Directions for Photo Explosion Box

This past Friday night, I hosted a stamp camp at my home. A few of the participants wanted the "recipe" for the Photo Box project. Well, your wish is my command! It is sometimes hard for me to put my thoughts into words but I will give it a try. If the directions are unclear, please feel free to call or email me and I will do my best to get you thru it!

Box:
piece 1 (outside) - 7 1/2" x 7 1/2" scored at 2 1/2" & 5" in both directions
piece 2 (middle) - 6 3/4" x 6 3/4" scored at 2 1/4" & 4 1/2" in both directions
piece 3 (inside) - 6" X 6" scored at 2" & 4" in both directions

cut out all 4 corners on each piece - this will make it look like a plus sign (+) and keep your scraps to mat the other colors. When you stamp the outside piece, keep in mind that you will be folding the sides up and don't stamp it upside down (way to go, Angela!).

Lid:
3 1/2" x 3 1/2" scored at 1/2" on all 4 sides.
Make slits on one side of each corner to make a tab to fold in and punch for a brad. Decorate the lid as you would like.

You can fill the box with little cut out pictures of family and friends. It would be cute sitting on your desk at work! It would also make a nice teacher's gift or secret pal gift. Have fun with this one and don't forget to call me if you get stuck!!

Something for me

I wanted to show you all what my good friend, Neal Ann, made for me! Isn't it cute! She knows how much I love ribbon and made this cute, girly ribbon jar for me. I just love it because it makes my stamp area look pretty as well as being functional! Thank you Neal Ann - you rock!!

Love Candle

My project for today was a valentine candle. I thought it would make an adorable teacher's gift! Here is a quick refresher course on how to stamp candles:
1) Stamp images on tissue paper
2) trim images closely
3) lay images where you want them on candle (affix one at a time)
4) wrap wax paper around candle
5) heat the image with a heat gun until you can see that it has melted into the candle just slightly, it will look shiny. **don't heat too much or you will melt the candle***
6) remove wax paper and use a new wax paper sheet for each image that you want on the candle. If you can still see the tissue paper when you remove the wax paper just lay the wax paper back down on it and heat a little longer.

Note**a hair dryer will not work for this project, you will have to use a heat gun, preferably a stampin up gun!!

SU! updates

As a demonstrator, I get a magazine each month from stampin up. I am going to start posting each month when I get a magazine on the updates. That way, my readers will know about upcoming events and products as well as tips and tricks almost as soon as I do.

For February:
-Have you ever considered purchasing a "Simply Scrappin" kit? Each kit contains 12 sheets of 12x12 card stock (8 solid, 4 patterned) and 6 sheets of 6 x 12 self adhesive die cuts. All of these pieces are color coordinated and contains enough materials to make at least 20 cards or plenty of scrapbook pages. There are also coordinating stamp sets that can be purchased separately.

- Sell-a-bration is still going on thru the end of Feb. Get a free stamp set or simply scrappin kit from the sell-a-bration catalog with a $50 purchase.

-For those of you interested in becoming a demonstrator, even if just for the discount, SU is now offering a mini kit for $99. This kit has been mostly designed for those who have already purchased a lot of stampin up product in the past but is available to anyone. You only have a $300 (retail) quarterly minimum to stay active.

-SU! will now be offering semiannual catalogs instead of annual. the Fall/Winter collection will be available in July '07 with the Spring/Summer becoming available in January '08. The catalogs will be 208 pages. Sets that are out of season during the sales period will be removed but still available for purchase unless the set has been retired. They will also reduce the mini-catalog program from 4 per year to only 2. I know what you're thinking..."Now I have to buy 2 catalogs a year", while this is a true statement, just think of all the fresh ideas you will get every 6 months! I think it is very exciting.

That's it for updates in the current issue of Stampin Success. Please contact me if you have any questions or are interested in any of the offers.

Ah-choo!!

I made some really cute get well cards today to take to work to sell to my coworkers. I received a card similar to this in St. Louis at our SU! conference and I just changed the colors/patterns up a bit. I want to send a big thank you out to the original creator. This card uses the Under the weather set and the word window punch and that is it (besides the tissue!). What a simple card that is sure to get a WOW!!

Simple Valentines

I have started working on some Valentine's Day cards the past few days and I have struggled with them. I think I have an idea in my head but I just can't get it to come out on the paper! I am not real happy with these but thought I would share what I have. So far, the faux postage Valentine that I posted a week or so ago is my favorite.

Weekly Challenges

I was wondering if you all would participate in some stamping/scrapbooking challenges if I put that on the website. For example, I may put a challenge for next week on the board to do a scrapbook page in red,white, and black. You do not have to make them totally Stampin Up, use whatever you have on hand. I would like for you all to submit pictures to me if you have a scanner or digital camera and maybe once a month I will pick one for a prize (free snail, pack of paper, etc.). I just want to keep you all inspired and stamping/scrapping and sometimes you may need a little push in the right direction. Please let me know if this is anything you would be interested in doing. Hope you all have a great week.

