Ciao!

I'm saying bye in Italian before I say hello, because I am leaving for Italy next Tuesday! Can I tell you how excited I am to be going on ths trip we've planned with  good friends for over a year? Well....pretty darn excited. As I write there are clothes in the washer, dryer and folded all over the bed. So many decisions to make.

But even with all that, I have worked late nights getting ready for the November Play Day and believe me we have lots to see and do. I'll post some of the samples I've been working on, but not all. I know we will be focused on Christmas cards, gifts and home decorations. Oh so much fun.

Here are a few shots to get your creative spirit in gear....

Do you like this antique look? There are a couple of punches here and the new seam binding ribbon with a little pearl bling. The inside and the envelope are just as pretty.

 This card showcases some of the designer series paper for the holidays and an embossed front, plus a punched edge. The red "belt" actually buckles inside the front of the card. There is bling on the polka dots and the snowmake is sitting in "fairy dust" to look like snow. So cute.  We always finish the inside of the card and the envelope to compliment the cards.

Here are a couple of cards made with the traditional holiday designer paper. Love the music notes and the new holiday background stamp. Used the background and the spotlight technique to pop out part of the design. Also used this same stamp to make this pretty tree decoration. The possibilities are endless and so much fun to make.

This last card is called a "joy fold" card because it opens twice! Quite unusual and really easy to make.

Hope some of these samples get you in the mood to create your own holiday cards.  We will meet one week later in November because of my travel on Saturday, November 13 at 2 p.m. I will send you an e-vite when I return. Hope you will make plans to come and play with me. Let's get our fingers inky!

Ciao!

B

Harvest Moon....

Have you peeked outside to see the harvest moon tonight? Gorgeous!  This month we will focus on Halloween (sorry Nancy!), Fall and Thanksgiving. I'll give you ideas and techniques to decorate your Thanksgiving table and fun cards to delight your family and friends for Halloween.

Fall is a favorite time of the year for me and I'm definitely looking forward to the cooler weather...The colors of fall will find their way into our projects this month. Have you tried Cajun Craze, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzaz or Concord Grape together? Perfect. And the dsp paper in all the fall colors is in a cardstock weight and makes up so pretty. We'll definitely do a couple of projects using that.

Last Play Day we actually make a Christmas card. Those of you who plan to WOW your family and friends with cards you've made will have several samples to see at ths month's Play Day to help you with your plans. We also learned a new technique called "thumping" and made a fall card. Here's some shots of some of our stampers getting their fingers inky...

Jan Guider

Nancy Oldham

Lynn Starnes

Don't they all look happy?  It's just fun being together, learning and creating beautiful projects we can share.

Here are a couple of photos of possible Play Day projects. I really haven't decided yet. There are many projects in the "works" the newest one is always my favorite. Here's one for the fall or Thanksgiving. The message is on a tag that pulls up from the top of the card. This stamp set is one of my favorites from the new Holiday Mini Catalog (if you don't have one yet, I'll have one for you at Play Day).

And here's a Christmas card to consider. It also has a layer that pulls up and out with your message. There is also room for a photo if you include one in your cards.  Don't know if you can see it well, but there is "fairy dust" on the holly leaves.  The ribbon is the new seam binding Cherry Cobbler...ties so pretty!

So, mark your calendar for Saturday, October 2nd at 2 pm to come to Play Day and get your creative spirit in gear for the season change and the upcoming holidays. It's all fun.

Let's get our fingers inky...

B

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Hey Everybody!

Well, if Hobby Lobby can have Christmas in July (I promise I was in there the first of July and they had Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations out)...then so can I. Play Day is Saturday, September 4th at 2 p.m. and we will be starting our Christmas card samples. In addition, we'll learn a new technique called "stamp thumping"...doesn't that sound fun?  It's not unusual for me to have lots of cards for birthdays, get well wishes, etc. But, not sympathy or for catastrophic life situations. So, I have the best little card for you that might be just the thing if you have a friend going through a bad time. You're going to love it.

Here's a shot of last month's Play Day with everyone looking so serious. I think they were reading instructions. We really did have a good time.

Here are three holiday samples to tempt you to come to Play Day. There are so many more to see. Hope you have all gotten your Holiday Mini catalog delivered last week. What was your favorite? I have samples of most everything. I especially love the new material that matches the designer papers. Hope to have some 3D projects for you and scrapbook pages, too.

You can't see it in this photo, but she has glitter on her hat and jacket. Wahoo! Jan, I know how you love glitter. This set is in the big catalog on page 36. She was stamped on watercolor paper and colored with blender pens. The kids in this set remind me of the Campbell Soup kids.lol

Can I tell you how fast this one goes together? Really fast. The new Elegant Lines embossing folder makes a beautiful background for the punched out ornament. And, how about the bling? So fast to attach. You may not be able to see in the photo, but the envelope is also embossed to match.

Another really fast and simple card with lots of pizzazz. The embossing folder Northern Flurry (from the Holiday Mini catalog, pg 26) was used on vellum cardstock over Baja Breeze cardstock. You can really see in this photo how the envelope was embossed to match. A little button and bows and you're done!

