Mojo 155

Grandparent's Day cards from the boys...



It's hard to tell from the picture, but the cattails have brown flocking on them to make them fuzzy.  I'm very proud of this card.  I rarely sit down and make something from scratch without CASEing someone else's work.  Thanks for stopping by!

Long time, no post

Hi there, anyone who visits my blog.  You'll notice I haven't written a post since Easter.  Sorry.  The past year was hectic, and we are in the middle of many changes here at our house.

This past year, my oldest son was in half-day kindergarten.  I took him to school and picked him up every day.  My youngest son started the process of eliminating naps from his daily routine the past few months, and those two things combined to make busy days for us.  I haven't had time to sit and stamp for ages.

Then, I got elected to our district's school board.  Then we went on vacation for two weeks.  May was hectic, to say the least.  Now we are home, and I am trying to get our house reorganized and settled while also adjusting to our new summer routine of being home all day with no school.

Our family life is going through some changes in routine and commitments, and it won't be ending anytime soon.  Once August gets here, my oldest will go to first grade all day.  Shortly afterwards, my youngest will start going to preschool two mornings each week.  My school board position starts in July, and I have yet to realize what, exactly, that commitment will entail in the form of time and effort.  My husband will start football clinics, meetings, and games soon, so the next few months will not be slowing down by any means.

I'm not sure where stamping is going to fall in my list of priorities.  After the dust settles, I'll figure it all out.  In addition, I am re-evaluating things that I spend my time doing, and I'm not sure that blogging is something I will continue to do.  So, to those of you who have stopped by to see our workshop projects and things over the past almost two years...

Thanks for stopping by!  It was nice to "chat" with you.

Happy Easter!


This is another card I prepared for the 8 for $10 workshop that I had to cancel. It was not specifically an Easter card, so I will likely put it back for a future workshop. This Special Blessings stamp set has sentiments in it for a number of different occasions, including weddings. I need a wedding card, so this will do nicely. Have a Blessed Easter! Thanks for stopping by!

Chocolate Bunny Card


This Chocolate Bunny stamp is an individual stamp offered in the Spring Mini Catalog for $7.95. At first, I didn't think I wanted it. Then I saw hoards of adorable cards made with it and had to have it. One of the cards I saw was this one on the Splitcoast Stampers Gallery by Karla Anders. Thanks for stopping by! 

New Clearance Rack Items


Stampin' Up! has just added many new items to its Clearance Rack. You can save up to 60% off the catalog price of the items listed. There are buttons, double-sided designer series papers, Stampin' Around wheels, ribbons, etc. These items will only be available until supplies run out. If you'd like to order something with me to save on S&H charges, email me by noon Saturday (tomorrow) with your order. Thanks for stopping by!

Two-Step Into Spring


It's the start of a new month, and that means Stampin' Up! has a new promotion starting.

Hostesses


Host a $350 workshop and receive the brand-new Two-Step Awash with Flowers stamp set FREE!
 
Customers


Two-Step into spring with a sneak peek from the 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog! Be the first to add the Awash with Flowers stamp set to your collection.
 
Plus, purchase spring-themed Two-Step Stampin' sets at 20 percent off the retail price--no additional purchase necessary!  Get more details here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fuzzy Chick Easter Card

I had some Easter cards planned for a late March workshop, but then had to cancel it when I cut my finger and had to get stitches the night before the workshop. I'd like to share the cards I was planning.


I bought a bunch of flocking on clearance a few weeks ago and was anxious to make a card with some sort of fuzzy little animal on it. I realized I had a cute little chick image in the Country Morning Hostess stamp set I got recently, so I decided to use it. Thanks for stopping by!

Sally's Workshop Make & Takes

Yesterday, I showed you one of Sally's thank you gifts for hosting a workshop in her home. Today, I want to show you the two cards me made as Make & Take projects. Both used the Happy Moments stamp set, available for free during Sale-A-Bration. The promotion ends today, so if you want to place an order, contact me ASAP!


The first card was inspired by Shelli Gardner, the CEO of Stampin' Up! It's such a simple card, and I love the paper piecing technique. You can use any kind of patterned paper that you like to make any color scheme you like. So versatile!


The second card was inspired by this card by Angie Juda, but I turned it sideways and made it a different size. It is a fun, simple image to color and perfect for spring. I almost didn't get this stamp set, but I'm glad I did! Thanks for stopping by!

