Projects, Projects and More...A Really Loooong Post!

I have to admit I have never really made so many things in a span of 2-3 weeks. My niece's 2nd birthday is coming up on November 8th, but she will be having the party on November 9th. My sister and Mom decided to have a big blow-out 2nd birthday for her. At first, I was thinking about gifting my sister some thank you notes made out of the Princess stamps she sent me, but when I found out that they invited over 100 people - then I said I would stick to making thank you notes for my Mom instead since she only wanted 15 of them. I finally finished on Tuesday night, just in time to send it priority on Wednesday to make sure it made to IL by Friday or Saturday.

LITTLE PRINCESS GIFT SET

The first picture is the gift set I made for my niece, Briana. The theme of her birthday party is a princess theme so what not better way to make her some princess gifts. My sister originally asked me to make backpack tags after browsing my gallery on SCS (like the one I made for my son) so that is part of the gift. I also had a one of those bare wood frames that I bought on sale from Hobby Lobby awhile back after the holidays and finally had a reason to alter it. I am also going to make my niece a matching name frame but did not want to send that in the mail because the frame is too big and afraid that the glass might break during transit. So, she will be getting that as part of her Christmas gift when we visit during the holidays.

I made a matching card to go with her gift set. Isn't that dress the cutest thing? I got the template from Mel's (mel stampz) blog. She is so generous in sharing not only her own templates, but others as well. Click here for a link to all of Mels' fabulous dress card samples. Here is the template I used for the dress...very simple.

THANK YOU GIFT SET

The second gift set is for my Mom. She has always been so generous when it comes to sending us packages especially now that we have moved far away. I haven't had the chance to really thank her so I thought of making her this gift set. It is made from my most favorite stamp set of all, Rubber Stamping Fun. This was part of a program (that did not go too well) where many of us stampers were hand picked to be part of their preview program of never released sets. They sent us the stamp set we picked for free and all we had to do was create card samples and upload them to our gallery. We got to pick one stamp set and they had a contest to help name them. I picked preview set #22 which reminded me of the Artfully Asian set by Stampin Up. This set is so versatile. The sentiment on the card reads "Life's greatest happiness is to know we are loved." Unfortunately, this stamp set did not make it on their list of new releases on their website. I had not heard from RSF since the program and heard that many folks on SCS did not get their free stamp set. Fortunately for me, I picked this set and love using it!

I also purchased a jade necklace (which I should have taken a picture of, but I had already nicely placed it in the box) that I ordered from one of the neighborhood kids' school fundraisers - yes, jewelry and not cookies! How odd! The fundraiser had a great selection of jewelry. The necklace already came in a box of its own (which I still kept it in), but I wanted to make something special box to put it in. I've been telling my mom how much stamping and crafting I have been doing so I thought it would show off some of the things I have been doing. I thought the mini pizza box was perfect in size. You can click here for the mini pizza box tutorial...

I also wanted to make her something special that she could write notes on...she is always sending out mail to family and friends. And I have been drooling over those monogram notecards that everyone's been making. I don't own any JustRite monogram stampers so I improvised with some Unity Stamps Formal Alphabet set. I made 12 of these so I wanted the layout to be simple. I just love the aqua blue color (which I was never fond of before).

And, last but not least, I also created a holiday planner. I had been admiring all of those planners on SCS that I decided to make one for my Mom. She normally uses a legal pad to make a list of all of the people she has to buy a gift for and now she has a special place to keep her lists. I also made two pockets she can use to keep reciepts. I created them using the CD holder template found here. It doubled as an actual holder for a CD of pictures that I took this year.

THANK YOU NOTES FOR BRIANA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Here are samples of the thank you notes I made for my mom. She wanted to give the people who volunteered to help set-up, run errands and cook food for the party. I had to make 15 of these so, again, I needed to find something simple. I found this card made by Cindy Williams (cwilliams) and cased it...I made her two kinds since I ran out of the brown ribbon, but I think I like the one with the twine.

OFFICE GIFT SET

My sister just started a new job as an administrative assistant. And I had been dying to make another office gift set. I made one for one of my good friends awhile back, but forgot to take a picture of it – bummer! Hope my sister likes my color choice.

I created a matching card to go with the gift set and distressed it to look like I tore off sentiment piece out of a notebook.

I remember when I was an executive assistant (way back when...) that I used a notebook to keep track of To Do's, phonecalls, etc... so I made her a composition notebook with matching jumbo clips and pen. I also created a pocket on the inside front cover for misc items.

She can use the matching clipboard to display pictures of her daughter, Briana, or of her family. Or she can use it as a regular clipboard so I also included a notepad.

