Heartfelt Blooms Stamp Set by Stampin' Up!

Today I made a Sympathy Card for a dear friend. Her Grandmother passed away this week and I wanted to show her how much sorrow I felt for her. Her Grandma was 100 years old! What a fantastic life she had and she was so energetic.  Even though she had a long life, it doesn't lessen the pain of losing your cherish Grandma.  So, today's card is special, just like my friend, I hope it cheers her up a bit. My inspiration for this card came from Connie Collins

What to do when your thinlit and framelit dies don't cut like new?

So recently one of my customers called me to say their Stampin' UP! framelits do not cut like they used to. She thought you had to throw them away and was a bit disappointed. No, you don't have to throw them away, you just have to give them a little bit of TLC. 

First, you need your Big Shot, cutting plates, platform, framelits or thinlits dies and aluminum foil.

Next, you need to make your sandwich and these are the steps:

1. platform
2. cutting plate
3. 2 to 3 layers of aluminum foil covering the die
4. your thinlit or framelit
5. cutting plate

Lastly, you run this sandwich through your Big Shot 2 to 3 times being sure to readjust or re-add your foil, your dies should be good to go just like new.

Here is a YouTube video to show you how: SwirlydoosKits

She gives some great tips!

Mini Coffee Cup

We are having a big snowstorm here today, so what better way to spend my afternoon than to do a little craft, right? Well, here is my mini coffee cup that I have put a little something in for a colleague at work. It is her birthday tomorrow and we always get each other a little something....come check it out!

Here is my finished mini coffee cup and another I have made around Thanksgiving.

Here is the 4 oz cup with lid that I started with

You can find these cups here: Webstaurant Store

Here is my template

You need to use this template and trace it on your desired designer paper or plain card stock. I used Stampin' Up!'s "retired" Sweet Shop DSP.

My DSP

I used my Stampin' UP! Big Shot and my embossing folder to make the lines on the band. 

Then I used my Stampin' Up! 1 3/4" punch for the top

GLUE DOTS!!! Need I say more???

I used Soft Suede, Pool Party, Cherry Cobbler, Calypso Coral,and Daffodil Delight card stock by Stampin' Up! to create my cupcake with the cupcake punch

Cleaning Day!

Well, Friday is always cleaning day in my house. When I leave for work my husband always strips the beds and does the laundry....I know, I know....you have to be kidding right? Well, no. That is one of the perks of a husband who works from home and has his office right next door to the laundry room! So, when I get home from my job, I get my clean on.

my Rosetta

I am telling you all this because I am in the habit of always folding down the toilet paper into a V, but recently I have been a bit creative. Why? Because it is pretty and fun to do and I love how my family thinks I am crazy, or maybe they know when I am creative the the bathrooms are clean...Mom likes them to stay clean, at least for a little while......

Here is a link to a YouTube video on how to make it, it is from Cheryl's 2 Cents' Worth https://youtu.be/XvB02-Q04LA


I am hoping to try out some other ways to creatively make my family laugh with their toilet paper, so stay tuned.......

Leave a comment if you have tried it and let me know what your family thought.

Congratulations Card

Today's card is request I had from a Teacher at work. She needed a card for a couple that has just gotten engaged. 

This is what I came up with. I saw a similar card on Pinterest a long time ago and don't remember from who. Wish I could remember or find it.

I used mostly Whisper White card stock and added some bling with the Silver Glimmer Paper, Basic Jewels, "retired" Whisper White ribbon.

When I make a card, I always make more than one. If you are cutting paper for the one card, you already have the base. So, why not make the other card as well? Right? That way you always have one on hand, just in case you ever need a card in a pinch.

Lavendar Essential Oil

Today I wanted to talk about Lavendar essential oil.  What a powerful oil in such a tiny bottle! I love Lavendar, it is soothing, uplifting and all around great for your diffuser. You can mix it with a carrier oil, add to your favorite aromatherapy necklace/bracelet or gentle enough to use straight from the bottle.

Young Living Lavendar essential oil.

One of my favorite ways to use Lavendar is to use it in my homemade body butter, bath bombs, add a few drops to my face cream at night or even a few drops directly to my daughter's skin in the morning for that extra moisture...and it smells delicious! Always be sure to use 100 % pure essential oil.

As a matter of fact, I sell my favorite kind of Lavendar essential oil, Young Living, here is a link https://www.youngliving.com/en_US/products/lavender-essential-oil to benefits, uses and how to use. 

If you follow Dr. Josh Axe like I do, you will see he is a big supporter of Lavendar and all the benefits it has to offer. Here is a link to his website with some powerful information https://draxe.com/natural-remedies-category/lavender/

I hope you will give it a try and leave a comment on what you think and any favorite recipes you may have that you like.

