Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

Kindred Dads stamp line preview!!!

GinaK has done it again!

Remember the Kindred Spirits line of stamps that Gina came out with last month? Well, she's now added a Kindred Dads line to compliment it!

I was SO excited when I saw this line of stamps because I know I can use every one of them!

Gina has a few of the girls on her design team doing a preview of this special line and you can check out the list of those girls, PLUS Gina's own preview project, over at Gina's Blog.

When Gina asked us girls what stamps we wanted to help preview, I knew I HAD to preview the "Hiking with Dad" image.

My Davy is a born nature lover. He adores being out on the mountains and has hiked most of the high peaks in the Adirondacks (just over the border in New York) and has done all of the big mountains here in Vermont. He's hiked a couple of volcanoes. He hikes in the middle of the winter, with his snowboard on his back and boards back down the mountain. He hiked up Mt. Abraham here in Vermont with Girly strapped to his back and Zach strapped to the front (when they were much younger, of course). He's sat on top of one of the high peaks to eat his lunch in -30 degree weather, only to get half way through his sandwich before it froze in his hands. The man is a hiking powerhouse. I love that about him.

We do a lot of hiking as a family....we always have. But Davy also does a lot by himself, too, since some of the mountains he picks are a bit too much for the kids and myself to handle. The kids have SO many memories already of hiking with us and Zach and Davy even go out on hikes by themselves. I just find that so special. They've learned so much from hiking with their dad. He's taught them about different plants, how to look for tracks, how to read trail signs, etc. These kids love being outdoors just as much as we do.

I know that this stamp is going to come in really handy for the kids making cards for their dad, to use on scrapbook pages of our hiking trips, for mini books and SO much more!

I wanted to create a card that reflected the ruggedness of the outdoors. I went with a faux-wood look on Creamy Caramel cardstock. I really love texture, so I used my distressing tool on the edges of my cardstock layers to rough them up a bit.

All of my cardstock layers were swiped with the same color ink as the cardstock (except for the Kraft cardstock, which was swiped with Creamy Caramel ink).

I adhered a length of green and brown striped ribbon to my Old Olive layer for some extra color.

My image was stamped on Kraft cardstock with Versamark ink and embossed with black embossing powder.

I didn't want to color in my image with colors, as I didn't want to compete with the colors in the ribbon. I wanted the card to stay muted and earthy looking. I used a little bit of bleach gel from a Clorox bleach pen and a paintbrush to paint the gel onto the image. I actually had to do a second coat and use the heat gun on it to bring out the whiteness, but I'm thinking it could be because my bleach pen is a couple years ago and might not be as potent as a new one would be.

I mounted stamped image on top of a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock and then mounted that on top of the card with pop-dots for dimension.

The greeting at the bottom of the card comes from Gina's new set, "Kindred Greetings for Him." This is a fantastic companion set to all of the great new Kindred Dads stamps. It'll be released along with all of the other new sets on Tuesday night, the 20th, over at Gina's Forum from 7-10 pm Central Time.

I stamped the greeting on Creamy Caramel cardstock with Versamark ink and embossed it with black embossing powder then swiped the cardstock with Creamy Caramel ink. I tore the end of the strip and mounted it onto the card base. I added a mini green brad at the end to carry over the green color scheme from up top.

Here's a picture that I took last fall at the top of Cascade Mountain, which is one of the 46 High Peaks in the Adirondack Mountains over in New York.

Davy, Zach and Girly were enjoying a relaxing moment at the top, while Davy pointed out different things in the landscape below. Those kids hang onto every word he says.

As always, you can click on any of the pictures in my posts for a larger view.

Have a wonderful week!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Scrapbook page - My Greatest Works of Art

A couple months ago, I was reflecting on the things that I've accomplished in my life.

I don't have a college degree. I never actually went to college. I don't have a high profile career. After almost 11 years of marriage, I'm still living in a house that we don't own. I'm not independently wealthy.
Some people might look at that list and find it extremely disappointing.

For myself, though, those are things that I don't measure my life's accomplishments by.

Believe it or not, right up until I met my husband, I was bound and determined to be a spinster. I was not interested in finding a man to love. I was not interested in getting married. I was certainly not interested in ever having children. Funny how meeting the "right one" can change so many things that I was dead-set against. My husband calls that an "act of God." haha!

When I think about my accomplishments, I think about the things that define my life and make it what it is.

I'm a wife and a mom. I met my husband when I was 19. I was married at the age of 20. I was pregnant with my first child at the age of 21 and gave birth at the age of 22. I was pregnant again, 4 1/2 months later, while still at the age of 22 and gave birth to my second child at the age of 23. So much of what I am and what I feel have been some of my greatest accomplishments happened in those 4 short years. I have no regrets and wouldn't change a thing.

