Nature's Secret

My stampin' buddy, Teri came over last week and we stamped. Well, she stamped and I stared at stamps and finally came up with this. She made a bunch of cute things, and I only managed this. But, I did decide on the basic design for my Christmas card, and that is a MAJOR accomplishment this far away from Christmas for me! We are going to start on those very soon and I can't wait!

For the card pictured above, I stamped it in Soft Suede and colored the flower with pastels. The background stamp is one of my favorites, called Sanded. Thanks to Teri for taking the picture and sending it to me!

FAMOUS!

So, I'm feeling just a little bit famous right now. Click here to see why and also for a GREAT coupon (don't wait...good today and tomorrow only!). If you refuse to watch Oprah, like I do, it's even better! (Evil laugh...)

Thanks to Erin for helping us out. I don't know Erin personally, but for great deals, that is the place to go!

Autumn Splendor

I made these cards about a month ago, and then our computer got a bad virus, so I couldn't get them posted. I kind of forgot about them after that!

I saw a card similar to this on another blog and then simplified it for a swap I was participating in. I used Crystal Effects on the leaf to get the shiny look. The Designer Series Paper I used for both cards is called Autumn Meadows. I really like all of the colors and patterns in the pack. The stamp set is called Autumn Splendor.

On this leaf, I embossed it, then colored it with a couple of different colors of Watercolor Crayons and an Aquapainter.

Fox 8 Friday Morning

Watch Fox 8 Friday morning from 7-9 if you have a minute. Our high school band will be performing. Kyle plays the alto sax! I'm not sure if you'll get a glimpse of me and my awesome band mom friends or not. ;)

Out of the Box

This is a really fun new set called Out of the Box. I loved it the second I saw it. It has several items that can pop out of the box. I'm sure you'll be seeing more! This isn't a favorite card at all. Just a quick thrown together one. I had this background leftover from a past class. The greeting "Hello Baby" comes from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Stamps for Sale

I've updated my Stampin' Up! "Stamps for Sale" on Craig's List. Let me know if you are interested in anything.

(There is also a link on the right sidebar.)

Medallion

I didn't place an order from the new catalog until August! That is a record for me. This is the first stamp I HAD to have. It is called Medallion. It is one of the "big mama" stamps, as I call them. As I look at other blogs, I think it is a favorite among a lot of stampers. The greeting I've used is from Kind and Caring Thoughts. Colors are Taken with Teal and Certainly Celery.

The Designer Paper is called Kaleidoscope. As my sister and I went through the catalog over the phone, we both said that this paper wasn't "us", but we both loved it. It is a little bright for either of us, but in person I just love it and can't wait to use it more.

Forever Strong

While I'm impatiently waiting for someone to help me unload the camera, I'm going to recommend a movie to you. :) Before we left Utah, I bought four for the ride home to entertain the kids. Last week Brandon wanted me to watch a couple of them with him again. I HATE watching movies. It drives me crazy to sit that long doing nothing. We watched one that was okay, not great. Then he wanted to watch another one. I told him I'd watch for "a minute", but I was quickly hooked on this one.

Forever Strong..... I've linked it to the site so you can read more about it. It has a great message to it and is based on actual events. It probably isn't for young kids, but all of mine liked it. It is the best movie I've seen in a long time.

Grand Finale, pt 10

This is the last card from the Grand Finale class back in June. It is the same layout as this card that I showed quite a while ago. The Whisper White Organza ribbon was definitely a highlight! It is so pretty and shiny in person. Perfect for wedding invitations. Everyone liked how the Big Shot Movers & Shapers Die worked to get the piece cut out. I've explained it on the previous card, so I won't explain it again, but it is still really cool! :)

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It has been an unbelievably crazy week! Two of the boys have had birthdays, a Primary Quarterly Activity to plan and pull off, Marching Band started, plus three migraines! I'm hoping things calm down a little very soon.

Grand Finale, pt 9

Part nine of the Grand Finale was this card. It used the Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper, which has a little bit of texture to it. I really like the new papers that have this feature! There were a few different choices on the larger piece of patterned paper. The flowers in the background were stamped with the Versamark pad. The border was punched with the Eyelet Border Punch. One more class card to go!

Man Card!

