My October Class List!

Here it is! My October class list, to make it bigger, just clicked on the picture!

Fall Leaves Tree

I made this beautiful card for our SUO Challenge using fall colors. I love using this set for just that. I have made countless projects using these trees because they are so versatile. My favorite use for this set is with my students. I use it to make a 4 seasons picture as the culmination of a Seasons Unit. They love to play around with the leaves and make them different colors.

I used a white card base, with Pumpkin Pie cut to 4 x 5 1/4. On top of that I used confetti cream cut to 3 3/4 x 5 with the tree stamped in Chocolate Chip, and the leaves stamped in Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, and So Saffron. The bottom piece is Naturals Ivory, scallop punched and rubbed with Chocolate Chip, I used the same color ink to stamp "In everything give thanks".

Next Class Idea... CHRISTMAS!

I made this beautiful tri-fold card yesterday using some beautiful (retired) Stampin' Up! paper and a current Stampin' Up! stamp set. I was in a bit of panic mode yesterday when I realized that I didn't have very many current stamp sets that could be used for classes. So I decided to do what I could using what I had (which wasn't much!). I made this card as basically a try out to see what fun stuff I could come up with. I ended up falling in love with it, and I will have a class in the next couple of months doing (a variation of) this card. Maybe we'll make a couple? This will be a paid class! Too much work for it to be a free one!

Here is the finished product:

Another Class Blog

Here it is everyone! Yet another (paid) class I will be having in the near future! However I cannot take full credit for this project, I found it on a blog that I like. Thank you to Paper Pleasing Ideas! It is a gorgeously creative project! It's called a mini accordion album. It's a beautifully creative and fun project :)

Here are some picture teasers!

I can't wait to teach you all how to make this fantastic scrapbook project!!

It was so much fun for me, I know everyone who signs up for this class will have a great time too :)

Explosion Scrapbook

Yesterday I became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator! I had to much fun looking around at all of the great tools and tips on the website that I am now a part of! I love everything that I have seen. However I did not see this project on Stampin' Up!'s website. I found this tutorial on StumbleUpon.com Its called an Explosion Scrapbook!! I am only going to show a few pictures for the project right now seeing as how I would love this to be one of my classes I do for my customers!

Here's what you do:

Start of with 3 pieces of white 12x12 paper,

and I end up with them looking like this...

I then take 2 pieces of Designer Series Paper, and cut them to 9 1/2 x 9 1/2",

and fold all of the corners into the middle and adhere them down...

Attach the covers to the front and back of the white papers, along with 24" of ribbon. (I'm being very vague and sneaky huh?)

The final product with look like this:

and this...

SO what do you think? Want to learn how to make this?

Baby Boy Birth Announcement

I just finished all of these gorgeous announcements for a friend of mine! They were a lot of work, but turned out beautifully. I used both dark and light blue paper, with a striped DSP. I added a bright green ribbon and stamped the feet in green, and the "i'm here" in a nice complementary light blue. I took the brass dry embossing template that had circles all over it. I spent HOURS dry embossing every circle on every announcement. I also love the fold of this too. I learned it when making a hot chocolate packet holder. I just flipped it over!

The dark blue one is probably my favorite! I think that it looks just adorable. Best part of it all was seeing my friend open up her announcements. She loved them! Nothing makes me more happy than seeing a customer's face when they open a card or mass order I have created. I love all of these cards so much, I put a lot of time into each of these cards!

They all turned out so nicely, I have had a lot of others request this style as well.

Sadly I think twice about it, that dry embossing is rough!

Finished products...

Anniversary Card

I decided to crack out one of my favorite sets this weekend! Haute Couture, makes the most beautiful wedding and anniversary cards. This particular card that I made today is using Haute Couture, Ballet Blue paper, a retired DSP, ivory ribbon, and pearls. This is meant for husbands to give to wives. It's just gorgeous if I do say so myself. So much dimension. Not to mention its absolute simplicity. Time to add it in for SUO Challenges.

Finally

I am so happy that graduation is finally over. I have completely fallen behind with orders. The other hard part is that we don't have air conditioning in the house so all of my paper is ripping when I cut it because of the humidity. However I am so happy that things are starting to settle down a bit. The last month, and next 2 weeks are still so busy. Having finally learned my lesson with orders I have drafted my lovely customer letter for mass orders. I just wish I didn't have to keep having "learning experiences" with my business. I am very excited to get started on things that don't involve graduation though! My true passion of birth announcements and invitations. I love creating new and beautifully classic cards. I like adding subtle hints of shimmer, or classic elements of pearls or ribbon. I always want to be proud of what I put my name on. If I am not happy with it, I don't send it. I will come up with something different before I put it up on my website. Isn't that how it should be though? If you want to have a successful business you should be proud of and love everything you send out. Personally I take pride in loving everything I send out, and detailing it to perfection. I have to do what I can to make not only myself but also my customer happy, and that is something I seem to be having difficulty with as of late. It feels like I love everything that I do, and no one likes what I send. I guess you win some and you lose some. But still at some point you have to wonder if it's worth all of the aggravation. I guess on the bright side, I am getting my name out there and I just hope it is in a positive way.