I look at my children and know, without a shadow of a doubt, that no matter what I may accomplish in life, these two beauties will always stand as my two greatest works of art. They are my finest accomplishments. They are what I am most proud of.

And to think.....at one time, I didn't even want to have kids. Silly me. I didn't realize then that I had two pieces of artwork, just waiting, patiently, to come to life.

My children look through the scrapbooks I've created, but I don't think they quite understand what they mean to me. As time goes on, though, I know it will eventually take hold and they'll see, through pages like these, how much I really love them. How much I absolutely adore them. How proud I am of them. That they make up part of who I am - part of my being-, just as much as they, themselves, are intricately wrapped up in their own being.

For me, scrapbooking is more than just pictures, artwork and words. It's a living legacy. It's something that reflects what's in my soul. I bear my feelings on my pages. I share my heart. I say the things I'm really thinking. I've long since given up trying to hide the real me on my pages. If I hide myself, I'm leaving just the surface for those that come after me. The top layer. My legacy is all of me. Every layer. The top, the bottom and everything in between. I want it all to be seen. I want it all to be understood.

Most of the time on my blog, you see cards and gift items. While I love making cards and gifty sorts of things, my passion lies in creating a photographic, creative and soulful legacy behind for those I love the most. Scrapbooking is not a hobby for me. The word, "hobby," doesn't even begin to touch what scrapbooking is for me. It's a passion, a privilege and, even more, I feel that it is a responsibility for me. I enjoy it, though. It's not a responsibility that I feel burdened by. It encompasses my 3 favorite creative outlets: writing, papercrafting and photography. How can a girl like me not be passionate about something like scrapbooking?

The photos on this page were taken by one of my best friends, Jen (from The Family Room Studio). She took them last May here at our home. They are some of my favorites from that shoot. I love the classic and timeless look of black and white photos. I have the portrait of the two of them together on a big 16 x 20 canvas, hanging in my living room. Sometimes I find myself standing in front of it, just staring at it.

I printed out my journaling, double spacing the lines, and then cut it into strips and adhered it to my page.

My journaling reads:

Sometimes I find myself staring at my kids. I just can't help myself. There's an old Chinese proverbs that says, "There's only one beautiful child in the world and every mother has it." In my case, though, there's actually only two beautiful children in the world and I happen to have both of them. When I think about the accomplishments in my life, my thoughts rest on my kids. They truly are my two greatest works of art.

I used a piece of Basic Grey paper for my base page (from the Motifica line.....LOVE that line!). The cardstock letter tiles are from Scenic Route. I criss-crossed some staples on the word, "art." I also used staples on either side of the word, "my," at the top of the page. I anchored the ribbon with silver mini brads. I smudged some deep red ink onto the Real Red grosgrain ribbon to distress it and match the red letter tiles. I also swiped some deep red ink onto some Real Red cardstock, then stamped two hearts (from the Love you to Pieces set - which benefits autism awareness) onto the cardstock with Versamark ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I cut out the hearts and mounted them in the corner of the page, mounting one of them with pop-dots for some added dimension.

The black photo turns that hold down the words, "works of," are from Joanne's. I stamped those words with the Simple Type alphabet set (from SU, now retired). I inked around the edge of the cardstock with Basic Black ink.

I used a Hero Arts small alphabet set for my kids' names. I stamped them on strips of white cardstock and then punched them out with the Word Window punch from Stampin' Up. I slid the punched out words back into the punch so that I could get a smaller "pill sized" piece of paper. And for the record, my daughter's name (yes, she DOES have a name other than "Girly") is pronounced "Ee-LEE-za," which is the German pronunciation and also happens to be my grandmother's name.

The glass hearts were from Michael's and I got them years ago. I've slowly been using up the stash that I've been hoarding for so long. Honestly, they look MUCH better decorating my scrapbook pages than sitting in my bins, collecting dust. The red brads were a dollar store find.

Have a lovely evening!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Bake it, Make it & Take it.....Muffins with a Paper lunch bag package!

With all the running around I did last week to pick up the doggy, then try to find him a new home, plus having the kids off of school for two days, I didn't get a chance to put up a new Bake it, Make it & Take it Post. In fact, I didn't get much done last week at all.....that's how crazy it was.

Yesterday, I was feeling the urge to have my house smell like baked goods and to have something with my morning chai, so I whipped up a quick batch of muffins. Zach and I both got to share them, as he's been home for two days with pink-eye. He'll be able to go back to school tomorrow, but he and I have shared muffins and chai for breakfast for the past two days. That kid loves that combo just as much as I do. He's a boy after my own stomach. *wink*

One thing my dad always taught me is that there's no calories in something if you eat it standing up. Now...whether you choose to believe that or not is entirely up to you. I like to think that if I make my muffins with organic flour and unrefined sugar, I don't have to worry about all the guilt. A muffin is only as guilt-free as you like to think it is. haha!

