Jan 24, 2012 | Awards, Cards, Occasions Mini 2012, Punch Art, Scrapbook Pages, Stampin' Up! Events |
Hi all! I came home Sunday from San Antonio, TX. Most of the week was taken up with Leadership activities and I stayed an extra day to attend the Regional Conference too. It was such a wonderful week. I loved the location – I enjoyed walking every day (or night) along the Riverwalk. Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones is always a ton of fun! I took lots of pictures and have many, many new ideas to share and use for my upcoming classes and workshops – I can’t wait – the hard part is what should I start with. It seemed that this year we got SO much free stuff. There were lots of giveaways for everyone, plus prize patrol for those that were selected. I got a few bonuses – first I was able to attend the Manager’s Reception this year – my first time – and those that attended got a brand spankin new stamp set. Then I was a Make&Take helper – my first time for that too – and we got a special thank you gift bag for that. In my Retaining & Engaging Your Downline class with Donna Griffith and Patsy Waggoner I was asked to be a volunteer, it turned out to be a little game (I wasn’t very good at it) but Donna still gave all the contestants (there were three of us) 3 stamp sets! That was a big Surprise! And then the most exciting part was the card contest that Stampin’ Up! had this year – they chose winners for all the different stamp sets in the Occasions Mini Catalog – everyone put their entries – either cards or scrapbook pages – on these clothes lines that were set up in the Gathering Place. Then the SU staff picked their favorites. And guess what I was picked not once but TWICE! and when I went to claim my prize they another another one of my cards in their hand – but I couldn’t get picked 3 times she said. Hmmm I think i’ll send that one in for the magazine contest since they loved it soo much. Anyway I got a little prize pack for that – the Sweet Shop Designer Series paper, Designer Stickers and Jelly Bean Brads!
Oh and one more super exciting thing is at the Manager’s Reception I got to chat with Shelli Gardner (CEO and cofounder of Stampin’ Up!) and I was carrying around my Holiday Mini catalog (the one with my picture in it) so I could get her autograph and I did!! There is so much more to tell you but I’ll have to spread it out over time or you might get tired of reading and miss something. Let me share some pictures with you now that I rambled on about so much.
These are all my Leadership gifts/prizes/take home goodies!
How do you like our cute bag? New fabric – coming soon! At the Make&Take session the tables were set with a matching folio for everyone and a cute little box filled with homemade chocolates. I’ll share more about Make&Takes on another day.
My two winning contest entries were these –
features Loving Thoughts stamp set
This is the Gnome Sweet Gnome stamp set - an 8x8 scrapbook page
Click here for the post on the scrapbook page. I must not have posted the card yet so I’ll put up details later this week.
These are the lists of the contest winners - the "M's" are on the third page.
My friend Linda was also a winner - here we are together with our prizes.
It was a super fun trip – now I can’t wait for convention to get here! I’ll have more to share with you this week and probably next week too – including some announcements from Stampin’ Up! that you won’t want to miss. So stop by again and don’t forget to say hi!
Jan 18, 2012 | Big Shot, Occasions Mini 2012, Scrapbook Pages |
Gnomes. Do you like gnomes? I’m not sure. When I see gnomes or hear about gnomes I actually think of my grandmother. I don’t really remember much about her; I was young when she died; she lived in Germany; didn’t speak English; and we didn’t see her that often. My mom says she did come and stay with us for maybe a month or so at a time but I guess I was young enough that I don’t fully remember that. But I do remember that she always brought gnomes with her from Germany when she came to visit. We had them in our yard and back them they weren’t plastic gnomes – they must have been made from clay or something and probably painted. I imagine my mom still has some in her attic – I will need to ask her.
I also think of my niece, Emily, because a couple of years ago she bought herself a gnome – you know the travel site gnome – and she takes it with her and takes pictures of it everywhere. So when we took our trip to the mountains in NC a couple of summers ago the gnome came with us. When I saw that Stampin’ Up! had a new gnome set the first thing I could think of was making a scrapbook page with Emily and her gnome.
This layout is for the contest at Leadership for the Gnome Sweet Gnome stamp set.
It is an 8×8 layout. The picture is Emily with her gnome – Gnarlin. We were eating at a restaurant somewhere in NC and I took this cute picture. I did use the border to cover the bottom edge of the picture which has the empty dishes in the foreground – they needed to be hidden. I used the Twitterpated Designer Series paper – the Riding Hood Red and Basic Gray prints. I added the little bow at the top and included the little hanging lantern stamp –
Stampin’ Up! Supplies:
- Card stock: Riding Hood Red, Marina Mist, Whisper White
- Ink: JetBlack StazOn, Stampin’ Write Markers – Riding Hood Red, Marina Mist, Basic Gray, Old Olive, Blush Blossom, Daffodil Delight
- Stamp sets: Gnome Sweet Gnome
- Accessories: Twitterpated Designer Series Paper, Scallop Edge Border punch, 3/16″ Corner Rounder punch, Subtles Designer Buttons, 1/8″ Marina Mist Taffeta Ribbon, White Bakers Twine, Stampin’ Sponge, Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Billboard Alphabet Decorative Strip Die, 2-way glue pen, Mini Glue Dots, Stampin’ Dimensionals
To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.
Tonight I’ll be attending the Manager’s Reception – it will be my first time to go. I’m so excited.
