Baby Shower Favors

** Updated: In response to multiple emails I have received regarding the boxes, here is a little more info. I called them cello boxes but I am just referring to them being clear. Sorry if that confused anyone. I did make them, they are clear transparency paper that was ran thought the Big Shot with the Bitty Box Die. Fold your crease lines with your bone folder and secure with sticky strip. Thanks for the responses to this project;)
Ava's preschool teacher is expecting a baby girl any day now. We are so excited for Miss Cindy. Its her second girl and I may be a little bias, but I think two little girls is great! So, I was thrilled when the school Principal asked me if I would help with the shower. Yes, I'd loved to help!! Here is what they needed: Baby shower favors, something for a baby girl, and can it be teacher themed? Listen, this is Stampin Up we are talking about. Is there anything we cant do?? I think not.

So here is what we have. I think this works for the teacher theme. I made the center of the tags using MDS, then punched them out and added them to the cello boxes I made.

Not only did MDS have the perfect stamp set for this theme, but it is still current (in MDS, nothing retires) but printing these was a huge time saver as well. I was able to whip these guys out in no time at all. The most time consuming part was making the boxes but I had fun doing it.

March Class Schedule

Time to mark your calendars for our upcoming March Stampin' Events! Location of classes will be determined closer to class time. Please RSVP so I can be sure to have your supplies ready for you.

Thursday, March 3rd- Sammie's 3rd birthday (sorry, no class. Spending the day with my little "Big" girl.)

Thursday, March 10th- DVD Note Book Case. $5 class fee/ $15 minimum order

Thursday, March 24- Simply Scrappin' Paper Bag Album. Cost of class is one Simply Scrapping kit. We will be making one mini album in class and the rest of the supplies are your to take home with you. No minimum order. Must RSVP with one Simply Scrappin Kit of your choice by March 11.

Thursday, March 31- 8 for 8 Class. Come and make 8 cards for only $8. No minimum order.

BEARthday Party for Sammie

Sammie's birthday party is next weekend and we have chosen a Build-A-Bear party. Well, actually I chose a Build-A-Bear party and then asked Sam, "Can we have a Build-A-Bear party Sammie, please, please, pleassssse???" And she said yes! I must say, in defense of my children, it must be really odd having me as a mom;) Sorry girls, I'll try to tone it down.

But whoo-hoo we are havin' a Build-A-Bear party! {{happy dance, happy dance}} I mean, come on that BAB stuff is so cute, right? Here are the invites we sent out. It will be a little party so I only needed a couple of invitations. But I made half of them boy versions and the other half girlie.

The best part? I made the inserts using My Digital Studio. So, no need to look up those RGB codes to get the ink to make my card perfectly. Just simply click on the color. Done.

Now, my mission this week? Make a few more Build-A-Bear goodies to share with you and our little party goers. Have a great weekend!

Stylish Blogger Award

Wow! This Stylish blogger award has been flying around like crazy lately and I am super flattered that I was given it. Twice. So first, thank you to Lorraine at http://www.lorrainesstampincorner.blogspot.com/ for the first one. And a big thank you to Gwen at http://www.stampinwithgwen.blogspot.com/ for the second award. I truly appreciate it.

Part of the award is to do the following:
1) thank the person who gave this award to me and link it back to their blog
2) share 8 things about myself
3) pass this award to 8 other people that I have recently discovered
4) leave a comment on their blog so they can pass along the recognition.



Now this is the hard part. Things about me:

1. I love going to the movies. That's not that shocking, but my favorite movies are kids movies. I loved Tangled and Gnomeo and Juliet. So cute!

2. I could eat Sushi every night. Its my favorite. So every time the hubs and I go out for date night he doesn't even need to ask where I want to go. Its sushi every time! Yumm-o.

3. I CASe (copy and share) a lot! I am inspired by everyone. And sometimes its a collective inspiration but I always try to give credit where credit is due.

