Sprucing up for Valentine’s Day

Generally, I’m not a Valentine’s person. In the past I haven’t really been into the decorating thing, or really the giving of gifts (except for my girls), or making special treats. However, this year I feel different.

There are so many cute Valentine’s crafts that I’ve pinned on Pinterest. And I just had to try a few…

First, I saw this pin but instead of hanging my heart, I put it in a frame. It was a pitiful little gold frame at Goodwill. I painted it white with a little brown glazing to show off the design.

I used cardstock, tissue, patterned paper, music sheets, and book paper for the hearts. I sewed them down the middle on my sewing machine. The background is a piece of cardboard that I Painted white and then sprayed with a few different reds. I also painted a little brown in the grooves to make the texture stand out a little more.


I also picked up some letters At Joann’s to spell LOVE and painted and glittered them white. I was inspired by this pin. I wish that I had used a chunky glitter but I didn’t have any and didn’t think to buy some. Instead of red, I picked white because it would show up better on my mantel. I live in a rental and the fireplace wall is paneled.

I decorated a little bottle that I also picked up at Goodwill. I needed some additional items to fill up my mantel. I used some scrap paper, ribbon and a little heart shaped button. It’s a little cutie.
Luckily, I also had several white candles and two larger frames. Last year I made a “Be mine” banner in a class at Art Soiree. Overall, I think that I was able to pull off this Valentine’s décor bit. Here’s the mantel…



And here is a large frame that I hang little goodies from. The frame is quite large, about 4’ by 3’ and it’s about 5” thick. I put this together in another Art Soiree class. We painted and distressed the frame and hung wire from side to side. We get together often to create new art bits to hang in the frame. for February I pulled paper out of my stash and ideas out of my head and any Valentine’s ephemera I could find. This photo doesn’t do it justice.



Are a lover of Valentine’s Day? Do you decorate and go all out or keep it low key?

I entered the CSI Valentine's themed decor challenge. Go check it out!



Happy Valentine’s!
Desiree

Halloween Hoot - Acetate Box

This is a great box to make for Halloween. Although mine is filled with kisses, imagine it filled with chocolate eyeballs or gummy fingers!

The instructions to make this box are on Splitcoaststampers. The bottom of the box is Basic Black cardstock. I stamped the sign and frog in black stazon then colored them with markers. I cut them out and glued them on to the box.

The top of the box is Old Olive cardstock witha ribbon tied around the top. I made a crunched up flower for the very top. Cut a 2x6 inch strip of Cast-a-Spell dsp. Then cut fringe all along the long edge about 1 1/2 in. Roll it up and glue the end. Bend the fringe outward then crunch it up. Next I used an x-acto knife to cut a criss-cross in the top (I pushed a pencil through to make it easier to insert the fringe flower).

The green ooze is made with Crystal Effects. Lay out a piece of wax paper and glob out the CE in the shape of ooze. I made sure to make it about 8 inches. Then I sprinkled it with Dazzling Diamonds and colored it with drops of Old Olive reinker. Let it dry overnight. Peel it off and glue it on to the acetate just below the Old Olive lid.

Isn't it a cute box?

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. I enjoy sharing with you.
Desiree

Halloween Hoot - Triangle Box

Here's a cute little treat box!

The triangle box and acrylic smash technique instructions are on Splitcoaststampers. The box is made from Basic Black cardstock and uses plum grosgrain ribbon to tie it closed.

To do the acrylic smash, take a piece of acetate (transparency) and stamp it with stazon. Here I used the Halloween Hoot stamp set. Flip the acetate over and use a sponge bruch to dab acrylic paint on it. Before it dries lay it on a piece of glossy white cardstock. The acetate will stick to the glossy paper. I also added silver brads in each of the corners.

Next I stamped the witch on a piece of Whisper White cardstock and colored her in with markers. Punched her out with a 1 1/4 circle and then adhered that to a 1 3/8 black circle. Lastly, I adhered the entire triangle to the box. It's plenty big enough to fill with a handful of mini candy bars.

Have fun making your own triangle boxes!

Thanks for visiting!

