beautiful new things

The new catalogue is being released on July 1st. The online store and my website will be down for half of the day on July 1st as things are transitioning.

Here's a gift card holder I made using the new flirtatious dsp and the wisteria wonder cardstock. This dsp was so popular on the pre-order that Stampin' Up! already had to put the item number on hold while they re-stocked! I'm glad I managed to snag a package before they put the number on hold. I agree that it is beautiful paper.

Mark the date of my New Catalogue Open House on your calendar. Drop in between 4-8pm on July 21st. I will have all sorts of beautiful swaps from convention and make n takes using new catty products. Bring a friend and make it a girlfriend time.

RSVP required so I know how much paper to cut. Thank you! Can't wait to see you.

Center Step Card

Here's a couple of examples I made of a Center Step Card. They are fun and easy to make

and give such a cute 3-D effect. Let's see if I can remember the dimensions:

10 1/2 X 5 1/4" cardstock

Cut a slit 1" in on either side of the cardstock from 1"-6 1/4"

Turn the cardstock 90 degrees and score from the edge down to the slit at 1", 2",and 6 1/4"

Do the same on the other side.

Score between the slits at 5 1/4"

Fold at the score lines and ta da, you've got a center step card.

This fits into Stampin' Up's square envelopes.

Just a reminder that these are the last few days to get the retiring items. Kimono kids and Just Buzzin By and a couple of the stamp sets going into retirement at the end of this month.

Mr. UPS Man: "REALLY?"

I had e-mailed Kevin last night when he was out, mourning that I was still awake at 11:00 pm working on the teacher gifts. I really thought I would've been much faster completing everything but somehow I got embellishing and the time just flew away on me. Anyway, he e-mailed back that he needed several gifts for the teachers in his school. Several?? I had planned to make something for the principal but that was just one person. No worries. I had the morning to myself today in which I had planned to make the one gift...just make a few more...no problem. Now let me ask you. If you saw these on someone's porch,

Wouldn't you think twice about putting these on top of them?

I just about had a heart attack when I opened the door to my porch in order to do the second coat of glaze and saw my tiles peeking out from under the boxes. If any of them were broken, I think I might have cried. Fortunately none were broken so no harm done but honestly, I couldn't understand why the UPS man would do this. My first thought was "maybe these coasters looked so ugly that he thought it was garbage"...you know, like a piece of crumpled paper, so no harm piling boxes on top. For obvious reasons I couldn't accept this answer. I know you can't see it very well in the picture but I had used two shades of purple on the flower: perfect plum and wisteria wonder (a new in colour!) and I had even shaded the leaves in both pear pizzazz and certainly celery on top of that I am using the beautiful Because I Care stamp set. There is no way that these beautiful tiles could be mistaken as garbage! I then started laughing to myself because the idea came to me that perhaps the UPS man thought I had designed and created a beautiful platform for him to place my precious Stampin' Up! cargo. No more putting those boxes on the common ground. Oh no, we need to have a platform made of individually stamped and coloured tiles. I am killing myself laughing about this to myself. Of course, perhaps the UPS man just didn't think anything at all which is probably the case. Well, that's my story for today. So, the moral of the story is: Don't leave your tiles to dry on the porch if you're expecting a delivery from the UPS man.

Appreciation Night Fun

I was so happy last night. It was the little things that made me happy. I had planned to cook this chicken dish for everyone but realized as I was making it that preparing it for 30 people took a lot longer than for my family of five. (duh) and then when I stuck it in the oven I worried that since there was so much jammed in the pot it would probably take a lot longer to bake (duh) so I jacked up the heat and hoped everything would turn out okay before all my hostess and club girls walked through the door...and it did! Yea! The food turned out okay and there was enough. I was also happy that everyone fit in my home. (I was kind of worried about that). I was also happy that I had managed to finish making a little treat for everyone. It's the sort of project that once you start, you have to finish because it's not like I could only give half my guests a thank you treat. This was made using the petal cone die that I received as a birthday gift. I've already put it to good use.

Most of all I was happy to be with friends. Here's some pictures from the evening. Here's Marianne and Louise stamping. Great smiles girls!

One of the major highlights of the evening were these cupcakes that I commissioned one of my club girls, Nicole, to make. What's special about them is that they are iced in the soon to be released 2011-2012 in colours: pool party, calypso coral, lucky limeade, wisteria wonder and island indigo. She also made little toppers using a new stamp set called pennent parade cut out with the co-ordinating punch.

I even dreamed about these cupcakes last night. I knew going to bed that left over cupcakes is what I wanted for breakfast. I could only do that because Kevin and the kids were away for the weekend so no one would see me pigging out on cupcakes at 8:00 am in the morning!

Here's the cards the girls stamped:

A simple card made elegant with the tulip embossing folder. We used the retiring Eastern Blooms set (not too late to order it!) and the colours are certainly celery and perfect plum.

