S.T.A.R.S.--Sharing The Art of Rubber Stamping

My 2009 Christmas Letter & Family Photo using My Digital Studio!

The other day my friend Michelle wrote a comment on one of my posts mentioning how much she liked the Christmas Letter & Photo I sent to her.  Then it hit me, why haven't I posted it??  I did use My Digital Studio after all!  And seeing as this post is not nearly as outdated as my last two, I'm feeling not quite as embarrassed!!  Enjoy!

I made this using one of the photo only templates for a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card.  I deleted the other two "pages" that would have been the interiors for the card.  Then, I saved the card as a jpeg & sent it off to Sam's Club to be printed as a photo.  I tried several different sizes & the True Digital size worked the best.  It still cut off a little at the top & the bottom, but the standard photo sizes(4x6 & 5x7) cut off too much the little tag with our greeting & names.  (By the way,I didn't include the watermark with my name & the copyright info...I have to do that for the blog!)

This is an 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbook page that I made with the photo only option on My Digital Studio.  This means all there is on the page is the nine squares for photos.  I was able to add the papers, text, stamps & elements that I wanted to add. Also, if it looks a little familiar, I wanted it to coordinate with the photo card I had made above.  After I created it, I saved it as a jpeg image & then pasted it onto a word document.  I had it printed at Kinkos/FedEx with our actual Christmas Letter printed on the back.  The colors were not 100% true to Stampin' Up!'s colors, but I thought it turned out very nice.

For those that are interested, here is a link to the actual Christmas Letter.Download Christmas Letter 2009
 

I hope you are all having a great start to the new year...Erin

Getting Ready for NEXT Thanksgiving Just a Little Early...

Again, I'm so sorry & quite embarrassed to be showing you this stuff when it is so far past the actually holiday!  BUT, I wanted to share them with you because I know you'll be able to use these ideas & that you can file them away for next Thanksgiving!!

For my November Gifts from the Heart Club, we made these two each of these 4 cards and a cute little card holder.  Enjoy...

The above card was inspired by Brenda Keenan's beautiful card HERE. (Just scroll down a little.)

I was inspired by Karen Giron's sweet & simple card HERE to make the above Season of Friendship card.

The above design was inspired by a couple other cards I have made using Thoughts & Prayers Stamp Set & the Top Note Die.  You can see one of them HERE.

I saw this cool Falling Leaves card by mindydecor8 HERE and was totally inspired to CASE it!

 

 

Here are a couple of beauty shots of the little box/bag we made for this class!  I can't seem to find where I saw this bag...certainly I didn't come up with this box on my own did I?  Hmmm?  Maybe! 

 

 

 

FYI:  The Jumbo Eyelet on the sides of the box serve no function or design purpose.  When I was making the box, I wasn't sure if I wanted the handles on the sides or the front...well I tried the sides first & I didn't like it.  I didn't want to waste this perfectly good box, so I just rolled with it!  Some times you gotta do what you gotta do!  Maybe you could use these same designs for some cool Valentine's Cards....hmmm?  Maybe I should do that too!!  Have a super New Year!!  Erin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Getting Ready for NEXT Halloween just a little early...tee-hee!!

Or should the title have been...Happy Belated Halloween Ideas?  I still have a couple more Halloween & Fall Ideas to show you that you'll just have to file away to use next year!  Tomorrow, I'll show you the Fall/Thanksgiving Ideas!  Life has just been going by so fast these past couple of months...WOW!  I've also got some really cute scrapbook pages to show you from my last two months of my Simply Scrappin' Club...so stay tuned & thanks so much for your patience during the VERY SPARSE posting over the past  couple of months!

Halloween Pennants

 

I got the idea to make these little pennants using the Stampin' Up! Pennant Bigz XL Die from HERE on  Patty Bennett's Inspirational Blog last year at about this time (of course Patty had her Halloween stuff posted way BEFORE Halloween).  Since I have the slightly smaller Stampin' Up! Alphabet Simple Letters Bigz Dies, I thought it would be fun to come up with a little longer greeting.  You could easily do this to make little pennants for Thanksgiving, Christmas, & more! (I did, & I'll post those a little later).

Paper Pumpkins

I was again inspired by Patty's Blog to make these cute little pumpkins that were featured at one of her group meetings.  You can see the post here & then scroll down a little.

