Time well spent...

Kind of a dual purpose title today. This was definitely time well spent making this card. I need to practice more again I think...I'm not so impressed with my creations. I guess that is what happens when you take 6 months off from stamping. Urgh!

The dual part is that this is also the name of this stamp set, lol. The "Time Well Spent" set is a level 3 hostess from the new Spring/Summer collection from Stampin' Up! Did I mention that I am going to try really hard to bring my blog back to 95% Stampin' Up! cards, etc. There will be the occasional card made with other stamps, as there are a couple of newish lines out there that I am lovin'. I'm also planning on putting some of my scrapbooking on here and it is not all Stampin' Up! either, but hopefully you'll enjoy looking at them anyhow. :)

(Shopping list- All supplies listed are from Stampin' Up! and can be purchased through your demo. If you don't have one, you can find one in your area by visiting www.stampinup.com or contact me.
Certainly Celery, Purely Pomegranate, and Whisper White cardstock. Cutie Pie designer paper, Pomegranate double stitched ribbon, black Stazon, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Signo uniball pen, scallop punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, aquapainter, watercolor paper, two way glue pen, and Bashful Blue watercolor wonder crayon)

Stamp to Spend challenge

There is a thread on Splitcoaststampers right now called the stamp to spend challenge. I decided that it would be a fabulous thing for me to try and stick to, so I am going to do my best this new year (starting now) to actually create stuff with all the amazing products that I so often drag home.

The idea behind the challenge is that you only buy what you "earn." I will "earn" 15 dollars for creating 10 cards or 5 scrapbook layouts (I am going to try and stick to 2 page layouts). So far since I began a couple of days ago, I have created 2 cards. Then today I stopped into our LSS to drop of some "Heat and Stick powder" to a customer, and they had 30% off all Christmas supplies. I only bought a few things...some SEI "Holly Lane" papers and a sheet of self adhesive frames/tags, but totally forgot that I was on a budget. Soooo, now I am 4.80 in the hole. Guess I better start crafting huh? I am going to a 2 day crop next weekend, so hopefully I will build up a positive balance in my crafting "account." Well, so long as I don't spend a fortune while I'm there, lol!

Twinkle, twinkle, little card...

One of the girls in my stamp club had a baby boy a week or so before Christmas. I made her this card and actually had the foresight to take a picture of it before I mailed it off. (she lives way on the other side of Tucson, about 45-50 miles from me, so I mailed it instead of taking it by)

Anyhow, it is one of the first cards I had actually gotten to stamp in a loooong time. I don't have a current baby set, so I used this little elephant from the "Wild about you" stamp set. I stamped it in Versamark on a piece of "Cutie Pie" designer paper and then used heat and stick powder and dazzling diamonds glitter to shine him up a bit. He was stamped again on a small piece of the same designer paper, and then I cut out his ear and mounted it on top of the shiny guy with a dimensional. His eye is a googly eye from Michaels, and I used a Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker to color in his toenails.

The card base is Bashful Blue, the other cardstock is Wild Wasabi, as is the double stitched grosgrain ribbon. To finish the card up, I added three "Ice" rhinestone brads, faux stitched around the elephant's panel, and used my Basic Black marker to take the sentiment stamp from "Curvy Verses" and stretch it out as one long curvy line as opposed to the two lines it is originally.

You can click on the pic to open it in a larger window. Thanks for checking in...all 3 of you, hehe!

(Shopping List- all supplies are from Stampin' Up! contact me or your demonstrator to place an order or if you have any questions)

Ok, maybe my vacation is really over now...

Been a long time, I know. I honestly haven't had alot of time spent on the computer (or the phone for that matter) over the last 6 months. I have been so busy with my Stampin' Up! business, and school. I went back to the University of Arizona this past August, and the semester kept me so ridiculously busy. So busy that I am actually terrified of telling you that I am back blogging. It's Christmas vacation...I have some time on my hands and have been enjoying catching up on my blog reading and thinking about posting again. The Spring semester starts again in January. Honestly I don't know where that will take me, but I am going to try my darndest to post at least once or twice a week.

If there are any of you still out there checking in, well...you are amazing, thank you! I'll try not to disappoint you again. And, to any of you who participated in my A*Muse swap a zillion years ago, I am SO TERRIBLY SORRY, I just dug a pile of envelopes out from under my stamping table this week. I don't know how I forgot, and I really have no excuse. I will be mailing out the ones I have this week...I'll include something special too. I know that won't make up for my total flakiness, but it's a start...right?