Monogram Post-It Holders

I love post-it holders. My dad gave me a huge stack of post-it note pads when he was packing up to move, so I have lots to make them with! Well, I had several things I was mailing today and I just love to tuck one of these in a package. I mean, you can't be a paper crafter and NOT send a little something, right?!?!

I decided to make these monogram post-it holders. I love chipboard letters for this. But I am cheap and lazy. I didn't want to buy several packages of chipboard letters and then re-cover the letters to match the holders. So I found these chipboard letters by Li'l Davis Designs. They measure about 2 inches in height per letter. But since I am cheap, I didn't want to actually use my letters on this project quite yet. So I laid the letter I wanted to use (in this case, J) chipboard (or undecorated) side up on a piece of chocolate chip cardstock. I traced the letter with a pencil and then cut it out with my paper snips. This way I had a lovely chocolate chip "J" to use and I still had my chipboard too. Which was good because I had 4 "J" note pads to make!

The rest was pretty simple. I used cool caribbean cardstock for the base of the holder and for the scalloped circle. I stamped paisley in versamark for the scalloped circle and then put the "J" on with dimensionals. I tied a little piece of ribbon around the "J" and then also ran some under the scalloped circle. I think they turned out pretty cute! Here is a link to the tutorial on how to make the post-it holders.

That's it for this morning! Off to workout and get some other stuff done. Wonderful stuff coming later. A recipe: Eggplant Parmesan for dinner tonight! (This is probably my favoritest food EVER!). A card: I will try to get the sketch challenge done later today as well! Have a great day!

CC99: Only one MORE!!

So it's here! CC99 is here! Only one more week til I get to give away the AWESOME prize Leigh O'Brien made! And guess what?!?! Besides the fact that you can win it.....you get ANOTHER sneak peek today! Oh yeah, and I'll show you my color challenge card too! I have such a hard time taking photos of dark cardstock. I am getting better, just more fiddling needed!

I used my Big Blossom stamp for the first time. I inked paisley in Not Quite Navy and then kissed the big flower onto the paisley. I stamped it on white cardstock and cut it out. Then I mounted it on Night of Navy cardstock and cut that out so that it had a small navy border for the flower. I stamped paisley in versamark on the Not Quite Navy paper. Then I stamped my sentiment in night of navy on white. I punched that out with the Word Window punch and sponged the edges with Not Quite Navy. Then I mounted that on a Night of Navy window punch and then onto the cardstock. I originally had a navy button in the center of the flower, but it just wasn't working for me. I went with a prima and a little bling instead. I thought it was kinda boring so I added two night of navy word window punches in the upper left corner and poked two holes in each. Then I ran some narrow organdy ribbon through those and tied it off. This dressed it up a little.

And here's the sneak peek of the CC100 prize! Leigh is going to have more information on her blog as well.

We have a WINNER!!

I enjoyed reading all of your favorite things over the past few days! There are some great recipes in there as well! There seemed to be some common threads amongst our faves too. Our families, chocolate, stamping, reading, reading blogs, chocolate, etc. Thank you for sharing with me!

And now, for the winner! My 6 yo, Andy, picked the winner for me today!

Ara, you are the winner! Please email me your address and I'll ship your goodies out to you!

Here is what she said:

Ara said...
Wow Emily, another freebie, COOL!!Well, one of favorite things has to be mornings at my house...the kids inner alarm clocks are set for 8 bells, and they sometimes come in earlier, or later, but mostly at 8. And we snuggle and watch Curious George!! It is wonderful!! Thanks Emily for allowing me to share!!Ara
January 27, 2007 11:03:00 PM CST

Thank you all for commenting and reading my blog! Here's to many more hits!

And a little something cool to share with you. My husband asked what we could do to organize my room a little more (He meant it to be helpful, but I thought he was making fun of how messy it is!). So we got a shelf from Target and put my background stamps on it! I love it! Now they are off the table, the are not stacked up - which is supposedly bad for the rubber, and they look so nice! He has promised to figure out my label maker and label them along the side too! He's the bestest! And here's a pic of my new shelf!

So CHA is going on now...

This is only the biggest crafting event ever. It is held in CA and all crafting companies go there to unveil new lines for the next year. You can find out more about what SCS is seeing here:

SCS Blog about CHA

I am way stoked cause of course that means new products and stuff are coming soon! I am most stoked about the Basic Grey. Here's what they are showing on their site right now as far as new paper lines....you know I love this paper!

Perhaps Collection love this one!

Phoebe Line

Scarlet's Letter Collection

Stella Ruby Line and love this one!

Anyway, I can't wait til those hit the shelves!

Can You Believe It?! FREEBIE!

