Monthly Archives: July 2013

Jul23

Another guest swapper

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Hello again! I bet you thought that since convention was over, I forgot about sharing the rest of my swaps. Oh contraire mon frere! I did not forget! I wanted to share this next fabulous card made by guest stamper, Stephanie R. But before I do… I must apologize to guest stamper Stephanie M. cause I didn’t think of taking pictures until all of hers were gone. They were good and went fast…. ugh. Oh well.  Anyway… back to the card… here it is

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Cute! She used that fabulous modern melody DSP. It’s a whole pack of DSP that is black and vanilla. Which means it goes with EVERY COLOR WE HAVE. And. Right now until the end of July, all DSP papers are buy 3 get one free. You totally could load up on this cause it is so versatile.

Anyway. I love the card. The colors… the butterflies. Such a nice job.

Stay tuned for more swaps…

Jul20

Best of…Greeting!

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As you read this, I’m winding down the convention madness. Which is sad cause I love convention madness. But this is a lovely little stamp set to help my hafta-go-home-and-join-the-real-world blues. Hum.

Anyway, this set brings back a little nostalgia cause that “you made my day” stamp….was in one of the very first SU! sets I bought. Back when you could choose foam mount or wood mount. I got foam mount cause I was cheap. Cause I was just outta college and no mo’ money.

Anyway, being that this super cute greeting set is, well, greetings and no images, I decided to pair it with Flower Shop. Cause it is a cute  set. Six flowers with a matching punch. (SU! is offering these as a bundle, so they are 15% off if you buy the bundle.)  The flowers are great cause they are all the same shape. They each just have a different feel depending on their style. So. I thought they’d go perfect with the greeting set to make a super cute little pack of 3×3 note cards. And. Just a tip. If you purchase the Flower Shop bundle (stamps and punch), I might suggest that you head over to Maui Stamper to look at her post at how to line up the stamps with the punch. The stamps aren’t symmetrical so they do take a little fussing to figure out how to stamp them so you can punch them.  Maui Stamper will show you how to mark them so it will be easy.

Anyway… here you go…

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Again, excuse the improvising. Made these while I was in Kansas and didn’t have all my stamp supplies or photographing accoutrements. So these are very dark.  On a floral background.  Cause this is what my mom, Quilter Extraordinaire, had in the way of white fabric.  (???? a table cloth????)  (BTW… I have a new idea for a photo booth I am very excited about so hopefully pics will get even better.)

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I think this is my favorite greeting stamp. Cause it reminds me of the good ole’ days….

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Brown sugar flowers. Yeah, I know…strange. But it works. And wouldn’t this be nice tucked in as a surprise in your husband’s wallet or kid’s lunch?

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Washi! My first time using it on a card. Love it! And the stamp inks and stamps on it beautifully.  And this thank you is a perfectly good all around thank you. You need it.

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For a wedding gift…

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Memory lane aside… this happy day image is the new addition to the set and I love it. So cute.

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And who wouldn’t want a cheery note telling them they are in someone’s thoughts.

So. That’s my take on the best of greetings. I think it is a super easy to use, great universal set. And a steal at $14.95…

Now you are headed over to Deb Lehigh to see her vision for this awesomely versatile set…

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If that link doesn’t work, here are all the stops:

Jul19

Convention 2013 Day 2

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No… we didn’t warp ahead in time. I didn’t get a post done yesterday. (Shocker). I was TIRED. Got home from KS on Monday and left for UT on Tuesday. My body has NO IDEA where it is or what time zone it is in. But. Anyway….

Wanted to share with you some pics. Maui Stamper got us these fabulous glasses we have been wearing at all the sessions

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Aren’t you jealous? They certainly draw attention. Sometimes we forget we are wearing them and as we walk by people they smile and laugh. It took me 2 days to realize they probably weren’t smiling in response to my sparkling personality.  However, I think it was those glasses and a good conversation we had with “Anne’s second Sara that scored us these :

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We get to go on the am and meet with some steam set designers! Do you hear a chorus of nee-ner nee-ners in the distance?  Cause you should :).  I will let you know how it is….

I wanted to share another swap with you…  this one comes from guest stamper Bronwyn T. She is my down line and coworker. It took working with her for about 4 years but I convinced her to join the stampin frenzy.  I offered to my down line to send a few swaps with me and I would swap them on the floor. Here is her swap….

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I absolutely love it. Love that new designer series paper. Love the design. Love it.

I also wanted to show you an INSANELY cute and… well, just plane insane project that one of the Artisan Design Team members did…. I do not have any idea how people come up with these things….
Beautiful.

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Also… we broke a Guinness Book of World Records yesterday for the most cards mailed from a single location at one time. Here is Anne and I posing by the mail truck. They needed one to take all the cards away…

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Oh. And here is a picture of what greeted us when we arrived yesterday for the first opening session. Mind you, we arrived an hour early….

