Convention and a Color Challenge!

Yes...I am officially going to Convention 2008! Stampin' Up! is celebrating it's 20th anniversary so I know it is going to be a blast! I would love to hear from others who are attending. Also, I participated in the Color Challenge over at SCS today. The colors are Pretty in Pink, Lovely Lilac and Certainly Celery. I really liked working with this combo and I liked how my card turned out. It is inspired by 11Valerie11. I had asked her yesterday if I could use one of her designs for my Stamp Club tonight and she said yes...so I guess her touches came through on today's card as well. LOL! Thanks, Val!

How does your garden grow?

...with silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row!

I wanted to share a fun design with images from The Saltbox Studio that I worked on over the weekend. I absolutely love the carrots and I thought this little mouse would make a cute gardener. I am having so much fun mixing and matching images from various sets. They all work so well together. Like I have mentioned before, I am not one to make a scene ( with stamps that is), but working with these images the possibilities are endless. I was just looking out my window this morning and I was inspired for my next creation from The Saltbox Studio. So...keep posted!

P.S. Stamp club is tomorrow and that means I will have some fun projects to share with you. I got everything prepped today, so all I have to do tomorrow is set up tables, chairs and put out the CHOCOLATE!

Aged Lilacs

I was in the mood to create something with a vintage touch, but also fit the season. I haven't used my "Blossoms Abound" set in a while and the Lilacs will be blooming soon. Right now the blossoms are out, but are they are shut tight. My neighbor two doors down has bush after bush of gorgeous Lilacs and the scent comes in waves through the breeze. Yummy! So...that was my inspiration for today. I used my floral fantasy embossing folder for the purple layer in Elegant Eggplant. I then stamped the lilacs, distressed and aged with my antique linen distressing ink from Ranger. Can you tell I love that stuff? LOL! I used a variety of SU! stamps for the rest-Tres Chic Background, Sanded Background and Small Sayings(retired) that I love. I also added some Moss Taffeta ribbon and a buckle from the Aged Copper HodgePodge Hardware collection. No matter how much I use, it seems to never get empty! I also added a faux blossom and some stickles to mimick an antique greeting. Thanks for fluttering by.

P.S. I have my SU! stamp club tomorrow so I will be busy getting my projects prepped, but I will share the projects tomorrow...hopefully!

*A Closer Look* #3

Hello! First of all I would like to apologize for taking so long to get this installment to you. I will admit that my system for organizing ribbon is not revolutionary or very exciting, but I am sharing with you anyway. Hopefully you will find something that you could benefit from. The first thing I would like to share with you is a fun project that I did in order to house some ribbon in an organized way, but also allows me to see what is inside. I have had this old cookie tin for a couple of years now and what it holds has changed a lot. I finally decided to put spools of ribbon inside and then I realized that I could make holes using my crop-a-dile to punch through the tin. I used a pencil to mark the width of each spool so that they would line up properly and then I punched! I can't wait to get the new crop-a-dile that you can reach even farther!

This is an easy project for anyone to try. I am glad that something finally has a permanent home in this tin. I also use the baskets that hang from my SU! punch holder. I knew these were a must have as soon as I spied them at IKEA and was even more thrilled to see how well they held ribbon. I have two of these which can be seen in the post entitled "window on my world". I showed one here, that houses an assortment of fun ribbon which really can be a springboard for creativity. The other one holds my SU! In Color double stitched ribbon and re-inkers.

Now...as much as I love having ribbons out to inspire my creativity, it is important for me to have things looking tidy and organized. My creative space is at one end of our family room so I want things to look orderly. For this reason, I have alot of things placed in containers or baskets. If they have a label holder, they have been labeled, but it is not hard for me to remember since these items get used weekly, if not daily. LOL!

I tried to use this photo and label the different areas that I have ribbon, but I think it may be too small to read. If you can't read it, at least you can see the areas that I have ribbon. I also have the small and medium ribbon holders from SU! on my desk top that houses my taffeta ribbon, gingham ribbon, striped grosgrain, 5.8 inch grosgrain (all SU!). I would love to hear your comments on what you think or if you have a great idea to share with me. I would love to hear from you! Thanks for fluttering by!

Next week's installment will focus on my desk, what it holds and why.

Home Gathering

Hello and Good Morning! I thought I would share a creation from The Saltbox Studio today. I have missed using some of the sets from the launch, so I thought I would use one of the baskets from "A Basket Celebration". One of my favorite things to do with this image, is to add some chunky glitter to the top of the muffins to make it look like sugar. Yummy! This design took an Americana turn, but I really like how it turned out. I distressed the edges with Antique Linen distress ink from Ranger for a shabby look. Thanks for fluttering by!

Also, you may have noticed that I never quite got around to sharing *A Closer Look* #3 this week. Stay tuned tomorrow for it's regularly scheduled time slot! LOL!

{ thank you }

Today's Limited Supply Challenge over at SCS was to use circles. I love circles so I thought it would be fun to play along. Since I have been selling my retired sets, I have been looking at the ones that I don't think I could ever part with and "In Full Bloom" is definitely one of them! I paired it with the stitched background that I absolutely love. I carried the stitched theme through with the stitched ribbon. I really like the colors on this. While I was putting it together, I realized that these are the colors from the Afternoon Tea DS paper that are available in the Occasions mini. I really need to use that paper! I have only used it once so far!

Spring Nesting

Whew! What a crazy week! I think it is *finally* slowing down! I thought having my son back in school would make things calmer. I was wrong! I had to get some publication projects out the door today! I am a last minute girl these days! Also, I don't know if I have mentioned this in previous posts, but I am helping coreograph a dance for our school play coming up in the middle of May. We have 3 practices a week up until the performance, so I have been hanging out at the school ALOT lately. You gotta love it! I am sure I will miss it and the girls after it is over, but for now I am swamped! Well...I will quit rambling. We are all busy these days, aren't we?

For the past week or two I have been watching a bird Mommy and bird Daddy-to-be make their nest up in the tree outside my kitchen window. I have been very interested to watch them and what they choose to take to their nest. It really is fascinating to watch. I can't wait until I can see the finished nest. We usually end up with quite a few nests throughout our collection of trees. So...with that in mind, I thought that a card was in order using my "Tweets" set from The Saltbox Studio. It has become a fast favorite with me as well as the other new sets! I am thoroughly enjoying using them.