Monday, April 27, 2009

The Other Scrapbook Pages



































Not too long ago I posted a 2 page 12X12 layout that I designed for a scrapbooking class for some new customers. I showed you the summer pages, well here are the birthday pages. They feature my daughter on her eighth birthday! On the children's birthday they can choose a restaurant to go to or a meal they would like me to make. My daughter chose, "The Outback." Smart girl, when given the option let mommy off the hook for the evening. She isn't a cake and icing kind of a girl so we got her a birthday sundae while out and then a large cookie for the celebration at home. She enjoyed herself so the day was a success. As she gets older it is harder to know exactly what she wants.

For her pages I chose to use the Celebrate Simply Scrappin Kit from Stampin' UP! I absolutely love these. Everything you need is included. The only additional thing I used was ink, stamps, and ribbon and I didn't really need to do it but I like the extra touch of some ink and ribbon on my pages. When I did these pages for my class the ladies got the pages they needed and one sheet of each of the three cardstock punches sheets that are enclosed in the kit. I truly LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these kits!

I have another scrapbook class coming up, not sure of the thems yet but you can be sure it will include one of the kits.

Well, thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Well

More Kiddo Cards


Here are the two other cards from the wonderful class I mentioned last week where we stamped with the 9 lovely first graders and 1 second grader. My friend and stamping buddy, Samantha, designed these cards. Aren't they cute! She recently had a card making party for her 11 year old daughter for her birthday party. The girls from her daughter's birthday stamped these and I believe they stamped a couple more cards as well. The attendees were all around the age of 11. She said it worked out perfectly and the girls had lots of fun. Now remind me again why Sam hasn't signed on to be a demonstrator...hmmmm. I think I need to look into that:-) She would make a great one! She stamps her own Christmas cards every year with supplies she purchases from me. She could be saving herself a bit of money with her discount.

She chose to use retired stamp sets that are her favorite ones. Not too long ago, well okay 2 summers ago when her son turned 5 she had a pirate party for him in her backyard and she used the Ahoy Mate stamp set for the invites and the thank you's. The party was pirate themed and consisted of various pirate type activities (walking the plank, blowing boats in a race, and others that I can't remember) but it was fabulous!

Well enjoy her cards:
Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

What Were We Thinking?


This afternoon, my friend/colleague, Sam, and I hosted a card class for nine, first grade girls and one, second grade boy. This particular class was a part of a silent auction for our elementary schools' scholarship fund. Sam is also the same friend whose kids are in the summer scrapbook page I posted yesterday.

Well, Sam and I had this great idea to add our card class to the items to be auctioned. Well, the winners were two little first graders. Very cute first graders I must add. Anyway they were each able to invite 4 friends for a total of 10 little stampers. We began right at the end of our school day and planned for one hour and fifteen minutes. During this time we also served a snack of apples, pretzels, and lemonade.

I was in charge of designing a card for Mother's Day and a card for Father's Day. Sam designed a boy birthday card and a girl birthday card. I got started with 5 kiddos at one table and Sam was at a different table. The plan was to stamp our 2 cards with a group and then switch off kiddos. As we got the stampers started on their first card with numerous repeat directions we sort of snickered to ourselves, looked at each other as if to say, "What were we thinking?" The first card took...FOREVER!!!! The second card moved a bit faster and the progression continued to move more quickly. Long story short...I know, too late... although this group was super young for our involved cards, the bottom line is that they really had a lot of fun. They were quite impressed with what their little hands could do. Our little male stamper had a great time too! He was WOWED by the oval punch and the brads. Yep, the tools were the highlight for him. After punching out his oval he said, "Cool!" The girls liked the tools too!

Although there were lots of "What Were We Thinking," moments I would do it again. We found lots of humor in the experience. The kids had loads of fun and the parents who arrived early, were quite impressed with their kids cards.

Things in life may not go as smoothly as planned but if it ends with happy kids then all is well.

