Stay Tuned....

I just wanted to tell you that I AM GOING TO CONVENTION!!!!!!!!! I registered this morning for the event in Salt Lake City in August. I am so excited I just had to tell you.

Now I have to go finalize and submit our taxes. Tomorrow is college orientation for our daughter and then I can get back to some serious stamping.

So stay with me and check back for some creativity!!

Thanks for stopping by,
~Barbara

Happy Easter

Good Sunday morning to all my peeps in blogging land. I hope you enjoy the blessings of a Happy Easter with the ones you love. This morning I made breakfast for the family before everyone headed off to work. We had some family time together, I love it when we can all sit down and enjoy a meal together.

I wanted to share a card to celebrate today! I made this card for a NMBS swap last month.















Stamps: Wagon Full of Fun
Paper: Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Delicate Dots DSP (SAB), YoYo Yellow
Ink: Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, Almost Amethyst
Access: SU! Markers: Ballet Blue, Regal Rose, Lovely Lilac, YoYo Yellow, Summer Sun; Soft Subtles Buttons, Embroidery Floss, Certainly Celery Ribbon, Dimensionals, Aqua Painter, Glue Dots
Tools: Big Shot, Texturz Plate, Eyelet Border Punch, Word Window Punch

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~Barbara

Dazzling Divas First Meeting

April Downline Meeting...This was the first month of my "new" downline meeting group. It consists of my downline and two SU! demonstrators that joined us, but are not in my downline. We are re-organizing after two demonstrators separated from our group last month and formed a new group with their downlines.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and great conversation. This was a chance to talk and make plans for our "new" group. First off, we needed a name for our group...DAZZLING DIVAS...was a unanimous decision. There were 5 in attendance. Vicki & I provided the Make& Take project, (see post HERE). Pam presented a 3 minute demonstration on using Classic Ink and Stampin' Around Wheels to create designs on ribbon, (see post HERE). The most exciting thing comes at the very end...SWAPPING. This month's swap theme was Any Occasion Cards, you can see all the swap cards in this post below.

Vicki & I made these adorable little bunny boxes for everyone and had them waiting at each place setting. We used the rounded top box, (template and gallery shown HERE ) as the base. Then added the bunny face and feet which was inspired by Sandi MacIver on SCS.



















Stamps: Simple Friendship, A Good Egg
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Sweet Always DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink
Access: Black Brads, Crystal Rhinestone Brad, Pink Taffeta Ribbon, Sponge Dauber, Dimensionals, Pop-up Glue Dots, Sticky Strip
Tools: Small & Wide Oval, 1/4" Circle, 1" Circle, Heart-to-Heart Punches, Paper Piercing Tool

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~Barbara

Dazzling Divas Swap Cards

Swapping is one of the highlights of our meetings. Here are the cards everyone made for our swap. I hope you will be inspired by them. If you choose to use any of these cards for inspiration, please give the original designer credit.

Pam's card



















Vicki's card














Grace's card



















Anita's card















My swap card














Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Three Little Words
Paper: Basic Black, Baja Breeze, Urban Oasis DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss
Access: Baja Breeze Double Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, Black Brads
Tools: 1/16" Hole Punch, Horizontal Slot Punch, Paper Snips

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~Barbara

Dazzling Divas Make and Take and 3 Minute Demo

Here is the Make & Take project Vicki & I came up with for everyone to make at our meeting. This card uses the Curly Label Punch and Cheep Talk Stamp Set.



















Stamps: Cheep Talk, Cute & Curly
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Whisper White, Good Morning Sunshine DSP
Ink: Pacific Point, Chocolate Chip
Access: Gold Brads, Dimensionals, Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Curly Label, Scalloped Circle, 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" Circle Punches, Paper Piercing Tool

Pam presented a 3 minute demonstration using Classic Ink with the Stampin' Around Wheels to create designs on ribbon. She also showed us how to make a small hanger out of a paper clip, (see previous post for her card and the small hanger). Thanks Pam for sharing with us.



















Ribbon Samples using Wheels and Classic Ink.















Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~Barbara

More beautiful cards.....

I received more "smiles" in the mail and I just have to share them with you. Thank you for making us smile at this very difficult time.

From Diane Dechaine















From Nancy Riley



















From Stacy (Twinshappy on SCS)



















From Cheri Tuma



















From Anita Hager



















Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!

Beautiful Cards I received

At a time of sadness, it is so great to receive "smiles" in the mail. Here are the hand-stamped cards I received since my mother-in-law passed away. Please know each card made me smile when I opened the envelope.

From Pam Hegarty



















From Rita Ritacco



















From Lorri Heiling














From Ginny Schembri



















Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!

My Sweet Mother-in-Law

Today was a very sad day for our family. We had to say goodbye to my husband's mother, Gloria Thomas, aka Nana to her grandchildren. She has been sick for a while with heart disease and respiratory disease, but rapidly declined within the past 6 weeks. She passed away Monday, 3/30 at 1:19 pm. We were all there with her when she took her final breath. Although we are all very sad, we know she is no longer suffering.

