Hello

Tomorrow is the big day!  Tanner starts kindergarten.  He is sooo excited!  I am taking my camera to get some pictures to scrap this special day.  Okay, now stamping......

Isn't this owl the cutest?  I love, love, love this new punch from Stampin' Up!  I was so happy Kim had this card for us to make, when I stamped with her last week.  I have an order coming this Tuesday and this punch in it. I can't wait to play with it MORE!  Cute, cute, cute!

I have a workshop at the end of this month in Chariton, IA...Hello, JoAnne!  This is one of the projects we are going to make.  The branch is from the two-step bird xl punch...awesome!

Materials used are stampin’ up! Unless noted

Stamps: fundamental phrases

Paper: pacific point, crumb cake, whisper white, wild wasabi, early expresso, tangerine tango

Ink: marina mist

Accessories: dimensionals, square lattice impressions folder

Punches: two-step owl XL, two-step bird xl, 1 3/4" circle punch

Techniques: basic stamping

ANNOUNCEMENT.....

I have been working on setting up a USTREAM TV channel on the internet.  I will post the link, when it is ready.  I will be able to create projects live while you watch or stamp with me.  I have researched a new camcorder, so I can start this new endeavor AND tape better YouTube videos too.  It is will arrive some time this week.  I really think I am going to like to record live and stamp with you.  The first project will be a test, so I will be learning a lot on how it works.  After the first one, I will be able to give you a supply list, so you can stamp with me.  I will probably stream at 9 p.m. CST, because the boys will both be in bed.  I will give you a couple days notice before my first live stream.  I hope to schedule a regular day that I can stream.  I have to figure out my schedule after school starts.  Oh, I almost forgot...I want to be able to digital scrap with you too.  In addition, I am thinking about streaming during the day.

Is anyone interested in day time stamping and scrapping with me?  Please leave a comment if you are, so I know I won't be stamping alone.

Christmas Card 5

Walk to school night was great!  Actually, we didn't walk this year, because it is SO hot we didn't want to be dripping with sweat when we got there.  Tate's new teacher is fabulous!  Tate likes her already, and she seems so excited to teach.  She has a lot of energy, which is great!  He is actually looking forward to going this year.  Tanner is so funny!  He is SO excited about going to kindergarten.  We stopped by his room first and we had to go back to see things again before we left.  He keeps asking how many more days until he can go.  I hope he feels this way on Monday.

We are supposed to be getting a thunderstorm today.  I hope we do!  The boys slept in the basement last night, because our bedrooms were SO hot.  It was still in the 90s at 11 p.m. and that doesn't count the heat index.  Our bedroom was 89 degrees last night, when we went to sleep.  We used three fans all night and yes, we do have our air conditioning set at 78 degrees.  Our bedrooms are on the upper level, so as they say....heat rises.  I just checked the weather on the internet and the rain is supposed to start at 9 am.  That would be awesome; however, it is still supposed to be in the 90s this afternoon with the rain.  What?  I thought is would get cooler.  On the positive side (which my mom has always taught me to look at), at least we have been able to use our pool a lot this summer.  We prayed for a hot summer.  Be careful for what you ask for... God might give it to you...LOL!

This is the last card for my Christmas card workshop this fall.  This set is so fun!  I love the looks on the reindeer faces.

Materials used are stampin’ up! Unless noted

Stamps: holiday lineup, perfect punches

Paper: Green (other), Jolly holiday dsp, off white (other)

Ink: green (other), early expresso

Accessories: twill ribbon, cherry cobbler marker

Punches: scallop circle

Techniques: basic stamping

I have been in the learning mood lately, so I have signed up for some classes online.  One of them has to do with using actions in Photoshop.  I read Coffee Shop Photography every day she posts and love her blog.  She is always creating free actions and talking about photography.  Check her out!  I love the pictures she takes.  On her blog, she wrote about a class given by Amanda Padgett at Everyday Elements regarding actions.  I signed up.  I am hooked on actions and wanted to know how to use them.  Her blog is very cool too!  Are you taking any online classes now or this fall?  I would love to hear about them.

