Fresh Vintage

Here is a peak at another of the great FREE stamp sets you can earn during Sale-A-Bration (SAB). The Fresh Vintage set includes this beautiful floral stamp that can be used as a focal point or to create great backgrounds.

I used my In-Color markers to color the stamp. I took the color combo from the patterns in the DSP, Everyday Enchantment, which you can also earn for FREE during SAB. If you struggle with color combinations, then the SU Color Lab is a great place to find inspiration. You can even add your own favorite color combos!


This was a pretty easy card to put together. The item that took the longest was coloring the stamp and that only took a couple of minutes. Once stamped, I simply added the layers, placed the focal point, stamped the sentiment, and added the pearls. With this versatile layout you could create any kind of card, all you need to do is change the sentiment and the focal point.

SAB starts January 24th, so don't miss out on your chance to earn FREE products!!

Stamps: Fresh Vintage, Bring on the Cake
Paper: Baja Breeze, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Everyday Enchantment DSP
Ink: Baja Breeze, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade Stampin' Write Markers
Misc.: Basic Pearls

Enjoy the day!!

Birthday Coral Sneak Peak

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Although work was utter chaos this year, at home it was a very pleasant and relaxing Holiday for us.

Now it's time to start thinking about the new year. I've made several goals for myself for the coming year and I am determined to achieve them. One of them is to expand on a goal from 2011, and that is to continue to push myself to create things out of my comfort zone.

While the card I have to show you today is done in my favorite vintage/distressed style, the colors are definitely out of the box for me. As I have mentioned before, the orange color family is one that I typically avoid and lime green is not really at the top of my list either. However, in the upcoming Sale-A-Bration (SAB) catalog there is some very pretty vintage style DSP which features Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade In-colors called Everyday Enchantment ~ I actually like it. :)

The paper is a wonderful mix of florals and patterns with a muted color scheme. In the close-up you can see several new items that will be available to earn FREE during SAB.


I used one of my favorite embellishments, the Mini Vintage Tag, to add some dimension and interest to the card. I stamped the tag with Lucky Limeade using one of the corners of the stamp used for the focal piece which is from the Elementary Elegance set. The birthday sentiment is also from the same set. The cute little brad and organdy ribbon are from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack.

You can start earning Free SAB catalog items beginning January 24th. Come back and visit my blog for future sneak peaks and information.

Stamps: Elementary Elegance (SAB)
Ink: Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade, Pool Party
Paper: Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Lucky Limeade, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB)
Miscellaneous: Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack (SAB), Mini Vintage Tags, Chantilly Crochet Trim, Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon (retired), Curly Label, Scallop Trim Border and Scallop Edge Border Punches, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Distress Tool (Cutter Kit), Dimensionals, Sponges


Happy New Year!!!

Peace on Earth

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Picture Perfect Sewing

My mom is definitely the sewer in the the family, and is wonderful at it. She made all of our clothes when we were kids, which of course, we didn't like at the time. I kind of miss that now, because everything would fit us perfectly, and it lasted so much longer. Much to her dismay, neither I nor my sister, had the desire to learn the skills of a good seamstress; the extent of my sewing is refastening buttons and doing up a hem now and then, or adding some stitching to a craft project.

I do admire those that can create beautiful garments and projects with fabric though, so this is a little homage to them and my mom.


This fabulous idea was an online extra for Papercrafts magazine a couple of months ago. I thought it would be a fun and easy project to do for the craft fairs. Stampin' Up! fabrics work great for these.

The first one I made was the middle one with the Spice Cake fabric. As you can see, it's a little puffy; I overstuffed it a bit and it was a little tough to get back in the frame. :) The rest worked out much better. Simply remove the the back and the glass, cut your fabric about an inch larger (all the way around) than the cardboard piece inside the frame, glue three sides of the fabric to the back of the cardboard, fill with batting, glue the final edge down, trim any excess fabric, and then place all the pieces (except the glass) back in the frame.

The embellishments are simply clear buttons and a little ribbon or paper. Quick, easy, and inexpensive to make. But oh so cute, don't you think?

Make today great!

Paper vs. Tech

With all the cool new gadgets out there it's not surprising that many people keep their daily lives on these little electronic marvels. But some individuals, like me, still prefer to use pen and paper for our day to day task lists: the to-do list, grocery list, gift list....

Don't get me wrong, I love getting new gadgets, but there is just something about the process of writing out the list and crossing it off when complete that works much better for me.

