Farewell to the Oldies!

Well, after such a busy busy month I am finally going through my stamp shelves and seeing all the beautiful stamp sets I will have to say good bye too. Here is one of them. I haven't played with this set in a long time. I was browsing SCS and found a card very similar to this. Eat Cake has been used not just for cards. I know I have made some great scrapbook pages with it too. Just a versitle birthday set and great for kids cards. I used Flannel Plaid for the background stamp. Hopefully this week I will continue to inspire you with Retiring stamp sets.

Have a fantabulous MONDAY!

Fast & Furious

Well, actually it is Fun & Fast Notes. I love this stamp set to show new stampers. It has all the essential stamps they need to get started. Another great thing about this stamp set is that you can mount the sayings on the side of the block and get 16 stamps instead of 8. Really, great stamp set for beginners. The following cards were used at my last workshop. My guests made the birdie card and then the others I had out to show them other things they can do with this set. Very simple cards. Hope you enjoyed them.

GREAT Stamp Camp!

This past Sunday I had a Stamp Camp and it was busy, busy! We did this fabulous Stationery Box that Jackie Topa shared! I love it and I have enjoyed all the beautiful stationery boxes I have seen using all of Stampin' Up!s beautiful Designer Series Paper. My box included 4 cards, 4 3x3 cards, a covered notepad (found these beauties at JoAnns) and then a place for stamps. Over all I fell in love with the beautiful LeJardin designer paper. What is your favorite Designer Paper by Stampin' Up!???

Happy Friday and have a GREAT weekend!!!!

e-Scape Cards

Happy Thursday! Today I had my e-Scape event. Honestly, it was WAY to HARD for me to totally escape electronics. If you did, I am sooooo proud of you. :) I couldn't be away from my computer. I am a wus!

Anyways, there were a few hours of the day that I was actually stamping with friends. This is a good thing. Above are a two of the four cards we stamped tonight. I had a few extra cut so I decided to make a few for my own stash. I changed them up a bit to have some fun. I hate to see the Live Your Dreams stamp set leave at the end of the month. Beautiful flower and looks great so many ways. I will also miss the Afternoon Tea paper. Hasn't that been a beautiful compliment to the Live Your Dreams stamp set? LOVE it!

The other two cards use the stamp set Bursting with Joy. Very elegant stamp set. This was probably our easiest card and I completely got the idea from my Stampin' Success Magazine that Stampin' Up! provides. Oh how I love that magazine. It's exclusive for demonstrators and it always has the greatest cards in it.

That is all for me today. It has been a fun filled day.

Authentic

Howdy folks. Just a super fast quickie post. Super duper busy trying to tie up loose ends here in my stamp office. I made this card a few weeks back. Fun and simple. I used the Stamp of Authenticity which is retiring. ACK! I made the scallop border using my 1" cirlce punch. I punched a bootie load of them and then wrapped them around the Tempting Turq. circle. Loved how that looked.

Hope your hump day is filled with FABULOUSNESS. Today is my e-Scape mini Stamp a Stack. Can't wait. Let's see how long I can stay away from the computer and phone. Ha ha ha ha ha. I just fell outta my chair laughing.

Somebody loves me!

News... my sister in law is a fabulous stamper and decided she would tag me! It's been a VERY LONG time since I have played along with one of these, so I am going to give it a whirl. You can check out her awesome work by clicking on Tracy Leggett's name. She is also a demo and truly very talented.

So, here it goes!
Five things in today’s ‘to do list’:
1. Post office
2. Buy more Bare Essentuals (LOVE this stuff)
3. Cut more paper for my workshop
4. Figure out my last project for my workshop tonight (dont' laugh)
5. Ponder when my SU order will arrive with my Decor Elements!

Snacks I enjoy:
1. Any kind of chocolate
2. Little Debbie Honeybuns (thanks MOM)
3. Doritos
4. Peanuts
5. M&M's

Things I would do if I was a millionaire:
1. Move to a warmer climate!
2. Buy a sports car (I think I am I having an early mid life)
3. Shop for myself and my family until I tuckered out!
4. Buy a lot of STAMPS!
5. Buy a plane ticket to see my parents!

Places I have lived:
Florida
Rhode Island
California
Colorardo
Wisconsin
Missouri
Texas
Ohio
Tennesse
Edited to Add... VIRGINIA! DUH! How can I forget this state? I started stamping there. Oh my word!!!!!!
I know there are more places... can't remember anymore.

Have a fabulous day!

Die Cut Blooms

I just love these Die Cut Blooms and I hope Stampin' Up! brings them out again in the new catalog. They are so much fun to add to any project. This was a card we did on Sunday at my Stamp Camp. It was a full house with lots of laughs and as always we had a GREAT time. Thanks to all of you that attended. I just love it when I have a house full of stampers!

