Graduation cards

I needed to make some quick graduation cards for a craft show I'm in this weekend. If you are in the Twin Cities come by the Dakota County Fairgrounds on Saturday or Sunday for this 1st Annual Craft show in conjunction with the Midwest Mopars in the Park National Car Show and Swap meet.

Back to the card - I used the Year by Year stamp set. I don't own a separate graduation stamp set so this was just the ticket with the gradution cap. I made them in color combinations of summer sun, black and white, real red, black and white, brilliant blue, black and white and just black and white. I'm hoping to hit on some school colors. The card is a 6 x 6 piece of cardstock folded in half to make a 3 x 6 card. Just right for those money cards. I tied ribbon around the center, popped the image up on stampin' dimensionals and stamped congratulations from my Hugs and Wishes stamp set.

In addition to the craft show, my son has a soccer tournament and my other son has a soccer game. My daughter's last day of 8th grade is today. Whew! Where did that time go? Her graduation is Tuesday night. Life keeps roaring by. Have a good one!

Hidden message slider

This is one of the cards we made at my technique class last night. It's a hidden message slider card. You can find a tutorial for it here on Maria's blog. It's a wow technique because of the fun little surprise message that pulls out to the right of your focal image. I used the Fabulous Flowers set which I LOVE! It comes with the giant flower and several smaller flowers to go with it. My colors came directly from the Ginger Blossoms Designer paper.

Recipe:
Stamps: Fabulous Flowers
Ink: River Rock, Groovy Guava, Ruby Red
Paper: Ginger Blossom designer paper, River Rock, Groovy Guava, Ruby Red, Very Vanille
Other: 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, circle scallop punch, River Rock double stitched ribbon, crop-a-dile, stampin' dimensionals

Busy planning

Hi everybody! I haven't forgotten you, my blog friends. I have just been busy planning a couple of events coming up. The first one is my Mystery Hostess party on June 11. We will be celebrating Hawaiian style! If you are in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota, come join us for a Hawaiian Luau Mystery party! The party is at my house. I will be giving away ALL of the fantastic hostess benefits Stampin' Up! has to offer: Free Idea Book and catalog, Free hostess only stamp set(s), free hostess gift, and FREE catalog merchandise. The mystery is: WHO WILL WIN ALL THIS FREE STUFF?!!! If you would like to join us for the fun contact me at krhopperstad@juno.com

The second event I have been busy planning is a Minnesota SCS get together. I have planned several of these with some local SCS ladies but it's been a couple of years since we have organized one. I finally decided to plan one for Saturday, July 12. If you are a SCS member and are in the Minnesota area you are welcome to come. Space is limited so don't delay registering. I will be posting a link on SCS under the events forum with all of the details. I'll come back and link it here on my blog.

I'll be back soon with some hand-stamped projects.

Baby boy page spread

This was the page spread we made in my scrapbook club this month. The accents in the corners are made with the Carousel notes. I them in half and then in half again. So in quarters. I then added the Western Sky designer paper, a stamped and punched star and a chipboard heart. The heart is covered with Ruby Red craft ink.

Recipe:
Stamps: Nursery Necessities, Taffy Alphabet, Nursery Letters Jumbo wheel
Ink: Craft white, Not quite Navy, Enjoy Every Moment(journaling circle)
Paper: Soft Sky monochromatic designer paper, Blue Bayou cardstock, River Rock cardstock, Western sky designer paper
Other: Star punch, Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon, keytag punch, Onboard chipboard

Fruity Invitation

I made this card based by this sketch from Sketches! by Tamara's blog. This is going to be for an invitation to my Mystery Hostess Hawaiian Luau party. I combined the Tart and Tangy stamp set with my Office Accoutrements(Memo) to create this. The brackets are created by punching out the tab punch and then punching on the sides of the openings again. I hope that makes sense.

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial day weekend. My dh is getting back from California tomorrow. He's been on a business trip all week. I'm ready for him to get back and having a relaxing weekend. I've been running the kids around to all of their activities all week. It's time for a break!

Flipping over the Flip Album

I have been meaning to make these flip albums for awhile. I finally sat down and made them and now I can't stop making them! This is made from the Summer Days Simply Scrappin' kit. I'm going to be selling these at an upcoming craft fair. I may even teach a class. They are just that fun!

7 random facts

I was tagged by my uber talented SBS2 sis Mel for the 7 random facts about me list. Hmmm. I'm not all that interesting. Let's see what I can come up with.

1. I'm a bit of an insomniac. It didn't start until I turned 40. Getting older is so much fun.
2. I don't have a favorite color
3. I don't love to eat cupcakes but I love to stamp them!
4. I am a born and bred Minnesotan.
5. I thought I wanted to live in Florida when I was in college. I did an internship for 6 months in Tampa and changed my mind.
6. I have poor balance.
7. My son has excellent balance. I am in awe of this. (We always want what we don't have).

