Stamp By the Light of the Moon

Mark Your Calendars! New Catalog Open House is Coming Soon!

It's that time of year again!  Time to save the date for my annual summer New Catalog Open House!  This is my biggest event of the year, and one not to miss.  The date of this year's open house is SUNDAY JULY 26, 2009! 

It's the time when you:

***Get a free 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog!

***Make and Take TWO Fabulous projects using exciting new products from the above-mentioned new catalog!

***Get first dibs on all my retiring stamp sets and products before they go off to EBay!

***Get to sign up for clubs, product shares (like markers, accessories, and in colors) classes and events!

***Receive a free gift if you've been a party hostess or a club participant in the past catalog year!

***Stamp, eat and have fun with friends!

Here's how it works, if you've happened to miss the last nine years or so:

Registration costs $10.  That pays for your catalog and the supplies to make your projects and is non-refundable.  You do, however, get $10 off of your required $25 catalog product purchase (before tax and shipping) that day.  If you can't make it that day for any reason, all of your projects are made for you and you receive your catalog when you pick them up.  You can still place an order if you'd like, and still get the $10 off. 

You will need to pick a time slot.  They are as follows:

11:00-12:30

12:30-2:00

2:00-3:30

3:30-5:00

Eight people at a time are allowed per time slot.  The slots fill up fast, especially the early slots.  So if you're excited and can't wait to be at the open house again this year, be sure to register right away in order to reserve your desired time slot!

I am looking forward to seeing you all on July 26, 2009!

Getting ready for my stampers club meeting

I'm preparing tonight for my Greenville Stampers' Club Meeting, which is tomorrow.  The hostess of the club has requested a great project, stamped tile coasters.  We're making them trivet sized.  I'll be sure to post a photo of the sample when it's done. 

In the meantime, I realized that I never showed the Faux Metal Technique in gold,that I did with my EWG Stampers' Club in April.  I thought I'd done it, but when I looked back, just the silver one was there. 

You'll see, when you look at them both, that using the same technique twice can yield completely different results!  The use of colors and stamp sets make a big difference in how a project turns out and that's evident with this project as well.

 

And just as a reminder, here's what the other design looked like, using the same technique:

 

I always love the results of this technique and it's always hugely popular with my customers.  It's a great alternative to regular heat embossing, and yet another way to utilize the tools you've bought for regular heat embossing.  Of course it doesn't hurt that it's lots of fun, too!!

Be on the lookout for the trivet to be posted in the next week or so.  If I can, I'll take photos of all of them.  Each person in the club is making one of their own.  I'm very excited, this is one of my favorite class projects to teach!

Speaking of being on the lookout....a few things to be on the lookout for:

June 1 the retired stamps list will be announced.  I'll get that up on here right away.

My New Catalog Open House date will be announced in my next post.  Mark your calendars!

July 1 starts the new catalog and it will go for an entire year, once again!  Woohoo!!

That's all for now!!

May 1-31 is National Scrapbooking Month! Check out these specials!

May 1-31 is National Scrapbooking month!  My goal is to scrapbook my photos from Mother's Day this month.  My daughter Caroline gave me a little scrapbook for Mother's Day and I decided to use the photos from that day to fill it.  That same day, I got an email from Shutterfly with an offer for 25 free photos!  So, I ordered 25 free photos from Mother's Day and now I can scrap them in the book she gave me. 

There are several SU specials this month in honor of National Scrapbook Month!  Here's the rundown:

 

Buy three packs of Designer Series paper (including our Specialty Designer Series paper) or 12" x 12" textured card stock, and get one FREE!

Buy a sneak peek stamp set from the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog--Jumble Alphabet (set of 52; double-mounted)--at a 20 percent discount.  Normally $43.95 in the new catalog, it's just $35.16 for this special! 

Join Stampin' Up! for business or pleasure, by signing up for the $75 Scrapbooking Starter Kit! 

In celebration of National Scrapbooking Month, join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator for only $75 with our limited-time Scrapbooking Starter Kit. The Scrapbooking Starter Kit contains the following:

Item Code	Description	Retail Value
113510	Schoolbook Serif Alphabet stamp set*	$42.95
113059	Simply Scrappin' Petal Party	$19.95
108697	Earth Elements Assorted textured card stock (12" x 12")	$11.95
105240	Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad	$7.50

*Substitutable for any stamp set up to $43.95 value.

