Awesome 1 day only stamp sale coming October 29th

That's right! For one day only you can purchase any clear mount or wood mount stamp sets for 15% off.  The sale begins at midnight (MT) on the 29th through 11:50 pm (MT).

This offer includes:

Background stamps
Personalized name stamps
Cookie Press stamps
Single Image stamps

This offer DOES NOT include
Hostess sets
Bundled stamp sets
Digital stamp brush sets

There is no minimum to purchase and no limit on the number of stamps you can order with this offer.

If you don't already have a wish list made it's time to start putting together a wish list now. Why not hand your list over to your husband or a friend who is looking for a gift for you this Christmas? Have them take advantage of this super offer and get you what you want, and for even less than usual.

Orders can be placed online through my digital store.

Don't forget this offer is only good for just under 24 hours. After that prices will go back to their normal every day price. 

Must see MDS2 Video

Still not sure if MDS2 is for you? Take a look at this awesome video and don't forget you can always get the trial version for FREE to try for 30 days.

Are you interested now? Try it out for free now. Click here and download the free version. What are you waiting for? Unleash your creativity today.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Stop by again soon and I hope to have those school passes uploaded so you can see them. They were super easy to make.

Till next time, Happy Creating!

Holiday MDS card

So I played with MDS2 some more last week and here is the creation I came up with.

I won't be using this as this years Christmas card but I thought it was cute. I will probably drop a current photo into this layout later on this year and create my Christmas cards using this layout though. 

If you purchase MDS2 + these downloads come in it so these are not additional downloads that you'd need to purchase. Also don't forget that Stampin' Up! offers you the option to download and use a trial version of MDS2 for free for 30 days. Click here to purchase the trial version of MDS2+ for free 

I will try to post images of a couple of other projects I've made using MDS2 + for my new lunch monitor/lunch recess monitor position at the elementary school my daughters attend. 

Happy Wednesday! Come back soon I promise to have those uploaded soon enough. 

Till next time. I hope you'll Be inspired, share with others, enjoy every day like it's your last. 

Convention Roommate Gifts

My good friend Kathy and I have turned to Skype to keep in touch with each other since she moved from Colorado Springs to Virginia. One day we were having a conversation and I mentioned how I needed to come up with a useful roommate gift for the ladies I'd be rooming with for convention. She happened to be on Stampin' Connection (Stampin' Up!'s form of Facebook for demonstrators) I usually don't go there myself because I could spend hours on there and never get any work done. She came across this great idea and shared it with me. I got a quick peek at the original and went straight to work on designing these. 

Products used:

paper: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Dusty Durango, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse and Comfort Cafe Designer Series Paper

inks: Soft Suede

marker: Dusty Durango

miscellaneous: Clear DVD Boxes, snail, stampin' dimensionals, sticky strip, paper piercing mat and paper piercing tool. Framelits Labels

You can't see the inside of these but I used a magnetic sheet that I picked up in a 2 pack and it has a nice sticky backing to it. I had to cut off a small bit of it so that it would fit into the clear case. I thought about it afterwards but I would have put the sheet on both sides of the inside of the case so that at least 2 sets of framelits could be housed in the case. I wrapped the entire design around the clear case and used sticky strip to tack it down.

Before I left for Salt Lake City I wrapped each of them in tissue paper and let them each randomly pick a gift. They all loved it so I'm happy I was able to give them something useful and that they can use in their stamp room to keep their framelits organized.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you're having a fabulous Tuesday.

Teacher gifts

I love creating teacher gifts for my daughter's teachers as a way to say "Hello" or a way to say "Thank You." This year is no different. My third grader was lucky enough to loop with her second grade teacher so I already know her and have a great relationship with her. My second graders teacher is brand new to the school, so brand new in fact, she was just hired this morning. This year is no exception so here's what I came up with for their teachers this year.

These top note purses are one of my favorites because I can fit 3x3 mini cards in there easily. These cards are perfect for use as a gift card or a quick note. These say either "Thank You" or "Just for you."

Products used:

Whisper White card stock

Baja Breeze card stock

So Saffron card stock

Wild Wasabi card stock

Storytime Designer Series Paper (126907)

Just Believe (120453 Clear mount)

Top Note Big Shot die (113463)

1 1/4" scallop circle (127811) Holiday Catalog

3/4 circle  (119873)

Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons (127555)

Whisper White Bakers Twine (124262)

Real Red ink (126949)

Baja Breeze ink (126960)

As always the teachers loved them and I'm happy I could put a smile on their faces. 

