February Class by Mail

Tonight I put the finishing touches on my February Class by Mail projects. I am totally in love with the Embrace Life and One of a Kind stamp sets. I had my class all planned out before the One of a Kind stamp set was temporarily discontinued so I decided to just plug along with it. If you are interested in this kit I have information over on my Demonstrator website on my Events page or you can e-mail me at startstampin@comcast.net . I had some questions about how the entire class by mail program works. This is a pre-order type of program. I collect orders or RSVP's for the class. When a minimum of classes is ordered I place my supply order and as soon as I get the supplies from Stampin' Up! I cut and mail them to you. It typically takes me a full business week to receive supplies once my order has been placed. After that the turn around is typically 1 - 2 days, depending on the amount of orders for me to get my Kits out to you.

I am sure hoping that everyone in my classes enjoys making these cards this month as much as I enjoyed designing them.

Jenn

A Peek into my Stamping Space

Today has been a crazy day! We are expecting 6 - 10 inches of snow tonight so this morning I dropped Colin off at Preschool and Evan and I headed over to Target to pick up milk and things we would need if we got snowed in for a day. We rushed back home so I could exercise and take a shower before we headed back to pick Colin back up. Then it was lunch, playing and a bunch of cleaning.



I gave my stamping space a bit of a overhaul. I get bored with the same set up all of the time and I'm constantly re-organizing to make room for more and more stuff. In a few years I may end up with the entire 600 square foot space. I'll just have to kick the kids toys out and we'll be set. Actually my dream is to add on to our house so I can have a room upstairs with lots of windows and natural light. I keep talking about my stamping loft when I put the second story addition onto our ranch style house.

Anyway you will now see how OCD I am. I cannot work if I have any clutter on my table. I can only have a few things left out each time - Sunlight lamps, grid paper, Stampin' Scrub and Mist, ATG Gun, Table Top Paper cutter, Scor-Pal, Fiskars paper trimmer and my stack of catalogs. After I create each and every card I put everything away and start over! It keeps me organized and sane. I always put my scraps into the right cellophane bag, ink pads away and punches back on my rack.

As you can see I have 3 Two Drawer filing cabinets and there is a drawer for each color family. I keep full and half sheets of cardstock in a hanging file folder, one for each color. All of my scraps have their own cellophane bag, the size that you can buy on a Stampin' Up! supply order. I think there are 50 in each pacakage. These are kept in cheap magazine storage bins on top of my white cabinets. I think I got 4 of them from LTD for $5.

My punches and ribbon are all stored on racks that I got from IKEA. The bars come with baskets, cups and hooks. They are super cheap, ranging from $0.99 - $2.99 an item. They are very sturdy. I'm not fond of the way all of the ribbon hangs in the baskets, but it works for now. Behind my table I also have a rolling storage cart I got from Costco. You are supposed to be able to hang 12 X 12 folders in it. I haven't purchased any yet, but the bottom shelf has 12 X 12 paper holders that lie flat. I also have to use the drawers to hide Stampin' Sponges since my two cats go crazy over them and are constantly stealing them.

My husband and I did 99% of the work in finishing our basement so we are still waiting on a drop ceiling. I can't wait because I am sure it will brighten my dungeon up a lot. For now we have other things that rank higher in priority that we want to spend our money on though. LOL! But we did the drywall, electricity, flooring, moulding and the rest by ourselves with a little help from family along the way. I never want to drywall again in my life! That was one labor intensive job.

Now that I am organized again I can hopefully get some stamping done, so I can share a project with you.

Jenn

Christmas Cards in January!

When I was looking through the Stampin' Up! catalog I immediately fell in love with this card, so I decided to CASE it. I want to get a head start on my Christmas cards this year and SCS has a challenge to make 10 each month. They can be the same design each month or can be totally different. I"ll probably go the different route because I get bored by repetition.

I followed the same layout and color scheme that is in the catalog (see page 38). I did chance my buttons to Earth Elements buttons since I didn't have any neutrals laying around, but since the cards colors are in that color scheme anyway they work.

I am dreading taking Colin to school. We had a huge rainstorm, followed by snow and it's about 40 degrees colder out this morning than it was yesterday. Yesterday could have almost been like summer at 45 degrees and to wake up to a bitter cold 4 degrees is not fun. I know all of you gals in Canada have it much worse than we do, so I shouldn't complain too much.

Stay warm!

Jenn


Stamps: Peaceful Wishes
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Ink: Old Olive, Whisper White craft, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: White ep, heat gun, Earth Elements buttons, mini glue dots, linen thread, very vanilla taffeta ribbon, 1/16" hole punch, vintage brads, 3/4" circle punch, sponge
Techniques: heat embossing

YoYo Yellow?

I didn't expect today's Color Combination to be such a challenge. What did we get to work with? YoYo Yellow, Basic Gray and Going Gray. I decided to just pick a sketch and go with it. I was complaining that the sun wasn't shining today wasn't I? Now I have enough sun on my table to keep me going for a while.

I tried to balance the brightness of the yellow with both of the gray colors. This is definitely not a combination I'll be rushing to use time and time again.

Jenn


Stamps: Artfully Asian, Absolutely Fabulous, So Swirly Jumbo Wheel
Paper: Basic Gray, Going Gray, YoYo Yellow, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray, YoYo Yellow, Old Olive
Accessories: Blender Pen, 1/16" hole punch, vintage brads, dimensionals, key tag punch, designer label punch, 1" circle punch, horizontal slot punch, basic gray taffeta ribbon, wheel guide

One of a Kind Dahlia

I'm still working on my scrap paper pile and went straight to it when I started on yesterday's Technique Challenge. I can comprehend messing up scrap paper more than I can my cherished Designer series paper packages. Speaking of tomorrow I am getting a brand new package of Berry Bliss! I am so excited. The directions for this fold can be found here.

I love the Dahlia and I am certainly going to try this again, but with different paper. My circles were punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch and that makes a fairly good sized Dahlia. I just wish that the colors on this card were a little more vibrant. Maybe it's just the lack of sunlight over the last two days.

