Tuesday, September 29, 2009

THANK GOD FOR FRIENDS!

I just had to take the time to thank several people in my life, through this difficult time I find myself in. I cannot imagine surviving this time if it were not for Donna Olson, who I can ALWAYS count on being there for me; Denise Spanos, my rock, who seems to always have the right thing to say; and Ferne Southern; who understands me (after all we are two peas in a cracked shell). Also my DH, Joe, who somehow, puts up with me. Thank you all, I love you and can't imagine my life without you all. (Can’t you tell I’m a southerner now? It's in my blood, even if I'm a California girl!) I thank God for each and every one of you and my many friends not listed above. You have touched my life, and I will always remember that, and thought the light at the end of the tunnel is very dim, it is there, and I will emerge sometime (soon, I hope) and be back to the loving, kooky Janet you know and hopefully love also.

To all the readers of this blog, whether I have met you or not (specially my followers), thank you for being a part of my life. Just knowing you are out there, somewhere in cyber world, brightens my day.

Happy Stampin'
Janet

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Peppermint Pattie Spider                                               


Just for fun I am also adding these fun spiders to stamp camp. My projects always seem to be labor intensive, so I thought I would give my ladies (and gents- I do have one in my downline, so I have to be fair) a break. These are fast and easy to make, are are super cute. I used the small photo corner punches for front legs and the larger ones in the back for the back legs.
All supplies (except candy) are Stampin' Up!
Stamps: none- gasp, gasp, It's ok, try to breathe,
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red
Ink: None needed. How is this possible, no stamp, no ink, what is up here lady????
Accessories: punches: Scallop circle, photo corner, 1/2" circle, and for the black part of the eye, and nose, I used the largest hole in the crop-a-dile
That's it! Easy Pesy, and you though I could not make a easy project. Guess I showed you all, didn't I? Now who wants to bet how long it will be before you get away with something this easy?

Happy stampin'
Autumn Harvest Jack-O-Lanterns
Here is another stamp camp project. I am so sorry it took me so long to post this, but I was sick and didn't get this card finished. (You know if I can't stamp, I am really, really sick) So finally here it is. The new dates for the Halloween Stamp Camp are, Sunday September 20, 2009 and Monday, September 21, 2009. As always, reservations are required.      
I saw someone use these pumpkins with the "Eat, drink and be Scary" hats, but I cannot find the post, to give proper credit. So thanks for the great idea, whoever you are!

All Supplies Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Autumn Harvest, Eat Drink and be Scary, Itty Bitty Backgrounds and the Textured jumbo wheel
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Almost Amethyst, Old Olive and SU watercolor paper.
Inks: StazOn Black, Craft black, Pumpkin Pie and Almost Amethyst
Accessories: Watercolor wonder Crayon Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Pie 1 1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon, stampin dimensionals, stampin sponges, clear embossing powder and black embossing powder

It is hard to tell in the scan, but the pumpkins are stamps in StazOn. The hat is stamped in Black craft (on Old Olive cardstock)  and embossed with clear embossing powder, the mouth and eyes are also stamped in Black craft, but they are embossed with black embossing powder, in an attempt to make them darker and spooker. Did it work? The pumpkin on the left and the center hat are popped with dimensionals, the hat on the left pumpkin is stamped with left over rubber (making it higher than the hat, and pumpkin with the dimensionals) adding a third dimension. The textured wheel is rolled in Amethyst on the Amethyst cardstock. I also stamped the speckled stamp from Itty Bitty Background in Pumpkin, just around the edges of the Pumpkin cardstock, over stamping to make it more condensed. Both the Amethyst and Pumpkin cardstocks are sponged. The Jack-0-lanterns are placed to the far left to leave room for the wide striped pumpkin ribbon.

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.



Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Twick or Tweet Candy Bar.

I just knew I had to cover a candy bar when I read the sentiment on this stamp "It's Halloween, enjoy every bite" so this will also be one of the projects at my September Stamp Camps.

