Well Saturday was my quarterly Diva/Dude Day.  We had to modify the name as we had TWO male teammates earn the title this time.  It was so much fun and everyone was so excited for both of them.  Diva/Dude Day was a concept that my friend Patsy Waggoner shared with me a few years ago and she shared at leadership this year. She was an amazing presenter!

My top 10 in sales and anyone that recruits for the quarter is invited to a very special stamping day.  I do all the preparation and they come and enjoy and stamp and eat!   Oh how we laughed!  So this is how it played out…

 My daughter Kate got up in the morning and started prepping the food.

 mmmmmmmm we had mini pies filled with cherries and some filled with apples.

 found this on Pinterest – the dip is in the bottom and the veges are all in individual cups (so much easier).

 Here is one of three tables filled with food.

The tables were set and ready for them to come. 

 Everyone had our new Twitterpated Fabric and Twitterpated Designer Series Paper and Blushing Bride Pleated Ribbon and Twitterpated Buttons and Maze Game pieces and more.

 Here's Dude Chris along with Val and MaryMargaret.

 They were all sewing and NO ONE was whining about it!  Believe it or not, they were all having FUN!

 More sewers.

more fun

more food! 

 Here is one of the cards I created for them to complete.

Supplies used:

Stamps: Fresh Vintage Stamp Set #125115 Wood Mount or 125117 Clear Mount FREE WITH A $50 order (click here to place an online order)

CS:  Basic Gret Cardstock; Twitterpated Designer Series Paper, Blushing Bride Cardstock; Whisper White Cardstock, Vellum Paper

Ink:  Basic Grey

Accessories:  Labels Framelits (from the Occasions Mini Catalog); Twitterpated Buttons; Basic Grey Satin Ribbon for the Fork Bow; Basic Pearls, Dimensionals

 Here is a side view. 

Hope you enjoyed what I shared.  Have a great day. oh oh oh…I almost forgot…

YEAH NEW YORK GIANTS!!!!

Okay so what was YOUR favorite Super Bowl commercial?  Mine was the M & M commercial when the one M & M took off his shell does that mean he was naked?!  :0)  He was so cute.

Today I'd like to share with you a technique that I saw at Convention 2011.  It's done with Epsom Salts.  Yes you read it right Epsom Salts.  So here we go…

You can do this on just plain background paper or you can stamp and do the technique over the stamped image.  In the sample below, I stamped the Snowmen on Whisper White Cardstock. 

 Next we are going to mix equal parts of epsom salts to equal parts boiling water.  Stir until the Epsom Salts are fully disolved.  Then take a brush and "slather" it all over your cardstock.  DO NOT go over or rub in the water…just dab it on fairly thick.

 I don't know if you can tell here but it's starting to crystalize. 

 A little more here…

So this is what it looks like finished.  After it totally dried, I used my Stampin' Up! Many Marvelous Markers and I colored the snowmen in! 

Do you see the backgroud here?  This is a really good shot of how it crystalizes. 

 Here's a plain piece of paper that has just started to crystalize.

 A little dryer but still has a little way to go.

 I took this sample card and did it so the windows looked like they were frozen.

You can't see it that well but trust me it really does look cool.

There will be a video up later on Friday.  Thank you for stopping by!

Everyone is doing the "new product happy dance" to celebrate something that is coming our way!  I'm doing the happy dance because I WON one!  Wait until you see what it is…can't tell you yet but you will be sooooo excited.  Watch the video.  It's hard to hear the song that goes along with it but they were dancing to the music “Party Rock Anthem".  If you are viewing this in an email, you will need to go to my blog to see it!  It's SOOOOOOOO cute.

 Here is Shelli and Sarah!  They are such wonderful people!

 Kevin and I later that evening, we went to the Tip Top Cafe!

It was featured on Drive-In's, Diners and Dives! 

 It was so cute!

 Trust me I didn't eat all these but look at the portions.  Their most famous dish is Chicken Fried Steak.  When they served it, it wa so big it hung off the plate.

After dinner, the 2011-2012 Advisory Board had a get together!

We set the camera so we could all be in the picture!

 That's it for today! 

Just a little more with food… 

In another part of my presentation, I used Sugar Sheets with punches and my Big Shot. 

Sugar Sheets come in a lot of different colors.

Here they are ready to be run through the Big Shot.

ahhhhhhhh here they go!!!!

And here they are all cut out!

Ready to paper pierced….

paper piercing them…

Add one of our new Jelly Bean Brads from the Occasions Mini Catalog (part of the Sweet Shop Product Suite) and you now have an EDIBLE pin (DON'T eat the brad)!!!

These sugar sheets can also be used with our punches.  Yes I said you can punch them out as I did in my presentation.  So for all you that love PUNCH ART for your cards…you can now do it on cakes and cupcakes!!!!  How cool is that?!  I have a video that I will be posting soon on this technique.  :0)

Hope you enjoyed my post. 

