Ink It Up

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T21:31:00.002-06:00

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day. I certainly did.

My best friend asked me to lunch for some all you can eat sushi. YUM! We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and eating spicy tuna rolls.

I also visited my husband for a bit at work, got some more Girl Scout cookies sold, made a wonderful dinner for my family and watched a movie with my two daughters.

Here's the card I made for my oldest daughter:

My daughter made some paper roses at school so I thought I would give it a try. She really was impressed by what I did. Another part of the card she liked was the BINGO cards. I used My Digital Studio to make them. The BINGO card download is only $1.95 I think and I can make them any color and any size and print as many as I want on my own printer. I love it! I did Pool Party and Poppy Parade. I was surprised how close it was. Actually kinda perfect. LOL. I also used some of our pleated ribbon and bakers twine. She really liked it. :)

You can try My Digital Studio for free for 30 days. Click Here for the link.

I will show the other cards when I get a good picture of them. (They came out blurry so I have to retake them.)

Have a blessed evening.

Scrapbooking with Stampin' Up!

2012-02-09T10:31:00.000-06:00

A lot of times I'm told that Stampin' Up! doesn't have what they want for scrapbooking. I say that Stampin' Up! is perfect for Scrapbookers! Look at these samples I saw at Leadership. Most of them are using the new kit in the Mini catalog that's only $9.95. Click here to see the kit.

I especially love stamp sets with names of family members or even alphabet stamp sets. You can create titles that are interesting and unique. Plus with our papers, cardstock, inks and accessories you can embellish without having to spend extra time searching for matching colors. Stampin' Up! does it for you!

Have a great day!

Jackie

Stampin' Up! for quilters

2012-02-08T10:18:00.000-06:00

Did you know that Stampin' Up! can make quilting easier? Check out these great projects from Leadership.

They also had some throw pillows.

If you already have a Big Shot you can just buy the Dresden Die in the mini catalog found here. It can cut through 5 layers of fabric at a time so it saves time. No more sissors.

These projects use Stampin' Up! fabric, ribbon and buttons. I love them!

Have a great day!

Not feeling well

2012-02-07T10:10:00.002-06:00

It's February and of course I'm sick. Seems like this is the month I get a horrible cold and can't function at all. Last year I was sick all month so I'm pretty sure I had the flu. This year I'm coughing and sneezing a bunch. I'm drinking a ton of green tea and taking cold ease cough drops.

I have not really done much but my daughter Amanda made her Valentines' for her class. You can see them on my facebook page: Ink It Up.

Here's some cards that I liked at Leadership. Hope you enjoy.

Have a great day!

Jackie

Looking for ideas? Check these out!

2012-02-04T07:57:00.002-06:00

I love showing off all the great ideas I find online. Usually I try to recreate the card with what I have. Here's some fun projects I saw at Leadership. (I did not make these).

I'm off to do Girl Scout cookie sales and than a workshop at Birgit's house. I'll post pictures of the projects tomorrow.

Jackie

Preparing for event tomorrow

2012-01-28T12:47:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow I'm having a huge event at Eastern Shore Baptist Church. I'm expecting 40 ladies to come stamp. I've designed several different cards to show and also did prepare a cute project for each lady to make and take.

Luckily my downline and special customers are helping me out. I don't know what I would do without them. They'll be able to help the ladies stamp and answer questions if I'm busy with someone.

Wish me luck!

Here's a cute card from Leadership that I liked.

And a scrapbook page.

It's using the new stamp set Gnome Sweet Gnome. You can find this stamp set in the

Occasions Mini Catalog. Super cute!

Don't forget to check out my events page and see if you can come to any classes. I would love to set up a time to get together with you and your friends.

Happy Stamping!

Leadership was great!

2012-01-23T13:25:00.001-06:00

Stampin' Up! did it again. They created a wonderful convention for the leaders of the company. Us demonstrators! Here's just a few photos of the event and the Make and Takes.

Here's some pictures of cards made by the Artisian Award Winners.

These are made with the kit in the Occasions mini that's only $9.95. Loved seeing new ideas for the die cut flowers and adding buttons and twine. I liked the kit just for the self adhesive jewels.

I had a last minute change to who I was rooming with at Leadership. My upline had to cancel her trip and so I was asking online who would like to stay with me. A lady with a baby answered my message. You might think I'm crazy to room with a baby. Just look at her though.

Arabella was such a sweet baby. So beautiful too. Jamie, her mom was fun to hang out with. She is from California (my home state). We had a lot in common. We shared a lot of ideas with each other too. I am looking forward to keeping up with her and seeing her again at Convention in Salt Lake City.

I guess that's it for now. I will post again soon.

Jackie

I still believe

2012-01-15T08:48:00.002-06:00

Even though the Broncos did not win I still believe. I know God has big plans for Tebow and he'll be back.

I do have some new things to show you but have not had a change to download the pictures yet. Perhaps today will be the day I do that. LOL.

I hope you are having a blessed weekend. I'm off to church.

Believe!

2012-01-08T21:39:00.000-06:00

Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos did it again! They beat the Steelers in Overtime! Here is the guy who believes in his team, in himself and in God. Love him!

I've been watching a lot of football lately. LOL. The Saints won too! I would love to see the Saints and Broncos in the Superbowl! Total dream come true. LOL.

I had a great day with my downline today. Laura and Diane came over and we made some really cute cards using the designer paper from the Sale-a-bration Catalog. You can only earn this paper by hosting a party or spending $50.

Check out the cards on my facebook page: Ink It Up

Thanks for looking and God bless!

Last chance for Clearance items

2012-01-04T12:46:00.001-06:00

Some of the items are going to be removed from the Clearance Rack. Pleas email me your order today and I'll make sure to order what you need before it's gone.

Click here for the link.

Also today is the first day of the Occasions Mini Catalog. Here's another sample to show you.

I used the new White Waffle Paper. Love how it looks on the bottom of the card. Plus I used the stamp set Love Ones that I got for free for being a presenter at the Birmingham Regional.

If you are in the Gulf Shores area you may want to come make 10 of these cards:

Class is on Tuesday, January 17th at 10am at the Gulf Coast Scrapbooking store. Email me for directions if you need them. I actually smooched this card after I made it with the new Blushing Bride Smooch. May have been too much. LOL. I didn't take a picture of it but you can go look at it in person at the store starting today.

I am actually feeling sick today. Last night I had some aches in my joints and chills. I took two Nyquil and went to bed. This morning I could barely stand in the kitchen to make lunches for the girls. I felt so weak. I ask Jessica to finish making lunches for her and her sister and went to sit on the couch. I was able to brush their hair for them and then they went off to school. I took some alkaseltzer cold and now I'm feeling a little better. I hate not feeling well. Let's hope I get over this thing quickly.

Don't forget to check out the new Occasions Mini Catalog by clicking here.

New card, new product

2012-01-02T21:05:00.000-06:00

I finally had a chance to create something with the new products in the Occasions mini catalog. Here's my card:

stamp sets: Bordering on Romance and Word Play.
Paper: Early Espresso Cardstock, Twitterpated DSP, Crumb Cake Cardstock, Luckly Limade Cardstock, Blushing Bride Cardstock
punch: 5 petal punch, itty bitty shapes
framelits: labels and edgelets
accessories: pearl accents, dimensionals, twitterpatted buttons, blushing bride pleated-satin ribbon.
ink: early espresso, sponging on edges.

I also did a card class in Gulf Shores a few weeks ago. Here's what I came up for it.

We did 5 boy cards and 5 girl cards. The technique I taught them was masking and watercoloring. I learned something new too. If you use our water color crayons to color on the paper first and than use a blender pen or aqua painter to smooth it out, it goes much faster.

I hope you all are having a great new year so far. I've been enjoying my family time. The girls and I slept in every morning. We stayed up late watching H2O, eating popcorn and cuddling. (Daddy was away hunting).

I also spent the day yesterday taking down the tree, Christmas decorations and putting it all away. I decided to go ahead and decorate for Mardi Gras. I'll take some pictures and show you tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning is going to be hard for me and my girls. We are used to waking up at 10am. Alarms are going off at 6:15am. UGH!!!! I can't seem to make myself go to bed yet though. Not tired yet. Maybe if I go lay down with my daughter who is standing over my shoulder right now I will get tired. Maybe she'll actually go to sleep if I do. LOL.

See you back here tomorrow. Good night.

Love seeing what you do

2011-12-29T22:40:00.002-06:00

I love it when my customers and friends show me their creations. I saw this card and had to take a picture of it. It's beautiful!

I love all the details in it. You could look at it for hours and see something else she's done to make it even more special. The glitter glass, the water coloring, the layers of cardstock. This is a work of art. Makes me want to go make something just as special.

I hope to have some new items to show you tomorrow. I'm finally playing with my pre ordered stamps, paper, ribbon, dies, punches and more.

Until then have a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T12:04:00.000-06:00

I enjoyed my day with family yesterday. It was nice to have a relaxing Christmas without having to drive a few hours to visit more family members. Instead we had Steve's dad over for dinner with his friend Barbara. We ate leftovers from Christmas Eve and his dad brought a ham. Yum. Gumbo tastes even better the next day. We ate some of that too.

The girls got iPods from Santa this year. I think that was the hit present. Of course Steve and I gave the girls new Wii games. Deer hunter and Dino Strike. Steve and I love those games and are now teaming up to kill as many dinosaurs as possible. Amanda commented that she might have nightmares from it. LOL.

Steve and I did something different this year for gifts for each other. We each bought our own gifts and than wrapped them for under the tree. At least he got everything he wanted. :) I got everything I wanted too.

I feel very blessed to have the life I have. God is so great! I know that Christmas is a lot about giving gifts to each other but I think that's because God gave us the best gift of all. Our gifts will never come close to His. Thank you God for the gift of Your Son.

Merry Christmas!

80% off Clearance Rack Items!!!

2011-12-15T11:18:00.001-06:00

New items just added today! Check it out! Don't wait because these things will sell out at these prices.

Click on the link here: Red Hot Deals

Happy Shopping!!!

$125 Starter Kit tonight only

2011-12-14T21:10:00.001-06:00

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/jackiebarfield/jointhefun

This is where you go to get the best deal that Stampin' Up! is offering right now before the end of the year 2011.

How does $125 sound for over $340 worth of product?

How does FREE designer series paper sound all year long? One pack per month.

How do you get all this? Just go to my website and click Join The Fun. It really is fun and I will show you so much about stamping.

Don't wait. This offer is only good until midnight tonight.

Finally did my Christmas Card

2011-12-12T23:36:00.000-06:00

I think I finally came up with a winner for my card this year. Can I show you it yet? No. I may be sending you one in the mail silly! So you'll have to wait. Did you want a Christmas Card from me this year? Send me your email and I'll put you on my address list.

Here's some other fun stuff I've been doing lately:

These were the cards my girls made at the Girl Scout Troop Meeting for November.

These cute treat bags were something I made for fun at the craft fair I did.

Birgit made these cute hang tags with chocolate Santas on them. One of my girls ate one. LOL.

I made this ruffled skirt for Amanda using the Spice Cake fabric. I love this fabric!!! I even made a headband that goes with it. My girls took it already to wear to school.

I also have been busy with spoiling my hostesses, downline and best customers. I had my first ever Customer Appreciation Christmas Party. Not everyone could come but that probably worked out since I decided to do an art project with them. I love painting and making art for the walls so I decided it would be fun to do something like that. Here's a few pictures of the finished and simi finished projects.

We decoupaged some DSP onto canvas. I love how they each did something different. I had brads, paper, punches, ribbon, paint and more out for them to use. Mine is the Christmas one. I like it but I'm thinking that I need to make some more. (Maybe to hang all year long.)

