So sorry that I didn’t get a post ready for you guys last night before I went to bed…….lots of little things I was taking care of and unfortunately Stampin’ Up! had to take the “back seat”………..however, here are the Deals of the Week……..lovin’ them!!!!

CLICK HERE to see the details and photos……

We happen to be doing a project tonight at my club class that features the BASIC JUMBO GROMMET……here is a sneak peek and details will follow tomorrow. 

This is a “Photo Wallet” or Mini Scrapbook type of project………come back tomorrow to see the rest!

Look what mommy made with our Stampin’ Up! BIG SHOT! 

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of our precious baby  ”helping me” when I was cutting out cardstock with my Big Shot!  The sample project today was made using the “Bitty Box and Envelope” from page 201 in the IB&C.  This is a cute little box for many small trinkets and candies…….but I have discovered that 4 miniature Snickers are just the PERFECT size! 

This box was put together by folding and tucking the tab into the slot……..NO GLUE OR TAPE!  I wrapped the ribbon around the lid ONLY so that it could be easily opened and closed.  However, you can wrap the ribbon all the way around and it holds the box together even tighter.  I love this little box and the simplicity of decorating it and making it look cute in a SNAP!  The Big Shot was worth every penny I paid for it……….and I am thrilled because it makes work easier and faster for me!

The last project that we made this month at Club was this card using Stampin’ Up!’s new Window Sheets.  I am showing you 2 samples because one of them is made with the thinner sheets (Medium Weight) and the other one is made with the Thick Sheets.  Can you tell the difference?  I bet not……and you won’t notice much difference for this type of project.  The cards are both the same until you TOUCH them and feel the weight difference.  There is definitely not a difference to the naked eye, though.  For most projects, I would probably prefer the lighter weight (and it is a little less expensive, too).  But I can definitely say that the thicker sheets would be very helpful for some projects.  It would just depend on what you were doing, I suppose.  I gave my ladies a choice, and that way they could see both of them and try them out. 

To make this card, we ran the Window Sheets through the Big Shot using the Top Note Die.  It was stamped with Upsy Daisy using White StazOn and we also sponged the edges with the StazOn ink.  You can HIDE you adhesive a little bit behind the larger white daisies, and also behind the ribbon.  When you attach the greeting with brads, you are also helping the window sheet stay on.  The “thank you” shown above is from “All Holidays” and the “birthday wishes” is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. 

I hope you enjoy this idea……..I think this would make a lovely wedding card, anniversary card, or Christmas card.  Snowflakes would be so pretty on this card, don’t you think? 

Have a fun weekend and I will show you more fun projects next week.  I have a workshop on Saturday, so I will look forward to sharing those make and takes with you next week.

Have you seen the new Mini Catalog???  This cute little pumpkin is from “Pumpkin Patch” in the Holiday Mini Catalog.  This new mini is 40 pages FULL of holiday items.  I will be showing more and more samples over the next few months using items from the mini catalog.  If you do not have a personal copy, please send me your address and I will send you a copy. 

The treat holder shown above is exactly like yesterday’s post, I just didn’t fill it with the candy and cell bag.  If you missed yesterday’s post, make sure you scroll down and check out how the details.

Have a great weekend………I will probably not post again until Monday.  Our weekend is jam packed with football (at home!), drumline competition in Dripping Springs, and several church activities on Sunday……..we are even having auditions for our CHRISTMAS PROGRAM this weekend!  Just another reminder that it will be here before we know it!

Yesterday, I went to the mailbox (the SNAIL mailbox) and found out that someone had sent me a very special card!  My first clue?  The envelope was stamped with gorgeous fall leaves!  I was so excited to open it, I almost ripped the envelope in my haste!  I quickly realized that I wanted to save this gorgeous piece of art, and show it to you all on the blog…….so AFTER you look at the Stampin’ Up! project today, make sure you scroll down to see my card I got!  It is breathtaking! 

Today’s post is a treat holder using “Falling Leaves” and the Big Shot Bag with Scallops Die Cut.  I used ONLY the long, skinny piece — not the sides.  This produces a much faster and easy treat holder…….no gluing or sticky strip!  I was able to cut 3 of these from one piece of 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock by cutting the paper 2 3/4″ x 11″ and running all three strips at once.  WOW!  Talk about some fast little treats for a class of kids, co-workers, or friends! 

I used Chocolate Chip cardstock for the base, Pumpkin Pie cardstock for the scallops, Very Vanilla cardstock for the stamped images, and Old Olive for the layering on the circle punches.