Desiree

Halloween Hoot - Tri-Shutter Card

Check out this tri-shutter card that is part of my Halloween Hoot class. I've never made one before and it's fun! It looks harder than it really is - just two cuts and four scores. Then you decorate each panel. The base of the card is the Day and Night Specialty dsp and I used Cast-A-Spell dsp for three panels. For cardstock I used Perfect Plum, Only Orange and Whisper White. I used black stazon and markers for all the stamped images. I also used my Sizzix and the Billboard alphabet for the "BOO!" on the front. The bats are black 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.

Have a great day!

Desiree

Halloween Hoot!

Hi all! I can't believe that I let an entire month go by without posting....

Here are some Halloween projects for a class that I have coming up. We'll be making decorating a clipboard for this year's fab costume photo, a tri-shutter card, an acetate box and a triangle box using the acrylic smash technique.

All projects use the Halloween Hoot stamp set. Other supplies are Cast-A-Spell designer paper, Night and Day specialty designer paper, Black Stazon, acetate, Basic Black cardstock, Old Olive cardstock, Ony Orange cardstock, Perfect Plum cardstock and Whisper White cardstock, acrylic paint (banana, kiwi, purple) and markers in Old Olive, Only Orange, Sahara Sand, Perfect Plum, Creamy Caramel, and grosgrain ribbon in black, plum, orange and olive and lastly, silver brads.

Making all these things was super fun especially with a pile of Halloween candy at my finger tips!

I hope that you had a great weekend and got lots of crafting done! Thanks for stopping by!
Desiree

Mother's Day project

Wow... where have I been? Obviously not here! It seems like forever since I've posted. I am busy learning Twitter and plan to be on that soon too. My Crafter's Club met for the first time and our next get together is coming up next week. I am busy planning projects for them! Could be we'll do the projects that are on the cover of this month's Stampin' Success magazine.

Exciting weekend ahead... my daughter Emily is a Clark County Youth Commissioner, which is an advisory board to our Clark County Board of Commissioners. They work on county policies that relate to youth. She is also on the Youth House Visionary Team. The Youth House provides a teen hotline and a suicide hotline as well as other services. Anyway, the Youth Commission also presents the Youth Achievement Awards that recognize about 300 young people for the good things they do in several categories. The commissioners design the pins given to the awardees as well as come up with the theme (adventure which Emily suggested) and all the speeches. Both of my girls will be receiving recognition. As a commissioner, Emily will be presenting the courage category. She will be speaking in front of a crowd of about 1000 people. We bought a really cute formal dress (the boys will be in tuxedos). Can you tell I'm a proud mama???

Ok, on to a recent project! I volunteer at a nearby elementary school as a Lunch Buddy. So every week I meet my buddy for lunch and we read or play games or just talk. We decided to do a Mother's Day project together over the last few weeks. This is how it turned out!

We made a card, gift bag and stamped candle. Love this technique and I do it fairly often for gifts. It really has the WOW factor!

We used the Season of Friendship stamp set and several colors: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss, Real Red and Summer Sun. We used two bits of ribbon: 5/8" red grosgrain ribbon and red gingham.

My lunch buddy really enjoyed this project and couldn't wait to give it to her mom. I can't wait to find out how much her mom liked it!

Next up, Father's Day.....

Have a great day! Thanks for dropping by!

Desiree

25 days until Christmas!

An easy and pretty card to start off the Christmas season.

A little glitter and a little Elegant Eggplant on a lovely piece of Almost Amethyst.... I used the Punch Pals set for the center piece along with the Scallop Punch and some circle punches. I glittered up the center circle and the edges of the Amethyst square. Instead of Whisper White, I used Shimmery White. The sentiment comes from the Best Yet hostess set (it's not too late to earn this set by having a party!).

Happy creating!

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great time to be thankful for all of your blessings! Especially this year, family and friends mean so very much when we are going through tough times. We pull together and share the love.

I made this card earlier today and then just now I took a peak at Beate's Inspiration Challenge and this card fits right in!

