Dec 31, 2009 | Big Shot, Decor Elements, Designer Series Paper, Stamper's Club |
I can’t believe it is the end of another Year – 2009 is leaving us and we are on to 2010 in just a few hours. How can that be? Have a safe New Year’s Eve!
I don’t think I mentioned this yet but I got a new laptop for Christmas – yeah me! I decided a few months ago that I really did want one so that I wasn’t tied to my desk all the time. Now I can work from anywhere in the house (or out). But with the new laptop comes some changes and getting used to new things. And my husband decided to change a whole bunch of other stuff too – new internet service, new email addresses, new printer and more. So I’m trying to get everything back up and running on this new laptop. So one thing was the way I download my pictures from my camera. It is going to be a little different than the way I did it before but I atleast have it working (although maybe not the way I want it).
I was able to download the pictures from the last Club meeting so you can see the rest of the EAT Decor Elements Frames that the girls made – there were two done in Real Red with the Night & Day Designer Series paper. And they used the Viola stamp set to create some of the magnets.
There was also one done in Old Olive with Old Olive Patterns Designer Series paper.
The “EAT” Decor Elements comes in five different colors – Black, Chocolate, Real Red, Old Olive and White. So you can mix those with various Designer Series papers and make one to coordinate with any kitchen.
Click Here to see the original one made with the Black EAT and Soft Suede.
Don’t need a recipe holder – here is an idea that Lisa shared with me last night. She cut some vinyl to put on the top – you can purchase just the sheets and cut your own designs using your Big Shot machine – and used paper and stamps to make her husband a ” Honey Do” list board. Put that in your husband’s workshop or garage and leave him notes where he is sure to see them. Lisa decorated the magnets with some stamps from a retired stamp set.
The Decor Elements sheets come in Kraft, Chocolate, White and Dark Gray now. And they should be available in more colors in January.
Other ideas – maybe for your teens or kids create a “to do” board or HW board that they can set on their desk. Attach a list of chores or homework that needs to be done for the day or the week. For the New Year – it could have your goals listed and set it in your bedroom or bathroom where you can see them every day. Mark them off as you complete them.
Enough of me today….I’ll leave you with one of our Decor Elements quotes….
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.” ~ Henry David Thoreau ~
Join me for Create with Connie & Julie – early bird pricing through January 3rd – so sign up soon!
Dec 30, 2009 | Decor Elements, Designer Series Paper, Stamper's Club |
This is not the best picture of this project – sorry. The idea comes from the Stampin’ Up! Decor Elements catalog – on page 19 there is a Recipe Holder on the stove top. They have a better picture.
For mine – I used the From the Kitchen of stamp set to make a set of recipe cards and the two magnets. The images are stamped with Black StazOn ink and then colored in with Stampin’ Write Markers. I made a set of 6 cards to go with the holder. And there are 2 magnets – one has the ‘Yum Scale’ and the other has “From the Kitchen of” on it.
The ‘eat’ is the small Black one. The Designer Series Paper is from the Soft Suede Patterns collection. The ribbon is Basic Black Grosgrain.
A friend of mine made these and her husband cut the wood bases and the metal sheets. I had him make some for me and used this project as the December Club project. The club girls made some with other colors and I did take pictures but haven’t gotten them off my camera yet. I’ll do that and post their creations on another day.
This was a great gift for almost anyone. And a great guy gift. I gave one to my brother-in-law and he loved it.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Dec 29, 2009 | Create with Connie & Julie, Occasion Mini 2010, Sale-A-Bration 2010, Valentine's Day |
Christmas has come and gone and the next big card/craft holiday is Valentine’s Day. Every year around 1 Billion Valentine’s cards are sent. I found a website on Valentine facts and it says Teachers receive the most Valentine Cards. It says children between ages 6-10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine’s with teachers, classmates and family members. So it is time to start thinking about Valentine’s Day cards and ideas…..
I didn’t get any time to do anything creative until very late last night. But I didn’t want to go to bed without making at least something. I had been itching to do something all day but spent most of the day doing other things. So here is my creation based on a card I saw in a magazine and using some of my new Stampin’ Up! products that will be out in January.
