Public Service Announcement

Hello everyone!  I thought I would take a departure from my fall crafts and Halloween mode to plug in something a little special.  I am on a committee at work that raises money for the Annual United Way Campaign here in the Boise, Idaho area.  I was very honored to be chosen to serve in this way and along with many fund raisers and events I am helping to plan I decided to donate some of my handmade cards for a silent auction/raffle that is going to happen at the end of October.  Borrowing once again from the wonderful Diane at Capadia Designs, I used her very functional gift box for cards.  You can follow her tutorial here.  I absolutely love this craft!

A little about this project.  Whenever I give cards as gifts, I like to enclose them within a clearbags envelope along with their paper envelope.  I think it displays the card in a bright and clean way and it also protects it from grimey fingerprints or accidents.  You can also mail cards in these envelopes and then even the postman can have a smile in their day when they see the fun you put into your greeting.  You can purchase these envelopes at Clear Bags.  The cards are some I have shown in the past that I made.  I usually keep them stored in a plastic shoebox until I find a purpose for them.  I hope you liked this idea!

If there is a United Way or Community Support Program in your area and you are able to donate even a small amount towards those with needs within your community then I applaud you for your kindness and generosity.

Happy Trick or Treating

The fun just keeps on coming!  Here is another cute little card I created.  Do you think it's too early for Halloween fun?  Naaaaaaahhhh...

This time I used one of my very own Digi Stamps I am now offering over at Shelley Bean Stamps!  If you like this design, go and take a peek at it and other stamps that I have now available.  Stay tuned because I will be offering something fun this weekend from my stamp site in Nicole's big blow-out Halloween Blog Hop this weekend at Canadian Nickel Scrap'n.

Now back to details about the card!  The pumkpin Stamp was from DJ Inkers, and the verse stamp from D.O.T's.  And of course, as I already mentioned, the little trick or treater is my own design.  I used Coredinations paper and embossed the heck out of it with Cuttlebug folders Traffic Jam and Tiny Mosiacs.  It's as simple as that!

Here's Looking At You!

This morning I thought I would share another of the fun little cards I have made lately using the new October 31 Cricut Cartridge.  Since it's one that I am likely only going to use during this short season, I think it deserves as much action as I can give it.  (although, I think I have already used it much more than a lot of other carts I have owned for months now!)

This is what I have to share today:

The Stamp of the little vampire trick or treater was designed by me for Delrose Stamping many moons ago.  I colored him up with my copic markers (of course) and placed him behind the ever so cute spooky window cut from October 31 cartridge.  I also cut out the spider web from the same cartridge.  And that was quite a challenge because the web was rather intricate and the size I made it rather smallish.  The cat is also cut from the same cart.  After I colored him I added some Inkssentials Crackle Accents.  I also "tried" to stickle his eyes a little bit, but it didn't agree with the Crackle apparently, so instead ended up with alien cat eyes.  Oh well, stuff happens!  Either way, I really like this card.  I hope you do too!

My friend Anne is trying to reach 1500 fans by this weekend.  You should all come and join!  She has a lot of challenges and fun giveaways going on all the time.  If you are a fan of facebook, come and check her out here!

And, if you haven't joined my facebook page, please do.  I have a link off to the left of my screen.  I'd love to see you there!

"Boo" Book

Good evening everyone.  I was at Michael's and saw the cutest paper stack from K & Company and I just had to have it!  I love their paper stacks because the paper is nice and heavy, the colors are rich and they are printed on both sides.  Sometimes it's hard to decide which side is the cutest!  I was browsing around different blogs last night and ran into a really cute tutorial that Emma made over at My Creative Time.  I don't own a Gypsy, and doubt I ever will, so usually don't watch tutorials about them because...well...I didn't think it applied to me.  Well, I am feeling fairly silly now because I DO have the Cricut Design Studio software and it is basically the same thing!  So, after watching her how-to on making a Word Book with the Gypsy, I decided to try my hand at the same thing with my Design Studio.  Using her tips, I made a similar cut-file:

I used the tag in Plantin Schoolbook.  I did a hide contour on the tag so there would be no hole at the edge.  The tags measured: 

3.5 x 4.35

3.5 x 4.89

3.5 x 5.43

I made sure the letters were 3.5 to be exact in size as the tags and then nudged them onto the tag and welded them together.  I had to fiddle around with it a bit, but it worked out okay in the end.

