View Our October Newsletter

We've just posted our October Newsletter. You can Click Here to view it, or scroll down to our newsletter button. We've got lots of fun pictures, news, and a tutorial inside. Enjoy!

Too Long...

From Adriel:

It's been too long since I've posted something on here! My problem is I don't have pictures of new projects... I'm going to go dig around in my photos and see if I can find something to share... be right back...

Okay, I found something! I intended to share this a couple of weeks ago and never did! So, here we go!

My mom was creating cards a couple of weeks ago for the Cracked Glass technique class we are teaching soon. Of course, I had to try my hand at it! =) I used the pretty new set "Charming" from Stampin' Up! and did the cracked glass technique on just the punched accent of my card. For those of you unfamiliar with the cracked glass technique, you basically apply several layers of special embossing powder (Glossy Glaze enamel) and then you apply a cold pack to it or put it in the freezer. When it is very cold, you can quickly crack it and it has this neat effect of "cracked glass". You can go back over the cracks with ink to add to the antique look. Anyway, neat effect and fun to try! Here's a link to a tutorial on SplitCoast.

I like how this card turned out, but after I made it into a friend card I looked at it and wondered why I didn't make it a Christmas card. It looks more like that to me. Don't know! =)

We doing our Tropical Stamping Bunco tonight! I worked on the tag directions this morning and am looking forward to our evening with some of you!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great day! =)

Holiday Gift Tags

From Adriel:

Now it may seem a little early (okay, a LOT early!!) to be thinking about holiday gift tags. You're right, it is. But we have to stay ahead of the game! We've got a holiday gift tag class in November (I think... or is it October?). We try to make our projects ahead of time so we know how many supplies to order and also for pictures and such. In addition, it's wise to make these projects ahead of time so that you can work out all the details and design, blah, blah, blah...With that being said, I worked on the project for our gift tag class. I've been eyeing the cute box with tags in the SU catalog. I found some directions that produce a box that is very similar. I had to tweak the acetate lid a bit, because it didn't fit properly, but I don't remember my changes at the moment. Perhaps I can share those a bit later. =)

All in all, it makes a cute little set. The multi-colored stamped images, however, are not going to be conducive for a class setting. I'm going to have to re-design the actual gift tags that go in this box. But at least I have the box pretty much figured out and the whole set made a cute picture. =)

For more details, read further... =D

You can check out the tutorial for the box and lid HERE at Valerie's blog. As I said, I made some changes to the lid. It was too tight, I thought. I just added a bit more give... easy enough. =)

I made the box out of SU Kraft CS and the acetate I made out of some transparency sheets (had some lying around) that you can buy at an office store. The lovely red ribbon is sadly (sniff, sniff) retired Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon from SU with vanilla trim. I'm sure we'll put it to good use for the holidays and miss it immensely when it's gone! =( All of the tags I made are from the SU Hostess set "Christmas Punch" that coordinate with the punches the sell. So cute and easy to create with! =)

Almost forgot to mention that the white "twine" I included with the gift tags is a fine crochet thread that you can find at a local craft store. I've wondered about that myself and read a response somewhere about it and bought some the other day. It does the trick and it's better than embroidery floss... too thick in my opinion. ;-)

Anyway, that's my sharing for the day. I hope you enjoy your Monday and the rest of your week. =)

We Moved This Weekend

We moved our craft room into its OWN ROOM!!! Yay!! =D

Here's a shot of the room in the middle of the process:

And here's the "After" picture of the room all done:

Glitter, embossing powders, Big Shot stuff, cardstock and paper:

Shelves of stamps, cardstock scraps, storage drawers with all kinds of things!!, and hey, look! There's 2 empty shelves at the top of the bookcase! I'm sure they won't be empty for long! =)
Extra desk for when the kids want to make cards, for the sewing machine, for die cutting, for "extra" work space! My mom made me promise we wouldn't use it for cluttering. heehee =)


Our work table with the awesome wall organizer shelf peg board (I don't know what it's called!) that my dad made for my mom last year... it's awesome! Did I mention my dad is awesome, too? =D This is where we will be doing our creating! =)

Anyway, had to share our new room with you! Thanks for stopping by! =)

September Stamp-A-Stack

Join us this month for one of our SAS classes. This month's cards uses fun Designer Series paper.
5 cards/$10

Tuesday, September 22, 1-3 PM or 7-9 PM
Thursday, September 24, 7-9 PM
Call or email us to reserve your spot.

