Quick Matching Tip

Today I started a little project that I keep thinking I should do. Crafting Ida, my Stampin Up Consultant, told me about this some time ago, and I thought it was inspired.

I assembled my tools: Crop-A-Dile (That funky what on earth is it? implement with pink handles used to punch holes or set eyelets, etc.), a punch (I chose a Creative Memory 1 1/4 inch octagon), a beaded chain, and a cute red Creative Memory card case that I-Needa gave me. I also needed a pen to write with... I chose my Creative Memory acid free pen.

The goal: To have samples of my Stampin Up paper to carry along in my purse. I hate it when I'm out and about and see great sales on ribbon and wonder if any of it will match my paper. I intend to put my paper chain in the little red card case and put it in my purse. Then I'll be able to whip out the paper and SEE if I have a match.

On each punched paper, I put the color name of the paper and labeled it with the collection it belongs to. So far, I've finished papers from the Earth Elements grouping of Stampin Up. So, each paper is labeled EE, for Earth Elements, and has the color name as well.

I started with scraps, but for a few colors, I had no scraps. It took courage to cut a corner out of a perfectly whole piece of paper, but I did it. Otherwise, I couldn't do this project. I think it will pay off in the long run!

I think Crafting Ida had a wonderful tip, and I just have to pass it on.

Little Squares of Love

Daughter I-Needa sent me this Valentine's Day card a few years ago. I'm using it as an example of keeping it simple. Using two sizes of square punches, one picture stamp, and one saying stamp, one color of paper, one color of ink, and a twist of colored wire, she has created a cute card.

I first noticed that she appears to have inked her heart stamp once, then stamped with it three times. This gives each heart a slightly different look. Sponging a bit onto the background with the same color, she has given it interest. Adding a piece of colored wire for texture gives it a finished look.

February is almost here, and this would be a simple Valentine's Day card. However, I'm thinking I can apply this simple format to many other things. I love the idea of 'Thinking of You'. That can apply to so many.. friends and family alike. Hopefully, we think about people often... and tell them.

Whimsy SU Set

Garden Whimsy and the Whimsy jumbo wheel are one of my favorite stamp sets from Stampin Up. They are still in the new Spring/Summer catalog.

I think they are very appropriately named, as the whole look of them is just light, airy, and super whimsical. I've made a number of cards using them and will say that looking a them just makes me 'happy'.

This is one of the first cards I made with the set. This one was in a card class with Crafting Ida. She had us stamp the butterfly in the top first, then stamp off the one on the bottom without re-inking. It gave it a bit of a watermark effect. Of course, there is a little snail on the inside bottom right corner. Cute touch.

Isn't this a happy picture?

I used the Whimsy jumbo wheel on this one pulling both colors of burgundy on the top to match the butterfly and blue on the bottom to bring out paper color. Then I added a little texture with a Cuttlebug embossed flower from a small folder.

I love the repetition of circles in the wheel, butterfly, and center of the flower. It all seems to work together to give that lighthearted feeling.
I love the words 'Best friends listen to what you don't say.'

Crochet An Afghan

Some time ago, I-Needa learned to crochet. She can crochet a full size afghan in a couple of days. Seriously. Her fingers fairly fly, and sometimes I even think I feel a draft from her motion. I can't imagine how many of these she has given away as gifts. It is something that she has really enjoyed doing.

Today I offer you a picture of an afghan and the directions. I hope you can tell something about the pattern from my amateur photographer attempts. There will be NO 'How to Crochet' installments on this blog. I'm no expert. I have one pattern that I can do, and neither I-Needa nor I know the name of it. It isn't fancy, but the finished result is lovely, I think. It doesn't take a great amount of thought, which is nice. It makes a lovely thing to do on a cold day. Draping nicely over the lap, it just plain keeps you warm as you work. I asked I-Needa to send directions. So, for all of you who know what the heck they mean, here are some directions to follow:

Afghan
Chain 226
Turn
double chain in 4th from hook, double chain in next chain
Skip 3, sc in next ch, chain 3, dc in next 3 (continue pattern until you get to the end of the row.)

sc in last, turn, ch 3, dc 2 times in the first hole
Begin same pattern from first row. Continue same process until you decide the afghan is big enough.

I-Needa uses 3-4 skeins with a J hook for a baby afghan, 6-7 skeins with a J hook for an adult of average height.

We like Red Heart yarn as it washes over and over again beautifully. It's good strong stuff!

(This blog person reserves the right to tell you that we will not be held responsible for any failed crocheting on anyone's part. We've done the best we could. Crochet at your own risk. )

P.S. I crocheted this blue one. Tah Dah!

I-Needa's Card

I-Needa made this card for a friend's birthday. I love how she added initials on the front of the card. Texturing with the Cuttlebug is a super way to add interest and dimension.

I've found the Cuttlebug to be a wonderful investment. I shopped around and used a coupon to get one at 40% off. Stores don't usually honor coupons on Circut, but you remind them that it is a Provo Craft product, but not Cricut. Seriously.
You can use coupons on Cuttlebugs. It saves money!

Donna's Chef Card

Donna is a newly addicted stamper. I plan on taking pictures of her cards as love the simple clean designs. I snapped this one last night as she was showing it to me.

SU Viola with a bit of background paper found at Hobby Lobby. A touch of ribbon. Very nice.

Working With Clear Stamps

Most of my stamping supplies are rubber stamps from Stampin Up. However, I was given a few Clear Stamps. The first time I used them, I was not really pleased as I could see little dots of ink rather than a uniform look when I stamped with them. I was disappointed.


Two people told me to take a white eraser and go over them carefully before inking. It made all the difference in the
look of the finished project.

The white erasers are also wonderful to erase in memory albums if you've drawn a light pencil line to guide in journaling. Don't use pink erasers!

50th Anniversary Card

I found myself in need of a 50th anniversary card, and I just hadn't planned on that yet. I even had a fleeting thought that I'd just have to purchase one. Can you believe that even crossed my mind? I did what any addicted stamper would do. I made an emergency run to Hobby Lobby and finally came up with this card.


I had a few supplies on had:
Cuttlebug (to emboss white strip and cut oval with ribbon threaded through)
Stampabilities gold pigment ink
Gold embossing powder
Heat gun
Ribbon tape & double sided tape

Hobby Lobby purchase: gold and white paper, set of Boutique specialty ribbon (creme), and Clear Stamp set of lowercase alphabet and numbers.

I had a pile of stuff and a need to create. This is the result.
I was SO thankful that Crafting Ida spent time with us practicing embossing. It was helpful.

As a little finishing touch, I also embossed in gold the couple's names on the top section inside the card. They will certainly know that it was made especially for them.

Punch Organizer

Stamping Brenda sent me a picture of her reorganized punches. I said, 'Pleeeeeese, Brenda, please may I post this?' She said, 'I don't mind you sharing the information.'

Brenda saw this idea on Splitcoast Stampers. She bought white curtain rods and attached them from stud to stud. She says they are very sturdy.

Brenda has been crafting memory albums and cards for years and years. She has a whole room devoted to her passion, and it is extremely well organized.

At the top of the picture, you can barely see some cards. Brenda has a wire hung close to the ceiling on all her walls. She uses it to display cards she has made. It is very attractive and she has easy access to ideas.

I've begged Brenda for more pictures of her organization and hope also to get some of the wonderful cards she makes.
Thank you, Brenda.

Our Happy Group

Crafting Ida (in green) has taken our little group in hand to teach us a few new skills. She came with kits to help us make three cards (shown below). We worked on embossing as none of us had really worked with that. We are Newbies.

We are SO glad to have Crafting Ida as our Stamping Up Consultant. She's great!

We also got our new catalogs. Oh, by the way, I'm taking the pictures... so no me in them. One of these days, I'll remember to have someone else take a picture.



Embossing 101














Checking out the new SU Catalogs

Cards We Made

Love SU's new Happy Heart Day. We used an envelope, cutting the flap in the middle. Gluing the left side of the envelope, the right side was left to hold a gift card, money, a note...

The elephant was stamped in black and colored with pencil. We added a spot of glue and glitter to the hearts. Used pink SU ink for inside stamp. The Tag punches layered and glued on the flap.















Heart card made with SU Simply Said stamped in VersaMark. Embossed with Clear SU Embossing Powder. Sponged with pink ink, added a touch of ribbon.







Happy Birthday card used SU Whimsy Wheel, Embossed strip with clear embossing powder.
Cake is from demo's new Birthday Whimsy (available in Feb. as part of Sale-A-Bration). We used VersaMark for cake, then colored cake part with Chocolate Chip marker.

Stamping Brenda

I went to visit daughter I-Needa. I-Needa often has a group over to work on album making (aka scrapbooking). I've gone to several of these events and love meeting I-Needa's friends. One wonderful friend is Stamping Brenda. I-Needa has always tried to help identify who she is talking about on the phone by putting a helpful adjective in front of their name. I catch on faster that way. Well, Brenda loves to make cards and also memory albums. She has been at it for years and years, and she is very good at it. So I-Needa would refer to her as 'Stamping Brenda.' I've just kept the name and think it is a good one.

I arrived for a visit with I-Needa and an album making event. Stamping Brenda was there. She is always such fun and full of enthusiasm for her crafting. I-Needa and Stamping Brenda had been talking about my new interest in card making. Both being generous souls, they had each collected a few items to help insure I had supplies. That was sweet!

I had a good time with both of them. Their enthusiasm was infectious, and I was pushed closer to the edge of addiction. Mind you, I'm not complaining. I went willingly.

I have to brag on Stamping Brenda a bit here. She has hand crafted many cards these past few years which she 'sells' and donates all proceeds to her city's Cancer Walk. I'm impressed with the idea of combing fun with generosity toward a greater good. Go, Stamping Brenda!

Crafting Ida Takes Charge

Sometimes in life, we just need a nudge to get us going. I was hovering on the brink of needing something artistic to do. I was observing others around me, but just hadn’t taken the latest plunge. Crafting Ida stepped in and took charge of me.

Ida showed up at my back door one day. She had ‘stuff’ with her... crafting ‘stuff’. She had a couple of boxes of crafting supplies. As she unpacked the supplies in what is now the space I use for card making, she announced that she had brought me a few things to play with. Ohhhhh....fun.

Sometimes we need to have things put into our hands and gently nudged into action. That’s what Ida did. She sat down and started showing me how to pull ink off the ink pads, and adding a little water in a jar lid, she loaded a brush to paint with a water color technique. She brought some stamps for me to try. Before long, I had stamped a flower and was busy painting it. I liked it.

Ida stayed awhile, making sure I was well into this stamping fun. She left the supplies ‘in my keeping’ for awhile to make sure I’d have the opportunity to play. Yes, I was well on the way to being hooked.

Ida had recently become a Stampin Up consultant. However, I’ll attest that she wasn’t trying to practice a sales technique on me. Her reasons for signing up to be a consultant were mostly to take advantage of some of the perks. It had been obvious to me for some time that Ida took great pleasure in making and sending hand crafted cards. She so enjoyed visiting with me about it and just sharing the joy.

I’d had the influence of I-Needa and Crafting Ida. That should have been enough. I was well on the road. Then while visiting I-Needa, Stamping Brenda finished pushing me over the edge.

A Closet Peek

Before tattling on Crafting Ida (as promised below), I must let you take a peek at I-Needa's closet. Her guest bedroom (MY room) has a nice walk in closet. It HAD good hanging and storage space. The hanging space has been almost obliterated by crafting supplies. The guest (Me) has a small space in back to hang a few items. When I first saw this closet, I thought I-Needa had really gone over the edge. Since then, I've been to Crafting Ida's home. It was some place. Stamping Brenda's craft room also sent my crafting expectations to a whole new level. I'm going to send I-Needa on a picture taking expedition to Stamping Brenda's home and hope to have future pictures which will blow you away.


This closet contains most of my crafting supplies. You see, I'm a newbie. I have a long way to go before I have anything on I-Needa, Crafting Ida, or Stamping Brenda. That's a good thing. I'm not competitive in the collecting stuff department. I'm trying to do this slowly.

I've seen some pictures of other craft rooms on the Internet, and I know that I'm at humble beginning stage. I will strive to change that and earn my spot in the Addicted Crafters' Association. Humm.... I wonder if they have an association.

I will work on my next post to introduce you properly to Crafting Ida. She is the one who pushed me over the edge into the world of stamping. I promise that soon I will begin, in earnest, to share some real crafting items. But first, you need to meet the cast of characters.

Peer Pressure Jump Starting

I will begin this new site with a tale of involvement. It is a tale of others, and peer pressure, and being weak. I suppose I could look on the positive side and say I was reaching out to achieve my full potential. Of course..... I'm having FUN!

It began with a tale of daughter I-Needa. That is only a pet name I use. I began noticing that she often begins sentences with the term 'I need a...." It was when I began noticing this about her, that I also began noticing she had coined that phrase from me... her mother. Yes, it's true. I began hearing that same phrase coming out of my own mouth at an alarming rate. Yes, I-Needa had become her mother.

I-Needa became an addicted crafter some years ago. She started with crocheting. The needles fly and she can finish an afghan in nothing flat. Seriously. After making several afghans, I finally decided to ask her to show me. I wasn't a complete novice to this type of needle work. I'd knitted years earlier, which is probably how I-Needa had come to learn a few words which would best be left out of anyone's vocabulary. However, I wondered if I would have to unlearn some knitting habits to change to crocheting. Actually, I did.

I-Needa next became engrossed in the world of scrapbooks. She soon became a consultant for Creative Memories. While she loved doing that, her job as a teacher in the public schools took most of her time. She soon found it was too demanding to try to do consultant work, so she gave that part up. However, she continues to make scrapbooks and loves it. Of course, I followed right along and now love to make scrapbooks.

I-Needa's next adventure took her into card making with Stampin Up. She also added jewelry making. I benefited greatly from jewelry making and received lots of earrings for special occasions. No complaints there!!

It looked for awhile as if I were safe from her latest crafting crazes, but that was not to be. I was destined to become my daughter.

It was at this point that another crazed crafter entered the scene.... Crafting Ida!

... to be continued.