A Couple of Announcements

Hello and Happy Monday!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend! Mine was great, first because I got to spend time with my girls and hubby. We have recently started playing a game called Blokus-have you ever heard of it? It makes you use your brain, it's a fun challenge! My husband is very competitive so I like to make sure I keep him humble by kicking his butt at games(this only works sometimes!). LOL Of course, our girls are both very smart and often show us up by kicking both of our butts, keeping me humble. Secondly, I had a great weekend because I had a fun stampin' day with my girls and some great ladies yesterday (see post below). And now, on Monday, my fun continues! I was informed by my friend Jacqui that her sister Diana had a special somethin'-somethin' on her blog that I should check out. You can see it here, but remember to come back for the second announcement. Ok go, I'll wait....

You're back already? Did you see me? I was the very smiley girl in the top centre photo. Not a bad picture for me, considering how un-photogenic I am usually. These pics were taken at Victopia which I attended in the spring of this year, which you may remember from posts I made in April.

Ok, on to the second announcement. I have decided to commit myself (no, not to an institution! Although....) to a special series of posts about Christmas-only creations. Being the person I am, I had to come up with something catchy so I could remember what day I committed to, so I've decided to call the series "Festive Fridays"! See how even I could remember that? So be sure to check in on Fridays, where I will post pictures, and in some cases tutorials, on certain creations I've come up with for Christmas! There will be ideas for Christmas gifts, cards, and fun stuff, so check in with me this Friday for the first one!

I will be posting on other days as well, so you won't have to wait for Fridays with bated breath for me to make a post! (ha ha) But for sure I'll have Christmas ideas on Friday.

Have a Happy Monday!

Donna

Stamp-a-Stack Sunday

This afternoon, Jacqui, Tami, Laurie, Kim and I hosted a Christmas-themed Stamp-a-Stack. We used the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' Kit so we could demonstrate how simple and easy it is to create cards from a scrapbooking kit. Out of one half of a kit, the ladies attending made 8 cards and 8-3" x 3" note cards. These were the cards I designed for today's event, and I can finally show them to you!

On the top card, the large ornament was covered in versamark then I used a mixture of embossing powder and dazzling diamonds to cover it, embossed it and adhered it to the card with dimensionals. The ornaments on the second card were decorated using 2-way glue and dazzling diamonds.

As you can see, I made smudges on both of these cards with the red ink. I did that on purpose, you see, so when the ladies made their cards, they wouldn't have to worry about accidentally picking up my card and taking it home. Wasn't that nice of me? ;)

Hope you had a great weekend! I'll be back this week with some more!

Top Note Purse

Isn't this so adorable????
My friend Kim and I went to the Creative Festival in Toronto a few weeks ago. There were a lot of great vendors and samples too! I saw this Top Note purse idea there at a Stampin Up display(I believe it was Caroline LeBel's) and knew I had to try it! Fortunately, I was headed from the Festival, straight to Jacqtopia, where I spent the weekend stamping, so I had plenty of time to make this. Not only do I love this idea because it is yet another awesome use for the Top Note, but also because it was a perfect excuse to use my build-a-brads, which I've owned for over a year and never used! LOL
I have been trying to make this card in a smaller version (this one measures 5"x5") so it would fit into a regular envelope. I like this size better because it gives me the room to mat the main part of the card with a complementary colour. Hmmm....I'll have to keep trying!
I know I haven't posted the picture of the Hallowe'en treats I made for my daughter's class. I'm sorry. I spent this last week preparing for this weekend. I am currently in Frankenmuth, Michigan, on my yearly family trip. Every year my honey and me pack up the girls and head out with his mom and her hubby, and his brother and family, and we head out here to see not only Bronner's Christmas Store, but also to head over to nearby Birch Run to shop at an outlet mall. A huge outlet mall. I usually get a fair chunk of my Christmas shopping done here, which is great, because then I don't have so much on my list when I head back home. I love it! And of course, you can't help but get into the Christmas spirit once you've strolled through the Christmas store. They have everything there. And by that I mean everything. You want to decorate a tree with birds? Fruits? Sesame Street characters? No problem!! Oh my gosh, it's awesome there! Can you tell I've already been? LOL
Ok so now I am headed off to go shopping at the outlet mall, but I wanted to post something, and to apologize for the lack of posts this week. It's a lot of work to get ready for this weekend, especially when I let the housework and laundry slide the week before!
I will post again this week. And stay tuned for my Christmas post series....I'm brewing up some fantabulous ideas!
Have a great weekend!
Donna

My Friday

I'm sorry I didn't post my last Hallowe'en project today. My oldest girl was home sick with a fever today, so my plans were changed a bit...I will try to post tomorrow. I had made little somethings for my youngest daughter's class which I wanted to show you, but I sent her off to school with all of them, so I had to wait until she came home from school. Hopefully I will be able to show you tomorrow.
Happy Hallowe'en!
Donna

