Storytime at Jim's Pizza Chalet

Our library has a great kids program. Every month there is a Family Fun night for the entire family/kids 3 and up. October is Pizza month so every October, Bev, the head children's librarian has some kind of "pizza" night. This October the library took a field trip to a newly opened Pizza place in our little town. Each kid got to go into the back and make their own pizza, watch it be placed in the oven and then of course eat it when it was done. While they waited for their turn, Bev read stories that of course invovled PIZZA! Even though it was rainy and cold last night, there was still at least 20 or so kids there to make pizzas! Here are just a few shots of my kids making pizza at Jim's Pizza Chalet!

Jorden and Benjamin waiting patiently for their sisters to get 'cleaned' before starting the pizzas.

Making their own cheese Pizzas.

Carmen watching her pizza being next in line to bake.

Everyone enjoying their pizzas.

Jorden enjoying her pizza. And yes, she ate it all!!

Tractor transfer and Harvest card

How fitting that the two things I have to share actually could go together! I was asked by a dear friend down the road if I would make her son a John Deere birthday cake for this past Saturday. We discussed details and nitty gritty stuff and came to the conclusion that i would make a transfer and she would make a sheet cake. No problem. Here is what I did for her: She put the finishing touches on it at home. Hopefully she will send me a picture of what it looked like all finished so I can post it for ya'll.

Today's Featured Stamper 90 was SpeedyStamper otherwise known as Kay. I decided to case this card of Kay's. I changed the colors and image and left off the cording. I wanted a Harvest card as I have a swap due that I thought I could use the card for if i liked how it turned out. I used the Autumn Vine Designer Series paper, out of SU's Holiday Mini catalog, for the strips. Canvas is stamped on the Really Rust background. The pumpkins/gourds were all masked and then watercolored in with ink. Distressed the edges with more mustard and chocolate chip ink. The sentiment "happy harvest" is from Loads of Love Accessories. Used the stamp-a-ma-jig to get it to line up right beside each other as the stamp is actually 2 lines. Fit into the word window punch perfectly. Distressed with the same inks and adhered with dimensions.

I like how it turned out so now I have to make 16 card fronts for the swap I'm in! :)

stamp: Autumn Harvest, Loads of Love accessories, Canvas; paper: chocolate chip, very vanilla, more mustard, really rust, autumn vine dp; ink: black stazon, pumpkin pie, more mustard, chocolate chip, garden green; accs: word window punch, aqua painter, dimensions, sponge

Design Team Call

Have you dreamed about working for an adhesive company?
Then this call is for you.
Helmar Australia is coming to America!!
Check out Tracy's blog for more details.

No, I am not a part of this team but
you can bet your bottom dollar I am trying out.
I got to try these products first hand at the
Summer CHA and fell in love with them.
But since I am such a nice person
I am passing the word on to my American/Canadian friends!

Best of luck to those of you that try out.

Your nicest friend,

Amber

Owls for Christmas?

Yes, I'm playing catch up my blog today. Was a sick/busy week and stamping and blogging had to take a back seat for a while. I did manage to stamp a little on Wend as I love to do the sketch challenge and needed a break from cleaning!

I combined the sketch 199 with the color challenge 189 with the MFT Wends. day challenge! whew! MFT's challenge was to use the new Stephanine Fizer images if you had them with sparkle of some sort.

I picked the owls and stamped them twice in black stazon. Using watercolor crayons, I colored them in and blended them with the aquapainter. Once again I cut out one set of owls and popped them up on the other owls with dimensions. I applied stickles to the hats and ornaments for my sparkle and distressed the image with pink/chocolate ink. I had a piece of Pretty in Pink laying around that had been run through the cuttlebug so I made it fit for the piece down the side of the card. On the bottom strip, I did some faux stitching. I distresssed all the bottom pieces of each layer.

I made faux brads which i will be doing a tutorial.

stamp: Owls by Stephanine Faiser by MFT; ink: black stazon; paper: pretty in pink, chocolate chip, kiwi kiss; accs: watercolor crayons, aquapainter, dimensions, sponge, stickles, cuttlebug, marker, faux brads

November is almost and here and do you know what that is?? My 1st year blog anniversary!!! I am thinking blog candy but right now I have no clue what. What is your favorite kind of blog candy??

Baby Wash day

I was at the library last week for my little one's story time. When checking out, the head librarian asked me if I ever made cards for anyone to buy. Of course I replied, what do you need? Turns out she needed a baby girl card. No problem, I'll get right on it.

Well of course there was a problem... I have close to none baby stamps!! lol (or so I thought, realized later on I have one set) After a quick call to my mom to borrow her baby set, I thought and thought and thought, went away for the weekend and still thought of what style of baby card I was going to do. I was hitting a blank spot with the set from my mom when it hit me... I still have the Wash Day jumbo wheel that retired from Stampin' Up!

So I sat down on Monday to make the card. The Try new Technique 191 was to use watercolor pencils and blend the color with Twinkling H2O's. And to have some pink in the card as SCS was going pink this week in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. No problem, I have H2O's, I can do this challenge... now for my layout... hmmm .... wait, I didn't get to do the Featured Stamper as we were away for the weekend so let me look through ink-e's gallery and see if anything jumps out at me. Here is the card I cased. I changed stamp sets, colors and instead of tearing the bottom, I used the scallop punch.

I ran my wheel over my black stazon ink pad and wheeled across my white cardstock. I actually did this two times on seperate pieces. I colored both images the same but only used H2O's on one of them. The one I used the H2O's on, I cut out each piece of clothing and placed them ontop of the other image using dimensionals. Now before I added the clothing, I used the cloud stencil with Bashful Blue ink and put in the sky. It's amazing how when doing the stencil it doesn't look that great but when you are all finished... WOW... you have a sky!! I love this sky... I could stare at it all day long! On the flowers, I added flower soft adhered with crystal effects.

stamp: wash day jumbo wheel (retired), warmest regards; paper: pretty in pink, black, purple; ink: black stazon, bashful blue; accs: prismacolor watercolor pencils, scallop edge, white gel pen, cloud stencil, flower soft, brads, photo corner punch, dimensions, ribbon

Now you might be wondering what I ended up selling this for to the librarian and I'm almost ashamed to adimt how much as I'm sure you will say i'm crazy! But I sold it for $3.50. Yes, I'm sure she would have paid more for it but as we have discussed just in the post below in all your comments, it's so hard to put a price on handmade items. So do you think I was crazy for charging her only $3.50 instead of $5.00?

Merry Christmas Ranch

I asked a dear friend if she wanted to buy any Christmas cards from me this year. She jumped at the chance and told me what she was looking for: Outdoorsie or horsie Christmas cards. I sent her one idea but still wanted to try another idea with a horse stamp that my mom has.

Last week's Limited Supply gave me the oppurtunity to make the card even though I should have been packing as we went away for the weekend! The Limited Supply was to use the color blue somewhere, one piece of design paper (only one side if it was double sided), any stamps but we had to have eyelets/ribbon as our only embellishments. It was okay to leave the ribbon off but we had to have the eyelets!

I stamped the horses and masked them, taking the tree from Lovely as a Tree, i stamped off and off and off. Used the cloud stencil for the sky. Took a versamarker and made 'snow' that is white embossing powder. And of course I had to destress as I wanted that country feel too it! I managed to sneak the eyelets in on the 'ranch' sign: Merry Christmas. The design paper is 2 layer and is blue.

So what do you think? Would you be proud to hand this to your friends and families for Christmas? Now to figure out how much to charge for 25-30 cards.. any tips/ideas??

stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Rubber Cottage Horses at a Fence, Treehouse "merry Christmas"; ink: distress ink, always artichoke, chocolate chip, bashful blue; paper: chocolate chip, always artichoke, design paper; accs: eyelets, versamarker, white embossing powder, cloud stencil

Like I said, we went away for the weekend. I will be posting pictures of the weekend some time this week. Will probably be a slide show as I took over 200 pictures but don't worry, I won't put all of them in the slide show! lol

Sympathy card and RAK request

I know most of you are members of a great group called Splitcaoststampers. We are like one big happy family. Well one of our family members is hurting right now and I am asking if you could find it in your heart to send her a RAK.

