Stampin' Up! Jewelry (it's true!)

At our last big downline meeting, one of the demonstrators (I'm afraid I can't remember her name, but she's awesome!) showed us how to use Stampin' Up! products to make jewelry. I was astonished when she showed us how to use brads to make bracelets, necklaces and earrings!

So of course, I had to try it! I went to Michael's and bought the jump rings and clasps (you get hundreds of them for cheap!), and I set to work. Here is a bracelet I made using the square Ice Rhinestone brads.
ETA: To make this bracelet, I just slid a jump ring onto one of the tines of a brad, then bent it up and around (I used the pliers in my crafter's tool kit for this). Then I slid a ring onto the other tine of the brad and bent it around so the ring would not slide off. Then I alternated rings and brads until it was long enough to make a bracelet. To finish it off, I added a clasp (I bought these at Michael's too) so that the bracelet would close. I hope this makes sense! I'll show some close-up photos on my next post!
She also showed us how to use rub-ons to decorate pre-made jewelry. I found this necklace and earring set at the dollar store, and I added some Chateau Bella rub-ons to them both. I then traced the paper that the jewelry came on onto some Chocolate Chip cardstock and cut it out. I punched holes in it for the earrings, and then I added some rub-ons to it. And voila! Thanks for reading. I've been super-busy this month (seems to be my life story now!), but I do plan to post more often now that all the Fall activities have begun!

Blessings to you,

Scrapbook Club Layout & School

Hello again! It's been a busy week so far, as I'm sure it has been for all of you with kids in school! My oldest son started preschool this week, so it's been a big change for me. I can't believe he's already in school (I posted a picture of him below!). Then tonight I have a meeting for AWANA - I'm going to be the preschool (Cubbies) director this year, so that should keep me busy!

Here's the layout that my Scrapbook Club will be doing this week. It's our final meeting for this club, and I'm really going to miss seeing these ladies each month! We're doing a Fall layout. Some ladies wanted Halloween and some wanted Thanksgiving, so they get to choose between the following two (it's the same layout, just different colours and papers). And of course, some ladies opted to do both!

For this Halloween layout, I used the Ghostly Greeting designer paper (isn't it fun!) as the colour palette. The pages are Pumpkin Pie with Basic Black and Old Olive (should be Kiwi Kiss, but I don't have enough of that yet - Old Olive works too!). I stamped the letters with the Taffy Alphabet and rolled the Haunting jumbo wheel along the bottom, both in Basic Black. The pumpkins are made using the Sizzix die cut Pumpkin #4 (I love this!). I made the journaling tags with the tag corner punch and put some jumbo eyelets through them with Basic Black grosgrain.

For the Thanksgiving/Fall page, I used the Haiku designer series paper with So Saffron as the page base. I layered Close to Cocoa and Old Olive. The letters are stamped with Lovely Letters in Close to Cocoa, and I used the Fall Harvest wheel for the pumpkins with Chocolate Chip ink. I coloured in the pumpkins with my blender pens using Tangerine Tango and Old Olive ink. For these tags, I used copper eyelets and hemp twine.
And finally, here's a photo of my little guy on his first ever day of school! He was so excited, he hardly slept the night before. He's wearing his new Cars backpack, lunch kit and socks! He had a great time. I got to be the parent helper on the first day, and his teacher is amazing.

Thanks for reading today.

Blessings to you,

Christmas Sketch Challenge

This is a card I made for Splitcoast's Sketch Challenge (SC191) this week. I wanted to use my new Holiday Treasures designer paper, so I started with that. The card base is Riding Hood Red. Then I layered the designer paper on Old Olive and Chocolate Chip. I used my new scallop edge punch on the Old Olive and my corner rounder punch on the designer paper.

For the sentiment piece, I layered Riding Hood Red, Holiday Treasures and Old Olive. I added a jumbo brad with some Old Olive grosgrain. The sentiment is from Holidays and Wishes, embossed with Glassy Glaze embossing powder.

Wow! It's been a long time since I did a sketch challenge! It felt really good! Thanks so much for reading!

Blessings to you,

Like Fine Wine... (for my Father-in-Law)

This is a clear envelope brag book that I made for my FIL for his birthday. When we were on holidays in B.C., we toured some wineries, and Quails' Gate was one of them. We bought my FIL a bottle of wine and some wine glasses as a birthday gift, so I thought I'd make a little album for him as a memento of the winery. We took photos of the vineyard and the winery and my husband by the grapes, and I included those in the book.
Here's the recipe:
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Bordering Blue, Close to Cocoa Prints designer series paper
Ink: Close to Cocoa & Bordering Blue classic ink, Close to Cocoa Stampin' Write marker
Stamps: Lovely Letters, Infinite Goodness
Accessories: hemp twine, jumbo eyelets, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches, clear envelopes, Coluzzle, scallop edge punch, sticky strip

Thanks for reading today!

Blessings to you,

Denise's Pick Three Challenge

This is a card I made for Denise's Pick Three Challenge. I CASEd this card by Alesasndra Reyes from the Stampers' Showcase on the SU! Demo site.

Denise's challenge was to choose three of the following to make a card:

- metallic paper
- circle punch
- die cut
- burgundy
- leaf stamp
- brad

I chose burgundy, metallic paper and brads (and kind of a leaf stamp!).

I used the Polished Stone technique for the background on glossy white paper.

Here's the recipe:
Stamps: Fresh Cuts
Ink: Basic Black Classic ink; Bravo Burgundy, Mellow Moss, Gold ink refills
Paper: Brushed Gold, Bravo Burgundy, Glossy White
Embellishments: Bravo Burgundy grosgrain, gold brads

Thanks for reading today!

Blessings to you,