Christmas in 'JUNE'??

I love to start thinking of Christmas in July - and planning out projects to make. However, yesterday I spent MUCH needed time in my craft room and decided to work with some new papers, stamp, dies, and ink from Stampin' Up!! I have files of ideas that I save from stuff I see on the internet - in these files I have card samples, sketches, etc. So, I opened up my files to give me a jump start on ideas - mostly for sketches. I started out with this card that features the new Christmas stamp set - Chock Full of Cheer (126717) I took my color combination from the new Designer Series Paper, Be of Good Cheer (126896) that features Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla and the one of the new In colors - Gumball Green. I do like this new green. I stamped the cute little mitten stamp all over my very vanilla cardstock and then layered it on the cherry cobbler and gumball green. For the card base, I decided todo something a little different - and sort of fun. I cut about 1-1/2" off the edge and then added a sliver of embossed cherry cobbler to the inside of the card - so it just pops through when the card is closed, and adds a bit of dimension when the card is open. I used the Square Lattice Textured Impressions Folder (119976) for embossing and adding the texture to the inside sliver as well as the outside. I added a bow made with the new In color satin stitched ribbon - in Gumball Green (126848) Of course!! I stamped my sentiment on a sliver of very vanilla and punched it with my Scallop Oval punch (119856). It needed just a bit more to make it pop, so I sponged with Cherry Cobbler. My next card had a similar card design, but this time I decided to use some of the Designer paper Be Of Good Cheer. Rather than embossing the front panel and adding a bow, I simply used a sliver of this beautiful designer paper. I chose not to layer as much on this one, and used a different Textured Impressions folder for the inside sliver - Vintage Wallpaper (120175) This one was a little trickier to do as I wanted it to appear as an ornament - however, I wanted it to be dimensional, so I stamped and cut te ornament top and then twisted some of the cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon (120992) and ran it through the top of the ornament 'hanger'. The ornament stamp lends itself to dimension. I cut the larger circle with my 1-3/4" punch (119850) and the inside circle with my 1" punch (119868)and then added dimensionals and added it to the card front. The last card that I did I like best of all. The idea came from Vicki Lynn. ) I am not sure how long ago I got this idea - but loved the idea of a 'quilted' card. I used my 1" square punch (124094) and punched a bunch of squares. Vicki's card had 25 squares, but since my card is much smaller, I chose to go with a 3"x3" piece and covered this with the little squares. I cut the designer paper squares on a diagonal and used opposite sides of the paper to match. Once I had these little pieces on my 3"x3" base, I ran it through the square lattice textured impressions folder which gave it a lovely feel and look. I then added a piece of the satin stitched gumball green ribbon and secured the ends with one of the new natural designer buttons (127554)I toyed with the idea of adding designer paper behind the design, but just didn't like the way it looked. Next I added my sentiment -which I knew would be the sentiment from the stamp set, but wasn't quite sure how to add it. Well, I got out a couple of the new dies. The dies are from the Apothecary Accents Framelits set (127003). I just layered them on top of each other, stamped the sentiment on a piece of very vanilla cardstock and punched with the scallop oval punch. I added dimensions and popped it on my card. I really like the way it turned out and can see myself doing a few more similar to this one - but perhaps in other colors - fall, summe, spring, winter - not just Christmas colors. It looks difficult, but is rather easy. I enjoyed my crafting time yesterday and hope to do a bit more tomorrow - but perhaps I will wrk with some of the other new colors. The INKPADS are wondeful - and I plan on purchasing the whole new set of them - eventually - but there are s many more items that I want before the colors!! Thanks for stopping by - now it is time for me to head to the spa where I am hoping to have several clients today. Paula

Vacation is over!!

Yes, sadly - vacation is over and it is time to get back to my day job at the spa. Of course, I love my job - but it is nice to get away now and then.
While I was gone - the NEW STAMPIN' UP! Catalog came out. I have placed a link to it in the side bar and you REALLY need to take a peek. There are some wonderful new sets, DSP's, embossing folders, dies - take a peek and see what is new. I am hoping to get back to stampin' and making cards for OWH in the next month. I have been away from my crafting far too long and I have SO MANY new things to play with.
Thanks for keeping up with my ramblings - see you on the other side of the craft door!
Paula

Completed Beau Chateau Wreath

A few days ago, I posted the steps I took to make this Beau Chateau wreath. I finally had the time to complete the wreath. My wreath is only 5 7/8" in diameter. This is the second wreath I have done like this - the first one was made using the Everyday Elegance DSP from the Sale-A-Bration catalog. 

