sympathy in crush

We are snowed in here, so after cleaning up the house post holidays... I decided to head up to my craft room to do some stamping.   In need of inspiration, I went to Mojo Monday, to get some inspiration.  I did not pre-order too many stamps, saving $$$ for Sale-a-bration time coming January 25th.  I used one I did pre-order out of new Occasion mini catalog that starts on January 4th, called "thanks for caring".

 My color is one of the in-color's concord crush.

Occasions mini sneak peek

In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I haven't had time to post or create.  However, I wanted to share a swap card I did for new Occasions Mini catalog.   I used new set called "thanks for caring" from Stampin Up.   I got to also use two new accessories in mini catalog (what girl does not love her accessories?)-1/2 " seam binding in crumb cake (also in 8 colors now!) and textured impression embossing folder for big shot.

I love this new stamp set because also has a saying for inside the card as well- "May you find peace and comfort in this difficult time and know you are loved".  Sympathy cards are always the easiest cards to do, but unfortunately always are needed.

covered journals

I made a bunch of these for craft fairs at some local schools.  The girls still love the skull and cross bones.  This is one items I sold out at both school fairs.

I was using up some retired papers and rub ons.

This one I used no designer paper but card stock and featured extreme elements for the boys.

more valentines to share-sneak peek

I had a open class today, so I was playing with some new stamps.  This is a sneak peek of a new stamp set called filled with love that will be part of a promo with some designer series paper.  I was making a few more valentines to send out From our hearts organization.  I used stamping 411 sketch this week. I apologize for blurry photo.

Same Sketch different card.

I copied Connie Babbet's card from Stamping 411 a little bit.  Bad photo again- I stamped"love" on bottom right corner of card.  But lighting and tone on tone it did not show up.

call out for valentines

I used Stamping 411's sketch this week to make some valentine cards with my retired stash of papers.  Gretchen Barron issued this challenge, to donate valentine cards to from Our Hearts organization.  She is even offering a prize drawing if you can make 5 valentines and send by December 20th.  If you never heard them- it is a great organization that Martie Shea has run out of her house for the past few years.  They send cards over to the troops for them to use for their personal use to send home to family and friends.  We all have cards we make or swaps that can be put to good use.  They are also moving to a new location, bigger space and are in the need of cash donations for office supplies and to help cover the postage to send overseas.

So in the spirit of Christmas send out some valentines to show you care.  Such and easy and small thing to do that will mean so much to those who serve our country everyday.

MDS christmas card

I am finally getting the hang of using MDS.  This will be our card this year, as the printing prices came down and I ran out of time with craft fairs to make our own this year.  I love that I can use Stampin Up images and artwork to create.

The boys got a chance to go on Fenway park field, see the "green monster" up close.   As baseball players, it was a dream come true.   I thought it would be perfect to use those pics for our card this year.

snowman candy bar wrapper

I found this idea on splitcoaststampers.  Okay, no stampin up involved.  Laurie Furnell had this template on her blog.  Super cute idea!
I was doing a vendor fair and found large hershey and cadbury bars on-sale.  I was trying to come up with something to do with them and this was a super easy fix.  My friend Holly sewed up the fleece tub for me, my machine was not working for me.  But you just need to cut fleece tube and add a rubber band to the top, and snip the fleece above rubber band to look like fringe.

Calendar using My digital Studio from Stampin Up

Sharing some of the calendar I did using my digital studio (MDS).  This was for September and my son playing football.

I love how this one came out using Athletic department and extreme element brushes for my other son's baseball pictures.

I love this one too!  From years of scrapbooking, my boys have gotten tired of the "posed" photo ops for mom.  Sometimes, it is good to just get them in the moment enjoying what they are doing without having to see their faces and smiles.

I still like the traditional method of scrapbooking, but MDS makes it so easy to get pages done.  Plus you get all the exclusive artwork, colors and papers of Stampin Up.  However, it really made it quick work to get a calendar together for grandparents Christmas gift.

gift card giving

Gift cards are so easy and appreciated at the holidays.  Do you want to show the person who is receiving the gift card an extra special touch?  Make the a gift card holder, there are so many fun and easy ones to make and adds that wow factor.

These are peek-a-boo gift card holders, when they pull the inside card it reveals a gift card holder inside.

I love my big shot- I used the large scallop die and cut the card stock and designer paper together.  Then I just cut dsp in half and snailed on bottom edge to card stock.  Using label punch and some cording= simple ornament gift card  holder.

light up luminaries

I have one more craft fair event next week, so I decided to do some luminaries.  The Stampin Success magazine had this in last months issue.  Super fun and easy to do and add a cute home decor touch.

