Day Four...Big News!

We can't believe it's over! We fly home tomorrow. We'll miss Denver, but we're excited to get home and start implementing some of the great ideas we're bringing back with us.

Tonight was the Achievement Awards Night. It was fun to get dressed up and spend the evening with the top demonstrators in the US and Canada. Congratulations to Ronda Wade, who lives just down I-69 from me, for being named Demonstrator of the Year!! Entertainment tonight was provided by Ryan Shupe & the Rubber Band. They were fantastic!

The big news tonight is that Convention will be back in Salt Lake City next year for the 20th Anniversary. The surprise was that there will only be one session. We'll all be there together...July 30th-August 2. We can't wait!!

Day Three

WOW!! My head is exploding with ideas! Day three was even better than yesterday. To start the morning off Dev and I had our picture taken with Brent Steele, vice president of creative services. He did a great presentation yesterday with the new punches and pretties kit. After a preview of the 2009 incentive trip to Hawaii the male executives came on stage as the Stampin' Up! hula dancers.

The highlight of the morning was Shelli coming on stage to "welcome us into her home" that was on stage. She showed us tons of home decor projects that she uses in her house. She said that she has a buffet table that she changes the vignette design on near monthly basis. The projects were incredible, and some so much easier than they appear. I've included the photos that she shared with us here.

Thanks for checking back in. I hope you're enjoying what we're sharing from Denver!

Day Two

Day Two is in the books! Another great day here in Denver!! Dev and I were in line for General Session at about 7:15. We had a pretty good spot in line. The first picture is the line in front of us. Lots of swapping continued. We were both swapped out before main stage began. When the curtain opened at 8:00 it was a mad house. You've never seen ladies move so quickly so early in the morning! We ended up with GREAT seats... 8th row in the center of the stage on the aisle!!!

The morning started with dry ice on the stage and the singing of the 2007 theme song..."Dream Big". The energy was incredible. Shelli came on stage at the end of the song looking fabulous as ever. She had a great message about dreams and the importance of 'dreaming big'. The morning flew by with some great demonstrations of the new Style Watch lines and punches.

Pajama Stamp-a-rama

Imagine hundreds and hundreds of demonstrators dressed in their pjs walking through downtown Denver toward the hub, the mecca, ....the convention center. Some carried pillows, some had rollers in their hair, many donned their new 'Dream Big' pajamas . Let's just say we turned the heads of many driving by! I'm sure they thought we were part of a cult, or at the very least attending a Select Comfort seminar!

Four hours we spent together socializing, swapping, and completing seven make-n-takes...three cards, a brag book page, a 12 x 12 scrapbook page, a gift box, and a decorated tin. We got a chance to try out all sorts of new toys...the cropadile, build a flower die cuts, build a brad, jumbo eyelets, rhinestone brads, ribbon, and nearly all the new punches, not to mention our new stamps! We had a great time!!!

You can see how neat the tables were when we arrived, and what six demos can do to that sense of order when they're down to business!

And, yes I did walk through downtown Denver in my new jammies with my hair in pig tails!!

WE"RE HERE!!!!

Convention 2007!!! It doesn't seem like it could really be here yet! But, here we are in the Mile High City having a great time already. After a fantastic flight, getting in 45 minutes early, we checked in to our awesome hotel, The Curtis (I'll post pics later). We quickly walked over to the Convention Center, which is a short block away, and checked in. You can see everything that was in our bags! Can you believe I've already taken over 150 pictures???

We've jut finished mounting our new rubber, and will be headed to the Pajama Stamp-a-rama in about an hour. We've already collected a bunch of swaps (some great ideas ladies!). Our first swaps were done on the plane somewhere over Nebraska.

It'll really hit us tonight at the pajama party where we're making our make-n-takes. That's when the excitement will really be amazing. There are thousands of demos here. It's incredible.

I'll try to keep you updated on what's going one here and post some pictures. Come along for the ride with us!

