Third of Three

Well friends, I'm completely pooped! I went on my first run (training for the marathon, remember? Click on my button and help me get to Seattle!) tonight. OK, I walked a little ways, but I did my best to keep moving, and that's what it's all about, right? First thing on my docket for tomorrow (after physical therapy for my shoulder of course) is to get myself some proper running shoes. My nearly seven year old Nike's aren't going to cut it I'm afraid!

Enough of that though, I think we all know the REAL reason I'm posting tonight... Yep, installment number three of three in the Simply Lovin kit. I did plenty of work on the papers and all, but the embellishments is where I really went a tad crazy I think.

Hope you enjoy it. Right now though I've got to get a shower and hit the hay. Busy day of shopping tomorrow!

Part Two of Three!

Here it is ladies (and gentlemen if you are out there)! I hope your weekend is going fantabulous thus far! Here is your second installment of Simply Lovin'. More papers at this point, but sometime this week I'll have the elements loaded as well for your viewing - and scrapping - pleasure! Click the pic to download!

I hope you've all noticed my new little white button on the left side of your screen. Please help support me in my efforts to run a really stinkin' long marathon! Click the button, donate something to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma society and help me get to Seattle in June '09!

Recovery

As some know, though most of you don't, I am recovering from shoulder surgery in December. After about a month of not being able to reach my mouse I've finally progressed far enough in physical therapy that I can be on the computer again! YAY!! So last night I started working on a kit and somehow it's grown quite large. I'll offer it up in pieces over the next few days, so be sure to check back for more!


To download the first paper pack simply click on the pic!

The complete kit contains:

• Papers - 18
• Journal Box - 2
• Ribbons - 6
• Flowers - 3
• Buttons - 3
• Clips - 6
• Photo Corners - 3
• Bows - 3
• Charms - 6
• Labels - 5
• Frames - 6
• Gem Circles - 6

I hope you enjoy it and check back soon for more!

Missouri Sales Tax Holiday!

Good news! Several states' legislatures have passed a special sales tax holiday during specific dates in August. During this period, sales tax does not apply to school supplies. The participating states typically define school supplies as any item normally used by students in a standard classroom for educational purposes.

Missouri: August 3-5

By placing your orders during these dates, you can take advantage of this tax holiday and make purchases without sales tax. What a wonderful opportunity to save some money on stamping and paper crafting supplies!

Based on state statutes, we've identified the items that will be exempt from sales tax in these states during the period. Stampin' Up! will not charge sales tax for these items ordered during this sales tax holiday.

Adhesives

• 2-Way Glue Pen
• Liquid Glue
• SNAIL Adhesive
• SNAIL Refill
• Dotto
• Dotto refill
• Anywhere Glue Stick
• Sticky Strip
• Stampin' Dimensionals
• Mini Glue Dots
• Pop-Up Glue Dots
• Greeting Glue
  

Scissors

• Paper Snips
• Craft & Rubber Scissors
• Craft & Paper Scissors

Brushes

• Stipple Brushes
• Flat brush
• Medium brush
• Small brush

Pens and Pencils

• Metallic Art pencils
• Pure color pencils
• Watercolor pencils
• Pencil sharpener
• Uni-ball Signo Gel Pen
• ZIG PaintyBlender pen

Water Color Wonder Crayons

• Bold Brights
• Earth Elements
• Rich Regals
• Soft Subtles
• Neutrals

Markers and Jorunalers

• Stampin' Kids markers
• Stampin' Write markers - You can purchase these individually, but not as the set.
• Basic Black Stampin' Write journaler
• Basic Brown Stampin' Write journaler

Call or email me today to place your order and I will hold that order until the tax holiday!

Scrapbooking and Stuff

Wouldn't you know it but Saturday it began to snow again. For the second week in a row church was cancled. I've been missing my time there, and have been a little frustrated that I can't follow through on my new years resolution to magnify my callings and to attend church more regularly. I guess Heavenly Father has other plans for me! So I'll have to be patient and hope the weather cooperates next week!

