Masculine Series II

While making the other boy card I also came up with this design that can be used for both boys and girls depending on the color combos. This combo definitely works better for boys I think though. I actually gave this card with the brown ribbon to my husband for his birthday. He said it was his favorite of the different combos. I like it because it's simple but sort of elegant in a manly way. I am going to definitely play with it some more to come up with some more color combos and different additions using some different pieces of hardware and possibly some other techniques. I learned the shaving cream technique the other night at the local demo meeting and I think it would work really nicely to make some different swirly designs similar to the background on this one. I am aware though that this one has some actual clear nautical shapes in it... those would be missing from the shaving cream technique but I still think I could come up with some really neat paper that way that would work for this series. Below are the other two card designs in this series so far.

Masculine Series I - Jan 07

I realized while making the Stripes & Flowers Series cards that I didn't really have any cards that would be truly acceptable by boys and men. So I started playing with the different stamps I had that weren't flowery or girly and came up with this card. It could definitely be made more flowery for girls but it works with these colors for boys and men. At this time there is only the one color combo and design for this card, but there will be more in the future as I've gotten some more stamps, ink colors, and paper.

Birthday Gifts for Rebecca's Kids - Feb 2007

I made all of the following items quickly for Rebecca's kids. They have birthdays near Christmas so they don't celebrate until the end of February. I was able to get these made just in time to send out and get them to her before the birthday party. I made 8 bags and 8 bags and then individual birthday cards of the kids. I believe I missed on birthday card but was able to just send a pre-made one that I got with my house-mouse order. Next year I'll be prepared and will come up with a hand-made design for all of the individual birthday cards. I'm only going to post 2 of the big bags because posting all 8 when they're basically the same would just be a waste of room in the blog and would take alot of time and since I have so many more things to post I don't want to take the time to do that.

Delight In Life Series - Feb 2007

This is one of my very favorites. I love the Delight in Life Stamp Set and earned it during Sell-A-Bration by making a $50 purchase. It is so flexible... you can use the flowers to make springy flowers or even put them together in red to make poinsettia. I really hope this set doesn't get retired or at least shows up in the main catalog in July so that I can use it for some swaps in the future. I really like the set. I guess it doesn't matter if they bring it back or not because I'll still keep and use it anyway... I just won't get to demonstrate it to anyone else. :( Such is life I guess. Have I said how much I love this stamp set. I'm selling the above pictured delight in life birthday card gift bag set on my friend Rebecca's website for charity. If you're interested please check out her website at http://www.enchantedmoods.com/ There is also a link to the left. So far I have made 2 versions of the bag and 3 versions of the cards using this set. I love it very much and will add to this series as time goes on for sure.

Flowers, Buckles, & Presents - Oh My! - Jan 07

This card was also suppose to be part of the Stripes & Flowers series but was also just different enough that I decided to create its own series. There will be more cards to join this series in the future. ENJOY!!!

Flowers & Stripe Series - Jan 2007

This card is the only card made so far for this series but I plan on making some more to go with it very soon. It originally was going to be part of the Stripes & Flowers Series but was just different enough that I thought I better put it in its own series. Enjoy!

Stripes & Flowers Series - Jan 2007

I was playing around with different card designs one night and came up with the following designs. I thought they were sort of pretty and definitely made with some different color combos then I would normally choose on my own. I guess having to coordinate the colors with the print paper played a part in that, but they still turned out really nice. Some of the cards are for birthdays and others just say Thanks.

Sell-A-Bration Open House - Jan 2007

Every so often my upline has an Open House in which she shows off the newest Stampin' Up stuff and has a make an take for everyone to make and enjoy. At this year's event she showcased the Polka Dots & Paisley set from the Spring Mini and explained that if you signed up as a demonstrator during Sell-A-Bration that you would get this set for free in your demo kit. I was so excited. I wasn't sure about this set originally but after getting it for free and then playing around with it some I've grown to really like it. It is not my favorite but it is definitely up there on the list of favorites. What has definitely helped me get more use out of my different stamp sets is to look at different stamping/card/scrapbooking magazines for ideas and then just playing around trying to create stuff that resembles the ideas on the books and magazines but with the stuff I already have in my stamping stash. I also spend alot of time checking out other people's galleries on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ It's a great site for ideas. Membership is free too which is a plus. I have a link to my gallery under my profile if you'd like to see more of projects. In that gallery it also has a list of supplies I used to create the design so that is also helpful. If you want a better list or exact measurements feel free to email me and I can come up with those for you that way. Anyway... this was one of the first cards that got me thinking more towards spring and less towards making cards for next Christmas already. I'm still thinking about that don't get me wrong but I have put those plans on hold until I can get some spring, Easter, and brighter colored cards made first. Enjoy!!!

