LMac's Catered Crops

Removed for Publication

"Removed for Publication" - I am so freakin' excited to be able to put that on my blog. Okay, well, I am a little sorry for the inconvenience to my precious readers, but I know you'll all be excited for me.

On a whim, I posted my Raspberry Tart stationery box on the Two Peas in a Bucket scrapbooking and stamping community site. Within just a few days I received an e-mail asking me if I'd like to submit it for publication to an on-line magazine. I contacted Jackie Topa, and she was kind enough to grant me permission to get the word out about her template. After I did my big happy dance and calmed down a bit, I wrote back . . . well, gee, I guess you can publish it, if you insist. (Hee, hee, I'm so coy.)

So . . . my pictures of the box will be missing in action from the February 2, 3 and 4 posts. As soon as my article hits the cyberspace news stands, I'll let you all know and share the link. Wish me luck.

Oh, p.s., I created this little digi image my own self, dabbling a little in digital scrapbooking before the big Stampin' Up! reveal of their new digital scrapbooking products. Cool, huh.

Just a Walk in the Park

So, how was your Valentine's day? My Tom and I would much rather spend a day walking in a park than doing the big fancy dinner deal. So . . . that's just what we did, along with our two children and the two dogs . . . even better still.

 

Pillow is such a good puppy - you can take her off the leash and she'll stay by your side, or at least come running when you call her name.

Mailey, on the other hand . . . check out how many times my Tom has her leash wrapped around his wrist.

 

Mailey loves to run ahead and Tom tried to keep up, so that all I got was pictures of the back of Tom pulling on Mailey's leash. What a funny pair these two dogs are.

Have you heard of Project 365? Denise over at Geekgirl's Randon Rambling and Geekgirl Project 365 left me a comment that lead me to her blog which lead me to more blogs with more information about it. (I love everything Geekgirl does, I've been a long time stalker, I mean, follower.) Project 365 sounds like such a great idea for so many reasons - capturing precious memories other than at just holidays and birthdays, self discovery, improving photography skills . . . and, collecting a great bunch of pictures for digital scrapbooking, coming soon to Stampin' Up! 

So, if you're doing your own Project 365, let me know. I need just a little shove to jump start mine.

A Little Birdie Told Me

A  little birdie told me it's time to remodel. Its a breezy 70+ degrees today, and it just feels like time to update my blog for Spring. I hope you like the new look. I was ready for something a little whimsicle.

This should tie me over until Stampin' Up! starts offering digital scrapbooking, which they promise will be some time this year. I'm so freakin' excited about being able to use the digital imagines on my blog.

That picture on my left of my new banner is an old one, but it's one of my very favorite pictures in the whole world. I keep at my desk to remind myself how important it is to play and just be silly.

    

Here's hoping those of you hit by a brittle cold winter are thawing out and looking forward to a silly Spring!

Sunshine Garden Stationery Box/Card Organizer

[Update, March 1, 2009 - Okay, my Mom would not be pleased with me if I left you with pictures of the dust on the piano. So, I've updated the pictures. Also, if you go to the March 1, 2009, post, you'll get a much more complete list of the materials used to make these boxes. By the way, we had a BLAST at the Stamp Camp.]

Here’s a little taste of the project we’ll be making at our Open House/Stamp Camp on February 21. 

I got to spend some time this past weekend putting together the final prototype for our Stamp Camp on February 21. (Doesn’t “prototype” sound so official?) I have to confess that I don’t use the Simply Scrappin’ kits very often, but when I do, I’m always impressed with how much STUFF you get. It’s freakin’ amazing how much you can make with them- they’re like some magic never-ending box. So, check out what I made with the Garden Sunshine kit.

Gift Tags . . . Aren’t these cute?

 

Mini note cards . . . I whipped these together in about five minutes and then jumped in the car to see my daughter. I actually took the picture at the gas station while my Tom ran in to get snacks for the road. I love it when such a quick and easy project turns out so adorable.

 

Full size cards for any occassion . . .

 

The outside of the stationery box . . . I may tweak this a little still. I'm thinking it needs another ribbon - one can never have too much ribbon!

