Stamps, Paper, Scissors

A scrapbook page from my presentation

Hey! Did you think I forgot? Well, I didn't!

I've been working on getting my convention make and takes done, which I didn't do while there because I don't enjoy doing them at convention. You never have enough time, so you always feel like you're in a terrible rush and you end up messing up because you don't feel like you can take the time to do it...well, PERFECTLY. What can I say. I am a controlfreak!!!

Plus, picking up the threads of life at home has kept me on the hop. It's that time of summer, where you can see school approaching, so you've got all those appointments for the kids lined up and you have to buy their new uniforms or clothes, and you start thinking about the list of stuff they will need to go back.

And, of course, WORK. Yeah. Earning the money to pay for all of the above!

As well, I had my rubberstamping class on Monday and signed up a recruit yesterday! So I am perking along here!

Oh, the scrapbook page, yes, well I am going to show you now! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Sunflower; Paper - 2011-2013 In Color Patterns DSP, Soft Suede, More Mustard, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo; Ink - Soft Suede; Other - 1-1/4" Daffodil Delight striped grosgrain, Decorative Label punch, 2-3/8 scallop circle punch, Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die, Naturally Serif Decorative Strip die, 2-1/2" circle punch, Soft Suede marker, Brights flower brads, dimensionals, white gel pen.

OMGosh, stinkin' cute!!! (YILM!) And the scrapbook page is pretty cute too! LOL!

When I saw this big flower stamp, I knew right way the photos I wanted to use with it. So I had already scrapped them 10 years ago! So what! I didn't want to pry them off the old pages, so I ended up scanning the negatives in and reprinting them.

Ta!

Christmas in July Class

Yes, Monday is my stamping class and this is one of the cards we will be making! It's GOJUS!!! (YILM!) If you only knew how much cardstock was trashed in the making of this card to get all the details just SO, you would be stunned! All while watching episodes of The Office on Netflix (yep, now I'm hooked!)

I still have openings for a few peeps, so if you live near Detroit or don't mind flying or driving long distances to make this card, visit my class page here to sign up today!

Ta!

 

Tour de Freaks is Here!

Welcome to the post-convention party of the Control Freak Swappers!

We're here celebrating all the fun we had and the swapping we did. So we decided to change things up and instead of just having Christmas in July as we had originally planned, we are going to show our fabulous cards we made for our special convention swap!

If you arrived here from Lori Heilings blog you are in the right place! But if you started here, fear not, you can follow the links at the bottom of each post and still complete the entire tour, ending up back here where you started.

My first card fits in with both the Christmas in July theme and it is a convention swap as well! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Merry & Type; Paper - Letters to Santa DSP, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Marina Mist; Ink - Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red, Marina Mist; Other = Scallop Trim border punch, Ticket Corner punch, 1/4" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Whisper White Organza ribbon, Gold Lame Pearlized Accent Ink, white gel pen, sponge wedge, gold brads.

GOJUS!!! (YILM!) Aren't you just feeling the Christmas love? Does it make you think of snow falling? Well, keep that in mind, it might help in this heat!

Next, I used a set I got for FREE for presenting at Convention (gotta love free!)  Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Field Flowers; Paper - Well Worn DSP, Cajun Craze, Not Quite Navy, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso; Ink - Calypso Coral, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, So Saffron; Other - Medium Jewelry Tag punch, Lace Ribbon Border punch, Decorative Label punch, Ticket Corner punch, sponge wedges, gold brad, dimensionals.

OMGojus!!! (YILM!) I love this GOJUS 2-step set. I've had fun discovering different color combinations that work with these flowers and this is one of my favorites, Calypso Coral and Cajun Craze. Yummay!

Well, it's time for you to proceed onward to Connie Babbert's blog. Ta!

Still in SLC and likely to remain so for a little while...

Due to a bad hailstorm in Denver, my flight for Monday morning has been canceled. I was able to rebook for Wednesday morning, so on the one hand:

• I am sad that I will not see my family tomorrow.
• I am going to miss two more days of work.

But:

• Stampin' Up! is depositing expense money in my account tomorrow, which helps make up for the above (and to pay for the stuff I bought from Memento Mall...too many cute things this year!)
• I am happy to be able to spend 2 more days with my BFF Wendy!

