INKin' All Night! with Rhonda

Happy Halloween!

Hi!

Thanks for coming back to see if I was going to make it two days in a row!  Had to stick with it, so I am happy to share with you my Halloween Treats class.  This is such a fun holiday and it always surprises me how quickly it arrives each year, even though you'd think you'd waited almost 11 months for it to get here when you look at it on the calendar... but somehow it always shows up and I wish I had another week to get ready!

I absolutely love Fall (in general) & Halloween and typically I decorate mostly for Fall but do add specific Halloween things for Oct and then remove them & replace with a few things for Thanksgiving but this year, they are ALL still in the garage --- yikes, NOTHING is out and up yet, it looks so bare!  Guess I am going to have to clear a path in the garage to get to my bins! 

Anyhow, I digress... lots that didn't get done but now on with the show with what did get done!!  You can click on ANY photo to view it LARGER if you'd like!

A small sampling of different treat ideas using some of our wonderful Big Shot dies!  How did we stamp and survive without this awesome machine and a ton of our exclusive dies!  LOVE IT!  LOVE IT!  Do you have one yet??  Read on at the end, you can get one for FREE, seriously!!

This is the "spooky" bat box made with the milk carton die, penant die and several punches.  Monika Davis has a free tutorial that you can use to whip these cuties up!  Holds a nice amount of treats or a small gift!

And who can resist a cute lil' Frankie ... made with the Candy Wrapper die and several punches!  Inspired by Kristen Brown who shared several versions she made up!

    

One of my favorite things that they showed at convention was how to fold your paper to make an extended version of the candy wrapper die (used above in it's original size/shape).  Wallah, tah-dah, hellllooooooo --- how super cute is this!  Fits a full size candy bar!  This one actually has a little stamping with it too but super cute to decorate & even more fun to give away!  Click on the smaller picture for a closer view of the top side. 

And NEW this year are the small 1"x8" cello treat bags that have a seal already on them!  So easy for several small or tall skinny treats, pencils, etc!  Lots of fun ideas floating around out there to do with these, and 50 for $2.50!  Yeah!  This also uses one of the new Big Shot dies featured in the Holiday Mini catalog, Peekaboo Frames (has 5 different window frames) and the Spooky Bingo Bits stamp set!  Click on the smaller images to see the detail of the topper.

Happy Halloween!!!
Rhonda

Oh My Golly....

Hi!

Oh my golly, I don't even know where to start!  So I guess I will just say HI and glad you stopped by today!  It's been ages and we've all gotten about 8 months older ... and YES I have been stamping and I have been bad & lazy and just haven't been blogging about it -- so I apologize! 

Short & Sweet, let's gets started!  Today's post goes out to those that have emailed personally to check on me and to say that you still check my blog even to find out there's not an update -- well today there IS and it's for YOU!

I think I am just going to start with the CARDS that they made this weekend in my Christmas Stamp-A-Stack Class (#2 of the series this fall).  I will go back and catch you up on prior stamping in the next few days, okay.  Yes, I know statement implies that I'll be posting again!  And I know I should have a watermark on the pic's but I am hurrying and ... yah, so ....

This is a Rhonda original and features the stamp set called MERRY WINTER, cute little marshmallow snowmen dudes that my good pal Elizabeth convinced me I needed ... you have to ink them with markers in order to get them all cute and colorful, a bit slow going but so worth it!  The snowflake is from the Northern Frost decorative strip die and the buttons are from the Button Embosslit and the small square scallop is from the Scallop Square duo die.  Designer paper is the Frostwood Lodge from the Holiday Mini catalog and the ribbon is the Cherry Cobbler polka dot scalloped ribbon.  Add a little of the Dazzling Details Glitter Glue from the Holiday Mini to top things off and a very 'mail friendly' Christmas card.  Crumb card base is a 4.25" square card and with the little card topped it still fits easily into a standard A2 envelope. Layout inspired by a card found online but the jpg I saved doesn't have a watermark (sorry!). 

Our next card features a design that I CASEd but just changed up the colors and papers to fit what I had on hand.  I cannot remember right now where I found the design/layout but I will search and try to update that info later - pls holler if this is your card!
Features the stamp sets WORD PLAY and STITCHED STOCKINGS from the Holiday Mini along with the Stocking Builder Punch, Letters to Santa DSP with the Tasteful Trim XL Die, the yummy Cherry Cobbler Quilted Ribbon and the new Stripes Impressions Embossing Folder, Baker's Twine and the Silver Glimmer Paper and a touch of Dazzling Details Glitter Glue in the O of Joy!.