So I just hit over 20,000 hits today! In honor of this momentous occasion, I am doing a freebie giveaway! So you must comment on this post by 9pm CST Monday, January 29th to win!

Please tell me one of your favorite things in your comment. Since my blog is all about sharing my favorite things - cooking and stamping, share one of yours! It can be a food, a stamp, a product, whatever!

The freebie is everything pictured above. There are 2 sets of the Michaels mini stamps (Valentine themed), 2 clear Rhonna Farrer floral stamps and a handful of primas! Please pass this freebie info along to a friend, isn't that what we do when we find out about a favorite thing?!?

January Stamp Camp

Last night I held my monthly stamp camp. We made these 5 cards. I tried to do one 'fun' valentine and one more elegant valentine. We also did a pocket note. I love those! This is a copy of the first pocket note I made, so nothing new there. I did the cool caribbean 'friend' card a few weeks ago as well. Only the Valentine cards and the Birthday Beauty card are new.


The Birthday Beauty card was for my older sister. She bought the set a few months ago and asked me to do something with it. Well, I did this and I am not that thrilled with it. But it was late at night and the mojo just wasn't there. I used bohemia floral paper, chocolate chip and white. I stamped her in timber brown stazon and colored her in with the retired Rose Romance ink. (I hate regal rose and will ever mourn the loss or rose romance, lol!) I sparkled her up with DD glitter on her crown and sash. I had pink circles on her cheeks, but Matthew said that looked stupid. He's a guy, what does he know?!?!


I got ready to do this camp and realized I had NO valentine stamps. So I went to the store. Three of them. Nothing. At least, nothing cute. So I ended up with this $1 stamp from Michael's. It worked. I used Basic Grey Blush paper and blush blossom cardstock. The Mega Scalloped circle is close to cocoa. I used a 2 way glue pen and Dazzling Diamond glitter to do the sparkles. I colored the stamp in with markers. Aquapainters are my coloring method of choice, but they take too long at a stamp camp.


The last card is one that used a previous sketch challenge. I used cranberry crisp cardstock (which I did not realize I was almost out of! My older sister rescued me and gave me 10 sheets so I would have enough.) for the base of the card. I stamped paisley on it in versamark. I used my coluzzle to cut the largest oval out of the Blush paper. I cut the ovals in half to look like a half circle. I sponged chocolate chip on the edges of the circle and the main image as well. I used cranberry crisp, mellow moss and pretty in pink to do the flowers. Linen was stamped on the white panel first in sahara sand. Grosgrain ribbon tied around the main image completed the look. Of course, it is popped up on dimensionals as well. The sentiment "truly, madly, deeply" is from A Muse.


Ok, gotta get ready for hockey!

I wish I could breathe....

I am absolutely miserable. My allergies are on overload right now. They were kinda bad and then I got my shot Tuesday and now it is WORSE! I got a welt on my left arm that is at least 2 inches in diameter. And I haven't been able to breathe through my nose since. Ugh. I called the shot desk at the allergist....apparently I can't handle 3 tenths when they try to up my dose. Um......I thought I was on my maintenance dose - doesn't that mean I maintain the same dose?!?!?!

Apparently not. She said the last time they went up that high I had a reaction too. Fabulous. Unfortunately, there isn't anything I can do after the fact. At least it isn't as itchy today. But I feel like I am in a fog. Even my beloved Zipfizz isn't helping! (Zipfizz is an energy drink powder that you add to a bottle of water. They sell it at costco and it is awesome! It tastes kinda yucky - but I don't do fake sugars, so you might not think it's so bad. But it's fantastic for the mid afternoon pick me up. It isn't loaded with caffeine and it has very few calories. It has lots of B12 which is good for you and for some reason it helps my allergy headaches.)

I did have a stamp camp last night and I'll try to get a pic up this afternoon. I feel bad for my poor stampers, I was so foggy. Good thing it was my regulars and they pretty much know what they are doing by now. We did some cute stuff though. Some I had made earlier this month and some were new. I'll go take the pics and post them for you all.

Good note: Matthew got free Dallas Stars tickets for tonight's game! That should be fun. We're going with some vendor of his company, but that's ok. Hockey is awesome - hope for lots of fights!

Drowning in a pile of ribbon!

Yes, that's me. I am drowning in a pile of ribbon! It's a good place to be though! I participated in a ribbon share with my friend (I say friend cause we've met twice and she's the SWEETEST person ever!) Jody. It's the coolest thing! She gets bulk ribbon and cuts it into 10 yard segments. So I got 30 different colors! Now to organize it! I am working on that part and I'll show you what I came up with (an idea I totally stole from someone else's blog photos) when I get it done.

