The rest of the coaster calendar

still more of the coaster calendar

Coaster Calendar for 2009

Hi everyone! Hope you had a wonderful, busy holiday like me!! I'm sad yet glad that it's over. Already, DH has begun installing the molding in the bathroom that we have put off for about 2 months using holiday prep as an excuse. I've been busy doing the piles of laundry that accumulated over the holiday and so far today I have washed and folded 7 loads!

I wanted to share a project that consumed much of my time before Christmas. My son decided during his school break that he wanted to make a coaster calendar for 2009. He and I worked hard one night to finish 3 months and that's as far as we got as a team. I went ahead and finished mine without him (actually 3 of them), and here is the end result. I gave 2 away as presents and kept one for myself. I wish I had made many more of these as I think they are adorable and would make perfect little gifts for those people you want to get something for but not spend alot of money. They are made using six 4 x 4 coasters and bound using my bind it all. Most coasters are stamped directly on, but some have been covered with DP. If you have any questions, feel free to email me and I"ll be glad to try and help.

stampin up top note die gift card holder - reindeer punch art

Happy Holidays everyone! Hope you are all ready for christmas and it's just the fun stuff now! I was asked by one of my bosses to make a cute gift card holder for a gift card from his daughter to his wife. I hope this works for them! Here's the deets:

--I used the top note die to cut the gift card holder. I folded a normal A2 card and placed it on my top note die just insdie the top cut lines.
--After it was cut, I put a scrap of red cardstock back on the die and cut the piece for the inside (this is the piece that the gift card will slip into).
--The reindeer on front was made using the new scribbles swirl sizzix die from stampin up for the antlers, the large oval was used for the reindeer face and a unknown "splatt" punch was used for the hair tuft. I used the 1/4 circle punch for the nose and then flocked it so it was soft.
--The stars and snowflakes on the front of the card and the reindeer names inside are rub ons.

Hope this helps should you want to make your own! They are very quick and easy. Have a good one!

Christmas Gift Certificate Holder - Criss Cross Card

Hi everyone! Are you all ready for the holidays?!? Only 9 more days - aaaah! I had an order for some gift certificates for Christmas, so I wanted to make a nice little presentation piece for the gift certificates. I used Beate's Criss Cross Card Tutorial found here on SCS. They went together really fast, but I did learn that you MUST use double sided paper for these or else you'll need to cut 2 DP squares. Once you cut the DP in half, it needs to be flipped over in order to fit the other side. (yes, I know that doesn't make ANY sense, but if you try it, you'll see). Instead of lots of extra bulk on the band, I went for a single piece of DP with a rub-on sentiment. I printed the inside pull out piece with the Gift Certificate info and taped it (with repositionable tape) over a piece of computer paper I had already run through the printer so I knew where the printing would line up. Thanks for stopping in and Happy HO Ho HOlidays!

Stampin UP Retiring Stamps Fall Winter 2008

Stampin' Up! has released it's retiring stamps list for the Fall/Winter Catalog 2008. These stamps will only be available until January 18th and right now they are being offered at a 10% savings! PLUS - from now until December 23rd you can get FREE SHIPPING!! Also don't forget that w/any $20.00 you spend you get to get ANY of the stamps that are in the sampler for 20% off!

If you'd like any of these stamps and have ordered from me in the past, you can order via phone or email. Or ANYONE can click on the shop Stampin UP link to the right ANYTIME and order through my stampin up website! Happy Retirement - Stamps! Click here or on the golfing stamp image to the right to see the list! Thanks for visiting my blog

Rockin' Grandma birthday gift with Hambo stamps Gardner

Here's part 2 of my MIL's birthday present. We don't really "do" presents as she would rather we spend the money on the kids' college funds, so I always try to put together a little something with heart. My 11 year old has an ipod and is constantly buying the latest and greatest tunes from I-tunes. I thought it would be fun to make her a mixed cd with all the "kids" music on it so she can stay as hip as she is. Is hip still a "useable" word?!? (just don't tell my kids I said that please) This is the outside view of the holder that I and my youngest son made to hold the CD. It matches her card, which is a couple of posts down.