The third card here is one I received in a swap that was CASEd from Connie Babbert.  Simply adorable and I absolutely love snowmen and especially ways to highlight them into smaller pieces!  The stamp set is SNOW MUCH FUN with stazon jet black ink, then colored in with markers and punched out with the 1-3/4" circle punch, layered onto the Two Tags Die which has been embossed with the Norther Flurry Impressions Embossing Folder and then layered onto the 2-3/8" Scallop Circle punch image.  Stamp the greeting in the corner and then emboss above it with the Perfect Polka Dots Impressions Embossing Folder.  Tied off with a bit of White Organdy ribbon.  The colors feature the Blushing Bride (2010-12 in color) & Pool Party (2011-13 in color).  Such a sweet combination!

This card is also a Rhonda original.  Yep I bought this set and the coordinating paper and had a hard time deciding what to do because I really wanted to use the tree.  So in the end, just sit and stamp and something will happen.  The picture does not do this card justice, it's beautiful in person and so shimmery.
So it features CHRISTMAS LODGE & TINY TAGS stamp sets, the Frostwood Lodge DSP, the Jewelry Tag punch, 3/8" white taffeta ribbon and the Dazzling Details Glitter Glue all over the green part of the tree, just sweep from top to bottom in a left to right motion using the tip to push the glitter around.  Once it dries, it really adds so much dimension to the card.  Colors are garden green and chocolate chip, greeting in cherry cobbler.

Okay so there you have it!  If I hit publish now, tomorrow I can say it's only been a day since I blogged instead of saying 8 months!

 

Happy Day, enjoy! & Come back!
Rhonda

So Happy for You, its SAB!

Howdy,

Hope you are having a great week!  It seems to be zipping by so fast!  I can hardly believe we are almost at the end of the week!  Yikes!!  Fun but strange weekend for Dave and I.  Both of our girls are traveling out of state WITHOUT us!  Both are going to Albq, NM!  Both are going for different reasons and with different teams!  Everyone keeps 'cheering' for us that we will have a weekend to ourselves ... but not really!  With the short notice for their travels and with the long notice for our large group events, ...tah-dah, I'll be working this weekend!  It just seems so uneasy for me to have them gone and without us, and both flying for the 1st time without either of us, gosh they are growing up! 

But at any rate, I really am SO HAPPY FOR YOU - each of you!  Enjoy your independence and Good Luck to each of you!  Wishing for every success for your weekend, please be safe! 

So to send them off .. here are the swap cards I received for this SAB set, SO HAPPY FOR YOU!

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy!
Rhonda

SAB is BLISS!

Hi!

Well, I spent yesterday cutting and scoring and I still have all the really fun scores yet to do ... but I will do them with a smile on my face, because I know that THEY will all appreciate the effort on Sunday and then I will get a small moment of being showered with 50+ smiles ... and who can resist that!

I feel really happy so far today, granted I only got 5.5 hrs of sleep, have had my 1 cup of coffee, read my emails and am just sitting here feeling good!  Life is good!  I hope you have as wonderful of a day and that nothing can spoil it for either of us!

Here are the BLISS card samples that I received from my swaps!  Hope you enjoy!  Sorry, quick post today but I need to get off the computer and back to the cutting board!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the card that I made for one of the swaps, it is a layout featured on page 23 of PC magazine J/F 2011 issue.  I just changed it up to use all Stampin' Up! products.  Enjoy!

 

Have a BLISSful day!
Rhonda

SAB card shares!

Hi

Yesterday I had my 1st stamping class in awhile, it was so nice to be hosting class again!  Thank you to everyone that joined in the day!  I am completely cleaned up and put away and now this week it will be full speed ahead and in overdrive in order to prepare everything for our ANNUAL SPRING FLING large group event, which is this coming Sunday!

So know that I am not ignoring you ... just busy if you don't hear from me every day.  Well maybe I will have to try to set up some posts to publish ahead of time ... hmm, we'll see what time allows for!

For today, we are going to visit the wonderful Sale-A-Bration swaps for the Sweet Summer stamp set that you can get for FREE with any $50 order (pre-tax/ship)!

These are ALL cards that I received in the swaps that I joined.  So none are my actual creations but they sure do make me want this set!

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy these ideas!  Come back tomorrow to see what the next SAB inspiration set will be!

Thanks,
Rhonda

Cards, to give to friends

Hi there!