Hope you've been inspired today. Happy Stamping and Creating to you. Stop by again soon as I will have more of my convention swaps posted for you to enjoy. 

More convention swaps

As promised here are 2 more of the designs that I traded/swapped for with other demonstratos and guests. These aren't card swaps these are 3D swaps.  I got this idea from my friend Donna, who was also doing a 3D coffee swap. These came about by accident though because I had originally bought iced coffee packets instead of these coffee sticks. I will share the iced coffee designs soon. 

Because iced coffee packages are chubbier and longer than these little guys are, only one can fit into the pocket. I couldn't track down anymore iced coffee so I decided to buy some of the coffee sticks instead and put two of them into the pocket instead. Isn't this cute? I loved this pattern so much that all of my 3D swaps were made using this pocket die.

Products used:

Early Espresso card stock
More Mustard card stock
Raspberry Ripple card stock
Very Vanilla card stock
Big Shot Petite Pocket Die
Big Shot Argyle Embossing Folder
Big Shot Pennant Die
1 3/8 Circle
1 1/4 Circle
Morning Cup
Pearls accent

Hope you are enjoying your Monday. Happy Creating till next time.

It's back to school time in District 49

My daughters are on their last week of summer break if you can believe it. I am excited for them to be heading back to school. I am in my second year of being in charge of the school's Hospitality/Appreciation committee. This is nice because I get to showcase many of Stampin' Up!'s products in the cards and gifts that are given to the staff throughout the school year. I may not have shared this with you back in April during Teacher/Staff appreciation week but here are the cute little cupcake boxes and cards that we passed out to the school staff as our way of saying "Thank you, for all you do for our children." The pattern design for the cupcake box was found on Craft Project Central if you look to the right of my blog you will see a link to their website. The pattern may not be available anymore though, they change out new patterns once a full year has passed. They have awesome designers though and on occasion I will subscribe to different months to get an idea for a pattern every now and again. Check them out if you need some inspiration. Let Jacque know Samantha sent you.

 This first photo here contains the finished cupcake boxes that my 15 year old and I passed around to the entire staff at the school. 

This photo contains the cupcake filled boxes as well as the mini thank you cards that were passed out with each of the cupcake boxes. 

The teachers and staff loved the gesture and were so surprised when we came by to say hello and to thank them.

This year is no different. I get together with a group of parent and PTA volunteers and we assemble thank you and birthday cards. 

Here are a few designs for this years cards that we'll be displaying at our open house later this week. 

We always hope we never need a to send out a sympathy card but I always like to keep one on hand. Last year one of the students in my first graders class lost his mom. She left behind her husband and several of her children were students in our elementary school. It was a very sad time but our PTA Hospitality/Appreciation committee wanted to let them know we were thinking about them. 

I enjoy volunteering my time at the elementary school. It is a lot of fun and I meet a lot of great people while doing it. 

Hope you are inspired by some of these projects and get out there and start creating. 

Last Chance to get Reason to Smile Stamp set.

If you remember in my recent post titled Amazing from a little over a week ago you'll remember the gift card I shared with you that I swapped during this years convention. It uses the Reason to smile stamp set. To view all of the images scroll down some and you'll be able to see all that you can receive in this exclusive limited time offer stamp set.  You still have time to get this stamp set for just $5 when you purchase a minimum $50 order. To view our products and place an order today to take advantage of this offer click here. I'm in the process of creating my shopping buttons for my blogspot blog so soon enough you will be able to just click on those and not have to click on my hyper links. 

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stamping and Creating on this beautiful Tuesday.

Check out this fabulous offer for New Demonstrators

Whether you want to be a discount demonstrator, short-term demonstrator, seasonal demonstrator, hobby demonstrator or career demonstrator.  Stampin' Up! needs you. In the month of August it would be the perfect time to sign up to become a new demonstrator. Besides all of the fabulous product benefits you receive with your $99 starter kit ($125 value in product, your choice) you also receive 2 free months access to your own personal Demonstrator Business Web Site and here is the best news for those of you who sign up in the month of August.

You'll receive this fabulous Halloween Printers Tray Project Kit. Isn't this adorable?

