Lovely Luminaries

Hello!  I love, love, love the project I'm sharing today!  I came across it on Jackie Topa's blog a while back and KNEW I had to make some of my own.

Aren't these the cutest little luminaries ever!  They are super easy to make too!  Here's the cast of characters...

A piece of medium window sheet, 4 of the largest Beveled Window Panes, some ribbon and a battery powered tea light.

The first step is to cut out a mini milk carton (minus the top "milk carton" part) from some Medium Window Sheet, crease all the score lines really good and fold it into a little box.  Secure the side and the bottom with some Sticky Strip.

Once you've done that, you want to join your Beveled Window Panes together with some ribbon.  I chose the Real Red Taffeta for this project.  You want to loosely tie the four window panes together, like this...

You want to make sure they're loose, so you can slide them over the little box you just made!  Once they're tied together and you've slid them over the little box, you can embellish and add a battery powered tea light inside.

I cut a piece of Cardstock Vellum for each side of my luminary (the cardstock vellum slides bewteen the window pane and the box...no adhesive, so it can be changed easily if I want).  I embellished with heart shapes punched from the new Glimmer Paper.  I love, love, love this paper.  It's so sparkly and fun.  And, the best part is that very little glitter comes off the paper when you're working with it...ya know, so your craft area doesn't look like Las Vegas threw up on it!  After working with this paper, you can answer your door WITHOUT having glitter stuck all over you and the UPS guy thinking you're a crazed, glitter lovin' person who orders A LOT of Stampin' Up! stuff and is waaaaay too excited about it!!!!!  ...not that I have EVER answered the door covered in glitter super excited about an order...*wink*

Anyway, I ended up making three total...

There ya go!  Super cute and loads of fun.  Give it a try and let me know how it turns out.

Have an inspired day!

Digital Downloads

Stampin`Up! has released more Digital Downloads today!  Please click here to see them.  Remember, any of the digital downloads work in lots of different photo editing or digital crafting programs.  For more info on this contact me!

Digital downloads (and any other stampin` supplies you need!) can be purchased in my online store!

Time to Sale-A-Brate!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Today is the first day of Sale-A-Bration...the biggest Stampin' Up! sale!  I do have 5 more Valentine's projects to share, but today we're taking a little break from the "14 LOVE-ly Projects" because we need to Sale-a-Brate!

This project was done by Heather at my HUGE downline Shoebox Swap at the beginning of the month!  I love the simplicity of this card.

This card features the "Punch Bunch" set, which coordinates with lots of our fabulous punches!  Check out the pearl in the flower...

Love it!  It also looks super cute with a Rhinestone in the middle of the flower.

So, while we're talkin' about SAB, did you notice my new background, banner, and signature?  I made them all in My Digital Studio with the Digital Content CD that you can earn FREE with a qualifying purchase during Sale-A-Bration!  How fun is that?!?!?

For all your Sale-A-Bration questions, please click here to visit my Sale-A-Bration Destination!  And, don't forget to contact me to book your Sale-A-Bration workshop today!

While you're checking out the Sale-A-Bration Destination, you'll want to click here to find out about the fun Sale-A-Bration Bingo game I'm playing.  You won't want to miss it!
So, would you like to make today's card?  Host a workshop and this card can be one of your make & takes!  Contact me today to book your date!

Have an inspired day!

Hybrid

Whenever I hear the word Hybrid, I think of a Toyota Prius!  Good branding I guess!  But, today I'm going to show you a hybrid Stampin' Up! style...no cars or fossil fuels involved!

At Leadership I took a digital class and learned some tips and tricks about MDS (My Digital Studio).  It was a great class, and I learned a bit more about the program which made me more comfortable with it and some if it's capabilities.  Those of us with laptops, got to follow along with the presenter (the fabulous Sara Douglass...Shelli's daughter!) and we all made a card.

Can you believe that the "love" is from a Christmas stamp brush set?  Just like with normal stamps, you have lots of versatility with the digital stamps!  The whole card was made with product that comes in the original software...no extra digital downloads required!

When our card was done, we noticed that Sara had a picture of her card with some ribbon on it, but the ribbon was bunched by the knot (something you can't do with MDS...or at least I haven't figured out how to do it yet!).  So, of course, the question was "How did you get the ribbon to bunch?".  Turns out, the card pictured was a hybrid project, meaning, it was done with MDS, but finished off with real life stuff.  Here's the finished project.

We ALL got one of the cards and some ribbon in our Make & Take packet so we would have a finished project to show everyone when we got home.  Isn't that great?  It was a fun surprise!  And, I love how the ribbon perfectly finishes off the card!