 

And, finally, the inside of the stationery box . . .

 

Funny thing about this picture  - it’s a lousy picture of the stationery box, but a great picture of all the dust on my piano.  I just had time to take a real quick picture before my box went out on loan. As soon as I get it back I’ll give you a better picture.

The Simply Stampin’ kit makes this project a breeze, and I only used about half the kit. Because I put together the "prototype" for this project, I also got to put together the "Bill of Materials" (yes, I'm so official). Wow, look what our campers will be getting with their kits and the toys we'll play with to assemble it.

Cardstock

·         So Saffron, 8 ½ x 11, 1 sheet

·         So Saffron, 12 x 12, 2 sheets

·         Old Olive, 8 ½ x 11, 3 sheets

·         Whisper White, 8 ½ x 11, 4 sheets

·         Baja Breese, 8 ½ x 11, 1 sheet

 

Tools

·         1” Circle Punch

·         Scallop Edge Punch

·         Corner Rounder Punch

·         Hole Punch

·         Piercing Tool/Mat Pack

·         Embossing Buddy

·         Scissors

·         Bone Folder

·         Fiskers Paper Trimmer (for scoring)

·         Snail, Sticky Strips, Poppin Dimensionals

 

Envelopes

·         2 Medium Whisper White

·         4 Mini Whisper White

 

Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin’

·         1 sheet die cut stickers

·         2 sheets designer paper

 

Big Shot

·         Ovals Die

·         Butterfly Die

·         Background Texturz (small polka dots)

 

Ink

·         Baja Breese Re-inker

·         So Saffron Re-inker

 

Embellishments

·         Filigree Brads*

·         Rich Regal Brads*

·         Pretties Flowers

·         Cork Sheets

·         Library Clips

*or Build-a-brads

 

Fibers

·         White Taffeta Ribbon

·         So Saffron Poly Twill Ribbon

·         Silver Cord

·         Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon

 

Optional – Green Microbeads for inside Pen

 

Stationery Box - Part Trois

Both my parents were school teachers and you know what that means - we pinched pennies. One of Dad's great tricks for furnishing our house was to get unfinished furniture and pimp it up. We had this great little desk painted olive green with some fancy drawer pulls Dad found at Bender Lumber Company. Then Mom found a desk blotter that at least looked leather. I did a lot of homework at that desk! The little florets on the desk pad and the color of Dad's desk were the inspiration for my stationery box.

 

To make the flower, I died the flowers from the Pretties Kits with the Rose Red and Cameo Coral re-inkers and added a Build-a-Brad button. The rest of the recipe for the outside is

• Paper: Kiwi Kiss textured cardstock, Raspberry Tart Designer Series Paper, Rose Red cardstock, and Whisper White cardstock
• Stamps: Love Letters Alphabet, Polka Dot (background, retired)
• Ink: Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss
• Misc: white organza ribbon, silver cord, circle scallop punch, 1-3/8" and 1-1/4" circle punches

You'll find the instructions for making both the lid and inside of the box at Dannie Graves' site, here, and Jackie Topa's site, here.

The inside uses these additional ingredients:

• Misc: that luscious Kiwi Kiss two-sided ribbon, Scallop Square Punch, 1-1/4" square punch
• Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Raspberry Tart, Rose Red
• Ink: Basic Black, Cameo Coral, Rose Red

and the Sweet Stems stamp set, which is so much fun to use with the Raspberry Tart paper, Sunshine Garden Simply Stampin' Kit, and the new Sweetest Stem embosslit.

 

Sweet Stems and Lovely Letters Box Set

Update - My apologies precious readers - pictures of my Raspberry Tart stationer box have been removed for exclusive publication in an on-line magazine.

I usually struggle designing cards that are simple. I don't think I'm alone, I hear that from other designers. Sometimes its easier to throw together a bunch of embellishments and techniques than to put together a simple, elegant design. So, I'm really proud of these note cards for the stationery box.

 

As promised, here's the recipe. Everything is from Stampin' Up! except the pearls. They are from K&Company. I started with a 6" x 3" piece of Whisper White, folded over to make a 3" x 3" mini card. 

