Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Good things come… to those who wait. And wait. And wait. But I’m so excited that my waiting is ALMOST over! Here’s a photo of things in progress on Saturday. I’m hoping by the beginning of December, I’ll be all moved in. What a great present this year!

And just in case you haven’t heard…

Ellen is having a fabulous Anniversary Sale! Be sure to check out the store here for more details.

As for me…no headache this week but I do have the nastiest cold. I now have no voice whatsoever. I’m hoping to get back to creating soon!

Take care and stay healthy!

Yes…you are on the right blog! Grin. Major facelift here. I just wish I looked so good! If you’re reading this on google reader or other feed, please come visit. I have a beautiful new blog template. Sara Williams rocks! She worked so hard to get it ready in time for World Card Making Day…October 3rd. Unfortunately some server issues made us wait until now but I’m just thrilled that it is working! No more grey!

Sara from Tweaks and Designs has just done an incredible job. She worked so hard to make the template “me”. The colors, the images, the feel is just so perfect. I love beautiful things and this new blog template is inspiring me to get creative. I need a bit of that right now!

The other thing that may have you wondering if you’re on the right blog is the photos. No paper crafts today. Over the past few weeks I’ve felt a need to do some fall nesting and just recharge my creative batteries by doing so home-related projects.  Here’s a little peek at some of the things I’ve been working on…

Another thing I’ve been working on is a new blog. I know. I think I’m a little crazy to be starting that as well but I really wanted to be able to go a different creative direction now and then and didn’t want to bore you here if it’s not your thing. It’s called finding beauty @ home and it’s a whole melting pot of things. Creative home projects, recipes, ramblings on being a stay at home mom, a few inspirational thoughts and whatever else I may think of! LOL If that’s something you’re interested in, stop by and say hello. And if not… Don’t worry! I’ll still be paper crafting and posting here. I just need to find the right balance in my life.

Quick Tip: If you need to charge your creative batteries, switch creative gears for a project or two. You’ll be glad you did!

Thanks for your support!

We have a new addition here at the Stainton household. We thought five kids were enough so don’t worry…not another one of those. We have a new puppy.  We lost our 13yo German Shepherd in June and we wanted another so Friday night we got a new puppy. So much for my stress-free weekend! Seriously…I think a new puppy is more work than a new baby. At least human babies stay where you put them and will wear a diaper! It’s been a long time since we had those 13 puppies born Christmas Day. Fourteen years to be precise and at that time we had their mom to help look after them. I knew it was going to be busy but by Saturday morning I was thinking, what HAVE I done?! Actually he’s really starting to settle in already and is such a smart little guy. He really is little as he’s not quite 7 weeks old. After MUCH debate, we named him Maximus. The kids are loving him and it’s been great for getting them outdoors more.

Here he is with my 6yo. That should give you a little idea of the size. I’ll get some better pics to share soon. He’s just been a busy little guy and hard to catch a photo of!

***** It’s time for summer CHA again and I’m once again staying home. That’s a good thing with the new puppy! It’s been fun seeing the new sneak peeks so far and what I’m really looking forward to is keeping an eye on what’s going on with Craft Critique. Many of the reporters are off to check it out and they always provide great coverage. Keep your eye on Craft Critique as there will be updates there throughout the day once the fun begins!

Life is Beautiful

Here’s a quick card I put together. I’m loving this dotted Bazzil cardstock…so pretty and I still love those Jenni Bowlin 4×4 mini papers. I bought some more that arrived while I was on vacation and I can’t wait to get into them!

Stamps: Ornamental Beauty (The Rummage Bin line) by CHF

Ink: Black Memento by Tsukineko

Paper: cardstock by Bazzill Basics, 4×4 paper by Jenni Bowlin, Simply Smooth white cardstock by Cornish Heritage Farms

Other: voila trim by Prima, ribbon, circle punch, Copic markers

Have a beautiful day!

I’m back from a fabulous week away. It’s so great to spend time with my family and just take a break from everything. We hit the beach for the week and while the weather was cooler than usual for July…it was still great. For the most part we just relaxed, swam and did a little boating when the lake wasn’t too rough.

Vintage Birthday

Today’s card I made just before I left on vacation. It features my new scrapblock, Newspaper Ads.  Super simple stamping here. I’ve just combined my scrapblock stamped to make custom vintage paper with some Jenni Bowlin mini papers.

Supply List:
Stamps: Birthday Centers (MLM line) by CHF
Newspaper Ads Scrapblock by CHF
Ink: Black Memento Ink by Tsukineko
Paper: Simply Smooth white cardstock by CHF, pink cardstock by Prism, patterned paper by Jenni Bowlin
Other: ribbon by May Arts, flower by Prima, sewing machine, pinking shears

* * * * *

I love sharing my rubber and other goodies so I have a Scrapblock giveaway for you today. I have two Scrapblocks to share with one lucky winner…the new Newspaper Ads Scrapblock and the Ornamental Borders Scrapblock. They’re 6″ square blocks of red rubber and you can use them on their own or with an acrylic block. For a chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post between now and 10 pm EST Wednesday July 22nd. Winner will be randomly drawn with an on-line generator and I’ll post who that is Thursday morning. Good luck!

And lastly…here’s a few quick shots of our summer vacation fun…

Quick Tip: Late afternoon is my favorite time to take beach shots if possible. I love the way the sun hits the moving water and it is not so harsh on faces.

Happy stamping!

It’s all done! School is out as of yesterday and summer vacation has officially begun in our household. Graduation night was Wednesday evening and my boy had a great night and we were definitely proud parents. Yes…I finished those 200 place cards on time…yay! Now I remember why I never make a design more than once. I get my joy in designing a project…definitely not by mass producing them. To those of you who do…hat’s off to you!

Now that the event is over I can share the card I designed for the occasion.  I paired up my Reach 4 the Stars stamp set with a new CHF Backgrounder, Graphic Tapestry. This is such a great image, with lots of detail and it works well on both masculine and feminine projects. I’m loving the new American Crafts glittered chipboard letters I picked up the other day. I believe it is the Thickers Roller Rink Glitter package. They are such a fabulous size for cards and you really get a lot of letters for the price. I think I need some more!

Congrats

Supply List:

Stamps: Graphic Tapestry Backgrounder by CHF
Reach 4 the Stars (The Rummage Bin line) by CHF
Ink: Black Memento Ink by Tsukineko
Paper: Black cardstock by Bazzill, patterned paper by MME
Other: sewing machine, punches, glitter chipboard by American Crafts

And here’s my very handsome graduate. He cleaned up pretty well didn’t he? It was a special night and I actually got some great pics from a boy who usually runs from the camera. I’m feeling a scrapping bug coming on.

Last of all…I have a winner for the Sweet Bee draw! Random.org picked #3 as my winner. Congratulations Jean Beck! Please e-mail me with your address and I’ll get it off to you!

Take care!