Ok, I’d admit I’m getting a little carried away.   I just couldn’t help myself when the oh so loved man in brown arrived with three boxes yesterday.  My huge box  of new in-color ribbons and Designer Series Paper along with some more Stampin’ Up! Sizzix Bigz XL diecuts arrived at the same time as another box of sizzix dies.  This fry box was one of the new sizzix dies and not to be outdone, but I also received the chinese take out box die.  Geez, talking about all this is making me hungry! 

Here’s what I made with my Fry Box die:

Isn’t it just adorable?  I think so.  Very little stamping here, but I used Perfect Plum textured cardstock for the die cut fry box.  I used So Saffron, Perfect Plum, and Whisper White cardstock for the tag, which required a 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 1/2" circle punch, and the scalloped circle punch.  The stamp in the center is the small flower from Think Happy Thoughts as well as the sentiment "friendship".  I used glitter for the center, and white taffeta ribbon to tie around the box.  The two circles punched are popped up on dimensionals as is the scalloped circle over the ribbon.

You gotta come play with all my new dies!  I’m in the process of creating a Sizzix Saturday Club.   We’ll get together and die cut shapes with the Big Shot machine, and we’ll make a couple of projects that I’ll design and provide the materials for you.

Make sure you check back to find it on the schedule, but for September, it will be the 3rd Saturday, Sept.  20 from 11am - 1pm. 

gotta fly….

My next stamp camp a stack date has been modified to be a workshop.  It will still fall on the same days I usually hold them, the 2nd Wednesday of the month, both available in the morning and the evening, but additionally, I’m adding the Saturday morning class the same week.  So, the dates are Wednesday, September 10th, at 9am and also 6pm, and again on Saturday, September 13th, at 10:00 am.  Remember to check the above tab "CALENDAR" regularly on this website, which is linked to my Stampin’ Up! website’s calendar of events, workshops, and classes to see full monthly calendars, which you can scroll forward to see what’s happening in any given month.  I will create a post here too, because unfortunately, there is NOT a way to include a picture on the Stampin’ Up! website of the project (s) that we make during these workshops and classes. 

Here’s a picture of the cards and the gift box that holds them.  There are four designs and 3 of each design, so there is a total of 12 cards and coordinating envelopes and a box to put them in.  Give them as a gift or keep them for your supply of ready-to-go handmade beautiful all occasion cards.

The cost of the class is $24.  Card, mats, ribbons and embellishements are precut & pre-scored, and ready to create these cards.  Please reserve your spot today, as class size is limited to 10.  You can contact me by email to register, and remember to select either the Wednesday morning or evening, or the Saturday morning.

Bring a new friend for me to meet, and you get $5.00 off your class fee.  I can’t wait to see you there!

Gosh, I had five birthdays this week!  what the heck?  I guess all those xmas party babies, huh?  This one is late too.  whah!  I know I’m not supposed to get notified that it is their birthday and THEN start making their present.  I have to go figure out how to change all of my notifications to warn me like 10 days in advance instead of the day before. 

Here’s my gift for another friend.  I stamped the background with Linen background stamp.  Then I colored Pocket Silhouettes with markers and spritzed them with water.  Then I stamped them on top of the linen stamped background.  I repeated this several times, varying shading and colors of markers.  Then I stamped another flower image from the same set onto a spare scrap of white cardstock, twice.  I cut both of them out carefully, as the stems are quite thin.  I cut slivers of dimensionals, and placed on these two flowered images, and placed on top of the first flowered images.  Then I stamped the sentiment, also from the same set.  I’m sooooo lovin’ these nature-inspired stamp sets with the grasses, and flowers.  Since it’s too hot to landscape, it’s the next best way to bring my outdoors into my stamp room.

The paperweight is from photoweights.com and they have some really cool shapes to work with.  The big deal about them is that they have depth that allows scrapbooking, embellishments, and dimension to the base.  So you create your artwork either directly on the supplied white chipboard background that comes with the paperweights, or you can do what I do which is to trace it first and then cut it out, and then adhere it to the base chipboard.  To finish them off, they provide a nice velvet black bottom.  So all you do is turn the paperweight over upside down, insert your artwork upside down (adhered to the provided chipboard) and then peel away the backing behind the velvet and stick over  the entire thing.  It’s the exact shape and size of the paperweight itself. They come with instructions and there’s even a video to Martha Stewart’s website when she and Dianna Ross made them together.  I tivo Martha because she’s so crafty and I also love cooking. 

Here’s another view so you can see how thick it is:

I’ll be holding a class on these too, since they make great gifts for ANYONE, but I would think they’d make an excellent Christmas gift for a teacher, business owner, secretary, etc. I’ll be starting at mid -October having almost weekly events to create wonderful gifts for everyone on your list.  I hate shopping at the mall, and I hate waiting to the last minute at Christmas time because there’s just too much to do.  Believe it or not, I do my Christmas shopping all  year long and stash stuff away in my closet; when I see something that reminds me of someone, I buy it then and there.  It sure takes the sting out of waiting until December, and having to put it on a credit card.  So I’m going to help you out, and who wouldn’t prefer a handmade gift by you over a gift card? 

Enjoy!

I can’t believe it’s been a week since my last post!  I’ve been in my scrapbooking room all day long every day since convention, and I have lost track of time (easily).  At 6pm, the kennel called and asked if I was coming to get my dogs!  OMG!  I forgot what time it was and almost left them there!  Lucky for me Sally, the owner is such a nice lady (Oaklane Kennels).

I made a set of gift cards for a great friend I met at the same company that I met my husband.  We all worked together in Cambridge Ma and were constantly together.  However, when Dan and I married, we moved a couple hours north into the mountains of NH, and I lost track of my friend, Mary Beth.  A couple of months ago, she found my husband  in a huge Disney hotel’s convention center.  Coincedently, she works for a division of IBM now who owns the software company that my husband makes his living consulting for.  What are the chances of her seeing him in that mass of geeky men?  We aren’t lost from each other any more and she celebrated her birthday yesterday, and I’m late.  Surprized?  lol

So here’s the gift I made her.

The stamp sets used are Together Forever (the double circle frame) and Lovely Letters (the "C").  I used coordinating inks and designer series papers, in contrasting colors, and flipped a small strip of dsp over for the little stripe of dsp in the center.  I used the same color inks as the paper, and the same color brads too!   The scallop circle was die cut with my nestabilities in my Big Shot, however, my new Stampin’ Up! sizzix BIGZ die with the scalloped circle came later today and it’s the same size as this nestability, so for the next set, I can cut 5 at a time instead of singles.  YEAH, I love that convenience!

I hope she likes them.  Now to get them to the post office 

…… stay tuned.  Tomorrow I hope to post my schedule for upcoming classes to both websites.  I’ve got my card class up there for September 10 and 13th, and I’ve got the pictures, but will post it in the am.

thanks for looking!