Another Postage Due

I'm packed and ready to hit the road again!  We are picking Ashley up at the airport tomorrow at 2 pm and driving to the Outer Banks for a few days.  I can't wait!  It's been too long (a couple of years??) since I put my toes in the sand.  (I'm not counting the few minutes I walked in the sand when we were in Florida on our Red Cross "deployment" last month!)

I have another Postage Due card to share with you.  I can't stop with this set .... I just love it!  This time I used the Adorning Accents die to die cut the Early Espresso piece.  I stamped the image onto Vanilla with Espresso ink. Then I used the new spritzer bottles filled with alcohol and reinkers (Pool Party, Starfruit and Soft Suede) and spritzed the piece.  I cut the "3" and flower out separately and popped them up.  I used the Itty Bitty Banners and popped up the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Words.

Supplies:

• Cardstock:  Summer Starfruit, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
• Ink:  Early Espresso, Reinkers - Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Island Indigo
• Accessories:  Framelits, Itty Bitty Banners, Spritzer Bottles, Shimmer Spray

I have downloaded MDS2 tonight and plan to play with it during our drive (6+ hours!) tomorrow.  All the feedback I have heard has been great.  I played with it a bit tonight and am liking a lot of the new features.

Perfectly Preserved plus lots of SU News

The new "not so mini" Holiday Catalog is up and ready to order from it as of yesterday.  It's a great one and I am going to go broke ordering from it!!  Click HERE to see it online. 

And our MDS special -

•MDS 2 Free Trial: – Full access to the software at NO COST for 30 days. (Item #130910)
•MDS 2 Full Software: $39.95 US (Item #130644) Compatible with Mac and Windows
•MDS 2+ Full Software plus over $500 of digital content: $79.95 US (Item #130646)
•MDS 2 Upgrade: Full Software for those who already own the original MDS software. $19.95 (Item #130650
•August Special Offer: 31% OFF Select Digital Content!

AND during August, Stampin' Up has treats but no tricks for you! If you join Stampin' Up! during August you will get a FREE Howl-o-ween Printer's Tray project kit - a $60 value!

I am excited to have my Stylin' Snowfolk card HERE featured on Kelly's Blog Finds of the Day today.  Blog Finds of the Day is a service Kelly provides members of the Late Night Stampers Yahoo Groups. It is a daily list that is emailed out to the Yahoo Group Subscribers.  Its sole purpose is to keep all those amazing links in one easy to navigate place. She makes it easy for us to find some great ideas.  Check it out!

Below is a card I made using the Perfectly Preserved stamp set from the Holiday Catalog.  I can see a lot of possibilities with this card PLUS there are dies (Framelits) that match for cutting out the images.  If you buy the bundle of the stamp set and the dies, you save $$$ (and we all want to do that!)  On this card, I stamped the jar onto vellum and cut it out (using the die).  The flower stems are stamped directly onto the white rectangle.  The flowers and leaves are stamped onto scrap white and punched out (with the die).  I cut about 1 1/2" off the side of the Peach Parfait paper (retired).  The Sale-a-bration DSP and the Pear Pizazz scallop strip (all retired) are adhered to the inside of the card.  I also used some of the Pear and Peach ribbon from Saleabration.  I just love this Everyday Enchantment DSP even though it is retired.  I ordered a pack of it before it retired and now wish I had ordered more!!

August Specials AND New Design Team

Get 31% off 31 digital content options and most of SU's print products for all 31 days in August!   With digital goods on sale and the 30-day FREE trial of the software, August is the perfect time for you to enter the digital designing craze and see what it's all about.

What's on sale?
ALL cards, photobooks, individual pages, and tags. That's right: print any photobook, board book, swatchbook, individual pages, greeting card, postcard, trifold card, or tag-all for 31% off. Click HERE for more info on our Print Products.

Some of our best digital content. 30 downloads and 1 content disc. Yup, that equals 31.

:•Print product bulk pricing isn't included as a part of this sale. 
•You can only get the digital downloads and print products via an Online order.
•The Floral District Collection Disc can go on a workshop order as it is a tangible item.
•There's no limit to how many sale items you can order. Go crazy!
•Get your orders in by Friday, August 31.
•Still trying to keep up on all this? Get more info about MDS 2, the new software (coming soon) HERE
 
Also August 1 is the launch of My Digital Studio 2!! I'm so excited for this!

• 75 new features!!!
•Design in spreads
•Create with custom canvas sizes
•Add more than one color to a single stamp image
•Resize vector stamp images while keeping them crisp
•See color combination suggestions
•And much more

Now on to my Design Team news.  As you may have heard or read, Cristena Bagne, is stepping down as the author and owner of the Stampin' Queens. Over the next few weeks, you will start to see some small changes as Pam Staples transfers the Stampin' Queen's to a new blog platform. With the transfer, there will  be a name change as well.  We will now be know as The Papercraft Crew.  We hope you'll continue to follow us along with participating in our weekly challenges.

