Stampers 10 Challenge Cards

Every Club night we set a card challenge - last month's was set by Kathy W - it was to make your best 5 1/4" square card with a mother's day theme and it had to be monochromatic and include some type of dry embossing. The entries were all great!!
Here is Kelly's entry - and Lyn's -

and Karen's -

and Kathy B's -

and finally - our winner - Kandi!!

These were all wonderful cards and the pictures never do them justice - way to go ladies!!

Stampers 10 Card

So here's the card we made at my Stampers 10 group - it matches the candy container we made at my open house - see this post - http://crazystampinglady.blogspot.com/2010/03/open-house-bonus-project.html

The card used the bird punch from SU with the gem from the Eggscellent Eggs kit (sorry this kit is no longer available). We also added some of our great Satin Ribbon, and the scallop border. I let them pick the sentiment they'd like to add, depending on what they wanted to use the card for. I think it turned out so nice, and I made a bunch to send. So if your birthday is coming up soon - this could be your card :)

March Stampers 10 Hostess Gift

My March Stampers 10 group met recently with Meagan as the Hostess (thanks Meagan)! Here is her hostess gift from me. It's a set of three 3x3" gift cards with envelopes. Here you can see them each individually - I used the Pocket Sillouettes set and the rock and roll technique on each of the flowers. The words are from SU's Warm Words.


Here is the set of cards all together with a topper, as I presented it to her. Hope you liked it Meagan!!

Another Wonderful Blessing -

We have a new grandson - Zavian Aaron King made his arrival Friday, March 26, 2010 at 8:02 PM - he weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 21" long. It was a long day - about 10 hours labor - but the moment he was born, that was completely out of our minds. That makes four grand-daughters and two grand-sons - how very blessed we are.

Here he is immediately after being born with his Mommy - Heidi: Here he is after they got him all cleaned up:and finally his first picture with proud gramma - ME!

Prince turned "5"

So our grandson Prince turned 5 last week and we celebrated with family and friends at one of his favorite places - Chuck E Cheeses! Here is the card I made him with the cupcake die from Stampin' Up! I made it to match the colors of his Superman wrapping paper. Here is our handsome boy - all proud with his Birthday Boy Crown. (note he already used the tokens that came embedded in the crown :)

And here he is right after blowing out his candles - note the Hot Wheels cupcakes -so appropriate - as he is so into cars and loves Hot Wheels.

Finally here he is at our house opening his presents. This is part of his gift from us - a big hauler truck with 17 little match box type cars and room to carry 17 more on the other side - as you can see from his reaction it was a good choice - HE LOVED IT!

Zavian's Blankie

My daughter Heidi is being induced today - I'll be sure to post something after Zavian arrives - I'm so excited. But in the mean time I wanted to share this blanket I crocheted for him. I've done the same thing for each of my six grandbabies when they are born - just each in different colors. I forgot to take a picture of the one I made Zamarah in February but it was similar colors, but a mauve where the darker brown is on this one. The babies room is greens, tans, and brown - so I think this will look great. It's just a large granny square so super easy and fast, and then I just do a simple border on it to finish. Hopefully we'll soon be cuddling Zavian in it

Sandy's Birthday

Recently we celebrated the birthday of my good friend Sandy (she's the one on the right in this picture from last year's SU demo convention.)

She made these beautiful invitations to her celebration -



and then gave us each a cute little matching basket full of candy as a Thank You for celebrating with her - they are so cute. Happy Birthday Sandy - here's to a wonderful year ahead!! Love ya!

March Birthday Celebration

Each month our entire family goes out to each to celebrate all the family birthdays for that month. This month we went to a local Italian restaurant, and instead of a little cake with a candle - they bring a big cupcake and a huge candelabra with big candles to blow out. So we celebrated Kai's birthday and here she is blowing out her candles with Daddy holding onto them. We also celebrated Jenee's and Prince's birthdays and here Prince is blowing out those candles. They all thought it was great. Most likely next year we'll also be celebrating little Zavian's birthday in March!

