3 Little Bats

Today was one of those cold, rainy,  fall days that are only good for sleeping and stamping. Fortunately, Krista made a brand new sketch to keep me stamping!  :)

If you would like to play along this week with us, here's Krista's Cards & Things Challenges.

This weather reminds me of Halloween.  Although the last few years, we have had nice weather for the kids to go trick or treating. I still am haunted by Halloweens past where we had to wear hats, winter jackets and mittens. 

 For my challenge card this week, I chose the Batty for You stamp set.  I dug out those googlie eyes that I KNEW I needed for a future project.  I need to remember to mention this to my husband.  He was doubting my NEED when I purchased them.  LOL  I have all kinds of craft supply NEEDS.   Can you relate?

Here they are up close!  They are 5mm in case you have a NEED.  I attached them w/ 2 way glue. 

If you would like to make these cards here's the supply list:

Stamp Set: Batty for You
Cardstock: Cajun Craze, Basic Black, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Stampin' Write Basic Black Marker
Accessories: Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Border Punch, Owl Punch (great for small circles), 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" Square Punches, 2 Way Glue (always nice to have), Dimensionals, Frightful Sight dsp

Order now from my online store!

A Little Batty

Happy Fall!  It is officially here in Wisconsin.  The trees are starting to turn and the backyard has more and more leaves on the ground.  This morning as the sun came up and was shining brightly on the trees making them appear golden, I couldn't help but smile.  It's absolutely beautiful.  Don't get me wrong--the first snow, the first robin, and freshly cut hay make me smile too.  Fall is my favorite season.  Oh and it means it's time to make apple crisp and pumpkin bars w/ cream cheese frosting.  YUM!

Today I felt like I was going a little batty.  No no--everything is at it's normal chaotic level in our house.  I meant the stamp set, Batty for You.  It is such a cute little set.  While there was some dust on the case, there was no cobwebs.  BUT there is a web on my card. :)

Supplies needed for this card:
Stamp Set: Batty for You
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Basic Black, Whisper White, Old Olive
Accessories: Frightful Sight dsp, spider web embossing folder, tasteful trim die (A REAL MUST HAVE), scallop circle, 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, Staz-on Black In, dimensionals

My 24/7 Stampin Up! Online Store

If you are a subscriber to my blog, please stop by!  Last night, I uploaded my new blog header.  My blog is no longer PINK.  :)  I made the header using MDS.  With a little guidance from Heather Wright-Porto, it is in place. If you don't have My Digital Studio, check it out.  The uses for it are endless.  AND for those of you who have purchased MDS (you know who you are), and haven't played w/ it yet PLEASE get it out and play a little this weekend.  I will warn you--it's addicting like stamping.  ;) 

Wisteria Sympathy

This morning, I looked out the window. Everything was sort of this odd gray/brown color--the grass, the barn, the truck.  After seeing this, I decided that I must take some time and wash my windows.  I love country living, but the dust from our gravel driveway makes a mess of the windows.  I put window washing on my to-do list.  I am a list maker--without my lists I am lost.  Are you like that?  Do you have lists?

One thing on my list is to get some cards ready for my hostess club ladies and some customers who are asking for card kits, but #1 on my list is this little guy....

with his dirty face and all.  :) He is such a smarty pants.  He is taking up a lot of mom's time right now. Although, he is great at helping mom with all the chores around the house.  Hmmm....I wonder how he'd be at washing windows?

Yesterday while he napped, I made a sympathy card.  It seems that there is always a need for these cards.  Sadly, I'm out again and time to stock up. I used to make just 1 of each card I design. Now I make several of the same kind.

Supplies needed for this card:

Stamp set: Thoughts and Prayers
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Wisteria Wonder
Ink: Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon, Clear Rhinestone Brad, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch

Why wait?  You can order right here and now on my online store!  :)

Snow Much.....

Whoa hold on! What there's another snowman in this set?  I have made so many cards w/ the tall snowman from the set and never considered using this snowman. So not to show any favoritism, I inked him up.   He's kind of a sweet little snowman or maybe a snowgirl all decked out in it's Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette scarf and hat. 

