My Niece, the 2010 Dairy Princess

A little shout out to my niece, Nicole who was recently crowned the Madison Co. Dairy Princess - yeah Nicole! You are a great girl and I'm sure you'll represent the County well in your reign as Dairy Princess... We are all very proud of you! Isn't she beautiful...

And here's the card I made to congratulate her. It features a set names Anabelle designed by my friend Diane Zechman. I've had this set for quite awhile and have used it quite a bit as I grew up on a a dairy farm, so cows are near and dear to our hearts. Nicole now lives on the family farm as my brother (her father) took it over and runs it now with his wife. As I was making this card, I said to my husband... is it really bad that I haven't made a card for Nicole making National Honor Society yet, but I'm making her a Dairy Princess card?Hay (pun intended), we all have our priorities, right? I just know how hard Nicole worked and how much she wanted this title, so good job Ne-cole! We love you!

Spartan Baseball Birthday Card

Well, it's baseball season again! Today marked the offical opening day of Little League here in New Hartford and another birthday party tonight! My son's travel baseball team-mate invited him to his birthday sleepover, so I of course had to make a card. I love that my kids' friends are expecting a special "Mrs. Moran" card, lol. My son wanted me to make his friend a "spartans" card. The t-shirt image is a stamp from TooMuchFun Rubber Stamps and really does come in handy with 2 sports maniacs as kids. I stamped the image in versamark and clear embossed, then colored in the fold lines with brilliant blue ink. Then I highlighted the trim with my white gel pen. I tried to cut the spartans baseball part with my cricut, but didn't have enough time (or patience) to continue, so I resorted to stickers and a hand cut swoosh thingy. I'm not sure if you can see or not, but I even added 2 "buttons" covered with crystal effects. The back was kept simple with letters cut with my serif alpha from Stampin up and more stickers for the #. When I was all done, I also covered a piece of white typing paper with coordinating stamps (used inside the card) and used that to wrap the gift (a movie sized box of candy and an i-tunes card). Hope he likes it! Thanks for peeking at my blog :)

Everything Nice

So I got a text tonight from my friend that she needed a baby card for a girl by Sunday. I came home and went to Splitcoast for some inspiration. I found this card by Kim and fell in love! I didn't have all the exact same punches, etc so I made a few alterations. As I got started, I realized that I didn't have the stamp set Everything Nice (Stampin' Up!) and thought that maybe it was one of the many that was included in My Digital Studio (Did you know that the program comes with over 60 stamp sets?!?) Anyway, this set wasn't one of them, so instead I used My Digital Studio to type in my own sentiment, printed it out and viola, a card was born! Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Renovation at Stampin' Up!

As you've probably heard by now, Stampin' Up! is going through a renovation.... a Color Renovation. They have done extensive research and found that this cosmetic update is needed. In the process of the re-vamp, they have decided to discontinue 29 of our former core colors once the new catalog comes out on July 1 st. While I'm VERY excited to hear that some of our beloved old "in-colors" (like River Rock , Pink Pirrouette and Wild Wasabi) are returning to be part of the basic colors, I am a bit apprehensive about losing some of the current colors. So, for people like me who will miss certain colors (for me it's creamy caramel for my build a bear die and blush blossom for my punch art people's face, arms and legs), I have put together a paper share. There are 7 categories that each contain 4 colors of paper. Each share costs $6 and includes 6 sheets of each of the four colors for a total of 24 sheets. The groups are listed below as well as represented by their corresponding number on the color dot. I hope that you can click on the image to enlarge it... sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

If you would like 1 (or many) spots in this color share, please email me at tillyhead @ roadrunner . com . If you are not local and would like to participate, just add $4.95 flat rate shipping per 3 shares.

p.s. Flyer created using My Digital Studio Software... lovin' this program!

Sweet Scoops - Sneak Peak

Ssssshhh.... this is a sneak peak of a new stamp set from Stampin' Up!'s Summer Mini. The mini goes live on May 1st. Because I'm a demo, I get to pre-order from mini so I can be all ready to show samples when it is open to the public. This set I actually earned for free for placing a qualifying order within 3 weeks of the regional that was supposed to be held in Syracuse, NY but was canceled due to snow (the drawback of living in CNY). This cute little set has the 2 cone types and hard and soft ice cream scoops as well as sprinkes, a cherry, a wood grain looking stamp that gives your hard scoop ice cream that striated look and the sentiment. I'm just realizing that I managed to use ALL the stamps from the set on this card.... yeah me! The darker green cone on the right is done by inking the solid hard scoop and then taking some ink off by stamping the un-inked texture stamp onto the inked ice cream scoop. The hard scoop ice cream on the left is what is left on the texture stamp after removing ink from the other cone. Confusing I know, but worth the effort of explaining I hope. What do you think?

