Blogger's Challenge Celebration!

Hello and Happy Friday to you! If it's Friday, then it's Blogger's Challenge! This week's theme is "Celebration"! A new baby is always cause for a celebration, so here is my contribution. Quite a few people in my life are expecting little ones, so I'm sure this card with come in handy very soon. I started off with a card base of white and then I added a panel of Regal Rose with a strip of faux stitching at the top and the bottom. The long row of scallops was made with the Scallop Edge punch and the scallops around the main image were made with my Nesties. Speaking of the main image, it's from an old, but favorite Stampin' Up set of mine called Sweet & Simple Salutations. It has some really delightful images in the set. I then added a Making Memories Swirl with a touch of May Arts ribbon. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Nursery Necessities set. The patterned paper is designed by Susan Branch and I picked it up at Michaels. I added some Star Dust Stickles to all of the little heart buds for some extra sparkle. For more celebration inspiration, be sure to see what the other ladies in the Blogger's Challenge group have come up with. Have a beautiful day and thanks so much for stopping by...Toodles! :D

Merry Christmas to all...

and to all a good night! I just wanted to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays to you and yours! You truly are a special gift to me...thank you for all of your encouraging comments throughout this year. They mean oh so much!

Here is the card I made for our parish priest. The poor man must think that this is the only stamp I own...lol! Every year I make him a card with this lovely church from the retired Stampin' Up set, Silent Night. This year it is even more special because I used my brand new Top Note Die (a little Christmas gift to myself...lol). The church is stamped with Elegant Eggplant and then embossed with Iridescent Ice. The sentiment is a $1.00 stamp from Michaels. I used my Scor-Pal for the quilted background (one of my favorite things to do with this wonderful tool) and then added a few Making Memories Silver Brad to finish it off. Simple and hopefully a bit elegant.

Have a beautiful holiday. I'll be back on Friday with Blogger's Challenge...Toodles! :D

Blogger's Challenge...I Goofed!!!

Happy Friday! We've had an ice storm in New England today. That's why I'm posting a little later than usual. Between my little one's school closing, my school not closing, my hubby driving into work only to find out that it was closed and without electricity, and then a pair of broken eye glasses...it's been an interesting day here! Then to add to my many adventures...I sort of created the wrong thing for this week's Blogger's Challenge...ugh! This week's theme is really Holiday Ornaments or Decorations. For some reason, I thought that this week's theme was Holiday Gift Giving, but that was one of the weeks that I missed a little while back. Sorry for the mix up folks. If you need some wonderful decoration or ornament ideas, then please click on the Blogger's Challenge logo over in my sidebar. If you want to see a decorated tea tin from Papertrey Ink, then you came to the right place...lol! I thought that these would make great little treats for the teachers. I filled them with Hershey sticks. I know that those are one of my favorite treats...lol! I picked up this fun penguin paper at Michaels, but I've also seen it at AC Moore. I used Papertrey Ink's Holiday Treats set for the label and a Doodlebug Designs button with a tiny bit of black gingham ribbon for the center. I used my Mega Scallop Circle punch for the lid (one of the penguin images fit perfectly) and then I tied the tin shut with some black gingham ribbon. This idea came from Nichole Heady's blog. You can find the directions to her creation here. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you are warm and cozy tonight...Toodles! :D

I'm Back!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope that you are all well. My entire family has been hit with the nastiest colds we've ever had...ugh! We are all on antibiotics and prescription cough syrup. It has not been fun and it has left little time for stamping. I can't believe that I've missed two Blogger's Challenges in a row!!! As soon as I started to feel a little better, I got right to work on this card for this week's challenge. Our challenge is to use Bashful Blue, Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa, Tangerine Tango, and White or Vanilla. I pulled out this set (Stampin' Up's Blooming With Love) and started using my inks to color it up. The button was made with a Making Memories Page Pebble and a circle of Tangerine Tango along with a thin strip of Kiwi Kiss card stock for the thread. A bit of faux stitching and a couple of loops of Tangerine Tango grosgrain ribbon complete my card. For some more inspiration with these colors, please check out what the other ladies in the Blogger's Challenge group came up with. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a wonderful weekend...Toodles! :D

Thanksgiving Place Card Box Tutorial

I received an email this past week for the directions for the place card box from THIS post. I quickly read the email, but I accidently deleted it...ugh! I think it was from someone named Phyllis. So if Phyllis is out there...this is for you. Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. The good news is that these little boxes are quick and easy to make, so you still have time before the holidays! Here goes my first tutorial with pictures. (Just click on the photograph for a better view.)

1. Start with a piece of 11" x 6" card stock.
2. Score the longer side at 4-1/2" and 6-1/2".

3. Score the shorter side at 1-1/4" and 4-3/4".

If you are using a Scor-Pal, line the card stock up with the arrow between the 3" and 4" mark and then score at 5", turn your card stock, line it up at the arrow again and score at 5" again.

4. Now, with scissors or your paper trimmer, cut the 4 score lines 4-1/2" up at each 1-1/4" mark.

5. Cut 2-1/2" off each of the four 1-1/4" strips.

6. This is what your cardstock should look like now (fingers crossed).


7. Fold the side flaps in and then secure. I used Provo Craft's Terrifically Tacky Tape.

8. Fold the front and back flaps up and hold, punch a hole in both, and then tie together with ribbon.


Clear as mud...right?...lol! I do hope this helps. This box idea came from my friend Lauren Salzberg. Let me know how your creations come out if you try these. I'd love to see them! I mounted a front panel with Storage Units, Ink and More's Indian Maiden on my original one, but I bet these would look wonderful with randomly stamped images on the card stock even before you begin scoring and cutting. I think I'll use this sample one for Christmas. Thanks so much for stopping by...Toodles! :D

I'm a lucky girl!!!

