Stamp with Stephanie

Back to Tim's Tags

2011-12-31T00:12:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it's the end of December already! After getting all my Christmas cards done about a week before Christmas, I took a nice break only to realize that I still had 8 tags to make before the end of the month! Why before the end of the month you ask? Well, Tim gives away prizes if you get all 12 done! I made a goal to get them all done this year, and well, it's not gonna happen. lol

I did get my daughter, Kelly, to make the tag from Day 5 with me. It was a tough technique for her (as a beginner), and she got a little frustrated. She was happy with her final result, but it was after hours of work.

I do like the way my Day 5 tag came out--I think it's my favorite this year:

I usually don't like this particular technique because I haven't had much luck with it in the past, but I like the way this tag turned out. Here's a look at Tim's tag:

Since Kelly was working so long on her tag, I started working on the tag from Day 6. I was really anxious to try this one cause I've been wanting to work with some metal. I thought I'd paint in all the background colors, and be slick and just brayer black over the top to hit all the raised images. Unfortunately, that didn't work so well. Yeah, I covered all the high points, but I also got a LOT of the low points too, and I had to repaint some areas. Needless to say, I'm not too crazy about this one, but it took me so long to paint it, I wasn't about to start from scratch again. Here it is in all it's glory:

And, here's Tim's tag from Day 6:

As you can see, mine doesn't look anything like Tim's. lol

And, finally, I finished Day 7's tag yesterday. This one came out pretty good too:

And, here's a look at Tim's:

It's after midnight, so it's officially December 31st. I'm going to post these to Tim's blog, and then get to bed. We're having our family Christmas at my sister's tomorrow, and we have to leave around 11am since she lives in South Jersey. I guess that means I'm not going to get all the tags done this year, but I did get farther this year than I did last year.

OK, so here's my vow for next year ... I'm going to have all my Christmas cards done before December 1st so when Tim starts his tags, I have nothing else hanging over my head, and I can keep up with him. :)

Happy New Year!!!

Free Event!

2011-12-10T10:59:00.000-05:00

I signed up for a new meetup group in our area, and I offered to teach rubber stamping or scrapbooking here in my home. I chose tomorrow for the date, and not only did I get 2 new people to sign up, but Anabel is coming too! I told Denise, who can't wait to come, and now Patricia & Joeffre from work are coming as well! I'm so excited! I've got 2 really cool holiday cards to make with everyone, and it's just going to be a fun time. No fee, no orders, just fun stamping with some friends!

Back to Tim's Tags: Day 4

2011-12-05T23:14:00.000-05:00

This tag was a lot of fun to make cause I was really in a zone. I had a few problems, but I really like how the tag turned out. Once again, I didn't have the die Tim was using (snowman die & the "25" movers & shapers die), so I decided to go with the umbrella man die and cut off his umbrella. Then, I used the pine tree die and put that over his shoulder. Since I couldn't cut out the 25, I used what I had that would fit, and it was a keyhole. I know, it makes no sense, but I wanted to do all the techniques, and I had fun, so that's what counts. I think the most fun I have in making these tags is trying to find something in my stash to substitute what I don't have.

I also didn't have his snowflake die, so I used a smaller snowflake die and just made 3 instead of one. I also didn't have his snowflake On the Edge die, and here is where I had the most trouble. On his tag, he used the Edge die to cut out the snowflakes from packaging plastic. I've been saving tons of this stuff, so I was determined to use some. I tried using several Sizzlit snowflakes I have, but none of them would cut entirely through the plastic, and they were too detailed to cut by hand. I tried using my old Stampin' Up! snowflake punch, and got one cut, but then the plastic got caught up in the punch. After fighting with it to get it all out, I stupidly tried to cut a 2nd one ... bad move. Not only did it not punch all the way through, I almost broke my punch trying to get it back out! When I finally got it all out, I decided to try sharpening the punch with some aluminum. I tried a third time, with the same results. After wasting over an hour playing with this, I decided to just use the one snowflake.

Since I couldn't put the snowflakes down the edge, I decided to just layer it on top of one of my 3 grungepaper snowflakes. I also decided to add some of Stampin' Up!s mica flakes from the current Holiday Mini Catalog. You can kind of make out the larger clear snowflake layered on top of the bluish one.

Here's a picture of his tummy with the keyhole and some sheet music (from SU's First Edition DSP).

Finally, I used a couple of SU's buttons with the tulle tied through them. I love this look! Tim had a great tip on how to get the tulle through those tiny holes, and it worked like a charm! I swear, that man's a genius!

Here's what Tim's tag looked like:

Oh! I just noticed that he added a charm to his ribbon. Oops! Oh well, I think my tag has enough bling on it.

Techniques with Ranger Stuff

2011-12-05T11:56:00.000-05:00

I'm sooo behind in posting the cards from last month's Techniques class, so I'm taking time out from working on my Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas (and before tonight's Techniques class) to post the pics and some info about them.

For this first card, I used some acetate (or any recycled plastic from packaging), and colored the backs with some Ranger Alcohol Inks. They dry pretty quickly, so I then used some Ranger Paint Dabbers, and went over the Alcohol Ink until covered. When dry, I die cut them into leaves, added some black Sharpie to draw leaf veins on the fronts, and hit them with the heat gun to melt and shape them a little. I decided to pull out some River Rock card stock for the base, and stamped it with Versamark ink and the Canvas background (love this stamp); added some retired Autumn Spice DSP from 2010's Holiday mini catalog, a strip of Cajun Craze punched with the Scallop Trim Border, and a little hemp bow around the stems! Added my sentiment with some Early Espresso ink and it's done!

This next card was done on Old Olive cardstock base with some First Edition DSP. I sponged some Crumb Cake ink on the DSP before adhering to 'age' it a little, and then wrapped some purple hemp around a tied a knot.

I stamped the flower on some watercolor paper using Black StazOn, and colored it using our Watercolor Crayons and an Aqua Painter. I painted the center of the flower weith Daffodil Delight, but it didn't 'pop' enough for me, so on my finished card, I added a So Saffron button with some Linen Thread tied through the holes.

To make the frame, since I don't have a scalloped square frame die, I just cut a scalloped square of Elegant Eggplant cardstock. Then, using my paper cutter, I cut out the inside leaving a 1/2" border all around. I inked the inside and outside edges of this as well to 'age', and to really make it look old, I covered the frame with some Ranger Rock Candy Crackle Paint.

This last card was one I made at Convention (I believe). It's been displayed in my classroom for about a year now, and my students have been patiently waiting to make it.

It's made using our new Letterpress Plates. The trick to using these plates is to use watercolor paper, and our Craft Ink. I squeeze a drop of ink onto some scrap plastic to use as a palette. I then apply the ink using a Dauber directly to the areas I was colored on the letterpress plate. I carefully laid the watercolor paper on top and ran it through the Big Shot. You end up with a stamped, slightly embossed image ... just beautiful! I added some Regal Rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, a Melon Mambo card base with a layer of Regal Rose cardstock in between. One of our Basic Rhinestone Jewels finishes it off with the perfect elegent touch.

Day 3

2011-12-04T19:58:00.000-05:00

Just finished my tag for Day 3, but I think I need to pick up some pine needles. I don't have the holiday leaf die that Tim's been using, and without the holly and pine, it's just missing something. I was able to do part of his technique of using the Cut 'n Dry felt to make my own stamp pad, but I didn't have his Christmas stamp with matching embossing folder. I used this retired background stamp from Stampin' Up!, and it worked OK, but I couldn't follow up with embossing the stamped words. I decided since I couldn't emboss the words, I'd 'highlight' a couple of holiday words by taking my AquaPainter and coloring over 'Joy' and 'merry' to make them stand out.

Here's a look at Tim's tag:

You can kind of see that the words "Seasons Greetings" are embossed. I think these sets of stamps with embossing folders is a really cool idea, but they're just not in the budget now. Maybe I'll win some or something. lol

It's still kind of early, so I think I'm going to try & play catch up and get today's tag done as well.

Day 2

2011-12-03T17:47:00.001-05:00

I finished yesterday's tag, but my sister just got here, so I'll have to catch up tomorrow. I had alot of fun with this one. I didn't have Tim's holiday embossed paper, so I made my own from my Stampin' Up! Designer Series paper, and embossed it with some of Tim's Christmas stamps. You can't really tell from this picture, but the right side has some words up the edge, and the left side was embossed with a pine branch stamp. Tim used the reindeer die to cut out the canvas/grungeboard focus point, but since I didn't have that, I decided to go with the tree.

Here's Tim's Tag:

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas! Day 1

2011-12-02T08:16:00.000-05:00

Here we go again! I had so much fun making this first tag! Although I followed along with Tim, I did a few things a little differently. Like the tag itself ... I did the opposite of Tim ... I used the de-bossed side and added the white embossing powder to the snowflakes, instead of the background. And, I didn't have his pinecone die, so I made some pineconish roses. lol Instead of die-cutting the word "Noel", I used his movers & shapers die "DREAM", some Martha Stewart gold glitter, and backed it up with some black cardstock. I also didn't have the dies for his greenery, so I used a couple of my own. Here's a look at Tim's Tag ...

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

2011-11-04T20:19:00.000-04:00

As I'm sitting here updating my blog, I noticed that I haven't posted since June! I mean, I know it was slow around here, but I didn't think it was that long! The summer was very slow around here because everyone was off enjoying vacations. Then, in late September, early October, I was on my vacation ... 3 days in Disney World, and my 4th Tim Holtz Cruise (to the Caribbean)! Now that I have all my pictures back, I really should post about some of our adventures. Well, that's for another day. Four days after I returned home from vacation, I underwent surgery on my left rotator cuff. Why, oh why, did I do that? I mean, it wasn't really bothering me, but the MRI showed a complete tear, so I figured I'd better get it fixed. Well, yesterday was the 4-week anniversary since the surgery, and it still aches! I'm a third of the way through physical therapy, and I return to work at Michaels next week.

Speaking of returning to work, I'm going to resume my classes here in my home classroom. I'm going to return to the same schedule:

Evening Classes:
1st Monday of the month: Techniques Class, 7:30pm, $15 (Nov. 7th)
2nd Monday of the month: Scrapbooking Layout, 7:30pm, $15 (Nov. 14th)
3rd Monday of the month: Stamp-a-Stack, 7:30pm, $25 (Nov. 21st)

Morning Classes (following the 1st Monday of the month):
1st Wednesday: Techniques Class, 10am, $15 (Nov. 9th)
2nd Wednesday: Scrapbooking Layout, 10am, $15 (Nov. 16th)
3rd Wednesday: Stamp-a-Stack, 10am, $25 (Nov. 23rd)

This month's crop night will be held on Friday, November 18th, 6-11pm, $15

I've finished my card making appointments, and the orders are all in. I've already scheduled 4 dates for card-making sessions, and here are the dates for the final 6 sessions:
Saturday, Nov. 19th 2pm-4pm
Sunday, Nov. 20th 2pm-4pm
Friday, Nov. 25th 7:30pm-9:30pm
Friday, Dec. 2nd 7:30pm-9:30pm
Tuesday, Dec. 6th 7:30pm-9:30pm
Friday, Dec. 9th 7:30pm-9:30pm

And, finally, Stampin' Up! is having another great promotion! If you book a workshop, and your total party orders are over $350, you'll get an EXTRA $35 to spend on top of the great benefits you already receive! So, it's another great time to host a workshop! Contact me today to schedule one anytime before December 15th to take advantage of this deal.

I Can't Believe There's NO Stamping!

2011-06-18T22:28:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it? Not one bit of ink ... none, zip, zero! But, can you see it? Those swirls are stitched! I've been wanting to make this spread for a LONG time (a couple of years!). I used the In Stitch'z templates from Bazzill, and as soon as I saw these in the store, I pictured them being used just like this.

I created these pages while I was at Kelly's Anime Convention in Somerset last weekend. In fact, one of my graduates, Dawn, from my SDU course at Michaels, came down to the convention with her daughter, Arianna, and her friend, Maria (two adorable girls!). We walked around a bit with the girls until they felt comfortable, and then Dawn & I went up to my room to create! I worked on these pages, and Dawn made some awesome cards with her new stamp supplies she got from my workshop. We had a great time, and I'm so glad they came down. We're gonna have many Anime Conventions in our futures! lol

Getting back to the pages, here they are close up.

I used Baja Breeze for the background, Crumb Cake for the sand, and Whisper White & Marina Mist for the waves. The envelopes were made with Marina Mist using the retired envelope template, and I created my own template for the little Crumb Cake tags. I also added a white eyelet to each tag and some of the same fiber I used to stitch the swirls.

I really enjoyed making these pages, and my mind's racing with other projects to come!

Hooo, Hoooo, Hooooooo!

2011-06-09T13:25:00.001-04:00

Everybody has been asking for this card, and we finally made it! I had to order a new XL owl punch because I don't know what I did with mine (why is it the expensive items are the ones I misplace?). This card is almost exactly the same as the one my friend, Pat Mitello, designed, except she used Marina Mist cardstock, DSP & ribbon. I had to change to Old Olive because I didn't own any Marina Mist DSP, and I really like this card in the green.

Pat designed this card for our group's shoebox swap in January to promote items from our Sale-a-Bration mini catalog. Both stamp sets used were FREE from that catalog: Punch Bunch & So Happy For You. We also used the Woodgrain background stamp as well.

Although this card is adorable, lots of punches and steps were involved, so my other two cards for this week's Techniques class were much quicker to make.

Here are the deets: Old Olive cardstock, DSP & 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Naturals White cardstock for the base layer, Early Espresso cardstock for the awnings, small circle, branch & ink, Whisper White cardstock for the owl & woodgrained piece; Soft Suede cardstock for the large circle ring, and Crumb Cake cardstock for the sign.

For punches: 2-1/2" Circle, 1-3/4" Circle, 1-3/8" Circle, 2-Step Bird XL, 2-Step Owl XL, 1/16" Circle, Scallop Edge Border.

For accessories: Basic Pearl, Linen Thread, Versamarker, Embossing Buddy, ruler, heat tool, Stamp-a-ma-jig & Crystal Effects.

This card looks real complicated, and I have to admit, I was nervous myself about making my first one, but it's so simple! This card (actually all 3 cards) I made at the shoebox swap in January. This one was based on a design by Dale Morin. I changed the DSP and the saying inside, but the rest is all Dale.

We used Very Vanilla cardstock for the base, Real Red cardstock for the "ribbons", and Sending Love Specialty DSP for the ends. Oh, and how could I forget the fabulous Glimmer paper for the heart! I'm not a glitz lover, but this paper is awesome! Thanks Dale, for getting me to try some!

We also used Real Red ink inside for the saying from the All Holidays stamp set. For accessories, we used the Full Heart punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, the Movers & Shapers die with the heart from the Punch Windows die set, and of course, the Big Shot.

And, finally, this last card was based on another design by Dale. Almost everything is exactly the same, except she used the Easter Blossom set from the Occasions mini catalog, and Marina Mist satin ribbon. Since I don't have that set, or that ribbon, I substituted a stamp from Artfully Asian and we used 5/8" Marina Mist grosgrain ribbon.

The base of the card is Wild Wasabi with a layer of Very Vanilla. The frame is the Framed Tulips embossing folder run through the Big Shot. The stamping was done on Glossy paper w/Black StazOn ink. Springtime Vintage DSP is at the bottom. We added some Basic Pearls, white crayon, and sponged on Marina Mist & Wild Wasabi ink.

It's All Gotta GO!

2011-06-01T11:30:00.000-04:00

This weekend is my BIG yard sale I'm having with 3 other Stampin' Up! demonstrators (rain or shine). We're holding the sale on Sunday, June 5th from 10am-4pm here at my home, but all our customers are invited to a special PREVIEW sale on Saturday, June 4th from 10am-1pm!

Although we can't sell items from the just released retiring lists from this catalog, we do have LOTS of items from the past: stamp sets, papers, inks, scrapbooking items, storage, all type of bags & totes, and more! And, everything's priced to go! I mean low, low, LOW prices!

We'll also have lots of household items too, including furniture, a boys bicycle, oversized snowboard with bindings, and a boat dock box. And, that's just my stuff ... just imagine what the 3 other demonstrators will be bringing to the sale! All I can say is, IT'S GONNA BE HUGE!

Last Chance!

2011-06-01T11:21:00.000-04:00

Today's the big day ... the sad day ... the day we find out which sets will be retiring from Stampin' Up! I usually look at this day with dread, but also with anticipation. Why? Because in just one month, the new catalog will be released with LOADS of new stamp sets & accessories! And, don't forget, FIVE new In Colors! Oooh, I just got goosebumps!

There are 3 retiring lists to click on: Stamps, accessories & Definitely Decorative. There are plenty of stamps, but the accessories & Definitely Decorative items are only available while supplies last, so it's recommended that if you want to order something, you should do it directly from my website here, since the website always has the updated list of items still available.

Lots of Roses!

2011-05-12T13:34:00.000-04:00

One of my customers requested specific colors and roses for this month's scrapbook page, so I always try to please. As soon as she requested it, the ideas started flowing in my little brain. I originally was thinking of using paper flowers, dyeing them & layering them, but too many people signed up for my classes, and I'd litterally have gone through hundreds! And, after all, this class is to teach you scrapbooking with rubber stamps, so of course, I used the retired set, Roses in Winter.

I had 4 ladies here for yesterday morning's class, and they were all beginners, soooooo, almost 5 hours later, they finally finished! lol I worked on this spread over the weekend doing a little here & there, but I don't think it should've taken that long! lol We'll see if it goes any faster for my evening group. We were supposed to have the class this past Monday, but a couple couldn't make it, so I re-scheduled the class for next Tuesday (there's still room if you want to join us).

Here's a closer look at the pages:

Here's the left side page, and below, the right:

We used lots of different techniques on these pages that are hard to see in these pics. For example, we used Versamark ink in a cartridge and rolled the Rough Texture jumbo wheel over the Crumb Cake base pages. We also stamped a base layer of about 20-25 roses directly on the Whisper White cardstock. Then, we stamped an additional 15 roses and 20 leaves on more Whisper White and cut them out. We popped them up with Dimensionals and layered them all over the stamped base of roses. The rose colors are So Saffron, Regal Rose, Rose Red, and the leaves are Garden Green.

We used the Top Note Bigz Die for the journaling block and trimmed off the outer edge on the Crumb Cake so we could layer it on some Regal Rose. I stamped some roses off the edges, but I might just make a couple more roses and cut them out and pop them up on the journaling tag.

We also used the Scallop Edge punch along the bottom, and punched strips of Regal Rose with the Dotted Ribbon punch, which we then stitched 'X's in them with white embroidery floss and layered them above the scalloped edge.

And, finally, for the title, we used the Headline Alphabet with Regal Rose Craft ink and Whimsical Upper Alphabet with Rose Red Craft ink, which was then outlined with White Gel Pen.

These ladies were so cute ... they were saying "but my daughter doesn't have curls," or "I have no pictures of girls with curls." lol As I said, they're beginners. So, I suggested Spring themed titles, or Mother's Day, etc. Since it's Spring now, I told them they could always take their kids to the park and take some pics and make the title "Spring Fun," or "Spring has Sprung!" So, one lady opted for the latter, one did "My Beautiful Girls," one did "Easter 2011", and the 4th lady had to leave, so she's going to finish her pages at her next class.

Can't wait to see what my evening class comes up with!

Ooops! I forgot!

2011-05-09T20:45:00.000-04:00

As I was designing the scrapbook spread for my next class, I realized that I never posted the cards from last week's Technique class. Ooops!

