love you much promotion

get ready for valentine's day with the exclusive love you much bundle (item 115405).

newsletter update

for those of you on my newsletter list, and those that would like to be, i have changed how i will be sending them out. in the past i was using a newsletter service and it was not sending updated information. so after several attempts to fix the problem i decided to just create my own, more wonderful and amazing weekly newsletter starting the first week in january.
if you would like to receive a weekly email with specials, projects, new techniques and ideas please send me an email with "subscribe" in the subject line.
hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

stampin' techniques

• dry embossing
• heat embossing
• masking
• two-step stampin' and repetition
• using background stamps
• using heat and stick powder
• using markers
• rock & roll
• using stampin pastels
• watercoloring

a wonderful site

here is a man after my own heart. this is a wonderful site!

mom bought a pack of lined notepads and turned them into great gifts! using generic papers and miscellaneous embellishments, she gave each a cover. a cute and quick gift.

some of my favorite sets are retiring. check out pictures of the retiring sets and order today so you won't miss out on these great stamps...plus save 10%!

retiring set: warm words

regular price: 23.28

sale price thru 12/23: 20.95

this is the beginning of my nephew's dragon scarf. its a pattern from morehouse farms. it is one of the funnest things i have ever knitted! its actually very simple and fun to watch it unfold. with 14" done, i have only 48" to go! =0)

save your pringles cans!

this adorable gift container is a pringles can! using the curly lable punch bundle, scandinavian sets and designer papers, suzy from paper monkey created this great container for cookies. you could fit lots of fun gifts in here.

thanks to gloria for sending me pictures of this adorable altered book. she adapted instructions from angel stamper's one sheet pocket book to create it. what a fun project! thanks for sharing!

project of the month...its december!

this months stampin' up! project is this cute turquoise tin to decorate and give this holiday season. you can order all of the supplies from me to make your own. the cute tins are available or use your own container.

dinosaur hat

this is my son, modeling my latest knitted creation. the dinosaur hat from morehouse farms. i love their patterns and recently bought their critter collection book. i hope to get lots of these and other fun things made for christmas.

my swaps came today!

every single tag is fabulous! thanks to all the very creative ladies! visit my tag countdown page for info on the artist, close up picture and ingredients for some of the tags.

too creative pick

my "cute find for the day". visit jodi's site to find out how she created this too creative card.

too creative GOLDEN SITE

picture: one of the MANY page maps available from pagemaps.com

every once in awhile you come across a "golden site", one you not only bookmark into your favorites, but also add to your sidebar because you just KNOW you will use it tons!

mom emailed page maps to me...at 6am this morning. if you haven't been lucky enough to find it yet, GO NOW! the genius behind this site is becky fleck, a graphic designer and illustrator.

be sure to check out her tag maps...i will be!

remember to check our tag countdown to christmas! 60 tags so far and only 31 to go!

they are done

my gift tag baggies for the ornament/card exchange are done! each little baggie has 7 gift tags in it.

whew! that's alot of tags!

350 tags! they are all done and ready to package. my friend does an ornament exchange every year and started giving the option of making ornaments or cards to exchange. i am doing little goodie bags of 7 handmade tags. the pictures aren't great. when i get them all packed up i will post some better pix.

my rubbermaid relish tray really came in handy for organizing all of them!

why i love versamark!

versamark must get its name from "versatile". it is one of my most-used items. today i needed to quickly make several tags. going through my die cut tags i realized i had a variety of colors, but not several of one. i pulled out my versamark pad, white craft pad and the "season of joy" set (because the tags were so big, i also added "be merry" from the "warm words" set). in a couple of minutes i had 16 completed tags, from several different color families...and only two stamp pads to clean! it was quick and they turned out really cute. just need to add some fun ribbon to the tops.

they're on their way!

my swaps are finished and on their way to hawaii! i signed up for two spots...so I could get one of each of the tags (there were a couple of different groups since so many people signed up).
i did one of my favorite tags from my countdown, #16. i changed it just a little bit.

this is the other tag i made for the swap. i really like how it turned out.

stamps: deer friends, season of joy, punch pals

ink: riding hood red, creamy caramel, black, versamark

paper: sahara sand, misc. print, real red

extras: die cut tag, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches, scallop circle punch, jute

using a 2,4,6,8 box pattern, "stamp queen" from splitcoast stampers adapted it to fit her glass ornament. she scalloped the edge and stamped the sides with the winter post set.

helpful tip

one of stampin' ups new dies, baskets and blooms, makes a cute little basket, but many people, including mom, think its a little tricky to put together.

mary fish, of stampinpretty, offers some super tips today on conquering this basket without an engineering degree. while there, take a look around her site. its one of my favorites!

a few simple tags using the set, winter post.

i love today's creation by Dawna Pritchard. this reindeer christmas ball card is a great accent as well as a gift card.

