Made In America

I was just sorting through an order that came in and I was delighted to see how many of the items were made in America. Glue Dots, Stamps, even Stamp Pads - now doesn't that make you feel good? Way to go Stampin' Up!

Free Sale-A-Bration and Chit Chat Rub Ons

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!

I just love using Chit Chat Rub Ons, they are absolutely the easiest thing I've ever used and perfect for every occasion, just look how crisp they are. Of course when you get the FREE ribbon bundle with your Sale-A-Bration order, you just can't resist using it. I've owned the Seeing Spots stamp set for a long time, but somehow with these new accessories it feels fresh again and I just can't stop using it.



Don't forget to check back March 1st when the sneak peak Easter sets will be available.



Have a wonderful Saturday!

I have samples of EVERY Designer Series Paper in the Catalog

As a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator, once in a while I get to order something really cool on my supply order. Just recently I ordered the new Designer Series Paper sample ring, it was $17.95 and has a sample of each designer series paper in the current catalog – it is so cool to see everything for real.

The most impressive thing was that some of the papers have a kind of embossed shiny texture to them. If I hadn’t ordered this cool tool, I wouldn’t have known just how fabulous some of the papers are. Well, actually Stampin’ Up! Designer Series Paper is always great, but some of these are AWESOME! Yes, I know the word “AWESOME” is so last year, but I don’t think there is another word out there yet to replace it.

These pictures don’t do the papers justice, but I just had to try.

Have I told you lately, I love being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator (hey Lisa.K. that was just for you).

Spring Basket

I love the extra texture I can achieve with my big shot dry embossing and with the Embosslits Sweet Stems flowers and Stampin' Up! have really stepped up their brads too.

This basket is one I make almost every Spring, but it always looks different and is a lot of fun! You wouldn't believe how easy it is to create this from a piece of card stock.

Ready To Go

Once in a while you find something you've been meaning to use.

I know that one of these days my daughter will have anther Aloha moment and so I have these pages ready to go with some pictures I took a few years ago.

I guess I should be on HGTV because one of my favorite ways to scrapbook is to do like a "before and after" theme, in other words I like to choose two moments in time that happen a long time apart, so this page is just waiting to be used and thanks to Stampin' Up! my images are timeless. I still have the stamp set because one of these days I just know I'm going to need it for an "Aloha Bash"

Are you are wondering how I made the flower have a lighter color on the inside?

This was done with a technique called "rockin' and rollin'"

Take your stamp and ink it up in a light color, then choose a darker color and just rock and roll the stamp edges, huff (breathe moist air onto the stamp) and stamp and you will have a double color image. Please note - ALWAYS use the lighter color first and make sure the second color is dark enough that the light ink won't discolor your darker color.

Please note that this set has now retired, but the colors are still here and you can use the design as a scrap map and create any pages with any images.

Simply Scrappin'

Although this Simply Scrappin' Kit has now retired, I couldn't resist using it and showing you how easy it is to create fun pages. The only stamping I needed to use was for the words "sun shine". Do you go to crops and find you take half your crafting room? Next time, just take a couple of Simply Scrappin' Kits and you'll be surprised at how beautiful your pages are and how few supplies you have to take.

Simply Sent

My pictures do not do this fabulous kit justice, you've got to see it in person. - This is perfect for so many reasons. First of all the images are beautiful and the dry embossing is just classic. Keep a kit on hand, to create a last minute card in seconds. Keep a few on hand to give as gifts - they are perfect because the kit includes card, envelopes, ink, stamps, ribbon and instructions too.

If you have never stamped before, this is a perfect starter kit and it even comes in a reusable pouch.

Item number 114594 page 168 $24.95 - Birthdays, Mother's Day, Easter, Hostess Gift, You'll have something unique and special.

FREE From Stampin' Up!

The other day I was looking at another company that offers home based sales. I've grown so used to the generous Hostess gifts from Stampin' Up! that I hadn't realized that some other companies only offer their hostess a percentage off merchandise as their gift.

If you host a Stampin' Up! workshop or place an order with a merchandise value of $150 net, You qualify for FREE exclusive stamp sets and Hostess dollars to spend, so as a hostess you never feel like you have to buy your benefits.

