Valentines x 32

I decided to get a jump on Valentine's Day and make treats for my Bible Study friends.  When I looked at the roster I was shocked to see that there were 32 on the list.  I don't recall where I got the idea for the card/treat holder but it was very easy to make.  The holders are made from a 6 x 6 piece of DSP from the Stampin' Up Clearance Rack.  There is room on one side for the 3 x 3 card and the other side holds a small treat.  Just love the heart from the P.S. I Love You stamp set.

Only a few more days until Valentine's Day.  I'd better get busy on some other projects I have planned for the big day.   

If you haven't heard, Stampin' Up is offering a free 30 day trial of  My Digital Studio Express .  Your 30 day trial begins when you download the program.  You can go to my Demonstrator Business Website to get your free download.  

I'll do it My Way

Monday is here and I've had a day to recover from the whirlwind of Stampin' Up activities.  Leadership was a fabulous experience.  The presenatations were great and there were plenty of new things to learn.  The theme for new Stampin' Up year is "My Way".  One of the presentations I attended was "Sharing the Stampin' Up! Opportunity."  Brian Pilling from the corporate office talked about building relationships in the process of recruiting.  He had some great personal photos from the early to mid-90's of him and his wife during their dating years.  Looking at those fashaion styles brought back memories from my younger years. Love those big puffy sleeves on the dresses--what were we thinking!  Anyway, he compared the process of dating to the process that demonstrators experience (whether we realize it or not) when they recruit.  My stamping obsession has brought many new friends into my life and it has enhanced older friendships.  In spite of this, I haven't made a point to share the opportunity to become a demonstrator.  After my experience at Leadership, I think--who wouldn't want to be part of the Stampin' Up family?  You can read about other stampers' experiences at Stampin' Up events but it's not the same as being there yourself.

A special "hello" to the lovely ladies from Edmonton, Canada.  I felt a little homesick for Upper Michigan after talking with them over lunch on Friday.  When you grow up in the far north you feel an affinity to Canadians.  After all, they are only a hop, skip and a jump away!  Well, Edmonton is quite northwest of the Upper Peninsula, but you know what I mean. 

I'll sign off today with a few more photos from Leadership.  Here are a few of the new product displays.  The projects were spectacular.  I aspire to create artwork similar to what was on display.

Sorry for the marginal quality of the photos.  I'm not proficient with the settings on my "point and shoot" digital camera so it was hit and miss with the lighting in such a large space.  Enjoy your day! 

Live from the San Antonio Convention Center

Just an extremely quick post before I get ready for the first full day of the Stampin' Up Leadership Conference.  Last night I checked in and went to my assigned Make and Take Session.  I was thrilled with the bag and organizer I received.  New Fabrics!!!  Linda, you are going to be so jealous.  So here is what I received.

Have you ever seen anything so wonderful?  There were 9 projects to make using the Mixed Bunch and Loving Thoughts stamp sets.  Not enough time to finish them all last night, but the minute I finish them up I'll post them all.  Gotta run!

Special Delivery

It wasn't truly a special delivery--just special to me.  I received my last minute pre-order from the Stampin' Up Occasions Mini Catalog.  For once my UPS man came early in the afternoon.  Yeah!  That gave me an opportunity to try out some of my new products right away.  I'm in the process of working up projects for a Valentine class and hope to post a sneak peek of the projects later this afternoon.  But for now just take a look at some of the items I chose from the mini.

Stampin' Up offered demonstrators an incentive to pre-order by giving us Sale-a-Bration products.  Gotta love FREE stuff!  You can also earn FREE Stampin' Up product during  Sale-a-Bration.  It begins on January 24th and runs until the end of March.  Wait until you see the exclusive stamps sets, Designer Series Papers, ribbons and brads.  Mark your calendars!  Contact me if you would like to schedule a workshop during Sale-a-Bration and ask about the special bonuses you can earn as a Hostess.

Another Year, Another Try

Haven't looked at my blog since my last entry.  I didn't want to see how long ago it had been since I had blogged anything.  Ironically the post was published that day after we had planned to visit our son at college.  Our trip turned out way different starting with a call from the emergency room in Bryan/College Station.  Long story short, our son was seriously injured in a bicycle accident (man vs. tree) and we spent almost 4 days in ICU and three more on a regular floor before bringing him back home.  It has been a long haul with neck fusion surgery in October.  We thank God for all he has done for our family and our son. This coming Sunday we are going to take James back to Texas A&M to begin his freshman year again.  I have a feeling it is going to be even more difficult to drop him off than it was last August.

Since I will be relieved of chauffuer and nursing duties, I am going to offer a few stamping classes in the upcoming months.  I have had plenty of time for stamping, just lack of ambition to blog about it.  My first class is going to be at the end of this month.  I am almost done with my samples and will post pictures very soon.  The class will showcase some of the new products from the Stampin' Up Occassions Mini Catalog and also revisit some older product that is on the Clearance Rack.

Contact me via my Stampin' Up Demonstrator Web Site if you would like a copy of the mini catalog or the upcoming Sale-a-Bration Brochure.  You won't want to miss out on any of it!

Take a look at the Occassions Mini Catalog.  Just click on the picture and you will be transported to all the wonderful, stamping goodness.

You Mean the World to Me

Yesterday my husband and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary.  I thought this sentinment was very appropriate for an anniversary card.  Life gets so busy sometimes that you often don't tell your loved ones just how much you love them and how important they are in your life.  I always tell my husband that he's stuck with me! 

In addition to using the Word Play stamp set, I also used the Open Sea set.  I inked the stamp with Sahara Sand, stamped off once, then stamped again to create a very light background.  If you thought you missed out on the Open Sea set from the summer mini catalog, don't despair.  It ended up on the Stampin' Up hold over list and is still available.  It's a great set for making masculine cards.
 
Today my husband and I are headed to College Station to visit our oldest son at Texas A&M.  It's our first time to see him since we dropped him off one month ago.  Yesterday I baked cupcakes to take so we can celebrate his birthday belatedly.  Oh to be 19 years young again--wouldn't that be nice?  We have tickets to the football game, way up at the top of the stadium.  We're not big football fans but my husband wants to experience an A&M game.  They are going to be playing Oklahoma State University and my friend, Donna, offered to loan me an OSU shirt to wear. Hmmm, don't think I'd be allowed to sit on the A&M side wearing it.  We'll have to find ourselves a couple of maroon shirts to wear to the game.  It will be great to see James and spend the weekend with him. Do you think I'll cry again on Sunday when I have to say "good-bye"?  Probably so.

Have a great weekend!

Rushing the Seasons

Does anyone out there feel like they are always being asked to rush through the seasons.  Here in San Antonio we have had record heat for the whole summer and it's difficult to think that today is the first day of Autumn.  And do I have an Autumn card to show you?  No.... I'm having to move forward and start thinking about Christmas.  On Monday evening I went to my CyberStampin' Group meeting and swapped this card.  The new Frostwood Lodge DSP (124002) contains the perfect patterns for beautiful Winter/Christmas crafting.  My card is a center step card that I found on Julie Davison's blog.  She posted a free tutorial on how to make this type of card.  I really like this technique because your card stands up so nicely for display.  I don't know about you, but I love to display the cards I receive on my fireplace mantle or on the shelving in my craft area.  Without further ado, here is my card.

If you haven't purchased any of the new Silver Glimmer Paper (121790) it's a must item for your Christmas cards.  In fact, it will dress up your Halloween cards too.  I won't mention the other holiday the glimmer paper would be perfect for, but you know which one I'm talking about (hint:  it falls in the month of February. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Now go stamp something. : )

Spice Cake Butterflies

This card was inspired by a layout in the Idea Book & Catalog on page 90.  The new Spice Cake DSP is my all-time favorite paper from Stampin' Up.  I just love the patterns and the color combinations. Another favorite of mine is this new stamp set called Kindness Matters.  It's a small set but still so very sweet.  I decided against putting a greeting under the butterflies.  I liked the simplicity of this layout.

Don't forget the Retired Stamp Sale tomorrow.  Come early for the best selection.  I'm sure there will be lots of good stuff that you can't live without!  I should be spending my evening sorting through stamp sets and other retired items I have in my inventory.  I probably won't be able to part with as much as I really should.  You just never know when you will need that one retired stamp set.  Yeah, right!  I can barely get around to using all the current stuff I have.  Good intentions..... I was reading another stamper's blog and she wrote about PSS, Procrastinator's Stamping Syndrome.  I'm quite sure I suffer from this, how about you? 

I'll be back before the weekend is out.  Unless my PSS gets the better of me!

Where did the last month go?

Does anyone else out there feel this way?  Somehow August just flew by.  Can't even remember what seemed to keep my busy, all I know is that another month is gone.  On Sunday night I decided to CASE a few projects that I had saved in my computer files.  Thank you to all the wonderfully talented stampers out in blogland for the great ideas.  Here is what I managed to put together.

This first one is a Side Step Card and uses the Wicked Halloween stamp set.  How fun is this?  I think I will have to make a few more of these and send out a few Halloween cards this year.  I tried to track down the originator of this card using the Wicked Cool set and it appears that credit should be given to Patti Lee of Patti's Creations. 

The next creation is a 3-D project using the Fancy Favor Box Die.   This was a CASE from Dana Newsom.  Stay tuned for further spooky variations.

The third and final project is another 3-D treat.  This is a CASE from Pink Buckaroo Designs.  I had intended to make these last year but never quite got around to it.  Thank goodness I still had these anti-bacterial hand santizers in my stash. Do these have an expiration date?  A smidgeon of the Frightful Sight DSP was put to use, along with the House of Haunts stamp set.

Here's the inside:

Sorry to have been away so long.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Retired Stamp Sale!

If you live in the San Antonio area, then be sure to check out this Retired Stamp Sale next Saturday, September 10th, from 9 a.m.to 3 p.m.! I'm participating with our Cyber Stampers group.  It will be held at my upline's studio.  The place will be PACKED with demonstrators selling retired stamps, paper, accessories, and more for your crafting needs at awesome prices! There will be stuff that you NEED and even stuff that you can use for your holiday shopping list!

The address is 4750 View Drive and COME EARLY!!  Please park on the street and walk down the driveway to Gail's Studio (located behind her home).

Flight of the Butterfly

One great thing about being a SU demonstrator is having access to great stamping ideas.  Every month Stampin' Up puts together projects that can be demonstrated at your workshops.  This simple card was one of those and it was a breeze to put together.  Not much stamping involved here.  I made two variations--one with a Pretty in Pink card base and the other in Wisteria Wonder.  I used two new sets, Delicate Doilies and Friendly Phrases.  The doily behind the butterfly was cut from the Flirtatious DSP and covered with Dazzling Diamonds. 

Have you ever noticed what happens when you work with glitter?  It's guaranteed to end up all over your workspace.  A number of years ago I taught Art at my church's Christian school and whenever we used glitter the whole room would be covered with it.  You can never have too much glitter on your project!  (Those of you who craft with your young children can relate to this.) What fun!

If you would like to have a workshop and make a cute card like this, feel free to contact me.  Visit my Stampin' Up Demonstrator Business Website to get all the information. 

Sew Sad to See You Go

It was a disappointment when this stamp set didn't make it into the new Idea Book & Catalog. Here is another card I made for submission to the Artisan Award contest.  I was undecided whether to put a greeting on this or not.  Maybe I would have added a birthday greeting.  In order to make the tape measure pleat, I used my bone folder to break the fibers of the cardstock, similar to the faux suede technique, separated it and used the top, stamped portion.  It was much more pliable and easy to fold with just the top layer.

Not only was I sad to see this set go away, I also miss the Sweet Stitches DSP.  If we can't have sewing themed stamps we will just have to content ourselves with the Delicate Doilies Set and the Flirtatious DSP.  Stay tuned for a look at a quick and easy card with a doily theme.

Don't forget--only one more day to take advantage of the $99 Starter Kit!  Contact me if you have questions.

The Wild, Wild West

Earlier this year I entertained the idea of entering Stampin' Up's Artisan Award Contest.  Ideas swirled in my head but when it came time for the rubber to meet the road, or should I say cardstock, I faltered.  I think it takes alot of confidence in your artistic abilities to put your work out for everyone to critique.  For me, I just procrastinated too long to get my 3-D ideas put together.   This card was one that I put together with the intent to submit to SU.

Can you say "Yee-Haw!"  When you live in Texas you have to have a few cowboy stamps in your collection.  I used the Out West stamp set and the Woodgrain background to create this card.  If you would like to add this stamp set to your collection, head on over to my SU demonstrator website to place your order.  Thanks for bellying up to my blog!