Card Recipe for Mother's Day Card:
Cardstock: Candy Lane designer series paper, Very Vanilla, and Riding Hood Red cardstock
Ink: Riding Hood Red, and Mellow Moss
Stamp Set:
Accessories: ribbon

Card Recipe for Father's Day Card:
Stamp Set: Wanted and All Year Cheer
Ink: Chocolate Chip and Versa Mark
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Kraft, and Very Vanilla


I'll try to post Sam's cards tomorrow.
Well, thanks for listening to my ramblings...now go stamp something!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Summer Scrap Pages


Here are a couple of pages that we did at my most recent scrap class last weekend. We created a total of four pages related to two different themes. These two pages focus on summer memories. My kids and I had a wonderful few days last summer at Ocean City, New Jersey. We went with a girlfriend of mine and her two kids. We are both teachers at the same school and after school let out a break was needed. I love going to the beach. It is the best stress reliever I know...besides a Stampin' Up! Convention:-)






















For these pages I used:
Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise (paper and ink), Apricot Appeal, Glorious Green (paper and ink), Whisper White, and Rainbow Sherbert designer series paper.
Stamp set: Whimsical Alphabet

I had a lot of fun creating these pages and the ladies really liked them as well.

Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Convention Time!



















I almost forgot to mention that I have registered for Stampin' Up!'s annual convention. I am so excited! This will be my fourth convention. I am registered, I have my travel and lodging all set. I will be on there and track 3. At present, there will be four in our group and we are all looking forward to an exciting time!

Above are a couple of photos from last year with my upline Jacki, me, and my downline Christin. Sign up as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator now and join us for this years' convention. Email me at MLGOLD@COMCAST.NET, and I'll get you started or visit my website.

Want to see more from last years' convention?

Want more

Let the count down begin!
Want more? Than you will just have to sign up and join us. You won't ever regret it:-)

Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

I've been Scrappin'

It has been a week since my last post. I have so much to share with you. It seems the week finds me super busy which unfortunately leads to very little posting getting done. I will try to get better with this:-) Lately I have had more scrapbooking events which in turn means more pages to share than cards. I need to get back to creating some cards to equal things out a bit.

A couple of weeks ago I was a vendor at a crop. During some down time at the crop I was able to get some pages done of my daughter. My daughter is 8 years old, while these pages feature events in her life during her first year. This past Friday I did a scrapbook class for 6 scrapbookers and we made 2 - 12X12 page layouts for a total of 4 pages. The themes were birthday and summer. I will post these pages that feature current Stampin' Up! product within the next couple of days. In the meantime here are the pages of my daughter.

For these pages I used the whimsical alphabet stamp set. I love this set even though it is retired. When the new catalog comes out I am hoping to pick a new favorite. Until then this is the one I will be using. I think it adds a bit of fun to my pages.
























The I'm Up page uses: The current Tea Party designer series paper, along with elegant eggplant, whisper white, and regal rose. I decided to cut holes along the edge of the page and string ribbon through it and then tie a few extra pieces on.

The Hanging With Daddy page uses brocade blue, rose red, and whisper white. I added a jumbo eyelet to the scallop circle. I stamped the rose red paper using a flower from the mixed bouquet stamp set (also retired but I love it!)



























The Our Little Reader page is a favorite of mine. I work as a Reading Specialist, which means books and reading are an important part of my world so I got so much joy watching my little girl as she enjoyed a good little book. Today at 8 she is a child that carries 2 books everywhere we go. Last night we were going on a 3 minute drive to a local carnival....what do you think my little girl ran to get? You got it...2 books for the ride! So...as I look back and remember her as a baby loving books it brings such joy to me to know that, that enjoyment is still a strong part of her life. I hope it continues this way. This page, minus the ribbon, uses all retired product.

This last page, Zoe's first Tooth is simplicity at work:-) One thing I learned from my days with croppers is that I don't have to go all out for every page. I can keep things simple and it can still turn out nicely. For this page, I used whisper white and night of navy. I used some of the cardstock punch outs from the retired Island Blossoms Simply Scrappin kit. I am trying to use some of the retired stuff I have.






Well, I hope that you will enjoy my pages. I have more to come.
Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!



Happy Easter to all who celebrate the day Christ rose again! I am up late getting everything ready for the kids when they wake...and for Easter dinner. We are expecting 15 people...yikes...how did this happen?

On Saturday, I took an opportunity today to sit down with my little ones to review the meaning of Easter and what it is that we are remembering. We read the book featured above by Patricia A. Pingry and then some excerpts from a childrens' bible. I wanted to make sure they weren't just thinking of Easter as an Easter bunny, candy, and gifts. I wanted to ensure that they had the full meaning of Easter and its' initial significance. Growing up I knew nothing of an Easter Bunny who came bearing a basket full of candy and gifts. I grew up with only the knowledge of Christ. My siblings and I dyed our eggs and made our Easter baskets filling them with treats my mom purchased and brought home for us to put into our baskets. We did this together as a family activity. I really enjoyed and fondly remember these moments. Although I wouldn't change how we grew up I enjoy seeing the excited expressions on my children's face.