This first card was soooo very simple! We used a product called Flower Soft on the tops of the flowers. I chose to use this product because a couple of weeks ago, some of my students & I went to the Heirloom Stamp Festival in Allentown, PA. One of the make 'n takes was with Flower Soft, and it was so much fun to use! I mentioned that I had some of this, and the girls wanted to use it on a card, so what's my motto? You ask for it, you get it! The cardstock was Perfect Plum & Whisper White; Herb Expressions stamp set; Framed Tulips embossing folder; Perfect Plum ink and an Old Olive 1/4" grosgrain ribbon bow. Simple!

This next card was watercolored because another student stated that she wanted to try watercoloring. We used watercolor paper, Cajun Craze & Early Espresso cardstock; Black StazOn ink and the following watercolor crayon colors: Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Basic Gray, Always Artichoke, More Mustard & Pumpkin Pie. We also used a buckle from the retired Hodgepodge Hardware in Aged Copper on some 1/4" Twill Tape. The embossing folder was one of Tim Holtz's Alterations called Woodgrain.

And, finally, this last card had lots of techniques: 3-step stamping, stamping off, Color Spritzer, Distressing, and our Pearl Jewels. I used our retired notecard & envelopes, but you can still get them ... they're just a little bigger than these. We stamped using the retired Roses in Winter set (love, love, LOVE this set! I just used it on this month's scrapbook spread!), with Regal Rose, Old Olive, Marina Mist & Basic Black inks. We used the Chocolate Chip marker in the Color Spritzer tool, and the Tea Stain inkpad from our Distressing Kit.

Beautiful Retiform Cards!

2011-04-24T15:58:00.000-04:00

I just love the retiform technique (my up-upline, the very talented Karen Barber) taught me this technique several years ago, and I wanted to bring it back into play again. I'm having a special class tomorrow night (and again on Wednesday morning) teaching this advanced technique, and I wanted to show you the cards because they are just gorgeous!

For this card, I wanted to use some botanical stamps, so I wanted to use some green. One of my favorite students, Denise, suggested this color combo. I wouldn't usually use such dark colors for this technique, or a pink AND a purple (soooo not me!), but for Denise, I try to please. I like how it came out ... it's important to go outside your comfort zone once in a while.

You need three colors of ink beside the Basic Black, and lots of Post-Its. You also need a ruler with a cork bottom and a Zig Painty Pen (we don't sell anymore, but you can still purchase at Michaels).

Colors: Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Basic Black
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Old Olive
Stamps: French Filigree, Bella Toile (both retired), Teahouse, Asian Artistry, Wings of Friendship, Bliss, Because I Care, and All a Flutter.

For this card, the colors are more me. Plus, I used a beachy, islandy theme, which is sooooo me! I actually messed this card up a little, but I think it still looks great. Hopefully, I'll find some time today or tomorrow to fix my mistake before class tomorrow night. It won't affect the class, it's just I'm a little anal.

Colors: Marina Mist, Cajun Craze, Sahara Sand, Basic Black
Cardstock: Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Marina Mist
Stamps: Balmy Breezes, Cheesecloth, Old World Map, Seaside (all retired), and En Francais

If you're interested in taking this class either tomorrow night (April 25th at 7:30pm), or Wednesday morning (April 27th at 10am) for $15, please email me ASAP so I can have your supplies ready.

Inspired by Sue

2011-04-22T11:41:00.000-04:00

Just before I started working on the cards for my stamp-a-stack class, I received an email from my downline, Sue Siebert. She used to take classes from me years ago, and when her family moved to PA, she decided to become a demonstrator herself, and she has really come into her own lately!

Anyways, she started blogging (click here to see it), and she suggested I check it out. I loved the cards she made for her stamp-a-stack (she refers to it as SAS), and just looking at them really inspired me!

Here's the first card I created:

And, here's her card that inspired mine. I really loved this card, but I try to change things up a bit:

I believe she used Bravo Burgundy & Whisper White. The stamps sets are Lovely as a Tree and the saying is from On Your Birthday (love that set!). I changed the colors to Always Artichoke & Naturals Ivory. I used Lovely as a Tree, but went with a different image. The saying is from Occasional Quotes. I also used the Square Lattice embossing folder, and the Word Window punch with a gold brad like she did.

Here was my next card:

And this was Sue's card that inspired it:

I believe Sue used Rich Razzleberry & Whisper White for this one. She used the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and highlighted areas with a white gel pen. She also used some retired dotted grosgrain ribbon, a saying from Sincere Salutations, the Scallop Oval Ex.Lg.punch & the 2" x 1-3/4" Oval Ex.Lg. punch.

I decided to change the color to Blushing Bride with the Whisper White and I used the Elegant Lines embossing folder. I liked the look of the gel pen, so I colored in the flowers in the embossed image. I used some poly stitched ribbon and a Med. Jewelry Tag punch with the word Love from the Tiny Tags set held on by some silver elastic cord through the knot.

And, finally, here's my third card:

And, here is Sue's card that inspired it:

She used some retired items on her card: Close to Cocoa cs & DSP, and the felt ribbon from last year's (?) holiday mini. She also used Whisper White cs run through the Big Shot in the Perfect Polka Dot embossing folder, Chocolate Chip cs, the owl stamp from Forest Friends with the 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Ex.Lg. punch, and Sincere Salutations with the Scallop Oval Ex.Lg. punch.

I decided to go with Basic Gray as my card base, and the Whisper White cs plus the Baja Breeze Print Patterns DSP, both run through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. I put on some Basic Gray taffeta ribbon and used the Just Beachy and Make it Count (both retired) stamp sets.

You can see how easy it is to take any card, scrapbook page, sample from our Idea Book & Catalog, product label, magazine ad, etc. and use it to inspire your own creations!

Fall Pages???

2011-04-13T22:19:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, why would I choose a fall layout in the beginning of Spring? Because YOU asked for it! My students saw these pages in my scrapbook and said "that's what we want to make at our next class!" So, ask and you shall receive! The left side of the layout was originally designed by my wonderful, up-up-upline, Tina Rosenkrans. We all made this page at one of her fabulous "demonstrator only" events along with lots of other great projects. The original page I made was titled "Fall Fest", because that's what the event was called. I wanted to use this layout a few years ago for a scrapbooking workshop, so I re-did it with an apple picking theme, and designed the right side page for a matching spread.

The original pages used Creamy Caramel for the base pages, and we all know that's retired, so in my morning session, we used Kraft cardstock, and the pages came out wonderful!

I had just enough leftover Creamy Caramel for the night session, so we used that, along with Cajun Craze (to replace the retired Really Rust), and some Brushed Gold cardstock. Luckily, I held onto my retired Fall Whimsy stamp set, and the retired maple leaf punch.

Monday's Technique Class

2011-04-06T12:12:00.002-04:00

I gotta say, everyone LOVED these cards! We did two really cool techniqes, and the third card I made really simple since the first two were pretty involved. This first card was bringing back my old favorites, micro beads! What you do is find a squared off image (for ease of cutting), color it in with bold, bright colors, cover entire image with Sticky Strip, and cover with clear micro beads for a stunning, stained glass type of look. I also used Baja Breeze for the card base, textured Basic Black, Old Olive some Newsprint DSP & some black hemp. The image is another old favorite of mine, from the retired Ageless Adornment set. This next card uses the Creat-a-Cupcake stamp set with the Build-a-Cupcake punch. You can't see it, but I made a wire spring for under the cupcake, so when you pull the card from the envelope, it pops up! Just adorable! I also used Sunny Garden DSP, Pear Pizzazz cardstock, and two little brackets from the Tim Holtz grunge set Many Minis which we colored with Pear Pizzazz ink. Oh, and I finished off the card with a wrapping of Peach Parfait Poly Stitched Ribbon.

I didn't design this last card, but I did have to update it a little. I found my muse among all my swaps from past years and there was no name on the back. This leads me to believe that it was designed by a local Stampin' Up! friend who created the design for a Shoebox Swap, and I made it myself during the event. I've made hundreds of cards over the past 8 years as a demonstrator at all sorts of events, so unfortunately, I can't give this person proper credit.

Anyhoo ... the base is Bravo Burgundy with a layer of Very Vanilla. I punched a 1-3/8" Square hole in the Vanilla and adhered some vellum to the back before attaching to the card base. The sentiment was from All-Year Cheer I (retired), and the maple leaf stamp from Autumn Leaf Prints (also retired). I also stamped the same leaf in coordinating colors on the 3 scraps of cardstock and punched them out with the retired maple leaf punch. Very quick & simple, but very stylish.

This Friday is my 2nd Crop Nite, and I'm soooo looking forward to it! I've been organizing my scrapbooking supplies in my new craft room, and I've got piles of finished pages just waiting for photos! I could probably fill at least 2 books if I ever get these pages done! lol

Big Weekend!

2011-04-01T10:49:00.003-04:00

This weekend marks the 2nd birthday for Paper Secrets, and they're having a party with lots of yummy prizes! You can check them out by going to http://papersecrets.friendhood.net/forum or clicking the big box above.

Cards, cards, cards

2011-03-22T21:23:00.004-04:00

Last night was my stamp-a-stack class (everyone makes 12 cards plus matching envelopes--3 different designs, but 4 cards of each design). I had a few of my usual students, but a new student, Debbie, also came. She had requested in advance that I make some masculine cards and some sympathy cards. I was having fun working on the card above as the masculine card while Rick was (finally) anchoring my last 3 shelf units to the wall on Saturday. Now, I can finish moving my stuff into the classroom. I had decided on the colors and basic design, but I thought the background needed something ... the plain Sahara Sand cardstock looked too dull. I had recently replaced my Old World Map background stamp (I had sold mine years ago when it retired, and have regretted it ever since!), so I stamped it with Versamark, and when I added the strips & the artwork, I didn't like it. I decided to go with the Square Lattice embossing folder instead, but I was too lazy to get another piece of cardstock--I just flipped it around, and decided the background could be on the inside ... wa-laa!

Everyone loved it! We usually only stamp the fronts of the cards, but I might start doing more on the inside.

This next card was the sympathy card, but the rest of my students don't really want to stamp sympathy cards, so I also made the same card with a Get Well sentiment, and changed the orientation, so they had a choice with this one. This card wasn't as involved as the first one, but you had to color the stamp with 2 markers, so it was still a little time consuming.

The last card was a very quick, simple card (they're usually all quick, simple cards at a Stamp-a-Stack because you need to complete 12 cards + envelopes in 2 hours), and it might just be my favorite. I love the simplicity and the colors.

Some Versamark flowers for the background with a simple sentiment, a 2-step stamped flower with a single layer, and some Crystal Effects in the center of the flower--done!

The new student sent me an email today telling me how much she enjoyed herself at my class. She said she was so excited that she just wanted to stamp some more when she got home, but she had to get to bed. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop thinking about the class, so she just laid there thinking about stamping and she couldn't fall asleep. I felt so bad for her cause there's nothing worse than not being able to fall asleep. On the other hand, she made me feel so good knowing that she had such a good time and she wants to come to more of my classes! I think next time she comes, I'll send her home with a sleeping pill! lol

Wendy Vecchi Challenge #5

2011-03-21T18:30:00.004-04:00

I finished challenge #5 for my Everything Wendy Vecchi yahoo group on time, but since my computer crashed, I'm just getting around to posting it today. Hopefully, I'll get around to making the project for challenge #6 done and posted before the deadline tomorrow night! lol

The challenge was to use chipboard letters and one of Wendy's 'scroll' images (I call them 'flourishes'). I had the base of the card done with the house, and I was showing it to my students at my last class, and we were discussing what I could do with the scroll image, and we came up with clouds!

On to the deets: I used Stampin' Up! Basic Black textured cardstock for the card base and I used a 3x3 chipboard coaster on top. I painted the coaster using Pebble Paint Dabber, and after a 2nd coat, I'd gotten impatient, so I used the heat gun to speed up drying. The paint crackled, and I really liked the effect! Next, I stamped on it with one of Wendy's great background stamps and the black Adirondack ink.

I stamped the house and 'clouds' on grunge paper and cut out. The letters are from one of Tim Holtz's grungeboard sets and I colored everything with Tim's Distress inks and the applicator tool. I also added some Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects to the house.

This house image is really only half the design ... I stamped the entire design on grunge paper, but I cut off the words and colored them differently and adhered them on the inside. I think this will make a really cute new home card. Now, I just need someone to move! lol

My First Crop Nite!

2011-03-16T14:55:00.003-04:00

My first crop nite here was a great success! I had 3 customers come, and we all had so much fun! Frances was working on her scrapbooking, Jen was working on some thank you cards, and Mary was making assorted cards. I managed to finish this page of my great-nephew, Rian. I had started on this at last month's Michaels crop, but there were two customers there who were very new to scrapbooking, so I couldn't get much done because I was helping them so much.

Jen had shopped at A.C.Moore before coming, and the paper she purchased went perfectly with the new stamp set she received when she got here (from Frances' workshop). She made the most adorable little thank you cards with little birdies.

And Frances was putting together the kit she had purchased from Scrap-a-doodle-doo. She said it was the February kit, and it was really cute. I'll have to run up there to see how the March kit looks! I liked the kit because if was one of those 'brainless' kits that comes with photos of the finished layout with instructions, as opposed to the kits that just come with matching supplies and you get creative. I like the brainless kits when I go to crops for a couple of reasons ... 1) I don't have to lug lots of paper, stamp sets, inks, embellishments, etc. It's all in one kit, and I just need my basic SB supplies and pics; and 2) when I'm at a crop, I love socializing, shopping, etc. and I don't focus as well as when I'm working on my own. If I don't just copy something, then I don't get much done. As you can see from the above layout, it took me two small crops to get just one simple page done!

Mary came with all her Stampin' Up! paper she purchased from me and some inks (she didn't realize that she could borrow my inks when here for a crop). She asked me if she could see some card samples so she could use them as ideas to make her cards. I had no problem handing her the boxes of cards from the last 2 years of classes, but I don't think I'll ever do that again. It turned into more of a private class for her than a crop. There were several cards she loved and she wanted to recreate, but she had to keep asking me how to do the techniques. Not only did I not get much done, but not for nothing, that's what my technique classes are for. We also had a small mishap when a drink was spilled, right where she had a pile of my cards!

So, live & learn. Technique classes are for learning the techniques and making the cards, and crops are for working on your own, creating your own stuff, be it scrapbooking, cards, any type of project.

Finished a Challenge!

2011-03-08T22:29:00.006-05:00

WooHoo! I actually got a challenge done! The Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group has been doing challenges almost every Wednesday, and because of the work on the basement, I haven't really had time to play. Well, this week, I made sure I made some time. I've been waiting so long for someone to start these challenges, and they've been passing me by. I do plan on catching up tho!

The challenge for this week was to use Wendy's Perfect Pearls Mist technique from her first book. I have a whole rack of mini misters, and they're all empty! lol It was nice to finally put some PP in a couple and actually use them!

The idea was to get the Perfect Pearls exactly where you want them, as opposed to just sprayed on the background. The fine detail of the background stamp I used makes it hard to see the shimmer in the photo. But, the background was inked with Faded Jeans Distress Ink, then I used Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls for the technique. Sorry, but I'm not allowed to post details on the actual technique, so you'll either have to buy the book or check out Wendy's blog.

Feeling Right at Home

2011-03-08T17:30:00.002-05:00

Last night was the first class in my new classroom, and I must say, we all do love it! It's so nice to have everything in one room, plus extra room to get up and move around. No more squeezing behind each other's chairs! Love it!

One of my favorite customers', Grace, even brought me a new classroom gift ... an Arbonne candle! How thoughtful was that? Thanks Grace!

We had Techniques class last night, so I designed 3 new cards. Everyone loved this one because they learned some wire techniques.

This was my favorite, and it quickly became theirs too. Grace even mentioned that now she needs that Scallop Envelope Die! We punched out several hearts using the Heart to Heart punch and cut them from the Love Letters DS paper. And, I can't get enough of that new 1/8" Taffeta ribbon!

This third card involved watercoloring. I chose to do this technique because Jen had ordered the Brights watercolor crayons back in July 2010, and believe it or not, she just finally got her hands on them last week! I thought I'd surprise her by showing her a card using her new supplies.

It was so nice to see friends I haven't seen since December before we started working on the basement. I think we spent about as much time chatting & catching up as we did stamping! Grace & Jen missed stamping so much, that now they're going to try scrapbooking class next Monday! And, I've got the perfect beach layout for them to create ...

Pros & Cons

2011-03-03T10:24:00.005-05:00

I received a query about my opinion of the die cut station from Joann's, and I thought I'd share it here for everyone. I'll start out with the Pros ...

I love it that I have all my dies, embosslits, plates, etc. in one spot, and I can do the cutting right on top at a perfect height. I believe the original price was $159.99, and I got it on sale for $99.99 online.

I had to build the unit (which I enjoy doing), but there were a MILLION pieces, and I really worked up a sweat during the 3 hours it took me to put it together! But, I loved every minute!

The top drawer is the shallowest, so I use that to store all my cutting plates, multi-purpose platforms, texture plates, & inserts for using the movers & shapers dies. I also keep my cords in there for my Cricut Expression.

The front has 8 slots designed to hold 12x12 paper, but since I have paper racks, I chose to use these slots to hold my Sizzlit cases and my one Kwikutz alphabet. I'd have preferred more drawers, but this works too, it's just that I have to bend down to see what I'm looking for.

Now, for the cons: Only the bottom drawer is deep enough for the dies to go in upright with the labels visible. I had to re-label all my dies so I could store them sideways, plus they still have to be in the drawer angled to fit.

The drawers aren't on glides, so with the weight of the dies, it's a little awkward opening & closing them. I'm going to look into purchasing some glides somewhere and installing them myself, but who knows if I'll ever getting around to that!

All in all, if I had to weigh the pros & cons, I think it has more cons than pros. Sure, it's convenient, but I think there's a lot of wasted space, and this baby's gonna be full to capacity by the end of the year, I'm sure. For now, it's fine, cause I think it's the only thing out there, but I think somebody's going to design something soon that's much more practical. Just give 'em some time.

Somebody suggested one of the Craftsman rolling tool chests to store punches ... maybe something like that would be good for dies? I don't know, but if you've got a coupon, and you need something now, I think it's a good thing.

Classroom Update

2011-03-02T13:31:00.010-05:00

Almost back to normal ... not! I've been so busy moving things downstairs, building furniture, organizing, labeling ... it feels like I should be done! But, I look at my family room, and out the window at my sunporch, and there's so much more to move down to the new classroom.

Here's some proof that I have been active, I swear!

We also ordered a new desk online (wasn't too sure how that was going to work out), and it was a very pleasant experience. We got an excellent price from a company called Hayneedle.com, received free shipping via FedEx, and we received 3 huge, H-E-A-V-Y boxes within days. I couldn't wait to get it together.

I got the L-shaped desk together myself, and the next morning I built the hutch, but it was so heavy, I had to wait for Rick to get home to help me get it on to the desk. It was very heavy, so we rested it on the front of the desk, and I thought I could just slide it back ... oops!

Needless to say, Rick wasn't too happy with me. lol

I had to take a break from working on the classroom to working 'in' the classroom. I had my first workshop down there on Friday night, and I had to get projects together, create a new class schedule, and make sure everything was ready for my guests. Rick came down when I finished and snapped some pics of me waiting for the group.

My hostess was Frances (seated on the left), and she & her sister Jen (sitting next to her) had a horrendous week, and she was such a trooper to still have her workshop. Hopefully, things will start returning to normal for them, and life will start looking bright again.

