Fabric Flowers - Another Day, Different Fabrics

I offered to make my friend, Faye, a fabric flower. She always admires those that I wear on my clothes, when I go anywhere. Might as well advertise, no?

She wanted pink, and she asked me to make one for the (more senior than we are!) lady she helps out a couple of days a week. She suggested yellow for that flower.

So, without further ado, here are the flowers I made for them this weekend.

First, the pink ones, for Faye's consideration:


Each Mr. Big die has more than one flower shape on it, so I just cut out about 8-10 layers of different, matching, fabrics, then proceed to glue the pieces together.

This time I used hot glue. I think I had more control, since I'm leaving them flat, instead of folding and layering the pieces.

I did try that with these, and didn't like them as well.

And, I decided, since these are gifts, the presentation was important. So, I cut pieces of Whisper White CS a little larger than the flowers, and stamped them with the appropriate color, using the Petal Prints background stamp. I love that stamp! I punched holes using my CropADile, and threaded the pin through the holes to keep it in place.

And then I signed them with my "artistic alias".

Many years ago, there was someone from Europe (maybe a skier?), whose last name was Susanj. That happens to be my real first name and middle initial. So, I started signing my artwork with it. I had forgotten about it til I made these display cards tonight, so decided to bring it out of retirement.

Now the yellow flowers. Think these may be MY favorites!


















I hope Faye and her friend enjoy these. I get the left-overs! LOL

Happy stampin'

Team Meeting Projects

We had our monthly "we StAMp everything" Team Meeting a week or so ago, and I never posted the projects we made that evening.

BTW - if you'd like to become a member of our Team, too, please call or email me to find out the particulars.

There's a sign up special right now that includes the My Digital Studio (MDS) software, along with the standard Starter Kit - and the price is only $185! It's a great deal, since the MDS software alone is worth $80 and this entire kit is worth $295! Call me if you're interested!

I had two projects ready for them to make if they wanted.

The first I offered was the little containers I'd found at the 99-cent store. Remember, I'd had my stamp club members make those last month - decorating them with vinyl embellishments they cut out with Mr. Big.

I showed you those I'd made here, but forgot to take photos of those the club members made. I didn't forget at our Team Meeting!

This is Natalie's.

She chose to use the "N" from the Serif Essentials Big Shot die to "make it hers".

Then she added quite a few flowers cut from various colors of vinyl and several Big Shot dies.

She also decorated the lid, but I forgot to take a photo of that part.

I have to tell you, the one I made myself is doing wonderful duty as a scrap bin on my work table in the Stampin' Garage!



Here's the other side of the container, showing additional flowers she used.

It turned out quite lovely, didn't it?












Del and Susan decided they wanted to try to make some of the fabric flowers I'd been playing around with.

Here's Susan's. She made hers using the directions I'd used to make my earliest attempts here.

She chose the fabrics she wanted and proceeded to cut them with Mr. Big and one of the flower dies.

She folded each flower into quarters, tacked them together, then fanned them out and hot clued them to a circle she'd cut from CS. Notice the netting and the corduroy button she added to the mix.They really give the flower personality.


And this is Del's.

She had seen some flowers Veronica made using the Daisy die, so she decided to try that approach.

For hers, she put the layers together on top of a circle of CS, then proceeded to lift the layers (starting at the bottom one) and apply Crystal Effects between each layer.

It worked out very nicely! She didn't have to "futs" (is that a real word? It is where I come from - I'm just not sure how to spell it!) with re-aligning each layer as she went.

And I love how the flower turned out! She also chose a button out of a bag of buttons Veronica had given me. These are OLD buttons, so you don't find them just every where these days.

I liked Del's flower so much I made myself a couple with the daisy die and Crystal Effects. I put about 10-12 layers on mine, and each time I wear it, it becomes fluffier and fluffier!

Hope you've been stamping! If not, drag those stamps, pads, and paper out and make yourself something that makes you happy!

The Kidz' TP Photo Album

I showed you the TP album I'd made for our SU convention and other events. Would YOU like to go to these events too? We have a blast each and every time.

Well, you CAN - all you need to do is join my "we StAMp everything" team and you'll be invited! Call or email me to find out the particulars!

Back to the Kidz' album. It turned out pretty danged cute, if I do say so myself.

