Let me introduce you to Matza. She will be one in August. She is our new baby. We got her in November from our Vet. She was one of three girls that had come from one of the vets friends farm. I went in to the Vet to get some cat food and all three kitties were up and playing with the vet techs. I just casually inquired as to their status (residents, visiting or adoptable). Big mistake. I put my name on her. She rode around on my shoulder. She was sweet and cute and a little quieter (or so I thought) than the other two. She had to stay a few more weeks for toxoplasmosis (don't forget she was a farm cat before). And I needed to convince the husband not to divorce me for bringing home another animal. At the time we had 2 dogs and 2 cats and had lost two cats earlier in the year. My heart was still hurting over their loss. I waited a few days to approach the subject with him. I reminded him that we had promised that someday the kids would get the thrill of having a kitten.

Stamps: Warm Words, In the Stars Inks: Groovy Guava, Whit Opaque StayzOn Papers: Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue DSP, White Accessories: Groovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon, Large Star Punch, Small Star Punch, Rhinestone brad from Pretties Kit Cute and simple different take on a Fourth of July card. By using the guava it softens up the normal red, white and blue we are so accustomed to in the good ol' USA. Follow my instructions for using transparencies on post from a few days ago. I cut a 3 x 3" square of the Bashful Blue DSP and adhered it to the inside of the card base. Using the large star punch, punch a brilliant blue star. Stamp an image from In the Stars using Guava onto white CS. Punch out image with small star punch. Adhere small star to large one. Find where you would like your brad hole and pierce a hole. Place brad thru center of stars and into card base. Adhere a 4 1/4" length of the Guava ribbon to card front toward bottom of where your DSP piece on the card i

A few TIPS when working with Transparencies: *Use only report cover transparencies available at copy centers. Regular overhead or printer transparencies are not thick enough to support page elements, other than maybe one layer of DSP and not CS. Your transparency will bend, and by the time you finish your project you could end up with bent corners and such. Report covers do not bend very easily. See folding tip on list below. *Most important rule! I know regular transparencies have a nicer look to them (shinier, clearer, smoother), but it is not worth possibly ruining your project right away. Take the time and plan out your project, then hit your local copy center on your next trip shopping! They run around 60 cents a piece. Comparable to CS or DSP. Plus you can purchase them in eaches not 50 or 100 sheets per package. That would take forever to use up. Report Cover transparencies only come in 8 1/2 x 11". If you find an alternate size, please let me know, I sure would like t

Stamps: Boho Backgrounds Inks: Purely Pomegranate, Close To Cocoa Papers: Berry Bliss DSP, Chocolate Chip, White, Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink Accessories: Brads, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Punch, 1 3/8", 1 1/8", 1", 1/2", 1/4" all circle punches, Boho Blossoms punch, sponge Card was made for a punch swap for our Stamp Share. This was one of my trial cards. Again, using a report cover transparency as a card base, I cut the DSP to 3" x 3". Adhere DSP to card base. You cannot see it in this picture, but I also used a piece of Close to Cocoa CS 3 x 3 adhered to inside of card, for your greeting, etc. Adhere ribbon to base. Either now or after accent flower adhered, pierce or punch holes and place pink boho flowers on card base using brads. To assemble accent flower: Stamp boho flower in pom. and chip on white and punch out 1/4" and 1". Stamp white scrap with boho blossoms background, punch out a scallop circle shape

Stamps: Happy Hearts Day Inks: Rose Red, White Craft Papers: Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Groovy Guava, Ginger Blossom DSP, Shimmer Accessories: Groovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon, 1/8" hole punch, scallop punch, dimensionals, rose red marker Card done for a swap quite some time ago. Whether it be for Valentine's Day, Thinking of you, or other occasion, this is still a very nice set to have in your collection. Stamp image on shimmer CS, color in hearts, punch out using scallop punch. Adhere to rose red square, and adhere that to guava square. Punch holes through each side of your image. Tie ribbon through holes. Adhere DSP to celery strip. Adhere that to card base. Adhere the scallop image set to card base using dimensionals. Stamp greeting in corner. Voila, you are done!

