Monster To{get}her

I never buy cutesy stamps. I just don't like them. They are not me. When I saw this stamp set in the new catalog, I knew it had to be mine and it was on my first catalog order! Isn't that crazy? I plan on having lots of fun with this set. It's just adorable! The card was quick, colorful, and easy to put together.

Supplies:
Cherry cobbler cardstock (#119685; $6.95)
Marina mist cardstock (#119682; $6.95)
Whisper white cardstock (#100730; $8.50)
Cherry cobbler stampin' pad (#119669; $5.95)
More mustard stampin' pad (#103162; $5.95)
Marina mist stampin' pad (#119668; $5.95)
Tangerine tango stampin' pad (#111834; $5.95)
Wild wasabi stampin' pad (#109014; $5.95)
Designer label large (#119862; $15.95)
1 3/4" x 7/8" oval large punch (#119855; $15.95)

A Clean and Simple (CAS) card

I never do CAS cards because I feel like they are always a failure. They never seem finished. This card literally took about 30 seconds and I love, love, LOVE it! I think it is a homerun card!


Supplies:
Whisper white cardstock (#100730; $8.50)
Elizabeth single stamp (#117120; $9.95)
Because I Care hostess stamp set (wood - #118384; clear - #120118)
Basic black stampin' pad (#101179; $5.95)
Marina mist stampin' pad (#119668; $5.95)
Basic rhinestones (#119246; $4.95)

Whooo loves this card?

I adore this card. It was going to be an exact CASE for a card I made at my upline's post-convention event, but I messed up the cut at the class and the first card I made at home to prep for my new catalog party. I decided that it would be too easy for people to mess up, and I want everyone to leave absolutely delighted with what they've made. So I changed the format of the card a little but left everything else the same. This is is so super cute!


Supplies:
Crumb cake cardstock (#119686; $6.95)
Chocolate chip cardstock (#102128; $6.95)
Baja breeze cardstock (#111352; $6.95)
Old olive cardstock (#100702; $6.95)
Greenhouse gala DSP (#117167; $9.95)
Basic Rhinestones (#119246; $4.95)
Tombow multipurpose liquid glue (#110755; $3.95) This is so important for gluing tiny pieces!
Two step owl extra large punch (#118074; $16.95)
Two step bird extra large punch (#117191; $16.95)
Big shot die cutting machine (#113439; $99.95)
Perfect polka dots embossing folder (#117335; $7.95)

New Catalog Party cards

Knowing that the new catalog was released in July, it seems a bit odd that I'm just now posting pictures for my "new catalog party". Well, yes and no. It is shameful that these amazing new items went live almost two months and I just now (yesterday - Saturday) had my party. The awesome news from that party is that I was able to meet a personal goal and PROMOTE because of that party! Woo hoo! I've had a downline for almost three months, but I was short on my sales because I'm largely self-funded. Because we've tightened our belts around our house, I decided that I wasn't going to cough up the chunk I needed to promote on my own. So, now I'll officially be a Supervisor!

The first card I'm going to show you features the sweet treat cups and Sweet Centers stamp set. It is a take on the 3-D item on page 59 of the catalog. I simply made it into a card!

Supplies:
Daffodil delight cardstock (#119683, $6.95)
Chocolate chip cardstock (#102128, $6.95)
Very vanilla cardstock (#101650; $8.50)
Pear pizzazz 1/2" stitched poly ribbon (#119265; $8.95)
Sweet treat cups (#116802; $2.95)
1 3/4" circle extra large punch (#119850; $16.95)

Found Inspiration!

Mary left me a comment today and told me that she had seen my inspiration for yesterday's Happy Birthday card. It was LeeAnn Graff. She is absolutely right! I follow LeeAnn's blog because she is amazingly talented. I made a similar card with a slight variation that I thought was much cuter (and I think more like LeeAnn's original), but I may have given them away before taking pictures. I'll look one more time.

I have more cards to show you, but I just walked in the door after work (it's 10:06 right now) and I'm too tired to download the pictures off the camera. Hopefully tomorrow. Until then, sweet dreams...

