Sale-A-Bration, Soup & Stamps!

I just love that sentiment stamp!  It's part of the Yippee-Skippee set and I think it's a perfect way to sum up last Saturday when I held my annual Sale-A-Bration kick off...Soup & Stamps!  This is one of my favorite events to do!  I make 2 HUGE pots of soup (this year it was Creamy Tomato Tortellini & Beef Vegetable with Barley), some biscuits and delicious dessert.  My ladies are treated to supper and then we stamp! This event is always so much fun and this year was no exception.

Busy creating!

Mmmmm...fresh out of the oven (as people were arriving) cheese biscuits!

"Souper" yummy Texas Sheet Cake....I used Pioneer Woman's recipe!

Blueberry Lemon Bundt cake...the recipe for this one was from my Looneyspoons Collection cookbook (LOVE that cookbook!)

Can you believe I totally forgot to take pictures of the delicious soups?  You'll just have to take my word for it...they were yummy!

I bet you want to see the project everyone made, right?  I usually do a set of cards or a box and some cards at Soup & Stamps, but this year I decided to do something totally different and we did a mini album!  I actually used 5, yes 5, SAB products...Sweet Sorbet DSP, Petal Parade stamps, Banner Blast stamps, Banner punch, and the Decorative Dots embossing folder!  Of course, I had to throw in some Occasions Catalog products too...Basic Metal Buttons, Perfect Pennants stamps, Banners framelits, and the Angled Tag Topper punch!

The mini album starts with one piece of 12x12 cardstock which you score and cut to make your "pages".  It all folds up in to a small package.  The pictures show it as you would unfold it.....

It was loads of fun to make.  Here are a few of my favorite parts...

I love, love, love these little banners!  They are the perfect little accent for the corner of a page or card front.  And, I love that the coordinating punch punches out the stamped images without leaving a white border around them...small things like that make me happy!

This part makes me REALLY happy!  Do you recognize the metal buttons?  I used the one with the raised edge and realized that the small circle punch from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack fit right on there like it was meant to be!  Here's the part that made me squeal with delight.  A dimensional under each button and shazaam there was the perfect closure for the flap on this pocket!  Here's a little tip...put the dimensional on the button, then stick the tail of the Baker's Twine to the dimensional and then stick it down on the cardstock.  It seemed to work best that way for me!

This is my favorite stamp in the Perfect Pennants set!  And I just love it here with a little ruffled ribbon along the bottom!  So cute!  And, check out that Distressed Dots embossing action...LOVE it!

Lastly, I have the measurements for you so you can create one of these little beauties yourself!

You basically take a 12x12 piece of cardstock and score it at 2 3/8 and 7 1/4.  Then you turn it and score at 3 7/8, 4 1/8, 8 and 8 1/4.  You can see in the picture where you need to cut the skinny sections out.  Any of the flaps can be made into pockets or you can cut any of the flaps off to change up your album.

Have fun with this one!  I would love to see your version of this mini album!

Head on over to my online store (or contact me) to purchase the supplies you need to create one of these and earn some free SAB products!  Have an inspired day!

Retro Fresh Start

It's no secret that 2013 was a ROUGH year for my family, and so I am determined to make 2014 so MUCH better.  With a new year, I decided it was time for a new look around here at LA Stamper so I set to work making some new blog elements...background, header and signature.  All were designed with MDS.  So, what do you think of the new look?

 
I'm not one to make resolutions, but I am a goal setter and am always assessing and adjusting how those goals are going.  One of the goals I have for this year is to have an "attitude of gratitude".  I believe that by being grateful, even for the little things, life is just better and it will be harder to focus on the difficult things when they come along.  To help me with this change, I made myself a journal using the new Retro Fresh suite of products found in the Occasions Catalog!

And THAT is my "365 Reasons to be Thankful in 2014" journal.  Everyday I write down something I'm thankful for.  I used a variety of new products both from of the Retro Fresh product suite and from other suites in the Occasions catalog to make this journal.

See hat long piece of Soft Suede cardstock?  It's not a die, it was done with a NEW PUNCH!!!!  I used one of the new Tag Topper Punches to make it.  I am LOVING these new punches...hands down my favorite product in the Occasions catalog!  There are two different designs...scalloped and angled.  Not only do they punch the top edge of the tag, they also punch the hole!  Did I mention I LOVE them!  Make sure you check them out in my online store, and watch for them in more projects as well as an upcoming class that will be announced soon!  Another element you may be wondering about is the buttons!