Stamps: Pretty Petals background, Warm Words Inks: StayzOn Opaque White, Black Papers: Transparency*, DSP Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Pie CS, White Accessories: Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver brads (stamped in StayzOn), 5 petal flower punch, small star punch, piercing tool *For the card base, I highly recommend using "report cover" transparency available at all copy centers. I made this card for our recent Stamp Share for the Use 2 Punches challenge. Cut transparency in half and fold to form card. You will need a bone folder or Pampered Chef scraper to make fold stay. Stamp card front with StayzOn using background stamp. Set aside for at least an hour. You do not want to heat set due to the melting nature of the transparency. I made a pattern for the brad holes since I was making 20 cards. To get your center take a piece of scrap paper the same size as your card front, fold diagonal, open up, fold diagonal again. The X in the center is your first brad hole. Decide how far

What do you do with your scraps of paper - cardstock and decorative papers? Being a fairly progressive "green" person, I save most, if not all, of my scraps. Now before you gasp and think that I am nuts, I actually use all of them. I am not a hoarder, but apparantly a prolific stamper. Any scraps that I do not use, go into the paper recycling bin right at my feet. My post earlier in the month shows just how much I do use. I ran out of white CS scraps earlier in the month. The horror! giggles... Before I grab for a new sheet of paper, for something other than a card or scrapbook base, I look in here first. I am always surprised when I find no color match for what I need. I purchased an inexpensive kitchen drawer organizer from Target (it was longer than 12", long enough for all types of scraps), created dividers using (what else) scraps of kraft CS from an old project and just wrote the section name in a sharpie. I keep it just to the right of my art table where I do all

I cased this layout from http://tobicrawford.blogspot.com/ . She has a funky refreshing style to her work.   Stamps: oops! Can't remember what set words came from (SU!) Inks: Rose Red Papers: Bali Breeze DSP, Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, White Accessories: piercing tool, 1 1/4" square punch   I think this card would have more "pop" if I had mounted the quilt squares with dimensionals as the one I cased did. I still love the colors in the paper. Makes me think summer breeze, warm beaches, water splashing.   Stay cool!

Just announced a few days ago from Stampin' Up! - a new line of home decor products to be available starting July 1st. It will be called Decor Elements. The product line consists of primarly large to very large "rub-ons" for your wall. Images will consist of earthy/foliage type elements to words or definitions (think: FAMILY or HOME and such) to just plain large to humongous letters, which I am guessing (and probably right) are replacing the large monogram stamps that SU! has carried in the catalog for a few years. The images will be available in a variety of colors and sizes to suite just about any home decor. They can go on walls, wood, glass, canvas, and more. I personally can't wait to get my hands on a few of the items (OK, more than a few!). I already have spots selected for them on my living room and kitchen walls. Now how do I convince my hubbie to paint the walls instead of completing the patio, so I can try out this new product? Did I hear someone mumble

Stamps: Just B (just the bee!) item 111093 Inks: Rose Red, Old Olive Papers: Bali Breeze DSP, Old Olive, Regal Rose, Black, White Accessories: 1/2", 3/4", 1 3/8" circle punches, Scallop punch, sponges, and 2 non-SU! circle punches, white Signo gel pen, markers I made this frog puppet using a Stampin' Up! bag (item 100900). Our challenge at our quarterly Stamp Share on June 21st was to decorate this white bag. I figured everyone would roll it, stamp it, or layer some images on it. I just wanted to try something different. Plus I love frogs and won a speech contest in 8th or 9th grade for a speech on how to decorate a frog sock puppet. Silly the things we remember in life! Once I figured out what I wanted to do and where it should all go, believe it or not it took under 45 minutes to complete this bag, and that is with interruptions from children (how dare they ;-) Body: To make your own, first cut your DSP or CS (your choice) to 8" x 6" scoring at 1/2"

{My items pictured here are still the same items in the catalog but with older labels. Just shows ya how long I have been stamping.} Don't forget to wash the scrubbing pads from your Stampin' Scrub (item 102642) periodically, maybe seasonally. You can tell by smell and splash (the cleaner is inky and splashing colored water all the time) when it is time. You can just pop the pads out of the plastic base, wash them in your dishwasher, with your dishes. I don't recommend sticking them in the dishwasher with your real dirty pots n pans. The next time you need to clean your stamps, spray with your Stampin' Mist Rubber Stamp Cleaner (item 102394). I alternate between moistening the one side of the Stampin' Scrub with SU! Mist and distilled water. It is important to use ONLY distilled water, and not tap water, bottled water or such. Distilled water is just that, it has been cleansed of all impurities that can mold and mildew on your Stampin' Scrub when not in use. Th

Stamps: Happy Heart Day, Sanded Inks: Rose Red Papers: Groovy Guava, White, Celery Accessories: Tag Punches, 1 1/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches, celery ribbon, blender pen, dimensionals It would be easy to change the greeting on the tag for this card and use this card to give your sweetie for any occasion. I used the blender pen to color in the images in the circles, hearts, and butterfly. Have a happy heart today!

