Coasting!

Here is a sampling of some of the coasters that I've been making for small gifts. My Beautiful Beach set appears again by popular demand since we are fortunate to be in a great beachy area. The En Francaise background stamp works beautifully along with a pretty monogram or the Medallion Background stamp. These are so quick and fun to make! I used craft and Stayzon inks, baked them up for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, and finished them off with two coats of fixative and felt pads for the bottoms. I'm using this project for the PPA 23, "Anything BUT a card" at http://www.palspaperarts.com/ We may make a few of these at our next Girls' Night Out on Friday, January 22, 6:30-9:30?pm, and still have plenty of time for our other projects!

Sneak Peek Purses!

We're getting ready for "Reveal Day" and the introduction of the 2010 Occasions Mini-Catalog and the Sale-A-Bration Free Product Campaign. I used a few of the new products for the Purse Greeting Card/Gift Card Holders!

If you look closely, you'll see our new Sale-A-Bration (SAB) Scallop Trip Border Punch (upper left card) , Mini-Occasions Catty Products: Sweet Pea Stitched Felt Flowers, Very Fintage Jumbo Wheel, Vintage Vogue Black and Pink Flowers, Well-Scripted (Happy Birthday).

Stampin' Up is so smart!! They are offering clear-mounted rubber stamps as well as the wood-mounted stamps! I took a chance and love the clear-mounted stamps ANDDDDD they are $4-$8 less!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR! MORE TO COME!

Happy Two Days After Christmas!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas with lots of great family, friends, and food! Now it's time to switch from the Halloween/Fall/Thranksgiving/Christmas modes to Valentine's Day and Spring!

It will not be long until I can share the delights of the new Mini Occasions Catty and the Sale-A-Bration(SAB) products. (Read:You CAN'T buy these items! They are all free and SAB includes many, many sets from the Idea Book!!!!)

Well.....here's just a little peek! This my submission for PPA 22, http://www.palspaperarts.com/ Be sure to check out their artists' samples and the 50 or so weekly submissions for great inspiration!

Most of the papers are from the SAB (Free!) Designer Series Paper Pad that has 72 double-sided 6X6 designs! These coordinate wonderfully with 7 SU colors, including the Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo that I used. I am excited about the stamps too! SU has combined the best of all worlds: clear-mount stamps that are SU quality rubber stamps, a choice of rubber-mounted or clear- mount, great space-saving containers AND a lower price for the clear-mount! I've always shied away from clear-mounts because I've never been happy with the clarity of the image but that problem is gone with the new SU stamps!!

Stamp on!!

A Winter Wonderland Florida-Style!

We've had lots of beautiful, warm, spring-like weather (until yesterday!) here in Central Florida this winter! Here are a couple of gift/giftwrap ideas that I made for yesterday. The "Sea Glass" candy is made by my friend, Kelly, whose business features her homemade delicious old-fashioned candies and to-die-for gourmet popcorns (Think Butter Rum, Strawberry Cheesecake, Marshmallow...mmmmmm!). You can find Kelly at Kellyskandies@yahoo.com and on FaceBook!
I made party favors using the "Shellebrate" stamp set. Everything is heat-embossed with SU Gold and colored in using Stampin' Write Markers and a blender pen. I used a sponge around the scallop edges to color in my Florida snow (sand) lol. It is SOOOOO relaxing to color in the shells and watch the cloisonne effect appear as you color and blend.

The gift tags were made for son Tommy's company gifts for the ladies. I went retro with "Beautiful Beach" stamps and Classy Copper Embossing Powder and metallic paper. Lots of sand--no snow.




Check out Pals Paper Arts at palspaperarts.com/ for great "Winter Wonderland" inspirations from around the country! Happy stamping!!

Fun with Old Olive, Crushed Curry, and Soft Suede

The Challenge!
This week's challenge is to use the Olive, Curry, and Suede palette! I haven't used Crushed Curry that much so I was glad to have the challenge put before me! I love the crisp look of the colors together and with Whisper White! Be sure to check out the Pals' cards for lots of inspiration and a chance to see so many talented stampers in one place!

I could not choose just one of the PPA Design Team cards. They are all gorgeous so be sure to visit http://www.palspaperarts.com/ to see them all! The first card below is my entry for this week's challenge.