Spooky Treat Mini Buckets

I picked up these mini-buckets from The Dollar Spot--they came 2 for $1.00.  I used the Spooky Treats Rub-Ons & the FABULOUS 1 1/4 inch Striped Grosgrain Ribbon...YUMMY!

Large Trick-or-Treat Buckets

Although the picture doesn't look like it, these buckets are much larger than the mini buckets shown above.  Now, which one doesn't look like the others?  Which one doesn't belong?  I purchased the center bucket last year to have on display & to hold Halloween candy.  This year when the "Spooky Expressions" Decor Elements came out, I just knew they would be adorable on orange buckets...do you know how hard it is to find orange tin buckets that these little guys will fit on??  Luckily I found these 2 buckets at a local store...they were 90% off in the clearance section from the 2008 Halloween season...unfortunately, I have THREE kiddos & 2 buckets just doesn't quite cut it!  So, after I made these, I carried around the third pumpkin face to try to find a match...no such luck.  So when I unpacked my fall/halloween stuff, I was thrilled to find the above center bucket...whew!  I'm still going to keep my eyes open for another orange bucket, but for this past Halloween, these three buckets served my kiddos just fine!
 

I hope you were able to get some chuckles from this Halloween post at Christmas time, & that you will be able to use these ideas in about 9-10 months!  Tee-Hee!! :)  Erin

 

  
 

Christmas Countdown Calendar & The List!!

 

 
 

If you've been hangin' around here for awhile, the above items might look familiar to you.  I made the above Christmas Countdown Calendar & Boxes last year.  You can read all about how I made it HERE and HERE.  At my stamp club earlier this week, I was mentioning to the gals about a list of Christmas Activities that we wanted to do this December.  The ultimate goal is to get them typed up, cut out & put one in the pocket behind each of the numbers.  If you clicked on the first link, you'll know what I mean.  Well, I've made the list, but I haven't typed it up, cut it up, or tucked them into the pockets on the numbers, but Kari asked if I could post the list, so I am!  So, in no particular order, here is THE LIST of Christmas Activities we'd like to accomplish this December. (Seeing as it is the 12th already, we have accomplished some of these, but I'm not so sure if we will be able to accomplish ALL of them!)  If you have any other great ideas, please let me know!

1.  Learn a new Christmas Song.

2.  Make cookies to give to the neighbors.

3.  Make "snowmen" pretzel sticks. (As featured on the front cover of the December Issue of Family Fun Magazine.)  

4.  Make a Gingerbread House.

5.  Decorate the Christmas Tree.

6.  Go see the Christmas Lights Display in Midwest City.

7.  Make Christmas Thank You Notes.

8.  Make Snowman Pizza (another idea from Family Fun)

9.  Read The Night Before Chrismas on the night before Christmas while sipping hot cocoa & eating Christmas Cookies.

10.  Get out & arrange our Little People Nativity & read the Christmas Story from Luke 2.

11. U-Pick a Christmas Story for everyone to listen to.

12.  Make the "Christmas Blessing Snack Mix".

13.  Have a "Happy Birthday Jesus" Party!

14.  Read The Polar Express and then watch it!

15.  Go see a Christmas Themed Movie in the Theater...if available.  We saw Disney's "A Christmas Carol".

16.  Draw Christmas Pictures to send to the Grandparents.

17.  Go to the church Christmas Program.

18.  Donate a toy for kids who won't get much of a Christmas.  (ie. Angel Tree or Operation Christmas Child)

19. Make Christmas Story Cookie Kit...something new my mom gave us this year.

20.  Make our own yummy hot cocoa from scratch and put into Cocoa Cones (another idea from Family Fun magazine a few years back) to give to Sunday School.

21.  Make marshmallow snowmen pictures. (Dip large & small marshmallows in white paint & "paint" on blue or black construction paper.)

