PSA Stamp Camp

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Today I’m sharing three great cards in honor of today’s holiday by Melyssa Connolly! They're adorable and really celebrate today.

In her first card, she’s used stamps from three different Peel & Stick packs – Smirk Kiss Me Now (for the characters kissing), PSA Love Birds (for the sentiment Love) and PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps for the letters y, o, & u. We at PSA Essentials love to see when our designers combine many different packs in one card! If you don’t have all three but want to recreate this one, feel free to substitute the stamps with others in your arsenal. Sometimes the layout is half the battle! There are a few layers to point out here –the patterned paper, the red and pink felt hearts, the red button and the perfectly tied baker’s white twine. She’s sewed almost everything together – it’s that extra step that makes your cards extra special.

She continued with Smirk Kiss Me Now in this simple but lovely card.

In this last one, she used the lips from PSA Frenchie to represent the “o” in love, the “v” and “e” from PSA Archive, and “happiness is being loved” sentiment from Smirk Kiss Me Now. Another three stamps from three different packs card by Melyssa! Melyssa tends to put something unexpected in her pieces – like in this one, she has two vertical rectangles of patterned paper, and a newsprint heart floating next to the sentiment. It’s these layers and touches that makes her work unique. Next time you are in your craft room, push yourself one step further with an unexpected element. Use repositionable adhesive and you aren’t committed to something if you don’t love it.

Hope you have a sweet day! J

Decorating for Dudes

2012-02-13T00:01:00.002-08:00

Women more so then men like to decorate for the holidays. For the most part, our male counterparts could care less about seasonal décor (or any at all…) As a way to make Valentine’s Day "sweet" but not too girlie, our contributor Monika Wright created this banner with our dudes in mind. Using stamps from SMIRK Peel & Stick by PSA Essentials, Monika created a simple banner to dress up the picture ledge in their bedroom.

After trimming her kraft paper to 1.50" x 8.50", Monika stamped images and SMIRK sentiments from Smirk Kiss Me Now. She added a heart shape, made the inverted V shape for her banners, and then folded them over onto each other so that she could string them on baker's twine and jute twine. She used gardening twine as another little touch of masculine flair. You'll notice that she used hunter and rink ink cartridge for this project, too...it’s really the perfect complement to the kraft and twine.

So, what do you think, does it pass the test? Not too girlie?

Head on over to Monika's blog to read more and see more great projects!

Posted to The Girl Creative!

http://www.thegirlcreative.com/

Kids Art Kit

2012-02-10T00:01:00.001-08:00

Mae Armstrong is one crafty momma with great ideas to keep her little ones entertained and her own creative brain busy. She made a kids art kit for her twin boys, perfect to keep them busy at a restaurant, on a plane when traveling, or just around the house. She chose a bold black and white elephant fabric and a fun red and white polka dot fabric to hold everything inside. When it was done she filled it with a composition notebook, crayons, and their sign language flash cards.

To make each one personalized and their own, she used a light canvas fabric to stamp their names. She stamped “Will” and “Ryan” using PSA Essentials Peel and Stick Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps. It was the perfect style for this project.

She used a composition notebook as her guide in creating the art kit organizer. She used the main fabric and sewed it inside out and turned it over. Then ironed out the main fabric and sewed folded ends neatly.

After she folded the base fabric in three sections, she pinned the size that required sewing.

She prepared the accent fabric for the outer inside pocket. Using the pins as her guide, she marked down the spaces for the crayon holder and left some space for a pocket. She sewed it down and removed the pins as she went along.

She used a black Velcro to match the project and pinned it down for easy sewing.

After sewing the entire organizer, she cut the stamped canvas down to the size of a business card and pinned the fabric on the main front flap. She sewed it and trimmed extra thread.

Here’s how it turned out inside:

And here’s how it turned out on the outside:

I think it's a hit… Will & Ryan (seen here) seem to be loving it! What a great idea, Mae – thanks for sharing it with us.

Posted to Made by you Monday - Skip to My Lou

Fridge Magnets

2012-02-09T00:01:00.001-08:00

My daughter Molly comes home with a lot of papers from school. Maybe the teachers and administrators think the more paper and proof of “school work” she is doing, the more justified I will feel in writing her tution checks. And she’s only 2. Imagine how much she’ll bring home when she’s older! PSA Stamp Camp designer Angie Holden’s daughter brings home a lot of school work, too – and Angie’s come up with a clever way to display her artistic masterpieces and her mathematical genious on the fridge with these magnets.

They’re super simple. And I mean simple. Just stamp from PSA Super Star using your PSA Stamper onto construction paper or cardstock. Punch out using a 1 ½” circle punch and adhere to a closepin. Then glue magnetic strips onto the closepin. Angie chose to keep things easy by stamping in black ink on blue paper, but you could mix it up with different color inks or different color card stock. Don’t forget too that coloring up your stamps really adds a lot of character to them. Voila! DIY magnets that look great on your fridge:

Easy and creative - just a little touch for your fridge! Posted to Sumo's Sweet Stuff!

Snow Day Banner

2012-02-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

Our contributor Monika Wright lives in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee and has been having quite a mild winter. No snow yet! Missing the snow, Monika decided to create a snowflake banner to hang above her fireplace…. If you can’t have the real thing, why not try to recreate it? It’s a fun winter project that just took a few minutes.

For this quick-and-easy, 5-minute project, you will need:

4" paper lace doilies
PSA Essentials Flakes Peel & Stick stamp set & the outer ring from the PSA Tree-O Peel & Stick set
Royal blue ink by PSA Essentials
Turquoise ink
Baker's twine from The Twinery

Monika stamped the outer ring of PSA Tree-O using her PSA Stamper loaded with royal ink. Then she adhered the Fancy Flake to an acrylic block and stamped using a turquoise ink. She threaded the doily when the stamps were dry with twine to create a banner.

Who knew that paper doilies and stamps could make such a fun wintery project? Here's Monika’s family room outfitted with a garland of snowflakes while they wait to see if real ones will fall this year….

So simple, you could really go crazy here and create a super long one, too!

DIY Bulletin Board

2012-02-07T00:01:00.001-08:00

As organized as I am, my desk is a neat pile of a big mess. A bulletin board above my desk would be a great place to pin up all the random pieces of paper, notes, reminders and bills to pay where I would see them. But it’s got to be done creatively – no boring brown cork board for this gal. Here are some ideas I pulled from my favorite sources of inspiration: Pinterest and our design team member – Angie Holden.

This is a painted cork board using turquoise paint and a stencil by from Better Homes & Gardens. (Yes, Better Homes and Gardens – you DO need stamps!)

Here’s one from an Etsy seller (http://www.etsy.com/listing/78991396/framed-bulletin-board-for-sale-shabby?ref=fp_treasury_12/). It’s very girlie!

Our PSA Stamp Camp designer Angie Holden recently did a tutorial on her blog The Country Chic Cottage on how to design a memo board. Read the entire process here – it’s a fantastic tutorial. (http://www.thecountrychiccottage.net/2012/01/recovering-memo-board.html) Skipping right ahead, here’s her end result.

Angie also came up with a solution for a bulletin board using PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps for us. She used her Peel & Stick stamps on fabric along with bright green ribbon perfect for tucking papers into. She’s used a variety of PSA Essentials stamps here – I see Maxine I am Woman, Smirk Kiss Me Now, PSA Dare to Dream, and PSA Rosettas. She used grapefruit ink, royal ink, turquoise ink, and plum purple ink from our collection of 22-ink colors. (Did you know we had 22?! http://www.psaessentials.com/inkcolors.htm)

Here’s a close up:

Angie walks us how to do this step-by-step here. First you will need:

Memo boar
White fabric (about 1 yard)
Ribbon (at least one spool)
Upholstery Tacks
Hot glue
Stamps and Ink by PSA Essentials (of course)
Covered Button Kit
Scrap fabric to cover buttons
Needle and thread

10 easy, step-by-step instructions to achieve this look:

Cut the white fabric to size. Leave at least 3 inches around all sides of memo board. Cut two of these pieces. (One plain white piece will be used under the stamped fabric so that you cannot see through the fabric)
Take one piece of the white fabric and lay it on a hard, flat surface.
Stamp various quotes and decorative elements. Use a variety of stamps and ink colors.
Allow your fabric to dry completely before you touch it.
Lay your plain white piece over the memo board first, then the stamped piece. Arrange so that your stamps will wrap around the edges.
Pull the fabric to the back and hot glue into place. Should be tight but do not stretch the fabric itself.
Lay ribbon out into a cross pattern. Start corner to corner. Then middle to middle. Hot glue the ends of each ribbon to hold. Again it should be tight but not stretched.
Follow up with upholstery tacks on each ribbon end.
Cover buttons according to package directions.
Sew buttons where ribbons meet. Be sure to catch the fabric layer and both ribbon layers when sewing.

And ta-da! You’ve got a neat and crafty solution to all those random pieces of paper sitting on your desk.

Posted to http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/:

http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com/

Molly's New Room

2012-02-06T07:43:00.006-08:00

My 2-year old daughter Molly has two major areas of interest: one is reading and the other is nature – birds, trees, and being outdoors. When the time came to ditch the crib and move to a “big girl bed,” I designed her new room with her interests in mind. Everything came together piece by piece, slowly but surely. I spent hours pinning, surfing and tossing and turning. This was a labor of love and probably overly obsessed over…. Here’s out it turned out!

I found the bedding at Pottery Barn (not from the kids or teen stores). The tree decal on the wall is from Land of the Nod, as is the pink hanging lamp. Molly calls the chair her “princess chair” – the flower netting and oversized reading chair is from Pottery Barn Kids. The framed vintage board game on the wall is from my mother-in-law for Christmas, she got it at the Greenery Antique Shop in Hilton Head. In about 10 years, it will be over 100 years old and quite valuable. I thought it was an unexpected touch to the room that worked great!

She needed a good amount of shelving and storage. I was thrifty and repainted the furniture that was in the guest room a bright green. The long white book shelf is from the Land of the Nod. (My husband asked if we could always order from that store for furniture… it only took 45 minutes to put together and was super easy. Sure, Mike… Sure. I can order from there ALL the time.)

To capture Molly’s interest in reading, I had an idea for artwork on the walls. I took dozens of the paper book covers (they always fall off and are a nuisance, anyway) and laid them out on two 24x36” canvases, spray mounted them to adhere, and coated them 3 times with Mod Podge Gloss Finish. These are something I am particularly proud of! Do you recognize any of these great books?

The artwork looks great in the room - I think it really ties everything together.

Molly is so happy to be in this new room – we didn’t tell her we were working on it and like little elves, we did it while she was sleeping. We had a big unveil two weeks ago – made a huge deal and surprise out of it. She just loves it! The look on her face was priceless.

This post was posted to Ninth Street Notions , Embellishing Life's Creative, Ask Anna & Under the Table & Dreaming

Ninth Street Notations

Embellishing Life

Ask Anna Mosley

Under The Table & Dreaming

Birthday Cards to Try

2012-02-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

My mom keeps a book devoted to birthdays. Just about everyone she knows is penciled in throughout the calendar year on the date of their birth. Every few weeks, she’s diligent about going through it and sending off cards or presents to celebrate the day. It’s this kind of organization I am hoping to one day achieve…. Not there quite yet, I am currently relying on Facebook reminders for birthdays. Not a great practice. Must adopt a better system.

Here are a few different cards for different birthdays. The first card by Kelley Eubanks is great for a little boy. She’s stamped the rocket from PSA Rocket Peel & Stick stamps. I love the distressed look of the paper and the baby boy blue cardstock is one of my favorite colors.

This “Enjoy” card is simple and elegant and perfect for an adult. She’s stamped “e,n, j, y” from PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps, and the cupcake from PSA Cupcake. I always love how Kelley is not afraid of white space!

Jeanne Streiff created this “40 and Fabulous” card using the flower from PSA Topiary and coloring them up with her Twin Touch markers. The flowers look great – they are perfectly stamped – that kind of perfection only achieved with the PSA Stamper. So crisp!

Three great cards by two talented ladies, today! Are you working on any birthday cards?

Feelin' Moody?

2012-02-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

Does this sound familiar? Acted a bit nasty to a friend of yours recently? Here’s a great card to make and send by Kim Schofield. This is sure to lighten spirits either way!

There are many things I love about this card but mostly I love the layers of patterned paper that all lead your eye to the stamp. And what a stamp! The Smirk Many Moods Peel & Stick stamp set by PSA Essentials is a great one for funny sentiments and characters – sure to make light of any sticky situation.

Need to send an apology? Use – “I plead temporary insanity.” (Only works with friends who have a good sense of humor or when you haven’t royally screwed up.) I also love “allow me to introduce My Selves.” So true sometimes.

