3D from convention and a personal note

This is the 3D swap I made for convention.  I used up all of the embellishment holders I had.  Each one was filled with peppermint and cinnamon hard candies.  My daughter Olivia helped me make them.  I was not sure what to make for a 3D, but these seemed to be fine. Kind of patriotic.  IRL, these do not look as splotchy as they do in the picture.  Maybe that's the flash? IRL, they just sparkle.

On a personal note:

Today is a special day.  Nineteen years ago today, I married my hubby.  Can you believe it!?! We have actually been together for 21 years.  In two more years, I will have been with Mitch longer than I was single.  Go figure.  He still makes me laugh, he still makes me feel loved, and he still makes me feel like I am THE luckiest woman to have married him.  He's a sweety! I am thankful for him EVERY day.  Together we can get though anything...we know. I love you Mitch!

Post Convention

I returned home from Stampin' Up! Convention last Sunday.  Those days at convention went by super quick! I missed my family terribly, but had a blast in SLC.  As I mentioned in y last post, I went to college in SLC.  It was great to see how the city has changed.  I went back to Westminster and looked around a bit too.  My, my, my Westminster has grown and prospered.  Good to see!  One of the great things about convention is the plethora of ideas! My head was swimming with trying to prioritize all that was coming at me!

I don't have a card to share today...just some pictures from Convention. Enjoy!

 This is the main entrance to the Salt Lake City Convention Center, called the Salt Palace.  Some very interesting architecture.

Stampin' Up put the decals on all of the doors.  I had to take the picture from the wrong side of the door because my camera could not understand the lighting from the other direction.  Here is the first of the many signs that reminds us that Stampin' Up! is not just a place to inspire, create and share, but also a place to grow--the convention theme.

Here are the sets of stamps ready to be picked up by convention attendees.  Man, I made out with a ton of loot at this convention!!!

This scene made me laugh. We get our bags and free stamps and new binder for our catalogs, and we all plop down wherever we can find the nearest seat and begin putting things together.  DO NOT get in the way of a SU gal with new booty! :-)

Me standing next to one of the ginormous flowers placed throughout the convention hall.  I love these flowers! You can see my new bag on my shoulder.  You're jealous now, huh!

Me and my friend Mary.  Mary talked me into going to convention.  I am actually a very shy person, and the idea of being at a convention made me near faint.  But she was persistent and had the support of my husband, so I went.  So glad!  Thanks Mary! We are inside Memento Mall buying up souvenirs and business items.  There were paper flowers everywhere! The umbrellas are cute, but a gal from Reno has little use for an umbrella. Almost bought one anyway! Hey, I was caught up in the excitement!

I spent the majority of my time with a group of demonstrators in Mary's upline and sidelines.  They are from Hawaii and they are WONDERFUL! We are on a tour of the Stampin' Up home office in Riverton, Utah.  Being a former librarian, I am always interested in how things are organized.  This plant, and how they get the orders filled absolutely fascinated me. Pictures L-R: Martha, Me, Lori (also a first time convention attendee) and Zeny (gosh I hope I spelled that right?)

The infamous Stampin' Up! rock.  I have seen many a demo pose here in blogs.  I had to pose too!

The kick off party for the convention had us wearing Gardening attire and hats.  I love the hats the Hawaii group put together! Aren't they cute?! Pictured in the center is Cindy--she is the upline for the group and she is super sweet.  Thanks Cindy for letting me hang with y'all! Pictured L-R: Lori, Cindy and Martha

Here's Mary in her hat.  Aren't they great?!

The main stage.  All I could say was "Wow." The colors of the stage changed each day, and the flower images behind the main stage grew and changed.  So very cool.

and finally a picture of what I love most about SLC--the Wasatch Mountains. 

Thanks for stopping in.  I'll have a card for you next time.

Kristine

Convention Bound

Convention Bound tomorrow.  Eight hour plus drive to Salt Lake City from Reno.  I went to college in Salt Lake, and I have not been back there for many a year.  I think the last time I visited was ...hmmmm...more that 20 years ago! Geesh, that was 2 stinkin' decades! Not years, my friends, DECADES! How did I become able to count by decades??? (mumble, mumble).  Anyway, I digress. Again. Convention bound!!!! Yes. That's exciting!  I have a couple more swaps on my desk to finish up, but not too bad. But rather than show you a swap for convention, I'm going to share the three cards we made at my Open House. 

This card is part of my new thing with one layer cards.  The set is the Level 2 hostess from the Summer Mini called Love and Care.  I LOVE this set! The design is almost a direct CASE of a card made by Sharon Field.



These cards were a great way to use up my DSP. Just think how versatile this layout is! Christmas paper and it's a Christmas card! Make the patterns male and put a "buckle" in place of the bow and you have a simple masculine card.  The sentiment can be anything you want. The DSP measures 1" x 3 1/2" in case that helps you CASE my card.

And the final card of the trio is a simple birthday card using markers for the stamping.  Want to know a secret? Shhhh.  This was the first time I used this set and now it's retired! Why does that happen? I really like this set and yet, it never saw ink. It really is baffling.  Well, at least it baffles me.  The layout and colors are a CASE from The Stamper's Den.

That's it folks.  I hope to see some of you at convention.  If you see me there, come say hi!!

Kristine

Yet another convention swap

I'm still making cards for convention.  Still!  I am not the kind of person who can make 100 or more of one card.  I start to get sloppy because I'm bored.  So I make 25 or so of each one.  Again I made a swap that was probably too time intensive.  Emboss this...sponge it all...worry it isn't right...start over.  You get the picture.  I tell you, my family is up for sainthood living with me.  The words most frequently out of my mouth right now are, "So, what do you think of this? How would you score it on a scale of 1-10?"  Yes, sainthood and nothing less is what they deserve.  I have not seen one eye roll nor have I heard a sigh of exasperation...well at least not from them.  My eyes are a rollin' around in my head and I sigh every couple of minutes as I stick my tongue out with concentration and design something.  Here's one of the cards from my stash.

