Have you seen the amazing deals currently being offered as part of the Stampin’ Up! Online Extravaganza??  I’m working on putting up some posts showing some of my recent cards and projects but in the meantime I had to share the awesome discounts while the shopping is good.

Perfect for gifts or just getting a great deal on what you’ve been eyeing; there are over 40 products and product bundles at amazing prices.  I know that personally I’m excited about the cordouroy button bundle (5 packages of buttons for under $25!) and the ribbon bundles.  Lots of punches, wall vinyl, and card making bundles are on sale.

Visit my website and click the Shop Now button in the upper right to view all of the bundles in color and get the lowest prices available on these items, all from home (which sure beats fighting the crowds at the mall and in the stores huh?). 

View a flyer with all of the sale items shown here:  holiday extravaganza 2009

Well, I’m happy to share that we found out earlier this week that we will be having a little boy come Christmas time.  So, of course to commemorate the occasion I had to put together a quick card to share the news.  

I wanted to play with some scraps left over from cutting a scallop circle with the BigShot and start coming up with some ideas using the Nursery Necessities stamp set.  I have a feeling I’ll be getting a lot more use out of this stamp set over the next year.   If you have put together some cute baby cards or scrapbook pages, I’d love to see your ideas.  Leave me a comment with a link to your blog or photo of your design, and I’ll check them out.

Well, I’ll leave you with baby’s first picture and I’m off to finish my Stampin Up convention 2009 scrapbook!

Hello!  After a bit of a summer break I’m back and excited to be getting back into blogging.  I’ve just spent the last four days in Salt Lake City for the Stampin’ Up! convention and it’s been a blast!  I’m so excited to be coming home with cute samples, swaps, ideas, and info on some awesome new products and promotions!  I actually fly home on tomorrow morning so I plan to start getting my pictures uploaded and sharing what I saw and learned.

Until then, I thought I would share with you some of my fun personal news.  I’ve been having a hard time staying up at night for stamping because I’ve been so sleepy so early.  But I’m happy to share that those early nights are for a good cause as I’m working on growing a healthy, beautiful baby that will be joining my family around January 2nd.   

 This will be our first and so I’m nervous and excited at the same time.  However, that means more excuses for cute little baby cards and of course a scrapbook!  If you have tips or advice, I’d love to hear what you have to share.

So, I promise to get some photos posted soon, but until then, happy stamping!

Wow, can you believe it is already June?  Time sure does fly!  But now that it is June, that means the current catalog is winding down and a number of stamps and accessories are heading into retirement.  I know that I’m going to miss some of the awesome In Colors this year – Baja Breeze, I’m talking to you!  But, though it is sad that some items are going away, it also means that there are some great deals to be had before they are gone!  Many of the retiring accessories are being sold at a discount, including many items at 50% off!

While you can get any of the retiring stamps between now and June 30th, the retiring accessories are WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.  This means, if something you love is retiring, order quick before it is no longer available!  I’ll keep the accessory list updated daily so you can see if your favorite is still available.

Retired Stamps – see the full list here

Retired Accessories – UPDATED 6/8

So, I don’t know if I’ve said it enough on this blog, but I LOVE being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator.  Since joining SU, I’ve met so many smart, creative, and friendly people, become better at my crafting, become so much more inspired, had more excuses to hang out with my friends and craft and share what I love.  Plus, getting a discount on all my crafting supplies has been icing on the cake!

I normally don’t go on and on about why Stampin Up is such a great company to be a member of, but they recently extended an offer to Seattle Regional attendees that I had to share.  If you have been thinking of earning some extra money or just saving money on what you are already buying, now is the perfect time to join Stampin’ Up! 