As promised, I wanted to show you what I presented at our Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference.  It was a presentation on decorating with rubber stamps and fondant or gum paste.  It's soooooooooooo stiken fun!  if you are receiving these posts through your email, you have to go directly to my blog to see the videos…  www.stampladee.com

Here is what they displayed after the presentation.

Here is my Valentine Treat.  It's wrapped with our White Waffle Paper.

And I placed the cupcake on a doily that I made with our new Doily Die.

My dinosaur display.  Wouldn't this be cute for a dinosaur party?

And here is one of free Sale-a-Bration stamps.

This was the very first thing I stamped.  Karen showed me with this stamp and I fell in love with it.

Here are a few things that I used for tools…this is a NEW "knee High Stocking" that is filled with Confectionary Sugar.

This is how I painted with my Vodka filled Aqua Pen.

For those jagged sides, you can use our Sanding Block to smooth them down.  It works GREAT!

And for those indented areas or hard to reach areas, use the three precision files that are found in the Distressing Essentials kit.

And our Paper Piercing Tool is great for making holes for ribbon.

Oh there is so much more.  This is so much fun and soooooooo easy to do.  Try it.  You already have all the tools, you just need to get some Vodka (you may already have that), you need fondant and Soft Gel Paste. 

I hope you enjoyed my post.  It was fun.  Come back soon.

I almost forgot to show you the invitation we got for Manager's Receiption.  It came in the mail.

Isn't this so clever.  This was our invitation.

On day two, it was the first full day of our conference.  We started off with General Session. 

This is what it looked like as they opened the doors.  Helllllllp!

And now the fun begins!!

This is the Stampin Up! Team!  They did the cutest dance routine.

And here is Shelli and Sarah!

Here is Selma, Donna and Dawn in the "Bull Pen"

And here is Dawn, me and Missy in the "Bull Pen" waiting to go on stage to do our presentations.

Tomorrow I will show you what I presented!

Here is a video of the Complete Stamp Space Makeover that Shelli and her family did for one of the Stampin' Up! Demonstrators.  Any demonstrator could have entered the contest.  They had to send in a video of why they thought they needed a Stamp Room Makeover.  Take a look
 

It's been a while but I've been soooooo busy with all fun stuff.  I attended a Leadership Conference in San Antonio last week.  What fun we had.  Have I ever told you how much I love my job?!  Well here is why….

Leadership was held in San Antonio, Texas this year.  What a beautiful city.  I just loved every minute of it (it was in the high 70's there, it was MINUS one degree in New York!  So I was VERY glad to be in Texas!)  Tuesday was a traveling day but on Wednesday I started right away.  I was asked to do a demonstration so I had to go early to set up.

Yep, that's me setting up!

One of the staff members helping me.  Everyone was so nice.

Everyone came over to see what I was demonstrating.

I'm all set and ready for our rehearsal.

Oh yes there was a rehearsal, complete with microphones (just like Madonna)!

The photographer, Tom, was giving us last minute instructions.

After rehearsal on Wednesday, I went and got my bag from good friend Selma!  Isn't she just the cutest little person in the world!

Then it was off to do our make and takes.  Here is my good friend Linda displaying a beautiful smile and her first project.

Believe it or not, this entire bag was filled with our make and take supplies and all kinds of free stuff.

When we got to our make and take station, there was another two gifts waiting for us.

The little porfolio matches our new bags (hint hint…that material will be in the new catalog)!  I just love it!  And you can see the little box that was filled with chocolate.  All sitting at our table for us when we got there.

Too stinken cute!

Me with my stash!

And here are two of my team mates.  I'm so proud of them!  This is their first leadership!

Later in the evening was our Manager's Reception.  You can attend this if you have a team of demonstrators that you have signed up.

How exciting this was.  We aren't told what the theme is so it's fun trying to guess.

Before the program, we were treated to all sorts of refreshments.

Here's my friend patsy digging in.

And here is one of the waiters with fancy Shirly Temples with cute little umbrellas in it.

The decorations were gorgeous.

And here are two of my team mates.  I'm so excited that they earned the title so they could be here.  Lynn was on fire this year.  Congratulations girls.

Then Shelli came out and gonged the gong to start the show!

It was such a fun day.  Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed my post.  More tomorrow.

I'm so excited, my friend had her last chemo treatment this week  -  YEAH Margaret!!!!  She's gone through a lot.  I sent off a box of supplies to her so she can do here clubs this month.  The box had all the supplies for fifty people to do two different cards.  One of the cards I designed and cut for her is below.  I used the new Hearts Collection Framelits Dies and the coordinating stamp set called Take It To Heart.  I thought it was very appropriate! 

Here is what the card looks like along with the framelit set.  I also used the new Adorning Accents Edgelits Dies.

