Sentimental Sunday - We Have A Teenager!

The day has finally arrived!! Tyler celebrates his 13th birthday TODAY!!, and guess what?? we will not even be with him.  He will be celebrating with his friends and they will be enjoying the 13 cupcakes that Gramma made for his special day.

I just have to share how handsome this young man is - we are so thankful for him.

Gifts for Tyler- a little GREEN!

 and a little orange (Detroit Tiger orange!!)

Thank you for going on this 13 week journey with me as we celebrated a count down to Tyler's 13 birthday.
Christi Pin It Now!

Sweet Saturday

A quick shout out to our son, Jeff, who has his birthday today!!  We celebrated on Memorial Day which is very fitting because the REAL Memorial Day is May 30th which is when he was born!  We didn't have a big birthday bash celebration and I didn't make a cake - instead we sat around the fire pit, sharing good food and fun stories.
I did, however, get hired to make this tiger - themed cake for a 10 year old birthday.

 I created the tiger print for the sides of the cake and the #10 using my Edible Image Machine.  I could not find any tiger paper so I purchased some tiger print felt and created my own edible image.  So glad we got this printer.  Yes, it does add more to the cost of the cake, but at least the customers can get exactly what they want.

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Christi Pin It Now!

Paper Pumpkin Makeovers

In my quest to clear off my work station I thought it was about time that I completed my past Paper Pumpkin Kits.
This is the kit from March, and although the intention was to make up cards, I liked this idea much better for treats.  They will be perfect for giving the ladies at workshops or popping in a customers order bag as a thank you for their order.

This was the April Paper Pumpkin Kit.  I made it up as instructed choosing the wording I wanted from the supply of Photopolymer stamps that they add to your kit. These, too, will be a great thank yo to pop into an order bag.

May's Paper Pumpkin Kit was fun too.  This was indented to be 6 cute birthday cards, but I cut them in half and gave them some new score lines to make a treat bag as well.  By cutting them in half I was able to get 12 treats.  I used my Calypso Coral Seam Binding Ribbon to tie them shut.

 A mini bag of M&M's fit perfectly inside - Another chance to pop something into a customers order bag.

 The kit came with 4 heavy duty gift bags.  These are so cute I didn't have the heart to tear the bag apart to make something new.  I made them just as instructed.  I'm hoping to use them to put together 4 grab bags for my New Catalog Open House on June 19 & 20.

After seeing all these fun things I bet you are wondering how you can get a Paper Pumpkin Subscription for yourself, right?  Well, all you need to do is click HERE to get started.  And the best deal yet is that now, through June 10th when you sign up you get your first 2 months at 50% off.  Each month you will receive your very own Paper Pumpkin in the mail and you can make them up exactly like the instructions or make them up any way you want.  Everything you will need (including ink and stamps) is included in your kit EVERY MONTH!!  What a sweet deal!
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Christi Pin It Now!

TBT & a Craft Room Update

Over the weekend I was spending time cleaning up my work station and ran across this card idea from Margaret Raburn.  Knowing that I was needing some more children's cards at the store I thought it was time to make it up.  The retired stamp set is called I DIG YOU, perfect for the little boy in your life.

I teamed it up with the Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack.  This paper stack has been so versatile and I have loved working with it.  It comes in 4.5" x 6.5" and is in the Occasions Catalog.  Click HERE to check it out on my on line store. The Occasions Catalog only goes through June 2nd so better snatch it up now!
Now for an up date on the progress of my craft room... Check it out! This is my new 12x12 paper storage system!!  My handy hubby made this according to my desires and it is PERFECT!! It will hold absolutely EVERY 12x12 paper I own, plus a little bit more!

 This amazing new storage system is on wheels so that I can pull it forward and get to my other storage shelves that Dale made. The back storage shelves are used for items that I don't get to often so it works out perfect.  No wasted space here!

 The pieces used on the edge to hold the paper in (each shelf is on a slight angle because it is easier to view my papers) are cut from a corner protector, like what you put on your wall corners to protect them from  chipping or when you have wallpaper on one wall and the other is painted.  I think you know what I mean.  It works perfect because it already has adhesive.   I labeled each shelf with my handy dandy label maker.

Another great addition to my craft room is this Nail Polish Holder that I found on Amazon.  It is perfect for all of my ink refills.  No more digging through a basket to find the color I need.

Not too many projects left before my craft room is complete! 

I will continue to keep you updated.

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Christi Pin It Now!

Wrap Up

This will be a wrap up on our "Spring Into Stamping" event
It was a full day of on-stage demonstrations, a motivational speaker, Prize Drawings and a variety of demonstrations to check out throughout the day.
Donne was chosen to play the Stampin' Up! Jeopardy Game

Demonstrations:

This one was cool because she made a little "purse" for pocket/purse size tissue

And this one she wrapped around a standard tissue box - perfect for your friend or family member who is down with a nasty cold.

There were so many, and I don't want to bore you with a ton of pictures.  Several of the ideas or techniques I have already used in classes. It was a very profitable trip down.
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Christi Pin It Now!

Subtle Changes

These are the cards that we made at the "Spring Into Stamping" event. I will show you how they had us make them and then another photo of the same card after I made some subtle changes to them.

 On this one I just added a line of 3 pearls for the butterfly

Card #2 - This was a cool card

 check out the inside

And I added more pearls, not just on the butterfly

Card #3

 This one I pulled apart and embossed the card base

Card #4

 More pearls

Card #5

I guess I am stuck on pearls, but I also spritzed some shimmer on each of the cards, it is just hard to see in the photos.

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Shoe Box Swaps and Pillow Gifts

A few weekends ago I had the privilege to go to an Stampin' Up! event called "Spring into Stamping" put on by Julie Davison, with 2 of my dear friends, Carla and Donne.  We had so much fun on our 4+ hour drive there and back, our time at the motel and our all day event with 100+ other Stampin' Up! Demonstrators.  We decided to fore-go the shoe box swap with the large group and just have one on our own between the 3 of us.

These are the swaps we made:

Donne out-did herself by bringing 2 swaps - the card on the left and the cute post it note.  Carla's is on the right and mine is in the middle.  I believe that I shared both of the wedding cards during my Wedding and Anniversary Week on my blog.
There were also pillow gifts.  Donne's adorable gift tag on a bag...

filled with goodies

Carla's treats in a cute Mini Treat Bag - YUMMO! Chocolate!

and I went simple this time - (only because I thought of it the very last minute:)

My bag was designed after one I saw on Sam Donald's blog.
Tomorrow I will show you the cards that we made for our Make & Takes at the event.
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ONE more week until Tyler's 13th birthday - a recap

Just one more week until Tyler's 13th birthday.
Here is the treat he got for this week... Yummy frozen yogurt with Gramma and Gracie

Here is a recap on how he has grown.  Next week I will be able to share a picture of Tyler as a teenager

And here is the count-down gifts that I gave him (except the final 4)

This sure has been fun for me, I hope you enjoyed it as well
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Christi Pin It Now!