Please be mine valentine

Sometimes I swear that I am stamping ADD. I'll start one project go onto the next and then start another one before I finish any of them. I just get all these ideas and I have to get them out, before I forget.
Todays sample is one that I started days ago and then just finished tonight.
It's a card that I like to call a "fun fold". I think I'll be doing a class on fun folds in March. If you're interested let me know.

Angela's helpful hints:

- Stampin UP packages their designer papers in a fool proof way, so if you use 2 designer papers from the same pack you know that they'll go together.

- Using your markers like I did on the saying is a great way to get more then one color on an image. Simple color with your markers directly onto your stamp and then stamp them on your cardstock.

- I also used my black marker to make faux stitched lines around my heart.

- As always using our punches is a quick effective way to get a card done in a hurry. Here I used the full heart punch, large oval and oval scallop punch.

don't forget that right now during sale-a-bration for every $50.00 you purchase you will receive a free saleabration stamp set of your choice! Orders can be placed by phone, email, or on my online store.

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Demonstrator class - pics

Wow it's been 2 days sense I posted, sorry about that. It's been crazy here. I do have good news to share. I finally have a car again! It's been about a month without a car and let me tell you, I am excited!
Today I'm going to show you pictures of some of the fabulous ladies in my group of demonstrators. Ok I'll probably show you another project too! So I lied to all of Tuesday, I said I wouldn't be doing any stamping yesterday, but I did get a lttle bit of stamping done. But I can't show it to you. Why you might ask? Well I've decided to enter Stampin Up's Artisan Award contest. This is a contest that Stampin UP holds once a year. They pick 10 winners who receive a $500.00 Stampin Up shopping spree, $500.00 cash and the prestige of being one of the top 10 creative demonstrators in the company. Will I win, probably not, there are tons of talented demonstrators out there, but I figured that if I don't try I'll never know. I can't show you the projects until the contest is over, which isn't until the end of April, but I do have to tell you that the project that I was working on yesterday, blew my mind that I came up with it all on my own and it's all started with something I was going to throw away.
Ok, I've been going on long enough, so here are todays pictures.

This first picture is of Mel sewing together her little felt bag with Joanne giving her moral support in the background.

The next picture is Laura and Kathy working very seriously on putting their sweet pea stitched flowers onto the front of their felt bags.

And then my camera battery died! So if you would like to join us at our next fun demo class, contact me about becoming a demonstrator.

Here is one of the projects they did the other night. I did this project weeks ago and then I went on the computer and saw someone who did one almost exactly the same. I think it's funny that 2 people can have almost the same idea. I'll have to find a link to her pic so you can see how similar they are.

We put a cello bag of valentines m&m's inside, but you could use it for gift cards, a little photo album, how about 10 tags and You could do a 10 reasons I love you gift.

This project uses the I heart hearts stamp set, which right now for everyone of these I heart heart stamp sets that is purchased, Stampin Up is giving $2.00 to the American Red Cross Haitian relief fund. If you would like to help out please feel free to contact me to purchase your own I heart hearts stamp sets. I will also be giving $2.00 from every I heart hearts set purchased from me until Feb 28th.

That's it for today. It's bitterly cold here (negative degrees with the windchill). I'll be staying inside as much as possible today.

Get some stamping in today if you can.

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Demonstrator class was so much fun!

Hi everyone, how is the weather where you are? We had the craziest weather yesterday,  it rained, I guess I should say it Poured. Where we live, it should have been snow. But now we have huge lakes where we did have snow. Our back yard was one big lake and then last night it froze. It would be the perfect skating rink for the kiddos
So last night was my demonstrator class for my addicted to stamping friends (aka other demonstrators). We had a great time. We made 4 fun projects which i'll be sharing over the next few days.I'm glad I have these projects to share, because I'm not sure if I'll get to stamping today, we'll see, I'm pretty tired. I promised them that I would share this paticular project today, because by the end of the evening they where all tired and didn't get to finish this one. So I promised I would post pictures so they could finish it up at home.
This idea was not my own, I totally cased it from Diana Gibbs (crazy talented crafter extrodinare!) You can see her sample here. If I remember correctly I think that this project was showcased at Stampin Up's leadership confrence.
We made these home decor blocks. There is a different saying on each side of the blocks. These would make beautiful decor in your house all year round! I love decor that serves a purpose for more then one season. It means there is less to store and it's also more cost effective.
You'll have to forgive my pictures, they really do the project no justice!
Here is the one I would use for this season.

The way I took the picture, they all seem to be leaning, but I promise in real life they are not.

So what do you think? This was one of our 4 projects last night. Aren't these a lot of fun? If you would like to see this offered as a class please let me know. If there is enough intrest I will make this into a class.

That's it for today, I'm going to spend today cleaning up from all of our fun last night.

If you would like to join in all the fun, anybody who signs up to become a stampin up demonstrator during sale-a-bration will get the starter kit at 15% off as well as get to pick any 1 extra stamp set from the catalog.

Contact me today to learn more about becoming a demonstrator.

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Just a little thanks!

Aren't these little tags just too cute! I used my 1 1/4, 1 3/8 and my circle scallop punches to make these super quick tags. These are the tags that I put on my stamp club ladies bags this month. I wrote a personal note on the back of each one.

These would be super cute attached to one of our clear celophane bags filled with candy, or a spa set or something like that.

Color combination: Perfect plum, pale plum, certinately celery, whisper white and razzleberry ink

Angela's helpful hints:

- using our punches is a quick and affective way to get any project done in a snap.

- Making 1 tag? You mine as well make a bunch while you have your supplies out. That way the next time you need one in a pinch it's already done.

Have a great day and happy stampin!

From our house to yours

I've been trying to spread out my good neighbor stamp set posts, I didn't want to bore you with the same stamp set all week, so today I will be showing another sample with this really fun set. I've used the same color combination of tempting turquoise, old olive, pumpkin pie and whisper white. It's such a fun combination. I also used some paper from the sweet pea designer pack. Have I told you how huge this pack of paper is.

I love using my oval punches to nest inside of each other. It's the perfect mat and it's so quick!

Of course I popped up my house with dimensionals!

I made a matching tin to go with it. I think I'll feel it with peanut butter cups. Yum!

Angela's helpful hints:

- sticky strip is the adhesive to use when applying paper to any tin. Once you put on the sticky strip, that paper isn't going anywhere!

-Our oval punches are perfect for layering.

Just a quick reminder that there is still time left for anybody who would like to be part of the 5/8 satin ribbon share or the corduroy button/epoxy brad share.

Receive 3 yards of each color of ribbon (there are 9 colors) for a total of 27 yards (that's 81 feet of ribbon!) for only $18.63.

Corduroy button/ epoxy brad share is only $9.60.

Want both shares it's as simple as paying $28.32.

Alright, that's it for today. Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Close to Nature - Happy Easter

How are you today? The card I'm going to show you today was so difficult for me for some reason. I'm not really sure why, but I got it done so that's all that matters.
I used one of my favorite color combos and my circle sissors plus tool. I love this circle cutter it's the best. You can make circles of any size up to  6 inches, you can make rings with it and if you take out the cutting blade you can stick in a pencil, pen or marker and draw circles onto anything you want to. It really is a cool tool!

I've had this close to nature stamp set for over a year and this is the first time I've played with it. How pathetic is that!

I used my circle scallop die for the big shot and then used my crop a dile to add the lacy holes to the scallops to give it a different look.

I used my circle scissors plus to make the different sized circle mats for the flower image and the happy easter image.

I used one of the rhinestone brads on the happy easter saying to give it an extra special touch. Plus I love anything shiny or blingy (is that even a word?).

Angela's helpful hints:

- I used the grass stamp and added it to my pale plum background cardstock to give the card a cohesive look.

-Using your Stampin Up markers on your stamp is a great way to add more then one color to your image. (always start with your lightest color first and work your way  to your darkest marker so you don't ruin the lighter markers.

-You're crop-a-dile isn't just for punching holes to add brads and grommets to your projects. Use it to add a decorative touch to your projects as I did here with the scallop circle die.

-Tape all you'r circle layers together and then run them through your paper trimmer so that you get an even cut like I did on the left side of my main circle image.

-Square cards are a lot of fun! Stampin up sells envelopes for this size square card. To make this card you will need a 51/4 by 10 1/2 piece of cardstock.

- sponging the outside edged of the main image, really soften the look of it. I started with pale plum and then sponged just the edges with perfect plum.

color combination: pale plum, perfect plum, cerinately celery, very vanilla

That's it for today.

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Haiti Releif Fund Stampin Up Style and get whale wishes

I know I say this all the time but I have to say it again. I love working with such a great company. Stampin Up has pitched in with the American Red Cross, to help those most in need right now.
Here is how it works:
From now until February 28, 2010, $2 from every I {Heart} Hearts stamp set you buy, will be donated to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. The Red Cross is already well-established in Haiti, and this money will be used to provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need.

What a fantastic way to help out. To order you're I heart hearts stamp set give me a call today.  This stamp set is super cute and works for a variety of occasions. The set comes in wood mount or clear mount. The wood mount is set is $26.95 and the clear mount set is $18.95. The clear mount set is inexpensive enough that you could get a few of them and give them out as gifts!