"Man cards" are always a challenge! As stampers, we tend to want to pretty them up a bit, no matter what. For the most part, I think this one would qualify as a man card. I used the Big Shot to get the neat texture on the olive and navy papers. I roughed up the edges of the olive paper (which comes from an old pack of Designer Series paper called Bali Breeze) with the Cutter Kit. The stamps sets I used are Lovely Labels, On Your Birthday, and the So Swirly wheel.

Grand Finale, pt 8

On this card, I used the greeting that comes in the set we used, Fifth Avenue Floral (a favorite!). Everyone was able to choose a greeting that they liked, however. The colors I used were Almost Amethyst and Lovely Lilac. I felt like the colors blended together too much, even though they are very different. I ended up misting the vanilla card stock slightly with a spray bottle filled with water. It made a big difference and separated the colors and made them stand out from each other a lot more. After it had dried, I layered the pieces together. This ended up being one of my favorite cards from the class...probably because of the colors!

We used the Tearing Edge of the right side of the Lovely Lilac card stock. If anyone needs one of these great tools, I happen to have a new one for sale. I can't remember how I ended up with an extra, but I'd love to sell it to you!

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Also..... for those that use Blogger, have you been having problems with the Posting Options lately? Everytime I've gotten something ready to post ahead of time for the last couple of months (for a future date), it never posts. I haven't had that problem until lately.

Grand Finale, pt 7

This is the seventh card we made in my last class. We ended up making the pink one in class. I had planned the red one and then realized we were using the red ink pad on another card and had to switch. That always happens at the last minute! I think I have everything planned so precisely...oh well!

We used heavy duty tin foil and ran it through the Big Shot to get this look. We used one of the Texturz Plates. It is a neat and impressive look. Once in a while you get a hole through the tin foil (which is why the "heavy duty" is necessary), but you just use a little creative layering at that point. When you layer the foil to the black card stock, it is important to put your adhesive onto the black card stock, rather than the foil, because you will push out all of the impressions. Just place your adhesive about 1/8" in from the edge of the card stock and you'll be fine.

We watercolored the flowers. They come from the Echoes of Kindness set, which was a hostess set from the last catalog. The Rhinestone Brad added just the right touch to top it off.

Grand Finale, pt 6

This card was one of the easiest cards from the Grand Finale class, but definitely a favorite! Many ended up ordering the Branch Out set after seeing and using it. It includes a few other stamps than what you see here. It is a cute one, and pretty versatile for the different seasons of the year.

Scout Camp

Brandon and I left around noon yesterday to spend the evening with the other three boys and Richard at scout camp. I really look forward to "family night" each year. It is a three hour drive to get there, which I really don't look forward to at all. One of the families always stays overnight in a local motel, so we did that this year. What a great idea! We got there around check-in time and he had time to swim with another family for a while.

We went to dinner with the scouts, visited their camp for a bit, then watched their skits. This is always my favorite part. They did a great job! It was one I had seen before, but you never get tired of them, and each troop does them a little differently. I'm so impressed with how this particular camp handles everything. The volunteers that are there each year are just wonderful.

Afterwards we went back to their campsite for a while and OOPS! - - no "s'mores" supplies! That could be my fault. It's a tradition, and I think maybe I've brought them every year. ??? Well, I forgot them this year. I did make cookies though. Not a good substitute when all the little kids (and little and big scouts) just want to roast marshmallows. Mental note for next year!

We had a good night's sleep (sort of....a baby screamed for much of the night close to our room) and got up and swam for a couple of hours again. I got some reading time in. I *finally* started reading The Work and The Glory books. I know I'm the only person that hasn't read them. It took me forever to get into the first one, but now I'm half way through the second. My grandma gave them all to me as they came out.....well, up until she passed away. I think I ended up not having the last three, which I've already purchased because Richard read them all one summer. Her inscription in the first one says something like "Thanks for giving us those two cute little boys!" It was in 1992, I think! You have NO CLUE how happy she probably is that I'm finally reading them! :)

Grand Finale, pt 5

Card five from the Grand Finale class came from my sister's brilliant mind. I actually combined the inside and outside of two different cards of she had made to make one card. She did it in blue. I was trying to use a wide variety of colors and already had some blue planned, so I used the Tangerine Tango and Apricot Appeal.

