Move over, Vanessa Hudgens!

Alex and a few of her friends plotted at church last Sunday and convinced me to take them to see High School Musical 3 between services. It isn't the most intellectual of movies but we still had a great time! Jordan spent the afternoon at a friend's house so Joe opted to go with us and he barely managed to endure all the girlie talk in the car. In my viewpoint, it's a good way for me to know what's going on with Alex and her friends but Joe can only handle so much before he needs manly bonding. Anyway, I convinced Alex to let me snap this photo of her with Zac Efron...poor Vanessa doesn't even know Alex is moving in for the kill :)

Another Stationery Box

This past weekend I demonstrated the Stationery Box to my Sunday stamp club and while this project is labor intensive, it's worth it in the end! I originally got the tutorial from Jackie Topa on (you guessed it!) Splitcoaststampers, with the link posted in a previous blog entry. The colors and style of the designer series paper "Parisian Summer" by Stampin' Up! are not my typical choices but I rather liked the paper once I began to play with it. There were several guests at the club this month who were "virgin" stampers and I felt badly that they might have been intimidated by such a lengthy project the first time out but they rallied and did well for having so much thrown at them. Hopefully I didn't scare them away from stamping!

I'm still not sure that I like the embellishment on the outside. I admire the work of Beate Johns and tried to layer this in a similar fashion. I'm still mulling over how I would change it but inspiration has left me for now! Some of the keys to making this project work: patience, commitment to finishing it to the bitter end, and a Scor-Pal!!

Supplies: SU! Parisian Summer Designer Series Paper, SU! Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Bravo Burgundy, and Whisper White Cardstock and Classic inks, SU! Dreams Du Jour and Cute and Curly stamp sets, miscellaneous punches, twine, ribbon, Scor-Pal and Scor-Pal tape.

M is for Memories....

Isn't this project sweet? It's just four chipboard coasters held together with a loose leaf binder ring to create a mini keychain album. I've been meaning to make some of these for gifts but only got as far as designing a set for my Sunday Stamp Club.

Isn't the owl adorable? Owls are very trendy in paper crafting right now and this set from the latest Stampin' Up! catalog is one of my favorites.

This is the front of the album with the M for memories. You can't see it but the yellow circle says "memories" as well. The project can easily be completed in an hour and a half, complete with photos and journaling on the tags. The coasters are 4x4", which is perfect for using with designer series paper. I purchased these through Eclectic Paperie. Thanks for viewing!

Supplies: SU! Autumn Vine designer paper, SU! Owl Together Now and Totally Tabs stamp sets, SU! More Mustard, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and Sage Shadow cardstock and inks, Office Depot 1"looseleaf binder rings, SU! Chocolate Chip stitched ribbon, mini cotton cording, SU! circle brads, Prima flowers, Cricut Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, paper piercer, circle and tab punches

Box-in-a-bag

http://dianagibbs.typepad.com/stampin_with_di/2008/06/box-in-a-bag-tutorial.html

I've promised and promised to post this project and here it is....finally!! I designed this project for one of my stamping clubs using SU!'s new Urban Garden designer paper and absolutely love how it turned out. This is such a fun project and very practical, as most of us need a gift bag at the last minute that's original and inexpensive. I've included a link above to a step-by-step tutorial by Diana Gibbs. The only change to her tutorial that I would recommend is using a scallop punch rather than the corner rounder for the scalloped outer strip, primarily to save time. Using the corner rounder can be time consuming and tedious so invest in the scallop punch if you can. Happy crafting!

Supplies: SU! Urban Garden DP, SU! Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla cardstock, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, tag punch, Crop-A-Dile, SU! Say it with Scallops stamp set, 1 1/2 and 1 1/4" scallop square punches, Scor-tape, and Scor-pal.

Alex's Homecoming Dance Photo

Curse my camera and the terrible lighting in my house! I had the worst time getting good photos of Alex before the Homecoming Dance and this was the only one that really came out. Alex looked just lovely and you wouldn't believe what we went through to find her a dress! The picture doesn't do the dress justice, which is a black satin with deep teal appliqued flowers down one side of the skirt. Alex's two friends Kati and Courtney came over beforehand to get ready and I ended up assisting all three girls with getting ready. It made me feel like a teenager again, hanging out with the girls, singing loud to the music Alex had playing in her room, and helping with hair and make-up. My parents were always supportive of all my friends and this was a good way for me to know what Alex's friends are like. Looking at the picture, I can scarcely believe my first baby is already 15 years old! Where does the time go?!

Christmas Swap

This past Saturday I co-hosted a Christmas-themed shoebox swap with my friend Tasha and this little tag tin was my contribution to the event. For those of you who may not know, a shoebox swap is a project designed to be swapped with other ladies, but rather than making it ahead, you provide all the pieces for the participants to actually make your project. Typically the project and pieces should fit in a shoebox sized container. At the end of the swap, you've made the designs of all those present, which can take awhile if you have a large group (we finished in about 4 hours, not including the yummy potluck lunch we had before starting). We had 12 ladies participate so I tried to keep the details on the tin simple so it wouldn't take too long to complete. I wish I could say the design was original but it was inspired by Nichole Heady's blog Capture the Moment. Nichole Heady is a terrific designer and owner of Papertrey Ink, one of my favorite stamp companies. The link to her blog is listed to the right, complete with a tutorial on how to complete the project using Papertrey's nugget tin. I thought this project was a perfect idea since I'm always reaching for tags at the holidays and this cute little tin keeps them organized, complete with baker's twine and adhesive tags. If you want to see some of the other fabulous swaps from this event, visit Angi Crandall's blog, also listed to the right. Enjoy!

Supplies: SU! Real Red, Whisper White, Bashful Blue and Old Olive cardstock and ink, retired SU! striped wrapping paper, Crystal Effects, Baker's Twine, Xyron, Hero Arts snowflake stamp, Papertrey Ink Boxes, Bags, and Tags stamp set, SU! Season of Joy stamp set, glitter, Oriental Trading rhinestone brads, www.clearbottle.com tins, Scor-Pal

Gasp! I'm actually posting!

I'm sorry the pictures are a tad fuzzy but I still haven't worked out good lighting for taking photos in my house at night. I know those of you reading this are in a state of shock since it has been quite some time since my last posting. You'll be sick of me after this because I have several posts to make! The photos are a sampling of the projects I actually completed today!! My sweet hubby threw a surprise birthday party for me early in the month and I've been needing to make a batch of thank you cards to send to all the generous folks who gave me gifts and my card box was empty...wahhh! This first card is one I designed for my friend Marilyn's Stampin' Up! show a few months ago and I've had the extra pieces laying around, begging me to put them together, thus giving me a head start in getting my cards together. I managed to crank out 15 of these today!

The rest of the cards came together in part because another good friend of mine, Tasha, has been after me to organize my scrap box. I hate to throw paper scraps away as I invariably try to use my paper as frugally as possible. Tasha has enjoyed teasing me about my bottomless scrap bin so I finally buckled down and tackled organizing all the pieces. With Joe's help, I sorted the whole box in one night and realized how many scrap pieces I have that matched the first card so I designed smaller cards to use up the smaller pieces. The smaller cards are perfect for jotting a quick note or tucking in with a small gift. Not bad for a day's worth of work, eh? On to the next posting :)

Supplies: SU! Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Whisper White, and Very Vanilla cardstock and ink, Scallop and circle punches, paper piercer, silver brads, SU! Stitched background stamp, SU! Priceless stamp set, SU! retired Blue Bayou stitched ribbon