I have to admit, at first, I really resisted the whole digital paper crafting thing.  For me, it will not replace traditional paper crafting (I really like getting sticky fingers...and touching all the supplies), but I do see a place for it.  It's kinda cool to be able to quickly and easily mass produce a card and then add a special little touch, like the ribbon on this card.

Have an inspired day!

Heart Window

I love today's project!  I learned how to make it at Leadership from the fabulous Kimberly Van Diepen (I want to be her when I grow up!).

It's a super easy project that my club girls made this month and it uses a die that I haven't used for a while...the Movers & Shapers die!  With a little extra scoring, you can easily create a little pouch with this die.  Here's a side view to give you the idea.

I didn't catch all of her measurements, so I kind of winged it.  After putting a 4 1/4 x 11 piece of cardstock through the Big Shot with the Movers & Shapers die I scored it 1 inch from the original score line (that's 1 inch closer to the heart that was cut out), and 1 inch from the end (that's the end on the opposite side of the score lines as the heart is).  I hope that makes sense...it totally does in my head, but often the stuff in my head doesn't translate into actual words very well!!!!!  *wink*

The inside of the pouch is decorated with a piece of DSP and a bag of candy (gummy hearts...YUM!!).  It's finished off with a piece of ribbon (slide the ribbon off and you can open the pouch) and I used the heart shape that punched out to make a little tag which I embellished with a little love!

Have an inspired day!

Sparkly Heart

I seriously need more hours in my days!!!  It's been a busy week since I've returned from Nashville, and it didn't help that I caught a monster cold on the way to Nashville.  I think this morning the cold is almost done...finally...I'm getting pretty tired of coughing and coughing!

Today I have a cute card that I received as a swap while in Nashville.  There's no name on the back, so I don't know who to give credit to...if it's yours, thanks for swapping with me!

I love that sparkly heart!  She made that with the glimmer paper that you can find in the Occasions Mini.  And, her background was done with one of the letterpress plates and rather than using Craft ink, she used Versamark.  Love it!

Did you know that I'm doing a Surprise Stamp-A-Stack in February?  Yep, I'm choosing my 5 favorite swaps from Leadership and you will get to make 2 of each of the designs for a total of 10 cards.  My only problem is that I'm having a hard time choosing just 5!!!!  Check out the Events page (link at the top!) for more info and contact me to register.

Have an inspired day!

Button Love

I meant to post this yesterday (Saturday), but after travelling ALL day to get home from Nashville I was exhausted.  And, my ears hurt...flying with a cold is not fun!

I originally was going to post this for Scrapbook Saturday, but I ran out of time at the Denver airport and went to bed when I got home!  So, I'm posting it today and we can all pretend that it's still Saturday...consequently, Simple Card Sunday will also be a day late!

The page I'm going to share with you today was totally inspired by a couple pages I've seen like it out there in internet land.  I mentally saved a picture of this layout in my mind and re-created it in Denver while I was waiting for my flight.  So whoever out there has done a page like this and shared it, thanks for your inspiration!

So, here is one of the scrapbook projects for the 14 Lovely Projects I'm doing right now!  Check it out!

Yep, I did a My Digital Studio page.  Let me tell you, MDS won't replace traditional scrapbooking for me, but sometimes it's a nice change and a great way to get some pages done quickly!  It also allowed me to scrapbook a very busy airport and not make a mess...I did have a group of people watching me though (kinda weird!).

So, I used some background paper from the 2011 calendar download...it comes with all the texture-looking stuff already on it!  Super easy!  They I added a picture.  This is my favorite picture from the family pictures we had taken at Thanksgiving in October.  There's just something about little feet that makes me happy!  I matted my picture with Whisper White and then I copied and pasted it about 4 times, twisting each picture so it looks like there's a pile of them.

To get the heart, I added a heart punch and made it huge.  Then I put buttons around the punch and when I had all the buttons in place, I deleted the punched heart.  I *heart* the result.  And, MDS allowed me to do something I would NEVER  do with traditional scrapbooking...use so many buttons!!!

The word October is also from that same calendar download and the numbers are the Athletic Dept. download (I think...it's one of those sports ones!).  They are in Early Espresso and I just changed the opacity to 40%.

I can't see wait to see what it looks like when I get it printed!

I will be back tomorrow with a simple card for you and I will also tell you a bit about the fun I had in Nashville!  Have an inspired day!

It's only one short month until Valentine's Day!  Do you need a fun packaging idea for a little gift for someone special?  Check this out...

It's an altered soup can.  You need the kind with the pop top and then you cut the bottom off with a special can opener.  Eat the soup, clean the can, fill it with a special treat and then glue the bottom back on with some Crystal Effects.  Then it's on to the fun part...decorating!