22.  See Santa Claus at the mall. (The OKC Bass Pro Shop has a GREAT Santa!)

23.  Celebrate St. Nicholas Day, by writing a letter to St. Nicholas, putting it in your shoe & putting it by the front door....the next day, the shoe will be filled with candy & a little gift (placed in ziploc bag, not directly in their stinky shoes!)  When I was a little kid, we lived in Germany for a few years & began celebrating this holiday.  When I went away to college, I even sent my parents a shoe with my Christmas Wish List in it.  They were living back in Germany (dad was in the Air Force), and when I arrived home on Christmas break, my shoe was there waiting for me filled with candy!  :)

24.  On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, do the "What God Wants For Christmas" box.

I hope you enjoyed my list...remember, we probably won't be able to do it all.  It's just nice to have a list of things we'd like to be able to do & if we get crunched for time, we can scan "the list" to see what's most important for us to do & what supplies we have on hand to complete the projects.  Don't forget, if you have a great family tradition or idea that you'd like to share, please leave me a comment!  I'd love to add the "the list".  Merry Christmas...Erin
 

Even More Details about My Tour de Freaks Post

The last thing I wanted to show you from the Tour de Freaks Post is the mini album in a tin that I made for my husband for our 15th Wedding Anniversary. 

I made this using one of the Accents & Elements Tins that held my Felt Fusion Flowers, so it's a little thicker than the standard Accents & Elements Tins that you can buy at the Clearance Rack On-line HERE .  Then click on SHOP NOW & then click on CLEARANCE RACK.  I also used the Simply Scrappin' Kit Sunny Days.  I thought it made it a very bright & cheerful mini album!  I used the SIzzix Clear Scallop Square Die for each page.  The white squares are 3 7/8 by 3 7/8.  

Who knows if you really want to see ALL of the pages in the album, but here they are for your viewing pleasure!!

 
 
  

I'm sure that was way more of me & my dear, sweet hubbie than you wanted to see, but I wanted to show you the sweet & simple pages that I made. If you have any questions about this mini album & tin or any of the other projects, please let me know!  Erin
 
 
 

 

More Details About My Tour de Freak Post

WoW!  Time flies when you are having fun!!  This past week has been a whirlwind of family visiting, Thanksgiving celebrating, and Black Friday Shopping...whew!  I barely got on the computer this past week & now I've realized that I am WAY OVERDUE on these posts from the Tour de Freaks a week and a half ago!  EEK!  So, without further delay, here is my Animal Stories Backpack & Card Ensemble!

I first saw this cute little backpack idea over on Becky Robert's Inking Idaho Blog HERE & HERE, and then they just seemed to pop up everywhere! Becky made her backpacks miniature sized, where as mine are quite tall...tall enough to fit 3x6 cards in!

 

And now for the cards!  Believe it or not, I came up with most of these on my own.  I was definitely inspired by lots of cool cards, but I don't believe any of them were exact copies!  I tried to use a different accessory or technique on each card.

1.  Technique: Craft Ink with Heat & Stick Powder & Dazzling Diamonds Glitter   

Technique:  Sizzix Flower Folds

Technique:  Using markers on stamps.
This card I came pretty close to CASEing, but I cannot find where I got the original idea, so if this is yours, please let me know.

Technique:  Uhhh...no stamps?  Tee-Hee!

Technique:  Scallop Punch & Jumbo Grommet...a little frustrating!

So, there you go!  Whew!  Sorry this took so long to get to you.  I am going to do tomorrow's post right now, so that it'll be ready for you & you won't have to wait so long!!   Erin

PS...TODAY, November 30th, is the last day of Stampin' Up! Holiday Extravaganza! Please Click Here to see all the specials going on right now and then click on SHOP NOW to see even more deals!!
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
    
 
 

Details about My Tour de Freaks Post

Sorry for the delay in posting, but I've been super busy getting things ready for my parents & brother/sister-in-law who are coming for Thanksgiving that I haven't had a moment to get on the computer...whew!  Thanks so much for your wonderful comments on my last post from the recent Tour de Freaks.

For these items I am showing you today I used the Sunny Days Simply Scrappin' Kit!  Using this kit for any project will surely brighten your recipients day!  They only items that didn't come in the kit were the ribbons.

JUMBO CLOTHESPINS

 I love making these Jumbo Clothespins.  It is soooo easy! YOU CAN CLICK HERE to find out how to make these & to see more samples than you probably care to see!  In that post there is also the link to where I purchased these from & a discount code...I think it still works!  What?  There weren't enough clothespins, you need to see more???  Well, okay, CLICK HERE and HERE , I have a few more you might like!!