I hope you all are doing well. I will try to post more often. I have a busy week again. Lots of deliveries this week. Thank you to all my customers and friends that keep me busy. I feel so blessed.

~Jackie

Another birthday card

2011-11-26T09:55:00.001-06:00

It's Aunt Ginnie's Birthday! So I had to make her a card. Here's what I did:

I used Spice Cake DSP, Early espresso cardstock, Pool Party cardstock, Very Vanilla Cardstock, Fabulous Florets stamp set, Clearly for you stamp set, Happiest Birthday Wishes stamp set, blender pens, markers, boho blossom punch, pearl accents.

I hope you like it. Aunt Ginnie did! Now I have to make a birthday card for Aunt Patty who is turning 80! Wow!

Have a blessed day!

It's in the mail

2011-11-23T13:29:00.001-06:00

Not a check but a card! LOL. How many times do you realize a family members birthday is coming up and you start thinking about the card to make for them. You already have cards made but of course you need to make a special one for them. So you finally make the card but then the birthday was yesterday. No problem. Put it on your mantle and enjoy it yourself. LOL.

I actually did send my sister her birthday card yesterday. I hope she gets it in time for her birthday which is always around Thanksgiving. I just remember we'd always put a few candles in the pumpkin pie and sing happy birthday to her. (Pretty sad huh?) But really who could eat birthday cake after eating a Thanksgiving feast and pie?

Here's the card I made:

Totally cased from Lyssa. (Visit her website here). I love the colors in this card. Early Espresso, Pool Party, Cajun Craze, Peach Parfait. The saying is from the stamp set Word Play. I still don't know how I got this stamp set since I never ordered it. LOL. But after delivering all my customers orders there was an extra one. Maybe I did order it and forgot.

The splatters are made with the spritzing tool. It's a fun tool to use and you can even tickle your kids ears with it or torment your dog. LOL.

I had to put a little bit of fabric on this card too. I love the Spice Cake Fabric. I even made a cute skirt for my daughter using it. I'll post pictures of it soon.

Well gotta run. Lots to do before Thanksgiving.

God Bless.

Giving Thanks

2011-11-22T10:48:00.001-06:00

Today I want to show you the card I made for my neighbor. I'm so thankful for good neighbors and she's one of the best!

I used the Newsprint Designer Series Paper, Peach Parfait Cardstock, Basic Black Cardstock, More Mustard Cardstock, Early Espresso Cardstock, Clear Embossing powder, versamark ink pad, Lucky Limeade Ink Pad, Peach Parfait Ink Pad, Cajun Craze Ink Pad, Sponges, Pear Pizazz Seam Binding Ribbon, Twine, Tiny Tag punch, Tiny Tags stamp set, Gently Falling Stamp set, Leaves #2 die.

What are you thankful for? Who has made a difference in your life? One of the best ways to show someone you care is to make them a card. There are so many ideas out there. I have another card I will show you tomorrow that I made for my sister. Actually it's a wonderful card to send to anyone for any occasion. So come back tomorrow to see what it is.

Only a couple more days til Thanksgiving! Here's my tree I started at the beginning of the month. I had Steve find me some branches and then I die cut the leaves out of fall colored cardstock. I punched a hole in each leaf and then tied some twine on it. There's a bowl of the leaves next to my tree branch and everyone that comes over writes on a leaf and hangs it on the tree. Look how many leaves are on the tree!

After my Girl Scout meeting tonight you won't be able to see the branches! LOL. My girls have really enjoyed writing on the leaves. One of the funniest ones I've read was for Bison. Not sure why. LOL. Today I wrote I was thankful for warm weather. One guest wrote they were thankful for God. Amen to that.

I hope you have many things to be thankful for this year.

Huge Sale!

2011-11-21T03:21:00.001-06:00

Visit my online store to learn more. There are two items on sale today only.

Simply Scored and the Sweet Press Cookie Stamp.

Don't wait! These items make great gifts for your self or a friend.

Online orders are great or you can contact me and I can place your order for you.

Stuffed Turtles

2011-11-09T07:41:00.004-06:00

No it's not a recipe for some strange cajun dish. It's actually a project I did last month while learning to sew. I found the pattern online at this website: Fabric Turtles

Here's the cutie I made:

Here's our material and the pattern laid out.

I'm off to Biloxi today so I gotta go get dressed but wanted to post a quickie here for you.

Have a blessed day!

Be the Hostess with the Mostest

2011-11-03T17:35:00.002-05:00

Click the image above to learn how you can earn even more when you host a workshop with your friends. Let me provide the fun and you invite the guests. We'll spend time creating a scrapbook page, card or treat box. I can show you how to make home decor for the holidays. Contact me today!!

My Digital Studio Free Downloads

2011-11-02T14:22:00.002-05:00

Hello stampers, Here's some amazing news from Stampin' Up! Free downloads! I actually do like to use My Digital Studio and create albums that I can print for multiple people. It's also a great way to design unique invitations, Christmas cards, calendars and tags. Design one but print many.

If you don't have My Digital Studio you can still download these for free and use it on your own program. Check it out here: My Digital Studio Website

If you have questions or need more information please let me know.

Here's something fun I just made using the new downloads.

I'd love to show you more in person. Schedule your appointment today.

Zombies and Monsters and Bats Oh My!

2011-10-28T14:52:00.002-05:00

Halloween is almost here! I have really enjoyed decorating the house with all kinds of spooky decor. But of course taking pictures of all the spookyness and scrapbooking it is what's best of all!

Last year my daughter's costume was sort of like a zombie. So here's a scrapbook page that I did with the new DSP in the Mini Catalog called Pick Your Poison.

I really like this paper. It's full of details and elements so you don't even need to have stamps to make an awesome page.

Here's some shots of the other pages.

Don't forget that all Stampin' Up! Designer Paper is double sided so you get even more for your money.

Here's some random pictures that my girls took when I wasn't around. LOL.

I want to say a big Thank You to Ann and Cori who had workshops for me this week. Below is the card I did at those workshops.

I really love how the shaving cream technique turned out. The colors I used in this card were Soft Suede, Pool Party and Lucky Limade.
After putting the card together I used the Smooch Spritz Vanilla Shimmer all over it. You can find that on page 203, 118772, $4.95.

If you want to schedule a private class, workshop or party let me know. I'd love to teach you and your friends how to make beautiful cards, scrapbook pages, boxes and decor.

In case you don't know, I'm having a Christmas party just for my hostesses and downline. Sign up or host a party to get an invitation. You don't want to miss out on the fun, food and crafting I have planned for my very special customers.

Have a fun and safe Halloween.

Free Big Shot ends soon!

2011-10-25T12:50:00.001-05:00

Okay stampers. This is a great deal that Stampin' Up! is offering. I would hate for you to miss out on it because of not knowing about it. So here's all the details:

You pay $175 +tax and get:

4 stamp sets of your choice
4 ink pads of your choice
2 packs of cardstock of your choice
1 pack of Designer Series Paper of your choice
1 punch of your choice
adhesive
stamp and scrub
stamp and mist
Embossing folder of your choice
envelopes
ribbon of your choice
clear block
wheel handle
Stampin around wheel of your choice
versamark pad
sponge
color coach
re inker of your choice
Wheel Ink Cartridge
2 markers of your choice
blender pen

All this is valued at $340. Then the FREE part comes in. You get a free Big Shot worth $99. Or you can pick out $100 worth of Stampin' Up! Product that you want. Shipping is free on all of this too.

Does this sound like a deal to you? I hope you really think about joining my team. We have a lot of fun and you can even make money doing what you love.

Visit my website to sign up online or call me today and I'll help you get your free Big Shot.

Next team meeting is November 14th. I'll have a special prize for all my new turtles so you don't want to miss it!

Halloween mask

2011-10-22T20:07:00.000-05:00

Here's the mask I decorated for the Halloween party I went to last week.

I bought the black mask and then got creative with our punches, dies, waffle paper, brads and shimmer paint.

Here's a close up of the sides:

Spider charm is so spooky!

I love the tiny silver brads. Oh and the rhinestones.

I put most of the items on with a glue gun. Some punches are retired but you can get the bat punch on the clearance rack. So Ho Blossoms is the punch I used to make the little flowers. I also embossed the butterflies with out spider web embossing folder. Love that!

I think I had more fun making the mask than wearing it. LOL. (The party was so much fun though!) I really like this time of year. :)

Happy creating!

It's great being a demo

2011-10-21T17:27:00.001-05:00

I really love my job. In fact it's not really a job. It's my hobby but I can make some extra money doing it. This week was a busy week so I spent a lot of time with my girls and my husband. My girls take karate, dance and Girl Scouts. (I'm their leader). My husband likes to have clean laundry and a nice looking house. I try my best to do those things. Hee hee. I have pets too and I'm involved with my church. Doing all this I have to say that my business is really a part time business. I work on it when I can. Sometimes laundry isn't put away but really, clean and laying on the bed is good enough if you ask me. :)

So this week I designed a cute Halloween banner (during my free time) for my Mystery Hostess club using the new pennants die. It's so easy to make that I may start making them for every occasion. With the Big Shot and a few dies you can make lots of home decor items for less than buying it in the store. Plus you get the satisfaction of making it yourself.

This month you can get the Big Shot for FREE when you sign up for the starter kit. If you already have the Big Shot you can pick out $100 worth of current Stampin' Up! products.

Above is the banner Angela made. I like how hers turned out since she used different papers from the Pick Your Poison pack than I did.

With all that's going on in my life I have not been able to send out cards yet to friends and family. I was pleasantly surprised though when I opened my own mailbox.

Angela made this cute Halloween card below.

Front:Inside:

And Becky made this Spooky card. I love the fancy fold she did.

Being a demonstrator is great all by it self but the small, unexpected perks of the job really makes it the best job in the world. I love getting surprises in the mail from my creative friends. They are so incredibly talented!

I want to thank all of my stamping friends for inspiring me with the projects they share with me and for the lives that they touch through stamping.

I am so pleased to let you know that I am adding to my Stampin' Up! family today. :) Her name is Diane and I'm glad to have her join my team. She's so excited about getting the Big Shot for free. I'm so excited for how this will help her increase her own circle of friends. My team is awesome and I love that we all help each other out. I'm a lucky lady indeed.

God bless!

Spoiled Rotten

2011-10-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to download pictures from Regionals. So today I took some time to update my blog and show you how spoiled I feel. Stampin' Up! really knows how to put on an event.

First I will tell you that I enjoyed my time on stage doing the shaving cream technique for everyone. It seemed to go well and everyone loved the results of the technique. I loved watching the other two demos that also presented. Really great ideas from them. One was a pop up card and the other was cute little bags made with our packing paper. How awesome is that? I'm always trying to find a use for it instead of throwing it away.

Here's the goodie bag I brought home from Regionals.

(It's stuffed with goodies. Want to see???)

These were the swaps I got. I made a few 3D swaps and 3 card swaps. Woo hoo! I know. So many huh? LOL.

Here's the card that Shannon West gave me for doing the presentation.

It's so pretty and elegant. I asked her how she made the top part of the card. It's actually a background stamp. Parlor Prints on page 150 in the Big Book. I also can pick out any stamp set I want for free. Woo hoo!

Here's pictures of the make n takes that we did.

I really liked this set. It's from the mini catalog and I didn't realize all the amazing things you can do with it. It's called You Are Loved. Such a sweet name. :)

Everytime you go to a Stampin' Up! event there are door prizes. Many ladies won the stamp set Gift Givers from the mini catalog. One of my turtles won something too. But the amazing thing was that Stampin' Up! gave away two products to EVERYONE! Wow!

Here's what everyone got:

I love this card holder. It organizes your cards and you can decorate it to go with your craft room, living room, bedroom or where ever. Even your kitchen and you could put recipe cards in it. How cool!

