Mother's Day 2018

I hope all of you moms had a wonderful weekend with your little ones (or big ones!). I sure did. We went camping and had glorious weather and made some fun new memories - including an off-road Segway excursion!! Then, they gifted me with a robot vacuum cleaner... what could be better than that?!

Here are the cards I sent to the moms in my life... I used a new set that will be available in just a few short weeks! It's called Varied Vases. Such fun! The sentiment on the front came from another upcoming set called Itty Bitty Greetings.

It's fun to play with new toys... especially when those new toys involve paper and ink!

Enjoy your week!
Michele

Pink Heart Valentine

Here's a more traditional Valentine, done in pinks with a touch of black to make it pop. The heart is from the Whole Lot of Love promotion - the Flowerful Heart stamp. I blinged it up a bit with some Dazzling Diamonds, but that may not show up much in the photo.

This is another one that wold easily lend itself to a birthday or anniversary card.

Blessings,
Michele

Elegant Valentine

Here's an elegant Valentine that makes me think of my mom. :o) The colors are Cherry Cobbler Coredinations (and sanded a bit for the antique look), Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, and a touch of Crumb Cake.

Blessings,

Michele

Polkadot Valentine

Not exactly typical Valentine colors, but a fun card none-the-less! This paper is from the Sale-a-Bration brochure, and so is the texture folder! Gotta love free stuff!

The sentiment is from Yippee Skippee!

Blessings,
Michele

Pink & Gray Valentine

Here's another one that I really like - the softness of the pink and gray is perfect for a Valentine!

The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes, but is easily interchangeable for an anniversary or birthday.

Blessings,
Michele

Valentine

Hopefully, you've been thinking about Valentines?! I have - here is one of several that I will show you over the next few days.

This one uses Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, and some Red Glitter paper. This is one of my favorite color combinations because it is always so striking! The stamp is from Perfect Pennants in the new Occasions catalog. Perfect for a Valentine!

Blessings,
Michele

Too Cute!!

I'm in love with these ADORABLE little Valentine treats!

 And look at their back-sides...!!

 They come in kits that make 18 Valentine treats each - one set for boys (#132162), the other for girls (#132163):

Best part is that they're only $5.95 each! What a bargain! Grab a set of each, a bag of candies, and you're all set for your kids' classroom Valentine parties! Shop Now!

Blessings,
Michele

November Paper Pumpkin!

Wow! What a kit we got this month! I absolutely loved the sample as-is, but I did come up with several alternate ideas for my Paper Pumpkin subscribers (let me know if you'd like to join)! Here are just a few...

This next idea is actually an altered Altoid tin... I used to make these all the time. It was fun to pull one out again!

Next is my favorite style of gift card holder. It's held closed with a belly band, but when you slide that off...

 ...a gift card is revealed inside!

Stay tuned to my blog, as I have made several of these. I'll be showing the rest of them over the coming days.

I have family arriving this weekend for the holiday, so if I don't get back to you before Thanksgiving, I hope you have a WONDERFUL time eating turkey with those you love. :)

Michele

Thanksgiving!

Here's a fun autumn card that could be used for Thanksgiving - or change the sentiment and use it for your fall birthdays. Best part - it's fun to make! I used sponge daubers to color the leaves from Gently Falling... makes them look watercolored!

Colors are Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, and Very Vanilla.

Michele

Pretty Pumpkins!

I made a bunch of these adorable pumpkins and placed them at the table for my MOPS ladies yesterday (I'm a Mentor Mom this year - how did that happen?!). They turned out so cute!

I did use some retired Designer Series Paper - you can just use whatever orange and gold colors you have! The Antique Brads on the top are also retired. (EDITED: Antique Brads are NOT retired!! Don't know why I thought they were! #117273, $5.95) But I felt this was a perfect way to use them up! (I just used regular brads on the bottoms).

My strips are 3/4" wide by 6", so you get a LOT out of one sheet of 12x12 paper. I used 12 strips for each pumpkin.