I want to help out too, so what I'll do is donate an $2.00 of my own for every I heart hearts stamp set that is purchased between now and Feb 28th. So purchase the stamp set through me and $4.00 per set will be donated to the American Red Cross Haiti relief fund.
On a totally different note here is what I had planned to post today!
Today my card for you uses the same color combination as a few days ago on my good neighbor card, but it uses a different stamp set. It uses the fox & friends from the spring occasion catalog.
Isn't this orange polka dot paper just to die for! This is another piece of designer paper from the ginormous paper pack called sweet pea. There are so many options with this paper pack. Designs for girls, boys, men, women, anybody in your life! I kept the card simple with clean lines, the scallop boarder punch and a simple line of ornage ribbon. I used the get well wishes from teeny tiny wishes, but any sentiment would work with cutie patootie whale. I think this would make a great birthday card for a little boy. It would also make a perfect thinking of you card.

Here you can see a peek of the inside of the card. I used the scallop boarder punch on whisper white paper and then a simple strip of orange cardstock.

color combination: tempting turquoise, whisper white, pumpkin pie.

Angela's helpful hints
-  To keep my card clean and modern, I only added a strip of ribbon instead of adding a knot or bow to it.
- Adding the scallop boarder punch to the main image, helps to incorporate the white scallop boarder into the card.
- Different size mats on the main image also help to keep the card clean and simple. Here I used 1/8 and 1/4 mats.

Have a great day and happy stampin!
Angela

Nursery Baby Boy

Here is one of the cards you wil find in my etsy store. I really like the colors in this card. I like how bright it is, it's screams happy and cheerful! I stamped the boat onto scrap paper and cut out each little piece and used dimensionals to pop it up off the card. I also used the new saleabration scallop trim boarder punch. I LOVE THIS PUNCH and you can get it for FREE with a $50.00 Stampin Up order through me. I also used the perfect polka dot impressions folder with my big shot.

Do something crafty today.

Color combination: tempting turquoise, certinly celery, so saffron, whisper white.

That's it for today, have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Good Wensday morning to you!

Good happy wednesday morning to you. Wow I can't believe it's Wednesday already, where did the week go!
I already have Kayla's valentine gifts for her class mates done already!. I made them the other day during nap time. They came together so quickly I couldn't believe it. All I have to do is fill them with candy and Kayla will make her valentine cards herself. Hmmm maybe I"ll have her do that tonight. Wednesday nights is our long night without dad. He doesn't get home from school until 10:00 pm so keeping the girls busy in the evening helps to keep me sane when I have no adult conversation for that long of a time.
So without further ado here our Kayla's valentine bags.

I used the basket & blooms die and ran it through the big shot and sewed them together really quickly. I also used the hearts & brackets die and used the little heart and ran red felt through the big shot. (by the way you can run more then one layer of felt through the die at a time. For the hearts I did up to 6 layers and it cut through all the layers like butta. The longest part of the entire project was stitching the red hearts on. I used yarn and just did an x stitch through each heart.

Here is another version, I used the sweet pea stitched felt from the spring occasion catalog in place of the felt hearts.

Aren't these super cute! I used regular white thread and just did a few simple stitched by hand in the leaf and then used my crop-a-dile and punched a hole through the flower and the front of the bag and stuck a old olive brad through it and that's all that's holding the flower on.

Do you like them, do you have a big shot yet? If not join my big shot club!

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Good Neighbor Houses

So I think that I have enough projects done, and pictures taken for the rest of the week, so even if I don't get much crafting time in with having the baby here I should still be able to update my blog. Plan ahead I always say!

Today I have a really super cute project for you. I used the new sale-a-bration stamp set good neighbors. I have to admit that when I first got this stamp set, I was scared of it. I think it's because it seemed like a lot of work, but I'm not really sure. So yesterday I brought it out and played with it and I have to tell you that I REALLY LOVE THIS SET. It's super cute, and great for a neighbor card, just moved card, welcome to the neighborhood, from our house to yours, friendship card, love card, thinking of you card or pretty much anything. The options are vast. I think that at first I got stuck because it was houses but seriously I can't put it down. So needless to say, you'll probably see more then one post this week using this super duper cute set. I also used the welcome neighbor designer paper pack that you can also earn during sale-a-bration for every $50.00 purchase. This paper pack is also super cute.

This card today is for my neighbor, at Christmas time she came over with a very nice basket of goodies for our family and it was so sweet of her. We don't really know each other well, but my goal for this year is to reach out more to my neighbors. So I'm going to give her this card as a thank you as well as the candy holder (wait till I tell you what I used to make this). I will also make her a pack of thank you cards as a gift (haven't gotten that far yet though).

You can tell in this side view that some of the clouds and the houses are popped up on dimensionals. I love dimensionals!

Here is a peek at what the inside of my card looks like.

