Xmas Bag-A-Lope

I am always looking for new things to do with normal objects. So imagine how excited I was to discover I could turn a normal envelope into a mini gift bag. And it's super easy too! I decided to turn my first bag-a-lope into a great pre-view of items form the Holiday Mini Catalog which are all available starting TOMORROW! I stamped my bag with the Christmas Collage stamp and added a little extra to the closing band using the smallest stamp from Tags Til Christmas. It's a great image and even better when punched out with the new little oval punch. I really enjoyed making this one, so don't be surprised if there are others in the future!

Pacific Point Mojo Snowman

Welcome to Monday! This is the first week for me to both be home & not work every day. I'm ever so excited to do just as much stamping as I can. :) So, I started the week off, as all good weeks do, by doing the Mojo Monday sketch. One of the bags we made last night in the Bag Theme Class was a little Christmas bag and it really got me in the mood to make some winter cards. As I often do with the square Mojo cards, I changed this one into an easel card. I think it just displays this little snowman so nicely. It's also the first time I've had a chance to play with the new Northern Flurry embossing folder. Both the stamp set & the folder will be available from the Holiday Mini Catalog starting Wednesday. In the meanwhile, if there is anything you need from the Summer Mini Catalog just let me know. I'll be placing a last chance order on Tuesday.

Candle Bag

It's so lovely to have all of my toys available to me again! I had fun with the "on the road challenge", but it's also great fun to know you can do whatever it is you think of with out considering which colors/punches/ribbon you have with you. This little bag is part of today's Bag Theme Class. It's both simple and fun. Just take two 5 1/2 squares and adhere them to the sides of a paper lunch sack that you've trimmed to 5 1/2 in length. Such a great size for little gifts and the lovely thing about gift bags is that they are often reused again and again. That way you get much more life out of our creation!

Monkeys on the Road

How could I bring along Fox and Friends and not use this super cute little monkey? He's simply too cute. :) The little guys on the Vanilla circles are actually stamped on the inside of the card. Keeping the center monkey on the layer above means that there is plenty of room to stamp the sentiment on the inside of the card between the two outside monkeys. If I was a super good kid I would take a photo of the inside too, but I'm running a bit short on time. How did I get that background? It's a trick I learned long ago to make polka dots with out a stamp--- a pencil eraser. That's something I could find without any trouble while on the road. Since we'll have to leave super early tomorrow morning for the last leg of our journey, I think this will be my last entry in the "on the road" series. It's been a fun challenge and I hope you all enjoyed it too. See, there's lots we can do with just a few toys!

Thanksgiving in August

My husband named this one, can you tell? Today begins the great drive home. I think we're looking at about 13 hours total drive time for this round. A brief stop in Lexington on our way and then we'll be in Southern Illinois for our first parent visit. This card is one I definitely wouldn't have made without the "on the road challenge". This little leaf is one of the minor stamps from the Awash with Flowers set and I just picked it out because I wanted to make something different than the last two posts. That, and it's almost time for fall cards anyway. So, I started out knowing I wanted to use this image. Then i looked at the punches I have along and discovered that the leaf fits nicely in the new little oval punch from the Holiday Mini Catalog. Low and behold, that punch fits inside the 1" Circle Punch. It was meant to be! Lucky for me I had a few buttons in that odds & ends container that matched my impromptu color scheme. It all just fell into place. Versamark let me have whatever color ink I needed and the Elegance Wheel gave me a little something different for the top and bottom boarder. I'm excited to see just how much I'm able to do with so little. While I may get frustrated from time to time, it's just too much fun to see what I can come up with . I 've used Awash with Flowers so little before this challenge. Now I can use it all the time! To think I only have half of the set with me. Who knows what I could do with both?

Mojo on the Road

Thanks to the folks at Mojo Monday for making a sketch that I could work with given my limited "on the road" supplies! It would have been an even more fun card to create if I had my little square punches with me, but a girl can cut her own if she must. :) I think I scared my friend while I was forcing one side of my scissors through the paper to make a hole for the little flower brads. He said he had a first aid kit at the ready and asked if that's how I usually add brads. Nope, I just didn't think to bring along my paper piercer or 1/16 Circle Punch when I grabbed the odds and ends for my road trip. I really like the combination of Concord Crush and Rich Razzleberry. Perhaps you'll be seeing them together again here. :) They give the card a sort of fall feel without having to add in leaves or pumpkins, or even anything orange.

On the Road floral Congrats

Round two of the "On the Road Challenge" was great fun. I decided to play with one of the new In Colors that I haven't used before: Concord Crush. It's lovely! I added in little accents of two other In Colors: Pear Pizazz and Blushing Bride. Lucky for me, I have a little container of odds and ends left over from other cards on my desk at all times. I brought that little guy along and it happened to have the two So Saffron butterflies inside to add just a little extra to this card. If I were to do it again at home with all of my goodies, I may have used a folder to emboss the card front. Perhaps Elegant Lines would add a nice touch? It's something to try when I get back to the real world. Right now I'll just keep on making due with what I have and try to adjust to the humidity here in North Carolina. It makes me really appreciate August in Colorado. We might get hot, but there isn't any "air that you wear" at home. :)

On the Road Turtle

Here's the first attempt at my "on the road challenge". I knew there would be things I would miss, especially big stuff like the Big Shot. I didn't think about all the little things like my grid work pad with a ruler!