To make these muffins, you can use my mom's recipe here: Basic Muffin Recipe

(and if you haven't checked out my mom's blog yet, you can see it by clicking here ---> Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases.....she's amazing and will make you drool just looking at all of the amazing things she creates in her little sailboat)

Paper lunch bags have become some of my favorite things to dress up. They're inexpensive and they fun to decorate.

I started off with a plain paper lunch bag and cut a few inches off the top. I then folded the top of the bag over about 1 1/4 inches. I trimmed across the edge with a pair of scalloped edge scissors.

I used a stamping sponged with Chocolate Chip ink to sponge around the edge of the bag (just on the front side of the bag), along with the flap that I had folded over.

I used my circle cutter to cut out a hole in the center of the bag front and then sponged around the hole with Chocolate Chip ink, as well.

I have that big box of acetate that my friend, Susan, gave me and this came in really handy for making a window in the hole that I cut. I just applied some adhesive around the square of acetate and then slid it into place and adhered it up against the inside of the bag.

I used one of the flower bouquets from the Framed Flowers set (from GinaK Designs) and stamped that around the bag with Chocolate Chip ink.

For the "guilt free" image, I used one of the stamps from the What's in Your Tin? set 2 (also from GinaK Designs). This image actually reads, "guilt-free goodies." I chose to only use the "guilt-free" so I used my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker to ink up the words I wanted and then stamped it on a scrap piece of Pretty in Pink cardstock. I trimmed the bottom of the cardstock with scalloped edged scissors and then mounted it on a scrap piece of Creamy Caramel cardstock, which I also trimmed with my scalloped scissors.

When I put the muffin inside the bag, I set it on top of a crumpled up piece of white tissue paper just to give it some filler inside the bag. I also placed a piece of waxed paper underneath just in case the bottom of the muffin cup was a little greasy. I didn't want there to be grease spots on the bottom of the bag. 

I trimmed along the edge of a piece of Pretty in Pink cardstock with my scalloped edged scissors and then lined it up against the edge of the bag top so that the scallops lined up. I made it a bit longer so that I could trim the sides after I'd adhered it.

I fold the bag top down and then punched a couple of holes with the rectangle hand punch (I punched one on top of the other so that it made a longer slot) and then threaded a length of brown and pink ribbon through the front of the bag. I crossed the ends on the back side of the bag and then ran then ends back through the holes. This created a "faux bow." I trimmed my edges and adjusted them a little so that they laid flat across the flap of the bag.

This bag didn't take much time at all and the cardstock that I used on it were all scrap pieces. This packaging probably cost me all of 10 cents to make! Talk about quick and cost effective, but attractive packaging!

Happy Creating!

 

-Stampin' Mama

Embossed backgrounds and a color challenge for myself....

I can't remember the last time I used Brilliant Blue ink. Ages. Maybe more. I challenged myself to break out this color, plus another color I don't use much of and put them together. Green Galore.

It's ironic that I used to be SO into the Bold Brights palette years ago when I first started stamping (that was 7 years ago) and now....well, they scare me. Especially particular colors like Green Galore and Brilliant Blue. I just never seem to think of them or use them much.

It was time to go outside of my comfort zone today.

I started off with Green Galore for the cardstock and stamped one of the ovals from Kitchen Sink Stamp's Playful Ovals set over the cardstock with Versamark ink. I embossed them with Clear embossing powder for a tone-on-tone effect. I stamped some of the small arrows that come in the same set around and inside the ovals with Brilliant Blue ink.

That's where I got stuck. I had made this awesome background that I just couldn't bear to cover up. I wracked my brain a little to see what I could come up with because I certainly didn't want to leave it that way. I suppose I could have but I wanted to push myself a bit more.

I stamped the same oval on a piece of Whisper White cardstock with a combination of Versmark ink and Brilliant Blue ink. Okay.....I know that sounds confusing, so let me explain. I wanted to have an embossed image, but I don't have the Brilliant Blue ink in Craft ink form. I knew that if I stamped it on the cardstock with a dye-based ink (the Classic Pad) nothing would have stuck to it. So.....I stamped my image first onto a Versamark pad and THEN onto the Brilliant Blue ink pad. This gave me the stickiness of the Versmark pad and the color of the Brilliant Blue pad, but it didn't ruin my pad. I sprinkled the image with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heated it. This gave it the look of embossing with the sparkle of glitter that I love so much.

