Inspiration Week #5

This week's picture comes from a Crate and Barrel outdoor collection that I LOVE.  Too bad I'm not rich ;)  To see it perhaps better (you should be able to click on my picture and see it larger) and to view the entire lovely collections, click HERE.  The picture above is the inspiration piece though.  Have fun with it!

Click HERE to see the specific details of how to play along.

This week's keyword is B2S05 for any online galleries you might upload to. 

Lastly, I'm sorry I've been such a slacker with my own challenges!!  I have had to squeeze in stamping on an as needed basis, and haven't had much extra time.  Lots going on.  I am sure many of you have your hands full too - I just seem to balance it all worse than most right now.  It will be interesting, I begin my first Master's class on March 1st, and I have no idea how that's going to fit in to my life.  I'll make it work though, somehow ;)

Check this out

Greetings blogging friends.  I am sorry to disappoint, but I have not been much of a stay-at-home mom this week.  I have not been home, and the few hours that I have, I have been watching someone else's child at my house.  Normally, I would risk my own life and that of my own children to dare to sit down and stamp while my children are awake and could burn the house down.  I will not, however, do that with someone else's child at my house ;)  LOL

I am hoping to stamp this weekend, and on Saturday I do have a new Inspiration Challenge for you.

In the meantime, check this fabulous site out.  Lydia from Understand Blue has created a fabulous way for those of you who would love to actually work in your dream job (something in the creative industry) a way to FIND that dream job.  See it HERE.

The Wand

I thought I would show you how I constructed my wand (other than how I put together the circles from the Circle 3-D Ornament Bigz Die) that was part of my showcase of projects on the Stampin' Addicts Birthday Blog Hop.  If you missed it, you can check it out here.

To put all of the ribbons on the wooden fruit skewer, I stacked them and used my trusty Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole through them all.

 

Next, I put the ribbons on the skewer just past the narrowest portion of the tip.

  

 The 3rd step involved wrapping tape around the ribbons to hold them down so that the pieces would hang downwards.

  

The last step with the ribbons involved moving them down where I would want them.  I figured this out by placing the "ball" I had constructed for the end over the top and making sure that they were just below it.  I had the skewer just touch the top of the inside of the ball so that it would be stable.

  

The final steps for putting the ball on involved putting mini glue dots (sorry, I forgot to take a photo of this!) around the skewer just above the ribbons) on the wood and then sliding the ball on, gluing it shut and adhereing it to the mini glue dots to keep it in place and from flying off of the end.

To hide the taped ribbons, I tied a bow out of the Whisper White 5/8" Satin ribbon.  Of course, your ribbon treatments could be entirely different.  You could even use some of the ribbon that you can curl that goes on presents for a nice look as well.

 

PS - there is glitter on all 3 "sides" of the circles on every circle, so it sparkles quite a bit in real life.  My girls love it!  :)

Stampin' Addicts Birthday Blog Hop

 Welcome to the Stampin' Addicts Birthday Blog Hop weekend!  

If you're following the Stampin' Addicts Birthday Blog Hop in order, then you just arrived from Melissa's fabulous blog, Stamping With Melissa where she had some really great cupcake themed projects to share with you and inspire you in your paper crafting.  I just loved her little cupcake treat holder - wasn't it adorable!?!?

My projects fall under the theme of a little girl's birthday.  I am trying to decide just how I want to do everything for my oldest daughter's seventh birthday which is coming up.  She doesn't really like pink, but every one of her little friends does, so I won't completely do her party without pink.  The Sweet Pea DSP paper stack came in really handy for making these projects.  I think that each little girl will have a different colored hat, door-hanger and wand, so these are just one version of them.  The door-hanger will be hanging on the back of each girl's chair to designate her seat at the table with her very own monogram on it, and then she can take it home and hang it on her bedroom door.

Without further ado, here are my projects:

 Birthday Party Hat

Paper:  Sweet Pea DSP, So Saffron and Old Olive CS, Taken with Teal Textured CS   Accessories:  Scallop Edge punch, Trio Flower Punch, Scallop Circle punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, Big Shot, SU! Timeless Type medium Sizzlets die, "chipboard" from inside SU! Pennant Bigz die packaging, Circle Fire Rhinestone Brad, Pink Bead Duo beads, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain ribbon (shredded), Silver Elastic Cord, Silver string  

Door-Hanger

 

Paper:  Sweet Pea DSP, So Saffron, Old Olive and Rose Red CS   Accessories:  Scallop Edge punch, Trio Flower Punch, Scallop Circle punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, Big Shot, SU! Timeless Type medium Sizzlets die, SU! Pennant Bigz die, "chipboard" from inside SU! Pennant Bigz die packaging, Circle Fire Rhinestone Brad, Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin ribbon, thread, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Fine Cosmo Glitter (green), 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain ribbon

Wand

 

Paper:  Sweet Pea DSP   Accessories:  Big Shot, Circle 3-D Ornament Bigz die, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 1/4" Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink and Rose Red Grosgrain ribbon, Whisper White 5/8" Satin ribbon, wooden skewer


Now, on to the next stop of the Birthday Blog Hop.  That is Holly's blog, InkPaperStamps where you will get to see some great projects to inspire you with all of those masculine birthdays in your life.  Her card with the little punch art grill is a fantastic card to give to a special guy in your life! 

