, and then again on some Naturals Ivory card stock.  The pear is cut out, then popped up on dimensionals over the stamped image on the page - looks great! The border along the triangle piece of the Spice Cake DSP is actually from the Lace Border punch - we just punched it out, then cut the lace border in half and snailed it to the triangle! The accordion flower was also made out of the Spice Cake patterned paper, and we added some Soft Suede taffeta ribbon, and a More Mustard flower designer button. On the right side there are images from both the Always Thankful and the Gently falling stamp sets. The ribbon down the edge is Very Vanilla thin grosgrain ribbon, and the border along the triangle of Pool Party card stock is punched using the Eyelet Border punch.

These are the inserts that are located in the four pockets of the mini - I only took a picture of two of them as the other two are identical to these. These were kept simple as too much embellishing here would have made it difficult to close the book and you want it to be able to lay flat if need be. The top corners are rounded using the Corner Rounder punch, and each insert has a piece of looped More Mustard Scalloped Polka Dot ribbon held in place with a Chocolate Chip jumbo brad. There is lots of room to add extra pics, or notes, or whatever you want!! So, that is the book - isn't it fun??!! This book IS available in a kit so if you would like to make one of your own, please contact me and I will mail it out priority flat rate straight to you! Cost of this is $45(plus 4.95 shipping) and you receive everything you need including directions for putting it together! If you want to purchase the items you see here, you can place an order in my online store, or contact me and I will be happy to place your order for you! I hope you enjoyed this super long blog post - if you hung with me to the end, you are a ROCK STAR, lol!!! I will be back with a cute Christmas project using Holiday Mini products for my last product Spotlight post! Have a wonderful day, and I hope you take the time to create something!