I used my oval cutter to trim an oval out of the center and then trimmed around the image with my scalloped edge scissors. I matted it on a piece of Tempting Turquoise cardstock, which I also trimmed with my scalloped edged scissors. I tied a couple pieces of black gingham ribbon around the sides and finished them off with double knots. This got mounted on top of a strip of Whisper White cardstock that I trimmed with scalloped edge scissors and also sponged with Brilliant Blue ink.

I stamped the word, "smile," (from the Never a Loss 4 words set) across the Whisper White cardstock with Brilliant Blue ink.

Ta-da!

Now that I've done this background on a card, I think it would look awesome on a whole piece of 12 x 12 cardstock, as background paper for a scrapbook page.

Make sure to check in tomorrow.....I baked yummy muffins today and I'll have a new Bake it, Make it & Take it post

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Spring Blooms watercolored card....

I realized last night that I haven't been able to put much up on my blog lately with all that's been going on. I needed to stamp to get some creative energy out. With Mother's Day approaching, I wanted to make something "mothery" (yes, that's a word because I said so). *wink*

I chose to work with GinaK's Spring Blooms set.

I recently got some of the new "Afternoon Tea" Designer Series paper (SU) and thought it would look so feminine and old fashioned with the rose in the Spring Blooms set.

I started off by swiping my Groovy Guava cardbase with the same color ink pad. Then I started layering a few different pieces of the patterned paper together, overlapping them.

This paper has such a nice distressed look to it already that it kind of felt wrong not to distress the edges after I cut it. I used my distressing tool from the Cutter Kit to rough up the edges.

The big gold brushed brads were also from GinaK......a freebie that she offered a couple releases ago. They have a nice victorian look that matched so well with the patterned paper and distressed look.

For the rose, I colored directly onto the rubber stamp with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons. I used Cameo Coral and Ruby Red on the rose and Certainly Celery and Old Olive on leaves and stem. I then spritzed my stamp with what I THOUGHT was water. I realized after I'd spritzed the stamp that I spritzed it with my rubbing alcohol/Pearl Ex mixture. Because there was Lavender Pearl Ex in the rubbing alcohol, it gave the Cameo Coral that I had colored onto the rose a little bit of a different color. I actually like how it turned out.

I stamped the image onto a piece of watercolor paper while the stamp was still wet from the spritzer  and let it dry. I punched it out with the Giga Oval Scalloped punch and then sponged around the scalloped edge with Groovy Guava ink and a stamping sponge.

You can just barely see it on this picture here, but there IS glitter on the leaves and the rose. With all of the patterns going on in the papers, I felt like the stamped image needed something a little more. I actually haven't used much glitter the past few weeks, which is really unusual for me. It was nice to take it back out again and use it.

I wrapped a vanilla organdy ribbon around the card and secured the ends on top of the blue patterned paper. The stamped image is mounted on top of the card with pop-dots.

The stamped greeting in the bottom right corner of the card also comes from the Spring Blooms set and it was stamped with Basic Brown ink. This stamp set has a lot of possibilities with female greetings. You can mix and match so many of them. There's even a mother-in-law stamp! Those are hard to find!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

A weird and crazy week.....

It's been a crazy week here.

On Sunday, we had planned on picking up our new dog at the airport here in Vermont. Some complications came up with the airline and instead, he flew out from Kentucky to Albany, NY and I drove the 2 1/2 hours down to pick Natchez up (he's an Airedale Terrier).

In the meantime, we've realized that he's just not a good fit for a family with children (that's the short story and one I'd rather not go into any more than that right now) and as much as it breaks our heart to have to find him a new home, we were able to find a home for him in Oneonta, NY with a wonderful lady with 5 female Airedales. Natchez still has his "bait and tackle" and he'll be the only "man" in the house, so to speak. It's a good life for a male dog with all those pretty girly dogs. He'll have lots of beautiful puppies!

It's been a really odd week and I've been living on small amounts of sleep and stress.

On Sunday, we'll be making the 6 hour round trip to bring Natchez to his new home. I really wish that we could keep him, but circumstances have prevented that. He'll be well loved and happy at the new farm he's going to, though, and that makes me glad.

In the meantime, I'm making sure to give him lots of love.

"The Soulology Project" Weekend Scrapbooking Course

A creative scrapbooking retreat that will take you on your own personal and artistic journey....

When: October 3-5, 2008 (Friday through Sunday)

Where: Mount Joy, PA (Lancaster County)

This retreat is a weekend packed full of surprises, discoveries and artistic expression. It's more than a weekend about just YOU......it's about leaving a lasting legacy ABOUT YOU.

Click here to view all the details: The Soulology Project 2008

Kitchen Sink Stamps Sale and Video!

