Busy Week

I know it's been a week since I posted, but I've been busy and not really with stamping.  I've been busy with my other job of cake making.  I made this cake last weekend.  I wanted to get a picture of it with the cake topper, but unfortunately it wasn't brought when the cake was picked up.  Maybe my friend Myrna got me one since she is the mother/mother-in-law of the couple who celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.  Happy 25th Vickie and Scott!

I did get time to finish a card that I had started several days ago.  I was using some new product from the Holiday Catalog.

I don't have time right now to give details, but if you'd like to know please feel free to leave a comment here, message me on my SU Facebook page www.facebook.com/stampinwithrenee or send me an email ibecakes@airadv.net

I have a wedding cake to finish today and I am also doing some make and takes out at the Thumb Gospel  Music Weekend at Bay Shore Camp in Sebewaing today.  I'll be there from 1-3 in the Family Center if you'd like to stop by.  3 cards for $5.

Hope to post again before the weekend is over.

Blessings,

Renee



A Little Elegance for Today

Do you ever get the longing to be fancy or elegant?  I know I did as a little girl and even now once in awhile I find myself dreaming about what it would be like to travel to lovely places like Paris and London.  Have high tea with the Queen.  Ok, maybe I watched a little too much Olympics.  LOL!

The cards I'm sharing with you today remind me of such places.  The stamp set is Artistic Etchings.

The Certainly Celery round piece is cut from the Delicate Doilies Sizzlet.  Background is the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  The words are from the set Loving Thoughts and just cut out freehand.

This second one uses the same embossing folder, the Finishing Touches Edgelit and the Labels Colletion Framelits.

Of course I had to use the Adhesive Backed Rhinestones on both.  What would an elegant girl be without her jewels? *grin*

So this brings me to the end of my "scrap" cards I have made so new creating must begin.

Blessings to you for a great day!

Renee



In Color Butterflies

I don't know about you, but I am just loving the In Colors for this year.  They just seem so rich to me and they all coordinate so well together.  I've used the new Elegant Butterfly punch again.  This was a punch I didn't think I really needed, but am so happy I got.  I love the details so much better than the old butterfly punch.  Colors used here are Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Summer Starfruit and good old Marina Mist.  That was actually the start of my card.  I had the Marina Mist piece already embossed with the Fancy Fan embossing folder.  I don't know if you can tell, but I used the debossed side of the Marina Mist since I wanted the butterflies to really pop.  The base was embossed with Delicate Designs embossing folder (that's the 2 folders that are narrow).  Just ran the base of the card through twice to get the two sides embossed.  And what would butterflies be without some bling.  Love the Adhesive Backed Rhinestones.  As you can see from this card I am really loving those Itty Bitty Banners and Bitty Banners Framelits since I've used them again here.

Well that's all for now.  I didn't get time to do any stamping today, but hopefully tomorrow I can break out some more of the new Holiday Mini things I have to share with you.

Blessings

Renee

Sharing......

I had told you if you made a card recently using your stamping stuff that you haven't used in awhile to share with me and I'd share on my blog.  Well my good friend Pam took me up on it.  She said I'd been inspiring her to get creative with her stamping stuff that she hasn't used in awhile.  She sent me this picture of this card so as promised I'm sharing it with you.  I'm not sure of the stamp sets.  I know they are SU, but they are older ones and the names just are not coming to me.  Pam has been a hostess/customer for years so I know she has lots of stamps.  These may have even been hostess exclusive ones if I'm not mistaken.  I recognize that DSP though.  That was from this past years SAB and the felt pieces are from some felt pieces we carried awhile back.  Yes, my memory is failing me.  Oh no!  Your card is beautiful Pam and thanks so much for sharing.

The other thing I wanted to share today is some thank you cards I made this week.

I used the Friendship Perserves set again along with the Window Frames Framelits.  These are stamped in Elegant Eggplant.  I just typed Eggplant Envy and had to change it.  How many of you remember Eggplant Envy?  That's been awhile ago.  The background of the card was embossed with the new Woodgrain embossing folder.  Very simple in design, but I thought they were cute.

Blessings,

Renee 

Here's some YUM!

