Raspberry Retreat Thanks

This one of 2 card designs I made to send out to half of our retreat attendees. Joyce sent out the other half (I'll be showing you a card she made in the coming days...beautiful!). It's made with Raspberry Tart DSP and matching colors of Pretty in Pink and Rose Red. The stamp is from the Level 2 hostess set called A Little Somethin'. I used the new Eyelet Border Punch to make the decorative edge on the Rose Red CS, and one of the new Texturz Plates from Kit #4 that Stampin' Up! has in the new catalog.

Love the colors!

Michelle

If You're a Demonstrator...

We probably visits each other's blogs! Here's another way we can support each other in our Stampin' Up! business: the Business Stampers Coaching Group! I just signed up and am going to try it out for a while. I'm looking forward to reaching my goals by learning, sharing, and thriving in this positive community and hope that you'll consider joining me! Let's help each other! Click the graphic below to learn more about it.

The service launches on Monday, February 2nd, and if you sign up BEFORE that, you'll get a lifetime Founding Member discounted rate, along with other Founding Member benefits.

I've heard good things about John Sanpietro's professional coaching services and am willing to give it a try...are you with me?

Hope to see you there!


I have one more valuable tool that I've taken part in, if you don't already know about it. It's Andrea Walford's Demo to Demo Class and Workshop Planners. She has great tips on setting up and organizing for workshops and classes, wonderful projects--all well-designed with materials estimated for you (great if you're especially busy or need new ideas!). She even has a free class planner for you to test drive! Click the logo below to find out more about this great service:

Come back tomorrow for more photos of projects! We're headed to the trade show at the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo tonight! We love this 2-week event that breaks up our dreary and cold winters here. Our little guy especially loves sitting on the tractors on display and petting the baby farm animals. We might even get a glimpse of the Budweiser Clydesdales that are here this year!

See you tomorrow!

Michelle

Sale-a-Bration Swap Polka Dot Punches

Here is my contribution to a second demonstrator swap group for SAB that Teresa hosted. The colors on my card coordinate with the Petal Party Simply Scrappin' Kit, which is where I got my inspiration. It's made with the Polka Dot Punches stamp set, available during Sale-a-Bration if you place a $50 order or hostess a $300 workshop. Mark your calendars, Sale-a-Bration starts this Sunday, February 1st!

Contact me to schedule your workshop so that you can earn free Sale-a-Bration sets in addition to your regular Hostess Benefits during February and March. Also in February, if you place your order online, you will get a free Idea Book & Catalog sent to you! If you already have one, share it with a friend!

I got my package of the 2 swaps for SAB today and they are beautiful! I'll share those soon.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

Sale-a-Bration Swap Botanical Blooms

My friend Teresa hosts these awesome swaps for Demonstrators so that we can have lots of samples of projects made with new stamp sets that come out. I participated in my first ever SCS swap with her a few weeks ago, and this is one of my two cards I made and sent off. It's made with the new Sale-a-Bration set called Botanical Blooms, a 2-Step stamp set that you can earn for free in February and March during Sale-a-Bration!

I stamped the outline flowers and leaves/stems in Whisper White Craft Ink and then embossed them in White Embossing Powder. Then I used a Blender Pen and Rose Red, Regal Rose, and Always Artichoke Classis Inks to color in the designs. The tiny corner stamps were from A Beautiful Thing, and the greeting was splattered with an Always Artichoke Stampin' Write Marker and a Color Spritzer Tool.

The paper is Whisper White and Kraft CS and Rose Red Patterns DSP.

For punches and dies we have the Top Note die, Ticket Corner, Word Window and Trio Flower punches. I topped it off with a Felt Fusion pink flower and Silver Brad.

Hope you like it! I should be getting my swaps from the 2 groups in a few days, and I can't wait to see them all!

Michelle

Charlie's Projects

My friend Charlie is so talented! Here's a sampling of her projects:

You can view more of her work at her website at http://www.charliescraftroom.com/

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Michelle

Mom & Aunt Connie's Cards Part 2

Here are the other 2 cards that Mom and Aunt Connie made the other day...nice, huh?