Jan 13, 2012 | family, My Digital Studio, Scrapbook Pages |
I have My Digital Studio page to share with you today –
This is my niece, Ally. She was singing for us one night over the holidays while we were at the beach. The song she is singing is called Aurora – some of the words are journaled around the edge of the page. The song is from another girl – middle school age – that is a family friend of my brother and she created the song as a science project for school and has it on itunes. My niece loves this song and the little girl. I was trying to find the song on the internet and came across this – http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/local_news/Student-Sings-for-School-Science-Project-20120109-gda-sd – the local news did a story on the girl this week.
I did take some video of my niece singing the song – while it isn’t very good and she is only 4 – it is still really cute -one problem is that I took the video sideways and I can’t figure out how to turn it. The first video is Ally singing by herself all happy and silly and the second one has the itunes version playing with Ally singing but then she gets real quiet and hides – well it turns out she gets sad when she hears the song because she wants to see the girl that sings it.
Ok – well that didn’t work – I thought I could attach the videos here for you to see but it isn’t working. sorry.
I’m working on leadership swaps and some blog posts so that I can start showing you my cards and have stuff to post next week while I am in Texas. I can’t wait to see all my friends and have some girl time.
Dec 29, 2011 | family, My Digital Studio, Scrapbook Pages |
Hi all – just sharing a quick MDS page using the Downtown Grunge Digital Kit. I just used one of the pages in the album – added my pictures and some journaling and then it was done. It takes longer to decided on the pictures and crop them than anything else when you use a template from one of the kits.
Dec 25, 2011 | Big Shot, Christmas, Holiday Mini catalog 2011, Scrapbook Pages |
Merry Christmas to you!
Here is the other scrapbook layout for you – one that you can use for your Christmas photos.
When I saw this idea for the sled I knew I had to put it on a scrapbook page. The sled idea is from Sandra Hanedanian.
I decided to add the bricks underneath the sled so it looks like it is up on the roof top/chimney/ or on a wall. And how do you think you make those bricks that is super quick and easy – it is the Stocking Builder Punch. That is the cuff portion of the stocking and believe it or not Stampin’ Up! just told us that they will retire this punch and once they run out of stock it will be here no more! Oh no – go get it quick. I also used it to make the hobby horse – so its not just for stockings.
The sled itself is the Top Note Die and I hand cut away part of it so it looks like a sled. The runners are from the Scribbles Swirls Embosslit die – just trimmed away pieces to leave me with the bit curls. The package bows are the Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch – the third layer then cut in half for four loops or cut less than half for three loops. The packages are punched with the 1″ square punch. 
The tree on the other side is from the Pennant Die and then it is embossed with the Snow Burst Embossing Folder. I wrapped Baker’s Twine around it and added a Rhinestone Brad to the top. There are supposed to be packages underneath the tree – and I just noticed I forgot to add them. The white pieces are place holders for photos – I wasn’t planning to leave the white but put four photos in those spaces. The red strip on the left page will also have stacked photos.
I hope you have a Merry Christmas! I may not post for a few days but I will be back hopefully with some sneak peeks from the new Mini Catalog which should be showing up in mailboxes any day now!
Dec 24, 2011 | Big Shot, Christmas, Holiday Mini catalog 2011, In Colors, Scrapbook Pages |
It’s Christmas Eve! Yep it is here. The next week or so we will spend time with family and enjoy being together. Just a few more things to do today and I’ll be ready to relax and enjoy the fun.
But real quick I wanted to share some scrapbook layouts with you – I have one today and another tomorrow. Now don’t laugh – I know there aren’t any pictures on them. That is pretty normal for me. I love the layouts that I make and most of the time have pictures “planned” for them. The problem is I never actually print the pictures! And then when I think about it it will be on a day of the week that isn’t the “sale” day for printing so then I decide to wait a few days, but then I forget, and so on. And here we are with some layouts that I want to share with no pictures because I don’t want to wait any longer. So just imagine…..
I really love this layout in real life. The pictures are never as nice as the real life layouts. So imagine this layout with pictures of Aspen and Magnolia playing in the snow! Remember last year in January (yes I know it’s been a long time) we had a record breaking snow in Georgia and I took pictures of the dogs and planned to put them on this layout that I created for my December Scrapbook class. I should make a New Year’s resolution to actually put pictures on my scrapbook pages!
So to give you some more details – the background is Crumb Cake (my favorite). The Designer Series Paper is the Spice Cake paper from the Holiday Mini Catalog. It works for winter too. So hurry and buy some before the Mini Catalog ends on Jan. 3rd. There is a strip on the outside and then I enlarged a top note shape and created a template to cut the other piece. There is also a line of circles across the page. 
I have a strip of Very Vanilla that has been stamped with Crumb Cake snowflakes. And there is also some of the Very Vanilla Velvet Ribbon – also in the Holiday Mini Catalog.
Going across the page is a strip of Riding Hood Red punched with the Dotted Ribbon Border Punch. The frame is actually one of the frames from the Peek-a-boo Frames Big Shot Die (that’s also in the Holiday Mini catalog).
Going across both pages is a “garland” of Very Vanilla snow flakes – these are from the decorative strip die Northern Frost. Then I used a Stampin’ Write Marker to draw the strings underneath. Over on the right had side is a wide strip of Riding Hood Red that was stamped with snowflakes. At the top of each of the Early Espresso mats I added a Pool Party printed brad.
I spritzed the whole layout with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz. And added the title snow dogs. I hope you like it. The sketch, idea and colors for this layout came from a scrapbook magazine.
Enjoy the evening with your family!
Merry Christmas!