How about some YUM?  This idea came from our demonstrator news magazine.  They had used some of what looked like Bridge Mix candy (which I didn't have and if I did I probably wouldn't have had enough to photograph it because Bridge Mix is my favorite).  So if you ever want to get me something special that would be it.  Just thougth I'd throw that out there.  LOL!  I made the belly band using the new set from the Holiday Catalog called Friendship Preserves and the Window Frames Colletion Framelits to cut it out.  These are just a great shape  The More Mustard piece was cut out using the Apothocary Framelits. I then used the paper piercing templates Festive and the Essentials.  These templates are a must have and at only $7.95 a three piece set they are quite the deal.  You can get the Friendship Preserves set in a bundle with the Window Frames Collection for 15% off.  I'm telling you that you really need these.  They will make your paper crafting so much fun.  These dies can be used not only in the Big Shot, but in other die cutting machines as well.

Here is a side shot.  I covered Hershey Nuggets with the Orchard Harvest DSP and put them in our small cello bags.

And because I am super nice and want to keep you all happy. "wink"  I'll share another card I made.

The flower was made from the Summer Smooches DSP and the Blossom Punch and the petals on the inside are made using the Modern Lable Punch and punching 4 to layer on top.  Cool huh?  Isn't it neat how they match?  I cut the white piece using the Finishing Touches Edgelits and the Happy Birthday with the Bitty Banners Framelits.  The background was embossed with the New Argyle Folder.  The colors are Pool Party and Island Indigo.  I'm really sorry that the colors aren't showing up very well.  These cards I've been sharing are really much better in person.  What to see them in person?  Book a workshop with me and you can see them all up close and personal like.  Just let me know what date you'd like to have your party.  My calender has lots of open dates.

Well thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comments and your emails.  You are all too sweet.

Blessings,

Renee



Using More Scraps

I'll share a couple more scrap cards with you today.  And yes, my scraps do pile up after awhile so that's why I'm still sharing those cards.  I will be sharing new Holiday Catalog cards later this week so keep coming back.  If you have any questions as to what was used here please let me know, but it should be pretty much self explanatory.

Thanks again for stopping by and thanks too for all those who have left comments on my blog as well as on Facebook.  They really do make my day and mean a lot.

Blessings,

Renee



Blooming with Floral Frames

I had a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock on my workspace that I had stamped with the Blooming with Kindness stamp set and I had smudge a couple of areas and just threw it aside, so I looked at it and wondered what I could do with it.  The smudges were in weird places and I had even let it touch the corner of an ink pad so it sort of had a bleeding mark on it.  You know me, can't just throw it away.  I know, I'll cut it using my new Floral Frames Framelits and see what I get.  I loved it  and then I started to layer.  Cut the second flower from a piece of Primrose Petals, the third from  the center of the first flower I cut and then another Primrose Petals piece.  You can't even tell that they were cut from the centers, can you?  I then sponged around all pieces, used some dimensionals on a couple of layers and added an In Color Dahlia (Raspberry Ripple) to the center.  Then layered on a square 4 1/2" square Raspberry Ripple card layer.  The ribbon is Crumb Cake Seam Binding and I attached the little tag from the Little Labels Punch Pack/stamp set with a safety pin from the Vintage Trinkets.

Thanks for stopping by and as always everything you see here can be purchased through my stampin' store at www.reneeond.stampinup.net or I can take care of you as well.

Blessings,
Renee

Field Flower Thanks

As I'm typing this it is actaully Friday, August 10.  I was reading where another SU demonstrator has her blog postings done and ready to go from now until the end of the month and I thought WOW!  What an overachiever!  LOL!  Really I have tried several times to get my posts done ahead of time and have them scheduled and I do well for awhile and then......well if you've followed my blog for very long you know what happens....LIFE!  So today I thought I'd get a few posts done up ahead of time and see how it goes.....again!  I'm sharing here another scrap type card and will be with the next few posts as well.

The card base was already embossed, the flowers were stamped and die cute as well and the sentiment had been punched too.  The only piece I cute out to finish this card was the Tangerine Tango Apothocary die cut.  Oh and I did the paper piercing.  Love, love the look of paper piercing.  Isn't it amazing what you can do with stuff that you have previously tossed aside?  Really love doing this.  It gets my creative juicies flowing.  Give it a try and if you come up with something let me know by sharing on your blog and giving me the link or if you don't have a blog email it to me at ibecakes@airadv.net and I'd be glad to share it here and give you credit.