The "spring" on the inside is the 1 3/4" circle punch cut in a spiral. It is attached with Glue Dots, and each of the flowers and the butterfly are also attached with a Glue Dot.

Thanks to Teri for taking pictures of my cards for me!

Last Day to Order!

The last day to order from the current SU Catalog is TODAY. Let me know if you need anything!

New Sets!

For the stampers who came to the last class, we'll steer clear of Grand Finale samples for a minute and show something new!

The two sets I used on this card will be in the new catalog, which begins on Wednesday. The flower design is from a set called Kind & Caring Thoughts. It is a Level 3 Hostess Set. The circles come from a very popular new set called Circle Circus. I say it is already popular because when I held my downline swap a week ago, nearly everyone signed up to use that particular set. It will be a hot one!

I've used three of the new "In Colors" here. Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede and Dusty Durango. The In Colors all have coordinating markers this year! I used the Soft Suede to color the tips of the flowers, directly on the rubber, before stamping. I also used a new punch, called Modern Label Punch.

Grand Finale, pt 4

This card was one of the more simple ones we made at last week's class. The cupcake comes from the Darling Dots hostess set. The birthday greeting is a single stamp, found on the "Under $10" page at the back of the catalog. Everyone who attended the class received a free catalog if they wanted one, so you can all look it up easily! You can also see it in the online catalog.

Grand Finale, pt 3

My Grand Finale class was held on Friday. I ended up with 22 signed up. One forgot (she wasn't a happy camper!), and one couldn't make it, so I had 20 that attended. Things went quite smoothly for such a large group.

This is one of the cards we made. I'm calling it card #3 because I've shown you two previously, here and here. I'll show the other seven in the upcoming days.

I got this card idea from Mary Fish's blog. I loved it the minute I saw it. My favorite part is the vase, which is made from the wide oval punch. The bottom of the vase is just one side of the oval, cut off! Those cute little flowers are made from the Big Shot and the Daisies die cut. We used the Big Shot a lot! I can't praise that tool enough!!!

LOVE this!

I wish I was smart enough to put this You Tube video right on my blog, but I'm not. If you haven't seen Jon Schmidt's video of Taylor Swift's Love Story yet, you have to see it. I've been watching it for about a week and I just love it!

P.S. Jon looks like Richard's brother!

A Fascinating Gadget...

I've owned the Movers & Shapers Curly Label Die (for the Big Shot) for months, but haven't opened it. Quite frankly, the thing scared me a little! I knew I wanted to use it for my Grand Finale class so I decided I better start playing with it. FUN! This is my first attempt with it.

Here is the inside. I used the coordinating Cute & Curly stamp set and Punch to go with it.

This is what the die looks like. The purple part is a very strong magnet. You can move it around anywhere and it will stick while you run it through the Big Shot. The instructions say to cut through only one layer on this die, but I did layer the Walk in the Park Designer Paper on the card first and then run it through. It worked fine. Next time, I would put the card face down on the die instead of face up. The stitching around the cut out looks a little nicer on the inside than it does on the outside.

This die will actually cut out your card and score it too. I find the scoring nice, but the cutting kind of annoying. I already had my card cut, and it trimmed it a little more. Not a big deal at all, but I just think it is weird that it does that. If you have the Big Shot, or are thinking of getting it, I would recommend this die. It is a really neat one!

As demonstrators, we were able to pre-order several things that will be available in the new catalog beginning July 1st. One of the items was more shapes for this die. There is a star, heart, a scallop oval and another new type of punch. The name of them is Punch Shapes, so they all coordinate with our current punches. Mine are on their way!

No One Like You

I used one of the Simply Sent Card Kits on this card. I think these kits get overlooked by die-hard stampers. I loved this particular stamp set, called No One Like You, from the minute I saw it though and just got it recently. The kits are made for newer stampers, because they come with everything you need to get started including stamps, ink, paper, envelopes, ribbon, embellishments and adhesive. I used my own paper, etc. for this card rather than what came with the kit, however. I made this card for my monthly church swap group. I really like how it turned out.

