Boho tote and cards

Cody had to take a "cake walk prize" for the school game carnival. I decided to make a tote and 5 coordinating cards for his prize.

In the mix of everything, I used Stampin' Up!'s Boho Backgrounds, True Friend, and One of a Kind stamp sets. I also used sentiments from SU's Hugs & Wishes and Warmest Regards stamp sets. I used SU's purely pomegranate, pretty in pink, close to cocoa, chocolate chip, sage shadow, and whisper white cardstocks, inks, and markers. The double stitched purely pomegranate and the pretty in pink taffeta ribbons were great accents. I also included a matching envelope for each card in the tote.

Here are close-ups of everything.

Dustin's b-day car

Here is what I came up with for Dustin's birthday card. I used the car from Stampin' Up!'s By Land stamp set, and the happy birthday sentiment stamp from SU's Big Bold Birthday set. It uses a non-SU designer paper along with SU's wild wasabi, brilliant blue, real red, summer sun, and whisper white cardstock, wild wasabi, brilliant blue, and basic black classic ink, the ticket corner punch, and wasabi double-stitched ribbon. I was very happy with how it turned out, and Dustin seemed to really like it too.

new baby gifts

Our neighbors just had a new baby boy last week. They also have a 2 1/2 year old little girl who is in a library program with Dustin, my youngest. So when I was thinking of a gift for the new baby, I wanted to do something special for the new big sister as well. So I created these to go with some gifts that I picked up for them.

I made this for the new big sister Sidney. I loved how the little princess turned out. I thought she needed to be sparkly. I used the Paper Dolls cricut cartride to cut the princess and accessories. I used the Teardrop cricut cartridge to cut the letters. Everything that is sparkly was embossed with SU's iridescent ice embossing powder.

I made this for the new baby, Trent. I love boys' stuff done in primary colors, probably since that is what my boys' room is decorated in. I used the Stampin' Up Headline alphabet stamp set and Wild About You set. I also used some various ribbons and embellishments.

But then, I ran across this while looking online for ideas. You can see it at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/565891. So I did one very similar, changing a few things here and there. I was very happy with how it turned out. I used SU's Headline alphabet stamp set for the letters, the Warm Words set for the script, and the Wild About You set for the images. I also used the round label punch and soft subtles brads from Stampin' Up. I couldn't decide on just one for the baby, so both pictures are in the frame. They can switch them if they'd like.

April Stamp Club

These are the cards we did at my April Stamp Club.

This was done using the flowers out of Stampin' Up's Year After Year set, the back-ground flower stamp out of SU's A Good Egg set, and the friend sentiment out of Stampin' Up's Everyday Flexible Phrases set. It uses SU's mellow moss, pretty in pink, and regal rose cardstock and markers (to ink the flower stamp in different colors), whisper white cardstock, the designer label punch, large oval punch, and small oval punch, the 1/8" cirlce punch, moss gingham ribbon, and also stampin' sponges.

This was the card I took to the class for our sample. It uses Stampin' Up's Bugs & Kisses stamp set. We used SU's blue bayou, wild wasabi, creamy caramel, and whisper white cardstock, caramel ginham ribbon, the spiral punch, and stampin' sponges.

During the class project, my sister changed hers up a little bit, and I followed her lead. I love the image tilted and also how I changed the ribbon for it.

I received a beautiful dahlia fold card from my Quacker friend Suzy in her special gift for me that everyone loved. So we did this technique at our stamp club this month. The card itself opens up sideways. I trimmed the card top, then also used SU's corner rounder punch to make the scallop edge. We used Stampin' Up's Doodle This stamp set. We also used SU's blush blossom and old olive cardstock, the Bali Breeze designer series paper, the circle rhinestone brads in Ice, the 1 3/8" circle and the small oval punches for the flower pieces, and old olive 1/4" grosgain ribbon.

Creations for my QSS

Our Quackers chat group had another fun secret gifting thing again this spring. We have so much fun with these! I was buying and creating for Dody, a real beach lover. Most of her package was store-bought items from our local scrapbooking store, but here is what I created for her.

She was trying to come up with a name for her craft room a while back, but never decided for sure. Her undecisiveness meant that I had to pick a name since I really wanted to do a name frame for her room. One that she had mentioned while thinking of name ideas was my favorite, so I went with it. This is the name frame I created for Dody's Crafty Cabana.

