From Salt Lake City

I made it!!! and I got more sleep last night than most of the other demos I've talked to!! I didn't have a super early flight though, so that helped. Today was just a travel day, but tomorrow we get to pick up our bags that will contain the NEW CATALOG!!! Not sure how much I'll be able to share, or have time to, but I will try to check in again.

Here is the first swap card I came up with using the new (Level 3) hostess Set, Happiness Always. I really like this set!! It also features new colors, and a new button!

The stamp set is a two-step. The first step is a solid image, but kind of sketchy. Hard to describe. The second image is made up of letters. They combine for a great look-just make sure to stamp the first image off once, or use coordinating colors (lighter first, then darker). Hopefully if you click the image you can get a larger view!

The new colors featured are Riding Hood Red (Card base, red images & button), Pacific Point (2nd layer & blue images), and Kiwi Kiss (stems). The saying is stamped on Whisper White and punched with the Key Tag punch. Corners were rounded, and the whole white layer was sponged, with Pacific Point around the top, and Kiwi Kiss on the bottom. Riding Hood Red was sponged on the punch out. I threaded Lined thread through the button, then sponged on some Pacific Point ink.

That's it for now! Thanks for stopping by!

Embellished Bag

This is what I did last night, when I should have been making more swap cards! This is part of the process of getting my ducks all in a row though! Lots of little things have to be done. I spent about an hour tonight on the computer getting my plain reservation, hotel info, Convention schedule, etc together. Slowly, I'm getting there!

OK, to the point of the post! This bag is from Daily Window and is their Eight Days a Week bag.

It's really not anything terribly fancy, but I'll be using it as a purse and carrying it through 3 airports, in & out of shuttles or taxis, to the hotel, and to the convention center. I'm not a fancy bag person anyway! It's a little bigger than what I usually use, but I'm hoping to fit most of my swaps in too. So, far, so good! It's the perfect width for cards!! Below is a close-up of the stamped part.
I found a stamp from a previous convention that says "Happiness is Stampin' Up!". It has fun little flowers on it that are similar to the preview set we demos got to order, Wow Flowers. So, I grabbed some colors and got stampin'! Featuring the NEW In-Colors Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango & Pacific Point with Pink Passion. The liner in the bag is pretty close to the Kiwi color & my cell phone & business card holder are bright pink. Color coordination-who doesn't love that?? We also have some Rhinestone Brads that coordinate with the Kiwi, so I added some to the image, and also to the bag. See above the buckle on the handle? Green on top, then clear. And one green one also beside the horizontal buckle.

I added a link to my side bar for Daily Window-so come back anytime to check out their site!

Dry Embossing Samples

By request, we did some Dry Embossing cards at club. I hadn't done it for quite a while, but here's what I came up with.

The color on this is off, but I went ahead with it because you can (sort of) see the dry embossing.


The petals from Pick a Petal are So Saffron, the center Brocade Blue on Very Vanilla. Base Layer on card is Brocade, with a Saffron layer next to the Vanilla.


I started by stamping the solid image (the larger one with the circles within) in the center of the card to serve as the center of the flower. I stamped the ink off once before stamping on the cardstock. I then did the petals, doing a + with four, then an x with the other 4. Hope that makes sense. It helped me to space them.. I also inset the + 4 a little more than the x 4. Clear as mud??


After the petals were done, I came back with the outline circle in the Center with full strength Brocade Blue and the 'wonderful' from Warm Words.


Next is the dry embossing. The order here: Put your Brass Template down on the light table, turn your stamped image upside down and line up the stamped petal inside the template petal. Using the larger end of your stylus, trace inside all the petals, then the circle in the center. Fill in with random dots above, below & beside the flower.


Using a glue dot, add a button in the center that has been tied with coordinating embroidery thread and you're done!


And then, for another look, we did this card. The lighting again isn't the greatest, but you can see the dry embossing. All of our templates have the holes for paper piercing as well as embossing, so we did both on this one using the Priceless set and template.

We first dry embossed the flourish in opposite corners angled to the center. This is a fine line template so you'll need to use the small end of the stylus! Once that is done, you can stamp the butterflies and the Priceless in the corner. The card base is Basic Gray, with a Pixie Pink layer and Whisper White. The butterflies are in Pixie Pink, the Priceless in Basic Gray. We then dry embossed around the butterflies with the template (again, template down & turn image upside down to line up). Using the template again, we picked up a needle from the Crafters Tool Kit and pierced the swirl coordinating with the dry embossed flourish. Line up your flourish before piercing! Lastly we added a dark silver brad from the Vintage brads set.

Enjoy! Back later with the bag I did last night!

Taking a Break!

from creating. I have a whopping 36 cards made to trade, but I also decorated a bag to carry. I'll share that tomorrow. For now, I thought I'd share a few pictures I've taken recently, non stamping. I got a new camera, in part to take to convention, so I had to try it out!!

Here's the view down my driveway from the front porch.

For you who aren't country residents, that is corn on the sides. It's between 7 & 8 feet tall. It has tasseled & is currently setting ears. That's where the $$$ is so we're hoping for some more rain! Here's a closer view of the corn, from the corner of the front porch looking to the side. The front yard is edged with the field corn.