Last Chance List Changes

I sent out my June Newsletter to everyone yesterday, and there has been a few changes to the "Last Chance" lists today. Here they are:

The following stamp sets have been removed from the Last Chance stamp list and will be available for purchase from the dormant list during the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog sales period.

114494 Forever
114492 Beautiful Baby
114486 Birthday Wish
114490 Glad Friends
114498 Flowers in Silhouette
114496 Celebrations
114488 Fun Flowers

Also, the following items were added to the Last Chance accessories list and are available for purchase while supplies last.

116209 Note of Thanks
116210 Birthdays Count

Remember that I receive an updated Last Chance Accessories List each day around 6:00 p.m. Let me know if you need a copy. Several items are already sold out!

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IN COLOR INFO

We've also been told it may be beneficial to keep In Color products (inks, papers, etc.) on hand after they retire. I know most customers do, but I've always sold mine once they retire. SU has indicated they may come up with some new products in the future that incorporate some of these past colors, so it would be nice to have the coordinating items on hand. Just a heads up for ya!

Another Grand Finale Card

This is the second and probably the last card I'll be showing for my Grand Finale Class. We'll be using the new Circle Scissor Plus (awesome!) on this one.

The class will be held on Friday, June 19 from 7-10 p.m. These cards are a little more ......um......detailed, than what we usually do. I don't want to use the word hard, because none of it is hard at all! They just might take a few more steps than usual. This class is a great deal and I'm sure you'll be glad you came.

On some cards, such as this one, you'll be able to choose your greeting or leave it blank. On the other card I've shown you (see here), there isn't a choice because the greeting matches the rest of the card so well.

The class is getting full, but so far we still only have around two people signed up per card, so that isn't a big deal at all. See complete class details on the right sidebar, and let me know if you have other questions.

Remember: You must sign up and be paid by June 8th in order to be included in the class preparations! Thanks to everyone who has already done so. I look forward to seeing you for my last stamp class as a demonstrator!

May 31 ~ Last chance

Remember: Sunday, May 31 is the last day for the May Specials!

1) Buy 3, get 1 FREE on any of our Designer Series Paper or Textured Card Stock.

2) Become a demonstrator for just $75.

3) Get the new Jumble Alphabet for 20% off.

Click here to order online, or contact me at my email address on the left sidebar.

Stampin' Up! on You Tube

Stampin' Up! has recently created a You Tube channel. I've posted some of the videos on the sidebar of my blog, or you can visit them here.

Echoes of Kindness & Oval All

For this pretty card, I stamped the flowers on watercolor paper in VersaMark ink. I applied Stampin' Pastels with a Q-tip. I think this technique is called Poppin' Pastels, but I get the many pastel techniques (and there are many) very confused! It is so neat to watch the pastels attach to the clear ink. The flowers come from the Echoes of Kindness hostess set and the greeting comes from Oval All in the Occasions Mini Catalog. This is my favorite set from that catalog. I also love the new scallop oval punch you see here.

Echoes of Kindness

I made this card with the Echoes of Kindness set. It is a Level 2 Hostess set. I stamped on the watercolor paper and colored with an Aqua Painter. The Designer Series Paper (remember the great sale this month!) I used is Walk in the Park from the Occasions Mini Catalog. This particular pattern is a little wild, but I think I calmed it down a little with the layering......I hope!

Teacher Appreciation Night

We held our Teacher Appreciation Night at church a couple of weeks ago. I thought I'd update those of you who had asked about it previously.

As a reminder, each of the kids, ages 3-18 that wanted to participate invited one of their favorite school teachers to be honored. It turned out better than any of us could have possibly imagined! All that worry for months and it was fine. I'm sure the worry helped to make it fine, but anyway... If we do it again, we'll know a little more about what to do and what not to do. I've kept track! I may need some kind of sedative to go through this again, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it! ;)

Judging by the amount of chairs filled, people standing, and plates and cups used ;) we had around 100 people in attendance.

We were sitting behind Brandon's teacher (he is the only one of my kids that participated) and just as it was beginning, she turned to me and said "I can't believe anyone would do this for us!" She didn't know I had anything to do with planning it. Here I'd been thinking that it was just another thing the teachers had to work into their schedules, and by the end of the evening, I realized how grateful they were that we had put the whole thing together. Most of them stayed around an hour after it was finished and thanked us over and over.

