Junior Legal Pad Wish List

I saw this project on Nancy Riley's website a few weeks ago. She also wrote a tutorial for it on the Splitcoaststampers website. My mom needs a place to keep her Christmas shopping for all of us organized, so I thought this would be perfect for her. I gave it to her while visiting for Thanksgiving. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a wonderful day spent with family and friends. Remember all the blessings the Lord has freely given you!


Thanks for stopping by!

JustRite Stampers

I've been seeing lots of great projects made from JustRite Stampers the past few months. I've liked what I've seen so much, I put a few of their items on my Christmas wish list. They started an awesome sale last week, a "Buy One For Me ... Get One FREE!!" sale, on many of the things I was wishing for! Check them out! The sale ends November 30th. If you're interested in splitting a set, please let me know. Thanks for stopping by!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

For dessert at Saturday's stamp camp, I made chocolate chip cookies. Nothing fancy, but many people love them, and I hadn't made any for a while. I'm sure lots of people think mine is a secret recipe, but it's not. In fact, the recipe I use is off the side of the Butter Crisco canister. You do have to add some extra flour and know a few basics about baking cookies, but otherwise it's a great recipe. Click over to the Cookin' with Melissa site to see it. Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp Camp Lunch

I made the ladies a great potato soup for lunch on Saturday during our cd calendar stamp camp. Click over to the Cookin' with Melissa site to see the recipe for Bacon, Cheese & Potato Chowder. It's from a past Kraft Foods magazine. Do you get it? If not, go to http://www.kraftfoods.com/ to sign up for it. I love it, and it's FREE! Thanks for stopping by!

November Stamp Camp - CD Calendars

The November Stamp Camp project is a cd calendar. Each calendar includes a printed/stamped insert for each month of 2009, sized to fit inside of a standard cd jewel case. The case is hinged backwards to form a little easel, making it a lovely desk calendar. Who's that hard-to-buy-for person on your gift? They would love a unique handmade gift like this!

• Saturday, November 22nd, 10am at my house
• $20 class fee includes all supplies needed to complete a calendar and lunch.
• Anyone who RSVPs and pays for the class by Saturday, November 15th will get an extra gift for attending.
• If you are interested in purchasing a kit to assemble yourself, contact me for details.

Thanks for stopping by!

Nugget Box Advent Calendar

A few years ago I found the patterns for these nugget boxes on a stamping website. The candies inside the boxes are Hershey's nuggets. You can get them in different varieties, and hence different colored wrappers. I like the silver ones best--pure unadulterated milk chocolate!


Last year I decided to use them to make an advent/Christmas countdown calendar for our oldest son. He loved opening the little candy each day with a different Christmas picture on it. Now that our youngest son is old enough to eat them and see what his older brother has, I knew I had better make him one too. While I was at it, I made one for a little boy who comes to play at our house sometimes. His mom and dad are friends of ours. I think the boys will love counting down the days until Christmas with these little boxes!

To "decorate" the nuggets you use standard mailing labels. Embellish them however you wish and stick them to the little nuggets like wrappers. Yes, I could have impressed you with beautiful stamped images. However, preschoolers aren't impressed with such things, so these were done quick and easy with clipart! (Notice the tops of the boxes aren't elaborately decorated either.) Thanks for stopping by!

Michelle & Julia's workshop

Michelle and Julia had an awesome cd calendar workshop last weekend! Thanks, Ladies, for being such terrific hostesses! Everyone had a great time, and fourteen ladies made beautiful little cd calendars.


I wanted to come up with some way to store the non-current calendar cards when they were not in use. Late last week I made this little gift box, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased with it! The clear cover is made with an overhead projector sheet (a.k.a. acetate). I added a Christmas tag and ribbon, and to make it extra Christmassy (Is that a word?) put the December calendar card on top to show through. Cute!

Don't forget the CD Calendar Stamp Camp is at my house this Saturday at 10am. RSVP today, please! Lunch will be served when we're done with the calendars. Watch next week for lunch menu recipes! Thanks for stopping by!

Look what I found!

Many days there's just too much going on in this household for me to have some time to myself to go down to my stamping space and work. So in order to not go into complete withdrawal, I live vicariously through other stampers who have way more time to stamp than I presently do. I visit a number of stamping blogs on a regular basis for inspiration and ideas.

A few weeks ago I stumbled onto this little online stamp store, Splendid Little Company, and associated blog, Splendid Stamping. I LOVE the Anya and Ian stamps!!! My sister and I ordered a few, and I can't wait to get the chance to ink them up! No, they're not Stampin' Up! stamps, but as most of you know, I am not exclusively a SU! girl. Thanks for stopping by!

Try the Rub-Ons!

I wanted to share with you two little projects that I made using the Stampin' Up! Rub-Ons. I showed you these little glass plant globes previously in this post. I like to embellish glass items with the rub-ons, simply because there aren't very many other ways to embellish glass. Since I tend to hoard supplies, I am reluctant to use my rub-ons on cards or ordinary paper crafts!

