A LITTLE BIT OF FALL

Happy Friday all!!! Man, this has been one busy week and I am not done yet, lol! Tomorrow is my big Hostess Appreciation Event so I am madly stamping fun goodies and creating goodies bags for all the special ladies who hosted a workshop for me last stamping year!!! I am so excited to see them all tomorrow - I am going to spoil them rotten, lol! I will share all the fun things I made on Monday, but today I am going to share another workshop card that really has fall written all over it! We used one of my favorite fall sets for this card called Day of Gratitude - it truly is beautiful! I just love the big Medallion, and all the fall leaves and acorns and such are wonderful accent stamps that make this set so versatile!  We paired this set with the yummy Spice Cake Designer Series paper and I think I can truly say that I have gotten my money's worth from this set, lol! It is such pretty paper, and the colors are fabulous!! I would NEVER have thought Pool Party was a fall color, but here it is as the base and accent color and it looks great!!! We stamped the base with the leaf stamp in Pool Party ink as well to add some texture. The patterned paper is punched using the Eyelet Border punch on both sides and then layered on some Soft Suede card stock. The main image is stamped in Soft Suede ink on Very Vanilla card stock, then softly sponged with More Mustard ink and mounted on More Mustard card stock.  And of course, we had to add a cute little button right in the center - I love those little flower buttons, they give just the right touch to almost every project! See that pretty ribbon? That is the fabulous Soft Suede taffeta ribbon - I love EVERY color of this ribbon, I swear it's the prettiest ribbon we have, I just love it!!! The sentiment is stamped in More Mustard, punched out with the Large Oval Punch, and then mounted on some Soft Suede card stock that is punched out with the Designer Label punch.  Then, the whole thing is popped up on dimensionals!! Isn't it a pretty card?  I love the colors, and the images - this card must makes me happy! We had tons of fun making this, and the ladies at the workshop were also amazed at how well these colors blend together for a great fall look!  If you love these products and want some of your own, you can order them all in my online store, or you can contact me and I will be happy to take your order for you! I am going to spend the rest of the day madly stamping in my studio getting ready for tomorrow's event! I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and try and take some time to be creative!!!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Pool Party, Soft Suede, More Mustard, Very Vanilla card stock, Spice Cake Designer Series Paper
Inks - More Mustard, Soft Suede, Pool Party classic inks
Stamps - Day of Gratitude Stamp set
Tools - Eyelet Border punch, Designer Label punch, Large Oval punch, dimensionals, sponge
Accessories - Designer buttons, Soft Suede Taffeta ribbon

THE FRAME THAT WASN'T

Hi all! Well, I promised you all yesterday that I would show you the frame I made for Tony's Grandma BUT I got it all finished, proudly showed it to my husband, and promptly packaged it all up in the shipping box and FORGOT TO TAKE THE PICTURE!!! LOL - sometimes I wonder where my head is :-) So, instead of the frame, I have a workshop card to share that I did with my workshop gals last week! It was quite the crowd with 16 of them all packed around three tables - I could have used more of ME, heeehee! We had a great time though, there was lots of laughing, and everyone enjoyed the projects which is ALWAYS my goal! I have been doing so much stamping of holiday stuff that I decided to make a project that had nothing to do with the season, lol!  This card uses two separate stamp sets:  one is a hostess set called Precious Butterflies and I absolutely love it! The other is the Creative Elements stamp set, which we used to stamp on the patterned paper itself. The base of this card is Poppy Parade card stock, and the patterned paper comes from the First Edition Specialty Collection - Yummy! We punched along the edge using the Eyelet Border punch, and then sponged the edges with Early Espresso ink. The images are stamped on Naturals Ivory in Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight inks, then backed with some Not Quite Navy card stock. The sentiment is stamped on Daffodil Delight card stock in Not Quite Navy ink, then punched out using the Large Oval punch, and popped up on dimensionals. We tore the edge of the patterned paper (some of them had a tough time with this, they thought it was too pretty, lol) then added a small Navy designer button. Last, we used some of the Daffodil Delight Taffeta ribbon across the top of the card, and it looks so pretty!! Love that ribbon, and in every color too :-) A simple but pretty card that is perfect for workshops! I hope you like it too!! If you like the products you see here, you can purchase them in my online store OR contact me and I am happy to take your order! Don't forget the Precious Butterflies set is a hostess only purchase so if you are in love with this one (I am!) then give me a call and let's get your workshop booked! I will leave you the recipe, and then I am off to make some more pretties for my Hostess Appreciation event this weekend - can't wait to spoil those ladies :-) I hope your day is fabulous and you take some time to create something!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Poppy Parade, Not Quite Navy, Naturals Ivory, Daffodil Delight card stock, First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper
Inks - Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Not Quite Navy classic inks
Stamps - Precious Butterflies (hostess set), Creative Elements
Tools - Eyelet Border punch, Large Oval punch, sponge, dimensionals
Accessories - Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon, Designer Buttons

