Workshop card

Someone finally agreed to hostess a Stampin' Up! workshop for me next month! Yay! But now I need to come up with something to demo. Experimenting today alittle and came up with this based on something I've seen before. Very easy to do, took about 10 mins. It's the first time I used the bird punch as it's intended.

Beachy Girls

I've got a new web site linked on the right side of my page called: Blinkin', Thinkin' and Inkin'. Ellen does the most wonderful work with punches! She claims not to be an artist, but she can see things in punches that I certainly can't. These little girls were inspired by her using Stampin' up! punches - butterfly, circle, oval and wide small heart. Not sure what I'll do with them yet - maybe brayer a beach scene for them.

Organization

I don't have a dedicated scraproom, unless that's what you call my living room (and dining room). My husband and I are both crafty. He scrapbooks, I stamp and make cards, and when we really go wild, we both do tole painting. He does the big yard cutouts while I do smaller things. So we have "stuff" everywhere. My son is always saying "why does it take so much crap to scrap?". The problem is, when my little table becomes messy, I totally lose my mojo. Yet at the same time, I need my things nearby and in some semblance of order. It's very difficult.

I have the Stampin' up! ink caddy and I love it. The problem is that it actually takes up too much room and I can't see all my colors. I found this on the stampin' up! demo sample pages and had to try it. It's made of foam board and although it was rather easy to make, it was very, very time consuming. On top of that, I measured so well but it still didn't come out square. But it works well - I need to add some more glue to the shelfs as they are sagging, but the footprint isn't that big and I can see all my ink! Won't be able to see my husband anymore when he sits in his recliner, but he'll have to deal with that. :)

Monkey cards

A friend of mine is always looking for Monkey cards for his daughter. I'm not happy how they turned out, but I'm sure he'll like them. The monkey face stamp rang up for .01 (yes, 1 cent) at Michaels. How cool is that?

Post it Note Key chains

Found this on the Stampin' Up! Demo sample page and had to give it a try on a lazy Sunday. These are 1.5x2" post it notes - the little tiny ones. Broke each into 3 to make 3 keychains. The rings are 1" binder rings. Kind of cute as little thank you and/or hostess gifts.

My own designer paper

Stampin' Up! makes a paper called presto patterns design papers. It's really cool because it looks white until you sponge or brayer ink over the top of it. I don't have any of that paper, but I have some nice stamps and figured I could make my own. So here's my attempt at doing just that. It's done by stamping with versamark and then heat embossing with clear embossing powder. Then simply sponge colors right over the top. It makes the embossed image pop. And it's very easy, you can't make a mistake. If you don't like the colors you pounced, just pounce some more until you like it!! I used 3 colors - Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight and Early Espresso. The hummingbird is Night of Navy.

Inspired by a head cold

Actually, was very inspired by the product I am taking for the cold. I took one look at the bottle and thought to myself "I can make that". So here it is!

Back from a long vacation in NY and recuperating from a very "liquidy" head cold - let's just say that in one 8 hour period I went thru a whole box of tissues.

My chocolate "cake" which I posted last month was a huge hit. So much so that I think I'm going to make another to enter in the AZ State fair this year.

I've also been doing weight watchers since April, and proud to say I have lost over 16 lbs so far, but what's even more amazing is that I am down 2 sizes! Even with vacation I lost 1 1/2 pounds all while being on the Friendly's Forbidden Chocolate and hot fudge diet (yes, I love Friendlys and we don't have them here in AZ). I should say I supplemented my ice cream diet with Slim fast and Lean Cuisines and Salad, and hardly ever sat (as compared to my regular working day where my butt spreads out on a chair for 8-9 hours a day).