My Happy Stamping Place

Happy Valentine's Day!

Do you have big plans with your loved ones today?  Usually, we pick up a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's, I layout the table with festive Valentine placemats and plates, I give them each a little gift and we have some kind of sweet Valentine treat for dessert. Unfortunately, this year we will be scattered in different directions.  My daughter, Rebecca,works(at Papa Murphy's!), Nick has soccer, and Sam has gymnastics.  There isn't even time for my husband and I to sneak away for a romantic dinner because we have to be back in time to pick the kids up.Oh well.  Life is busy!

My youngest, Sam, is in 6th grade.  This is his last year in elementary school and the teachers told them it was optional to bring Valentines.  Sam didn't really want to but I wanted one last year to make something for his classmates.  So reluctantly, he is bringing in these for his class:

You can find the bubblewands at Target.  I just made little tags to hang from their heart shaped handles.

For his teacher I made this treat holder with a punch art lady bug:

Well, I gotta run to work.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

 

 

 

 

 

No clever title

One of the toughest things for me in blogging is coming up with a snappy title for my blog posts.  I know how to write and create cards and other papercrafts but for some reason I get stuck on my titles.  Anyone out there hear me on this?  That one stumbling block can hold up my posting. 

I had my monthly stamp club last night.  Here are my projects from this month's stamp club.

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I cased this idea from Heather Klump.  The image from Elementary Elegance is embossed with clear embossing powder.  Then I sponged it with soft suede ink. The middle is punched out with the curly label punch and stamped with the "Hello" from the same stamp set. I used the hearts embosslit on the label and the new buttons from the Occasions mini catalog.  The stamp set is one of the Sale-a-bration items you can earn for FREE with a $50 purchase through March 31.

On this card I used the Sale-a-bration stamp set, Fresh Vintage, and more of that yummy designer paper, Everyday Enchantment.  The edges are die cut with the Edgelits and embossed with the Adorning Accents embossing folder.  The banner is from the petal cone die.  Since discovering this banner I can't stop using it!  The image is punched out with the 2 3/8 Circle punch and backed with one of the Label Collection Framelits die.

I combined ideas from a couple of ladies on this treat container.  The ribbon idea and the cherries with this paper came from Erica Cerwin.  The treat container came from Karen Squires. The cardstock is Calypso Coral and the designer paper is from the Sweet Shop pack from the Occasions mini catalog.  The hearts are embossed for an extra cute look.The stamp set is from the Occasions mini catalog and is called Mouthwatering.

I'm off to visit a college with Rebecca this weekend.  She's still trying to narrow it down.  She qualified for a chance at a scholarship by writing an essay on diversity.  She is one of 600 to make this cut.  After interviewing this weekend they will award 100 of them $5000 scholarship each year for 4 years.  Wish us luck!  Doug is holding the fort at home with the boys.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Santa box

Ooh my!  Can it be December 10 already? It sure can cuz it is!  I have been busy, that's for sure.  But hasn't everybody?  Lots of extra things to do at this time of year.  The Christmas decorations are all up(pretty much), a lot of my Christmas shopping is done, and we are in the thick of the party season.  We are going to my husband's Christmas party tonight.  One of the things on my to do list today is to buy a black shirt to wear tonight.  I have the rest of my outfit picked out, just not the black skirt.  Last year's doesn't fit me, in a good way!  I'll be wearing a pink turtleneck sweater with a scarf, black tights and knee high black boots.  You see the black skirt is all that is missing.  It should be easy enough to find - I hope.  When I go looking for something specific I can never find it.  Wish me luck!

I do have a cute Santa box to share with you.  I gave this to my Stampin' Up! hostess a couple of nights ago.   I CASED this from Debbie Henderson.

He's made with the petal cone die tilted up side down and a smattering of punches.

Punches: Wide oval punch(head), large circle scallop punch(beard), oval scallop punch(hair), stocking punch(eyebrows), circles for eyes from owl punch, bird punch(mustache) small oval punch(buckle) and scallop trim border punch to go all the way around the cone box.  I did this in sections . I think Debbie's version used ribbon but I couldn't get it to lay flat around each curve.

I have lots more to share.  I just have to get some photos taken and get them posted for you.  I also have a big box of new stamping goodies I'm itching to get my hands on.  This is new stuff from the upcoming Occasions mini and Sale-a-bration.  I have lots of Christmas to share with you first though.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Pop Up Gift card class

I have an upcoming class for popup gift card holders.  I have a lot of people I give gift cards to over the holidays.  I don't like the fact that I didn't put much thought into giving the gift of a gift card so I like to present them in a fun way.  This pop up gift card holder fits the bill!

Kim Score came up with this fun mechanism.  I just designed the card fronts.  I cased some ideas I found online and I'm very happy with how these came out!  In this class you will be making 9 pop up gift card holders and will have the makings of 10+ gift tags too.

Date: Thursday, December 15

Time: 6:30

Price: $25

If you are local to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and would like to come to this class, you can contact me for more details at kathleen@myhappystampingplace.com.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Thanksgiving Weekend

I had a fabulous 4 day Thanksgiving weekend!  It was filled with all of the things I love: Family, Food, Shopping, Stamping, and Movies.  It couldn't have been better! We spent Thanksgiving at my brother-in-law's house just 5 minutes away.  My nephew was home from the Marines. Here's a picture of him in his dress blues with my kids.