Since these brads were a bit top heavy, I decided to tuck a little surprise inside to help hold the pumpkin upright. Who doesn't love chocolate?! They're easy to get to - just spread the strips apart a little bit and you can easily get the treats in or out.

I've seen a lot of these made with fancy leaves, but I used what I had... mine came from the Label Bracket Punch (#132153) found on page 37 of the Holiday catalog. I sponged the edges with some Soft Suede, snipped it in the four corners, and then used a bone folder to curl up the corners. Easy-peasy!

I think I may make some more to put on my Thanksgiving table this year. I am blessed to be having my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend all coming from Texas to celebrate with us!

Michele

Halloween Treat Bag

I think this is my last Halloween post... which is a good thing seeing as how it is Halloween TODAY! This was a simple treat bag tag we made at an earlier workshop. It uses the Chalk Talk framelit, some Washi tape, and the Chalk Marker.

I put my youngest son's name on it... and I'm telling you he bugged me ALL MONTH about how it was obviously HIS candy and why wouldn't I let him eat it! Alas, I finally allowed him to bust into it just a couple days ago. ...but I saved the tag, of course!

Happy Halloween everyone!
Michele

Spooky Banner

Need a Halloween decoration? This one is fun and easy to make!

In order to create this banner, you simply need:

• Build a Banner Simply Created Kit (#133507, $19.95)
• Halloween Banner Simply Created Accessory Kit (#132698, $9.95)
• Hot glue gun
• Ink pads (recommended colors: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, & Summer Starfruit)
• Sponge Daubers

I created this banner using the instructions found below. Here are some closer looks:

Click on the thumbnail below for the full instructions! (you're welcome)

Happy Spooky Halloween!

Michele

Trick Or Treat!

Here's a fun Halloween card we made at a recent workshop! I am going to be sending these to a few nieces & nephews this year...

All of these images come from the Best of Halloween stamp set - I love that spooky tree! I liked the card so much in Eggplant that I decided to do one in Old Olive!

And, to get the full use of my Best Of set, I put the haunted house on the inside!

...and on the envelopes, too!

I hope you're gearing up for a fun Trick or Treat night yourself!
Michele

Witches Brooms!

Here's another cute and fun Halloween treat idea - witches brooms! They are super simple to make... I'll tell you how below!

The each contain a strip of black licorice - not everyone's favorite candy, I know, but then who in their right mind would want to disassemble these cuties to eat it anyway?!

Here's how to make them:

1) Cut a 12" x 2-1/2" strip of Designer Series Paper (an excellent use for all of your retired paper that I KNOW you still have lying around!).

2) Score the 12" side at 1-1/2" and then run a strip of Sticky Strip along this score line. (The score line simply serves as a guide for your Sticky Strip.)

3) Make small snips from the edge up to the Sticky Strip (do this on the larger half of the strip, so your snips are about 1-1/2" long). Do this along the full 12"... takes a wee bit of time, but it's perfect for when you're catching up on your favorite TV shows. ;)

4) Place a piece of black licorice inside of a 1"x8" cellophane bag and seal shut (Note: I've even seen chocolate licorice now - so you could get a brown handle for your broom if you wanted to).

5) Pull the adhesive backing off of the Sticky Strip. Lay the sealed end of the licorice onto one end of the fringed paper all the way to the bottom of the broom so it will be sturdy enough to stand up. Roll TIGHTLY all the way across.

6) Make a tag and decorate as desired!

I hope that made sense... leave a comment with your e-mail address if you have any questions! Have fun!
Michele

Spooky Bats!

My goodness, I have been B-U-S-Y! There's just something about a house full of boys that keeps me on my toes! Although I haven't been posting, I HAVE been sprinkling my days with a bit of Stampin' Up! I will try to get caught up on my posting...

First, here are some cute bats we made at my last Stampin' Escape:

You may recognize these from page 5 of the Holiday catalog! They are super easy and fun to make. Here are the steps:

1) Adhere some black cardstock to a Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet (#120805) and then punch it out with a 2-1/2" circle.

2) Cut that circle in half and use a 1-3/8" circle punch to make the bottom of the wings.

