I Love Buttercups!

I guess there are several reasons that I love buttercups.  Right now, the best thing is that they are a sign of Spring!  After a long Winter, I'm looking forward to nicer weather so when I saw the first buttercup bloom in my yard the day after a terrible storm that dumped 6" of rain (yes, rain - not snow) on us I had to snap a picture of the brave little flower. 

When I was a child we had hundreds of buttercups in our front yard.  We would pick so many bouquets for our mom and she always seemed delighted to get them.  When they start blooming in the Spring it brings back those happy childhood memories of a loving family and a secure country life.

So when I saw a card Jackie Topa made with the Build a Blossom punch.  Since I love buttercups so much I had to try my hand at CASEing Jackie's card.   

The base of my card is quite a bit different but I used her design for the actual buttercup.  She called it a daffodil as I'm sure most people do but I grew up calling them buttercups so that helps me keep those great childhood memories alive. 

This buttercup uses one of the largest scalloped petals from the punch and 6 of the largest leaf punches.  I sponged a bit of More Mustard around the leaves very lightly before assembling the flower.  I hand-cut the leaves and couldn't resist putting a little pearl in the center of the flower.  The DSP is from the Springtime Vintage pack and the birthday stamp is from a free stamp set available during Sale-a-Bration.

The picture of my first buttercup was taken several days ago.  Now I have lots of buttercups blooming but it is too rainy to take pictures.  We got another 3 1/2 inches today after getting 6 inches last Wednesday.  So glad that wasn't snow, I wonder how many inches that would be!

My Swap card and a Spring Swap

I got some great swap cards at the team meeting Tuesday night.  We have such talented Stampin' Up demonstrators everywhere!  First is my swap card.  I wanted to use the Punch Bunch stamp set so I made a baby card.  I have several friends who either just had a baby or are expecting so I need to make several more in blues and pinks! 

I started off with a Baja Breeze base and a Whisper White  embossed polka-dot layer on top of that.  The scalloped edge at the bottom is made by punching just the edge with the Curly Label punch.  I punched the middle and then either side.  If you don't get it straight enough you can just nip a bit more off until it looks even.  Looking at the picture, I think I should have taken a little more off the left side!  A little sponging along the bottom finishes it off.

This swap card made by Judy uses the Easter Blossoms set from the Occasions Mini Catalog.  I love the green, I'm so looking forward to the grass and trees turning green again!  A little ribbon and chunky glitter make this a special card to celebrate Spring.

Empty Bowls and Team Meeting

Yesterday was a busy day.  But then, it seems like all days are busy!  I had been baking cookies and cornbread muffins for the Empty Bowls lunch and it was nice to go and eat and get a wonderful hand-made bowl with my lunch.  This charity event benefits the Loaves and Fishes and Urban Ministries.  Here is the bowl I got.

The article in the Leaf-Chronicle is here. 

Then last night I went to our Stampin' Up team meeting.  My upline is Julie Salva, she is so fun and inspiring.  I love our meetings and the projects we make are an added bonus to the fun. 

One of the projects we made last night was a nice tool to use at workshops or whenever someone isn't sure about the color of a certain cardstock.  The colors in the catalog are very close but they can't always be a perfect picture of the color so we made this fun color sampler folder to display our cardstock colors.  There are even a couple of samples of buttons and ribbon as well as a bit of bling!

Another fun project was a little box made from the Petal Cone die.  I made the cone at the last team meeting but never got a picture of it for whatever reason.  Now you can see what it is "supposed" to look like and what you can do with it if you do a bit of creative trimming and scoring.  It was a die that I didn't think I needed but I've seen some great ideas with it and it is working it's way up on my list of dies I need to order!  It is a lot more versatile than I originally thought. 

Isn't this little box adorable!  Besides the Petal Cone die, we used the Trimmings die that was introduced in the Christmas Mini Catalog to make the flower.  The fabric is in the Occasions Mini, the SpringtimeVintage fabric and the button is from the same line.  There is a tutorial here on Angie's blog.  She cut the top off and made it a little basket.  We left the top petals on and folded them over to make it a box.