Razzle Dazzle Misting

From Adriel:

A few weeks ago my mom tried a new technique with stamping called "Misting w/ Markers". We're going to be doing a class in October called "In the Mist" and so I played around with the technique and loved the results! I think this technique is my new favorite! =) The results remind me of watercolor or something and I love the effect. Here's a card I made using the Razzle Dazzle set and the Misting w/ Markers technique. It adds droplets to the image that make it look so unique. I used Crushed Curry Textured CS and just had fun with the bright, bold colors!

Anyway, this is one of the cards we will be creating with our students for this class. If you'd like to join us, you can register for the class through Breaktime HERE. The class is called "In the Mist". We're going to have a great time and I know that this technique will bring out "ooohs and aaahs"! =D

A Beary Cute Card

From Heidi...These little bears are too cute! I love to color and these make coloring really fun, especially with the Blender Pens. I love all the greetings in the Beary Nice Wishes Stamp Set, so many to choose from. The thing I like about these stamp sets are that they're not too cutesy, if you know what I mean. They make a great card for anybody without being too corny :-) Anyway, just wanted to leave you with this cute little guy for the weekend. Thanks for visiting us!

Cardstock:
Certainly Celery, Soft Suede, Really Rust
Ink:
Black Stazon, Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun, Really Rust, Bordering Blue, Sahara Sand
Accessories:
Blender Pens, Brads, 3/4" circle punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Big Shot with Texturz plate.

All supplies are available through Stampin' Up! Visit my SU website to order: www.heidiscorner.stampinup.net

September Project - Flip Album

Join us this month as we make this fun 13-page Flip Album Scrap-Photo Book.

WHEN: Thursday, September 17
TIME: 12:30-3 PM and 7-9:30 PM
WHERE: Heidi's House
COST: $12
RSVP: email or call us to reserve your spot. Sign-up deadline is 9/15.

My Birthday Card

From Heidi...I was surprised this year to receive a birthday card from my husband that he made himself...what a treat! I have to share his card creation with all of you. He's been a graphic designer since I met him (over 30 years!! We just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary yesterday!). When he started graphics, everything was done manually...lots of cut and pasting. The graphic industry has changed so much over the 30 years, now everything is done electronically. He misses the hands-on cutting and pasting...there's just something about manipulating paper that is fun! So, he surprised me this year with a "cut and pasted" card.He really is a wonderful friend. We've hit bumps along our 30 years, but I am thankful that we are better friends today than we when we first started our journey together. We've had to walk through some of the hardest times together over the last 4 years, but those times have made us appreciate one another all the more. It is a gift from the Lord to have someone you can trust and lean on through difficult times. I thought he was a keeper in the beginning, but now I know he is. Thanks for letting me share!

Kayla's Turn

From Adriel:

Of course, the Kayla girl has to have a turn sharing her Build-a-Bear card! =) Again, I can't move my pics... very annoying (wonder if it will ever work normally again?). Anyway, Kayla made this card as a "window card". She said she had been dreaming about making one. (I guess she's already a card-making addict!) I had to help her with the coluzzle and cutting out the square, but she did the rest. She dimensioned the white cardstock behind the frame. She even embossed the bear! I'm not kidding you, she's really into card-making! =D

We had a nice lunch today and I have to correct myself... the place was called "The Olive Mill" not "press", like I thought. We ate lunch outside... it was a bit too warm, but they had misters and we sat fairly close to those so it was alright outside. The food was different, but it was tasty and that is fun to try something new and have it be yummy. =) Forgot the camera, so no pics! Sorry!

My mom and I are just busy working away at our little business! Yesterday I created a couple cards for a class in November... I know that seems far away, but having it done ahead of time gives you time to keep creating and is also nice for ordering. Because we order most of our supplies through Stampin' Up!, we have to have our projects planned at least a couple of weeks ahead of time to allow for delivery of our supplies. We have a white board with the upcoming classes over the next few months listed, and it really helps to plan and create. My mom is a pretty organized person and I'm blessed to be working with her, because I'm not naturally organized. I really do appreciate organization and I just need to practice it more. =)

I guess the only other thing to add to this post is that we have been included in a fun treasury on Etsy called "Funky Fresh and Fun". Be sure to check it out by clicking HERE! =)

Have a wonderful Wednesday! =)

Fun with Build-a-Bear & a Happy Birthday!!

