Saturday, December 31, 2011

Love Shaker

Ok, so not my best title, but you'll see what I mean in a second.

In the Holiday Mini we have a product called Shaker Frames and they make shaker cards soooooo easy!  Check it out...


I made this super cute Valentine's shaker card which was inspired by my friend Allison!  You can see her card here.  I pretty much followed her instructions to make my shaker heart shaped using the circle shaker frames.

My shaker is filled with Mica Flakes (get 'em while you can people...there has been no word of them carrying over, so I'm assuming they will retire on Jan 3), Champagne Glass Glitter and punched hearts (from the Owl Punch).

I used the exact same products to make a fun 6x6 scrapbook page.


The only thing I added was a piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock for a photo mat.  I also punched along the top of the Crumb Cake piece with the Scallop Edge punch.  This page could easily stand alone in a 6x6 album or brag book, or it could be added to an 8 1/2 x 11 or 12x12 page.

Have an inspired day!


Friday, December 30, 2011

Woolly Socks

Have you got the Stocking Builder Punch yet?  Time is running out if you haven't!  The Holiday Mini ends on Jan 3 and the Stocking Builder Punch will not be carried over to next year's Idea Book & Catalog.

Here's a fun idea for you that uses the Stocking Builder Punch and Stitched Stockings stamp set in a non-Christmas way.


Doesn't it look like a pair of woolly socks?!?!?  I love that this punch and stamp set can be used in a masculine way!  I've just uploaded a few more ideas for this fantastically versatile punch and stamp set...check out my LA Stamper page on Facebook to see those ideas.

My last order from the Holiday Mini will go in on Jan 2...if there's anything you must have let me know before then!

Have an inspired day!


Saturday, December 17, 2011

A Christmas Scrapbook

Hi!  I have a super fun project to share with your today and I have to thank my good friend Kristine for her inspiration!  I've made a Scrapbook in an Evening class where you come and complete a 20 page 6x6 album ready for all your Christmas pictures!  That's right...20 complete 6x6 pages in one evening!


Isn't it cute?  All class participants will receive an entire Simply Scrappin' Kit as well as the coordinating album to complete their project.  This class will be on December 29 at 7:30pm at my house and the fee is $45 (for an additional $10 you can add on an extra package of page protectors to put even more pages in your album!).  Fee is due at time of registration.  Space is limited, so contact me ASAP to reserve your spot!

Have an inspired day!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Clearance Rack Blitz!

You're not gonna want to miss out on some AMAZING prices on retired products!


From December 15, 2011, through January 5, 2012, nearly 200 products are being added to the Clearance Rack in the Online Store--with some discounted up to 80 percent!

Visit my online store to take advantage of these RED HOT deals while supplies last!



Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A Christmas Purse

Last month I did a super fun Christmas purse with my clubs (one of my clubs made them and the other got them in a swap!).  I got the idea from my friend Becky and you can find super instructions on her blog here.

Here is my take on it...


It's done with the super versatile Top Note die (is there anything you can't make with this die?!?!?!).   I embellished my purse by stamping "merry" across the front (from the Pennant Parade stamp set), and making a fun flower (5 Petal Flower punch).  In the middle of my flower I used a small flower punched with the Itty Bitty Punch Pack and finished it off with a Real Red Glimmer Brad.

I was excited to find these for candy for this project.


I love eating these at Easter and was excited to find them at Christmas...in Christmas colors to boot (Garden Green, Real Red and Whisper White...because I know Hershey's made them those colors just for SU Demonstrators!!!).  But, I think they should rename them for Christmas because eggs have nothing to do with Christmas.  Perhaps "Holly & Mistletoe" or "Christmas Berries" would be more appropriate Hershey's...just sayin'!!!!

Have an inspired day!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Frosty Kids

I have a super simple project for you today.  This was going to be one of my Great Little Gifts class projects and it was inspired by a project one of my downline did at our Summer Mini swap waaaay back in April (thanks Angela)!!!!


We do NOT have that much snow...yet!  I took this picture of my boys playing in our backyard almost a year ago...in fact, I think it was during Christmas Holidays last year!

I started with a 4x6 frame from my local dollar store.  I wiped the glass off with a swiffer cloth, stamped some snowflakes on it with VersaMark and then embossed with white embossing powder.  That's it, that's all!!!  So fun and super simple!  Beware...the glass gets really hot when embossing!

Today is Tuesday and you know what that means, right?  It's Digital Tuesday and Stampin' Up! released a new set of Digital Downloads which you can find here.   Did you notice the new look today?  A little Christmasy for a couple weeks courtesy of My Digital Studio (Holly Jolly DSP, Stocking punch, Houndstooth background stamp, Tasteful Trim border and the fonts are CK Journaling and CK Ali's Hand...I think!). I'm off to finish up my digital planner book...which I will be sure to share with you when it's finished!

Have an inspired day!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

MDS to the Rescue!

Two out of our three boys have DS's (and the third is getting one for Christmas...shhh, don't tell!!).  We have about 12 games and have a HUGE problem with them getting lost.  Those are expensive little pieces of plastic to lose!  Well, this past weekend, Kevin and I had enough (when 3 of the games were missing) and came up with a plan in the hopes that no more games go missing!

We decided to have a DS Game Library!  All the games are now stored up on an unreachable shelf (unreachable to the boys...for now!!!) and they must sign them out.  The easiest way to keep track is to have each of the boys have their own DS Game Library Card (even Sawyer, even though he doesn't have a DS yet...he uses his card to get his Leapster games)...and the fastest way to make them cards was with My Digital Studio!


They have to ask for a game when they want one and when they have the game, we slide their card into the cover of the game.  This way we know which kid has the game and the rule is they have to bring the game back to us before they can get another one.  And, if they lose the game, they replace the game...nothing like a little financial motivation (it takes a lot of weeks of allowance to replace a DS Game)!!!!!!

It was quick and easy to make their cards.  I found some vinyl business card sleeves in my stash, that I had ordered many years ago.  I measured what size I would need the final product to be to fit into the sleeve.  In MDS, I used the square punch to make a "canvas", matted it and filled it with the scrunched paper from the Downtown Grunge download.  I added a cool skateboarder guy (each one has a different color), some stars (from Extreme Elements), their name (a CK font called Rugged) and called it their DS Game Library Card.

Kevin and I are thinking we're pretty brilliant and so far, two of the three have embraced this little change.  Carter, however, thinks we're the worst parents ever for doing this!!!!  Sigh...in the eyes of a 7 year old life is so unfair right now!!!!!

Have an inspired day!


Monday, December 5, 2011

Balance

Bear with me...this is a long post!

A week ago Sunday was the scariest day of my life!  I was set to go to Calgary to take my boys to see Stomp and we were all so excited.  What started out as a fun day quickly turned into a horrible day.  There was a wind warning that day, but that's nothing new around here, so we packed up and headed out to get to the show.  The winds were super strong on the highway, but we were ok...until we got about half way there.  We needed gas and I had planned to stop in Claresholm to get some (like usual), however the closer we got to Claresholm, the stronger the winds got.  And, when we arrived in Claresholm there was no power, roofs were coming off buildings and I couldn't even see the highway outside Claresholm in the direction I needed to travel.  There was so much stuff blowing around that visibility was very low.  It reminded me of the hurricane coverage that I see on the news...only without the rain.  No gas stations had power and the pumps were blowing apart so we couldn't get gas.  Hmmm...not enough gas to get to Calgary (not to mention we couldn't see the highway), and probably not enough to get home and the van was shaking hard from the wind.  So, we turned around and headed back the way we came to find gas and go home.

On the way back home, my van was silent (this never happens!).  It was obvious that my boys knew that it was dangerous and that even I was scared.  Between Claresholm and Fort MacLeod, I saw a camping trailer completely blow off its wheels, bounce on the highway and land in the median in pieces.  The whole back end was gone and stuff (blankets, clothes, etc) was blowing around everywhere.  There was a bus sitting on the side of the highway swaying like it was going to tip over and I saw 2 semis blow over into the ditch.  Scary stuff.  There was huge branches on the highway and tumble weeds that really should be called small shrubs blowing around into the sides of my van.  We made it to Fort MacLeod and I just needed to get enough gas to get home.  Easier said than done!  The first gas station we passed was completely closed and blocked off...again, pieces of the roof were blowing off, pieces of the gas pumps were blowing off and it was just too dangerous.  Right on the outside of town I found a station still open.  I pumped gas barely being able to stand up (I won't even get into how hard it was to even open the van door to get out!), with part of the gas pump flapping in the wind and the ice machine smashing into the door of the store so there was also glass blowing all over.  I got enough gas and we made it home...the wind blew us home!

