Lots of Changes

I know I have been MIA recently, but I have had a lot of new life changes happen within the last month. I started a new job which meant that my son had to go to daycare, but nice thing is that I'm working in the same place so I can see him!! Going back to work has been a hard adjustment for all of us though. I seem to never have enough time to craft yet alone blog about it. I am starting to take my computer to work with me and doing some things during my lunch. So hopefully I will be back to posting soon.

The other big change is that we moved this past weekend. Another good reason I haven't had time to craft is packing, moving and now unpacking. I'm hoping to get my desk and supplies set up by this weekend so I have time to. I have so many ideas I want to work on. I keep itching to go home and do something but then I remember all the boxes that need to be unpacked first. I'm hoping we will be all settled in after this week and weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will have something to post about next week.

So Many New Updates

There are so many new things going on this month. Please check out my sidebar for the new updates. I have changed the projects to June.

This is the month to order your last chance items that will be retiring to make room for the new catalog in July. Make sure to check out the lists of stamps, accessories and definitely decorative that will not be coming back. Please place your order ASAP since once they are gone, they are gone forever.

Also a very special promotion is going on to become a demonstrator for only $99. Check out the mini starter kit they are offering for new demonstrators. What a great time to Join My Team!!!

Please check out all the new stuff on my sidebar!!

Demonstrator Swaps

Every month demonstrators in my upline meet to talk business, swap cards and craft. We are meeting tomorrow night. This months theme for the swap is spring, summer or masculine. Since I have been working on my Father's day cards for troops event I decided to use one of those cards for the swap. It is very easy to make and I just love the way the cards turned out. Here's a close up picture and the total cards for the swap.


To make this card I ran blue cardstock through the Big Shot using the diamond texturz background #1. I thought this gave it a more masculine look to the shirt. I cut the blue at 1 inch to about the center on both sides then folded down so the points met in the middle to make the collar on the shirt. I used different colored DSP cut 4 in by 4 in to make the tie. I found a tutorial online that I followed to make the origami necktie. I used the happy father's day stamp from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set to Versamark the saying onto the bottom right corner of the shirt. This is such an easy masculine card that any man would appreciate.

Summer Mini Video

If you have been paying attention, you already know that the summer mini catalog is available now. If you haven't seen the new products, click on the picture of the catalog to the left of my posts where you can download the catalog to see everything.

Stampin Up also produced a short clip featuring some of the products. Check out a few of the things you can order now from the summer mini catalog. After watching the video, click on over to begin shopping with me!



I will be featuring the build a wheel stamps that they showed in my upcoming workshop May 29th. Please leave a comment or contact me if you would like to attend. You will take home a scrapbook page along with the chance of a door prize! You will have so much fun getting to see and use the new summer mini products!!! Stay tuned for a sneak peak of the projects.

I love everything in this catalog and I know you will too!!

Stamping 411 Sketch Challege 149

I have a bunch of birthday cards that I need to mail out for the month of May. So this weekend I worked on these so they are ready when I need to mail them. The stamping 411 sketch for this weeks challenge worked perfectly for my cards.

Here's the sketch and my card.



As a demonstrator we are allowed to preorder out of the new catalog a month before the catalog is released. I ordered the new happy birthday build a wheel stamps that fit into the jumbo handle out of the Summer Mini Catalog that began yesterday and runs until August 31. I didn't have anything that I needed to make to allow me a chance to use these stamps until now. I ordered the candles and words that say "happy birthday to you." I thought I was going to be able to use both but with the size strip that I used, you couldn't tell what the words were. So, I stuck with the candles in the background. I will be featuring the new build a wheel stamps in my upcoming workshop May 29th.

To make this card, I ran the pink paper through the Big Shot using the dot texture backgrounds #1 plate. The stamps are the birthday cake from Fun & Fast Notes and "make a wish" from A Little Birthday Cheer set. I used the markers to color the cake in. Remember: You can place an order on my site 24/7.

This turned out to be a very simple sketch to make a lot of the same cards.

Let's Celebrate!!!

There are a lot of things happening today. First, Stampin' Up has released the summer mini catalog. There are a lot of great new products in this catalog. I am very excited about the build a wheel stamps. I am featuring these in my upcoming mini catalog release party May 29th. Download the catalog and save to your computer so you can look through it whenever you want.
This catalog runs from today May 1, 2010 until August 31, 2010.


This is considered my favorite month of the year! Not only is it my birthday month, but it's also considered National Scrapbooking Month!!!! Scrapbooking is the reason I started crafting. I love to scrapbook to have my memories for years to come. Stampin' Up is having a promotion to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month. I will definitely be taking advantage of the free designer brads you can order when you order a qualifying stamp set. Check out the flyer to see what stamp sets qualify for free brads when you place an order. Then come shopping on my site!!