I also made her a matching name frame so she can put it up in her cubicle - I would have loved one when I was working full-time!

Well, that is it…told you it was a very looong post and I had lots to share!

LITTLE PRINCESS GIFT SET RECIPE: Paper: MME Magnolia dp, White/Hot Pink cs Inks: Chocolate Chip marker/Bliss Blue/YoYo Yellow Accessories: Clear badge holders from Wal-mart, Diamond stickles, Scribbles 3D Paint Crystal Gel Very Berry Red, Nestabilities, Dress Template, White satin ribbon from Wal-mart, Distress Ink Antique Linen, , Cricut Jasmine cart, Mod Podge, Wood frame from Hobby Lobby, Clear mini decorative accents from M’s

THANK YOU GIFT SET RECIPE: Paper: Paper Pack dp from Hobby Lobby, Provo Craft Holiday Slab, White/ Bliss Blue cs Stamps: Rubber Stamping Fun preview set #22, Unity Stamps Formal Alphabet, Merry Accessories:White satin ribbon, Clear beads, Sticky Tape, RSVP pen, Slit punch for scalloped border on card and mini pizza box, Mini pizza box template White/Hot Pink cs, Teal polkadot grosgrain ribbon Nestabilities, Composition Notebook

THANK YOU NOTES FOR BRIANA’S BIRTHDAY PARTY RECIPE: Paper: Unkown speckled cs, Stamps: MFT Falling for You, SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Inks: Chocolate Chip/Really Rust/ Summer Sun/Old Olive/Only Orange, Twine, Chocolate Brown satin ribbon from Wal-mart, Accessories: Nestabilities (template for round sun)

OFFICE GIFT SET RECIPE: Paper: MME Magnolia dp, White cs, Not Quite Navy Inks: Distress Ink Antique Linen, Creamy Caramel, Bordering Blue, Black sharpie marker Stamps: Autumn Leaves Scribbles Alphabet, Cornish Heritage Farms Lined Paper, Riveting, Delight in Life Accessories: Frame from Wal-mart, Mini clipboard from OfficeMax, Composition notebook, RSVP pen, White grosgrain ribbon, Wide orange grosgrain ribbon, buttons, glue dots, Nestabilities, Mod Podge, Prima flower adhesive back, Jumbo clips, Clear mini decorative accents from M’s, Spiral binding punch, Cuttlebug Script embossing folder

Disney Clear Stamps

I just had to share this on my blog - I had seen some Disney Princess stamps that Lauren Meader used to make invites for one of her daughters' birthday. Of course, being a stamp addict and all, I just had to have a set. She purchased hers from Target...of course, the next time we went to Target (which is not very often), I went a hunting for these cool stamps. But to no avail, Target did not have them or at least did not have them in stock. Soooo, being there is only 1 Target in my area, I asked my sister, who lives in Illinois, to hunt them down for me. There are several Target stores close to where she lives so I thought she would have better luck. Of course, she came to the rescue and found the stamps at a Super Target and they were the only packs left. Actually, she went ahead and bought me a Disney Mickey and Friends stamp set too - isn't she sweet? Both sets were $19.99 each and comes with 33 stamps. I just got them in the mail today! I am so excited to get my hands on these so I just couldn't bare to share! I guess there were also Hanna Montana and High School Musical sets as well.

Got lots of new toys to play with...My sister's daughter's 2nd birthday is coming up so stay tuned for a Princess gift set.

H&M Stamps 1st Blog Hop Blog Candy

My blog candy finally arrived - thanks Tracy! This was the very first blog candy I've ever won! Woo Hoo! I was drooling over my new goodies from Tracy's blog and even better when it arrived in the mail. The blog candy was offered by Tracy Dorton (designer for H&M stamps) during H&M's first blog hop during World Card Making Day on October 4th. Here are the goodies that I got:

- 3 vanilla scented candles (my most favorite scent in the world)
- Halloween bag full of candy (it had Hershey Kisses in it filled to the brim - yum! I had about a handful already)
- some lovely ribbon (a girl can't have too much ribbon, right?)
- H&M stamp set called "A Lil' Behind"
- a cute Fall card from Tracy (forgot to take a picture of it - she is one talented chic - love her work)

Thanks again, Tracy! Love all of my goodies and can't wait to play with my new stuff (while stuffing my face with candy - LOL)!

Oh, BABY!

It must be baby frenzy season when you have to create more than one baby card. We have several friends and family having babies soon or have already delivered so I had to make a few baby cards and thought it would be fun to make a non-traditional one. So as I researched through the gallery, I found this template. I also took inspiration from other onesie cards I had seen in the SCS gallery. I had to make 3 boy cards and one girl card.

