Still busy

Wow! I'm so excited! The response to the proposed craft day projects has been excellent. The ladies groups put out displays with several different options for vinyl projects (as well as some sewing, painting, card making & the like). Between the various women's groups I'm processing vinyl for over 325+ projects!

One of the most popular items has been the "Believe" blocks. You can see a picture of it below. It's a little hard to see, but instead of a dot for the "i" in believe--there is a gold star. This believe block is a super easy project to do--perhaps that is why it is so popular. :)

I've also been playing around with more project ideas in my head. I've got a couple of ideas for Halloween (now that I have my orange vinyl) that I'm excited to try out. I'll try & post pictures of a the projects I did last year over the next few days.

Another baby card!

So, I still haven't had time to finish assembling my latest stamped card (using Lizzie Anne Designs' High Hellos). But as I was clearing out my stamp room, I found another baby card. This one was my daughter’s birth announcement. I’ve got a tiny “she’s here” embossed in the corner. By Definition (Stampin' Up!) provides the background. I was careful to make sure love showed up in the top corner of all the announcements. It's a pretty simple color scheme, but it works for an announcement.

Do you have a favorite color combination for baby announcements/cards that is a little unusual, or do you stick with the basics too?

Blog Tag - About Me

So blogspot is having another technical error day. I'm not able to upload photos again.

Instead I'll post my answers to the tag game.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) –Cindy Maxima

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Pumpkin Oreo

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) T-Gun. Oooh I sound vicious.

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) –Celadon Tiger .

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Hannah Houston. Okay not really, but it sounds good, right?

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) – Gun-ti –sounds like a Gungan name unless I stick the hyphen in there like Shaak-ti. (Yes I’m a geek).

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) The Red Smoothie.

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- William Harold

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) Colors Twix.

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) none and none…so I will make up one…Jane Lawrence? or better yet... Jane Peters (after two of my favorite authors, Jane Austen & Elizabeth Peters).

Well, enough silliness for now. I've got to play with the kidlets and run some more orders.

Another Tile Idea

Phew! I made it through last week. I finally got a picture posted of the tile project we did. Blogspot was apparently having problems loading photos for a few days.

This week looks like it will be busy as well. My sister-in-law is expecting and getting very close to her delivery date. Consequently she's got several appointments & a birthing class, so I'll be watching her children a few days this week. My own kids have parent-teacher conferences coming up soon too. (Mom duty first guys!) In addition one of my sweet darlings may be having some food sensitivity issues, so I've got to change his diet. Hopefully this will be a positive thing for everyone. Fortunately, of all the children, he loves the biggest variety of foods. Wish me luck with these changes.

I'm posting a picture of another tile we're creating for one of the craft days I mentioned. It's a good reminder that we should take time to enjoy the things around us--not just muddle through the day/week/month/year (take your pick). :D

So even though you may be busy too, enjoy the small things around you. After all, as I've heard it said, "Any day above ground is a good one." :D

Crunch Time!

Well, it's only a week & a half into October--which means it's crunch time. From now until the holidays are over, we'll be going full-speed with our vinyl projects.

I did manage to stamp a new card for WCMD, but haven't been able to assemble or photograph it yet. (Yes, I'm that busy). :D

One of the reasons we've been so busy is all the craft days we're preparing for. In some places they call them Super Saturdays and in others they are Friday Frenzy. Either way it means a ton of cute new projects!

This new tile is one we've done for a church group. It looks nice sitting on an easel (haven't found one I like yet for my home decor) any time of year, or it could be considered a Christmas decoration.

I'll try and keep you posted on any other new projects we've created. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get them up on our Walls of Wisdom website since our webmaster & his wife just had their first baby. (Congrats guys!)

Looking Back in Time for World Cardmaking Day!

Have you heard about World Card Making Day? I heard about it from Lizzie Anne Designs. I think this a wonderful idea, and I'm going to be entering some new creations in their contest. I just got High Hellos in the mail, and after I take care of a couple of vinyl orders I plan on making up a couple of new cards using that set. I'll post them here when I'm done.