Valentine's Day Baggies - Feb 2007

Since my hubby liked the Christmas treat baggies so very much he decided I should make some for valentine's day too. I said okay and asked if 50 or so would be enough... yeah.... I wish that was all he needed... I ended up making just over 500 of these cute little mice baggies filled with 2 shades of pink, red, and white M&M's. Thank god they were on sale or else it would have cost me a small fortune. I think it still did but it has been well worth it the cost and headaches, which I'm not going to get into. Regardless, now he wants me to make him some for Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, etc. I must have been crazy when I agreed to do these but now he thinks because he's given candies to 1 of the 2 weeks on his Schwan's route that he should give them to the other week now for Easter. I'm not so sure but I can tell you one thing I'll start working on them and if he complains even one little bit about coloring the darn mice in that's it, I'm not finishing them and I'm sure as heck not going to agree to make any more in the future. He's already picked out 2 different Easter House-Mouse Designs to use on them, and I've agreed that while at my parents this weekend I'll work on getting some of them stamped and more cut out so he can start coloring now for instead of the last minute like last time. I think if this goes well and he thinks he's wanting to do this for Halloween or any other holiday that I'll get a container and start putting the cut and stamped pieces in there in advance for now one. It sounds like a wonderful idea. I know it will be worth it because when we did it for valentine's day his Schwan's sales went up and when you're paid solely on commission as he and every other Schwan's man is any increase in sales is a good thing. Keep this in mind the next time a Schwan's man comes to your door and tries to sell you some of their delicious food. Also... just because you're on some sort of diet doesn't mean you can't eat their food. It is really easy to figure up the point values on the sides of the boxes, if you're doing flex plan through weight watchers. It's probably a little trickier if you're on core plan or some other diet but even then there is something in the book you can order. Just keep this in mind next time, I know I appreciate it because without buying customers it becomes really hard to pay our bills. They always get paid because I too hold a full-time job but it's still very difficult.

January Technique Class - 2007

It's now 2007 and I have had 2 technique classes and an open house and still don't have my past cards all posted. I'm going to do my best at getting most of them posted today. Hopefully, I can get caught up and stay caught up. LOL.

Here are the cards and other items I made at the January Technique Class I attend... Enjoy!!!

The first is a scrapbook page. I have since added 1 photo where the white is at using the corner piece that is sort of just hanging there lopsided. I haven't figured out what photo or journaling words to write or attach to the blue square yet. This tells you how indesive I am especially when it comes to scrapbooking.

The second card is from the Remembering Me Card Kit... The kit comes with everything you need to make several copies of several different designs. We did alittle twist on it because we used embossing powder for the words and we used slightly different colors then what came with the kit but it was understandable because the demostrator teaching the class didn't want to use everything in her kit to teach the class. If she had she wouldn't have had anything left to show us what all came with the kit and how handy and helpful it was to buy such a kit, especially for those who were just starting out.

The third card is a "Shaker" card. It has beads and glitter in the window by the bug. It is very cute and I am hoping to take the idea and make some different ones for weddings and babies and such.

Christmas Candy Baggie - Dec 2006

I can't believe I forgot one of my favorite projects. I guess that's what I get for putting it in a different folder. I love making these little baggies of candy. At first I was really closed minded about them and thought you can only put candy in them by since then I have opened my mind and realized that I could put just about anything in them.... all I would need to do is get a different size baggie and that wouldn't always be the case. These are so quick & easy to make that I plan on making more to pass out at Halloween. The best part is they can be customized to fit any occasion or holiday. You just change the colors of the paper, ink, and the change the stamp set and you're all ready for the next holiday. It's great fun too. They would make great baby/wedding shower favors, school treats, party favors... the list could go on and on. If any of my friends are interested in making some for any event they have coming up let me know and I'd be more then happy to help you out. For the baggie pictured here I used Stampin' Ups Quick Cards Set and Snow Flurries Set. I used Bashful Blue, Whisper White, and Certainly Celery card stock. Of course the ink is also Certainly Celery. Got to love the SU Color names.