Since a new month has started today, I changed the projects featured on the right side of my blog. When you click on the picture, a list of supplies will be shown where you can place your order from my site and receive everything you need to make. Check them out.

I will be featuring scrapbook pages this month to celebrate National Scrapbooking Month so stay tuned!!

Pat on My Back!!

As a demonstrator I am a part of two yahoo groups. One of the groups sends out a monthly newsletter talking about business and what not. It highlights sales and I was included for March sales!!! Here's part of the newsletter where you can see my sales compared to others. I did pretty good! Thank you to all my customers who had workshops and ordered from me. You are greatly appreciated. I'm praying I continue to be as successful in the upcoming months!

Top Sales
Congratulations to everyone for your sales for March!

I want to especially highlight the TOP TWENTY IN SALES for our UdderlyAwesome group! That is quite an accomplishment!

March Sales

Name and Sales
Patty Bennett $4,716.29
J Conrey $4,136.70
Michelle Halleen $3,701.45
Jami Carrera $3,364.25
Cathy Fluellen $3,157.75
Anamarie Palmerin $2,873.75
Lis Ljung $2,837.15
Rebecca Jung $2,639.55
Kari Lommen $2,634.15
Sue Kempter-Miller $2,385.15
Brittny Smith $2,316.35
Andrea Gideon $2,265.05
Sharon Moudry $2,117.30
Bethany Drew $2,036.49
Barbara Jackson $1,983.20
Linda Morris $1,947.60
Gayle Smith $1,851.55
Sheila Penaranda $1,721.30
Wanda Clasen $1,716.50
Arla DeLeon $1,716.47
Promotions

I am very excited to recognize those of you who have accomplished the work to promote to these titles!


March Promotions
Name and New Title
Tammera Richardson promoted to Senior Supervisor
Cathy Bartlett promoted to Senior Supervisor
Patricia Pobol promoted to Supervisor
Shelley Killgore promoted to Supervisor
Tamra Lewis promoted to Supervisor
Alicia Christian promoted to Supervisor
Heather Shore promoted to Supervisor
Stacy Carter promoted to Supervisor
Kelly Kobel promoted to Supervisor
Debra Barnes promoted to Supervisor
Shannon Hanabass promoted to Supervisor
Lynette Fulton promoted to Supervisor
Brittny Smith promoted to Senior Associate
Arla DeLeon promoted to Senior Associate
Tamura Oberkramer promoted to Senior Associate
Nicole Smith promoted to Senior Associate
Sabrina Dorazi promoted to Senior Associate
Cindy Ramirez promoted to Senior Associate
Tricia Flaig promoted to Senior Associate
Jennifer Brazell promoted to Senior Associate
Jessica McKinney promoted to Senior Associate
Jennifer Gill promoted to Senior Associate
Edna Parrott promoted to Senior Associate
Yolanda Sorenson promoted to Senior Associate
Katharine Homet promoted to Senior Associate
Leslie Wheeler promoted to Senior Associate
Irene Tolentino promoted to Senior Associate
Lynn Schwigen promoted to Senior Associate
All Sales over $1000

Hitting $1000 in one month is a big deal and I congratulate all of you for hitting this goal!

March
Name and Sales
Patty Bennett $4,716.29
J Conrey $4,136.70
Michelle Halleen $3,701.45
Jami Carrera $3,364.25
Cathy Fluellen $3,157.75
Anamarie Palmerin $2,873.75
Lis Ljung $2,837.15
Rebecca Jung $2,639.55
Kari Lommen $2,634.15
Sue Kempter-Miller $2,385.15
Brittny Smith $2,316.35
Andrea Gideon $2,265.05
Sharon Moudry $2,117.30
Bethany Drew $2,036.49
Barbara Jackson $1,983.20
Linda Morris $1,947.60
Gayle Smith $1,851.55
Sheila Penaranda $1,721.30
Wanda Clasen $1,716.50
Arla DeLeon $1,716.47
Chris Gallacher $1,706.50
Wendy Randall $1,689.05
Maureen Donnan $1,674.25
Susan Hokanson $1,653.60
Linda Jensen $1,641.20
Judy Meli $1,634.70
Glad Baquet $1,633.08
Elyse Foley $1,625.85
Chris McKnight $1,616.00
Evelyn Norris $1,565.30
Tammera Richardson $1,557.50
Shelly Peck $1,546.05
Lori Virgil $1,535.50
Patricia Pobol $1,525.75
Sharon Field $1,525.40
Delfina Andersen $1,524.10
Kathy Pardee $1,514.40
Carolyn Cadet $1,488.00
Anne Heard $1,479.45
Carol Conner $1,470.72
Dawn Naritoku $1,460.40
Reiko Sakata $1,422.35
Nancy Gabbert $1,418.80
Cecile Smith $1,385.55
Martha Ruiz $1,380.05
Jessica Bain $1,378.10
Shelly Whelen $1,353.00
Peggy Campbell $1,335.25
Tomi-Lynn White $1,303.50
Shelley Killgore $1,294.90
Carole Fowler $1,293.49
Monika Davis $1,279.89
Deandrea Hunt $1,263.30
Sharon Torcivia $1,255.20
Michelle Webster $1,251.65
Pearl Robb $1,248.40
Melissa Hackman $1,248.10
Janet Stockmann $1,242.80
Theresa Crull $1,240.05
Kathy Thorn $1,237.50
Chastity Thompson $1,232.55
Janet Higerd $1,229.60
Marcella Lau $1,211.05
Jane Rappleyea $1,206.20
Linda Howard $1,202.15
Cindy Stephens $1,199.20
Lynda K Glassmoyer $1,198.80
Michele M Smith $1,171.70
Cindi Thurmond $1,169.24
Chiaki Haverstick $1,158.55
Julie Collins $1,154.55
Belinda Johnson $1,151.70
Robin Messenheimer $1,148.70
Aimee Gandara $1,142.60
Shirley Griffith $1,141.90
Jennifer Yep $1,127.15
Barbara Thompson $1,124.20
Billie Ryum $1,123.35
Shari Albrecht $1,118.99
Adriana Retzlaff $1,114.60
Mercedes Person $1,087.25
Cynthia Wilkinson $1,083.40
Richard Garay $1,083.10
Janet White $1,066.20
Linda Isherwood $1,064.80
Tiffany Thorpe $1,063.75
Laurie Conners $1,057.30
Debra Forney $1,046.00
Katherine Hill $1,037.65
Charlene Leasor $1,033.15
Donna Matoi $1,030.05
Grace Lee-Navarrete $1,029.75
Antonia Gomez Hernandez $1,025.55
Karen Anderson $1,021.40
Sharon Meyer $1,012.49
Tamra Lewis $1,009.70
Suzan Meaux $1,005.30
Kathleen Hazen $1,003.21

Only 3 More Days Left

The Occasions Mini Catalog is coming to an end on April 30th. That means you have only today, tomorrow and Friday to order what you want before these items are no longer available. But, the GOOD news is that the following products will continue to be available for purchase after April 30th through June 31st....how EXCITING is that!?!?! Then on July 1 we will see which of items made it into the new 2010-2011 Catalog and Idea Book! So if you have favorites or something you want before it's too late, stop on by my website and get shopping!!


Carryover Items from Occasions Mini 2010

Item # Description Price
116519 Charming stamp set $19.95
117690 Vintage Vogue WM $23.95
118598 Vintage Vogue CM $17.95
118882 Vague vinatge WM $23.95
119109 Vague vinatge CM $17.95
118091 Tiny Tags WM $22.95
118592 Tiny Tags CM $16.95
117535 DE F IS FOR FOX CHOCOLATE $4.95
117536 DE G IS FOR GIRAFFE CHOC $4.95
117529 DE "IS FOR" BLACK $4.95
117541 DE L IS FOR LION CHOCOLATE $4.95
117542 DE M IS FOR MONKEY CHOC $4.95
117544 DE O IS FOR OWL CHOCOLATE $4.95
117528 DE SCALLOP FRAME BLACK $6.95
117549 DE T IS FOR TURTLE CHOCOLATE $4.95
117552 DE W IS FOR WHALE CHOCOLATE $4.95
118139 FOLK FLOWERS Stencil* $12.95
117597 PAISLEY PATTERNS Stencil* $14.95
118072 PINKING HEARTS Corner Punch $9.95
118870 SCALLOP TRIM Corner Punch $9.95
117191 LG 2 STEP BIRD Punch $15.95
118073 LG FANCY FLOWER Punch $15.95
117649 PINKING HEARTS Border Punch $15.95
117190 MED JEWELRY TAG Punch $10.95
117193 SMALL HEART Punch $5.95
117310 BIGZ L MINI MILK CARTON $32.95
118138 BEAUTIFUL WINGS Embosslit $11.95
117332 SCALLOPED HEART OF HEARTS Embosslit $11.95
117335 PERFECT POLKA DOTS Folder $7.95
116772 RECIPES BY DESIGN Kit* $24.95
120435 HEART TREAT CUPS $2.95

Upcoming Workshop

I have been receiving a lot of interested members for my Meetup group. We are going to meet and craft next Friday and Saturday. I offered 2 days since I know people have to work and wanted to give everyone a chance to come. So this week I worked on the 2 cards we are going to make. I have to say that I am VERY happy with the two cards that I created. I can't say that they are my original designs but did tweak them to match what I wanted. My first card I cased from the March Stampin' Success magazine. As a demonstrator, you receive a monthly idea magazine that talks about the business and has some great ideas to demonstrate with. Another great reason to become a demonstrator. You can always join my team where this month you will receive some helpful DVDs to help start you on the right track for your business. Click on the join my team link if you are interested in learning more.