Please note: Each of the products listed above may be substituted for like items.  Please see the Scrapbooking Starter Kit Order Form for details.The Scrapbooking Starter Kit also contains all the business supplies contained in the standard Starter Kit:

• Getting Started DVD
• Getting Started Guide
• Guest Invitation Postcard (100)
• Idea Book & Catalog (8)
• Occasions Mini Catalog (8)
• To My Hostess Envelope (10)
• Recruit Folders (5)
• Recruit Brochures (20)
• Hostess Brochure (20)
• Hostess Benefits Form (10)
• Customer Order Form (50)

 

If you are interested in any of the above specials, you can call or email me at your earliest convenience!  The month is halfway through, so you don't have much time left!  Don't delay, place your order today!!

 

The cutest project using Tea Party Designer Series paper!

Today was the final meeting of one of my stampers' clubs until September.  Each year for the past two, they've begun meeting in September, take off the month of December, and end for the year in April or May.  Then, after a summer hiatus, they start up again in September.  We meet once per month, and I always bring them a project that I think they'll love, that also focuses on any of the SU special promtions going on at the time. 

Since today was the last one for this year, I wanted to make it really good.  I felt kind of like I was on American Idol.  For those of you who are fans, there's always a point in the show where the judges will say, "At this point in the competition, you need to really wow us." 

I wanted to really wow this group, send them off with a great feeling about the great project we did.  I also know that they like 3D projects as much as I do.  So I began my search.  I got a new Stampin' Success Magazine in the mail this week, so I looked in there.  Then, I got a weekly email from Splitcoast Stampers with a project in it.  I looked at that.  But still, I felt like I hadn't found it yet. 

I decided to look on my friend and upline, Cindy Lawrence's blog, www.onehappystamper.typepad.com.  I always find the prettiest projects on there, and sure enough, I found what I thought was the perfect project for my club.  It was the cutest little magazine holder, made out of card stock.  You would use it to hold 3x3 cards and envelopes.  You can see Cindy's project here:

  

I knew that I wanted to do this project, but I thought that doing the box and four cards would be too much for the time frame we had today.  So I tried to think of what other uses I could come up with for the box.  I realized that 4x4 post it note pads fit inside perfectly!  I'd definitely found my project.

Next, I needed to choose my Designer Series Paper.  I wanted to highlight DSP because of the Buy 3 Get one Free special going on this month.  I wanted my club members to know that if they bought three packs of DSP or 12x12 textured card stock, they'd get a free one.  Using the DSP on the project was a good way to remind them of the special.  I'd used Tea Party DSP a couple of months ago, and they'd really liked it, so I decided to use it again, but a different pattern from the pack.  We'd also used another variety of DSP last month for our card project. 

So all of that being said, here's how our project came out:

I even put little post it note pads in it, for demonstration purposes.  You can see that I used Almost Amethyst card stock and whisper white grosrain ribbon.  I also put a small Filigree flower and brad on the front for decoration.  I punched a hole through the paper, DSP and card stock using the hand held 1/16 punch.  I also thought the sides were plain so I stamped the flower on them from Baroque Motifs using the versamark ink pad.  You can also use Almost Amethyst ink but a member of the group had asked last month about how to use the versa pad, and what effect it would give, so I decided to work a quick demo into this project for her.

 Here's a closeup of the back of the magazine holder.  I see now, that my ribbon started to come off in my travels!  However, what I really wanted you to see is the Baroque Motifs flower at the top of the spine.  It's stamped in Certainly Celery ink and cut out using the SU Paper Snips.

 

Here's how it looks with some sample post it pads in it.  Again, it seems to have gotten a little smooshed at the bottom, while on the ride home!  I did not notice this when I took the photos!!  This project is a perfect gift for yourself or for someone else!  When I showed it to my husband, an elementary school principal, he said to me, "Could you make me a masculine one?  I have those post it pads all over my desk."  So that'll have to be on my list of things to do in the upcoming weeks!  Teacher Appreciation Week just passed, but this would've made a great gift for one of the week-long gift giving days that we had. 

Don't forget about the Designer Series Paper special that's going on this month! 

