Stop me if you’ve heard this one…

Phew! What a day (and it is not half over!) we have been to the eye doctor, Christmas shopping, an indoor bounce house and now we are home to take a breather before heading to the mechanic to get an oil change and have snow tires put on. I hear it’s gonna snow tonight, and tomorrow…. With Thanksgiving traveling coming up I need those snow tires on. (Let’s face it, no one wants to go to the vegetarian’s house for Thanksgiving LOL!) So, what does all of that have to do with frugal crafting? Absolutely nothing. But it does explain why all I have time to do today is post a simple card I made a couple of weeks ago…I’m pretty sure I haven’t posted it yet

I printed the jars out on cream cardstock (staples) then colored it with really light markers and stamped the hearts (stampin' up!) inside. Stamp twice without re-inking for two shades of red. The cheeky envelope stamp is by Judikins-Love it!

Charming eh? I have been searching high and low for a canning jar stamp and haven’t found one I liked or was large enough (So I think I need to design a set) but in the meantime I found a beautiful freebie vintage clip art at the Graphics Fairy. You can download it free here. Nifty.

In closing please disregard the run-on sentences, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors and look at the pretty card. Til next time happy crafting!

50% off at Lindsay’s, a freebie and new Christmas products!

Howdy folks, I know it is a bit too early to start thinking about Christmas…well, unless, that is, you are selling at craft fairs and in that case you need cute packaging ASAP! And today is the perfect time to grab your needed supplies because it is 50% off today at Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff! I was asked by a crafty customer to come up with some printables for her to sell her movie gift kits at craft fairs so I came up with the Holiday Bazzar set. How cute would it be to wrap a few bags of microwaved popcorn, soda bottles and candies and package them in one of those large plastic popcorn boxes from the dollar store, you could throw in a DVD too for a super cute and inexpensive gift!

If you wanted to really spread some holiday cheer you could leave the baskets on a friends doorstep with a note saying “You’ve Been Elfed!”, the 5″x7″ notes in the kit would be perfect for that! You can also used the cards for invitations to a cookie swap and recipe cards!

If you want a cute gag gift for the folks in the office how about some reindeer poop? I found this funny poem online that you can print and slip in the bag:

I woke up with such a scare when I heard Santa call…
“Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!”
I ran to the lawn, and in the snowy white drifts,
those nasty reindeer had left “little gifts”.

I got an old shovel and started to scoop
Neat little piles of “reindeer poop.”
but to throw them away seemed such a waste,
So I saved them, thinking you might like a taste!

As I finished my task, which took quite a while,
Old Santa passed by and he sheepishly smiled.
And I heard him exclaim as he rose to the sky~~~
“Well, they’re not potty trained, but at least they can fly!”

 

For the kids you might like to send them to school with “Snowman Soup” for their teacher and classmates! I found a poem for this too:

Snowman Soup
Was told you’ve been real good this year.
Always glad to hear it!
With freezing weather drawing near,
You’ll need to warm the spirit.
here’s a little Snowman Soup
Complete with stirring stick.
Add hot water, sip it slow.
It’s sure to do the trick!

Isn’t that cute! Both of the poems I found at The Organized Home.com.

Here is a look at the new printable kit and some other Christmas products you might enjoy, remember they are 50% off today only and two of the below products are freebies!

It’s been a while since I had a freebie so here are 2 sheets of tags you can use for your holiday gifts and packaging:

click the preview to download;)

While you are on the topic of holidays Halloween is right around the corner. Check out these spooky sets also 50% off today:

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff Design Team Projects & new STAMPS!

It  has been a treat to open my email this week, so many gorgeous projects from my design team, have a look and you will see what I mean. The ladies really outdid themselves this week using products from Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff. Two of the sets used are freebies too!  But first I want to show you a brand new set of digital Stamps called Halloween doodles:

It’s been a while since I designed some new stamps, it was fun to get the old sketchpad out!

Design Team Projects!

First up is Tracey with a gorgeous tag made with Sewing Bits SVG, Sew Much Fun stamps and the Shipping tag freebie:

Here is a cheerful card by Cindi using the Fancy Flower set:

I love the funny card from Micki using the Crafty Tools and Puns set…do you feel lucky punk?

Karin’s card this week uses a freebie you can snag on this post that coordinated with the Coffee Talk digistamp set:

Make sure you stop by Karin’s blog because the made the most beautiful party favors, check out this 3-D cake!

Jennifer made a sweet tag using the chickadee digital stamp:

Diane has been busy with the card crafting, she has two cards to share today! This one used the Sewing Bits SVG on this card:

And I LOVE the punch of graphic goodness of this card using Mod Summer Papers and this eye chart freebie also by Diane:

Here is a look at the Lindsay’s Stamp Stuff sets the designer’s used today:

You can find out more about the projects featured here today by visiting the designers blogs (you might as well make a pot of coffee, relax and plan to spend some time because these girls have brilliant projects all throughout their sites, just to warn you). thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

LSS Design Team Wrap Up!