A school board member from our ward and our bishop gave short talks. Afterwards we showed the video that we made of all the kids telling why they picked the teacher they did. It was GREAT! Everyone giggled through the whole thing. The kids were so cute. Definitely a highlight of the evening!

One challenge was getting all of the kids that participated and the teachers that came together for a picture at the end.

Brandon invited a past teacher. He had this particular teacher in Kindergarten and again in 2nd grade. She is just awesome!

When I got home from running errands the day after, there was a message on the phone from a local floral shop saying to look on the front porch. I found this cute arrangement from a sweetie in our ward thanking me for putting things together for the program. SO nice!

May Stampin' Up! Specials

Three great specials going on this month!

Click here and here to find out more about them.

Oval All

I've been saving this card to show for quite a while! We'll be making it at the next class on June 19th (however everyone may not make the exact same color). I made this for a recent swap. It uses the new Oval All stamp set and new Oval Punch, along with the Walk in the Park Designer Series Paper. All of these items are from the new Occasions Mini Catalog.

I also used the Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions Die with the Big Shot.

May Special Preview

~MAY STAMPIN' UP! SPECIAL~

May is National Scrapbooking Month. To celebrate, Stampin' Up! will have two great promotions and I'm giving you a preview!

1) A new double-mounted alphabet called Jumble Alphabet will be available for 20% off during May only. It will be available again in the new catalog in July. It's cute!

2) Buy three packs of Designer Series Paper (including Specialty Designer Series Paper) or 12" x 12" Textured Card Stock, and get one FREE!

You know I'm taking advantage of this! :)

Graduation Cards

I made these graduation cards for the monthly swap group I'm in. I used the Great Grads set. It is the only graduation set I have, but it sure comes in handy. I looked up the schools for everyone that was participating so I would know what their school colors were. Yeah - I'm a stalker!

I used the Walk in the Park Designer Series Paper from the Occasions Mini Catalog (available thru June 30) on the bottom of each card. It is a great set of paper, with some spring designs, plus some that are more versatile for any occasion.

Special Thank You Card

I've been working for a couple of months on a project that is consuming my every thought! The kids at our church are inviting their favorite teacher to a Teacher Appreciation Night. I seriously go to sleep thinking about it and wake up thinking about it. It is still two more weeks away!

Anyway, things are *finally* starting to come together. It has been kind of a struggle, but last Wednesday, we had the night set aside to video each of the kids that chose to participate. They gave a short explanation of why they chose the teacher they did. They did such a good job! After that night, I finally felt like things were going to work out. The kids are excited about everything, so I really hope we have some teachers come. That is my biggest concern at this point. We have a few RSVP's, but not a ton. I made reminders to send out tomorrow, along with an agenda for the evening, so that may help. Teachers are just busy too, so that makes it hard.

This card is for the man that did the videoing for us. He was visiting our ward a couple of weeks ago and volunteered to do it. We had originally planned to do a video, and then it got cancelled (NOT happy = ME!). I said we really needed to find a way to make it work and I'm not sure how it came up, but this man ended up volunteering. He was so patient with the kids. The Primary President asked me to make a card for all them to sign at church tomorrow, so I came up with this. It is a full sheet of paper folded in half so there would be room for everyone.

Thanks to everyone who has helped with this project!

God's Beauty Card

I made this card for a swap. Sometimes when I'm doing a swap, I try to get rid of paper or accessories that I know I won't be able to utilize in a class. This paper is some that I had been avoiding. I like it, but knew it wouldn't work for a class. It is from the Urban Garden Designer Series Paper. All of the Designer Series Paper comes in 12x12 sheets. This particular piece has the flowers on one end and the stems go all the way to the other end. I had opened the end of the paper packet with the stems, so I didn't realize it had the cute flowers on the other end of it. I was going to just "make do" with these odd stripes, but then saw the cute flowers and figured I could make something fun with my new butterfly from the God's Beauty set (see set below). It is a Level 1 Hostess Set in the Spring/Summer Catalog, if anyone is interested in trying to earn it.

For this card I stamped the butterfly in Black StazOn ink on card stock vellum and colored on back with an AquaPainter and Baja Breeze refill ink (since we don't have a coordinating marker). I attached the butterfly with the cute Rhinestone Brad. Super easy!

