Inking Idaho's New Look

So...Do you love the new look? I do!

Veronica, you did a great job! Thank you girl!! I hated waiting my turn while she was helping the 'other' people...whatever... but she was right, it was worth the wait.

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving Day with family. It's nice to be here with our families again and not be the ones who are always traveling on holidays. Our oldest son, Benjamin had a tonsillectomy on Tuesday and was under the weather, so he has needed some extra love and attention...like he doesn't get it all the time anyway! :) My mother in law helped cook...yum-O! Now I guess it's all about Christmas! My favorite time of the stamping year. Love it, love the colors, love the smells, love shopping!

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And speaking of great shopping,Stampin' Up! is offering fantastic products on sale in our

Holiday Extravaganza Sale

Shop on line with me now until December 1st for fantastic saving on exclusive Stampin' up! products. What a great way to Christmas shop for the stamper or scrapbooker in your life! Check it out before it's gone forever!!!!

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I've received photos of more finished Milk Cartons to share with you. Isn't this fun to see what others are doing??

My very own downline, Rhonda Kelly created this festive container. She didn't have the same punch I used for the handle so she improvised with 2 circle punches...CUTE!! Check out her blog at www.creatingwithrhonda.blogspot.com

Anne Thormose of DENMARK made this one. I love it!!! Beautiful work Anne, thanks for sharing.

Smores, S'more Milk Cartons and S'more Good News!

I'm so excited!!!

If you had asked me a year and a half ago if I ever though my blog would pass 100,000 hits, I would have laughed hysterically! It's pretty amazing to me how this has evolved. I started my blog as a way to stay in touch with my California customers during my move to Idaho. It has most definitely served it's purpose and more! Thank you all for your support and continued loyalty. I've truly enjoyed every day of this blogging experience. So much so that I'm treating myself to a gift.

Tomorrow you will see a whole new blog face lift.

I'm very excited about it. I'm not a very technical person and I've learned so much about computers because of this blog. You would not believe how much progress I've made! So for me to tell the designer, Veronica Mc Collum, what I wanted was a bit of a blind folded guessing game for her! I'll apologize someday ;-) She did a great job of reading me and I can't wait to share it with you!!

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OK, on with the important things...STAMPING ;)

The boys wanted a few little Christmas gifts for their school friends so we've been trying different things. They really like the smores kit, but I've gotta tell you...it's NOT my favorite thing ever. It just looks so out of place, or out of proportion or something ...what is it??? And, graham crackers are not straight! I bought a whole box of them and there were only 2 semi-straight ones in the bunch. They are all slightly curved, so when you close this, they break. I don't think this will be our final draft, but thought maybe some of you may have an opinion on how not to break them???? inside

Hayley Regan, www.mycrafthaven.blogspot.com, sent me a picture of her Milk Carton. "You may notice a slight difference, I made mine from 12x12 cardstock because I wanted them to hold a new baby outfit in one, a small teddy comforter in another and the remaining 2 were used to house goodies for the other 2 children. It took a long time to get the numbers right but I'm really pleased with the results so it was worth it."
I think it's cute also, thank you for sharing!

This one is from Linda McClain of www.cateredcrop.typepad.com. She did a beautiful job on her festive snowflake Milk Carton.This is awesome, great job!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Almost 100,000 Hits!!!

Hey guess what?

I'm about ready to celebrate having 100,000 visitors to my blog!!!! I'm celebrating by getting a face lift. No.... I wish it was for me, but it's for my blog. Don't be surprised if the next time you tune in, there is a whole NEW and DIFFERENT look!

It's still me and it's still called Inking Idaho, just prettier!

Joyce's Turkeys

My neighbor Joyce wanted to make something cute for each place setting at her Thanksgiving Day table. We looked up some ideas on Splitcoast and combined a few to come up with this. I started punching and she started gluing. I think she did a great job! The boxes are 2" by 2" x 1 1/2" tall. They have 3 Peppermint Patties standing up in each box. I can't show you those because I swore off Peppermint Pattie projects...remember??! Ü

She had enough punches left over to make a few cards too.
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I've also got a couple more milk carton container to share with you.

I was blog surfing and came across this Christmas one and actually had to check to see who's blog I was on because it looked exactly like mine!!! Nope, it was Ann Kloentrup from Nana's Ink To Paper.

I asked her if I could share it with all of you and she said sure...plus she had this darling Valentine's Day Milk Carton Container ready to go! Nice job Ann!!

Welcome Baby Grace

Our neighbors had a precious baby girl this week, Grace Noel. Gracie was suppose to arrive at Christmas time but decided to have Thanksgiving with the family instead. Even 4 weeks early she was 5# 13oz and perfect! The only problem...I had to get this ready NOW instead of next month! I knew I wanted to make cards and after seeing the clever card holder Tracy made, I knew this was what I wanted to put the cards in.

The bib is actually the congratulations card signed by our family. Coincidentally it fit perfectly on the front. That wasn't my intention but I love it when good accidents happen!!

