A cute little bear and a card or two…..

One of the things that we could purchase at Memento Mall at convention was a cute little “Build-A-Bear” wearing a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator apron and “holding” a little rubber stamp that says, “Life without stamps…. Unbearable”  It has a paw print in the middle and the words circle around it.  Sorry the stamp isn’t in the photo.  Well, one of the challenges coming home was to name my bear, who is a boy.   After much consideration, I chose the name Ca-bear-net.  Cute play on words to name the bear of a red wine lover, huh?  Here he is with our new favorite stamp, Medallion:

Yes, he has his own little convention name tag too.

Here are the cards we stamped this week using Medallion.  They were inspired by the card I swapped at Convention and a card by my friend MaryR:

I really like how these turned out.  They are relatively quick and simple but really look great!  Both are stamped and mounted on my new favorite neutral cardstock, Shimmery White.  One uses Bermuda Bay and the other Dusty Durango.  The Teal and Orange Rhinestone brads from the Circle Ice and Circle Fire sets compliment them well.  The center is punched with the 1-3/4” Circle punch and the black layer was cut at 1-7/8 using the Circle Scissor.  The hardest part was the piercing around the border.  The sentiment comes from the Fresh Cuts set and is stamped in Basic Black .  I may make some of these for Christmas cards this year!

Thanks for looking!

On my way home

By the time this posts, the dust will have settled over Salt Lake City.  Convention will be over.  I’m sure I will have lots of FABULOUS photos to share later on this week, but today I am going to show you a little gift I made for James.  James is Angie’s husband and the man who makes Stampin Addicts run.  What started out as a site where our group could chat and share photos has turned into a pretty big deal in just a few months!  So I decided that with all the gifts and swapping frenzy going on around him at Convention, James needed something of his own. 

This is an altered Illi coffee can.  My sister in law drinks the coffee and saves the cans for me.  They are AWESOME to alter because they are perfectly straight and they are mostly just silver.  The DSP used was from Cottage Wall and the new Level 1 Hostess Prints Pack (Basic Gray).  The stickers are Mrs. Grossman and the white brads are from who-knows-where.  The lid is accented with Night of Navy and Old Olive 1/4” Grosgrain ribbon and inside the tin is a bag of Skittles (think candy dish at work size bag, not a “single” size).  It’s simple, but I hope he likes it!

Convention Swap – Day Five

Well, today is the final day of Convention.  We have a keynote speaker in the morning and then after lunch we will have a closing General Session.  Last year they drove a UPS TRUCK out during the closing Session

  

and gave us ALL the Ronald McDonald House Charities stamp set.  In case you don’t know, Stampin’ Up! is a BIG supporter of RMHC and we have a stamp set each year that $2 from every set sold goes to RMHC.  This year’s set is called “Very Thankful” and can be found inside the back cover of the current Idea Book and Catalog

The last swap I have to show you is the one I did for my friend Janice’s Single Layer Card swap.  Sounds easy, but doing a card with out “bulk” is REALLY HARD!  Especially when you turn it into a project like I managed to…..

This baby has more steps than I anticipated when I signed up, that’s for sure!  The card itself is Shimmery White.  Yes, it is my favorite neutral card stock.  Yes, I’m a total addict.  The Real Red is sponged on using a reverse mask, with the rectangle area masked over.  Then I used the reverse mask from the rectangle to stamp the sentiment from Heard From The Heart in Night of Navy and sponge the green, which I *THINK* is Garden Green.  The holes were punched in the front of the card, and the centers were marked on the inside for snowflake placement, then they were backed with packing tape and glittered with Dazzling Diamonds (Glitter Window Technique).  The snowflakes are stamped inside the card using Night of Navy and my trust Stamp A Majig.  Silver brads at the ends of the sentiment added a “low-profile) embellishment.

Soon, Convention will be OVER, but those of us who went will be riding the high from the excitement for WEEKS to come!  And the countdown will soon begin for Convention 2010, I’m sure!

Stay tuned later this week and month for photos from Convention and pictures of some of the swaps I’ll be bringing home!

Convention Swaps – Day Four

This evening we have the Stampin Addicts Meet & Greet event where I am signed up for 4 more organized swaps:  “ATCs” (Artist Trading Cards); “Card Candy”; “One Layer Cards” and “Mini Album”.