Today is such a dreary day. It is relatively warm, but there is no sun shining and the fog is thick and oppressive. I feel like crawling back into bed. It would be particularly nice since it actually hurts to breathe today. I did a new workout yesterday and I have never done abdominal work with resistance bands attached. It wasn't too bad during the workout or yesterday but I woke up nice and sore today. Hopefully when I go downstairs to stamp and turn my sunlight lamps on it will be a bit more cheery in the house.

On a side note, if you are attending my class this Sunday there has been a little change in the class projects. It has just come to my attention that One of a Kind has been temporarily discontinued to deal with a punch alignment issue. I'm very glad that Stampin' Up! stands behind their product and listens to concerns and issues with them, but I don't want to base an entire class on a stamp set that I can't sell to you that day. Therefore, we will switch to using Embrace Life instead. I'll save my One of a Kind for next month. We will still learn the Faux Silk technique though.

Stamps: One of a Kind
Paper: Soft Sky, Always Artichoke, Wintergreen
Ink: Always Artichoke
Accessories: Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain, Ice Rhinestone brad, 1 3/8" circle punch
Techniques: dalhia fold

I need new goals!

This year I set two main goals that I wanted to accomplish. One was getting a card onto Stampin' Up!'s Stamper's Showcase. That happened a few days after the new year started. My second goal was to get something published in a magazine. I was completely shocked when two of my cards got picked up for Paper Crafts Holiday specia,.that will be out in October 2008. I am basically out of goals. So this weekend I sat down and started on Christmas cards. I plan to make 10 of one design each month. I completely CASE'd the Stampin' Up! catalog when I fell in love with the Peaceful Wishes card. I'll post them when I finish. Instead I'll share the first Polished Stone card I ever made.

This was made for the January VSN. I was surprised at what an easy technique this was. I didn't have any metallic re-inkers so I just opted to use Apricot Appeal and Rose Red re-inkers. I thought my pattern was a little busy so I stamped my flower from Time Well Spent onto it and then cut it out. The rest of the card came together nice and quickly which is exactly what you want it to do when you face a 45 minute time limit.

Then this weekend I found out that this card has been picked to be Girls Night Out Honors gallery. What a great way to be recognized by your stamping peers. I hope the rest of this year turns out to be as good as the first month has been. I hope you all find as much success in your stamping goals this year as well.

Jenn


Stamps: Time Well Spent
Paper: Basic Black, Apricot Appeal, Bali Breeze dsp, Sage Shadow, Glossy White
Ink: Apricot Appeal, Rose Red, Basic Gray
Accessories: 1/16" hole punch, vintage brads, basic black grosgrain, black gingham ribbon, mini glue dots, dimensional, white gel pen
Techniques: polished stone

Hoppy Birthday!

Yesterday we attended a birthday party for my cousin's daughter, who just turned 4. I wanted to make a card she would enjoy and when I saw Beate's Inspiration Challenge I knew just what to do. I just had to have the Unfrogettable stamp set and it doesn't see much ink. I used it for a Boy Scout event last year and I don't think I've used it since. This is card is very bright and outside of my comfort zone. I don't often use Bold Brights and I pulled two out for this card - Green Galore and Real Red. Plus I used all of the Bold Bright green hues for my watercoloring. I used Julie's No Copics, No problem technique with my watercolor paper and I'm still learning the ins and outs of it.

I also wanted to remind you that there are only a few days left in the Valentine's Day bundle from Stampin' Up!, as we head into Sale-a-Bration starting on February 1st.

Today it's supposed to be close to 40 degrees outside, and after the past week of being -5 it feels like a heat wave. I'm sure that we'll be outside playing in the snow for a bit. I also started working on my Artisan Award entries. I am so nervous about them and I don't want to be working on them at the last minute. I'm sure I'm going to have plenty of rejects to show to you though.

Have a happy Sunday!

Jenn


Stamps: Unfrogettable , Lily Pad wheel
Paper: Green Galore, Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Real Red, Watercolor, Very Vanilla
Ink: Jetblack stazon, Stampin' Write Markers in Green Galore, Glorius Green, Gable Green, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink Regal Rose, Sage Shadow
Accessories: slit punch, 1/16" hole punch, red gingham ribbon, 1 3/8" circle and scallop punches, dimensionals, AquaPainter
Techniques: watercoloring

For You

Every February my son's school has a silent auction in order to raise money for the school. Last year I made up a basket of hand stamped cards and items to be raffled off. This year I was asked to do the same. I have a ton of scraps of Designer Series paper that have retired, so I have made it a mission to put them to use. This is one of my favorite patterns from the Wintergreen designer series paper that retired at the end of December. I paired it up with Soft Sky, Always Artichoke and Certainly Celery cardstock. I kept the layout fairly simple so that I can mass produce a few of each design.

I really like how this turned out. I like the clean lines and the way the white flower just pops off of the page.

Have a great Saturday! We have a few errands to run and a birthday party to go to, so I'll be in and out today. I hopefully will get some stamping done along the way.

Jenn


Stamps: One of a Kind
Paper: Soft Sky, Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Wintergreen dsp, Whisper White
Ink: Always Artichoke, Soft Sky
Accessories: Soft Sky double stitched ribbon, vintage brad, 1/4" and 3/4" circle punches, 1/16" hole punch

Hi There!

This card was one of my VSN creations. I used Lauren's Sketch last she posted last Saturday for it. I found that if I had a sketch and a color combination waiting on my desk it was a breeze to go through the challenges.

This care is fairly simple, but it is one of my favorites. I stamped Tres Chic in Sage Shadow onto Sage Shadow cardstock. I then stamped the circle from So Much onto Really Rust cardstock, cut it out with my coluzzle and then used the sketchy lines as a paper piercing template. The flower was then stamped in Basic Gray ink onto Very Vanilla cardstock and watercolored in with an AquaPainter and So Saffron ink. I added a Jumbo eyelet and a square Fire Rhinestone brad in the center. The flower is set up on dimensionals. I then added the sentiment from Fundamental Phrases and tied a bow around the top with Whisper White taffeta ribbon.

This would be a very easy card to mass produce and keep on hand to send out to a friend you haven't heard from in a while. I hope you all have a great day! I have Mission Two on my plate again. I hope I can move afterwards. LOL!

Jenn


Stamps: So Much, Fundamental Phrases, Tres Chic
Paper: Sage Shadow, Ruby Red, Very Vanilla
Ink: Sage Shadow, Ruby Red, Basic Gray, Chocolate chip
Accessories: coluzzle, crafter's tool kit, CAD, jumbo eyelet, Fire square rhinestone brad, dimensionals. very vanilla tafetta ribbon
Techniques: paper piercing

Single Embrace

This card was made for yesterday's sketch challenge. It is one of my favorite cards in a long time. I started with a piece of River Rock cardstock. I layered it with Whisper White that I used my 3/16" corner punch to add the scalloped border to. After I figured out where it was going to fit on the card front I stamped the little dotted image from One of a Kind in River Rock right over the panel. It may be hard to see in the photograph. I then layered a piece of Ginger Blossom designer series paper on top of the Whisper White layer.

To do the image panels I first cut them out and placed them right next to each other on my grid paper. I then stamped the Embrace Life image three times letting them overlap from each panel. In hindsight you can't really tell with the sentiment layer on top of them. I watercolored them in with Groovy Guava, a touch of Rose Red and Old Olive ink. The sentiment layer is matted on Basic Gray cardstock. I added the flowers from the One of a Kind stamp after I had punched them out with the Boho Blossom Punch. I added a brad to the center of each flower and they sit up on dimensionals.

I am going to be featuring this card in my classes next month. I hope everyone really likes creating one for themselves.

Jenn

Stamps: One of a Kind, Embrace Life
Paper: River Rock, Whisper White, Ginger Blossom dsp, Rose Red, Basic Gray
Ink: Basic Gray, River Rock, Groovy Guava, Old Olive, Rose Red
Accessories: Boho Flower Punch, 3/16" corner rounder, dimensionals, vintage brads, 1/16" hole punch
Techniques: watercoloring

Total Lapse in Brain Activity

Last night I had a total lapse in brain activity. I looked up the color challenge, was browsing through Google reader, helping Colin with his 100 days of school project and working on dinner. I was multi-tasking to the extreme and I was so proud that I had gotten so much done.

While browsing through Google reader I saw Simone's post about setting your custom White balance and I have always wanted to try it out. I get the kids upstairs, follow the steps and I can't get it to accept my photo. I think I have some more research to do on that subject. I educated Roger on what he needed to do with the oven when the timer went off, how much time to set on the veggies in the microwave and what to do when the rice cooker popped. I figured I could have at least gotten the card uploaded to SCS and ready to post tomorrow here.

It didn't hit me until I was typing in the accessories that I left an entire layer off of my card. D'oh! I figured I'd post it anyway and show that I make mistakes in my stamping hobby too.

We ate dinner, cleaned up and I added the layer that was sitting finished next to my grid paper, the scalloped sentiment layer. Now my card is complete and I am happy. I even made 2! I just love these little Love Birds from C.C Designs Love Ya Much set.

The sketch I used is Julee's from Mojo Monday 21, and you can find the sketch here.

Jenn

Stamps: Love Ya Much by C.C. Designs, Fundamental Phrases (To My) by SU!
Paper: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Real Red, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Slit Punch, Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon, 1/16" hole punch, vintage brads, AquaPainter , scallop and 1 3/8" circle punches

Black and White with a Splash of Red

I made this card for one of the VSN challenges. The challenge was to use black for your main image panel. I decided I wanted to try out the bleaching technique, and I failed miserably, but I love this card!

I kept the layout fairly simple since I was reading up on a new technique, to me at least, so I started with a 5 1/2" X 8 1/2" Basic Black cardstock base. I then layered a piece of Whisper white in which I had stamped the leaf image from Embrace Life in Basic Black ink. The main panel is matted on Real Red.

To start my main panel I stamped the image in Whisper White Craft ink and then heat embossed it with White embossing powder. I then took Clorox bleach and an old watercolor brush and put bleach on the inside of the flower petals. Do you see a difference? I don't. That is why I failed miserably in my bleaching technique. I even went over it 4 or 5 times until I couldn't stand the smell of bleach anymore and gave up.

I tied a simple basic black bow under the main image panel and added my sentiment punched out with the word window punch.

Do you remember last week when I mentioned I got the Billy Blanks Elite Boot camp? Well the Mission One DVD has been nice and easy and I feel like I've been back to the gym, so I love it. I did that 4 times last week and the schedule says to do Mission Two today. It kicked my butt! I exercise after I've dropped Colin off at preschool and after I've had a little breakfast. Today I feel like I can't move. Muscles I didn't know I had are hurting even while sitting still. I hope tomorrow when I have the Mission One DVD on my schedule I can actually move. LOL! At least it's a good kind of sore, but I have been falling into a dead sleep the moment my head hits the pillow.

Have a great Tuesday! We are dealing with snow here, and the roads are absolutely awful.

Jenn

Circle of Thanks

This was the first card I made for VSN this weekend. The challenge was to make a circular card using this sketch. I pulled the color scheme from a table with a runner I had pulled from a magazine and stuck in my inspiration journal. The colors are Bashful Blue, Sage Shadow, Barely Banana and Whisper White. The image was one I had received via Wish Rak. I still don't have the Fun and Fast Notes stamp set and it's still on my wish list. Hopefully, I'll break down and buy it soon. I stamped the background with the Polka Dot background stamp and then colored in my image with an AquaPainter.

To make the round card I took a 4 1/4" X 11" piece of cardstock that was scored at 5 1/2". After the card was folded in half I put my coluzzle on top letting it hang over the folded edge of the cardstock. I then cut it out and that is how you end up with a circular card.

To finish it off I put on a piece of Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon and decorated it with a piece of HodgePodge Hardware. I forgot I had this tin sitting around, so hopefully I'll stop hoarding it and actually use it again.

Jenn


Stamps: Polka Dot background, Fun and Fast Notes
Paper: Bashful Blue, Sage Shadow, Barely Banana, Whisper White
Ink: Jetblack Stazon, Regal Rose, Barely Banana, Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue, Going Gray
Accessories: dimensionals, vintage brad, 1/16" hole punch, pretty in pink taffeta ribbon, HPH, AquaPainter, coluzzle
Techniques: watercoloring

Build a Brads meet Chocolate

At my last Hostess Club meeting I used up a tin of Build a Brads. I knew I was getting low so I brought a second tin with me. As I was taking the empty tin off of the table I used the opportunity to show everyone how quickly you can punch holes in one side to add a ribbon handle with the Crop-a-Dile. I then decided I would turn it into a little purse.

