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"Under the Stars" Meets "And Many Mower"!

Here's the final card we will be making at the Masculine Card Class tonight and tomorrow using "Under the Stars" and "And Many Mower"! This is a tri-fold card that uses the slit punch as the closure:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

When you open it looks like this:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

Pretty cute, huh? This card is shown as a Father's Day card, but you could substitute "Happy Birthday" or make it a "Happy Retirement" card very easily!
 I usually show all of my cards to my husband after I make them, but I think I will hold back on this one and give it to him for Father's Day this year!

I also wanted to show you a few pics of what had been going on at my house last week:

Here's our lovely bride-to-be, Alisa, and her fiance', Cody, helping me make these:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

Here's the flip side of this 5 1/4 x 5 1/4" square invitation:



©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

This was a pretty simple design, and using the Big Shot Texturz Plates made it even easier! (It did take us awhile, though, to make 200 of them!) But they are all in the mail now, so we are on to the next stages of wedding preparation, thank-you's and wedding reception favors!

There's still room in my Saturday Masculine Card classes, so call me today to RSVP!

More Masculine Cards!

Here's more projects for Friday & Saturday's Masculine Stamp-a-Stack!

Wanted:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

It's A Sign:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

This is the box we will be making to put our cards in (sorry it's a little blurry):
©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

Party Hearty with That's Funny on the inside:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

Totally Tool!

I am busily working on the cards for my Masculine Card Stamp-a-Stack this Friday and Saturday, and here's one of the cards we will be making using the "Totally Tool" stamp set:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

We will be using the "Woodgraining" Technique on this one, perfect to go along with the saw stamp!

Well, I'd better get myself to bed now so I can play (er, work!) some more tomorrow!

(I guess after looking at the clock, I should say later today!)

Happy Memorial Day!

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

Today is a day to remember. To remember the men & women who have given their lives so we can live in a free country, go where we want to go, live the way we want to live, worship in our churches every week. All I can say is THANK YOU to all of you who have given your lives and THANK YOU to all of you who are on the front lines (and behind the lines in support) so we can continue with the rest and peace we so often take for granted. May God bless you!

It's also a day to remember our loved ones who have gone on before us. I'm not much of one to visit the cemetery regularly, but I often think about my dad, my mom, my grandma,  & my step-mom, as well as friends of mine and unfortunately my children's friends with love.

I will be spending my day at my grandaughter, Maddie Kate's, 8th birthday party. Her Pa-Pa and I rushed down to Nashville, TN the night she was born to greet her into our family. Oh the joy we felt the first time we held her in our arms! We still feel that joy when we get her hugs!

So however you choose to spend your day, be sure to hug the ones you love!

Bold Cupcakes!

This is the final card I created for the "Birthday Blowout" Stamp-a-Stack last week. I wanted to use my Bold Cupcake sizzlet with my Big Shot, and also wanted to use the Raspberry Tart Designer Series Paper. This was actually a fun and easy card to make!

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

What do you think? Leave me a comment here, not an email, and I will send you this card!

Special Blessings Trio of Cards!

Angie requested a card made with this stamp set at her party Friday night. This one simply stamped with Mellow Moss and Elegant Eggplant on Very Vanilla was enhanced greatly with the Flourish Texturz Impressions plate through the Big Shot. I think it has a very elegant look!

We stamped cross on the inside first with Mellow Moss, then used the Stamp-ma-jig to place "on your Special day" perfectly on it!


©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

I also made a couple of extra samples to show her other styles you can stamp with this set. This one is stamped in Chocolate Chip Craft ink and embossed with Clear e.p. I added a Baja Breeze flower from the Trio Flower punch and a silver brad. You can't really tell in this picture, but I sponged the edges of the flower with Baja Breeze. The ribbon I used is from the Valet Ribbon Originals, and the DSP is Parisian Breeze.

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

This last sample is very formal. Basic Black Craft embossed with Clear e.p., mounted on Basic Black, on Shimmery White, on Brushed Silver, and finally mounted on a Basic Black cardbase. The Ticket Corner punch and Stampin' Dimensionals are the only accessories used on this card.

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

"Special Blessing" is such a great set. I ordered it for free with my SAB rewards, and I'm glad I did!

Convention: The BEST of Times!

Every summer I look forward to one of my favorite times of the Stampin' Up! year, (yes, the new catalog is great, but even better is going to the Stampin' UP! Convention in Salt Lake City every August!)

Last year there were 7 of us who went to convention: Linda, me, Jan, Melinda, Janice, Cathy, & Lorelei!

We swapped great swaps:

 

Did fun Make n' Takes:

 

Received FREE stamps!

Had great fun eating out together in the evening! (Here we are at Benihana's!)

Took lots of pictures of sample boards:

and enjoyed meeting up with old friends!

Convention is the BEST! I can't wait to go again this year!

Founder's Circle 2008-Fun Times as a Demo!

I guess I am just playing catch-up with everything that has been going on Stampin' Up!-wise for the past year in my life this week! Today I am taking a walk down Memory Lane to Founder's Circle in September 2008!

After flying us in to Las Vegas, Stampin' Up! boarded us onto this bus for the ride into beautiful St. George, Utah, in the heart of Red Rock country! During the ride I had a chance to talk to other top-level demos who had earned this getaway too!

I had opportunities to get lots of great ideas and take lots of pictures for class ideas:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

We each had our OWN ROOM at the hotel in St. George, and had plenty of good food time to relax! One day we took a bus trip to Kanab, Utah, to visit the stamp manufacturing plant:

We were able to tour the plant floor (no pictures allowed), but we were allowed to take pictures in Shelli's private apartment upstairs. Here's me sitting on Shelli's bed!

Beautiful, although the pic is fuzzy!
The entire apartment was decorated exactly as I would expect Shelli's home to be, elegant yet comfortable, and filled with unique antiques! Here's her kitchen:

We ended our day at Kanab with lunch at the local park where Stampin' Up! has donated all the playground equipment and the surface under the jungle-gym was ground-up stamps! Stampin' Up! doesn't like to waste anything!

Of course, there were pillow gifts every night:

And of course a fun new stamp set for our Make n' Takes:

One new thing I learned is that is you put a piece of DSP inside a cello bag so you can punch it with an oval punch!

Our swap & share night in our jammies was great fun! The best holiday swaps ever!

And of course new stampin' friends: Kristina, Deb, Martha, me, & Barb!

All in all it was a wonderful trip and a great experience, something I would never had had the opportunity to do without Stampin' Up!

Another Perk of Being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator!

I LOVE being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator! Bet you couldn't tell that already from looking at my blog, can you??? Well, I love every minute of it, even after 6 1/2 years of running my own Stampin' Up! business, I can't begin to tell you the satisfaction and pleasure I get out of teaching stamping techniques to both new stampers and more experienced gals!

Another perk I have comes from the fact that I have been blessed to be able to continue to earn the Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip every year. I get to take a fabulous all-expenses-paid trip every spring  with my wonderful husband, Mark! Here we are at the beautiful Hilton Waikaoloa Village Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii:

This was our "Beach Day"!

The Stampin' Up! Hospitality Room had lots of great swaps on display:

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

Stampin' Up! is SO accomodating that when I asked if we could fly in early to visit Pearl Harbor, they allowed the travel agency to book our flight a couple of days ahead and PAID for it! Here's our view from our hotel room just a block away from Wakiki Beach:

And here's the gorgeous sunset we watched while sitting on a pier at the beach!

Stampin' Up! had a great breakfast and fun Opening General Session for us the first full day in Hawaii, but after that our time was our own!

We took a 10 hour bus tour around the Big Island one day which included a visit to this volcano crater!

Of course, there were pillow gifts every night:

And a "Share Night" where demos brought projects from camps, classes, and workshops that have really been enjoyed by their stampers, and we had loads of time to browse, take pictures, and "talk shop"!

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

One of the best things about the Incentive Trip is making new friends! Here I am with Heather, who I swapped some great swaps with at the final night luau!

The Stampin' Up! Incentive Trip is one perk of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator I hope to help many of my downline achieve!

"Yes Ma'am's" Downline Meeting Projects!

This weekend we had our monthly meeting of my downline, the "Yes Ma'am! Stampers", and the projects we made and the samples that were shared were just fabulous! I had to show you a few!

I have always encouraged my downline to bring samples of the cards and projects they have been showing in the past month since our last meeting, and this time Linda brought some great ones:

Here's her version of the flower pot card with the "Cherry Blossom Embosslit, Boho Blossoms punch, and Five Petal Flower punch:

Here she used the "Good Friend" stamp set with Cameo Coral and "Tea Party" DSP:

On this one she used Inspired By Nature and the Embossing Resist Technique:

She used the "Just Beachy" stamp set and "Lazy Days" Jumbo wheel for this summery card!

I love the way she combined the "Fifth Avenue Floral" with the "Manhattan Flower" Embossing folder:

She made some really cute new purses with the "Parisian Breeze" DSP!

A couple of weeks ago I and several of the "Ma'am's" traveled to Champaign, IL, to attend a fun meeting just for demonstrators. At this meeting we had the opportunity to see several fun techniques demonstrated by some very talented demonstrators, and this is Linda's version of the technique to use the Scalloped Circle punch to create beautiful coneflowers!

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

Each meeting we discuss current stampin' topics of interest, then we stamp! We learn three new techniques or projects at each meeting, often presented by different members of the "Ma'am's!" (Don't worry, if you have been thinking about joining our group with the $75 Starter Kit this month, participation in the meetings AND in presenting is COMPLETELY voluntary! I NEVER make anyone demonstrate for the group unless they want to!)

This month we stamped these projects:

First Wendy showed us this project CASED directly from our demonstrator monthly magazine, Stampin' Success. We used the "Fifth Avenue Floral" set and Urban Oasis DSP!

Next, Jan used the same set and DSP to show us how to do the "Floating Reinker" technique to make beautifully watercolored roses! We watercolored the rose on Shimmery White cardstock:

Last but not least, Sara showed us how to do the "Faux Frosting" technique, one of the techniques that were demo'ed at the Champaign event we went to!

©Stampin'Up!™1990-2009

We meet and learn techniques every month! The $75 Starter Kit deal only lasts until May 31st, so contact me today and join in the fun!