tea-drinking stamper

Grandchildren are so precious! Wallets are not condusive to carrying photos anymore, so I have used my Top Note Die to make my own mini album. I just redid the cover because the embellishments I had had on the original cover were coming off. That one was prettier, but not when pearls began to be missing. So Idecided to keep this one simple. This image is part of the Sweet Shop Product Suite. I though the saying "You're So Sweet" was perfect when referring to my grandchildren. While I'm at it, I might as well show you my precious grandchildren. Kyah, below, is my youngest (for now) grandchild. She will have a baby sister any day now. She is now 2 years old (such a fun age) and just potty trained. Daughter and husband (Meredith and Adam) are ready for a road trip with Kyah as soon as the birth mom goes into labor. So exciting! Since I babysit while Meredith visits patients (she's a home health physical therapist), I can expect some busy days ahead! This is my middl...

When demonstrator's on Aly Schilling's team qualify for Grand Achievers' Day, we treated to a day or evening where we make great projects. This year, we made a 6-inch scrapbook without the album. You'll see by the last picture that we assembled the pages, all inserted in page protectors) with rings and ribbons. The photos below begin with the cover followed by tw0-page spreads. The final picture shows the assembled "album". I chose the letter "f" for "family". Sorry about the reflections from the chandelier above the table where I took these pictures. Can't believe we never used the Big Shot! It was great fun.

This is the winter scrapbook page we made at my September workshop. Not that we were looking forward to winter, but knowing it would come. The snowmen dancing across the top of the page are from the Button Buddies set (I love that set! it comes with 8 images that just pop when buttons are added). Notice one of them has a button belly with mini brads through the button holes. Naturally, the snowflake is cut with the Big Shot. Can I ever avoid using the Big Shot? And to think I bought it reluctantly! Products Used: Button Buddies Stamp Set, W 122735, $29.95; C 122737, $21.95 Pacific Point 12" x 12" Textured Card Stock, 121077, 20 assorted sheets, $11.95 Bashful Blue Card Stock, 105120, $6.95, 24 sheets, 8½" x 11" Whisper White 12" x 12" Smooth Card Stock, 124302, $5.95, 12 sheets Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack, Subtles Collection, 117152, $21.95, 40 (12" x 12") sheets Mini Brads (200), 122941, $5.50

At a recent workshop, we made one Christmas card and one scrapbook page, although not the page shown on this post. I wanted to show this particular group how cards and scrapbooks are related, how the design of one lends itself to the design of another. When demonstrating this scrapbook page, I actually used Dotto for the various elements so I could take them apart and place them differently for each aspect of the scrapbook page. I should have photographed them in steps before placing everything permanently on the 12"x12" page. Anyway, I started with the Wild Wasabi 6"x6" square page made similar to the card front. If you look closely, you can see where that page is. I then added that to the Real Red 8½"x11" page, although I had the photo with Uncle Andrew centered on the card stock. I then moved it over and added the rest of the elements to the 12"x12" Wild Wasabi. The small picture of my daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter and granddog was part ...

I don't take the time to photograph many scrapbook pages, but I was really pleased with this 2-page spread created for my "Wow Board" for our team's recent stamping retreat. I used the spectacular Groom's Specialty Paper (116478, 13.95) on the outsides, edged them with scalloped Real Red card stock and tied with Whisper White satin ribbon. Too bad you can't see the textured design and sheen of the specialty paper in this picture. I even cut the letters from the Groom's paper using the Stampin' Up! Simple Letters die (115960, $89.95) for the Big Shot die cut machine (113439, $99.95). The bird and the flowers spread across the pages are from the hostess stamp set, Wings of Friendship. I used the poppin' pastels technique to bring out the colors of the image on Basic Black card stock: Stamp the design with Whisper White craft ink (101731, $7.50) and then apply pastel chalks (Stampin' Pastels, 105542, $24.95) with the provided applicators or cotto...

I just love the mini brag book I've designed! The idea came from another demonstrator team member, Jen Rios-Raner, but this is my take on it. Made with the Top Note and Birds & Blooms dies for the Big Shot, designer series paper, Whisper White card stock, chip board, jumbo brads, and ribbon, this little book is perfect for my purse. All I need to do is add a few pictures and maybe even some journalling! Can't wait for my grandsons' latest school pictures to arrive. And it's one of the items I'm teaching at my class Halloween morning.

May is Scrapbooking month! I decided to put together a scrapbook for a co-worker's wedding gift using, of course, Stampin' Up products. For these 6"x6" pages, I have used the Love Stories simply scrappin' kit along with a few stamps, punches, ribbons and other embellishments. I'm including some sample pages below, beginning with the title and closing pages. After those two, all pairs are facing pages in the scrapbook. This turned out to be a very ambitious project and took me longer than I expected. The album came with 10 page protectors (or 20 pages) and I ordered an additional 20 protectors, so I created 60 pages in all! Wow! I hope she has fun adding pictures to this album.