I need to tag more people:
1) My SBS2 sister, Maria of Stampin' Inspirations.
2) Marilyn of Stamp with Marilyn
3) Diane of ddnjoys2stamp.

I'm probably supposed to tag some more but that's all I have time for right now.
I've been working in my craft room and will have some things to show you once I have time to take the photos and post them. Tah for now!

Masculine horse

I made this card for the featured stamper challenge on the Great Swaps Girls blog. Lori Tecler, one of my SBS2 sister's is the featured stamper! Yippee! Lori is fabulously talented. Here is Lori's card I CASE'd. I am in need of more masculine cards for my card stash so that's what I worked on. I used my Wanted stamp set and the Western Sky designer paper. I LOVE this paper! What I changed from Lori's card is the colors, the designer paper and the stamp set.

Simple Sketch card

I made a very simple card for sketch number 44 on Sketches! by Tamara's blog. I love to do simple cards. They may not always get the oohs and aahs that WOW cards do but they have their place. This would make a great guy card. It's a 3x3 so you could slip it into a lunchbox, briefcase, or pocket of someone you love.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card swap

This is a card swap I did for Alex's card swap. It's been awhile since I've done a regular card swap. It will be good to get some new samples. I used the Doodle That stamp set for this. I brayered cardstock vellum with Tempting Turquoise ink. I let that dry(you can speed up the process with a heat gun). The classic ink does not dry instantly on cardstock vellum. Then I stamped with Versamark onto the brayered vellum and embossed with black embossing powder. Be sure to use your embossing buddy if you try this because that powder likes to cling where it's not supposed to. Then I cut out the flowers(3 of them per card) and colored in portions of it with my Tempting Turquoise marker. I put a crystal brad through the center and attached it the celery cardstock base with mini glue dots. The celery piece is stamped with the floral backgound and paper pierced around the edges.

Thanks for stopping by!

More ATC's

These are my Stampin' Up! ATCs for Kristina's swap. The hippo is stamped on watercolor paper and colored with my inkpads and aquapainter. There is dazzling diamonds glitter no the bow and crystal effects on the balloon. For the flowers I stamped the floral background stamp in pixie pink onto pretty in pink cardstock. I punched the smallest flower out of that with the boho blossoms punch. Then I punched out the middle flower of the boho blossom punch out of Pink Passion cardstock. The flowers on layered on each other with a silver brad in the middle.

It's a gorgeous day in Minnesota! I'm off to work at the Mission Carnival at my kid's school. It's a carnival that goes throughout the whole school(K-8th grade). All proceeds goes to a charity picked by the student council. The kids look forward to this all year. Happy Friday!

Once Upon a Barn Sale

My sisters are having a flea market and crafts sale today through Sunday, May 15-18.
They are joined in their spring flea market by several of their antiqueing friends and a vendor with Stampin' Up!(that'd be me!) supplies and cards. Once again, the barn is bursting with furniture, whimsical art, kitchenalia, fanciful things for the garden, and primitive pieces, along with stamping supplies and crafts. Whether you're looking for a project or a prize, you can find it here.

The sale runs Thursday, May 15, through Sunday, May 18. Hours are: Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

Location: 310 Wayside Road W., Hopkins, Minn., one block south of Hwy. 7 at Fifth Ave.

My altered items I have been showing here as well as some retired stamps will be for sale. There is also a HUGE annual garage sale on Saturday in this same neighborhood. It's definitely worth a visit!

It's ATC time!

My friend, Kristina, is hosting an ATC swap from a variety of stamp companies. This one is for the Cat's pajamas. I had to borrow Kristina's stamps for this since I don't own any. Wouldn't you know they have a cute cupcake! Teehee. To be honest I'm not a big ATC fan but when a friend asks you to be in a swap you do what you can. I have to admit it was fun working in this small medium.

Blogging with a Purpose

Marilyn from Stamp with Marilyn nominated me for this award. Thanks Marilyn, that was really sweet of you. Marilyn and I are regular visitors to each other's sites. I love to see what scrapbook pages and projects she's doing for her classes. She's a talented stamper!
Stop by her blog and check it out!

Now it's my turn to nominate some other bloggers I feel are worthy of this award. As always, it's tough to narrow it down. I'm going to start with Julie from Special Craft Mom of 4 blog. Julie is a very talented stamper and scrapper. Pop on by her blog.

Next up is Carol from Crazy for Crafting. She's a regular blogger and one of my SBS2 sistah's. She regularly does challenges and is a great blogging buddy.

My 3rd pick is Alex of California Stampin'. She's probably my most faithful and regular blog buddy. She is an avid blogger and fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I love to stop over at her blog to see what she's got cookin'

I could go on and on with more fellow bloggers but I'll leave it at that. Check out these wonderful blogger ladies' blogs.

Baby Boy

I combined a sketch challenge from GreatSwapsGirls blog and a color challenge from Kristina Werner's blog to put this card together.

