And the Last one - for now!

I've been sharing the different looks changing your Designer Papers can give you for a project.

Here's the last portfolio I made, using the Everyday Enchantment DSP and several of the colors used in that paper.

This one turned out to be my favorite - and when I shared it at a demonstrator gathering earlier this week, they all seemed to agree with me.

Wanna see?




Isn't it gorgeous? I used a lot of pearls to decorate the roses on the centerpiece of this one, as well as one of the new GIANT pearls on the ribbon.

And, of course, the Labels Framelits, and the Poppy Parade twill ribbon, as well as some of that yummy new pleated satin ribbon and the new flower punch.

Here are the top and bottom insides of this one, as well.





I'm always amazed at how changing something as simple as the Designer paper or the color of the card stock can make such a difference in the final project!

But that's why I'm a papercrafter!

How about you - why are YOU a papercrafter? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Thanks for stopping by...

A Different Look

In my last post, I showed you the portfolio I'd copied from a swap that a friend got at Leadership this year.

It wowed me so much, I came home and recreated it - hopefully, to a T. At least that was my goal...

And after I'd done that one, I decided to try it using Beau Chateau DSP and several colors that are used in that paper.

Here's what I came up with!


I also used the Beau Chateau Side Notes to decorate it, along with some hearts I'd made using the Hearts Collection embosslit, as well as the Labels Collection Framelits.

Here's the top inside of this version:



And the bottom interior:



Doesn't it look ENTIRELY different than the one I made using the Mocha Morning DSP?

I was amazed!

And in my NEXT post, I'll show you the version I made using that AWESOME Sale-A-Bration DSP - Everyday Enchantment

Think that one might be my favorite! Come back and check it out!

Thanks for stopping by...

Some Stamped Projects

When we go to any Stampin' Up! event, swapping just a matter of course. You can ALWAYS count on someone having something they've created to swap, if you have something in exchange.

My friend Joanna likes to get into specialized, organized swaps. And she gets some really cute things, that I get to share and take pictures of. And, if I'm of a mind to, I can come home and recreate it from the pictures - well, OK, sometimes I can re-create them from my photos.

I've gotten better over the years at taking photos of the projects to make it easier to do that.

This year Joanna came back to the hotel room with her swaps and one of them just blew my socks off!

I took pix - and came home, and my other friend, Patti, and I independently re-created it. I've only seen Patti's initial pictures of her "portfolio", but they look really close to my pictures, so I guess we're both on the right track!

Wanna see the one that knocked my socks off?

Here it is:




Isn't it gorgeous?

It's what I call a portfolio, and has cards inside.

Here are the photos of both the upper and lower parts.


It was created with Basic Black, Crumb Cake, and Very Vanilla cardstock, along with Mocha Morning DSP.



It also used Established Elegence stamp set, along with the Designer Frames and Vintage Wallpaper embossing folders. And, of course, several of our current ribbons and other embellishments.

I had a lot of fun making this creation, so after I created this one, I decided to do the same thing with different Designer Series Papers (DSP).

You'll be amazed at how different this same project looks, using different colors and Designer Papers!

I'll share that in my next post, so be sure to come back and see it!

Thanks for stopping by...

The 2012 Family Calendar

When I posted last, I shared one of the pages from this year's Family Calendar.

I've made this calendar for us (and/or for ME) for about 10 years now. It's always fun and it ALWAYS takes me forever to be satisfied with my creation - seems like there's always one more thing I'd like to do before I'll consider it finished...

And then one day, I look at a REAL calendar and realize I'd better get this thing finished, or it's going to qualify for NEXT year's calendar!

I finally reached that point with this year's calendar and submitted it to be printed.

I debated whether or not to go ahead and order the other three copies at the same time - I had planned to get my proto-type printed and then make corrections where necessary.

But, at the last minute I decided, what the heck, just go for it! So, I ordered all four copies.

I'm very pleased with the final results!

Oh sure, there are a few things I'll change for next year's calendar - like not make the photos so small. My old eyes can barely see them - and I worked with them full size, so I KNOW those pictures! But my brother commented about the same thing, so, yes, next year, I'll be a little more selective about the photos AND their size!