Cards for Next Class

I've got another class coming up on April 24th! For this one, we are using the Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin' Kit to make *32* cards! Everyone who attends will make TWO of each of the cards pictured below. You can see details for the class on the right sidebar. These cards measure 4x4 when finished. The class includes a package of standard size envelopes to go with them.

I made all of these this morning. They are so fun and quick to put together! I didn't stamp any greetings on mine. You'll be able to add greetings if you'd like to, or you can take them home and add them as you need them. These colors are so nice and springy! I'm really looking forward to this class.

Sale-A-Bration Class, card 5

This is our final card from class. It would be great for a graduation card, or birthday or any occasion where you are giving something special inside (see below). This set is called Yummy and is one of the FREE ones available during Sale-A-Bration. The flourishes and words on this stamp are actually one stamp. It fits perfectly on the Top Note Die, as you can see. To line it up just right, we used the Stamp-a-ma-jig. I think I calmed some fears of this awesome tool that evening. It is just great once you know how to use it properly! The Designer Series Paper you see (Delicate Dots) is also from the FREE items available.
On the inside, we used the Big Shot to cut out the Scalloped Envelope Die. You can fit a gift card inside. It has to stand up, but that is ok! They really turned out cute. If you wanted to make up your own card on the computer, you could design something that would fit in the envelope, but a standard gift card that you buy is just a little too big.

Sale-A-Bration Class, card 4

Here is the fourth card we made in the Sale-A-Bration Class. You may recognize the design from a card I made a couple of months ago. You can see it here. I love that card made with the Pacific Point color, but I didn't have enough of that ribbon, so I used a color chart to come up with these different colors. On almost all of the cards this time, I tried to use colors that we don't normally put together. I liked the results!

Don't forget that you only have until March 31st to take advantage of the FREE items available during Sale-A-Bration! Order Online or by calling or emailing me. (If you order online, just don't forget to add your free items!)

Sale-A-Bration Class, card 3

This is the third card we made at my recent class. If you look at page 10 in the Sale-A-Bration brochure, you'll see where the idea came from. My sister also sent me a card using the same idea but different colors. I wanted to use some spring-y colors (I'm SO ready for spring!) and I didn't have any cute buttons, so I opted for the cute flower slides from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware set. All of the stamping, except for the greeting is embossed.

Sale-A-Bration Class, card 2

This is another card from last week's class. It uses the Polka Dot Punches Sale-A-Bration set. I really think this is my favorite from the mini catalog. I certainly have used it the most and I think it is definitely the most versatile! I also love the Delicate Dots Designer Paper that is available. We've used some on this card. This is one of my favorite patterns in the pack. This card also uses the Congrats stamp set. I set out a few greetings so everyone could choose the one they wanted.

This card has a window cut on the front, with a piece of contact paper on the back of it. We sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds Glitter on the sticky front. The inside view is below. This fun technique always provides a "WOW!" -- even for the experienced stamper.

Some of the guests at the class asked for a reminder of which circle to punch *where* on this card, so that is below.

Circle Punch instructions for THIS card:

1 3/8" Circle Punch: punch a circle in the front of the card, in a scrap of Chocolate Chip, and punch a circle out of Baja Breeze.

1 1/4" Circle Punch: punch out the flower design for the inside of the card and layer it on the Baja Breeze circle.

1 3/4" Circle Punch: *around* the Chocolate Chip 1 3/8" hole you already punched out of the scrap, center the 1 3/4" punch and punch it out to make the circular frame for the front of the card.

DONE!

Sale-A-Bration Class, card 1

This is the first card we made at last week's class. The idea came from my sister. She had used green in place of the yellow, but I needed to make a change due to lack of supplies. Everyone made two of each card. They made one like this and then one with a vanilla "flower piece" and a vanilla piece of Styled Hodgepodge Hardware. What I love about this card is that the flower piece is layered on the inside of the card, so you still see it when it is opened up. I also love the "punch" of Pacific Point blue. That is a great color!

The Botanical Blooms sets is available for FREE through March 31st, with a $50 order. If you are ordering online, don't forget to add your free choice! If it is forgotten, I am not able to add it later.