Soul Stamper

Have a Heart - Haiti

 

As part of the Advent Conspiracy this last December, I was introduced to the water crisis in Haiti. Did you know that mothers in Haiti had to walk miles for water that is polluted and unsafe to drink for their children. A friend told me recently about how she saw a mother on the news who was giving her children water that was obviously dirty. She expressed to the camera man that her children were begging for a drink and she had nothing else to give them. This last week, much of the world has become more cognizant of Haiti's plight due to a devastating earthquake. My heart aches for the people of Haiti. I ache to help in my own ways. For this reason, I am so grateful to be part of an organization with a heart. One that is caring enough to express their concern for others and help them when they need it. After all, isn't that what making cards and scrapbooks is all about? Expressing our love for others. 

Stampin up! will be donating $2 from every I {Heart} Hearts stamp set purchased between now and Feb 28th to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. The Red Cross is already well-established in Haiti, and this money will be used to provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need.

Product Name	Item #	Price
I {Heart} Hearts – clear-mount  (block D recommended)	118571	$18.95
I {Heart} Hearts – wood-mount	117010	$26.95

Cold and Cuddly in my neck of the woods

Well as promised here is a photo of my neck of the woods. We have been buried under snow for days. Today was the first day I was able to finally drive my vehicle out of the neighborhood (took the pup and went sledding with some friends). 

 {Photo was taken during the storm in my back yard. Note that my yard is fenced, the fence is just buried}

The Cold and Cuddly set and sentiment "Here is some love to keep you warm" just seemed appropriate for my week. I love how this darling set works for both Valentine's Day and Christmas. 

  
 
Unfortunately this set was from the holiday mini and thus currently not available to purchase. Yeah, this little guy is not official retired, but sadly not available for purchase either. As I truly adore this set, I have my fingers crossed that it will appear in the next catalog.  

 With being MIA for a bit while trying to balance the new place, new job, and holidays I did not get a chance to thoroughly play with my holiday goodies and wish the holiday mini farewell. My holidays were wonderfully packed with fun (more on them to come). Thus the stack of mini catalogs to toss in the recycling and the vow to be more organized this time. 

This card features:

Stamp set: Cold and Cuddly by Stampin Up (from Holiday Mini 2009)

Cardstock : Stampin Up Classic Cardstock in Bermuda Bay (115317) and Real red (102482) and Whisper White (100730)

Ink: Stampin Up Classic Stampin Pads in Bermuda Bay (115655) and Real Red (103133)

Ribbon: Stampin Up Satin Ribbon in Whisper White (114616)

Punches: Stampin up 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch (104401) and Scallop Circle Punch (109043) 

Oh and Ahem.. it looks like I am not the only one to take my toys that are not exactly water proof out in the snow. 

 

Yeppers, caught in the act. 

 
 

I also made this card for this weeks Card Positioning Systems challenge (CPS151).

Thanks for looking and hope you are safe and cozy where ever you are! 

Returning to my roots

Aha...and you thought I was quitting this blog? Lol. Sorry for the long hiatus. I needed some time to rethink and reorganize some my various efforts. Taking up a blog the same week I started a new job and moved to a town 2 hours away...kind of hectic. Probably bit off more than I could chew, but wow am I learning about blogging and I can't wait to return to it. So with having been snowed in for days I have once again returned to playing with paper and dreaming of blog ideas. 

Then craziness happened...

My quaint little mountain town was declared under a state of emergency a few days ago due to this massive crazy winter storm (or three...it was a series of three storms) that blew through. Quite a few roofs in town have collapsed and I have been eyeing my own apartment roof cautiously... This ain't my first rodeo. I have been in this town in previous winters and I know they say to shovel the roof when we get this kind of storm. We had roofs in town collapse last year. I have even called the apartment complex a few times to ask that they shovel it. No dice.

So tonight, this was nagging in the back of my mind. I was trying to go about my business and not seem all paranoid and such (although I took a shower and hopped out and got dressed pronto out of fear of the roof collapsing while I was indecent. lol). Upon making myself decent it seemed there were all kinds of banging noises. Finally out of frustration (and paranoia) I open my front door...what on earth? There was a fire truck! I look over...oh dear... yep, neighbor's roof collapsed. We live in apartments of sorts, but they are more like duplex style. The neighbors have an identical building to us and it is just a few feet away (two cars park in between the building). We have the same amount of snow too. The Fire dept. evacuated their whole building. 

