Jan 21, 2014 | Valentine's Day |
Have you seen the Stampin’ Up! Monster Hugs Valentines? They are so cute!
You can get pink ones for girls and the blue ones for boys! They are quick to put together –
- sign the back
- add the candy – there is already adhesive there for you to stick it on
- cross the arms – the slits are there for you to latch them in place
- add a heart – it’s self-adhesive
- add a wiggle eye – they are self-adhesive too!
- give them out!
The backs sides are so cute too – little hearts on their bums….
And they are a good price too $5.95. Each package has enough to make 18 monsters – you just need to choose if you want BOYS or GIRLS or get a pack of each. And decide on the candy – I used heart shaped lollipops for mine. Stampin’ Up! has been showing them with chocolate nuggets. And I’m sure there are other candies that you could use too.
Oh here is a little tip I just realized – duh – wish I had figured this out earlier. A lot of the candy – like these lollipops have expiration dates that are a couple of years out. These were actually some I bought last year! But they haven’t expired. So that made me think – I could be buying candy on sale the day after each holiday! Just check the expiration dates on it and see if it will last for the year – store in a good spot and your good to go and saved a bunch of money. Just a thought.
I’m off to go apartment hunting in San Francisco with Kyle. It’s a long way from Georgia but it is an amazing and exciting opportunity for him to work for Facebook. Wish us luck on our quick trip that we find something.
Jan 20, 2014 | Occasions Catalog 2014, Valentine's Day |
Are you getting ready for Valentine’s Day yet? I’ve started creating a few ideas since it’s creeping up really fast. Stampin’ Up! has a few special items right now just for Valentine’s day. One is this pack of Sweetheart Treat Bags. Cute little red bags with printed hearts on them – plus they include the Baker’s Twine and the little pre-cut striped banners both in Pool Party. Each pack comes with 12 bags, 12 tags and 12 pieces of twine – all that for $4.95. You just need to add the treat for the inside – I used boxes of Sweethearts candy.
I also added a few stamped images from the Language of Love stamp set.
- I stamped the large heart in Real Red and punched it out with the Full Heart Punch.
- Then I stamped the row of small hearts in Pool Party and punched each of those out with the Small Heart Punch.
- I punched a small hole in the tag, the large heart and one small heart. Those were strung on the Baker’s Twine which I tied in a bow.
- The other small heart were paired up and attached to the end of the Baker’s Twine with mini glue dots.
Fun and easy to make up a bunch of these for Valentine’s Day. I’ll have another quick idea for you tomorrow.
Jan 19, 2014 | My Digital Studio, Stamp, Scrap, & Create Retreat, Stampin' Up! Events |
Put the Spotlight on MDS (My Digital Studio) was the name of the Share Fair Class that I taught at leadership. When Stampin’ Up! called a few months ago to ask if I would be a presenter – I was completely surprised, nervous, scared, and excited. I wasn’t sure I could do it but didn’t want to say no either. Then I kept reminding myself that over the years I had been taking little steps doing presentations in front of people and this was the next step. I would do it!
Ideas ran through my head about what to share – and of course I knew exactly what to share. Over the last year or 2 the MDS offerings that I have had were the MDS Intro Class, the MDS Digi Crop Nites and then the addition of the Creative Retreat that included an MDS project in the Make&Takes. My friend and fellow demonstrator Cindy works with me on these events – and that was one of the things I told everyone is to find a friend and do these events together. It works perfect for us. I wish Cindy had been there with me to do the presentations but she wasn’t able to attend Leadership this year. We are planning our next Intro Class for February – the exact date I’ll post as soon as it is final. The Digi Crops we are having twice a month right now – those dates are on my website and FB page. And the next Creative Retreat is going to be in May – save the date May 15 (evening start) – May 18. More details will be coming later.
Wednesday after I arrived in Houston I went to the convention center for a rehearsal. Got over there just in time and realized I didn’t have any of my notes! They were all in the hotel room. I guess that is how it was meant to be – I went through the rehearsal without them. I think I missed a few things but overall I covered everything. Then I put together my display board.
Thursday was the day of the presentation and I found my class sign outside the room. And then waited on my time to start – I was in the second session of classes. I didn’t have much focus during the first set so I pretty much missed them all. Everyone should be doing Webinars over the next month or so and I’m hoping to catch all of those. I do still have that to do – mine will be in late February. So if you missed the class you can catch the webinar.
I got a little more nervous when I found out I was following Holly Linford – the MDS guru at Stampin’ Up! – and then found out my helper was not there. My replacement helper turned out to be Brian Billing – the Demonstrator Training Manager! I got miked up and he introduced me and I did my first presentation. I went for the full 20 minutes. I didn’t stop to answer questions and it was a good thing I didn’t. In my 3rd presentation someone asked a question and I tried to answer – I totally lost track of where I was! Yikes. So if you were in my class and you had a question I wasn’t trying to be rude and ignore you but I was afraid of what would happen if I stopped and while I thought I could handle it by the third time – I was wrong. You can ask me now or I’m pretty sure during the webinar that you can write in with questions too.
Maybe you couldn’t tell but I was nervous and so HOT! I told Brian after the first one I needed a fan. I got water. I could have taken off my vest but was afraid the back of my shirt was wet! Seriously not good. This is what I looked like after I was done.
Thumbs up – red faced and smiling! But I did it!
At the end of leadership on Saturday I went back to take down my display board and they let us keep our name signs.
The only problem for me was that I brought 2 small suitcases this time and neither one was long enough for the sign to fit in! So luckily my friend and roommate Linda had a big suitcase and she was able to bring it home for me. Thanks Linda! She was also the one taking most of the pictures for me. Thanks Linda!
