Valentine's Cards Made With the Big Shot

Both Valentine's cards above were made using the Big Shot. The Big Shot has to be my favorite crafting tool of all time!!

The card on the left is made with the Finial Press embossing folder. Once the very vanilla paper was put through the big shot, I used a sponge and cherry cobbler ink to give the embossed texture color. Stamp set is Punch Potpourri.

The card on the right was made using the Lots of Love letterpress plate. This one is made by inking the letterpress with Versamark ink, placing real red card stock on the letter press and running through the Big Shot. It not only gives the image color but it also slightly embosses the design. Stamp set is On a Pedestal.

Clements Christmas 2010 - The Best Christmas Ever!

The whole Clements Family!!

Bryan, Ashlan and their dog Kelty.

Nathan and Kendra.

Of course, us girls made time for crafts! Christmas just wouldn't be the same without our craft time. The girls got Big Shots and SU! dies and punches for Christmas and we just had to try them out. We made Valentines cards. Notice - gray is the new brown!!

Left to right - Kendra's, Ashlan's then my card.

 Happy New Year!!

More Christmas!!

More Christmas cards plus fabric rosettes!! The cards above are made by not using traditional red and green Christmas colors. Instead, colors used are (left to right): early espresso, always artichoke on very vanilla (bird card), melon mambo and crumb cake on very vanilla (jingle bell card) and night of navy on whisper white (snowflake card). Way back in the background (right upper corner) you'll see a cute snowman gift tag.

The fabric rosettes are made from the Candy Cane Christmas fabric from the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog  - a first for SU! Ashlan showed me how to make the rosettes and I just love 'em. Colors in the fabric coordinate with SU! colors: real red, garden green, baja breeze and blushing bride.

Time is running out on purchasing Christmas supplies. I still have room on my calendar to host a workshop before Christmas!Please contact me soon at keith_carla@suddenlink.net to book your holiday party!!

Thinking About Christmas (Already)!!

Even though today is Halloween, I've been thinking about Christmas. The cards above were made using only four colors on whisper white with SU's Speciality Designer Series Paper "Candy Cane Christmas" from the 2010 Holiday Mini. The four colors are inspired from the Candy Cane paper and are: real red, garden green, baja breeze and blushing bride. I love this color combination for Christmas.

Stamp sets (left to right) "Big on Christmas", "Delightful Decorations" and "Season of Joy" used for both the cards on the right end. Notice the embossing on two of the cards above. This is created using the "Elegant Lines" embossing folder and the Big Shot.

Which card is my favorite? The red/white card on the right!

Aloha!

At the Luau on the beach at sunset

Keith and I took a vacation to Maui - just the two of us. It's a trip we promised ourselves years ago. We were there for seven wonderful days. We saw lots of scenery (my favorite thing to do), learned how to snorkel, did some shopping and spent a lot of time on the beach.

Below are some of my favorite photos from the trip!

Black Rock at our hotel - best spot on Maui to snorkel

South Maui - lava tube

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South Maui - great waves

South Maui sunset

Road to Hana - 52 miles of curves and one lane bridges

Road to Hana - Three Bears Falls

Road to Hana - black sand beach

Road to Hana - Banyan tree

Road to Hana - beautiful carved canyons

Road to Hana - shoreline cliffs. See the highway?

Last but not least, I did stop at two quilt shops and picked up enough fat quarters for a Crazy 9 Patch quilt.

Fat Quarters from Maui

Easy Scrapbook Page Design

8"x8" Scrapbook Page and Card

Do you struggle when designing scrapbook pages? Do you just stare at your sheet of white paper waiting for a creative idea to pop into your head?? Here's an easy way to overcome those times when you just can't get started.

The scrapbook page above (left) was designed after I created the coordinating card (right). For me, it is easier to design a card because it is smaller than a scrapbook page (all that space scares me!). Any card design can be turned into a scrapbook page - just blow it up!!

Where do you get great ideas for cards and scrapbook pages? From the 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog. If you do not have yours, please contact me. Catalogs are only $9.95 if you purchase them or free if you host a qualifying workshop.

Happy stampin' and scrappin'! Carla

keith_carla@suddenlink.net

Girls Night Out - The Power of Punches

At girls night out last night, we focused on using punches. Here's the make 'n take project that we did. We used the Punched Posies set which is a hostess set out of the Summer mini catalog. All of the flowers and the butterfly were punched out. We used a total of 5 different punches to make this card. I love the way SU is making punches and stamp sets to coordinate. It makes creating a card a simple task.

This "lollipop" flower card is made just using circle punches. The one the left is the one my friend Carmen made. I made the one on the right. Which do you like best? I like Carmen's.

Thanks to all who came to girls night out. We'll hopefully do it again soon!