Floral Thanks - Feb 2007

A long time friend of mine bought me a really pretty pair of earrings while on her honeymoon in Alaska, so I made this card to say thanks. Once again I started out casing another card design but as usual I didn't have the exact items to make it look the same as the card I was going off of so it looks really very different, but it turned out pretty good. It's pretty simple. Though it isn't as elegant as the paisley design series cards, it still doesn't look cheap in my eyes. The only thing I would change would be to make it a little smaller. I made it a 1/2 sheet. Basically, I took a full piece of card stock and folded it in half to get a 1/2 sheet. I'm not sure what made me make it so big but I did and since then I have thought I should have just stuck with the 1/4 sheet size cards. Those seem to look better to me for some reason. I'll just use the bigger envelopes I bought for the mini catalogs that I send to my good friends to look through and drool on. LOL.

Spring Birthday in Winter - Jan 07

I created this card for my cousin's birthday after looking through a card design magazine. I didn't have the right size flower shaped punch and since I didn't have my cricut or any die cuts for my cuddlebug at the time I was forced to improvise. I ended up using a snowflake stamp for the SU set "Merry" and cutting out around it. They didn't look half bad. I used light pastel colors even though her birthday is at the beginning of January because I thought... she's probably use to getting the short end of the stick and getting Christmas/winter type themes on her cards since her birthday is so close to Christmas and is in January.... so why not make something that is cheery and springy. I'm not sure what she thought of the card though since she's never said anything about it. My aunt did say that my cousin got it, but nothing else was said about it. This cousin doesn't care for me a whole lot because of a grudge she's decided to hold. I don't even remember what I did or said 2 years ago that made her mad. Oh well... her deal I guess. I'm over it and am just doing my own thing. Even though I knew I probably wouldn't be given any appreciate for having sent the card I didn't want to send all my other cousins and aunts and uncles cards on their birthdays this year and not her, so I sent her one too. No big deal really in my eyes. The card was really easy to make and didn't cost much in supplies so if she just threw it away... I wasn't out much, and I had fun making it so that's what matters the most.

Save the Date - Jan 07

As a result of my instant obsession and addiction to stamping I volunteered to make my newly engaged friend save the date cards for her upcoming wedding. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. It was alot of fun though I'm not sure if I'll do that much embossing every again. I still seem to get glitter/embossing tinsel on me everytime I enter the craft area of my basement. Here is the design I created and I want to give a special Thanks to Nikki who helped me make these. I ended up making about 100 of these cards.
They were really easy to make once we got the hang of it and formed our little system. The tricky part was the snow flakes on the background. We used the SU Stampin' Around Snowflakes wheel for that part and rolled it in clear embossing ink. We had to do 2 sides at a time since we had no way to hold the paper we did all 4 at once. We also ran into a similar probably for the middle part where I used a store bought stamp saying Save This Date. The heat tool gets so warm that you can't really hold the paper yourself when it's this small. I cut all the pieces first. I ended up using a wooden cloths pin to hold the paper and then heat the embossing tinsel. This was the only way at the time I could come up with so that my fingers didn't get burnt from holding the paper so close to the heating tool. I've since been told that if you put alumnimum foil around a wood clipboard that you can just lay the items you're heat embossing flat on it and it won't scrotch the table underneath it. I wish I had know this then. LOL. The cards turned out very good I think, especially for someone who was just beginning. Any of my friends who see these and would like me to help them for any of their upcoming events let me know and we can work something out.

Paisley Design Series

All the following cards were made over the past few months after creating the Engagement card in my previous blog. I decided to come up with names of all designs I came up with and since I seem to make several similiar designs that coordinate I decided to make them into a series. The following cards are part of what I call the paisley design series. I used the Stampin' Up "Paisley" Background Stamp as the main stamp and then used different stamp sets for the middle. For the most part I used the SU set "In My Thoughts" but there is at least 1 that used a different stamp set. I hope you like this series because I really do and there will probably be more cards created for it as time goes on, even if SU retires these stamp sets.

