Chocolate Beauty

I am just loving the new designer paper from the Spring/Summer Catalog!! It makes card making so easy! And these butterflies...you'll be seeing alot of these I'm afraid. They are just too darn cute and fun to make. This one uses the Bella Birds paper again. The flower is one of the new crocheted ones with one of the new chocolate chip brads. Also I used a piece of the dotted choc. chip ribbon from the Vallet Ribbon Originals. The words are from the hostess set Goody Goody Gumdrops. Hope you like it.

Tagged!!

Wow!!! I've been tagged by Anjou of Dreaming in Color. This is very exciting for me as I have only been blogging since November. It took me awhile to really get into posting daily or at least seveal times a week. But I've really been on a roll this week and last. I think it is because I didn't have any classes to prepare for. Then my new SU order arrived and I was really inspired to try to make something each day. So thank you Anjou for this honor!!

Now I have to list my 5 addictions, out loud, in public. Those who know me personally will not be surprised by my list!

5. Thursday night tv: Smallville (yes!!), CSI (the original), Grey's Anatomy, ER, Burn Notice

Thank goodness for DVR!

4. My three grandkids and one more on the way. Would love to see them more, but we live miles and miles apart.

3. Reading: Nora Roberts and JD Rob, and any kind of romance. Just got to have something to read while eating breakfast and right before bedtime to unwind.

2. Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

1. Diet Coke: first thing in the morning and afternoon, and one while I'm stamping to go with the chocolate!

There you have it, my dirty little secrets!

Now I would like to tag five others. These ladies know their stuff. Check them out:

Jamie at http://stampingmommyof4.com/

Jan at http://jan-slowlanelife.blogspot.com/

Amy at http://pickledpaperdesigns.blogspot.com/

JanTink at http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/stamps_paper_scissors/

Jennifer at http://jenniferssweettreatdesigns.blogspot.com/

Okay, I spent all this time deciding on who to tag and now I don't have time to stamp tonight, darn!!! That's the price of fame,lol!

Big Beautiful Butterflies

Stampin' Up! has so many neat new items in the catalog, like the new butterfly die and the texturz plates, not to mention the pretty new designer papers. Both these cards are made using the Tea Party designer paper. Notice the new eyelet lace made by our new punch. The colors are celery, pretty in pink, almost amethyst, whisper white. Sign up for my February card class and you will get to make one of theses beauties, as well as yesterday's Hello Sunshine card.

Hello Sunshine

Here is my first card made with my new SU stuff! It's from the Cheap Talk set and features some of the new paper and buttons. The branch is made using the Little Leaves sizzlits die and the Big Shot. I love using the top note die for my top layer if I am stamping on Whiper White. The ribbon is tied on a little differently. I meant for it to go behind the top layer and tie at the side after punching out a half small oval. However it caused the top layer to be way off center and didn't look good. But I had already punch through the topnote as well as the other layers, which meant I couldnt just leave off the ribbon without having to do it all over again. So instead the ribbon is tie through the back side of the card.

I am also in the process of making a bunch of baby rompers as a gift to my DIL. Her baby is due on April 2. I am going to give these to her at her shower. She can use them as thank yous or announcememts. The little duck is shiny and smooth from a layer of Crystal Effects.

It Came!!!!

Look what was waiting at the front door! I spied it as I was driving past the house headed home. My regular UPS guy leaves it at the back door, so I'm lucky I found it at the front! Must be some new guy or a temp! So now I have to get busy playing with the new stuff and deciding what to do for my stamp club make and take for February, make the layouts using the Sweet Nothings kit, and make the card for my card class in February! Fun, fun, fun! Busy, busy, busy!

Goody Goody Congrats

Here's the last one from the set Goody Goody Gumdrops. I am hoping my new SU order will be here this week so I can start using the new papers. This card using that wonderful berry bliss designer paper from the old SU catty, the one everyone loved! I put dazzlin diamonds glitter on the bells.

Goody Goody Hello

Here's another card from the hostess set Goody Goody Gumdrops. I used the retired Autumn Vine designer paper. The large scalloped circle is made using the Pennant die from SU. The layout was inspired by this card from Pickled Paper Designs.
The man in brown is due here tomorrow with my box of new products from SU! I can't wait!!!!

