Hurricane Irene

I hope everyone survived the hurricane.  We only lost power here. It was actually warm and it only rained heavily a couple times. 

Tomorrow is the first day of school for me; so tonight was the actual end of summer for me.  The kids come back on the 6th.  And then I have two classes I am taking.  My college class (Human Biology) started yesterday online.  I still haven't received any information on my student id etc to log-in with.  I called the college and got transferred to the IT dept which only had an answering machine today.  Luckily I know someone who is taking the same class so she at least told me what to read.  Chapter One-imagine that!  My other class is an onsite class with real people and lots of discussion which is way easier than biology I am sure. 

So now comes the real crazy time for our family. Hopefully we will survive the school year and I will survive college classes.  Luckily, they all end before Christmas and I wont have to take any until next year.  I guess I need to really learn time management and learn to delegate things to the older boys-cooking, laundry, dishes, scrubbing the bathroom........let's see what else do I dislike doing......

Until next time,

Be Safe

I want all my friends to be safe during Hurricane Irene.

Trishutter Card & Free Designer Series Paper From Stampin Up!

Here is a Trishutter card I made a while back and set aside.  I was cleaning and realized I hadn't taken a photo of it-let alone post anything about it.  Most trishutter cards start with a 12"x12" sheet of cardstock-which I very rarely have.  Someone online had dimensions for using 8 1/2" x 11" cardstock.  Can I find that person's website to give them credit now?   Ummm NO!  So let me know who I owe credit too if you find out.

I will share the measurements with you.  Cut a regular sheet of cardstock 5 1/2" x 10 1/2".  Stampin Up's new tool that will become available Sept 1, 2011 called Simply Scored Scoring Tool will make this project SO easy, it isn't funny!!!  (I can't wait for my customers to see this product! Can you tell I'm excited?)

scoring and cutting measurements

Holding the cardstock so the 10 1/2" side is horizontal, score at 1 3/4", 3 1/2", 7", and 8 3/4".  Next you need your cutting tool.  Now with the 5 1/2" side horizontal, cut between the two outside scoremarks at 1 1/2" and 4".  Clear as mud right?  Here is a photo for you. Click on it to englarge it.

Here it opened.  I used Paisley Petals DSP which is you can get free from Stampin Up!  Check it out here.  I stamped the verse from Word Play on Tangerine Tango cardstock with black Stazon.  I also stamped the the flower image from Four Frames on Whisper White cardstock, and colored it in with markers. The "thinking of you" is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  All of that was punched out with the decorative label punch.

And for those of you who have never seen a trishutter card-here is what the top view looks like.  A little scoring and a little cutting and you have a totally "Wow, how did you do that?" card.

Until next time,

Home From New Hampshire

My daughter and I were guests of my dear friends who took us to North Conway, NH.  We went to North Conway,  NH for the weekend.  Thank you for such a wonderful weekend you guys!

We visited such places as Story Land. I don't know how may miles we walked there but I think we went on every ride and stopped at every attraction.  I am not sure who had more fun, the two children or the three adults???  At one point, an older gentleman that ran one of the rides asked me and my best friend "Which of you two is Lucy and which is Ethel?"  I think it depends on the day.  My daughter said her favorite part of the day was meeting Cinderella, since Cinderella is her favorite princess; and the face painting.

We also went to Attatsh Mountain and went on the Alpine Slide. Basically, the Alpine Slide is taking a ski lift to the top of the mountain and riding a plastic slide on a mile long track that winds down the mountain side. 

Of course on the way home, we had to stop at Ben and Jerry's for lunch on the last day there!  They make one mean "chocolate addicts" milkshake!

Now I am waiting for Ethel to email Lucy some of the photos from this weekend so I can start scrapbooking!

Until next time,

New Toys- Yippeee!!!

There are still a few weeks of summer left, it's still 70 degrees at 9:30 at night.  I am working on September's Stamp Club projects.  A little Halloween is happening in my craft room already.