A thank you card for the summer season. The cardbase is regal rose and the dsp is from the brights paper stack. The stamp set is the sunny fun set coloured in with my many marvelous markers (of course)

And my personal favourite:

Isn't this just the perfect little birthday card for kids? I CASE'd it from Jacque Craig a demonstrator from Hawaii. It's using the celebrations dsp and the party this way and fox and friends stamp set.

So, I'm hoping a good time was had by all at my annual hostess appreciation night. I know I had a great time. I loved ending the evening by giving everyone a free stamp set. Who doesn't love free stamps? My shameless plug is this: if you don't want to miss it next year, make sure you book a workshop with me. Why not earn some beautiful things from the new idea book and catalogue, have fun with friends while learning stamping tricks AND reserve your spot for my next annual hostess appreciation night? Email me now to set a date!

Nearing the finish line...

My downline Esther dropped by the other day with a little birthday treat for me. Four little milk cartons filled with candies in a cute little carrier. I love how she covered everything with the beyond the garden dsp to make it all co-ordinate. It looked to cute and summery. Of course she had a co-ordinating card as well. She used the Fabulous Florets stamp set and did the flowers in melon mambo embossing powder. Very cool!

I want to thank everyone who sent well wishes on my birthday and also to everyone who participated in my crazy birthday promotion. I know many of you played to encourage and support me towards the goal of earning my first ever Stampin' Up! incentive trip. So I'm sure many of you are waiting to hear...did I reach the goal? Well, one should not count the chickens before they are hatched right? I can only say that the crazy birthday promotion helped enormously so thank you everyone.
Stay tuned. I hope I will be making an announcement in July!

birthday cards

Just thought I'd share some of the beautiful birthday cards I received.

Here's Shelley's card, melon mambo and blushing bride together (I think). Doesn't that amazing die cut flower with the cordory button just take your breath away?

Here's Susan's card using the retiring Priceless set. I think it's cool she used the in colours together. I think it's peach parfait, concord crush, pear pizzazz and pink pirouette together.

Here's Renee's card with the gorgeous elegant lines dry embossing folder on sahara sand paper.. The

darling pretties flowers and halfback pears are perfect.
Thanks ladies for these beautiful cards!

And the winner is...

Regina D! Congratulations Regina! Regina is the winner of all the hostess benefits that resulted from the orders from the crazy birthday promotion. She will be receiving over $160 of free stampin' merchandise as well as several hostess exclusive stamp sets.
Thank you everyone who participated in my special birthday promotion. You will all be receiving your gift certificates with your order. Remember, this gift certificate can only be used in July and August so make sure you study the new catalogue as soon as it goes live on July 1st to pick out what you'd like!
Wow! This promotion was super fun. It totally made my day to call Regina and hear her excitment and surprise. It's kind of like winning a Stampin' Up! lottery. I'll have to remember to take a picture of her when she receives all her free loot.

So blessed, so humbled

So, since announcing that it was my birthday this week, I have received so many birthday wishes . Wow! Today I went to an evening Stampin' event hosted by my upline. I ate chips and pizza and stamped cards. Pretty great huh? But on top of that I won the grand prize at the event! On top of that, what was most fabulous was that a couple of my downlines presented me with a birthday gift from some of them. I was so surprised. The gift was the petal cone die that I have been wanting ever since I saw them demo-ing it at leadership. Woohoo!! Thank you Shelley, Lyne, Bonnie, Renee, Pei Pei and Karen.

All these amazing experiences over the past few days have really touched me. I am kind of speechless regarding the outpouring of kind words, encouragement and love. I feel a bit overwhelmed and am not sure how to respond. All I can say is thank you to every one of you who enrich my life.

Can't put a post without a picture right? Here's one of the cards we made to night. It uses the bright Beyond the Garden dsp and the Happy greetings stamp set. A little bling with the glass glitter and some rhinestones...

Teacher Gifts

it's that time of year when I'm making gifts for the teachers. I love that I don't have to wander around the mall wondering what to get...I know for sure that no one else is going to get these same gifts for the teachers because they are unique.

These are using the matchbox die where I've made a cover that looks like a book. I was supposed to put chocolates inside but all the chocolates got eaten (this is a story for another blog post). So, a little stamp seemed to fit the bill. This fabulous idea was CASE'd from a male demo from the U.S. (sorry, I can't remember his name but if you want the instructions, just e-mail me)

Aren't they cute!? It is using the level two hostess set apple blossom. It's the only set I own that has an apple so I had to use it for the teacher gift.

These garden stakes are made using aluminum flashing from the hardware store. I saw this idea on the demo website and just had to make them. I LOVE my Big Shot. The rule based dies can cut through anything. I embossed first using the elegant bouquet embossing folder then used the top note die to cut the shape. The butterfly is dry embossed with the perfect polka dots folder and the die used to cut the butterfly is called Beautiful Buterflies. A little rhinestone brad finishes it off.