Hello and happy Tuesday! The design team at Lindsay’s stamp Stuff has been busy lately making delightful cards and projects for you, let’s have a look shall we?

Up first we have Tracey with two cute projects:

A beautiful Journal and a lovely gift box using the Pretty primitive digital stamp set! The gift box also uses the Doodle flowers set and there are lots of great photos of the other sides of the box on her blog.

Karin is rockin’ the papers this week with this one using the Mod Summer Paper kit:

And another card using the bold black and white papers:

Jennifer puts her spin on the build-a-blossom kit with this awesome journal page:

And she also found time to make this richly colored chickadee card:

Cassandra has a lovely, cool, layered, steampunky,…well you just need to see it card using the Stempunk Style kit:

And last but not least Diane has two cute teacher classroom ideas, first is a reward chart using Bold Black & White papers and the SVG files from the Cupcake Carrier set:

And check out this cute banner made for her daughter’s classroom made with the Movie party banner kit, I think Diane get’s an A+ on these projects!

Here is a look at the Lindsay’ s Stamp Stuff  products the designers used today:

You can see more photos of the design team’s projects on their personal blogs (ans see all the other crafty stuff they have been up too!) I think all of their projects are so inspiring! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

A few “toots” and a CASE & Freebies!

Well, my mailbox has been busy this week! I was asked (along with fellow MyGrafico designers Cheri Wenger and Blackleaf Studios) to design a custom digital stamp for Paper Crafts Magazine’s special publication Stamp It! Cards. You can download all of our designs here. Gotta love free right?

I really enjoyed this issue of Stamp It! Cards, infact I found many ideas I wanted to try. Here is a card I CASE’d (CASE=copy and steal everything), the original card is on page 89 of Stamp It! Cards and it was by Agniesza Malyszek, her’s turned out much prettier than mine but I still like it

 

To make the card I stamped the butterflies in Versafine black and heat embossed them with clear then loosely splashed watercolor over them. Honestly I got a little TOO loose with the watercolor and I’m not sure what I was thinking with the flourescent coral sentiment block but, hey, it was fun!

Tuesday I got the September issue of Scrap & Stamp Arts and I just about fell over to see my button cards on the COVER:

 

BTW you can still get the July Issue of SSA with my marker review spreadsheet. Honestly, it is more than you ever wanted to know about Alcohol & Watercolor markers and extra ways to use them.

 

Oh and one more Pub…I have 2 cards in the July issue of Vamp Stamp News.

 

OK I think I just dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back  til next time happy crafting!

A quick Father’s Day Card and a chance to win ProMarkers!

I hope you are having a lovely Saturday! Guess what? Tomorrow is Father’s Day and when I saw this image for free on the Letraset Blog I knew I needed to make this card:

 

Letraset is having a coloring contest and all you have to do is download one (or both) of the free images on their blog, color it and email a photo of it to them (or link to it the comment section of the blog) and you are entered to win! The contest goes til the end of the month and the winner gets a 12 set of promarkers and 4 coloring books, I think there is runner up marker prizes too so go ahead and try for some markers! You can read all about it on the Letraset Blog!

BTW I colored my image with the Vivid Promarker blending set with the addition of cool grey4, black and pastel blue;)

This card qualifies for the following challenges: Fashionista Friday, Glitter Geeks , Inspire Me Fridays, Just Add Ink, Mami Doodles, Poodles Parlour , Wags ‘n Whiskers, Craft Us Crazy, Crafty Sentiments, Delightful Challenges, Samuel Taylor’s Challenge, Shelly’s Images, Little Red Wagon, Paper Take Weekly, The Stamping Boutique, Cupcake Craft, Incy Wincy Designs, Ooh La La Creations, Simon Says Stamp and Show…, Squigglefly, Stamp-N-Doodle, Creative Inspirations, Dream Valley Challenges and Sentimental Sundays. 

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

5 Photos you should take this Easter!

My favorite holiday to scrapbook is Easter. I love the frilly Easter dresses, brightly colored plastic eggs, fresh flowers popping up out of the ground and pretty pastel candy! this feast of springtime color is perfect to capture in photos. Before you head out (or host) this years Easter Celebration here are some photo tips for you!

Tip 1: Don’t Pose…Compose!

When photographing kids capture them being kids, chasing after eggs, playing and having fun. Check out this photo I tool last Easter of my nephew. My sister set him in frount of her flower garden and let him play and I got a great natural shot!

Don’t forget the candid action shots too:

Of course when you do have the family together and all dressed up it is a great time to…

Tip 2: Get a semi-posed family photo!

