Hearts Come Home

I want to start by wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!  I am so blessed to have wonderful family and friends, and will be cooking a dinner for 8 of us--small this year, as I won't have my kids around (we get every other year with them), but grateful for my brother and sister-in-law, my husband's mom and sister, and niece, who will be celebrating with us.  I hope you enjoy a peaceful, happy, politics-free Thanksgiving!

If you read my last post, you see that I may not use stamps the way they are originally intended.  Such was the case when I needed a "new home" card for my sister-in-law.  Steph recently moved from Southern California to Sacramento, about 20 minutes from me.  So when we went to see her new home, naturally I wanted to bring a card:

Isn't that cute?

I used the coordinating framelits to the Hearts Come Home Christmas set.  The Hometown Greetings Edgelits Dies are great--4 sets of houses, all different, so you can mix and match them to create a town.

I cut the houses out of a few different colors (Early Espresso, Garden Green and Calypso Coral) and then paper-snipped them and adhered them right over the Early Espresso ones to create a village of different-hued homes.

The card base is Whisper White Thick cardstock.  I attached a piece of Soft Sky to the top half, and sponged some clouds (difficult to see here, but they are there).  When I cut out the Garden Green houses, I purposely left more green at the bottom to create hills.  I stamped the hills with various stamps from the Timeless Textures set to create a grassy knoll.

"Welcome Home" is actually two stamps from the now-retired Places You'll Go--love that script!

My sister-in-law was thrilled, and is going to frame this card for her new home.

And that's the beauty of creating hand-made cards!  How many of you have had recipients of your cards tell you they just can't bear to throw your cards away?  And how many keep their Hallmark cards?  Just sayin'...

Create and send; I guarantee you'll make someone's day! 


Product List

Timeless Textures Wood-Mount Stamp Set

[140514]

$28.00

Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[140517]

$20.00

Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad

[101731]

$8.00

Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad

[126973]

$6.50

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

[140931]

$7.00

Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock

[140272]

$7.00

Soft Sky 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[131203]

$8.00

Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[119686]

$8.00

Garden Green 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[102584]

$8.00

Calypso Coral 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[122925]

$8.00

Hometown Greetings Edgelits Dies

[144671]

$32.00

Big Shot

[113439]

$110.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.00

Musical Season Birthday?

I like to try to show the versatility of stamps and accessories, so when my grandson, Jacob, was having a birthday, I pulled out my Musical Season set.  This is a Christmas collection, and I love the musical instruments and treble clef that can be cut with the coordinating framelits.  See this post for a Christmas card I created with this set.

But it's not Christmas, and Jacob is turning 5.  He loves playing the drums...so...

I started with a Night of Navy base and added a Silver Glimmer Paper layer.  The top is Crumb Cake, and then I used a series of blues to create my drum line.

The first four drummers were simply cut with the Musical Instruments Framelits, using Night of Navy, Pacific Point, Marina Mist and Pool Party.  I stamped the last drummer using Tempting Turquoise ink and cut him out too.

I used the Little Numbers dies (now sadly retired) to cut the numbers using matching cardstock and the "5" was cut with the Glimmer Paper; I highlighted it with a Tempting Turquoise circle.

And do you see the letters on the drums?  Easy to make with the Labeler Alphabet and I snipped each with my Paper Snips.

This snappy drum line wishes Jacob a Happy 5th Birthday! 



Product List

Musical Season Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[144811]

$18.00

Musical Season Clear-Mount Bundle

[146049]

$42.25

Musical Season Wood-Mount Stamp Set

[144814]

$25.00

Musical Season Wood-Mount Bundle

[146048]

$48.50

Labeler Alphabet Photopolymer Stamp Set

[141936]

$17.00

Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pad

[126952]

$6.50

Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[100867]

$8.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[120953]

$8.00

Tempting Turquoise 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[102067]

$8.00

Pacific Point 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[111350]

$8.00

Marina Mist 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[119682]

$8.00

Pool Party 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[122924]

$8.00

Silver Glimmer Paper

[135314]

$5.00

Big Shot

[143263]

$110.00

Musical Instruments Framelits Dies

[144677]

$29.00

Paper Snips Scissors

[103579]

$10.00

1-1/4" Circle Punch

[119861]

$16.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$4.00

It's a New Paper Pumpkin!

OMG, this is SO cute!  Take a look at Paper Pumpkin for November:



Not a subscriber?  It's so easy to join.  Just click here and you'll get your own special orange box each month so you can have 30 minutes of crafting heaven!  $19.95 a month, and you can put your subscription on hold or stop it at any time...no obligation.

