What's Been Happening in the Paper Spa?

Wow - I didn't realize just HOW LONG it has been since I lasted posted ANYTHING to my blog! So much has happened since I last posted! I am no longer working in Fast Food - YAY!! I am now working at a spa doing what I love best (besides crafting which I love just as much). I have been a Massage Therapist for nearly 7 years now and when I moved last year, it just took me awhile to find everything I needed to get my license where I live now. So, I finally got it - and am happy to be doing massage again! What a WONDERFUL profession!
Anyway, with the change in jobs, I have been able to find more time to create - and I have been doing a bit of that. My mom came to visit this last week and we had a couple different days where we created together. She is a quilter so doesn't do much in the paper craft area - but she had fun. Would you like to see some of the things we did? I thought so!! But first - I also have to mention that a few days before she got here, I went to a Stampin' Up! Regional event and learned SO much - so some of what we did incorporated what I learned there. One of the WOW sessions that was taught was using shaving cream to create gorgeous backgrounds. I had heard of this technique - for many years now - but had never tried it and when I saw it demonstrated it was just SO cool that I had to try it. Mom and I had fun playing with this - but wow was it ever messy. You don't have to use alot of shaving cream either! I made this card from the scrap pieces and then did an ornament as well - I will show you the ornaments in a bit. Here is a closer look at the design on the card after the shaving cream was applied. I used Pumpkin pie, Cherry cobbler and wild Wasabi (I think) for my colors of re-inkers. I like how the pattern on the paper almost looks like an Iris. What do you think?
We made some ornaments - since I had placed an order and it came a day after mom arrived, so we had fun playing with the new punches. I only have one set that has an ornament stamp in it that coordinates with this punch, however, there are a few more that I intend to get soon. This punch would also make a lovely 3-D image on a card just by punching 4 of the ornaments out, folding three of them and then layering them onto cardstock. I will show a sample of this in the coming days. Another idea that I got from doing swaps at the Regional Event was for a Hershey Nugget holder. I got two different ideas - one for a Santa face and one for a reindeer. I took the idea and jumped off from there creating a fall themed nugget holder. This was SUCH a quick little project to make and you can do these for all the different holidays just by changing up the colors and images that you use. I just used the flower Daisy #2 die and layered the daisies adding a button to the middle. I cut the scallop with my nestibilities since I don't have the scallop punch from Stampin' Up! - YET! To keep the nugget (I know - there wasn't one inside this holder when I took the picture) from sliding around, I just placed a glue dot on the back of the nugget. I can see these little holders being used for a TON of things - Christmas, Valentines, St. Patricks, Birthdays, etc for your friends, family and co-workers.
For several weeks now, I have been participating in the Club 52 over at the Paper Crafters website. Each week there is a new technique that is introduced. A couple of weeks ago, this technique was introduced. It is called Surf and Sand striated background. It was fun to play with this technique while mom was visiting. I couldn't find any stickers or other sun type embellishments in all my tons of stuff - but I found these stickers and thought it would work. I am putting the tags together in a technique 'book' so that later on I can go back and look at them when I am at a loss for something to create.
One of the last things I did with my mom was create a little 'Cake'. I have done this once before - it is a really quick and fun little project. you just take one of those battery operated tea light candles and decorate it to make it look like a cake. I chose to use the new Holly Berry DSP and the quilted Cherry cobbler ribbon for my little cake. I used some diamond stickles for the top adding a bit of sparkle to eash of the scallop edges. I have many more projects that I am in the midst of creating - one is actually a sewing project - I haven't done any SEWING in forever!! Before I fell in love with stamping, I sewed - and still do ocassionally - but usually for my dolls - since they don't change sizes and everything I make them fits when I am done!! :)
Thanks for stopping by the spa - as the holidays approach, I will be sharing more fun projects to get you through the holidays.
~Paula~