Kid's Birthday Swap

Hi everyone,
I've worked on a card swap of birthday cards for kids. These are the cards I came up with. I used layouts I found on Stampin' Connection The card made with Under the Stars was CASEd from Kari Vertican. The card using Simple Birthday Thanks was made using the ideas of several wonderful demonstrators on Stampin' Connection but not one single card. I cut the words out of the middle of the stamp so that is how I got the plain blue wrapper for the cupcake. I cut each piece of the cupcake and pieced it together. Then I used the Crop-O-Dile to make the sprinkles.

I got to use the Blueberry Crisp Designer Series Paper on the cupcake card and I think it came out really well. You can use it for both a girl and a boy, I think. The other card turned out very cute by layering two colors of ribbon instead of paper strips like the original I saw.

I'm working on my January workshops and Stamp Camps today so hopefully I'll have more to post in the next couple of days.

Happy Stampin'

It's been a while

I apologize for not adding to my blog in such a long time. However, report cards are now finished, shopping is complete and I can post a couple of pictures showing our family Christmas card and our baking day. I hope 2011 allows me more time add the projects I'm doing to this blog. My goal for 2011 is to organize the stamping room and hope that my husband finishes my studio. I plan to be more consistent in updating the blog with fun projects. Wish me luck! What are your wishes for the coming year?

I'm so creative this weekend!

It must be the fall weather that has put me in the mood for creating. I've made two cards for my workshop next weekend and I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. One card is a based on a card by Barb Mann. She used the paint chip samplers from a home improvement store and I really wanted to try this. Her cards were so beautiful! She used Upsy Daisy on her cards. I just knew I had that stamp set but for the life of me I couldn't find it so I improvised and used Lovely as a Tree. I wasn't very sure if I would like the white trees but I think it turned out really well.

The other card was all mine. My customer wanted a Christmas card so at some point, this card just came to me. I wanted to showcase the Big Shot at her workshop and I went from there.

I also finished a set of cards made from a Simply Scrappin' kit. My sister always uses these for her cards but she likes it when I make the cards first, then she copies them--sisters! LOL

A friend asked me to make about 50 gift card holders for a craft show she's holding. I used a tutorial from Dawn Griffith to make this cute holder and it was so easy! Here's the link to her tutorial if you want to know how to do it. http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stampin_studio/2009/09/christmas-gift-card-video-.html


Now I'm working on two 6x6 scrapbooks for a colleague whose sons were both married last year. Let's see how far I get on those this afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stampin'!

My newest creations

I've made two cards for some friends to make tomorrow afternoon for fun. As I watch other blogs and what others are doing, I realize that my cards aren't very elaborate or even very ornate in most cases. I envy those with the time to do the elaborate cards and save them on Stampin' Connection so that when I have a few extra hours I can make some really great cards. However, as a full time teacher, I have to be able to make a card quickly and so do my friends. I've never had complaints about the cards I offer so I hope you like them as well.

The pumpkin card uses the masking technique and turned out very pretty. The Build A Bear card uses the Web embossing folder instead of layers. I love this folder--I can imagine some really cute scrapbook pages with this folder. Maybe that will be my task over track out in a couple of weeks. Let me know what you think!

Christmas Class

I'm excited to announce that I'm working on a Christmas class. We will be making the Advent calendar in the new mini catalog. The cost for the class will be $25. I will be placing the order on October 15 so sign up now! I got the photo from Terry Ransom on Stampin' Connection. She did this beautiful display and gave me a great opportunity to try it myself. Thanks, Terry!

The details are:

Advent Calendar Class
Saturday, Nov 13 1:00-4:00
My house
You must pre-register to attend

You can respond to this blog or email me directly at melindagoodwin@embarqmail.com

Hope to see a lot of you there!

While I use Stampin' Up! exclusively when I have workshops and when I make my cards for family and friends. However, I have a Cricut that I love and use it when I scrapbook. I wanted to share these cards because Audrey, my nine year old, helped me make these for a friend who volunteers for Make A Wish. They have a client headed to Disney World in a few weeks and they wanted to send her something to increase her excitement. Audrey and I spent Saturday night making these cards for a little girl who needs a smile. The truth is, they made me smile as Audrey and I laughed and picked out characters and colors. I wouldn't trade those hours for anything.
As a side note, everything is SU! except for the characters that were cut with the Cricut. Hope you can share a smile with someone special today, tomorrow and in the future!
Have a great week!
Melinda :)

Christmas Card Swap

Here is the card I made for a card swap with my friend, Amy. It's very simple but very easy to make. I'm planning on using this set for my Christmas cards--maybe this will be the card! Hope you enjoy it.

A workshop this weekend

I have a workshop scheduled this weekend for a friend of mine. She's a former teacher and now stay at home mom. She's having some friends over for an afternoon of fun. These are the cards we're making. Hope they like them!

