A couple of items not to be missed.

Hello Everyone. There are a couple of things I wanted to share with you today.

First, if you're looking for ideas for decorating your table this holiday season then check out this video: http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=61&sid=4573672 It's a video link to Shelli Gardner's recent appearance on a local morning show in Salt Lake City. Shelli is the co-founder of Stampin'Up!. In the video she shares some fun ideas for dressing up your table for three different holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. All the projects are made from one package of designer series of paper. If you're interested in purchasing any of the supplies you see in the video you can access my Stampin'Up! website here. Once you are there just click on the "shop now" button in the upper right corner. By the way, when you visit my SU website be sure to also check out the featured project video.

Second, I wanted to remind everyone that Stampin'Up!'s Birthday Party promotion ends this Friday (October 31st.) This promotion includes a 20% discount on a selection of birthday themed stamp sets and a discounted price on our Aqua Pens. Again, you can view the details at my Stampin'Up! website.

Well, I'm off now finish up some samples for my next tutorial. See you soon!

October Stamp Club Projects

I have more photos to share. These samples are from my stamp club meeting last Friday evening.


These are called Box-in-a-Bag. Aren't they cute? They are so simple to make and can be adapted for any holiday or occasion. I don't know who actually came up with this idea (there are lots of samples out there in blogland) but I found instructions at Paula's blog: Inking Addict.

I used some retired Stampin'Up! designer paper from my stash to create these. The stamp set is called Batty for You and is in the current Stampin'Up! fall-winter catalog. I also used the scallop edge punch from the current catalog to create the border around the bottom (instead of the slit punch used in Paula's tutorial.)

Here's a close-up of one. For fun I added googlie eyes to the stamped image.


And finally, this last photo is a card we also made at our stamp club meeting last Friday.

This card is an adaptation of the Glitter Window technique. You can find instructions at Splitcoaststampers.com. The snowman and snowflake images are from the Merry & Bright stamp set in the 2008 Stampin'Up fall & winter catalog. The greeting is from Many Merry Messages set, also in the current catalog. I used a combination of the 1 3/8" circle punch and the small oval punch from the SU! catalog to create the base of the snow globe.

Thanks for looking. I'll be back soon with a new tutorial.

From Bored to Batty

My six-year-old son wandered into my "stamp" room the other day after school and announced he was bored. I showed him a punch I had picked up earlier in the day at Michael's and suggested he try making something with it. Usually he doesn't go for the bait when I suggest something like this (he'd rather play soccer or do something that involves dirt) but he must have been inspired when he saw that the punch was shaped like a bat. Anyway, I just had to share a photo of the masterpiece he created for me. He calls it "Scary Graveyard."

I've Been Tagged!

Wow, it's been nearly two weeks since I posted something. Things got busy and time flew by. So now I'm trying to catch up. First order of business is tagging. Yes, I was "tagged" last week by Jeanette from H2O Creations, which means it's now my turn to pass it on.

Tagging is the internet version of chain mail and I always feel obligated to play along at least one round. Here is how this game is played:

1. Link your tagger (see link above to Jeanette.)
2. Share 7 facts on your blog about yourself, some random & some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of the post by leaving names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

And here's some facts about me:

1. My middle name is Ann.
2. I have lived in 4 states.
3. I'm a Jayhawk.
4. (This is the weird one) I was born with extra toes.
5. I love to read. So far I have read 3 books this month: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield; The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; and The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell.
6. Currently my favorite TV shows include The Office, The Daily Show, and Man Men.
7. I'm an Obama Mama.

I'm tagging:

1. Cyndi at Frou Frou Gypsy
2. Sarah at Sarah's Inking Fingers
3. Nicole at The Stampin' Librarian
4. Zukesgirl at Zukesgirl Creates
5. Elena at The Red Haired Girl
6. Lori at Live, Laugh, Scrap
7. Kathy at My Crafty Inkling

Many, many thanks!

So many of you have left such kind comments on my blog here lately and I just waned to let you all know how much I truly appreciate them. Your compliments and enthusiasm makes my heart sing. Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and leave a message. It really means everything to me.

More Kimonos

Just had to post this photo of kimono cards made by fellow blogger Zukesgirl (aka. Tracy). Aren't they cute? Thanks for sharing Tracy. You can check out her blog at: zukesgirl.blogspot.com

How to Make a Kimono Card

These kimono cards are so much fun to make. I got the idea from an old issue of The Rubber Stamper magazine (Sept. 2005.) Of course, I had to add my own touches like the bunny slippers and the geisha girl. They are simple to make once you have the instructions. Below is a video tutorial I put together to show you how.

Altered Clock

I feel like I have been in a creative slump lately. I'm trying to push through it though and thought I'd share what I worked on over the weekend.


This first picture is a "before" photo of a clock I purchased several weeks ago from the clearance section at Michael's. It actually doesn't look that bad in this photo. It had a cardboard background with a print that was suppose to look aged, but in person it didn't look very realistic. So, I thought I'd alter it as a gift for my Sister.


And this is the "after" photo. I took everything apart and covered the clock face with some Designer Series paper from Stampin'Up! I chose some paper I had on hand called Recollections from last year's Stampin'Up! catalog. It is retired now, but I made a recipe box for my Sister last year with the same paper.

Then I added some chipboard letters that I had colored with craft ink and embossed. The leaf is another chipboard shape. I covered it with coordinating card stock (Mellow Moss) and used a color spritzer and a sponge dabber to add some accents (in Bravo Burgundy.) I was going to add some numbers or some other type markers for the numbers, but when I laid them on the clock face I thought it look too busy.

Finally, when I put everything back together I didn't like the gold clock hands so I colored them black with some StazOn ink.

It feels great to finish something. Doing something "creative" can be a real mood lifter. There's a paper store called Paper Source. Their tagline is "Do Something Creative Every Day." Words to live by. Now I'm feeling more postive about approaching my next project: preparing for my next video tutorial. Curious? Well, stay tuned!

P.S. In the meantime, check out this link for Paper Source's web site. They've got some really cute Halloween projects online right now.

Salvaging Scraps

Do you ever go through a period when you just don't like anything you make? I was making some cards a couple days ago, but I didn't like how they where turning out. I had my card stock cut and stamped, but I wasn't jazzed how they were turning out so I threw everything in the trash. Then I began to feel guilty about how wasteful I was being. I dug everything out of the trash and beginning cutting the scraps up and piecing them together. When I was all finished, this is what I came up with.


I'm still not sure if I'm happy with the results, but at least I'm not feeling so wasteful. I'm blaming my current creative "bankruptcy" on all the gloomy financial news in the media this week. I don't know about you, but I'm getting really tired hearing all these politicians running around claiming "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" But hey, we all got up this morning and guess what? The sky hasn't fallen.

Then it was off to do some banking. Yes, I bank at Washington Mutual. You may have heard of it.... "the largest bank to fail in U.S. history." I felt so bad for the teller that helped me. She's usually so friendly, but today she looked like she was having a really rotten day.

I was putting my wallet away as I was leaving the bank and realized I had a couple of cards I had put in my purse to show to a friend later. I pulled one out, scribbled a silly note, and dropped it back by the teller's window. As I left this time I looked back over my shoulder and saw that the teller had a big smile on her face as she read the card. I know this is a little corny, but it is so cool to make someone smile with a card.

So I say, go forth in these uncertain times and send someone a smile!