A New Something

I've been tagged by Gail, and I promise I'll get back to that, but I'm not feeling well tonight (I will not be sick for Convention...I will not be sick for Convention...I will not be sick for Convention). So, for now, I'm just making a quick post from my club workshop last Friday.

This was for the Crinkled Inks technique (where you use Saran Wrap to apply the background inks), and it uses all (ok...almost all) new materials. It's hard to see in the pic, but the crinkled inks are done on the card base as well. A sentiment from Ste Sayings is down there too, but it's hard to see. At club we actually stamped it in chocolate chip instead.

Stamps: Garden Whimsy, Stem Sayings; Card Stock: River Rock, Textured Groovy Guava, Very Vanilla; Ink: Groovy Guava, River Rock; Accessories: Saran Wrap, Groovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon; Technique: Crinkled Inks

Sneak Peak!

In an attempt to get you as excited as I am about Convention, here is a sneak peak at the 3D project I made for a flyer swap. I thought this swap was a great idea. We only had to make one project and a flyer to go with it. The swap coordinator is putting all the flyers together on a CD, so I'll have over a hundred project ideas with instructions and a picture of the final product. This is a Coaster Squash Book. It's like a mini scrap book that you can keep with you. The outside covers are covered chipboard coasters so they're pretty durable. I liked how this turned out so much I'm making one in blues for a friend that just had a baby boy.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs; Card Stock: Brocade Background DSP, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, River Rock; Ink: Always Artichoke; Accessories: Chipboard Coasters, Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon, Fire Circles Rhinestone Brad

The invitations are done!

Well, it was a lot to cram into one week, but the wedding invitations are done. Now, first things first, this design was cased from Kendra Giles. You can see her awesome blog at http://www.inkinitupwithkendra.blogspot.com/. I just made a few changes to suit my sister. Her invitation was the reason I purchased my cuttlebug!

We had a suprise engagement party for my sister and her fiance yesterday. All the invitations, response cards, printed envelopes, and thank-yous were all boxed up as their gift. They loved them! I've now been commissioned to make the place cards and table numbers.

Stamps: Happy Harmony; Card Stock: Very Vanilla, Blush Blossom; Accessories: Blush Blossom and Mellow Moss markers, Cuttlebug Textile Embossing Folder; Ticket Corner Punch

The thank-you notes, you'll notice, and the same design that I did for the engagement party invitations. They were extemely fast to do, especially with my sister-in-law helping me. (Thanks, Teri!).

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Warmest Regards; Card Stock: Very Vanilla; Ink: River Rock, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Ivory Organdy Ribbon

All Celery

This one was for a demo challenge on Splitcoast. The challenge was to use only one color for the entire card. Luckily I had enough Certainly Celery with me to pull it off. It actually was a challenge to use only one color.

I used a couple different patterns from the Pallete O' Prints sampler (Certainly Celery DSP). I sponged celery ink over the part of the celery card stock that showed so that it has a little texture. It looks a little like suede in real life. The zebra is mounted on dimensionals to make him stand out a little bit. I topped it off with some celery grosgrain and the new ice brads in two sizes.

Stamps: Zoofari, Warm Words; Card Stock: Certainly Celery, Certainly Celery DSP; Ink: Certainly Celery; Accessories: Ice Square Brads, Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals, Sponge

Last Hurrah

This card says goodbye to a lot of my favorites: Pines, Warmest Regards Hostess Set, Copper Encore Ink, and Vintage Brads. I would have thrown in French Script, but I didn't think it would work too good with the moose!

I wanted the background behind the moose to have a birch bark look. It's stamped with Weathered in Chocolate Chip, and then I sponged Chocolate Chip around the edges, cutting in farther on the corners. To soften the look even more I sponged on my grid paper before the card stock. It doesn't show real well in the picture, but the first layer is Weathered stamped in Copper Encore Ink on Chocolate Chip card stock.

