Stampin' Album

To further spark your interest in the Stamp Technique album I posted previously, here is a peek at one of the pages inside. This is the class I will be teaching in September in honor of National Stamping Month. There is also a very cool card kit being offered called Delight in the Everyday. {click the add on the right for more info} I am looking forward to getting a kit for myself, but I still had an old kit leftover from a year or so ago called From Me to You. I have been working on some cards using this kit, but replaced the papers with the new Grace Level 2 papers. I will post pics of these cards soon!

Here is your peek at one of the Love 2 Stamp pages:

Just a quick post of some BBQ invites I made this weekend. I love the fact that I used such little amount of cardstock to create the base and can fill the pocket with all the info. No envelope needed when you are simply handing them out. I used bright colors to get their attention and a super cute stamp with a snappy phrase!

Supplies: Cardstock and ink colors: tulip, topiary (textured cs), dutch blue, sunflower, white daisy, desert sand; Stamp: Grill it up, Doodle alphabet,(CTMH) misc. ribbon, distressed stripe emboss folder (cuttlebug)

Did you know that next month is National Stamping Month? Close To My Heart has a wonderful promotion going on for National Stamping Month. You can find more info about Delight in the Everyday promo on the right side of the page. I wanted my September Club project to fit the theme of "stamping". So next month the ladies will be creating this Love 2 Stamp mini book. It is created from one of the pages from CTMH's new All~Sorts Mini Chipboard Album. I chose the page that resembles a "postage stamp", because it's all about stamping techniques. Some of the techniques are new, while others are simply oldies, but goodies. Either way they will now have this reference book at their fingertips when they are looking for the perfect technique for their project. I will post more pictures of the pages within after I hold my class {wouldn't want to spoil the surprise you know}.

Color Challenge and Stamp of the Month

Jeanette posted a great color challenge on her blog this week. She calls it "Red, White and Blue Revisited". The combination was so interesting I had to give it a try. I also wanted to play with the August Stamp of the Month, It's Your Day! What a cool stamp, great for a birthday card, scrapbook pages or invites of any kind. Check it out!

All Wrapped Up

As promised here is a closer look at the raffle prizes I gave out during the Open House. I collected a few of these plastic containers and filled them with hand~made cards. The cards were inspired by the Wishes card book. They measure 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 in size which fit the box perfectly. I created some in a Halloween theme and some in a Christmas theme. Each were made with love and I think the recipient...or should I say lucky winner...liked them.

Open House

I held an Open House and Idea Book Premiere this past Saturday. It went really well and my customers were quite pleased with the new book and products. Here are some pictures from the event.

The first is a counter set up with the new Autumn/Winter Idea Books, B&T paper samples and the raffle prizes {I'll show more pics on these little goodies later}. I also included a fun "first impression" survey form in their books. I asked the ladies to browse the items on display and take a look through their books and pick their favorites based on first impression. I will reveal the results at the end of this post.


Here is a table set up with new product and some projects I made.



This is a Christmas organizer I created using the Big Shot Matchbox die. I made 12 matchbox from white daisy cardstock. I covered the fronts in some new and old papers. The pink and red paper is from the new Jingle collection and the blue is from Twitterpated. The green paper is from an oldie, but still a favorite, Emporium. I punched holes and drew ribbon through the front and knotted it in back creating a drawer pull. It could be used for storing gift tags or placing chocolates inside as a "countdown to Christmas" project.




This is just a simple ornament also created from the new Jingle papers. The ornament is also adorned with the Twinkle Brads and some organdy ribbon.

This card idea comes from the Wishes card confidence program and features the new Glitter Rub~ons. The rub~on was a little tricky at first, but the result is quite beautiful. Again I used the Jingle papers, some creme brulee ribbon and one small Twinkle brad. The sentiment is from the December Word Puzzle stamp.

Here is one of the pages I completed from the Twitterpated papers and I used the Top Coats over the photo on the left page. These are a very cool product, perfect for drawing your eye to a particular photo. I also like that they come in white daisy and colonial white and offer an array of designs and sentiments.

This next page features the new Grace papers and another new embellishment called Dimensional Elements In Color ~ Organic. They have cute designs on them that coordinate perfectly with the Twitterpated papers, but as you can see I found a few that worked with my layout too!

These were the spooky create and take projects that the ladies made. Great for dressing your Halloween table, they created a placement card, a goodie tag and a napkin ring. They used the new Beware stamp set and also the Big Shot machine to create 2 of the items.

Finally, the ladies could make one of the Around the Holidays cards for a $1 donation to Operation Smile. They loved this project so much and were thrilled with how easy and beautiful the cards are. I figure that these will be a big seller this year! Also, I decorated an empty Slim Jim canister to match the cards for the donations. I used the dove from Free Spirit stamp, embossed some dots on the blue cardstock and finished it with a sentiment from the December Word Puzzle stamp.

Curious about the customers favorites? Here are the results from the survey:

Top 2 papers: Grace and Jingle

Top 2 stamps: Many Thanks and Ms. Holiday Cheer

Top 2 new accessories: Top Coats and Twinkle Brads

What will your favorites be? Leave me a comment I would love to know.

I will post some pics soon of the raffle prizes I gave away and my September project.

Goodbye Big Pines, Hello Again Sagebrush

I'm back from vacation, our annual trip to Lake Tahoe. Not only do we go to visit my brother and family, but we absolutely love the landscape there. It was pleasant to take a break from the smoldering desert heat. We even had a day of cool air and showers off and on.


No bears caught on film or even in person {darn}. We only heard the cries and hollers of nearby campers upon the visit of a bear the first night. We spotted a couple of deer passing through and several squirrel and chipmunk. This little guy was feasting on a pine cone.




Our favorite event from last year was floating on the Truckee River. We have been telling family about it ever since and was a highly anticipated event for many of the family members joining us this year. Luckily the weather proved to be perfect and I'm pretty certain that the new "river floaters" will be talking about it for some time now.



We experienced a couple of new sights this year. On our travels up north we decided to stop in Bodie, California. Bodie is an old ghost town that was populated in the 1800's. About 5% of the original buildings remain from this gold mining town. It was fascinating to learn about the history there and a great stop for stretching our legs and eating a little lunch. Here we are in front of what remains of the Bodie bank. The bank burned down in 1932, only the brick vault remains. Can you imagine the money and gold that this vault once held!!



Another first was a hike to Angora Lake just south from the campground. A single narrow road along the mountain ridge, a short hike upwards and you reach the most beautiful lake with a small stretch of sandy beach. It was absolutely perfect. The kids enjoyed jumping from the boulders into the chilly water. What a fabulous little gem tucked away in the mountain tops!

The scenery and weather is spectacular, but this year was extra special because of family. It's always a treat to visit with my brother, his wife and their two little girls. They live in God's country everyday. We also shared this experience with family from near and far. I am ever so grateful for the memories. Now I have the task to scrap the 293 photo's I took so I will never forget!

My "little" brother with my kids and his girls on their front deck.

The campground gang!
Remember the camping bingo boards I made? Well, they were a hit. The kids played bingo indoors on our rainy day and the last night we camped.





There was a ton happening in the scrapbooking world while we were away. I arrived back home to some new Autumn/Winter Idea Books and a box filled with brand new merchandise. I am hosting an Open House this Saturday to reveal the new books, show off some new products and projects. Not to mention fun create & take projects to be made. I will post pics from the event soon!