LMac's Catered Crops

It's Madness I Tell You!

One ball, two dogs . . . it's a mad, mad world.

 

So, who won the big tug-a-war?

 

We all did - they're such great dogs!

There's even more madness at the Stampin' Up! site. They announced their retiring accessories list today and a big inventory blowout sale, here. You can download the flyer, here, for a better peak. The good news is that some items are marked off as much as 50% and the sale includes current products as well as retired and retiring products. The bad news is that there are limited quantities. So, at the risk of sounding like a car salesman - act fast for the best deals. 

Love You in the Pink

Pillow pup has learned to sit and wait for her treat. Of course, she looks a little worried because I'm taking her picture instead of giving her the treat. I mean, really, how long does a puppy have to sit to get a treat around here?

Putting the final touches on next weekend's workshop, I came up with two more easy-breezy, very pinky projects. We're going to end up using every stamp in the Love You Much stamp set, which speaks more to how fun this set is than to any talent I might have.

You gotta have candles for Valentine's day, right?

 

I stamped the bird image with Basic Black on tissue paper and colored them in with Stampin' Write Markers using Pretty in Pink, a little Certainly Celery grass and Yoyo Yellow beaks. With a piece of wax paper over it, I used a hair dryer to melt the tissue into the candle. This is one of those times when a hair dryer works better than a heat gun. The heat gun could be a little too hot and melt the candle too much.

I added a Pink Pirouette flower made with the Trio Flower Punch and embellished it with a heart-shaped brad from Making Memories. That's Stampin' Up!'s black gingham and pink grosgrain ribbon.

There's a wonderful tutorial for stamping on candles at Splitcoast Stampers, here, and an extensive gallery of beautifully stamped candles to spark your creativity, here.

The little candle needs a card, right?

 

Stampin' Up! used to sell 4" x 3-1/4" note cards with envelops that were the perfect size to fit inside the Target mail box to make a gift set. I stamped the image in Basic Black craft ink on Whisper White card stock and embossed it with clear embossing powder. That made it easier to color and stay in the lines with the blender pens and Pink Pirouette ink. That's the striped Pink Pirouette grosgrain ribbon and cardstock, a punched flower, clear rhinestone brad from the Pretties kit, and the scallop edge punch.

That's a lot of pink and cuteness in one blog post, huh.

Sending Kisses First Class

Way back this Summer at the Stampin' Up! convention in Utah, I bought these lap balms at the Momento Mall. They weren't available anywhere except at the convention, so I've been waiting for the perfect project to use them. Meanwhile, I was also looking for something fun to put inside the Target mail box. These lip balms coordinate with the Sweet Always designer paper, which, guess what, also coordinates with the Candy Lane designer paper. Snap! 

 

Here's the inside.

 

I could keep creating these all day, they're so much fun to make, but, I'm going to save the rest for my Hostess club stampers.

 

These little lip balm holders are quite popular over at Splitcoast Stampers, but the first time I saw them was when Renee Ondrajka posted them on Splitcoast this time last year. She said she was inspired by a little perfume sample. Her little holders are here with a link to her pattern: Renee's Lip Balm Holders.

I took at stab at it myself last February and created a pattern with another layer or liner. You can find mine with a link to my pattern here: Like No Udder Lip Balm Holders.

Want yet another option? Andrea Cox over at so very me, created a pattern that's both easy and has that nice inside layer using the slot punch to hold up the lip balm, here. 

Flying First Class

So, back in the Crop Crib, James Taylor crooning in the background, Caitlin creating magic with her Target Mailbox, and Pillow Pup sleeping at our feet, I had the perfect ingredients for major mojo magic. Well, honestly, the bundle from the Love You Much promotion is so adorable - it's pretty hard to mess up.

My mailbox is a mix of Candy Lane Designer Series Paper, Love You Much stamp set, Heart to Heart Punch, and the Birds and Blooms sizzlet die cut four-pack. If you haven't already heard, the Love You Much bundle promotion offers the paper, punch and stamp set at a 20% savings through January 31. 

My plan going in was to combine the bird images from the stamp set with the bird die cut to make my mail box fly first class.

 

Here's a better peak at the Candy Lane paper, it's so adorable and coordinates with Stampin’ Up!’s colors: Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red, and Very Vanilla. I just added a little Old Olive ribbon and an Old Olive accent from the Bella Rose paper. That 1-1/4" Pink Pirouette ribbon is so luxurious and fun to use.

 

For the front of my mailbox, I stamped an image from the Love You Much stamp set in VersaMark and watercolored with Robin Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Old Olive, and just a hint of Going Grey as an outline. I framed it with some of our chipboard accents. Oh, yes, and I added a little button from the Button Bouquet with some linen thread.

You can find tons of examples of embellished Target boxes at Splitcoast Stampers, here. Although they're pretty simple to decorate, if you like some great instructions, you can find them at Emily Giovanni's blog, Stamping and Stuff.

While this project pays homage to Valentines, I don't want today to pass without wishing you all a very Happy New Year. After a difficult 2006 and 2007, I vowed to "Make 2008 Great." And, it was. It was a fantastic year of great friends and adventures.

So, what shall we say about 2009? I don't really make resolutions - I set goals. My goal is to "Make 2009 Shine." I know, corny. But, it suits my goals well of buffing up my house, honing my craft, and toning my bod - sparkle and shine, baby! Let's get out our Ray Bans, 'cause we're going to have a sparkling, shining year!