I've got 52 wedding invitations and 75 thank-yous done for my sister. Only the response cards are left. I'll share the package with you when they're done!

Stamps: Pines, Weathered, Warmest Regards; Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Whisper White; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Copper Encore; Accessories: Vintage Brads, Color Spritzer Tool, Really Rust and Chocolate Chip Markers

A picture's worth a thousand words...

What a great trip we had to Mackinaw City and upper Michigan with our friends. I wanted to post a coupe of pictures of some spectacular sights we saw. My family is still "up north", staying with my husband's family for the next week on Hubbard Lake. I'll be doing some stamping while I'm up here, so I'll post some things starting tomorrow. I'm plugging away on those wedding invitations. Thanks for checking in!

Cramming!

Whew! Busy day! Kyle had another t-ball game after work today. He did a great job! He hit off a pitch at all three at-bats. After the celebratory dinner at Wendy's (his choice) I worked on the final layout for my sister's wedding invitation. I'll share those with you when I have them complete. So, now it's 12:30am. We're supposed to leave in the morning, or should I say later this morning. The camper is not packed. Needed laundry is in the spin cycle. Groceries are still on the market shelves. Not quite what we had in mind! Oh well, we'll pull it off somehow.

Since I was busy with the wedding things tonight I pulled an older card for my blog. Hope you enjoy it anyway.

Stamps: Close As A Memory, French Script; Card Stock: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Confetti Cream; Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum; Accessories: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, and Mellow Moss Markers, Sponge, Twill Tape, Vintage Brads, Color Spritzer Tool

Baby Wipe Technique

First of all...sorry for the quality of the scan on this one! My camera battery is charging so I wasn't able to use it. This was a fun technique that we'll be doing with my club in the very near future (sneak peak ladies!!) This card was actually not supposed to be a card at all. I made another "stamp pad" and did a card, and then decided to stamp Autumn Leaf Prints (have I mentioned it's my favorite retiring set?) to use up the rest.

What you can't really see in the scan is that the whole thing is on a bashful blue card. The navy strip at the top is spritzed with water, scrunched up, and then flattened back out. I added some navy grosgrain with a piece from the aged copper hodgepodge hardware. The two focal leaves and cut out and mounted on dimensionals. I'm actually pretty fond of the way this one turned out. Hope you do to.

Stamps: Autumn Leaf Prints, Warmest Regards; Card Stock: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Whisper White; Ink: Night of Navy; Accessories: Reinkers (Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Silver Encore), Color Spritzer Tool, Night of Navy Marker, Navy Grosgrain Ribbon, Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware, Dimensionals.

At least one good word tonight!!!

SHIPPED!!!!

That's right...the new catties are on their way!

Bad stuff & they're taking my Autumn Leaf Prints!

I had high hopes of happy stamping when I got home from work today, but those happy thoughts came crashing down! I hate bad stuff! I especially hate bad stuff regarding $$!! Sorry if this gets long, but I need to vent!

We've had renters in our old house for the past nine months. They had a signed agreement to buy the house, their retirement home, as soon as they could secure their financing. But, today we got their rent check with a note that says they'll no longer be buying the house since they're decided to get divorced instead! Aaaggghhh!! That means two mortgage payments again, and we just can't afford that. Don't forget that on top of it we just bought a camper last month. Looks like I need to kick my SU! business up a notch!

The kids could tell I was upset when I got home from work. Kyle told me I looked bored and asked what was wrong. I told him I was sad about money, and we had to be very careful how we spend it right now. Jessie, the three year-old, told me that we could sell two of her babies. A little while later she came up to me with a handful of change and handed it to me. She said, "You like it mama? You can have it. Now you have money so we can still go camping!" What do you say to that??

