Stamptivity #5

For the Stamptivity challenge this week, I challenge you to make something that includes a photo. I made this photo placecard for a challenge at Mon Ame Memories and I am using it as my example for this weeks Stamptivity challenge too. The Stamptivity stamp of the woman is from the Wedding Stationery and Text set. I colored her in using my SU markers.

The other supplies used for the placecard: SU Riding hood red ink, Bella Rose patterned paper, Creamy caramel cardstock, Rustic Rooster stamp set (for the text background), A Happy Heart stamp set (for the dandelion and hearts/X's), Chocolate Chip ink, Pink Pirouette ribbon, sticker alphas.

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January Giveaway (staying at the top)

IS NOW CLOSED!!!

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Migraine/Botox Q&A

First, I want to say THANK YOU! Thank you everyone for the overwhelming support I have received in dealing with my migraines. It is a difficult disease to live with for anyone because it strikes at any time and it disrupts your life. I appreciate everyone comments about this so much. When I first posted about the migraine problems, I never dreamed that it would gain so much attention. Thank you!

Elizabeth at Stampin Elizabeth asked me a question about the Botox treatment I had this week so I thought I would open up for a Q&A. My hope is that someone will come across the answers and it will help them with their own Migraine treatment. If you have any questions about Botox treatment for migraines, or migraines, or other migraine treatments, post a comment here and I will try to answer your question in this post. I have job shadowed my neurologist (I want to be a neurologist) for a couple of years and I have dealt with my own disease for over 10 years). I love medical related anything and I am guessing there are others out there who are the same way. (if you would like to be anonymous, please send me an email and I will leave your name off the question)

Q:How long does the botox treatment last? (from Elizabeth at Stampin Elizabeth)
A: Botox treatment can last 3 to 6 months. Migraine people typically get the treatment every 3 months because they don't want to risk getting migraines again.

So if you have any questions post them here! I will keep a link to this Q&A in my sidebar.

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Botox Follow-up

I wanted to let you all know how it went. . . so if you haven't been following me, here is the scoop: I have been having weekly migraines for over 3 months now and it has gotten so bad, I have become desperate to try anything. I asked my wonderful neurologist (he is my doctor and mentor also) to get Botox treatment. Botox is not yet FDA approved for migraine treatment but there is plenty of evidence that says Botox works to reduce migraines (I want to be a neurologist so I read neurology stuff, especially anything to due with headaches).

Well on Thursday I got the treatment. It was extremely painful which I didn't really expect. Botox is injected into the muscle, so the needle has to go deep. PLUS it hurts when the actual botox was injected into the muscle. He decided on 14 injection sites: 4 on my forehead, 4 on the back of my neck, and 3 on each side of my head on my scalp above my ears. Each place was painful but the forehead and neck were a lot worse than the sides. It was all I could do not to kick him away while he was injecting me!

Later that day I felt nauseated and exhausted. Some people get flu like symptoms for up to a week. I slept all Thursday afternoon and remained home Friday sleeping late and lounging around all day. My head is still very tender and when I raise my eyebrows, my forehead feels tender and kind of tight. Overall, I just feel tired and nasty, but hopefully it is all worth it!

My neurologist said it should be fully effective in a week so I should know quickly since I have been having at least 1 migraine a week for the last 3 months, with only 2 weeks migraine free.

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IBCC#4

IBCC stands for Idea Book & Catalog Challenge. The IBC challenges are intended to get everyone thinking about the Stampin' UP catalog as an idea book and not only a catalog (since it is intended to be BOTH!). The Idea Book & Catalogs are all filled with great sample projects which you can use as inspiration.

For IBC Challenge #4, use the card above as your inspiration piece. This card is from the brand new IBC Spring 09!!! It is filled with bunches of new accessories including the Big Shot!! PLUS there are over 50 new stamp sets!!! It is a great catalog. To take a peek, click on the catalog in my side bar at the top (PDF).

The winner of this challenge will be chosen at random from everyone who enters. The winning card will be showcased on my blog :)

TO ENTER:
1. post your card and a link to this challenge on your blog
2. post a comment on this post with a link to your card.

Entries are due by next Friday!!