These cards are really easy to make because you can have them made up without the message in the middle before you need them and then just add the appriopriate message on at the last minute. As you can see I have one picture showing a blank middle. I took the picture of it before I customized it for a friend. I then forgot to take another picture of it once it was customized, but that's okay. This is probably one of my favorite designs. Now that I have more colors of paper and ink I will making some more of them in different color combos. I hope everyone enjoys them. They're simple yet elegant in my eyes.

Long Week

It's been a long week without going into too many details... I was very close to landing myself in the hospital because of my blood pressure being so high. Why you ask was it so high... well all I am going to say is WORK!!! Thank God for WEEKENDS and SICK DAYS!!! I'm feeling much better now and that's a good thing because I wouldn't have made it through another week if my blood pressure didn't get back under control. Anyway... I just wanted to say why I hadn't posted much lately and that is why. I'm going to try to post some more pics of my creations today to make up for the recent slack in posts. Hope you enjoy.

New Link Website

I recently noticed in some of my emails where people were posting shorter URL's for websites that had really long address. For example... my gallery is located at ... http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=111706 That is a really long URL and hard to type and link to. It becomes especially difficult when an email cuts it in half and only one part is hyperlinked. Anyway, I noticed the other day that a girl was linking to her gallery at splitcoaststampers with a much shorter link, so I decided to ask about it. She gave me the following link to use.... http://tinyurl.com/ All you have to do is go to this website and put in your long link and it will create a shorter link for you. Now my shorter link is... http://tinyurl.com/33zq6x . Much better don't you think??? Anyway, I'm excited about this new discovery and hope that others will benefit from me sharing here.

Engagement Card Needed - Dec 2006

Shortly after starting my stamping adventure a friend of mine told me she was engaged. I was so excited for her and decided that I wanted to use my new found skills of stamping to design a congratulations on your engagement card. This is what I came up with with the help of my upline Conny. Since making this card I have ran with the pattern design and made several more in a whole array of colors. The background is always the same just different colors but the ribbon, hardware, and message in the middle have varied a great deal. Most of the cards I have made since this one with this pattern have been with a birthday message. To see the others with this similar design ... check out my gallery at... http://tinyurl.com/33zq6x

Blog Layouts

So I've noticed after posting two blogs with multiple pictures in them that this blogs layout is sort of tricky. I have to fiddle and adjust and fiddle some more to get the pics to situated just right and even then it's not quite right. If anyone has any tricks please share. At least for the next few entries there shouldn't be too many pics post in one blog. Hopefully this will help in the layout issues.

My First Technique Class - Nov 2006

Shortly after attending the stamp camp... like 3 days... I signed up for a techniques class in Springfield. I thought if I was going to take the hobby of rubber stamping seriously and continue to make cards that didn't look like cheap art projects that a
2nd grader might have done then I as going to have to learn some of the fancy techniques and get into some groups with other stampers. It was clear to me after attending this class that I was hooked and there would be no easy escape from the stamping world. These are the items that I created at my first techniques' class. I had a blast and of course I ordered more supplies so I could duplicate some of the projects. Though I haven't created any duplicate items I have used the pattern layout of the snowman bag and the candy baggie to make items that are similiar yet very different. Those pictures will be showcased in another blog entry.

My First Stamp Camp Experience - Nov 2006

I am finally getting a chance to post some of my past designs and current designs for everyone to see. This will be broken down into several entries based on when I created the design.

These first pictures are of the first cards I made at the November Stamp Camp. Unfortunately the stamp sets used were only available until the end of November or December and I didn't get a chance to order them. It's okay though because since then I have ordered several different stamp sets that are just as great as the ones used for these projects.

This second set of pictures are from the second set of cards I made at the stamp camp. I liked the hostess's sample card a lot but wasn't as happy with the way mine turned out. They're pretty good still though. I definitely liked the first set better though. I also didn't get a chance to buy the stamp sets used for this card. I did however manage to get some of the paper though.

The last card I made at Stamp Camp is my favorite. I liked it so much that I bought all the supplies necessary to make more cards just like it. I have yet to do so because of all the new cards and stamp sets but that's okay. I still like it a lot. Not bad for 1 day's work and being a rookie... if I do say so myself. If you like what you see here and are interested in finding out more on how to become a Stampin' Up Customer, Hostess, or Demonstrator check out my website at... http://fayemitchell.stampinup.net/