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Paper Crafters Sampler

Heather Wachtman — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:16:52 +0000

I’ve joined the Paper Crafters Sampler Design Team. It’s a fantastic new online sampler that offers monthly ideas on creative ways to use your Stampin’ Up! supplies. To learn more, follow this link where you can find out all the details, including a preview sampler of what to expect from each monthly issue.

Make sure you check out our Earlybird Special, good until January 9th. January 10th will launch our Premiere issue featuring “Very Valentines”. A must have for all those who are in need of some creative Valentine Projects you can create for friends, co-works and use for your monthly workshops.

If you decide to subscribe, please use my special referral code so the moderate knows I sent you. It’s PCSHW. Our moderate rewards us as her design team by each referral

Baby Girl Shower Favors with Tiny Tags Stamp Set

Heather Wachtman — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:40:53 +0000

Today I was jumping for joy when I got a request to do some baby girl shower favors! I’ve been doing hundreds of baby boy shower things from favors, to invitations, to thank yous. I was ready to do some little girl items!

I did not originally create this carriages, I only wish I did! They were posted to our group Late Night Stampers by a fellow Demonstrator named Martha Gomez. If you would like to visit her blog to see her original post please click on her name as it is linked directly to that post.

I was doing this from memory and think I did pretty well (or so I hope!)

This was my first attempt just to show the basic design of the carriage to my friend to see how she liked it. She actually requested that I do the baby shoe favors that I have posted before but until I find where I placed my template I thought I’d try something new.

Here is my second attempt, not over doing it, keeping it simple. Instead of using Chocolate Chip I did switch to Whisper White for the wheels and the Satin Ribbon.

And here is my third and my “I went crazy lady” on and decorated all of it! I’m finally out of my baby fever stage and am quite happy for everyone around me. I think that plays a large part in why going stir crazy wanting a third. I get to make all of these wonderful creations for all of these expecting mommies while getting to gush over their little ones that are arriving already and will be arriving soon in this new year.

On the left hand picture you can see a view into the carriage. There is plenty of space to add whatever little treat/snack you would like in there.

Sadly once again I don’t really have anything to add in there to let you see the full picture in the end but hopefully I’ll be going to the store tomorrow and will pick something up and tinker around with some little boy carriages

For the first carriage , the one with only Chocolate Chip for the accent color, I didn’t run it through my Big Shot like I did with my last two. I took our new Perfect Polka Dot Impression Folder and place my last two carriage bases in it and ran it through to add some more detail. I like it much better then the plain one.

Hopefully in this picture you can see what I’m talking about with the Perfect Polka Dot Embossing Folder. The last picture that I will be showing you is where I used the Tiny Tags stamp set that will be available for you all to purchase in only 3 more days!

I wanted to make almost like a license plate for the back of this one and thought that the set Tiny Tags and it’s coordinating punch would work perfectly. I pushed one brad through all three layers and stuck it on using a Stampin’ Dimensional. For the wheels I used our Beautiful Wings Sizzlit Die.

Before I make this post any longer I suppose I’ll get back to work on some more baby boy invites that I’ve got to get accomplished. I’ll most likely be posting those tomorrow for all of you to see.

Have a fantastic Saturday night. I hope your Sunday will be a day of relaxation and enjoyment before the work week starts again.

Blessings

Happy New Year!

Heather Wachtman — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 05:04:18 +0000

I want to wish all of you a Happy New Year. I truly hope that it was a joyful night filled with fun exciting activities. Whether it was just a relaxing night at home or a party filled with friends and family. For my family we brought in the New Year surrounded by friends from my husbands Unit as usual! I think every holiday we do a gathering for everyone. It’s a wonderful feeling when it feels like your inviting your family over and not just coworkers. When we leave Alaska next year I certainly hope we keep in contact with a fair amount of the people we will be leaving behind.

Onto my New Years Resolutions. I don’t have many to be honest. I’d love to have this page full of wonderful things I want to accomplish but at the same time I don’t want to set my goals to high and then feel bummed if I don’t succeed in all of them. Maybe I’m silly but I’m my own worst critic and disappoint myself more often than I would like.

1. I want to transform my business from what it is now into something larger. I want to start offering kits for sale, start doing and offering more 3D projects and scrapbook pages. I also want to start putting myself out there more. I have a good group of women up here that are regulars and attend monthly buffets and classes but I want to step it up a notch.

2. Since my husband has come home, I have gained 30lbs back. Not what every woman wants to do! My goal for his deployment was to keep myself occupied by reaching my goal weight and getting in shape. I’m happy that say that only 6 months into his deployment I achieved that goal weight and couldn’t be happier. After having two children that we large babies (9lbs – my son, 10lbs – my daughter) I gained a fair amount of weight between the two and was always feeling down. Now that I’ve put back on 30lbs, I’m starting to feel the same way and that is the last thing I want, so that is my second goal. I’ve got a workout buddy and we plan on hitting the gym and dieting to reach our goals again.

3. My last goal, not that these are in any kind of order because if it was this one would go first. I want to take more time for my family. After surviving through 12 months without my husband this past year, I realized how much I depend on him and how he’s my core. When I didn’t have him for that year, I had the kids all to myself. We didn’t do too much because it almost felt wrong to be having fun and doing so much without Jordan here. That sounds funny to most of you I’m sure but while he was serving in a war, it just sat wrong to try to enjoy the time to make it pass by because he wasn’t here to enjoy it too. This year, I want to spend more time do activities together, going camping, visit the remaining cities here in Alaska before we leave in early 2011. Anything we plan on doing I want it to involve all of us. I want their to be activities that we can all participate in and have fun, whether it be going to the Zoo for the day, a fishing trip, or even a swim in the lake. Family is all we’ve got and you never know when something will happen. I want to cherish every moment I’m given with them.

Now that I’ve typed you out a novel I’ll go ahead and post my project for well to tell you the truth it was yesterdays but my camera battery needed charged so it’s being posted today.

I took one of Stampin’ Up!’s Silver Tin’s that you can order through the Clearance Rack for only $0.99 and made it into a holder for a set of 8 Thank You cards.