Kitchen Sink Stamps is having a sale from May 7-10 in celebration of National Scrapbooking Month and Mother's Day!

You can save 10% on your entire purchase by using the promotion code: MOM

And if you want to see KSS stamps in action, make sure you check out ScrapTime at 10:30 pm Eastern Time TONIGHT (May 6th). You can watch a 3-4 minute video on how to use these amazing stamps!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Sharp Contrast - a very personal scrapbook page

I thought that for today, I would share a scrapbook page that was born out of my soul. This page is very personal to me and shows a part of me that not many people know existed at one time.

The past is hard to escape for some of us. For some, it's easier to remember than it is for others. But no matter what our past holds, it is an intricate part of us and whether or not we choose to remember or embrace it, we can't deny that it makes us who we are today.

As much as part of my past is painful for me to look back on, I have chosen to embrace the parts that make me the person I have become today. When I look at who I am now, I know that none of it would be possible without having to walk through the fires of the past. It's not that I necessarily embrace the past, so to speak, but I embrace the results of the journey.

I have found that scrapbooking my past and the things that I've guarded close to my soul (my thoughts, my feelings, my wounds, my victories.....) have helped to heal me. It's been a therapeutic process. Very eye-opening and strengthening. While I know that much of this seems vague without knowing the path of my past, I'm hoping that seeing this page will help some of you to dig a little deeper into knowing who you are and why you ARE who you are. It's amazing what photos, paper, adhesive and embellishments can do for the soul.

I'll definitely share more of my pages like this because I've come to the point in my life where I want to share who I really am.....to let people see past the surface, past who I am now and to see what has shaped me and molded me to the person you see today. I'm in no way trying to make myself sound extraordinary. In fact, I find myself extraordinarily ordinary. I just feel the need to share and hope that others might find my story worth reading. I went back and forth on whether or not to share this in such a public place, but the time is right.

This page may look like there's a lot to it, but in reality, it was very easy to put together. I cut out letters from magazines for the title and adhered them to my base page, after swiping my White craft ink pad across the page. The flower embellishment is made from three prima flowers stacked together and secured with a mega rhinestone (from GinaK). I used some alphabet tiles for my "now" and "then" across the bottom of each photo. A length of silver ribbon separates the top and bottom photos and journaling.

I printed off my journaling and then cut it into strips. I adhered them to my page (my base paper is a piece of 12 x 12 paper from Basic Grey's Motifica line), separated with silver mini brads to keep each point separate. If you read the journaling on top and then on bottom, you'll soon see that each point up top corresponds with a point in the bottom journaling.

I wanted this page to be carried by the photos and the journaling. These were the things that were most important to me.....just like all of the pages that I create. The embellishments, to me, should support the theme, not necessarily carry it.

The top photo is a picture that I took of myself.....kind of as a mistake. I was actually going to delete the picture and then started to play with it in Photoshop and really liked the outcome. It was taken in February of this year and I found that it really shows who I am today.

The picture below was taken when I was 17. It was taken at a homeschool conference that my family went to in MA.

(You can click on any of the pictures for a larger view.)

The journaling reads:

Sharp Contrast

NOW
* When I smile, I feel it inside.
* I'm strong inside and out.
* I'm free to be me.
* I've found joy in my locks and letting them show, I'm comfortable in my own skin and my spirit has found its wings.
* I know who I really am. I broke free from the shackles and in finding strength, I feel like I've been birthed anew.

THEN
* When I smiled, I felt like I was dying inside.
* I was searching for strength.
* I was repressed and made to be someone else.
* I was forced to cover my head, my body, my spirit.
* I felt like I was a prisoner in my own body, like I had been stripped of who I was really meant to be.

"What you need to know about the past it is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now." - Author Unkown

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Sorry to scare some of you.......heehee

Apparently I scared a few of you with the new picture of myself in my side bar at the top of my blog. It seems that some of you are very attached to my dreads. :) I got some emails telling me that my picture was nice but asked if I'd cut off my dreads.

Nope.....they're still there. I have no plans on getting rid of them any time soon. They're still firmly attached to my head.

I clean up pretty good, don't I? *wink*

I just had them tied back for the photo you see at the top of my blog. When you look at that picture, it hardly looks like I have them, but I assure you they're there.

<--- This picture was taken on the same day (a very warm day....unlike the cold and wet ones we've been having lately) See? There they are!

I have loose fly-away hair mixed in with my dreads and eventually (or so I tell myself), I'll get the roots some maintenance and have the loose hair hooked in. Who knows.....we'll see. I like the look of having dreads and fly-aways going on, which is probably why I haven't done anything about it. Hard to believe that they've come up on their 20 month birthday today. It hardly seems possible that they were created almost 2 years ago.

