Happy Holidays!

Wow! I feel like I should have posted something a week or two ago. But, I'm sure you all understand how busy it can get around the holidays. We tried not to "do" Christmas this year, but really, can one "NOT" do Christmas?

We had some decorating & some baking & as much as we tried to limit ourselves, we still had shopping to do.

I'm thankful for all my friends, family & customers (who feel like new friends to me) who make the holiday season a wonderful time of the year.

I am thrilled to announce that I received my new catalog about week ago. I've already got my covers laminated & the spine spiral bounded. The lamination just protects the covers & the spiral binding makes it so easy to flip through the pages & the catalog will stay open. If you're ever interested in spiral bounding your catalog, I'd be happy to take one to Fed Ex/Kinko's for you (across the street from my work). The cost would be about $12.

In addition to the new Spring-Summer Collection catalog, February1st marks the first day of Sale-a-Brations, a 6-week annual sales event that Stampin Up offers to it's customers, hostesses & new recruits. During Sale-a-Brations, for every $50 you spend as a customer, you get a free limited edition Sale-a-Bration stamp set (there are 5 to choose from). As a hostess, you receive a free Sale-a-Bration stamp set for each $300 increment your camp totals. And, as a new demonstrator recruit, you get to select any stamp set from the Spring-Summer Collection catalog, a $47.95 value!

I signed up to be a demonstrator 3 years ago, during Sale-a-Brations & chose the most expensive stamp set - an alphabet stamp set - simply because I had a hard time justifying the purchase on my own. It was such a nice 'bonus' to receive a new stamp set at such a high value, for free.

If you'd like to book your stamp camp with me (or place an order) & earn your free stamp sets, please get in touch with me; my calendar is filling up fast!

A Freebie Giveaway

I'm curious who reads this blog... Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

To the first 3 people who post a comment, I will give you $5 off your next Stampin Up! purchase of at least $30.

From time to time, I will post a freebie giveaway like this. Stay tuned!

As Promised

I love it when Brown (a.k.a. Mr. UPS) delivers some goodies on my doorstep. Two days ago, I received my box of goodies which consisted of a couple stamp sets, some designer series paper, some ink refills & some markers that I never got around to buying until now. I also got a couple random things like sanding blocks & the scallop punch. I'm really not quite sure if I need the sanding blocks, but I have them now. They may come in handy when doing my chipboard ornaments.

So anyways, as promised, I was going to post a couple pictures of ornaments we'll be making at the next camp I do. The pictures never do the actual item justice, but here are 2 more of my samples (the scallop ornament & the peppermint patty ornament); click on the picture for a closer picture:

I love 3D stuff!!

Two weekends ago, I did a Christmas Card Stamp-a-Stack for a gal who won my raffle drawing at a vendor fair I did back in July in Mill Creek. I didn't really think that particular vendor fair was much successful as I didn't feel confident that I had gotten any new customers out of it. But, then out of the blue, this particular gal called & I'm glad she did.

Her stamp-a-stack was small (only 3 stamped), but I had a great time stamping with & getting to know the 3 who were there. One gal even asked if I could do a camp for her making christmas ornaments.

I had to think about it, but after doing just a little bit of research, I do have several ornaments we will make. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of everything because I don't have all my supplies just yet (I ordered what I needed today).

Here's a picture of one of the ornaments & the inside of it. It was a bit challenging to get a "decent" picture of the ornament (lighting, shadows, movement - all problems), but you can see the jist of it.

Ornaments to make:
- chipboard ornaments
- peppermint patty ornaments
- acetate ornaments
- reinker ornaments
- scallop ornaments
- strips o' paper ornaments

It's finally done!

I finally was able to finish my FALL/NOEL CD's that I first fell in love with at Regionals. Well, I'm not 100% done, but will be momentarily. I didn't color in the stocking that's on the "N" of NOEL.

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I apparently didn't plan it entirely enough when I was putting it together. You see, I had painted most of the letters black, exept for the N & the E. I had originally intended for at least one of those letters to go on the blue background (the O is on). But, when I put together the FALL side first, I wasnt paying attention to what order the colors were going together. I also should have painted one L white to go on the black/web background for FALL. Instead, I put the black letter on white paper & put that on the black/web background.

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Overall, I'm pretty thrilled with the way it turned out. I just know for the next couple I put together what I need to look out for.

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In the picture, I have it hanging on a towel bar purchased from the local home improvement store. It's just sitting on top of the fireplace (not bolted down). The little brown piece in between the A/L & the O/E is a decorative piece on our fireplace.

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As always, for a better, close up image, simply click the picture(s).