Sally's Thank You gift


A few weeks ago, one of my newest stamping friends, Sally, hosted a workshop at her home. We had lots of fun, and this is one of the cards I made her as a thank you for hosting a workshop. It uses the Country Morning Level I Hostess stamp set from the current Stampin' UP! Idea Book & Catalog, and I pretty much CASE'd the design right out of the catalog.

I've been watercoloring more lately since my friend, Barbara, told me how much she enjoyed watercoloring on actual watercolor paper instead of regular cardstock. I've been getting in touch with my artistic side, which I have always claimed that I didn't have. I actually enjoyed it, so I may be watercoloring more often. Thanks for stopping by!

God's Beauty Card


I saw this card by Kristin Moore on Nancy Riley's blog in one of her weekly iPicks posts and wanted to CASE it. I have had this God's Beauty hostess stamp set for months and had never inked it up. I have seen many beautiful things made with the butterfly image in this set, but just hadn't gotten around to trying it myself. I was really pleased with the way it turned out. The butterfly was stamped, colored with a blender pen, and then embossed with irridescent glitter embossing powder. Thanks for stopping by!

March 8 for $10 Workshop

Hello! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Life got a little crazy. We lost our internet for a week. I had to make an ER visit. (You can read about that on this post.) At any rate, I have a number of things to show you over the next week or so.

The first things I want to show you are the four cards we made at the last 8 for $10 workshop in early March. I used a number of stamp sets from the Sale-A-Bration brochure and Spring Mini Catalog.



The first card is a complete CASE of a card by Carrie Gaskin. I just loved the polka dot texture on the card base using a Textured Impressions folder for the Big Shot, the color scheme, using the patterned paper for the hillside--just everything.  It was very easy to duplicate for a workshop. Be sure to note the tiny little heart on the front door of the house. It comes from the Pinking Hearts Border punch along the red strip of cardstock.


The next card is a CASE of a card made by the CEO of Stampin' Up!, Shelli Gardner. She has been traveling the country doing workshops for demonstrators through a contest Stampin' Up! sponsored.  Needless to say, I didn't win. She's been posting the Make & Take projects she's been making at the workshops. I thought this card was cute, and the neatest thing is that the flower is made using one of the tree images from the Good Neighbors Sale-A-Bration stamp set.


The third card is a design inspired by Mary Fish. She used the Sweet Pea DSDSP for her card, but I chose to use the Welcome Neighbor DSDSP that you can get FREE during Sale-A-Bration. The stamped sentiment image is from another Sale-A-Bration item, the Vintage Labels stamp set. Hurry! Sale-A-Bration ends this week on Wednesday. Contact me ASAP if you'd like to place an order before this fantastic promotion ends.


The final card is one that I made on my own. I looked at some other cards using this Picnic Parade Level II Hostess Set from the Spring Mini Catalog, and finally settled on this design. I've seen a number of mostly white cards lately, and I really like that look right now. Thanks for stopping by!

Thank Ewe!


After I gave my friend, Jean, her box of polar bear cards, (You can see them in yesterday's post.) she sent me her check inside this adorable "Thank Ewe" card. I wondered if Jean made it, but when I looked on the back, I saw that her good friend, Barbara, had made the card. They tell me that Jean is the scrapbooker, and Barbara is the card-maker. Thank you both for being my new stamping friends! Thanks for stopping by!

Cold & Cuddly... ...again!


Back in January, I shared these adorable polar bear cards with you. They were CASE'd from a card by Jill Hilliard. I made the cards to send to a number of my customers to thank them for their business in 2009.

One of my newest stamping friends liked them so much, she asked me to make her a dozen of them. I finally got them all made, and put them in a little gift box with matching pen. It was just my way of saying that I appreciate her business. It also made me happy to know that she liked something that I made so much that she had to have her own. Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Mini Products Still Available for Purchase

Stampin' Up! has chosen to carryover several products from the Holiday Mini Catalog. This list of products (shown below) is still available for purchase even though the Holiday Mini Catalog is no longer current. In addition, these products will be available in the next Idea Book & Catalog. As usual, there may be additional products from the Holiday Mini Catalog that also may appear in the next Idea Book & Catalog.

