Ugh! I'm ready for Fall!

This always happens this time of year. We are "swamed" out, vacationed out (well maybe not), tired of the sun and the heat and the mosquitoes. One of the only things I never tire of is the beach!!! You can never get enough Vitamin sea!

That's probably why I'm stuck on Seaside Shore and that great coordinating DSP By the Shore. The two cards I want to share today I cased off pinterest. LOVE them both. Simple, love the copper embossing powder, a new product, and the use of DSP. One of these came from one of our international demonstrators Stephanie Lemke, The other one I just can't locate where I saw it. I'm sorry.
Hope you like them. I love the copper which is so on trend right now. And how simple and easy they were to make. Fast cards are my favorite at times.

 Now for the big news.

Today I saw the new Holiday, Fall and Winter catalog online at Stampin' Up! Oh my goodness!!!! New punches, framelits with coordinating stamp sets of course. Lots of Halloween stuff for your want to be ghouls and goblins! Traditional Christmas, cute Christmas, Christmas project kits, Yep it's all there! So keep your eyes open and if you would like me to send you a copy next month leave me a comment or drop me an email. Thanks. I'm going to turn down the AC and head to my craft room and pretend it's FALL! Ya'' be blessed and better yet, go be a blessing!

Summertime, Summertime, Summertime! Stampin' Friends July Blog Hop

Welcome to Stampin' Friends July Blog Hop! If you came from Melanie Coverston's blog thank you for continuing on the hop.  I am so honored to be ask to participate again with this awesome creative group of ladies! So this month I am a guest hopper along with Twila Davis and Robyn Rasset,  but I have been ask to be a permanent hopper for the rest of this year. I am beyond excited!

Summertime fun is the theme of our Stampin Friends Blog Hop this month. Nothing says Summer more to me than the beach! I grew up in the water-Pool, ocean, lake, creek-it didn't matter, we were always swimming, boating, fishing and water skiing. My dear Tombo lived his whole life (before me) right at the door of the worlds most beautiful beaches, and he doesn't swim! But, he does love to fish in the ocean for big fish!!!! This is probably why I fell in love with this Seaside Shore stamp set and By the Shore DSP the minute I saw it. What a great saying and love the fishes! One of my goals this year is to use, not hoard, my beautiful DSP. I created these projects with that in mind.

I have 2 cards, a 3 D box frame, and a little treat holder to share with you today.  I stayed with the By the shore color palette of Mint Macaron, Calypso Coral and Dapper Denim (my new fav).             The neutral is Very Vanilla

This one I used the  lines from the Swirly thinlits with a bunch of layered circles. The Happy Place is from a Paper Pumpkin. Made me think of Finding Nemo.

Then, I had to try out the very popular
frame card. It is a blast to make and way easier than I imagined. If you like Geometry -you can have a ball making these. You can create  several different sizes and vary the center and the size of your frame width. This one is about 4 1/2 by 6 1/2- I started with a 8 1/2 x 9 1/2 piece of Soft Sky cardstock . My framed edge is 1/2 inch. My final project is this sweet little treat holder. Our VBS theme this year is Submerged! This is a great little treat holder for our teachers. It will hold some goldfish and a Caramel and Sea Salt Ghirardelli square.
 I hope you enjoyed these and they inspire you to create something fun and summery!


Now for some fun! We have a free giveaway each month! Yep, every month each blogger on this hop will send 1 lucky hop "Blog Candy' . You must visit and leave a comment with #SFJulyBlogHop. Each  comment is an entry to win!  Good Luck!

Here's the whole list of Very Creative Stampers:

1. Steph Jandrow
2. Kathie Rotti
3. Melanie Coverston
4. Cindy Waldroff- That's me.
5. Carolina Evans
6. .Christine Pennington:
7. Robyn Rasset
8. Melissa Thomas
9. Elizabeth Jeanne
10. Twila Davis
11. Lynn Streifert
12. Siara Acdal

:

Help! I'm stuck.