WELCOME BACK

Welcome !!

  Or should I say welcome back? 
   I have been away for a while and now I am back with a fresh new look and outcome on what it is I want you all to see each time you come back here to take a peek. I will be making subtle changes here and there for when I see fit. First, I have changed my blog name, why you ask? Well, I thought it more fitting to keep you updated on every day information whether it be about a simple card, a simple scrap book page, a simple recipe, simple home based ideas or that simple way to help you in your every day life. Did you see that? I said simple how many times? Life is so hectic and busy, running the kids here and there, making meals, trying to keep your home clean and your animals fed...ALL the animals! So, I am going to keep it SIMPLE and SWEET!
  I am a Mom of 2 beautiful children(whom I will be talking about...ALOT!), 3 sweet kitties(whom I will be talking about...ALOT!), 1 sweet home and 1 sweet husband, did I just say sweet? Yes, I guess he can be sweet. He helps around the house quite a bit and makes many meals when we are all on the go. I work a part time job(well, sometimes, it is more than part time), but, I love it and all that they do there at my sweet job...hehe...I can tell you more about that later...but, for now, while I said sweet a few times, today is officially Valentine's Day! So, for my very first, well, back to first post, I have shared with you some of the Valentine's my children have made...I hope you think they are sweet too.

  My Sweet Valentine

Paper hearts cut using the Big Shot Machine By Stampin' Up! and the "retired" Hearts Collection Framelits by Stampin' Up!

Mini clear celophane bags by Stampin' Up! and maple sugar shapes from Mapleland Farms

Kathryn's sediment on this one was from the "retired" "Something to Say"
stamp set by Stampin' Up!

maple sugar candy by Mapleland Farms

Nicholas used the same framelits die for the BIg Shot and the "retired" punch called
Petal Card Double. you can make it a heart, flower or a pocket.

Here is his final project, he added a hand written sediment "Your as Sweet as Sugar" to each 1" white piece of card stock using the 1'' square punch from Stampin' Up! and tucked it in the
pocket of the heart.

 Thanks for peeking in, please leave a comment below.

Quick and Easy Thank You

This card was a quick and easy thank you card using the Work of Art Stamp set. I used whisper white fir my background and used the Tangelo Twist ink by stamping off. Ths flower was.punchec using the trip punch in 3 different shades of orange(pumpkin pie, tangelo twist and tangerine tango card stock). Give it a try using any color combo and even try changing up the sediment!
Christa

Festival of Trees Card

I know Christmas is just about over but I cannot help posting a card I made around the holidays. I used the Festival of Trees Stamp Set , Soft Suede card stock and the Circles Thinlitts Die. I hope you like it and Happy Holidays!!
Christa

Cute Gift Bags(Curvy Keepsake Box Die)

I have been seeing many of these on the interest and decided to give it a try...they are so easy and made using the Stampin' Up! Big Shot die Curvy Keepsakes Box. I added a few punch embellishments,and some Hershey's Kisses inside and there you have it. I think I sold about 30 of these at 2 of our local craft fairs. I hope everyone enjoyed them.  Christa

Curled Paper Christmas Trees

 I had seen an idea of a curled paper tree, so I gave it a shot. Here I used Calm Christmas DSP by Stampin' Up!. It took about 7 sheets for both trees. I adhered them using straight pins and styrofoam trees that I bought at ACMoore.

I then thought it needed something on the top so I used my coordinating Seam Binding Ribbon in Soft Sky and made 2 bows with I pinned to the top!

I hope you like them, since they were one of a kind and I sold them at the local craft fair that I was a vendor at! 

Christa

Santa Gift Card Holders

I needed a quick and easy gift card holder for some gift cards that were donated to us for our annual Adopt A Family program at our local school. Here is what I cam up with courtesy of Pinterest and Sheila Dunkin via YouTube. I hope you enjoy. Christa

Yippee-Skippee!!

Here is the invitation I made Nicholas to give to his friends for his 8th birthday celebration. I used the Boys will be Boys clear mounted stamp set with Marina Mist as my card base. I then added a layer for Real Red and then stamped my images with Stazon Ink on Whisper White card stock and colored them in using an aqua painter and ink by "kissing the ink pad". I then cut another strip of real red and Old Olive and used my Banner Punch for the ends to make them pointed. Nicholas LOVED them and so did his friends!! He had a great birthday celebration with 2 of his friends, one stayed the night. They had popcorn, watched a movie, played with some birthday toys and just ran around the house! BOYS MUST BE BOYS! LOL

Enjoy, thank you for stopping in.

