Tis the Season

I know, I know Thanksgiving isn't even here yet and I am already starting to think about Christmas. Does time fly by as fast for this time of year, as it does for me? Whew!
The project for today is a tradition in most families - Reindeer food. For those of you that haven't heard of it, basically you take oats and sugar sprinkles (this is safe for animals, so we don't use real glitter) and put it in little bags. Then on Christmas Eve night, you sprinkle it in the yard and when it is gone in the morning, the kids know that Santa's reindeer have been there.

I made several of these to give as gifts (great for the classroom)

I took 1/2 cup of oats and 2 tsp of sugar (1 red and 1 green) put them in a clear bag and sealed them. The toppers are made from layered SU supplies. The Rudolph stamp is from SU bingo bits. I used chocolate chip ink for Rudolph. The layers of paper are crumb cake and real read that I sponged chocolate chip ink around the edges. I printed the poem on the computer.

Rudolph's nose is a self adhesive gem that I purchased at the craft store -or you can use an I-rock gem

Happy Holidays to you all.

Thanks for stopping by, I'll see you again soon.

Barbi

Treats!

Hello,
So glad you stopped by. I just had to share my latest project -treat bags. I made these for my daughter's competitive twirling team (their colors are lime green and zebra print)

This is also the first project that I made on my new Cricut Gypsy (love it!!!) If you have, or get a gypsy and register it before October 31, Provocraft is giving away 6 free additional cartridges on a download November 1st -Woo Hoo!!! This is a total of 8 carts worth (2 come with the gypsy already) Thank you provocraft!!!! You can check out Gypsy promo for all of the details.

OK, back to my project :0)

Here are the "twirl or treat" bags for the girls. Black cardstock base from Stampin UP! Zebra paper is from open stock at Hobby Lobby. Font is Gypsy Font and the rhinestone (dot for the I in "twirl) is also from stampin' Up! The actual bags are from Clearbags I have ordered several things from them and they are wonderful to work with!!! Check them out :0)

Here is a little closer view

Here is a picture of the team from a recent performance. These girls are really talented! I know it will be a great twirling year!!! 

I hope that you all have a fun and safe Halloween!

See you soon!

Barbi

Thank You

Hi Everyone!
First of all, I want to thank you all for hanging in there with me while I was gone. So much going on here and time is just flying by. Hopefully things will calm down soon, I know that this is very optimistic since we are full steam ahead into the holiday season :0)

I thought this would be a great card to share with you since the theme today is Thank you!!

This card is made from all Stampin' Up Products. The pattern paper has a beautiful glitter design mixed in the florals. This has SU satin Ribbon (LOVE IT!!!!!)

I will post some more things that I have been making soon...no really, I will :0)

Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you soon!
Barbi

Clearance rack!

Hello everyone,
If you haven't been by my website lately, don't miss the awesome deals on the clearance rack. http://www.southernstamps.stampinup.com/ Stampin Up! has slashed prices, check it out. All items are limited in quatity so check it out soon :0)

Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you soon!
Barbi

Sprint to the finish...

OK, for those of you who personally know me, I'm sure this title got your attention...lol (I am anything BUT a runner...no way, not me!) Actually the finish line I'm referring to is a huge (well for the area I live in) craft fair that I am participating in this coming Saturday. I took a brief inventory of what I have made, and I need to make so much more...ACK! My posts will be very light this week, with my focus on Marathon crafting.

Next week, I will share with you what sold great, and what didn't. I am hopeful though, I was at a crop Friday night making more altered notebooks and I sold four of them right there. This was really impressive since there were only four people at the crop (My mother and I were two of them). And no, Mom didn't buy any, in case you were wondering...lol

Thank you all for your support and sweet, sweet comments. I really appreciate it.

I'll see you soon! Thanks for stopping by,
Barbi

Thinking of you

Hello, and thanks for stopping by,

This is another simple card (that's pretty much what I do...lol)

All products used on this card are from Stampin' Up!. The stamped image and sentiment are from the Hostess set, Silhouette Sentiments. I just love the delicate designs in this set!

I used 1/2 a sheet of whisper white card stock for the base (folded in half for a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 card) I then layered taken with teal card stock (5 1/4 x 4) and finally a layer of designer series paper (5 x 3 3/4). I stamped the image, trimmed the card stock around it and tore one side. I then cut a piece of taken with teal card stock and made it a little larger, also tearing it on one side. I mounted the image and cs with dimensionals and added some 1/4 inch whisper white grosgrain ribbon. I also added SU's self adhesive pearls as a little accent to the flowers. I just love SU's self adhesive rhinestones and pearls, they are excellent quality.

Well, I'm off and running...
See you soon! Thanks for stopping by,
Barbi

My Three Bears

Hello and Happy Monday!
I wanted to share my three bears with you...

Yep, you guessed it, Create a critter (sorry, I'm addicted). SU card stock and designer papers. I layered another My Pink Stamper sentiment onto a scallop punch and I used the paper piercer this time instead of a gel pen. I will have some more Holiday projects for you. I am getting ready for a craft fair the first weekend of October (I cannot believe how fast the year is going by)

Thanks for stopping by, I'll see you soon!

Barbi

The card says it all

Hello,
This is another quick card brought to you by Create a Critter. It's "Stinkin' cute"

Card stock and pattern paper from Stampin' up!, Create a Critter cricut cartridge. Sentiment from My Pink Stamper Punny-licious set (link on my side bar). She has so many awesome sentiment stamps check it out! I layered the sentiment (1 1/4 circle punch) onto pink 1 3/8 punch, and a scallop punch. Inked the edges and added accents with a white gel pen. I also used the gel pen and black marker to highlight the skunk. I love this card, and I hope you do too.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you soon!
Barbi

Simple and Elegant

This is a simple card that I thought was just beautiful.

I got the idea from Angie of at http://www.mychicnscratch.com/ she made this card and an awesome box to go with it. My version of this card is made at 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 (1/2 sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 card stock). I simply embossed the front of the card using my big shot and an embossing folder from SU. Then I stamped a design from the vintage labels stamp set twice and punched them out using the scallop punch. I punched the center from one of the stamped images and affixed it to the front of the card. Once it was in place, I then stamped the card through the hole so they would match up. Super easy!

I placed the second image behind it and glued it down to the inside of the card. A little ribbon embellishment and you're done! Angie shows all of these steps on her video (awesome!!!) http://www.mychicnscratch.com/ She also uses shimmer paint from SU on hers (you know I had to order some after seeing that...It'll be here later this week ... lol)

I hope you like this idea as much as I do. See you soon.
Thanks for stopping by,
Barbi

Cricut Imagine Launch and other fabulous things

Hello everyone,
I wanted to remind you that today is the launch of the Cricut Imagine on HSN. Wow! They sold over 2000 in the first hour - Amazing!!! Have you see this machine? It does so many awesome things.

HSN is really appealing to the crafter today :) They have lots of great deals. Items from We R Memory Keepers and huge (un-retired) paperstacks from K & CO. When I say huge..I mean huge...I think there are 360 sheets per stack (paper addict alert!!!!!!) If you are looking for a deal, definitely check out HSN.com

I just wanted to share with all of you. I have had a busy weekend crafting and will have more cards to share with you tomorrow. Have a great week!!!

Thanks for stopping by,
Barbi

A few more :)

Hi there,
Thanks for stopping by again :0) OK, so yes, I am addicted to these little notebooks. They are just too cute for words and there are so many possibilities for them. The kids at my daughter's school are going nuts over them. I will make a bunch of them for the upcoming craft fair :0)

All of these were cut from the Christmas Cheer Cricut Cartridge. Cardstock from Stampin' Up!The  pattern paper for the mug and snowman are from My Minds Eye "Signature Christmas", the blue/pink tree pattern paper was loose at Michael's, and finally the Christmas tree and stocking are on pattern paper from The Paper Studio "A Heartwarming Holiday". Ribbon is from various sources and the lace is from SU.

I used some stickles on a few of them, and the stocking was run through by Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing folder from SU.

I hope you are having a great week! See you soon :0)
Barbi

Ahhhhh, cooler weather

Hello,
Some wonderful cooler weather is here, now I can think about Christmas a little :) Here are a couple of cards that I made for the holiday season.

This card is made on SU card stock (old olive). The pattern paper is from My Minds Eye (Signature Christmans by Jen Wilson) The image on the front is retired from SU.

This is another wintry card that I made. Both card stock layers are SU, The pattern paper is from My Minds Eye (same pack as above...really, I'm addicted to this paper, it is all glittery...lol) Ribbon from SU in bashful blue. The snowman is retired from SU I colored him with markers and punched him with a scallop circle punch. The sentiment is from SU Teeny Tiny Wishes.

