Sale-A-Bration 2013

Here's just a sneak peak of some of the fun things going on in my own crafting space during Sale-A-Bration. I am in love with this designer paper! It's only available as a SAB item, so make sure you snag one fast!

It's been a while...

A few years, a while, whatever that might be. I've missed blogging, but the transition of being a stay-at-home mommy of one to a full-time working mother of two has been a bigger journey. I keep pretty busy these days. My heart is full and I barely have time to keep up with the laundry, much less the internet. I took a break from being a demo for a while.
I've been back for a few months, and it's wonderful. Stampin' Up! has so many new products, colors and of course I am having a blast!
We started our local stamp club in November, and I love spending time with the girls creating cards and other items. I've missed this so much!
Feel free to contact me if you need anything. I'll be updating the blog with a badge, but until then, my website is http://stefstamps.stampinup.net
Happy Stampin' and Creating of all types!
~Stef

And It's finished :)

I woke up this morning and just wanted to finish this gift. I have almost two weeks, but I just would rather do it now than later. I think it's pretty cute, and was simple (besides the lining... I've never done a lining before. Now I know what I would do different next time to make it easier :) I was going to make a scarf to go through the belt loops but had this way cute ribbon and decided it would be nice. There are no interior pockets, but I put velcro on the front pockets so she can still put little things in it.
I had the ribbon, thread, velcro and colorful halter top in my stash. I only bought the Hannah Montana jean capris. Oh, I used scrap denim for the strap (normally there is enough in a pair of jeans but not kid capris!). So, I spent 50cents on this present. Planning on getting a few things from the Target dollar spot to put inside as well!

Sewing a gift...

Stay tuned to see what I made from these two thrift store finds tonight. Hint: it's a gift for a little girl who is turning 9 :)

Flower Pot Cards!

I got my inspiration for these from SCS as well. They are SUPER easy and besides the brown "pots" everything I used was from my scrap stash... even the ribbon :) So fun! I love them. I've seen a lot of them with a sentiment stamped and hanging from the ribbon. I may do that when I am sending them off... for now they will just sit in my completed card box. They are a pocket card, so when you pull the flowers there is room for writing on a white base. LOVE em.

I have been making a few cards lately...

I have tons of this paper I got as a door prize from Torrington Office Supply a while back... I have a rediculous stash of patterned paper so I kinda forgot about it. I thought it made a more "masculine" card. I need more of those, lol! I also haven't used my SU! set "Puns from the Past" that I just "had to have" so I am trying!

This set I got when I was a demo, I just love it but thought it needed a twist, so I hole punched some "apples" and made an apple tree. So fun!

I've been challenging myself to make cards with my scrap stash because it's so out of hand. I just can't recycle it, but I tend not to use it. So, this is just a quick card I made for my Nana to thank her for our Blackhawks t-shirts and lunch in Colorado.

I LOVE THIS CARD!!! I want to make a bunch more! I have barely used this pretty set, Backwoods? by SU! I actually attempted masking and I love it. I made this for my father-in-law for fathers day this year. I normally don't make him cards, but he seemed to like it :) Maybe I will again....

This was my Daddy's fathers day card. I got my inspiration from SCS. I couldn't find any tutorials so if anyone wants measurements I recorded all the steps I used to make this card. It was really fun and just so cute and creative! Again, the fish was from the Backwoods set. I have lure stamps, but they are too large for this card, so I stamped one in the background when I wrote inside :)

Thanks for looking, hope you liked my creations!

I've slacked so much lately on blogging, pregnancy is just exhausting... especially in the summer with a two year old. WOW! :)

Bunches of Burp cloths...

My new favorite thing to make for babies!

Made two for my friend Heidi's girl...

And two more for my sister's college roomate, Jenn. She recently had a sweet baby boy.

I just bought some fabric for our own little one on the way... I am thinking of trying a little different style burp cloth next :)

Oh, Torrington! What am I going to do with you?!

When I moved to Torrington I did not recycle. In fact, I did not recycle since living with my parents in Illinois. There we had a "recycle bin" in our garage, along side the trash can. The recycling got picked up on the curb. When I moved out of state, I had no idea what recycling would involve.

I started cloth diapering Ella when she was 6 months old. I lived in an apartment and had to drive my stinky diapers to a laundromat every 2-3 days to make sure my baby had fresh diapers. It was worth every minute, every penny. I knew at that time I had so many changes to make.

I didn't start making those changes until we moved into our current home, last July. I had it. I've seen enough stuff thrown out. It disgusted me. First of all, recycling in Torrington is a major pain in the ass. There are 3 moveable bins around town to put our recycling in. Yeah, that's right... we bring it there. Fine, whatever, it's worth it to help save our planet just a little. However, the more pregnant I get, the more frustrating it is.

The most frustrating part of recycling in Torrington isn't even that we don't have a place to recycle glass (which DOES frustrate me!).... it's that the dang plastic bin is always so full. Now, I'm thankful I'm not the only one who gives a crap... but c'mon, Torrington! We need one trailer for ONLY plastic, and then another seperated for paper, cardboard, aluminum and glass. The plastic always fills faster and then it ends up blowing all over in the wind.

