Woohoo! Time to cheer!

Such a  great day...My daughter's volleyball team came home with a silver medal from Championships today!  Such a wonderful end to a really successful season:-)  The improvement and growth that the team showed throughout the season and especially today was really exciting.  As parents sitting in the stands, we couldn't have been more proud of our girls!

To say thank you to Morgan, the coach, we put together this adorable shadowbox frame.  Now, I know...it's not from Stampin' Up! and I'm really sorry (SU still doesn't have volleyball goodies for me to buy:(  But...using a few SU techniques, we created a bit of fun. 

 

Sorry for the photo quality, I was in the car and realized I hadn't taken the picture.  Here are a few others of the amazing day!

How cute are these cake pops!  My friend Robin was the creative mind behind the net!  They were so delicious!

Here's the Silver Medal Team!  Congrats on a season well done!

 

Pottery Barn for Pennies!

Now I don't know about you, but I certainly can't afford to decorate my house from the Pottery Barn catalog!  It is, however, one of my favorite design styles.  So cottage country comfortable.  The children's section has always been one of my favorites.  This personalized name frame was done in vibrant colors:  Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight and Pear Pizzazz.   Love the pom pom border around the outside of the frame and the large, curly O is also adhered to the top of the glass.

This is a great baby shower or birth gift.  How about changing out the name for a teacher gift?  Contact me to order your personalized frame today!

Thursday Thoughts: Peace Within II

Thursday has come again and we are still highlighting the Peace Within stamp set.  I will be sad to see this set go.  This weeks example looks much better in person.  There are multiple layers applied with dimensionals to give it depth.  The photo really doesn't show this well...

There is a box at my desk labeled Miscellaneous Tools...really it's like a bottomless pit of random, trendy tools I've bought over the years and just kind of forget about.  So it's time to open it up.  The whole purpose of Thursday Thoughts was maximizing materials, right?  This week I pulled out the Spritzer tool.  Really, it's so much fun!  Choose a Stampin' Write Marker, insert the brush end into the little slot and squeeze.  Sounds a bit silly but it gives a pretty cool effect, a bit like splatter paint.  I forced myself not to color in the image this time, keep it simple and the outcome looks nice.

Little Boy Blue...

This album was for a sweet little boy and a nautical theme was requested.  As cute as the album came out, I really love the box!  Almost makes me want to have another baby just so that I can start their album from the beginning...  Anyway...just a quick post today!

Don't forget to place your order for retiring stamps!  Check out my website for more information.

Thursday Thoughts: Peace Within I

Deciding what stamp sets to purchase is always so hard for me.  I like to say that I'm frugal (really, I'm cheap!)  and want to get the most for my money.  There have to be enough ways for me to utilize the set to make it worth my money.  So...I'm thinking that on Thursdays I will highlight one set for about a month.  I've decided to start with Peace Within, which sadly is retiring.  I may evolve to showing ideas for Big Shot Dies as well, but let's start small!

I chose this set because I love to color, especially with watercolor pencils.  To then add the blender pens to give it a painted affect comes out beautiful even with beginners.  My thought with these little gift enclosure cards (3"x3") is to make a little survival kit for some of the teachers at school.  That dreaded day of making the class lists for next year is right around the corner...I think they'll be praying for a miracle!  This size card is always great to keep stocked up on to attach to gift bags, too.

Please let me know what you think and also if there are any stamp sets you're looking to maximize usage with.  I'm happy to help!

Time for a retirement party!

Although it is sad to see some of our favorite's go, the promise of an exciting new Stampin' Up! catalog is worth saying good bye!  The retired stamp list has just been released...boy is it long!  Go to my website to place your order today!

Things to remember:
* The current catalog is only available until May 31st, 2012.  After that you will no longer have access to the stamp sets on the retired list.
*  Order now...some things are only available while supplies last.
*Stampin' Up!'s new catalog will have fewer pages than the last one BUT...we will now have 2 seasonal catalogs, available for 6 months each that are much bigger than previous mini catalogs.  How exciting is that?
*  The Retiring Accessories list will be released on April 25th...stay tuned!
*Coming in May, I will be hosting a Retirement Party!  You will be able to purchase a collection of previously retired stamp sets, enjoy a free Make & Take and hopefully get a sneak peek at some upcoming sets!  Visit my website for more details.

MDS Journal

Once you start, you can't stop!  Just sitting here watching TV and see the laptop laying on the table.  Well, I could be useful, I really do want to get more scrapbook pages of my cute little kids done.  Lots of good that did!  As I opened up a new project, I saw the journal option.  This was so much fun to design and now I can order it from Stampin' Up! and have a personalized journal.  I'm thinking this would be a good gift...Christmas is only 247 days away! (Yes, I have already started shopping!)  Anyway, just thought I'd share!