4. I am addicted to creating. I would say the 75% of my days are devoted to Stampin. Yes, everyday. I am on the computer or in my scrapbooking room. I just cant stop;)

5. I am a terrible scrapbooker. Just flat out, not good at it. But I am much better at faking it and pulling inspiration with MDS. Again, I am a CASe-er.

6. I almost pasted up my first chance meeting Stampin Up. I was invited to a party, completely uninterested. And went just to, "be nice." Oh, boy! Look at me now, a lot of good "being nice" did. Now I need a 12 step program:)

7. I just promoted to Manager!! Whoo-Hoo. Can I tell you how excited I am?? Managers Reception here I come!!

8. I am temped to give video tutorials a shot. We will see if I can get up the nerve.


Okay now for the even harder part. Some new blogs that are giving me inspiration:

1. Heather Summers (love the MDS)
2. Rochelle Gould (love the simple clean style)
3.Sabriena Satchwell (another simple and clean style)
4.Nitestamper (lots of layers)
5. Michelle Zindorf (Brayering genius! and love the step by step picture tutorials)

and the last three may be cheating a bit but its true

6. Splitcoast Stampers (if you post on there, you inspire me. I find new creation and new blogs everyday!)
7. Stampin Connection (sorry, you have to be a demo for this one. But the best part is it is all SU! all the time!)
8. My Digital Studio.net ( this one is great, because like I said I am not a very good scrapbooker. But lots of inspiration here and a great place to get any MDS questions answered as well. Oh yes, and it is open to all!)

MDS Hybrid Card

At our recent MDS class this was the make and take we did. It is a Hybrid Card meaning it has elements of the card made using MDS but we added a few real elements to make the project pop!

I think our MDS class was a huge success. I can tell you I have so much fun talking and sharing about MDS. I had so much fun teaching this class, in fact, that I almost forgot to do the make and take!! And though I think we covered a lot of MDS ground at the class, I am still thinking of more tips and tricks that I forgot to mention. I am sure class #2 is just around the corner.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Dolly

Well for us it is certainly "Birthday Season." Lots of birthdays come close together from now through March. But this one right here was a fun one. Grandma Dolly's Surprise birthday party. It was so cute! First, none of us where much good at the whole surprise thing. We where standing around chatting when Grandma walked right in....Oh, opps! Um SURPRISE! Its was kinda funny. But she was surprised. She kept saying, "but I didn't know we were doing this!?!" Yep, we know Grandma, that's the point;) "Oh, but look what I am wearing. I should have cleaned up." You look great Grandma. "But, I ate dinner at home. I didn't know." That's okay, you can eat more.

Finally Lorraine had to take Grandma's face in her hands and lovingly say, "Its okay Grandma, you weren't suppose to know. Now have fun!" And she did. She loved it. She got to spend time with her four grandkids (and their spouses) and her 4 great-grandkids + bun in the oven (no, not mine Auntie Raine's bun.) It was great and I love that picture of the kiddos helping Grandma blow out the candles.

Just Beachy

I know I haven't been posting very many MDS pages lately and I promise to start sharing those again. I have had a few requests, and I know, I know, they're coming. Sorry. Namely it was the Grandmas making requests. They want to see more pictures of the Grandgirls. Cracks me up! Did you think they stop by to see the latest creations I am making?? No! Wrong! Just show pictures of the babes, please. Okay, fine here they come. Whatever keeps you coming back for more is fine with me.

Here is a picture of us at the Beach a few weeks ago. Yep, in February. A day at the beach and Ava was in the water and all. Of course I send Papa in there with them so I could sit and enjoy the food. The girls had a blast. But then again Ava is a water bug and they both just love to be outside. If only the wind wasn't so bad it would have been perfect.

