My Favorite Thing

This is my favorite thing.
This little boy keeps me on my toes. Keeps me always entertained. Keeps me constantly looking for ways to keep HIM entertained. And most definitely, keeps me away from my craft room for large chunks of every day.

I seriously do not know how people with kids can make one or two new craft projects every day. I get if its your "job", aka Ali Edwards or Becky Higgins...but if you're just doing it for fun, how do you keep your kids entertained and engaged? My son just so happens to love me so much that he won't leave my side. So if I'm in my craft room, so is he. Which means he's undoubtedly ransacking the area looking for some unsuspecting item he can demolish in record speed. I've had many a stamp set that has been sent on a sliding path down the hallway, with him giggling with glee at the door. :)

Needless to say, I have nothing new to post. I'm lucky that I even have time to blog about this. My son is my number one priority. And while he's probably not what you hoped to view on my blog...he's pretty damn awesome. And since I just looked to see I've crossed 14,000 hits, I guess lots of you might be checking out my cutie. :)

April Club Project #3

I decided to try a scrapbook page and found a sketch a few months ago that I really liked. I'm a very Type-A personality and likes things that are symmetrical. In fact, a new building is going up in downtown Oklahoma City, and it will be the tallest in the state of Oklahoma. In my mind, I feel this huge building should have been built in the center of the city. But its being built way on the south side of downtown, right next to the doggone highway, so nothing can be built next to it. I. HATE. IT. Bugs me to no end. Yep, I'm just THAT nuts.

My son getting a "big boy" haircut. Ain't he a cutie? Yup. I'm proud. :) The sketch featured these wonderful symmetrical squares, and I chose to make them all 3x3". The sketch did show the photos in different slots...but Type-A psycho here had to make them the same. :)

I used the big flower image from Fifth Avenue Floral. Each flower has three images to it, and then the middle was cut out, then halfway, and each were laid onto one full image. It has a great dimensional effect. The scalloped piece on the bottom is done just using the scallop border punch all the way along each side.

Ingredients:

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, retired alphabet set (Big Deal alpha, my all-time fav alpha set!), Teeny Tiny Wishes, Four Phrases (from upcoming main catty in July)

Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla, Pacific Point, Real Red, Celebrations DSP

Ink: Pacific Point, Pear Pizzazz, Real Red

Accessories: Dots embossing folder, Decorative Label Punch, small oval punch, scallop border punch

April Club Project #2

One of the great things about Stampin' Up is the monthly magazine it sends to all its demonstrators. It is called "Stampin' Success", and features great products, business tips, techniques, and wonderful stories from demo's around the country. This next project I CASE'd from the magazine, because I absolutely fell in love with it.

This included a new technique I had never learned, which used Champagne Shimmer Mist paint to color Very Vanilla Taffeta ribbon. It makes the ribbon quite stiff, but isn't it beautiful?? So soft and appealing. Now, I will say I learned that this ribbon, once painted, is a pain in the tooshie to get to stay down! You don't even want to know how many layers of sticky tape I have on there. I even got angry at one point and took my two-way glue pen to one little part that wouldn't stay down. But, its still purty. :)

Ingredients:
Stamps: Nature Walk (from Occasions Mini Catalog)
Paper: Elegant Soiree DSP, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso
Ink: Early Espresso, Baja Breeze
Accessories: Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, Very Vanilla Hodpodge Hardware, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Scallop Circle Punch, Swirls Scribbles Sizzlit Die

Oops.

I am the pot. No, I am the kettle. Ahh, who cares. I'm as bad as the people out there that upset ME when they don't update their blogs regularly. In fact, I stalk a blog out there because her stuff is a-MAZ-ing...and she hasn't updated since March 31st. I was upset...then realized I haven't updated in a longer length of time. Hence the title: oops.

So anyway, I'm updating with my April stamp club projects. Since May's club is next week, I figure I better get these suckers updated. :) I'm going to post just one today, then post the others throughout the week. That way my blog actually gets USED more than once per month. :)

I've become a Crumb Cake addict. I find that I'm using it on every project (and did on another club project for April that you'll see in another post). It is such a great neutral and looks fantastic with virtually all the SU colors!

This project uses the Bigz Flowers die that was in the Occasions mini (and is still available, even though its not in the Summer Mini!) and one of the fabrics from the Holiday mini (also still available...betcha didn't know that!!!). The Big Shot cuts fabric so cleanly, there weren't any real tears or ends that needed to be trimmed. I will say that the fabric might not cut completely through at sections...but just have your trusty pair of paper snips nearby. :)

Ingredients:
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler
Ink: none
Accessories: Big Shot, embossing folder (can't remember the name), flower brads, Bigz Fun Flowers die, fabric, Basic Pearls