Today I will share the easiest swap for me, my ATCs and one that was the harder for me, the Mini Book.

I love ATCs.  I will join an ATC swap every chance I get.  They are baseball card sized and I store them in a binder in baseball card pages, which are 9 to a page.  Conveniently, you can get 10 ATC bases out of a single sheet of 8.5 x 11 cardstock (cut 3 strips on the 8.5” side, two that are 2.5” wide and that will leave a 3.5” strip – then just cut the strips into individual cards – you will get three from each of the 2.5” strips and four from the 3.5”.  Easy peasy!) so most ATC swaps are in groups of 10 where you will get 9 new cards back.  I joined 2 groups for this swap and made these two cards:

  

Similar layouts both with lots of sparkle!  The first uses one of our current Level 2 hostess sets, Asian Artistry.  The image is stamped in Black Craft ink on the Real Red and then embossed with a mixture of Black Embossing Powder with a little bit of Black Cosmo Glitter mixed in.  The Sentiment is stamped in Real Red on Brushed Gold and punched out with the new Modern Label punch and mounted using Dimensionals.  I added Gold brads to the upper corners and mounted the whole thing on a Brushed Gold base.  The second card uses one of our “Under $10” stamps, Dasher, and the sentiment comes from the dove stamp in Gifts Of Christmas.  Using my Hobby Knife, I carefully cut the sentiment away from the image and mounted it separately on a spare block I had.  Dasher is stamped onto Handsome Hunter in Silver Encore ink and then embossed using Iridescent Ice.   The ribbon holes were punched with the Horizontal Slot punch and the Real Red 1/4” Grosgrain was threaded thru and knotted.  Then the whole thing is mounted on Brushed Silver.  I was quite pleased with both of these.

I was going to share my Card Candy today, as that was the most challenging swap for me in this group, but I have lost (accidentally deleted is more like it) the photos I took of that swap, so that one will have to wait until I get back, and that’s IF I remember to take a photo of it there before I give them away!

So for Sharon’s Mini Book swap, I signed up for a “Clear Envelope Album”.  We had to decorate 4 inside pages and the cover.  I decided to do a mini recipe book.  Thanks to my friend, Dixie, who loaned me her “From The Kitchen” set, I was able to make this:

The colors used were Kraft, Real Red, Very Vanilla and Chocolate Chip.  I used Jumbo Antique Brass Eyelets on the binding and Brushed Silver for the dome on the “Voila” Chef’s tray.  I thought it came out pretty cute!

There are several tutorials on the internet for making a Clear Envelope Album.  I added an extra step to mine to allow me to use 4 eyelets on the binding – 2 from the front and 2 from the back so there would not be a rough metal eyelet back showing on the back cover.   I should have taken photos, but I didn’t.  If I find the measurements I used, I will post them when I post the books that I receive in this swap.

The recipe card stamp from this set is only 3x5.  I really wanted more lines so it would fill up the 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 envelope better, so I pulled out my trusty Stamp A Majig and masked the image to make “taller” cards.  I think it was worth the extra work.  The cards are stamped in Chocolate Chip onto Kraft and then layered onto Real Red and again onto Very Vanilla and trimmed with Red Gingham ribbon.  The “indexes” were stamped on Very Vanilla, colored and punched out.  I had wanted to mount them with Dimensionals, but then the cards didn’t fit as well into the envelopes and it added too much bulk to the book.  Oh well.  I can’t wait to see what goodies I get back from this swap!  It was a small group, only 5 people, so I will have 4 books to show you when I get back!

Convention Swaps – Day Three

Today I will share the one, lonely, General Swap I made, plus the cute gift bags I made for my roommates.

This is my General Swap. 

It is a one layer card front, cut to 4 x 5.25 so that it can be easily mounted onto a folded A2 size card with a nice 1/8” border all the way around it.  The Medallion image is stamped in Rich Razzleberry onto Shimmery White cardstock.  The ribbon is Pretty In Pink Taffeta and the sentiment is from the “Fresh Cuts” set and stamped in Rich Razzleberry onto Melon Mambo.  The oval behind it is Rich Razzleberry.  A pair of Gold Brads add just a little bling.  I think this card front looks really nice mounted on Melon Mambo, don’t you?

