Altered DVD Tin

Okay, first a confession. I did not think this up myself! I saw this idea on Jen Balcer's blog (link on right, also from Splitcoast). I thought this would be a great gift for my friend Linda who will be attending the SU convention soon! I used the Petals and Paisley DP because it's the only DP I have that is current and these things are important to Linda! I wanted to keep the front kind of low profile so that it doesn't get hung up when you throw it in a bag. Hard to keep the embellishments at a minimum.
These are views of it open. I cut down a jr. mini legal pad. It fit width wise, but was just a little long. Covered the ugly black strip at the top with a scrap of DP.

The yellow square is a Post-It Notepad. Underneath is a little SU envie. Under the pink square is a bit of velcro so that the envie can be open and shut to keep receipts or other little bits in. I think I will customize a Pentel RSVP pen and make a pen loop too. This is the back. I wanted to keep it simple and let the DP speak for itself! I see several more of these in my future!

Prismacolor Paint Can

I love these little acrylic paint cans!!!! I got one at Stampfest Orlando this weekend filled with Prismacolor pencils. I couldn't just leave it naked could I? I pulled out my favorite SU Simply Scrappin' kit and decorated it (waaaaaa the kit is retiring). I very cheerful home for my new pencils.

Fast Little Coaster Frame

I hit paydirt recently at our local Chili's Restaurant. I came home with a sleeve of coasters. No, I did not steal them! The manager gave them to me. So I made a little frame with them. I used SU Treehouse paper and the SU set All About U. The tab punch makes great little hinges. I love that punch.
This is the inside. No pictures yet. That's the hard part! I entered this into our SU groups monthly swap contest (3D swaps) and won. Yippeee!

My Stampin' Space

Or my little piece of Heaven on earth! These cabinets hold scrapbooks in progress, alterables, pictures and less frequently used tools.
This is crafting central! I love slatwall!!! Fairly inexpensive (Lowe's $38 for a 4x8ft sheet). So many hooks and bins and wonderful shelves. I love everything being out in the open. It makes me want to play. I love the wire chicken on the top shelf. She begged me to bring her home from JoAnn's. For half off I couldn't resist. The walls are painted Cool Carribbean.

This is a wider shot. My friend Linda found this wonderful fabric for the table skirt and helped me sew it up! The skirt is on the table with velcro and my paper files are underneath. It really is a happy, creative space.

Sneak Preview!

Boy oh boy! Come July 1st be prepared to part with ALL your money. Right this minute, I'm trying to think of what I can sell to get some cash. My friend Linda came over with all her new Stampin' Up! sneak preview loot. I think I'm more excited about this new catalog than I have been in 7 years! First card: a set called "Zoofari". Very cute line art with a rhino, zebra, monkey, snake and 3 birds. Each one cuter than the next. I don't even enjoy watercoloring, but I could be crossing over to the dark side! On the card above I used Certainly Celery, Palette O' Prints in Celery (which will be available in the new catalog as 12x12 double sided paper) the word winow punch, Regal Rose card stock, White Grosgrain ribbon. The words are from one of 2 new word sets (forgive me I don't know the name).

This may be one of my all time favorite cards ever. Linda helped me a lot with this one! It started with the ribbon which I got on sale at Michaels last week. It is from American Elements. Linda noticed that it had the new Stampin' Up! color Sky Blue in it. I used Sky Blue to color the middle bird with a blender pen. The other 2 birds are Cranberry. The flower is Pumpkin Pie and the stem is True Thyme. I put a rhinestone sticker in the center of the flower. I used the slot punch to make the scalloped border at the bottom. And of course I used my new very favorite tool... The Cuttlebug! It is the swirl embossing folder. You just have got to get one of these.

Next up is Baroque Motifs. This set is so elegant! It takes little effort to make a fabulous card! It comes with the words kind and cherish. The swirly stamp is large and to die for. These are new SU colors too. Sky Blue (the lighter color-I would call it Aqua) and the darker blue is Bayou Blue (or is it Blue Bayou-I'm not sure). I stamped the 2 images, cut them out, crumpled them up and then layered them with a silver brad.

Start saving those pennies now! I know I'm in deep trouble. The catalog is not even out yet and I've got a very long wish list. Yikes!

Warning! Stay away from Michael's...

