New Catalog Wish List.......

OK - Melissa showed us hers, so I'm showing mine! It REALLY isn't too bad. I am holding out hope for a good Christmas set in the Holiday mini. I didn't include things that are always on my list like glues and things that I normally have on hand and run out of. Like 8x11 card stock. Constantly replenishing that! I still have some re-inkers I need to order to finish up having them for all the pads I have too. A few things, like the Watercolor Wonder Crayons carried over from my wish list last year. Since this one is shorter, maybe I'll actually get them this time, but remember.... there's another NEW CATALOG IN JUST SIX MONTHS! LOL!

Stamps and Wheels: Batty For You

Block Party

All About Christmas JW

Fun & Fast Notes

Spotted JW

Big Flowers

Little Flowers

Doodle JW

Fabulous Flowers

So Swirly JW

Happiness BG

Tres Chic BG

Sanded BG Inks and Papers:

Basic Gray Stamp Pad

Wild Wasabi Stamp pad

Groovy Guava Stamp pad

Purely Pomegranate Stamp pad

Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon

Groovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon

Purely Pomegranate Double Stitched Ribbon

Porcelain Prints DP

Flowers For You DP

Lovely Lilac Prints DP

Groovy Guava Prints DP

Rich Regals 12x12 Textured CS

Blossoms & Basics Chipboard Tool and Embellishments:

Spiral Punch

5 Petal Flower Punch

Snow Blossom Punch

Scallop Circle Punch

Punches Plus Brass Stencil

Watercolor Wonder Crayons - Earth Elements

Watercolor Wonder Crayons - Soft Subtles

Pretties Kit

Square Rhinestone brads - Fire

Square Rhinestone brads - Ice

Jumbo Pewter Eyelets

Taffeta Ribbon - White

Taffeta Ribbon - Vanilla

Taffeta Ribbon - Pink

1/4" GG ribbon - Bashful Blue

Grand total $541.35 - Not bad. Right, Honey????? ;-)

OK... after looking again while I was chatting with Melissa, I found a set I had missed on my previous trips thru the book.... Pg 150 - It's All Good TOO CUTE! GOTTA HAVE IT!

Total wish list now $554.30......

Yes, it has arrived!

I'll start with the good stuff... the babies are both home and are now causing their parents sleepless nights as babies do!



Aren't they adorable?????

Now for the fun I've been having...... It has been an odyssey getting this catalog! Wednesday, another demonstrator in the Sacramento area felt sorry for me and another catty-less demo and PM'd us on SCS that we could go to her house Wednesday evening and get a catalog from her. YAY! Thanks, Jillian and thanks to Stella who gave Jillian the catalogs!

So Wednesday evening I gently and lovingly looked thru the new catalog before packaging it up on Thursday morning to send it out in the mail.... Then my demonstrator copy arrived in the mail (they sent it to the PO BOX - YAY!) on Thursday, so yesterday I had a copy I could highlight and put sticky tabs all over! My box arrived today, so now I have catalogs for anyone who needs them from me! YAY! Sadly, it appears that those of us with smaller client lists (who only ordered one box of catalogs) had ours ship out last. Many of my friends online are still waiting for their boxes to arrive today, while folks in the same areas who ordered 2 or more boxes have had theirs since Wednesday. And just think, we get to go thru this TWICE a year now! Yep, that's right! Along with the normal joys and stresses of the Season, we will be on new catalog watch between Christmas and New Year's Day.... oh, the anticipation (insert dripping sarcasm)....

All I will say about my reaction to the catalog is that it is VERY trendy. For those of you who like the shabby chic, bohemian style that is so prevalent now, you will be TOTALLY IN LOVE with this catalog. Now those of you who know my stamping style will realize that I am not in that camp. I do like the catalog. Thankfully my wish list is not as long as it has been in previous years. Not that I don't have a sizeable order waiting to go in next week, mind you.... Oh, and for anyone wondering, the soonest SU! will take orders in the system for the new catalog is noon MT on July 1st. Here is their holiday schedule, per their website:

We will close the Stampin' Up! Distribution Center and Demonstrator Support on Wednesday, July 4, 2007, for Independence Day. Shipping will resume on Thursday, July 5, 2007. Expedited shipping will be unavailable from Friday, June 29, 2007, to Thursday, July 5, 2007, at noon.

OK... now this throws a SERIOUS monkey wrench into my plans..... Expedited shipping is available when you finalize your order by 11AM - if they aren't taking expedited orders until NOON, that means they won't do any expedites until the 6th. My UPS doesn't arrive until dinnertime usually. 2 day shipping on the 6th puts my order here at dinnertime on the 10th. At dinnertime on the 10th, I will be at the cabin on the coast for the week to work on my swaps for convention..... ugh. I've already had to move this "vacation" once since they discontinued all the accessories I had planned to use and now I can't get the new stuff in time either? The convention swap Gods are NOT smiling on me this year..... SIGH.... I'm on hold with SU! now to clarify.... I wonder if I can have them sent to the rental agency up there????? Hmmmm...... that would be one less thing to pack too..... He he he!

OK.... just verified with SU!.... that's exactly what that means. DARN! And here I had toyed with the idea of doing the SUPER Expedite in the hopes of having new stamps and stuff here on the 6th for my birthday! Guess Russ will get stuck entertaining me for the weekend now! Hear that, babe???? Better come up with something good! Bwa ha ha! Guess I'm no longer "toying" with the idea of Super Expedite... I'm going to have to just to get the stuff in time now. Sigh.....

Off to look thru the catalog again.... I find something new each time!

Oh! And here are a couple photos of Russ with his little niece and nephew....

I could weep.....

Apparently the catalogs arriving tomorrow in my zip code are not coming to me, but to another demonstrator in the area (who I don't know!). Demonstrators who ordered multiple boxes had theirs ship first. My box hit the UPS system today which means I won't get them till Thursday. Still no demonstrator copy in my mail, either. SIGH.... so, Dear Customer of mine, unless a miracle occurs, you won't be seeing your new catalog until after the 1st.... BAH!

Don't even ask. Like JanTink, I'm cranky!

No catalog yet. I am stalking the PO Box twice a day and the sight of the mail truck coming up the street makes me jump up from the stamp table, but nothing yet. I do know that my box of catalogs will arrive tomorrow evening (I get UPS around 5:30PM) which means to a certain customer of mine who reads this blog, yours will be on its way Thursday so if the mail system likes you, it will be there on Saturday..... Unless I see my UPS guy out on his route tomorrow in which case I'll try and get them from him sooner.... yes, I really would.

Right now, I'm killing a couple hours at the car dealership while my 4-wheeled-baby gets her 75k mile service done. I figure I spend 2-3 hours doing stuff on the computer every day, so I'd rather sit here and do that than be stuck at home ALL DAY with NO CAR. Ooo! They just pulled her up.... only an hour this time! YAY! Now, if I could just get my catalog today......

Oh, my..... the horror... the suspense.... the excitement!

This can only mean one thing.... it is new catalog time. We got the list of retiring accessories on Wednesday. It was NOT good news for those of us who have already finished some of our Convention swaps..... even though it seemed like a staple, SU! retired ALL the organdy ribbon AND THE METALLIC CORD! Eek! They "technically" retired all the grosgrain ribbon too, but said SOME colors would come back renamed and on a smaller spool. Oh, the agony.

Then, yesterday afternoon, I got a text message from Melissa (stampinmelis) telling me someone on SCS HAD THEIR NEW CATALOG and was posting info. I was glued to the computer the rest of the day.

So, now I know what grosgrain colors are coming back and which ones are gone forever and some of them were SHOCKING. One was particularly odd, since in the July Stampin' Success (demonstrator newsletter), they USED this particular ribbon in a sample, but it is not in the new catalog. We are hoping it is a catalog error, but I sadly doubt it. What bites is that seeing it in the July issue, I used that on another one of my swaps for Convention.... sigh.... at least this one is feasible to pull off and substitute another color! We also figured out that the per yard ribbon price on the grosgrain is going up about 38% so I ordered the existing 25 yard rolls this morning of the colors I was low on, plus white. I can always dye the white any color I like.

