OH NO!!!

So, Thursday night I headed over to a local demonstrators house to talk about all the amazing Stampin' Up! things I have missed. I hadn't even gotten a chance to look at the catalog in over a year. Well, you can be assured that I was absolutely floored by all the new products (and a bit heart broken about some that are no longer with us). It didn't really hit home about how much I had missed until I got into my stamp room and determined which of my stamps were still current. If you don't know me, or haven't visited my stamp room, you don't realize how many stamps I actually have. The cabinet in this picture is full of them. All of them were current when I moved here. After a midnight assessment of my stamps now.....these are the only ones that are still in the catalog! It was enough to make me want to cry. Now I have to double my efforts to get hubby to agree to let me be a demo. I am sure my wish list is going to be sky high!!!!!

Proud Mama!

Last week, Jay, my eight year old, asked if he could stamp with me. Nothing makes me happier than having one of my kids want to spend time with me, and with the added bonus of doing something I love to do.....well I couldn't ask for anything better. His reason for wanting to stamp was to make a card for his Dad's birthday. As I mentioned yesterday, Matt's birthday fell on Band night. What I didn't mention yesterday was that the name of the band is Armor Piercing Zombie (Don't ask me why....must be a guy thing). Anyway, Jay really wanted to make a Zombie card, but I had no zombie stamps (SU! is this something you can put in the next catalog? :) ). I did have the Make a Monster set, so he decided that was close enough. He used the clear blocks and lined up everything himself. Like I said, I'm a pretty proud Mom. Now I just have to teach him layering :) So, without further ado....here is my favorite son, and his card.

LNS Christmas in July Challenge

I finally did a challenge. Boy I missed how they can really get the creative juices flowing. I don't know if I'm too late for the actual challenge, but I figured I would give it a shot. This little guy is from Button Buddies. I don't own the set, but was lucky enough to borrow it. If you are a regular follower of my blog, I'll apologize in advance. You may get sick of the Button Buddies stamps. This is the first new rubber I've gotten my hands on since December 2010. I'm going to make the best of it!

Matt's Birthday Card

So, yesterday was Matt's (My darling hubby) birthday. He has joined a "band" (read this as a weekly get together of guys in order to drink beer, hang out, and sometimes play music). Since last night was Band Night, we had a make shift party during practice. He plays guitar for the band, so I thought an appropriate card would be one that said Rock N Roll. I found the template for the glasses at Split Coast Stampers on one of their Tuesday challenges. I used vellum for the lenses. Inside it says You Rock. I don't know if the extreme elements or guitar are current, but I've never been so happy to have a stamp. It was perfect for what I needed!

I had a few requests for this template. I found it at Splitcoast Stampers Here. Enjoy!

Back to School

So, today's project is a paper pieced one. It's been a while since I did one of these, but I really like the way it looks. While I was taking a break from stamping I had taken up quilting, and piecing this together reminded me of piecing a quilt. This is for Jay's teacher on the first day of school. I figured a card and some candy, what teacher doesn't need a little pick me up after the first day of school! Do you send items in with your kids on the first day of school?

Katie's finished Invites

Once I got the howling wolf figured out, the cards went really quickly. I sponged a whisper white circle for the moon using More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler. Then I used more mustard cardstock for the fire and used the marker sprayer thing (Man, it's been a while, I can't remember what anything is called!) with Cajun Craze and Cherry Cobbler. The flames were half the flower punch and the logs for the campfire where the long skinny punch. I used an impressions plate from Sizzix to get the swirls and stars in the Night of Navy background. I like the way it turned out. Plus, since we have to travel about an hour to get to the Wolf Preserve, I only had to make four invitations. Bonus! Now I'm off to figure out something else to make. Gotta keep the Mojo going. Maybe I can get my hands on one of the new catalogs and find some new toys to play with! Any suggestions?

How to make a wolf???

Ok, since I made Jay's birthday invites and his birthday isn't until October....I figured I had better make Katie's. Her birthday is in September. This year, she wants to go to the Wolf Preserve in Eureka, MO. They do a night program with a campfire and then you get to hear the wolves howl at the moon. I decided since Katie is a big punch art fan, I needed to figure out how to make a wolf howling. A couple of years ago, I made her a husky in a santa hat, so I used the same body. After playing around a bit, I came up with using the triple heart punch to make him look like he was howling. I started out using scrap paper....but ended up sponging the edges to make him look right. It isn't exactly what I was thinking, but I like how he turned out. If you want to make your own......follow the body directions in the earlier post and then use two of the smallest hearts for ears, the larger heart is upside down for his nose in the air, and the medium heart is the lower jaw. Come back tomorrow if you want to see the finished cards.

Jay's Invite inside

So, after I made eight of the S'more cards, I thought it needed more. Even though it had the camping feel to it, it wasn't quite camping enough. So, I went back and updated the inside of the card. Jay thought it was so cool he wants the exactly same things on his cake. I have to admit, I'm pretty darn proud of myself! What do you think? The pop up tent is probably Jay's favorite part (and mine too!).

Jay's Invites

So, this is what got me up off my butt the other night. I really felt like stamping. My son was talking about his birthday party (Which isn't until the middle of October I might add) and we decided on a camping theme. (Yes, we plan way in advance. It's a left over from being overseas. If I wanted to buy stuff from the states for their birthdays, Christmas etc. I had to order it really early.) Anyway, he wanted S'mores at his party, and that got me thinking....what if I put that on the invitation? I wish I could take credit for the ideas in this card, but they all came from Split Coast Stampers. I didn't save the links, or I would give credit where credit is due. Anyway, here is the front of Jay's invites.

What?? I'm Back???

I know.....you saw this post and thought? What?? Kelly is back? Well, not quite, but after taking a 18 month sabatical, I found that I am really missing my stamping. 9PM last night I sat up, turned to my hubby and said "I'm going to go downstairs." He gave me a really strange look and said "why?" I told him I needed to get my fingers inky, and that is exactly what I did! Maybe it's all the convention talk, maybe it's just finally time to spend some of my time on myself, but either way I'm back stamping. I'm no longer a demo, but I'm hoping to change that in the near future too......Guess it depends on how much begging I can do to get hubby to agree! Anyway, keep an eye out, I may have a few things to show you very soon! (By the way, since I haven't bought any stamps or supplies since I left Germany, some of my items may be retired. Please forgive me. Like I said, it's been a rough year or so.)