Progressive scrapbook pages

Wow, I've been away for over a week.... Well, in my defense, it was my birthday week! I was super busy every night with massage, bunco, dinner out, and my sweet friend, Jennifer's 40th surprise party! What a fun and busy week! I am 45 now and this past Sunday I called my best friend from junior high/high school, Sigrid. Way back when we were 20, 45 seemed like a million years away and people (our parents) that age were so old! I love chatting with her because it really brings me back to my younger, carefree years. I've spent the last few nights getting ready for Saturday's open house. Yep, I am still working on that. I will be happily putting away my Always stamp set soon and breaking out some NEW rubber!!! Mr. Brown visited today!

Meanwhile, here is a progressive scrapbooking set of pages. First I started out with a 3x6 card. Very simple. The color combo I used is Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White and Basic Black.

Next, I expanded that to a 6x6 scrapbooking page. I love this size for smaller albums for single events or short periods of time. I added Pink Pirouette wide grosgrain ribbon in the corners of the photos.

Then I placed the 6x6 onto an 8.5x11 page and added embellishments and a title. The title is stamped with the Contempo Alphabet. I also added a journaling block. The patterned paper is the Rose Red Designer Series Paper. I also added more Pink Pirouette grosgrain ribbon.

Last of all, I incorporated the 8.5x11 page into a 12x12 page which is my favorite size for albums. The Whisper White base is textured cardstock. Of course, I wasn't paying attention and adhered everything to the wrong side.... What a dork!Luckily it peeled off fairly easily. I used three chipboard frames that are inked in Rose Red for the smaller photos and the dahlia flower. I had this irritating gap that I could not get rid of so it grew a black grosgrain stem. At the bottom are chipboard letters covered in more Rose Red DSP.

So, I have a couple more cards to make, goody bags for my guests, put my display together, and a few more odds and ends. Then Saturday it will just be fun, fun, fun!!! Thanks for stopping by!!! Happy stamping! Desiree

New Stampin' Up Catalog is here!!!

And it's beautiful!!! I made up my wish list and it came up to about $500!!! Gosh! There is so much to look at... I love so many of the new sets and all the new accessories! Catalogs are $9.95, let me know if you want one. Well worth the money!

There are also new Decor Elements. Lots of new designs and colors.

I also put together my class list for February thru April. If you live in the Vancouver or Portland area, shoot me an email and I'll get my class list to you!

Love You Much Promotion is still going on and I'll be having a class on February 5 featuring this fabulous bundle. Email me if you would like to join me!

Thanks for visiting!

Always ATC

I don't think that I have ever made an ATC before.... they are kinda fun! I made these to go on my display board for the 2009 New Catalog Release Open House on January 31. If you haven't signed up yet, there are just a FEW tickets left. Free make and takes, food, beverages, raffles, tons of ideas and lotsa fun! If you are in Vancouver WA or Portland OR, check it out here: www.2009oh.eventbrite.com/. I'll be giving my guests an extra little something for attending. I am definitely looking forward to it.

Following along the lines of my other display items, these little ATCs are stamped with the Always set using Baja Blue, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Basic Black on Whisper White cardstock. Cute, huh?

I have been working on a project from the Life Well Crafted class I am taking through Big Picture Scrapbooking. We are making attribute albums and they can be about anyone. The assignment was to come up with a list of attributes and quotes or definitions that go along with that attribute. I decided to make three, one for me and one for each of my daughters, Lillianna and Emily.

I finally finished Lil's which is pictured here. The cover is based on a sketch that I happened across a few weeks ago - perhaps a Mojo Monday sketch? Anyway I created all of them using the just retired Summer Home Simply Scrappin Kit from Stampin' Up! I love the color combination of Riding Hood Red, Baja Blue, Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate Chip. It was perfect to make three 6x6 albums.

Today I found photos for each of Lil's attributes and added them. Now I have to find photos of me and Em to finish our books. I like how they are turning out. I kept them pretty simple to focus on the photo and the meaning.
Thanks for stopping by! By the time you read this we will have a new president! Go Obama!

Desiree

I love Raspberries!