I meant to get on yesterday and make a post, but it was a loooooonggg day. After convention was over, Wendy and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was FAB. We both cried buckets.

Convention was also fabulous. I got to meet new people and make new friends, eat lots of fabulous food (I am NOT talking about the box lunches at convention, which are adequate for providing energy and ending hunger pangs, but that's about where it ends), and get a ton of ideas for stamping and my business. I received many gifts of chocolate and lots of hugs from friends and fans. And enough praise and kudos to make it hard for me to go through doorways now because  my head is 4 times it's normal size. But don't worry, Wendy will have me cut down to size in no time.

The end of convention is always sad for me. I am having SO much fun all the time that I don't want it to end!

Today is a day I have been spending putting all my new stamps together and trying to decide if I have to ship a box home (looks like a YES). I didn't do the make & takes again this year, but saved them to take home and do them. It is SO much more sane that way. I always feel rushed and stressed doing make and takes at convention and regionals. At home, I can take my time.

Here's some Convention photos:

this was the main stage with the theme song being performed.

Here's Shelli (may she live forever) on stage on Day 1. This set was so GOJUS! They changed the colors of the lights on it to make it look different all the time.

I didn't take a whole lot of photos this year. It's always hard for me to maintain a balance between actually experiencing something and taking lots of photos. Sometimes i think you can get so lost in taking pictures that you don't actually experience the event. Plus, I was tweeting a lot so most of my pictures were taken with my phone.

I'm going to actually play with some of my new schtuff now, so will be dribbling out another card for your viewing pleasure:

Ingredients: Stamps - Forever Young, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Parlor Prints; Paper - Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery; Ink - Chocolate Chip (craft and classic), Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink; Other - Scallop Trim border punch, Word Window punch, Subtles Designer Buttons, Chocolate Chip dotted scallop ribbon, Clear EP, sponge wedge, baker's  twine.

GOJOLICIOUS!!! (YILM!)

The background technique used here is embossing resist. I stamped Parlor Prints with Versamark on Pink Pirouette, then embossed with clear EP. After that, I sponged different ink colors over the top.

My "vision" for this card was to evoke the idea of a memory and I think I managed it! (YILM!)

Ta!

Day 2 of convention

Sure was a busy one! Stampin' Up! has changed quite a bit about the way they do things. First, there is only one General Session in the morning, and that was today. The other days the General Session is in the afternoon.

Second, no entertainment after Awards Night. Instead they had an after party. We looked in, but we were too tired to stick around so we left. I didn't get to Awards Night until after it started. Since I didn't enter the Artisan Award contest this year, there was no hope of seeing my name up there, but since my picture and  name are in the convention booklet, I feel pretty good! I also felt pretty good that while my name wasn't up there and I didn't get up on stage, so many of the ladies I have come to know in the past 8 years as a demonstrator WERE up there! I really feel a part of Stampin' Up!, guess that's why I keep on sticking with SU!

Instead of the Holiday Mini being in our Convention bags, they unveiled it at General Session today and we all got a package of 8 mini catalogs for free. There are a ton of really cool products in it...I am going to be SO BROKE!

Plus, they gave away a free Simply Sent set to each attendee. All this along with the usual prize patrols!

The biggest news was we are getting a scoring board tool called Simply Scored. It has many neat features that are not on similar tools being sold elsewhere. I can't wait to get mine!

They also showed us a bag they created from the designer fabric for the Simply Scored and then told us we could each purchase one at Memento Mall. It's very pretty!

I meant to upload a few pictures from today, but I am too pooped! So I will post a card and be off to bed. Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Autumn Splendor, Pretty Postage, Frame It; Paper - Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Peach Parfait, Old Olive, Very Vanilla; Ink - Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Peach Parfait; Other - Houndstooth Textured Impressions folder, Word Window Punch, brayer, dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler seam binding, paper piercing tool, sponge wedges, gold brads.

This is another one of my display board samples. The Houndstooth embossing folder was inked with Early Espresso ink and embossed on Soft Suede cardstock. The leaves were created using the baby wipe technique of dropping reinker onto a baby wipe to create a custom stamp pad. And yes, it is GOJUS!!! (YILM!)