I used the “Rock and Roll” technique (featured in the post a few days ago) on the Pumpkin Pie Leaf.  First, ink it up with Pumpkin Pie and then gently “roll” the edges of the stamp in Chocolate Chip ink.  I didn’t do the Old Olive leaf because I didn’t think that technique would be very effective with the polka dotted edge on that leaf.  I did cut it out and mount it on Dimensionals, though.

For the top of the treat bag, I used a 1/8″ hand held punch to make 2 holes all the way through the cardstock and the cellophane bag.  It was not hard to do — and then I tied Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon through all layers. 

The next part of my post is an adorable card that I got in the mail from my sweet friend Barb…….she has an awesome blog, as well, and I constantly check in on her to see her handiwork.  Although many of her cards do not use Stampin’ Up! supplies, I am still inspired by the details of her work, the beautiful coloring, the blending of the colors, the stitching, ribbon, and just everything!!!  She also decorates the insides of her cards and the envelopes, too!  Can you say “over-achiever”???  And I mean that in the very nicest of ways!!!!  I love you, Barb!!!  She is also a foster mother, and that is how we originally met!  She knew nothing about scrapbooking or stamping…….but I taught her everything I know!  HA!  Then she took it and ran with it………..she has been published and on design teams — she’s kinda “famous”……..she will kill me for writing all of this!  At any rate, check out her blog if you want to see more!  Amazing stuff!

Inside…..

Envelope……

EDITED NOTE:  I just realized that this didn’t post yesterday, as I thought it had……….so now there are 2 posts for today!  Sorry!  But make sure you read this one titled “New Month, New Stuff”. 

 I found this idea a few months ago……..couldn’t wait to try it out!  I just got busier and busier over the summer and it came back to mind this morning.  I hope you like it……..I thought we might do this for one of our September Club projects.  I usually keep the projects a “secret” until the night of club, but I was so excited with how cute this turned out that I wanted to go ahead and show you.  Since I was only working on “samples” to test out the pattern, I used some retired paper that I didn’t mind wasting…….you know, just in case I messed it all up!  However, it turned out really cute and it was super fast and easy.   This die was originally designed as a card template.  The opening piece is magnetic and can be moved around to put the opening in your desired spot.  Stampin’ Up! also sells additional shapes that make this template even more versatile!  I am so thankful for creative demonstrators who come up with ideas like this!  Who would have thought to make a box from a card……..not me!

Both samples were made with Slumber Party Specialty Paper.   This paper is ideal because it is the heavier weight cardstock, rather than the thinner Designer Series Paper.  It is my preference to use cardstock or Specialty Paper (cardstock weight printed paper) on any of our boxes or 3D items.  The thinner paper is pretty, but not quite as functional.  I will include the scoring and folding instructions in tomorrow’s post.  Thanks to Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator  Janet Wakeland for this fun idea!  And thanks for sharing it with all of us!

Can you believe this???

This is my precious little girl who used to have bows in her hair every second of the day!  And this is her today……..proudly displaying her new HUNTING VEST and HUNTING LICENSE!  As if getting a Driver’s License wasn’t bad enough……….now this!  I knew I should have run that boyfriend off a long time ago!!!  Just kidding……..but seriously……..can you believe this???

Howdy from Convention!!! I am off in a rush this morning…….we have to be in Opening Session quite early this morning and breakfast is sounding really good right now.  But I wanted to send a cute little snowman your way!  He is also from the Christmas Punch set and works perfectly with the Tag Punch.  I punched the white cardstock with the tag punch and hand cut the black because I wanted the smaller border.  You could use the two sizes of tag punches, also. The polka dotted background is Cardstock Vellum that I ran through the Big Shot with the Texturz Plates.  Hope you like the effect.  It adds dimension and little bit of a “snowfall” type of feeling…….maybe?

Well, wish I could tell you it was really cool and snowing HERE………it has been pretty warm and very, very windy.  There were some wildfires last night but we were not directly affected.  However, we saw alot of smog, debris, or otherwise weird looking skies!  Have a super day!  Gotta run!  We are having a blast, learning alot, and taking a ton a photos!  I would LOVE to hear from you all………please send me a message!!!!  I get the e-mails on my phone, so I want to hear from you………I can’t believe I have been gone from home for 2 weeks now, so send me a message.  I miss you guys!

