Laurie Stamps! (among other things) by Laurie Olivas

Spring……are you coming??? I'm ready….

2014-03-05T22:15:00.002-06:00

Well blogland would you believe I turned 50? What the heck! I still feel like I'm 25 in my brain,lol…
This is the first birthday that I can remember that the weather didn't feel like Spring. It was a cold 35 degrees in Austin TX on my big day. To fight off the winter blues and made this very springy card with supplies from Lawn Fawn. I used the Mojo Monday 335 contest sketch. You can find this at
mojomonday.blogspot.com
Happy Stamping!

Happy Fall Y'all

2012-09-20T03:10:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you but I am DONE with summer! The heat in Austin, TX is crazy! I'm looking forward to cooler temps and all the fun that fall has to offer!
In the spirit of this, I made this fun Halloween box. Perfect to fill with treats for your favorite goblins! Box is covered with paper from Mind's Eye. The cute little vintage witch is cut from Cavallini Halloween post cards available from Paper Source. As a matter of fact everything to make this project came from Paper Source. The rosettes are made from cutting 1"X12" strips. Score them every 1/4", fan fold and glue ends together to form cylinder. Pinch ends together while pushing down to open the other side. This will form the rosette. Glue a circle to center on back and front and embellish as desired.
Have a great day everyone! I will try to post more often...

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T13:16:00.001-06:00

I don't know about you my friends, but I have no sadness in seeing 2011 depart. What a year! I lost my job, then I found a job, then I hated the job, then I quit the job...LOL...

I am happy to say I start what I believe to be my DREAM job tomorrow. Hooray for 2012!
I wish all of you health and happiness in the new year!
The card pictured above was fun to make. I found a vintage new year's card on the web and printed several copies on cardstock. After cutting details I mounted them on foam tape for a 3-D effect. I attached this all to a Paper Source note card and added the twill herringbone ribbon also from Paper Source. Martha Stewart silver glitter was added as well as Stickles for some sparkle!
This is so easy to do and so well received when sent out. I encourage you to do something creative today!
Happy New Year!
Laurie

Handmade bows and gift bags

2011-12-08T08:48:00.001-06:00

If your running low on gift bags and bows, fear not! If your don't have time to run to the store you can make your own! If you have any paper bag and a couple of sheets of scrapbook paper you are on your way to making something fabulous. Here is what you do:
Cut 13 strips of paper 3/4 in. X 3 3/4 in.

Make 12 loops and 1 circle for the center, as shown in photo.
Use double stick adhesive to attach groups of four loops together.
When you have 3 groups, stick them together alternating directions.
Place circle in center, and your have a bow!

Decorate your paper bag any way you choose, attach your bow and a simple tag and you're done!

Holiday Cards :-)

2011-12-07T08:51:00.001-06:00

It was so much fun to make these cards. I went to my local Paper Source store and chose some fun things to make my Christmas cards this year. I can spend hours in that store! So many fun things to see! You should absolutely go visit one near you or online at www.paper-source.com

I chose a few products and made MANY things! I chose baker's twine, Gnomes Circle Stickers, Vintage Trees A2 Stationery, cardstock in red and white, mini white pom poms, Stickles, twill ribbon, and white treat bags. I also purchased the Peace, love, joy stamp and Keep Calm and Carry On. Any other products used came out of my stash. I know we all have a stash! What fun I had! Did you know that Keep Calm and Carry On was used by the British government during WW2. They had this printed on posters to keep up the morale of their citizens during the war. Very interesting! I thought it would be a great sentiment next to my snowman, who happens to be having a holiday meltdown! I'm off to see what else I can create with these things today!

Dear Mr. Claus Wreath...Thank you Cosmo Cricket!

2011-12-04T15:46:00.001-06:00

This wreath was so much fun to make! I cut stars from the Cosmo Cricket Dear Mr. Claus line and scored them to add dimension. All paper embellishments are also from that line of papers. I added vintage tinsel, mica snowflakes, buttons and Stickles glitter to jazz it up! I think I love it! My favorite part is Frosty sliding down the rope to wish us a Merry Christmas! Keeping it short and sweet today! Until next time....

Holiday Printer's Tray

2011-12-02T20:52:00.001-06:00

How I love all things vintage! I was working on this special project to take to a meeting on Tuesday, and I am soooooo pleased with what I came up with. I love the old photos from the 1940's of my Dad and his sisters. I copied them and made two of each in wallet size. I placed one photo on the bottom and then fussy cut the people out of the second photo and attached it with foam tape to give it a 3-D effect.

