Nov 17, 2011 | Big Shot, Demonstrator, Fabric, Holiday Mini catalog 2011 |
Well I am away from my blog for a day or so and things have changed. I guess everything changes all the time and while I would like to say can you me some warning – the truth is they probably did and I didn’t pay attention to it. The first thing I noticed was a change in adding my pictures to my blog post. I wonder what else has changed – I guess I’ll find it as a I find it.
And now for the cutest little bears ever…..these are the teeniest little fabric bears.
I saw these on Patty Bennett’s blog – you can see her post and the instructions HERE. I wanted a fabric project for my last downline meeting and when I Patty shared these I knew they would perfect. These are teeny tiny little bears and we used the Spice Cake fabric to make the. This is a Big Shot project – using the Scallop Circle dies – the large, medium and small scallop circles were all used.
I got a picture of the three different fabrics in the Spice Cake assortment – I made one and the others were made by some of the girls at my downline meeting. These were assembled using hot glue but they are tiny enough that I think hand sewing them together would have been almost just as easy. I may try to make another one and just stitch the pieces together.
I am trying to finish up a tutorial for my Thanksgiving Turkey box so if you are looking for an idea for next week hold one for another day or so and I’ll have it out here for you.
Have a nice fall day! We had storms yesterday with tornado sirens (no tornado though) and the power kept going off (didn’t stay off long) and we have lots of wind today so there are leaves everywhere – falling leaves is why we call it fall.
Oct 28, 2011 | Cards, Christmas, Demonstrator, Holiday Mini catalog 2011, My Digital Studio |
Earlier this month we had a retreat for demos at my house and we learned all about My Digital Studio. It was so much fun! My friend, Cindy and I came up with the idea last summer as we flew out to Salt Lake City for the Stampin’ Up! Convention. We started talking on the flight over and then had even more ideas after attending the classes that they offered at convention. We worked on our plans and on our projects and scheduled the retreat for mid October.
There were 12 of us here for an entire day learning and playing with My Digital Studio.
all of us
A picture of the whole gang eating out in my sunroom. We set up tables out there so we wouldn’t have to clear the computers off our work spaces. We set up two classrooms – the kitchen table had the beginner group that I taught and the dining room table had the intermediate group that Cindy taught.
Beginner Classroom
Intermediate Classroom
We planned our day with class time in the morning, lunch and dinner breaks, three hybrid projects, and free create time at the end of the day. For each hybrid project the time was split between actually completing the project – adding the hybrid elements – we had the MDS part pre-printed – and going over how we created it in MDS. We covered topics such as printing through the Stampin’ Up! print service, using Designer Templates, printing at home, and more.
One project was a Welcome Banner. This one was modeled after one that we saw at one of the classes at Convention. I changed it to use the Spice Cake Designer Paper in MDS. This one I printed on my home computer and then we added the elements such as die cut letters, punched flowers, ribbon, pearls, linen thread, hemp twine and the mini clothes pins for hanging.
The second project was a card. This is the card sample in the Holiday Mini catalog. It is made using a postcard template so we showed how to take that template (it is a digital download) and create a card with it. And then add the hybrid elements. Cindy created this project for the class. These were printed through the SU print service.
The third project was the calendar. Cindy recreated the calendar that was made in the MDS +FUN class at convention in the portrait option. And she made it a 2012 calendar. For the class we added little hybrid pieces to each month. These were printed through the SU print service and they are so nice.
Everybody received a Make ‘n Take bag that included a personalized name tag. I got this idea from another demo – Heather. I created the tags as a MDS Swatchbook project and had them printed through the SU print service. The swatch books are really nice – see the hole in the corner – that is where the rivet is and then the book has a plastic cover on the front and back. I just took it all apart to create the tags which we tied to the bags with Very Vanilla Seam Binding. Inside the bag were all the pieces for the projects we made (we pre-punched everything!) and all the handouts with instructions for our class topics, printing, and the projects.
We had good food – Chicken Salad for lunch and Chili and baked potatoes for dinner. We had some desserts – look at these little brownie bites – 
We punched out the detailed flower from the Triple Flower punch – laid it on each brownie and sprinkled them with powdered sugar. They matched the cover of our calendar!!
