Poughkeepsie Shoebox Swap

Sixteen ladies came over this weekend for shoebox stamping fun! It was a wonderful day of socializing, stamping, and eating. Lots of local ladies, and a few out-of-towners. I wish my house was bigger so more could come! Wouldn't that be fun??

Before the chaos -

Goodie bags -

And a full house -

The food was wonderful! DH is such a trooper, willing to move all the living room furniture out, and share his whole house for the day. He was well fed though!

Group shots of the swaps - cardfronts, ATCs, and 3-Ds -

So this is a call out to the locals - (1) if you know of a relatively-free, large, bright space for the next shoebox swap, please let me know, and (2) I want lots more locals to come out! I know you stampers are out there! :) These are not-for-profit events, all the money raised goes into the event. We love having fun on the cheap!

Thank you for coming, and important, THANK YOU to everyone who donated door prizes. We had enough for two for everyone!

Thanks for stopping by!

Friday Mashup Guest Designer: Butterflies!

Yay! I was chosen as the winner of the zoo-inspired Friday Mashup challenge from a couple weeks ago with my sliding pop-up card of African deer and Asian rabbits - LOL! Such an honor to be guest designer, and I really enjoy it!

Holly has created a new challenge blog, still the Friday Mashup but in a new location. This is unique because there are two themes every week, and you can choose which to do or "mash" them together. This week's challenge is butterflies with dimension.

I've been wanting to make a butterfly lantern for about a year now, so why not combine two projects for a double whammy?

In these shady photos, you can pick up that I used the Very Vintage wheel for the base of the lantern. Please disregard the brown in the background. Hey, it was snowing here last week!

This rare sunny, but windy, day in NY makes for photographic troubles.

I went back and added an indoor shot.

My daughter can't wait to get her hands on this one. But she wants the butterflies IN the cage. The template for the lantern is available on the Paper Crafters Library site, use code PCSHB.

Stamps: Very Vintage wheel; Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Bella Bleu DSP, Haiku DSP; Ink: Crumb Cake; Accessories: Scallop Trim punch, Very Vanilla satin ribbon, Beautiful Butterflies die, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Big Shot, Screen netting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Adorning Apron

Morning Everyone,

I got this cute little apron template from Paper Crafters Sampler library. Last year's issues, which include templates, are available for instant download at a discounted rate. There are examples of each template there too. If there is a place to make a comment, please use code PCSHB or my name so Melanie knows I sent ya!

I do well with inspirational photos, so I found this apron from Country Living.

Well, heck, I've got some patterned paper that looks just like that!

The apron wraps around to create a folding card, so I threaded some taffeta ribbon through the card to hold it closed. Looks like a cute little apron bum, huh?

I love the ruffles and the sewing. Super sweet! Can I say that? LOL!

Paper: Whisper White, Summer Picnic DSP; Accessories: Eyelet Border punch, Real Red taffeta ribbon, Eyelets, Crimper, Crop-o-dile, Sewing machine, Thread, Sticky Strip.

Thanks for stopping by!

Garden Trellis, PCS Sneak Peek, and Some Good News!

Hi All,

April's issue of Paper Crafters Sampler, Avian Art, is coming soon. This month is featuring some beautiful bird samples and projects.

The ladies really got creative this month! I had a lot of fun stretching my abilities as well. Here's a peek at my project.

Rosettes, branch, nest, and eggs... come check out how I did it! To sign up for this month's issue, please go to the Paper Crafters Sampler website. Use code PCSHB.

For today's card, I found another technique lover's challenge on SplitCoastStampers, making a trellis. It is fairly straight forward and uses up scrap, which is always good! There are some beautiful samples out there!

This is my shot at the technique.

Stamps: Sincere Salutations; Paper: Springtime Vintage DSP, Pear Pizzazz, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Whisper White; Ink: Regal Rose, Rose Red; Accessories: Pearl jewels, Trio Flower punch, Large Oval punch, Scallop Oval punch, Little Leaves die, Top Note die, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

So you want to hear the news? I applied for and got picked to be part of Creative Crew for four months! This is a group of demos who complete demo challenges each month and share their creations with all of the Splitcoaststampers community. I am so excited, but DH not so much. I work best under pressure, so let the good times roll!! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

SUOC16 Raining Cats and Dogs...

Today's challenge over at Stampin' Up Only Challenges is to create a card or project with an animal or pet on it. Well, at first I was thinking hippo. I always wanted a pet hippo as a kid. But then I started down the path of playing with the stamp set in My Digital Studio, Cute Cats.

I printed a cat image on copy paper, attached it to Botanical Gazette DSP with temporary adhesive, and cut it out. I then sponged the edges and repeated with the ears and nose.

This was also my first try for a fabric yo-yo. I found out that I need to cut a larger circle, so I'll continue to practice. ETA: You can go back a few posts to see the yo-yos I put on my fabric cupcake. See, I did get better!

Paper: Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso, Botanical Gazette DSP; Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Early Espresso marker; Accessories: Sponges, White gel pen, Pear Pizzazz seam binding, Victoria lace, My Digital Studio, On Board Chipboard, Springtime Vintage fabric, Crop-o-dile, Little Leaves die, Square Scallop die, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Big Shot, Sewing machine, Thread.
Thanks for stopping by!

Raspberry Kiss

Those stinkin' raspberries! I was so impatient to play with these guys, and then missed them in the mail before vacation, and in the whirlwind since I've been back, I have spent so little time with them! Isn't there just too much good stuff in the Occasions mini? I feel like I don't have enough time to play with it all before its gone!

I was inspired to use Concord Crush and Old Olive by Cindy E.'s post in the Occasions mini blog hop. Darn it if she didn't plan the seed that I needed this set. And I always have trouble completely distinguishing if it is the image or just the color combo that is so pleasing.

I used Mojo Monday sketch #182.

This was my first eyelet border medallion. Not hard at all!

Stamps: Clearly For You; Paper: Old Olive, Concord Crush, Very Vanilla, First Edition DSP, In Color DSP; Ink: Concord Crush, Concord Crush marker, Old Olive marker; Accessories: Sponge, Old Olive taffeta ribbon, Vintage trinket, Eyelet Border punch, Word Window punch, Crimper, Circle Scissors Plus, Sewing machine, Thread.

Thanks for stopping by!

Scrapbook Friday: Photo Background

Welcome to another episode of Project 52! Progress to date: It's week 13, and 12 pages have been created. I'm catching up! Today I'll show you something that can't be done with "traditional" scrapbooking, using a photo as a background.

With My Digital Studio, I inserted a location shot, Cinderella's castle, to set the stage for the page. The opacity of the photo is set to 50% to fade it. This is a great technique for the wide-angle landscape and horizon shots you might take on a hike or other vacation activity you want to scrap. It easily helps tell the story of the page.

Isn't that fun? With this technique, you can take your beautiful vacation photos to easily create your own calendars as well.

MDS elements: Stamps: Once Upon A Time, Medallion, Torn Edges.

Edit to add: May is National Scrapbooking Month, and Stampin' Up will be offering 30% off selected scrapbooking products.

• Select stamp sets
• Select professional print products for My Digital Studio
• Special digital download bundles for My Digital Studio

So, note to you and myself, get those MDS photo books designed and completed so we are ready to print in May! Go Project 52!!

Thanks for stopping by!