Oh my goodness, this is such a fun time of the Stampin' Up! year.  We have the retired stamps and accessories lists out; we have the new catalog coming in, last minute classes to say so long to some of our favorite sets and making new cards and projects with all the new stuff!  OH SO EXCITING!  Remember to check out the Discontinued Lists and the Clearance Rack.  Make sure you hurry and get what you want now, the items are going fast (I'm not kidding)!

One of the gifts I made to bring to my Advisory Board friends while we were on our incentive trip to Disney were Wine Glass Cozies.  They were so easy and so cute.  I just love them.  So here is how you make them…

You start with our wonderful Stampin' Up material found in our catalogs.  Then I used the Clear Circle #114533 Die – HURRY THIS IS A RETIRING DIE!  Make sure you go to my website and purchase it NOW!

After you cut them out (three per cozie), you will lay one circle down with the right side of the material facing you.  Then you will take two more circles and fold them in half with the RIGHT sides out.  Lay those two "half" circles onto the full circle, pin and sew all the way around.

I made lots of these.

Next turn them right side out and I used my Bone Folder #102300 to make the circles perfect.

Slip them onto your wine glasses (you have made different colors so that each person can identify their glass).

wah lah….aren't they the cutest little things ever.  They absorb the sweat from your glass and identify YOUR glass.  They are so easy to make!

Next I wanted to share more pictures of our amazing trip to Disney.  Our last event of the trip is always the most anticipated event!  ALWAYS, no matter what trip it is…the last day or night is always above and way beyond what you could ever think up.  The Stampin' Up Events Team is totally out of this world!!!!  So we all lined up to board our buses….

We were all loaded and ready to head out, where were we going….

Oh my gosh…we were at Hollywood Studios at the Indiana Jones Show.  See the Stampin' Up sign on the stage.

The show was an exclusive show for JUST Stampin' Up! Incentive earners!  All those people are US!

And if you've ever seen the show, you KNOW they pick people from the audience.  Yes, those are demonstrators!

And that guy…that is our own Scott Nielson, CFO of Stampin' Up! and a great sport!  We all love him.

So the suspense began…

More stunts by Stampin' Up demonstrators.

here is my good friend Linda Heller with Indian Jones.  She was one that was chosen to be on stage!

woah…as they were performing their tasks, the wall started to open…

and they had tables and chairs….I've seen this show and KNEW that was not part of it…

then the food started rolling out…

even Scott had to take a double take…what was going on…

the stage hands were just ignoring what was going on and the show rolled on…

but they didn't finish the stunt show….instead they invited us to

COME ON DOWN AND WE GOT TO EAT ON THE INDIANA JONES STAGE…..OH MY GOSH!!!!!

It was beautiful!

Here is my friend Matt Heller stealing some goodies!

We had to join him of course!

I went up in the stands and took a picture of the entire event.  It was unreal!

Another view….it was awesome.

And the FOOD!!!!  mmmmmmmmmm

How cool…the decorations were incredible.

we had a DJ

and some friends to take pictures with!

Oh and how could I forget, there were Belly Dancers and a Belly Show!  :0)

More friends!

Oooops, Had to give my new friend a smooch!

Tah Dah!!!!  What an amazing time!  What a job I have, did your job ever do that for you?!  Remember if you'd like to try it out, the kit is only $99 and you get to pick whatever you want.  Head on over to my website and click on JOIN THE FUN!  You will love it!  Go ahead and try it.  You get to pick ANYTHING!

Hope you enjoyed my post.  See you tomorrow.

I worked most of the day cutting for my Calendar Class Saturday and for my pre-ordered kits.  I'm so pleased with the my new calendar.  Here are a few pics…

I did the calendar in My Digital Studio and printed it off on my computer.  It really came out so nice.  You can purchase the My Digital Studio for $79.95 from my On-line Store.  It's an amazing program, I use it all the time.  It's a great gift to ask SANTA for!

I worked with a lot of techniques in this class also.  Here is one of them…

November had a new twist on the Babywipe Technique.  I used a babywipe and put three colors of reinker on it.

ewwww, it looks yucky.  I PICKED IT UP and started to "dab" my cardstock with it.  Just dab, do not rub.

Dab, Dab, Dab

Then take your stamp and stamp over the background and cut out your images.

and here is what it looks like.

Here's another technique I used on May.  I used our white handmade, crocheted flowers and dyed them with our aqua pen and reinkers.  They came out beautiful.  They do lighten up a lot after the dry. 

Well that's it for tonight.  I hope you liked my post.  If you'd like to order a calendar kit, email me and I'll get one right out to you.  You DO need to own the stamp set because I cannot pre-stamp images for kits.  The set that I used is called Every Little Bit #120558 Clear Mount).  It's an adorable set that I love to use. 

Just a note to let you know that I'm ready for my annual 2012 Calendar Class on Saturday.  I just love the way it came out.

