Tamarra's Stamping Spot

New Look!

Ok so if you follow my blog you have noticed my new look. So what do you think? Do you like it as much as I do! If you do then you can have Michelle design one for you too. You can find her site HERE! I think she did an awesome job. I'll be back later with a card I made. Until then have a great day.

Thanks for stopping by!

Santa Clause Bag swap

Hello all! I know, I know, where in the world have I been. Since the hospital stay I have been sick a few times and in between that life just seems to have happened. And since I was 2 months behind on most things from being sick I am still playing catch up on some of it. I know I should have tried harder to stop by and say "HI" but I had to let something slide a bit and my BLOG was the chosen one, so to speak. So I will try to do better and post more often but if I come up missing here and there at least you know why.

I have told you that one of the clubs I do, does a bag swap ones a quarter. This quarter we had to spell SANTA CLAUSE with our projects. So here is the one I made, I even made a Christmas poem to go with it. 

Lets get on to the samples. As usual all the stamp supplies are from Stampin' Up! unless other wise noted.

T'was the morning before card swap, when all through my mind not a project was stirring not of any kind.

 

A Stocking was filled and ready to go,  

 

 

 

 

Cute Socks huh, and they were perfect since the swap was SANTA CLAUS. They were filled with a random selection of embellishments that I had purchased. You can kind of tell because the toes are way out of proportion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A box with a tag  

 

This picture was taken before I finished the tag. The box was filled with a ton of different sizes and shapes of tags.  As you can see the little bags they are in are coming out the top.

 

or an old Nut can, would they know?  

 

The can is an empty Girl Scout Nut can. You can see the lid on the bottom. I did decorate the lid too so that if the receiver wanted to use it again they could. Inside the can is a cinnamon apple pie candle. The black sting you see is because I had already attached the letter for the swap before I remembered to talk a picture of it.

 

 

I hoped an idea would soon come along or this was going to take way to long!

 

The kids were still nestled all snug in their beds, while I'm sure visions of  Treat box-es danced in their heads.

 

Box opened: 

 

It was filled with hershey kisses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bath I could use to clear my thoughts,  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tubes of homemade bath salts were inside the mug. I ran out of time to stamp a box for them to go in. ~again life happens!~ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

or hey why not some Chocolates that everyone wants.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The box was filled with miniature chocolate candy bars. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then all of a sudden "I GOT IT" I said, a box you can Look through 

 

 

 

The ornament was the same that I posted a tutorial to a few post back. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

or an Album instead?

 

 

 

The cube is a Photo cube album that you put pictures on before you mail or give it away. I put this ornament on the inside. Usually the ribbon wouldn't be around it like that but I wanted to make sure the ornament didn't fall out.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm usually so good and have no trouble at all, but tonight I'm at a loss and just stuck on stall!

 

Unusual box-es are usually my forte',

 

 

 

 

The stocking is filled with chocolates and a Gift Card to Target.

 

 

 

-I will am typing out a tutorial for the stocking that will be up hopefully this weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But now I only have a Santa box to give away.  

 

As you can see it was filled with more embellishments.

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the projects with some delight, now just to say "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night."

 

 

Well that's it. That was my bag this time. Hope you enjoyed it.

 

Thanks for stopping by! ~Tamarra

 

 

 

Update: I have had a few of you ask how it reads with out all the extra garble-e-goo in between. So here it is.

T'was the morning before card swap, when all through my mind not a project was stirring not of any kind.

 

A Stocking was filled and ready to go, A box with a tag or an old Nut can, would they know?

 

I hoped an idea would soon come along or this was going to take way to long!

 

The kids were still nestled all snug in their beds, while I'm sure visions of  Treat box-es danced in their heads.

 

A bath I could use to clear my thoughts, or hey why not some Chocolates that everyone wants.

 

Then all of a sudden "I GOT IT" I said, a box you can Look through or an Album instead?

 

I'm usually so good and have no trouble at all, but tonight I'm at a loss and just stuck on stall!

 

Unusual box-es are usually my forte', But now I only have a Santa box to give away. 

 

I hope you enjoyed the projects with some delight, now just to say "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night."

 

Back to tutorial tuesdays........

how's that for a come back?! (OK now I know I am not posting it until Wednesday but I was on the 2nd to the last step when my husband needed the computer and was on it until really late) Hi everyone. Now that I have gone through pneumonia twice, I am on the up hill end of being sick, or at least that is what they tell me. I still have bronchitis and a sinus infection but hey I'm not in the hospital, ER or the urgent care so I'm happy!!! Still under the weather but happy. Ok so I know you normally don't come by for family stuff but I am going to share a picture before we move onto the tutorial.

 

 

 

Yasmine was a stick person, she is all into home made costumes. She got extra candy for originality! Go figure just what she needs.... more SUGAR!!!! LOL

 

 

Christia went as a fifty's girl. We had the costume from Yasmine a few years ago but I did go buy the cute little glasses from the dollar spot at Target. The super cute saddle shoes we had because she chose them back in August as school shoes. Go figure how perfect was that!

 

Ethan of course was Buzz Lightyear. His second favorite Disney charter. Only second to  Lightning Mc Queen. This is the first year he really remembered dressing up. While trick-or-treating at a house I was trying to get him to hurry up and catch up to his sisters and her turned around to me and said, "Top Mommy! you tan't dough ricker-reeting. You have no Tostume!"

Ok enough with the kiddo's on to the tutorial. I actually found it while surfing the web which lead me to Carol and splitcoast but I thought I would share it here for ease.

To start here is what you are going to need to get started.....

2 different Designer Series Paper patterns (it could be front in back if you want)

Pretties Kit (1 hat pin, small pearl and crystal tear drop)

Coordinating Ribbon

Personal Paper Cutter

1/16" whole punch or Paper piercer and pad

Ruler

Pen

To start you are going to cut 8 pieces that are 1/2" x 2". If you are using 2 different DSP then you will want 4 of each.

The next thing you are going to want to do is mark both ends of 1 of the strips at 1/4" from the edges on both ends.

Then I stack all 8 in one stack with the marked one on top. And punch them on the marks I made.

Now you need to cut 12 strips of DSP.The measurements are 1/2" x 3". If you are using 2 different DSP patterns then you will need 6 of each pattern.

Now again you are going to mark one of your strips at 1/4" from the sides on both ends.

Again stack up the 12 strips and punch a whole on the marks you just made. You can punch through all 12 even though it is a bit tough.

Next you are going to start putting the 3" strips on your hat pin in alternating colors.

Once you have all 12 of the large strips on it should look something like this. Note some of mine are not spread out.

 

Now we are going to start assembling the first ball. Start with the strip that is closest to the loop end of your hat pin. Then just continue on...

Until you have put them all on. You should have a ball-ish shape now.

Now we are going to put on the 2" strips just like we did the 3" ones in alternating colors.

Now we are going to assemble the smaller ball by starting with the closest strip to the loop of the hat pin again.

The strips on this ball are a little more tricky because they keep wanting to slip off. But this is what it should look like when it is done.

Your Almost done... Now add the small pearl, the crystal tear drop and the hat pin cover.

Take the coordinating ribbon and tie a knot in the end as shown. (Sorry I had to use red so you could see it better) --Be back Peter needs the computer.

Next you are going to take the ribbon and slid it under the loop of your hat pin. You will need to "squish" the top ball down a bit.

So that's it you are done. You just made a double ball ornament. Hope you had fun.

So let me know what you think of the ornament or how cute my kids are....LOL

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

For Sale.....

Hi everyone,

I am cleaning out my stamp room and ran across some Technique books that are left over from a class I held. I am asking $10 for each blank book or $30 for a completed book + postage. I have 1 completed book and 4 blank books, however I could complete the books if you would like. The book is broken into 4 sections Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Backgrounds. There are 52 different techniques in the books. There is written directions on how to do each tech and a black space for a sample. See pictures below. They are first come first serve.

If you are interested either post a comment or email me at [email protected].

Thanks for stopping by! ~Tamarra

What have I done while I was gone???

To be totally honest not to much except for a few classes. One of which I can't believe but didn't take pictures of and one that I lost the pictures of when the computer crashed. Actually, I lost all my pictures that were taken and downloaded between January when we ran out last back up on them and March when it crashed but that is another story. I will give you a quick recap of some of what happened.

First we had Easter...... Let me share when you have an almost 2 year old dieing Easter eggs that love baseball...... you will have some Collateral damage. Out of 18 eggs we only had 5 with out cracks. But they had fun and that is all that counts!

 

 

My Baby turned 2, YES 2! I can't believe it either but here is some proof.

Who needs to be graceful when eating a cupcake, just cram it all in at once.

Ok since I am sure you are wondering what happened to Ethan's head!? I will share that also, He was sliding down the slide at Church and he fell forward at the bottom totally missed the grass and landed face first on the concrete. And why not something must always go wrong for birthday pictures, last year it was the broken arm and this year it was the face.... can't wait until next year.....LOL.

So a week after we celebrate Ethan's we have Yasmine's who is not 8 going on 18. She has some more stampin involved in her party. Unfortunately I totally missed taking a picture of the invite but as a quick idea it was a pull card with a bag of microwave popcorn inside it with all the information of the party on it. The front said "POP on by" and we paper pieced a box of popcorn on it. I will try to find enough supplies to make another one to take a picture. Here theme was "Pizza, popcorn and movies". They had a blast watching movies and eating candy and popcorn all night.

Since it was a Movie party we had to decorate accordingly. I made the cake from the Walton Jumbo Cupcake pan, I iced the whole thing in white icing then used mini marshmallows to make the "popcorn" on it and fruit-by-the-foot to make the stripes. The Mini cupcakes were done the same way and the girls loved having bite sized cupcakes.

Not to be out done by her sister we made a birthday banner from the SU banner die, and we decorated the ceiling just like we did for Christia's but used stars instead of hearts.

 

 

I took my Girl Scout troop to Disneyland for selling 2500 boxes of cookies. Then Peter was on Vacation and we went to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure a few times (we have a pass) then too. So here is one of my favorite pictures that doesn't have the whole troop in it.

As most of you know Ethan is obsessed with Wall-E so we had to take a picture of them with him.

I also received some RAKS that I will try to get picture of and post tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by! ~Tamarra

Christia's Birthday

A little over a week ago Christia turned 6. And if you follow my Blog you know the theme was "CUPCAKES". So the invite seen here was done with Crazy with Cupcakes and done in pinks and browns. Thus began the whole party theme. All the kids decorated their party favor bags with the Cupcakes wheel, crayons and stickers. Then they each decorated 2 cupcakes: 1 to take home and the other to eat as "birthday cake". I had 2 tables set up with tons of cupcakes, 3 flavors of icing and TONS of candies, decorativesugars and sprinkles for them to use. 54 cupcakes later they were done and happy! It was the cutest thing watching them all decorate their cupcakes. All the pictures have other kids in them and I don't want to plaster my daughters Kindergarten class on the web, sorry, so you will just have to imagine...... The main reason she wanted a cupcake party is because she wanted a Jumbo Cupcake as her cake.  

I love this cake pan the cakes always turn out so cute. Even if Mom doesn't have time to pull out the tips to make it super cute. But that didn't matter, you would have thought it was the best cake ever. Even the boys told me it was "COOL".

 

I decorated the cake to look like the cupcakes on the banner, which my daughter LOVED and now has hanging in her room. Or at least the CHRISTIA part. The Happy Birthday is from Cuttle Bug. The rest is Stampin' Up! exclusive dies for the Big Shot. You can see a close up of the cupcake here .

I also decorated the ceilings with pinks and white to match the pretty in pink and Rose Red I used. My oldest daughter who doesn't like pink came out after I finished and said and I quote "Oh my Gosh it looks like Cupid threw up in here". She was right too, way to much pink for me. To which her sister had to come out and see and said "It"S ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS MOM!! I LOVE IT!!!! I guess her opinion was the only one that really counted since it was her party. The picture doesn't show how pink it really made my house look, but it does give you an idea. The pig hearts floating are 26 inches wide for an idea of the size.

Now for the real stampin' part...... the thank you's. Christia wanted me to use the Simple Birthday Thanks. So I did.... LOL Here it is closed

and opened...

Stamp Set: Simple Birthday Thanks

Card Stock: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red and Berry Bliss DSP (retired)

Inks: Chocolate Chip IP and SWM

Accessories: Taffeta Ribbon (not SU!) and paper snips-- lots and lots of cutting to make 26 of these.

And just a fun shot of the Birthday Girl herself...... 

Love ya Baby Doll!!! Happy Birthday!

Thanks for stopping by! ~Tamarra

Back to School.........

So as many of you know School started back up for us at the end of August. And I get to send 2 of the 3 to school. While Christia is only Half day it still leaves me some nice alone time while she is gone and then boys are taking a nap. My daughters wanted to give something to the teachers for their first teachers meeting. Thanks to a friend of mine, Sheilah, I knew exactly what to make. She shared a flower with us at our last meeting so I made them a flower pot with York peppermint patty flowers in it. I have blanked out the wording on the cards because they had information about where my girls attend school. So onto the picture...... As usual all items are from Stampin' Up! unless other wise noted.

Stamp set: True Friend

Card Stock: Scrapsof Retired DSP and brocade Blue

Inks: Brocade Blue, Regal Red and Mellow Moss

Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, Double Rectangle punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, Mini glue dots, 1/16 circle punch, Brocade Blue wide grosgrain and silver cord (retired)

Non SU!: Flower pot, long Popsicle sticks, Styrofoam ball, and cello party bag filling.

 

 

And just because we are talking about going back to school here is a picture of my girls.....

Both my girls were ready to go to school weeks before the first day. They both had their backpacks pack and ready to go a month before and started counting down about a week after school got out for the summer. Christia was especially excited to get to go because it was her first day of Kindergarten. Well, thanks for letting me be a bit more personal then normal.

Have a stampin' great day and Thanks for stopping by! ~Tamarra

You know your Gardner's are MIA when.....

.......you can lose your kids in the backyard! My girls were playing Lion King in the backyard today because our grass is WAY TALL. I thought it would make a great scrapbook layout with the new "Inspired by Nature" set. I haven't done the layout yet but will later this week. Not that it matters I am out of color ink and can't print the pictures. But, I thought I would share one of the pictures now and then share the layout with the rest once it is complete. Aren't they cute!?!?.... :-) Ethan was fine until I got the camera then he just kept saying "Mom".

Stick around tomorrow I have a cute project to share.

Thanks for stopping by! !Tamarra

Looking like new.......

We are going to pull away from convention for a moment to answer some questions I have been getting about the way I mount and clean my stamps. It has been let out of the bag that my sideline and uplines and even some of my customers tease me about how clean my stamps always are. And they joke that if I borrow a set it always comes back cleaner then when I took it. Ok, so blame that bit on being a Girl Scout and always being told by my Mom that we should always leave/ give back something cleaner then when we got it or there. So here is a copy of an email I sent out to everyone........

 

Ok since I keep getting the same questions about my sealer and how I clean old looking stamps I figured it would be easier to post to the group then to keep replying to everyone. So please don't think I am being rude by not getting back to you personally I just have over 30 emails about it already. So here are the answers to the questions so far.

 

Unmounted sets:when I get a new set I spray a few coats of Krylon spray wood sealer (I should own stock). It usually runs between $2.50 and $3.50 where I am at. You can get it almost anywhere, but I usually get mine at Walmart or Home Depot. I have tried the cheaper kinds but I have found that it takes more coats so it really isn't any cheaper in the long run. I use an old box from SU! upside down to seal them on so nothing special there.

 

Mounted sets: if I trade a set and it is already mounted I will usually just paint on a layer of clear varnish/ sealer. I have tried to tape out the images or even remove them and replace them but it is more time consuming then it is worth. So I just use the cheap .50 cent brushes at Home Depot to paint them.

 

Stains on Wood: Now this is going to sound really anal but the truth is I am. I should own stock in Clorox bleach also. I LOVE their Bleach Pens; they are one of my favorite things! (Well them and tide pens but that is a different subject) I use the bleach pen to clean my blocks. It is easy because it has the bold or fine tip and you just squeeze lightly and let it sit for a bit. I rinse them off afterwards and if they need another round then I will do it again. It usually doesn't take more then once maybe twice and they are clean enough to seal. Sometimes I still have faint staining on the wood but it always looks better afterwards.

 

Stains on Rubber:I will try with the Stazon cleaner but if that doesn't work I again use bleach. I figure if it is safe enough to teach Bleach stamping on a stamp then bleach stamping for cleaning can't be any worse. :-) I do rinse them off with water afterwards and then again with Stampin' Mist to condition them.

 

Hope this helps everyone. And again sorry for not sending this to each of you individually but it was just much easier then emailing it 30+ times. If I didn't answer all your questions please feel free to email me with them.

 

Thanks for stopping by! ~Tamarra

Link to Photos........

Ok so I haven't figured out how to put a widget thing on the side column so you could all see what some of the sets look like that are for sale but here is the LINK to get there. As soon as I figure out how to link it in the side lines I will do that for you.

Thanks for stopping by! ~~Tamarra~~