Above is a picture of all the FREE things that arrived with this month's stamp club order. Not only did our hostess earn FREE Stampin' Up! items, but because it was Sale-A-Bration, each member earned FREE items too.

I do feel sorry for our UPS guy at the moment. My orders are so packed with FREE items that our boxes are much heavier than usual.

I just love our punches

I'm not saying that Stampin' Up! punches are good or anything, I'm just going to let our last stamp club order speak for itself. Just look at all the punches they ordered.

Our Occasions Mini will have a set featured in Creating Keepsakes February 24, 2009

As I mentioned last week, the Occasions Mini will be available April 1st and there will be special preview sets for you to purchase on March 1st.

We thought you might like to know about a special occasions mini sneak peek! An Egg-cellent Easter stamp set from the Occasions Mini 2009 Catalog will be featured in the April issue of Creating Keepsakes, which hits newsstands beginning February 24. This stamp set will be available to order beginning March 1st.

Color Switch

This card was inspired by the Sale-A-Bration catalog. At the time I didn't have any celery ribbon and so I just flipped the colors, using bashful blue where certainly celery had been used and certainly celery where bashful blue had been used.

Now that I've earned the FREE Sale-A-Bration ribbon bundle, I can't wait to use the new celery ribbon to reverse the colors again.

Have Your Art Featured Here

I am so impressed with the swaps my Stamp Club members have been creating recently, that I just had to publish them last month.

If you send me a card made with current Stampin' Up! products, I'd love to feature your art here too.

You can drop your art off with me or mail it.

Anything you create with Stampin' Up! products can be published, 3D, Bookmarks, Cards, Scrapbook Pages, Ornaments.

I'm looking forward to seeing your creations.

Sale-A-Bration

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!

My ladies ask me where I get my ideas.........

This one came strait out of the Sale-A-Bration mini.

Don't forget you can still earn this fun stamp set FREE until March 31st - Every image has a coordinating punch.

I used Bashful Blue, Barely Banana,Certainly Celery and Pink Passion Classic Ink. In the catalog they used paper piercing on the Barely Banana to create a background but I couldn't resist using my new Big Shot Dry Embossing technique. You can earn FREE ribbon during Sale-A-Bration, its beautiful So Saffron and Certainly Celery, but here I used Vanilla, because my ribbon hadn't arrived. I popped up the centers of the flowers by stamping the flower image with coordinating ink on card and then punching out the centers with my half inch circle punch.

Are you having fun using your FREE Sale-A-Bration gifts yet?

The First Scrapbook Page I Ever Created

Scrapbooking can be daunting to someone who has never done it before.

It can feel like a secret club that you don’t quite know how to join.

I don’t read a lot of scrapbooking magazines, I take my ideas from the pictures. I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to scrapbook and so here are some of things that I thought about when I created my very first page.

First, I broke the rules, I didn’t create a page for on event, I chose two pictures of my children that were taken when they were roughly the same age, which means the pictures were taken almost four years apart.

I loved the picture of my son, but there was a ladies “bottom” right in the corner, so scrapbooking helped me hide that. (it couldn't be cropped since it wasn't my picture)

I didn’t want the page to be to girly or too much for a boy, so I chose dragonflies for my son and flowers for my daughter.

I wanted to use stamps to create my images, because I knew that in years to come the stamps would still be there if I wanted to add to this page.

When thinking about color, I always use the rule of three, picking out three colors that were in both pictures. I love that Stampin’ Up! has a color for just about anything I need.

I also like the scrapbook page to be the backdrop and the pictures to be the focal point.

Back then, I was nervous about using color, but Stampin’ Up! made it easy for me, because I chose colors from the same color family, I knew that they would work together – I wasn’t quite ready to do my own thing with color all those years ago.

Well, that was about it. I just used what I had and what I knew and this is what happened.

There is one thing that I wish I had added – “journaling” – I now know that it is a fundamental part of scrapbooking. While a picture speaks a thousand words, there’s always a little more that needs to be said, that can only come from your heart.

I hope you enjoy my trip down memory lane.