I used my new toy the i-rock!  It does rock!  Of course it's one more thing that I want to buy lots of new gems and such to go along with so I will continue to be broke.  It's always something!! 

So here is how it turned out.  I made two of them for the new grand-babies.  I know their parents have already bought them cute little Halloween costumes for their first Halloween, and so I thought these little books would be fun to display those pictures.  They are also small enough, that they could be mounted onto a scrap book page...sort of like a scrapbook within a scrapbook...why not?

I bound it using some wire from my Zutter.  I merely punched a couple holes in the edge of the book using my Crop-a-Dile (since it can easily punch through all the thickness) and slid a couple links of Zutter wire through and finished it all off with some ribbons.  Usually these books are bound with O-Rings, but...I make due with what I already have on hand, and I think it looks pretty cute!  Beside that, I liked that the wire was black.  My photos really don't do the cuteness of this paper justice!

I am thinking about doing a little video demonstrating the i-rock.  Maybe tomorrow?

Sketch Challenge!

Anne over at Paper Patch Crafts is having a sketch challenge going on right now!  Here is what we were supposed to follow:



And this is my conception of it:

It is totally Wicked...right?

I have been thinking Halloween in the past week or so and continue to have a blast with my new October 31 Cricut Cartridge.  I grunged up my images with ink and a large textured stamp.  I even took my color photo, scanned it, and printed it off in grey tones so it would match the theme of the layout. 

I grunged up the paper a little bit to add some texture and interest



I used the Design Studio to weld the letters together


The picture is of my adorable "little boys" who really aren't so little anymore.  This photo is from 1997!  Ah, those were the days!

Trey, Jeremy, Brandon and Jordan

Some very exciting news for me happened this week.  I was asked to be a design team member for Paper Patch Crafts!  Yay!  I really look forward to creating new and fun things with the talented team already in place.  If you are a friend of facebook, please go over and check Paper Patch Crafts out!  There are always fun things going on over there, and Anne sells many awesome supplies at her online store as well.

Supplies Used:

Bazzil Cardstock

Colorbox Chalk Ink

October 31 Cricut Cart

Stamped Cricut Cart (used with Design Studio)

Close to My Heart "Country Burlap" Rubber Stamp

Design Team Wednesday- Anything Goes!

Hello and happy Wednesday!  I am kind of excited to share with you the fun projects created by my wonderful design team.  I am also a little bit sad because this is the last scheduled offering we have planned.  They all signed on for a 3 month run with me, and though I hope some will still want to participate in other challenges and such that I will hopefully have, this will be the last official Design Team Wednesday for awhile until I can regroup and find some more sponsors going forward. 

Our theme this time was "Anything Goes!".  With that being said, they were allowed to create whatever project they wanted to as part of this Design Team Wednesday.

So here is what I have to offer.  This is a fun card I made to usher in the fun filled fall creations I will be sharing with you over the upcoming weeks ahead.  I have really been having a blast playing around with my new Cricut Cartridge, October 31st!  It is full of so many fun shapes for Halloween.  In this one I decided to use 2 different stamps from 2 different companies.  The Jack-o-lantern is from DJ Inkers, and the little pumpkin trick-or-treater was designed my me for Delrose Stamping.  I thought it would be fun to put them together with my Cricut die for the pumpkin patch sign.  Cute, huh?

For the copics fans, I have the perfect combination to make orange (as shown above):

YR00

YR12

YR16

YR18

I wasn't happy that my camera over-exposed the pumpkin girl a little bit too much.  Go figure...right?

And now onto my wonderful design teamers!  Please pop over and visit them because they also have something fun to show you on their blogs!!

Anne

Beth

Gaby

Madison

Mariam

If you enjoyed my little Halloween stamp design, be sure to pop over to Shelley Bean Stamps and take a look at my new digi stamps!  I am now offering, along with my wonderful rubber stamps, some new digital stamps for sale.  So far, I am featuring Halloween and Thanksgiving images in time for fall.  In order to keep online imaging sales down for the both of us, they are going for the low price of only $2.00 each!  Yep, that's right!  Choose the ones you want, pay via PayPal, and I will personally email the image right to your inbox.  Pretty simple stuff...and then you can edit the size of your image however you would like for all your fun crafting purposes.  Please check it out!  And become a follower while you are there...it would make me so happy.  :):)

Digi Stamps have arrived at Shelley Bean Stamps

Please check out my new digital stamps now available at Shelley Bean Stamps!  So far there are only a few available, but more will be coming very soon.  These are just in time for the fall holidays.  Come stop by, become a follower and let me know what you think!

