Stamp By the Light of the Moon

Top Note card

Today was a rainy, windy day and it was a perfect day to be indoors, stamping and socializing with my Exeter Stampers' Club!

I hadn't met with them since my Sale-A-Bration order had arrived, so I had lots of new things to share: clear mount stamps, Sale-A-Bration stamps, punches in the new space-saving design, papers, and a new Sizzix Die: the Top Note die.

I decided to use the Top Note die to make the card, along with the free Sale-A-Bration Scallop Trim border punch. Here's what I came up with:

 
I used Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White card stock, Tea Party Designer Series Paper, the Country Morning Level 1 Hostess Set that I earned with my order, and the gorgeous new Pretty in Pink 5/8" Satin Ribbon. I LOVE that ribbon!

I inked up the stamp with Basic Brown so that I could color it in with the Many Marvelous Markers. I chose Soft Subtles colors to match the card stock, ribbon and DSP. It is, as always, a simple card, but a pretty card, good for any occasion. I love the spring color scheme.

The group played with the clear stamps, the Sizzix, and the new punch style.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and it was another perfect day!

Stampin' Up! Regionals: a recap

I had a very exciting weekend! The Stampin' Up! Maine Regionals were on Saturday. Two weeks' prior, I got a call from the SU home offices in Utah, asking if I'd consider being a presenter at the Regionals. I said that I absolutely would love to do it. The person on the phone, Donna (she's pictured on pages 8 and 10 of the catalog) said I'd be presenting a "Wow" technique or project. I had to keep my presentation to just five minutes. I also needed to prepare 2-3 other samples using the same technique, to show during my presentation and for SU's display boards.

And so, the pressure was on: think of something I've seen or shown that gets a "wow" from the audience, and that hasn't been done over and over before.  I wanted my presentation to be something new to the audience. I had a stampers' club meeting the next day, and I wanted to also be able to do the same project for them so that I could do all my prepping and packing at the same time, working smarter, not harder.

I went through all my past posts. I looked through all my samples in my office. I finally came across a shadowbox type of card with an accordian fold, that I'd learned from a customer in a past stampers' club, several years ago. I'd always loved that project. It was not a full card, but more of a box that could sit on display. I decided that I could create a similar project using the basics she'd taught us, but making it a full card instead. With the holidays coming up, I decided to do a Christmas card. Here it is:

I used Snow Swirled for my stamp set, one of my favorite snowflake sets. As I've said in the past, I love sets that include background stamps (the snowflakes,) a main image (the tree,) and greetings (there's this outside greeting that is visible on the front of this card and an inside phrase that I used inside.)

Now, I had to step it up and come up with some other samples. I worked backwards, starting with Halloween:

This card was simple. It used The More the Merrier for my stamp set, the jackolantern faces are from Holiday Blitz (I love that set!) and the greeting is from Holiday Best. Note that both The More the Merrier and Holiday Best are hostess sets and I earned them for free with past orders! I added some detail with my Stampin' Write Markers and some black gingham ribbon for effect and viola! Done.

The next holiday up was Thanksgiving. This would be my Stampers' Club card for the day following Regionals. Since it's October, the focus for my project is November's holiday. Next month they'll do a Christmas project. Here's what I came up with for them:

This card used Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red and Very Vanilla paper, Very Vanilla Craft Ink, and one of my all-time favorite sets: Lovely as a Tree. The Give Thanks stamp is also from Holiday Best. This card used the Watercolor Wonder Crayons, which one of the club members had asked for last month. I wanted to be sure to incorporate them into the project so she'd get to see how they are used. We painted them with the Aquapainter brushes and made a beautiful New England foliage scene, perfect for what we're seeing around here these days.

And finally, I made a stepped-up version of a Christmas Card that takes longer than the five minutes my presentation card takes.

 This card incorporates several stamp sets and the Big Shot for my snowflake. I used Holiday Blitz, Snow Swirled, and The More the Merrier, White Craft ink and Not Quite Navy Classic ink and paper. You may be able to see the Dazzling Diamonds Glitter on there too. I used the Stampin' Write Markers as well, for my coloring. Here's a look at the inside, from the top down:

Tomorrow I'll post my card swap for the event, as well as some photos of me doing my presentation. 