Well this week has been busy, I have been working on my card class that is happening on Sunday, wha-hoo!  Feels good to be in the driver's seat again!  I will share those cards after Sunday so that I don't spoil their surprise!  I'm sorry I didn't get a post done the past couple of days either, I kept meaning too but life just got busy.  But life's craziness did provide me with not one, but two reasons to stamp cards for friends.  Acutally stamp a card for a purpose and give it to a real person, a real friend (well two!).  So I am going to share these cards with you today and then we will get back to sharing the other SAB swap cards that I have received.

So to my dear friend Debbie Grayson, she had to have kind of emergency heart surgery to put in a pacemaker yesterday.  She pretty much knew that it would be in her future to get a new tic-toc toy ... but when they told her "tomorrow" that was quite a blow and not at all what she was expecting.  So I went up yesterday to visit and check on her and to give her sweetheart a break ... so I had to take a card along:

 

This features the new tulip embossing folder, our new Blossoms Stamp set from the Occasions Mini and it's coordinating blossoms punch, no more hand trimming all those petals ... amazing combo if you haven't checked it out yet you really should!  Colors are white, olive and regal rose.   And I'm happy to report that Debbie was doing very well and should be getting released to come home today ... it'll be a 6 week recovery without much use of her left arm ... so 1 handed stamping here she comes!! 

And my second card is for another dear friend, Lynda Gordon who is going through a really tough time.  Her mother unexpectedly passed away in January and the loss that Lynda is suffering is huge.  I think for those of us that have been given 'great moms' which in your adult years become 'best friends', you can't even imagine how to go on without having your mom just a step behind you, always there when you need her.  My heart hurts and my eyes well up just thinking about her pain.  I just wish I had something profound to say to ease her pain but at times like this there really are no good words, just actions to let her know you care and that she is loved.

I'm heading to her moms funeral services in just a few minutes.  I hope that just by being there she will feel some comfort from the family and friends that are there to support her, her father, siblings and her own family.  Lynda, I love you.  and this ones for you:

 

This is the new sympathy set from the Occasions Mini catalog, featuring whisper white and sahara sand, just kept simple and elegant.  A little bit of embossing and a touch of glitter to the butterflies and one is raised up.  CCMC-OM2

To my mom if you are reading this, I love you too!  I'm sure this will be a difficult service as I know I will be thinking of you and hoping that we have lots more time together.

To my dear friends, you are in my thoughts and prayers.  comfort.  strength.  patience.  endurance.  peace.  love.  friendship.  courage.   Please stay strong and confident, which I know you are.

Hugs,
Rhonda

SAB Punch Bunch swaps

Hello there!

Today I wanted to share some of the PUNCH BUNCH swap cards that I received back in the Sale-A-Bration swaps that I participated in.  This is such a great set and it's so EASY to use because the images all coordinate with our punches, which makes for some quick cards that look hard!  No more cutting out all those images, .... makes ya wish we had a punch for almost every image and shape huh!

In no particular order...  punch bunch on parade!  Thanks everyone for the great swap cards!  Click on any image to enlarge the photo!

Enjoy!
thanks for coming by,
Rhonda

 

  

SAB Punch Bunch bonus card!

Hi again,

Two days in a row...!  I mentioned yesterday that I hosted a Sale-A-Bration swap for my team of demonstrators and if they get their cards in early, then they get a Bonus Card from me.  For this swap, I decided to use the Happy Birthday image from the SAB set "Punch Bunch".

It is a quick and simple, clean and cute card style. 

 

It's a 4.25" square card, colors are Rich Razzleberry and Certainly Celery and Whisper White which is stamped with the greeting from So Happy SAB set & then run through the Perfect Dots Textured Impressions embossing folder.  The ribbons are 1/8" certainly celery on the top and bottom and the rich razzleberry tafetta ribbon in between.  The focal image is the Happy Birthday image, which was stamped with the "baby wipe & reinker technique".  Use a few colors of reinkers on your wipe and then use that as your ink pad.  Punched out with the coordinating square scallop punch and layered up with a couple of dimensionals and for extra sweetness fill in the HB with dazzling diamonds glitter!

 

There ya have it!  Come back tomorrow to see the swap cards that I received that feature this SAB set.  I will try to do a different SAB set every day this week!

Hugs,
Rhonda

Fresh, fun and so cute!

Hi!

