Downline Gifts

At Convention each year I like to have a little something to give to my downline, and this year was no different!  In fact, I think this year was my favorite downline gifts!

I found some really pretty fabric at one of my local fabric stores.  It had Costal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar and Early Espresso colors in it and I fell in love!!!!  So, I designed and stamped a note book around the fabric and also made everyone a lanyard for their name tags.

And, I had a cup made for each member of my downline attending convention.  It had an ink splatter with our team name and then their names on the back.  Everyone's ink splatter was in a different color.  It was so fun to give them out!

You can't tell in the picture, but the black that the names were done in had some sparkle to it!

And, I will leave you with some photos of convention this year.  It was almost 6000 demonstrators around the world under one roof celebrating Stampin' Up!'s 25th anniversary, making friends, catching up with old friends and learning about stamping.  It was a blast...and exhausting...but super fun!

Some of the highlights were:

• being part of an official world record
• participating in the service project...making birthday kits for sick kids who spend their birthday in the hospital
• the thought bubbles in the recognition room (I could have played with those all day!)
• talking with Shelli (and she commented on my cute shoes that day!)
• sliding down the railing after my team's group picture...cause that's how we roll!
• dropping off dozens of cards in the RMHC basket to donate to families staying at Ronald McDonald Houses in Canada and the US...and meeting Ronald!
• seeing my stamping friends
• my travel buddies (we had a blast on our road trip and laughed so hard I cried waaay too many times).
• walking across the stage for being a demonstrator for 10 years
• seeing not 1, but 2 of my cards on the display boards

It was an inspiring, rewarding and fun week.  Join my team and you can come with us to Convention next year!  I can't wait to go to Leadership conference in Houston in January!

That's all for today.  I will be back tomorrow with some stamping to share.  Have an inspired day!

Best of Greetings

Have you started your collection of Stampin' Up!'s Best Of stamp sets yet?  In celebration of their anniversary each month a new stamp set is released with some of the most popular images from the last 25 years.  The June set was Best of Greetings and included 8 sentiments.  My Best of Greetings class participants made 8 note cards...one for each of the stamps in the set!

I did 4 layouts and they did 2 cards for each layout.  Here's a closer look at them.

And, there you have it!  All 8 super simple cards!

The Best Of sets are released on the 1st of each month and will all be available until March of 2014.  For every 6 sets you purchase, Stampin' Up! will give you a set of your choice valued at $17.95 or less and you have until next April to redeem those sets!  Just remember to put the "25" sticker from the stamp label sheet in each set on the special card.  All the info on these sets can be found in my online store or on the Best Of page (see the tab at the top of my blog...just under the header). 

Have an inspired day!

Strawberry Slush...one of our yummy new In Colors!

The new catalog is officially here...full of loads of new stamps and accessories and the highly anticipated new set of In Colors!  So, let me introduce you to one of the "new kids", Strawberry Slush...and, yes, it looks as yummy as it sounds!

I paired Strawberry Slush with Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White for this card for a really fresh and bright look.  The happy birthday stamp image is from the new Label Love set and I used the new Artisan Label punch too!

Have an inspired day!

Birthday Basics Pop-Up Presents Card

Yesterday I shared my birthday frame with you and today I have a super fun matching card to share with you!  This card was inspired by fellow demonstrators Lisa Young and Rose Coleman!

The card itself it pretty simple and straight forward.  A little embossing, some simple stamping and a touch of DSP (the Birthday Basics DSP!).  The magic happens on the inside of this card!  Have a look!

Isn't it fantastic!  The stack of presents pops up and is a super fun surprise for the recipient of the card!

I just love it!  And, the pop-up part could really be anything...a birthday cake or wedding cake, a sand castle...the possibilities are endless!

It looks like it would be complicated, but it's actually really easy.  Here are some measurements and then there's a video for you to see how it comes together.  Remember that the solid lines indicate cutting lines and the dotted ones indicate scoring lines.  The measurements are for the pop-up insert for the card and it's made to fit on a standard quarter-fold card base (4 1/4 x 5 1/2).

And, now, the video!

Remember, until the end of the month DSP is buy 3 get one FREE!  You can find all the details on this special in my online store.  But, before you head to my online store, grab the shopping list so you can order everything you need to create this card at home!

Shopping List

Cardstock-Bermuda Bay, Very Vanilla, In Color (2013-2015)

DSP-Birthday Basics

Ink-Bermuda Bay

Stamps-Sketched Birthday

Big Shot-Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Chalk Talk Framelits

Ribbon-Bermuda Bay Taffeta

Stampin' Trimmer (and scoring blade)

Adhesive-SNAIL, Tombow, Stampin' Dimensionals and Glue Dots

Have an inspired day!

Birthday Basics Frame

Wow!  Has it really been almost 2 months since I posted?  It's crazy how life flies by when you have a lot going on.  I was smart before Kevin had his surgery and set up quite a few posts, but then it was one thing after the other, my posts ran out and well, family came first so my blog (and a lot of other things) were neglected.  I am happy to say that after some scary moments (coming home to an ambulance in front of my house and quite a few hours in the ER), Kevin is doing well and recovering nicely.  Each day he is able to do more and more for himself which means I can get back to my beloved stamp room and creating!  It will still be a long time before things are back to "normal" at our house, but I see improvement everyday and I'm getting my stamping mojo back!

So, cheers to this being the start of consistent blogging and lets kick it off with a fun birthday project (because I just got back from the biggest birthday bash...Stampin' Up!'s convention celebrating their 25th anniversary!).

This is a project my clubs did last month.  I love, love, love the Birthday Basics designer paper in the catalog right now and I thought this was a great project to use it.

I found some inexpensive plain wood frames at my local big box craft store.  They are PERFECT for altering with fun Stampin' Up! product!  As you can see, I did mine with the balloon paper, but my club members got to choose their paper from the pack so they were all different!  I traced my frame onto the DSP and then cut it to fit.  The DSP is mod-podged to the frame.  To clean up the edges, I sanded it and then sponged it.

Everyone did a little banner embellishment for their frames with cardstock that matched their paper and the coordinating Hearts A Flutter stamp set and framelits.

Here's a little tip about making banners like this.  All the pieces are stuck on the frame (and to each other) with Stampin' Dimensionals.  Then, I tied two little bows...one for each end...and glued them on.  So, it looks like it's strung on a piece of Baker's Twine, but really it's not!

And, to finish off the frames, we added some ribbon around the outside edge.

The In Color Stitched Satin Ribbon fit perfectly around the edge of the frame and matched the colors in the DSP.  Perfect!

Until the end of July, when you order 3 packs of DSP you will get 1 FREE!  You can find all the details about this special on my website here.

And, as always, you can shop for all the stampin' supplies needed to create this project at home in my online store!  Head on over there with the shopping list and place your order today!

Make sure you stop back tomorrow to see the coordinating card (and a video) that goes with this fun frame.  Have an inspired day!

Shopping List

Birthday Basics Designer Series Paper

2012-2014 In Color Cardstock

Gumball Green Stitched Satin Ribbon

2012-2014 In Color Ink Pads

Stampin' Sponges

Whisper White Baker's Twine

Hearts A Flutter stamp set

Hearts A Flutter Framelits

Basic Rhinestones

Fabulous Phrases stamp set

Stampin' Dimensionals

Bermuda Bay ink and cardstock