The card base is Pretty in Pink. It is hard to tell in the photo but it is. The bottom of the front was punched with the new Scallop Trim Border punch that will be available for FREE in the new Sale-A-Bration Brochure. Inside the front I attached a piece of Chocolate Chip card stock – so it shows behind the Scallop trim.
On the front is a piece of Very Vanilla card stock – the edges are done with a faux stitching look. I used the perforating tool from the Cutter Kit – first I rolled it in Chocolate Chip ink and then on the card stock. It creates a faux stitched look. I stamped the x-o-x-o definition from the Define Your Life stamp set in Chocolate Chip ink. The edges were lightly sponged with Chocolate Chip ink.
The hearts are punched with the middle sized heart in the Heart-to-Heart punch. The paper is the Sending Love Specialty Designer Series paper. Two of the hearts are Very Vanilla card stock that are lightly sponged with Chocolate Chip ink. All the hearts are attached with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
I added two small Pretty In Pink buttons – these have retired – and I didn’t have the Sherbet Designer Buttons which do have Pretty in Pink in the set. The buttons are threaded with very thin strips of Very Vanilla card stock instead of thread. These are attached with mini glue dots. The Tabletop Paper Cutter works great for cutting super thin strips of card stock or paper – so if you want to thread your button to match and don’t have thread you can use card stock. Last I added a thin strip of the Sending Love Specialty paper to the front.
I’ll have more ideas to share as part of the Create with Connie & Julie class. I am a guest designer and I’m working on my projects. So be sure to sign up for this online class – there will be new ideas every day for 9 weeks featuring products from the Stampin’ Up! Occasions mini catalog and the Sale-A-Bration brochure. There are only a few more days left for the early bird pricing – it ends Jan. 3rd. The preview week starts Jan. 3rd and will be open to everyone. On January 10th the site will only be opened to those that are registered for the class. There are weekly challenges and prizes. You can join the class at any time. It should be loads of fun! I hope to see you there.
Dec 28, 2009 | Big Shot, Chipboard, Create with Connie & Julie, Designer Series Paper |
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I know I did. We had a fairly quiet Christmas eve. Greg’s mom joined us at our house for dinner and opening of presents. Santa came over night and filled stockings and left some presents for the boys. Greg’s mom came back (she lives near by) Christmas morning and ate breakfast with us. In the afternoon we packed up all of us and the dogs and headed to my parents house. A much more chaotic evening as my brother and his family and his wife’s family all came to my parents house. There were 15 of us for dinner and more exchanging of gifts. Noah, my 4 year old nephew was unwrapping gifts as fast as he could only to discover that we got him (and my parents too) the same lego set that Santa brought. What a sad little face when he realized both lego sets were duplicates and he had nothing new to play with. Ally, my 3 year old niece was a little bit slower with opening her gifts and happy with her doll, books, and the little bag I made her.
The non-toy gift that I got them were these Alphabet Letter frames – well they aren’t really frames but I added pictures to them. This was a project that my friend Wendy designed for her gift making class. I decorated an ‘A’ for Ally and an ‘N’ for Noah.
For Noah’s letter I used the Pawstively Prints Designer Series paper to cover chipboard stars. I sanded the edges and sponged the stars. The stars were cut using the Big Shot and the Stars #2 die using the Long Board chipboard pieces that you can order from the Stampin’ Up! catalog.
I stamped sailboats – colored with Stampin’ Write Markers on Whisper White card stock and cut those out. The ‘N’ was stamped with Black StazOn ink using several stamp sets – Extreme Elements, Priceless, Lovely Letters Alphabet, and Just Perfect Alphabet.
The photos are matted with Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, and Ballet Blue card stock. I printed the photos using a collage format so it printed a variety of small sizes that worked great for this project.
For Ally’s letter I used the Tea Party Designer Series Paper to cover chipboard flowers. The flowers were cut using the Big Shot and the Stampin’ Up! Blossom Party die from pieces of the Long Board Chipboard. The flowers were sanded and sponged.
