Last mini album

Ok, I promised my students we would do 3 albums over 6 weeks and we ended up doing 5.  So, this last one was really struggling.  They liked the technique, but after just having moved into a new house, I was short on creativity.  This is what they made.

Ahhhhh, I can't find the tutorial I used for this and can't find it online!!!!  It was fun though :)  It has an accordion spine.

Clear Envelope Album

This album was fun to make and what a great use for our clear envelopes!  Here ya go!

 This was made with that wonderful Pear Pizzazz that is going away along with the scallop oval die.  I did teach one technique with this album.  You can't really tell, but the flower feels/looks like suede.  Here is another video on how to make suede flowers. 

Here is the video from You Tube on how to make this adorable album.

Next Album

Here is the next album we made in my UAH scrapbooking class.
Oh no!!  I forgot to take a picture of it.  Here is the picture of the one Jan made.

Here's the tutorial.  Click here.

College Professor

Starting in May, I was asked to teach a scrapbooking class at the local university.  I do not do scrapbook classes b/c I am now a die hard digital scrapper.  But, there wasn't a way for me to teach that software this time.  So, I thought I could do some easy brag books.  They turned out really great and the ladies were so proud of themselves.  I get a lot of joy from watching people be proud of their crafts!  We did 5 projects over a 6 week period.  Here's the first one.

I made these 2 for my children to give to my mom for Mother's Day .  They are so easy and very sturdy assuming you use sticky strip and nothing else.  Click here for the tutorial.

New Stampin' Up! Video

I am so excited!!  I am very blogger challenged, but I have finally figured out how to embed a video that I didn't  film onto my blog!  I will be sharing videos once a week that were created by the home office.  They do great videos!  This one is from Shannon West about our new firm foam ink pads.  It explains a lot!  Happy Viewing and have a great Memorial Day Weekend!  I'm off to the North GA Mountains to celebrated with my little Katie down on the farm!!!

Petite Purse Die

Ok, are those of you who did not take advantage of summer smooches in April mad at yourselves for not getting the petite purse die?  In the craziness of my moving, I didn't get my club order in til May 1st and you know what that meant....my peeps didn't get their dies!  I was so embarrassed!  Anywhoo, thank goodness that it will be available again starting June 1st.  Because then you can make all these awesome projects!

 This little guys was done with the the faux leather technique.  Use versamark all over the part you want leatherized, sprinkle clear embossing powder all over it and then use your stylus to make patterns in it.  Blow off the excess and use the heat tool to set!  I've seen ones much better than this one so just look around :)

 This one was made with lot of retiring stuff.  I was very sad to see the pleated ribbon go with the new catalog.  Stock up on that stuff!, the paper is the summer smooches DSP and the flower was made with the 3 layer punch that is retiring!  All very cute stuff!

This one took the purse down to 2 dimensions.  Very fun!  Got this one off stampin connection.  You can see the modern label punch has a little mat behind it.  Just punch out an extra label, cut it in half and spread it out to peek out from both sides.

Last but not least by any means is this adorable Petite Purse Square Box from Flowerbug's Inkspot.
 Give that one a shot!  Click here for the tutorial.

ArtStroll

So, as demonstrators, we are always very hesitant to get in on local craft shows.  My downline and I signed up to do the Botanical Garden Artstroll last month b/c it was a beautiful day with 100s of people looking around.  In the craft world, there is such a small group of us who really appreciate homemade paper items.  We all worked so hard on our projects to sell and were there all day.  Only sold about 8 things total.  If you have any suggestions on how to do better at those, we are ALL ears.  I was so proud of my girls!

Here was our booth that Dominique worked her magic on.  She really knows spacially how to make everything look beautiful!  Didn't help that it was a VERY windy day.

Here's a close up.

Let me just say I have hostess gifts for the rest of my career :)

All the items were very well thought out and beautiful, but I will have to say Caren's gift bags were my favorite!  I might have to do this at a club meeting!  Wouldn't you love to get a gift in these bags?