You should totally check out Jody's blog. She has ribbon shares often, try to get in on one! She's even doing a Prima share right now!! I would love to do that one....but alas, I am being frugal at the moment. **sigh** Maybe there will be a next time! Here's all my ribbon though.....doesn't it look SO PRETTY?!??!


Also I thought I would share the sneak peek at the prize for the 100th Color Challenge on Splitcoast. Leigh O'Brien made this.....and she is one FANTASTIC stamper. Y'all are really gonna want to get in on this one. So keep watching those color challenges so you can find out how you can win it for your very own!!! Just a tiny sneak peek today though........gotta save something for next week, right?!?!

Coaster Gift Boxes and CC98...

Okay, the newest tutorial on Splitcoast is a good one! Another use for all those restaurant coasters that I got a few hundred of. Here is the link for it, please check it out! Taylor VanBruggen wrote this one, and these little boxes are too cute! I'll probably do them as teacher gifts for Valentine's Day.

I tried two today. The first one I did using Basic Grey Urban Couture. I used mod podge to adhere the paper to the coaster (I did find that painting the paper with mod podge and then laying that down on the coaster worked better - the coasters sucked the mod podge up so fast it dried too quickly!). Then I used the crop-a-dial to punch the holes. On this box, I mod podged over the paper as well. I like to do this because I feel it makes it a bit sturdier....then the paper isn't going to peel up - ever! And it won't get snagged on anything either. I used several different ribbons to tie up the sides. Then came the hard part. For me, sticking the bottom on was hard. For the mod podged one, I used the E6000 glue Taylor mentioned. This stuff smells awful. And my stamp room doesn't have the best ventilation and it is small. Stank up the room for hours. And it was kinda messy. I tried something different on the second box. But it did stick.

For the second box, I used the rest of the Basic Grey Urban Couture sheet I had out. (I love that you can get two boxes out of one sheet! - I used a different coordinating solid piece for the bottom square.) The only difference with this box is that I did not mod podge OVER the paper this time. I took them outside and sprayed them with Clear Acrylic Sealant by Plaid. I wanted to seal them a bit, so I tried this. I have to say, looks wise, it is really hard to even tell them apart. We'll see how they hold up. I used Crystal Effects (SU - it's clear strong glue, not sure what other companies call it) to adhere the bottom coaster. It stank a little less and seems to hold just as well. So I say you can use either. I know some people used glue guns for theirs....personally, I hate glue guns and I think stuff falls apart when I use them. But that's just me.

Anyway, thanks Taylor for the fantastic idea. Great present boxes. I love the idea and I think I'll be teaching a class on it in a few weeks.

CC98 was today. I used a color challenge by MyPrecious. Night of Navy, Brocade Blue and Bravo Burgundy. I made a card really quickly last night and it's not so good! It was very late by the time I got done cutting out my new rubbah though. Anyway, I did get to use some new stamps and that was fun! Here's what I made. I'd tell you what I used on it, but I am too tired. If you wanna know, just ask me!

More Scrap pages....

Here are two more pages I did on my scrapping with mamakimberly night. The first is a page of the boys on our first family bike ride (and by family, I mean we walked and the boys rode). They were so cute all decked out in their helmets and bikes. This has quickly become a favorite family activity. I used a layout from mamakimberly and Basic Grey Oh Baby boy papers. Some colored brads and primas for accents. A rub on - not sure what brand - and my zig millennium 05 pen for journaling. The rub on flourishes are american crafts.

The second page is for my book of me. I used a 5x7 print of a photo mamak had taken of me a few months ago. She doctored it a bit in photo shop so my hair is a bit more red and my eyes a bit more blue than usual.....but it looks so pretty, lol! Andyway, I used some more Basic Grey, Blitzen this time, on this page. I used basic black su cardstock to mat the photo. Then some black ric-rac and some faux stitching rub ons. A simple page because I really wanted the photo to be the focus.

Hope you enjoy those! I will reiterate, scrapping is not my strong suit!

I've been tagged!?!?!

So I had no idea what this even was. Hmm.....apparently this means you have to answer some ABC type questionnaire. So here goes nothing!

