Simon Says Stamp February Kit 2020

Every month I look forward to receiving my Simon Says Stamp kit. It doesn’t disappoint and this months is no exception. The following are my first card makes, of many, from this kit.

Spacing Saving Stamp Storage

I own so many stamps! I have more stamps in my craft room than Michael’s and Hobby Lobby combined! I had to find a way to store them so I could still easily locate what I wanted. In a previous post, I shared how I store my Heartfelt Creation and Stamps of Life sets and it still works very well. However, I needed a way to store all the other wonderful sets I was accumulating. So  in this post I will share my solution.

My Crafty Clubs

There are so many crafty clubs offered. Each of them have a variety of products and perks. In this post I am going to share with you which clubs I am enrolled in, what I like about them, and some of my recent makes with the club products.

Card Club 2020 – January

What a wonderful kick off for our January Card Club! We had a wide variety of skill levels present from a first time maker to a former Stampin’ Up rep. A huge thanks to all those that could make it.

Our first project was a fun card with an 80’s vibe. Everyone made two of these. It was nice to see all the creative versions our group produced. Donna’s reminded me of Country time Lemonade on a summer day.

Fast, fun, and easy with rainbow strips pre cut and and adhesive backed LOVE YOU from Stamps of Life.

Fun Creations from Tutorials and Classes

Hello crafty friends! Even when I take a break from blogging, I never stop creating “for the fun of it.” In this post, I’m highlighting a couple of projects that I completed during a blogging hiatus. The Graphic 45 Safari Album turned out beautifully and was fun to make. Since finishing this one, I’ve been inspired to create several more! So . . .

Coloring with Pencils

Hello, hope you are all continuing to have a great summer and enjoying the heat! In this post I am going to attempt to share with you my method for coloring with colored pencils. It may turn out to be a long post, so I’m going to jump right into it.

Winking Frogs- A Heartfelt Collection

Hello everyone. The month of May was filled with travel.We spent time in Indiana, Arizona, and France. I loved every minute but it is great to be back. Now that I am home, laundry is done and food is back in the kitchen, I can get back to my first love, paper-crafting!

In and around the many trips in the car and to airports, I eked out some time to make a few Winking Frog cards from the Heartfelt Creation Winking Frog Collection. Thankfully  I had a whole container of pieces from the collection already colored, die cut, and ready to go. So it was easy to sit down and put together some fun cards. I chose a selection of dies and stamps to accompany my sweet frogs and got to work.

Mass Production of Encouraging Cards

Welcome back everyone! I appreciate all the traffic on my site and the wonderful comments. Recently my Bible study group decided to start visiting local nursing homes to encourage the residents. Of course I took this as a wonderful opportunity to use some of those fantastic encouraging stamps that I own and made several cards that we could sign and leave for residents to enjoy. The following steps are how I went about creating 10 cards in one afternoon.

Retreat Treat!

The Joys of Scrap Retreats

One of the nicest things a crafter can do for themselves is attend a crafting retreat! I can’t even begin to share with you all of the benefits, but I will try. First of all, having 3 or 4 days to focus on creating, without constant interruptions, is fantastic. In addition to that the camaraderie of spending quality time with talented people is immeasurable.  I have learned so many techniques from fellow retreaters. When I was first starting out in  paper crafting, a dear friend at a retreat taught me how to use my cricut personnel cutter. Then in more recent years, a fellow crafter taught me the basics of making book bindings for mini albums. Video tutorials are handy, but nothing compares to one-on-one, hands-on instruction. Sharing ideas and being inspired by others creativity helps me reach new levels in my crafting.

How to Store Stamp / Die Combos

Have you ever wasted hours of crafting time searching for the exact stamp or die your wanting? Effective storage can be a challenge for all crafters and by effective I mean “being able to put my hands on it when I want it” effective. For years I fought with different ways of trying to store my stamps with matching dies. Nothing seemed to work for all my stamp/die combos. A few years ago, I stumbled upon a method that really works. You can get started with a just a few easy to find materials.