Made by Valerie, this would be a beautiful decoration in your home. Cut flowers, scrunch and hot glue to ribbon wrapped foam wreath. Stampin' Up! Newsprint paper would work as it is quite thin. Finish w rosettes and flowers. Plus hers is my fave colors. Thanks for stopping, Sandy

Experiencing ones First Communion is a big deal! Or at least I think it is and so does our church. I could not wait to have my first Communion and still honor what it represents each and every time I take Communion. I will add my daughters beautiful program to this page when I get it printed. I made the cross using 2 square resized punches filled with Woodland Walk papers. I like how that turned out. And the Christ? It is a cropped Christmas stamp! See what you can do with MDS? Crop! Resize! Recolor! What have you done to honor those special religious occasions? And a reminder that new My Digital Studio MDS downloads came out yesterday, Tuesday. Visit here . There is a free one! April Showers Wallpaper 133473 FREE. Yes I know I said FREE twice, but I felt it was worth repeating. And also worth repeating is that My Digital Studio is now only $19.95. If you purchased an older version and never upgraded to MDS 2, you can upgrade for FREE. I love Stampin' Up! And you can tr

I am trying to get this to post to the sidebar where I normally lists my classes but Blogger has been tempramental today and I cannot get it to post.  Grrr.  Well maybe this is easier to see and you can print it out and save it for later. I am hoping to add a few more classes before June's end. March of Dimes Mothers Day out Fundraiser, Maple Grove Community Center ·          April 13   9-3 Cards & Coffee – make 2-3 cards for $5 or FREE with min. $25 order ·          April 16 noon   Cambridge Caribou Coffee ·          April 16 5-6:30 Coon Rapids Caribou Coffee ·          May 7 noon Cambridge Caribou Coffee ·          May 7 5-6:30 Coon Rapids Caribou Coffee Scrapscape - Spend the day Scrapbooking or working on projects of your choice with me at my house in East Bethel. Lots of space. Free with $30 order of current or retired merchandise. ·          April 27 11-11 ·          May 4 11-11* may have to be changed Diva Day Downline Meetings –

I attend a monthly class from my upline Terri (her most awesomeness!!!). This class is only open to her downline, which is awesome if you are a downline, not so awesome if you are not yet a demonstrator (and why not???). We learn two techniques every month and then at the following months meeting we swap a full card using one of those techniques. I have two very large albums filled with examples of techniques. We also make a description card for each technique. Very cool idea, in case you forget how to do said techniqe. In February I ended up missing the meeting (very sad for me), but I knew how to do one of the techniques so I swapped at Marchs meeting using February's technique. Get it? One of the techniques is triple time stamping. It has been around for a while but I honestly had never done it. Not sure why as it is easy and quick and visually very impressive. See what I mean, looks impressive and is really easy. Follow me on the steps below for the how to:     A

I received this cute card from my upline Denise last week. The DSP is a Sale-A-Bration pack no longer available but I love this pattern in the pack I wish they would bring it back. A girl can dream. The card is a nice simple clean layout. I didn't like Summer Starfruit in the beginning now it has grown on me like a bad banana in a very good way. Thanks for stopping by, happy stamping, Sandy

Yup, been off the blog machine for about a week. All four family members ended up with a virus. No fun, but it happens. Daughter still on the mend. She says she is just a snot machine. Hmmm...But I will get back on track as the week goes on. There just has been a lot happening on the home front in general. Sickness was just a side bar, annoying, but minor. See below for one of the other happenings.  And there was a few tragedies in my sons scout troop, and that assured that my son and husband ended up very last minute heading out of town all weekend on a boy scout camping weekend. Mind you they had fun, good weather, and a nice lodge but it was not part of the plan. We have had overscheduled weekends going on close to two months now. Could use some time home. Probably not going to be Easter weekend. The worst part of all this is I have so much to share. Give me a few days and I will get back on track. So this little auto issue. My car has 184,000 miles. Its 9 years old, nearly 1

Trying to keep sane the first day of spring when windchills are dipping below zero in Minnesota. I saw a robin hitching a ride to Florida.