It also seems hardly possible, but yes, I really am top-heavy! haha!

We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow......we're adding a new member to the family. We'll be picking him up at the airport tomorrow night.

Have a great night and a wonderful weekend!

(you can click on the pictures for a larger and MORE scary view!)

-Erika

Bake it, Make it & Take it.....Cookies in a see-through box!

Wow......the week in between last week's Bake it, Make it & Take it post and this week's seemed to fly by! I certainly don't mind baking another round of sweet goodies in my kitchen, though. You'll never hear me complain about that!

For this week's BIMITI post, my mom (Donna, from Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases) gave me her fabulous recipe for White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies.

Now, before I begin telling you all about this project, I'm going to admit (confess??) a couple of things.

1) I've never been a fan of white chocolate. I know a lot of people LOVE white chocolate, but I have tried and tried, since I was a kid, to like it but I just can't. It's like a food item that wants so badly to be chocolate, it strives to be like chocolate, it even calls itself "chocolate" but it will never be chocolate. I feel like a traitor to real chocolate if I eat white chocolate.  But besides that, I've never really "acquired the taste" for white chocolate.

2) I love my mom's recipe, but seeing that I don't care much for white chocolate, I tweaked the recipe to suit my tastes. First off, I cut the recipe in half. As much as I love cookies and as much as I thought I would lose weight with my mom living on her boat 5 hours away and not giving me tons of yummy treats to eat, I STILL find myself getting a bit tight in the waistband. I knew that if I made a WHOLE batch, I'd eat all of them! haha! Instead of doing white chocolate, I poured an entire bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips into the batch and I substituted chopped pecans for the macadamia nuts. I've had a hankering for pecans (I only like them in baked goods, never raw.....wow, I'm picky!) so I threw in a whole bag of those, as well.

So, now that I've gotten my confessions out of the way, it's on to telling you all about my snazzy little see-through box that I made for these cookies.

By the way, my mom's recipe is one of the butteriest tasting cookie recipes you'll ever try! They just melt in your mouth!

On Tuesday night, one of the girls in my downline (*waves to Susan*) brought me a box of transparency sheets that her company was throwing out. A WHOLE BOX! Since Stampin' Up stopped carrying their Window Sheets, I've been voraciously hoarding my little bits, pieces and scraps of window sheets. Now, I have a whole box of 100 sheets that I can use and they're thick, sturdy and clear! Well, make that 98 sheets because I used two for this project. But.....who's counting, eh? *wink*

Now, the wheels in my head are turning a mile a minute coming up with all sorts of fascinating and brilliant ideas on how to use these sheets. A small part of me feels that "hoarding instinct" kick in and makes me want to put the box away under lock and key, but I'm breaking free from that! haha!

For this box, I used a basic origami box design. One of the things that I do differently with my boxes is that I don't fold corner to corner like it shows in the directions. When you do that, you get two cross-ways creases on the flat part of the box. What I do is find the center point of the paper with a rule and draw an "X" in the center. I use that as my center point to fold my corners in to. With a transparency, you can't really do that, so I used a marker that would wipe off of the transparency and put a dot in the center point (which I found with a ruler) and used that dot to fold my corners into. This way, you avoid having creases on your box top. You especially don't want them on a transparency box top because it would really show and "peak" up on the creases.

I cut my box bottom at 8 x 8 inches and my box top was cut just a bit larger, at 8 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches.

I know that the Apple Cider Designer Series paper is retired, but I just can't help myself from using it when it comes to packages with cookies in them. The colors seem to go so well with chocolate chips.

I cut a strip at 12 inches long and adhered it around the sides of the box top. It was just long enough to reach all the way around and overlap slightly at the ends.

Because I used double-sided paper, I didn't end up with a boring white border showing through the inside of the box. I got a second pattern on the inside! How cool is that? Sometimes I feel like I'm wasting paper if I'm covering up an equally awesome pattern when I adhere it to a card. At least with this little box, I get to see BOTH sides of the paper! Yes, I'm easily amused! *wink* Honestly, it doesn't really take much.

I didn't go overboard with decorating my box because I didn't want to cover up those beautiful cookies inside. I was able to fit two cookies in the box, though you could start with a larger sized piece of paper if you wanted to fit a few more cookies in there.

I tied a length of Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon around the box and crossed over it on the bottom and then tied a big bow on top. I trimmed the ends of my ribbon on an angle for a nice, clean look.

I made a tag to go on top of my box.....and in the top picture of this post, the angle of the picture makes the tag look HUGE, but it's not really that huge!