As the new Challenge Blog develops, Pam will also be introducing some new challenges including a Scrapbook Challenge, Color Challenge, Topical Challenge and Digital Challenge... Yes, that seems like a lot of challenges but there will also be more design team members added to specific teams.

To stay current with the Stampin' Queen's Challenge Blog and the upcoming changes, you can also visit www.sunnygirlscraps.com for current updates along with the link to the new challenge blog. 

So, stay tuned over the next couple of weeks and for now, please play along with this weeks challenge!

Here is the sketch and card for the week:

I made the card using the Delight in the Day My Digital Studio kit - paper, stamps, and embellishments.

Check out the other sketch interpretations HERE or HERE.

Stylin' Snowfolk

I thought if I stamped this snowman snow woman, it would make it feel like winter.  No such luck although the temperature is a little better this week than it was last week in terms of the humidity.  Sonny still came back this evening from putting the cover on the boat drenched.  You would have thought he'd jumped in the lake!  

So how do you like my snowfolk?  Ain't she stylin?  This is the first card I've made with this new set but I see lots of possibilities!  I also found a video tutorial (but can't remember where it was) of how to make the scalloped rectangle using a border punch.  I made several different sizes while I was making this one - hopefully, I will remember how to do it the next time I want to make one!  (The mind is a terrible thing to lose.)

I was a good girl today and went to the Y.  It was the first time I had been in several weeks although I have gone over to our neighborhood pool and done a few work outs in the pool.

I have been glued to the Olympic coverage day and night!  Tonight I watched the men's gymnastic.  Unfortunately, Team USA didn't fare well but I was pulling for Great Britain.  China was listed as the winner, at first, with Britain second and Ukraine third. But those results did not last. As the crowd — Princes Harry and William included — whooped and hollered because the British team had just won its first men’s team Olympic medal in 100 years, the judges huddled for about 10 minutes to discuss the outcome. In the end, China remained the champion to win its second consecutive Olympic gold medal and continue its domination.  Japan won the silver medal, moving up from fourth after the judges rejiggered the scores.  That knocked Britain to third and Ukraine to fourth, causing boos in the audience.  One thing that did not change was that the United States team — a favorite to win a medal, and maybe even the gold — was leaving empty-handed. It finished fifth.  That was almost as bad as last night's girls's gymnastics.  I felt so sorry for Jordan Wieber (the reigning world champion in the all-around and a favorite to win the Olympic gold medal) when she was eliminated.  Bela Karolyi,  the coach of the last United States team to win an Olympic gold medal, said Wieber was cheated out of a spot in the all-around. 

We're saying a few prayers tonight.  My brother in law is in the hospital in Texas.  Sonny spoke to our nephew earlier and Jack is having trouble with his pacemaker.  The doctors are keeping him overnight to see if they can figure out what is wrong.

Cork Stamping

Hope you had a good weekend.  I did.  We had friends spend the night with us on Friday night from Texas.  Margaret and Graham were in town returning their grandson to his parents.  They've been babysitting him for over a month!  Unfortunately, they did not get to stay very long.  They got to our house after 4 pm Friday and left around 9 am Saturday.  But we had a nice short visit.  We were going to go out on the boat and have dinner at a lake restaurant but the weather was kind of "iffy" and we were afraid to take the chance.  Turns out, we could have though.  Anyway, we went to Horsefeathers Restaurant instead - Sherrills Ford local little honkey tonk.  The food was good and the beer was cold.
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Saturday morning Sonny and I went out on the boat and had breakfast at The Grill Cafe on the lake.  After that, we found a quiet cove and chilled.  It was pretty hot though.  I stayed in the water most of the time. 
When we came home, I got to play with my new goodies that had arrived on Friday!! 

Sunday we went out on the lake again but this time, we waited until aboout 4 pm to avoid the hottest part of the day.  It wasn't quite so hot and the humidity was not as bad as yesterday.  The past few times we have been out on the lake, we have seen the coolest boat.  It's bright yellow or gold and has black detailing and a black canopy.  We've got to believe the people who own it are big Steeler fans! 

Here is a card I made last week.  I stamped the nautical image on a piece of cork in Night of Navy.  The stamp set is from The Open Sea.  I cut the anchor out and adhered it to the cork with glue.  I cut the cork and the Newsprint DSP with a nestability.  The Night of Navy cardstock is alson embossed with the new Fan embossing folder.

From My Heart

Have you ever started out with a good idea only to have it go in the complete opposite direction?  That is the story for this card.