I know!  RETRO FRESH BUTTONS!!!!!  To make them, I covered some of the Basic Metal Buttons with some Retro Fresh Washi Tape.  It's that easy!  And, so you can see just how easy it is, I made you a little video!

See, I told you it was easy!  It works best on smooth neutral colored buttons.  Have fun with that...the possibilities are truly endless with a little washi tape and some buttons!

My attitude of gratitude is not the only thing that I'm making a change with.  I'm making a lot of little changes both in my personal and family life as well as with my business.  I'm excited for what 2014 is going to bring!

Make sure you stop by my online store to order some washi tape and buttons...and while you're at it why not some other Retro Fresh products like a journal, some DSP and maybe even the designer stickers!

Have an inspired day!

I Got Inked!

You all are thinking I got a tattoo, right?!?!?  Don't worry mom...it's not what you think!!!

Last weekend I did a Stampin' Bridal Shower and it was a blast!  I got super inky fingers at the shower.  I always tell my girls you haven't had enough fun if you don't leave with inky fingers...so I guess based on my fingers, I had a blast!!!

Rather than the bride getting traditional gifts like towels and cookie sheets, she got stamping stuff.  All the guests either placed an order for her or just gave her money and then she went shopping in the catalog.  And, let me tell you, she got a pretty nice shopping trip as well as some fantastic hostess rewards!!!

All the guests got to make two projects as well as a fun little project which will be given to the bride (I will show you that one tomorrow).  Today, I'm going to show you the mini book they all made.

I got a look at her invitation before hand, so I knew her colors and knew she loves butterflies!  I stuck with her colors and they all made mini albums out of Scallop Envelopes.  Here's a look at the pages (ignore the nasty looking tops...I made my sample and glued it all together and then got the idea that I should have each page displayed individually for them...so I ripped it all apart!).

You can click on the picture to make it bigger and see the details better.  I used the Reason to Smile set (have you got your $5 set yet???), the butterflies embosslit and some other fun embellishments (you can't have a mini album without rhinestones, buttons and ribbon...right?).

I purposely made it really simple and left lots of space for pictures and journaling on the pages.

So, what do you think?

Have an inspired day!

I Am...

This morning I am off to Stampin' Up!'s annual Convention.  I always love convention time for so many reasons.  I always come home inspired.  I always learn a LOT...about business, life and myself.  I get to visit with my Stampin' Up! family.  And, although it's a business trip, it's also a fun girls road trip!

Every year Stampin' Up! has a theme for Convention and this year the theme is "I Am...".  I can't wait to see how they incorporate this theme into every aspect of convention.  And, as I've been waiting, the theme "I Am..." had me thinking.  I thought a lot about what I think of myself and how I see myself.

Every year, I make myself a notebook that I use for business notes.  This year I centered it around the convention theme.

My Digital Studio to the rescue!  I purchased and downloaded the convention stamp set brush so that I would have the logo.  Then I thought of all the words I would use to describe myself.  I put each word in it's own text box and made them a shade of blue or a shade of green.  I then fit them all together into a word collage which was wide and long enough to fit on the cover of my notebook.

I used some Old Olive textured cardstock which I stamped for my background and then stuck on my elements that I made with MDS.  I was super excited when I realized that the logo fit in that particular shape (which is cut with my Big Shot and one of our new framelit sets).

It was a good activity to come up with words to describe myself...very empowering!

Its Tuesday, so be sure to check the My Digital Studio website for the downloads released today.

Have an inspired day!

Starting at the Start!

I'm working on our camping scrapbook and I decided to go with a digital scrapbook.  I went digital for a couple of reasons...I can take my laptop camping with me and work on my pages as I take the pictures, and by going digital, I can get it done faster (cause I'm still working on last year's book...and loads of other traditional scrapbooking waiting for me)!  And, I've got to say, scrapbooking by the fire is kinda fun!

Today I'm going to share the cover to my book (this is where the start comes in from my post title!).  I started with a template that was available in the last set of downloads released last Tuesday.

The template I used is from the "The Great Outdoors" download, which includes a stamp set and a template.  This particular template is for an 8x8 page.  Before I made my changes, I changed the size of my template to make it 12x12.  These are the steps I did to make this change:

-First find the template by opening a new project, selecting Photobook & Individual Pages/Designer; choose your desired template and follow the steps (I then chose "Pick & Click as my photo adding option)

-Before making any changes, click on the Edit drop down menu at the top and choose "Change Project Size/Type

The program will tell you which sizes you can choose to change your project to.  For example, because my original template was 8x8, I only had options to change it to another square size (12x12 or 5x5).  Once my size was changed, I turned on the Guides (View/Guides/Book Cover Bleed Area).  I chose this one because this is the cover of my book.  Had I been doing a page, I would have chose the appropriate guide for my pages.  This is important because it shows you what could be cut off during the printing process.  It would be tragic for an important part of your project to get cut off...so always have the guides on!!!!

Now, onto the changes I made.  I only changed the title and I used a sentiment from the download Happy Camper Memories.  I chose two pictures from our last camping trip (the first of the season!) because those are the only camping pictures I have from this year!  But, if I take other pictures that I like better during the camping season, I can change it out before sending it to the printer very easily!

So what do you think?  I'm excited to work on this throughout the camping season and show you the final project in the fall!  In fact, I'm already excited about getting it printed!!!!

Did you know that you can try My Digital Studio for FREE????  That's right, you can download a free 30 day trial of the software and try it out (make a project, get some extra downloads, print something).  The free trial works just like the software except it's only good for 30 days!  If you want to learn more about the program and how it works, come to my MDS Tips & Tricks Class on June 21.  I offer this class for FREE because I want you to feel successful with this program and there's so much it can do!  You're welcome to bring along a laptop with the program on it and follow along with me in the class or just come see what it's all about.  Either way, you're going to have some digital fun with me that evening!  If you're interested, please RSVP quickly because I have limited space.

Have an inspired day!

Mickey Memories

Since our Disney trip was full of firsts for our boys, I wanted them to have a way to record all the things they were doing and how exciting it was for them.  Before we left, I made each of them little scrapbooks using the 5x5 Art Journals (on the retiring list).

Yesterday, I mentioned how I wrote in my journal each night.  I had them do the same with their little scrapbooks and we also left some blank pages for them to put pictures in.

I used some Real Red polka dot DSP (from the Brights Stack) and covered both the front and back of their books.  The Mickeys were made with Basic Black cardstock which I cut with the Circles die.  I downloaded a free Disney font and printed their names on Daffodil Delight cardstock to personalize each of their books.  I trimmed around the words and punched the ends with my square punch to make a banner.  I finished them off with a few ribbons tied on one of the coils.

It was so sweet to see them write about their day in their books.  They were so excited to read to us what they wrote and it was amazing to hear and read what their favorite experiences were.  They are excited to add some pictures and take their books to school to share with their friends and teachers!

One last thing to share today!  Here's a picture of us in front of the castle in the Magic Kingdom in Disney World.

And, us with Mickey at Animal Kingdom!

That's all for today.  Have an inspired day!

A Little Digital

One of the hilights of Stampin' Up! trips is the hospitality room!  This a the room where we go everyday to see other demos, see project samples and ideas and spin to win!  That's right, Spin to Win!  Each day demos get to spin the wheel to win some fabulous stuff.  At Disney, the first day we all spun and got this fun journal to record our thoughts and memories of the trip!

Every night I wrote all about what we did that day!  I have loads of pictures to scrapbook and having written down stuff each day I have lots of journaling done too...just have to transfer it to my scrapbook pages!

Now, I'm not entirely sure that they created these journals with MDS for us, but they look an awful lot like the journals we can create and print with MDS and Stampin' Up!'s professional printing services.
Today is Tuesday and that means new digital downloads.  There's a fantastic alphabet punch and a super fun new stamp set called Seriously Awesome that I think will become part of my digital tools!  You can find this week's digital downloads here.

Have an inspired day!

Drowning in Bookmarks!

What are you doing on the evening of April 27 from 5-9pm?  You should be coming to the Diva show!  I will be there with Sherri and we have a super fun booth planned to excite your senses!  All the vendors participating in the Diva show have to supply 100 bag stuffers.   The first 100 guests through the door will receive a goodie bag full of stuff from each vendor.

Sherri designed the bookmarks, I tweaked a bit and we each made 50.  Included with each bookmark is a coupon that you're going to want to get your hands on!