From Adriel:

Some of you may know this, but Stampin' Up! just recently started selling a cute Build-a-Bear stamp set. They combined forces together with Build-a-Bear and created a stamp set, DS paper and some cute Sizzix dies for the Big Shot. The other day my kids played with the Build-a-Bear set and I wanted to share the two cards my son, Jacob, made... okay, only one. Blogger is still being dumb and only letting me post pics to the top of the post! Argh! I'll have to share the other photo later. =)

This new set is so cute and my kids both have something new to stamp with now that is right up their alley. And it's Build-a-Bear... how could you go wrong with that? Even the sentiment set has the Build-a-Bear type, so it matches! =)

Oh, just have to mention that it's my mom's birthday today!! Happy Birthday, Mom!! My dad made (yes, I said made) my mom a really nice birthday card. Hopefully she will post a picture of it so you all can see it. He did a great job on it and I thought it was very thoughtful of him. =)

Anyway, going to take my mom out to lunch today at some place nearby called the Olive Press... it sounds quaint. It will be fun to go somewhere new and try something different... we don't do a whole lot of that. I should bring my camera so I can share some pics...

Icy Blue Cracked Glass Christmas

From Heidi...Yesterday I shared with you a card I made using the Cracked Glass Technique. I used the "Medallion" stamped in black as the focal point. I used the Cracked Glass Technique on the card I'm sharing today, only I used the little Christmas tree from "Loads of Love" and stamped off with the 3 Brocade Blue background trees and 1 Night of Navy center tree. The Cracked Glass Technique gave this card an icy, wintry look. (I could go for some of the icy cold right now...it's been very hot here in AZ). I hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by and taking time to visit us.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Brocade Blue (101166 - $5.50), Whisper White (100730 - $7.50), Night of Navy
Ink: Brocade Blue (101102 $5.95), Night of Navy (102977 - $5.95)
Stamp Set: Christmas Punch (115366 - Level 2 Hostess Set); Loads of Love (115022 - $22.95)
Accessories: Wide Oval Punch (112082 - $15.95); Silver Brad (104336 - $6.95); Glassy Glaze Enamel (100477 - $4.75), Heat Gun (100005 - $29.95), Dimensionals (104430 - $3.95), Snail

All Cracked Up

From Heidi...
Creating time seems to be coming in bursts these days. Most of our classes take place towards the last half of the month, then we have the monthly newsletter to publish, so creating new items have to wait until we have another breather, usually the first part of the month. I'm glad to say that we had some "creating time" yesterday, which was fun. We have a class coming up in a few months at Tumbleweed Recreation Center using the Cracked Glass technique. I thought I'd share with you one of the cards I came up with for this class. I used the new "Medallion" stamp set as the focal point. Thanks for letting me share!

Stamp Set - Medallion (115223 - $17.95); Fundamental Phrases (114968 - $37.95)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla (101650 -$7.50); Basic Black (102851 - $7.50); Basic Gray (108692 - $7.50)
Punches: 1" Circle (109046 -$10.95); Designer Label (107590 - $15.95); Bojo Blossom (110711 - $15.95)
Ink: Basic Black (101179 - $5.95); Versamark (102283 - $7.50)
Accessories: Glassy Glaze Enamel (100477 - $4.95); Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon (109064 - $6.95); Silver Brad (104336 - $6.95)

What's New With You?

From Adriel:

Well, as ambitious as my plans yesterday sounded, I actually did get most of them done! Yay! =) I just have to finish up my meal-planning and shopping list. I may be able to reward myself this afternoon with some creative time...

Just to let you know, September's newsletter is now up! All of this month's classes are listed in there, along with a classes at the Tumbleweed Rec. Center. There's a fun tutorial in there and specials from Stampin' Up!. You can view this month's newsletter HERE or by clicking on the special newsletter button on the side of our blog.

The big news is the Tropical Stamping Bunco Night on September 29th! All the details are in the newsletter! We have a limited number of spots for this event, so if you are planning on coming, let us know. =)

I'm sharing another gift tag with you today that I made with the new set from Stampin' Up! called "Charming". It's so pretty and it's now available for ordering!

Thanks for stopping by today! =)

Another Gift Tag

From Adriel:

Today I'm busy catching up on life that got ahead of me while I have been doing other life! =) Laundry, statbook for our restaurant, checkbook, dinner menu for the next week or two... not sure if I'll get it all done today, but I'm going to try!

With that being said, I don't have much time for a lengthy post today, so I'll just share another gift tag I created last week while I was experimenting. Still have some gift tag ideas that I'm going to play with soon. =) Blogger is still being a pill, so I'm only sharing one pic today! Thanks for stopping by and come back soon! =)

New in our shop!