Today’s project is another Big Shot Project.  This is the Matchbox template from page 201 of the Idea Book and Catalog.  I used Night of Navy and Bording Blue Cardstock.  The stamp set is Christmas Punch (Hostess Set) using Night of Navy ink.  The gift tag image has a poinsettia image in the middle, but I wanted a snowflake instead.  I punched out the snowflakes using our Boho Blossoms Punch (page 187) — so cool how these “flowers” turn into snowflackes with this stamp set!!!!  I added a dimensional under the snowflake and some white taffeta ribbon to tie it all together! 

Today’s Christmas card uses the new Big Shot Scallop Square Die (page 199 IB&C).  It is a special type of die — it is clear!  You can see through the plastic to see exactly where you are cutting your paper.  I have not purchased any of these before, but I am really liking the “clear thing”!  So, how did I make it into a card?  I took my cardstock and folded it in half.  I placed the fold just slightly inside the square scalloped edge on just one side.  (The die actually cuts all FOUR sides with a scallop.)  When you run the card through the big shot, you end up with a beautifully scalloped note card.  I embellished the notecard using the Stamp Set called Season of Joy (page 32 IB&C).   I used Bravo Burgundy, Handsome Hunter, and Mellow Moss for my color scheme.  Using Stampin’ Write markers, you can color this stamp image to coordinate with your cardstock and ribbon.  I also added a few silver brads to dress it up a little bit.  On the Mellow Moss cardstock, I used the Scalloped Border Punch and pierced holes along the edge for added dimension.  I was really happy with how this turned out and I particularly liked these colors together.  I think I might have to make some more cards like this one!

We had another great day in Colorado yesterday — although there have been storms rolling through every afternoon!  We have just learned that this is what happens around here and especially up in the higher elevations.  It is quite refreshing and the temperatures drop about 20 degrees when the storms pass through.  They are usually short lived, and just a teeny bit of inconvenience.  We don’t get to see rain like this in Texas, so we are enjoying it so much!!!  Yesterday we visited a Wildlife Park that is about 3 miles from our house we rented.  We had some insiders tell us to go at 4:00 and you can take the “feeding tour” where the animal keepers go around and feed the animals.  During the tour we also got to hear facts about the animals, how old they were, where they came from, etc.  It was wonderful!  We got to hand feed some bunnies, goats, sheep, and donkeys.  On the tour, we saw a porcupine, two kinds of bears, elk, wolves, coyotes, an emu, mountain lions……and I think that is about all!  Once again, we got caught in a huge storm right in the middle of the tour!  It was quite comical.  Seems like everything we do is a little more adventuresome than we imagined! 

Today we are going to Wolf Creek Pass.  I’m not sure how long we will be gone, but we still have more shopping to do in town if we get back early enough.  I found a Needlework store called Edelweiss……can’t wait to go there.  I peeked in the windows this evening (already closed when we drove by) and they have quilt stuff, along with yarns for crochet, knitting, etc.  Sounds like my kind of store, huh?

Have a great day!!!!

I am so sorry that I didn’t get this done earlier………you know how it goes when you think you will get lots done, and sometimes it just doesn’t happen.   I ended up having to run around a little bit this afternoon (in the 104 heat!!!) looking for a one piece swimsuit for church camp.  Just for clarification, this was not a one piece for ME………it was for the girls!  They are a little “scarce” in the stores and the popular 2 piece Tankinis are all we can seem to find.  However, we found out yesterday that we can’t wear Tankinis at all, no matter how long or conservative the top portion is.  Most of you know that I am super conservative, and our Tankinis meet my specifications…….just not the camp rules!  So, here we were searching at the last minute and sweating our brains out in the process!  We found one at Children’s Place for Sarah that was only $8, so I was happy.  Allyson and Lindsey will just have to “make do” with their old ones, I think.  We might find something tomorrow, but our time is very limited.  Tomorrow is Lindsey’s birthday and we have lots of plans to be together as a family.  We also have plans to help Grammy and PawPaw decorate the church for their reception on Sunday.  We are having their 50th Wedding Anniversary Reception on Sunday afternoon.  It should be a ton of fun.  We have alot of out of town company coming — kinda like a big family reunion!  More on all that later, but here is another stamp project — the REAL reason to visited the blog (most of you, at least!)………

Top Note Purse Card

This card was found on another blog………not sure exactly where (sorry!) but I decided to CASE it and use it for my class.  I just might have to make some swaps for convention with this layout, too.  I love the “girly” feel!  I used the Bella Rose Paper (already sold out, unfortunately) and the Big Shot Top Note Die to create this little purse.  Embellish with some ribbon, a bow and a button  for the perfect 3D finish! 

Come back for Project #3 — the Criss Cross Box.   Have a super weekend!!!!  Dawn