I probably should have chosen a different colored background for the cards I’m getting ready to show you as I used Very Vanilla for the base of my cards and photographed them with a Whisper White background.

I used some scrap pieces of paper from the Sending Love Designer Series paper pack to make these, along with a Very Vanilla base.

They aren’t extravagant or overly fancy, just simple Thank You or how ever you would like to use them cards for a few of my customers who made me reach my goal in sales for 2009.

Also, for the first time I’ve used a new Sizzlit Die called Scalloped Heart of Hearts that is in the Occasions Mini Catalog that you can begin ordering from on January 5th so only 4 days away! It’s a little hard to see up close detail on here especially since I didn’t take an up close photo for you but there are little polka dots that make up the heart.

As you can see they fit perfectly inside of this silver tin and make a great gift. I will be making some more sets like these but with much more detail to sell at my upcoming events.

Now I’ve got to applaud you if you make it through this entire post! It’s quite the story I’ve written for you so I guess on a parting note I’ll leave you with a little piece of good news.

With my birthday coming up in only 11 more days I will be offering some Blog Candy so get ready, be prepared, and keep checking back to catch that post.

I hope this year will be filled of wonderful blessings for all of you and you are able to achieve all of your New Year Resolutions!

Fox & Friends and Tiny Tags Girl Baby Shower Invite

Heather Wachtman — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:58:47 +0000

One day I love the photos I take and the next I strongly dislike them! My conclusion is I need to find a amazing photo box because nothing else I’ve tried is working. I do have one last attempt that I’ll do later in the day or maybe tomorrow which is to use natural light from outside but here in Alaska we only have about 4 hours of that if we have a clear sky!

I made baby boy shower invites using this same layout and the same stamp set Fox & Friends. Today I’ve made it into a girl baby shower invite and love it. Even if I can’t photograph it the way I want to!

For some reason I just can’t seem to capture the true colors without it being too dark or too light. Bleh. Anyways on to the rest of the photo’s

Since my Giraffe was so large I couldn’t add the phrase “It’s a girl” on there so I had to emphravise. I grabbed a piece of scratch white paper and used my Modern Label Punch. I took that punched out piece and my “It’s a girl” stamp and it worked beautifully. To add a little extra on there I took one of the floral images from the set Tiny Tags, inked it up with Chocolate Chip and stamped it on the both ends of the phrase.

I wanted to stamp my Giraffe on the outside of the invitation in Pretty in Pink and then add brown dots but I’ve learned that I’ve got to order a new Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write Marker as mine is just about to it’s limits and I couldn’t make perfect circles with it.

Hopefully I’ll be able to make so more baby girl invites soon as I have 5 friends in the past couple of weeks announce that they are pregnant! I’m so excited for them and hopefully will get to be the one making the baby shower invites

Now it’s back to work as I was asked to make 25 more of the baby boy ones I have done before as she ran out! She must be one popular lady as that is 50 invites altogether!

Have a fantastic Tuesday everybody

Darker Than Black – Ryuusei no Gemini Review (78/100 – Quite Good)

Daryl F. — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:32:10 +0000

Story: 8/10

Ryuusei no Gemini (RG)’s story is very good. While it is a sequel, the story can stand on its own two legs. However the fact that the plot is sometimes rushed and that many things are unexplained (holes in the story) keep it from getting a higher score. My personal feeling is that while it was engaging enough to keep me watching it, I doubt the impression that story leaves me with will last, unlike some other anime.

Animation: 8/10

The character design and special effects were pleasant to look at. There were a few scenes where the drawings got a little sloppy, however as a whole, the animation is consistently of good quality. Nothing really stood out for me, be it in a good light or a bad light, so I think that means it has at the very least done its job.

Characters: 8/10

I thought the new characters and the old characters are done in a interesting manner for a sequel. However, going back to the idea that there are a lot of questions unanswered in RG really takes away from a possible score of a 9.

Sound: 8/10

Tsukiakari no Michishirube (OP) is my favorite piece of music in this show. While the rest of the sounds of RG were unintrusive and almost non-existent, the opening really gives it extra points. Further, the voice acting was well done for this show.

Enjoyment: 7/10

There are a lot of questions left unanswered in this show. However it did keep me interested and watching. I can’t help but feel some feeling of incompleteness after watching this show due to the afore mentioned issue.

Average Series Rating: 7.8/10 – Very Good

Fox & Friends Birthday Share

Heather Wachtman — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:02:03 +0000

Today over on the Cards & Things Challenge blog we have another color challenge for you

Here is my use of the colors on today’s card

I have a few male birthday’s coming up in the new year with two of them being little boys so this is one of the birthday cards I’ve made.

Here I’ve used a set that I’ve owned once again for quite some time but haven’t featured in a project that I’ve posted on my blog.

The set is called Seeing Stars and obviously has numerous different star images and sizes that come in handy for whatever look your trying to achieve. Here I’ve stamped two different designs, one on Always Artichoke card stock and the other on Brocade Blue. I cut them out and placed them on a larger star I punched out using my large star punch and Very Vanilla card stock.

I’ve used a Sending Love Chocolate Chip Epoxy brad in the bottom right hand corner of the card to give it a little more detail.

Off the top of my head since I’m not currently in my craft room I don’t remember the name of this texture plate! Once I head back downstairs and into my craft room I will update it and let you know!

I hope you all are planning your New Years with lots of activities and fun filled night.

Oh! Don’t forget to check out my Ribbon Swap, sign up as soon as possible if you are interested!

I {Heart} Hearts Swap Card

Heather Wachtman — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:34:18 +0000

This card is going to look familiar to most of you because it is almost identical to a card I’ve shown you recently. I signed up for a swap for the new Occasions Mini Catalog along with the Sale-A-Bration Catalog and chose to use the stamp set I {Heart} Hearts. Since I received so many wonderful and uplifting comments on this card I figured why not make it for the swap.

Here is the link to the original cards that I did using this layout : I {Heart} Hearts

As you can see I haven’t changed too much but didn’t want to do all of the detailed work in 16+ cards.

We’ll see though, tomorrow morning I may change my mind when I’m not so tired to actually jazz them up some more!

I did swap out the sentiment stamp from one in the set Well Scripted to a sentiment from the set Whimsical Words.