Quick Share - Happy Birthday!

I totally cased this idea from some talented individual, but it was several months ago and who knows where that scrap of paper went on which I wrote the original creator's name? Sorry! If you (original creator) happen across my humble blog, please let me know, because I'd love to mention you and add a link to your inspiration!

This is about as CAS as I get. While I love the Clean And Simple look, I never feel like I can get it to look "finished" and at heart, I'm really all about layers and ribbon (and anything metal...and chipboard!) The stamp set is Happy Everything. Whatcha think?


Enjoy the posts this week. I'm really working hard to get everything posted at least one day in advance because it is crazy busy at work this week. I've been working for about 3 weeks, but the teachers came back for their first day yesterday (Monday). I spent all day in meetings starting at 8:00 and ending at 7:30. I will have the same schedule every other day this week until Friday. I'll be exhausted by then!

Blast from the Past!

Ok. Yeah. It's me. I'm the blast from your past. I've not posted in so long I'm ashamed to post again. Quick recap of the summer.

June:* I finished up the school year, orchestrated eighth grade promotion, and got through our "flex week" (individualized instruction for students who need extra help to pass state level tests).
* Spent some time traveling and attending conferences and professional development.
* Went to Austin with my mother and the girls and had a blast! See the pictures for proof!

* I had a card class and a scrapbook class at the end of the month! You'll see pictures of those creations soon.

July:
* Early in the month I accepted an administrative job at a local school district. I flew high on a cloud for much of the remainder of the month.* We didn't take a vacation this year. We had planned to go to the Stampin' Up convention in Utah on vacation and circle through New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado on the trip. I kept putting of the registration even though I wanted to go so badly.
* I planned to "downsize" our vacation and make a trip through Texas instead with our main stop in San Antonio. I found awesome hotel rates on the Riverwalk but kept putting of the reservations.* Thankfully, we didn't go on vacation at all because I would have lost all of the money on non-refundable hotel reservations! I ended up going on contract the third week of July.

August:* I've been working every day. I really enjoy my new job - I'm there to provide instructional support to the teachers and help them become better teachers. I've met so many helpful and nice people. I think it's going to be a great year!
* On another note, the job is a little different than how it was portrayed when I accepted the position. I'm going to be super busy. Last year there was a person who did half of my job, half of another job, and had FOUR aides to help her complete my half of the job. I don't have any help. Agh!
* That being said, I'm really looking forward to the year. I think it's going to be great!
I've been cleaning the stamping room this weekend and I came across a couple of cards I thought were very fitting - a blast from the past! Both use retired supplies and show things I created pre-SU demo.
The first card is an acetate card I created and produced (well, seven of them) in about 15 minutes. The outside image is embossed. I layered the real red piece on the inside of the top flap and the very vanilla piece on the outside of the top flap. It allowed me to use regular SNAIL and not worry about the adhesive showing. I also layered a mirror piece of real red on the back side of the card and a matching vanilla piece on the "normal" inside flap.

The second card uses Holy the Triptych stamp set. I bought this immediately when it first came out and envisioned a trifold Christmas card. This was a "quick" card I made just to try out the set. I stamped the Holy Family image and watercolored it using blender pens and an aquapainter. Then I stamped the filigree frame over the image in Versamark and embossed in black.

Enjoy and check back this week. I'm posting more projects from the past (some not so distant!).

Stampin' Addicts Retiring Sets Mega Hop 2010 - Enjoy Every Moment

Thank you for joining me today! You have found the Stampin' Addicts 2010 Retiring Sets Mega Hop! I'm stop 9 on the hop. You only have a few weeks left to grab the sets you see here, so don't delay! Call your Stampin' Up demo today! The blog hop will make a complete circle, so keep following the links to see all of the fabulous projects!

If you are following the hop, you just came from Sara's blog where she featured Best Wishes and More, a super-versatile set fit for just about any occasion! I love the stationery set she made! Isn't it so cute? A perfect gift for a house-warming gift, don't you think?

