Nice Package!

He, He, He! Sorry, that's the goof ball in me coming out. This is a card for a co-worker's birthday. I really enjoy making "out of the box" cards by mixing sweet images with twisted sentiments... I know, I'm weird :) Anyway, doesn't this card look all sweet and innocent? It's not (well, in my dirty litte mind anyway). On the inside it reads, "hope you receive a NICE PACKAGE on your Birthday. Now, I guess that doesn't HAVE to be dirty, but that never dawned on ME till just now. Be honest - what was your first thought..... dirty or aw, sweet?

Card Deets: uses the new pink pirouette and the bella rose designer paper from Stampin Up. I also used the new scallop edge punch. The "Nice Package" (from Gina K) is actually stamped on the inside of the card and shows through the word window punched into the front of the card. This space is elongated by punching one word window, then sliding the punch to the right (or left) and punching another one.

Fall Winter Catalog with Bind it All

hey everyone! Just wanted to share quickly how EASY it is now to bind your own catalog. ETA: If you purchased a catalog from me and would like it bound, just let me know and I'll do it for your complimentary. If you have a catalog from someone else that you'd like bound, I'll be happy to do it for you for a small fee ($3).
And, the best thing (in my opinion) about it is, you don't have to leave it all alone overnight in some scary, dark staples store. This took about 10 minutes to do! First I carefully cut the cover off as close to the binding as I could. Don't worry about being exactly straight as you have to go back in and trim off this "gutter" edge with your paper trimmer anyway. After the cover was safely removed and gently placed aside (yeah, I'm a freak), I grabbed about 10 pages at a time and ripped them out with my bare hands (yeah, I'm REALLY strong... lol). What's nice about ripping them out in sections is that they stay together nicely until you cut the "gutter" edge off. Once you have them all out and stacked in proper order, just trim off the binding "gutter" edge at 8 5/16 (this is the small hash mark after the 8 1/4 mark) with your paper trimmer. I used my purple cow cutter, which easily cuts 10-12 pages at a time. Then I punched EVERYTHING (cover too as it's the same size as the pages) at the inner pages setting on my bind it all. Once on the bottom edge and then I turned the pages around and punched at the top edge. Remember when you put the binding in, to assemble the book (double check to be sure your pages are in correct order), then fold the back cover to the left and all the way around to the top. The back of the back cover will end up on the top of the stack when you bind. That part is a little confusing I Know... leave me a comment or email me if you have a question and I'll try to explain it better. I know there are lots of instructions, but this really is EASY PEASY.
The picture above shows that I customized my catalog by cutting down a page protector sheet and included after my cover so I could carry my mini and decor elements catalogs too! There is also another sheet inside the back cover for specials, etc.

This is the card we did last night at Diva Club. The main element is cracked glass. The girls had a good time getting cracked up! Thanks for stopping by today - have a happy stampin' day!

Good Times with Rub On's

I'm so sorry to not be posting much, it's a mess around here and I spend most of my free time (which seems to be not much) cleaning up construction debris or something else in preperation for my new spaces. Yes, spaces, we've expanded from just the basement. Anyway, I did this frame after we returned from vacation. There are SOOOOO many beautiful new rub on's in the new catalog, I wanted to show you another way to use them. The Good times and is from the Eastern Elegance set from last year and is applied directly to the outside of the frame on the glass. Aren't they (er., isn't it) cute?!?

2 new Sr Associates in the house!!

I just wanted to give a shout out to Kim and Tara. They are 2 of my downlines who have recently promoted to Sr. Associate with Stampin' Up! Way to go Kim and Tara - you rock!

You can check out Kim's blog, Endless Inkabilities here. Tara doesn't have a blog (that I know of), but she's a wonderful demo in the Holland Patent, NY area!

Happy Birthday Cullen!!