Technique Class #3

Good Morning all. Time to RSVP for this week's class. Join me for class #3 of the Techniques Class series. We will be adding 8 more fun stampin techniques to our books. If you have missed the first two classes you can still join in. Please be sure to RSVP. Additional class info here:

Technique Class #3

Thursday, February 24th

6:30PM

class will be held in Tracy, CA (email me for location info)

Cost of class is $3/ $15 minimum

Happy Birthday, Jess!

Last night we got to spend some time with our friends and celebrate another birthday. It was a wonderful dinner and great time with friends. Above is the gift set I brought with me to the dinner for Jess.

Here is the card. I loved the shopping bag idea. I saw this on Stampin Connection and decided to make my own version. I used all the current In Colors and that pattern DSP is from the Level 2 Hostess set and it happens to be my favorite pattern. I am down to bits of it now.

And here is the close up of the little matching tote. If you would like to know how to make this let me know. We can do a little tote class at your next party or event.

Happy Birthday Jess. Hope you have a great day today!

Happy Birthday, Jenn!

Happy Birthday to one of my friends and downline, Jenn. Hi Jenn! Here is the card I will be sending your way today. I hope you have a fabulous birthday and do something super nice today.

The front layout of this card was pretty simple. Well, I should say it is pretty clean. Not simple. getting those banners to lay right was driving me nuts. If there is an easy trick to that I don't know it;) Any-whoo, I wanted to add a little fun to the inside of the card as well. Insert: party hat.......Boy, time to spruce up the nail polish, huh? Just ignore that;)

And here is the close up shot of my little punch art party hat. I pulled a little inspiration for this from one of our recent stamp camp cards: The party hat card. Lorraine created the card we used at camp and she featured it on her blog today. Hop on over there to see it. Click here.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Jenn! I hope to see you soon.

Message from Shelli

Please enjoy this short message from Shelli Garner. Keep an eye out for some truly beautiful projects in the background as well. Pretty inspiring;)


Sorry Shelli, I am not sure why part of your beautiful face is blocked. Something on my end but I cant figure it out.

Click here to go to the SU YouTube channel to watch a full view version and other SU videos.

Stamp Camp Raffle Prize

One of my favorite things at camp is the giveaways. Each customer gets a syllabus to take home of all the projects made, an identifier and a raffle prize. The identifiers are the way we determine who wins which fabulous raffle prize. But instead of just giving them a plain color ticket we try to pretty them up. Last year we made bracelets this year it was clothes pins. Above you will see mine.

Each ladies that was wearing my identifier won my raffle prize. This is what I made. I cased these off a project I saw a while ago and now I cant find the original again. Sorry. If it was yours please take credit.

Here is the bunch of them. I made 8 total. Inside was a cello bag filled with, of course, sunflower seeds. Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great day!

MDS Class Tomorrow

Just a reminder, tomorrow is our My Digital Studio Class. It should be fun. I can tell you I am super excited about this class. You know how in love I am with MDS and I hope to spread the love on to you.

Come and learn some basic instructions for creating scrapbook pages, cards and 3D projects. If you would like to attend let me know. Space is still available. We will be meeting at 6:30PM at my home. If you have specific questions or projects you would like me to go over, please email then to me ahead of time so I can be sure to work them into the class.

Hope you can make it. See you tomorrow!

Lucky in Love

Does it get any easier than this? This is what I call simple. I mean Sim-ple. This was the Valentine that me and the girls gave to Brandon. It doesn't take much to impress him. He thought the card was cool. I think it helped that it wasn't flowery and frilly. This is more his style.
Okay, gotta run. Enjoy your Tuesday.

Love, Love, Love

Oh, love is in the air today. Here are a couple of goodies I made for the girls. I brought these mail boxes a few years ago in the $1 section at Target and was yet to do anything with them. But thanks to a little inspiration from my downline Nicole, I decided to give these a little SU! makeover. I used the last little bits of my Love Impressions DSP cut at 4" to cover the mailbox. I then used my 3/4" circle punch to cut a hole for the arm. I filled the inside with new nightgowns, toys and candy. The girls loved them. And I think they are pretty safe in these little hands. I used a ton of Sticky Strip on these babies, nothin' is falling apart here!