Assembly of a Reception Invitation

Here we go, I decided to take pictures of the whole process of the assembly of an invitation!

Picture #1:

These are the stacks of papers cut to size

Picture #2:

This is the black piece. It is cut to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".

Picture #3:

This is the Ivory piece, cut to 4" x 5 1/4" and sprayed with glitter spritz spray.

Picture #4:

This is the first start with stamping, I used a light pink first

for the first dimension of the

flower for the top and bottom corners. This is a 2-step stamping set. I

always start with a light color and add a dark one on top for the dimension

factor.

Picture #5:

This is a picture of the next layer of the 2-step stamping adventure. This is the darker color on

top to give it the shading on a cherry blossom.

I love the look that it gives it, but we are not done yet!

Picture #6:

This picture shows a technique called "ghosting". You use post

-it notes and stamp up near

the adhesive part of the note.

Cut around the image and cover the corresponding image on the

card.

Picture #7:

This pictures shows what you do when you ghost! Stamp over the post it and it protects what has

already been stamped!

Picture #8:

This is what it looks like when the post-it ghosts are taken off.

Picture #9:

Here is the piece with the sentiment stamped on it! Only one more step to go!!

Picture #10:

Here is the finished product with the layer of black behind the ivory! It's complete!

Update on Progress

I have been working tirelessly on these wedding invitations for my cousin. They are coming along nicely! I will post pictures of them all in my next post. I had a few hiccups in the process, like finding out after I made my samples that the paper I used was all retired. Then I had to go through eBay, Amazon, Archivers, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels to match what I needed! Whew that was a close one! But luckily I got everything and they are looking like perfection! I am so excited to be able to use my new service for her invitations as well, CUSTOM PRINTING! (*Had a few hiccups with that too!*) Like all new things, they have their bugs that need to be worked out. I can't wait to get some new custom printing orders in so that I can create a beautiful new array of samples for my loyal customers! <3

New Services for HER Cards! Find me on Facebook!

Hello to all of my lovely friends, and followers! I want to keep you all updated on the new service I will begin offering next week! CUSTOM INVITATION PRINTING! For en extra $.50 per card you can get beautiful custom printing in any font you choose! Just look me up on Facebook: HER Cards, to see all of the fonts I offer. It's a great way to get that extra little something on the inside of your invitations! I have tons to choose from!

Butterfly Mother's Day Card

Well I made this card for my mom for Mother's Day. I saw that the challenge this week was to incorporate butterflies so I decided to use one of my other favorite retired sets "Bold Butterfly". I used a lot of retired paper and ribbons, this whole card is pretty much a retired items festival!! The base of the card is done in Naturals White, then a layer of So Saffron, 2 different DSP, one pink then a green, I used the small scalloped circle punch and layer it behind the butterfly I cut out. On the Butterfly wings I used the rock and roll technique in coordinating colors to tie it all together. I then used pink scrunched ribbon from an old mini catalog stock I had and a green grosgrain ribbon on top of it and put it all together. I hope that she likes it!

Wild About You Tag Card

This card was soooo much fun to make! I used 5 different colors and coordinating paper. Handsome Hunter, Yo-yo Yellow, Only Orange, Basic Black, and Brocade Blue. Stamped the image and punched with the small tag punch, the punched the coordinating color with the large tag punch. Used Tempting Turquoise as my base, and added a layer of white on top. I then adhered the tags randomly, and stamped a little bird on a couple of the tags. At the end I stamped Wild About You with the little bird on top! It was such a cute card! I love this card!!

SUO Challenge #15 Birthday!

SOooooOOO I won 3rd place last week on SUOChallenges.com!! I hope that I can do better than that this week with the card! I used the Sweet Treats stamp set for this, stamped the cake on watercolor paper and used a watercolor marker with stamp ink to color it. I placed it on a piece of orange cardstock and popped it up with pop dots. I used white for the base of the card, a strip of orange, then a strip of coordinating patterned paper on top, then placed the popped up cake on top of that. I stamped "They say it's your birthday!" in the corner and VOILA! Beautiful Birthday Card! :)

I came in third place for my card on SUO Challenges!!! Yay!! It was was SO much fun to create that card!! Thanks SUO Challenges!

Yellow Circle Wedding Invitation

So, I love weddings. Always have! If my career as a teacher doesn't pan out I will eventually become a wedding planner! I love making things, and planning things, and being creative! My favorite part of all of this is making invitations. If I am stuck with something or having "stampers block" I always go right back to wedding invitations. Coming up with color combinations and themes just makes everything else easier when I stamp. With this particular one I took my On The Spot background stamp and inked it up with a golden yellow stamp pad. I printed out a bunch of different layouts of invitation wording so that I can grab the one that fit the best at will. I chose the double spaced, middle alignment, invitation wording for this invite and stamped the On The Spot stamp over the words. I attached that to the black paper so that there was an 1/8 of an inch border around the white. After that I attached a 1 inch strip of golden yellow patterned paper, and TA-DA! Beautiful wedding invitation!