The paper and ribbon was all purchased from Paper Source. The holiday ephemera was cut using only 1 sheet of Cavellini gift wrap. You could make several projects using only the 1 sheet. Watch for the next few days and I will post more. I'm on a roll! Hope everyone has a great weekend. Do something creative with the ones you love!

Project du jour!

2011-11-29T06:27:00.001-06:00

Had a great time with these crosses today! So easy and fun to do! Here is what you need:

3 crosses of different sizes for stacking
craft paint
patterned paper
glue
Mod Podge
glitter
buttons
rhinestones
pearls
Tim Holtz Ornate Plates

1. Paint your crosses.
2. Cover middle cross with paper of choice.
3. Decorate small cross with adornments.
4. Coat crosses with Mod Podge, sprinkle with glitter and stack together to dry. This will hold them together.
5. AMEN!

You can make these as holiday decor or try something funky like zebra stripes or leopard and leave it out year round!

Vintage Photo Cards

2011-11-25T19:18:00.001-06:00

Well, I hope everyone survived the big shopping day! I sat this one out. My husband and daughter left the house this morning at 4 am. I never thought I would live to see that day! They came home with a box that will drive me crazy until Christmas morning! I have no idea what they may have bought me, and it's a heavy one? Hmmmmm. I had a great time making this card today. The photo was one that a dear childhood friend posted on facebook some time ago. The photo is a picture of her mother when she was in high school. I fell in love with this pic the minute I saw it and I knew I had to do something with it. I will drop it in the mail to her mom tomorrow. I hope she is pleasantly surprised. Have a great weekend everyone!

Merry Merry!

2011-11-22T07:12:00.001-06:00

My daughter came home from college a few days early and surprised us this weekend. I'm so happy to see her! She is so much fun to be with and I am in much need of girl time! She was ready to deck the halls the minute she walked through the door! I was considering not putting up the big tree this year. With only my husband and myself I was going to decorate a mini tree and be happy with that. As a matter of fact I had a blast making these bird and birdcage ornaments using the Sizzix Tim Holtz dies. I chose a silver tree reminiscent of the tree my great grandma Tillie had when I was a tot. I loved her tree. She had the old fashioned color wheel that would illuminate the branches in different colors. She had beautiful glass ornaments and little birds that clipped to the branches. I decorated my tree with the Shiny Brite ornaments that I found at an estate sale and a few minis from Hobby Lobby. My favorites are the birds and birdcages I created! I think grandma Tillie would like them.

Today Em and I are headed to Austin to go antiqueing! Can't wait to see what kind of vintage goodness we can find! Have a great day bloggers! Enjoy your loved ones this week!

Winter Wonder Card...

2011-11-17T13:00:00.001-06:00

I was surfing the Pinterest website this morning and came across a card that someone had pinned from Hero Arts. It was very similar to this one and it inspired me to try it on my own. I love the way this turned out! I found the buttons at an estate sale. The snowflakes, tree background and the gift bag were cut using the CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge once again! That cartridge has everything, and comes with coordinating stamps, and chipboard to make beautiful creations, all for $99 plus tax and shipping. If you are interested in ordering it please contact me using the email link on my profile on the left side of this page. I accept all Visa, MC, and Discover as well as Pay Pal. If you would like to view a CTMH catalog go to www.closetomyheart.com. This will ship to you directly from CTMH once I have placed your order. Unfortunately, there is no international shipping at this time. After you receive it, just plug it into your Cricut machine and prepare to be amazed! I hope these creations inspire you to make something beautiful!

Keeping it simple...

2011-11-16T10:00:00.001-06:00

Good morning everyone! Today I'm keeping it simple. I had a lovely day yesterday with my friend Janet. We did a little shopping and then she treated me to a wonderful lunch of Tuscan tomato basil soup and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. What a nice surprise! After returning from shopping I began to wrap a few of my purchases when I realized I had no gift tags. I sprang into crafty action! These little tags only take minutes to make and when tied with the festive red and white bakers twine they are as cute as Rudolph's red nose! I hope you like them and remember to be creative every day!