Crayon Card Tutorial

Good morning! As promised, I was hard at work yesterday, coming up with the tutorial to this simple, fun project. Here is what you will need to begin:

-Green Galore- 4 1/4" x 11" and another piece that measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and is scored at 3/4", 2 6/8", 3" (place the long side along bottom of your cutter)

-Window sheet- 5" x 4 1/4" and scored at 3 1/4"

-White cardstock- 4 1/4" x 3 1/2"

-Ballet Blue- 4 1/4" strip with one long edge scalloped

-Striped dsp(I used a piece from Pawsitively Prints)-6/8" x 4 1/4"

-orange grosgrain ribbon-14"

-Black Staz-On, Green Galore ink, crayons, sticky strip, 1/2 a velcro dot

1. Start off by stamping your image on the white cardstock. Adhere the scalloped Ballet Blue strip to the top and back of this piece. Adhere to the front of the card, leaving enough room for the striped dsp piece which should then also be adhered to the card. Tie the orange ribbon around the card and let it sit between the striped piece and the image piece. Set aside. (note-I've used a piece of green galore only for the purpose of the picture so you can see the white cardstock, I haven't adhered it yet to the card.)

2. This is what your scored piece of green galore should look like. Sorry it's so dark, but I couldn't light this picture and have the score lines show up. Fold the first score (3/4")out (mountain fold), and the other two in (valley fold). Decorate the 3/4" flap with a small stamp and Green Galore ink. It should look like this:

3. Once the scored piece is folded, fold the score in the window sheet using a bone folder to secure your fold. Use sticky strip on the edge of the short side of window sheet(the long part hangs over the crayons) and adhere to the back of the green galore scored piece, as shown above.

4. Using sticky strip, line the outer edges of the green galore and adhere together as shown. Put crayons in your box. Fold the window sheet over the crayons, and use a half of a velcro dot to secure closed. Your green galore/window sheet piece should now resemble a kind of crayon box that is self-contained.

5. Adhere your "crayon box" to the inside of your card, and voila! You are done!

See? Easy peasy! This could be a great idea not only for a birthday card, but a great replacement for sweet treats for a child's class both at Hallowe'en and Christmas, or a great idea for a child in a hospital or home sick, or.... the possibilities are endless!

Wow! I don't know if you are watching the Biggest Loser, but I am, and I am having a hard time with this week's show. Abby on the show just told her story about how she lost her husband, 5 year old daughter, and newborn son in a car accident. Oh my gosh. I could barely contain myself, that poor woman! Her whole life wiped out in a moment. Then, if that wasn't enough, Shay talked about life with her heroin-addicted mother-oh my gosh! So sad, that even as an adult, even though her mother died, she still yearns for her mother's love...poor thing, I can't imagine how hard a childhood that is.

Then there's that Tracey. There is something about her that sets off the bells and whistles. I noticed too, that even though she was jubilant that she'd lost 5 lbs and was out of the 200s, and her team was clapping for her, not one of them was smiling as they clapped-not even Bob, her trainer!! (I just hit rewind three times to make sure that observation was right.) So apparently, I'm not the only one who's unhappy she is still on the show. I haven't watched the whold thing yet so I don't know if she gets the boot this week or not. Darn, the other team has to face an elimination, not Tracey's team. Shoot. Maybe next week...

Anyway, if you happen to make one of these, please send me a link to your project in the comments section, I'd love to see what you did!

I have one more Hallowe'en project that I will post either tomorrow or Friday, so come on back!

Have a great day!

Donna

A Stampin' Up CASE

Stampin' Up has a magazine just for their demonstrators that we receive monthly. Often, they have great creative ideas for their latest products which I love, but never seem to get around to trying. This is one of the few that I've actually tried(yay me!)! I love this Build-a-Bear stamp set-the little girl and boy bears are so cute, and (bonus!)you can use them for either a girl or a boy birthday card. Here is the neat part about this project: as you can see, the image on this card is uncoloured. But wait! When the birthday boy or girl opens the card to see who would give them a partially finished birthday card, look what they find inside:

Isn't that a great idea?!? It took me a little bit of time to figure out how to fit the crayons in there without them falling all over, but I did it! Kinda. Now that the card has been completed and carried around to show various stamping friends, I have noticed that the crayons have been travelling a bit and marking the inside of the card. Hmmmm....so now I have to find some way to prevent that. The obvious answer would be to keep them in the box, but it doesn't seem as inviting (to colour) that way....so it may require a clear envelope somehow...I will be working on this today so that tomorrow you can come to see the tutorial, ok? Yes, I said tutorial! I will take pictures and measurements so you can make one of these little beauties too!

So until then, have a great day, and go diving into your stamp collection to find a stamp set you can use to make one of these! I'll see you again tomorrow!

Donna

My First Christmas Card!