Christa

Happy Birthday

Here is a card that I made for my sister's birthday. She loves the antique feeling of cards and I thought I could incorporate that into my card. I used some retired DSP that I had on hand. I used the new Blackberry Bliss Ink and card stock on top of the DSP. I also used the Bloom with Hope Hostess Stamp Set with Memento Ink. Colored it in with the Blendabilities Markers. The background leaves are from the stamp set Betsy's Blossoms Stamp Set.  I hope you like it! Thank you for stopping in. Christa

50th Anniversary Card

Today's card is one I made for my parents 50th Anniversary. It is hard to believe it has been 50 years! I cut the card base as a 5x7  Gold card stock so it just stood out more and gave it that extra pop on all my layers.  Then of course I added Very Vanilla card stock for my next layer and topped that with Crumb Cake card stock. I used my Labels framelitts die, polka dot folder and my letters die which is retired. I stamped my image using the Apothecary Stamp Set, then cut the image out using the framelitts die as well. I added Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon, pearls and some roses I had from a kit from last year. I hope you like it! Thank you for stopping in! Christa

3x3 Teacher Halloween Cards

So the kids wanted to give their teachers a cute card to go with their mini coffee cups. This us what I came up with in a pinch,. It's made using the Bootiful Occasions stamp set from the big catalog. There are so many cute boots got so many different occasions in that set and of course I added the cute little bat too. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Halloween Mini Coffee Cups

As promised here is another post...
I thought in the spirit of All Hallows Eve I would show you some cute mini coffee cups that I made for my kids teachers. Inside I have a Dunkin Donuts k-cup. Don't you just love the bat punch? It us a retired Stampin' Up! Punch that I just couldn't part without! Enjoy and thanks for stopping in.
Christa

Halloween Decor

Okay folks, it's been a while since I have posted here to my blog! I am truly sorry....it has been a crazy busy August through October. I am working full time now and have been trying to get into a routine with the kids, work, cub scouts, girl scouts, soccer and soccer practice, house cleaning on the side and everything else that goes with it. I thought what a better way to get back into things was to show you door decor from Kathryn's bedroom door. She is so creative! She had a vision and just sat at her desk one day and created! I am so proud if her! I hope you enjoy seeing it.

I promise to post more in the next few says and look for my Christmas Card Class coming soon!

Thanks for stopping in.

Christa

Kind Koala, Thinking of You!

Today's card is a card from my class last week. We made a cute box to hold 8-10 cards with envelopes. I will post another picture of that and the dimensions to make it sometime within the week. Anyway, isn't he so stinkin' cute.....(I know, I never say that, but I really couldn't help myself!). I started out with a card base of Whisper White, than a layer of Stampin' Up!'s DSP called Lullaby. My next layer I pulled a color from the DSP called Lost Lagoon, then my very top where I stamped my Koala, is our Water Color Paper. It is fantastic when used with our Aquapainters and that is what I did here. I inked up my "Kind Koala" in Staz-On ink, then kissed my Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip(for the tips of his ears and nose), Hello Honey and Lost Lagoon. When you "kiss" the ink pad the color pools in the top and you can lift the color with your aqua painter and start coloring! I waited for the flower to dry, added some 2 way glue and some Dazzling Diamonds for a little shimmer. Then my final touch was the 2 little Candy Dots at the bottom from our Candy Dots Collections. I hope you like it.

Thanks for stopping in.

Christa

Tomato's! Yah!

This year I decided to grown my tomato plants in a planter on my side deck because every year they do great for a few weeks, then get yellow leaves and produce yucky looking and rotten fruit. My Mom always does hers on her deck in a planter too and she always has an abundance of fruit and her plants are always so healthy.............

 Well, here we are!! I started out with 3 plants, Red Beefsteak, Cherokee Purple and Husky Cherry Red that I bought at Lowes on sale. I bought fresh new pots, pretty large, added some rocks at the bottom of the pot for drainage, then added a good Miracle Grow Potting Mix soil, the plants and a little organic powdered fertilizer, water, put on my desk on the side of the house(it gets morning shade and afternoon blazing sun) and waited..waited...waited..........watered every other day, fertilized once a week with Miracle Grow.......

And here you are! They are the best, greenest and most lush plants I have ever had!! Now I water them every day with a gallon of water.

 Yesterday, when the kids got out of the pool they noticed way inside the Husky Cherry Red, these 2 little juicy guys!! They are the best tomatoes I have ever grown! We cannot wait for the rest and I would highly recommend growing this way, there are no bugs, mites and soil fungus to deal with.......

Enjoy and thanks for stopping in!

Christa