Recipe:
Stamps: Nursery Necessities, Short and Sweet, Nursery Letters Jumbo Wheel
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue
Paper: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue
Other: 1/2" circle punch, 3/4" circle punch, stampin' dimensionals

I hope all of the mothers out there had a great Mother's day! I did. We went to church, out to eat at Applebees and then I had a nice relaxing day at home. Just what I needed after the hectic pace I've been keeping. My mom came over after dinner and stayed the night. We watched the Survivor finale. It was such good television! A great way to end my Mother's day.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Another altered project

I'm still altering projects. I could do this all day! I love to combine all of the little scrappin' goodies I have been accumulating into a beautifully coordinated altered item. I bought the felt flowers at JoAnn's I layered them on two punched out 5 petal flower punched flowers and topped with buttons with pink ribbon tied through them. I didn't spell out journal on this one. I liked it the way it was.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

Altered notecards

I picked these notecards up at the Target dollar spot(one of my favorite places!) awhile back. I didn't do much to them. I just stamped the cupcake image from Hero Arts and colored it in. I then punched it out with the 1 1/4" circle punch backed by a matching colore 1 3/8" circle punch and popped them up with stampin' dimensionals. I think these would make good guy cards to go along with gift bags.

I have my garage sale today. I worked all day and night on it yesterday and am just exhausted. Garage sales are a lot of work! Hopefully, the sales make it all worth while. That and unloading some stuff.

Thanks for stopping by!

I love to alter things!

I spent a good part of the day altering journals, photo albums, notecards, etc. This is one of my favorite things to do with my papercrafting supplies. I love to take an ordinary or even ugly item picked up at the dollar spot or somewhere and turn it into something beautiful. This journal came from the Target dollar spot last year. It started life with an ugly bow tied across the middle. I removed the bow, added the felt flower, tied ribbon around the coils, and added the "journal" letters with my cuttlebug alphabet. Now it looks like so much more. This gives me a reason to use all of that wonderful ribbon I have been collecting. It's so fun to come up with different combinations. I'm having a garage sale this Thursday, I am participating in an antiques sale next weekend, and a craft show at the end of the month so I will get plenty of chances to try to sell this and my other altered items.

Thanks for stopping by!

Scrap Your Crap challenge

When I read the challenge on the Scrap your Crap blog(Yep, that's really the name of it!) to make something with a craft supply they would send me I knew this was a challenge I wanted to participate in! I signed up for the challenge and patiently awaited the supply they would send me to use. One day an envelope arrived with this green paper lace in it. I immediately thought of my chick stamp set. I used it running across the middle of the page. I made a chick magnet to match. hehehe.
Go on and check out the other ladies' projects they made with this same paper lace.

Kissing Cousins

This page was based on a scrapbook sketch from Tamara of Sketches! by Tamara. She's having a National Scrapbook day sketch with Prizes. You better hurry if you want to join in.

These two cuties are my nieces. They are 2 and 3 years old. They enjoy each other so much and they tried their best to smile for the cameras. There were so many cameras pointed at them they didn't know where to look. This was on Easter. The scallop green paper is by Bazzil. The base is Cool Caribbean, a retired Stampin' Up! In Color. Like so many, I wish this was a permanent color in the Stampin' Up! lineup. The journal block is a stamp from the Enjoy Life stamp set from Stampin' Up!. I put gems on each scallop. It was kind of a pain but I think the results were worth it. The other embellishments are from a cupcake chipboard sticker set that was sold at Target around Valentine's day. I thought it worked well for this page.

I'm off to get a few things done. Have a great day!

Flower trio

This card was based on a sketch by Tamara from Sketches! by Tamara. The stamp set used is Embrace Life. I have seen many beautiful cards made with this stamp set but haven't sat down and used mine much. The long stemmed flowers were stamped with jetblack stazon on watercolor paper. I watercolored with Elegant Eggplant ink and Taken with Teal ink. The stems are watercolored with Old Olive. I then drew around the lines of the flowers with the corresponding marker color.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Thank you RAK's

I received a couple of thank you cards in the mail from fellow bloggers. The first one is from Nikki of Military Wife Stamping Spot. Isn't it gorgeous? I love the vellum buterfly wings, the colors, and the ribbon!

The second one if from Corie of Creations by Corie. I got this one quite awhile ago. I'm sorry I didn't post it sooner Corie! I just LOVE what Corie has done with this card! The coloring is fabulous and I LOVE how the distressed edges go just right with the image!

Thank you so much to both of you ladies! Hand-stamped cards mean so much!

Happy May day!

Or what's left of it. I have never been on the ball enough to bring may baskets to the neighbors. I have always wanted to but thought of it too late. This year I picked up some candy and made these cute baskets. These are so quick and easy! Seriously, I didn't start making these until the kids came home from school and I whipped up 10 of them in no time. In our eagerness to deliver them I forgot to take pictures of all of them. If you would like to see a tutorial for these baskets hop on over to Leslie Miller's blog. She's the creative genius who came up with this idea. I did make them a little bigger than her tutorial so we could fit enough goodies in there. Too fun!