(NOT SO) Final Blog Hop of the VC-Rocks 2012 Season

Our final blog hop this year is upon us! But wait! There's MORE - we have another in August, lol - whew! I thought this was the last one but our Maven of Blog-hopping, Loni (last stop on the hop) just let me know that we have another one in August, so watch for that next month!!!!!!Stampin’ Up! Convention is ON and that marks the approach of our final fun and festivities! August will be here before we know it!

You probably arrived here from:

Creative Designs by Jackie ~ http://jackielwatson.blogspot.com
This blog hop is about Non-Card items. When I signed up, I was thinking, “Nanc, what ARE you thinking??? What do you do that isn’t a card?!!?” Well, I must have thought it (or would that be thunk it ;) aloud, because I was informed that I made lots of non-card things (albeit, not all Stampin’ Up! type things)...

Here is one of those things, from the annals of Nanc!
Click on the pictures for a bigger look ;)


Now this was done several years ago – it was a Mother’s Day gift for my mom (wonder what happened to that when we moved her out here with us?). I purchased the pot at a local store, and stamped it using a SU flower stamp and acrylic paint. After it dried completely, I sealed the stamped part with a spray sealer – easy-peasy.

A similar craft would be the tiles I have made a kajillion or two of.



These are a few of my favorite. Even though “Long-stemmed” is long retired. I loved these so much that after giving away or selling that set, I bought myself a new set of it off some online auction purchasing site so I could make some more of them! These were stamped with Stazon inks (the only one we now sell is the Jet Black and the White, but we previously had colors, and I still have them, use them and have added to them ).

Addendum: I've been asked my process, and since these are still gorgeous after NINE years of use, as I made them my first year as a demo, here it is!
1. Wipe tile dust off with clean shop towel (or any kind of towel you have hanging around).
2. Stamp your stamp choices on a 4x4 square to get your layout in mind, then, using Stazon Jet Black ink, stamp your tiles with your design. (Note - the Christmas trees above were stamped in a Stazon green - forest, I believe, and the leaf/square were stamped in Olive Stazon and an medium brown).
3. Color your designs. Mine are colored using an old, gnarly set of blender pens (that are no longer good for ANYTHING else!). I squish the clear cover in the Stazon pads or the lids in Brilliance ink pads to get a little puddle of ink in the lid/cover. Then I pick up the ink with the blender pen (they are each marked by color - red, orange, yellow/white, blue, green, purple) and sparingly add color where I want it.
4. Stamp your sentiment - I always do this last for some reason, but you can do it sooner if you like. It is your tile, and I am NOT the Stampin police ;).
5. THEN, I bake them in a 350* oven for 30 minutes, and place in a child free zone to cool when done.
6. When completely cool, I mask the non-stamped areas and lightly spray my stamping with a Matte Sealer from that craft store that closes on Sunday (which I love - both the goods and the ethics they have!).
7. Finish it off by adhering a 4x4 ish (mine are about 3 3/4 or so square) piece of cork on the bottom. That same store has them pre-cut or you can buy a roll of cork (more cost effective) and cut them with your tabletop cutter  (no lie!).
8. When selling in craft fairs I stack four together and tie with rough twine and use the tag punch to cut out the price and tie in with the twine. I cross the twine on the bottom and tie a knot in it on the top so folks can pick it up by that knot.
If that isn't clearer than mud, you know where to find me - comment or email me your question :)
(The only set of tiles I've ever done this way that faded were given to the mother of a stamper after she made them in class, and the mother left them out on the patio in high summer, high in the mountains of Colorado... mine have been kept in sunny places with no discernible fading, but just be warned. If you keep them outside, cover them or turn them over, or the ink may bleach out :).

Whew!

A more contemporary product that I am so glad I made for a friend was this envelope album. It took very little time to make – in fact, it took longer to get her wedding pictures than it did to make and embellish this with a Simply Scrappin’ kit.