What is Curious George up to??? The first card I had to use my neglected Curious George stamp set that I *stole* (yes, I am a bad mommy) from my 4 yr old who had gotten it as a gift from my sister-in-law when he was only two years old. She gave him a Curious George gift set that contained stationary, a notebook, and the stamp set - he never saw it coming - tee hee! It wouldn't be a boy's card if Curious George wasn't on it.

The second card was made with my other neglected stamp set called "Happy Bug Day" which has been a retired TAC stamp set. I had so many actual onesies stamped with bugs (grasshopper) so I tried to simulate the same on my card. I made two of these cards.

The third card was made with the same TAC "Happy Bug Day" stamp set except with more girly colors. I used the ladybug stamp this time since it was the girliest stamp in the set other than the bumble bee. I also used my favorite cuttlebug embossing folder "Swiss Dots". I now also love to use 3D paint on my cards to make it look like a pearlized embellishment.

I can't figure out which one is my favorite because they all came out so darn cute!!!

CARD RECIPE: TAC Happy Bug Day, Curious George stamps; Bashful Blue, Summer Sun, Ruby Red cardstock; Bashful Blue, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Blush Blossom, Old Olive ink; Cricut MM cart for circle and scalloped circle; CB emobssing folder Swiss Dots, 3D paint Iridescent White Mist; Spring Bouquet punch, Silver eyelets, White mini flower eyelets, Dimensionals, Onesie template

In memory of Anna Judd - Sympathy Card

This sympathy card was made for the Judd Family who lost their 13 month old daughter, Anna, so suddenly on September 23. You can read more here. The Judd Family were close friends with Carolyn King. I used the Faux Silk technique on the image to make it look softer. You can find the tutorial on Nichole Heady's blog here. I took inspiration of the layout of this card from another SCSer...thanks smartblonde_2000!

CARD RECIPE Stamps: Rubber Stamping Fun, Warmest Regards Paper: Black, White, Pink cs Ink: Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, Basic Black Accesssories: Pink satin ribbon, Black brads, White Tissue, CB folder Textile Technique: Faux Silk

Blog Candy - I won!

Woo Hoo! I almost forgot to post that I won my first blog candy from Tracy Dorton's blog. H&M stamps did their very first Blog Hop during World Card Making Day on October 4th. Check out Tracy's blog to see what I have won! Take awhile to tour her blog, she makes some great stuff!

Thanks Tracy! Can't wait to get my goodies!

Hippy Birthday and Embossed Sympathy Cards

As promised, I finally got Janessa's card out in the mail today along with 2 animal books since Korin mentioned that she loves to read. I finally got to play with Gina K Designs "Just So Hippy" set. I picked the giraffe because the 2 animal books have giraffes in it. I colored it in with sharpies and SU markers with an aquapainter. My son also wanted to send a little something to Janessa to brighten her day and colored an image for her - he loves anything baseball!


Sympathy Card



This is the sympathy card I made for my aunt's husband. I haven't inked TAC "Tree Silouhettes" since I bought it last year. This stamp set is the inexpensive version of SU "Lovely as a Tree" and was retired last year. I literally made this card within 20-30 mins. World record for me since it usually takes me about 3-5 hours to make one card. With my 3 yr old daughter at my side, it was hard to put this together because she kept touching things she wasn't supposed to so I ended up giving her a pen to scribble on some paper while I embossed the trees and sponged on some color. In the midst of using my heat gun on the images, some of the embossing powder got in the sky part and partly on the ground, but it just looks like it is supposed to be part of the card - like it's snowing *wink*.

I did not get a chance to make a sympathy card for the Judd Family yet, as I was trying to get Janessa's and my aunt' package out in today's mail. My aunt's birthday is also on October 13 so I thought of sending her card and the sympathy card together since both cards were going to the same place. I sent her the Hugs and Kisses card I made in my previous post.

This is it for now...till next time!

Birthday CARD RECIPE Stamps: Gina K Just so Hippy Paper: Black, White, Light Purple cs Ink: SU markers, Sharpies Accesssories: Corner Rounder for scallop edges, Aquapainter, Diamond Stickles, Irisdescent White Mist 3d paint, Polka Dot ribbon

Sympathy CARD RECIPE Recipe Stamps: TAC Tree Silouhettes Paper: Dark Blue, White cs Ink: Not Quite Navy, Really Rust, Staz-on Timber Brown Accesssories: White embossing powder, Heat Gun, Twine, Sponge Dauber, Post-it Note for masking

Check this out - Papercrafts Magazine giveaway!