Stamps: Definitely Decorative, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Paper: Old Olive, Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Whisper White CS, Tall Tales, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP

Ink: Old Olive Classic Stamp Pad, Platinum Shimmer Paint, Silver Gel Pen

Accessories: Crushed Curry Polka Dot Robbon, Silver Brad, Silver Elastic Cord, Ornament Punch

Rub-Ons: Merry & Bright, Dotted Delicates

Inspiration Provided By............

The absolutely gorgeous cards below were created by Carla Bazhen, Ann Schach, and Mary Fish. Who could not be inspired by these talented gals??

Dasher Magic

On Dasher, On Dancer!

I know that the fuss is usually about Rudolph, but our Dasher stamp is just the best! I love his dream-like swirly antlers and I've teamed them up with the flourish from "Priceless" and the Peace, Love, and Joy stamp from All Holidays. A little Dazzling Diamonds and a little bling and it's ready to go! I'm submitting this card to Pals Paper Arts PPA19 at http://www.palspaperarts.com/

Check out all of the beautiful submissions for your own inspiration!

Here's the supply list:

Stamps: Dasher, Priceless, All Holidays

Paper: Rea; Red. Old Olive,Whisper White CS

Inks: Chocolate Chip, Going Gray (Shading on snowbanks)

Accessories: Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write, Color Spritzer, Silver Gel Pen, 2-Way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds, Real Red and Old Olive 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Linen Thread, Large Silver Neutrals Brad, tiny amber rhinestones, Ticket Corner Punch

KISS--Keep It Simple, Sweetie!

Here is a quick and easy card that I'm going to submit to Pals Paper Arts at http://www.palspaperarts.com/ for their KISS challenge! The card needs to have lots of "white space", minimal layering and embellishments, and quick to create. I love having an excuse to re-visit one of my favorite sets, Fifth Avenue Floral!

Materials used are:

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Thank You Kindly

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black

Ink: Basic Black, Bermuda Bay

Accessories: Tempting Turquoise 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Bermuda Bay Stampin' Write, Color Spritzer Tool

Hope You Had a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Turkey Place Cards:
Well the idea WAS to have the 3 grandgobblers (known as grandgoblins for Halloween) assemble all of the 200+ pieces of punched and die-cut cardstock into 12 place cards. It's been a family tradition for the girls to make place cards, usually commercial place cards or something simple I'd come up with, ready for them to write names. When 2 of the grandgobblers needed to come a bit later, our schedule was in disarray!

Daughter, Deb, (I needed to check the turkey, make the gravy happen, and calculate how many casseroles and pans of rolls would fit into our conventional oven when the turkey at last came out) helped Abby to cut, glue, and glue, and glue, the 17 or so pieces for a number of them but Alas! I had to admit that there was too little time for so much fun! We had them for the girls' places and I will pack away the remaining oval scallops, Boho punches,scallop squares, little feet, beaks, combs and little eyes for next year's celebration!

I totally CASEd this great punch idea from Sophia Landry (Thank you, Sophia!!!!), who can be found on Andrea Walford's site! Sophia is a genius at punch creations. I didn't find myself that interested in elaborate creations with punches at first, but now I'm inspired and excited to try my hand at a really cute punch Santa to go with my original Charlie Brown Christmas tree, seen below on the Punch Snowman (Also Sophia's idea!) card! You can watch Sophia on a video at:

http://andreawalford.com/
(You have to give Sophia the coolness of presence award as her young children can be heard in the background "not being perfect". I had to giggle because we can all relate! :-D)
Enjoy all of the leftovers!!

Stamp Night and Brownies!

Friday Stamp Night!

Friday Stamp Night saw us (Music teacher Amy, Julie, an office intern from France, art teacher Cindi, who attended along with her mom, Pat) creating some really fun matchbook gift-card holders. We created one holiday GC holder and one general purpose GC holder! The Snowman was pretty labor-intensive, requiring
putting many of those great punches to good use! I love the Whimsey wheel in Real Red! The ornament punch is soooooo versatile. We used it to create our vase for the Thoughts and Prayers "bouquet"!

YAYY! BROWNIES!!! Not the snack! REAL Brownies!! Here we are at St. Thomas Aquinas making angel tags for their annual gift-giving Christmas tree! We used "If the Halo Fits", a perfect set for such a project! We cut out extra angel gownsin Real Red and Old Olive to give it a little more "pop" and then we used markers, a silver gel pen, and blue glitter (for the wings). We framed the cards in colors to match the gowns and added organza ribbons! The girls and their moms made beautiful tags as a community service project! Thanks to all the moms and their amazing leader (Well, she's my awesome daughter too!), Darla McGinley!