My Digital Studio - Pee Wee Hockey Scrapbook

I have spent the better part of 3 days working on this digital scrapbook for my son's hockey team. They were an AMAZING group of kids this year and pretty darned good hockey players to boot! They participated in several important tournaments including our own Travel Tournament, a Thanksgiving International Invitational, A Northeast Regional qualifier and the Silver Stick International Finals in Michigan, Pre-Sectionals, Sectionals and ultimately the New York State Championships! Wow - how's that for a bit of a brag :) The scrapbook was made using My Digital Studio and is the first real project that I've done with it. It was so easy. A bit time consuming (83 pages), but that's because I didn't have all my stuff together and I had to scan a bunch of newspaper articles and clippings in. I've pulled a sampling of pages to show you here. The best part of this digital scrapbook is that when the players are viewing their copies, they can click on the "hot spots" and see the articles written about them! The program even has the ability to record (we read in some of the coaches emails) and add audio bytes as well as video bytes. Unfortunately, my video camera wasn't cooperative this weekend so that will have to be next year's scrapbook! Enjoy the pages and please let me know what you think! CLICK ON ANY OF THE PAGES TO SEE MORE DETAIL!

I'm bummed that the coach wears purple page got messed up during exportation. The fonts didn't transport, so it screwed up the placement. It is supposed to read "Our COACH rocks... even in PURPLE". It's one of my favorite pages. He obviously didn't know the reporter was coming to do a story on the (red and blue) team.

Note: These awesome photos were purchased and downloaded from http://www.myhometownsports.net/ articles Jeff Pexton at http://www.photoreflect.com/
Jeff does an awesome job covering local sports and highlighting them online. Thanks Jeff!

This page features grandma and grandpa with the "fatheats" that I made of my son and his friend (the goalie). Also pictured are the fans holding up their kids' heart during the game. Believe it or not, for playoff games, we are not allowed to bring noise makers to the arena. What kind of hockey is quiet?!?

It's a boy!!!

Yeah.... I'm an aunt again! My sister welcomed her new baby boy, Connor Daron into the world this morning - Happy Birthday Connor! He joins his big brother Adam and big sister Lexi at home. They are all represented in this card, lol - adam and lex as the 2 little monkeys and Connor as the sweet little giraffe. Congrats to Shannon and Shane on their new addition. This card uses the new fox and friends set from the Ocassions Mini, the cloud template that I love so much, a retired single stamp called Beautiful Baby and the naturally serif die.
Yesterday was my mom's birthday (she' staying with my sis right now for the birth) and we were really hoping that the baby would share a birthday with her... he almost made it too! They got to the hospital at 11:40 pm last night and Connor came at 12:07 am this morning! (yep, thats 27 minutes!!) Phew, that was close :) Apparently, my sis does NOT recommend an epidural-free birth though, lol. Thanks for stopping by today - if you're having a baby today - get the drugs!!

a Bunny Box

It's almost time for easter! I subscribe to several blogs for ideas. This bunny box is one of those things that I saw on an email that I get when I subscribe to a blog and is a project that one blogger, Marie is doing for an upcoming class. I have a workshop coming up this weekend and open house at school tonight, so I thought I'd make 2 based on her picture... one for my hostess and one for the teacher. I took a pic of the pieces and the punches I used as I don't have time to compile a tutorial (sorry), but at least you can get an idea by the pictures. Pretty straight forward punching, shading and assembly. The only part you may need help with is the "box" part. When I decided to CASE (Copy and Share with Everyone) Marie, there was only a picture of this adorable box and no instructions as she hadn't held her class yet. When I make these boxes (like the Turkey one in a previous post) I use Tammy's tutorial found here. This little basic box will work with almost any top note creature you can come up with and is a good thing to keep as a reference! Have fun and Hoppy Easter!

ETA: Since my adaptation of Marie's bunny box, Marie has posted a wonderful tutorial on her blog -check it out here!

Using SU Vinyl as decor

I wanted to add a quote over the french doors in my kitchen. So I pulled out my negelected Chocolate Vinyl from Stampin Up! and fired up my Cricut machine. It was more difficult than I anticipated to get the letters to stay uniform in size, but I like the overall affect. Not perfect, but hey, neither am I, lol!