Happy Saturday Blessings,

Renee



Baja Butterflies

It's a cold rainy day here in the Thumb of Michigan.  Yeah we've needed the rain, but this is the second day and tomorrow promises more too.  Yuck!  Not really Summer like weather.  It seems more like Fall and it's way too early for that.

So since it was raining yesterday I sat down and made some cards while I was cleaning off my work area.  I get little piles of stuff that I've stamped, cut, embossed, etc...and then the pile finally drives me crazy and I have to do something with it.  Believe it or not that is probably when I make some of my best cards or at least I think so.  It forces me to really use my imagination and I try and limit myself to those pieces for the main parts of the card.  This first one I'm sharing with you today is my favorite.  I used one of my fav colors and the new stamp set Papillon Potpourri.  I just had to look up what the word Papillon meant because I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it had to do with butterflies.  So here is the definition of it:

pap·il·lon/ˌpäpēˈyôn
Noun: A dog of a toy breed with ears suggesting the form of a butterfly.

Ok I guess I now get it but I think that really took some imagination on someones part to come up with that name.  Well without further ado here is the card.

The two Baja Breeze pieces and the embossed edge piece were my starting points.  Then there was a scrap of the Comfort Cafe DSP laying by my paper cutter.  As I was getting ready to layer the pieces I knew that the Baja Breeze die cuts needed some paper piercing.  Oh no!  I don't have that piercing template yet.  Oh wait, yes I do!  UPS pulled right up at that moment and that was in my SU order so I could finish the card.  I am so tickled with how this turned out that I think I'll make another one just because I can. *wink*

Have a great Friday!
Blessings,
Renee

A Cup of Happy Birthday?

Sometimes I find it so hard to come up with a blog post title and other times it just flows so that is the reason for my ? mark today.  I've been struggling all week to get a post done or for that matter a card ready to post.   I took my dad on Monday and the rest of this week there have been no doctor appointments for me to take anyone to.  That's right 3 days in a row with no appointments or have to's and my fung shway is all off kilter.  LOL!  It's rather cool and rainy here today and will be for the next couple of days the weather man is saying so I'm glad that I did take the day on Tuesday and enjoyed our pool.  We keep it heated with our outdoor woodstove so technically it is warm enough most of the time to swim, but without that sun.......well you get the picture.  If it sounds like I'm rambling, well yes I am.  I'm not always sure what people want in a blog post since I get very few comments, but sometimes I feel the need to ramble.  Sort of therapy maybe?  I've been reading a blog lately that has nothing to do with stamping, just random thoughts this person has and I've been finding it refreshing.  He doesn't care if anyone reads it.  He writes for himself and if others enjoy it so be it.  I actually like his quirkiness in his posts. 

So if you've stayed with me thus far I do have a project to show you.  Our Holiday "mini" catalog made it official appearance on Aug 1 and I finally was able to order some things since I hadn't had the money to do a demo preorder like I usually do.  I wanted to make a card and not have it be a Christmas card and this is what I came up with.

I think this card is fairly masculine.  What do you think?  I used the new stamp set called Scentsational Season and cut it out using the Holiday Collections Framelit Dies.  You can buy these two items separately or you can buy them in a bundle and save 15%.  There are several bundles in this Holdiay catalog.  You can check out the catalog by clicking on the catalog icon to the left on this blog or visit my stampin' store and view items there as well.  And if you are viewing them there you can put them in a cart and make your purchase right there.  Of course you can always call or email me and order directly from me as well.

I got this color combo....Cherry Cobbler, Midnight Muse and Bashfull blue from the Color Coach and then added in the Soft Suede.  Oh and the button is from the Naturals Designer Buttons.  These buttons look like wood.  The ribbon is the 7/8" Cotton Ribbon from the Holiday catalog.  This ribbon has a fine cotton texture that is stampable.  If you want to know anymore please leave me a comment and I'll try and answer in my next post.

Wow another long post!  Are you tired?  LOL!  Thanks for stopping by.