Thanks again to all of you who have come up to talk to me and tell me you read my blog. To me, that is what makes convention so special. It really inspires me to keep posting and making all of you laugh, as well as ooh and ah at my stampin' jeenyus! I am truly blessed in my readers, you all ROCK! Ta!

 

The Big Day

Greetings again from the center of the known universe!

Today was a LOOOOOONNNNNGGG day!. We started out by going to the convention center to get into the Memento Mall before the madding crowd. As a presenter, I was able to get in 30 minutes before they opened, with all the make and take helpers and other presenters. And since Wendy was my transportation, they let her go in too!

I had steeled myself not to buy so much this year. Well, I did not buy as many bags as I usually do. But the total still made me gulp!

If you look in the sidebar of my blog, you will see my TwitPic feed and you can see photos of everything I bought. In addition,the convention bag and the catalog binder that came in it. Good swag, my friends! The convention bag is just like the demo business bag, but prettier! If you want to get my tweets, including pictures, be sure to sign up to follow me! I only really tweet for convention and a few other times per year.

After we shopped, we went into the Gathering Place and did some hanging out together, as well as a big shoebox swap that Wendy's group organized. I made some very pretty projects before I had to cut out to go to the Stampin' Addicts Meet & Greet at Little America, where I pretty much just ate, did a little circulating and then had to run back to the convention center to get ready for my presentation. It was very exciting!

My name...not in lights, but still! This was my booth for demonstrating.

Here I am with my sign wearing the T-shirt I got for free from the Memento Mall for presenting.

Here is the result of weeks of work. All of these projects will be on my blog in the coming weeks!

Here I am getting ready to present. There was a huge angled mirror above me to help people see what I was doing. I also had a headset with a microphone. I felt  like Lady Gaga. Although I looked nothing like her. Mostly, our similarities end at the point where you say, "these are both women." After that, we widely diverge.

After we set up, we got to go eat at the staff dinner. Let me tell you, they eat well! None of us could eat much because we were keyed up and didn't want to feel logey from eating too much. There were 8 of us presenting. My presentation was on backgrounds, incluing background stamps and embossing folders.

The other presenters were Brandi Wiggins, Fran Sabad, Lisa Freeman, LeeAnn Greff, Susan Campfield, Linda Heller, and Lyssa Zwolanek.

We each had to prepare a 10 minute presentation, which we repeated for 2 hours. I had a pretty good crowd around my booth most of the time and I enjoyed meeting many of my readers. Thanks for all the positive feedback during my presentation! It made everything easy! I was not even nervous. If you saw my hands shaking, you should know I have an essential tremor, which kicks in when I am tired, under stress, overcaffeinated, or have been carrying lots of heavy stuff, and I was almost all of that! I really felt totally at ease! It was a miracle!

It went by very fast and it seemed like I had just gotten started when it was time to stop again.

Wendy came to help me clean up my booth.

Carrie Cudney came by to give us all a thank you card. I was allowed to keep some of the stuff they put at my booth, like my apron, paper cutter, etc. Another nice bonus!

So, would I do this again? You BET! It was fun, I got a lot of free stuff, free convention, and reimbursement for expenses. But even without all the free stuff, it was just a good time all together and an honor to be asked.  But I am TIRED and my feet are KILLING ME! So I'll be staggering off to bed shortly.

I am not going to leave without showing a card! Lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Cherish Friendship; Paper - Kraft, Pool Party, Whisper White, So Saffron, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso; Other - Stripes Textured Impressions Folder, Brayer, Cherry Cobbler Dotted Scallop ribbon, Early Espresso marker, Watercolor Pencils, White gel pen, dimensionals.

This was one of the techniques I demonstrated tonight and it was also the most popular, I think. Basically, you ink the Stripes embossing folder with a brayer and emboss the white cardstock, then reink the embossing folder again, turn the cardstock 90 degrees, and emboss it again to get this cute gingham background! GOJUS!!!! (YILM!)

Well, I'll be back again tomorrow with another project to show and more convention pics! Ta!

 

Here, at the Center of the Known Universe!

