Christmas in July!

Today's Quote

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.

-Doug Larson
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Christmas in July

I made 10 cards, 5 of each Happy Holidays and Let it Snow, I used some of my last year designs. I used DSP and changed them around as you can see on the pic.

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For my Stamping Group:

Remember when we were talking about making our Christmas cards throughout the year??? Well I was navigating on splitcoast and found this Christmas cards challenge that reminded me of our last year plan that never happen because I went away. Well now I have a blog and thought that would be a good idea to start...
If we complete 10 Christmas cards a month from now till November you will have 50 cards, and you can make 50 cards all the same or you can make 5x10 different cards. You think you will need more than 50 cards? Make it 15 cards a month and next year you start in January. And you can do this easy. Find the idea, pre cut everything and work as if you were in an assembly line.

Here is the challenge on splitcoast, I like the idea, go check it out:
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=299803

We will do it our own, I will say that by the end of July you need to have 10 Christmas cards, I already have mine for July as you see, since I am going to be traveling, I will post my next Christmas cards mid August when I'm back. You will then send me the pics and I will post them here to share, that way we will have different designs. You can copy mine, no problem as the ones I am sending you I will not post until you have received them in December.
You can send your cards anytime from now till end of July.

When I receive the cards and post them we will be voting for the best Christmas card design of the month, the winner gets a prize.
So are you all in for it??? Get started!

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Happy Holidays Close Up

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Recipe:

Stamp Sets: Big on Christmas

Paper: Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke and Christmas DSP

Ink: Black Stazone

Other: Markers Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke and More Mustard

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Let it Snow Close Up

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Recipe:

Stamp Sets: Big on Christmas

Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White and Christmas DSP

Ink: Black Stazone

Other: Markers Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Real Red, Only Orange and Garden Green

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Ok girls get to work...10 days till vacation, now starts the final count down...

Today was the final for the Euro 2008, Germany vs Spain and Spain won! E viva la Espana!!! That made my day.

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Will blog more tomorrow, see ya! (its late, very late!)

Stampingly Me

My Unfrogettable Frog...

Today's Quote

It is not the cards you are dealt but what you do with them that counts.

-Anonymous

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Have i todd you lately

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that i love you?

Another frog card, I just can't get over the idea that this poor little guy is retiring...my good friend frog, I just love him... I will give him a shelter for times to come.

This is a really quick n' easy card and oh my so cute! Enjoy.

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Recipe:

Stamp Set: Unfrogettable

Paper: Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate and Whisper White

Ink: Black Stazone, Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate and Wild Wasabi

Other: Stampin Dimensionals, Blender Pens, Double Stitched Ribbon Blue Bayou

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And another frame this time by Mafalda.

When my 12yo, Mafalda arrived home from school on the same day the kids were here for the craft class, after she seen the pictures of the kids art, she asked me if she could do one herself too. So here is the final product, she is so talented!

She used sticky strip to put the glitter on it, we tried it on a piece of card stock first and she loved it. Cool frame daughter, you go girl!

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11 days till vacation, its getting closer and closer... and I am getting so excited!

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Hope you have a lovely evening!

Stampingly Me

Today's Quote

I am too blessed to be stressed!

-Anonymous

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As I mentioned yesterday, today was the kids craft class ages 6-8. Was so much fun, I had 4 incredible kids, each with its own personality and creativity. They loved it and I loved it too!

They did such a great job on their projects, promptly cleaned their area and helped each other after each project. What a great team work! Fantastic sense of humor too...

They asked me to do a card class next and I promise I would.

So the students completed 4 projects, a frame, a "Quote Bottle", a pen and a note book. First they picked their fav color in Acrylic paint and painted a 4x6 frame, we put the frames aside to let them dry and started on the "Quote Bottle", a little gift for the Moms, I printed a couple sheets full of inspirational daily quotes and had them cut them in strips, fold them and insert them in the bottle, like a Chinese cookie you see? plus they added their own quote too. Then they decorated a strip of card stock for the outside of the bottle and voila second project done.

The idea of the "Quote Bottle" was my daughter's, was a mother's day gift from her 2 years ago. What a great idea, kudos to Mafalda!

The frames were dry and so they proceeded to decorate them with stickers and stamped letters on card stock spelling their names and before you know it another project was completed.

Time for a break, we had brownies and a drink.

Back to work...next they decorated a pen, the girls with a flower and the boy with the crocodile from wild about you and 4rd and last project they decorated a note book to go with the pen.