A - Available or Taken: Definitely Taken (Married 9 years this summer!)
B - Best Friend: Matthew
C -Cake or Pie: Pie
D - Drink of Choice: Water or Peppermint Mocha
E - Essential item you use everyday: allergy meds - thank goodness for Nasonex!
F - Favorite Color: Rose Red
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears
H - Hometown: Omaha, NE - although I grew up in Kansas City, MO
I - Indulgence: Chocolate covered strawberries
J - January or February: January - Football and Alex's birthday!
K - Kids & Names: Andy, Alex and Adam
L - Life is incomplete without?: God and family.
M - Marriage Date: July 11, 1998
N - Number of Siblings: 5 - 1 older sister, 1 younger sister, 1 step brother, 1 half brother and 1 half sister
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples
P - Phobias or Fears: Spiders and being alone at night
Q - Fave Quote: "It's Good To Want Things..." from Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
R - Reason to Smile: My husband and my boys.
S - Season: Fall - I love the colors and pumpkins
T - Tag 3-4 People: Kimberly, Karen and Rachel
U - Unknown fact about me: I am extremely, extremely shy when I first meet people.
V - Vegetable you don't like: Peas, Lima Beans (any of the mushy in the middle ones)
W - Worst Habit: I pick my cuticles.
X - X-rays: spine, toe, wrist, knee, lungs....I think that's all.
Y - Your Fave Food: Rockin Italian food!
Z - Zodiac Sign: Well, I don't do these, but I am an Aries

Okie Dokie, that it folks!

Baked Potato Soup

I have had repeated requests for this recipe. I have already shared it on my blog and if you ever want to see a previous recipe, you can just click on the recipes link on the left hand side of my blog. It will bring up all the recipes I have shared here. Just an FYI! I won't talk about a recipe if I don't share it or it hasn't already been shared, ok? Here's the potato soup one again, though! Happy Football Sunday!

Baked Potato Soup

5 lbs potatoes
1 stick margarine
1 c flour
8 c milk
1 onion, chopped
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 pkg bacon
Green onions, chopped (optional)

Bake potatoes, I do mine in the microwave and then set them aside to cool. Cook bacon in skillet. Then crumble and set aside for topping. Saute onion in large pot with margarine on medium heat. Add milk. Toss flour and cheese together in bowl. Add to pot. Peel and dice potatoes. Add to soup. Stir on medium heat until cheese is melted. Then reduce to low. Serve with bacon, more shredded cheese and green onions on top.

I love bread.

When I am stressed I eat. I am sure that is true for most people. And what do I crave the most (besides delicious milk chocolate)......bread. You will usually see me making the yeast rolls or something along those lines when I am stressed out. Well, these are another favorite of mine. My mom shared this recipe and we used to have it every year for Christmas. They are an old English recipe that has been passed down our family. They are not the traditional fluffy biscuit-like scones you will get in a coffee shop. They are flat and very sweet. Nothing is added to them. You can slice them open or just leave them whole. I like to put butter on mine - particularly the new Country Crock flavored spreads. The honey butter is fabulous. They are wonderful on their own, but you can top them with butter, honey, jelly, or whatever floats your boat.







Scones

Sift: 3 c flour
½ c sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda

Cut in: 1 stick margarine
1 c buttermilk

Knead: 2-5 times. Divide into 4 balls. Pat out to about ¼ in – ½ in thick circle. Cut into 4-6 pieces (triangles – like a pie). Heat griddle to 300 degrees. Fry. NO GREASE!

Makes 16-24 scones

I hope you enjoy these. They are always a huge hit with everyone in my family. Also a little pocket note to brighten your day!

I was requested!

This is so cool! My Dad's new wife emailed me and asked if she could purchase 2 sympathy/thinking of you cards. Her team at work wanted to send them as a group and they asked if she could get them some "emily" cards!! How cool is that?!?! So I am going to make a few today and she is coming by tonight to pick out what she wants.

For some reason I was up terribly late last night and I came up with this card. It really did turn out quite nice, if I do say so myself! I had just seen the LSC99 and wanted to try putting the sentiment as the main focal point. I think it stands out even more IRL, the black stazon I stamped the words in really pops on this card.

I started out by stamped linen on both pieces of white cardstock in sahara sand ink. I sponged the edges with sahara sand as well. Then I markered up the flower and repeated stamped it on the background piece. I decided to distress the edges of the flowered piece and used my Heidi Swapp distressor for this. I used my stampamajig to stamp the greeting and I stamped it in black stazon. I wanted a very thin black border around both those pieces, so I layered it that way. Then I put a bit wider border of bravo burgundy behind the black to make the sentiment more of the focal point. I tried it without paper piercing and it really looked bland. So I pierced it all the way around. That really looked like too much. So then I cut another piece and just pierced the corners and I think that turned out just right.

I stamped the paisley background stamp in versamark on the sahara cardstock and sponged the edges with sahara sand. I used some velvet ribbon I found at Michael's with a pewter ribbon slide from the hodge podge hardware kit. I made sure it wasn't going to slip around by putting a glue dot under it. I think that's about it! I am pretty happy with the results, for once, lol! I'll show you what else I come up with later on!

I think I am a Pin Cushion....

Or at least I am beginning to feel like one. I am finally down to just one allergy shot a week. Great. But they are more itchy than ever. Wonderful. So once a week I get a shot for that. Then I have an itchy lump for a few days.....and usually a bruise after that. Ok, I can handle that.