Holiday Bootcamp Day 6

2011-11-14T13:34:00.001-06:00

Just finished one of my cards for today's Holiday Card Bootcamp challenge. I'm rather tickled with this one! I used the same 6 petal flower from the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge that I used for the Christmas tree in my earlier post. As a matter of fact nearly everything I used was from the cartridge right down to the circle card and branches ( which I cut to form a wreath ). I hope you like it!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

2011-11-14T05:05:00.001-06:00

Worked on a fun project last night. This cute Christmas tree stands about 8.5 in. tall and is made completely with paper, glue, buttons, Stampendous Shaved Ice, and a little snippet of ribbon. I am so tickled with the way it turned out. The 6 petal flower from the Close to My Heart Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge makes the branches. Simply cut 2 sets of 7 flowers out of patterned scrapbook paper. High quality paper of a good weight works best. Starting at the 1 inch setting, cut each of the flowers one inch larger than the one before. So you have flowers cut at 1,2,3,4,5,6, and 7 inches. Now cut 2 more sets out of good quality white cardstock. This time you start cutting at 2 inches. So you will have flowers cut at 2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8 inches. Score each flower with its corresponding peak and valley. This gives your tree dimension. Attach patterned flowers to white ones using a quick drying paper glue. Beacon's 3 in 1 is one of my favorites. It works great on paper as well as ribbon and embellishments. Starting with your largest flowers and working toward the smallest, glue each flower rotating so that the branches are staggered. That completes the tree. Now comes the fun part. I know you love bling! So bling to your hearts content! Use buttons, glitter, rhinestones, whatever sets your heart a flutter! If you have any questions just leave a comment and I will reply. I'd love to see some of your creations! I think this would make a great project to make and take to nursing home residents that don't have Christmas trees in their room. It would also make a great centerpiece. I've used it in one of my Snow Village displays. I may make an entire forest! Happy crafting!

Just an old fashioned girl...

2011-11-13T15:48:00.000-06:00

Hello Friends!
I hope you have had a fun weekend! I've had fun catching up on things around my house. Funny thing about laundry, it will never leave you and it always waits for you. More men should be like that....lol.

I was sorting through my linen closet today and came across some vintage holiday napkins that belonged to my Grandmother. I absolutely love vintage linens of all sorts. Unfortunately the tablecloth that matched these napkins was lost long ago. If this pattern is familiar to anyone in blogland and you know where I may find the matching tablecloth, please drop me a line...

One of my favorite finds of the summer was this vintage box of original Shiny Brite Christmas ornaments.
Because of my love of all things paper, I was mostly interested in the box. It is in fantastic condition. It even has the original price written on the left corner of the box " 5 cents". I'm guessing these are from the 1940's. Can't wait to use them to decorate.

I did one more take on the embossed Christmas card. Hope you like it!
Enjoy your Sunday!

Happy Saturday!

2011-11-12T06:25:00.001-06:00

The weekend is here again, don't let it go by without making something fabulous! I finished my Day 5 Holiday Card Bootcamp project. This card was so much fun and super simple! This would be a great choice to mass produce. Put on some holiday music and go get a gingerbread latte' at Starbucks, then sit down and get creative!

I used a natural colored cardstock for this one. The December calendar is a Tim Holtz embossing folder. Sponge Fired Brick and Peeled Paint Tim Holtz Distress Inks over the calendar. Then spritz the ink with Tattered Angels Diamond spritz. The reindeer is a Tim Holtz die from Sizzix. For the finishing touch I added a little green cardstock with a heat embossed greeting, then tied some fun red and white baker's twine. Voila!

11-11-11!

2011-11-11T15:22:00.001-06:00

So today is supposed to be a lucky day! I guess I will go out and buy a lotto ticket! I'm having a great time making shadowbox Christmas ornaments. Today I made a cute little snowman ornament using

Tim Holtz products and Cosmo Cricket's Mr. Claus line.
I covered the inside and outside edges with Tim Holtz tissue tape. Love that product! Then I used his seasonal paper stack for the background. I fancy cut some miniature vintage advertisements for faux snow which I mounted with foam tape to give it some dimension. I added a mini tree from Dept. 56, then sprinkled Shaved Ice from Stampendous which I picked up at my new favorite store Paper Source. You can check them out online or visit a store near you!
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Leave a comment if you like what you see... :-)
Have a great day!
Laurie

Have a Merry Vintage Christmas !

2011-11-10T14:30:00.002-06:00

I know...2 posts in one day! What an over achiever! I just couldn't wait to share this ornament with you. I made it out of the top of a cardboard jewelry gift box. The paper is from Cosmo Cricket. The line is called Mr. Claus. So easy to make. Love it!

Holiday Card Bootcamp!

2011-11-10T09:37:00.007-06:00

Hello Friends!

Just wanted to share the Christmas cards I've made! I'm participating in Holiday Card Bootcamp with OnlineCardClasses.com .
I'm having so much fun creating! I will share the first couple of cards that I have created today, and share more throughout the class. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I had fun making them! Go grab a cup of hot cocoa and listen to Bing Crosby sing White Christmas! In the words of my good friend Buddy the Elf..."The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear."