Right now through May 1st, if you join my team you receive $50 off your starter kit.  That means, you get $335 worth of stamping and crafting products for only $149 plus free shipping!  Then, you get 30% off your first order of $150 and then 20% off everything you order ever, including demo-only special offers.   Here is what you get in your kit:

• Eastern Blooms stamp set*
• Fun and Fast notes stamp set*
• Big Bold Birthday stamp set*
• Fundamental Phrases stamp set*
• 2 packs of colored card stock*
• 1 pack of neutral card stock*
• Stampin’ Around self inking wheel handle
• Fast Flowers Wheel stamp*
• Ink cartridge for your wheel*
• Stampin’ Scrub double-sided cleaning pad (the best!)
• Stampin’ Mist stamp cleaner
• Snail adhesive tape
• Blender pens
• Basic Black ink pad*
• Real Red ink pad*
• Brilliant Blue ink pad*
• Green Galore ink pad*
• Pixie Pink ink pad*
• Versamark ink pad
• Pastel chalks in all 48 colors
• Kraft Parisian Damask decor element
• Decor element applicator
• Business forms and tools

* means you can exchange this for any stamp set, paper, or ink pad of equal or lesser value.  Super customizable!

Stampin’ Up! really supports and cares about their demos whether you are looking to do this as a hobby for the discounts and some side money or as a business for fun and to pay some bills.  Plus you get a monthly magazine delivered to you that offers project ideas, business tips, and contests and inspirations.  You’ll also get online access to the demo only website with daily project ideas, templates, business tools, forums, and more.  And then there are all the great people you will be instantly connected to.  My upline group is very active and strong with folks participating from all over the US.  I love it and am so excited about this special offer SU is letting me share.  Contact me if you have any questions or would like to learn more about what it’s like as a demo.

Referral Bonus:

And if you know anyone who would make a great demo, let me help them get started.  Right now, I’m offering anyone who refers a potential demonstrator my way, once they sign up to my team, I’ll give them the discount on the starter kit and give you a $20 gift certificate to spend on any Stampin’ Up! goodies you dream of!  Its a win for them and a win for you!

I have so many awesome things I saw or made at last weekends regionals that its going to take me a few posts to share the best with you.  I can’t imagine how many pictures and ideas I’m going to come back from convention with.  It should be a blast though!

I just had to share a picture of Mom and me, waiting to get let in to the conference room.  The energy was high and when they opened the door, hundreds of women started cheering as they raced (yes, literally running!) to grab their seats.  Shelli Gardner, the owner and co-founder of Stampin’ Up!, was there to talk to us about the direction of the company and share some of her tips and ideas.  She seems really nice and a lot of fun to listen to.  So after one of the sessions, we got a chance to say hello and snap a picture with her.  I have to say, I was very impressed that when I asked her a question about the product line and gave my thoughts, she was very open with me and seemed to care what I thought. 

Finally, here are a couple of the make and takes we made during the day.  This uses one of the new sets in the Occasion Mini – Soft Summer-  and at the end of the day, I won the stamp set we used at our table for the make and take.  Woo Hoo!  I can’t say no to a free stamp set. 

This weekend has been awesome!  The weather has been perfect – in the high 70’s and sunny all weekend – and I got to go to the Stampin’ Up! regional seminar on Saturday up in Seattle.  Oh my gosh was it tons of fun, super inspiring, and a chance to reconnect with the folks in my Stampin’ Up family.  I’ll posting more this week sharing the swaps and idea boards with you but for today I had to tell you about the feat of craziness I embarked on on Friday night.

Since I live in Portland, the drive to Seattle is about 2.5 – 3 hrs which means I would have had to get up at 4 in the morning on Saturday to head up to Seattle in time for regionals.  Well, anyone that knows me knows I’m not a morning person, so I decided to head up on Friday night and share a hotel room with my mom (who was coming down from Bellingham) so we could get some sleep and be up early, but not too early on Saturday.  So 10pm on friday, I arrived at our hotel room.

Now, the silly thing is, I decided at the last minute that I wanted to participate in the card swapping that happens at every Stampin’ Up event.  So instead of getting them done early like a sane person, I only had time to plan in my head and grab supplies before heading north to meet my mom. 

So once I got in the hotel room, I set to stamping and cutting and glueing everything I needed for my 30 swap cards.  From 10:30pm to 1:30 am, I power crafted with moral support (and then gluing support ) from my mom.  In the end, I was so glad I made my swaps because I got to trade for some amazing cards.  Plus, I guess it was a good way to warm up for an all day stamping fest on Saturday.   But until I get those photographed and up, here is the swap I came up with:

Hi all!  I know, its been a little bit since I posted on my blog and I blame it all on the Twilight series of books by Stephanie Meyer!  My friend Kally got me hooked on the series and I found myself spending the last two weeks spending my lunch breaks and evenings powering though all four books in the series plus watching the movie and all the behind the scenes extras.  It is seriously addictive!  

But I managed to pull out of the books to get things together for my technique night this week.  Like I mentioned before, we met at a Roundtable Pizza and it actually worked reasonably well.  The biggest problem was that where we were sitting didn’t have the best light after the sun went down.  But if we were in the offical meeting room area I think it would have been fine.  I’m thinking I’ll try hosting my card class there on the 27th (the class is open for more people to come, email me if you want to join in!) 

Here is the final project we did for the Technique Night.  We used texture plates and an embosslit for this card.  These are probably my two favorite items for the bigshot and what pushed me over the edge to buy mine.  Texture just makes everything cooler and having a perfectly embossed AND cut-out image in one is awesome too.  Add in the fabulous kiwi kiss satin ribbon and a half pearl and you’re done!

I wanted to put up a quick post before I had to run into work.  This week has gone by so fast and has seemed so busy, but the rest of the week should be more relaxing.  On Tuesday, I was hosting a Technique Night focused on using the BigShot.  Unfortunately, that night I had some folks cancel because of illness, unexpected time conflicts, delays, and getting lost, so it ended up not happening.   One the upside, my friend Jennifer recently decided she wanted to make a baby book for her daughter but had been overwhelmed by where to get started.  So, since she had come over, I helped her figure out what she needed.  She ended up deciding to get the Stampin Up! Baby Girl simply scrappin kit, and after looking at it more closely, I can’t wait for her to get it because I think it is going to be so stinking cute.  Then last night we went to Michaels and picked out an album to go with it.  So, I’m feeling good that we got something productive done. 

So, since the Technique Night didn’t happen this week, I rescheduled it for next Tuesday.  I’m trying something different this time.  I created a meetup group called Portland Card Makers recently and since some of those folks were going to come, I thought I would try out a public location that most people could easily get to and find parking.  So, I ended up finding a Round Table pizza that had side sections with long tables that you could reserve for free.  It may seem odd crafting in a pizza place, but I’ve been to an event at a Fuddrucker’s so, hopefully this will work out.  I guess we’ll see!

Here are some samples I was playing with for the BigShot.  The first is a card using the Top Note die.  It was an interesting and different way to create a card since the inside of the card is the inside of the Top Note die.  Then, I was going to do a box/basket using the Scallop Envelope die and some ribbon.  The last thing we were going to do at the technique night was a card using texture plates and an embosslit but I’m reworking that card right now.  And then finally I thought I would share a box I made with the new Matchbox die.  It was sooo easy to make since everything is cut and scored for you.  You only need to use one piece of sticky strip or snail and its together!  Plus the die punches out the label that I stamped and put on top.  Easy peasy.

I suddenly realized that I hadn’t shared with you all the latest promotion from Stampin’ Up!  I don’t know about you, but I am always one for a deal and so I had to be sure you all knew about the latest deal from SU.  From now until April 30th, every $40 you spend from the new Occasions Mini catalog earns you free stamps!  How awesome is that.  I love it when I can get cool free stuff just for buying what I want anyway.    In this case, you have your choice of any of the under $10 stamps in the back of the catalog or one of the under $10 mini note kits.  I think those are definitely the best deal because you get stamps, note cards, envelopes, AND an ink spot… all Free!  If you host a workshop, every $150 worth of orders gets you another free stamp or note kit.  That could add up to a lot of free stuff. So, here are the pretty pictures and details:

Peruse all the super cute new items

Spend $40 in the occasions mini and get anything on this page free!

If you live in Portland, I’d love to have you join us for one of the classes in April.  Email me for all the details.

BigShot Night – April 7^th 7pm.  The first Tuesday of each month I host a technique night.  This month we will playing with the BigShot die cutting machine.  The BigShot can cut out over 50 different types of materials in fun shapes plus create embossed patterns and textures on your standard paper and cardstock.  Try it out and make a couple projects and samples.  RSVP with your $5 supply fee.

Glass Etching with the BigShot – April 19^th   2pm.  Create beautiful etched glass items from your home quickly and easily using the BigShot.  We will be using the BigShot to cut out the shapes that will then be etched on to your own glass.  I’ll provide all the supplies including a glass.  RSVP with your $10 supply fee by April 15^th.

Card Night – April 27^th  6:30 pm.  Whether you are a card making pro or just starting out, come join us for laughter and fun as we make 4 cards using different stamps and fun embellishments. RSVP with your $8 supply fee by April 23rd.

What a weekend!  The usually cold and rainy Pacific Northwest turned beautiful and sunny for the weekend.  It got up to almost 80 today, which was just nuts!  I was at a craft fair all weekend so I mainly got to see the sunny weather from afar but thankfully it stuck around though the evening so after the fair ended at 6, I raced home to spend a bit of time lounging in the sun.  Now if only this weather would stick around for a few days!

 However, even though the weather was so nice and most people were playing outside over the weekend, I am still really glad I was at the craft fair.  I met a ton of nice folks who stopped by my table and chatted with me about their hobbies and experiences card making and scrapbooking.  And the other vendors were a blast to hang out with during the slow periods.  I think it would be fun to do another fair with many of them again in the future.  And if you need any of the products you purchase from in-home parties, I probably have a reference for you now.   

 I had hoped to spend my downtime making a ton of samples and projects but instead spent it chatting and finishing up a number of cards that were in various stages of completion.  In the end, I only created one completely new and original card.  (Though I made a few partials from BigShot die cuts).  I was trying to use some of my Occasion mini catalog goodies and so pulled out the paper, Oval all stamps, and the new fabulous scallop oval punch.   The flowers are punched out with the BigShot. 

And speaking of the BigShot,  my next Technique Tuesdays is this coming Tuesday and we will be focused on using the BigShot.  We will be making 2 cards and a small 3D project.  Let me know if you want to come join us and I’ll send you all the details! 

Hope you all had a great weekend!  Here comes monday!

I told you that the card I posted earlier in the week was only first of many to come.    Last Thursday, my co-worker had her last day at work before spending the next week or two preparing for the birth of her baby girl.   I couldn’t let her leave without making her a card.  Again, I waited until the last minute but I guess sometimes pressure is a good thing. 

Almost every piece of this card started as scraps from my pile.  I had to use the new, fabulous scallop oval punch.  i just love punches that let me layer cardstock.  Once I had the card done, I suddenly remembered that they had nicknamed the baby “Lady Bug”.  So, I had to add a little ladybug on the inside.  She is created completely with circle punchs (3/4″ circle, 1/2″ circle, double circle punch).  Such a fun punch art and my coworker loved the fact that I had a ladybug in the card.

Last winter, I set up a table at my first ever craft and vendor fair.  It was a holiday fair and I spent a lot of time preparing craft items I thought would be great for the holidays.  Unfortunately, somewhere between the bad weather and the slightly hidden location, attendance was low and so it turned in to all the vendors shopping each others table.   I did come away from that fair with some yummy orange cranberry bread, though.  Now, its spring time and I decided to give craft fairs another go.  This time, it is a 3 day affair in the local Jantzen Beach shopping mall. I’ll be here till 9pm Friday, all day Saturday, and 9am to 6pm on Sunday! Whew!   If you are in the area, I’d love to have you stop by and say hello!