By the way, Cindy found the adorable magazine holder on this blog if you would like to get the directions for it yourself:  http://inkingidaho.blogspot.com/2008/08/mini-magazine-tote-tutorial.html There's even a step by step guide included there, for cutting and scoring your card stock.

A Note for You, just in time for Mother's Day!

I just looked at my posts, it has been some time since I last wrote.  I posted on April 20, and just a couple of days later on April 24, was my 20th High School Reunion weekend for St. Mary Academy, Bay View, here in RI.  Just this year, I was asked to be on their Alumnae Advisory Board, and in doing so I became co-chair of a new event for the Reunion Weekend, a Family Fun Day.  It was an idea that I broached at my first meeting, a spring carnival of sorts, for alumnae and their families.  It became my committee and it was so successful!  The weather that day (April 25) was beautiful!  We had magicians, face painters, carnival games and more.  I was so proud for my family to be able to attend an event I'd thought of for them!  That weekend kept me busy, and to top it off, I was assigned coverage of the other events that weekend for the newspaper!!  The articles have just finished coming out in this week's paper.

Life is busy, it's Teacher Appreciation Week this week and at our elementary school we need to send in a different little something each day.  There's a list with suggestions for each day and one of today's suggestions was a candle.  A month or so ago I'd posted some little $1 candles I'd done with my two stampers' clubs and since I had two clubs, I had two candles.  I decided to send them in for my two girls' teachers.  I hope that they liked them!!

Next up is Mother's Day this weekend.  I love holidays!  I love Thanksgiving probably the most because it's all of the food with none of the shopping.  I love Christmas too, because it's such a fun time, but so much stress goes along with it, it's not my true favorite.  BUT, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mother's Day because once I became a mom, I felt that I'd achieved something by being able to be celebrated on Mother's Day!  Even though I have two other jobs, being a mom is my first job and it always comes first before my other jobs.  People often tell me what a good job I'm doing as a mom, so I must be doing something right!  I love having this day to celebrate with moms everywhere and for moms everywhere!

I thought that this card would be good to post in time for Mother's Day.  It's a card that I did for my friend Amy's demonstrator meeting in early April.  I had all these square buttons and no round ones, so I decided to see what I could come up with to use the square buttons.  Here's what I came up with, using another card swap sample I'd received a while back, for my layout inspiration.

 

There are several things to note about this card.  First, the green that's on there, I thought the whole time I was making them, that it was Certainly Celery because I'd pulled the scraps out of my scrap box.  But suddenly I realized it was too dark to be celery and I looked around and lo and behold it was Wild Wasabi, an In Color from last year.  Nevertheless, it looked nice on the card, I thought.

Next, my Sweet Sentiments stamp, "a note for you," was not only mounted straight, but I actually stamped it straight on every card.  That never happens.  I can't usually see straight!  So I was pleased with that.  I really like that stamp set, I like the phrases that are in it.  I also chose a circle stamp from Priceless, as my background stamp because I thought it coordinated well with the circle pattern on the DSP.

For my punches, I used the Square Scallop Punch, and the stamp set that matches it: Say it With Scallops, which is the Ronald McDonald House charity stamp set, and I used the 1 3/4" square punch for my Wild Wasabi behind it.  It looks as if I threaded the 1/4" white grosgrain ribbon through the holes in the button, but I did not, I used Mini Glue Dots instead, and stuck it on!  The button itself is stuck on with Mini Glue Dots also! 

I used Almost Amethyst card stock and ink because it went with the Tea Party Designer Series paper that I absolutely love.  Did you know that Designer Series paper is on sale this month with SU?!!!  It's in honor of National Scrapbooking Month.  You get a FREE package of DSP when you purchase THREE packages!  You'll be all stocked up on paper when you participate in this promotion!  It ends on May 31, so don't hesitate!  Check out all of our beautiful patterns in the catalog (found in my right hand sidebar!) 

I think that this card is a perfect all occasion card.  It's good for Mother's Day, birthdays, Teacher Appreciation days, and so much more.  It's definitely a versatile card to have in your box of cards! 

I hope all you moms have a wonderful, wonderful Mother's Day weekend!!  Don't forget that you can order online 24 hours a day, so if on Mother's Day or ANY day, you get some inspiration and decide to go shopping, you can do it any time, day or night, seven days a week!  Stock up on your scrapbooking and cardmaking supplies with free Designer Series Papers while the sale is running!  It ends on May 31!