When everyone arrived, and they all got over the oohs & aahs of the new classroom, we got down to having fun!

We made two projects, and one of them involved dry embossing with the Big Shot and a die cut folder, so here are Frances, Jen & her mom, Barbara at the Big Shot Station.

This was the first project we made ...

I precut all the cardstock for the notecards, and plastic using the pillow box die. All the plastic was re-cycled from packaging from lots of embossing folders, Idea-ology, etc. I've been saving it for a while. The little cupcake on the notecard was made from our new Create a Cupcake stamp set and the coordinating Build a Cupcake punch.

The other project we made was something I called a "present card" because it opens like a present with the fold at the bottom and you lift the top off to see what's inside.

We made this card using the Botanical Gazette Designer Series papers, and the Blossom Petals Punch, which is another new punch. We also used the new huge, 2-1/2" Circle punch and the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder.

If you're interested in any of the above supplies, you can order them anytime 24/7 by going to my SU website here, and click on the SHOP NOW button at the top. Simple! Plus, our Sale-a-Bration promotion is on right now ... you can receive any stamp set or product from the SAB brochure for free for every $50 you spend. Frances earned an extra free stamp set at her workshop because hostesses receive one for every $300 in total sales! That's besides her beautiful hostess stamp set, her stamped gift from me, plus $35 in free merchandise! She was thrilled!

OK, so ... with the workshop over now, it was back to work Saturday morning. Time to finally start painting those ugly steps! Rick bought a gallon of this special primer that goes over any surface that's hard to paint. I had to begin by painting every other step so I'd be able to go up and down the stairs.

After 3 coats on the first batch of steps (with 2 hours drying time in between), I started on the last 2 steps. When I had finished with 3 coats on all the steps, I called Rick down to show him. He wanted me to keep painting and finish the can of primer cause we're just going to throw it out. I told him that I only used 1/4 of the gallon to paint 3 coats, so I'd have to paint another 12 coats to finish off the paint. He still wanted me to do it! (Now you know why my pet name for him is 'freak'.) I started painting a fourth coat, when he came to me and decided he was being ridiculous, and 4 coats should be fine. He decided he could use the primer to paint the wood in the laundry room that we weren't going to deal with.

So, here we have it ... 4 coats of primer, and now I'm ready to begin painting them with the light brown paint I bought. I have to work tonight at Michaels, so that's my job for tomorrow morning before the kids & I head out to the dentist. Did I forget to mention that my kids came home from college Friday night during my workshop?! Yes, they're home this week, and life is good!

Movin' In!

2011-02-12T21:39:00.003-05:00

We finally got these shelf units anchored and ready, so I cleaned each and every SU stamp set I own and brought them all down. The shelves are 15" deep, so they kind of get lost on the shelves, so I told Rick that he'd have to modify the shelves for me with false backs so they're all near the front, and he blew a gasket! He couldn't understand why I'd purchase such deep shelves when I only needed them to be about 10" deep.

When we went to Ikea today, he finally understood. The other shelf system they have is called 'Billy', but those were too tall. With our drop ceiling, I could only go as high as 78". That's why I had to go with the Besta shelves, but they only came 15" deep. I figured it was better to have them too big than too small.

After we put together my table, we felt that the lolley-column in the middle of the room was in the way, so we decided to put the table somewhere else and re-configure the whole room. I'm glad we did, cause I like it this way much better!

These are my paper racks for my SU cardstock. The cabinet below the smaller rack has been hanging around us for about 15 years, through many a flood, and Rick wants it gone, but I told him that we could keep it for now. I usually store things in here that I can alter ... journal books, coasters, candles, coffee mugs, etc. Things I use for special classes or hostess gifts.

This is my Die Cut Station. I snagged this from Joann.com when it was on sale and had to build it myself (like everything else down here!). I have all my dies in the drawers, and all my Sizzlit alphabets, strip dies, etc. are on the shelves. I have my Big Shot & Vagabond on top and ready to go! Now, if I only knew an electrician who could put an outlet nearby, I'd be all set! lol

This is the new table we bought today at Ikea. I'm calling it my "Creation Station". I usually stand when I'm creating because I'm always going here & there to get stuff. I'm going to adhere my craft sheets to the top and just play here. I can put my paper cutters in one drawer, and miscellaneous tools in the other two drawers. On the lower shelf is my doctor's bag for my Big Shot.

This view is of the part of the room I've been working on ... stamps, cardstock, die cutting station. To the right is the table for my classes. It comes with 2 leaves to extend the table for larger classes.

This is the view from the other end of the table you just saw. We haven't anchored the big wall 'o shelves yet, because Rick wants to wait until we know what we're doing in the far corner here. We were looking at more shelves today to fill this corner and along this wall, but they're going to be more like book shelves ... only 11" deep. When we get those, I think I'm going to move my wall 'o stamps into those.

Let there be light!

2011-02-07T18:19:00.005-05:00

Do you know what these are? More importantly, what they mean? I have light switches! And ... that means, I have lights! Yayyyyy! The lights are finally done, so that means that now we can start moving my shelf units to their permanent homes!

This is my 'faux wall' between my craft room & laundry room. I'm going to house all my Stampin' Up! stamps here. Someone asked for a person in the pictures to get a better perspective ... Rick wasn't interested, so I posed and he took the pics. So far, these units are the only permanent ones set up so far, so tomorrow I'll be busy filling them up!

Here's another perspective shot of the room. My table will be going down the middle. That big pile next to me are all the shelves for all the units. When they're gone, I'm going to move down my paper racks to go along that back wall.

This will be my main storage area for everything that's not SU stamps ... Ranger stuff, tools, embellishments, jewelry making supplies, etc.

Those two boxes on the floor are my new table. We're probably going to put that together tomorrow night when Rick gets home from work. He wants to see how it's going to fit in the room before we permanently attach these other shelf units to the wall.

My 'faux wall' to the laundry room.

I caught Rick in one of my pics when he wasn't lookin'!

Can't wait to start bringing my stamps down and loading the first "wall 'o shelves"! I might even get started tonight after dinner!

Got my table today!

2011-02-05T14:53:00.002-05:00

Just got back from another trip to Ikea where we bought a table for my classes. Rick is going to work on the lights this weekend, while I finish building the last 3 shelf units. I wanted to put some cabinets in for a refreshment area, and some more for a work table, but we saw some alternative ideas at Ikea. We're not going to get anything else now cause I've got everything I need to get my classes going again (oh, still need chairs). Rick thinks the other items can be birthday & anniversary gifts. All I want right now is for him to finish the lights and painting so I can start filling those shelves!

Ooooops!!!

2011-02-04T11:49:00.004-05:00

Did you ever rush to get a mess cleaned up, and ended up making a new mess 3x the size? Hello! Just did it! Rick wanted the garbage out because it was starting to smell, but I can't stand throwing out half empty garbage bags (we have to use special bags in my town that cost $.50 each!). I decided to grab all the styrofoam packing from the shelves, plus empty paint cans, rollers, etc. The roller I used 2 days ago was soooo stuck on the handle that I asked Rick to help me get it off. Luckily (and I mean luckily!), he said "let's do this outside". Good thinking Rick! So, he pulled, and pulled, and not only did the roller pop off, but there was tons of wet paint inside that spurted big gobs of light turquois paint on my paver stone walkway! I had to laugh, but how to clean it up? I grabbed some paper towels to get most of it off, but it also smeared. Rick told me to use the sponge mop. Haha! OK, so I did. Now, we have wet, watered-down light turquoise paint that is in the grout and seeping under the ice! I have a bathroom right inside the front door, so I kept running in & out rinsing the mop and trying to get the paint off. Now, there's a new mess inside! My neighbors must've thought I was nuts! I think I got it all, but we'll see when it dries and the ice melts.

Drawers

2011-02-02T08:31:00.003-05:00

Rick couldn't help me today because he got called out on an emergency job. He does industrial electrical work--mostly pump stations for the water companies in the tri-state area, so when they're down, he's gotta run or people have no water! We've got a huge storm going over us right now--ice, rain & slush!--so he's probably going to be running around in it all day. My poor baby!

I put together the remaining smaller units today. I've got two more of the big ones, but I'm gonna wait until Rick's here cause I needed his help with the others. Those big guys are definitely a two-person job!

I had lots of boxes left, so I opened one to check it out. Drawers ... I almost forgot! I ordered 3 different types of drawers ... 5 deep, 8 shallow, and 3 glass (don't ask me where I came up with these numbers!). The first one went together pretty easy, and pretty soon, I was on a roll! I installed two of them into one of the shelf units to see how they looked, and I love 'em!

Since I can't put these units in their permanent homes yet, I just laid the rest of the drawers on shelves of the finished units until I see where I want to put them.

I really wish I could just move these to where I want them and start filling them up, but I gotta wait for Rick to finish wiring the lights. Maybe I'll do the 2nd coat of paint today to get that done while I'm waiting for him.

Painting & Building Shelves

2011-02-01T11:51:00.004-05:00

I built my first shelf unit! These Besta units from Ikea only come in certain heights, so in some places I had to order a 48" unit that would get a 24" unit on top. This is one of the top pieces. Unfortunately, this is one of the units I can't put into a permanent spot yet because that's where Rick needs to work to finish hooking up the lights. When the delivery men came, they just stacked up all the boxes, and since I have to get everything built anyway, I just started with the top box.

Rick came home and informed me that's he's got lots of work this week, so he wouldn't be able to do any work in the basement. About an hour later he came down and started taping and preparing to paint. Lucky me! He finished the work he had to get done and decided to get some paint on the walls.

It was nice having him down there with me while I was building shelves, but he's so used to having a helper work with him, it's easy for him to ask me to do something for him every 20 minutes or so--"can you tape that for me?" "Oh! Wipe up that drip!" "rinse that paint brush out" "lay some paper down here" "do you have a knife?" "maybe you can reach this" "where'd I put my glasses?" and so on, and so on. Of course, I had to jump for him! My mama didn't raise a fool ... I want this work done!

Rick also kept reminding me how much he HATES to paint. He'd also say things like "ya know, when this can is empty, I'm done here." Luckily, we had enough in the first can to completely finish the first coat.

This area here next to the stairs is where I'm going to set up my little refreshment area. The wall is slanted because the stairs continue up into the rest of the house, so I'm going to install a couple of cabinets with a counter top and a small refrigerator that I purchased when another LSS went out of business.

This is one of the tallest units. I purchased four of them to go along this wall. I had 3" clearance to the drop ceiling, and Rick was amazed that we stood it upright without hitting the drop ceiling! Ha! He thought, for sure, I wasted all that money on shelves that wouldn't fit! I love it when I'm right!

I got two of these built, and three of the short units. Still got lots more to build, plus I need to drive to Ikea to pick up the last unit that was on backorder. Time to get to work!

Scary Pictures

2011-01-31T12:58:00.004-05:00

OK, so before you view the following pics, I have to warn you that these are quite graphic! It's a scary world I live in! Rick says I have more stuff than Michaeels! Maybe, but I'm sure there are lots of other crafters out there with lots more stuff than me ...

So, this is my main stuff right here ... my bread & butter. All my Stampin' Up! stamps, cardstock, inks. I also have a Cricut there, a new big screen TV for the basement that I won at my last crop, and a small portion of my tote bag collection. (Someone please stop me with those!)
Oh, the plastic drawers! I have mixed feelings about these. I can't wait to get rid of them, but they've served me well over the years. It's not easy finding shallow drawers for the little stuff like embossing powders, adhesives, markers, sissors, etc. I may have to keep a couple.

I've been trying to sort through this pile, but I just seem to keep moving it around into different piles. lol That white piece of furniture is my new die cutting station I snagged off Joann.com when it was on sale. I had to assemble it (lots and lots of pieces!), but it was a labor of love. Now, I have drawers for all my dies, and the shelves are meant for 12x12 paper, but I use them to store my Sizzlit strip dies & alphabets. Right now, I'm just storing stuff on top, but it's going to be the permanent home for my Big Shot & Vagabond.

These wooden shelves house all my Ranger stuff, chipboard, machines like my Bind it All, Circle Cutters, Craft Drill, Paper Distresser, Laminator, etc. I wish I had a better system for all my ribbons though. I've got some ideas in my head to design something ... I just need someone to build it for me! I'd probably make a million bucks!

So, that was my family room. Now, we move into my sun porch (which construction had to hold off on that because I needed more storage room for the rest of my stuff, plus family items). There's my 12x12 paper storage rack I snagged when a LSS went out of business, my cabinet with all my polymer clay stuff, and boxes filled with stuff I can't wait to go through.

Here are a couple of bins full of retired SU cardstock & designer series papers that I need to sell. I've also got my Scrap Rack that's full of stuff that I can't remember. More tote bags and my acrylic paint rack.

All finally, these skis are buried behind boxes of finished projects and more goodies I forgot I owned. At least two boxes are filled with craft books ... I love my craft books, and I really wish I could get rid of them cause I got waaaaaay too many! At least 20 just on rubber stamping ... another 20 on scrapbooking ... maybe 12-15 on jewelry making ... 10 or so on stained glass, and about another 10 or so on mosaics. You should've seen all the ones I got rid of when I had to move them up here! Please, someone stop me ... someone!

My shelves are here!

2011-01-30T22:17:00.004-05:00

Look what the Ikea delivery men brought me ... 88 pieces! Now, to put them all together! I told Rick to power up that Dewalt drill for me ... I've got 8 shelf units to build! How long do you think it'll take me? Stay tuned ...

My Blank Canvas

2011-01-29T18:46:00.006-05:00

It's actually happening! After years of promises of getting the basement refinished so I can have an actual classroom/craftroom, I can finally say my day is here!

Waterproofing--done; sheetrock--done; primer on sheetrock--done; ceramic tile in laundry area--done; drop ceiling--done; linoleum flooring--done; lights ... well, let's just say they're all up and in the ceiling. Half the room is wired. There's no actual light switch yet, so I have to go down in the dark, cross the room to the panel box and flip a switch. You see, my sweet hubby, Rick, is an electrician. Well, you know what they say about the shoemaker's kids don't have any shoes. But, at least it's a room now, and soon I'll have my shelves that I ordered from Ikea.

T!m Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas--Days 3 & 4

2010-12-05T18:58:00.007-05:00

Well, I've been having fun creating all day! I was two days behind today, and since I'm also doing tags Wendy Vecchi style, I only completed 4 out of the 6 I needed to do to get caught up. Oh well, tomorrow's another day!

For the Day 3 tag, T!m used a tree image and stamped it sideways so it looked like a branch. I didn't have that tree, but I wanted to do the same technique, so I thought I'd be creative and I used the pine trees sideways. Silly, but at least I'll remember the technique in the future!

Then, he used his seasonal tissue tape to create a collage on some grunge paper before running it through his machine to cut out his bird ... the only bird die-cut I had was this raven. It works about as well as the pine trees.

I didn't have any moss for under the birds' feet, until I remembered that T!m gave us some on the ship for our boxes. I stole a little snippet, and nobody's the wiser. I also added some brown tinselly stuff behind it.

In lieu of the garland T!m used along the bottom, I used some green tinselly stuff, and instead of one of his buttons, I used a globe charm after I cut the link off.

I don't know why, but I seem to like all my Wendy tags better. Maybe it's because I'm not doing them with a Christmas theme--just trying to do the techniques.

Since I used a butterfly instead of a bird, I didn't want to put some moss on the 'branches', so I put some wire down with some Glossy Accents.

And, instead of the Seasonal Salvage Sticker, I created my own little sign on grunge paper using Wendy's stamps. I also used a rose I made instead of a tissue tape flower.

For Day 4 tag, T!m used a vintage picture of Santa to make the background on the tag. I didn't have any paper like that, so I used some snowflake scrapbook paper.

The rest is pretty much like what T!m did, but I gotta say, that fragment charm gave me so much trouble! First of all, I didn't have any faceted charms--no problem, I just used a fragment charm. I put my alcohol inks on the back and stamped the snowflakes with Black Archival ink like T!m did, and when I dabbed the ink off (it also removes the color so you're left with clear where the snowflakes are), either I couldn't get all the black off, or it took off too much alcohol ink! So, I'd clean it off with Blending Solution and start over. After about 10 freakin' tries, it was getting worse, not better. I decided that maybe the blending solution might be giving me additional trouble, so I washed the fragment and got a clean towel. Still wasn't working, but now, every time I cleaned it off with blending solution, I washed it. I finally got something I could live with and you can hardly see it! Ha! Go figure!

For Wendy's charm, I wanted to use her face stamp in lieu of the Santa face, so I covered the tag with some light pink patterned paper and began stamping. I used the Distress inks & Q-Tips to color her face.

By the time I got to her fragment, I used the small butterfly stamp and just settled for what I got after the first try.

I must say, my table got the messiest after the tags I did today. I had out all my Distress Inks, Alcohol Inks, Ideal-ology, beading supplies, Big Shot, Tim stamps and Wendy stamps, plus numerous other supplies. I didn't put anything away, just re-organized for tomorrow's session. I don't know how people do these when they have full-time jobs!

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas

2010-12-03T20:24:00.010-05:00

Wednesday, Dec. 1st was the first day of Mr. T!m Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. This is his fourth year doing them, and I'm finally able to play along! And, not only am I recreating T!m's tags, but I'm also doing a 2nd version with a Wendy Vecchi twist! So much fun! You can check out T!m's tags on his blog at http://timholtz.typepad.com/. Below is a pic of my version of his Day 1 tag:

I thought I had alot of Ranger stuff, but realized I was missing about half the stuff he used, so I improvised! I made my own picket fence by cutting little strips of grunge paper and painting them with Picket Fence paint dabber. When dry, I put them together with mini glue dots, and added extra insurance with Glossy Accents. I didn't have his sugary fluff stuff, so I made my own with some white dollar flocking from Michaels mixed with some Dazzling Diamonds. It worked OK, but now I really NEED some of that stuff he used!

I also created my own tree by cutting 5 pieces of wire. I wrapped them all together with tissue tape to form the trunk and about halfway up, I started wrapping each wire individually. I twisted up the wires and then painted the whole tree with a paint dabber. When dry, I hit it with a white paint dabber and some more Glossy Accents/sparkly flocking mixture to create snow.

And, finally, I made the little wreath by punching a 3/4" circle from a piece of cardstock. I then punch a 1-1/4" circle around that hole to form a little donut shape. I had some green tinsely stuff leftover from my Treasure Box club days and pressed it into hot glue on the donut (Ouch!). First boo-boo of the day!

Next, is the picture of Day 1 tag with a Wendy Vecchi twist:

I made the same house and fence as in Tim's tag, but for the background, I used Dusty Concord with the blues for a prettier background and added the face stamp on the right.

For the tree, I used one of her fern-type leaves stamp and cut out 3 of them to make a dimensional bush--love the way it came out!

For the wreath, I used one of her flower stamps and cut out the center so it was a ring shape. I added 3 brad 'berries' and waa-la! A wreath!

I added a ticket-tag with Wendy's stamps and that was that. Now, on to the Day 2 tag:

For T!m's tag, I basically did everything the same, but had to substitute the stamps. I also made my own baubles. And, since I didn't have any of his new charms, I decided to make my own silver bird by stamping one on SU's brushed silver cs and embossing with silver EP. Don't ask me how, but I ended up bleeding after this tag and had to search out a band-aid.

Below is the Wendy version, which I prefer:

I used some cool leaves instead of a pine sprig, made my own baubles again, and did the same silver technique with Wendy's butterfly stamp. I made some antennae with wire and hot-glued it to the back. I popped up the wings with Dimensionals and hot-glued the whole thing to the tag.