I wanted these to be able to be used for more then just your husband/wife. Not everyone feels comfortable saying I love you to your friends so I figured happiness Always fit the bill pretty well.

That’s all for tonight, not a very long post and not really something new to show you. I do apologize for that but this is what my day has mostly consisted of, making these swaps and sleeping!

Tomorrow will be here before you know it and I will have a new card to share with you then that plays along in the Cards & Things Blog Challenge!

Handmade Home Decor - Shades of Spring Designer Series Paper

Heather Wachtman — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:45:45 +0000

**For those of you who have been asking here is the Satin Ribbon Share I have been talking about. I’ve got all of the details worked out and the page set up. Click on this phrase and it’ll take you to the page “Satin Ribbon Share“ or you can find it at the top of my blog on the right hand side titled “Satin Ribbon Share Starting January 5th”**

I’m sure everyone including myself has been quite busy this past week and the busiest day hasn’t even started yet! It’s the reason I’m posting so late in the day but atleast I’m still posting with it being so close to Christmas. Unlike many others I will continue posting through the Holidays as I can’t leave all of my faithful followers hanging even if they won’t be around to see the posts themselves.

Tonight I’m spicing up my craft room some more by adding some color here and there, decorating more, and organizing. I’m moving out of the Christmas theme and trying to really brighten it up and get the ladies excited for Spring. Here is Alaska it’s still going to feel like Christmas for at least 3 more months!

I took one of our Kleenex boxes that we just purchased and made it better! I’ve taken our Shades of Spring Designer Series paper, the Beautiful Wings Sizzlit Die, along with some Satin Old Olive Ribbon and ta-da, completely redone and has a new look that is all Stampin’ Up! besides the Kleenex box itself :p

I love this paper. I’ve got to be honest, even though we were able to pre-order December 1st for us demonstrators, I’m anxiously and impatiently awaiting January 5th when I can order as much of these items as I would like without a restriction! I can tell you I’ll be order a few packs of all the papers, at least 2 more of the Beautiful Wings Sizzlit, plus tons more ribbon as I can’t get enough of these Satin ones.

I hope you all are as anxious as I am and can’t wait to get those orders in! I will probably be one of those that is up until midnight mountain time waiting to order hopefully the site isn’t too bogged down from all of us doing the same thing, lol!

I may add some stamps to this later, like maybe a tag handing down with a darling sentiment..but I’m still pondering on it as I’m not sure which sentiment I’d like to use! Hopefully by tonight after I’ve had dinner and my stomach is quite content I’ll be able to decide on just that!

I hope everyone is throughly enjoying your holidays, spending time with family, and having some amazing food. Blessings to all of you.

Cards & Things Challenge #12 - Color Challenge

Heather Wachtman — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:05:26 +0000

I am quite happy to announce that I am one of two newest members to be joining the Cards & Things Challenge Blog Design Team! It was quite a honor to be chosen among all of those who entered and I won’t let you ladies down! I’m ready for this challenge and couldn’t be more excited for it.

This weeks challenge is a Color Challenge and here are the colors

I love these colors together and a added plus to it is these are all In-Colors this year at Stampin’ Up! Ready to see what I’ve created for this week? I hope you are because here it is!

Think I followed the challenge well?! I decided to throw a touch of Whisper White in there so I didn’t overload the card with the three main colors too much.

For this wonderfully bright card I decided to use my Perfect Polka Dots Impression Folder for my third layer of Bermuda Bay. After I got that layer accomplished is where I struggled a little bit, I wasn’t quite sure what direction I wanted to go with this card.

While looking through my Big Shot die’s my Ovals die caught my attention as I don’t use it too often. As soon as I got my oval cut out I figured I’d stick with the oval theme for my sentiment and pulled out my Scallop Oval punch along with my Large Oval punch. I didn’t think a stamp would look good instead of my large layers of ovals or at least I couldn’t think of one that would flow with these colors at the time so I went ahead and cut out some butterflies with my Beautiful Wings Sizzlit Die.

My last step was to ink up my sentiment from the set With All My Heart with my ink choices and stamp it on my card. Over all I’m pleased with the outcome.

I hope that you will join us over at the Cards & Things Challenge for this week! If you do I will feature my favorite card that is submitted on my blog when I post next weeks challenge! I hope that gives you a little added encouragement! Just leave me a comment on this post letting me know you played along.

Abundant Hope Meets Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper

Heather Wachtman — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:36:42 +0000

Beautiful isn’t it? This is a brand new set Abundant Hope that I have featured once before on my blog a couple weeks ago. Wow, has it really been that long?! I guess it has. Time really flies around the holidays and while your having fun playing with all the new sneak peek items.

I think I’m going to buy Stampin’ Up! out of this paper pack as soon as I can buy more then one! I’m loving everything about it. If you haven’t fallen in love with it yet shame on you!

Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper is amazing so I hope to see this paper pack on all of your orders in January. I want to see what you all will come up with, how you use the paper on cards, in scrapbook layouts, anything and everything!

This paper right here combines every color that is offered in the Sweet Pea bundle, everything from Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron…the list keeps going.

For the flower stamp I stamped it in Sahara Sand Classic Ink and then stamped it on my paper. From there I took my Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, and Old Olive Classic Stamp Pads along with my Blender pen and started filling in the stamp with color. If there is something that I want to color in but don’t want a black outline I’ll most likely use Sahara Sand due to it’s light color you can easily blender colors over it.

Can you believe Christmas is only 4 days away?! I can’t, I’m still shocked that it’s December let alone almost Christmas…sheesh. Before I know it, it’ll be January and my 21st birthday! I’m dreading that day as I know my husband has plans of taking me out drinking to get my well lets just say a sloppy mess. Now if only he knew that, that is the complete opposite thing of what I’m going to be doing! Silly silly husband.

It’s lunchtime here so I best scoot and get lunch made before my son comes and tells me it’s time to eat now! Have a fantastic Monday everyone.

Little Angel + Tiny Tags Sneak Peeks

Heather Wachtman — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:15:55 +0000

Yesterday I had posted right before midnight and once I was done editing my post I planned on creating a new project to post for today, as you can tell that’s not happening until now and it’s almost 7pm my time! My husband and I decided to start on a puzzle…yes at after midnight, we’re night owls! We finally got to bed after 2am and were up at 7 that morning.