This adorable Designer Series Paper helped to finish it off.  I had my monthly Stamp-a-stack today and made this matching card. 

Stamp Set:  You Are Loved (Holiday Mini – hurry, it's only around until January 3rd)  #123777 (wood mount) or #123779 (clear mount); Thank You Kindly #111700

Cardstock:  #122355 Domestic Goddess Designer Series Paper (page 224), Calypso Coral, Pool Party

Ink:  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Early Espresso

Accessories:  #122975 Pool Party 3/8" Ruffled Ribbon;  #122331 Pool Party Seam Binding; #115951 Timeless Type Junior Alphabet

I'm so ready for spring!!!  And this just helps me get there :0)  Hope you enjoyed the post.  

Today I wanted to show you some great heat embossing tips…

I'm in the middle of (actually I'm almost done) with my swaps that I'm making for Founder's Circle.  We have to make 123 swaps so I've been working on them for a little while.  It was a great weekend to stay in and stamp.  Here is what it looks like all set up.  I'm embossing one part of the card.

Here's my Daisy #2 Die flowers all ready for the next phase (I'm going to sponge and curl them next.

Anway, when you emboss your paper does it ever curl and take on the "wave" after you Emboss your image?  I used the Field Flower stem and embossed it with Versa Mark ink then sprinkled it with our new Wild Wasabi embossing powder.

If your cardstock curls, just take your heat gun and heat it UNDERNEATH for just a moment and it will straighten it right back out.

so it lays flat….then when you are done and hungry, you can use your embossing tool for your lunch, yes, I said for your lunch!!!

This is my roast beef and swiss cheese sandwich on whole wheat before….

and here is my sandwich after!  The heat tool is a GREAT cheese melter.  Anyone that knows me knows that I don't really like raw cheese (aka cheese that is not melted).  So instead of putting this under the broiler, it just takes seconds to run your heat gun over it and it melts PERFECTLY!!!!  I love to multitask…you can work and eat at the same time!

And don't forget TODAY is the last day of the Mini Catalog and the last day of our SUPER sale on Designer Series Paper…make sure you put your orders in today!  Click here to shop online!

Ahhhhhhhh thank you for stopping by!  :0)  Enjoy every minute of this day!

I really miss my old UPS driver…he was so on time…every day I would be in my stamp room and just like clockwork at 10:20 (not 10:19, not 10:21) right at 10:20 the little brown truck would drive in the driveway and deliver my Stampin' Up! boxes.  But nooooooo, I have a new driver and he comes anywhere from 11:30 to 5:00….argh!!!  Today he flew in here at 4:30.  So it was a little better when I saw what he delivered…not only did he deliver one of my orders but he delivered THIS….

Okay okay so it is a little beat up…my other driver would have handed it to me.  I think it ended up this way because the driver came in the driveway so fast!!!!…do you think he thought the "Express" meant he had to drive FAST?  hmmmmmm

Anyway…it was FUN mail…I was so excited because it came from Morris Meetings which is Stampin' Up's Travel Agency…Look at what was inside!!!!!

 Is this the most stinken cute thing you've ever seen?!!!!!  Look it matches the purses we got at Convention!

Oh my gosh…..how awesome is that….and inside….

were my travel documents for Founder's Circle and for the Advisory Board Retreat coming up in September.  I'm so stinken excited!!!!  I've already started my swaps (I know I know…who would have thought I would have started them already but I had a vision in the middle of the night and got up and put it on paper!!!!)eeeeeeek I 'm so excited I just can't wait!

Anyway…now for today's card pick…this is a card that I'm doing tomorrow at my VIP stamping day.  Some very special ladies are coming over to stamp and this is one of the cards I created for them.  I hope they like doing it.  It's done with my new favorite stamp called Field Flowers.  LOVE LOVE LOVE the set.  How about you?

Don't forget to stock up on our Designer Series Paper, time is running out to get that great special – buy three get one free.  Contact me if you have any questioons but HURRY!!!!  it's almost over.  Also if you'd like one of our Ribbon Samplers, let me know and I will add your name to the list!  Take care.

Okay thank you for stopping by…I'm working on a video so make sure you check back…I hope to have it up on my blog soon. 

Chow baby! :0)

Well today I celebrated from the minute I got up!!!  Started the day with my ZUMBA class (love it) and ended with stamping with a very special dinner in between…what could be better.  This afternoon, I had my newest downline come over and we stamped and assembled our Christmas Boxes we got for free from Stampin' Up!  It was fun to sit with her and chat, eat and stamp.  Here is my photo diary of the stamping part of the day…

This is what the box looked like when it was done.  It was so much fun to make but can you believe we are thinking and preparing for Christmas already!!!  YIKES!

 This is what the box looked like in the beginning…

 Here are all our supplies.  They were cut and ready for us to start having fun.

 Here's Denise working hard on her box!

 My bow came out so good…don't you just love this ribbon?