If anyone is in need of the directions for how to make this card, email me at jencowart@yahoo.com and I'll send them to you. I have them in a word document, ready to go. 
 

This week's Deal of the Week: if you have the Big Shot this one's for you!

As you know, each week Stampin' Up! will be posting a deal of the week through the end of this month.  Here is this week's promotion:

This week's deals run from October 12, 10 AM (MT) through October 19, 9:50 AM (MT).

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
115961	200	Perfect Setting Bigz XL die	$42.95	$25.99
114515	195	Flower Burst Embosslits die	$11.95	$5.99
116760	201	Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL die	$39.95	$25.49

Great prices on great items! You can order them on line through my Demonstrator Business Website by clicking on the blue Order button in my right hand side bar. Be sure to take advantage of these special prices this week before they are gone!!

Kids' Stamp Camp Project Specifics

As promised, here is some specific information about each project we created at the kids' stamp camp last week. I'll start with the project that was everyone's favorite, the notebook project.

 

This was the sample that I showed the girls.  I made sure to tell them though, that mine was only a very simple sample and that they could add color to theirs and add other stamps from the Sock Monkey stamp set to make it their own design. This project had an outside and an inside.  Here's the inside:

 

I gave each child a pencil and a notepad for the inside of their folders.  I told them that besides keeping them for themselves, these would also make nice gifts for the first day of school for their teachers.  My girls decided to do both.  They're keeping the ones from stamp camp and they each made an additional one for their teachers.

 

This is Caroline's finished project. This shows how the image looks when it's colored.  The kids used basic colored pencils to color their images in.  The morning group of older girls did some sponging around the edges.  Alexandra, my four year old, over-sponged hers a little, but she loves it and that's what matters.
 

Our next project, my personal favorite, was the paper bag scrapbook.  I used all retired ribbons for this project as well as the above notebook project.  This is the sample I showed the kids. I also used retired Designer Series Paper for my sample so that I could save the Build-A-Bear Designer Series Paper for the kids' projects.

All of the Build-A-Bear products go on sale September 1, which is Tuesday!  If you are interested in purchasing them, please let me know!  You can order through me on my Demonstrator Business Website 24 hours a day!  Just click on the Order Now button at the top of my blog!

 

 

This is what the inside of the book looked like. It has two big pages for pictures and two tabbed, hidden, smaller pages for either additional photos or journaling.  The girls liked the idea that the pages were hidden.

Here's Elizabeth's scrapbook:

 

She ended up using retired paper for hers also.  She didn't want to use the colors we had.  Her book also ended up backwards, but when you're seven, those things don't matter much!

 

This is Caroline's scrapbook and she used all the Build-A-Bear Designer Series Papers for her clothing and accessories.  It was funny how specific a lot of the girls were with their clothes matching their pocketbooks and other accessories.  The bears came out so cute!

The final project was the easiest project but was time consuming enough that it allowed me to pull each child aside to run their card stock for the bears through the Big Shot, and do the accessories too.

We made a set of four note cards using the new Build-A-Bear stamp sets, retired ribbons and colored pencils.  I let the kids do any greetings they wanted for their four cards.  Here are my two simple samples:

That's the outside, here's the inside:

and the back side: 

 

Here are the kids' samples:

 

These were Caroline's cards.  You can see how the girls really took the projects and ran with them.  Each girl worked very hard to make their cards unique and pretty.  They put a lot of effort into their cards.

Alexandra took a very unique approach, making all of her images into one single card:

 

Every project was loved by all of the kids, but their favorite was the note pad, hands down. 

I have the measurements and dimensions for all of the projects.  If anyone is interested in receiving them, just send me an email to jen@stampbythelightofthemoon.com and I will send them to you in my reply. 

My next six posts will be Christmas Card Class posts!  The class was today and it was fabulous! All of the participants already have 30 hand made Christmas cards done and ready to go and it's not even fall yet!!  What a way to get a jump on the holiday season!

