Thursday, October 29

Holiday Card Class-- Pt 2

This is the 2nd card we did at the Holiday Card class. I apologize that the picture is a little dark. There's a lot going on on this card, but folks really liked it.

The card itself is Elegant Eggplant--gorgeous-- with snowflakes from the Serene Snowflakes set stamped on the background in Elegant Eggplant. I added the greeting on a piece of Very Vanilla, cut like a ribbon, with the "Peace, Love and Joy" greeting.

The focal point is Very Vanilla cardstock with the small snowflakes from Serene Snowflakes stamped in Versamark layered on Old Olive. You can't really see this in the picture, but if you haven't tried using Versamark and Vanilla or White, try it. I really like the subtle effect.

The tree is made from one of the Scallop Circle BigShot dies and is Old Olive. It takes 1/2 of the scallop circle to make the tree. You cut two of the scallops out, cutting it to a triangle at the top. Then cut three of the scallops out. Then four.... then five. Layer it all together to make the tree. Add a trunk out of Chocolate Chip cardstock and a star using the Star punch and the Shimmering Gold cardstock. Then I added the Eggplant bird using the Merry Details embosslit die from the Holiday Mini. I put the entire tree on the Vanilla cardstock using dimensionals.

Let me know what you think. I really like this card.

Sets: Serene Snowflakes, All Occasion Greetings
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Versamark
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: Large Circle Scallop die, Merry Details embosslit die, White Gel Pen, Star Punch, Dimensionals

Wednesday, October 28

Holiday Card Class

I held my holiday stamp-a-stack class on Monday night and it was a big success. Everyone completed 15 cards-- 3 each of 5 designs. They have a big jump start on their cards this year.

This is the first card... so simple. It's basically just a Whisper White card on a layer of Real Red. I used the Ornament Punch to punch out an ornament from the top layer of the white card. I also punched an ornament out of the Christmas Cocoa specialty designer paper. This set of paper from the Holiday Mini is awesome. There are 4 sheets of double sided paper and then two sheets of white flocked paper
(including the red bulb paper on my card). It is just gorgeous and the mini catalog does not do it justice.

I adhered the red designer paper bulb into the punch out. Then I stamped in Basic Black the greeting which is from the Two Cool Dudes stamp set. Then I wrapped the Silver Cord around the card twice and tied a bow. It's a very simple, but elegant card that I really like.

Set: Two Cool Dudes
Ink: Basic Black
Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red
Accessories: Christmas Cocoa DSP, Ornament Punch, Silver Elastic Cord,

Saturday, October 24

Cleanse Update

Remember, I never ever thought I could do this. I thought I would crack immediately and eat a Reece Cup... but tomorrow is the last day-- Day 21-- and except for a very few minor slips, I DID IT! A few things that have happened over the last three weeks...

1. I realized that I can eat healthier. It didn't kill me. I'm still alive... and I actually like a lot more veggies than I thought.
2. I'm still craving a bit, but nothing like I did before. I went to an event last night and didn't even really want the chocolate cupcakes. I ate vegies and hummus and was happy.
3. I do feel like I've broken some bad habits... I hope I can keep them broken. I'm the type of person who could easily fall back into them.

So, everyone wants to know two things. First, was it worth it? Yes, definitely. In terms of outcomes, my sleeping is definitely improved... a huge plus! This was an initial goal. I think my stomach is feeling better. I have a lot of times when I feel like there is nothing but acid in there, just eating through-- nice visual I know. I haven't really felt that way for a couple weeks. Yeah! Seems like my allergies have been completely missing this fall and it may be attributable to this. And, the bonus is I've lost about 8-9 lbs and several inches in my hips and waist. It's not exactly how much I hoped to lose, but yeah for me! It's a start!

So, if you're thinking of doing the Standard Process cleanse, I would totally recommend it. A couple of recommendations:
1. Remember that it's a cleanse first and can lead to weight loss secondly. If you are thinking about it as a weight loss tool only, I think it can be misleading.
2. It helps to have a partner to do this with. It would have been nearly impossible for me without the support. Thanks Lisa and Mom.
3. Clean our your refrigerator, freezer and pantry before starting. If there is a temptation, you may fall for it. If not, you'll eat what's there-- fruit.
4. Avoid social events as much as possible during the three weeks. It just brings about temptation and if you have NO will power like me, that's all it takes and you're off the wagon.

My goal is to keep this up. I plan to continue drinking my yummy protein shakes with banana and pineapple for breakfast and eating fresh fruit and veggies every day. No more soda buts lots and lots of water. And, last, but surely not least, sweets in moderation. This is my downfall! But I'm committed.

The second thing that people keep asking is what have I missed the most and what will I eat on Monday. Three things that I've really missed and want-- an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese from Brueggers, a piece of pizza-- just plain cheese please-- and a piece of chocolate cake-- with or without icing is fine, I like the cake. So, I don't know for sure yet what I'll eat Monday. Certainly not all of that. But I do plan on going out with my cleanse partner for a girlie drink and a shared piece of chocolate cake to celebrate our success.