Tip 3: Do some still life photography:

Notice the photo of the baskets of eggs only, this after the hunt photo make a perfect embellishment for the page. Also consider taking photos close up in macro mode of jelly beans, easter grass and other candies for nearly free scrapbook embellishments and they will be authentic too!

Tip 4: OK this is a scrapbook tip-try kraft colored paper for your scrapbook pages, it looks great with pastel springtime shades (see above photos) a swipe of pastel paint adds a nice touch too and best of all you keep the focus on the photos!

Tip: 5-Photo the Pre-Easter Events.

This year I bout a Spin-an-Egg (Target/ $5) and we used that to color our eggs, what fun, get a photo of the pretty colored eggs:

Note: If I had to do it over I would have taken the photo outside with no flash Sometime your photos are not perfect but you should still scrap them, that’s what is important. You kids will not care that the lighting isn’t perfect, they will be glad to have the memories. Here I took a bunch of egg dying shots and used a egg-shaped puzzle template to make this page. Also I saved the egg-dipper and used it as an embellishment!

Here are some of the digital products from Lindsay’s stamp Stuff I used in the above pages and some other springtime goodies:

And some freebies for you!

These projects qualify for the following chhallenges: Amber’s Crafts and Stuff, Creative Belli, Creative Card Crew, Creative Craft World & Papercraft Star (recycled egg-dipper on last page), For Fun Challenges, Paper Pretties, Sisterhood of Crafters, and Going Grey With Scrap-Creations (digistamps)

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

LSS Weekly Wrap-up {finally!}

What a week, I can’t believe it is Sunday already. We spent the morning at the girl scout cookie booth and then had company in the afternoon. I have been looking forward to sharing the Lindsay’s stamp Stuff design team projects all week (two use free digis!) so without further ado here they are:

First up is Margie with a fashionable scrapbook page using the Sew Much Fun Kit:

Now here’s Tracey with a black and white beauty using the bold black and white papers kit:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And check out Micki’s Cool tile transfer using the strawberries and watermelon set:

Here is Karin with a Funky Flower card using this freebie that coordinates with the Doodle Flowers stamp set:

And Rhonda’s card also uses a freebie, check out her coffee inspired card that coordinates with the Coffee talk kit:

That was some great inspiration, what an awesome team! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

 

LSS Weekly Wrap Up!

Happy April Fools day! Mother Nature pulled an AFD joke on  us in New England and dumped a foot of snow on us LOL! At least it was good sticky snow, we built a bodacious fort in the backyard and we have several new snowpeople gracing our yard.  Also it is Friday which means we can ogle all of the gorgeous creations that the Lindsay’s stamp Stuff DT has cooked up for us this week.

First up is Margie with a fabulous page using the Puddle fun stamp set (love those polka dots!)

Next up is Tracey with a clean and elegant card using Bold Black and White digi papers:

Diane also used the Bold Black and White paper kit but she colorized them, how pretty and springlike!

Cindi has made the cutest little sewing basket with the new Sew Much Fun digistamps and the new Basket Bonanza Templates, check out her blog for more photos and details:

Speaking of sewing check out what Karin made with the Sew Pretty set:

What could be better than a hot cuppa joe? This card from Rhonda and even better, it uses a freebie you can find here!

That freebie coordinates with the Coffee Talk set.

WEll, now, don’t you feel inspired, I sure do! Thanks so much for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Photocopy Transfer Tutorial and a Freebie!

Well, hello there folks! I have been playing in my studio and wanted to share a quick and easy project I made. First I printed out some digital stamps from the Fancy Flower set from Lindsay’s stamp Stuff, then I had a photocopy made so I could transfer them on to tiles. Wouldn’t thse make a cute Mother’s Day gift?

I colored the tiles with my new ProMarkers, it was so easy! Here is a video showing you how to do it:

Here are close-ups of my favorites:

EDITED TO ADD: the background on this tile was done by coloring it with a blue marker, then dabbin the same marker randomly on top. If you marker is not juicy enough you can use a q-tip to drop denatured (or rubbing) alcohol on top for the same effect. Just play around until you like the look!

And here is a peek at the Fancy Flowers digital Stamp Set I used:

With easter on its way I thought you might want a handy little basket to make so for this weeks freebie I give you a basket and notecard, click the pic to download.

It coordinates with my new Basket Bonanza set, 6 baskets in all including a covered picnic basket (that is my favorite!)

And the Egg Basket Templates:

Today’s project qualifies for the following challenges: Amber’s Crafts and Stuff, Clear It Out!, Top Tip Tuesday, Tuesday Throwdown, Paper Playtime, Stamp with Fun, Stamps R Us, Aly’s Sunday Challenge, Crafty Pad, Creative Inspirations, Make it colorful, and Wee memories.

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!