3) As shown below, peel back just a portion of the adhesive backing on each wing and overlap them. Place a small piece of Sticky Strip over it to secure. This Sticky Strip helps hold the wings together and will also hold the chocolate in place.

4) Using Whisper White Craft ink, stamp the sentiment onto the center of a 3" x 1-1/4" piece of black cardstock. This sentiment came from "Halloween Hello" - page 21 in the Holiday catalog.

5) When the ink is dry, wrap it around a Hershey Nugget and secure with strong adhesive (Tombo glue works well).

6) Remove the adhesive backing on the Sticky Strip and place the wrapped chocolate on top as shown below.

7) The best part: Remove the rest of the adhesive backing on the wings and sprinkle with black glitter!

Nothing to it! Have fun!
Michele

Christmas Card Buffet

It's time to think about Christmas cards... and after you're done thinking about them, it's time to start MAKING them! I'm hosting my first Christmas Card Buffet class this month - on the 23rd and 24th. We'll be making lots and lots of these cards:

I purposefully kept them fairly simple since we'll make them in bulk, and I also kept them on the flatter side to aid in mailing.

If you're local, drop me a line and I'll give you all the nitty-gritty details!
Michele

Valentine Treat Cups!

I SOOOOOO need to be in bed right now, but I made a couple Valentines for a niece and nephew tonight, and they are just too cute NOT to share RIGHT NOW! Both of them use the new Heart Shaped Treat Cups (you can find out more information on them here), as well as the Tall Tales DSP.

Okay, this first one is for my niece...

Isn't it just adorable?! Here is the inside...

I'll tell you more about that "trap door" in a minute. Next is the one I made for her brother:

Here's the inside of that one:

Now, in order to get the candy out, I have found that the simplest way is to make a little "trap door"... this idea came from my friend, Tiffany Bauer - a very talented stamper. Thanks, Tiff!

It's not hard to do... but it's way too late for me to go into detail. Tiffany has a video that you can watch, and I just slightly modified her idea. If you have specific questions, leave a comment with a way to contact you and I'll get back to you when it's NOT 12:23am. :)

I've got some more Valentine goodies to show you... hopefully I can do that BEFORE Sunday, but my mom is coming to town in a few days, so I'm on full house-cleaning alert at the moment. Can't wait to spend the week with her! I sure do miss her...

Okay... I'm off to bed. Sweet dreams!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!

I want to wish every one of my readers a very Merry Christmas! I wish I had the time to send a card to each and every one of you... but because we're once again making homemade Christmas gifts (see this post for last year's), I'm afraid it would take me til next June to get all the cards out that I wanted! In any case, here is the card I made for our family and closest friends... I think I made around 85 or so:

The snow is our gorgeous Shimmery White cardstock. Can't see the sparkle in the photos, but it's there! As I mentioned before, this stamp is so perfect for our family... take a look:

Michael prefers the more "traditional" colors, so I also made some in Old Olive:

We are enjoying a truly white Christmas... something we rarely, if ever, experienced in Texas. In addition, we all went ice skating on the lake! That was a definite first for us! I hope that you spend the next few days joyfully celebrating our Savior's birth surrounded by those you love.

Card Recipe:
Stamp Sets: The More the Merrier (Level III Hostess), Many Merry Messages, Serene Snowflakes
Ink: Real Red, Bordering Blue, Old Olive, Versamark
Cardstock: Bordering Blue, Old Olive, Shimmery White
Accessories: White Organza Ribbon

Really Red Christmas!

I apologize, this one was especially hard to photograph. But the basic idea is a "really red" card!

I added some clear rhinestone brads for bling, along with some silky smooth satin ribbon.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! We traveled back to Texas for the week and it was wonderful to visit with our old friends and neighbors... and my family, too! It was the DRIVE that we could've lived without... 15-16 hours straight through with 3 kiddos. Do you feel my pain?!

Card Recipe:
Stamp Set: Snow Swirled, Serene Snowflakes
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Versamark
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: White Satin Ribbon, Clear Rhinestone brads