Fall Purse Sets

I can show these Purse Gift Sets now.  I made seven of these sets for my friend Judy who bought them for the ladies that work for her.  She is great about giving gifts for lots of different holidays and these were for Halloween, although we went with more of a fall theme.

I really like the purses that Becky Roberts creates, so I decided to design my own pattern.  This is what I came up with.  The nice thing about these purses are that they will hold 4.25 x 5.5 cards.  A lot of the patterns I have seen are for purses that will only hold 3x3 cards.

I hope the ladies at the office enjoyed them.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

September 2011 Stamp Club Projects

 My November Stamp Club is next week and I didn't even post the projects from September.  I hold my stamp clubs every other month.  This gives the ladies time to try out their new purchases before it's time to buy again.  It also works out well because we start in September and go until May so the ladies have a chance to order out of each mini.  We also finish up before summer starts.

At each club meeting we do three projects.  I usually try to do 2 cards and a 3-d project.  For September I picked a card that had several techniques involved in it - Emboss Resist, Background stamping, Tearing, Sponging - and then the second card was a clean and simple card.

For the 3-d project, although it was pretty simple to make, I still managed to slip in a couple of techniques on this project - punch art (check out the cute pumpkin) and altering punches (using a punch in a different way than intended).  We also used the big shot to make the box.

Hope you like these fall projects and thanks for looking,

Kim

 

Post-it Note Holder

This was another door prize from my Christmas Stamp-a-stack.  These would make great gifts for teachers, co-workers, secret sisters or for just anyone you want to give a little something to.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

Stamp-a-Stack Door Prizes

Here is one of the door prizes from my Stamp-a-Stack last month.  It's a dry erase picture frame. 

The pumpkin was attached with velcro so if you wanted to change with the seasons, you could just pull off the pumpkin, change the background paper (which is inside the frame) and pop a new embellishment onto the front.  Fast and simple gift idea.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

Day of Gratitude

I know I have neglected my blog the last few months, but what can I say life gets in the way.  My daughter and the grandkids came home to visit on Monday and stayed until Thursday and I didn't get on the computer other than to check emails.  We had a great visit.  Jess even took me to get a pedicure on Tuesday while the boys were visiting with their other grandma.  That was a new experience for me, but it was a lot of fun.  Brandy my oldest daughter met us and spent the afternoon with us too.  We even did a little shopping and I bought the grandkids their first Christmas present. 

Wednesday Brandy and my granddaughter Hydi came over for the evening so we had a houseful.  The grandkids had a great time playing together.  My sister-in-law was here also and we talked about how it reminded us of us when our kids were small and we would all pile in at my Mom's house.  We had 8 kids between us at that time and they were literally stairstepped.  All of them were a year or less apart.

I've also spent quite a bit of time on Skype the last few days.  Jess got a new laptop Friday and we have been visiting online quite a bit.  It's fun to be able to see the grandkids as well as talk to them.

Then Saturday, I went to a downline meeting.  It was a good time.  It's great to be able to get together with other women who are as nuts about stamping as you are.  What's really cool about the downline meeting is this isn't even my upline or sideline.  They just "adopted" me. 

Next week is pretty busy also as we start revival Monday at our church.  But I'm looking forward to it.  As you can see, I have had a lot to be grateful for lately.

So that kind of catches us up on the last week, so now on to the card.

This is one of the cards that we made at stamp club in September.  It uses the Autumn Spice DSP and the Day of Gratitude stamp set.  I really like this layout and I love using the linen thread on the buttons.  Just that little extra adds so much to a card I think.

Thanks for looking,

Kim

Open House Cards

Here are the two cards that we made at my open house on September 3rd. The Get Well card is a case of a design that I have seen all over the place so I have no idea who to credit for it. The colors I used for the card are Soft Suede and More Mustard although in the picture it looks more like Chocolate Chip. I used the new SU embossing folder Elegant Bouquet and colored it with my very neglected SU chalks.

On the Halloween card I used the new set from the Holiday Mini - Pumpkin Patch - and I used the new

1 1/4" grosgrain ribbon Pumpkin Pie which is really nice.

I thought it would be hard to tie since it is such a wide ribbon but it wasn't hard at all, it's a really soft ribbon.

Thanks for looking,

Kim

Another Janome Special...

I have really been enjoying my new Janome Sew Mini the last few days. I have been sewing on almost all my cards.

Here is a card that I made for a wonderful lady named Marge. Marge is my brother's mother-in-law and one of the best piano players ever. She came to our church Sunday and played for us and it was very uplifting. For those who don't know, Steve, my husband, pastor's a small country church called Freedom Baptist Church. Our pianist is an elderly lady who hasn't been able to come for well over a year due to health reasons. So we have been using recorded music in our services. So it was a real treat to have Marge come and play for us.

 

Marge can play anything too. She can also play by ear. My daughter Jessi had her play for her wedding and she wanted me to walk down the aisle to something of Elvis' since he is my all time favorite singer. Marge didn't have any sheet music for Elvis' songs so she got a CD somewhere and listened to it and needless to say I walked the aisle to the music "For I Can't Help Falling In Love With You".

