A Stack of Cards for CFH

My girlfried, Mickey, sat with me yesterday afternoon and helped me turn out about 40 cards that we'll be shipping to Cards for Heroes. This card design is one of my absolute favorite stamp-a-stack cards with a little bit of a twist. I'll admit, not everything used on these cards is from Stampin' Up! but for this cause, I'm ok with that!

My personal challenge for this week is to make 5 cards a day for CFH. Want to join me? Visit their website at http://cardsforheroes.org. As soon as I get my Cards For Heroes logo stamp, I'll be sending these off so they can be shared with the men and women serving overseas.

Welcome to the Cards for Heros Blog Hop!

I'm so proud to be participating in the Cards for Heros Blog Hop this Memorial Day weekend! You have joined in the middle of the hop. To start at the top of the hop, click here. Cards for Heros sends cards to our men and women serving overseas so they can, in turn, send them back to their loved ones who are still stateside. Please be sure to visit their website at http://cardsforheroes.org/.

As the President of the Ladies Auxiliary to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Century Post 503 in Downers Grove, Illinois, I spend much of my time finding ways to serve our Veterans as well as our Troops. My Stampin' Up! business and very addictive hobby has given me a way to give a little more of myself to the soldiers who are working to keep our land free.

"The Free and the Brave" is the very first Stampin' Up! stamp set I ever purchased. I bought this set so I could make card sets to raffle at our VFW functions. I love the stamps and the images in the set. This picture of the soldier backing our American Flag truly embodies our Nation's military, their work, and the freedom they fight so hard to create for the people of our land.

Please follow me to the next blog on this fabulous Blog Hop! Lauren has a beautiful blog with fabulous projects. I'm sure you'll enjoy jumping around her blog as well. http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2009/05/23/cards-for-heroes-blog-hop/

Thanks for visiting my blog! I wish you all a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. GOD BLESS THE USA!!

Been busy yet again!

Wow...when it rains it pours! It's amazing how quickly my calendar gets filled up these days. With baseball, Auxiliary, classes, orders, work, life, life, life gets crazy sometimes. I'm trying to gather a bunch of things from my house for a rummage sale our VFW Auxiliary is hosting. The more I can get rid of, the more spare change I'll have for more stamps! But, since I'm sitting here blogging, you can probably tell I'm procrastinating just a bit on that activity :)

Tomorrow is the first Blog Tour I'm participating in. I'm very excited to be a part of this great experience. I've been working hard on some samples that I hope everyone will enjoy. This hasn't left me a whole lot of time for other stamping. Since it's been over a week since I've shared anything, I will share a fun little layout I created for a scrapbooking class I taught last week.

Remember my Choo Choo card from a few posts down in my blog? You can check it out here if you missed it. This layout was based on that card. I am totally in love with all of these stamps. I've got some ideas running through my head on how I can use the Neighborhood Jumbo wheel on a couple of other projects. With any luck, I'll have some more time to play with it after this weekend!!

The projects below were a part of my submission for the Late Night Stampers Blog Tour in May. I had a very good time putting these together and a great time on the tour. I hope you enjoy some of these fun projects. This is a great set that I really have enjoyed working with!

Sense of Time
An Occasions Mini Stamp Set

The Sense of Time stamp set is a part of Shelly's Signature Collection. I just LOVE the clock image and parts. Notice my favorite color theme with this set?? All of these pieces were made using Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, and Old Olive. I love this color combination and to me, it is the perfect fit with the Sense of Time set.

I love alternative opening cards. This card opens from the center with the matted clock overlapping the edge. Each of the pieces has been distressed using the distressing tool from the Stampin' Up! Cutter Kit.

A white Jumbo Grommet embelishes the bottom of the clock. It fits perfectly in the bottom clock circle of the clock stamp. A piece of 1/4" grosgrain ribbon finishes off this sweet card.

Another alternative opening card. I received a beautiful swap card from fellow demonstrator, Joyce Wowczuk with this opening pattern. Both the white and green flaps open "out" to reveal the inside of the card. It's such a fun, unique card layout design. This card uses no embellishments. It is enhanced simply by the multiple layers of cardstock and beautiful stamps from Sense of Time.

This gift bag is super easy to make. It is made from the 2-5-7-10 bag found on Split Coast Stampers. The Designer Series Paper is from the Simply Scrappin' set Taylor Made. I just LOVE the colors. The ribbon is actually the new Whisper White 5/8" Satin Ribbon from the Occasions Mini Catalog. I sponged Old Olive Craft Ink over it to match the bag. With this little trick, there's never a time when I won't have a ribbon to match a project!

Finally, this scrapbook page was created with inspiration right out of the Occasions Mini Catalog. Bella Bleu Designer Series Paper lines the bottom with a 1/2" Chocolate Chip strip on the bottom. The leaves were made with the Stampin' Up! Little Leaves Sizzlits Die for the Big Shot. That beautiful Not Quite Navy flower was created by sponging Craft Ink on a flower from the Pretties Kit and finished off with a Corduroy Brad from the Buttons collection.

This little guy really embodies the stamp "An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth."

Scrap a Sunshiney Day

I created this punch based scrapbook page for the Late Nite Stampers Challenge #18.

This is a 6x6 scrapbook page that is mounted on Barely Banana cardstock. The polka dot Designer Series Paper is Apricot Appeal from the Hostess Level 1 Designer Series Paper Pack. The flowers are punched with the Scallop Punch and 1-3/8" Circle Punch in Pretty In Pink, Bashful Blue and Lavender Lace with the photos punched from the 1-1/4" Circle Punch. The stems are made from Old Olive 1/4" ribbon. The sunshine is cut from Barely Banana and covered with Dazzling Diamonds Stampin' Glitter. The sentiment is from Fifth Avenue Floral.

This was a fun little scrapbook page to create that would make a wonderful gift for Mom.

Kind Words

Echos of Kindness is my absolute favorite hostess set in the entire SU! collection. There's just something about these beautiful flowers that just make me smile :)

This card was made with Not Quite Navy and Basic Black cardstock. The black band at the top was punched with the Eyelet Border punch and accented with the new 5/8" Whisper White ribbon from the occasions mini. Another simple and quick card. Enjoy!!

Come visit the Late Nite Stampers Bloggin' Stars!

A group of Late Nite Stampers have started a Bloggin' Stars group. This group of talented ladies are committed to sharing lots of great, creative information on their blogs to help spark the creative juices in all of us.

Be sure to visit these wonderful blogs for more creative inspiration for your stampin and scrappin!!

1. Sandi MacIver http://www.sandimaciver.com/
2. Tina Taves http://tinataves.blogspot.com/
3. Chris Austin http://www.luv2cre8withu.blogspot.com/
4. Heidi Michel http://www.heartfeltblessings.blogspot.com/
5. Kelli Waters http://kellistamps4u.blogspot.com/
6. Nancy Legate http://www.stampnnuggets.com
7. Dianne Shiozaki http://www.stmprdee.blogspot.com/
8. Holly Brown www.glitterstampsandink.blogspot.com
9. Virginia Killmore http://virginias-website.blogspot.com/
10. Kirsten Brown http://imstampinsilly.blogspot.com/