Lastly, I visited my friend, Kim last night and we made some of the cutest projects.  I will start showing you those next week.  Have a great weekend.  We are going to hang out this weekend, soak up the sun and family time before school starts on Monday.

Christmas Card 4

Today is going to be HOT again, so we are spending the afternoon at the pool.  My friend, Terese is coming over with her two boys, so it will going to be fun for me, Tate and Tanner.

Here is the fourth card for my Christmas card workshop.  I used the Delightful Decorations stamp set that matches the ornament punch.  Love it!  There is gold cord running down to hold the ornament.  I hope you can see it.  Just one more card to show you tomorrow to complete the workshop.

Tonight is walk to school night, so we will be visiting Tate & Tanner's school.  Oh, that is weird to know that Tanner will not be home with me all day.  Kindergarten is full day, so I will have all day to schedule all my volunteering, cleaning, stamping, and shopping.

We found out yesterday that Tate is going to have a different teacher than we requested.  Mrs. Serrano retired during the summer.  His teacher will be Mrs. Fischer.  We met her already, because we stopped by school this week to turn in Tanner's physical paperwork for Kindergarten.  She is really nice.

Materials used are stampin’ up! Unless noted

Stamps: delightful decorations, Sassy sparkles jumbo wheel

Paper: off white (other), jolly holiday dsp

Ink: real red, green (other)

Accessories: gold cord, red grosgrain ribbon (other)

Punches: ornament punch, 3/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch

Techniques: basic stamping

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Christmas Card 3

This is the last image in the Big on Christmas stamp set.  If you don't have this set, it is great for any Christmas project.  I pulled out a retired SU! snowflake for the background stamping.

Materials used are stampin’ up! Unless noted

Stamps: big on christmas, snowflakes (retired)

Paper: crumb cake, jolly holiday dsp, off white (other)

Ink: chocolate chip

Accessories: black marker, pumpkin marker, wild wasabi marker, pacific point marker

Punches: scallop trim border

Techniques: coloring with markers

There are only a couple weeks left to order from the summer mini occasion catalog.  Check out what you need before it is too late to order.

Click here to place an order

Christmas Card 2

Tanner's last tennis lesson was today.  I can tell he has improved, since the beginning of the summer and he likes it...YAY!  He told me, "Dad and I are going to be the best tennis players in the house."  I hope so!  I would love it, if either Tate or Tanner liked tennis as much as their dad.

It is a hot one again today.  I think the heat index is 100 today.  That is down from yesterday, so that is good. It is supposed to rain tonight and we need it.  Our grass is turning brown and I don't want to water it.  The boys and I prayed for a hot summer, so we are enjoying it.  Our pool is crystal clear and we have company coming over every day to swim.

On with today's card:

I used the same stamp set, Big Christmas for this one.  I love this set.  Again, I kept it simple, so it wouldn't take a long time to make a lot of these for the workshop.

Materials used are stampin’ up! Unless noted

Stamps: big on christmas

Paper: certainly celery, cherry cobbler, jolly holiday dsp, vanilla cream

Ink: certainly celery

Accessories: cherry cobbler marker, green grosgrain ribbon (other)

Punches: scallop edge

Techniques: coloring with markers

Click here to place an order

I started working on the August Scrap Challenge at Paper Craft Planet yesterday using My Digital Studio to create the templates Jen made for the group.  Hopefully, I will get the first layout done within a week.  I have club tonight and I am going to my friend, Kim's on Thursday night, so I won't have a lot of time to create the week.  

We have walk to school night Thursday, so Tate and Tanner will be able to meet their teachers.  They already know who they have, so that is not the exciting part.  Tate can't wait to see who is in his class this year.  Tanner just can't wait to start Kindergarten.  I hope I am ready.  I will need to remember to take my camera for his first day.

Have a good one!

Christmas Card 1

This is the last week my boys have of summer vacation.  I will be sad to see them go back, because I love having them home with me.  I will be able to get back to a regular cleaning, stamping and exercise schedule, so that will be nice.

It is not too early to start thinking about your Christmas cards.  I can't believe it is August already and once school starts time is going to fly even faster.