And, so I decided to stamp a card for today's color challenge. Since I was in a somber mood anyway I went for Autumn Leaf Prints, my favorite retiring set. I refuse to part with this one! The color challenge was to use Creamy Caramel, Barely Banana, and Real Red. The leaves in the background are stamped off in caramel and banana. I used the color spritzer tool and real red marker over the maple leaf image. I thought I'd keep the red somewhat subtle so I only used it in the spritzer, an eyelet and some ribbon. I made this one for Scott. He's feeling the pressure too. Send some good thoughts, vibes, karma, or whatever else our way! And, if any one's looking to buy a house in Perry, MI.......

Stamps: Autumn Leaf Prints, Holidays & Wishes, Canvas; Card Stock: Creamy Caramel, Barely Banana; Ink: Creamy Caramel, Barely Banana; Accessories: Color Spritzer Tool, Real Red Marker, Crafters Tool Kit, Red Eyelet, Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Spiral Punch, Ticket Corner Punch

Could I actually like Cool Caribbean???

This is a super quick one layer bridal shower card. My thought in using Cool Caribbean for them was to get rid of the stuff. (I only had what was in the assorted color packs I bought last July, but have only used one sheet ahead of this!) But, now that they're done I really like Cool Caribbean for this card. I think, in conjunction with the white, that it looks very "Tiffanyish", if I can make that a word.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Sincere Salutations; Card Stock: Cool Caribbean; Ink: Whisper White Craft, Cool Caribbean; Accessories: White Organdy Ribbon, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

You probably thought I flaked out again, huh? Nope!! We were camping this weekend, and had no wireless this time. The kids had a great time once again. This was our second trip out with our dear friends Mark and Devene & family (they're the ones that gave us the final push on the camper idea!). It was a blast!! My only complaint is that the weekend went by way too fast. Our families are already looking ahead to this Friday as we'll head up to Mackinaw City together for four nights. From there my family is heading to Hubbard Lake to spend some time with my husband's family. (Lots of stamping time, and internet access!!)

One thing I've learned about trying to stamp while we're camping is that I have to have the idea of what I want to do before we go. I did that when Scott and I stayed in Midland and got 50 swaps done, only needing to be assembled. This weekend I took way too much...wait a minute, did I say that??? I didn't end up doing any of them. Instead, I worked on those swaps from a couple of weeks ago.

My goal this week is to come up with swap designs and take them with me to work on, and to get going on my sister's wedding invitations. (Luckily, she only needs 45!) Anyone want to come help me??

He actually did it!!

Check this out! Scott did stamp me an anniversary card! And, I think he did quite well!! I was impressed!

I knew it was looking good when he called me at work and asked if there was such a thing as a "Happy Anniversary" stamp.

From the best I can tell he used bravo burgundy and blue bayou card stock. He found a poem (no, he didn't write it) on the intenet and printed it on vellum card stock. He even dabbled with some markers and WWC. How lucky am I??

Today's My Anniversary!

Nine years today! Here's my anniversary card for Scott. I got up early this morning to make it before I came to work. Do you think he's home right now sneaking into my craft room to make me one??? I won't hold my breath on that one; although, he did stamp me a birthday card. So, in my mind the precedent is set...he must stamp!

Being that I was on a time crunch I wasn't able to brainstorm much. This is what I came up with. I covered the chipboard heart with Not Quite Navy craft ink and set it aside to dry. Wanting to experiment with some new colors I reached for River Rock (I'm already dreading that one retiring next year!) and Blue Bayou. I really like that combo together.

I stamped River Rock and Blue Bayou on their respective card stocks with the Canvas background stamp. I then stamped French Script in Blue Bayou over the River Rock Canvas after I stamped off on my grid paper since I wanted a faded look. To soften the edges against the base I sponged some Bayou Blue around the outside of the River Rock and then distressed it (I use my craft & rubber scissors). I stamped off River Rock and Blue Bayou with the big swirl from Baroque Motifs for the small River Rock piece, and then stamped the sentiment from Hugs & Wishes. I distressed the heck out of the small pieces and attached Not Quite Navy brads.

