Thoughts of a Grasshopper

I mentioned before that I was looking to come up some cards that were simple and not bulky to mail. I can save $28 in mailing if I keep it simple. $28 is a nice savings, incidentally, it is also what I saved yesterday at the store with my coupons and the BOGO. One of my daughters has been going with me more lately and she loves to see how much we saved by using coupons. I went to a different grocery store yesterday that accepts expired, competitors, etc. You can use up to 3 different coupons for one item. Pretty fun, but also time consuming. The above cards were made primarily with the stamp set Peaceful Season. The top card was a card on the demo site of SU for us to make in our classes. In addition to Peaceful Season, Bells and Boughs was also used. This was the first time I used the Tasteful Trim die. I really like it. There is another card on demo site I want to make and share later that uses the scallop border. Stamps: Peaceful Season CS: Very Vanilla Ink: Old Olive, Alway...

I'm so glad to be a part of the SUStars Christmas/Winter blog hop. This is my favorite time of year and for some reason I'm really excited for Christmas this year. Looking at this card you would think it was pretty easy to do but I have to tell you, I did this card several times before I was happy with it. Stamps: Tags til Christmas, Peaceful Season CS: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, VV Ink: Early Espresso, VersaMark Misc.: Detail Gold EP, Metallic Brads, Vanilla Taffeta, Neutrals Brads, Ornament punch, Rhinestone Jewels Your next stop on the hop is Courtney at Brighten Your Day the Stampin' Up! Way! If you are just joining, you can keep going or start at the beginning at the SU Stars blog .

I'm all about the Bells & Boughs set lately. This set is so versatile, which is fabulous if you are making a lot of Christmas cards. I stamped the holly in Artichoke on the Crumb Cake CS. The greeting I did in Early Espresso. The dot design on the VV is in Cherry as well as the dots on the circle. The solid lines on the circle are done in Artichoke. I punched both the vanilla and cherry circle with the 1-1/2" circle punch. I trimmed the VV circle around the stamped image so it would be framed by the cherry cobbler CS. Stamps: Bells & Boughs, Welcome Christmas, Frames with a Flourish CS: Crumb Cake, VV, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, watercolor paper Ink: Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler Circle Punches: 1-3/4, 1-1/2

I don't know what it is, but Christmas and all that goes with it seems to be coming earlier for me this year. I'm as behind as ever on my card making but I can't wait to start decorating, to get the tree up, enjoy the lights, parties, friends, and everything else wonderful about Christmas. My kids started practicing Christmas songs a couple of weeks ago for piano and my older two have been singing for their Christmas concert or practicing pieces for their Winter Concert. That helps in getting Christmas going around here. A fairly simple card to make today. I pulled out a sheet of each DP from the Deck the Halls pack and used 2 different designs on this card. I took my exacto knife to cut around the poinsettia flowers to fit the music in. Stamps: Bells & Boughs CS: Crumb, Cake, Cherry Cobbler, VV, Deck the Halls DP Ink: Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake Misc.: neutrals brads, Kraft taffeta ribbon

For the OWH blog hop, I considered just stamping hearts across a card and adding a sentiment. Obviously, I didn't do it. It cracked me up when I was looking through my e-mail and saw that Kelly had this card on her blog finds of the day list. Since I had the set out, I CASEd it. Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts, Heard from the Heart CS: VV, Riding Hood Red Ink: Riding Hood Red Misc.: Dimensionals I think Tamye used the heart punch that SU sells. I don't have that punch *gasp* so I just cut the heart from the friend and used the scrap as my stencil to cut one from vanilla.

You're probably thinking "Valentine's Day . . . Seriously?!" It seems like the focus just turned to Christmas and now I'm fast forwarding a couple of months. The reason for this jump is that for the troops overseas, the deadline for us to make Christmas cards for them to use has come and gone. If you plan to make Valentine's Day cards for Operation Write Home (OWH ), the deadline is January 7th. I have two Valentine's Day cards to share today. Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Well Scripted CS: Rose Red, VV, Elegant Eggplant, Soft Subtles Patterns DP Ink/Markers: Baja Breeze, Elegant Eggplant, Rose Red, Blush Blossom, Crumb Cake Punches: Heart border, large oval, decorative label Misc.: Deck the Halls designer button, Basic Pearl Jewels, dimensionals, glue dots, Victoria ribbon This next card is pretty much a case of Ilina Crouse. I used different DP and colors but the layout is hers. Stamps: I {heart} Hearts, Tiny Tags CS: VV, Riding Hood Red, Basic ...

When I was at JoAnn's buying fabric for my girls' costumes, I saw this material and loved it. I used the square scallop die from Stampin' Up! to make the squares. I loved how quick it was with the die cutting through 8 layers of fabric at once. I used a jumbo button from the Deck the Halls Big Designer Button pack. After I had the button sewn on, I put an antique brad through the center to add a little something. Just because I think my girls were so stinkin' cute for Halloween as Snap, Crackle & Pop, here they are. My son it too old to dress out it seems.

Apparently washer necklaces were "the thing" to do last year. Somehow, I missed that. However, when I saw a few recently, I liked them and wanted to give them a try. I plan to make some for the girls (8-11 yr. olds) I work with at church. I'm so glad that I have StazOn in 8 different colors. I plan to add some bling to their washer necklace too. I made mine double-sided so that if it flips over, it won't matter. On the girls, I plan to use DP on one side and the other side will be stamped.

