You would be hard put to find any similarity between that wonderfully neat new desk in my new blog header and the rat's nest that is currently in the real craft room.  But I LOVE IT!!!  Thanks so much to Michelle Laycock who took my ideas about what I wanted and came up with something totally unexpected, and totally delightful!  Now I want to get out the Greenhouse Garden Stamps and make some Hibiscus cards to celebrate!  But that will have to wait until I finish up this week's (ugh) chores.

For now, I'm going to recycle a card I made last fall.  I just love the Hibiscus flowers that I can make with this stamp set!  And a fitting "Thank You" to Michelle for her fabulous job for me!

When I said "accordion album" to three different people, they each described a different album to me – and I’ve made all three!  Today’s album is sometimes called an "explosion album."  Explosion albums can be large or small, and today’s is a very small album that I will demonstrate to a group of Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) later this month.  They each will have a kit of papers from the Patterns Pack III which is currently a Level 1 Hostess Set, along with some coordinating ribbons and punched card stock for decorations.  I’m going to encourage them to mix and match their kits if they’d like – more fun for everyone! 

But they have to have a sample so they can see the possibilities for this easy little album, and here’s what I’ve prepared.  I have my brand new pack of Tea Party Designer Series Paper and I’m having a blast with it already.  I’d used up most of the first couple of packs that I bought when it first came out, and now that it’s Spring, I need MORE!

Above is the cover of the album, made with light cardboard (the stuff that comes with those packs of wonderful Designer Series Paper!) covered with some of the Tea Party papers.  I punched a Scallop Circle topped with a circle punched with the 1-3/8" Circle Punch, all sealed together with one of the Pretty in Pink Corduroy Buttons featured in the current 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog.  The ribbon I used is a So Saffron Ribbon from the ribbon set Elementary.

Now for the inside of the album.  I made this one with three squares of 6" paper, and it holds 4 square photographs inside.  I decorated the triangles formed by the diagonal folds with punched imaged using the Boho Blossoms Punch and the Heart to Heart Punch, using So Saffron, Bashful Blue and Pretty In Pink Card Stock.  I cut the photos at 2-3/4" square, and the So Saffron Mats at 2-7/8" square.  

I also put two photographs on the outside of the album – after all, there are two blank square pages there – why waste them!?  Here’s the outside of the album.

Note that I "captured" the ribbon on the back cover of the album under a Pretty in Pink Scallop Circle Punch image, layered with a So Saffron Boho Blossom Punch image.  I actually used transparent ("Scotch") tape to anchor the ribbon, then I used Sticky Strip to adhere the Scallop Circle elements to make sure that the ribbon was safely in place.  Oh, and that tape was covered nicely by the punched elements, thank you!

Of course, I have one of my "One-Page Tutorials" for this project!  Click here for the latest version – updated from years ago when I first made this project.

Have fun with this – and, of course, if you need any of these fabulous papers, ribbons, punches or card stock, you know where you can order 24/7!  Right here!!!

You’ve all heard about my next door neighbor, Deme, who is the one who made that great quilted bag using the Sizzix Stampin’ Up! Scallop Square Die.

Now Deme is at it again, but this time with Switch Plates!  She is just so creative, and loves to try out all different kinds of crafts.  Today I’m featuring swtich plates that she made using Stampin’ Up! Wheels and Sculpey Polymer Clay.  I found some basic instructions for making the switch plates here. 

To make these switch plates, Deme used a pasta machine (as cheap as you can get one, she says) and set it to the thickest setting to make the best thickness for using the wheels.  She colored the basic clay a bit with Classic Ink Pads, then applied various colored inks to the wheels and ran them across the switch plates multiple times.  Finally, she sprinkled some Iridiscent Ice over everything and baked according to the product instructions.  Are these not wonderful?!  (Hmmm.  I’ve been using "wonderful" a lot lately.  I must be having a good time )

Here are the products for each of the switch plates shown here:

• On the left:  Fast Flower Wheel, More Mustard Stamp Pad (for the background), Really Rust and Taken With Teal for the wheel.
• On the right:  Retro Remix Wheel, Bravo Burgundy Stamp Pad (background), Taken With Teal and Ballet Blue.

I think I may try these myself!!  How about you? If you need any wheels, or some of that fabulous Iridiscent Ice embossing powder, just let me know.  Or you can order online 24/7 by clicking here and then the Shop Now button in the upper right.!

