With Sympathy

My teacher friends are requesting cards again this fall, and unfortunately sympathy cards are always needed. Instead of just mass producing a bunch of the same design, I decided to play around with my JustRite alphabets to see what I could create. I started out with a Classic Oval Stamper border and the Brayton alphabet for my first card. I really like how the sentiment stands out front and center. Very simple and clean. For the next card, I wanted my sentiment to be a little smaller so that my stamped background design could be seen more. I used the same combination of stamps as the first card but just took off the oval border stamp.
For the next card, I experimented with combining large and small alphabets together. To use the tiny alphabet, I needed to transfer my letters to the Classic Rectangle Stamper block. I used the Brayton alphabet for the large letters and the Small Font Set for the tiny letters to spell out *for my friend*. I really like the way you can create any sentiment you want with these combinations of alphabets. Then I got to thinking that not everyone needs a sympathy card for a friend per say, so I decided to make my smaller sentiment more generic in nature. So I changed out my small fonts to read *and caring thoughts*.

When working with the alphabets, it does take a little set up time. That's why I always like to stamp off at least five or six of the sentiments. You can mass produce all at once or save your stamped sentiments for later. I prefer to make the cards up all at once while I have my supplies out.

For the floral images on my cards, I used Papertrey's Spiral Bouquet stamp set, patterned paper, Plum Pudding and Lavender Mist cardstock. For the scallop edges, I used a Fiskar's border punch. Spellbinder's dies were used for the embossed squares and scallop squares.

??...I've questions as to what JustRite Stamps I suggest to purchase first. I really suggest that you take some time and go throug ALL the wonderful products JustRite has to offer. There are so many new alphabets and borders, it might be hard to decide what to get first. Think about what you want to create.....do you want to make monogrammed cards for generic cards? Then perhaps an alphabet stamp with fun borders might be the ticket. If you're making wedding or baby invitations/cards, then definitely look at the more specific baby and wedding stamps. If you want to make Christmas or gift items, then look for those products.

For my preference, I like to stamp with the wood stampers best. I can easily change out the ink colors and I like the feel of working with a wood stamp block. But if you want a single ink color that you'll be using lots and want to mass produce easily, then be sure to look at the original stampers. It's all up to you and the possibilities are endless. Have fun!!

Lockhart Quilts

Hi everyone, Happy Labor Day Weekend! Thank you for all the fun comments about my craft room. I'll be back later to answer some questions. For today's post, I have some beautiful cards I made using Karen Lockhart's quilt block stamps. I found more inspiration from my fun ribbons I got at Archiver's a few weeks ago....and this wonderful paper from Melissa Frances. I paired the beautiful green and blue tones with black. I thought that made the cards really pop. I also used sentiments from Papertrey's Quilter's Sampler stamp set. Perfect combination.

Here's some up close details of buttons and shiny sequins, Spellbinder's dies and the ribbon.

Look at the detail on the stamps too, Karen did a wonderful job with her quilt blocks.

Guess what? I've found a friend to start quilting with me!! My friend Carmen wants to quilt so we're going to seek out lessons and hit some great shops we know of. I can't wait!!! Now we just have to find the time to do it.

I hope you all have a great weekend! My girls spent the night at Eric's folks last night so we met up with some friends for dinner at this little country style restaurant. I saw an antique store next door but of course it was closed by then. So Eric came in this morning and said *get up dear, I'm taking you junking!*. WHAT????? Awwwwwwlright, ya don't have to twist my arm! So I'm having coffee, chatting with you guys and now I'm heading for the shower! I'll be back later my dearies. What are YOU doing fun this weekend, I'd love to hear your plans! We saw lots of campers last night out on the highway, wish we had one!!

My Craft Room

After the girls got back into their school routine, I got inspired to rearrange my craft room. I tore into everything and totally rearranged my room and purged. Man, does that feel good. I'm not showing you the areas that aren't done yet though. I have a huge closet that is still a mess but that will have to wait for another day. So here we go! My room suits my blog name....a total Mish Mash of this and that. Stuff I like, stuff I purchase here and there, just lots of stuff!

This is a wall of tall shelving units, Target open cubes, Pottery Barn desktop organizers and plastic Sterlite 3-drawer units. All of my solid cardstock, small embellishments, punches, tools, etc are here. Each drawer is labeled with a homemade tag and tied on with ribbon.
More Target storage units, wire shelving from local hardware store and wall hanging units from Pottery Barn. My friend Cami told a bunch of friends about these PB units going on clearance. I think we bought them ALL. I know I bought 5 and was hiding boxes for days. Man, I laugh about that! It really WAS a good deal and it was Pottery Barn!!
This is my stamping table. I sent my mom on one of our so called *missions* and she found this standing height table at a garage sale for $35 bucks. Score!! It's got drop down leafs and 4 drawers, just perfect!
My shelf of M's, kinda got a monogram thing going on there. Shelf is made from old barn wood and door knobs. I get a new one each year at this awesome craft show my mom and I have been going to for about 20 some years in Hillsboro, Kansas.

Plastic pegboard unit my brother made for me when he built our house. Ancient Fiskars scissors (had to have every pair!) are on wooden pegs. Ribbon spools are on wire pegs that slip into the pegboard holes.
This is where my room takes on it's personality. I swear my craft room is turning into a kitchen and laundry room of sorts. I found an old wooden ironing board that I thought would be perfect for my sewing machine that my mom found at a garage sale for $10 bucks. Another one of those craft show shelves holds my precious clothes pin dresses. Aren't they adorable? I started collecting them a year or so ago. They hold my clothespins that I use to clip together papers and wrap ribbon around. Rows of Longaberger canning jars full of buttons and flowers sit on the top shelf.
More shelving and this cute little cabinet I found an an antique store. Once I got it home and started cleaning it, I found an orignal Hoosier label on it. Score!! I think I paid $35 for it. It's got a laminate top and drop down side leafs. Two shelves on the inside that smell like old baby powder. Lots of bobby pins too, I think someone used it as a stylist station or maybe in a bathroom.
Jars of buttons sit in a wire hanging unit. Underneath are tins that have magnets. More storage!
My new type of old storage are these boxes. They're the perfect size for my CD cases full of wonderful Papertrey Stamps and more. HEAVEN! And easy to flip through too. I have my mom and dad on another *mission* to find more of these on their vacation. They love when I send them on missions, it's like a scavenger hunt for them!