I'm playing along w/ Krista's Cards & Things Challenges.  This is a really fun color combination.  Won't you play along this week?

Sometimes do you find yourself searching for circles that fit well together and make that perfect mat?  Well here's a little trick that will have you searching less and creating more. Instead of mounting your circle in a circle, why not a square?

Here I used my 2 1/2" circle punch and mounted it on a square.  It is actually two squares the top square is embossed w/ the new Snow Burst Embossing Folder from the Holiday Mini and then layered onto another square of the same color about 1/8" bigger to give it a finished look.

Please visit my online store if you would like the products to make this card.

Stamp Set: Snow Much Fun (yep, it has more than one snowman in this set!)
Ink: Staz-on black, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray
Cardstock: Whisper White, Riding Hood Red,
Accessories: Big Shot, Tasteful Trim Die, Snowflake Punch, Snowburst Embossing folder, 2 1/2" circle punch, subtles dsp stack, aqua painters, subtles buttons, baker's twine

Got Ribbon?  Want a little of everything? 

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Christmas is coming...

There's 96 days until Christmas. Oh my!  It's time for me to start thinking about goodies, gifts, and most importantly Christmas Cards.  I have decided to clean out some of my Christmas sets that I have used in the past and sell them.  I have purchased a couple new sets this year and my shelf runneth over.  LOL

 I thought I would give you the option to buy them from my blog before I post them to Ebay on October 1st. **Shipping (only to the US) will be $4.95 for a flat rate envelope +$2 each additional set.

 Tag Line, mounted, like new $12.00 SOLD

 The Snowflake Spot, mounted, mounted, minor staining $10.00 SOLD

 Season's Greetings, mounted, minor staining $12.00  SOLD

 Little Layer's II, mounted, minor staining $3.00

Holiday Blocks, mounted, like new  $4.00

Lovely As An AUTUMN Tree

The weather has certainly cooled down here in Wisconsin the past few days.  There was much scrambling in the mornings before school for a sweatshirt or light jacket after Riley Kate went out and came back in shivering.

  I am finding it hard to get out from under the blankets in the morning. I stick a toe out from under to test the temperature of the house.  Then I quickly pull my toe right back under where it is warm. 

I don't know if your house it like ours, but turning the heat back on in the fall is VERY hard. It's expensive and we can always put on more clothes, right?   I, even w/ much padding, am always cold when the house falls to the 66 degree mark. It is hard to stamp w/ cold hands. BUT don't get me wrong, I will still continue to try.  LOL

Yesterday, to warm up the house I baked.  The house smelled so good. We had some goodies ready when Dani got home last night.  She made the trip halfway across Wisconsin by herself for the first time yesterday. I was a nervous wreck!  She misses home, but likes college. She's losing weight. She insists that college food is not like Mom's.  I wonder how hard it will be to get her back out the door tomorrow.

I had a couple minutes to stamp.  Literally, this card is a "couple minutes card".
I wanted a quick masculine thank you card.  What do you think??  :)

Supplies need to make this card:

Stamp set: Lovely as a Tree

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso

Ink: Old Olive, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso

Accessories: Paper Piercer, Mat Pack, Big Shot, Square Lattice Texturez Folder, Aqua Painter

You can find all the supplies you need in my Online Store.

Ribbon Shares Available

3- 1/8" Taffeta

2-Ruffled Ribbon

2-Scallop Dot

Please contact me at stampiepoo@gmail.com if you are interested.  :)

Spice Cake Backpack

 I thought that September being back to school would be a great month to make backpacks w/ my Hostess Club.   I used the new Spice Cake dsp from the Holiday Mini and Early Espresso cardstock.

I made this little backpack using a tutorial I found online.

Tutorial

It took me awhile to get this little cutie together, BUT if you read the tutorial and don't just go setting eyelets and taping things together, it will probably go much faster for you.  I have no patience.  You can ask my mom, she'd tell you all about it.  (Oh the stories she'd tell you!)