Snow Man Gift Card Holder--Gettin' Punchy!

Here is one of the gift-card holder projects that we'll be working on this coming Friday. I think that I used a total of 9 punches to create our snowball-throwing snowman. My inspiration for the snowman comes from Andrea Walford, a very creative stamper in the great north of Canada. The Charlie Brown-like Christmas tree is my own creation. I think it's pretty easy to tell that I used the large SU snowflake punch for the tree and the snowman's arms.

We'll also create a more general gift-card holder and envelope! If you have the following please bring them along:

Adhesive, Scissors, Signo White Gel Pen

Punches: Round Tab, Ticket Corner, Jumbo Snowflake, Circle Punches: 1 1/4", 1", 3/4", 1/2",Slit Punch, and Crop-a-dile (For buttons, eyes, and mouth)

I'll supply everything else and snacks! Hope to see you this Friday 6-9:30 pm.

Holiday Preparations, Volleyball and Puppies!

What a great holiday season! My friend Cheri and I are preparaing for a craft fair in a few weeks and I am beginning to appreciate how many items will be needed for a respectable showing and a 6-foot table. Though this is new to me as a crafter, I have spent many a wonderful hour perusing craft tables during the holiday season! My absolute FAV is the Melbourne Lutheran Church of the Redeemer Craft Fair. So many beautifully handmade gifts and ornaments! I look forward to it every fall!! Here's what I've been working on so far: Hand-decorated recipe boxes, pocket calendars, ornaments, packages of gift tags, greeting cards and holiday cards, popcorn and candy gift items, gift bags, and Christmas Wreaths.
Using my ornament punch and transparency sheets, I was able to make my own stencil. I used Stampin' Up stamp pads in In-colors and in traditional red and green colors to make a few card sets.
Here we are in craft creations central (In other words, things are getting a little cluttered around here!) where I've been working on my Christmas wreaths. These are in copper and brown-tones.

"Life is Good" is rather a family motto for us (and the brand name of our favorite comfy tee-shirts) so I could not resist this Decor Element (Actually two!) for our dining room, where many a wonderful and lively family dinner has taken place!

I love our Definitely Decorative Baroque Medallions between my "Beach Cottage" and the Dining Room. If I only had more wallspace.........

Volleyball!

How fun it is to go to the girls' volleyball games. Here is Emma, 9, (middle) all set at her rec league match. Emma is a "go for it" girl and has a great bump and serve. Emma is not afraid to put those knee pads to use either!

Here is Abby, 13 ,serving for her middle school team, the Jackson Heights Bobcats JV, county champions last year and undefeated so far this year. Abby has a great serve, bump, and is a great setter! She is fearless, consistent and solid! Abby also plays rec league volleyball! Both girls are fortunate to have terrific coaches!!

As Promised......Puppies!

Yesterday, we visited with our daughter, Darla, her husband Kevin, and daughter Riley! We visited, cooked, carved, and played with Lucy (LuLu) the chocolicious Chocolate Lab, Ollie, their 1 1/2 year old Yorkie, and Daisy, their new Yorkie puppy. The family was also puppy-sitting Daisy's brother, Dewey, and Bongo, Daisy and Dewey's daddy. You can imagine all of the fun!!

TWO-TOO CUTE!!

A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!!

My "Beach Cottage" Stamping Room

Hi, Everyone!

First off, let me say "Congratulations and Happy Stamping!" to Linda Williamson (confetti, small horns, and streamers, please) for winning this month's Blog Candy as shown below! Linda is my stamping/Hilton Head beaching and reading around the pool/part-time golf widow friend from South Carolina! Linda and her husband, Bruce, visited us recently and was the inspiration for my previous blog!!

And Here It Is! Ta-Daaaaaa!!

I've always longed for a stamping area in my wonderful stamping storage area where I could actually work and be close to my treasure trove of fun SU stamping stuff! At present, I would end up in the dining room because a 2x2 work space just didn't work for me! Now I have my work area and as you can see, I'm putting it to good use!! I can't wait to have my stamping buddies over this Friday evening for the Grand Opening!

Below is my version of the Snow Globe (on the back of the Mini-Cat)! Mine, of course, has a Florida snowman on some rad waves!

I'm still loving the shimmery platinum paint and teamed it up with Dazzling Diamonds for another Christmas card idea. (Instead of one or two different cards this year, I'm planning on 6-8 different designs! There are just too many possibilities to confine it to just a couple of designs!

Here are the Patterned Pines from the Mini-Cat Level One Hostess Set. I love the adorable little poinsietta stamp!

Here's my 2x2 former work space turned into my little gallery! I'm making Halloween candy/cash holders for the 6 little grand-goblins! Love that window sheet from the Night and Day DSP and the Twick or Tweet characters are just the best and most fun!!

Here is my initial projct (well actually the second attempt) using my new space! It is a View Master card that I cased from Splitcoast Stampers. My version is a bit different as it is an actual fold-out card and instead of the notched circle I decided to put my die-cut large scallop circle to good use! What I love most is that all of the embellishments, except for the texts and brad, are from the Simply Scrappin' Petal Party! Just peel and stick! We may use this project for our Make 'n Take on Friday!

Revisiting Some Old Favorites!

Good Friends....
are like your favorite stamp sets! You can keep returning to them for enjoyment! It just doesn't get any better than sharing time with wonderful friends! (Especially if they share your love of stamping!!) Life is Good!





Last week, our friends, Bruce and Linda, from SC were visiting the area, and so on golf day for the guys, Linda and I got together for a wonderful & relaxed afternoon of stamping. We had enjoyed using several of my retired sets, Blossoms Abound and Cute as a Bug, when we stamped with my sister-in-law, Cindy, in Hilton Head in 2008! Out came my favorites, Lavender Lace, Always Artichoke and Lovely Lilac, along with blender pens for our afternoon of fun. We used the Fast Flowers Stampin' Around Wheel for a Fast Finish for the envelopes.


Abbey's 13th Birthday!

Here's the card I created for Abbey, who LOVES anything with zebra stripes! I used my Classic Black stamp pad to ink the die-cut letters for the envelope. They had previously been an assortment of pastels. I used white acrylic paint to jazz up the letters!


I can't resist! I'm also including some pictures of the fab birthday desserts we enjoyed at Bangkok Square, Abbey's favorite sushi restaurant. It was such fun celebrating with Abbey! (I'll bet I can find some color inspirations there too! Hmmmm....Real Red and So Saffron, Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel......)





(Just in case you're near UCF and want to try one (or more) of these, they are:


Mango/Guava Cheesecake and Mousse Cream, Bananas Tempura, & Chocolate Bombe'!)

It's time for Blog Candy!! Here is the Blog Candy for our

next drawing! It includes:

• A Pumpkin Pie Classic Stamp Pad (Just in time for Fall, Halloween, & Thanksgiving cards and gifts!


• A Versa Marker pen--Great for heat embossing and water mark patterns!


• 3 Mini-Stamps: BFF :) , Stamped with Care, & A Shamrock/Lucky You stamp.


• Samples of the In-Color Polka Dot Ribbon--All 6 yummy colors!

Be sure to leave a comment and/or become a follower for my blog to be entered. The drawing will take place on October 4th at the Fun Stampin' Sunday Open House! You do not have to be present to win!

Holiday Project Pictures!

Here are some pictures of our, as I said Sunday, lively stamping, cutting, shaving cream coloring, deckle-edging, distressing (paper, that is), spritzing projects for Darla's workshop! The bookmarks and cards were fabuloso! So many talented hands at one workshop! Attendees, you get an A+!

Gate cards are so cool! We used shaving cream and the Only Orange Re-Inker for the backgrounds.

Our Shabby-Chic bookmark makes an encore performance, this time in Bermuda Bay with Night and Day DSP flowers!

It's not too early to start on the Christmas cards! Here's one of the designs I'll be using! I used the new SU Snowflake set and that gorgeouso Platinum Shimmer Paint!

For Dasher, I embossed him using Silver embossing powder! The Merry Christmas is from the Level 1 hostess set!

I'm working on a Summer Memories Envelope Album! I couldn't wait to use the totally cuteUnder the Stars set. The beach scene was paper-tearing fun!

I just had to have the Medallion stamp after I had seen it used so many ways! I loved the black on the Night and Day DSP but also used Orchid Opulence and Certainly Celery Craft ink for a card not shown here! Next time!!

Here's another one of those Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, and Shimmer Paint Christmas cards, this time with a picture of Riley! Perfect for family portrait greeting cards!

And being in Florida, who can resist "Shellebrate" in tropical colors!!