Fun With The SOS Stampin' Gals!

Hi, Everyone!!  I am probably going to transition to my Stampin' Up Blog over the course of the next few months.  In the meantime, I'll continue posting at ReeCreations.  (It all depends on my getting comfortable with the new site!)

The wind was blowin', the air was chillin', but it was warm and cozy in the Stampin' Oasis last Tuesday evening as the SOS Stampin' gals created up a storm!  Ladies, I'm always so proud of you, your creativity, your helpfulness to all in the group, and your being up for the challenge of what I throw your way!!

Our time together is sooooo limited so I try to help you to get your hands on as many techniques and products as possible!!  Motivated, happy stampers that you are, this is never a problem!!  I thank you!!!

Here is a picture of two of our three projects.  I loved the gift bag we made so much (even though I confessed that I wasn't liking it much while it took me 2 hours to really get the design to work!), that I gifted a lovely lady with it the very next day.  If you want to see it, go to Joyce's Kaleidoscope  blog where she has a lovely picture of all three of our projects.


We had fun with bits and pieces from my scrap files for a card inspired by my Success Magazine using lots of circles, bitty punches, and embellishments!  Paper was popping everywhere!! LOL

We also created the "tissue paper" technique card that was featured in this month's Success Magazine too!  What a gift of inspiration!  I made a few more of these this morning to use as thank you notes for Christmas gifts!

Yesterday I got up early to "play" with the new petal punch and stamps!  I love how the Blushing Bride ink is just right for the image on the Pretty in Pink Cardstock.  Voila!!  A lovely Florida Hibiscus!  Oh, the colors we'll use!!!

More Fun:  Pictured here are the 2 projects for a friend that loves sea turtles.  One is a 2-year pocket planner and the other is a coordinating checkbook cover.  I love the earthy quality of turtles reminiscent of Native American art.

Thank you, Joyce, for the treats and Happy Birthday to Barbara, Kris, and Donna!!

Life is Good!!  Happy Stamping and Happy New Year!!

Holiday Stampin' Fun With the SOS Stampers!

Stamp Clubs Are Being Formed For 2011!  They're easy, fun and a great way to gradually add to your "stash" of  stamping supplies!!  Contact me to get your "party" started!!

We celebrated Joyce's birthday and Joyce celebrated by having won two blog candy prizes!!  Everyone won a doorprize!  Claudia provided fun snacks and a yummy razzleberry pie with whipped cream!!  Just what hard-working stampers need!!

Here are Donna and Trudy with their poinsettia cards.  We used both clear and gold embossing powder to achieve beautiful, shiny flowers.

From left:  Kris, Joyce, Claudia and Barbara showing their handiwork!

Our Stamp Club Projects:  Gift bags, an elegant, hand-painted large Christmas Postcard gift tag, and of course our poinsettia card and coordinating envelope.

All Ashore That's Going Ashore!

Here's our family photo aboard our cruise ship!  The food, the fun, the company, EVERYTHING was wonderful!!  Er...except for one very important detail which is why our otherwise fabulous cruise company will go unnamed!!

The Silver Lining
Here's that one very sad detail--at least for those of us that were looking forward to a card-making class.  
The director emptied out some thin papers, glue sticks, colored pencils, a few chalks and said we could use the so-called "supplies" to make Christmas cards.  Okaaaaay!  Well, I decided I would imagine what I would do with a meager set of supplies if I was stranded on a desert island.  This little Christmas tree card was the best I could do, spoiled girl that I am!
But.....all was not lost!  I met a lovely lady, Dee-Dee, who also has lots of "toys" and while we commiserated on the sad state of affairs of the supplies offered to us, we also discovered a mutual love of creating scrapbooks and cards!  We promised to communicate and I look forward to sharing ideas with my new-found friend!!

Fall color "thank you" tags for my Open House attendees!  Our orders will be in on Tuesday!  Yayy!!

My goal is to create 10 creating cards every other day so that I can get my stockpile up for gift-giving and everyday use!  I used my favorite embossing folder, Elegant Lines, some of my favorite text stamps from Perfect Punches and Word Play, along with Sahara Sand, Whisper White, and Early Expresso Card Stock (CS) to create a "stack" of cards.  The 5/8" Chocolate Chip satin ribbon and the perfect little pearls resulted in a stack of elegant greeting cards.  This evening it's Bravo Burgundy and Always Artichoke CS along with Just Believe stamps and those gorgeous antique brads.
More to come!  