There are now several gals in SoCal and Vegas who have received their mailed catalogs. The Canadian demonstrators have started receiving their boxes of catalogs. My PO Box mail should be there in a few minutes and my house mail in another 2-3 hours. I don't think I'll get mine today.... not feeling lucky.

I have started my wish list already..... sorry, Russ.... it isn't pretty.... Anyone wanna buy a kidney? LOL!

Well, I'm off to the PO Box (hope springs eternal, you know!)... if I get it, I'll post again......

No stamping today....

I made a run up to Lake Tahoe for my other expensive hobby, Hard Rock Pins! Tahoe had a bunch of new pins out including the pin for this year's Street Vibrations...


Saucy little wench, isn't she? He he he!

I did actually do SOMETHING productive towards my Convention swaps.... I stopped at Clearbags and got clear envelopes for all my cards!

It was a beautiful drive up to the lake.... the weather was GORGEOUS!!! It was 75 degrees up at the lake. Coming home was a LOT warmer.... it was 101 when I got home... bleh! I also stopped in Folsom and did a little shopping at one of my favorite stores, Scrapbook Station.... Got some adhesive rhinestones in Lilac, some DARLING patterned paper that I am going to use to make a card for my friend Peggy, some cute adhesive rhinestone patterns that I have in mind to use for another card for another SCS friend, and a really cool template for making designs with brads.... Then I got home and had to go grocery shopping and do laundry and catch up on e-mail. FUN FUN FUN! He he he!

A glimpse into the madness.....

To give you all an illustration of why I never seem to get any stamping done....

I sat down at the table to work on one of my swaps this morning. Started looking for my metal edged tags.

When I went to look in the drawer in the closet, I saw the box that has all my dad's coin collection and my state quarters in it and it reminded me that I needed to get caught up on organizing my state quarters.

An hour later, those were all in their books (one for me, one for DH) and another 20 minutes later all the ones we are missing had been ordered from my supplier on ebay.

Then Russ came home and wanted pizza for lunch so I took care of that and played with e-mail and read over all the reviews and detailed specs for the new camera I'm getting for my birthday. FOUR HOURS LATER, I still haven't stamped anything, but I did find my metal edged tags.....

Ugh.... YAY!...... Bleh..... Grrrrrrrrr......

That pretty much sums up my feelings right now!

Ugh.... yesterday was our first day this year hitting 100 degrees. Depending on who you listen to, the forecast for today is 100, 101 or 102.

YAY!..... The true sign that someone is BFF(Best Friend Forever) material is a friend who will leave 10 minutes early in the morning to stop by the drive-thru at Starbucks and bring you your morning "fix" on their way to work. YAY! So I got up early, opened up all the windows in the house, turned all the fans on, started a load of laundry (want to be done with the dryer before it gets over 80 degrees out!)

Bleh..... By 8 AM it was already 76 degrees outside, the same temp as it was inside, so I had to close all the windows and the blinds in an attempt to keep the temp in the house below 80 (when the A/C will kick on) until after noon. Yeah. Good luck with that. Oh well...

Grrrrrr..... So, I've done my domestic duty, I'm caffeinated, time to plop my fat happy butt in the stamp chair and actually take a leisurely cruise through the forums on Splitcoast! NOT! SCS has been having server issues for the past 5 or 6 days. Actually, this is their second round of server issues. So, the site is down this morning.

Now, I know I have no place to complain as it is a FREE service (although I do subscribe to the Fan Club to help support the site), but darn it! Don't those silly server machines know there is a NEW CATALOG coming in two weeks and we are addicted to talking about it? And Convention is just 41 days away!!!! SIGH.... I've read all my friends' blogs. I've cleaned out my e-mail. I still have almost 3 hours to kill before I can escape to the air-conditioned theater and see Pirates (finally). Guess this is some higher power's way of telling me to get my butt back in the stamp room and work on my convention swaps.....

