Technique Class

I will be teaching a technique class on Thursday, March 13. We will be making a hidden message card, Lauren's baby onesie card and a mystery technique. You will get directions to each of the projects as well. Contact me at krhopperstad@juno.com for details.

Sweet Strawberry

I finally picked up some of the stuff from my Occasions mini catalog and got to play with it. This fruit set is just the cutest! It's called Tart and Tangy and it's only $12.95. It comes with an orange slice(or could be a lemon or lime slice), an apple, cherries, and this strawberry. And the mini catalog stamp sets come die cut so it couldn't be easier to mount and put together! I used the new fun fruit designer paper to go with it. I had the hardest time getting a good picture of this card. It was either too dark or too washed out looking. I cut out the top of the strawberry and popped it up. The berry has crystal effects on it to give it that sheen. I put the square crystal brads inside the jumbo pewter eyelets.

I have lots more fun stuff in the works. Stay tuned for more ahead.

Rebecca in Red

I dug out some old photos of my daughter again to make this page. I did a 6 x6 page as a make-n-take at the scrapbooking expo this past weekend. I then showed them how to add that to a 12 x 12 page. The 6 x 6 becomes the focal point of the page. I stamped the background on Whisper White cardstock in Real Red with the new stamp set, Friendly Flowers, from the Occasions mini catalog. This set becomes available March 1. You can view the Occasions mini under the Stampin' Up! links on the right hand side of my blog. I took another stamp from this same set and stamped a background on the Real Red cardstock with Basic Black craft ink. Real Red wide grosgrain ribbon is across the middle of the page.

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes! The celebration continues. My sister took me out for lunch today. It's good when you can stretch a birthday out. My kids are masters at that!

Birthday spoils

Yesterday was my birthday. I spent the day shopping with my friend Kristina at some outlet malls and having lunch at a quaint little cafe in a small town nearby. We had a great day! She spoiled me with a bucketload of cupcake goodies! She knows just what I like! She's been collecting this stuff for months. There was the cupcake container filled with a cupcake scrubby and dishcloths, cupcake ribbon, a cupcake magnet, 12 x 12 cupcake paper, cupcake candles, and even a cupcake bracelet and necklace she bought off of Etsy. The cupcake jewelry is scented to smell like cupcakes!

Then my husband came home with flowers, a birthday balloon and dove chocolates. Mmmm. He wanted me to tell him what to get me but I really prefer going out and buying my own birthday presents. I'm picky about my clothes, jewelry, etc. so why put him through it? My husband and 3 kids took me out to El Loro's Mexican restaurant. Mexican food is my favorite! I finished up the night watching American Idol with my daughter. It was a great day!

post-it keychains

These cute little post-it keychains are the brainchild of chicnscratchstamper. You can check out her tutorial for it here.
I made 50 of these for a scrapping expo I'm in next weekend. These are going in the attendees' goodie bags. They came together pretty quickly. Give them a try!

Cousins scrapbook page

This is a 12 x 12 page spread for my scrapbook club this month. The group wanted to do a girly page. I dug back awhile to find some younger photos of my daughter. I sure wish we had a digital camera 10 years ago. I didn't take as many photos back then and the photos I did take weren't very good. I like being able to turn them to black and white or sepia or edit them in other ways. Oh well, I have to work with what I have.

Recipe:
Stamps: Pick a Petal, Short Order alphabet, Kindness Jumbo Wheel
Ink: Cameo Coral, Close to Cocoa, Bordering Blue
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Sage Shadow, Bordering Blue, Very Vanilla
Other: 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Love and Happiness Rubon's, Hodgepodge hardware

Cupcake surprise

Here's something new and different - a cupcake card! I made this about a month back but am finally getting around to posting it now. I used Kraft cardstock as my cardstock base. I stamped the heart from Big Bold birthday in close to cocoa ink as a background. I used the tiny cupcake from the short and sweet stamp set to make another background How cute is that?! Then there is a piece of the Tempting Turquoise designer paper as another layer piece. I stamped the faux stitching ala Beate from the All in a Row stampe set. The cupcake is done in close to cocoa and tempting turquoise with a colored glitter heart popped up on the icing.

