Ooops! Missed Again!

What is it with me and Freshly Made Sketches??  I keep missing the deadlines for their challenges.  It must be because their collections close on Monday nights and that's my Castle night!  I rarely watch TV except for that show.

I love FMS' sketches and always mean to try them out and play along, but somehow, everything else gets in the way and I never make an entry!  Next week, for sure!!


At least I was able to combine their sketch challenge with another colour challenge, Dynamic Duos, so I will be able to enter my card in one challenge anyway.

Here's the Freshly Made Sketches challenge #107:

And here's the Dynamic Duo's colour challenge #74:

I'm still revelling in the memories of a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with two of my daughters and their families, including two of my little grandsons, so thankfulness for all my blessings is still a dominant emotion today.  I went with a fall theme:

• Does that background look familiar?  Well, it shouldn't because you never get the same one twice!  It's the Frosted Filter Technique.  I first used it here.  This one was a little different because I didn't scrunch it, I left it smooth.  I used only So Saffron and Calypso Coral reinkers for this effect.
• Love the texture you can create with the 1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon.  Here, I cut the stitched edges off, then frayed it slightly.
• I used the Wonderfall collection for the leaves. Don't you love the designs on all the loves?  Although this stamp set coordinates with the Autumn Accent Bigz Die, it is backwards to the stamped images and so I felt it was better to cut it out by hand with paper snips.  You can use the Bigz Die if you're willing to die cut first and stamp on the backs of the die cuts afterwards.  That gets tricky unless you use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the image place just right on the die cut shape.

• The sentiment is from Banner Greetings Stamp Set, stamped in Calypso Coral and hand cut.

Oct 15Weekly Dealsfrom STAMPIN' UP BLOG

We hope you are enjoying our weekly deals. Here are this weeks fantastic deals!

	Argyle Textured Impressions Item # 127750   Regular Price: $9.95 Discounted Price: $7.46
	Basic Pearl Jewels Item #119247 Regular Price:$6.50 Discounted Price: $4.87
	Deco Labels Collection Framelits Dies Item # 130102 Regular Price: $24.95 US/$30.95 CAN Discounted Price: $18.71 US/$23.21 CAN
	In Color Dahlia's Item # 127556 Regular Price: $9.95 Discounted Price: $7.46
	Sophisticated Spook Ensemble Digital Download Item #131513 Regular Price: $16.50 Discounted Price: $8.25
	Sweet Treat Cups Item #116802 Regular Price:$3.95 Discounted Price: $2.96

As always, the discount will appear at checkout!

Stamps:  Wonderfall (w131939; c128087); Banner Greetings*(w129711; c129714)

Paper:  ordinary coffee filter; Crumb Cake (120953) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  Calypso Coral (122934) and So Saffron (105225) reinkers; Classic Stampin' Pads in Calypso Coral (126983) and So Saffron (126957)

Accessories:  1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon (132140)

Tools:  Heat Tool (129053); Paper Snips (103579);  Pie Plate; rubber gloves*Hostess Set only

Banner Greetings

Wonderfall Stamp Set

1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon

Paper Snips

Roomie Gifts from Convention 2013

The other thing I meant to share with you from Stampin' Up Convention 2013 is a little tradition we have of making our roomates a gift.  It's almost more fun coming up with something cool to give our roomies and to hear them exclaim over them, than it is to receive the gifts, even though it is plenty of fun to get roomie gifts, too!

I showed you the sewing kit I made for all my roomies before, but here is a reminder:

Here's me and my roomie, Holly Finney!  We had a great time this year!

 I wanted to share with you what Holly did for me and all the others in our group:

She filled a paper lunch bag with a huge assortment of amazing snacks and decorated the bag beautifully!

Here's a close-up:  (All images are © Stampin Up)

Holly used a doily as a background and some Soho Subway DSP.  There is also some Pistachio Pudding cardstock and This and That Designer washi tape along with one of the cute clips and some 7/16" Natural Trim! (Love that stuff!)  She used the Banner Greetings Stamp Set and the Mosaic Madness Stamp set and Mosaic punch to create more embellishments!  Oh, and I spot some little Candy Dots as well!

At the top is an image from Wonderfall and she used the This and That Rotary Stamp to stamp the date of Convention!   I think she did an amazing job on this package!!  Won't you leave a message to tell her what a great job she did?  Keep in mind that this goodie bag got me through 3 long days of convention and a long trip home in my suitcase, so we received these in much more pristine condition!!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Tardiness Will Not Be Tolerated!!

I confess!  I'm a day late and a dollar short.  This post was supposed to be written yesterday, but life sometimes happens.  (What an odd statement!  Life always happens, but sometimes it interferes with our plans.)  I had a wonderful Christmas Stampers' Dozen on Wednesday night.  We made 12 - note well- a dozen Christmas cards!  Three each of four different designs.  I thought I had chosen simple enough cards for the occasion, but I have been struggling with that aspect of my classes.  The designs involved too many steps or maybe I should say, too many time consuming steps.  My ladies and I worked HARD for four hours, but we finished! And they look beautiful!  And I am heading back to the drawing board for my last Christmas Stampers' Dozen in November.  I am going to get this right!

Yesterday morning, I had a meeting with someone who wants wedding invites designed and then took my DH to the hospital for a procedure on his eye, did some errands and just like that, it was dinner time! 

I started making a card to post, but the design was not coming easily.  I finally got it designed, but I had to wait for a thick layer of Crystal Effects to dry on an acorn, so figured I'd write my post, then add the photographs later.

Here is the design:

It uses a stamp set I have been wanting for a long time and finally ordered, Wonderfall.  I just love the graphics and the designs on the leaves.  I used the Autumn Accents Bigz Die and the Big Shot to cut out the leaf shapes.  This is one time where you die cut first and then stamp, because otherwise the leaf shapes on the die are opposite to the stamp shapes.  Odd, but it works okay.

 I got the idea for the book-like spine from one of the wedding invites we were looking at, trying to come up with ideas.  I am also so drawn to the Orchard Harvest DSP from the Holiday Mini Catalogue.  I love the colours and the bold images.  The torn Early Espresso paper with the lighter center is from the Core'dinations collection and comes in Early Espresso, Gumball Green and Cherry Cobbler.  I am organizing groups of 3 people right now who are interested in doing a Paper Share of the three colours of core'dinations.  Basically, you pay the price of one pack, but then you share the 3 colours.  You would get 4 pieces of each colour.  Let me know if you are interested in forming another group of three people.  The cost is $12.26 each which includes shipping and tax.

The sentiment is from Word Play, one of the three stamp sets that Stampin' Up is promoting, from which you can also purchase single stamps from the set by themselves, in a pilot project that runs through to Jan. 2, 2012.  See more here.


And I finally got to use one of the new Naturals Designer Buttons in wood grain.  It's perfect for this project!

Well, that's it for now.  Better late than never, I always say, but I'll take fifty lashes with a wet noodle for being tardy!

Stamps:  Wonderfall (w128084; c128087); Word Play (w120308; c120651)
Paper:  Orchard Harvest DSP (126895), Core'dinations Early Espresso cardstock (127848), Lucky Limeade (122926) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock
Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Island Indigo (126986), Lucky Limeade (126984), Raspberry Ripple (126859) and Cajun Craze (126965)
Accessories: Naturals Designer Buttons (127554);  Linen Thread (104199); Crystal Effects (101055)
Tools: 2 1/2" Circle Punch (120906); 3" Circle Originals Die (122125); Autumn Accents Bigz Die (127812)