Regionals in Halifax

Yay! Regionals was awesome!

We had such a great time. We started by getting a free stamp set that we used throughout the day for Make & Takes. Then we swapped cards, it is amazing how fast you can swap 60 cards. I was a little worried at first that I was going to bring some home but by there was no fear of that.

Shelli was there, she was great. Mom and I had our picture taken with her at the end and had a couple of minutes to talk to her. She was so nice and she said she really likes Halifax and plans on coming back so hopefully that means there will be another Regionals here. There is a picture of us with Shelli on Mom's blog if you want to check it out.

So this is me with the mic on before the presentation. The pictures during the presentation were a little dark, if I can figure out how to lighten them I will post one. I think it went well. I had quite a few people tell me they liked it and that they didn't think I looked nervous. The blue Christmas card was definately a favorite and they liked the button. I do wish I would have been a little more relaxed but I guess for my first time on stage it went well. We are always our own worst critics right?

Like Mom said it really makes you want to go to Convention. We learned so many things and saw so many samples and ideas it was a little overwhelming but I took lots of pictures and can't wait to start recreating some of them. I just need to reoganize my space first :)

Quick post

I have a ton of stuff to do before tomorrow but I wanted to post just in case I don't have time before I leave.

I think I will use this card as one of my demos on Saturday. This is one of the favorites from my stamp camp (was it last month?). It is a fairly simple looking card but I think it is a wow. Brayer the pumpkin patch spectrum over the vellum then stamp the trees on the front. Let dry and then flip the vellum over and upside down and stamp the trees in line with the first trees.

Scrapper's Treat Aprons

This is the a picture of the Thursday night stampers at Scrapper's Treat with their matching aprons on. (Eleanor I didn't post the one I took before I got in the picture but if you want a copy let me know).
I expect to see the aprons Thursday night too :)


This is my swap card for Regionals. I am making 60 of these and I realized last week that I had put 240 brads into these cards. The cardstock is bashful blue, brillant blue, whisper white and vellum paper. Inks are Brilliant blue, blue frost spectrum pad and black craft. French script and lovely as a tree stamp sets, irridescent ice embossing powder and vintage or silver brads. I ran out of silver brads and had to use vintage brads on the rest.

I think I will also use this as one of my demo cards in my presentation because it is one of my original cards.

I'm back

from the Scrapper's Treat in Mactaquac. I had a great time and can't wait for the next one. Friday I go to Halifax for the night for Regionals and am really excited about that as well. Mom and I are going to go to Micheals and Carsand Mosher too so it will be lots of fun (and money spent I'm sure).

This is the Halloween card we made at Angie's party. The scene is done on glossy cardstock, the house, trees, fence and witch were done first with black craft ink and black embossed and then the moon (circle from simple shapes) was stamped with versamark over top of the witch. Then the pumpkin patch spectrum pad was brayered (sp?) on top.

The technique of stamping with versamark and then brayering over it is called "ghosting" which I thouht was appropriate for a Halloween party. The other colors of cardstock are black and pumpkin pie, the ribbon is tangerine and black gingham.

I am in shock!

I had a call about 40 minutes ago from one of the presenters from Stampin' Up! and she asked if I would present with her at regionals next weekend. She wants me to talk about things that I do that make my customers go "Wow".

I have been trying to work on my 50+ swap cards and can't seem to concentrate. All I can think about is what to say. I don't think she really wants me to demonstrate anything but to talk about what works for me.

Of course I had to call Mom as soon as I got off the phone. My heart was racing, I can't believe I am going to stand in front of 120 or more demonstrators and talk about what I do.

I am very excited but nervous too. If there is anything that you can think of that I have done or a technique that I have showed you that made you go "wow" can you let me know? I have been trying to think of the projects that we have done and also some of the things that I say that I could talk about.

I will post a picture of my swap cards when they are finished and I haven't forgotten about the halloween card I was going to post.

Friday the 13th

Friday night my Stamper's group had a halloween themed party. It lots of fun, about half of the stampers were dressed up and we had fun with 1 in particular trying to figure out who she was ( there is a picture at the bottom).

We did a halloween card and a Christmas card. I will try to get
pictures later to upload.

Saturday I did the OSW class at CompuPro and it went great. 8 ladies completed 5 cards, a tote, a tin and a bookmark in less than 2 hours! The only thing they didn't do was the coloring on 2 of the cards.

Only 4 more days till we go to
Mactaquac for a weekend of scrapbooking! I can't wait!