Open House Bonus Project

If you brought a friend to my Open House you got to do a BONUS project - here it is ~

Instructions for Bonus Bird Punch Treat Holder

1) Pour about 10 Jr. Mints (or candy of your choice) into open metal container, close and put a small piece of 2-sided tape on each side of container covering seam to help seal. These containers are available many times at the $ stores -but I think I ordered mine online.

2) Wrap ribbon around container starting at one piece of tape and go all around till it meets. Be sure there is enough tape to hold it down, and cut ribbon.

3) Use the rest of the ribbon you have cut off to make a bow and attach it to the place where the ribbon meets with a glue dot. This will hide that seam.

4) Punch a scallop out of Barely Banana cardstock and adhere to top of container with a piece of 2-sided tap.

5) Using Bird punch, punch a Bashful Blue bird and a Certainly Celery branch and wing. Adhere wing and branch to bird with 2-sided tape. Adhere entire bird/branch combo to top of scallop with 2-sided tape at the bottom and 2 dimensionals stacked at the top. This will put the bird at a slight angle so you can see him better from the front of the box.

6) Add a small gem from the Eggscellent Egg kit for the birds eye.

7) Voila! You're done.



Now that you've seen all four of the Open House projects, why don't you try one and send me a picture. I'll post any that I receive.

Open House Project 3

Vintage Flower - here is the 3rd project we made at last week's Open House - it is a simple flower made by punching 4-5 Extra Large Fancy Flowers using the SU Punch. This is similar to a project Shelli showed us at Leadership this year - and it was a hit at the Open House.

Instructions for Vintage Flower Make and Take

1) Tear a page out of an old book that you no longer want. The dollar stores are great for this. (you'll want to be sure the parts you punch do not include any off color words or sayings).

2) Randomly stamp over page any colors or stamp designs you wish. We used - the flourish with Handsome Hunter and the Medallion with Melon Mambo.


3) Punch four to five big flowers out of the printed area that has been stamped.

4) Gently crumple each flower in your hand and reopen it.

5) Sponge with a coordinating color (Melon Mambo) around the edge of each flower.

6) Punch a hole in the center of each flower and feed the corduroy brad of your color and size choice through the holes.

7) Spread out the petals the way you would like them to lay, and make sure prongs of brad are tight.

8) Flower is now ready for you to attach to your own gift, card or scrapbook page.



Stop back tomorrow to see the final project from my Open House.

Open House Project 2

Cute carrot treat holder - we saw a project similar to this that was being swapped at Leadership this year, so we decided to try and duplicate it for a make and take. I think it turned out so cute.

Instructions for Carrot Make and Take

1) Sponge Pumpkin Pie around outside of large Pumpkin Pie scallop made with the Scallop Circle die.

2) Punch 3 scallop ovals from the Old Olive Cardstock scraps, and sponge around each with Old Olive ink.

3) Gently curve large scallop into a cone shape with sponged side on
outside, so sides overlap, attach with a small piece of 2-sided tape and punch a hole for the brad to go through both layers. Put brad through and secure.

4) Attach the three scallop ovals to the large scallop using 2-sided tape as indicated in the picture.

5) Stamp the Happy Easter from the Well Scripted stamp set on a piece of white scrap and punch with the large oval punch.

6) Layer that onto a scrap of Old Olive and punch scallop oval around it.

7) Attach saying to the front of your carrot with 2-sided tape.

8) Put in Easter grass and carrot is now ready to take home and fill with a goodie of your choice.

Customer Appreciation Open House

Well last Sunday was my annual Customer Appreciation Open House. Here is part of the group doing their make and takes.So for the next four days I'll be sharing a project we did for a make and take and the instructions. Hope you like them. Here is the first the Bunny basket tag - this was what I shared in our preview -Instructions for Bunny Gift Tag/Bookmark

1) Using 2-sided tape layer a 2x3 3/4" Close to Cocoa rectangle on the Hugs layer; then layer
a DSP 1 3/4 x 3 1/2" rectangle onto the Close to Cocoa.