Why not give Paper Pumpkin a try? 

Pretty Packages

Here's an idea for your Thanksgiving table:

Pretty packaging for a sweet after-dinner treat (like anyone actually NEEDS a sweet treat after a huge dinner, but it would be fun to send them home with your guests instead of giving away all the left-overs 😁).

I made these for a team meeting, and then put a few more together to take to my friends at On Stage Live in Salt Lake City last week.  They were easy to put together and are oh, so pretty!

I started with a 5-3/4" x 1-3/4" piece of Early Espresso cardstock that I ran through the Big Shot with my Pinewood Planks embossing folder.  Then I used a Glue Dot to adhere the Hershey's Miniatures to the cardstock and slipped them into the 2" x 8" Cellophane Bags.

I tied them up with the gorgeous 1/4" Copper Trim, wrapping the ribbon around the stems of some leaves I created using the "baby wipe" technique and Gold Foil sheets and cutting them out using the Seasonal Layers Thinlits.


Pretty, simple and delicious (but of course, I wouldn't know, since I never eat chocolate while creating!😇).


Product List

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[131158]

$3.25

Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[105229]

$3.75

Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Ink Refill

[119788]

$3.75

Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[101650]

$9.00

Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock

[119686]

$8.00

Gold Foil Sheets

[132622]

$4.00

Big Shot

[143263]

$110.00

Pinewood Planks Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[143708]

$10.00

Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies

[143751]

$33.00

1/4" Copper Trim

[144179]

$6.00

Glue Dots

[103683]

$5.25

2" X 8" (5.1 X 20.3 Cm) Cellophane Bags

[141703]

$3.00

Where Have I Been?

Yikes, it's been almost 3 weeks since I last posted to this blog!  Time flies when you're having fun, and fun is exactly what I've been having. 

Stampin' UP!'s annual On Stage Live (formerly known as "Convention") was held last week in Salt Lake City, Utah.  I, and three of my partners in stampin' crime, attended.  And what a great time we had!  Let's take a look:

We started by taking a tour of the home office in Riverton, Utah.  As soon as we hopped off the bus, we headed straight to "the Rock", in order to beat the hordes of demonstrators who would want their photo there.  This is Bonnie, Melanie, Tani and me, hangin' out at the entrance to the Stampin' UP! home.  Pretty impressive!

But inside:

We're standing in the main atrium, on the first floor (although you can see the second and third floors behind us) and we're right in front of a gorgeous waterfall!  Yes!  An indoor waterfall in the employee break room.  Who wouldn't be happy to eat here every day?

We got a tour to the second floor with Rett, an employee with whom my husband communicated when I was ill (and missed the last On Stage in San Diego).  Rett kindly asked me to call him when we arrived; we got to meet him and see the CEO's office and boardroom.  Lovely!

And what would a convention be without matching shirts?  Our team, the Ink Masters, had two days of matching T's--blue and pink.  And we got tons of compliments, as well as bumping into the demo who printed these for us, Tamra Davis, who spotted the shirts and introduced herself.

Bonnie and I got to attend a special dinner and luncheon - delicious and entertaining, and we also got a few perks (free t-shirt and stamps). 

And we got to cross one of Bonnie's "bucket list" items off her list:

Dinner at the Blue Iguana.  While waiting for our table we had a long conversation with another Stampin' UP! employee, Andrea.  She and I go way back, as I met her about 8 years ago and we keep bumping into each other every year.  So nice to see her.

And finally, getting to meet some of our "hero" demonstrators:

We've all followed Dawn Olchefske for years, and it was our pleasure/honor/thrill to see her in the hall and catch her for a photo!

Oh, and we also got to see the upcoming Occasions catalog, the Sale-a-Bration brochure and took home a number of new stamp sets!  Whoopie!  Can't wait to start sharing with you!

Wanna join us at our next On Stage?  The April session will be held in Las Vegas (ka-ching!) and then we are all planning to head to Orlando, Florida next November for the 30th Anniversary celebration!  How about becoming a demonstrator?  There are lots of reasons (discounts on all products, first to see new stuff, making friends from all over the world, and traveling with a great group of colleagues) and there is NO obligation once you have purchased your starter kit.  And did I mention the benefits of the starter kit?  Just $99 gets you $125 worth of product as well as business supplies to get you on your way to a business...but if you don't want a business, there is nothing more you have to do.  Just enjoy your Stampin' UP! products and the discounts!

Interested?  Click here to join.  And we'll see you in Vegas!