I already have five people signed up for an additional session of the class in November.  If you're interested in the class, here are the details:

Sunday, November 15, 2009
1-5 pm
30 cards
$50

There are just a few spots left.  If I have enough interest, I'll start a third session on another Sunday in November.  Please let me know right away if you'd like to sign up.

Be on the lookout for the card samples from today's class to be posted in the next couple of weeks!

Kids' stamp camp: a huge success!

Last Thursday was my Kids' Stamp Camp.  I've done several in the past but the last one was at least a year or two ago, so I really had been looking forward to doing another one.  My kids were really really looking forward to it!!  They literally counted down the days, and when the box of supplies arrived prior to the camp, they cheered!  They were just so excited.

I waited to post the photos from the event because I wanted to make sure it was alright with the other moms to post their children on here. Today you'll be able to get a glimpse of the projects as the kids are doing them, but with my next post I'll start showing specific project photos and the instructions for them.

 

Here's Natalie.  She and her sister Emily were in the morning session.  I used the Big Shot to make name tags for every girl.  We also used the Big Shot for one of the projects, the paper bag scrapbook.  I decided that the best way to let each girl use the Big Shot was to do it with them one at a time while they were working semi-independently on an easier project.  I set up the four cards project at the table (behind Natalie, got them started stamping and then let them stamp while we ran the card stock through the machine for the next project.  We used the Build A Bear products that I pre-ordered from the holiday mini for the two projects and a different set of products from the new catalog for the third project.  The girls liked using the Big Shot, and really who can blame them, it's so easy and so much fun!!

Here they are working on their cards.  My Caroline looks a little startled here.  (There's another Caroline sitting right next to her, which is why I say "my".)  They did a great job with their cards. 

 

Here are the morning session girls posing with their paper bag scrapbooks.  They were all very fashion-specific when dressing their Build A Bears in the clothes.  Luckily all of SU's Designer Series Papers coordinate well together and luckily they created a set of papers specifically for the Build A Bears.  Don't they all look so pretty?

 

Here's Madison and Jordan from the afternoon session, working on the third project, a notepad in a stamped two pocket card stock folder.  They were very serious about their work, all of them.  They all did a good job cleaning their stamps, not mixing inks, etc.

 

 This photo shows something funny.  Emily, sister of Natalie above, had made a mistake on her cover of her notepad folder.  I said something about correcting it, and she asked if I had a sponge, so that she could do some sponging over it and then sponge around the edges.  I laughed because that was totally a question that only a child of a stamper would ask!  I went down to my office and got some sponges, and they sponged away, and they really did a good job with it! 

Hope you've enjoyed the photos!  Be on the lookout for more specifics soon!

Sharing my Stampin' Up! Excitement!

I have some exciting news!!  (And no, don't even ask, it's not that!)  It's stamping and scrapping news!  Let me give you some background before I share, and let me tell you now, be sure to read to the end of this post, there's a very funny story at the bottom...

When I first started with Stampin' Up!, I had slightly more disposable income.  If I wanted something, I bought it.  However, with the change in the economy and the increase in the cost of everything else over the past two years, I've had to be very, very careful with my Stampin' Up! money and make sure that my business not only pays for itself, but contributes as much as possible to our family's budget. 

Therefore, if I want something now, I have to earn it for free, or else use class fee payments from class participants to purchase it as part of a class project that they're making.  It's been almost two full years of my business operating on such strict terms, and it's been hard, but I've been doing it.  I try to choose my hostess benefits wisely, getting more of what I need, and less of what I want.  In fact, there was a whole class on this subject at Convention last summer, and it hit home that week because, what I really really wanted, was Stampin' Up!'s new Sizzix Big Shot machine that came out last summer.  And I really really wanted a bunch of SU dies to go with it!  But, the machine was very expensive.  And, I already had a Sizzix machine from the Christmas before, with Sizzix dies to go with that.  So, even though I wanted it so badly, I had to wait. 