I hope that you are getting to enjoy some cooler weather too. I can't wait for Fall!

Thanks for stopping by, I'll see you again real soon.
Barbi

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Hey Y'all! Thanks for stopping by. I just had to share my latest project with you.

A little background to the story... I teach kids church every few weeks (4 year old to 4th grade...huge range) I always try to play games that help incorporate the message we are teaching. This week we are discussing Moses and the burning bush, the focus is on listening and obeying. The games in the teacher guide, I felt, were lacking a little. So I search the plethora of useless information I have stored in my brain over the years and decided to reinvent a game that I used when I was a candle demonstrator.

Basically, a leader reads a story and every time a certain word is said, a favor (or several depending on the size of the group) gets passed. Usually, the one left holding the favor when the story is over gets to keep it. I have enough candy so that all of the kids will get a piece and the ones holding the favor get to open and share.

I decided to make little fire favors (burning bush theme and all...lol) They are 3 pieces of chocolate wrapped in tissue paper and tied with red and gold curling ribbon. The little flame is from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge and I layered it on a SU scallop circle punch of black card stock. I threw them together quickly, but I think they turned out great. I can't wait to have fun with the kids in the morning.

Thanks for stopping by. I have several posts scheduled for this week, so I'll see you soon!
Barbi

Happy Friday!

Hello again and Happy Friday!

I Hope that you all have a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend. I wanted to share another card with you. This one is a little different style for me, but I thought it turned out pretty good. It is a Z fold card. I used SU card stock and the pattern paper is unknown (I have had it for a long, long time and it wasn't marked on the back). The stamp on the front is from SU Vintage Labels set and image on the inside is from Martha Stewart Flourishes set. Both images are stamped in Old Olive ink. The pearls are self adhesive from SU (love them!!!)

Thanks for stopping by, I will see you soon!
Barbi

Fallin' for Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year. Cool weather, lots of color everywhere, woodsmoke in the air, crafts fairs and beautiful sunsets. Ahhhhh! I can't wait.

Here are my first couple of Fall themed cards for the season.

Top Card: Base card is Crumb Cake (kraft) and  CS is pumpkin pie both from SU. The image and sentiment for both cards is from Inkadinkado, Autumn Foliage stamp set. Pattern paper is from Brenda Walton. Accented with golden colored ribbon and mini buttons and string (I think they are both from making memories)

Bottom Card: Very Vanilla base and pumpkin cs. Image stamped in Really Rust ink from SU. Shimmery rust colored ribbon and gold stickles for the center of the star shaped flowers (sorry, I know it is hard to see)

I can't wait to share more seasonal creations with you.
Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you again soon!
Barbi

Promises, Promises...

Yes, I promised to post again soon and then BLINK another week was gone.

I have been making a lot of cards and notebooks preparing for the upcoming fall festivals. I still have so much to do, but I love doing it. Here is one of my latest creations.

The colors for this card are Whisper White and Bermuda Bay (retired).Ribbon and sentiment from Stampin' Up and the border punch is from Martha Stewart. Flower embellishment is scallop punch from SU (stamped from white and sponged with ink) The next two layers are making memories paper flowers, one was inked to match and the other was covered with stickles. The rhinestone is from SU (new self adhesive...love them!!!)

Thanks for stopping by. I will start posting seasonal items soon.
Barbi

Hello!

Hello Everyone,
Whew! This past week has flown by! I have been working on so many holiday projects and have been in the "Zone"...lol I will share them with you soon, I promise. This is a simple and sweet Hello card that I made. I hope you enjoy it.

As usual, the card stock for this project is from Stampin' Up!. The cat is from the create a critter cartridge (too cute!) The pattern paper is from a "Best Occasions" paper pack (bought at Tuesday Morning). The ribbon is pink satin from Stampin' Up! I inked the edges of the cat and highlighted with a white gel pen.

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon,
Barbi P

Neat Notebooks!

Hi everyone,
I watched a live Ustream this past Saturday done by Angie, a fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. She made an adorable altered notebook. See her project here. Her project really inspired me, so I got some 3x5 memo notebooks and started to play. My son (4 years old) commented that I "always" make girlie things and I should make something for him. So we crossed the Blue's Clues notebook, and Diego's field journal with a little Cricut Everyday paperdoll, Safari and this is what we came up with.

Isn't this just adorable? He is so proud of "helping" me put it together.