They are actually coming along well.... I printed the recipe labels for the backs of the second Dinner swap and put those on this morning, and my little supply order from Stampin' Up! arrived last night with my Dimensionals, so I have been putting the finishing piece on those and getting them into their clear envelopes. I have one of my two ATC (artist trading card) swaps designed and have cut most of the pieces for that. I am making progress on the second design as well as ideas for the Card Candy swap and the other card swap I'm in. But, yes, I really do need to get myself in that chair and get moving. I leave for the cabin in12 days and I want to have everything designed and cut so that all I have to do up there is stamp and assemble. We'll see how I do with that....

Yes, I've been stamping....

But it's all convention swap stuff, so I can't share, sorry! If I get going on my roommate gifts, I will post those, since she doesn't even know I have a blog! I did get my second batch of (52) cards done for the Splitcoast dinner at Convention. I'll throw you a bone... here is the focal image of the card:





It is from the Stampin' Up! set "Artfully Asian". The image is stamped in Timber Brown StazOn on the Shimmery White cardstock and then colored in using the NEW Wild Wasabi and Ruby Red reinkers with my aquapainter. Then it's matted on Brushed Gold and again on Basic Black cardstock. The aquapainter and reinkers were a lot more work than using markers (I was going to use Old Olive for the leaves originally), but I really like the shading effect that the painter gives it.

Now I'm off to resume my duties as Domestic Goddess and then back to the stamp table to work on ATCs.... I have 40 of those to do.... 2 sets of 20.


ONLY 44 DAYS TILL CONVENTION!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!

IT'S HERE!!!!!

My preview order arrived yesterday afternoon around 5:15PM. I got my new sets mounted and added my new in colors to my color ring. I stamped a quick little gift enclosure card that I needed to mail this morning... not my best work, but it needed to be done FAST!

I started cutting cardstock for the next set of convention swap cards.... layers, layers EVERYWHERE! Eek! I also started working on prototypes for the ATC swaps I'm in.

So, a lot of organization, but very little stamping and none that I can share here yet.... sorry!

Stalkin' stalkin' stalkin' the poor UPS man!

Well, my hopes that UPS 2 Day would get delivered earlier in the day than ground have been dashed. Looks like it will be my usual 5:30 delivery time to get my new stuff.... sigh.....

I got a prototype done for my second SCS Dinner swap (another 52 cardfronts... eek!). I'm almost happy with it. My "artistic advisor" will be happy to know that I found enough spiral clips (the "S" and cat eye shaped ones) to do those instead of the brad on the ribbon ;-)

My WalMart stopped carrying the cheap little single story cat condo.... I'm going to have to look around. In the meantime, I have a little rubbermaid tub at the foot of the bed so Her Highness can get up there. It's not so much that she is too lazy or out of shape to jump, she just can't make it anymore. I guess at 14 she is the equivalent of 72 in human years so I really shouldn't expect her to be able to jump 1.5 times her height anymore....

While I was at AAA yesterday renewing my car registration (they have a limited service DMV window for AAA members... God bless them... I was in and out in under 5 minutes, unlike the DMV where it probably would have taken 2 hours without an appointment... bleh), I picked up the tourbook for Denver.... Came home and checked the "squished penny" websites to see where there are penny machines in the area. Got to get my "tourist" stuff all planned! Fifty more days......

Grrrrrr.....

My stampin MoJo is not being cooperative. I did get the first batch of 52 swaps done for Convention. I spent quite a bit of time today playing with the layout for the second batch. I have not come up with ANYTHING even close to decent and it's really ticking me off.... Grrrrrr....

Yesterday we got the new bed for our guest room (my office) and I spent much of the day dismantling the old futon frame and then assembling the new platform bed. It's soooooo comfy! It is much taller than the old futon was, so I need to go to WalMart tomorrow and get another one of those cheap little kitty condos. Taz uses them for a step to get up onto tall stuff (like the bed in the master bedroom). Yes, my baby is spoiled.... Here she is checking out the new bed.... she can get under this one much better than the futon.....