Good friends always understand that you can’t be on your game all the time. People are real and aren’t always chipper. Sending a card like this may just be your ticket out of hot water. Next time you find yourself snapping at a friend, re-create this one to make up for it.

Valentine's Day Cards

2012-02-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: Via Pinterest, source not-credited.

February is here! And in a few short weeks Valentine's Day will be here. How many Valentine’s are you creating? My list is long so I better get started. Good thing we have great and simple ideas by Vera Yates. These ideas don’t require a lot of materials, any embossing, ribbon tying, layering or much at all. Yet they are beautiful and say everything you need to say. Check them out!

Vera created this easy “be mine” card with just five materials: her PSA Stamper loaded with holiday red ink, PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps, and UBU Bicycle Bride stamps by PSA, craft cardstock, and the sentiment stamp “be” by Bo Bunny.

She created this one with just as few materials. She stamped the bird from PSA Love Birds, and spelled “Valentine” using PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps. These cards are clean and simple and pack a huge punch. It’s a good reminder not to be scared of negative space in your cards! You do not have to fill up every inch. Some times less really is more!

Don’t get sick of red yet – we have a few weeks to go and lots of great Valentine’s Day ideas coming up in February!

O'Regan Family Stationery 2012

2012-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

I tend to only order between 30-50 cards for our family stationery – that way I keep things fresh with updated styles or new pictures. I just love sending letters in the mail. Be it a quick thank you card or a note just because, I love sending so my friends and family aren’t just getting bills and junk in their mailbox. My latest family stationery turned out great. A bit more formal than usual, this 4 x 5 note card came from Shutterfly. It’s just enough room (but not too much) for a note from us.

When I send something out, I like to include special postage stamps. Like these vintage ones below - I think it adds a special touch. If you’ve been reading PSA Stamp Camp for awhile now, you know I’ve used stamps like these on shower invitations, Christmas cards, & birthday invites. This year, I am stockpiling them to use for every day occasions and correspondence.

I am also starting my own postage stamp collection. (There I go being a nerd again!) Every year, I will buy few sets of the specially released stamp sets and store them away for years to come. One day, I will have my very own vintage stamp collection. I wish I had started this idea a few years ago and collected stamps from all the wonderful places I have been around the world. Postage stamps are works of art and so graphic in nature! These stamps from around the world (found on http://www.augustempress.com/) would look beautiful framed.

Of course, no correspondence of mine is complete now without my personalized address stamper by PSA Essentials. I have several, but mostly use my Wallace or Harrington styles.

I am changing the inks and middles up frequently to suit the occasion. I’m using “Joy Peace Love” from PSA Tree-O this January, and will be switching it up with “Love” for February. Of course, if I am sending a birthday card, I usually change it to a Whimsy Cakes stamp.

Switching up the middles is so much fun and brings another element of personalization to your letters. It’s an extra step, but one that usually doesn’t go unnoticed! If you have time this year, try spicing up your correspondence with vintage postage stamps and your personalized PSA Stamper with switchable middles.

Recycled Magazines

2012-01-31T07:29:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: via Pinterest/ Girls at Lincoln Park

In-Style, Harper’s Bazaar, Southern Living, Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, Parenting, & Us Weekly are my go-to magazines. I go-to each for different reasons obviously. US Weekly provides my essential fluff. (A girl’s got to know what is going on with Ashton and Demi, right?) Real Simple & Parenting are my mom guides, Southern Living and Martha Stewart keep me extra domestic, and In-Style and Bazaar keep me lusting after fashion trends I cannot afford. But what’s a girl to do with a stack of magazines she’s already read?

Angie Holden had a crafty idea. It captures two trends: going green & the latest ombre look in fashion. It’s a picture frame made from strips of recycled magazines!

Start by ripping ads out of your mags, then organize them by color. Cut with your paper cutter or good ole fashioned scissors, and work your magic by gluing onto an old frame you’d like to repurpose. Add the ribbon around the edges for a more finished look. Angie incorporated PSA Essentials stamps using Smirk Peel & Stick. She stamped Kick Ass Babe and Hell on Heels from Smirk Fashionista. See all of our Smirk stamps here, they have real pizzazz. http://www.psaessentials.com/smirk.htm

This is a fun idea, don’t you think?

Lynne's Mad Hatter Blog Hop

2012-01-30T05:08:00.000-08:00

We're late, we're late - for a very important date! Welcome to Lynne’s Mad Hatter 60^th Birthday Tea Party Blog Hop, I am sorry to be so unfashionably late to joining this celebration. In this exciting two day hop, you will see projects from talented designers with different styles – all celebrating Lynne’s milestone of turning 60 years old. If you are just starting out, you will want to know about all the great blog candy being offered up to celebrate Lynne’s birthday!

SVG Attic at http://www.svgattic.com/ - a $20 gift certificate
Creative Kuts has offered a $20 Gift Certificate to http://creativekuts.com/
Deborah Marie Foti of http://www.scrappingmamma.net/ will make one of her original birthday cards, Crafty Friends Sentiments Large Sheet by www.gettingcricky.com AND $10 Little Scraps of Heaven Designs Gift Certificate
PSA Essentials - www.psastamps.com.blogspot.com - 1 stamper, 2 Peel & Stick packs of winner's choice. MSRP is $55.
  Pat Catan's has donated a $25 gift card for shopping at their store, if there isn't a Pat Catan's in your area, we can transfer that out for you
·         Karber Digital Images at http://www.karberdigital.com/ - 2 digital designs of the winner's choice
·         Digi My World at http://digimyworld.com/shop/ - $10 gift card

To be eligible to win, you must comment on each stop of the tea party along the way - and be sure to wish Lynne a happy birthday! Please also become a follower of the PSA Stamp Camp blog to be eligible to win the PSA Essentials prize.

Are you familiar with PSA Essentials? PSA Essentials manufacturers personalized self-inking stamps with interchangeable Peel & Stick technology. We have thousands of designs to choose from – ones for each holiday, sentiments, occasions, and licensed ones from Hello Kitty, Peanuts, Smirk, UBU & More. Check out all of our designs here: www.psaessentials.com/peelandstick.htm. We have a fantastic design team that makes cards, scrapbook layouts, home décor, party gear, crafts & more which we showcase weekdays on this blog, PSA Stamp Camp. Hope you join us daily for crafting inspiration!

To celebrate Lynne’s birthday, we are sharing a card by Jennifer Holmes – it’s called “Party Animal.” And I think judging by the size of this blog hop, Lynne IS one big party animal! The card uses stamps from PSA Little Bunny Peel & Stick stamps. The adorable elephant and dog nestled in the grass come from that collection. She’s colored the stamps up with her Copics to bring them to life. I love the twine from The Twinery & beautiful coordinating cardstock base from A Muse Studio. Isn’t it wonderful how Jennifer has rounded the corners of her card? It gives it a more professional look. Something to think about on your next card making venture.

Happy Birthday, Lynne! Now hop on over to Lynne's blog to say happy birthday! http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/

Handmade Dress

2012-01-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

I haven’t learned how to sew. When choosing electives in junior high school, I stayed far, far away from textiles and continued to avoid anything to do with sewing well into art school. I have always been impressed by those who can sew, who can follow a pattern, who create their own patterns, and who can make clothing out of fabric – because it’s not something I ever learned how to do. It’s on my bucket list.

My good friend Susan (and design team member at PSA Essentials) has become very domestic since her engagement and wedding and has been putting her sewing machine to good use. Coming from someone who doesn’t sew and who is impressed by those that do, I was blown away with Molly’s 2^nd birthday gift. It’s a dress – that Susan MADE.

Knowing that Molly loves birds, Susan created lovely bird dress from her husband’s comfy t-shirts. The dress is so soft! It’s stylish, too. Don’t you love the detail on the shoulder? She downloaded the free pattern and instructions here: http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/warhol-dress-pattern.html

Always incorporating PSA Essentials into her work, Susan designed a tag for the dress, using the outer ring stamp from PSA Essentials Carriage and then sewed a “2” onto the tag. I asked her if this is the name of her dress line…. She said she doesn’t plan on venturing into that field.

Too bad though! Because I think it’s the cutest. Will update this post when Molly is big enough to wear this adorable dress. The way she eats and grows, it won’t be long…

Supply spotlight.

Dress Free Pattern & Instruction Download - http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/warhol-dress-pattern.html
Materials: 2 Men's T-Shirts. Stamp: Carriage Pack (PSA Essentials). Paper: White Gift Tag (Recollections). Materials: Pink Floss (Loops & Threads).

Cupcakes!

2012-01-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

The next time you are having company, consider these sweet treats by Mae Armstrong. She went the extra mile to decorate them with cute cupcake holders and festive toppers! She’s used our PSA Essentials Smirk Martini Mix stamps and the outer ring of PSA Archive Peel & Stick stamps for this adorable topper that really stands out. I just love this adorable character holding a bottle of champagne and a glass – it really says “celebrate!” You can also color her up to match the theme of your party and make her stand out even more. Enjoy this recipe today!

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions: Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

WHIPPED VANILLA FROSTING:

Ingredients

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Directions: In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

DIY Wine Party

2012-01-25T00:01:00.001-08:00

The girls and I had a total blast last week going out for sushi & wine (or hibachi chicken & water for some.) I value the time spent with my girlfriends – I feel energized and I’m reminded that I am not just a mom and a wife. I’m a real living-breathing social creature! Plus I got caught up on real life and celebrity gossip. (What were Jay-Z & Beyonce thinking with that baby name?) But going out is not always budget friendly and sometimes it’s just nice to be home with friends. Mae Armstrong had this wonderful idea to host a blind wine tasting. We could all adopt this one!

She started out by creating wine bags. She’ll place different bottles of wine in each bag, code them with letters, and have guests write honest feedback about each wine on a corresponding card. This way no one is influenced by fancy labels or gimmicky names of wines. The tasting will be based on taste alone.

To recreate, use an old wine tote bag as your pattern like this one here. Mae used natural canvas and retro fabric for the accent. Sew the printed fabric on the front side of the canvas and sew the top opening to prevent from fraying. Then turn inside out and sew all sides leaving the opening.

Mae stamped onto pre-cut doily themed circle tags with PSA Essentials Archive Peel and Stick stamps. She stamped the letters A, B, C, D – the number of letters she needed for the number of wines she was serving for the tasting. She picked a nice thick yarn for hanging the tags.

Cute, right?

For the tasting cards, she used the same doily tags stamped with PSA Archive Peel & Stick stamps and the corresponding letters to match the wine totes. To recreate, thread the yarn through and knot both ends to secure the tag. It's easy if you use a crochet hook to pull the yarn through. Mae also used a bamboo stick to create the holes. This card measures 4"x9" and you can create it using Microsoft Word or In Design.

As Mae always does, she took her project and party two steps further. She sewed a matching canvas favor bag stamped with the initials of her guests. You can fill the jars with any edible treats, Mae used olives. She used the same yarn color to tie the top of the tote bags. It all coordinates perfectly!

She created some cupcakes, too which I will share the recipe & details of tomorrow! Look at this complete set of crafty goodness. Now that’s better than a $30 sushi night!

This post was posted to Singing Three Little Birds

Surviving the Winter Blues

2012-01-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

It happens every year to me in January. I am flying high during the holidays, I soar through the first two weeks of January with the new year filled with such promise. Then like a ton of bricks, I come crashing down. The end of January and February are my least favorite times of the year. In the Low Country, it’s the only months where the days are short and the weather is cold. Spring and Summer feel far away, there’s not a whole lot of indoor activities for us around here. So I asked our design team member Jennifer Holmes to create some cards to lift people’s spirits during the dark and cold winter days. So use these ideas as inspiration and send them to a friend to help them survive the winter blues! (Or just enjoy them from here yourself.)

This bright and cheery card may just lift the spirits of someone special in your life. I love the flower stamped in different colors from PSA Life’s A Beach. Jennifer’s colored them up to make them really stand out. She’s stamped the “h” from PSA Gigi Monogram H Peel & Stick, and the “i” from PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick pack.

To further brighten spirits, Jennifer created this “hello sunshine” card. She’s stamped the sunglasses from PSA Life’s A Beach and colored them up with pink and green markers. She’s used a bright and cheery yellow cardstock as the base, and framed her sunglasses and sentiment in a scalloped cut magenta cardstock. I love that she’s tied yellow and white twine around the card – which is just an extra touch and adds some dimension.

Hope you have a bright and cheery day!

Guest Designer Call

2012-01-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

Guest Designer Call - 2012

PSA Stamp Camp is looking for 3 Guest Designers to be featured on PSA Stamp Camp blog this Winter & Spring 2012.