I know I won't have time to post tomorrow, so I wanted to wish my Bubbie a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can't belive my baby is 11 already! Seems like yesterday we bought him his first full set of hockey gear and he fell asleep in it on the futon pictured behind him... he didn't care that it was September and about 80 degrees! He amazed me then with the way he skated on the ice and I'm just in complete awe now. He's about 3 in the picture above and the one below was taken in February. He has since gotten his hair cut and you can see his beautiful face once again. Here's the card I whipped up quick for him. It's been such a crazy month around here. You can just see in the bottom right hand corner that there is a star punched out and then popped on dimensionals. And, if you look in the next picture, you can see a red square under the pocket to hold the "green". I had originally intended this to be a glitter window star, but when I put the red glitter on the star, it looked more pink than red, so I added the red cardstock backer and I still wasn't satisfied, so I just popped the punched out star back on and liked that best. Besides, I know he won't care much about what's outside the card as much as what's inside the card. I don't mean to make him sound like a brat, but hey, he is 11 after all!

Thanks for stoppin by today and if you feel like it, leave a bday wish for Cullen - I'm sure he'd like to be "famous" for a day!

New Catalog Online - but SLOW.......

I've put up a link to the Fall/Winter Catalog on the right hand side bar, but if you click on it, don't expect it to load any too quickly. As Stampin' Up! will be offering online ordering this year, they've decided to load the catalog as a PDF file which is taking FOREVER to download and open. Once online ordering is up later this fall, the catalog will then be more easily accessible to view online. If you can't stand the online wait, give me a call and we'll get a printed copy in your hands!

Did you also check out the other 2 new links? There is a signing special (a great one at that) and also 15% off 10 new stamp sets!

celebrate - it's great!

Hi everyone! Hope you've all had a great weekend! Why do they seem to go by so fast? Today, I got to stamp! I made 2 cards that will go in tomorrow's mail as birthday cards (both late)! I'll share those in a couple of days after the recipients have a chance to be surprised. I also made this can of happiness for a guy friend. This is a chunky soup can which was opened via the bottom of the can with a safety can opener. Once cleaned out and dried, I refilled it with some wrapped candy and nuts - couldn't fit any beer in there! Perhaps I should give him a 6-pack with it?!? Anyway, The tag on the side says CELEBRATE and there is a it's great circle thingy popped on dimensionals under the celebrate. The tag is tied on using a method my upline taught me. I took a picture and will attempt to explain it in case you're interested. Cut a length of ribbon (twine used here) long enough to go all the way around your can, leaving enough excess so you can make a bow. Thread both ENDS through a hole that has been punched in the tags and then place the loop end over your can and pull the ends tight. It helps to grab the opposite ends and pull kinda criss crossed (like you would if you were tying a shoe). Then just make your bow and viola! Let me know if you can't understand my oh so clear instructions and I'll help you out with some remedial lessons... LOL! Have a good monday and thanks for stoppin in!

New Starter Kit Speical Just Announced!

Have you ever thought about joining Stampin' Up! - even if it's "just to get the discount"? Well, wait no more my friend (oops, you do need to wait until Monday). This was just announced on the Stampin Up Demo Website...

$99 Starter Kit Promotion Dates: August 11-October 11, 2008 (note: this link will not show info on this promotion until August 11th)

Promotion details: From August 11-October 11, potential recruits will have the option of becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator by purchasing one of three special mini Starter Kits* priced at $99.

Stamp-Focused Starter Kit contents: Fun and Fast Notes stamp set, Bold Brights card stock assortment (8-1/2" x 11"), Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad, SNAIL Adhesive, Whisper White card stock.

Scrapbook-Focused Starter Kit contents: Contempo Alphabet stamp set, Simply Scrappin' Petal Party, Pixie Pink Classic Stampin' Pad

Home Décor-Focused Starter Kit contents: Inspired by Nature stamp set, Décor Elements Chocolate Classic Ff, Décor Elements Medium Chocolate Long Stem Silhouettes, Décor Elements Applicator, Kiwi Kiss Classic Stampin' Pad

*Each kit also includes the same business supplies that are found in the standard Starter Kit (the Home Décor-Focused Starter Kit also includes 25 Décor Elements brochures). While all items in the Starter Kits are recommended, a new demonstrator may substitute a like item of equal or lesser value.