If you know me, you know that I have been true to Stampin' Up! for 7 years. It started every so slowly (Cuttlebug), and now I am a full fledged cheater of mega proportions! First off, the Cuttlebug. If you don't have one... WHAT are you THINKING?! Get thee to a store and purchase one immediately! What goodness... what joy.... I don't even think it is legal in this country to papercraft without one. So innocently enough, I went to Michael's today to find a few more Cuttlebug items I don't already own. It's been a long time since I've let my eyes wander in the paper aisle. Oh my.... See those 2 cute boxes? Pre-printed notecards and envies. But think Double sided patterned cardstock premade into cards, just waiting to be embellished. Oh yea! Those tablets in the front? Same thing, a little smaller, scored and waiting to become cards! What else jumped into my cart? A mega and giga scalloped square punch. They didn't have the round ones or those would be in the picture too! And I really wanted a little bling. Stickles. Since we have NO real scrapbooking stores in my area, and thanks to my dd's genius, I bought these blingy snowflakes and can cut the tiny individual crystals off and stick them to my projects. Yippee!!! My first bling!
So I sat down and made this. It is for our Youth leader at church who just got back from an entire week of camp with our teens. This one is all Stampin' Up! with the exception of the bling that you can't really see in the center of the flowers. This is from the hostess Simply Scrappin' Kit and dang is it cute! The little circles are supposed to say "life is good", but I used both sets and made it "God is good". Ha! One point for me!

Next is a thank you card to go with the book. This is one of the pre-made cards. I stamped and cut and dimensionaled this flower from Big Blooms. I word windowed and stamped "grateful". It really is lined up right, the picture angle just stinks. Presto! Easy, cute card! I think I'm in heaven! Can't wait to see what else I can do with these printed cards.

My Creative Spot

Let's start this post with some honesty. The real reason I have this space is for my embroidery business, Shelly's Stitches. But, my embroidery machine and supplies don't take up the whole space, so why not use it as a creative space. My friend Linda recently redid her stamp room and used slatwall. I loved, loved, loved it. And when you consider the cost of "craft storage" and slatwall, the slatwall is much less and much more flexible! So of course with Linda's help, I decided it was the perfect solution for me. This first shelf is actually on my embroidery wall. I let some of my projects spill over into the embroidery area. Would you want to know that your embroiderer has a creative side? I would.
These cabinets are to the right as you come in the door. They hold scrapbooks waiting to be completed, things crying out to be stamped, envelopes, a rubicoil, xyrons and way to much more to be listed. On top are my inks and background stamps.
This is creation central. Everything is here at my fingertips and begging to be used. The wire chicken sculpture at the top is my favorite thing! I fell madly in love with it at Joann's and decided it would become the shop mascot. Besides, it was half off! Look at my Primas and all my Making Memories Paints! It's heaven I tell ya!
I backed up a little for this shot so you could get the full effect. Aren't the table skirts pretty? Thanks again to Linda. I found the curtain fabric (picture below) at Joann's but couldn't find a coordinating fabric. I almost settled for something horrible, but Linda wouldn't let me! Thank God right now if you have a friend like that! She spotted this striped gem in another store and it coordinates perfectly. The walls are Cool Carribbean (darn I'm gonna miss it!).
This is a truly terrible picture of the curtains. They look flowery in this shot, but they are circles made of little dots in the same colors as the table skirts.

I love this spot so much that often when I'm anywhere else I'm wishing I was here. Hopefully we can stamp together here soon!

Love this card!

It was made by my friend Trish. You stamp the flowers in black on vellum. Then you turn the vellum over and use a stylus to outline the image. Gives the flowers a raised look. So cute! Yay Trish! 

My 2 favorite pastimes combined!

Stamping and knitting! What could be better? This is cased exactly from the Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog. My thoughts are quickly turning towards stamped Christmas cards and gifts. Got a couple of great classes in the works! 

Both Way Blossoms

This is a card made with the new hostess set Both Way Blossoms. It has 4 stamps, each with a long stem and a different flower on each end. The idea is to use one end I suppose. I like it. I did however make a mess on my table with black ink. My bad. Don't I always tell my students to put scrap paper or the like underneath their work? This was made for my MIL. I used my favorite Uniball Signo white gel pen. Hoping to place my first SU order from the new catty soon. 

Finally..

I've done some stamping! I've been spending so much time knitting, my stamps have been sadly neglected. But here is where I've combined both passions! Pretty smart, huh? The new Stampin' Up! catalog is here. Would you like a look? I can hook you up. Give me a call or email and I'll get the brand spankin' new catalog to you! New stamp sets, paper, accessories and tons of new samples!