Open House Sunday!

The inside of our vintage card.

What a fun afternoon we had.  There was a seafood dip, chocolate, pumpkin pie, brownies and LOTS of stamping!  Tina, Claudia, Barbara Y and Barbara S, Joan Cz and Joan C, Mary Dent, and Kathy braved the mountain of supplies AND the dreaded spritzer :-)!!  We warmed up with a little glitzier version of the Red Hat Society luncheon gift tag.  We added silver embossing and little punches on the scallop circle.  Anyone booking a regular workshop in their home or at the Oasis will receive their choice of the decorator punch or the scallop border punch.  Yes,these are some of my random offers.  The first visitor to leave a comment gets a goody bag.

On the left is our vintage card featuring a shabby chic flower and a die-cut envelope with a message card on the inside.
On the right is our "blingy" holiday gift tag with lots of silver embossing.

Here's our fun and creative group of gals!

Thank you again, Sunday Stampers!!

Red Hat Luncheon

Hi, Stampers!

Such a fun day I had, getting to stamp with a lovely group of ladies from the Melbourne area!  I found a red fedora so that I could be in style!  And in style they WERE!  I have never seen so many creative hats and purple worn so elegantly and beautifully!  After lovely opening exercises, we were treated to a wonderful Asian buffet!  I have never seen so many fresh and delicious foods in one location!

So Swirly Gift Tag

Terrific ladies!

Finished products!

A number of the ladies are avid stampers so we then set out to create a special red and white gift tag!  Here we are rolling, punching and stamping!

Take 5! SOS Stamp Club!

Our 8 (plus me) SOS Stampers met last evening to create 5 holiday projects!  (We missed Joyce who had to work at "that other craft store".  Lol)
We created 2 cards, front and inside, and stamped the envelopes, 2 special gift tags and a small treat bag!  We had 5 separate stations set up in my dining room, though if we do such a project again, I'd like to have 1 or 2 of the stations in the actual Stampin' Oasis room that is adjacent to the dining room.  We had lots of fun and giggles and made a really big mess--a sure sign of a fun and successful evening!  Thank you SOS members for such a fun time!!!!

Donna, Claudia and Barbara before the round robin mayhem!

Teri, a quick-study new stamper, Kris, and Michelle.  Claudia brought a delicious sweet potato pie!  Kris also brought jello in the shape of a brain!  How fun!  Thank you Kris and Joyce!!

Here is our random circles Christmas card with a mini-envelope (Petal Punch) and a mini-message (Tiny Tags).

Decorate the tree and add some Gold Waffle paper for good measure!!

Here's our Sweet Snowglobe gift tag that features the new Chunky Gold Glitter!!



Here's our pretty, large gift tag or card front.  We used the Level 3 Hostess Set from the Holiday Mini and the Soft Ivy Stampin' Around Wheel with Always Artichoke ink.  The first visitor to leave a comment will win a fun doorprize!



Here's our fun treat bag!  The Rich Razzleberry Embossing Powder was created with Clear Embossing Powder and the Razzleberry Stampin Pastel.  I used a stylus to scrape the back of the pastel, shook it up and--Voila!!

Kris brought some spoooooky snacks!  Spooky but delish!!  Here is her gremlin cream cheese ball!  Yum! (But almost too cute to eat!!)

Take 3 Sunday Open House

Last weekend we had a great time creating two cards and a "special" gift tag!  We used silver embossing powder for Dasher's antlers and clear embossing powder for the Season of Joy Christmas tree.  We loved using the Holly Jolly DSP , the gold waffle paper, the new Decorative Label Punch, and the scallop border punch!  We also enjoyed mulled cider and Christmas cookies!

Fall Creations!

We jumped right back into creating at the Stampin' Oasis with an Open House on Sunday and the SOS Stamp Club on Tuesday evening!!  So much fun with both groups!  I'm such a lucky girl to get to be around so many wonderful and inspiring folks!

