My First Video Tutorial Yahoo! Funtime/Pazzles Software layers and cutting

I have always learned things better by seeing it done, not by reading about it. Someone asked a question on one of the Yahoo groups the other day about the Funtime/Pazzles Software and changing the layer order for cutting. I bit the bullet and downloaded Camtasia 30 day free trial. Great program! A bit pricey for some but I will be buying it! I made my first video last night to show a simple way of changing layers to get the layers in order for better cutting on the page. It is my first video so be kindd and excuse the abrupt ending. I had to cut the vdeo into two because You Tube only will take 10 minute videos....Bahhhh... I was 12 minutes and 31MB..Ok that was a big file.

So here is the link:

Down the line I hope to do other videos on Stampin' Up's new "My Digital Studio" and various other crafting endevours.

Cherry Cake Box

Another "Cake Box" But this one is one of my favorite retired Stampin Up papers of last year. One thing about dark papers when you use a "kiss cut" fold line your paper will show through it's core color. I am not too keen on that but.....

Cake Box with Stampin' Up Bride Speciality Paper

Here is a photo of my most recent project that I did for myself. Using Stampin' Up's newest Specialty Paper Bride. You can get templates all over the internet for a "Cake Box" so I am not posting one here. I did create a WPC file for my Pazzles to cut the multiple "Cake Boxes" that fit into an octagon.The rhinestones are heat set using a heat setting tool. The ribbon (5/8 Whisper White Organza) and flowers (Pretties kit) and glitter (Dazzling Diamonds) are all Stampin' Up products. You can do multiple tiers but on this one I only did one tier as an example. This would make a great bridal shower center piece then give every one a "piece" with little goodies in the boxes. If you find any typos that I did not catch....so sorry, I really did a good job busting my left ring finger Saturday night and typing with a finger brace really stinks! I even chipped the bone...it was that hard! Ouch!

Stampin' Up' software: MY DIGITAL STUDIO®

Well the new Stampin'Up digital software is finally out. It's called My Digital Studio®. If you have never used a digital scrapbooking program before, this will be a good beginning program for you. With a little help from the manual you will be producing your own printable scrapbook pieces in a matter of minutes with the included templates. Or put them together, upload and have a real book made through the Stampin' Up website. Here are a couple of pages I produced within a short period of time. This one I added 3 pictures that were automatically sized for me when I dragged and dropped them into the picture squares. I was able to use a bit of ribbon and added stitches to it.
This next one is a card size one that I was just playing around with. trying to blend different backgrounds. I used the scallop punch and filled it with color to put behind the little scrap of paper. I put a tag punch on it with another tag punch over it with a brad. Add some ribbon and your done with your digital card!

INSPIRE, CREATE, SHARE... Stampin' Up Convention 09

Stampin' Up Convention 09!! Ok I miss my 2 furbabies!! Soo...I start off with a picture of everyone's favorite Stampin' Up Assistant Companion MAX!! He belongs to "InkieBunnie" Lisa Marie. As usual the line started before 7:00am for Momento Mall!! And there was still a line after 10:00am to get in!!

Here are some pictures of some of the fun things you can get this year in limited quantities.
How about a really pretty ornament...Only one per cutstomer.

Everybody on the run grabbing all the goodies!

Environmentally friendly water bottles...one per customer.

Rubics cubes in the new In Colors....Ok I think this idea was a flop. I did not see anyone buy one of these.


Cute little make-up bags with separates to buy for it like a nail kit, lotion, a compact mirror, nail files....Very cute!


And here we are in our fun new SWAP aprons. Eva made her aprons with her group name of Bee Breative" and I stenciled my HotPaws Creations on my apron along with putting vinyl pockets with buttons all over and embroidery in selected areas.

The pen tool will be delayed until Aug 15th

If anyone wants the pen tool it will begin shipping again around Aug 15th. I am going to Utah for my annual Stampin' Up Convention. Hopefully I can post some pictures. I did not want to burden the person who will be staying in my house with having to mail things also!!
Thanks SueR

Some of my swaps for convention

Here are 3 of my swaps for convention. The little gift bag is a 2-5-7-10 gift bag made on my Scor-Pal. The Haunted Step card has 3 steps and a tall one on the side (I used my Pazzles Inspiration to cut these out). The snowflake card is a Sizzix Bigz Die creation. All stamps and colors are Stampin' Up. I am getting ready to leave for convention on Sunday. This year I am driving the car and boarding my 2 poodles. I am really going to miss my little furry girls. Ok ......See some of you at Convention '09!!

Pen Tool Announcement!! It's done!!

