Making Mischief

Celebrate someone's birthday with a sweet little cupcake ("Square Pegs"), it looks so sweet and innocent...
and then show them all the "trouble" you went through to make it! bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I'd been thinking how fun it would be to have these two battling it out in the kitchen but hadn't gotten around to it. I used my Perfect Pattern Pop Up Oven template printed on glossy cardstock and added Theresa's kitten and Mouse from "Purrr-fectly Delightful". I added a flour crock and dials from "Have a Cookie" and upended the jar, sponging Cream White directly onto the floor and countertop, as well as stamping the pawprints. DP is Basic Grey Sugar Rush, I framed up a few little flowers from another print in the pack with the picture frame fom "Tech Talk" and "hung" a couple askew, like they've been all over those counters! ( I know some of you are laughing while others totally have the willies right now!) I didn't mean to use this many sets, but once I started I couldn't stop, ya know? )*

Well. I'm sure you've all heard the saying "when the cats away, the mice do play"? As luck would have it, while I put the finishing touches on this card, I thought my kids were resting in their beds (where I'd sent them after being too rowdy playing when they were supposed to be home from school sick, and they are sick, but apparently not that sick!) but instead they got up and into a bottle of Super Glue my husband left out over the weekend....(dramatic music here) I will never know exactly what happened, as both their stories are very different and fault the other, but my 4 year old's arms were completely covered in glue (looked like long, ropy burn victim scars) and he had a 9 volt battery stuck to his mouth. My older son had it on the tips of his fingers but is still holding out that he was nowhere near the glue. Hmmph. After two hours of bath and scrubbing William threw up in his bed, and I got to change the sheets on his top bunk bed, one of my least fave chores. woo.hoo. It was quite a "sick" day here, let me tell you. Hope your day went better than mine!


*I totally could have gone further and had the cat outnumbered by an army of mice, one half in half out the jar, etc but didn't want to freak anyone out, based on a few release party comments I think there may be some musophobes reading (afraid of mice, had to look that one up!)

CSS Blog Hop!

It's time for another GinaK CenterStage Spotlight Team Blog Hop!

Each artist was asked to design their project by drawing inspiration from these photos of the AMAZING Christmas Cookie Bouquet the CSS Team sent to Gina's DT Coordinator Jessica Fick:

Well, since I've had cookies on the brain lately, I had to do a completely literal take on this...here's the outside of the card ("Have a Cookie" image and "Hip to Be Square" face stamped on it and one of Gina K's labels from "Holiday Greetings")
and the inside!!! My Perfect Pattern Pop Up Oven with the window frame and snowmen suitors peeping in again from Hip to Be Square, and the punched out little snowman (woman!) inside holding the tray of cookies!

I stamped a greeting from the holiday Hospitality set onto a Petite Oval Nestabilities rug made from Ocean Mist that I Cuttlebugged with Herringbone. All DP is Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, you can do the most fun matchy-match kitchens with these BG DP packs!! :) I stayed away from the very Christmasy ones in this pack like holly and Santa so it can just be a winter card I can send before the cold eason ends... Something else I really like about this card is that I printed the template onto glossy cardstock and now I have sleek, shiny counters and an enameled oven, see the reflection on the burners from the dials? Very sharp!

Click on these links to see what the participating Designers have prepared for us tonight:

Jessica Fick,
Betty Neville,

Jen Charboneau,
Joan Ervin,
Vicki Dutcher,
Lori McAree,
Cheri Weston,
Melissa Cash,
Carla Suto,
Giovana Smith,
JenMarie Taylor,
Sue Morris,
Carolina Buchting,
Sharri Seffens,
Brenda Turner,
Kay Simmons,
Peggy Wainman,
Sue Van deVusse,
Shannon Bracken,
Tina Gilliland,
Deb Felts,
Jennie Harper,
Geri Utterback,
Selma Stevenson,
Melissa Shultz,
Linda Payne,
Joy Hadden,
Karen Knegten,
Melanie Muenchinger, ( you are here!)
Nina Brackett

Everyone's projects will be added to the StampTV gallery and Idea Center over the next few days. You can search for them by using this tag: cssjf4

Laptop Pop Up!

This giveaway is now closed. Please enjoy anyway! :)

Good morning!! Note: today's post uses two sets I Did NOT design, but I just love how they go with the set I DID design, look! :)

Here's one of those "fabulous" (she must be, her shirt says so, right? courtesy of my set from November: "Tee Talk"! ) coiffed "ladies" (see "how to make a perfect ponytail" in an upcoming post!) The "fabulous" on the tee is embossed in silver, the shine and dimension look just like a real iron-on! The greeting "You've got mail" is from "Who's that e-girl?", another set I {heart} from My Favorite Things (today's sponsor!) Wonder what the message could be...?

I was so excited to make this pop up card, it turned out exactly the way I envisioned it! As you pull open the card, the "screen" lifts up and a big popped up button on the "keyboard" reads "Sending {{{Hugs}}}. ( Press repeatedly!!) :) The focal point I simply framed up on a piece of Black CS with extra below it. Cut down each side to leave an 1/8" border on either side and then cut down and out at an angle when I got to the end of image. I also scored a fold 1/8" down from the bottom of the screen and folded. Now the laptop looks like it's 3D and open, ready to power up!! Wouldn't it be great to have a gbig honking "Hugs" button on your laptop?
To make the "button", I stamped my sentiment on white CS and then punched a word window out of scratch paper, then moving the punch over and punching again to make it long enough to fit the whole greeting. I placed it over my stamped greeting and traced inside the punched out window with a black pen, and then shifted it down and traced just the bottom to make the "key" look dimensional. I colored it with my C-3 Copic, cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.

That fabulous pieced couch is made from the Black Market Ebony and Alabaster pack! I colored the e-girl with Copics to make her match the girl on the front. I added line with my pen below her ankles to separate the "carpet" from the "wall".

If you've never made a pop up, it's very easy to do. Score a strip of CS at 1", 2", 3", and 4".(These measurements can be bigger or smaller depending on how far out or big you focal point is, just make sure they are the all equal measurements) Fold at scores and adhere the last little 1/4 piece to the end to make a little "cube". Put adhesive on three sides of it, and press it into the scored fold of your card with the side without adhesive facing UP. This way your cube will stick to the top and bottom of the inside of the card and the last sticky side will be out to press your pop up focal point against.

other deets: Sateen flowers are colored with Copics, adhered with glue dots and embellished with Self Adhesive rhinestones, my hands down favorite embellishment of the moment! This is one of those things I have to buy several of at once, to make sure I don't run out!

So today's prize is appropriately from Kim of My Favorite Things and BCDZYNs, she will send BCDZYNs "And Then I said" stamp set to one of you luckies!! (yeah, I know a LOT of you probably already have this set, but you can give it to your stamping BFF or PSF! They'll love you for it!) Be sure to leave a comment here for a chance to win it, today if you could spend a little time going through my archives and letting me know your favorite or some of my favorite projects I've shared here(unless you already know LOL!), it will really help me choosing what to share and how to make the blog the very best it can be this year for my readers! Then go leave Kim some love at her blog for helping a sistah out! :)

Now for a blog hop: can't wait to see what all these generous and talented ladies have whipped us for today!

Charmaine, Donna, Jessica, Lee, Michelle, Theresa, Joanne, Cathy, and Tammy who will all be using my sets in some form or fashion , thank you all!

The blogaversary bash continues, a new prize offering tomorrow, tonight an update on our winner from yesterday and another guest design spotlight...see you soon!!

PS there may be a clue in this post about an upcoming sponsor... ;)

Look What Popped Up!

A sweet and simple card...

...with a kicked-up surprise inside!
To get the right arc for your greeting, lay your acrylic block on top of your scallop. I trimmed my greeting up a little bit to make the curve( to get an even gentler arc, cut each word individually (but don't lose them!)) Then I placed my scallop on the popped out part (see directions to make the pop up below) so I could see how high I would need to stamp my greeting when standing open, I wanted it to be hovering just above. Then press the card back so you can stamp it, the greeting will look higher on the card(with more space in between) when it's open all the way.
To make your layered focal point pop up, after scoring your middle fold, place you CS back in your cutter and make two parallel cuts across the fold in the middle. When you fold the score, push these two cuts out so you have what looks like a little box. Adhere your pop up to the front. (Make sure your focal point is not so big that it sticks out when you close it).
If you look back, to the finished inside, you'll see I added some scallops to the top and bottom of the pink layer(in the pic above I just have it resting inside) To make the scallops, take the corner guide off your large corner rounder and punch across the edge. I added a little dot to each scallop with my marker to match my stamped and punched scallop on the front.



Front of card uses SU! Hostesss Designer Prints Pack, Chocolate Satin ribbon and SAB So Many Scallops, which I colored DTS with my matching SU! markers. I punched out a scallop in Chocolate Chip as well and offset it below the stamped punch to give it some "pop".

Have you read about Gina K's new product that's available now? Gotta get me some of those fo sho! Also, more free bling being offered with orders up until the 31st, go check it out if you have been waiting to place an order, only a few more days! (As far as I know only one or two tickets have been found so far! That means there's a lot left! If you get one in your order, be sure to let us know about your ticket sighting!! :)

Jonathan update: thanks so much for all the comments about his artwork, he really got inspired to make more stuff for his tin (he's been coming and dropping things off at my desk saying "here, scan this", before turning around to go make something else!) Incidentally, I didn't get to share my FAVORITE drawing of his with you, because I can't find it anywahere!!! I was a bit panicked yesterday when I couldn't find it on the computer, I really thought I'd scanned it a long time ago, couldn't find it in email either, so I had to go hunting for the original! I would have never, never thrown it away(packrat/nostalgicmom), fingers crossed it turns up soon!! :)