Yes, I made that!!

 Can you believe I actually made this?!  Thanks to this wonderfully done YouTube tutorial by Beadifulnights I did!!  It probably took me 3 hours or more and I'm sure it isn't perfect, but I adore it and it is so comfortable to wear.  The best part is I got to pick whatever beads and colors I wanted so it is just my style! 

Here is a side view so you can see how pretty the band is too.  This entire ring is made of only beads and fishing line.  That's it!  This project is probably a little advanced for where I am in my new beading hobby, but I learned a LOT and stuck it out.  So grateful for all the talented and generous beaders out there (a lot like the stampers I know!) for helping out us newbies!! 

I'll be back soon with a Clean & Simple Christmas card I really like, as soon as I get enough sunlight to take a decent picture. 

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!
~Kristin

Holiday Cheer

I've been working to come up with some designs for our annual Stamp-a-Stack which is coming up October 6th.  Since I've been neglecting my stamping for jewelry lately I'll post four cards at once.  I have another done, but haven't yet photographed it. 

 

 My new order from SU will be here on Friday so I'll have more stuff to play with and post then!  This first one is using the new Holiday Frame embossing folder.  I love how the Cherry Cobbler baker's twine looks but the punch I used on the corners is not by Stampin' Up! so I don't think we'll be making this one. 

For this one i stamped an ornament from Delightful Decorations on the Limited Edition DSP then embossed it with clear powder.  I have ordered the Cherry Cobbler powder so next time I can stamp with Versamark instead of the Versamark then Cherry Cobbler combination.  



 

This style of stamping has a name, something like Subway style?!?  Basically you just gather a large number of sentiments and stamp them in varrying directions.  I have at least 15 different stamps on here, many from very old retired stamp sets, all stamped in various shades of green.  The card base is Gumball Green, and it is finished off with some Cherry Cobbler Seem Binding.  Are you getting the idea that I like Cherry Cobbler for Christmas cards??

And finally... this one is actually Real Red with Always Artichoke and Naturals Ivory.  The tree, from Snow Swirled is an old favorite.  I embossed it in silver on the Limited Edition DSP then sponged over it with Artichoke ink.  If you're wondering, my sponge dauber had some other green on it and even though it was dry, it showed up more than the artichoke.  Next time I'll use a brand-new sponge dauber.  The tree ornaments were punched from the glittery red paper with a standard hole punch and the 1/8" hole punch. 

Thanks for visiting!  Why don't you let me know YOUR VOTE if you had to choose which of these you'd want to make at a Holiday Stamp-a-Stack. 

~Kristin

Purple Pendant

 Isn't this stone pendant beautiful?!?  I just love the gray and purples tones.  I have no idea what it is but I added these four little beaded things (no idea what to call them) I found already made (thanks mom!).  She obviously had something in mind... These earrings were already made as well as a matcing bracelet that I forgot to photo so I had to finish off the set!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

PS- Beads are the only ones not labeled in this particular storing tray.  Maybe agate??

Some Swarovski- a bracelet

Still trying to figure out this photography thing... was trying to make myself a really simple bracelet in colors that I wear a lot for every day wearing.  While I really like how it turned out, it is still pretty style specific, so not exactly an every day piece. 

I'll try to list the beads I used here.  Keep in mind that I am using my mom's stash and she labeled some things and not others.  Jahloneh (?) czech beads, blue agate, green avent, apatite green, blue zircon swarovski, and some silver accents. 

Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

BEADS!!!

 Good morning!  In case you are wondering, I've discovered a new hobby and think I'm in LOVE!  Unfortunately, if you are used to coming here for cards... well, they'll still be here but interspersed between some beaded jewelry pieces! 

This is a triple strand bracelet with matching necklace I made recently.  They are both on stretchy cord, which is good and bad.  The necklace is actually a single strand which hangs to my waist so it is VERY HEAVY!  The neat thing is that I can double it, like in the picture here, or even triple it easily!  The beads are a variety from my stash- some of which I do not like on their own, but love in this completely random combination!

Forgive my photography.  Either I'm struggling or something is up with my camera because it took me dozens of pictures to get these ho-hum shots.  I need to experiment with my backgrounds I guess, and maybe learn a little something about my camera settings.  I HOPE it isn't that something is wrong with my camera!! 

So what do you think?  I already wore this playful set and had so much fun with it!  Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back with more jewelry for sure, and some Christmas cards too. 
~Kristin

Step It Up!! {Christmas}

Looking for a super simple, quick and easy Christmas card design?  Then look no further!  I have designed this card to be stepped up three times, adding a tiny bit of detail each time.  Choose the version you are comfortable with or experiment with all four!  

Can you guess what was added? 

Ignore the funky bow... I did get tired of it and fixed it eventually.