Now that the fall and winter holidays are past, I’m ready to move on to SPRING!  OK, so perhaps I’m not as ready here in Hawaii as those of you who’ve been dealing with the winter weather in the mainland USA and Canada.  But the days are getting longer, and I’m tired of Red!  Until the Fourth of July – but that’s another time and place.

So far, my favorite Designer Series Paper for Spring is Tea Party, and I’m spending some time in the Craft Room this week playing with a brand new pack of Tea Party that was delivered to my home on Saturday.  My first card with it was the result of a sketch challenge (the sketch is at the end of this post).  What fun this was because we were to make a tall and thin card – or short and long – but I chose the former. 

One of the best features of Stampin’ Up! products is how well everything goes together!  This printed sheet from Tea Party matches the So Saffron and Pretty in Pink accent card stock just perfectly.  Not only that, the Sizzix Stampin’ Up! exclusive Embosslit, Sweetest Stem, carries out the same design features that are in the flowers in this paper.  Is that not just the best!

Even more – those So Saffron and Pretty in Pink Brads just set everything else off so nicely that I just can’t keep my eyes off the picture.  Of course, the Certainly Celery Ink matches the Certainly Celery Card Stock that I used for the embosslit flower in the background.  What more could a stamper ask for?!  Oh, the money to buy it all, of course!  Lacking that, I’ll work with what I have and enjoy the heck out of it.

Here’s the sketch for this card.  I didn’t use plain card stock as a card base for this project as the other side of this printed paper is light enough to hold a handwritten greeting just fine, though I may just slip in a folded note.

Well, it was a tsunami, not really a storm.  And it had all of us here on Hawaii’s Big Island transfixed as we watched the (thankfully!) light tsunami move water in and out of Hilo Bay.  Finally we can breathe easily!

Despite the excitement, I had a stamp group scheduled for this afternoon – just a few of us getting together to test out a card and a few other designs I’m planning for some March classes.  I got the idea for today’s card from two other Stampin’ Up! demonstrators, Connie Babbert and Tammy Fite, both of whom are members of an online group to which I belong called SUDSOL.  The classes I’m going to be doing are made up of quite a few people who have never made anything with products such as those offered by Stampin’ Up!  So I had to keep it simple.  But I also wanted it to be a nice-looking card, and one that uses some of the newest Stampin’ Up! products.

This card fits the bill to a ‘t’!  It uses three products that are in the current Occasions Mini Catalog – the stamp set, Vintage Vogue, the set of designer series papers called Sweet Pea, and a beautiful Pretty in Pink Epoxy Brad.  I added in a scalloped edge using the Scallop Trim Border Punch that you can get FOR FREE! from the Sale-A-Bration Catalog if you spend at least $50 on a product order.

Here are the basic measurements for the sketch that I made for this card.  Think of papers and stamps and embellishments that you have in YOUR CRAFT ROOM, and I’ll bet you’ll make a card that’s ready to present at a workshop, too!

This morning I was in the grocery store and I could not believe that I was seeing a bag of GREEN M&Ms!  Oh, no!  I had to have them for some kind of St. Patrick’s Day project!  But I couldn’t see Stampin’ Up! coming up with a shamrock treat cup (although, if they did, I’d be first in line to buy them).  What to do, what to do.  Just about everyone who knows me knows that, while I can take someone else’s idea and jazz it up to make it my own, I managed not to be in line when they handed out the genetic make up for true creativity.  So it took me awhile to figure out how I was going to make the Heart Treat Cups into a Shamrock.  Believe me, there’s lots of scraps of various green card stock all over the craft room, most from failed efforts to punch hearts into shamrock submission.

Finally – voila!  I had my Shamrock Treat Card!  Not only that, I used THREE products that were meant to be either for Valentine’s Day or for something related to engagements/weddings.  For this card, I used the Heart Treat Cup, the Stampin’ Up! Heart of Hearts Embosslit, and the Sweetheart Stamp Set that’s advertised in the Heart Treat Cups flyer.  I used the Full Heart Punch to make the opening for the treat cup, and also to make the shamrock stem. 

The small shamrock that I used for the background stamp is from the stamp set, Holiday Blitz, and the small greeting at the bottom right is from the set, All Holidays.

The colors I used for this project are Garden Green (for the darker background and Sweetheart stamp), and Green Galore.

The instructions for making the treat cup card are in (as always) a one-page tutorial!

Earlier this month, I sent one of the Simply Adorned Charms and chain off to my sister-in-law, Deb, for her birthday gift.  I didn’t want to share the pictures with you until now because she checks out my blog on occasion, and I didn’t want to spoil the suprise.

