Twas the Night Before Christmas

...and I have one more Christmas project to share! This one was a gift I received from my friend and blog-stalker Diana!

Stinkin' adorable, isn't it?!? I love the bright red-stitched and gingerbread ribbons - so festive!

I hope those of you with little ones are enjoying the anticipation of Christmas morning and hope that they will let you sleep in 'til a decent hour!

Thanks for stopping by!

~~Marilyn~~

Holly Jolly Christmas

I have received some great Christmas gifts this year and am very excited to show them off!

Isn't this totally FABULOUS?? This was a gift from my wonderful downline Jaime. It looks so beautiful sitting on my mantle. :-)

Stop by tomorrow and I'll have another gift to share...

~~Marilyn~~

Stamp Club - Round 4

After a summer hiatus, my stamp club started back up last night! To thank my stampers for joining the next round of club, I always give them a little handmade goody at the first club meeting. Here's what the ladies received:


It has a magnet on the back so that they can post it on their refrigerator or any metal surface so they have some scratch paper handy! I got the idea from a similar project I found online but I adapted the half-box to fit on the scallop square. Stay tuned and I'll be posting our club projects tomorrow - everything was based on Stampin' Up!'s new Color Coach. If color combinations intimidate you, the Color Coach will be a Godsend!

Thanks for stopping by!

~~Marilyn~~

Stamps: Very Vintage jumbo wheel, Vintage Vogue
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Big Shot, scallop square die, jumbo wheel handle, Basic Pearls, oval punch, glue dots, chipboard

Excuse me...

Sorry my blog posts have disappeared this week, but I've been busy coordinating a Sale-a-Bration Stamp Camp. And I'm happy to report that it was a great success! :-) Nearly 100 campers enjoyed a day of card-making with tons of stamped projects on display for inspiration. Two of my favorite pieces are from fellow demonstrators, Jaime Seiter - my one and only fabulous downline :-) - and Susi Brunk:



Now I can hopefully get back on a regular posting schedule, so stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

~~Marilyn~~

Rag Quilt Purse

Have you seen the fabulous rag quilt purses floating around blogs lately?? I've been totally intimidated but after watching a video tutorial by the fabulous Angie Kennedy Juda, I visited the fabric store this evening and gave it a whirl. The project uses the Big Shot machine with the Bigz scallop square die. I scaled mine down a bit in size since it was my first attempt. So please forgive my prototype!


I love, love, LOVE the colors and patterns. There's defnitely a learning curve, especially considering I haven't used my sewing machine in quite a while. It's in the washing machine right now so that the scallops become frayed. Let's hope it comes out in one piece!! If it turns out beautiful, I'll post the final project tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

~~Marilyn~~

First of many??

I have stampin' first tonight - I'm doing a birthday party for my friend's daughter. I planned five projects for the girls including a lunch bag purse that will hold the rest of their goodies - a photo clip, an altered comp book, a tic-tac holder and some mini cards with envelopes. I used retired designer series paper on all the projects - I figured the girls won't care if it's retired or not! And I LOVE that Good Morning Sunshine paper! The colors are so fun without being too girly.

Wish me luck! :-)

Caitlin's birthday

A friend of mine asked me if I would design some projects for her daughter, Caitlin's, birthday party. She's just having 2 girls for a sleepover party and all the girls enjoy crafting.

I found this adorable paper bag purse on Becky Roberts' blog that I thought would be perfect. The girls can make their bags and then we'll do some other projects that will fit inside and that will become their party favor! We're thinking of covering tubes of lip balm, making 3x3 cards with envelopes, small stuff like that. When I showed Caitlin my prototype, she loved it! So now I'm excited to design the rest of the projects. :-)

Stamps: Best Yet
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Good Morning designer series paper, 1-3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch, Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, crop-a-dile, paper bag

Hope

My project today features some retired designer series paper that I really miss - Urban Garden. I had bought a bunch of shadow box frames at IKEA a few years back and hoarded them. What's the point of buying them and then keeping them hidden?! Silly, huh?

The glass is accented with some new Decor Elements called Inspiration. It's a set of four sentiments - life, hope, faith and love. With some serious family medical issues heavy on my mind, the word "hope" called to me. I simply mounted a square of the Urban Garden DSP onto Chocolate Chip cardstock and then cut one of the flower images from another sheet. Using a Versamarker, I lightly shadowed the petals and then layered it onto the DSP with stampin' dimensionals.

Now it's off for display at a friend's house. Enjoy it, Diana!! :-)


Stamps: none
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip
Ink: Versamarker
Accessories: Urban Garden designer series paper, Inspiration Decor Elements, stampin' dimensionals, shadow box frame

Card purse revisited

Remember the fabulous card purse project I CASEd from Julie Buhler? Well, I'm doing an alternate version for my stamp club this month. Instead of holding full cards, I wanted to convert it to a smaller size to hold 3x3 cards and envelopes. So before I tapped into the Parisian Breeze designer series paper I'm using for the club project, I gave it a whirl with Urban Oasis so I could work out the kinks. I also changed it up so it only had one pocket inside. Hope you like my prototype!!



Stamps: Fresh Cuts
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Kraft, Whisper White
Ink: Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Urban Oasis designer series paper, large oval punch, scallop oval punch, word window punch, silver brads, sticky strip, stampin' dimensionals

Flower gift box

I'm continually amazed at the fabulous creativity I find while blog-surfing. Today was certainly no exception. Kerin Sylvester's blog had this adorable gift project, perfect for Mother's Day. With her video tutorial, it was so easy to pull this together.


Now just to find some goodies to fill it with and it's ready to give! Thanks for the inspiration Kerin!!

Stamps: Holidays & Wishes
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Apricot Appeal, Pale Plum, Whisper White
Ink: Pale Plum
Accessories: Bella Rose designer series paper, white organza ribbon, large oval punch, scallop oval punch, Big Shot machine, Daisies #2 die, scallop circle die, stampin' dimensionals