Marvelous Possibilities

Thanks a ton to all the friends who came to our Open House yesterday.  We really enjoyed seeing all of you, and love visiting with everyone.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the Make-N-Take projects we made, and they loved the little Smartee cards that I had made for all of our guests.  We had a lot of laughs.  Debby and I keep saying that we have to get better organized, and do things differently every time we have an event.  I think our friends are getting used to our crazy behavior, and we would blow them away if they walked in the door and we weren't running around looking for something or moaning over something we forgot.  That is part of the problem with doing an event in the party room, instead of our homes, is you don't have all your supplies in another room, or close by.  Sometimes I wish I were an elephant, because an elephant never forgets, and they have a big trunk (so they can carry heavy things, and probably don't have to make as many trips to the car as we do wh

Today is our STAMPIN' UP! OPEN HOUSE January 26, 10:00 to 2:00 and Scrapbook Crop-a-thon 1:00 to 6:00 at 101 Willow Pond Trail, Lino Lakes, MN   Come and join us to see new products, samples, and make a couple of free Make-n-Take projects for free.  We have these cute little door prizes for our guests today.  Hope to see you there.  For further information, check out here for details.     I made some of these cute little Smartees cards earlier in the week, and everybody thought they were so darn cute, that I made up a bunch or our guest today.  With the Patterned Occasions stamp set from the SaleABration brochure makes such darling cards with all it's cute little sayings, there is one to fit almost any occasion.  I found a new blog this week, Still addINKtive challenges , and they were all about using the SAB stamps sets, and the Patterned Occasions was one of the sets they called for, so I took the challenge.   Today I used a layout I found on the Red Ho

 Oh, Hello!  I think I love you!!  I had mixed feeling about this stamp set when I ordered it.  I really wanted the Oval Framelits that coordinated with the Oh, Hello stamp set, and was just going to order the Framelits.  At the last minute, as I was placing my order, I decided to bundle it, and buy them together (saving me money!LOL!).  Once I placed the order, I started running into cards on blogs all over using the stamp set, but not many using the ovals.  Funny how I looked forward to playing with it by the time it finally arrived.  I had seen another card where they had cut out a panel using the Hearts a Flutter Framelits banner die.  They extended it by cutting one banner twice to extend the length.  I thought it was interesting and put it in the back of my mind.  Then I found the challenge on Sentimental Sundays to use NEGATIVES.  So, make use of the cut away's background piece.  I Loved the idea.  Oh, I knew right away what I wanted to do....the banner cuts.  And,

I made up another one of my Smartees card, and just wanted to show you how cute it turned out.  I have been having so much fun playing with the Patterned Occasions stamp set.  The images are so playful, and they are perfect for these little tiny cards.  I make these with a 3 1/2" square card, with an inch added to the side to hold the Smartees candy rolls.  It's the same design I use when I make post-it note holders with a pen on the side.  I found my inspiration for the colors in the card at the Pink Elephant Monday Challenge which had a color/photo inspiration this week.  Don't the strawberries look yummy.  I am tempted to make some like this for our Open House on Saturday.  I'll have to see if I have time.  LOL!  I used the layout from Clean & Simple Stamping challenge this week.  (I am so glad I was able to find the right blog for the sketch.  I dislike it when there is nothing to identify the picture when I save it as a photo on my computer.  Sometimes I f

I don't usually choose to do a shabby chic kind of card, but when it comes to the new spring catalog, it's got so much shabby chic type products, that I was just bound to be drawn to it.  I've always loved doilies and lace, and I could not wait to start playing with all the fun new embellishments.  The card started with some paper from More Amoire DSP.  I wanted to put a doily on the front and I just did not think it looked right, so I tried a little dark sponging on the paper so that it would show through the doily more, and it really did not work, thus the little dark spots (that showed up much more in the photo than when I looked at the card).  I decided to just use a part of the doily on the left, and to add my hearts from Hearts a Flutter stamp set.  The sentiment comes from the free stamp set, Vintage Verses available during SaleABration. The buttons came from SAB Sycamore Street ribbon and button  embellishment pack.  I added pearls, and a rose from the Artiza

 I got a lot of teasing from my family recently when they saw this giant size bag of Smartees candy in my craft room.  They mused about who would buy a big bag of candy that was not chocolate.  They thought I was eating them!  I explained that I bought the giant bag on clearance after Halloween, and I used it for craft sale crafts, and I still had all of these left over.  Little did they know that I already had another project planned for those little rolls of Smartees, but I was just waiting for my new SaleABration stamp sets to arrive.  This set, Patterned Occasions, had these cute little jeans that say "Congratulations, smarty pants", and I was primed for the project.  I took the design from the post-it holders that I made in the past, and made it wide enough to hold 2 rolls of Smartees.  You could alter it to fit a little candy bar if you wanted to.  In the green card I decided to wrap the Smartees with matching paper, but really don't think it's necessary. 