I stamped the words "I made this just for you," (from the What's in your Tin 1 set from GinaK Designs) on to a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock. To get the different colored words, I colored directly onto the rubber stamp with Chocolate Chip and Really Rust Stampin' Write Markers (from Stampin' UP). Those brush tip markers work fantastically on rubber!

I rounded opposite corners with a corner rounder punch and did the same thing with a larger piece of patterned paper from the Apple Cider pack. I used my paper piercing tool, template and mat (from the Crafters' Tool Kit) to pierce some holes in the corners of the cardstock for some visual interest. I then mounted the greeting on top of the patterned paper, then punched a hole in the top left corner with my 1/8 inch hole punch. I threaded a piece of the new Chocolate Chip (see? that color was MEANT for projects with cookies!) Poly-Twill ribbon (found in the Occasions Mini Catalog) through the hole and then tied that in a double knot over the center of the knot on the Very Vanilla grosgrain bow.

Don't those cookies look amazing? Yes, I had one for breakfast, complete with a cup of chai to wash it down. Like my dad would call it, "The breakfast of champions!" Champion of what, I'm not sure, but it sure was YUMMY!

And just to tempt you even more, here's a picture of some of those yummy cookies on a plate:

You can find my mom's recipe for these cookies here:

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

Now, I'm hankering for some Hot cross buns......I might actually get up the courage to make some of those today. I don't do well with bread doughs (unless it's a quick bread recipe), so we'll see how they turn out. If they don't turn out so well, I can see why they'd be totally cross. :)

Happy Creating and Baking!

-Stampin' Mama

 

Gratitude decorated hanging coaster.....

Last week, I made a Decorated hanging coaster with the Ginger Blossom Designer Series paper and square coasters and last night, at my downline meeting, we made decorated coasters with the round coasters.

I had one extra set of supplies cut from last night, so I decided to tweak the design a little bit and do another one.

(You can click on both of the pictures in this post for a larger view.)

For this coaster, I used paper from the Porcelain Prints Designer Series paper (Stampin' UP). I sanded around the edges with fine grade sandpaper to give it a distressed look.

I had some strips left over of one of the papers with the leaves on it and thought they would come in useful as embellishments on the blue patterned paper I covered the coaster with. I cut three of the leaf images out and then adhered them along the edges of the coaster and trimmed them. I sanded over the edges of those, as well.

Oh......I've had a few people email to ask where they can get coasters. You can find them at Stamp On This. I've bought from them many times and they're always very quick to ship and have great customer service. You can get both the square and the round coasters on this site.

For the word image on this coaster, I used my new "Define Your Life" stamp set that I got as a freebie from Stampin' Up after Sale-a-bration. I never really noticed this set in the catalog before a few weeks ago. Another demonstrator mentioned that she was getting this set as one of her freebies and then I noticed a few other demonstrators saying the same thing. I figured I must be missing something, so I checked my catalog and thought, "Wow! I LOVE this set! How did I miss this before?" I can't get enough of it now!

I stamped the words on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock with Blue Bayou ink and then swiped my ink pad on the edges of the cardstock. I mounted it on a piece of Blue Bayou cardstock, but before I did that, I distressed the edges of both pieces of cardstock with the little distressing tool that comes on the Cutter Kit (Stampin' Up). I realized that I haven't used that little tool in a while, so it well over due for it to come out of my drawer and get used again.

The words got mounted on top of the coaster with pop-dots for some added dimension.

I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch two holes above my word image (I used the larger hole punch) and threaded a piece of Very Vanilla grossgrain ribbon through. I found that with this size hole, the ribbon needed to be double knotted so that it wouldn't slip through the holes.

I didn't cover the back of the coaster, but that's something that I would definitely do if I knew the other side were going to be seen.....like if this were to be used as an ornament.

Make sure you check back in tomorrow. I'll have this week's Bake it, Make it & Take it Post up tomorrow! My house smells like chocolate and pecans and let me assure you that I've already taste-tested to make sure everything is yummy.....and it is!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Comfort & Peace - using my Watercolor Wonder Crayons

This is another one of the cards that I did for GinaK's new release earlier this month.

With every release, Gina creates a set that is used that month as the "One Free with 3" set. That means that you get this set for free during this release when you purchase 3 other sets, at any price. When the next release comes out in May, there will be a new "One Free with 3" set and you'll be able to purchase this one, along with any of the other former "One Free with 3" sets. But why buy when you can get it for free, eh? *wink*

This particular set is called, Comfort & Peace. It's a set of 9 stamps - 2 images and 7 greeting stamps that can be combined in a number of different ways. This is such a unique set in that the greetings are very personal and appropriate for cards that you can't always find a greeting for. You can read the whole story of how this set was inspired by going ------> HERE 

A color combination that I fell in love with shortly after becoming a Stampin' Up Demonstrator was More Mustard and Ruby Red. I especially like sponging Ruby Red ink around More Mustard cardstock. I did that with this card. It has such a warm look to it.