This picture shows the inside of the holder and the decorated (and named) CD. Below is a close up of the CD. I stamped the Hambo gardner with staz on ink and then colored in with my bic Mark-it permanent markers (sharpies). I love those things - I got a pack of 36 of them at Staples for around $18! If anyone wants the directions to make these, just let me know and I'll get the measurements posted. Thanks for stopping in and don't forget to pull up your pants before you bend over to garden!!

christmas gift for teachers - post it note holders

Hi everyone! Happy December... can you believe that it's almost christmas already?!? Are you ready? Did you brave the crazy crowds on black friday? I did, but didn't really get a lot of stuff. It's a tradition with my sister and mom and sister in laws, so it's always fun! Anyway, I had an order for 2 more post it note holders from my craft show last month that needed to get done. She bought the matching note card sets and wanted post it note holders to complete the teacher's gift. This is one of my favorite retired Stampin Up sets, called both way blossoms. I just can't part with it! It's hard to tell from the picture, but the mellow moss one is cuttlebugged on the back layer and then just stamed and colored before inserting it into the holder. The post it notes are attached to the front of the frame with some sticky strip. These are both 3 1/5 x 5 acrylic frames, one is just turned on it's side. Hope this gives someone an idea for a quick and easy, yet cute gift! Happy Holidaze:)

harvest moon - hambo stamp card

Happy Wednesday everyone! Is everyone ready for turkey day? I'm not, but I took time out last night to ink up my Harvest Moon lady from Hambo Stamps. They are having a sale until midnight tonight and I promised myself I wouldn't buy any more until I used the ones I had! I made this card for my MIL, who is an avid gardner. Her b-day is coming up and for once, I'm prepared for it! It looks much better IRL, I don't know why the picture is so fuzzy - I really hope Santa brings me a new camera! Anyway, the sentiment reads Happy Birthday to someone who's still got it...

even if it's hanging a little lower than it used to! I know she'll get a kick out of it! She's colored with the aqua painter and ink from the lids of my SU pads.

ETA: I added pattern to the shirt and hat by paper piecing them. I stamped the whole image onto the cardstock, then the parts I wanted the pattern on again onto patterned paper (flowered for the shirt and wicker-ish for the hat). Once the image is stamped on the patterened paper, cut out the piece (shirt & hat here) just inside the lines and glue or pop dot onto the colored cardstock image. The shirt is glued and the hat is popped.

HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA - STAMPIN' UP! SALE!!

Holiday Extravaganza Sale Going On Now!! Shop online for bundles of holiday products for everyone on your list. Bundles priced 20 - 50% OFF. Nov. 26 - Dec. 1. Unfortunately, the site it so busy right now, I can't download or link the sales flyer. If you'd like a copy, please use the link at the right and email me - I'll be glad to email you one!


Click SHOP NOW in the top right-hand corner of my website (click here to go to the website). "Holiday Extravaganza" is listed under "Specials".


Happy Holiday Stamping To You!
Michele, Your Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator

cupcake christmas

Tis the season... to start making Christmas cards! I've been wanting to play with my new cupcake ocassions set from All that Scraps. This set was designed by my CNY stamping friend, Diane Zechman, AKA cookiestamper. It is an adorable set that has images for all the holidays as cupcake toppers. This card is called a tent topper card. You make it by folding the card base a bit shorter than normal, so that the topper can stick up and yet still fit in a standard envelope. This base is cut to 5 1/2 x 7, so when it's folded, it's 5 1/2 x 3, then the topper sticks above the card base 1.5 inches. A little tip, have a "normal sized" card next to your tent topper and use it as a guide so you can easily know where your topper should end. Thanks for stopping by today.

show some stampin' support!

Do you ever wonder if you have the BESTEST group of stampers?!? Well, I'm sorry to say that you can't, 'cause I do! At my basics class today, I had a bunch of my regulars and they surprised me with cake and singing and presents before class! What a great group of ladies I am blessed with - thank you so much! The cake has a bra on it and reads "Michele is 40 let's show her some support" LOL! And did I mention that it was delicious Karen! Holy cow - it has been a week full of cake for me!

Just wanted to share my joy and publicly thank my wonderful group - you guys ROCK!

Basics Class Projects and Expo mini gift boxes

Has it really been more than a week since I posted?!? Where does the time go? I've been really busy with the the craft show last weekend, work, ortho appts and then of course my milestone birthday yesterday. Today, I spent the morning in my rubber room prepping for my back to basics class on saturday. The three projects shown will be the projects for that class. The students will make all these projects from start to finish. Usually, I prep and pre cut all materials. I want them to feel comfortable with the start to finish process. Each project even uses a left over piece from the previous one. The little mini gift bag pictured is inspired by the many that I made and sold at the craft show.

These are the gift bags that I sold out of at the craft show - they were the big hit at my table. I had a custom order for 11 more, and that's what is shown here. Each mini bag uses a half sheet of cardstock and then you just score and snip it before taping it together. They go together pretty quickly. The tutorial I used to make these bags can be found at www.stampingvideos.com

Austins Noble Deer

Hi again! I just got a call from my brother that my nephew got his first deer today! He's 13 and he got a big 7 point buck with his bow and arrow. I made this card quick to send to him as a congrats. This card uses the Noble Deer set from Stampin Up! that recently retired, but I'll never get rid of it as all my brothers and my dad are hunters so it's "their" set... lol! Nothing fancy about this card, but sometimes the ones that go together so quickly are the best ones, right?

Thanks for stopping in again!

season of wishes

Tis the season of wishes and friendship!! This is a card done using the crayon resist technique. Can you see the "snow" in the crooks of the tree and notice that the snowman stayed white while the sky was colored around him? You color certain parts of your image with a wax crayon before coloring, then rub off the crayon to reveal the white again! It's fun, easy and a big wow! We will be doing this technique at our DIVA club this month and I'm playing around trying to decide on a project for the girls to make.

Hope everyone is enjoying their day off today and a big THANKS to the Vetrans for their service!

Stampin' Up! Rub-Ons Promotion

Rub-Ons Promotion

Rub on some cheer! Click here to see the flyer!

From November 10-30, get 20 percent off all Rub-Ons when you spend $20 on Stampin' Up! products.For only $8.76 per package (regularly $10.95), you can get any of Stampin' Up!'s fun and unique Rub-Ons that can be used on cards, scrapbook pages, crafting projects, and more!

Item # Page # Rub-Ons Description
111417 178 Word Flurries
111277 178 A Perfect Day
111416 178 Chateau Bella
111414 178 Hidden Garden
110283 179 Take Note
111806 179 Chills & Thrills
111804 179 Chit Chat
111415 179 Greatest Moments
111805 179 School Days
110282 179 Anchored
128443 11* Old Saint Nick
112843 17* Season of Cheer
112735 39** Hidden Garden Blossoms

*From Holiday 2008 Mini Catalog

**From Celebrando Creatividad

snappy anniversary with crab & co.

I finally had a chance to make a card for my mom and Dad's anniversary. They've had so many anniversaries, I wanted to use something a little different and unexpected for this year's card. Their anniversary was on halloween, so they are a little "off" like me, so I think they'll appreciate this card. The scalloped border around the sentiment was made by cutting the top 3rd off a SU scallop square punch and moving it down to make the top horizontal piece of the rectangle. The little doodling is done by using a plastic template I bought yesterday while out shopping. I just put the template down on my card and used a piece of it to marker inthe lines and then went over them with black diamond stickles to give it some shine. The "bride" crab has a small veil using the shell stamp from the Crab & Co. set. After I stamped it, I punched a hole in the bottom of it and scrunched (yes, techinal term) a piece of white tissue paper in through the hole and taped it to the back.