I hope you all had a fabulous Valentine's day! We got a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's like we did the year before. This time I picked it up the day before Valentine's day. It was nuts picking up last year on Feb.14! I like to give each member of my family a little gift. My two boys got new webkins, my daughter got a stuffed bear that holds a box. Inside of the box was a necklace. I got a Panama Jack t-shirt and a button down shirt for my husband. He came home with red roses and chocolate for me. It was a good night!

Bulldog clips

I ran across a bulldog clip magnet thingy at a gift shop. I thought to myself, "Self, I could make these" and I did! I bought the big bulldog clips from Target. Two in a pack for $1.79. I glued strong magnets on the back with crystal effects. Then I cut the prongs off some build a brads. I stamped the "L O V E" onto to designer paper and punched out with the 1/2" circle punch. I attached this to the build a brads with glue dots. Then I placed the plastic dome over the top. I glued these on to the bulldog clip with crystal effects. Crystal effects is a strong adhesive as well as a product that gives your project some sheen and dimension. Then I tied ribbon from the handle.

Thanks for looking!

More Sale-a-bration Samples

These are more Sale-a-bration samples from the shoebox swap I did with my downline group a couple of weeks ago. The first card is mine. I used one of Beate's sketch challenges WSC31. This one was from about a month ago. I used the build a brads to make the 3 brads on the right. I love those brads! So much fun! The stamp set is Birthday Whimsy and the colors are chocolate chip, rose red, so saffron, and taken with teal.

The second card is made by my downline, Michelle. She's so good with that pink and brown and glitter! She used the So Many Scallops stamp set, pretty in pink, very vanilla, and chocolate chip. She topped it off with the dazzling diamonds glitter. Yummy!

The final card is made by my second level downline, Nancy. She too used the So Many Scallops stamp set. She did an interesting take on spotlighting. We stamped randomly on the barely banana cardstock and then punched out circles with it. Then we stamped and punched out circle scallops and adhered them behind the banana cardstock matching it up with the designs stamped on the front. Cool, huh?

I'm off to a do a Stampin' Up! party tonight in New Prague. It's at my sister's house. I just LOVE those New Prague gals!!!

Happy Birthday David!

A good friend of ours is having a birthday today. David is 42 years young. He's just a big kid at heart so I thought he might enjoy the whimsy of the Unfrogettable stamp set.

Recipes:
Stamps: Unfrogettable, Big Bold Birthday
Ink: Always Artichoke, Jet Black Stazon, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou
Paper: Western Sky designer paper, River Rock, Blue Bayou,

I Love Lucy

My kids have been wanting a pet for a looooong time. My husband and I kept putting them off. We had a cat, Shadow, before my daughter was born. Shadow got really jealous of Rebecca and started peeing on everything. She would even sit right in front of me and pee. We had her tested up and down but there was nothing wrong with her physically. We stuck it out with her but once a cat starts peeing on things they keep on doing it and it's really hard to get rid of cat urine smell. Fast forward 4 years later and my son was born. She started exhibiting the same behaviors so we had to get rid of her. We just couldn't deal with the cat urine on everything again. So we put off getting another pet.

Then, in the last year, my husband started making noises about wanting a pet. I kept ignoring him. He stepped up the pressure and I finally caved. I went off with my girlfriends to a stamping event and my husband and kids went to pick out a cat at the humane society. My kids were thrilled! She was a foster cat and was supposed to be good with kids. She really can't handle the energy of my boys so she hisses and bites at them a lot. They still love her though. This is a page of my daughter and our cat Lucy. She's been with us since May. She's a moody cat but we still love her.

Recipe:
Stamps: Best Friends alphabet, Simply Said
Ink: Certainly Celery, Rose Red
Paper: Cutie Pie designer paper, Certainly Celery, Whisper white. so Saffron, Rose Red
Other: On Board chipboard, soft subtles brads, pretties kit(flower)

It's Sale-a-bration Time!

There is no finer time to be a Stampin' Up! customer, hostess, new recruit or demonstrator! There's something for everybody during Sale-a-bration! From February 1 through March 17 customers can earn a FREE Sale-a-bration stamp set or set of Rub-ons for every $50 in purchases(before tax and shipping). Hostesses can earn a FREE set for every $300 in party sales. New recruits get 20 percent off the starter kit AND a FREE stamp set up to a $47.95 value!!! Demonstrators get to earn FREE catalog stamp sets based on their saled during Sale-a-bration. Everybody wins!!!