All SU! Rub-Ons are on sale through the end of November, and you can view the details here. Contact me if you're interested in placing an order or if you have any questions. Thanks for stopping by!

Monogram Cards

I'm a clearance shopper. It's another addiction of mine. I found these red and black cards months ago in a craft store clearance bin. There were ten in a pack for $0.50! How could I pass that up?!? I decided that they would be perfect for some monogram cards for my hostesses this month.


So here's my tip for the day: Don't feel like you have to reinvent the wheel when you craft. Sometimes it's nice to start with something good and make it great. Thanks for stopping by!

Season of Friendship Wall Hanging

On page six of the current Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog, there's a framed wall hanging piece made with the Season of Friendship stamp set.


I thought it was nice and tried to recreate it. My version is available for purchase by order. It can be found over in the Stampin' with Melissa Gift Shop for $30. Thanks for stopping by!

8 for $10 Treat - Apple Crisp

At last night's 8 for $10 workshop, I made apple crisp for the ladies' snack. Thank you, Ladies, for attending! That was the nicest workshop I've ever had. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to sit, chat and stamp with you for a while.

Click on over to the "Cookin' with Melissa" site to get the recipe. It's one my aunt, Bev, gave me when I got married. Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Hostess Workshop 8 for $10

Last evening I gave an 8 for $10 workshop for a friend. She requested some Christmas themed items, so we made the projects shown: Christmas card, gift card holder, Hershey's Kisses tube, hot chocolate slider pouch.


Thanks to all who attended--and to those who dropped by to order some of my creations! Thanks for stopping by!

November 8 for $10 Workshop - Part II

Here are the final two card designs we'll be making this Thursday evening at 8 for $10 night at my house. The pink card was inspired by Wendy at her "It's All About Stamping" blog. The other card idea came from Mary at her "Stamper Camper's Corner" blog. (Yes, I'm a stamping blog-a-holic.) Hope to see you Thursday! Thanks for stopping by!

Stampin' Up! Rub-Ons Promotion

Rub on some cheer! From November 10-30, get 20 percent off all Rub-Ons when you spend $20 on Stampin' Up! products. For only $8.76 per package (regularly $10.95), you can get any of Stampin' Up!'s fun and unique Rub-Ons that can be used on cards, scrapbook pages, crafting projects, and more! Check out the details here on Stampin' Up!'s website. Contact me if you're interested and want to see all the rub-ons packages available.

November 8 for $10 Workshop - Part I

This Thursday, November 13th is 8 for $10 night at my house. We'll be making eight "Thankful" themed cards. Here are the first two card designs. The turkey idea came from a Stampin' Up! publication, and the pumkpin card idea came from Patty Bennett's blog. Come back Tuesday to see the remaining two designs. Post a comment here to let me know you're planning to attend. Anyone who posts an RSVP comment will get an extra surprise, my way of showing I'm thankful for you!

If you are unable to attend, but would like to purchase a kit to make all eight cards, contact me for details. Thanks for stopping by!

More Cookin' than Stampin'

I have been doing a lot of cooking lately! That lets very little time for stamping. So today and tomorrow, you'll have to check out the Cookin' with Melissa blog instead of this one. Thanks for stopping by!

No Time to Stamp!

No time to stamp today! Somehow, I agreed to cook dinner for our church's weekly Wednesday Family Night this evening. They've been averaging 90-100 people, so I'm busy cooking today! Thank goodness some great ladies who have done this many times before have helped me immensely in my baptism by fire into this ministry.

I'm making the Pasta Fagioli soup, which is what I made for lunch for the flip book workshop a few weeks ago. Today I'm making a much bigger batch! You can find the recipe on my Cookin' with Melissa blog here. See you tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

A very special boy is turning two this week! He is having a farm-themed birthday, so I made him this card.

For those of you who are somewhat new to stamping, many bloggers out there post weekly challenges for their fellow stampers. Some post color challenges where the idea is to create a card using a certain set of colors. Others post sketch challenges where the goal is to create a card using a specific layout.

One blog I visit, Taylored Expressions, has weekly sketch challenges posted on Fridays. I've never tried a sketch challenge or color challenge before. However, I had a specific stamp in mind that I wanted to use for this birthday card. Since I'm not very good at creating from a blank slate, I decided to give it a try. As you can see, I had to bend the rules a little since my main image was horizontally oriented instead of vertically, but I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt at a sketch challenge. I'll have to try them more often. Maybe it will help me to create from a blank slate better! Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Gift Card Holder

We missed a special little girl's birthday party this weekend. We wanted to give the birthday girl a gift, so I made her a little gift card holder. Hopefully, she'll feel like a big girl when she gets to take her "purse" to the store to go shopping. Thanks for stopping by!

Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit

The Country Living Holiday Collection Stampin' Kit Promotion begins today! Click here for all the details. Watch for the December issue of Country Living magazine for a feature on this Stampin' Up! promotion and related stamping projects for the holidays.

Don't forget the special offer of a year's subscription for $12 plus a special free stamping gift. Use this link to subscribe.

Thanks for stopping by!