Perks:

Designer will receive 2 stamp sets of choice, 1 Stamper, 2 inks, 1 alignment tool. MRSP: $85
Blog candy/giveaway of 1 Peel & Stick pack on their blog

Requirements:

Designer must come up with a minimum of 3 projects using PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps.
Must have your own blog with 1500+ followers
Some restrictions on the giveaway, details to be provided if you are accepted
Designer to display “Guest Designer” blog badge on blog for 1-week leading up to the feature, linking to PSA Stamp Camp

How to apply:

Email libby@psaessentials.com with 1 example of your work, blog URL, and the number of followers on your blog.

Chinese New Year Blog Hop

2012-01-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Feng Li - Getty Images - via The Today Show

Ni hao and welcome to the Chinese New Year Blog Hop! I was recently introduced to April by The Scrapbooking Queen. April recently adopted a boy from Taiwan. Now her fourth child - April is one busy woman to be hosting a hop, too! To celebrate Tuan's culture, she wanted to share some Chinese New Year inspired projects with you. Since this is the last stop - I hope you have enjoyed all the creativity! If you just joined us, please go back to April's blog at www.curlsandgrins.blogspot.com to see everyone's amazing creativity from the beginning!

In case you aren't familiar with PSA Essentials - we manufacture self-inking custom stamps with patent-pending Peel & Stick technology. We have thousands of stamp designs - one for each holiday, sentiments, licensed ones from Hello Kitty, Peanuts, Smirk, UBU & More. They're perfect for all your crafting needs!

We have a great card for Tuan & April's family. Here's: It's a Boy by Jeanne Streiff. This card uses the carriage stamps from PSA Carriage Peel & Stick stamps. It appeared in the September/October issue of CardMaker magazine!

There's some great blog candy to offer from April Nourse of Curls & Grins Creations and PSA Essentials. To be eligible, you must simply comment on each blog on each day's post. We'd love for you to become a follower of each of our blogs too.

To find out more about PSA Essentials, visit www.psaessentials.com or like us on Facebook!

Start at April's!

April - http://curlsandgrins.blogspot.com
Lynne K. - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/
Ashley - http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com/
Amy - http://www.lovetocrop.com/
Vicki - http://mawmawsthoughts.blogspot.com/
Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/
Shannon - http://www.purplelionpaper.com/blog
Inga - http://mommahobbit.blogspot.com/
Maria - http://www.mdcraftcorner.blogspot.com/
Janet- http://www.createatdreamscrapbooks.blogspot.com/
Dena - http://missdjones.blogspot.com/
Jennifer - http://jenrubio.blogspot.com/
Theresa- http://www.thescrapbookingqueen.com/
Ellen - http://cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com/
PSA Essentials - www.psastampcamp.blogspot.com/

Repurposed Crafts

2012-01-20T00:01:00.001-08:00

Our design team member Angie Holden was tasked with designing something thrifty this month -- something that didn't cost our readers a boatload to recreate. Inspired by glass bowls, vintage cake stands & a shabby chic look like above, Angie repurposed a candle stick and a wood bowl to make a pedestal bowl. This serving wear can be used for just about anything – a candy display, dessert bowl, or any of your entertaining needs. (Angie chose a candy cane holder!)

To recreate, find an old candle stick and wood bowl that aren't in use. Paint both your desired colors and when dry, stamp the bowl using the outer ring star stamp from PSA Anchors Aweigh on an acrylic block. This is a bit tricky on a curved surface, so be patient with it. When finished, paint with a clear-coat sealer like Mod Podge to finish it off. You can really get creative here with what types of materials you repurpose and what you design!

Happy thrifty crafting! This post was posted to The Graphics Fairy, LLC

The Graphics Fairy

Gift Tags

2012-01-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

Do you have gifts to give this January? I have plenty of them… a lot of important people to me were born in January (my mother, my best friend from college Kristin, my best friend from home, Danielle.) A great way to spice up your gift giving is with handmade tags and special gift wrap. Even if the present itself isn't out of this world, you can knock the recipent's socks off with a great wrapping job. I envision these tags on top of some great great metalic color, gold or silver wrapping paper, like these purple lace numbers from Martha Stewart.com/via Pinterest.

Kelley Eubanks created these tags using PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps.

To recreate these tags and bring the wow factor to your next gift, follow these step by step easy instructions:

1. Die cut tags and punch star
2. Adhere star with removable tape
3. Stamp border, mist and remove star
4. Stamp letter
5. Tie twine and ink edges

Happy Gift Giving!

Eating Well in 2012

2012-01-18T00:01:00.001-08:00

About.com Guide created a list of the Top 10 Most Common New Year's Resolutions. Did yours make the list?

Spend more time with family and friends

Fit in Fitness

Tame the bulge & loose the weight

Quit smoking

Enjoy life more - less stress

Quit drinking

Get out of debt

Learn something new

Help others/volunteer

Get organized!

If #2 or #3 are on your list like most people, you want to get fit, eat healthy and maybe lose some extra pounds. I tasked Mae Armstrong on our design team to come up with a creative way to stay on track with your goals. She answered with a beautiful calendar.

This is a simple reminder each month to try and buy organic products, supporting local farmers, cook more at home and making wise decisions to create a healthy life style. Mae used a 5"x7" layout, created the monthly spreads and drew the vegetable and fruit monthly theme using Adobe Illustrator. This took Mae hours to do – she is quite a talented graphic designer! All the artwork is 100% original by Mae Armstrong. She added starburst as a background to unify each page – each month is a different fruit or veggie that corresponds with the season. She printed them out and cut them individually.

To identify the months , Mae used PSA Essentials Peel & Stick Vanilla stamps and stamped the letters to complete the calendar. After stamping the letters, she used her circle punch and glued the month to the card.

After setting the stamped circle cards, Mae chose the zigzag stitch and sewed a straight line through the circle tags. It's easier if you glue the letter accents down before sewing. This is an extra step that takes this project one step further!

When all 12 cards were done, it was time to punch them. She used her mini Zutter Bug to punch the notebook holes. She also used a nice silver wire coil to bind the calendar.

Before binding, use a chip board and cut two 5"x8.5" cards to serve as the calendar backing/stand. Score 1.25" edge of the card and fold. Punch holes and bind with the rest of the calendar. And here's the end result!

If you'd like to do this calendar at home, you can purchase the template from Mae on her Etsy store. She's selling it for just $9.99! http://www.etsy.com/listing/89708672/printable-2012-calendar-intro-special

This post was posted to Mad Skills Tutorial Link Party!

Mad Skills

Weekend Project – Organization!

2012-01-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

This weekend I spent hours organizing my scrapbooking and crafting supplies. Nerdy, right? My mom's friend Dayle Thomas very generously dropped off three large boxes of scrapbooking supplies. Inside were hundreds of dollars of stickers, embellishments, ribbon, paper, scrapbooks that have never been opened. Combined with my impressive collection of PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps, inks, and products we've swapped with Helmar USA, Mod Podge, The Twinery, & Prima – I have an entire store of products at home! (Mental note: less trips to Michael's…)

Check it out! I snapped these quick pictures because I was so impressed with myself. I've organized my new rolling cart into bins for each need – punches & cutting tools, adhesives, embellishments, stickers, neutral papers, and seasonal papers.

Thankfully I have lots of options for adhesives!

This bin is full of stickers – some for each holiday, baby, wedding, travel, food, & more.

This bin is a crucial one – all my scissors and punches. I am currently storing my markers in here, but as soon as I get my Twin Touch Markers – I'll be creating a separate bin for markers!

The bottom two drawers are devoted to paper but I had so much I couldn't fit it all in the bins. Here's the over flow.

And here's a portion of my PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps collection. I've stored the packs in clear sheet protectors in a three ring binder. This makes finding them super easy!

Now this organization is nothing compared to my idol Carly Robertson ( see her amazing craft room here: http://carlyrobertson.typepad.com/thesimplethings/home-tour.html) but we all have to start somewhere…..it's a start.

I have a BIG project to start working on – so this organization is going to come in handy. Thanks to Dayle Thomas for the very generous donation of her scrapbooking supplies. I will be sure to put them all to excellent use! I really appreciate everything she gave me.

Martin Luther King Day - 2012

2012-01-16T06:01:00.000-08:00

What's wrong with this picture?

Imagine living in a world where whites and blacks had separate entrances to restaurants. Separate drinking fountains. Separate library books. Separate schools. Separate bathrooms and toilets. It wasn't long ago that Jim Crow laws were in effect – in fact, it was only 47 years ago that they ended. Without getting too heavy (we're a crafting blog and I'm not here to preach civil rights & liberties!) let's remember Martin Luther King, Jr. today. Sometimes with federal holidays that aren't Christmas, New Years or Thanksgiving – people tend to overlook why we have the day off from work. But today's an important day to stop and reflect. With his forward thinking and unwillingness to settle for "separate but equal," Martin Luther King moved our country in a better direction.

Our designer Jennifer Holmes created this adorable card to celebrate diversity in the world. She's stamped all the characters from Smirk Caffeine Confidents (see them here: http://www.psaessentials.com/smirk.htm) and colored them up to represent different nationalities. I just ADORE this card.

She's used her copics to illustrate their skin color differences! Simply perfect for this holiday.

I am so happy Molly is growing up today as opposed to 1960. Her two best friends are African-American and I hope she will be blind to the color of people's skin forever. Aren't they all cute? (This isn't the best picture of them but I rarely have my camera there.... so imagine Yolanda and Kayden are smiling!)

Have a wonderful holiday!

Winter Scrapbooking

2012-01-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Well, you are either loving PSA Stamp Camp this week or have tuned me out completely! We are featuring great ideas to get a jump on (or wrap up) your scrapbooking! See this great way to document your winter adventures today on our final day of Scrapbooking Week. Kim Schofield calls this one "better together" and I just love her chosen color scheme! The cool blues, navy, white and black is such a great color combination for the season. The black and white photography is so classic - any picture feels vintage with this black and white finish! The whole layout feels a bit chilly – in a good way - doesn't it?

Kim has stamped from PSA Fancy Flakes and even embossed them to set the stamp and make it stand out! This is an extra step but really makes a difference. Check it out.

She's also stamped from Peanuts Snow Day. She's colored snoopy on his sled up with her Copic markers and really brought him to life!

This page is a true work of art – between the stamping, the embossing, ribbon tying, and cutting out of the stamp – you can tell that Kim spent HOURS on this layout! Use it as inspiration even if you don't have hours – replicate parts of it! To replicate, you will need:

Designer Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle

Stamps: PSA Essentials: Peanuts Snow Day, PSA Fancy Flakes

Tissue Tape: Tim Holtz

Ribbon: May Arts

Hope you have enjoyed Scrapbooking this week! Back to cards, crafty home décor ideas, and new year's resolutions next week!

Scrapbooking Thanksgiving!?!?

2012-01-13T00:01:00.000-08:00

If you are behind on scrapbooking 2011 and haven't had a chance to get to Thanksgiving, use this as a jumping off point. Already completed Thanksgiving? Use the layout as your base – replace the colors, patterned papers and sentiments with the theme of your choice. Kim Schofield has a great design here for your inspiration. There's a lot going on here, but it manages to be organized! She's stamped the wreath from PSA Topiary Peel & Stick.

See a close-up the stamp here! I like how she cut it out with an X-Acto knife and adhered it with 3-D foam stickers. It gives it dimmension and emphasizes it!

To recreate this layout, you will need the following supplies:

Designer Paper – Imaginisce

Cardstock - Bazzill

Additional sentiment stamps – Ali Edwards

PSA Essentials Topiary Peel & Stick stamps

X-Acto

3-D Foam Stickers by Helmar USA

I just love the Ali Edwards sentiment ones. They are so great for journaling and scrapbooking! What do you think of this layout?

Scrapbooking: Halloween?!?!

2012-01-12T00:01:00.000-08:00

All week long, we have been talking about scrapbooking. A few days ago, I stressed the importance of getting your pages done early – right after the holiday so the memories are fresh. Well as we all know – that's just sometimes not possible. Life gets busy and suddenly you find yourself four months behind on your scrapbook. (I am living proof!) No worries, luckily you can still get all the supplies you need year round at your local craft store, and we are here for some good ideas. Here are two Halloween layouts by Kim Moreno – just in case you need to work on those.

I adore the layers, use of dies and the photo booth presentation of photos. Doesn't it remind you of a photo booth? She's used PSA Essentials stamps here – the "boo" and the orange pumpkin are from PSA Haunted Shack Peel & Stick. You can also notice the "Happy Halloween" near "boo" from PSA UBU Happy Halloween. This is the outer ring of the stamp!

For this one, she's used the skull from PSA Haunted Shack and "boo" once again. She really has a knack for artsy, interesting design. I love the paper cut like ribbons and the twine tied around the orange patterned paper. Your eye doesn't get stuck in one place – it's moving all over the page. And yet, it's not too busy.

