Oval All and Mojo Monday

I have a sneak peak of a set that is coming in the next SU! mini catalog... starting April 1st!! This first picture is of the "bonus project" my gals at class got to make on Saturday. We did this fabulous cupcake project using Crazy for Cupcakes, and then I whipped the supplies out to create this cute little Easter basket!


Today I wanted to stamp during nap time (still now as we speak, knock on wood!), but I could not think of anything to do! So when I lose my Mojo, so to speak . . . I have to turn to something to help me get started . . . a sketch, a color challenge, a new technique... since today is Monday, I relied on Julee's fabulous Mojo Monday sketch. I haven't done one in a while, and I am so glad I did it, because I love how this card turned out!!



I used the Regal Rose prints from the Level 1 Hostess paper pack, and that gorgeous stamp is from the Oval All set coming in April!! I used Shimmery White Paper and added Dazzling Diamonds to the flower.

And finally, for your daily dose of baby (who by the way, is awake now, but happy, so I'm going to finish my post) please enjoy the following picture. Being the good mommy that I am, when my son got trapped under the table while trying to pick up the cereal he dropped, rather than rescue him, I ran for my camera! :-)


I did get him out after I snapped a few pictures. I promise. :-)

Growing in Unity Day Five

Welcome to my final day hosting Growing in Unity! I hope you have enjoyed seeing my projects as much as I have enjoyed sharing them!! I know I've kind of talked up this last project of mine, but I REALLY LOVE IT!!! So, without further ado, here is my lovely little Christmas Cocktail recipe book!












My parents love making special cocktails at Christmas time . . . it is so festive to have a yummy drinkwith a candy cane over the edge of the glass, while sitting in front of the fire! If you are not a drinker, you could make yours a recipe book of Christmas Sweets/Desserts, and use all the yummy cupcake and other sweets stamps from Unity to accent your pages!!

I think the SU! Top Note die makes fabulous little pages for a mini album like this. I covered chipboard with Wassail paper. The pages are this AWESOME paper from WorldWin, called double mates. They are different shades of the same color on each side. So if every other page set looks different, it is!! One set of pages is bright red and green, the other is dark red and green. There are LOTS of things I would do differently if I made this little recipe book again. I'm not a scrapper, so placement of embellishments is hard for me, somehow. I would probably print the recipes on an ivory cardstock next time too, and sponge the edges of everything, to add to the distressed look that the cover has. Oh well, live and learn! I'm still pretty pleased with it!

Thanks for joining me this week! Have a great weekend!!

Growing in Unity Day Four

Good morning! Hip HOP!!! Today is our fun Hip Hop day over at the Unity forum on SCS! Come on over and join in the fun, starting at 11 am EST!! In honor of Hip HOP! and because Angela (Unity's owner) is so extremely generous, I am able to give away my favorite single, Create Yourself to one of you lucky readers today! Just leave a comment here on this post, and tonight at 9pm EST I will draw a random number and post the winner on the Hip HOP! forum!! Thanks so much for checking out my projects this week for Growing in Unity! Please come back tomorrow, because I have an AWESOME project waiting for you!

I have to admit, because I've been so busy getting Friday's project ready, I was pressed for time and creativity in making today's. There isn't much stamping involved. Just one image. Sorry!!! I used a template I have had for years (Darcie's Country Folk) for a little window box. I filled it with starlight candies and added a bow and an ornament (this is the one stamp!!!), and voila! A small gift for my 93 year old grandma, who never wants anything for Christmas, nor does she need anything! My brother and I usually get her food of some sort, so this is a start to my gift for her.


Do you see the little bit of shimmer on the ornament? That is Angel Wings Shimmerz. Love that stuff!! Again, I'd like to apologize for the simplicity of this project... if only I had gotten all my projects done ahead of time! That would have been smart, huh?! :-)

Don't forget to leave me a nice comment, and then you'll be entered into a drawing for my favorite Unity single!!!

Growing in Unity Day Three

Happy Wednesday! Welcome to day three of my week for Growing in Unity.

As I was preparing to start today's project, I was drawing a blank. I was thinking . . . what else can I do for Christmas gifts for my friends and family?? So I dug through my stash of things that I've picked up over the years, intending to use for stamping, hoping something would jump out at me. I found some lovely naked big clothespins, just begging me to alter them A light went on!! I am short on cash, and have a darling little boy!!! I will make a cute little photo holder for my little monkey. Here it is:


Now, this project will take you much more time than yesterday's, but yesterday's was almost too easy! Here are the deets: I covered the front and back of the clip with patterned paper (SU!). I stamped the monkey from Unity's Wild and Crazy Bunch twice, once on cocoa and once on caramel, then cut out the belly, ears and face from the caramel, to paper piece on the cocoa. Then I glued the monkey to another piece of cocoa cardstock to give him stability before I cut him out. I attached him to the clip with stampin' dimensionals. I tied a ribbon around the clip, and looped the monkey's tail over the ribbon. Finally, I stamped the word little from the "little one" sentiment and the word monkey from the "let's monkey around" sentiment. I punched it out and layered it on three squares of cocoa cardstock to give it stability, and attached the edge of it to the clip with stampin' dimensionals, tucking it under the monkey's arm. As a final touch, I added my OWN LITTLE MONKEY to the clip. What do you think?


I am not finished with my Friday project yet . . . I'm still working on it. I am SO excited about it, so make sure you come back and check it out!! Thank you so much for visiting my blog this week! It has been so much fun!

Growing in Unity Day One

Good morning!!! I don't know about you, but I can hardly believe it is December 8th already!

I am hosting Growing in Unity this week! So check my blog daily, December 8th through 12th for a project using fabulous Unity stamps!!

I would have loved to feature Christmas themed projects for you, but I only have ONE Unity Christmas set, so that won't get me very far. Instead, I'm going to offer up my ideas for little Christmas gifts you can make up quickly to give to family, friends or others you need gifts for!

Today's gift is a notebook set. This is a variation on something I've been doing for years. I found these fantastic notebook sets on clearance one year after school started, and I stocked up! Now, any time I need a quick gift, I pull out a set and get busy! You can use any spiral notebook, although the double spiral like this is easiest for removing the covers, which you will need to do.


I take the covers off by opening the metal rings a bit. I use Mod Podge to attach patterned paper that I've trimmed to size. For this project I chose an American Crafts paper in Unity's colors of brown and turquoise. After the glue is dry, I sand the edges with a sanding block, to kind of melt/blend the paper into the cover. Sometimes I ink the edges, for a distressed look, but this paper is so clean looking, that I left the edges bare. Then I add my stamped pieces and embellishments and put the covers back on! If I need a matching pen, I cut a small piece of matching paper and roll it around the ink tube of my RSVP pen, and stick the ink tube back into the pen. DONE!! Sometimes I add ribbon to the spirals, but again, I was going for clean today. Which kind of makes me wonder why I added the flowers and bling!!! :-) I actually made these for some fellow Unity lovers . . . for my Unity Secret Santa and one of the Unity DT . . . I'm wondering, did you get them yet? :-) I'm kind of bummed by my picture . . . these are MUCH prettier IRL!!!!

I hope you enjoyed today's gift!! Come back tomorrow for more!

Child, Chai and a Card

Good evening, friends! I am finally getting a chance to post something today. Last night was not a good sleep night for my little one or me, so today was spent recovering. Tonight he was ready for bed by 6pm . . . he was wandering around the living room putting his cheek down on every surface: the couch, the chair, his boppy pillow, the cat. So, we decided to take him to bed! Hopefully he will sleep well tonight, because *I* can use the sleep! :-)


Before I show you a project, I want to share something non-stamping related. I have never been a big tea drinker. Until now. I am in love. His name is Stash Chai Green Tea. I met him at the Grocery Store on Friday, and I am not ashamed to admit that I have seen him EVERY day since then. I have enjoyed every second . . . the anticipation while he was heating up, the overwhelming desire I felt when I smelled his exotic scent, and the taste of every single luscious sip on my tongue, from first to last.


Isn't he gorgeous? And let me tell you, what a hunk! He is sooo sweet and spicy, and super delicious with a little added skim milk and Splenda (or for the sinful version: 2% milk and sugar.) Shhh... don't tell my husband. Although I did just tell him that he could fill my entire Christmas stocking with these teabags, and I'd be thrilled, so I think he might be suspicious.

I think I posted this project a while ago, and then promptly removed it when I remembered that I had sent it to my secret sister. Well, if she happens to read my blog (which I highly doubt), this is the month to reveal ourselves, so she'll figure out it is me when she sees this project:


This is not the exact version I sent to her, but very similar. It is a fun two pocket bag that I made just large enough to fit a card in each pocket. A great hostess gift! Do you want one? If you are in Central Ohio, have me do a workshop for you and your friends! :-) If you are not local, hostess a catalog workshop or place a $150 order with me, and I will make you one and send it to you!! :-) Nothing like a little bribery, huh?

I have to go finish my Green Chai Tea Affair, and watch Dancing With the Stars. Good night!

Happy Birthday Baby!

My little guy is ONE today! I cannot believe an entire year has gone by already! I do know it has been the best year of my life!


We are having a small get together this afternoon for him, with a few family and friends. My parents are here visiting!!! I'll be back tomorrow with messy cake pictures, I promise!

Here is my first try at the paper strip ornament for Limelight, that I promised to show you.


I like the snowflake ornament better, don't you? Have a wonderful day and--

Giddy Over My Christmas in the Limelight Project!

Good morning! Mandy, the talented and super nice owner of Limelight Papercrafts, issued an assignment for Limelight's Six Chicks (design team) this month. As November's 7th Six Chick (yes, mathematically impossible :-), but what it means is Guest Designer) I am thrilled to participate! The assignment was to create a Christmas ornament and matching packaging or a matching card. I chose to do the ornament with packaging. I am GIDDY over how this project turned out!!!

I've seen lots of these paper strip ornaments lately, but in my head I decided that something needed to be INSIDE of mine. I didn't love my first try at this. It turned out okay, but I knew I could do better. I'll show you the reject tomorrow. Today, my lovely snowflake ornament is in the LIMELIGHT:


I cut Bazzill Bling Glitz and Bling Diamond into 6" by 1/2" strips. I attached them at both ends with brads. I threaded beads and pearls onto silver cord and attached it between the two brads, pulling it to the height I wanted the ornament to be. I spread the strips of paper out and around to form the ornament. Then I attached to the cord some of these amazing Christmas Magic glittered silk snowflakes from Little Yellow Bicycle. Finally, I stamped some additional snowflakes with the Christmas Magic Stamp set and dangled them from the bottom of the ornament. The snowflakes have Kaisercraft silver rhinestones in the center. I LOVE those things!!

Here is the matching packaging... this is why I am so giddy. I LOVE how this box turned out! I was originally going to do a square box, but I was fiddling around with the window sheet, and decided to try a cylinder. The difficulty was in making a top and bottom. I figured it out, though!! If you can't tell how I did it, but are interested, leave me a comment, and I will see about getting a tutorial together!!



Here is the whole set together:

The ornament is hanging from the brad on the inside of the lid. So when you take the lid off, you bring the ornament with it!! You can take it off of the lid to hang somewhere. I am thinking this would be very pretty hanging from the bottom of a light fixture or from one of those free-standing ornamanent stands, all by itself.

WOW! That was such a fun project to make. I hope you like it as much as I do!!! Now, to whom will I give this lovely creation???

Make sure you check out Mandy's ornament and the Six Chicks' ornaments too:

Becky
Brandi
JenMarie
Katie
Lisa
Ryann

Have a great day, and--

Lots and Lots of Pumpkins!!

Happy Monday!!!

I finally tried the little mini pizza box pattern from Jen del Muro that was posted for the SCS technique challenge last week. I changed the measurements so the box was 2 1/2 inches square, so 4 mini PB cups would fit perfectly! I made three of them. I think I will make more!


Here is a closer look at one of the boxes, although this is about as simple as it gets!



Saturday we took the baby to the pumpkin patch! He had lots of fun!!! I did too, as I took the opportunity to do a little photo shoot! Here are some of the "fruits" of my labors.... :-)




That's all for me today, folks! Have a wonderful week!

Trick or Treat Peeps!

Yay for weekends! My whole little family is together for two glorious days! Of course, it looks like it is going to rain, so we may be holed up all weekend, but we'll see!

Yesterday I managed to stamp ONE thing during the baby's afternoon nap, but I LOVE the one thing I stamped!!! Here it is:


I got the template for this adorable little boxy bag from Jody Morrow's blog. I used Trick or Treat Peeps from Unity. I punched the handle with my SU! word window punch, but I don't like the bigger hole, so if I ever do it again, I will follow Jody's directions better! :-) I colored the little cuties in with my SU! markers, because I wanted a nice bold look. You know, Halloween is the ONLY time I would ever consider putting these colors together! :-) The ribbon is from Taylored Expressions Halloween Key Ingredients. I put a bag of those yummy marshmallow creme pumpkins in there. I have to whip up another one of these so I have one for each nephew!!! Do you think these would mail very well? I have more nieces and nephews, but I would have to mail them.... hmmmm....

That's all for me today!

Candy and More Candy

Today is Monday, right? I sure hope so, because it has felt like a Monday ALL DAY LONG, starting at 5am. Baby is getting his top teeth, and doesn't sleep well while teething. (who would?) Baby not sleeping well = Mommy not sleeping well. I should probably be in bed now, but I'm going to squeeze out a bit of alone time before bed. I must have some balance, right?

I actually stamped two things today, both in a rush, because I wasn't sure how long his naps would last. I also did it instead of cleaning the kitchen, which means I will HAVE to clean tomorrow before I do any stamping at all! Bad girl!

This first project was the technique challenge over at SCS today. It was super easy, and look how cute it turned out! There are directions to print out and everything... go try it!


The next picture is a card I made with Unity's August Kit of the Month, Remember Happiness. This is such a cute kit! I love the images--they are all so sweet. I actually used a scrap of the acetate from my first project, ran it through the Cuttlebug with Swiss Dots, and think it is a pretty cool background! I put Crystal Effects on the jars, too, to make them look like glass. This was such a fun card to make!


This last picture is what the baby does for exercise over and over and over. Of course, one of us is always right behind him. You can see dh's shirt on the top left--he ducked behind the wall quickly while I took the picture. You would think repeated stair climbing would tire him out enough that he would sleep all night, wouldn't you? You would, but you'd be wrong. :-(


Well, that's all for me tonight, peeps! Go have your little marshmallow-y selves a nice evening, "k"?? Happy Stamping!

Blissful Sunday

Good morning! Bliss on a Sunday to me would be going to church and hearing an uplifting message that will sustain me through the week, then having a yummy family lunch out, then lounging around all day with my family, doing not much of anything at all. How about you? What would your Blissful Sunday be like?

Or, the original inspiration for this post title was this Bliss Candy Box. I have had this idea rolling around in my head ever since I saw this "Bliss" stamp. I knew it needed to be paired with those new Bliss chocolates, which, by the way are YUM-O!!!!

This is another fun secret sister gift. I'm just hoping the chocolates don't melt on their way to my secret sis!

Hey, have a blissful Sunday, and happy stamping!

Sweet Stuff

Good morning, friends!

I had to make this adorable candy slider for my secret sister. Have you seen these before? You probably have... they are so easy to make! I think I am going to have to do them for a stamp camp again this fall. You can make them to fit anything rectangular... just have to change the measurements!


I'm pretty sure my secret sis doesn't read my blog, but even if she does, I guess she doesn't know yet that I'm her "big sis", so she won't know these are hers!

Have a great weekend, and happy stamping!