Faith in Nature Thank You

I have loved this hostess set since the moment I laid eyes on it in the new catalog--Faith in Nature. I'm normally not a huge fan of "realistic" stamp sets like these, but my opinion toward this genre are slowly changing with each new catalog (and maybe with my increasing age...) :)

I was inspired by the sample on page 13 of the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog. I loved the watercoloring that was done on the pear image. I'm not a huge fan of watercoloring, so I just used a sponge dipped in the classic ink pad. I really like how this one turned out!




I used More Mustard, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Soft Suede, and River Rock. I found this beautiful color combination from the Spice Cake Designer Series Paper in the 2011 Holiday Mini. Love.

Happy Stamping!
Cari

Charlotte's First Year Scrapbook-Weeks 13-14

Here are the pages from Charlotte's 13th and 14th weeks of life. It's funny--I'm already losing track of how many weeks old she is. We've quickly turned to counting her age in months...and soon we'll just be counting years. I can't believe how quickly time passes!



Click here to see the other pages!

The Most Wonderful Time: Session 1

Join me next weekend for Session 1 of The Most Wonderful Time 2011 class series! We'll be making 10 Christmas cards, 5 each of these two designs:

The class will be on Saturday, October 22nd from 2-4p
The registration fee is $15
Click here to register by Monday, October 17th

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! Get a head start on this year's Christmas cards! Can't make this session? Make plans to attend one of the other sessions on November 5, November 19, or December 3!

Happy Stamping!
Cari

Charlotte's First Year Scrapbook-Weeks 11-12

Charlotte is actually turning 4 MONTHS OLD tomorrow! Crazy! Here are weeks 11 & 12 from a few weeks ago:



Click here to see the other pages!

Flirtatious

I LOVE this new Specialty Designer Series Paper! The colors are so fun: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Wisteria Wonder, and Pretty in Pink. I saw a nice tutorial on paper quilling over on Mary Fish's blog, and I loved the card she made so I changed a few things and made one of my own!




Another great new accessory I used on this card is the Melon Mambo 1/2" Scalloped Dots Ribbon. I have it in several other colors as well, and I am LOVING it! The border punch I used was the Scallop Trim Border Punch, and the Basic Pearls were perfect centers for my rosettes. Such a fun card! Now I just have to decide who to send it to... :)

Happy Stamping!
Cari

It's was a Fabulous Social!

Note: I wrote this post over a week ago right after the social. All I had to do was to take pictures of the three projects we did and insert them into the post. I FINALLY got the pictures taken today. Wow. Life with a baby...

We had an incredible time! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures taken during the party, but I have a few "before" pictures and a few pictures of the projects we completed. Enjoy!

The Place

The Projects

(this project started out as a 6x6 scrapbook page, but we all ended up changing it to this card instead...that's the beauty of paper--it can always be folded into a card! *smile*)

The Girl

(she was awesome by the way! she slept for most of the party, and after she woke up she was perfectly happy to hang out and get ready to cheer on the cats...who, by the way, are undefeated since she was born. yeah. we bleed purple.)

oh yeah, she loves this "taggies" dress with all the ribbons at the bottom :)

If you're interested in getting one of these dresses (she makes KU ones too...boo!), my mom got it from a lady who has a business called Homespun Crafts.



Happy Stamping!
Cari

Fall Time

Yep, it's official. The trees are changing colors, the weather is getting cooler, and I spend all my Saturdays wearing purple and watching football. Since my house was still decorated for the 4th of July (and the only reason it was even decorated for the 4th was because I decorated before Charlotte was born...), I thought it was maybe time to bust out the fall decor. For the record, fall and Christmas decor is my FAVORITE! I have tons (compared to my decor for other seasons) of decorations for both seasons, so I always love unpacking my boxes and finding new fun ways of decorating.

This year's decorating experience was even more fun than usual because of Pinterest. Yes, I caved. It's worse than Facebook (in terms of "black hole" capabilities). Anyway, I found a super cute idea that ended in my going immediately to the convenience store located in the basement of our building to buy a bag of dried split peas. The hubs thought I was crazy...well, I'm sure he already thought that but he told me so when I insisted on buying peas for my fall decorations.

Okay, so I did use some Stampin' Up! stuff for my decor (hence the reason for my post...you knew I'd get there). The main thing I used was my Big Shot (which, by the way, is currently FREE to new demonstrators in October!) with the Leaves #2 die and the Square Lattice textured impressions embossing folder. I also used a new yummy color combo, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Old Olive, and Soft Suede. Love it!



The thing I'm probably most proud of in my fall decorations is this amazing idea, compliments of my little sis. For her wedding in June, she put her wedding monogram on her unity candle. GET OUT! I had no idea you could do this! Anyway, I remembered how cool it was and wanted to put a Bible verse on one of my candles. I called her IMMEDIATELY and got the instructions:

1. Print or stamp you image on white tissue paper (like the tissue paper you would use to stuff in a gift bag). I designed my image in Word and used the font colors that matched my color combo from above.
2. Cut out your image (trim close to the edges of the image).
3. Place the image on your candle where you want it and wrap waxed paper around the candle to hold the tissue paper in place.
4. Use a heat gun to slightly melt the candle, thus melting your tissue paper into the candle. Once you see the candle get glossy, that area is done.
5. Peel off the waxed paper.

Easy peasy!



This was my Pinterest idea (for which I needed that vital bag of dried split peas):



I've got several other areas in my little apartment with little hints of fall, but I don't have any pics. So my house isn't perfect, nor are my decorations, but it was fun to do what I could! Enjoy!

-Cari