I wrapped my can with Basic Gray cardstock stamped with the little heart from Every Little Bit.  Then I wrapped a layer of DSP around the can.  You can find this DSP in the Occasions Mini!  To hide the "seam" between the papers, I tied a piece of Real Red Taffeta ribbon around it.  Check out that bow...it's a good bow day people!!!!!

The top has a circle of Real Red cardstock on it (tucked under the tab) and it's finished off with some gathered ribbon and then I tied some scraps of ribbon on the tab.  My colors were taken right out of the DSP....Real Red, Whisper White, Pretty In Pink and Basic Gray (I wish we still had Basic Gray ribbon!!!).

My favorite part of the project is this...

Isn't it cute?  I punched some hearts from Real Red cardstock and made a little border out of them!

Have an inspired day!

Hugs & Kisses

Continuing with the 14 Lovely Projects, I have a card for you today!  This is actually one of my swap cards for Leadership.

The base of my card is Real Red, and if you look real close you will see some x's and o's stamped along the left hand side!  The main focal point of the card is the Naturals White strip.  It's sponged with Basic Gray and stamped along the bottom with Basic Gray.  You can find this stamp, along with the xoxoxoxox stamp, in the new Occasions Mini. 

At the top of this strip is a white circle with a small heart punched out of the middle of it.  Do you see how it sparkles?  That's some of the Glimmer Paper peeking through!  The best part about that paper is that you get a fantastic glitter effect without ANY glitter on your fingers, toes and everything in between!  It's matted with a piece of Basic Gray and then on a Real Red Scallop Circle. 

There's some gathered ribbon in the middle and it's finished off with some Basic Gray brads.

Have an inspired day!

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

...my bags are packed and I'm ready to go.  I'm off to Nashville for Leadership today...and looking forward to a little trip without kids and Kevin!!!!  I'm happy to leave behind our snow and cold for less snow and warmer temperatures!  And, just between you and me, I think Kevin is a little nervous about being both mom and dad this week...it's a busy soccer week, there's school stuff going on, we now have two dogs, and for the first time he will have to pack lunches for the kids.  But, I'm sure they will all survive just fine.

I have some posts set up to continue my "14 Lovely Projects" while I'm gone.  Today I have a great little project you could make for yourself or give to someone special.

I've replaced my Christmas Simply Adorned insert with a fun Valentine's one!  I started with some Basic Gray cardstock and stamped it with the En Francais background stamp (with Basic Gray ink).  Along the side, I used half a piece of the ribbon trim die.  The focal point is the heart from the XOXO set stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink.  There's enough space in the charm that I was able to pop up that heart with a Stampin' Dimensional!  It's finished off with a little piece of crochet trim.

So cute and so quick!

Have an inspired day!

Bitty Box of Love

Today's project is another one from the shoebox swap I did with my downline a couple weeks ago.  This one was courtesy of Lindyl!

We used the Bitty Box and some Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  You can't really see it in the picture, but I stamped all over my box with the trio of hearts from the I {Heart} Hearts set with Cherry Cobbler ink.  I stamped it off on a scrap of paper before stamping on my box, so it's subtle!

Lindyl had the pieces to decorate the top all cut and ready for us.  She used the Scallop Squares die from the Holiday Mini (wahoo...we can still order that die!) and Crumb Cake cardstock.  We stamped the heart image from the Cute By the Inch hostess set and the little punched heart is from the I {Heart} Hearts set (stamped with Cherry Cobbler on Crumb Cake and punched with the Small Heart Punch).  I chose to put Early Espresso Striped Ribbon around the lid of my box and secured it with a brad from the Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware kit.  The brad is just wrapped tightly around the ribbon.

There's a lot of Stampin' Dimensionals on the lid!  The small heart is popped up and so is the scallop square.  The best part is what I decided to put inside!

These chocolates are from Costco and they're sooo yummy!  I covered them with some Early Espresso DSP (from the Neutrals Patterns pack)...I chose the words pattern.  Two of the chocolates have hearts on them (punched with the small heart punch...one of the hearts stamped from the new XOXO set) and the other two have some words (also from the new XOXO set).  All the stamping on the chocolates is done with Cherry Cobbler and is on Crumb Cake.

Have an inspired day!

Simple Love

Today for Simple Card Sunday, I have a fantastic simple card that you could make for your special valentine!  This project is also the kick off project for my "14 Days of Love"!  The next 13 projects I have for you will be all about love and valentine's day.  On to the card today!

I seriously made this card in under 10 minutes!!!  I used my favorite sheet of DSP from the new valentine DSP in the Occasions Mini (you can probably tell since it's all over my blog right now!!!).  I also used the XOXO set!  I kept it super simple and only used Real Red, Whisper White and a teeny tiny bit of Basic Black!