I was so excited that there was enough of a break in between storms to go to the Pamper Me Crop at the LSS on Friday night. Somehow I managed to wrangle my folks into watching David for me, and I was ready to roll. It just so happened that I got my January Scrapbook Kit from Treasured Scrapbooking that very afternoon so I had plenty to play with! Yay me! I only ended up spending $2 on cardstock! Amazing!

I manged to sit at a table with two of the nicest croppers I've ever happened upon! We had a lot of fun, and it was really neat to see other people's process for creating a layout. The ladies with me and I all had totally differnt styles of putting a page together, and they couldn't seem to believe that I was scrapbooking without pictures! LOL. I had planned on going home and taking some pics of myself for Tim anyway, and was going to make duplicates for the scrapbook. It ended up that I found older pics just begging to be put on the pages instead!

So I'm pretty happy with my layouts. They're very basic, but that's OK. This isn't even all of them. I still have two more to add pictures to. The two layouts without titles I need to work on. I can't think of a thing to title them. If you have any suggestions go ahead and post them here! This is driving me crazy!

Until then, happy scrapping!

Man oh man did I get a ton of emails and posts since yesterday and all of them wanting the same thing… Instructions for the card below! Wow! Glad glad glad that everyone likes it! I was sure impressed with myself when I completed it! (And even as amazing as it looks on the computer it’s 110% better in real life! So anyway, here’s my tutorial on how to make this card!


Polished Stone
Materials:

• 3 different Alcohol inks (I used Terra Cotta, Wild Plum and Currant)


• Krylon Copper Leafing Pen


• Glossy Cardstock


• Felt Dauber (called a “stomper” locally)


• Alcohol Ink Blending Solution

Instructions:

• Randomly dot glossy cardstock with Copper Leafing Pen


• Apply three or four drops of each color to felt dauber, and add some blending solution


• Smoosh all over paper being sure to cover all the white spots. It’s OK if the Copper Leafing mixes in a little.


• Once the cardstock is completely covered hold bottle of blending solution above the cardstock and allow to drip. This will scatter the ink and pen, leaving a marbleize effect.


• The higher you hold the bottle when you drip it the larger the splots are going to be.

This same thing can be accomplished using Stampin’ Up! supplies. Rather than alcohol inks, use reinkers, and substitute rubbing alcohol for blending solution! You’ve got it made!

Have fun, and feel free to email me if you have any questions!

Busy Busy Busy

I've not forgotten you! I have been dieing to get on line again the past couple of days and all for nothing! The power went out shortly after my last post. It was only out for about 10 hours - which is good considering some people in Springfield and other local towns are still without power! Then, nearly as soon as we got power on again we lost cable - which is how we have our internet. So I've been fretting and fuming trying to get myself on line again. 90% of my business is conducted on line, and when that's not available things get a little difficult!

Anyway, now that I'm done complaining, how about I share a layout with you? This one, titled "Cold Play," was taken of David while we were visiting family in Ohio during Christmas. It was FREEZING out, but my uncle cousin and I took David down to the little park by my uncle's house. David had the time of his life, of course, and the weather didn't bother him a bit! Later that same day we left Columbus to fly home! It was great that he got to get some of his energy out before spending hours and hours on plains and in airports!

I used Bazzil cardstock, along with some papers from Basic Grey's Prancer papers. I love Basic Grey patterned paper and absolutely adored that one of the papers had little snow flakes on it! I also used "Snow Spot" from Stampin' Up! along with Stampin' Up!'s silver detail embossing powder to make all the snow flakes!

The small tag is done using Stampin' Up!'s tag punches and the "Faux Metal" technique. I used four coats of the silver detail embossing powder and one layer of the holigram hightlight embossing powder for a holigraphic effect! I then sponged some white stayzon ink lightly around the little snow flake to make it pop. I punched a hole at the top and threaded some silver cord through it. Yay!

I cut the title from the same Basic Grey paper used on the page and also Night of Navy cardstock from Stampin' Up! I used a sponge dauber to place VersaMark ink where I wanted it on the letters, sprinkled it with the same silver detail embossing powder and heat it. I tried to get the powder in the areas of the letter where snow would fall. Turned out pretty in real life, though it's hard to see in the picture.