I am trying my hand at another clean and simple type of card today.  I say an idea, and just thought I would give it a try.  I love the color combination form the Just Us Girls Challenge 172 to use lime green, white, and gray.  Yes, that band is gray, but my camera and/or lighting gives everything a blue hue.  (I've got to get a decent light box, and trying to make do with what I have.  At least now I have a new camera, which is a good start.)  I used the stamps for Stippled Blossom, and stamped first with Basic Gray, and then with the Lucky Limeade.  Kind of a weird combination, but I liked the effect.  I added the Basic Gray band with the eyelet edges cut with my edgelits.  I then stamped Thanks from the new Vintage Verses available in the SaleABration products.  I did the gray on gray and like that look, too.  I added a few rhinestones to the flowers because I felt like I needed something dimensional.  I am so used to layering everything on the card, that doing something cl

 When it comes to making cards, clean and simple is not my usual way.  I can't say that I don't keep it simple, I just like to add lots of color.  So, this card was my attempt at keeping it simple.  I used a sketch from CAS(E) this sketch! challenge , (Ooopps!  I missed the deadline, and did not get to submit my card) and for the colors I went to a new blog I found called Inspired By ....Challenge #58 .  This photo was the inspiration this week, and I immediately thought of this polka dot paper from Summer Smooches DSP for my take on the inspiration.  I used the stamps from Hearts A Flutter done in Midnight Muse on Daffodil Yellow and backed them with Not Quite Navy.  It may be too bold for a clean and simple card, but this is my take on it for today.  I hope they like it, and you do to.  Have a simply wonderful day, and stop back again soon. Mary Alice

  OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY, January 26 10:00am to 2:00pm     Sale-a-bration begins on January 22 and along with it are new products to share from the Spring Mini Catalog released early this month. Drop in during my Open House for three free Make & Takes. One will feature products from Stampin' Up!'s Spring Mini Catalog, pictured below, and the other features items from the Sale-a-bration Brochure, and the third is a candy treat.  We will have all kinds of samples of cards and scrapbook pages and 3D projects made from all new products.  For every $50 purchased, you will get to select one of 19 FREE Sale-a-bration items! As always, You are in no way obligated to purchase anything, just come have fun and make a few free cards.  You can look over our upcoming class schedule, and sign up if you'd like.  We would love to get your feedback for future classes you would like to see us do.       Come Scrapbook for the afternoon  For those friends who ar

I made this card for our demonstrator's swap earlier this month, but I changed it up a little adding the sentiment from a new stamp set called Vintage Verses, which is available from the SaleABration promotion.  This is just one of the many stamp sets, as well as paper and accessories that are available.  During the sale you get one free item for every $50 spent.  Check out the brochure on my sidebar, as well as the new Spring Catalog, and let me know if you would like to place an order.  I also used the Hearts A Flutter framelits to punch the little banners used on the card.  The paper is More Amoire DSP, and both are available in the new spring catalog. Then I embossed the Baha Breeze panel with the Fancy Fan EF.  I love playing along with the challenges, so for this card think I will show it off over at Just Add Ink Challenge where they are promoting the use of the Big Shot this week with a wonderful blog hop.  I got so much inspiration from the hop, that I just keep goi

I feel like a schoolgirl making valentines for my friends.  I just love the Hearts a Flutter stamp set and the matching Framelits from the new Stampin' Up! Spring catalog.  I tried a little of the chalkboard technique that is so popular these days.  I'd forgotten that I had white ink, it's been so long since I've used it, and I was tickled that I could get a bold enough image for the card I wanted to do.  On the outside I stamped an assortment of hearts on the black, and inside I also used messages from my new stamp set Friendly Phrases.  The phrases kind of reminded me of the silly phrases that were on dime store Valentines we used to get.  I stamped the flags in Basic Black and Real Red, and punched them so I could add bakers twine to string them up.  I attached the twine with a couple black brads.  I embossed the red card stock with my striped embossing folder, which reminded me of of an old schoolhouse.   This card was prepped for a couple of challenges.  Th