But I have gotten so many injections for my back issues lately, that I feel like a pin cushion! If it's not a steroid injection, it's some other medicine injection. Or they are drawing blood for some test. I think I probably get stuck twice a week. Some are no big deal, some are really painful. I got a numbing med one today into my lower back. It hurt crazy bad when he did it. Now it is pleasantly numb, thank goodness! We'll see how long that lasts.

I have gone to another (yes, another) physical therapist and feel pretty good about this one. We'll see how that goes. According to her, I most likely have bursitis in my right hip. Which would be why the steroids help that. Unfortunately, they don't know why it is staying so aggravated. She also said I have some type of L5 area issue - not sure what or why - this is where I got injected today. And last but not least, I have some SI joint problems. None of these are the bad kinds of arthritis issues I was worried about, although I do have some arthritis (more than normal for someone my age) but nothing to cause the kind of pain I have. So now we'll try some more physical therapy and see what comes of that.

Oy. A lot of trial and error. With me as a pin cushion. Did I mention how much I hate needles? I used to swear I would only have one baby because I didn't want to have an IV (how naive was I?? like that is the most painful part of child birth!!). I can handle most of the shots right now, some are worse than others, but the giving blood part.....I really can't stand that. I have to go again within the next 7 days....I have been putting it off, but the time has come. I will have to suck it up and get it over with. **sigh** I am so not looking forward to that.



Anyway, enough about my issues....I am so so in love with these pocket notes in the latest SU mini. They are just the perfect size for throwing in a package if you are mailing something to someone. You know how we stampers are always mailing little gift-y things to each other...well, these make the perfect little card to accompany those items! So I made up a whole stack of pocket notes last night. I had to have something easy to do while I watched those horrid American Idol auditions.

Here are the ones I made. I can never make too many of one design, and they had to be simple so I could concentrate on my show (yeah right!). I used more Basic Grey, because I just love all of it. I am so so excited that I am finally using more of my papers instead of hoarding them. It IS getting easier too! I stamped the 'sending you sunshine' in white stazon - it's not quite as bright as I would have liked, but it works. If you have any questions about what I used, just ask!

And the Winner is....

The winner of the post-it note holder from Tuesday's tutorial is Jennie H!!!

This was Jennie's comment:

Love the post it note holder! I am definitely going to make some of these as little gifts! Do you think you could do a tutorial on the RSVP pens to match? I honestly don't know to do these....but would like to give them as a gift to match the post it note holder.Thanks for your blog and sharing your creativity!Jennie H.

Thank you Jennie for reading my blog! Please email me your address so I can send your post-it holder!

Thank you so much for all the wonderful tutorial suggestions. Some of those things I know how to do and some of those I will have to try and learn! Incidentally, the next tutorial I had planned is the beaded RSVP pens! I will try to get it up some time next week. For this evening, I will share a gift set for Alex's preschool teacher. Her birthday is tomorrow and this is what I am giving her.

It is a beaded pen, mini target notebook, and a post-it note holder to match the scalloped shaker card I posted earlier. I hope she likes it!

Scalloped Shaker

This is the beginnings of a gift set for Alex's preschool teacher. Her birthday is tomorrow. I made this using a tutorial I found on GinaK's blog. I think the scalloped shaker is so so cute! I can't link directly to the post, but it's a ways down the page.

Here's my version. I only have the Mega Scalloped punch. I ordered the giga and 4 days later, Joann cancelled my order and said they were out of stock. Bummer! And of course, by then - everyone else was out of stock too! Oh well, someday I'll get my hands on one of those!

I used some Chatterbox paper I had been hoarding, I probably have 5 sheets of this particular design. I just love it. I used bashful blue, old olive and chocolate chip cardstocks to compliment the paper. After following Gina's instructions, I stamped the floral background stamp in versamark on bashful blue paper. I used the linen stamp on the old olive paper (also in versamark) and I sponged both of the edges of those papers with their matching inks. I paper pierced a strip of chocolate chip and used that as a base for the shaker piece. I mounted the olive and a strip of the chatterbox on the chocolate chip and then put the chocolate chip on with dimensionals. I tied a bit of grosgrain ribbon that I dyed using reinkers, then put the shaker piece on with more dimensionals (can you see how much I love dimensionals??). I used an A Muse sentiment in chocolate chip ink along the bottom. Then just mounted to chocolate chip and then to a bashful blue base. I like layers!

I'll share the rest of the gift set later. Hope you all are enjoying your weather wherever you are! Here it snowed and there is no school. Yep. We have a snow day in Texas. I have my sister-in-laws 2 kids so that makes 5 kids age 6 and under. So probably not a lot of stamping going on here today. Here's a pic of our snow! (And yes, I grew up in Missouri so this is no big deal to me.)