 And here is a closeup of my favorite vintage flower!

So many cute things on this piece… 

 Here is the tag…

 And here we are with our boxes!!!!  It was so  much fun.

Get ready…the holidays are coming up soon, start thinking about what you'd like to do for your holiday cards!!! 

Have A GREAT day and enjoy every minute of it!

Today was my monthly stamping get together with my teammates.  It was an exceptionally awesome day….there were great demonstrations, totally awesome swaps and out of this world make and takes.  Here are a few pictures…

Barb Stomieroski did a demonstration on Double Embossing.

 Here is what it looks like.  It was amazingly easy.  Thank you Barb.

This was one of our make and takes.  Everyone KNOWS how much I love my punches, how cute is this!

 And this card was a card and a bookmark all in one!  The Two tags die (#115954) was used to make the bookmark.

 Here is a view of the side.  We attached a magnet on the inside. LOVE IT!

 And how adorable is this card.  I just love all them.  This was done with the the stamp set call Button Buddies and Delicate Doilies.

And now here is a picture tutorial of a new way to do the Fork Bow.  First start with about a 12" piece of ribbon and place it so that bottom piece is longer than the top piece (the bottom piece is the one that we will be tieing around the fork).

Take the bottom piece and wrap it over the top piece.

Now put it through the bottom middle tong.

 Take that same piece and bring it up through the top (same middle tong).

Now take the top piece and the bottom piece and tie them together in the middle. 

You are still looking at the back after it is tied. 

 Turn it over and it looks like this….so stinken cute.

 Then slide it off your fork and this is what it looks like.

This is a little different than the first way I taught you.  It looks exactly the same when done, just done a little different.  If you have any quesitons, let me know.

Thank you for stopping by!  Have a great day.

We had our Deb's Diva Day on Saturday.  It was so much fun.  To qualify, my demonstrator team had to be the top in sales and/or top in recruiting for the second quarter. 

Those that could make it were treated to some of our new catalog items.  The theme was based all around our Timeless Portrait Fabric #122337 (one of our many new Designer Fabrics) annnnnnd they also got the Timeless Portrait Designer Series Paper #122352. 

Did you know we have two Designer Series Papers that match our fabrics?  The other one is the Flirtatious Specialty Designer Series Paper and the Flirtatious Designer Fabric.  And if you think that is pretty cool, our Special this month is Buy THREE GET ONE FREE on our Designer Series Papers.  Click here to see more.

We used lots of new product on our cards so they could go to their workshops, classes and clubs to show them off.  They were loaded with emblishments.  I hope they all took away a class they can do with their customers.  Here are a few pictures.

working working working!!!

everyone was having a great time…

Even Sharon who lives in North Carolina (I am located in Saratoga, New York)…I sent her all the ingredients for our projects and we skyped her into our very special day!  She earned it and she got to participate!  How cool is that?

And here are our projects.

I hope you enjoyed my post.  Come back tomorrow and I have more samples.  Take care and enjoy this day, every minute of it!!!

It was another fun day stamping with the residents at the Albany Ronald McDonald House.  Here's a few pics…

These are mighty big shoes to fill, they are found at the entrance to the Albany Ronald McDonald House

And here is the house, it's just beautiful.

This is the second house that is attached to the first one.  There will soon be a third house on the other side of the yellow house.

and here we are stamping…

and showing off our projects…

We really do have a lot of fun when we go…

Then Kathy and Nora brought soda flip tops to sort.  RMH is collecting these to recycle.

And I got the biggest kick out of this…it was a plate of spagetti with a fork that is permanently in the air.  We all had to touch it.  It looked like it was covered in Crystal Effects.

 Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we all went home feeling like we did a good thing.  We made 30 cards and envelopes for the house residents to use.

Thank you for stopping by, tomorrow I'll tell you all about my DIVA DAY, that was Saturday.  I'll also share the pictures of the cards we did at both!  Have a great day.

The new all occasion stamp set called Easy Events (#116958 wood mount or #123225 clear mount) found on page 57 of the Idea Book and Catalog is a lot of fun to work with.  We were given a "Workshop in a Bag" while at convention and I've been playing with the cards.  They are so stinken cute.  It's one stop shopping with this set, it has a little of everything.  What do you think?

Isn't this cute.  It is a note-sized card #107311 found on page 182 of the Idea Book and Catalog. 

The envelope was sealed, 1" was cut off the top and I used the 2 1/2" circle punch to make the dip in the envelope.  Everything was stamped with Jet Black Stazon Ink.  The Happy Birthday sentiment was put on the outside as well as adding it to a banner on the inside.  The cupcake was colored with our Stampin' Write Markers then I added Two-Way Glue and Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  The last embellishment was the a Melon Mambo flower with a rhinestone in the center.  It is even cuter in person!

and here is a little LOVE card made from the same stamp set.

Well that's it for today.  Thank you for stopping by.