The Thanksgiving book is really sweet too. I still need to decorate mine. They showed us how you can use craft reinkers to "paint" the cover. No paper cuting involved.

I guess that's all for now. I'm looking forward to my club meeting tonight. Woo hoo!

Happy Stampin'!

Birmingham Regional

2011-10-08T06:26:00.000-05:00

Here are the projects that I made for the Birmingham Regional. I was asked by Stampin' Up! to design 3-4 projects and to do a 5 minute presentation/demonstration of a WOW technique. So I did the shaving cream technique.

When I get back I'll let you know how I did. Until then have a great day!

Goodbye Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T10:59:00.001-05:00

The sad news about Steve Jobs yesterday brought back memories of my mother-in-law's battle against Pancreatic cancer. She fought bravely against this disease but it was too much for her. Watching her suffer was the worst part.

My heart goes out to Steve's family who are dealing with the loss of a brilliant man.

When we told Amanda about Steve Jobs dying and how computers used to be the size of a house and that this man helped to design smaller, faster computers and even the iPhone that mommy uses she wanted to know how he died. We told her the same way grandma died. She said, "I hate cancer!" I agree.

May God hold us all in His arms.

Stazon or basic black

2011-10-02T21:22:00.000-05:00

Okay stampers, here's my post about comparing Stazon Ink with Stampin' Up! Basic Black Ink. We'll be using the stamp set Wicked Cool since it has solid images to use.

As you can see in the pictures the Stazon has a much darker image. The ink covers completely without faded spots. So now you might be asking yourself, "Why would I ever buy the Stampin' Up! ink pad."

Here's one reason. Sponging.

I like this ink for sponging because the Stazon Ink seems a little sticky and I don't think it's as easy to work with for sponging.

Here's a card I made in about 10 minutes or less.

I used some ribbon, glimmer brads and Pick your Poison DSP. Simple and yet spooky enough to send to a friend.

Have you heard the news yet? Stampin' Up! is offering a free Big Shot to everyone that joins Stampin' Up! this month. What a Spooktacular Idea! Contact me for more details or visit my website.

Happy Stampin'!

Coastal Clean-Up and Mystery Hostess night

2011-09-21T10:51:00.000-05:00

I have been a busy mom lately. My Girl Scout Troop volunteered to help with Coastal Clean-Up this past weekend. We had gloves, plastic trash bags and a bunch of girls. Here's our group on Saturday morning.

We picked up at least three full bags of trash and saved a jelly fish from certain death. The girls learned how important it is to put trash in a trash can instead of just dropping it on the ground. The most of anything we found were cigarette butts. Yuck! We also found a long metal pipe, cans, wrappers and other items that the girls really didn't need to see.

One thing that my daughter, Jessica, learned was that you don't pick up dead catfish. The barb went right into her thumb. Poor baby cried hysterically for a half hour. It was bleeding and she said it hurt really bad. I was worried about infection. Luckily she's fine and her thumb never swelled up and the pain was gone within an hour.

Last night was my Mystery Hostess night. I had a new lady come named Lynn and that newbie luck was in play again. She won hostess benefits! Here's the card we made.

We used Spice Cake Designer Series Paper (124003, $10.95), and Pool Party, Crumb Cake, More Mustard and Very Vanilla Cardstock. The saying is from the stamp set Word Play (120651) page 156 in the Idea Book and Catalog. Other stuff used: Antique Brads, bakers twine, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Gold Smooch Spray, Early Espresso Marker, Spritzing tool, Crimper and the leaves die. The ribbon is from the clearance rack. I don't think that color is on it anymore but the Riding Hood Red is. Click here to visit the clearance rack and order your discounted Stampin' Up! products. If you place an order online this month you are entered in a drawing for a free stamp set from me.

All the ladies last night got a treat from Carol who made these awesome little sour cream boxes.

I love chocolate! And I'm sure there will be chocolate in these treat boxes. The stamp is from a retired set from a mini catalog. I knew I should have bought that one! Darn. LOL.

More inspiration for Halloween of course:

Snowburst embossing folder can look like spiders on black cardstock. Spooky! Products used:

Out on a limb (123824 $16.95), Piece of Poison (123754 $20.95), Pick Your Poison Designer Series Paper. I also used the color spritzer with a black marker, the rhinestone jewels, sponging technique and black grosgrain ribbon.

Next time I blog I'll show you why I love Staz on black ink over the classic Basic Black ink.

Happy Stampin'!

Christmas Card Class this Sunday

2011-09-16T11:17:00.000-05:00

Okay, I finally came up with a card I can do thanks to Julie in Canada. She's a demo and I love looking at her creations on her blog. Visit her page and see if you can guess which card inspired me.

I used the new stamp set from the Holiday Mini called Festive and Fun (123744 $14.95) and the new embossing folder (124096 $7.95) and the new stocking punch (124095 $16.95). Do you like it? You know you can come to my class on Sunday to make 10 of these cards for just $20 and then come to my Supper and Stamping club on Tuesday night to get a chance to earn hostess benefits. Buying these three items would be enough to join in the fun. ($25 order).

Here's some other great new cards to look at:

Francesca's baby shower invite. Isn't it soooo cute?

My first shaker card. Used the new mica flakes, shaker frames and tons of pearls.

I also made this beautiful card using a product that's retired but available right now on the clearance rack.

They are printed window sheets (115705 $2.99). You can make at least 6 cards using them. I added some rhinestones, crochet ribbon and a saying.

If you place an online order this month with me I'll enter you into a drawing for a free stamp set. (Your choice from my retired stash).

Have a great day!

Sweet cookies stamped by my girls

2011-09-13T20:56:00.001-05:00

This is just amazing! I was able to pre order the new cookie press stamp set and I love it! I was able to check it out at convention but actually watching my two girls use it and make cookies was so much fun.

Here's a short video with my girls using the stamps.

They really had fun. Plus the cookies came out great! Look at them after they baked.

Here's the link to the recipe: Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies tasted way better than the ones that they shared with us at convention. Those cookies needed about a pound of sugar added to them. LOL. These ones melt in your mouth. So yummy.

If you are interested in buying this stamp set let me know and also visit my events page to find out about my upcoming class using it.

Thanks for looking.

How to make a lolly

2011-09-12T11:26:00.000-05:00

Have you ever used a scoring tool before? Did you have to reposition the paper each time to make a new score? Or maybe you have a fancy one that does score every cm. Well Stampin' Up! finally got it's own scoring board that I love! Why do I love it? Probably because it says "Stampin' Up!" on it. LOL. Really I think it's because when I use it the score tool doesn't skip and because I can use the pegs that come with it to mark the spot I need to score so I won't forget. Whatever the case may be I now can make lollies.

What are lollies you ask? Well I didn't know what to call them at first but googling helped me find the answer. Lollies are paper circles that are made using a scoring board.

One of things that I love about making them is that I can actually make a whole sheet of them while only scoring once and then cutting the sheet into strips. For this tutorial I will use one strip to demonstrate how it's done.

Here's a piece of DSP (designer series paper) on the scoring board. I use DSP because it's thinner than cardstock and works a lot better. (looks better too).

I placed the scoring tool at the half inch mark.

You'll score every 1/2 inch all the way til the end of the dsp strip.

Then you will flip over the dsp and score in between those 1/2 inch score marks starting at the first 1/4 inch mark.

*Important tip: If you flip your paper from right to left you will screw up your score marks. So remember to flip from bottom to top.

Here's what the strip of DSP looks like after you score it.

Remember to fold on the score lines back and forth to make an accordion type fold.

Next you will put a small bit of sticky strip on the end.

This will help your strip stay together better. Attach one end of the strip to the other. You may need to snip off some of the dsp to get the folds to align correctly. Also you can cut down strips or attach two or more strips to make it longer or shorter. (Bigger or smaller lollies).

After you attach the ends you'll need a glue gun, circle punch and cardstock.

Punch a circle out of cardstock. I used a 1" punch. Cover the circle with glue. Then put your strip over the circle.

You will need to press down on the lolly until it is flat.

Wait until the glue hardens a bit before you take away your hand. Now you have a lolly that you can layer with other lollies. Don't forget to add a brad, button or other embellishment to the center.

Click here to get your own scoring tool from Stampin' Up!

Spooky, Wicked, Cool

2011-09-07T09:16:00.000-05:00

Those are the words you need to describe this card. I'm really excited to be doing a class at Gulf Coast Scrapbooking on the 28th this month. You get to make 10 Halloween Cards. Here's the card I came up with yesterday.

I used the embossing folder Spider Web on page 218 in the Big Catalog Book. I sponged some Whisper White ink on it. Then I used the new DSP from the Mini. I love this paper! It's called Pick Your Poison. One page I have to use as a scrapbook page because it's so amazing just how it is. The stamp set I used is Wicked Cool. This stamp set has been around at least a year but I didn't buy it until recently. I actually got it half off with hostess benefits. This stamp set has the candelabra, bats, web, witch hat, boots and two sayings. I can't believe it's only $14.95. Amazing.

Do you want to come to this class? Sign up on my website: Click Here Space is limited.

Well it's time to start some laundry. Have a great day!

Fall is in the air

2011-09-06T13:53:00.000-05:00

I can't believe the nice weather we are having today. Cool and sunny. I love it!

To celebrate the cooler weather I made this fall looking card. Lookie:

I used: Gently Falling stamp set on page 16 of the Holiday Mini. Spice Cake Designer Series Paper. Peach Parfait and Pool Party Cardstock. Lucky Limeade ribbon and the new Spice Cake Designer Buttons that you can find on page 18 of the Holiday Mini. I love these colors. So pretty. You can really do a lot with this paper too. I made some Lollies using the new Simply Scored tool and they are awesome! I'll have to make some more and post them since I gave the ones I made to my last hostess.

I hope you are enjoying this weather and getting outside.

Happy Birthday Exploding Purse Card

2011-09-02T20:00:00.001-05:00

Here it is finally! I can show you the finished card now that I've given Veronica her card.

This is a super easy card to make if you have the Simply Scored tool New in the Holiday Mini. Do you want to make this card? I'm offering a free class when you buy the Simply Scored. Click here to order online.

I can't take credit for coming up with this idea. My friend Birgit helped me. Visit her blog here. It's in German but you can still see the cute cards and boxes that she makes.

I'm so excited about this next thing I'm going to show you. Birgit made it for me because she knows I love turtles.

You can even get to the candy without tearing open the turtle. His head slides out. See:

Super cute! I love this little guy and can't wait to make some to give away to my downline.

Hope you have a safe and restful Labor Day Weekend.

Haunted Halloween House

2011-09-01T16:40:00.000-05:00

Here's my latest idea for a class. Joan came over today and helped me design this totally spooky Haunted Halloween House. What do you think?

I used the new Halloween Designer Series paper from the Mini Catalog. Plus the Wicked Cool Stamp set and the Bingo Halloween stamp set. I love those! Joan had the Tim Holtz die for the fence and the gooey drippy punch. Love all the details and the sponging on this. I'm holding the class on October 2, 2-4pm. Contact me soon cause I only have so many of these houses. (Guess being a horder is good for something. LOL.) Cost of the class is $25.

Have a great day!

Found a New Download

2011-08-30T12:35:00.000-05:00

I was cleaning up my craft room (gasp!) and found the disc they gave us at Convention for the Noteworthy MDS digital images. So I put it on my computer and made this:

Everything on this page is from the Noteworthy package. Do you like it? I really like the alphabet set and numbers. You can make them any color. I played around with the papers a little and really like the swirls and polka dots. So fun to play with!

If you want this disc you can get it by being a hostess. Let's plan a date to get together and I'll show you the software and all the fun things it can do. I even have samples of our print services. High quality and fast turn around.

Just as a reminder, tomorrow is the last day for the buy three get one free deal on Designer Paper. Don't miss out on this awesome deal! You save over $10.