And to finish off today, I have the latest bread maker creation!  It's the Althouse Pizzeria!

It was sooooo yummy!!!

Have an inspired day!

Happy Botday! (CCMC 132)

I have a list of things to do a mile long today, so I'm gonna keep this short!  My two oldest boys both have birthday parties to go to this weekend, so I had to make up some appropriate cards...one boy and one girl!  My card layout was inspired by the Create with Connie & Mary sketch this week as well as a card I saw on a blog somewhere (sorry, I can't remember where I saw it).

Here's my girl version...

I used the Best Bots Forever set.  It seriously needed to see some ink...I got it way back in July and hadn't used it yet!!!  My color combination (Old Olive, Melon Mambo and Basic Gray) came from the Color Coach and I added Daffodil Delight to it.

I hope the birthday girl likes it!

And, here's my boy version...why re-invent the wheel when you have a perfectly good layout already, right?!?!?

I was going to use the Make a Monster set (I think that's what it's called!).  But, it just wasn't happening for me today, so part way through the creative process I switched to the Extreme Skateboard stamp.  My color combination for this one (Pacific Point, So Saffron & Tangerine Tango) also came from the Color Coach and I added Crumb Cake and Early Espresso to it.

Hope the birthday boy likes it tonight!  Well, I need to go feed the kiddos lunch and then tackle the rest of my "To Do" list!

Have an inspired day!

Things I Love...

Today I loved it when I opened my front door.  Not only was the Fed Ex guy here with my expedited delivery, but I could hear the sounds of water running.  Which means that we're getting a chinook and it feels like spring...complete with a tell tale "chinook arch" to the west, warm temperatures, LOTS of puddles and snow melting quickly.  And, the best part is that the crazy chinook winds have died down so it doesn't sound like the roof is gonna blow off the house!!!  Now, hopefully my boys don't walk through every puddle between the bus stop and our house after school...although it won't be surprising if they come home soaked from the knees down!!!

Today, I have another one of the cards from the last swap I did with my downline.  This one was designed by Sunita and she said she was inspired by my card here.

The base of the card is Blushing Bride, layered with a piece of Early Espresso.  The Early Espresso piece was run through the Big Shot with the Lots of Love Letterpress Plate and Whisper White Craft ink.  It's finished off with a piece of Blushing Bride ribbon and a punched heart with one of the sayings from the Filled With Love stamp set. 

Remember, the Filled with Love set is part of the Filled with Love bundle right now and if you order the bundle you will get a FREE pack of Bitty Buttons!  Check out the link in the right hand column or the "Specials & Promotions" link at the top for more info!

Well, I gotta run...I have swaps to cut, laundry to do, kids to feed, class samples to finish, groceries to get, and birthday cards to make for some parties this weekend.  Have an inspired day!

Let's Get Digital!

Well, after a bit of stress and frustration, everything matches on my blog again!!!  Sorry if you were on my blog as I was changing, adjusting and changing more.  No, I wasn't going crazy...I was technologically impaired!!!  I created a new Valentine's themed background, banner and signature in My Digital Studio!  The My Digital Studio part was easy...getting it to do what I wanted on my blog...not so easy!  So what do you think of the new look?

While we're talkin' about My Digital Studio, for those of you who have gone digital, there are some brand new digital downloads available.  Check them out.

121821    Love Impressions Designer Series Paper     $3.75

124009     Love Impressions Embellishments     $4.95

124016     Cupcake Punch     $1.25

124017     Create a Cupcake Stamp Brush Set     $7.95

124013     Artistic Etchings Stamp Brush Set     $4.95

124014     Notably Ornate Stamp Brush Set     $4.95

124490     Love Bandit Stamp Brush Set     $7.95

124015     Bring on the Cake Stamp Brush Set     $9.95

125158     Chat Room Love Stamp Brush Set     $7.95

125159     Chat Room Occasions Stamp Brush Set     $7.95

124012     Love Letter Designer Series Paper     $6.50

123601     XOXO Stamp Brush Set     $2.50

122169 Botanical Gazette Designer Series Paper $4.95

123603     Nature Stamp Brush Set     $2.50

123602     Vintage Flowers Embellishment Kit     $2.50

122172     Springtime Vintage Designer Series Paper     $6.50

123604     Sewing Stamp Brush Set     $4.95

122170     Sweet Stitches Designer Series Paper      $4.95

Whew!  That was a lot!  You can find more information (better pictures) of all of these downloads in my online store.  You can also see some of these downloads featured in the new Occasions Mini Catalogue.  Don't have one yet?  Let me know and I will mail you one (Canada only...sorry!).  To order any of these downloads, or any other Stampin' Up! product, visit my online store and be sure to choose me as your demonstrator!

Have an inspired day!