Stampin' Up! Art With Elizabeth in Michigan and anywhere in the USA

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Some Wow Projects

Soooo you think these circles were just cut, put on a mat and stuck on? ......

.....Look a little closer and you'll notice that each piece of designer series paper has not only been punched, but then punched again once or twice so that it nests into the neighboring circle.

Wayyyyyy cooooool!

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!

Will you ever just give someone a CD or DVD again? I love this as a beautiful way to give a collection of photos or events.

From London Regional

Glitter Cards

There's nothing quite like glitter to step your cards up and there are sooooo many ways to apply it, here are just a few.

There are sooooo many ways to apply glitter, but one of my new favorites and least sticky on your fingers is to use are sticky cuts - you'll find all the glitter and glitter products you'll ever need on page 180 of the Spring Summer 2009 Idea Book and Catalog.

From London Regional March 2009

Stimulus Package

"Stimulus Package"......

Hmmm, We are hearing about “stimulus packages” all over the news and so I wanted to remind you that we still have a couple more weeks of our very own Stampin’ Up! “Stimulus Package” – Yes, Sale-A-Bration is almost over, but you still have until March 31st to earn FREE Stamp Sets – there are four to choose from – FREE Double Sided Designer Series Paper or FREE Double Ribbon Spool with every $50 net. in merchandise you purchase.

Also, if you place an order for $150 Net. remember you'll earn 3 Sale-A-Bration choices, plus a FREE hostess exclusive stamp set and FREE dollars to spend on anything in the catalog - the benefits increase depending on the net. total of your order.

Sooooo, Don’t forget to email me or go to my web page and take advantage of this very special once a year “Stimulus Package” from Stampin’ Up!

Best Ever Bookmarks - I'm Still Using The Same Kit

Hi Everyone - Well, I bet you thought my first post back from the London regional would be about that, it should be, but first I have to show you what I created just as I was leaving.

I went to create a few extra swaps - thinking bookmarks and found that I still had some parts of my Best Ever Simply Scrappin' Kit left over and so I thought I'd post them for you to see. Even after creating all of these, I still have double sided paper and self adhesive strips left over. It's insane how much you can create from one Simply Scrappin' Kit - 4 Scrapbook pages 12x12, 20 cards, 13 bookmark size cards and still more to make.

Sorry, I didn't create directions or dimensions for these, I was just rushing to get a few extra swaps made before we set off.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

I Made Lots Of Swaps For The London Regional Seminar

Soooo, what have I been up to this week? Making swaps for London, lots and lots of swaps.

When you swap with other demonstrators, you normally swap just card fronts. I’ve known for a while what I wanted to do.

The moment I saw the new Stampin’ Up! Full Heart Punch, I didn’t see just a heart, I saw a butterfly and I wanted to share this with my fellow demonstrators. Not every demonstrator has samples of our fabulous designer series paper and so I decided to create my butterflies from two of my favorite designer series papers and I also wanted to showcase the fabulous Big Shot dry embossing technique, which I used for the white background.

Many of my cards aren’t the big kind that I normally make, they are 3x3 love note size, just because the butterfly fits perfectly on the love note, which again showcases another one of our fabulous products that has coordinating envelopes too. I popped up the wings with dimensional to give the butterfly an illusion of flight and used a Stampin’ Write Marker for the antenna.

I liked the idea of a 3x3 card because if a demonstrator doesn’t want to showcase our love notes, she can attach it to a larger size card base and use it as the focal point – you know I love flexibility and simplicity.

I've added glitter to the wings of these now, to make the two sets different. The white backgrounds have been dry embossed too.

I’m always nervous when creating swaps for anyone because I know how much thought and work other folks put into their own swaps too.

I’ve taken my swap supplies all over the place this week – whenever there was a moment, I made a few more. (yep, our dimensional stick, even in a freezing cold ice arena).

You know how when you go to your first dance and you wonder if anyone will actually ask you to dance? This is how I feel when I go to these gatherings, I just hope and pray someone likes my swap enough to ask me to swap with them. I’ll let you know when I get back if anyone asked me to dance.

Have a wonderful few days everyone and I promise to post again early next week!

My 3d London Regional Swap

Big Shot Texturz #1

This weekend I’ll be attending the Stampin’ Up! London Regional Conference. One of my favorite things about attending events like this, is that I get to swap with fellow demonstrators – that means you make a pile of card fronts and or 3d items – they can all be the same and then you exchange them with fellow stampers who have done the same.

In my last post I talked about the card stock sample ring I made for myself and it was that idea that gave me the inspiration for my 3d swap.

Not every demonstrator is lucky enough to own a Big Shot and so I created little sample booklets so that demonstrators can showcase the current in colors and the exclusive Stampin’ Up #1 Texturz dry embossed images. I also ran one image through on white card stock, so that they could showcase that too.

I hope my fellow demonstrators like them. They were quite time intensive to make, but I think it was worth it.

On my personal sample, I chose to hold it together with a special brad to showcase that Stampin’ Up! now offers some fabulous new brads.

No Posts For A Few Days

Hi Everyone,

I try to post as often as I can here, however I know that there are a busy few days coming up and I'm not sure what access I'll have to the Internet and so above are some extra posts to keep you going.

Be sure to check back early next week, as I'm sure I'll have a lot to share.

By the way, if you are enjoying my blog, please drop me an email some times, I'd love to hear from you.

When I first discovered Stampin’ Up! one of the first things that impressed me were the color families. I loved that I could mix and match any color in a color family and I couldn’t go wrong.

One of my first goals was to see each beautiful color of card stock with my own eyes, because while the catalog is fabulous, there is nothing quite like seeing the real thing.

It took about six months before I achieved my goal and when I became a demonstrator I decided that everyone deserved to see these beautiful colors and so I created a binder with a sheet of each color card stock – It was big and heavy, and I loved it …..

….Then after four years of carting the binder round, I got smart and created a color ring with a smaller sample of each color and I’ve been using it ever since. You wouldn’t believe how often I pull it out to help my ladies with their color inspiration. I loved it so much, I made one each for my stamp club members.

Here it is, yum, delicious all those beautiful colors in one place.

Now when the new In Colors come out each summer, I punch a piece of each and just because the ink is new too, I stamp a sample of each color on a small circle and put it in the center of the sample, open up the ring, and add it to make my collection current. It's such an easy tool to use and keep up to date.

Ooops I almost forgot to give a big shout out to "Mr Crop-A-Dile" without whom I couldn't have punched through so many layers of card at once to create the hole for the ring -

- If you'd like to know more about "Mr Crop-A-Dile", you'll find him on page 189 of the Spring Summer 2009 Catalog and if you'd like to meet him, his number is 108362 - he's very creative, he'll punch extra holes in your leather belt, punch holes in the top of tin buckets so you can add eyelets and ribbon, he cuts through thick and hard items like a hot knife through butter - just ask my ladies, they are a huge fan of his.

I know this is just the beginning, so watch out for similar items in the future.

Kristin's Card Inspired Me

As you know, I make cards all the time and come up with ideas, but yesterday I had a lovely surprise.

Kristin (a fellow demonstrator from Seattle) sent me a check in this cute card. What inspired me was of course her beautiful art, but mostly the cool way she'd folded the card so that her check (cheque in UK & Canada) slotted beautifully into the special fold she'd made.

I just had to share Kristin's art. Thank you Kristin - You Rock!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tips For The Seeing Spots Scrapbook Pages

Because the ladies were left to their own devices to create these pages any time over the retreat weekend as their FREE make 'n take, here are a few tips to help. There were full instructions on the make 'n take table, along with picture tutorials for each project.

Don't forget to clean your stamp before changing colors
When stamping the background on the whisper white, stamp off the edges of the paper to give a more finished look to the edges and vary how far in the stamps go.
Rotate your stamp or the paper to give a more random pattern.
This one is huge - Stamp your letters for the words and then punch them out. It's really hard to stamp an image on a small circle once it is punched.
I used the rule of three - in other words, I used three colors of ink and three colors of card. Because I used white card as my third color, I made my third ink color chocolate chip to make the page pop. The rule of three works for most things, even flower arranging (my Mom taught me that - Thanks Mom - Miss you)
To punch the boarder with the scallop edge punch is easy once you know how. There were step by step instructions and photos for the ladies to use. I will post a mini tutorial here later or tomorrow.

Now I'm off to make 100 swaps for the fabulous Stampin' Up! London regional I'm attending. I'm soooo excited I can't wait, especially since Christy and Terri are joining me.

Eastern Michigan Retreat Make 'n Take

Seeing Sponts and Lovely Letters Stamp Sets with Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery and Pixie Pink on Whisper White and Scallop and Circle punches.

Fifty ladies made these pages last Friday and Saturday as one of three make 'n takes I provided for the 1st annual Eastern Michigan Retreat.

It took almost a week to cut and prepare the projects and because they were independent FREE make 'n takes and not a class, I created step by step instructions with images, but it was well worth it to see so many ladies enjoying the projects.

Pam used her own supplies to make a second one and switched out the pink with blue and that looked awesome.

I can't wait for the retreat next year - Hope to see you there.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Best Ever Huge Hit - My Promise To You

Wow, I can't believe the response that this class had received from both my customers and other demonstrators.

I just wanted to say a huge Thank You to everyone who has sent wonderful messages about this class.