Paper towel holder that matches those craft show shelves. My friend Pine needs one of these so that she can wipe off her acrylic blocks. Have you seen her blocks??????? LOL! Love ya Piney!
Closeup of the clothespin dresses just because they're so cute.
I have about 15 of these old locker room wire baskets. They have the number plaques on them and they sell for big bucks at places. I've seen them starting at $15 each or more for good ones. My sister got these for me on Ebay for $4-5 bucks each. She got a good stash for herself too. I keep them on a sturdy steel storage unit that I got at Sam's Club years ago.
I like to see my stuff yet have it contained in one place. Each basket holds a grouping of supplies, like my JustRite stamping stuff. Soldering stuff in another. Crafty Secrets stamps in another and so on. No mixy matchy here, only one group of stuff for each basket.
I framed Jordy's little picture she painted of the birds that nested on the front porch this spring. Isn't she GOOD? Takes after her mother I think.

Old scraps of wood that I painted and added clothespins to. Holds lots of lightweight papers like my Copic color charts, address labels, finished cards I want to display, etc.
Are you still with me? Okay. My Copic markers. What's more to say, they're awesome!! I store them in a Pottery Barn Kids lazy susan organizer. Making Memories now has a cool one out too.
Useful but kind of awkward to store tools go into hiding, like my Cuttlebug and folders and Bind It All. I found these old tin bread/flour bins at an antique store. Love them, need to find more. You should see the smirks I get from Eric when I'm on my missions. I bypass the fine antiques and head right for the cheap junk. He's always amazed at where stuff ends up at our house.
Looky here at my new ribbon. I found this canning jar pan (I think that's what it is) in an old basket. Totaly forgot I bought it but what a surprise. You'll notice that I don't use a lot of plastic to hold my stuff. I like REAL things like wood and metal and glass. You'll also notice that I like the word STUFF. It encompasses so much with just one word. Stuff is good.

Here's some more good stuff. The round tin plate came in a box of tins that I got at an auction. The plate is from this one store I can't remember the name of but it's cool. You should go there sometime. Not Apothecaries but something like that. The small rectangle tray is from a garage sale. I love to keep a stash of these handy so that I can dump out buttons, beads, etc. Have to be careful though of junk starts piling up.
I love little tin drinking cups and measuring cups to keep tools in. What is the name of that STORE! Anyone?
Here's a new find, some textured bread tins. These are perfect to hold finished cards. I found these at a junk store nearby. This old drunk guy runs it. He always try to sell me stupid stuff....I tell him his price is too high and that his store stinks like musty old cigarette smoke. We have a great time together when I visit. Cratchety old fart.
My must have tools that I must have sitting on my table top. They all fit into this divided wooden drawers, see the little pull handle? One slot fits my CLEAN(ahem, Piney) acrylic blocks of all shapes and sizes, cleaner spray, blue dots and SU! Dimensionals, pens, scissors, sanding blocks, adhesive,etc. If you borrow something from this box, it BETTER get put back. Probably best if you just bring your own stuff when you come over to stamp, okay? LOL!! Jordan frequently *borrows* my supplies and I've been tempted many times to call the school to ask where my stuff is!!
Oh, I see I've run out of photos now. Well that should be plenty. So there you have it. All of my stuff...my own room......what more could a girl want.....besides Nichole's stamping room? LOL!

Edit: Ding, ding ding, we have a winner! I knew you girls would help me out....

The store you're trying to think of...is it Anthropologie? Thanks for sharing!--

Tammy D.

That's it Tammy! Thank you, you just saved me a day's worth of pondering!! You guys are awesome!! Soooooo, do you think I could start a business....guided junk tours.....new ways to shop for junk to hold your stuff! Sounds kinda catchy to me!

Ducky Baby Card

All summer, I've had no card business, nada. I go back to school and I get a request for a gift ensemble for a friend's mom for her birthday, a request for my card basket so the teachers can refill their stash and 10 baby shower invitations. Woohoo, I'm back in business!! I knew that the Bitty Baby Blessings set from Papertrey would be a perfect match for the baby shower invitations. The invites need to be non gender so I think I'll use the onsie or perhaps the baby elephant, who knows. I'll post those when I get them done.

In the mean time, here's a baby card I did a while back. I used the large ducky from the Bitty Baby Blessings set to do some paper piecing for the main image. It's mounted on a Spellbinder's cut and embossed square which was also airbrushed with a Copic Sketch marker and the airbrush system. I adhered that piece to a piece of Lemon Tart cardstock which was cut with the Spellbinder's Label die template. For the bottom of the card, I stamped the tiny ducky images all in a row and colored them in with Copic markers. I love that there are large and small images of each animal in this set, cute!!
For the card base, I used Papertrey's Lemon Tart cardstock and matching Lemon Tart Swiss Dot Satin ribbon, tied in a big bow. Background paper and alphabet strip are from Cosmo Cricket.

Hope you enjoy! There's nothing like being at that age when you're first married and then all your friends start having babies. It's such an exciting time of life.

Answers to some questions...

Q: I love the samples you did with PaperTrey's Quilt stamp set on July 14's post. Are all the paper strips from Cosmo Cricket's Honey Pie set? I recognize a couple but some on the left side (of all the strips) I don't see as coming in single sheets. Did you get the 8x8 pack or are they all single? Thanks!

A: All of the papers are from the 8 x 8 pack, I believe. I cut papers into strips for my cards. I think there were some individual papers in that pack that also had little strips that you could cut out individually.

Well, now I can't find the rest of the questions. If you have a burning question for me, post it here and I'll try to shoot back some answers. Thank you all for visiting my blog, I just love to read your comments!