As with a lot of things I intend to do, it got set off to the side. In the last week I remembered it after a conversation with some fellow Control Freaks. So I pulled it out and took some measurements. The bottom of the tin requires a 3/4" X 12" strip to go around the bottom of the tin. A 1/4" X 12" strip will wrap around the lip of the lid. I used Ginger Blossom dsp on mine. You can click the photo for a larger view.

So that the ribbon wouldn't be in the way of the chocolates I used some sticky strip on each end and stuck it flat to the inside edge of the tin. I used a 8" piece of River Rock double stitched ribbon. Next time I may use a slightly smaller piece, so that it doesn't stand up quite so much.

After the outside of the tin was decorated I used my Eastern Elegance Rub Ons to decorate the window of the tin. If you do this just be careful to not apply too much pressure because there is the possibility of pushing the thin layer of clear plastic out of the window.

My purse was done, but I had no idea what I was going to put into it, until Lisa Martz mentioned that she found that Hershey Nuggets fit into the tin. I found with mine that 6 fit comfortably, but will slide around if stood on the side like mine is. If you have a belly band around the middle of the tin you can fit 12. I have another tin that I plan to do this with later when it is empty.

To decorate my nuggets I used Avery labels. I stamped them with the image from Embrace Life in Basic Gray ink and then colored them in with Regal Rose and Mellow Moss ink. I then wrapped the label around the piece of chocolate.

I bet you didn't know that Stampin' Up! sold Nugget Tins and the best part is that they come with the wonderful Build a Brads in it!

I have had such a fun stamping weekend! I still have a couple of projects to finish for VSN, but I got 11 projects done that are ready to show you over the next few days. Since my blog will be running it self I can finish my Sale-a-Bration swap cards. I finally decided on a design, but I'll post that after the swaps have been sent back to the participants.

Jenn


Stamps: Embrace Life
Paper: Ginger Blossom dsp, Avery Labels
Ink: Basic Gray, Regal Rose, Mellow Moss
Accessories: CAD, River Rock Double Stitched Ribbon, sticky strip, blender pen, Eastern Elegance Rub Ons
Techniques: nugget box, watercoloring

Embrace Chocolate

Last night I completed all of the VSN challenges! That was a first for me. This is one of the cards I made using Beate's Sketch Challenge. I know I don't have my sentiment on the right, but I realized that after I had already stamped it onto the main panel. I know I'm going to do another card with this sketch at some point so I'll stick more closely the next time.

The inspiration for this piece were these tiny little shoes made of Chocolate, in Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla. I dug into my stash of retired Designer series paper and used the Loves Me designer series paper from last winter's Mini catalog. I used the same colors that I wrote down after seeing the shoes. The image is stamped in Basic Gray and is colored in with a blender pen with Pretty in Pink and Mellow Moss. I added the Eastern Elegance Rub Ons to my ribbon. I had forgotten to tie it to my dsp layer before adhering it so I used my horizontal slot punch and it goes around the front of the card.

I'm sorry for the lighting in the photo. I was working on this late last night and better photo lighting is still on my list of "To buy". Today I'm hoping to get a bunch more of the VSN challenges done. I don't know if my kids and husband will let me get all of them done like last night, but I'm going to try. It's bitterly cold outside, so it's nice to stay cozy and stamp.

Jenn


Stamps: Embrace Life
Paper: Pretty in PInk, Loves Me dsp, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, Mellow Moss
Accessories: ticket corner punch, blender pen, 5/8" chocolate chip grosgrain, Eastern Elegance Rub Ons, horizontal slot punch
Techniques: watercoloring

Cup of Happiness

I haven't gotten much stamping done today. Well I didn't do any stamping today to be more precise. I have been organizing my space and making sure my shopping list for Virtual Stamping Weekend is complete. I'm sure it will look like a whirlwind hit in a few hours. If you are around you should come join in the fun at SCS. I always do.

I was challenged to use the Sale-A-Bration Rub Ons, as were all of the Control Freaks, so this is my challenge product. I didn't go the card route, but I'm sure I will do one sometime soon. Instead I decorated this little tea set that I found in the Target $ Spot. It was actually $2.50 but wouldn't this make a perfect Valentine's Day gift for co-workers or your children's teachers? I think so.

All I used for this project was the Love and Happiness Sale-A-Bration Rub Ons, a cellophane bag, Valentine's Day M&M's and a piece of Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain ribbon.

I know this will be asked, so I'll answer it now. I have never washed anything with Rub Ons, but I read on the Stampin' Up! forum on the Demonstrator website that other people have. But you really should hand wash them to be safe. I also read that there may be a product to seal the Rub Ons to the cup, but I haven't researched that end yet. If I find the answer I'll let you know.

Also when you place your Rub On on the cup, make sure you get it where you want it the first time because mine stuck almost immediately.

Jenn

Retired Stamps For Sale!

I am clearing out some of my retired sets. If you are interested in any of the following sets, please e-mail me at startstampin@comcast.net . The prices do not include shipping. I will ship single sets in a Flat Rate Priority Envelope for $4.60. Two or more sets will ship in a Flat Rate box for $8.95, as will Simply Scrappin' Kits. All items will be sent with Delivery Confirmation service from the USPS. If you are interested in more than one set, contact me for combined shipping.

Jenn

FOR SALE
*Please note that these sets can only be shipped within the United States*
In the Spotlight - $25 - sold
Garden Silhouettes - $25 - sold
Bunny Hugs (Spring 07 Mini) - $10 Slight Staining on block with Bunny -
Doodle That (Spring 07 Mini) - $8
That's Nice (Spring 07 Mini) - $10
Off the Chart (Spring 07 Mini) - $12
So Many Sayings (Fall/Winter Collection 07) - NUM $15
Blooming with Happiness (Idea Book 06-07) Mounted Like New - $12
Double Line Doodles (Fall/Winter Collection 07) - $15
Looks Like Spring (Fall/Winter Collection 07) - $20
Bundle of Joy (Fall/Winter Collection 07) - $17
Just So Sayings (Spring 07 Mini) - $13
Friends and Flowers Simply Scappin' Kit (Idea Book 06-07) $10 NIP
Friends and Flowers Simply Scappin' Kit (Idea Book 06-07) $10 - NIP
Big Blossom (SAB 07) - $10
Happy Harmony (SAB 07) - $10
Delight In Life (SAB 07) - $10 - slight staining on one block

Non- SU!
Autumn Leaves clear stamps - Swirls v:1 by Rhonna Farrer - $10

I am trying to get these over to my Ecrater site, so you will be able to use both Google Checkout or Paypal.

ETA: Due to Stampin' Up!'s policy these can only be shipped within the US.

Cheery Hugs

The other day Beate posted her first Inspiration Challenge on her blog. I instantly knew I would add it to my pile of stuff I want to get done. I actually started on it on Tuesday night, but it got pushed to the side and I just cleared off my workspace with the intentions of finishing it.



I have to say I really like the cheery colors and the way the sentiment layer just pops off the page with the white scallop background. The other think I love is that this is a card that would be so easy to mass produce as a Thank You. The sentiment from All Holidays fits perfectly in the 1 1/4" circle punch and I didn't take a photo before I mailed it off.



I often look to items for inspiration for colors, but have to start doing the same for layouts as well. I did change mine to a standard sized card instead of going the square route.



We have a long weekend ahead of us, and I sure hope my kids behave so I can get some stamping stuff done. Winter and the cold weather are starting to wear on my nerves. We really need to get them outside to run out their energy. While we do get out in the winter, it's not nearly enough as they need. To top if off the flooding around here has closed down most of the parks since they all double as retention ponds. I sure hope it warms up and dries out a bit over the next few weeks.



Jenn




Stamps: All Holidays, Petals Jumbo Wheel, Polka Dot background
Paper: Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Rose Red, Whisper White craft ink
Accessories: 1 1/4", 1 3/8", scallop circle punches, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain, dimensionals, white embossing powder, heat gun
Techniques: heat embossing

Roughing Up a Stamp

I had a question posted to my blog (on this post). Pam wanted to know exactly what I meant about roughing up a stamp.

Here is her question:
I love your card! I was wondering what you mean by roughing up your stamp. can you explain? I hate how hard it is to ink these kind up.

When you get a really smooth set like Birthday Whimsy, you might often see the ink "pooling" or looking uneven on it when you ink it up. This results in an unevenly colored stamped image, and personally I hate that.

To solve that problem I follow a few simple steps. Clean the ink off of your stamps so you don't get ink on your clothes or carpet. Take your stamp and you can rub it gently on your jeans. If I have something else on that day I may rub the stamp lightly across the carpet tiles in our basement since they are sort of rough. I have also used my Stampin' Up! white sanding blocks to rub across the smooth surface of the stamp.

You don't want to rub too vigorously or hard, but you want to get rid of the slickness of the smooth surface. I then clean my stamp again to make sure there is no fuzz or anything else on it. Then ink your stamp up and look to see how the ink is sitting on the surface. Sometimes you need to repeat the roughing up steps again, but often once is enough. You will notice that the ink is smooth and not "pooling" on the surface. You will then be guaranteed a smooth image when you do stamp it.

I hope that answers your question! If anyone needs further explanation just post your question here and I'll be sure to get to it.

Jenn

ETA: Here are some additional tips from readers. Thanks Mary and Kimberleigh! I hope you don't mind me adding them to the text portion for easy referrence.

Mary said - You can also use an adhesive remover, 200 grit sandpaper or the light side of an emery board.

Kimberleigh said - One of those big pink erasers the kids use for school work nicely as well!

Thankful Flower

Did I not say I really liked this color combination? I am playing around with the set as I come up with my swap card for a Sale-a-Bration swap I am in. While I really like this card I think it would take me forever to make 30 of them, so it is in the maybe pile for now. I still have a day to play before I make my final decision though.

Again I used the same colors as in the last post, but I changed up my layout. I did try to doodle around the edge of the image, but I didn't leave myself enough room on my first attempt so you can't really tell. I think I'd have to make the main panel a little larger to accommodate the doodling. I do really like the flower stamped behind the sentiment and I think I'll keep that element for my swap card at least. Now to narrow down the sketch. I do know I am probably going to stick with the color combination though. I really like it.


Stamps: Merci
Paper: Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Soft Sky, Regal Rose, Going Gray
Accessories: Scallop Punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punch, 1/16" hole punch, vintage brad, AquaPainter, Double hole punch

Soft Sunflower

Two things inspired me when making this card. One was Beate's layout, that you can find here. The other was a bag I saw in a magazine. I often clip pictures with colors that inspire me. This particular purse had Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery and Pumpkin Pie in the color scheme.

To make this card I started with a 4 1/4 X 8 1/2 piece of Soft Sky cardstock. I then layered Chocolate Chip and Certainly Celery that I stamped with the Polka Dot background stamp. To make the scallops I punched out a 1 3/8" circle in a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. Around that hole I punched out a Scallop circle. I clipped the circle and molded it so that it would be in a straight line. The rest of the card is fairly straight forward. I really like this color combination. I think I may have to write it down as a keeper.

Jenn

Stamps: Merci
Paper: Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Soft Sky
Accessories: Scallop Punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punch, 1/16" hole punch, vintage brad, AquaPainter, Theater Ribbon Originals,

Feel the Burn

I decided that I needed to get a new exercise video today. I am getting bored of my treadmill and my Tae Bo videos from the late 90's are out of date in VHS format. So today I got the new Elite Boot camp. I was surprised at how easy it was until they introduced the resistance bands into the mix. My arms and legs are feeling really sore and I only exercised at 10 this morning. Evan loves to exercise with me and he was so tired he actually took a nap this afternoon.

I'm stuck in a bit of a rut with my stamping. I need the inspiration to come back, so today I picked a color scheme out of the Spring/Summer Collection 2008 and just went from there. It's a nice and simple card and that is usually what gets me back in the game.