My only wedding pics

We got home Monday night after a week at my parents house for the wedding. I was thinking I would get a break and get to relax a little when we got back after all of the wedding preperations. I can't really say I did a whole lot for the wedding but it felt like we were running all week between helping Mom out where I could, visiting and taking care of 2 kids. Anyway, it really hasn't slowed down because I am still preparing for the classes I have Thursday, Friday and Saturday!

So, no card pics today. These are the only pictures I took the whole week! How bad is that? I really wanted to take some but didn't even get a chance to pull out my camera at the wedding or reception.

This is a picture of less than half of the wedding cakes we wrapped. Mom baked them (with Ian's help) and then her sister Jane, Mom and I wrapped them.

BTW Superman dropped in for a snack too! Amy had him outside and they came in a couple of times for a quick bite.

Just a quick post since I should be finishing my packing right now. I think I mainly just have to do my stamping stuff and that shouldn't be too hard. Although, packing light may be a little tough!

This is a card we did a few weeks ago. Colors are chocolate chip, certainly celery and cool carribean. Stamp sets are Think big and the Designer laber punch box.




I also had to upload a pic of our guests that have been visiting our yard quite a bit the last couple of days. Aren't they beautiful?

The last few days they have been right outside our window while we were eating supper.

Thank you

Roberta dropped this card off last night to say "Thank you" for taking the pictures of them a couple of weeks ago.
There was also a gift certificate for CompuPro in there! Lucky me, eh? I was surprised when she handed it to me, I really didn't expect anything. It was fun for me and I'm glad we ended up with some good pictures.

I am so happy

I really need to go to bed but before I do I just have to say that I am feeling pretty good right now (no I haven't been drinking). Tonight I finished my swap cards for Mom's swap that I have to take with me. Yes, I am a procrastinator. I also did the projects for the class I am teaching at CompuPro (look for a sneak peek on the CompuPro blog soon) and I cut out the last card for the home workshop I am doing tomorrow.

Anyway, I need to go to bed. Check back soon. I am hoping to have time before I leave on Sunday to upload a couple of cards.

Sneak peek for tonight

Just a little sneak peek at one of the cards we will be doing in class tonight. I have to admit that I have had this set since probably August and this was my first time using it. I had to have it to do Ian's b'day invitations but didn't have time. I will use it for the scrapbook page when I do his birthday though.

Towel Cake

I have to brag about my creativity (or at least my ability to copy). LOL!!!

This is the towel cake I made for my brother's wedding shower a couple of weeks ago. The base is 2 bath towels, the middle layer is 4 bar towels (it was supposed to be 2 hand towels but I couldn't find any white ones) and the the top is 2 face cloths.

My neighbor called me after she had been at a bridal shower to tell me that she had seen this cake and thought of me when she saw it. If you do a search for a bridal shower towel cake it should come right up.

BTW - If you click on the picture you should be able to see it full screen.

Now I just have to figure out what to get them for a wedding present. The wedding is next weekend. Any ideas?

Rest of the Stamp Camp projects

This card is with Close as a Memory done with a watercolor technique where you ink the stamp with markers and then spritz it with water. The background is Well Worn Words stamped in marigold morning and then sponged with true thyme. The colors on the flowers are the same as above and cranberry crisp. The ribbon is my latest favorite - true thyme stitched ribbon and I used my QuickKutz to punch out the buckles.





The picture of this one didn't come out very good. It is an altiod tin covered with recollections paper and the tag is from Tags so Much mounted on a piece of bravo burgandy with a burgandy ribbon stapled on. There is a little book that goes in the tin that I didn't get a picture of.







The last one is a CD case that was done on cool carribean cardstock with the Bodacious wheel and the large flower from Bodacious Bouquet stamped in Rose Red on Regal Rose cardstock. The band is certainly celery and "for you" is in more mustard.

Stamp Camp cards

These are some of the cards we did at the stamp camp on Saturday.

The first 1 is with Unfrogettable and Happy everything. The patterened paper is Dots & Dashes. The cardstock is pumpkin pie, glorious green and whisper white. The swirls wheel is on the pumpkin pie with versamark.






The 2nd one is a reflection with Lovely as a Tree and the pumpkin patch spectrum pad on vellum paper. The cardstocks are really rust and old olive.






The 3rd card is the one that was posted on Mom's blog. This card is 3 x 3 and is certainly celery and elegant eggplant with the Sew Seasonal stamp set.











The last one is a grid technique. I used mellow moss, cranberry crisp, close to cocoa and very vanilla. The stamp set is Bareback and the backgrounds are linen and weathered.

I will post the rest of the projects this week so keep checking back.

Links

I don't know if it is blogger or me but I can't get the links to work this time. I will check back later to see if they are working and if they are not I will post the links directly.

Me again, I fixed it and it was me. Enjoy the links :)

Ribbon Dyeing

As promised I am updating my blog. I know it has been a week but it has been a busy 1. We went to my parents last weekend for a quick trip and then when we got back I had to finish up the projects for Saturday's Stamp Camp and for last night. For those of you who are coming tomorrow it is going to be lots of fun. I am really excited to do all of the projects.

So, on to the ribbon dyeing. This is a Tutorial on SCS for ribbon dyeing. This tutorial was done by Amy Rysavy who has a really great blog called Prarie Paper and Ink. When you have a chance you really should check out her blog, I usually do daily. I haven't done the ribbon dyeing this way yet but if I need lots done at once this is the way I will do it.

The way I have dyed my ribbon is with white ribbon, a sponge dauber and ink. All you do is lay the ribbon on a scrap piece of paper and apply ink to it with the sponge dauber. You have to do both sides, the ink will seep through but it won't go as dark.

I have also read that you can dye your ribbon with pastels (chalks) and that you can do just 1 side and have double sided ribbon. Hopefully Sunday I will have some time to play and try this out.

I will post pics of the projects we do tomorrow throughout the next week since it is about time I posted a card.

Sneak Peek

I am going to make you work for this. I just sent an e-mail to Happy Stamper with a sneak peek of 1 of the cards we are doing next weekend. It is also a card that I did for her challenge to use a set that you haven't used in a while or maybe even never. This is one that I used when I first got it in July but haven't used since. Thanks for the challenge "Happy Stamper".

So if you want to see the sneak peek you will have to check out Happy Stamper's blog. The link is on the left.


Joy's kids brought their cards they made to to show me a couple of days ago so I had to take a picture to put on the blog. They did really cute cards. The 1 on the far left is a buckle card and he did it sideways to what I have done. I thought that was a great idea. Thanks for sharing your cards guys!

Stamping

I know I haven't posted in a few days but that doesn't mean I haven't been stamping. The last few days I have been really busy getting ready for tonight's class, next Thursday's class and the Stamp till you Cramp on the 23rd. We are going to my parents for the weekend so I am trying to get as much as I can done now so I won't be rushing next week. That is rather rare for me to be that prepared.

Anyway, the class on the 23rd is going to be awesome. I love doing Saturdays because we can do things that I wouldn't normally do on a Thursday night class.

Yesterday was Ian's first day of Pre-school and he loved it! When I was getting Emma dressed to take him he said "Come on Mommy, drop me off". Today he was just as excited and just smiled and did this little wave and smirk when Emma and I left.

If I get a chance once I get everything packed for tonight (which I have to go do now) I will post a sneak peek of one of the cards we are doing next weekend. I'm of to pack for tonight and for the trip tomorrow.

Hodgepodge Hardware

If you have been looking at the hodgepodge hardware kits but are unsure of the cost this is a breakdown of the cost of all of the pieces.

Hodgepodge detail information

4 - small oval label holder
4 - large oval label holder
4 - square label holder
4 - small rectangle label holder
4 - large rectangle label holder
8 - small rectangle buckles
8 - large rectangle buckles
6 - oval buckles
12 - pointed photo anchors
12 - rounded photo anchors
6 - rectangle things
6 - rectangle double buckles
10 - rounded ribbon holder
10 - pointed ribbon holder
10 - circle clips
10 - square clips
10 - oval clips
10 - double spiral clips
100 brads

Clips and photo anchors (64 pieces)-- 13 cents each
Buckles and picture hangers (54 pieces) --25 cents each
Label holders (20 pieces) -- 53 cents each
Brads (100 pieces) -- 5 cents each

TOTAL $37.42
Ok so the cost is $37.95 but the original document I had was for a higher price (from the last book)and I couldn't figure it out any closer than this. If anyone wants to play with the #'s let me know and I will change it.

In Colors Chart

I have been trying to do this for a couple of days (off & on) now and thanks to Angela I think it is going to work.

Stampin' Up! now has a printable color combinations chart that you can download and print at home for lots of color combos with the new In Colors. Click Here to download this. It is 4 pages of options for using the In Colors. If you can't print in color you can print it in Black & White and punch out the colors from cardstock and glue them on (the 3/4 inch circle punch should be the right size).

Hopefully this link works, if not let me know and I will e-mail it to you.

Edited to say "yea, I just tried it and it works". Thanks Angela.