Thanks for listening to me today – I intended to say that at the end of my presentation but I think I forgot! But thank you if you came to listen to my presentations – I hope you found something to be helpful.
Jan 18, 2014 | Big Shot, Cards, Occasions Catalog 2014 |
You probably hear me talk about making swaps. In case you don’t know what a swap is – it is the sharing of ideas with other demonstrators. So I come up with one card idea – make a bunch and then swap my idea with other demos so that when we are done everyone has a bunch of different ideas. At Stampin’ Up! Events we always swap, but sometimes we do swaps through the mail too. I am part of a swap group called the GoDivas and for each catalog we do a mail in swap.
I created this card using the Perfect Pennants Bundle from the new Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog. I made 28 cards and put them in the mail. Then decided to use the same card for a Shoebox swap with my team at Leadership. For a Shoebox swap you bring all the parts of the card and the supplies to finish and put them in a box. When you meet each person starts with a box, makes that card, and then passes the box on to the next person. Our group this time was 8 people for the Shoebox swap. I don’t normally use the same idea for two different things but no one in the two groups overlapped so it worked out just fine.
Now I thought I would share with you the process I go through when I’m creating swaps. And I happened to have taken some pictures along the way.
- Design the card you want to swap.
- Figure out how many you need to make and start cutting out the parts.
For this card I had lots of parts – Very Vanilla for the card base – I only did a card front so each piece is 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″. Very Vanilla Circles cut with the Circle Framelits. Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper – I used 3 different prints and cut the strips for each one. Plus a piece of Retro Fresh Designer Series paper cut with the smallest of the Banner Framelits Dies. I stamped hearts in So Saffron and Coastal Cabana on Very Vanilla card stock AND cut them all out – this heart didn’t have a coordinating punch or die. Gold Baker’s Twine bows – cut the twine and then tied the bows. - I finished all my stamping first. Stamping on the circle – “You & Me” in Baked Brown Sugar.
Then adding the Retro Fresh Washi Tape underneath. Then stamping “forever” in Tangerine Tango. 
And yes I did use a Stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure they were all straight. - And Gold Baker’s Twine to each of the hearts – I wanted them to look like balloons. So I cut the twine, punched a tiny hole, strung the twine through – yes I used a threader (i.e. a dental flosser), tied a knot. Lots of hearts – 2 per card.
- Now that all the parts are ready it was time to put things on the front of the card – I added two of the Retro Fresh Paper Strips first. Then added the Circle with Stampin’ Dimensionals. I trimmed the third strip at an angle on the end and added it over the circle. Next add the two heart balloons with dimensionals.
- Finally add the finishing touches – attach the small banner over the balloon strings with Stampin’ Dimensionals and finish with the Gold Baker’s Twine bow attached with a mini glue dot. ALL DONE!
This card had a lot of parts but I do like the way it turned out. I used the Perfect Pennants Bundle which includes the Perfect Pennants stamp set and the Banner Framelits dies – giving you a 15% discount when you get them as a bundle. I do love that Stampin’ Up! has added the bundle offerings to the catalog.
I’ve got to get back to the laundry and paperwork….have a great weekend!
Jan 16, 2014 | My Digital Studio, Occasions Catalog 2014, Punch Art |
I wanted to share one of the 2014 calendars that I made this year. This one was created for a fun group of ladies that I stamp with each month. Every year I create a small desk calendar for them. They all work at a local university whose mascot is an owl. So this year I decided to feature the Owl punch along with the Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper from the new Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog. Here is the result:
Each panel represents one quarter of the year. I used My Digital Studio to create the calendar strips and printed them at home with my printer – then cut them to the size I wanted.
For each quarter I created a different owl – I didn’t want them all to be the same. The 1st one is a little girl owl with a bow on her ear – the bow is made from 2 of the little hearts.
The 2nd quarter is on the flip side of the first quarter. And at the bottom there is a little piece of card stock that slides under the calendar strip on each side to keep the calendar standing up on your desk top.
For the second owl I pulled out the Two-Step Bird punch to create the branch for him to land on. And the 1-1/4″ Scallop Circle to create the wings. Just punch one scallop circle and cut it in half – glue one half to each side of the owl. Ta-da flying owl! You know this reminds me that one year I made an owl costume for one of the boys. It was out of felt and for something going on at school. I wonder if I can find pictures of that – something to add to my to-do list.
Once you are half way through the year – the calendar gets flipped inside out and the last two quarter of the year are there. Slide out the little holder and put it back in once you do the flip. I probably should have taken pictures of that part. Basically its a little piece that keeps the calendar standing up – without it the sides slide it falls flat on your desk.
For the 3rd quarter I added this little studious owl. The calendar was after all for a university – and school starts in the fall – I thought it was the perfect choice. His wings are the wing from the two-step Bird punch ( I already had it out anyway). The glasses – I think they are cool – first punch out a circle with the little circle from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, then use the 1/2″ circle punch and line it up in the same spot to punch the ring around the punched out circle. You aren’t using the little circle that you punched to begin with. For the book I used the tiny postage stamp from the Itty Bitty Labels Punch pack – and just trimmed it to a rectangle to look like a book.
For the 4th owl – I decided to give him a little hat. I used the little tree punch from the Merry Mini’s punch pack. I trimmed off the trunk and then trimmed the sides to make the triangle. I actually think this one looks like the Tootsie Roll Pop owl from the old commercials – “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?” What do you think?
I used the Gold Baker’s Twine on each panel – the bow is tied on one side. If you wanted you could add a bow to the back side as well but I didn’t to that this time.
I hope you like this fun little seasonal owl calendar!
You can get pink ones for girls and the blue ones for boys! They are quick to put together –