Oh, and today is a BIG day! It's my brothers Birthday! Whoo Hoo!! Happy Birthday Shane!

It's Summer Time!

It's officially Summer Time! Let's celebrate with a Summer card. This card uses the Lifes a Breeze stamp set. I used Bordering Blue textured cardstock as my base. I LOVE our textured paper. Wanna know why? It stamps beautifully. Ya know, if you are a textured cardstock fan, you will love Stampin' Up!s. While it has a nice textured feel, it still stamps pretty smoothly. I really like it.

This is a pretty basic card, but great to start the summer off. Thanks for stopping by. It's a great day to get your stamps and start creating. Enjoy!

Just add a little GLITTER!

My glitterphobic friends are cringing right now. I can hear them now, "not another glitter card!" Sorry gals, I can't help it. This was a really fun card. I haven't used this GREAT stamp set in a long time. Bud Basics is on the retired list and I am a little sad to see it go. It is great for watercoloring as well as 2 step stamping. I love to watercolor this big flower. This was one of the cards we did in my Watercolor Crayon class. To make this card, I used the key tag punch to make a window for the flowers underneath. Using Naturals White cardstock I stamped the flower images in Black Stazon and watercolored using Apricot Appeal Watercolor Crayon. Once dry, I used my VersaMark and inked the entire cardstock. I used Irridescent Ice over the VersaMark and then heated it. I placed this piece underneath the window. I used Irridescent Ice on the single flower as well. Really makes this card pop. So pretty!!
All supplies are Stampin' Up!

Have a GREAT day!

Stamp away on the Pretties!

If you have the Pretties Kit you will love what I am going to show you. I just love every piece in the kit. The flowers are by far my favorite. There are tons of ways you can use the flowers as well as change their color. These flowers can be dyed with Markers, Crayons, Ink Pads and Pastels. You can also dye them with your reinkers. One of my favorite things to do with the flowers is to stamp on them. With this card I stamped the Stitched Background stamp directly onto the flower using Handsome Hunter ink. I love how delicate the Stitched Background is and then once stamped on the flower it makes the flower just as delicate. I challenge you to pull out your pretties kit and try something new with them!!

Get Excited New Demos

Our group has been blessed with a ton of new demonstrators last month. I worked today on getting some cards ready to send to them. I am so excited about the adventure they are getting ready to embark on. For those of you that are already a demonstrator, you know that feeling when you get your kit. You are so excited to tear through the boxes and just look at all the pretty stuff inside the box. New demonstrators are really a breath of fresh air and I love taking in their excitement they have about the journey they are beginning. To all the new demos in the Stamping by the Sea group... WELCOME!!!

Retired List, New Product Line...

What a day! It has been filled with excitment from the beginning. If you haven't heard the buzz, Stampin' Up! has released the RETIRED LIST! Oh my! So many great stamps are going to a warmer climate!! Wish I could go with them. :) To see the list of retiring stamps click HERE!

Hopefully you are on my mailing list and will catch all the great specials I will be running on the retiring list. You really will NOT want to miss it!

Today Stampin' Up! announced a BRAND NEW product line that I am just tickled pink about! It is called Decor Elements! These will be Vinyl Wall Decor. I really cannot stand all the excitement that is going on. WOW!!!! Stay tuned, there will be more great info coming your way as I receive it. I do know that you will be able to purchase this starting on JULY 1st!!! Holy COW! So stinkin' exciting.

Lastly, I just have to share a beautiful card from one of my downline here in the Springs. I had a downline meeting last night and she brought me this card. I thought it was beautiful!!! Thanks Charlotte for the gorgeous card! It really made my day!

I received a few cards this week that really made me smile. I will share them this week.

Another kind of Art

No, it's not real! This is another kind of art that I love. I love tattoo's, however I am a BIG chicken and do not have a REAL one. I want one, but just can't seem to get past the "it might HURT" part. Instead, I got a henna tattoo when we went to the Renaissance festival this weekend for Father's Day. We had a blast as always. I love seeing the pirates and all the crazy people dressed up! Next year, I think I want to dress up as well! Maybe I will get crazy and get a REAL tattoo by then. You never know with me. :) Hope you enjoyed your weekend.

Happy 5th Year Anniversary!

Whooo Hooo!!! June is an exciting month for me. I'm celebrating 5 years with Stampin' Up! It really doesn't seem that long! It has been 5 GREAT years! Last night I held an Anniversary party at my house. We had such a great time. I had both customers and demonstrators here. They received a little goodie bag and made 5 projects. I acted like Martha Stewart and made some great goodies. Overall it was a fabu time. Here is pic of the cute little goodie bags they received.