Vicky Gould lost her husband early this morning unexpectantly. There is a thread on SCS in the Request a Card forum if you want to leave Vicky a message.

Here is my card that I will be sending to Vicky. I used all Treehouse stamps along with Flannel Plaid and Linen. The Flannel Plaid is once again for the Ways to Use it challenge "Plaids". I used Treehouse Stamps as Vicky is also a design team member along with me. I used Home Grown, the flower was stamped on watercolor paper and watercolored with inks,and Elegant Sentiments. The colors come from Ashley's Brainwave challenge of Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango (I used Pumpkin Pie), Chocolate Chip and Tempting Torquise (which I left off).


I really like how the card turned out and hope it brings Vicky comfort in the days to come. If you would like to send her a card, please leave me a comment with your email address and I will email you her address as I don't feel right posting it on here. (since I have to approve the comments, if you don't want the world to see your email addy, tell me in the comment and I won't approve your comment) If I don't answer, feel free to pm anyone of the ladies that left posts on the thread as they all have her address too. Just tell them Amber aka Bambi64 (my splitcoaststamper name) sent you.

MFT Challenges and a shoe box

MFT's What's Up Wednesday challenge was to use "Window Shopping" and a box. I'm not really a box person so this was really a challenge for me. I used design paper for the bottom of my box that is 8 1/2 by 8 1/2, scored at 2 1/4 on all sides. The lid uses the the five in one card cover by SU. I stamped the shoe on different colored cardstocks and placed it around the scallop edges with faux stitching. The top is all paper pieced! Starting with the lady and her dress to the window that is vellum to the shoes underneath that are all cutout and attached to the blue background! And don't forget the River Rock box stands for the shoes to be on!

Close up of the lid.

Box and card.

This box will hold cards that are the 3 1/2x3 1/2. And here is the first one of the cards. I used MFT's sketch for today along with Ways to use it challenge of "Plaids". Once again the layout was way out my norm as it involved circles. I used SU's Flannel Plaid on the Bashful Blue and Close to Cocoa. Distressed the edges of the entire card and pieces with close to cocoa. Masked the shoe over and over on the big circl and added an extra circle with a pair of shoes in the middle. Rhinestones on the side finish off my card. The scallops were made with my mini scallop scissors.

Another plug for Braden's

I just have to post this. I've been doing some work for hubby and he was so kind to run down to our local coffee shop, Braden's, that I raved about in an earlier post. Here is my Chocolate Peanut Butter Frozen Latte. (Don't drool on your screen too much!)

Mittens, Bikers and Cupcake Cake

What a title, huh? A few things have happened over the past few days so I figured i'd lump them all into one post as they are non stamping related.

Mom and I try to take a walk every morning after the kids leave for school. You never know what will come up in our conversations or what ideas the walk may inspire. (Like the time mom found a dead toad and had to make a card with it!) Sometimes we even find money... those are the good walks!! lol

This time though was a little different. We were crossing the street and saw a couple parking their tandom bicycle at our local coffee shop, Braden's Cafe & Sweets.

If you are ever in the area, You have to stop at Braden's, they are located right on State Route 36 (or Main Street). They have the best frozen lattes, cappuccinos, hot lattes and smoothies. My favorite this summer was the Chocolate Peanut Butter frozen latte. And now the hot Pumpkin Pie latte! Their Chai Latte is good too! And their Real Cream and Butter Fudge is to die for.. they sell it all year round. And did I mention their Gelato and Sorbettos (Italian Ice Cream)? (yes, sometimes we'll get a coffee on our walk but not usually... now my night walks with my girlfriends is a different story!!) Now you know why we really walk!! lol

Anyways I digress, back to the bikers...... Walking past them a passerby asked where they were from and they mentioned they had started in Minneapolis! We are in West Central Ohio.

Mom and I were both like "man, we need to carry our cameras with us" when mom remembered she had her camera in the van! So after our walk she went back down to the coffee shop (yes, without me!) to see if they were still there and they were! So as she puts it, she asked a zillion questions but I don't think she asked their names! lol

They are from Eastern Washington, not far from Walla Walla. They'd flown to Minneapolis with their bike in 2 suitcases and were on their way to a wedding in Louisville. They've ridden from Disneyland (California) to Disneyworld (Flordia), the Louis and Clark trail, toured Europe!

