Unfrogettable Stamping!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  This is a banner I demonstrated at Robbin's workshop earlier this month... as the hostess she got to to keep one for herself and is proudly displaying it on her door!  This came together so quickly with a package of Frightful Sight DSP, my Big Shot (scallop square, scallop circle, circle and Serif Essentials Alphabet dies) and the House of Haunts stamp set.  There are paper coasters attached to the backs of the scallop squares to give them a little more weight and I used 1/4" basic black grosgrain ribbon to thread them all together... the crop-a-dile allowed me to punch holes through all the layers pretty quickly.  I did use clear packing tape to secure the ribbon behind each piece, too.  Please see below for some close-ups...

I don't know if you can see it very clearly, but I sprayed each of the spiderweb scallop circles with shimmer mist that I created with the champagne shimmer paint and rubbing alcohol... so fun!

I also wanted to share some pictures of my "nerdy" kids... we hit the thrift store to pick up these mismatched clothes.  Can you believe we found the giant pink glasses for Kelsey (my younger daughter)?  She went to a middle school party with her best friend Maddie on Saturday night and they were so cute as nerds!  Sadly, Amanda recently turned 14 so is now too old to trick-or-treat... but, she can hand out candy with a friend while we take our younger kids out tonight.  All of our candy goes into a community bowl anyway so she'll get candy, too.  Maybe with only 2 of my kids going out we won't still have a bowl full of candy at Christmas time!

Brandon is going dressed as the grim reaper tonight but wasn't allowed to wear a scary costume to school so he decided to go as a nerd, a la Steve Urkel!  I think he pulled it off pretty well, don't you?

Thanks for letting me share... I hope you have a safe and FUN Halloween today!

Trick or Treat... definitely a treat!

Thanks for stopping by today - it is Fabulous Friday over on the Sisters in Stamping blog and this week I chose Halloween candy treats as the theme for our projects.  Who couldn't use a great idea for packaging Halloween treats in a fun way, right?!  And with Halloween right around the corner these are super-easy to put together in a jiffy.

My project this week uses my all-time favorite Big Shot die - the Top Note.  I used it to create the packaging around two Hershey nuggets.  I used the Frightful Sight DSP for both and pulled my colors from it... basic black, whisper white, old olive, cajun craze and basic gray.   The "spooky" sentiment and background spider web image are from the Wicked Cool stamp set... one of my favorite Hallween sets.  Do you recognize the punch used for the ghost - it's the owl turned upside down with the feet trimmed off... cute, huh?!  The eyes in basic black are also from that same punch and the large oval and scallop oval punches complete the embellishment for both.

Here is what the inside of the treat holders look like - I used scraps of DSP from the Frightful Sight pack to wrap around the nuggets.  They are held onto the Top Note die with mini glue dots.  I used my Simply Scored scoring tool to quickly add the score lines (score at 1-3/4" and 3" when the center point is at 2-3/8") to my Top Note diecuts after covering them with the DSP and punched holes for the ribbon using my trusty Crop-a-Dile.

Thanks for stopping by!  Please be sure and hop on over to the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon EST today for more "tricks" for packaging your Halloween treats!

Have a great weekend!

Week 4 of the "12 Weeks of Christmas" project tutorials from Get Creative with Rachel and Debbie

This week's project is a great "SNOW" banner perfect for hanging on your mantel.  I know you will get a lot of use out of this project, either as a gift for a loved one or holiday decoration for yourself!

You can purchase each tutorial individually for $2.95 or buy all 12 of them for only $24.95. If you choose to purchase the complete set now, I will email you the tutorials each week as they are released. Our tutorials give you complete directions along with measurements and tons of photos to help you re-create the project with ease.

To purchase the tutorial for our Week 4 Snow Banner for $2.95 click the "buy now" button below.

 

If you want to purchase all "12 Weeks of Christmas" tutorials at a discounted price of $24.95, a savings of over $10, click the "buy now" button below.  Each week as we release the projects, you will be emailed a complete tutorial with pictures and instructions.

 

October 2011 Demonstrator of the Month, part 3

Thanks for stopping by today!  I am posting the last of Delores Wilson's projects for being my Demonstrator of the Month.  These are all great Christmas cards that are sure to inspire you.