Hopefully tomorrow I won't be too sore to pick up a stamp. LOL!

Jenn

A Few of my Favorite Things

I wanted to start playing with the Merci stamp set so that I can get a feel for how I want my swap cards to come out. I'm loving this butterfly! I stamped it onto Whisper White card stock in Basic Gray and then pulled my color scheme from the Bali Breeze designer series paper. I was actually going to use the paper on this card, but in the end I decided that simpler was better. The bottom is embellished with 3/4" circles punched out of Tempting Turquoise card stock to give it a bit of dimension, and I thought a simple bow out of Basic Black grosgrain would fit nicely against this layout.

There is an optical illusion with the sentiment square. It was punched with the 1 3/8" square punch as were all of the white image squares and I measured the Basic Black square a million times against the others. They are all the same size, but yet it appears smaller than all of the rest with the Whisper White layer. I'm not sure why that is, but I still love the way this card came out.

I am heading out to Walgreens to get some photos to add to a scrapbook page. I am hoping to get some pages done. I hope you are all having a nice relaxing Sunday!

Jenn


Stamps: Lots of Thoughts, Merci
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive
Accessories: 1 3/8" square punch, 3/4" square punch, basic black grosgrain, AquaPainter

For the Love of Chocolate

Let my preface this by saying I HATE Chocolate cake. Don't buy me one, don't serve me a piece and don't offer me a taste of yours. It's one of those things, like Chocolate ice cream that I won't eat. The only form of chocolate I like are the little round cups that taste more like peanut butter than anything else.

Anyway, I'm sitting here mounting my stamps that arrived yesterday and I'm looking at the Birthday Whimsy stamp set and Chocolate Cake with Pink Frosting is the image in my head. So as soon as I finished mounting the rest of my stamps that was the first thing I had to stamp.

I colored in the frosting with a Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write marker and then finished the rest of the cake with Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Basic Black and So Saffron. I did have to rough this stamp up a little bit to get good coverage because the rubber is so smooth. One rub on my basement carpet tile and the markers colored beautifully. After I stamped it I used a Versamarker to color over the icing, put on heat and stick powder, heated it up, doused it with dazzling diamonds glitter and heat set one last time. *Whew, that was a lot*

I have this gorgeous cake sitting on my table and I'm at a loss as to what to do with it. I had a total brain freeze, so I pulled out my Winter Mini Control Freaks Swap cards and I cased a layout from ChiChi Allen. The base of the card is a 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 piece of Chocolate chip and the top is 1/2 inch smaller piece of Pretty in Pink. I scored the left side at 1" and attached it to the base. I then punched my holes with the Crop-a-Dile and put my Chocolate Chip satin ribbon through it. I wasn't going to by this ribbon until I heard it also comes on the Ribbon Originals (Theater, if I remember correctly) and had to get it. It's gorgeous and so silky!

I did stamp the flourish from Friendship Blooms under my cake layer and the entire layer is set up on dimensionals. I did find that the prongs of my brads were a little long after putting them on the main image layer so I snipped them with some metal snips I found in my husbands workbench.

I think the rest is pretty self explanatory. I also want to apologize for my lack of posting yesterday. I spent most of the day in a pair of PJ's I had put on after waking up. I have to wear fresh PJ's if I lounge around during the day. I'm just odd that way. After that I scrubbed my house so I'd have plenty of time to play once my Sale-a-Bration stamp sets came, but my kids decided to spend the afternoon fighting. I changed my PJ's for some black and white stripped referee attire and that was that. I didn't get anything besides half a clean house.

It sure felt good to stamp today.

Jenn


Stamps: Birthday Whimsy, Friendship Blooms
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Going Gray, Barely Banana
Accessories: Crop-a-dile, Versamarker, Heat and Stick Powder, Dazzling Diamonds, Heat Gun, Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, 1/16" hole punch, ticket corner punch, dimensionals, silver brads

Learning Curve

I think I told you about my complete surprise at Christmas? If I didn't you'll hear about it now. I got a Cricut! I was completely surprised because I hadn't even asked for one. But I knew when I did some research that I wanted the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cartridge, and because I'm impatient I wanted it NOW! Well NOW didn't happen. I looked everywhere I could think of - JoAnn's (didn't carry them here), Michael's, Walmart etc. Either they didn't carry them or they didn't have that particular cartridge in stock. So I ordered mine from All That Scraps. While it shipped quickly I was in agony over waiting for the USPS to bring it to my mailbox. Well guess what arrived today? You got it, my brand new cartridge.

While my Cricut has been unpacked and on my table for some time and while I painstakingly had to read the manual from start to finish on Christmas day I still wasn't brave enough to use it until I had the cartridge I wanted. So today I pulled it out and I learned some things along the way.

1. Stampin' Up!'s colored cardstock comes off of the cutting mat 10 times easier than Whisper White. The back of the Whisper White tends to pile and peel and I actually partially ruined a piece trying to reposition it. So don't press your white on as hard as you do the other colors. (I haven't tried dsp, so I don't know how this will work)

2. You have to be patient when removing your cut out images and one thing I am not is patient. I was able to remove all of my die cuts with the Cricut spatula that came in my box.

3. Remember to set your paper size if you are using a size smaller than 6" X 12". I already have nice groove lines in my mat from using a smaller piece. Good thing it came with 3 mats!

4. When you want a piece to mat a cut out on use the same size in a Shadow, don't up the dial 1/2". It doesn't look as cool.

5. Set your blade depth to 4 and it works perfectly with Stampin' Up! cardstock, both Whisper White and the rest of the colors. I tried 3 to start and it didn't really cut my bag deep enough to separate it from the rest of the piece of cardstock.

So if you have a Cricut, there are a few of my tips. But this gadget is really cool! I'd personally never spend the money on one myself (I'm cheap that way), but as a gift it was perfect. The Tags, Bags, Boxes and More is an Awesome cartridge. I can see hours of playing time and a million and one projects. It only took me about 5 minutes to cut my bag, take it off the mat, score and assemble it. This is going to be great for party favors for my kids!

Jenn

ETA: I used the George and Basics Shapes cartridge for my hearts.

A Little Birdie Told Me . . .

