New SU information

I have just posted on my craft site some great new information about Stampin' Up's changes. You can access that post here.


Click here to place a Stampin' Up order

A new blog

I set up another blog for my crafting, stamping, scrapbooking ideas and "stuff". So this blog will just be for family events and happenings. I'm sure there will be cross over every once in awhile. So for the next little bit the blog will be changing as I delete and move widgets that are for crafting to the new blog. I won't delete any of the old post, so those will still be available. I'm going to leave the link below also in case someone actually does want to place a Stampin' Up! order. My siggy will probably stay the same for right now, although I'm creating a new one for the new blog.

To see what is happening in that world click here for access to my "Stamping with Kate" blog.

This means that instead of a blog, a personal website that is basically for school, and a troop website to maintain, now I have another blog and my Stampin' Up website. Sometimes I really wonder.

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A new 3 x 3 box

I'm loving these boxes so much, I made another one tonight. I haven't made any of the accompanying cards for it yet, not enough time tonight. I used current colors for everyone, so if anyone wants to duplicate it they can. Once I made the first one, I have found that they go pretty quickly. Of course the 3 x 3 cards will take more time. I'll have to do those Friday afternoon when I get back from Gooseberry. By then my 3 x 3 envelopes will be here and I can stamp those for the previous cards and the new ones. I'm having a blast with all my stamping/crafting stuff.

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paper: Certainly Celery and So Saffron CS, Tea Party DP
accessories: So Saffron and Certainly Celery brads, Certainly Celery button, SNAIL, and Sticky Strip adhesives, Certainly Celery twill ribbon (from Sale-a-bration Spring '09)

3 x 3 box w/cards

I've been wanting to make this box with its accompanying cards for ages. I finally sat down last night and did it. I used the same paper and stamp set as the Splitcoasters tutorial. I really wanted to see how I was doing compared to the tutorial. Now I can go through my designer paper and choose something else. These were time consuming, but worth the effort. What did I do before I had an nestabilities? I can't wait to get more shapes. They cut down on time and add so much with just a little bit of effort.





After I took these pictures I realized that the adhesive isn't sticking as well as I would like. I re-stuck the ribbon on the one Kiwi Kiss card, but I just noticed the box and my computer isn't in my craft room.

I've been using a lot of retired colors lately, because I'm finally making cards and scrapbook pages and 3-d projects. It has been very nice to actually be able to see everything I have and can actually find things. When I was labeling all my stamp sets, I found that a ton of them are retired. I'm thinking of going through them and seeing what I really want to keep and what I'll be selling off. I have a few that I purchased off of e-Bay that I wonder "why did I buy that?" Those will definitely be the first to go.

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stamp set: Dreams du Jour and Sprinkles
ink: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, and Pink Pirouette (all retired '08-'09 In Colors)
paper: Raspberry Tart DP (ret.), Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, and Pink Pirouette CS (all retired '08-'09 In Colors), and unknown white CS
accessories: markers: Old Olive, Regal Rose, and Rose Red, Pretty in Pink 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, American Crafts Elements 1/2" white grosgrain ribbon, Nestabilities, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Button Bouquet (Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red ret.)

Deep breath

Well, I did it. I created my own Stampin' Up! website. I've taken the plunge. I want to get into it more somehow. I can't really do classes or clubs, because I don't have any spare time once school starts. But in searching the web, I've found many people who only hold classes for six people. It would be tight, but I think I can do that in my scrap/craft room. If I open my desk it will hold six people. So we'll see as the year progresses how or if I add this or not to my (our) life. I may even start a separate blog for scrap/crafts from the home blog. Again an idea just floating right now. One of the bloggers I follow has a class kit by mail, so all there is preparation not people in the house. That's a thought too. But for now there will be a "click here to place an order" on all most of my posts.

Click here to place an order

Inspired by Carter's closet

After Libby so nicely took my advice and added Carter to her card inspiration challenge, I couldn't not participate. I don't have a dinosaur stamp, so I used my dragon from a long retired set Dreams & Dragons. I rapturously wrote about it here. I tried really hard to get rid of his wings and breath, but they didn't want to disappear totally. I didn't really have any circles either. Carter is sitting in a huge turquoise tunnel with circles cut out. So, I used bubbles instead. My layout is based on Splitcoasters card challenge SC239. I'm not sure if it still counts since I added another layer with the circle and the sentiment. I have no idea what I will do with this card. I'll put it in the box for an occasion in the future.