Mittens/Hat/Scarf

Most of you know that my mom, Dawn, owns llamas. Those of you that don't, you do now! lol She spins their fiber and knits hats, scarves, mittens, socks, etc. Did you know you dye fiber with Kool-Aid? Yup, you can, check out this blog post to see what the fiber looked like before my mom dyed it. So anyways she made a set of mittens/hat/"Tucked" scarf for my 3 yr old niece. Well Leah wasn't in the mood to model them so that mom could post them on her blog so she came back to my place (after talking to the bikers) to see if Jorden would model them. It took a few tries before Jorden turned on the charm. She had no problem giving them back either as she knows she'll get her own pair in Pinks!



Cupcakes, anyone?

This year the school had Harvest parties instead of Halloween parties and for some reason they had the Harvest party today! (seemed a little early in the month to me but okay) Now I am known through the school for my cupcake cakes. Infact the teachers call them "Famous Cupcake Cake" So of course I have to point this out to the head room mothers and try to get my cupcake cakes in whenever I can. This year I made one for my son's Kindergarten class. He picked the coloring page he wanted and colored it the colors he wanted me to use. (I always do this with my kids, let them have input on the cake I am taking to their class) So here is my "Famous Cupcake Cake":
30 cupcakes are underneath and I came home with none and possibly birthday orders! (sorry for the brightness in the middle, darn flash) I even had a 4th grader upset that I wasn't their head room mom as they wanted a cupcake cake for their party! (I'm in the process of doing a slide show of all my cakes I have done, be watching for that on the side.)

Customer Monogram gift

Last month I promised the first five Stampin' UP! orders a special gift from me. I knew what I was going to do but was stuck with what to put on the front. Today's Ways To Use It 187 challenge was to use Monograms. Perfect!!

I used Letterpress Alphabet and Brushstroke Alphabet for my monograms. (I know they are retired but it's all I have) I'm stuck on Urban Garden design paper, Kiwi Kiss and Basic Gray. I also used Kiwi Kiss striped ribbon. Rectangle scallop punch and a few layers added to it for the monogram.

The orginal directions can be found here thanks to Patti. I am going to give you the directions here too as I changed most of the measurements but like two.

You will need a 7 7/8 x 5 1/2 piece of plain cardstock for the cover. Score at 3 5/8 and 4 1/8.

My basic gray was cut 5 3/8 x 3 10/16 and layered with Urban Garden dp that was 5 2/8 x 3 9/16. you don't have to layer, layer like I did nor do you have to use design paper. Stamp the cardstock instead if you like.

Inside:

For Calendar background you will need a contrast color (I used the same dp), stamp if desired. My piece was 2 5/8 x 3 1/2. I got my calendar from here on Splitcoast and added the brads all the way through the design paper too.

For the Paper Clip Holder you will need a 2 x 1 contrast piece of paper or smaller. (still dp for me) Fold 1/2 inch on either side and place about 4 down from top, lining edges up with the calendar paper layer. To make the paper clip, I use the smallest circle on the coluzzle for my monogram. The next size bigger for the back layer which I used the 3/16" corner round punch on. Don't forget a matching back piece. I attached them together with sticky tape.

For the Index Cards (Page markers) You will need 2 1/4 x 2 3/8 ( I think this is the only measurement I kept the same as Patti beside the main cardstock piece). Score at 1/4 inch on 3 sides. Attach beside the paper clip holder. Take care not to get it overtop of your paper clip holder or you will have a hard time getting your page markers in the pocket. To make the Index card page markers, cut the cards down to 2 1/2" x 1 1/2". Use the slit punch.

I cut down jr legal size notepads to fit. Covered the top with contrast color, Urban Garden dp, and attached to the 'booklet' with sticky tape just at the top. Pen holder piece can be made as big or as small as you want it. It's attached to the 'booklet' with sticky tape too.

