sale-a-brate Bliss

Here's a wonderful sale-a-bration stamp set called: Bliss. I love the flourish and the butterful in this set.

This card uses some of the new items released in the occasions mini catalogue, namely the tulip embossing folder as well as the Springtime Vintage dsp and Big Designer Buttons and the rose red seam binding ribbon.

Make sure you shop or host a workshop in order to earn this stamp set free.

sale-a-bration sample

Just thought I'd share a sample using the button button stamp set and the punch bunch sale-a-bration set. (Did you know that so far, the punch bunch set is the most popular choice?)

Cherry cobbler, baja breeze and more mustard are the colours used here.

Spring Stamp Camp

Come on out to this fun day. Gosh the print looks a bit small. Hope you can read the flyer okay. Let me know if you have any questions. The Get it Done option is a great time to get your scrapbook pages or Christmas cards done. (Yes, there really are people that do Christmas cards early so they don't need to stress about it during the holiday season) If you are new to crafting or don't have enough supplies or ideas to work on your own projects, the "Inspiration" options are for you! Hope to see you there!

It's here, It's here!

It's the most anticipated time of the Stampin' Up! year.

Dates: January 25-March 31, 2011

Details: Earn free sale-a-bration products. This year there are four great stamp sets to choose from as well as a designer series paper and quick accents pack, a ribbon and button pack, digital downloads, and decor elements!

There are three ways to earn free products:

1) SPEND: one freebie for every $60 you spend (before taxes and shipping)

2) HOST: A hostess will receive a free Sale-a-bration product for every $395 in workshop sales in addition to regular hostess benefits

3) JOIN: Join the Stampin' Up! family during sale-a-bration means 15% off the starter kit plus a special sale-a-bration bonus bundle valued up to $60.

Make sure you contact me soon to take advantage of these promotions.

Concord pizzazz inspiration

Here's a leadership swap I received from Lisa Hirsch. I thought the colours were so striking and I never would have thought to put pear pizazz and concord crush together but it looks so great. I also love the three bright squares: tempting turquoise, daffodil delight, melon mambo.
The stamp set is called "Easter Blossoms" and it is on page 17 in the Occasions mini. It's perfect for spring and Easter occasions.

Chinese New year is coming up. My mom has organized a big dinner with her friends and some family. Since my daughter's birthday is around the same time, she told everyone that if they wanted to buy a gift for a little girl, that would be fine. Grandmothers can be shameless! Anyway, I figured I would be prepared with handmade Happy New Year cards to give to everyone. It will make me feel less overwhelmed if everyone does show up with gifts for my daughter. I plan to attach a Tim Card to the back of the pull out card.

Using the swap card as my inspiration for colour, here is the card I made. It is a simple pocket card.

I expect there will be many comments about how it's chinese new year and clearly it's a japanese girl on the card. What shall I say? Sorry, I don't own any chinese girl stamp sets? Oh well, I love my kimono kids set. It's so darn cute. The sentiment is from the level 2 hostess set: Apple Blossoms.

Now to make many, many more...

Glimmery Simply Said

It's wonderful that the group of us that hung out together at the Leadership Conference are still keeping in touch. Heather from Missouri sent some pictures of cards she made last week. I loved this one so I thought I'd share it with you. That red glitter paper in the occasions mini is bright, brilliant, beautiful, and NOT just for Valentines Day. Here's a thank you card using the glitter paper and the heart punch.

The dry embossing is with the elegant lines embossing folder and the sentiment is from the Simply Said set.

If you haven't seen the beautiful products from the new mini catalogue up close, make sure to contact me to drop by.

Simply Adorned

Here are some of the pictures of the make n take projects from Leadership (sorry, I'll probably talk about the Leadership conference for months to come...)

They gave us a Simply Adorned Charm and necklace. We made some different inserts for the charm. We used the Clearly for You Stamp set in the occasions mini catalogue. (You gotta love that glitter paper in the occasions mini)

I love my new necklace because it's so unique. It's kind of neat to customize jewllery for someone.

Vintage Sympathy

My heart always feels a bit heavy when I sit down to make a sympathy card. My thoughts and prayers are always with whoever I am making the card for. When looking at different card samples on the demonstrator website, I notice that the nicest cards are a mix between somber and peaceful. I guess it's that sadness of a life ended but a peace and celebration of their life they lived. Here's my version of one I case'd. I"m using Vintage Vogue stamp set and the colours are not quite navy and baja breeze. I've got some of the square ice brads for some extra colour.