I came straight down to the craft room to get working on projects and everything that I tried I didn’t like at all! I was having a horrible morning so I put everything down before I destroyed everything in sight! I hate those kind of days where nothing is coming out how you want it. After a few fantastic emails, I finally got my inspiration back and headed back into my craft room.

The first project I got accomplished I will be posting on Tuesday for a Design Team Challenge but the card really got my creative little mind and inky fingers jump started and ready to create again. Here is my second card that I accomplished this afternoon that I’m lovin’

I’ve used a brand new set that I haven’t featured yet that will be avilable in January called Little Angel. It’s a set of four adorable little phrases for your little angels, bundle of joys, sweet peas…get the idea? Those are three of the sayings with the last being “lullaby & goodnight”.

The floral stamp is apart of the set Tiny Tags.

I really want to feature a entire card

devoted only to this stamp set but it is so small that I don’t know that I can possibly do just that unless I make the card teeny tiny itself! We’ll see, it is a current challenge for myself.

Can you guess what Designer Series Paper I’ve used?!….I’ll give you a hint, it’s the one that I have used in my last 3 to 4 card shares!

Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper yet again! I’m telling you there are sooo many designs that you’d never know that all of these were in one big bundle pack.

I may retake these last couple pictures tomorrow when I have better lighting, we’ll see if I’m up to it!

I’ve thrown on a couple of the butterflies from the Beautiful Wings Sizzlit Die again as they were left over from a project earlier today and thought they added that missing element on this card.

Now to get back to working. I’ve got some swaps to finish up that if I don’t get done soon I’ll probably forget about them which would not be good.

Until tomorrow, have a wonderful night.

Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper combined with Stamping 411 Challenge!

Heather Wachtman — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:51:24 +0000

So here I am at almost midnight Alaska time getting a post quickly done as I don’t want to miss posting another day this month! Today was quite the wonderful day. It started out by this morning going to Mcdonald’s and allowing the kids to play in the massive playroom as it was -35 out today so we couldn’t really do a whole lot outside! Once we finished up getting most of their energy out we headed on over to Walmart to get our daughter some new tennis shoes. We went to put her’s on this morning and they were snug as a bug! She’s been having to wear snow boots for a few months now so we didn’t realize how big her feet had gotten as we got her snow boots a little bit so she had room to grow! Her tennis shoes were a size 7 and she’s now a 9! She’s growing up too quickly. After our trip to Walmart we had a friend from our Unit come over with his two daughters and play the day away. It was a blast!

Anywho, now onto today’s card. I decided to play along for the first time with the challenge over at Stamping 411. Here is the sketch they gave us to go off of

And here is my take on it!

What do you think? Did I do okay?! This paper is from the Sweet Pea DSP pack. Yes, I keep using it but there are so many options in there I can’t seem to put it down!

I’ve also used Sahara Sand along with Chocolate Chip card stock as they both coordinated with the paper.

For my sentiment I choose the set Whimsical Words. I’m obsessed with these swirly phrase stamps. I really really really, did I say really enough?!, hope that these carry over to the larger catalog or they come out with a set similar to these with the same font and sentiments! I hope once you are able to get your hands on these sets you will fall in love as much as I have.

I’ve used some more Sending Love Epoxy brads on this card but instead of using Chocolate Chip like I have before I’ve now used Pretty in Pink. I cut the flower out of the Chocolate Chip paper, used my 1/16″ hole punch in the middle of it, and then stuck my Pretty in Pink brad through it. Popped some Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back of it and placed it in the upper right hand corner of my card!

I do want to apologize for the first picture I’ve posted being so large but I really wanted you to get a close up of this card. I switched out my lenses on my camera tonight and love the difference that I’m seeing in these photos, maybe it’s just me, maybe I’m a little crazy or a little tired, but I think they’ve come out a fair amount better then some of my recent shots.

Well everyone, since it is after midnight here, now I can technically post for December 20th. That mean’s as soon as I publish this I will starting in on a new project and being posting it shortly. I hope you enjoyed today’s post and will be coming back for another visit soon!

It’s only 5 days until Christmas, can you believe it?! I can’t! I hope you’ve got all of your Christmas shopping done and are ready for all of the wonderful moments that come with the holidays.

Blessings!

Fox & Friends take two with Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper + Gretchen Barron's Weekend Challenge!

Heather Wachtman — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:27:10 +0000

This morning I couldn’t wait to get down to my craft room and stick to my plan of getting a few projects done first thing and posting to my blog! I’m happy to announce I did just that with the help of Gretchen Barron’s Inspiration in Action Weekend Sketch Challenge! Here is the sketch she gave us to go off of

And here are the two cards that I’ve got to share with you that I’ve made!

I’ve been really wanting to figure out more ways to use the set Fox & Friends. Every time I think of using it, it’s always with my son or daughters scrapbook or even more baby shower invites! Which I’ve been asked to do a few samples for a girls shower invite like the last monkey one that I did so I will be posting those samples soon!

I’ve showcased here once again out new Scallop TRIM border punch. I always forget to throw in that trim into the name of that punch!

If you’d like to know a great way to get these perfect trim scallop squares visit Gretchen Barron’s blog and she has a great tutorial for all of you! The link is her name so just click on it and it’ll take you straight to that tutorial

I don’t really see this as a birthday card but I wasn’t quite sure what other sentiment to add to it so Happy Birthday it was! That stamp is from the Messages For Mom set just so you know.

For my next card I once again used both the Sweet Pea DSP along with Fox & Friends stamp set just different sheets out of the pack. The pack if I haven’t mentioned it before, I honestly can’t remember, is 48 sheets in total, which is 24 designs that are double sided and you get 2 sheets of each.

This one is my favorite out of the two. The little turtle is too cute not to love. For him I colored his “skin” with my Old Olive Stampin’ Write Marker and his shell with my Chocolate Chip one.

If you are wondering how I got the die cut that I’ve stamped the turtle and my sentiment on the answer is, you get to order it through Stampin’ Up! soon. It’s apart of our Ocassions Mini that will be going live on January 5th.