For my roommates, Brandi and Sara, I put their goodies into a decorated bag (Which is BLATANTLY copied from one of the gift bags I got from my friend Tandra at Easter! – Thanks, Tandra!) rather than wrapping and altering each individual thing (mostly for packing logistics!).  I did make each of them a bag tag and I also made Sara a beaded lanyard for her badge (Brandi already had one).  Here are their goodies:

 

 

The good thing about roomie gifts is that they don’t HAVE to be all Stampin Up! product….. the letters are stickers I have had for YEARS and the flowers are Primas (Brandi) and some fun beaded flowers I found with the wedding stuff at Michael’s (Sara).  The ribbon used on both bags is retired from the Holiday Mini a couple years ago – when we had Purely Pomegranate as an In Color.  I love that ribbon!  Brandi’s bag features Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, Chocolate Chip and Pumpkin Pie.  I used the Eyelet Border Punch and the Kindness Jumbo Wheel on both bags.  Sara’s uses the Cottage Wall DSP, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo and Orchid Opulence.

Oh, and here is MY Lanyard with ALL of my badges on it!

I’ll be back tomorrow with swaps from our Stampin Addicts Meet & Greet party!

Convention Swaps- Day Two

The other two swaps I did for our “Sister Dinner” last night were our “New Catalog Stamp Set” and our “Big Shot Card Front” swaps.  This group does a swap for every new catalog and mini catalog and we decided to hold this one at Convention.  The set I signed up for was “Peace Within”.  I love that kitty……  The only thing I thought looked good when I was coming up with this card was to water color the main image.  Have I mentioned how much I dislike coloring?  I’m just not very good at it.  I’m fine with filling a shape with solid color coverage, but the whole shading thing just does not come easily for me.  Here is my card (I had to do 23 of these):

The Creamy Caramel base is textured using the swirly plate from the Stampin Up Backgrounds 1 Texturz set.  I had originally intended to use the 1” Double Stitched Chocolate Chip ribbon, but I discovered that I only had a few feet left so I switched to the 5/8” Grosgrain.  The image and the sentiment are both stamped onto Water Color Paper and the mats are Ruby Red.  The image is colored using my Watercolor Wonder Crayons, including my newly acquired Neutrals set.  Six gold brads in the opposite corners finish the card.  I was quite pleased with the result!

For Sharon’s “Big Shot Card Front”, the focal image of the card was to be a die cut using the Big Shot, not a stamped image.  One of my favorite “stand alone dies” for the Big Shot is the Snowflake#2. 

For this card I cut out 2 snowflakes from Shimmery White.  One was embossed using Versamark and Iridescent Ice.  I then layered the two and secured them to the Brocade Blue layer with a Clear Rhinestone Brad.  The Brocade Blue piece was textured using that swirly Texturz plate.  The sentiment is from Gifts Of Christmas and was stamped on Shimmery White and punched out with the Modern Label punch, then secured with two Silver Brads.  The whole thing is mounted on Brushed Silver card stock.  It’s REALLY shiny and sparkly!

Thanks for looking!

Convention Swaps – Day One

If Blogger posts these when it’s supposed to, while you are reading this, I should be at Convention!  Well, at least there, starting the party with my online friends!  Tuesday night the group of Stampin Addict Sisters will get together for dinner and swapping.  I am signed up for 4 swaps at our dinner.  The “Secret Sister Convention Survival Tin”; the “Big Shot Card Front”; the “New Stamp Set” and the “All About Me Scrapbook Page” swap. 

So here is the first swap that I completed. 

I am NOT a scrapbooker.  What possessed me to join a scrapbook page swap?  A condition we lovingly call “FOMS” or “Fear Of Missing Something”.  All but a couple of the gals in our group signed up for this swap, including several who are NOT going to Convention.  I couldn’t imagine NOT having this fabulous book filled with pages about my friends!  Yeah, I suffer FOMS pretty badly. 