The color scheme is based on the Autumn Vine Designer Series Paper: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard and Sage Shadow. I used the Holidays and Wishes and Perennial Favorites (retired) stamp sets. For the tag, I colored the leaf with markers for a variegated effect then I embossed the entire tag with clear embossing powder. I embossed the sentiment in brown. I used a cute little library clip and tied linen thread to it. I also used Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. I added a little paper piercing too.

Again, enjoy your holiday!

Little Snow Guy

I'm trying to get in to the holiday mood.... It's really hard because I wanted summer to last longer, then all of a sudden it was fall, and now winter is fast approaching.

I used Beate's sketch for this card. She posts a new sketch every Friday. If you haven't taken a look at her cards, you should. They are awesome! Anyway, I pulled out my Jolliest Time of the Year snowman and stamped him with black stazon on to Shimmery White cardstock. Then I painted him with a wet brush and ink. You can't really see the Baja Breeze shading. I punched him out with the labels punch and sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy (which I used for the sentiment as well). The cardstock is Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss and the DSP is retired from last year. I can't remember offhand what it was called but it was the holiday paper with snowflakes and all that.

Ok, the brads are not SU, they look like real silver and they are from "All Sorts of Things". I've had them for YEARS and I only have 6 left. Then, of course, the snowflakes are from the Little Felt Flurries.

Well, I guess I can start thinking about Christmas now.

Pull out your calendars and mark this down... "Espresso Yourself" at Mugs Coffee on December 6. Come on in and make some holiday cards and enjoy the best coffee, espresso and pastries in town! More details coming soon!!!

Thanksgiving Book

First photo is the cover of my little Thanksgiving Book. I used a 6x6 clear album, Autumn Vine Designer Series Paper, and Season of Friendship stamp set. The color combo is Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, More Mustard and Sage Shadow. I used Chocolate Chip grograin ribbon and linen thread, buttons and punches on some of the pages. It was really fun to put this book together with the various patterned paper and colors peaking through. After Thanksgiving I will add photos and journaling. Check out two of the inside layouts. Enjoy!

Vintage Christmas

I love this Snow Swirled set. This is one of the cards that we have been making at my recent parties. It has been a hit although it does have a bunch of steps. I used Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss - love, love, love - who am I kidding... I love ALL the In Colors.

Confetti White was a great choice because it isn't so pristine and it distressed easily. Every layer has been distressed with sponging Chocolate Chip and roughing up the edges. I use a scissor edge but that is getting old so I need to order one of those cool little distressing tools. We used the Crop-a-dile for the silver eyelets and added a rhinestone brad to the top. Linen thread is used to hang the tag onto the Old Olive ribbon at the top.

Another variation for this card would be to use the cracked glass technique on the tree. I think that would look cool too.

I'll have another post shortly. I have two cards that are sketch challenges from a week or two ago.

Halloween is coming!

Yep, I actually made a Halloween card. Well, it's more like 2 cards.... The set is retired (Best Fiends and Just Between Fiends) but it's the only Halloween set I have. Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Mini catalog has some REALLY CUTE Halloween sets that I am seriously thinking about buying. Have you checked out the new mini yet???? Check it out HERE!

This first card I made several weeks ago. I used Green Galore, Only Orange, Elegant Eggplant and Basic Black. I watercolored the image with watercolor crayons. I haven't done that in awhile! I also outlined the image with a Sahara Sand marker, though you can't really see it here. I like how it turned out, it looks so much better in person (don't they all?). Throw in some ribbon, brads and paper piercing and there you go, a little Halloween card... Dracula with a bouquet of eyeballs!

My next card is based on a sketch by Beate at Fresh and Fun. The paper I used were scraps left over from this cool class I took at my favorite scrapbooking store, Arts and Scraps. So, I have no idea what company they are from, sorry.... Cardstock used is Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, and Very Vanilla. I embossed the sentiment and spider then added some linen thread. This was short and sweet and came together really fast.

Well, I gotta get back to work... I'm on my lunch hour! Happy stamping!

Busy, busy, busy

I have been super busy this week and it's not even Wednesday yet.... Meetings at work and classes in the evenings have made me frazzled! And I did give in and let my daughters have new kitties. Emily already has Midnight, all black and mischievious. Lillianna's kitten isn't ready to leave it's mama yet.

