Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Multifunctional punches


These two cards use the butterfly punch to make a pansy! I found this idea on the web, can't remember who made it first. I added my own twist to the top card by using the crimper to give the flowers added texture. I used watercolor crayons (more mustard and elegant eggplant) and an aquapainter to make the one on top. The second one was made with reinkers and the aquapainter. The leaves for both are from the two step bird punch.


My friend and July hostess, Alison asked for ideas on how to use punches in a variety of ways. So I made these two cards using the wing from the two step bird punch. It takes 3 wings to make a tulip. You can make it fat or thin depending on which direction you lay out the wings. I think the torn paper really looks like a bed of grass.
I used 12 wings to make the blue flower. The leaf is another wing. And the vase is the ornament punch with the bottom cut off. I ran it through the square lattice embossing folder and sponged with cajun craze ink to make it look like a terra cotta pot.
Watch for more punchy ideas.



Wedding cake


This was another of my convention swaps. I saw a card similar to this with textured cardstock, but I took it a step further and used the bigshot and embossing folders to make different layers. The top layer uses the perfect polka dot folder, the middle layer is the brand NEW elegant lines folder, and the bottom is the wonderfully versatile square lattice folder. I used chocolate chip for the base and pink pirouette for the cake. The sentiment is from Oval All and the flowers are from a NEW level 1 hostess set called punch potpourri. I added a NEW jewel pearl in the center of the flower for the finishing touch. So simple but soooooo elegant if I do say so myself!!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Convention 2010-LONG, but read it all

This was my 7th convention and every year we always say it was the best ever. But hands down this was the best ever. I soooooooooo totally love Stampin'Up! They outdid themselves this year. Where to begin?

We had a flower power party Tues night with a 60's theme. All I had to wear was a tie-dyed shirt, but you'd have had to be there to see some of the great costumes! We played twister (not me), hula hoop (I tried), wore love beads they gave us, got our faces painted, mingled with lots of SU employees, and watched stamping demonstrations. I had a picture taken with Shelli and her husband Sterling.

The extras at lunch were awesome: the first day we had candy stations with salt water taffy, hard candy, friut jellies, and atomic fireballs. Day two we had huge chocolate fountains with fruit, all sorts of cookies, marshmallows, and pretzels. Day three was ice cream sandwiches, drumsticks, crunch bars, choco tacos, etc. And nothing ever ran out. There were also fresh fruit stations everyday.


I got to be a make and take helper, and had a class to make my projects early so I could help a group of about 600 people. We each had about 5-6 tables of demonstrators to work with. I am sworn to secrecy, but got several free stamp sets and embellishments for helping as well as some other perks.





I roomed with some awesome gals. Three were from Texas, 1 from Mass, and 1 from Pheonix (we had a 2 bedroom suite with 4 beds and 2 bathrooms. We had lots of fun sharing our swaps and business tips. The friendships I have made through Stampin'Up! are one of the best parts of being a demonstrator.




Share what you love was the theme this year and all of the classes focused on this. In the class on getting bookings, they actually had us make calls during the class to book workshops. I booked 2 workshops and have 1 more in the works. Usually I get all excited while I am there and make a list of people to call, but never get around to it when I get home, can we say procrastination. Stampin'Up! came up with a great hostess promotion to help us. They will give an extra $25 in hostess credit for all workshops from 7/27-8/31 with $350 or more in sales. That's $65 free plus hostess sets. Call or email me to get in on this great offer.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

More convention swaps



I made these shirts for a Bigshot WOW fabric swap. I laundered the cotton fabric and shirts, then ironed the fabric onto wonder under, then cut the flowers out with the bigshot, then ironed them onto the shirts. So cute!! I'm thinking of making one for me!

This card is for a technique swap and is the chalkboard technique. I stamped with white ink on black then colored over with the watercolor pencils.

My convention swaps



I have been so busy making my swaps for convention that I haven't posted lately. I made 70 total of these butterfly cards for a WOW full card swap. Lots of Bigshot time, but just a bit of stamping. So excited about the new Stampin'up! jewels-adhesive backed clear rhinestones and halfback pearls. They really finish off the butterfly nicely. So does the new 1/8" ribbon.