I chose to use the house shape as my inspiration. For my challenge card, I made the card below:
This card features designer series paper that will only be available from the Sale-a-bration brochure starting Feb 1st. The thank you sentiment is from the NEW hostess level 2 stamp set called A Little Something. The window stamp and accessories are from the retired SU set called Window Dressing. It was a level 3 hostess stamp set in the previous catalog.

To make the roof piece, I cut a square 4X4inches and then cut straight along the diagonal. Then I attached a little chimney and scalloped edge with So Saffron Cardstock. The square for the base of the house is also 4X4inches. For all the coloring, I used my SU markers.

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Catalogs are GONE!!

So I preordered 6 cases of catalogs and they are now all gone!! Here is a photo of them all stacked up and packaged so I could mail them out. There was a bunch of excitement from the great gals who received a catalog. I will be ordering another case soon so if you still don't have your hands on a catalog, click on the free catalog link in the top of my sidebar to find out how to get one!

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My Scraproom -Part 1

This is our scrap/music/office room. As you can see, it is mostly scrap room :0) I was doing so well, I had taken photos a couple of weeks ago so I could post them. . . and then I got some new containers and reorganized so my room changed! LOL So today, I went ahead and took new photos. This is part 1 of the room because I took closeups of all the shelves and scrap areas. I will go into more detail on my organization info in the future posts.

So for the above photo, I am standing in the doorway and looking to the right. To the left of the doorway, there is a closet (in photos below). If you take a right, you can go to the electronic drumset and birdcage (Bob is a canary). There are my two black shelves. We got these from Target about 6 months ago.
If you walk to the left, you can go to the scrap table, closets and computer. The drums and table are centered in the room so there is a walkway around the room like a giant circle. It works great because I am constantly getting up for supplies while I am crafting. The scrap table in the center of the room is bar height so I can stand or sit to craft. That is the area I use to make everything.

Behind the scrap table (in the photo above) you can see 2 desks against the wall. One is the computer, office, print station. The other is the cricut and cutting station.

Here are my white shelves. I have had these for a really long time and I don't know where they are from. Most of the items on the shelves are scrapping supplies :)

These are the spare closets next to the door. Johnny has a small shelf in his exactly like the one in the open closet. The difference is that his shelf is stacked with home made water rockets, paintball stuff, and misc. engineering projects. My shelf is covered with more scrapping stuff. The top of my closet is filled with electronic supplies, extra extension cords, batteries, etc.

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Joy of Family LO

I want to thank my dear friend Alison for giving me the awesome K and Company paper pack I used for this LO!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! (Actually I shouldn't be thanking her because I have never used K and Co paper before and now I am hooked! I went to joanns.com to look at more of it. .. "My name is Samantha, and I am a paper addict")

I made this LO from a sketch I made. The sketch will be revealed for this weeks Sketch Challenge on Sunday so stay tuned.

I used a photo of some of my family members so I blocked out their faces for their protection.

These little flowers were stamped on the layout using SU Perfectly Pomegranate ink. The flower stamp is from the SU set Season of Friendship. The rhinestone brads are also SU. They came with the Holiday Collection Kit from this past Christmas.

I framed the photo with SU Kiwi Kiss cardstock & scalloped the edges with the SU Scallop Edge Punch. I inked the edges of both green papers. All of the pink cardstock is SU Pink Pirouette cardstock. The butterfly stamps are my favorite part of this LO (besides the patterned paper!!). The butterfly is from the SU Dreams du Jour stamp set. I just punched out the butterflies with a circle punch and arranged them so they focus your eyes to the photo.

The larger circles were made with the Martha Stewart circle cutter. The title was made with glitter Thickers.
This quote is also from the SU Dreams du Jour stamp set.

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My Mom made a card!!

At my crop party for my hostess club members (this past weekend), my mom participated. This is one of the cards we made. I wanted to post her card because she altered the design I had. I used my sample card for this weeks IBC challenge for the card we all made at the crop party. Believe it or not, my mom does not stamp, I mean EVER, and she made this card. I was so proud of her for cropping with us.

This card was made using the SU Season of Friendship stamp set. This set was in the Holiday Mini 08 that just ended, and it did not get placed in the Spring 09 catalog so it is unavailable (but not officially retired unless it doesn't get placed in the Fall 09 catalog).