Here are a couple of other blogs with fun ideas for the Petal Cone die:  Heather made a super cute lantern, Sharon made an upside down box and an upside ritght one with the cutest little cupcake tag. 

Holly made 3 projects, an ice cream cone I probably could have thought of and a carrot that I might have thought of and a graduation cap I'm pretty sure I would never have come up with!  If you look around you will find lots of inspiration for this great die.  Yep, I need it!

 

There are a couple of other projects to show as well as some amazing swaps!  We have some very talented stampers and paper crafters on our team, the swaps are always fantastic.  I have a crop tomorrow but will post the other projects and some swaps Friday.

I'm So Excited!

The first real sign of Spring is always the crocus blooming.  I have noticed them coming up for over a week but I saw the first blooms this morning!  They are the first brave flowers to show their colors every year.  The buttercups aren't far behind, if the sun will shine 2 more days they will probably bloom also. 

I'm sharing 2 more cards we made at our last team meeting today.  After all, there is another team meeting tomorrow night so I need to get these posted!  I had completely forgotten that I hadn't posted these great cards yet.  Have you seen the spinner stamp set yet?  It is so fun and there are a variety of ways you can use it.  The spinner hands are a great price and make for an interesting and unusual card.  What a great way to show you care!  To the right of it is another card with the Blossom Petals stamp and punch.  I love the bright colors, don't they scream Spring?

Last are a couple of other fun, bright cards.  I love the new Pom Pom Trim, available in 3 bright fun colors, 5 yards for $6.50.  You only need a few inches per card so a spool will go a long way.  2 feet will make a double page scrapbook page so you will still have a lot of the spool left after doing layouts with it.  The die cut flowers are from a new die called Fun Flowers.  The great button in the center of the flower is from the Sweet Stitches Designer Brads, aren't they great!

The DSP for both cards is front he Sweet Stitches DSP pack, there is some great fabric that coordinates with this paper.  With the very popular sewing theme this year, you will be perfectly in style using these new products on your scrapbook pages and cards!  They are only around till April 30 though so let me know if you need a mini catalog so you can see all the great new products Stampin' Up has to offer this Spring.

Chocolate and Cup Cakes

Do you like chocolate as much as I do?  It is so yummy and Stampin' Up recognizes that fact too with their new stamp set, Eat Chocolate.  Here are a couple of samples I made at our last team meeting.  This is such a fun stamp set, great for those "just because" cards to let your friends know you are thinking about them.  Each picture has a card made with the Eat Chocolate set and another card with the Create A Cupcake set.  The cupcake set even has a matching punch!  Imagine how quick and easy it will be to make a cute card with cupcake layers. 

Both of these sets are in the Occasions Mini Catalog in both wood mount or clear mount choices.  See the sprinkles and cherry stamps added to the cupcakes?  There is also a candle, heart, flower and bow you can add to create your special cupcake.  I included a close-up of the cupcakes so you could see them better.

Another Cruise Layout

I plan to make a real scrapbook of my cruise but right now I'm having a lot of fun doing digital layouts.  They are so quick and easy and as busy as I've been trying to catch back up after a week's vacation this is great to at least feel like I have done some layouts.  I used the distressed paper for the background in Soft Suede.  The frames from the Frames with a Flourish brush set looked a bit Mayan so I thought they would be perfect for the pictures of the visit to the ruins of Tulum.  As I sized the stamp to a good size for the pictures I added a photo box and dropped the pictures in.  Once I had each in place I grouped the 3 parts into one so I could move them as needed to add the title and journaling. 

For the border I used a square punch filled with Soft Suede and spaced them along the side.  I took another square and stretched it out to reach the entire length of the page.  Then I put brads from the Hodgepodge Hardware set in each square as well as at the corner of the top picture.  The title is done with the Chiller font, I thought it was just right for a ruin page.

I loved visiting the ruins, I had always wanted to see them since I first saw pictures in my elementary school Social Studies book.  With great tour guides it was a wonderful experience and I have a much less narrow view of this amazing world!

