K.I.S.S.

Keep It Simple Silly! That would be the theme today. Sometimes I like to go over the the top but most of the time I like clean and sweet. Hope this works for you too.

Oopsies can always be fixed, at least in stamping!

I was trying to make a very simple card. No ribbon, little stamp and easy to replicate. Well I stamped the sentiment crooked. Hmm, how to fix that? Guess what is under the ribbon. :) I was more careful the second time I stamped it. Even with just a little ribbon I think this is simple and could be appropriate for a lot of occasions. Oh and if you have not heard me say it before,I REALLY LOVE the taffeta ribbon! Ties so nice, absolutely gorgeous and makes you scoff at organdy, even if it is on sale for $.25 at Walmart.

MINE!

I have a two year old, can you tell? Sometimes with the three kids they play great but if any one of them is tired or grumpy, forget it! The toy wars begin. MINE!!!

So what does this have to do with MY scissors? Once in a while I get to go to a fabulous event with other SU demos. Guess what? We all have the same supplies, go figure. So it starts to get crazy trying to figure out whose stuff is on the table. In the past I have used a permanent marker or address labels to mark my stuff. Both cheap and effective. BUT, I like fun so I took another step. I found the key chain part at Michael's in the jewelry department. I had to take them apart to get them on the scissors and then put them back together. Not too bad but the tips of my fingers were a little sore. Then I looked everywhere for something cool and unique to put on for a charm. Mostly I looked in the bead department. But after a couple of trips to Michael's I started to look through my own stash. I love metal accents and found these brads and eyelets I had bought a long time ago. There was no way to get them on the jump ring though. Until... I remembered the little hand drill my hubby bought me a year ago for Christmas. The coolest thing!!! I think he got it at Michael's but here is what it looks like. http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tools/t_craft-hand-drill.aspx
I used it to drill a hole in the little brad or eyelet and then put the jump ring in the hole. I love the little tinkling noise it makes and the words are perfect for stamping.

You may not have to worry about identifying your stuff from others but it still looks cool and makes my husband not want to borrow my stuff. Now, how can I do this to my snail adhesive and my bone folders? hmmmmmmm...

P.S. Yup, two posts in one day. Guess you can thank the snow for that!

Over the top spring.

I can not believe there was enough snow to cancel school today. It is almost April! I don't mind the boys being home, the three play pretty well and I can get a little stamping done.

I went over the top with bright colors and flashy stuff this time - a lot going on. Probably in rebellion against the snow! Do you see the ribbon slide from yesterday? I am still working on cards for the other items but first I had to design my workshop cards for the month. Really like them - but then I always do, no sense in sharing something yucky!

Hoping you all enjoy your snow day if you have one and if you have daffodils and tulips popping up, don't tell me!

Over the top spring.

Yummy, Yummy hardware!

I love the Hodgepodge hardware from SU but I REALLY love the stylized silver in the current mini. Makes me so happy! The details are awesome and very cool to color. Yup, I said color! Someone asked me the other day what Crystal effects were for. Well, use it like a glue, use it to make things shiny or... mix it with reinker and color the new hardware. Here are some samples. I will try to get some cards made up using them ASAP! At the moment my nicely organized stamp area has been boxed up and squished into the center of the room so Gregg can run wires for lights and such. My working area is cramped to put it mildly. And of course that is when I want to stamp the most, when I can't get to it!!!


This is the ribbon slide. Looks so pretty on the gorgeous SU ribbon!



Before and after.


The shape fits the punch label exactly so no more guessing. So happy.

We love hand-me-downs!

A dear friend Ann offered us some clothes her girls had grown out of. I was THRILLED!!! I love it when others share. ALL of the stuff my kids outgrow go straight to my sister who has two little ones. It is the best kind of recycling! As soon as we got in the door Mak wanted to go through everything and try it all on. She is such a girl. Then she wanted her picture taken. It is begining to sound like "When you give a mouse a cookie"!

So here she is! Thrilled with new stuff. Not sure if I will ever get her out of the ballerina outfits!