Goody Goody Birthday

This card was made for Margie's birthday. Her sister, Delia, asked all her friends to send her a card for her birthday. It will be # 60 and Delia is hoping that Margie will receive 60 cards. Well she will at least get one from me.

Goody Goody Baby

I have been stamping today using the new level 3 hostess set called Goody Goody Gumdrops. It has a bunch of really cute images and is a good set to have for lots of occasions. I used the bashful blue designer paper collection, my top note die, some very vanilla brads from the hodge podge hardware kit, markers, punches and ribbon. All from Stampin' Up!The layout for this card was inspired by this card.

Baby in a Bottle

Yesterday was my SASSSC meeting (see link to blog). We altered bottles. We were supposed to put little notes in them that had words of inspiration on them for when we loose our creative mojo. But I already had one like that so I made mine for a baby boy. Jaxson Daniel is due April 2nd. This will be my third grandson! I do have a precious little granddaughter (finally) who will be one in May. Of course as the mother of three boys myself, I will LOVE having another boy in the family. And this one will be living in my same town (Houston)!! The other grandkids live in DC. So I will really get to spoil him! (Hope my son and DIL don't see this). So here's the bottle I made. Again I used the Nursery Necessities set from SU. The paper come from BasicGrey.

Gable Box

This week's project shown on SCS Weekly Inkings newsletter was a simple gable box made from one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock and scoring lines, no tracing patterns and cutting out!! These are the kind of boxes I love to make! Since my new grandbaby boy is due in April, I have baby on the brain. I am experimenting with different gift items and presentations. Here is a gable box made using the Nursery Necessities set from SU and bashful blue ink.

SNOW?!!!

Okay, everyone up north have been posting the beautiful pictures of their snowfalls and talking about how cold it is. Well I live in south Texas just north of Houston. It does not snow here very often BUT this year, just before Christmas it DID. I teach Kindergarten and most of the students in my school had never seen a snowfall here. If they wanted to see snow they had to visit Grandma in Vermont! I had a difficult time getting a shot of the snow as it was falling since it didn't show up in the photos. I was standing at the back of the school where we load the buses taking pictures of the snow as it fell, but you just couldn't see it in the pics, so I gave up. As I went to my car parked in the front of the school I was happy to find some snow that I could take a picture of. Now if you are from the north where you get lots of snow, don't laugh at this picture. It was a BIG deal to those of us in Houston!

FORE His Birthday!

My DH and I are going out to dinner with friends this weekend to help celebrate my friends DH's birthday. He is a golf pro and instructor so I wanted to make him a card with a golf theme. I remembered seeing a swap at convention last summer that held golf ties. Luckily I had taken a picture. I was trying and trying to figure out the dimensions and where the folds should be in order for it all to fit right. I finally decided that if I had some golf tees it would help me decide on the where the folds should be. So I looked in my DH's stash and there was a pack of tees in a folded container just like what I was trying to make! Huh! So that became my pattern although I adjusted it to fit a 11 x 4 1/4 piece of old olive cardstock. The designer papers are scrap pieces I had right there on my stamping table. I used the Round tab punch to make the tees on the card front and inside. I used my empressor and the paper piercing template to make the impressions on the "golf ball". All materials are from Stampin' Up!

Last Tuesday, my scrapbooking class met and made this 6x6 acrylic srcapbook. We used ski slope designer paper and Real red, kiwi, and chocolate chip textured cardstock. We embellished the acrylic pages with Old World Santa rub-on. All materials were from Stampin' Up! Who else?
I hope the slide show I put together works. Let's see.