I'm also playing with my new toys from the Holiday Mini Catalog.  You guys will have to see Stampin Up!'s new scoring tool.  It is awesome-and my friend who is ruler impaired (love ya girlfriend)  will love the place markers it has! There are new Christmas stamps, punches, dies for the Big Shot, paper, embellishments.  I am as happy as a pig in mud! Here is a little sneak peek.  The tag is a template I had cut from Real Red.  I stamped in Always Artichoke.  The new stamp set is called Stitched Stockings.  It has an awesome matching punch.  Who doesn't love a punch to make everything easier?  Did you notice the little jingle bell on the ribbon?  It makes a tiny little jingle noise.  I will need to keep my cats away from those!

Until next time,

Blue Awash With Flowers

Here is a card I made for a VC Rocks challenge.  It was to used black and white and one spot of color.  I had been itching to use this set for something!  I knew right where the color would go.  I originally thought of using Real Red with the black and white.  Then I thought how that combination gets used all the time and I wanted something different.  I had Tempting Turquoise sitting on my desk from something else-so that's what I used.  The verse is from the hostess set Precious Butterflies (contact me to learn how to earn it).  Next, three black brads were used for another focal point.

After coming up with this card, I needed some cards for a swap I was participating in with fellow demonstrators.  I discovered I didn't have enough brads for 10 cards.  That's ok, any "mistake" is a chance for an alteration or another layer.  So I decided to make a black butterfly using the Big Shot.

It just goes to show it doesn't take owning "everything" in the catalog to make beautiful cards or scrapbook pages! Shhhh I won't tell your husband if you won't tell mine and we can still order all the toys we want!

Until next time,

Cute Litte Blog

Did anyone notice my blog design changed today?  Isn't that redhead just the cutest little thing with her card and computer?  If there was a huge mess all around her-it would look like me! (sort of)

I found Lena on the web purely by accident.  I found a blog template she designed and I thought it was really cute.  Once we got started it took her no time at all to come up with this little cutie making cards and scapbook pages.  There isn't any mess on her desk like mine so she must be using My Digital Studio by Stampin Up!

Let me know what you think of this new design. Comments are always welcome!

Well, it is really late here  or really early depending on how you look at it.  So goodnight all, and

Until next time,

Final VC Rocks Bloghop 2011-Punches Galore

I can't believe it is coming to the end of the summer and the end of VC Rocks!  It won't belong before the kids of the neighborhood are standing on our corner waiting for the bus.  This is our last bloghop for 2011.  "Punches Galore" says it all.  It's all about the punches.  Wasn't the project at Shari's blog wonderful?  She always has great ideas to share.

Children everywhere have new clothes for school. So that means I need a new purse.  My boys never understood why I had so many purses.  Purses always fit. Boys don't understand that saying but girls certainly do.  So here is a purse that I will be making for several occasions in September.  It even has chocolate! (You didn't expect me to go without chocolate did you?)

These purses are great.  They start with a 6"x6" square of DSP.  I had some a hostess pack that was already pre-cut to 6"x6".  Yippee, anything to save time right.  The band on the top of the purse is Very Vanilla cut 3 1/2"x1/2".  I used stamped the latch of the purse on Very Vanilla using the stamp set Four Frames and punched it out using the Decorative Label.  The flowers were colored with Certain Celery and Pretty In Pink markers.  The latch of the purse has a small piece of velcro under it for the closure.

Here is the inside of the purse holding a small Hershey bar.  The ones that come 8 per package for about $1.00.  This is going to be a gift for the ladies in my stamp club.
Most of them are teachers and  I think they will need some chocolate about the second week of school when we meet again.

My second project features the hostess set Precious Butterflies.  I just love butterflies!  I even have milkweed in my garden to help them.
I used Melon Mambo because it is so bright and cheery and we have had lots of rain lately with gray skies; so I needed a little pick me up. I stamped the background with versa mark along with the ring of butterflies on a scrap piece of paper.  I punched the ring of butterflies out with the 1 3/4" circle punch. I sprayed the circle with a combination of Frost White shimmer paint and alcohol.  It has a wonderful sheen to it that the camera has a hard time picking up.  Hopefully, if you click on the close up, it will show.