I'm so into reading right now. I loved all the book suggestions you gave me. I made a list to find at the library. I loved this comment from Josie, what a great idea:

Reminds me of years ago after I read a quilting fictional book, I passed it on to a friend. On the inside I put a little inscription that as quilts are handed down to very special people in our lives so should this book. I asked that it be passed on from friend to friend. Asking each person to put a little note inside of it. About five years later the book was returned to me and I was amazed at how far the little book had traveled. I passed it on again and have not seen it since, but hope it is still bringing joy! Just wish I could remember the name of it!!!!! Thanks for the memories! Josie

Someone asked how to thread a button...not sure if you were serious or not with the *lol* comment afterwards. But if you are, and you need to know, here's a great link:

http://www.wikihow.com/Sew-a-Button

Instant Inspiration...Rustic Branches/October Afternoon

This day, I created just for myself. I needed a bunch of birthday cards for upcoming September birthdays so I set out to make a bunch. Check our Nichole's post HERE. She did the same thing but for thank you cards. Are YOU sending out cards? Don't forget that feeling you get when you receive a hand made card in the mail.....just for you. Other's love that feeling too and you are sure to make some one's day by sending them a card to let them know you are thinking of them.

On to my cards. Instant Inspiration.....I just started pulling out supplies from my stash that I like. I purchased all this new ribbon at Archiver's recently so that was my starting point. My October Afternoon paper was a perfect match. I just love to see these little piles of products on my stamping table.

I already knew the stamp set I wanted to use...Pine's new Rustic Branches stamp set from Papertrey Ink. She totally got me hooked on Twinkling Watercolors too. So after deciding that I was going to make six birthday cards, I went to work. I cut and embossed 6 Spellbinder's Label dies from Papertrey's Vintage Cream Cardstock. I think painted my Twinkling H2O's onto my wreath stamp until I had 6 completed images. Hint: I keep a little spray bottle handy and just keep re-wetting my Twinkling H2O's. I find that if you get the little paint really wet and let it sit a little bit, it gets a little thicker consistency. This helps it apply to the acrylic stamps a little better.
Next, I stamped the berries on the wreaths with Papertrey's Dark Chocolate ink. Then I reached for my jar of vintage buttons. This whole jar of buttons has been snipped right off of clothing, so lucky for me they're all threaded. I just adhered them to the centers of the rustic wreath and set them aside to dry. These will become my focal images.
Next I decided on specific paper and ribbon. I chose two patterns from October Afternoon and four different ribbons. It was time to assemble my cards. I cut my patterned paper into 4" squares to get maximum usage out of a 12 x 12 sheet. For my card bases, I used Papertrey's Vintage Cream cardstock.
And here's my finished cards. I did three of each design for a total of 6 cards. I love how vintage and homemade they look. I finished up the cards with a *Happy Birthday* sentiment from PTI's Birthday Basics stamp set.
Here's a closeup of the ribbon. Hint: Because this ribbon was a little pricey, I only use it in snippets, never all the way around a card. So what I did for my cards was cut enough for the card fronts only, applied a little adhesive and then stapled the ends at the edges of the cards. This holds it all in place and adds to that homey feel of the cards. The textures are amazing too!

I did the same thing for the little ribbon snippets on the focal piece. I added a little bit of adhesive and then stapled the ribbon to secure it in place.
Here's my cards, all ready to be sent out. I placed some envelopes and all of my cards into a junk store bread tin find....they're all ready to be written in, addressed and sent out. September birthday cards done!! Oh, zoom in on this photo below to see the shimmery effects of the Twinkling H2O's, it's soooooo pretty.
So, my dears, I now challenge you all to do a little mass producing of your own. Send out those birthday cards, get well cards and just plain ol' thinking of you cards to those that would really love your creations. You'll be sure to make someone's day.

Lockhart Harvest Candle

As I was strolling down the aisles of Michael's yesterday, I was surrounded by the sights and smells of Fall....lots of wreaths, flowers, cinnamon smelling candles, fake pumpkins and gourds, decorations and more! It made me think of Karen Lockhart's new stamp called Harvest Candle. This is the perfect stamp for Fall season. You could use it clear up to the Thanksgiving season. I've paired the stamp with sentiments from Papertrey Ink's First Fruits sets and ribbon to make a nice card to give out around Thanksgiving. Image is colored with Copic markers and cut out with a new Spellbinder's label die. Sentiment is stamped and layered on Spellbinder's circles. Ribbon is Summer Sunrise from Papertrey Ink, Patterned papers are from Webster's Pages, which I purchased at Emma's Paperie.
My *sweet* reds earned themselves some extra chores around the house today, so my photos of my shopping trip from yesterday will have to wait. I'm playing the role of mean mom dictator today! Have a great day today, I'm hoping my afternoon will be a little smoooother.

Cherry Fruit Dip...Lockhart

Edited to add printable version of recipe.

Hi everyone, it's the weekend and I'm off to have some fun. I'm going to a purse party today and my favorite scrapbook store. It rained here very heavily last night so I slept in til 8am! I gotta go girls, there's shopping to be done! You wanna see what I got when I get home? Ok.

Here's a little recipe for you today. It's Cherry Fruit Dip that my niece made for my nephew's graduation a few years back. It's yummy and the girls can't get enough of it! I'll post the cut and past version of the recipe for you later. Enjoy!! The stamp is from Karen Lockhart, paper from October Afternoon. Becky Higgins cursive font from Creating Keepsakes. I'll be back later girls!!

Here's the printable recipe, just copy and paste into your own word document:

Cherry Fruit Dip

1-8 oz package cream cheese
1-6 oz cherry yogurt
1 cup Cool Whip
1 cup marshmallow creme

Beat cream cheese and yogurt. Fold in marshmallow creme and Cool Whip. Serve with fresh fruit such as strawberries, pineapple, apples, etc.

Lockhart Apple Card....Jenni Bowlin inspired

I'm subbing today at the high school. It's my first official day....I went in Tuesday to sub and I was a month early! They didn't need me til September 19th. I'm sure I wrote it down correctly....it wasn't my fault....I'm always right....just ask my husband. LOL! Anyway, I thought a nice teacher card would be appropriate for today. I'm using Jenni Bowlin's cool papers from yesterday's post and the Lockhart Apples in Chintz Bowl stamp. I colored my image with Copic markers...love how you can shade so effortlessly with Copics! This photo is a little blurry on the closeup...again, not my fault, it's the camera's!
Here we go, this one's better. I cut my image out with a new Spellbinder's die and layered it onto my patterned paper background. Love those polka dots! I added buttons and a flower for embellishments.
And here's the bottom of the card, all tied up pretty with a Papertrey Spring Moss ribbon and an adorable Spellbinder's ribbon slide tag. I love it! The sentiment words are from Papertrey.