 

That's better (the bow I mean).  Did you spot each of the added details?  So what do you think?  Still Clean & Simple, eh?!! 

 

This just might be similar to something at our upcoming Annual Christmas Stamp-a-Stack in Kenton, Ohio coming up on October 6th.  Let me know if you are interested- all are welcome! 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kristin

 



First Christmas Card of the Year

Hello again!  I'm back with my very first Christmas card of the season.  You may be seeing more of these in the days to come.  Our annual Christmas Stamp-a-Stack is just around the corner, October 6th, so I've got some designing to do.  If you are interested in details let me know and I'll be sure to fill you in!  (It is held in Kenton, Ohio)

 

For this one I used this sketch from iSpy Sketches.  Isn't it fun?!  Initially I intended to follow the sketch exactly and put a circle embellishment towards the bottom... but then realized that my large embossed snowflake did sort of the same thing, so I left it off.  Less is more, right?!  

 

Well, I hope you like it!  Come again soon!

~Kristin

 

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Petite Pairs

Colors:  Raspberry Ripple, Regal Rose, Pink Pirhouette, Whisper White

Accessories:  square punch, Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin ribbon, Modern Label punch, Big Shot, Northern Flurry embossing folder, basic rhinestones

 

Fab Birthday

Have you ever designed an entire card thinking you were using one color, only to find out it was another color?   Oftentimes I use my color coach to come up with color ideas...not necessarily for the combo suggestions, but just to spin out my own ideas until I come up with something I like.  I had decided on Calypso Coral, Raspberry Ripple and Pink Pirhouette... but ended up using Peach Parfait instead of Calypso Coral, and only noticed when my ink didn't match the cardstock!  DUH! 

Turns out I think I like it better anyway.  And bonus, the tiny butterfly was already stamped and punched and in the stamp case!  Obviously the ONLY thing I kept the same from yesterday's card was the sketch.  And I'm fine with that.  I couldn't bring myself to just change the sentiment to make it a birthday card when it started as a sympathy card.  Plus, this sketch was so fun, it only makes sense to use it again in a completely different direction!  

 Here's the inside... and yes, I screwed up.  Did the entire piece then realized as I was sticking it down that it was not the correct width.  Oh well.  I'm going with it anyway!  Also hadn't noticed that little edge of flower just hanging... again, Oh Well!  I'm OK with that too.

Here's the sketch again in case you missed it yesterday.  And the link:  Fab Friday. 

Thanks for stopping in to see me today!  I appreciate your visits and your kind comments (not so much all the crappy spam I've been getting.  Yesterday it was "Oh, I really appreciate this kind of post.  Please visit me at Hor$ny Asian Wom@n".  Uh, delete!  And I'm so not typing those words exactly or I know I'll get all kinds of junk!)

~Kristin

Sharing Your Sorrow

Good Monday morning, I hope.   I found a fabulous new sketch challenge blog this weekend called Fab Friday.  This sketch is their FIRST EVER challenge!  So excited I found it right from the beginning.  The simplicity of this sketch really appealed to me- lots of room to add those unique creative touches.  Found out that I needed a sympathy card just before I put the sentiment on so this quickly went from birthday to a sympathy card.  Don't worry, I did a second variation for a birthday which you'll see tomorrow.  

 

 Can you tell that my top picture was taken in morning light and these bottom two in evening light?  I couldn't decide which was better so you get both. 

 Here is the sketch:  Go ahead, have fun with it! 

Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

 

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Thoughts & Prayers

Colors:  Lucky Limeade, Basic Gray, Marina Mist, Basic Black

Accessories:  Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, Flower Garden embossing folder, Kiwi Kiss corduroy button (remember those?!), Pinking Hearts border punch, Modern Label punch

Above & Beyond

Good morning fellow crafters!  How about a fallish card to kick off the weekend?  I had a variety of inspirations for this one but mostly it came from my head.  Found a great new (to me) challenge site too, Stampin' Celebration which hosts monthly challenges.  Yep, I have an entire month to make it, edit, post and enter.  Yippee, my kind of deadline!  For September their challenge is to be inspired by the fallish photo they provided which I linked at the bottom of this post. 

 

I always think of texture when I use fall colors, not sure why.  So I whipped out the woodgrain embossing folder which is horizontal instead of verticle so doesn't show up the best in my lighting this morning.  (Hence the last picture)

 

 Here's a shot of the inside, gussied up but still fairly simple.  The Apothecary Accent die cut was leftover from the front of the card so had to put it to work.  Aren't those Comfort Cafe DSP patterns just perfect?  Love them! 

 

Here's the "other" shot of the texture- if this photo seems odd it is because the card is standing on its side.  And here is the Stampin' Celebration inspiration photo:  

 

 

Thanks for stopping by again and have a great weekend!

