OH gosh, the inspiration pic over at Retro Rubber #90 has me drooling, lol.  Must play!
I kind of feel like I cheated a little bit here - I ran straight for my old July Fourth set from 2010 - gotta love the fireworks!  I did some scatters of the pyrotechnics in the challenge colors, of course, and finished with a pretty stitched sentiment and some blue sequins - very 'rockets' red glare,' no??  Lol.  So glad I keep hanging on to this set!
July Fourth Stamp Set (retired-2010); Pacific Point, Real Red & Whisper White CS; Real Red, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise (retired), White Craft & Cherry Cobbler Inks; White EP; Stitched Shapes Framelits; Brights Sequins in Blue; #RR90.

Christmas in July 2018!
It's once again the most wonderful time of year - for Christmas in July!  This is your chance to get started early on your Christmas planning, and check out the beautiful new holiday suites available in our new 2018-19 Idea Book and Catalog, and a look at some favorite returning sets as well!  As always, I'll be ready with the sleigh bells!  Class will feature 5 holiday cards, and will include all your supplies (bring your own snips and fave adhesive), snacks, drinks and a special gift from me, all for $25!  This class can also be FREE with your order of $30 or more!  RSVP today to save your spot, for Saturday, July 14 at 3 pm, or contact me for make-up dates!  You don't want to miss it!

So excited to see my first "patriotic" challenge of the year over at SU Only #202!
I really can't stop thinking about our fun Maui vacation, lol, so my first thought was to wonder what it would be like for July 4!  I don't know what my deal is - I've always been more of a mountain girl than a beach babe, lol.  But I could just imagine laying back and taking it all in with a fun drink in hand along the water.  My scene might be a little bit more Nagshead than Maui, now that I think about it, because that's where we spent our summer trips when I was a kid, and we had beach chairs just like this there!  Either way, a great way to celebrate on both coasts, lol.  Good times.
High Tide & Colorful Seasons Stamp Set; Whisper White & Real Red CS; Memento Tuxedo Black, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Balmy Blue, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Real Red & Versamark Inks; White EP; Celebrate You Thinlits; Silver Sequins; #SUO202.

Time for one last round of parties at My Pumpkin Challenge #0714 - Celebrate!
So, I finally got around to that spinner card I promised back at our last Pumpkin Club - how could we have such an awesome pinwheel kit and not make them spin on a card??
I also decided to play with my card shape on this one - and use my envelope punch board to make a custom envelope for it - not that I'll ever mail this beauty, lol...  This is definitely destined to join my seasonal hall table decor!
Rather than go back over the basic directions for a spinner here, you can go to this link for a Christmas card class we did an age ago, that had a spinning ginger bread man, lol...  But here are the extra notes for this card:  My card base is 6" x 6", folded in half for a 3" x 6" finished base.  For the pinwheel, I cut down the basic pinwheel shape by an inch on all sides, to make it small enough for a card.  As it is, it still wants to hang over the card edge when it spins, but that's ok since you have to be holding it up to tilt it back and forth anyway, lol...  After you adhere all your spinning apparatus, bend your pinwheel wings up slightly, so it has enough clearance to spin freely...
Make sure to get your last Pumpkin Celebrations in - I can't wait to see your creations!
Paper Pumpkin Pinwheel Party; plus, Crumb Cake & Whisper White CS; Real Red Ink; Word Window Punch; DSP Paper Stack in Real Red (retired, for envelope.)

The celebration continues all month long at My Pumpkin Challenge #0714 - Celebrate!
This week, I thought I'd share how I would make my pinwheels actually SPIN, like this beauty that went in the planter by the front door - a DOUBLE pinwheel, lol!
I began by fastening my pinwheels using an eyelet instead of a brad - that's half the battle right there!  I made all my pre-punched holes a little bigger first, so the eyelet would fit.  I actually started out by trying to laminate my pinwheels, since I knew I wanted to put them outside.  Not much success here folks - the added weight of the laminate to the pinwheel paper was too much for my little craft eyelets, sigh.  Maybe if you have longer shank eyelets this would work?  Also, the laminate did NOT like bending - and even after rounding everything with the corner rounder punch, those little corners are SHARP!  Yikes!
Next, I drilled a tiny 1/16" hole through a dowel I had sitting around, that already had a wooden bead stuck on the end.  I have no idea where I originally got these dowels, they look like they're for mini banners or something.  But the bead gave a little extra to drill through, so the end of the dowel wouldn't fray or split. 
Then I made some beads with my Simply Pressed Clay - this is a perfect material for pinwheel making.  I remember making pinwheels in preschool that we stuck through pencil erasers, and the Simply Pressed Clay reminds me of that.  Make four beads, about dime size in diameter.  No need to make holes in them yet, just let them dry solid.
Next, snag one of our retired Hat Pins (remember those?  I still have ALL of mine, except for one, lol) and string on a clay bead, then your pinwheel, another bead, through the dowel, another bead, the other pinwheel, and the last bead, that has a little dab of hot glue on it to keep everything in place.  Don't make everything too tight - these babies need room to spin!
Neat trick, huh?  I ended up trimming my hat pin down a bit with wire snips, but I bet you could make bigger beads to take up all the room!
Paper Pumpkin Pinwheel Party; plus, Simply Pressed Clay; Wooden Dowel with Wood Bead; Hat Pin (retired.)