I wanted to show a little closer picture of the elements on the wreath - this picture shows the flowers on top - with the glimmer brads in the center and bits of marina mist and pink pirouette taffeta ribbon tied around muslin and then hot glued between the flowers. My flowers are all layered in threes.

This is the side of the wreath. I decided to do a combination of vanilla and chocolate colored jumbo brads in the center of these flowers rather than using all the same color - and because I am running low on the vanilla colored brads. :)

Once the flowers are all punched, sprayed, scrunched and then opened back up again to dry - the process to finish the wreath doesn't really take that long. Covering the wreath with the muslin gives a good surface for the hot glue to adhere too - and I doubt these flowers are going to fall off anytime soon.
I hope you have enjoyed watching this project take shape and I hope you will try this one too.
Thanks for stopping by
~Paula~

A Spring Wreath

Awhile back, I visited one of my favorite sites - Paper Crafters Library and saw a video on how to create a lovely Spring wreath using designer papers from the recent Sale-A-Bration catalog. Those papers are no longer available - but here is a picture of how the wreath turned out.
 I decided to make another wreath - (I gave away the first one) using the Beau Chateau - which is also retiring and therefore only available until the end of this month. The wreath is not completed yet - but here is a series of pictures that I took of the process I am going through in making it. I started out with a 5" styrofoam ring from a local hobby store. I then added 1" strips of muslin around the ring - it takes about 3 to go all the way around the ring.

Once I had the muslin wrapped all the way around the ring - I added some of the pleated satin ribbon found in the mini catalog. This ribbon is no longer available.

Then I took my Beau Chateau Designer Paper and started punching flowers using the blossom punch. This item was in the occasions mini catalog - and may be carried over to the new catalog that will come out next month. My wreath took 60 flowers - using four different papers using both sides. When I was done punching the flowers, I spritzed them with water and crumpled them up. Now at this point, I decided to open them back up and dry that way - as it was much harder to open up the flowers once they were dry with my first wreath.

I took srtips of muslin tied them in knots and then tied some baja breeze and pretty in pink ribbon around the muslin. I punched 3/4" circles and then used the glimmer brads in the center.

After the flowers were dry, I layered three of them - reversing the paper on the middle flower and then hot glued them together. I then added the brad center with hot glue and my flower was ready to place on my wreath.

The flowers are not all ready to place on my wreath yet - but this is the begining on how it will look when it is done. I am going to finish this up and give it to my mom for Mother's Day. She is coming to visit in a couple weeks - and will arrive just a couple days after Mother's Day, so this will be a fitting and fun gift to give to her.

I hop you have enjoyed seeing one of the few things I have been able to work on lately - work at the Spa where I work has been crazy busy - but it is starting to slow down - which might mean I will have more time to craft. We will see.

Stop by again soon

~Paula~

CONTEST

Do you like learning how to make beautiful items with paper? Well, that IS a silly question - of course you do! Do you search the internet to find ideas for your next papercrafting project? I know that I USED to. A year ago I joined the Paper Crafters Library and have never looked back. I have learned SO much through their online video tutorials and their printable PDF's. Well, now YOU have an opportunity to win a full year subscription. Just follow THIS link to get all the details.