It’s called Sending Love Notes Kisses. There is also another one called Hugs but I don’t have a sample to show you as I didn’t preorder them.

They are darling and I wish and hope that Stampin’ Up! would come out with a die cut just like this as I see it being very popular. Let’s hope that turns out to be true and I get my wish!! There will be envelops available that will match the sizes of these notes so no worries on finding something to fit them if you use them by themselves and not on a card or scrapbook page.

Now for some exciting news! One of my good friends Elizabeth started her own Craft Forum/Message Board. We’re looking for new members to join so if you are interested please check it out!

All you’ve got to do is click on the picture above and it’ll take you to the website. It’s not very big yet and there isn’t a whole lot going on but we have some incredibly talented women on there. Everything from amazing Photographers, a couple Stampin! Up! demonstrators , to a gal Kyley who personalizes in making bows and tu-tus! It’s truly a wonderful site and I hope that you will all check it out!

That’s it for now, it’s time for lunch and then possibly a nap! I’m feeling quite tired this afternoon!

Enjoy your Friday everyone

Shades of Spring Designer Series Paper Sneak Peek!

Heather Wachtman — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:09:31 +0000

The past couple of posts I’ve been posting so late in the day it’s been frustrating me a tad bit. I know it’s technically my fault with all that I’ve had going on the last couple of days, but I still don’t like it! I like getting up, working on a project, getting it posted and then being able to go back to work and get more things done. Hopefully I will be able to begin doing that again starting tomorrow morning as my husband has the next month off of work!

Here is today’s card share. I broke into my Shades of Spring Designer Series Paper tonight and came up with this card

It’s beautiful paper that really flows with the colors of Easter rather well. Now that I’ve said that I’ll have to see what kinds of Easter Cards I can come up with using this paper!

For the flowers in the middle top of my card, it is part of the Shades of Spring pack but what I’ve done is cut the flowers out of the sheet and color in certain areas with my Orchid Opulence Stampin’ Write Marker.

After cutting them out I put some Stampin’ Dimensionals on the backs, layered them and then centered it in the middle of my card. I love the effect of them looking like they are rising off the page. I think that is another product that I use on just about every thing I do, Stampin’ Dimensionals. They are perfect for making your projects have a little added 3-D too them plus so much more.

Now that it’s time for my children to go to bed hopefully I’ll be able to get more then one project accomplished tonight! That and if my husband doesn’t want to have another movie night! Maybe I’ll just work through more movies…oh, all the possibilities! Jordan is doing rather well today after his surgery yesterday. We went out and did some grocery shopping at a couple different stores and he did just fine walking around and wasn’t in any pain. In fact he hasn’t taken any of the additional medication the doctor gave him for afterwards which makes him very proud!

Hopefully he will continue feeling great and will go on with no pain at all. Once again, thank you to everyone who has kept him in your prayers. I hope everyone is ready for another fabulous weekend!

Blessings

My Digital Studio Calendar Share!

Heather Wachtman — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:37:04 +0000

For my father’s Christmas present this year he wanted nothing more then photo’s of his grandbabies since we’re in different states. The past couple of years I’ve made him photo albums to send but this year on top of that I’ve added in a Calendar I made using our Stampin’ Up! paper crafting software called My Digital Studio! I haven’t played with it in awhile I must admit and throughly enjoyed making his calendar last night. Here are a few shots, what do you think?

These pages are pretty basic, nothing fancy, nothing over the top. I don’t picture my dad being excited and giddy over how decorated the calendar is so I didn’t over do it, or I hope I didn’t. I basic just threw some stuff on there and called it good!

Here is what one of the actual month pages look like. All of what I have shown you above is the pictures that appear above the months.

If you don’t have this program yet it’s something defitinaly worth the investment as you can really do anything you put your mind to. From Calendars, movies, to scrapbook layouts and everything in between!

My husband did end up having his surgery today and it went well. It took a little longer then expect which worked out perfectly as I was running errands off post and got them all accomplished on top of getting the kids fed lunch before I went back to pick him up. He’s been quite the trooper and has been walking around without any troubles and very little pain. Hopefully it’ll continue that way.

Thank you to all of you who have wished him well and have kept him in your prayers. We appreciate it very much!

Until tomorrow everyone, it’s time to snuggle up on the couch with that darling husband of mine and watch a movie or two. Have a fantastic night and a great start to your Thursday!

Tote-Ally Tess, Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper, & Two Step Bird Punch Sneak Peeks!

Heather Wachtman — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:20:14 +0000

I apologize for such a late posting but I had to prep for a class all day and then of course had the class at 7 tonight! Now that all the ladies have gone home I figured it was time to update the good ole’ blog! That and tonights post I am very excited about. I did snag this idea from another demo who had posted her creation on SplitCoastStampers. I changed the layout, colors, well…just about everything but kept the same idea behind it.

I love it! It’s the first thing you see as you walk into my craft room now. Well sorta, if you look at the wall walking in then you do! It’s perfect because it’s all Stampin’ Up! products besides the frame and it’s something more to add to the wall. I have a few other decor elements up but really wanted to hand make some more items. This worked out perfectly! My downline loved it and I would be surprised if she didn’t make one herself.

I’ve used here the Sizzlit Timeless Type Alphabet.

Here you can see the new set Tote-Ally Tess which is a darling set but I don’t see too many people buying it other then us demonstrators!

Once you receive your new Occasions Mini Catalog this Art set up may look similar to you as it is a direct snag right out of the catalog. Well I did change the papers and colors up a bit otherwise it was too darling not to snag and it fit in the last picture frame perfectly!

Well everyone that is all for tonight. I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek of even more new items and maybe even have your own inspiration to make some decor for your home! Isn’t the new paper set a must have?! Keep getting excited and planning your orders for January

Happy Tuesday

Fox and Friends Baby Shower Invite Sneak Peek

Heather Wachtman — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:50:56 +0000

Well to start off today did not going according to plan which was rather disappointing to say the least. My husband was suppose to go in for surgery at 1030 but that never happened. We got a call from his doctor at 9…yes only 90 minutes before the procedure was suppose to be done and we’re told that the hospital had pulled his rights to preform vasectomy’s. In the military it works a little differently for the actual service members. When they go to the doctor they have their own little clinic that they have to go to to get a appointment at the normal hospital or to even see if a appointment there is really needed. What that means is someone in charge of the big hospital pulled all the rights at the soldiers clinic to do this procedure until further notice.