I love the idea of making teacher cards a bit more sophisticated than the typical primary colored cards. My girls are in middle school now...I still love to send stuff for the teachers but this type of card seems a little more grown up for the girls to give. Hope you enjoy and wish me luck today!

Crafty Secrets Bookmark.....Jenni Bowlin inspired

You know how I set up those Inspiration Stations in my craft room? Well, you should see it now...not so inspiring. My little basket is overflowing with junk because I just kept piling inspiring stuff in there. Not a good plan with me. I must put stuff away as I go or else it starts to look like Sanford and Son....does anybody get that phrase by the way? We used to watch that show all the time as kids!! They were junk collectors on the show. It cracks me up when my mom says that too.

Anyyyyyway, I've decided to now get out my inspiring products a little at a time...leave them out for a day or so and then back it all goes. I think I'll call it my Instant Inspiration. How bout that? So on this day, I was inspired by some new Jenni Bowlin goodies I got from Emma's Paperie. That online shop has soooooo many fun goodies. I can get into real trouble with the click of 1 or 2 or 20 buttons! Man I'm chatty today, must be the coffee kicking in already.

So these new Jenni Bowlin papers....4 x 4 size, how cute is that!? They're made for little albums she has too but I think they are the perfect size for cards. I'm always cutting a sheet of 12 x 12 paper into 4 x 4 squares so this works out just perfectly. Along with the pretty papers, I go out some new Making Memories ribbon and some Crafty Secrets stamp sets. I set out to make a bookmark. I've been using receipts as bookmarks and that is SO unattractive.

So on to my bookmark. The Crafty Secrets set I used is called Story of Me. Scroll down at the link and you can also see a set called Book Lovers, which has a lot of book themed images too. To create the bookmark, I used some of the new long Spellbinder's Rectangle and Scallop Rectangle Nestabilities. They're perfect for bookmarks! I love my finished bookmark, it just makes me happy to look at it!
For the main stamped image, I did some paper piecing for the book the child is holding, and added some shading with a Copic marker. The rest of the image is colored with Copics too.
For the top of the book mark, I used various papers from the Jenni Bowlin packet of paper, some Jenni Bowlin brown stickers(star and *read this*) and some ribbon (Making Memories) from Emma's Paperie.
For the bottom of my bookmark, I used some tiny little letter stickers from Making Memories, also available at Emma's Paperie. I got a bunch more at Archiver's too last week. They are FUN little niblets of letters, so cute! I stitched around my bookmark before adhering it to the scallop rectangle. I like my stitches to be concealed. So overall, my bookmark is pretty flat...which is hard for me to create flat stuff. The ribbon adds a little dimension but that portion sticks out of the book anyway, so that's okay. Hope you enjoy and are inspired to create your own bookmark.
So what's on your reading list lately? I'd love to hear about some good books so I can create a list. A bunch of my friends are reading the teenage vampire series with that dreamy Edward boy. I GUUUUUESS I will read them, after much coaxing. I typically enjoy historical fiction type books but the pressure is just too much..so I caved! My librarian friend at the high school is going to hook me up with them. Here we are, a couple of almost 40 year old ladies, scoping out the teenage vampire book section at the high school library!! Snort!
The Elm Creek novels by Jennifer Chiaverini are on my top reading list right now. Nichole suggested them to us when she unveiled my beloved Quilter's Sampler stamp set from Papertrey. I've 4-5 of the books already this summer. They are feel good stories about every day women who are brought together by the love of quilting. Some of the books refer back to the historical days and some are in today's setting. They're all good reads!! Ohhhhhh, I should make a quilting bookmark, why didn't I think of that before? Then when I get to the teenage vampire books, I'll have to make a vampire bookmark, right??? Maybe I'll start reading them about Halloween time and vampires will be in season. I'm done now..really...I must stop babbling. Have a great day everyone!!

Just Rite fun for the kids..of all ages!

When Kellie from JustRite Stampers sent me a box of goodies last week, I opened up the box and said out loud, "What the heck are these things?" LOL! Well this stamper thing below is called a 2X Stamper. It's a pre-inked stamp that has two images, one on each end of the stamper. You can see how this particular 2X Stamper has some sad faces and a miss you sentiment. To use these stampers, you just open the hinged lids and stamp away. No re-inking, you just stamp and stamp and stamp.

And then I dug in the box some more and found these things. "What the heck are these things", I said again. Well these are called Word Stampers. They work in the same fashion at the 2X Stampers..you just stamp and stamp and stamp. Each little set comes with 8 different words and there's lots of sets to choose from. Just scroll down once you get to the link.
The unique thing about both of these stampers is that the words and images are embossed into the little ink pad inside. Zoom in on the photo below to see what I mean. The box says you can stamp hundreds and hundreds of images with these. They remind me of those pre-inked address stamps.
So anyway, I then thought "hmmm, what to do with these stampers?" Then an idea came to me. Of course, you can use these stampers for quick sentiments and images on cards but what could I do that was unique? I knew that my girls, especially crafty Jordan, would LOVE these little stampers!! So I went to work right away with my idea to show the girls when they got home from school. I dug some little Stampin' Up! notecards out of my stash and some scraps of other supplies I had out on my table. I stamped the insides of the little notecard with words, kind of like a ransom note. I grouped words together to create sentences, all I had to do was fill in a few words with a writing pen.
I also used the Curly DIY Monogram Stamper kit to make a quick monogram of the girls' initials and punched them out with a Stampin' Up! scallop circle punch.