This card is for a special swap which has the theme of flowers since the convention theme is garden related.  I didn't want to use the same sets most people would use...Fabulous Florets for instance.  Trying to think outside the box, I thought I would do my favorite flower, the daisy.  This card morphed so many times during it's birth that I was afraid I had a transformer on my hands.  But this is it.  I BE DONE WITH IT! Umm...so...on a scale of 1-10 how would your rate it? (Eye roll, sigh)

Tools of torture: (at least for this card)

Stamps: Teeny tiny wishes
Dies: Daisy 2 Die, Texture plate Backgrounds 1
Card stock: So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Inks: Chocolate chip craft
Accessories: Hemp twine, Gold Embossing powder (I did not heat it.  I used it as a glitter. Clever, eh?)

Another convention swap

My first convention swap had lots of pieces.  I vowed that the next boat load of swaps would be simpler both in style and assembly.  When I first saw the new hostess set Perfect Words, I had a card in mind for the sentiment of "Big Hug."  Here is my vision!

I think the card is stinkin' cute!  I always have thought that the bear in the set Under the stars is either

asking for a hug, or pretending to be a zombie!  I went with the hug option.  This card was super simple to put together.  I did watercolor A LOT of bears, but since it was only one color, not too difficult.  Water coloring can put me into a zen space... always a good place to be. :-)  His red glimmer paper heart is popped up on a dimensional.  Can't see the dimension in the picture, or the glitter.  Well, maybe a bit of the glimmer.

Recipe:
Stamps: Under the stars, Perfect words (new hostess)
Inks: Stazon  black, Early Espresso, Read Red, Crumb Cake
Card stock: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Vanilla, Natural Pack DSP, Red Glimmer Paper
Punches: Corner Rounder, Word Window, Small Heart, Modern Label, 1/4" circle
Accessories: 1/8" Early Espresso Taffeta ribbon

Still more convention prepping to do!  Off I go!
Kristine

A little Mojo

Happy Father's Day!  As happens every once in a few years, today also happens to be my birthday.  I turn 22 (cough, cough) today! Actually, I am 44 today and glad to be 44 rather than 22.

I have been working on my convention swaps today.  I have one to share!  It is based on the Mojo Monday sketch #195. It uses two new hostess sets from the upcoming 2011-12 Stampin Up catalog called Posy Punch and Perfect Words.  The Posy Punch works with the Fancy Flower Punch.  So easy peasy to punch out those posies!  I made a boat load of these.  But, you know what, there are a stinkin' lot of pieces to this card!!  Took me forever and a day to get them all assembled!  Two pieces ran through the Big Shot to be embossed, lots of sponging...I kill myself with work sometimes! But, I get that bee in my bonnet and stubbornly keep with the original plan to make a boat load to swap. 

I can't see the sponging in the picture? The middle circles are sponged as are the rims of the posies. The sentiment flag is also sponged. (They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Some of the words in this picture are missing since the picture is not clearly representing real life!) The leaves are actually the wings on the bird from the 2-step bird punch.  Love making the easy leaves.  Lots of gold brads too.  Six per swap!!  But I just likey the way they looky, so no changey, changey! 

Recipe:

Stamps: Perfect Words and Posy Punch (hostess sets from new catalog)

Embossing: Pattern 2 from the Perfect Details Texture Plate, Polka Dot EMF

Ink: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz

Card stock: Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz

Punches: Fancy Flower, 3/4" circle, 2-step bird, Eyelet border

Accessories: Gold brads, Victoria Crochet Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it!

Kristine



More One layer cards and the new In Colors 2011-13

Today is a quick post.  With my kids home, life is jumping! Good thing, right? I am also prepping for convention and for an Open House to say goodbye to the retiring items from Stampin' Up and hello to the NEW catalog.  Do any of you remember getting the Sear's Catalog as a child?  My mom would get one and I would hoard it for days, flipping pages and wishing on toys and clothes.  Well, the SU catalog brings back those same feelings.  Dreaming of that certain stamp...oh, I want that ribbon...I could really use that DSP....You get the picture.  Me and catalogs--we're just meant for each other. :-) 

If you would like to attend my Open House, (July 29 from 1-8) send me an email to let me know you're coming. (I'll send you the address.) We'll have three, free make and takes (from retiring sets), refreshments and we can all oogle the new catalog.  I live in Reno, Nevada in case you need to know that!  You can come from anywhere, but the Northern Nevada, Northern California area may be easiest.  hehehehe  (A shout out to my subscriber from Poland!)

Today I have three things to share.  The first two cards were cards we made at the One-derful One Layer Card class last month.   

I know...you're now kicking yourself for not signing up for the class.  Don't be too hard on yourself.  I'll have other classes. :-) I have three of the five cards we made available in my Online Classroom.  If you want to make the cards below, ...

 you can still sign up for the online class. You can stamp in your pjs at any time 24/7.  Click HERE for the details.

The final item for share is from another demonstrator, Dawn Olchefske.  She made some wonderful comparison charts for the new In Colors.  I'm thinking , "Why reinvent the wheel and make my own charts?  I'll send you her way to see her genius!" Click the picture below and you can see her charts.  So how close is the new Calypso Coral to the retired Cameo Coral.  Well, click on the picture and see!!

 

Well, that ended up not being such a quick post.  I guess I had more to say than I thought.  That doesn't usually happen ? (wink, wink)

Happy stamping my friends.

Kristine