~Paula~

Paper Spa vs Day Spa

Why does it seem like there is more work in a day than play? I would love to spend more time in the PAPER SPA than I do - but since I do LOVE doing massage, I spend more time at the DAY SPA giving health related massages - and my paper spa suffers knots!
Well, anyway - on to my long anticipated post - you WERE anticipating, right? I got an email this morning that OWH is having a Virtual Card Making Party and since most of my cards go to OWH - though I haven't sent them cards in a VERY long time - I decided I would jump in on some of the challenges - well, at least one!! The first challenge was called HOT TROPICS - it was posted last night I believe. You can find the challenge here, but I will tell you a little bit of information to get your mind rolling while you finish reading my post and then head on over there. Use HOT PINK, green and yellow on your card. Any theme and sentiment is fine.
I was working on some cards for a 'class' I hope to do on Thursday night with some friends and while I had the stamps out, decided to change up the color scheme and make an identical card for the challenge. What you can't really see in the picture is that I punched the oval out of an additional image and popped it above the existing one. I also noticed that I forgot to add the pearls just below the ribbon - I will have to do that before I send in my card. Do you want to see the original card I was working on? The original card doesn't have a matte like the new one I created and the ribbon I used on the new one is not scalloped - it is a retired melon mambo dotted grosgrain and the new ribbon is a scallop edged - which I love. I have this ribbon in three colors now - Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler and this Old Olive. It also comes in Melon Mambo - but since I have this retired one, I will use that up first before I order more especially since I need other colors of ribbon - like Elegant Eggplant, Marina Mist, Pretty in Pink and Tangerine Tango - just to name a few of the colors this wonderful ribbon comes in. I love using ribbon on my cards, but never seem to have the right color to coordinate. Of course, by the time I finally get the colors I want, Stampin' Up! comes out with a new catalog and new ribbons and the ones I took forever to finally get, are now obsolete - good thing the colors still coordinate.
so, my friends and I will be making two cards and then a Valentine Coupon book - all of the items I learned how to do at the Regional Event I attended back - oh, some time ago!! There are SO many ideas out there and it always seems like I am one supply short of doing a project - so, even though I just received an order this week - I am ready to place another!! Sigh!
Now, head on over to the OWH Stars and Stamps site and see what other challenges they are putting out there.

~Paula~

I have been crafting - just not lately!!

Looking at my blog - I see it has been a very long time - over two months since I have posted anything. Today I was working on a digital layout for an online class I am doing. Would you like to see it? The class is a year long class titled My Life - Brilliant. The class is through Digital Scrapper. I have been a Premier member for a few years now and have even signed up for a few classes - though have never completed any of them. :) This one I think I will find a bit more doable. The idea is to create a photobook about your life - with the minimum of making a two page spread each month following the theme of the month. This month the theme is about the People I love. Since I adore my children and my husband, I found this would be a great place to start. This is only the first page, and doesn't include a picture of my oldest son since I don't have any recent pictures of him. The adjoining page will be more of a journal page about why I love each of these wonderful, fantastic children and husband of mine! :) This page is sure to be tweaked before the end of the year - and possibly even the end of the month - we will see.
I hope you all had a fabulous holiday season. I didn't send out any greeting cards - but I did have fun making a bunch of gift card holders and even crafted with my youngest daughter and friend Lisa during the middle of December. I sent some card making kits to my mom siince she enjoyed doing some crafting with me during her visit here in October.
My work as a massage therapist has picked up tremendously and I find myself with less time to create in my craft room - however, things will balance out soon, and I hope to find more time to craft - especially since I just got a large Stampin' Up! order of some of the goodies in the new Occasions mini catalog and some of the new Sale-A-Bration items that will be available later this month with a $50 order.
Thanks for keeping up with me and do come back in the days ahead as I do plan on creating some new items soon.
~Paula~

Snowflake Card

Sometimes, creating something simple is the best way to go. I often get caught up in trying to make cards and such just like someone else's that I lose sight of who I am and what my style is. Well, with a little help from the Paper Crafters Library Makeover Monday Challenge I am getting inspired to not only create, but to do it in MY style!! Today, the challenge is to make a snowflake card - you can see the inspiration that Andrea found on the internet and how she made it her own. Here is my version of the card. Now, what you cannot see is the very light stamping on the bottom of the card. I looked through my clear stamps - you know the ones you get in the dollar bins at Michael's or other hobby stores. I have had them for quite some time and seldom use them. But I used several snowflakes on the bottom and stamped them very lightly with bashful blue. The snowflake is from Sweet Stamps. I stamped the snowflake three times with bashful blue and then fussy cut around the outer edge, then cut the two inner snowflakes and then used very thin dimensionals in between the layers to give it a 3-D look. (Though it is hard to see this from the picture) I added the sentiment with marina mist. I used bashful blue taffeta ribbon (retired) on the front of the card placing the snowflake on top of that and then adding the rhinestones (a find at Wal-Mart!) I like the way the rhinestones coordinated with the blues that I chose for my project.
Now, hop on over to the Paper Crafters Library and check out the tutorial. Andrea always has a video tutorial each Monday and the prize if you enter is a GORGEOUS Advent calendar kit. I have actually created a similar advent calendar after watching the tutorial that Andrea created. I will be sharing that with you all once it is completed. I will also have a little extra tidbit, so come back often and watch for that.
Now - back to my crafting!
~Paula~

What are the Trick or Treaters Getting at My House Tonight?