Here is a picture of her on her 81st birthday in September of 2008.



















Thank you to everyone who offered up a prayer for her to ease her pain and for our family. I really appreciate it.

Thanks for stopping by.
~Barbara

NMBS Challenge #37

Be Inspired.....
Today I hosted the challenge on the NMBS group blog. Inspiration is the theme, find something either around your home or from a store while shopping that you can use for inspiration to create a card.

My Sample:
















I found the tumblers at Target and immediately thought of the Good Morning Sunshine DSP. I made a card using the DSP as my background and took the colors from that to complete the card. Hope you like it.

Stamps: Trendy Trees
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Good Morning Sunshine DSP, Pink Passion, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Pink Passion, Kiwi Kiss
Access: Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Kiwi Kiss Corduroy Buttons, Dimensional Adhesive, Glue Dots

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~Barbara

Saturday Sale-A-Bration Stamping

Elegant Blooms
I had such a great time stamping on Saturday with my best friend Vicki. She wanted to play with the Botanical Blooms SAB set, and I just wanted to do some stamping. We always come up with great creations when we are together stamping. So we searched blogs and galleries and found some inspiration. We made four cards using this awesome set. Hope you like them.
The first card is our design, we were inspired by Lisa (Creative Cucina), her use of pearls and the sentiment. I used the NEW Matchbox Die with Labels to cut the layer for the stamped sentiment & image from Great Friend.















Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Great Friend
Paper: Regal Rose, Raspberry Tart DSP, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Kiwi Kiss
Access: Pearls, White Organza Ribbon, Dimensional Adhesive, Glue Dots, Sponge Dauber
Tools: Big Shot, Matchbox Die

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~Barbara

Baja Blooms

Botanical Blooms
This is another of my favorite color combos and the Parisian Breeze DSP. I was inspired to use Christine's (Christine Creations) idea for this card, only making a few changes to her original design.



















Stamps: Botanical Blooms
Paper: Parisian Breeze DSP, Baja Breeze, Kraft, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Basic Black, Baja Breeze & Kiwi Kiss re-inkers
Access: Aqua Painter, Dimensional Adhesive, Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon
Tools: Eyelet Border Punch, Large Oval, Paper Piercing Tool

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~Barbara

Dimensional Blooms

Botanical Blooms and Yummy combine to make this card so sweet. I got the idea from Trisha_Dawn on SCS. I used the Flourishes Texturz Plate on the Regal Rose and lightly sponged the entire surface to bring out the embossed images.















Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Yummy
Paper: Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, Regal Rose
Access: Kiwi Kiss Stain Ribbon, Dimensional Adhesive, Sponge Dauber
Tools: Big Shot, Flourishes Texturz Plate

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~Barbara~

Watercolor Blooms

Botanical Blooms
This card was inspired by Creative Daze. I used different colors and changed the layout a little.



















Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Great Friend
Paper: Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss, Regal Rose, Raspberry Tart DSP, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss reinker, Rose Red Watercolor Crayon
Access: Aqua Painter, Black Brads, Rose Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensional Adhesive
Tools: Big Shot, Matchbox Die, Mini Dot Texturz Plate, Paper Piercing Tool

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~Barbara

Thursday Stamping Fun

I had some time to stamp on Thursday with my best friend Vicki, who needed some stamping therapy after getting laid off from her job on Monday. My husband was out of town, so she came to stay from Wednesday thru Friday. She helped me put together the Big Shot Sampler Book (in my previous post) on Wednesday night and we finished it on Thursday morning. Then we got down to stamping.
Here is our first card. We used some new SU! goodies from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog that we were able to pre-order. One of the many perks of being a SU! demonstrator is being able to pre-order before the release date!!















Stamps: Great Friend
Paper: Pacific Point, Whisper White, Garden Green, Printed Window Sheets
Ink: Pacific Point
Access: Pacific Point Corduroy Buttons, White Tafetta Ribbon, Glue Dots
Tools: Large Oval and Scalloped Oval Punch, 1/8" Hole Punch

If would like to join my SU! team, contact me for more details!

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~~Barbara

CASE'ing the Catalog

Our second card from Thursday is a CASE from the new SU! catalog.
Vicki and I both loved this card. Without a stamp set to use for the tree, I cut the tree trunk and branches freehand from Chocolate Chip.



















Stamps: Always
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Whisper White
Ink: Old Olive, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip
Access: Silver Brad, Buttons Latte, Dimensional Adhesive
Tools: Big Shot, Texturz Plates Backgrounds 1, Circle Punches

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~~Barbara

Big Shot Sampler Book

I participated in a Big Shot Swap with robinsmail3 on SCS, send in 65 cuts and receive a sample cut from all of the dies that SU! sells. This was an awesome way to get a sample of each one. I decided to put all of them in a book to show my customers. Kristen Perry on SCS posted some sample pages and these were a major help in completing my book. I printed each page on Whisper White Cardstock and secured the negative and positve images of each die using SNAIL adheisve. I have them in order as they appear in the SU! catalog with the exception of the Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions and the Textured Plates which I wanted in the front.
Here is what I came up with. I hope you like it.