While washing up, I was wondering where the red paint was coming from and realized I had another cut! What?! Off to find band-aid #2, plus a new one to replace soggy #1. Hopefully, the rest of the tags won't be as hazardous!

Today was Day 3, so I'm still one tag behind. Had to stop for dinner, and now, since I haven't posted on here in almost a year (I know, I can't believe it myself), I had to reaquaint myself with Blogger, so I'm kind of frazzled. I'll be doing a 6-hour card demo tomorrow at AC Moore in Paramus, so hopefully, if I'm not burned out when I get home, I'll make Days 3 & 4 tomorrow night. Till then ...

Mono Die Technique

2010-02-27T21:40:00.002-05:00

I recently subscribed to the Technique Junkies newsletter, and this is the first technique I tried out! This was the card we all made at the shoebox swap I organized for my upline's Winter Wonderlude event this past weekend (more on that in the next post). We used Sage Shadow for the background on a piece of Whisper White card base. We used the small scallop circle from SU's scallop circle die and then embossed them with the polka dot embossing folder. The inks used were Brocade Blue and Bravo Burgundy. Oh, and the stamp set is SU's Simple Friendship.

Winter Wonderlude

2010-02-19T09:36:00.005-05:00

This weekend, my fabulous upline, Tina, is hosting another wonderful event for us, and I'm really looking forward to it. We're going to have an entire weekend at a beautiful hotel to meet with good friends, do swapping, make 'n takes, classes and workshop WOWs, among other things.

One of the other things is a shoebox swap that I'm hosting! A shoebox swap is where you design a project, cut up all your supplies, and gather everything needed into a 'shoebox' type box. There are 19 ladies in this swap, so I needed to design a card and cut up the supplies so the other 18 people can make my project. Then, at the swap tomorrow night (we wear pajamas!), the participants get a goody bag, and each project is placed on different tables, and you go around the room from one project to the next until you've made them all! Soooo much fun, and being a demonstrator, it's nice to make other people's projects for a change.

Another job I'm doing is make 'n take helper. I went up to Tina's house in Sparta earlier this week and made my big project early. Then, when the large group is making the project, we have my sample as well as instructions and Tina's sample, and I can assist anyone when help is needed. It keeps everyone on track and things running smoothly.

And, lastly, my most important job ... I'm demoing one of the workshop WOWs! I'm so excited to be showing everyone how to make Wendy Vecchi's roses! Of course, I had to modify a few things, like using the #5 flower die instead of Wendy's stamp, and using our Designer Series paper & cardstock instead of Tim's Grungepaper, but the results are still fabulous. I only have until noon, and it's almost 10am already, but the last thing I have to do before going is to prepare for this demo which I have to perform 3Xs!

So, I've got to get working on it, and I promise to post photos when I return after Sunday! I'm soooooo excited! Can't wait!

Stamp-a-Stack

2010-02-16T22:30:00.004-05:00

Well, I guess all this snow was too much for everyone cause I only had one student come to my Stamp-a-Stack class on Friday. Luckily, it was Frances, who missed last month's stack class, so I just repeated the projects!

This was one of the cards we made at Stampin' Up!'s Regional Convention last month in Arizona. I just love this new Vintage Vogue set (we got it for free!).

She also made four of the little Valentine love notes that we made at the kids class (see my last post).

And, for the 3rd card, I had to dig up an oldie but goodie ...

I just adore this card ... the Regal Rose ... tearing the vellum ... the beautiful, wide grosgrain ribbon ... everything!

Kids Class

2010-02-08T10:43:00.004-05:00

My neighbor asked me to start up my Kids Class again for her twin girls (they're in 4th grade ... that makes them 10?) and a couple of their friends. These girls are very sweet and just as talented. We had a great time at class ... they brought along Esther, who I'd had in a class last year at the grammar school (also, very talented, and she's a whiz at following instructions), and Kristie. This was Kristie's first time stamping with me, and she did great! All the girls made wonderful projects, and the class went very well. So well, in fact, that I think we're going to make it a monthly event!

Fun Technique

2010-02-01T09:08:00.002-05:00

Here's one of the cards we made at Friday night's technique class ... the card is based on one I saw on our new Stampin' Up! Connection site (for demonstrator's only--sorry) by Elizabeth Ann Rehn. I changed the cardstock color, and added different embellishments, but the basic design & technique I got from her.

I stamped the Medallion image on black cardstock using White Craft ink. Then, I dabbed color all over using Stampin' Up! Pastel Chalks & Sponge Daubers. After the whole image was basically covered, I went back over everything with more chalk, this time rubbing it in and blending the colors together. I used a spray fixative to set the colors.

For the brad in the center, I added a drop of Pixie Pink Craft reinker and wiped off the excess leaving the ink in just the recessed areas of the brad.

Finally, I used the Ticket corner punch on the black cs and added a Modern Label punched saying with silver brads popped up with Dimensionals. Beautiful, quick card!

Christmas Swap Gift

2010-01-25T10:14:00.008-05:00

I can't believe it's the end of January already! Sheesh!

OK, so I just had to send someone a photo of my swap gift from my downline Christmas party, so I thought I'd post the photos here as well. It's decorated with flowers made from Tim Holtz's Grunge Paper, which I'd usually ink w/Distress Inks, but since it was a Stampin' Up! gift, I thought I'd try it with SU Classic inks & products. You've got to excuse my PJs ... I'm in them most of the morning! But, you can see my new camera my wonderful DH got me for Christmas! lol

The colors came out totally different than I expected ... the frame was colored using Bordering Blue ... I wanted it lighter, but I love the way it turned out! I stamped the roses using Studio 490's 6-petal flower and cut them out. Then, I embossed the flowers with the Swiss Dot Cuttlebug folder in my Big Shot & inked with Pumpkin Pie (I know, it's looks like More Mustard). The leaves I cut out using the Little Leaves Sizzlit--the Sizzlits have wires instead of steel blades, so it didn't cut all the way through, but I just clipped it with my Paper Snips. I inked the leaves with Old Olive ink and then stamped with En Francais using Basic Black ink. I also distressed the edges of the frame & flowers using Close to Cocoa ink.

After creating & molding the flowers & leaves, I attached them to the frame using Aleene's Tacky Glue.

Project Order class was cancelled

2010-01-15T10:38:00.002-05:00

Well, if you're looking for photos of the projects from last night's class, they aren't here ... in fact, I didn't even make the projects. I had my 2nd exercise class with this Nazi instructor, and I was sooo sore, that I notified all the "maybes" and decided to cancel. All I wanted to do yesterday was soak in a day long HOT bathtub!

No Christmas cards this year

2010-01-13T11:34:00.002-05:00

Sorry everyone, but I never got my Christmas cards made this year. I've been apologizing to everyone I've been talking to, and I feel soooo guilty. I thought I'd get them done this week after coming home from Arizona, but my house is a wreck, and I've just go so much to catch up on. Rick wants me to just save the supplies for Christmas 2010 (Ahhhhh! use old supplies?!). I do still have to get my little gifts out to the nieces & nephews who I don't get to see over the holidays, and I might have to actually *ack* buy *ugh* some cards to send the money in. All I know is, if I don't do it soon, they'll be Valentine's gifts!

I'm home

2010-01-11T13:33:00.002-05:00

Just got back last night from a wonderful week in WARM Phoenix. Stampin' Up! held their Leadership convention and a Regional there, and not only did I finally qualify to go, but it was the perfect location ... warm weather and half my relatives live in Arizona! I went for a whole week and had a wonderful time visiting relatives in haven't seen in years (and I mean years ... some I haven't seen in about 30!). I finally got to meet my beautifully sweet great-niece Kaydence (wanted to put that one in my suitcase!), and got caught up with my big sis Karen. She was just the best hostess all week too! I can't believe how many relatives she contacted to come and visit me while I was in town! She's just the best!

Well, right now I've spent half the day trying to just catch up on emails ... guess I should get in the shower! Anyway, I'll post photos from Leadership and family soon as I get caught up!

Holiday Sale!

2009-12-14T09:18:00.006-05:00

Stampin' Up! never ceases to amaze me ... you'll find great deals on Big Shot dies and select Big Shot supplies from December 11-22nd! You can click on the "shop now" button in the upper right corner of my website to find great deals today. You can also click on my email addy at the top of this blog to send me your order.
Happy Holidays!!

Get off the computer!

2009-12-08T09:10:00.001-05:00

OK ... so, I just got caught up on all my blog reading, and I've decided to pass on the emails for now. I think that's what keeps me on this stupid computer so long every day ... reading all the posts from all my Yahoo groups. I've got to start stickin' to the important stuff! So, I'm getting off the computer, and going to create. I'll be posting pictures tomorrow morning! You heard it here. lol

New Class in Mrs. Rodgers' Neighborhood

2009-12-06T14:42:00.003-05:00

I decided to add a new class to my repetoire of classes each month.

I've been trying to organize all my supplies while we're getting the basement waterproofed and set up for the new classroom. A huge part of my stash, are boxes & boxes of treasures I've been purchasing over the years containing items I thought would be fun to make projects with.

Well, it's time to do something with all this stuff. I'm going to have a monthly class called "Project Order", and the first one is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 8th. We're going to use these treasures to create projects (anything but a card or scrapbook page) and the price for this class will be $20. The number of projects depends on the cost of the items and how involved the project is ... it could be 3 smaller projects, or 2 bigger ones, or maybe 1 grand project. In any event, the projects will be a surprise.

Now, here's the 'order' part ... this class will be FREE if you place a $30 order that night! So, for only $10 more, you'll be making a great project(s), AND getting $30 worth of supplies!

Please post a comment below and let me know your thoughts about a class like this. I love making projects, and I don't know why, but I've kind of strayed from this for a while. I think my Tim Holtz cruises are re-inspiring me.

Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas

2009-12-06T12:34:00.003-05:00

As many of you know, I'm a BIG Ranger fan ... and I don't mean the hockey team! If I could work for Ranger Ink, I'd have serious conflicts about which company to represent because I love them both so much!

Not only do I love the products, but the designers are my favorites, and the man, well, you know my 2nd love to my dear Rick is ... Mr. Tim Holtz! Anyway, this is his 3rd year making his 12 Tags of Christmas on his blog, and I wanted to share them with you. Every year I drool over them, and this year I'm actually going for the challenge!

Today is Day 6, and I'm waaaay behind, but I'm going to get started, and hopefully, get at least the first 3 days of tags done. My camera is lost, and I've been feeling helpless without it, but my wonderful hubby bought me a new, bigger & badder one last night as an early Christmas gift! Whoo Hoo Rick! He spoils me soooo much!

So, I'm going to start posting my tags here, both Tim's and mine, and I'm also posting the link to Tim's Blog, so you can see what an awesome instructor he is, and a huge inspiration to me.

I'm off to get inky!

Getting ready for the New Year

2009-12-03T21:01:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking today about the New Year and how I could make my small business a little bit bigger next year.

As most of you know, we're in the beginning stages of creating my classroom. I've emptied out the basement of all my supplies, and next week they're coming to start the waterproofing work. The next phase would be Rick doing all the electrical work: adding lighting, outlets, etc. After that, a carpenter will come in and put up drywall, a new floor & ceiling. Then, it's my turn ... I get to design how I want my classroom laid out with cabinets, shelving & tables ... and then, I finally move in down there! Ooooh! I just got goosebumps! My supplies haven't really been organized in over 6 years!

In the meantime, all my supplies for my SU business have been semi-organized all around my family room so I can access everything I need. I also have all my Ranger supplies close at hand cause I really love getting grungy too. And, my tools ... love my tools ... die cutting machines & dies, punches, paper cutters, brad makers, eyelet setters, box makers, book makers, and more! Oops, just had to wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth. lol

Anyway, my sunporch is also packed to the brim with stuff ... loads & loads of STUFF ... boxes & boxes of past projects & samples, old stamp sets, scrapbook supplies, boxes & boxes of books (love my craft books!), and tons of items I've been collecting over the years for possible class projects. Which brings me back to the beginning of this post ... what can I do to make my business grow? I need to get more orders, so I need to get more workshops booked, or get more customers, or ...

A new monthly class! It's called "PROJECT ORDER" class, and we're going to make dimensional projects (anything that's NOT a card or scrapbook page)! It could be 3 little projects, or maybe 2 projects, or even one intense project, who knows! It could be using Stampin' Up!, or Distress Inks, polymer clay, or even Suze Weinberg's melting pot. I'll be cleaning out all the items I've been collecting and creating projects for the monthly class. I'm going to charge $20, and each month your supply list might change a little ... you might need Sticky Strip instead of SNAIL Adhesive, or you might need to bring some photos ... we'll just have to wait & see.

But, here's the best part (and where the 'order' comes in) ... the class will be FREE each month if you place a $30 order! So, for just $10 more, you'll still make great projects, but you'll also be receiving $30 worth of goodies! Why didn't I think of this sooner?!

So, I've set a tentative date of Friday, January 8th at 7:30pm for the first Project Order class (I just have to check the date with my very special friend & customer, Miss Denise). I hope everyone's as excited as I am about all the possibilities this class will bring!

Now, I gotta get back to work on the projects I've been making to sell at my Vendor Fair on Friday night, Dec. 18th at Westwood High School. I've misplaced my camera (I'm DYING without it!), so I can't post photos of my finished items so far. You'll just have to come see me at the fair!

The Final Hours

2009-11-23T13:08:00.011-05:00

After finishing my last post, I decided to get crackin' on finishing that fragment necklace, and I'm happy to report ...

It's done! Even my daughter thought it was pretty cool.

In the meantime, I've had a couple of days off because my husband & I drove the 5 hours up to Rochester, NY on Thursday to pick up my son from college. We came back home on Friday, and my son promptly took my car and went near Trenton to visit a friend at her school for the weekend. So glad I just spent 2 days getting him.

Well, now to the funny part (NOT!) ... my daughter turns 18 in January, and she's not the best driver. She has absolutely no interest in learning, and we're fine with that, cause to put it bluntly, she scares the crap out of us! But, if she doesn't get her license by Jan. 15th, she'll have to repeat the written test. So, we decided it would be beneficial (and safer) to pay a driving school for another 6 hours of lessons. Hopefully, she'll get more relaxed & confident, and we'll be less stressed & more patient.

Anyway, the first time she took the course, we had a lot of scheduling problems, and her 6 hours took about 3 months to complete. So, this time, I decided to schedule the lessons for 3 days in a row, the first being this past Saturday at 9am.

We woke up to realize that my son had my car, which held her permit! Ugh! I told the instructor that my son was supposed to return home Sunday morning, and we should be fine by then. I called my son and asked him to check the car just to make sure it was in there. Well, it wasn't--or did the 19-year-old just not look good enough. Either way, I tore apart my house wondering where it could be, and when I couldn't find it, I called my son and requested that he be home by noon so I have time to tear the car apart in case I have to cancel.

Well, on Sunday I was busy helping my husband clean up some leaves and when I noticed the time it was 12:30pm. I considered calling my son to make sure he was one his way home, but decided not to cause I didn't want him to try answering the phone while driving. This was his first trip by himself longer than 15 minutes, and where he had to follow directions.

About 5 minutes later, he called me ... he hadn't left yet. Some business about how he had to leave his license in the office to get a visitor's pass, and he had to wait for the office to open to get it back. Whatever, just take your time and head home.

1:35pm .... he calls again and he's at a gas station. Seems the GPS on his Blackberry isn't working and he has no idea where he is. When I ask him for the address so I can Mapquest it for him, he's still at the college! Ugh!!! Well, he gets the GPS working, and now he's on his way home.

He's supposed to go to work at 3pm, so when that came & went, we started getting very worried. DH decided to try calling him, but he never answered. Half an hour later, I tried calling with no answer. By 4pm, my husband called again, and still no answer! I hate feeling that helpless and clueless! Luckily, he strolled in at 4:10pm, safe & sound, but the permit isn't in the car. So, when I finish this post and pick up my daughter from school, it's off to the lovely NJ DMV.

So, on to the final hours of my trip ...

Our day was to begin with Tim's final class at 8:30am. This was a 3-1/2 hour class, and so much fun! We made a collage in a frame, and used so many techniques ... beeswax, altering, distressing, rub-ons, and more! And, as always, the Mexican Hat Dance was playing throughout the class where we received even more goodies to play with and take home!

This is the finished frame I made. Since it had glass, I decided to carry this on the plane as well as the bulletin board we made earlier in the week in Wendy's class.

Here's a couple close ups of the project, and some photos of us at work ...

Me working, Andrea posing (or should I say 'schemeing'?) ...

I wanted some pictures of me working for my scrapbook, and here's how my good buddy helps me out with that. lol

Carrie & "Babe" hard at work.

"Sparky" & "Jaguar".

Christine ... she tried to pose for me, but I scolded her and told her to 'get back to work.' She's trying not to laugh.

Francesca & Nancy ... proud artists showing off their work! Isn't Francesca so cute! She is just adorable, and I really hope she comes back to America for the next cruise.

OK, remember when I mentioned that we wanted to 'alter' Tim? Well, "Sparky" kept pushing the issue, and this is all we could come up with. lol We had lobster for dinner Friday night, so I got the job to bring the tails back to my balcony to 'let them air out.' I went out to a party to meet up with some friends I met on the zipline excursion, and when I came back, I covered the dry tails with Glossy Accents and made a mess on Andrea's deck chair! In the morning I slipped them to Sparky and Jaguar who then added little maracas to each one. We presented them to Tim, and he hammed it up.

It was cute & funny, but I think he was a little grossed out too! lol

Later that afternoon, we had our farewell party with ScrapMap, our instructors & their crews, and our whole group. Tim unveiled all the prizes we'd be winning with the tickets we collected from our purchases at the Marketplace. My mouth dropped ... lots and lots, and LOTS of prizes to be had! He even had a couple of electric Big Shot machines! Some other die-cutting system, and Jim from ScrapMap gave away a free cruise!

I sat with Andrea, Gloria, the 2 Nancys, Francesca, & Christine. Eileen was at the table next to us. Almost everyone got skunked, but I made out very well ... I won FIVE times!

The first prize I won was a brad-making system (which I already own). I mentioned to the group that I already had it so if I won, they could fight for it. Well, when I won Andrea gave me 'the look', so I gave the 3 punches & attachments to her ... I kept the brad supplies though.

The next prize I won was a set of Ranger Distressed Embossing Powders, Embossing Pad & a heat gun ... all of which I don't own. I mean, I have 2 heat guns, but I always hear people raving about the Ranger gun. I just couldn't justify purchasing one tho. Lucky me. A couple of tickets later, and I won again! The same prize though, so you guessed it ... I got 'the look' from Andrea. I told her she couldn't have this prize unless she gave up the other prize, and she grudgingly obliged.

I won again, and it was a Tonic Border Punch System, another thing I don't own, so I kept it. I won another prize, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was! We got so much free stuff all week, plus the mucho dinero I spent at the Marketplace on even more stuff, that I can't keep it all straight anymore! lol

Sue "Shooter" (from Club 300) came over and offered her prize to me which was a really cool cutting board. The gesture was so sweet, but I couldn't take it cause I have so many at home, and really no room in my suitcase. I suggested she put it with the brad-making system and someone from the group would get it. But, 'the look' must've worked on Sue as well, cause guess who got the cutting board!

Sue did inspire me to do a good turn as well. I was fretting all day about how I was going to get all my goodies home. I really don't do much with borders, so I decided to give the border punch system to Eileen after dinner. She was so grateful, and I felt so good. Thanks for the inspiration Shooter!

A nice photo of me, Francesca & Andrea.

And, of course, a funny one.

Being one of his 'angels', I wanted a nice picture with "Charlie". We make a great team, don't you think?

Back at the cabin, I was greeted by the coolest creature of the week!

Not sure what he was, but he was cool ... he's got his shades on and even has his remote handy!

We had to move him aside and get down to the dreaded ... packing. I laid out all my booty and tried to sort things out, condense things, remove excess packaging ... here's what I was left with ...

You can't even see the 7-8 stamp sets I bought, the projects, the tons of Ideology! But, I wasn't letting go of another item. By hook or by crook, I was getting everything into my bags.

It all made it home, and now I should post pictures of what my house looks like! My craft room is my basement, but we're finally addressing our flooding problem, so all my stuff is all over my house. My husband's favorite phrase is "you got too much stuff." I made sure he didn't see all my new stuff! Tee hee.

Cabo San Lucas

2009-11-16T09:18:00.014-05:00

We're finally arriving at Cabo San Lucas, which was supposed to be our first port, but was delayed to our final port to avoid Tropical Storm Patricia. Looks like the Captain made a good decision, because it's a beautiful day!

Andrea & I had another room service breakfast where we ate on our balcony. Here she is thoroughly enjoying her muffin!

We watched the tenders were going back & forth to the cruise ship that was already anchored.

Our first tender pulled up right below us waiting to bring people to land. Guess we better get ready for our kayaking trip!

These were our guides on our trip (wish I could remember their names!). They brought us over to the beach where we received our snorkel gear & fins and got to pick out our kayak (We got the green one!).

It didn't seem that far, but we had to paddle out past our cruise ship to Land's End. Oy! That was work! Andrea & I were almost the last ones ... there was an Asian woman with her mother who were behind us. They were really struggling, and the guides offered to split up and take each woman in a kayak, but the ladies refused.

We paddled out to the Arch (El Arco), but it was high tide, so we couldn't see it. We also had to leave our cameras on the excursion boat so they didn't get ruined. These photos I took from the ship as we were leaving.

Anyway, we then paddled to this rock formation where we saw a colony of sea lions. The tall one on the right is Scooby Doo (he's looking out over the Pacific Ocean).

Here's Scooby!

We then paddled over to Lover's Beach. Thank goodness! I was pooped! This little piece of land has the Sea of Cortez on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. We were able to explore and go to the other side, but the Pacific Ocean side is very rough. I went in up to my ankles and the waves and undertow were VERY strong ... even for this tough Jersey girl!

We met up with the group again, and we trekked over to another beach where we put on our snorkel gear and headed out to a big rock to see some fish. Our guide had a bag of crackers or something, and he would empty some out under water and a million fish would come to feast. A million snorkelers came too! After much head banging with other snorkelers, I decided enough was enough. I swam off on my own, and when I lifted my head from the water, everyone was gone! I didn't know if they headed back to the kayaks or what, so I figured that was the safest bet in case they were waiting on me.

I got back to the kayaks, and they weren't there either, so I left my gear in the boat and went for a swim. About 15 minutes later, I saw Andrea come up looking a little worried about me. "Thanks mamasita ... I'm OK."

This was the big rock all the snorkelers were swimming around. I wish these places were this deserted when we were here! Lover's beach & this rock were more crowded than NYC!

We finished up the excursion by paddling back to the beach, and they brought us by boat back to the pier to meet the tenders. Andrea & I decided to shop a little before heading back to the ship.

After shopping, we stopped for a cerveza, and I caught the local bookie ...

Guys were coming & going with money going back & forth. I stealthily tried to catch a photo of one of her transactions, and she actually smiled at me (although he looks pretty guilty)! Guess it's not illegal here.

The bookie thing sounded exciting, but she was probably just the landlord collecting rent from all the vendors. lol

Back to the ship where we showered and hung out on our balcony to enjoy the view as we were leaving Cabo.

This was our neighbor, Terry from Scotland, hanging out on his balcony. Terry & his wife were a lovely couple ... every time we came across a pub on the ship, or cantina on land, there they were! They really enjoyed our bottle of bubbly too! I never saw them drunk though ... go figure.

Now, here's a rare shot ... Andrea taking a picture. lol Actually, it's a rare shot to catch her without her camera!

Six o'clock rolled around, and I was wrong about last night's dinner. Tonight's dinner was actually the 2nd formal night. I took some photos of the lovely ladies of Club 300, so let me introduce you to ...

(l-r) Andrea "Snappy", Eileen "Bronx", Barb "Woody"

(l-r) Kathy "Hoosier Mama", Barb "Jaguar", Mary Ann "Sparky"

(l-r) Sandra "Babe", Wendy "Krafty1", Sue "Shooter"

Margaret was originally at our table, but her friend was all alone at a different table, so she changed tables. She stopped by to visit us, and here she is with ...

(l-r) Woody, Margaret "Chardonnay" & Hoosier Mama. I'm glad she stopped by cause the group really missed her!

We had our final class with Wendy at 8pm where we glued lots of papers to fragments to make a necklace. I was so exhausted after all that paddling I couldn't even concentrate. To this day, I never finished that necklace. Maybe I'll do that today ... almost forgot all about it.

Anyway, once again, I by-passed studio time and headed back to the room. This towel visitor was kind of funny ...

I'm pretty sure it's a monkey, but I think Alester needs to work on it a bit. I tried taking photos of this guy from every angle, and I think this was the best. Looks more like a dog snout with a spa towel around his neck!

Time to rest up for our final full day.

The Big Day ...

2009-11-13T09:04:00.030-05:00

It's here! It's here! My big day ...

So, Puerto Vallarta ... beautiful! By far, from all the islands & ports I've cruised to, this is one of the prettiest & most inviting.

I wish I had a better picture to post. Everything was so green ... trees, lawns, beautiful gardens. How did I end up with a picture of a roof? lol

While I was getting ready for my big day, Andrea came in from the balcony and said "there's a pirate ship." So, I went to check it out and saw this ...

I said "how do you know it's a pirate ship?", and she said "cause they told me." With that, over a loud-speaker we heard "WE ARE DA PIRATES!" in this funny, scratchy voice with a Mexican accent. And, then they started shooting canons at other ships! It cracked us up! For the rest of the cruise, we just kept saying "we are da pirates!", so if you heard two crazy women saying this, now you know why.

So, before I tell you about my big day, I just want to mention that Andrea is a wimp, and her excursion, that she actually paid for, was a cooking class. HA! What a maroon!

Anyway, my big day was the excursion called "Outdoor Adventure Experience", and boy was it! This even surpassed the helicopter ride to the glaciers in Alaska.

We began with an exciting 20 min. speedboat ride waaaaay to the other end of Puerto Vallarta. What fun! When we docked at a small beach, we had to wait for the trucks to come pick us up, so we had this very funny guy 'entertain' us, and loosen us up. There were about 16 of us in the original group, and everyone must've still been asleep, cause they were like quiet lumps in chairs.

We weren't allowed to bring cameras, so I missed some great photo ops, but luckily, Vallarta Adventures provided us with a photographer to document our adventure. We were then able to purchase photo CDs at the end of the excursion. Not too bad, I got 98 pictures on the CD for $29.

This is a photo of the trucks they picked us up in at the beach. They took us in two groups, and I was in the 2nd group, and we left about 15 minutes after the 1st group. They gave us drinks while we waited for our turn, and it was very interesting trying to drink it while in the back of this truck!

After about a 20 minute ride, we got to their base. I was so impressed as soon as I saw the crew members and knew I was in very good hands. I've heard scary stories about some of these excursions where it's just a bunch of locals who have no experience or safety concerns and are just trying to make a buck.

Anyway, here was this group of muscular guys, all wearing professional rock-climbing gear & red helmets. Their group quickly got our group all geared up.

We got belts with all our caribeaners and whatchamacallits and were told 'don't touch anything.' No problem, dude ... you da boss. The gloves were really thick leather, and they had an extra flap of leather over the palm because you have to kind of 'slide' your dominant hand on the rope above you, and pull down on the rope to brake. Yeah, OK.

Then, they marched us up to their barn of burros where they gave us quick instructions and snipits of common sense, like, how to mount the burro, and "don't go behind the burro". Then, they introduced each other--a team of 5 guys, 1 girl and the photographer--all College educated in America & professional rock-climbers. Very funny crew ... I knew I was in for a great time. Six of them for 8 of us. I liked the odds.

We rode the burros as far as we could, and then we had to hike the rest of the way. Oy! The air is pretty thin up there, and all I can say is thank God I quit smoking 20 years ago!

We got to the first zipline which looked pretty intimidating.

They instructed us on how we had to be in a 'sitting position', hold onto the rope in front of us with our weak hand, and lightly hold the top rope above us with our dominant hand. They showed us how to stop, and what hand signals they'd be giving us from the platform below.

Then I was off! When I got to the bottom, my legs were shaking! Now, I'm a girl who's jumped out of 6 planes, gone para-sailing numerous times, did that hang-glider-drop-thingy at amusement parks, but I get vertigo looking out the window of a tall skyscraper. Go figure.

They rushed us up to the next platform which was another hike UP. There was a water break along the way, and I took my time drinking cause I wasn't in any hurry to do that again anytime soon.

When I got to the next zipline, I was stunned. That practice zipline was like hanging from your mother's clothesline! My legs were still shaking, and I thought I was gonna drop. I actually let someone ahead of me so my legs could stop shaking a bit. Well, they'll let one person ahead of you, but not two. I was on my way.

Woo Hoo! After that, I was ready for the rest of the day. I felt more comfortable, and I relaxed ALOT.

When we got to the next zipline, while waiting in line for our turns, they were demonstrating how to repel on a big boulder nearby. We did the zipline, and ended up at the top of a 300 ft. waterfall! There go the legs again a little. We had to inch ourselves backward to the edge, and then slowly start 'walking' down the side of the waterfall. Pretty nerve-wracking, especially after they just told us that it's very slippery, and if you're not careful you could slip, and the first thing to hit the rock wall would be your face!

But, once you take that first step, it's easier than you think, and as long as you take your time, it's actually very exhilirating. Little did I know what was still to come!

When I splashed into the pool of water at the bottom, it was such a fantastic feeling! The water was so cool & clean, and it felt wonderful!

A few more ziplines, and a plank bridge ...

A rope bridge ...

And then, another big drop ... straight down. Let's see, how can I explain this ... they had this long 'plank' hanging from the trees above leading out over a pool of water hundreds of feet below. Could this get any more exciting? We had to slide down the rope like a fireman on a pole, into the pool below.

That was my favorite part! That was waaaay cool.

We zipped over some rapids, and after 1 or 2 more ziplines, we got to 'race' another person on the final zipline. I got to race with Erin, who was a 16-year-old girl from Scotland, whose mother sent her on this excursion by herself! My husband has to meet this woman ... he wouldn't even let my daughter ride her bicycle off our own street until she was 15! It was pretty pathetic seeing this poor teenage girl ride her bike in circles in front of our house! lol Yeah, Rick is pretty neurotic, but I don't even think I would send my 16-year-old on an excursion like this by herself.

Well, I was the big loser. Ah, youth ... no fear. But, our excursion wasn't over yet ...

We hiked back to the camp, got changed and had lunch. They took us back by truck to the beach, but along the way we stopped at this little tequila factory. Very weird. It looked like a really big garage with just one guy who was hanging out by the big opening. Our driver asked us if we wanted to get out to have a free sample of tequila, and one of the guys from our group (he looked like Colin Ferrell ... who could say no?) talked me into going, and 4 of us went for the 'tour'.

The guy was standing next to a big oil drum with several bottles of tequila on top and some plastic shot cups. He gave us each a cup and poured some shots. Well, back in my drinking days, tequila was the only hard liquor I drank in shots, but I never tasted tequila like this! In my memory, you always had to lick some salt & suck on a lime because of the taste. Not necessary with this stuff ... it didn't even taste like tequila!

Then, he poured us another flavor ... I think chocolate ... and then another, and another ... I think we had 5 different flavors, but some we got 2 samples, so I think 7 free shots total, all in about 10 minutes. Then, he brought us over to the big vats and explained how they make it. Then came the sales pitch. Americans can only purchase this stuff over the internet, but we could purchase it there. I was all set to get a bottle of the chocolate flavor to share with Club 300 and other friends when he told us that they take it away from you when boarding the ship and return it to you in LA. Oh well, lost that sale. I can't bring tequila home! This would be the last cruise I get to go on! lol

We were laughing while climbing back into the truck, while the rest of the group was looking at us with what ... jealousy? disgust? Who cared?! Free delicious tequila!

Back to the beach for a quick cerveza before our speedboat ride back to the port. What a day! I wanted to do it all over again!

Dinner was another formal night, and each meal with these ladies was even better than the one before. Can't wait to see these ladies again. One lady in particular, Mary Ann, really came out of her shell that night. She's this sweet, quiet older lady, but when I joked about how we should 'alter' Tim, she was all over that! Her face lit up, and she didn't let me forget it for the rest of the cruise. She got us all going, wondering what we should do.

After another exhausting day, I headed back to the cabin, and was greeted by ...

This peacock was too cute. I don't know why I'm always surprised when I see these guys, but I just love it when I open that door at night.

Mazatlan!

2009-11-10T10:53:00.014-05:00

We woke up very early cause our first excursion started at 8:30am, and we wanted time to enjoy breakfast. We were up before the sun!

Of course, when the sun did come up, we were ready with our cameras.

I was playing with my camera settings, and I got a couple of interesting shots.

I don't know where this ship came from, but I just love this shot!

We continued taking photos as we reached land, and this next view just screamed "Welcome to Mexico!"

I love the beautiful colors of all the little houses, and the bustling of the boats in the water.

We enjoyed room service (pretend I inserted one of Andrea's photos here ... she took pictures of ALL the food we were served!). After breakfast, we headed off ship for our first excursion ... ATV Adventure. My family often vacations in the islands, and my husband & kids usually do the ATVs. A lot of times these small places don't have more than 3, so I always opt for some time alone.

We were taken by boat to Rock (maybe Stone, dunno, can't remember LOL) Island. Andrea was so ready for our adventure! She'd never been on an ATV before either!

Andrea was behind me in line, so whenever I got a good lead on her, I'd slow down and try to catch an action shot of her.

Here we go! We rode those babies all over the beach, through bushes, open fields, we were all over that island. One guy had a speedometer on his ATV, and he said he clocked us going 85 mph! Woo Hoo!

We stopped here for a photo op because our guide told us that this is the only rock on the island, hence the name. I don't know what he was talking about, cause I seen lots of rocks! LOL

I had to do the 'ole 'self portrait' shot, cause all the pictures of me are in Andrea's camera!

After our ride, we got to relax at an outdoor cantina to enjoy a cerveza. A lady came up to us with jewelry for sale, and she lucked out with a couple of live ones. I bought 2 bracelets and a necklace, and I thought I spent a lot! Andrea bought jewelry for almost every female she knew! And, we weren't done yet ... we followed her to her table to see what else she had! LOL She loved us!

We returned to the ship, showered and prepared for dinner and Tim's next class. This was a little class with a big bang. I've gotten so many compliments on these pieces since I've been home. I'm going to re-create the necklace class with my students.

Tim called this the 'Creepy Kids Necklace' because you can see a picture of a creepy kid through the keyhole. He'd found an old photo of about 10 kids when he was in Paris(?), and he made a copy for each of us. We covered the photo with a piece of mica to re-create old glass. Very cool.

Our 2nd project was a pin. We used sticky tape to hold the wings on, but when I returned home, I used my ever faithful E-6000 glue to make sure they stay put! I'm not one for pins (I usually forget to remove them & they get ruined in the wash!), so I think I'm going to follow someone else's lead (Lori, maybe?), and pin it to the board we made in Wendy's class.

After class we'd heard that there was a party with a buffet by the pool starting at 11pm. Just enough time to run to the cabin and drop off our stuff. As we opened the door, look who we found ...

Isn't he the coolest little puppy you ever saw? But, I did have to show him just who that remote belonged to!

We went out to the party at the pool and the buffet was awesome (again, imagine some of Andrea's photos here). Near the bar, I ran into a few friends ...

I found Heather ...

And Mario too! We took turns taking photos of each other. And, look who else was at the bar ...

Not one, but 3 of England's wildest! Everyone should enjoy their golden years as much as these ladies.

We didn't stay at the party for long cause we had another early morning ahead of us.

The Journey Continues ...

2009-11-09T10:11:00.015-05:00

The captain informed us on Monday that Tropical Storm Patricia was going to be in Cabo San Lucas on Tuesday. He'd made the decision to bypass Cabo and have Tuesday as our 'day at sea', and resume with our scheduled stops in Mazatlan on Wednesday, and Puerto Vallarta on Thursday. We'd then hit Cabo on Friday on our way back home.

I'm sure this threw our instructors into a little frenzy as to what to do, but without fail, they came up with the plan of just switching Tuesday's schedule for Friday's schedule. But, to keep the alternating instructor schedule intact, they switched our instructors for Wednesday & Friday.

What that meant for our group was that we got to do Wendy's 'big' project on Tuesday instead of Friday, which also meant that we had to keep it a secret. Well, it was a big board, and I had a little chuckle when we were told to keep the project 'under wraps'. LOL Still cracks me up. Anyway, this was my favorite project of the week. Sorry Tim, I loved the book project too, but it was a very close 2nd to this board.

The bottom portion of the board held a framed corkboard, and we decopaged all the wooden surfaces with old dress patterns. We then used the 'splattered' stamp all over the dress patterns using the Archival Coffee ink for a subtle background. I really enjoyed this, but the next part was even better!

We were supplied with grunge paper stamped with flowers again, but we also got leaves, a tag, and a head. We cut everything out (except on set of flowers), inked & decorated, and glued them on our boards. We all received a set of Tim's grunge alphabets, and we each made our own titles for our boards.

For the last set of flowers, Wendy had us glue some designer scrapbook paper to the backs and then cut them out. She showed us how to cut them and use them to create a beautiful little rose. I tell ya, I love gardening, and I really appreciate flowers when they're in the dirt. I'm not much of a person for cut flowers, nor am I a girly girl. But these flowers Wendy introduced me to are just perfect for me! They're grungy, fun, colorful, and best of all, no flowers die in the process.

I wanted this class to go on forever. I wanted to make more leaves and run them down the side of my board. And, I wanted flowers ... layers and layers of flowers! I'm going to post a photo of my board, but keep in mind that I'm still waiting for a little someone to order my re-inkers so I can make more flowers!

After this class, I went to the marketplace (again!), and loaded up on grunge paper. Not only for myself, but I wanted to teach these flowers to my students. Pretty soon, I'm gonna have to get a job with Ranger, cause I'm probably converting all my Stampin' Up! customers into Ranger customers. LOL

We had to rush back to our cabin because tonight was formal night at dinner, and we had just enough time to change and get to the dining room.

Don't ask me how I got that sunburn already ... I don't remember! LOL Anyway, while we were eating our dinners, all the waiters paraded around the dining room and then lined up on the big staircase and sang an Italian song to us. For the life of me, I don't remember the song either, but I do remember them saying that none of the waiters was Italian! LOL

Our waiter, Robert, is on the far right. I thing he really enjoyed this part of his job!

After dinner, I was exhausted. I headed back to my cabin to find this little guy ...

That Alester ... what a maroon! I love how he keeps putting Andrea's sunglasses on his towel animals.