• Stamp Set - Sweet Stems
• Paper: Whisper White and Rose Red
• Misc: Scallop Square Punch, 1-1/4" Square Punch, Kiwi Kiss Satin Ribbon, and the new Background Texturz plates.

These are to coordinate with this full-size card.

 

This card uses the Texturz plate with the Rose Red paper. After I ran the paper through the Big Shot, I rubbed it with our sanding block to get a two-toned look. I love the way this Texturz background plate coordinates with the Raspberry Tart paper. I used the Lovely Letters stamp set to make the monogram, and that ribbon is our new organza ribbon - so luscious and easy to work with.

I have to confess that I bought the Raspberry Tart paper against my better judgement. The color combinations kind of freak me out. But, then, when I see it in a finished project, it's stunning.

   

And, finally, the stationery box holds four of these gift tags.

 

They're made with the Texturz plate on Whisper White, with the Scallop Edge punch, the smaller of the two holes in the Crop-a-dile, and the Sweetest Stem embosslet. There's also some Rose Red, Kiwi Kiss and Pretty in Pink paper, the Pewter Jumbo Eyelet, and those organza and satin ribbons.

Next time, I'll share the details about the box itself. Don't forget to e-mail me if you want to come to our Open House/Stamp Camp. The deadline is Sunday (see post below).

An Open Box for Our Open House

 

Yes, the details are here - and I'm so excited about our Open House on February 21. You are all welcome, but you must let me know this week so I can get all your materials ordered for the stamp camp.

Oh . . . and you are not going to want to miss this camp, because look at what we're going to make!

Before I show you this fantabulous creation, I want to first give credit to the designers of the stationery box template, Dannie Graves (Dannie's Designs Stationery Box Tutorial) and the original designer, Jackie Topa, here.

I love, love this project, so without further delay . . . here's my unopened box.

      

This little box holds a post-it note holder, pencil (or pen), pocket for your stamps, four gift tags, four mini (3" x 3") cards, and four full-size cards.

Shew . . . my Crop Crib is still a mess of Ruby Red, Kiwi Kiss and Cameo Coral colors. It's past my bedtime, but tomorrow I'll give you all the recipe for making my version of Jackie's box.

I wanted to get this to you as soon as possible because this is what we'll be making at our Stamp Camp on February 21. Well, not this box exactly. For the stamp camp we'll be using papers from the Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin' kit. Using those handy kits will make assembling this a breeze. The colors are very Spring-like and it will be perfect for Mother's day.

For details about the Open House and Stamp Camp, the time, location and costs, click here. It will give you the brochure with all the details. Email me at [email protected] by Sunday, February 8, to reserve you seat.

Hope to see you all there!

Freebies from Stampin' Up! and Catered Crop

Wow - Someone at Stampin' Up! must have taken too many happy pills. Because right smack in the beginning of, like, the promotion of all promotions, the one we wait for all year long, Sale-a-bration, Stampin' Up! is ALSO offering free catalog and idea books when you place your order on line.

It's madness I tell you!

Besides all the beautiful stamp sets, tools, embellishments to ooh and aah over, there's all the great creative ideas to steal, I mean CASE.

And, of course, because it is Sale-a-bration, for every $50 you spend, you also get to choose from among the free Sale-a-bration stamps, paper and ribbon. And don't even get me started on why this is the best time to become a demonstrator.

So, hey, I thought I'd add to the madness.

Remember those adorable Target mail boxes I made, here? Well, I have some extra kits from when I taught the class, and I hate my kits to go to waste.

So, the first two people to place an on-line order from me will get a kit to make the same box, including the Target box.

And, for the first person to join the Catered Crop team as a new demonstrator, you'll get the fabulous customizable starter kit for 15% off, get to choose an additional stamp set in the catalog . . . and I'll send you one of these boxes all completed with a surprise inside.  

Oh, It's madness I tell you.

Just go to www.stampinup.com, register and tell them Linda McClain out of Round Rock, Texas, sent you. Then, e-mail me that your order is in, and I'll put the kit in the mail to you.

To join my team, just click here, and enter my authorization code, LMac2008.

Happy shopping!