And here are my little artists and their beautiful work.

Yasmina, 7 yo
Cyrilo, 7 yo
Karen, 8 yo
Andrea, 6 yo

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The projects are purely their own creations, I gave them the tools and was there to guide them but there were no samples that they had to follow. I believe that kids should stretch their imagination with their own creativity! And was so cute to ear things like -oh I have a big idea, can I do this, do you have that???

They were so happy and had so much fun, made my day!

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Well I am super tired and better go take a nap before going for dinner and game at a friend's house. Mafalda is babysitting, yeah

Is game night, Germany vs Turkey - do I need to say that I am for anyone that beats Germany??? ahahahah Go Turkey!

Have a great day!

Stampingly Me

A frame of mind...

Today's Quote

Take rest; a field that has

rested gives a bountiful crop.

-Ovid

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What???

My today's project is a frame freshly painted.

I have a class tomorrow for kids ages 6-8 and they will be painting their own frames so I felt like playing around a little and make Thomas a frame for his room.

I will be taking pictures of my students projects and post them. I can't wait, its going to be so much fun! I will tell you all about it tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Stampingly Me

I'm Here...

Today's Quote

A superior person brings out the best in others.

-Chinese Proverb

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I'm here!

How cute is this??? I've had a template for this card for ages and today while cleaning my craft room I found it so I decided to do something with it.

The template is a one side only but I traced side by side and cut it around, so I could have it open like a card, it's connected by the sleeve. So you can put a picture and the baby's birth info inside.

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Recipe:

Stamp Sets: I'm here and So very (retired)

Paper: Whisper White

Ink: Bashful Blue and Brocade Blue

Other: Eyelets, baby pin (non Stampin'Up!), Tool Kit.

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My 12yo daughter created her first scrapbook all by herself, and as a proud mother I am showing it off. She made it as a gift to one of her friends that is leaving KSA for good. I know she will be missed!

So here is the front page/cover...

The second page...
The third page...
And last back page/cover...

It happens a lot in this part of the world, people come and go...just like us!

Today I watched some girls doing Ballet. Is there anything more adorable than little girls in pink tutus dancing ballet??? Was really cute, made my day. Brought back memories of my already 12yo of way back then. She was a cutie too! She still is...

Enjoy your day!

Stampingly Me

Cutie Pie Set...

...From the heart...

I made this gift set today, I saw the bag yesterday on Nancy Riley's blog (istamp) and had to do one my self. Diana Gibbs as mentioned in Nancy's blog has a good tutorial that you can go check it here: http://dianagibbs.typepad.com/stampin_with_di/2008/06/box-in-a-bag-tutorial.html

Its quite simple and quick and oh yeah super fun.

Also it could be a summer class...Mmm I will think about it!

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So here is a close up of the gift bag... Isn't it just adorable?

And a close up of the card that goes with it...

The card I made using the leftover DSP Cutie pie, so that means that with one sheet of DSP you can make two gift bags and a card to match. Clever, don't you think?

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I hope you had a good weekend. Today I went to a breakfast meeting with the Quilting gals to a very nice place called Il Villagio, we had a room just for us, the " Tea Rose" room. Was nice to see the girls once more before every one's vacation. I have to say though that I (we) ate for the entire day... OMG (like my daughter would say) ...the truth is, everything looked so yummy, that quoting Debra "I did not want to miss out on anything"... Such good food!!!

...Maybe I just have to work out extra hard tomorrow... Do you think I will be alright??? I just have 60 pounds to go ...Ahahah

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Well (again) its way past my bed time...but I was so excited about doing this project and also I was playing with photoshop and pictures...there is just too much cool stuff to do...and not enough time. My eyes are starting to weigh a little more than usual and probably very shortly I will start talking non-sense, so yeah I better go now.

Have a good evening! ENJOY!

Stampingly Me

Kindness...

Thank You For Your Kindness!

So... I was bummed yesterday that I used bashful blue instead of soft sky...I had to make it right with the right colors and so this is it!

And now it qualifies for the Split Coast Stampers Color Challenge #171 - Soft Sky, Basic Black and Kraft

Was a little challenging to work with this colors, but that is what challenges are I guess...

Cute don't you think? I hope you like it!