The page is 8 1/2” square.  The base is Elegant Eggplant and the accent colors are Pink Pirouette (yes, we were “allowed” to use retired stuff on these!), Very Vanilla and Certainly Celery.  There is NO STAMPING on them.  All the text was done on the computer and printed on Very Vanilla card stock.  The little wine glass is actually a photo I took, printed and cut out.  The journaling box is “19 Random Facts About Me” and there is a second “page” of journaling that is behind my photo that has more factual details about me (since the theme *is* “All About Me”). The leaves on my “little flowers” are made with the 5 petal flower punch.  Each one is 2 petals that were run thru the crimper.  Add a little Stylized Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware and some Organza ribbon and there you have it!

It’s Convention Time!

The all-consuming force in my life for the past month has been getting ready for Convention.  I have been planning and making swaps, making gifts and packing lists, shopping for clothes, etc. 

Over the next week, I will (hopefully, if Blogger cooperates) be sharing the swaps I made.  I am signed up for 8 organized swaps.  4 of them with my group of “Stampin Addicts Sisters” and 4 more at the Stampin Addicts Meet & Greet on Friday evening.

• Secret Sister Convention Survival Tin
• Big Shot Card Front
• New Stamp Set
• All About Me Scrapbook Page” swap. 
• ATCs” (Artist Trading Cards)
• Card Candy
• One Layer Cards
• Mini Album

Unfortunately, I did not take pictures of my Convention Survival Tin, and I shipped my swaps to the hotel already, so I will have to get some photos of that AFTER it is given to my Secret Sister.

I had hoped to take along 50 – 75 swaps for swapping with folks at the convention, but as of now (10AM Monday morning) I’ve only made 23, so it’s not looking good.

I’m sure I won’t have time to post much, if anything, from Convention once I get there, but I should have TONS of stuff to share next week!

Stay Tuned!

It’s that time again…..

The (now) annual Stampin’ Up!® Retirement list will be available tomorrow.  This time they are publishing not just the list of retiring STAMPS, but ACCESSORIES as well.  In the past we have had to wait until 2 weeks before the new catalog to know what accessories were retiring.  Before I joined SU, I’m told they didn’t get a retired accessory list AT ALL.  Which can be pretty brutal for those trying to plan Convention swaps.  LOL!

The amazing JanTInk has, for some time now, been publishing her prediction of what stamps will be on the retired list.  Here is a link to her blog from today with her predictions, and here is the list of what I have on that list and my comments on their possible retirement:

• Boatloads of Love (I like this set, but I won’t be too upset if it retires)
• Dreams du Jour (Like this set a lot, but used it for Convention swaps last year.  It can go.)
• Heartfelt Thanks  (Noooooo!!!!)
• True Friend  (another set I used for swaps- it can go)
• Boho Backgrounds (a very versatile set.  Hope they replace it with something similar)
• One of a Kind (I use the “for you” stamp in this set a LOT)
• Big Flowers (This and little flowers are so versatile.  I will miss them both)
• Little Flowers
• Sincere Salutations (Nooooo!  I *JUST* bought this set!)
  

From the Dormant List :

• Season of Joy  (A good holiday set.  Hoping for a better one in the new catalog)

We’ll see what retires tomorrow!

I found it!

I couldn't find the picture of my last swap card ANYWHERE!  I knew I had taken one, because I had sent it to Cherie and Lori to ask about the ribbon color.  Well, I finally tracked down the sent e-mail and realized I hadn't PHOTOGRAPHED it, I had SCANNED it and it was in the scanner files.  SIGH.  So, without any further delay, here is the 4th and final card I did for the General Swaps!

The patterned paper is from the Bella Rose DSP, the ribbon is Mellow Moss (so happy that we will now have Old Olive in the 1/4" Grosgrain, as well as Chocolate chip!) with a Caramel Gingham knot to accent.  The stamp set is 113622 Enjoy Every Moment and is stamped in Chocolate Chip craft ink onto the Apricot Appeal and then matted onto the Tangerine Tango.  The sentiment is from the same set and is stamped in Chocolate Chip on Tangerine Tango and punched out using the Word Window Punch and attached with 2 Gold Brads.  A very clean, simple and demonstratable card!

The last chapter....

And, here, Dear Stampers, are the rest of my Convention Swaps!  

