I love Harry Potter!

Harry watches me stamp. He hangs around on my ink holder.

Okay, so yesterday I told you that I had reread the 6th Harry Potter book. I really tried to take my time with it, I really did. But it still only took me about 2 days to read. It sucks me in so easily. I was set to wait until it came out in the cheap theater by our house but then the boy decided he wanted to go see it too. So he read it again before we went.

So last week I sucked it up and we spent $8 a ticket, (for a matinee) to go see it. Seriously, $8 for a matinee ticket? Okay, I'm really gonna show my age here; I can remember spending less than $4 for a regular ticket. How old am I? Geez.........

oh Harry, look how cute you are
I won't spoil it for anybody but it was really good. I think it was rated PG but I'm glad I didn't take the little one (she's 8) because of the loud parts. Shes kinda wimpy that way.

Now, as much as I love Harry, I gotta tell ya, I have a thing for Ron. I think its the red hair. Or the fact that he acts alot like my dear hubby, kinda clueless most of the time.





That's all for today. I'll have some stamping stuff for you tomorrow. Also, some of you asked what was going on my first order. I'll put that up tomorrow too. Later then.............

journal making

I've been making journals lately. I really like to capture the everyday stuff but rarely ever do it. I have this desire to leave a record or memory of myself for the kiddos.

Losing my mom at an early age and wishing I knew more about her and to remember our everyday lives as kids spurs this desire.

4 years ago we went to visit my dad for my birthday. I thought it would be a good idea to journal it. It morphed into a "vacation journal". Everytime we went camping or on some kind of vacation I will take it with us and record the days events. I've been very faithful with it too. I guess only because we don't go anywhere very often. I mean heck, it only took 4 years to fill the little one I had. Here is a pic of that original one. Its a little 5x5 one.

It uses the retired Happy Camper set. We have a tent trailer and I love it!

I've kept all kinds of things inside.

...........Beth, wouldn't it be easier to just scrapbook all this?.............

Yes, it would look nicer, no doubt. But I know I wouldn't do it.

This doesn't have pics in it, but I do keep little memento things like receipts or little maps or busines cards of places we like.

Here is a shot of the inside front cover. I made a little pouch to hold things. There's feathers, and a poison plant guide and other stuff.

On this page you can see where our buddy Scott was making out the menu for one of the trips. He has to know what he is eating on any given day. He is so funny! Even though I tease, you know I love you Scott!

I also keep lists for what I need next time we go.

So that one got finished when we went camping last month. Time to make a new one. I picked up a little $1 one at Michaels and transformed the front cover.

I know Smokey looks like he's about 5000 feet tall. Paul Bunyan watch out!

When we go to Mammoth I always have to go to the Visitors Center. Its a beautiful building with lots of info and you can buy maps and t-shirts and stuff.

Anyway, I picked up these bookmarks a few years ago. I do use one when I'm reading which is why you can see its torn a little on his leg.

So I just got done reading the 6th Harry Potter book, (more on that on another day), and it was laying on my desk and I noticed that it fit perfectly on my journal.

So I took my handy dandy scissor on the cutter kit and free formed some hills from kraft, soft sable and choc. chip cardstock. I then stamped them with the polka dot and sanded backgrounds and then sponged.

I had some of those Happy Camper trees already cut out from some other project and used those too. Then I freehanded, (obviously), a cloud and used some Michaels stamps for that.

We have new little alphabets in the catalog, much cuter.

Then I used the Spiral Note Punch to punch out the side and it fit perfectly! I didn't have to take the book apart to put it on. Wahooo! I was afraid I would have to.

So there ya go. Easy enough huh? Now I will put the starting and ending year on the cloud. I don't know that we'll be going anywhere else this year so I didn't put anything yet.

Now this is another version of a journal. We did this at a class I had last year. I used a Composition Notebook. I use this one for my Stampin' Up! notes when we have a teleconference or when I go to convention, which I'm not going to this year :( poor me :(

We used the Tombow Multi Glue to adhere everything except the spine, we used sticky
strip for that.

We crumpled up the paper for the spine before we adhered it so it would move freely

.

I used the Spiral Note Punch here too and the Round Tab Punch. This also uses the

Taffy Alphabet.

Here is my band journal. I used another composition notebook. I know I have non-SU! stuff on here, (shame on me), but it works so well!

I did use the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet. I love that alpha.