You can see the Sale-a-bration brochure here. You can also view it anytime by clicking on the link on the right hand side of my blog under Stampin' Up! links.

Here are some samples made with some of the Sale-a-bration stamp sets made by some of the talented demonstrators in my downline group, the Hopperstampers, and myself. The flower card is made with the Friendship Blooms Sale-a-bration stamp set. I made this one for a demonstrator swap group. I stamped the flowers on Cutie Pie designer paper and cute them out. I punched the largest flower from the boho blossom punch and adhered that to the middle. I then punched out a flower from the Cutie Pie designer paper and placed it inside the build a brad. That is stuck through the middle of the flowers.

The second card is a criss-cross card made by the newest member in my downline group, Kathy Volner. She used the So Many Scallops Sale-a-bration stamp set and Flowers For You designer paper. The jumbo pewter eyelet sets it all off to perfection!

The next card is made with the Merci Sale-a-bration stamp set. My downline, Paula Stocker, made this wonderful creation. The images are embossed and then punched out with circles and layered on scallop circle punches. Such pretty colors and I love the way she did the ribbon!

The final card is made with the Birthday Whimsey Sale-a-bration stamp set. This creation was made by Kelly Emerson. She's been in my downline group for nearly 5 years. The girls got some talent!!! Look at all of the fun details in her card. the Oval window through the front layer of the card and the linen thread acting as balloon strings and wrapped around the brad are my favorite touches.

We all got together a couple of weeks ago for a demonstrator meeting and shoebox swap. I hesitate to call it a meeting because that sounds so boring. It's really more like a party when we get together! It really is a rare and wonderful group of ladies I have in my downline. When we get together it's a fun ladies night or day out! I LOVE my downline group!!! Thank you ladies for bringing such creativity to your projects.

These are just a few Sale-a-bration samples to tantalize you. I will be posting more throughout Sale-a-bration. Contact me or your local demonstrator to place your order, book you party, or really the best deal of the them all- Sign up!!!

The Real Deal

By now you all must surely know that I LOVE cupcakes. Not really the actual cupcakes to eat but everything you see made with them from placemats to paper. My cupcake obsession led me to buying the Giant cupcake pan by Wilton. I figured my daughter's birthday was the perfect occasion to try it out. The first picture is my attempt at the cupcake. It's going to take some practice. I decorated with icing that wasn't firm enough so it got kind of drippy on me. Both my boys want me to make this cake for their birthdays in March so I'll be getting more practice soon. I made regular size cupcakes too just in case we didn't have enough cake. My daughter's favorite color is purple thus the purple cupcakes!

My daughter turns 14 tomorrow. Can someone tell her to stop growing up on me?! We had her family party yesterday. Here's the birthday girl with her cake. She's such a sweet girl. Usually easy to please and doesn't ask for much. She loves family and traditions. She loves the family birthday parties. Loves to have her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins come over. She wanted to delay opening her presents as long as possible because she didn't want everyone to leave. I have a feeling she will always have this love of family.

Cupcake tin

I went to this fun paper store I haven't been to before called Paper Source with my friend Kristina the other day. They had lots of cute gifty things, embellishments, stationery and papers. I picked up some flat paper in some great designs. The flat papers are 19 1/2 x 27. I wasn't sure what I would do with them but I was just drawn to them. It didn't take me long to cut into the cupcake paper. I decided to cover a metal tin with the papers and some of my supplies I had on hand to make a fun tin for my craft room to store embellishments in.

Cupcake tin:
Stamps: Cause for Celebration(the stamped cupcake comes from this set- it's a level 2 hostess stamp set)
Paper: Cupcake paper from Paper Source, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Cameo Coral
Ink: Basic Black, Chocolate chip, Cameo coral Stampin' write marker
Other: Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, circle punch, scalloped circle punch, paper piercer, clear stardust glitter pen, stampin' dimensionals, chocolate chip satin ribbon.

Doesn't that paper look yummy? I want to go back and get some more!