Blessings,

Renee



Triple Time Stamping

Well another Monday has arrived or should I say will arrive tomorrow as I am typing this post on Sunday night to post tomorrow.  If you are reading this in the morning, yes even early morning I am on my way to take my dad to his radiation oncologist appointment.  We have to be there before 8:00 a.m. and we live about an hour away so morning is going to come pretty early.

I made this card over the weekend.  It's a technique I've been wanting to try for quite some time, but just hadn't gotten around to it.  It's called triple time stamping and I first saw it HERE.  I've since seen many others do this technique.  It's really neat how easy it is to do and actually how quickly it  is to stamp, but it's certainly a WOW!  Watch Dawn's video for the full instructions.  She does a great job.  We will be doing this at an upcoming class.  Look for details of my fall classes coming soon.  I'm just trying to see what my dad's treatment schedule will be and I should know that after tomorrow.

Well that's all for now.  Maybe I will get another post done tomorrow afternoon if we get home early enough.  I know there are a few of you out there who look for my posts and I'm sorry I haven't been doing my regular postings like I would like to.  I hope you understand.  I do love what I do and I love to share and inspire you.

Blessings,

Renee

An Inspired Project

Well I found some inspiration from a Facebook picture that a friend had posted this morning and I just have to share what I made.  First here's the inspiration.....

This is an old style camping trailer that they did a makeover on.  You should see all the pictures.  Unbelievable I'm telling you and so stinkin' cute!!!  I just can't get over it.  I want one!  Well after seeing the pictures I set out to make something using this as my inspiration.  And this is what I came up with....

My hubby brought me this package of Good & Plenty's, but I really don't like licorice so I wanted to make something cute out of it.  I'll just give it away.  Anyone like licorice?  The ribbon goes completely around the box on the inside and when you pull the ribbon up comes the candy box.  Cool huh?

Well I better get this posted before my computer acts up again.  I've been having a little trouble with it lately.  Hope it's not anything major starting.

Blessings,
Renee

Free day.......of sorts

Today I didn't have to be anywhere or take anyone to an appointment so I had planned to actually spend the day in our pool, but the weather wasn't very warm this morning and then it was overcast and tried to sprinkle off and on most of the day even after it warmed up so I headed to the stamp room instead.  I had quite a few things to catch up on.  I had an order to place for a few customers who wanted things from the Holiday Catalog and of course I hadn't placed my order so I did that as well.  I also had a few cards to get out, a package to send to a demo who recently suffered a house fire and of course I had some bills to pay.  Ugh!  It felt good to get that stuff done and off my list.  Things have just been too busy and I'm actually off tomorrow to another medical appointment with my dad.  He will be having a Pet Scan tomorrow and then the radiation oncologist on Monday.  He saw the medical oncologist on Tuesday and the doctor was amazed that his GP doc had caught this cancer in such an early stage considering he only had slight anemia and no other symptoms.  He said he probably would have only prescribed iron pills since he had no other symptoms and wouldn't have ordered the scope that discovered this lymphoma.  We are truly praising God for this early detection. 



So enough of my day, here is the stamping.  I believe I cased these cards from fellow demo Lyssa Zwolanek, but I'm not sure.  It's been awhile since I made these.  The first one uses the Everything Eleanor stamp set.

This one uses the set Blooming with Kindness.  Both monochromatic cards and very simple, but beautiful none the less.  Stampin'Up! stamps make it so easy to create beautiful projects.

Don't forget that the Holiday Catalog is now out and items are available for purchase.  You can shop my demo website at www.reneeond.stampinup.net anytime and place an order or you can contact me direct.  You can view a pdf version of the catalog by visiting my blog www.stampinwithrenee.blogspot.com or if you'd like a hard copy and haven't received one from me please let me know and I'd be happy to send you one.

And last but not least don't forget that MDS2 has been released. If you have the regular MDS you can update to MDS2 for just $19.95 or if you bought it this spring/summer you will get the update for free.  Don't know anything about MDS or would like to try it?  You can try it free for 30 days by going to my website www.reneeond.stampinup.net and ordering the 30 day free trial.  What are you waiting for?  Give it a try.

Ok, it's been sort of a long post, but I hope you've enjoyed what I've shared.  Until next time...........happy stamping!

Blessings,

Renee