Ornament Keepsake Anyone?

Well HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and Happy Tuesday!!!!

Wow.  It feels like MONTHS since I've posted!  I have made SOOOO many projects over the last 2 weeks I don't know what I have and what I haven't posted any more.  I also feel really out-of-touch with you all since I really HAVEN'T posted in about 2 weeks.  Although I had projects every day last week I had actually pre-posted them and scheduled them to appear each day.  While I liked the idea in theory (it meant I didn't have to stress about carving out an hour each day to post) I didn't like it in practice.  You know me ... I like to ramble ... and my daily posts were short, sweet and to the point.  Not my style.  I actually watched a webinar the other day on Blogging ... and the number 1 tip they gave was to "be yourself".  Well - short and sweet is ANYTHING but me ... and let's face it ... only a few of you really pop in to see my projects, right?  The rest of you check in to read my all about my craziness, don't you??!!  I figure reading my blog is kind of like a reality show.  You tune in for one of the two same reasons you watch reality shows a) to confirm that there are other people out there who have a life as crazy as yours or b) to validate that you are normal compared to the likes of me :) 

So no more pre-posting for me.  This is my therapy ... and I blog for that reason and to share my passion with others.  I HOPE to post at least once a week (which I think Tuesday will be my designated "must post" day rather than Mondays) and anything over and above that is a bonus.  My life will calm in down in 2 days so I should have LOTS of time for blogging in the coming weeks (ya ... right ... like "lots of time" ever happens!)

So - speaking of being busy ... any guesses WHY I have been so busy for the last 2 weeks?  Hmmm ... anyone??  Well ... some of you already know but for the rest of you ... here's the scoop!  About 3 weeks back Stampin' Up! contacted me and asked me if I would like to be their Featured Guest Artist for our (now) bi-monthly stampin magazine "Stampin' Success"!  After about 30 minutes of re-reading the e-mail, squealing like a new born piglet and jumping up and down in the kitchen (as my dog and cat watched from the livingroom in what appeared to be horror!) I replied with an emphatic YES!!!  So ... in a nutshell, they sent me a brand new stamp set from the upcoming mini catalogue and I have to submit (4) projects to them using it.  My deadline to get it in the mail is Friday.  Yes ... as I expected ... I have had about 4 night where I wake up at 3:00 am trying to design projects.  I have been SO sleep deprived I really don't know how I've been functioning.  Well ... I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I have completed 2 projects, the 3rd one is 90% done and the fourth one is alive and well in my brain ... I just have to get it on paper *lol*.  So that's why I have been so busy lately ... designing those projects on TOP of my regular clubs, classes, parties, Stamp-a-Stacks, gift making and now the FABULOUS On-Line promotion (not to mention those stinkin' ADORABLE embossing machines!!!)  It's been a crazy 2 weeks for sure.

Soooooooooo!  I think it's about time I shared a few projects with you!!  This first one is the one I promised to post on Saturday ... but didn't.  Sorry about that .. Saturday I was quickly approaching melt down / burn out and it just didn't happen.  This was my favorite card for our class last week:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  Love it! I'm SO into my neutrals and vintage lately!  This was one of those cards that started off simple ... but then it just kept going and going and going and turned out to have a lot of steps to it.  Nonetheless it's not a "hard" card .. just lots of cutting and piecing.  The colors are Very Vanilla., Crumb Cake and Early Espresso.  I ran the base and the Crumb Cake layer through the new Lacy Brocade embossing folder (ya know ... I wasn't sure I "needed" this folder as I found it quite similar to the Vintage Wallpaper folder ... but I like it ... and I'm glad I bought it!)  I stamped the Ornament Keepsake images in crumb cake and then punched them out with the Framelits (if you don't own this set & framelits you NEED them!  I have used them SO much this year - definately a must have in your collection!)  I then punched out the same ornaments with the framelits in Espresso and layered them just slightly behind the crumb cake images to give a shadow effect.  I did the same with a thin strip along the side of the Crumb Cake layer and again against the punched out sentiment.  For that I used the Season't Greetings from ... mmm More Merry Messages?  I foget  (... Did you know More Merry Messages is on sale this week?  Yep it is.  True story.  You should buy it.  Just sayin. ...).  I punched the sentiment out with the Decorative Label Punch (also happens to be on sale this week ... $16.07 ... ) and popped it up on dimensionals.  I added a little knot of Victoria Crochet Trim ($9.50) and attached it with a glue dot.  Wa-low!  A pretty little card :)

Now.  Last Friday was not a good day.  As discussed I was extremely sleep deprived and was losing the will to live, let alone to design yet another card (I figured I've designed about 25 cards in the last 3 weeks!)  My creative juices had left the building ... but I still needed to create two new Christmas cards for my Christmas Stamp-a-stack that was on Sunday.  Yes, I HAD created Christmas cards that would "do" ... but I wasn't in LOVE with them any more ... that and one customer was coming who had been to my last SAS so I wanted to give her a FEW new cards (yes, sometimes I'm my own worst enemy!).  I think I crafted about 7 hours on Friday.  By 9:00 pm I was just a waste of make-up.  I had no clear judgement left in me ... I couldn't decide what looked good and what didn't ... so naturally I enlisted the help of my husband.  I had stamped the very simple "Merry and Type" ornament image on my paper along with a sentiment ... but it was missing something.  Craig said it needed some tree branches.  Here is what I (or "we") came up with:

Now ... while I liked this card very much in THEORY it bugged me that it was just a single layer card.  I couldn't live with that ... but to make it any smaller would ruin the proportions which I think "make" the card.  I left it to look at again in the morning ... with fresh eyes.  I woke up Saturday morning and within 20 minutes had come up with my new favorite card (funny what a 5 hour "nap" will do for creativity!")

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  LOVE it!!!  SO clean - SO simple - SO elegant - I just love everything about it.  (Of course I had to spend another half hour making sure it didn't need little silver strings drawn from each ornament ... or different patterned paper for each ornament ... nope - the first crack was the best crack!)  The DSP is the Be of Good Cheer paper - the sentiment is from the More Merry Messages set (yep - still on sale!).  I punched the ornaments with the framelits and added 1 rhinestone for a little punch.  LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!  My customers loved it too.  One customer, Vicky W played around with the layout a little and changed the sentiment and came up with this lovely card:

Love it too! ... Then Vicky spotted "Craig's" card ..., loved it and incorporated the two cards to come up with my OTHER favorite card:

Isn't it great?!  All the sentiments are from More Merry Messages (did I mention it's on sale? *lol*)

So I think that's enough rambling for today.  Phew.  Thanks!  I needed that!  I have 6 or 7 more projects to share in the coming days / weeks ... it's just a matter of finding the time to post them ... and the rest of this week I HAVE to get those magazine projects in the mail (no ... I can't share those with you until March!).

Thanks for faithfully checking in on my and my crazy - have a stampy day :)


Tam