New Catalog Open House projects

To celebrate the arrival of Stampin' Up!'s Fall-Winter Collection 2007 catalog, I hosted an Open House in mid-July. I had a good turn-out, including several new customers. As a teaser, I let my guests stamp 2 make-n-take projects using new products & colors. The first project was a 3x3" thank you card. The second project was a 4-1/4 x 5-1/2" birthday card.

Stamp Set: fast & fun notes
Wheel: fast flowers
Inks: basic black, purely pomegranate, soft sky, garden green, versamark
Cardstock: bayou blue, soft sky, whisper white, wild wasabi
Accessories: blue bayou double stitched grosgrain ribbon, silver brad
Other: blender pens, dimensionals, photo corner punch

Stamp Set: pick a petal, stem sayings
Inks: groovy guava, purely pomegranate, wild wasabi
Markers: garden green
Cardstock: close to cocoa, groovy guava, whisper white
Accessories: blue bayou double stitched grosgrain ribbon, silver brad
Other: 3/4" circle punch, dimensionals, paper snips

Stamper's Showcase #7384

Stamp Set: double line doodles
Inks: almost amethyst

Markers: almost amethyst, certainly celery, elegant eggplant
Cardstock: almost amethyst, certainly celery, elegant eggplant, whisper white
Accessories: elegant eggplant grosgrain ribbon

Each day, Stampin' Up! features 3 or 4 stamped cards and other items under Stamper's Showcase. The Showcase is located on the demonstrator side of their website and serves as an awesome resource for demonstrator's to get ideas for their own stamped creations. Stampers' Showcase projects are selected from items that demonstrators have sent in to Stampin' Up! for various contests.

I'm excited to say that my card (see above) was featured on Stamper's Showcase on August 7th! This is the first time any of my work has been featured; though this might be my own fault as I have never sent any entries into the company except on this occasion. I think I might have to start sending more entries. That 15 minutes of fame has gone to my head!

Thanks for sharing in my excitement!

Getting Closer

My blog site is getting closer to the big reveal. I beefed up the info under About Me and was able to figure out how to add a hit counter. The latter involved inserting HTML code. Sounds harder than it looks, but with no instructions, I still had to figure out where to put the code. After figuring this out pretty quickly, I'm feeling quite proud of myself! Hopefully getting the rest of my Page Elements set up will be a breeze. All this effort just to share some thoughts and photos with all of you!

Make a Wish for Ann

My friend Ann is a fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator, so for her birthday I had to come up with a stellar card. Not just any old card would do. Big Bold Birthday is one of our new stamp sets and I just love it! I used the slit punch to create the scalloped edge. I paper pieced thin strips of cardstock on the present to make it look like it was wrapped with ribbon. I think the colors really pop on this one. I made this card in several sizes (3 x 6", 4-1/4 x 5-1/2", and 5 x 5") and they all gave it a slightly different look. Happy Birthday, Ann!

Stamp Set: big bold birthday

Inks: really red, not quite navy, versamark

Cardstock: really red, not quite navy, whisper white

Accessories: red gingham ribbon

Tools: slit punch

HOT TIP: To make your scalloped edge even at both ends, start with a piece of cardstock an inch or two longer than needed. Used the slit punch to create the scallops. Align your scalloped edge on the side of the card, adhere, and cut off any excess cardstock on the ends. Perfect-o!

To Blog or Not to Blog

That's the question. I spent alot of time pondering whether to create a blog or not. Finally decided to bite the bullet. Trying to come up with a cool and creative name was a bit of a challenge. I tossed and turned most of the night last night and came up with a few contenders, then finalized the winner today. Let's hope once I get this blog going that someone actually reads it!