Here are some of the projects we made.  Actually, these are the projects our SOS Gal, Joyce, made on Tuesday evening as we rode out torrents of rain and tornado warnings.  We kept an eye on the weather reports while stamping, "pastel"ing, folding, and punching!  You can see more fun stamping projects at  Joyce's Kaleidescope link

The Composition Book in the foreground is our Stamp Club Challenge for the October meeting.  Members will bring their finished projects for "Show and Tell" at that time.  I can't wait to see them!!

My wonderful kitchen is almost finished, with just a bit of electrical work to be done.  I could live there!  I love the large work space at the island where a sink WAS to go,  (That worked out SO much for the best!) the new fridge and bottom freezer, but most of all, the way I can visit while still being in the kitchen area.  The granite top also worked well for the die-cut machine!

Getting There!!

The poor Stamping Oasis is still shrouded in plastic to shield it from dust and debris as we draw nearer to a completion date for the major contruction and installations!  A week from today should tell a different story AND I should be able to have a clear path to my project area!!  (I did manage to stamp some paper clay leaves using the "Fall Foliage" stamp set.  I let them dry overnight and experimented with acrylic paints!  They will find themselves decorating a gift bag at the next Stampin' Open House (rescheduled for Oct. 26) and the next SOS meeting!!)

Here are some pictures of what has been completed so far!  Painters for the dining room and the kitchen/dining ceilings on Tuesday, counter tops on Wed., backsplash on Thurs., and finish work on Friday!  Yayyyyy!

I love my floor mosaic and Whylie and Presh (that's her black Sheltie "plume" in the lower right) think that the camera is just for taking their picture.  They always run over to be in the shot!!

Demo!

Well, in a good and bad sort of way!!  Our kitchen reno is finally underway in earnest and believe it or not, I know the worst is yet to come (tunnelling through the concrete floor on Thursday to relocate the plumbing and drain)  but......next month this time all should be well!  (Hmmmm....too bad we can't get that same wallpaper that was under the cabinets!! LOL)  Today the soffitt comes out.  More mayhem and destruction.  What price progress!! 

SOS Stampers, we'll meet in the living room on Aug. 24!!

But Now For Some Peace and Diversion!!

Here are a few cards I've enjoyed creating.  The "C Is For Cat" card is pretty much CASE'd from a card on the internet!  I just had to give it a try!

The next two cards are from my favorite new stamp set!  I love it because if you had to be stranded on an island with only one stamp set, this would cover about everything!  My good friend and mentor, Cheri Wenger, gave me some artist's canvas that worked great with the Elegant Lines embossing folder and some Soft Subtle Pastels!  (I'm going to be creating an album using canvas in the near future!!)

Happy Stamping!!!  Ree

Getting our Mojo on Monday Workshop!

Gotta love our paperclip bookmark and card!A beeyooteeful card similar to one I found in Success Magazine!  More later!!!!

SOS Stampers' Projects and Two Step Owl Punch

Little Punch Fishies
Here's our first project of the evening, cute little Marina Mist and Daffodil Delight "kissy" fishes created using the ornament punch and stamp and the small heart punch.  The "So Swirly" jumbo wheel created our swrirling waters.  All hearts, lips, and fins were treated to a layer of Crystal Effects.

Elegant Wishes
Our next Make and Take took a turn for the elegant.  So Saffron Cardstock (CS) was embossed with the Elegant Lines folder. To allow drying time,  prior to the workshop the paper flower was colored using 5 drops of So Saffron Reinker and 1 drop of Tangerine Tango.  I colored the leaves with 5 drops of Garden Green.  Gorgeous Vanilla Satin ribbon added a final elegant touch.

I love the new pearls.  We found that by loosening them slightly with your nail and then using craft tweezers, you can easily set them where you want.

Whooooooo gets all the demo projects?  Why the hostess of course.  Elaine got to keep all of my demo cards, a gift tag that I demo'd using the new Rectangle Scallop Embosslit, and a fun card using the Two-Step Owl Punch.  You'll also notice the Big Note and leaves die-cuts, and a moon made with a circle punch used to create this fun card.

Happy Stampin'!!!

