Mingle Cup Challenge

At this last weekends Michigan Mingle there were three coordinated challenges that you could participate in if you wanted to. The one challenge that I did was the first challenge which was called "hot drinks all around". For the challenge you received a pattern for a cup printed on a sheet of pastel card stock. Other than that you could bring stamps or embellishments that were for a spring theme and something to fill the cup. Well I started working on my cup and had it stamped and put together with several butterflies cut out. Then I went and sat with two of the most talented ladies and friends Kathy and Kim who kept me motivated into the later parts of the night to finish my cup. It was so fun stamping, laughing and spending time with both of you!

Thank you ladies for your help and inspiration!

I'm sure it was because of the talented women I was sitting with and the inspiration that they gave, because at the awards my cup took first place and I won a pack of Gina K Luxury Card Stock, Envelopes, Scor-Tape and Sateen Flowers. I was so surprised because there were so many wonderfully designed cups to be judged.

Mingle Recap

These pictures were just a few from this last weekends Michigan Mingle, the picture up top is of a bunch of us Mingler's at Saturday night's dinner, starting from top left is Dawn Marie, Jill, Kim, Michelle, Me, Lorelei, Shari and Moe. There is a strange reflection from the glass candle holder going on in this shot but the smiles on our faces show the fun and laughs that we were having through out dinner and the Mingle.

To the left is a picture of Dawn Marie and I in the main banquet room on the second day. I had such a fun time but the whole weekend I had a splitting sinus headache that wouldn't go away. Below is a shot of the banquet room that the whole event was held in, you can see how all of the tables are loaded with every ones stamping supplies and boxes of swaps. Lorien, Tracy and Patty did a wonderful job of coordinating this event, everything went great!

Thanks a Bunch Apple Purses

Hello everyone, thanks for your kind words on my swaps and door prize that I had made for this weekends Michigan Mingle get together. I'm back and I had a very fun time on my trip, there were lots of laughs and it was great to meet so many friends.

The apple purses that you see here I had made before I left as gifts for the three women (Tracy, Lorien & Patty) who had coordinated the whole Michigan Mingle trip as a little thank you for all their hard work. The idea and directions for the Top Note Purse I found at Becky Roberts blog, I thought that her Top Note purse was so darling I couldn't wait to try and make one!

The only difference in my Top Note purses other than the stamps and designer paper is the fact that Becky used the SU Scallop Circle Sizzix die which I don't have so I used my Large Scallop circle Nestabilities die. Other than that the directions were easy to follow and the purse was fun to make, I think I may even do something like these as part of my next Stamp Camp for Mothers Day.

On the inside of each purse I put three Gardelli Carmel filled chocolates with my business card and a little note.

Supplies: Tart & Tangy, Summer Picnic DSP, Top Note Sizzix die, Circle punches, Oval punches, Nestabilities, Ribbon, Eyelets, Tacky Tape, Velcro. Colors: Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White.

Well I'm wiped out from staying up late for the last two nights and talking, stamping and doing lots of laughing so I'll be hitting the hay early tonight.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wonderful Friend Door Prize

This was the gift that I made for my door prize for this weekends Michigan Mingle, its a tote that holds six matching cards and stamped envelopes. I found the tutorial for this Card Purse on Julie's blog and ever since then I've wanted to try and make one.

The directions were easy to follow the only time consuming part was creating the clear acetate pockets inside the tote that holds the cards.

I stuck with the same theme that I used for my swaps and name tag so it took the guess work out of what colors and stamps to use. I made two of each of the cards you see here.

Supplies: Great Friend, Wonderful Favorites, Walk in the Park DSP, Nesties, Ribbon, Pearls, Sizzix Matchbox die, Piercer w/mat, Flower punch, Pop dots, Tacky Tape. Colors: Basic Grey, Cameo Coral, Going Grey, Whisper White.

I hope who ever wins my door prize is happy with what they've won!

Have a great day!

Great Friend Swaps

Yes these were the swaps I started out making for the Michigan Mingle this weekend and stopped after creating 40 of them when I thought I was going to loose my mind, lol. Usually swaps are cards that are fairly easy to assemble for mass quantity and but well designed, well after being so excited to get my new Sizzix matchbox die and making one matchbox I thought, why not how hard could it be to knock out about 50 of these boxes, lol.

The hardest part about making these was the cutting, scoring and attaching the acetate piece that slides over the box. For some reason the first one came out great (of course) but after that the die was not scoring onto the acetate even with using a crease pad so they all needed to be hand scored.