The set I'm featuring is Enjoy Every Moment. What I love so much about this set is how the pieces fit together and integrate to create multiple images. Did you know that the larger flower with the dot outline is a perfect fit around the dotted circle O on the Enjoy stamp? I've tried to layer the stamps in my projects for a variety of different looks. I'll be posting details this coming week about some of the projects and I'll show you the other page of that scrapbook layout. So be sure to add me to your favorites or to your blog reader and I'll see you later next week!

The first project was a card using this week's Mojo Monday sketch (#142). The enjoy stamp is quite large for a card, but there are several ways to add it as a focal point. On this card, I used my Stamp-a-majig and placed the letters in a "haphazard" fashion (Yeah, right! I stamped that piece four times!). I also subbed that pointy flower in for the dotted circle O. A quick rumpled flower (using the large flower in the Birds and Blooms Sizzlet set) and a clip from the clip assortment round this card out.

The second project is a case from the catalog and I made it this week to send to someone special. (Someone's having a BABY!!! But my lips are sealed. And see the gender-neutral colors? [Big happy smiles!]) The original card was on page 144 of the Idea Book and Catalog. The card is simple and shows that this "friendly" set has a lot of uses!


The final project is a scrapbook page. I used SCSC241 as a base and modified it a little. I used a lot of layering on this page to include some two-stampin' effects as well as popped images on top of images. I stamped the title in white craft ink and embossed using white embossing powder. A little piercing added a touch of detail. I can't wait for you to see the other page of this layout and hear the story behind it! Come back on Tuesday for the Blog Hop Deets!


I hope you have enjoyed my projects using this cute set. Before you head off to call your demonstrator to place your order, check out Holly's blog. You will definitely want to put Hoppy for you on your next order! I can't believe that that lily pad! So precious! Thank you for checking out the Stampin' Addicts blog hop. We'd love to see you on the website!

Between Neighbors

I get hit by the genius stick so seldom in life that I have to share when I do. When I got my sneak peek of the summer mini catalog I instantly fell in love with one of the sets - Bouquet Bunch. I don't know that anyone else loved this set as much as I did. Isn't it a crazy set to love so much? I saw this set and almost immediately pictured this card in my mind. Isn't it just amazing? I really impressed myself! The card was very tedious with a lot of cutting and steps. I had originally planned for this to be a card for one of my classes, but it took me over two hours to get this card finished. So for now, I'll just have to treasure it on my own! The sky is sponged using the scallop circle punch as a mask for clouds. The fence is actually made from the medium jewelry tag punch - 24 of them! It is two punches tall with the ribbon strategically placed to cover where the top of one meets the bottom of the other. Each medium jewelry tag punch is sponged with river rock around all of the edges. The leaves were colored with garden green and old olive markers to look more realistic. They were cut out around the outer leaves and layered with dimensionals to give the appearance of some of the leaves spilling out over the fence.


Supplies:
Bashful blue cardstock (#105120, $5.50)
Melon mambo cardstock (#115320, $5.50)
Whisper white cardstock (#100730, $7.50)
Bouquet bunch (#118529-W, $13.95; #120039-C, $10.95)
Bashful blue stampin' pad (#105209, $5.95)
Melon mambo stampin' pad (#115656, $5.95)
Garden green stampin' marker (#100080, $3.25)
Old olive stampin' marker (#100079, $3.25)
Melon mambo polka dot grosgrain ribbon (#115611, $9.95)
Scallop circle punch (#109043, $15.95)
Word window punch (# 105090, $15.95)
Modern label punch (#116630, $15.95)
Medium jewelry tag punch (#117190, $10.95)

Bouquet Bunch with Mojo

This is a card I made several weeks ago. This card is based on the Mojo Monday sketch 140. I actually made it the day the sketch came out! I think it turned out so well!

Supplies:
Soft saffron cardstock (#105118, $5.50)
Old olive cardstock (#100702, $5.50)
Whisper white cardstock (#100730, $5.50)
Sweet Pea DSP (Retired)
Basic brown stampin' pad (#104315, $5.95)
Chocolate chip stampin' pad (#100908, $5.95)
Taken with teal stampin' pad (#103257, $5.95)
Old olive stampin' pad (#102277, $5.95)
Chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon (#109051, $7.95)
Hodgepodge very vanilla hardware (#112454, $29.95)
Tiny tags (#118091-W, $22.95; #118592-C, $16.95)
Bouquet bunch (#118529-W, $13.95; #120039-C, $10.95)
Aqua painter (#103954, $16.95)
Curly label punch (#112208, $15.95)

Flowers for Father

This is a quick and easy card for Dad. It came together in just a few minutes and was super easy!

Supplies:
Crushed curry cardstock (#115319, $5.50)
Soft suede cardstock (#115318, $5.50)
Very vanilla cardstock (#101650. $7.50)
Flowers for every season (#111592, $14.95)
Well Scripted (Retired)
Basic brown stampin' pad (#104315, $5.95)
Soft suede stampin' pad (#115657, $5.95)
Crushed curry stampin' pad (#115659, $5.95)
Dusty durango stampin' pad (#115654, $5.95)
Old olive stampin' pad (#102277, $5.95)
Real red stampin' pad (#103133, $5.95)
Large oval punch (#107305, $15.95)
Scalloped oval punch (#114889, $15.95)
Aqua painter (#103954, $16.95)
Soft suede polka dot grosgrain ribbon (#115612, $9.95)

Are you ready for a new catalog?

Are you ready for a new Stampin' Up catalog? I can't wait! It will hit your hands in July (as long as you are a current customer or tell me you'd like to become one!). However, in order to get ready for the new catalog year, we have to make room for the TONS of new items we'll be getting. Today SU released the retiring lists of stamps, Definitely Decorative items, and accessories. There are literally HUNDREDS of items on these lists (15 pages long!). Some of my favorite stamp sets are on that list. I'm a little sad to see them go, but I know that means that they will be replaced with new ones! So here are the important deets:

1) SU manufactures their own stamps and Decor Elements, so they don't really "run out". While an item may be backordered, the wait time is usually very short.

2) Accessories are WHILE SUPPLIES LAST only! SU does not manufacture these. Once these are gone, you won't see them again. I would suggest getting these quickly if you want them.

3) All of the retiring Decor Elements are on sale 25% off.

4) Check the retiring accessories list carefully. Some of the items are being reconfigured and will return in a new form. These changes are likely to be mainly packaging and cosmetic in nature. Other items are being sold at a discount. There is also a separate column on this list that shows when an item is sold out, so the list will be updated as July draws nearer.

I've added buttons to my sidebar for the stamps, home decor, and accessories. Those will take you to PDF files you can print. Please contact me if you'd like to place an order or visit my Stampin' Up demonstrator website. If you don't have a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I'd love to help you explore your creativity!

Done does not mean DONE

As I've learned over the past few weeks, done does not really mean DONE. I've been working on my final revisions for my dissertation before it is published. On one hand, I know I could fix the things they marked, submit it, and be finished. (I saw a PhD comic once that said, "If you write it, they will sign it.") But, that thing's going to sit on my bookshelf a long time. I don't want to look back years from now and regret throwing a bunch of junk down. And I'm paying a small fortune to have that little bugger copyrighted, printed, bound, and published to the required websites. So, I'm still working - about finished - but still working. I have begun a huge (well, huge to me) renovation project that will result in a cleaner house (no more piles of research sitting in stacks close to my computer) and a (hopefully) clean scrapbook room. This will be my first summer off in many years. Trying to think back, I believe I've only NOT worked (at something) for one summer in my 9 years of marriage. I have visions of catching up on a lot of scrapbooking this summer! It will begin on Thursday - my first day off - with a girls' trip to the American Girl store for lunch at the Bistro. Eliza got a gift card for her birthday (in April - does that make me a bad parent?) and she hasn't spent it yet. My mother hasn't been to the store yet (we drug Daddy along last time) so she will join us on Thursday. We are going to have fun! I also have four cards I never posted. You'll be seeing those this week.