just a general update

Hey everyone,
I haven't had time to create much lately. Between trying to get stuff back into my craft room and keeping up with all the weekly stuff, it hasn't left me much time. My kids started soccer this year for the first time. It was so cute watching them run around the field. They didn't really understand it all, but it was fun watching them try and then finally getting parts. Now if they were just a little more aggressive. hmm.

Another good note is that my craft room is almost usable again. Just some more supplies to put away and then the rest of the boxes can be at my leisure since they hold memorabilia and such. Now I just need to decide how I want to decorate it all and what projects to display. Of course I'm such an addict that most of the room is filled with stuff. :) There is a little wall space, so there are a few options. I'll probably wait until the new decor elements hit on September 15 to totally decide what I want to do though. Also starting this week, the Big Shot and dies are available to purchase. Yeah! I hoping to do some items this month with club using that. I've also been working on a scrapbook idea and a Christmas stamp-a-stack. I've just been waiting for my stuff to come in. I started working on my ideas and realized I didn't have a few items. Can you believe it, something I don't have. lol. I hope to have it ready to post by next weekend if it arrives this week. Hope everyone is doing well. Will post again soon.

Coming soon new decor elements

Okay, I was interested in the Decor elements because I had never really saw anything exactly like them before. I have several projects now that I'm working on as I get time with the ones currently out. But I have seen some of the new items coming out and they are really cute. they should be coming out around mid September I think. There is so many new things it's hard to keep up. They are introducing some colored decor items, as well as themes (i.e. baby) and holidays. Here is a preview of one of the holiday Decor Elements. It's the Spooky Spider. I put it on a jar to put Halloween candy in. I thought he came out super cute and was so easy. I think it took me about 5 minutes to do and that included re-reading a few instructions. The jar cost under $13 at Walmart and the smaller jar (which costs less) might work too. I just wanted to be certain. Isn't it fun looking? (Just ignore the clutter though - I didn't catch all that when taking my picture.) I guess it's better to take pictures when I'm not so tired. :) You all will have to let me know what you think.

club meeting card

Here is the card we made at club. it's a case of another card. I believe it was on the SU site. I think I modified the ribbon though, because it was what I had.
I thought it came out really neat and super easy.
I used the Upsy Daisy set which is on sale this month. Let me know if you are interested in getting any of the sale stuff. There are some very cool new sets on sale right now.
So many things are coming out in the next month or two, so keep checking back.
Here is what I used for this project. Paper - Kiwi kiss, riding hood red, chocolate chip and ww. Inks - kiwi kiss. Accessories - 1/4" and 1/2" circle punches, chocolate ribbon. This is a 4x4 card by the way.

calendar for club

Here is the picture for the club item we did. It is a coaster calendar. We put a magnet on it to be put on a refrigerator or file cabinet, magnetic board, etc. You could also put it on a clip (like shown) or put two together and tie with ribbon to get it to stand up. I thought the magnet worked best for this class. Here is what I used to do it. Bella Rose DSP, Kiwi Kiss, Riding hood Red and WW papers, Kiwi and Riding hood red ink. The Celebrate Everything stamp set. For accessories I used the corner rounder, scallop edge punch, flower trio punch, piercer, silver brad, anywhere glue stick, dimensionals, mat pack. Also a 4 x 4 coaster and calendar. Hope you like it. Sorry, it looks like the picture isn't really clear, but you get the jest of what it looks like.

General update

Boy time flies. Before I know it, it's been over a week. A lot has been going on. DD has started 4th grade and we just went to orientation for a kindergarten readiness for my DS. Not to mention that stuff has started back, fall gymnastics and soccer. This is our first year playing soccer, so it should be an interesting experience. Well, okay, DD did play once at 3 but she was more interested in butterflies and bugs then then soccer, so I don't count that. It seems like before we knew it almost every evening was filled with something almost. Both kids ended up with different days of practice. Then you add in piano, girl scouts, gymnastics, church, etc. It's a busy week. So that's a quick update on us anyways. I've also been trying to work out my fall class ideas. There is so many new things it's hard to chose. I want to do it all but don't have the time to do it all. Right now here is what I'm thinking, if you'd like to see something else interesting, let me know. I'm hoping to do a Christmas stamp-a-stack either really late September or early October. That way everyone has time to do cards for Christmas. I'm hoping to have a scrap class ready soon, that's my next project to work out (I'm thinking maybe a school album idea). then in late October possibly a gift idea class - to show off different ideas you can make for Christmas. Then in November, I had someone ask me to see what interest there was for an ornament class using the new ornament kits coming out. then early December doing a bags, tags, and gift cards class to help with last minute packaging. The last item of consideration is a scrap class after Christmas (close to New Years) doing a Christmas album, since everyone will have pics afterwards and will by then have a lot of family time in and could use some creative time. I was thinking of one other scrap idea that could also be made into a gift, but we will see what the hectic schedule allows. So that's what I hope is coming up. I'll post updates as I know. We'll see how I do. I also started my new club this week. We only made a couple of projects since this was the first one. We had to go over all the new stuff, new catalog, sales, and pick months, so I kept it light. My next posts will show what we did. Hope you all are doing great.

An update 8/12

Hey everyone,
Sorry I haven't written lately. I've had a lot of catching up to do since Salt Lake and I'm still behind. Don't ask me why. Life just happens. Well, I know part of it. School started this week, so we have been out getting supplies and getting DD ready for 4th grade. She has new teachers this year and she entered the advanced program, so we are going to have to learn all about that. I'm sure that means more work for all of us too. You know - every year - they have what I call parent homework - all the forms you have to fill out (worse then a mortgage) and they also have projects that kids can't do without parental help. I'm not sure why they do that, but they do. She has a small one due Friday. I'm off soon to find an extra shoebox for that. Now what to decorate it with. Hmm.... which of the thousands of supplies should we use. Lol. Also, this past weekend, between birthday celebrations, church, and visiting with great friends I got to start painting on my craft room. For those of you that don't know, we got water in my craft room around Christmas time. I lost quite a bit of money in supplies with the damage. Well, it took them till Memorial weekend to come out and fix it (a big backlog in this area with this problem). We had to wait about a month or so to let the cement cure, then between classes and swap making I had no time to paint it until this weekend. I've been without a room pretty much since not long after the water came in, so my lovely family has had to do without a dining room table until it's done. Now it's DH time to finish the carpet and base boards, then I can start putting back all my supplies, and we can start putting the rest of the basement in order then too (if you didn't know we had to fix 2 rooms and the family room to fix the problem - so they had to be either all or almost all emptied out). Can I say a lot of work. They supposedly guarantee no more water. I sure do hope so. It was miserable to go into my room and step into a big cold wet area. I have to say though, I'm not totally sure on the color I chose. It may have to grow on me. It looked different in the store. I chose a brown (neutral to best display lots of my projects). I ended up changing my mind at the last minute and decided upon darker, but not too dark because of the lighting in the basement. I have a feeling it should have been darker. I kept thinking it would dry darker. The guy might have mixed it wrong - that's a whole nother story about that special trip. If you are interested, just ask. Now mind you the color is suppose to be nutmeg brown, but I think what's on my wall is kind of like a cross between baby pooh and chocolate. My husband and son think chocolate, my daughter laughed and said pooh, does that say a lot. Okay, if you are done laughing now, I hope to put stuff back soon. Then you can come and see for yourself and come hang out and create some. Who knows, next thing you know you'll either want chocolate or "go do something else". LOL. I'm not right. Anyways, I'm hoping to play and create more this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some more samples soon. Hope you got a great laugh.

New items coming soon

Coming this fall to Stampin' Up!
If you haven't heard the buzz, Stampin' Up! is offering several new items this fall.
First off is new colored decor elements, including holiday offerings. These are really cute and will not only brighten a room, but also make for some cool holiday decorations as well. I hope to have Spooky spider to show you soon. Okay, Spooky is black, but it shows a holiday add on. The Christmas one is red, but I can't get that yet. There will be baby decor elements, as well as flowers. I can't wait to see all the offerings.
Secondly, SU announced a partnership with Sizzix and will be offering the Big Shot and dies, including several exclusive dies. This machine cuts through a whole variety of materials and makes creating multiple items easy. Several of the dies make for some really cute party decorations.
Also coming in October is the new Holiday mini, keep a lookout for that.
And last but not least, coming this fall....online ordering. You will soon be able to order from me through my Stampin' Up! website. So for you internet shoppers, this will be a big plus.
Those are all the new SU items coming soon. Also, I will soon post new class options and pictures, so keep coming back to see when these will be available.

Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

now is the time to become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. Stampin' Up! is offering two different incentives right now to join the Stampin' Up! family. The first promotion is part of the new sampler that's offered by Stampin' Up! Right now if you sign up with the regular kit, you can pick an extra free stamp set. The second promotion is a special $99 promotion for those of you that already have some supplies. Click on Stampin' Up's website link in the left column to see the options that are right for you. Contact me with any questions or if you think now is the time to take this step. When you become a demo, you get a discount, and you can possibly even earn free stuff too. Not to mention being the first too see all the cool new items coming out.
Speaking of new stuff. See my next post for all the great items coming soon.

my swaps for convention

5 swap cards.

I just realized I never showed anyone what I took for swaps. Here are some examples of what I took for my swaps. They took a lot of time to make. I hope you like them. The first is the purse card I talked about earlier on my blog. There is also a tutorial listed under tutorials on how to make it - what cuts to make and where, etc. It also lists all the parts.


This second card is again with the Boho Backgrounds, but what is hard to see in this picture is that each of the 3 areas in the scallops and the For You are all embossed in black, which makes them shiny and pop up off the card. In person it makes it has a cool effect. So I used Whisper white, real red, basic black papers. I used Versa mark and black embossing powder, black ink, 1 3/8" circle punch, scallop circle, silver brads and red grosgrain ribbon.

This next one I call my ribbon weaving card. This was a fun technique that I saw how to make. I have had several people ask me about this, so we will probably do this real soon (maybe at club). I learned how to do this technique from a video by K. Werner. Again this uses the Boho Backgrounds and the One of a kind stamps sets. Again the middle and words are embossed in clear embossing powder over chocolate chip craft ink. The colors are Chocolate chip and brocade blue and whisper white. I also used the key tag punch, several circle punches, the scallop circle and a brad. if there is interest I might even do a tutorial. What do you all think?



This last card is a little bit of a catalog spoiler. This is with two new stamp sets. It is done with Wow flowers and Heard from the heart. I thought the flowers sort of looked like snowflakes and it made a cool effect. The paper used for this card is actually white. See the white snowflakes that is the color of the paper. This technique is called emboss resist. I embossed the images and used a brayer to color the paper. I used the new Baja Breeze color and then I embossed again after I colored the paper. I thought it turned out cool anyways. What do you think? The items used for this card are: Whisper white paper, versa mark ink, clear embossing powder, baja breeze classic and Night of Navy craft inks; brayer, heat tool, white grosgrain ribbon and a brad.


I forgot my fifth card. I had to come back and edit this. I kept running out of supplies so I had to do a fifth card. Here it is.
For supplies, I used the following: Cardstock: Night of Navy, Brocade blue, Pacific point, Close to cocoa, Chocolate chip, barely banana. Inks: Chocolate chip, appricot appeal, night of navy, white craft, and rose red and chocolate chip markers. Accessories: white embossing powder, heat tool, 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamond glitter, eggplant ribbon, photo corner punch, slot punch, dimensional, snail, dauber
Hope you enjoy the cards, you'll have to let me know what you think.

Back home

Well, I have been officially home for a couple of days now. I feel slightly more recovered from my trip to Utah. At least I'm back to my normal altitude level although the heat index doesn't seem a whole lot different, just more humid versus dry. Of course, I have had to catch up with work and my family, so there hasn't been much free time. I'm even writing this after 1 am, so that says a lot. I'm not doing this on my laptop, so I don't have any pictures to upload at the moment. I hope to do that in the next couple of days. I just realized I hadn't put any pictures of my swaps out there and there were a few others I wanted to add to show, so I'll try and post those soon. I have several hundred pictures so it takes time to go through them all.
It was an exciting trip, but I'm glad to be home. There is just so much to do is all, as always. It's amazing how fast time goes. It makes it difficult at times to just enjoy the moment anyways. But I like to try. We are also trying to get ready for school. I can't believe it's less then a week away now. It seems like they just got out. At least for DD. My DS won't get to start his new preschool until after Labor Day. He will be disappointed that he has to wait. Well, I do need to get some sleep. I hope you all are having an excellent day. Take a moment and remember to thank the One who gave it to you. We are all truly blessed when it comes down to it. Thank you my friends for being a part of my life. I love you guys.

Convention day 3

Well, Day 3 (final day) of convention has come and gone. It was definitely an eventful day. We started out with classes today so we could end up with the large group sessions. They wanted to finish with a bang (more about that later). This morning I got to do my last make and take session and two classes. The make and takes were fun. We made a box with cards, a ribbon bookmark using the cool Incolor ribbon and some new hardware, a brayed dry embossed card and a mini envelope book - all so cute and cool. I'm charging my camera battery, I'll have to show some pictures soon. Before I put it on the charger I did take some time to download some pictures I took of some items that happened today. Most of the pictures are from the last large group session, where they demonstrated some cool fun items to do this fall. I can't wait to get the new stuff to prepare some of these items. There are several gift ideas, scrapbook ideas and they look like lots of fun. Also during the large group session they decided to have some fun. They played "Stamp-tionary" where they pitted west and east coast against each other and then Rookies vs "old timers". And then a playoff. I believe the West won.