~Kristin

 

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  One in a Million

Colors:  Naturals Ivory, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze

Accessories:  Apothecary Accents framelits, Blossom punch, Triple Layer flower punch, Boho Blossom punch, Naturals Buttons, Big Shot, Woodgrain embossing folder, Paper Piercing pack essentials, dotted scalloped ribbon border punch

 



Color Me Beautiful!

 

Phew!  Well, I'm in a mad rush so this will be short.  Excited to participate in the Brand Spankin' New blog:  Color Me Beautiful and their very first challenge.  I made this yesterday and just noticed that I have less than 30 minutes to upload my card!  Yikes!  I don't want to miss it... so here goes.  

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!  I've got something else to share tomorrow too!  Woohoo! 

 

~Kristin

 

SUO Supplies
Stamps:  Pleasant Poppies, Petite Pairs

Colors:  Wisteria Wonder, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Gray, Perfect Plum, Lucky Limeade

Accessories:  Pennant Punch, Beautiful Wings Sizzlit, Punch Pack, Mini silver brads, First Edition DSP, oval punch, scalloped oval punch, basic pearls





Gift Ideas: Baby & Home Decor

 

Good morning!  I hope you've had your coffee because I have lots of pictures for you today!  First up is this baby mobile I was honored to make recently.  It was requested to match THESE things I made a while back for a good friend's new baby.  It is entirely made of Stampin' Up! papers, old and new, Stampin' Up! felt ribbon and a piece of plumbing pipe insulation that I bought and cut then wrapped with the dotted ribbon (not SU). 

 

The long pieces of felt that the circles are attached to were wrapped around the circle and held in place by either a button (which is hand sewn on for safety!) or a knot of tempting turqhoise ribbon.  They all very in length and the circles are different too.  I think I used at least 20 different patterns of paper. 

EDITED TO ADD:  I completely forgot to mention that the circles (all punched with SU's punches) were done like this... I punched two circles in matching paper and glued one of them to a punched chipboard circle (thin enough chipboard that it would punch).  The one with the chipboard backing was the outward facing circle.  The other was glued to the back of that with the ribbon sandwiched in between.  Some of them had chipboard behind both sides, but that was a mistake.  They didn't stayed glued nearly as well and I had to clip them with small binder clips for hours while they dried completely.  The glue I used was Tombo Mono.  Hope that helps!

 

I didn't take pictures of the entire process because I was under a time crunch.  But I have a few tips on using the pipe insulation.  It is much cheaper than using one of those wooden rings ($4) for needlepoint and doesn't have that clamp part to figure out what to do with.  I bought a piece about 5 feet long at the hardware store ($1.75) then cut off the length I needed (you could probably make 2 out of one piece).  In order to make sure your circle doesn't end up oblong here is what you should try:  hold the tube in a loop then slightly overlap the two ends.  Eyeball the angle at which they overlap then try to cut that angle off one end.  (Don't panic with my vague instructions, it isn't an exact science).  Then the two ends will meet flush and your tube will stay more circular.  Tape the connection with duct tape then cover with whatever material you want.  I used ribbon! 

 

On to project two: 

This project doesn't involve Stampin' Up! products at all (even though it could), but since I gather you are somewhat crafty or you wouldn't be here, and since I need a place to brag to a captive audience, you get to enjoy this one as well.  

So I found this frame in my barn.  No idea what it was for- square is an odd shape for a frame. 

 Decided to cover the cardboard backing for the frame with an old map (I've got tons- you'll see that in the future).  Chose my favorite saying of all time and cut it out with my daughter's Cricut in two different fonts.  Then used temporary adhesive (I used removable Dotto) to apply the letters just where I wanted them.  I also wanted a faux matt around the final project so I used painters tape on the edges.  Here's another TIP:  Be sure to destickify (yep, made it up) the tape by sticking it to your shirt or pants or couch over and over before applying it or else your map might tear (mine still did a little). 

 Then spray the entire thing. 

 We used black spray paint.  I was a tad worried that the paper map wouldn't hold up to the wet paint and let my daughter make an executive decision to not go solid black, but just enough to see the letters.  I like that you can not only see the map through the font, but also behind the paint a bit. 

 Here is how it looks on the wall.  We barely let it dry before we got it up there!  Just couldn't wait! 

 

If you're curious about where on earth we hung this... you probably don't recall but in 2010 we bought a 12x16 foot playhouse for our kids.  It has taken us two years, but it is now livable.  We've painted the entire outside, stained the deck, wired it (with a little help from an electrician), insulated, boxed in plywood walls and painted the crap out of it.  It has kept us crazy busy for many many hours!  I'll do another post on it if anyone is interested, but this is one shot of the inside.  The table, chairs and ladder were all paint projects I've worked on all this week and last.  Hopefully I am DONE painting for awhile.  Thanks to Pinterest we have many more ideas to come!