How cute is this card?!  It's a pocket card and the pull-tab on the card is the scallop circle with the snowman face on it.  There is a ton of glitter on here, not sure my camera truly captured it.  It would be easy to tuck a gift card down inside of this card, too!

The three cards below all feature the house image from the Christmas Lodge stamp set found in the Holiday Mini catalog.  Isn't it interesting how just changing the color make the cards all have a different feel?!  Which is your favorite?

Thanks, Delores, for all the great projects this month! 

October 2011 Demonstrator of the Month, part 2

Are you ready to see a few more of the creations submitted by Delores Wilson?  Here is a great 2-page July 4th spread... did you know that July 4th is Delores' birthday?!

And here are some close-ups... if you look closely you'll notice that there is not any stamping on these pages - everything is done with the Big Shot and punches.  She even figured out how to make photo corners using our square punch since that punch has now retired (start with a square of card stock and cut in half diagonally - now notch out the inside using a smaller square punch).

And how about these fall cards - both feature the Spice Cake DSP (my favorite!), Always Thankful, Gently Falling and Hand-Penned Holidays stamp sets and quilted ribbon all from the Holiday Mini catalog.  Which do you like better?  One has a wider strip of the DSP...

Here is a card featuring the Trendy Trees stamp set... check out the background on this card - it was created using the swirl that is supposed to be a tree.

And one more featuring the Pendant Park stamp set.

Thanks for visiting today... I have just a few more cards to share with you tomorrow, all with a Christmas theme so be sure and check back!

October 2011 Demonstrator of the Month, part 1

I'd like to introduce you to Delores Wilson - she is my Demonstrator of the Month for October.  I'm excited to share her projects with you - she made quite a few!

First, here's a little background about Delores in her own words...

I started stamping about 6 years ago by taking classes at Michael's in Lynchburg. One of our members started talking about Stampin' Up and had a card she had made using SU stamps. She also told us about Debbie Naylor being a SU Demonstrator and I wanted to know more, so I called Debbie and that's all it took to find out what I was missing by not being with her and Stampin' Up. I started taking classes with her and just couldn't get enough of learning new techniques. Debbie and Stampin' Up makes it so easy to create projects and have fun while you are doing it.

I signed up to become a Demonstrator in 2007 during Sale-a-bration because I love sales. Getting free Stampin' Up products is such a sweet deal during Sale-a-bration, I just couldn't resist. I became a Stampin' Up Demonstrator as a hobbyist at first just to get the discount and soon after I started holding classes with some of my friends. I loved having technique classes using Stampin' Up products and showing how all their products go together. It makes learning so much fun to have everything come together in little effort on our part because Stampin' Up has done the work for us.

I have had to stop holding class for now because I have a family member that I'm taking care of. I do want to start having classes again soon because I do love teaching and sharing Stampin' Up with everyone that will let me.

My favorite part of being a Stampin' Up Demonstrator is the Regional's. I love being with so many fellow SU Demonstrators and learning so much from them. I have so many wonderful friends in my life now because of Stampin' Up and Debbie Naylor. Thanks for all you do for us.

I love that Delores has the flexibility with her Stampin' Up! business to take a break when she needed the time to spend with her family, but that she can easily pick it back up again when things settle down for them.  Thanks, Delores, for sharing your enthusiasm and love of Stampin' Up!  And now I'd like to share a few of her fabulous Halloween treat holders.  They were created using Big Shot dies and punches.

Don't you just love them?!  Who wouldn't want to receive any of these goodies?  They are most certainly a treat and not a trick!

Thanks for stopping by today - please be sure and check back tomorrow!  I'll be sharing her 2-page 12" x 12" scrapbook layout along with some cards.

October 2011 Scrapbook Club projects

My Scrapbook club met on Tuesday night and everyone made two 12" x 12" layouts, including this Thanksgiving page that my Hostess Kris had requested.  I wasn't sure what to do since we don't have any Thanksgiving stamps and then while searching around on various blogs that I check out I came across a really cute punch art turkey page that had been designed by Chris Galbraith. 