Pasta, it's whats for dinner....

2010-01-28T05:40:00.003-06:00

Hi Bloggers! I promised you a recipe and that is sort of what you're gonna get. I was trying to lighten up the recipe as alfredo sauce calls for heavy cream.The original recipe for alfredo sauce I found on allrecipes.com and the calories per serving were over 700. Soooooooo. I substituted fat free half and half. Then I decided that the sauce probably would not get thick enough. Here goes. I am a hit and miss cook who rarely measures. Here are the ingredients:

Tall carton Fat free half and half
1 stick butter
3 T flour
garlic to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
1 1/2 C grated parmesan
Sundried tomatoes,drained
fresh basil for garnish
4 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and sliced

Make a roux with melted butter and flour on medium heat. Whisk until smooth. Slowly add half and half stirring continuously until sauce thickens. Add parmesan and continue to stir. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Add cooked chicken. Lastly add sundried tomatoes. I use the marinated kind that comes in a jar. Top with garnish of fresh basil and a few more sundried tomatoes. Serve over your favorite pasta.
I use Harry and David brand Garlic Basil fedelini. Delicious!

Creative Chaos.....

2010-01-27T12:18:00.004-06:00

Would you believe it took 3 days to get this room organized enough that I could actually take a photograph to show you? This is the place where I create. I love it when it is organized. But when its not? Ugh! I spent all this time cleaning up so I can go in there and absolutely destroy it. I am the messiest papercrafter of all time! The next projects that I need to do are Emily's graduation photos, Graduation party invitations and decorations and Valentine cards. Wish me luck!
Oh by the way, tonight I am making garlic basil fedelini with chicken and a chili cream sauce, caesar salad, and bruschetta. Recipe and pictures tomorrow. :)
Laurie

What a weekend!

2010-01-25T06:55:00.003-06:00

Sorry everyone! I haven't done anything creative all weekend, but I wiil try to be better this week. I sent my daughter to a formal with friends on Saturday, and spent the entire weekend cleaning out my scrapbook room. What is sad? Well, I am still not done. I have so much "stuff" I think someone should give me an intervention! I made two big boxes of scrapbook goodies for my friend. My afterthought is..... Am I doing something nice for her or am I just sharing my addiction? LOL
Have a great Monday everyone!

What's Cookin?

2010-01-21T17:46:00.005-06:00

Hi ya'll! So today was my day off and what do I do on my day off? I cook! Todays special is Caribbean Salad with Chicken.
What you need:

4 boneless chicken breasts
Iceberg and Romaine lettuce
McCormick Mojito Lime marinade packet
2 diced avocados
diced tomato
1 can pineapple tidbits
diced red or green onion
chopped cilantro to taste
diced baby carrots
Tostitos hint of Lime flavor, crushed
Honey Mustard Salad dressing (I use Newman's Own)

Marinade chicken according to directions on package. Grill or cook the chicken.
Combine all other ingredients except Tostitos and dressing.
Slice cooked chicken on top of the salad. Top with crushed Tostitos and drizzle with salad dressing.
Enjoy!

Whats for dessert?
My favorite Sprinkles Red Velvet Cupcakes! Pick up this mix at your local Williams Sonoma store or buy online.

Happy Thursday! Bon appétit!
LO

1 more day!

2010-01-20T05:09:00.000-06:00

I am so excited that today is the last day of working a 7 day stretch! Why or why do I do it you ask? Got me..... So tomorrow on my day off the MIB (UPS Man in brown) will deliver my latest order from Close To My Heart. WOOOOHOOOO! So I am going to play like a kid at Christmas! Have I told you what is free with a qualifying purchase this month?? January Stamp of Month is available free or at a reduced price with purchase. And so is Felicity which is Close To My Heart's awesome kit available only for National Papercrafting month. Get it now! It goes away on January 31.

Helllllllllllooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-19T08:56:00.000-06:00

Ican't believe have started a blog! I'm looking forward to posting my papercraft projects. Love to scrapbook and stamp all sorts of things. I also love to cook and entertain so look for recipes to come your way! Oh, you want to know a little about me you say? I am a 40 something retail manager. I work for a gourmet food store. #1 in gifting..... You guess who it is.....

I also fight the battle of the bulge on a daily basis. Some days my battle fought better than others. And I think I heard someone say that you want to see papercrafts today..?..? Ok , well here is a reciipe book that I made not too long ago. I made it with Close To My Heart products. Did I mention that I am a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant. You can view products, tutorials and order directly from my website http://www.lauriestamps.myctmh.com/

Happy Tuesday everyone! Do something nice for yourself today!