Enjoy the hop, and thanks for stopping by!!  I appreciate each and every one of you and the kind comments that you leave :)  Have a fabulous weekend!

My Boots to Stamps weekly Inspiration challenge will be skipped this week due to the blog hop.  Enjoy touring the 24 other stops instead ;)



FYI:  Stampin' Addicts is a free website dedicated to supporting Stampin' Up! stampers and demonstrators alike and it is the first birthday of this fantastic site. The Stampin' Addicts motto is "Positively Creative! Positively Stampin' Up!"  If you have not been to Stampin' Addicts, you should check them out as soon as you finish the Birthday Blog Hop!  My screen name there is mariemc and I happen to know that there will be a STAMP JAM going on this weekend at Stampin' Addicts with Challenges and Stampin' and lots of Inspiration!  If you're not already a member of this FABULOUS community dedicated to all things Stampin’ Up!, then click HERE to sign up (remember, it’s free!!) to get a username.  You can always visit as a guest without a username as well.  I hope to see you there! 

If you were in the SAB/Occasions Mini swap with me....

and you want to be surprised, well, then stop reading or delete this message!!!  ;)  Do whatever you need to do for however you are viewing it to NOT see the picture that I will try to put low enough in this post that it won't show when this first opens on your screen.  If you don't like surprises, or just plain don't care if it's a surprise or not, then continue on, by all means.  Of course, if you weren't in the swap with me I hope you will continue on as well ;)

Before I get into the details of the card, and then the actual picture, I thought I would remind you that this weekend, beginning at 12 pm EST on Saturday, February 20th, Stampin' Addicts will be having a blog hop with 25 fabulous stops to celebrate it's first birthday!!  The theme is birthdays, and you will be amazed to see everything from cards, to 3-D items, and all kinds of things created by My Digital Studio (MDS).  Paper crafters will not be disappointed after visiting all of the stops because there will be something for every style, and for many different paper crafting niches.  I hope to see you back here on Saturday!!! :)

Now, on to my card.  I'll post the recipe first.

Stamps:  Vintage Vogue (2010 Occasions Mini Catalog)   Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive and Whisper White CS   Ink:  Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive Classic Ink and Stampin' Up! Markers   Accessories:  Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

***I used the Clear-Mount Vintage Vogue stamp set, and it GREATLY helped with getting the word "friends" stamped where I wanted it.  The leaves beneath the "F" are Old Olive stamped off once to make them a shade lighter.***

My Favorite Occasions Mini Catalog CASE

This is the last of four cards that I made based on cards in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  You will find this one on page 14 of the Mini.

I LOVED this card in the Mini, so I was excited to CASE it.  I used the Sweet Pea DSP as inspiration for the colors, and I think it turned out really cute!  I will say -  I had wanted to put the 3 hearts under the image panel on the right, but I couldn't fit them and two just didn't look right.  I had my Old Olive scalloped piece just a little too far to the right to allow the three hearts to fit.  Oh well...

The heart stamp set I used is the very same one that SU! has chosen to use in a campaign to raise money for Haiti. You can check out more about that here.

Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts, Whimsical Words   Paper: Taken with Teal, Rose Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White CS, So Saffron Textured CS   Ink: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Old Olive, Taken with Teal, Rose Red and Pretty in Pink classic ink   Accessories: Small Heart punch, Linen Thread, Pretty in Pink Corduroy brad, Scallop Edge punch, Piercing Tool, Template and Pad, Stampin' Dimensionals

♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥

 

I don't normally post on Sundays, but I typed up this the day before and have it scheduled to post so that I can wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day!  I also thought I would share with you the three little note cards I made for my 3 wonderful children.

Valentine's is not a huge holiday in our family, but I do use it as an opportunity to give my kids some little "love" notes from their parents.  I try to give them little notes in their school lunches as often as possible, but they know it's Valentine's Day, and at their age, it seems to be very important to them that we all do little things for each other.  I saw them making little notes and pictures for my husband and me the other day, and then they hid them in the cupboard in the kitchen and I told them that since I make food for them every day, that might not be a good hiding place ;)  They are so excited to give them to us today :)

Well, the Valentine's I made my kids are very CAS (Clean-and-Simple), but I think they're really cute.  Also, more thought went into them than you would think.  I chose the colors and the hearts very specifically for each child.

I hope you enjoy them and that you had a lovely Valentine's Day in which you were able to show someone you care about just how much you do.  I say why does it have to only be on the 14th that we make certain to tell our loved ones how special they are?  Why is it only one day of the year is dedicated to love?  Make every day Valentine's Day!!!

First Card:  Stamps:  I {Heart} Hearts, Picture This   Paper:  Whisper White   Ink:  Real Red and Basic Black classic ink   Accessories:  Stampin' Dimensionals

Second Card:  Stamps:  I {Heart} Hearts, Picture This   Paper:  Whisper White   Ink:  Pink Passion and Basic Black classic ink   Accessories:  Stampin' Dimensionals

Third Card:  Stamps:  I {Heart} Hearts, Picture This   Paper:  Whisper White   Ink:  Melon Mambo and Basic Black classic ink   Accessories:  Stampin' Dimensionals