Pick a Petal challenges

Hi, I'm back stamping again. Actually stamping has helped me keep my sanity through our house flooding ordeal. We have to replace most of our flooring upstairs, but it will get done, and God again is showing us his soverignty every step of the way. I have had a bunch of stamping projects to work on, which is one of the reasons I stayed here instead of going to my parents' with the rest of my family. With two card class in a box kits to work on, a workshop this coming week, and a swap to do this weekend, I had a lot to work on. I am having fun, but I wish I had more creativity myself instead of having to always copy and tweak other's ideas. Oh well. I can't dwell on that, as it only stymies what little imagination I have for this craft. Workshops are always the hardest to prepare for, as you want to keep things simple so as to not overwhelm, but there are sooo many cool things to show too. It is hard. I try to do 2 cards, 1 3-d project, and 1 gift or scrapbook project.

Anyway, here are two pick a petal set cards I did today. Both came from my gallery of favorites culled from the talented stampers of splitcoaststampers. I changed up the colors on one, but the other is pretty much a straight copy. This set is pretty easy to use, but I have a hard time configuring the petals to not have too many on the flower and getting them spaced right so there aren't big gaps. My sense of symmetry is not good. I think these are good, but with more practice I'll get the hang of it better.

Thank you... Granddaddy and Grammie

Made this gate fold card for my boys to give to their grandparents to thank them for the school supply goodies they sent them. They were so excited to get a package in the mail; they each got their own package--sweet!! And then it was filled with cool school supplies. I think the biggest hit for John was the Scotch tape since he loves to tape everything in sight. Nathan's favorite was the pencil sharpener and his new pencils, and the flexible ruler. He loves to draw and write. My favorite thing was the lined paper with raised lines. It was cool and hard to explain here on this blog.
What else did they get? Well, compass, glow in the dark eraser, pencils, pencil sharpener, scotch tape, glue stick, rubber ruler, lined paper pad, and it seems like there might have been something else, but I can' t remember. Anyway, big thanks to the grandparents for such a sweet gift. My mom said my dad went to the store all on his own to buy these things: it was all his idea. He loves his grandsons soo much.

New card style

Here is a new style card made up by Michelle Wooderson. It is a tent fold style card. Many people have been making these as it is a fun way to make a card, and takes a different paper cut. It will fit in a standard envelope if you place the tab correctly using a scrap sheet of paper that is 5 1/2 inches long to serve as a guide for the accent piece.
Your card base is 4 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches. I used the Au chocolate paper and brayered it with groovy guava. Groovy guava paper, ribbons, large corner rounder punch, and new In the Spotlight hostess set. Also uses warm words, much appreciated, and coluzzle cutting system.

It's A Wrap: Christmas in July!

Well today's stamp camp was a pretty good success. I think all 10 ladies had a good time and came home with some pretty nice projects. Big thanks go out to my fellow demonstrator, Malia, for all her help in planning projects, and being there to help teach the guests how to do their projects. I couldn't have done it without her.

For those of you who missed out on this, we made some fantastic gift packaging items that are perfect for all types of gifts.
We made a cool new gift card holder based on a tutorial by Cami which can be seen here: cambriaturnbow.blogspot.com/2007/05/8x8-fold-gift-card-holder.html.
We made a cool 5 in 1 envelope template, directions here: www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/fiveinonetemplatebox.php. Just a note on putting your flower on top, the hat pin goes through the flower from the top then up through the bottom. The hat pin doesn't want to pierce through very well as it is thick, but it will go. Just gently push it through and you should be okay. Use a pop up glue dot to attach this to the top of your knot of ribbon.
We made a cute party favor tin/holiday ornament, a cool gift bag, a circle tote bag, tags, and an awesome Christmas organizer to keep your family and friends wish list in, as well as party details/plans, and even addresses. The best thing about the organizer is that it can be used year after year by adding more pages courtesy of our spiral punch.
Oh, and we made a big sheet of wrapping paper using the All About Christmas wheel. It was good.

I think the day went well, but since I don't do these types of events very frequently, I usually forget the things I learned the times before to facilitate these events better. Next time I will individually package up everyones supplies (more work, but less waste), encourage stamping first, close up ink pads, then assemble to avoid ink mishaps. I will encourage clean up at each station before moving on (okay, maybe I am the only one who can't work in a messy space), and
request that all guests wait for instructions or read instructions before preceeding to avoid wrong placement of elements. I am not pointing fingers here at anyone, nor am I upset, just thinking about how to help avoid these issues next time. Not big issues, just things to think about.
I hope all of you can come to the next big event: Christmas card extravaganza. 25 cards for $25. Sure to be fun for everyone in October.