It's been a while!

I find it amazing how so much time can escape us.  I like to think that prioritizing well still costs us time in another area and that explains the gaps.  If you have children and the holidays come, this is what happens to us.  Today is my 10th Momiversary. My oldest, Max, was born ten years ago today.  The young man he is becoming inspires me to be a better mother, because he deserves nothing less. His empathy for others is sometimes astounding and definitely humbling.  I took the day off of work and waved him off to school with 26 bags of Charms Sno-Ball Cotton Candy for his friends and teacher, leaving me here to post.

Well one of the things on my busy list was a table at a holiday gift boutique for which I made some stone tile coasters.  I found a great tutorial on SCS you find here.  I used some different Ippity and Unity sets and learned some lessons along the way. For example, while I liked the idea of quotes on them, it didn't turn out too great because there are some natural imperfections in the unglazed stone tiles that broke up the words.  The Christmas coasters using Ippity's Season of Joy set were by far the biggest hit.  Here are some directions and pictures.

You will need: unglazed 4x4 stone tiles from hardware store, rubber stamps, StazOn inks, clear spray paint (I used Krylon matte), small felt or foam circles with adhesive already on one side

1.  Choose your center image(s).  Stamp them on post it notes near the top of the paper. Cut them out and put them aside. These will be your masks.

2. Wipe your tiles to make sure they are dust free and dry.

3.  Stamp your desired center image on your tiles.  Take your time! This tile is porous and once it is on there, you aren't going to be able to get it all off even if you are very fast.  Repeat for a set of 4 coasters.  Set aside to dry, at least 15 to 20 minutes.

4.  Place your post it note mask over your center image with the adhesive from the post it note holding it in place.  Ink up your background image and stamp onto the tile with the center image covered.  Repeat for the whole set.  Set aside to dry, this time as long as you can since the next step is spraying with clear coat, at least an hour.  At this point, in the sets with the butterfly and dragonfly (see below) I used a q tip and very small amounts of StazOn to color in the wings.  These turned out very well as the images don't require crisp lines to be beautiful.

5.  In a well ventilated area, lightly spray with clear coat.  I recommend doing two light coats as the dampness from the spray will make your stamped images run if it is even slightly too heavy.

6.  When clear coat is completely dry, add a foam or felt pad on each corner of coasters.  Tie with a ribbon and you have a beautiful gift!

Christmas set using "Season of Joy"

Using "Song of My Heart" by Ippity

These are the little felt feet and in the upper left corner of the photo you can see the ones I did using the butterfly from a Melody Ross Unity kit

Dragonfly set using Unity SSK Dragonfly and Unity "Giving it all meaning" as the background



Sorry for the glare!  Background is a HA cling and the sentiment is from Ippity "Devoted" set



As always, if you would like to order your Ippity stamps please email me! I have more sets than are currently on my blog/Ippity page.  If you want to buy a whole seasons release you can get them crazy cheap, almost cost!!!  Check it out here. Thanks for looking and have a fabulous Christmas season!

Kelly

Time Flies

Well, the registration deadline for our Nov 5-7 weekend crop is fast approaching and as usual I can't believe how fast things sneak up on me!  I am planning some technique demonstrations and we will be doing a Cricut 101 for those new to Cricuts.  We have decided on customer gifts and are now planning and ordering prizes!  I hope to see many new and known faces that weekend.  If you are intrested, please email me for a registration form and for details see my previous post.

On the scrapbooking side, have you seen the beautiful new Nancy O'Dell line from CM? LOVE IT!  The designer 12x12 coverset is gorgeous and I seriously have to have that new bag.  It looks like something from the mall, not something for scrapbooking which is so fresh and I love it.  If you haven't seen the new line, check it out here.  You won't be able to resist.  You can order directly from their site and I would be very grateful if you listed me as your consultant. If you live in the area, feel free to drop me an email and I will get it to you right away. 

I am lucky enough to be a driver on the fourth grade field trip tomorrow where we will be visiting two historic Catholic churches - Assumption Grotto and St. Anne's - followed by lunch in Mexican Village.  Since I grew up in that part of Detroit, I am very excited about going.  I am praying for good weather, not too rowdy kids in the car, and a great day.

I have been inking up my Ippity this week and will show some pics soon.  There will be a new release soon and I can't wait - remember, I have a great deal for anyone who wants to order an entire season's release, it is nearly at cost so please check out my Ippity page on this blog.

Goodnight all!

Sunday Funday

Good Morning Crafters & Visitors. Today is a quickie - the thing about Sunday for me is that there is so much I want to do on my off day it is impossible to do it all.  I want to bake a cake and cook a bunch of stuff, read the paper, do the crossword, go to my Mom's get all my son's football and school uniforms washed - WHEW. 
So today, I just bring you a little crafting tip about Ippity.  If you have an Ippity stamp set or you are trying to decide which one  you want to buy, go to the Ippity Gallery.  There, they have photo albums arranged by stamp set and if you go to that album, they have all kinds of beautiful cards and other items made with those stamps!  It really helps me visually when I want to use a set.
For those that have inquired about the scrapbooking weekend in November, thanks! I hope to see you there.  For those of you who can't make it, please pass it on to others; you never know who may be looking for a crafty getaway.
Thanks for stopping by,
Kelly 

Scrapbooking Weekend in Southern Michigan Nov 5 through the 7th

For those of you in Michigan area, I wanted to post the information on our weekend getaway.  Please pass this on to anyone you now who might be interested or wouldn't mind passing it on themselves. 

Enjoy an overnight scrapbooking retreat where you will have time to work on your albums, eat meals you don’t have to prepare or clean up, and spend time with friends.

November 5 - 7, 2010

6:00 pm Friday -- 3:00 pm Sunday

Location:  Holiday Inn Express in Monroe (I-75 and

Dixie Hwy.

  Right off exit #15)

We will have a private conference room with banquet tables for cropping.  You can leave your tools out and work on your albums at your leisure while visiting with friends or enjoying a swim in the pool!  Best of all, you’ll have lots of TIME to work on your albums.  There will be a special gift for all who attend, and many opportunities to take home more prizes, with drawings throughout the whole weekend!  Invite your friends and enjoy this amazing scrapbooking getaway!  All of the details are taken care of for you!

The cost of this event includes your room, a gift, prizes, Saturday lunch and dinner.  The hotel provides Continental Breakfast daily with your overnight stay.

Tools will be available for your use, and products available for purchase.  Please contact your consultant in advance to pre-order if you know there are items you will need!

SATURDAY we will have a massage therapist on site after lunch.  A 15 minute chair massage ($15) or a 30 minute table massage ($30) will be available for your relaxation needs after a day of scrapbooking! 

If you are interested in attending, please complete the form below and return it to your Consultant.

    Name ________________________________                              Phone _________________ 

    E-mail________________________________      Rooming with __________________________

Indicate Choice	*Prices are per person	3 or 4 per room	2 per room	Individual room
	Friday - Saturday (1 night)	$120.00	$135.00	$170.00
	Saturday - Sunday (1 night)	$120.00	$135.00	$170.00
	Friday – Sunday (2 nights)	$150.00	$175.00	$245.00
	Saturday Only w/lunch & dinner	$70.00	$70.00	$70.00

Deadline for Registration:   October 27, 2010

Cancellation on or before deadline: Full refund.  No refunds will be given after October 27, 2010.

Late registration: add $15….please call me at 248-310-0257 to check for available space

Fall is in the air...

Even though it is warm today you can feel fall is in the air.  Football game Sunday, school yesterday - and I hate to admit it, but a cinnamon cider donut yesterday afternoon :-)
Here is a card I whipped up for a couple who were married.   I have used this stamp for three wedding cards in a row so I think I need to start changing it up next time.

The large stamp is "circle lace" from Hero Arts.  I loved it so much when I saw it that I bought it even though it was wood mounted (I live in a teeny tiny house, I usually refuse to buy anything that is not compact).

I stamped it with embossing ink and used American Crafts opaque white embossing powder to make it pop.  Added a little silver bling in the center.  Sentiment is from the Unity July Stampin' Store Kit (I cannot make something without Unity on it somwhere!).  Misc ribbon.  Even though it doesn't show I edged the sentiment piece with a little platinum Versamark ink.  This looks really beautiful with black or red embossing powder as well.   I have also tried it with clear embossing powder on cream paper and sponged a very light tan chalk ink over it and it was fab. 

See you later in the week!

Kelly

Crazy, awesome, blessed life!

Well, sometimes things are just so crazy I can't keep all my ducks in a row -  now is one of those times.
But I have to admit that I pray and then I see things that are moving bit by bit in the right direction so I have so much to be grateful for!
Speaking of things to be grateful for, aren't babies on of those miraculous things? I have a shower to go to this weekend so I made a cute little baby card.

This is Unity's "Little Sprout" set.  I used the stars with some silver embossing powder to make a starry sky.  Paper pieced the tree stamp, stamped with Distress Vintage Photo ink,  with Creative Memories Cement and Shades of Green papers. Sentiment and baby sprout stamped on white Creative Memories cardstock (sentiment with Ranger Archival ink in black, onesie with Quick Quotes powder puff green ink).  I spritzed the cardstock the sentiment is on with Distress Reinker Spun Sugar/Perfect Pearls mist and let it dry before adding the sentiment.  Hope you enjoyed and if you have a little sprout, give them a big kiss.

Kelly

8x8 quick layout

Thursday snuck up on me, soon it will be the weekend and I will be running for my son's football. 
Well, that means all my creating has to be fast.  For my two youngest, I did a picture a week for their first year so you can look back and see how they changed.  I have a couple of pages left to do in Molly's so I did a quick 8x8 page.

This was made using Creative Memories "bountiful" 8x8 paper - I love their paper that looks like it already has texture, accents and layers added because it does so much of the work for you.

I spritzed some Cement Cardstock wtih Perfect Pearls mist, stamped with the Unity Stamp "the meaning of it all" and punched out some Dragonflies with the Creative Memories Limited Edition Pocket Punch and u sed as accents.  The tag was made with the CM tag shapemaker, misc ribbon and crocheted lace.  I used the new CM chalking inks to distress the edges of the ribbon and dragonflies.  Voila, quick and easy.

Enjoy the rest of your week making memories you can scrapbook! 

Kelly