Today it is Halloween - a 'holiday' that I don't get much into in! However, living in a HUGE housing development, there are MANY MANY children that are bound to end up on my doorstep tonight. (I have heard the whole town shows up!!) Since this is our FIRST Halloween in our new home, we will see how it goes. I remember last year at this time, we were awaiting my husband and friend to come rescue us from Gallup, New Mexico when my oldest daughters car broke down. Some of my readers will remember that as they followed us along the trip. ~Smile~
So, back to tonight. I went out and bought LOTS of candy - I wasn't sure if the two filled bowls would be enough, so went out again this afternoon and got some more - I will wait to open the big bag until I need it, right? Who knows - if I don't use it, it could end up in Christmas stockings!! Now, I have another treat for the MOMS!! Want to see what the first 50 or so MOMS will get when they come to my door? I made these little treat bags using the 'It's a Wrap' set from the Holiday Mini to wrap the Hershey nuggets. I put them in the cello bag and added the tag. On the back is my business card adverstising my Stampin' Up! Business. There are about 20 of these little bags. Then I made these adorable little bags. I got the idea for the bag from another Stampin' Up! Demo - Monika Davis (monikastamp.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/birmingham-regional-paper-bags) Monika shared this idea at the Regional event I went to earlier this month and I just HAD to make these little bags and what better way to share what I love to do with card making than putting a little candy bar in the bag with my business card. I have about 30 of these - and could have done many more - but just ran out of time with all the things going on these past couple of weeks.
I have made more of the mug covers - except the ones I made are for an event happening next weekend in California. I sent them off to the coordinator of that event. I have watched more crafting videos and have more ideas swarming my head than I have time to think about. I have ONE client tonight at 5:00 - so will have to run out and do that treatment and then get back here to help pass out candy to the little goblins and princesses that show up at the door.
For all of you in the US that will be out on the streets tonight - be safe.
~Paula~

What's in your Purse?

What can you do with a 6" square of Cardstock or DSP? Make a purse!! I was surfing around Splitcoast Stampers this morning - actually looking for a different tutorial and happened up a tutorial that shows you how to make this adorable little purse from a 6" square of cardstock or DSP. There are actually quite a few tutorials out there on this technique, all just slightly different, but the end result is just as sweet. whenever I find some kind of tutorial like this, I like to make one up and just see how it turns out, so I just grabbed a piece of retired DSP from SU, but the 6" square and set about the score and fold. The tutorial mentioned using the large oval punch for the purse clasp, but I don't have that punch yet, so I used my decorative label punch folded in half. Now, every purse has some sort of hardware on it, right? So, I got out my container of brads to see if I had anything that would work. These little silver brads worked perfectly. I needed some sort of embellishment for the clasp - so I just cut the smallest nestibilities scallop oval and plain oval that I have. A button, or designer/vintage brad would also work nicely. Now my sentiment I created using the decorative label punch. I cut the label, then placed the label back in the punch - using a piece of post it note to hold it in position and punched about a 1/4" of the way in. If you turn it around and do that again, you will get two labels like this. The piece that is left over looks kind of like a table leg - so you could actually use every bit of this punched and punched label! :) Now, I started to used my thin magnets to hold the purse shut - however, since they were not hidden behind carstock, they were not cooperating, so I bought very thin clear velcro strips at Wal-mart and they work perfectly. Now, when you open the purse, guess what you will find? Yep - you guessed it - more nuggets. This time, I just took some of the same paper used to create the purse and wrapped them around the nuggets. You could also put a fun size candy bar in the purse, or lip balm, or some other small item of choice. Now, I was thinking of making up a few of these to give to my daughters and their friends - wouldn't that be just such a fun little gift. How about party favors at a little girls birthday party - or a favor on a table for tea. The possibilities with this one are also endless. Now, think of all those 6" x 6" pads of paper you have - I think you better start making a list of all your BFF's that are going to get one of these!!
Thanks for stopping by the spa today - as you can see, I am having alot of fun playing with paper and relaxing - life doesn't have to be filled with stress when you have paper to play with! I hope you will visit again soon - and see what other fun ideas I come up with (or case from others!!)
~Paula~