This past weekend, I was in Woodstock with some of my girls, stamping up a storm! Our hostess, Jacqui, has been holding Jacqtopia for 5 or 6 years now, and this was the third year I've attended. It is such a blast, and I really do look forward to it, planning in advance who will take care of my girls, trying to talk my hubby into letting me sleep over for extra nights, and packing my stuff to go. This year, Vicki (some of you may know as Summerthyme Studio) brought these plastic bubbles and challenged all of us to create something with it. You could practically smell the smoke, we were all thinking so hard, trying to come up with something to do with the bubble! LOL In the end, we all came up with very different projects-it was interesting to see what everyone came up with.

This Christmas card was what I created with the bubble. I love this tree from the Snow Swirled set, it is so, so elegant. I didn't have any micro beads to put into the bubble, so I decided I would pull off the "legs" of my star brads and use those instead. Here is what they look like when you shake the card:

If you want to see what the other ladies came up with, and read Vicki's blog entry about Jacqtopia, you can click here. But be warned, the picture of me is not the greatest(ok, I think it is downright scary! LOL)-I don't sleep and I don't wear makeup when I am at Jacqtopia, all of that frivolous stuff just takes away from my precious stamping time! LOL But seriously, consider yourself warned!
As I look at my pictures here, I realize I lost a gem on my scallop circle! I didn't even notice when I took the picture, I notice only now as I look at it...wonder where it went? Anyway, inside the circle it says Merry & Bright. The scalloped circle, and paper were from last year`s Christmas Simply Scrappin kit. I still haven`t used it all, fortunately for me, because I like the way it looks with this tree.
Well, that`s all for today, but I have a bunch of other projects that I completed this past weekend that I can hardly wait to show you, so stay tuned!
Have a great day!
Donna

Bonus post-test tube holder

This is my bonus project-a test tube holder all decked out for Hallowe'en. I first saw one of these last year, and I am finally making one of my own! These are pretty simple, and I will have to post the directions next time for you so you can make yours next year! LOL I'm sure that you won't wait as long as I did!

I don't have any Hallowe'en designer paper, so I had to use my Spooky Nights stamp set. At least, that's what I think it's called. This set comes with a cat who has his fur standing on end, and an owl, and moon and two word stamps. I used to own a black cat years ago. My hubby gave him to me for my birthday. Little advice on the choosing a cat thing--do not pick the cat that's the most energetic, pouncy thing of the litter! That's what my honey did, and he must have picked the craziest cat ever! When he was a kitten, he would bite you on the hand in the web area between your thumb and forefinger, his front legs wrapped around your wrist, and his back legs wrapped around your forearm. No joke! I could literally pick him up and hold him off the floor like that, except that it was pretty painful with 5 of his 6 ends being pointy and sharp! I still have scars from him on my arm...I loved him anyway, the crazy coot, but we gave him to someone who owned a farm, so he could be outside all the time, and not hurt anyone. So back to the stamp set, the cat in this set may have his fur standing on end, but he is smiling, so you know he wouldn't hang on your arm like it's a jungle gym...

Oh, and inside the test tube (which were ordered online by my downline, so I'm not sure of the site, but there are lots of 'em!) I used a package of Sour Peaches. The Hallowe'en ones are tiny, so they fit nicely in the tube. Incidently, this is not a good project for peanut M&M's, in case you're wondering. Unless your objective is to jam just one in there, and watch someone go crazy trying to get it out!

Ok, well, I have to go and get ready for my stamping weekend. Yikes, I have a lot to do yet! Have a great weekend!

Donna

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger!

Ok, so here I thought I was soooo smart, thinking up this kitty using the same technique I used for the Jack o'lantern bucket. No sooner do I finish my kitty, when I went onto Splitcoast, and lo and behold, someone's already thought this up! So much for my flash of genius! lol

Even though it was not the first kitty bucket, and I am terribly disappointed that my brain is so slow (LOL), I still like him! Isn't he cute? I didn't stray too much from the other bucket, except here I used black paper, I applied white craft ink to the edges, and gave him long whiskers. I couldn't figure out what to do for the mouth and was toying with the idea of not having a mouth at all, until my Kaitlyn suggested just simply giving him a smile. I think it works. It works much better than the teeth I was trying to cut out for him-what a disaster that was!

Since I didn't post this when I said I would, I decided I would add another post today so that you are not upset with me for too long. I am headed to Woodstock to stamp at my good friend Jacqui's tomorrow night. I am hoping to have lots to show you on Monday!

Look above this one for the bonus post!

Isn't Jack cute?

As promised yesterday, here is the project that I finally got around to trying-isn't he cute?? And super easy too-he's made with the pillow box die from SU! Funny, I was thinking not that long ago, that there must be something else that can be done with that die besides cute pillow boxes. Then *poof!* the tutorial for this little guy magically appears! As soon as I saw him, I knew it must be fate, and that it was a sign that I had to give this guy a try! LOL

If you'd like to give this jack o' lantern bucket a try click here to see the tutorial at Splitcoast.

I'm hoping to have a chance to try something else out tonight before I hit the hay, so I just may have something else to show you tomorrow...stay tuned!

Have a great night!

Donna