Sew Suite

Just thought I would share one of the many swap cards I received at Leadership. I thought this one was so cute. I really loved the colours of the oh sew suite in the occasions mini but I didn't quite get how to use the stamp set. This card is so cute and inspires me, I love it! It's using Melon Mambo cardstock dry embossed through the big shot with polka dots, the sweet stitches dsp, the button button stamp set and the sew suite stamp set. A bit of the organza ribbon finishes it off. To give credit, this card was given to me by Erica Bass.

Welcome, Welcome!

On the last day of the Leadership Conference we were told that we could give ONE free starter kit. The paperwork has to be completed and postmarked for this Friday. Wow! The kit has products valued at over $375. What an amazing free way to get started as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

The timing was perfect. I have just met Shelley who contacted me just before I headed out of town. She is enthusiastic about everything Stampin' and can't wait to get started as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

I'm thrilled to give away a free starter kit and I'm thrilled to welcome Shelley to the team.

Welcome Shelley!

Don't worry if you missed out on this opportunity. If you want to join my Stampin' team and make some money doing something super fun, sale-a-bration is the perfect opportunity since you will get an additional $60 product bundle plus 15% off the starter kit. Talk to me about the details or sign up on my website. The more the merrier! Sale-a-bration begins Jan. 25th.

leadership samples

At Leadership there is a large wall with all kinds of card samples and I took lots of pictures. I thought I would share a couple (sorry I can't give credit to who made these cards). I wanted to show these cards because they use the new beveled windowpanes. I kept looking in the catalogue at them but I didn't really understand them so seeing these samples was really helpful. Enjoy.

Extravagance!

I felt like today was a day of extravagance. The meals were wonderful and Stampin' Up! provided wonderful gifts and make n takes. Here's some pictures.

Today during the general session we were all given red glimmer paper, glimmer brads and the glass glitter. We LOVE it when they give us freebies. So of course we're cheering and we're just thrilled.

Another giveaway today was the buttons, and fabric from the new sew suite ensemble in the occasions mini. They also threw in the level two stamp set from the occasions mini as well.

The finale for the evening was the make and take portion of the convention. This is not just a few cards to put together. We made fabric brooches, inserts for the simply adorned charm they gave us and other fun things using the clearly for you stamp set in the occasions mini (hope I got the name of that set right) I couldn't get through it all as I knew I had to pack tonight. I have to say I really felt pampered. I'd be happy with one free pack of buttons but I got so much more; not to mention the intangible benefits like meeting new friends, the amazing life stories I've heard and the genuine kindness and caring among everyone. It was really remarkable and I am not exaggerating.

Stampin' Up! also gave each of us that attended leadership something AMAZING and unheard of that we can give away for free. I will announce this at my event on Sunday and then will post the details on my blog. I was stunned speechless when this was announced. Maybe YOU will be the recipient of this free gift. If you want to know more. Please, please contact me.

I absolutely can not post all my pictures and share all my experiences here. All I can say is that I am glad I came. Here's one final picture for now. I had to go and get my pictures with Shelli (CEO and co-founder) since that's what I do at every Stampin' Up! event. I started introducing myself but there was no need to elaborate because she remembered me and the dinner we had after Esther's workshop of a lifetime (BTW, Esther, Shelli says hi!)

See y'all soon! (That's Nashville talk for I'm comin' home eh!)

leadership highlights so far...

What a full day! I can say this event is nothing like the Regionals event I attended in Hamilton earlier this year. It is more jam packed with classes but the classes are not about stamping, it's about leadership and interpersonal skills and the such. I spent a lot of time thinking; not just about the Stampin' Up! business but also about my other relationships and leadership roles in life. I really feel the skills they are teaching here are relevant to everyday circumstances. I would definitely say that one of the highlights is the amazing convention bag that we all received.

Isn't it gorgeous? Other non-Stampin' Up! convention attendees at the hotel were continually commenting on the bag. It's got the vintage wallpaper design and the wide striped chocolate chip ribbon sewn across. I LOVE the bag. It is so worth it to attend convention just for the awesome bag!!!! I wish I had some scotch guard right now to spray on it because I sure don't want any stains on this baby!

