MY 'Kids'

It's hard to believe that only four weeks ago we were hectically trying to pull the final touches together for Joey and Melissa's wedding and now here they are, back from their honeymoon to Grand Cayman Islands and settled back into the routine life of work and every day responsibilities.

One of the biggest treats for me was that three of my former day care families attended the wedding and it was so great to catch up with them.

Kelly was the first baby that I had and she is the one I quit my job to care for.  Now, look how grown up and beautiful she is!  She even caught the brides bouquet!!  Must be all that Softball experience she has.

 Left to right - Kelly, Auntie (me), Joey, and Lake

Lake and Kelly are brother and sister - you can probably tell by their 

strawberry blonde hair color.

When Lake was little we would say "what color is your hair, Lake?" 

and he would say "orange"  But the way he said it came out so cute.

 This is Kelly and Lake's mom, Jenny, with our grand daughter, Gracie. 

Gracie and Tyler also hold a great fondness for these families.  

Kelly has even been a baby sitter for Tyler and Gracie once or twice.

 Lake and Joey (we affectionately call him "little Joey" because our Joey was "Big Joey")

are only 14 months apart in age, but Lake is big for his age and Joey is small for his age.

 But they are still the best of buds!!

 

Lake is just a 'hair' taller than his dad already at age 13, well, 13 and 3/4!!

This is little Eli.  He was one of the last crew to be at Auntie's house.

and ironically enough - he is the son of Melissa's cousin, Amber, who was such a HUGE help to me when kids like Kelly, Lake and Joey were in my care.  When our Joey had a ball game, Amber would come and stay with the kids until the parents came home, and ended up being a babysitter for those families as well in the evenings.  I always called Eli my 'second generation' child care even though I never cared for Amber in a day care capacity, but we sure did spend a lot of fun times together.

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi a.k.a. Auntie

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(W)Fishes For You

When I saw these cute fishy tins at our local dollar store I knew I could use them in some fashion for my craft sale projects. I started out by checking my files for "fish ideas" and then I remembered making several punch art fish for a variety of occasions using the Ornament Punch.  

Then I saw Dory and Nemo and couldn't resist.  I did not document who I got this idea
from (sorry) If it happens to be your original creation - thanks for sharing!!

Add some colorful goldfish crackers in a cello bag - YUM! I made a variety of greeting tags so they can be used for GET WELL FISHES, BEST FISHES or BIRTHDAY FISHES

I really wanted a fresh idea of my own so I decided to make some CHRISTMAS FISHES

I really like the little Santa hat on my fishy.  I embossed the Ornament Punch fish body with the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder and love the look it gave of 'scales'

 

Once again add a cello bag with some yummy goldfish crackers and you have a fun Craft Sale item.  Wouldn't this be fun to gift to one of the little people in your life 

(or...some of the fishermen in your life.  I know my dad would get a charge out of it)

 

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi 

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The Great Outdoors

I am not a camper, but I bet there are many of you out there that are getting in 

some of their last days of camping for the summer. 

This card is CASED from Rachel Peulen as seen on Kay Kaltoff's blog

I am not very handy with the brayer so I sponged the sky and grassy area

instead and I really like the outcome.  

colors used: Not Quite Navy (sky), Midnight Muse (trees)

Old Olive and Always Artichoke (grassy area)

FYI: this was all done on Glossy Card Stock

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Just a Little Fruity

I hope many of you were able to get the stamp set REASON TO SMILE during June when Stampin' Up! offered it for only $5.00 with a $50.00 order.  There are so many cute, cute cards that you can make with that set and this card shows you how versatile it can be

The yummy looking fruit were stamped using the outline stamp of the large flower

Then I used Dazzling Details that I colored using the Classic Ink Refills.

HOW FUN!  It adds a bit of glitz and glam!!

Now I have a surprise for you all!!

I have an extra REASON TO SMILE stamp set!!

The first gal to purchase the $99 starter kit will receive a clear mount

REASON TO SMILE stamp set from ME!!!

The Starter Kit price will remain the same, but during August there

is an added incentive to purchase the kit.  You can see my original post HERE

and this is what you get!!

• Products (shown on the right in photo above) needed to create the adorable project (on the left).  Ink and clear blocks not included.
• You will receive the Stampin' Up! Toxic Treats stamp set (Holiday Catalog) in your choice of wood or clear-mount.   
• Also included is a full pack of Rhinestone Basic Jewels, full Baker's Twine and partial products (enough to create the project) of the ribbon and buttons shown.
• The Howl-O-Ween project kit isn't offered anywhere else.  Be sure to take advantage of this special offer in August!