All supplies (except candy bar) Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Twick or Tweet and House of Haunts
Paper: Glossy White, Whisper White, Soft Suede and Cast a Spell designer series paper
Ink: Soft Suded, Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry and Basic Black
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals and 1" circle punch, brayer

Thanks for looking
Matchbox Tombstone
This is one of the projects for my Halloween stamp camps this Sat., Sept 19th, and Mon. Sept 21st. I have seen where several different people have made these cute tombstones using the Sizzix Matchbox XL die and the Stampin' Up" stamp set "Graveyard Gala", so I just had to make one, Since I have seen several I don't really know who to give credit to. The ones I seen used Halloween dsp, but I wanted mine to be all grey so I opted to go with the "Nouveau Chic" dsp, using Basic Gray and Basic Black patterns, and Basic Gray cardstock. Since the writing on old tombstones can sometimes be faint, I opted to stamp the tombstone (being careful not to ink the words "date, time & place") in Versamark on Basic Gray cardstock and emboss with clear embossing powder. I then stamped just the skelton head and wings and the right facing Raven on a scrap of Basic Gray this time using Basic Black craft ink, and embossing again with clear embossing powder. I attached the raven to the top of my tombstone. Using the Versamarker I wrote "RIP" and embossed with clear embossing powder. I then stamped the left facing Raven in Basic Black craft ink appprox. 3/4" from the bottom, so that when I added my match box, it would look like he was sitting on it. The raven was also embossed with clear embossing powder.

Before making the matchbox, I took a piece of Hemp Twine approx. 5" long and dyed it Basic Gray. (I leave 1" not dyed to hold on to, then I place my twine on my Basic Gray ink pad , using a sponge dauber I pull the twine, pressing down with the dauber, so that as I pull the hemp the twine is coated with ink on both sides, I repeat this step several times, until totally covered. I then set that aside to fully dry.

On the matchbox die I place a piece of 5 1/2" x 6 1/4" Basic Gray cardstock on the box portion of the die, and a 6 1/2" x 3 piece of the Nouveau Chic designer paper on the lid portion and cut. Make sure you use the premiem crease pad for the XL die, and not the cutting pad at the top of your sandwich. My sandwich is as follows, bottom to top: cutting pad, shim, dye (face up) paper, crease pad. By using the crease pad instead of the cutting pad, you will have nice score lines, without the crease pad, your score line could cut. Before assembling the lid, I stamp the pumpkin with flourishes on the the two sides of the lid, (Basic Black craft ink and clear embossing powder) making sure both will be right side up when assembled. Sponge both the matchbox and lid on all score lines, with Basic Gray and assemble. Remember to put your Basic Gray courdory button and hemp twine on box bottom before assembly so that when you fold your box it will hide the hemp that you pulled through. Once bottom is completed, attach tombstone to the back using sticky stiip. Cover 2 miniture candy bars with the "Cast a Spell" designer paper and place in match box and slide on the lid. Ta Da, you have your tombstone completed!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Sweet Rewards 
Hostess Special

From September 1-November 30, 2009, host a $250 workshop and choose any item* from the Holiday Mini Catalog for just $10.

Choose from our award-winning stamps, beautiful new Simply Adorned™ jewelry, exclusive Build-A-Bear Workshop® products, or latest dies for the Sizzix® Big Shot™. With so much to choose from, you'll feel like a kid in a candy shop!

*Excludes hostess sets and My Digital Studio™

Sunday, September 6, 2009

MDS - Saint Simeon's Island Lighthouse- 2 page spread










I know, I know, I already did a Saint Simeon's Lighthouse spread, but I decided to change it up a little. Isn't it great that I could do that without having to throw away the paper I ruined removing the pictures! Today I decided to try a 2 page spread. I saw this paper when I was looking at the designer templates, but it had a lot of flowers and a ribbon at the top that I didn't want on this page. This paper coordinates wonderfully with our old Alpine Ribbon, which is in MDS. What I did is deleted the ribbon and all the embellishments on that template and that left me with the red and green patterned designer paper. I added the Alpine ribbon, my photos, mats and journaling and tada! I'm done.
Happy Scrappin' and stampin'

MDS- Goliath


Help! I'm scrappin' and I just can't stop!
Here I am playing with MDS again, I have been behind in my scrapbooking forever, but at this rate I am gaining on it fast. When I saw the cat stamp set on MDS I just had to dig out this picture of my cat. Normally I design the page around the colors in the picture, but this time I didn't even look at the picture I just made a page that I liked. I tried it first with Only Orange, since I believe all cats should be orange, then I tried Pumpkin Pie, then Dusty Durango, finally I tried Crushed Curry and fell in love. It is so much fun to just with a click change from Orange to Pumpkin, to Durango. When I went and got the picture I freaked out at first because I didn't remember the picture having all that blue. But once I added the picture. I looked back and decided that the blue really draws your eye to the picture. Let me know what you think. I think when I get the page printed I will put some crystal effects on the brads for dimension. I think its cool that even though we don't have the brads in our catalog in Durango, I could make the Durango with MDS