 Item #  Description  Price
116794 Ornament punch $15.95
116806 Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint $5.95
116854  Frost White Shimmer Paint $5.95
116807  Platinum Shimmer Paint $5.95
116829 Décor Elements Blocks $9.95
116824  Stampin' Up! Textured Impressions Folder Petals-A-Plenty $7.95
116821 Stampin' Up! Holiday Windows Magnetic Movers & Shapers  $29.95
116819 Stampin' Up! Table Setting Bigz XL die $42.95
116820 Stampin' Up! Embosslits Merry die $11.95
116823 Stampin' Up! Sizzlits Merry Details die $5.50
116822 Stampin' Up! O Christmas Tree Pop-Up Bigz XL die $42.95
118140  Stampin' Up! Tree Decorations Sizzlits die $5.50
118108 My Digital Studio $79.95
116519 Charming stamp set  $19.95


 

Mom's Valentine


PA has gotten A LOT of snow the past two weeks. Two weekends ago, while Mom was snowed in, she decided to make a few valentines for us kids. I wanted to share mine with you. Thanks, Mom, for the handmade valentine! Thanks for stopping by!

Kindergarten Valentine Party Crafts

I planned the crafts for last week's kindergarten Valentine's Day party, and I wanted to share them with you.  There's no stamping involved, but I wanted to share.  It makes me happy.

 

The first project was a Jolly Lolly from the Family Fun website.  I made lots of mustaches and kissing lips out of craft foam for the kiddos to choose from.  Of course, there were black, brown and blonde mustaches along with bright red, pink and fuschia lips for all tastes.  I had them all cut out with the holes punched so the kids just chose the "mask" and slid it onto a lollipop stick.  Then, I printed mailing labels, one for each child, that said, "Happy Valentine's Day! Love, (insert name here)"  That also made it easy to tell who had made the craft and who hadn't based on whose names were still left on the sheet of labels.


Next, the kids made these little Candy Airplanes, also from Family Fun. I bought cheap valentines stickers for the kids to use to decorate the stick of gum. Then, they assembled the biplane with help from the parents and aides at the party. I had the candy and rubberband in individual baggies for each child. Once they built the plane, they put it back in the baggie and affixed another mailing label that I printed to say, "Valentine, you make my heart soar!" with little biplane cliparts on each side.

The kids all seemed like they had lots of fun making these cute valentines to take home and give to parents, siblings, grandparents, whoever. Thanks for stopping by!

Homemade valentines


Ok, so I know that Valentine's Day is over, but since I'm always scrambling at the last minute to get projects finished, I end up sharing my holiday creations after the holiday is over instead of for weeks prior like most of the lovely bloggers I follow on a daily basis. (Whew! Was that a run-on sentence, or what?!?)

Anyway, here's an adorable handmade valentine that my son received from one of his kindergarten classmates. She's a cutie. The girls got special flowery lollipop valentines while the boys got these super duper bubble gum ones. (Note: There are 8 girls and 17 boys in the class.) This little girl's mom is The Bomb! when it comes to planning party games for the kiddos.

I just had to share this cutie with you so that you can see that you don't have to make something elaborate for it to be special. This is the only other handmade valentine besides ours that was distributed at the class party on Friday. More valentines tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

Valentines from Mom and Dad


Now I'm sharing with you the valentines I made for the boys from Jim and me. You can read about our oldest son's love of the Nintendo Wii in this post from earlier. After making his image in a Wii Mii for his valentines, I made his dad, brother and myself. Then I put together this valentine for him. We'll give it to him tomorrow, and I think he's really going to like it. (It's 1:00am as I am writing this.) 


Our youngest son loves trains.  I mentioned this in an earlier post about his valentines. So again, I used this little train from the "Whoo's Your Valentine" stamp set for his valentine. I also used the Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #100 for this week as my layout inspiration. I was working quickly and at the last minute, so it had to be simple!

Happy Valentine's Day! Thanks for stopping by!

My 3-year old's valentines

Ok, so far so good now. I finally got Blogger to post one set of valentines and goodies.  Now for the next...


The past two years, my oldest son has given Disney/Pixar Cars valentines to his classmates at preschool.  I made family valentines for family and friends. This year, I decided to make valentines from each of the boys and then none really from us as a family. Everyone just loves getting stuff from the boys anyway.


So, here's my 3-year old's valentine. We got this Peekaboo Valentine idea from a Family Fun magazine. It was perfect for him. These were fun to make, and pretty quick too.  We made 16 of them to give to family and friends. Here's a close up of his two little eyes peeking through.



He also loves trains, and this image from the "Whoo's Your Valentine?" stamp set is super cute.  I am really loving this set, and I'm not much for Valentine's Day!  The "Chew, Chew" part of the sentiment begs to be used on a gum treat of some sort, so we made sleeves for packs of gum with it. I am pleased with the way they turned out. Thanks for stopping by!