So I made a matching candy holder out of something I was going to throw away. Can you tell what it is?

It's the packaging that paper clips came in. How cool is that. I think it will hold ghiradellies perfectly. I have 4 jolly ranchers in there right now, because thats all I had at the time.

Here is a close up of the candy package. Look closely do you see the bushes on each side of the house. That was my 5 year old daughters idea. She was sitting with me while I was stamping and she says to me, "mommy, your clouds look like they could be bushes." I thought to my self, how brilliant! So I gave it a try and she approved. So don't be afraid to use your clouds as bushes!

So what do you think? Those are my projects for today. I think these houses are just so super cute.

Want this set, here is 3 ways to get it.
-Purchase $50.00 in Stampin UP products from me
-Host a workshop with me, with sales totalling $300.00
-Sign up to be on my team of demonstrators, receive a FREE stamp set of your choice from the catalog, 15% off the starter kit and I'll throw in this stamp set too!

Angela's helpful hints:
-before you throw away packaging, think about what you could use it for.
-Love the grass, cut a strip of your favorite color green and cut down about half way with your paper snips all the way across your strip of cardstock. The grass was fun to make, it made me think back to when I was a kid, we used to do this all the time in school.
-To give your card an extra special touch, decorate the inside of the card too!
-Use those clouds as bushes, go ahead I dare you!

color combination: old olive, tempting turquoise, whisper white, pumpkin pie

Thanks for visiting with me today.
Have a great day and happy stampin!
Angela

Baby Shower Pics

Back in the fall I threw a baby shower for one of my friends and I forgot to show pictures here. You did get to see the baby shower invitation back in October, I just couldn't tell you that's what it was, because the shower was a surprise.

So I thought I'd show you some pictures of the shower.

Here is the picture of the photo album I put together for the mom to be. I used one of Stampin Up's 12x12 photo albums and used the decor elements baby words and applied them to the photo albumn. This was a lot of work, due to the fact that the album is soft surface, but I got it on there

I had 2 craft tables set up, where everybody had the chance to make a 2 page layout for the mom to be and I gave them matching SU markers to write on the back of the layout some words of advice for the mom.

Here is a close up of one of the craft tables, you can see that I had a bunch of dies cuts already cut up and ready to go, to make it easier for all of them. It was a lot of fun and I think everybody had a good time.

Here is a picture of the centerpieces on all the tables. They are onesies that are supposed to look like a boquet of flowers, how cool is that! They where a lot of fun to make and I love the way they came out. I got this idea from a friend who got one of these for a baby shower and I said to my self, I bet I could make those, so I did.

I thought I took a better picture of the party favors, but I can't seem to find it.  So you can kind of see what they looked like in this picture. These are little boxes that me and the grandmother to be put together. They hold 4 ghiridelli squares (probably not spelled right).

Here are the cupcake holders, I wasn't quite sure what to do with these, so I just wrapped them in chocolate chip satin ribbon and then punched out butterflies with my big shot and strung them down the middle of the cupcake holder with fishing line, so it looked like they where hanging in mid air.

So there is my take on a baby shower on Stampin Up steroids! I hope you enjoyed my tour of what you can do with you're Stampin Up prodcuts.

Have a great day and happy stampin!

Angela

Big Shot Club Starts this month (only 2 spots left)

Do you have a big shot yet? I love my big shot! It's great for cutting out different shapes, adding texture and perfect for making little gift bags and tags. It's not just for paper crafters, it's also perfect for anybody who quilts.
I have a big shot club starting this month. If you would like to purchase the big shot on a budget then the big shot club is perfect for you!
Here's how it works:

The big shot club runs for 5 months (starts in Jan and ends in May).
Each month you will mail me a payment for $47.80.
At the end of the club you will receive you're big shot, along with the dies you choose from the list I will give you.
You will also receive a Level 1 hostess stamp set
$20.00 in free products from the catalog (you're choice)
as well as 1 sale-a-bration product of you're choice.

At the end of the stamp club, we will have a big shot party where you will get you're big shot and dies and we'll make 3 fun projects using you're big shot. This party is free for anybody who is part of the big shot club!

If you're interested in joining the BIG SHOT CLUB call or email me and I'll add you to the list.
There are only 2 spots left for this round of the big shot club!

Here are a few projects done using the big shot, the options are limitless!
This cute little bag was done with the top note die.

We used the butterfly die to etch the glass to make a designer candle holder.

Isn't this little basket cute? It makes a great card holder or you could put some little goodies in it and it would make a great gift.

We used the scallop circle die to make the top of this adorable cupcake. We also used one of the texture plates to add the polka dots to the white background.

I hope you will join us for the big shot club!
If you have questions or would like to sign up for the big shot club you can call me at 413-863-3166 or email me at c_riddell@comcast.net