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Recipe:

Stamp sets: Seeing Spots and Simple Sayings II

Paper: Soft Sky, Basic Black, Kraft and WW

Ink: Basic Black, Soft Sky and Close to Cocoa

Other: Gingham Ribbon, Grosgrain Ribbon, Rhinestone, Two Way Glue, Postit and Paper Piercer Mat

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I have Tennis in 20 minutes so I better go get ready. Chat with you later!

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Have a great day!

Stampingly Me

Giggle...

Giggle!

The SCS color challenge for this week was soft sky, basic black and kraft.

Well I had this colors in mind but picked bashful blue out of the shelf, only notice it when I was already done with the card...I guess its a new set of colors, bashful blue, basic black and kraft. I will have to try the soft sky next time.

The giraffe's hair is made with grosgrain ribbon, all I did was cut one of the sides and with a paper piercer remove the middle. I think it turned out very cute! What do you think?

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Recipe:

Stamp Sets: Bundle of Joy (retired) and Warm Words

Paper: Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Kraft and Whisper White

Ink: Black Stazone, Close to Cocoa

Other: Ribbon, Rhinestones, Oval Punches, Two Way Glue, Sponges, Barely Banana and Close to Cocoa Markers

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I hope you like it!

Have a great day!

Stampingly Me

End of week...

Happy Birthday

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Today I spent majority of my day shopping with a friend and since I didn't had any time to play in my stamp room I am posting an old timer. I love it...

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Recipe:
Stamp Sets: Looks Like Spring and It's Your Birthday

Paper: Chocolate Chip and DSP

Ink: Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink

Other: Soft Subtles Buttons, Ribbon, Staples, 3 Flower Punch, Two Way Glue, Glitter and Hemp Twine

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I fell in love at first sight with these two fabric patterns, I am planning to make shoulder totes with them, aren't they yummylicious??? Just wanted to share with you...

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I love the orange and blue combo...yummy

Have a great day!

Stampingly Me

Weaving my way to Thank You!

Weaving Thank You!

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I have to tell you this story... Yesterday at the scrapbook club one of the girls, Fiona was doing a weaving with her pictures, one color and one black & white (same picture, different colors- get the picture???)

I thought that was so clever...she had a vision and was giving life to it, how awesome!

Anyways, somehow that stood on the back of my mind and today I was looking at a Longaberger magazine basket I have and what was that right in front of me??? Weaving...I thought to myself, this has to be a joke...everything was pushing me to weaving, first the Beduin weaving of my handcrafted goodies, then Fiona is doing this cool project with pictures and last but not least my Longaberger weaved basket...

OK I have to give it a try to weaving today...I thought.

I have to say that I was not taking weaving all that serious, so I just picked some random colors, pretty in pink and close to cocoa...and guess what??? Ended up being my today's card...its a lot of fun, I am sure I will be trying more colors and sizes, how cool is that??? You have to try it! Thank You Fiona for the inspiration!

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Recipe:

Stamp Sets: Short & Sweet and Doodle This

Paper: Close to Cocoa and Pretty in Pink

Ink: Close to Cocoa

Other: Square punch to make border, stamping dimensionals, grosgrain ribbon brown, buttons.

If you you like to see a demo of weaving I will put together some pics. Just let me know...Its fairly easy and so much fun, can't wait to try it with other colors.

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So here are the pictures of the handcrafted goodies from the Rabat ladies I was telling you about the other day... The red, green, black and white fabric its called Beduin and its traditional from this part of the World.

I know I said I was going to post it yesterday but end up forgetting, I think that was the weaving on the back of my mind that made me forget...ahahahah

So the little man on the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 8th squares are tea pot holders, I do not own a tea pot in Saudi so I put one in a water bottle to show better, 3rd and 5th squares are cell phone pouches, last square its glasses or pens pouches and 6th square is an Arab man. I also have got covers for little snack bowls made in the Beduin fabric, they are pretty cool, will post pic later.
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Where do stamps go when they retire?

After years of dedicated service, the following stamp sets from the Spring-Summer Collection 2008 are retiring. So, let's give them a big sendoff and wish them all the best as they begin a new chapter in their lives. But don't wait too long--they're only available through August 10, 2008, and then they're headed to warmer climes!

Retired List (Alphabetical)

Retired List (Numerical)

Its here again, I just can't believe it! I am excited to see what's coming next, aren't you?

Get your catalog, print the retire list and mark all of those stamp sets you can't let go. Let me know and we will talk about it! You know where to find me...

Have a wonderful evening!

Stampingly Me