My Happy Stamping Place

Feeling witchy

It's no secret, I love Halloween!  This is one of the first stamp sets I couldn't wait to get my hands on in the Stampin' Up! Holiday catalog.  I used the pennant die to create the triangle of dp at the top. The witch is stamped on Crumb Cake paper and once again I used the new self stick googlie eyes that are in the Holiday catalog.

Sam, Rebecca, and I had fun watching the Olympicss, particularly the men's gymnastics last night.  Sam was talking about how he could do some of the things the men were doing like back handsprings.  He's a long way off from them but it was amazing to watch.  I felt bad for our men's USA team.  They had a rough night.

Stamp club is coming up this Thursday.  I can't wait to share some of this awesome new product with my stamp clubbers!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Preserving Apples

I'm back with another Perfectly Preserved card.  I got a great response to my Frank in a Jar card.  I will definitely be experimenting with more in this jar!  The Orchard Harvest designer paper coordinates beautifully with this set.  I've always been a fan of the More Mustard color and this paper has it in it!

I have been watching the Olympics in between running errands, laundry and cooking this weekend. I have my first stamp club for this new round this Thursday so I'll be spending time in my craft room today.  I'll have my tv tuned to the Olympics while I'm stamping.  I just LOVE the Olympics.  I have a son in gymnastics so I have been enjoying watching the men's gymnastics.  It gives me an appreciation of how difficult their routines are. I ran track in high school so that is fun for me.  Heck, I even enjoy watching the swimming and I was never a swimmer! How about you?  Do you love watching the Olympics?

Have a wonderful day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

Frank in a jar

Last night Sam and I went to Barnes and Noble to buy Dungeons and Dragons dice for him.  He has started playing this game with 3 of his friends and he needed his own set.  While we were there we were looking at journals.  He needs one to write down stuff for the game and he saw a cool looking Medieval journal.  It was $15 and Sam didn't have the money.  I told him we could make one but he wasn't thrilled.  He didn't think we could make a very cool one.

Later, when we got home, I pulled out a composition book I had on hand and some of my designer papers. He chose a pattern he liked and cut it to size to cover the notebook. He started getting excited when he saw the paper adhered.  Then I pulled out this cool crinkled paper I had on had to wrap around the binding and he reall got excited.  I pulled out more of my supplies and he started apologizing for doubting me in the store when I said we could make a cool one.  He says his friends are going to be jealous when they see his. Here's what we came up with.

He had the idea to attach the fiber for a bookmark.

Here's the inside cover:

We made it look old and worn. He's really pleased with it.

I made a bookmark band and really liked how it dressed the journal up. He said he thought it looked to femine. What?

I thought it added a lot but still looked masculine.  Alas, I had to give in to him.  It is after all his journal. The crafting supplies come to the rescue once again!

We had a leftover scrap of the crinkled paper so we wrapped it around a tin that will hold his dice.  I stamped the compass with Jetblack Stazon on the cover.

He's all set to play now.

While we were making his stuff I got an idea to try putting one of the characters from the Googly Ghouls stamp set in the jar from the Perfectly Preserved set.  I call him Frankie in a jar!

Halloween is all about whimsy and this card certainly fits that theme! What else can we put in the jar, hmmmm?  I'm going to have fun trying some things out!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

 

 

Smile

My son Sam and I went shopping on Sunday. He requested to go back to school shopping. Not that he wants school to start but he likes to pick out new clothes. He's all about the graphic tees right now.  Ones with funny sayings or with some of his favorite stuff on it.  We found a Zelda shirt for him and last night we found an "I Love Bacon" t-shirt at Target. He was so excited! He can't wear the new clothes until school starts.  It works for me.  We can spread the spending out a little bit. 

I have another sample to share with you using the "A Reason to Smile" stamp set that you can purchase for just $5 in the month of July with a $50 or more purchse. This time I stamped the flower and watercolored it. I used the little flower to stamp my own background paper.