Feel free to take these layouts and modify the papers and colors and stamps to fit whatever holiday or event you are working on. Use the layout as a template for your creation!

Scrapbooking Life's Little Moments

2012-01-11T00:01:00.000-08:00

Scrapbooking is such an artistic way to journal life's major events and holidays like Christmas. But it's also a great way to journal the not-so-major, everyday life events. Like these ones from our design team member Kim Moreno. Even with her five children, she managed to find the time to scrapbook her son's track meet and do a layout about friendship for her daughter. It's these every day type of events and moments that really document life! And she does it so creatively.

In this one of her son's track meet, I love the series of three pictures. She's stamped "Well Done", "You Rock" and "Keep it up" from PSA Super Star. Such a great stamp set for this page!

Here Kim has used vibrant colors and adorable pictures of her daughter and her friend. She's stamped from Smirk Caffeine Confidents, the two girls and the sentiment "Fabulous friends." This layout is simple and elegant and really tells a great story of friendship!

What scrapbook layouts are you working on?

Scrapbooking Christmas – Day 2

2012-01-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I shared a great layout idea by Kim Schofield to help document your 2011 Christmas holiday. I think it's important to try and get your holiday scrapbooking pages done right after the season. If you wait too long, they get too far down on your to-do list and the memories aren't as fresh in your mind as they were months ago. Plus, it's a great time to find holiday crafting stickers, paper and other products on sale right now! If you can find the time this January, get inspired with this other great idea by Kim.

For this whimsical layout, Kim did a lot of stamping. She's stamped using PSA Fancy Flakes Peel & Stick stamps in the background on the white in blue ink, and on the red in darker red ink. She also stamped the "happy holidays" letter, the star and the Christmas trees from PSA Tree-O Peel & Stick stamps. She's also stamped the date – "25" for December 25^th using PSA Archive Peel & Stick stamps. Way to use three different stamp sets in a project, Kim!

Here's a close up of the stamps:

I love her use of patterned paper – the stockings stuffed with teddy bears are a perfect pair to the young boys in the picture. The scalloped stripped paper adds visual interest, and the white ribbon adds texture. She's layered it on here and done a great job. Here's a list of the supplies, in case you'd like to replicate:

PSA Essentials Fancy Flakes Peel & Stick

PSA Essentials Tree-O Peel & Stick

PSA Essentials Archive Peel & Stick

Copics to color in stamps

Imaginsce patterned paper

Ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon

Stickers by Jillibean Soup

Journaling used with computer paper & computer

Happy Scrapbooking!

Boy Oh Boy Blog Hop – January 9th

2012-01-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

This fun blog hop was created by crafty blogger Jearise at Lorby's World to showcase all things Boy! As a thank-you for hopping, she'll pick just one lucky person to receive a $10 gift card to Joann's Fabric and Craft. You must do two things to be eligible: take the time to hop through all the blogs, become a follower of LORBY'S WORLD, and let her know you've done so!

PSA Essentials is a proud sponsor of the hop! We are giving away 1 stamper and 2 peel and stick packs of the winner's choice, an MRSP is $55. To win, you must leave a comment and be a follower of the PSA Stamp Camp blog – we will chose one person using random.org to win.

Aren't familiar with PSA Essentials? PSA Essentials manufacturers self-inking personalized stamps with patent-pending Peel & Stick technology and thousands of stamp designs – which makes us perfect for all of your paper crafting needs. This blog is dedicated to showcasing crafty ways of using PSA Essentials in your card making, scrapbooking, home décor projects, entertaining & more. Hope you enjoy it! You can check out our website to learn more about PSA or visit us on Facebook for more contests, giveaways & a community of crafters.

Today we are featuring two cards by two talented designers that are great for welcoming a boy into the world. Kelley Eubanks designed this clean and simple card. She stamped the "b" and "y" from PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps, and the onesie from PSA Carriage. You can see these Peel & Stick stamp designs and all of the PSA Original designs here. To view all of our stamp designs, including our licensed ones from Hello Kitty, Peanuts, Rudolph, Smirk, UBU and more, click here.

This more layered look comes to us from Kim Moreno. She's stamped "A Star is Born" from PSA Carriage. The yellow and blue color combination is perfect for welcoming a little boy!

Thank you for joining us today, I hope you've enjoyed these two cards and all the inspiration along the way. If you are just starting out, begin here for the full hop: http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/

Blog Line Up:

Jearise - http://lorbysworld.blogspot.com/

Liz - http://tryin2craft.blogspot.com

Theresa - http://thescrapbookingqueen.com

Indira - http://www.craftyhomemade.blogspot.com/

Jenny - http://crazyaboutcricut.blogspot.com

Sam - http://scrappingwithpirkie.blogspot.com/

Linda T. - http://lindascreativity.blogspot.com

Zenita - http://www.scrappinwithz.blogspot.com

Anita - http://www.anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/

Shannon - http://www.purplelionpaper.com/blog

April - http://curlsandgrins.blogspot.com

Christel - http://onescrappinsista.blogspot.com/

Amy - http://lovetocrop.com

Deborah - http://www.scrappingmamma.net/

Katie - http://www.ktsangels.blogspot.com/

Lynne - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/

Libby PSA~ www.psastampcamp.blogspot.com

Scrapbooking Christmas - Day 1

2012-01-08T23:42:00.000-08:00

Sigh…. Christmas is over… you're faced with the daunting and annoying task of taking down the tree and decorations. Also on your to-do list: documenting all the wonderful holiday memories in a creative way. If you are a scrapbooker, check out this great layout by Kim Schofield. She's used a variety of photos, layers, patterned papers, sentiments, words & stamps to create this layout.

She's stamped from PSA Vintage Snowman. The 5 pieces of holly and the wrapped present are great embellishments and really help contribute to the overall theme of the layout. She's colored them all up with her Copic markers to make them come to life and stand out.

Great layout idea, Kim. Tell us what ways you are planning on documenting your 2011 holidays today!

Happy New Year Cards!

2012-01-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

Our week looking back at 2011 has come to close and it's time bring in the new year with some great cards. Did you send out holiday cards in November or December? If you didn't have time to with all the craze, consider sending a card in January wishing friends and family happy new year! Photo cards are the best. This year I made a collage on my window with all the photo cards – it filled my kitchen with the faces of our loved ones. Here are some ideas to try by our newest design team member, Regina Mangum!

Regina stamped "2012" from PSA Funky Numbers in royal blue ink with her PSA Stamper, then embossed the numbers with glitter embossing powder.

Here's a detail – see how well the stamps turn out when you emboss them?

Up next she created this beautiful photo card to ring in 2012. I love the bright orange and magenta, and the coordinating twine from The Twinery. She's broken out of the 4 x 6 rectangle rut by using her dies from Spellbinders to create a uniquely shaped card. She's stamped the champagne glasses from PSA Love Birds Peel & Stick.

PSA Love Birds is a very versatile set – it can be used all year round and it's great for the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday & wedding season approaching!

Lastly to bring in 2012, Regina created this really fun "Happy New Year" Hello Kitty card. She's stamped the Hello Kitty from Hello Kitty On-The-Go. See all of our great Hello Kitty stamp sets here: http://www.psaessentials.com/hellokitty.htm

She's also stamped the numbers 2012 from PSA Vanilla Peel & Stick pack in the background of this card. She's also embossed the stamps – that extra step that makes our stamps really sparkle!

Supplies used in each card:

Stamps: 2, 0, 1 from Funky Numbers set (PSA Essentials), Cardstock: Classic Solar White (Neenah); Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise (Papertrey Ink), Ink: Turquoise Ink (PSA Essentials), Dies: Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Accents: Diamond Stickles (Ranger)

Stamps: champagne flutes from Love Birds set (PSA Essentials); 2, 0, 1 from Times 50pt Font set (JustRite Stampers), Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Dusty Durango (Stampin' Up!); Classic Solar White (Neenah), Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko), Coloring Medium: Sketch Markers (Copic), Fibers: Mandarin Twine (The Twinery), Tools: Circle Punch (EK Success), Accents: Terra Cotta Liquid Dimensionals (Adirondak), Dies: Labels Eight Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Other: Photograph

Stamps: HK in airplane from Hello Kitty On the Go set and 2,0,1 from Vanilla Numbers set (PSA Essentials); banner from In the Clouds set (Taylored Expressions); sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes (Stampin' Up!), Cardstock: Classic Solar White (Neenah); Real Red (Stampin' Up!), Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko), Specialty Ink: VersaMark Clear (Tsukineko), Coloring Medium: Sketch Markers (Copic); Silver Metallic Pen (EK Success), Tools: Circle Punch (EK Success), Accents: Clear Embossing Powder (Ranger), Dies: Cloud Border (Taylored Expressions)

A Year in Review – Day 5

2012-01-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

I found out this year that PSA Essentials stamps are great party favors. Though it was never the intended use of ours stamps, people just love being stamped and tattooed on their bodies! On several occasions for special events, I had stamps made for that purpose in mind. PSA Essentials stamps made the guest list for Jenny Smith's 30^th birthday party in NYC, Ashley Gammon's 2^nd annual 30^th birthday party in Savannah, and a Britney Spears Concert in Jacksonville, FL.

In February, I was in NYC for Jenny's 30^th.

I had a PSA Essentials stamp that read- "Jenny Smith's 30^th Birthday Party". This is the Brooke design and worked perfectly.

Here are Katie, me and Jenny all "wearing" the stamp.

I'd say the entire bar was stamped by the time we were done….

That was February, so in March – we played an April fool's joke on everyone….
http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/2011/04/stamp-release-tattoos.html

In June, we hit Savannah, GA for Ashley's 2^nd annual 30^th birthday party. Surely, half of Savannah was stamped by 4 am. Check out Ashley's bicep….

All night long she cradled her PSA Stamper like a baby…. And by the end of the night, I was kissing a fireman's chest and Ashley was faithfully carrying her PSA Stamper.

In August, Susan, Britt & I hit Jacksonville, FL for the Britney Spears concert….

We seemed to tattoo half of the city… almost no one refused us.

What fun times we had this year incorporating PSA Essentials into party life!

A Year in Review – Day 4

2012-01-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

One of my closest friends got married this year. If you were reading this blog during Winter & Spring 2011, you saw many posts devoted to Susan's couple's shower, her Bachelorette party, her invitations, getting ready for her wedding and the wedding itself. It was SUCH a special event – not only for the couple and their families, but our group of friends because it brought us closer together. We had such a blast with all of the festivities, I wish we could do it all again! Here's a look back at Susan & Luke's wedding. Somehow, we managed to incorporate PSA Essentials personalized stamps into just about everything we did. We had one made for the couples shower, the bachelorette party, and I did her wedding programs with the Gigi "D" monogram set.

It started with a couples shower in February…

And then there was the Bachelorette party in Charleston in April…

I managed to wrap all of her gifts in PSA stamped wrap.

This great party CD was stamped with a custom stamp: "The final fling before the ring, Susan's Bachelorette Party."

We then stamped the entire town of Charleston, SC.

You can read about her wedding invitations and her thank-you present to me here: http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/2011/04/calligraphy-attempt-thank-you.html. Then there was a whole week of bridal, dedicated to Susan & Luke:

Bridal Week Day 1: http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/2011/05/bridal-week-day-1.html

Bridal Week Day 2: http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/2011/05/bridal-week-day-2.html

Bridal Week Day 3: http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/2011/05/bridal-week-day-3.html

Bridal Week Day 4: http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/2011/05/bridal-week-day-4.html

Bridal Week Day 5: http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/2011/05/bridal-week-day-5.html

And then it was time for the wedding on May 23^rd, 2011. Isn't she gorgeous?!

You can read the whole wedding recap here: http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/2011/05/bridal-week-day-5.html. Their wedding was surely a highlight for me of 2011!

A Year In Review – Day 3

2012-01-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

Another of my favorite posts this year was in May 2011, celebrating Mother's Day. I attempted to sum up my mother in two words, and I challenged our readers to come up with two words to sum up their mother's. (The responses ranged from "batsh**t crazy to best friend!) Here's a look back on this great post…

In two words, my mom is honest and supportive. My relationship with my mother can be summarized by one comment she made to me a few years ago. I was upset about something that had not gone my way. I was disappointed in her honest reaction so she said: "Libby, don't you have a friend to call to tell you what you want to hear?" You see, my mom is the most forthcoming person you've ever met. She'll tell you the God's honest truth without fail.

In addition to being the most honest person you've met, she's also the most supportive. This is a good thing because it means if you've done something wrong, she'll call it like it is but also support you. She's also an excellent cheerleader. My tennis partner Erin loves playing against my mom, because my mom spends about half of the match congratulating us on our shots. This is also a metaphor to everything I do in life – she's always putting me before her own gain and cheering me on. Here she is! (Isn't this a stunning picture of her?)