I have admired the Simply Adored product line but never purchased it because it was low on my wish list. With the bundle that they are offering, I decided to go for it. I'm so glad I did. I made this through a Stampin' Up! tutorial, which was great. I need to practice some designs for a small area. Maybe I should have joined that inchies swap . . . hmm. Stamps: Charming CS: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler Ink: More Mustard Markers: Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke Misc.: 24" chain, 1-1/4 x 1" charm, clear bauble, vanilla ribbon, basic pearls, scallop ribbon punch, Moonlight Smooch

I fell in love with this set when it came out. It takes me back to Christmas decorations when I was a child and all the decorating we did. Our house looked amazing every Christmas (still does ). A very simple card that you could make a lot of if you need to. Stamps: Bells & Boughs CS & Markers: Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake Misc.: Deck the Halls buttons, linen thread, 1-3/4 inch circle punch, XL scallop punch, red jewels

October ended up being a crazy busy month but it is behind me now. It seems odd to think that it is slowing down when preparations for the holidays begin, but seriously, it was THAT busy. Since my last post, this is my favorite card I made. I love the sparkle of the Smooch Spritz on the bashful blue cardstock. It looks really nice with the metallic thread around the main image too. I'm breaking my arm patting myself on the back on this one. It is a simple card, but it looks so pretty in person (not too shabby here either). If you click on the picture, you will see hints of swirls in the picture (the top right shows it best). I used the Northern Frost Strip to cut out the snowflakes from a cereal box. I placed some snowflakes on top the texture plate before putting my cardstock on and running it through the big shot. I wanted the illusion of snow falling and the wind blowing. I had to choose, show you the sparkle or show the swirls when I took the picture and I'm all a...

Welcome to SUStars Blog Hop! We were invited to create either a Thanksgiving card or a thank you card. I chose to go with the thank you card. We've had so many great things going on around here and have a lot of people to remember with a thank you card. This first card is done with the Just Believe stamp set. I made the basic card for a swap and added the thank you to fit my needs. That is the great thing about card swaps, some can be for general use but you can turn it into a thank you, birthday, etc. Stamps: Just Believe, Occasional Quotes CS: Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Confetti White Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait Punches: Designer Label, Sm. Oval (119863), 1-3/8" circle, scallop border punch Misc.: Dimensionals, Vintage Wallpaper EF, WW Taffeta I'm hosting a baby shower this coming Saturday and I'm making a bunch of these as a favor for the guests. The fun for this hop begins on the SUStars blog . There will be a complete list of links for all the...

Here's hoping that there is time tomorrow night to stamp. It has been so crazy busy with family, school concerts, company, a recognition night at church, scouts and normal life. I was just lamenting to my husband that I haven't stamped in days and I planned to tonight and it didn't happen. He said I'll make a blog entry for you. I asked what he would say - thus the title. My son earned the Life rank a month ago and is focused on Eagle now. We went to an Eagle workshop yesterday. While there, I learned that I, as the advancement chair for his troop, should have written some letters requesting commendation letters/certificates for a recent Eagle. I had no idea. I spent some time tonight writing 6 letters to various individuals that I thought he would appreciate acknowledgement from. The court of honor hasn't been scheduled yet. His parents wanted it with the regular troop court of honor. I had the Committee Chair check again on that because it is a big de...

The SUStars group had a swap last month with the focus being on using new stamps and new colors. My swap came back yesterday. I was so busy yesterday that one of the girls ended up bringing in the mail after dinner. I was still working when she did and didn't take the time to see what came. Just before bed, I checked my e-mail and read that someone received their swap. I went to the table in the entry and there it was. Swaps are like Christmas for me, you go to the mail box anticipating that today may be the day that you receive it, giddy when it is there. I usually tear into it walking toward the bus stop to meet my girls. I look through them quickly, oohing and aahing at some. I talk with the twins about their day at school and then I look through the swap again before the other kids come home and dinner is started. Love it. Martha Lucia Gomez Barbara Furlong Courtney Sue-Lynn Bock Joann Williams Lauren Winemiller Tracy Meece Mindy Gray Danielle Bodden Shari Dudek

My youngest girls are twins and they have a birthday coming up. When I was thinking of the invitations, I thought of making one that looked like a sleeping bag. That seemed easy enough to do with cardstock. I got to thinking that most will bring a blanket and a pillow. I decided to make pillows out of felt and have the invitation inside. I sewed white felt in the shape of a pillow. Trimmed the invitations to fit inside. (Some pillows had to be wider because they had both girls' names on them.) I added some batting to fluff them up a little. A ribbon stapled at the top, a flower and a gem and they are done. They are happy with them and that is all that matters.

Welcome to Just a Blog Hop. We were invited to put aside all of our stamping oriented obligations and deadlines and create something just for fun. The hop guidelines were simple: choose a challenge to play and choose either a new uninked stamp or an old favorite. Create a card and mail it to someone. What could be better to celebrate World Card Making Day? I started with challenge (TESC130) from Taylor at Taylored Expressions. It was a fun sketch to work with and I got to use my Balmy Breezes set. While some of you are experiencing cooler weather and perhaps leaves starting to change, we are still in the upper 80's/low 90's. Thankfully not as hot as some have had it lately. The nights are starting to get cooler. My kids notice this as they leave in the morning. One of my girls asked if this is what fall is here. This is our second fall in Florida and they have forgotten last year with the busyness of moving. I looked on Split Coast Stampers (SCS) to see what challen...