I also wish we had more resources around here. Wyoming is a grand and beautiful state, and its residents are pathetic. They litter cigarette butts everywhere, and can't simply throw a dang coke can in a recycling bin. Put up recycling bins on Main street next to the trash cans! Fast Food joints need to do the same! Plastic straws and lids go into the trash EVERYDAY. WTF?!

Okay, that's the end of my rant. I'm just sick of this mainstream lifestyle in Torrington. I want more people here to understand the importance of reycling, cloth diapering... and using toxic-free products in their homes. If I could only open my own little green shop... this city would be a better place!

For A Meat Lovers Swap

I am totally addicted to 6X6 recipe pages. I joined a swap for meat dishes a while ago on SCS. I finished my pages for beef and pork today, I will wait to finish chicken til tomorrow. I used my From The Kitchen cricut cartridge again :) I just adore it! I have a few complaints... that it has the word poultry instead of seperating chicken and turkey... and then there is no crockpot graphic, and the tea kettle is not as fun as say... a tea pot and cup :) I could totally give them a list of a second cartridge I want...

January Iron Chef

I am so thrilled that we are back to swapping! This month's secret ingredient was CHEESE. mmmmm so I picked an amazing (and not that high in calories!!!) cheeseburger soup. We were to use paper from our scraps, and to stick with a snowy winter theme. Lucky for me, I had a few sheets of awesome snowflake paper that were half and 3/4 unused. I used all bazzil carstock except for printed the recipe on WW by SU. I found some cool silver cs scraps and cut the little pots from my "From the Kitchen" cricut cartridge. The silver cord is from SU. I am still debating on fulfilling the challenge to add brads...

The Holidays Kept me busy...

I painted all of these little dressers and decopauged them for my little cousins. The boys did not seem too thrilled, but, oh well... handmade gifts for tween boys are tough! Maybe I'll just give them the $5 next time haha...

My First Apron...

My mother-in-law and her husband spotted this old barn stamp in my collection last winter. It looks like his grandfather's barn, and they wanted something with it... just not sure what. It took me a LONG time to come up with something practical to make. It would not fit on a 4X4 tile, plus I already made her coasters with the Bucking Horse on it. Well... I decided to use a SU! craft ink pad and just stamp it on fabric and sew an apron to show it off on. And that I did. Now onto the matching potholders! (another first!)

Crayon Rolls!

I am excited with these. As soon as I got the hang of them, they weren't too much work. These two are for Nate's cousin's kids. I am pleased. I am thinking of making them each a matching tote bag to carry their coloring books in with them! Here is the tutorial I used... Crayon Roll

My little Elf...

These are one of two sets of Baby Legs that I made Ella. I just love them :)

More Potato Bags...

For Nate's dad and uncle. I still have some Broncos fabric leftover... I LOVE IT.

I am a bit disapointed...

I really don't like the way this one turned out. I think I am going to shorten it and redo the bottom as well as the top. It just looked too narrow at the neck, and the ruffle... well, you can tell I was rushing to finish it. So, tomorrow I will work on it. Tonight I made Ella two pairs of baby legs and a couple of microfiber inserts (for her diapers). The leg warmers are Christmas-ey so I am really excited to get her into those tomorrow! She's going to be wearing her skirts like everyday haha, I love 'em!!!

I think this is it!

Now to locate more bashful blue and not quite navy cardstock! Ugh... why am I so last minute? I bought two packages of whisper white cs and silver cord with my last SU order, so I'm good on that! Maybe the office supply in town will have something comparable. I used some stickles on her little muff and ice skates. I am not sure about that "Merry Christmas" sentiment yet. I will have to dig through my stash to see if I have something I like better! Only 59 more to go! If worse comes to worse I will just cut back my list... or use half these, half of other cards I've made in the past ;)

FOLLOW ME...

Ha, I know I get a few visitors, but did you know you could follow my blog? Once I have 25 followers I plan on having a drawing for a prize... If you look on the left colloum (there are three total) there is a spot that says "followers" (it's the third/last spot). You can then click "follow" and enter your e-mail address! Fun!!

Air Force Jammies!

I bought the fabric to make Allison some jammies a few months ago. I kept putting it off! I finally made them today and I really like them. I just sewed on the little Air Force emblem to a Garanimals top I got at Wal-Mart. I was going to make her fleece jammies but it doesn't get really cold where she lives so I thought cotton might be more practical!

Potato Baker Bags

Here are my first two of my 12 (maybe more, lol!) potato baker bags I am making for Christmas gifts. I decided not to do them for my family... I already bought gifts for them. I am going to make one for my Nana for her birthday in January, however! I am making them for all Nate's aunts, uncles, cousins... one per household. I also usually make them chocolate covered pretzels. This year I am also making bath salts. Just a fun little bag of goodies for whoever is at Christmas dinner...