Now onto the cards.

The second card I got the idea from BJ Peters using the Top Note Sizzix Die. She created a flower 3D box, so I used the idea to make it on a card. Again, I am very happy with the way this card turned out.

These two cards have been my favorite that I have created since becoming a demonstrator in February. I am really looking forward to demonstrating these examples at the Meetup because I am very proud of them! I also hoping they inspire some people to place orders (maybe for the Big Shot especially!!) I will update everyone next weekend how both Meetups go!

Meetup Group

Well, I went ahead and started a meetup group. If you have ever heard of meetup.com it's a great site to find others with the same hobbies and interests as you. I have used this site to find other stay at home moms who like to get out of the house with their children. I have met some great friends from this.

So I decided to make one to promote Stampin' Up and my business. I'm hoping to find a bunch of new friends who love to craft. Maybe, just maybe, they will become life-long customers or even better some recruits. I just started this today so I will update with how many members next week. My first meetup is planned for April 30th. Check back then to see how that went as well.

If you live in the San Diego area and would be interested in attending our meetups, click on the badge and join our group!! We always need more creative minds!

Stamping 411 Challenge and Demo Swap

I created this card for two reasons. One is apart of the Stampin 411 Saturday challenge and the other is for a demonstrator meeting swap. If you click on the link, you can see the sketch that I used to make this card. I scored the blue paper using my paper cutter to make the checkered background. I border punched the yellow paper. I used one of the stamps from the Flower for All Seasons set. It's a great set with four different flower pots. I used the earth elements crayons and blender pens to color in most of the stamp. I used the colored pencils and blender pens for the tulips. I stamped happy mother's day with versamark then used my stampin' pastels to add a little color. I am very happy how this card came out. It's inspired me to make a flower pot card for Mother's Day to send to my mom and mother-in-law. Check back this week for pictures of my version of a flower pot card.

My demonstrator meeting is tomorrow night so check back for the cards I get from the swap. There are always great cards from the other demonstrators.

Here are the supplies and directions I used to make this card:

• Bordering Blue 8 1/2 by 11 paper cut at 5 1/2 then folded at 4 1/4.
• So Saffron paper cut 4 by 2 1/4 then punched with Eyelet Border Punch.
• Sage Shadow paper cut 1 3/4 by 2.
• Flower for All Seasons stamp set stamped onto Whisper White paper cut into 1 1/2 by 1 3/4.
• Using Earth Elements Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Watercolor Pencils and Blender Pens, color flower pot
• Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon cut 2 3/4 then wrap and glue onto back of So Saffron.
• Stamp happy mother's day from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set with Versamark then using Stampin' Pastels, rub Sage Shadow over happy mother's day to add color to stamp.
• Glue So Saffron onto Bordering Blue

Thank you for looking and reading!

The Big Shot is the Best!!!

I have been a scrapbooker for the past 3 years. I have used lots of tools to help with this hobby. I find myself using one tool over and over again. That's the Big Shot!!

The best thing is that Stampin' Up! offers the machine and lots of die cuts exclusively for Stampin' Up!

As a scrapbooker, I love to journal the story behind the pictures. I'm always looking for cute ways for journaling blocks. I own the scallop square clear bigz die.

I knew this would be a good one to use for all of my crafting. I thought I could use it for journaling but the page I was working on required more space for me to write. I knew that I wanted to use this so I put my brain to work. I cut out two squares and figured out I can put them together to make a bigger journaling block and still make it look cute. It was the easiest thing for me to do too. The machine does all the work for you! Here's a picture of my creation and journaling block.You can't even tell I put two squares together either. I know that the machine might be a little pricey for you but it truly is a great investment for all types of crafters. You can do sooo many things with the machine so it's worth the price. I particularly love what I have been seeing from other demonstrators with this die cut. If you are a sewer and would love to make your own purse take a look at these. These were created by Lisa Freeman.

The flower featured is another die cut that Stampin' Up! offers. It's called Flower Folds Bigz XL Die. You build the flower after cutting it out. The machine can cut through all different types of material so it's definitely worth buying. I have used lots of different tools for crafting and can truly say that this is my ultimate favorite. It has paid for itself with how much I use it!