I have a new snack food addiction...and I so do not get it. I am NOT a spicy food person. Taco Bell mild sauce makes me sweat. I avoid anything with the words "hot & spicy" in the title. A few weeks ago when I was at Trader Joe's (my fave grocery store EVER!), they were sampling some "Wasabi Peas". I had no idea they were spicy, or I probably wouldn't have tried them, but now I am an addict. I love these things. They make me sweat, and the first day I ate so many, they actually messed with my vision (probably from messing up my sinuses so bad!). Trader Joe's is a bad place for dieters.... They have some truly yummy and decadent stuff there.... If there was one closer to my house, I'd weigh 200 lbs by now.... (before you get too scared, I am almost 6' tall)

Tomorrow will be a day of fun (not) including going to renew my car registration (due this week), going to WalMart for the aforementioned kitty condo, and doing a gazillion loads of laundry. Tuesday my new stuff from Stampin' Up! arrives, so I should probably clean off the stamp table to make room for my new goodies.... can't wait!!!!!

Doin' the "New Product Happy Dance" !!!!

OK. I stayed up later than I should last night and placed my Stampin' Up! preview order. We got to order just ONE of each new product (no, Russ, I did NOT get them all! Sheesh!) in the preview brochure starting June 1st. Which to the order entry system means 12:00:01 Utah time. So at 11PM my time, while Russ was snoring away in the next room (sorry, dear!), I placed my happy little order for new stuff! I finalized my order and printed out my receipt at 12:07:39 Stampin' Up! time. I love having my orders already laid out in excel (yes, I'm a nerd)... just go down the list of product numbers, see if the totals are close and DONE!

After reading the hype and banter on Splitcoast about everyone ordering, a lot of ladies said they were going to expedite their orders. Now, I've never done this in my 20 months with Stampin' Up! because I am only 2 shipping days away via UPS ground, and paying the extra to have it sent 2-Day is just silly. HOWEVER, I have learned that during really big ordering rushes (like new catalog time, the beginning and end of SAB and preview time) their normally lightning fast processing tends to take a whole 3 or 4 days instead of the usual 24-48 hours. Orders that are expedited go to the "express lane" for processing. My happy little order has already gone into "picking" status which means that right now, someone in Utah is putting brand new stamps, cardstock, ink and accessories into a box with my name on it which will be on my doorstep on TUESDAY! Drool!!!!! And what may be even better is that my UPS ground shipments usually get here between 5:30 and 6:30 in the evening, but the Overnight and 2 Day shipments come earlier in the day.... sometimes before lunch, giving me an extra 6 hours with my new toys! Oh, and good news for the one stamper who actually religiously comments on my ramblings here.... Watch your mailbox at the end of next week for a little envelope..... LOL!




It's funny.... I was not NEARLY this excited about the new stuff last year. As a matter of fact, I was gone the last week of June when the new catalogs started showing up and was really not bugged to have missed seeing the stuff a couple days early. This year, I will be gone again (up at the cabin, working on Convention Swaps, just like last year!).... there is no easy Internet connection up there. This year it's bugging me. I can (and probably will at least twice) go up into town with my laptop and pay to connect at a restaurant up there. I guess I can blame getting swept up in the excitement over on SCS. I spend a LOT more time there than I did last year.

What's NOT funny is that I had my first Convention-Swap-Anxiety-Induced nightmares last night..... I usually don't start getting these until a couple weeks before Convention. It's going to be a LONG 55 days, I think! One involved pulling my swaps out to trade and they were just little clear envelopes with blank layers of cardstock inside. The second one had to do with a specific swap I was insane enough to join for "card candy". I've never done card candy before, so I'm already stepping out of my "zone" for this one. In the dream, I was being laughed at by the ladies at the swap because I didn't have the words "CARD CANDY" stamped on my toppers. Not that this is a requirement. At least it better not be, or I'll be in trouble!

Here is the confession of a BAD BAD BAD SU! girl.... I do not own an SU! alpha set. Although the Doodle Alpha is still tempting and should it make the catalog next month, I *might* consider it, I do not like rubber alphabets. Especially wood mounted. I am totally spoiled by my clear stamps for doing letters. Sorry. Take me out and give me 50 lashes with a wet cardstock noodle, but I just can't do letters that aren't clear. I have a large collection of CTMH alphas from my time with them and, should they come out with new ones I like, I will buy more. There. I've confessed my stamp-infidelity!

Happy June and happy stamping (to the few stampers out there who read this!) everyone!!!!!