This craft and vendor fair benefits the charity New Chances.  New Chances offers support and services to women and families in crisis and this fair is helping them support 12 families for Easter.   So, it is a pretty cool thing.  There is a carousel in the food court, tons of fun vendors, and a great cause we’re supporting.  

I’ll be offering specials to folks who visit me at the fair and have a drawing for a free workshop.  Check out the  flyer for a list of the participating vendors and a coupon for a free raffle ticket. 

  One of the wonderful ladies in my stamping group decided to organize a secret sister group.  When you signed up for this group, you agreed to send your secret sister a handstamped item plus anything additional you want to send.   We were supposed to send out our first gift by the end of March and boy did that deadline come up faster than I think most of us expected!  I know it did for me.  

Yesterday, I got home from work and had this very cute card waiting for me in my mail box.  She used the Manhattan Flower die for the BigShot to make this simple yet cute card.  And then, she included a movie pass, which with the skyrocketing movie ticket prices is very generous. She knew I liked movies, so now I just have to decide what movie to use it for.  Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks, Secret Sister!

Wow time has flown and its already April!  But that means it’s time for the new Occasions mini catalog to come out – and boy is this a good one.  There are lots of cool new items in this mini.  There are tons of new stamps, a new awesome scallop oval punch, a new matchbox die for your bigshot, colored rub-ons, courderoy buttons in super cute colors, and more! 

The mini is good from now through June 30th, but don’t wait until the end to get all the good stuff. 

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been slowly trying to get my crafting supplies, partial projects, and completed projects organized so I can actually find what I’m looking for in less than 20 minutes.   Well, when my mom was visiting last month, she brought with her the instructions for a great project.  Using the Forget-me-not keeper from Stampin Up!, we created a decorated box and inserts for storing all of the cards you need to send out in a year.  Now, first I don’t know how many of you out there had seen this box in the SU catalog and were like me and thought, ” that looks just like the photo boxes you get at Michaels only in plastic”.  Well, it took me ordering one to realize they are totally different, and the SU box is way cooler!  Turns out, the boxes you get at craft stores really are made for photos and so are not quite tall enough for your standard 5.5 x 4.25 cards to be placed inside and still have the lid close completely.  The SU box is made to fit cards perfectly, plus it comes with 12 plastic inserts to help you organize the cards you make.  In our case, we used those inserts for each month.   So, now I’m totally a convert to these boxes.  They pack flat and then go together in a jiffy and actually fit my cards.  

So, we placed a piece of cardstock on the inside of the box behind the the front panel to add some color and then used designer paper and ribbon to decorate the frontside.  One note if you are going to decorate one of these boxes yourself.  Definately use the red sticky strip.  The plastic has a slight texture to it, and the sticky strip really locks the paper to the plastic.  For each of the inserts, we printed out a piece of paper with the month dates on it to fill out who needs a card and for why.  We used the So Many Scallops stamp set for all of the stamping in this project and the crop–a-dile made punching a hole in the tabs for the ribbon soo easy.  Really the thing that I think makes the crop-a-dile a must have is how it makes punching thick and hard materials like you were punching through paper.  I’ve punch metal and chipboard and now thick plastic. 

Anyway, when we were all done with the box project, we made four matching cards.  Again, we used some patterns she brought and I was so glad she brought them.  I would never have thought to do some of these techniques like punching out all the cardstock circles and gluing them on a cardfront of the same color – but they all turned out super cute!  We spent most of the day making theses projects because we were chatting and sharing supplies (and cutting the paper, that I think was what took the longest).  I wish my mom lived closer than 5 hrs away so we could do projects like this more often because it is really fun to spend an afternoon crafting and then end in the evening with so much completed so show for it!   Though I guess this means next time she visits it is my turn to come up with the craft project.