****UPDATED****

I think I have confused people into thinking I used the Marvy punch to punch out the inside of the circle. That was my initial idea, but according to Gina's tutorial, you use the coluzzle to cut the inside out. Just a tip!

CC97: cocoa plums

The color challenge today was inspired by Stampin Up!'s enchante papers. I had them lying on my stamp table and my new SAB set was there.....and they just went together! So check out the challenge thread here!

My first card was this one...it was made to fit into SU's small open end envelopes. It measures 3.25x6.5. I used a pale plum cardstock as the base. (It would be cut 6.5x6.5 and then folded). I cut a strip of the enchante papers and then a strip of close to cocoa slightly wider. I left one side of the cocoa a little wider than the other and used my paper piercing tool to pierce a line down that edge.

For the main image, I inked up the stamp with my pale plum and sage shadow markers. Then I held it at arm's length and spritzed it with stampin mist. I stamped it on the cardstock then to give it a bit of a watered appearance. Then I stamped the words across the stems. I used a sponge with pale plum to sponge the edges and the Heidi Swapp distressor to distress the white. I layered it on close to cocoa and put it on dimensionals. Tied the narrow organdy and assembled it.

My second was a quick pocket note. I punched a scalloped oval out of enchante papers and then mounted that on SU's cutie pocket notes. (These are available in the current mini catalog and come with matching envies.) Then I stamped the image on vanilla cardstock and punched it out with the mega oval punch. I stamped the greeting, then layered it onto the scalloped oval. I tied some reinker dyed sage grosgrain ribbon along the bottom and secured it with glue dots. Quick and Easy!

That's all for today! I have a shaker card in mind....maybe I'll get some time today to do that! Thank you for the tutorial suggestions, please post one so you can with the post-it note holder!

Two More Samples

I made these for some of my blog readers. The Basic Grey Blush holders were made for the two ladies who participated in my diamond fold book contest. The Skate Shoppe holder was made for the SWEETEST woman who mailed me Target $1 mailboxes. Thank you for being so supportive! I cannot express how much it means to me to hear that people like my work (and my cooking!). Thank you!

Post-It Note Holder Tutorial

So here it is! This is my tutorial on post-it note holders. I learned how from this thread on Splitcoaststampers.com. Please let me know if there is anything that doesn't make sense!

Supplies:
Cardstock
Paper trimmer with scoring blade
Post-it note pad
Embellishments (optional)

Step 1: Cut cardstock to 7 ½ inches long.

Step 2:
Cut cardstock to 3 ½ inches wide.

Step 3:
Score cardstock at 3 ½ inches and again at 4 inches.

Step 4:

Fold cardstock on score line. Then flip it over and fold the other side, both sides should be folded in towards each other.

Step 5:
Put adhesive all around the back of the post-it note pad.

Step 6:
Place post-it pad on cardstock with even border of cardstock all the way around. It should fold together like this once it is in there.

Step 7:
Embellish as you like! I used narrow organdy ribbon, my mega scalloped circle punch, dimensionals, Happy Harmony from SU, and a sentiment from Wordsworth.

And here is the final product! These are really simple, make great gifts, and can be dressed up many ways!

I will be giving this one away to one lucky blog reader. All you have to do is post a comment on this tutorial and tell me what you would like to see me do a tutorial on! Please, let me know what I do (or may what I can learn to do) that you would like to see a step by step tutorial on. I will choose a winner Wednesday, January 17th at 10pm. Your suggestion must be posted before 9pm CST.

Enjoy!

Scrap Pages - here they are!

Okay, here are two of my favorites from last night. OH! And I got 8 pages done, not 7! Not the best speed....but that's ok. It was fun. We're going to a different place on Feb 10th, but this time I'll be the lone paper scrapper with a bunch of digiscrappers around me!

This first page is made from my favorite picture of the boys in a long time. Mamak took this when she did our family photos this year. We have a Christmas Jammie tradition; the boys always get matching Christmas Jammies. This is the first year that Andy *sniff sniff* couldn't have matching ones. He is too big, and had to get them from the boys' section. Anyway, I used black card stock as a base. Then I tore the edges on a piece of Basic Grey (black tie, maybe??). I mounted the photo on a piece of basic grey. I cut strips of black cardstock to go under the photo as an accent. I used a Making Memories white rub on and my white gel pen to title and journal it. That's it! I told you I was a simple scrapper!

This second page uses a picture from Matthew's work Christmas party this year. It was our first experience getting dressed up for a work function outside of a military ball. I used Basic Grey Fruitcake papers along with basic black cardstock. I accented it with basic grey wholy cow rub ons. Again, pretty simple!

I have a few more I'll show you later. The post-it note holder will be up tonight or tomorrow, so keep checking back! Hope you aren't too cold wherever you are.....we have ice on our trees here! We're gonna have some baked potato soup to warm us up!

Design Teams??

So I am not good with the idea of submitting to magazines. I can't take the pressure of waiting and rejection and all. But I was thinking I would love to try my hand at applying for some design teams. Anyone out there know how to do that? Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. Thank you!!

Oh....and I got 7 pages done last night, I wish I had gotten more though. But I was slow to get started, I think because it has been SO long! Mamak says she wants to go a few more times before she leaves me, so hopefully that will help me get more caught up.

I'll take a few pictures on some of favorite pages from last night. Since we're in the middle of the Icy Blast here in TX (insert huge eye roll here), most things are cancelled today. Maybe I'll use my time wisely and get some stuff done! We'll see how that works out!

I am gonna crop today!

I can't believe it! I haven't cropped in so so long. I hadn't even gotten prints made of my digi pics since April!!!

Anyway, mamak and I are going to Recollections for a crop today. We'll head out sometime early this afternoon and it's over at midnight - I don't know if we'll stay the whole time though. I am going to be paper cropping and she is bringing her laptop. I get twice the space to spread out though.....heehee! We might look kinda dorky with her and her laptop to digiscrap, but it's really about spending time together anyway.

I can only scrapbook outside of my home. Is that weird?!?! If I am here, I would rather make a card or whatever. Scrapbooking is a labor of love for me. My husband really likes that I do it, and I like the end result, but I don't necessarily enjoy doing it. I have a 3-ring binder with layout sketches. Some I have found on the Internet various places and some that mamak has made for me. This has made it so much easier for me....and I like my pages a lot more too!

I just take whatever pictures I want to use on a page....flip through the sketches in my binder and pick one....then I go from there and choose papers and embellishments. It means that some of my pages are just variations on the same layout, but I don't care! I am not an original, innovative scrapper by any means. I just want to be able to get some pages done, like the end result, and have a book for posterity. With the binder, I can do mostly pages I end up liking and they are quicker to make. So I get more done.

Since I only scrapbook outside my home, I do not stamp in my books either. It's just too much to haul ink and stamps as well as all my scrap stuff. So I rely mainly on rub-on letters (mostly from Making Memories) for my titles. It may not be that fancy, but it works for me!

Right now, I have 3 scrapbooks I am working on. One is the ongoing book of the boys. I don't really have any time frames on those, just when one is full - I start another. I have an 8x8 book that is of Matthew and I. Anytime we do things without the kids it goes in there.....it's not very big, lol! And lastly, I have a book of me. This was mamak's idea and I think it is by far my favorite book to work on - and not for the reasons you'd think! Since I am the only female in this house, this is the only book where I can let all the femininity flow. It has lots of primas and floral papers! I really enjoy getting to use all the girly things in my book.

Anyway, perhaps I will share a few of my favorite pages from today when I get back. They won't be stamping related.....and they probably aren't that great, but I'll share a few if you want to see them!

Sketch Challenge 106

So I got a little carried away with the sketch challenge this week. I made 3 cards today with it. It was a perfect sketch to easily incorporate some patterned paper (which I have a hard time with). And I had tons of scraps of pretty papers from all the frames I have done. What a perfect way to use some of them up!

First I did this elegant Easy Elegance card. Like I said, if this set is out on my table (which it still was from this weekend) then I use it. I just can't stop. I should put it away. Anyway, I stamped the flower multiple times using a blender pen dipped in cranberry crisp reinker and a mellow moss marker to ink it up. I sponged creamy caramel around the edges and put the sentiment on in chocolate chip. I used Basic Grey Blush paper leftover from mamak's journal. I tied chocolate chip ribbon onto a pewter swirl clip and stamped paisley on the cranberry cardstock using versamark. I love background stamps, but I almost always use them with versamark. I like them to be the background, not the focus.

Then I decided to do a more whimsical card with a little sparkle. So I got a scrap of Basic Grey Gypsy paper leftover from a frame and used the Simply Said stamp set. I don't think I've used any of the other florals from that set aside from this one. I just love it. And, both the Gypsy paper and this stamp, scream for glitter. So I used my 2 way glue pen and traced the flowers on the paper and glittered those. Then I glittered the flowers on the stamped image as well. I punched the ticket corner punch and put some of the cute colored brads in the corners. I still have tons of ribbon that I dyed with reinkers a few months ago, so I had some cool caribbean to match it. Both of these cards used sentiments from A Muse, I love their sentiment stamps!