ONLY THREE MORE DAYS TO GET IN ON THIS DEAL!!!

Click HERE to start the process or contact me at

christiwaite@gmail.com

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Happy Birthday Joey!!

Today is our Joey's 26th birthday so I thought I would show you a few pictures from their wedding.  These photos were taken by a budding new photographer Elysa Gryzbowski.  If you are in need of a photographer we would highly recommend her.

 

                                                                                 Gracie, dreaming of the bride she will be some day

our sweet Gracie

Our daughter Julie is on the left

and now she's on the right
This is the birthday card I made for Joey this year...

 Joey is such a Detroit Tiger Baseball fan that he proposed to Melissa after a game at Comerica Park right by the giant Tiger statue so I wanted to make his card in the Dark Blue (Night of Navy) and Orange (Pumpkin Pie) colors.  The baseballs are from the stamp set HOME RUN (retired) stamped with Soft Suede Ink.

I have seen so many of this style card. I have seen it called Triple Time or Triple Layer, but whatever it is called technically it is very versatile.  You can use any stamp set you want.  I made this simple red and white one, but wanted to make a Blue and Orange one for our Joey
I'm sure you will be seeing more of this style down the road as I have one planned for down the road in one of my Stamp A Stack Classes.
The Happy Birthday greeting is from BEST DAD EVER stamp set.

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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RHSSC #51

Sketch Challenge Time!!

This is the sketch we had to work with for this week...

 

 When my friend, Rachel, prepared these sketch challenges I printed them out and thought I would be "on the ball" and do them up ahead of time, but alas, the time slips away and I remembered Friday night (as I was laying in bed to sleep) that I needed to get it done right away in the morning since we were traveling to Indiana for a wedding the next day.

Guess that is why I had wedding on the brain when I put the card together...

 A while back I had made THIS CARD with the FLOATING RE INKER TECHNIQUE

and my friend Carla wanted me to teach her how to do it.  So on one of our play days together we made up some flowers using the 

FIFTH AVENUE FLORAL (retired) stamp set.

I had set these flowers aside for this particular sketch and now I am really glad I did 

because of being in a time crunch.  I was able to put this card 

together in less than 10 minutes!!

See how I used the MANHATTAN EMBOSSING FOLDER to emboss just a 

corner of the inside piece?  Using Shimmery White Card Stock 

also made the card have that little extra 'something'.

The "flecking" color on the front was done with the COLOR SPRITZER TOOL 

and markers (Daffodil Delight and Regal Rose)

The ribbon down the side is double layered with Regal Rose Grosgrain
(retired) and Organza Ribbons

Now click HERE to see what the other Red Hot Stampers did with this sketch

and won't you consider playing along with us in our sketch challenges??!!

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have A Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Consider it CASED

I finally found time to make up an Angry Bird Card!  

But since it has 5 of those Angry Birds it took me a very long time.  

The card was cased from Evelyn Bicknell from Australia, 

but I also looked at other Angry Bird samples to decide the way 

I wanted to use my punches to recreate this card.

The little cloud with the Happy Birthday Wishes from the stamp set 

TEENY TINY WISHES was punched using the CUPCAKE BUILDER PUNCH

I used the stamp set INSPIRED BY NATURE (retired) for the grassy area and 

sponged the sky with Bashful Blue and a Scallop Circle Punched out piece.

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Give a HOOT!

When I found this cute Hand Sanitizer at the local Bath Works Store I knew I could come up with something cute for the craft sales.  Owls seem to be "IN" right now.  I know I like them, and my daughter REALLY likes them so I guess it makes me more drawn to them.

I punched out an owl using the Owl Builder Punch and placed it on my scanner,

increasing the size until I got it it the size I wanted.  Then it was just a matter of 

cutting it all out by hand.

 So I pulled out some retired DSP from my pile and thought this would fit the bill.

Gotta love the eyelashes!!

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Faithful Friend

Last month for my Stamp A Stack Classes I borrowed a couple stamp

sets from my Play Day Friends, Rachel and Marla.

So I thought while I had them at my house I might just as well make

a few more cards up.

Here is one I made using Marla's Stamp Set WORLD TREASURES
126765 $23.95 WOOD MOUNT
126767 $17.95 CLEAR MOUNT

A lot of layers on the peacock make it really stand out, but that

also means a lot of hand cutting. No problem!  I love to cut things out!