I started out creating a transparency card.  There is a bit of the transparency (acetate sheet) on the card but I ended up cutting most of it off because it just wasn't working for me.  The Espresso cardstock is behind the transparency and the DSP (retired) in on top of the transparency.  Oh well .... I tried to do something a little different.  It is a great man's card - I have trouble with those anyway.  The sentiment is from From My Heart and "enjoying" is embossed with Copper embossing powder and popped up. 

Supplies: 
Paper:  Early Espresso, River Rock, Acetate Sheet, Well Worn DSP
Ink:  Early Espresso, Versamark
Stamp:  From My Heart
Access:  Copper Emb. Powder, non SU Nestability

I think my mom had a great birthday yesterday.  I didn't see her - I had a dentist appointment (ugh) and she wasn't home much anyway.  Angela took her to her swim exercise class in the morning and then to lunch with one of her friends from swim class.  They went to a pizza place downtown that Mom used to go to a lot with her friend, Marie.  Marie died last year and Mom lost her lunch buddy so hasn't been back.  The owner made a big fuss over seeing Mom again and that made her day.  Afterwards, she and Angela went to have a mani-pedi and a massage.  She had about an hour at home before they hit the road again to dinner and a meeting with the Lion's Club.  I haven't talked to her today because I guess she may still be recovering!  I am so glad she is feeling better and is able to do a lot of what she used to do.  She still hurts some and takes the pain meds but not on a regular basis like before.  I really believe the Physical Therapy and getting out of her chair and moving has helped tremendously.

Hexagon Punch!

This is my second post today!!

Today is my Mom's 84th birthday!  Happy Birthday Mom!  The family took her out to dinner on Saturday night since Marianne was going to be at the beach this week.  Tuesday our friend, Ellen, invited us to lunch and we went to Jeffrey's Restaurant.  We celebrated both of their birthdays - Ellen's was last week.  Ellen and Mom used to work together in Charlotte and I have become friends with her through Newcomer's.  We were on the Board together a few years ago.  It was my first time to eat at Jeffrey's and it was delicious!!  In fact, I ate such a big lunch that my dinner consisted of a dish of ice cream (with nuts and chocolate sauce!)

I CASE'd a few cards this week but this one is my favorite!  Usually when I CASE a card, I change it up somewhat.  But this one was so great, the only thing I changed was the sentiment!  It is from Andrea Walford.  She used to be a Canadian SU demonstrator and does great work!!  I love her cards.

The colors didn't turn out too great but ... it's still a great card!  Hexagons seem to be the rage lately.  I wish SU had a Hexagon punch (they do have one in My Digital Studio!!).   So, this paper is from Twitterpated and I just cut the hexagons out.  No, it is not a card I will mass produce, but it was a fun one to make. 

Supplies:
Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Black cardstock, Twitterpated DSP
Ink:  Black Craft
Accessories:  Black Pearls (non SU), Black Taffeta Ribbon, Stamp-a-ma-jig

So check out your DSP and see what you can cut out and use!!

Queens Sketch 49

Another Stamping Queens Sketch Challenge using My Digital Studio.  I really love this card!  And it would be easy to recreate if you don't want to use MDS.  Doesn't the card look embossed?  That's what I would do if I were recreating it without using MDS.  But the MDS version is actually an Stamp Overlay that I put on top of the Kiwi Kiss card (in white).  I just love the Blooms across the middle.

Here is the sketch we used this week:

Why don't you create a card using this sketch? 

Check out the other Queen's cards HERE.

Stampin' Up Convention Fun

So, convention is over.  Even though I opted not to go this year, I enjoyed following the posts of those who did via their blog and Facebook.  Amazing how modern technology works!!  Yesterday was the last day of convention and for the first time, SU did a Convention Live Feed.  I think a lot of us hyped it up to be more than it was.  We really thought it would be some big announcement (SU did say it was going to be a "fun announcement".)  A lot of speculation went on as to what it might be with a lot of people hoping for some big new product or a change in venue for next year's 25th year convention site.  I was a little disappointed that it wasn't but it was cool to be at convention via the internet for a short while.  It started out with Shelli (owner of SU) and her daughter, Sara welcoming all of us.  Then they went over to a fortune teller booth where Rich Judkins, President of SU, was dressed up like the fortune teller.  They asked him questions about the next Grand Vacation.  

In order to get him to "work" they had to insert .... of course, rubber stamps -  right out of Shelli's new Convention Bag (that everyone received full of goodies) .... into the slot!  Clever, huh?

Not the same as being there, but you could still feel the excitement.BUT what the announcements were:

• The Grand Vacation Incentive Trip for 2014 will be.... Western Caribbean! The promo video they showed made it look like a LOT of fun.
• The online Independent Demonstrator Agreement (IDA) will now be available for ALL demonstrators. Demos no longer have to have a Demonstrator Business WebSite (DBWS) for you to sign up online.