Stampin Up! News

Stampin' Up announced yesterday that there will be a new semi annual catalog in the coming Stampin' Up year. Also, instead of 4 mini catalogs each year there will only be 2. The good news about the Idea book & catalog is that they will remove the off-season stamp sets so that way you can find what you need more easily. They will offer new hostess sets with each catalog and that will give you a chance to receive more free stuff! I am excited about this new program and I hope that you will be too. I haven't heard about the price of these catalogs yet but will keep you posted.

Stampin' Up will also be offering a new mini starter kit for those of you that would like to be a Stampin' Up hobbyist demonstrator or for those of you that already have tons of supplies. The price of the kit will only be $99 and those that sign up will still receive all of the same benefits as any other demonstrator. So, if you would like to receive up to 40% off your Stampin Up wish list contact me!

I hope you all have a good weekend. I am planning on working on some valentines for school kids and our hubbies so stay tuned!

A Poem for Husbands

I received this cute little poem from my upline and I really got a kick out of it. I know all of the husbands out there can appreciate this! Enjoy!

She learned to stamp on Monday
Her embossing was quite fine.
She forgot to set out dinner,
So we went out to dine.

She brayered backgrounds Tuesday
She says they are a must.
They really were quite lovely
But she forgot to dust.

On Wednesday it was birthday cards
She says that chalking's fun.
Shading, blending, and watercoloring...
But the laundry wasn't done.

Her card swap was on Thursday
Using green and blue and red;
I guess she really was engrossed,
She never made the bed!

It was shaker cards on Friday
Using techniques she just adores,
But she never seemed to notice
The crumbs on all the floors.

I found a maid on Saturday!
My week is now complete
My wife can stamp the hours away;
The house will still be neat.

Well, it's already Sunday,
And my forehead's feeling damp.
I cursed, I raved, and I ranted--
The MAID has learned to stamp!!!

Stamp Space

Every girl needs her very own stampin space. I wanted to share a picture of my stamp space, mainly for those of you that have not been to my house! My hubby put these cabinets in for me back in the Spring and I love them. I did have my scrapping stuff here too but my stamping took over and I had to move the scrapping back to the desk in my bedroom. I try to keep it nice and tidy like this but that doesn't always happen. I have all of my stamp sets in the drawers to the right. My punches are in the little boxes on top of my filing cabinet. There is a table that you can't see that has "milk crate" style boxes on them with all my cardstock in hanging file folders filed by colors. I bought the ink pad holder from a man on the internet. I really like it because it doesn't take up much space and I have all of my inks right there in front of me. That's it for today, hope you all are having a great week.

Smile

My grandmother and aunt are both having surgery this coming week so I sat down today to make some cards for them to let them know that I am thinking of him and wishing them a quick recovery. I chose the petal pushers set using perfect plum, apricot appeal, and pretty in pink to make a sweet, cheerful card. I used the "rock & roll technique" for the flower's bloom. If you are not familiar with this technique, it is where you take a stamp (like the flower) ink the stamp with your lighter color first and then "roll" the stamp's edge in a darker color. I could have also used a darker pink. I like to do all kinds of different techniques to make my cards unique!

I am starting a ribbon club this month and wanted to extend the invitation out to my subscribers that are not my local customers. In this club, you would get 5 colors of the stampin' up! grosgrain ribbon - 3 yards of each color - each month for 4 months. The cost for my local customers is $6.00 per month, for orders that would have to be mailed the cost will be $6.75. At the end of the club you will receive the remaining 3 colors (3 yards of each) for free. That is 69 yards of ribbon all together which will give you enough ribbon to do tons of projects. Contact me by January 19th if you are interested in joining the ribbon club.

Mommy Time!

Gary was gracious enough to give me some mommy stamping time tonight - yippee!! I worked on the technique that I will be teaching at the January camp. It is called faux postage and it is really precious! All of the details are on Splitcoast if you want to take a sneak peak. Our next camp may be a little time consuming so be prepared to stay awhile! Hope you all enjoy this one as much as I did (it doesn't take much to excite me!).

Let's get back to stamping!

I tried and tried yesterday to stamp and someone (named Jarren) wouldn't let me. He was into everything, I couldn't turn my back for a minute. I really thought I would get a lot done on my days off for the holiday. What a joke. I only have one card to show for my efforts. I did manage to get this one camp card completed. It uses the "Eat Cake" set. I originally started out looking at the project with the Ruff Day set on page 144 in the catalog. Isn't it funny how you can start out CASEing something but by the time you are finished it is your original!?! I would love to hear some feedback about it. If you all vote for this card for a camp project, let me know.