Don't forget Sale-a-Bration!  I have 2 dates left in Feb that we can do a workshop so if you want to have one soon, email me at wrightplace4 dot com and we will get a workshop going for you!  I'll have another project with the exclusive Sale-a-Bration products ready to post soon, I just love them!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The day to show our love is here for 2011.  I got a couple of Valentine cards already, I'm sure I have at least a couple of more from my grandchildren coming though.  They love to create cards and came over here Friday to make cards for their school classes.  I will share one card, a quick little bag I  made and a virtual Valentine I got today.

First, the card made by Melinda Couden.  Isn't this little bird sweet?  It is actually holding a flower but Melinda punched a heart from the gorgeous red glimmer paper to  make it a Valentine's card.  She decorated the inside too, something I seem to forget or never get around to.  Some days I'm doing good to get a basic card done!

Second is a bag-type wrap for something fun like a cookie or little bag of candy.  It is quick and easy, like if you needed to give someone a Valentine treat today and don't have much time or products to wrap it up.  Just cut a sheet of cardstock in half the long way so it would measure 11X4 1/4".  Score it at 4, 4 1/2, 5 and 9".  punch the 2 inch end with a border punch, fold at all the scores, attach a piece of DSP cut to 4X3 3/4" to the front.  punch some holes at the top to run a length of ribbon though and add a little stamped and punched embellishment to the front.  This is a great project to use up some scraps.  Don't you love the DSP and the ribbon that is printed with flowers?  They can be yours free!  Both are offerings in the Sale-a-Bration catalog that will expire at the end of next month.  I'll be glad to help you set up a workshop so you can earn even more of the Sale-a-Bration goodies before the sale is over.  wrightplace4@mindspring.com

Last is a photo collage of 3 of my grandchildren.  I love that my daughter included some "natural" poses of them with less than perfect poses.  I miss these grandbabies and wish they lived here in Clarksville.

Candy Flowers and blog candy

I made some candy flowers today to share with you.  They are very quick and easy and would make a fun addition to any Valentine treat.  Or, you could make a whole bouquet of them for someone sweet!  I used the 2 middle sized flowers from the Flower Folds die and sponged around the petals.  Then I punched some leaves with the Blossom Punch and adhered them all to skewers with Sticky Strip.  They are holding on just fine since the Sticky Strip is so sticky.  I also used Sticky Strip to adhere the candy heart to the middle of the flowers.  I guess you could use regular adhesive since most people will be removing the candy fairly quickly!

I came across some blog candy I wanted to share.  It isn't stamping or scrapbook related but you could win $25 to use in Lauren's Etsy store and she has some fun crocheted items there.  I've already picked out what I want if I win!  Here is where you can go to register for the blog candy.  I bought some of the fun little hats for all the grand kids for Christmas and Lauren is very fast and very good.  The kids loved their hats too!  Here are a couple of pictures of 3 of them in their hats.

Cruise pictures!

I got back from my cruise Thursday night and now it seems like a dream, a very nice dream.  It was wonderful and I'd love to go on another cruise very soon!  There was a group of 10 ladies from church who went.  2 had moved away so it was good to see them again.  One of the really cool things was that we were all 10 at one big round table in the formal dining room every night so we didn't have to either be split up or at a table with strangers.  I wonder if, when the wine server was told that none of us drank if he thought it was going to be a pious, boring group.  Let me tell you how far from the truth that would have been!  OK, I'll tell you in a scrapbook page.  I haven't gotten any pictures printed but MDS will make it quick and easy to share.  Love it! 

For the first layout, dinnertime!  I used a picture of the dining table with all it's silver and nice place settings for the background.  I adjusted the opacity of the picture until I had it how I wanted it, not so bright that it detracted from the pictures but not so dim that you couldn't tell what it was.  There are 5 pictures of some of the wonderful food we had along the bottom of the page.  At the top left, Dawnette and her napkin bow, my sister Eva and I and one of my favorite pictures, Christie with about 4 plates of food!  I was fixing the picture and nearly used the red eye tool but decided I liked it much better with the red eyes.  Christie, it is so you!