After my husband spent quite some time on the phone trying to figure out why this decision was made this morning and not last week or even why they didn’t give the doctor who was going to be doing the surgery any notice was a disaster in itself. He played phone tag all morning and basically got no where. In the end the procedure may happen this week or he’s going to be referred off post to another facility which will only take gosh know’s how long.

That didn’t start the morning off on the right foot so I was a little reluctant for the rest of the day and what it was going to hold. It didn’t go as bad as I had imagined. I honestly got a fair amount of work done which is what I was really hoping to accomplish as I have a event tomorrow night that it all needs to be ready for.

Here is the first card that I will show you. I have made it before but in a smaller size but bumped it up to 5 1/2″x4 1/4.

Here is the link to the older post where I give credit to the original designer of this card :

http://creationsbyheather.com/2009/10/24/great-friend-crimped-envelope/

The friend that requested this card had requested 18 others as well with the rest of them being the standard A2 size and she wanted two of these. With that, I thought it’d be a little silly to have two odd balls out only being 4×4 cards. That’s what made me decide to bump this card up.

After I got this card finished and the other 18 cut out I had to get started back on the baby shower invites and thank you’s which was and still is taking me the longest. Instead of actually working on this lately I’ve been playing with sneak peek goodies and other projects. It’s my fault for waiting until the last minute but who hasn’t!

Here is a look at the finished product of the invites. You have seen a similar version on my blog, I changed the stamp to the Monkey in the set Fox and Friends which will be available on January 5th

This set is so darling and I have a million ideas running through my head of what to use it with! I can’t wait to try them out but I’m quickly running out of time before I have to have these done by so until I’ve got these finished I can’t even open my last box of sneak peek goodies that arrived tonight! Which I hope you all know is killing me!!

See, isn’t the little guy just adorable?! All of the animals in this set you just “oooo” and “aaaa” over.

There is a giraffe, lion, hippo..darn, that’s all that I can think of off the top of my head, it’s a set of 8 I believe.

I can’t wait for BreiAnne to see these as she hasn’t yet so it may spoil the surprise if she checks out my blog before tomorrow evening but I couldn’t help but to share.

I haven’t started in on the thank you’s yet. I’m still working on doing all of the white gel pen stitching as that is what takes the longest. I got all off the other pieces cut, punched, stamped, and assembled in just a couple hours but going around 25 of these with the white gel pen and making sure there are no smudges sure does take some time!

Here is the last shot I’ll show you of these before I force myself to go back to work to get these knocked out of the way so I can play with my new toys I’m such a little kid at Christmas time with all the new stuff that has arrived. I keep peeking into the box and getting ideas. Then sighing and walking back to my desk and starting back with the tasks that need done right a way! Can you kind of tell I’m avoiding it again right now with my ramblings?!

I used for the first time our stitched Bashful Ribbon. I ordered it with a project in mind a couple months ago and well, you get the picture. I just broke it out tonight to use on these and I think it came together well.

And now I promise this terribly long post is coming to a end as I go back to work.

Blessings everyone

Male Birthday Card!

Heather Wachtman — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:31:11 +0000

Why is it that when it comes down to thinking about male birthday cards, congratulations cards, anything male most of us come up with a blank wall? I haven’t quite figured out what it is yet but it’s usually always a challenge for me to come up with something for a man and trying to keep it manly.

I was asked to make a birthday card for one of my husbands superiors as his birthday is on Monday. His wife said that he likes tools and singing and since I don’t think I own any type of singing stamps I thought of the next obvious choice was our Totally Tool stamp set

Hopefully when she opens up her email she will enjoy the card otherwise it’ll be back to the drawing board for me. I broke out my To The Nines Designer Series Paper which has been untouched since, Father’s Day, I think! Wow…it really has been that long since I even considered using it! Or no…I think I have used it on one card since then, lol! Such confusion in my head right now! Either way, I’ve used it today which is a plus.

I’ve used a stamp set that I don’t know if it’s retired or what’s going on with it just yet, I’ll have to find out. It’s called And Many Mower and it was in the last Occasions Mini Catalog. With it not being in this one Occasion Mini I’m thinking it is retired.

I thought it’d work perfectly on the inside of the card with leaving enough room for journaling for whatever she’d like to add on the inside.

I had a class tonight but after I woke up from my nap, well attempted nap, I have been sick and only getting worse. Due to that I don’t want to possible get anyone else sick so that was a first for me. I don’t like cancelling last minute but the last thing I want is friends and customers sick.

With being sick, this will be my last post for the day. Hopefully tomorrow I will be back to perfect health and can be getting work done like a crazy woman, which is what I need to be doing any ways as this next week is going to be crazy busy!

I {Heart} Hearts with Sending Love Designer Series Paper

Heather Wachtman — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:14:19 +0000

Today I’ve been doing lots of projects here and there. Baby Shower Invites and Thank You’s, Christmas Cards to send out to my family and friends, I’ve got to start on a male birthday card, and of course playing around with sneak peek items. There’s more I need to do along with finishing up the baby shower invites but I’m taking a quick break to update with one more love card.

This care features once again, Sending Love Designer Series paper but using a different sheet. I’ll be posting a couple additional photos where you can hopefully catch a glimpse at the glitter on this page. At first I wasn’t too sure how I felt about the glitter but once I actually started playing hands on with the paper my mind changed completely!

I tried out one of the heart stamps that I have yet to use in the I {Heart} Hearts set. It looks almost like wood, the design on the heart that is!

I’ve used the Pinking Heart Border Punch again which stands out quite well in the red with a Very Vanilla backing.

There is one more card that I really want to show you but I’m going to be submitting it in for a design team challenge so if it doesn’t meet up to the standards of quality plus all the little things, you better believe I will be posting it soon enough!

Hopefully this is the picture that gives you the best shot of the glitter.

I’m tired today so if I don’t get right back to work I may end up taking a nap when my children do, so best I get back to work. Darnit, right?

