Quick update

I also wanted to apologize again for not posting as much I usually do. My shoulder has been acting up on me for the last week and half, so when I do have a good moment I post, but when I don't I have been resting. Hopefully the pain will go away. I hope so, I have 2 stamping friends coming over today to stamp and hopefully I will have some new projects to share with you.

Gifts Received and Given

It's about a month later, but I wanted to post some gifts I have received from my friends. The first one comes from Debbie Modrowsky. It is a covered composition notebook, she made for me to put my convention notes in. It uses the retired Blue Bayou and Western Sky Designer Series Paper. She framed the title with our Styled Silver hodgepodge and used the ticket corner.

The next 3 projects come from my friend Colleen for my birthday. The All About You book she made for me is by far one of the most thoughtful and most amazing gifts I have ever received. Not only did she make the book for me, she put photos of my life and my family in it. She took pictures that I sent her links to, printed them out and put this in a coaster book that she bound on her own. I have to say I am touched. She even put pictures of my Special Guest Article that was done on me in the book as well as my published card in Stamp It! magazine.

The next projects made by her was a post it holder and a card. All the projects were done with our fabulous Bella Rose designer series paper. The stamp set Dream deJour was used in all three projects. The title on the All About You book was stamped in our Lovely Letters alphabet and embossed.

The next project is one I made for a co-worker. She loves Smarties. What better way to deliver them to put them in a metal tin I got in the Target dollar bins and decorated with our Happiness & Love rub-ons from Sale-a-bration. I put the smarties in a cello bag and tied it with our Regal Rose wide grosgrain ribbon.

Then the last project was magnetic bookmarkers I made for my customers to put in their bags with their purchases. I also made another version of the bookmarker with some retired designer series paper, Fall Flowers, for my own use. The book markers are made with the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set. The first bookmarker is made with Tangerine Tango color. The finishing touches was the scallop edge border made with our new punch and the natural button with linen thread. The second bookmarker uses quite a few retired accessories, besides the paper, I also put on the bookmarker our retired chocolate chip poly twill ribbon and a close to cocoa eyelet.

I hope you enjoyed the homemade gifts I shared with you. Hope it inspires you to make something homemade for the people in your life.

Some of my favorite new things

Here is some of my favorite new things that just came in. My overall favorite and must have was the Cheers to You stamp set! I am so happy we have a drink stamp set!!! Then comes the Rainbow Sherbert designer series paper. I love the fun summer colors in this paper series, tempting turquoise, green galore, apricot appeal and gable green. I have to say I love the new birthday greeting set, On Your Birthday. I colored in the drink with my Stampin' Write Markers and then punched it out with our new 1 3/4" circle punch. I made the scallop edge with our scallop edge punch. I put some Styled Silver brads from our Hodgepodge Kit to finish the card off. What a great fun birthday card!

My Stampin' Up! Order Just Came In!!

I am so excited my Stampin' Up! Order just came in! I got new stamps, new accessories, new punches, new designer papers, but my favorite thing of all is my new Big Shot! I absolutely love it. First, I'll start out with my new stamp sets and accessories I got. I have to say I didn't get as many as I normally would get. I had to budget myself with the Big Shot on the order as well as the alphabet die. 3 of the stamp sets in the picture below are hostess exclusive. So that just gives you a small idea of how much my order was to qualify for 3 hostess sets!

I got three of the new punches: Wide Oval, Scallop Square and 1 3/8" Circle. I punched out the new punches along side the existing punches so you can see a side by side comparison.

Now here come the Big Shot dies. The next two images show all the dies that come with the Big Shot Starter Kit. They are the Scallop Envelope, Top Note, Birds & Bloom and Join in the Cheer! They are all Stampin' Up! Exclusive Dies. You will be able to order the Big Shot and these dies come October 1st. The red dots on the flowers come from our Stampin' Up! circle punches. I just put them in the centers to give you an idea of how big the flowers are. Aren't they cute!

Then my favorite die of all the Serif Essentials. It has all 26 letters of the alphabet as well as the I belive the ? and ! I can't wait to use it on my scrapbook pages. Time ran out on me tonight otherwise that would have been the first I did tonight! I stamped the letter s from 3 of our alphabets to give you a size comparison for the Serif Essentials Sizzex Die.

I have to say thank God my friend Tracy was home tonight. The first time I used my Sizzex, I thought I was doing something wrong. First, it makes a crackling noise, then when the cutting pad comes out it has marks all over it. Then I had no idea how to use the multipurpose platform. She answered all my questions and put me at ease. Yes, it is suppose to make the crackling noise. Yes, the cutting pad will have marks on it. It will even curl with extended use. The mulitpurpose platform, you just use Tab 2 with the mulipurpose platform when using the Sizzlits, you open it like a book and then push it through until you get to the book binding edge. You do not take the book apart which was my first thought. I took a picture of my cutting pad to show you how it will look after a few times through the Big Shot, so you will not be alarmed when you get yours. So I didn't get my stamping done, but I am glad I got to play and share with all of you my new things. My stamps didn't even get mounted, I guess that will have to happen tomorrow.

Holy Ivy!

One more story I have to share before I head off to bed. When I was on the phone with my friend Tracy, I noticed something green coming from the top of the my curtains. Well what do you know the ivy that has been growing on the side of my house decided to come in between my window panes and then make it's way into the house. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow!

Stamping with Jessica

I got to spend the day stamping with my cousin Jessica. We decorated a notebook for her to use in school. It was great we ended up using some of my retired designer paper and chipboard to make her notebook. The great thing about the notebook it comes with a clear vinyl cover that protects the artwork. She first stamped her name with the Taffy Alphabet and then punched out the letters with the 1 3/8" inch circle punch. Next came a strip of Bashful Blue, Cutie Pie designer series paper and wide certainly celery grosgrain ribbon. Then she put cover the chipboard heart with some more Cutie pie and then she applied some retired Sale-a-bration Love & Happiness rub-ons. Then she tied grosgrain ribbons to the top of the notebook.

While she was working on her notebook, I decided to make a new notebook to write my notes in. I started with the Bella Rose Designer Series paper. I stamped the word notes with the Lovely Letters in Riding Hood Red ink and layered it on top of punched square punches. Next came a scallop edge made with Very Vanilla card stock. I embellished my notebook with two flowers I punched out with the five petal flower that I put a very vanilla ribbon threaded with linen thread. A wide chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon lines the left of the notebook. I then tied some chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon to the top of the notebook.

This Week's Color Challenge

Here is this week's color challenge: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy and Bravo Burgundy. I pulled out Deer Friends to make this week's card. I stamped the snowman and then took a q-tip to whip some of the ink off of the nose and then took my Stampin' Write Marker to color in the nose with Bravo Burgundy. The I pulled out my circle punches and my paper cutter and did some layering. Then the finishing touch was the edge made with the scallop edge punch and some wide brocade blue grosgrain ribbon.

Make sure to check out the following links for more ideas using the color combos of the week: Colleen, Debbie, Lorraine, Kelly, Chris, Traci, Dana and Tracy.

Bella Rose Wedding Cards

I apologize I haven't posted in the last couple of days. My shoulder has been acting up and I was just doing the bare minimum until it felt better. Today, I made 4 wedding cards using the Bella Rose designer series paper. Here they are. The first card was made uses the Always and Full of Life Stamp sets. The accessories are the Pretties Kit and White Taffeta ribbon. I made the scallop edge with my new scallop edge punch. I popped up one of the hearts with my Stampin' Dimensionals. The next card also uses the same heart and then I stamped with the greeting from the Fundamental Phrases stamp set and framed in the Styled Silver frame. Some pretties and a scallop edge finish it off.

The next card I introduced Baroque Motifs stamp set. The greeting comes from the Fundamental Phrases stamp set. The next card I stamped the greeting from the Baroque Motifs Stamp set and framed it pewter Hodgepodge Hardware. I made a coordinating envelope using the Envelope template.