I used the Pawsitively Prints DSP (118060 $9.95) from the Occasions mini-catalog to cover these TP tubes. It seemed the most appropriate! And I used "C is for Cat" (115764 $15.95) set to embellish.

But wait! You can get the "C is for Cat" set FREE - as a Sale-A-Bration item, if you want it! All you have to do is purchase $50 in product and you may select this set as your freebie! Give me a call with your order!

On to the album:

The outside. This time I used the Pinking Hearts border punch (117649 $15.59 in Occasions mini).

And, this time, I cut my paper into 6x6 squares, then trimmed to fit the tubes.

Notice the belly band made with the striped DSP? That was the left over piece, turned over! No sense wasting DSP...

This album was made using a paper towel roll, which I had to cut. I miscalculated, so they were all a different size.

I solved that by "layering" them from shortest to longest when I bound them together. There's almost always a creative way to solve problems!


Here's what the album looks like between tube 1 and tube 2.

There are pull outs in this one, as well.

And, another belly band as an embellishment.

I used Black Staz-on ink to stamp on the DSP as well. Thought those paws were quite appropriate!

Here's tube 3 with the slider pulled half way out. The photo you can't see is the one of Melie yawning. Everyone likes that one! He looks SO ferocious!








And here's what's become my favorite photo of Smudge.

She just looks so regal sitting on that pile of dirt! LOL

Seriously, she DOES look regal - it's just too bad she likes that pile of dirt so well and sleeps/sits on it all the time.

It seems to be the only time she sits still long enough for me to get a decent photo.

She's nudging me as I type this, telling me it's time to go to bed! So, we shall!

Hope you enjoyed the TP roll photo albums! I'll do a tutorial to show you step by step how YOU can make one shortly.

In the meantime, keep on stampin'!

Toilet Paper - REALLY???!

Well, OK, so it's only the rolls from INSIDE the toilet paper that I used, but, still - toilet paper rolls? REALLY?

Yes, really. My friend Joanna had told me about these and even send me a link to a video tutorial on how to make them. I wasn't the least bit excited, even after seeing the video.

But, I decided to try to make one. After all, I had LOTS of photos left over from those family calendars that were sitting on my work bench. Might as well give it a try.

And I was suitably impressed with the outcome! REALLY!

Look!

This one was made using some of the photos of my fellow demonstrators and myself at various SU functions.

Here's the finished product - three TP rolls, flattened and embellished with DSP, ribbons, and lots of other "stuff". After the decorating part was completed, I used my binding machine to attach them all together.

These are great little photo albums to send to family and friends. You're being "green", too!


Here are some more photos. Notice that there are pull outs inside each of the rolls. I attached photos to both sides of each of them.

This is the inside of tube 1 and tube 2.

I used 3" x 4-1/2" Cottage Wall DSP (115671 $9.95) to cover them. It took two pieces, when I used those measurements. I just happened to have those already cut, so decided to use the new scallop edge punch - and then I overlapped the two pieces when I attached them to the tube.


I have scalloped edges on the top of one side and the bottom of the other side.

Here's a close up of one of the photos. Convention 2009 was Terri's first SU convention, and she decided she'd like to try and get her photo taken with Shelli, the co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up!.

She got in line and they ended the line right after her. So, she stood there for quite some time. I joined her in line, and voila! I got in the photo too. Certainly not my intention, but I treasure the photo!


Between tube 2 and tube 3. That's Joanna showing off the new catalog cover, and me, modeling the beautiful Big Shot cut flowers that my upline, Jill, had given me as a gift.






And here's the other side of the same two tubes:

This is Sharon, trying NOT to get her photo taken. OH - and Susan's arm over there to the left.









Here are some of the inserts:








Not sure what happened to the orientation on those last two - hard to see, but this is how they'd pull out of the sleeves.

Hope you enjoyed this peek! I did another one with the Kidz' photos on it. Will show you some of it another time

Happy stampin'!

Back Again

Hi Everyone:

Been MIA again - kept telling myself I needed to blog, and then would get tired and hit the hay.

I have been stamping - even though I haven't been sharing. My bad.

How's this for a couple of new shares - a couple of new Easel cards. I had some pieces lying around, and sometimes they just jump out and grab me and I HAVE to make them into a card










This one has a ribbon rose on it for some color. I'll show you how to make those one of these days. They're pretty darned easy! If you remember the ruffly flowers I showed you how to make here, you'll immediately see how similar they are.