If you'd like to learn more information about the different classifications of demonstrators please don't hesitate to contact me. I'd be happy to provide you with the details. This offer begins August 1st and ends the end of August.

Hope you are inspired to create something fabulous today.

Till next time

Convention Swaps

So being that this was my first year to attend convention I probably went a little over board with the swaps that I did. I think in total I created about 165 pieces for either roommate gifts, team gifts, team WOW swaps and upper level team ATC (artist trading card swaps) card front and 3D swaps. Here is the first swap design I came up with in early June. 

I was so anxious and excited you'd think it was my first ever event. It was my first convention but I have been to a couple of Stampin' Up! regional events in the past. I enjoy swapping with others for ideas. Quite a few of my sales of stamp sets I don't personally own have come from designs of others. I share all of my swaps with customers because even if I might not like a particular set or can't see it as being a style I could pull off, it doesn't mean a customer might feel the same way.

So for this swap card I didn't have a whole lot on hand yet. It was the beginning of June and my order had just been placed and I wasn't going to get it for a couple of days so I used what I had on stock that was current and also really cute. I loved the chevrons so I built my card around the Designer Series Paper. 

Supplies used:

Summer Smooches DSP

Lucky Limeade card stock

Whisper White card stock

Chocolate Chip card stock

Chocolate Chip Ink 

Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker

Real Red Stampin' Write Marker

Lucky Limeade Stampin' Write Marker

Hostess Stamp set A Cherry On Top

Decorative Label Punch

Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch

Square Lattice Embossing Folder

Funny how I was attracted to the chevron pattern, which is making it's way back into crafting again. I remember it was about 10 or 11 years ago and chevrons were all the rage in scrapbooking. I used them on quite a few of my layouts back in those days. Imagine my surprise when I received my first ever convention bag and it was a chevron pattern and in my new favorite color, Summer Starfruit!

Isn't this bag awesome? LOL It doesn't go too well with the awesome pattern of the floor at the Salt Palace Convention Center but it is still a beautiful bag and I love it!

Hope you are enjoying your Monday.

Stop by again soon, maybe even tomorrow, and I might be ready to show you another design that I came up with and swapped while I was there.

More MDS 2 excitement

Now you can definitely see why I am excited and anxious for this program to come out. I played around more with MDS 2 tonight and found myself actually creating a page for the first time . IT's not quick right now because I am still finding my way around the program itself but I am liking things a lot more than I ever did with the first program. I took these beautiful photos last summer when we went camping and up until now I didn't know what I was going to do with them. The top photo actually sat on my phone as a background for several months before I changed it to holiday living wall papers. But you can see why I love it. Keep an eye out for it and if you love MDS download MDS 2 on August 1st.  If you're still unsure, download the trial version for free and see for yourself. 

Till next time, Happy Creating and Happy Stamping

MDS 2 excitement

This year was the first year I was able to attend Stampin' Up! convention. It is also my fifth year as a demonstrator so it was kind of nice to be able to walk across the stage and be recognized for my achievements in the past five years. Thanks to my fabulous friend and upline, Kimberly Van Diepen, for taking this picture of me. Yep that's me being a goober on stage. 

I now have a watermark and I am super excited to be able to do that again with the programs I already own. Thank you Stampin' Up! for adding the watermark feature to MDS (My Digital Studio 2) This new updated version of MDS will be available to purchase beginning August 1st. For those of you who already own MDS and have been religiously updating with new downloads every Tuesday, then you can upgrade for just $19.95. For those of you who just want to get MDS 2 with no additional downloads then you can purchase it for just $39.95. For those of you who are like me who liked the concept of MDS but were disappointed with some of the features as it was and couldn't see buying any additional downloads until the program was fixed, then you'll be the ones who want to invest in MDS 2+. It contains all the fabulous content and an additional $500 worth of digital content. There are so many wonderful new template options you wont want to miss out. Still not sure you want to invest in purchasing MDS or even MDS 2? Don't worry about that. You can download MDS now and MDS 2 for free on August 1st and get a free 30 day trial to see if it is something you'll want to purchase. 

Come back soon for to view additional swaps that I created for convention this year. 

Till next time Happy Stamping. 

Amazing!

One word that describes Stampin' Up! convention 2012. "I am" the theme of this years convention has put into my mind some of the many things that I am. I am a daughter, a wife, a mother, a loyal friend and many other things. Of course as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I am creative.