LOVE LOVE LOVE these!  Great Job Caren!

Katie is 2!

My little Katie turned 2 last week and we are celebrating big Memorial Day Weekend!  She loves farm animals so I went with that theme.  Lynn Pratt (stampndesign.com) has a wonderful tutorial for sale to teach you how to make these adorable cards or invitations as I used them.  There is also a barn box that I haven't made yet so you'll see that probably early next week :)

Is that adorable or what????  One thing I hated was this project uses so many punches and dies that are retiring.  I really only like to keep current SU! items, but there is still so much out there I want to make for my personal life.  A month from now I wouldn't have been able to make these for Katie and I would have been kicking myself!!!  What do I do?

My big girl wearing the outfit her GJ made for her!!  Kudos MOM!!!

I'm back!

Hello cyberspace stampers!  It is so good to be back on blogger :)  We have been in our new house for 3 weeks now so I am in a better place to resume stamping!  I have a whole room just to myself now and have had a lot of fun decorating every inch of it.  I'm still waiting for a few items to be delivered to hang on the wall and then I'll show you pictures :)  I hate it that I won't have the pictures of the vinyl I have ordered from SU!.  I was sorry to see the decor elements go b/c it always brightened up the space I put it in.  So, get on the retired list and get you some.  I'm hoping that even in June, these items will appear on the clearance rack, but who knows!

I'll start out sharing what I made for my mom for mother's day.  You can still get this tutorial in the May project list on Craft Project Central.  They have some adorable Father's Day projects too.  My husband is a rocket scientist and my dad is a mathematician.  I get so frustrated when I can only find tools, fishing and ties for father's day.  I guess that's just the way it is :)  I did make my dad a calculator one time and he appreciated that:)

Here is the card and matching birdhouse.  Lots of fun to make!

The birdhouse is a gift box and opens at the top!  A very fun project!  Get the eyelet border punch before it is gone forever!

Mother's Day Projects.

Well, this was a big bummer, but I wasn't able to drum up enough interest for my Mother's Day Class.

The Block project was featured in our Stampin' Success Magazine.  The blocks are retiring so get 'em while they last.

The Flower candy box and card were featured on Craft Project Central.  Go check it out.  I wish you could see that the pot is 3D and can be filled with a special treat.

Then the last project is one of my favorites.  I have seen it on several blogs and my friend, Stephanie, made some for our ArtStroll.  The middle is empty b/c I didn't want to buy any chocolate to keep at my house unless the class happened.  It didn't, so I didn't buy the candy.  But, I would have wrapped some hershey nuggets with matching DSP and put right in the middle.

The mini envelopes were made with our diagonal simply scored plate.  The pen is wrapped in DSP and then covered in microbeads.  Can't see that in the picture.

Now that you have seen all the projects, aren't you sad you didn't sign up for this class?  I am :(

New Catalogs

Here is some fun news!  Our Catalog system is changing.  That means the new catalog comes out June 1st!  Our main catalog will be cheaper and smaller AND..I can mail them to you ahead of time!

If you are in my club and decide you want to continue your club membership til Dec 2012, I will have your new catalog at club this month.

If you order $50 of product, I will send you a catalog for free.

You can buy one from me for $5 and it will ship out on the 14th!

Please let me know by the13th, which of these options you are interested in.

Here is some more info.

So what are the changes?

In a nutshell, starting June 1, 2012, Stampin' Up! will release one annual catalog, comparable to (but smaller than) the current Idea Book & Catalog, and two seasonal catalogs, comparable to (but larger than) the current mini catalogs.

Pretty simple, right? Here are the details:

Annual Catalog

• The annual catalog will run from June 1, 2012 (preorder in May) through May 31, 2013.
• The annual catalog will be reduced from over 240 pages in the current Idea Book & Catalog to 208 pages.
• The annual catalog will be printed on lighter-weight paper.
• Mailing Selector will now be available to send annual catalogs, and will remain open throughout the life of the catalog.  (that means, I can send you a catalog in the mail anytime during the year.)

