So Miss Melanie Muenchinger is having a Blogaversary party and asked a few of us to make some samples for a blog hop using her images.  Fun, huh?  You can visit Melanie’s blog for all kinds of info as well as FABULOUS prizes - today she is giving away a box of COPIC MARKERS!  Yep, for real!  You can find Melanie’s fab blog {here}!

And here is the card I made with on of her sets…..this is also the Color Challenge for today.

supplies: Little Tees by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K Designs; pure luxury white cardstock; brilliant blue, garden green and pumpkin pie ink and cardstock;Heidi Swapp Distresser; May Arts ruffled white ribbon; pumpkin pie grosgrain; dimensionals; cuttlebug Swiss Dot folder; sponge; classic oval nestabilities; and Orange Peel & Dark Blue stickles.

And be sure to check out the 200th Color Challenge {here}!

As well as all the other samples made with Melanie’s stamps:

Charmaine,  Barb, Donna, Jessica, and Theresa

So my little brother celebrated his 21st birthday in December - I can’t believe he’s 21!  I can remember him being born!  Here’s a little shot from long ago….I’m sure he’ll appreciate this! 

Logan and Andy on a train at Fort Riley.

Logan, Andy and Alex on the bench swing.

I’m sure he totally appreciates me sharing those!  I’m only sorry I didn’t have more embarrassing ones!

Anyway - I made him a card and I thought I’d share it…

supplies: Block from DIY Stamper Kit; Medium/Large Number Set; small letter set;  My Tailgate or Yours? by Gina K Designs; pure luxury white cardstock; sponge; basic black and summer sun cardstock; summer sun ink; palette noir black ink; aquapainter; dimensionals;long rectangle nestabilities; SU scallop punch; summer sun grosgrain ribbon; and Letters From Paradise patterned paper. 

So Happy 21st Birthday Logan!!!

***ETA - I forgot to mention - the card is  a *gold* and black color combo because Logan goes to Mizzou and I figured I’d use their colors!***

So I’ve gotten a few new toys of late - and just didn’t have any place to put them!  I finally managed to convince Matthew that the computer needed to be relocated to a new room - woohoo!  So now the entire *study* is officially mine!

Here is how it used to look on that side of the room:

And now it looks like this!

Sweet, huh?  I finally got my sewing machine out!  It’s been in a box since I got it back in April (a birthday present)!  I am thrilled to have it out and useable….now for those lessons - Oh Jenn!!!    And next to it is my Cricut Expressions!  I picked up some of the black vinyl for the walls the other day and I play to do some words to put around the room - you know - some inspirational ones or something.  I am so excited to have space for these and now that they are out, I am sure I’ll use them more!

It’s still a little rough in there - but it’s coming along nicely!  However, that’s why I haven’t been up to much crafting lately - it’s been in upheaval for a while.  I am really looking forward to sewing on cards though - I’ve been dying to do that for years, lol!

And did you notice the special thing in that photo?  Here’s a better shot:

 Lookee what I found at Target in the $1 spot!  Yep, mailboxes!  In NEW colors!  They had some of the solid white, red and pink - but they had new metal ones and metallic pink ones (with a Strawberry Shortcake tag?)!  So you might want to check your Targets if you want some for this year!  I got mine the day after Christmas here - and yes, I left some at the Mansfield Target - I promise I did not buy them all!

You can find my Mail Box tutorial {HERE}!

All my Tutorials can be found {HERE}!

And all the organization and such for my Stamping Space {HERE}!

Now I am off to prepare for the boys’ NYE sleepover - 6 boys age 8 and under - SERENITY NOW!

Ok - I have been asked several times what Monogram stamps I recommend starting with, so I just figured I’d write a post about it!  I guess this also qualifies as *Stuff I Like* because I love these suckers! (All product names and photos are linked for you to find the items easily online.)

For Multiple Cards with the same letter, etc:

Monogram Stamper Kit

Product Details:

I like this stamper if you are going to do multiple cards with the same letters, borders, and ink color.  If you were working on wedding things or something - this is perfect.  Because it’s self-inking - you can stamp a lot easily.

For small card sets:

DIY Monogram Stamper Kits (1 5/8):  these come in several fonts - and it’s really your preference which you like.  I’ll link to them all - they have an older version, not much of a difference in them, just packaging and the way the alpha is stored.  The newer versions also come with a few more centers with sentiments, not just letters to use.  I’ll show both options….although some no longer come in the old version.

Curlz Font: New Version 

Special Occasions Font: New Version and Old Version

Damask Borders (These are specifically for making one letter monogram cards): New Version and Old Version

I also highly recommend the tiny alpha - it’s fabulous for writing whatever you’d like around the border area of the round stamper - so so fun!

Small Letter Set

So to start out - I’d choose a font and buy one of the DIY kits (or the larger automatic stamper if you want it for mass production) and the small letter set to get started.  I hope this helps!