The background is a piece of Bravo Burgundy cardstock which was stamped with a flower outline in Bravo Burgundy ink.  Then we layered a piece of Confetti White over top.  I punched the top edges of mine with the Decorative Label punch, sponged around the edges with Lucky Limeade ink and stamped a flower from the Raining Flowers set on it with Pretty in Pink, Bravo Burgundy and Lucky Limeade ink.  I also stamped "enjoy life" which you can find in the Fabulous Phrases set and finished it off with a pearl.  There's a piece of ribbon tied with a piece of Baker's Twine at the top.  Some of mine have pink ribbon and some have old olive becuase I ran out of pink!  It's packaged in a pretzel bag along with that coupon I was talking about and tied shut with another piece of ribbon.

I love how these turned out and hope that the first 100 people through the doors will enjoy their bookmarks!  Here are the details on the Diva Show...hope to see lots of you locals there!

5th Annual Domesticated Diva Show

Friday, April 27 5-9pm (stop by after work for some shopping and fun!)

Fritz Sick Center (Lethbridge Seniors Center...in the Gyms)

Admission is FREE, but donations will be accepted and will go towards helping the YWCA Harbor House (a great local cause!

First 100 people through the doors get a goodie bag, 80 fabulous door prizes!

Hope to see a bunch of you there on April 27!  Have an inspired day!



Home Again...

Well, I made it to Convention and home again in one piece...with a nasty case of Strep Throat.  Yuck!  And, to top it off, I came home to 2 kids with Strep Throat and one with an infected toe (double yuck!).  I have spent waaaaay too much time at the doctor the last few days, but on the plus side, we are all starting to feel better. 

I went to Convention with a group of my downline and we had a blast!

That's us on Check-in Day waiting to get our name tags (didn't get mailed to us because of the postal strike) and our Convention Bags and stamps.  We had a great day!

I wanted to do something special for all my downline that attended convention this year, so I decided to make all of them a little gift.  Here's what I came up with...

I always take a lot of notes during convention, and there's never enough space in the convention book for notes, so I thought this would be great for them! 

I covered a notebook and altered a pen to match.  I used the digital download for MDS of the convention logo for the So Saffron section on the cover.  I just printed it in Old Olive on So Saffron cardstock with my printer.  And, since the theme was Grow, I used the Just Believe set on some First Edition DSP for a fun gardeny look.  I also did the same thing for the paper in the pen. 

I also covered a HUGE pack of Tic Tacs for them...of course, it had to go with the theme!

It was easy to make the Tic Tac container pretty!  I just covered it with some stamped cardstock and made a fun little belly band to finish it off.


Well, I came home with my brain swimming with ideas for projects and classes.  I'm hoping to feel great by the end of the week (my voice is slowly coming back!) so I can sit down and plan some classes to share some fun new ideas with you.

Have an inspired day!

As Easy As ABC

I am so excited about the scrapbooking project I have to share today!  I have been working on a special book for my sweet little nephew for a super long time now.  Honestly, I started before Christmas and then left it for a while and came back to it last month.  I've been working hard on it for about 6 weeks and am thrilled it's finished...although I'm about a month late for his birthday!  Oh well!

I got the idea to make a personalized ABC book for him.  It took me much longer than I anticipated to gather all the pictures, but once I got my layouts planned and pictures organized it was just a matter of getting it done.

Have a look at my creation (I shrunk the quality and it may take a while to completely load because it's a good size book!)...

So, what do you think?  I know he is going to love looking at it because the pictures mean something to him.  And, I know his momma is also gonna love it!  My hope is that it will become a cherished keepsake for him!

Have an inspired day!

Paisley Petals

You know I've been impatiently waiting for my tulips to come up.  Well, I think I know why they're not.  One word...PENNY.  Yep, that's right...PENNY.  She digs them up, chews the roots off and destroys tulip bulbs by playing with them and tossing them around until they break into little pieces and then she moves onto the next one...grrrrr.  As much as it makes me mad, it is kinda cute to see her "fighting" with a tulip bulb!!!

On to stamping!  I'm so excited to tell you about the special this month...

I love little sneak peeks and hints...don't you?  Well, for the month of April, you get a sneak peek at a stamp set and pack of DSP from the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalogue!  Yep, you read that right...2011-2012 Catalogue!!!!!!!  Click on the Specials & Promotions button at the top of the page to get all the details.  Let me tell ya, if this DSP is any indication of what's to come in the new catty, I can't wait!!!!! 