And here is all the loot ready for the girls to find it. Complete with goodies from both Grandmas too.

Stay tuned and I will show you the super Simple card the girls gave Brandon and an MDS page of our morning as well.

Now its time to go eat our wonderful Valentine's breakfast. Daddy is making heart shaped eggs for his girls. Sweet!

Stamp Camp Fun

Ahhhhh, yesterday was camp and I am so exhausted. Its was a great camp. Tons of ladies joined us. Here is a picture from yesterday. This was close to the end of the second session so things were quieting down here but for awhile things were super busy. Look at Jen, demo-ing away, on her feet all day, with that adorable baby bump and all! What a trooper!

The raffles were great too. We did them a little different this year and I wasn't able to get a picture of all of them but trust me they were amazing. This top one was made by Kim. Isn't that a pretty color combo? And can I just tell you, my demo friends TOTALLY sold me on the Petal Cone Die (as if I wasn't sold already!) But you should have seen the projects made with it. Andrea made the most awesome box ( I didn't get a picture, but give me some time. I am buying the die, making the box, and showing you. Promise!)

And you should have heard the "Oooohs, and Ahhhs" over Lorraine raffle prize. Adorable, right! She cased this from and idea she found on Stampin Connection and the ladies ate it up (no pun intended.) So stinkin' cute!

Here is a few snap shots of our display boards. This is usually my favorite part. But I feel like I really didn't get time to look at everything yesterday. For the most part, from the time we got to the hall we were all running like mad. Busy, Busy, Busy. I sorta felt like Dash from the Incredibles. Ya know?

This picture is a little far away to see the projects but I love the chicken wire frames for displaying cards. Isn't that creative?

So, to all the ladies that attended yesterday's camp, I am so glad you came. It was nice to see old faces and meet new ones as well. I hope you loved all the projects and learned some new tricks and techniques.

If you weren't able to make it to camp then we hope you can join us next time. Have a relaxing Sunday!

Tweet, Tweet!

Tweet, tweet. Isn't he sweet? I could just cuddle these guys. How can you resist that face? Sorta reminds me of that adorable look that Puss in Boots gets. You know the one.........

Makes your heart melt a little bit, doesn't it? These little cuties are going to the teachers at the girls' school. They are pull top candy holders. That means, you pull the top ribbon and a box of conversation hearts pops up. Want to know how to make these? Email me and we can make this a make and take at your next party.

And here's the gang. I made 11 total. I think I might have a hard time giving them away. Especially when they are looking at me with that face.

Box Valentines? No, thanks.

For a brief second I thought about those easy store bought Valentines for the girls to give out at school on Monday.....A second, a brief second. But then it was gone. Just cant do it. With Stamp Camp being tomorrow, time was getting away from me, but I powered through it and whipped these guys out yesterday. So glad I did too. They were quick and now I am happy. Today's mission: (besides packing for camp) make teachers' valentines.

I ended up with 37 total. 15 for Sammie's class and 22 for Ava's. This idea is a case of a project that I found on Stampin Connection. It was actually a 3X3 card and it opened so cute. We also, made the full version at my last downline meeting. Click here to see the original. It was so adorable.

Pocket Love Note

Okay, I recognize that this is not a great picture. Kinda makes you feel like you are falling over. But this one was hard to take a picture of and when I was trying I was in a hurry and I already gave the card away so I couldn't work on a better picture. But here is the idea: Its a pocket made from one of our Medium White Envelopes.

Start by sealing and stampin all over the envelope. Then using your paper trimmer cut off the top at 1 1/2". Next run your bottom portion through your crimper, this allows your bottom to fit into your top, creating a little top for your pocket. Then finish by adding a little love note to the inside of your pocket. Sweet, right?

I learned this one at a Stamp Camp I attended a long time ago. Its and oldie but a goodie. Enjoy.