I've made a few cards over the last couple of nights. It's late so I'll just show you one tonight and the rest later this week. I am getting ready for a Crazy for Christmas card class later this month. I used the Sketch for you to try from Jen's site: i{heart}2stamp. I just love her sketches and I try to do them each Saturday.

I used Certainly Celery, Real Red, Very Vanilla, and Always Artichoke. The sled is Creamy Caramel. Sleighful of Toys was my set of choice this time. I glittered up al the red bows although you can't really tell in the photo. I stamped on white taffeta ribbon using Warm Words. Right now I only have Stampin' Up! markers and I am so curious about Copic markers. They are a bit spendy but everyone who uses them do absolutely fabulous coloring jobs.

I'll have more to show later this week when I am not so tired. Happy creating!

Leap Year!!!

How is it that we have an extra day this year yet I don't have any extra time??? Now really, that just doesn't make any sense, does it?

So I am a single mom working full-time with two teenage daughters and an extra teenage boy that lives with us. We have 3 dogs and a cat, a big yard, and lots of laundry. (If this sounds like a personal ad, it kinda is, heeheehee). I would REALLY like to be a SAHC - that would be a Stay-At-Home-Crafter since I missed the boat on being a SAHM. So if anyone out there knows a decent guy that would provide the life I would like to become accustomed too, please send me an email!

In the meantime, I'll park myself at my craft table and come up with something fun to post tomorrow!

Clearly Christmas

Yeah, I know I'm going backwards in time.... I've offered a class using this cool clear 6x6 album and Stampin' Up! DSP, cardstock and embellishments. It turned out super cute. I used the Cerise DSP which is now retired but it wuld look just as good using the Olive Press DSP. I also used Real Red, Old Olive and Very Vanilla papers, inks and ribbons. Very little stamping on this project... a word here or there and a Christmas Tree on one page.

Here is a view of one of the inside pages.

Check out my Web site for a little special I am offering to my 2008 hostesses. It's on "My Specials" page at www.desiree.stampinup.net.

Thanks for visiting!

Valentine's Day is coming soon!

Next week I'll be teaching a card class for teens. My daughter's friends are signed up but there is still room for more! We'll be making five different Valentine's cards and having some healthy snacks. Check out my class schedule at www.desiree.stampinup.net. This card is just one of the designs. I used Blush Blossom, Whisper White, Ruby Red and Cameo Coral along with Ginger Blossom DSP and white taffeta ribbon. The stamp sets are All Holidays and Mark the Date.

Whew! Life has really kept me busy lately. My 2007 hostess appreciation breakfast went really well. People who know me know I am not into cooking at all, but I did it. We had a broccoli quiche (recipe found on http://www.allrecipes.com/), a fruit salad, blueberry muffins from scratch, and sausage. We mixed up an awesome punch. And I used lowfat ingredients, except the butter, heeheehee. So after munching we made a cool card mentioned in my previous blog. I gave them some small gifts, the Sale-a-Bration catalog and we chatted up a storm.

It was really nice to entertain. Now I am off to uploading my cards into my Splitcoast gallery. Look for a link to that soon. Toodles!

It's a brand new year!

Wow! Here I am blogging. Six months ago I was saying to myself "what's all the fuss about?" Blogging is for geeks anyway, right? NOT! About 2 months ago I happened on to a blog, I don't even know how I got there but it was a stampers blog. Then I started jumping around from blog to blog. I was truly amazed at all the creativity out there. It boggled my mind. Projects and stamps and tutorials and stuff I hadn't seen before. Crazy and exhilirating and the hours slipped by as I added blog after blog to my favorites. Then almost daily I was checking them out for their latest posts. Next I was trying the projects. So in December amidst a move, a computer crash, Christmas and all that entails, I decided I wanted to do "that". So here I am. I don't know if my creativity will be inspiring (I hope it will) or my writing will be interesting, but I am going to give this a try. Bare with me as I learn the technical stuff to making this blog attractive and useful. You'd think that managing my department's web site would give me an edge. I guess what I really need is more time -- isn't that what we all need? With that I will close post number 1. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!