Last week, Her Royal Rubberness, Julie Ebersole, and Linda Carnell, the founder of A Muse Artstamps came to New England for a visit!!! I have had the pleasure of meeting Linda before. What a wonderful lady she is! This time around, I was fortunate enough to finally meet JULIE EBERSOLE!!! Yahoo! She is such a fun and happy person! Such a talent! Here I am with Julie! (Yes, I am even shorter than she is...lol!) Because I was finishing up my teaching re-certification classes this past weekend, I didn't have the opportunity to take one of their classes, but I made sure I drove out to the stamp store just so I could visit with them for a moment.

Being around all of this talent, I was inspired to use my A Muse stamps, and make some holiday ornaments for my mother-in-law. Her church was having their annual holiday craft fair. These little tins are actually wedding favor tins from Wilton. I got them in a package of 30 from Michaels. Julie told me that she uses watchmaker tins from leevalley.com to make her ornaments. I stamped all of my A Muse images on circles and then I adhered them to the inside of the tin. I made two little holes with my paper piercer for the silver cord. Next, I added a little bit of imitation snow (next time I'll try cotton...this was a bit messy for me...lol!), put the clear, metal rimmed, lid on and then ran red line tape around the outer edge of the tin. Over the tape, I added my gingham ribbon. Then I added a bow to the top to finish it off.




I'm sorry that the pictures are a bit all over the place. I had a little trouble in the editting and resizing department today...lol! I hope that you are warm and cozy where you are...Old Man Winter has arrived here and brought the cold weather with him! Thanks so much for stopping by...Toodles! :D

Oh Happy Friday!

I'm thrilled that it is finally Friday! We had Tuesday off from school, but for some reason, that seems to make the week feel even longer...ugh! This week's Blogger's Challenge is a color challenge. We needed to use Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, and White or Vanilla. I've had this card in my head all week long, but I just didn't have a moment to put it all together until last night during Grey's Anatomy. Along with all of the required colors, I used Stampin' Up's Priceless set, a little bit of paper piercing, and a touch of Star Dust Stickles on each of the centers of the flowers. For more inspiration with these beautiful colors, just click on the Blogger's Challenge logo on the right side of my blog. Thank you so much for stopping by...Toodles! :D

Blogger's Challenge and Taylor's Cupcake Challenge!

This week's Blogger's Challenge is called, "Same, but different". We could do two cards using the same layout or two cards using the same stamps. As you can see, I went with the same stamps. I just got Stampin' Up's Crazy For Cupcakes this week and I've already used it three times!!! That's a record for me! The first card uses one of my favorite layouts and some of my favorite retired Stampin' Up Designer Paper (Petals and Paisleys) along with Stampin' Up's Cool Caribbean (retired) and Pretty in Pink. The buttons are from Doodlebug Designs and the ribbon is from American Crafts. I also used Star Dust Stickles on the candle flame, the sprinkles, and the cupcake wrapper. For the second card, I decided to give Taylor's Cupcake Challenge a try. Don't ask me why I've yet to try one of her challenges, but this is my first one! I used the sketch that she posted for today's challenge, but I had to change it up just a little bit. The sketch called for the sentiment to be on the bottom of the card, but that just wasn't working for this creation, so I moved it over to the side. I'm much happier with the results.
This card uses some more retired Stampin' Up Designer Paper (Dots and Dashes), Cool Caribbean card stock, and Tangerine Tango card stock. I made the "Happy Birthday to You" circle by stamping the sentiment right side up, turning it around, lining it up, and then stamping it again. A Doodlebug Designs button fit perfectly in the middle. The scallop circle is punched from a scrap of Cool Caribbean and I used my paper piercer for the tiny holes. More Doodlebug button are in each corner of the card. I added Star Dust Stickles to this card as well. I'm off to check out what the other ladies have come up with. If you'd like to as well, just click on the "Blogger's Challenge" logo on the right side of my blog. Thank you so much for stopping by today. Have a wonderful weekend...Toodles! :D

Splitcoaststampers Challenges!!!

I have wanted to find the time to stamp since Sunday morning when I saw the Featured Stamper Challenge over on SCS, but the cards were stacked against me! (No pun intended...lol!) Becca is one talented card maker! Then Monday's SCS Technique Challenge intrigued me (more inspiration from Becca), but I didn't have the correct kind of punch for the technique. I fixed that problem last night when I went to the new Michaels that just opened in the area. I was able to get this punch and it worked like a charm to create Becca's circle medallion. My Stampin' Up order came today along with some of the new In-Colors (and Crazy for Cupcakes) that were in today's SCS Color Challenge so I had to give that a try too. However, I was so excited about using my new colors that after I finished the card, I realized that I was to use Pretty in Pink and I accidently went with Pink Pirourette...oops! I'm still happy with the way it all came together though. My inspiration was this card from Becca and the video to make Becca's medallion can be found here. My details include a Riding Hood Red faux button with a paper thread of Kiwi Kiss. The three little Riding Hood Red faux brads were made from a hole punch. My Swiss Dots embossing folder and a piece of white grosgrain ribbon complete this card. Thanks so much for stopping by this evening...Toodles! :D