My first New Catty Order

Well I am $403.00 poorer right now! That's right, I couldnt resist all the new papers, ribbons, accessories, tools, die cuts and stamp sets! I made my list, compared it to Julie at Paper Pleasing Ideas, and found out that we had the same things on our lists. So I just bit the bullet and ordered ALOT of what was on my list. In case you are interested here's what I ordered:

Taste of Textile pg 156
Sweet Nothings Simmply Scrappin'

Designer paper pg 158-161
Rockabilly
Candy Lane
Raspberry Tart---my favorite
Tea Party
Bella Birds
Parisian Breeze

Punches
Heart and Eyelet pg 185

Corduroy buttons pg 176
Flurettes pg 177
Library clips pg 176
Jumbo Brads pg 174
ww organza ribbon
Butterfly die pg 196
Litte leaves pg 200
Texturz paletes pg 203

Stamp sets
Friendly words wheel pg 81
Petal Pizzazz pg 90
Cheep Talk pg 90
Good Friends pg 91

plus I took advantage of the bulk buy: Good Morning sunshine, sunshine garden and button latte.

Then I got the circle scissor plus and glass mat FREE with my hostess benefits!

There's more on the list, but that will be for next time!!!lol

Making My List!

Okay THIS time I am making my Wish List for the new catty, NOT my TO DO List. I got everything on it done except for the message, they were already booked! So, I have an appointment for Tuesday!! Yea! I did a couple of extra things that were not on my list: 1. I went to Office Depot and got my new SU catalog spiral bound. Note to you SU demos out there: A fellow demon suggested that I print off the dormant list (which now has pictures of the sets and is condenced to about 4 pages, and print of the supply list for the samples in the catty. Well that was 24 pages so I passed on the since I can look at it on-line. But I did have the 4 pages of dormant stamps bound into my catty)2. I stopped at Wal-mart and bought 3 packs of fresh blueberries to put in the freezer. I love them frozen in my cereal each morning.
Before I go make my list, here is something I made Saturday. I got the idea from No Time To Stamp?'s blog. She had made it alot bigger, but I wanted to be able to use my tag punches so my is tiny but still cute!I will being sharing it at stamp club next month.Here's the link to Sharon's.


Here is my version using the large and small tag punches.

Monday To Do List!

Well there IS one good thing about this Monday---I don't have to go to school!!! So of course I have a list of things I want to get done today. After, stripping the bed and getting the sheets washed, I came upstairs to tackle my stamping room. After all the projects and cards I made over the holidays, my room was a disaster!!! I'll show you my stamping table before I started cleaning. This is just a small portion of the cleaning that needed to be done up here. I won't even show you the carpet before I vacuumed!!! Anyway it looks so much better now and I can't wait to sit down and work at it. But the LIST is still not complete so stamping will have to wait. I've go to run by a fellow demo and pick up a pack of coasters I need for my Feb club, go to the dr. for yearly Mammogram (yuck!) see if I can get into the massage place (to work out these knots in my shoulders and neck) fix dinner, pick up a perscription, put the sheets back on the bed, AND place my Stampin'Order from the new catalog!!! Whew, I better get to it! If I get done, I'll be back to show you something new I did.

My stamping table before operation clean-up

My stamping table after operation clean-up. What a difference!!!!!

Demonstrator's Meeting

I can't believe it has been a week since I last posted. I had my acrylic scrapbook class on Tuesday and my two stamp clubs this weekend. Today the Glittern' Gals (my Stampin' Up! sideline)met at my house for our monthly demonstrators meeting and swap. Terri and Judy had just returned from Leadership and had lots to share. Plus we had the new catty to drool over. We can't believe that none of us have received our complimentary copy. However, my catalog order HAS arrived and all my club members can come on over and get their FREE copy! I am placing my first order Monday afternoon. There is so much I WANT and need! The papers are lovely!! I am ordering everything I need (except for the mini occasion)for the classes I have scheduled so that I can go ahead and start making my samples. At the end of our meeting the demonstrators swaped cards featuring NEW sets from the Spring/Summer catalog. I have put together a slide show for your enjoyment. I'll have more to share tomorrow.

Busy Weekend!

It was wonderful to get together with my stamp club girls! I've got to remember to take pictures of them when they are here. They all loved making the mini magazine holder with love notes using the Love You Much bundle. Seven members had to miss so I made their projects for them. Once I receive their orders, they can claim their projects. Don't they look cute all lined up?

Today I have been preparing the directions and kits for the Acrylic Scrapbook that my scrapbooking girls are making on Tuesday. Here's the cover.