Well, this time I'm not physically stuck (which has happened)! Today's post is about what to do and where to go when you feel your creative mojo has taken a vaca! Yikes! This really happens to me a lot. I'd like to give you "My secrets to getting back in the groove" so to speak. In my craft room and literally on my work space I usually have half of what I own. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration, but I like having everything close and at my finger-tips. Helpful? Not really. The lazy girl doesn't like to get up and get stuff. but this confused mess often overwhelms the creative queen. So, my first suggestion is clean up the mess! A tidy work space helps me to focus better and not be distracted by clutter.
 Next, Pinterest is my best friend at a time like this. I can just CASE (copy and share everything) something there. But maybe I really want to work on something original. I have a Pinterest board labeled Card Sketches. There are tons of sketch ideas, color combos even challenges there that help me get going again. 
     Speaking of challenges, this is another great way to get back into action. I follow a Facebook page, " Can you Case it?'. They offer a new challenge every Sunday. Sometimes it's a sketch and sometimes a color combo or themed card. Limiting myself to a select few materials again helps me focus. And finally, relax and enjoy the process. Often, I'm in a hurry with a deadline looming and I get stressed. This doesn't help me let the creative juices flow! when I relax and enjoy my "art", stamp something just for the fun of it, I find I end up making something I really like and remembering why I do this. I love to stamp and I love to share it with others!
So, my secrets to stamping great projects are clean up my mess, check out some ideas on Pinterest, CASE something, use a card sketch to get me started, participate in a challenge and finally relax and enjoy what I love to do! I hope these suggestions will help you start to create wonderful works of art. If you need a little creative coaching, let me help. Would really love to hear from y'all. Have a blessed day and be a blessing to someone else, then you will be     truly blessed. See ya later!
PS check back to see the card I made using that card sketch.

Relax and take a little creative break!

I love to make things. When I get really stressed I often run to my craft room for a little R and R. Just sitting there "playing with colorful ink and paper is relaxing. I can get lost creating a project especially if it's just for me. But sometimes, I need a little help! Especially, if I need birthday cards or wedding cards or sympathy cards, and I need them now. This is one way Stampin' Up's Paper Pumpkin as helped me in a pinch. What is Paper Pumpkin you ask? If is a great little creative retreat that arrives monthly in your mailbox. The pretty red box has everything you need to create a variety of products. Some months it's cards, or 3-d items, some months home decor type projects or memory keeping projects. Everything you need is in the box (except scissors and adhesive)! There are directions included also. So weather your a newbie or a seasoned stamper you can spend less than a hour making something special! So if you'd like a little creative retreat why not give Paper Pumpkin a try. Check it out here.here. You can sign up for the monthly subscription or order a 3 month subscription. There is no obligation to continue if you decide it's not for you. paper Pumpkin also makes a great gift!
So if you'd like to try it out, use the link to head over to the website. I'd really appreciate it if you'd claim me as your demonstrator. Thanks! Let me hear from you real soon!

Proof!

Just in case you didn't believe me when I said it's hot!

   

What are your favorite small things?

Hi Y'all! Hope you are having an awesome summer. It is hot as... well, you can fill in the blank. But I'll just say it is really hot here! Our summer has been busy. Little people have a way of keeping you runnin'. But when I start to complain I  remind myself, "Those little boogers are the best part of my day!" I could flood you with crazy grandmother pictures and stories of my 4 grands. They are truly the reward for not killing their parents during those rough years! The card I have to share with you today reminds of of those smallest blessings in our lives. I love this stamp set for saying. It's the thing I struggle with the most.  Sayings, what to stamp on cards that has some meaning.

Layering Love (141965) has four large really good sayings that fit with our new layering shape framelits. I started with a card stretch from Angie Juda at Chic n scratch. It's the 1st  from Paper and Ink Sketches. However, it just wasn't exactly working. I ended up using the DSP on the bottom, using a strip of cardstock instead of ribbon and layering my saying on the oval framelits. There is some of the cooper thread behind the ovals. It is so fine it's hard to see. I am loving the Copper embosing powder!

Layering Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set
$16.00

Layering Ovals Framelits Dies
$35.00

Affectionately Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper
$13.00

Affectionately Yours 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.00

Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.00

Copper Metallic Thread
$3.00

Versamark Pad
$8.50

Heat Tool (Us And Canada)
$30.00

Stampin' Dimensionals
$4.00

Generated by SUDSOL, Free Trial at www.sudsol.org

Well, that's it for today. Hope to see you again real soon. Be blessed and go be a blessing to those around you!

Bonus Days

$5 for every $50 purchase July 7-31. Earn in July spend in August.

• For every $50 (on a single order, price before shipping and tax) you spend, you’ll earn a $5.00 Bonus Days coupon that you can redeem between August 2 – 31, 2016.
• An email address is required to participate in this promotion; Bonus Days coupon codes can only be delivered via email.
• IMPORTANT!  Save both the email containing your Bonus Days coupon codes AND write down the coupon codes in a safe place. Codes cannot be re-sent if the email is lost, and lost codes cannot be recovered.
• Bonus Days coupon codes can be redeemed for any product, except $99 Starter Kits and Paper Pumpkin month to month subscriptions. However, coupons CAN be redeemed for prepaid Paper Pumpkin subscriptions.
• There is no limit to the number of coupons you can receive per order or throughout the duration of the promotion. There is no limit on the number of coupons you can use on an order during redemption.