Vacation Hangover

Sorry, I did not post pics while I was away. We went from morning (10:00am) til morning (1:00am) each day it seemed with no time to download pictures and post. BUT we had so much fun! Then I got back and had to work 24 hours in 2 days! I am exhausted!!! I will try to catch up soon! In the meantime, have a magical day! Cindy

Festive Friday

Here is a project I did for the Simply Punches Holiday Class. This is a 5 x 7 card made into a frame. I just love how it turned out! The card is Elegant Eggplant with black framing the photo. The pumpkin is Pumpkin Pie punched in Wide Oval, Large Oval, Small Oval and face added in black. The small stars are punched in Pumpkin Pie and the quarter circle moon in More Mustard. The sentiment is Word Window in More Mustard and Modern Label in Pumpkin Pie and black brads added. All of these pieces were sponged with matching ink color. This is a photo of my Megan as a witch from Halloween 2007. Loved the wand and the braid in her hair! The witch costume was found at Walmart and it is so pretty in person. Last year, she was not into dressing up as much. All next week, I will be posting from DisneyWorld! (fingers crossed) I will post about all that happens the day before. I hope to post some pictures as well. I am so excited to see my BFF and her hubby and kids! We plan this last year, but she decided to have a baby instead! So this is our year together! We both have a big birthday coming up, so we will be doing something fun together to celebrate our BIG year! Wonder what trouble we will get into! Check in next week! Have a magical day! Cindy

Disney Tip Thursday

Well, we are heading out for our Disney trip this weekend! I already started the packing process - Schuster style on this past Sunday. Done: *Luggage out and airing after Febreeze sprayed. :o) A must! *Swim bag and towels packed. Bringing 8 beach towels. *Laundry basket filled with kitchen supplies needed to cook meals in the room. Such as griddle, *mickey shape for pancakes, large pot for spaghetti, extra cooking utensils, salt/pepper/powdered sugar/regular sugar, Clorox wipes, coffee filters, etc. Then I can use the basket for dirty laundry while we are there. *Schedule updated with dining reservation numbers and temporary itinerary. I created a Word file that I use for each trip and then just update dates and activities. *Laundry mostly done and clothes picked (Howard and Megan still have to finish their pile). *Booster seats for Alexa and Allison. Still to do: *Picking out DVDs to watch on the road and in the room. I try to make them take Disney classics but that never works. *Select things to do for the road trip. Each girl filled a small backpack or bag of their stuff like IPOD or MP3, DVDs (they have a CD case that holds only 12 DVDs and that is all they get to take- no arguing), coloring books and markers, book to read, and a journal notebook. *Pack camera and re-charge batteries. Bring extra batteries. *Final load of laundry - unless I decide to pack and wash there. Therefore bring small bottle of Tide. *Print Molly's schedule for those who will be watching her and feeding her. *Pack the Disney stuffed animals, glow sticks, character books, ponchos, coin album and anything else that we buy each year from Disney. That way the girls will not want to buy those things again. *Buy and wash T-shirts for costumes at Halloween party. (Wait til you see what we are doing! :oP) I found a packing list on All Ears and wrote down the things that applied to our family. (I think I did a list on this blog way last year too.) So then I have a final check list that Allison will get to check off as we pack on Friday. Have a magical day!

Cindy

Wacky Wednesday

Here are some cute Top Note Purses that I made for my craft show next month. Perfect for a gift card or jewelry for a present! I used the Melon Mambo with Chocolate Chip and Black. The stamp sets are Circle Circus and Fifth Ave Flowers. The flowers are 5 Point Flower Punch x 2 and 1/2" circle punch with a jumbo brad in the center. If you want to see the tutorial on how to make these, you will find it here on Becky's blog: http://inkingidaho.blogspot.com/2009/03/top-note-purse-instructions.html I was just catching up on her blog and I will have to go back and see all the new things she has done. She is so creative! Have a magical day! Cindy