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Dreamy Valentine

I made this card with the new Dream A Little stamp set from the Spring 09 catalog. This set is a Level 3 stamp set and I just LOVE it!! (If you can't already tell since I have been using it a lot lately) The cardstock is from Paper 24/7 (the dark pink) and SU (pink pirouette). The card measures 4.25X5,5 and that standard card makes the perfect sized card to place the Top Note die cut on!

I used the Rock and Roll technique for the hummingbird. The rock and roll technique is used to make two toned stamped images.

ROCK AND ROLL HOW TO:
1. Get out two ink pads. Pick out two shades of the same color. I used a dark blue (SU Pacific Point) and a light blue (SU Baja Breeze).
2. Ink the entire stamp using the lighter color ink.
3. Lightly ink the edges of the stamped image with the darker color ink as desired (you can do all the way around the image, just some edges, stamp just two sides to make the image look striped).
4. Stamp!

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Botox Baby!!

Ok so you all know I have had lots of migraine issues lately (actually for the past 3 months they have been horrible). I've actually had migraines for over 10 years, but I am just going through a really bad spell of them. SO I asked my neurologist to get botox treatment for them. Being 20something, I don't need it cosmetically, LOL, but it is supposed to help with migraines so I asked. He thought it was a good idea to try since I tried daily meds and the abortive meds don't work well for me either. . .

So this Thursday, I am going to get my first treatment of Botox injections!!!!! Please send out happy thoughts and prayers in hopes that this will actually work for me!

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My Spring 09 Wishlist

OK here is my Spring 09 wishlist. I am just dreaming of course because my list is way long. If I magically won the lottery, I would buy them all (it would have to be a miracle because I never buy tickets so it is impossible currently, LOL)

(Added later) This list still includes many items that are older too because I still had a lot left on my wishlist from before :)

God's Beauty hostess set
Comfort Food hostess set
Darling Dots hostess set
hostess paper pack
Happy Heart Day
You & Moi
Snow Burst
A Holly Jolly Christmas
Cupcake wheel
Boatloads of Love
Tailgaiting Wheel
Time for a Tree Wheel
Loads of Love & Accessories
Font of You
See You Around
Scatter Sunshine Wheel
Fast Flowers Wheel
Garden Greetings
Thoughts & Prayers
Watercolor Joy
Forever Flowers Wheel
For the Bride
Welcome Home
Hoppy for You
Nursery Letters Wheel
Once Upon a Time
Perfect Princess
Man's Best Friend
All in the Family & Accessories
Neighborhood Wheel
Friends 24-7
Friendly Words Wheel
Ever After
Romance Wheel
Bella's Border Wheel
Doodle Wheel
Whimsy Wheel
Garden Whimsy
Cheep Talk
Good Friend
Trendy Trees
Funky Forest Wheel
Simply Friendship
Pretty Amazing
A Beautiful Thing
It's Beautiful Wheel
SO Swirly Wheel
Bird on a Branch
Sweet Serenity
Ocean Commotion
Playful Petals
Le Jardin Botanique
Fifth Avenue Floral
Gallery
Frames with a Flourish
Card Games
In the Cards Wheel
True Friends
Boho WHeel
Boho Backgrounds
Always in Bloom Wheel
Music Expressions
Symphony
Illuminated Wheel
Elegant Cheer
Just B
Lovely Labels
More In Color cardstock
Neutrals Textured cardstock
Parisian Breeze Specialty DSP
Jackpot DSP
More Candy Lane DSP
More Bella Rose DSP
Bella Birds DSP
Pink Flamingo DSP
Manchester DSP
Good Morning SUnshine DSP
Raspberry Tart DSP
Sweet Always DSP
Bella Bleu DSP
Flock Together DSP
Tea Party DSP
Love Sparkles Simply Scrappin Kit
Sweet Nothings Simply Scrappin Kit
Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin Kit
Fine Cosmo Glitter
Fine Galaxy Glitter
Fine Supernova Glitter
On Board So Tweet
Full Heart Punch
Eyelet Border Punch
Scallop Square Punch
Designer Label Punch
Ticket Corner Punch
Word Window Punch
Ribbon Holders
Serif Essentials Alphabet Bigz
Beautiful Butterflies Bigz
Scallop Envelope Bigz
Backgrounds 1 Texture Plates
Texture Plates Kit 4