Stamps: A Reason to Smile

Paper: Soft suede, More Mustard, Soft Sky, Island Indigo, Watercolor paper

Ink: Soft Suede, Island Indigo, More Mustard

Other: 1 3/4" circle punch, large circle scallop punch, Tasteful Trim die, Facing fan embossing folder

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

It's the simple things

My daughter asked me to go for a walk last night.  I jumped at the chance!  It makes me sound pathetic, huh?  The thing is she leaves for college in a month.  She is so busy with her job, nannying, her boyfriend, and her friends that we rarely see her.  We used to take walks together frequently.  We had the best conversations during our walks!  So last night we walked and I caught up a little bit on her life. I'm going to miss that girl.

We have a little lull between my son's soccer seasons so it's freed up a wee bit of time for me.  Good thing because I have lots more fun stamping toys I want to play with! :)

Here's another card from the upcoming Holiday catalog. This one is a Halloween stamp set called Googly Ghouls. I also used the new self stick googly eyes, the basic black and basic gray striped ribbon, and the yummy designer paper called Howlstooth and Scaringbone(I even love the name of it!)

Stamps: Googly Ghouls

Ink: Jet Black Stazon

Paper: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Howlstooth and Scaringbone designer paper, Very Vanilla

Other: Labels framelit dies, googly eyes, brights button, stampin' dimensionals, chevron embossing folder, dazzing details clear

I had a smear on the top of the vanilla piece of cardstock so i put dazzling details around all of the edges. I think this covered it up nicely!

I'm going keep the cards coming because I have been inspired!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Funky owl

The Stampin' Up! convention is going on right now.  I admit that I feel I'm missing out because I'm not there.  I couldn't get the time off of work this year.  I have a couple of my downline there so I'm hoping to get the scoop from them. There is nothing quite like a Stampin' Up! convention.  It is fun on steroids! Thousands of like minded demonstrators come together to swap cards, ideas, laugh, learn, share, and just have a bunch of fun.  Stampin' Up! puts on a great convention!  I'm determined to be there next year when it will be the 25th year anniversary!

I continue to play with my new holiday catalog purchases!  I'm telling you it's the best yet!  This owl jumped out at me right away!  It's from a stamp set called Owl Occasions.  There are so many fun things for him to hold and wear.  And just look at him - isn't he adorable?!

Stamps: Owl Occasions, Curly Cute

Ink: Island Indigo

Paper: Island Indigo, Whisper white. Luscious limeade, Summer Smooches designer paper

Other: Apothecary Accents Framelits, Labels Framelits, In color brads, stampin' dimensionals, argyle embossing folder

I kept it pretty simple for my first card with this set.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

 

Makes you think

Every once in awhile something happens in life that slows you down and makes you think. Last night that happened to me.  My son Sam had been after to me to bring treats into his gymnastics gym for his boys's team after practice.  I made his favorite chocolate chocolate chip bars and was rushing around trying to get everything ready to bring over. The doorbell rang and I was tempted to ignore it. I saw a young woman standing there and something compelled me to open the door to her.  She told me about her niece, Savannah, who had been diagnosed with brain cancer.  Savannah's dad had died serving in Iraq 4 years previously.  Now her mom was struggling with the diagnosis of her daugher. The local Fox 9 News did a story on Savannah and they set up a fund at TCF bank but only $25 was donated.  The young lady at my door, Savannah's aunt, was so desperate, she vowed to go door to door to drum up money and support for Savannah. 

It made me grateful for my healthy family and sympathetic to this poor family's struggle.  You can read more about Savannah's story here.  If you feel it in your heart to make a donation a fund has been set up to help the family with the medical costs associated with the sudden surgery. Donations can be made to the Savannah Fundraiser for Cancer at any TCF Bank.If you are local you can go in to any TCF bank and make a donation to the Savannah Anderson fundraiser.  If you are not local or want to mail a donation in you can mail it in to TCF Bank, 1400 County Road 42 West, Burnsville, MN 55337. Just make checks out to the Savannah Anderson fund.

