Friends with Flair and Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone!  I have a couple cards to share today for Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop.  There is a master list of all the 50 designers participating in the FWF this week, so take a lookie at the Unity Blog for links to everyone playing today.

Both of my cards use Karen's Sweet Sunday sketch #97.  I made the card and then realized that I took a bit of liberty with her "snowflake" and turned it into an image panel -oops!  Anyway, first up is a Christmas card using one of the Unity Co-branded sets with Cosmo Cricket, Mitten Weather Icons.  The lightly dotted/snowflake background on the circle panel is from Bright and Merry Wishes.  I used the matching pattern paper by Cosmo, Mitten Weather, I mean how could I NOT?  The border was made by using Martha Stewart Stars border punch and the rhinestone flourish is from Zva Creative.

Next I have a birthday card.  One of my good stamping friends and fellow Verve Diva, Shannan has her birthday on Christmas!  We all get caught up in the hustle bustle of Christmas and forget there are lots of people with birthdays on Christmas too.  Happy birthday Shannan, this card is on it's way!

My card uses 2 Ippity stamp sets, the sentiment is from Party Hat Wishes and the flowers are from You Deserve (which is currently on sale).  The pattern paper is from Basic Grey, Marjolaine and the branches are from a Martha Stewart punch.

Thanks for stopping by and have a very Merry Christmas!!

Card Deets:

Stamps: Mitten Weather Icons and Bright and Merry Wishes (Unity Stamp Co.),
Paper: Cream, Ridinghood Red, Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather PP
Ink: Black, wild wasabi, sahara sand
Accessories: baker's twine (Stamp Simply Ribbon store), Stars border punch by Martha Stewart, copic markers, circle nesties, 

Card Deets:

Stamps: Party Hat Wishes and You Deserve (Ippity)
Paper: White, chocolate chip and Basic Grey Marjolaine  PP 
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: baker's twine (Stamp Simply Ribbon store), branch punch by Martha Stewart, Scallop edge border punch (SU!), copic markers, circle nesties, flowers from craft supply, hat pins from craft supply


P.S.  I still haven't heard from some of the winners from my giveaway.  I know things are crazy with the holidays, so you still have a couple days to get back to me!  Congrats to all 6 winners!

Clean stamping area, the WINNERS, and a Christmas card

Hi everyone!  Thank you to everyone who commented on my giveaway.  What amazing readers you all are!!  I am glad to know that I am NOT the only one with a crazy messy stamping area.

Well, crazy messy NO MORE!!!

After 3 days of cleaning out, including a marathon 6 hours with my sister's help Saturday night (yeah, I have no life), I am happy to announce that my stamping area is CLEAN and ORGANIZED again!  Yep, let's just say someone who shops at my local Salvation Army will find lots of stamping and craft items.  And, there may be a few more items tucked away with the envelopes of stamping goodies I am sending away.

Speaking of which, here are the winners from my giveaway!

The two winners of the MME Breaking Free kit and a Verve stamp set are:

1.  Lisa said...
Thanks so much for the chance!!! I love your blog and try to visit once a day cause your inspiration is limitless!!!!

2.  Tanya said...
EEEKKK! thank you so much for the fabulous chance! Have a great weekend! :)

The FOUR winners of 2 Verve stamp sets (and maybe a couple more goodies) are:

1. Tami said...
how fun! Cleaning is always a good thing :) Thanks for the chance! miss chatting with you!
and
2. Terri Milstead said...

Thanks for a chance to win some goodies. I want to say thanks also for sharing all of your beautiful cards all year. I truly enjoy stopping by and looking at your creations. Have a wonderful holiday!

3. Anonymous said...

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity on this great giveaway. Couldn't help but give alittle smile when seeing the string on back of your chair. May you all have a Very Merry Christmas and Happy and Blessed New Years. ColleenB.

4.  JJH said...

Hi Michelle - It is interesting that your craft area mimics mine: lots of stuff and a little area to work in. Happy cleaning. I will do it too. Thanks for all your inspirations! Roses are my favorite flower which is why I starated reading your blog!

Congrats to everyone!  Please email me at cardsbymichelle@hotmail.com with your address.  Regarding the Verve sets, I will allow the first to email me to get first pick from the list and so on. 

Here are the "after" pictures of my stamping area.  Scroll down to my previous post if you missed the "before" pics.

Here is the wide shot of my main wall, which is 2 IKEA desks side by side.  The desk on the left has a "L" pull out piece, the one on the right has a drawer/door combo.

Here is a closeup of underneath my main desk.  That light mounted underneath on the right makes all the difference and was less than $10 at IKEA.  It turns the underneath into a fully functioning area.  I keep all my buttons, clear stamps, Gina K stamps, flat punches, ribbons and extra cardstock there.

