"I'm So Excited, and I Just Can't Hide It!"

WhooHoo! I'm off to the annual Stampin' Up Convention this morning! I'm so excited, I could hardly sleep a wink last night. I got up this morning and had the hiccups because I slept so little, but now I'm wide awake and ready to go (and running on pure adrenaline, I'm sure)! Off to swap, shop and stamp the next 5 days away in Utah!

Flower Pot Card For Mother's Day

I'm having a lot of fun playing catch-up on my blog; since being away for so long, I sure have a lot of projects to post! I am starting to get to some more recent projects now though, so I know I'm not far from being caught up.

Here is a really fun card I made for my Mother-in-law for Mother's Day! It's called a Flower Pot card, but is basically made the same way as a regular pocket card (see here for a tutorial on Splitcoast!) The only difference is that you taper the sides instead of leaving the card as a rectangle. That's it! Then decorate the inside message piece that slides into the card and you're done!

My daughter decided it HAD to have pink and purple in it, and picked out which ones she liked best. Once that was done it seemed only natural to go with the "Bold Brights" color scheme, so I picked out Only Orange and Yoyo Yellow to go with the Lovely Lilac and Pink Passion for the flowers. The leaves are Gable Green and sponged on the edges with Green Galore. If you click on the first picture, you can see that I also used a Texturz Plate on the pot, from the Stampin' Up! Backgrounds 1 set, and sponged the embossed images a little with Creamy Caramel for a little extra texture. The flowers are made using pieces from the Stampin' Up! Birds & Blooms Sizzlits 4-Pack dies as well as the Scallop Circle punch. The leaves are also made with the Birds & Blooms Sizzlits, and the Stampin' Up! Little Leaves single Sizzlit die.

I also made a little kickstand for the card, so that my Mother-in-law could stand it up and display it. Here's a picture of the kickstand:

I have been having so much fun lately, making lots of personal projects as well as cards and items for my stamp clubs. In the coming months I even hope to get to some scrapbooking! (insert ooh's and ahhh's here!) I haven't done much scrapbooking, but am very excited to get started on my son's 12x12 items; I've got so many ideas floating around in this brain of mine! I just can't wait to get them on paper!

Tomorrow I'm off to a spa weekend with my best friend Judy. I can't wait to get some down time! We had to book our trip a year in advance; this place books up fast! In fact, we've been trying to go for 2 years now, but could never call and book soon enough until I decided to take the plunge last summer for this weekend. Am I glad I did; in fact, while we're there I think we'll pre-book again for next year!

Well, Happy Stampin' and hope you're enjoying your summer as much as I'm enjoying mine!

Pizza Box Prize!

I am gearing up for another New Catalog Open House on July 2nd, and came across a picture of a door prize I made for my last Open House at the end of January!

This is a pizza box and 4 little 3x3 cards, perfect for Valentine's Day or just to show a friend how much you care. The ladies who attended the open house really liked it, and the door prize winner was a very happy lady! I have to be honest and say that I did not think of this on my own. I found the instructions for the box on Splitcoaststampers here and cased the project from "whats_her_name" (I didn't forget her name - that IS her user name on Splitcoast!) with her post here. It was a quick and easy box to make, and I had a lot of fun decorating it and making the matching cards. Now that I've made it once, it would be so easy to make this box set for any occasion and it would make such a nice gift for anyone on your list!

Happy Birthday Brother!

I'm posting this a little late, seeing as my brother's birthday was actually in February! At least I'm not that late actually GIVING him the card! He was pretty impressed with this one, I have to say. This stamp set, Friends 24-7, instantly became one of my new favorite sets; I've been using it quite a bit! I love the brocade stamp, and that bird is so pretty! For the sunset background
on the bird paper, I used a brayer on whisper white cardstock and first brayered So Saffron at the bottom, then Pumpkin Pie in the middle and Really Rust at the top of the page, making sure to go over each previous color to blend them together. For the bird's stomach, I sponged on some white chalk from our Stampin Pastels.

Big Shot Box and Accordion Fold

I have to admit, I didn't buy the Big Shot die cut machine right away, not being sure if I'd actually use it. After seeing countless beautiful projects made with it though, I decided to order it and see what all the fuss was about. Well, am I ever in love with this machine! Look at this cute little box I made using the Top Notes Bigz die and some chipboard! This is a project I did with my stamp clubs a couple of months ago. It was easy and it took no time at all!






The other project we did was this card, using the accordion fold technique. This one took a little practice, but is so worth it! I found it was much easier if you use designer paper instead of cardstock, but just be careful you don't push too hard when scoring each fold!

Big Shot Price Increase

Do you have your Big Shot yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Until June 30th, the Big Shot is only $118.95 (item #113439). After July 1st with the new catalog, the price increases to $132.95! So if you have been thinking about buyng the Big Shot do it today and save yourself $14 plus the tax and shipping savings.

Order by June 25th and I will include a FREE Daisies #2 bigz die, item # 114520, $23.95 or any other die priced $25.95 or less.

And there will not be a Big Shot Starter kit in the next catalogue so you can save even more by ordering the kit.

Big Shot Starter Kit, #116314, $232.95 includes the machine, Top Note and Scallop Envelope dies, Birds & Blooms sizzlits, Billboard decorative strip and decorative strip cutting pads and extended spacer platform. A value of $245.20 if purchased separately. Add the Doctor’s bag for $308.95.

For a quick video to see how the Big Shot works and what it can do for you, click on this link here!

Wild About This Stamp Set!

Check this out! This stamp set, "Wild About You" is my favorite set to use for baby cards, children's cards and children's decor (see the frame I did for my son's room!). This time I used it to make this cute spinner card for a birthday party my daughter went to. I think it turned out well, don't you? It was a very easy card to make, and fun too. I loved popping up parts of the animals, and who doesn't love a spinner card?

Have you had a look at the Stampin' Up retirement list yet? Well, I'm sad to say that this stamp set is on that list! If you haven't had a chance to see the list yet, click the link here! Some great favorites are on that list, but they do need to make room for all the amazing new sets in the upcoming catalog! These retiring sets are only available until June 30th. If you have a list ready, hop on over to http://www.sherivanhooren.stampinup.net/ to place your online order today! Online orders are so easy, and convenient too! Your order will be shipped directly to your door!