It is so easy to take life for granted.  This was another reminder to be grateful for all of the blessings in my life.  Of course, one of the blessings in my life is stamping and Stampin' Up! 

I have a card to share with you that I made with some more of the new Holiday catalog coming your way August 1.  This one is the Scentsational Season stamp set with the coordinating Holiday Collection Framelit dies.

Stamps: Scentsational Season

Ink: Early Espresso

Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Luscious Limeade, Candlelight Christmas designer paper

Other: Holiday Collection framelitys, 1 inch circle punch, brights buttons, cherry cobbler bakers twine, 2 3/8" circle punch, the scallop circle is from the perfect pennants sizzix die, stampin' dimensionals

And if you want the recipe to Sam's favorite chocolate chocolate chip cookie bars, they are very easy! I got this recipe for making easy cookies from any cake mix from my former neighbor, Cindy.  You can take any cake mix, 1/2 cup oil, 2 eggs and 1 cup of chips.  Mix together and drop spoonfuls of dough on cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Our favorite combination is german chocolate cake mix, 1/2 cup coconut oil(melted), 2 eggs and 1 cup chocolate chips.  We make them into cookies sometimes but I got lazy once and didn't want to make individual cookies so I put the batter into an 8x8 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Sam loves these bars and they are very easy!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Fun new stuff!

I opened up my new box of Holiday Mini stuff and had some fun in my craft room this weekend!  This is the best product offering from Stampin' Up! in quite some time, IMHO.  I felt so inspired by the products! 

Here's one of the cards I created this weekend. It uses the Perfectly Preserved stamp set and the coordinating die cuts to match the stamps -yipee!

I also used the new coordinating dp that goes with this set too. 

I'll be teasing you with more projects before the actual release of the Holiday catalog on August 1. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Cup o' Java

I'm not really a coffee person but I sure do love this set! It's called Morning Cup and I've had it for a few years.  I just re-discovered it the other day.  I used my new Apothecary Accents framelits, the coordinating paper piercing template, the Argyle embossing folder and the new vintage faceted buttons.  They will fancy anything up!

Stamps: Morning Cup, Curly Cute

Paper: Whisper white, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso

Ink: Jetblack Stazon, Daffodil Delight, Real Red, Early Espresso, Island Indigo

Other:  Apothecary Accents Framelits, vintage faceted button, Island Indigo ribbon, Paper Piercing template, Argyle embossing folder, Island Indigo Bakers twine

My son's soccer team is in the playoffs for State.  If they win tonight's game they play in the State tournament next weekend.  Wish us luck!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Triple Smile

I played Bunko with my monthly group on Tuesday.  I have been playing with this group for 10 years.  We have watched our kids growing up, shared our tears and triumphs and got some "me" time away from the kiddos at least once a month.  As our kids are getting older it's getting harder to get everyone together.  We were busy when the kids were younger but it was a different kind of busy.  Now we're busy driving them to and from their activities and going to watch them play their sports, etc.  I got a glimpse of my life when my kids are all gone and it makes me even more determined to hang onto this group.  We're going to need each other even more when we enter the next phase of our lives.

Another thing I want to hang onto is my stamping and being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  It is definitely harder to find the time now that my kids are in that phase of being busy and I'm working full-time.  But stamping makes me happy and it makes me even happier when I can share it with others.

In that vein, I have another "You Make Me Smile" card to share with you.  I call this the triple smile.  I stamped the shadow flower in a light color and stamped the outline flower in a darker version of that color.  Then I added the new fun dahlia flowers to the middles.  I wish they came in more colors!  Right now they are available in the new In Colors 2012-2014.

That fun shape behind the circles is from the new Apothecary Accents Framelits. 

Colors used: Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple.

The toned down colors I used are Certainly Celery, Soft Sky, and Primrose Petals(stamped off once for this one).

 

I got a big box of wonderful delivered to my door yesterday!  I can't wait to get my fingers inky with all of the new fun stuff from the Holiday catalog.  It's coming your way August 1.  You are going to LOVE it!!!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen