Stampin' Up! Leadership Update and Swap

I thought I'd share my swap card that I made for Leadership.  I didn't do general swapping, so it was just 20 for an organized swap.  I hope people liked it as it was much different than most of the ones I got back.  They were mostly soft and bright, not the dark masculine thing I created. lol   I was happy that I got to meet a few friends at the swap, especially Pat Smith who I was hoping to run into.  (Hi, Pat!)

I'm trying out a new thing for the supply list, so you'll have to let me know what you think.  If you are in the mood to shop, you can click the links and go directly to my store to buy all these goodies!

• Banners Framelits Dies
• Early Espresso Baker's Twine
• Hardwood [clear]
• Lovely As A Tree Wood-mount Stamp Set
• Naturals Designer Buttons
• Neutrals Core'dinations
• Perfect Pennants [english, clear]
• Stampin' Sanding Block
• Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
• Early Espresso 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Soft Suede 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
• Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
• 2-1/2 Inch Circle Punch

I had a fantastic time at the event.  My roommate was super fun (Love ya, Anne Marie!) and I got to meet some awesome new people and a few blog followers too!  It did make me think about where my business is at the moment and where I want it to go.  I'm down to very few customers and the thought of dropping has crossed my mind more than once over the past few months.  I am now hoping that maybe I can turn things around a bit.   If you are local, please consider coming out to an event, contacting me about any questions or needs you might have, and let me know if there's any type of event you'd be interested in.

I'm sure if you've been on any Stampin' Up! related blogs or websites you saw the awesome information about the new markers that are coming soon.  Exciting, right?!  Learning to color was on my list to practice and improve on this year, so they are totally helping me out there.  ;)   I need all the help I can get, so yay!  Here's a peek of the colors:

Finally, there's an awesome new promotion for new My Paper Pumpkin subscribers.  We got to see the next 3 months of the kits and let me just say, if you aren't subscribing yet, GO DO IT NOW!  I am so in love with the March kit!  If you are a new subscriber, sign up NOW to get the Welcome Kit in February and then you can get the March kit that I LOVE!  Plus if you sign up before February 10th you get a free set of markers! Between the markers and the clear block included, it's like getting all the cards and stamps for free! Who doesn't LOVE free?!   If you sign up before January 25th, I'll also be sending out a little freebie.  I'll also be hosting a My Paper Pumpkin night for my local subscribers to get together to assemble their kits.  Fun, fun!  So head on over and sign up! 

The other big announcement was also AMAZING!  Demonstrators who signed up after July of last year and those who sign up before Convention registration ends get to attend Convention for free*.   Well, free in that they don't have to pay the registration fee.  You'd still be responsible for travel and hotel expenses.  Saving almost $300 off the registration fee helps a ton though!  I wish I was new again.  lol  Be sure to contact me today if you are interested in signing up and getting in on that! 

Laila and Jason survived okay without me, so it was nice to get away and not worry too much.  Maybe I'll have to do it again! Ha!

FMS118: What Does He Say?

Time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!   We took a nice break off for the holiday, but we are back with this great sketch from Jen Mitchell.    I love it and I loved using my Christmas gift to make my card!   I am really liking my Cameo a lot!  

For my card I used a file I bought from the Silhouette website.   I got a gift card with my bundle, so I figured I should use it and get some fun things to cut out.   I think this card will be a huge hit with the younger crowd because of that annoying song that we hear way too much. I used some new projects from the Occasions catalog, the Just Sayin' stamp set and the Arrows embossing folder. 

Laila loves snowmen, so she was super excited when she saw this gift box.  :)   She was also excited about her pack pack that her aunt got her.  She's just like me now with her own Vera Bradley!  

I'm off to the Stampin' Up! Leadership conference later today, so I'll be back with lots of pictures and excitement this weekend! 

Stamp Review Crew Hearts a Flutter Edition

It's time for a new hop of the Stamp Review Crew!  This time we are featuring Hearts a Flutter.  Perfect timing with Valentine's Day coming up, huh?!  Remember if you get lost or confused you can always drop by the landing spot, the Stamp Review Crew blog.  If you are following the hop, you were just treated to an awesome project by Mary!

My first project is a card I made for Jason.  It's a busy month and with lots of other obligations, so I figured I could go ahead and make my Valentine's Day card for him.  Two birds, one stone, right?!  lol  Busy moms have to multitask even with crafts!  I have a huge board of sketches I've pinned on Pinterest, so I found this layout and it all fell into place pretty quickly!

Stamps:  Hearts a Flutter, Itty Bitty Banners

Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Basic Black

Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay Corediations

Accessories:  Brights Designer buttons, Bermuda Bay baker's twine (from Tag a Bag Accessory Kit), Neutral Candy Dots

Tools:  Big Shot, Decorative Dots TIEF, Bitty Banner Framelits, Itty Bitty Punch Pack

I put together another fun little project with this set to show how you can use it to decorate your Valentine's treats!  I started with the Tag a Bag gift bags and decorated from there!   I am going to need an intervention soon for my Crumb Cake/Real Red obsession! 

Stamps:  Hearts a Flutter, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Real Red

Paper:  Whisper White, Real Red

Accessories:  Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, White Baker's Twine, Real Red 1/4 Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  Hearts a Flutter Framelit dies, Bitty Banner Framelit dies, Small Heart punch

Be sure to go on to the next hop to see a fabulous project from my dear friend Ann Schach! 

 

I hope you enjoy the hop!  

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Stampin' Up! Crazy Mixed-Up Love

I didn't share (or I don't think I did?) the second project we made a club last month.  It's super simple, but I love this layout and how cute the cards are with it.  Once you pick your pack of designer paper to use, the rest is easy!   It's a great way to show how the papers work together to make awesome projects!  I used the Epic Day DSP here and pulled from the colors of the paper for the rest of the card.  Easy, peasy!

Stamps:  Crazy Mixed-Up Love
Ink:  Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray Markers
Paper:  Gumball Green, Gumball Green Coredinations, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Whisper White
Tools: Big Shot, Honeycomb TIEF

Laila was a bit overwhelmed with Christmas and just wanted to play with what she opened instead of opening more.  Nothing wrong with that for sure.  I hope we can do a more simple holiday next year.  Baking for our local fire department and picking out a gift for the child we picked from the angel tree was was more fun than the stress of shopping for each other and wrapping.  

Happy New Year...almost!

It's always fun to do a year in review to look back at some favorite cards from the past year.   Here are mine:

January:

I love this masculine valentine! Original post here.



February:

This clean-and-simple card is one of my favorites EVER I think.


March:

This was the month of the display stamper tryouts and this card was my favorite for sure!


April:

Another favorite card.  I really need to use this stamp set more!


May:

This one is a bit morbid I guess, but it was perfect for a fellow forensic science person.


June:

I love animal stamps, so this card was definitely a favorite.


July:

You know a coffee card had to find it's way in here.


August:

This is always a rough month for me creatively, but I found one I liked at least.


September:

The Christmas cards start showing up this month.


October:

Pinterest can help you find some awesome cards to CASE, like this one!  Just remember to give credit!


November:

Gotta love the fox craze!


December:

Quite a few cards I like from this month, but this simple one is my favorite.


Have a very happy new year!

Stampin' Up! Just Sayin'

It's been a week, so I figured I should try to post something today!   It's just been so busy that I haven't had time to stamp!  I spent my free time last week cleaning and rearranging my stamp room.  I'm glad I did because Jason got me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas.  I'm a bit scared of it, but I'm going to try to do a project with it soon.   For today I wanted to use some new products that you'll be seeing in the Occasions catalog that starts soon.   I used the sketch as Pals Paper Arts as my inspiration.   I hope they think I'm close enough to it anyway.  ;)  

There's an awesome little pack of designer paper in the catalog that has the combination of Coastal Cabana and Real Red.  I just love them together!   I used a new embossing folder, that paper, and a fun new stamp set, Just Sayin'!   

I'll share some of our holiday fun today.  Mom made up some gingerbread so that Laila could cut out some little men.  It was messy, but fun.   :)

Stampin' Up! Wetlands

A simple card using the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch and the colors from Create with Connie and Mary.  I was having a rough day yesterday, so I decided to try to stamp my blues away.  I didn't have a lot of time, so I went for simple, yet elegant.   

Stamps:  Wetlands

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Cherry Cobbler Coredinations, Silver Glimmer paper, Whisper White

Accessories:  Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Faceted buttons, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Wednesday was Jason's birthday and yesterday was mine.  To celebrate, we took Laila and my mom to the zoo on Tuesday.  I'm pretty sure Mom had the most fun of us all, but Laila enjoyed her first trip there too.  She and daddy fed the giraffe and played some bongo drums! 

Freshly Made Sketches 117

Happy July 4th!   Oh wait...   It appears that I was a bit confused for Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Red and blue SEEMED like a good idea for Jason's birthday card, but well... it's a bit patriotic.  lol   Amy, who I like to call the stamper who never makes an ugly card, is the hostess this week.  I want to be her when I grow up. Or any of the other FMS people actually.  I don't know how I ended up with that talented bunch!  Those ladies can stamp like nobody's business!  

 

Fun sketch, eh?   I've been hanging out with my Canadian friend. ;) 

Stamps:  Itty Bitty Banners

Ink:  Real Red, Pacific Point

Paper:  Real Red, Pacific Point Coredinations, Whisper White, misc red DSP

Accessories:  Brights Candy Dots

Tools:  Big Shot, non-SU embossing folder, Bitty Banner Framelits

My girl is getting so big.  I just can't believe it sometimes. We added another girl to our house this week too.  This is Minnie.  :)