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By the way, I am selling these at a craft fair this weekend for $25 (towel bar not included) & would be happy to make one for you too. Either leave a message in the comments section or shoot me an email. Even if you don't want me to make you one, leave me a comment & let me know what you think.

I woke up at 5am for this!

This morning, I *woke up* at 5am with the thought of what to do with my blank CD cases. And, I knew I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep as long as I kept thinking about these CD cases. So, I got out of bed, got ready for work, & since I had an extra hour before I had to leave the house, I made my creation.

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What is it? Well, it could be any number of "greeting cards" but this particular greeting card is a baby announcement. On the outside front, is a bunny that was watercolored. The inside left side has the announcement stuff (date, weight, length, etc). The inside right is where a picture of the newborn baby would go. The picture is a little fuzzy, but that black/white little circle says "welcome little one". Click on any of the pictures for a better, close up view.

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What's great about these?

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-They stand up on their own; I had this one displayed on my desk today at work so I could show it off to my co-workers.

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-They can be customized for any occasion. This one is a baby announcement. Before the weekend is up, I want to make an "I love you" (great for an anniversary or valentine) & perhaps a Christmas one. Stay tuned for more pics.

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-They make great, one-of-a-kind gifts.

My New Toy

So, there's this thing & it's called a Crop-a-Dile. I sell it through my Stampin' Up! business, but I've never used it personally & had no idea what it even did... Until I went to Portland Regionals a few weeks back. In a nutshell, it's the best hand-held hole punch ever. It's really 'strong' & so easy to use. Tonight, to try it out, I punched through 3 chip boards (all at the same time) and I punched the holes for my NOEL/FALL CD decorations. Try doing that with an ordinary hand-held hole punch. I love my new toy.

Halloween - It's coming!

Picture it: A tin that you might find a band-aid in. Alter it with a little black paper, some stamped Halloween images & some ribbon. What have you got? The Halloween gift I'm giving to my co-workers on Wednesday. I had fun making these cute little tins that I bought from The Oriental Trading Co. Now, I just gotta figure out what fun treat to put into them.

For a better view, simply click on the picture.

Stampin' Away

For the next week or so, I'll be stampin' away! I've got a stamp camp this weekend at my home, which I'm just about ready for. I've got a stamp camp on November 4th & I'm almost done with prepping for that. And, most recently, I've signed up to work at a craft fair on November 10th. I'll be selling name frames, lunch tins & cards.


All name frames are customizable with a "theme" and name. These make great gifts and are only $20. The lunch tins can also be used as a "recipe" box or a "storage" box for your small items. They are only $15. You can view any picture up close by clicking on it. If you would like me to make one for you, just leave a comment or email me.

Christmas Cards For Sale!

I finally completed the design for the 4th card for my Christmas Cards this year. I'm selling them in bundles of 8 for $10 (2 each of the 4 designs). That's just $1.25 per card. What a bargain!

Click on any of the cards for a close-up view. The insides are intentionally left blank for your personalized greeting.

Portland Regionals

Friday, I went to Stampin' Up's regional conference in Portland Oregon. Each time I go, I'm usually "Wow'd" by something presented there. This time, I was wow'd by the display in this picture. It's really hard to see the true awesome-ness, but I'll try & explain what you're looking at.

These are ordinary CD's covered in Stampin Up's Designer Series Paper. On the one side is the word "FALL" with "NOEL" on the reverse side. The letters are chipboard & there are little autumny/wintery decorations.

By clicking on the picture, you can see a better, close up version, but in all honesty, the picture doesn't do it justice. I'm going to try & make one of these to hang up in my entry way.

On the agenda...

First of all, I don't think I've blogged so much on this particular blog than I have over the past several days. Usually, I go like *maybe* one post a month (usually less). So far, I've done like 4 posts in the past two weeks. Yeee!! I'm on a roll!

This is a picture of my stamp room that I just took. This picture doesn't even capture the entire room nor show just how messy it really is. On the agenda for this weekend: Get this sucker cleaned up & organized!

But for now? In about 10 minutes I'm heading out the door to head on down to Portland for Stampin' Up's Regional Conference, which will be all day tomorrow. I'll be back late tomorrow night & then Saturday, my dear Stamp Room, I'm all yours!

Happy Thanksgiving

I was asked by a friend of mine to make some Thanksgiving Day cards. Here is my sample. The supplies were "leftover" from a Stamp-a-Stack I did for someone else, but I changed them slightly from the previous sample. I'm really pleased with the differences made & hope you are too.