This summer though, when the Build A Bear products came out in the Holiday Mini (which you don't have yet, but I do!) and they were stamps and Sizzix products, now I really really REALLY wanted that machine.  I decided to use all of my hostess benefits for it from my Open House in July, if I had enough sales to get to $95 in free merchandise.  I knew I had a children's stamp camp coming up in August and could use the Build A Bear sets for the camp as well. 

 

Here it is: my lovely Sizzix Big Shot machine from Stampin' Up!  It took me a year to earn it, but I earned it!!  I love it! 

 

Even though I did not yet own the machine over the past year, I did something that I think was pretty smart.  Any time I did have some little bit of extra hostess benefits, I would order an inexpensive die from the catalog that would eventually go with my machine.  It kept me motivated to buy the machine and it allowed me to get a small stockpile of dies ready to go.  I'm glad that I did this because now, besides having the Build A Bear dies from the upcoming Holiday mini, I have several others that I can use for future workshops and stampers' clubs.  I do try to think ahead of what I have got coming up that I need to buy supplies for.  Now I know we can play with the Big Shot for several upcoming events because I have the machine and the dies.  And now, I can continue to slowly build my collection over the coming year(s) because I finally have the machine.  HOORAY!!

Before I end, here's a funny story (I can laugh now) about my Big Shot's arrival for you:

My Open House order arrived late Friday afternoon as we were coming home ourselves.  It was three huge boxes and very heavy, so I asked my UPS guy to just leave the order at the bottom of the stairs for me.  I went about my business for the rest of the day and into the evening, forgetting the boxes had arrived.  Around 11pm my husband returned from a baseball game and he and I were chatting when I suddenly realized I'd forgotten to open my order, and my Big Shot was in there!  By now, it was midnight, but my husband, patient man that he is, carried the order up the stairs for me and into the living room where I tore them open and found my machine.  I opened the box and saw that the handle does not come attached to the machine itself and had to be put together.  There was a little screw, a little washer and a little screwdriver all in a bag together. 

I said to my husband, "Ugh!  I have to put this together!  Can you please help me?"  He said he would, and to bring it over to him where he was sitting on the couch.  He put out his hand, I handed him the tiny pieces and one of them proceeded to roll right out of his hand and into the crack of the couch. 

"Now that can't be good," my husband said. 

He put his hand into the side of the couch and said, "Huh.  That screw must've gone into the lining of the couch.  It's not here." 

I wanted to die.  I now was the one trying to be patient, trying to be calm.  I knew that nothing would be accomplished by me losing my mind, which was what I really wanted to do. 

It was now 12:30 am.

My husband goes down to his workroom and comes up with two empty milk crates.  He lifts the couch up and I prop the milk crates underneath the end the screw had fallen into.  He gets a pair of pliers and begins slowly taking out the dozen or so staples that are keeping the lining attached to the couch. 

 It was a slow, painful process, literally, because at one point he bopped himself in the face with the pliers as he laid under the couch pulling out the staples.  I asked him if he wanted to stop, but he said no, he'd keep going, but "boy that's going to hurt tomorrow," he said.

Finally, all of the staples were out, he reached in, found the teeny, tiny screw, and went downstairs to get the staple gun to re-staple the lining to the couch.  First though, he went over to the dining room table where my handle-less Sizzix sat waiting, and he sat and put the handle on for me. 

It was now 1:00 am and I could play with my Sizzix, while he re-stapled the couch. 

The moral of the story is this:

1) Put your handle on your machine yourself

2) Do it on a table

3) Don't wait til the middle of the night to get started, just in case.  You just never know what can happen...

Stampin' Up!'s second Deal of the Week...it's a good one!!!

Each week for the month of July, Stampin' Up! will be discounting a featured item.  Drumroll please....

This week's item is:

The second deal of the week is

Period	Item #	Page #	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
July 6, 10 AM (MT) through July 13, 9:50 AM (MT)	113474	194	Sizzix Big Shot Doctor's Bag	$69.95	$49.99

What a great deal!!  If you're interested in this item or any other for that matter, the new Idea Book & Catalog is featured in the top right hand sidebar of my blog.  It connects right to an online ordering option.  Choose me as your demonstrator upon signing in, and order away, 24 hours a day!  It's a very convenient way to place your order!