I hope all of you wonderful readers have a amazing Friday and a even better weekend.

Blessings

Pinking Hearts Corner & Border Punch Sneak Peek + More!!

Heather Wachtman — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:44:01 +0000

I will now be showing you our new Pinking Hearts Corner and Border punches along with a better close up view of our Scallop Trim Border Punch.

When I open a pack of Designer Series Paper or I only take one sheet out of it. Once I cut into that sheet I don’t just stop with the one card, I continue making cards or whatever it may be with that one sheet until I run out so I don’t compile a million scraps that just get thrown into a draw. Now that you know that, hopefully these color combinations don’t seem like repeats and more like I’m trying to finish using this one sheet to start on something new!

I was asked earlier today through a private message to share what size I make these cards that are obviously not the standard 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ cards. Depending on what I size of the stamps and what I’m envisioning in my head I will either make a 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ size card (which is the size of this one) or I will make a simple 4″x4″.

Hopefully these two photos that I’m showing you will give you a good idea what these two Pinking Heart Corner and Border punches look like. It is a little difficult to line up the border punch with the corner punch. Not so difficult that you can’t do it but it does take some work. On this card I’ve also used the stamp set With All My Heart. I’m still trying to find a way to really make this set stand out. I’m going to keep trying and hopefully when it hits me, I will be able to share it with you all!

Here is one last shot of this card before moving on the Gretchen Barrons Inspiration In Action Weekend Sketch Challenge!

Now onto the Challenge!

Here is the template that Gretchen made for us to go off of

And this is what I came up with

This time I stuck to her layout a little bit better then I did with last weeks! I’m almost finished with my sheet of the Sending Love DSP paper so I promise you won’t just be seeing these same colors together after today..well hopefully

On your left is a close up image of the Scallop Trim Border Punch. I’ve been just calling it another Scallop Border Punch until I was flipping through the Sale-A-Bration catalog and noticed the difference, whoops!

I add a touch of Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon along with a little added detail with our White Gel Pen. I meant to throw some brads on there but by the time I got everything glued down I didn’t feel like pulling it all back up just to add the darn things. Needless to say the white gel pen came into play yet again!

Sadly my play time has ended for the next couple of hours. My darling children haven awoke from their naps and are ready and rearing to get some of that pent up energy out! That means it’s time for mommy to take them outside to play int he snow with the puppy dog! Until later tonight (wishful thinking that’ll hopefully come true ) when hopefully I get to come back into my wonderful craft room, I hope you all have a fantastic night and a great start to your mornings tomorrow since it’ll be Friday!

Sending Love Designer Series Paper, Sending Love Epoxy Brads, and Whimsical Words Sneak Peek!!

Heather Wachtman — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:32:06 +0000

I said a couple of days ago that I was getting 3 more boxes of sneak peek goodies this week and they have all arrived as of yesterday!! You know what that means? I’ve got some more sneak peek items that I have yet to show off! What I’ve got to show you today is a brand new Specialty Designer Series Paper pack called Sending Loving along with matching Epoxy Brads in Pretty in Pink, Real Red, and Chocolate Chip! AND…some new Corduroy Buttons in Pretty in Pink too!! Oh, and don’t forget a new Sale-A-Bration Stamp set called Whimsical Words.

The first card I’m going to show you also features a new scallop border punch that is also a part of our Sale-A-Bration Catalog!

Now that you’ve caught a glimpse at the new paper what do you think? Is it a must have, can you already think of a great use for it? I know I’m enjoying making these Valentines Day and love cards with it that’s for sure!

Once you get this paper in hand I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the feel, the glitter on some sheets, and just the over all cuteness of the paper.

It’s a paper pack that I know I will be buying again and we all know I’m not that big on Designer Series Paper! The colors in this paper pack in case you were wondering are : Real Red, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, and lastly Pretty in Pink.

As you can see in the bottom left hand corner of my saying, which is from Whimsical Words by the way, I’ve placed one of the brand new Chocolate Chip Epoxy brads. The very in size, patterns, and color. They can be used on anything and they will give your project a little added flair!

This next card is probably my favorite that I’ve made yet with all of my sneak peeks that I’ve shown you. From the paper, to the layout, to the stamp sets I used. It flowed even more beautifully then I had pictured and am thrilled with the way it turned out.

I’m drooling over this card I love it so much!! I surprise myself some days with my work and today is one of those days! This sheet of designer series paper that I’ve used here is my favorite out of the whole pack and I’m really hoping that this is one we can possibly have a bulk buy for, for us demonstrators! I would jump for joy if that were the case and probably buy them out!

In the right hand picture the saying, “Happiness Always”, is also from the set Whimsical Words which you can earn by placing a order of $50 come January 5th when that promotion starts. For every $50 you spend you will receive a stamp set of your choice!

The picture on the left hand side where you can see the phrase Love, is from the set Tiny Tags. I’ve also used the coordinating punch to punch it out and then attach it to my card. This set is really tiny so they did a great job for putting that in the name. I didn’t think I’d find that many uses for it but I’m surprising myself. Like how I used it on this card, never pictured that and it fit perfectly.

I’ve used the set I {Heart} Hearts which I hope you can recognize by now as I’ve featured it a few times along with some brand new Pretty in Pink Corduroy Buttons. The Corduroy Buttons are not new to Stampin’ Up! we do offer then in other colors so if you haven’t tried this out yet, do so!

I’ve got something to admit that I hope you all will be excited for. I’ve received four, yes four, boxes of sneak peek items so far…I’ve got one last one on the way with most of the remaining items I wanted to order and haven’t done so yet. I couldn’t hold out any longer and wait for Sale-A-Bration so that I could receive all of those wonderfully free sets, I wanted everything now which is just what I got! Well, one box shy Until that box gets here with the remaining goodies I do have some more wonderful sneak peek items to show you!

Speaking of sneak peek items I think I’m going to get back to work and get some more projects going. Thank you for taking a peek to see what I’ve been up to today

Well Scripted Sneak Peek - Twin Baby Boy Card Share

Heather Wachtman — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:29:24 +0000

It seems so late for me to be posting in the day. I’ve actually been busy with other things around the house which has been a first in awhile! I’ve been putting my business before chores and errands and this morning I decided to actually get done what I needed to because tonight I have to attend a meeting for all of us military spouses. I can’t say that I’m really looking forward to it but it’ll be some nice time out of the house without the kids attached to me.