I got this wonderful sketch from Treasured Scrapbooking. I really like the sketch, and I plan on fipping it to make a left hand page for this layout. I've just not gotten to it yet! lol!

Enchante

Enchante means "Nice to Meet You," or something there abouts, in French. I only took one semester of French in college, and that's one of the few words that stuck with me! So when I decided to do a "Book of Me" it was natural to title it Enchante. (That, and because the name of the paper I used is Enchante from Stampin’ Up!)

This book is intended to be a piece of me handed down to my children. I want them to know what kind of person I was, both growing up, and as an adult. This book is really special to me, and hope that it will be the same to them after I’m gone!

The first thing I did was to remove the wire binding from the book. (I used Stampin’ Up!’s On Board Art Journal for this project!)

For the cover I used Enchante Paper from Stampin’ Up!, Eggplant grosgrain also from Stampin’ Up!, Beaded wire – I bought it ages ago and have no idea who the manufacturer is, but I love the stuff! – and a flower from Prima. I mod-podged the paper on the cover of the journal; then wrapped the ribbon and beaded wire around and tied them off. The Prima was attached using glue dots.

For the pages with journaling I typed them up in Microsoft Word and ran the pages through my printer. I have great hand writing, but making lists and stories that long seems daunting to someone who’s more used to typing than actually writing!

The different subjects I’ve covered (or am going to cover) are as follows:

Vital Statistics
Things I’d Tell a 13 Year Old Me
My Faith
My Accomplishments
My Goals
My Husband
My Children
My Favorite Things
A Letter to My Children

If you have any questions about how the pages were formed, please drop me a line and ask away!

Tomas the Wonder Dog!

Wowza! What a busy day, and I spent MOST of it in my bathrobe!

I was hard to convince David that his new birthday toys needed to be stored in his playroom. That is, after all, the reason one entire room in this house is dedicated to toys - so I don't have to step on legos and all manner of other sharp and painful toys in the dark, in the middle of the night! YIKES and OUCH!

Caught up on some stuff on line today. My "Love You" layout was chosen as Layout of the Day on Treasured Scrapbooking! Yay! I'm so tickled! It's actually been quite a while since I scrapped at all, not counting the two gift albums I helped Mom and Marcia put together for Christmas presents. I may even put another layout together tonight; but I'll have to stick to Stampin' Up! products if I'm ever going to get my contest entries together in time!

Tomorrow though, I'm back to cards again. I'll be headed back in to Stamper's Studio - cause guess who's now on a Design Team?! Yup! Me. I'm going in to play with Kristie's stamps and get some projects put together for submissions. So tonight (after scrapbooking of course) I need to get my gear packed and ready to go. Lets hope I don't get there and have my juices just jam up! Yikes!

So after working on the ‘puter some, and getting nothing done in my own little corner of the house, I got ready for girl scouts. Wouldn't you know that these girls are planning on using their cookie money for a trip to St. Louis?! They just about doubled my work load today in figuring out costs, fees and admission prices. I'm praying that we get some of that good 'ole hometown support happening for us cause my rough estimates put us at $1,230 which is roughly equivalent to 1923 boxes of cookies!

So OK, now on to the wonderdog portion of this post! Thomas was a maniac tonight! Of course he waited to get frisky until I was getting ready for our troop meeting. He was climbing all over David, jumping and nipping at my clothes, running in wild circles and barking, just generally having a grand old time and making a bother of himself. I did manage to get a few shots of him. In the first one he's sitting on David's lap! lol. Poor Davy! The second he's just about to bound around the room again, but its a nice "head shot" anyway!

Have a good evening!

XOXOXOXOXOXO

The Chenoweth household has been gearing up for Valentine's Day in a BIG WAY! Yeah, I know we've got over a month until Love Day hits us, but really, is there ever enough time to make all the things you want to for a holiday? (Plus a good number of our craft items are being sent overseas to a certain someone whom we LOVE above anyone else!)