Cover of Book



















First page - Textured Impressions



















Two page spread from my book












Let me now what you think.

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~~Barbara

NMBS New Catty Swap - Part Two

As I promised yesterday, here are 2 more cards I designed for the NMBS group swap. I hope you like what I came up with. I am loving all the new sets.

MAN'S BEST FRIEND
This swap card is 4-1/4" square. I stamped the fire hydrant onto the Whisper White. I stamped the image again on a separate piece of Whisper White, cut it out and adhered it over top the stamped image with dimensional adhesive. I also used dimensional adhesive to adhere the ovals.

















Stamps: Man's Best Friend
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Riding Hood Red DSP Prints, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Gable Green
Access: Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Apricot Appeal Brads, Dimensional Adhesive, Aqua Painter
Tools: Small & Large Oval Punch, Three For You Punch, Paper Snips, 1/16" Hole Punch


SIMPLE FRIENDSHIP
I love these colors together. It is hard to see in the picture, I used the NEW Flourish Texture Plate for the background on the Whisper White and Basic Gray. The butterfly was stamped on a separate piece of Whisper White and cut out, and flat mounted on the Whisper White layer. The Cameo Coral layer and the sentiment are adhered with dimensional adhesive.



















Stamps: Simple Friendship
Paper: Cameo Coral, Basic Gray, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Gray, Cameo Coral
Access: Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Silver Brads, Dimensional Adhesive
Tools: Big Shot, Flourish Texture Plate, Horizontal Slot Punch, Paper Snips, 1/16" Hole Punch

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~~Barbara

NMBS New Catty Swap - Part 1

The swaps are now postal coming back to me, so I think it is safe to post my cards that I designed for this swap.

FIFTH AVENUE FLORAL
I love these colors together. I stamped the large flower twice on Whisper White with Basic Black ink. Using the paper snips, cut out one full flower image and flat mount that onto the DSP layer. Cut out the second image, and cut away the outer petals. I used dimensional adhesive to adhere this over the first image.















Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Holidays & Wishes
Paper: Basic Black, Baja Breeze, Urban Oasis DSP, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze
Access: Black Brads, Baja Breeze Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensional Adhesive
Tools: Paper Snips, Horizontal Punch, 1/16" Hole Punch

GARDEN GREETINGS
This is a fun new set and great color combination. I cut out each flower image and flat mounted it onto the Whisper White layer. I used the ribbon knots for the center of each flower.
To make the ribbon centers: take a 5" piece of ribbon, tie a knot in the center of the ribbon. Punch a hole in the center of your cut out flower and thread both ends through the hole, once the knot is in the center, fold back the ends to form leaves. I used glue dots to secure the flower to my card.















Stamps: Garden Greetings
Paper: Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow
Access: Sage Shadow Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Paper Snips, Paper Piercing Tool & Mat Set, 1/8" Hole Punch

Check back tomorrow for the other cards I designed for this swap.
Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~~Barbara

Hats Off for NMBS Challenge

NMBS Challenge #34
This week's challenge on the NMBS blog HERE is to create an altered project with something that you recycled. I made this adorable St. Patrick's Day favor using an empty packaging tape roll. I found this idea from craftycaro on SCS. The cardboard circle that held the tape is used as the base for the hat. I filled a cello bag with Mint Hershey's Kisses to put in the middle.















Stamps: Think Happy Thoughts, Shamrock (SU! incentive stamp)
Paper: Green Galore, Basic Black, Brushed Gold, Glorious Green, Whisper White
Ink: Glorious Green
Access: Medium Cello Bag, Apple Green Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Scallop Square Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" Circle Punches

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~~Barbara

March Plate Insert

Happy St. Patrick's Day...a little early. I wanted to add my plate to the area of the dining room that I have a few St. Patrick's Day decorations, including my specialty Longaberger baskets. So I needed to design an insert for St. Patrick's Day. Here is my design:















I didn't have a stamp set for St. Patrick's Day, so I used the heart from Polka Dot Punches and the Full Heart Punch to create a shamrock. I hand cut the stem and added it with dimensional adhesive. I also found a small shamrock stamp in my basket of SU! incentive stamps and made my own background paper. The sentiment is from a retired SU! set All Year Cheer III. I hope you like it.
Paper: Whisper White, Glorious Green, Green Galore
Ink: Glorious Green
Access: White Grosgrain Ribbon, Green Galore Buttons, Dimensional Adhesive
Tools: Full Heart Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Ticket Corner Punch

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!
~~Barbara