I have been a scraping fool and the amazing thing is my room is still clean! It's amazing!
Happy Stampin' and Scrappin'

MDS - My Dear Daddy - 2 version


I like the Not Quite Navy card stock base on the previous post, but this with the Not Quite Navy script DSP coordinates better with the Willocks page. It took me just a couple of minutes to make the changes. I have both saved and don't know which one to print. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
Happy Stampin'

MDS- My Dear Daddy


I decided to make this the com-panion page to my Willocks Family page since I have so few pictures of my dad. I had a lot of fun designing this. I took a layout in the program that had a circle and several elements off set, but I wanted my circle and elements different, so I just started with a blank page and made the elements myself. It is really easy. To make a large circle, just put in a circle punch and enlarge it. I also added mats to both circles. The stamps in this set could be seen through, so I took the square punch, and modified it to be slightly larger than my stamp. I then placed it behind the stamp, so the Not Quite Navy Script designer paper did not show through. I didn't really like going gray or basic gray for a fill, so I did a color match and pulled color out of the picture. I did that on the previous post also. I also added a shadow to the text. I guarantee you will want this program. It is considerably less than Photoshop and much easier to use, plus you have the Stampin' Up! exclusive colors and artwork that you cannot get from Photoshop. Contact me to order your copy today. (Orders cannot be placed to Stampin' Up! until October 1st. UNLESS, you have a qualifying workshop, you can earn it for half price and get it this month, BEFORE anyone else can buy it. Or you can always join my team to get a discount on all your Stampin' Up! supplies. The minimum to be a demonstrator is only $300.00 a quarter. If you get three friends who will agree to order $25.00 a month, and you do also, you have met your minimum. Or holding just one to two workshops every three months, and you will met the minimum. So join today, and get the demonstrator discount. Plus all your supplies are tax deductible. It is a win, win situation, so contact me today.
Happy Stampin'
Happy Digital Scrapbooking

MDS - The Willocks Family


I just had to play with My Digital Studio before I went to bed. You will not believe how easy this program is to use. It is so much fun to try different stamps or embellishments without ruining any supplies. All stamps and embellishments are true to size, so after I print it I can add the ribbon and brads and it would fit perfect. The Always and sentiment are also put on actual size Stampin' Up! punches so I could recreate these items and pop up if I chose to. I am not sure.

I decided to design my own page using this old family picture. My father passed away when I was little so there are not may pictures of him. This is the only picture with both me and him in it so it means a lot to me. The sentiment in the Always stamp set was perfect for this page.

Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think.

Happy Stampin'

Friday, September 4, 2009

Card project - Bright Blessing jumbo wheel

Check out this cute card project. This is a jumbo Stampin' Around wheel called "Bright Blessings" (item #115626) and is found on page 27 of the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog. Our jumbo wheels only run $8.50, so how can you not have this awesome wheel. (You must have the jumbo handle). And don't you just love that cute little leaf. It is from the "Falling leaves" (item #115368) stamp set and found right above the Bright Blessings wheel in the Idea Book and Catalog. To order the stamp set or wheel, simply click on the order now button, or contact me for a workshop and earn them FREE! Watch for future posts with this wheel and stamp set, as we will be using these at my September Stamp camp.
Happy Stampin'

Check out our new Holiday Mini Catalog. Good September 1, 2009-January 4, 2010. This little mini is our biggest ever, 39 pages to be exact. It is full of exciting new products, My Digital Studio, Stampin' Up! exclusive Build-A-Bear stamps and die cuts, Stampin' Up! exclusive Sizzix dies just to name a few. This catalog is absolutely free! If you do not have a current Stampin' Up! demonstrator and would like to receive a copy, contact me today.
Happy Stampin'