Contact me today to learn more or check out my Stampin' Up! Business Website to sign up at your convenience starting August 11th! As always, you can get the full starter kit for $199. There will be a special where you can pick a new stamp set in addition to those in the starter kit. This special only applies if you purchase the full kit (does not apply to mini kits).

New Catty Stuff Sightings!

While blurfing (blog surfing) I found this blog with pics of some new sets in the soon to be released catalog! You just need to scroll down a bit to check them out. I just LOVE the drinks set and LOOK at the new hardware - OMG!

And here are some more sneak peaks from Kristin's blog!

AND Tons of different stuff here on Sharon's Blog and here are some GREAT pictures of the catalog pages on Dina's Blog

I wish I could go to convention and share all this stuff first hand with you. As we were driving 7 hours home yesterday, I hinted to DH that if we had gone to Utah, we wouldn't have to drive AND the "vacation" could be a write-off... LOL!

Deep Sea Fishing anyone?

On our vacation in Ocean City, MD, we decided that we would take the boys fishing on the ocean. Well, this is the boat that we SHOULD have gone on. But, NO! We had to go out, out, out to the DEEP sea to fish. Well, there wasn't alot of fishing done, Tyler dropped his line once and caught a 11.5 inch sea bass, but we had to throw it back before I could even get my camera out! After that we all had to quickly go join Cullen in the cabin to lay on the benches before we gave something back to the sea, if you know what I mean. The whole bunch of us were feeling quite ill and next time we will go fishing in the bay on the happy hooker and all be much happier:) I have pictures from the other boat, but they are not a pretty sight!

I missed you guys!

I'm so torn... I REALLY want to stamp today, but I have like 12 loads of laundry to do (without bothering the awesome basement construction crew) and unpacking and grocery shopping, and I feel so out of the loop that I really need to read, read, read blogs and webstites to catch up on all that happened at convention over the weekend! Oh, what to do first! Obviously, I don't have any projects to share with you, but here's a pic of the new catty that I found on Kelly's blog that I thought might make you smile...

Note: Convention attendees got their new catalogs at convention and they also receive them spiral bound. The rest come book bound and then we can take them to staples or somewhere to get them bound... just make sure they use a big enough wire so that your book opens properly afterward!

I'm back with some big news from Stampin' Up!

WOW! We had an AWESOME time on vacation, but I'm glad to be home and back in touch with the "real" world (in cyberspace). Our hotel didn't have WiFi (WTF?) and I could only pick up a signal from across the street now and then, so my computer time was limited - not that I had time to check in anyway... This is what I've learned so far after being home about what when on at Convention (a huge meeting for Stampin' Up! demo's held in Utah this past week)

There are sooooooo many new things happening at Stampin Up! If you haven't heard the news already (I know things travel fast) - here's some of the latest (in addition to moving forward with online ordering which should be available soon):

Shelli's signature series: items that reflect Shelli's personal style. I don't know too much about these yet, but I hear they are GORGEOUS! Also .... Shelli (Shelli Gardner) will start blogging! Her new blog will go live (August 12th).

Big Shot - SU will now carry an exclusive version of the Sizzix machine in the SU black with logo, carrying case available as well as GREAT new dies (like Tulipe - which looks like the large background stamp Baroque), pennants, scalloped circles, alphabets and more! More shapes and sizes will be available shortly. You can cut cardstock, paper, chipboard, VINYL, fabric and so much more with these! You can do things like make sweet little flowers by stacking die cut scalloped circles from fabric. There is also a wall project with a fleur de lis like design made by cutting a stencil from the Tulipe die and then stenciling on your wall! (PS Tulipe is noted as one of Shelli's signature items!).

New Decor Elements - holiday (Halloween, Fall, Christmas) items AND additional colors! Check out the cute shadowbox project and candy jar.

Incredible new DSP and ribbons!

A NEW stamp set benefitting Ronald McDonald House Charitiies - its a scalloped square that matches the NEW square scalloped punch! I can't wait to learn and share more soon!