Well I have been busy preparing for our Annual Spring Fling stamping event that is coming up in February!  It has been so fun to get 'inky' and I always love working with my downline Diana when we plan these events for our local teams, my INKin' All Night! girls, my AZ INKers (my group of adoptees), and Di's Country INKers and all the rest of our local teams, sidelines and customers too!

This event will be so fun!  The best part is that I have already done all of the 'math', our orders are in, our designs are finalized and sampled up, our supply list has been published (for the items they bring that day, ink, sets, punches...) and so now all that's left is to cut & prep!  And our orders should start arriving on Tuesday, so hopefully we can be ready way ahead of time!  Yipppppeeeeee!  Of course there's more than that to do, but it does feel nice to be ahead!

I have been stamping but I guess I have just been REALLY BAD about blogging.  I don't know why I can't seem to do it on a daily basis.  I guess it's because I am an all or nothing kind of gal and can't hold back ... so if I made a card a day, that would work out great!  But since I hosted my teams swap for the Occasions Mini Catalog and the SAB catalog ... I'd have to show you all 30 ideas on one day and that post and the time it would take to write it just overwhelms me!  ~ sad but true!

So my challenge to myself when I started this blog a couple of years ago (if that) was to force myself to just stamp for fun and be creative, then share it here for all of you.  Now my challenge is to try to blog daily, weekly a couple of times at worst.  No more of this monthly or quarterly crud!

Might as well start tonight, right!  I was stamping yesterday and playing around with the new Petal Cone Big Shot Die and thought, there has to be more to do with it, size wise, etc ... and low and behold, what does appear ... a sample of the very thing that was floating around in my head!  The darling Mary Brown (stampercamper.com) posted a sample of this cone die reformatted into a basket.   She has a free tutorial that you can download for measurements and other details --- thanks Mary!

Here's my take!

 

This uses Tangerine Tango and Early Espresso and Whisper White with just a touch of Old Olive for the leaves.  Lots of Big Shot items - new Petal Cone Die, Perfect Polka Dots and Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, Island Floral Die, Tasteful Trim XL Die.  Here are a few more views, click on any picture to enlarge it.

 

This one shows the details of the Impressions Folders ... dots on the rounded flaps and tied off again in the Island Floral flower petals and the lattice is on the large scallop border from the tasteful trim xl die and on the leaves (5 petal flower punch).  the ribbon 'flag' tag is from the petal cone die.  One of the Sweet Stitches Tangerine buttons and 1/8" white taffeta ribbon on the flap and carried through on the button.

 

From here you can see the dimension on the front of the basket.  There are dimensionals under the brown scallop that adheres to the box base and then the flower and leaves and ribbon flags are all layered up with double stacks of mini glue dots or dimensionals.

 

And this last picture shows you the sides ... all of the flaps are embossed with the dots but the sides that get the handles are mounted flush to the box base and then a cardstock handle which is finished off with the zigzag from the tasteful trim xl die as well as some 5/16" brads.  The back flap has been embossed with the dots, and the espresso scallop layer mounted and raised with dimensionals under the flap like it was done on the front (but no other decorations).

Well I hope you enjoy!  I guess I will have to see what kind of goodies I can tuck in here!  Mary had a cupcake in hers but I don't see myself baking!  Although I did make the kids brownies and cookies tonight, so hmmm, you never know I guess!

I think these could be very addictive!  I can see Valentine's treats, Easter Treats, ... think they have jelly beans out yet!

HAPPY stamping and thanks for stopping by!  Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear from you!

Hugs
Rhonda

Fun times, part 2!

So you saw half of the secret stamper gift exchange items, so today these are the rest of them!  Do enjoy and once I take pictures of the swap cards, I will upload those to share as well!  Charging my camera battery now, so maybe tomorrow or later tonight I'll get that done!

 

Made by Marlene and went home with Elizabeth

 

 
 
 

 

Made by Rhonda and went home with Marlene

And YES there is no picture of my packaging ...as I said, it was not worthy!

 
 

 

Made by Sarah and went home with Ellen

and SORRY but I did not get a picture of Sarah's beautiful packaging, so adorable it was! Maybe Ellen can send me a picture to add.

 
 
 

 

Made by Sheryl and went home with Sarah

Sorry but my pictures of her packaging are not as pretty as this was in person.  It was adorable and held a set of 3 cards all tied up nicely with a ribbon.

 
 
 

 

So there you have it!  Eight differnt gifting options ... fun to make, even "funner" to receive!

See you tomorrow with some of the swap cards!
Rhonda