You can find all these product at The Stamp Castle - and there is a tutorial on SCS on  how to treat them if you have trouble getting clean images.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas holiday!  I know it will be odd to have Matthew back at work tomorrow - he’s been off since about noon on Christmas Eve!  We are gearing up for a big sleepover on New Year’s Eve.  We decided that since we are lame  and never go anywhere or do anything, we’ll let each of the boys invite a friend to spend the night - I know, we’re crazy!  So we’ll have 6 boys age 8 and under!

I’m sure it’ll be fun - we have some stuff planned, tons of glow sticks, party favors, sparkling cider, etc as well as a bunch of food.  We’ll see how they do! (And if we’re still sane afterwards!)

But I’m back with the rest of the monograms - I told you that I’d made a ton this season!  I really wasn’t kidding!  And most of these sets are the larger size Clear Boxes that hold 6-8 cards and envelopes.  For some of the Enrichment teachers (art, music, etc) I did 4 card sets and used the medium  Clear Boxes.  Here are the rest!

supplies:  DIY Monogram Stamper Curlz font kit; white satin ribbon from Michaels; clear boxes; Baja Breeze cardstock, ink and patterned paper from SU; white cardstock - Pure Luxury; dimensionals; classic circle nestabilities.

supplies:  JustRite Curlz Monogram Stamp Set; Classic and Petite Circle Nestabilities; white satin ribbon from Michaels; Pure Luxury white cardstock from Gina K Designs; Spring Moss  palette ink from PTI; Spring Moss cardstock from PTI; and patterned paper from PTI.

supplies:DIY Monogram Stamp kit with Curlz font; purely pomegranate ink; pink satin ribbon from my share; Classic Circle nestabilities; purely pomegranate and white cardstock; BasicGrey Sultry papers; and dimensionals.

supplies:  C-45 DIY Monogram Stamper with Times New Roman font; groovy guava ink; white satin ribbon from Michaels; groovy guava patterned paper; groovy guava and white cardstock; classic circle nestabilities; and dimensionals.

There are still a few more days left to take advantage of the 25% off sale at The Stamp Castle!!   NO coupon code is needed!  All products are 25% off through the end of the year!  So head on over and grab some monogram stamps - don’t miss out!  I’ve got some other projects to share this week as well, but I am not back to full time blogging until school is back in session - I’ve got too much Wii to play with the boys right now!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you are enjoying the day and spending time with family, good food and happy memories!

It’s after 1am here and we’re finally done wrapping presents and getting everything ready!  Now off to bed!

It took me a little longer to get back with these - but what can I say, the holidays are just plain busy!

But here are a ton of monogram sets I’ve been working on the past few weeks.  Some were orders for customers, some were gifts for family and some were teacher gifts.  Whew!  I’m just glad to be done with them all!  I used the same general layout for all of them and just picked lots of coordinating papers - easy peasy!  I even got Matthew to help me a few times with running things through the cuttlebug, etc.  Heck, I even had Andy punching out scalloped circles with the nestibilities the other day!

So here are a few - and there’ll be more over the next few days - I said there were a lot!

supplies:  DIY Monogram Stamper Special Occasions font kit; SU patterned paper; baja breeze, basic gray, and white cardstock; old olive wide grosgrain ribbon; basic gray ink; classic circle nestabilities; and dimensionals.

supplies: DIY Monogram Stamper Special Occasions font kit;Brayton Complete Font Set; cranberry crisp, white, and cool caribbean cardstock; Jenni Bowlin patterned paper;  classic circle nestabilities; cool caribbean ink; and dimensionals.

supplies:  DIY Monogram Stamper Special Occasions font kit; Figgy Pudding BasicGrey patterned paper; cranberry crisp ink and cardstock; white cardstock; white satin ribbon from Michaels;  classic circle nestabilities and dimensionals.

And last one for this post….

supplies: DIY Monogram Stamper Special Occasions font kit;Brayton Complete Font Set; real red and cool caribbean cardstock; real red ink; white cardstock; Jenni Bowlin patterned paper; classic circle nestabilities; wide red satin from Michaels; and dimensionals.

Okay - that’s all for tonight! I’m off to wrap presents….I’ll be up for awhile working on that one!  I hope you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS tomorrow!

And for any of you who might not have gotten what you wanted for Christmas or got some Christmas money to spend -  The Stamp Castle is having a sale!!  Yep!  And NO coupon code is needed!  All products are 25% off through the end of the year!  So head on over and grab some monogram stamps!

Yep - so it’s been awhile, huh?  Well - between a sinus infection (which is finally getting better!) and all the last week of school Christmas activities - I just got busy!  But I’m back and I’ve got a TON of stuff to share!  This will be a quick post - but I promise to be back later with Monogram Mania!

This is from Gina’s Blog {here} - Merry Christmas!

Did you see it?
We’re having a Crazy Copic Christmas sale!

“Heartfelt Hits 1″ was one of last year’s Valentine’s releases. I’ve talked a lot about how music is such a huge part of my life. I play keyboards and sing so last year I came up with the idea of creating a stamp set using song titles with images to match.