Thanks for sharing Mom and Connie!

See you tomorrow!

Michelle

Mom & Aunt Connie's Cards

Here are 2 of 4 cards that Mom and my Aunt Connie made yesterday. I'm not sure who made which, but I'll the other 2 to show you tomorrow!

Aren't they pretty?

Thanks for sharing Mom and Connie!

See you back here tomorrow!

Michelle

Foot Thanks

I made this card as a thank you for the foot doctor that I transcribe for (my cousin) and his wife (Hi Jess!). For Christmas we got a box of foot-shaped mint chocolates from them, and this is to thank them for that!


Ever seen a foot made out of the Pick-a-Petal stamp set? I hadn't, but I thought it was cute! Although the doc will diagnose this poor foot with several maladies, including one less toe than normal!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

Mom's Red Pick-a-Petal Flower

Check out Mom's card she made and gave to me at retreat after having her "girls" at her table sign it:

I spy some Pick-a-Petal paper piecing going on with some patterned DSP and maybe Haiku DSP leaves and stem. The heart center looks to be punched out, and the card base has been cuttlebugged. Very pretty Mom, thanks! It's nice that you and I and all the sistas could be together at retreat!

Happy Saturday! I got my studio all put back (minus about 7 boxes of old scrapping stuff that needs a new home), and I'm ready to do some stamping with my new stuff!

Michelle

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

And the word is "yay"! My order from the new Spring & Summer Idea Book & Catalog came today! I've got the stamps mounted and my room is about halfway put back after tearing all the non-SU! stuff out while the SU! stuff was already out from taking it to retreat. I'm pulling out all the old stuff that I don't think I'll use and am considering putting it in the city-wide garage sale coming up. Gotta make room for new stuff!

I'm anxious to get to use it all!

Stay tuned.

Michelle

New Camera!

I got a new camera! The old Kodak point and shoot digital camera was taped together, but still took pictures ok:



But I've been wanting a D-SLR, so I got a Nikon D90:

And this is the owl mug that I got to go with the melamine trays I showed you last week. Cute!

I signed up for a community ed course on D-SLRs, but I'm on the waiting list. Anyone have a good online (hopefully free) course I can take for D-SLR beginners?

I'm looking forward to using the new camera on my Project 365 photos each day and learning how to use it to document our family.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

Retreat

A few photos from retreat:

Charlie made a candy gift purse for every attendee! Wasn't that nice! Thanks Charlie! You do such great work and come up with the cutest projects. They were all different, but here's mine:



And then there's Joyce...she's so thoughtful. She whipped this up after having Charlie take our picture before anyone got to retreat. And added some Sturgis Coffee, too! Thanks Joyce!



Here's our beautiful and comfortable retreat room. We all had plenty of space in this new facility. Our rooms were really nice, too! Suites, no less! The Convention room here had 3 zones of sound for the music, DVDs, and TV, with the big screen for all to watch. Next year I'll have to remember to take Mamma Mia and we'll see if we can get some singing and dancing going! We watched several movies (some watched, some didn't, your choice!), football playoffs, and even hockey! Oh yes, some of us (not so much me) got some scrapbooking and cards made, too!

I can't wait to do it again next year! I'll show more pics later when I know it's ok to post my SAB swaps that I finished at retreat (Teresa, do I wait until they've been sent out?).

Michelle

Four Seasons Calendar

Here are the 4 seasons from my Make & Take calendar we made at retreat this last weekend. The stamp set, A Tree for All Seasons, just retired. We jazzed it up with Crystal Effects after coloring each image with either Classic Inks or Stampin' Pastels and Blender Pens or AquaPainters.

The calendar strips were printed from http://www.printfree.com/Calendar_files/Yearly/2009printable.htm. You'll need to right click on the calendar & choose Select All, then right click on the calendar & select Print Preview. Now go to the “Shrink Down” drop down menu, and select 80% to print onto white cardstock.

Retreat was a blast and I thank everyone that attended! It was fun to spend time with old friends and make new ones, too!

Thanks also to my upline, Joyce. We make a great team! We'll be doing it again the same time next year, so we hope to see you then!

Michelle

Club Calendar Project

Here are 2 side views of the calendar we made at club for January, and a version of this was also my Make & Take at retreat this last weekend. I'll show you some more photos of all 4 of the seasons. I would like to thank Nancy Morgan for the wonderful idea.

Retreat was wonderful! Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a nice weekend! And thanks to Joyce, my upline, for sharing this retreat with me. We're a good team Joyce!

I'll be showing what photos I do have of retreat over the next few days.

Michelle

Project 365 Weeks 1 and 2

I actually got a few things done at retreat! I had printed my photos so that all I had to do was the journaling.

Here's the title page:


Week 1, page 1:



Week 1, page 2:

And Teresa, YES, I stayed up until 2 am and got my two SAB swaps done!

I'll post more when I get home.

Michelle

It's all here

Including the kitchen sink! This was my car as I arrived at our retreat. Everything I own that is Stampin' Up! is in here, plus I have a little bit of contraband scrapping stuff in here, too.j

I almost didn't have room for my 5-year-old, who is undoubtedly having a great time at Grandpa's with him, Aunt Connie, and his 2 cousins for a weekend sleepover while his Grandma, Aunt Steph, and I are at the retreat.

He does love to stamp, though, and enjoyed his time with Joyce and I while we got set up.

So far (at 1:21 AM Friday night, or technically Saturday morning), I've gotten 2 weeks' worth of my Project 365 book done. Tomorrow I'll work on my SAB Demo Swaps (hi Teresa!).

How late do you suppose me and the other night owls will stay up? My eyes are getting a little tired, but lately this isn't unusual for me to be up this late.

See you tomorrow!

Michelle

Sweetest Stem Embosslit

I'm trying to do a better job of actually USING my DSP...I'm a paper hoarder! This was made with the new Raspberry Tart DSP coming out at Noon on Monday, January 19th. I cut out the Sweet Stems image that I stamped then colored with Markers. I layered that with Tombow glue over a Kiwi Kiss Sweetest Stem Embosslit cutout, also available in the new Idea Book and Catalog. I used Rose Red ribbon, the Scallop Circle and Wide Oval punches, and even got out my Color Spritzer Tool to splash some Old Olive (since we don't have a Kiwi Kiss Marker) on the sentiment from Curvy Verses that I stamped in Rose Red. All the paper layers are daubed in Rose Red ink for a little more dimension.

Retreat starts today! I'll be rushing around until we open the doors at 5 pm, I'm sure! I'll have my laptop so that I can post exciting projects each day from there. I can't wait to have a whole weekend of stamping and friends!

Thanks for stopping by!

Michelle

Sweet Stems Inchies

I finally had an opportunity to ink my new set, Sweet Stems, which will available in the new catalog that goes live Monday, January 19th at Noon!

I stamped in Basic Black, then colored them in with Kiwi Kiss and a Blender Pen, and Rose Red, Pretty in Pin, and Cameo Coral Stampin' Write Markers. Then I punched the images with a 1" square punch, and layered 1-1/4" punched and 1-1/2" cut squares of Rose Red and Kiwi Kiss CS respectively. Behind that is a layering of Kiwi Kiss CS and Raspberry Tart DSP cut out with the Top Note Bigz Die (the Raspberry Tart DSP edge was cut with Paper Snips). The ribbon is Pretty in Pink Taffeta, and there's a strip of Rose Red behind it all on the Pretty in Pink card base.

Friday is the big day...the start of our Winter Stampin' Retreat! There's a lot to be done, like pack EVERYTHING I have that is Stampin' Up! Won't that be an interesting sight! I should try to take a photo of that!

See you tomorrow!

Michelle

Owl Dishes

Are these trays cute or what?!!! Daniela turned me on to them, they're from Target. I also got the cute mug, but I'm drinking out of right now and forgot to take a photo of it. I am planning on using the divided trays at retreat this weekend for holding supplies that might roll around or get buried while scrapping all hours of the day and night.