Tomorrow, our first port ... Mazatlan!

Holiday Card-Making Sessions

2009-11-07T12:04:00.002-05:00

My calendar has been updated and you can view it here for all the dates of my holiday card-making sessions.

These are actually little get-togethers where we all work on our holiday cards together with music & light refreshments. All my non-consumables are available for your use (paper cutters, punches, Big Shot & Dies, etc.), and you just need to bring your consumable supplies (stamp sets, ink, card stock, adhesive, refills, ribbon, etc.). There is a small, $5 fee for each two-hour session, and you need to register for each session at least 24 hours in advance. Minimum of 2 people per session or the session will be canceled.

I'm sorry, but as a promise to my family, I have to be strict about the sessions ending promptly at 9:30pm.

November's Stamp Set of the Month

2009-11-07T11:55:00.003-05:00

Sorry cruisers, but I have a little bit of business to take care of before my next installment of my cruise diary.

For all my Stampin' Up! customers, the SSTM for November is Teeny Tiny Wishes, Item #115370 on page 145 of our big, beautiful 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog (if you don't have a copy, you can go to my website & view it online). It's a set of 24 very useful stamps that regularly sells for $36.95, but this month, I'll give you 15% off. That's a savings of $5.54! Pretty cool. If you order directly through me (email me), your savings are instant, but if you order it online, you will be charged full price, but I can give you credit of $5.54 towards your next order. Remember, you've only got until November 30th to take advantage of this great offer.

I'm so honored!

2009-11-06T10:51:00.003-05:00

I'd like to thank my new good friend, Eileen Bellomo, for awarding me with this honor. I met many, many new friends, but Eileen is one of my favorites from the Cruise to Mexico with Tim Holtz & Wendy Vecchi.

With this honor comes a couple of little jobs. First, I have to pass this award onto 5 other deserving blogs, so after much thought this morning, here are my choices:

Studio 490 by Wendy Vecchi. I discovered Wendy's blog a couple of months before we set sail, and I was immediately hooked. She's not only very creative & talented, but her posts really make me laugh.

Thinkin' 'Bout Inkin' by Lori Hassler. Lori is another funny & creative new friend I met on the cruise. We were all so busy during the cruise that I'm sorry I didn't get to spend more time with her. I love her blog--just the name shows you how creative she is--and sometimes I laugh out loud.

Craftin' With TLC by Traci Camardella. Traci is one of my very best Stampin' Up! sistas. I love spending time with her while we create because she always makes me laugh.

Karen Barber Stamps by, of course, Karen Barber. Karen is one of my uplines in my SU family. She's actually my uplines' upline, so in otherwords, she's my grandmother. Not only is she such a creative inspiration, but she is one of the funniest ladies I know, which in itself is quite funny. You see, Karen is quiet and on the shy side, but when she tells a story, stop what you're doing and listen cause she'll crack you up!

And, finally, Tina Stamps by Tina Rosenkrans. Tina is my leader, my guru. She is Karen's upline, so Tina's like my great-grandmother. She's very talented and a great upline to a huge number of us, and she treats us all like family. She's a very loving, giving person, but best of all she's is FUNN-EEE! It's a pleasure to know her personally and to be her friend.

Now, for the 2nd little job of this award: I have to tell you five facts about myself that you probably don't know, so here I go ...

1. My parents died by the time I was 10, and I'm the youngest of five. I believe that I inherited my creativity & crafting skills from my parents. My father used to work with leather making beautiful purses for my mom, belts, and more. My mother was even more of an inspiration ... she used to sew Barbie doll clothes and sell them. She taught me embroidery, basket weaving, painting on fabric and much more.

2. I never took an art class in high school. I used to think the ability to draw was a requirement, and I've always regretted that.

3. I never went to college. Another thing I've always regretted, and sometimes a little embarrassed about.

4. I used to deliver auto parts. Being the youngest of five, nobody wanted to let me drive their cars. One of my sisters had the job first, and when I found out that they paid her to drive, I was in! The years I worked at that auto supply store were some of the best of my life! I had so much fun at that job.

5. I'm a typesetter by trade. I spent 15 years in the graphic arts field before starting my family. I've worked on everything from military newspapers when I lived in Southern California to the Village Voice, STAR Magazine, New York Magazine, and even National Lampoon when I returned home to my native New Jersey.

Once again, I'd like to thank Eileen for giving me this honor, and I hope I chose 5 worthy recipients who will pass on the honor as well.

The fun begins ...

2009-11-03T13:35:00.014-05:00

After we set sail the group got-together before dinner to meet Tim, Wendy, Jim, Mario, Wendy's hubby Rick, Keychain (Karen) & Michelle, and Jaci & Jan from ScrapMap. We received our tote bags and our name tags.

Inside the name tag pouch was our little booklet with our schedule of events:

After our little "meet & greet", we went for our first dinner at 6pm in the Rhapsody in Blue dining room at Table 300. We met some wonderful ladies at our table: Eileen from NYC, Barb 1, Margaret, Barb 2 (I was going to put their last initials, but they're both W's! LOL), Mary Ann, Sandra, Wendy, Sue, myself & Andrea. We also met our wonderful waiter, Robert, who we referred to all week as "Charlie", because he called us his angels, and our Assistant Waiter, Jude. We all introduced ourselves and became fast friends.

Margaret mentioned that she had signed up for the bottle of wine each day, thinking she'd be able to sit on her balcony each night and enjoy some nice wine. Unfortunately, she was informed that she could only have the bottle during dinner, so she was very generous and shared her bottle with us.

Dinner lasted a full 2 hours, and we were exhausted and ready to go to our cabin. We were so excited to see our first towel animal ... a turtle!

Our cabin steward, Alester, put Andrea's sunglasses on him, and he was just adorable!

The next day we woke up early because we were told the market place would open at 8am. We arrived just before 8, and were not too surprised to see a line already waiting to get in! We were in Group D, so our first class was with Wendy at 11am, which gave us plenty of time to shop and bring our goodies to the room.

Well, let me just say that the market place on this cruise had at least twice the amount of stuff (maybe 3x) than the Alaska cruise, and I spent a pretty penny on that one, so I knew I was in big trouble! LOL Mario gave us raffle tickets for every $20 we spent, and I'm trying to black out how much I spent. I tried to get all my shopping done in one trip. Yeah, right.

I was so excited about Wendy's class. I had never heard of her before the chatter of this cruise, so when I checked out her blog, she had an instant fan. Her art has the cool distressed, grunge look like Tim, but with a feminine flair.

We received these pre-stamped aprons, grunge paper with some pre-stamped flowers, and lots of other supplies. Wendy taught us how to make her awesome flowers and we decorated our aprons. Although grunge paper is safe to go through the wash, she gave us pins to attach our flowers to our aprons to save on the wear & tear. This is a photo of Wendy's apron ... I never attached my flowers because I was having trouble with the metal pieces & the glue.

After Wendy's class, we had a break before our class with Tim at 4pm. And, Tim didn't disappoint either. We made these awesome 7-day journals to record our adventures. We used sticky back canvas to decorate the covers (Tim's crew pre-printed the maps for us which we colored with Distress Inks.). We also got these cool paper bags that are only about half-an-inch thick. Perfect to slip in a tag. At this point, Tim turns on his iPod to the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance ... and Keychain, Tim & Michelle passed out these awesome stamps so we could stamp the tags and fill in the details later. In this 1-1/2 hour class, he must've played that song 5-6 times, each time handing out great stuff, with our cheers getting louder & louder each time! What fun!

After class, Wendy popped in, and I had the perfect chance to get a photo with both of my favorite designers! This is turning out to be another fabulous cruise!

Let the journey begin!

2009-11-02T09:17:00.013-05:00

I found it very challenging packing for this particular trip because it had 3 legs: a visit to see my son at college in Rochester, NY; the cruise; and 2 days in LA. Since there were no laundry rooms on the ship, I had to pack for 9 days. I also wanted to pack my portable photo printer and half a case of water & snacks for the ship. That alone took up one suitcase along with toiletries! Seems the older I get, the more I need. LOL

I kept the NY items in a tote bag, loaded 9 days of clothes in my big duffle bag, and hoped I wouldn't be getting too much stuff from Tim (I should've known better after the Alaska cruise!) I convinced myself that I'd be OK cause the water would be consumed, the snacks would be eaten, and I'd have less toiletries.

We left Friday morning after dropping my daughter off at school (she's a HS senior), and I started off my 5-hour drive to his college already forgetting my fleece. Bummer. We got up there, and you guessed it, it was cold. Rick wanted to buy me yet another R.I.T. (Brendan's college) fleece, but I just borrowed one of my son's.

This was our first visit to see him since he started. I only had the one day with him, so after his classes were over we went out to dinner and then we caught Jim Gaffigan's show at the campus. Funny guy! I had to say my good-byes to Brendan after the show because my flight left early Sat. morning.

I didn't realize I hadn't taken any pictures of our visit with him, so this is a photo from when we dropped him off at school at the end of August.

The next morning, Rick took me to the Rochester airport, and I had the best seat on the plane! It was a single seat (#1) as soon as you come on the plane, right next to the flight attendant's station, and the lavatories were right next to that. Perfect. I did have to change planes in Chicago, and that went off without a hitch.

When I arrived in LA, there was a little mix-up with the shuttle, but after texting Andrea, who was already in the hotel, we straightened it out and I was on my way. I met a lovely couple from England and another couple from Texas in my shuttle who'd also be on the cruise. I ended up seeing both couples throughout the week, especially Bob & Dorothy from Texas. I saw them so much you would've thought they were in our group!

I settled into the room, and Andrea & I went down to the lounge to meet the other cruisers. What fun! I ordered a margarita to get me in the vacation mode (I don't drink, but I make up for it when I vacation alone ... when the cat's away ...), and it went straight to my head! I only drank half and decided we needed to eat. We grabbed a bunch of girls (and Jon-Luc ... hope I spelled that right) and found a great Mexican restaurant by the water.

The next morning, we had breakfast and got in line early for the shuttle to the ship. So glad we listened to Gloria and got there early.

We had a very creative porter when we got to the ship. He got everything on one cart (there were 7 or 8 of us!). I tried videotaping him, but was told I wasn't allowed to take any pictures of the port. Guess I shouldn't be posting this!

We had about an hour wait in the port, but it was nice. We got to spend time with fellow cruisers, either re-acquainting ourselves, or getting to know new friends.

We finally got on the ship (Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas), and it was H-U-G-E! This balcony overlooked several decks and the promenade of shops. You'd never know you were on a ship looking at it. Above the shops were windows to some of the inside cabins. I commented about how I'd hate one of those cabins cause you'd always have to leave the curtains closed for privacy. With that, an older woman opened her curtains and was checking out her view. We caught her attention, and I motioned for her to lift her shirt, and to my surprise, she did! We were all histerically laughing, and some of my group flashed her back! She went and brought an even older woman to the window, and I flashed her. She got this very surprised look on her face, and then flashed me back!

By now, a crowd had gathered since we were making so much noise, and that's when we met Bjorn. He caught me flashing the lady, and I thought he was gonna throw me off the ship. Instead, he pretty much said "glad you're having a good time."

We strolled around and stopped by Guest Services to pick up the ship's daily news to see what events were going on while we waiting to get into our cabins. Lots of stores & ship's services had tables set up in the promenade of shops. One booth had a girl who did airbrush tattoos, and you could get a free star tattoo. Andrea & I stood on this line so long that we decided to make it worth our while and purchase one.

While waiting on this forever tattoo line, we were missing the 'scavenger' hunt that was going on around us. Turns out that all the tables that were set up had answers to questions for a contest to win prizes from all the ships services like massages, souvenirs and more. We only had about 20 minutes to get all the answers. We got them and put our ballots in the big clear cube of entries with 10 minutes to spare. We saw Bjorn who was at the Bingo table, and Andrea had to have the T-shirt, so we bought the 4 lottery tickets so she could get one. I won $5 on one of mine. When we went back to the clear cube of entries, we saw people around it looking in the cube and copying the answers, so Andrea & I quickly copied answers and put in a 2nd entry each. Well, we won! First, I won, you'll never guess ... a free tattoo! And then Andrea won right after me ... get this ... a Bingo T-shirt! Too funny.

We finally were allowed to go to our cabins, and Andrea always has to take 'before' pictures when she gets a room.

She even takes pictures of the bathroom! We were told that they'd separate the beds for us and put the nightstands in the middle, but we decided to keep the beds together to save room. Figured if I could sleep with Rick, I could sleep with anybody! LOL

We had a balcony cabin, and we enjoyed the view as we left port. Our voyage begins!

My First Digital Cards!

2009-09-18T11:18:00.007-04:00

Last night I watched my 2nd webinar from Stampin' Up! where we were shown how to make greeting cards using My Digital Software. To reinforce what I watched, I recreated the card that Mark Jessen made following all the shortcuts he showed us. The card is actually 7x5, not square, but the photo is below. And, this blog photo really doesn't do it justice, so I ordered it from the print service so I can show you in person. When it arrives, I'll take a photo and repost it here.

After I created Mark's card, I decided to challenge myself and try creating my own from scratch. Here's what I came up with ... remember, the quality of this blog photo is very bad. This card is a 5x5 tho, so it's pretty much how it's going to look. I'll repost a photo of the original when I receive it.

I thought it was going to take me hours to figure it all out, but I actually whipped this card up in about 20 minutes!

I had originally intended to create a 5x5 scrapbook, have it printed by SU, and then I'd have a sample to show everyone. As it turns out, we currently only offer printing of full books, so until I get around to finishing a complete book, creating & printing greeting cards is the way to go.

Next up ... a calendar!

My Digital Studio Comes Today!

2009-09-16T09:18:00.002-04:00

For the first time ever, I'm glad I have no sign-ups for my scrapbooking class tonight. Why? This afternoon, I'm expecting a very special package. I'm getting My Digital Scrapbooking software! Since I have no class tonight, I can play all night! Ya know what the best part is? I'm getting it free, and a new stamp set too! Woo Hoo! Last month two of my favorite students became two of my newest recruits, and with that came a promotion for me, and a $100 bonus! Couldn't have come at a better time, cause I really wanted to play with this software, but I just couldn't justify the added expense right now. Been spending waaaay too much lately, and I have to reign myself in. Turned out it wasn't in check form, but in SU credit, so I had to spend the money on somethin', right?!

Stampin' Up! is also offering lots of webinars so we can learn all about the software. I already took the first one last week, and since then I've been just itchin' to get my hands on it. They're also offering a certification program, and I just signed up.

I think tonight I'll work on a 6x6 book and have it printed so I have a sample to show all of you. I'm also thinking of adding a special My Digital Scrapbooking class to my schedule as well. Maybe even a My Digital Scrapbooking crop night? Oooh, my mind's a buzzin'!

Getting ready for Fall Fest

2009-09-14T14:54:00.002-04:00

What is Fall Fest? My wonderful upline, Tina, who is actually 3 levels above me, holds two big day-long events a year: Spring Fling & Fall Fest. At these events, every demonstrator in her downline is welcome to come, and we learn new techniques, business tips & advice, swap samples with each other, win great prizes, and best of all, make fabulous projects! Usually I volunteer to work the registration table, cause I love to match up the names with the faces. But this time, I was honored when Tina asked me to be one of the demonstrators for the group! I'll be demoing the Big Shot, and my mind's just buzzin' with great ideas! I'm going to start working on my projects today, starting with a 12x12 scrapbook layout of my son teaching his girlfriend to snowboard. I'll be offering this spread in my next scrapbooking class, which happens to be this Wednesday, September 16th. I'll be using the Big Shot to create the title which I'll be making using our Window Sheets.

Last Chance Lists

2009-06-01T08:45:00.012-04:00

As many of you know, our 2008-2009 Spring-Summer Catalog is retiring on June 30th, and our new catalog will be available July 1st. As always, Stampin' Up! has to retire many stamp sets, accessories & wheels to make room for all the new goodies. Even some Decor Elements have to retire to make room for new ones! Sad, but good at the same time. This year, they have a new name for the retired list ... it's now called the "Last Chance List".

Well, today they released all of the Last Chance lists: Stamp sets, Accessories, and Decor Elements. I've put the links below so you can just click and view yourself, and even print them out.

Last Chance List
Last Chance Accessories
Last Chance Decor Elements

Now, for some good news ... you can purchase some of these items now at 25-50% off! Just click SHOP to find all the retiring items.

Of course, you can always contact me if you have any questions, or if you prefer to place your order the old-fashioned way. Just keep in mind that you only have until the end of the month.

Have fun shopping!

Too funny ...

2009-05-12T09:43:00.007-04:00

Last night's Stamp-a-Stack was so much fun! I don't know if it was because this particular group has never been together before, or if it was just a full moon, but we were laughing so much poor Anabel was in tears, and Jens face was red she was laughing so hard! It could've been that everyone just really, really needed a good night out, and all the planets aligned just right to make everything come together.

We made 3 great cards, but I can't take credit for any of them. I had such a laid back Mother's Day weekend that I completely forgot about the class until yesterday morning! Luckily, I have access to Stamper's Showcase on our Stampin' Up! demonstrator website. This is a huge library of card samples submitted by other talented demonstrators for everyone to share.

This first card I called "Happiness Always", and it was designed by Brenda Keenan. It was perfect for this type of class because it was put together quickly and easily, and we all love the In Colors. Some ladies cheated on the paper piercing (we won't name names!), but that was the only time consuming detail.

This next card I called "Pocket Silhouette", and we all loved it! It was designed by Betty Travis, and all I changed from her original design was the DS paper choice, and I moved the main image to the left a little. We made a mask to create the circle, and using daubers, we colored the circle with Summer Sun ink, and then went over the outer edge with Pumpkin Pie.

Finally, the 3rd card I called "To You from Me", and the original design was by Marie McClellan. Her card used some jumbo eyelets, but I thought the design didn't need them. I never would've thought to mix Baja Breeze, Really Rust and Chocolate Chip, and I might just keep this color combo in my repertoire. I think the Rust gave the card just the right 'kick'.

While at class, Frances asked me about my Project Class that I had scheduled for this Saturday, May 16th. I showed everyone the stationery box (with it's flaw), and explained that I wanted to re-work it. Also, I could never have it ready by the 16th because I need to order supplies. We chose a new date for Sunday, May 24th, but I'm sure Denise would want to attend as well, so I might change that date. In the meantime, I'll get working on it today, and I'll get photos on here with all the details.

MORE great promotions!

2009-03-01T14:32:00.005-05:00

Boy! Stampin' Up! has been going crazy with promotions this year! They announced 2 new promotions today. As most of you know, the Occasions mini catalog will be coming soon, and the sales period is from April 1st to June 30th. BUT ... SU is allowing our customers to pre-order any of the Easter sets now! You can click on the link to the right to get a sneak peak of these adorable sets and order them today. After you check them out, you can go right to my website and find them under 'New Products' and order for yourself online (which brings me to another promotion ... a free catalog will be included with your online order until April 30th). And, of course, if you order $50 of merchandise, you'll be eligible for a Sale-A-Bration item too! In fact, you'll get a SAB item for EVERY $50 you spend until March 31st!