My boys are both sporting new short haircuts.

I spent a lot of time in my craft room.  I have some upcoming stamp club projects and a class to share with you later  Right now I'm going to share with you some ideas with the stocking sizzix die in the Holiday mini catalog.

This first  idea I saw at the Stampin' Up! convention last Summer.  You take the #2 Sizzix box die and turn it so the small end is up. Cut off the flaps on that side and sandwich it between two stocking dies.  It makes a cute little gift box!

Here is the stocking die with the top opening folded up to reveal a gift card pocket inside.

You can also make a die with the gift card peeking out the top.  Make some out of felt or fabric.  Make a garland of stockings to hang by the fireplace.  So many fun ideas to do with this die!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Chicken Pizzaoli

Hi all!  We got snow for the first time this season.  I was in LaCrosse with my daughter, visiting my sister, Geri for the weekend. We didn't get any snow in LaCrosse but on our drive back we slowly drove into the snow.  It wasn't much.  Just enough to stick to the ground and make the roads slushy.   I think it's all supposed to melt by Thanksgiving.

We had to get back early today because I had Recipe club this afternoon.  Bonnie was the hostess and she brought 3 delicious items.  The main dish was Pizzaoli.  This was deeelish!  Here is the recipe card I created for it.

The chicken is made from the owl punch and a few other punches.  The idea came from Michelle Scileppi.  I can't tell you how many different punch art chickens I have made for my recipe club cards.  It's always good to find another one.  I love the clever way Michelle adapted the owl punch to become a chicken!

The designer paper is the oh-so-cute, Domestic Goddess.  I have been itching to use this paper and found just the project.  The ric rac is made from the Tasteful Trim Sizzix die.  I can't stop using this die!

I'll post the other recipe cards we made in club over the next couple of days.

Tune in to my online website tomorrow.  Stampin' Up! will have some fantastic Clearance rack deals!

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen

Happy Halloween

Times have changed.  That's for sure.  Gone are the days where we travel as a family to Pumpkin patches, apple orchards weeks in advance and enjoy a nice fall day selecting pumpkins and enjoying the fine fall weather.  Now there are busy schedules to coordinate.  My daughter couldn't select or carve her pumpkin because she had homework and had to work.  My husband took my boys up to Cub foods to select their pumpkins.  It doesn't have quite the same ambience.  We didn't get them until yesterday, the day before Halloween and the decorated them last night.

Here are the boys with their selections.

Here they are all carved up.

Dont' ask me what the two on the left are about.  Some inside jokes from Utube videos and video games.  The one on the right is a puking pumpkin my husband did.  Lovely.  This is the part of Halloween my husband always takes care of.  Carving pumpkins.

I was busy making treats for my son's class.  Here is what he gave this year.

Little pockets made out of the Stampin' Up! Sizzix top note die.  These would make great gift card holders too!  Here is what he gave his teacher.  I made these for my co-workers too.  First I made shortbread cookies with the cookie press kit from Stampin' Up!.  Then I packaged them and presented them in boxes made out of the fancy favor box Sizzix die

They were a big hit at work!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Teacher gift

I always like giving a gift card in a cute and clever and unique kind of way.  I ran across this idea somewhere and knew I wanted to try this out for my son's end of year teacher's gift.  This would make a great way to present a gift card for a birthday, graduation, Mother's day, etc.

 

I die cut some flowers with my Fun Flowers Sizzix die from Stampin' Up! Then I ran it through the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  I placed Stampin' Dimensionals between the layers and glued the flowers to a popsicle stick with mono multi glue.  The leaves were made from the oval punch and the paper crimper.  Behind the middle flower I glued a mini clothespin and that's what the gift card is being held with. The metal tin is from Ikea and I glued one of the brights buttons do the front.

I'll be using this idea again for sure!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Kathleen

Happy Easter!

Easter morning is bright and sunny.

Just in time for the Easter bunny. 

Boys and girls awake with glee.

Eggs and baskets they can't wait to see.

TIme to get dressed in their Sunday best.

Let's all make mom impressed.

Go to church and thank our Savior.

Let's all keep in the Lord's good favor.

Spend some time with extended family.

Good food, good treats, and pass the ham please.

Thank you for a beautiful day.

It's Spring!  I can't wait to play!

 

Just a quick little Easter poem I threw together this morning.  It is nice and sunny here in Minnesota this morning.  We are dashing around getting ready for church.  I wanted to share a quick punch art flower I created for a gift bag punch art class I held this past week.

 

Here are the punches I used to make this happy flower.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you have a wonderful Easter with your family!

Kathleen
 

Carrot Box

I have seen several versions of this carrot box floating around blog land.  This is made from the Petal Cone die.  I made this one for my hostess, Phyllis, a couple of weeks ago.  We made another version in stamp club last night.  I added the simple punch art bunny cased from Mary Fish.

 

Spring has finally sprung here in Minnesota!  Everyone has come out of hibernation and started walking, running, biking, or any excuse to enjoy the nice weather.  After the winter we endured, this is a well deserved Spring! 

I'm having a Spring Gift Bag class on Wednesday, April 20.  I will post one of the projects for the class in the next day or so.  Stay tuned!

Also, for those local paper crafters, I am having my 4th Annual Stamp and Scrap Sale on Saturday, April 16 from 8 am to 3 pm.  This has been a huge sale in the past and promises to be another one.  I will have some more details next week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathleen