April Club page

This is the page we made in club this month. I have been really busy with work lately so I have not had time to post anything lately. I actually worked an extra 12 hour shift on my last pay period and didn't even realize it until the timekeeper sent me a note saying "If you worked all of the shifts you were scheduled for last payperiod, please submit on OT/CT request" I actually had to go find a schedule, and sure enough, I had been scheduled 8 twelve hour shifts that schedule and I just came to work when I was scheduled and didn't even notice! My next check should be nice....
Ok, back to the page. I love how this turned out. I hope that you all put pictures of yor mothers, grandmothers, or mother figures on this page and share them with those special people. I know that Renae said she was going to use pics of one of her kids' grandmothers and frame it as a gift for Mother's Day.

• Stamps: 5th Avenue Floral, Whimsical Words 
• Paper: Whisper White, Pale Plum , Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Shimmer paper
• Ink: Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
• Other: Little Leaves and Top Note die with Big Shot, Scallop Oval  and Flower Trio punches, reinkers and Aquapainters, White embossing powder, Heat gun, Embossing Buddy, White gel pen, sponges, So Saffron and Certainly Celery 5/8" ribbon.

Decorated Notepads

I found these little notepads that were not very pretty and did not have a cover at out local print shop and decided to pretty them up! This is one of them that I came up with. Don't you just love this patterned paper?! It is the Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Pack #117161 from the Occasions Mini and is only available until the end of April. Of course, I didn't buy the paper pack. I have the wonderful papercrafting computer program My Digital Studio from Stampin Up and I was able to purchase the digital version of the Sweet Pea Paper pack and now I can print my own at home :) I think I used up all my ink playing around, lol! I also used some Sweet Pea Felt, the real version. There is a digital version of those too. But I wanted the real thing on this item. The ribbon is 5/8" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain and the base card stock in Pretty in Pink with a Close to Cocoa mat.

This one has a Melon Mambo base with an Old Olive mat and Melon Mambo ribbon, Sweet Pea felt and a large Clear Rhinestone.

And another one! Don't you just love the variety of patterned papers in this pack?!

And this is the last one. It has a base of Bermuda Bay with Pumpkin Pie mat, Bermuda Bay and a retired 1" wide Chocolate Chip satin ribbon with a Pumpkin Pie Corduroy Button and some crochet thread. 

My notepads are 3-1/2 x 5-1/4" so I cut the base of the cover at 7-3/8" x 5-3/8", scored at 3-1/2" and 3-7/8". Decorated the front, then adhered the notepad inside with Sticky Strip.
I have been using one in my go-bag for work to keep track of my Weight Watchers points ( I have lost almost 20 pounds so far, woo-hoo!). The rest I will give to my Club ladies as a little appreciation gift.

Leave a comment and link to yours if you make some too. I would love to see what others come up with!

A Summer Renovation

Spring has always felt like a preparation time for me, and I guess Stampin Up! feels the same way. There was a major announcement yesterday in preparation for a wonderful change coming July 1st. I am so excited about this change, I can hardly contain my use of exclamation marks! (See, one sneaked out!) And what, you may ask, has me wiggling in my seat as I sit typing this?


Stampin Up! is doing a Color Renovation with the new Idea Book & Catalog that will be released on July 1st!

How awesome is that! We are totally shaking things up for a fresh and fun color palette. There will be 4 color collections with 10 colors each. Each year we will get 5 new In-Colors with a lifespan of 2 years. There will then be 10 In-Colors starting in 2011-2012 IB&C. Then in 2012-2013, then new ones from this summer will retire. Love it! Here is a link to the new color families starting July 1st. You may have noticed some new colors in there. Yup, we are getting 5 new core colors, and Kraft is becoming a core color and being renamed Crumb Cake. It will now feel more like part of the in crowd, as it really is! And we will then have ink, pastels, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, and markers in Crumb Cake! Yippee!!! The other 5 colors are: Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, and Marina Mist

One of my favorite parts of this Renovation is that we are bringing back some of our favorite retired In-Colors! Woo-Hoo!!!!! I can't WAIT! We get these gorgeous colors back:  
Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede, Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi, and River Rock ! I know that I miss every single one of the ones that are gone already, and the ones we get to keep from this year are definitely my favs from this year! See, Stampin Up! really does listen to their customers and demonstrators! 

Now for the possibly painful part of this amazingly fabulous change. There are 30 colors that will be retiring. Here is a link to a chart of those that we must bid farewell. By giving us all this big of a heads up, we can stock up on the ones we just can't let go of yet without breaking the bank. How sweet of Stampin Up! to consider our feelings in both directions! I just love Stampin Up!

Ok, I know this is a lot of information to process, so I will stop for now. I will let this absorb before I tell you more details :) There are LOTS more details to be shared about this Renovation, but we have time!

