I'm so happy!

Here's Esther and I fresh at our seats at the Hamilton Regional Conference. Although we were both tired from previous day activities, we couldn't help but look excited and chipper for this much anticipated event. By the time we took this picture we had already swapped many cardfronts with other Stampin' Up! demonstrators and the conference hadn't even officially begun.

While swapping cards who do I see but Shelli Gardner CEO and co-founder of Stampin' Up! I had to say hi and remind her of our meeting earlier in the year and how her insights gave me a broader perspective of the Stampin' Up! experience. Of course, as usual, she was gracious and kind and said "I thought I recognized your voice" which I suppose is a nice way of saying: "I don't remember your face at all!" Anyway, I told her I left my camera at the table (I was holding a whole lot of swap cards) and warned her that I would be back as I absolutely wanted to get a picture. She assured me that we had all day to get pictures. (By now a large crowd was forming around her) So, here are the pictures below.

I have to say the the regional conference did not disappoint. I enjoyed all the make and take projects, the workshop WOW demonstrations on stage, as well as the business tips. The energy in the room was so fun. I knew I had to stay a demonstrator just to enjoy moments such as this conference. Included in our conference fee was a beautiful stamp set from the holiday mini and they gave out free glimmer brads and lots of door prizes. My husband texted me a few times and all I could text back was "I'm so happy!" "I'm so happy!"

Mark Jessen, one of the staff presented a number of times and I think he makes the cutest little projects. Maybe the fact that he was practically the only man in the room made it even more endearing. Here's a little tag he demonstrated. So cute, so easy. I meant to go take a picture with him as well since I felt I knew him from watching all the training videos he's done but didn't get a chance.

I wish I had time to upload all the swap cards I received. If you want to see them, please drop by on my World Card Making day. I'll have them out to view and to touch.

If you want to really experience the full Stampin' Up! experience, make sure to contact me about starting your own Stampin' business. You will receive a free craft tote ($50 value) and a free, not yet released stamp set called Eat Chocolate if you sign up before Oct. 9th.

Conference highs

A quick post before I hit the sack. I'm getting picked up at 6am tommorrow to head out to Hamilton for the Stampin' Up! regional conference. It'll be my first time at a regional conference or any kind of Stampin' Up! conference for that matter. It's like a first date. I'm a little nervous. Will people think my swaps are too plain? Will I look too excited when I see Shelli Gardner? Will I not be dressed appropriately? (at a team meeting someone showed off their decor elements poncho and crazy pants they had made and worn to convension) Am I supposed to dress using designer series paper? Anyway, I think I will wear a real red t shirt and jeans.

Lyne gave me cards she made so that I can swap for her. Here's her cool card:

I'm already on a conference high because I was on a full day conference for my occupational therapy professional association. I went not expecting much. I was wrong! The keynote, introductory speaker was Heather Moyse. She was the gold medal bobsleigh pusher from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Did you know she is an occupational therapist? I have something in common with a gold medal bobsledder! Her talk was truly inspirational and reminded me that challenges in life can later become a significant factor in great success. She passed around her medal for us to see and touch but sadly it never made it to my table. I did make a point of taking a quick photo:

Today was a good learning day. I'm looking forward to a great stamping day tommorrow AND tommorrow is the day hubby is getting his truck so he will be very happy too!

Big shot fun

Here are a couple of other projects made with the assistance of my friend the Big Shot. The above card uses the lattice die and the beautiful wings embosslit. That embosslit results in such delicate butterflies and each roll through the big shot results in 5 different butterflies: each dry embossed with a different design.
The card below uses the new letterpress plate. Lots of Love. The debossed, inked image gives the look of an old fashioned letterpress. If you'd like to make these cards with your friends, make sure to contact me to book your own workshop.

big fun

The Mr. Big class was Big fun yesterday. I had a number of projects prepared. There was a lot of laughter due to some "difficult" portions of making the project. Such as sewing...me sewing is a very bad idea. Me trying to teach sewing is a far far worse idea. Fortunately we had sewer extrodinaire, Gail, at our class. See Leigh Ann holding Gail's fabric yo yo versus my fabric yo yo. Anyway, most of us still managed to turn it into a cute hairclip despite my pathetic sewing skills.

We also made darling milk cartons and a container to hold two of these big shotmilk cartons. Measurements such as 2 and 5/8" should be outlawed. How is a stampin' UP! demonstrator like me supposed to remember measurements like that?? Nonetheless, despite my telling two people the wrong measurements, we finally discovered the error and EVERYONE left with their finished project. Laughter, snacks, good conversation and stamping. Now that's a great afternoon!

Swaps arrived!

So excited yesterday when I saw hubby arriving with my big envelope from the mailbox. I knew my holiday mini swap cards had arrived. I was dying to see what other Canadian demonstrators had done with the holiday mini products. Here's a beautiful card using the Fireside Christmas set. It's hard to see but she watercoloured the image and then covered the whole square paper with iridescent ice embossing powder. Gorgeous! She also used the vintage wallpaper embossing folder for texture and spritzed it with the log cabin smooch spritz. The co-ordinating deck the halls dsp was a great touch. Looking at this card, I realize that it's the small subtle touches that give that extra wow factor. Come out to one of my upcoming classes to see all the swap cards up close.

Back to school

Here's the pencil holder I showed in an earlier post but embellished with the darling owl punch. This is the best punch because it's like getting seven punches for the price of one punch. The paper you need to make this pencil holder is 8.5X4.5. Score at 2" and 4" along the short side and score at 2" along the long side. Cut along the top middle score line but stop when you reach the other score line. This will be the flap that folds down. Snip off the small rectangle at the top. Fold and assemble with sticky strip. Don't forget the finishing touches of crimping the bottom and rounding the corners at the top.

Emboss resist twist

Here's a card using the emboss resist technique. I'm using Inspired by Nature heat embossed with white embossing powder. Then brayered layers of colour: cherry cobbler, pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, marina mist. The embossed portion resists the colour to give this stunning effect. The embosslit beautiful wings die was used to finish off with vellum butterflies stuck down with the two way glue pen.

A twist on the traditional emboss resist technique is a technique called emerging colour. Here's a card with the emerging colour technique. Can you guess how it was done? First stamp the background with a small solid image stamp in various colours. Then stamp on top with versamark in a larger solid image stamp then heat emboss in clear. Finally cover with a darker ink with the brayer. Wipe off the embossed portion with a moist kleenex.

The colours I used here are melon mambo, tempting turquoise, pumpkin pie. I think the cute tempting turquoise button in the middle totally makes the card! I love a little card candy.

Give the emerging colour technique a try. Then try it using some designer series paper. Cool huh?

If your name is Kevin, don't read this post

We have recently purchased my husband's dream vehicle. An F150 pick up truck. Yes, the kind that people buy because they have something to haul or tow. We don't have anything to haul or tow but my husband will feel very happy owning one in the colour blue flame (aka pacific point). His birthday is coming up next week. The truck is ordered and he could receive a call from the dealer any day saying the truck has arrived. I have been worried as I haven't made his card yet. Now I can rest easy. I copied this design off something I saw on the demonstrator idea website. Totally not my usual style of stamping but for my husband I figured he deserved all that extra cutting and tearing effort. Obviously the Loads of Love stamp set was perfect. I bought it and then realized I absolutely needed the accessories that go with it. Arrgh! Thank goodness for the new expedited shipping option. Okay, the cost was a little steep but it just allowed me to justify buying a lot more than just the loads of love accessories. Grin.

Tote-ally Awesome!

• This beautiful craft tote is FREE when you purchase your Stampin' Up! starter kit. Yes, I bought mine for $50 and I love it. You can get one free. Don't rub it in! It carries 12X12 scrapbook pages and album and a ton of accessories. The side pouches hold those big punches. Purchasing a starter kit means:
• receiving $375 worth of product and supplies for only $215 no tax and shipping
• you will get minimum 20% off all your orders for as long as you remain an active demonstrator
• you get to view and order from any new catalogues before the general public
• you get a free copy of new catalogues and mini catalogues
• you get to be a part of my team stamping events
• you will have access to demonstrator only resources such as discussion boards, samples, training and technique videos
• many other benefits such as free products, more income and the possibility to attend regional seminars and incentive trips.

Get started now by clicking HERE.
My password is stampingparty

Birthday Parties with Lil Explorers!

I am entering an exciting frontier...I will be doing craft birthday parties for children. These parties are all inclusive parties which include everything. Parents don't have to worry about anything except sending out invites and arriving at the party. More details will be coming but any queries or date bookings can be directed to Carina at Lil Explorers. Here's a couple of possible projects that the birthday child and guests will be making. ( I love the pencil holder. I think I might have to teach that for my next club meeting!) We just decided to go ahead with this amazing idea so it might be a bit premature to put it on my blog but I'm just so excited! There will be two choice options: one using the pawsitively prints dsp and sweet birthday stamp and the other will be using the celebrations dsp and For You Flower. Kids will go home with finished craft projects and lots of extra paper and the stamp. Stay tuned for further details.

Holiday Mini is here!

Here's a card made with some of the brand new products in the holiday mini. I

am not a big halloween person so making this card at a team meeting was something unique. Basic Gray, basic black and pear pizzazz are the colours used here. (I'm getting the feeling that pear pizzazz goes really well with a lot of colours...my stash of pear pizzazz is fast disappearing!) The spider web embossing folder gives some halloween texture while the black flourish jewel adds a touch of bling. The sentiment comes from the grateful greetings set.

Couldn't resist trying other colours

I enjoyed making my kimono kids card so much that I couldn't resist sitting down and making another one today but I wanted to try other colour combinations. This one is peach parfait, concord crush and pear pizzazz. (I got this combo from the new colour coach). I realized when I was colouring in the kimono girls that the concord crush was too dark so I switched to perfect plum (another idea from the colour coach). The dsp is the level one hostess freebie: 6X6 in colour dsp. I added the sentiment punched out with the word window and some glitter for the flower in the hair.

I love the sentiment in this set. It's a riot. Speaking of phrases that are funny, I have to tell you what my son said today. We were in the van driving in the pouring rain today. Outside we saw a couple holding hands walking leisurely. My son says: "love is like an umbrella". I thought this was so...funny. What a witty thing to say from the mouth of a 9 year old kid.

Just Because Stamping

I'm getting ready to go back to work and had the kids in camp/care today. I finished what I wanted to accomplish today in terms of work so although there is dishes to be done etc. I treated myself to a quiet moment stamping. I"m not preparing for a workshop project, or a club project or I don't have to make something for the kids friends...I"m stamping just because I want to. Ha! The markers were great for this project. It added some bright easy color. Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist and Pear Pizazz are the colours I used.