Each year as Christmas approached I would get a wish list from each of the children in our family. So I would invariably carry around 6 different lists, and what a nightmare if one was left at home or lost. Trying to remember which niece wanted the pink iPod, or whether the game my nephew wanted was for his DS or the PS was frustrating.

So, I created a Gift Guide that I use for members of my family and friends that I regularly buy gifts for. It's all in one spot and can be updated or added to easily.

These handy little guides let you keep track of each person's favorite color, music or author; as well, as having a place to record sizes for clothing, hobbies, or any other miscellaneous information.

I made several of these for the two craft fairs I am participating in this month. I had made them a couple of years ago and they went over very well. Hopefully they will again this year. :)

Make today great!

Key Notes

Are you one of those people always looking for a scrap of paper to write down a reminder or telephone number and then losing it in the bottom of your purse or in the car? Me too! Well these little beauties are a great way to keep some paper handy.

They are key ring notepads! I received one from a stamping friend over the summer and thought it was the neatest idea I had seen in a while. So, I decided to make a few....80 to be exact. :) I will be selling them at some upcoming craft fairs.



The Big Shot does all the work, so you can make several of them in a short period of time. Each notepad has approximately 40-50 sheets of paper. I used one ream of standard copy paper to make all 80 notepads. I probably could have gotten about 85 of this size, but I messed up a couple of times when running through the big shot. Butterflies aren't so pretty when the tip of their wings are cut off. :( I do have enough paper left over to make some smaller notepads too, but not sure I will get to that.


Since I knew I was going to be making a large quantity of them, I used full 12 x 12 sheets for most of these. However, if you are only making a few at a time and have a pile of scraps that you keep ignoring, making these is a great way to use them up.

For the covers you want something a little stiffer than just DSP, so I used the thin cardboard sheet that comes in the DSP packages and just adhered the DSP to it before cutting. To save on paper when using 12 x 12 sheets, cut the DSP covered cardboard to a slightly larger square than your shape, then run it through the Big Shot. Do the same with your copy paper.


To continue to keep the cost down, I kept the embellishments simple. I again used scraps of paper or covered cardboard. You should keep the embellishments as flat as possible anyway so that they don't get caught on items in a purse or pocket and get ripped off. Even unadorned they look quite nice. I tried to make a few of them a little more masculine for the boys too.

The most expensive item to complete these was the o-ring. I bought mine at Staples in a pack of 16 and it works out to 26 cents per o-ring. Obviously, you can watch for sales or use coupons to get them cheaper.

I hope you are inspired to make some of these too. They would make great stocking stuffers or gifts for your children's classmates.

Kym

The rush of Fall and Pumpkin Donuts

The official start of Autumn is almost here, my all time favorite season! Of course, I love all the typical things about it-the cooler weather, the beautiful colors, and all the wonderful foods coming from the garden; along with the anticipation of the festivals, craft fairs and approaching Holidays.

However, one of my most favorite things about Fall is the pumpkin donuts from our local orchard. These are not the typical donuts with the orange colored faux flavored icing you find in the grocery store or local donut shops. No, no, my friends, these are made with the real goods-pumpkins right out of their fields. They are a light airy cake style donut with a wonderfully sweet glaze. And man are they addictive!! Yum...I may need to run out to the orchard after work!

Sorry I can't share with you, but here is something sweet to feast your eyes upon:

This little beauty is made using envelopes. The majority of the supplies are from the new Spice Cake suite in the Holiday Mini. This was a lot of fun to make and pretty easy too. I have several packs of fabric from SU, but this is the first time I have actually used any of it. I will definitely be breaking into those other packs now. :)

I am planning on making several types of these for some upcoming craft fairs. I think they will make wonderful gifts for friends and family.

The "tabs" for the inserts are made from strips of the fabric.

I thought the tags would be a great place for family members and friends to write down what they are thankful for, or a special memory.

The fabulous tutorial for this mini scrapbook can be found here. Sarah's tutorial is very easy to follow. Check out some of the other free project tutorials she offers too. I will definitely be CASEing more from her. :)

Stamps: Gently Falling, Tiny Tags, Holiday Best(retired)
Paper: Spice Cake DSP, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, More Mustard, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Ink: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, More Mustard, Old Olive
Misc.: Spice Cake Designer Buttons, Spice Cake Designer Fabric, Very Vanilla Envelopes, Linen Thread, Hemp Twine, Scallop circle, 2.5" circle, 1.25" circle, and Jewelry Tag punches, Baja Breeze Seam Binding, Mini Vintage Tags, Manilla tags, Retired Designer Buttons, Crop-A-Dile, Distress Tool (Cutter Kit), Sponges


Make it a great day!