Chocolate, anyone?

This little Scallop Envelope Die is one of my favorites. It is so versatile. Use one, make an envelope. Use two, make this treat holder. Use four, and you have a perfect little box for mini cards or treats.

We made this little guy at our Valentine 5 for $5. The best part is they fit 2 of those Ghiradelli Chocolate squares perfectly and I love those Chocolate squares. Yumm.

All you need to do is cut your bottom flap on two die cut scallop squares to 1/2" in width so they are the same width as the side flaps. Then just snail together. Give it a little belly band for extra support and decorate to your heart's content. I used the Define Your Life stamp set for mine punched with the Wide Oval and yes, a little Glimmer Paper heart.

Oh Baby!

Oh, Baby! Yep, that's right. I am gonna be an Auntie again. I can't believe it. I am so exited. Auntie Raine is preggers. Whoo Hoo!! She told us last week on our girls night out. We sat down for dinner and just as everyone is looking down at their menus I look over to see that Lorraine is wearing a shirt that says, "MOM2B." In shock, I try to whisper across the table, "Psssst, Pssst. Hey, Lorraine? Do you know you are wearing a maternity shirt??"........DUH!!!! She busted up laughing and I sat there with a confused look on my face....Huh? What? Are you? REALLY!!! Ahhhhh, I am so excited!!!

Here is the card I made her. I tried to be gender neutral, cause you never know. But to tell you the truth I got my fingers crossed for a girl. I may be a little bias. But I am thinking girl this time around for the Tolls;)

So for those of you that know her, hop on over to her spot and congratulate her too.

Love Defined

Isn't this great? I made this card a while ago at a shoebox exchange I went to with my fellow demonstrators. The creator of this card is my cousin and side-line Lorraine. I love the clean and simple look for this card. It was one of my favorites.

For the full supply list on this card hop on over to Lorraine's blog. Click here.

Punch Trick

Okay, I know I promised to show you a trick with our new stamps and coordinating punches a while ago but I finally got around to taking some pictures. So here it is. I think its pretty cool so I hope you do too. The first part of this tip was shown to us at Leadership and I decided to share it with my downline at our last meeting.

So, at Leadership, Brian Pilling did a demo using the Build a Blossom set and punch ( I am using the cupcake as you can see.) He showed us how to make a template with your punch using one of our Window Sheets, then use your stamps to stamp though the cut outs on the template and then you can make one punch and have all your pieces at one time. Brilliant right!?!

Well, leave it to my super brilliant downline to come up with another trick. More specifically, Alyssa. She did this:

Sorry this picture turned on me. Anyway, start by placing your clear block on top of your punch.

Then arrange your stamps on top of your block directly on top of where their image is below.

Then ink up your stamps (works better if you are using pens or stampin spots) and stamp your pieces all at once.

Then look at this! Make one punch, all together. Cool right!?! Love it, and it just made using this fabulous punch even better!

Happy Birthday, Beverlee!

Okay, here it is. Yesterday I told you I was dropping a gift off to a friend and that I would show you what was inside today. Well, the gift went to my upline Beverlee. It was her birthday yesterday so I made her this Valentine DSP Wreath. It was actually pretty fun to make and the girls helped me.

I started by picking up a foam wreath insert at my craft store, then I cut my DSP into small strips. I also cut a bit of regular card stock and some glimmer paper as well. Curling is easy for the DSP, just use your bone folder and curl it like you are curling wrapping ribbon. The card stock and glimmer paper takes a little more work, I used my stylus and wrapped it tightly around to make it curl. Then I just used pins to secure them into place.

It makes for a pretty out come I think and its a good way to use up DSP scraps.

Ava was so excited, she asked if she could give it to Bev for me. I said yes, but told her she had to say happy birthday too. Which she did. Good girl. But then her excitement took over and she started bouncing off the walls. So sorry for that Bev:(

I hope you liked the wreath and we hope you had a wonderful birthday!