Final Day at Convention

Today was the final day at Convention and I am already looking forward to next year. 2013 will mark the 25th anniversary for Stampin' Up! and convention next year will definitely be an event not to miss. If you are a demonstrator, I hope you will join me here in Salt Lake City. If you are not a demonstrator, you still have time to sign up and join me!



Here's next year's dates so mark your calendar!



During closing session, Shelli Gardner and her daughter Sara used a fortune teller (who turned out to be the President Rich Jutkins) to announce the location of this year's grand vacation. Sara wasn't carrying anything and the only thing in Shelli's convention bag was some stamps but fortunately the fortune teller took stamps in place of money for his predictions. Turns out the grand vacation is a Western Caribbean cruise!



I will end this blog post with a WOW project displayed at convention. Can you believe someone made this dollhouse? If you look closely, you can see the siding is even made using our punches.



Here's a close up of the living area of the dollhouse. All of the furniture is made from Stampin' Up!'s fabric and the coffee table is made from card stock.



Here's a close up of the bedroom. Can you see the detail on the bed and dresser? They are made with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. Amazing work!

Tomorrow I return home and will be showing you lots of cards from convention as well as telling you all about my days in Salt Lake City so stay tuned!

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A Little Inspiration While I am at Convention

Hello again from Salt Lake City! Stampin' Up! is keeping us very busy with classes and stamping demonstrations that I have not had time to blog much. By the time I get back to the hotel, I call my husband and crawl into bed.

Today is the final session and I don't have an early morning class to get to so I thought I would post some cards to give you some weekend stamping ideas. It is Saturday, right?



Isn't this a pretty card using the Raining Flowers stamp set? This card was up on the Product Showcase boards so it was probably created by one of Stampin' Up!'s design team. I think it highlights our DSP so well.



When I first saw the peacock in the World Treasures stamp set, I wasn't drawn to it, but now that I have it and see so many cool cards with it, I just love it. How about you? The Fancy Fan embossing folder is another favorite. This card was also on the Product Showcase boards.

Do you want to see my swap cards? Here they are! This morning, I am down to five which were leftovers from organized swaps and I am hoping they will be gone by 10:00 am.



These three cards were made using Betsy's Blossoms in the three different color combinations. The Lucky Limeade ones swapped out quickest and the Tangerine Tango ones came in a close second. Poor Baja Breeze took some time to be chosen.



Here is my "pig" card using the Button Buddies stamp set. This card was a huge hit. I should have made a bunch of them! This one went within minutes of my swapping.



Here's one more of my swap cards. The butterfly is from the Papillion Potpourri stamp set. The border along the bottom is a portion of the Alhambra jumbo wheel. It is a simple card but I just love it.

Off to class now. Will post again soon!

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Lots of Inspiration and Goodies here in Salt Lake

Last night we attended an event hosted by Lisa Rodriguez, another demonstrator. There was a card swap, a box lunch/dinner and six make & takes. Plus we received a bunch of gifts from her! It was a great event and a great way to start convention.



Here's some of the sweets she provided to us to keep us going while making our make & takes. Her attention to detail was amazing!



Lisa had three areas made up with snacks and goodies for us. Here's the Halloween area. The basket holds little decorated packs of candies. The pinwheels on the right are pixie stix and the front basket held small cards she made.



This is the Thanksgiving area where she had the snack mix with a recipe card, as well as a card and another snack pack for each of us.



Here are the Christmas gifts we received from her. The santa's suits on the left hold a small bottle of hand sanitizer which is great here since there are almost 3,500 demonstrators. Certainly one or two will have colds, right? The santa's suits on the right are post it note holders and the ones in the back are note tablets. Pretty amazing that this one gal made all these for 115 attendees!



Here's a long distance peek at all of the cards on display which provide us with enough inspiration to last the year. Starting tomorrow, there will people three deep taking pictures of the cards. This year I was smart and took my pictures today when people were still arriving from all over the country. Over the next few days, I will post some of my favorite cards from the boards. I will also be posting the cards that I created to swap and some of the cards that I received in return. So check back often!

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Greetings from Salt Lake City

I am here in Salt Lake City for Stampin' Up!'s annual convention which started today with a tour of the main office and a class. The best part is catching up with friends from all over the United States.


Here I am with Rose Ellen Eastman and Stella MacKay who is my upline with Stampin' Up! Every year they have a prize patrol where they give away stamp sets during convention. I never have won but Rose Ellen ALWAYS wins! The great news is that she and I have the same color wristbands this year so I should be a shoe-in for a prize this year!

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Technique Tuesday .... Faux Patina

Today's technique is the Faux Patina technique introduced on Splitcoaststampers.  I absolutely love this technique and wonder how in the world someone came up with it!  Here goes:

 Here's what you will need:

• Whisper White cardstock
• Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Always Artichoke & Early Espresso ink
• VersaMark ink
• Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder
• Sponges
• Gold embossing powder
• Embossing buddy
• Heat gun

 Begin by inking up the top inside of your embossing folder and run it through the Big Shot. 

 Your cardstock will look like this.

 Next, take the Marina Mist ink and with a sponge add color around the edges of the embossed pattern.  You do not need to cover every bit of it.

 Next, take the Always Artichoke and repeat the same process on other areas so you make them look darker and more aged.

 Finally, take the Early Espresso and go over more areas making sure to leave some of the blue and green hues visible.

 Take the embossing buddy, and rub over your entire piece of cardstock.  You want to make sure that the cardstock is totally dry.

Next, take your VersaMark pad and using justs the corner of the pad, touch lightly over several areas of your design but not the entire design.



 Cover with embossing powder and heat.

 Here's your final product.  Notice how there are areas with the gold and areas are not - just like an old metal patina!

Here's the card that I made for it.  I used the Everything Eleanor stamp set for the flower and the frame.  The frame was colored by inking the stamp first in Crumb Cake ink and then using the sponges, I added the three other colors and then stamped on Whisper White cardstock and cut it out.

Here's the same technique but I used Baja Breeze, Marina Mist and Basic Gray over the Crumb Cake for my patina hues and Silver embossing powder instead of gold.  I think it looks just as pretty!

Stampin' Up!'s Floral Fillers stamp set...

Again, this is a set that I thought I would use alot but ended up using it very little.  A thank you to Stampcandy on SCS who inspired this card.  Here's the items on this card that have retired:

• Blushing Bride cardstock
• Concord Crush cardstock
• Pear Pizzazz cardstock
• Blushing Bride Pattern Pack DSP
• Eyelet Border punch
• Finial Press embossing folder
• Pear Pizzazz Poly Twill ribbon
• Blushing Bride ink
• Pear Pizzazz marker
• Concord Crush ink & marker

The only things current that I used?  Black StazOn ink, Whisper White cardstock and the Fancy Flower punch!

Stampin' Up!'s For Everything stamp set....

Have you ever had a stamp that just sat on your shelf until it retired?  That is this set for me!  I CASE'd this card from Karen Barber on Splitcoaststampers.  Thanks Karen!  Here's a list of the retired items used in this card:

• For Everything stamp set
• Pear Pizzazz cardstock
• Blushing Bride cardstock
• Cheerful Treat DSP
• Finial Press embossing folder
• Blushing Bride Poly Twill ribbon
• Pear Pizzazz ink
• Blushing Bride ink