That this sketch challenge was not going to work for me today. I have been playing with this on and off all day long and I have not come up with a Kick Stand card that I like. Therefore I am posting one of my rejects, where the panel got moved up onto the front panel of the card. I like the paper, I like the idea, I'm just not having luck.

I'm going to watch a movie instead and try again in the morning.

Jenn

Happy Hearts Day Class

I've been talking to some of my customers in other states on the telephone and the one thing we wish we could do is get together and stamp. While it sounds fun to pack up all of my stamping supplies and drive 5 or so hours, it's just not practical, unless I'm vacationing near them and just happen to have extra space in the car for all of my stamping supplies. Maybe if I owned a conversion van it would work.

So today I spent the day typing up the directions on how to complete these projects with step by step photos. If you haven't seen one of my tutorials click here, and you'll see just how I format my class directions as well.

I want to Thank all of you who took time to complete this months projects! I don't have any left at this point in time. I hope that you'll like next months projects even more.

Jenn

Wild Embrace

Nature sure took a wild hold on life last night. I sure hope everyone who lives in far Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin made it through the storms okay. The warm weather was followed by thunderstorms and tornadoes and my heart goes out to everyone in Wheatfield that lost a house last night. We fared pretty well. There was a lot of flooding around town, but we were not personally affected by it.

I had a chance to sit down and try out the Color Combination today and I started out thinking I'd be unhappy with any outcome. The colors chosen were Wild Wasabi, Barely Banana and Blue Bayou. I was wrong. I love my card! I think I'm going to make a few more to have on hand. The layout is fairly simple and I masked the main image to set the blossoms behind it. I used my horizontal slot punch to allow me to weave the ribbon behind the image before tying it and the larger Word Window surround is hand cut.


Stamps: Embrace Life
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Barely Banana, Blue Bayou, Basic Gray, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray, Barely Banana, Rose Red
Accessories: crafter's tool kit, photo corner punch, ticket corner punch, horizontal slot punch, wild wasabi double stitched ribbon, word window punch, dimensionals, blender pens

Spring Fever in January?

Today the temperature topped at 67* in Illinois! The last two days we have broken a century old record high. I don't know what to think, but I do know that the minute the seasonable weather comes back we are all going to regret it.

So here is a card that looks nice and spring like to celebrate and I didn't even sit down to stamp it until the boys were in bed. I spent the day outside with a light sweatshirt on and we loved it!

This card was part of the Featured Stamper Challenge on SCS and you can see Nancy Riley's original card here. I chose to keep the layout and sentiment. I changed the color scheme, ribbon and added the stamped frame border.

Since I'm beat from a day of running around outside I'm going to keep this short and sweet and say Good Night! Here's to spring like weather in your neck of the woods.

Jenn

Stamps: Fabulous Flowers, All in a Row, All Holidays
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Basic Black
Ink: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Basic Black
Accessories: coluzzle, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 5/8" real red grosgrain, 1/4" basic black grosgrain

Mmmmmm . . . chocolate

This is going to be a quick post since I have to head out for my class this morning. Here is the package of Chocolates that will be going inside of the purse along with the wallet. I used items that are available in the Valentine's Day Bundle. I used Real Red, Soft Sky and Whisper White. I stamped my images in Basic Gray. I don't think I even use Basic Black anymore. I then colored them in with Soft Sky and Real Red classic ink with a Blender pen. I then used the scallop punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches to decorate the front of York peppermint patties.

I do have a card that goes along with these items, but it is very similar to the two butterfly cards I have posted recently so I'm not going to post it again. I really hope that everyone has a great time making these projects today. I know I had fun designing them.

Have a great Sunday!

Jenn

Look Ma! No Stamping!

I made a little gift card wallet to go along with my purse. There is no stamping on it. I used a piece of Bali Breeze designer series paper with my Build a Brad for the closure. On the inside I took a velcro dot that had been cut in half and it holds the wallet closed.

I am loving these huge snow storms that dump snow on us, but the snow is gone in about a week. Last Monday night it was frigid cold and we got another few inches of snow. It has stayed above freezing all night and this morning it poured so a good deal of the snow is gone. My favorite thing is that on Monday they are saying that we will get into the mid to upper 50's!

Roger finished the sump pump and it is working correctly with no leaks. I'm so glad we caught it before we had a flooding issue. My stamping space is in the basement as is the kids playroom. We would have had a lot of clean-up to do had that been the issue. We also now have a functioning faucet on our kitchen sink. I don't have to turn it off at the supply valve when it won't shut off with the faucet and I don't have to worry about it falling apart when I try to push the lever down.

I hope you all have a productive weekend. Tomorrow you will get to see the chocolate treat bag I have to go inside of this purse.

Jenn

A Sneak Peek

This coming Sunday I have my first Hostess Club meeting of the year. After I made the purse yesterday I knew my ladies would love making these, so I came up with a few projects around a purse. Over the next few days you'll see the wallet and bag of chocolate that is going to go inside of this bag. I also have a card and another project in the works.

I am running so far behind today. We are having major plumbing issues. When it rains it pours and I'm just glad it's not pouring water inside of my house. First our sump pump went out and then our kitchen faucet broke. I'm holed up in the basement while Roger works on the sink right now. I have to say I feel blessed because my neighbors were out of town over the last few days. I saw them come home today and all afternoon there was a fire and water damage emergency truck over at their house. When I finished with my doctor's appointment there were three of those trucks there. I sure hope their sump pump didn't go out while they were on vacation. Tomorrow I'll have to head on over and see if they need anything. What a welcome home.

I hope you all have a great weekend. Tomorrow I am finishing up Hostess Club projects and relaxing.

Yesterday Karen asked me how I like the Tabletop Cutter from Stampin' Up!. I honestly love it. I had a small learning curve, basically it was me forgetting to push down the finger guard bar to hold my paper in place. It cuts beautifully and I can cut at least two sheets of cardstock at a time. It honestly makes prepping for classes so much easier. I do have the small portable Fiskars cutter from Stampin' Up! and I have to get a new one. I have used mine for 1 year and prepped for all of my workshops and classes with it. Over time the plastic bar has loosened and it doesn't cut as straight anymore. Plus I was going through a million blades. I had a Fiskars Rotary cutter that my mom bought me about 4 years ago that I loved, but again I was going through blade after blade. One day a spring snapped and I could now longer push the blade down to cut. I love that the Tabletop cutter has a self sharpening blade and I'll never have to replace it. I was worried about it with the kids around, but the blade is actually not directly on the handle from what I can tell. I rubbed my finger across the handle part and didn't cut it. I have trained my kids to never touch anything on my table and they are pretty good about it. But they know to never touch my paper cutters or scissors if they are within reach, but I try to put them up each time I use them to avoid accidents.