For the last couple of months, I’ve been cleaning out my stamp room. Now that I’m no longer a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, (which I did for 8+ years) I find I don’t need any of my set samplers. I've uncovered some buried treasures as well as some cards that make me laugh. (What were we thinking?)

I’ve been turning a few of the nicer card fronts into full-fledged cards. I think I'll use these are my backup cards when I don’t have time to make new creations.

Now as for those cards that make me laugh--as I’ve been looking back I’ve found some cards I made during my early days into stamping. I remember how awed I felt by the things you could do with Brush markers (see the Thank You sample in which we separated the flower from the verse). I also remember my first attempt at a wedding card and my first foray into spectrum pads. I’m posting them here for you to see. Don’t mock—these are from the days when I had only eight pads, two kinds of paper (white & naturals) and a couple of markers. I've definitely come a long way in style and technique since then.

BTW, all sets copyrighted Stampin’ Up! and are retired. If you’re dying to recreate these masterpieces--I’d be happy to sell you the set if I still have it. :P

Baby Gifts

As I mentioned, I’ve had lots of friends having babies lately. My new favorite gift to give is our Bath Time tin filled with lots of baby bath supplies. The little hippo was designed by Meridith Anne of Lizzie Anne Designs, and licensed for a fee. He’s too cute! This vinyl project started off as wall art for a tub surround in a kid’s bathroom--(which was darling by the way).

One day last year I needed to make a baby shower gift, and I was playing around with different container ideas. I happened to have an empty paint can and voila! The Bath Time Tin was born.

A friend of mine had me make a few for her which she filled with things like bath crayons, colored bubble bath and other things older kids would like in the tub. Her son gave it away as a fun birthday present.

I'm always looking for cute containers to put gifts into, and I love that I can customize them now too.

Back to My Roots Baby!

I've had a lot of friends having babies lately, so I felt the urge to get back to my creative roots and create a simple card to go with their baby gifts. The stamp sets I used are Scrappin Stamps & Scrappin Stamps II from Lizzie Anne Designs. I also used Warmest Regards and I'm Here from Stampin' Up! Inks & paper are Stampin' Up!

I tend to like fairly simple, clean designs in stamping. I love little embellishments (like the flower eyelet) which add some interest and don't detract from the overall picture. I'm that way in decorating my home. Clean lines--no clutter.

Of course when are we ever clutter-free when we've got kids running around?

Still it's a dream I aspire to. :D

It's been a while since I've had time to sit down and stamp. I'm hoping now that school has started back up I might find the occasional 15 minutes to stamp here & there. I'm hoping I'll be able to post slightly more than once a week too.

If you have children, how do you make time for your creative pursuits? Leave a comment--maybe we can give each other some great ideas.

Disney Inspirations

Lizzie Anne Design's Meridith & Tricia's made a recent trip to Disneyland. Their trip inspired me to create some Disney themed ideas. I've posted just three of them here. First idea--The Winnie the Pooh theme song would be a perfect border or text block in a nursery. Second--Mickey Ears (Isabel) or Minnie fonts (Jackson) are fun ways to feature your child's name over their bed(s). Third idea--The Dream quote could go on a wall above a picture from a Disney park.

You could also customize a picture frame (on the glass or actual frame) or a mat board with a name or short phrase.

I've got a ton of Disney photos to go through, so check back in the future for my own completed project.

(See, inspiration really can come from anywhere!)

Spirited Walls for the Sports Fan

You can take inspiration for decorating your walls from pretty much anywhere.

These photos come from my friend's son's room. He is a HUGE football fan. (Though he loves sports in general).

To achieve this look, she first measured the length of each wall. We figured out how much lyric she could have based upon the approximate height she wanted the letters to be as well as the wall space we had to work with.

Then she painted her walls in the school colors, used a laser level to make sure the lyrics were straight, and presto--a fun collegiate sports themed room is born. She added a plaque above some football pictures and some fun pillows as well as drawer pulls and other themed accessories.

Do you have a sports fanatic in your family? Consider doing something similar with their room.