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I know that I took a photo of the last card that I did.... I need to find it.  If I do, I'll blog it on Monday.  Let me just say that the last card was ASSSEMBLED ON THE PLANE and we had a little line going.... I glued the base on, passed it to Lori.  She put my label on the back and passed it to Cherie.  Cherie put them in their clear envelopes!  SMOOCHES, GIRLS!!!!!!  

What's sad is I don't even remember what STAMPS I used!  I do remember that it used the Tangerine Tango and I know there's a prototype photo on this computer somewhere because I was trying to decided between Mustard and Olive Ribbon and e-mailed it to a couple of my "Creative Advisors"... LOL!  You'll just have to wait patiently for it!

Convention ATC Swaps!

I hosted an ATC swap at Convention. We had a few no-shows, some of which I knew were missing Convention entirely, but still ended up with about 40 of the almost 50 cards that "signed up". Not bad! Here are the cards I did - I filled one of the spots for a gal who had to drop and the Red and Black card was my thank you to everyone who joined:

..............................................................................

And here is the slideshow of all the cards in my swap:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Card swaps - Part One!

OK - here is the first round of cards I brought home from Convention!  Some are from the "Spamily", some are from Kim Bolzenthal's "WOW" swap and the others are from trading on "the floor", or General Swaps.  I have included the creator's name on the photo if it was attached to their card.  If your card is pictured without a name, please contact me and I will correct it ASAP!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Let the Swaps Begin!!!!!

Here is the first slideshow of the swaps I brought home. This one actually starts off with gifts from my "Spamily". Most of the swaps came from the 3D Stamp Camp swap that I joined on Splitcoaststampers. It was hosted by jetty01. The small items were swapped on "the floor" for my bottle collar drink pouch holders:

These were made using the new Pink Pirouette and Riding Hood Red cardstock and the "Enjoy" stamp is from Lovely Labels and is stamped in either Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood red or Regal Rose. The frame is from "Together Forever" and is stamped in Chocolate chip. The "enjoy" was punched out with a circle punch - either 1-1/4" or 1-3/8". I rounded the top corners and punched the hole for the bottle with the 1-3/8" circle punch. The pouch is held together with 2 gold brads.

Here is the slideshow of my 3D swaps. Enjoy!!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I'm SOOOOOO tired!!!!

I have spent the past few days staying up till midnight and getting up at my normal time of 6:15 - 6:30.  I'm trying to get my system used to it because I *know* I'm gonna be lucky to see 6 - 7 hours of sleep in Salt Lake City.  I aggravated my carpal tunnel today so now every time I pick anything up or squeeze anything, I get a shooting pain up my arm.  Fun.  It's made stamping a real challenge.  LOL!  I'm about halfway done with my last batch of swaps.  I'm hoping to get them to the point where all I have to do is mount them on the base and label them.  I can do that on the plane.  And get Cherie and Lori to help me!  LOL!  

Here is a peek at one of my swap cards!  Stay tuned during convention for more!  LOL!

  Everything on the card is from Stampin' Up!

The stamp set is "Fresh Cuts" from the new catalog, stamped in the new Tangerine Tango onto Whisper white and then cut and layered onto a Tangerine Tango mat and again onto Chocolate Chip.  The flower in the center is also from Fresh Cuts and is accented with a Rhinestone Fire Circle brad.  The card base is Apricot Appeal and the sentiment from "Heard From The Heart" (also from the new catalog_ is stamped in Chocolate Chip. 

I made "mountable" card fronts for swapping this year, meaning that they are cut 4" x 5 1/4" so they can layer onto a folded card and have a nice border of color around the edge.

THIRTY SIX HOURS FROM NOW I WILL BE IN SALT LAKE CITY!!!!!!!!!!!

Tick tick tick......

Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin, into the future......   

ACK!  TOO MUCH TO DO LIST LEFT!!!!!  LOL!

I have 26 General swaps cut out and partially stamped that are waiting to be assembled.  I have started packing.  I have stripped the bed and am running the bed linens thru the laundry which should have been done this weekend.  Now, all I need to do is find a way to get about 6 more hours inserted into today and into tomorrow.... LOL!

Here come the swaps!!!!!

OK - I'm STARTING to get organized!

This is the CUTEST STINKIN SWAP I got at convention -


The artist is Barb Coblentz from Marshfield, WI. YES, that REALLY is CATNIP! Taz has gotten her paws on this TWICE already! Little monster! LOL!