colors: bashful blue, chocolate chip

simple gift tags made with this week's spotlight set, winter post, add charm to any gift.

set of the week

winter post is this week's highlighted set. its old-fashioned feel is great for a variety uses. this beautiful card was created by stamp addict from splitcoast stampers. she also used the new top note die cut....my most favorite.

colors: riding hood red, close to cocoa, chocolate chip

a week of tags

this weeks quick and easy tags were all made using the following sets and punches: curly label punch bundle, say it with scallops, short & sweet, square scallop punch. recipes for each tag can be found on our tag countdown to christmas page, along with all the others (44 so far!)

this weeks featured product

I saved the best for last! today's idea for the "create a calendar" from the holiday mini is pure genius.
jan tink, from stamps, papers, scissors is the creative mind behind it. you just have to visit her site and read the blog entry. she has more pictures and complete instructions there too.
after she received her kit, like me, she sat and stared at it forever...mine is STILL in the drawer waiting to tell me what it wants to be.
this project would make a great workshop so lets book one for you and your friends today! what a great christmas present.

what a fun idea to turn the calendar kit into a mini scrapbook. you could write short journal entries each month about special memories and events.
i also like this idea as a perpetual calendar, choosing pictures each month of those celebrating their birthday or anniversary. since the calendar is '09 it could be covered by a cute graphic or thought.

i think a lot of people felt the same way i did upon receiving the calendar kit. its cute and looks fun on the trio clipboard, but when you start thinking about it would you really use it?
i like today's idea from whats_her_name on splitcoaststampers (that's her screen name...it really is). basically, she has attached all of the calenders with large key rings.

i really like this idea. spiral bound, the calendar can easily be taken places and used as a planner.

it is constructed using the kit items and some chipboard.

item of the week

this week's featured set is actually a kit. "create-a-calendar" is a cute item in the holiday mini catalog.

for only 7.95 it contains a lot of fun things. the samples shown in the picture are cute but, honestly, not practical.

i have been searching the internet for new ideas for this kit. this week i will be sharing some of my favorites.

a week of tags

this weeks tags have been made from 3 sets: frames with a flourish, spotlight on christmas and best yet. recipes for each can be found on our tag countdown page.

another fun thing from my daughter's banquet was this scrapbook. as a tradition, the juniors give the seniors a gift. they wanted to do scrapbooks and a mom suggested using an online digital scapbooking company, mypublisher.com. i had so much fun with this program and would love to make more. you just choose your layout and drag & drop the pix into place. the only thing i didn't really like was there wasn't a lot of options to personalize it. i went to joanns and a local scrapbook store, just bee scrappin' and bought clear stickers to put throughout the book. the covers were plain black so i added the oval name plate with the girl's name and purple brads, large plaid ribbon and that cute big flower with a large polka dot brad. the books came in a plastic sleeve and then we wrapped the purple ribbon around it. the girls loved them almost as much as i loved making them!

mini scrapbook card

last night my daughter had her end of season soccer banquet. one of her coaches was hospitalized last week with a serious condition (our prayers are with you!) and she wasn't able to come to the banquet. i wanted to make a card for the girls to sign and write a few words. there are 43 players and 4 coaches so i needed a lot of room so i made a mini album. i knew she would want pix of the the night so it would be the next best thing to being there.
since i had to add the pix when i got home, the girls weren't able to see the finished "book" so i told them they could see it on here. some moms also wanted to know how i put it together so i am adding some instructions too.

this is what it looked like in the beginning. it came in a little kit of weird-colored items.

i couldn't find the right colors i wanted so i made my own to cover the interesting yellow plaid. i used black cardstock and stamped it with white and the flower ctr from the "enjoy every moment" set. i rolled lavender lace cardstock with versamark ink and the "whimsy" wheel.

i placed most of the photos on the back so she could stand it up in her room and see them. the large "behs" was a sticker i found at a local store.

the inside has a team photo and the girls cute notes. the inside was an ok yellow color so i left that and used faces from the "all in the family" set across the bottom.

to the team: the pictures didn't post well. if you want to see them please send me an email and i will send them to you.

another sample for this weeks spotlight set, "live like you mean it".

too creative link

a great online resource for ideas is split coast stampers. in their su galleries section, you can search by the name of the stamp set. hundreds of wonderful projects have been posted by people from all over the world, making creating fun projects quick and easy. plus, like this beautiful bookmark, shows you different ways sets can be used.
if there is a set you aren't sure about purchasing...or one that's been sitting on your shelf for awhile...type in the name and see how others are putting it to use. you will be surprised at the wide variety.
have a great week!

too wonderful set

this week's highlighted set is "live like you mean it", a level 1 hostess set. i really like sets that can be used in many ways and this is one of those. layering "life" and "live like you mean it" makes a great addition to cards, scrapbook pages, frames and album covers. this is one of those sets you will use over and over.

get this set for free by having a party...how easy is that?! send me an email for info.