I don't need today to celebrate my mom, and don't need to be celebrated for being a mom – but I'll join in with the commercialism of it all. Here are some great ideas for Mother's Day cards. Hurry, there's still time to make them! The first one is by Carly Robertson. She's stamped the butterfly from PSA Cupcake and used Spellbinders dies to create visual interest around the stamp. Love her color palate here, too!

This is also by Carly. The impressive detail of sewing on the buttons really elevates this card. She's stamped "Happy Mother's Day" from PSA Topiary. This collection is perfect for spring!

This next card was designed by Jennifer Holmes. She's colored up the butterflies, which makes the stamp extra special! The coordinating ribbons and paper tie everything together so nicely!

So I have described my mom in two words: honest and supportive. What two words would you use to describe your mother?

A Year In Review – Day 2

2012-01-02T00:01:00.000-08:00

As I look back on all 282 posts of 2011 to choose my favorites, I am finding that my favorite ones are personal ones I have written that incorporate some designs into it. Like this one from June 2011 in anticipation of father's day… I had just finished reading James Dobson's, Bringing Up Girls who writes that a daughter's sense of self-worth and confidence is linked directly to her relationship with her dad. If this is true, then my daughter Molly's going to be one confident lady! He is always complimenting Molly on how pretty she looks and telling her how smart she is, but more importantly he is always interacting with her. He is always explaining, always teaching, always entertaining.

Our design team came up with wonderful ways to celebrate Father's with great cards. Jennifer Holmes has stamped the martini glass from PSA Frenchie here. I love a good series of three!

Our talented design team member Anthonette Chavez, stamped with PSA Rosettas here to create a beautiful pattern on the bottom portion of this card. She colored up the Rosettas and matched it to cardstock. The "Happy Father's Day" in black against the yellow really stands out. I love this card!

This very clean and simple card was done months ago by former design team member, Carly Robertson. The crown is stamped from PSA Cupcake. She's used only half of the outer ring to stamp and create the half-moon of dots. Looks great and is real visual surprise for me.

These cards were great Father's Day 2011 cards – don't you think!?

A Year in Review – Day 1

2012-01-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

Before we jump on into the New Year in full swing, let us take a look back at the great work of 2011. It was a fantastic year! In 2011, I posted 281 posts on PSA Stamp Camp – a giant leap from 2010's mere 42 posts! As of last Tuesday, December 20^th, we had 75,236 page views in 2011. As the number of posts and the page views have grown, so has the quality of the work that we've been sharing. Our newest design team is full of creative ideas that have expanded past the realm of card making and scrapbooking, and into sewing, home décor, party planning, and clothing. Over the next few days, I am taking a look back at my favorite posts of 2011. They're across the spectrum but they have one thing in common – they're fabulous!

Take a look back at my daughter's 2^nd birthday invitations. The cards were ordered from Tiny Prints, the design is by Tallu-lah who is well-known for her stunning letter press stationery. See her greeting cards and learn more about her here: http://tallu-lah.com/#the tale/.

I ordered vintage stamps from Paper Nickel Stamp Company (http://thepapernickel.com/). The owner and mastermind behind this business Holly picked out these stamps me once I showed her the invitation – she customized the postage stamps to the theme of the party and the colors in the invitation.

Since the party is an ice cream social, I asked Dawn at PSA Essentials to create a truly custom PSA Essentials stamp. It reads "Molly's 2^nd Birthday Party" and has an ice-cream cone in the center. I'll be using it to craft party hats, pennant flags and more decorations! I stamped the backs of these invitations and the fronts of a few I was hand delivering.

This was such a fun one!

Bringing in 2012

2011-12-31T06:33:00.000-08:00

We are all about traditions – though some may call it routine, or some negative ones might call it a rut. Whether it's Friday night movie night, or our daily bath time/bedtime routine, when something works – we stick with it. Which is why we are having a repeat performance of last year's New Years Eve. Gone are the days of my sparkly dresses and oodles of champagne, fancy parties and late nights out. I am most content with our new tradition: The 5:00 pm dinner at a fancy restaurant (Michael Anthony's on Hilton Head, to be exact) with Molly and a movie at home with Mike. Susan will call me a house cat but I can't help it – I just love being home with my family.

Here's a great card by Jeanne Streiff to celebrate the New Year. She's used the toasting champagne glasses from PSA Mr. & Mrs. and lightly colored them in with blue to give them that glass look. The whimsical "Happy New Year" writing coordinates perfectly with the twine, the tied ribbon on the stamp, and the color scheme of the card. Adorable!

Whatever you tradition – be it staying at home, an early dinner out, or partying into the wee-hours of the night – enjoy your New Years Eve. Have a Happy New year!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's here! Christmas Eve is upon us - millions of children are preparing themselves for Santa's big arrival, millions of families are gathering for a feast tonight, and millions are off to Church to honor the day. What are you doing? Whatever it is - Merry Christmas! Here's a wonderful card by Melissa Phillips to celebrate the holiday.

Merry Christmas stamp from PSA North Pole

Enjoy Christmas!

Last minute packaging

2011-12-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas is just a few days away, and if you're like most people who celebrate the holiday – you are running around doing those last minute things. You're busy picking up stocking stuffers and scrounging for gifts for those hard to buy for people. If you can take a breather and get into your craft room, here are some ideas for inventive gift wrap by Melyssa Connolly. She's decorating parchment paper bags to make gift wrapping extra special.

What about a coaster made out of scrabble letters? Melyssa thinks it's a good idea and has decorated this parchment paper bag with Fancy Flake Peel & Stick stamps by PSA Essentials, and "Merry Christmas" sentiment from PSA North Pole. She's stamped the snowflakes in white ink on the white parchment paper, they fade into the background and create a subtle extra touch.

These bags are perfect for jewelry, small handmade gifts, or delicious treats. I love all the layers here, between the twine, the lace, ribbon, patterned papers, and stamping – there's a lot of texture here!

Which one is your favorite? It's hard to choose. I would have a hard time throwing these away if someone gave them to me, that's for sure!

Holiday Decorating

2011-12-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

What best describes the way the exterior of your home is decorated this holiday season?

A) Completely dark – it's the holidays?

B) A single wreath on the door

C) A wreath on every window, lit reindeer in the yard, a blow up Santa, and lights all across roofline

If you've answered "B", I have a holiday decoration for you. It's understated and simple, yet still festive. Just like the exterior of your house.

To recreate, find your favorite basket and add winter flowers or plants. Our designer Heidi Ferguson chose this adorable log basket (perfect for the holidays) and added holly. Stamp "NOEL" from PSA Archive Peel & Stick stamps in red ink on white paper, then punch and adhere to larger punched red cardstock. Glue onto bamboo sticks and stick into the basket of flowers or plant.

Voila! You've created a centerpiece for your table or a decoration for your home that looks great but isn't over the top. My kind of decoration! (I answered B.)

Gift idea & handmade packaging

2011-12-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

Our design team member Mae Armstrong places a lot of emphasis on the way a gift is wrapped. To her, the packaging and wrapping is equally a part of the gift as the gift itself. After all, it does set the tone. Her friends and family know her for giving wonderful gifts, wrapped in beautiful, handmade designs. And with her innovative, reusable ideas, the packaging truly is a gift within itself. Check out this wonderful idea to try out. It's a draw string bag, perfect for jewelry!

Here's what you will need:

PSA Essentials "Treeo" Peel and Stick Stamp Set

PSA Essentials Stamper

PSA Essentials Alignment Tool

PSA Essentials Black and Pink Ink

1-3/8 " Circle Puncher

2" Scalloped Circle Puncher

Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies - Labels 2

Crystal Sticker Pearls - Natural Pearl - 3mm

Pink Yarn

Retro Fabric (from Fabric.com)

Pre-punch all your shapes, stamp the tree design from PSA Tree-O Peel & Stick on the white card stock (inner layer) and embellish with pearl stickers. Place inner circle on top of the scalloped circle tag and glue on top of the base label. There are a total of three layers for this project.

Cut the fabric according to the size of your present. On the front side of your fabric sew the Christmas label. Turn over hem, start sewing all sides for your draw string bag. Add the pink yarn at the end and thread through the bag. Mae found a cute pink tin container with a clear top. Perfect little storage for the bracelet. You can also fill the bag with shredded pink paper.

And voila! You have a cute drawstring bag to give!

Winner

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

Last week all week long, we featured holiday cards by our designers. We had hundreds of comments as entries to win, but there could only be one winner. Congratulations to Jessica! You are the winner of any Peel & Stick pack of your choice. Email loregan@psaessentials.com with your address & choice of Peel & Stick pack. Congrats!

Gift Card Holder

2011-12-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

So you copped out and got a gift card instead of a personal gift for someone on your list. Or maybe it isn't a cop out and it's the perfect gift for that person that's hard to buy for. (Let's go with the latter.) In either case – make that gift card extra special and personal with a handmade gift card holder, like this one from Jennifer Holmes. It's the extra effort that will go noticed and appreciated.

Here's how to do it, step by step.

Cut Simply Chartreuse cardstock to 4.5" x 11".

Randomly stamp cardstock with star circle border from Peppermint Swing using Versamark ink.

Using Scor-Pal, score cardstock at 4.5"and 9".

Using a circle punch, punch a small notch from 2" piece at bottom of cardstock. Ink edges with Versamark ink pad.

Apply Scor-Tape to edges of 2" piece and fold up, adhering to card base. Stamp sentiment just below notch using Dark Chocolate ink. Fold entire card in half at remaining score line.

Tie red twine around front of card twice and tie a knot to keep in place.

Cut snowflake from vintage cream felt and adhere under knotted twine.

Tie red twine onto button and adhere on top of felt snowflake, covering knot.

Cut a circle shape from vintage cream cardstock using die.

Place sentiment onto acrylic block in a curved shape. Stamp sentiment around perimeter of circle cardstock.

Stamp stocking image from Peppermint Swing in center of circle.

Color image using Copic markers and add white accents using white gel pen.

Cut slightly larger circle from red cardstock. Adhere to back of stamped circle and adhere entire piece to card front using Zap Dots.

Here's a close up of the adorable stamp from UBU Peppermint Swing! Jennifer colored her up with her Copics beautifully, even shading her to give her a realistic look!

UBU Peppermint Swing is one of my favorite holiday stamp sets. Check it out if you aren't familiar with it and let us know what you think!

O’Regan Holiday Cards – 2011

2011-12-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

I ordered my photo holiday cards this season from Shutterfly. I was impressed with the quality – the matte finish and heavy weight card stock is luxe and the design is colorful and whimsical. Take a look! Molly is singing Jingle Bells on the beach in Cabo. (This would have been a great video!) She's such a happy child with abundant personality, I think that shows through in this card.

I spent some time decorating the outside of the envelopes with various Peel & Stick stamps from PSA Essentials, and my own personalized stamper. For the return address, I used four different middles with my outer personalized address ring - the "north pole" sign and ornament from PSA Vintage Snowman, and the holiday letter and the decorated palm tree from PSA Tree-O. I used my hunter & red ink to make it stand out. I had 125 cards to send out, so I changed things up with my middles every so often. Just because it's easy to do so and because I couldn't choose just one! Take a peak here - sorry I have to blur out my address!

Which is your favorite? The ornament surprised me as mine – I love how crisp and clear the cross-hatching is in the illustration, it looks like an etching.

I also ordered vintage holiday postage stamps from The Paper Nickel Stamp Company. Each stamp is real postage from 1963 and to 1981. It's a hoot to see how the designs have evolved over the years! Adding vintage postage stamps gives each card an extra special touch and really makes them stand out in a sea of bills and cards this season. You can order them too at: http://thepapernickel.com/

With my PSA Essentials stamp and vintage postage stamps, these cards just sparkle! And even more so when the addresses are prominently displayed!

What do your family cards look like this year?

Christmas Magic Blog Hop

2011-12-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Looking for the Winter Wonderland Blog Hop? Click here:

For the Christmas Magic Blog Hop, you should be joining us from Mindy. Today we are showing three cards by PSA Essentials design team member Carly Robertson that appeared in Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine. Aren't familiar with PSA Essentials? We manufacture self-inking personalized stamps with switchable technology and thousands of designs. We have ones for each holiday, sentiment, occasion, great licensed ones too. Aren't these cards amazing?

See them all together here - they're such a fantastic trio.

BLOG CANDY ALERT! In addition to our sponsorship prize, you can also win 1 Peel & Stick pack of your choice. Which is your favorite? Leave a comment and let us know. To win, you must be a follower!

Up next is Robin!

Here's the entire line-up (just in case you are lost!)