Thursday, October 22

Halloween Page using MDS


Here's another cute page, using My Digital Studio. I really like this page. Every year I go trick or treating with my best friend's kids and this page documents some of my fun Halloweens. This page uses designer paper from the Night and Day DSP and also includes the Sans Serif Alphabet and stamps from the Eat, Drink and Be Scary set. I also added some black grosgrain ribbon and a Pumpkin Pie button on the witch hat. I like the way these elements compliment such fun pictures.

Tuesday, October 20

In Honor of Jasmine

In honor of my girl-dog Jasmine who has been very sick lately, I'm posting my third and final MDS page featuring here. She is having surgery today for a herniated/ruptured disc in her neck. We tried to first treat it with meds, but she's been miserable. They just weren't helping much so I took the plunge with the surgery. But, it's totally worth it, especially if she's all better now... which the vet expects.

This is a more simple page with a designer paper background and some stamps. You can use your favorite stamped images on your pages, without any ink...just with the click of the mouse. Contact me if you'd like more information.

Monday, October 19

Jasmine is about to pounce

Here is another scrapbook page, using My Digital Studio. I'm gonna do a few posts in a row of my crazy beagle... hope you don't mind.

This page features her in a trip to Ohio. We were at my dad's place which is in the middle of nowhere in Southern Ohio. He had just gotten a new kitten and Jasmine was taunting it. She loves to chase and tease cats.... so this one was no exception. I love the main photo-- her eyes and her stance. She's ready to pounce.

This page uses several elements. It has a Going Grey cardstock background. It has black grosgrain ribbon and a silver decorator brad. The heart is from one of the Simply Scrappin' kits and I just added her name. As you can see, when you create these pages digitally, you are using the same Stampin' Up! projects you would use if you were creating a 3-dimmensional version of it. It's very fun! Once I print this out, I'll probably add the silver brad on top of the image to give some texture. It's a very simple page, but I love it.

Friday, October 16

Digital Jasmine


Here is another digital scrapbook page... this one of my sweet girl Jasmine. This page has a lot of different elements that are available in the My Digital Scrapbook software. I used a cardstock background (rather than designer paper), I used a punch below the word "sweetness", ribbon and brad embellishments and the dog stamp from the "Man's Best Friend" set. The possibilities are endless with this program.

Thursday, October 15

MDS at the Beach


Another digital scrapbooking page using My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up! This page highlights a beach trip to Emerald Isle with my best friends and their kids. I'm having so much fun using this software, organizing photos that have sat around for years. I'm excited to print these pages out and then add some real embelishments to finish them up. If you want to know more about this fun project or the MDS software, let me know.

Wednesday, October 14

My Digital Studio

I've been playing around withe new digital scrapbooking software from Stampin' Up! called My Digital studio. I'm having a blast! This is a great package... lots of options, colors, images and it's pretty user friendly.
I love playing on the computer, designing and creating so this is a fabulous fit for me. The worry is that I will become all consumed and forget about stamping!

If you'd like more information on this great new product, just let me know.

Tuesday, October 13

What I'm up to


I wanted to share a little about my latest endeavor. My mom, friend and I are all doing a 21 cleanse called Standard Process. It was recommended to me by my fabulous chiropractors who have done it several times with great results. My main goal was to improve my sleeping and try to find a little relief from joint pain due to fibromyalgia. The secondary goal was to lose some weight. This particular cleanse is not only known to improve chronic health issues, but also jump start your metabolism, curb cravings and lose weight.

We looked into several cleanses and decided on this one for
the following reasons. First, it was recommended and my chiropractors are resources if I need anything or have problems. Actually there is a group of about 8 of us from the practice who are all doing it together. Second, some of the others I looked at involved liquefying everything you eat and I know myself and I need to chew! Lastly, many of the others involved colonics and enemas and although I was committed to doing this, let's just say... I wasn't that committed.

With this cleanse, you eat only fresh fruits and veggies, brown rice and lentils, for the first 10 days. Then you add in lean protein-- chicken, fish and eggs. You also take supplements and drink two protein shakes a day. And, you drink tons, and I mean TONS of water.

So we all started a week later than the others because I had the H1N1 flu and I didn't want to do this on top of the weakness of the flu.
To be honest I wasn't 100% sure I'd be able to do this... but we're on day 9 now and doing great. I had some serious cravings days 2-4. Day 2 I would have died for chocolate cake and I could have hurt someone for a bagel on day 4! Carbs, carbs, carbs! But since then it's gotten much better and the cravings aren't as bad. However, I will tell you that I'm dreaming about chicken and cannot wait until Thursday when I can have it!

So what have I learned?

1- I am completely obsessed with food-- and my booty shows it! I think about it all the time. It's really ridiculous. And, since I can't eat anything I want now, I've not been thinking about it so much.
2- There really are very few veggie only recipes. Everything I've made has had a different name and different process, but ended up being veggies over rice.
3- It all works better if you exercise.
4- I come from a long line of food lovers-- dang genes.
5- I have a very very very tiny bladder!