At home, we took everything we could lift into the house from the deck and brought the decorations in from the front as well as the basket ball hoop and our garbage can.  Taylor was very helpful and realized the situation was serious.  Luckily none of our singles or siding blew off.

A couple hours later my day went from bad to worse when I looked out my back door and saw this...


Yep, that's thick, billowing smoke.  At first I thought a house in the neighborhood was on fire, but then I learned that it was a huge grass fire west of the city...in 120+km/hour winds and I live downwind from it (on the west edge of the city).  I have a child with asthma, my husband is 2000km away from me, my family lives half way across the province from me and I see this out my back window.  Ok, stay calm...everything will be ok.  Little did I know!

The fire continued out of control until about 8:30 that night.  It was smoky and scary.  Kevin was in Ottawa and I had to pack up our important stuff because we were on alert to evacuate.  I was doing good...staying calm, getting things organized, etc until I called my mom to let her know that we were safe and that I would keep in touch and let them know if/when we were evacuated.  I didn't want them to see it on the news and panic.  So, yeah, I was doing fine until I called her!  Then I had a small breakdown...sometimes you just want your mom!!!  I should say that Kevin and I were texting ALL day so he knew exactly what was going on and he was also texting with the guys he works with and then updating me so I knew what was going on with the fire too.

We didn't end up having to evacuate, but we went to bed with all our stuff still packed and in the van just in case and it was a looooong night.  I lost count of how many times I was up with a scared kid and none of them wanted to go to school the next day because they were terrified that they would get off the bus to no house after school.  Once the fire was out and the roads were opened up again, I took a drive with the boys to show them that it was actually out...that helped.  But, when the winds picked up again a couple days later, they were all scared that we were going to have the same situation.

As I packed up and then unpacked our stuff I thought a LOT about what's important and about life in general.  I've continued to think a LOT about this since, and I've come to a realization.  For a long time I've felt like I was drowning in life.  You know, the feeling that you're one step behind rather than one step ahead.  This has been especially true since the end of August when my world was rocked by the death of my good friend.  I have come to the realization that for the last 6 months or so my life has become unbalanced more and more which is why I feel this way.  I still feel crushed over the loss of my friend (although I do feel better about it each day).  I have a lump in my wrist that I have no idea what it is yet, but it hurts...a lot (I have an appointment to find out more about it this week)!  I've been fighting a cold/flu for about 3 months now...I get sick enough that it's annoying for a day or two and then I'm fine...well, fine enough to continue my daily running around, but not healthy.  I'm tired...really, really tired.  And, I've realized that I'm losing my spark for stamping!  I've gone away from my "why" and it has become more of a chore than fun.  Don't get me wrong...I still love it and I have no intentions of quitting as a demonstrator, but I feel the need to take a small step back.  I need to stamp for the sheer enjoyment of it and not for a class, club, blog post or someone else.  Know what I mean?  So, I  have decided to do something I've never intentionally done in my stamping career...I'm going to take a bit of a break this month.  I've cancelled most of my classes this month...over the next few weeks I will share the projects I had prepared for them here on my blog.  I'm going to stamp just for the fun of it...for me and not on any schedule and not because I have to!  I will share what I make...no worries!  I'm going to enjoy watching my boys play soccer; I'm going to watch movies with them in our jammies with big bowls of popcorn; I'm going to bake cookies with them; I'm going to go on dates with Kevin (he's been gone for work most of the last couple months); I'm going to get lots of rest and I'm going to find my balance between family, work and health again. 

This is what's important...


The health and happiness of my family and I is what matters most.  I hope you'll bear with me this month as I find my balance again.  And, come January, I will be ready to "sale-a-brate" Stampin' Up! with you!

Have an inspired day!