Have a blessed day!

Christmas Card Stamp a Stack

2011-08-27T14:30:00.000-05:00

Here's my totally wintery Christmas Card. (even though it's 100 degrees outside.)

I used the new embossing folder from the Holiday Mini Catalog. Totally LOVE this new folder. I inked it up before running it through the Big Shot.

You might be asking what that crinkly looking stuff is. Well it's waffle paper. I like it but it only comes in Silver and Gold now. I like the Chocolate Chip color.

This is the card we are making tomorrow. I have 5 people coming so far. Might have enough for one more person. If you are interested let me know.

I'll be showing you a really cute project I made with a friend. Actually my friend showed me how to make it. I wish I could post pictures now but it's kinda for someone. Hee hee. I'll post it after the 2nd.

Hope you are having a great day!

Jackie

Shaving Cream Technique

2011-08-15T15:58:00.000-05:00

Okay stampers! Have you ever tried doing the Shaving Cream technique? All you need is this:

Well maybe some Tupperware and a butter knife too. LOL. Want to learn how to do it? Then come to my house tomorrow night. We'll have dinner at 6:30pm and then we'll make this fun card.

I love the new In Colors. Island Indigo, Pool Party and Lucky Limeade. Sounds like a party if you ask me. LOL. I used the new brads and ribbon on this. The technique part is the background paper. You'll learn to make that using the shaving cream and re-inkers.

So much fun! I hope you can make it.

Back to school!

2011-08-15T12:58:00.000-05:00

Wow! My first day of freedom and I'm getting lots of laundry done. LOL. Actually I've been making some phone calls for my business. I love to reconnect with past customers and make sure they have everything they need. One of my goals this month is to start a "use your stuff" class. If you are like me you might buy something and never put it together and use it. I have a lot of stamp sets just waiting to be inked. Now that my two girls are in school I'll have more time to create cards and scrapbook pages.

Here's a scrapbook page from today.

I did this with My Digital Studio so no ink required. It's a great program with lots of awesome stamp sets, embellishments and papers all stored neatly on my computer. What makes this so great is that it's portable (if you have a laptop.)

Well I think I better check on laundry, eat some lunch and get back to work.

Have a great day!

Turtle Time

2011-08-09T22:42:00.000-05:00

My team of turtles were busy last night but a few were able to come. Laura was our number one in sales and she got a special gift for being top sales person.

It's a bauble for the Simply Adorned Chain.

I also did a Minute to Win It game where we timed the ladies to see how many ink pads they could open in one minute. Laura breezed through them like an old pro. She ended up winning with 20 ink pads opened in a minute. Woo hoo! Elizabeth did pretty good opening 18. Two actually came apart. It was a good thing I remembered how to put them together. Click here if you ever have a problem with yours. The video will help you.

Here's some of the door prizes and game prizes I gave away.

I started to work on the class projects for the Strength and Hope Stamp Set.

Here's the scrapbook page you get to do.

Pictures of my child not included. LOL.

But what is included you ask? Well let me tell you. The stamp set Strength and Hope. This scrapbook page. A card. A box and a candle. I will show you pictures of those soon. But really you should sign up for the class right now. Visit my events page and click on the RSVP. It's only $30.

That's it for today. I hope to hear from you soon.

Little Suzy Homemaker

2011-08-05T08:00:00.003-05:00

Well their name isn't Suzy but they want to learn to do some homemaker stuff. Crazy girls.

Here's Amanda using the iron.

Here's Jessica.

I think they are on their way to being little homemakers. LOL. I was thinking of scrapbooking these pictures and thought...wouldn't it be neat to have some paper or stamps with ironing boards on them? Well of course it would. So here's what I've order recently.

Domestic Goddess Designer Series Paper

House & Home - Clear-Mount Stamp

You can find this stamp set and paper on page 53 of the Idea Book and Catalog. I love this Suite of products. So many cute accessories too.

Still don't have a catalog? You can buy one for $10 or host a party and get it for free. Contact me today for more information.

Dont forget today is Tax Free day in Alabama. Let me know what supplies you need to stock up on and I'll order it for you. Tax free. For some of you that's a 10% savings.

Have a blessed day!

Jackie

It's awesome to be a demo!

2011-08-04T20:18:00.001-05:00

I know a few of my friends and customers have been getting an ear full about how great it is to be a demonstrator. Apparently they agree but feel a little bit weary of joining the Stampin' Up! Family.

I can understand why they don't want to do it. Sometimes it's time, sometimes it's space. Sometimes it's fear of having to sell. Whatever the case may be I have been unable to sign someone up since attending Convention.

I'll be honest with you. I will get something if someone signs up before August 15th. I will get three free stamp sets. That's right. Maybe even four if the recruiting challenge is met by all convention attendees.

That's a lot of free stamps and that's if I sign up one person.

So I'm thinking that maybe I need to offer some free stamps to those who join before August 15th.

Would anyone want a free stamp set? How about two? How about three??? I have a huge box of totally awesome stamp sets that I'm willing to part with if someone just signs up with me.

I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be a part of my Totally awesome Turtle group. Turtles are the best because we are Terrific, Unique, Resourceful, Talented, Lovely Stampers. That's why.

I know that there's a commitment that seems to stop some ladies from actually going through with signing up. I know that some take joining Stampin; Up! seriously. But if you ask yourself these three questions and answer yes to them I think we should talk more about the opportunity to live a life that you have always wanted.

1. Do I love being creative?

2. Do I like to save money?

3. Do I want to spend time with other creative ladies?

These questions will get you started thinking about joining. Don't let negative thoughts stop you from doing something that could posible change your life for the best. I am so thankful to Michelle for moving away because I would have never joined if she was still here. I would never have met the ladies I know now and I would never had known that I'm capable of running a successful business. I am grateful to Michelle for giving me the push I needed to become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

Want to know another perk? I'm part of a group called L-inked Together. I'm in the second level of Mandy Grant who is totally awesome! She inspires me to do more with my craft and with my business just by doing it herself. When she earned the cruise to Alaska I realized that I could do more to reach my goals. She prayed for me and my business and I felt that power in my life as I was able to step outside my comfort zone and ask more ladies to be a part of my team. It can be scary to ask someone to spend money and start their own crafting circle. Luckily I found a group of ladies that lift me up and inspire me to grow and do more. I'm still learning to be a better leader but I feel that our friendship is the most important part of what I'm doing.

Here's a fabulous gift that Mandy gave me at Convention.

It's a journal that she designed using My Digital Studio. I love how she makes me feel special and appreciated. She's an amazing person and I'm glad to know her and continue our friendship.

So now you know the truth about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

What are you waiting for? Call me! LOL.

251-454-9545

Jackie

Creative ideas

2011-08-04T14:16:00.000-05:00

I've been staying up late working on some scrapbook pages. Here's my latest one.

I used the new stamp set in the Idea Book and Catalog called Up, Up and Away on page 63. It's so cute and fun. I'll probably make a few birthday cards with it for the girls to use this year.

Of course I already need happy belated birthday cards. Here's one that's a 3 x 3 card using the new Ronald McDonald House Stamp Set called Turtle & Co. on page 16. Stampin' Up! donates $3 every time someone buys this stamp set. I think it's the cutest set with frogs, turtles, snails and great sayings.

All the paper you need is whisper white cardstock. Everything else is ink. Well the little flower is punched out of some scrap cardstock I had.

I colored in the turtle with markers, applied some two-way glue and some dazzling diamonds, added a pearl and there you go. So pretty and cute and ready to send to one of my many friends and family who had a birthday in the last couple months. LOL.

Speaking of turtles I have to show off two cards I received recently.

It's so nice to receive a card back once in a while. :) I loved these two cards because they are so fun and playful and full of details. Glitter, cut out letters, lots of layers and neat ideas for adding texture. Thank you Carol and Becky! You guys are awesome!

I will post some pictures of my girls ironing tomorrow. LOL. I know. They wanted to learn. Not sure if I'm the best teacher for that but at least they didn't get burned.

Have a great day!

Designer Paper Deal is here!

2011-08-01T10:13:00.000-05:00

Don't you just love Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper? Don't you wish you could get more of what you want for less? Well this month you can get a FREE pack of DSP when you buy three. I love this deal so much! Usually I'm not the kind to buy different papers. But I do like to stock up on my favorite DSP. So this month I'll be buying a few packs of Well Worn. As a demonstrator I get to take advantage of the deal plus I get paid 20% on it. How awesome is that!

If you would like to get a free pack of DSP let me know and I'll put it on my next order. Better yet, lets set up a date for a private class for you and your friends and I'll show you some great techniques.

This month I'll be preordering Holiday Mini products. If you want a chance to win a free set from me make sure you host a workshop. All hostesses for this month will be entered into a drawing for the holiday set in the mini catalog called Pines and Poinsettias.

Time to go place my preorder today. If you need anything just let me know and I'll add it on.

My team!

2011-07-30T11:08:00.000-05:00

This is the best group of ladies! I love my team members and they are amazing women. Each of them did something to make the event go smoothly and I could not have done it without them.

From left to right:

Elizabeth Jennings, Jackie Barfield (me), Jeannette Abee, Brooke Ingram, Francesca Mata, Laura Minton and Barbara. Wait! Barbara is technically not a turtle. Yet. LOL. But she did help tremendously and I would love for her to join my team officially.

Here's a group shot of all the croppers, vendors and helpers.

Have a blessed day and make sure to check on my blog often for more inspiration and ideas.

Pictures from the Crop for the Cure

2011-07-26T00:39:00.000-05:00

I want to start this post by saying how much I appreciate my team. They really came together and helped me out so much. In fact at a team meeting when we were going over some details and finalizing some to do items I said, "My event." One of my turtles corrected me and said, "Our event." Totally agree. I was able to spend time with those who needed me and focus on the time line of the event.

Before the big day I had several ladies come over an help me with the Goodie bags. Here they are on my kitchen counter.

Laura had helped me stamp the tags. So did Elizabeth and Francesca.

I was so pleased with the turnout for the crop. Here's a view of the room.

I hope that everyone that attended the event enjoyed it and got a lot of scrapbooking done. My friend Carla got a lot of her Disney album done. Here she is scrapbooking away in her own little scrapping spot.

I was also amazed by the vendors at the event. A new scrapbooking store in Gulf Shores came to it and had a mini store set up. Here is Anne with one of the croppers.

Panera Bread donated some delicious bagels and pastries. Here's Amanda enjoying a bite.

We also had coffee, cream and cups donated by Starbucks. What an amazing city I live in. So generous!

I have to say that the classes that were offered were fantastic. Here's one of my turtles learning to etch on glass.

The cool part was how Marcie used the negative to do the etching and then the positive to make a cute framed monogram.

Barbara with the finished product.

I have a feeling that Barbara will be a turtle soon. Just a feeling. Hee hee. That shirt she has on isn't a clue.

The food that we had was delicious. Santa Fe Grill in Mobile donated the tacos. Many of you thought they were homemade and not from a restaurant. They were so yummy. And the pizza was donated by Papa Johns. Dinner was specially made by my husband Steve. Jambalaya is one of his best recipes and he did not disappoint this crowd. The ladies from Louisiana kept asking him where he was from since he could make a Cajun dish so well. LOL.

Here's a page that someone scrapbooked.

I love turtles. I never did explain the whole turtle thing. I have several real turtles in my back yard and I'm know for stopping to move turtles out of the road. I love my pet turtles a lot and care for them as much as I do my furry pets. When I was thinking of a name for my team I realized that Totally Turtles would be a great name because if we go at this business like a turtle we won't get burned out but we'll still win the race. Plus the word turtle could be a great acronym for what we do and who we are.

Terrific
Unique
Resourceful
Talented
Lovely
Exceptional
Stampers

So that's why we are turtles.

