Are you needing a simple and cheery birthday card? This one looks complicated. That is because of the beautiful designer paper I used. And who doesn't love the Happy Birthday thinlits that are new as of June 1st in the Annual Catalog? Honestly, it is easy to use and makes a big impression on your projects. I used our new balloon honeycomb embellishments, but when I added it, it got swallowed up on that beautiful paper. Easy fix! Punch out a balloon using our balloon builder punch in a coordinating color of cardstock. Here is my tip for adding a string to the honeycomb balloons, peel off one side of the balloon's backing to reveal the sticky (yes! they are self-adhesive) stick your string to the exposed adhesive. Place exposed adhesive to your project. Then peel off backing from other side of balloon. You can move the balloon string a bit once it is placed to make it seem like it is coming down the center of the balloon. Here are the supplies I used for this card:

You can see the weird gaps underneath the metal joint. Me, whining because my knee isn't as pretty and functional as this one! Knee update The pain in my knee has gotten so bad I can only scream when I move it certain ways. It was time to be seen. This time I was heading to Tria Orthopedic Center Acute Injury Clinic. No, I do not have an acute injury and probably should have made an appointment, but we figured it was a way in the door and maybe I would get answers right now. My husband and I had been working on a history document of my problems, and quickly revised that to bring in.  This has become a case of becoming my own best advocate. I have heard so much of messed up knee, more physical therapy for you. More movement. More this. And no, not my department from the professionals, on the fix. So many dead ends that has lead to frustration and tears and just putting up with a heck of a lot of pain for me. Pain that shouldn’t be there following a TK

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My affection for Roadside Kitsch, the actual term by the way, started a long time ago, probably as a child. I love overgrown silly statues. They amuse me and their engineering impresses me. Think Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox. Which, by the way, I was introduced to as a very young person. So yes, my affection started early. It has rolled into being mildly obsessed with finding all 500 and some Peanuts statues around the Twin Cities. I have probably seen about a tenth of them. And these are the only ones scrapbooked. My affection for large cartoonish silly statues has grown so much I have my own scrapbook for them.  My title page for it, is the one that started it all, and the one that anyone from the lower 48 states likely knows the best - the giant Paul Bunyan Statue with Babe in northern MN. The affection really took off when a friend had a cabin which you had to drive through a large chain of lakes and cabins on the eastern boarder of MN located about mid state

I apologize to you, my regular and not so regular, readers. I have not posted since Fathers Day. And there is a jolly good reason for this, lame as it is, life happens. We just got home from a long and busy vacation, which was no vacation. It was a hardworking week organizing, cataloging and removing my in-laws storage locker and belongings elsewhere. I personally spent a lot of time in our van, sitting, because I could not do much. Or hanging out in our hotel room. Not my favorite visit to the Southwest in regards to this. We did have an awesome family reunion. Truly blessed to be a part of that. More on that in a later post. Here is the situation, my knee was already becoming worse (pain and mobility) before the trip, add to that the trip, and then I came home and hit the ground running getting ready for our groups Stampin' Up! New Product Extravaganza, and life stuff too, appointments, sick kitty, etc. Posting on my site just didn't happen. And this week my knee is getti

I actually made this in early January. All the products used are retired. I have been waiting to share it since then, just for Fathers Day. Why? Because it really honors all the males out there. My husband, who has been waiting patiently for this tin, can now have it. I am not sure what he wants to use it for, probably store loose electronics cables. It was made using the Urban Underground Product Suite from the Occasions 2017 catalog and the Sale-A-Bration rewards tin that you could get for free with  qualifying order. Again, everything used is retired. And I have been waiting six long months to share this with you. I truly love how it turned out. It is very masculine looking. Because everything is retired, I do not see much point in listing the products. If you do a search on my site for urban underground, you will see other samples which list the products used. Shhh, I still have 2 of these tins I want to do something special with. They were so popular, they went out of sto

Here is a fresh card color combination. Honestly I really can see the blue as a retired color, Brilliant Blue, instead of Lemon Lime Twist. Its a color combination that just makes each color pop against a neutral background. Supplies Used: Stamps:  Wood Words • 15 rubber stamps 143925 $30.00 (wood blocks included) • 143928 $22.00 (suggested clear blocks: a, b, e)  Ink: Pacific Point Ink Pad 126951 $6.50, Lemon Lime Twist 144086 $6.50 Paper: Whisper White 100730 $9.00, Pacific Point cardstock 111350 $8.00 Accessories:  Lovely Words Thinlits 143733 $27.00,  Layering Ovals Framelits 141706 $35.00,  1/4" Stitched-Edge Ribbon  $7.00 each  Whisper White ribbon with colored stitching on both edges. 10 yards.  Pacific Point • 144199 Yes, you can use some of your layering ovals to cut out the Lovely Words framelits. I chose one of the scallops in the Layering Ovals set for this card. Or you can just cut out the words out

Oh my gosh, doesn't this card look like it could have come from your Grandmas farm? This card is a semi (okay more than semi) case from stampinantics.co.nz Paula Dobson. She used different ribbon and a few other items. You can find it on Pinterest, like I did. It just fit what I was trying to make with my Wood Texture Suite, pages 158-159 Annual Catalog. I am loving this product suite. It is on trend, with the rustic look, it is versatile, and it is just a fun suite. This was a fairly simple card to make. To get the doily in an oval, I stapled into shape. Then glued the layers. Supplies Used: Stamps:   Wood Words • 15 rubber stamps  143925 $30.00 (wood blocks included) • 143928 $22.00 (suggested clear blocks: a, b, e)  Inks: Pool Party ink pad 126982 $6.50, Memento  Ink   Tuxedo  Black 132708 $6.00 Papers: Pool Party $8.00, Whisper White cardstock 100730 $9.00,  Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack • p. 187 144177 $10.00

If you are a loyal follower of my blog, you know that I have recently transformed my scrapbooks and the system used and so on. Read about it here. As part of the ongoing renovation, I have made title pages for the front page of the books I currently have out, and a few of my books will contain multiple subjects for now. That is until I have enough pages completed to give them their own books.  To keep the sections separated, and hopefully add a tab too, I made chapter dividers, as I am calling them. Just something to separate subject matter. That way, I also know where those pages are. I just received more albums this week, since with my last large print order I over filled my books and needed more, I will be adding these dividers as soon as they are printed. I will have to wait to print them, as I printed in total, around 300 pages in May. Some pages were not for us, but for the grandparents, and a wedding album for my niece, but still. I have been a busy gal. Disc

This was inspired by something I saw on a Demonstrator page recently. She had made a lovely 12x12 framed color chart of all our colors, coordinated by a neutrals row, pinks and reds and purples, blues and greens, etc. I wanted to do something similar in squares. It just didn't arrange quite the way I wanted.  I punched out 3 of each color. Glad I did. Read on... Here are the squares in Stampin' Up!s order. You can see that they don't square quite in order or the way I wanted. Catalog page of inspiration. Here they are in the order that they are in the catalog, above. It is started to look pretty.  When i came to the realization that having it as a long strip would be a really cool way to display it, I next had to plan how that would be mounted and displayed. I realized that 3" wide would be plenty. I was using our 1 3/8" square retired punch. Honestly, to punch out the 3 each of all 50 colors went really quick. I stood with a

This lovely simple card was inspired by, me! I am quite fond of this stamp set, and bundle. Its the Lovely Inside & Out stamp set and framelits bundle on page 157 of the Annual Catalog 2017-18. Have you purchased and played with the new copper mesh ribbon? It is  A M A Z I N G! You can pull it tight and make a copper cable. You can stretch it to make a fishermans net look. You can use it as it, it is about 1/3" wide. You can make waves. It ties beautifully. You need to order this today. Here is your item number  1/4" Copper Trim  144179 $6.00.  Tip: I use glue dots to hold on the mesh. You really cannot see them, and gluing it down? Forget that.  The stamp set has some great pieces in it for backgrounds and textures. You will likely be seeing me using this quite a bit over the next few months. Maybe its because it isn't a flower, it is different. I love the all the rustic inspired items we have too, but sometimes you just need to be different! As the sum

I am not sure it was intentional on Stampin' Up!s part but between the Van Gogh quote and the paper which reminds me of Starry Night, one of my favorite paintings from one of my favorite artists. The paper is from the Delightful Daisy Suite on pages 126-127 Annual Catalog 2017-18. And the Stamps are from the Just Add Color Suite on pages 166-167 of the catalog. The Just Add Color suite has designer paper you can color, all of it, and some other coordinating items. This card was inspired by a post I saw on Pinterest of www.stampscrapandmore.com card. She did what I was trying to do, combined the paper and that stamp set. I used a different layout and a different stamp from the same set. Thank you for stopping by to see my Van Gogh inspired card this Monday. Make it a Van Gogh kind of day! ~Sandy Stamps:  Just Add Text • 6 rubber stamps  143931 $25.00 (wood blocks included) • 143934 $18.00 (suggested clear blocks: c, d)  Inks: Tranquil Tide ink pad 144085 $6.50 Papers

This card was created using the Pick A Pattern suite on page 40-41 of the Annual Catalog 2017-18 in the US. I love the colors and patterns in this product suite. The Emerald Envy and Flirty Flamingo colors paired with black and white keep the colors looking modern and fresh. The designer paper with the pattern give it a retro flower power feel. This card was super quick to pull together. No Big Shot work, mostly straight cuts and punching. I do love how it turned out. I hope you will take a look at this product suite in the catalog. The paper and accessories have a fun modern retro feel to them. Which make them very fun to use. Supplies used Stamps:   Pieces & Patterns • 14 rubber stamps  143840 $27.00 (wood blocks included) • 143843 $19.00 (suggested clear blocks: a, b, c, g) Inks: Emerald Envy ink pad 141396 $6.50, Memento Ink pad Tuxedo Black 132708 $6.00 Papers:   Pick a Pattern Designer Series Paper • p. 188 144163 $11.00 12&