Mother's Day Mojo 131

I thought I would actually try to do the Mojo Monday challenge as soon as I got it today. I am supposed to be sleeping right not because I work the night shift at 7:30pm, but I slept until 11am, so I will just take a little nap before work and play with my stamps until then, lol! This is the first time this stamp set has seen ink and I have had it for over 2 months! For shame, I know! It was fun to put this together, it just kept evolving as I went along. I also used a color combo challenge from Stampin Addicts called  SACC47 Forest Friends Easter Greetings. 
 Check them out, there are lots of great challenges there! 
You probably can't tell in this picture, but there is Shimmer Paint on the MOM and on the Pink Lattice pieces and on the butterflies and I inked up the texture plate with So Saffron before I ran the paper through the Big Shot. 

• Stamps: Messages for Mom
• Paper: So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
• Ink: So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Frost White Shimmer Paint
• Other: Beautiful Wings embosslit, Lattice die, and Perfect Details texture plate with Big Shot, brayer, sponge, Cutter Kit for distressing tool, Pinking Hearts border punch, Aqua painter, Pretty in Pink 1/4" grosgrain, Scallop border punch

Spring Window Vinyl

 

I did some window vinyl ornaments and snow flakes around Christmas, and thought it was time to do something springy. So  here are some butterflies and flowers! These were all made with various Big Shot dies and Sizzlets, were cut with different dies on 1 piece. I'm thinking these would look fine layered, if it was on something other than a window. Right now the sun shining through makes stuff on the bottom layer visible. I put these in the upper corner of the door to our 2nd story deck and in the background you see the Norway Pines that give us what little green we have this time of year, lol. 

• Dies: Stampin Up! Beautiful Butterflies, Stampin Up! Blossom Party, Scribbles Swirls, Stampin Up! Little Leaves
• Vinyl: Real Red, Bashful Blue, & Old Olive Decor Elements Vinyl Sheets

Our Decor Elements Vinyl Sheets are available in 22 colors, including Clear, Kraft, and Chalkboard and they include the transfer sheets. Some come in a tube with 2 sheets of 14-1/4"x24" vinyl and 2 sheets of transfer paper for 14.95. The rest of the colors come in 12"x24", 2 sheets vinyl and 2 sheets of transfer paper.
The possibilities are endless! I have even drawn an image on the paper backing of the vinyl and hand cut the image. 
If you are interested in purchasing some for yourself, please visit my demo site (click on the SHOP NOW icon in the upper right corner of my blog and then in the upper right of my demo page).
So, show us what you come up with! Leave a comment and link to your effort :)

Pet Sympathy Card

One of our friend's dog died on Friday and I know how much we miss our pets. They are a part of the family and it's hard to lose someone so suddenly. So this card is for Maria and Richie.
I used  Mojo Monday sketch 130 and some retired colors. I'm just feeling the need to use something old that is new again lately, I guess. The weather continues to be unseasonally warm here in Northern Minnesota. I can't believe I have been able to have the windows open and air things out a couple times already! That really influences my choices in colors. It feels like spring so pastels and florals are very much on my mind, lol! I am sure we will  get hammered with a blizzard yet sometime soon. But I will enjoy this weather while I can! My deck door is open right now in fact! I think it is about 35 degrees out and the sun is shining bright right now! Positively Balmy!

• Stamps: D is for Dog
• Paper: Kraft, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Tea Party DSP
• Ink: Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron
• Other: Finial Press embossing folder with Big Shot, Circle Scissor, paper piercer with mat pack, Signo white gel pen, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint with sponge,  Pinking Hearts border punch, Stampin Dimensionals, Groovy Guava stitched ribbon, Chocolate Chip poly-twill ribbon, mini glue dots

Hostess Bag Tags

I have been working on  making tags for the bags I give my ladies when it is their turn to be hostess for Stamp Club. Well, I finally finished 10 of them. I will bring them to club next time and everyone can pick which one they want and then use the Billboard Alpha die to put their names on them|! These are the first ones I did. All of them are 2"x3".The Paper on these is from the Sale-A-Bration paper pad called Welcome Neighbor. The brad on the left is from the Circle Brad assortment and the the brads on the right are the Filigree brads and Fire circle rhinestones.  The ribbon is Bermuda Bay. I used the Jumbo Eyelets in Antique Brass on all of them.The base is made out of chipboard I had laying around-it came from packaging for kits I got from Stampin' Up at convention. I can't throw anything away, right?!

Then I made these. I started using scraps of all the great paper I have laying around. Love this print from Razzleberry Lemonade! Rich Razzleberry and Melon Mambo ribbon added some details.

More Razzleberry Lemonade paper, and I used the ruched ribbon (Crushed Curry) method we used on our March Stamp Club page. The flowers are the adorable Flower Brads we carry. They come in an assortment of 4 colors- So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, and Pretty in Pink.

These are made with Kaleidescope DSP, Dusty Durango and Bermuda Bay ribbon, Kraft and Summer Sun corduroy buttons and ecru crochet thread.

Again , more Kaleidescope DSP, and Certainly Celery and Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon with a Bashful Blue button from Sherbet Designer Buttons tied with more crochet thread.

More Kaliedescope DSP with Melon Mambo ribbon, Flower Fusion felt flowers, and  a Clear Rhinestone Brad.
I hope everyone like them and that they are different enough for everyone to tell which one is theirs :)