Box Recipe
Stamps: So Many Scallops
Inks: Baja Breeze
Paper:  Windsor Knot DSP, Baja Breeze CS, Old Olive CS, Chocolate Chip CS, So Saffron CS, Whisper White CS
Accessories:  Forget-me-not Keeper, Double Stitched chocolate chip ribbon,  Filigree Brads, Stampin’ Dimentionals, Sticky Strip, Scallop edge punch, Scallop Square punch, Crop-a-dile

Card Recipe
Stamps:  So Many Scallops
Inks:  Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Windsor Knot DSP, Chocolate Chip CS, Old Olive CS, Baja Breeze CS, So Saffron CS, Whisper White CS
Accessories:  Sage Shadow 1/4″ ribbon, Whisper White 1/4″ ribbon, Apricot Appeal 1/4″ ribbon, Chocolate Chip 5/8″ ribbon, filigree brads, glue dots, 1/2″ circle punch, Scallop edge punch, Scallop Square punch, Stampin’ Dimentionals, So Saffron marker, Chocolate chip marker, Sage Shadow marker, Old Olive marker

So, I’m realizing that I’m now of the age that wedding seasons are winding down and its baby time for many of my friends.  Over the last month or two, I’ve learned that at least 5 friends are pregnant with most of their due dates being later this summer and fall.  I’m so excited for all of them and am looking forward to having lots of cute little babies to play with.   Yesterday was the first of a number of baby showers and so I needed a card to go with my gift.  Of course, I waited until the last minute to put it together so I was rushing the morning of our drive to Seattle to put one together.   

If you can’t guess, we learned that our friends were having a girl so I had to go with the pink theme and this Bella Rose designer paper seemed to fit the bill.  I pulled out my old baby stamp set for the stamp set and went from there.  If I had more time I would have colored in the teddy bear but I think it works as is.  The other fun bit I did was to take a pretty in pink brad and wrap the tines around the knot in my taffeta bow to make the pink center.  It was a little hard to get started but I think it adds a fun bit of color to the ribbon. 

The baby shower ended up being lots of fun.  Since it was a co-ed shower, my hubby came with me and we had a chance to catch up with a number of friends that we haven’t seen in over a year.  Hopefully now that we live closer to Seattle (and I seem to drive up there all the time) we will see them more.  I was wondering what kind of game they might play at a co-ed shower and it turns out they put together a game of Life (like the board game) using pieces of paper taped to the floor.  At one point you have to either go down the kids or no kids path based on if you have kids or not.  I made it through the no kids path first and the last square was labeled “suprise”.  I was told to flip up the paper and read the suprise.  Turns out the suprise is you are accidentally pregnant and get to go back to the start of the kids path.  We all laughed and said of course, its a baby shower so everyone has kids in this game.   And the honored mom-to-be won the game so it turned out perfect. 

Recipe
Stamps: Bundle of Joy, Congrats
Ink:  Close to Cocoa, Pink Pirouette (for sponging the teddy bear edges)
Paper:   Whisper White CS, Basic Black CS, Bella Rose DSP
Accessories: White taffeta ribbon, Soft Subtle Brads, glue dots, mat pack and paper piercer, sponge

What a whirlwind spring!  There have been tons of family visits, stamping events, and work deadlines.  That has kept me away from my computer as much as normal but also means I have a backlog of great things to show you! 

First up, I thought I would share some of the projects we did as part of the mom & me event.  I tried to keep the cards simple with plenty of opportunity for kids of all ages to get involved.  So, I’m thinking of going back and sprucing up some of my examples now (like coloring in some of the images that I left as outlines for kids to color or leave as is) but since I want to get a post up, I’ll show you there current state.

 And my SCS blogging group, sorry I’ve been away so long but I’m back and will be visiting your blogs very soon!

Here are the cards we did:

While I work on getting pictures taken and up from my most recent project, I thought I would mention here on my blog my next class which is happening this weekend in downtown Portland.  I’m hosting a Mom and Me event where you and your child (or you and your mom or you and your inner child), can come do some stamping techniques together.  I’ll have a few cards/projects available for you to do together and in a fun family setting.  Cost is $12 per family or $8 for individuals.  I’d love to have you join our group for this event!  Email me to save your spot!

And for those of you from far away who can’t make it, I promise to post pictures after the fact.   Craft from home at the same time and it will be like tele-crafting. 

Also, don’t forget you only have a couple more weeks left of Sale-a-bration time!  Every $50 you spend equals an extra stamp set, ribbon, or paper pack. 

Like free stamps?     Right now, I’m offering the next 3 people who book a workshop will get a free stamp set on the day of your show.  Yep, its free just for hosting!  Contact me today to take advantage of this special offer!

Four of the samplers with different pages shown

Late last week, my mom came up for a visit (a week after my MIL was here for a week visiting!)  She was in town to join me at the Creating Keepsakes big scrapbooking convention in Portland this last weekend.  The convention was an absolute blast and we stayed up waay to late Saturday night at the crop and then having our own after-hours crop back at my house.   We had a great time over the weekend and between our projects at home and the projects we made from the classes at the convention, I have lots of cool things to show you this week.  I’ll be trying to get to pictures taken of the projects and posted this week. 

Late last week, the paper came in for my paper samplers and so I got to go through all of it when I was cutting it to 6×6 sheets.  I have to say, there is some really cute paper!  I have a few now on my wishlist that I didn’t have on there before (Flock Together anyone? Textured designer paper!)  I still have a couple left, so if you want one, email me and I can get one out to you!

A badly fanned out view of one single paper sampler

Finally, when my mom was here, she wanted to try out the pastel techniques we did at our technique night last week.  So, while showing her how to use pastels to color an embossed image and color ribbon, I made a quick thank you card for one of the ladies who purchased one of the paper samplers.  This time I played with layering multiple pastel colors on an image.  I only used a little but it makes such a nice blended effect that you could get more complicated and make some beautiful designs.

ahhh… it feels good to back at the blog.  I just getting over a yucky cold and just in time because my technique night was last night.  We were playing with pastel chalks and between my cold and my half-cleaned craft room, I got a bit of a late start preparing for it.  However, I’m happy to report that I’ve made huge progress on my craft room (you can now fit chairs at the table and the table is cleaned off for the first time since moving here last fall )!  Of course, in the process of prepping for the class last night, my craft table is a mess… so I get that straightened up and share it with you.

But in the meantime, I thought I’d share what I whipped up as samples for some different techniques.  This was actually my first time in a long time that I had used my chalks and I discovered they are a lot more fun than I remembered.  And the girls did some awesome work with them – I just need to remember to take pictures of what they create! 

The techniques we focused on were popping pastels (the cupcake and the butterflies), coloring an embossed image (the blue scalloped flower), coloring ribbon (the blue ribbon), chalkboard technique (the red flower), and using chalks directly on the stamp to color a stamped image (some of the background flowers on the heartfelt card).

The flower started out as clear embossing powder over versamark on whisper white paper. After you have embossed your flower, you can take a sponge to your chalk to pick up some color and then rub the sponge over the embossed image to color it. I recommend using brighter colors though because my first attempt with a light blue barely showed up. This card was made using the brilliant blue chalk. And with chalks it is very easy to layer colors. One person, used orange as a base color and then used rose red to color the edges.

And yes, this is a white ribbon! Use the same sponge to apply color to your ribbon by rubbing along the white ribbon.  You can use sealent afterwards to keep it from rubbing off on your hands but it doesn’t rub off much if you don’t.

  This card used the chalkboard technique where you stamp with white craft ink on a dark paper and then pick up the chalk color using a q-tip or applicator.  Once you have the color, you want to tap your stamped image to apply the chalk.  Don’t rub or you will have a lovely smear of white and chalk in places you may not want.   Once you have applied your colors.  I tapped off excess power and then use a paper towel to lightly wipe off the excess color.  It turns out with a very lovely effect.

Well, I’ll be back later with hopefully some new goodies to show you (my occasions mini preorder is supposed to arrive today!)  Have a happy wednesday!

Ever have one of those projects that keep you obsessed until you get it done? My craft room is one of those projects. After two weeks of being super busy (out of town on a business trip and my MIL visiting), the house is finally quiet again. 