So I hope to see you all on Saturday the 5th. I'll be sending you an e-vite to respond to. Please let me know by Wednesday, August 31st if you'll be here so I can have your project supplies ready for you. There will be some surpris

Final Convention Day...

Well, tomorrow will be the last day of convention. It's been a wonderful experience and I can't wait to share everything I've learned and seen.  I hope you felt you have sort of been here too.  See all these girls "bright-eyed and busy-tailed" at 7:30 am with music blasting "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". We must all be nuts...but in a good way.

So look what I won at the morning session...it's a stamp set and new punch from the Holiday Mini Catalog coming out next month. Wahoo! We'll all have fun with this one. There were several demonstrations using both.

After the morning session and lunch, spent more time in the display areas taking more photos. Should have quite a slide show for you to see. Here's what the dining area looked like during lunch. They had six chocolate fountains with fresh fruit, macaroons, lady fingers for desert. Yummmmm!

Here's a display of chocolates you wouldn't believe if you saw it in person. Took a closer shot so you could identify some of the SU! products.

Who thinks of these things? Yes, Jan it's all paper and ribbon and pearls. Unbelieveable.

After lunch was the Make n Take class I helped with. It was fun and met some nice people from all over this country. That was 2 hours then off to my last class.

The "Evening to Remember" dinner and swap started at six so I was hustling to make it on time. Great food, beautiful facility inside the Temple square. Got 50 more incredible cards for you and took a quick shot of the Temple on my way out. Can you see the wedding couple on the other side of the pond? There was two wedding going on simultaneously.

Here's a shot of the girls from Massachusetts at the Evening to Remember. I met them the first day on the bus to the plant. They were a real hoot!  Do you see the little frogs sitting in front of us? That was one of the MNT's for the evening. Too funny!

So that's my convention experience. If you've followed along, hope you enjoyed the ride.Come to Play Day on Saturday, August 7th at 2 p.m. There will be tons of things for you to see. Let's get our finger inky !

CU

B

Day Three...Oh My!

Opening Session, Main Stage

Just returned to the hotel. It's 9 pm here (11 pm at home) and I'm hysterically exhausted. I left this room at 7:30 this morning! Most of the day was spent in classes. The opening session on the main stage this morning was Broadway show orchestrated...amazing! Then a quick lunch and off to the WOW swap I had signed up for. Wait til you see these cards. There are so many talented ladies out there all over this country. Can't wait to share with all of you. After the swap I ran to a great class (learned so much!) and after two hours went to the last class of the day. Slipped out a little early to get to the "demo boards" to take photos of so many outstanding ideas.

This is one of the aisle with the demo boards. There are three isle all together. Can you stand it? However, I did find one of my cards on one of the boards. Knocked me out! I want to just show you a couple of things to tease you a little.

Made from paper! Can't imagine the hours in that. I tried to take lots of shots of Christmas stuff, baby stuff (for Jan), the new material that's coming out in the next mini catalog (for Karin who loves to quilt), lots of home decor things. There just so much to see here.

This sunflower made entirely out of dsp was about 15" square. It was beautiful. Again, how much time did that take to make?

Someone took this shot for me at a staging area. "Share what you love" is the convention theme this year. Ok, that's it for today. Got another full day tomorrow with the "Evening to Remember" tomorrow night. I'm going to go look through the 150 swaps I got today because I'm sure sleep isn't coming soon.

CU tomorrow

B

Day Two at Convention

Oh my goodness...wish you all had been with me today. Here's the schedule:
8 a.m. Memento Mall - VIP Entrance - Lots of great SU! shopping
9 a.m. Convention Bag Pick Up - Lots of new stamps!!!
10:30 Make & Take Training Class - Four new stamp sets!!! Six MNT projects made (I'll share with all)
12:30 Quick bite of lunch
1:15 Class at convention site
3:00 Plant Tour - Would I ever like to work at this site!
4:30 Dinner with newly met friends from Massachusetts
6:30 Flower Power 80's Party @ convention center

It's now 9 pm and I'm really tired but so excited about everything I've done, seen and learned today. Here's some photos I took with you in mind.

This is the line which stretched out of sight to get into the Memento Mall. But,....

Because I had this cute little flower on my name tag, I could get in one hour ahead of all these people through....

The VIP Entrance!

Shopping is fast and furious. There are limits on most everything until the last day. There are a couple of things I hope to go back and get. Here's what checkout looked like:

I hope Joe isn't reading my blog. I did stay within my budget though lol!

This is the 2010 convention bag filled with free stamps and stuff. Cool, huh?

These are all my free stamps so far. Wouldn't you like to be here next year? I promise to share...

This is a sample of card swapping. It's a lot of fun.

Plant tour entrance to Stampin' Up! plant. It was beautiful, much bigger than I imagined and I'd love to work there. This is a great company (because it's run by a woman?) I'm just sayin'....

Last shot for today. I hope to get out and get some shots of Salt Lake City for you. Especially the Temple Square as they call it here. I have loads of shots of projects and techniques I will share with you at Play Day. I'll be so excited, you'll probably have to peel me off the ceiling. But it's all fun.

Until tomorrow...

B

Salt Lake City!

What a great travel day. Each flight and connecting flight was on time and smooth riding. From Atlanta to here is a 4-hour ride....Oh my goodness, I had a hard time sitting still that long.

When I got to the gate in Atlanta, I found nine demonstrators waiting for the flight. How did I know they were demonstrators?  Well....they were madly snipping and snailing away on their swap cards.  They were from everywhere - Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Macon, Greenville, Asheville. We had a great time just talking.

Here are a couple of shots from my hotel room window. The mountains here are topped with snow even though it was 92 degrees here today. The second shot shows how close the convention center is to the Hilton. I need to be there at 8 am in the morning....yipee!

I met a couple of girls waiting for the hotel shuttle and we decided to go to dinner. We were all starving because it was 7 pm for us. It ended up being eight of us and we had a great time. The girl in the center here has a dual demonstratorship in the US and France. She was so interesting. The girl on the left is from Kansas City and we're meeting in the morning, and the girl on the right is from Greenville and this is her first convention. Great meal, great company.

So tomorrow, I need to be at the Memento Mall and hour before it opens. They are letting the group who is helping with the Make n Takes shop an hour early. Oh boy! Then a training session from 10:30 to 12:30, lunch and two classes in the afternoon. Tomorrow night is the Eighties Flower Power event. I'll have lots more pictures for you then.

CU

B

Come With Me To Convention!

I'll be blogging daily about my convention experience. Thought it would be fun for my stampers to attend and experience some of what I'll see and learn. I've smoked up my studio trying to get all my swap cards made.

Here's the beginning of one of the cards. See how messy it gets trying to make 200 cards at once? I sure wouldn't want you to see my studio right now. I'll need to do some serious housework before our next Play Day.

This swap had a little fancy fold, embossing on one layer, popped up hand-cut message, a little Blushing Bride ribbon and can you see the little bling rhinestone at the top of the cage. Everything on this card is from the new catalog.

Here's the second card...all six layers of it. It was more time consuming because I used craft ink and white embossing powder. Craft ink takes FOREVER to dry. But, I think it turned out pretty and I hope it stands up to the national competition.

So I'm all packed. Left plenty of room to bring back loads of stuff for you to see. I'll have a slide show and all 200 samples at the next Play Day to share. As you can see, Zoe is not too happy when the suitcases come out. She has been on my heels all day.

So until tomorrow night when I'll be writing to you from Salt Lake City....

CU

B

It's hereeeeeee!

Tracked my demonstrator order everyday for five days knowing my new 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog was included in the preorder shipment. The day it was due to arrive, everything that needed to be done that day was done early in anticipation of the 3 p.m. delivery. Zoe (my little Jack Russell) hates the UPS truck. She can hear it as soon as it turns into our little community.  I kept asking her "Where's the brown truck?"

The delivery was late...right into dinner time. Poor Joe knew better than to ask me "What's for dinner?" I've been immersed in all the new stamps, colors, ribbons, buttons, antique lace....it goes on and on. Here's a photo of what my catalog now looks like. See all those tags? Those are ideas for classes coming up. You guys are going to love this new catalog.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Just so excited about all the new stuff! The Play Day class in June was so much fun. We started out our summer with flower lei's made from the new die in the Summer Catalog. Then we played "Win It in a Minute". Have you seen that new game show? The trick was to move six m&m's with a straw from the counter to a bowl. It didn't take Sheree Firth long to move those m&m's. Must be all those Pilates classes that gave her all that hot air! I'm just sayin"...She won a new stamp set for all her hard work.  Then we set to work on our three projects. We used all new stamps and colors from the new catalog. We talked a little about where to find inspiration for color combinations and I shared where I find some of my ideas. Each month we learn a new technique. Jan Guider had requested we make a card using the "black magic" technique, so we did that. Then we made a Father's Day card with the motorcycle single stamp in the summer catalog and a pretty pink card with the Watercolor Trio stamp set. Here's everyone concentrating on their work.You can't see Elaine Plemons in this photo, but we are all thinking of her this month as she has double knee replacement surgery.

Ok, I'm getting packed to go see my g'kids who live in Tampa tomorrow, but I have been working on some ideas for next class. I'm not sure how well these photos show it, but the new designer series paper is absolutely knock your socks off gorgeous! Here are the samples. I hope you enjoy looking at them and are inpired to get your fingers inky, too. I'll be sending you an e-vite for the July 3rd Play Day. Remember, I do not charge for my classes (lots of demonstrators do). All your materials to make your samples are free. I do hope you will be inspired to purchase supplies to make your own creations, or to host a workshop in your home. I will be elated to come and demonstrate to your family or friends. Any sales from the party will earn you free merchandise, not to mention the gift I bring along for you. I even have the postcard invitations for you to send out. Talk to me if you're interested in earning free merchandise. And, if you're interested in becoming a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I can help you get started. Ok, now really here are the samples...Merrily stamping in my studio...

Billie