Chicks and Chocolate!

It is a known fact that chocolate and stamping go together.  Well, chocolate is good anytime.  I am running a mother-daughter stamp camp tomorrow and I thought I share some of the projects we are doing.  And, a disclaimer- I am sure I copied them from somewhere or version of someone else's great idea.

We are also doing the snowman cocoa packet I showed here.

Close up of reindeer candy jar:

 I cut the cork out with my big shot and circles die.  I forgot to order the the glimmer brads- so I used some retired SU red glitter and sticky strip around some regular brads from office store.  The little jars were a score at Christmas tree shops for $.50 a piece.  Love those bargins.

Others have made these simple with dsp and scallop and circle punches.  I used my 1-3/8, I think he needs a smaller head but still stinkin cute.

Autumn frame for home decor

I went to a stamp camp this weekend.  This is one of the projects we made using Autumn Spice Designer paper from Stampin Up's holiday mini catalog and stamp set "Autumn Harvest".

Cards and Cocktails

During the booking blitz, my friend Fran said she would host a party for me.  As some are intimated by stamping or the "home party" to purchase things.  We are doing a cards and cocktails night where they make 3 cards for $5, if they purchase something then the card fee is waived.

So these are the 3 cards I came up with- I cased two of them!
1) Cheers to you card was inspired by cocktail theme and uses crystal effects on the glass and color combo inspired by SU's great designer paper

2) Cute for Christmas- was cased from Sandy MacIver's 10 minute challenge card.  I added some smooch pearlized accent ink on the center of embossed snowflakes to jazz it up

3) grunge rock- great set for boy or girl, so went with gender neutral wild wasabi.  This is a case of my blog roll friend, Marilyn Goodrich's card.  Mine is less layers than her original.

Blog Winner

Thanks for visiting my castle during Royal Blog tour.
Based on Random.org the winner was:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

81

Congrats to Latricia Nelson winner of "Grunge rock" cling mount set

Royal Blog tour

Welcome to my castle stop, my name is Kathy White and my stamp set I am showcasing is Season of Joy.
It's been been around in catalog awhile so I wanted to think outside the box beyond cards!

Candy jar: I used circle scissor plus to make topper to this mason jar and then added a tag using 2 tag die with big shot.  Great idea for upcoming holiday gift giving.

Christmas countdown: Using a chipboard clipboard, I combined Season of Joy stamp set for embellishments with Deck the halls dsp from holiday mini.  I cut the numbers using die for big shot.  I embossed the trees in gold and used crystal effects on poinsetta flower.

Wine topper with charms:  I love making these quick little toppers great way to dress up a bottle of wine for hostess gifts this holiday season.  I even made the wine charms by stamping the snowflake from season of joy stamp in craft ink on shrink plastic, punch a hole with CAD and then melt with heat gun- way too fun!

And finally I needed to do a Christmas card, I decided to not use traditional holiday colors red & green.

I used baja breeze and early expresso for color combo and got to love the new glass glitter!  Of course I had to emboss because it is my favorite!

Thanks for stopping by on my tour.  Before you go leave a comment with your name and email and you will have a chance to win blog candy! 

I am giving away clear mount Stamp set grunge rock!

Only open to US residents (sorry)

Santa gum

This was a cased idea, I am sorry I can't recall where I saw it.  But super easy to do- I  just took the trident holder and used it as a template for the card stock to make santa suit.

Fabulous Fall tiles and wine charms

I used "French Foliage" stamp set from Stampin Up Holiday mini to stamp on tiles with craft ink.

Here is a clear shot of tile.  I decided to keep it clean and simple, with some rock and roll technique to get multiple colors for leaf.

I have showed these wine bottle toppers before.  I used the same "french foliage" stamp set to stamp on shrink plastic to make wine charms.  So fun I just stamped in craft ink and cut around image, punched with CAD- then used my heat gun to melt them.

get well 411 style

A friend just had surgery and I wanted to send her a card.  I am really digging this "blueberry crisp" dsp from Stampin Up, I used that and Stamping 411 sketch this week.  The stamp set is Pun Fun, I used Stampin Up's markers to watercolor him on watercolor paper.

hiding out in craft room

One week to go until craft fair, so I apologize that I have not been regularly posting.   But as title says I have been bunkered down trying to get projects completed to sell.  Not to mention- what a complete mess! I will have to take some photos of my creations.

This is a quick and easy coaster tile I did. I used Christmas Cardinal with black stazon and colored in with chalk pastels and then set it with some acrylic spray.