I started off making the Love Book. It's small, mostly because it needs to be able to fit in a cargo pocket. I used two chipboard hearts picked up at the local scrapbook store and covered them with Bazzil card stock. On a third, smaller heart, I modpodged the pretty patterned paper (Called Devotion from Basic Grey's Blush line) and sanded the edges on all three hearts. This same paper is on the front inside cover of the book.

I made an accordion binding for this book. Remember making fans in primary school? Same theory, cut it to fit the angles of the heart and you're set to go. Attach the binding with sticky tape and then attach the heart pages - trace and cut the large hearts for pages of more Bazzil card stock.

For the closure I attached a strip of taupe Bazzil cardstock to the underside of the small heart and the other end to the inside of the back chipboard heart. I used tiny self adhesive magnets to keep the book closed. They're from Basic Grey as well; I found them at Hobby Lobby for $6. Good buy!

I used Primas and gems, ribbons and glitter (though it doesn't show up in the pics) to decorate the book. I plan on adding in some more self portraits of myself - all in black and white for more drama. That should please the man who's forever begging for recent pictures of me! lol.

I did the card this morning using stamps from Magenta. I absolutely love these stamps, and have quite a few from this company. They're unmounted and stored in CD cases so thankfully don't take up much room! I colored the images in with Prisma colors and attached it to some Stampin' Up! card stock (Regal Rose and Bravo Burgundy.) The small square in the upper left hand corner is popped up with a pop dot. The sentiment was cut using my Cricut with more Bravo Burgundy card stock.

Snow Day

Recently Missouri has received our first snow and it was a NICE one! The storm came first as rain that froze over night. All through the next day we got freezing rain and sleet! Poor David waited as patiently as possible for the snow to play in! Finally over night the snow fell so we woke up December first to SNOW! Yippee! Needless to say Davy was out in it as much as possible!

To commemorate this great first snow, I put together an accordion album. If it seems small that's because IT IS! This mini-accordion book I got at Dub and Sam and I LOVE it! It's small, but that's the point, right? Anyway, I actually bought quite a few of these babies and I'm looking forward to sending them out to the grandparents for small Christmas gifts!

Anyway... back on track...

I started by cutting Stampin' Up!'s Bashful Blue card stock into eight 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 rectangles. I went ahead and attached them before I decorated them, but next time I think I'll decorate first, and attach last!

Next, I stamped snowflakes all over the panels using white craft ink. I only embossed the panel for the front of the book since I have no patients! (On the cover I embossed with Iridescent Ice EP from Stampin' Up!) After the flurries were dried, I went back and sponged on some Bashful Blue ink around all four edges of the panels to give it that "frosted" look.

I used the snowmen from the Festive Favorites stamp set in Bashful Blue on white cardstock; and cut them out because the stamp was too wide for my little mini-book! I inked the edges of the image and embossed with more Iridescent Ice! I also used the little snowman tag from the Festive Favorites set - Bashful Blue on white again! I colored all the hats and scarves in on the snowmen with my (you guessed it!) Bashful Blue marker. On the little tag I used Bashful Blue (who'd a thunk?!) pastels around the snowman to make him seem more white.

I printed all my pictures out on the computer to about 2"x3"; and matted them on Ballet Blue cardstock which I inked around the edges with white craft ink. After they dried I adhered them in the book along with the little poem. I got the poem at my FAVORITE poem and quote site Denny's Poems and Quotes! There are literally MILLIONS of ideas on this site, and well worth a visit!

Anyway, because I'm sure you can't read the poem it says: "Little Nose/ Where did you get that little red nose?/Jack Frost kissed it I suppose./He kissed it once, he kissed it twice/Poor little nose, it’s as cold as ice!" Isn't that cute?! And so fittings since all the pictures in the book were taken of Davy with a pretty red nose and cheeks!

The last thing I did was finish the cover. I used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to place my letters just right. (I used Ballet Blue for the ink.) The last thing I did was stamp a flurry on the ballet blue with the white ink and the punched it out using the 3/4" punch. I punched a hole in the center, attached my eyelet and threaded my elastic band through the hole.

Guess what, that's it!! Not too bad!

Anyway, I hope you like the book, and check back soon to see what I've been up to!

-Merr