I am pleased to announce that Korin Sutherland from Sweet n' Sassy Stamps has added another incentive to send cards to Janessa and the Judd Family. She will be giving away a free one year subscription to Papercrafts Magazine to a second place winner. The winner will receive 6 issues. Once the subscription has been turned in, the first magazine will start coming in between January-February.

So, what are you waiting for??? Let's shower these two families with lots of cards and love. Thank you to all who are participating in this special event.

Here is a link to Korin's post... I will posting a picture of some cards soon!

On another *sad* note...

I am putting this as its own post because it deserves as much attention as Janessa. The second post from Korin was about someone near and dear to our hearts, Carolyn King. The 13 month old daughter of one of Carolyn's close friends, the Judd Family, passed away quite suddenly on September 23. Click here to read about Anna. Her passing was quite a shock and the doctors are still looking for answers. I can't imagine how much pain the family is going through right now. It is always so difficult when you lose the person you love especially if their life was cut very short. I remember when this happened to one my hubby's good friends from college - it was his friends nephew who was only two at the time. From what I remember, I believe that the same thing happened to him. His nephew had two older brothers. After awhile and much faith in God, the mom became pregnant again with another boy. And we all ask ourselves, "Why me?" when something bad happens. I don't know why things like this happen and we will always wonder, but I have to keep believing that life is a miracle in its self. We never know what life will throw us, so be sure to be thankful everyday.

So after reading this, go hug your children really tight and tell them how much you love them!

Sympathy cards are always difficult to make - at least for me. Not only will I be making a sympathy card for the Judd family, but also for my aunt's husband. His father recently passed away this weekend who suffered from Alzeihmer's disease. He has been touch and go with his health the past couple of weeks until he gave up the will to eat. He had also been going through surgery after surgery and getting injured at the nursing home. His suffering is now over and now at peace.

God will now take care of these two special people....God Bless to all of you! Hope you join me in making a card for the Judd Family to let them know how much they are thought of.

Happy Sunday and hope you all have a great rest of the weekend!

Take Time To Give

There are things we take for granted many times and often are too busy to think about others. This post is about "Giving" - giving back to others. I was browsing through some the of companies part of the members forum at SCS for challenges posted for WCMD! I came upon this post from Korin (Sweet n' Sassy Stamps) regarding her niece, Janessa, who turns 2 on October 13. Click here for her story. I was just bawling after reading a couple of the journal entries her parents had written. Janessa reminded me of my own daughter - just a little sunshine, a strong willed, vibrant little girl.

I, for one, did not get a chance to do any stamping during the day. But made time to do something special last night. I made a card for Janessa's 2nd birthday using Gina K's "Just So Hippy" set. I bought this set awhile back and never got to inking it until now. Korin mentioned that Janessa likes it when her parents read to her when she is in the hospital, so I decided to pass down two animal books I used to read to my two children - they have so many books, I don't think they would mind *wink*. Both of the books have giraffes in them so the "Just So Hippy" set was perfect.

Also, you will be entered for a $100 gift certificate at SNSS if you plan to participate to create a card for Janessa's 2nd birthday and make her day special. So who's with me????

I will share the card in the next post once I get a chance to take a pic of it...

Rachelle Anne Miller

Don't you just love Rachelle Anne Miller's illustrations? She is one talented gal! I love her whimsical yet soft and delicate designs. Kind of reminds me of Precious Moments but Rachelle Anne Miller's designs are more colorful. I came across her blog when she recently became an official illustrator for StampAvie and they started seling her stamp line. I don't own any of Rachelle's stamps yet, but hopefully one of these days - they are just adorable. Because many people adore her illustrations so much, she gave bloggers permission to use her images in blog banners. Me, being a newbie at blogging and editing, can't figure out how to resize the image so that it fits in the blog banner without superimposing itself on top of the blog title and header. I found a picture with this cute little dog in it and thought it would be appropriate image for my blog. I emailed Rachelle to let her know that I was using one of her images and hope she gives me the thumbs up that I used it as a sidebar pic instead.

Well, it's the end of the week - Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend!

