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,

August Scrapbook Club Layout - Travel Pages

This is the layout we did at our last Scrapbook Club meeting. It's a timeline page, so the photos will go all over along the map line. I used Kraft as a base, then layered some Brocade Blue on it. Then we sliced up some maps* to layer onto the Brocade Blue. I thought this would be a neat idea if you have a map from where you went on vacation - you could use it as part of your scrapbook page.

For the letters, I used marbling technique by stamping the letters (from Big Deal Alphabet) first in Brocade Blue. Then I took a Stampin' Around Wheel (I used Leaf Prints, but it doesn't matter which one you use) and rolled it in Close to Cocoa ink. Then I smeared that on the inked letter stamp and stamped it on some Whisper White cardstock. Finally, I punched it out with my 1 3/8" square punch and layered it on a Kraft square.

The little squares in the corners of the page are actually flaps that lift up so you have more space for journaling. Each one is a 2 x 4" piece of Brocade Blue, scored and folded in half. Then there's a 1 3/8" square-punched piece of map on it, along with a button from Fresh Favorites II that's been tied with some linen thread and attached with a mini glue dot.

*For the maps, I'm a member of the Alberta Motor Association, so I get free maps from them! I just went online and checked off the maps I wanted and they mailed them to me.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a fabulous long weekend!

Blessings to you,

Stamp and Scrapbook Clubs

I'm gearing up to start my Fall Stamp and Scrapbook Clubs, and I'm really excited this year! I've decided to do something different this year. At the first club meeting of the year, instead of placing an order, the ladies will be making a project for a class fee. We will draw names of hostesses for the year at that meeting, and the first hostess and club order will be in October. This will give the ladies a chance to figure out what they'd like to order, and the first hostess has a chance to collect outside orders if she'd like.

**I still need two more ladies in each club, so if you live in my area and would like to join, please contact me!**

My Stamp Club will be making a Craft Keeper Box ($25) to hold all of the cards in that they make this year. We will be decorating all the inserts at the first meeting. There is even a section on techniques, so they can file away the special techniques they learn! I tried to keep them fairly simple because they will be making all of them in one evening! Here are all of the section cards we will be making:
My Scrapbook Club will be making this Scrapbook Journal ($20) to keep class notes in and to record any other useful scrapbooking information they find in magazines, online, etc. Their journals will have current designer series paper, though!

A Couple of Journals

Whew! I'm finally resting a bit from my New Catalogue Open House last week. What a fun time! Thank you to everyone who came. I really appreciate your support. A big congratulations to Susan K. who won my grand door prize draw! Susan won the Level 3 Holiday Happenings Bundle, along with some Chocolate Chip and Kiwi Kiss cardstock and ink pads and a one-inch circle punch. And congratulations to Jackie T., who won the Questionnaire prize draw of an embellishment kit and to Kirsten S., who won the Catalogue Scavenger Hunt prize draw of a Scallop Notes Stationery Pack!

I've been madly planning some fall classes, and I decided to do things a bit differently this year. My brilliant SIL, Wendy, came up with the idea of doing a class where you can make some little Christmas gifts for people, so I've come up with a create-your-own class where people can choose four of nine different projects, invite some friends over and everyone will get to make the four items.

The journal and pen set is a classic that I've been making since I started with Stampin' Up!, and I've tried to improve it over time. This is one of the projects you can choose from for the class.

I found a tutorial (I'm afraid I forget where - it was months ago) about how to remove the coils so you can adhere the paper at the edge of the notebook, which looks a lot neater than lining it up by the coils! This is a notebook that I CASEd from sluman on Splitcoast Stampers. I think it was made at Convention. It uses the new Bella Rose designer paper (LOVE IT!) with some Pink Pirouette cardstock, Pretty in Pink grosgrain and a flower from the Pretties kit. I used the new scallop edge punch on the centre strip and poked holes in the scallops with my paper piercer.

For the second notebook, I went with Summer Picnic dsp and added some Bashful Blue grosgrain, a strip of Real Red cardstock and an Old Olive scallop circle punch.

Memory Match Game in a Tin

Here's another little craft I made for my fall classes. It's a children's Memory Match card game in a tin. I did not come up with this idea - it was shared at our large downline meeting by Winona Semler (an amazing stamper!).

There are six pairs of cards that I stamped with the animals from Pun Fun and coloured using my Stampin' Write markers. I decorated the tin with Summer Picnic designer series paper. The band that goes around the tin is also decorated with Summer Picnic and coordinating cardstock, and stamped with Schoolbook Serif Alphabet and Define Your Life. I thought it would make a cute stocking stuffer or travel game. You could also make magnet games like Tic Tac Toe since they would stick to the tin!

Well, my New Catalogue Open House is tomorrow and I still have tons to do to get ready for it! I'm very excited - I hope people show up for it! Wish me luck!

Blessings to you,

Baby Mini Photo Book

Another quick post today! DH was away for the weekend on a manly canoe trip, so I've been busy again with kids and my mom visiting and family birthday parties and church! I love it all, but there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. I'm so in awe of you ladies who stamp and post and visit all your blog friends every day! How do you do it? Where do you find the time!? (Seriously, I need to know! LOL!)

Anyway, this is one of the projects I'm planning for my fall classes. It's a mini photo book (I posted a tutorial previously here). For this one, I used Bashful Blue, Almost Amethyst and Barely Banana cardstock with some Bashful Blue Prints paper (I know it's retired, but I figure it's close enough to the new Patterns paper). The stamp sets are Nursery Necessities and Taffy Alphabet.
Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings to you,