2) Punch a whole through all 3 layers (see picture for placement) and attach the
long white ribbon.

3) Stamp the Chocolate Bunny using Chocolate Chip Ink on a Close to Cocoa scrap and cut around him leaving a little border of Close to Cocoa showing.

4) Attach the bunny to the tag using dimensionals.

5) Attach a small bow to the neck of the bunny using a glue dot.

6) It is now ready to be tied on an Easter basket or gift as a gift tag; or used as a bookmark in your favorite book - maybe "Peter Rabbit" :)

Blast from the Past

This was another card entry for a downline challenge awhile ago - the challenge was to make your best card of this style - I call it diorama - but I think it has a different name. This was my card and I love how it turned out. The picture doesn't do it justice. There were a lot of layers and sponging and dimension to each flower - and it won - so I was happy with that. I think the set was Bella something - maybe Bella Rose? Not sure - but I liked it. I don't think I even took a picture of it folded up. I've got to try another card like this.

Spring Stamp Camp - Part II

So here are the 3-D items we made at our last Stamp Camp - this cute little milk carton holder and cartons came from a template from Wanda Pettijohn: http://www.starlightstamper.com/2010/02/sizzix-die-milk-carton-tote.html she was so sweet to share the template. I also saw someone's site using the Eggcellent Eggs kit to decorate, so I did something similar - but I'm sorry, I can't remember where. So if it was you, please let me know and I'll be happy to give credit to you. I love that Eggs kit from SU! as it contains die cut flowers and leaves in many colors, die cut egg stands, white rub-ons and self-adhesive gems - all for $9.95. In fact we made 11 of these sets, and I still have way over half the kit left -what a great bargain for your spring cards, 3-D items and egg decorating. Contact me to order yours now! Isn't it cute - fill it with a couple candy treats and give it to someone you LOVE!!

So, here's the second 3-D project we made - a little planter box filled with some gardening goodies for the gardener in your life. The metal box is covered with DSP and then I used the Daisy die cut to make flowers to mimic the Zinnias on the front of the seed packet. The petals were curved back and then by using a dimensional to adhere in the middle the get a nice fullness.Here is a close up of the largest flower.and here are the goodies that went inside - a pair of gardening gloves, a packet of Zinnias and a cute little gift tag made out of a planter name stake using the Garden from the Heart set from the current Occasions mini. I think they turned out really cute

Be sure to join us for our next stamp camp April 13th - details to come.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Okay - so being Irish (my maiden name was O'Reilly) I have to love St. Patty's Day - and it's true - I do! I love green and shamrocks and rainbows and pots of gold :) - so there you go. Anyway, I made these cute St. Patty's day cards for my 7 brothers and one for my sis (you saw right -there are 9 kids in my family) - and I've sent them off, mostly to Wisconsin. But at least I was smart enough to snap a picture first.You can see a post of one of the cards close up here if you are interested - they are the same cards we made in my club last month.
http://crazystampinglady.blogspot.com/2010/02/stampers-10-club-february.html

I also included this little poem. I had originally received it in my card from my Secret Sis this month and I loved it!! Thanks SSS.

Wishing you a rainbow

For sunlight after showers

Miles and miles of Irish smiles

For golden happy hours -

Shamrocks at your doorway

For luck and laughter too,

And a host of friends, that never ends

Each day your whole life through!

Just as I wish this to my family I also wish it to all of you!!

Have a great St. Patty's Day!!

Spring Stamp Camp

Last Tuesday night was our "Spring Stamp Camp" and we had a great time. Attendees made two of this cute little card. They had the choice of the Easter sentiment or many others if they didn't want that one. Heidi won this Eggcoutraments set at Leadership - and it is sooo cute!They also made two of this cute "little bunny butt" card - and could also pick a different saying if they didn't want Easter. It was mostly done with punches - the tail was made by punching a scallop oval and then feeding the end back into the punch and punching again. The little eggs were made the same way with the small oval punch, and then designed with the white gel pen. Heidi designed these two cards.

Thursday I'll show the 2 3-D items we made.

