Unfrogettable Stamping!

In the spotlight: Build-a-Bear product line

   The exclusive Build-a-Bear product line carried in our current Idea Book & Catalog will be retiring on May 31st so I wanted to spotlight some of my favorite projects featuring this line to inspire you.  I purchased my bear above at the Stampin' Up! Convention a few years ago when this product line first debuted.  We have an assortment of stamp sets along with coordinating Big Shot dies - order them now while they are still available!  Remember, it is easiest to order these retiring products online via my website here.

These projects were from a Mom & Me class that I did a few years ago.

I created this card as a Fabulous Friday project for the Sisters in Stamping blog.

This was a project featured on a display at Convention... what a cute idea!

Here is one other sample showing two card ideas.

If you love this product line, be sure and purchase your Big Shot dies and stamp sets before May 31st!!

 

 

 

In the spotlight: Fox & Friends

   What a cute set Fox & Friends is... so perfect for baby cards, kids projects and so much more as you will see in the samples I am sharing with you today.  Don't miss out on this fantastic solid image set before it's gone... you have until May 31st to order it.  It is available in both clear mount (#118565, $14.95) and wood mount (#117020, $18.95).  The set above was one I designed for a Mom & Me birthday class a while back.

Here is a cute Valentine card featuring the monkey from this set.

I love this owl - it fits well in the xl oval punch!

How cute is this chocolate bar cover?

This was a card created for one of our monthly swaps and features the whale - notice that it fits in the tag punch!

Darlene Crockett made this card for a catalog CASE swap - what a cute baby card.

Krid Sennett created this card for our shoe box swap last July featuring the Fox from this set.

 
A candy favor with the monkey hanging from the "vine" created with the image from the retiring Baroque Motifs.

This card was also for a swap and features many of the different images from the set.

   If you love this set, be sure to get it before it's gone for good!  Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful rest of your weekend!!

Halloween Mom & Me class featuring the Owl punch

I hold a Mom & Me class a couple of times a year, usually around a holiday, and this is an opportunity for my stampers to include their kids in a class.  My own kids like to join in on the fun, too!  My Halloween Mom & Me class was this past Sunday afternoon and everyone that came got to make a card, candy favor box that holds chocolates and a 12" x 12" scrapbook page all featuring the super-cute owl punch!  I always cut two sets of supplies - one for Mom and one for her child... this lets the child be more "creative" without Mom worrying about having the projects turn out perfectly.  It helps out a LOT with the stress level and everyone can have fun!  Can you relate?!  LOL!

Here is the card that everyone got to make - I saw it posted somewhere and cannot find it anywhere now to give credit.  I thought it was such a great idea to have the owl punch be a silhouette... not such a spooky card for the younger kids.  The "Happy Halloween" sentiment is from the Haunted Halloween stamp set and the branch is from the 2-step bird punch.

This is a 2-4-6-8 box that holds chocolates - I just love the owl trick-or-treater image from the Warmest Wishes hostess stamp set from the Holiday Mini catalog.  The DSP is from the Frightful Sight DSP package.

This is the scrapbook page I designed... it, too, features DSP from the Frightful Sight package.  I really like this paper and will be sad to see it go.

What do you think of my little ghost?  I wanted to mimic the ghosts in the paper and used the large heart punch to scallop the bottom and the wide oval punch to get the shape of the ghost.  I just used a cajun craze stampin' write marker to draw in the eyes.  The witch sticking out of the cauldron (the owl punch!) is an idea I saw posted by Dena Lenneman.

My next Mom & Me class will be to Celebrate Christmas on November 27th - I only have one spot left if you'd like to join us!  Contact me for details and to register.

Easter Mom & Me class

I had a private Mom & Me Easter class with my stamping friends at First Southern Baptist Church on Sunday afternoon and it was a lot of fun!  I had 7 teams of Moms/Grandmas and kids from the age of 7 up to 20+ in attendance.  Everyone got to make each of the projects, which you'll find below.  It was a lot of fun and I look forward to being with these ladies again in July for our next scheduled stamp-a-stack class!

I designed this pocket Easter card which features the Springtime Vintage DSP and Easter Blossoms stamp set from the Occasions Mini catalog (available through the end of April).  I love pocket cards - they come together so easily and are so pretty!

This little altered mini composition notebook features blushing bride DSP from the In Color stack along with matching ribbon and basic gray ink for the image from the Crosses of Hope stamp set.  I also had concord crush and pear pizzazz pieces in the box for anyone who wanted to use a different color.  And as so often happens to me, I left one key component at home (40 minutes away) - my basic gray ink pad!!  Luckily, everyone was willing to use the basic black ink pad that I had packed for the jelly bean project below... I am so grateful that my stampers are always so understanding when I forget something at home!!