Pumpkin Club July 26!
Did you get your July Pumpkin kit, yet?  Do they know what Blackberry Bliss fiends we are, or what??
I hope you can join us for our next Pumpkin Club, Saturday, July 26, 3 pm, chez Heroldt - RSVP to let me know you are coming!
Club is free for my subscribers, and includes any extra supplies you might need, drinks and snacks!  Let's take this Pumpkin out to play!  You're going to LOVE our projects!
Remember to subscribe here if you haven't already - sign up by Aug 10 and you can join us in time for next month!

Summer School is Winding Down!
I'm so glad everyone has enjoyed playing catch up with our summer classes!  Class is now forming for our Rosette Wreath class!  If you want in on what may be our last summer class, let me know and we'll get it scheduled!  Class is $20, all supplies included, in a color scheme of your choice.  Email today!

It's still party time at this month's My Pumpkin Challenge #0714 - Celebrate!
We had a wonderful weekend for our July 4 holiday - a whole family of friends came to stay, and we had a blast!  Lots of fireworks to watch, some pool time, a boat ride (who knew a GoPro video recorder could be so handy??) and of course, excellent barbeque nosh!
As an added treat (and please, no one excoriate me, ok?) we got a SMALL supply of legal "fireworks" for the kids to play with on the big day.  This being Arizona, it's a short list, lol...  Each one received a few sparklers, and a little cache of black powder "poppers,"  those little paper twists that make a SNAP! noise when you throw them down on a hard surface.  Always a fave with the young lads, you know what I mean?  At least they weren't fart bombs, thank God!
Anyway, I divvied out these treats for everyone into these cute little 4 oz espresso cups, which I of course had to decorate for the occasion!  "See, you get this much and NO MORE!"  Let's just say it was a hit, and leave it at that.  I promise, no household pets were annoyed in the least by this silly party treat!
Each cup only needed one pinwheel sheet and half of a straw.  I cut the pinwheel into its obvious four triangles, and stacked them all up, flipping two over for contrast.  I trimmed off 1" along the long edge on either side of two triangles, and 1 1/2" off the other two triangles, then just glued them to the cup points down.  I punched a bunch of banner shapes and adhered with glue dots, and added the stars for extra detail.  For the lid, a 1 1/2" Circle punch fills in the indentation perfectly.  I also placed two glue dots opposite each other on the lid rim, and wound round the Baker's Twine, adhering as I went - it holds the twine perfectly!  Add a straw flag, and you're all set!  If you wanted them extra sparkly, a Basic Jewel Rhinestone on each punched star could really punch them up even more!
Paper Pumpkin Pinwheel Party Kit; plus, Real Red, Whisper White & Night of Navy CS; 1 1/2" Circle, Banner & Itty Bitty Accent Star Punches.

Summer School is OPEN!
For the months of June and July, we're still having summer school - your chance to take any past class you want!  Browse my past offerings, or describe to me something you remember us doing and then just email me which one you'd like to make up or repeat, and if you prefer day, evening or weekend.  We'll schedule just for you, and work around your summer plans!  No need to worry about being away for our regular class nights!
Once classes are scheduled, I'll post them here, so if anyone else wants to jump in on your choice, they can!

Our Fall/Halloween Clothespin Wreath Class is now scheduled!  We'll be getting together on Saturday July 19, 3 pm to put this cutie together!  RSVP now if you'd like to join us, and remember that additional dates are available - the beauty of Summer School!  $25 all supplies provided, along with yummy snacks and drinks!

OK, I'm not bitter, but I just have to say, Stampin' Up! did NOT give us many new options on the patriotic front this year (although I can't wait to get the new stars set!)  So I had to think outside the box for this week's Paper Craft Crew Sketch #46, which had the added challenge of showing your patriotic colors!  I actually woke up in the middle of the night with this one - yay!
It was also great fun to play with the photopolymer stamp set again - I love how you can line up all the little letters at once, and SEE exactly where you are stamping - brilliant! 
Make sure to check out the other crafty creations at Paper Craft Crew!
Designer Typeset  photopolymer stamp set; Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White & Night of Navy CS and inks; Stripes embossing folder (on envelope); Merry Minis punch pack - Star; Cherry Cobbler baker's twine; self-adhesive Rhinestones.

When I saw these adorable punch art Uncle Sams, I knew they'd be the perfect class gift for our July 4 extravaganza!  Usually punch art isn't my thing, but these are just so clever!  They are CASE'd from the fabulous Marie Shaughnessy of Marie Stamps - her version has the perfect details!  I added a pin back with hot glue so we can WEAR our art! Woo!
Here is tonight's class sheet, and of course, our yummy patriotic fruit pizza came from Our Best Bites!

OK, as promised, here's our Independence Day bonus class!  This class features the fun "Let Freedom Ring!" wreath, with the words done in silver glitter paper (what exactly was I saving that for again?) and the "Oh, say can you see..." shadow box insert, with cute little firecracker bundles.  I think this is enough for one class, there's a fair few little bits and pieces to work with!
Anyone interested, I'm thinking this class could be Thursday, June 28, 630 pm, and will cost just a bit more - $25 will include your wreath base as well.  Make sure to RSVP as soon as you can if you'd like to come, I'll want to prep as much as I can for you!  (But not TOO much!)
This has been so much fun putting together!  I think the flag is the perfect addition to our shadow box collections!