Just to be clear I don't think there is aything wrong in believing in an Easter bunny but I do want my children to know what came before the bunny AND his eggs.

Happy Easter! I hope you get to spend this special day with your family remembering Him...if this is indeed a holiday of yours.


Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Kiddie Scrapbook Pages







Here are some scrapbook pages that I created to sell at my latest crop. I created a few girlie pages and duplicates of a few boyish pages. I figure these are pages that I could use for my own kids if they didn't sell.






For the girl pages I used the retired Island Blossoms Simply Scrapin' Kit. For the boy pages, I used the retired Toy Box Simply Scrappin' Kit. The girl ones sold right away and most of the boy ones sold. I have two left. I will put pictures of my boys on these and put them right into their scrapbooks.












I enjoy being a vendor at crops for a few reasons. First, I enjoy sharing what I do with others who share my scrapping interest. I also love seeing so much creativity in one space. Additionally, I really enjoy these 12 blocks of hours because I usually get to create some pages for my family so it is indeed a great time all around.







Thanks for stopping by ...now go stamp something!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

A Man In Our Mist...



Last Saturday, I was a vendor, representing Stampin' Up!, at a crop at The Dance Factory in South Jersey. I was there along with, Jennifer, a Close To My heart consultant. She and I had a great time talking to all of the creative scrapbookers. When our day was just starting a young man walked over to our area. Jennifer, the CTMH Consultant, jokingly said to the guy, "Are you here to scrapbook?" His resounding, "Yes," might surprise most as it did us, but let me tell you how refreshing he was. His name is J.D. He and his wife, Jennifer (a different Jennifer) were there scrapbooking together. They came over to my table and made a 6 X 6 make n' take page. They were such a cute couple as they worked on their pages. I want to share what he did with his 6 X 6 page as he built it onto a 12 X 12 page. I am quite impressed with his work. It is a great page! He and Jennifer shared some other pages they created as well and they were equally beautiful.Jennifer is one lucky woman. I am sure his day of cropping with his with scored some major brownie points!

Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Easter Eggs


This card is probably my favorite Easter card that I have stamped thus far. I should have applied some iridescent ice to the eggs to give them some sparkle. I used a stamp set from our Spring mini catalog. There are so many cute stamps and paper between those pages!I also used the Tea Party designer series paper.

This past Saturday I was a vendor at an all day crop, I will have more to share on this very soon.

Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

A Kiddie Birthday!




These cards are two of my favorite of the bunch. They are quick cards for a kids birthday. I had to think really hard of how to arrange the ribbon on the boys card so as to not make it too girlie so I decide to add some twine to "man it up" a bit:-) The ladies enjoyed making these cards last Friday at the Open House.
















The birthday cards were created using The Wild About You stamp set.
cardstock: pretty in pink, whisper white, Tea Party designer series paper OR Bashful Blue, Whisper White, and the Sale-A-Bration designer series paper (can't remember the name)
Ink: Basic Black with Pretty in Pink OR Bashful Blue
Accessories: Regal Rose Ribbon, Brocade Blue, and natural twine

















It amazes me of the amount of creativity people bring to the table when they at first declare that they are not creative. A few ladies looked at these birthday cards and wanted to make a neutral new baby card instead. So as we discussed how we could do it with my limited supplies. Keep in mind this Open House was not at my home. We looked at some of the other cards I had designed for the night and decided to change out one image for another in order to achieve this goal.















The new baby card was created through rearranging the Easter card that I had prepared. By chance I had some extra Certainly Celery cardstock and ink and another stamper created her neutral baby card using those supplies. I regret not having my camera with me...I usually do have it... so I was unable to take a picture of it.











The Easter card was created with the An Egg-cellent Easter stamp set.
Cardstock: Barely Banana, Tea Party designer series paper
Ink: Basic Black, Markers (pretty in pink, certainly celery, barely banana, creamy caramel
Accessories: 1/4" grosgrain celery ribbon






Thanks for stopping by...now go stamp something!