Stamps: A Beautiful Thing Inks: Chocolate Chip Paper: Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip Accessories: Corner rounder, 5/8" chocolate chip ribbon, 3/4" & 1" circle punch, brads, Three For You flower punch This 6 x 6" scrapbook page could easily be turned into a 3 x 6 card, just by a quick fold.

Stamps: Great Grads Inks: StayzOn Opaque White, Brilliant Blue, Pink Passion Papers: Brilliant Blue, Pink Passion, White Accessories: Word Window punch, rub-ons, white taffeta ribbon, 1 3/8 and 1/1/4" circle punches, corner rounder, pink rhinestone (non-SU!)   This was a -quick, we have to be there in an hour- gift card holder. Taking a quick peak at Splitcoast Stampers I got a feel for what shape the purse should be. Made a quick pattern, which I will not post yet, it needs some work. As I said, this was a -hurry up- type item.   Wanting to use the Great Grads set (it is so cute!) came up with a way to incorporate it into the purse. The flower is the rub-on. Had I had time, it would have looked much more polished. I probably would have heat embossed the "grad" words to make it match the rub-on. I managed to whip this out in under a half hour (and I think it shows :-( ) I saved the pattern, such that it is and would like to try playing with this id

YoYo Yellow and Barely Banana 4-wheelin' fun. Gable Green and Green Galore free wheelin' fun.

For a recent boys (triplets) birthday party, I wanted cards that were similar but that I could use their favorite colors. Enter - some retired mini catalog stamp sets. Boy I sure wish SU! would come up with something like these again. I have used them over and over and over. Stamps: Catchin' Air (pictured here), Ride On, Rip 'N Shred Ink: Black, Real Red (or Green Galore, or YoYo Yellow Paper: White, Black, Real Red, Ruby Red Accessories: Markers, Sponges, black brads, ticket punch See below for how easy the same layout converts for similar sets. Thanks for looking today.

OK, I do not watch Desparate Housewives, but I sure was desparate today. While waiting for my kids to finish at Vacation Bible School, I sat in my car stamping. Now before you think I am nuts, my Vibe's front passenger seat flips down and turns into a table. Voila, instant stamping area! In short order I was able to finish up a swap needed for the coming weekend. This was NOT what I worked on. Here is a very fast graduation cap. Using the 1 3/8" square punch on black CS, a gold brad, and yellow grosgrain ribbon. To fringe the ribbon, carefully cut the finished edge up both sides of the ribbon as long as you want the fringe. I used a paper-piercing tool to "pull" the loose horizontal pieces of ribbon off. Fluff ribbon. Done! I can think of many uses for this grad cap: do it in school colors, link a whole bunch together to make a garland, package topper instead of bow, make a really big one as a wall decoration. Tell me what you come up with for this quite quick c

What gets you going in the AM? For me - Diet Coke . I don't smoke, rarely drink, don't rat my hair. I get ill from one cigarette - cough, cough, cough. (Thank you Sandy from Grease!) When my kids were little (and keeping me up late at night) they would go to the fridge and grab a DC and bring it to me in bed. Even when they were just two they knew that would get mom up. Just the cool feel of the can, and the fizzle in my mouth helps to get the synopses a poppin' in the morning. Honestly, I have no other vices. I drink tons of water daily. I eat quite healthy (very little junk goes in this bod). I sometimes think I should stop the pop. It is artificial. There are rumors that have been swirling around for 15 years that it may (or does) contribute to weight gain, metabolic syndrome and more. Should I stop the pop?

The Stampin' Up! Retiring list of stamps was announced June 15th. Check out my Stampin' Up! website to see the list and and my specials for the retirees. Catalog items valid until August 10th. Now is the time I start to wonder what new goodies await the next catalog on August 11th? Hmmm....