Close up of the onsie card courtesy of Lauren She has a beautiful tutorial on how to make these.
Inside of the purse I put 12 cards and envelopes all the same style. The pockets are clear card boxes cut in half and Sticky Stripped to the purse.Side view.

This is not my original idea, therefore I did not show or give directions. The measurments depend on what size clear boxes you use. Refer to Tracy's and Lauren's links to their sites for further directions.

Jolly Belly Band Cards

I have this package of Little Felt Flurries that I wanted to use up. I've used all the cute little snowflakes and had all these mongo size ones left. So I made belly band cards! I've made these cards before and always love the look.

Start with cardstock 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". Score at 2" and 6".

The band is 1" x 8 1/2". Score at 2" and 6".

ETA: I had originally posted that you score at 2" and 4"...it should be 2" and 6".

Cardstock: Real Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White & Basic Black
Ink Pads: Staz-On Jet Black
Stamp Set: Jolliest Time of the Year
Accessories: 1 1/4"& 1 3/8" Circle Punches, Ski Slope DSP, Little Felt Flurries

A darling coffee theme Milk Carton Container made by Christyne Richardson

Christyne (aka Apple Blossom)

Christmas Milk Carton Container made by Rachel Bergman.

Customer Milk Cartons

I'm very excited to share with you some of my customers Milk Carton Container creations. I love it that they are so happy with the tutorial they send me photos!!! If you have photos you'd like to share using this tutorial, please e-mail them to me. How fun!!

Lisa Page
www.pagepeople.blogspot.com

Lyn Heppner

Her signature says she is an EMT Paramedic
"I save lives but stamping saves mine"

Adraina Benitez
My Diva sister from UDI

Adraina Benitez
My Diva sister from UDI

Jolliest Time of the Year

Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink Pads: Real Red, Stax-On Jet Black
Stamp Sets: Jolliest Time of the Year, Snow Burst
Accessories: Ski Slope DSP, Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Spiral Punch, Round Tab Punch, White Embossing Powder, various Stampin' Write Markers, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, that never shows up in pictures!

Cardstock: Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink Pads: Staz-On Jet Black
Stamp Sets: Jolliest Time of the Year, Cute & Curly
Accessories: Ski Slope DSP, Scallop Edge Punch, various markers, Real Red 5/8"Grosgrain Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter

Holiday Lineup Is Going In A Time-Out!

I had this idea to make an ornament card out of the Big Shot large scallop die-cut. I folded the card in half and carefully placed the fold over a couple of scallops at the top of the die-cut and zipped it through the Big Shot...perfect! It was a little plain so I ran a piece of Ski Slope Designer Series Paper through the die, cut it in half and stuck it to the front of the card. Still pretty plain...so I thought the Holiday Lineup would be perfect as a focal point. I carefully stamped the reindeer and laid it on the die and cut out just the section I needed. I put a couple strips of Chocolate Chip on each edge to make it pop and carefully hand trimmed the scallops. That's when it happened...the reindeer moved and the whole thing was crooked. I yanked them up off the cardstock and they rudely tore!!!

Now I have one perfect card and one piece of ruins! Nicholas suggested I put those reindeer in a time-out until they can behave!
Upon closer inspection, I can see I didn't trim the scallops so perfectly anyway, oh well! And the kicker here...it is about 1/8" too wide to fit in a standard envelope for mailing! I'm so glad I didn't cut 100 of these and start stamping Christmas cards!!

Heidi Dawson's Crab and Company Milk Carton

Look what Heidi Dawson did!!!

I love it when customers send me pictures of what they've done with my ideas... when they are actually using them as opposed to collecting them! She made this using the Crab and Company stamp set. This is a great example of how you can take a pattern and change it to suit the supplies and stamp sets you already have. She used the square punch for the handle instead of the Key Tag punch, no corner rounding as instructed, and no Designer Series Paper...just cardstock, and it's darling!! Nice job Heidi,thanks for sharing!

Demonstrator Only Event Highlights

Val Callison

Val had 11 of 12 pages done of her calender class.

Pat Dion

I hadn't seen this calender kit yet, so that was fun!

Demonstrator Only Event Highlights

Melodie Mahon
Fontella Henderson

Close up of Fontella's frame.

Linda Doser

Linda made slices of wood blocks and rubber into pins and attached them to her business cards.

Demonstrator Only Event Highlights

Jennifer Thomas

She bought her candy sticks at Cracker Barrel.
Anjanette Potter
A great display showcasing our Statement of the Heart and the starter kit along with beautiful samples.

Nancy Horn
She bought her card display in the back at Pier 1 and added clothespins to attach the cards. The carousel is from Pottery Barn (I think, I'm not remembering if I asked her???). Edited to add: The carousel from Pottery Barn has been discontinued.

Judy Mahon

Judy had beautiful items to share and a lot of fun thing made using the Big Shot.

Leigh Grady

Leigh's blog is http://www.happileighscrappin.blogspot.com/

Demonstrator Only Event Highlights

Beth and I both set up displays for sharing.

Beth
Beth

Beth

Becky

Becky