If only there were Accent Cutters like the APOTHECARY ACCENTS

I used to cut out the sentiment.

The Designer paper is INTERNATIONAL BAZAAR

The Embossing Folder is ARGYLE

$7.95 #127750

Inspired by: Ann Schach

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Moving Forward

Last month for my Stamp A Stack Classes I borrowed a couple stamp

sets from my Play Day Friends, Rachel and Marla.

So I thought while I had them at my house I might just as well make

a few more cards up.

Here is one I made using Rachel's stamp set MOVING FORWARD

Wood Mount #126320 $19.95
Clear Mount #126322 $14.95

Here is another card I made using the MOVING FORWARD stamp set

I love the clean crisp look of this card

Inspired By: Penny Smiley

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Sweet Baby

Last month for my Stamp A Stack Classes I borrowed a couple stamp

sets from my Play Day Friends, Rachel and Marla.

So I thought while I had them at my house I might just as well make

a few more cards up.

Here is one I made using Rachel's stamp set MOVING FORWARD

Wood Mount #126320 $19.95
Clear Mount #126322 $14.95

MENU:

SS: Moving Forward, Itty Bitty Banners

CS: WW, Marina Mist, Midnight Muse, Polka Dot Parade DSP

INK: Marina Mist, Midnight Muse, Daffodil Delight

Inspired By: Wendy Knowles

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Guest Stamper

Carla is my guest stamper today

Check out this cute card she made for a 50th Birthday

Thanks for letting me share your card, Carla!!

Have a Blessed Day Everyone!!

Christi

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RHSSC #50

Sketch Challenge Time!!

This is the sketch we had to work with for today...

And here is my take on it...

I have been working on making up some Christmas cards to have on hand for the Craft Sales coming up as well as my own stash to send out and I was making this card...

Everything was just sitting there and I thought, "why not use the same stuff for my next sketch challenge?"  So I did!!  Do you like it??!!

I used a retired Stamp Set called To You And Yours and retired Designer Paper

called Ski Slope, along with Real Red and Whisper White card stock.

Click HERE to see what the other gals did with this weeks challenge - 

and Hey!  why not play along with us??!!

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Arrgh! It's a Punch Art Pirate

During the summer our church holds Wednesday Night Fellowship Dinners

and each week we have a different theme.  One of the favorite evenings is 

when they have Talent Night.  Each year is different, but it is fun to watch 

some of the kids grow from year to year in their maturity in their talents.

Our youth pastors daughter has been playing a piano solo most years

and it is amazing to see how she has grown from year to year and what a

wonderful job she did again this year.  I like to jot down notes during Talent

Night so when I send out a Thank You note to each one for participating

I can make it as personal as possible.

Since Erin played the piano, I sent her this card that you saw in an earlier post

but the song choice that Erin played was a song from Disney's

Pirates of the Caribbean.  I couldn't resist adding this fun Pirate

Punch Art to the inside of her card.  You probably can tell I made 

it using the Owl Builder Punch.

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Papaya Bottle Topper

Time for another Craft Sale post

A pretty bottle topper for your hostess for the holidays

(or whenever)

Stamp set used is PAPAYA COLLAGE

Wood Mount #126610  $31 .95
Clear Mount #126612  $23.95 

Words from FABULOUS PHRASES

Wood Mount #117002  $37.95
Clear Mount #120501 $26.95

Colors used: Midnight Muse and Very Vanilla with Crumb Cake

Seam Binding and a little Linen Thread.

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Zoo Review

Our grand daughter, Gracie, is fascinated with giraffes lately, ever since she 

visited the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek MI.  Her daddy let her feed the giraffes!!

So when I saw this giraffe card on Stampin' Connection by Heather Villinger

I knew I had to make it up in honor of Gracie's love of giraffes 

This card has a different style fold to it, and I like changing things up a bit.

Thanks Heather for sharing this cute card.

I thought Gracie would like to see this cute baby giraffe picture that

someone put on face book a while back. Isn't it CUTE!!

I guess Gramma loves giraffes as much as Gracie does

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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More Punch Art!

I think I am addicted to Punch Art!

It does take me a bit more time creating cards with Punch Art

but it gives me great satisfaction when it comes together so cute.