Once I stopped and looked the tutorial over, it was pretty easy. 

NOTE:  This tutorial calls for 6 eyelets.  Luckily, my stash is well stocked. Sadly, SU! no longer sells them. You could make it without eyelets, but be gentle pulling your ribbon through.  :) 

Happy 1st Birthday, Shannon!

My great-niece, Shannon had her very 1st birthday party this past weekend.  She sent me the cutest invite to her party w/ a number 1 on it.  I decided I had to make a number 1 (and polka dots, because they are my favorite) on her birthday card.

It just so happens that Krista over at Cards & Things Challenges had a color challenge made especially for little girls' birthday parties.  PINK!!!  Well I guess this challenge can be used for a lot of different cards, because I'm definitely NOT a little girl and I love the colors.  :)

Here's Shannon's card after a lot of trimming and measuring and trimming again. 

The number 1 is the front of the card.

I punched Rose Red, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso circles and glued them on Pretty in Pink cardstock. Then I ran it through the big shot. TIP: Embossing with the lattice square does change your cardstock size. I start out a little bigger than what I need so I can trim down to the correct size.

 

Here's the card opened up.

 

I cut my embossed background and inserted a white piece of cardstock behind the number 1 to write a note to Shannon.

 Ribbon Shares are available again. 

 For more information, click here.

Something Old... Something New

I know the last few days I have been showing you a lot of retired dsp.  I'm not doing it to tease you.  LOL--well maybe a little.  No really, I am just excited to be clearing out space so that I can buy the new BEAUTIFUL dsp that SU! has in their Idea Book & Catalog and Holiday Mini right now.  I have bought a few, but there's always another that I fall in love w/ after seeing other stampers use it.

This morning, I got up early and spent a couple hours down in the stampin' room before anyone woke up.  It is my favorite time of the day. 

I found some retired Autumn Spice dsp hanging out on my shelf and decided to make some cards.  In fact, I got carried away-so I have a handful to sell. 

Then I made basically the same card using BRAND SPANKIN' NEW dsp!  I absolutely love the Spice Cake dsp from the Holiday Mini.  Isn't it pretty?  It also matches the Day of Gratitude stamp set.

I'm not sure which one I like better.  How about you?

Winter Card Request...

A group of ladies called me and asked if I could make them up some cards.  They wanted some winter cards to start.  That's NO PROBLEM!  :)  I went down in my stash and found the absolutely adorable retired Frosty Days DSP and went to work on some cards. 



I used the snowman card that I posted this morning as my template for these cards.  Which was even quicker, because I had all the dimensions right there in front of me.  

I laid out my dsp, choose which patterns I wanted where and got busy cutting.  

How I choose my dsp:

I don't know if this is how you choose what piece goes where, but this is how I do it.

For my background dsp (the dsp closest to the base), I choose a more solid dsp. Personally, I like a more subtle dsp for my background.
Then for my mat dsp (the dsp closest to my image), I tend to choose something a little more colorful and a little more busy.

Here are close-ups of my cards.  Which one do you like best? 

It's Friday!  The weather this weekend is supposed to be beautiful.  That's good news--we need to mow the yard.  It is hard to tell the difference between the hayfield and the yard.  I don't mind mowing.  In fact, I would much rather mow than do dishes. The yard takes a week to get long, but there always seems to be dishes. :)

Last night, I started cleaning up my stampin' room. It was such a mess that you couldn't even walk through it.  I have a bad habit of just setting things on the floor once the table is full.  I had a PILE of cardstock and dsp scraps that needed to be filed away.  Once I sat down and started it didn't take me long and it was sure nice to stamp in a cleaner (notice I didn't say clean! LOL) room. I found some retired dsp that was just begging to be made into cards.

Once upon a time long long ago.  I won a sampling of Ski Slope dsp on someone's blog.  I was so excited.  It is such pretty paper.  It was so pretty  in fact,  that I have hoarded it for years.  I used it here w/ the snowman from the Snow Much Fun stamp set. Maybe it's a good thing I am a hoarder, look how nice the look together.