For now I am safe and cozy and paranoid and anxiously watching my own roof. A friend offered that I can stay at her place if we end up evacuating. My car is loaded with some basic stuff... and I will likely sleep (sleep being a relative term) on the couch tonight fully clothed and ready to leave at a moment's notice.

As my offer to help the neighbors was declined, I watched as a family with kids loaded the kids and basic essentials in to their vehicle. It is a strange site to watch a adult male walk out on the snow covered path carrying a fish tank with some form of reptile to try to fit in the trunk while mom loads kids and dogs in the back seat. They were out of here quickly without expressing concern for their belongings. Then I watched the college age girls that lived in the apartment next to this family as they had every friend in the town show up and basically move ALL of their belongings out. 

Then I went inside and packed a few bags to put in the car just in case... Ok, I ran around the apartment like a chicken with my head chopped off going "Oh MY GOD....what do you take when you evacuate and there is potential all things left behind will be destroyed? What is essential? What small sentimental things do I grab?" AHHHHH!!!!  (not a pretty site)

PHOTOS...ack the photos... 

So in addition to returning to blogging... I realized I have a deep desire to returning to preserving my photos in some way. My love of paper crafting actually started with intentions to preserve photos. Granted my ideas of what that means have changed over the years, but the reasoning is still the same. Some of this will be via scrapbooking so I am sure you will see more layouts on the blog soon. More than anything though this means for me that I will be scanning all my photos, and my parent's photos, and maybe even my sister's if she will let me and uploading them to a computer and then saving them on CDs to send to various family members. It would make evacuating any place easier if I knew I just needed to grab that stack of CDs and maybe not even worry about it as copies would be safe at one of the other family member's homes. 

So what about you? What are your essentials if you ever had to evacuate fast?

I know that I would be ok with just the pup. He is my first priority, but there are plenty of things I would rather have cared for before running out. 

Suddenly I am finding I have a long overdo to do list to take care of now that I have my own place. Things such as:

- Scan and save photos and layouts (or upload them somewhere digitally)

-Get a fireproof/waterproof safe for important documents (and actually put them in there). Possibly make copies of some documents as well.

-Pack a bag with essentials that could stay in the car or near the door to be easy to grab. The stuff that is needed for at least one night (stuff like clothes, toiletries, dog food)

-Take photos and make a list of my ever growing stash of stuff for insurance reasons. 

So hopefully all will settle soon (if they clear the roof tomorrow it would really help with the anxiety) and I will add some photos of the projects I have been working on. :) 

Changes

Hi Everyone, Thanks for the support that all of my readers have provided. I am currently trying to decide on some changes with the blog as well as my Stampin up Business. At this time I have gone ahead and closed my online SU store. However, I am still a demo and I may later add my store again. If you are interested in ordering. Please either call me or send an email and I will work with you from there. Thanks again for the support!

Christmas Blog Hop- 25 Days of Christmas Album

Hoppy Holidays!  If you've arrived from Mary Fish Stampin' Pretty's blog , thank you for stopping in! If you have not been to her blog yet, please stop in and visit her.

I created this 25 page mini album (6x6) to document the 25 days of December leading up to Christmas. This album came together in a snap using only Stampin Up Supplies (these can be purchased 24 hours a day 7 days a week from my store . The album primarily showcases the Christmas Jingle Simply Scrappin' set (115696). All paper is from this set and many of the embellishments are stickers from this set. However, I did include a few extra stamps and embellishments. All ink is close to cocoa, soft suede, old olive, and real red. 

What a fun way to document your holiday season. Or a beautiful gift for a family member.This little album would be great for documenting holiday traditions, recipes, gifts received, your decorations, memories from past Christmases, or even just telling those you love why you love them. :) 

 

The string stamp from the Berry Christmas set (116509) embellishes a sticker from Christmas Jingle collection.
 

The sentiment from the Heard from the Heart stamp set (111644) is showcased on this layout.  
 

This layout showcases a stamp SU's Patterned Pines set (116525). I cut them out using SU's paper snips. Love those paper snips. :) 


       

 

This Dashing Reindeer is from the Winter Post set (111780). He was punched out using SU's scallop circle punch.
 

A touch of Old Olive grosgrain striped ribbon (115618) and a rhinestone brad add dimension to the layout above.
 