Sorry for the bad pictures, I'm still struggling with my photo editing software. I can't edit any pictures, so whatever comes out of the camera is what I have to post here.

1st Annual Redneck Regionals!

Well, the snow may have kept Stampin' Up! from us, but it didn't keep us from Stampin' Up! The Syracuse, NY Regionals was cancelled due to whether conditions (this is actually the day after so the driveway is MUCH clearer in this pic, but you still get the idea), but we didn't let that stop us from enjoying a day of stamping with friends. Prior to the Regionals, we had made plans to gather after Regionals to go to dinner and do some shoebox projects and swap 3 x 3 cards, so some of the girls just brought their shoebox projects here and we did a small 3 x 3 swap. Here are some pics from our day:

Wish we could have stamped all day, but I had to close the Rubber Room early to attend a hockey game in Auburn (east of Syracuse). I"ll post our very small (4 card) 3 x 3 swap later. Gotta shower for a hockey game! My son is playing for the Sectional Title and a chance to compete in the NY State Pee Wee Hockey Championship - stamp...eeer, wish us luck!

A Sale-A-Bration Flier with My Digital Studio!

Hopefully you can click on this to see it better. If you are not on my mailing list and would like join it or for me to email you a copy, please contact me at tillyhead@roadrunner.com and I'll be happy to add you. If you would like to take advantage of my specials that day, but cannot attend, please let me know and we'll figure it out!

I created this flier using the new Digital Design Software from Stampin' Up! called My Digital Studio. Isn't it great? It has sooooo many stamp sets included - it's really a great value. Once I figure out all the tips and tricks, I'll be hosting classes! For those who purchase this software from me, some classes will be free! SAB is a GREAT time to get My Digital Studio - you'll earn a FREE stamp set!

SU Regionals - Syracuse, NY 2/26/10

I'm sooooo excited! Stampin' Up! is coming to Syracuse, NY! I've even heard rumor that Shelli Gardner (the co-founder of Stampin' Up!) might be there. This is an event for demo's or potential recruits and is a great opportunity to get tips, tricks and TONS of ideas to bring back to our customers. While there, you can take "swaps" to trade with other demos. I've made 64 cardfronts to trade with other demos, so I will be coming back with 64 brand new ideas to show all of you! The swaps have to be made using all current SU things - here's mine...

This one is made using the Baroque Motifs stamp set and the large solid petal from Pick A Petal (it's the carrot). The flourish on top of the carrot is from the Wings of Friendship set (a current hostess set). I made the lines in the carrot by running a stylus across the stamp before putting it to the paper.
This next one is my favorite! I got the I {Love} Love wheel from the Occasions Mini and cut it apart! This allowed me to use the words from the wheel in any combination that I wanted! There was a "I Love You" and a Heart to Heart sentiment, so I cut 'em up and combined them to form the I Heart You sentiment! The rest is pretty self explanatory. The great border punch is one that I got for FREE from the SAB catalog - ask me how!

This is a cardfront that I had made for another Demo meeting and I had extras of. The fun thing about this cardfront (I like to do at least one unexpected thing on a swap card) is that the brick wall behind the guitar player is a home-made (by my friend Linda Tarolli) stamp made by using leftover rectangles of rubber mounted on an extra block. Also, the silver "eyelets" are made by dipping a pen cap into the silver Shimerz paint!

And.... this adorable little fishy is a 3 x 3 card that will be my contribution to a swap after Regionals. A bunch of us are planning to get together for dinner and more stamping afterwards. The fish is made with the Delightful Decorations Stamp Set and the Ornament Punch (which, BTW is still available even though it was in the Holiday Mini) This is not my original idea, I saw it on a blog somewhere and had to make my own.

some more CNY * SNY swap peeks

Here's an over view group shot with table 3 (the best table, lol) in the foreground. Starting 0n the right and counterclockwise there is Diane H. (Diane617), Judy K (JudyK), Denise (DeMud), Jeanette K (JKinney) and LouAnn (CrookedStamper). What a nice table to spend the day with!
Diane WITHOUT a smirk on her face! Nice smile TOD!

The coveted Bunny Box. Jeanette brought this project made with the Stampin' Up! Fancy Favor Box - cute stuff!

Here are the ATC's I received from from the ATC swap. Some great additions to my binder!