I used my paper piercing tool, mat and template to create the pierced holes in the upper right and lower left corners of my card. I've seen this done on other cards before, but to be honest, this is the first time I've ever done it myself. Now I'm hooked on it.

To create the look of the flower, I used my Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  I go through phases with things in my "stash." My Watercolor Wonder Crayons have been sitting aside for a little while now and this was just the stamp set to get me using them again.

I colored directly onto the rubber image with the crayons. I used Garden Green for the stems and leaves. For the flowers, I used More Mustard to do the first base of color. Then I went over bits of the flowers with some Pumpkin Pie crayon just to give some dimension.

I sprizted the stamp with some water from a left over Stampin' Mist bottle (I like using this bottle because it gives a very controlled amount of water mist and doesn't over-wet when I spritz things) and then stamped on a piece of watercolor paper. This gave my image the look of being watercolor because I had blended the colors directly on my stamp.

I turned my Giga Oval Scalloped punch upside down so that I could see my stamped image and then punched out my image. I sponged around it with More Mustard ink. I then mounted it on a piece of Old Olive cardstock that I cut using my Coluzzle cutting system and then sponged around the edge with Garden Green ink. I added some dots with my white gel pen in the middle of each scallop.

I cut a Ruby Red oval with my Coluzzle cutting system and then trimmed around it with my scallop edged scissors (see? I told you I've been enjoying using my decorative edged scissors!). I sponged around it with Ruby Red ink. I mounted this on top of my More Mustard card base and then tied a piece of vanilla sheer organdy ribbon around my card, tying it around a ribbon charm with a double knot.

I applied some pop-dots to the back of the Old Olive cardstock and then mounted this on top of the Ruby Red oval so that it went over the ribbon.

The greeting that I used for this card comes from the Comfort & Peace set. I stamped this with Garden Green ink in the bottom left corner.

Have a lovely night and an evening nicer rest of your week!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

And the winner is..........

I've got a winner!!!

Wow.....the Kitchen Sink Stamps & Tins give-away was GROOVY, indeed! 156 of you commented to be included in this give-away! It was quite popular! Thanks to everyone for taking part and for those of you that shared the give-away on your blogs! I so appreciate that! As always, I wish we could give away something to EVERYONE.

But.........the number generator could only pick one.

The winner of the Happy Birthday Cupcake set and the pack of CD Tins is: Erin Glee

Groovy Give-away, Girl! All the KSS are great, but #1 on my wish list is "Playful Alphabet"... I can see the letters inked in diff. colors and then colored in real fun. The font is a little bigger than the velum alphie stickers that I have...but could fill in for letters I run out of.....with 2 "e's" in one sons' first name and one "e" in the other sons' name, I always need more! --Just one of the reasons stampin' is so cool!
Posted by: Erin Glee

And speaking of other give-aways.....

There's one day left to enter my mom's fantastic Martha Stewart's Cookie Cookbook! Trust me, you WANT this book!

Oh.....and I won the amazing RockStar pack of 12x12 paper from Andrea over at My Stamping Heaven. I was TOTALLY STOKED to find out I'd won!!! I've never won any "blog candy" EVER! This will come in super handy in my scrapbooking!

Have a wonderful start to your week!

-Erika

Groovy Give-Away Friday!

It's time for another Groovy Give-Away and this one is AWESOME! (well, they're ALL awesome, but this is a big one!)

Remember back when I posted my CD Tin Mini Book Tutorial and my Birthday Party in a Tin?

The Give-Away I have for you today includes two things from those posts!

Maria, from Kitchen Sink Stamps, has given both the Happy Birthday Cupcake set (shown in picture at left) AND a 2-pack of the CD Tins as the prize for this Give-Away! Now, how GROOVY is that!!!???

There are so many things that you can create with these CD tins.....the possibilities are endless!

*** This Give-Away is NOT limited to where you live.....so even if you are outside of the US or Canada, you can still participate.***

So......what do you need to do to enter this Groovy Give-Away?

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and tell me which Kitchen Sink Stamps set is your favorite! (You can view all the stamp sets here ---> KSS Stamps)

I'll pick the winner with the random number generator on Monday (4/28) at 11 am Eastern Time and announce the winner here!

Spread the groovy love and send your friends over to enter, too! And while you're at it, if you haven't already signed up for my mailing list (which is that little box ALL THE WAY at the top of my blog, right under my picture), pop your email address into that box so that you don't miss out on any of the fun stuff I have going on outside of this blog, along with newsletters and more!

Thanks for reading!

-Erika