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SC #4

**I  am on a ProvoCraft/Cricut Boycott! They won't get another dime from me!  Got a Cricut? Well use it! Don't have one yet? Consider a different  machine!! Click here for more details about my boycott and how I got here!! You can join the boycott too!**

Here is the sketch I made for this week:

I made this layout for the challenge:This is one of my favorite LO's I have made in a long time. I just love how it turned out. Don't get me wrong, usually I am a little proud of the work I put into my projects, but usually my own work doesn't impress me. This one did however! It is so simple but it just worked for me.

The patterned paper is from Stampin' UP's Muirfield paper pack. I got it with my hostess benefits this month and I was glad to be able to get it before it retired. If I wasn't doing my challenge, I would have bought a lot more of it because I LOVE IT! My scraproom has a lot of these exact colors: Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss!

The stamp swirls at the bottom were made using the SU Doodlle This stamp set. I used the Cricut Going Places cartridge for the arrow die cut. The journaling was done with a Fiskar's gel pen. The Martha Stewart doily lace punch was used for the edgework. The title was made with Thickers glitter chipboard letters.

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Stamptivity #4 (Late!) & SBG1 #4

I am quite late for this weeks Stamptivity Saturdays challenge! I was having so much fun at my hostess club crop party that I forgot all about posting my challenge.

For this week's Stamptivity challenge, use the following color scheme: White, Pink, Red, and Yellow.

I also used this same card for Mel's challenge for our Blogger Group (SBG1 challenge #4). The challenge can be found on Mel's blog (link in my sidebar under Blogger Group)

For my challenge card I made the card shown above. The Stamptivity stamp is from the Wedding Stationery and Text stamp set. This stamp is so elegant. I will be using some of their wedding stamps to make my wedding invites someday. I embossed the stamp with white embossing powder.

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Taylor Mini Album

**I  am on a ProvoCraft/Cricut Boycott! They won't get another dime from me!  Got a Cricut? Well use it! Don't have one yet? Consider a different  machine!! Click here for more details about my boycott and how I got here!! You can join the boycott too!**

This is my dog Taylor. She is the little apple of my eye :) I adopted her when I was 7 years old and now she is VERY OLD. The vet says she is perfectly healthy right now, but we will only have a few more years together. To celebrate her still very special life, I am starting a mini book that includes some of my favorite photos of her. Here are the first set of pages I made.

I would like to thank my buddy Marci for all the neat doggie chipboard shapes & the tiny letter brads. You are awesome!

The greatest things is that this mini album is made using the top note die and the big shot! This die cut make a great little album. The Top Note die can only be ordered through Stampin UP! To make a mini album like this, just punch holes and attach them with binder rings (I purchased the rings at Staples, the office supply store). I plan on decorating the rings with bows and ribbons.

I have a bunch of journaling on the first page of the album.

This page is of a photo when Taylor and I were riding in the car on a long trip. The frame is a die cut of the Happily Ever After cartridge (one of the Mulan Frames). I embellished the die cut with Fiskar's Gel Pens and Stickles glitter.

This one says "Taylor likes to stare" because she is a starer! She will always just sit nearby somebody and stare at them for what seems like forever. There is a hidden journaling square that pulls out with a SU Round tab punch out.

This page is Taylor taking a bath. The title die cut is from the Cricut New Arrival cartridge and the bubble border is from the Cricut Paper Pups cartridge. I embellished the die cuts with Stickles glitter.

I will post more eventually :)

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IBC Archive

IBC stands for Idea Book & Catalog. The IBC challenges are intended to get everyone thinking about the Stampin' UP catalog as an idea book and not only a catalog (since it is intended to be BOTH). The Idea Book & Catalogs are all filled with great sample projects which you can use as inspiration for many different types of projects.

Here is a link to the list of all the IBC Challenges. They are in reverse chronological order (so the latest challenge is at the top). IBC Challenges are posted on Friday's (or late Thursday if I am early).