It's done! For all of you that have Stampin' Up Pens©...You can now use them with your Pazzles™ Inspiration Creative Cutter. Other pens that will work in the pen holder tool are Close To My Heart™, Zig™, Uniball Signo™ and Sharpie® Fine Tip Pens. I wanted to use my SU pens in my machine so I called upon my best friend....the "nutty professor" aka the prototype engineer to help me! After he made a couple of prototypes that worked, he was able to design a 2 piece mold out of aluminum for me. This part was not free but I did get the "cousin" discount on his work for me! He has a Prototype Injection Molding machine in his garage. (That's really cool!!) So I now know how to make my own injection molded parts! With his help of course! So I essentially "rented" his molding machine and injected my own parts one at a time. Unfortunatly his machine only does one at a time so that was my option!! Started out with basic black and white ABS plastic and then mixed them to get a "zebra" effect. Then added another color to the white and created a purple zebra tool and a turquoise marble one too. My whole intent with this was to create an affordable tool in this tough economy. I am proud to say it's "Made in the USA" by me!! So the introductory price is US$ 15.00 plus $4.95 S &H = US$ 19.95. I have put a PayPal button on the right side of my blog close to the top. I will be accepting PayPal and of course checks and cash! I will be including a second screw in case anyone strips their first screw by tightening down too hard. I am also including a foam pencil grip to help with alignment of smaller barrel pens in this pen holder. Have a great weekend!

I am back after a six month hiatus!

Well time does fly when your busy. The last six months has been a bit of a rollarcoaster for me. January was my birthday month and my sweet adopted Husky Doe became very sick. So at the beginning of February I had to say goodbye to her... She was about 14 years old. Then in March I received the news that my adopted poodle furbaby Muffin had kidney disease. So I started giving her an injection of fluids everyday. But it was not helping like it had in the past with other pets I have owned. So again I had to say goodbye to another beloved pet...Muffin....she was about 13 1/2 years old. Wow losing 2 pets within 4 months is a bit hard on one's heart! Needless to say my mojo flew out of the window for a while. So my mojo is coming back slowly but surely. I still have my 17 1/2 year old poodle Monique and yes I did adopt another furbaby. But that will be another post coming up. I have been working on updating my blog all day and getting ready for the debut of my new Pen Tool for the Pazzles ™ Inspiration Creative Cutter that will be using Stampin' Up Pens!!

Christmas Goody Bags

Last night my friend Deb and I made all her gift bags for her work people. Since she has such a stash of paper we used a lot of her papers adding my Stampin' Up Real Red to compliment the bags. In her bags were a coffee mug with some hot chocolate tins so the outside cello bag was filled with Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips and mini marshmallows and teeny tiny little peppermint pillows. Using the Top Note Sizzix die for the bag topper. I printed off all her work buddies names on to Confetti white cardstock in red using a font called "Santa's Big Secret". Then using the Curly Label punch we punched out the names for the cello bags. The top layers of the paper bags were edged with the scallop punch for a fun effect. The two special bags received some bling in the form of heat set pearls and rhinestones, using the Bejeweler heat setter. I get all my heat set stones and pearls from "Sue's Sparklers" in Escondido CA. The pretty snowflake blue bag used Stampin' Up DSP Ski Slope paper. Now to get my stuff done... All my friends stuff is done. I haven't even decorated the tree yet....Whoa am I behind.....

More of my busy work from last night!

More of my glue gun magic! These large plastic ornaments were purchased from Michaels. A few craft picks and ribbon and glue!

Viola!! Beautiful..... Originally I had bought a decorated ornament for $26.00 at the local holiday craft show (Sugar Plum Festival). Using that as my inspiration, I created these ornaments of my own for 1/4 of the price!
You can see my reflection in one of them as I took the picture. I think I will be selling some of these next year at craft boutiques. Ho Ho Ho of the Holidays!!

Decor Elements Christmas Shadow Box

I was busy last night! I had bought this shadow box over a month ago to use with this Santa Decor Element from Stampin' Up. Talk about last minute.....jeez! Glue gun in hand, ready to attack... Here is the final product. Using Stampin' Up' s Ski Slope DSP I covered the back with the pretty snowflake paper. I had purchased some craft picks at Michaels and cut them all up.

The Decor Element was looking kind of plain with all the glittery things inside so I outlined him with Stickles glitter glue. Putting a big red blorp of red for "Rudolph's" nose.
The Santa sleigh needed some definition so I outlined some packages in the back and put some Frost White Stickles on his hair, hat and cuffs. before shutting up the shadow box I dumped some glitter and flaky glitter inside to make it look snowy if you shake it up!

Shut everything up and added some string pearls to the outside of the box with Crystal Effects as the glue for the pearls.

I think it came out very nice...a little late but nice!! On Dasher...On Dasher....

You go Rudolph!!

Get Well card using Our Craft Lounge Stamps

I just fell in love with this little elephant when I saw him! I went to a Copic Marker make and take the other day. The stamp company is Our Craft Lounge. Personally I was not thrilled with the Copic Markers for the price that they command. I did purchase 2 sets; pastels and brights. I got better results with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol blending spirits. (Elephant colored with Prismacolors) For the money that Copic's cost per pen and having to buy 3 shades to get good blending...nope not for me. I can watercolor blend better then the Copics also. Wow me saying I don't like an expensive tool...wow something must be wrong with me. All the paper & ribbon supplies are Stampin' Up; Pacific Point, Whisper White and Bashful Blue. Also the dots are Dew Drops.

Doggie Die Cut

I really have been busy making things but cannot put them on the blog till later due to contracts and some being Christmas gifts (don't want to spoil the surprise)

This adorable little gal began her "life" as a black & white GIF image. Now look at her, Isn't she adorable!! I used Stampin' Up products to ink up the edges and bone. I used a Gelly Roll Glaze pen to color her collar then dipped it in glitter. Of course doggies have wet noses so I applied Crystal Effects on to the nose. Then using a white pen to put white fur on the chest and eyes (oops eyes were done after the photo)

I purchased a new software the other day that really simplified making die cuts for me. I normally design all my own die cuts from scratch or occasionally hand trace a photo to get exact details (Wacom 9 x 12 tablet). Then I manipulate the design so it does not look like the original to avoid copyright issues. I am not a crafter/artist that can draw from my head out of thin air like some, I have to have a model in front of me to draw. Well this new software is amazing on how well it vectorizes and image. Previously I was using a Pazzles SignMax WinPC 2007 version for my Pazzles Creative Pro machine. Now I just bought the SignMax Funtime Scrapbooking 2009 Deluxe version (Which is much like the Pazzles Inspiration software by SignMax). Wow what a difference; no more choppy lines, new fun special effects.... I do have to give credit to Ivan at SignMax in Canada for updating my driver to work with my Pazzles Pro. The image above was obtained from the Graphics Factory. Now having given them credit and linking to their site, I do believe I am following their copyright rules. This next picture is directly from the Funtime software after cleaning up the image and turning it into a paper piecing. You can click on the picture below and get the WPC version 14 file (I hope the link works, If not just email me) Happy Howlidays!! Woof Woof

Christmas fishes to all!

This little guy just caught the Christmas Spirit wave....When you go surfing here in California you occasionally have a few "finned" friends helping. The dolphin are known to "body surf" with the human surfers. This great Stampin' Up set called "Shellabrate" is really versatile and cute. Here I used a couple of stamps from Judith and Heather also; the little xmas light on the surfboard and the little snowflakes in the background,

The Pacific Blue combined with Bashful Blue background was embossed with a Cuttlebug snowflake folder. The wave was lightly watercolored with inks. You can not see the Stickles in this photo but the image is quite glittery. The envelope that is to be used is below.

The card below that is a very simple version that I am going to be helping a friend do for her Christmas cards. That prototype was colored with Prismacolors and Gamsol

Craft Show Set Up

Here are the pictures of my booth at my first "boutique". I have 4 fold up tables that are 4 ft each. The beige and red baskets that are standing up in the back left are fold up for easier set up and take down storage. I purchased them from Cost Plus and to make them stronger I can zip tie them together. I had a "Sock Monkey" holding a "Sock Monkey" card in his lap. The display board in the back is Velcro so I can change out cards quickly when I need to, I have a velcro dot on the back of a clear envelope so I don't ruin the card If I choose to send it out later. I made the display board myself from two cork board wall memo holders. Since it was my Upline that put this boutique together...There were not alot of customers to get interested and sign up. Oh Well. Any way it was fun and I sold some old stamps and a couple catalogs.

Top Note Santa Suit

This cute little Santa suit was made using the Sizzix Top Note die. I cut a strip of basic black for the belt and a strip of Presto Sticky Felt for the center. Using the Curly Label punch and the horizontal slot punch with brushed silver for the belt. I collect all kinds of brads and eyelets so I thought these cute little buttons were just perfect for the finishing touch.

Here is a close up detail of the buttons & felt and how it looks just perfectly furry for the center of the Santa Suit. Ho Ho Ho!

Snowflake Christmas Card

Here is a quick and easy Christmas card using the Big Shot Stampin' Up Snowflake die and the large Scallop Circle die. I covered the snowflake with Dazzling Diamonds glitter using a liquid glue pen. Topped it off with a rhinestone brad...Done. I am up at the Kern River and the weather is just beautiful but internet service is very frustrating! My lap top keeps disconnecting ...ARGGGGHHH..I have tried to post this 3 times. Needless to say 45 min later...I purposely put a couple pics on mylaptop to upload but this is taking way toooooooo longggggg. Happy Shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Stampin' Up has a great sale going on right now...starting today through Dec. 1 Monday..ONLY. Check it out! Go to my Stampin' Up website and order before supplies are all gone!!

Don't forget Rub-On's are also on sale through Nov. 30!