The biggest change was the direction in which they open - the old way opened left to right; the new way opens top to bottom (hamburger vs. hotdog as one of my customers likes to call it). I changed the direction of the opening because on the backside, I stamped the "hand stamped/Stampin Up" copyright image on the "bottom" of the card. In my opinion, it would have looked silly to have that stamped on the "side".

The other change was in the old sample, I used black Staz-on for the stamped pumpkin image. In the new sample, I used Really Rust Classic Ink. The difference between the Staz-on and the classic ink pad is that the Staz-on doesn't "smear" with the water coloring. With this Really Rust ink, it didn't matter as the whole image is orange anyways & having the entire image that way helps to add "dimension".

The inside, by the way, is stamped with "Happy Thanksgiving" & embossed with gold embossing powder.

Moving Away

One of my close friends has decided to move across the Atlantic to be with the love of her life. I'm sad for me, but SO incredibly happy for her. My gift to her is a pack of "Just Moved" cards that she can send to her friends & family with her new address. You can click on the card for a more close up, detailed image of the card.

Stamp - A - Stack

Next weekend, I am doing a Stamp-a-Stack for one of my customers who asked to do 2 Christmas cards, a Halloween card & an "any occasion" card.

A Stamp-a-Stack is 4 each of 4 designs, 16 cards for $20. This equates to $1.25 per card. Not too shabby if you ask me. Can you get that at Hallmark? I didn't think so.

Here are the cards we'll be doing, ideas come from the lovely ladies at Splitcoaststampers:

Finally, an update!

I've been debating for some time if I should keep this blog. I think I will. I'm just really bad about updating it because I keep using my other blog instead. I think more people read my other blog. But really, "more people" probably only consists of my Groovy Franken Friends & that's about it.

The reason, that I'm keeping this blog open is that I recently gave out a few business cards & when I got those business cards, I had this blog address printed on them. I don't know if they will look at it, but I should probably have a more recent post than June 14th, just in case.

I have been giving thought to whether or not I want to even keep my Stampin Up business going. I haven't been successful in getting new customers & the ones I do have, don't buy from me all that much. That's fine. I totally understand & am okay with it. If everyone I know just wanted to do a stamp camp, I would be TOTALLY okay with it. But, you can only stamp so much before you're bored of it or just can't afford it.

I have two upcoming camps for girls & then one of my own. I am committing to holding one camp a month for the next 3 months at my house. If I am unable to get new customers or maintained interest, then perhaps I will let my demonstratorship run out in January.

Card Update

Tonight, I have been working on my cards for next week's Adios Amigos stamp camp. Here are two cards I made:

The top one uses the hostess set, Blooming with Happiness. I actually *just* got this set not too long ago. I think it's SO cute. On this one, I used black embossing powder on the dress & colored it in with the Pretty in Pink marker. I thought having it embossed would help me stay inside the lines. Not sure if you can really tell, but those are pink eyelets on the black portion of the card.

On this next card, I did get some inspiration from someone on the SCS website. I couldn't, however, see the enlarged/detailed version of their

sample because I think something is wrong with the SCS website tonight. I did change the color from what they had (they used red &/or shades of pink).

It's hard to see, but I used the Swirling Stars jumbo wheel, with Night of Navy ink on the Night of Navy cardstock, but only on half of the cardstock. The word "Celebrate" is from the retiring stamp set All Year Cheer II. Lastly, the focal point of this card is the gifts & that's from the Crazy for Christmas stamp set.

I think I need a new white craft inkpad as "Celebrate" looks more blue than white.

Adios Amigos

I'm hardly prepared for my next stamp camp (in 3 weeks), but I've got a few ideas running around in my head. It's going to be a Mexican themed camp. I'm going to serve some chips & salsa (of course!!), margaritas (what's a fiesta without a 'rita?), some other tasty grub like quesadillas or taquitos. Yummy! I can't wait. I think it'll be fun.

I'm also going to switch it up a little bit. At camps I've had in the past, I've always had it where you, the stamper, sit in your seat & you grab the shoebox as you're ready for it. At my last stamp camp, I've found it to be a little hard for those who were in a hurry to stamp & go. They were stuck waiting for a couple of the cards & in the end, didn't make them.

This time, I'm going to have the cards staying at the station & the stamper moves to the next card.

It also appears there won't be nearly as many people attending my Adios Amigos camp as there were for my May camp(s). Hopefully, I'll get some good feedback from those who have attended both to see if this is the better way to go. If so, I'll do it this way from here on out.




Though I don't use it much, this is a card made from one of my favorite retiring stamp sets: Winged Things. It is from a fellow demonstrator, Kysmom. Perhaps I'll CASE it for my Adios Amigos camp.