Ladystamper

I just had to share this awesome sale at Stampin' Up!! They have put together some great bundles at amazing prices! I will be ordering lots for me, how about you? If you order a bundle TODAY from ME, I will sweeten the deal with FREE shipping! AND, if you order $150, you will get some free hostess benefits! I'm tellin ya, this sale is awesome! follow this link to see the sale www.beckiecarlson.stampinup.net email me when you are ready and mention this post for the free shipping!

I'll start off with saying, I didn't actually make this project and I'm not sure who did. It is a WOW swap I received at convention last summer. The swap is hosted by Amy Celona and we always have stellar swaps from it! I really like this one and am planning on doing something like it for some Christmas gifts. Since we are all on a tighter budget this year it seems, I thought I would share it with you as an inexpensive gift idea. The base of this project is a CD mailer. You can find these at most office supply stores and even at WalMart on a good day. Since it is a stiff white 'folder' it is easy to alter and personalize. This particular one was altered using the Bella Rose DSP from Stampin' Up! This would be a great gift to give an out of town relative with a disk of pictures from the past year. (that is what I plan to do) Along those same lines, I have been organizing my photos this weekend. Not the actualy physical photos, but the hundreds of photos I have

Our challenge theme this week was Give Thanks. Today I am giving thanks that my husband is home from his surgery, that my daughter is safe while she is out being onery, that most of my kids made it to school today, and that I don't feel like I 'totally' have the flu yet. I'm also thankful for my awesome Big Shot that I made this cool project with! I don't know if it fits the 'theme', but right now, it will have to do. I plan to fill it with goodies and use it as a thank you gift. How's that? LOL I used the big penant die from Stampin' Up! and stuck two together using sticky strip. They are stamped with the Doodle this stamp set in brown and aqua painted in with Riding hood red and Artichoke. These are way fun to make! Now, I'm off to see Twilight! yay!!

Here is another super fun project we made at my Big Shot club last week. I found these styrofoam type cones at WalMart for under $2. They are actually green, not white. I think they are for floral arranging. Because they aren't the traditional white and are this horrible green stuff that falls apart in your hands (yeck!) I left the plastic wrapper on. I punched out a bunch of scalloped circles using my Big Shot and the scallop circle punch from Stampin' Up! This particular on uses the retired Dashing paper along with some current papers. I cut all the circles in half and used my snail to adhere them to the cone, overlapping them to completely cover the cone. After I got them all on, I went back and added some 2-way glue to the edges and then dumped some chunky clear glitter all over it. It is adorable in person! It reminds me of a Dr. Suess tree, hence the pom pom on the top. That may or may not stay, but...it is kind of cute. Believe it or not, this was pretty quick to make.

It will be Christmas! I know, you didn't really want to hear that. I haven't even started on my shopping. Well, okay, I have a tiny stash of stocking stuffers but, that is it! I have starting thinking about my Christmas cards tho. It is never too early for that. This is a card we made at our stamp a stack and scrap last week. I had wanted to do an envelope card and was looking through my patterns and came across these diecut boxes from Stampin' Up! that I had purchased a couple years ago. Great surprise! I added a green belly band with DSP and some punches for accent and voila! Instant envelope card. For the inside, I layered artichoke and white and added a stamped element. I love this kind of card for the holidays! It is small enough to fit inside a regular or translucent envelope or you can hand deliver it without an envelope. The inside is great for a quick holiday note on one side and a family picture on the other. Good luck with your Christmas card making, be sure t

No, I am not expecting. LOL Wouldn't that be a trip! shudder.... No, my friend Peggy is expecting her first baby in January. We had a totally fun shower for her at my house yesterday. It was a ball. I have to say tho....I was definitely feeling old by the end of it. I had made up a questionnaire for all the guests to fill out with questions like "what is your favorite color, food, etc." One of the questions was "what is your favorite 80's song." Nobody could name one! One person said "cotton-eye Joe" and another said "YMCA." sigh....I truly believed the 80's were still alive and kicking. Kind of like when I was a teen and all the kids listened to the 50's music. Isn't the 80's this generations version of the 50's? Apparently not. Rude awakening to say the least. I felt so old I decided I was going to lose 35 pounds by Christmas even it if killed me and that I was going to at least look and feel younger even if I was

This week our challenge was to use Baja breeze and chocolate chip on our projects. I love those colors together! Since I had my big shot club meeting yesterday, I ended up using that for my project. This picture does NOT do this justice! It is awesome! (if I may say so mysel) I used the big pennant die from Stampin' Up! and cut out three baja pennants. I stamped them with baroque motifs in the chocolate chip and sponged the edges. The scalloped edge along the top was done with the scallop border punch. I added some flat pearls from the pretties kit. The ribbons are fed through double jumbo eyelets. I think it looks great! I have a baby shower at my house today so I have to run! Be sure to check out all the awesome stuff the other BC gals did!

As you know, I am working on starting my professional organizing business. I just love helping people simplify their life by brining order to their spaces. It is truly rewarding! Several of you asked if I would share some organizing tips on my blog. What a great idea! I will start doing that today. Over the years, I have ready many many organizing books, watched show, practiced in my home and in other people's homes. One of the more inlightening books I have ever read is one my dear mother gave me years ago called "Organizing from the Inside out" by Julie Morgenstern. Julie offers a simple plan for organizing any space you may have. The one statement she has in her book that has not only stuck with me but also shaped how I organize myself and others is this "keep it where you use it." She relates this idea to a kindergarten classroom. The art supplies are in the art center, the books are in the library, the building supplies are in the building center, etc. It

I have never been a big fan of Halloween. I don't like scarey movies, costumes, music, etc. so... Halloween doesn't really appeal to me. My husband LOVES it. sigh....so, over the years I have been forced (encouraged) to participate. A couple of years ago I went all out and sewed some Star Wards costumes for the kids and they have worn them every year since. (good planning on my part, no?) this year, with me being out of town the week before Halloween, we just didn't have much time (or money) to really get ready. Thank goodness I have creative kids. They pulled together their own costumes from what we had around the house. We did also have a Superman costume given to us for Ben so, that helped. Here are Sarah and Ethan. Ethan was suppose to be Darth Maul but his dorky mom put the black on first and then tried to put red over it. aahh....that didn't work. duh! so, he went as a really dark sith Lord. Sarah was a vampire. lovely. As I said, Ben was superman, but he flew aro

Well, okay, I wasn't actually dead or even sick for that matter but....I have been absent on my blog here. Sorry about that. It has been an interesting couple of weeks over at my house. As some of you may remember, I was having issues with my son at the school. Thank you to everyone that emailed me with suggestions and support. It makes such a difference to know that I am not alone in my struggles. I wanted to give you all a quick update. We had two IEP meetings last week with the 'group' at the school about Ben. Things had escalated to where not only was he not doing work and being sent home, he had started running out of the school. Needless to say, the principal and teachers thought that was unsafe. I had to agree. Ben used to run off regularly but since he has been in school, it has been a rare occurance and even when he did run, he didn't do it from the school. I know I said I was frustrated with the school, but after our meetings last week I have to say that I