MFTSC50 - Hugs and Kisses

This is the second card I made using MFT's "How Sweet It Is" set. I was just getting done with my first card and saw that Frances (StampOwl) posted a new card sketch in the SCS MFT forum. I was ever so excited cause I got to use the same dp - can't fathom wasting paper. I normally don't get a chance to participate in challenges because all of my stamping is done after I've put the kids down for the night - that is if I not too tired to do anything else after that. I usually do stamping for special ocassions. It all came together after I colored the image. I decided to use circles for the sentiment instead of going across the boxes on the bottom - wanted to think out of the box. Then a "lightbulb moment" - I thought it would be really nice to finish off the card with a flower on the left hand side of the image. I've always admired those clear acrylic flowers I always see on people's cards so I made my own - out of acetate (aka transparency)...remember I am on a SAHM budget here. I used my baby Cricut and good ole' George (flower #2) to cut the flower. To make it stand it out, I cut out another flower with red cardstock (had to sponge it with real red because it wasn't dark enough). I then added some rhinestone bling in the center of the flower to finish it off. Now it matches the flowers on the couch!

I turned this in the MFT forum - MFTSC50 and crossing my fingers I get picked for the $5 gift certificate. If you hurry, you can still put in your card until October 5.

CARD RECIPE Stamps: MFT How Sweet It Is Paper: Chocolate Chip, Bliss Blue, Lime Green, Red cs, MME Magnolia dp Ink: SU markers, Sharpies Accesssories: Cricut MM and George, dimensionals, acetate/transparency sheet, rhinestone

My Favorite Things - Here I Come!!!

I am so ever excited to post about two cards I made last night. I got to play with 2 My Favorite Things sets, "Say Charge" and "How Sweet It Is". I purchased a few from the BST forum on SCS to get my collection started. I got some of the oldies (but newbies to me) that I have been drooling over since MFT came out with these sets (last year?) . Yes, I keep up with the latest and greatest, but don't have the $$$ to buy everything so I just sit on the computer while the kids nap and drool like a baby getting its first teeth.

Anyway, I needed to make cards for some upcoming birthdays this month. We were invited to our neighbor's 40th surprise birthday party, but the kids both got sick after going camping this weekend that we are most likely not going to attend. But I did want to make her a card to let her know we were thinking of her. I used the set "Say Charge" for my first card. Mind you, this is the first MFT cards I have ever made. Since it is Fall around my part of the boonies, I decided to use some fall-ish theme for my color scheme. I used the ever so popular Faith's (markiesmom) technique with the dots. She loves to put lots of dots on her cards - she makes the most amazing cards.

This is also the first time I used Sharpie markers on the images. I normally do some kind of watercoloring technique on the images, but these ladies call for some vibrant color. I used my MME Magnolia designer paper I bought from Hobby Lobby two summers ago - yes, I like to hoard patterned paper and ribbon. I added some clear mini decorative accents that my MIL got for me at M's (I live in northern MN so no M's nearby - *sigh*). I guess these little minis are now discontinued at M's and she bought them on clearance. You should see what some the ladies on the cricut MB are doing with these little babies - they use alcohol inks to make custom colors. One of them is selling them in a nice plastic container already sorted out for you.

CARD RECIPE Stamps: MFT Say Charge Paper: Chocolate Chip, Bliss Blue, Pumpkin Pie cs, MME Magnolia dp Ink: SU markers, Sharpies Accesssories: Oval Nestabilities, dimensionals, wide grossgrain ribbon, clear mini home decor accents from M's

Hello Everyone!

Hi ya'll! I finally jumped on the blogging bandwagon. This blog will be a great way to showcase my creations and hopefully serve as inspiration as much as I have gotten over the last couple of years. Thus the title "Stamping Mutt" - my crafting style derives from different talents from all over. Overall, I describe my style as earthy, vintage, clean and simple.

Just a quick stamping bio (more like a novel) - I have been a member of splitcoaststampers since July 2006. I have been papercrafting since then. I have a huge presence on splitcoaststampers and house my gallery there. I am also known as SCS member "a1r601". I also am a proud owner of the baby bug so I frequent the cricut MB as well. I am also in the process of creating my own website so this will be a temporary one once I finish my "real" one - whnever that is! I became addicted to stamping when I attended my first stamp-a-stack in 2006. After putting in my first SU order, I started collecting supplies (and more stamps) on eBay - a girl has to stay on a SAHM budget. My hubby was generous enough to let me buy things here and there as long as I was using a coupon at Michael's, Joann's or Archiver's. As years passed, I became fascinated with other stamping companies and grew fond of using unmounted stamps. I am planning on unmounting the rest of my favorite stamps at a later date. I accidentally found splitcoaststampers online searching for ideas and supplies and SCS has been my stamping/crafting haven as a way to get lots of creative juices flowing - there are so many talented ladies on SCS!!!

I promise to post some pics of some cards soon.

Lots of Hugs and Happy Stamping!!!!