A Peek Into My Stamping Room

Make Beautiful Music!

Wow, this summer has really gotten off to a fast start for me.  I sure you remember that my oldest daughter graduated from high school and is now preparing for college.  Well, this weekend is the big congratulations party for her and I have been running around like a crazy woman trying to get everthing done.  Today I sat down at my crafty table and made her a memory book for the party.  This will be a book that everyone attending the party can write a note to her with advice or just telling her how much she is loved.  Hopefully, she will take it with her to college and look at it when feeling down or homesick.

I got to use my new Bind-It-All for the first time.  I was a semi-successful.......just a couple of crooked ones.  I also used a new set of dies from Spellbinders and lots of bling!!

 I used Spellbinders Creative Book Pages dies to create the book.  After layering the Donna Salazar Antiquities papers onto the front and back of the book, I used my Bind-it-all to put everything together.  I just put about 20 blank white pages inside the book for people to write on. 

Here are a few close-ups!

My daughter will be studying music while in college so I thought all these music themed papers and embellishments where perfect.  I printed the message onto some Simply Smooth White cardstock using my computer.

The flowers were made from an old hymnal and die cut using the Blossom Three dies from Spellbinders.  I misted and scrunched them and let them dry.  Then I stacked them together and added the pearls.

I hope to stop making excuses and get back to regular blog posts next week.  I am very thankful to be able to take some time off and that you will still come read my blog!  Hang in there........I promise there is some good stuff on the way!  Remember, CHA is coming (wink, wink)!! 
 

Summer Vacations = Lots Of Fun!

I will warn you right off - there are no crafty projects in the blog post.  So if you don't want to read about family stuff.....you know what to do! 

I don't really like to announce when I am leaving on a vacation, for obvious reasons, but last week we went on a fantastic family vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We rented a beautiful log cabin in the woods that was big enough for all of us (10 total) and a great time was had by everyone.  Here are a few pictures!

This was the view from the cabin we rented!  My family and my mom plus our friends, Ken & Diane and their 2 boys.  It was so much fun!

This was one of the many waterfalls that you can hike too in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  

This is the view from a mountain overlook on our way to Clingman's Dome - the highest peak in the park.  Unfortunately, when we got to the top it was raining/thundering and not the best weather.  But we still enjoyed what we could see! 

Before we left, I started another round of antibiotics and I am happy to report that I am feeling so much better!  I think getting away from it all really helped!  Now I have to get all of this laundry done, go through all the mail AND find my creative mojo.  Not sure where my mojo went but I am finding it hard to concentrate!  LOL 

While I was gone, I got some great new toppers from Flower Soft plus I have some Our Craft Lounge stamps that haven't seen ink.  So I have plenty of cool things to work with.  Hopefully I will be sharing some new projects with you in the next few days!!  Talk to you soon!

Really Reasonable Ribbon & Flower Soft Blog Hop!

 
 

Are you ready for some fun?

Come join us in a special blog hop with The Flower Soft & Really Reasonable Ribbon Design Teams!

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post. There will be 4 prize winners chosen randomly among the blogs.

Flower Soft and Really Reasonable Ribbon will each be selecting two winners (one person randomly from the entire blog hop and one each from someone who comments on their teams blogs) to win prize packages!

The blog hop ends on June 19^th. The prize winners will be announced on The Flower Soft blog and Really Reasonable Ribbon Ramblings blogs on Monday June 20th.

Here is my project using some wonderful ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon and my favorite color of Flower Soft Sprinkles!

 
Here is a close-up of my card! 

Isn't that ribbon the cutest?  I thought it went perfect with my 4th of July invitation!  This ribbon came in the RRR Ribbon Club June Assortment.   Also, I used my favorite Flower Soft - Ultra Fine Strawberry Flower Soft- for the stars!  I think it gives the stars some real pop!!

Now its time to move on to Connie's blog!  Enjoy all the wonderful projects the designers have made and good luck!!

Here is a list of all the hoppers!!

 

• Flower Soft Blog
• Trudy
• Linda 
• Andrea
• Vicki 
• Misty
• Debbie 
• Connie
• Gini 
• Angi
• Dina 
• Crystal
• Deb 
• Jeanne
• Cibele 
• Sarah
• Debbie 
• Cheryl 
• Really Reasonable Ribbon’s Ramblings

Sneak Peek of Our Craft Lounge!

Here are some really simple note cards using new release images from Our Craft Lounge.  You can find out more info on the Our Craft Lounge Blog.

 
  
 

 

 
 

Going Gourmet with Our Craft Lounge!

Today I have a cute project to show you using a stamp set from Our Craft Lounge called Going Gourmet.  I think it would make a wonderful wedding shower present!

I made a quick box using my Scor-Pal and Scor-Tape.  Then stamped the grape images and sentiment using Tuxedo Black Memento ink pad and colored them in using Copic Markers.  I wrapped some Lilac Twine from The Twinery around the box for a simple embellishment.  I also made some recipe cards for the inside.  The cardstock is from www.discountcardstock.com.  I used Kraft, Simply Smooth Ivory and Lovely Lilac Doublemates.

This was a pretty quick project that I think it turned out very elegant!   Be sure to check out all the wonderful stamp sets from Our Craft Lounge.  There are all kinds of images that will satisfy almost any style!

 

Let's Make An ARTSY Banner!

My next class at For Keeps Sake Scrapbook Store will be on Saturday, July 16 at 10:30-12:30pm.  I will be showing you how to make the Artsy Banner I showed you a few days ago.  The banner uses great papers from Donna Salazar plus the Nested Lacey Pennants, Lacey Ovals and Blossom Three die templates from Spellbinders Paper Arts.  Here are a few pictures of the Artsy Banner!

 
Here is a close-up.  The papers from Donna Salazar's Antiquities line has some shapes that are compatible with Spellbinders die templates.  This will be a fun class where we will get inky and misty plus more die cutting using our favorite Spellbinder's die templates!  Hope you will join me!

 

 

Have You Taken A Crafty Class Lately?

Well, its been a long time since I was the student in a class.  Last Saturday, after teaching my Spellbinders Flowers Class at For Keeps Sake Scrapbook Store, I decided to stick around and take the next class.  The teacher for this class was Tammy Tutterow.  Wow, was it a great class!  Full of great products from Pink Paislee with some new stuff I had never used before.  I made the whole project during the class without any major screw-ups.  It was so much fun!  Plus I am hoping that by taking a class that uses new products and new techniques will help me out of this creative slump I am in!

Here is what I made!

 

 This is an 8 x 10" canvas.  We used Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi Medium.  In the past, I have always used Modge Podge.  Well I have to say that the Multi Medium worked much better, dried faster and didn't buckle or bubble my paper.  I will be getting some ASAP!! 

 Here are a few close-ups of the Home Sweet Home Canvas. 

 
As you can tell, I had a great time learning to make this wonderful canvas.  I have it hanging up in my crafty room.  It just makes me smile when I see it!!  Hope you have a great weekend!