HELLO FROM CONVENTION

Hi ladies!!! I'm sitting in the internet cafe at convention, and let me tell you, this company NEVER ceases to amaze!!!!! Stampin' Up is AWESOME!!!! I am a little overstimulated to tell you the truth, but it is a big WOW!. I wanted to get these pictures up earlier of the bags my sister made for me and my friends to put our swaps in.
They are adorable aren't they? She is custom making them. If you would be interested in them, e mail me at katandnick@juno.com and I will pass you on to her. Take care, just a quick message, I can hardly wait to come home and make some of things I've learned here!!!!

KRISTIN/BRENDA NO PEEKING!!!!!!!!

I'm trying to finish up all my last minute convention items. I'm going with my great upline Kristin and my very talented sideline Brenda. I can't go without making some fun things for all three of us so here's what I have:
These are Kristin's goodies. One of the luggage tags is for her purse (we all three have the same purse, so I thought we should identify them.) Other tag is for her swap bag (I'll post later today about them), last is a little purse sized notebook. Nothing is totally special but kind of fun.
Then check these out: Totally cool notebook that I found at Walmart last night (after work at midnight, it's a kind of scary place to be). It's 12x 5 1/2. It was just begging to be recovered.
I told myself I couldn't get all crazy about it, so I used the texturized Pomegranate paper and the Build a Flower self adhesive die cuts. Then some of the double stitched grosgrain ribbon and ta da-how stinkin' cute is that?

I'm going to try to get some other posts up today, and I'm uploading to blogger some of my convention swaps so I can hopefully find a computer and post during convention.

Fall Flowers Color Combo

DID YOU SEE that my friend Sara nominated me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger, HOW SWEET IS THAT!!!!! THANKS SARA!!!! Help my out now though, does that mean I nominated two people???This is another convention swap, some of them needed to be very simply designed and this is one of those. I was sifting through the new papers and came across this one in the fall flowers. NEVER in my brain would I choose to put Groovy Guava and Really Rust together, but it looks really nice. There is nothing special about this card. I did use my idea for cutting the scallop punch into a flower, but this is the Stampin' Up version of the punch. Simple and done!!!!! Just the way I like it!!!

Just Like You!

So I was really excited to see that this year's Ronald McDonald House set was REALLY cute again. Two years ago we had Sweet and Sassy, which was SO CUTE! Last year I thought we didn't do so well, but this year-holy cow is it a must have set!!!
I've been working hard on my convention swaps and I wanted to use the new Bayou Blue paper. This is the final result of a few different tries. I can't tell you how much easier it would have been to use my Giga Circle Punch for the circle, but for convention swaps you need to stick to Stampin' Up products-rightfully so-so I didn't use it. I hope the picture translates well, it is really pretty IRL. Here's what else I used:

Paper: Bayou Blue, River Rock
Ink: Bayou Blue, River Rock, Soft Sky
Sets: Linen background, Just Like you
Accessories: Sherbet Ribbon originals

I'm Crazy!

Well, here's my first convention swap, and yes I'm crazy! Do you know how much fleepin' stamping there is on that???? I hope it's cute. I've invested so much time into these little babies now, I have to finish them. HMMMM...I leave for convention in 7 days...I've got to come up with some simpler ideas for the other 150 swaps!!!!!!

So the card is made using Wild Wasabi textured paper, Dashing designer paper, the Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon, and the new ALL in the Family set.

Wish me luck on the future swaps.

GRRRRRR!!!!

Well, I've been away again, but with good reason! My computer decided to throw a temper tantrum over the weekend and would not let me connect to the web!!!! Can you say panic?????? L-O-N-G story short, I'm back, but not without having lost all my stored emails, and a bunch of other information. Thanks to my Dad-a computer whiz at 70-I am up and running with at least my email address book in tack. If you emailed me anything in the last couple of days and received no reply, please try again!!!!! Hopefully I'll have a post for you tomorrow!!!!!

Reverse Frayed Ribbon with Zoofari Zebra

My upline Kristin is going to crack up when she see's this post. I totally did not like the Zoofari set at all in the preview. And I made a few comments about it, well, then I used it at one of her meetings and it started to grow on me. When today I'm using it, and guess what-I LOVE IT!!! Moving on...
I wanted to show you what you could do with the leftover piece of ribbon that you have when you cut it to get the frayed look. I've been saving these pieces, but look what I came up with last night!!!!Start by cutting out the Zebra from Zoofari. When you cut him, cut off his mane and tail. He should look like this.
Now cut to fray your ribbon. If you haven't done this before, cut the one end of your ribbon off and then pull the frays off.
Your should now have 2 pieces like this. I tied a knot in the frayed pieces to keep them together and to make them easier to work with.
Now the fun begins. Place some adhesive on the back of your zebra around his mane and his tail. Snip a piece of the reverse frayed piece to the length that his mane would be. Now stick the other piece on his butt to make a tail.
Look how cute he is!!!!! I tried to get him up close so you could see it good.
This is him finished. Think of all the possiblities with this idea!!! Have fun!!!!

BETSY DON'T LOOK!!!!!!

My friend Betsy (a really talented demo friend of mine)just had a baby and I needed to work on a present for her. I'm all about recycling stuff for stamping. I save the strangest things thinking I am going to stamp on them one day. So, one of our favorite treats around here is the Swiss Trail Mix from Target, it is the best trail mix out there!!!! So I've been saving the containers it comes in, because I don't have the heart to waste them and they will make the perfect container "some day". (I've also desided that with 2 boys you can't have enough containers to put stuff in, like frogs, worms, caterpillars, butterflies, etc.)So I had bought a cute little onesie, hat and socks from Gymboree for her. I took the tissue paper from the gift box and put it in the container. Then put the socks and onesie in.
I finished the top with my Giga flower, and flower punches.
Here's the finished product with the hat on the top to make it cute. I wanted her to be able to use the container for something in Julia' room after she took the hat off, so that' why I put the flower on the lid. Nothing too special, but finished!!!

Sorry I've been away, yet another crazy week last week. I'm trying to get back to my stamp room, it's very lonely!!!
So...I've been tagged-TWICE!!! Once by Maggie at Stamping With Maggie, and once by Misty
Okay, so I have to tell you seven things about myself and then tag some other bloggers.
Seven things about me,hmmm...I'm going to go with the theme of "7 things I want to do before I die":

1. Go to Hawaii
2. Jump out of an airplane
3. Swim with dolphins
4. Write about my life, so that my children will know that I was more than just their mother
5. Learn to play the guitar
6. Own my own horse
7. See a Broadway play


Okay, now for some bloggers:

Sarah Desperate Stamper

Wanda at Starlight Stamper

Heather at Ribbons and Ink

Cambria Stamp a Little Love

Heather at Pine is Here

Okay 5 is all I can handle for now!!!

It's a GIGA FLOWER!!!!

All right, I'm BACK!!!!!!! Here's my lastest tutorial, you could look at it 2 ways-I'm either late with last weeks tutorial, or early for tomorrow!!! It's all a matter of perspective!!!! Well I decided that the Giga Circle punch just begs to be turned into a giant flower! If you don't have any of the scalloped punches, Stampin' Up is came out with a small circle scallop punch, and Paper Trey has 20 different scallop punches for sale including the elusive GIGA punches!!!!

So the obvious is that you need to punch out the circle GIGA punch.Now, I think you need to find the center of the flower so that you can make accurate cuts.
I even drew lines from the center line to the outer edge punch. You wouldn't have to do this if you believe that you can make accurate cuts, but it's easy to get off as you start to turn it around.
Next, make all your cuts to make your petals. My picture is shows the side that does not have the pencil marks on it.
Next I took my now "flower" and scrapped it along my ink pad to texturize it. You obviously don't have to this, but the cut edges will pick up the ink to give it some depth. I found this worked better than using a sponge to do it.
Here is your flower when it is done.
Here is my finished card. This is the Stampin' Up version of it. It is a 5x5 square card. I used some of the new colors: Purely Pomegranate, River Rock, and Soft Sky. The brown is Chocolate Chip. And of course, the fun new Rhinestone Brads from Stampin' Up. The set is Baroque Motifs. You cannot go wrong with this set in my opinion.
This is my Paper Trey version on it. This the Text Boxed set from them. The colored where inspired by my new purse that I bought the go to convention. (My demo friends Kristin and Brenda are going too, and we went shopping for pajama's for the first night at convention where we are supposed to wear pajamas...anyway, we ended up with matching pajama's, purses, and shoes, and socks-we are such dorks! But FUN MATCHING dorks!!!) The point is the colors are Certainly Celery, Ruby Red, Groovy Guava and So Saffron. Same size card, 5x5. Everything used is from the Text Boxed set. Enjoy!!! Send me a link to your card if you make a GIGA flower too!!!!!

Snake and a vase

I wanted to at least get one card up today, so I just quick took a picture of the card my customers got to make at my open house. It's a fun little joy fold card using the snake from Zoofari and the vases, flower, and sayings from the new Level 2 Hostess set called Vases in Vogue. I saw a card using the snake and the vase on Cambria's blog and thought it was so cute, so I "lifted" it. See you all tomorrow!

So, it's not a card but....

don't they look yummy? Just for the sake of posting something different I thought I'd share my pies with you and their yummy recipe. And the fact that I didn't stamp because I was making those!!!! I love these fun summer pies because I think they are easy and they don't make a lot of mess.
I love this time of year with all the fresh produce and yesterday I stopped and bought raspberries, black raspberries, and strawberries. I made 3 pies, one of each kind. One is for us, one is going with me to work, and one will go with my hubby to a picnic tonight. So here you go:

Start with:

Make in the pie tin pie crust:

1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar

mix in the pie plate

mix together in mixing cup:

1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. milk

Pour over dry ingredients and mix. Press around pie plate and then poke bottom with a fork. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool.

Inside:

On stovetop combine:
1 c. sugar
2 tbsp. cornstarch
then add
1 c. water

bring to boil, boil until thick. Remove from heat Add:

3 tbsp of matching Jello-like raspberry for the raspberry pie etc. Let cool some, then add 2 cups of the fruit. Refrigerate and serve with whipped cream.

Yummy!!!!!

One more Paper Trey

I have to say that I am struggling with the Paper Trey Text Boxed set. NOT that it isn't a great set to work with, I'm trying TOO hard to come up with something "unique" and I have hit the creative wall. It is actally a really easy set to work with and the acrylic stamps make a BEAUTIFUL reverse image. I've seen some really cute things in Paper Trey's online gallery and I just can't make something like those. Does this happen to you???? This was last night's attempt. My goal is to use only that set. No other designer paper or embellishments, just the Text Boxed set. The blue Paper is the new Bayou Blue from Stampin'Up along with So Saffron.
And yes, it is How To Tuesday, and I spent so much time farting around with this set that I lost my perspective and started that project too late. I will get it up tomorrow or Thursday. I have to leave for work soon and just don't have the time to devote to it to get it up right now.
Thanks for looking. Happy 4th of July eve!!!

Happy Early 4th of July!!!

Have you ever taken a picture of card 20 times-I HAVE!!! Grrrrr!!!! I still am not thrilled with how this card looks in a photograph. I just can't come up with the right lighting and contrast to do it justice. Moving on...
The one flower in Paper Trey's Text Boxed set looked like fireworks to me immediately. I stamped the image in Versamark and then used a Versamarker to make the little trails. I then brushed on red/blue pigment powder. It's supposed to look like those big trailing fireworks popping up in the night sky. It is really cool looking in real life. What do you think?

Text Boxed Sketch Challenge

Yet another crazy week around here, sorry for no recent posts. I had my open house this week to kick off the new catalog and it was busy, busy, busy. Anyway, I'm back to creating and told myself I have to use Paper Trey's new TEXT BOXED set. After all, they will be coming out with new sets in 14 days. (AHHH...I believe Nichole eluded to 5 of them-I can't handle it, with the new Stampin'Up catalog and FIVE sets from Paper Trey-my checking account is screaming!!!!)
I am struggling with inspiration for this set. I so want to make something FABULOUS with the boxes-maybe inspiration will hit today. I do LOVE the little flowers and Beate's Weekend Challenge #8 helped inspire me. I am really happy with the card. It is a square 5x5 card, and if you are a followers of Beate, you know she loves a square card. LOVE those new Stampin' Up colors-Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, and Wild Wasabi. Have a great day everyone, thanks for visiting!!!