My 6-year old's valentines


My 6-year old LOVES to play his grandparents' Nintendo Wii when we visit them. I saw a valentine idea on the Wilton It's a Piece of Cake blog where they used Wii Mii images to make a valentine. I found a website where you can make Mii images, so I made one to look like him. Then I put together this valentine in Publisher, printed it, and glued it to red cardstock. We cranked out 44 of these for all his classmates, family and friends, so it was good that the printer did most of the work!


In addition, we made these Mario masks for a few close family members and friends.  I only made eight of these. I found a Mario image online to use for a template to make the masks for the lollipops and the wrappers on the sticks. The idea for these came from this Jolly Lollies idea on the Family Fun website.

Here's a close up of the labels on the sticks. It reads, "I like you more than Mario Kart!" For him to say that he likes someone more than Mario Kart is saying a lot! Thanks for stopping by!

My Boys' Valentines - Take III

Ok, I am highly irritated. I have written this whole long post TWICE, and Blogger has lost it BOTH TIMES! I am going to try this again, and this time I'm going to split it up into two shorter posts. Here it goes...

Feb. 8 for $10 Workshop IV



Ok, here's the final project from the February 8 for $10 workshop. I saw these little lip balm/lip gloss holders a long time ago and always thought they'd make a cute Valentine's Day treat. Before Christmas, Kroger had a sale on Chapstick, so I bought up a bunch and put them away for this workshop. 


I originally saw the idea on Lorri Heiling's blog here. (Scroll way down to the end of the post.) You can find a link to the template there too. I adapted my measurements so that the base piece of Rose Red cardstock would be 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". Then I could get four out of one sheet of cardstock. I also adapted the measurements of the scores and cuts in accordance with the measurements of a standard tube of Chapstick.

The stamp set is called "Whoo's Your Valentine?" and also contains adorable owl and train images. My youngest son loves trains, and my sister likes owls, so I'm getting plenty of use out of this set this year. Oh, and it has the cutest image in it for making lollipop treats too!

You can see the fish image is perfect for a tube of lip balm, because it says, "fishes, wishes & kisses"! What better way to keep those lips soft for kissing your valentine than some lip balm? Thanks for stopping by!

Feb. 8 for $10 Workshop III


If you've been checking in here this week, you probably thought, "Didn't she make any valentines at the February workshop?!?" Well, yes we did! I have to admit, Valentine's Day just really isn't one of my favorite holidays, so I don't go overboard celebrating it. However, I was inspired by many simple cards that I've seen on various blogs and websites. They simply used some heart punches with coordinating patterned papers to make a lovely, simple card.

The sentiment comes from the Whimsical Words stamp set in the current SU! mini catalog. There's a similar set in the Sale-A-Bration catalog too. This is another set I bought in the clear mount version. The ladies at the workshop seemed to like how easy it was to stamp the sentiments on straight compared to using wood block mounted stamps. Thanks for stopping by!

Feb. 8 for $10 Workshop II


Here's the second project from the February 8 for $10 workshop I want to show you. I saw this project a long time ago and stashed it away for just the right time. In fact, it's been so long that I can't remember how I even ran across it.  It's not from a blog that I visit regularly, but thankfully, the original author of my tutorial file has her website address in the footer. You can find the "Little Japanese Girls" tutorial on the Creatin' with Kirsteen blog.

Chinese New Year is on February 14th. Friends of ours celebrate Chinese New Year every year. My sample card shows the sentiment as "Thank You", which was the sentiment in this Artfully Asian stamp set. However, I also had a "Happy New Year" stamp that anyone could use instead if they wanted.

I'm a hoarder, and the DSDSP is from last year's SU! catalog. It's the old In Color shades of Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss. I really need to stop hoarding things when I buy them and just use them and enjoy them. Not that I didn't want to use this paper, but I just hadn't come across the right project yet. I thought it was Asian-looking paper that suited these little Chinese girl kimono robes. Thanks for stopping by!

Feb. 8 for $10 Workshop I



Here's the first card I want to share with you from the February 8 for $10 workshop last week. I bought this SU! Fox & Friends stamp set in the new clear mount version. I wanted my stampin' ladies to have the chance to try out the new clear mount stamps, and I think they all liked them. I know I like the idea of them being less bulky to store.