The ‘A’ is stamped with Black StazOn ink using the Priceless stamp set. The name is stamped using the Lovely Letters Alphabet and the Just Right Alphabet. A Rhinestone brad accents the center of the large flower.
The pictures are matted in So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery and Almost Amethyst.
The letters set inside the stand so you can put them on a shelf or dresser in each of their bedrooms. They turned out very nice and I hope that they will like looking at them. I tried to choose photos that I had taken so that they were photos that their mom and dad hadn’t seen before.
I gave several hand-made gifts this year. This was one of them.
I need to clean my craft room – I have lots to do in here – working on projects for the Create with Connie & Julie class. Don’t forget to sign up for early bird pricing!
Dec 24, 2009 | Big Shot, Christmas, Designer Series Paper, In Colors |
It is here. It is Christmas Eve! And I still have so much I want to do but I wanted to take a quick break to share this project I just finished.
I found carved wood icicle name ornaments when I went to the craft fair in Virginia – yes that was October so I had what at least 2 months to make these little boxes – but I waited until the last day…
In this photo you can see Noah’s ornament – I took it out of the box so you could see one. I added the Riding Hood Red ribbon to the tops so that they would have a hanger. The boy ornaments I tied in a knot and the girl ornament I tied in a bow.
The ornaments are long and skinny and I decided to make a little box to put them in. Most of what I used is retired from last year. Riding Hood Red card stock, Ski Slope and Holiday Treasures Designer Series Paper, Little Felt Flurries, and the 1-1/4″ Riding Hood Red Grosgrain Ribbon.
Since they were so skinny rather than make tags I decided to use the felt flurries with their initial as the tag. I used the Big Shot and the Stampin’ Up! Billboard Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die to cut the letters. 
To determine the size of the boxes I used my grid paper. I laid the ornament on the grid paper and drew around it – then added sides for the box that were deep enough to hold the ornament, and a lid and a flap. I extended each end the same amount as the sides. Cut and score, snip the flaps, glued it together with Tombow adhesive.
Yesterday I did baking and wrapping. Made a trip to the Honey Baked Ham store (it was packed full of people), the bank (that was empty), one more trip to the grocery store (also crowded) and I’m sending Kyle back today because I realized I’m still missing one thing. I made more M&M treats because I gave all the ones I made away to the teachers last week and the kids still wanted some. I think I have made probably 800 of those things this year. Each tray holds at least 100 because I put as many pretzels as I can on the tray. I made a Rum cake yesterday – I had to go to the store to buy the rum – they were also pretty busy. I also made Cinnamon Sledges – an old recipe that I got from one of my mom’s friends when I was probably in college.
The other night we had dinner at my mother-in-laws house. It was wonderful. My parents came to join us and Tyler’s girlfriend came over too. Now she has met all of Tyler’s grandparents. Here is a picture of me with my boys and Tyler’s girlfriend, Haley.
Merry Christmas Everyone! If I have time today I’ll set up a couple of posts to go up this weekend. Otherwise it will be Monday before I post again. Have a wonderful Holiday with your family, travel safely and enjoy.
I don’t think I mentioned this yet but I got a new laptop for Christmas – yeah me! I decided a few months ago that I really did want one so that I wasn’t tied to my desk all the time. Now I can work from anywhere in the house (or out). But with the new laptop comes some changes and getting used to new things. And my husband decided to change a whole bunch of other stuff too – new internet service, new email addresses, new printer and more. So I’m trying to get everything back up and running on this new laptop. So one thing was the way I download my pictures from my camera. It is going to be a little different than the way I did it before but I atleast have it working (although maybe not the way I want it).
I was able to download the pictures from the last Club meeting so you can see the rest of the EAT Decor Elements Frames that the girls made – there were two done in Real Red with the Night & Day Designer Series paper. And they used the Viola stamp set to create some of the magnets.
The “EAT” Decor Elements comes in five different colors – Black, Chocolate, Real Red, Old Olive and White. So you can mix those with various Designer Series papers and make one to coordinate with any kitchen.