If you would like to buy the Big Shot, please go here to purchase it. I would love to show you all the different things you can do with this during a workshop. If you would like me to demonstrate for you, contact me with your information. There are so many possibilities with the Big Shot and that's why I love it!!!!

Stampin' Up! Big Changes

A few days ago, Stampin' Up! informed us demonstrators that they are introducing a color renovation for the new catalog coming out in July! At first I was shocked because I just signed up in February and wasn't expecting such a big change. Then I thought this is the perfect time for them to do this for me since I haven't invested a bunch of money like a lot of the other demonstrators out there. I can now use my rewards from workshops to stock up on colors that I know will be around for awhile. I don't think they are going to be changing the colors like this anytime soon. I am definitely looking forward to these new colors. It is going to make being a customer a lot easier because there aren't as many colors to buy so you can invest in more stamps and accessories. They are also introducing a starter kit of cardstock that will combine colors from all of the collections for beginning stampers. This is something that a lot of my new customers kept asking me for. Stampin' Up! has done the work for us now!!! The other neat thing about this change is that the In Colors are going to be around for 2 years rather than 1. That will make investing in those colors even more realistic to do. I could go on and on about all of the positives to this change but why not see the changes for yourself. Here is the new color collections that Stampin' Up! is introducing.

REMEMBER: this doesn't take affect until July when the new catalog comes out.
So take a look at the colors leaving us.

Make sure you stock up on the colors that you love to use on your projects. As of July these colors will not be produced anymore so you want to make sure you have enough of your favorites so you don't run out in the middle of your projects. Start going through your colors now while there is plenty of time to order so you don't miss your chance to have your favorite colors.

My New Sidebar Buttons

I have added lots of new buttons to the side of my blog. There are links to all of the catalogs, promotions, March projects, and some other things that you need to check out!!! I am very happy with having these to help my customers have an easier way of navigating my blog for things they want. I really want to point out the clear block template button that was designed by LaycockDesigns. Here you can see the size of each of our clear mount blocks that you might need for all of your new clear mount stamp sets you are buying. Aren't the clear mount stamps a great new addition to Stampin' Up?

I will update the projects each month and when new catalogs are released. So check back and use my buttons as much as possible.

Challenge Card

I finally got some time to craft tonight. I made this card to participate in the Saturday Stamping 411 sketch challenge. The in colors were used along with Fresh Cuts and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets. This card is also going to be made at my Cards for Troops workshop next Saturday.



I will preview more of my cards for next Saturday when I get done with them. I am trying to have at least 3 different cards to make. I'm hoping I get a good response so that I can design a few more cards that we can make to send for the troops. I am very passionate about this workshop since I am a military wife and know how great it would be to have a card sent from my husband for Mother's Day.

I am also hoping to get back to scrapping my son's album. We were back in Pittsburgh for 2 weeks introducing him to both sides of the family. I have tons of pictures I need to scrap from our trip. I hope to get somewhat caught up tonight and tomorrow.

No Time for Crafting

I have been having such a wonderful time on vacation. It's been great introducing my son to all of his family. Unfortunately I didn't bring anything to craft with so I have been starting to itch to get back home to craft. I have tons of pictures from this visit that I will love to scrapbook. We have a few more days of visiting then I will start to get back into crafting and posting when we are back and settled in this weekend. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Birthday Cards

I'm hoping my sister and dad don't see this post because I made their birthday cards this weekend. I wanted to use some of my new supplies that I got from my workshop order that I placed. I also wanted to participate in my first sketch challenge. I have been wanting to participate in these to get some more people visiting my blog. I saw a sketch one that I knew I could make and would be perfect to use my sister's card to try it. I just can't wait to post this until after their birthdays. I absolutely love the one for the sketch challenge. I will try to list the supplies a little later because I am doing laundry, packing and cleaning for my trip to Pittsburgh. Just wanted to post this real quick.


My Dad's card

My sister's card and the one for the challenge

First Workshop Finished!!!

I finished up my first workshop this weekend. I placed the order Monday afternoon and received the boxes Friday night!! I was very impressed how quickly the order came. Friday night was spent organizing the supplies and playing with our new products!! Saturday I delivered the orders to finalize my workshop. Here are some pictures from my first workshop order. I am definitely looking forward to my next workshop Friday. I hope to achieve at least $300 so my hostess can receive her benefits. Upsale, upsale, upsale!!!


My first workshop took 3 boxes to deliver!!

The first box was my free big shot!!

Supplies in second box

Supplies in third box

Organizing all of the products into customer orders.

Convention

Plan to attend Stampin Up Convention 2010 with us on July 21-24, 2010

OUR LNS events start on Monday July 19th and end on Saturday July 24th with Patsy's WOW
event after convention is over.

