Thursday, September 4, 2008

This is my favorite time of year . . .


Hi all! I am now a blogger! Just wanted a space to post the things that I am currently working on and maybe some stuff about the family. I can't promise a post every month, but I will give it a go.

I can't figure out the spacing on this thing, so I apologize if it looks a bit strange. Maybe you get better as you go, I don't know. For you non-stampers and non-crafters, this post is going to be very boring.

Halloween is just around the corner, which is one of my favorite holidays. Then Thanksgiving and Christmas - so much to do. I have been trying to get a jump start on the fall season.

September has not started off well in the Nielsen household. Holly has had pneumonia, Macy has been sick (undiagnosed), our microwave went out, our oven went out and Mark nearly chopped off his thumb while trying to install the new microwave. So, I have been stamping and painting to keep myself sane among the illnesses and the appliance outages. So far, it is working, I think.

My friend Cheryl, from my job at WCP, had her last day this past Friday. She is a fellow stamper and I will miss talking stamps with her. I made her this set for her going away gift.




















The set included a card, desk calendar, tin of chocolates, memo pad and matching pen. I made a matching box to hold everything. My favorite piece was the desk calendar. You start with two chipboard coasters. I covered it with coordinating paper and cardstock and added a few embellishments. Then I punched holes and added ribbon to hold it together. I thought it turned out pretty well for my first attempt.




Besides the occasional gift or cake, I have been working feverishly to get ready for some potential upcoming fall craft events . I am considering a craft show, maybe in October and probably another in December (the same one I did last year). Here's a sneek peek at a few things I've been working on:



Halloween Lollipop Bouquets















I used the Batty For You set from Stampin' Up, several circle punches, a scalloped circle punch and my Cricut to cut the largest scalloped circle. I bought the flower pots at Michael's for 69 cents and painted them to match with a "Happy Halloween" message at the top. They turned out pretty cute!



For some reason I have been in the mood to paint recently, so here are a few more Fall themed items that will be available, if I decide to do the October craft show.







Gift Card Tins















I have also moved on to a few Christmas items. These are little metal tins (altoid size) that I covered and embellished with a variety of christmas papers and a few different stamp sets. Again, my Stampin' Up punches came in very handy. These are the perfect size to use for gift card holders. I may try to make a mini card to match each one and sell them as a set.

At the end of the month I have been invited to attend the Regional Stampin' Up Convention with my friend, Susan, in Kansas City. I am making lots of cards and other little items to take along and swap out with the other stampers. I hope to get lots of new ideas on our trip. Here are a few things I plan to take along for the swaps.


Enjoy the Little Things

I love this stamp set!!!! I actually used two stamp sets here, but the Enjoy Every Moment set is one of my favorites. I also used the large flower stamp from a year or so ago as a template for cutting out the big flower. Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Black and White make this card pop. I was trying to experiment with colors that I don't normally use together and I think this turned out pretty well.



















Welcome Baby
I love making baby stuff. Whether it is a cake, a card or a gift, everything baby seems to turn out cute. I have plenty of baby girl cards, but I wanted to make something that would be appropriate for a new baby boy. I used Brocade Blue, Barely Banana and Chocolate Chip for the color combination. The stamp sets were Everything Baby, Looks Like Spring and I'm Here. The small pictue is the girl version that I made several weeks ago for my mom's friend. It uses basically the same sets, Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink.





So Very Sweet

This is probably one of my favorite papers that Stampin' Up is carring right now. It's the Summer Picnic designer paper. I used the stamp sets So Very and Tart & Tangy. The small and large tag punches were used to punch out the stamped cherries. The colors are Real Red, Bashful Blue ad Old Olive. The ribbon is the 3/16" Gingham Ribbon in Red. I used Bashful Blue to shade around the outside of the white and printed paper. I love to layer different colors, if you haven't noticed, and that didn't change for this card. I used a square embellishment from one of my Hodgepodge Hardware sets. I've had a hard time finding good uses for some of the stuff in the hardware sets. I guess I'll just have to keep experimenting!






Small M&M Favor Box
I used my own measurements to make this little box. The base of the box is Chocolate Chip and the lid is Rose Red. I used designer series paper from Stampin' Up along with more punches and a word stamp for the message. I scooped a little less than 1/4 cup of pink M & M's into a small cellophane bag and placed them inside the box. You can find pink M & M's right now because October is just around the corner and it is Breast Cancer Awareness month. I pay close attention to such things because my mom is a breast cancer survivor. I will be making more of these boxes with Halloween and Christmas themes. Maybe candy corn in the Halloween boxes and red and green M & M's for Christmas. We'll see!

5 comments:

Mark on September 5, 2008 at 3:08 PM said...

Well...I didn't cut off my entire thumb. Just a piece of it :-)

Mark

cheryl on September 5, 2008 at 3:17 PM said...

Amy, Your are awesome! I sure do wish we lived closer. cheryl

jane on September 5, 2008 at 3:45 PM said...

Amy, your blog is great!

I wish I was half as creative as you are.

Jane

DeAnn N. on September 5, 2008 at 4:44 PM said...

Amy,
Wonderful creativity! I hope Holly and Macy are doing better. We are doing great. We just got a new microwave too. Our two peach trees are giving us tons of fresh peaches. Wish I could give you all some.

DeAnn N.

KCL on September 5, 2008 at 10:55 PM said...

Hey girl - I'm so glad you started a blog. You always inspire me and I love looking at what you've made. You are the most talented person I know! I hope Holly and Macy are doing better soon. Also hope Mark is healing well! What a month. Please keep us posted on the dates of your craft shows, I'd love to come.

 

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