The other new promotion announced today is called 'Get Connected'. Their goal with this promotion is for everyone to get connected with family & friends by either making wonderful cards & gifts to give them, or even better, getting together with them to create wonderful cards & gifts! From April 1-30, when you buy $40 in products from the Occasions Mini or host a workshop totaling $150 or more, you'll get one item from the "Under $10" page (pg.208) in the Spring-Summer 2009 Idea Book & Catalog for free! Geez, add another $10 to that order, and you also get a Sale-A-Bration item. That's like getting $25 in free stuff for a $50 order! And, wait until you see what's in the Occasions mini! I wish I could only spend $50! I want it all! Stamp sets, new tools, rub-ons, Designer Series paper, buttons, ribbon and more! Just wait 'til you see! Oh, my heart is palpitating. Calm down Stephanie ... OK, so you can click on the link to the right to view the flyer.

And, just one more little thing ... coming soon ... POP-UP DIES for the SIZZIX BIG SHOT! We're getting them before any other merchant, and you can only get them through a demonstrator like me! I wish I had a picture to post of samples with these pop-ups. Keep an eye out, and as soon as I get one I'll post it for you.

My newly decorated bathroom!

2009-02-22T12:27:00.038-05:00

I've had these Decor Elements flowers since early last Fall, and I finally made some time to put them up. Rick, my husband, helped and we made quite the team. I'm going to take you step by step with some photos so you can see how we did it.

First, I took the four packages of flowers. Each package has 3 flowers (1 of each design). I purchased 2 packages of Chocolate Chip, and 2 packages of Kraft for a total of 12 flowers. I carefully cut them apart, laid each on the table (grid side up) and scraped over the image to make the vinyl stick to the transfer paper.

I took a few 'before' photos and then I got to work.

I started taping the flowers to the walls so I knew approximately where I wanted them.

I began with one of the medium-sized flowers and carefully started peeling back the transfer paper. This was a little tricky, and I was slightly nervous about doing the larger flower. I got it up on the wall and felt quite proud of myself. Just then, my husband came up and asked if I needed any help (thank you, thank you). I was so glad to have the extra set of hands for those bigger flowers! We went one by one around the room ... I held the transfer paper, and he peeled back the grid paper, then I climbed up the step stool and placed each one on, careful not to touch the vinyl. I'd place them so the center would touch the wall, and I'd leave the sides kind of hanging. I then drew an invisible line down the center with the scraper tool and began scraping from that center line out to the edges to squeeze out any air bubbles.

At one point, Rick decided he wasn't quite happy with the look of the Kraft flowers overlapping the Chocolate flowers, so he suggested I carefully cut along the edge of the Chocolate flower, and peel off the overlapping Kraft part & discard.

We were both pleased with this look, so at another point, I 'cut away' the Kraft flower on the left side, and left the Chocolate to overlap on the right side.

Then came the inside corner. I wanted a flower to 'wrap' from one wall to the next, so I carefully held the flower where I wanted it and laid it as close to the corner as possible. I scraped down the inside corner and then scraped my way out to the sides on each wall. I think it came out very well.

Then, I had an outside corner ... much easier. I just laid most of the flower on one wall up to the edge, rubbed the corner with my fingers, and then finished scraping onto the other wall.

I ended up placing the flowers tighter together than I had planned, so we ran out. I ordered 3 more packages so we could finish the last two walls. We love how it came out and had alot of fun doing it too. It's so nice when Rick gets creative with me ... it doesn't happen often, but it's great when it does.

I hope you like the way it looks and get inspired to create some art on your walls too. Now, if I could just get him to finish putting up my woodwork.

Decor Elements Catalog Correction

2009-02-19T11:41:00.002-05:00

I was just notified by a customer that the numbers for Flitting By I and Flitting By II (pg.12) are the same numbers as Spot On I and Spot On II (pg.13). If you try ordering either of the Flitting By Decor Elements, you'll get Spot On. I called SU, and the correct number for Flitting By I should be 114840, and Flitting By II should be 114841. If you have a copy of the Decor Elements catalog, please make a note of this correction.

Speaking of Decor Elements, I'm finally going to put up the Manhattan Flowers in my newly renovated bathroom tomorrow (a little busy today). I'm going to take photos of the steps and post them here, so check by over the weekend to see how it looks.

And you know what else? In case you didn't realize, you can get Decor Elements as hostess benefits! There's a Level 1 and a Level 2 offering on page 3 of the Decor Elements catalog. I just love the set of books with the Flower Finesse, but I wanted to get something I could put up right away for my customers and students to see, so I ordered the Home Is Love which I'm going to put up in my living room. I have just the spot for it ... I've been wanting to get something for this one particular wall for a long time now, and this will be just perfect! I'll have to post a photo of that too when I get it.

Next Scrapbooking Class

2009-02-18T11:49:00.005-05:00

I just sent an e-card out to all my customers. I was a little preoccupied while writing it because they only give me 15 lines of text, and if you go over it by one little letter, you lose half of it! So, I tried cramming in a lot of information in a little bit of space, and of course I forgot to mention my upcoming scrapbooking class! It's next Wed. Feb. 25th at either 10am or 7:30pm for only $18. This class is a little more expensive than my usual SB class because we'll be using textured cardstock, Designer Series papers, felt flowers, our new corduroy buttons, and we'll be making a title from chipboard using the Big Shot machine.

I'm baaaaaack!

2009-02-15T14:05:00.003-05:00

It's been ages since I posted anything here! Where have I been? Don't ask me. Ever since my internet problem before Christmas, I've been having trouble getting back into the swing of things where posting is concerned.

Anyway, tonight is my new catalog workshop, and I'm so excited because I just love all the new accessories and Sizzix items (I'm definitely an accessories and tool junkie!). I want to show it all! I've got a great project planned using the Big Shot machine and some DSP, and that brings me to my Big Shot, Big Deal! From now, until March 31st, if you purchase the Big Shot Starter Kit at $195.95 and any one $4.95 Sizzlits die (pg. 200), you'll also receive free ... FOUR items from the Sale-a-Bration catalog, plus one $15.95 Sizzix die from me as a gift! That's over $75 in free stuff just for purchasing the machine you know we all gotta have anyway! I just love my machine, and I don't know what I did without it. And, you want to know what I love most about this machine? It works with ALL my dies! I was able to clean out some bulky machines (and make a little $$ to buy some new dies!), like the original Sizzix machine with that big arm you had to crank down on each part of the die, and the Cuttlebug machine (it was so cute, I did kinda hate to part with that one), the Kwikcutz handle and the Sizzix Sidekick. Now, if I could just organize the rest of my stamp room!

So good to teach class again!

2009-01-19T14:33:00.011-05:00

This past Friday was my first class in almost a month! I hadn't meant to take that much time off, but things in my family's schedule changed, so my class schedule had to change as well.

I can't believe how much we all missed class! We had so much fun, and we laughed so much! The class was a stamp-a-stack, and everyone loved the cards we made (see photos above). I just want to point out that on the Perfect Plum 'birthday' card, to enhance the gold embossing, I used the retired metallic pencils. Now I have to locate someone who's willing to sell theirs because my good customer, Anabel, fell in love with them! I also pulled out some of our retired gold narrow organdy ribbon ... might as well keep with the 'retired' theme on this card.

All 3 of these cards were based on samples I got from our Stamper's Showcase (a place on our SU Demonstrator website where we can submit designs to be posted & shared with other demonstrators). I made changes to each of them to make them my own, but the "Dreams" card didn't need much 'tweaking', so I'm going to give credit where it's due--the original design was by Kathryn Boresh.

I'll be repeating these 3 simple cards at this Friday's Kids' Class. This is the first session, and I think these classes are going to end up being huge! I can only hold one a month for now, because I'm also beginning a 10-week afterschool program at one of our five elementary schools. I'll have to update you on that after it begins.

In the meantime, I've got to prepare for my demonstrator's meeting this Wednesday night. This monthly meeting is one of my highlights because I get together with other demonstrator 'sisters' and we all have to design a project (anything but a card) using a specific theme or stamp set. This month, I'll be designing a project using one of the new hostess sets. It's also my turn to provide the project for the group, so we'll all be making my design.

Then, Thursday is my Techniques Class (still room if you're interested in joining us). I've got some great cards lined up, including one designed by my very talented upline, Karen Barber, where she used the new Valentine's Bundle. Just wait til you see it.

So, time to get busy.

Accessories Retired List

2009-01-06T12:12:00.003-05:00

The retired list for the accessories was also released today ... you can click here to view it. Also, you can view the color flyer w/photos of the retired items in the Inventory Blowout Sale by clicking here.

Stampin' Up! keeps me hoppin'

2009-01-06T11:41:00.002-05:00

Well, they did it again. Everytime I think I'm all caught up with their promotions, they go and announce another one! LOL

This time, they've announced an Inventory Blowout Sale (click on the link to the right) ... not only are some items from this catalog on sale, but they've also got stuff from last years' Spring-Summer catalog (old In Color items and ribbons I thought I'd never see again).

In fact, while you're clicking away, check out the retired list (you only have a matter of days left to get anything here ... new catalog is released Jan. 18th!), and the Valentine's Bundle.

Don't forget, you can order directly from my website now. But, if you want the SSTM (January's Stamp Set of the Month is Dreams Du Jour ... see previous post), you need to order directly from me to receive the 15% off discount.

Happy Shopping!

Dreams Du Jour Samples

2009-01-05T10:27:00.015-05:00

OK, so I'm trying again. From here, it doesn't look like the photo is showing up, so I'm going to continue, and hope for the best.

This first cards was made by Michelle VanWiggeren ... I just love the colors she used. Believe it or not, she made the background using a brayer ... I never would've guessed. She also used Dazzling Diamonds, but it's very hard to tell in the photo. I'll just have to re-create it for you.

This card was made by Faith Celeste ... it's a very simple card, easy enough for anyone to make. I think I'm gonna try it using textured papers for my backgrounds.

Deborah Southard created this card. Not only is it stunning, but I wanted you to see what she did behind the stamped image ... can you see it? It looks like she used the Scallop Circle Punch on 2 different colors of cs and layered them. Clever.

This card was created by Kathleen Hilden. It's a striking card with all the colors, but it's really quite simple, quick & easy if you look at it ... the whole card is made with only Basic Black ink. Love this one.

And, finally, this card was created by Pamela Findlay. I love how she coordinated some of our Designer Series paper with the flower in the stamp. And, you know I love mosaics ... can't wait to play with this idea.

So, these are just a couple of the cards that made me 'HAVE TO HAVE THIS SET' ... you know that feeling.

Welcome to 2009!

2009-01-05T10:14:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! Well, I've had a great break, but it's time to get back to work again! I'll start off with the new SSTM ... Dreams Du Jour (Pg.103 in the Fall-Winter 2008 catalog, Item #111624)! Ever since this set came out I've been seeing samples that I love, and I just had to get it and I know you will too. So, I saved this special set for January, so you can save 15% on it when ordering directly from me (since we're all broke after the holidays! lol). I want to share just a couple of the great samples that were posted on our Stamper's Showcase on our Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Website. That's just one of the special perks we get as demonstrators ... other demonstrators who love to share their ideas and SU gives us a place to do it.

Well, I wanted to post some photos here of some great samples using this set, but for some reason, my blog isn't cooperating with me, so I'm going to post this now, but I'll be working on the problem, and I'll post some samples real soon!

It's Dec. 24th already?!

2008-12-24T08:08:00.003-05:00

Where, oh where did this month go? I'm sooooo behind ... not that that's unusual for me, but this year, I'm ridiculously behind! I'm chalking it up to the vendor fair I ran at the beginning of the month, and the job at Michaels where I've been working extra hours. I have to get off this computer and actually finish MAKING my Christmas cards! lol! I'm making 130 cards this year, and in my little head, I thought they were pretty simple! Until I started making them! Sure, the basic card is simple ... a piece of folded cardstock w/Designer Series Paper. It's the rest of the card ... embossing outside & inside, the ribbon with the hint of silver cord, the felt snowflakes (I had to get anal about this step ... one of each color, and I couldn't have two of the same on one card!), the rhinestones, my signature stamp. Then, when I'm all done, I still have to fill them out, put in envelopes and add labels & stamps. I have to work today at 2:30pm (I worked last night too, and didn't get home until after midnight!), so do I think I can finish before then? NO!!! I think this year they might actually be my "Easter cards" as my hubby calls them! lol

And, decorations ... HA! We don't even have a Christmas tree! I took my son shopping on Saturday night, and when we got home, he dubbed the big palm tree in our family room our "Christmas tree". I'm so pathetic.

I hope everyone is fairing the holiday season better than me and really enjoying yourselves. I'm going to take some much needed time off for the next 2 weeks, and hopefully, get organized! That's my New Year's resolution ... organization! Oh, and to have 2009 Christmas cards done early! HA!

Merry Christmas everyone!

2008--A Year in Review

2008-12-17T10:06:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

End of year classes

2008-12-12T17:20:00.003-05:00

Well after tonight's class, there are only 2 more classes next week, and that's it until Jan. 7, 2009! I'm taking a much needed break for two weeks. I plan on cleaning out my stamp room and trying to get some organization around here... oh, and relaxing.

And the new catalog comes out next month! I can't believe it's been 6 months already for this catty! I loved this one, and I haven't spent this much in years! I've seen a sneak peak at the new hostess sets, and you're gonna love 'em! I just ordered a Level 2 set and a Level 3 set, and I can't wait to make some samples. We're gonna have great fun at my new catalog party next month. Speaking of which, guess I better get that on my calendar, huh? I think Saturday, January 31st sounds great!

Well, I'm off to finish preparing for tonight's class. See you soon!

Retired List and ... FREE SHIPPING!

2008-12-10T09:10:00.003-05:00

Where do I begin? First, the retired list came out. I didn't do too bad this time... only 13 of my regular sets are retiring (besides ALL my current hostess sets). Oh well, I should be used to this by now. Anyway, go to my website (click the icon on the right) to view the list.

But, to make the list less painful for me, and even better for you ... they are offering 10% off pricing for items on the retired list between Dec. 9-23, 2008. And, if that's not enough ... FREE SHIPPING too! During that same time frame, you can receive free shipping on all orders over $70!

And, while you're on my website checking out the great promotions (don't forget the Sampler promotion--spend $20, get 20% off any set from the Fall-Winter Sampler catalog, and the Country Living Holiday Collection), under Holiday Extravaganza, you can download a great gift giving guide.

It's so easy to order too, you can do it yourself while on my website ... just click the 'shop now' button at the top of the home page (below my personal information).

Of course, I'm still here if you have any questions, or if you'd prefer to go through me. So, don't wait ... the 10% off the retired list and free shipping only last until Dec. 23rd, and the Fall-Winter Sampler promotion is over on Jan. 18th.

Good Evening ... err, morning.

2008-12-08T00:40:00.006-05:00

I'm so behind in my postings because I've had some trouble accessing my blog! I thought it was a provider problem, then a McAfee problem, and it turned out to be a router problem. A simple unplugging, then replugging after a minute and wa-laa! I'm back in business! So, now that my vendor fair is over, and I have my life back, I just spent the last 3 hours reading up and watching videos and tutorials on my favorite blogs that I follow, and now, at 12:42am, I'm finally getting to my post.

So, I thought I'd post a photo of the stamp camp that it seems I've been working on forever. I scheduled this class for last month, but I never finished the projects in time, so I never posted the photos in time. I re-scheduled it for Dec. 20th, but because of my computer problems, I'm just posting the photo now, and I missed my own deadline for ordering the supplies, so I guess I'm going to have to cancel again.

Anyone up for this class after Christmas? lol

I can't believe it's already Dec. 8th! The new catalog will be coming out next month, and the retired list will be released in about a week or so. Maybe I should hold a retirement party? I'm definitely going to schedule a new catalog party... I get so excited when the new catty comes out! I always go straight to the accessories! I love to see the new embellishments, ribbons, rub-ons, chipboard, DS papers, oh my goodness, everything back there! Oooops, I think I was just drooling. Only kidding.

Holiday Shopping Extravaganza!

2008-11-30T19:34:00.002-05:00

This Thursday, Dec. 4th is our Holiday Shopping Extravaganza (vendor fair) to be held at the Westwood High School Cafeteria from 6-9pm. I'm not only chairing this event, but I'll have a table where I'm going to sell some crafts I made with Stampin' Up! It's getting down to the nitty gritty, and I'm starting to get a little nervous! I'm hoping that you'll join us, and help spread the word. So far, I've got about 25 representatives from different companies and local crafters & artisians. We're also going to have free gift wrapping and a concession stand. And, each vendor has generously donated a raffle prize with a minimum $30 value! So, please join me, and tell your friends! Do you feel lucky?

New rubber stamping video

2008-10-29T12:58:00.004-04:00

I just love Stampin' Up! They've really been taking good care of us demonstrators! I was checking out my downline's SU website today, and I saw that she had a great video on her site. I checked out my site, and I've got it too! Oh! I'm so excited! I had met a really nice gal this past Saturday while I was working the Scrapbook Discovery Day at Michaels in Paramus. She was telling me that she watches the video techniques on U-Tube all the time, and suggested that I should start posting some because it would really draw some new customers to my website & blog. I've been seriously considering doing this, but I have to still get a few more projects done and out of the way first. Now, I don't have to rush to get the first one done, because SU did one for me! Check it out ... just click on my website link to the right. And, while you're on my SU website, check out my calendar of events. I just updated it, tweaked a few class descriptions, and added a couple of great holiday classes to make inexpensive and easy gift projects. I'll get photos of these class projects on here in my next post.

Sorry I've been MIA

2008-10-27T12:48:00.005-04:00

These past few weeks have literally been flying by! I feel like I've been so busy, but it also seems like nothing's getting done. In fact, just this morning, I decided to shower and then get out early to run some errands that I've been putting off. Well, I also decided to empty all the garbage cans while I was in all the bedrooms collecting laundry. When I was in the downstairs bathroom, I decided to wash the throw rug, and vacuum the (always seems to be dirty) white tile floor (thanks alot DH). I ended up vacuuming every nook & cranny that I could reach without moving to a new outlet--quite a bit more then I anticipated, and I ended up cleaning the foyer, half the family room, every set of stairs, the kitchen, and half the dining room. I finally got downstairs to put in a load of laundry, and before going back upstairs, I decided to check my emails to see if there was anything that needed my attention right away. I also decided to place a few orders, catch up on my blog reading (I follow several blogs as you can see from my list), and here it is now, 1pm, and I still haven't gotten out!

OK, now to my point ... my last post was over a week ago before going to my workshop at Stampingly Yours where everyone made the adorable little Halloween coaster book. I ended up with a few sets of supplies left over, with complete instructions & color photos, and I've decided to offer them to you for only $20, which includes S&H.

I also wanted to share some great cards that were posted on the Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Website. The top one was made by Kathy Bethune, and the bottom by Lynn Weiss. I wanted to share these with you, since they are both using the House of Haunts stamp set which was my SSTM for September. I love the one with the tree so much, that I'm going to have to make one so I can show everyone at this week's technique class.

I also have a few quick reminders ... October is almost over, and if you still wanted to purchase a birthday set from the Stampin' Up! Birthday Promotion, the Decor Elements Spooky Spider (see the specials to the right), or take advantage of my SSTM (Upsy Daisy at 15% off), you only have until Oct. 31st, which is just 4 days away. Contact me now if any of these promotions interest you so you don't miss out!

Workshop tonight at Stampingly Yours in Clifton

2008-10-15T11:25:00.003-04:00

There's still a couple of spots open for the workshop tonight at Stampingly Yours in Clifton. Jeanne originally was going to charge $5 a person since most guests are from her Yahoo group, but she decided to waive the fee! Let's all thank her by placing large orders and helping her get lots of free stuff with her hostess benefits!

Usually at a workshop, I demo a couple of cards, and everyone gets a chance to play with my toys by making a card or two, or maybe a scrapbook page of their own. Jeanne wanted a very special project for tonight because she wants me to start teaching classes at her store, so we decided on this adorable little coaster book with a Halloween theme. If this were a class, I'd charge $15 a person, but I'm doing it for free at her workshop so you'll have money to spend while browsing our wonderful Stampin' Up! catalog and getting your own goodies!

Alot of supplies are needed for this project, so obviously, I need to know ASAP if you're interested so I can make sure I have enough supplies ready. I need you to contact me before 4pm tonight, Wednesday, Oct. 15th.

If, by some chance you see this post too late, or you can't make the workshop, I might be able to offer it as a kit if I have supplies left.

Anyway, I hope to see you tonight!

Where did the beginning of October go?

2008-10-10T08:46:00.002-04:00

How did it get to be October 10th already? I mean I know time flys by these days, but come on! It was just September yesterday! I wanted to have so much done by now, but this darn Eagle Project of my son's has the whole family out of whack! Brendan turns 18 next Friday, and he's still not done yet! Ouch! The weather just has not be cooperating for us.

Yesterday there was no school, so he & I went up there to get the last bit of stenciling done on the boats, and I'm happy to report that we're done with all the painting! Yaaaaay! Now, he just has to go back up one more day to finish up with the stop blocks on his canoe racks, and to replace some oarlocks on a few rowboats, and he's done! Then, the next hurdle will be to get him to write up his report quickly so I can get it to Council with just days to spare. When, oh when, will these teenagers realize that we know what we're talking about when we say "Get it done now. Don't wait til the last minute because something could go wrong." Like, the weather!

So, needless to say, I'm barely able to keep up with my projects for my classes and my upcoming workshops, that I haven't been able to even think about posting any techniques, or photos of future projects like I planned & promised.

To make up for it, I'm going to offer another blogger special ... place an order now for $50 or more, and I'll let you choose a Classic Stamp Pad of your color choice to arrive with your order. This offer will only be available for one week, so you need to act before 9pm Oct. 16th. And, you must tell me the secret code word: EAGLE.

Hey, I've been so busy, I don't think I mentioned the SSTM here on my blog. I know I said it in my monthly newsletter, but here it is ... Upsy Daisy is the SSTM for October! Order it before Oct. 31st and receive 15% off the price.*

*S&H and tax are still based on the original price.

How would you use the Spooky Spider?

2008-10-07T08:13:00.004-04:00

This project was so much fun! I wish I could've gotten a better picture of it, but with the glass, no matter which angle, I always got a glare or a reflection in the glass. Oh well, you'll just have to come to a class to see it. lol

This was my first project using our new Decor Elements, and it was so easy! I feel like I want to put them on everything now! I ordered the Manhattan Flowers to put in my upstairs bathroom, and I have a couple of cool projects to do with them also. Can't wait to get them!

This Spooky Spider Decor Elements is available now and it comes in three sizes. I used the medium black in my shadow box, but it also comes in white too.

Stampin' Up! designers used it on an awesome glass treat jar (see flyer at right). What do you think you could do with it? Tell you what ... create something and post it to my blog, and maybe I'll have a Halloween treat for you!

Christmas is coming ... will you be ready?

2008-09-25T12:42:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it's the end of September already! At last night's class, my students were asking me 'what's going on with your holiday card-making sessions'? Thanks for the kick in the pants ladies!

For those of you who don't know, every year I offer Holiday Card-Making Sessions, where we all get together and make our cards. We have lots of fun, get our cards done early, and have the whole month of December to stamp great gifts!

Here's how it works: During the month of October I have several day & evening slots available for you to make an appointment for a private 1-hour session with me. You can view them on my calendar on my website at www.stephaniestampsalot.stampinup.net and they're colored Old Olive in the month of October. You can also email me at stefrick@optonline.net to request the file with the card dates and/or class schedule.

When you come over for your appointment, I'll have many samples for you to look through to get ideas & inspiration. You can then either choose to copy one, or I'll help you design your own.
Afterwards, I'll help you place your order and make sure you get everything you need.

During the month of November, and the 1st week of December (for you fellow procrastinators), I'll have several dates scheduled for Holiday Card-Making Sessions (also on my calendar on my website, colored Old Olive in the months of Nov. & Dec.). At each session, we get together and work on our own cards. I'm here to guide you in cutting your paper, mastering any technique you need, or just for the company. I'll have holiday music & light snacks.

The fee for each session is only $5, which reserves your spot, and gets you use of all my non-consummable items, i.e. paper cutters, punches, sissors, etc. I'll have a sign-up sheet for these sessions when you come for your appointment, so don't forget your calendar or datebook!

So, call me today so you can get the slot you need. Remember, Christmas is coming ... will you be ready?

Finally!

2008-09-22T10:27:00.008-04:00

It's finally here! Brendan's Eagle Project has finally begun! And, just in the nick of time too! An Eagle project and all the requirements have to be completed before the scout's 18th birthday ... my son turns 18 on Oct. 17th. After the past 2 years of kicking him in the butt about this, I can't believe it's actually getting done, and just in time for his college application too. (That's him, the blonde on the right with the Vitamin Water, leading everyone in the work ... I'm soooo proud of him!)

His project is being done at one of his favorite camps in NJ, where he spent alot of time. He's cleaning up the boathouse by building storage racks & shelves for 10 canoes (there is very limited space there ... quite the challenge), power washing the 10 canoes & 10 rowboats, re-stenciling the leaf emblem on all the boats, and re-numbering them so they can be identified from land. We had a LOT of help from his Boy Scout troop, and we got a lot done this weekend, but alas, we still have lots more work to do, so one more weekend of work to go.

I helped alot with the work, but I made sure to get lots of pictures both for his report, and for my scrapbooking. At first, I was so focused on the project itself, that I was only taking shots of the actual work. The next morning, while getting ready for another day of work, I realized that I hadn't taken any photos for me! So, first things first, I wanted a shot of us, and a nice lady who was up there with her cub scout troop offered to snap one of all of us (this is the only picture of me ... gotta assign someone else as photographer next weekend! lol)

So, here it is Monday morning, and I'm just getting to posting photos from my last class. I wanted to put up pictures from the watercoloring techniques class, because it went very well, and the projects were very well received.

This first card was based on a beautiful card that was on Stamper's Showcase on the Stampin' Up! Demonstrator website by Emily Bash. As demonstrators, we can submit samples of our work, and if we're lucky, they make it onto the showcase. We're then allowed to CASE these cards (Copy And SE(something something--??) and use them ourselves. This is also my favorite place to go to get inspired because everyone does such great work. Anyway, her original design is a little difficult to see because the colors are so close, but on mine, I did the Fresh Cuts stamp in Elegant Eggplant, and then, using a Stamp-a-ma-jig and a Versamarker, I colored the larger leaves around the 3 edges, stamped again, and embossed with Black EP. I changed her Elegant Eggplant 5-Petal Flower Punch that she used with an Elegant Eggplant dyed small Pretties Flower. I stamped with Black Craft ink and highlighted with a black brad in the center. This card wasn't watercolored at all, but I thought everyone would appreciate learning how to 'dye' a Pretties flower.

This next card I designed myself, and I must say, I really stepped out of my comfort zone as far as colors go ... I rarely use Bold Brights, especially Only Orange, Summer Sun & Glorious Green! It was alot of work, with lots of steps, but I was rather pleased with it.

While preparing supplies for the students to make this card, I realized that I was pretty much out of the Pumpkin Pie DS polka dot prints paper from last year, so we improvised with other designs from the pack. I used a pin stripe paper, and Anabel chose a swirl design that was just perfect! I'm going to finish up my cards with her choice because her card came out stunning. I should've taken a picture so I could post that too.

This last card was another one I designed, and it's my personal favorite of the 3. While making it tho, I realized that I ripped the wrong side of the shell paper, so all my torn edges ended up on the left-hand side, when I meant for them to be on the right. So, picture this card upside down, but the shell is in this position (does that make sense?).

Oh my! My clock is chiming 11am and I still haven't showered yet! After that, I'm going to get to work on the cards for this Wednesday's Stamp-a-Stack. I've got a full house coming, so the projects have to be just perfect!

Deadline to register coming soon ...

2008-09-16T09:33:00.016-04:00

I've been working diligently on my Linen 6x6 themed album for the class I'll be teaching on Friday, Oct. 3rd. The entire book is made with the 'Winter Retreat' Simply Scrappin' Kit, and I just love making these themed books to showcase a favorite vacation.

For this book, I've been using photos from our last vacation to Cape Cod this past June/July. Kelly was going to another Lead America program in Boston for 10 days (this time she studied Medicine & Healthcare ... I'm always so proud of her!), so we did our regular trip to the Cape. Usually, Kelly spends the whole time in Boston, but this year she was able to spend the weekend on the Cape with us before we took her to her program.

We rented a house in W. Harwich (my favorite town so far!), and we brought Brendan's girlfriend, Jaymiee, with us (she's just adorable!). They were so cute all week, and it was so nice to see my son have such a great time on vacation. They went everywhere with us, and most of the time, I felt like we were on a double date!

Anyway, back to the task at hand, which is to post a few photos of some of the layouts you'll be making. I used 'Winter Retreat', which has Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Bordering Blue, & Mellow Moss textured card stock. I thought these colors went great for summer, beachy pictures.

But, you don't have to go with these colors! You have an option to use the 'Summer Home' kit, which has exactly the same elements and patterns, but in different colors ... Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, and Riding Hood Red. You can choose the color of your 6x6 book as well ... I think the Real Red book would go great with this kit! I used Navy for mine, but I could've used the Mellow Moss book as well.

The cost of this class is only $60 and you'll receive your choice of the two SSKs, either 'Winter Retreat' or 'Summer Home', and your color choice of 6x6 linen album. You'll receive 'recipes' with color photos for each layout in the book, and the book will go together very quickly. I supply any ribbon, embellishments, stamps, inks, punches, etc. used in the book. All you'll need to do is add your photos!

You'll need to bring your paper cutter, adhesive & refill, and a pair of sissors to class with you. Also, you only have until Saturday, Sept. 20th to register for this class (yikes! that's this Saturday!) because I'll have to order your kit & album for you.

I only have a few spots open for this class, so you don't want to miss your spot. To register, just shoot me an email at stefrick@optonline.net with credit card info, or you can send me a check. Don't forget to include your kit choice & album color! Hope to see you there for a fun night!

Scrapbook Fun

2008-09-14T15:45:00.019-04:00

I wanted to post photos of my last scrapbooking class for a couple of reasons: 1) I used the House of Haunts stamp set, which is my SSTM for the month of September (Purchase it this month, and I'll give you 15% off the price of the set!); 2) I came up with a new technique (more on that later); and 3) my student, Jen, did a completely different look (I love when my students do that ... you don't always have to copy teacher!), and I think her pages came out awesome!

OK, so the technique ... I wanted a tone on tone, which is difficult to do with black cardstock, so I made up a title mask using scrap paper and my Cricut machine. I laid a sheet of scrap paper across my page using temporary adhesive to give me a straight line. Then, I attached my letter masks with temporary adhesive.

I sponged around the letters using Black Craft ink, and embossed with Black Embossing Powder. I thought it came out great! Black on black, and real Halloweeney!

I showed my daughter, Kelly, and she thought it looked cool, but she thought the title was hard to see. My husband, Rick, came in, and he agreed with her. Kelly suggested I do the title using the green or orange embossing to match the striped paper I was going to use. I told her I didn't have those colors, so she suggested white. I thought, "Yuk! Not only will it defeat my Halloweeney look, but the white will clash with the colors in my striped paper."

When my student, Jen, arrived, I showed her the pages, and she loved them. I then told her what Rick & Kelly said, and she thought about it. She decided to do hers with white embossing powder instead of the black.

Neither of us was really impressed until I suggested she use one of the other papers instead of the stripes. She chose the black & white skull paper, and since her daughter's costume will be pink, she opted for Pink Passion layers for her embellishments & photos ...

We both thought her pages turned out great! She promises that after Halloween, she'll finish the pages and send me photos so we can all see the finished project.

I wanted to show you these, because you can do something like this with everything! You can spot a card or scrapbook page in a magazine, website, our Idea Book & Catalog, project from my class, anything. Then, change the colors, stamps, or even the layout, and make it all your own!

I saw a photo of a card on the Demonstrator section of the Stampin' Up! website. For some reason, Old Olive calls out to me for this card. I'm going to make one and change the color. I'll post it when I'm done so you could see how I do.

Why don't you challenge yourself, and pick a card out of our catalog? Change something, and then show me. I'd love to see what you come up with.

Repeat class

2008-09-10T08:23:00.003-04:00

At last week's technique class, 3 of the 4 ladies there were shown the cards we made during the embossing technique class, and they loved them! So much so, that I'm going to repeat the class for them this Friday, Sept. 12th at 7:30pm if anyone else would like to join us. The cards are the Haunted House with chalks (see below), the More Mustard Gratitude card (one of the projects I posted on my Stampin' Up! website), and this card. This 3rd card is completely embossed over with Irredescent Ice EP, and it's soooo sparkly that I new my good friend, Denise, would love it, and she didn't dissapoint. Anyway, just give a shout if you want to join us ... we love to have you.

LOVE the online order ordering projects!

2008-09-09T15:53:00.002-04:00

Well, I just went onto my website to see if the online ordering was enabled yet. I clicked on SHOP NOW in the top right corner. I went to the catalog, and it's fabulous! Bright, clear photos of every product. Then, I noticed in the left column at the bottom of products, is Projects. I clicked on that, and I was amazed at all the beautiful projects they've got there! Enough to fill a book! You can click on cards, scrapbook pages, or projects. You've got to check it out!

Online Ordering additonal information

2008-09-09T11:29:00.002-04:00

I forgot to mention below, that any special offer I make (15% of the SSTM, and this week's special for blog readers only) can only be received when ordering through me, as these are my specials, and not SUs. If you order those items online, you'll still be charged the original price, and I won't be able to accommodate you.

24/7 Online Ordering Now Available!

2008-09-09T10:38:00.016-04:00

Great news! Online Ordering will be up & running and officially offered at 1pm MT (I believe that's 3pm ET), and you'll be able to place an order yourself directly to SU from my website at http://www.stephaniestampsalot.stampinup.net day or nite, 24/7. In doing this, you'll be afforded the exact same benefits that you've been receiving when ordering through me: price, shipping fees, and hostess benefits (for orders of $150 or more, which will be called "Stampin' Rewards for online ordering), but you'll be able to do it anytime day or nite. After you place your order, I'll receive an email notification, and I'll still be able to thank you & follow-up for you.
Eventually, two more options will be available, but I need to explain them to you so you understand the benefits for you to order only through my website:
Option 1 will be to order from the SU website, where you'll be asked for my name, and I'll still receive my same commission, and you'll still receive the same prices & shipping fees, but you WON'T be able to receive any hostess benefits (Stampin' Rewards) if your order is $150 or more.
Option 2 will be to order from the SU website, but you opt NOT to choose a demonstrator. You'll then be charged higher prices & premium shipping fees, and the commission will be split between SU and a pool of demonstrators who have websites. The reason they're doing this is because they truly believe that their demonstrators are one of their best assets, and they want to deter customers from not using us. They're only offering this option to reach out to those new customers who've not ordered from them for fear of getting a demonstrator who might 'bother' them. Hopefully, though, once those people try our fabulous, high quality products, they'll realize the other benefits of having a demonstrator who is a liason between them & the company, and also a new friend who shares information about products & techniques.
So, for now, the only way to use this is through my website, but I want to remind you that even when the other options are available, this will still be the best option for you. Your order will be received by SU as soon as you place it (not when you contact me, and I place it), and they'll be less chance for errors (not that I ever make any errors! lol). So, try it out sometime, and call me (but not 24/7, please! lol) or email me if you have any questions. I'm still, always here to help.

Blog Reader Special Offer

2008-09-07T09:26:00.002-04:00

I want to do something special for my blog readers, so to coincide with my SSTM, I'm going to give you the matching jumbo wheel for FREE when you order the House of Haunts set in a $50 merchandise order. You're already saving $3.44 on the SSTM, and the free wheel is worth $8.50*! To receive this special offer, the code is "Trick or Treat" when placing your order. This is a very limited time offer--it ends 9/13/08, so order yours this week!
*You will need to pay tax and S&H on the free item.

September Stamp of the Month

2008-08-31T22:06:00.008-04:00

Gotta love a good Halloween set, and this one's it ... Halloween Haunts. It's my stamp set of the month (or SSTM), and if you order it during the month of September, I'll give you 15% off the price of the set!

We made this card in last night's embossing class. It's a real 'wow' card that the photo just doesn't do it justice. The main technique of the class was heat embossing (all 3 of the cards we made were embossed), but for this card, we also did masking & chalking.

Start with a Basic Black card base. Stamp the Sanded image with Elegant Eggplant onto Elegant Eggplant cardstock, wrap with black hemp, and attach to card base with dimensionals. The house image is embossed on Very Vanilla cardstock with black embossing powder. Tear around all the edges and then chalk the windows with Barely Banana and the tombstones with black. Punch a 1-3/8" circle to mask the moon perfectly (all of our punches work so well with alot of our images). Then, to chalk the background, use a side to side swiping motion, starting with a little Green Galore in a few places. Then, add a little Pink Passion, Elegant Eggplant & Brilliant Blue. When you have all 4 colors on, go back and deepen each color, and blend in. When finished, spray with a sealer and attach to the card.

I'm going to have alot more samples using House of Haunts this month so you'll have plenty of ideas for using your new set that you saved 15% on!

Life Happens & Organizing

2008-08-24T08:15:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to get back on here and post some photos and details from convention, but of course, life happens, and I've just been very busy. I received 4 boxes from the Stampin' Up! new catalog on Friday, 3 of which were just for me! (tee hee) I've been like a kid in a candy shop! I got my new Sizzix Big Shot and dies, about 12 new stamp sets, 5 new punches, several Simply Scrappin' kits and about 4 pkgs. of Designer Series paper. Oooh! What do I play with first? Ahh, but with all fun comes a little work ... I've been a busy little worker organizing my new stamps and updating my files with current stamp sets, and today, I'm going to update my stamp log book.

For those of you who are fairly new, what I do is Xerox the sticker sheet of images that comes with each new stamp set BEFORE I mount them on the stamps. Then, I currently have a drawer system for storing my stamps, and each draw is labeled with a letter & number. I have a coordinating notebook, where I have page tabs for each drawer, and then I have the Xerox copies of each stamp set in that drawer.

Although I don't like the drawers (still waiting for my new stamp room, ugh!), I like this log book because it allows me to just flip through the book if I'm looking for a certain saying or small image and I can't think of which set it comes from.

I'm on Baby!

2008-08-14T21:38:00.000-04:00

Yayyyyy! I have a blog! I'm sitting here with my Stampin' Up! sisters, and we're all creating blogs together. OK, so, I live in Washington Township, NJ in Bergen County, and I teach rubber stamping and scrapbooking here in my home. I'm married to a wonderful, generous guy named Rick, and we have two great kids, Brendan, 17, and Kelly, 16. I also work at Michaels Arts & Crafts in Paramus, so I'm right on top of all the latest trends!

So, let me tell you about our Stampin' Up! convention! It was the 20th anniversary, and I went with my SU sisters (Patti, Traci & Kelly), and 3 of us were celebrating our 5th anniversaries and we got to walk across the stage! I've been waiting to do that since my first convention in Las Vegas back in 2003! I could go on here all night, but I'm gonna stop here and continue this in the morning when I can include photos. Til then!