This final post is the cake I created for any cards brought to the wedding. I created a slot in the lid of the top tier so the cards could be dropped in and they slid down to stack up in the middle tier. The roses were created using the table die setting die cut run through the big shot. The roses are Concord Crush, Black and Silver. I used Old Olive to create the leaves. I adhered the roses using a hot glue gun. I again used the Shimmery White cardstock to create the scallop around each layer. Pearls were added to the scallop edge and Sophia found a really neat strand of rhinestones that I glued on, the effect was simple, but what a difference it made on the overall project. The cake idea was found on Roxy's blog by the mother of the bride and I CASED it from there.

This is the wedding program I created for the wedding of my friends daugter. As I mentioned in a post a few days ago all items made for the wedding were a collaboration. It was created very similarly to the invitation for the rehearsal dinner. The paper is Shimmery White, embossed with the Elegant Lines embossing folder, silver ink and basic gray satin ribbon.

I am going to digress from stamping and brag about my daughter. Emma is an amazing girl who lives for cheer. The picture posted here is from a competition in Las Vegas during December 2011. Emma is an amazing jumper, as she says "it is her thing" and she is very proud of how she has perfected jumping. I as her proud mom am very proud of her composure and confidence while performing. This picture was snapped by a team mom, who while a professional, puts the venue photographers to shame, in my opinion.

Back in September of 2011 I got a phone call from a very nice lady asking if I did anything for weddings. I, of course, jumped at the chance to work on invitations to the rehearsal dinner, as well as party favors for the guests. I guess I did okay because then I was decorating the guest book, making wedding programs and creating a box for any cards brought by wedding guests. Over the course of the next few days I will show off pictures of the items we created. I say "we" because I may have created a prototype; but the mother of the bride, now a dear friend, and I collaborated on the final products together. Today I will show you the invitations and favors for the rehearsal dinner. The final result is simple and elegant.n The favor was created using Box #2, scallop punch to create the window, a little sparkle shred and hershey kisses, tied with a bow and a tag that says "Thank You". The saying was embossed with silver embossing powder. The card was created using Shimmery White paper, embossed using the Elegant Lines embossing folder, add a few pearls and using silver embossing powder stamped "Your Invited". I think they came out lovely and elegant.

It has been entirely too long since I last blogged. Life has been crazy with my day job. I vow to keep my posting up to date from this day forward. I hope that anyone that may have looked at my blog before will give me another chance and follow again. I have a busy calendar for the next few months with all of the holidays coming up. Have a wonderful week and watch for new postings with recent projects.

Annually the group I belong to "The Crazy Stamping Ladies" put on an all day event we call "Stamp til you Cramp!". Each attendee gets to spend the day stamping several projects. This past year we had four projects; each a set of cards and a coordinating card holder. Each demonstrator makes a gift for their customer. This year we made clipboards. I used the large scallop square die cut to create the clipboard. I took cardboard which I cut in approximately 5" squares. I used Sizzix adhesive sheets to adhere the Designers Series Paper. I then ran the stack through the Big Shot. I covered a binder clip with DSP using the adhesive sheets also. Tied on a ribbon; put it in a cello bag with some shimmery crinkle and gave it to my guests. I had several different colors based on my customers likes. They turned out really cute.

I'm going to digress a bit from my usual postings about papercrafting. I have to share how proud i am of my daughter and her cheerleading squad. They took 1st place at the National Championships in Dallas, Texas last weekend. It is quite an achievement for a California team to beat the pants off those squads from down south. I couldn't be prouder of her and the girls on her team; they were amazing!

My stamp club meets the third Friday of each month. Each month we make a card and a 3-D item. This month we made an owl "lovebird" card using the wonderful Designer Series Paper available for "FREE" out of the Sale-A-Bration catalog. We also used the Valentine Defined stamp set for the saying. I cased the card from Stampin' Connection and after oohing and aahing realized my sideline Heidi King had created the original. Great work Heidi. We then decorated a recycled tin in a vintage Valentine theme. We used the Newsprint Designer Series Paper which we shaded with Crumb Cake, then crumbled the paper to give the aged/vintage look. We used the wonderful Be My Valentine stamp to put the saying on the lid, the banner was placed over a heart punched out of our wonderful Glimmer paper. Everyone seemed to really like the projects. We start a new club cycle in February let me know if you would like to join us.

This year I helped my nephew Kyle make a Christmas present for his girlfriend Hayley. We started with a square wood frame from a local craft store. We used paint to finish all of the sides of the frame then adhered a piece of Candy Cane Designer Series Paper to cover the entire frame with ModgePodge. We shaded all of the sides of the frame with Baja Breeze Classic Stamp Pad ink. The poinsettia was created by stamping the leaf from Fall Foliage in Versamark and embossing it with clear powder. Kyle thought embossing was the coolest thing. Kyle cut all of the poinsettia leaves by hand. We layered the leaves on a circle using Stampin Dimensionals on the top layer to pop the leaves up. We finished off the flower with pearls. We also used the Fall Foliage leaf to create the leaves for the flower.

We also embossed with clear powder some of the trees in the Candy Cane DSP. We cut them out and popped them up on Stampin' Dimensionals. We finished the frame off with a bow made using Real Red satin ribbon and Organza ribbon. We added a red button tied with crochet thread. Kyle was thrilled with the finished product and Hayley loved the frame.