Seasonal Catalogs

• The Occasions, Summer, and Holiday Mini Catalogs will be replaced by two seasonal catalogs called the Holiday Catalog and the Spring Catalog.
  • The first Holiday Catalog will run from August 1, 2012 (preorder in July). through the beginning of January, 2013
  • The first Spring Catalog will run from the beginning of January, 2013 (preorder in December) through May 31, 2013.
• The seasonal catalogs will be larger in both size (8 1/2" x 11") and page count (about 40 pages) than the current mini catalogs.
• Mailing Selector will remain open throughout the life of the seasonal catalog.  (I can send you one anytime during the catty's period instead of having to send them all out at the beginning)

More explanation

Here's a little more info about the new changes.  Order your favorite stuff now before you can't get it anymore.  I took this from Mary Fish's site.  She has all this info very well organized.  And with my move, I'm just glad I found the keyboard.

When you look at the retired accessories list, you'll note that all of our Stampin' Pads are listed. This is for two reasons: (1) Craft Stampin' Pads will now only be available in black and white; and (2) we are introducing a new Firm Foam pad in our Classic Stampin' Pads with the 2012-2013 annual catalog.

The Firm Foam pads offer better ink coverage and, in turn, better stamped images. They will be available for customer order on June 1.

In addition, please note the following changes in the new catalog, which explain some of the products appearing on the retired list:

• Only select Stampin' Write Markers will be available individually (Stampin' Write Markers in color collections will continue to be offered)
• 12" x 12" Textured Card Stock will no longer be offered.
• 12" x 12" Smooth Card Stock will only be available in select individual colors and color collections.
• Any item with an asterisk next to it is being reconfigured.  An example of this could be repackaging, as in the example above of the markers.
• Craft Ink Pads (other than black or white per above) and Craft Refills will no longer be offered.
• Classic Ink Refills (other than the retiring 2010-2012 In Colors) will still be available.
• Stampin' Spots are being discontinued.  Stampin' Up! may possibly reconfigure & sell some of the Classic Ink Spots.
• Other than the retiring 2010-2012 In Colors, the Stampin' Up! colors are NOT retiring.

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: 

Two items that were included on the Retiring Accessories List are not actually retiring. The lists have been updated s to remove these items.

208	108360	Craft Scissors
208	103579	Paper Snips

Love in the mail

I got this beautiful card from my friend Melina in the mail yesterday.  Even better....it had money in it!!  Melina used to be a demonstrator.  She obviously has mad skills and needs to come back to SU!  Leave a comment here telling her she needs to come back :)

Mini Catalog Carry Over

As you know, the Occasions Mini  has ended.  Wasn't that a fun one?  Here is the list of items from that mini that will carry over into the new catalog.  And, may I add, Thank Goodness!!!

Click here

More Carryover Sets

Because of the short time period between the end of the Occasions Mini Catalog and the launch of the 2012-2013 annual catalog, we have decided to make the carryover stamp sets available early--starting today!

The following stamp sets are available for purchase. We hope you will enjoy this extra little sneak peak to the annual catalog.

Stamp Set Name	Item Number
	Wood-Mount	Clear-Mount
Baby Prints	125470	125472
Love & Laughter	125475	125477
Bordering on Romance	125480	125482
Apothecary Art	125525	125527
Mixed Bunch	125535	125537
Tea Shoppe	125545	125547
Mouthwatering	125675	125677
Loving Thoughts	125843	125845
Salon de thé	125934	125936
Etiquetas florales	--	125941
Art floral	125964	125966

New Firm Foam Pads

Of course SU! chooses to release all kinds of information the week I move into a new house!  I hated it that I couldn't keep you guys updated as soon as I should have.  Just finally got my whole computer up and running.  So bear with me :)

You probably noticed there was a star next to all the stamp pads on the retiring list.  We aren't losing every color, just check this out and it should answer a lot of your questions.  Also, check here to see all the new lists of things going away.

NEW FIRM FOAM PADS FAQS

Q: Why did we switch from felt pads to firm foam pads?
A: We have worked very hard to improve the functionality of our Classic Stampin' Pads. The firm foam allows for better ink coverage; plus it stays juicer and lasts longer.
Q: Do old Classic Stampin' Ink Refills work with the new firm foam pads?
A: Yes, with the exception of Basic Black, Basic Gray, Marina Mist, Perfect Plum, and Tempting Turquoise, which have been reformulated to work with the new foam pad material. We do not recommend using old ink refills in these colors with the new firm foam pads.
Q: Before I use my firm foam pad, do I need to tap it and massage the ink around?
A:  No. The firm foam pads are ready for use immediately. The best stamping technique with the firm foam pad is light tapping.
Q: My pad is too wet. What should I do?
A: We suggest using a paper towel to remove some of the ink. The amount of ink in each pad is carefully monitored in production to ensure the two-year shelf life.
Q: The firm foam on my lighter color pads looks blotchy. Is this normal?
A: Yes. The blotchiness is caused by the characteristics of the pad material. It does not affect the stamped image.
Q: When I first stamp with certain colors, my images seem a lot darker. Why is this happening?
A: When stamping with your old pads, you had to work hard to get even ink coverage on your stamp. With the new firm foam pad, the stamp gets a lot more ink on it so when you stamp, your image will appear darker.  Once your stamped image dries, the color will look normal.
Q: When I compare the firm foam pads to my felt pads, some of the colors don't seem to match. Why is this?
A: The firm foam and felt will not match exactly. Ink reacts differently to different materials. We have quality checked each ink color to ensure that the stamped ink color is true.
Q: What is shelf life of the firm foam pads? How long will the pad last before I need to re-ink it?
A: Shelf life is two years from the manufactured date, which means if you do not use the pad for two years, it should remain well saturated. If you use the pad frequently, the pad may need to be re-inked before the two years.
Q: What is the best way to remove the color labels from the bottom of the ink pad?
A: Start at the right bottom corner (just above the barcode) and slowly peel the corner up by removing both layers.
Q: Which end of the case do you apply the label to?
A: The label goes on the end where you open the case.
Q: If the ink pad becomes saturated with ink or liquid, will it cause the label to fall off?
A: No, the label should not be affected. However, like most labels, if you pick at it or try and remove it, it may start to peel up.
Q: What are some additional features of the new firm foam pads that I can share with my customers?
A: See additional features below:

• The firm foam is nice and flat and will not become wavy.
• The firm foam material does not imprint on the stamp images like the felt pad sometimes did. However, because the firm foam material is a foam base material, the stamp image can momentarily leave an imprint on the pad, which can transfer to a second stamped image. By inking your stamp on different areas of the pad or waiting momentarily for the ink to rise back to the top, you can easily avoid this situation.
• The firm foam material is soft and has a nice bounce to it. It's not hard like the felt is.
• The ink lay-down (how the ink is absorbed into the card stock) is even, not blotchy, and dries quickly. It has an increased opacity and stamps solid images beautifully.

Q: Will the ink color collections include the newly formulated five colors (Basic Black, Basic Gray, Marina Mist, Perfect Plum, Tempting Turquoise) during the preorder in May?
A: They will include the new formulations of Basic Black (Neutrals) and Marina Mist (Subtles). However, if you are planning on purchasing the Neutrals, Subtles, or Brights ink color collections, we recommend you wait until June 1, at which time the new ink formula will also be available in Basic Gray, Perfect Plum, and Tempting Turquoise.
Q: Will Stampin' Spots use the new firm foam pad?
A: No. Stampin' Spots will remain the same.
Q: Can I use the reformulated ink with my Stampin' Spots?
A: Yes.

I hope this helps you understand the new changes :)