We Asked For New Easter Items and Stampin Up Listened

Occasions Mini Catalog Information
Our next Mini Catalog is the Occasions Mini, which runs April 1st through June 30th 2009.
This mini also includes some fabulous Easter items and because Easter is so close to the launch date of this mini……
Beginning March 1, you will have the opportunity to buy a few select sneak peek products from the Occasions Mini Catalog.
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
These items--including an Easter stamp set and two all-occasion stamp sets with Easter images--will give you the opportunity to plan for Easter crafting.
I am currently unable to post images, but I will have them for you the moment I receive authorization from Stampin’ Up!, but as always you just know they are going to be fabulous.
Watch for more information on the Occasions Mini, including a special PDF on March 1.
The information contained in this post is correct at time of posting and is subject to change without notice.

Catalog Changes Coming Later This Year

Change in Catalog Program Announced February 20, 2009
During Shelli's teleconference Wednesday night, it was announced that we will be moving back to an annual catalog. Stampin’ Up! has been evaluating their catalog strategy for some time to determine what is most effective for you, and based on what we've learned and the feedback you have provided, they’ve decided to return to an annual catalog.
Stampin’ Up! Will launch the annual Idea Book & Catalog this coming July 2009.
What does this change mean to you?
Beginning in July 2009, we will go back to an annual catalog.
The US Hispanic supplement will also become an annual catalog.
The Décor Elements catalog will continue to be separate from the Idea Book & Catalog, and will come out twice a year.
The mini catalog program will change to include three mini catalogs a year, each lasting for four months.
In addition to the changes mentioned above, Stampin’ Up! will be introducing a small selection of hostess sets in each mini catalog. This will give you even more reason to host multiple workshops throughout the year.
Stampin’ Up! know that you will have lots of questions about these changes, and they will be providing more details in the coming months. Look for even more information to come as we get closer to the release of our new annual catalog in July 2009.

Short and Sweet Gift Unique Gift Idea

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!

Stampin’ Up! Bundles Make Great and Unique Gifts

When it come to giving gifts, it can be hard to come up with ideas, how about this one:

Make a Gift Bundle:

Here are some great items to get you started during Sale-A-Bration

107311 – 20 Note cards with Envelopes $5.95
115060 – Short and Sweet Stamp Set $17.95
4 x Stampin’ Write Markers $3.25 each - $13.00
Total $36.90


For the markers I chose certainly celery, bashful blue, pretty in pink and rose red – why?
Because in the short and sweet set there is a baby pin, so I can make cards with a pink or blue baby pin and use the celery for the words. For Christmas I can use blue for the snowflake and rose red for the words and for any of the other sentiments I can use any of the combinations.

During Sale-A-Bration, spend an additional $13.10 (why not add a punch) in merchandise and you can earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration item.

What would I do?

I’d choose my FREE stamp set Polka Dot Punches and I’d get to my $50 level by adding a punch that coordinates with this stamp set – all four images in Polka Dot Punches have a coordinating punch.

Take a look at the versatile Short and Sweet Stamp Set and tell me how you would bundle it, the possibilities are endless……

All prices and details are correct at time of publishing and are subject to change without notice

Video Tutorials are ready for you to view at www.elizabethreeve.stampinup.net

If pictures speak a thousand words, they video tutorials speak a million.

Have you visited http://www.elizabethreeve.stampinup.net/ recently? If you look in "Creative Projects" you will see lots of video tutorials. (look for the ones with the little triangle in the middle of the picture).

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/elizabethreeve/distPages/projectList.soa?easyTemplatePageType=1

Stamping With Bleach - Heartfelt Thanks Stamp set

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!

Take a look on page 104 and you will see "stamping with bleach"

I love how each time I use a different color card I get a different effect.

Shelle noticed this technique in the catalog at our last stamp club meeting, so I thought I'd share this with you.

Eastern Michigan Scrapbooking Retreat

Over the years many of you have heard me talk about how much I enjoy going to scrapbooking/paper craft evenings two Friday evenings per month.

The lady who organizes this event (Sarah) is hosting the 1st Annual Eastern Michigan Scrapbooking Retreat and she has asked me to provide the FREE make ‘n take projects.

Soooo, what is EMI Scrapbooking retreat?

It’s the chance for you to gather together with fellow paper crafters and stay over night or just join in for the day and craft ‘till you drop.

