Card Candy Swaps

For the second year, I participated in a Card Candy swap headed up by Debbie McNeil and Amy Barnes.  In this swap, you make 2x2 card candy swaps using the new In Colors and/or Neutrals and current stamps.  You can make as many as you want from 1-50.  You just drop out of line when you have swapped all you brought.  I took 40 and Marianne took 50.  I still have my swaps from last year but I am making a promise to myself to make a collage frame with them this year!!

Here are my swaps using the DSP from Go Wild stack and the Heart punch (Watermelon Wonder.) The sentiment is from And Many More stamped in Tip Top Taupe and I added a rhinestone.

While I was at convention, I got an email from my good friend, Margaret, that her dad had died on Friday.  He has been doing poorly for a while so it was not totally unexpected but he was such a great guy, he will be missed by many.  Margaret and Graham had been there for a visit in April but when he went back in the hospital in early July, Margaret flew back to England so she was there when he passed away.  I'm thinking about you, Margaret!

As you can see, I did some maintenance on my blog today.  I have been wanting to change the blog header for a while and got some ideas while I was at convention.  Here is what the main stage looked like.  As you can see, I used it for my inspiration.

Below is one of the perks I received for celebrating my 10 years with Stampin' Up.  This was a booth set up with a soda fountain, popcorn and Dove chocolates!  Marianne and I made frequent stops here. I also received a Stampin' Up mini trash bag filled with a stamp set (one I already had), a package of buttons and twine.

We took this picture on our last day.  We looked for Debbie and my upline, Carol, to include them in the third window but could not find them at the time.

Roarin' 20s plus a Wild! Swap

There’s nothing more exciting than gathering with a couple thousand of your favorite people to celebrate the joys of card making, rejoice in our successes from the past year and plan for the future.  This past week’s Stampin’ Up! Annual Convention (called Inspire Create Share 2015) was just that – a lot of reuniting, a lot of celebrating and a lot of new stuff.  What a fun week!  But if I am totally honest, this was not the best Stampin' Up Convention I have attended (I have been to 5 total.)  We have always gotten at least 3 free stamp sets plus other "all attendee" give aways during the week.  This year, we received 1 stamp set and 3 all attendee gifts which did not amount to much (package of Holiday Catalogs, the new archival black stamp pad and a package of DSP.)  I really felt short changed this year.  Things were so very different than past years in many other ways too.

We all love to see new products and hear about new techniques for our businesses.   We love papercrafting and sharing wonderful ideas for new projects.  Still, at the heart of it all, Convention is all about the people.  I love the opportunity to gather with stampers from all over the U.S. and Canada as well as the members of Stampin' Up's staff.  What fun!

Thursday night was Awards Night and there was a party afterwards.  Awards Night was themed this year – we were challenged to dress in “The Roaring ’20’s” outfits.  Marianne and I turned out in our feather boas and jeweled headbands in our hair!  We found Debbie who looked great in her black and white 20s outfit too.

Here is one of the swap  cards I made.  I'll be sharing more swaps in the next several days.  This card was super easy to make using the Little Letters thinlets and the Go Wild DSP stack.

Convention Gifts

These are the convention gifts I made for my two downlines (Debbie and Marianne) and my upline, Carol.  I only see Carol at convention once a year since she lives all the way across the US from me - in Washington.

I got this idea from the very talented Becky Roberts.  Sonny bought the handles for me and drilled holes and screwed in the handles for me.  Then I just had to decorate and fill them.  Since I have more than enough retired DSP, that is what I used on them.

This one of course goes to Marianne who loves purple!

This one is for Carol.

And this one is for Debbie since she likes pink!

And of course, we have to have goodies inside!

These were really fun to make and very easy.  They were what I was trying to finish up when the electricity went out!

Over the Rainbow Shoe Box

I have found another favorite from the new catalog!  It is Over the Rainbow!  I have made a bunch of cards today with that set.  It is a really versatile set - good for sympathy, congrats, good luck, love you .... endless ideas!  Here is a card I made for my shoe box swap at convention.

How about that for bright colors?!!  Love it!  I also love the sentiment.  I scattered small pearls on the card that I colored with a few Copic markers (missing those Blendabilities!)  You could also color them with Sharpie markers.

I had a pretty quiet weekend - which is just fine with me!  Sonny and I went to breakfast yesterday in Denver (NC) and afterwards wandered around the Farmers Market buying a few fruits and veggies. Then we drove out to the Peach Stand, which was the main reason we went to eat in Denver, but they were already SOLD OUT!!  It wasn't even noon.  I really believe they never opened.  How could they have sold everything by 11:30????  I'll be traveling out there again one day this week I guess.  Today I got Sonny to go to the neighborhood pool with me to exercise there.  We did pretty good and were there over an hour and the pool all to ourself most of the time.  That is the coolest way to exercise and I don't know why I don't do it more often.  Gonna make a resolution to do that.

Another Wetlands swap card

Here is another swap card I made using the Wetlands stamp set along with Feels Good.  Isn't that the truth .... the best thing in life aren't things .... but hugs, kisses, love, respect, .....

I think Ashley made it out of Chuuk finally today although she wasn't too hopeful when she got up this morning and messaged me.  She said it was still rainy there and stormy.  But the last time I talked to her, she was heading to the airport to meet the military plane that had just flown over to pick them up.  It is a 2 hour trip back and forth.  She is supposed to email me when they arrive safely.  I'm saying prayers for their safe return.  She has missed two days of teaching the Babies Breath class.  Luckily, there was someone back at Pohnpei that could teach for her.

I went to the Y today and took a stretch class.  It had been too long!  I love the stretch class on Mondays.  Unfortunately, I play bridge just about every Monday and can't go.  This was the 5th Monday of the month, so I did not have anything scheduled.  After exercising, then Sonny and I went to Pomodora's Italian and had pasta!  Probably not the best idea!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Stampin' Up's  BONUS DEALS!  You can save up to 30% on Weekly Deals or up to 60% on extra items in the Clearance Rack (while supplies last).  The Weekly Deals discounts are available in limited quantities before the items return to retail prices.  You can order ONLINE by clicking on the ORDER ONLINE button above.  When you are asked for a Hostess Code, enter ZTUM7QAT please.

Wetlands Swap

I am on a roll with my convention swaps.  I am not making a bunch of one design - too boring. Instead, I am pulling out stamp sets and finding some inspiration and making a card.  Then into my convention swap bucket it goes.  Here are a couple I made this weekend using Wetlands (one of my favorite sets.)

For the card on the top, I used the masking tape technique.  I took a strip of masking tape (get some of the sticky off first) and pat it into the ink pad (Soft Sky, Mint Macaron and Crumb Cake)  Then lay it onto your card and kind of pat it to get the ink off.  With the Mint Macaron, it was a little dark so I put it on a piece of paper first to get some of the ink off.  Then I stamped the oats on top with Tip Top Taupe and added a bit of glitter to them.  I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white and punched it out with Oval Punch.  I punched a larger oval from Mint Macaron & backed it.  I wrapped the Bermuda Bay twine around 2-3 times before adhering the piece to the Soft Sky card.  I used dimensionals under the sentiment.

This card is very similar. But I didn't use masking tape this time.  I inked up the large background stamp, Watercolor Wash (pg 129) first with Soft Sky and stamped the top of a piece of Whisper White (5 1/4" x 4"); then I inked the background stamp with Tip Top Taupe (and after stamping off), I stamped the bottom of the white card - making sure it met up in the middle with the Soft Sky.  Then I stamped the oats in Mint Macaron on two sides and stamped the birds in the center with black ink.  I tore the top and bottom edges and had to sponge a bit more ink on the torn edges.  I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white, sponged Soft Sky on it and made a flag on one end.  It is attached using dimensionals.  I attached the white torn piece to Mint Macaron and then to Chocolate Chip card.

I have been able to chat with Ashley this weekend via Facebook.  She has internet in her hotel in Chuuk.  She was supposed to fly back to Pohnpei on Sunday morning on the military plane but the weather was bad and the flight was canceled.  The plane only holds 7 people and it had already shuttled two groups back.  Ashley was scheduled for the final group and got canceled.  So she took advantage and had a massage.  I have just been chatting with her again and there is still bad weather and the plane is still in Pohnpei.  There was a United flight that her group tried to get on but when they got to the airport, there was only one seat left.  She put one of the junior officers on the plane and went back to the hotel.  She is hopeful that the military plane will still make it to pick them up later (it is Monday afternoon for her.)  The next commercial flight is Wednesday!  Hopefully, she won't be stuck that long.  They have turned in their rental cars so they are pretty well stuck in Chuuk!

Here is a gorgeous sunset picture she took this weekend.

Convention Swap Card #1

I have been working on some card swaps for Convention in July.  I am doing two organized swaps and one shoebox swap.  They are not too crazy this year.  I have to make 15 cards for one swap; 12 cards for the other swap; and two different cards for the shoebox - one I finish completely - 14 cards and the other one, I cut all the pieces for the shoebox - again, 14 cards.  So I have finished my two swap cards.  I have made one card for the finished shoebox so just have to duplicate it.  And I guess tomorrow I'll be browsing Pinterest for my other shoebox card although I have an idea in mind for it. That is always the hardest part - coming up with the design!!  That's why I love Pinterest and Google Images.