Disney Tip Tuesday

I was searching online for some tips and found these great ideas that we might use next week! Today's tips: *Eat at a more expensive restaurant for lunch rather than dinner, as the menu choices are similar but the prices are lower - so you can experience the restaurant of your choice for less. *Take a digital photo of your locker number in case you lose your key. Also take a picture of your Photo Pass card in case you lose it then you can still see your pictures on it later. *Use your camera phone to take pictures of items you think you want. First, take a picture of the sign of the store where it is located. Then take pictures of the item and the tag of the item. Review nightly or at the end of your trip. Best of all, you can buy it from Disney Mail Order Merchandise when you're back home if you forget. *Trim the park maps from the PassPorter Walt Disney World guidebook and have them laminated in an 8x10 sheet. We then placed velcro dots on the map and the canopy of the stroller. The night before, my husband and I would circle the attractions we really wanted to get to, including Fastpass information, and write our Priority Seating number and any other info we might need during the day. *On the first morning of our trip, I excused myself from breakfast with my family at the All Star Sports food court to pick up two postcards from the shop in the lobby. I wrote notes to each of my kids with specific details from the night before at Epcot and signed a favorite character's name on each. It was fun to write in a style that I thought Dumbo or Stitch might use. I popped them in the mailbox and returned to breakfast. After we got home, my kids received their postcards and were amazed to not only get mail from Disney World, but to have the character know just what they did. It worked like a charm and made the magic continue even after we were home. ( that is so sweet!) *We are going to do some meals in the rooms this time, so I found this website that has super creative family night movie and meal ideas. Check them out here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1707141 Some are overboard but you can pull what you like from them. You could also do these at home anytime or to prepare for an upcoming Disney trip. We plan to do the Lady and the Tramp night and Finding Nemo night. Check back Thursday for more Disney info! "Packing Process - Schuster Style" Have a magical day! Cindy

Made for Monday

This is the card I made for my sister-in-law Maureen for her birthday last week.

The gift package matched the card but forgot to take a picture of. Oops! It was a white bag with the different flowers all over it.

I used the Fifth Avenue Florals and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. The colors are Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Certainly Celery and Kraft. Punches used were Word Window, Modern Label and Eyelet Border.

I heard she had one of the best birthdays ever! Hip hip hooray!

Have a magical day!

Cindy

Festive Friday

Here is a card that I made from my Simply Punches Holiday online class. I used a 1 1/4" circle template for the moon and sponged over the entire card with Dusty Durango and Crushed Curry. I free handed cut the tree branch in black. This little owl is made with the Wide Oval punch, star punch, trio flower punch, 1/2 circle punch and tag punch. The trees are from Lovely as a Tree stamp set. You can still join the class too! We are making punch creations thru the end of the month. Come see here: http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/stamp_with_heather/2009/08/simply-punches-holidays-its-here.html Have a magical day! Cindy

Top Blog Thursday

Today's Top Blog features the one and only Heather Summers! or Stamp with Heather here: http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/stamp_with_heather/ Many of us stamping fanatics know her for her wonderful layered cards, use of brads, adorable and creative items, her great videos and most of all....her super PUNCH ART! You have heard me talk about her several times in other posts. She is always the first blog I check every morning. I have done most or close to all of her online classes on UStamp and Simply Punches. She is a genesis in my book. I also love reading about her adorable family. She has three cute kids and one on the way!

I cased this card from her post here: http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/stamp_with_heather/2009/07/happy-fall-thank-you.html She also made a Christmas version here:
http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/stamp_with_heather/2009/07/look-familiar.html This layout is so versatile and you could make tons of ideas with this layout. I used some unusual colors for Christmas. They are Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Kraft and Crushed Curry. I saw this combo on another blog and wanted to see how it would work. The stamp set is a very old retired set called All Decked Out that was a favorite of mine from the mini holiday catalog that year.
Well, I hope you check Heather's blog out often.
Have a magical day!
Cindy

Wacky Wednesday

Wacky Wednesday it is! I was wacky to try and make this little sucker! I have been seeing them around the blogging sites and thought?! CHALLENGE! Let me try to make one. I found the backpack here on Nancy's blog: http://stampinat6213.blogspot.com/2009/08/backpacks-for-back-to-work.html and if you are a worthly opponent, here is the tutorial: http://stampinat6213.blogspot.com/2009/08/backpacks-for-back-to-work.html Good Luck! I used Pretty in Pink and very old retired Cool Carribean. Now my thoughts were "so cute for a girl or preteen that you could put a Ulta or Target gift card and some lip gloss in the bag as a gift" and " I can make these and sell them at my craft show" NOT! Like BIG NOT! However, it was a great challenge for me to accomplish! Turned out cute and you can not see the boo boo I made. Or can you? Have a magical day! Cindy