Then tonight I held another canvas class. This has been a class I have been doing for a LONG time. My home is covered with them and tonight I finished one with my customers. I have always loved scrapbooking and this class is basically scrapbooking on canvas. Or as I call it, "Scrapbooking on the Wall."

So, the big question? "How do you do that?" I like to get my canvas from JoAnns. The best canvas to get is the brand "Scrapbooking on the Wall". You can try http://www.scrapbookwarehouse.com/ Their canvas is just pulled very tight and great to work with. However, when doing a class... they never have enough on hand that I need. Here are the basic materials you will need:

12x12 canvas

Matte Finish Modge Podge

8x10 photo professionaly printed (do not use a photo off your printer)

Embellishments of choice

You will notice in the canvas I did tonight, I did not use Stampin' Up! paper. The ONLY reason I didn't is because I prefer thicker designer paper. Basicgrey is typically the paper of choice. Stampin' Up!'s designer paper is a little thinner and tends to cause more bubbles with the modge podge than I like. The rest of my canvas products are Stampin' Up! I just LOVE our rub-ons and they work perfect on the canvas. I also used our chipboard and sponged it with Groovy Guava ink and stamped on the two letters with a stamp from Carte Postal in Purely Pomegranate ink. I love how that turned out. At the top of the canvas I used our wide Twill Tape and tied it in a bow. Then I used our chocolate twill tape ribbon that is in the mini and also added a label from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware. I would love to do a video tutorial on this, but I just don't know how. Maybe my friend Christy can help me. *wink, wink*

Thats all for tonight. Have a fabulous night!!!!

CONGRATS!

I just loved Kristina Werners Congrats card that she made for her MACM earlier this week and I had to try and duplicate it. I love how simple her cards are. I always feel like I need to keep adding embellishments to make the card "look" good. I love how Kristina can make a simple card always look GREAT!

All products are Stampin' Up!
Have a fabulous Thursday!

Mighty Bright!

Are these bright or what?? These little cuties are so fun and easy. Just a 3x3 card using Summer Picnic designer paper, Build a Brads, and the awesome Die Cut Blooms. You can find all these great products in the Mini Occassions catalog.

Have a FABULOUS Wednesday!

A Lovely Thank You Card!

Are you in need of a few Thank You cards? I am trying to build my collection because it seems like I NEVER have enough Thank You cards. I wanted to play with a few stamp sets tonight. I used the Live Your Dreams stamp set and Lovely Labels. Once again, I used my markers to color the flowers. I believe I used Old Olive, Cameo Coral and So Saffron for the center of the flower. Once I had that stamped I sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip and then stamped over the entire image with En Francis in Creamy Caramel. Ohhhhhh so pretty. I added the Afternoon Tea designer paper and some of the lovely Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware. Get if before it's gone! It's in the mini catalog and that will be gone after June 30th. Argh! Lastly, I added some of the yummy Chocolate Poly Twill ribbon. I sure hope we see more of this. I would prefer in all 48 colors. Or how about white???? Wouldn't that be FABULOUS!!! Oh, I did add a little glitter in the center of the flowers.

That's all for today! Sure hope you have some time to stamp today. It really is GREAT therapy!

Round Tab Punch Card

Good afternoon!

I wanted to share a card we made in club last month. If you have the Round Tab punch from Stampin' Up! you can also make this card. Just punch 5 Round Tabs out using your Round Tab punch and fold each piece in half. Place on cardstock going in a circle as seen in picture. I adhered mine with a little adhesive to get the right placement and then adhere permanently. I used my scallop punch for the middle and the Brocade Basics stamp set to finish off the card. It's a simple card with a WOW technique. Hope you find some stampin' time today!

Cocktails Anyone?

While in Jacksonville, I met a new friend who just loved her "cocktails!" I was in Joanns the other day and as I was checking out I passed by this stamp set. I laughed silly in the aisle and couldn't pass this stamp by without making a card for my new friend. I know she will get a kick out of it. What a fun image. I NEVER purchase anything other than Stampin' Up!, however this really made me laugh. So, it is off to my new friend. I think she will laugh just the same. All other supplies are Stampin' Up! I just love that Stitched Background!

Have a fabulous day!

A little 'Thank You' inspiration!

My eScape event is coming up on June 25th and I am doing a mini Stamp a Stack! We will do 8 Thank You cards for $10. We all need Thank You cards. I thought this would be a great time during Stampin' Up!'s e-Scape promotion to make Thank You cards to send to friends and family. Here is one of the cards we will be doing. Of all the hostess sets in the catalog, this is by far my favorite. I love the bird and the flower stamp. As you know from reading my blog, I have many favorite tools, and one of them is my Markers. My markers get plenty of use here. Here I used my Markers to color the tree limb and the bird. I used Versa Mark to stamp the bold flower around the tree and bird onto the Kraft cardstock.

Have a FABULOUS Saturday!

Cards for the Troops

I am so excited to be doing Cards for the Troops again. A few demonstrators and myself are hangin' out at our local Starbucks and getting our community to pitch in on the efforts to make our awesome troops some cards. Here is one we are doing for them. We kept these super simple and they can change the sentiment on the front from various sentiments I will have available. Two of my dear demos have husbands that are currently serving over in Iraq and we will be sending the cards to their units. They are great ladies who work really hard while their husbands are gone. I know deployments too well and thankful my PRINCE is home with me now. I am thankful that Starbucks has been so kind to let us use their space. Whoo Hoo! What more could I ask for? Really? Starbucks and stamping??? I am in HEAVEN!

Simple card today!

Just a quick post for today!

Is life a breeze for you? This card was a breeze. I love my Kraft paper and this cute stamp set Life's a Breeze was perfect with these colors. I think White Craft ink on Kraft paper is just the bomb! My favorite image from this stamp set are the flip flops. So stinkin cute.

Have a fab day!

Cruise Friends

Here is a quick 8.5 x 11 layout using the stamp set Boho Backgrounds. Love that circle stamp. I embossed it onto Kraft cardstock (my fav) using White EP and then stuck one of those pretty Silver Hodgepodge brads in the center from the mini catalog. Do you have your silver Hodgepodge yet? It is soooo pretty. For the title I used Jumbo Outline Alphabet. Great alphabet to scrap with. If you are searching for a new alphabet, this is a good one to pick. You can color in the inside of the letters and now you can have titles in all kinds of colors. Really a fun alpha set.

So, this picture is some of my CRUISE buddies. Stampin' Up! cruises are truly the best. For me it's like a reunion. I get to catch up with friends I have made from all over the US! Russ and I had a blast this year in Bermuda. I can't wait for Hawaii!

Oh! Before I forget... today my favorite lady has a birthday! My MOM! Happy Birthday Mom! She is the best of the best. Best friend, great listener and just a super DUPER great woman! I wish I could watch her blow out her candles!!!

This is the princess with her grandkids! They love Nene!

e-Scape with Stampin' Up!

Break free from the 'e'!
Plan now to join Stampin' Up! during the entire month of June in breaking free from the 'e'! Stampin' Up! has designated June 25, 2008 as eScape day--a day to put away your cell phones and laptops and focus on reconnecting with your "wireless network." Hard to imagine life without wireless, cell phones-isn't it? Why not try it for a day!

Throughout all of June, we're offering a terrific eScape Bundle with products at 25 percent off, including a few of the essentials to create your own cards! The eScape Bundle is perfect for any stamper and a great way to start getting the perfect card made to send to loved ones and friends!

Order this great eScape Bundle from now until June 30th! Contact me today!

Here is a little inspiration to get you started. This card is fast and easy using the beautiful stamp set Carte Postale Stamp set! Make June a month your loved ones and friends remember!

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Get to scrappin'

Oh how I do love this little boy! Despite the gray hair he is putting in my head at the early age of 7, he makes up for it with that sweet smile. On this layout I am using the sticky cut letters and accents as well as the fine Cosmo Glitter. LOVE it! Very Bling ditty Bling! The stamp set used is Always. You will notice the photo is pretty large. It is a 12x12 layout, however I used an 8x12 photo. You can get these printed at Walmart or Sams club. I am sure there are other places, these are the places I know. Go BIG... it's a good thing!

Missing the Sea!

I'm back from my trip to Jacksonville! I am feeling a little sad to leave friends behind, not to mention that beautiful OCEAN air! Nothing like watching your hair go flat, sweat drip off of you... It really is a beautiful thing!!!

I wanted to share a fun layout of the kids. It's simple, but fun. I love the beads added at the top with a little crystal effects. Are you one of those people that has beads and never uses them? I will admit to that. I do love how these look on scrapbook pages. Try them out! Beads are BLING!

June? Already?

I can't believe it is June already! Don't get me wrong, I am VERY excited to see June because now I know that warm weather is truly here for a little while. I am sick of wearing sweat shirts in the spring. I am ready for my toes to breath with my flip flops on! Whoo Hoo!!!

Today I wanted to share a little box and a few cards that goes inside it. The mini catalog truly has some of the best stamps and products in it. I love the Summer Picnic Designer paper and how so many fun things can coordinate with it. These cards I really pulled out the embellishments and played. From Rub ons, Die Cut Blooms, Flower Fusion and Rhinestone Brads... it all goes together so beautifully. These cards are fast and simple, yet FUN!

Remember, you can purchase from the Mini catalog until June 30th! Don't miss these GREAT products! If you don't have a mini catalog (what a sin...) Click HERE to view it online!

Have a FABULOUS week!