Next are a couple of flower shots-I'm very happy with how they came out! I love these roses-the color is so vibrant. Knock Out Shrub roses if anyone is interested!

And a pot of Petunias. I have several around. They are a little chewed up by grasshoppers and windblown, but all in all, they look pretty good!

Lastly, even the dog Shadow decided to cooperate and pose for me. The boys were no where to be found!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm calling it a night and I'll try the creativity again in the morning, or more likely, after work. I will try and post the other 2 Club card samples tomorrow sometime!

Retiring Accessories

SU! Released the list of retiring accessories on Monday and some have sold out already! I'm not going to post the list here, in part because I don't have time to keep it updated, but email me if you haven't seen it. I can post a link to some items that are on special here. These items are retiring, but have been discounted! LMK if you NEED any of them!!

I'm off to finish some swap cards, and see if I can up with a few more! Convention is next week!!! I'll have the new catalog Wednesday!! YIKES!!!

Crayon Resist

Sorry for the delay in posting the club samples from last week. The weekend was rather busy with stuff, and I've been trying to make some swap cards this week. Have a few done, but not anywhere near what I'd like.

This card uses Basic Black & Tempting Turquoise Cardstock for the background & base, and Glossy Cardstock for the top. We started with plain Glossy, and stamped with Black Stazon the open flower and butterfly images. HINT: Let the Cardstock sit for a bit after stamping the Stazon Images. Glossy takes a while to try, even for quick drying Stazon. Then, we took a crayon and colored a little inside the flower and butterfly. When we sponged ink over then, where the crayon is resists the ink. Yoyo Yellow was used over the butterfy and flower, and Tempting Turquoise in all the other areas. You end up with green in a few areas from combining the Turquoise & Yellow. Take a Kleenex or paper towel and rub over the crayoned images to remove extra ink. When dry, add the small black flowers filling in the extra spaces. Add ribbon, and oval greeting.

Stamping on glossy takes a little practice and a light touch! Give it a try!!

Checking In

Hello all, wanted to check in. Nothing stamped to share, sorry! Hopefully this weekend. We made it to the end of baseball finally! That hasn't lightened the schedule though very much!

I wanted to remind you all the the retiring list for stamps is out. You can view it here by page number or here for alphabetical. And a very important note on retiring accessories. The official list comes out Monday, but some items will sell out very quickly. While I don't know everything that will be on the list, I do know EVERYTHING with the current In Colors WILL BE on the list. Unfortunately, 2 of the ribbons (Double Stitched Blue Bayou & Purely Pomegranate) are already gone! So, if any of those In Color items are on your, list CONTACT ME TODAY!!!! Remember too that many of our Designer Papers and Simply Scrappin Kits also have those colors in them. Also, remember the current Hodgepodge Hardware kits are retiring and they are currently 25% off!! One kit goes a long way, and $20.96 is a GREAT price!

That's all I can think of for now! I better go get ready for work (YUCK!!). I'd rather be stampin'!

Popsicle Cards

I was inspired by the creativity of Patty Bennett for this last Club Project. I was actually very stuck on what to do, until I remembered these! There have been several versions floating around, but Patty took time to do directions. Which helped me tremendously because I was VERY sleep deprived right before club last week!

Here are the versions I came up with:




These are alot of fun and quite simple! I wanted to mention to my club ladies though, that we didn't do the stick right! I was sleep deprived-please remember that! I had them on the back of the card-wrong! Thread them through on the inside, under the white layer. See the link above to Patty's directions if you don't see what I'm saying! They work fine the way we did them, the stick will just be a little more hidden the other way!

Thank you to my club ladies!! I've had lots of fun the last 6 months. My best creativity comes out while coming up with the projects for club! I'm looking forward to the next round!! I'm headed upstairs to work on my room. The ladies are coming here in a few weeks-YIKES!!! Just like with stamping though, I work best under pressure and when I have a reason! Save up your $$ ladies-I'm digging out retired sets by the BOXES!!!!!

July Special-Hardware 25% off!!

The July Special from SU! is that the 3 Hodgepodge Hardare kits in the current catalog are 25% off. Regular price is $27.95, Sales price is $20.96. Each set has approximately 138 pieces!! This is your last chance to get them too-SU! has told us those finishes will NOT be in the new catalog. I would expect some sort of hardware, just not these exact ones!

Click here to view more a listing with descriptions and page numbers. I will see if I can't dig up or create some samples with the different ones. This special actually goes thru the end of the current catalog, August 10. BUT, I just noticed, it says WHILE SUPPLIES LAST as these products are retiring. Contact me TODAY if you are interested in getting a set.

A Day Late-more Decor Elements info!

Sorry, I was a bit under the weather yesterday. Summer colds are not fun!! I'm feeling much better this evening though, especially since the baseball game we were supposed to drive an hour to got cancelled!!

Here is the Decor Elements brochure!! Click it to view the entire thing! Remember this is Phase 1-more to come soon! SU! has also added a video tutorial that you can see here, and also instructions here. Instructions come with each item, but in case you want to see before, or if you misplace them! I will add the link to the brochure on my side bar so you can find it easily! It will always be available through the Customer side of the SU! website, or through my demo site also.