It is going to be really HOT this week in Nebraska, so I am going to cool down showing you the Christmas cards I made for my Christmas card workshop this fall.  My goal was to make them simple & cute.  I wanted the stampers to be able to mail their cards without a lot of extra postage.  Stampers will be able to make cards in sets of 10 anywhere from 10 to 70, 80....  I have created five cards for this workshop.  All cards are made with the Jolly Holiday designer series paper.

Materials used are stampin’ up! Unless noted

Stamps: Big on christmas, with all my heart

Paper: jolly holiday dsp, cherry cobbler cs, off white cs (other)

Ink: cherry cobbler

Accessories: daffodil delight marker, old olive marker, early expresso marker, twill ribbon

Punches: none

Techniques: coloring with markers

Click here to place an order

Christmas Challenge - Guest DT

We had a FUN week!  My mom, nieces and nephews went home yesterday and we miss them already.  It was so nice to see them and play every day while they were here.

Today, I am honored to be a guest designer for Sparkle's Christmas Challenge.  I need to get back to playing along with her challenges every week.  Maybe this is the nudge I need to get organized in order to play along every week.  For this weeks challenge, we have a color combo for you.  The combo is deep red, black and cream/vanilla.  Here is a sneak peak of my card.  Please visit Sparkle's Christmas Challenge site to see what I created for this challenge:

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless noted:

Stamps: Tiny Tags, Simple Snowflake, All Holidays, Holiday Line Up

Paper: Black, Colonial White (other), Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Black

Accessories - Black embossing powder, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Cherry Cobbler marker, Black grosgrain ribbon, Black button, waxy flax (other), Black bigger brads, dimensionals

Punches - Medium Jewelry Tag, Extra Large Oval, Snowflake Extra Large, Ticket Corner 

Flower Power

I have been wanting to play with my Big Shot lately and what better way than to make a card with the Flower Folds die.  In fact, my mom came this week and saw this lying on a table in my craft room and said, "Oh, I like this one."  YAY!  I like it too, but I am really glad when my family and friends like my creations.

This is the last project we are going to make at club this month.  There is that same flower design in the middle that was on the last card I showed you using the scallop circle die.

Here is the inside:

Materials used are stampin’ up! Unless noted

Stamps: fast flowers wheel, so many scallops

Paper: cottage wall dsp, perfect plum, old olive, whisper white

Ink: concord crush

Accessories: beautiful wings embosslits die, purple bigger brad (other), flower folds XL die

Punches: scallop circle

Techniques: big shot die card

Bleached Trees

Oh, I have been wanting to show my club the bleaching technique for a while.  I always love the cards I see where the stampers using bleach as their ink.  I am so happy with how this turned out.  In addition, I have been wanting to create a card using the scallop circle for a flower, so I combined both for this card.

Lovely as a Tree is such a versatile set.  If you don't have it, you need to get it.  I had fun putting this color combo together.  Why?  I used the My Create, Ink Color Lab.  It allows you to choose colors from Stampin' Up! and it gives you choices on color combos.  Of course, you can see why I like this one.  Brown, blue and orange is my favorite color combo (my blog design) and I was happy to see it was one of the choices the lab listed.  I will put a link to this Color Lab on my sidebar, so you can visit any time and use it.  

I used the Newsprint designer series paper for the flower.  I have seen these flowers while blogging and haven't made one until now.  I am addicted, so you will probably be seeing more of them.  I have been using my Tiny Tags and Medium Jewelry Punch too.  It is nice when you don't have a lot of room for a sentiment.  

Materials used are stampin’ up! Unless noted

Stamps: lovely as a tree, tiny tags, sanded

Paper: chocolate, pacific point, cajun craze, black, newsprint DSP

Ink: early expresso

Accessories: black grosgrain ribbon, natural hemp, bleach (clorox), dimensionals, blue bigger brad (other)

Punches: scallop circle, medium jewelry tag

Techniques: bleaching

My mom will be here today, so I won't be blogging much.  I created a lot yesterday, so I am ready for my clubs.  I even started making Christmas cards for my Christmas card class this fall.  I hope you have a great week!