And what are my goals?
1- I want to lose as much weight as possible. 5 lbs so far. YEAH ME!
2- Everyone has their weakness and mine is sweets... I tend to eat whatever I want, whenever I want. I want to start thinking of sweets as a treat and eat cake for birthdays-- not lunch!
3- Continue to drink more water and exercise.
4- I plan to continue to eat a large portion of veggies every single day. They are actually quite good and fill you up.


They say that it takes 21 days to break habits, so I'm hoping that I can start looking at food as sustenance, rather than a hobby. I'll keep you posted!



Now on to the card-- a simple card today with a cute little masked chickie!
This is called a Criss-Cross card and you can find the directions here. For this card I used Summer Sun cardstock and layered designer paper from the Night and Day series on top. I made a belly band out of Summer Sun and did a scallop along the bottom with the Scallop Edge punch and added some narrow black grosgrain ribbon. For the insert I created a Whisper White card, layered on Basic Black. Then I stamped the little chick in Basic Black and colored it in with markers. The tab was punched out of Summer Sun cardstock and the greeting "Twick or Tweet" was stamped in Basic Black. I added three black brads on top of the tab and was finished. Enjoy!

Monday, October 12

Trick or Treat

Isn't this the cutest thing! This is the second card that I did for last month's clubs. It's a perfect Halloween treat and uses the Pumpkin Patch stamp set and the Sweet Treat cup in the middle.

The best way to make this card is to stamp the grass in Old Olive ink on textured Old Olive cardstock and adhere it to the bottom of the white piece. Then punch a 1 3/4" circle in the very middle, just above the grass. Then stamp your pumpkins in Only Orange, Basic Black and Old Olive.

Next, put a little adhesive on the back, around your punched out circle and insert your Sweet Treat cup. With the piece upside down, add candy corn (or whatever you want) into the cup and pull the sticky off the rim of the back of the cup. Put a small piece of cardstock over the circle to cover it up so the candy won't fall out. Next adhere the entire thing to the layer of Basic Black cardstock.

The card is Only Orange cardstock, layered on a piece of Basic Black. Add a small piece of torn polka dot paper from the Day and Night DSP set on the left side. Also add some narrow black grossgrain ribbon and threat the tag through it before tying it. Then add your pumpkin piece and you are done.

Thursday, October 8

Thanksgiving Leaves

Today I have another sample using the Autumn DSP and the Falling Leaves set. This is a card I did for my clubs last month and they really liked it.

First, I added the two papers from the Autumn Meadows DSP pack. Then I stamped three of the leaves from the set in Really Rust, Taken with Teal and Chocolate Chip and punched them out with the large oval punch. I punched out three oval scallops in Chocolate Chip and backed the leaves on them. Then for texture I added the gold brads at the top of each leaf and put them on the card with dimensionals. Lastly I added the greeting and the wide grosgrain ribbon in Chocolate Chip. These will be my Thanksgiving cards this year.

Tuesday, October 6

Falling Leaves Quilt

I really like this card. It's simple in design, but time consuming in that it involved sewing.

This simple quilt design has three components; pieces from the Autumn Meadows DSP, leaves from the Falling Leaves set stamped in a variety of colors on Very Vanilla cardstock, and colored squares with leaves from the same set stamped in Versamark. I used the small square punch to punch out 12 squares using these three designs. I adhered them down on a Chocolate Chip card and then sewed a zig zag stitch all the way around, to make it look quilted.

The greeting is also from the Falling Leaves set and is stamped in Chocolate Chip, punched out with the small oval punch and layered on a chocolate chip scallop oval. The last element, to add some texture, is the narrow chocolate chip ribbon.

Hope you like!

Monday, October 5

Enjoy Every Bite...

I bet you wondered if I fell off the face of the earth? Well, I'm still here. I got slammed with the swine flu and was down for the count for almost 2 weeks. I hope none of my stampin' friends gets this nasty bug. It's not fun. But, I'm back... and have lots of new samples from the Holiday Mini to share with you. Let's start with Halloween samples... my favorite holiday!
I love this skeleton. I think the dog hanging off him is too funny. This set is called Twick or Tweet. We did this card at a recent new-mini catalog class I held and it was a hit.

This card is Old Olive, with a layer of Elegant Eggplant. Corners are all rounded, to go along with the circle focal point. The designer paper is from Cast a Spell DPS and the is just folded randomly accordion style. The Eggplant rick-rack (ribbon) is from one of the designer ribbon sets.

I cut out the Kraft and Basic Black circles prior to the class. We stamped the skeleton in Black on the Kraft circle. This skeleton has some spooky looking eyes, so I added the googlie-eyes to make it more fun, and less scary. Then we stamped the dog again on Whisper White cardstock and colored him in with Really Rust ink with the Aqua Painter. We added him to the skeleton with a dimensional. Then I added three black brads on the left of the circle. The words "It's Halloween, Enjoy Every Bite" are stamped in Basic Black on Whisper White cardstock and added to the left side of the circle.

Fun card. I love this set and this card. Happy Halloween.