MINI COMPOSITION NOTEBOOKS & PENS

I was so excited to find these mini composition notebooks at a "Back To School" Clearance Sale a couple of months ago!  I just knew that they would come in handy for a special project.  If you've never made your own composition notebook mini or regular size, don't hesitate any longer.  It's really not that difficult to do.  My best tip is to use Stampin' Up!'s Sticky Strip along the outer edges of the notebook, so that even after it's been crammed in your purse or shoved into your desk it'll still look pretty nice because the edges are really STUCK!  I also use some Stampin' Up! SNAIL adhesive in the center portion of the paper to keep it stuck in the middle.  I typically SNAIL down the ribbon too, so that it doesn't slide around like it's doing in the notebook on the bottom left...oops!  I like decorating my own pens using the Pentel RSVP pens, but since I had these cute Stampin' Up! Pens that coordinated beautifully, I opted to use them instead. 

If you'd like to see more compostion notebooks, you can CLICK HERE and HERE and HERE .

I'll be back soon to tell you more about the Animal Stories Backpack & Card Set!!  Stay tuned...Erin

 

It's Tour de Freak Time!!

I hope you are all having a fabulous time on the Control Freaks "Tour de Freaks"!!  If you are just arriving from Mary Brown's FANTASTIC Blog, you are so very welcome.  If you are starting here, just look through this post & click on the link at the end of the post to go to Dawn Olchefske's Super Creative Blog!  This month's theme is Christmas Gifts!!  So get your paper & pencil ready for some really fun ideas!  If you come back to visit me over the next few days, I'll be adding new posts that got into detail about the items I made, so come on back, ya hear!!

Animal Stories Backpack of Cards--who wouldn't just love to receive some delightful hand-crafted cards in this ultra-cool back pack?? (Obviously I would, because e.b. is ME!!  Tee-hee!)

***On the rest of the projects, I used ONE Sunny Days Simply Scrappin' Kit to make ALL these wonderful projects!!  More details to come later this week!!

Stocking Stuffers and/or Last Minute Gifts--You know there is going to be someone who gives you a Christmas gift & you are standing there empty handed, but then you remember that you created these cool items for just such an occasion!!  Whew!!

Jumbo Clothespins--These are great for displaying a photo, a recipe, or a special card that someone made for you!

Little Compositon Notebooks & Pens---The pens I used here I purchased from Stampin' Up!  They were on sale at Convention this past summer.

Unique Gift for that Certain Special Someone in Your Life--On December 10th, my wonderful husband, Steven, and I will be celebrating our 15th Wedding Anniversary, so I wanted to make him something extra special to honor the occasion!  Here is the tin I altered and a few of the pages I made to go inside.

Remember, if you want to learn more about each project, just keep checking back here over the next couple of days!  

You are going to have so much fun at Dawn's blog...Enjoy the tour!!  Erin Blair

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE NEXT STOP!! 

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE NEXT STOP!!
 
 
 
 

Tour de Freaks coming this FRIDAY!!

 I am so excited to inform you that this Friday, November 20th, I will be a part of the Tour de Freaks!  You will not want to miss out on all the fun of this tour of Christmas Gift Ideas!!

I am so sorry for the lack of posts over the past couple of weeks.  I do have some fun things to show you, so thank you for your patience....more Halloween (to get you ready for next year...tee-hee), some Fall/Thanksgiving ideas, Simply Scrappin' Club, & more.  Stay tuned...Erin
 

More Last Minute Halloween Fun!

Here's a couple more Halloween Goodies for you all!

Gift Card Holder

 

I used the Sizzix Basket & Blooms die to make this flat Gift Card Holder.  I put sticky strip along the perforated edges & across the bottom, decorate & voila!

Candy Corn Favor Tin

You can get these little favor tins in the wedding/baby section of just about any craft & discount stores.  I loved how the Candy Corn stamp from the Sweet Treats set fit perfectly inside the circle punch!  YUM!

Sweet Centers Card

Just wanted to make a simple card with the Sweet Centers Stamp set.

Coaster Mini Photo Display

Okay, so there aren't any photos in here yet, but there will be!  So quick & easy to make!!

I do have a few more items to show you, so stick around!  Erin

To place your order for these FUN Halloween items, to check out the Deal of the Week, to shop the Clearance Rack or any other Stampin' Up! products (like My Digital Studio), just click on this link & then click on the "SHOP NOW" button in the top right hand corner under my name!