$180 gives you the "I want it all package"
or you can pick from the events below

Send your payment to istmpnv@aol.com using pay pal
or mail a check to
Sherrill Graff
605 Kendrick Place
Boulder City NV 89005
if you are sending a check e-mail me and let me know so I can hold your spot.

Monday July 19th will be a 8:30 AM stamp camp 8 great projects $90 OPEN
we supply everything except adhesive
Monday Stamp Camp projects are the same on both days

Monday 2 PM shoe box swap $35 OPEN
please bring a project to share with 6 people and a finished project to enter into the contest

Monday Night 7 PM WOWevent by Tami $10 OPEN
bring your camera and a note pad
the WOW demonstrations are different on both days.

all at the Radisson

Tuesday July 20th will be a 8:30 AM stamp camp 8 great projects $90 OPEN

followed by a Tuesday 2 PM shoe box swap $35 OPEN
please bring a project to share with 6 people and a finished project to enter into the contest

then the Tuesday Night 7 PMReunion party 3 fun projects$35OPEN

we supply everything except adhesive all at the Radisson

Wednesday July 21 Anything New Swap 75+1 at the Radisson behind Convention on sign in day

Wednesday Sign In Day 2pm-4pm Shoe Box Swap Hosted by Mary and Brenda $35 OPEN
please bring a project to share with 6 people and a finished project to enter into the contest
at the Radisson

then a Saturday July 24th 6 PM WOWevent by Patsy $10 OPEN
bring your camera and a note pad
at the Radisson
the WOW demonstrations are different on both days.

All events have prizes and give-a-ways.

May God bless you and your family,
Sherrill Graff istmpnv@aol.com

Mother's and Father's Day Cards for the Troops

I have a great idea for my upcoming workshops. I found a charity who collects handmade cards to send to the troops overseas. These cards are used by the men and women to send to their loved ones. What a great way to support our troops and thank them for all that they do. Being a Navy wife, I completely understand how it feels to get anything from my husband when he's deployed. I think this is such a great idea. I am going to have a workshop to make Mother's Day and Father's Day cards to send to the charity. I am working on the details for these workshops. Any ideas or suggestions, leave me a comment. We need to have the cards for Mother's day mailed to the charity by April 15th. Let's get together and support our troops! Use an upcoming workshop to make cards to donate.

First Workshop and Projects

I had my first workshop this past Sunday. I could not have been happier with the way it turned out. My sister hosted this for me at her place since my apartment is just too small. There were 5 people who were there for the make and take and 1 showed up after to look at the supplies. I had all of my supplies from the starter kit since no one had ever heard or used Stampin' Up! The girls made a birthday card and gift box. We used a bunch of different techniques to show how to use my supplies. From this demonstration, I had 4 of the 6 ladies order. My total order was about $1,000!!! My mom loves Sizzix and ordered most of the die cuts that are exclusively ours because you can't order them anywhere else. My sister is a first time crafter, so she placed a big order to get most of the tools. With this big of an order, we got a ton of things free for hosting. She's being nice enough to let me build my supplies with these benefits. The best thing is that we ordered the Sizzix machine for free!! This was very successful and I'm looking forward to my next one next Friday while I'm in Pittsburgh. I also got 2 ladies who would love to host a workshop. I'm not doing too bad for my first month as a demonstrator!!

Here are the two projects we made with the list of the supplies. If you are interested in learning how we made the card and box, leave me a comment. Remember, you can always shop online 24/7 for the stuff that you need from me!




Supplies to make this card:

• Stamps: Bitty Birthday, Always in Bloom Wheel Stamp
• Ink: Classic Basic Black, Classic Real Red
• Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Only Orange
• Tools: Stampin' Around Handle, Blender Pens, Stampin' Pastels, Snail Adhesive

This is to be the front of the box.

This is a picture of the other four sides of the box.

Supplies used to make this box:

• Stamps: Bitty Birthday (balloon), Fun and Fast Notes, Teeny Tiny Wishes (happy birthday)
• Ink: Versamark Pad, Classic Basic Black, Classic Brillant Blue
• Cardstock: Whisper White, Brillant Blue, Only Orange
• Tools: Sticky Strip, Blender Pens

Need Ideas with Those Stamps?

Hello everyone. I wanted to provide everyone with this site called Splitcoast Stampers. It's a site with lots of cards made from Stampin' Up! supplies! The best thing is you can search for the stamp set that you want to make a card to see all of the samples made with those stamps. From the home page, click on gallery at the top right corner. Then click on the Stampin' Up! Galleries link under the Splitcoast Gallery title. Scroll down and select the box of the alphabet set you are looking for. Find the set and start admiring! I have spent WAY too much time on this site. There are lots of great ideas. I am CASEing a card from this site for my workshop this Sunday. I am so glad someone introduced me to this site. I hope it helps you as well. I would recommend bookmarking the gallery because it will be a place to check out daily! Happy crafting!