It was amazing to get such a response, but what has been even more surprising are the wonderful emails I've received from folks out there who've received the PDF and are busy creating - thank you for taking the time to let me know how it is going.

The only thing I can think of to show you how much I appreciate your support is to promise to create another class for your enjoyment.

Today I ordered a few new toys, there's a plan hatching in my head and I just can't wait for the UPS truck to arrive so that I can get creating again.

For more information on how you can turn the "Best Ever" Simply Scrappin' kit into the projects above, please feel free to email me reeveelizabeth@hotmail.com

A Little Something From Sandra

I know I promised to post past scrapbook pages this week, but then something lovely happened....

A fellow demonstrator sent me this beautiful card from Canada and I just had to share it with you.

I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I enjoyed receiving it. Thank You Sandra!!! Your lovely card, just made my day!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Scrapbook Request

Here is another one of the scrapbook pages that I had on display at the weekend.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Special Request

On Friday and Yesterday I attended the first annual Easter Michigan Scrapbooker's Retreat.

It was an awesome event!

Some of the ladies asked me to post my scrapbook pages that I had on display. Although most of them are older pages and made with now retired items, I'm sure you'll be able to use your creativity and re-create some of them in your own special way.

The pages below were created with a Simply Scrappin' Kit that was available a few years ago. I do have a few kits still available - Please email me if you would like to purchase one $19.95 + Tax and Shipping - reeveelizabeth@hotmail.com.

The only stamping I used on these pages was for the words. I used Letter Press Alphabet which has also retired and I have one gently used set still available.

I will do my best to post the other pages in my scrapbook in the coming days and then next week we'll be back to new fresh items.

I hope everyone had a wonderful time at the retreat.

If you have any questions about the three FREE make 'n takes, please don't hesitate in contacting me and I'll be happy to help in any way I can.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Thank You With Stampin' Write Markers

I love showing off what you can do with just a few simple products and because they are Stampin’ Up! products, they quite simply make your art something unexpected.

Take a look above and see what you can do with just one stamp, two markers and a few pieces of coordinating card stock.

I love that you can take Stampin’ Write Markers and color directly on the stamp to create more than one color on the image.

When you look at the Spring/Summer 2009 Catalog, don’t forget to go all the way to the back of the catalog, because there you will find for the very first time individual stamps like this elegant Thank You!

Wouldn’t it be great to bundle some of your favorite colored markers with this stamp and one of our note card sets and give it as a unique and unusual gift. Seasoned stampers will love the simplicity and beginners will love just how easy it is to get started.

Hmmm, I think I should do just this for my Mom, maybe for Easter – I know she’d love it – “Note to self” – order the best Mom in my world Elegant Thank You, Markers and Note Cards.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Have You Ever Thought Of Becoming a Demonstrator?

Now that you've seen how much fun I have, would you like to become a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator too?

Three Easy Payments Starter Kit Option Coming Soon.

During economically challenging times, most of us tighten our budgets.

Some expenditures that were once comfortable might now stretch a budget thin. We don't want anyone's efforts to budget wisely to become a barrier to joining Stampin' Up, especially considering the wonderful benefits--personal and economical--being a demonstrator can bring.

This is why Stampin' Up! are working on a Three Easy Payments option for the Starter Kit.

For a limited time, with a partial initial payment, a new recruit can receive her Starter Kit and get her business running. Two subsequent monthly payments take care of the rest.

Stampin' Up! will follow up with details soon, but I wanted to let prospective recruits who are concerned about the up-front cost to sign up know this option is coming before the end of Sale-A-Bration. It could make all the difference to you!

Easter Bag

I love showing how you can create coordinating items and so I made this bag to go with Debbie's workshop card.

This was a wonderful excuse to use my new die cut alphabets from my big shot - I couldn't believe that it was only $19.95 for the die that has all the upper and all the lower case letters. They are perfect for scrapbooking and just the right size for personalizing cards.

Don't forget Easter is just around the corner, so you'll need to order your Easter sets soon and best of all you'll be able to take advantage of Sale-A-Bration too with the early release of this year's sets.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Debbie's Workshop Make 'n Take

A few days ago I promised to show you the card we made for Debbie's make 'n take at her workshop.

I hadn't planned on using these colors, but then I walked into my "studio" and there sitting there all happy together was a little pile of card and I just had to turn them into a card.

Once again my Chit Chat rub ons came to the rescue. I wanted an early Easter theme, but I also wanted it to be flexible enough to be used for any occasion.

You know how you worry about using something in front of someone in case it goes wrong? Well when it comes to Stampin' Up! rub ons, I don't even blink, they work perfectly every time and are crisp and beautiful and I never have to worry about having the right message for someone to use.