She already has an "about me" scrapbook page from an earlier exchange, so I decided to do one for my whole family.

I also did a recipe page for Taco Pie.




















Here is the card that I sent with Dody's gift. Another friend had sent me some Bella stamped images to play with, and I thought it was perfect for Dody's card.

~~Happy Quacking, Dody!~~

moving stuff in

Now that the counters and new shelves are up and the carpet is in, it is time to move stuff into my new room! Keith mounted my t.v. up in the corner so that I still have my counter space underneath.

This is my stamping counter. I love this huge pegboard! I try to put things where they're handy and in sight. I love this storage for my punches in particular because they're within easy reach, and I can tell easily which shape each punch is. My four color families of classic ink pads and reinkers are in this unit from http://www.suink.net/. My t.v. is so handy up on the wall so that I have my computer in a nice place too.




This is my cutting counter. I wanted my Cricut and Cuttlebug to be easily accessible, along with my paper cutters. I have extra embellishment things organized in the little clear tubs on the top shelf.










The white cart next to my cutting counter holds my extra Cricut things like mats, papers, and tools. I also have my dry embossing things on there. Next to that is my scrapbooking table. I love having a separate place for my scrapbooking.


My purple cubes hold my designer scrap-booking papers. I try to keep them separated and somewhat organized, so I love having all of the different areas. There is a tall white cabinet in the corner that holds my retired and non-SU inks, my clear stamps, and some of my technique supplies like shaving cream and acrylic sealer. The white cabinet with double doors holds things like my SU envelopes, cello bags, and neutral and specialty papers. The purple dividers on top hold my 4 Stampin' Up color families of cardstock.


The white shelf is my "new to me" shelf that I was so proud of. I decided to use it for my stamp sets and organize them a little differently. I really like them this way! Then I have a tall shelf for business supplies, catalogs, anything that fits.




Since my room is smaller than what I was used to, I decided to use the hallway part of it for shelving. The little white thing is where my daughter Ali keeps her scrapbooking things. Then I have a shelf for picture organization. I also have a taller shelf for my scrapbooks and 3-D items.

I still have a lot of organizing to do, and some curtains to hang to cover cabinets and the window. But it will get done in time.

None the less, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Purple Palace!

My Purple Palace

First, to explain the name. We bought the new house and moved in last fall. It was only next door to where we were living. We were living on my husband's family farm. After his mom passed away, we decided we wanted to buy the other half of her property. Not a horrible move by any means. But my new stamping/scrapping room is smaller than the one at the old house. However, I LOVE it so much more! My husband has spoiled me, and my new, smaller room is much more usable and organized. Or at least, it will be more organized when I'm finished. But to top it all off, I was able to make my stamping/scrapping room PURPLE! My favorite color! How cool is that?!

We started off with a cinder block room in the basement. It has a hallway leading down to it that I consider part of my room. We have put a lot of work into this little room though. We put two coats of KILLZ primer/paint on all of the walls. Then we covered it with a coat of glossy white paint to brighten it up.

Before we moved, the place that my husband works at was throwing out some old countertop and a couple of base cabinets since they were remodeling a room they were in. So my husband acquired them, knowing I could use them in my new room. With a little help from a friend, he got those put up where I wanted them.

He also put up some shelves over my cutting counter. They really help for the organizing!

~Now it's time to Stamp~

I decided to decorate my new room using the Doodle This stamp set from Stampin' Up! I used purple and green acrylic paints with the stamps. Keith got me a great big pegboard to cover almost the entire wall over my stamping counter to hang a lot of my tools and such on. I decided to decorate the pegboard to match the rest of the room. The pegboard is a bit busy, but once all of the tools are hanging on it, you don't see all of the business.

There was an old, yellowish, yucky shelf left in the basement.

I latched onto it, and started painting. I also stamped it to match. Hey - if it doesn't move, stamp it! Right?! I was really happy with how it turned out too.

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Now, here's the coolest part. My husband actually ordered me purple carpet for my new room!! He cut it and installed it himself, and did a fabulous job on it!

~I LOVE MY PURPLE CARPET!!~

So welcome to my Purple Palace!