Again, my apologies for my upsidedown sideways picture. I played with the rotation before I uploaded it to the blog and it still turned out this way. Ugh! I am pretty technically savvy, but this problem I have been having trouble fixing. Email me if you know how to solve. I am clueless at this point. Stamps: Stem Sayings, In the Spotlight (retired hostess set), Sanded background Ink: Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate Paper: Groovey Guava, Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate Accessories: Rhinestone Brad, 5 Petal Flower punch, slot punch, Purely Pomegranate Double Stitched Ribbon I loved the In the Spotlight hostess set. I used it for so many items, and can't part with it - yet. I am glad to see that Stem Sayings is staying in the next catalog. This is one of those layouts that could be altered for many different stamp sets, any flower, any colors. I used this card for World Card Day, back in October 2007. Thanks for looking today.

Stamps: Happy Everything, Big Flowers Inks: Lovely Lilac Papers: Amethyst DSP, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White, Lovely Lilac Accessories: Word Window punch, 1 1/4" Circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, White taffeta ribbon, silver brad I case'd this layout from my several levels up Upline, Terri that she had done at a SAS last year. She has great ideas for paper folds that are always fun to try. You cut the base paper 4 1/4" x 8 1/4" scoring at 5 1/2 inches. Adhere the DSP (4 1/4" x 2 3/4") to the flap. Punch slot using word window punch. The white stripe is cut 2" x 11" fold in half. Tape bottom half to card base, and insert fold into slot to close card. Fun and simple. You could even flip the layout around a little and cut the DSP to 2 x 11 and leave the flap plain and stamp your image/greeting on there. I may play with that idea and post it later in the summer.

First of all, my apologies for the sideways card, or is it upside down? Anyhoo, I am still learning the ropes of Blogspots capabilites. Some might say it looks better this way :-) Stamps: Illuminations, Baroque Motifs, Paisley background Ink: Blue Bayou Paper: Old Olive, Blue Bayou, River Rock, Always Artichoke, Whisper White Accesories: Hodgepodge Hardware, Olive ribbon, Rhinestone brad This is a nice classic card that could be used for wedding, sympathy, or love type occasion. Except for cutting out the C in Cherish and the swirly background, it was pretty quick. It is difficult to see in the (sideways :-) card, but the long widthways strip is actually two pieces. The top layer has the Paisley background stamped on it. I used River Rock for both layers. Using a different stamp you could use this same layout for a holiday card, don't you think?

Animated Bear Play: Don't try this at home! If you get a chance this summer, head to the Zoo and check out all the new exhibits. The bears are fun to look at, quite entertaining actually. The new Russia's Coast section is so beautiful. Good ambiance. My daughter loves the sea otters. We watched one sit and do about 10 forward rolls in the water without taking a break! We have been members for many years, even though it is a long haul from our house, we always enjoy our time there, even during the tornados on June 5th. Today was no exception.

"Those that anger you, c ontrol you." ~Exodus 15:7 A lesson I am working on remembering every day!

Stamps: Boho Backgrounds Inks: Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red Papers: Rose Red, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, DSP Berry Bliss Accessories: Scallop punch, 1" circle punch, rose red button, Photo corner punch, cocoa marker, corner rounder, crimper, sanding block, sponges, dimensionals I read about this faux (antique) lace technique recently in a scrapbooking magazine. I would love to say which one, but I read so many so frequently I could not be specific. If you know which one, please let me know. Anyway, I read about the technique, and I thought it sounded labor intensive, but one of those - I have to try it now things. Well, I am glad I tried it now, but it did not take long at all. I could have done this for an upcoming swap after all. Aarrgh! Too bad I already stamped all 16 cards I needed for the swap. Ah well, it is done and checked off list. Maybe next swap. Back to the how to's: I started with a 2" x 12" length of DSP (design

Using the faux ceramic tile technique (the picture does not do it justice) I made this thank you card for my Upline, Denise, for showing this technique at her last Tech Club meeting. See, she is kind enough to let her downline go to tech club also :-) Stamps: Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Much Appreciated Ink: more mustard, so saffron, close to cocoa Paper: more mustard, so saffron, very vanilla, close to cocoa Accessories: 5 Petal flower punch, kraft taffeta ribbon, gold brads, Three for You flower punch, piercing tool, ticket corner punch, dimensionals, scoring blade on your cutting tool, sponge To get the faux tile look, first cut the paper to size that you want to tile. Mine was 3" x3". Take and line up your paper diagonally on your cutter, tip to tip, so to speak, and score. Using the diagonal corners, move them up 1/2" or 1". I used 1/2" here. Score. Move up another 1/2" or 1", score again. Continue until completely scored in that directio

Photo taken (by me) just hours after the destructive tornado in Hugo, MN on Sunday, May 25, 2008 with my Canon Rebel XT and a superdooper zoom lens.