WooHoo! New stuff!!!! This card is made with the new Raspberry Tart DSP, Sweet Stems stamps set and matching sizzlet. The colors I used are Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red and Whisper White. I also used my nestabilities Labels One set. For bling-bling I added little gems in the centers of the flowers. The "for you" is from the Fresh Cuts set. The skinny ribbon is Pretty in Pink grosgrain and the wide ribbon is from my stash.

The sketch is from the Viva la Verve challenge on SCS. It was a fun card to make!

Very exciting, my catalogs arrived and I have been carrying mine around nonstop! I put together my wish list and I am developing my classes for the next few months. There is so much cute stuff: stamps and accessories!!! Contact me if you would like a catalog... $9.95 plus $4.95 priority mail US.

Ok, gotta go back to work... and make some money to spend in the new catalog!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy stamping!

Desiree

OCC Shades of blue

Our Creative Corner's challenge was to use at least two shades of blue on a card. I pulled out my rubons that I almost never use and came up with this! There is a little background stamping but all the white flowers are rubons from the Hidden Gardens set. The stamped images are out of the Eastern Blooms stamp set. The blues that I used are Pacific Point and Tempting Turquoise. They actually go pretty good together.

Just a very simple card. No bling, no piercing, no fancy anything. It was also very fast to make!

Gotta run, back to work I go! Thanks for stopping by!

It's always everything!

This is my rendition of Jen's sketch for you to try. Again using the Always stamp set and this color palette: Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White and Basic Black. I added some silver hodgepodge hardware and felt flowers. The bird is stamped on vellum with stazon. Have you seen how Basic Black looks on vellum????? PURPLE! That just wouldn't do!

Gosh... on another subject.... what is it with teenagers????? My daughter, Lil, is in California cooling her heels at her dad's for a few months. So her friend, Kyle, comes over today to pick up a birthday gift, and lays this bomb on me: he has asked Lil to marry him!!!! I can't even get into the background of the whole story and how incredibly STUPID an idea this is. AAAGGGHHH!

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system, ok not really, but I need to move on. I could actually type for the next hour on my thoughts about my daughter and this lame brained idea. However, I need to watch Desperate Housewives to try to relax a little. Plus I need to create my class schedule. And I am on pins and needles waiting for the new catalog!!!!!

Happy stamping!!! Go get creative! Oh and check out Jen del Muro's new blog look and the fantastic blogtarts she has up for grabs!

Desiree

Blog Candy Winner!!!!

This is it! Number 3 is the winner of my little blog candy... shown on this post. Here's Bev's comment:

Savor the Journey said... Happy 1st Blogaversary!

BTW, I love the way you've stated your resolutions ... "baby steps". Maybe this is the nudge I've needed to put my own in 'writing'. Primarily, my focus is on fitness & weight loss this year. Everything else is gravy if I can just stick with my new exercize goals and weight loss - reasonable expectations - not dramatic.

Now let's get out there and get started! Happy 2009!~Bev 1/2/09 8:28 PM

So Bev, please send me your address and I will get this off to you promptly! And good luck on continuing with your fitness goals!

Be sure to visit Bev's blog Savor the Journey, she is an incredible artist! Happy stamping!

Desiree

Always a Valentine

Here's my little card. I can't believe how many tries it took to get it done. I used the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS where they pick a member and challenge everyone to remake one of her cards with a couple of changes. The FS was Julie Ebersole and I enjoyed looking through her gallery. This is the card I picked. Very simple but with loads of personality. I used a different stamp set, Rose Red cardstock, and different ribbon. Also, my card is a 3x3 size.

This was my first time doing this challenge. I think it's a good way to get better at creating cards especially if there is a designer that you like.

So, Mr. Brown paid me a visit today!!! I received my latest Stampin' Up! order!!! Raspberry Tart paper, Rustic Rooster and Sweet Stems stamp sets, and the Sweet Stems sizzlit!!! I will be a crafty girl this weekend!

Thursday I will post the winner of my little blog candy!

Have a great day and happy stamping!

OOOPPPSSS!!!

I have a card to show you, just a little 3x3.... and when I went to take the photos my camera died. Yeah, no battery power!