Of course, then my daughter came home and informed me that she "NEEDED" one since school was starting tomorrow :) She chose the colors and wanted her initial and a butterfly on it (all with "a lot of glitter"...LOL). And this is our creation.

I am not sure if you can see in the picture, but the outline of the S and the butterfly are jazzed up with a little stickles. These norebooks are so cute and fun. I'm glad that I got a bunch of them. I think I can make some good projects for the crafts fairs with them. I can just see these as stocking stuffers :)

The instructions on these notebooks is easy. The base color is 3x5. I made a template so that I can easily poke holes with my crop a dile for the binding. The pattern paper is 4 1/2x 2 3/4. I cut the Safari guy and the "S" at 3" and the butterfly at 1". If you use this idea, I would love to see what you some up with.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you soon!

Barbi

So Sweet

Hello Everyone,
I hope that you had a wonderful weekend! We are getting ready for back to school this week, but I decided to post a sweet little card that I put together really quickly.

The bird is from the Create a Critter Cartridge. Card stock from Stampin' Up, as well as the sentiment. The pattern paper is from Best Occasions (I found it at Tuesday Morning). It is hard to see in the picture, but I sponged around the edges of the bird and the wings and then added highlights with a white gel pen from Stampin' Up.

Now that school will be starting again, hopefully I will have more time to work on 3-D items (LOVE THEM!!!) for the upcoming craft fairs that I will be at. I will keep you posted on the great seasonal items that I have in mind.

See you soon. Thanks for stopping by!
Barbi

Happy Birthday!

Ok, so it may not be your birthday...but I know you have one :0) I was running low on birthday cards and decided to make a few. I tend to have more "girlie" events since my daughter is older and has a more active social circle than my son. So this is a cute card that I put together for my daughter's friends and my nieces.

I made up several of these using different color schemes for the cupcake -aren't they just too cute?

I also had a nephew that had a birthday this week. So I got my kids involved and this is the card that we created for him. The kids just LOVE the cricut!

Well, I have been busy lately restocking my cards and getting some ready for the Fall craft fairs. It is still too HOT for me to think about making too many fall/winter items, but I know that I need to get on the ball with that. I did get some great winter holiday pattern paper that I can't wait to use. Stay tuned... there is a lot more to come :0)

See you soon!
Barbi

girlfriends

Hello,
I wanted to share a card with you that I made for a dear sweet former co-worker of mine. She is the type of person that always has your back and with help see you through thick and thin. When I saw this stamp, I just felt like it could be the two of us as little girls :)

For this card I used SU card stock, SU stamps (girls from "The Nicest Things", sentiment from "Upsy Daisy"), Topnote Die and bigshot, SU markers and misc ribbon .

Thanks for stopping by. See you again soon!

Barbi

How to Magically clean your Cricut mat

Hello Everyone!
Sarah, over at Pink Cricut posted a brilliant idea for super easy cleaning of your cricut mat. I just had to share. Click on the words Pink Cricut or find her link on my side bar. She always has so many great ideas. Check out her other videos too! Pink Cricut .
I have been working on a lot of projects, so I will see you soon.
Barbi

Back to school

I can't believe the Summer is almost gone. The kids here go back to school next week. I am trying to get things ready for school and decided to make some cute little post it notes holders. My daughter (now a 4th grader) thinks these are the "coolest!" I made some for her to give her friends too. Just something quick and easy. The images are from the Create a Critter Cricut cartridge and the backgrounds are stamped with Stampin' Up! Stamps, or embossed using my bigshot. There are tutorials all over youtube on how to make them.
I hope you like them :)
Barbi

Huge Blog Candy Giveaway!!

Hi Friends!
You just have to check out this blog that I have posted.
http://www.kelliewinnell.com.au/?p=5239
HUGE, and I mean HUGE  candy giveaway (this may require a trip to the Dentist, there is so much candy)
at   http://www.kelliewinnell.com.au/?p=5239
 Here is her post, but you have to go to her site to enter. Good luck!!!
Barbi

Blog CANDY to Celebrate….


I am so overly EXCITED about many things, some I can share now and some you’ll have to wait and see, some are to do with my store and some are not but all craft related. But one of my reasons for this candy is that I have reached 550 followers…. WOW I am BLOWN away and amazed that many people like reading my waffles hehe….. And am extremely touched in so many ways by all the visits and comments that people come by and leave… So lets see the candy hey…… OH but before I do…. My candy consist of mainly stamps, stamps from my store, stamps I have bought and never used or bought 2 of etc…..