This card is cased from the Flowerbugs Inkspot blog. I saw it and fell in love with the idea. It is done in Soft Suede and Very Vanilla using satin ribbon and the Eyelet Border punch. The images are stamped in Soft Suede with the entire surface inked with Versamark and embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I gave it to my upline for Christmas and she loved the card. Unfortunately the picture doesn't do the card justice.

This is another card from my Christmas of Seasons Past card making class. We used the Snow Swirled stamp set, Purely Pomegrante, Always Artichoke and Whisper White stamp pads. The ribbon is satin in Purely Pomegrante. We embellished the tree with pearls or rhinestones.

Every year I hold Christmas card making classes that I call "Christmas of Seasons Past". I call it seasons past because we use retired Stampin' Up! products to make the cards. This card used Serene Snowflakes, I borrowed this set; but I certainly have to buy it as I love the beautiful snowflakes. We used Crumb Cake, Real Red and Very Vanilla. All the snowflakes were stamped in Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. The ribbon is Real Red grosgrain with Very Vanilla polka dots on the reverse side. I was very pleased with how this turned out.

I am sure by now everyone that is kind enough to view my blog is probably wondering why I haven't posted lately. I decided to enjoy time off over the holidays; be careful what you decide. Next thing I knew I came down with a really bad case of bronchitis. I'm still trying to get totally back on my feet. I have a lot of projects from December to post and Christmas cards from my "Holidays of Seasons Past". Thank you for your patience while I recover. I should be back posting soon.

I'm holding a "gift packaging" class this week at my home. The four packages shown above are those we will be making. Each attendee will leave with the packages ready for a holiday gift. I'm really pleased with how they came out. If you live in the Thousand Oaks area come join us.

My Advanced Card class this month made the two cards shown above. For my advanced class I try to design more involved, not necessarily difficult cards. We generally stamp the inside and/or emboss the envelope. The fall card was made using Paisley Prints and the sentiment from Grateful Greetings. We used Peach Parfait; Cajun Craze, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla. We accented the layers with Early Espresso Waffle paper. The picture doesn't really show but we took a negative image from the Leaves die cut as a stencil to create a background image on the card base. The leaves were cut by hand, popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals and tied with Linen Thread.

For the second card I used Greeting Card Kids stamped in Stazon Black ink on Watercolor paper. We used blender pens and ink pads in Blushing Bride, Real Red, Chocolate Chip and Baja Breeze to color in the design. This was my first time using Watercolor Paper and I must say I love the stuff. We used Candy Candy Christmas Designer Series Paper for the background. The Candy Cane Big Designer Button finished off the Real Red Satin Ribbon. The sentiment from Jolly Old Saint Nick is stamped in Real Red on Blushing Bride punched out with the Scallop Oval. Every layer of this card was shaded around the outside edge in a coordinating color. I was very pleased with how the card turned out.

At my October Cards, Cards, Cards class we made these three cards, two of each design. I finally met my goal of keeping them quick and easy; one huge challenge for me. We used Aviary, Word Play and French Foliage for the cards. The Aviary card was made using Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White. We topped the adorable bird cage off with an adorable rhinestone. For the Word Play card we used Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White. The Designer Series Paper came from the Paper Stack in Brights. I'm am really loving this new Designer Series Paper. The final card is done in River Rock, Early Espresso and Very Vanilla. The card is simple but elegant and taken straight from my Stampin' Success magazine. I was very happy with how they all turned out. This class is held the last Tuesday of every month try and join us some time.

My downline hosts a Stamp til you Cramp! event at least annually. At event this year we had five raffle baskets for attendees to win. Each raffle basket had a theme and my dear friend Martie won the "subtles" feminine basket. She was kind enough to give me this beautiful frame created by my sideline Heidi King. Heidi is the most amazing and creative woman I know; I aspire to have 1/10th of her creative abilities some day; you can view Heidi's work on her blog located at http://stampinking.blogspot.com. I embellished the picture with felt flowers and more of Stampin' Up!'s fabulous pearls. The beauty in the picture is my daughter Emma. The frame was created with Baja Breeze DSP; the stencil was completed using Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso inks.

This coming Saturday I will be hosting a Fall Stamp Camp. We will be making this banner; frame and luminaria. I'm very pleased with how they turned out and how they all coordinate. If you live in the Thousand Oaks area and would like to join please drop me a note to RSVP @ sandycreates@verizon.net.

This final project was a small bottle purchased at Michael's that we decorated with designer series paper. The witch is from Halloween Hoot and was stamped with Staz On black ink stamped on Whisper White cardstock. We cut it out by hand and mounted it with Stampin' Dimensionals on circles of Rich Razzleberry cardstock punched out using our 2 1/2 inch circle punch. We crinkled up the circle and sponged with Basic Black ink. We also punched a circle out of black Waffle paper that was crinkled behind the witch for affect. We finished off the bottle with black lace tied in a bow and black rhinestones.

Since I didn't want all of the projects to be creepy I came up with this cute little basket. It was created using the die cut scallop circle. After cutting I ran the pieces through the swiss dot embossing folder. Being the shadee ladee I, of course, shaded the pumpkin all around. I cut grass out of a strip of Old Olive cardstock which I clipped by hand with scissors. I stamped with Black Staz On ink on Whisper White cardstock the witch, pumpkin and cat from Fang-tastic. I received this set when I was a Make n Take helper at convention this year. What an experience. I finished off the pumpkin with a stem hand cut from Crumb Cake cardstock and curled Old Olive strips of cardstock to create the vines. We filled the basket with Hershey's Kisses in Halloween flavors.