SUPER CUTE MINI BOOK

Hi stampers!! I hope someone is reading this, I know I took quite the hiatus!! I was battling quite a bad sinus infection which ended up going into my chest and caused me all kinds of grief! And, just when I was getting over that, I caught a bad head cold that I am currently at the end of  - sheesh!!! So, I am back on track and have TONS to show you this week!!! Today I want to share a cute mini book I made for one of my husband's staff that is leaving for a new job. He wanted something they could all sign and then add pictures to from her going away party so this is what I came up with! I got to attend the party as well and she loved the book, which made me happy :-) I have several pages to show you so what I will do is list  the main products that I used as I show you the pages. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to email me, and I will do my very best to answer them! This first pic is of the cover - it's an accordion album so it is held together by the Daffodil Delight wide striped grosgrain ribbon on the side. I used Pacific Point card stock as my base for the whole album, and the patterned paper is all from the Beyond the Garden Designer Series paper collection.  I used several stamp sets in this album; the ones on the front cover come from the BFF stamp set, and the Friends Never Fade stamp set. Although you can't tell from the pic, I sprayed the accordion flower with Frost White Shimmerz - looks so pretty IRL!

In this mini I tried to keep a similar theme going for all the pages as there are some on the front AND back pages of this book. So, I am going to show you the front pages as I repeated the themes from the front onto the back. These first two pages show how I did the pockets and tags for them all to sign and leave little notes, and then there are places for pictures as well! I used the Kindness Matters stamp set, and the Just Believe stamp set for the images and the borders on these pages.  I also used the Triple Layer flower punch, I just love that! The ribbon is the yummy Tangerine Tango Scalloped Polka Dot ribbon, which you will see throughout the book. The border on the pocket was made with the Eyelet Border punch, one of my favorites that I tend to reach for over and over. There are some blingy items on this page as well - I used some of the Antique brads as well as some rhinestones and pearls - a girl has got to have bling, right??

These two pages have lots of room for journaling and also for pictures. I used my Scallop Circle die on my Big Shot to create the pull-out from the right page, which can hold two pics all on it's own. The stamp sets on the right hand page are from the Vintage Vogue stamp set.  As you can see, the pocket on the left side is a repeat pocket - I did these all the same throughout the mini and it looks great! It gave a lot of continuity to the book, and the other pages really added the pop to the book with all their different elements!

These two pages are once again showing two pocket pages, one of which should look familiar *wink* The right side is another pocket similar to the last one, but with different images. These come from the Friends Never Fade stamp set, a great set that can be used for many, many different occasions! The Eyelet Border punch was used along the diagonal of the pocket as it was on the last page I showed you!

These are the last two pages of the book, and they are primarily for placing pictures. Lots of stamping going on here as well! The butterflies are from the Kindness Matters stamp set - I just stamped them on Whisper White card stock, cut them out, and then placed some rhinestones down the center of them. I also used the Just Believe stamp set on the left page, adding some cute little pink flowers punched out with my Bitty punch.  And of course, I added some pearls :-) The outline of the Scalloped Square shape is left from the Scalloped Square you see on the front of the album cover - I hate to let it go to waste so I used it here. Another stamp set used on the right page is called My Friend, and it is one of the first stamp sets I purchased from this catalog, I just love it! Lots of fun images to play with :-)  So, there you have all the pages (some I did not show as they are duplicates of ones you see here) of the cute mini I made for a going away gift! This is the best part of being a scrapper and stamper, that I get the chance to make these handmade gift items for people - I just love how much they appreciate them - much better than a sweater, don't you think??!! Although, I tend to give both, lol!  If you like any of these items you see here, you can purchase them in my online store, or contact me and I will be happy to take your order. I hope the pictures are clear enough for you to see, there was not the best light when I took them, and well, I don't have the book anymore to get better ones, lol! I will be back tomorrow with a frame that I made for my husband's grandma who turned 86 yesterday! Yep, another handmade gift item :-) Until then, I hope you have a wonderful Monday, and take time to stamp something!