April Downline/Blog Challenge

Once again - I'm asking you to play along with our monthly card challenge. So here is the challenge for our April downline meeting -

Make your best card using a card in the current Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog or the Occasions mini as your inspiration. You must duplicate the card you choose - using a different stamp set and different colors. You can use some of the colors that are in your catalog card - but the card as a whole cannot have all the same colors in the same places. All entries must be received by 9AM on Sat. April 3, 2009 (immediate downline in person at my home; others, please send me an email with a picture of your entry). Please indicate the page number and catalog of the card you choose for your inspiration. Hope that makes sense - have fun with this!!!

My downline will vote for a winners at our meeting (one winner from my immediate downline and one winner from all other entries received.) Each winner will receive a Stampin' Up! merchandise prize. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!! Please consider playing along!

Bird on a Branch

I made this card for a layout challenge last year using "Bird on a Branch" from Stampin' Up! Inside is a sympathy sentiment. The only set used on this is the Bird on a Branch - I cut out the bird and popped him up on a dimensional.

Bird On A Branch (set of 5 stamps)
Price: $18.95

Email me now to order your own set and see what you can create.

Flowers - I have even MORE flowers

I have the best friends in the world. All the thoughts and prayers for my recovery have been wonderful and I have to tell you I am feeling WONDERFUL. I still get tired easy and nap a little each day - I also can't lift, etc. - but I can hardly believe I had major surgery two weeks ago. I am just so very, very thankful. Several people have given me beautiful flowers and I wanted to share them with all of you. Here is a lovely hanging impatian plant that some of those I work with brought me last week - thank you Emilie, Maureen and Julius - I love impatians!Then my good friend and downline Karen was so sweet and brought in dinner for me and Paul last Wed. - it was yummy!! She also dropped off this lovely tulip plant that we will eventually plant outside and we'll enjoy the bulbs blooming year after year. Thank you Karen!Finally - here is the most beautiful bouquet - all whites and greens for St. Patty's Day! My dear friend Kathy B (who is also in my downline) brought these Saturday morning to our meeting for me. It was perfect timing, as all the other flowers I had received were just on their last breath - so now I have beautiful fresh flowers to enjoy again for a while. What a breath of fresh air - thank you so much Kathy!

It's a Luau -

Our little Makai turned "2" last Sunday and Heidi threw a Luau in her honor. Here are some of the goodies she put out, including the beautiful tropical looking cupcakes she made for her. Don't they look great - all those bright colors.

And here is our little birthday girl - she is such a beauty! My camera died before she blew out her candles (the one at the top of this post was from Heidi). Makai's favorite thing right now is ELMO - so I made her this cute little card and she loved it!!! She also got a spinning, talking Elmo chair as one of her gifts. You can't do a party at Heidi's without crafts. Here is what she had - the little cups on the left were the goodie bags filled with lots of fun stuff; then there were pictures to color, beads and surf boards to string on necklaces, suncatchers to paint, and palm trees to decorate with stickers. I even did a couple crafts. Finally we captured this picture of Papa and Zamarah - it's the first picture we have of the two of them, and they look like their having a heart to heart exchange. So sweet.

March Downline Card Challenge

We have a winner!! Even though no one played along through my blog - we had a really good number of entries from my downline for this month's challenge - see this post http://crazystampinglady.blogspot.com/2010/02/february-downline-challenge.html

So here is my entry - and I came in 2nd but I get to pick the challenge - see the explanation for that at the end of this blog -

the next entry is from a brand new Crazy Stamping Lady - Shawna - and she did a great job!Here's Pat's entry - and Melissa's -Here is Lisa's entry -and Kathy B's - This is Jeri's entry -and Heidi's (she came in 3rd but got the prize - see explanation below) - Bobbie's - and Annette's -Then our winner - Julie's - with those amazing Roses - but since she set the challenge she could not win, soooo - I came in 2nd and get to set the next challenge, but I didn't want my own prize, so Heidi came in 3rd and got the prize - way to go everyone - these cards were amazing.