I love color, studying color, the emotion of color. mixing colors. So many combinations, so little time. I am such a color dork I follow Pantone, the global color clearinghouse on Facebook. I first learned about color in a design class in collage. Yes back in the day ol Sandy studied Art History and Design, leaning toward interior design, but never got that far. Actually started collage in Journalism because they didn't know where to put me, as I wanted to be a graphic artist. Turns out that probably wasn't my best talent, but artsy craftsy has always been my thing. I have been a DIY since I could hold a scissors, fashioning my Dawn dolls and Barbies, and baby dolls and were they called Madge dolls? Oh I don't remember, but they were shorter chubby plastic Mattel dolls. And making my own seasonal bulletin board displays at home and whatever else I could get my hands on. Heck sometimes I would come home from school and decide that my room needed rearranging. But I digre

Hard to believe this is my fourth week of my Palette Party Challenge! After so many projects using the green theme last week I needed to steer clear of anything green. I love love love this color combo. I love turquoise or aqua or teal or whatever else falls in the blue-green spectrum. So stay tuned for what I come up with for this combo and please send me your versions. Happy to post them and give you credit. And yesterday was our monthly Stamp downline meeting. We alwasy swap at our meetings. We also meet and discuss and share business stuff. We laugh - a lot! Our swap yesterday was GREEN. Green could have been a St Patrick theme swap since we met on that day. It could mean spring. It could just have green on it. Lots of great interpretations of the theme. I will post them during the week. Part of why I love this group, and I realized recently when I was contemplately career choices, is the friendship, the love, the support. Our meetings and time outside the meetings is not jus

Just a reminder that cards and coffee is tomorrow. I still have spots left. Details here http://www.needsaribbon.blogspot.com/2013/03/cards-coffee-tuesday.html?m=1

Big changes ahead for My Digital Studio, I mean MDS. Hold on to your bloomers cuz they have dropped the price, I mean bombed it!!! $19.95 to get you going or 30 day free trial. Heck I probably waste more than that in a week on stupid purchases. Read more. http://mydigitalstudio.net/m/blogpost?id=6293347%3ABlogPost%3A473898

I am not going to list supplies as they have been posted several times this week. I feel this card will bring you a bit if luck. Who knows, maybe even a Leprechaun to do house work and a pot of gold for a vacation. Thanks for stopping, happy stamping, Sandy

We bought this kitchen cart from Ikea, the FÖRHÖJA. We are a big coffee and tea family and all the items were taking up a fair amount of real estate on the kitchen counters. I would like to add a few hooks for towels for quick clean ups. Our cups are still in the cupboard but we are considering moving them over. What do you think? I know it's not really a crafty thing, but I think it will be a good idea. Thanks for stopping by, happy stamping, Sandy

I have posted so many cards to this weeks color challenge I am not even sure what number this makes it. Very Vanilla cardstock Basic Black cardstock Garden Green cardstock Wild Wasabi cardstock Certainly Celery cardstock Champaigne glitter cardstock Full heart punch 119883 Chevron embossing folder 127749 Taffeta 1/8" ribbon 119261 Dimensionals Are you getting sick to your stomache over all the green this week? I kind of wish I had run the hearts through an embossing folder of some kind but it's still cute. Thanks for stopping, happy stampin, Sandy

Cards & Coffee March 19. Class is 3 cards w envelopes. Free with a $50 order or $7.00. $50.00 you also get a Sale-a-Bration set too. Choose time 12-1:30 Cambridge Caribou Coffee or 5:00-6:30 Coon Rapids Caribou Coffee.

A bonus post today. I saw a similar card to this on Pinterest, and actually CASE'd it. In CASE you didn't know I am not a big CASE person (copy and share everything). My creations are usually my own. I am not opposed to it but if I have enough ideas rolling around in my head why CASE. Pinterest is filling up my free time. I love the DIY and CRAFT section. It is me, me, me to a T! I saw this card and thought it was a cute idea. Veering from my Palette Party colors this week, I thought, why not? The original card used all one color green, might have been Old Olive. I like contrast to give definition so I decided on Lucky Limeade and its corresponding color Always Artichoke. Lucky Limeade is one of the In Colors going away at the end of May. DSP Stack Rich Regals 117154 Always Artichoke cardstock Lucky Limeade cardstock Naturals White 102316 (adds texture) Early Espresso 1/4" stitched ribbon 126871 Designer Printed Brads In Color 122940 uni-ball Signo gel pen i

  Ok so I got on a roll with all the St Patricks Day themed card. Not sure why, but it has been fun. Wild Wasabi cardstock Basic Black cardstock Very Vanilla cardstock Full Heart punch 119883 Argyle Embossing folder 127750 Big Shot Basic Black trimmed 1/8" ribbon 119261 Dimensionals Rhinestones 119246 Lucky Day stamp (single) 129177 Again a simple card. And yes the scallop on the side of the stamped focal point are the heart punches. Clever huh? Just gives it a subtle transition from the piece to the background. I colored the shamrock starting with the Certainly Celery marker, then Wasabi, then Garden Green. A rainbow of greens. I should have added them to the supply list. Along with the Basic Black marker. And the argyle black piece on the bottom just seemed to finish it off. On Sunday we have a mission trip meeting at church in the morning and my monthly Diva Day downline stamp meeting. So what are you doing to celebrate St. Patricks Day? Thanks for stopping

OK I said there might be a few answers to this week Palette Party Challenge. Here is number two. Think I am feeling a little green? Hmm... yup! Again, a very simple to create card. Part of this one was I had five various hearts punched out from previous projects. Not being lazy, just trying to use that as my creative challenge. Use what you have. And the shamrock stem was freehand cut. Very vanilla cardstock Basic black cardstock Garden Green cardstock Wild Wasabi cardstock Certainly Celery cardstock Lattice embossing folder 119976 Wild Wasabi 1/4" stitched ribbon 126873 Lucky Day stamp set 129177 Rhinestones 119246 Large Heart Punch 119883 Dimensionals (always!) And to get the two-toned shamrock look if you hadn't figured it out I overlayed the plain and embossed hearts on top of half of a heart. Like I said, simple and cute and trying to use what I had on hand (my personal challenge as I usually start from scratch on all projects). Check back Thursday to

     Tuesday is My Digital Studio Day! Yippee! or something like that. That means there are new MDS downloads available here . I am still working from backward forward on pictures. It has been quite fun reliving old memories and looking at pictures. Really it wasn't that long ago, but seeing the change in Blake it sure seems like it. This was 5 years ago. I chose the Sunshine and Sprinkles DSP in several different patterns and used a few of the embellishments. By changing the opacity on the background sheet it changed the look from being so baby shower looking. Gave it a subtle texture. And the stars and splashes really don't add anything visually other than an accent to draw the eye to the picture. The 8 tag is made with one of the tags, DSP, the sun embellishment, a circle punch behind the 8 punch. By using the sun this way it just looks like rays coming out from the number. And I chose a single picture. I may add another page with a few of the other pictures, but

There might be a few posts to this weeks Palette Party Challenge #3 this week. Here is my first answer: Basic Black cardstock Very Vanilla cardstock Garden green cardstock Wild Wasabi cardstock Certainly Celery cardstock Champaigne glitter cardstock Argyle embossing folder 127750 Wild Wasabi 1/4" ribbon 126873 Heart punch 119883 Ticket Duo Builder pumch 126883 Teeny Tiny Wishes 115370 w 127802 c I did distress the edges of the hearts. And used dimensionals to attach the hearts. What is your version of the wearing of the green? Thank you for stopping by, happy stampin, Sandy