So you totally don’t want to miss out on that!!  And I had a sample from her last release that includes a funny story.

I was stamping some images to heat set and I stamped one of the hands from Hand In Hand. Now this was just in black ink on a sheet of white paper.  Well, Alex was in the stamp room with me and he looked over and said “Is that going to be a Presidential card?”

What?  Yeah, for some reason he thought that the image looked presidential…I guess because the arm is wearing a suit?  I dunno.  So I said sure - I’d try, lol!  No idea what to do with it - but he said I could give it too him!

So here’s my “Presidential” card!

supplies: Hand In Hand by Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K Designs; brilliant blue, real red and pure luxury white cardstock; dimensionals;classic square nestabilities; Copic Ciao Markers; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Polka Dot Basics by PTI; and new canvas palette ink.

So there you have it!  Nice, huh?  I still don’t know why he said that about the uncolored image - but who knows how kids’ brains work!

I just love these butterflies in the newest B3G1 set Gina put out.  They are gorgeous!  And I’m not much of a purple person….but they look great in purple!  I don’t think real butterflies are purple very often…but oh well!

This time I watercolored them…..

supplies: Take Flight by Gina K Designs; watercolor paper; niji waterbrush; wide satin from Michael’s; SU eggplant grosgrain; dimensionals; elegant eggplant and creamy caramel reinkers; palette noir black ink; Antique Linen Ranger Distress ink; classic rectangle nestabilities; swiss dots cuttlebug folder; vintage cream cardstock; and elegant eggplant cardstock.

Also - for any of you thinking about getting a Cricut Expressions for Christmas - Scrapbookpal is having a limited time only sale on them!  You can get 10% off - that means they are $279!  This will only last as long as their current stock lasts - so if you have this on your Christmas list - get on over there!   That’s a fantastic price on the larger Cricut!  I got one a few weeks ago and I am making room for it in my craft room!  I am so excited about the quotes you can make for your walls!  My stamp room WILL be the first to get decked out, lol!  Here’s the link to Scrapbookpal’s Cricut: (even their vinyl is cheaper - and you can’t use coupons on Cricut stuff at most craft stores, so that is a bonus!)

Cricut Expressions - Limited Time Only Pricing!

Ok - this is my final winner for my Blog-A-Versary giveaways - goodies from !  Before I announce it - I just wanted to say thank you to ALL the wonderful companies that donated prizes (and the Digital Designers!).  I am thrilled that I was able to share some goodies with all of you!

Also - thank you to all of you who leave sweet comments throughout the year…I always love reading them and I am so glad that I’ve been able to share my knowledge and experiences with all of you.  I’m sure I’ve helped enable  you at times - but I also hope that through things like the “Stuff I Like” posts - I am able to save you some money by not wasting it on products that aren’t so great!  See - if I share which white ink pad I like the best - you don’t have to waste your money buying the bad ones!

And now for the winner….and seriously - y’all are not going to believe this one!  I honestly laughed out loud when I saw what number came up first using the Random Number Generator!  In fact, let me paste it in here just so you know I am honest!

I always have it generate 5 numbers, no reason why - I just do!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

1	42	141	36	11

Can you believe that???  #1 actually came up!  I’ve never had #1 come up  - not even as a later number, let alone first!  And here’s why I find this hilarious!  The winner’s comment:

Katydidnt/Katy Says:
December 8th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

Ooooh, I’m first! That is NOT good….no random number generator is ever going to pick 1!! boo-hoo…

My favorite christmas goodie to receive is the 3 lb fruitcake my mom, my sister and I have been mailing back and forth for 19 years now! 19 years and not a wisp of mold or anything!! Yummy!!

Congratulations Katy!  It’s your lucky day because #1 DID come up!  And the fruitcake story is disgustingly hilarious!  Just send me your address and I”ll get your fab Stamp Castle goodies out in the mail to you!

And for all of you who didn’t win - I do have a little something to share with you!  The Stamp Castle is having a sale!!  Yep!  And NO coupon code is needed!  All products are 25% off through the end of the year!  So head on over and grab some monogram stamps - there’s still time to whip out some simple monogrammed sets for gifts!

I will leave you with a sample made with the exact goodies that Katy just won!

supplies:  Harmony Classic Circle III;  Christmas Stamp Ensemble; patterned paper from Bo Bunny; pure luxury white cardstock; white ruffled May Arts ribbon; grosgrain ribbon from my share; pink passion, ocean tides and new canvas ink; sponge; dimensionals; classic circle nestabilities; petite circle  Nestabilities; A Muse twinkle stickers; Primas;  and clear  Crystal rhinestones.

Also - I wanted to  leave you all with a link to a fantastic tutorial by Sharon Johnson.  I highly recommend that you condition your JustRite stamps from The Stamp Castle.  Especially the large surface area ones. This will really help you to get a cleaner stamped image.  You can find the tutorial on SCS {HERE}!