Jenn

Tweetheart Purse

This afternoon I was browsing the SCS Gallery and came across this purse by Jami. I just knew I had to try one out for myself. What's better is that my newest C.C. Designs stamp set that will be released tonight at Midnight came in the mail today. I knew I had a few lunch sacks sitting around that I had bought for an event and then didn't end up needing them, or I had forgotten to take them.

I cut my bag down to 3" in height and then cut my Chocolate Chip cardstock 1/4" larger than my bag measurements. I layered it with some designer paper by Basic Grey from the Infuse line. I have been hoarding this paper forever. I then added the Round tab punches, outlined them with a white gel pen to add stitching and then used my horizontal slot punch to clip a notch out of the top of them. The 1/4" Whisper White grosgrain is inserted into the tab punch and to secure it I stapled it to the back layer. You can't see the staple because it is sandwiched in between the bag and the Chocolate Chip layer of cardstock.

I colored my bird image in with Copic Markers that match the Stampin' Up! In colors and blended them with the colorless blender pen. These can also be found at All That Scraps. I think that these would make adorable Valentine's Day purses with a few York Peppermint patties in there that have been decorated with the Scallop punch. I have many ideas running through my head for my stamp camp on Sunday. I have to decide just what projects I want to use this month.

I finally made the Showcase!

Stamper's Showcase that is! The only problem is that they completely butchered my name and have me down as Jeannie Dierks. LOL! But I am so excited to finally have a card up there. I made this for one of the ControlFreaks Swaps about 6 months ago. They have been putting up a lot of the swap cards from this swap in the last few weeks.

You can see the original card here.

Let's Go TP! Part II

You've let your stamp with the dampened Toilet paper sit overnight to dry, so now it's time to move on to the second part of the tutorial. You can see that the paper is dry and you no longer see the color of the rubber through the paper. It will have also loosened from the stamp so you can lift it right off with no ripping or tearing of the paper.

I have experimented with coloring in the image with Stampin' Pastels, Blender pens and ink refills and the AquaPainter. The only result that seems to work is the Stampin' Pastels chalk. Just take your applicator and dab, don't rub or the papers will pile and tear, the color onto the cast toilet paper. I didn't take step by step photos of my coloring but I'm sure you can figure it out.

Here is my image fully colored in with Stampin' Pastels. You can finish your card off at this point or you can take your Versamark pad and dab it on top of your image. I like to set my Stampin' Pastels so that they won't rub off when the card is handled or is placed in an envelope. After I dab on my Versamark I pour Crystal Clear embossing powder on the image and Heat Emboss it. Now when you are heat embossing you have to be very patient and not burn the toilet paper. Once it is heat embossed you will notice that your colors are much more vibrant.


I have only attempted to trim my toilet paper cast image with my Stampin' Up! Table Top cutter. It cuts it neatly without tearing the image. You can try the Fiskars slide cutter or a rotary cutter, but be careful in your experiments because the paper can shred easily.



Here is my image cut, matted and with a brad added to the center of the flower. I like to add brads to make sure that all layers of the toilet paper are going to stay together and on the card when it is handled. I simply take my Paper piercer and use it to punch through all of the layers with the black part of my mat pack under my image. You can easily put a brad through a hole punched with the paper piercer. This way you aren't limited to where your 1/16" hole punch will reach on your image either.



Here is what my card looks like completely finished and embellished. There are endless possibilities to this technique and I hope you have fun experimenting with it on your own.
















This is the original card I made using the toilet paper technique.

Let's Go TP! Part I

A few weeks ago I told you I would show you how to use Toilet Paper in your paper crafting room. You can see the original card I made here. Today I will show you Part I of this two step process. To complete this you need a rubber stamp, 8 squares of single ply toilet paper, and an AquaPainter or Watercolor brush and water.

Step 1: Take your stamp and place it rubber side up on your table.

Step 2: Taking one square of Toilet Paper at a time use your AquaPainter to wet down the toilet paper. I find that it goes quicker if you wet the AquaPainter down with some extra water in a glass. Repeat for all 8 layers.

Step 3: After you finish all 8 layers your toilet paper cast will look like this. You will now need to leave your stamp and paper as is overnight or until it is completely dry. You may be tempted to dry it with a hair dryer or Heat Gun, but I do not recommend this. I ruined several tries by experimenting with both of these. The toilet paper burns very easily.

Make sure you come back tomorrow to see Part II of Let's Go TP!

To an Unforgettable 2008!

As I finally get around to using the computer today I realized that the older I get the harder it is to recover from staying up two nights in a row past midnight. I'm exhausted! While the rehearsal dinner and wedding were lots of fun and I got to meet up with old friends as well as new, the mom instinct still kicks in and I have problems sleeping soundly past 7 a.m. as I listen for my kids to wake up. I found out that this happens even when I'm not at home and the kids are safely waking my parents up before the crack of dawn instead. I am so happy that we decided to spend the night in Tinley Park instead of driving home. We started our drive around noon today to give them plenty of time to catch up on all of the snow that fell last night and the amount of cars in the ditch along the side of the road was unnerving. It's still snowing by the bucket load and I'm glad to be inside with no place to go until Thursday when Colin heads back to school.

Here is to an Unforgettable 2008 for all of us! I hope you achieve all you set out to do and that this is the start of an unforgettable year.

Jenn


Stamps: Happy Heart Day
Paper: River Rock textured, Cameo Coral, Rose Red, Whisper White, Ginger Blossom dsp
Ink: Basic Gray, Regal Rose, Always Artichoke, Going Gray
Accessories: Sherbet Ribbon Originals, Crop-a-dile, Silver eyelets, AquaPainter