While the Incentive Trip doesn't really impact me, the online IDA impacts ALL demonstrators. In the past, you could only sign up new demonstrators if you had a business website through SU which I do.  But, it only makes good business sense to have this online IDA available to all. By completing the information online, potential demonstrators don't have to wait for their applications to be sent to and received by SU! The potential demo can see right away if something went wrong with the application - and it can be immediately resolved! Everything is done online and the new demo has access to the website immediately! The new demo has an upline immediately and all is good.  Demos can access a number of fun sites and ideas once they have logged into the SU! website. It is a HUGE win-win for everyone.

So after the announcements, Sara did a show-and-tell/on-stage demonstration for all to see. Usually you have to be in attendance to see this, but seeing it on-stage/online - although still not the same, was the next best thing.   She shared several ideas using canning jars.  This one in the picture below she called a "Wedding Jar."  She simply placed the doily cutout on the jar and then spritzed it with our Shimmer Paint. After it dried, she removed the doily.  What a cute (and EASY) idea! Add a little ribbon and you have a wonderful gift!  She made a few "wedding wishes" cards (3x3) for people to sign and place in the jar at a wedding reception or shower.  Would also work for a baby shower, don't you think?  People could put their suggestions for the baby's name???  That's how I came with Ashley's name.  We had picked Erica until my cousin suggested Ashley at my shower during a game we played.  Ashley is so thankful for Caroline's suggestion!!

 

Next they shared a really fun part of Convention AND Regionals.  They announce that it is time for a Prize Patrol and post a picture on the screen of what the prize is.  Then they announce which color wristband is the winning color.  (I've never won at convention.... boo hoo)  But then the winners jump up to claim their prizes.  And it makes it so much easier for the staff to find you when you wave your arms.

 

Also - here's a cool video from Stampin'Up!'s Convention 2012. This year the theme is "I am." LOVE IT!!!

You get to see the offices where the wonderful Demonstrator Support people work, the fabulous warehouse (it is just so clean - they must work really hard at keeping it that way!), and then it finishes up with the STAGE AT CONVENTION!!!! 

Want to join me and my friends next year for SU's 25th year? Become a demonstrator! You can tell we have so much fun. What other job do you know of that has this much fun!

OH - you may want to watch this a couple of times (or even more...). Did you notice the unicycle?  What about the ladies shirts that match the SU! fabric behind them?  Recognize the lady at 1:33 of the video - YUP!   Co-founder and CEO Shelli Gardner!   What about the hula-hoops (I could never work those things - good thing I don't need one of those for my job, huh?)? AND, did you know that guy that pops out at 2:09 on the video - that is Rich Jutkins and he's the PRESIDENT of Stampin'Up!   What are some of the other things YOU notice?   Post a comment here so we can all see - the more eyes the better!

Enjoy the video!

 

 

Reason To Smile

I am loving this stamp set, Reason to Smile.  One reason is it is a two-step stamp and I love two-steppers!  Another reason is it is only $5!!!  Super deal!  Here are several cards I made with the set (I really thought I had already shared them but don't see them.)

This first one is the one we did in club this week.  It uses the Emboss Resist technique. I stamped the flower with Versa Mark ink and embossed it in white.  Then, using daubers, rubbed Daffodil Delight on the flower; Cajun Craze in the center; and a little Island Indigo around the edges.  

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze, Island Indigo, Summer Smooches DSP, Whisper White
Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes, Reason to Smile
Ink:  Island Indigo, Versa Mark, Cajun Craze, Daffodil Delight
Accessories:  Island Indigo Ribbon; Big Shot; Labels Framelits; Itty Bitty Banners Framelits; Daubers, White Embossing Powder, Heat Gun; Fancy Fan Embossing Folder

This card is a very simple one.  I stamped the flower in Elegant Eggplant and used a yellow marker to color in the bottom part of the flower.  Then I used the Color Spritzer to spritz a little color onto the card.

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Sahara Sand, Eleg. Eggplant, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant
Stamp:  Reason to Smile
Access:  Color Spritzer, SU Markers, Eleg. Eggplant Dotted Ribbon; Labels Framelit

This (below) is one of the Shoebox Swaps from last Saturday.  The two-step stamping is done with Black Ink, Basic Gray Ink and Daffodil Delight.

Cardstock:  White; Basic Gray, Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight
Ink:  Gray, Black, Daffodil
Stamp:  Reason to Smile
Access:  Clear Buttons, Twine, Scallop Punch

 And the final card is also a very simple one to make.  I stamped the flowers in black ink and used Calypso Coral ink to color the flower - just making a few brush strokes and not coloring in the whole flower. 

Supplies:
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Gumball Green, Calypson Coral DSP (from paper stack), Early Espresso
Ink:  Calypso Coral, Black
Stamp:  Reason to Smile
Access:  Finishing Touches Edgelits, Gumball Green Ribbon, Calypso Coral (retired SAB) ribbon, markers

So now you have a Reason to Smile this weekend!