Here is one of the swap cards:

I used Kinda Eclectric and Feels Good stamps.  The hearts are from Perfect Pennants.  I really like this color combo - Hello Honey and Watermelon Wonder with a little bit of Tip Top Taupe.  What do you think??

Convention Pics

Thought I'd share a few more pictures from Inspire, Create, Excite Convention 2014.

This was a HUGE flower that was made from Designer Series Paper.  There was a display of all the DSPs with a flower made from the paper on each one.  I don't think these petals would have fit in my Big Shot!!  But I loved the paper flowers!

This was a swap that I admired but didn't receive.  A gal had it in the bus that was taking us over to the Home Office so I snapped a photo of it.  I love my Star Framelits and will be CASEing this card in the future.

This uses Kinda Eclectic stamp and has a small note pad inside.

I just love this Snowman "Lollie"!!  If you have the Designer Rosette Bigz Die (pg 232), this would be easier to make.  I think I will also be CASEing this one too!

More Convention Display Boards

Here are a few more of the display boards from Convention.  You should easily find inspiration here!!

Inspire, Create, Share Convention Display Board

I spent several hours Saturday finally going through my Inspire, Create, Share Convention 2014 pictures and trying to organize them and label them.  Whew - what a job!  But now I can share a few of them since I know what they are.  One of my favorite things is to look at all the cards on the many Display Boards.  This year several demonstrators did their own display boards displaying various cards from their team.  Here are a few of them.  You can click on them to make them larger and see the display cards better.  There are a lot of great ideas on these boards!

Convention Make & Takes

One of the events I enjoy the most at Convention are the Make & Takes.  I attended a special class one day where we used one the new Watercolor Winter Simply Created Card Kit.  We made several of the cards but did not have time to make all of them.  The kit comes with supplies to make 20 cards (with envelopes).  I am still working on finishing my cards and will share all of them when I am through.  But here are a couple of the cards I completed at Convention.





Some of the elements in the cards (trees and sleigh) were water colored, which is fun.  




We made this box using many of the new items from the Holiday Catalog.  The stamp set is new as well as the box itself, the wood leaf embellishment, the gold feather die cut and the stripped paper.



This journal was created using the Kinda Eclectic stamp set that we were given.

Cognitive Memory Games

I am participating in a study at Davidson College on the effects of video game training on the cognitive performance of older adults.   That's a mouthful but what it entails is me doing a series of games each day which lasts about an hour.  I have to do a series of 40 sessions and should finish up in early September.  Before I started, I went through some cognitive testing at Davidson and will do additional testing at the end of my game playing.  The games are not a whole lot of fun and sometimes give me a headache!  One of them involves Visual Sweeps.  You are shown a pattern in a square that moves in and out and you have to pay attention and determine which way the pattern is going (in and out, 2 outs, 2 ins, etc.)  It starts out slow but by the end (about 70 times), it is going so fast you have to really be sharp to determine the pattern.  If you blink, you miss it.  Another one of the games is a Peripheral Challenge where you see a group of birds flash on the screen in a circle and one is different than the other.  Once the birds go away, you have to click on the area where you saw the unique bird.  You do not have time to look at each bird separately - you have to sweep the screen using your peripheral vision.  And believe me, there is not that much difference in the birds!  Another - and the hardest for me - is Target Tracker.  Two or more (I have gotten up to 5) objects will appear on the screen - usually small bubbles or little jellyfish.  At first they are alone; then more identical objects appear with them and they are all moving around.  You have to pay attention to the original targets tracking their movement.  Once they stop moving, you click on the original targets.  Not too bad if it's just 2 or 3 bubbles, but when 4 or 5 are on there and all going in a different direction, I have a hard time tracking all of them!!  Another one of the games is Eye for Detail.  A total of 3-5 objects (like different flowers) appear one at a time on the screen (sometimes really quick).  Once all the objects have appeared and disappeared, you have to click on the locations of the ones that match (like the Memory Game we played when we were younger).  I find I am a little better at this game although when the flowers are similar - like 3 yellow of a certain kind of flower and 1 yellow of another kind - it messes me up.  And the final game is Double Decision.  Two cars appear on the screen - one a truck with open bed and the other a delivery truck.  All around the trucks are signs with one of them a Route 66 sign.  The trucks and the signs flash on the screen, then go away.  You need to remember which car you saw and where the sign appeared on the screen.  I do ok with them until it gets real fast.  Then I find myself looking for the Rt. 66 sign and not paying attention to which truck was there!  Plus as the games go on, the backgrounds become more distracting.  It is interesting but not what I envisioned when I signed up for the study and thought I'd be playing games for an hour each day!  Don't know that my memory is improving but it sure makes me feel dumb some times.

I thought I'd share a couple of the Display Boards from Convention.  You can get a lot of great card ideas from these great boards!