Check out SPLITCOAST STAMPERS

Great Business Ideas!

I have been looking at all the ways to promote my business since I'm a newbie. Stampin' Up! offers a great site where all demonstrators can go to discuss all our questions and concerns. Someone left some great ideas on how to boost your search engine rating. The author is a Late Night Stamper. She suggested entering as many contests as you can on others blogs. That way if you win, your name and artwork will be posted for their followers to see. She also provided a great link to enter contests to get published on different sites and magazines. I am definitely going to start participating in these contests since I have the time to craft. I wanted to provide this information for anyone who loves to craft and would like to see their work be acknowledged!

Links

My sister is the best and was able to show me how to make my links open to a new window automatically. Now when you click on my links you will be taken to that page in a new window. Then you can check back to my blog for the other supplies you like. Here's my site link so you can see my newest learned ability!! I'm so happy I know how to do this now. That will make linking to my page to buy supplies so much easier.
Thank you Cori!

San Diego Scrapbook EXPO

Hello everyone. I received my email for the yearly scrapbook EXPO in San Diego this morning. I am very excited! I attended the floor area 2 years ago and spent WAY too much money for some great things. I wasn't able to attend last year, so I'm definitely looking forward to going this year. Especially now that I'm a demonstrator. I want to check out the supplies, but I really want to go for the ideas. Now that I'm buying Stampin' Up! supplies, I want to use my products to make things that I see that day.

I am looking into one of the crop nights too. They are featuring a theme to the Friday and Saturday night crops. Saturday is a Luau that I think would be sooo much fun with a group of friends. I'm hoping my girlfriends want to get together to scrap that night.

I am also thinking of entering the contest they are doing. They are calling for any and all types of creative projects using scrapbook supplies. The top 3 winners will receive a nice prize. I'm just not sure what I would do to enter. I've seen some cute paper craft projects that I would like to enter. I'm going to be thinking about this and see what I can come up with. I will definitely post anything that I make if I decided to participate. It all depends on what I come up with and if I have enough time.

If you live in San Diego, leave me a comment if you are attending what day. Also, let me know if you would like to crop Saturday night with me!

Clicking on My Links

I wanted to explain something that I'm going to be doing from now on with my posts. When I make a project and write what Stampin' Up! supplies I used, I'm going to link the product to my site so you can buy it. The problem is that when you click on the link, it takes you away from my blog. Most of the time there will be more than one product you want to buy. Unless you write down the names of the supplies, you won't be able to get back to my blog to see what they are. There are 2 things that I suggest to solve this problem. I have Windows so I'm not sure how Mac would solve this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated to help Mac users out there.

If you decide to click on the link and leave my blog, you can open up a different page and reenter my blog address then find the post so you have a list of the products to buy.

I suggest doing this instead. Right click on the link and select open in a new window option. That way you won't have to research for the post on my blog you want supplies from. At this time, I cannot figure out how to get the link to do this automatically, but I am working on figuring it out. I will try to make a video explaining how to do these two steps sometime this weekend for those visual learners out there. If you are still having problems, I will try to help as much as I can.

Here's a link to my site so give my suggestions a try. Let me know how it goes.

New Baby Card

Well it's been a LONG week with very little crafting. I did get a chance to make a card for my sister-in-law who just delivered their son on Monday! We cannot wait for our sons to grow up together so close in age.

Being a new demonstrator, I didn't get any patterned cardstock or accessories in my kit. I am waiting for my first workshop to order some of these supplies.

So, this card uses only the blue cardstock and the happy new baby stamp from Stampin' Up. The stamp is apart of the Fun and Fast Notes set. I stamped it with the classic black ink pad then used the Stampin' Pastels and Blender Pens to customize the stroller. Click on the links to purchase any of these items from my site.

This was a very simple card to make once I found the matching cardstock. This would be a great one to make multiples for future use. It can easily be changed for a girl too, substitute pink cardstock for the blue. I will definitely reuse this card style when I need to make up a quick card.

Let me know if you have any questions about this card or supplies from my site.

Facebook Page

A real quick post. I am working on creating a facebook fan page for my business. I became a fan of another demonstrator's page and it seems to be a great way to promote your work and business. This is something new to me so it's taking me some time to finish. You can still click on the link to the right to become a fan. Hopefully I will have some content to my page by the end of the day. But with a newborn, who knows!

