Kaitlyn's Blessing Invitation

First, I apologize that the image isn't that great. I was in a bit of a rush when I took the picture and the sun was behind the spot where I took it so I noticed there is some glare after I had alreayd sent Christina on her way with the cards. Also, I didn't take the time to crop the image to get rid of the part of the couch that's showing. :)

A friend of mine recently had her first baby, a little girl they named Kaitlyn. She wanted to invite a few people to her baby's blessing that aren't members of our church, so she thought a pretty little invitation would be nice and asked me to help. Well, I designed one with color inputs from her and she decided she wanted to leave the sentiment off (I almost always put a sentiment on the bottom right corner of cards that I use this layout on) to maintain simplicity on the front. As I mentioned yesterday, it's not a complicated card, but it's great for stamp-a-stacks, or gift sets, or anytime you need/want to mass-produce cards. It can be jazzed up with some bling or different ribbon placement, or a tab added to the edge of the image using the round tab punch that SU! carries. Lots of options from the simple to the more complex. Inside are the details of the invitation for those invited. I love this layout.

I'm super excited and thought I would share with people who would care. :) I'm FINALLY getting a piercing tool to replace the one that "disappeared" from my SU! Crafter's Tool Kit. SU! wouldn't sell me one singly to replace mine and I didn't think that a piercing tool was worth the $39.95 it would cost to buy the Tool Kit again, so I found out that my friend Anne who is a TAC demo has them to buy all by themselves. I placed my order today and I'm also getting some Acetate from her that you can EMBOSS on (not like the flimsy un-embossable stuff I thought was a great deal at OfficeMax!) and I'm going to buy some Liquid Appliqué and try my hand at using that on some Christmas cards (when I get the chance - probably 2 Christmases from now! ;) he he). I guess SU! used to sell it, but they haven't as long as I've been a demo. Anyway, I can't wait to get my stuff - I'm getting a stamp set from TAC too. It's the one that has cute preggo mommy images and can be used for expecting moms or new babies. SU! got rid of theirs and I didn't like it much anyway. The image in the SU! set was hard for me to work with because it was so wide because she was holding a book, plus it's one of those images that cuts the woman off at the waist or about there, so it's not a full-body image. I like the TAC ones better. Click here if you want to check out the TAC website and you can e-mail Anne at: tac_anneharrison@yahoo.com if you want to place an order. This month if you hostess with TAC you get double the hostess rewards, and if you are just placing a customer order you get double the "gift with purchase" rewards. It's a great deal, they have some really great stamps and other products, and today's the last day for this special (sorry to tell you about it so late)!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!

Stamps: I'm Here, Sanded BG (LOVE IT!!!!!)
Paper: Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Sponges, Pink Taffeta ribbon

Upcoming Blog Candy

When my hit counter gets to 45,000 (can you BELIEVE it's close?!?!?) I will do a blog candy drawing that day. You'll have 24 hours from the time I post the blog candy announcement to comment on THAT post and then I will use random.org to draw a winner. Unfortunately, I will only mail to US residents due to the crazy shipping cost I paid last time a Canadian won - I guess it increased back when stamps increased in the US???? I'm super sorry ladies, but I don't want to go broke on blog candy or I'll not be able to do it as often as I would like. Tomorrow I will post a card, yes a REAL card. It's a simple one that I helped a friend to make, but it's a fail-safe layout that I use quite often when I need something attractive and also pretty quick. Take care and Happy Halloween!!

So Sorry...

to be a boring blogger. My husband's grandmother came into town today and we only knew she was coming as of Tuesday night, so I've been scrambling to get the house in order while still going to appointments and getting things done for church, and all sorts of other things I do on a daily basis. No stamping time. Thanks for the suggestions/referrals for ribbon stamps. I'll take a peek at each one as soon as I get a chance. Tomorrow night we get to go to a family camp with Cub Scouts (no, Daniel's obviously not a Cub Scout yet, but Peter volunteers with them here in Del Rio and on the base), so I won't be home until late Saturday night. So, don't count on seeing me until at least Monday :) If any of you have any more ideas about where I can find a ribbon for a cause stamp, please add your suggestion to my post from yesterday (Wednesday, Oct 17th). Thanks, and take care! Enjoy this little forward I got from my friend/downline Jennifer. I always get a kick out of it when I get it in an e-mail forward:

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.

In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a Cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?'

She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?'

'Yes,' was his incredulous reply.

She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.'

Help?

Hopefully one of you can help me. I have a friend who's looking for a stamp to use for Breast Cancer awareness month, and I KNOW I have seen a "ribbon" stamp out there in blog-land somewhere. The one I'm looking for is the one that is the image of a ribbon, and it's fairly decent in size, and you can write your cause in the image after you stamp it and color it in, so that it can be for ANY cause. Help, anyone?

Finally....SC144

I finally got time to stamp, but it was for a workshop I had this past Saturday. I really liked the sketch from two challenges ago so I used it for my layout. You can see the info on the challenge here. I hope you like it! Happy stampin'!

Stamps: Booglie Eyes
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Creepy Crawly, Whisper White
Ink: Black StazOn, Black SU! marker
Accessories: SU! eyelets, crop-a-dile, font from free font site, dimensionals

Scallop Circle Punch Ornament

This is not an original idea of mine, and I can't remember which blog I saw it on to save my life (please let me know if it was your blog and I'll edit this post to give credit where it is due), but I loved the idea of a simple ornament that you can make for teachers or friends, or even YOURSELF (can we do that - make things for OURSELVES?!?!?) to hang on the tree. It was SO EASY to make and I think it's adorable. I only punched five scalloped circles but you could add more or even use only four - it all depends on what you want to do. It's a great little project and with the upcoming Designer Series Paper special (buy 3 and get your fourth FREE!! but wait until November 1st to contact me to order some - when the special begins) it's just perfect for the holidays! Hopefully the different views of the ornament will help you see how it's made. I just glued each scallop to the next. You fold them each in half and glue just one side to the next scallop. Before I glued the last scallop on I put my cord in there with a little bit of glue and then added the last scallop. SU!'s elastic cord will make a nice loop for the ornaments. We'll be making these as a little bonus project at my upcoming workshops and Stamp Club. Enjoy!

Before and After

So, I thought I would show you what an extreme difference a little 5/8" grosgrain can make. I LOVE this stuff and am so happy that SU! has it!!!! I planned this project around the 5/8" grosgrain. I made the card for a workshop that I have coming up, but then I found that I didn't have enough of the red 5/8" grosgrain left to make enough for all of the workshop attendees. SO....I thought that I didn't want to waste all of the pieces for the card that I had just cut up (or the time I spent doing it - I only get snippets of it to do things I want to during the day between all of the kiddos), so I figured the "regular" grosgrain would have to do. SO LUCKY for me, the 5/8" that I ordered last Saturday hoping it would arrive before we go out of town on Friday (my workshop is at my friend's house that we're going to visit in San Antonio) DID arrive before I had to leave. As you'll see,the "skinny" ribbon isn't too bad, but wait until you see the AFTER picture. These are the EXACT same card, I simply took off the skinny ribbon and replaced it with the wide. Here's the before:

BEFORE:

And here's the AFTER:

Stamps: Merry & Bright, Hugs & Wishes
Paper: Real Red, Whisper White, Dashing DS Paper
Ink: Black StazOn, Old Olive and Real Red markers, white StazOn
Accessories: 2-way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 1/4" and 5/8" Real Red grosgrain ribbon, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch