Good Monday afternoon! :)

I don't know about where YOU are today, but it's rather chilly here in Tennessee! It hasn't stopped the flowers, though - although most of the tulips are huddled into their buds. :)

This is one of the projects from the Easter stamp camp last week; it's a super-simple basket! The colors are Mellow Moss, Apricot Appeal, and Always Artichoke; the centers of the flowers are designer series paper from the Level 1 Hostess Paper Pack. The butterfly is vellum card stock run through the Big Shot with a Texturz plate, then inked on the back with Apricot Appeal. Those flowers are cut with the Birds & Blooms dies, and the butterfly is the Beautiful Butterflies die. LOVE my Big Shot!!!! :) And YOU can, too - not only will purchasing the Big Shot and a few dies get you hostess benefits, but also qualify you for the extra freebie from Stampin' Up! this month! CLICK HERE to learn more!

OK, I'm off - I kind of have an easy week stamping-wise, so I'm doing NOTHING. LOL!!! Have a WONDERFUL day! BE BLESSED - and take the time to stamp something!!!!

National Chocolate Month

Good morning! Sorry about missing yesterday; I was completely wiped out, and only did what was necessary to get by. :)

SO! Monday night was my second annual celebration with my customers who chose to come of National Chocolate Month. We made one 3D project and one card. The only rule is that we stamp with chocolate colors. :D

This little basket is made with my Big Shot :D and the scallop envelope die. We also used one of the new Texturz plates to add dimension to the Chocolate Chip card stock panels that go all the way around.

The medallion on the front is a curly label punch stamped in Chocolate Chip on Pink Pirouette, with a Very Vanilla oval punch stamped in Riding Hood Red. Stamp sets for those are CUTE & CURLY and the Sale-A-Bration set, YUMMY. (You still have time to get your SAB merchandise, everyone! CONTACT ME to find out how!)

We covered mini KitKat bars in Candy Lane Designer Series Paper (it's SUCH pretty paper!!!), and then put a Chocolate Chip belly band around them. We punched hearts with the Heart to Heart punch, and used the two larger hearts centered on the front of the candy; the littlest hearts, as you can kind of see in the side picture, we put on the handle on the side. :)

These are SO cute, and easy treat baskets for any occasion!

The card is one of my favorites that I've done in a long time - simply because it is simple, clean, classic, and FUN. :) We stamped the cupcake and the saying inside - both from CRAZY FOR CUPCAKES - with Chocolate Chip CRAFT ink, and embossed it with clear embossing powder. It's stamped on Very Vanilla, then layered on Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, and Very Vanilla - and all those layers are hit with the ticket corner punch - another one of my favorite toys tools. ;D

The next layer, the bigger Creamy Caramel, we ran through the Big Shot on the second side of the Texturz plate we used for the basket sides. (I'm falling in love with those plates!!! They sure make it easy to do a beautiful, FAST card!!) Then it's layered onto Chocolate Chip before being attached to the Very Vanilla card. The image layers are put onto the front of the card with dimensionals. SUPER simple!!!

OK. I've got to clean up my studio today - it looks like it expoded. :D I hope you have a wonderful day - and if you want to attend a class, CLICK HERE to see my schedule through the end of March!

By the way, what ARE you stampin'?????? ;)

Mint Basket - a tutorial!

Remember that mint basket I posted a while ago? Well, I shot the tutorial for it last night. Please bear in mind this is my first tutorial! This design isn't even my own - for the original tutorial and another idea of what you can do with this, please visit Kimberley Morris's website! Don't forget: if you need to see more detail, just click on the picture! If you run into trouble, please don't hesitate to email me at poohisstampin@aol.com!

What you will need:
paper cutter, one sheet of card stock, 8.5"x11", coordinating designer paper, paper snips or scissors, adhesive, 1/16" hole punch, brads, bone folder, ruler.

1. Cut card stock to make a 8.5" square - in other words, cut off 1.5" from the long side.

2. Now, cut that square in half - at 4.25".

3. Now, cut those in half, at 4.25".

4. Take the 1.5"x8.5" piece you cut off the bottom, and cut into 5/8"x8.5" strips, so you get 4 strips out of the piece.

5. Next, select one of those squares.

6. Score in at 1-1/4" from all four sides. Use your bone folder and ruler - or, use your bone folder in the channel on your paper trimmer.

This is what it should look like when you're done scoring.

7. I've made dashes and lines in white gel pen, so you can see what I'm doing. :) Using your paper snips or scissors, cut up to the fold line on two OPPOSING sides. Now, on Kimberley's original, she cut the side tabs, too. When we've done these at a class, we DON'T do that; it's completely up to you. The advantage of doing so: it looks more finished on the inside. The disadvantage is that the brads on the handle don't come in contact with the sides, so the only thing holding it together is adhesive.

This is what it should look like when you're done cutting.

8. Fold on all score lines; this is what it will look like when you do so.

9. Flip over; put adhesive on all four cut tabs.

10. Bring tabs together; adhere side to back of tabs.

Look! You've got a little box! :D

11. Cut a strip of DSP 1"x8".

12. Curl around your finger, or over the edge of the table. This will make it easier to adhere to the box.

13. Put adhesive in several places on the back of the strip of paper; start on one of the sides you adhered the tabs to.

Wrap around your box completely!

14. Take one of your handle strips - the 5/8" wide ones - and put adhesive on each end. See the X? :D

15. Adhere to the insides, where you brought the tabs together. Do both sides! :)

Awwwww, isn't it CUTE??????? Just one more thing to do!!!!!

16. Punch holes on either side through the handles - and I hope you're better at "straight" than I am. OI!

Put coordinating brads through those little holes!

You can use your basket for anything you want! We used them to put mint patties in; the scallop punch is PERFECT for a York snack-size! :) The front one uses TAGGER'S DOZEN to decorate; the ones in the basket I used the small flower outline from POLKA DOTS & PAISLEY, but you can really get creative!

PHEW!! :D I hope you enjoyed my first tutorial - if you have ANY questions, email me! :)

I'm still here, honestly!

It's been a ROUGH week, though. Through it all, I managed to do two parties, a read-thru for my new cast of OUR TOWN, and plan and teach a scrapbooking class. PHEW. Kenn's sick again, so prayers would be great. I'm starting to feel better, finally, and would really LOVE to get better and STAY better! :D

ANYWAY. Enough about boring ol' me. I want to share the projects we did at the parties over the weekend! Super-simple and easy!

This is a REALLY easy get-well card. The Designer Series Paper is Bali Breeze; the other card stock is Taken With Teal and Whisper White. Ink is Taken With Teal; stamp set is SINCERE SALUTATIONS. How much quicker could a card get?!?!??!

This one's just as simple, just a little more detail added. We rolled the So Saffron card stock with the So Swirly Jumbo Wheel in VersaMark, and embossed it with clear embossing powder to give it a special look. The "celebrate" is from the new set, CELEBRATE EVERYTHING. The rest of the wording is from EVERYDAY FLEXIBLE PHRASES; Saturday's hostess wanted a "new grandbaby" card. :) My hostesses get what they want! The color is a little funky on this scan. The ink and dark card stock are Perfect Plum, and the brads are simple gold ones. We used the ticket corner punch to notch just the Whisper White corners, then mounted the saying piece with dimensionals.

And finally, our 3D project - I choose more difficult projects for my hostess club parties, as a way of thanking them for always following through on their purchasing requirements, etc. :) This one's not HARD, just a process. I'll try and put together a tutorial of how to do it in the next week or so.

SO. What are YOU stamping these days? Have you blessed someone with your talent lately???? I'd LOVE to hear your story!