Wedding Bliss

Here is the happy couple, my daughter Deborah and her husband Steve!  I made the gift-card holder pictured above using a template I found on the internet.  (Actually I made 3 so that I could have a spare or two and show the inside.)  It is a gate card and uses the Bride and Groom papers from the 2009-10 Idea Book.  I used gold embossing for the flourish on the envelope.  Deb and Steve are honeymooning in the Carribbean for the week!  I will submit this card to Pals Paper Arts for the wedding challenge.  Be sure to visit the Pals at http://www.palspaperarts.com/ to see MANY gorgeous cards from MANY creative chicas (in the words of my pal, Cheri! :-D).

Sweet Inspiration!

Here is a picture of the incredible and entirely edible wedding cake created for my duaghter, Deborah's, wedding by my DAL's SIL! :-D  We knew Sue was super-creative but this is just incredible!  All of the roses, leaves, and jasmine flowers were hand-created and edible.  The shells were pearly white chocolate!  Not only does the cake look fabulous, the taste was........mmmmmmm. The bottom layer was lemon with lemon filling and the middle layer was chocolate with rasberry filling!  (Note the emphasis on WAS!)

Here is my inspiration for the SOS Stampers' meeting this coming Tuesday evening:  One of the make and takes will incorporate the color and floral themes of the cake.  I wish I could bring samples to the Tuesday evening meeting but.....That's the problem with a REALLY delicious (non-commercial, non-generic) cake.  Everyone wants a little of both flavors!! 

New Product Gift Tags and My New Shirt!!

NEW PRODUCT GIFT TAGS!  (IT'S EASY TO MAKE BEAUTIFUL STUFF WITH SUCH GREAT SUPPLIES!!!!)

Here are the gift tags for my SOS Stamp Club orders.  How fun to work with such luscious colors and fabulous accessories.  The product list is:

Paper:  Poppy Parade Cardstock (CS), Peach Pizzazz CS, Sunny Garden Designer Paper Series (DSP)

Stamps:  Punch Potpourri (Level 1 hostess stamps)

Ink:  Real Red Classic Stamp Pad

Accessories:  Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Boho Blossoms Extra Large Punch, Pear Pizzazz 1/2" Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Linen Thread

ATTENTION, SOS STAMPERS!!  IT'S A STAMP CHALLENGE!!

When you receive your new bag of supplies, you will also receive a "baggie" of coordinating papers:  CS and DSP in various shapes.  Your challenge is to create a card of your own design using the challenge supplies.  Using your own choice of ink, stamps, etc., just create!!  Bring your card to the July 20 meeting so that we can share your ideas!  Rules are:  NONE!!  :-)

MY NEW SHIRT!

Here I am in the Stampin' Oasis in my new shirt, a gift from my good friend and stampin' buddy, Linda.  Linda lives in South Carolina where she stamps with gals from her workplace!  I have enjoyed watching her creativity grow by leaps and bounds!!  She sent me this cute, comfy shirt with a great scrapbook logo!  I am so inspired by it, Linda, that I'm going to design a Stampin' Oasis shirt as an incentive gift for all of my stampers!   Thank you so much!!
(By the way, if you enlarge the photo, you will see one of our Sheltie's ears in the lower right hand corner.  That's Whylie,one of  our rescue Shelties, running to get into the picture.  He didn't quite make it but he was on his way.  He LOVES to have his picture taken!!)

Maybe this is why I love my butterfly stamps so much.....

BEFORE THEY CAME!  Here you see one of my milkweed plants.  This is one of 10 that I added to feed the hungry Monarch catterpillers!

Here is one of the nearly 30 chrysallis that were created in our butterfly garden area. 

Below is one of the "hatchlings".  This particular butterfly hatched from a chrysallis rescued by the pump repairman.  I ended up using glue dots to attach it to the brick well.

Here is a "new" butterfly exercising her wings (males have thinner black lines and a black dot on each lower wing to distinguish them from the ladies) prior to flying off.

AFTER!

This is how my butterfly "garden" appeared after being decimated by so many catterpillers!  Not so beautiful and inviting!!  Not to worry though.  The leaves are coming back again for the next wave of monarchs.  (I also have a few Blue Swallowtail catterpillars on my parsley and fennel plants.)  If you've gotten this far and will comment and send me your e-mail address, I'll send the first "commenter"  the single butterfly stamp!