The boy is on the drumline which is why I have the snare drum sticker there. You'll get plenty of band pics here coming up pretty soon since marching season is already started.

I take this with me when we have booster meetings. 'Cause I have a horrible memory and I can't remember anything.

I tell myself its because I have too much info or ideas in my head. But I think really its just because I have a slow leak.

Check out those cute note shaped brads.

Good Lord Almighty, but this became a long post! Sorry about that. If you read through the whole thing, God Bless You! Well, God Bless you anyway, I mean, you know................................

good mail!

Angela Backman from Stampin' Up! sent me a thank you card for being a Display Stamper! How cool is that? I gotta say, getting personal mail from SU! is really fun. I felt a little bit important.

It uses all new stuff too. New woodgrain background stamp, new In Colors, (soft sable, crushed curry, dusty durango) new die cut , and a new sentiment stamp too. AND, its all perfectly cut and straight and everything. I haven't put in my first order yet and now I really want to. My wish list is a mile long.

Look, she even stamped the envelope.

Convention starts on the 5th, even though I'm not going :( Then I can start showing you the display samples I made.

Right now though, I think I'll go stamp a card and actually send it to someone, and make their day. This card certainly made mine. Why don't you go stamp something too. You can send it to me ;)

just keeping it real.............

When it rains it pours! Several things have happened in just a few days time:



1. the dryer broke. Yes, I have clothes hanging all over my house. So fun! We couldn't figure it out so a friend came over today to fix it. Its good to have friends. He fixed it for the low low price of only $140.00

2. hubby's car broke. It will be done today for the low low price of only $560.00. Awesome!

3. my car broke. Will be done in 2 days for the low low price of only $670.00, with no warranty. No guarantee it won't happen again. So fun!

4. swimming in the knowledge that the good Lord will help me pay the credit card bill.............. Priceless

Luckily we have the boy's car so the hubs can take that to work. The children and I are stuck here. Isn't it funny how when you don't have a car you feel kinda stranded? Even though you may not need to go anywhere, you still like to know that you could if you wanted to.

In the spirit of Scarlet, "tomorrow is another day!"

Last of the Artisan Awards

This is the last of them. I know, I know..................... I know what you're thinking.............Beth, even though they got there late, I'm surprised they didn't make an exception for you! Yeah, me too. Oh well.

Learned my lesson didn't I? Well, I hope I did anyway. PAY FOR FASTER SHIPPING! Even if it hurts.

Okay, I'm done whining.

This beauty here was a wonderful idea....... I thought so anyway. I used the Neighborhood jumbo wheel and rolled it in StazOn and then onto watercolor paper. I used the scissor on the Cutter Kit to make the hills and stamped them with the Polka Dot and Sanded Background sets. I thought it was so cute but I didn't know what kind of sentiment I should use. So I freehanded a little cloud and used the Just Moved! stamp from Loads of Love Accessories
It will fit in a regular business size envelope. No extra postage required!



Now this one didn't come out quite like I had hoped. I wanted it to look like a much loved quilt. Something you would want to cuddle up with if you weren't feeling well.


I scored the Bella Rose DSP (retired)
at 1" intervals and then sanded the raised parts to look worn. The sentiment is from Sincere Salutations










Now the flower was super easy to do but I know it looks hard.



Take about 13" of a wide ribbon and make a running stitch along one edge. Tighten that up and then stitch it closed. I also stitched on a little flower from the Flower Fusion Tin because the button I used from Button Latte , you could see the hole through it. Anyway I covered it up. Then I just stitched some leaves on and stuck it on there with a glue dot.

I really like the idea of it but it didn't come out quite like I wanted.





Now this handsome boy should have won everything hands down! He is as cute on the inside too.

There isn't much stamping on this one. I used the Sanded Background again on the Not quite Navy piece and there is alot of sponging. The base is Sahara Sand. There is also a little Library Clip on the side of his pic. Can you see it? I added the staples to make it more manly/boyish. I just wrote down some random things about him. Click on the pic to see it better.



Thats the last of them. I hope you enjoyed them and maybe feel a little inspired by them to make something yourself. Please let me know what you think.

procrastination is my middle name

those of you that know me well, know how true that is. I tell myself I work better under pressure just so I can feel better about it.



One of the boy's best friend's sister (did you understand that?) graduated this year. She is a real sweetie pie and I finally got around to making her a card. I still have to get the gift card to go inside of it. Hopefully I'll get it to her before she starts college in Sept. Well, we can only hope...............