I'll show more pages later. Now I've got to get through so I can watch the season premier of 24 and well as flipping to the Golden Globes during the commercials.

DC Santas

Some of you know I went to see the grandkids in DC for Christmas. It was a wonderful trip. My husband and I spent a full week there. It was sooo cold (compared to Houston) the first three days. By Christmas day it had started to warm up some. My other two boys and their ladies joined us on Christmas Day. I was so glad they could fly in. Here's picture of Josh, Karin, and the grandkids on Christmas Eve. Karin had gotton them all matching pjs and I had brought the santa hats. I am working on a scrapbook for Alli. I did an ABC scrapbook for Trevor and Ryan, so now I'm working on Alli's. I'll post when I have more to show.

Just Buzzin' Strawberry Tart

I have really enjoyed being off this past week because it has allowed me lots of time to play with my stamps and add entries to my blog. Is anyone out there reading it? I don't know, but I enjoy posting on it. I just changed the background too (thank you Annie for showing me how). I wanted something with alittle more color! Speaking of color, the new designer paper called Strawberry Tart that will be in the new Sprng/Summer catty coming out this month, features such a bold combination of color. I have used two pieces in this card. It is for my demonstrators group, Glitterin' Gals. We are having our monthly meeting at my house on the 18th. We will be swapping cards that feature anything new or springy looking. I pre-ordered this set called Just Buzzin' By. It is really cute! I stamped the bee hive and bee onto watercolor paper and used my Stampin' Up! markers to color them. You can see an awesome tutorial on coloring with markers here by Julie Buhler on her blog called Paper Pleasing Ideas.

Stamp Set: Just Buzzin' By
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Cameo Coral, Very Vanilla(inside card), watercolor paper, Strawberry Tart designer paper
Ink: Black Staz-On
Markers: Blush, Cameo Coral, Barely Banana, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Bashful Blue, Kiwi Kiss re-inker, Certainly Celery(inside card for stem)
Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the wings

Ribbon, Striped Kiwi Kiss

My Thank You cards

I received alot of little gifts from my Kindergarten students and needed a bunch of thank you cards. Of course I have to make them myself! Thats why I have all these stamp sets and stack of cardstock!! I really enjoyed making these. I used my Big Shot and cased this design from Inking Idaho. I kept the color scheme, but used the designer paper and ribbon that I had on hand. The stamp I used is from one of the hostess sets that will be in the new Spring/Summer Stampin' Up! catalog. You can get you new catty from me January 18th!(I'm hoping, lol).

Love You Much swap

This month the SASSSC girls are having a valentine card swap. This is my card. I made it using the set, paper, and punch from SU's Love You Much bundle. It is not an orginal idea. I pretty much cased it from this card I saw on SCS. I used Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, and Close to Cocoa cardstock and ink. The ribbon is nonSU and so are the heart shaped rhinestone and flower bling. I colored the love with a blender pen. The Love You Much bundle is availabe for purchase until January 31. Use item number 115405 and get 20% of the regulare 51.85 price. That would be $41.48 for the set, punch and paper! Its a deal.

January Stamp Club meets the 9th and the 10th

Happy New Year! to all my wonderful Stamp Club ladies! You are the reason I love sharing what I do. Your encouraging words and praise make all the hours of prepartation worth it. Of couse I love what I do also. I'd be stamping no matter what, but being able to share it with you makes it that much more fun for me! With the current SU Love You Much bundle special, I thought it would be fun for us to make a project using those products so you could see just how pretty the Candy Lane designer paper is, as well as how versatile the stamp set is! Plus I love the new three heart punch! You will too! Pam and Lynn are our January hostesses.

Say It With Scallops Class January 16th

There is still room for you to be a part of this class. We will be using the Say It With Scallops stamp set. It is Stampin' Up!'s exclusive designed set that raises money to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities. With the purchase of this set, SU will donate $2 to RMHC. Join us in making a difference. Sign up for this class today. Your class fee of $30 includes the set and everything you need to make this adorable stationary box. BUT don't wait until it is too late! I need to know by January 4Th if you want the set. If you already have the set, you can take the class for $20. If you miss the deadline, but decide you would like to come, please e-mail me and we will work something out.