Here's a lovely lady that would be a great turtle. Perhaps this is the month she says yes. What do you think Carmen?

Your friend Debbie could be your very first customer. LOL.

A picture of Ashley working on her winning entry for the page layout contest.

I don't think Ashley sat down the entire time. She usually was using some tool to create brilliant embellishments on her pages.
Scrapping Frenzy was there too. Here's the group. Two ladies were cropping too.

Marcie from Kutitup:

I also had Close to my Heart, Creative Memories and ScrapHappy as vendors. A lot of ladies said I had a better vendor turn out then most crops they go to. I'm glad that everyone enjoyed having them there. Its good to support each other and share our ideas with each other.

Well that's it for now. I'll post again soon.

Crop for the Cure! Tomorrow!

2011-07-22T23:50:00.000-05:00

It's almost here! I should be sleeping but who can sleep when they are this excited! I'm really amazed by everything happening here. God is working a miracle and He's touching our lives. So many things to tell you but I think I will just wait until tomorrow to give you details because then I'll have pictures too.

Hope, Strength, Faith

We can beat this. Everyone working together. Saving lives.

God bless.

P.S. My little girl lost another tooth today. It's her 6th one. She asked me if I put something under her pillow. I said no. The tooth fairy does. She had more questions that I answered truthfully. Needless to say I'll be curious what the toothfairy leaves for her.

Convention was great!

2011-07-20T07:43:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone,

I got back from Convention on Monday, did a downline meeting that night, prepped for my Mystery Hostess class for Tuesday, did some planning on my Crop for the Cure Fundraiser on Saturday, cuddled with kids, dog and husband and I'm still ready to do more.

Can you tell I had some sugar? LOL.

I want to share a blog that has all the pictures of the display boards from Convention. She did an awesome job and had a way better camera then I did. Check it out here: ustamp4fun

If you didn't get to follow along with me on facebook I'll give a quick recap.

I got to Salt Lake City a day early. So while I kept annoying Dina saying, What's going on today? and her saying, "Nothing." we toured the Temple, ate delicious food, drank some beer and enjoyed getting to know each other better. Part of Convention is connecting with fellow demonstrators in person. I love getting together with my upline and friends from all over the world. Especially Canada.

On Wednesday I enjoyed shopping Memento Mall. That's where I can pick up some products that people might want to entice them to book a workshop. Some things I got are tabs for catalogs, pop up scrap bags, umbrella, pens, and more.

I also did a tour of the home office in Riverton. What a great place to work! It's really neat to see how the shipping operation works. I think I may have been there when one of my boxes was packed. They told me that two huge UPS trucks pull up everyday and are filled with boxes. Sometimes during a busy season they have to get a third one.

I enjoyed going to the Melting Pot for dinner. If you have one near you I recommend it.

The days are all a blur but the most exciting thing for me was when they told us about the new Simply Scored scoring tool. It's a stylist, board, pegs to mark on the board and large storage bin in the back all in one. It's available starting September 1.

I enjoyed my first march across stage for having 4 or more recruits promote to Senior Associate. I feel very proud of this accomplishment. Not for myself but for my team. The four ladies that promoted have been an inspiration to me. I learn from them hopefully as much as they learn from me. I have enjoyed watching them grow their own Stampin' Up! business. Some have done classes, some clubs, some have just shared what they love with others and some have done workshops. All of them make me proud.

Here are some amazing things that Convention provided: (taken from Shelli's blog).

■Idea Book & Catalog binder, included in the convention bag (You just gotta see it)

■VIP Room (awesome room, great place to put your feet up and enjoy treats)
■TWO new marches (First-Timers March and Recruiters March)

■First-timers breakfast!

■See-Or Hear-It-Here-First Announcements (can you say Mini Holiday Catalog)

■Dates and locations of TWO incentive trips (Getaway and Grand Vacations)

■All-Attendee Giveaways, we had THREE, more than ever before

■+ Fun classes (a new convention offering of great projects to make) I went to bed instead of doing this.
■Hispanic Night event (demonstrators interested in growing their Hispanic business met, got to know each other, and shared ideas)

■Treats—we had more treats this year than I can ever remember having before!

■ Announcement of the Surprise & Delight Stamp Room Makeover winner

Shelli forgot about the after party for awards night. Dancing, dessert, music, friends.

She also didn't mention the kick off party that had three prize patrols. I may be wrong but I think everyone left with a prize.

I have a huge stack of new rubber and I can't wait to ink it up.

The swaps I got were over the top. I know we have talented ladies but I felt like some of the swaps I got were worthy of being a class. In fact I may do this one for the Christmas Stamp a stack on Sunday, July 31.

If I could show you all the awesome swaps I got I would but I actually had to give a lot of them to Laura, Jeannette and Flora. They made me some swaps to take and I had fun swapping for them. It's always nice to hear the compliments on cards from others. I always thank them and say, My friend made these.

Some other highlights of Convention:

Swapping with Tami White, Number one Demonstrator for the year.

Meeting Mary Ellen Byler was fantastic! She's so funny on stage too. She did a workshop start to finish on stage and that was inspiring. She's telling jokes, knows the page numbers of everything, sponges everything, smooches everything and completes 5 cards start to finish in less than an hour. Amazing.

In case you don't know who she is here's a little background on her. She's Amish. She's in the top 100 demonstrators in the country. She has sales over 100K a year. She has to hire a driver to take her to workshops. She does a workshop every night Monday - Friday.

I don't think I want to work that hard but I would like to do more private classes for people.

So here's what my goal is. To earn the trip to Fiji. Yep. I need some amazing women to become part of my team to do it. I want to help them earn it too. I have an amazing new downline who is ready to start doing workshops. She's really into scrapbooking so if you are interested in learning that she'd be perfect to talk with and arrange a class.

That's it for now. Time to start my day.

Holiday mini!!!

2011-07-15T21:22:00.000-05:00

Let me just say the new mini is full of must have items. Want to see it? I'll let all hostesses this month take one home with them. Don't forget mystery hostess night. The hostess gets one too.

Since I'm typing on an iPad I think I'll go. But check back soon.

Here's my swap

2011-07-13T08:00:00.001-05:00

Just thought I would show you some of the stuff I'm swapping.

I hope everyone likes them. I'm also swaping other cards that my downline and friends made for me to take. Can't wait to see all the creative ideas at Conveniton. Woo hoo!

Here's a picture of my girls. I'm totally missing them.

I hope they are being good for daddy. Hugs!!!

See you all when I get back.

Jackie

Christmas Card

2011-07-11T15:43:00.000-05:00

Here's what we did last month. Nothing fancy really but fun to color with the pastels.

Next class is on July 31st. It's going to be awesome because you actually get some ribbon to put on it. LOL. Can't wait to show you what it is.

Have a blessed day and keep checking back for more cards to post.

Jackie

I wish I had some samples to show you

2011-07-06T21:45:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately I've been working too hard on Girl Scouts, Crop for the Cure, Workshops, and more. I could show you the make n take we did at the workshop last week. Really cute idea that's a matchbook scrapbook. I would love to do it at your workshop so contact me today and we'll pick a date.

I've been placing orders and doing a lot of interacting with people.

Don't forget that my crop for the cure is July 23rd. I've been getting emails, phone calls and bumping into people around town who are asking if there's still spots available. There are but act quick! I need to have goodie bags and more ready for the event and a final head count by the 18th would be nice. :)

I'm leaving for Convention on the 11th. I'll be gone a week but would love to hear from you. Friend me on Facebook and you can see what I'm seeing.

I also wanted to let you all know that I'm having a class on July 19th. It's Mystery Hostess Night and I can't wait to show you the awesome card we are going to do. Check back tomorrow and I'll give you a sneak peak.

That's it for now. Talk to you soon.

Join for only $99!

2011-07-01T09:32:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning and logged onto Stampin' Up! like I always do and this is what I see:

Wow!!!! Only $99 gets you started in this wonderful world of crafting and meeting new friends. Yeah!

Contact me today or come to my Open House tomorrow, Saturday, 10am-2pm. I'll give you all the details when we talk.

Have a blessed day!

Time is running out!

2011-06-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Retired stamps are flying off the shelf! Don't wait til it's too late! In fact I may have to buy this one. Sense of time. It's amazing what you can do with it. Look at this card that I found on Sue's website:

Just look at all the wonderful detail. She ties in all the elements perfectly.

We are making a card like this tonight. Hopefully just as beautiful.

Thanks for sharing Sue!

That's it for now.

Some cards finally

2011-06-13T17:01:00.000-05:00

Those of you waiting to see some creative juices from me are going to be happy. Here's some really cool cards that I made recently. Nothing from the new box of goodies yet but they'll be coming soon.

Here's the card I made for Jessica's teacher. It's a cool folding card. I think it's called a tri-fold card. Easy to make actually.

I also made a double slider card. Lookie:

I used the new stamp set from the mini catalog. I love it! Really beachy!

Okay that's it for today. I'm busy working on special projects so I'll have more to show you soon.

Have a blessed day.

Camping on Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-06T09:03:00.001-05:00

My family and our neighbors went on a camping trip on Memorial Day Weekend. It was crowded but we were able to get camp sites right next to each other. Next time we go we would want a site on the lake so we can pull our boats up to camp.

Here's a picture of Amanda "riding" the boat. She made the ropes into reins and pretended it was a horse.

We spent most of the time in the boat since it was sooo hot out. Here's Trapper on the boat. We put towels down so he wouldn't burn his feet. That metal sure gets hot.

Here's our captain:

Jessica was having fun too and got into the water a lot. Here she is posing for the camera.

I love camping and can't wait to go again. Here's a picture of our campsite. I just love the outdoors.

I do have other fun Stampin' stuff to tell you about but for now you'll have to be happy with photos from my trip. I've been busy working on my girl scouts scrapbooks. 14 of them! I'm about 1/3 done and need to get cracking. I'll post more when I get a chance.

SUO Challenge!

2011-05-13T22:45:00.000-05:00

Okay I haven't entered this challenge in a while so here it goes. Butterflies.

I made this card for my downline, Elizabeth, when she promoted. I have new cards to show you for my two turtles that promoted in April. I'm so proud of Francesca and Laura. They are amazing!

I used the beautiful butterflies die and seam binding for the flowers. The embossing folder is the tulip one and I colored the raised parts with markers. Those rhinestones are so easy to use to add bling at the last second. I keep them with my adhesive just so I can reach for them when I want something extra.

To see the other entries in the challenge visit the SUO blog: Click here

Have a blessed day!

Amazing Customers!

2011-05-13T20:29:00.000-05:00

For my amazing customers I decided to host a luncheon for them. These are my hostesses, club members and super customers. They enrich my life so much with their creativity and their friendship. I wanted to show them how much I appreciate them so I did a little luncheon and had a project for them to make. Here's the table and gift.

These cute boxes are on the clearance rack. 12 of them for just $1.99. I added the butterflies. Inside were some accessories and a free stamp. We ate tamalies made with venison. Everyone knows that when you come to my house the meat will probably be venison. With a hubby that hunts I find no reason to buy meat at the store. Too bad he can't shoot a cow once in a while. LOL. Wild boars are a treat to get though. Yum!

Here's what we made at the luncheon.

My friend Carla made a really cute one with the newsprint/music sheet DSP. Also the cute vintage trinkets. I didn't get a picture of it though. :*(

I will post a tutorial on making this cute purse in a few days. I want to make a new one and photograph each step. (It'll help me to remember how to do it too. LOL) You can also learn to do this purse when you come to my Crop for the Cure fundraiser in July. Jeannette is the one that came up with this cute idea and she'll be making some for Auburn and Alabama fans. I saw a pic of them and they are to die for! She's also getting a medical rep to donate hand sanitizers for them so we can put that in the purse when they take the class. Find out more about the crop at: Crop for the Cure

Want to see what one of my amazing customers made me for my birthday?