Colors in this card are:

Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Pink Passion, Chocolate Chip and of course the crispest white in the world Whisper White.

Stamp Set:

Seeing Spots

The only tools I needed were my bone folder, hand held punch and stampin' scrub

Accessories were: Taffeta Ribbon, Silver Brads and of course my best friend Dotto Adhesive.

Oops I almost forgot - Chit Chat Rub Ons

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

I had to do some quick thinking

Wow, I had no idea that when Stampin' Up! posted my idea of using a Simply Scrappin' Kit for both cards and scrapbooking that so many people would want details on how to recreate mine exactly.

Of course this is a bit of a dilemma for me, since I am already offering the "Best Ever" class in April and as a "by Mail" item when you purchase the kit.

While I would love to offer my class for FREE to demonstrators, that would not be right to my dedicated customers who have and will purchase the class.

If you already have the "Best Ever" Simply Scrappin' Kit, but would like to purchase the class instructions, simply email me at reeveelizabeth@hotmail.com and when I receive your check for $7:00 you will receive the class details by email. I will send you the pdf by email. The first section contains images of each color group of card photos. Step by step instructions are not necessary, however any necessary instructions and dimensions are included with each photo.

The second section contains images of each of the three 12x12 scrapbook pages and necessary details.

The final Bonus section contains a bonus project (white page), which I added using pieces left over once the cards and three original scrapbook pages were complete.

I guess you could say there is now an option "D" to my class.

Thank you to everyone who emailed to say congratulations on winning the Stampin' Up! competition. I'm still stunned, but thrilled that it inspired you.

Zoo Scrapbook

One of the things I love about scrapbooking and card making is that I can take one idea and apply it to the other. In the case of this page, first I made a card and then a while later the card inspired me to make the pages.

Everyone with children needs a zoo page, so this was a great one for a scrapbook class I did a while back.

One of the things I find the hardest is creating pages before I have pictures, but by using naeautral colors it means that any pictures will look just fine and the colors just reminded me of "zoo"

Monday, March 2, 2009

Seeing Spots & FREE Sale-A-Bration Ribbon

Well after all the gushing in my last post, I thought I'd reward you for listening to my excitement by adding an extra post.

This is the card I had every intention of doing for the Make 'n Take at Debbie's workshop in the morning, but then I went into my "studio", put on some fun music and was inspired to do something completely different, which is why I'm still up at nearly midnight posting this project for your pleasure.

Want to see the "Seeing Spots" Make 'n Take we actually make? Ahhhh, sorry, you'll just have to wait a few more hours until I've shared it with Debbie's guests - see you later......

Award Winning Best Ever Class

Well, it's almost midnight, so although it's technically still Monday, I'm going to post my Tuesday post because I have a nice early workshop to do tomorrow morning.

Do you remember a few weeks ago I posted information about a new class I'm offering either by mail or as an actual class in April?

I created the class around the Simply Scrappin' Kit "Best Ever". Because many of you are Scrapbookers, many of you are Card Makers and many of you are Both and you've all asked for a new class, I decided to show you how our Simply Scrappin' Kits work for all of you.

Well....... I thought I'd share my idea with Stampin' Up! too and guess what? Tonight they called me and told me I'd won a prize and that they wanted to place my class on their web site for all their other demonstrators to use. I was stunned, shocked and surprised - Wow - Stampin' Up! have inspired me for years, I didn't in a million years imagine that they would ever use my class as inspiration - Did I say - WOW?

OK, enough of all that, don't forget you can sign up for the "award winning" class as a by mail class, which means - you order the Best Ever kit and I email you all the class information, including images and any simple instructions needed or check my calendar and sign up before March 30th for the April classes on my calendar.

Spring Basket Collection

The twill celery ribbon that comes in the Sale-A-Bration FREE ribbon bundle is perfect for little handles, since it is stiffer than regular ribbon.

I just love making these little baskets and it is so easy to change the dimensions and make them any size. It's the first time I've made the mini one - it's just begging for a little egg to go inside.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Easter Pre-Order Items Are Available

Click on the pink link to see images.

http://www.stampinup.net/uploads/fckeditor/stampinup/File/March%2009/pg11-13_Occasions_09_US.pdf

Item
Description
Retail Price
113196
An Egg-cellent Easter
$21.95
113262
Wagon Full of Fun
$34.95
113822
Eight Great Greetings
$27.95
115421
Ocho saludos geniales (Spanish Eight Great Greetings)
$27.95
114643
Huit souhaits sympas (French Eight Great Greetings)
$27.95
113833
Egg Hunt Stampin' Around wheel
$6.50

I don't have images available to post here, but please email me and I will send them to you or try clicking on the pink link above.