Blog Hop Winner

I wanted to take a moment this morning and announce the winner of my blog candy in the Kids Just want to Have Fun Blog hop over the weekend.

This and that said...
"My daughter will love this. She is always finding pretty rocks and now she can do something with them."

You have until Saturday the 18th to contact me with your mailing address.  If I haven't heard from you, I will have to choose someone else.  I need to remind everyone that it is always a good idea to leave your email address so I can get hold of you. :)

I have at least two, maybe three blog hops for Halloween brewing for the next few weeks.  It is sure to be fun!  Canadian Nickel Scrapn has a hop of 25 bloggers with lots of candy available all along the way.  In my opinion, that is a lot like grown-up trick-or-treating!  Yay!  

Stay Tuned!

Kids Just Want to Have Fun...And it ROCKS!

Hello everyone!  Here we are with another fun blog hop.  You probably just arrived from the fabulous blog of Nicole's at Canadian Nickel Scrapn but if you didn't be sure to start from the beginning with Jessica at KinderStampo.  Be sure to read all the way to the bottom of this post for a chance at some wonderful blog candy.  There is even a 2nd way to win another chance at the blog candy by following an important 3rd step!  Also the link to your final hop on this fun blog hop will be listed there as well.  So...without further ado...

This time I took a departure from my usual paper based projects into something a little more elemental.  Rocks!  We took ordinary rocks we found out in a field, cleaned them up and decorated them with decorative glass rocks we found at the dollar store. Pretty easy peasy!  But it's super cute and fun to lay in your flower garden, fish pond or even sit on a shelf.  Here is an example:

And here is the fun little video we created to share with you!

I mentioned on the video that my son has a blog where he will be posting his cooking creations.  The name of his blog is Tomorrow Never Fries.  (We did mention he loves James Bond)

Here are the finished rocks.

We hope you enjoyed watching us create this super easy craft. The supplies needed were
Rocks
Decorative Glass or Acrylic Rocks (found at local Dollar Store)
Liquid Nails Adhesive (hardware store)

Now onto something fun.  I have a giveaway!  In order to be eligible, all you have to do are these 2 simple things.  And in order to have 2 chances to win, there is a final step:

1. 
   
   Become a Follower
2. 
   
   Leave a comment
3. 
   
   Make a purchase at my stamp site Shelley Bean Stamps

and come back here and leave a 2nd comment that you did!

And here is the blog candy available!

K&Company Sticker Set
50-count clear bag card envelopes (great for mailing)
Zutter Chipboard Book Covers
Rose stamp from Shelley Bean Stamps
Pink Pearl Embellishments

 Now be sure to hop on over to Tammy to continue on with our hop!

Kids Just Want to Have Fun...coming soon!

Hello everyone!  I wanted to remind everyone about the upcoming KinderStampo blog hop coming up this Saturday.  Mark your calenders...it should be a lot of fun!  The theme is kids' crafts and everyone will be sharing a crafting activity that is kid friendly.  I am a part of the fun and will bring you a video with a special guest.  :)  I am looking forward to sharing the project with you all...so be sure to tune in. 

A Big Thank You

I wanted to thank Mary over at Luv To Scrap for a very special Cherry on Top Award! 

So...without further ado....

In receiving this award you agree to the following:

1-Thank the person who gave it to you.

2-Copy the award to your blog.

3-List 3 things you like about yourself.

4-Post a picture that you love.

5-Tag 5 people you would like to give the award to.

3  Things I Like About Me

1.  My Sense of Humor

2.  My Creativity

3.  My capacity for love

And here is a picture that I love alot...my 4 sons!

It is so hard to get them to cooperate and pose at the same time.  But, this picture pretty much is a good indicator of what it is like being their mom...total chaos and I love every minute of it!

And this award now goes out to my wonderful design team members present and past! 

Anne, Pam, Beth, Madison, Gaby and Mariam.  Hugs all around!!

Happy Birthday to My Man of Steel

My husband is a collector of all things Superman.  He has a special shelf covered in the super guys' memorabilia and everyone knows...if you can't think of what to get Jim as a gift...think Superman.  Well, it's hard to out-do yourself each time because I have given him a lot of cool stuff over the years.  This year I decided to do something a little bit different and a bit funky too.  I took a sticker I found of Superman, turned it into an image file and morphed my hubby's face onto Clark Kent's.  I was a little worried that my guy would think it too freaky...but he actually loved it!  Whew.  (I do think it looks a bit disturbing to be very honest...especially since now Superman has a moustache!  Ah well)  Inside I wrote, "Happy Birthday to my man of steel"  (because I AM that corny!)