Anyway, I saw this card by Mary Jo Albright and loved how it used so many of the little animal images. I liked her color scheme too, but I opted to use some of my DSDSP from the 2009 Sale-A-Bration promotion. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Groundhog Day!


No self-respecting Pennsylvanian would let February 2nd go by without doing something to commemorate Groundhog's Day! Stop over at my Cookin' with Melissa blog to see what we did at our house for this special day. Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Skater Ian Thank You's


These are the thank you cards I finally finished for Christmas thank you's. This is the Skater Ian image from The Greeting Farm. I was inspired by a card I saw in this post on The Greeting Farm's blog, Splendid Stamping.  You just take the wheels off his skateboard and make it a snowboard.


I made about a dozen of these cards and meant to take a picture of all of them together before I sent them out. However, I started writing in them and sealing them in envelopes before I remembered. At least I took a picture of all the colored Ians before I finished the cards! His clothing are all sorts of combinations of Handsome Hunter, Bashful Blue, So Saffron and Ruby Red to match the printed paper in the background.  Of course, they're all blonde to resemble my two little ornery boys.

I used the Mojo Monday Sketch #121 for this layout. However, as usual, I didn't actually make this card during the week this sketch was current, so I couldn't play along. I'm always a day late and a dollar short! Thanks for stopping by!

Toby Cub Card



Ok, this has to be the fastest card I've ever made. No time to be knit-picky today about it, because I've got places to go and people to see! Wednesdays are busy, so I don't have time to tell you a lot about this card right now. I'll stop back in later and tell you more.

All I can say for now is that I'm completely frustrated with coloring printed digital images. I tried heat setting, and my markers still smeared. I don't have time to try embossing today, maybe tomorrow--or maybe I'll switch to colored pencils and crayons! Thanks for stopping by!

***I'm back.  It's late.  Wednesdays I take my oldest son to school and pick him up at half day kindergarten.  While he's there, I take my youngest son to the library for Story Time, and we run a few errands.  In the afternoon, we meet my husband in Indy to grab groceries and dinner before I go to my cake decorating class.  (You can read about that on my Cookin' with Melissa blog.)  I'm really tired.

Back to this card...  I made this card for the relay that The Greeting Farm blog, Splendid Stamping, has sponsored this week during CHA only to find out that the relay had been cancelled.  There was some trouble with the server for the site being overwhelmed and other issues.  It was fun while it lasted, and I needed a baby girl card anyway.



I used the Mojo Monday sketch from two weeks ago for my layout. Thanks for stopping by!***

The Secret to Coloring Printed Digital Images


After my previous post, I went searching for a post on the Splendid Stamping blog. I vaguely remember there being some tips for using digital images, so I went in search of it. I found it! Check it out... Digi Tips

I will definitely try this with tomorrow's image. Thanks for stopping by!

Wild Sprouts Charlotte Card



Here's my card for the second day of the week-long relay by The Greeting Farm. Today's card features a digital image named Charlotte. She's part of the Wild Sprouts line of stamps.

This is such a girly card for me. I don't normally do girly cards.  She even has some bling on her belt buckle, although it's hard to tell from this picture.  I used a square rhinestone brad for the buckle.

I have got to figure out what the secret is to not having your printer ink smear when you color in the printed out digital images. If you know, please post a comment here to help me out.



Again today, I used a sketch challenge for the layout of my card. This isn't a blog that I normally visit, but I saw it mentioned on another blog that I do frequent. I can't remember which one right now though. Anyway, I stopped over and grabbed this week's sketch from the 2 Sketches 4 You blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Mer Ian Card



I don't do this very often, but I am actually participating in a sketch challenge this week--two challenges, actually!

The Splendid Stamping blog for The Greeting Farm is sponsoring a stamping relay this week. It started Sunday with a free digital image posted on the blog, Mer Ian, as seen above. Ian is one of Marie's main characters in her line of stamps. If you completed a card using Mer Ian by 6pm CST Monday, you got the next free digital image, and it goes on similarly through the rest of the week. I can't pass up free digital images, so I am going to try and participate this week. If I am successful, you'll see the rest of my creations in the next few days.


After getting the digital image yesterday, I decided I would kill two birds with one stone and use this week's Mojo Monday sketch for my card. Now, I've used sketches for card layouts before, but I'm always a day late and a dollar short, so to speak, because I use old sketches that I've saved on my computer. This is the first time I've ever actually participated in anything on time!  Woo hoo! Wish me luck as I try to continue through the week! Thanks for stopping by!