First Meeting

I went to my first meeting on Wednesday night. It was with fellow demonstrators so it was great meeting these ladies. I was about 10 minutes late. This was my first time really going out since having my baby in December and I didn't time it right. Plus there was some traffic. When I got there the ladies were working on their projects. It cost $5 to make 5 projects. We made a box, 2 cards and 2 pages for a calendar. It was a lot of fun because this was my first time really using some of the products. It was nice talking to the ladies since I'm a new demonstrator too. They gave me some great ideas to help build my business. I left looking forward to the next one and wanting to get a group together to craft. I kept thinking that's exactly what I want my business to be like, having a group who gets together at least once a month to make projects. I just need to start finding people who are interested in paying to craft. I'm hoping after my first workshop I'll have a few who are interested.

Here are the projects we made

During the crop we also exchanged the cards we made. I was very impressed with all of the cards everyone made. I was definitely motivated after being at the meeting to craft. Here are these wonderful cards.

Our next meeting is March 9th. Unfortunately I won't be able to go because we are flying to Pittsburgh for a few weeks. I'm hoping I can still make the projects they make for this meeting. Each time we are going to make 2 pages for the calendar so I don't want to not have March and April pages. Hopefully the host will keep the supplies for me for the meeting in April.

Let me know if you want to know how each of the projects were made. I can give you a list of supplies needed and you can buy from my site. I can also host a workshop to teach you how to make any of these projects. Contact me if you are interested in making these projects.

My First Card!!

After receiving my starter kit on Friday, I was very excited to start crafting. Unfortunately after organizing everything Friday, I didn't have time the rest of the weekend. Saturday I watched the starter DVD, but didn't craft because I was busy with my family. Since Sunday was the Super Bowl, I didn't do anything that day either. I was just itching to use my new supplies. I finally got a chance to make my first card today. I am going to a demonstrator meeting on Wednesday where I'm participating in a card swap. I needed to make 7 cards so I can swap with the others. This will begin to grow my examples of what you can do with Stampin' Up! supplies. I am really looking forward to this meeting to meet fellow demonstrators and get some great ideas. I will upload pictures of the cards I receive after Wednesday.

Here is the card that I made for the swap.

Supplies used to make this card include:

• Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Define Your Life (XOXO)
• Classic Red, Basic black and Pixie pink ink
• Pink, purple and white cardstock
• Snail Adhesive
• Glue dots

This was a pretty easy card to make once I figured out what I wanted it to look like. I did a little searching online to get some ideas with the eastern blooms stamps that I wanted to use. I did it like an assembly line since I was making 8 cards. The longest part was cutting out the flowers to pop up on the flower stems. I loved how this technique turned out on the card though. It adds a neat touch. I am very pleased with my first card. I am definitely looking forward to making more. Stay tuned for my idea for my upcoming workshop Feb. 28.

Contact me if you are interested in learning how I made this card or would like to attend my workshop. The links will take you to my website so you can buy the supplies I used to make this card.

Starter Kit Has Arrived

I never got to post this because I have been working with my kit nonstop this weekend. I received my kit Friday afternoon. I spent most of Friday just going through everything and becoming familiar with the contents. The funniest thing was before I even opened the box. Here's what the box had on it.
And boy was that statement true! There was extreme excitement!
Here are pictures of everything in the kit.
All of the contents inside the box

VersaMark - watermark ink - used to make tone on tone designs

Stampin' Scrub - used to clean stamps
Stampin' Pastels - chalks in all Stampin' Up! family colors
Classic Stampin Pads in red, pink, black, green and blue

Snail Adhesive

Stampin' Around Handle with Stampin' Around Wheel - Always in Bloom
Blender Pens - used to make watercolor effect
Butterfly Decor Elements

Box of 2009-2010 Idea book and catalogs
Stack of stamps - Bitty Birthday

Eastern Blooms

Define Yourself

Teeny Tiny Wishes

Elegant Thank You

Fun and Fast Notes

I didn't take pictures but the kit also included 3 stacks of 8 1/2 by 11 24 sheets of white, bold brights and soft subtle cardstock. It also included a starter DVD and CD that shows our digital scrapbook kit. Promotional catalogs, postcards and some other business catalogs were included. Finally there was a bunch of business forms to make customer orders at workshops.

It definitely has everything to help get started, but I am already planning on ordering some of the other supplies Stampin' Up! has to offer. For example I want the border and corner punches we have to offer. There are so many things I can do with these during my workshops. I am also a HUGE fan of Sizzix. I cannot wait to get some or all of these dies. Another great tool I will be able to feature during my workshops. And then there are the stamps. I have a feeling I will have a ton of these as well! I am going to wait for my first workshop at the end of February before I order anything more though.

I really look forward to using this starter kit to help me with my first workshop at the end of February.