Ashley - http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com
Nicolette - http://beyondscrapin.blogspot.com
Lisa- http://honeybearzdesigns2011.blogspot.com/
Jamie -http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com
Tami - http://tamboscreations.blogspot.com
Gina - http://californiascrappin-gcinderella21.blogspot.com/
Angela - http://creativecraftin.blogspot.com/
Janet R -http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/
Zenita - http://scrappinwithz.blogspot.com
Janet S - http://ladyluvbug.blogspot.com/
Mindy - http://papercreationsbymindyblog.blogspot.com/
Libby - http://psastampcamp.blogspot.com/
Robin - http://scrapandchat.blogspot.com/
Tanya - http://little-scrapper.blogspot.com/
Vicki - http://scrapbookingcreationsbyvicki.blogspot.com/
Liz - http://tryin2craft.blogspot.com
Kristy - http://scraptasticalkreations.blogspot.com

Holiday Card Week – Day 5 (&Winter Wonderland Blog Hop)

2011-12-16T19:21:00.000-08:00

Greetings! Welcome to the Winter Wonderland Blog Hop & Day 5 of our Holiday Card Week. You're joining us from Jamie probably, but if not - just start from the beginning at the Queen.

I bet you knew that we carried some really popular and really adorable characters like Hello Kitty, Peanuts & Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Today we are showcasing holiday card designs using our licensed Peel & Stick stamps – all of them have sets devoted to the winter holidays.

This card is an old favorite by Carly Robertson. She's stamped "joy, peace, love" from PSA Tree-O but the adorable little Rudolph comes to us from Rudolph & Friends Peel & Stick stamps. My friend Bari Adler collects snow globes from all around the world, and this one reminded me of her. The card is so simple, but completely adorable.

Vera Yates created a "Seasons Greetings" with Snoopy from Peanuts Wishes. She too colored up the present to make it stand out.

Enjoy great inspiration all day long on this Winter Wonderland Blog Hop!

BLOG CANDY ALERT! Leave one comment per day all week long to be entered to win your favorite Peel & Stick pack! What's your favorite licensed Peel & Stick holiday pack of ours? Let us know today! Here's the whole line-up:

1. Theresa H.~www.thescrapbookingqueen.com
2. Lisa ~ http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/
4. Amber J. ~ http://pixiperfectcreations.blogspot.com
5. Colleen H. ~ www.cbcscrapbooking.blogspot.com
6. April N. ~ http://www.curlsandgrins.blogspot.com
Blog is Down... adjust accordingly please...
8. Michelle H. ~http://www.craftychelle.blogspot.com/
9. Brenda B~ http://createbyburffrau.blogspot.com/
10. Jamie ~ http://myamusinglife.blogspot.com/
11. PSA~ http://www.psastampcamp.blogspot.com/

Holiday Card Week – Day 4 (BLOG CANDY!)

2011-12-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Are you tired of red and green yet? Let's take a break today and enjoy some inspirational holiday cards that use different color schemes. As a designer it's a challenge to use different materials, unexpected colors, fabrics and papers in your work. Jennifer Holmes took that challenge by creating a holiday card using cardboard and felt ribbon in this "Merry Christmas" ornament card. She's stamped both "Merry Christmas" and the holly image from PSA North Pole Peel & Stick stamps. Her use of card board and ribbon to create the ornament is very inventive!

Look how beautiful this turned out.

Melyssa Connolly was feeling jolly without green and red with this joy, peace and love card. She's stamped joy, peace and love from PSA Tree-O Peel & Stick, and the blue snowflake from PSA Fancy Flakes. I love her use of materials in this card, including the cork. It's amazing she has taken the time to sew the blue cross-hatched pattern paper onto the beige cardstock base. Sewing your cards IS one extra step but produces really beautiful results.

Melyssa Connolly also created this adorable "let it snow" card using a limited color palate of beige, white and an accent of red. She stamped various snowflakes from PSA Fancy Flakes using her acrylic block and beige ink. By stamping with a slightly darker shade of ink onto similar color paper, Melyssa was able to achieve a subtle, background effect. She's made the snowflake adorned with a red gem the star in the bottom of the card.

I hope you have enjoyed these alternative color schemes today! Be sure to check out Melyssa Connolly's blog – she's another one of our long standing, highly published and talented design team members on the PSA Stamp Camp team. We love her work and appreciate all that she's done for us over the last year. http://www.fantastink.blogspot.com/

BLOG CANDY ALERT! Leave one comment per day all week long to be entered to win your favorite Peel & Stick pack!

Holiday Card Week – Day 3 (BLOG CANDY!)

2011-12-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

On this third day of Holiday Card week, I have two great whimsical cards by our talented Jennifer Holmes. The first card uses a lot of dies, punches, and cardstock layers to frame the tree stamp from PSA Tree-O Peel & Stick stamps. The cute trio of trees is really enhanced by this. This technique creates also a lot of depth within the card. "You make the season bright" sentiment stamp is such a wonderful message to send a friend or loved one.

I also like the use of die cutting here in this card, "merry and bright". Jennifer stamped the trees from PSA Whimsy Tree Peel & Stick stamps and colored them up to coordinate with the cardstock. The design is whimsical, girlie and fun and I can see sending it to my favorite tween or girlie girl.

To recreate this "merry & bright" card, follow Jennifer's step by step instructions here. The whole card should take less than 25 minutes.

Cut card base from Raspberry Fizz cardstock. Stamp polka dots onto card base using Versamark ink.

Using Labels Ten dies, cut shape from Simply Chartreuse cardstock and cut slightly smaller shape from white cardstock.

Stamp polka dots onto Simply Chartreuse cardstock using Versamark ink.

Stamp three trees onto white cardstock. Color using Copic markers.

Stamp sentiment under trees using Smokey Shadow ink.

Adhere this piece onto Simply Chartreuse cardstock using Zap Dots. Add rhinestones to sides.

Adhere entire piece to front of card using Zap Dots.

I just love Jennifer's work. If you have a chance, pop on over to her adorable blog. It's full of great designs and tons of inspiration. http://www.simpleflourishes.com/ Jennifer's one of our longest standing design team members and also one of our most published. You'll see a lot of her work featuring PSA Essentials this coming spring in Paper Creations, CardMaker, Paper Crafts & more. We're appreciative of Jennifer and all that she has done for us at PSA Essentials.

BLOG CANDY ALERT! Leave one comment per day all week long to be entered to win your favorite Peel & Stick pack! What do you like about Jennifer's work?

Holiday Card Week – Day 2 (BLOG CANDY!)

2011-12-13T00:01:00.000-08:00

We are continuing our holiday card week with some of my favorite cards of all time. You'll notice a common thread with these designs. They pick a focal point, don't use patterned papers, don't shy away from white spaces, and use minimal layers. These are traits of one of my favorite card design styles: clean and simple! Often times, a simple card packs the most punch.

Kelley Eubanks created this "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" card from Peanuts Christmas Wishes Peel & Stick stamps. She stamped Snoopy and the sentiment using her PSA Essentials Stamper onto white paper. Then she colored the lights up to make them pop. She's used a 1.75" circle punch to cut out the stamp, then adhered that with a 3D foam to red cardstock cut with a 2" inch punch. This also pops off the page (even more so in person.) I love how Kelley has rounded the corners of the card. This really adds a professional touch.

Jennifer Holmes also used her Corner Rounder for this Winter Wonderland card. She's stamped the snowman from Smirk Happy Holidays Peel & Stick stamps. She's colored up his nose and tie to bring him to life. I love the shades of blues. This time of year, I get sick of red and green really fast.

Jennifer also colored up the reindeer, stamped from Smirk Happy Holidays Peel & Stick stamps, in this "Oh, deer" card. Wouldn't this be perfect to give to your spouse? She's done just a touch of layering here with the ribbon, the button and the twine. But it's all simple enough to be classified as clean and simple.

This next card appeared on Good Morning America! Jennifer's design is striking. I love the three trees stamped from PSA Whimsy Trees. She's colored them in a bit with red marker, which matches the red in the twine. She chose white as her cardstock base which serves as good reminder to us not to shy away from white. The card itself is also a good reminder that you can have a strong card without a lot of "stuff."

BLOG CANDY ALERT! Leave one comment per day all week long to be entered to win your favorite Peel & Stick pack! Which of these will you try to incorporate into your 2011 holiday cards? Is this your type of card making style?

Holiday Card Week – Day 1 (BLOG CANDY!)

2011-12-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

We've devoted an entire week to great ideas for handmade holiday cards. Even if you don't have time to make cards for everyone on your list, maybe you'll find time to create a few for special occasions or special people. Melissa Phillips who was on our design team last year designed these three shabby chic cards for us this season. Melissa's style tends to be layered, she uses multiple papers, colors, and patterns, often uses ribbons, embellishments, and layers of stamps. Check these out.

In this card, she's stamped the bells from PSA Vintage Snowman and Merry Christmas sentiment from PSA North Pole. She stamped "2" and "5" from PSA Archive Peel & Stick sets.

There's so much going on in the next card – I'll just point out a few things. She's layered a doily, ribbon (both pink and white lattice), red gingham paper, a snowman embellishment, scalloped paper, star embellishment and button onto cardstock. She's stitched around the edge of the card, right into the cardstock, which is a beautiful detail and extra step. Melissa has stamped the candy cane from PSA North Pole in holiday red ink with her PSA Essentials stamper. There is so much going on in this card, so it's impressive that it's not busy.

More layers on this card. Melissa has stamped "JOY" from PSA Archive Peel & Stick, she's also stamped the holly around the "O" (a beautiful effect) from PSA Vintage Snowman. I love the Santa embellishment, it really brings such character to the card. This seems to be a new trend in card making – making a card look like a post card. She's added a postage stamp to the upper right corner.

It's fun to see different styles of cards on our blog. Up tomorrow, you will see some clean and simple cards and later in the week, some whimsical ones!

BLOG CANDY ALERT! Comment once per day all week long to win the Peel & Stick pack of your choice! Each comment (5 entries maximum) will enter you to win! Must be a follower or email subscriber to win. Good Luck! Of all three, what's your favorite?

Holiday Gifts for Kids

2011-12-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

For my goddaughter Ella's 4^th birthday, I gave her a CD with music sung by Disney Princesses that included her name. Ella's Tea-Party, Ella's Fairy Wonderland, Ella's Dream World -- all the songs were personalized with her name. It was such a big hit! One of our PSA Essentials dealers, Cyber Savvy Shop carries this personalized Disney Princess CD and other great personalized children's music CD's. Molly would just flip to hear Elmo sing her name.

Another great find at their store is their personalized DVD/Videos. You can choose from Care Bears, A Christmas Adventure, Dora the Explorer and many more! Upload an image of your child and it's inserted into the video so your child becomes part of the cast! Molly would double flip for this.

Cyber Savvy Shop is running holiday special sale prices on these CD's & DVD's between 24% - 35% off MSRP. They currently have FREE 1st Class USPS Shipping on all our kid's music CDs, DVDs & Photo DVDS, and customers can upgrade their shipping to USPS Priority Shipping for $3.00. Purchase 3 or more CDs,DVDs or Photo DVDs and receive FREE USPS Priority Shipping. I think this is a super cool gift for kids!

We tend to think PSA Essentials as an adult product for our stationery and crafting needs, but it's also a great way for kids to personalize their books, artwork, school work and more – so it makes a good gifts gift, too. I like Nicolas, Princess, and Daisy style personalized stamps and all of our Hello Kitty Peel & Stick stamps for kids in particular.

Cyber Savvy Shop has one of the best deals on PSA Essentials personalized stamps. They are selling them for just $26.50. And all other PSA Essentials products are 25% off. They are also offering flat $7.95 Ground shipping on orders no matter how many items they buy; $5.00 Ground shipping on orders $50.00 & more, and Free Ground Shipping on all orders $100.00 or more. This is all within the US.

Molly uses any of my PSA Essentials stamps often – she loves it! Head to Cyber Savvy Shop now to check out all their great products and take advantage of their PSA Essentials deals.

Paper Crafts Winner

2011-12-09T10:42:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of our new fans and followers! We had a lot of comments/entries for the Paper Crafts magazine giveaway but there can only be one winner. Congrats to Rene'e Berger - you are the winner of:

• 1 custom stamp

• 2 Peel & Stick stamp sets (20 stamps)

• 1 black ink

• 1 2-color ink

• 1 alignment tool

• MSRP: $75

A blue banana seat bike! How lovely. Please claim your prize at loregan@psaessentials.com!

We hope to see you on our Facebook page and here at the blog where share creative ideas for stamping, card making, scrapbooking, home decorating & more!