So for kicks and giggles...teeheehee

For all the Copics lovers...I also wanted to make mention of a cool give-away going on over at Wee Memories.  Remember the very cool Copics Storage solution I made mention of a few weeks ago?  Well, she is giving one away!  Go check it out! 

Our Angel

Anne over at Paper Patch Crafts has a challenge going on that follows this sketch:

I improvised a little bit with the amount of pictures and came up with this:

The photos would have been too tiny on my 12x12 paper and so I opted to only use 2 instead of 3.  Sometimes less is more.  And in this case, I did end up with a fairly simple and straightforward page.  The challenge was to use the colors pink, purple and teal and to use a topic that was about fun and happiness in honor of her friend that recently passed away.  I can't think anything more fun or uplifting than a new life and the ability to share those joys with others.  This is my darling grand-daughter on her blessing day being held by her great-grandfather.  She just makes me smile every time I look at her.

I don't believe I will win the challenge, but it was nice to make another page for Brinnsen's scrapbook and practise some more of my sadly lacking scrapbooking skills.

Supplies:

Making Memories Glitter Dots Pink Paper

Assorted cardstock Scraps

Cricut Cartridges-Simply Sweet, Forever Young

Cricut Design Studio

Martha Stewart  Lace Edge Punch

There is a fun blog hop coming up "kids just want to have fun" on September 11-13 and your's truly will be participating.  I will have a very special guest make a video with me.  It should be a lot of fun.  So stay tuned! 

I also will be putting together some much requested copic videos in upcoming days.  Send in your requests of what you would like me to demonstrate.  This will help me from doing the same old thing over and over again.  Lather, rinse repeat....

Hearts and Angels Design Team Challenge Winners!

Hello!  This morning I decided I had better get the winners announced for my past challenge "Hearts and Angels".  I had planned on giving away 2 prizes in this challenge because I was hoping to generate a little more competition and fun in our Design Team challenges.  But alas, with only 6 entries (albeit VERY nice entries including one that was entered on the facebook page) I decided it would be wrong to leave out the other 4 participants that were nice enough to play along too.  So....just because I am feeling generous and decided to toss you all a curve ball...I am going to give a prize away to ALL SIX!  (now don't you all wish you had entered?  You never know what Shelley is going to do next!)

So....Penny, Jenny, Christy, Marianne, Denise and Cindy, send me your mailing information asap to shelldian@hotmail.com and I will send out your prize.  And thank you once again for playing along with our challenge.  You are the best!! :):)

Heartstring Design Team- It's Fall Y'all!

Hello and welcome to another Design Team Wednesday.  Our theme this time around is Anything Fall! (Y'all)  We decided this time we would branch out a little bit and use anything we wanted to create something with a fall theme.  Here is my idea:

I used a stamp from My Heart Stamps For You, and incorporated the My World Cricut cartridge to make a cute little schoolhouse for a Back to School theme.  I also popped a cute apple button onto the theme since my little back to school country girl thinks she is the teacher's pet.  (of course)  Quite honestly, all the paper was scraps I had laying around and so there wasn't a lot of planning and plotting to make this simple little card. I thought it might be cute to give to a favorite teacher, or even as an embellishment on a scrapbook page.

Be sure to check out what the other designers came up with for this Design Team Wednesday.  Here are a few sneak peeks!

first of all...be sure to check out Anne's Blog at Paper Patch Crafts!  Here is a peek at what she is offering:

One of the busiest young ladies I know is Madison!  Please check out her wonderful blog as well at Funky Cards!

It's always exciting to see what Mariam will create.  This week she has some lovely colors in her handmade pendant that are fall inspired:

Gaby has also created another adorable card to share with us.  Please check her out at Scrapbookaholic!

And last, but certainly not least is Beth at Stinkin' Sweet Scrappin'.  At the time I posted this, I had not seen Beth's submission for this week, but I know in between packing and moving and probably total exhaustion, she may not have been able to get something ready for us.  If you pop there and don't see a new post, give her some love anyway and tell her we miss her! :)

Tune in tomorrow...I will reveal the winners of the last Design Team Challenge.