On the next page, I used the same technique of making a picture the background.  It is such a great technique that I love with MDS and I had taken this great picture of 2 ships side-by-side on either side of the pier so I wanted to use it as a background page too. 

I have some great pictures of the ruins of Tulum that I'm making a layout of too, so I'll be sharing it soon.  These ruins were my favorite part of the whole trip, I've always wanted to see the ruins in Mexico and I learned so much from our amazing tour guide!  

Well, I'm home and reality has set back in.  I reckon I need to go put another log on the fire.  It may be 77 degrees in Cozumel but it's below freezing here in TN . . .  

Things I love

This is a fun little peek-a-boo card I made last year but wanted to include in my Valentine's classes this year because it is so great.  When it is closed all the way it says "Things I love, shopping, chocolate, new shoes" and when you open it you see "but most of all you"  so your loved one knows you rank them above all those things!  Isn't that a sweet Valentine's card?  This is a sweet little set that is versatile with the added bonus of being inexpensive. 

I cut a rectangle in the front large enough for the "things i love . . ." to show through and added the 3 things from the set that women typically love.  I'm not so typical, I hate to shop (unless it is with Stampin' Up!) and I'm not wild about new shoes.  I like them better once they are worn in and comfortable.  As you can see from the top picture, when you open the card you see that under "things i love . . ." it says but most of all YOU!.  What a nice surprise for the receipent to see when they open the card! 

Happy February!

Just when I think Winter will never get over it is February!  Not that February is a nice, warm month but it is closer to Spring than we were on Jan 2nd!  And wow, was January a cold month!  Right now I am cruising around the Caribbean so I'm nice and warm.  I'll be back home to the cold weather in a few days though, hopefully ready to endure out the rest of the Winter months. 

I love that I can do a post and have it set to show in a couple of weeks.  For one thing, I may be having so much fun on the cruise that I would ignore yall  :~) and secondly, it costs like a dollar a minute to get computer time on the ship and it typically takes me more than 30 minutes  to complete a post!  I have scheduled more Valentine cards to post today.  These are more cards I got in the swap at the team meeting last month but unfortunately, 3 of the 4 don't have the name of the stamper who created them on the back so I don't know who to credit for making them.  The first one uses the Sweetheart stamp set from page 58 of the big catalog.  It is designed to be used with the Heart Treat Cups but this card shows that the set can be used beautifully without the treat cup.  She also used a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set, stamped on Old Olive Cardstock and punched out with the Modern Label Punch.  A tiny Basic Rhinestone on either end of the sentiment finishes off the card with a bit of bling.  She also used the Scalloped Border punch along one edge. 

The second card is a great idea using the Lovely Letters Alphabet set to stamp X's and O's across the card.  You could also spell out "LOVE" or another short word as your sentiment for another occasion or a person's name.  She used the definition from the Define Your Life set but the Valentine definition from the Valentine Defined set in the Occasions Mini Catalog (page 9) would also be wonderful for this card design.

The third card is another fast and easy card that has a lot of impact.  She used a strip of Real Red DSP from the Pattern Designer Series Paper Stack shown at the top of page 175 of the big catalog.  This pack is wonderful, 40 sheets of DSP available in your choice of all 4 color families as well as the In Colors for 2010/11.  This is a great way to get a lot of double sided DSP for a better price.

The last card is the one that had the demonstrator's name who created it.  It is from Tracy Poenitske, she is such a sweet person as well as a talented stamper.  She used the sentiment from Love You Much stamp set, stamped in black, except the flower which she colored with a marker.  She filled in the words with another marker to add more color to the stamped image.  She also used a new product that I haven't tried yet.  Stampin Up introduced Letterpress Plates last year.  In the Occasions Mini catalog are 2 more plates including this one, Hearts Pressed.  Tracy brayered the plate with Whisper White Craft ink before putting the Regal Rose cardstock through the Big Shot to create this wonderful background paper.  It gives a nice inked, debossed look to the paper doesn't it?  I just might be inspired to order it, it is only $7.95 and I love the look!