I'm happy with the way that they came out and it makes me feel good to know that I used my new Sizzix matchbox die to make them all.

At the Mingle this weekend their having a name tag contest but for me I'm just happy to have a name tag made. I made mine simple and had it coordinate with my swaps.

Yes this is 40 hand cut butterflies

160 hand stamped pieces of chocolate

40 hand cut labels on top of each box

120 little pearls for all the butterflies

a ton of glue dots.

Giving a handmade swap to a new friend and having a fun weekend......Priceless!

Supplies: Great Friend, Sizzix matchbox die, Walk in the Park DSP, Acetate, Pearls, Ribbon, Mailing labels, Glue dots. Colors: Basic Grey, Cameo Coral, Whisper White.

Thanks so Much

I'm still alive! All this week I have been working on projects and preparing for the Michigan Mingle and tomorrow I leave for my fun weekend away, yeaaaaa! My swaps, door prize, name tag and other gifts I've made are all done and ready to go, my craft room looks like a bomb hit it but my stuff for this weekend is done! The card up top is one of the simpler swaps that I made for this weekend because after making 40 of the swaps I first finished (you'll see what I'm talking about if you check back this weekend) I decided to switch gears and make something clean and simple looking. I really do love this Trendy Tree stamp set, its one of my favorites from the SU catty right now. All this weekend while I'm away I've scheduled post for my blog starting tomorrow of all the fun projects I made for this weekend. I know I'll have a great time and I hope who ever receives my swaps and especially the door prize I worked hard on really likes what I've done.

Supplies: Trendy Trees, Stamp-a-majig, Square punches, Piercer w/mat, Pop dots. Colors: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Kraft, Whisper White.

Have a wonderful weekend!

WSC73 - Choo Choo

This card is for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge which was hosted by Cambria this weekend, my card is a birthday card for a boy so I skipped the scallops and ribbon and used a new stamp set from the up coming Occasions Mini Choo Choo. This card was simple but fun to create, each of the train pieces were punched out using the largest SU square punch and then matted in Pacific Point card stock, the Birthday Celebrations is from the Upsy Daisy set, I added three black brads some piercing and using the matching train track wheel in Versa Mark along the bottom portion of the card.

Supplies: Choo Choo, Right on Track wheel, Upsy Daisy, Brads, Large square punch, Piercer w/mat. Colors: Pacific Point, Real Red, Summer Sun, Basic Black.

Thanks for visiting!

TECC60 - Bella Baby Card

I've been a slacker as a blogger this week and the only excuse is that I've been busy. My youngest son went from having the flu last weekend which lead right into a full blown head cold this week with a high fever and needed his mommy. I'm happy to report that he is now feeling much better and almost all of us are well (I think I should knock on some wood). This winter has really kicked our butts as far as being sick in our family even with all the cleaning & lysoling in the world.

On to the card, I needed a card for a baby shower and the couple knows that they are having a boy so I used this TeddyBella stamp and the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge sketch to create a baby card.

Supplies: Teddybella - Stamping Bella, Heidi Grace designer paper, Copics, Nesties, Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing, Flower w/button, Ribbon, Scallop edge punch. Colors: Brocade Blue, Barley Banana, Whisper White.

Easter Basket & Blooms

It's been a busy week so far and its only Wednesday! Two of my kids have been sick since the weekend and are now finally starting to feel better, I've been prepping for my Stamp Camp which is tonight and in between still trying to work on swaps and projects for the March 27 Michigan Mingle.
Anyhoo the basket up top was created using two panels from the SU Basket & Blooms Sizzix die except instead of creating a round basket like the basket normally would be, I followed the directions from a SCS thread (thanks to my sister-in-law Jen for finding the directions) and created what you see. What you do is cut the front and back panels from the die then cut one 8 1/2"x 2 3/4" strip, score 1/4" on both long sides and 2 3/4" on each end of the short sides. I would recommend using Tacky Tape to put this together and start with taping the sides first.

The picture to the left is the back side of the basket, its difficult to see from the picture but the Barley Banana card stock was stamped with the Stitched Back ground stamp using So Saffron ink so the texture of the stamp would show up more. The center label on the front and back of the basket is from the new Matchbox die and was pop dotted after applying the butterfly and Easter Wishes.

I hope the ladies from Stamp Camp like the basket with the matching card from my post below as two of the projects for tonight's camp.

Supplies: Flight of the Butterfly, All Holidays, Stitched BG, Basket & Blooms Sizzix die, Matchbox Sizzix die, Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds, Large oval punch, Corner tag punch, Tacky Tape, Pop dots. Colors: Barley Banana, Certainly Celery, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White.