Another highlight of today was momento mall. This is a tradition that Stampin' Up! has at conventions. In the "mall" there are items for sale that you can't get on regular Stampin' Up! orders. Since it was my first time, I bought a few things. A baja breeze coloured cardigan, a rich razzleberry t-shirt and...

a matching vintage wallpaper wallet for my amazing bag!!!!! (I hope the exclamation marks tell you how happy I am with my new purchase)

We finally got around to some stamping after dinner ( I am not joking. We didn't stamp at all until the end of the day.) They gave each table a box filled with pieces of leftover things that they had at the home office. We were commissioned with the task of using the items in the box to create cards for the Ronald McDonald House. I was so desperate to stamp by this point I didn't care that nothing was cut out and I didn't have a sample to copy. Yes. It's true. I created a card out of my imagination. Shocking. I know. Here's what I made with our box of odds and ends.

Of course today was the day I swapped all the cards I made. If you are coming to my event on Sunday, you are in for a visual treat. All the swap cards I received are beautiful and unique. I can't wait to share them with you.

I could go on and on but I should really sleep.

G'night!

Managers Reception

My first event at the leadership convention was Manager's reception. This is an evening of dinner and entertainment that Stampin' Up! gives to demonstrators who perform at the manager level or above. I just squeaked in this year so I was pleased to attend and curious what it was all about. The first task was finding my way to the meeting point. As I wandered about, here are some pictures I took. I have to say, it is a gorgeous hotel.

I finally found the meeting spot. Since I was alone, I felt my first task was to find some new friends so I would have someone to talk to and sit with. I felt a bit shy since everyone was in little circles talking. (You know how we demonstrators like to talk!) I randomly picked a spot to stand and introduced myself to these ladies.

They were very friendly and I discovered that they have been demonstrators practically since the start of Stampin' Up! No offence, but they were OLD stampers! They were joking about the old days when there were colours like "lucious lime" Lucious lime???? When I told them my first stamp set was "Greetings Galore" , they hoooted and said that I was just a mere babe! I hope I didn't come off callous but it was time to look for other new friends. I didn't know if I could have dinner with women that practically invented stamping. I then inched over to the adjacent circle and introduced myself and explained I was alone. These ladies said "Oh, join us. We just adopted this lady who's alone here too. She's from Canada" Aha! A fellow Canadian! I thought this was promising. Before long, we were loaded onto buses and transported to The Wildhorse Saloon. A known bar in Nashville where there is live entertainment

The cowboy hats were courtesy of Stampin' Up! We had the whole establishment to ourselves. A wonderful buffet meal and country music (which you know I love) and line dancing lessons. I know it sounds corny but it was really fun. A great evening!

I'm here, I"m here!

I made it to the airport super early despite the snow. It was a very small gate area and I feared that there would be nowhere to stamp my swap cards but there was a tiny little grey table that I snagged while waiting for boarding. I was the first one at the gate so I"m sure the security people thought I was strange. Of course I haven't gotten them all done yet in between talking to other demonstrators and feeling gross on the plane (I am bad with motion sickness)

I just found out that the lady that I met online that I planned to room with isn't able to make it because of the bad weather in her area. She's really bummed out. I'm sorry she's not here as it would've been nice to meet her as well as share the room rate but on the other hand I'm relishing the alone time. People are often surprised but I"m actually an introvert--meaning that I gain energy from being alone. This quietness in this luxurious hotel is quite nice! I feel a little guilt about the cost so I put out a notice on our demonstrator forum for a last minute roommate but I'm guessing it's a little late to change things now. Well, I know some of you were thinking of me today so I wanted to let you know that I"m here!

I'm off!

I can't believe I'm heading out to Nashville in just a few hours! I totally don't know what to expect. I can't believe I'm leaving my family for a few days. I feel nervous but excited at the same time.
I have wi-fi at the hotel so I should be able to keep you up to date on what's happening (assuming I can figure out how to connect myself up...a challenge without my husband)
Stay tuned!

And the winner is...

Thank you to everyone who participated in my fundraiser for the needs in Bluefields, Nicaragua. Everyone who placed an order by yesterday was entered into a draw for a hostess stamp set (winner chooses either birthday bakery or because I care) Watch the video to see who the winner is...

button button hostess thank you

I like to treat and spoil my hostesses whenever I can because I appreciate the opportunity to share stamping with friends.

I promised one of my recent hostesses that I would make something cute for her with a stamp set from the occasions mini. Here's the card folder that I made using the button button stamp set from the occasions mini. The colours are perfect plum, rich razzleberry and pretty in pink.