For this card I saw the clothesline idea from several stampers, but the one

that I remember was Caroline Vaillant

Caroline is from France and does not have a blog but she can post to 

the Stampin' Connection - a GREAT resource for all Stampin' Up!

Demonstrators.  The airplane tutorial is from Lynn Pratt

The card is 4 x 9 1/4" and fits in an A10 envelope

The little clothes on the clothesline is the vest from the 

Owl Builder Punch, and the clouds are from the 

Cupcake Builder Punch.

Airplane Punches:

Wide Oval (trimmed), Word Window

Yup! that's it!  Got to love the simplicity.

The grassy area I cut by hand and then used the Lattice Squares EF to emboss it.

Only one cloud (the middle one) is popped up with a dimensional.

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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A Second Post for Today!

So excited ... I just saw a few pictures of Joey and Melissa's wedding 

that the photographer took.

I know this is an extra post today but I wanted to share this link with you.

This one is of my sweetheart and I !!

Click HERE to go to the photographers blog

She did a fabulous job - we would recommend her to anyone!!

Thanks for Stopping by a Second time today

Christi

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Punch Art Poodle

When Tyler was working on his second Ninja Punch Art project

Gracie found a picture of a punch art Poodle and thought it would

be the perfect project for her.  She insisted that it be PINK!!

When I asked her what color bow and collar she wanted she was quick to say

"RAZZLEBERRY!" Funny how they know the names of the Stampin' Up!

cardstock, but then again, they are the ones that chose that color  for my new 

stamping shelves. 

Gracie did a great job don't you think??!!

Now it's Gramma's turn

This Punch Art Poodle was cased from Mary Rindal

who cased it from Jackie Topa!!  Isn't it great!  I'm not the only

one who copies ideas from another great Stampin' Up! Demonstrator!!

Here is a list of the punches that were used to make this cute poodle

Scallop Oval - fluff on head
(retired) Small Oval x 2 - ears
1/4" Circle x 3 - eyes and nose
3/4" Circle & 1" Circle - collar
Scallop Circle x 2 - body
Modern Label - Legs
Word Window - tail
Trio Flowers - fluffs on legs and tail
Build a Blossom - face (Mary used the Full Heart Punch)

(retired) SLOT punch - at feet
Her collar charm is a Basic Rhinestone colored blue using a Sharpie Permanent marker

and her hair bow is a knotted piece of Tempting Turquoise 1/4" Grosgrain.

The Stamp Set I used is Layered Labels 

#127070 $33.95 wood mount
#127072 $25.95 clear mount

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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Double Embossing Technique

When I became a MANAGER in my Stampin' Up! business Glenda urged me to start my own down line meetings.  Oh my, I was a bit apprehensive, but I'm getting more and more comfortable with it.  This past week only two of my lovely gals were able to come.  Oh well, we had a good time anyway.  After going over the details of what's going in Stampin' Up! and how they can utilize things for their own business, we got right on to a Make & Take project.  I saw this Double Embossing Technique by Debbie Henderson and wanted to give it a try and liked it so much I wanted to share.  I made up the frames they needed out of chip board for them to take home and use over and over.  Now see...

Another great reason to sign up with Christi's Crew!

I also shared with them how they can take a regular size brown paper lunch bag and make it fun like this...

 

I just cut a piece of Designer Paper about 2 3/4" by the width of my paper sack and attached it with SNAIL tape to my lunch bag before cutting it out.  I left this paper bag without the DSP so you can see how it fits.

 

See how l placed the tip of the largest LABELS COLLECTION FRAMELIT

right up to where the bag has a half circle cut out

 

I can picture these bags all dolled up with a double hole punch and ribbon for a little gift,

but wouldn't this be a fun way to send your child's lunch with them to school?

And what a great way to use up those pesky scraps of paper left over?

Wish I could remember whose blog I saw this great idea on, but whoever you are, 

thanks for sharing your tips and techniques!!

So why not click HERE and sign up to be a part of Christi's Crew!!

Don't live in my area?  No problem!!  We had a gal in our down line who lives in Hawaii!!

Now you can't get farther away than that and still be in the USA!!

And for only $99??!!  You just can't beat it!!

And don't forget about the SPOOKTACULAR OFFER for August

Purchase the Starter Kit in August 2012 and you not only get $125.00 product of your 

choice for only $99.00 you also get the $60.00 value add on SPOOKTACULAR

Printer Tray Kit!  Click HERE to see that post.

Thanks For Stopping By!

Have a Blessed Day!!

Christi

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