Stellar Stamps

Happy Halloween and some holiday advice...

... do not give alcohol to pumpkins!

I'm attending a shoebox swap today - here's my card & its inspiration

Totally unexpectedly, I stumbled upon a shoebox swap among stampers in my area today. It sounded like a great way to get away from the business end of this (night and day, it seems) and be a stamper again so I signed up. I'm eager to make new stamping friends :) Here's the card I made and, below, its inspiration.

Products used to make card:

• Card stock used: Melon Mambo (pg 155 IB&C) and Certainly Celery (pg. 157)
• Ink: Melon Mambo (pg. 155)
• Stamp set: "Sincere Salutations" (pg. 143 IB&C)
• Bigz Die "Flowers, Daisies #2" (pg. 199 IB&C).
• 1/2" Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon in Melon Mambo (pg. 182 IB&C)
• Rhinestone Brads (pg. 179 IB&C)
• Designer Series Paper "Flock Together" (pg. 162 IB&C)

Dimensions of cuts to create card in inches:

• Card: 5.5 x 8.5 
• Main base on front: 5.25 x 4 
• DSP on front: 5.25 x 1.5 
• Ribbon: 7.5 
• You’ll need 2 coordinating pieces of card stock 5.5 x 6 to create the Flower Daisies #2 die-cut flower

 

At convention, my 2nd level downline, Trina Hanson, swapped this gorgeous card that I just fell in love with so I pretty much copied it for my swap with her blessing. Thanks Trina!

Founder's Circle Swaps #13 - Delightful Decorations, Part III

Lisa Freeman designed this card using Delightful Decorations (pg. 24 Holiday mini), the new Ornament punch (pg. 25 Holiday mini) and the Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (pg. 195 IB&C).

 

Created by the hands of Barb Mullikin.

 

Joann Wiemers designed this card.

Founder's Circle Swaps #12 - Delightful Decorations, Part II

Another terrific card using Delightful Decorations (pg. 24 of the Holiday mini) and the new Ornaments punch (pg. 25) by Kim Cagle.

 

Cindy Sheets designed this interpretation.

 

Sadly, these next two have no names of their creators on the back.

 

Stay tuned for Part 3 of Delightful Decorations coming tomorrow....

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Founder's Circle Swaps #11 - Delightful Decorations, Part I

Delightful Decorations (pg. 24 Holiday mini) was a very popular set during this swap -- and deservedly so! Many samples also used the new Ornament punch (pg. 25 Holiday mini).

This is one of two of my favorite cards that I received in the whole swap. The artist is Christie Daugherty.

 

This card created by Sharon McNeely.

 

Dawn Olchefske made this lovely card.

Kim Evans created this one below.

Stay tuned for Part II of the Delightful Decorations coming tomorrow....

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Deal-of-the-Week now through October 26 at 9:50 AM (MT)

The third deals of the week are from October 19, 10 AM (MT) through October 26, 9:50 AM (MT).

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
114348	179	Basic Jumbo grommets	$6.95	$4.49
109857	179	Mini Library clips	$12.95	$8.99
112571	179	Circle Designer brads	$5.95	$3.99
112581	179	1/2" Library clips	$6.95	$3.99

Here's a card I made using one of the Jumbo Grommets. They are so easy to affix to your card. They have pointy parts that pierce the paper then I just tapped down the pointy ends with my hammer.

My kids' university's football team is #1

Per the Associated Press: "The Crimson Tide jumped Florida and landed at No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday." WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Both Matt and Kirsten (senior and sophomore, respectively) were at last night's homecoming game vs. South Carolina. This is the 2nd year in a row that they were #1 at some point in their season (last year they were #1 for 5 weeks). So far, Bama is undefeated.

When Matt was considering university options, he indicated he wanted to attend a school with "crazy a** sports". Looks like he found the right one! Super exciting to be a student there today. (I will never miss an opportunity to spotlight the university that gave my two elder children an undergrad education for free! I know they earned those academic scholarships BUT I thank the university - forever - for offering them & pursuing my kids till they caught them.)

ROLL TIDE!!!!!!!

 

I took a break from stamping to engage in some decadence....