Thanks for looking! Can anyone guess what kind of gift card is inside?

CNY Swaps - Denami MiMi with chocolate

Swaps anyone? Tomorrow I am headed to Syracuse, NY for a crazy day of stamping, eating and chatting with my fellow Central New York Stamping friends!! I can't wait to get there and see everyone again. This is one of the projects that I've been working on that I will be taking with me. I showed you a sneak peak of this cardfront a week or so ago in this post. Here they are in the final stages of completion! I made 27 of these to swap with the other girls who signed up for the cardfront swap. I am also participating the Demo Quality Swap... I'll post those and other projects from the day soon! Hope the girls like 'em!!

craft fair - home expo items. Altered Cocoa containers

Hi there! I've been working on a bunch of swaps for an upcoming gathering of crazy Central New York Girls, so I haven't had much to post lately, but I did make these altered cocoa containers for a craft fair/home expo that I will be doing on November 15th. If you are in the area of Orchard Hall in Sauquoit, NY on the 15th stop by to see us! I'll post more info on my blog soon!

Anyway, I picked up this cocoa a while ago when I found it on sale thinking it would make a nice teacher/bus driver gift to offer for sale at the craft fair. I used the retired stampin up set Like it a Latte to make the steaming cup of cocoa on the front. You probably can't tell from the picture, but the whipped cream is dimensional by using liquid applique. Really cute. I left the sides uncovered as the directions for mixing hot and cold drinks is printed there. Thanks for stopping in today - hope you're keeping warm and snuggly!

Photo Light Box

Here's my highly technical light box - LOL! It really does help to take a decent picture of my creations - especially since my macro setting broke on my camera. You can see from the picture of the box with the light shining into it how bright it is in there. All I did was find a cardboard box that was white on the outside and cut it open at the seams and basically turn it inside out and tape it back up. The bottom is open and I just slide a piece of white paper in when I'm going to take a picture. The lamp I use is an ott-like light. I got this one from Home Depot and while I don't have an Ott, I'm told that it is very similar and a MUCH more affordable option. This light cost me about $10 and it came with the bulb! It's perfect for the basement when I have to color or need to work on fine details.

This is the set up before the light is bent down to shine in the box. The other picture is the box being stored under my work surface when not in use. So there you have my highly technical photo system :) Hope this helps someone out there!

lots of pieces.....

Here's what I've been busy with for the last 3 hours! It's alot of pieces.... any guess what they could be for?

Isn't the girl cute? She's from DeNami Stamps and so is the sentiment on the other oval. I don't think my coluzzle has ever had such a workout!! Thanks for stopping in! I'll post the finished product at a later date... tease!

think pink! Projects for Breast Cancer Awareness

Good morning! Today's card is the last project for Stamp Camp on Wednesday. This month we're going PINK for Breast Cancer Awareness month and all projects will feature pink. 10% of all sales for the day will be donated by me to Breast Cancer Research. This card uses pink pirouette and pretty in pink cardstock and some of the cute, cute Georgia Peach designer paper. I wanted to do something a little special for this card, so I made it into a bookmark card so the receipient has something to hold onto afterward. The top corner piece is actually a bookmark the sets on the top corner of a book (or a card). The stamps used here are all from the Flight of the Butterfly set that is in the new catalog as well as the catalog sampler. You can earn this set for free until November 30th with a $350 order.

If you missed the sign ups for this month's stamp camp (it filled up FAST), check back in a week or so as I'll be setting the date for November's Stamp camp. If you are not on my email list and would like email notification of upcoming events, please send me an email requesting that I add your name! Have a great day!

