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

Last Chance to Order...

Today, June 30th is the LAST day to order from both the Occasions Mini Catalog and the current 2009 Spring-Summer Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog!!  Go directly to www.erinblair.stampinup.com and click on SHOP NOW to place any last minute orders before your favorites are GONE!!

BUT...that means TOMORROW, Wednesday, July 1st is the FIRST DAY to order from the BRAND NEW 2009-2010 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog!  I don't know if you've heard, but Stampin' Up! is going back to ONE catalog for the entire year!!  YEAH!!  They will still have 3 mini catalogs, including Sale-A-Bration, to offer us even more fantastic stamps, paper, & accessories throughout the year!!  I don't know how Stampin' Up! does it, but every new catalog just totally impresses me and outshines the previous catalog!!  How do they do that??  (I guess that's why they get paid the BIG bucks!) 

I just received my order of new catalogs, so if you are interested in a new catalog, PLEASE let me know.  They are FREE to my current club members!!  If you are not in either of my clubs, you can get one for FREE by hostessing a workshop in your home or doing a "Catalog" party.  Finally, you can purchase one for $10 (plus shipping, if necessary) and I will give you a coupon for $10 off a purchase of $50 or more....so you will end up getting it for FREE, too!!

Happy Shopping...Erin

Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin' Kit

These are the pages we made at my May Simply Scrappin' Club.  I know,  I know TWO posts in a row that feature an item that is no longer available!!  The Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin' Kit SOLD OUT fairly quickly after Stampin' Up! posted their retiring accessories list!!

 

 

I'm so sorry that the above pages are so shamefully empty.  Since I didn't have pictures ready to put on them, it makes it very difficult for me to add lots of extra doo-dads & embellishments.

 

The above pages were inspired by Elise Russell's pages found HERE.

 

Inspired by the Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin' Kit Packaging Sheet.

Have a happy, sunny day!! Erin

Simply Scrappin' Club--Hoppy Memories

I know it's cruel to post ideas for something for which you can no longer purchase (like the Hoppy Memories Simply Scrappin' Kit which has already SOLD OUT!!), but I figured the layout ideas were simple enough that they could be used with just about any Simply Scrappin' Kit or scrapbook pages!  These were the pages we did for my April class, but I waited to post them because I wanted to get some pictures on them...obviously that didn't happen!!  One day...

FYI:  I intentionally did not put a lot of the adhesive die cuts on these pages because I wanted to wait until AFTER I put pictures on them.  Also, 2 of the gals in my club had recently attended Sesame Street Live & had lots of pictures to scrap, so I wanted to be sure all these pages had wide open spaces to pack lots of pictures.

  

I was inspired to make these pages from the design of Stamp'nScrap's very beautiful pages HERE and HERE .

 

On the above "Play & Explore" pages were designed to fit two 4x6 photos horizontally across the top of each page & then three 4x6 photos arranged vertically across the bottom sections of each page for a grand total of TEN photos!  I got the idea for this layout from Nancy Kliewer & you can see her original using last year's Just For You Simply Scrappin' Kit HERE. (By the way, does anyone know Nancy?  Her blog is no longer available & she hasn't posted on Splitcoast since November.   I hope all is well & she's just really busy!)

  

I don't know if you can tell from the above picture (you can click on it to view it larger), but the leaping frog adhesive die cut originally did not have eyes, just bumps from the back of his eyelids I suppose, but I felt like he needed eyes, so I took two teenie-tiny circles from the holes of one of the journalling pieces of adhesive die cuts (like in the Play & Explore page were the "&" sign is) & put them on the eyelid bumps & "instant eyeballs".  I like him much better now!  I CASED the layout from Gretchen (aka--bunnytriplets) & you can find her original layout HERE.

 

I CASED the layout for this page from an online class I took called "Got Sketch 101".  You can find out more about the classes at www.gotsketch.com   I even did another layout like this last year & you can see how it turned out HERE.

I hope you enjoyed thes "hoppy" pages!  Erin

My "36" Book

A week and a half ago, I turned 36!!  EEEK!  I know, how did this happen?  Just yesterday I was graduating from high school, going to college, getting married, working as a nurse in the Air Force, having three kids, homeschooling, etc...oh, I guess that's how it happened!! :)  Well, now that I am so "mature" & I have so much to offer, I thought I'd write my own "book"...NO, not that kind of book!  It's more like a book of lists for me, about me, for my family, etc.  Something fun to look at 10-20-36 more years down the road.  So I purchased a Composition book & gussied it up with some new Razzleberry Lemonade DSP & Crushed Curry Dots Ribbon from the up-coming NEW 2009-2010 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog!

  

WARNING:  You might want to put on your sunglasses for this next picture!!

Just wanted to give you an up-close & personal look at my blingie "36" made from the Sticky Cuts Letters & Numbers and some smokin' rose pink glitter from the Fine Cosmo Stampin' Glitter.