Thanks for looking,

Kim

You're on My Mind...

Here is another card that I have sewn on with my new Janome Sew Mini. If you are looking for an easy to use, inexpensive, real sewing machine, this is the one for you.
The color looks a little washed out, but I used So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie paper, the Daisy die and the Stamin' Up Little Leaf die. The sentiment is from the stamp set Upsy Daisy and is stamped with Chocolate Chip ink.
Thanks for looking,
Kim

Another Card From the Cabin

Here is another card that I made while at the cabin.

Again it is a pretty basic card. The image is from the new Level 3 Hostess Stamp Set "The More the Merrier".

I used Chocolate Chip and Always Artichoke paper, Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel Markers to color the acorn and of course my favorite tools and favorite accessories - Punches and Ribbon. For some reason I don't feel like a card is complete without ribbon on it. It is kind of hard to tell from the picture, but I also used Crystal Effects over the acorn. That seems to be another product that I have started using a lot lately.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

Finally a New Card...

Ok, I have a new look to my blog. Looks nice and summery doesn't it? Now I just need some cards to post, right?

I do have quite a few cards to post, but today I am starting with a very simple card. Remember I told you we spent last weekend at the cabin? Well I spent all Friday morning sitting on the front porch of our cabin just making cards and looking at the new catalog. Well I did get about 5 simple cards made.

I was making very simple cards for two reasons, one I was limited to the amount of stuff I had to work with. We have plenty of room at the cabin, so I guess I could of took as much stuff as I wanted, but I would have to pack it over and pack it all back, so I limited myself to filling my tool chest. The second reason I was making simple cards is because I'm doing a workshop later this month with some new stampers and I wanted some samples to show them without overwhelming them.

So, here is one of the simple cards that I made.

I used the new In-colors Dusty Durango and Crushed Curry papers and inks along with Old Olive and Chocolate Chip ink. I also used the scallop punch and added the dots with a white gel pen. Pretty basic stuff right? Oh yeah, and I added some Old Olive brads at the bottom. I love brads!

Anyway, that is my card for today. Check back again this week as I have several posts ready to go and I also want to share with you my "lastest and greatest" purchase (as my husband calls it).

Thanks for looking,

Kim

Just Buzzin' By ...

Sorry for the bad picture, the lighting was horrible. This is one of the new sets in Spring/Summer catalog. In addition to the images shown, there are 2 more bees, a honey pot, a flower, and a sentiment that says "have a honey of a day". These could be used for birthday cards or thinking of you type cards, just about anything really.

I've already gave the card away so I don't remember for sure what colors I used. I think it was summer sun, more mustard and I know I used chocolate chip. It's hard to see, but I added dazzling diamonds to the bee's little wings. I think this will be a very popular set.

Thanks for looking,
Kim

Versatile Stamp Set

I wanted to show you how versatile one stamp set can be. So, I'm going to show a series of cards using the same stamp set. I bought the Year After Year stamp set from Stampin' Up. There are eight stamps in this set that covers most occasions and holidays. The first card I'm posting uses the pumpkin stamp. I have used a birthday greeting on this card. But if you changed the greeting, it could be a fall card, Halloween card or a Thanksgiving card.

I really wish I could take better pictures, because this one really doesn't do the card justice. It's very sparkly in real life. I sprayed it with a Pearl Ex powder and hair spray mixture.

RECIPE: All Paper and Inks from Stampin' Up

Cardstock - Close to cocoa, Only Orange, Old Olive, More Mustard, Ruby Red

Ink - Only Orange & Summer Sun markers, Brown Stazon, Close to cocoa.

Quilt Block Card

I haven't posted anything in quite a while. I haven't had a lot of time to stamp lately. I hope I can catch up on some things this weekend.

Here is a card I made for the Limited Supply Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. It's a quilt block card. This is as close to quilting as I will probably ever get, although my mom made some really beautiful quilts.

To make the card, I took a 3 3/4 square piece of natural ivory cardstock and scored it every 1 1/4". This just makes it easier to place your blocks. I then used Apple Cider designer paper and my 1 1/4" square punch and punched out 5 different designs. 2 of the designs I cut in half. Then just place your pieces according to the card. You might want to lay it out first so you can decide what looks best before gluing it all down.

In the corner of the block I stamped the leaf image from Refuge and Strength in Sahara Sand, then stamped the saying over it in Really Rust. The block is layered on Really Rust cardstock then attached to Wild Wasabi cardstock. I took a strip of the Apple Cider paper and ran it through the buckle which is punched out of Choc. Chip cardstock. I used my white gel pen and made little lines around all the squares so it would look like it was quilted. For those who can run a sewing machine, you could actually stitch it. And there you have it. It took a lot longer to design the card then to make it. I could probably repeat this card in less than ten minutes.

Playing With My New Punch

I used my new Three For You punch and the Basket Full of Fun set to make this card. It didn't scan very well. I used fall colors - Ruby Red, Only Orange and Summer Sun paper.

I also used the Cutter Kit to distress the card. I added some chocolate chip ribbon and used my gel pen to make the centers of the flowers.