Hostess Gifts for the Holidays

2011-12-09T00:01:00.001-08:00

If you are lucky enough not to be hosting the holidays at your home, you're saved the time of cooking, cleaning your house, setting the table, and decorating. Keep that in mind when you go to someone else's house – that host has been to the grocery store 4 times to get everything she needs, she's slaved over the stove, stressed about her baseboards being clean, and kept dog hair off the sofa. All for you and her company. At least you can do is bring a little something to thank her (or him) for all the hard work. Show that you appreciate your host even more with this great hostess gift idea by Mae Armstrong – they're burlap wine bags with wooden gift tags. Handmade gifts show extra time and thought – and this one is reusable. It's a gift that keeps on giving!

Here's what you will need:

PSA Essentials "Treeo" Peel and Stick Stamp Set

Acrylic Block

Black Stamp Pad

2 " Scalloped Circle Puncher

Cuttlebug Circle Decorative Embossing Folder

1 1/8" Wooden Discs

Drill

Red Card Stock Pape

Modge Podge Glue & Brush

Natural Twine

Burlap

Accent Canvas Fabric

Stamp the tree design from PSA Whimsy Tree Peel & Stick stamps in the middle of the wooden discs. Glue it on top of the embossed scalloped circle tag.

Drill a hole through the wooden discs and use a natural twine to tie around the bag.

For the bag, Mae used an old wine bag as her pattern. She wanted to add a pop of color to match the tags so she selected a polka dot red and white canvas fabric for the top portion of the wine bag. Sew all sides and turn inside out and insert favorite wine and tie the wooden tags around. They turned out great!

Cookie Ornaments

2011-12-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

We're seeing lots of great handmade ornaments on Pinterest these days, and Mae Armstrong has come up with a unique and fun one that rivals almost all that I have seen. It's an inexpensive and fun way to decorate a mini-tree in your kitchen. Why your kitchen? Because the ornaments are made from salt cookie dough! To start, make the cookie dough using the following recipe.

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup water

Blend all ingredients together until a sticky dough is formed. Mae didn't even use a mixer for this project, feel free to mix the old fashioned way for quick and easy results (and less clean-up!)

When the dough is complete, roll it out use a fluted cookie cutter to cut the shapes. Add black ink on your PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamp and stamp the dough. Mae stamped the tree from PSA Essentials Whimsy Tree, one of our favorite stamp sets released last year. Use a wooden stick to add holes. Bake before decorating at 200 degrees for 4 hours or you can leave them out overnight and they dry up hard. When they are dry, decorate them with your favorite markers!

The possibilities are endless with this project, you can use them as ornaments on your tree, or it would be a unique and cute way to embellish any packaging on presents. Tie festive ribbon through and to the packaging for a real statement. If you would like to keep your handmade ornaments for years, be sure to add a thin layer of polyurethane gloss varnish to prevent moisture. This is also a great project you can share with your kids. Enjoy this fun one, thanks for sharing with us Mae!

Holiday Cookies

2011-12-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Creating gorgeous holiday cookies that look like they came from a bakery has always been something I want to do. I found a great tutorial online on how to create bakery style cookies and they're a whole lot easier than I thought. http://sweetopia.net/2010/12/video-how-to-marble-or-swirl-royal-icing/

These gorgeous cookies would make a great gift this time of year. Place them in a tin with parchment paper to keep them from getting ruined. Wrap the tin (or skip the wrapping and just tie a bow). Attach a handmade gift tag and stamp the back of the tag with your personalized "from the kitchen of" stamp. Now you have a great holiday present that's thoughtful and looks great, too!

I love baking this time of year! Do you have any good online recipes to share?

Welcome New Design Team Member - Regina Mangum!

2011-12-06T00:01:00.000-08:00

We are excited to announce a new member of our design team: Regina Mangum! Regina lives in San Francisco, CA and is a mom of a sweet and spunky little boy who often appears in her projects. Regina's crafting resume is impressive, which is one of the reasons we chose her! She was Paper Crafts Magazine 2010 Gallery Idol Top 5 Finalist and Card Ideas for Cardmakers Top 10 Designer. In addition, she's been published in:

Card Creations: Favorite Occassions (November/December 2010)

Paper Crafts Magazine (Jan/Feb 2011)

Paper Crafts Magazine (Mar/April 2011)

Card Ideas for Cardmakers (August 2011)

Paper Crafts Magazine (Sept/October 2011)

Card Creations: Get Inspired! (Nov 2011)

She is currently on the design team for Taylored Expressions and has worked on design teams for Clear & Simple Stamps and 2 Sketches 4 You Weekly Challenge. She's a busy woman!

The other reason she was chosen is that her work is fantastic! She has a Clean & Simple Style but is whimsical and fun. Here a few examples of her great work. Be sure to visit her blog and say hello: http://www.thestampinbean.blogspot.com

Welcome Regina! We are thrilled to have you and can't wait to see what you come up with using PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps.

Every Day with Rachael Ray

2011-12-05T07:04:00.000-08:00

This time of year all of our favorite celebs are telling us what their favorite gifts are to give and what's hot on the market. This season, Rachael Ray outlined her favorite kitchen goodies –like an egg tray, wine of the month club, alphabet cups for kids, chip and dip tray. She also announced her favorite non-kitchen goodies – like eco-friendly pencils, custom silhouette artwork, and one of MY favorites - PSA Essentials personalized and Peel & Stick stamps!

We were honored to be chosen as one of Rachael's favorite things! Check out all her online bonus gift guide recommendations and see PSA Essentials here. http://www.rachaelraymag.com/fun-how-to/every-day-faves/rachael-s-bonus-online-gift-guide/7

The Letter Tree

2011-12-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for personalized gifts for the holidays, check out one of our PSA Essentials retailers: The Letter Tree. Not only do they have a great deal on PSA Essentials (right now receive 30% off Peel & Stick packs, plus received a free alignment tool with custom stamp purchase) but they have great monogrammed and personalized gifts for everyone. Here are a few of my favorite things they carry. This great tote is perfect for the Farmers Market. It's chic and eco-friendly. Usually $44.00, it's on-sale for $33.00 – so you can save 25% right now.

I am digging the monogrammed computer bag, too. The font style is great for a guy! This would be a great gift for someone on the road a lot.

I think their nap mats are about the cutest thing I have ever seen. Send your kid to daycare or school with one of these to make them feel extra special. I love this ladybug one… that's what I call Molly – my little lady bug!

Looking for a great hostess or housewarming gift? Or maybe a holiday gift for the stationery enthusiast. Here's an idea: pair a PSA Essentials custom stamp with some of The Letter Tree's personalized stationery. They have 23 different stationery styles to choose from, I like the red stripe one here. See them all here. http://www.thelettertree.com/penoca.html

Of course, be sure to check out all of the great products they have and all of the PSA Essentials products they have. http://www.thelettertree.com/psaessentials.html This great deal of 30% off Peel & Stick and a free alignment tool with custom stamp purchase ends 12/4 at midnight. That's tomorrow! I love these stamps and they are perfect gifts this year!

PSA Essentials & Cottage Cuz Blog Hop 12/2 – 12/4

2011-12-02T06:11:00.000-08:00

You may be joining us from the Scrapping Cottage (http://scrappingcottage.blogspot.com/) or just starting out on this fabulous hop. Either way, welcome! This weekend we are sharing wonderful holiday card ideas using PSA Essentials and Cottage Cuz by both of our team's talented designers. We were feeling extra jolly this time of year so if you leave a comment and become a follower of PSA Stamp Camp (if you aren't already), we will enter you to win:

3 Peel & Stick stamp sets, 1 stamper, 1 black ink & 1-2 color ink from PSA Essentials

A $50 gift certificate to The Scrapping Cottage

There are also 9 opportunities to win a 3 x 3 die from The Scrapping Cottage along the way, so be sure to check out all the blogs and terms/conditions

Here today is a great card using PSA Essentials Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps and UBU Peppermint Swing Peel & Stick stamps. Instead of the "I"'s in Jingle, Jennifer Holmes replaced them with these adorable UBU festive characters. I just love the lime and pink color combination she's chosen here!

PSA Essentials manufactures self-inking custom stamps. We have patent-pending Peel & Stick technology which allows you to Peel away your personalized design and stick on one of thousands of our other designs, from seasonal, occasions, holidays, letters and sentiments. Our Peel & Stick stamps work with our PSA Stamper, or just like any other clear, acrylic stamp – use them with blocks and mix and match different inks. Our designs are perfect for creating your holiday cards!

Right now, you can receive 30% off all Peel & Stick packs, and a personalized stamp is just $26.50 (normally $40!) To receive this incredible holiday deal, head to our retailer, Rossomer Square. http://www.rossomersquare.com/by-brand-psa-essentials-c-88_297.html

If you haven't hopped around, follow this great line-up! Enjoy some holiday card inspiration and have some fun.

www.kcreatedbykay.blogspot.com - Kay Norman

http://www.thecountrychiccottage.net - Angie Holden

www.thethinkinspot.blogspot.com - Lorie Souther

http://paperiepetals.blogspot.com - Kim Schofield

www.maisymary.blogspot.com - Pearl Liu

www.lingshappyplace.blogspot.com - Vera Yates

www.stampingwithjanice.blogspot.com - Janice Wilson

www.simpleflourishes.com - Jennifer Holmes

www.pinkcloudscrappers.blogspot.com - Lori Leng

http://inkypaws.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ - Jeanne Streiff

www.ginicagle.blogspot.com - Gini Cagle

www.livingthecircuslife.blogspot.com - Kim Moreno

www.taylordconcepts.blogspot.com - Erika Taylor

www.fantastink.blogspot.com - Meylssa Connolley

www.handmadebyangelica.com - Angelica Suarez

www.sweeetdesignsbycheryl.blogspot.com - Cheryl Walker

http://maearmstrong.blogspot.com - Mae Armstrong

http://scrappingcottage.blogspot.com/ - The Scrapping Cottage

www.psastampcamp.blogspot.com – PSA Essentials

DIY Fridge Magnets

2011-12-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

I have a long list of projects in my crafting queue. On the list to do is artwork with book covers for Molly's room, a project for my god daughter Owsley, and…. fridge magnets. It's time to upgrade the Pizza Hut freebies we've been sporting. My eye has been on ones from Exposures but I really can't justify the $16.99 plus Shipping and Handling for fridge magnets… though aren't they cute?

I stumbled upon this fantastic tutorial for mini Polaroid magnets and now all I have to do is execute the plan to save $16.99, S&H, and cross it off my list. (http://www.ambrosiagirl.com/blog/tiny-polaroid-magnets/). I e emailed the designer, Jennifer Kirk and asked for permission to showcase this amazing project. She couldn't have been nicer! Be sure to check out her blog and the full tutorial on how to create these adorable Polaroid magnets!

While I am at it, I can make some cute fridge magnets with PSA Essentials stamps! Angie Holden shows us just how easy it is. Start by stamping with your favorite PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamp set onto colorful paper. Then punch, adhere to chipboard and Mod Podge for a finished look. Adhere the chipboard to magnetic backers, and voila! Easy magnets.

These magnets look great displaying artwork done by Angie's offspring!

I love the idea of DIY magnets on the fridge!

Good Morning America

2011-11-30T09:03:00.000-08:00

My favorite morning news program is Good Morning America. I've been watching it since I was in high school, I grew up watching Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson. I have come to love George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts, I know most of the reporters names and faces and have favorites amongst those. One of my favorites is Andrea Canning – she's most known for her interview with Charlie Sheen, but I know her better for all the great reporting she's done over the years. She did a report on childcare the time that Molly was just born that I respected and carried the information with me for the last two years.

So you can imagine how thrilled I am that for 3 days only – Good Morning America is featuring PSA Essentials personalized, Peel & Stick stamps, and inks on another of my favorite reporters, Tory Johnson's "Secret Deals and Steals" segment online. For these next three days, you can purchase

PSA Essentials at 50% off.

This offer is exclusive to GMA viewers and our fans and followers. PSA Essentials has never had a sale like this before! This makes a personalized stamp just $22.50 and Peel & Stick packs $9.50. To take advantage of this Good Morning America offer, click here: Use offer code: GMA. Hurry, this offer ends 12/2 at 11.59 PT.

Choose from all of our personalized stamps & Peel & Stick packs – I wonder, which will you choose?

Countdown to Christmas

2011-11-29T07:56:00.000-08:00

Halloween down, Thanksgiving down – Christmas to go! Hard to believe that tomorrow is December 1^st – where has the time gone? With the countdown to Christmas on, it is time to get working on your holiday cards if you are planning on making them this year. Here are two fabulous ideas from Jennifer Holmes to get you started.