A crazy birthday idea

I don't know where to begin with this post. Maybe I'll start at the beginning...
I became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator in 2007 because I loved the products and I valued spending time creating with friends. I believed that crafting with people was powerful and could be a way to build and deepen friendships. I had no intention of building a business. I don't have any business background since I went to school for occupational therapy. Maybe going to O.T. school did give me the respect for the importance of balance of activities in my life and I knew that my hobby of scrapbooking and stamping had to have a place and it wasn't going to be pushed out by the many other life demands. Let's fast forward to today. Through divine miracles and enthusiastic, loyal friends and customers and hostesses, I am close to earning my very first Stampin' Up! incentive trip. For those of you who don't know what that is, let me explain. Every year Stampin' Up! provides an exclusive, paid vacation to some coveted destination where there is entertainment, free pillow gifts, food, and of course, stamping. Demonstrators earn this trip based on a couple of different factors. The people who earn this year's incentive trip will be going to the Deluxe Boardwalk Resort at Disneyworld (open only to stampin' up during the trip); airfare, food, park passes etc for 2 adults all paid by Stampin' Up! I am stunned and anxious that I am so close to this amazing opportunity. I never thought it would be even remotely possible but here I am...so close. If 40 people take advantage of my crazy birthday promotion, I'm there. (if you haven't heard of my crazy birthday promotion, e-mail me and I will tell you! This promotion is only good until June 18th so spread the word and tell everyone.)
I contemplated how many packages of whisper white paper, snail refill and envelopes I would need to buy for myself to reach the target. My husband actually laughed at the image of an entire corner of the house dedicated to holding my consumable supplies for years. So, that's the story behind my crazy birthday promotion. I decided to make a promotion to help you help me towards this incredible trip for two. Whatever the outcome, I appreciate all of you who make my journey as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator so fun and rewarding.

not girly!

Lately my son has been complaining that my cards are too "girly". I pulled out the retiring extreme skateboarder stamp and made a couple of cards that I thought he would be not be embarassed to give to his friends. It was fun to do something so different from my usual flowery elements of style!

This card uses basic black cardstock and ink and is sprayed with silver foil smooch spritz. It also uses the wicked cool DSP (ah ha! Not just for halloween!). The sentiment is that very cool FYI stamp set which will be gone at the end of this month!

This card was super fun to make and involved cutting punched out squares and glueing them on crumb cake cardstock to make a wall. The edges of the bricks were sponged with crumb cake and the skateboarder was stamped 3 times with early espresso without re-inking. I think this is called repetition stamping and it's cool how it gives the effect of movement.

A season of crumminess

I have been meaning to sit down and make cards for a few friends. This card is for a friend who has been going through a bunch of really hard things over the past few years. I would call it a really crummy season in her life. I just know things are going to turn around. I have faith that she will experience a season of peace soon. In the meantime, I wanted to make something to encourage her a little bit. The inside sentiment says: it will get better.

I make things all the time but even for me it takes that little bit of extra intentionality to make something for someone in particular...just to show them I care

Here's the card details: the card base is marina mist with tangerine tango cardstock and then the retiring greenhouse gala dsp. The circle is that huge punch (sorry can't remember the size...2 3/4" maybe?) and the strip is from the perfectly polka dots simply scrappin kit. The FYI stamp set is retiring but seemed perfect for this occasion.

I hope you can find some time to sit down and make something for someone you care about.

some love for friends 24-7

It's always a surprise what will show up on the retiring list. This year, Friends 24-7 is saying farewell. Of course,I had to bring it out and show it some love. I still think this is a great set. It's got the great bird but this set also has a beautiful damask which works so well both as a central image but also as a background.

This is such a simple card made elegant with the pearls and the dry embossing. The colours are pretty in pink and basic black. Don't forget to study the last chance list and get everything you want before it's gone. Take advantage of nabbing some accessories at discounted prices too!

brights bold blossom

Here's a cute card using the bold blossom stamp set. The ink colours are melon mambo, pacific point, wild wasabi. I thought it was fun how folding down the scallop punch edge kind of makes it look like the flowers are in a planter. The dsp is from the brights paper pack.

Cute cards make me happy!

Here's a card I made and I am planning to use it for as a make n take for mystery Stampin' night this Saturday evening. It's a kind of diorama card and I am so happy! It turned out so cute. I am so mad that Just Buzzin' By is on the retiring list. I love this set and think it's so cute and I now feel bad that maybe I didn't give it enough love at my workshops because maybe if more people had bought it, it wouldn't be retiring...

Oh well, it's not too late to show off this cute set. If you want to make this cute card, please RSVP to come out on Saturday evening and bring a friend. A cute make n take like this can not be kept a secret! The class is free for anyone new to me or anyone who shops. :-)

Last chance lists are here!

The much anticipated last chance list is here. I can't believe that the Definately Decorative Line is getting reduced so dramatically. Also, so many beautiful accessories retiring...some of them 40% off. Remember, accessories are only available while supplies last.

My favourites retiring? Define your life, Kimono Kids, Cheep Talk, Priceless, Just Buzzin' By, FYI.

Go to my website to see the full list.

Contact me to place your order or shop online on my website