Want to see a couple of pages from this year's calendar?


This is the calendar page for July. I walked across the stage at Convention this year, having earned my 20 year pin with Stampin' Up! YES! I can't believe it myself... Seems like just yesterday I was a novice demonstrator...

I've had a lot of fun being a demonstrator and met some of the nicest people because of it! Most of my current close friends are fellow demonstrators! It just seems to work that way... Maybe because we're all crazy about the same thing - those funky little rubber stamps! Ha ha

And of course, my Kidz have all become "demonstrators" as well - look at Melie sitting in a shoebox - being my current shoebox swap! Thank goodness no one took me up on that! I'd miss him!

And I really like the picture of Smudge, looking down at me from on top of the patio roof... She's so silly...

Here's another page from the calendar:



These are photos from my Alaskan cruise last August with my brother and sister-in-law. I took Flat Mamma (my mom) along too - so she could enjoy it with us. And I took a few pictures of the food they served on the ship. That desert was called the Love Boat or something like that - and it was delicious!

Hey - would you like to play with My Digital Studio, too? Well, you can! For FREE!

Yep, we're offering FREE 30 day trial use of our software because we want you to try it - cuz I know you're gonna LOVE IT!

Just go here to download your free software - and be sure to let me know how you like it! Any questions? Give me a call or leave me a comment and I'll do my best to help!

Thanks for stopping by...

Together

Here are The Kidz - for once, all together.

I only have two photos of the three of them together. Tough to do, with three of them!

Heck, it's tough to do to get any two of them in the same photo! LOL

I'm working on a digital calendar for my family this year, and one of the pages in the calendar is entitled "together". I was fortunate enough to find enough pix of various members of the family together (brother and sister, brother and brother, sister and sister, husband and wife, a group of friends, grandparent and grandchildren) to fill the page to my satisfaction, so I'm liking this calendar page!


Whaddya think? Pretty cool, huh? LOL

I had no intention of making a digital calendar - for the past 6-7 years I've ALWAYS handmade my family calendars. And I NEVER get them done for January - consequently, the calendar year for OUR family is either February or March to the same time the following year.

So, I hadn't been sweating it too much, knowing I had about another month before the unveiling.

I'm headed to Leadership next week and knew I wouldn't have time to even START them til my return. But I was nagging for pictures to put into them.

And then I realized I didn't HAVE the paper calendars - tried to order them and they've been DISCONTINUED! OMG!!!

I'm sure I either realized it when they were discontinued and bought some - OR, that was last year and I should have remembered the calendar was going to go digital this year!

And if I DID buy some this past June - where in that Stampin' Garage did I PUT them? Lord only knows...

And I just decided I wasn't going to sweat it.

I'd just go digital! Had been wanting to try a calendar anyway, and like any other software I've dealt with in the past 25 years, it's always initiation under fire.

IT'S SO EASY! OMG...

Of course, I still haven't had the nerve to send a prototype calendar out to be printed so I can see where I didn't really "get it" and need to do some editing, but that's going to happen soon, cause I want to play some more! Adding elements and stamps and punches is so easy!

Changing sizes of the photos is easy too! So, if, like me, you want to squeeze a LOT of pix onto a single page, that's possible. Or you can choose to have only one or two on each page. YOUR DECISION!

And the background for that page?

ONE OF MY VERY OWN PHOTOGRAPHS!

YES! I just added it as a custom Designer Paper and turned the opacity down to about 35. SO COOL!!!

Every time I use My Digital Studio (MDS) I get all excited about the potential all over again.

SO MANY things you can do with it - make scrapbooks, calendars, flyers - anything you want. You can WRITE YOUR OWN BOOK if you want!

You can include video and audio files too!

Do you have it? DO YOU WANT IT? Contact me via email and I'll be happy to help you get started using a digital format for your needs!

North! To Alaska!

I mentioned in a previous post that I'd FINALLY been able to take the cruise to Alaska that's been on my Bucket List for over 20 years! YES!

I tried to talk my mom into it MANY years ago, and she just wasn't interested. She never did say why, and now that she's gone, I wish I'd pursued it further with her. I don't THINK she got seasick, but maybe that was the reason.

Well, she went on the cruise anyway!

I went with my brother and sister-in-law (hey, you two!), and I took Flat Mama with us!



Here she is, resting in the floral bouquet that Jim & Laurel received once they'd boarded the ship.

And here are the four of us, toasting with champagne in their on board upgraded suite!


They never did figure out how or why they were upgraded, but I never heard a bad word about the idea from either of them! LOL

They had a FULL SHOWER and a FULL BATHTUB in that suite - and a great deck from which we viewed the glaciers during our day in Glacier Bay.

No, I STILL haven't attempted to upload all the pix I took on my new camera - so I don't have a lot of photos to share, but here's one I really liked that I was able to get with my old trusty camera.




Yep - that's Mount Rainier!

It decided to "come out" for the afternoon, just as we were setting sail. And it was quite lovely, wasn't it?

We really enjoyed our cruise and ensuing land excursions! In Juneau we took a tour to Mendenhall Glacier and saw a BEAR! And that bear caught a salmon while we were watching - but those pix are on the new camera, so I'll have to show them to you later. Please come back to check it out!

In Skagway, we took the Yukon Railway tour. And while it was drizzly and overcast in Skagway, by the time we got to the top of the mountain, the sun was out, and it was beautiful (but COLD!) Come back for those pix, too!

And Glacier Bay... well, it was a whole day and was very interesting...

Last Alaska stop was Ketchikan, which I LOVED! So quaint - and, truthfully, not very large, since it clings to the mountainside! Come back for pix of that, too...

We spent a couple of days in Seattle after our return from the cruise, so I'll share those pix with you one of these days, too!

Sorry - no stamping stuff today - but come back soon, and I promise, I'll have some Halloween stuff to share with you!

Thanks for stopping by...

Bingo!

About 3 months ago, Faye, the Curves attendent where I belong, asked me if I could help her think of a way to store the members' bingo cards she wanted to use for a game at the gym.

It typically takes quite a while before someone gets a Bingo, so, a safe storage place for the duration was a must.

Last year, she hung large sheet of paper on the wall, and we just adhered our card to the paper, and checked off squares as we were able.

But this year, that wall space has been taken up with other things.

She suggested she'd like to keep them in a box (recipe card size, maybe?) and that she wanted dividers.

She wanted 26 - one for each letter of the alphabet.

So, I came home and thought about it, measured a bingo card, scrounged around in the Stampin' Garage and found enough cardboard, left over from tablet backs and other things, to make one for each alphabet letter.

I had punched out a number of sets of letters using the Naturally Serif alphabet for the Big Shot a while back. I've been keeping them in a storage container that I use for my Swarovski crystals, so it makes it a little easier to find an "A", without sorting through ALL those I've punched.

So, I glued some Designer Series Paper to each of the cardboard backs and added the appropriate letter and took them to her. She liked them!

Then we found out that the box she'd wanted to use wasn't big enough, so I scrounged around in the Stampin' Garage again, and found a box that used to house envelopes that was PERFECT! And, it had a lid, so once this year's game was over she could store the whole thing until the next time she wanted to bring the game out.

So, I covered the box with Gray CS, stamped a Bingo Card image and spelled out "Bingo Cards" in a larger font, added some side decorations made using the Lace Ribbon Border punch, along with a button for dimension, and took it in to her. She loved it! What do you think?




I thought it came out pretty good!

While I was putzing around making this, I also stamped the Bingo card stamp on Whisper White CS and used the Jolly Bingo Bits stamp set.




Wouldn't this make a nice game to be given as a Christmas gift?

Stamp up 6-8 cards and laminate them. Create a master set of the all the Bingo Bits, wrap them nicely, and voila! A great gift!

We also have a set for Halloween called Spooky Bingo Bits. I keep thinking there might be yet another set of stamps that are the same size as these in the catalog, but didn't dig around to see what it might be called.

Hey - you could use them ALL on the Bingo cards, provide a master set of all of them and use these year - round! That would keep everyone on their toes, wouldn't it?

BTW - what did you think of my Shoe Box Swap from the other day? Would YOU swap with me?

Thanks for stopping by - come back soon!