My Happy Stamping Place

Halloween Waterfall

 
Happy Halloween!  I just had to show you one last Halloween card this year and today is the perfect day to show you! I had a request from one of my stamp club members(Hi Bonnie!) to make a waterfall card in stamp club.  These can be a little tricky, but once you get the hang of them they are so much fun!  Here is a Halloween version.

 

 
 
Fun and whimsical.  The images are stamped on watercolor paper and colored in with Stampin' Write markers.  You get the best results on watercolor paper because it's the highest quality paper.

Last night's Halloween party was very fun.  The hostess, Michelle, went all out!  I have never seen a house so decked out for Halloween.  I should have taken more photos.  I was so busy taking it all in that I forgot.  Here's one of my husband and I and the two boys.

 
My daughter couldn't go because she had to stay home and do homework.  My boys asked Doug why he didn't dress up.  hah! This is a recurring Halloween costume for him.  The boys liked that their costumes didn't require them to smile. 

 
This is me and my friend, Kathy. I didn't even get a photo of the hostess!  Shame on me!  Next time, next time.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope your Halloween is filled with treats and not tricks!

Kathleen

 

That cute little owl punch

I have been making thank you cards for my customers who ordered from my online ordering website during the Clearance Rack blitz.  I was trying to make one card that I would make everyone but I couldn't come up with one that I liked enough and was simple enough,  I found this layout idea from Nancy Littrell on Stampin' Connection, a resource from Stampin' Up! for demonstrators.  I changed the colors and the beckground a little bit to give it my own touch. 

 

Recipe: Paper:  Poppy Parade, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delght, Whisper White, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Level 1 hostess designer paper pack

Other:  Scallop border punch, Owl punch, poppy parade ribbon, linen thread, Elegant Lines Sizzix embossing folder, stampin' dimensionals, wide oval punch, uniball white gel pen.

What kind of spooky plans do you have this weekend?  My husband and I and our two boys are going to a costume Halloween party.  I'm not too creative when it comes to Halloween costumes.  I'm going to wear a queen gown I picked up after Halloween one year, just in case. My boys are going to be a bleeding skeleton and a grim reaper.  They are 10 and 12 - they're into gore and guts for Halloween. My husband doesn't know what he's going to be yet.  We haven't even carved our Halloween pumpkins yet.  It's usually a big deal at our house because my husband goes all out with kids.  We're running out of time!  Ugh.  I hope you have a fun Halloween weekend planned!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

Yummy Chocolate Peanut Butter Ribbon dessert!

When I first saw this cute baker owl on Kay's blog I flipped! I was just waiting for the right recipe to put it on one of my recipe cards.  This dessert seemd like just the thing! 

 

Recipe:

Paper:  Baja Breeze textured cardstock, Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Tangerine Tango

Punches: Owl punch, scallop trim edge scallop oval, butterfly punch

Other:  White uniball gel pen, stampin' sponges

I'm coming down off of my vacation hang over and settling back into routine.  Routine can be good sometimes.

I'll be back this week with more recipe cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

A Grand Week

This is where I've been this week.

 

The Grand Canyon.  It's somewhere I've wanted to visit my whole life.  And it did not disappoint. This was our first picture and our first view of the Grand Canyon.  Pictures do not do it justice. 

This guy scared us a lot.

 
 

There are very few fences or guardrails at the Grand Canyon.  It's a mere slip over the canyon.  He likes to run and jump and venture close to the edge.  My husband could not relax.  Maybe because he was worrying so much, I could. 

This guy was a little more cautious.

 

He's afraid of heights and respected the distance from the edge.

This young lady was filled with awe and grace. 

 
She's a young adult and could appreciate the Grand Canyon for the natural wonder that it is.

We spent about 3 days in the Grand Canyon.  We started out our trip in Phoenix.  We flew in a week ago Saturday and stayed the night.  On Sunday we went to the Phoenix Zoo. 

 

It was a hot 88 degree day.  We were all pooped out by mid afternoon and decided to drive to our next destination in Williams, AZ.  It's where our hotel room was for the next 5 nights and an hours' drive from the Grand Canyon. 

We spent Monday in the Canyon.  We stopped and viewed it along several viewing sites and went hiking down in the canyon.

 
Yes, we walked right through a mountain!  I think this is called Angel's pass.  It's not bad going down but boy was I huffing and puffing coming back up!  I need to get back into an exercise program.

On Tuesday we visited Sedona.  This was about an hours' drive from Williams as well.  The drive into Sedona was breath taking.  Nothing could quite describe the beauty and splendor of driving down  through the red canyon walls.  I'll post a picture but it doesn't hold a candle to the real thing.

 

I enjoyed this even more than the Grand Canyon.  The scenery was stunning.  If you aren't familiar with Sedona it is an artist community and it is no wonder.  You are surrounded in a valley by Red Canyon walls all around you.   A feast for the eyes.  We sent the guys off on a 4x4 jeep ride through the canyon while Rebecca and I went shopping in this picturesque little town.  2 1/2 hours was not enough time to shop.  I'd like to come back here someday.  It's really more of a girls town than a guys town.  At least for my family.

We went back to the Canyon on Wednesday.  We saw the Imax Grand Canyon movie. And drove to the Desert View where there is a watch tower.

 
This is inside the Watch Tower.  The walls were done by a Hopi Indian artist.

On Thursday we boarded a small 20 seater plane for an hours flight over the Canyon.  It was a cloudy day but just amazing to get this viewpoint of the canyon.

 
We finished out the day at a cute diner in Williams on Route 66.  Williams is a little town on Route 66 with lots of cute little shops.