That's it for tonight. I have lots of other new stuff to show you, but I'm going to meter it out, just in case I get off on other tangents again!

Just a reminder - Sale-A-Bration ends on March 31st, so if there's something you'd like to earn FREE, be sure to contact me and place your order! You'll receive one SAB item for EACH $50 you purchase - such a deal!

Happy stamping!

Remember Me?

Yeh, I've been MIA for awhile now. I've missed chatting with you all!

Life happened - family calendars had to be finished and mailed, taxes had to be pulled together, weeds had to be pulled!

First the family calendars. I mentioned I would be adding embellishments to the pages - and I did.

Here's a before and after for just one of the pages. The rest were embellished appropriately:












As you can see, I added the Stampin' Up! logo and Tess in her apron with a stamp and a card in her hand. I also journaled the events that are on the page, so that in the future, when I'm (more) senile, I'll have something to remind me about all these awesome SU demonstrators with whom I've shared events.

Re: the taxes. Well, all I can say, is it has to be done, and thank goodness I have an appointment every year that FORCES me to pull everything together. Without it, I'd NEVER get organized!

Seriously - every year, I SWEAR I'm not going to let it get so out of hand so I don't have to pull my hair out for three days ahead of my appointment, racing around, printing off monthly reports, going through receipts, trying to remember all the things that are deductible!

And every year, right after I get my taxes prepared, I begin that slide down hill... Maybe NOT this year, eh?

Held my team meeting this past Monday evening.

Here are the swap cards they brought:


Susan's

Love the combination of the dotted background paper and the dotted ribbon.








Natalie's

Natalie's cards are always simple - but very effective!

I envy her the ability to keep it so simple. Somehow I seem to want to add "just one more thing" - and find I've gone too far.





My card. CASEd directly from Shelli's blog! This was one of the Make & Takes she and Sara had done at a "Workshop Of A Lifetime" winner's party.

She had paper pieced the boxes, but I was running out of time, so I just used the "In" color markers and colored the boxes, then made a reverse mask for the middle box and stamped an image on to the box thru it. I know you can't see it, but those boxes are COVERED in glitter! I am NOT a glitter queen, and had I realized the card included glitter, I probably wouldn't have even considered CASEing it!

But it came out pretty well, and I'm glad I made it - another SIMPLE, yet effective, idea.

Del's contribution this month were stencils she'd cut out of those plastic boxes you get produce in at the grocery store. She used the Big Shot die and gave us both the positive and negative images for it. What a great "green" idea! They don't show up well in photos, though, so you'll have to use your imagination...

How about a cat photo for the day?













Hope you've been stampin' lately! Come back and visit again...

Last Time for Family Calendar pages

Tonight's post will finalize my family photos from my Days To Remember 6x6 calendar for this year.

My nephew Paul and his wife, Maggie's page.

Of course, their two kids have to have some presence here, as do two of their many cats! These two are about the same age as my Kidz, so they get the honor of being on the calendar this year. Plus they looked so danged cute, posing like this.

Maggie actually gets her own photo - I get tons of pix of the kids, but few of the adults - it gets tough to fill a page sometimes!

More pix of the great-nieces, as well as Maggie's two children from a previous marriage.

Zak's in the Marines now, and Kaitlyn will graduate from high school this year.

I like the photo of the four kids in the stair well.

The other two punks are growing up fast!

I always enjoy making these calendars. It gives me an opportunity to be somewhat involved in their lives.

Since they all live in Illinois, our biggest contacts are through emails and phone calls - and the photos help me get to know personalities that might not come through in either of these modes of communication.

The best part about these Days To Remember 6x6 calendars is that all the pages are perforated, so you can tear them out of the calendar at the end of the year and put the already finished pages into an album to keep forever!

Scrapbooking, one year at a time!

Hope you've enjoyed my sharing the calendar with you!

What do YOU want or need to scrapbook? Call me - I've got access to lots of items for that project!

Still More Calendar Pages

Third posting with the family calendar pages...

This is Laurel's page. Several pictures with she and her sister, Cathy, and one of the two sets of sisters - my great nieces, and Laurel and Cathy. This title for this one is going to be "Sisters!".

Laurel was fascinated by this dress made out of tea bags on one of their treks.

And finally, her enjoying a cocktail as they sailed out of New York on a cruise last year.



This is my brother's page in the calendar.