Here's the card:

I have to say WOW again because she's just amazing. Her name is Birgit. Here's her blog: Click here
It's in German but you don't need to read to see the amazing projects she creates.

Here's the cute note card holder and inside of the card.

I will be having a class on the 22nd that will include the stamp set On The Grow. Here's a sneak peak.

If you are interested in the class let me know. Cost is only $20. I had one of my customers tell me I should charge $25. LOL. I told her I'd put a tip jar out. The class does include 3 cards and 2 boxes.

I guess that's it for now. I'm off to watch Beauty and the Beast with my girls. Gotta make some popcorn.

Disneyland!

2011-05-11T18:37:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of my trip to California. I am so impressed with my cell phone. These were all taken with it since the batteries died on my camera. I love my iPhone.

We also visited the church that Steve and I were married in. The kids weren't too excited but Steve said, "Returning to the scene of the crime." I said, "I was just thinking that!" LOL.

The weather in California was not as I remembered. I know it's only April but I remember going to the beach and not being cold in March when I grew up there. The weather was overcast the whole time and I needed a sweater most of the time.

Here is Jessica "enjoying" the beach. A pleasant 68 degrees. The water is freezing compared to Gulf of Mexico water. I don't know how she did it.

She was so excited about going to the beach. I know she was freezing but she never let on. She just jumped into the ocean and enjoyed herself.

Amanda was a bit smarter and stayed dressed.

Notice the camera man in the background? There was three displays for outdoor dining rooms. It was for a show on HGTV. There were some really neat setups. I should have taken pics of them.

We then went for a walk on the pier and saw a shop that had oysters. You pick out an oyster and see what kind of pearl you get. My girls picked out oysters and look what they found:

The guy told us that they are black pearls and because of the size are worth about $70 each. We only paid $12 for each oyster. Not a bad return.

Well that's it for now. I have some more pictures of some awesome swaps I got from my downline on Monday. So come back soon.

Mother's Day Cards

2011-05-06T08:00:00.001-05:00

My friend Francesca had a class last week where we made these cute bird house cards.

I sent off the one I made to my niece Rachael. I also sent a gift to my sister Vickie. I hope she likes it.

I got her a bracelet from a store called Charming Charlie. This store is HUGE and all it has is accessories and jewelry and shoes. It's organized by color so it made it really easy to replace the yellow bracelet that she's missing. Why is she missing a bracelet? Because my daughter broke it on accident while we were out in California so I thought it would be nice to replace it with a new one. Shhhh, don't tell her it's missing.

That's it for now. Happy Stampin'! and Happy Mother's Day!

MDS Delta Woods and Water pages

2011-05-05T09:49:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share these three pages from my digital studio. All I did was click and drag pictures into the prefab pages. These pics are from my cell phone. Do you have a lot of digital photos that you wish were in albums? I can make this book and print it for $20. Add pages if you want. Move them around. Delete images you don't want. It's so easy to use. Contact me today because there's a special deal this month to get the software and other great Stampin' Up! product. If you have other software there's other downloads and bundles of downloads that you can use with other software that's on sale this month. Visit http://www.mydigitalstudio.net/ to see all the new stuff.

3rd Annual Crop for the Cure

2011-05-04T15:32:00.000-05:00

Oh no! It's been a while since I posted. I guess I've been a little busy. Luckily I have a moment right now before kids come home from school to get some stuff done.

Today I went around town trying to get donations for my fundraiser that I'm doing in July. It's a scrapbooking crop for the cure. Normally held in Mobile by my friend Melissa, this year is going to be held in Daphne by me. My downline Francesca is organizing it too and my other downline members are designing classes to be held at the event. I can't wait! You can visit the blog for the event here.

Let's see what else I can show you right now. Hmmm....

Just threw this together for you. I wanted to use a new stamp set from the Summer Mini Catalog. I love this set! (It has a turtle in it. Hee hee.) But I love the surfboards too. I didn't have a set with that yet so I figure it's a good one to get. I stamped it on vellum, torn some Crumb Cake (Hey, I got it right!), punched a sun, added twine and a saying and there you go.

Here's a picture of my girls being eaten by a bear.

We went to the Delta Woods and Water Expo this weekend and had so much fun. They got to pet an oppossum, a snake and other critters. They also had a ropes course and a delta boat ride. I even did the rope bridge.

It's scarier than it looks.

There's a gator in this picture. We took the boat ride and were able to see the gator, an osprey and a bald eagle. It was such a fun day.
That's it for now. Hope you are having a blessed one!

What can you make with the Starter Kit?

2011-04-26T11:55:00.000-05:00

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 end of April I'm going to have a special incentive for all those that join. You'll have to ask me to find out what it is. Believe me. It's big!!!!

I have Supper and Stamp club tonight and I hope to see you there!

New Technique

2011-04-18T08:00:00.001-05:00

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.

Swaps! My Downline is so talented!

2011-04-17T10:02:00.001-05:00

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!

My birthday cards

2011-04-15T22:01:00.000-05:00

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!

Jazz It Up Monday, even though it's Wednesday.

2011-04-13T10:02:00.000-05:00

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 bag? It's not too late. Click here to order online. It comes with sticker sheets and envelopes too. Some packs have ribbon, felt flowers, brads, etc. The fun part about a grab bag is not knowing what you are going to get. Hee hee.

Thanks for looking!

I'm so blessed!

2011-04-11T22:21:00.000-05:00

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 having PPD (Post Party Depression.) I was having so much fun making decorations all week now I have nothing to do. Oh wait! I did have my stamp a stack and I can show you the before pictures today. But I am just too tired right now to show you the jazzed up version.

Here's what Laura came up with:

Check back tomorrow.

Have a great night.

It's my Birthday!

2011-04-09T14:00:00.001-05:00

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.

Fun Flowers really are fun

2011-04-08T10:58:00.000-05:00

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.

Who said that 40 is over the hill?

2011-04-06T11:46:00.000-05:00

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 decorations all over the house with the colored vinyl sheets and the Fun Flowers die. I'll show you when I have time. But I have to go help my hubby fix up the turtle habitat right now.

Chicks, cutie Chicks!

2011-04-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

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!

You say it's your birthday!

2011-04-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

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!

Bliss at the workshop

2011-03-30T16:06:00.000-05:00

I have to say that my hostess Cortney has wonderful friends and neighbors. It was so much fun showing them how to use the Big Shot to emboss the Tulips around the edge of the cardstock and to let them create a card using the stamp set Bliss. Such a simple card but really was pretty.

Baja Breeze is such a pretty color but I was looking at the card today and thought, "What about using other colors to make a whole set of cards."
Here's what I did in about 20 minutes or less.

This would make a great hostess gift. Add some matching envelopes, tie some ribbon around it and you have
the perfect present.

Have a great day!

Jazz It Up Monday!

2011-03-28T13:41:00.000-05:00

Here's the card we made yesterday at my monthly Stamp-a-stack.

Yes it's beautiful and graceful and perfect just how it is. LOL. But of course I need to Jazz it up a little so I added a brad, library clip and extra cardstock.

Here's the new and improved version.

I also added snow on the tree with a white gel pen. Only thing that I would change would be to make the tree darker. After stamping a bunch of cards on the whisper white ink it made the trees a little lighter than the first one.

That's it for today. I'm doing yard work and enjoying the sun. Hope you are doing something fun too.

My Big Dream!

2011-03-25T08:38:00.000-05:00

When I first signed up to be a demonstrator 3 years ago my big dream was to buy as many stamps as possible with my new discount. I wanted it all and I wanted it for less. I had no plans to recruit. I had no plans to build a business. I just wanted to get together with friends and stamp and craft and scrapbook. I did that. I enjoyed being a Hobby Demonstrator for three years.

This past July I had a change to my Big Dream. Going to convention I realized that I was keeping others from enjoying what I was enjoying. Good customers and friends that stamp with me never were asked, "Do you want to be a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator?" I never asked them.

Why? Because I wasn't sure if they would want to do this for a business. (Even though I wasn't doing it as a business.) I was afraid it would change our relationship. (I now realize it makes it even better.) I also was afraid of losing my customer base. Who would help me reach my minimums? (This probably was my biggest worry.)

When I got back from Convention (actually while I was still at Convention, hee hee) I called my best friend and asked her to hold a workshop for me. She said yes and I then went on to call three more ladies to host workshops.

I also had a huge change in my heart regarding what I do. I love crafting and I love getting together with others. Why am I doing this though? What purpose does it have? Luckily I have been reintroduced to a wonderful church that asks hard questions and pushes it's people to grow in Christ. They even play a little Bob Dylan (Gotta Serve Somebody) to get the point across. {smile} So I started to think about my business and what does it serve. Well I asked God to help me serve others and then BAM! I'm shedding all my fears and all my preconceptions about others and myself.

I now have a team of TURTLES that meet once a month (or more) and who help promote each other and help me to grow my business and help me reach more amazing people who never would have heard of Stampin' Up! They are super ladies who each bring something different to this hobby. I get inspired by them all the time. They also incourage me to reach for my goals. They show me a new excitement about Stampin' Up! I'm always excited about Stampin' Up! but they haven't been doing this for years and so when I see them get excited about a product or stamp set it makes me look at that product with new eyes again.

Here's your chance to become a part of something exciting, something meaningful, something that brings joy to you and your friends.

The super, duper starter kit that has over $300 worth of Stampin' Up! supplies is on sale until the end of the month for only $148.75. Can you believe that you can recieve all those goodies for that amount? Plus become a part of my team. Plus you can actually make some extra cash to buy even more stamps.

What are you waiting for? Call me today and we'll start picking out all the great products you want in the kit. Oh yeah, it's all the colors and stamp sets that you want. Customize your kit today!

Gift wrap made easy

2011-03-24T11:51:00.000-05:00

Recently I had to go to a birthday party and had not thought ahead to buy something. Wine is always a good gift though so I grabbed one from my stash and tied a beautiful Stampin' Up! ribbon on it with a hand stamped tag.

Have a great day!

Flip Flop Weather!!! Woo Hoo!

2011-03-20T09:27:00.000-05:00

Friday night I had a workshop with a good friend who is actually the reason I have most of my downline. She held one of the first workshops I did after convention last year and from there I was able to meet so many great new friends who enjoy stamping.

Since she already got my normal hostess gift before I had to get creative with this one. The weather here is gorgeous! It was in the 80's yesterday and I actually got a sunburn! Love it! This is definately flip flop weather. Oh yes, flip flops. Those amazing slip on shoes that you can wear anywhere!

So I started to think about what I could do that would be different. I ended up at the Dollar General and found a pair of flip flops for a $1. The best part was they were Tempting Turquoise. How perfect!

Here they are. Just plain simply flip flops.

When I got them home I had to come up with a way to make them pretty. I imediately thought about our fabric called sweet stitches. I used the print with buttons on it because it has a lot of Tempting Turquoise.

I used the Fun Flowers die. It really is super fun. I love what you can do with it. Cutting fabric is a breeze too. No need to use special layers of wax paper or anything. Just put the fabric on the die and sandwich it like normal.

Here's the shoes after I Stamped them Up!

My two girls wanted them so bad! I said I would make them a pair too. LOL.

Enjoy your day today. It's my wedding anniversary. I think it's good so far. Girls are at a sleepover and I got to sleep in and drink my coffee in peace.

Congrats to one of my turtles!

2011-03-19T09:02:00.001-05:00

Elilzabeth just promoted so I sent her this card.

I saw how to make these beautiful flowers from someone else's blog. You sew a little thread on one side of the ribbon and then cinch it up.

Supper and stamping!

2011-03-18T08:53:00.001-05:00

Tuesday night I had 9 ladies come to my supper and stamp club. It was a lot of fun! I made spagetti and meatballs. Others brought side dishes.