Promises, promises.

I know I said I had a cute Easter post for you but I got overwhelmed with all the other things I had this weekend and forgot all about blogging. Actually that and it took me days to read all the comments left for my other posts. Ha, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!! Sorry, I am off the floor now.

I thought I would share my Easter creation but I gave them all away and the only one left is the one Mak has been carrying around so it is a little tweeked. Plus I just had to show off the Easter pic of the kids. I love it when they are all cleaned up. Carter and Owen are just so stinkin' handsome and we all know the yellow puff in the middle loves a dress! Hope you had a good Easter!

Lots of new stuff!

I am so excited about all the stuff I have to post. If I was smart I would save it and slowly dole it out and not have to keep coming up with new stuff so often but then that would not be my style. So here is everything all at once, well until tomorrow and did I mention the cute Easter post I am planning in my head? Oh I get way too excited!!!

This the card of the day. I was cleaning out and found vellum metal edge tags which are retired. So I tore out the vellum and now that makes them current! HA!!!

This tag is for a totally open tag swap I do each month. The theme was masculine and this is a retired set I bought and stuck away because I knew I would want it someday. Well yesterday was some day. And do you see the yummy giant brad? Happily set with a Crop a Dile!


The last one here is the basket I made last night. Jill is awesome and does all the prep!!!! I REALLY love basket weaving, makes me soooooooooooooo happy! She says she is planning more, yea!

I got the day off and I am up anyway - why is that?

The kids have the day off from school and that means I have no seminary to get up for but someone forgot to tell my body and I was wide awake at 5am. I can't post a pic of my card yet because I need more light so that will have to wait until this afternoon.

Like some of you I have been making my grocery list for Easter dinner. This year it is just us and Gregg's parents. My kids are not too happy about that. We usually have around 25 people and lots of kids. But the whole gang will be down in a month for Carter's baptism and I will do all the cooking for that!

Speaking of Easter, it is really stinkin' early and I found out why. I found this info on another blog.

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is Mar. 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar Calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on the chuch Calendar. Based on the above information, Easter can actually be one day earlier (Mar. 22) that is rare.

Here is Interesting Information:

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! Only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above.) None of us have ever, or will ever see it a day earlier!

Here Are The Facts:

The next time Easter will be this early, (Mar. 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now.) The last time it was this early was 1913. If you are 95 or older, you are the only people that were around for that! The next time it will be a day earlier, Mar. 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now.) the last time it was on Mar. 22 was 1818.

Looks like our guys will be doing the egg hunt in the house, not outside in the snow and mud because it will just be WAY too cold! The official start of spring did not bring warm temps yet.

Well as soon as the sun is up I will post a card pic and a pic of the basket I made at class last night. A real basket this time.

Just for fun

Sometimes you just need to play with your stamps instead of trying to design something that is reproducible for a swap or a workshop. That is this card. I had seen lots of samples with people cutting it apart to make it look 3-D. I used watercolor paper but when I cut it out there was a white edge becuase the paper is so thick. So I colored the edges. Can you see that? It made it look better I think.

A card, can you believe it?!!?!?!

This ia quicky but a cutie! I am so in love with the new paper from the mini. Maybe because it is bright and cheery and I am tired of winter. Also in the mini are some cool texture paper die cut flowers. I don't have any, yet but like the look so I found a substitute for now. I simply used the 1 1/4 circle punch and put 5 of them behind the scallop punched out shape in a head, arms and legs postition. I love it! Hope you do too. This picture should help you understand what I am talking about. Another pic tomorrow!

I stamped!!!!

I actually went downstairs and stamped instead of cleaning. Oh happy day! Just as soon as there is light (I get up at O' Dark Thirty, that would be before the crack of dawn!) I will post a pic and the directions of this cool flower I discovered on a blog. Nope, not my idea and I won't pretend it was. Share soon!

This is not an error picture!

My order finally came last night with Mr. Brown but it was too late to actually open and sort it. I finally got to that today and look at what I got! It's not all mine but it sure looked pretty with all the colors together!!!