October Diva Club

I apologize in advance for the bad pictures - I hate to even post pictures on my blog lately as I still haven't gotten a new camera yet. But you'll get the idea anyway.

These are the technique cards for Diva Club on Friday. We will be doing reverse masking and sparkle plenty. See this post for more info on what a Diva Club is or type Diva into the search bar in the upper left hand corner!
This is the full card we will make using one of our newly learned techniques. Here, I've used the reverse masking to do the oval behind the scarecrow.

You're a Star....... Gayla!!!

Congratulations Gayla!!! You're a star and the winner of the first Rubber Room Challenge. This is the card that received the most votes. Gayla will receive a hand crafted prize from me! This card and the other cards for this challenge will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Thanks for voting and thanks for playing!

Diorama Card for Baby Gavin

This is a horrible picture of a really cute diorama card I made for friends of ours who had a baby boy. She is a new stamper, so I really think she'll like this. Do you like it Julie? I used the Nursery Necessities set. Just above is name on the farthest back layer (the blue one) is a word window with the words "it's a boy" The "water" was made by cutting one piece and tearing another piece of bashful blue and direct to paper inking. DTP (Direct to paper) is when you take your ink pad and rub it directly on your paper. Here's the instructions for a diorama card:

--Cut your back and front pieces to 8 1/2 x 3 and score 2" in from each side
--Cut one middle piece that's 6 1/2 x 3 and score 1" in from each side.
--Using a punch (I used the curly label punch), line the edge of the punch up with the right score line on the middle and the front pieces, then move the punch to the left score line and do the same. Make sure your punch is pushed in all the way to the top so your punches are consistent. Punch out the connecting piece.
--Decorate your pieces.
--Adhere them together by putting adhesive first on the 1" flaps of the middle piece and attaching them to the bottom flaps, which come up. Then apply adhesive to the 2" score flaps on the top piece and adhere to the outside of the bottom flaps.
--The card will fold flat for mailing. You'll need a longer than normal envelope... (3 3/4 x 7 1/2). It's a little bit longer than a check envelope. If you need more info - here's a link to the splitcoast tutorial which has pictures....

another wedding card using together forever

Hi everyone! TGIF, huh?! Here's a quick card I made for a wedding DH and I are going to tomorrow night. I usually try to make their card out of pieces of their wedding invitation, but I can't find this one. (We've had 3 weddings in the last month). So, I got out the trusty together forever set and whipped this up. I already had the togther forever embossed on the vellum, so that's where I started. Then, I found this piece of already cut really rust from a bridal shower card I had made for anther wedding. Well, before you know it, this card emerged. The very vanilla layer is cuttlebugged (well, sorta). I wanted to try the cuttlebug folder in my new big shot. I used tab 3 on the multi-purpose platform and then the cb folder with paper in it, then the crease pad and the cutting pad. It didn't "feel" like it was working, but it embossed just fine! Thanks for stoppin' in!

BIrthday gift in a box in a bag!

This is a birthday gift for a co-worker who also stamps! She is always making little lists, so I thought a little top note-book would get some use and then she wouldn't have to worry about the post it notes fallung off her classes case anymore... LOL!

The note book is made using the new Top Note Die from Stampin UP! I just moved the chipboard over so it wouldn't cut the curve on the binding side (or you could cut it off later). I adhered patterened paper to both sides of some cardboard I had lying around (think cereal boxes) and then ran it through the big shot - cut like butter!! Then I cut some copy paper down to size and rounded the corners to give it more of a finished look and punched everything with my Bind it All. Hint: Attach the ribbon AFTER you punch the holes with the BIA - ask me how I know!

Then inside I decorated a little bit and put in a little pocket on the front cover for her present (a gift card to SU). And, she can tuck her post it notes in here later :) Then it needed a pretty presentation, so I made a matching RSVP pen and bog in a box. I'll come back later and post a link with directions for the bag in a box. Gotta get to work right now (and give her her present) Thanks for stopping in!