Made for Monday(belated) and Disney Tip Tuesday

This card is cased after another card seen on the Convention display boards. They used designer paper but I am into this whole "make your own designer paper" thing. I used Basic Gray, Baha Breeze, Cameo Coral. The background was stamped with white craft ink and basic gray classic ink. I used pearls for the centers of the butterflies that are from the stamp set called "Great Friend". The sentiment is from a hostess set that had such great sayings and I still love and use it. This card also measures 4.25 x 4.25 which is becoming my new favorite size card. Today's Disney Tips: Since we are finding some last minute money for our trip here are some tips to share that you can really apply to anything to save money for: Connie : My "Dear Hubby" and I each take $50 allowance each week. I started to put whatever was left from the previous week's $50 in an envelope. Knowing that I was going to hide this money away in seven days helped me to be more aware of my spending throughout the week. Between November and April, I was able to stash away $600 cash for the trip we took last month. I've already started a new envelope for future vacations because this was such an easy way to save money. Heather: One thing we do takes some discipline, but we can save some major moolah. When we make a purchase using our debit card or checking account, I round up when I enter it. For example, if I have spent $13.50 somewhere, I enter $15 in my check book. Every couple of months I will figure out how much extra is in the checking account and transfer it to savings. It doesn't even feel like we are saving money! Elaine: We save our change. At the end of every night we empty all the change out of our pockets into our special "Disney" jar. We also toss in any $1 bills. At the end of the month we cash it in and put it into our travel savings account. This past December we pulled out our money from our savings account and had over $400 in there... Have a magical day! Cindy

Labor Day - Happy Birthday

No card today. Battling a sinus headache and it is a doosy! Just wanted to say... "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to one of the best sister - in - law there is, Maureen Schuster! I hope she had every wish (whatever it was) come true today! Be back tomorrow with a card and Disney tip. Cindy

Festive Friday

I found a tutorial on how to make this beautiful card. If I find it again, I will link it here: I absolutely love how this card turned out! And it is quite easy to do. The colors are Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip and Crushed Curry. The ribbon is the Soft Suede Dotted ribbon turned over. I did not have a "happy fall" sentiment that would fit that word window and modern label punch, so I went with Happy Thanksgiving. I like the brown brads that I add to it. Gotta run! My almost 8 month old niece Abigail is spending the day with me and she will be here soon! Baby fix! Have a magical day! Cindy

Top Blog Thursday

Today's Top Blogger is Monika Davis from Woodstock GA too!- her blog here: http://monikastamp.wordpress.com/ We met at Heather's online UStamp classes. Funny thing, she is also a team member on my upline Wendy's team so we see each other often. I absolutely love everything she does! Pure genesis in papercrafting! When I saw this card on her blog here: http://monikastamp.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/convention-swap-envelope-card/ I was jumping up and down to make one! Literally! Can you believe this is made from an envelope? I used the new in colors Rich Razzleberry and Bermuda Bay with the new ribbon too! You can follow Monika's directions to make this card. Using the crimper to make it just a little smaller and textured is....awesome! I use every large envelope I had and made a bunch of these. Almost like a package for a gift. You could put a gift card in there! Be sure to check back with her often and see what wonderful creative things she is doing. Have a magical day! Cindy

Wacky Wednesday

I saw this on one of the Stampin Up convention boards for punch art. Do not know who originally made it but kudos to her! Love it! I made these cards with my AUNTS - Aunt Pat, Aunt Lisa and Aunt Karen who live in Arizona in mind. I used Soft Sky for the card background. Then punched out large oval and small oval in Certainly Celery. I sponged the edges and marked the lines for needles with Old Olive ink and marker. The grass and flowers are punched from the old version of three flowers and cut out from the flowers. The dessert sand is hand cut Kraft paper with Close to Cocoa sponging and Bitty Background stamp for the sand look. Started my newest punch class online today : Heather's Simply Punches Holidays. WAIT til you see what I will be making with punches!!! So excited! Have a magical day! Cindy

Disney Tuesday

Today's tip: Anna said...about Typhoon Lagoon's special reserved spaces: We reserved a Beachcomber Shack for August 13. Enjoyed it very much. We had two waitstaff who came by about every half-hour. It included refillable mugs, a large locker and towels for everyone. They even came to refresh towels. They could not do enough for us. It was nice having "reserved" space with six chairs and covered out of the sun. We had a great view of the wave pool. It was probably the best day of the trip. (Looking into this as we may hit a water park on our trip in 3 weeks, I would love to be pampered on, get the prime spot and extra goodies, wouldn't you?) Be sure to check out all my Disney posts for tips and tricks and our Top 5 lists of things at DisneyWorld, see the label "Disney" on the right column to review them. Also read our September trip reports under "Disney trip". Have a magical day! Cindy