Using a sketch from the CAS blog again, I made a couple more cards.  I have multiple packages of Walk in the Park dsp.  Hmmmm... how did that happen?  LOL 

I love this card!  I brought out my stash of Coral Cameo retired CS. Yep, just as pretty as I remembered and still looks good w/ Basic Gray.

I hope you get some time to stamp today!  :)

It's Time...

I can't believe that the summer past by so quickly, but I am really excited about the start of some things... 

The first thing that I am excited about is the return of the Cards & Things Challenges.  If you are a new follower to my blog, once a week I will show you my entry for Krista's sketch/color challenge. 

This week, Krista has a BOLD color challenge for us. It is a great jumpstart for my sluggish mojo that is still in summer mode.  

Here's my card.  I made this card with teenage girls in mind.  What do you think?

I used Love & Care Level 2 hostess set from the recently retired Summer Mini. If you take a peek through the current Idea Book & Catalog, there are A LOT of flowers that would work great for this card.

The sentiment is a Hostess Set from the new Catalog called Happy Birthday Wishes. With the new Hostess program they are available to anyone (yep, there is a price after each one) or you could just contact me and have your own workshop and earn it.  ;)

It's also time for TOMATOES!  Riley Kate and I spent Labor Day canning tomatoes.  We put up 34 quarts.  I can't hardly wait until our first cool fall day to make a pot of chili!  Okay--maybe I can wait! Brrrrrr!  What are your favorite cold weather comfort foods? Do you preserve fruits and veggies?

Also, I have spots open for my ribbon shares.  Please contact me if you are interested.

1/8" Taffeta -2 spots

Scallop Dot-3 spots

Ruffled In Color-2 spots

For more information regarding my ribbon shares click here.

Dani's College Send Off

This weekend, we packed up Dani and drove 2 1/2 hours to Carthage College. It is such a beautiful campus.  I can't blame Dani for falling in love w/ it.  If I were 18 again and visited Carthage, I would have wanted to attend too.

Sunday was a beautiful day here in Wisconsin--sunny and cooler.  It was a perfect day to move a TRUCKLOAD of Dani's things up two floors.  Luckily, a muscular boy met us on the curb, asked what hall and room she was in, bent down and bear hugged Dani's fridge and took off w/ it.  It was there waiting for us when we got to her room.  :)

 We took Riley Kate w/ us to see her sister off.   It was very hard on her. Although there are 5 years between the girls, they are very close.  When it was time to leave there was lots of tears.  Even Terry had a really rough time saying goodbye.  I sniffled and did a lot of boohooing for many many miles.  I am such a softy anyway... 

Here's Dani's home away from home.  I pray that she will be happy and successful and that Thanksgiving comes quickly and she will come home and see her old mom.

Birthday Blog Candy Winners

Thank you for all the wonderful birthday wishes!  It has been a pretty nice day.  This is the last day we have with Dani before she heads off to college tomorrow.  I'm hoping after a couple days of crying hysterically (yep, my first to leave the nest), I get back to doing some stamping. 

Here are the winners of my birthday blog candy!

The winner of Afterthoughts is:

Debby said...

Well my dear, Happy 39!! This year I was 29 next year I will be 28, heehee. Hope you have a wonderful Birthday and all your wishes come true, so whatcha wishin' for?? Truthfully I am 51 and somedays feel it very much other days not so much, I guess I never grew up and not sure I want to. LOL

I don't have either of those stamp sets so it would be great either one.

Enjoy your day my friend
angel hugs
Debby

The winner of Happy Moments is:

Kay said...

Hi and Happy Birthday to you!!! I agree with Pam-it's only a number and only you have control of how "old" you feel!!

I'll be celebrating with my family and they usually take me out to dinner. Either set would be fine. How nice of YOU to give us the "gift". Thanks for having such a fun blog! Hugs Kay

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