The holly featured here is from the Good Cheer stamp set (115326) with rhinestone brads to add sizzle. 

The reindeer above is actually a sticker! Can you believe that? I love this sticker. Soo cute. It is part of the Christmas Jingle set. A touch of soft suede grosgrain ribbon (115612) runs along the bottom. 

 

The sweet sentiment in this layout is from the Good Cheer stamp set (115326). 

For this page I created the pointsettias using 2  Stampin Up punches

The centers are SU rhinestone brads.

This page is actually a pocket page. It could hold ticket stubs from the Nutcracker Play or that Transiberian Orchestra concert that you went to over the holidays. Or even a sweet handwritten note.

 

This mini layout features a pine tree from the Jolliest time of the year set (116584) adorned with rhinestone brads.

A top note die cut that cut out using the sizzix big shot machine and then cut in half and ice skaters from the Winter post set (111780) adorn this page.

Holly and the sentiment from the Berry Christmas Set (116509) with a few rhinestone brads were used above.

 

This layout features Elementary Ribbon originals ribbon (116231), a journal spot from the write stuff set, and the small poinsettia flower stamp is from the Patterned Pines set (116525).  

 The sweet sentiment stamped here is from the Sweet Season stamp set  (116471). 


And a few die cut stickers from the Christmas jingle set finish us off. Thanks for looking! Have a merry Christmas! 

Thanks again for Hoppin' in don't forget to follow on with the hop by checking out Stamping Heart .  Hop over and see what exciting creations Jill has in store for you!

Grateful for You- Thanksgiving Hostess card (Mojo113)

This fun and funky card was inspired as a card to give to a hostess for a Thanksgiving get together. How fun would it be to give your hostess a card to let her know how grateful for her (or him) you are!

 However, I actually created it to give to a friend. I made her a set of singed blooms to use on a scrapbook layout documenting her slight cooking incident that ended in a fire. The cooking theme seemed appropriate. We also are part of a group with a running joke involving cheese graters. I could think of no more perfect stamp for her card. Now...just to get it out in the mail to her FINALLY! 

Supplies Used (all supplies are stampin up and can be purchased from my store ):

Stamps: Stampin Up Puns from the Past (111676)

Patterned Paper: Stampin Up Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper (113976)

Cardstock: Stampin up Bermuda bay and Whisper white

Circle die cut: Stampin up The write stuff Designer Series Paper (115674)

Ribbon: Stampin Up Elementary Ribbon Originals (116231)

Brads: Stampin Up Ice Circle Rhinestone Brads (109111)

Sizzix Big shot machine

Sizzix dies: Scallop Circle Bigz Die (113468)

I made this with this week's mojo Monday sketch in mind. However, I admit to taking some creative lerway with the sketch :) 

Here is the sketch if you would like to play along (Mojo113):

Thanks for looking!  

Wishing you a Hoppy Thanksgiving with these sweet Treats!

I chose to keep my blog hop entry sweet and simple this round. For me Thanksgiving is the best kind of holiday. A simple day to enjoy with people you care about, eat delicious treats, and be grateful. I love the simplicity of this holiday.

In my family, my Dad and I have a tradition of getting up early to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade together. Generally mom wanders out a while later. With the commotion of baking later in the day, she typically makes cinnamon rolls as  a super simple breakfast treat for us (she uses the kind from the can that pops open... and all you have to do is cook them).

I thought it would be fun to make some simple and cute toppers for a this sweet and simple breakfast. These toppers would be a fun way to make cupcakes or muffins festive as well. :) These truly were super simple too. It took me probably as much time to make these toppers as it did to pop the can and put the cinnamon rolls in the pan. :) 

Thanks for stopping by my blog. Please make sure to check out all the other fabulous creations along this hop. You can see the full line up in my previous post. :)

Don't stop here...head on over to the next hopper Stamping Heart and leave her some love.

Thanks!

A hoppy Thanksgiving to you!

Yep! It is that time again...the second round of this Stampin up Pal Hop will begin tomorrow morning (you may just want to set your alarm for this one :) ).  Once again a creative group of stampin up demonstrators are getting together to show case some delicious Thanksgiving treats.