I then went back to the chipboard, which had since dried, and sanded the edges and top a bit. I stamped "love" from Wonderful Words across the heart in Very Vanilla craft ink. The ribbon is actually run through the card stock and tied across the heart. I thought it would be to hard to tie it around the slant on the heart, so I cheated and used my 1/8" punch on both sides. The ribbon isn't as bright as it appears in the picture and is a perfect blue to blend.

Stamps: Canvas, French Script, Hugs & Wishes, Baroque Motifs, Wonderfl Words; Card Stock: Blue Bayou, River Rock; Ink: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Not Quite Navy Craft, Very Vanilla Craft; Accessories: On Board Accents Chipboard, Earth Elements Brads, French Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/8" Circle Punch

Chocolate & Celery & T-Ball...Oh My!

Finally...back to doing some splitcoast challenges!! This had to be a quick one to get it in before Kyle's t-ball game tonight. The challenge was to use chocolate chip, cameo coral, certainly celery, and the fourth color of tempting turquoise.

When I decided to use Zoofari I immediately thought of the mesh cuttlebug folder. It reminded me of rhino skin- not that I've ever seen rhino skin close up, but it's what I perceive rhino skin looks like. Anyway, I digress. The rhino is watercolored and cut out. The sentiment is from the new Hugs & Wishes set. I also used the small ice rhinestone brad to attach the ribbon piece. I still thought it needed a little something so I added a small triangle to the back of the coral panel, folded it over, and attached it with a vintage brad. To finish it off I sponged a little going gray under the rhino for shadowing.

Stamps: Zoofari, Hugs & Wishes, Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Watercolor; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Going Gray, Timber Brown Staz On; Accessories: Cuttlebug Mesh Folder, Ice Square Brad, Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Tag Punch, Vintage Brad, WWC, Aquapainter, Tag Corner Punch

And, to share a highlight from tonight...here's a picture from Kyle's game. We were so proud of him. In t-ball the kids get a chance to hit three pitches, and then, if needed, they go to the tee. Kyle hit a pitch on his first two at-bats, only needing the tee on his third, and that was after fouling a pitch three times.

In this picture he hit the first pitch into the grass out of the infield. He was so excited. We were happy to be able to share it with both sets of grandparents who made the drive to see the game tonight. WAY TO GO KYLE!!!

Lovin' Baroque Motifs

Wonderful Mr. Brown delivered my Fall/Winter Collection preview order today. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get it all mounted and stamp until 10:00 tonight. But, here it is! I am loving this set. I think it has SO much potential. I wish I could have gotten a picture in natural light to show the colors better.

I stamped the large image in Chocolate Chip and River Rock (LOVE that new color!!) on River Rock card stock. It's mounted on Brocade Background designer series paper and then on chocolate chip. The corner of the river rock and the chocolate strip are pierced with the paper piercer. The sentiment is from the new Hugs & Wishes set, and I love that it's in Scriptina...just like my watermark! The hodgepodge piece is in aged copper.

Kyle was very excited about Zoofari. He helped mount the set. I'm sure you'll be able to see some of his creations here soon!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Hugs & Wishes; Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Baroque Background DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip, River Rock; Accessories: Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, Crafters Tool Kit; Technique: Paper Piercing

Bright Doodles

I didn't make this card camping this weekend, but it's one I haven't posted yet. I was trying to step out of the box a bit and use some bright colors. I find that I never use Bold Brights.

For this one I used Double Line Doodles that I got at Regionals last fall. It will be in the new Fall/Winter Collection catalog. I heart in the center is cut out and mounted on a dimensional. I used the round tab punch from the mini to create the funky design around the main image. All the coloring is done with markers. The tempting turquoise scalloped looking border was made by punching a lot of 1/2" circles and mounting them to the back.