In between sessions they gave out prizes to some of the crowd (I won a stamp set) and they played these funny commercials promoting upcoming events. One was a "Barbie" type commercial that was so funny. They decorated her house with several Stampin' Up! items and even gave them Stampin' Up! clothes (see the picture.) Can you see the clothes. The green top was the one in Momento Mall this year and the apron is one item listed too. Have you noticed the decor elements in mini on the walls? I think the pictures are small stamps too. It was too cute and funny. They even had a UPS doll show up with an order.


Speaking of UPS one of the last items that they did, which caused a ton of excitement, happened during the time that Shelli Gardner (President and cofounder) was speaking. All of a sudden a doorbell sounded and a UPS delivery man walked in with a box and the crowd went wild. He told her he had a delivery and she asked for who and looked at the box and said, "For everyone" and the crowd went bolistic, because that meant that the whole crowd was going to get a free stamp set - all however many thousands of us. Confetti went off and it got loud in there. Ladies were dancing around. It was so much fun to watch. And we all got a new set coming out of the new catalog. It was the one that matches one of the new punches, but best of all it was the one that if you order it they give a donation to Ronald McDonald house, which was way cool. Then they announced that all those sets were donated by UPS, the crowd went wild again. So a set got donated to the attendees, plus since it was purchased -donations go to Ronald McDonald house and we get to demo it to try and make more money for Ronald McDonald house, which is way cool. It's always cool to help out good charities. This picture is of Lynn and Kathy holding up their free sets (which matches our new scallop square punch), which is way cool. It was on my wish list anyways.

After all the excitement died down they did some closing statements and we were free to go. Our group decided to eat dinner tonight at Macaroni Grill and then we all walked back to our hotels to pack and get ready to leave. It was a fun time and I got to meet some very nice ladies on this trip. This next picture is some of our group that stayed at the same hotel as I did. They were a lot of fun and I laughed a lot when I was with them. By the way the brown building behind them is our hotel. Well this is a long post, but it was a very busy day. Tomorrow I get to come home and I will be so glad to get to see everyone. I miss my family a lot. I did get to see a ton of stuff and have gotten a ton of ideas. I can't wait to share them with everyone. Hope to see you all soon.

Second full day of Convention

Well, we finished our second full day at Convention and it was full of excitement. It was a pretty busy day overall. We had three classes again and a large group session. We also got to see lots of samples. I can't wait to try some of them out. They showed us a bunch of different ideas today. From party planning, to 3d items and cards (yes 3d cards), to clothing (more about that in a sec.), to fun kid items like masks and books. Plus all the traditional items too. I saw several new techniques, including a faux silk (don't let me forget to show you all that fun and easy trick). It's pretty cool.

So I'm guessing some of you are wondering what the new partnership is that I mentioned yesterday. They played it up a lot today and teased us several times, until they finally told us. Then they spent the rest of the day showing us all the cool stuff you could do with it. So are you ready (where is a drum roll when you need one).
Stampin' Up! is partnering with Sizzix. Stampin' Up! will be selling a Big Shot Die cutting machine and exclusives dies. We got to see several of them today and they are really cool. You can use them to make party decorations and favors, cards, vinyl clings for your wall, chipboard items, etc. They are coming out with new alphabets to use with it. Also several box dies to hold favors and such, and other coordinating dies. Including some holiday ones. They actually used the dies to plan whole parties and showers and showed us several ideas. They were so cute. You can also use it to cut fabric. They showed us several cool things made out of fabric. They decorated clothing with flowers and other items (see an item on display in the picture).

They even made a whole apron out of die-cuts. It was funky but cute. So that opens all kinds of new possibilities. So we've learned of the new die system and dies, new decor elements (and decor elements you can make with your dies), and a joint venture with Country Living magazine over the holiday season. All kinds of new and exciting things coming. Pair that with a pretty cool new catalog and it should be a fun next 6 months. Well, I need to get some stuff ready for tomorrows classes. Hope you all are having an awesome day.

First full day of convention

Thursday: first full day
We got up really early this morning in order to meet and get a seat. It was crowded when we got there. I have no idea how early these people get up, but we were there a half hour early and still sat on the side. They gave us several cool sneak peeks, which was really cool. They showed us some new decor elements which match some of stamp sets. Guess what - some have color and are so cool. Here is a sneak peek at some. They are also coming out with some holiday ones (halloween, thanksgiving and Christmas) and showed us some holiday ideas to use them with. Possible gift ideas for some of you. So cute. They also had some baby ones too. Different sets will come in different colors. They are coming out this fall by the way.

They also announced a few future happenings - a huge display in a magazine later with a special bundle. I'll have to share more about that later and it looks cool too. They are also suppose to announce something new tomorrow and we can't wait to hear what it is.
We had a large group session as well as three classes. One being a make and take session. The projects are so cute. Today we decorated a bag, 2 cards and a scrap page. I'll have to take pictures soon. By the way, sorry it took me so long to get these pics up. I didn't have my adapter and had to stop by Walmart to get one. So finally I can post some items.

Here is a picture of the gals that we knew were coming from Louisville. There could have been more, this is just what we knew. They are a fun bunch and very nice. Everyone got matching shirts that were a hit. On the back they listed the price of things (i.e. hotel $xxx, flight $, registration, etc. (it listed prices - I just can't remember this late) and then said being the first in the country to see the new Stampin Up catalog - priceless. Everyone kept taking pictures of them. It was too funny.

After seeing a ton of samples and sitting most of the day and getting inspired by all the cool demonstations, we ended up eating in the hotel, took our trip to Walmart and then went to see the Mormon Tabernacle choir rehearse. They were really good to hear. The grounds were pretty too. Here are some pictures of that too. (The temple in the daytime, at night and then the choir.)
Well that's about it for now. I have to get up early tomorrow and it's late. Hope you all are doing great. Talk to you soon.

convention sign in day

Convention pre registration - Wednesday.
Today, we got up early and went to the convention center to sign in and get all our stuff and check out Momento Mall. We got there right after it opened and it was totally crazy. It was worse then Disney. The line was like 3 1/2 hours long and some stood in line over 4 hours. With all that, they still ran out of stuff and that was for the people who got in line by 9. Just think of all the people after that. This bag is one item they were so hot to get. Of course I had to have one too. I always need storage organization, especially with things so torn up (basement being fixed) at the moment. Also, just so you know, it also matches some of the papers coming out in the new catalog.

By the way I have to say that the new catalog is awesome. Here is a sneak peek at the cover. I think it's one of the better catalogs I've seen in a while. It has lots of new stamp sets (especially holiday), it has 4 new punches - as well as coordinating stamps for those punches, several new ribbons, several new rub ons, tons of new papers and scrap kits. I love the new scrap kits, plus lots of other goodies too. My list is so long right now. It is so exciting. This picture really doesn't do it justice. It even shows you how to do some techniques. It's definitely cool.





I also got 3 new stamp sets, which are cool. They added two new styles to the catalog and some of the sets come from that. There are stamps that match the decor elements too. They also put some of my favorites from the last two minis in the catalog too, which is exciting. This picture is a picture of our convention bags, they are brown, kiwi, blue and some yellow, but mainly brown.
We also got to see several displays of lots of cards and 3d items. I took some pictures, but didn't to it all, it was all just too much. We also swapped till we ran out. There are so many pretty cards out there. That was a new experience and lots of fun. After we were pretty much dead from being on our feet for so long, our group meet that night at the Blue Iguana (what a name - Katie would love the name). It was mexican and packed with convention goers. They were having lots of fun for sure. Anyways, I think that's the highlights from this day. More about the first full day shortly.

update one of convention

Arrival day: Tuesday
Hey everyone, sorry I haven't written in a few days. It has been crazy here at convention. Tuesday which was travel day was very tiring. Besides the long plane ride, we had a marathon run in Chicago (we weren't suppose to change planes, but the air conditioning failed in mid-air, so they switched plans on us. So we had to go all the way down area A and then all the way down area B fairly quickly to catch the plane out. Luckily the luggage made it. We weren't sure at the time. Then just trying to find the way around town, to the hotel and such. Also switching time zones and altitudes has made a difference. The altitude thing was very surprising. We've found we have to drink more here both because of the heat but because of the altitude. It's like we are always thirsty even indoors. It's weird. It's also tiring. Even the fittest of us is feeling the effects. So I'm going to share different days postings with some highlights. Since this is arrival day I'll show you my room (it was an upgrade for some reason and is totally awesome and huge.) What you see is only part of it. It's hilarious, we have the whole family we get the small room. I come by myself it's huge. Go figure. Also my view from the room is great too. See what you think. This is one part of it. I see more and more mountains on the right too. It looks pretty at night too with all the lights. It is definitely nice for a downtown area.