Since I'm working with such a small supply of goodies while I travel, I think it's only fair to mention what I would change about the card if I could. For this one, I would add a layer of Whisper White behind the punched Garden Green strips. I just didn't have long enough pieces with me. :) The turtle is stinkin' cute though. I know I'll play with him again soon. Thanks for sticking with me while I try this little experiment. My photos may not be all that since the lamp ect I use when taking those is another thing I take for granted. Just think of how happy I will be to have all of my options back when I return home!

On the Road Challenge

I'm off! My husband is already in North Carolina and I'm all set (I hope) to join him there tomorrow. Then, we'll start the long journey home by car. While we're on this adventure, I've set myself a blog challenge. I grabbed a few stampin' supplies (what would fit in my purse along with a book, camera, etc.) and that will be all I'll have to work with! Three clear mounted sets, two stamp pads (Versamark & Chocolate Chip), a few markers, even fewer punches, and a couple of small wheels. Along with these, I grabbed a few odds and ends that were out on my desk & a sheet protector work of scrap paper. Fingers crossed! I don't make any promises, but I'll do my very best with what I have along. Can't wait to see where this will lead!

Decor Elements Planner

I'm a little hesitant to post this one since the Decor Elements I used are now retired, but I never seem to give enough attention to the whole line and they are just fabulous! Each year I use the same simple academic calendar to keep my world straight and each year I try to give it a distinct Stampin' Up feel. The first year I tried stamping on the cover using Staz-on which did pretty well. Last year, I took it to the next step & used some of our rub-ons to add flowers. So, it seemed like the logical step to go all out with Decor Elements this year. Why should any part of our day to day lives be completely mundane? I've seen these little guys used on laptops, cars, water bottles (mine has gone through the dishwasher countless times with the Decor Element still happy), and much more. They started out as great wall and frame decorations, but they are great for much more. Check out my Stampin' Up website for the full catalog of Decor Elements. We even have chalk board elements now that you can write on again and again!

Fox and Friends Get Whale Soon

It's time for another PPC color challenge! This time around, the colors were: Pacific Point, Whisper White, and Poppy Parade. That shouted nautical to me, so I decided to make my first card with the little whale from Fox and Friends. Of course, I've used the sentiment from Pun Fun a few times with other whales (Pun Fun and Animal Stories both have great whales too). It's kind of amazing that I can come up with three spouting whales from my collection & none of them are from an ocean themed set. Who knew? I do love this little guy though. I may experiment with giving him a google eye, but for the first time through I thought I would leave him as is.

Guess Who's Three

It's an all pink celebration for my niece, Eleanor. Today was her third birthday and she is VERY into all things pink. I was a little worried as the date approached because I don't have any princess stamps. However, I quickly realized that I have all sorts of things that will fit the bill. I started with the color pallet of Pink Pirouette, Mellon Mambo, Regal Rose, and Pretty in Pink. Yep, a full fledged pink party! Then I punched out my little butterflies, ran them through the Big Shot, and layered on Iridescent Ice embossing. The Elegant Lines folder seemed perfect for the job. Lots of glitter & lots of pink made for a very happy little person. She liked it enough for her to ask me to put it up high so her little brother couldn't rip off the butterflies! One more month and I'll add the #5 to my kid card collection. It's nice of my sister-in-law to have timed the kids' birthdays so nicely. Mojo Monday will have to wait until Tuesday this week. Special occasions can do that I think.

Happy Birthday Marge!

August 16th is a very busy day on my birthday calendar! It's the birthday of both my niece and my dear friend, Marge. So, I guess you'll be seeing a couple of birthday cards from me. :)

It's a real challenge for me to put together a card for Marge. She is the person responsible for introducing me to the wonderful world of stamping, so I always want to make her something extra special. You should see the creations she comes up with!

After a long deliberation I decided to just go with something I hadn't tried before. I've never used the frame created from using the Lattice Big Shot Die before and found it made a great window for the soon to be released 2 1/2" Circle Punch. The paisley heart is another gem from the new Holiday Mini Catalog & I embossed it for just the right touch. My sentiment comes from the Curly Cute set, which I just ordered & love.

Marge would have laughed at all the little steps that went to make this simple card. Sponging the frame, embossing the white background, sponging the textured circle, and outlining both the heart and the circle for detail effect made for a fun step by step evolution of the card.