I just purchased my first set of nestabilities (all the circles), so I had to use at least one. I'm excited; it seems that everyone has at least one set of nestabilities and uses them frequently. I'm loving both them and my big shot dies. Once I had an idea of colors and layout, this card went quite quickly. Can I use another "q" word? :)



An update on Stellan can be found here. He is doing better, but still needs tons of prayers. He is headed to Boston any day now, as soon as there is a bed for him. Now that the medicines have kicked-in, he feels better. However, the high dosage of heart medication makes him really sick, so the doctors have added anti-nausea medicine as well. How his family manages I have no idea. Some people can take everything thrown at them and continue with life; others can barely handle just getting up every day.

stamp set: Dreams & Dragons (ret.) and Short & Sweet
ink: Taken with Teal, Basic Black
paper: unknown white CS, Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal, and Real Red CS
accessories: Pacific Point corduroy buttons (ret.), word window punch, Cuddlebug, bubbles cuddlebug texture, nestabilities, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

I told you

I knew there would be several posts today. Here's the next one.

The late-night stampers have a "royal blog tour" happening on their many (80 in all) websites going on for the next few days. There are many really interesting cards, scrapbook pages, and altered items on these pages. I have found several new people to watch as their ideas are quite interesting. If you are interested in following or just looking at a few follow this link to get started.

Card Redoux

Here's the next one I made today. This was a lot of fun to make even if it did take forever and a day. Hopefully, I'll get faster as time goes on. There are some mistakes, but it's hand made so no one should expect perfection. Right? The first image shows the colors better and the second image shows the saw's gold and silver better.


This is the inside before I put any personal comments.

Supplies (all SU! except where noted):

stamp set: Totally Tool and Very Versatile
paper: To the Nines Specialty DP (SU! retired), Sahara Sand textured CS, Very Vanilla and More Mustard CS
ink: Always Artichoke, Basic Black
accessories: Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Curly Label punch, black buttons (retired), needle/thread, mat pack, paper piercing tool, dimensionals, gold and silver metallic pens (MS), Top Note Bigz die, Big Shot, sponge daubers, SNAIL adhesive

Update: To the Nines Specialty DP is not retired. I goofed.

Holiday Mini

I just downloaded the holiday mini from Stampin' up! Can I saw WOW! This mini catty is fantastic. I want almost everything I see in it. The "Sweet treats cups" are an awesome idea. I really can't wait until Sept. 1 for everyone else to see this catty. I think SU! has really outdone themselves this time. Here's a peek at the cover.

First card

Here's my first card without copying any ideas or layouts or colors. I know that in the scrapping world all of those are okay, but it sits hard with me. I love this set "A Kind Word." It was in the old catty and was carried over to the new one. It reminds of an artist from the early 80's, but I have no idea who that was just a memory of sweet round faces on the children. I colored the girl with watercolor crayons. Then I meticulously cut her out and mounted her on dimensionals. I also now know why some people don't like using chip board. It is a pain to cut out after covering in cardstock. I probably could have chosen an easier piece than the curly-que that I did.

After looking at now, I think I should have sponged the edges of the sentiment, but it's too late now. One lucky person will get this card for her birthday. It's pretty much a female card not male.

Supplies used:

stamp set: A Kind Word (SU!)
paper: Very Vanilla, Taken with Teal cardstock (SU!), Apricot Appeal textured cardstock (SU!), white cardstock (unknown)
ink: Stazon black, Certainly Celery (SU!) Taken with Teal (marker SU!)
watercolor crayons: Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery, Blush Blossom, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, Apricot Appeal (SU!)
Accessories: Whisper White Taffeta ribbon (SU!), word window punch (SU!), chip board (K&Co.), dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Volunteer thoughts

As the SUD-Bud for our Service Unit, I am in charge of finding ways to honor our volunteers. For our October meeting, I copied an idea that I received from Jostens many years ago. It involved M&M's as "pills". Each color represented a "cure" for a different problem. I made cute little "diaper pouches," filled them with M&M's. I wanted everyone to have at least two of each color and then a few more. They took forever to make 40 of. The top one shows the different components and the bottom one shows the finished product.

supplies used: all SU DP Ghostly Greetings, CS Basic Black, Whisper White, and Pumpkin Pie, Batty for You, Pumpkin Pie classic ink, scallop and 1 3/8 punches, misc. ribbon (from WalMart :( ), I printed the list on my laser printer on white cardstock.