Without this paper there is no magic baby! I have a file box (a heavy duty one) that holds the happy paper and it had a lot of empty spots, usually in the places that I needed paper from! So ten packs of packs of paper later, all is good!

I know what you're thinking. "You got paper, when are we going to see some stamped projects and stop blabbering?" I'll get back to work now. :)

What do you call it?

You have all seen pics of my stamp room in progress. Rumor has it there might be electrical wires running in there this weekend. No, not light switches or outlets, I said just the wires. Let's not get over excited! :)

When I tell people I have a room down there the name of the room changes depending on who I am talking to. With avid stampers it is the stamp room. With people who don't really get stamping (I know, I am agast that there are people like this but we let them exist on the planet anyway.) I call it a craft room. With men I tend to call it an office but really, can I qualify what I do as work? I am a hobby demo all the way and plan to keep it that way! What I really want to call it is my studio. Doesn't that sound cool? It sounds artistic and has a purpose, you work but it is beautiful. So what do you call your little spot? I never could use the term fiance when I was engaged. It sounded funny. But I LOVE calling him MY husband! Is there a technical diagnosis for my weirdness?

Waiting for Mr. Brown

Gregg has been back working on the basement on his days off. He finished the subfloor on Sat and it makes me soooooooooo happy! I am really hoping to have sheetrock in a few weeks!!! Then I will be busy learning to mud and tape. Or is it tape then mud? Guess I will find out! :)

In the mean time my stamp room has been a PIT! I worked on it today just so I could get it ready for Gregg come in and put the electrical in. I don't want anything in his way to slow him down!

Cleaning is also a great way to pass the time waiting for Mr. Brown to come. He has our club order and my restock of supplies! I did not get anything fun for my monthly order. Ok, I was the hostess so there was a free stamp set. But I used all my benefits to restock on paper. I had not done it in a while and realized that the colors I usually go for were just about gone! GASP!!!

Before I can enjoy the new, crisp cardstock I have to get the corned beef going (Happy St. Patrick's Day - not an ounce of Irish in me but I love the dinner once a year!) get the boys to a soccer class and all the usual mom stuff that keeps me from stamping too many times! Someday I will post something UBER COOL! Someday...

Two of my favorite hobbies in one creation

I have three passions I really enjoy outside of my wonderful hubby and kiddos. One is food and cooking. But we all know that can be dangerous! :) The other two are papercrafting and basket weaving. I really find relaxation in them! Well last night I combined the two and created this basket. I found the directions and the whole idea at another wonderful blog, http://wishyouwerehere-laura.blogspot.com/2008/02/basket-tutorial.html

I REALLY loved it. The first basket took a little finagle but worked out pretty well. The second went a lot faster and I knew a few tricks. Now I feel like I could whip them out. The only big issue is sponging ALL the edges. Time consuming and ruined a sponge dauber. The sponging really makes it pop and gives a lot more dimension than if I left it plain. Go make one and show me!

I love Presents!!!!

Remember that beautiful top of a jar I showed you a picture of? That same kind friend made me another one. Why? Because she loves me! And I get all giddy like a little kid at Christmas everytime I see it! I put it in my kitchen and it makes me so happy to see it! No, no one will be eating the jelly beans! She matched them perfectly and I am not messing it up.

She used the SAB rub-ons and that flower on top is also a SAB stamp. Those sets are going bye bye March 17th, just a reminder. :)

Hope this inspires you to create something beautiful too!

More beautiful children!

I love it when their teeth come in as babies. Tiny, shiny, white chicklets. They make me smile almost just as much when they fall out too. How cute is he? That happened the day AFTER the family photos. (Which by the way they were able to digitally fix and the pics came out BEAUTIFUL!!)

I can finally post my swap card. I got 16 AWESOME swaps back. Look for those at the workshops this week. If I did not already have the stamp sets they used, I NEED them now!!! That cool little ribbon slide can be found in the new Hodgepodge Hardware kit in the mini. It has some UBER cool stuff!