Card for a co-worker

One of my co-workers is leaving this week. Part of me is jealous and wish I could be leaving as well. Part of me is sad because I am going to miss him. Here is a card I made for him. I used the star from the Fun & Fast Notes stamp set. I stamped in our new In Color, Baja Breeze. I used the star punch to punch out the star and then put a silver brad through the center. I attached the star to the larger star with a Stampin' Dimensional. I colored in parts of the image with my blender pens. Then I took my Punches Plus Classy Brass Template and dry embossed the stars onto a piece of card stock. Lastly, I stamped the greeting from the Full of Life stamp set. I am so happy this made it into the catalog. I just love this stamp set!

Home Decor Elements

Well I finally had a chance to play with the Home Decor Elements. I bought the Manhattan flowers and I have to say I can't believe how easy it is to apply. I put two of the flowers on a mirror which I tried to take a picture but with the camera flash and reflection, I have to say the picture didn't come out too great. Then the last flower, I put on a memo center I purchased. The flower was just was needed to dress up the memo center. I have to say I was in Walmart early today and I was walking around thinking wow that would look fabulous with a home decor element or our new rub-ons. Ordinary objects are taking on a whole new meaning nowadays with the release of so may wonderful products by Stampin' Up!

Eastern Blooms 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbook page

Here is this week's color challenge, Bordering Blue, Brocade Blue and Barely Banana. So the first thing I did was stamp the title in the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet. Next came the scallop edge border and the Barely Banana wide grosgrain ribbon. Next I stamped the flowers from the Eastern Blooms stamp seta and cut them out. The Barely Banana flowers I adhered a button to the center. The bordering blue flowers I popped up with a Stampin' Dimensional. Lastly the photo corner punch was put on the top right hand corner.

Make sure to check out the following links for more ideas using the color combos of the week: Colleen, Debbie, Lorraine, Kelly, Chris, Traci, Dana and Tracy.

Future Demonstrator

I was working downstairs yesterday when I had someone drop by who wanted to join me. I am so excited, my little niece wanted to stamp with me. Do we have a future demonstrator in the making? When she was done, she told my parents she made one for my mom and then another one for my dad and that they had to put it on refrigerator.

Manly Birthday Card

I had to make two birthday cards for two of my guy friends. Thank God, I have Big Bold Birthday because I don't know what I would have done to create a manly birthday card. I may have needed to dip into my retired stamp sets to create something. So here I stamped the candle and the bottom of the cupcake from the stamp set and cut them out. The frosting topping, I actually used half of my scallop punch and punched out the image from the retired Dashing designer series paper. Since I only needed a small piece of designer paper, I went through my scrap pile and found this paper that worked perfectly for what I needed it for. I then used my oval coluzzle to make a window card. First I used the oval shape through the front of the real red card stock card front. Then I took a piece of very vanilla for the top and made anothe oval shape. I adhered the vanilla on top of the real red card. Then I put a strip of dashing and real red on top and bottom. What a great way to use all the little scraps we can't bear to throw out.

12x12 Summer Scrapbook Page

Well I decided to take a break from Convention posting and post some of my work. I may still go through my convention swaps in a couple of days and post some of the fabulous swaps I got there, but for now here is my color challenge project for the week. This week's colors are Ruby Red, Brocade Blue and Summer Sun. Since I saw the cover of the August/September issue of Paper Crafts, I couldn't wait to have a project that I could do the same idea with. So I got my chance with this week's color combo. Here is the large oval punched layered with a little white flower punched by my Trio flower punch. In the center I put a coordinating brad. The top and the bottom of the page, I adhered some Brocade Blue wide grosgrain ribbon. The top ribbon, I made a tailored bow. The title was stamped with the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet. Make sure to check out the following links for more ideas using the color combos of the week: Colleen, Debbie, Lorraine, Kelly, Chris, Traci, Dana and Tracy.

Amazing Cards Spotted on Convention Boards

Here is a few of my favorite cards that I took pictures of on the Stampin' Up! convention boards. Even though some of the stamp sets are now retired, there is some great inspirational ideas. So let's break open those stamp sets and stamp pads and let's get stampin'!