Stamps: Double Line Doodles; Card Stock: Basic Black, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Whisper White; Ink: Basic Black; Accessories: Markers, Dimensionals, Round Tab Punch, Turquoise Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/2" Circle Punch.

Here's a pic of Scott and I taken when we got back from the wedding reception last night before we put our comfy campin' clothes back on. I thought it turned out pretty well, being that the camera was on the self timer sitting in the crook of the tree at our site! But, we did decide to bypass s'mores and head to Cold Stone Creamery instead!

My Limited Supply Wedding Card

Yea!! Wireless internet at our campground! We got up here about 8:00 last night. Looks like a neat campground, wish we had more time to spend here. We found an awesome Japanese steakhouse for dinner last night...kind of a pre-anniversary celebration as ours is the 13th. Dinner was incredible! This is the wedding card I made when we got back from dinner with the VERY few supplies I had with me. Luckily I remembered I had a cuttlebug background in my laptop case. Why was it there? I have no idea!

This was super quick. I used markers on the image from Happy Harmony and my stamp-a-ma-jig (of course!) to place the sentiment . The white organdy ribbon was just to set it off a bit. I like the way it turned out.

Stamps: Happy Harmony, All Year Cheer; Card Stock: Whisper White, Blush Blossom; Ink: Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Blush Blossom and Old Olive markers, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, White Organdy Ribbon, Cuttlebug Divine Swirl Folder

Happy Birthday Chef

This will be a quick entry, but as promised, here's another card. This was a really quick birthday card that I've made quite a few of. It's hard to see in the image, but i used the whole side of a quartered sponge to create a hazy background around the chef. This made his coat seem even brighter. The image was colored in with markers and I used the silver zig painty on the tray to give it some shine.

We're camping again this weekend for an out of town wedding. I'm making a card tonight for the wedding. If I have internet access I'll post it here. If not, it'll be a day or two.

Stamps: Viola; Card Stock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink: Basic Black; Accessories: Markers, Sponge, Red Gingham Ribbon, 1/8" Circle Punch, Zig Painty.

Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!

I am almost embarrassed to update this, since it's been SO long. Things have been exceptionally busy in my world, but I have vowed to get this blog up and running again. I apologize to those of you who have been checking in and finding the same old-same old.

We bought a camper in Mid-May and have been gone every weekend since. It's been great fun, but I do need to get stamping more. This past weekend I worked on swaps for Convention while we were camping. I have 50 nearly done from one sitting! That re-energized my stampin' gene. I cleaned up my space last night (was still a mess after our fundraiser prep work, if you can believe that), and I'm ready to go!

I finally ordered Pocket Fun about two months ago because I had wanted it, and Kyle convinced me that I needed it. Wouldn't you know it's now on the retired list. Oh well, at least I can share this card with you. I really like this one. It looks much better in real life. I masked the flowers into the pocket, and then water colored the whole thing with my WWC. The pocket was a myriad of blues, trying to achieve a worn look. The final pocket image is mounted with dimensionals.

I promise I'll be back tomorrow. I hope you'll be back too!

Stamps: Pocket Fun, Aida Cloth; Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Barely Banana, Watercolor Paper, Spring Flowers DSP; Ink: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Black Staz On; Accessories: WWC, Aquapainter, Earth Elements Brads, Apricot Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals; Techniques: Masking, Watercoloring

Successful Fundraiser

Devene and I held a fundraiser last weekend to support the Oakland Animal Fund. We were able to donate $175 to the organization. We had a lot of fun and it seemed to be well received. We're planning to do another one in the fall. When I'm able to get some pictures, I'll post the projects we did. These are a few of the pics we took that day. Even Brenda's dog, Kira, thought it was fun!

Sorry I've been a bad blogger! Things have been really hectic trying to get ready for the fundraiser, fitting in some letterboxing with the nice weather, and getting ready for the end of the school year. Kyle starts t-ball this weekend, so it may not get any easier!