This is viewed from over the top, lol – so it’s kind of upside down…. but you get the gist of it! This is a really fun project! (The instructions are way too lengthy to put here, so if you want them, request it, and that will be a follow-up blog post :).

My very most favorite non-card thing to make, though, is….

can you guess….?

If you know me, you know that my favorite thing to craft is…

SCRAPBOOK PAGES and SKETCHES!!!!!!

Like this:


and this:


and sketches like this one, which is perfect for (dare I say it) the First Day of school!:



Sorry for saying the “s” word… you know…. (escuela). Anyway, the tree was handcut by me and stamped with the woodgrain stamp. Of course, now I would emboss it with the new woodgrain folder that we are getting on page 33 of the Holiday Catalog...just sayin'

For more great non-card projects, please head on over to:
www.loniholt.blogspot.com

And for the complete list, just in case you started somewhere other than the beginning (a very good place to start):
StartVC Rocks (Michelle McCarthy)    www.vcrocks.blogspot.com
1   Technostamper   http://technostamper.blogspot.com
2   The Love of Stamping   http://www.theloveofstamping.com
3   June's Creations   http://junescreations.blogspot.com
4   Stamp With Jane   www.stampwithjane.com
5   Krafting with Karen   www.kraftingwithkaren.blogspot.com
6   Pedstamper's Stamping Tree House   www.pedstamperstampingtreehouse.blogspot.com
7   Life with a Wiener Dog   www.lifewithawienerdog.com
8   My Little Patch of Dirt   www.mylittlepatchofdirt.blogspot.com
9   Something To Scrap About   http://somethingtoscrapabout.blogspot.com
10  Elizabeth's Stamp Room   http://www.elizabethsstamproom.blogspot.com/
11   Artful Imagination    http://artfulimagination.blogspot.com
12   Stamper Shirley    http://stampershirley.blogspot.com
13   Brenda's Stamping Corner http://brendasstampingcorner.blogspot.com
14   Creative Designs by Jackie     http://jackielwatson.blogspot.com
>>>>>YOU ARE HERE: 15  Scrapbook Kits and more    http://fancynancykay.blogspot.com/
>>>>>>>NEXT STOP: 
17   Loni's Life    www.loniholt.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed my non-card trip down memory lane!

Scrappin’ STARS ~ September Blog Hop by SUStars

Welcome to my little piece of scrapping here - you should have arrived from Eileen LeFevre's blog if you are following the SUStars blog hop. The next stop is down at the bottom. A link to the home stop so you can go back to the beginning is also at the end of this post.

(Psst - my post is up early - I have had it scheduled for a couple of weeks - and just added the links and couldn't wait, so it's up Friday night - the blog hop actually starts Saturday morning, Sept 17)

This really is no big secret, but I was a scrapper before I was a stamper. I started scrapping when my youngest daughter Katie (who is 24 today, September 17 – Happy birthday, mi bebe!) was 4 years old. That means I started scrapping – wow – 20 years ago!

My friend Kim is really responsible for me beginning to scrap. We lived in the beautiful town of Iola, Texas ~ one block off Main Street on a dirt road in the church parsonage as my husband Bo was the pastor of the Baptist church in town there. One weekend we packed the kids in the car and went to Houston for a few days to see family and friends since that is where we are both from (we’re high school sweethearts ).

We got to visit with Kim and her husband Greg, and Kim was showing me some scrapbooks she had started for her kids. I was SO excited about this great idea. Having always been into painting and creating things, I couldn’t wait to get back home and start pulling out pictures and put them in albums in a creative way. Turns out, it’s a really good thing I was so excited that I pulled them out before I unpacked. Unbeknownst to us, while we were gone the air conditioner pan had overflowed and was running down the wall of the little closet where ALL my photos, including my formal wedding pictures in their humongous white leather album were. The water (I can still see it in my mind’s eye) was only an inch or two from my wedding portraits!!!!

If not for Kim and her sharing nature, I would not have some of the pictures I so love to have scrapped over the years!