Here is a quick run down of all the turkeys participating in this hop:

1. Kris (Kween Bee Creations)

2. Carla (Carla Scraps)

3. Linda (Stampin Seasons)

4. Mary (Stampin Pretty

5. Me ...you are already here. Thanks for stopping in. :) (Soul Stamper)

6. Jill (Stamping Heart)

7. Liz (DIY paper creations)

8. Kim (Stamp, scrap, get Kreative)

9. Kalshelia (Stampin Fabulousity)

10. Regina (The Stampin Bean)

11. Margaret (Margaret Moody)

12. Debbie (Stampin Sunshine)

13. Ann (The Stampin Schach)

14. Gina (Cards by Gina)

15. Lourdes (Cozy Crafty Corner)

*Oh and on a side note. I decided not to do a drawing for the winners for comments on my last post. As only two people commented, I will be sending out some hand stamped images to BOTH! Thanks !

The tastes of fall - Pumpkin Pasta and the Fall Harvest wheel

November 1st. Officially one month of living in my own little place. I am finally starting to take more time to enjoy the domestic things like cooking and dreaming of a garden for the future.  With Halloween behind us, I am sure I will start to sprinkle more of Christmas into my blog. However, I wanted to savor a bit more of fall for today. 

I created this scrumptious card with today with last night's dinner in mind. For Halloween I chose to savor the taste of Fall with Pumpkin Pasta. 

As many of you know, I am attempting to venture out and learn to cook new things. That is one of the fun aspects of having my own little cabinet under the stairs (apartment). So when I saw this craft along that included a recipe for pumpkin pasta, I knew I had to try it. 

The recipe was actually pretty good. I did make a few changes. I used all sour cream and no half and half. Also, it seemed a wee bit bitter so I added a dash of sugar. I think I would make some other changes in the future. I am not a big fan of sausage so maybe chicken? Veggies would rock this as well...maybe some asparagus and tomato? I loved the light pumpkin taste. Overall a fun recipe for Halloween. :) 

Supplies used for this card (all supplies can be purchased from my online store. Available 24-7 ):

• Cardstock: SU Old Olive and Barely Banana
• Stampin write markers: Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie
• Sizzix big shot machine and Elegant Bouquet Stampin Up Textured Impressions Die
• Ink: Close to Cocoa
• Ribbon: Soft Suede grossgrain
• Stampin Around wheel : Fall Harvest
• The stampin around wheel guide and handle made using this wheel so much easier (I won't say a breeze though since to be honest wheels still give me some trouble. :) )

So how about you, what are you doing to savor the last bit of Fall? 

Gearing up for winter - Snow Pals and some blog candy.

Can you believe October is almost over? This month has been a complete and total whirlwind of activity for me:

• I got the keys to move in to my apartment on the 1st. Which also involved a slew of other things like running around to get renters insurance (required for this apartment), filling out the list of all damages so I don't get charged for them when I move out. 
• I moved the pup and a few belongings in to the apartment on the First and then on the 10th moved furniture in.
• Started my new job back on Sept 28th. Training did not start until October though. So it has been a month FULL of learning.
• Finally got my blog hoppin' in order to participate in the Pals blog hop. Many thanks to all of you who participated in the hop!
• Ended up sick with some sort of coldish thing. (no fun :( ) 
• 
  

AND...THEN...yesterday we had our first snow!!! There was no snow forecasted as of the weekend. I had thought it was curious that we made it so long without snow as our first snow is typically sometime in October. LOL...spoke too soon! There were some flurries on Tuesday night. On Weds it snowed off and on all day and it even left us with a little on the ground. The pup and I were up bright and early this morning so I took him out to play in it for a while. :)

In honor of our first snow, I created this Snowy card for one of my fellow members of the pretty pals:

I am sending this card along with a packet of hand stamped images from The More the Merrier Hostess Set ( ). This is a hostess set that can be earned with a qualifying hostess order. My pal was sweet enough to send me a few hand stamped images from a set that I do not have (it shall appear on a blog soon...). 

The inside of the card has this sweet and simple sentiment "so happy to have a friend like you "which is also a part of The More The Merrier Hostess Set. 

I thought it was appropriate for my blog readers as well. Thank you all for all the support you have given me this last month. I really appreciate it. 

BLOG CANDY:

While stamping these images, I thought it would be fun to make up a few more to give away as blog candy as a thank you. 

In order to participate: leave me a comment below by the midnight AZ time on Saturday, and I will draw the name of one lucky winner on Sunday. Winner will receive a stack of hand stamped images from The More The Merrier Set. :)