Here is the card we made:

I wanted to make something else too but my creative juices were not flowing. Everything I tried to make looked ugly to me. I finally just gave up and decided to just do one card. I think everyone was happy with this though.

Here's some other samples of cards. My very talented downline, Laura, made this one.

The swirl in the corner is from the stamp Elizabeth. So creative! DSP is Springtime Vintage.

Here's a card I made for my Anniversary that's coming up.

I couldn't find my spinner hands so I just added a heart on it. I think my black ink pad need reinking though. LOL. Oh well.

Have a great day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T16:29:00.000-05:00

Well this day has been so busy! But I did find time to do what I wanted to do. Make this shirt wearable for St. Patty's Day.

I started with a plain green tank top from Walmart. (Cost only $3).

I punched out 4 hearts from our Exclusive vinyl sheets. (I used white but it comes in every color of the rainbow).

Attache to shirt where you want them.

Then spray with bleach. I put it in this empty bottle of pet spray.

Wait a few minutes and it turns the shirt a lighter color but where the vinyl was is darker. Peel off vinyl and wash your shirt.

Make sure you put some cardboard between the front of the shirt and the back of the shirt.

Here's a blast from my past. My girls were in my closet playing when they stumbled across this cute little guy.

My daddy gave me this when I was a little girl for St. Patrick's Day. I love it! I remember having it on my dresser growing up. Now it's there again. :()

May your troubles be less,
and your blessings be more,
and nothing but happiness
come through your door.

~Irish Blessing

Tornado damage

2011-03-17T08:38:00.002-05:00

Here's what Silverhill looked like the day after the tornado. Pretty scary images.

This tree was huge and it was just pulled out of the ground like it was a weed. The historic building is moved off it's foundation 10 feet. Roofing is found a block away in some trees that look like toothpicks broken in half.

Here's a picture of the street from in front of the Elementary school.

Right before the water tower is were the tornado touched down. It's a block and a half from the school. So scary.

Here's another tree that was just snapped in half.

Apparently a lady was struck by lightening that day and went to the hospital and was in a coma. Unfortunately I found out that she did pass away. Storms can really wreak havoc on our world. Mother nature is very powerful. It's hard to image that wind, something you can't even see, can snap these trees, tear off roofs and move houses.

My prayers go out to the people of Silverhill and Mobile who are now cleaning up and rebuilding their lives. Also for the people in Japan that are dealing with so many different disasters right now. I pray the Nuclear plants do not meltdown. I hope the earth stops shaking over there. My friend Hiro is in Tokyo. He's doing okay. He had food and water stored up before the quake. I'm amazed at how orderly the people are in the face of such destruction. No one is looting. They stand in lines for water, bread, etc. and each person can take a certain number of each item. Plus there are miracles happening every day. Babies being found alive, people floating on the houses and other people found alive in cars. God is working in all this. He is with us.

When your jeans split....

2011-03-16T08:37:00.000-05:00

Make flowers!

Here's what my jeans looked like before (Sorry no rear view shots with me wearing them.)

This is what they look like now:

I also added some other fabric to it that my friend Flora gave me. I haven't hot glued it all together yet but I still need to get some pins for the back.

More pictures:

I love this new flower die. It's great!

Here's a card I made the other day. I really like this Crosses of Hope stamp set.

I used markers to color in the cross.

Make sure you use sticky strip to put the ribbon on though because if you don't it will look like this the next morning.

Not very pretty and not very nice if you gave it to someone. Luckily I hang on to my cards for a good few months before I give them to anyone. LOL.

Hope you are having a great day!

Twisted Ash Wednesday

2011-03-09T22:42:00.000-06:00

Well I have to say that this has been a very memorable Ash Wednesday. The morning started off with a tornado warning coming from the radio alarm clock. I have heard this before but the ladies voice seemed different this time. Plus they were very specific about where and when the tornado might hit. So I got up, got my kids ready for school and then watched the news like a hawk. I did manage to drink some coffee to try to wake up. (No I did NOT give up coffee for Lent).

So the storm was coming and it was fast moving. My friend Francesca was silly enough to go to work today and was headed straight towards the worst part of the storm. She's very lucky that the tornado decided to hit just South of her.

I'm actually one of those people that likes storms. I stare out the window and watch lightening strikes and I love the boom of thunder. Well the news was saying we had 7300 lightening strikes in five minutes throughout Mobile and Daphne. I watched out the window as the cable went out. My husband and I unplugged computers and TVs. If our house got hit by lightening it could fry all those.

Then I watched the wind pick up and the sky get really dark. The rain started to come down and it thundered a lot. Not too much else happened. The rain kept going for most of the day but I didn't see a tornado. Problem was I was looking out the back door when I should have been looking out the front door. Yep. The tornado was South of me not North. Once I figured the tornado had passed my area I turned the tv back on.

The news was showing pictures of Mobile's tornado damage. A BP station and Food World got a lot of damage and an 18 wheeler was on it's side. Lots of damage done to cars in the parking lot. No injuries or death in that one.

Then the news talked about the tornado that hit Silverhill. That's only three miles from me. I seriously drive through that little town a lot. They showed a pick up truck upside down in front of the post office. They showed a huge Oak tree split in half like a toothpick. I ask you, how can wind do this?

The poor guy was in the pick up when the wind picked it up. Luckily he didn't get hurt too bad. About 8 homes were destroyed. Roofs were blown off. Walls collapsed. It was horrible. I was praying for the safety of everyone and luckily no one was seriously injured.

The tornado system did keep going to Florida and Georgia. I think some homes were destroyed in Pensacola too. So scary.

So tonight I had to do something creative before going to bed to relax a bit. My mind kept swirling with ideas about a house and some ruby slippers. Oh yes I did. Lookie:

Yes this is very tacky. If you know me you know I like to joke at the wrong time. Better to laugh then cry I say. Had to use my glitter paper of course and the Play date paper is perfect I think. The house is from the Neighborhood Jumbo Wheel. Tornado is free hand. How did I do the shoes? Secret. LOL.

With it being Ash Wednesday I decided for the first time in my life to fast. I thought I had to go the whole day without food but apparently I can have one meal. Boy was I happy to have that meal. I think it's amazing that Jesus fasted 40 days and nights and resisted the temptation to turn stones to bread. I found out I could eat a meal and I was ready to eat everything we had. I know it's good to feel hunger pains once in a while. Of course the fasting part wasn't too hard. It was when my kids were snacking and eating. I resisted eating their leftovers. So hard. I gave them to the dog so I knew they weren't wasted.

Steve and the girls and I went to church for our ashes. I think this was the first time for me going to get ashes too. Not sure why I wouldn't have gone before. I was raised Catholic but I just don't remember going. It's not a holy day of obligation so that's probably why.

The mass was wonderful. Father Mark always has the best sermons that seem to speak right too me. So much lately has been about listening to Jesus and doing things with a changed heart and not because I have to or because people will say I'm great if I do. Jesus wants us to do things in secret so that it's between our Father and us. We like to show what we've done though and tell others how much we do for others and get praise. So I need to work on the heart part. I need to do things because I want to in my heart.

My kids were good for the most part in church. Jessica had to act up at the end. Poor thing said she was hungry. I kept thinking, "She hasn't even fasted today." Oh well. She'll grow up some day and have the same problems with her kids I'm sure.

Here's a lovely card I made to celebrate the start of Lent.

Usually for Lent I stop doing something or eating something that I love. Usually I give up sweets. Well this time I think I'll take the Stampin' Up! approached. They started a +One campaign at Leadership that encourages Demonstrators to do just one more thing a month to promote their business. So for Lent I'm thinking that maybe I should add one thing to these 40 days. I started to pray at night with my girls but I think I need to do something more. I'll think of something.

Well I hope you enjoyed my twisted Ash Wednesday. I survived at least.

Happy Mardi Gras!

2011-03-07T15:41:00.000-06:00

Tonight is a Mardi Gras Parade! I'm looking forward to going to it because there's a teacher riding one of the floats from Amanda and Jessica's school. Plus Aunt Ginnie is back in town and she loves Mardi Gras!

At the last minute I decided to make some goodie bags for friends that I'm meeting up with tonight. Here they are:

I started by cutting out 12 Top Notes in Rich Razzleberry. That's the die for our Big Shot Machine. Love it because you can do so much with it. It also fits perfectly over our cello bags. I dont know how I survived without it.

Then I punched 12 Decorative Lables out of Wild Wasabi. That's one of my favorite colors! Then I punched 12 fleur di lis. Not SU! but they should have something like this. It's great! I smooched those little guys after I punched them. They look like gold! The cardstock is More Mustard.

Then I punched out 12 of the Modern Label punch. I hand wrote Happy Mardi Gras.

I attached them together, stapled the top note on the cellow bag after adding a few treats, and covered up the staple with the tag. Easy!

My mail lady was pulling up to bring a package to the door so I thought I would give her one of my treat bags. They are always bringing me stuff and probably never get anything for themselves. She loved it.

Hope you have a great Mardi Gras!!!

Thank you!

2011-03-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

Recently I made a bunch of thank you cards using the stamp set Bliss from the Sale-a-bration catalog. These thank you cards I made were for my club members and for special customers.

Here's the card:

Only before I sent them I decided to add another element on it. If you received a card I hope you liked it!

I'm still planning some new cards to send out. Are in one of my clubs? No? Then you should send me an email and ask me if there's an opening. I also do classes. Check my events calendar.

I also spoil my hostesses. Want to earn free stuff? Contact me today to schedule your own girls night out party. I'll provide the good time and you provide the friends.

Enjoy your day.

Easter Baskets

2011-03-05T15:13:00.000-06:00

These are so cute and easy to make. Francesca made two of these for my little girls. It was filled with chocolate but now it's mysteriously empty. Hmmmm....

She used the scallop envelope die to make the base. It's wrapped in DSP and a satin ribbon. The handle is a solid piece of cardstock that she did the scallop edge on. Then added matching DSP in the center. Maybe we can get her to post the measurements for them.

The bunny is so cute! She used 1 3/4" circle punch, the large and small oval punches and the nose is a brad.

Now hop on over to Francesca's blog to see what she's up to.

Check back soon for a post using the stamp set Bliss.

Prayer Journal

2011-03-03T21:20:00.000-06:00

I've been toying with the idea of starting a prayer journal. This would be a written version of what I do verbally at night now. Actually I do verbal with my girls and then silent when I go to bed. I think the power of writing something down makes things happen. They always tell you to write down your goals. Perhaps writing down prayers would be just as powerful. Either way it can't hurt right?

Here's a journal I decorated recently as a gift to the girl that hosts the prayer group that I go to.

I used Baja Breeze Seam Binding and cardstock, Springtime Vintage DSP, the stamp set Crosses of Hope, Crumb Cake ink, and Very Vanilla cardstock.
Punches: Decorative Label, scallop edge

Accessories: Rosettes, (Mini Catalog), 5 x 5 chipboard journal book (big cattie, pg 185)

Really simple but so pretty. I was inspired by the video on the demonstrator website that's about our upcoming promotion. Can't wait to tell you all about it. Everyone will love it! If you come to my supper club on March 15, you'll find out all the details.

I hear my wonderful husband calling for me to come to bed so I better call it a night.

God Bless!

Jazz It Up Monday!

2011-02-28T14:18:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my stamp a stack. I keep it cheap and simple so there's no bling or glitter or dimensionals. Gasp! But I was thinking about how these cards can be just a starting point so you can take them home and make them super special using the products you already have. If you don't have glitter or smooch spray let me know and I'll add it to my next order.

Here's the card we made:

Pretty but it's rather plain Jane. So after everyone left I decided to get out my Glitter Glass, ribbon and smooch spray.

