Convention 2009

Oh my goodness is about all I can say. I am back from Stampin Up! convention in Salt Lake City. I had an AWESOME time and I can't wait for next year. I am working on getting some posts ready with not only some of the items I swapped, but items I received in swaps. I will work on that in the next day or so and get them up here. By looking at the photo below you can tell I had a GREAT TIME! These are some of my Stampin Addicts Sisters....for more great pics of Convention, visit Stampin Addicts. If you are not already a member, join! It is a fun group of women (and men) and it is 100% Positive and Postively Stampin Up!

And here I am with Shelli Gardner, co-founder of Stampin Up! She is such a "real person" to talk to. She could tell I was nervous and just said to breathe!

In the meantime, if you are interested in hosting a workshop and receiving some extra hostess benefits, please contact me. There will be a special incentive for the first 2 people to book and hold the workshop! (Think free goodies!)

School starts next week so I am sure everyone is getting finished up with their summer plans. I will start the regular craft nights once I get back into the school groove!

Have a great week....check back soon for the updates!

Special of the Week #2

So here is the deal of the week for this week....The Doctor's Bag for the Big Shot at 30% off!!!



If you are interested in purchasing this item, please let me know! This offer is good through 9:50 MDT on Monday, July 13!!

Big Shot Ideas - and a Giveaway!

Okay, because I want to win some awesome new stuff for my fab-o Big Shot.....I am going to enter a contest.
If you are needing ideas for your Big Shot, then you should go to Stampin Addicts and look at the galleries. OR, if you have awesome ideas you want to share, you should join Stampin Addicts and upload your creations!!!
Even if you don't need ideas for your Big Shot, just go visit Stampin Addicts and chat, upload photos, and get to know other stampers. It is a great site....I seem to spend A LOT of time there!!! It is easy to join, and it is a POSITIVE environment for all you SU stampers!!!

Specials of the Week!

Stampin Up! has announced a wonderful promotion for the month of July.....there will be weekly specials! From now until July 6 at 9:50 MT, you can purchase the scallop border punch for $10!!!!

See the button on the side of my blog for the weekly special!!!

Urban Oasis Card Fest

Have you ever bought a package of Designer Series Paper because you like one or two pieces of paper? I have! Then you have to wonder what you are going to do with the rest of it. Well, what you do is step out of your comfort zone and make some cards!

So here is what we have....these two cards are the same, only different. They use the same piece of paper, but from a different "section" of the page. I also had to step outside of my comfort zone and use some of the soon to retire Kiwi Kiss cardstock. This card is also a 5 inche square card. It is a size I like, but seldom make.

So here is another card, and I even decorated the inside! Like I said earlier, I was trying to use up all the scraps too! This one is made into a birthday card, but there is still a little bit of room on the inside to even write a hand-written note.



Kiwi Kiss is not one of my favorite colors, so I had to change up the color of the card! I used some of my beloved Baja Breeze, and this is using pieces of the same paper used above, but this time parts without the green leaves. I added some Baja double stitched ribbon and some of the Gray Tafetta ribbon as well. The card in front has the medallion embossed in clear.





This is the last card I made using the same paper. I needed a card to send to a friend just to let her know I was thinking of her, and I thought this was a cute and quick card to make. I matted the scrap of paper on Pink Pirouette and then again on Basic Gray, wrapped some Pink Pirouette ribbon around it, and wah-lah!!

Mother-Daughter Tea Part Two

Wow!! Posts two days in a row, can you believe it!!?? As promised, here are pictures of the other table I decorated for my Mother Daughter Tea at my church held on Friday, May 8, 2009.

Here is the full table view. I used my own gold charger plates, the china I received as a wedding gift, as well as the silver I received for our wedding. It is a good thing we have this event so I can use these items!!! LOL!
I love fresh flowers, and we have a fabulous florist here in Iowa Falls that does beautiful arrangements! I love how they turned out as well.

And here is the close up view of the table setting. These napkin rings were made without paper, but instead I used Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon and attached one of the flowers from the Pretties kit using a glue dot. I used a sponge dauber with So Saffron and Regal Rose ink to color in the flower to make it coordinate with the rest of my "color scheme."

Excuse the messy desk, but here is a close up of the items I made for each guest. The stamped images are from the retired set of Mixed Bouquet (this will NEVER leave my possession!). The placecard is Regal Rose cardstock with the large flower from Mixed Bouquet stamped in Regal Rose ink. I then took my white gel pen and wrote each guest's name. The matchbox is made with my Big Shot. The base is from Regal Rose cardstock, while the "wrapper" is from Whisper White with stamped images in Regal Rose, So Saffron, and Certainly Celery.

The dessert was made by me this time. It was SO easy....want to know how to make it??
Easy Lemon Cake
1 Lemon Cake Mix
2 pkgs. Lemon Instant Pudding
1 1/2 c. cold milk
1 8 oz. pkg. Cool Whip
Mix cake mix according to instructions and bake in 2 - 9 inch round pans. Cool Completely.Mix pudding mixes with milk. "Frost" top of each layer of cake with the pudding mix and layer.Frost layered cake with Cool Whip and refrigerate for one hour prior to serving.

You can also make this in a 9x13 pan, which would make it even easier!! I found that the longer the cake was refrigerated the better the flavor in the pudding. When I make it the next time, I will want to figure out a way to get the pudding to be a bit more flavorful and tart. Maybe add a teaspoon of lemon juice?

All in all, the event at our church was a success....Until next time....happy stamping!!!

Mother-Daughter Tea Part One

My church offers an event at Christmas which is beautiful and festive. The women of the church host a table, decorate it using their "Sunday best," make a dessert, and there is Christian entertainment of some sort. The event is held in December every year.

This Mother's Day weekend, our church, held a Mother Daughter Tea with the same concept. I decided to be overzealous and decorate two tables. Yeah, that was a bit much!!! I like to do as much from paper as I can, so I make my napkin rings, place cards, and usually some little "trinket" for my guests to take with them.

Here are the pictures of the "extra" table I put together at the last minute. Someone else made the dessert, which was the strawberry pretzel dessert (yummy!!), but everything else I put together.

This table was decorated using silver chargers (borrowed from a friend), white Pfalzgraff dishes, and then my paper crafts.

I made the napkin rings with brushed silver paper for the "ring" and then black CS punched from the scallop circle punch. I stamped the image from Heartfelt Thanks in Versamark and then embossed with silver EP. The matchbox dies were made with my Big Shot (best investment I have made in a long time!!). I cut the pieces from black cardstock (for the box portion), and brushed silver for the "wrap" piece. I found some black velvet ribbon in "my stash", and then again used my Big Shot and an embosslit for the flower.

Here is a close up picture of the items I made for this table. The placecards were made with brushed silver cardstock, and then again using my Big Shot, I used the Lots of Tags die to make the portion for the names. Those pieces are mounted on top of piece of So Saffron twill ribbon.

All in all, I was very pleased with how the "extra table" turned out. Stay tuned and I will show you the other table I decorated!!