So, speaking of sharing, I have some things to share with you!

I used to make and sell a LOT of scrapbook pages, mini albums and scrappin’ lunch boxes on eBay, back in the heyday when you could make some serious money doing so. One of my favorite projects was to make a quick mini album like this one. this particular one was done with my stampers one year.

I’m not going to share the whole thing due to the fact that you have several other blogs to hop to, but this mini album included pages like this:

and was given to my mom. I think I still ended up putting the pictures in it for her :).

Currently, I pretty much scrap 12x12, mostly two page layouts, and have a ton of layouts I could share, but will limit myself to a few favorites:

One of the layouts from the album I created for Katie when she graduated high school and left home for the first time…The first sets of layouts were based on a song sung by Sandi Patty called, “Masterpiece”, but as they are not all SU, those are a share for another day…. this one celebrates just one tournament of many that Katie played in.

…and a layout celebrating my first grandbaby, Ava – who is now a bit over 3…

(Circle Circus © Stampin’ Up! 1990-2012)

I love Circle Circus and the circle punches from SU made this a snap to create. Some circles are popped up on dimensionals. On the title piece, I goofed up and smudged a stamping when I had it almost done, so I took the 3/4 inch circle punch and punched out a few holes to cover up – how did I do?

…and more recently, Emma, Ava’s baby sister, now 8 months old

(and yes, that’s my in the green jacket, and my hubby, Bo, in the next picture, and Katie in that great sunlit photo)

All letters and punch art shapes by SU – Big Shot for the alpha letters.

And Ava and Emma’s mommy, Kari – my oldest daughter – growing up pictures with Katie, and then the two of them with Ava at about a year old.

White gel pen, Big Shot letters and flower – simple, simple sketch!

Finally, a layout that means so very much to me because, however I started scrapbooking, it has become such a vital part of my life, and is so much cheaper than therapy ;)

My Heritage is the name of this layout – from the left are my mother’s parents and Uncle John, my dad’s parents and my sister Connie – they died the year I was born and this was taken before I was here. Then, my mom and dad’s wedding photo, in the middle, the two of them in uniform – Daddy was in the Army Air Corps and mom was a Cadet Nurse. Next a photo of my mom’s daddy, who died when I was only 7, and my Aunt Carolyn who died when I was 17, with her baby daughter Lisa, who was born on my 8th birthday.

Finally, my mom and daddy, holding the three granddaughters they had at the time. Hannah (4/15) my sister’s first grand, Ava (7/3) my first grand, and Zoe, born in August to our cousin/brother, John (long story – but he’s my big brother – trust me!). Daddy died in March of 2011.

I hope that you were inspired by my layouts and mini album. Please come back for more scrapbook sharing this week!

Click here for the next stop on the blog hop - Carol Parcell's blog: www.cjstamps.blogspot.com

http://su-stars.blogspot.com

SUSTARS January 2011 Blog hop... Love is in the air!

This has certainly been an eventful couple of months for me. I'll post more on that later, because this weekend is the first SUSTARS Blog Hop of 2011.

My thanks to our fearless Blog Hop coordinator, Loni!

You probably arrived here from Stamp With Jane. A complete listing of this blog hop may be found after my Valentine's shares, along with the next stop on the hop! If you are just starting here, there are only a dozen stops, and they will be worth your time, so get hopping, would ya? Our theme was a choice of Valentine or Thank you items.

My first item is a test tube holder. It is made of textured Real Red cardstock and decorated with Blushing Bride patterned paper, punchies, Real Red ink.

(ADDED 1/15 - Finally found the pattern on my desktop - thought I had filed it correctly - original pattern for this holder by Lisa Somerville, printable pattern and instructions by Marie at stampinginspiration.blogspot.com - do want to give credit where credit's due!)

My second (and last item for today) is my Valentine card for my honey. 32 years of marriage, 2 kids, 2 grandkids - and i'd do it all again -

Riding Hood Red cardstock and Love Letter DSP make a really cool Valentine card that you can give to a guy... add an antique brad, and look out! Enjoy!