From Adriel:

We've had the panels done for this organizer for a couple of weeks now and finally got it all assembled! We used the beautiful Razzleberry Lemonade DSP from Stampin' Up! and it has a bright, rich, autumn look to it. My mom found that super fun button and it adds some fun to it! =) You can find this new coupon organizer in our Etsy shop HERE. Thanks for looking! =)

I've Been Creating!

From Adriel:

In the last post that I authored, I was expressing my feelings of missing being creative. Well, I've had some time this past week to do some creating and I've really enjoyed it! My mom and I have a fun event planned for our stamping friends next month that will include smoothies, gift tags and Bunco! All the details are going to be in September's newsletter, so look for that on our blog soon!

I've been working on an assortment of gift tags and have just been playing around with some ideas. The one above I made using the new set, Charming, that will be available to order on Sept. 1st out of the Mini Catalog. I really like this set and the mini medallion that I used on this tag. I have more tags to show you, but blogger is acting up again and won't let me move my pictures around. They all get stuck at the top! I'll have to save the others for another time. Anyway, happy Saturday to you and thanks for stopping by! =)

Misting with Markers

From Heidi...I was making tags today using the new Hostess Stamp Set "Of the Earth." This little set creates a very organic look. Since the stamps are solid stamps, not outline, they're great for embossing, or using with techniques like Misting, which is what I used to create the soft watercolor look on these tags. I used the Earth Elements Stampin' Write markers: Old Olive, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, and Not Quite Navy. The "Thank You" is from last year's "Note of Thanks," which was stamped in the new In-Color, Soft Suede onto Kraft CS. Thanks for letting me share!

Another Flip Book Album

From Heidi...
We have a fun class coming up next month creating a Flip Book Album, so I've been working on a prototype for it over the last few days. I didn't want to get bogged down with a lot of stamping, but I still wanted it to look fun and worth the time people would put into making it. So I turned to my computer and designed some graphic lines on my computer for the journaling. I also created several themed announcement pages, as we want to offer various themes for the books, like Birthday, Travels, Friends, etc. I then created words in various fonts, colors, and sizes that would fit within our punches. This took a bit of time, but now it's done and we can use these graphic templates over and over.
We're using punched flowers and corners...my husband came up with the cutest idea to use for the corners on this book. He took the 5-petal flower punch and punched 2 of the petals at a right angle. The petals make a fun photo corner.
I hope you enjoy a couple of pictures I took of the Flip Book. Using some of the retired DS paper we've had for awhile helped us use up most of our old In-Colors CS - Blue Bayou and Baja Breeze. The only stamping done on this album is the center of the Belly Band. Thanks again for looking :-)

Too Busy to Create...

From Adriel:

Sadly, it's true! It's not that I wouldn't like to be creating. Sometimes there are just those seasons in life that aren't condusive to a "creative" outlet. But I must express and confess that I've been missing being creative.

My husband and I own a Tropical Smoothie Cafe restaurant in Tempe, AZ. (If you live nearby or visit the area, stop by and say "hi" sometime!) I have been helping out at the store more than in the past. Don't get me wrong, 1 or 2 days a week for a few hours isn't all that bad. The work there and interracting with the crew and keeping my feet wet in the operations can be enjoyable at times, even! Somehow, though, creating a smoothie or a wrap or sandwich just doesn't satisfy my creative side. The closest thrill I get in "creating" there is adding something different to a smoothie recipe, or putting a King Caesar on a flatbread. I must admit that it was quite exciting today when a lady called 10 to noon wondering if her catering order was on its way for a delivery at noon... we thought we were delivering it at 1pm! Talk about a major food fight as we feverishly assembled 40 sandwiches in as little time as possible. Exciting may not be quite the right word in that instance... stressful is a better description. =P I don't know exactly how this story fits in with what I'm trying to say, but I just had to share that! LOL!

I'm looking forward to some time coming up soon to create again. That being said, I wanted to share some fun ideas I've seen using the new Medallion stamp from Stampin' Up! We just recently got this stamp and have yet to play with it! Enjoy the ideas! =)

Medallion Christmas Card by Kris from Kween Bee Kreations:

Medallion Love Card by Anthonette of Chavez Designs:

Medallion Butterfly Card by Andrea from Supercraftygirl:

I'll be sharing some of my own creations with you soon! Have a great day! =)