Here's what I came up with.

It totally shimmers and shines and is not at all Plain anymore. I smooched the poinsettias and put them on dimensionals. I love it!

By the way, this flower is from the SAB stamp set Bliss. You can't buy it. Only earn it. Hee hee. The ribbon is from the ribbon swap I did last month. I really like the Old Olive with the Whisper White trim.

I hope you enjoyed my Jazz It Up Monday post.

Lookie what I got!!!

2011-02-25T10:06:00.001-06:00

I've been seeing this on some of the blogs I visit often and thought how cool would it be if I got a stylish blogger award. Well this morning I opened my email and found two people had given me the award. Woo hoo! That means they love me. "They really, really love me." LOL.

Now I have to share 8 things with you. Hmmmmm......

1. I love turtles. That's something everyone knows though. But if you are just tuning in I'll let you know that I own 13 box turtles. Most are babies that were born last year. They are growing so much and just now starting to come out of hibernation. Box turtles have a great personality. Plus it's fun to watch them eat a live worm. Sort of like watching T-rex eat something. I imagine that turtles and dinos have a lot in common.

2. I'm totally NOT organized. I'm not sure if it's a genetic disorder but for some reason I can't seem to stay organized. Once in a blue moon I'll put everything in my craft room away, have a place for everything, sort my stamps, throw trash away and file paperwork. I'll even have a table with nothing on it. But how long does this last? Maybe a day. As soon as I start crafting I pull out at least two or three stamp sets, 5 ink pads, my Big Shot, several dies and of course cardstock. Then I'll get some sponges out and ribbon and brads and punches. Pretty soon you can't see my desk top anymore. Oh and when orders come in I have boxes everywhere! Trying to find something in this mess is crazy but usually there's some "order" in my brain that helps me find things. LOL.

3. I am turning 40 in April. What???? Where did my life go? Wasn't I just 15 wishing to be older everyday? I remember thinking that 30 was old. LOL. The Monkeys were on TV, Happy Days was one of my favorite shows and so was the Love Boat. My favorite song was "I Just Can't Get Enough." by Depeche Mode. Now I'm turning 40 and I listen to Pink and Lady Gaga. My favorite show is House. Do I feel old? Actually some days yes. I have stiff legs and a stiff back in the morning or if I get up off the floor after sitting for a while. I play tag with my kids but say, "You can only walk. No running." LOL. Otherwise I get out of breath. The best thing about turning 40? I'm still alive.

4. I watch Glenn Beck everyday or try to. Even if you don't agree with him it's a fun show to watch. One day my daughter walked into the room while I was watching him and she said, "Oh Glenn Beck. I love this show." She was 7 at the time. LOL.

5. I get really bad PMS once a month. Don't mess with me when I'm PMSing. My poor friend and neighbor has been on the wrong end of that rant. Luckily she loves me anyway and I realized I was extra grumpy and apologized to her. Not sure if the vitamin D is working yet. I was super low in that a few months back and I read that it can cause people to be irritable. I'm also trying to get some sun on me every day. I hope it's helping for every one's sake. LOL.

6. I love to drink coffee. The sweeter the better. I have to have my flavored creamer and a Sweet n Low. Two or three cups a day. I usually sit at the kitchen table and drink my coffee while reading the paper. Of course Steve, my hubby, thinks that I should be doing laundry or something. Men. They just don't understand us women. We need time to wake up and start our day. I'll get to laundry, after lunch. Hee hee.

7. I love God. Doesn't everybody? LOL. The thing is that I've always had a great relationship with Him. I've always talked to Him even as a kid as if He's in the room with me. I talk to Him like He's a person that would be able to talk to me. I've only heard His voice once really but He has answered my prayers numerous times. As I get older I understand more and more how much God loves me. Especially since having children. So I know that no matter how bad a child I am He loves me and forgives me. Thank God! LOL. I have told my own children that I love them no matter what. I may not like what behavior they are doing but I will always love them. Since I started going back to church I have felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I have always had faith but sometimes forget that I don't have to face things alone. So I think God reminds me that He's there with some challenges. Like being sick. I was so sick and had a million things to do. After trying to push through I decided to lean on friends and cancel some things. I realized that God is in charge and that I have to have faith that things are happening for a reason and not to fight it. He is all knowing after all. Why should I question things? I guess as children we want answers in order to form opinions. But faith isn't about opinions. You can't have proof or answers to your questions. You just have to believe.

8. Which brings me to the stamp set Just Believe. This stamp set is one I loved so much I got it twice! LOL. I have it in clear and in wood. Both of the sets were free. One I earned last year during Sale-a-bration. So I waited until the new catalog came out and got to pick a free stamp set any amount. Then when I went to convention last year I got that stamp set again in the bag they give you. Totally awesome! I've made many cards with it and inserts for my Simply Adorned Charm. It's such a pretty set with leaves or flowers and the sayings are perfect for using with our punches.

I guess that's it. Oh I'm suppose to link to the people who gave me the award. Here's Leena's Link and Amy's Link.

And I need to pass on the award to 8 other blogs. Let's see. Oh of course! Here's who I think has a Stylish Blog. I'm sure some of them have already gotten the award because they are soooo awesome!

1. Francesca Mata, Cake Pops. http://www.cescascakepops.blogspot.com/

2. Birgit Stolz, http://bibablog.blogger.de/

3. Michelle Zindorf, http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

4. Shelli Gardner, http://www.soshelli.com/

5. Julie Leblanc, http://www.kewlstamps-n-more.com/

6. Jan Tink, http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/stamps_paper_scissors/

7. Belinda Tubby, http://stampinbuzz.com/

8. Carla Bazhenow, http://www.carlas-scraps.com/

That's it for today. I'm thinking about making a video. I made these cute Thank You cards and I want to show how to make them with a video. Stayed tune to see if it ever gets done. LOL.

Have a great day!

Technique Time

2011-02-23T08:00:00.001-06:00

Today I'm going to do a step by step tutorial. I haven't done one in a while. I had some club members miss this class so this will help them get up to date on things.

Here's the crayon resist technique.

Start with glossy white paper.

Stamp with basic black/brown or gray ink. I haven't tried it with another ink so I'm not sure how that would work. I think you should use a permanent type ink.

I did a little variation on this by adding some Pear Pizazz on the leaves before doing the crayon.

Now you'll need to go to your kids crafts and find a white crayon. I'll wait.

Okay, got it? Let's continue.

Start at the bottom and work your way up coloring the leaves, flowers and stems with the crayon. Since it's white you can't see where you colored so if you have any doubts just color it again.

Next you'll sponge two different colors on the paper. I did Blushing Bride and Rose Red. Start with the lightest color first.

I rubbed the ink on with the sponge instead of dabbing.

Here's the next color.

After you sponged it you'll need to get a tissue and wipe off the crayon parts. It's so cool how the crayon keeps the ink from sticking to the paper.

To finish my card I stamped an image from the SAB stamp set called Bliss. So pretty!

I used Blushing Bride ink on Blushing Bride cardstock. makes it like a water mark.

Then attach the elements such as seam binding ribbon in Pear Pizazz and layer a few punches.

You now have a beautiful card to give to someone you love.

Swaps!

2011-02-22T15:00:00.001-06:00

My downline is so talented! Here's the swaps that the ladies did for our meeting last night.

Debbie's above is with the very first stamp set she ever bought from me.

Below is Laura's. I love the pinwheel. The dots coordinate nicely with the embossing folder. Great job!

Here's Francesca's. I love the springtime paper. I showed her the flowers that coordinate with it and now she's gotta get those. LOL.

Last but not least is mine.

I love the ribbon. It's really easy to put on with the Tombow glue.

Yesterday was my downline meeting. I usually don't serve dinner at this meeting but everyone was starving when they got to my house. Luckily I had made a big pot of bean soup. I did not plan to have everyone eat so unfortunately I ran out of rice. Sorry ladies! Maybe we should start the meeting a little early and have dinner too. LOL.

My mind is still not quite right from being sick and I'm very forgetful and disorganized. No jokes please. LOL. So I didn't get to honor my top sales girl last night. I need to come up with something special to do. Brainstorming ideas right now....Here's what I'll do. I'll post her name really big on my blog.

Elizabeth Jennings

For January she had the highest sales! She'll probably be highest in sales this month too. Way to go girl! She only had two workshops this month and she's already past $700 in sales. If she had gotten one more workshop she would have had $1000 I'm sure. With that she would have had 30% income from that.

I also want to mention that Jeannette hasn't been feeling well. She was supposed to have a workshop on Saturday but we had to reschedule. I hope she's feeling better soon. I missed her last night!

I guess that's it for now. Have a great day!

Faux Silk

2011-02-22T08:00:00.001-06:00

Look at this pretty card that Laura made for me when I was so sick.

It's so beautiful in real life. I was thinking that the paper was some kind of fabric or handmade special paper. Nope. Just the simple technique using tissue. Seriously. I have to try this. Check back to see what I come up with.

I can't wait to show all the fun swaps I got at the meeting last night. I'll be taking pictures soon and posting them.

Have a great day.

Shrimp anyone?

2011-02-21T08:00:00.001-06:00

We had a yummy shrimp dinner last night. Here's Steve and Amanda peeling shrimp. Amanda really likes to peel things. She loves to peel the egg shell off of hard boiled eggs. She also is great at shucking corn. Even things that aren't supposed to be peeled she finds a way to peel them. LOL.

This past weekend I got some sad news. Steve's aunt Ginnie told me her mom passed away. I knew she was sick with the flu and that she was already battling Congestive Heart Failure. I was worried about her and then the next day Ginnie called and told me she didn't make it through the night. I know how hard it is to lose your mom and I felt so bad for her. She's got to drive all the way to Maine for the funeral.

So even though it's not the best occasion I did make her a sympathy card. Those are the hardest cards to make but to me are the most special and treasured cards. Here's what I made:

and the inside:

I hope she turns to God for support as well as her family and friends. When my mom passed away I got really angry and turned away from God and going to church. I told Him that I was mad and needed some time. I wish now I had been more accepting of her fate and believed that it was for the best but it was so hard to do that since I was so close to my mom and felt that I still needed her. Luckily I came back to God and He of course welcomed me with open arms. It feels much better there than doing things on my own. Plus I found a great church to go to that feels like family and is very welcoming. It's like coming home.

May God bless you and your lives.

Simply Adorned Inserts

2011-02-20T21:04:00.000-06:00

My class went great today! I had 6 ladies come. Most of them are in my downline. Hee hee. They love the Simply Adorned Charm and making inserts can be addictive. One of them was worried about me being ready for the class. (I wonder why.) But I do my best creating under pressure. Here's what I came up with.

We did 5 inserts plus a Monogram for the back. I think they all turned out great.

Tomorrow is my turtle meeting. We're going to have soooo much fun! I'll have a raffle, swaps, prizes and more. Thinking about joining Stampin' Up! and having a group of ladies to get together with and stamp with? Then email me. We'd love to have you!

I'm heading to bed now. Seems like I'm still pretty tired from my illness.

Night.

Happy Retirement

2011-02-15T08:04:00.000-06:00

My husband's cousin, Charlie, just retired and had a huge party this past Friday. I asked Steve if he needed me to make a card. He said yes. So here's what I came up with.

I used the madallion background stamp, Plant Hope stamp set, Bashful Blue, River Rock, Wild Wasabi, Sahara Sand. Sponged some Crumb Cake ink or maybe it was Basic Brown. I didn't want to add any ribbon or "girlie" stuff on it. Just simple. The saying is from Teeny Tiny Sayings. I love this set. It's also the one I used for Valentine's Day. So many different sayings that really it's the only set you need.

I guess that's it for today. Gotta plan my stamp club projects for tonight. I'm feeling better so I'll go ahead and do the class. See ya all soon.