Walking Rusty in the fall and the snow, playing with a buffalo somewhere - I'd guess the saddle is probably in the same place.

And him enjoying a cocktail as they sail out of New York on their cruise last year.




And a page with the two of them together. The bottom right photo is from that cruise, the top two from their adventure out West last year, and a photo of them in front of a theater somewhere.

Evidently they'd gotten to see Singin' In The Rain.


Hope you'll come back tomorrow for photos of the rest of the calendar!

More Calendar Pages

Welcome back!

Here are several more calendar pages, designed for the Days To Remember 6x6 calendar.

Here's page for me 'n The Kidz.

If you've visited this blog before, more than likely you've seen at least one of these photos - at least once!

Love the photo of the three of them sitting at the back door. I seldom get them in a photo all at the same time.






This one's all about me!

Shelli Gardner, co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up! and myself at Leadership in Orlando.
Our group at Leadership in Palm Springs.
Our group at Convention in Salt Lake last year.
Patti and I clowning around at Palm Springs Leadership.

And finally, Joanna and I settin' on the porch at Manager's meeting in Houston several years ago.




This is Jon, my nephew's, page. He ran the Boston Marathon last year - way to go, Jon!

He also recently bought a house , so there's a shot of Jon, my SIL Laurel, and her sister Aunt Cathy, when Cathy came to visit this year. I appreciated getting a photo of this event!

And Jon and Rusty in front of the Christmas tree.



As I mentioned before, I'm SURE embellishments will be added to these pages before they find themselves on the way to Illinois to their new homes.

Come back tomorrow - more pages to follow...

Happy stampin' and scrappin'!

Family Calendars for 2010

Hi Everyone:

Had a busy weekend and didn't seem to find time to post. Well, I hope this post (and the next several) will somewhat make up for it.

Every year I make a calendar for my family members that contains as many photos as I can cram into them of everyone from the year before. I like having the ability to look back and see how much the kids (grand nieces) have grown and how the rest of us have aged. LOL

I thought I'd shown you some of my preliminary calendar pages, but evidently I had not. BUT, I've been toiling away and finally gotten the proto-type done!

I'm using the 6x6 "Days to Remember" calendars sold in the Idea Book and Catalog on page 159 (Item 104144 $9.95). So, I can start my calendars in any month I choose!

And it's a good thing - yes, I KNOW it's already March! And, YES, I KNOW I'm a little behind here!

I start "nagging" to get photos along about early October - I seldom get them til after Thanksgiving, when I'm in the midst of making Christmas cards and any other gifts I've chosen to make. So, the calendar goes on the back burner.

After all, I KNOW the current one is good until the end of February of the next year (this has become a pattern, you see...).

So, I generally start getting serious with them right after New Year's and Leadership. And I did. But this year, my printer decided to die (remember the electronics nightmare of earlier?).

Anyhoo...

The month/date info is all filled in on all four calendars; each month has been stamped and, in some instances, images have been hand colored. All that remains is to get the photos on the pages for the remaining three calendars !

Oh- and then decide which photo page will represent which month. This year, that's the last thing that will be done. Most of the time, I decide that first and color coordinate the 6x6 DSP with the months I intend to use them on. Not so, this year. Panic set in, and I just flew thru the photos matching DSP colors to the photos...

Here are some of the pages I've finally come up with.

The grand nieces generally get two pages in each year's calendars.

This is one of them for this year.









This is the other. School pics, and photos of their birthday ( their birthdays are 1 day apart - oh, and several years, of course!)

Grandma made the Hello Kitty cake, so it HAD to be in the calendar!

Grandma's quite handy in the Home Arts department and makes Halloween costumes, too...




This page is tied for the December.

I just couldn't resist including the wreath encased in ice, Rusty looking at us from behind a snow bank, and the beautiful shot of the trees covered in snow. Oh, and everyone around the table for Christmas dinner. Of course, this was 2008 Christmas dinner...





This is the one I'd originally decided was going to be December. After all, what says December more than a visit to Santa? And the shot of the kids opening gifts in front of Grandma and Granddad's Christmas tree? Again, this is Christmas 2008. Always a year behind, it seems...







Truth be told, there will probably be more embellishments added before these calendars are on their way to Illinois. You know us artisans! It's never REALLY finished... You just have to STOP!

I'll show you more of the calendar pages in the next few days. Stay tuned...

Thanks for stopping by.