 

I am going to link a few of the ideas that inspired these projects: 

 

mobile:

http://pinterest.com/pin/198932508511198064/ 

http://pinterest.com/pin/198932508511198077/

paint over letters: 

http://pinterest.com/pin/198932508510004081/

http://pinterest.com/pin/198932508511282904/

 

Thanks for stopping by!  If either of these projects inspires you to do something I'd love to see it!  Leave me a link to your online photos or blog post!

 

Have a great day!

~Kristin



Blue Ribbon Birthday

Good morning!  I hope you have had a great week.  We've been a little hectic with the first week of school, projects around the house and a football injury for my son (dislocated elbow, but he'll be fine).  I did get to stamp a bit yesterday... I somehow ran across the Mojo Monday sketch challenge which I thought was current, so set off to use it.  Just now realizing it was last week's challenge.   Oh well.  Story of my life! 

 

I also checked out the Free 4 All challenge on Splitcoast to "Show us your colors"- use lots of bright colors.  Well, I do think I've accomplished that here.  The scalloped circle with the birthday sentiment, as well as the Polka Dot Parade DSP, were sitting on my desk from a card I never completed last week, so I decided to put them to use.  

 

See those three (crooked) embossed dots at the bottom left corner?  Those were part of the sketch and the rhinestones I had there originally were just over the top so I decided to do these instead.  They are easy to do by using the main part of the Crop-a-Dile... but obviously not so easy to line up.  Since they were the last thing I did I wasn't about to redo.  Crooked it is! 

Here's a shot at the inside.  Had fun with it, using markers to color the sentiment from It's Your Birthday.  The tiny owl piece is all from A Fitting Occasion.,, a fun set for adding a little detail! 

Well, lots to do today.  Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin

 

SUO Supplies

Stamps:  Blue Ribbon, A Fitting Occasion, Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired), It's Your Birthday

Colors:  Midnight Muse, Real Red, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie

Accessories:  Circle Scallop punch, circle punch, tag punch, Circle brads (retired), Crop-a-Dile, White Baker's Twine, Triple Layer Flower punch

Wedding Invitation & Beaded Jewelry Gift

I think I mentioned in the past a wedding invitation I helped a friend on and since a few of you have requested to see it, here you go.  I hesitated to post before because the wedding hadn't occurred yet and because it didn't photograph nearly as well as it looks in person.  This bride wanted very natural and simple and she chose all the details. 

 

The soft suede cardstock was cut to fold over the vellum cardstock by 1.5" so the final size is 4.25" x 5.5" just like a standard card, fitting nicely into a standard envelope.  It was tied with a bow of twine (I used linen thread for my example here).  

The piece underneath with the printed details is Naturals Ivory cardstock.  We incorporated the green (Wild Wasabi) from her wedding colors by stamping this image from Inspired by Nature (it is stamped off once so not too distracting.) 

 

I didn't take a picture but the programs were this exact style but ended up being 4.25" by 7.5" finished, including the 1" folded over piece at the top.  This way we were able to efficiently use an entire piece of cardstock!  I am a tad anal about being efficient. 

 

In case you missed it, HERE is the card I made for the happy couple.  Of course I had to make sure it coordinated in color and style!

 Up next is a gift I've been working on for my best friend Nicky for a LONG time (her birthday was in June!).  I finally gave it to her yesterday after several setbacks so I'm able to post it now without spoiling her long awaited surprise.  This is the first set of necklace, bracelet and earrings I've ever made and I'm super pleased with how they turned out.  Her daughter told me her favorite color was purple (how did I not know that after 30+ years??) so that was my starting point- these beautiful natural polished purple stones. 

Funny story about the necklace... after I had it all done, and realizing that I didn't really know what I was doing, I decided I should wear it around for a little bit to make sure it wasn't scratchy etc.  So I put it on and proceded to sit at my desk to check a few emails.  Approximately five minutes later it suddenly without warning snapped and beads flew everywhere!  I honestly was only moving my fingers so I'm SO GLAD I thought to wear it.  That is one of the reasons it was so late, I basically had to start over!

 

Now that my kids are back in school you'd think I'd be stamping every day but I've still got so many projects to clean up from and catch up housework that it might be a few days still.  We've finally gotten our playhouse/game room painted and started putting furniture in so I've been cruising Pinterest obsessively trying to come up with cute ideas.  Now to put them all to use!  Maybe I'll have some fun pictures to share once we're all settled in. 

 



Well, that's it.  Thanks for stopping by!
~Kristin