Here's what the inside of the cards look like. It was fun to create little messages with the stampers. And here's the finished cards with the cute *J* monograms on the front. The *i love you* sentiment shows the size of the 2X Stamper words...about 1/2" high. The *adore* word below measures about 1/4" high or so. Cardstock is Papertrey Aqua Mist, ribbon from May Arts and patterned paper from Melissa Frances.
Now here's the fun part for the kiddos. I placed all of the stampers into a basket (Longaberger of course)..added some fun shaped notepads, sticky notes, etc......and some writing pens.
I placed the basket on their *school shelf* that sits in my pantry/laundry room just inside the garage door. So when the girls came home and put their school junk away, they saw this basket immediately. Boy, did Jordan want to know allllll about these stampers!! We sat and played with them for a long time.

I think it will be fun to get this basket out while maybe waiting for the school bus or a late night dinner to be ready.....or maybe when company comes and everyone can make their own little note........or how about creating ransom notes and hiding them in places around the house for that special someone to find....or magnets for the frig.....or for teachers to have a fun activity to keep the kiddos occupied....or daycare.....okay, you get the idea!! No cleaning up, no re inking, just use them over and over again. I think we'll have LOTS more fun with these *things*. LOL!

Corn Dip Recipe Card

Edit: Ladies, the cursive font is called Creating Keepsakes Becky (from Becky Higgins). I found it. Go to Becky's blog HERE and click on products. The free download is right there!! I love the recipe cards!! And be sure to post any new dip recipes and I'll do another edit to post them. Later chickies.

How 'bout a little recipe for today? We'll be going to a little end of summer family get together this weekend if the rain stays away...and dips are always good to bring. I always love to get recipes from family and friends, because then you always have that memory of the first time you tasted the recipe. This recipe came from my niece who made all the snacky stuff at my nephew's high school graduation party. Yummo!! The recipe card measures 4" x 6", all text is printed from my computer. I used the Lockhart Indian Corn stamp, Copic markers and a Spellbinders label die for the main image. The patterned paper strip is from Crate Paper. Hope you enjoy! Got any good dip recipes to share?

Here's the recipe so that you can copy and paste into a word document, or print from my blog:

Corn Dip
2 cans Mexicorn, drained
1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip)
1 cup sour cream
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
Mix all ingredients together and chill. Serve with tortilla chips.

Baby Elephant Quilt Card and Box...PTI

Good morning fellow bloggers!! It's the third day of our new school year.....and I got a call bright and early at 6:11am this morning to sub! I'm NOT a morning person. I don't have a problem getting up early, I just like to eeeeease into my mornings, KWIM? So after a cup of coffee and a splash of water on my face, I'm better now! :-)

Today I have a baby project to share with you...a cute card and a matching gift box. I wanted to combine my baby theme with a quilt theme....you know how much I love Papertrey's Quilter's Sampler set! I stamped, color and cut out lots of little quilt squares to use on my card and Egg Box. I adhered quilt block squares all the way around the box lid and then tied it up with Sweet Blush ribbon and a soldered charm. The little elephant image is from the PTI Bitty Baby Blessings set and the word *BABY* is from PTI Mixed Messages. Patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket and Simply Swank soldering supplies can be purchased at Ellen Hutson's online store.
And here's my card below. I think it's so adorable....I need someone to have a baby girl so I can give this to them and fill the box up with goodies! For the main focal image, I created a mini quilt out of stamped quilt blocks and the bigger baby elephant image from Bitty Baby Blessings. I added buttons to make the little elephant look like a child's toy. I stitched around the white square and then added a pink scallop Spellbinder's cut layer under that.

More little baby elephants were stamped on the bottom of the card and colored with Copic markers. I finished off the card with a big loopy bow, more of the PTI Sweet Blush polka dot ribbon...and a little circle embellishment with *little one* stamped on it.
Hope you enjoy! We were looking at the girls' scrapbooks over the weekend. I can't believe that my babies are 5th and 6th graders this year! Where has the time gone? I look at their little pictures that are so sweet. It seems like forever ago that they were babies!! I need to see my little niece and get a baby fix! Have a great day everyone!!

Here's a fun thing to do today with your kids...talk about the funny things they used to say. Kids LOVE to talk about themselves, right? Josey used to say *I'm feezin* every time she was cold. And Jordy has always screwed up her words which makes us laugh so much. Our all time favorite with her is the word *fiberclostic*.....one time she said*ya know how when you sit in a closet and shut the door and you get all fiberclostic*....she meant claustrophobic! Oh how we laugh at that. What are your favorite sayings from your kids?

Watercolored Poppies

A fellow Papertrey Design Team member and good friend of mine, Lisa Johnson, released her beautiful poppy set this month, called Remember. It's so Lisa because she is fascinated with poppies. I think she has captured the essence of poppies so beautifully with her set. And you definitely get your money's worth here, there are a TON of images in this set. You can view the set HERE, and be sure to check the Papertrey Ink online gallery for more samples too!

With this beautiful set, Papertrey also released new card stock, ink and ribbon colors too. The color is called Pure Poppy. Just scroll down through THIS link to view them all. I tried out my new Twinkling H20's for the first time with this card. Twinkling H2O's are little jars of dry watercolor paint that has a beautiful shimmer to it. My friend Pine turned me onto them because of all of her beautiful creations. To use them, all you have to do is wet the little watercolor cakes with a wet paintbrush. I think painted them onto my solid poppy image stamp and stamped it onto my card stock. The result is a beautiful image that looks water colored. I purchased my Twinkling H2O's from Cornish Heritage Farms.

I cut out my image and sentiment piece with a Spellbinder's Rectangle Die and layered it onto a Spellbinder's Scallop Rectangle Die. To finish off my card, I used a background made from Papertrey's Polka Dot Basics and some Pure Poppy satin ribbon.

Congratulations to Lisa on another beautiful set! I can't wait to see what she creates next!!

JustRite Wedding Gift

Contest going on: Read all about the Stamper's Championship Stamping Contest going on at JustRite Stampers. You have a chance to win some fabulous prizes!! Check out the rules HERE.

My young niece is getting married this month and I wanted to make her a special gift. Along with some items I've chosen from her registries, I thought some pretty monogrammed cards would be nice too. I can remember those days that counted down to the big day.....and how special it was to take on your husband's last name. Do you remember writing your full married name...practicing it over and over again? That's a special time and I think the monogram stamps by JustRite Stampers are going to be perfect for all those wedding occasions. What bride wouldn't want a set of monogrammed cards that has her NEW initials on them?? I made two sets of cards for Katie. It just so happens that her new last name will also begin with a *K*....so I thought some simple, one initial monogram would be nice. I kept these cards simple and formal so that perhaps her new husband could use these cards too (ya right, what husband writes on a card except to sign his name?). For the cards below, take note how the initial is stamped onto a label shaped die, not a circle. You don't have to use a circle shape for your monograms.