Here is a quick gift card that I made Monday, the night before left for Salt Lake City. It took me about an hour to cut, prep and stamp these adorable little cards. The use our current promotion stamp set "Reason to Smile." Through the end of this month you too can own this super cute stamp set for just $5 with a minimum purchase of $50 (before tax and shipping)

Since this card only uses 1/4 of a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 you can create many of these very easily and put them together in no time at all.

Products used:

Daffodil Delight card stock
Old Olive card stock
Whisper White card stock
Daffodil Delight seam binding
Fancy Fan embossing folder
Daffodil Delight classic ink
Tangerine Tango classic ink
Reason to Smile stamp set
Petite Pairs stamp set

If you haven't already tried our new classic ink pads you are totally missing out. These new firm foam stamp pads are like nothing else out there.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stamping. Hope to get to back updating my blog again more consistently now that I am rejuvenated and ready to share my work again.

I hope you are able to find your "I am" and that being creative is one of them.

A whole lot of love going on.

Okay so I will post the last 2 cards from San Antonio in the next couple of blogs. I had to take a little break from posting those. Also I did promise to try to post my Valentines card and Anniversary card for my husband so I don't want to disappoint.

 I wanted to use a key charm from the Trinket Keys (121892) and to go with it I wanted to use the sentiment from You're a Gem (122270) and also one from With all my Heart (118623)
Also used were the heart punch (119883). I used Blush Blossom and Early Espresso as the two major color components to this card as well as using the new hearts embosslits strip from the Adorning Accents set (125601). I also used the small heart punch (117193) and pink pirouette and naturals ivory card stock. The ribbon is our 1 1/2" striped grosgrain which I loved and kept some for my own personal use. It is one of the few retired products that I like to keep and still use. I could have substituted in the soft suede ribbon instead and swapped out everything in early espresso for soft suede but I just love the way these colors go together. If you like Blush Blossom now is the time to stock up. This color will be retiring at the end of May along with 4 other in colors, Pear Pizzazz, Poppy Parade and Peach Parfait, I'll be sad to see these go. The last color is Concord Crush.

This is my anniversary card. I wanted to use and incorporate the free paper from this years Sale a bration catalog. It's called Everyday Enchantment. You too can own this free package of 12x12 paper with any $50 order, before tax and shipping. I incorporated the birds from the 2 step bird punch (117191) You can easily flip the bird over to face the opposite direction and that's why I love this punch. I also used the heart punch (119883) and the medium and small hearts from the Heart to Heart punch (119881)

I embossed using square lattice embossing folder (119976), silver brads (104336). Card stock used for this project are Very Vanilla, Marina Mist, and Old Olive. I added the small basic pearls (119247) for the birds eyes and punched out the greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes (115370) using the Word Window punch (119857) and mounted that onto another piece punched out using the Modern Label punch (119849). These 2 punches would complete any stampers collection of most used products and so would the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. You can create any card for any occasion using this set and these punches help to frame up any greeting with ease.

Thanks for stopping by for today. I hope to update with my last 2 cards from San Antonio soon.

Till next time, Happy Stamping to you!

Recapping another swap card from San Antonio

So this next card is actually my WOW! card. If you remember my last post you'll remember I discussed layers and looking at the card and saying "Wow, I've got to have that set!" I didn't like this one either after i started passing out my third card. I'll include that one as well seeing as the two cards are very similar.

 This is my Wow! card. It's still missing something but at the time I thought it was good enough. I love this new stamp set Apothecary Art (125527). This is a good time for me to remind you that the codes I provide are for our clear mount stamps. We do still carry everything in wood, but for storage purposes I prefer the clear mount since they take up about half the amount of space of a traditional wood storage case. Getting back to the Apothecary Art stamp set. I think one of the biggest reasons I like it so much is because I use it to easily frame up just about any greeting and it adds just the right amount of stamping without having to go overboard. Plus it also allows me to play with my watercolor wonder crayons and who doesn't like to color? The card itself is pretty simple but it's layered with lots of dimensionals. I always say that using dimensionals gives any project that extra something without costing that much to assemble. The cost comes when I try to mail one of these babies. ;) I used some of my other favorite accessories, ie our dazzling details (124117), Basic Rhinestones (119246) and seam binding ribbon. This is crumb cake (122332). When the seam binding first came out we only offered it in a few colors. Every time I called in to Stampin' Up! at the end of the call I would make sure whoever I talked to knew just how much I loved our seam binding and that I hoped they would make it a permanent staple in the next catalog. I used the finial press embossing folder (115963) for the background. This is another one of my favorite things to use. I am a huge fan of embossing for texture and dimension on my projects and our embossing folders get the job done.