I always like to include a fun candy favor project with my Mom & Me classes and this jelly bean project features the Sweet Treats cups.  I pulled out my retired Bold Brights card stock for this project because they matched the jelly bean colors so well.  I included the Witness of the Jelly Bean that details the significance of the colors of the jelly beans that I typed up on my computer and printed out for the project... if you can't read it here is what it says:

Orange is for Heaven so bright. (2 Samuel 22:13-14)

Yellow is for God's perfect light. (Revelation 21:23)

Black is for the sins we've made. (Romans 3:23)

Red is for the blood He gave. (Romans 5:8)

White is for our cleansing from sin. (Psalm 51:1-2)

Green is for our new life in Him. (Colossians 1:10)

Pink is for His free gift to share. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Purple is for the crowns we'll wear! (2 Timothy 4:8)

The witness of the Jelly Beans is true, trust in Jesus,

because he loves you! (Romans 10:13)

 

What do you think of the cross on the front of the little favor?  I CASE'd this idea from my downline Jaime Penney's swap card last month.  Sorry the picture's a little fuzzy, but do you see the white cross in the Lattice Bigz diecut?  Just trim off the pieces you don't need... love it!  I have to give a shout out to my sister Cindy Blekas, who helped me come up with this idea for the jelly beans.  Thanks for your help, Cindy!!

If you are interested in having a private Mom & Me class or any other stamping class at your church or with your group give me a call and we can schedule a date for it!

"Celebrate Christmas" Mom & Me class

I held my "Celebrate Christmas" Mom & Me class yesterday and it was a lot of fun!  I love these classes - I hold them about once a quarter and it's a time for my stampers to share their love of stamping with their kids and grandkids plus I get to have my kids participate, too. Everyone made four projects - each Mom & Me pair got two sets of project supplies so the kids could do their thing as "creatively" as they wanted and Mom's could be "perfect" - I found that saves a lot of stress on the Moms!!

The snowman above was created with the fancy favor box bigz xl die and then was embellished with a half-Top Note bigz die and punches (boho blossoms, 2-step bird, large star and itty bitty shapes) to make his hat and face.  The  box was filled with the makings for snowman soup:  hot cocoa with mini marshmallows, a candy cane and Hershey Kiss.  This was a quick and easy project that the kids loved making.

Here is a card that everyone made - it features our notecard sets.  The front was embellished with the eyelet border punch and then a 1/2 inch strip from the Candy Cane Christmas specialty DSP was added to the inside to peek through they holes and scallop edging.  The snowman image is from A Cute Christmas stamp set and was colored with blushing bride, baja breeze and basic black stampin' write markers... colors inspired by the DSP.  The 2-3/8" scallop and 1-3/4" circle punches helped to quickly put the card together.  Adding a bit of dazzling diamonds (well, some added more than others) for the snow and the card was done!

The third project was a matchbox holder for fun-sized M&Ms made with real red card stock and stamped using the Sparkly & Bright stamp set.  The scallop square and 1-1/4" square punches made it really easy to embellish the project.  Again, the addition of dazzling diamonds gave this project a fun sparkle.

The last project of the day was the Candy Countdown Calendar kit, which every Mom & child pair received as part of their class fee.  I also gave them some clear and silver tinsel to embellish the boxes in addition to, you guessed it... dazzling diamonds!  These boxes really came together quickly - I think the most time-consuming part was threading the ribbon through the holes in the box and tying the knots.  We found that the straightened end of a paper clip worked great to poke the ribbon through... how great is that?!  And an inexpensive tool that everyone has close by!  Here are 2 of the boxes that my girls created... how fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope to be back to posting daily so please come back again...

Fabulous Fox & Friends

Welcome to another Fabulous Friday!  This week on the Sisters in Stamping blog we are focusing on the Fox & Friends stamp set in the Occasions mini catalog.  It is available in both woodmount and clear-mount.

Luckily for me, I had decided to hold a Mom & Me class next month with this stamp set and decided to go ahead and prepare my class projects this week to kill two birds with one stone.  I wanted to go with a birthday theme and created this gift bag with matching card and notepad.  I love stamping all over a single sheet of whisper white cardstock and then cutting it up and using it like Designer Series paper!!

The white gift bag was one that I picked up at a discount store and just added a piece of the stamped paper to the front.  The little more mustard gift card is a 5" x 2-1/2" piece of cardstock folded in half and embellished with some punches (Extra Large flower and 1-3/4" circle) and the ruby red fox.  I used the Note Card set (which everyone will be receiving in addition to the stamp set) to create the birthday card and covered a mini notepad, which the kids will be able to personalize with my Big Shot Serif Essentials Bigz Alphabet dies. 

The colors used for these projects are all from the earth elements color family (my favorite!):  whale - not quite navy, fox - ruby red, owl - more mustard, turtle - old olive, monkey - chocolate chip and giraffe - pumpkin pie.  You could very easily change this into gift packaging for a baby shower by using colors from the soft subtles color family!

Thanks for stopping by today - please be sure and visit the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon EST to see the other fun creations with this stamp set!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!!!  I hope you are having a love-filled day.