Supplies: Patterned paper by Daisy D's, More Mustard SU! solid cardstock, JustRite Brayton font, Spellbinder's Labels Die Templates, Papertrey Ink egg and dart stamp from First Fruits set, Papertrey Ink stitched Dark Chocolate ribbon.
And these cards, I made especially for Katie. When creating a monogram with three initials, the first name initial comes first in a smaller font, the last name initial is in the center and larger, and the middle initial comes last and is again a smaller font. The JustRite girls did a GREAT job of explaining how to set your monogram letters up. Visit the blog HERE and scroll down for several days worth of good information.

For the design of these cards below, I fancied them up a bit. I used two patterns of the Daisy D's patterned paper and layered some rectangle and scallop cut rectangle Spellbinder's dies. Notice how the monogram circle die is used as an embellishment for these cards. Experiment with your monograms, they don't always have to be front and center and formal like. Also notice how I placed the monogram circle on the left portion of the rectangle. Instead of the card being so symmetrical, I mixed it up a bit to create an asymmetrical look. This makes the eye go straight to the circle monogram because I've created a point of interest.

Supplies: Same as above cards, plus *from the desk of* borders and centers, May Arts polka dot brown ribbon, rectangle Spellbinder's Die Templates, Cranberry Crisp SU! card stock. And here the packaging for the cards. I used a clear stationery box from Papertrey Ink and some wide ribbon from May Arts. I also added a simple *K* circle embellishment from the Brayton alphabet, tied on with some copper cording.
I'll tuck this little box right into the top of Katie's other packages. I know she will LOVE them!

Rustic Branches....Thankful For You

Whew, what a party that was last night at the Papertrey Forum. Those girls can CHAT!! I hope you all had a chance to see the new Papertrey release. If not, you can visit Nichole's blog HERE and the official Papertrey Ink website HERE for ordering.

One of my dearest friends, Heather Nichols......I call her PINE........has her very first stamp set being released this month at Papertrey. It's called Rustic Branches and it's a pine-a-riffic set, a must have for your stamp collection!

Here's a card I made using Pine's new set, using various words to create the *thankful for you* sentiment. I love how simple Pine's designs are, yet they make for some beautiful finished projects.
Of course, when I think of Pine, I think of buttons. That girl can stitch on buttons with the best of them. Never an undressed button! I had to use some of my special, vintage buttons for this project.
I also used a Cuttlebug folder and some white ink.
I cut my image with a Spellbinder's rectangle die, airbrushed it with some green Copics and then used my Copic Colorless Blender to make some splotchy dots. I love that look! And I love placing a button in the center of the wreath, so cute! So Piney!
Well, I'm off to Archiver's today with a friend so I better run. Congratulations to you, Pine, on a great set!! I'm so happy to have you as a friend!

Little Girl's Apron/1st day of school

Today my *not so little * girls go back to school. As they were primping and getting ready, I thought about all of our first days of school. And how little they were on their first day of kindergarten, barely able to make that big step onto the school bus. My, how they've come a long way over all those years. I'm so proud of my reds and I'm hoping for a great school year!! And I even miss all the noise they made all summer, it's SO quiet here today. I thought I would share a card, just perfect for a little girl. I used Karen Lockhart's Apron stamp and a Papertrey sentiment, along with paper from Imaginesce and ribbon from Making Memories. If you click on the link to the apron stamp HERE, you will notice that I cut off the bottom pockets of the larger apron image. That shortens the apron and makes a perfect sized apron for a little girl. I'll have to take a photo of the little apron my mom made for me when I was a little girl....she found it the other day and I was SOOO happy! It's tiny though, I'm not sure it EVER fit around my chubby little body.

I hope you have a GREAT day! I know many of you will be sending your *little* ones off to school soon. Enjoy each and every day with your loved ones.

Be sure to stop by Nichole's blog today for some new product finds that are in store now at the Papertrey website...view the new First Fruits 8 x 8 paper collection... and see some more sneak peeks from the awesome PT Design Team. Tonight's the big night, the new August releases will be available at midnight. Woohoo, there's a party goin' on 2-Nite at the Papertrey Forum! Don't miss it!

Caramel Apple Kit...PTI paint cans

Halloween is just around the corner, one of my favorite times of year. I love all the decorations, the costumes and the TREATS! The apples are sooooooo yummy this time of year so what could be better than caramel apples? Wouldn't teachers and friends LOVE a homemade caramel apple? But what about transporting caramel apples, not so easy right?

Well how about creating a caramel apple kit so that the recipient of your wonderful gift can be assembled with ease? By using Nichole's new set Spooky Sweets II, you can do just that! The images are awesome in this set but the sentiments are just as sweet! Who knew that one little sentiment that reads *caramel apples kit* could spark such fun ideas. I wanted to make a *Martha meets Vintage* looking kit and I think I accomplished just that....a fancy little kit with a hint of vintage, but very simple and elegant. I used a large clear paint can, available at Papertrey Ink, for my container. I added some fun ribbon from Jo Ann's to the handle of the can and added a *happy halloween*sentiment from the original Papertrey Spooky Sweets stamp set.

For the top of the paint can I used Spellbinders new Pinking Circle Die Templates and some regular Spellbinder's Circle Die Templates. Zoom in to view the gorgeous swirly circle image from the Spooky Sweets II set and the *caramel apples kit* sentiment. I added airbrushing with my Copic markers and airbrush sytem for some soft shading.

And inside my beautiful paint can are the caramel apple kit contents for a single serving caramel apple that can be cut up for a *no mess* snack.....or maybe enough to share with a friend. The kit includes a beautiful Fuji apple...I love the warm color of that variety...a single serving of caramel dip and a little Papertrey glassine sack filled with chopped pecans and closed up with a single black brad.