(This card sketch was based on one by Robin Messenheimer)

Add the "three little words" stamp, and hit the bonus! You see, when we were in high school, our government teacher, Mr. Harper (who seemed much older than dirt to us as 17 year olds) had a lot of fun ways to teach us things. I'm not sure what those three little words had to do with anything in government, but one day he was talking about COBs (come over baby - curves that you drove fast to make your girl slide over closer to you) and those 3 little words.... and he admonished us to not forget to say those important three little words to one another... and that has stuck with us since the days of being high school sweethearts.

Bo never forgets to say those three little words, and he always finds special ways to show me that he loves me. Frequently we write notes on the bathroom mirrors with dry erase markers, and they are always signed with the number 3, for those three little words. It was really cool to walk into my grown daughter's bathroom one day and find that our tradition had become theirs, and to see the notes of love and affirmation she and her honey had written on their mirror.

(Note - dry erase markers can safely write on glass and be easily cleaned off - leave your honey a note on his car window, the window in the door leading to the garage or the mirror... you may start something wonderful!)

Hope you have a very happy Valentine's Day, and that these projects help inspire you!

next stop on the hop: Mimi to Jett

Full Lineup in case you missed anyone:

Monica Weaver - Add a Little Dazzle http://www.addalittledazzle.com
Denise Foor - Denise Foor Studio PA http://www.denisefoor.blogspot.com/
Raissan Spatola - RaissaStamps www.raissastamps.com
Jane Hignite - Stamp With Jane www.stampwithjane.com
Nancy Keithley - Scrapbook Kits & More by FancyNancyKay http://fancynancykay.blogspot.com/

Mary Campbell - Mimi To Jett http://www.mimitojett.blogspot.com
Veronica Miller - Bluegrass Stamper Studio http://bluegrassstamperstudio.blogspot.com/

Angela Walters - Life with a Wiener Dog www.lifewithawienerdog.com

Courtney Johnston - Brighten Your Day the Stampin' Up Way! www.letsubrightnurday.blogspot.com
Diana Soling - Stamping My Life Away http://handmadebydiana.typepad.com

Maria Nguyen - ScrapLoveCreate http://www.scraplovecreate.blogspot.com/
Loni Holt - Loni's Life www.loniholt.blogspot.com

VC-Rocks Blog Hop - the fun begins again NOW!

I am so excited to once again be part of the VC-Rocks Blog Hop! There is a great line-up of ladies participating in this hop, so if you are one of my followers and started here, please, continue on with the next hopper and go through the whole group to see the great ideas presented by these stampers! Or, you can go to the VC-Rocks blog and start there and work your way through the list.

If you have already been working the list, you may have landed here from Artful Imagination, the blog of Kym Schwinkendorf.

Here is my share - two takes on one card, using French Filigree and Friends Never Fade. Although I do not have a picture of the inside, I used sentiments from Messages for Mom - and all of these sets may be purchased through my SU website (just click on SHOP NOW when you get there)!

The first sample is made using a color combination suggested by the Color Coach - Rich Razzleberry (textured CS and ink), Pretty in Pink (CS and ribbon) and Early Espresso (ink, stamped on Soft Suede). The sketch was loosely based on the King of the Grill sample in the Summer Mini Catalog. I decided to have a little fun with the ribbon and wrapped it twice before knotting it in a simple knot.

This second sample is the same card - but I used Old Olive (ink and CS), Pumpkin Pie (ink and CS) and Daffodil Delight (ribbon and CS)! I just love this new color, AND the new skinny taffeta ribbon - isn't it fun?

OK, you've probably been here long enough! Jump on over to Donna Rogers' blog: High Altitude Creations and see what she has cooked up for you!

Thanks for stopping by! And be sure and come back for more goodies as I finish unpacking and settling into my temporary home while our house is being built!