My dear hubby says I'm using the Top Note Die too much lately. What does he know? Our school colors are black and red. I used a retired number set, can't remember the name right now, embossed them in silver, cut them out and popped them up on dimensionals. The little graduation cap is also retired and now that I look at it, the sentiment is retired too. Sorry about that. You could recreate it with all current stuff that we have in the catty now though.

Here is the inside. I made a little pocket so the gift card will slip in there.

Congratulations Kaitlin!

my girl

Last week she turned 15!

I just love this kid! She is so funny and smart and caring and strong (she doesn't know her own strength) and I could hang out with her all the time. She is even nice to her brother and sister........sometimes.

we got her some Twilight posters and an itunes gift card. She loves loves loves, did I mention she loves the Twilight series. She has read all the books twice and can't wait for the next movie to come out. Now don't be hatin' but we are "Team Jacob" kinda girls. I think its funny that we both prefered Jacob over Edward. Edward is great and all but, you know.............

She decided she wanted to go to Knott's Berry Farm. Don't they look happy? It was so hot and this was later in the day when we were getting tired. I take pics of everything. You think they would be more tolerant. The boy could care less, 15 hates me to take her pic and the youngest can't wait to strike a pose. We had a great time together. Her 2 buddies couldn't come and Dad had to work so it was just us wild and crazy party animals.

Here is the card I made her. The heart was covered in Whisper White craft ink and then Heat and Stick powder and then Dazzling diamonds glitter. The numbers were done the same way except with the chunky blue glitter. I also used the now retired Pacific Point paper. She is such a down to earth girl. Doesn't do the make up thing (yet) and doesn't need the foo foo clothes or texting people all the time. So I made a card that was all glittery and special to show how special and glittery I see her.

That's all for now folks!

Here are some more of my Artisan Loser Award entries.

This page didn't turn out quite like I had planned, but I like it. (click on it to see it bigger) I had taken a bunch of pics of the little darlings last (2008) mother's day and they turned out so good I tend to use them on everything. I used the Top Note Die to make the bracket thingys on the side. They are layered, which wasn't my original intention but it came out kinda cool. I only wish now that I had embossed them. I also used the Naturally Serif Die to make the title. I rolled the paper with the Swirl wheel before I punched them out. My journaling just looks so big to me now. Everything used textured paper which I'm really starting to love. What took me so long?

This next little cutie is an idea that had been floating all over the internet for awhile and I decided to hijack it. Its a cupcake holder. Cute huh? Would I actually ever give someone a single cupcake? Probably not but hey its cute!

I used a chipboard frame, the Tombow Multi glue and the chunky pink glitter. It also uses a now retired Hostess Set stamp. I cut out the frosting and the little cherry and popped them up on dimensionals. I put a little Crystal Effects on that cherry to make it look extra delicious. I wish I had taken a closer pic of the top but oh well. I embossed the polka dots. The little tag says "for you" from the Thanks for Everything set.

here is the inside. Don't want that cupcake to fall over do we?

making the box was super easy. Maybe I can make up a little tutorial for it. got questions? Let me know.

memory lane

I have been cleaning out my stamping stuff in the garage. We put our trailer back in there and so my stuff had to be moved out and then I could move it back in. Well, my husband decides that since he has to move stuff around he might as well clean some of it out and have a garage sale. I HATE HAVING GARAGE SALES!!! I love going to them but I hate having them.

Since I'm off for the summer I decided that now would be a good time to go through all my stuff and condense and maybe sell a few things. I need money to buy new stuff :)

Good God Almighty!!! I have enough stuff to "alter" and make look pretty that I should have a badge or banner or super star or something for recycling!

I also had a good 7-8 years worth of samples to go through. I know I haven't kept every single one but it sure felt like it. I ended up throwing away 5 paper grocery sacks of card fronts and projects. I gotta say though, I have made some pretty cool stuff in the past. AND, some pretty yucky stuff.

In the beginning my friend (who actually paid for my starter kit and whose fault it is I found this wonderful hobby in the first place) and I would make tons of samples. Oh my gosh! You wouldn't believe the things we made. I'll spare you.

Anyhow, walk with me a little as we go down memory lane.

This is the card that started it all. I went to a friends house for a SU! party and this is the card we made.

this is the very first year I sent out handmade Christmas cards. I was so sick of Frosty at the time. Kinda miss him now.

