A tour of the stamp room!

I thought since I have no new projects to share, I'd show you some pictures of my stamp room. It is a small room, about 11'x11'. I love that big window, it lets in lots of natural light.
This used to be our guest room.....not anymore!
The first picture is the view looking into the room from the doorway. I like to stand up while I do my stamping, so I had a counter installed with drawers on both sides. There is lots of stuff in those drawers!

This picture shows my work table. It used to be our old kitchen table and the hutch that matches it. I painted them both white. I do most of my cutting on the table. It's not usually this neat either. Over in the corner, I now have a cube unit to store all my stamp sets. I no longer have the TV in there. I never watched it. I probably should take some new pictures of that at some point.

Here's a better picture of the hutch. On the bottom shelf I used to store all my scrapbooking kits in the canvas bins. They are all gone now......right Peggy? The jars on the shelves hold miscellaneous embellishments, ribbon, buttons, flowers, etc.

This is my french memo board that I made! I couldn't find one commercially in the size or materials I wanted. So I decided to make one myself. It was super easy. I just bought a pre-made frame (24"x36" I believe), took out the glass. Also bought an artists canvas and covered it with polyester batting. Then covered that with this Waverly fabric I've had forever, and stapled it to the canvas back. Then I used black grosgrain ribbon to make the criss crosses. I added a decorative upholstery tack at every meeting point of the ribbon. I popped the fabric covered canvas back in the frame and voila! That's all there is to it. The hardest part was making sure the ribbon was spaced correctly.

Now I have this beautiful display area for my cards. I love it!

Just for fun, I'm linking this post to DIY Show Off Surprise Party!! Go check it out!http://http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/2009/09/youre-invited-to-surprise-party-diy.html

Check out this giveaway!

My dear friend Rachel is a TAC consultant (The Angel Company). She just had her first class and made some fabulous projects. She's giving away a few class kits, so head on over to her blog and check it out!
http://rachelsangelspot.blogspot.com/2009/01/class-projects-last-installment-and.html

Passing the Time

Well, I'm still here, passing the time while I wait not-so patiently for my surgery on February 4th. I'm still not able to stamp or create anything. I can only be on my feet for about 5-10 minutes before I'm in horrible pain. I tend to save my time up and about for the things I absolutely have to do. Being a wife and a mom is so hard when you are so limited! I'm trying to get some meals cooked and in the freezer so my husband doesn't starve while I'm recuperating. The problem is, it's almost impossible to make something somewhat healthy and nutritious when I have such a small window to work with. I've done some internet searches and found a few recipes that I will hopefully be preparing tomorrow. Don will be helping me, so I'll probably be supervising more than actually cooking. If any of you reading have any super duper easy main dish recipes to share, please do!
Other things I'm doing include reading LOTS of books. I swear sometimes I feel like my eyes are going to fall right out of my skull. Is it possible to read too much? I am reading almost a book a day at this point.
The excitement of the new Stampin'Up! catalog just hasn't hit me yet. It's not because of lack of great product, it's just not being able to use any of it that is the problem! The new catalog is really great, lots of new stamps and some cool new products. I know my excitement and interest will return once I'm feeling better. I haven't even made my wish list yet......So sadly, I have nothing to show here on my poor little blog. I have several sets that I pre-ordered just sitting in my stamp room all lonely and sad. I know the stamps will still be there when I'm ready to stamp again. I hope I get to use them before the NEXT catalog comes out in August.

It's been awhile.......

So sorry to have been neglecting my poor little blog here. In my last post, I mentioned that I was having some problems with my back. Well, it turns out to be a BIG problem with my back. I'll be having surgery early next month as a result. I can't really promise any new creative projects to see here in the near future. I'm pretty much spending most of my time flat on my back. And my recovery from the surgery will be very long as well. If by chance I have a good day here or there and can actually create something worth seeing, I'll be sure to post it. Thanks for understanding.

Good intentions

What is it they say about good intentions? I'm hoping it's not accurate. I have SUCH good intentions, however my body thinks otherwise......I'm dealing with a back injury and I've not been able to do a whole lot of anything the past couple of weeks. I'll be fine, just have to get over this rough patch first.
I did have a couple of things done to show you, so here goes.
I made this gift card holder a few weeks back. I really need to make a few more for Christmas gifts. Luckily for me, they are super fast and easy to turn out. I'm hoping to be able to do a few this week. This is not my idea at all.......saw it on some one's blog somewhere. The key point here is, FAST and EASY! This is the outside:

Here is the inside:

This next little item I also saw on someones blog. Geesh I really have to get better at documenting where I see these things.......so sorry about that. It's the cutest little box to hold a mini loaf of bread. Again, super easy and quick to do. I had such grand plans for these little boxes. I envisioned making bunches of them and filling them with some homemade quick breads or coffee cakes to hand out to neighbors, friends and even my UPS guy. I'm not sure if that will still happen, but it's not looking like it at this point. Good intentions.........

Hopefully I'll be back to near full speed soon. This is not a good time of year to be laid up with a back problem!

An Experiment

I know there are lots of people that don't like to purchase Holiday stamp sets. They don't like to spend the money on stamps that will get used maybe once or twice a year. They are stronger willed than I am.....I love Holiday sets! So I thought I would challenge myself to create a Holiday card without using a Holiday set.
This is a card I made at a demonstrator training function. I didn't design the card, but absolutely love the colors and the design. It uses the Pocket Silhouette stamp set. Then I wondered, just by changing the sentiment and colors, could this be a Christmas card?

Here is the result. The only things I changed were the colors and the sentiment. The sentiment comes from Heard From the Heart, which is not a Holiday set. It just has the one stamp with the Holiday sentiment on it. I really like how it came out. Let me know your thoughts on it. I think a card like this would be great for someone who is going through a tough time at the holidays. It's still festive without being over the top.

More open house projects

I thought I would show you a few more of my open house samples.
The first one is called a bag in a box. It is super easy to make, and makes a nice little gift bag. You could even make it a taller bag and put a bottle of wine in it to give as a gift.


Here are some paper pumpkins. I first stamped a sheet of cardstock, and then cut the cardstock into strips of paper. The leaves are hand cut and crimped with my paper crimper.


This is another gift card holder. The scallop punch is attached to a belly band that slips off the card.

A few posts back, I showed you a card and promised to show you the complete set once it was finished. This is a set of 4 mini note cards that all go inside this mini pizza box.

And last but not least, here is a pillow box made from acetate. I love this pillow box die. These would make great place setting favors for your holiday table. The key to making these with acetate is to use heavy acetate. Standard overhead projector sheets are too flimsy.

Thanks for looking!

Samples

The past few weeks I've been busy creating samples for my Open House I had this past Saturday. I thought you might like to see some close ups of a few of the items on display.

Here is a gift card holder made from the Top Note die. This is really pretty in person.

A Rudolph bag topper made from the Top Note die and his antlers are from the Scribbles Swirls die.

This is a Frosty bag topper made from the Top Note die. He is too adorable!

There is SO much you can do with that Top Note die! Those were just a few examples.

This is a peppermint patty tin, well actually a "nugget" tin, but I covered York Peppermint Pattys with the scallop punch and used the Deer Friends hostess set. It came out so cute!

I hope you liked the pictures. I have lots more to show you in the coming days, so be sure to check back soon!

My Open House

I had an Open House on Saturday. It was disappointing in the respect that I had no turn out based on the flyers I distributed throughout my neighborhood. But I consider it a great success because some of my friends came and we had so much fun stamping together. They were pretty much non-stampers/crafters, and it was so satisfying to me to see how happy they were when they made something pretty that they could actually use. And they did great with both projects, you never would have known they weren't stampers at all. One of my friends brought her 10 year old daughter and she kept right up with them and did great! Here are the 2 projects they made:
First, a birthday card

Then a Christmas gift tag

This is a picture of my main display for my open house on Saturday.

Overall, it was a great day and I learned alot from it. I'm so glad I decided to do it.

Mountain time

I'm currently out in Boone, NC visiting my son who is a student at Appalachian State University. It snowed here Tuesday, but lucky for me it all melted by the time I got here yesterday. I'm sitting here in a hotel room on this COLD morning, all by myself. What a strange sensation that is! I don't travel by myself very often, but it was kinda nice having some total "me" time with no distractions last night. Dan had to work, so after seeing him for a brief time, I hit the local mall and then came back to my hotel room. I put on my fuzzy socks and jammies and did absolutely nothing. I caught up on some blog reading and emails and talked to a couple friends on the phone. I'll be returning home either late tonight or tomorrow, so my little break is a short one, but nice none the less.
Once I get back home, I'll be kicking into high gear with my SU Open House preparations. This is a new thing for me and I'm a bit nervous about it. The Open House is November 8th from 1 pm - 4 pm. I'll be having some Fall and Christmas samples and make and takes. There will be door prizes too, and light refreshments. If you're local, I'd love to have you drop by. Email or call me for details.
I think I'm going to go out and brave the cold weather in town. I haven't worn this many layers in a LONG time. I don't own a "winter" coat ......it just doesn't get that cold at the beach to really need one. I may have to go by the University bookstore and get a sweatshirt.

A New Gadget

I just added a new gadget to my sidebar. If you regularly read my blog, you can sign up to be a "follower". Just go over to my sidebar and click on the "Followers" link. It will be fun to see who keeps up with my blog.

A Happy Witch

This past weekend I attended our NC Demonstrator's group Quarterly meeting in Goldsboro, NC. It was great getting to know several of the demonstrators that usually I only "see" online. It's so interesting to hear every one's stories of how they became demonstrators and just how much we have in common. I had a great time, and made some fantastic projects. And I was surprised when my entry into the 3-D competition won first place! I still can't believe that.
Onto my happy witch. I finished assembling all my Halloween pillow boxes for the trick or treaters. I had a bunch of leftover scraps and candy. So I started wrapping the Hershey's minis with the scraps. Then I needed a way to contain them. So I pulled this jar off my shelf and started constructing a punched witch. I wanted her to be a happy witch versus a scary witch. I sure don't think I'd be that happy if I had that big ole wart on the end of my nose! Maybe it's the chocolate that keeps her happy! And if you can't tell, she also has a hairy wart on her chin. I used the new large oval punch,various circle punches and the a tip from the large star punch (for her nose). I crimped some black paper and cut it into long strips to create her hair. Her hat is from the Eat, Drink and be Scary stamp set.

This is a set of mini cards I'm in the process of making. There will be a set of 4 cards in a mini pizza box. I haven't finished it yet, but when I do, I'll post a picture of the completed set.

The weather has turned a bit cool this week. I actually had to put on long pants yesterday! I'm putting off going on my bike ride this morning till it warms up a bit. I hope it doesn't take too much longer........or that bike ride just might not happen!

Crazy!

For Cupcakes!
This is the set I won at the Stampin'Up! convention. I love this set and would have bought it, so I was very happy I won it! It came with the coordinating wheel and a roll of the new 1" chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon. I didn't use the wheel or the ribbon on these cards, but I will soon. I made these cards for a fellow friend/demonstrator who doesn't have the set. She's promoting the Birthday specials this month and needed some samples. I was very happy to help her out. That's one of the best things about SU demonstrators.....everyone jumps in and helps each other out.
First card is Bella Rose papers and Riding Hood Red satin ribbon. I paper pieced the cupcake.

I watercolored the main image with my blender pens, and then applied dazzling diamonds to the cupcake frosting and crystal effects to the cherries to make them shiny. I used a small piece of Parisian Summer paper to mat the main image. I also used the small cupcake image from the Short and Sweet set in the scallop circle.

The balloons are also in the Crazy for Cupcakes set. I paper pieced them with Maine Blueberry papers and popped a couple of them up on dimensionals.


I did also stamp the insides of the cards, but didn't take pictures of that.
Thanks for looking!

A different kind of post

First of all, let me apologize for the poor pictures. I realized after downloading these that my camera had a smudge on the lens.

Did you know that October is Disability Awareness Month? Probably not.....but yes it is. Those of you that know me personally, know my youngest son David is profoundly disabled, both physically and cognitively. He is 21 years old, but basically functions at the level of a 1 year old. I don't tell you this to ask for sympathy or pity. David is a huge blessing in our lives and we are so thankful he is part of our family. He's a wonderful young man with a sweet personality. Yes, there are many limitations to what he can do. But as you can see, there are lots of things he can do as well. Here he is participating in a wonderful program known as Top Soccer. It is a national program that facilitates people with disabilities participating in soccer. Chances are, you have a similar program in your city. It is so much fun to see these kids out on the soccer field enjoying an activity that otherwise would be unavailable to them. This program relies heavily on volunteers. The program wouldn't exist without them.

We are so lucky to have a thriving Top Soccer program here where we live. They always need volunteers, so if you have spare time on a weekend, consider seeking out a program in your city and volunteering. You'll be making a huge difference to these kids, and I just bet you will get alot out of it too.

Sometimes all we see when we look at disabled people are their disability. Look past the wheelchairs, walkers or other adapted devices and really see the person inside. I think you'll find that they are just like you and me. They love to have fun, feel safe and feel love. Just like us.

This is what I'm giving out for Halloween this year. I'm making TONS of them for all the little ghosts and goblins that come to my door. The pillow box is filled with candy corn and Hershey's minis. The Designer Series Paper is Ghostly Greetings and I used the Eat, Drink and Be Scary stamp set from the Holiday mini.


Another Owl......Owl's are hot for some reason I guess. I don't quite "get it" myself, but this little guy is cute! He's punched from the Tab punch, assorted cirlce punches, scallop punch and the Boho punch for his feet. It really amazes me how versatile the punches are.




This is a small note pad holder. The note pad itself measures approx. 3" x 5". The holder is re-fillable, which is great! I wanted something small to keep by my laptop to jot down ideas or notes that I need to keep track of. I've been doing alot of notepad holders lately. This one has a little pocket on the inside cover too. Quick and easy to make.

These are some cute mini scrapbooks. They measure 3" x 3", so pretty small! The perfect size for carrying in your purse.

That's all I have for today. I think I'm off to play with my Big Shot. I have an idea for the Join in the Cheer decorative strip die, I wonder if it will turn out like I have it pictured in my head?

If it does, I'll be sure to post it next time.