Here is my cutting/embossing area.  I keep my new Grand Calibur, Score-Pal, Tonic cutter and 12x12 paper on top and my Cuttlebug and JustRite stamps are on the rolling cart underneath along with my sewing machine.

Here is a pic of the "ribbon" corner.  The storage boxes hold extra bling, adhesive, chipboard and glitters.

And I will leave you all with a Christmas card.  This one uses Gina K's Light of the Season and Mugs and Kisses (for the sentiment) sets and Mistletoe PP from Memory Box.  I just loves me the circle cards!

Thanks for stopping by and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!

Test tube treats

Hi everyone!  I have some yummy fun treats to share.  I saw a post on SCS from Kelly talking about putting candy in test tubes and was intrigued.  I bought some from her (she bought a quantity of 1000, so she has lots to spare) and took her advise and filled them with Sixlets.  M&Ms don't fit well because of the lopsided shape.

After calling my local party supply stores for Sixlets which had none, I searched online.  They were pretty spendy to get batches of red/green/white candies, so I kind of let it drop.  THEN weeks later, I was at the Dollar Tree and found bags of Christmas colored Sixlets!  Woohoo!

Here is the process

1.  The test tubes hold 12 candies, each candy pack has 8 (not 6, go figure?).  I didn't even have to touch the candies with my hands, I just snipped off the end of several bags and squeezed the candies into the tube randomly.  I made sure that there were not 2 colors in a row, cause I am ADD like that.
2.  Then I put a bit of score tape around the top and added a strip of designer paper
3.  Then I made tags and tied them on around the paper

 Here is a pic of my fancier tags, these use baker's twine, DP, bling, etc, all stamps are from Verve.

 I needed 8 for Bill's work, so I made easy peasy- all stamping tags -no bling or ribbons as I am sure they will be tossed.  I stamped a sentiment from Verve's O' Christmas Tree and the snowflakes are from Winter Wonder.  I used regular curling ribbon to tie them on.  Even without all the extras, they are still cute huh?

That's it for today.  I am working on some tags and gourmet popcorn bags for my neighbors and teachers.  I will be back soon with those!  Thanks for stopping by!

SSNOTIME #169 - Quick and Easy Gift Sets

Hi everyone!  Most of you are familiar with Sharon's weekly Stamp Simply challenge?  Well, last week she announced some changes to her weekly challenge and now us gals on the DT for her store will be playing in the challenges! 

This week the challenge is to make Quick and Easy Card Gift Sets!

Who doesn't love to receive a gift set of cards all neatly packaged up?  The team was challenged show you samples of some quick, easy, but still FAB cards in coordinated sets presented in a Clear Box for a real WOW factor!  Tie on a bow, add a belly band -- whatever strikes your fancy! 

I started out by making a quick and easy Christmas card and then used THE SAME layout to make a trio of birthday cards.  You know as stampers, we like to make all kinds of cool "go where life takes you" kind of cards, but let's face it, when friends and family ask for cards -they are always BIRTHDAY!  Aren't they?!? 

Here is the Christmas card.  The cutie Christmas paper is by KaiserCraft, Be Merry, sentiment from JustRite Stampers, Christmas Nested Frames, silver cord and rhinestones and a poinsettia prima to top it off!

Each of the birthday cards uses the same layout, I just changed the flower accent and pattern paper.  The birthday sentiment is from Clearly Wordsworth, Everyday Greetings.  This card uses Basic Grey, Curio, Prima Fairytale rose in Coral, 1/8" silk ribbon and rhinestones.

This one uses Basic Grey, Marjolaine, Prima Trellis Rose in Fontaine, silver cord and rhinestones.

This one uses Cosmo Cricket, DeLovely, Prima Trellis Rose in Fontaine, silver cord and rhinestones.

Here is the pic of them all packaged in a clear box!  You can dress these up as elaborate or simple as you want.  If sending to a crafter, I use all kinds of ribbons and flowers, but to a non-crafter (where the packaging will likely end up in the trash) I go with some simple silver elastic cord.  The poinsettia flower matches the Christmas card.

I have to admit, the prima flowers I used on these cards are REALLY poofy!  Here is a side view of them stuffed in the box.  It bulges a bit, but who cares?  lol!

Everyone is welcome and invited to play along!  For those uploading on SCS, the keyword is ssnotime169.  There is no time limit. You can play this challenge anytime at all.  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  And when posting to your blog, be sure to link up to Mr. Linky at the end of this post. Please link the direct post, not your blog URL, so we can easily find your project!

This week Deb and Barb are also playing along this week.  Be sure to check out their blogs to see what gift set they created!!

Deb Saaranen:  Dream in Color 

Barb Schram:  Explore.  Dream.  Discover (will post on Saturday)

All items in bold/italic are available from The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.