 

 

 
 
We drove back to Phoenix on Friday and had late lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.  Unfortunately, Nick came down with an ear infection right after that so my husband spent the rest of the afternoon driving him to Urgent care and the pharmacy.  The rest of us just relaxed back in the hotel room.

It was an incredible trip!  One I highly recommend if you haven't been to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. We had a great week of family bonding.  These two got on incredibly well.  They were the best of buds all week.

 
And our family Christmas photo this year may well be this one.

 

I'll be back with some stamping photos soon.  I have my recipe club this afternoon and have 3 new recipe cards to share. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

Handmade Holiday Promotion

 

Dates: October 19-December 16, 2010

Details
You will have the opportunity to purchase select products--perfect for Amazing cards, Beautiful packaging, and Cherished gifts--at a 20 percent discount!

You can place your order through my online ordering website 24/7 or by contacting me at [email protected].

 

The eyes have it

I ran across this idea on Stampin' Connection, a resource for Stampin' Up! demonstrators.  You start with die cutting the Sizzix candy wrapper die from Stampin' Up!.  I used Elegant Eggplant carstock.  After assembling the box I cut out two 3/4" circles out of whisper white and 1 out of elegant eggplant.  Punch out 1/2" circle out of basic black and assemble the eyes. Then add a few highlights with white unibal gel pen. You can change the expression just by changing where you place the eyes!

 

what kind of treat boxes and bags are you making for Halloween?  The countdown is on - Halloween is on it's way!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Going batty

I first saw this bat house idea when Stampin' Up! demonstrators came back from convention.  The ones there were bright but I wanted to make mine spookier.  I started out with the mini milk carton Sizzix die from Stampin' Up!  If you don't have this die, it's a must have!  I punched a hole out of one side with the 1" circle punch.  After I assembled the house I draped some waffle paper that I roughed up over the top of the carton and held it there with a binder clip.  Next I punched out the bats, bent them to shape and added some rhinestone gems to the wings.  So easy!  You can either put some acetate over the opening and add treats, or put a little cello bag of treats inside.

 

I've got another simple halloween treat box to show you this week so be sure to stop back!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

Halloween Treats

 After spending a productive evening with friends making 26 treat boxes for my son, Sam's class, I had the boxes assembled with the designer paper wrapped around them.  I still needed to make them cute.  I completed the cute part this week.  I stamped the pumpkin image from the Got Treats stamp set.  This set has several cute images that fit just right on the milk carton box and also has the open with arrows on the side and inside of real mark cartons.  I didn't bother with that on these milk cartons since I had so many to make but when you're making a special project for one or a few, it looks really cute on the carton! 

 

Recipe: Stamps: Got Treats

Ink: Tango Tangerine

Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Nite Owl designer paper

Other:  Mini milk carton die, sticky strip to hold the box together and various binder clips and other clips to open and close the box.

You can fit little packs of laffy taffy, starburst, little mini candy bars and other kinds of fun halloween treats inside.  We'll fill those just before Sam brings those into school.  I still want to make an extra special treat container for Sam's teacher.  She is fantastic and want to give her something special.

We're still enjoying beautiful weather in Minnesota.  I get out everyday at lunch to enjoy it.  Today is the farmer's market in downtown Minneapolis.  There's always good stuff to buy and great people watching.  I'll be out there for sure!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Beautiful Cakes

I'm taking a little break from Halloween.  When planning my stamp club cards this month I thought we could do at least one project that wasn't Halloween related.  Not everyone is as big of a Halloween fan as I am. *gasp*  I cased the coloring of the cakes from another demonstrator. I stamped on watercolor paper with Jetblack Stazon and colored in with stampin' write markers.  I added touches of dazzling diamonds glitter and crystal effects to strategic spots in the image.  I love the way this turned out!

 

Recipe:  Birthday Bakery(Level 1 hostess set)

Ink:  Jetblack Stazon

Stampin' Write markers: Chocolate Chip, Pink pirouette, So Saffron, Real Red, Poppy Parade, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Poppy Parade, Watercolor paper, Chocolate Chip

Other:  dots embossing folder, dazzling diamonds glitter, crystal effects, vanilla taffeta ribbon, pearls, curly label punch

The weather is unseasonably gorgeous in Minnesota!  It was 70's and 80's this weekend.  Last year at this time we had our first snowfall.  The longer we can postpone winter the better. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen
 

Ghostly Halloween

Hang onto your hats, it's another Halloween card! Shocker, I know.  I had stamp club at my house last night and this is one of the cards we made.  Lots of punches used but I love the scene it created!  I cased ideas from several cards I saw from other demonstrators.

 

 

Recipe: Stamps:  All Holidays(I'm not sure if this is the right name)

Ink:  Cajun Craze to sponge the pumpkins and moon, Always Artichoke to sponge the grass.

Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango. Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, More Mustard

Punches: Owl punch(turn upside down and cut off the feet to get the ghost shape, the eyes are the middle circle on the owl punch and the circle punch from the punch trio pack - they nest perfectly!, 1" circle punch, small oval punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, word window, modern label

Other:  Tasteful Trim punch(for the grass -I used the negative of the cardstock I die cut - this is a super new die in the Holiday MIni -check it out here!

square lattice die, stampin' sponges

This is a fairly putzy card but it is so worth it for that special someone! 

I'm having some friends over for some fun Halloween stamping tonight!  What could be better?  It's Friday, we're probably going to set a record high for this date in Minnesota in October(80's), and I have some fun plans tonight!  Yippee!  I hope you have some fun plans too!  If not, go make some!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Kathleen