Supplies used:

Stamp Set:  Take it to Heart; Loving Thoughts

Cardstock:  Pool Party, Island Indigo and Very Vanilla

Ink:  Island Indigo

Accessories:  Big Shot, Hearts Collection Framelits Die, Adorning Accents Edgelits Dies, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Pool Party Seam Binding, Dimensionals

Thank you for stopping by,  I hope you enjoyed my post.  I will continue to pray for my friend and hope this helps her just a little!

So have you seen the new Occasions Mini Catalog?  I just love the Mini Catalog program.  I was so ready to be over the Holidays and all the trimmings and now I'm onto beautiful cards and snowmen!  :0)  I love my snowmen. 

So here is another tip I have for you…it has to do with the new Edgelits Adorning Accents Dies.  These very thin and very fragile metal dies are the exact same width as our Standard Cutting Pads which makes it a little tricky when running them through the Big Shot.  BUT NOT TO WORRY…I have the solution for you.

Here is what the die looks like – the very thin silver piece. The die is #125595 and can be found on page 7 of the Occasions Mini Catalog. 

If you lay these on your cutting pads, they are very likely to move so I'm going to suggest this tip.  Purchase two extra sets of the Standard Cutting Pads #113475 that will be dedicated to ONLY these two dies.  It is going to save you LOTS of time and and you won't get frustrated with them but even more important, you won't end up BENDING them. 

1.  Take one of the dies and put a row of sticky strip on the "flat" side of the die.  Line it up and stick it to the bottom of one of the new cutting pads.  It is now permanently adhered to this pad.  The side with the "edge" or cutter is now sticking up.  That one is done.

2.  Do the same thing to this one.  Now you've used two of your cutting pads.  These are permanently adhered to these two pads.

3.  This is pad # 3.   What you are going to do with this one is add a piece of our grid paper to the back.  I cut a piece of grid paper the size of the clear pad (make sure you have it EVEN on both sides – meaning the lines are the same on one side as the other).  This is going to be used as a guide for your cardstock.  THEN, what I did so the paper didn't get worn, I cut a piece of our Window Sheets  (these can be found on page 216 of the big catalog) I cut these the same size as the clear pad also and put that over the grid paper to preserve it.  Both of these were put on the back of the pad with Sticky Strip.  Now you have three pads that are dedicated to these dies.  Read on to learn how to use them…

4.  In this picture, I'm placing the card on the "grid pad" with the grid on the bottom of the pad and the clear plastic on the top.  Do you see that the card is even on both sides.  That is very important.  If you don't make it even on both sides, the curves on the left will not match the curves on the right.  I did put a little dotto on the back of the card to hold it in place while I cut.  Then I used my Adhesive Remover to get that little bit of sticky off the card when I was done.  Okay, we've got our dies all glued on, we got our grid pad all set and our paper is glued to the top of the grid pad.  Now what?

5.  For your layers, you are going to put your Multi Purpose Platform down (close the whole thing so that tab 2 is on top), then your pad that has the grid sheet (with the plastic side up and the grid on the bottom), then you line up your cardstock (here I used Blushing Bride), then you put your cutting pad on where you want it.  That's one of the beauties for this set up, you can place that cutting edge anywhere on the paper.  I've placed it pretty far up on this one but it can be right along the bottom edge – it's totally up to you.  It's that easy.  Run it through the Big Shot.

6.  Now to store the pads and dies.  This is another amazing feature.  Put the two pads with the dies on them together so that the dies are on opposite ends.  Then put the grid pad on the bottom.  Take two rubber bands and put one on the top and one on the bottom and store with your other dies.  AND, you now have the empty plastic envelope that the dies came in so you can store the three coordinating Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders in.  I love it when things work out!

Isn't this card just beautiful? Do you see the scallop on the bottom? That is one of two dies you get when you purchase this amazing new die for the Big Shot and it was so easy with the "permanent mounted dies".  If you have ANY questions, just post to my blog.  I'd love to have you leave me a comment and get a discussion going on these amazing new products. 

Now for my Special.  If you place a $75 on-line order from my website during the month of January, I will give you this online class free.  Remember if you wait until January 24th, you will also get to pick a free Sale-a-Bration set free.  It will have all the directions and measurements for five of these cards (and if you think these two are pretty, wait until you see the other three).  These are only two of the cards included in this very elegant class. If you would rather I put the order in, just email me and I will put it in for you.

Thank you for stopping by.

Many years ago when the aqua pens were first introduced to Stampin' Up!, I started using them as "envelope lickers".  My daughter has Celiac Disease and cannot lick an envelope (or stamp) because of the wheat paste they are made with.  So to help her out, I started using my aqua pens to lick the envelopes.  It works GREAT!

So here's another tip for you…

This is 200 of my Christmas Cards (just another 100 to go)

Take your aqua pen, fill it with water and slide it across your envelope.  It moistens the glue enough to seal it.

ahhhhhhh another job well done!

Hope you enjoyed my post, thank you for stopping by!