Watch out! This one had layers. this was the card I sent out the following year.
Remember back in the day when we could get an extra FREE stamp set when you had a $400 party? This was one of those sets. I still have it.



Here is the following year. More layers and now brads are added! Check me out!

I found this idea on Julie Ebersole's site, http://papertrufflez.typepad.com/paper_trufflez/

this was one of those easy ones that I sent out when I ran out of the other. I need to find a pic of the other one. It had a tree with Liquid Applique snow on it.

this is the postcard I made when we moved. I can't believe I colored all those houses! I used the watercolor pencils and a blender pen. At the time I though they were so cute but now.......?

the other side.

Thats it for now folks. I'm glad I've progressed in my stamping style. Its kinda like looking at old pics when I had "wings" and then later, bad perms.

I gotta get more cleaning done for the big garage sale tomorrow. If it sounds like fun you can always come over and help ;)

BUMMER!

With the release of the new catalog they (Stampin' Up!) also changed a bunch of things with our websites. Really cool changes! I wanted to upload some more project pics to it before I emailed all my customers but I keep getting an error message that won't let me. So I've been on the phone with demo support and hopefully their IT guys can get it fixed fast.

So I thought I'd share some of our 4th of July pics with you. Our team lost by 1 run but it was still fun. I love baseball! Angels are my team but I also like the Padres. The Storm team is the minor league of the Padres.

these are our buddies that came with us. My hubby is the last in line here.

there are no bad seats at The Diamond

my 3. Grace is bored. Can you tell?

great fireworks show

Here is a card we made at our last group meeting. We used the Fifth Avenue stamp set and watercolored. Its almost addicting to color these flowers. You can get so many different variations. No 2 look alike. We used the Aquapainters with reinkers. Other supplies used: Top Note Die, retired Bella Rose DSP, Organdy ribbon, retired message stamp. The leaves were just freehand cut and crumpled up. Easy Peasy!

Have a wonderful cool day.

Happy Independence Day!!!

Today I think about about all the people who came over the big blue ocean to start a new life. And I'm thankful.





Anyhow, I made this page showing what we did last 4th of July. We were camping and nothing had been planned for that day in the small town we were close to. For whatever reason they had BIG plans for the 5th. Weird, I know. Yes, I could have scrapped about the 5th and the great luau they had with that rockin' band and the great food. But what would be fun about that? I'm all about keepin' it real here.

here are my little cherubs sleeping in the trailer. I used the retired Independence Day set that I used in a post farther down. Retired Headline Numbers, retired Typeset Alpha, and the current Taffy Alpha. I also used the Scallop Edge Punch which happens to be on sale right now. Go check out my website and check it out.

We have friends coming over for swimming and BBQ in just a little while. Then we're going to the Storm game (minor league baseball) to watch the game and see the fireworks. Where we live in California, we aren't allowed to have fireworks. Fire danger! And lets face it, people just aren't that smart with them (read: my husband).

Have a wonderful day!

NEW CATALOG IS LIVE TODAY!

The new Stampin' Up! catalog goes live today. It is really beautiful too. The cover is different. Its kinda soft, like you want to pet it. You can click on my website shopping thingy over there and see it, or click here http://www.stamperbeth.stampinup.net/


I was trying to update my website and was gonna send out a massive email to let everyone know about it and they are still updating it. So I have to wait.


I want to really really badly start reading the 5th and then 6th Harry Potter book before the movie comes out but once I start those then nothing else gets done around here. So I thought, why not just post some pretty pics on the blog, remember the blog? Yeah, I kinda forget.



So here ya go. We got permission to post our Artisan Loser Award projects. Lookee:






this one uses the Refuge and Strength set, Parisian Breeze DSP (discontinued) and a Target $ spot frame. I originally was making this to give to my good buddy (Hi Michele) and I thought it came out so cute that I decided to enter the Artisan Award contest. Needless to say I haven't made another one yet so she can only look here for now. Poor thing, its her set too. I borrowed it at least a year ago. She hasn't even got to use it. I don't think I even gave it to her. I did ask permission to borrow it though. Although I'm sure she has forgotten I even have it.



I think you can click on the pic to make it bigger. Go ahead, try it.................. Did it work? Let me know.




This one here is an 8 1/2 x 11 page. Pretty self explanatory I think. Let me know if you have any questions.






I'll save the others for the next few days. Try and stretch it out since I haven't made anything new lately.



Let me know if you'd like a new catalog.