For November's meeting I enlisted Deirdre's help. She doesn't like to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) ideas. I keep telling her it's how teachers function. Beg, borrow and steal ideas! She was very unhappy that I don't have a lot of patterned papers in fall colors. I tend to go for soft subtle backgrounds. I had just purchased some "holly" paper from ZIM's (25 sheets for $2), but it looks fall, not Christmas and I had another patterned "fall" color paper that she liked (also from ZIM's going out of business sale). I was going to make all 36 like the more complicated one below, but decided it was going to take waaay tooo long!!!

supplies used: SU scallop square, scallop circle, horizontal slot, and tag corner punches, orange cardstock unknown source, four different fall ribbons from Michael's, patterned paper from ZIM's, laser printer for tag.

We had a great assembly line going. Deirdre punched the orange tags and put the scallop papers on the mints and stuffed the bags with mints. I punched the scallops (those punches are a devil to use) and tied the bags closed and tied the tags on. They didn't take nearly as long as the previous month's. Then I left them at home! So everyone will get two in December.

I already have my idea planned. I am going to use my new BigShot and new Top Note Bigz die. I am doing red/white peppermints in bags with the TopNote used as the closer. I just don't have the "inspirational" saying or the stamp set decided yet. I already have the paper for the closers and the peppermints too. I need to get working on these soon too since the house is going to need my help soon too.

Update

Well to save myself a little bit of money, I decided to become a Stampin' UP demonstrator. I did not do this to start a club or host scrapbooking nights. I have no clue what I am doing when it comes to cards or scrapbooking. I did this solely for the discount. I haven't decided if I will set up a website or not. It seems a bit much for something that will probably never be used. I already maintain a school website with numerous pages, a scout website with numerous pages, and this blog. That is about as much as I can reasonably do. Jeff only let me become a demonstrator with the understanding that it doesn't add any time to my life. Doing a club or anything would add time, so those are out. Scouts and scrapbooking/stamp club seem to take more time than he would like anyway, no sense in adding to those.

Bridging Invitations

This is the invitation I made for the ceremony. I sent the cards through my color printer and then did the fronts. I used a musical wheel that I bought off of e-bay. The wheel is stamped in Brocade Blue, while the words and star is in Night of Navy. I used Apricot Appeal for the other stars and the ribbon. I used the new SU scallop edge punch for the front right edge. I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the invitations, so I just "winged" it. I thought they turned out rather well.

Below are all five of the invitations with Jessie, Samantha, and Deirdre behind them. They wouldn't let me take a picture without them in it.I edged the circles with Night of Navy for the smaller one and Chocolate Chip for the larger one. I used my favorite set for the stars. As you can see from the photo each invite was slightly different. I let the girls pick which one they wanted.

I have to add that the pictures were taken in the 4th ward's Primary room—our new home for scouts. Or it was our new home until the Achievement Days decided they would meet there at the same time! So, we are moving into the Relief Society room across the hall. Makes more sense anyway. All of the girls will be moving into Young Womens at some point this year, except poor Samantha has to wait until August. They won't want to meet in the Primary room after they have moved up to YW.

PMS—7/23

I love that title! Last night I went to a PMS party at Erin's. We scrapbooked for hours. This is what I accomplished.

Several people wanted to know who the little girl in the pictures was. Boy was everyone surprised when I said "Deirdre." Of course the pictures are from nine years ago. I found them in a drawer in the laundry room. A strange place for pictures but they worked for what I was doing. Now only 11 1/2 years of scrapbooking to do.


Today I made this card for my former yearbook rep. She is getting married on Aug. 1 in the Salt Lake Temple. I am so happy for her. I don't have a "wedding set" of stamps, so I used my "Dreams and Dragons" set. I love that set and am so glad I won it on e-bay. The set is from 1996 and was re-issued in 2003 for the 15 anniversary. I could probably get rid of half my sets and just use this one over and over. I am sure Jeff would be thrilled.

front view

inside view (or at least part of it)
I used Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, WW, SU pastels for the dragon (the picture doesn't do it justice, it's a beautiful purple shade; the first picture shows the Pale Plum around the CB white)

I goofed on my sentiment. I hope they don't mind. I knew exactly what to write, but that isn't what I put.