Besides the hostess freebies that Stampin' Up! gives, I add on my own treats for hostessing a workshop: keeping all the demos from the workshop, an idea book and catalogue, an evening of dinner and stamping at my hostess appreciation night and more.

All you need is four adult friends and an enthusiastic attitude. I"ll take care of the cute make n takes, the door prizes and the fun techniques.

Please contact me to book your workshop. With Sale-a-bration starting on Jan. 25th, there's no better time to reap freebies!

Kimono for New Year's

I have done 32 swap cards using the Valentine Defined set. Then I ran out of Regal rose paper. I feel like 32 cards is too few for a big event like the Stampin' Up! leadership conference but I don't know if I have time to make more. I thought I would play with the Kimono kids stamp set since I want to make some Chinese New year treat bags/cards and I figured if I came out with something acceptable I could use it as a swap card too. I'm thinking I could cut all the paper before heading out Wednesday morning and colour and assemble on the plane? Here's what I came up with tonight. The top card is me trying to use up all my jolly holiday dsp but I decided the colour was too dark. So the bottom card uses the lighter colours of blushing bride and pear pizzazz. I used the square lattice embossing folder and added colour with the markers.

More Valentine Defined

I had a team meeting yesterday and we always stamp (of course.). This time Esther was the one who prepared the make n take. I thought it was so easy but cute. I am loving the images on the Valentine Defined set. I really like how the basic grey is used on this card. I never thought that basic grey and pink pirouette would be so cute together. That's why the dsp is so useful. It gives such great colour inspiration.

If you are at all curious about the demonstrator opportunity, talk to me and consider coming out to my next Stampin' Up! family night on March 4th.

Season of Joy Inspiration

I got a beautiful card in the mail from club member Pei Pei. Here it is. It is using the retired bordering blue colour and the gorgeous Season of Joy stamp set.

I was stunned at it's beauty. (not at all stunned that Pei Pei designed something so lovely. She has a real knack for creating) You may not be able to see the fine glitter details but take my word that it is beautiful.

Anyway, I am having a really hard time nailing down the card I am going to make to take as my swap card for the leadership conference. I knew I wanted to use the Valentine Defined set. I have a design but I am not in love with it so when I saw Pei Pei's card, I had to try it out with the Valentine set.

Here is my attempt:

Not as lovely as her card but still cute. I think I might try it again and change up a few details. It's great how different cards and images can inspire me to stamp. Thanks Pei Pei for your inspiration! I just came home from dinner with friends and was supposed to go straight to bed as I have to work tommorrow but I couldn't resist stamping. I was afraid I was going to dream about CASE-ing Pei-Pei's card if I didn't at least have a go at it! Grin.

Bright and Silly Aviary

Playing with my Aviary set and I CASE'd a card I saw on the demonstrator website. I changed it a tiny bit by adding texture with the extra wide striped ribbon and a brights glimmer brad.

Nature Walk and the Pleasure of God

I LOVE the new occasions mini catalogue which is going live in just a couple days. (this also means this is your last chance to pick up things from the holiday mini catalogue). I was instinctively drawn to this stamp set: Nature Walk. I don't know whether it was the butterfly or whether it was just the intricate detail in the images that grabbed my attention. I made these two cards using crumb cake cardstock and early espresso cardstock. The designer series paper is the co-ordinating paper which is called botanical gazette.

The ink colours are not quite navy, early espresso and so saffron.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. I was generally lazy but also got together with some friends and family. During one evening with a friend, we were talking. I knew she had been taking power skating lessons. (she only learned to skate fairly recently) When talking about her skating her eyes lit up and she told me all about the various skills she is learning. She is even playing hockey and is hoping to become good enough to join a local woman's hockey team. All this when she just learned how to skate! She knows my passion for papercrafting and we joked about how disappointed we feel when circumstances occur that interfere with our passions (e.g. the kids are sick and she misses her skating class or I miss out on my solitary stamping time). I then started talking about what I've been making and I'm sure my eyes lit up and I was probably talking a mile a minute about paper and ink and colour. She exclaimed: "I understand! You feel the pleasure of God!" I've never heard it expressed just like that before but I believe it to be true. The enjoyment I feel when the finished card emerges or when I stamp a few beautiful stamp images, is just a taste of the divine...a gift from my Creator. We probably all have activities that make us "feel the pleasure of God". For my friend she loves the feeling of power yet peace while gliding on ice, for others it could be gardening, running a marathon. Happy New Year! Enjoy good things this year, guilt-free, because it's an opportunity to feel the pleasure of God!