And, now, here's a look at a fun class I'm offering featuring the absolutely gorgeous DSP.

It's a Stationary set!  At the class, you will make the box, 10 cards (with envelopes) and a whole lotta interchangeable sentiments for the cards.  Each card features the gorgeous designer paper and the lucky recipient of this Stationary Set can mix and match the sentiments with the punched scallop oval mats.  How fun is that?!?!?

Please note, your box may or may not be the same colors as my sample.  I will be sure your DSP and box colors coordinate though!  You will have a variety of DSP pieces from the Paisley Petals pack to complete your cards.

This project would make a FANTASTIC gift for teachers or Mother's Day!

I'm offering this class on Thursday, April 14  at 7:30pm.  The fee for this class is $20 for one set or $35 for two.  Please contact me to register!  Space is limited so register early to avoid disappointment!

I had so much fun with March Madness!  I had Kevin choose a number for the March 31 post and he chose #4, which was...Kim!  Congratulations Kim!  ALL March Madness prizes will be mailed this weekend (I was going to mail them earlier, but decided to wait so if you won multiple prizes I could put them in one package!).  Congratulations to all the winners...I hope you had as much fun with it as I did!

Have an inspired day!

Commitment Issues

The other day the doorbell rang at lunch.  I had my hands full, and Kevin happened to be home for lunch so he answered the door, gave a wave to the delivery guy and brought in three packages from Stampin' Up!.  Just another normal day in my life, I was expecting some backordered product anyway...except I got a white box from Stampin' Up!.  I know, you're thinking whatever Lisa, it's just a white box.  But seriously, in 8 1/2 years, I have NEVER got a little white box from Stampin' Up!.  I think I asked Kevin about 3 times if he was sure it was from Stampin' Up! and got a nasty reply from him each time...something like "yes Lisa, I do know how to read"!!!  Of course, curiosity got the better of me and lunch for the kiddos had to wait while I opened it to see what they sent me!

It was my very first My Digital Studio book!  We unwrapped it and had a look right away and I have to say I'm thrilled with the results!  I "sat" on this book for a loooong time before sending it away to be printed...commitment issues!  I have created a lot of stuff with My Digital Studio, but it just sits on my computer.  There's something so final about that submit button when it comes time to print!

So, since I got my book back, I'm going to show you it.  And, rather than put a boatload of pictures here for you to see, I saved my book as a MOVIE for you!!!  Isn't that exciting?  Now, I hope it works and you can see it...so bear with  me if I have to fiddle a bit with it.

Drumroll please....

So, what do you think?  The cool thing is that I had 4 copies of the book printed so I could send them to some very special family members that we don't see very often.  I know they will be super surprised when they open their mail in the next couple weeks (I'm kinda sad I can't be there to see the looks on their faces!!!).

Today I learned that I need to get over those My Digital Studio commitment issues and not be afraid of the submit button.  I also learned how to easily upload videos to my blog!  And, I've decided that I'm going to add Movie Producer to my list of skills!!!!  *grin*

Today's Bingo Square:  Tempting Turquoise Gumball Machine (I know I haven't posted in a few days, but I still drew bingo squares and you can find all of them by clicking on the Bingo tab).

Have an inspired day!

A Chocolate Book?!?

Yep, you read that right...A Chocolate Book!!!  I had my Chicks & Chocolate Class last week, and then demoed the projects in Millet at a demonstrator meeting this past weekend and the most popular project by far was the chocolate book!

It's made out of two CHOCOLATE BARS!!!!!  How cool is that?!?!?  I used two Hershey Bars and wrapped them in a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock (what else!!!) to create the book.  It's finished off with a piece of Very Vanilla Stain Ribbon and a fun image from the Eat Chocolate set (in the Occasions Mini).  Don't you think the Pink Pirouette looks so nice with the Chocolate Chip and Vanilla?

Ok, so a book made out of Chocolate is cool, but the best part is the inside.

It's the "Rules of Chocolate"!!!  Click on the picture to make it larger so you can read it...it's cute!

I have to thank my friend Connie in Oklahoma for this fabulous idea!

Over the next few days I will share the other three projects that the girls did at the class, so be sure to check back.  Have an inspired day!