I also sorted my ATCs (Artist Trading Cards - 2.5" x 3.5" - they fit in baseball sleeves) into their album last night. There were only 36 to deal with so it was pretty easy! These came from 2 rounds of ATC swaps hosted by Michelle Skillicorn aka Tygerpaws11. She hosts a lot of ATC swaps. The 1st 2 on the first page are the ones I did for the swaps.



There was only one ATC I was disappointed with and since each page holds 9, it was just easier to leave it off.

Looking thru the General Floor swaps that I did for Bonnie (raduse) who couldn't attend this year, there were some really nice cards this year. I'd post the pictures, but I did not note the artists' names, so I won't be sharing. Sorry. There were only a few cards that were (what I call) "What Were Ya Thinkin" quality (or lack thereof). I haven't finished going thru the cards from the SCS dinner. I went thru them really fast and sent the ones I didn't need to Bonnie (I'm a hobby demo and really don't NEED 100 cards, so I think I sent her 10 or 15 of them that were not my style ). I'll be going thru what I still have more carefully and posting some of the really awesome ones here in the coming week or so!

I'm Baaaaaack!!!! And I'm TIRED!!!!!

I had more fun in Denver than I can even begin to put into words. Everything was FAB-O! I will now spend the rest of the week trying to get caught up on sleep and stuff around here.

I got about half unpacked today and did 4 loads of laundry. There are 2 or 3 more to be done tomorrow. Did all the dishes that SOMEONE left in the sink.....

Once I get my swaps all sorted out I will start posting some of the fun stuff I got! Right now, I will post the cute little sterling charm they sold at the convention store this year.....



Isn't it cute? On the back it says 2007. I like it way better than the megaphone they had last year. They sold some darling ribbon sampler "charms" this year that they sold out of. I think it was WAY poor planning on their part to let people buy so many. I heard of folks getting 10 to 15 of each color so when the 2nd Session folks got there this morning they sold out in less than an hour. They really should have limited those to 2 or 3 of each color per attendee..... This is how stinkin cute they are tho....



I have about 200 photos to download from the memory cards to the computer. Hopefully I'll have more fun pictures to post later this week!

I'm back and my head is spinning.....

Looking at my "To Do" list that needs to get finished before next week..... I leave EARLY Wednesday morning.... at what Russ calls "O-Dark-Thirty". My flight leaves at 6:30AM, meaning I have to be at the airport by 5:30. Well, he leaves for work around 5:15, so he is taking me and we are leaving at 5, meaning I will have an extra 15-20 minutes to kill at the BEAUTIFUL and EXCITING Sacramento Metro (Oops! Sorry - INTERNATIONAL) Airport....(ok - we all know I will still be working on convention stuff)

Good news is that the swaps I signed up for are DONE. As are 20 cute little tins I made to trade on the general floor and some little bottle collars. Nothing is labeled or put into clear envelopes yet. I will print out the labels and save that for last, since it can get done on the plane if I need to. This is the SHORT list of what I still have left to do.....

• I need to check and make sure all the clothes I am planning to wear still fit.
• I need to break in the shoes I am wearing.
• I need to do roommate gifts.
• I need to do a couple doorprizes still.
• I am working on another project that needs to be done.
• I am making little cards/mini-gifts for my "Spamily". I need to have one of them DONE by next Tuesday since it is getting mailed to our Spamily member who isn't able to make it to Convention.....
• I need to dye my hair and get it trimmed.

If I get it all done by the end of the weekend, I may reward myself with a manicure on the 24th. Of course, then with my luck, I'll break a nail while I'm packing.....

I got a FABULOUS birthday present in the mail from Julee (Shadowcatcher) that was in the mail I picked up on the way out of town last week..... She gave me a 6x6 pad of Basic Grey "Infuse" papers (which I look forward to playing with AFTER convention!) and some cute little phrases that are the perfect size to fit with the SU! Word Window punch. Here is my birthday card.... she knows I LOVE Hula Sprinkle!!!!! This card is just covered in glittery goodness too!



So that's all I have for now.... I need to unpack the 5 little boxes of stamp stuff back into the stamp room and get some work done in there.... Wish me luck!!!!!