    Ok in honor of the impending Wearing of the Green on March 17th, and since I am a small amount Irish and married an Irishman, I must have green as the theme for the week. I should be able to answer the challenge (create at least one thing) with this color combination this week. Oooh, a whole theme of items would be really cool. Time must be on my side for that. In the meantime, what will you create with this challenge? Send me your creation and I will post it on my blog.   Thank you for stopping by, happy stampin, Sandy

        Sorry I am a few days late answering then Palette Party Challenge #2 (midnight muse, old olive, summer starfruit, saraha sand, elegant eggplant) but we had to rush my son into the Emergency Room last Tuesday. Initially it appeared that he had meningitis but after a lumbar puncture (poor bubby - my nickname for him) he has acute torticollis. It is painful, and he ended up with one heck of a headache following the puncture for a few days, but he will recover in time.     As you can see these colors go well together. It was no struggle figuring out how to make them work together, as I sometimes struggle with, but more which colors I wanted to use where. In the end I used the Midnight Muse as the base.   Supplies used are always Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:   Big Shot Edgelets - Large Scallop 127019 Framelets - Apothecary Accents 127003 Embossing Folder - Lacy Brocade (carryover from Fall Holiday mini catalog) 127819 Five colors of

As I was working on my answer to this weeks color challenge I noticed the undertones on Summer Starfruit. Placed next to elegant eggplant it pulls to a yellow color. Next to old olive it pulls out the green in summer Starfruit. Just a silly observation of a former college design student.

I saw an idea on Pinterest using a small cake or cupcake stand as a soap holder because it will keep soap drips from running on counters and is easy to clean up. Plus it looks classy. Thinking I am tired of soap goo all over - neat idea. But I didn't want to buy a new one, and the luck of finding one at Goodwill for the size I needed was slim. What to do? I headed to Goodwill just on the off chance they had what I was looking for. Ha ha. Nope. But I bet I can make my own. A cake stand is essentially a plate on a candlestick. I found a plate in the size I wanted and style that would work ($1.49). And a candlestick of the approximate height and width needed to balance plate (.99). I used the super glue gel stuff to give me a little time to play with location. I decided to put the glue on the plate since it would be stable on the table. Usually you apply glue to the thing you are gluing rather than what you are gluing it to. I held in place long past the recommended time of 30 sec

Hey blog followers: Last week I started Party Palette Challenge Monday and answering the challenge on Thursdays. This week I am starting MDS Tuesdays (a little late due to an unexpected run to the Emergency Room yesterday). As in My Digital Studio. I figure My Digital Studio does their new releases on Tuesdays so why not do my posts that day. And I will provide you with a link to those new releases too. Oh I wish I could get the new releases every week. They are quite inexpensive. Life, as they say, happens. So here is my recently completed pages from our fishing trip long ago (2008) on July 4th. It was a lovely day. Perfect weather. We do catch and release, as I don't fish myself, never have. Consequently I don't remove hooks, clean or cook the fish and neither does dad. The kids just enjoy catching them and watching them swim away. Though to earn his fishing Scout badge my son did have to catch and clean and cook his fish at camp last summer. He almost didn't make it

It is time already for the second palette party challenge. I love color so going thru the numerous color options is fun and pairing them up. Gosh I am beginning to realize how much Summer Starfruit pairs with so many other colors. I know it is a favorite at the Stampin' Up! home office. And I am seeing it everywhere - as in stores in home decor, clothes and on Pinterest. News flash - Summer Starfruit is a trending color! As with last week, I will answer the challenge by Thursday. Hint, these may be some of my more favorite colors in Stampin' Up! Send me your answer to the challenge and I will post it on my blog, even if it has been a few weeks since the challenge. Stay tuned to later this week as I roll out a new weekly feature. Blogging just got funner! Happy stamping, Sandy

Here are a few pictures from the Spring Spectacular on March 2.