This little piggy is going to market in style in her wood crate throne. At market she will shop for new shoes and clothes. I did fussy cut Little Miss for this card. In fact, the words that are attached to her on the stamp, I cut them off. (See words that are on crate) I like the words, like the pig, just not together on the same stamp. Just be careful when doing this, as the words are awfully close to the pig and I clipped a corner of a letter. Nothing terrible, but use an exact knife not a scissors, for a more precise cut. And don't do it late at night... For her wood crate throne, I trimmed down a piece of the wood crate framelits die. I just trimmed off the bottom and the tabs that you would normally used to assemble it as a three dimensional crate. And I popped it up with dimensionals. She was colored in using the Blender Pen and the Powder Pink ink pad, and pool the ink in the top cover of the pad. And don't you just love the new wood textures designer pape

Is it time to send a thinking of you card to a good friend? I love this Berry Burst and Lemon Lime Twist color combination. It looks fresh and fun.  Adding the black really makes those colors pop! This card uses one of the new bundles in the Annual Catalog 2017-18, Lovely Inside and Out! If you have been in any retail space recently, you will see how on trend these In Colors are right now. Lemon Lime Twist seems to go with so many colors. Supplies: Stamps:  Lovely Inside & Out • 12 rubber stamps  144008 $28.00 (wood blocks included) • 144011 $20.00 (suggested clear blocks: b, c, h),  Daisy Delight • 16 photopolymer stamps 143669 $17.00 (suggested clear blocks: a, b, d, g, h)   Inks:  Memento Pad & Refill  Tuxedo Black. Acid free.  Pad • 132708 $6.00  Refill (0.5 fl. oz.) • 133456 $5.00, Berry Burst 144083 $6.50 Lemon Lime Twist 144086 $6.50 Papers: Whisper White 100730 $9, Basic Black 121045 $8 Accessories:   Lovely Wor

As a couple that has been together nearly 22 years, married over twenty years, we do not fight, not that we agree 100% on everything. We approach disagreements with civility and level heads, and discuss, like grown ups. And we do not disagree on much either. Early on in our relationship we had, what we both still consider, our worst fight ever. The kind of fight where the anger comes from deep inside your core. And it was over toilet paper. A few days after the fight we laughed about it. It is a story we tell often, because it is true, and it deals with what a lot of couples, any relationship really, deal with all the time. The basic approach you take to making purchasing decisions. And I am sure as you are reading this, you are nodding your head yes. Correct? I thought it was time to document this epic fight, hurling toilet paper and all, because it was important to our relationship, it is humorous, and is worth remembering. And defines the simple stuff we often fight over an

This darling chef is from Stampin' Up!s new product suite Birthday Memories (I keep calling it the birthday friends suite) that can be found on pages 68-69 of the 2017-18 Annual Catalog. You don't have a catalog yet? Perish the thought. Email me and I would be happy to pop one in the mail to you. In the meantime you can click on shop now or click on the PDF at the right. The designer papers in the card, also from the suite. I watercolored the chef with our lovely watercolor pencils. The greeting was a scrap of white that I hand cut the curve on it. One of the coolest features of this suite??? The framelits cut out not only the stamped images but images that are found in the designer paper. Can I get an Amen to that!!! Here are the supplies needed to make this project at home: Stamps : Birthday Delivery stamp set 143660 $27* Inks : Black Memento ink Papers : Real red cardstock, crumb cake cardstock, Birthday Memories Designer Paper 144118 $11, white cardstock

As much as I talk about and use the Project Life app on my iPhone I thought it was time to do a video on how to use it. If you have not yet tried it, this may change your mind when you see how easy it is to use it. And if you notice the graphic I grabbed, the app isn't new at all. It has been around since the fall of 2014. I truly believe scrapbooking does not need to be difficult, time consuming, or costly. Right now, this app fulfills most of my scrapbooking needs. Again, if you are a regular follower of mine, you know I do my scrapbook talks every Thursday. June 1st has been my only exception to this date because Stampin' Up! had their big annual catalog release and that is pretty darn important to me and my actual business. Easy * Affordable * Done These are the 3 words I often use when I talk about Project Life App, or any of the Project Life products. I still scrapbook by many means. Including I will likely use some of Stampin' Up!s new Memories & Mo

Video Tour of the chest \ I thought I would share this project with you even though the Occasions catalog from which most of these supplies came from is gone and the products are retired and no longer available. If you are are regular follower of my site you know that I have been posting a lot of projects made with the Urban Underground suite that was in the Occasions 2017 catalog. I had not yet shared this project because I was not going to give a how to on making it. There will only be one! I have seen similar ones pop up on Pinterest over the last five months. I made mine back in early January and just never got pictures taken nor shared it. Life happens. But it is still a cute project and still worthy of sharing, especially with Fathers Day coming up in the US on June 18, 2017. I did start with a retired box from Stampin' Up! and put a few empty green glue bottles for weight inside. It was a fun project, and took me about an hour to make. Not a lot of time,