Love Helps PCC

The ladies over at PPC picked another great color combo for this week: Pink Pirouette, Perfect Plum, and So Saffron. Lots of great possibilities! This was another little happy accident of mine. I knew all week that I wanted to make a card for this challenge that centered on the heart stamp from "Punch Potpourri", but when I made the punched hearts with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, I just knew I needed to use the bird image instead. So, a quick switch of focus ended up here!

Paisley Swap

Here's another little sneak peak for the Holiday Mini Catalog! This time, it's one of my very favorites: Paisley Prints combined with the new wheel: Paisley Party. As soon as I saw the set I knew I wanted to use these leaves with a reinker/baby wipe ink pad. Such fun! Oh, I also couldn't resist using one of the new punches from the Holiday Mini. See what sort of goodies you are in store for come September 1st! My sponging really made this one work. I used More Mustard ink to sponge the oval behind my sentiment as well as the edges of the stamped images. It really made the card come together. To be honest, I was a little worried about fall cards now that Really Rust has retired. I depended on it in combination with More Mustard as a big part of my fall pallet. I'm very pleased with how Cajun Craze filled in today! It along with other new colors like Early Espresso and Pear Pizazz made a great fall color combo.

Angelic Mojo

Happy Monday, all! When I saw today's Mojo Monday sketch, I knew just which set to use. My pre-order of items from this year's Holiday Mini Catalog arrived on Friday and with it came "Angelic Joy". Isn't she lovely? One of my favorite aspects of this set is that it can be used year round. It comes with a sympathy sentiment that keeps it from being strictly Christmas. I combined the angel with "Deck the Halls" designer paper...also from the new mini. This catalog has more to offer than any mini I've seen as a demonstrator. My pre-order was HUGE. There were just too many sets for me to pick from along with new punches and toys for the Big Shot too. All of these items will be available come Sept. 1st. I hope you enjoy this little sneak peak. Remember, starting Christmas cards now means avoiding some of the craziness of the winter season. Now, if I can just stamp my sentiment straight...

Birthday Bliss Bag

The bag theme continues with this week's PPC Color Challenge. The color choices for this week are: Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Mellon Mambo, and Pacific Point. I decided to combine them all together to make this little gift bag. Of course, I find these larger projects a little harder to photograph, but well worth my while.

My multi layered flower comes thanks to the Daisies Big Shot Die and the little accents on the right hand strip are actually from Delightful Decorations. It's always fun to use a stamp set that feels like it should be reserved strictly for the holidays year round. Why Not? I hope you're having as much fun with my experiments in bags as I am!

Butterfly Facy Favor

This month's theme class is all about bags & this little cutie is the first project. I made it using the Fancy Favor die for the Big Shot. It's so fast & easy! Add a little stamping with the Very Vintage Wheel, some embossed Beautiful Wings butterflies, and a little of the new thin ribbon & we're all set! For folks not able to attend the theme class, this would be a great class to host. Everyone goes home with five gift bags of various sizes. It's a great way to get a little out of the box with something new.

Rocket & Stars

Little boy cards are sometimes a challenge for me, but it's probably just because I don't have a lot of stamps that lend themselves well to these projects. That was one of the reasons I decided I really needed the star punch. It could be used for cards like these, but for others as well. I'm all about versatility. Then, I realized that it actually made much more sense to get the Stars Big Shot Die. It was about the same price, but instead of just one star now I can make four different sizes! Talk about versatile.
I wanted to play around with my stars, so I coated three of them in Versamark and embossed them in either Iridescent Ice or Gold. I also played around with my Versamarker so I could add little bits of gold embossing to my rocket. All the little dots & the port hole are embossed (sort of hard to tell in the photo, sorry!).
Perhaps next time I'll give my rocket some sort of night sky to fly though. Today, Tangerine Tango seemed so perky & like a good fit with my stars.

Owl Mojo a Little Late

Okay, I'm not even going to dwell on the fact that my Mojo Monday didn't happen until Thursday. Sometimes life is just like that. :)

He's cute though, right? It's kind of funny that the stamp that I thought I would use the least out of Fox and Friends is the one that I used first. One never can tell. As soon as I saw the sketch from the folks over at Mojo Monday, I knew the little owl was destined to make an appearance along with the Woodland Walk designer paper. They are just an excellent combo. I also really like the effect created by rounding two opposite corners of a rectangle. It's often refreshing to switch things up just a tiny bit and sometimes I think I forget that when starting from a blank canvas. That's what Mojo Monday is for though. Sketch challenges take care of part of the problem/unknown for me and then let me play with the rest.

Cottage Garden Swap

I know it's not my typical Mojo Monday card, but I'll try to postpone that until Tuesday. Today's card is the swap card I came up with for my demonstrators' group "new catalog swap". I loved the Cottage Wall designer paper so I was so glad to see it get a revival with a brand new color scheme and a stamp set to boot! It's the first time I've used our self adhesive jewels and I must say that the little pearls make all the difference on this one. They really make the little flowers pop for me.
Okay, off to a meeting with my fellow SU demos & time to turn in my swaps. Hope you liked it!