Well....I didn't intend to do another, but there were 10 minutes left of Grey's Anatomy so I threw a quick one together. This uses another scrap of Basic Grey's Blush paper. And my other favorite, cool caribbean. Jackie G got me the Wishing You the Best Ronald McDonald SU set as part of my Secret Sister gift so I had to break that out for this one. I stamped it in cool caribbean and then colored the flower in with a pretty in pink marker. Then layered it on a chocolate chip circle and popped it up on dimensionals. Super quick card, but I think it's pretty cute.

So that's my sketch challenge day!

MMMMmmmm......

Who doesn't love macaroni and cheese?!?!? I got this recipe from my Grandma. Mamakimberly made it for me when I had my wisdom tooth pulled....it was so yummy! I don't eat kraft mac&cheese, but this is divine! And it isn't hard either! I hope you enjoy it!



Macaroni and Cheese

2 c uncooked noodles
4 c milk
½ c flour
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese, + 2 oz
½ t salt
3 T maragarine

Precook noodles til slightly tender (approx. 4 min).

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat milk to medium (don’t boil!). Add flour, salt, maragine, and 8 oz cheese. Stir/whisk until cheese is mostly melted. Pour into 9x13 pan with noodles. Top with extra 2 oz cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 min.


I hope to get a card up this afternoon as well. Also - this weekend, a tutorial on post-it note holders!

CC96: brights!

I am so bad with bright colors! I think it is my least used color family. I like things other people do with them, but when I sit down with them......they do not inspire me! Well, I found this lovely pink passion crushed velver ribbon the other day. So I decided I had to work that into the color challenge this week so I would make myself use it! I just grabbed this combo from the color wheel.


I made this card using the Sketch Challenge 104 as a layout. I used the markers to ink up the flower stamp and only inked halfway down the stem so it wouldn't curve too much. Then I punched it out with a mega oval punch from marvy. I put the sentiment on after that (a muse sentiment stamp). Using the 2 way glue pen, I put Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the flower petals. This add so much!! I did my usual giga scalloped circle punch and pierced the scallops and ringed them with the Sakura white gel pen. I love that look! I put it on dimensionals and mounted it on the other paper.

The paisley is stamped in gable green on white cardstock. I stamped linen in versamark on the lavender lace cardstock. I used the word window punch to punch pink passion tabs for the embellishments. The card looked a little empty and I thought these would finish it off. I used mini brads to adhere the prima flowers. This finished off the card. Like I said earlier, Bold Brights are hard for me. I usually go for the darker colors and more.....elegant?....styles. So of course, I am not happy with it. But it's ok!

I also found the best thing today! I was at Hobby Lobby and they had all their Christmas stuff 80% off. Well, I got a few things and then I stumbled across thesekits by colorbok. They had all kinds; frames, trays, etc. I saw these where you cover the wooden letters to spell words. All I could find was NOEL, but I bought all three! I don't care much for the papers they used - but I just stocked up on Basic Grey Fruitcake that was being clearanced somewhere else! For $4, I got the whole kit!! The letters alone would cost more than that by themselves!! What a STEAL! I am so excited! I will probably make one for our house, but the other two sound like Christmas gifts for next year!! I only saw NOEL, but I will look again later to see if I can find anymore. They had JOY and I would really like that one too.

Happy Birthday To Alex!!

So my middle baby boy is 5 today! As of 5:01 am, he is 5 years old! All my babies are growing up! Alex is my little Superman. He got lots of superman for Christmas and his birthday - a superman bike, a superman fake computer, superman figurines, etc. Alex has been in love with Superman forever, I think. This will be our 3rd birthday in a row that is Superman themed. He has been Superman for 3 years in a row for Halloween. We have Superman, muscled Superman and even muscled Superman Returns (they are different shades of red and blue, ya know!) costumes. Alex informed me today that he wants to be a Superman Expert when he grows up. I think you are already there, Alex!



Here are his cupcakes for his party today. This is the first time I have made the dessert for one of my boys' birthdays. Usually their Aunt makes it or we buy it. But this year, it's superman cupcakes. I borrowed the icing thingie from my sister, Tamara, and ice them. Hope it looks alright! It was my first time using one of those things!






And also a little stamping related item as well. These are the cards I made for my Lostie Secret Sister last round. She says "Dude!" all the time, just like me! So when I drew her name, I knew I had to make some Dude! cards! These were made using the Do The Hula stamp set from Stampin Up! The first one I made using old olive and cool caribbean. I used the Heidi Swapp distressor on the edges of the caribbean layer. Aida cloth background stamp on the green background. I printed the words on white card stock using a beachy/surf font I found on the computer. I then used my aquapainters to color the tree. The surfboard card uses cool caribbean

and cameo coral. I colored them using the aquapainter as well. They are pretty simple cards, but I wanted to do something with the DUDE theme for Anna.

Hope you all have a great day! Color Challenge tomorrow!!!