I sent the charm with the simple design from the stamp set, Charmed, inside it, then I added a Valentine Picture as well as a St. Patty’s Day picture so Deb could swap out the pictures to fit the holiday.  I managed not to take a photo of the St. Patty’s Day charm, but here are the other two designs.

What fun to make such little designs and have them look like a million dollars when you’re wearing them!

Today I am celebrating a very special birthday.  Actually, at my age, I figure ALL birthdays are special! 

I waited until yesterday to open up my very own purchase of a Simply Adorned Pendant and work on a picture that I’ll wear for at least the next week or so. If you haven’t paid attention to this new line of products from Stampin’ Up!, now is the time to do it.  Actually, any time is the time to do it!  You can make a miniature picture to put in this lovely charm for every day of the year!  And it’s got a glass window in the back for a second design if you’d like!

For now, it’s a birthday charm.  I’ll be sharing some of the other designs I make for this pendant as I change them over the next few months.

And Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday I posted about an address booklet I made for my friend, Lucy.  When I stopped by her home this morning to deliver the little gift, she had a gift for me.  A Valentine gift!  It was a jar of freshly made Lilikoi-Guava Jam, all packaged up in a box made with the Sending Love Designer Series Paper, sealed with hearts punched with the Heart to Heart Punch.  Whoa!  The best part of all of it was that my husband felt like he had to taste the jam and made himself some toast.  He’s been feeling so sick for the last few days that I was thrilled that he had an appetite for something with some flavor. 

So a big "Thank You" to Lucy – and, of course, a Thank You card will be on its way with Tuesday’s mail pick up.

What better way to make a Thank You note for a Valentine’s Gift than with some of the same Sending Love designer series paper.  And this fit right in with a challenge for one of my online Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator groups, SUDSOL.  The challenge was to use Red, White and Blue in a design.  The colors for this card are Real Red, Not Quite Navy (my favorite Stampin’ Up! blue) and Very Vanilla.  The ribbon is one of the new 5/8" satin ribbons, and the stamp set is from the Sale-A-Bration catalog, Happy Moments.

Once again, I used the new Scallop Trim Border and Corner punches to make a border around the whole central motif.  I can hardly wait for an excuse to use this punch set! 

For the second year, Stampin’ Up! is offering a paper product as part of its Sale-A-Bration FREE PRODUCT OFFERING.  This year the paper is in a 6" x 6" pad of 72 sheets – 3 sheets each of 24 different double-sided papers.  While I was in 7th Heaven last year with all the So Saffron in the 12" x 12" papers offered (I’m definitely a "yellow" person), I was not very impressed with what I saw in this year’s paper offering.  For one thing, there are lots of little house and tree designs that don’t come very close to what we have here in the Hawaiian Islands.  Of course, there are some Victorian houses and gardens around.  But, by and large, we’re tropical in both house and garden.

Now I have a different take on the Welcome Neighbor Designer Series Paper Pad that’s in the Sale-A-Bration Catalog.  I went ahead and ordered it with my last $50 order just to try to find something in the non-house and non-tree/leaf patterns that might be interesting.  Ho-hum.  NOT!!

Today I wanted to make a little booklet for a friend.  But I wasn’t sure what the theme of the booklet should be.  As I looked around at my newest products, I saw that paper pad and had an "A-HA!" moment!  An address book!!!

And here it is.  I actually had Lucy’s address list on my computer as I had been helping her out a couple of weeks ago when her printer was in need of repair.  All I had to do was figure out how to get her address list on a small-ish (less than 4" x 4") size paper.  As manipulating text with computer software is my career of choice, no problem!

The booklet uses Stampin’ Up!’s chipboard as a base for the cover, and I glued papers from the Welcome Neighbor Pad on it, printing "Lucy’s Addresses" on one piece with my computer’s printer.  I lined the inside front and back with another design from the DSP pad, too.

Finally, I bound the booklet with a Bind-it-all binding.  This is not a Stampin’ Up! product, but Stampin’ Up! does not yet offer any kind of binding product.  I have a comb binder, and am just fine binding booklets with ribbons.  But this just seemed to demand a sturdier binding, so I dragged out the Bind-it-all.  Actually, my local scrapbook store, Island Scrapbooking, had a class on how to use the Bind-it-all last week, which made me finally decide to get my year old machine out and try it.  Good thing I did, because I think I’m going to be able to show off a lot more Stampin’ Up! products now that I can use it successfully!