Imagine the delight on the face of someone who receives this special gift. You could also give them a sack full of refills...it could be their special afternoon treat.

I wanted to photograph my Halloween treat with some pretty backdrops, so it was the perfect time to get out a few Fall decorations. I've posted my two tiered wire centerpiece many times, decorated for many different seasons. I think for the beginning of Fall, fresh apples will look fabulous! And I got a head start too. It's a good thing! Enjoy!!
Supplies:

Papertrey Paint Cans

Papertrey Glassine Sacks (with black brad)
Spooky Sweets II Stamp Set

Spooky Sweets Stamp Set (Happy Halloween sentiment)

Papertrey Vanilla Cardstock, SU! Black Cardstock

Palette Black Noir Hybrid Ink, Versamagic (orange)

Spellbinder's Nestabilities Pinking Circle Dies and Circle Dies
Ribbon from JoAnn's Craft Store
Caramel Apple Kit Ingredients: Apple, Single Serving Size Caramel, Pecans

More Postage Stamp Layouts...Lockhart Butterflies

I made some more cards using what I call the postage stamp layout. Just take an image, place it on a square and position it in the top right hand corner of your card. Today, I used a couple of Karen Lockhart's butterfly images to coordinate with some K and Company butterfly patterned paper. Marianne, from Copic, showed me a fun thing to do with Copic markers and a Copic Colorless Blender. After I stamped and colored my butterfly images.....then cut them out with a Spellbinder's Square Die Template, I masked my butterflies with Eclipse Masking Tape then airbrushed over them with a green marker. Now here comes the fun part....I took my Copic Colorless Blender and inked it up really good. Then I just made dots with the brush tip of my blender all around my image. This gives the look of *bleaching* so to speak. The alcohol in the blender is bleeding out some color, so you get end up with this fun splotchy, dotted look. I love it!! Thanks Marianne for the tip!! Be sure to zoom in and you can get an ever closer look. I also added Ranger Glossy Accents to some of the details in the butterflies.
Supplies:
Butterfly Stamps:Karen Lockhart
Sentiment: Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Papertrey Summer Sunrise, Berry Sorbet
Patterned Paper: K and Company butterflies
Ribbon: Papertrey Berry Sorbet
Copic Markers and Colorless Blender
Spellbinders Die Templates
Glossy Accents

Note: Today is my dear friend Pine's (Heather Nichols) birthday. ANNNND, she has her very own stamp set called Rustic Branches debuting this week at Papertrey Ink. You can check out her blog all week to get sneak peeks of some wonderful projects created with her new set. It's SO Pine and I love it! Head over there and wish her a Happy Birthday!!

Happy Hello Butterflies

If you're like me, you have more stamp sets than you ever think you'll get to use in a lifetime. I love going back to some of my older but well loved stamps though. Just because those sets aren't fresh out the shipping box, they are still awesome! I pulled out two Papertrey Ink sets for this card and paired them with one of my favorite paper companies called October Afternoon. Pink and brown were used for the butterfly images and that burst of Summer Sunrise PTI ribbon pulls out the orange flowers from the background paper. I just love those punches of color. The file folder die was from a sheet of die cuts that came with my October Afternoon paper pack. Here's another view of the three butterflies.....ready to take flight it seems. I bent their wings slightly inward and used a small pop dot to adhere them to my card front. I used Glossy Accents on the dots of the wings, so pretty! This card will probably not ever be sent in an envelope..will be best to hand deliver this one.
Note: I'm going to start listing my supplies at the bottom of my project with the links. I think it's easier to see all the supply list in one place.

Supply List:
Papertrey Butterfly Kisses Stamp Set
Papertrey Papertray Stamp Set
Papertrey Sweet Blush card stock
Papertrey Summer Sunrise ribbon
October Afternoon Patterned Paper and File Folder Die Cut
Glossy Accents

JustRite Boo Card

Have you noticed the label trend lately? They come in all shapes and sizes and themes and they are a hot item. Look at the hand made label I made for this Halloween card. I used JustRite Stampers products so I could customize my label any way I wanted. For the words, I used the new Brayton alphabet. You can pre-order it today and it will ship about mid September. The dotted circle outline border, which reminded me of eyeballs, is from the JustRite Curlz Border and Font set. And with the combinations of punches and dies available now, you can cut and layer your dies into many shapes and sizes. The possibilities are endless. For my label, I used a Spellbinder's Pinking Circles Die Template and then layered it onto a purchased circle die from Making Memories.
All of these labels scattered below are from Making Memories...but those little packages can add up quickly $$ wise. You could easily recreate the look of store bought dies by using your own stamps and dies and a little creativity. Your investment will pay for itself in no time! (be sure to tell your husband that)

Other supplies: pumpkin image cut from 12 x 12 patterned paper from Teresa Collins by Junkitz (older paper), background paper from Rusty Pickle, ribbon from May Arts, Kraft paper from Papertrey Ink

And IIIIIII know, Halloween already? It's just around the corner and there's tons of great new products out there....so get ready! I love Halloween. Also, be sure to check out yesterday's Crafty Secret post....there's some new designers on board and you can also enter for a prize drawing that I'll draw for tomorrow morning.

Birthday Kids

Edit: Please welcome some new gals to the Crafty Secrets Design Team. Congratulations to Heidi, Marisa and Vivian!! You can check it out HERE.

Crafty Secrets has done it again...they've come out with another adorable stamp set. It's called Birthday Kids and will be available very soon. This clear, acrylic stamp set is jam packed full of fun images and sentiments...all to celebrate the little kiddos' birthdays!

For the card below, I used the sweet little girl image with adorable curls. My mom used to curl my wet hair around her fingers and I had little ringlets just like this little girl. The ice cream cone, #1, and Happy Birthday sentiment are all from the Birthday Kids set. For both cards, I used Papertrey card stock and ribbon, Spellbinder's Labels Dies and Square Dies, Copic markers and airbrush system, and Crafty Secrets patterned paper. This little guy is turning two! Isn't he just darling with his tousled hair and freckles? The balloon image was paper pieced using scrap patterned paper.
Here's a close up of some of the details. These sets will get their use over the years to come.....my little niece and nephew will be getting THE cutest birthday cards!! Enjoy!!

