Last Chance for Reason to Smile

Morning Everyone, My little one lost her second tooth today.  As I write this, Monday night, she is hurriedly finishing her dinner so she can go to bed and wait for the tooth fairy.

Hopefully tomorrow she'll have a reason to smile!

I've been playing along with some Dare to Get Dirty challenges on Splitcoaststampers.  I combined a couple challenges, monochromatic and a sketch, to create this card.

The monochromatic challenge, with a splash of color, reminded me of this stamp set, Reason to Smile, which is only available in July.  That's right, today is the last day!

This stamp set uses two-step stamping... one of my favorite techniques!  A two-step stamping set has coordinating solid and line stamp images, and it is perfect for beginners, because it is a super easy way to color an image.  I inked up my solid stamp with Basic Gray and Summer Starfruit markers, stamped off once, then stamped the card stock.  I then stamped the outline in Basic Gray ink, using the Stamp-a-ma-jig (gettin' jiggy with it!... come on, those who took "I am Creative" at Convention... you know what I'm talking about!).

Stamps: Reason to Smile, Petite Pairs; Paper: Summer Starfruit, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla, Twitterpated DSP; Ink: Basic Gray, Basic Gray marker, Summer Starfruit marker; Accessories: Basic Gray ribbon, Circle punches, SAMJ, Argyle EF, Perfect Polka Dots EF, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

So run, don't walk, to get yours now!  This stamp set is available in wood- or clear-mount for only $5, after a $50 purchase.  Click here to order.

Thanks for stopping by!

Convention Projects: I Am Creative

Hi All, This is the project from Shannon West's class "I am Creative".  It was a session to hear some tips and tricks from the concept artists (the ones who make the catalog samples), as well as make pieces of this banner that each artist created.  The stamp set used for this project is Lacy & Lovely.

Here's some close-ups of the details.

Thanks for stopping by!

FM69 Fringy Christmas

I know Christmas is Lisa's favorite season, but I also know that I won't be in a Christmas mood until late November.  For the Friday Mashup challenge, I did my best to pull together a sort-of Christmas card, but with retired DSP.  I have yet to purchase some up-to-date papers.

Photo Source 

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a project "For Christmas."
2. Or Make a "Greeting Card & Decorate the Inside."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Christmas Card & Decorate the Inside."

Hopefully this project suffices.

I used Retro Sketch #21, and in fact, I was very inspired by Kasia Curry's sample for this challenge.

I'll call this one Fringy Christmas, since I'm in a fringy mood after finishing my Convention make & takes.  I also spritzed the card base with Cherry Cobbler ink.

Stamps: Scentsational Season; Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Jolly Holiday DSP;  Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Early Espresso marker, Cherry Cobbler marker; Accessories: Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Linen thread, Color spritzer tool, Holiday Collection framelits, Labels Collection framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

Make & Takes: Affection Collection & Daydream Medallions

These are a couple projects made with the Affection Collection stamp set, available in the upcoming Holiday mini catalog.

My daughter really likes this set.  It is a hit with the 5-year-old-going-on-tween set.

I love this little flag and the flower made from a strip of designer fabric.  I sewed the sides of the pocket card, 'cause that's just how I am.

This cute kraft box, which holds 3x3" cards, uses both the Daydream Medallions and Affection Collection sets.

Thanks for stopping by!

SUOC50 Buttons & Brads

We are a day delayed at Stampin' Up Only Challenges, due to many of us attending Convention last week.  Today we are focusing on buttons and brads.

Well, wide open challenges are hard for me.  What to do?  What to do?  I decided to start with Reason to Smile, a stamp set that is only available this month.  Instead of daisies, how about some black-eyed susans?

I followed a sketch from Retro Sketches,

and an appropriate color combination from ColourQ.

For the hexagons, I had to make a template, pulling high school trigonometry out of my head.  That was painful!  "Honey, is sin 30 = 0.5?"  "I don't know; I need a calculator."  How very sad for a couple of people with advanced physics degrees!  :)

Stamps: Reason to Smile; Paper: Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Orchard Harvest DSP, Twitterpated DSP; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Daffodil Delight marker, Pear Pizzazz marker; Accessories: Gold brads, Itty Bitty buttons, Linen thread, Boho Blossom punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Argyle EF, Apothecary Accents framelits, Big Shot, Dimensionals.

Don't forget, you can only get Reason to Smile this month for $5, after a $50 purchase.  Make sure to grab yours before it is gone.

Thanks for stopping by!

Make & Takes: You're Amazing

Hi Everyone, First I wanted to share a closer picture of all the swag.  I'm always so impressed with the amount of schtuff we come home with.

I'm going to have to break up the make & take posts by stamp set.  I know.... awwww!  There's a lot here, a lot of mounting, a lot of stamping.  And I'm going to take some creative license on these first projects, which also takes more time.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this stamp set.  I love it!  The vintage circus look really appeals to me.  I'm going to be using it more.

How cute are these little tickets?  You know you have to have the matching punch to go with them!  I think this is my favorite card of the make & takes.

For the next project, they gave us the divided scrapbook page to decorate.  That wasn't quite working for me, so I changed the supplies into some stand-alone projects.  First, here's what I was suppose to make.

And what I really did make.... a little pocket scrapbook, closed...

and opened.  I left the front plain to focus on the wonderful pattern and texture from the Natural Composition specialty DSP.

I added a Daffodil Delight base to make this panel into a card.

Another panel-turned-card.

And this last card, I basically used whatever scraps were left on my desk plus a More Mustard card base.

It was pretty fun to take some of the ideas and the supplies and play along with a "limited supply challenge" to come up with something new.  Hope you liked it!  Thanks for stopping by!

Some Boards & Displays...

I thought I hadn't gotten any product boards, but I found some in my camera.  Who knew?

Cute birds and banner - 

Papers, presents, and ornaments -

Love the cute Storytime Suite -

World Spectacular Suite is my style.  I couldn't wait to get my hands on the stamps!

Hostess with the mostess MDS-style!

Dress form mania!

Thanks for stopping by!

Roomie Gifts

I made it home from Convention safely.  And boy, am I tired!  I planning some make & take production tomorrow, with the help of Little Missy.  A little bit of unpacking today, so I thought I would share the roomie gifts.

First the picture of my disastrous stamp room with all the swag.  Memento Mall items, make & take kits, piles of stamps, the bag, and more and more stuff piled on the table too.

After unpacking, I had to reassemble the gifts.  Jen, the mini paint can made it home safely!

These are from Jen Timko.  She included some chocolate, Starbuck's card, granola mix and almonds packet (neither of which made it home!), and some embellishment goodies.  She added a fabric flower on the top of the paint can and also made the can and bag tags in MDS.  After my granola tin was empty, I went through my other packets of food in my carry-on and found chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, craisins, the almonds from Jen, plus some pretzels from the flight attendent... I made my own little replacement batch of granola "on the fly".  ;)

Here are the gifts from Cindy Elam.

A beautiful box of truffles, which I am afraid to open, Starbuck's card, some ear plugs, antibacterial lotion, lip balm, beautiful ribbon scissors charm, and a beautiful blingy bag tag.   People were commenting on the tag all week!  There was wine too, but that didn't last!  :)  And it is hard to see, but she packaged it all up in the card keeper box from the last holiday mini.  Isn't she clever?

These girls really outdid themselves!  A little bit of goodies to use at Convention and some to take home and keep as a memento.  Thank you so much for sharing a room with me, ladies!

And this is what I made for my roomies and myself, My Digital Studio notebooks.  I thought we could use them for notes, as well as business examples.

I hadn't had a notebook printed through Stampin' Up before.  They are really nice quality... the binding is sewn for durability.

Thanks for stopping by!

Convention Day 4

Today is Saturday, and the last day of Convention.  :(  So sad to say good-bye to new and old friends. 

I attended some fabulous classes today.  Again, more on that later, when I have a moment to review. 

ETA: I found it pretty funny that Mary Polcin was walking into Pam Morgan's class, I am Making Money.  For non-demos, she is the top Stampin' Up demo for all-time sales.  I guess she IS making money!  :)  We talked about performance bonuses, earning money by working differently, focusing on what you are good at.  Really gets you thinking about how you are working your business and what you would like to change in the coming year.  I love that she highlighted Lydia in her class (woohoo)!  Tag: Convention 2012, #Convention 2012

Karen Hauley hosted the class I am Earning the Incentive Trip, with Jill Hilliard, Meg Holland, and Cynthia Millan..  Everyone would love to earn a free vacation, right?  And who doesn't want the fabulous pillow gifts??  The trick is to break up the work into bite-sized chunks, like monthly goals.  But it isn't easy... you still have to stretch to reach that lofty goal.  I've got to go check out that Trip Tracker worksheet.

Jill Leigh hosted a "talk show" format for I am a First-Time Recruiter.  My friend from Leadership, Colleen Vassos, was part of the talk show panel.  Woo hoo, her!

Lots of tips on how to get over that hurdle of getting your first recruit.

We did the live streaming from General Session at 2 pm.  Did you tune in?  Hopefully it will get all you demos at home to join us next year!

Here is a pic of my roomie Jen and me... 

and all three of us roomies, Jen, Cindy, and myself, with Mickey Roberts.

We had several all-attendee give-aways this afternoon - the Ronald McDonald set Moving Forward and Mixed Medley from the upcoming Holiday catalog.  Here's a picture Paula Wright took.

I'll be filling in some more information over the coming days.  Thanks for stopping by!