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This is the line. :). Lots of fun!

OK. It’s time for bedy-bye. Gotta get up early! Nee-ner ….nee-ner…..

Jul13

So… I know…. it’s an addiction

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BUT I LOVE BAGS.

All kinds of bags.  Cool paper sacks.  I’ve not met a tote I didn’t like.  Hand bags.  ALL OF IT.  In college, my roommate and I decorated our dorm room with different kind of shopping bags from every store we liked.  The entire room.  It was awesome.

Anyway, what does this have to do with today’s blog tour???

STAMPIN’ UP has just introduced the absolute most coolest, bestest, little packaging bag.  And, yes, I should be excited about the stamp set we are using… Chalk Talk (and, I AM. We’ll get to that in a second.) But I nearly fainted from delight when I saw these little chevron printed bags in the catalog.  And, they are a steal at 10 for 3.95.

Here it IS:

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(Ignore the fancy background…  we were having to improvise)

 

Anyway, I LOVE THESE BAGS.  And, when Chalk Talk was chosen as the set, I knew immediately what I had to do.  I also LOVE this set.  And the coordinating framelits.  The framelits are what make the set AMAZING too… cause they all cut out perfect tags.  Christmas is going to be amazing this year with these sets and accessories  AND BAGS.

I digress…

The stamp was SCREAMING to do the chalkboard technique (get it… Chalk Talk??)  Black background, white embossing powder.  Or you can do white ink and clear embossing powder if you are into improvising…  which I have had to be, as of late…

And, the chevron bag pairs PERFECTLY with the new chevron ribbon.  Which is a DREAM….  This one is Calypso Coral.

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I also used the framelits for a mask.  See the orange splotch in the bottom right corner?  I used a framelit from the tags framelit set to be a mask for a sponging the calypso ink (you can see where I screwed up and some of the sponging got outside the mask–some people may find this a flaw… I prefer to think of it as my humanity…)  To prevent this, you could use a post-it note on the sides of the framelit so the sponging doesn’t get where you don’t want it.  ANYWAY, I stamped over the sponged portion with another stamp from the Chalk Talk set.  I’m telling you, this is the perfect gift-giving combo.  Wouldn’t you love a pair of earrings, a nail polish, or a Stampin’ Up! gift certificate given in this package??

 

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A close up of the masking…

 

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And, some tissue tops it off!!  I am head over heels….  🙂

 

Now, off you go to see what Deb Leigh did with this fabulous stamp set….  Enjoy!!

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If that icon doesn’t work, click on Deb Leigh’s link below:

Jul5

Lookie what I made

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So… there is this cake and cookie decorating store that offers cookie decorating classes and I’ve never had opportunity to take one till now. And… no… there aren’t any weddings I’m planning on… Isaac is not getting married… it just happens that the class that I could attend just happened to focus on weddings.  And this one focused on rolled fondant. And embossing fondant. Who knew you could do that in baking??!?  Anyway… here is what I made…

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And here are the close ups…

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This one… I actually freehanded the design cause I screwed up on the embossing… namely…it didn’t emboss so…

Here are the others…

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Do you see the shimmer?  The best part of this class is I learned how to use something called luster dust and cookie glitter.  I don’t know where that had been all my life, but… HOW FUN!!  Of course I had to buy some…

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Those swirlies were hard to do. We traced the embossed part with the icing bag… but I quickly learned my icing was too stiff and I’m not a fan of the #1 size tip. (Don’t know exactly what that means…. but don’t like it)

Here’s the last one:

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The bottom of this cake was practice using a flower tip. I still need more practice. 

All in all… a fun class. But took 2 hours to frost 4 cookies.  I need more practice.  I learned there are many similarities to card making.  But, unlike card making…. you get to eat your mistakes!

Jul1

And the winner is…

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Well… Hello… I owe you the winning graduation memory photo keeper!  This mini scrapbook album is the one that was selected by the project graduation committee for the students to make…

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My pictures didn’t come out all that great, but it’s supposed to be the graduation cap. And it opens…. first to this….

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Then to this….

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Here are closeups of the inside pages.

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This is super simple to make. It’s 2 12×6 papers (scored at six”) connected on a 3″ square piece of paper (it’s white in these pictures so it may be hard to see.). This white paper is scored on the diagonals and once across the middle.  Crease the score marks well.  The corner of each of the pages will fit on a “triangle” on your white paper. And it all folds up nice and neat. Embellish however you like.  I used silver glimmer paper and gray. Just to keep it simple.  The kids loved making these. The hardest part about all this was staying up all night. I realized from this experience that I am older than my brain believes…   🙂  and I have no business pulling all nighters.  Thanks to my good friend, Glenda, for coming and keeping me company…and keeping me awake!