I have some cool fall -Thanksgiving things to show too!  Okay, back to the mess....

crafting some soup holders

It is officially Fall like weather, with a little frost out this morning.  Good Soup weather!
Dawn Griffith, shared this tutorial for cup of soup holders.  Something else I have been making for upcoming craft fair.

quick and simple cards

I have some quick and simple cards to share today.  Who doesn't love that?  These cards take under 10 minutes to make, quicker then heading out to buy one.

I made this card last week for one of my son's team mates who got taken off the field via ambulance (always scary as a parent).  Thankfully he was alright but will be out of practice for awhile, I had the players sign it to cheer him up.

I make all the teacher birthday cards at my son's school.  I got this idea from somebody (I can't recall)- to use the birthday hat from sock monkey set and put it on two-punch owl.

more craft fair item to share-Snowman crimped envelope

Still busy crafting- even though you never know what might sell.  Craft fairs can be hit or miss, my plan is to keep most items under $5 to lure some buyers in.
  This is a crimped envelope holder, which I am putting in some cocoa mix.  The tutorial is from splitcoasters here.  I just chose to add a punched snowman for the face.

tooth fairy tins

Here's another item I made for upcoming craft fair.  Stampin Up has these great a la carte stamps under $10.  I got the "tooth fairy" for $7.95 added extra- large scallop punch and a little bling with rhinestone half back jewels.

Masculine birthday card

Yesterday was my F.I.L birthday.  Of course my husband asks me at last minute if I have a card for him.  So using Stamping 411 sketch this week and a retired set from Stampin Up called "Sporting goods" I came up with this card.  Tough to tell but all the sports balls are cut out and on dimensionals.

My father in law or "Pa" as my boys call him, has always been great to come watch all the boys sporting events, so I thought this card was fitting to show that.

birthday build a bear

I did a birthday for a 6 year old girl today and these were the projects we made using build a bear die for big shot and Stampin up magnetic sheets.  The dvd tin holds a mini gel pen and pad of paper.

They did an awesome job!

craft fair share

I am participating in craft fair at end of October at Holliston barn.  I have been making acrylic post it calendar frames.

This is snowman kisses or tick tac holder.  This idea was Rochelle Wick's, she has a template on her blog if you want to check it out.

I go many more items to craft for sale!

Birthday cards just in "case"

This is a card I used for September teacher birthdays and for recent stamp a stack.  The design is a case from stampin connection that Jill George did.  You know I love sketches to get mojo started, but casing someone's work is also a great place to get started.  As long as you give credit where credit is due!  The catalog is another great place to case from.  This card uses a Stampin Up hostess set Birthday Bakery.

I needed a quick card for a birthday party for my son's friend Scott.  He loves football so I wanted to use Stampin Up's Just football (retired).  I again went to Stampin Connection for ideas and cased this card from Julie Marshall.

I needed a cupcake, quick call 411

I needed to send a birthday card to a friend and as always- I look to a sketch for inspiration or starting point.  This was Stamping 411 sketch challenge this week.  I used Stampin Up's on a pedastel stamp set.  Hard to see but I used crystal effects on frosting part.  The sentiment is from Hostess set-Birthday bakery.

autumn mojo

I combined two challenges this week- Late night stampers fall challenge with mojo monday sketch.

I love this Autumn Harvest  stamp set from Stampin up, love the sketch design to it- so fun to watercolor.

one layer card

Late night stampers challenge this week was to do one layer card.  In the midst of cleaning through some boxes stored away in my stamp room, I found some spellbinders nestabilities that I forgot I had- so that was my inspiration.  I needed some more thank you cards, this time for my son's birthday.  They are all family, so they can get simple cards at this point.  More important is that he actually write his thank you note!
Stamp set= Fast and fun notes (another under used set)

Stamping 411- I am back

Goodness me, I can't believe it is the middle of September already.  Where did the summer go???  The craziness start of school and sports, has me behind in blogging.

I did a workshop this past weekend, and needed some customer thank you's to send out.  So, needing some inspiration- I checked out Stamping 411, sketch this week.

Stamp set:  A flower for all season from Stampin Up,which I water colored with markers.
background paper: Blueberry Crisp dsp

shoebox swap shares

My friend Robin hosted a shoebox swap a few weeks back and I wanted to share some of the fun projects we did.  This was Robin's card using some new in-colors peach parfait and pear pizzaz twill ribbon.  The stamp set is Stampin up's printed petals.

This was done by Colleen Cole, she always does fun 3-D items.  A cute little frame using the new two-step owl punch.