Hop on over to Diane's blog and check out the awesome project she has.  If you want to start at the beginning of the hop and see all the participants-start here at VC Rocks! blog.

Until next time,

Flower Ball (Or Should I Say Flower)

What is a girl to do on a rainy, gray, dreary day while fighting a headache?  Well, originally, I thought it was take some Excedrin, drink coffee and clean the craft room.  It turned out to be take the meds, drink coffee, spend time on the computer and then decide to try something new and use up retired supplies.

 

I have seen these flowers/flower balls online.  I got as far as making a flower.... It would take a dozen "flowers" to make an entire ball out of them.  It wasn't overly hard to make, just a lot of folds and then gluing them together. I used paper from Patterns Pack 3 which I think was a hostess gift at some point.  I thought it was great because you need to start with a square sheet of paper.  This pack of paper is 6"x6"-no cutting needed!

Don't you think these would be wonderful kissing balls for Christmas?  Nice reds and greens would be beautiful I think.  Hmmm I think I see a school project coming up.  I love when I can work paper crafting in as an occupational therapy project!  "PAPER THERAPIST" can that be my new title and could I get raise for having a title?

Well, I think I need more coffee and I need to get more Christmas paper while it is on sale at Stampin Up.  Check out the special on Designer Series Paper here.

Until next time,

Anticipation

"Anticipation, anticipation, it's making me wait..."  Ok quoting commercials from the late 70's that used Carly Simon's songs are really showing how old I am getting.  I feel tortured like those little kids waiting for the ketchup to come out of the bottle.  I keep going online to check to see if my preorder for the Holiday Mini catalog. 

Christmas cards are my all time favorite to make.  I have sooo many snowflakes it isn't funny (just don't tell my husband LOL)  This year Stampin Up has out done themselves.  Believe it or not-I didn't preorder a single snowflake!  Of course I ordered every stinkin cute Christmas stocking they have!  Plus the new tools.  Someone should call the UPS company and warn our delivery person-he may get mauled at the door.  Hmmm....he used to stop at the door and wait for me to answer it; now he barely knocks, drops the package and he is back in his truck by the time I get to the door.  This behavior started once packages from Stampin' Up started to arrive.  Maybe somebody did call and warn him.  The substitute drives always wait....

Anyhow, once that special brown box arrives, my family are on their own.  I will be lost in my craft room cutting, scoring, stamping, punching, and die cutting.  I will be working on projects for a Holiday Open House.  I might even get some cute autumn,  Halloween, and Thanksgiving ideas in there too.

Until next time,

Technology/Facebook

Today I am trying to find an easier way to get my blog linked to facebook.  Nothing overly exciting going on today.  I will be working on some projects for a potential mother/daughter workshop.  Of course it will involve chocolate.


Ok it isn't working for me at all.  I will go back to sharing the old fashion way.  So just click like on my facebook page and you will get my latest updates.

Until next time.

Monday, Monday...

Anyone remember that song?  My oh my, where has this past week gone?  I can't believe I have already started school shopping for the youngest child.  Told the middle child it would be ok even if he couldn't go into the Air Force due to asthma. Wished the oldest child Happy 21st Birthday (how the heck did that happen??)  On the same day my oldest turned 21, it was my high school class reunion. 

In between the Bucksport Bay Festival and this week, there still has been visiting family and having birthday parties.  Which brings me to this posting finally.  What do you get a six year old who is having a birthday and is going to a new school this year?  "A kid's debit card" of course.  I always thought they were called "gift cards" until my six year old enlightened me.  How could I have been so foolish not to know such things?

The one thing I do know is a "kids debit card" needs a cute package and it needs to be fast.  Fast=Big Shot.  I cut two pieces of cardstock that I had from some place that was glittery and special for a birthday.  I used the scallop square die.  I made a little pocket with the two squares and used a glitter brad for a hinge.  Used some blue ribbon for a knot.  I used a verse from the new hostess set Happiest Birthday Wishes.

Here is the "present" opened. Now the lucky birthday boy can go shopping and use his new debit card!

Until next time,