Totally TURTLES

This past week was so much fun! I went to California to see my niece who signed up as a demonstrator recently. She's totally new to stamping so I thought it would be good to help her out and show her how the stuff in the starter kit works. Here's some of the cards we made: The love you much card was all one layer with a black strip of paper at the bottom. Using the sponge and the rubber hole made from putting together the stamp set she got I was able to sponge a perfect circle. I thought I should show her some 3x3 cards too: These are all one layer cards. Dimension is made by sponging the edges. I showed her how to use the blender pen too. She had so much fun learning the new techniques and her friend came over too and made a cute card. I can't wait to see what else my niece comes up with. Do you think you could use some fun new stamp sets? Maybe more ink pads? Maybe some more paper and sponges and markers? You could just buy the starter kit. Now until the en...

I had a customer recently ask how to make a card that I received as a swap at convention. I knew some basic stuff about it but didn't really know. So I did some research and found out how to make it. Here's the card I made. I used the embossing folder but the center is smooth. How do you do that? Well I could take pictures and do the step by step for you or you could come to my supper club on April 26th. It was a little tricky to figure out but now that I've done it I'll be able to show you all how to do it easy. If you can't wait until then you can go to this link and see how they did it. Have you already made one of these cards? I would love to see it. Post a link in the comments and I'll come take a look.

We get together once a month and swap so here they are: I'm thinking of starting a monthly swap with customers. I know a lot of my friends enjoy stamping and getting new ideas so I think it would be good. I'm having a great time in California! Disneyland is next on my stop. Can't wait to see what my girls think about it. They have never been before. If you friend me on Facebook you can see daily pics of my trip. Have a great day!

I just wanted to share some of the beautiful cards I received from friends who are very talented. Isn't that pop up cake one so amazing?! Becky did that one. I keep wanting her to join SU! just so she can do the contests and win. LOL.  I tried to get her to help me make something to enter but it really wouldn't be right for me to submit something that's not mine. Still, I think her creations would win. I was really impressed with all the cards that people made and how creative everyone was. Thanks again for a great birthday!

Okay I'm a couple days late with this but here's the jazzed up version of the snowman card. I added some silver cardstock and embossed with dots. Embossed with silver embossing powder too. Added a ribbon and there you go. Oh you can't really tell in the picture but I used dimensionals too. I'm not feeling too good. Yesterday I had a sore throat and body aches. I feel a little better today but still coughing and have a slight headache. I'm trying to get ready for my trip to California too. I'm going to take some Advil and hope that helps. Here's a fun card I made using the Grab Bag supplies that I got a couple days ago. It had the cardstock cut and scored already. I used some of the scraps to make the butterflies and the label. Added some diamonds. Oh and I embossed the base cardstock. All these colors are current colors, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla. I was expecting retired Stampin' Up! in my grab bag. Do you want to get the grab b...

The party was awesome! I enjoyed having all my friends over and realized that I'm so blessed by the people in my life. For me the party was a way to have everyone I love come together and enjoy some food, music and friendship. Of course the gifts were totally awesome too. LOL. Here's a picture of the cake: My dear friend Vanessa made this cake and 4 dozen cupcakes. Ever bit of it was gone. Seriously. Her cakes are really yummy. She spent days making my cake and it turned out better than anything I could have done and better than anything I could have bought. Here's a picture of the pig: Doesn't it look yummy? I just made a really good casserole using the leftover pork. So good. I'm freezing the rest. Even with 80 people at the party we didn't eat all this piggy. Then of course I took some pictures of my sweet girls: And Aunt Ginnie: I made cute tags for all the pitchers so that the kids would know which drinks they could have. I think I'm ...

Actually today is my party. I'm really 40 on Sunday. I'm so excited about my party and all the fun I'm going to have. I've got games and crafts planned. I wanted to have turtle races but not sure if that's really safe for my turtles. I'm sure I'll take tons of pictures so check back soon to see all the fun. Especially the pig. Can't wait! My hubby is picking it up today and we'll start cooking it tomorrow morning. I wanted to show the card I made for my daughter's birthday. I love this color combo. Baja Breeze, Pear Pizazz and Peach Parfait. The letters are Sweet Shoppe Upper and then I punched out the letters and attached to a punch out from the trio flower punch. Then added dimensionals. She absolutely loved it! Well it's time to go greet my guests but I'll post again soon.

My husband says to me this morning, "Enough with the flowers." I really don't think there's enough flowers. LOL. I love the Fun Flowers Die and it's so much fun to die cut it in different colors with our vinyl sheets. Look what I decorated for my party. To make the letters I just cut on the grid lines on the back of the paper. I had to do a few letters twice because I forgot to cut them out backwards so they would stick on forwards. I have flowers on the mirrors in the bathroom and on my car too. I love decorating with the vinyl! I wish they had it in Melon Mambo.  Wouldn't that be great?! That's it for now. Gotta go clean something. LOL.

I think 40 is the prime of your life! Since I didn't want a dreery black party for my 40th birthday I decided that a fun, brightly colored, luau was the way to go. It shows off my personality better too. I was really inspired by the lastest Stampin' Success magazine. If you are a demonstrator you receive this subscription each month for free. It's got a lot of fun ideas for workshops, scrapbook pages, cards, there's also challenges you can enter to win free stamp sets. One of the things I noticed was a flower pot made of our cardstock to look like leaves. I really wanted to make something fun with my Design a house so I took Jessica's old house that she decorated for Christmas and tore all the paper off of it. Here it is before: Now here's the new house I made: I tore the door and the chimney off too. Kinda fun ripping everything off. LOL. Here's the side views. I'm so excited about my party this Saturday. I've been making decorat...

Did you know you can make this totally cute chick with Stampin' Up! punches??? I didn't either until I saw my downline Francesca make one. She sure is creative! Visit her blog here: Cesca's Cake Pops I did do things a little different. I used the owl feet for the chick feet. I also had to use our pom pom ribbon before it retires. I love how easy it is to use on cards. Plus everything coordinates. Love it! Oh you want to know how I made the clouds? Whisper White Ink and I punched a large scallop circle and just sponged the inside to make clouds. Easy! Now I gotta make some cute boxes for my girl scout troop. Have a blessed day!

Da na na na na! (Okay so typing the words to that song seems kinda lame. LOL) It's my birthday too! Lookie what Stampin' Up! sent me for my birthday just for being a demo. 15% off anything I want in the catalog. That's on top of my usual 20% off. Awesome! I'll have to get something super expensive that I've been wanting for a long time. Hmmmm...I have the markers already, I have the Big Shot. Oh I know! I have been wanting that alphabet die that's like $170.  Maybe hubby will throw in some mula for that. LOL.  I've been thinking that I need to do something special like this for my customers on their birthdays. I will have to figure out everyone's birthdays though. LOL. Hope you all are having a great day!