IBCC Archive

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IBC Challenge #3

IBC stands for Idea Book & Catalog. The IBC challenges are intended to get everyone thinking about the Stampin' UP catalog as an idea book and not only a catalog (which it is partially intended to be). The Idea Book & Catalogs are all filled with great sample projects which you can use as inspiration.

For IBC Challenge #3, use the card above as your inspiration piece. This card is from the brand new IBC Spring 09!!! It is filled with bunches of new accessories including the Big Shot!! PLUS there are over 50 new stamp sets!!! It is a great catalog. To take a peek, click on the catalog in my side bar at the top (PDF).

The winner will be chosen at random from everyone who enters. The winning card will be showcased on my blog :)


TO ENTER:
1. post your card and a link to this challenge on your blog
2. post a comment on this post with a link to your card.

Entries are due by next Friday!!

For my challenge card, I made the card below:

This card features the Season of Friendship stamp set from the Holiday Mini catalog that just ended. This set is not currently available, but it may return in the next Fall catalog (or it may already be gone forever. To line up the images, I used my much loved Stamp-a-ma-jig! The patterned paper was punched with the Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch. The colors used are Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point. Don't ya just love that textured cardstock? I need more. . .

I can't wait to see what you come up with for the challenge!

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Life is Good LO

We took this picture on a trip to the lake one summer when we were still in high school (which wasn't that long ago for us actually, since we are in college now). It is one of our favorite photos because we are both making really weird faces (which shall not be seen!! LOL). I have this same photo framed in my scrap room :)

For the LO, I used My Minds Eye & DCWV patterned papers. The works Life is Good were stamped on the paper using Basic Grey ink. The stamp is from the SU Text and Texture stamp set. There is a button in the center of the layered silk flower and I outlined the Mellow Moss cardstock circle with Stickles glitter glue. I used glitter Thickers to make the word "Fun". Oh, and there are flower eyelets in the corners of the photo (I am trying to use more eyelets).

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Wishlist Spring 09

Well, I had a wishlist but somehow, when I copied and pasted it from Excel, it made all my text on my blog much smaller so I had to delete it. When I get a chance, I will try to post it again.

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Secret Project -Part1

Here is a little SNEAK PEEK from the Spring 09 catalog. This card was made with a level 3 hostess stamp set called Dream A Little. This set features whimsical looking flowers and leaves with this hummingbird and cute sentiment. I adore this stamp set!!

The card shown is part of my secret project I worked on week before last. I will reveal the secret in time, but until then, I will just show the cards and leave you hanging :) fun huh?? For my secret project I made 40 similar cards, but I will have to make more this weekend for the project.

Anyway. This is a 4.25X5.5inch card. Then I used whisper white and clear embossing powder for the stamped images. Then the bird was punched out using a circle punch and then the white was punched out using the SU scalloped circle punch. The ribbon is SU Riding Hood Red ribbon. I LOVE the double stitched grosgrain ribbon!!

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SPRING CATALOG & MY SPECIAL OFFER!!!

HOORAY!!! The Stampin UP Spring Catalog comes out today!! In order to celebrate, I will be posting tons of new projects featuring some of the new stamp sets from the catalog & I I have a very special offer starting today!

SPECIAL OFFER: The first 10 people to place a $30+ order through me via email at sstracha@utk.edu will receive 10% off their entire order!! Don't wait because once those 10 orders are placed, the special is over. *****If you place an order through my online ordering button in my sidebar, I can't give you the 10% off directly on your order, but I will refund you 10% through the mail if you are one of the first 10 to order. You can download the catalog and sampler by clicking on the photos below!

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SC #3

This is this week's sketch for the sketch challenges group at My Scrap Space. To join in on the fun, go to http://myscrapspace.com/group/sketchchallenges .

I don't have an example LO done this week because I have been dealing with the migraines AND NOW. . . I caught a cold!! Argh it's frustrating! Anyway, I hope to get a layout made this week if I get caught up with school.

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Winner of IBC #1

The winner of the first ever IBC challenge is. . . . ROSIE!!!! Rosie entered the challenge with this gorgeous cupcake card. This card features a cupcake from the SU Crazy for Cupcakes set. To see more of Rosie's beautiful work, visit her blog at http://www.pureflowstudios.blogspot.com/

Rosie, please email me your mailing address and I will get your prize pack sent out.

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