Jennifer created a post card within a card, a real fun idea to try! The post card is so real looking, she's created a postage stamp of a tree from PSA Tree-O Peel & Stick stamps. She's stamped the red card base using a snowflake from PSA Fancy Flakes. Using two variations of red ink on pink cardstock, she stamped the snowflake over and over again to create a pattern. Using similar ink and cardstock colors are fun to try because the stamp fades into the cardstock and becomes a background. I love how she's rounded the corners of the cardstock on this card, too.

On this card, she's used the stocking from PSA Vintage Snowman (which is one of my favorite sets!) She's tied baker's twine to "hang" the stockings – which adds texture and a handmade quality to the design. The white scalloped ribbon also adds texture, as well as the die cut white frame. The textured green cardstock also works nicely with all the elements on the card.

Jennifer's designs are beautifully crafted and flawlessly executed. They're true works of art! Wouldn't you just love to receive one in the mail this season?

How Peel & Stick get their groove back

2011-11-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

My friend Jenny Regan recently emailed me with this question: "some of my Peel and Stick stamps aren't sticky anymore. Is there a way to get them to stick again?" She's planning on making her own Christmas gift wrap using Peel & Stick stamps, Kraft paper and Baker's Twine. Love it! Can't wait to see how it comes out. Well she needs them sticky to get it done so here's how to do it.

Peel & Stick stamps most often temporarily lose their stickiness when there's ink build up on them. If you aren't diligent about washing them after you use them (like me), just rise them under some warm water. Even if you are diligent about washing them after use, they can still lose some stickiness from dirt and oil from your hands. And even lint is a nasty cuprit. No worries - they really do bounce back!

Give them a brief bath in dish soap. Palmolive works great for me.

Then dry them with a paper towel. You will notice there's still some color on the stamps – this happens if you don't wash them right away after use but doesn't affect any further stamping.

Within a few seconds after their bath, they are sticky again! Look I stuck mine to the window.

You will see they really do bounce right back – it's quite amazing! Stick them over and over again – they really never do lose their stickiness.

Black Friday

2011-11-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's the day after Thanksgiving which means it's BLACK FRIDAY! It seems that today, most people fall into either of two categories. Those who avoid shopping like the plague and those that are hunting for the bargains and fighting the crowds. Which one are you?

There ARE some amazing deals out there and a good place to start (if you aren't already out shopping) is the Black Friday website. http://www.blackfriday2011.com/. You will find all the major retailers like Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, Sears, Best Buy listed with information about their specific Black Friday sale. Browse each stores circulars by clicking on the name of the store. (Toys R Us is almost selling everything at 50% off!) The site also gives information about special store hours, printable coupons, and alerts to when items are sold out.

Rossomer Square

Be sure to check out Rossomer Square's version of "Black Friday" where our Peel & Stick packs are 20% off. Now you can fall into a third category - a person who is shopping, but also comfortable at home and not fighting the crowds! If you buy a personalized stamp at Rossomer from 11/21 to 12/5, you get a free alignment tool! Enter PSA20 at checkout.

Our ground shipping deadline to order to GUARANTEE arrival before Christmas is 12/6. Hurry now to Rossomer Square for this great deal on Peel & Stick!

Happy Black Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

Gorgeous table from Martha Stewart.com

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Give Thanks Banner

2011-11-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick and easy way to spice up your Thanksgiving table. If you haven't already come up with a centerpiece, this won't take too much time and is super festive. Angie Holden stamped "Give Thanks" from PSA Archive Peel & Stick stamps and her PSA Poppy Ink and Stamper onto organic, handmade paper. She cut the letters out into pennant flag banner shapes and glued them to thin natural rope.

Then she hung the rope from bamboo sticks and placed the sticks into a bowl of gourds and pumpkins. I love how rustic and shabby chic this is. It's totally Angie's style! Have you checked out her cool blog at http://www.thecountrychiccottage.net/p/terms-and-disclosure.html. She brings "farmhouse flair to your home through creative crafts and vintage finds!" It's such a clever blog.

Thanksgiving Layout

2011-11-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

Kim Schofield used an antique approach to documenting her 2010 Thanksgiving. She used designer paper by Reminisce to set the entire tone. Some might consider such an ornate paper over the top, but it really conveys Thanksgiving! She used PSA Romance Alphabet letters to stamp "Thanks" which coordinate beautifully with the paper. I love how she documented the food… she did three close up shots of the delicious food and used ribbon journaling tags to document everything.

Here's a close up of the stamped "Thanks." She's used Ranger gold ink with her acrylic blocks. Proof positive here that you do not need to use our stamper all the time! Our Peel & Stick stamps really do work just like any other clear stamp – use them with the acrylic blocks if you like!

Let us know what you think about this layout today!

Paper Playtime Blog Hop

2011-11-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

PSA Stamp Camp is the first stop today on the Paper Playtime Blog Hop. If you are arriving at PSA Stamp Camp for the first time, welcome! For those new to PSA Essentials, we manufacture self-inking, personalized stamps.

We have patent-pending Peel & Stick technology which allows you to switch out your personal stamp with thousands of stamps, from summery designs, Halloween, Christmas, Holiday, Valentine's Day, baby, bridal, sentiments, Hello Kitty, Peanuts, Rudolph & more here: http://www.psaessentials.com/peelandstick.htm . That's why our PSA Essentials stamps are perfect for addressing your holiday cards!

But what you are also going to see today is that our Peel & Stick stamps are great for creating cards, scrapbook layouts, party favors, home décor, artwork, DIY projects, and so much more! You can use them with the PSA Stamper to get crisp and clean impressions or with an acrylic block – they work just like any other clear stamp! Watch this video to learn more about how they work. http://youtu.be/e2dcYayr6xc . These talented Paper Playtime designers are going to show you their stuff!

Here's a wonderful card by Kelley Eubanks just to give you a quick idea of the types of cards you can create. Kelley has stamped the friends from PSA Smirk Caffeine Confidents and colored them up. They're adorable and really brought to life!

Now it's time to get hopping to the designers blogs! I hope you enjoy PSA Essentials Peel & Stick stamps. Visit our friends at Rossomer Square now through 12/5 for 20% off all Peel & Stick stamps and a FREE ALIGNMENT TOOL (a $10 value). Enter PSA20 for discount. http://www.rossomersquare.com/by-brand-psa-essentials-c-88_297.html. Now get hopping!

Start here: http://paperplaytime.blogspot.com/ to hop!

Thanksgiving Plans

2011-11-19T00:01:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is all about traditions and being with family. In honor of what Thanksgiving is all about, we are headed to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico (our family tradition for six years now) accompanied by the Smith clan (my mom's side of our family.) There are 18 of us traveling together to celebrate my grandfather's 85 birthday. My two uncles and aunts, cousins, parents, Molly and Mike – I am so looking forward to spending quality time with everyone. I feel blessed to have this opportunity and know it must sound silly having just returned from a tremendous vacation a few weeks ago. But the timing was such and I couldn't be more appreciative or excited about the trip.

Would you believe it, but this will be my two year old daughter's third trip to Cabo for Thanksgiving. Here she is just six weeks old. I was into hats!

And here she is last year, walking on the beach.

We spend most of our time at the pool or on the beach, not doing much at all. Molly's nearly swimming now, and I am excited to see how she progresses as the week goes on. So I'm off to get the luggage tags ready, off for another adventure Saturday. Aren't these cute – you can use your PSA Essentials personalized address stamp to stamp the tags. Say goodbye to the icky airline ones – and it also helps identify your luggage in the sea of bags at baggage claim.

I'll be posting all week from Cabo (with the help of scheduled posts!) We have a great hop coming up on 11/21 and a crafting challenge with a prize opportunity! Stay tuned all week & Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Cards

2011-11-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving, pop a card in the mail to a friend to and let them know that you are thankful for them. It is wonderful to receive personal mail buried amongst bills and it's important to remember what Thanksgiving is about. It truly is about taking time to acknowledge what you are thankful for, and appreciate the friends, family and blessings in your life. Here are three ideas from Jeanne Streiff.

Jeanne used the Hello Kitty from PSA Essentials Hello Kitty Trick or Treat Peel & Stick. She colored her up beautifully to bring her to life. I love the black and white gingham ribbon. It really pops!

On this variation, she used natural ribbon. This asymmetric design is very interesting. I love Hello Kitty holding the pie! This stamp wouldn't be the same if she hadn't colored her up. This just goes to show what a difference coloring in your stamps can make.

This adorable Hello Kitty on a pumpkin brings a cute factor to the card. Jeanne has tied twine from The Twinery around the card to add dimension, and used different dies to add visual interest.

The trio of cards work well together. These would also work well in a gift box as a hostess gift or housewarming, wouldn't it? I am thankful for so many things this season.

Thanksgiving Greeting Cards

2011-11-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

Card makers take note of these two simple and really beautiful cards by Kelley Eubanks. I love the colors (and sentiments) that truly celebrate fall. Here's a quick step by step on how to recreate both. Get creative with different sentiment and image stamps, colors and materials to make it your own.

First, cut and score base. Round bottom corners and ink edges with distress ink. Stamp the letters to spell "fall" using PSA Essentials Vanilla Peel & Stick stamps. Use an acrylic block and Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green and Riding Hood Red by Stampin' Up! (These are GREAT fall colors, aren't they?). Then tie twine at the top.

For this card, cut and score base. Cut cream 3.5 square and stamp sentiment. Stamp Hello Kitty from PSA Hello Kitty Trick or Treat, color and punch both circles. Ink all edges with distress ink. Adhere all layers with dimensionals.

Both cards are great to send family and friends who are far away that you aren't seeing during the holidays! Do you send Thanksgiving greeting cards? For me, any holiday is an excuse to send a card!

Fall Frame

2011-11-16T00:01:00.000-08:00

I love the idea of a stamped picture frame. Transforming a white mat into something more interesting can enhance the artwork itself. So long as your artwork isn't too busy and the design around the frame compliments the colors and patterns of the artwork, you can achieve a really nice effect. See this great example by Angie Holden. She has stamped the wreath , which is the outer ring of PSA Topiary Peel & Stick stamps in orange ink and black ink around the page. She's managed to achieve really crisp and clean impressions, even close to the borders! Careful when you are doing this to start with one color, let it dry, and then stamp over it.

What a fun idea to frame colorful leaves, too!

Thanksgiving Evening with Friends

2011-11-15T00:01:00.001-08:00

Friday night I hosted 9 people at our house for Thanksgiving dinner. Since our family tradition is to be in Mexico for the week of Thanksgiving and we eat chili rellenos instead of turkey, I always try to make a feast before or after the holiday so we don't miss out. I spent two nights cooking this feast:

Turkey – Brined for 24 hours & then cooked in an oven bag

Homemade Gravy

Stuffing (not Homemade. I admit that I use to Stove Top – not because I am lazy, but because it's delicious and why mess with a good thing?)

Fresh Cranberry Relish

Yukon Gold Potatoes with Garlic & Chive Butter

Green beans with garlic

Mashed butternut squash with browned butter & sage

Creamed Spinach

Apple pie

Pumpkin Pie

Mint ginger ale with Bourbon

Hot apple cider with Captain Morgan Rum

I broke out the china, crystal and silver which never gets used and set the table with a Thanksgiving theme.

I created place cards for our guests using the bundle of flowers (which I thought to be quite rustic looking) from PSA Topiary Peel & Stick and Cabernet ink by PSA Essentials.

How adorable is this Turkey pinecone? I picked two up at World Market. (Which I am LOVING these days!)

I was so busy cooking at the party and enjoying the company of our friends, I didn't have time to take many pictures. I snapped this one of Lisa & Susan when they got their food.

It was a great night with great friends! Everyone really seemed to appreciate all the work that was involved in cooking the feast, and that was appreciated by me. I'd do it again in a heartbeat - we had a great time.

Fireplace Mantel Design

2011-11-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

Decorating your house for the season can be so much fun. We really go into decorating for Halloween this year, and this week we're breaking out the Thanksgiving décor. Mae Armstrong came up with this fabulous banner to display on a fireplace mantel or across a window. I hope I get the time to make it because it would look great on our fireplace mantel. Here's what I love the most about this banner: it is three-dimensional! She found orange maple leaf doilies at Michael's and sewed "thanks" stamped on paper onto the leaves. Check this out!

Mae used PSA Romance Peel & Stick stamps and stamped "THANKS" on pre-cut circle tags. She attached the stamped letters to the doilies. To create the 3-D effect, she used three to four sheets of maple leaf doilies. She folded each leaves all the way to the middle, separated the leaves carefully and used twine to hang. She then used a 1/2" inch natural rope for hanging. I love, love, love this natural rope and the look it creates.

Mae also took the remaining leaves and hung them up from spray painted branches in a vase to mimic foliage. Also check out the turkey silhouette she framed in a black frame. She kept the festive Thanksgiving theme going with silver spray painted pumpkins.

This mantel set up is so classy! So how are you decorating this Thanksgiving?