Here are the details:

Schedule:
Friday, March 6th 2009
1:00 pm – Arrival or whenever you can get there
5:30 pm – Dinner
Saturday, March 7th 2009
8:30 am – Breakfast
12:30 pm – Lunch
5:00 pm – Depart for Home

Where:
Echo Grove Camp, Leonard, Michigan

Housing:
Redwood or Magnolia – bedding and towel provided
3-4 women per room

Cost:
Weekend $35 – includes 3 meals, housing, FREE make ‘n takes
And fellowship
Saturday only $25

There will also be some extra classes you can sign up for $5 per class

Registration:
Must be submitted to DHQ Women’s Department by February 20th 2009
Please email me for contact details.

Don’t worry if you aren’t a scrapbooker – I’m pretty sure they won’t mind if you do any kind of paper crafts. Historically I’ve taken cards to catch up on at Sarah’s smaller retreats and two of the make ‘n takes I’m showing are not scrapbook pages.

I’ve tried to keep this post short, so if there is extra information you need, please contact me and I’ll do my best to let you know more.

Kitten Scrapbook

It will look peeeeerrrrfect just there!

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!

That's mine - no, it's mine!

Yummy - Stampin' Up! card stock tastes the best!

Scrapbooking is exhausting!

You thought I was going to post a picture of a scrapbook page with a kitten in it didn't you? Wellll, not exactly this is a scrapbook page with a kitten on it.

We have a new family member and she couldn't help joining in while I was trying to work.

Did she get ink on her? Yep, right on the end of her nose.

I think I should actually put these pictures on the page - don't you?

If you'd like to know where you can make this double page layout as a FREE make 'n take, please email me. I'll be sharing it as one of three free make 'n takes at Sarah's Spring Scrapbooking retreat.

Open House Card

Tonight is my last New Catalog Open House and so it is time to share our project with you:

I just love the new Sweet Stems stamp set and there was a choice of either stamping a message or using my new best friend "Chit Chat" rib ons. If you haven't seen these, take a closer look, they have a sentiment for just about every occasion, I just can't stop using them.

I haven't used other brands but I can tell you that everyone who has used Rub Ons by Stampin' Up! say that they are fantastic and I understand that not all rub ons are created equal. Soooooo, go on take a look and give "Chit Chat" rub ons a try.

Feel free to email me if you'd like me to email you instructions and ingredients for this project.

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!

Thank you to everyone who visited my New Catalog Open Houses - I loved sharing everything with you!

Chatter

Hi there,

Well it looks like my little chap will be home for another day tomorrow, so I thought I'd post for tomorrow now.

It's been an interesting day. Have you ever tried stamping with a "kitten"? No, it's not a new Stampin' Up! tool, it's our new family member.

I've tried so hard not to mention personal stuff here, but today was just a hoot - every time I tried to stamp, she jumped up and either sat in the middle of my scrapbook page, walked back and forth across it, ate and played with strips of card and finally got a brown nose from sticking it in my chocolate chip ink. Lucky for me the sun came out and she took a nap.

I took some pictures of my new little helper, so now I'll have to scrapbook a page to show you, since I'm trying to keep my blog about stamping.

It's All New For 2009!

My poor little chap is sick again, so he's staying home again on Monday, so I'm posting while he's sleeping for Monday. I'll come back and update details about this cute card as soon as I can.

Build a brad, my scallop punch and of course Big Shot were my friends here, along with In Colors and Raspberry Tart Designer Series Paper.

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!

Easter Is Just Around The Corner - Take a look at the stamp set "A Good Egg", it's AWESOME!

Images © 1990-2009 Stampin' Up!

Believe it or not, it's time to start thinking Easter.

This collection uses one of my favorite Easter stamp sets EVER! The fence on the jar of eggs was super easy to make with the word window punch and I also used it on the blue egg card for the cute words because my words don't always go on strait and the word window punch is perfect for that because you stamp your words an then punch them out.

I used build a brad on the center card, I find I'm turning to build a brad more and more, because I can create something that coordinates with anything I make.

I wish I could take credit for being artistic, but honestly it is all down to the fabulous products I have to work with from Stampin' Up!

I love "A Good Egg" Stamp set and the blue ribbon is just so easy to tie bows with.

If you are enjoying my blog, do please drop me an email from time to time, I love hearing from you and judging by my hit counter someone out there is taking a quick look :-)

Have a great day!