When I sat down this afternoon, I got a update on a friend of mine who is due any day now with twin boys. Since she is so close I decided that it was finally time that I make her a card to send her congratulating her on the birth of her sons.

Aren’t you proud of me? I used more designer series paper today! The two packs I used were Bashful Blue and Certain Celery. I’m trying to break out of my card stock only cards and start adding in some designer papers so that I can justify buying all of the paper packs in the new Occasions Mini =D

Making this baby card and in general ever since my husband schedule his appointment for his vasectomy, I’ve been having slight baby fever. It’s normal I’m sure but knowing that what we’ve talked about for so long, is now finally going to happen seems almost unreal and makes me want try for one more baby.

I know that I can’t handle it and I don’t need any more stress on top of our little one’s now. It’s wishful thinking at best but it still makes me sad almost to realize we won’t be adding to our family.

So, all of you who are my friends start popping out babies please so I can fill my fever with your darling babies instead!

Here is the last shot of this card I’ll show you before I start in on another project that I will hopefully get to share with you all today.

Well I better get started on the next few things I’ve got to get accomplished if I want to A – get them done before tonight and B – be able to share it with all of you wonderful people who keep checking up on my blog to see what I’ve been doing each and every day.

Happy Wednesday!

Entti laulaa [The ent sings]

uuvana — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:55:05 +0000

Pitkospuut vievät…

…tuttuun paikkaan:

(Klikka tästä suurempi kuva).

Synkeälläkin säällä se on mieluinen, rauhoittava, turvallinen kuin pieni kotiinpaluu. Vain viikko sitten oli vielä kovin erinäköistä – oli sammalen värejä, kiiltäviä karpaloita, vettä purskahtelevia rahkamättäitä.
Nyt on tullut talvi:

Vanha entti (metsänhenki, puiden paimen) on noussut metsän syvyyksistä ja vaeltanut suolammen rantaan, ojentelee nyt pitkiä ryhmyisiä käsivarsiaan kohti lammen jäätynyttä pintaa, kuin tummaa kuvastintaan kaivaten:

Se laulaa ikivanhaa hidasta murisevaa laulua, huojuu hyvin hyvin hitaasti.
Laulun sanat ovat pitkät ja hitaat kuin rämemännyn vuosikerrokset, ja sen viimeinen säkeistö päättyy vasta keväällä, sitten kun leppälinnun ruosteenväri jo keikkuu männikön punassa.

Siihen asti varrotaan, kurkotellaan joko piisiuunin lämpöön tai lammen kadonneeseen kuvastimeen,
lauletaan hiljaa, kuunnellaan sisäänpäin, muistetaan tulevaa – ja lopulta talven toisella puolella, kun laulu on valmis ja viimeinen sana paikoillaan, muistetaan itse kevät uudelleen todeksi.

Duckboards lead us… ….to the bog again. To a favorite place, even on gloomy weather it’s a little homecoming. Only one week ago it was still so different: mossy colors, gleaming cranberries, water under the boots.
Now we are in winter.

An ent (a wood spirit, treeherd) has walked through the forests down to the forest lake. He is reaching out his long craggy frosty arms towards the frozen water, like missing the dark mirror. He’s singing some ancient murmuring song, swaying very softly. The words are long and grow slowly like the tree rings of a bog pine. The last verse will end only in the spring, when the rusty-crested redstart is dancing in the pines again.
Until then we will wait, reach out either to the fireplace or the vanished mirror of the lake, sing softly, listen inwards, remember the future – and finally, there in the other side of the winter, when the song is complete and the last word in its place, the spring will be made real by our remembering.

For All You Do, Tiny Tags & New Beautiful Wings Embossing Card Share

Heather Wachtman — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:07:51 +0000

I said I would be updating again today and guess what? Here I am! This first card that I’ll be sharing with you features our new Beautiful Wings Embossing Sizzlit Die that is in the new Occasions Mini Catalog going live on January 5th. I’ve stuck to to using Soft Subtle colors but I think I may try this using some bolder brighter colors too!

I had a little bit of trouble, or atleast it seemed like it on my end, while trying to photograph this card. Now that this is posted though, it actually doesn’t look too bad. The colors used were Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink, Mellow Moss, and lastly Lavender Lace.

The picture on the right hand side, in the bottom right hand corner (it’s a little hard to see, I know but on the actual card it stands out quite well), I’ve used the set Tiny Tags which will also be coming out in the new Mini. I used Barely Banana for the floralish stamp along with Basic Black for Thanks So Much.

The pocket that you see in the middle of the card is our Card Petal Die which I folded up, added a little ribbon (which is Mellow Moss) and called it good. I wanted it to look like the butterflies were flying out of the pocket so hopefully I achieved that.

For this next card I had a gal request a custom order. She asked that I use the set For All You Do along with a happy sentiment. That left me with several options as she had no color preference and lots of options for that happy sentiment too!

Here is my first attempt which thankfully she fell in love with and I’ll be making about 30 of these!

It’s extremely rewarding when you hit the nail on the head the first time you make a sample then attempt it five, six, or seven times and still have to keep trying.

I’ve been using Very Vanilla more lately then I have been using Whisper White. Maybe the fact that I have a over abundance of Very Vanilla paper laying around plays a key factor in that!

The colors that accompany the Very Vanilla are Bravo Burgundy and Always Artichoke.

The set that I used for the happy sentiment was Herb Expressions, which is another gorgeous set that I haven’t used a whole lot of. Maybe I’ll have to come up with a few creations of it here in a little bit. I did use the Perfect Polka Dot Embossing Folder again on this card but instead of having the side where the dots raise up showing, I flipped it over and have them facing down to give it a different look.

I suppose I should finish up this post now. I’ve got to run a few errands tonight now that my husband is off work and want to get to them before it gets too much later. That and the sooner I get back the sooner I get to play with more new goodies that my wonderful FedEx lady just dropped off! Be checking back for those new samples