 

So, what kinds of lists am I making?  Well, here's a small sampling:

36 Things I Want to Accomplish This Year

36 Reasons to be Thankful

36 Places I have Visited/Lived

36 Places I want to Visit

36 Pounds that I Want to Lose

36 Reasons Why I Love Steven (My hubby)

36 Things that Make me Cranky

36 Things that Make me Smile

36 Favorite Bible Verses/Passages that I would like to Memorize

So you get the idea, right??  I want to have at least 36 topics to write about, & I have 29 so far.  If you can think of any great list ideas for me to write about, please let me know!!  I meant to take a picture of the inside cover & table of contents page so you could see my list of lists!  I'll have to do that another day because it's too dark for me to get a good picture right now.  I want to work on this a little bit everyday, so that by my 37th birthday, I'll have some pretty funny stuff to look at!  I think this would be a great idea to do, no matter what your age is!  Enjoy...Erin

Tour de Freaks

Do you know what a blog hop is?  It is where a group of bloggers are each posting about the same thing & you "hop" from one blog to the next to see that person's ideas.  In the stamping & scrapping world it's so fun because you get to see lots & lots of creative ideas.  So the Control Freaks decided they wanted to do a blog hop, but, of course, we couldn't call it a "blog hop", we had to call it something different, unique.  So, we came up with the idea of "Tour de Freaks".  On the 20th of every month there will be a new "tour" to go on!!  YEAH!!  Although I was unable to participate this round, I thought you'd really enjoy seeing what the other Freaks came up with.  You can start at Julie Dinn's blog HERE.  She'll fill you in on where to go next.  When I got to Melanie's blog "Pockets of Inspiration", her page took a little bit of time to load, so just be patient...it's there!  Enjoy!!  Erin

Scrapbook Club "filler" Pages

Last year, my Totally Sweet Scrapbook Club met from April-October, so we were only able to cover half of the year's worth of holidays.  My next scrapbook club decided to use the Simply Scrappin' Kits, so we haven't really been doing "holiday" themed pages for the most part.  So one of the gals in my first club asked if I could help her make some pages to finish up and "fill" in the rest of the holidays.  So here's what I came up with for her (I also made these duplicates for myself!):

  

I was inspired to make this New Year's layout from a sketch by Cyndi (aka...The Scrappy Chick) HERE.

 

I was inspired by fellow Control Freak, Kimberly Van Diepen's fall pages HERE to make this Valentine's layout.

 

I was CASED Luriko2's pages found HERE on Splitcoast.  I am so EXCITED that this stamp set (Season of Friendship) made it into the NEW Stampin' Up! 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog!!

 

These pages are just a tad busy for me, but I think when I get some pictures on them that I'll be a happier with them.

I hope you are all having a super start to your summer!  Tomorrow's my birthday, so I think my present to myself should be to clean off my stampin' table and play with some of my new stamps!!  Erin

Altered Punch Tins

For the last couple of years, Stampin' Up! has offered a stamp set, stampin' spot, & coordinating punch set in a neat, little tin.  This year they changed how they offered the punch set, so that left a lot of empty "neat, little tins" laying around the SU! warehouse, so they have offered them as an item we could purchase. (Although, at this time, I'm not sure if they are still available, let me know if you want me to check to see if they are still available.)  So I purchased several tins, as any good stamper/crafter would because I might "NEED" them some day for a project.  Well, guess what?  "Some day" actually came, & I altered 2 tins for a friend at church who had just adopted 2 little ones from the Ukraine.  I thought these boxes might come in handy for small memorabilia...or whatever she might want to use them for.  So here they are:

  

 

Okay, okay, so I didn't really "alter" the box that much!  But it made for a fun, personalized gift that the recipient really appreciated!!  (I think she even squealed with delight when she opened them!)  Have a fantastic day! Erin

PS...I received my new Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog today along with my pre-order items! Woo-Hoo!  It's going to be a late night looking & drooling through all the pages....again!

Just a Few More Control Freak Swaps!!

 Made by Lisa Martz---Control Freak Mom

Made by Liz Shultz

Made by Mary Beth Brown

Made by Pam Findlay

Made by Sharon Howard

 Made by Shona Watson Made by Shona Watson

Made by Stephanie Leider

Well, folks, these were the last few Control Freak cards I had...boo-hoo!  But don't worry, starting on June 20th & on the 20th of the next several months, we will be having a Tour de Freaks (aka---a blog hop)!  I will give you more details as the time gets closer, but you will not want to miss out on this!  Erin

Even more Contol Freak Cards!!

Here are some more Control Freak Swap Cards!

Made by Jan Tinklenberg

Made by Jennifer Diercks

Made by Joey Hartman

Made by Judy Di Scipio

  Made by Julie Dinn

Made by Kimberly Van Diepen

Thanks Control Freaks for your Fantastic swaps!!  Erin

I can't believe I haven't shown you these swaps...EEK!

Here are some Control Freak Swaps from awhile back.  I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Made by Adele Heffern

  Made by Annette Jensen

Made by Connie Babbert

Made by Dawn Olchefske

Made by ME! Featured on June 2nd on the Stamper's Showcase on the Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Website! Woo-Hoo!!

Made by Gretchen Barron...I love how she used the Sizzix Top Note Die to make this unique square!

I'll have some more fun swaps to show you tomorrow!  Erin