Okay, who wants to win some fun Crafty Secrets stuff? Sandy from Crafty Secrets sent me a big, gihugic box full of new booklets for me to give away so here we go!! I have FOUR new Images and Journal Notes booklets to give away. You can see them HERE, just look for the bottom four called Christmas, Halloween, Little Dolls and Girlfriends...zoom in on each one to get a closer look. The booklets are filled to the brim with darling vintage images that perfect for cards, scrapbook pages or altered projects. If you'd like a chance to win them all, leave a comment with this post and tell me a childhood birthday memory. No anonymous posts will be selected. I will pick a winner on Sunday morning so be sure to sign up today or tomorrow (Saturday) to enter the drawing.

My childhood memory: My brother who was two years older than me, shared the birthday month of May with me....two weeks apart. My mom would dress us in matching outfits and make us a birthday cake to share. She had this wonderful recipe book that showed how to make cake shapes like butterflies, trains, caterpillars, etc.....all using gum drops, licorice pieces, and candies. I LOVED those cakes, they were SO cute!!

Snail Mail meets Mr. Campy

Did you see that Karen Lockhart designed a *snail mail* sentiment for her cute snail stamp? I had to pair them up together! One of my favorite paper companies is Cosmo Cricket..and this is one of their new papers from the adorable Mr. Campy line. I love the nature prints on this paper. I used Papertrey Dark Chocolate cardstock and ribbon, and also cut out a few embellishments from the patterned paper, and added a button.
It's a busy week at our house...Eric got a wisdom tooth extracted yesterday so he's home for the week.....the girls are winding down their summer and are preparing for school to start a week from today....and I'm playing catchup on a little bit of everything. I've got lots of projects planned for the new Papertrey release this month and have some new JustRite monogram samples coming too. So stay tuned. Have a great day everyone!

You Little Monkey

We enroll for school today.....then the count down begins for August 14th, the first day of school. We have done all of our shopping and just have a binder for Jordan and a pair of volleyball shoes for Josey yet to buy. The bank of mom is just about tapped out!

Josey will start volleyball practice a week or so after school starts, so it will be a new transition for us......having her away from home more, going to her weekly ballgames and trying to crunch in homework, etc. I always miss my girls when school starts...the house is so quiet and the summer time activities are all gone. So I thought it would be fun to make some little notecards to tuck into the girls' book binders every now and then with a special note from Mom....and maybe some money for a pop after school for the bus ride home.

These little notecards measure about 3" x 5". I used 3 of Karen Lockhart's new stamps....the monkey, the bananas and the little *you little monkey* sentiment. I'm always saying that to the girls. Patterned paper is from K and Company, notecards and punches from Stampin' Up!.
For the girls' names on the envelopes I used a new font from JustRite Stampers. It's called Brayton and I love the look of it. I used Copic markers to color in the monkey and the bananas. I hope to make some more little notecards similar to these so I can have a stash to tuck in the girls' binders.

Have you started school shopping yet? We had a fun time...we sat down the next day and unwrapped all the supplies and marked every supply...down to the last colored pencil....with the girls' names. They're all ready to go!

Fan Mail

Edit: Look what we have here...Judy H. was kind enough to share a recipe! Thanks Judy!! When I get my mom's recipe, I'll do a comparison but this sounds good to me!

1 pkg. unsweetened kool-aid (the kind you have to add sugar to. We like lemonade cuz it gives the popsicles a nice tartness to them)

1 pkg. (3 oz.) any flavor jello (can be sugar free or full flavor)

1 c. sugar

2 c. boiling water

2 c. cold water

Place jello, kool-aid and sugar in pitcher. Boil water. Once boiling, add to pitcher and stir to dissolve. Then add cold. Pour in Tupperware popsicle molds and place in freezer. Once they start to set up, add popsicle sticks. I don't use the ones included with the molds; I use craft sticks that you can get at Michael's or WM for $2.99 for 1,000 - lasts me awhile! lol Enjoy! I hope this is what you're looking for. Judy H.

It's hotter than H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS here in Kansas!! Our nice cool front is GONE and the typical Kansas weather is back. Temps are supposed to be near 100 with a heat index near 110. That is HAWT, folks!! This morning it's so humid, there is a dense fog covering the ground. Needless to say, we'll be inside enjoying the AC or we'll be heading to Grandma's pool!!

So today I picked a project to show you that's all about the FAN! Karen Lockhart released this new fan stamp, available at Ellen's store, and it immediately reminded me of my childhood days. We lived in an old, big two story stucco house. We didn't have AC for the longest time and when we did get it, it was just a window unit that cooled a portion of the downstairs. All of the kids' bedrooms were upstairs so each of us had a big box fan in our window. It barely kept us cool though so we slept many a night on the living room floor downstairs. It was like a big slumber party!

We also had lots of fans running because my mom was always canning or cooking so the house was HOT! We had an aqua, metal fan just like the one in my card. It oscillated back and forth and I was always afraid someone would cut their toe off! We also stuck our faces up close to to the fans and repeated the vowels really slowly so that it would make funny sounds......AAAAA......EEEEEE........III.....OOO......UUUUU. Anybody else do that, or were we just bored farm kids trying to entertain ourselves??? LOL!

Okay, enough down memory lane, here's my card. I saw the sentiment *fan mail* somewhere and wanted to use it with Karen's cute stamp. So I got out some of my dollar alphabets and created my own little *fan mail* banner......and a *for you* circle tag to hang off the ribbon.

I used Spellbinder's square and scallop square dies to frame the image. I colored the image with Copic markers....the same color as I remember that old fan we had....and also airbrushed the square while my square Nestie die was still in place. Background paper is from October Afternoon and solid cardstock and ribbon is from Papertrey Ink. For the shiny fan blades, I used Ranger Glossy Accents. It dries to a perfect shine!
Okay everyone, stay COOL this weekend. I've got my mom on a mission to find this old Popsicle recipe she used to make. It was made with Jello and she froze it in these white Tupperware Popsicle molds. I'm hoping she finds the recipe so I can make slushes for the family this weekend. I think I'll go turn on my fan in the meantime! Have a great weekend!!