If you're not comfortable ordering that way, then feel free to call or email me your order and I'll place it for you. 

Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine and Dies Available Today!

Today, September 2nd, is a great, great day!  FINALLY, my customers can order their very own Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine!!  Everyone's been buzzing with excitement over the dies and the machine, and best of all, the beautiful and stylish carrying case! 

I haven't gotten my machine yet, and although I have the "old" Sizzix machine, I don't have the SU dies yet because I'm getting them with my machine.  So, in order to give you some samples, I've gone to the Stampin' Up! website and taken some of their project samples to show you.  This will give you a good idea of the types of things that you can do with the machine and the dies. 

You'll notice too, that the Big Shot photograph is in my left sidebar with all the Stampin' Up! catalogs and promotions.  When you click on the photograph of the Big Shot, you will be able to view the entire Big Shot Catalog!  And, when the Holiday Mini begins on October 1, you will have many more dies to choose from for the holidays!  You are just going to LOVE this new product line!!  Even though my Sizzix is old, I LOVE it, and love the ease of using it!  In 2006, it was the ONLY thing I asked for as a Christmas gift, and I must've been good that year, because I got one!The Big Shot is even easier than what I have, so I can't wait to get the new machine! 

Here are some of the Stampin' Up! Project Samples for you:

The first project is a birthday candy pouch, which is so perfect for a favor for any occasion!  The die that is used is the Top Note BigZ die.  The other Stampin' Up! products used are: On Your Birthday stamp set, Baja Breeze, More Mustard, Real Red, Whisper White card stocks, Baja Breeze Patterns Designer Series Paper, More Mustard and Real Red Stampin' Write Markers, and for accessories: Silver Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals, the Star Punch, and of course the Sizzix Big Shot for Stampin' Up!

Having little girls, and having to sew lots of patches onto lots of jeans, I'm LOVING this next project sample, a Little Girl's Outfit and Bookbag!!  How CUTE is that???!!!  I love it!  The dies used for this project are the Flower Layers W/Leaf BigZ die and the FLower Layers Originals Die.  The other Stampin' Up! products used are: Old Olive 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, and Buttons. Other non SU products used are: Fabric, Felt, Sewing Machine and Thread, Shorts, Tank Top, Bloack Crochet Thread.  Of course, you can't do this project without the Sizzix Big Shot for Stampin' Up!  I absolutely love this project.  What a neat project set to do for a girl's birthday party or for a class!  This project also illustrates how well the Sizzix Big Shot dies cut through materials like fabric and felt, in addition to so many other materials! 

Here's the last Stampin' Up! project sample that I'm going to share for now.  It's a Gratitude card, and it uses the Birds & Blooms Sizzlits Die 4-Pack.  It also uses many Stampin' Up! products: Define Your Life stamp set, Little Flowers Stamp Set, Baja Breeze, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron and Whisper White card stocks, Baja Breeze, Pumpkin Pie, and So Saffron Classic Ink Pads, and for accessories: Baja Breeze 5/8" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, Scallop Edge Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Chipboard, and of course, the Sizzix Big Shot for Stampin' Up! This is another great example of how the Big Shot can cut through so many materials.  Here, the Chipboard "G" is cut from one of the alpahbet dies, but it's not specified on the list, which alphabet was used.  I am guessing that it is the Serif Essentials set.  I'm sorry that I don't have a definite answer but I will look into this and get back to you!  I'd love to use some of our Designer Series Papers to die cut another G which would easily fit right on top of the chipboard G.  How pretty would that be?!!  And so easy!!

If you'd like to order your Big Shot Die Cutting Machine and Dies, contact me today!  Once you've viewed the Big Shot Catalog in my left sidebar and made your wish list, you can email me your order at jen@stampbythelightofthemoon.com.  I know you're going to love it too!