Other products used are Rich Razzleberry card stock, ink  and watercolor crayon. old olive watercolor crayon, basic gray ink and crumb cake card stock. The greeting comes from the wooden set Wedding Sweet (115466) Framelits label collection (125598) Shimmer mist spritz made with rubbing alcohol and frost white shimmer paint (116854)

Now for my not WOW! card that I should have picked for my WOW! They do say hindsight is 20/20 right?

So as you can see the cards look very similar. The biggest differences between the two cards are that I had run out of seam binding ribbon, I had only intended to make 10 WOW! cards so I needed to come up with something for this card so that it didn't look so blah! I added a strip of rich razzleberry and punched a piece of crumb cake card stock on either end to create the scallop using the Scallop trim border punch (118402)

For this one I used Basic Pearls (119247) instead, and only highlighted either end of the greeting. Using the rich razzleberry crayon I highlighted the border of the frame and drew color to both the outside and inside of the frame to give it additional razzleberry color. The finished look gives it that real antiquish sort of look to it don't you think?

Well I hope to get caught up on my blog. I've been busy stamping and slowly organizing my house. It's almost spring so I'm doing a little bit of early spring cleaning. I hope to at least be able to post my valentine's day card and anniversary cards for my husband that I made for my husband within the next week too. Tomorrow I'll take a stamping day for myself, after I figure out what kind of birthday card I want to make for my daughters friends birthday. I am thinking of making them each a little card to go with the gift they're giving. My biggest challenge is that the card is for a boy. I have 3 girls so most of the time everything I make is cutesy. I'll post that eventually too. Who knows maybe I'll post it out of order.

Till next time thanks for stopping by to read my crazy rantings and look at my projects. I'm sure you'd rather look at the projects more than anything else. Happy Stamping to you!

Been super busy stamping

I got hung up with the holidays and then after the new year I got hung up preparing swaps for one of the regional events that was held in San Antonio, Texas in mid January.

To break things up I'll share one of the swaps I came up with and work on sharing one new one each day so that I'm not trying to put them all out there at one time and bore you to tears.

This is the first card I designed. I was trying to come up with a "WOW" swap. What is a "WOW" swap exactly? Well it's first and foremost as swap where you create all of one design and you swap them out for other cards made by other designers. This was a coordinated swap consisting of other ladies whom I call my sisters. We all come from the same group. The second part of the swap, the "WOW" part comes from the idea of when someone see's it their immediate thought in their head is "Wow, I've got to get that set!" So this first card was my original concept. It was nice, but for me it just wasn't screaming "WOW!" yet. The concept was great and even though it didn't scream to me it did to others who swapped with me.

This card utilizes lots of layers and dimensions I used the new Apothecary Art Clear stamps(125527) from the new Occasions Mini. It's also available in wood as with all of our sets. I used the new Labels Framelits (125598) for the Big Shot as well. They are meant to work with this set. If you own the Big Shot this is a must have. There are so many things you can do with these frames. 

I also used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder(120175) to add additional dimension to the card as well as using lots of dimensionals to make the card pop. The stamp used on the First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP) is the French Filigree back ground stamp(113742) I used some other favorite embellishments, Basic Pearls(119247) Want to add just a little bit of class to any vintage type inspired card or project? This is for you. 

Well I hope you enjoyed this sample. I hope to post another sample for you to view here within the next day or so. 

I'm in the process of project design yet again. This time several of my "stamp sisters" and I will be planning a new Stamp-a-stack type of event. If you're interested let me know and I'll give you more details about this event. Pay $25 and make 10 unique cards. Email me at smalchow1@msn.com. Our first event will be around the end of March. 

Don't forget now is the perfect time to get free products even if you're not holding a workshop. It's Sale-a-bration, that time of the year where Stampin' Up! rewards all of their customers with a free product from the Sale-a-bration catalog for every $50 in product that you purchase, before tax and shipping. Don't forget these are limited edition items and you can't get them any other way. Contact me to place your order today. 

Till next time,

Happy Stamping!