While my MIL was here, she helped me get motivated to organize my space and move all my crafting stuff out of the dining room and into my office/craft room. Now, this is the room that has never been unpacked completely since we moved in last fall and so it has been the holding space for tons of boxes and misc stuff.   So this project is not one to be taken lightly.  However, after much debate, I decided to go to Ikea and get a bookcase as a storage solution for my office closet and rods to hang my punches from for the walls.  While she was still here, I managed to finish building the bookcase, but didn’t have a chance to hang the rods or finish moving everything in to the craft room.  So, now, instead of creating projects (which I need to do), I’ve been obsessed with finishing the migration to my new craft space.  So, since I don’t have a card or craft project to share, I thought I would show you what has been taking up some of my evening time.  I even manned the power drill last night and drilled and hung the rods I’m using for my punches!  Ignore the surrounding mess in the pictures; hopefully I’ll have some clean awesome space pictures to show you next week! 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

  Its been a crazy week for me but I’ve finally managed to sneak away to get a quick card put together and up on the blog.   This last week, I was away in Dallas on a business trip and returned home to my Mother-in-law visiting for a week.  And while all of that is fun, I haven’t had much time to get some stamping in.  But then yesterday, I had the perfect excuse to take time out of entertaining and get creative.  My MIL was going to a wedding and didn’t want to spend $4 for a “nothing special” card from the store.  So, we were going to make a card for her to take.  So, while she was getting ready for the wedding, I started playing with some of my scraps to see what I could come up with.  In this case, I had the flowers from my crystal effects technique night, the bow from the same night (we were discussing different ways to tie bows), and then scraps from the new SAB paper – delicate dots.  I only had about 15 min to come up with a layout and put it together so it is simpler than I might have done if I had more time, but it was nice to use some of my pieces into a simple, pretty card.  Inside the card, I stamped the Heard from the Heart sentiment “wishing you happiness today and always”. 

My other project I’ve started is getting my office cleaned up and turned into a craft room.  My dining room has been great but my DH would rather I get set up in a slightly less public space.   So my MIL and I went to ikea and shopped for some fun organizational pieces and I hope to make good progress on this project over the next week.  Having the pieces sitting in my house is pretty motivating for me to get it done.  I’ll share pictures when i’m done.   Hope you all are having a great week!

Hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day weekend!  I enjoyed some time with the DH at home on Saturday and then Sunday we drove up to Seattle to meet up with some friends and participate in a puzzle event (think, Amazing Race only with puzzles to tell you where to go next instead of envelopes).  On the way north, we stopped by a fellow demonstrator’s open house.  If you know Cristena Bagne, she is a super talented and very nice demo in the Puyallup, WA area and this was the first time I got to see her home and stamping space.  She is so organized and has an awesome stamping room.  I now have some ideas for how to organize, if I can actually act on them. (Isn’t that always the hardest part).  Well, as part of her open house, we did a couple make and takes.  They were so cute I had to share them with you. 

And now I’m off to do some more stamping with friends.  Don’t forget to let me know if you want a Designer Paper sampler!  Happy Monday!

Ok, so I know this post is a little late, but better late then never, right?  I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who have been visiting and leaving me comments.  It really perks up my day to have you all stopping by and saying hello.  Especially with weeks like this one where work has just been crazy as we have been going bonkers trying to hit a deadline at the end of the week.  I ended up staying late at work on Friday just so I could have my three day weekend free of work stress.  So, this is my weekend to catch up on all my crafting.  I plan to be back on Monday with lots of fun things to show you.  Until then…

Have a fantastic weekend and a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Recipe:
Stamps: Love You Much
Inks: Cranberry Crisp
Paper: Cranberry Crisp CS, Very Vanilla CS
Accessories:  Scallop Circle Punch, 1 1/4″ circle punch, 1″ circle punch, scallop edge punch, Very Vanilla 5/8″ grosgrain ribbon, Cranberry Crisp stitched ribbon