I am so excited to be back in Salt Lake City for Stampin' Up!'s convention!

Sorry I have been a bit incommunicado for the past week, but I was going hammer and tongs on the stuff for my presentation.

I got here yesterday at around 10:00 AM and spent yesterday stamping and napping, pretty much! Today will be more of the same. Tomorrow is check-in day. Being a presenter, I get to sneak into the Memento Mall 30 minutes before it opens, so no standing in line for me tomorrow! Around 4 PM, I get to start setting up my booth. I got 15 cards made, 2 scrapbook pages, and a 3-D item done for my booth. I have 3 or 4 techniques to show as well! After setup, the presenters get to eat at the staff dinner. I feel special!

Once my presentation is over, I will be able to share my samples with y'all, so that will give me plenty of blog fodder for the next 2 weeks!

In the meantime, I can show you my Controlfreak's Sneak Peek swap...lookie:

Ingredients: Stamps - Delicate Doilies, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper - Flirtacious Specialty DSP, Wisteria Wonder, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Whisper White; Other - Chocolate Chip Dotted Scalloped Ribbon, Lace Ribbon punch, white EP, clear rhinestone brad, Word Window punch, Bitty Punch pack, silver brad, sponge wedges, dimensionals.

GOJUS!!! (YILM!) This was my adaptation of Mojo Monday 194.

Well, the stamps are calling and I am ready and eager to answer! Will be blogging and tweeting all week, so prepare for lots of stampin' jeenyus! Ta!

Happy Canada Day!

First, let me say I am not a Canadian. But I live pretty close to the border, eh? Detroit and Windsor share a joint firework celebration for July 1st and July 4th. Plus I have Canadian relatives and that should count for sumthin', right? So Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers.

Today is also the first day to order from the new catalog! I hope you are excited...I sure am! I have my order ready to go at 2 PM my time. There's some GOJUS stuff in this catalog and I know you are going to like it! Ordering goes live at 12 N MT. If you ordered from me in the last year, remember you are entitled to a catalog from me for free (just pay $5 postage if you live out of town). If not, I sell them for $5 a piece plus $5 postage if you live out of town.  I've got them here, ready to go, so let me know if you want one!

In other news, this is the other card we did at class:

Ingredients: Fabulous Florets, Swirls & Curls Verses; Paper - Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White; Ink - Wild Wasabi, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight; Other - Daffodil Delight 3/8" taffeta ribbon, Scallop Border punch, Doily Triple Layer punch, gold brad, dimensionals

GOJUS!!! (YILM!) And you missed it...but we already went through that, didn't we? So we will just let it rest there, shall we?

I have been super-busy, between working (more on the coffee part shortly) and working on samples for my display board for my presentation. I know this will make some folks really jealous, but I have been getting regular shipments from Stampin' Up! with all kinds of new goodies and what not to play with! That I get to keep! I am stoked!

But the pressure is on to come up with just amazing samples. It's really getting to me. I have been staying up way late into the the armpit of the night trying to do justice to some of the beautiful schtuff I have gotten. And thanks to several factors, I am now a bit of an insomniac:

• I have so many thoughts running through my head about what to make when I go to bed that I have a hard time sleeping.

• My endocrinologist cut my Synthroid down again this year, which adds to the wakefulness part somehow. Once I fall asleep, I have a hard time sleeping past 8 AM. So today, for example, I have probably had 5 hours of sleep, if that. Not my usual. Yawn!
• I have turned to coffee to put some pep into my step, but if I drink it in the afternoon, it just adds to the whole cycle of insomnia. Yawn!
• My kids are all staying up later and later and since my husband is a bit of a night owl too, it's not like I have peace and quiet at night right now. Yawn!

Last night was even worse, with my husband coming upstairs around 2 AM and not being able to find the remote for the television, he woke the kids up to make them hunt for it. And since I was just laying there and my restless leg syndrome had started to kick in, I got up to join them so that I could walk it off a bit. Yawn!

So think of me this weekend. I won't be doing transcription, but I will be trying to create as many samples as I can...another shipment of schtuff is hopefully arriving today. But with one more day of work before the weekend, I am going to have a hard time staying awake. Ta!