Potato Soup Recipe

This is a Weight Watchers recipe. I just fell in love with it! It was sooo yummy!

Ingredients (this is for 1 batch, I ended up doubling it for my family):

1 bulb(s) garlic clove(s), large, 1/4-inch-slice cut off top
3 pound(s) uncooked potato(es), rinsed, pierced with a fork (about 6 large baking potatoes)
6 slice(s) uncooked turkey bacon
4 cup(s) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 Tbsp thyme, fresh, fresh, chopped
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
6 Tbsp reduced-fat sour cream
6 Tbsp low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
6 Tbsp scallion(s), sliced

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Wrap entire garlic bulb tightly in foil; place garlic and potatoes in oven. (You do not need to put them on a pan; they can go right on an oven rack.)

Bake garlic until soft when squeezed, about 45 minutes; remove from oven and let cool. Continue baking potatoes until tender when pierced, about 15 minutes more; let potatoes stand until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until browned, about 6 minutes. Place bacon on paper towels to drain off any fat; chop bacon.

Unwrap garlic and squeeze pulp from bulb with hands into a large saucepan. Peel potatoes and add to saucepan; mash with a potato masher until smooth. Gradually stir in broth, thyme, salt and pepper until blended; place saucepan over medium heat and cook until hot, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Spoon about 1 1/3 cups of soup into each of 6 soup bowls. Top each with 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 1 tablespoon of cheese, 1 rounded tablespoon of bacon and 1 tablespoon of scallions. Grind fresh pepper over top if desired.

This soup is very yummy! Don't add more salt than it calls for! When you add the chopped turkey bacon to the top it'll add whatever salt you feel it would need. Tastes just like a baked potato, in soup form!

New Recipes!

Well since I have been having people ask for a lot of the recipes I have been using (and adapting) since starting Weight Watchers. I got this recipe from WeightWatchers.com and adapted it to make it my own! :)

Enchilada Meatloaf

3 lbs ground beef

2 C Rolled Oats

2 Medium Onions (finely chopped)

1 Tsp Garlic Powder

2- 4 Oz. Cans of Mild Green Chiles (chopped)

2 Lg. Eggs

2 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 Tsp Coriander (ground)

16 Oz. Enchilada Sauce

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Combine all ingredients, except half of Enchilada sauce, in a large mixing bowl; set remaining Enchilada sauce aside. Spoon meatloaf mixture into 9 x 13 pan and smooth top (I made 2 smaller meatloaves in the 1 pan).

Bake for 60 minutes; spoon remaining sauce over meatloaf and cook 5 minutes more. Let stand for about 15 or 20 minutes before removing from the pan. Slice into eight pieces. Yields 1 piece per serving.

(5 pts per slice)

It's Yarr Birthday!

Well there is a new challenge out today for SUO Challenges! My all time favorite retired set is Ahoy Matey for sure! I make cards and scrapbook pages with it all the time. It is so much fun to mess around with it and create new things. In this particular card, I made it for a girl so I added some pigtails to the pirate. I used a piece of brown cardstock as the background stamped with the small bird in the coordinating color. I added a strip of light blue behind the map (jumbo roller) and then added the pirate on top after swiping the edges with the brown stamp pad. I love to play around with this set! Its a great one to will summer and spring to come our way! After months of super drab weather, I need some sun and sand!

Tiffany Blue!

Well, since I have been deciding to take part in the SUO Challenges, I decided that this was definitely the card I wanted to enter in the challenge this week!! It's a wedding invitation I made it using Baja Blue cut to 5x7". I then cut a piece of Whisper White paper to 1 1/2x7 and set it aside. I used white ink refill on a blank roller cartridge and rolled the background, I then heat set it and attached the white strip on the side of it. I then tied a piece of sheer white ribbon into a bow and attached that about a half of an inch down the white strip. I love this invitation, I have had much interest in it, since Tiffany's is a dream of every little girl, I thought it was the perfect wedding theme!!

Love Birds Card

I made this card a few days ago. It was super easy, and super simple, but super elegant and sweet! I used a plain white card base cut to 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 and scored at 4 1/4 so the card is 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 when you fold it in half. I then cut a piece of red card stock to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 and stamped the love birds stamp from the set Olive You by Stampin' Up. I then added an xoxo stamped image from another Stampin' Up set. Can't remember the name right at the moment. I took a long piece of silver cord and criss-crossed it across the bottom and tied a knot. I then added it to the front of the card and stamped "To You From Me" on the inside. I have sold 3 of them so far! It's very popular with my customers! I love creating fantastic Valentine's Day cards. I can't wait until Spring when I can start with my bright colors again!!