Great find, Daniela!

Sorry I have no stamping project to show today, it's been a whirlwind of activity here trying to get retreat ready to go!

Michelle

Bella Rose Curly Label Thanks

Once I saw what Renee van Stralen did with the wide open "thank you" stamp from the Curly Label Punch Bunch, I knew I'd like that particular stamp even more...just stamp another image in the empty space like she did here! I used the A Happy Heart set to stamp the heart dandelion image in the space. The designer papers are Bella Rose DSP, and you'll notice that I added my own homemade dew drops directly to the paper and dyed them with Riding Hood Red reinker. Only thing is, my Crystal Effects is getting to the end of the bottle and a little thick, so my drops are a little puckery and not so smooth! Good thing I just got another bottle...I'll try it again soon and show you what it's supposed to look like!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

Ice Blossom

I saw this card at ChristineCreations and just had to make it. It's the Bella Blossoms stamp set, beautiful when layered and combined with the Top Note die, some faux sparkly dew drops, and Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon. The colors are Not Quite Navy, Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss (DSP from the Urban Garden set, with a Scallop Edge Punch treatment on the side), and Baja Breeze.

I used the small flower stamp from the same set to stamp the card base in VersaMark in then heat embossed it with Clear EP. Most edges on this card got some sponge daubing with the Classic Inks in the 4 colors. Oh, as if the faux sparkly dew drops weren't enough, I also put some Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the flower center with a 2-Way Glue Pen.

Gorgeous, no? Thanks to Christine for such a beautiful idea!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

I Love Glitter

I followed Jill's lead and made a card using the Love You Much stamp set and some Chunky Essentials over the word Love. The glitter was adhered using Crystal Effects.

Thanks for stopping!

Michelle

My Tiny Valentine

These cute little card were a CASE from Paper Kissy...are these cute or what?

There's some Clear EP embossing, paper piecing on the birds, faux stitching with a Close to Cocoa Stampin' Write, and the Love You Much bundle going on here.

Have a great day!

Michelle

You've Got Mail

How about these cute decorated mailboxes that I got at the Target DollarSpot? Mom, Steph, and I made these on New Year's Day.

Here's the one I made with the new Petal Pizzaz stamp set and new Raspberry Tart DSP that will be coming out in the new catalog, available for ordering at Noon on January 19th:

To cover the mailbox we used a 4" x 12" strip of DSP and cut a slot for the mailbox flag in one side, then adhered it with SNAIL adhesive.

These would be really cute Valentine boxes, or just everyday love note boxes for spring and summer!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

Tic-Tac-Toe Love

The stamp set called A Happy Heart was used on this Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, and Real Red card.

Pretty simple.

Ta!

Michelle

Valentine's gift

Know what this little gift is made from? A coffee filter! I stamped it, put a few kisses in it, added a stamped tag and tied it up with ribbon. Nothing to it!

Thanks for stopping by,

Michelle

Bird's Nest Card Box

Oh my gosh, look what Gretchen Barron has made! Is she brilliant or what?!!! Her project was so darn cute, I just had to make one, too! It's a bird's nest card box!

I made 3x3 cards to fit inside the custom made box (you just make your box dimensions around the card size by using your grid paper). The cards are made with the Love You Much bundle and A Happy Heart stamp set, and the bird is a die-cut from the Birds & Blooms set for the Big Shot.

I don't have any patience, so instead of soaking, forming, and drying the nest, I started with a 5-1/2" square of paper, drew a 2-1/2" circle in the middle, then slit from the edges into the circle. (To find the center of your square just make a line with a ruler that is lined up from both corners so you have an "X"...then you can lay your Coluzzle circle template over that center mark and draw it in with a pencil to mark your base of the nest.)

Then I scrunched the fringed paper until it looked like a nest. I also added some Kraft-colored paper shreds to the cup of the nest that I got at Target in their gift wrap section.

Voila!

Now please go give Gretchen some love for her wonderfully artistic idea!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle