Hi stampers!  I'm cranking out the fall cards this week even though it doesn't feel much like fall after it snowed yesterday (UGH) and it was like 34 degrees out!  Hopefully it gets warmer like they say it will as I have a 5k on Saturday and while I like to run when it's cool I'm not a fan of COLD at least when I'm not used to it yet!  And my mom is walking and I'll never hear the end of it if she's cold :-)

Anyway, my card for today is what I'm calling wood on wood as it mixes the birchwood paper from the thanksgiving tablescape kit with the woodgrain embossing folder.  I should send this to my in-laws as they are adding hardwood to their family room this week and have been struggling on which way to lay it as it's a different shade from the rest of the hardwoods in the other rooms :-)  All the ladies say since it's different it should run perpendicular while the menfolk say it should be parallel:-)  I'll have to go visit soon and see what way won!
Stampin Supplies:
Stamps:  Gently falling, truly grateful
Paper:  Very vanilla, crumb cake, early espresso core'dinations
Ink:  Early espresso, chocolate chip, pumpkin pie, crushed curry, raspberry ripple
Accessories:  Thankful tablescape kit, linen thread, sanding block, woodgrain embossing folder

I pulled the layout and general idea from a card I had seen on a challenge blog.  And the picture is a bit wonky.  My editing software is on the fritz and some of the settings got changed and I can't figure out how to make them go back....

And finally, have you checked out the Stampin' Up blog and store lately?  There is a lot of new fun stuff like an ornament kit and some fun MDS classes.

Isn't this ornament cute!  It's just like the one featured in the Holiday Catalog.  And everything is already cut and scored for you!  All you need is some hot glue!  There's also a video on the SU Youtube channel showing you how to assemble it!


And here's some of the CUTE images from the MDS classes and downloads!



Make sure to chose me as your demo if you order though!  The link there won't take you to my personal store.

Happy stamping!

Hi stampers!  It's finally Friday!  Yay!  Too bad I have to work very late tonight and also tomorrow morning:-)  Is football over yet?????  One more week.....

But, at least it's time for our fourth challenge over at Fab Friday.  I can't believe we are at number four already!  It's been so much fun and I'm so happy to see so many wonderful projects!  This time it's a color challenge.

And here's the card I came up with:
Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Seasonal sayings, gently falling
Paper:  Very vanilla, summer starfruit, island indigo, comfort cafe DSP, summer smooches DSP, first edition DSP
Ink:  Summer starfruit, midnight muse, island indigo
Accessories:  Apothecary accents framelits, linen thread, vintage faceted buttons

I finally dusted off the my gently falling set.  I really love that one!  And I really love this sentiment from seasonal sayings too if you couldn't tell:-)

And there's a bit of a funny story about this one....the picture is actually not of a whole card but just of a card front because I had to cut my card front off the whole card.  Why you ask?  Well I made it the other night before "tv" time with my hubs and was trying to hurry and get it done so I could head down to the man cave to watch Castle.  When I came back up after, I picked up the card and saw that I had glued the main panel on the card upside down, lol!  Whoops!  So I lopped it off and I'll have to adhere it to another card base the RIGHT way:-)

Now go check out the rest of the samples and play along with us!

Happy stamping!

Hi stampers!  It's Tuesday again and time for another fabulous challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  This time it's a technique challenge: 






This was a fun challenge and also another new technique for me!  If you're new to bargello as well there is a great pictorial over on Splitcoast.  Basically, you just cut strips of paper (usually DSP) and glue them down in random patterns to a base.  Then, you cut that into strips and then line those strips up in any pattern you want. 

I thought that the spice cake DSP would be just PERFECT for this technique and very timely since it's just about Thanksgiving...which I don't even want to to talk to think about since I cannot BELIEVE it's the middle of November already!  Where does the time go, especially between Halloween and Christmas!!!?????  Anyway, here is my card:



Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Gently falling, tiny tags
Paper:  More mustard, pear pizzazz, soft suede, very vanilla, spice cake DSP
Ink:  More mustard, pear pizzazz, soft suede
Accessories:  Scallop circle and circle dies, jewelry tag punch, linen thread, gold smooch spray

Since the bargello is pretty geometric I wanted to use a different shape so I cut the whole thing out of a circle when I was done.  I also sprayed the whole thing with the gold smooch spritz.  It's very pretty and shimmery in real life!  Other than that it's pretty self explanatory!  Now, I have ONE tip....make sure you glue down the ENTIRE strip when you are laying down your DSP layer....I wasn't thinking and didn't and when I went to cut my sheet apart tiny pieces went EVERYWHERE!  LOL!  It was kind of like putting a puzzle together!!!!

Now head on over to HSS using the link at the top of the post to see what else the DT came up with and to play along! 

Happy stamping!

Hi stampers!  Happy Tuesday....that means it's time for another challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  And sorry for being MIA this weekend but I was down at my mom's on my first weekend off in what seems like forever helping her celebrate her birthday!  We were able to spend a lot of quality time together and get some things for her new house although it seems like there never is enough time for everything!  I was excited to go down there since I thought the leaves would be really pretty about now.  Sadly, I was disappointed as they are really pretty here but not so much at her place.  Funny how 80 some miles can make such a difference!  I was hoping to see some pretty colors like in this week's inspiration photo:


Isn't that a pretty tablescape?  I sure do wish I had seen all those colors in the woods at the farm but I pretty much just saw brown.  Oh well, maybe next year.  So, my project for this week is a cute little favor I can use for Thanksgiving dinner.  Aside from cutting the leaves, it went together pretty fast.

 Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Gently falling, falling leaves
Paper:  crumb cake, very vanilla, soft suede
Ink:  more mustard, cajun craze, soft suede
Accessories:  Circle punches, linen thread, more mustard dotted scalloped ribbon

 I took my inspiration from the gold and rust tones in the picture.  I really loved them.  This favor came together quickly with the pillow box die and it fits three hershey miniatures perfectly....although no one will get the dark chocolate ones in their favor as they disappear in my office;-)  Now, click on over to HSS and see what the other DT members have to show you and play along!

Happy stamping!

Hi stampers!  Not much stamping going on around here lately!  Lots of stuff going on here so I'll have to pull out a card I have saved up.

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Gently falling, grateful greetings
Paper:  More mustard, soft suede, pool party, very vanilla, first edition DSP, spice cake DSP
Ink:  Pear pizzazz, soft suede, more mustard
Accessories:  Modern label punch, circle die, hounds tooth emobssing folder, pool party ruffled ribbon

Well that's it for me!  I'll try to come back soon but it's my mom's birthday this weekend so we may be busy busy still:-)

Happy stamping!

Hi stampers, time for a new challenge at  Hand Stamped Sentiments.


This week we are all about coloring!  The challenge is to use one of the following three coloring or stamping techniques:
Shaving cream
Crayons
Pastels

Pick one, two or all three and show us what you got!  Here is what I came up with:


Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Gently falling, teeny tiny wishes, netting
Paper:  More mustard, very vanilla, soft suede, spice cake DSP
Ink:  more mustard, soft suede
Accessories:  Watercolor wonder crayons (more mustard and soft suede), linen embossing folder, word window punch, distressing essentials kit

For my card I chose to use my watercolor wonder crayons.  I think I've only used them ONCE since I updated my colors!  Shameful!  One of my favorite techniques to use with the crayons is coloring directly onto my stamps.  It works best with solid stamps and not outline ones so I colored in the leaf from gently falling with more mustard (you need to color a lot and for a while to get good coverage) and then I went over the edges with the soft suede crayon.  You then lightly mist your stamp with either water or stampin mist and then stamp onto watercolor paper.  I also stamped the outline of the leaf when it was dry.  This stamp didn't turn out as well as I had hoped with this technique and colors but it was still pretty and gave a nice and soft watercolored look!

I also used my tea stain ink from the distressing kit (and FYI we now carry ink refills for these so no need to hoard them like yours truly) on the edges of my cardstock and over the embossed panel.  Be careful with soft suede ink though.  I wasn't being careful and you can see where the tea stain ink made some of the red come out of the suede...oh well, it just adds to the vintage charm right?  :-)  See, no mistakes in stamping!
Now, click on over to the HSS site and see what the rest of the amazing design team has come up with and play along with us!

Happy stamping!

PS:  I edited the post this morning as the challenge image was wonky and blurry and things seemed out of order, strange!  Also I should have mentioned that I DID want to try the shaving cream technique but I sort of have an aversion to the stuff.  I really dislike the way it smells and it can give me a headache, I'm sensitive to certain smells and we don't even have any in the house since the hubby uses gel....don't like the way that smells either...he has to use special towels, lol!

Hi stampers!  I'm back today with another entry for Freshly Made Sketches!  That makes two out of two since this week is their second ever challenge!  I'm really liking their sketches!  I'm a bit of a clean and simple stamper (who likes to embellish the heck out of stuff but the initial idea is simple) so I'm taking to this like a duck to water:-)  Quack quack, lol!

So, while at convention I said how I did NOT need the new Gently Falling set in the Holiday mini.  I didn't need any more leaves, I had French Foliage from last year (note to self:  get that fantabulous set out soon!) therefore I didn't need no more leaves!  I'm really trying to be good (ok, better) at not buying every single dang thing in the mini catalogs.  So I stayed strong....until a few weeks ago:-)  I kept seeing SUCH pretty things made with them and of course you all know I'm in LOVE with the spice cake paper...I want to marry it!  So, I broke down and got the gently falling set and I LOVE it!  Can I marry it too???  Just look at what you can do with it:

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Gently falling, grateful greetings
Paper: Spice cake DSP, soft suede, very vanilla, pool party, more mustard
Ink:  Versamark, pool party, more mustard, soft suede
Accessories:  gold and pewter embossing powders

It just makes the most fabulous CAS cards!  Now, I did get a bit fancy-schmancy here.  I heat embossed the leaf with gold EP and then I did the sentiment with the new pewter EP for a little contrast.  And I'm loving the clear mount stamps because it makes two step stamping so much easier and I don't have to dig out my stamp-a-majg if I don't feel like it.  I sort of like the "messy" look where the outline stamp isn't quite perfect on the  solid image.  So, there you have it....I'm weak, weak minded and now you all know....my name is Mindy and I'm a rubber-a-holic!  :-)  Of course, there are worse things right?

That's it for me, time to go teach some turbokick at the Y!

Happy stamping!