I tried to post this earlier today but was experiencing some difficulties with Typepad, so sorry for the delay!  I meant to get it done yesterday, but with the Winter OIympics in full swing I must admit that after my class I was a TV junkie for the rest of the evening.  Don't you just LOVE watching the Olympics?  I think my family has spent more time together watching the Olympics over the last 2 days than we have in the last 2 weeks!  I thought the Opening Ceremonies were phenomenal... Canada is doing a fantastic job as the host country!  And I'm so glad they were finally able to break the spell and win their first Gold Medal on their home turf.  But, I have to say, "Go Team USA!!!"

Now on to some stamping... I wanted to share the Mom & Me projects for my Valentine's Day class yesterday.  Everyone who came got the stamp set "Whoo's Your Valentine?" which we used for 2 of the 3 projects as you'll see below.  I had originally planned this class for January 30th but the snow forced me to reschedule... luckily we were able to have the class before Valentine's Day!!  Whenever I hold these classes, I always cut 2 sets of supplies so that the Moms can have their "perfect" projects and the kids can have fun and be creative with theirs.  I also always include a stamp set so that everyone can use their own stamps for the projects and the kids get to take them home that day.  If you're interested in attending one of these classes, my next Mom & Me is scheduled for Saturday, April 10th.  I have a morning session and afternoon session planned and just 2 spots left in each.  Contact me to register and for further details please click the calendar in the sidebar menu.

The first project is this cute card made from a notecard - these are fantastic, you get 20 in a pack PLUS 20 envelopes all for just $5.95 (item #107311)!  They are sized at 5" x 3-1/2" when folded and you can mail these without paying any additional postage (unless you add too many embellishments).  I just love this little owl image - isn't he cute with the wiggly eyes added?  This is definitely a card that could be duplicated easily.  The Big Shot Perfect Polka Dots texturz folder was used on the close to cocoa mat and the tiny real red hearts were punched out with the small heart punch.  The card was finished with a strip of real red gingham ribbon tied in a knot.

Next up is this gum holder featuring the train image... just perfect for gum!  The inspiration for this was a swap I received way back in August at Convention from Sonya Oshira - you can see the card here.  The kids loved these and it was hard to convince them not to open the gum before they left!

The final project of the day was the 12" x 12" scrapbook layout above which was a Fabulous Friday project several weeks ago (see that post here).  For those Moms who wanted to make a 2-page spread I created this second layout below using the same pieces, but rotating it 90 degrees.

I decided to feature the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set for this layout since Stampin' Up! is donating $2 from the sale of each of these sets to the Haiti Relief program through the American Red Cross.  So far over 7,500 sets have been sold and hopefully many more will be sold through the end of February when the program ends.  Want to purchase a set for yourself?  It's easy to place your order online via my website by clicking on Shop Now here.  Or if you'd rather have me place the order, give me a call or send me an email and I'll be happy to take care of that for you!  Place a $50 order and you'll earn a FREE Sale-a-Bration item AND a spot on my $50-50 board.

The Big Shot made creating the title super-easy... I just cut 3" x 1-1/2" strips of whisper white and let everyone decide on their own titles.  The kids had fun using the Big Shot once I taught them how to create their "sandwich."

I hope to be able to hold my "I'm a Big Shot" class tomorrow evening, but unfortunately they are calling for yet MORE SNOW!  I will share those projects with you tomorrow regardless, so please come back to give those a look.

I'll also be announcing the winner of the blog candy tomorrow - I want to make sure anyone on the West coast that leaves me a comment on my 80's post is eligible for the drawing.  Did you miss it?  Be sure and check out this post and leave me a comment to enter.... thanks for stopping by!

I {Heart} Fabulous Friday!!

It's Friday and you know what that means.... it's time for a Fabulous Friday project for the Sisters in Stamping blog.  This week we're focusing on the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set in the Occasions mini catalog.

I decided to use this stamp set to make a 12 x 12 scrapbook page for my Valentine's Day Mom & Me class later this month.  It's hard to tell from the photo (sorry, my camera is dying), but the base is taken with teal and the hearts on the whisper white piece are stamped with real red to match the punched out real red heart in the title.  Since this page is for kids, I chose to use the heart with "friend" in it from the I {Heart} Hearts set.  It gives this stamp set a little more flexibility because it's not just a lovey-dubby Valentine's heart set. 

The mat for the 5" x 7" large photo is elegant eggplant and I ran a strip of real red polka-dotted ribbon across for some added color.  I pulled out my Big Shot to cut out the letters to spell "friends" for the title using the Simple Letters bigz dies.  The dot for the "i" is an elegant eggplant heart that I created using my new small heart punch from the mini.

Be sure and stop by the Sisters in Stamping blog after Noon EST to see the other projects created with this fun stamp set.  As always, thanks for stopping by and I'll see you back here tomorrow!