MDS - Breckfast at 2 Meeting Street


OK, this is my last post for the evening. I have got to get to bed or my DH will take My Digital Studio away. Of course, since it came today, I had my monthly stamp club to go to, so I didn't get to play until I got home.
As I mentioned in the previous post, my DH and I just celebrated our 1oth wedding anniversary. I really didn't want to go out of town, so since I have always loved all the old Mansions in Downtown Charleston, we decided, we would go out of town, and travel 45 minutes to Charleston. We stayed at the wonderful 2 Meeting Street bed and breakfast for 2 nights. (Now I realise this is not Tiffany's, but a Mansion turned into a B&B right on the Charleston harbor is a close 2nd)
I did not want to go home, but my 4 legged babies needed their mommy so I did. I really enjoyed the pampered life.
Is there a mansion turned into a B&B that will take me and my 2 Chihuahua's. Let me know, and I'm there!!!
I will be making additional pages showing the house, inside and out. So check back.
Happy Stampin'

MDS - Robert's Resturant


You just have to come visit Charles-ton, SC and visit Robert's Rest-aurant while you are here. They only have 30 tables, and Robert sings in between courses. He has the most amazing baritone voice. You need to hurry though, as Robert will be retiring at the end of this year, or first part of next year.
My DH took me for our 10th Wedding Anniversary. He even got down on his knees at the end, and asked me to forgive him for not getting on his knees when he proposed 10 years ago, and asked me if I would still spend the rest of my life with him.
David, my stepson, told me I should have told him I would think about it, and let him sweat a little while. But he had a gorgeous diamond anniversary ring, and I'm a sucker for diamonds, (my baby girl Chihuahua's name is Tiffany- as in Breakfast at Tiffany's- as in the Diamond store!) so as you can see, I caved.
Don't you just love all the cool things you can do with the My Digital Studio.
You can purchase it from me in October, or Hostess a workshop in October, and with a qualifying show earn it for half price. If you just can't wait until October, join my team, and be able to get your copy this month!!!!
Happy Stampin'

MDS - Saint Simeon's Lighthouse


I am not sure exactly when we took this trip. We were doing a light-house tour. I really enjoyed going up into all the light-houses, even thought I am afraid of heights.
I will be catching up on my scrap booking now that I have the MDS (My Digital Scrap booking) program.
It is very simple to use. I will be making some cards soon, so be sure to check back.
And quess what, I found out with my spell check that I should have an ' in Simeon's. With MDS no problem, I just go into the program and add it, my scrapbook page is not ruined. Is that not reason enought for you to get your copy ASAP?
Happy Stampin'

My Digital Studio - Fort Sumter


I received my copy of MDS (My Digital Studio)
today and just had to play. This is a calendar I am making for my DH for Christmas. Good thing he doesn't look at my blog! Don't tell!!!
My Digital Studio will be available at my web-store on October 1, 2009. You can get your copy of MDS with our hostess promotion, check it out. (see link in side bar).
Call me today to set a date for your workshop.
Happy Stampin'

Tuesday, September 1, 2009


Donna, my helper (my Vanna), just had to make her bear a boy. Don't you just love the bow tie and belly button she put on him.
Happy Stampin' and punchin'

Beary Best Friends- girl Build a Bear in Lilac

Of course, being such a girly girl, I had to chose the girl bear to stamp. I told myself I wasn't going to buy this stamp set, but it had been delivered less than an hour and had ink on it.
Don't you just have to have it also? Click on my order button and order your set today. Check out the Sizzix Build a Bear dies. I am ordering those tomorrow, so watch for them soon.

All supplies Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Beary Best Friends, Beary Nice Wishes, Pretty Petals background
Paper: Lovely Lilac, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White
Ink: Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac
Accessories: White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, pretties kit (I will post how to dye these soon) Stampin' Sponges, Stampin' Dimensionals, Watercolor pencils, aqua painter

Happy Stampin'

Beary Best Friends for Clemson fans


I just got in my Build a Bear stamp set, so Donna and I had to play. Here is Donna's card, done in Orange and Lilac for Clemson. (Personally, I'm and UT fan).
I think Donna did a great job of making this card fun and funky. Thanks Donna.
All Supplies Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Beary Best Friends, Beary Nice Wishes, Sanded background, Polka Dot background.
Paper: Lovely Lilac, Almost Amethyst, Only Orange and Whisper White
Ink: Lovely Lilac, Only Orange
Accessories: Water color pencils, Aqua painter, Stampin' Dimensionals, 3/4" circle punch, Basic Black Stampin' Write Journaler.