Here's a close-up of the turkey - can you guess how many punches it took to create him?  Let's count them, shall we - Boho Blossoms, Word Window, Large oval, Wide oval, Scallop oval, 2-3/8" Scallop Circle, Butterfly, 2-step Bird, Ornament, Itty Bitty punches (circle) and 5-Petal Flower.  So how many is that?  A dozen!  But so worth the final outcome, right?!

Here is the second layout - definitely a much easier page to put together!  This page was my Fabulous Friday fall project a few weeks ago and you can find more details about it here.

If you are interested in joining a club and are local to the Lynchburg area, please give me a call!  We have a lot of fun.

Thanks for stopping by... enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Fabulous Friday thankful turkey card

This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog we are featuring Thanksgiving cards.  I decided to make an easel card with a super-cute punch art turkey that I had seen on a scrapbook page designed by Chris Galbraith.  I had CASE'd her page for my scrapbook club earlier this week and used the turkey again for this card.  Isn't it the cutest?!  But can I tell you that I used just about every punch I own to make him!!  I had to use my favorite Spice Cake DSP for this card - I will be so sad when it is no longer available.  I never would have thought to use pool party for fall cards.

Be sure and head over to the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon today to see what everyone else came up with... I'm sure you'll find some great inspiration!  And check back tomorrow to see my scrapbook club projects.

Have a wonderful weekend - we'll be busy with a swim meet all weekend!!

Halloween Mom & Me class featuring the Owl punch

I hold a Mom & Me class a couple of times a year, usually around a holiday, and this is an opportunity for my stampers to include their kids in a class.  My own kids like to join in on the fun, too!  My Halloween Mom & Me class was this past Sunday afternoon and everyone that came got to make a card, candy favor box that holds chocolates and a 12" x 12" scrapbook page all featuring the super-cute owl punch!  I always cut two sets of supplies - one for Mom and one for her child... this lets the child be more "creative" without Mom worrying about having the projects turn out perfectly.  It helps out a LOT with the stress level and everyone can have fun!  Can you relate?!  LOL!

Here is the card that everyone got to make - I saw it posted somewhere and cannot find it anywhere now to give credit.  I thought it was such a great idea to have the owl punch be a silhouette... not such a spooky card for the younger kids.  The "Happy Halloween" sentiment is from the Haunted Halloween stamp set and the branch is from the 2-step bird punch.

This is a 2-4-6-8 box that holds chocolates - I just love the owl trick-or-treater image from the Warmest Wishes hostess stamp set from the Holiday Mini catalog.  The DSP is from the Frightful Sight DSP package.

This is the scrapbook page I designed... it, too, features DSP from the Frightful Sight package.  I really like this paper and will be sad to see it go.

What do you think of my little ghost?  I wanted to mimic the ghosts in the paper and used the large heart punch to scallop the bottom and the wide oval punch to get the shape of the ghost.  I just used a cajun craze stampin' write marker to draw in the eyes.  The witch sticking out of the cauldron (the owl punch!) is an idea I saw posted by Dena Lenneman.

My next Mom & Me class will be to Celebrate Christmas on November 27th - I only have one spot left if you'd like to join us!  Contact me for details and to register.

Week 3 of the "12 Weeks of Christmas" project tutorials from Get Creative with Rachel and Debbie

This week's project is a fun gift box with matching mini note cards.  I know you have someone on your Christmas list that would just love to receive this gift!  You could easily make a bunch of these from a single pack of Designer Series paper, several sheets of card stock and a few colors of ink along with your Big Shot and some punches.

You can purchase each tutorial individually for $2.95 or buy all 12 of them for only $24.95. If you choose to purchase the complete set now, I will email you the tutorials each week as they are released. Our tutorials give you complete directions along with measurements and tons of photos to help you re-create the project with ease.

To purchase the tutorial for our Week 3 Gift Box with Mini Notecard Set for $2.95 click the "buy now" button below.

 

If you want to purchase all "12 Weeks of Christmas" tutorials at a discounted price of $24.95, a savings of over $10, click the "buy now" button below.  Each week as we release the projects, you will be emailed a complete tutorial with pictures and instructions.