I CASEd the cards from excellent demonstrators on Stampin' Connection. Thanks to Kathryn E Gallant for the Crazy for Cupcakes card. I changed the colors but couldn't resist the layout! Thanks also to Jennie Maier for the punch card. I wanted to use the Tiny Tags set but for the life of me couldn't create a thing! This card was perfect and hopefully a good upselling point at Lisa's party on Sunday afternoon. :)
Let me know what you think!

PS For those of you following me, I'm trying to get through the list. I'll get there eventually, please be patient with me.

Finally!

It has been one of those weeks--or several weeks! At midnight, I finished the other card for my stamp camp today. I used several cards to make this one, so I don't know all of the names of the of the people I kind of CASEd from. It needs a little bling, but I couldn't decide what to use that didn't seem too much. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

If you haven't realized it yet, my style is more quick and simple. Because I'm a full time teacher, I don't have a lot of time to make my cards and scrapbook pages. My cards seem to be very simple--not nearly as elaborate as a lot of the cards I see on other blogs. Anyway, stamp camp is at 2:00 today so hopefully the girls will have fun!

More projects

As promised, here's the owl with the wings--thanks again, Jean, for helping me with this. The other is a tag I CASEd from the Idea Book and Catalog on page 155. My best friend, Amy Parker, and I are doing classes for our local recreation department starting in September. This is the tag we decided to make. Amy is making the box--she's really good at things like that. We have one more project but haven't decided on it exactly yet. Wish us luck!

I know how to make the wings!

Thanks to Jean from Stampin' Connection, I know how to make the wings on the owl--with the bird punch! How simple is that? I'll post the picture of the owl card with his wings when we get back from Pigeon Forge.

I finally got to stamp!

OK--the transition from first grade to kindergarten was a little more time consuming than I thought. I finally found time today to get into the stampin' room and create something--anything!

I came up with three cards that were all CASEd from someone else so let me make sure I give credit where credit is due. The cute snail card uses Bugs and Kisses and is a very simple version of one I saw by Julie Wadlinger. She used DSP on her shells and it was beautiful but I only had a little time so I used the markers to color each shell before stamping.

The other Bugs and Kisses card was designed by Denise Kasanda. I changed all of the colors on my card just experimenting with the new color coach. I love that tool!

My owl card was CASEd from Melanie Kiechle. My only problem is that I can't decide how to make the wings on the owl in the middle look like he's flying. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know--my cutting didn't quite look right.

Well, that's the post for today. We're off to the mountains in Tennessee for the week so hopefully next weekend I'll get those scrapbook pages I told you about posted as well. Thanks for looking!

I'm behind!

I am so sorry for not posting in the past few weeks. Our new school year has started and after 24 years in first grade, I've headed to Kindergarten! Who knew five year olds could make you sooo tired? Anyway, no crafting has taken place at my house the last two weeks but I hope to get back into next week. We track out on Friday, July 30th and so I should have some time over track out to make some cards. I will try to post some scrapbook pages I've been working on. Thanks for looking!

It's taken all day but I've got the cards for our Stamp Camp next Friday night. The monthly Stamp Camp is usually the first Friday of each month but it was the holiday weekend so I moved it to next week, July 9th.

The cards are both CASEd (copy and stamp everything) from two very talented demonstrators named Tammy Bendel and Ilina Crouse. I got the ideas from them on our exclusive demonstrator site called Stampin' Connection. If you would like to become a demonstrator and find great ideas like these, be sure to let me know. I'd love to talk with you about the opportunity.

Be sure to RSVP by Wednesday, July 7th if you're planning to attend. Hope to see you there!

Cards for Kids

Next Saturday, July 10th, at 2:00 at my house, Amy Parker and I will be teaming up to make Cards for Kids at the Rex Children's Hospital. We will use the Build A Bear dies and big shot to make a card and a bear with two outfits for the children to dress his/her bear. Come join us for an afternoon of giving back to our community. Please RSVP by Wednesday, July 7th. Hope to see you then!

The New Catalog is here!

The new catalog is here and it's great! There are lots of new stamp sets, colors and accessories to match! I've got the picture posted and the link works so that you can jump right in!

Get a catalog from me before the end of July and receive free shipping on your July order of $20 or more. Have a workshop and get the catalog for FREE plus free product with a qualifying workshop. Contact me today to set up a date!

I'll post next week's Stamp Camp samples tomorrow so you can see what we're making. Have a great Fourth of July!

I would like to post some recent cards I made for baby gifts. It seems that a lot of the young teachers at school are starting families so I gave each of them cards as a gift. Let me know what you think of them.

I'm going online!

Welcome to Melinda's Stampin' Fun!

I am engaging in this new adventure of blogging a little reluctantly. Do I really have time for this? Can I give you ideas that you can and will use?

Please be sure to post comments to help me make this blog user friendly and beneficial. I will try to post our Stamp Camp cards each month and any special events being held. I look forward to getting started on this adventure.