... chocolate decadence, that is!

Our son's elementary school has a fundraiser tonight and I volunteered to donate two desserts for the dessert auction table. I made two of the same. First saw this recipe, one year ago, featured in our local newspaper. It is the easiest thing to make and the most delicious you can imagine. Recipe below as found on a news network site (!) - even they were promoting it a year ago!

Looks sort of blah, doesn't it? It's only about 1" high.

Once 150% cool (overnight) you can add a stencil (I cut out letters just by printing them on a piece of paper on my computer) and then sift powdered sugar all over then removed them with tweasers so I didn't tip them when lifting straight up and off. Here I used the school's initials but the first time I made it, I put a big star on it. If the cake is not cool when you do this, the sugar will melt. I know as that happened the first time I made this a year ago.

Note that it is very rich and very crumbly. When my family eats it, I tease that they have to take a Barbie-doll sized portion as that's as much as you can handle in one sitting.

 

Now to jazz it up for its presentation on the auction table. I went over to a dollar store last night for clear cellophane and some embellishments and ribbon. The platters are from Goodwill ($4 total). Oh, and rather than lay the cake on the fake leaves or the red ribbony stuff, I cut out 9" circles out of a priority mail box and slid the cake onto that then onto the decorative platter. Makes it more stabilized since the plates curve up and I also didn't want the cake to crack if it was not sitting flat. Voila! A red version and a silver version.

Now to drive them to school without them sliding anywhere!

 

 

Now, here's the recipe I found an ABC News' site (I just Googled it and this was the handiest source):

This dense, rich chocolate cake oozes holiday decadence, yet is fast and easy enough for anyone to make. Pastry Chef Francois Payard borrows the recipe from his brother, Charlie, a pastry instructor, for his recent book, "Chocolate Epiphany."

Payard says the cakes can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to a month. Serve with ice cream, creme fraiche, whipped cream or a dusting of powdered sugar.

———

CHARLIE'S AFTERNOON CHOCOLATE CAKE

Start to finish: 35 minutes (15 minutes active)

Servings: 8 to 10

Baking spray (cooking spray blend of oil and flour)

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

8 ounces 60 percent cacao chocolate, chopped - Stella's note = don't use any other percentage of cacao - I tried 63% once and it looked wrong. Ghirardelli makes the right 60% chips and every grocery store should have it in the baking section

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Place a rack at the center of the oven. Heat the oven to 350 F. Use the baking spray to coat the sides and bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan.

In a small saucepan over medium-high, bring the butter to a boil, stirring several times to prevent it from burning. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until melted and smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Add the flour and mix well. Add the chocolate and butter mixture, then mix only until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Bake the cake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 F and bake for an additional 8 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and let cool completely in the pan. Unmold and serve.

(Recipe from Francois Payard's "Chocolate Epiphany," Clarkson Potter, 2008)

New images available for My Digital Studio

Starting today, seven new My Digital Downloads are available for purchase and use with your My Digital Studio software or other design applications. Several of these images are just in time for Halloween!

Order My Digital Studio and/or these downloads here

Item #	Product Name	Price
118114	Cast A Spell Designer Series paper - digital download	$4.95
118115	Night & Day Designer Series paper - digital download	$4.95
118124	Medallion stamp brush set - digital download	$1.95
118126	Circle Circus stamp brush set - digital download	$5.95
118116	School Days II stamp brush set - digital download	$9.95
118121	Great Moments II stamp brush set - digital download	$9.95
118122	Pumpkin Patch stamp brush set - digital download	$5.95

Primping up your catalog like it's going to a prom

I am sure this is old news to many but I thought I'd bring it up since I just took care of this today. I had my catalog front and back covers laminated and the spine spiral bound. I do it every year right when the catalog comes out but this year time got away from me so I only got to it now. I took my catalog to a large office supply store and in a matter of a few minutes, and $4.49 later, I had my catalog primped like it was going to the prom! No corsages necessary ;-)

I have a few olders ones I'm showing here too but the new one is on top. They cut the spine off, then they laminate the front and back ($1 each) then they add the white spiral ($3.49), then they punch the holes in it (free, LOL!) and then they put it all together. I love the ability to refer to the catalog while I'm using it as an idea book and having it lay/lie (I never know which word is correct!) down on a table or on an easel. It's just an extra little thing I like to do since I keep my catalogs forever and continually refer to them for ideas.

See how it now lies flat for ease of using it as a pattern or template?

 

Want to order anything??? Click here and order 24/7.

Founder's Circle Swap Cards - #10 Halloween

Twick or Tweet (pg. 10 Holiday mini) was the stamp set of choice for Denise Sullivan.

And.... Laura Milligan.

Jane Wike created with Pumpkin Patch (pg. 9 Holiday mini).

Steady hand Christy Schroeger used Halloween Hoot for her card. Note the perfect placement of the three elements from that set (witch, cauldron and sign). I'm guessing she used a Stamp-a-ma-jig. Great job!

Very clever and creative embellishment by Tami White. Tami heated a half pearl from our Pretties Kit, dipped it in Heat & Stick Powder (pg. 188) then dipped it in black embossing powder and heated again. Voila - spider body! Tami used From the Crypt (pg. 21 IB&C) which includes bleach stamping a large image from the set onto the background.

A close-up of Tami's spidery masterpiece.

 

Buy any of these sets online, right now, at my Stampin' Up! store

Founder's Circle Swap Cards - #9

Rebecca Bernzweig used C is for Cat (pg. 61 IB&C).

 

Missy Shipman created with Flight of the Butterfly (pg. 108 IB&C) and For All You Do (pg. 118 IB&C).

Lynsay Mahon stamped with On a Pedestal (pg. 71 IB&C).

From summer to quasi-winter in 48 hours!

Saturday I worked at a craft faire and it was about 85 degrees. I was toasty all day. We kept hearing that the first storm of the season was coming Monday night. Ok, that's fine. Season's change, la, la, la....

Oh my gosh, it was like Armageddon here today! It poured and was windy all day long. I lost power (no joke) 13 times. Driving to my daughter's high school, which is about 12 miles away, I dodged fallen branches, flooded roads, 4 fire engines I had to pull over for, saw one accident with the wind whipping and rain pouring. I took me 45 minutes to get home and it ordinarily takes about 25 minutes.Holy moly!

This was fun. I had my purse on my shoulder to go get Kendall from high school. Power flips off. Uh, guess what is powered by electricity that a person needs to work? The garage door! I had to use the bypass and lift it manually only to have it slip down. So I then had to find a ladder to prop the door onto. Uh, still not high enough to allow my minivan to clear. I then put a bucket on the top of the ladder and raised the garage door enough just to get my car out. Then, of course, while it's pouring I have to get out of my car and move the ladder so I'm not leaving the garage door open while I'm not home. Yes, I just had a cocktail this evening.

Our swimming pool always tells the tale. It rose 3" today. The water is supposed to be below the top 3 rows of blue tile. It's now at the top of the top tile.

And poor little Michael, my 6th grader. Yesterday I was a driver to the week-long environmental camp the class went to - 60 miles from the school. The weather report said they might get up to 7" of rain up there! I hope there's an ark ;-)

Here's the pool a moment ago and the sky above after the storm has passed. What a  very non-traditional California day! And please don't tell me shoveling snow stories... this is all relative. We Californians don't know how to handle inclement weather!

Stampin' Up! Deal-of-the-Week #2

The second deals of the week are from October 12, 10 AM (MT) through October 19, 9:50 AM (MT).

Perfect Setting Bigz XL Die on sale for $25.99

Flower Burst Embosslits Die on sale for $5.99

Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL Die on sale for $25.49

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
115961	200	Perfect Setting Bigz XL die	$42.95	$25.99
114515	195	Flower Burst Embosslits die	$11.95	$5.99
116760	201	Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL die	$39.95	$25.49

I survived my first Craft Faire!

I had a booth at a local church craft faire yesterday. What a great experience! It was a tiny event but I met some wonderful stampers, a couple of very nice vendors, got to spend time with my selling partner Christine (a delight!) and sold a solid chunk of retired Stampin' Up! product. Here I am at the back of my booth area. It was in the 80s and just a glorious, fall day!