Are you ready to see the last few clipboards? Ready or not, here they come:
Sweet Pea DSP pack and that fabulous paper that I hoarded…with Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red…you remember!
These are oldies but goodies…I think the front one might be Urban Garden and the back one…well it had River Rock in it and it was all these glorious baroque designs and I really loved it and…
You don’t really need the names, do you?
I’ve stashed a lot of DSP in my craft room (that’s Designer Series Paper in Stampin’ Up! shorthand.) Some of it I loved so much I wouldn’t use – flat out hoarding. Some of it I just couldn’t get inspired, and some of it I just plain forgot I had it.
I decided to use some of it up to make clipboards for my club members.
This is the Sweet Pea DSP pack from the Occasions Mini catalog and something else that you will be totally surprised to learn I cannot remember the name of. And yes, that is bad grammar but some days it just goes that way!
These are both from the Sweet Pea DSP, though I’m pretty sure that Saffron paper is from last year’s SAB.
One more Sweet Pea…and the one behind it (the one with the funny light reflection from my camera) was called…hmmm…Afternoon Tea? Not sure, but I remember it has Groovy Guava in it so you know it’s “vintage”.
I’ll share more another day.
My dear friend who lived 5 minutes from my house moved almost an hour across the island (I KNOW! You practically have to drive all the way around the island to go that far!!). It was a huge effort – the house she bought Needed Work. I helped her some, but mostly provided moral support.
A couple of days ago her thank-you card arrived in the mail:
You would have to see her house to know how absolutely perfect this is. It’s such a creative card, with the roof cut out of the card front. The front door even opens – see?
The best part is that she didn’t use DSP inside the door…she used a leftover scrap of the shelf paper I put on every single shelf and drawer in her kitchen. Yes, I noticed right away!! I’ll tell you, I know that paper well. I loved that she included it in the card.
I’ve been out to visit…it’s lovely…out in the country…but it’s pretty far away.  I’m not known for my love of driving, but I’ll be making an exception for Cheryl.
I’m not going to tell you how long this bag sat in front of my sewing machine, almost completed, while I got distracted with other projects. Honestly, I think there must be something to this adult onset ADD thing. It’s either that or caffeine, and it couldn’t be the caffeine, now, could it??
I used the Big Shot and the Scallop Square Bigz die. These are some of my favorite colors, and I’m the first to admit that the patterns are a little busy…but so am I 🙂 Do you like my button? It’s genuine vintage…from my grandmother’s stash.
Angie Juda has a great video if you need the step by step. My improvement was to add a cell phone pocket and a ring to hang my keys on in the inside of the bag. A bag this deep eats keys for lunch.
Do you have a Big Shot? What are you waiting for? Anne’s Online Store. You’ll wonder why you waited so long.
The new catalog uses a monochromatic theme for the pages that begin each new “chapter” of stamps, and the color theme for the All Natural section is neutrals. It really inspired me when I saw it, and although all the stamps used on that page were new I wanted to recreate that feeling. I looked through my stamps (never mind how many there are, I’m sure I’ll need new ones!!) and found the look I was seeking:
Did you see that little scrap of River Rock? I have a folder with just a few scraps that I was — you guessed it — hoarding jealously. Now I can use them up! As of July 1st, River Rock is back in the family. I’ll admit that this Color Renovation is taking a little bite out of my stamping budget, but if it means that colors like Baja Breeze and River Rock are back in the palette I’ll work with it. I can make a budget and stick with it. It’s not like I have to have everything all at once. Really. I don’t. Not at all.
Excuse me, I have to go. My hypnotist appointment is soon. I don’t need it all at once…I don’t need it all at once…I don’t need it all at once…
I had that Medium tag punch sitting on my craft table and started playing with it. I’ve been fiddling around with inserts for the Simply Adorned charms (yes, I’ll show them when I’m ready but it’s still a work in progress) and I had a bunch of small images sitting around. I had to punch a couple of things a second time because it took me a while to figure out that it looked better when all the words faced the same way 🙂
This turned out to be a really girly card! I think I might tone down the pink next time…or maybe not. Sometimes pink is just what the doctor ordered.
It’s been a wonderful couple of weeks, but I’m sending my daughter back to Boston this evening. The job market on Maui isn’t much to speak about, and she’s found not one but two paying internships in Boston that give her great experience AND cash in hand. I’ve loved having her home and will miss her big bunches, but thank goodness for email, cell phones, and skype.
It was her birthday a week ago and I CASE-d another idea from the new Idea Book and Catalog:
The Crystal Effects makes the cupcakes look like stickers. I was really patient this time and gave it a LOT of time to dry. That’s the key if you want it to really shine – use a lot of product and then leave it alone!
My daughter loved her card and I think she knows there is a lot of love in the making. I wish I could put myself in an envelope and send myself to visit her.
It seems I haven’t done a sketch challenge in weeks. The challenges I’ve seen recently haven’t inspired me, and the few that I’ve tried ended up in the circular file (it’s only paper!) Last week I was looking through the Splitcoast Stampers challenges and this sketch spoke to me:
Time to clear our some of these retired papers, accessories and ribbons! I have a heap of them and I have challenged myself to do SOMETHING with them. You maybe seeing some very interesting projects in the next few weeks! I had a lot of fun piling them on for this card, and I really enjoyed the sketch – thanks, Roxie.
I’ll be back soon with more goodies from the new catalog 🙂
My Sneak Peak order of new 2010-2011 Stampin’ Up! products arrived on Thursday afternoon! That box was sitting in my craft room taunting me almost 24 hours – it was a relief to squeeze in about an hour on Friday afternoon. I am thrilled with my preview items, and they aren’t even the things I thought I couldn’t live without in that big beautiful new catalog. This is going to be an exciting year.
Here’s my first creation:
Having so many new colors to work with is almost over-stimulation…I ordered assortments of the new In Colors as well as all the new core colors introduced in the Color Renovation.   It came down to my favorites – blues and greens – but when I pulled out that stamp with that beautiful flower, I knew it needed a yellow center. The photograph isn’t quite true to the Daffodil Delight color – it’s softer but still a clear yellow, like a butter color. And what can I say about that embossing folder except you’d better put it on the top of your wish list?
I have a full day tomorrow but I WILL find a way to squeeze in a little more stamping time.  I have more new stamp sets to put together and try out!
The Fancy Favor box is just the right size for little gifts – a gift card, a piece of jewelry, movie tickets or even cookies. It’s easy to cut out and put together, and with a few leftover scraps of card stock you can make it into a little jewel:
Do you see the little polka dotted tag in there? I stamped a couple of extra petals for the flower and decided not to use the polka dot ones, so I punched one to make a polka dot tag. I know. Simple things make me happy. That’s not so bad, is it?
The Maui Stamper 