The only thing I can suggest is to check out this post and enter my blog candy giveaway!

See you tomorrow!

A fancy heart!

Getting ready for Valentine's??? I am not much into Valentine's Day because I don't have a love interest. Though it is fun to make a few cards for my kids and my girly friends. I also sell a few to the guys at work.

So here is the first one for this year. I found this fabulous Fancy Pants paper at my local scrapbook store Arts and Scraps. If you are in the Portland Metro area I don't think this store can be beat. Denise is wonderfully talented and offers classes almost every Saturday.

Anyway, I purchased a "few" things and came home ready to make some Valentine's goodies. I followed a sketch from Verve and it also required hardware. I also added three little red heart brads. My little piece of hardware is the heart charm. You can see it better on the close up below. The card base is Baja Blue and the layer behind the designer paper is Pink Pirouette.

Don't forget to take a look at this post for my blog candy!!!! Still time to enter and the odds of winning are really good! Thanks for visiting! Stop by again soon!

Crafting like crazy!

I have been glued to my craft table almost all weekend. I created four cards and I am halfway through three small scrapbooks, which I'll share in the next few days.

There's a fan club challenge on SCS called More is More. I haven't participated in the fan club challenges yet. They are one of the benefits of being in the fan club. So what you do is make a simple card and then the same card with MORE! I used Jen's sketch for these cards. Both use the Always stamp set and Baja Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White, and Pirouette Pink. The first one is very simple as you can see.

The next card is stepped up a notch. I used glossy paper, rubbing alcohol and reinkers for a background. And I added pink grograin ribbon. I think my bird is angled too far forward though.

You'll probably be seeing a lot of this set and color palette from me this month. I am participating in a 2009 Stampin' Up! Catalog Release Open House and I am supplying a display. The assignment was to pick a set and use it for an entire display board. I recruited my dear friend Susan to help me with that and she suggested that we coordinate using a few colors to make it more pleasing to the eye. I totally agree! So we are using Baja Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White, Rose Red, and Pirouette Pink.

Don't forget to enter my blog candy giveaway for my blogoversary!!! I like reading what everyone is writing about their resolutions! So get over there and leave your comment!

Thanks for visiting!

Celebrate You... I mean ME!!!!

I am still excited to be blogging for a whole year! What a commitment - although I am not as good as many of my favortie bloggers who post many times a week. Maybe I'll get better at that.

Here is a card that I made with the same Fancy Pants paper used for my blog candy (still time to get in on that one) and on my banner - which didn't turn out fabulous but it's better than nothing. I can't figure out why it isn't fitting because it is the exact pixels it's supposed to be. HMMM!

Back to the card.... I used Basic Grey, So Safron and Very Vanilla. The stamp is from the Party Hearty set. The brads are from my stash as are the little paper flowers. Of course I used a sketch, it's from Poetic Artistry's sketch book.

I think I'll add this card to the blog candy. I made two. One for me and one for you. Thanks for visiting!!!

Happy NEW YEAR!!!!

...and happy blogoversary to me, heeheehee!!! Did I really start blogging a year ago today? And a year ago today I am sure that I made resolutions, of course I can't remember them now. Kolette and Jason Hall, in their first audio for the Life Well Crafted class talked about breaking down your lofty resolutions into smaller baby steps.... yes, we can all do small baby steps and then by the end of the year we'll have met our goal/fulfilled our resolution.

So I would love to hear about your resolution and the first small baby step you will take to making your resolution happen. From the comments that are posted between now and next Thursday at midnight, I'll use random.org to pick a winner of my very first BLOG CANDY!

My three resolutions are regarding finances, weight loss/exercise, and being single. So my three baby steps for January are:

• get cash on payday to use as my spending money and not use my check card
• take a look at eHarmony, just a look
• walk to work on Fridays

So starts the new year!!! Here is my blog candy: a hostess level 1 stamp set called Punches Three. It coordinates with the scallop square punch and wide oval punch from SU! Also a cute vanilla scented candle decorated with Fancy Pants paper and ribbon from my stash.

Thanks for visiting!!!