I think everyone learned a lot in that one day – even Cindy and I learned from each other as we prepared and held the retreat. We enjoyed ourselves so much we started planning the next one before the night even ended. If you live near us – I hope you will be able to join us for the next one!
Have a great day!
Oct 6, 2011 | Big Shot, Demonstrator |
Click Here for a video about this BIG DEAL!
Sep 1, 2011 | Christmas, Demonstrator, Holiday Mini catalog 2011 |
I’m so excited that the Holiday Mini Catalog starts today and everyone can order! Have you seen it yet? It is packed full of great products!
Some of my favorites are the new Simply Scored scoring tool (yipee!), the 1″ x8″ skinny cello bags, the Spice Cake product suite, the Holiday Stocking die for the Big Shot, personalized address stamps for the holidays, the Stitched Stocking stamp set with a matching PUNCH (yeah!), the Peekaboo Frames die for the Big Shot and the 25 & Counting stamp set and more. This may be my favorite mini catalog yet. And if you open up the first page of the mini (US version) you see this:
That’s me in the bottom corner! I was so excited to see this at convention! I didn’t think they would actually pick me when I got an email months earlier and then didn’t hear anything back. I don’t consider myself to be good with words, in fact I think I am a terrible writer, so I thought for a long time about how to answer the questions they asked trying to make it sound good. And when I didn’t hear back I figured they picked someone else. Thanks so much Stampin’ Up! you really (I mean really) made me feel special! I love this company!
So online ordering is up and ready for you to order any time day or night – just go here to my website.
Aug 17, 2011 | Cards, Catalogs, Demonstrator |
I wanted to share the swap cards from my last PAWS team meeting. Enjoy.
created by Lisa Bryan - My Friend, Occasions Alphabet
created by Lisa Swantek - Elegant Thank You
created by Laree Stewart - Creative Elements
Created by Joyce Pandolfi - Posy Punch
created by Fran Kennedy - Best Friends Forever, Raining Flowers
Created by Dannette Concepcion - Crosses of Hope
created by Cindy Schuster - Circle Circus, Thank You Kindly
created by Christine Wilkins - Happiest Birthday Wishes
I swapped my turtle card with the masked window that was posted previously. I hope you enjoyed all the ideas from the Stampin’ Up! 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog. I listed the stamp sets used with each sample. Thanks for stopping by today!
Aug 7, 2011 | Demonstrator, Stampin' Up! Convention |
During the week at the Stampin’ Up! Convention my upline, Wendy, had a meeting for her STARZ team. She asked if I could create a project for the meeting and I decided to make a helpful business tool. I used the same project for my team meeting here in Georgia. Over this past year Stampin’ Up! has made a lot of changes to the demonstrator Career Plan and this little project is hopefully a helpful tool for the demonstrators in our teams in finding all the information for the changes in one place. It is a Grow Your Business booklet – which fits into our theme this year.
The booklet is the size of a card – 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″. The front cover has the Grow logo on it. I made this element using My Digital Studio and the convention theme download. I added the text underneath and then printed out multiples on a sheet of white card stock and cut them out. To decorate the front I added a punched layer in So Saffron, some ribbon and then Lucky Limeade layer that was stamped and then all of that is on Early Espresso. The booklet is held together by a Rhinestone brad. The back cover is just a piece of the Early Espresso card stock.
To make the inside I created a Word document on my computer and pulled in all the different charts and information that has to do with the Stampin’ Up! Career plan. Things that I often find myself looking for on the website – commission levels on sales, the incentive trip program, title benefits, title promotions, etc. I put the information so that I could cut each sheet into 4 pieces for my booklet.
I also added one other page in the front that included the Statement of the Heart. We were able to buy this as a stamp at convention one year so I had it to use for this project. This is what it says –
To love what we do
and share what we love
as we help others enjoy creativity
and worthwhile accomplishments
… in this we make a difference!
If you are a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator I hope that this is an idea that will be helpful to you. My PAWS team and the STARZ team all thought it was. If you would like to learn more about being a demonstrator, our career plan, or joining my team please contact me – I’d be happy to answer your questions – my email [email protected].
Have a great day!