Mmmm I guess that photo is a tad of a teaser hey. I actually had to get a chair in the end and stand on it to try and get it all in hehe… OK so here is the NON teasing photo….

Want to know everything that is in there that you may not be able to see….? Well then here is the list….

Tim Holtz 2 Embossing Folders
Flourish with a Bling Pearls – Pearl
Flourish with a Bling Pearls – Black
Flourish with a Bling Pearls – Pink
Flourish with a Bling Rhinestones – Silver
Flourish with a Bling Rhinestones – Wine *NEW*
Flourish with a Bling Rhinestones – Black
Magnolia Doohickey – Tilda Lace
Magnolia Doohickey – Vintage Tag
Magnolia Doohickey – Leaf and Swirl
Magnolia Doohickey – Peony Petal
Simply Betty Stamp Rio
Simply Betty Stamp Betty
Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamp – Babette
Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamp – Monique
Kraftin’ Kimmie Stamp – Perfect Poision
C.C Designs – Heidi Amount The Flowers
C.C Designs – Sandbucket Tevor
C.C Designs – Bathing Beauty Emma
C.C Designs Beach Scene
C.C Designs – Coffee Kiki La Rue
Motivet – Rabbit with Dandelion
Baby Buds Designs – Owie
Baby Buds Designs – Ashton
Baby Buds Designs – Jack
Fairy Tales – Cupcake Belle
Fairy Tales – Belle
Fairy Tales – Phillip
Sweet November Stamps – Current Ebbtide & Anela
Sweet November Stamps – Ocean Wavedancer & Echo
Sweet November Stamps – Shimmer Redkelp & Otto
Sweet November Stamps – Bubbles Lostlagoon & Palu
Tickled Pink Stamp – Lil Lolita – 20’s Evie
Tickled Pink Stamps – Lil Lolita – 30’s Lylah
Tickled Pink Stamps – Lil Lolita – 50’s Lilith
Pink Cat Studio – Sick Billy
Pink Cat Studio – Sick Lily
The Greeting Farm – Thursday
The Greeting Farm – Sweet Message
The Greeting Farm – OA – Happy Days
Magnolia Stamp – Wedding Collection – Tilda with Peony
Magnolia Stamp – Wedding Collection – Tilda with Veil
Magnolia Stamp – Wedding Collection – Flower Girl

That is 30+ stamps and over $200 worth of goodies. Now comes the questions, how long for? and how do I enter?
Here are the 3 rules of the candy…

1.You have to post the pic of the candy on your blog or in your side bar with a link back to this here post.

2.You have to add your link to Mr Linky

3.AND THAT’S IT…..

When does it end….? You have until August 16th and Winner will be announced August 17th.

Good Luck Everyone….

Z fold

Hello!
I have been watching Mary over at http://www.cardztv.com/ and getting a lot of great ideas. One of her projects that caught my eye was a Z-fold card. I decided to give it a try and I really like how it turned out. I hope you do too.
The card is quite easy to make. Start off with a piece of cardstock 4 1/4" x 11". Score it in half at 5 1/2" and then score the front at 2 3/4".

I used Stampin' Up! Card stock and Daisy D's patterned paper (Something I collected a while ago)

For the front detail of the card, I used a stamp from Stampin' up! from the Elegant Greetings set. I used border and corner punches also from SU for the lace detail.

Give this card style a try. And don't forget that there are great videos at http://www.cardztv.com/ on this and many other great folds that you can use for an extra special card.

Thanks for stopping by. I will see you again soon!

Barbi

Seeing Double?

Hello again,
Finally, my stamps are remounted and my craft supplies are..well in a different order (I wouldn't say organized exactly..lol) I have been working on a few Christmas in July projects, and I'll show them as we get a little closer to the holidays. For now I decided to make a few simple all occasion cards to restock my supplies :)

Why did I call this post Seeing Double? I made some cards below that are similar with minor changes and also two completely different cards using the same stamp.

These cards were made with Stampin' Up Card stock and stamp from the new hostess set Because I Care. DCWV pattern paper. Making memories paper flowers. White ribbon and pearl accent.

These two cards were made using the same sentiment stamp from Stampin' Up!

Supplies: Stampin' Up! Card stock and stamp from Oval All. Pattern paper from DCWV. Ribbon from Michaels.

Well, I have to run for now. Stay tuned. My schedule has cleared a bit, so I plan to be back here often :)

See you soon!

Barbi