To tie it all off (no pun intended!! lol) I cut two slits in the score and slipped my ribbon through it. The booklet doesn't try to stay open but I felt this was a way to keep it closed even better. Plus it just finishes off the project even more.

This is just one of the five done. I will post a picture when I get the other 4 done as I will be using the other pieces of Urban Garden design paper for them. Have I mentioned love that paper?

Now I have to get busy making cupcakes for my son's Harvest party at school tomorrow. Pictures of the cupcake cake will be coming soon!!

Kindess Chiocolate Kisses

Today's sketch 197 had me stumped for a bit until I remembered I had this set: "Heard from the Heart", of course I only had one sentiment mounted and the one I wanted to use was not it! Thank goodness for SU starting to go die cut, saved on mounting time!

I also combined the sketch with the color challenge 187 which was Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss (Old Olive),Tangerine Tango(Pumpkin Pie). (Hence the title Chocolate Kisses) I used the Kiwi Kiss side of Urban Garden as my background and built around it and the sentiment that was stamped in Chocolate Chip. I sponged on Old Olive around the sentiment as I don't have Kiwi Kiss ink. I stamped Sanded in Chocolate Chip on the Chocolate Chip. Used the notched punch and silver brads for the corners. Canvas is stamped on the Pumpkin Pie as I don't have Tangerine Tango. Used the striped Kiwi Kiss ribbon and tied Chocolate Chip ribbon on to it in two spots.

stamp: Heard from the Heart, Canvas, Sanded; paper: Urban Garden dp, chocolate chip, pumpkin pie, vanilla; ink: chocolate chip, old olive; accs: brads, kiwi kiss ribbon, chocolate chip ribbon, sponge

I have to say you guys are cracking me up with your comments on my "Most Dangerous Choclate Cake EVER!" BUT I have to ask.. How many of you have actually made it though?!! :) If you haven't... go make it! You haven't lived until you do. *snicker*

Workshop cards

After searching through SCS and blogs, I came up with the ideas that i would use for my workshop. Yes, I case cards for my workshops sometimes, that's what SCS and blogs are for. I do change the images or colors or add a little extra myself.

Friend to Friend

When looking through the Pocket Silhouettes gallery, I came across this card that I just loved. Problem, I didn't have the Bella Rose design paper nor the Kiwi Kiss ink! Well not a problem really as I just change colors. (But I do like that Bella Rose!) So I went with one of my favorite color combos Brocade Blue and Chocolate Chip. I stamped Canvas on the Brocade Blue, stamped the flowers in chocolate chip off first before stamping as I didn't want them so strong. Added one of the sayings from the set at the bottom and added dots in the scallops. Hard to tell but there is a second scallop under the white scallop edge.

stamp: pocket silhouttes, canvas; ink: brocade blue, chocolate chip; paper: white, chocolate chip, brocade blue; accs: scallop edge punch, brocade blue marker

You're on my mind

I used this card for my inspriation. I liked the clean, crisp look of it but wanted more 'white' on my card. So I did the faux embossing with the stamp. Picked a white card base with Urban Garden paper that had lots of white in it.

stamp: Upsy Daisy; paper: basic gray, white, kiwi kiss, Urban Garden design paper; ink: basic gray, craft white; accs: kiwi kiss ribbon

Happines Today and Always

When I was blog hopping, I came across some cards on Joanne's blog that I just loved. Of course I didn't have the stamps, cardstock that she had used so I designed the card around what i did have but kept her layout.

I used Heard from the Heart, Urban Garden design paper, Kiwi Kiss ribbon, basic gray cardstock and kiwi kiss cardstock. I sponge Baja Breeze onto the vanilla, layered it onto basic gray and kiwi kiss (I think I need to buy some Baja Breeze cardstock!). The kiwi kiss was scalloped with the scallop edge punch and the white gel pen was used for dots. It's a little hard to tell but the base of the card is kiwi kiss. Basic Gray is layered under Urban Garden.

stamp: heard from the heart; ink: black, baja breeze; paper: urban garden design paper, basic gray, kiwi kiss, white; accs: kiwi kiss ribbon, sponge

So which card is your favorite? I think "Happiness today & always" is mine.