To order just email Sharon at ssj@up.net with your list and your state/zip OR country so she can calculate postage and she will get back to you with an invoice. 
You can see all KITS here.
You can view all ribbons available here.
You can view individual paper pads, supplies and JustRite stamps here.
You can view the Just Rite Cling stamps in stock here.  This link also includes some super sell-out prices of many JustRite sizes she will no longer restock.
You can view all tools used here.
You can view Odds-N-Ends for sale here.
You can see/read about the CLEAR BOXES here and here.
You can view Verve stamps here.
You can view Wordsworth stamps here.
You can view Primas here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

I have added this set of 3 birthday cards to my Etsy store if anyone is interested.

It's done! It's done!

Hi everyone!  Ha, I bet you thought my kitchen remodel was done right?  Well, considering we did the demo over the July 4th weekend, you would think!  But, actually today at 5:30 pm it was finally done!

Man oh man, my kitchen is done!

Anyone going thru a complete remodel KNOWS about those little details that seem to take FOREVER to finish.  No returned calls, illness, holidays, backorders, all of these things and MONTHS fly by!  Well, today the cabinet guy came over and finally installed the trim "filler" piece above the fridge and the crown molding over the expanded soffit spot.  Phew!  DONE!

As promised long ago, here are the BEFORE, DEMO and AFTER pictures of my dream kitchen.  And it really is a dream.  Like some of you, I never really had a nice kitchen with everything new.  So I am really lovin' all the cool stuff (um, like under cabinet lighting for my blind ole eyes!)!  Anyway, here we go:

Before -Wall 1:

After:

and

Before -mini sidewall:

See?  It's gone!!

I don't have a before pic of the entire wall 3 (?), but here are the after pics.  We moved the fridge to this wall and the microwave now is on a built-in shelf:

Here are the built in recycling bins to the left of the fridge:

Before -at the window:

After -at the window, the sink was moved to the left, centered under the window:

Here is under the sink, with the garbage disposal, insta hot and automatic soap dispenser there isn't much room!  I had a shelf installed in the skinny cabinet on the left, now my baking sheets and smaller loaf pans can be separate and easy to get to:

Here is a software generated birds eye view from Parr Cabinet's software -ignore the "pony wall" shown on the bottom right, we ended up demoing the entire wall.

I have lots more organization and gadget pictures!  Click here and here for more blog posts showing the goodies I bought for my kitchen.

OK, now that you've stuck around through all the kitchen pictures, I actually have a card to share!  This card uses Unity's September KOM, When I am With You, some amazing NEW Bo Bunny papers, Crazy Love, and the gorgeous velvet crocheted ribbon (you can get both at Stamp Simply Ribbon store). 

Thanks for stopping by and indulging me with my kitchen pictures and a little Unity/Bo Bunny love!  Have a great day!!

Gina K designs sketch and Ippity stamps sale

Hi everyone!  I played along with Gina's Stamp TV sketch challenge (STVSKSP5).  My card uses the new set, Mugs and Kisses and the new Mistletoe papers by Memory Box (LOVE these!).  I am having such fun with this set.  I love how you can mask off the mug and get crazy with the marshmallows.

I admit, I struggled with the mug a bit.  I decided on a simple green mug with a large snowflake on it.  Here is a picture of the first mug I made, it's cute, but didn't work with the DP.

I am also announcing a FURTHER and FINAL price reduction of my Ippity Stamp inventory!!  In case you missed the announcement, I am handing in my "ippity chick" card and will no longer be selling the stamps.  So I am having a final "everything must go" sale!!

Here is a list of my inventory and the new prices.  Please go to my Ippity Sales blog to purchase these (PP buttons on my sidebar):

Where you should be, $12.50 ($18 msrp)

Because of you, $15 ($24 msrp)

A Moment in Time, $15 ($24 msrp)

You Deserve, $7 ($10 msrp)

Authentic Man, $12.50 ($18 msrp)

House A Home, $12.50 ($18 msrp)

 

Book it!, $5.25 ($6 msrp)

Books A' Flutter, $5.25 ($6 msrp)

Quotes a' la Happy, $15 ($24 msrp)

A little Buggy, 12.50 ($18 msrp)

Ippity Stamps are made by Unity Stamps and are red rubber mounted on cling which can be used with any acrylic block.  They are die cut, so no cutting required!

 
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!  For those of you interested, this mug card is now listed in my Etsy shop.

Card Deets:

Stamps - Mugs and Kisses
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - Pure Luxury cardstock Lipstick red, Fresh Asparagus, white (Gina K)
Accessories - copic markers, snowflake punch (MS), red rhinestones, tag nestabilities and baker's twine (Stamp Simply Ribbon store), circle punch (SU!)