SFYTT - Easter Butterfly

Today's card is an Easter card I created using Jen's Sketch for You to Try Challenge, since I don't really own any Easter stamp sets other than the Easter Beauty set, I was looking through my stamps and thought a butterfly would be a good symbol for Easter. A few details about the card, the wings on the butterfly have Dazzling Diamonds on them, the two oval pieces were cut and embossed using my Nestabilities and then pop dotted and the Pink Pirouette panel was embossed with my Swiss Dot Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Supplies: Flight of the Butterfly, Easter Beauty, CB embossing, Nesties, Scallop edge punch, Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds, Brads, Pop dots. Colors: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Barley Banana, Pink Pierette.

Hope your having a great day!

Easter Wishes

This card started out with me trying to use Beate's Weekend Sketch which was created by Jenn Balcer this weekend and looked like such a cool sketch but after I was done with this card it looks nothing like the sketch and for as long as this card took I'm not even that crazy about it. I think I was trying to force myself to use the sketch and this stamp set and it just didn't work, that and I haven't slept very good for the past three nights and right now I'm dead tired (not a good time to be stamping). No I would not like some cheese with my whine, lol.

I've been working on swaps for the Splitcoast Stampers Michigan Mingle that is on the 27 of this month and so far I'm doing good, I'm close to finishing 40 swaps within the last day in a half but wanted to take at least 50 or more but we'll see.

Supplies: Easter Beauty, All Holidays, Delicate Dots DSP, Top Note die, Ribbon, Scallop edge punch, Curly Label punch, Clear beads, Aqua brush, Pop dots. Colors: Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Whisper White.

Blue Bird of Happiness

Are you sick of this bird yet or what? I'm having so much fun making cards using this little blue bird and these bright designer papers. I have a corny store to tell, every time I look at this little blue bird I think of my Grandma S., before she passed away she lived in a very nice retirement center where she had her own apartment with a bay window where she grew beautiful african violet plants. One year for her birthday I bought a hand blown glass blue bird to sit among her violets which had a poem that went along with it about how it was the blue bird of happiness and my Grandma just loved it, so that's what comes to mind when I see this blue bird.

This card also uses the Mojo Monday Sketch which I enjoyed using on the card in my previous post and the Summer Sun panel on this card was embossed using my Swiss Dot embossing folder.

Supplies: Cheep Talk, Really Retro, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Circle punches, Scallop circle punch, Ribbon, Brads, CB embossing folder, Pop dots. Colors: Pacific Point, Summer Sun, Whisper White.

Today I was so looking forward to taking my 2 year old son to this Tot Time class that I signed us up for so that he could play with other children his age (my other two kids are 14 and 11). The class was only an hour long and I didn't know how my son would be because he is very active. Lets just say he was the only child that wouldn't sit still not even for snack time, story time or songs and he was the only child to get stuck in the mesh bean bag game and start screaming because he thought it was a tent and couldn't get out, lol (yes I know, he's only 2). Were going to have soooo much fun in this class every week I can tell already!

CC209 & Mojo Monday Sketch

The other day when I said that I was happy it was raining out so the rain could wash away the grime from winter, well too much of a good thing is never a good thing. Several surrounding areas near our house have a lot of flooding going on so mother nature can turn off the water any time now. The card for today is for two challenges, one is the SCS Color Challenge where the colors to be used are Black, Rose Red and Always Artichoke and the other is the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge. These colors are on the dark side for me but it was nice to give this combo a try.

Supplies: Embrace Life, Sanded BG, Nesties circle, Aqua brush, Ribbon, Brads, Piercer w/mat, Pop dots.

TLC211 - Trendy Tree Tote

It definitely feels like a Monday today and with the hour change I'm sleepy, I'm a girl who really needs her 7-8 hours worth of sleep so springing forward always messes me up. Today the Try a New Technique Challenge at SCS was to create one of these little Treat Purses/Tote. Mine is pretty simple and straight forward I used the Trendy Trees stamp set with my Stamp-a-ma-jig (lining these trees & trunks up works best with a Stamp-a-ma-jig), then used my square punches, the small one to punch out the stamped tree and then the large square punch for the white scored piece which is pop dotted (see close up shot). Other than that I liked this project but there is one thing I didn't understand (could be lack of sleep) how do you keep the front flap of this tote/purse closed up? If you've made one of these and I missed something please let me know. Thanks