Bearded self-propigating iris in our yard. My office is called My Pod. True or False

Materials (All SU! unless otherwise noted): Whisper White CS cut in thirds (8 1/2 x 3.67") 3/page scored at 4" Pumpkin Pie CS DSP, Pumpkin Pie 109170 3.67 x 4" Ribbon Striped, Pumpkin 110715 Scallop Punch, Circle of Friendship Stamp Set 107137 Pumpkin Pie Ink 1" circle punch 1 1/4" circle punch, Dimensionals To save on paper I made these cards slightly smaller and was able to get 3 on a standard sheet of CS, and get more pieces out of the DSP. Adhere DSP to card front. Using the larger circle punch line up half way up paper, lining up circle using the notches on the side (half way point) perfectly cuts a half circle notch. Adhere the stamped circle cut image to the scalloped piece. Then line it up inside the notch before adhering to card base. Tie on ribbon. Done. Voila! I made fourteen of these cards for ancillary teacher gifts (reading, math, PE, art, bus driver, etc). They were attached to a bag of Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies.   It took 2 interrupted ho

Thank you to my kids teachers at the end of the school year. It was quite an easy card to make. Materials Used (All Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise noted): Real Red cardstock 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 Basic Black cardstock 5 1/4 x 4 Whisper White cardstock 3 1/2 x 5 Twill Tape (about 6 inches needed) Spiral Punch Elementary Essentials Stamp Set 109421 Dimensionals Basic Brown Ink Pad Markers Stamp the ruler image in brown on the twill tape. Adhere to card, then trim (saves lots of lost product). Use markers to color the lined paper. Stamp image 3 times on each paper. Punch with spiral punch. Ruffle edges with fingers. To get the spirals to line up correctly, punch until almost the end of the paper, then turn the paper upside down to punch last time. You get even ends on both sides of paper! Using markers color on the pencil stamp, then stamp on your paper. I used Cameo Coral (eraser); Going Gray (metal part); Summer Sun (pencil); and Basic Black for pencil tip. Cut out image. Adhere image t

At my Open House (all chipboard projects) a few weeks ago, we made little picture frames. They could also be used as ornaments, decorations....I put a magnet on the back. But you could also leave it open. They are so quick to make, one gal made several, in just a few minutes. From Stampin' Up!'s On Board Blossoms & Basics (SU! 109181) spread glue on your piece. Place your chipboard on the backside of a sheet of DSP (designer series paper, Summer Picnic 111355 ). Trim close to the chipboard. You do not need to wait for the glue to dry. Sand edges. Sponge edges. For the accent bling I inked up a chipboard flower, and sponged the edges in a contrasting color (green). Using my Crop-A-Dile I punched a hole through the flower and the frame at the same time (amazingly easy with this tool). I ran some ribbon (red gingham) through the frames hole first and tied in a bow before I adhered the flower accent. Finish it off with a rhinestone brad (SU! 109111) and you are done. To make it

You know you have been crafting a lot when you are running out of white cardstock scraps. No kidding!

Welcome to My Pod . Sandy here. But I go by Sohott... for all things crafty. This is my "e" version of my home office. After bouncing around the idea of blogging my crafty side for a few months, I decided to take the plunge. My objective is to share my craft. My goal is to post at least three times a week. Time will only tell if that goal is met. Let's hope that it is. On this blog you will find TIPS (techniques, inspirations, projects, and shortcuts), crafts, cards, some scrapbook items, and the occasional WOW picture that I have taken with my Canon Rebel. Lovin' the Rebel. I am sort of a Rebel myself. Not one to stay inside the lines. Rules are to be loosely followed at all times. giggles.... Those that know me would probably concure. Oh, I will be posting some silly getting to know me questions on occasion. Like right now...