Watercolor Trio and Sweet Lenas

May 26, 2010April 26, 2017Leave a comment

You know how you get excited for Spring to come around the beginning of April when the first sunny day gets above 50 degrees, so you pack up all your winter clothes and cheerfully pull out your short-sleeves and flip-flops? Then there comes a few days when you have to layer some of those clothes because Mother Nature pulls a trick on you and the temperature plummets below 30 again. Well, here in Utah, that tricky lady had a great chuckle yesterday when she set a record for the latest snowfall on record since 1979 (which, btw, was May 17 of that year).

So, needless to say…I am READY TO WELCOME SPRING!!! So to entice Mother Nature to send a little more sunshine, here are a few lovely spring card samples using the Watercolor Trio stamp set from the Summer Mini Catalog and created by some talented demonstrators for the Summer Mini Swap I recently hosted. First, from Kim Innis, a rejuvenating orange beauty:

Next is a card using the Scallop Circle die (for the Big Shot) as a creative accent by Dawn Hill, one of my SU! “Grand-daughters”

One more thing I would like to share with you today, another sign of spring: My Sweet Lena Iris! I *wish* you could smell these flowers…they have such a sweet fragrance, you would believe they would be as sweet as sugar to the taste!

My husband picked up one of these plants as a gift for me when we lived in the Seattle area about 12 years ago. We have planted them and divided them among friends and neighbors in each place we have lived since then and they grow without much effort on my part (thank heavens). If you come by my house in the next few weeks, stop and smell the Iris!

Graduation Inspiration (Swap, pt. 2)

May 17, 2010April 26, 20172 Comments

Since it’s that time of the year, let me share some ideas for Graduation cards that were shared in our Summer Mini Catalog Swap, starting with a card by Tina Taves using both the Go, Graduate stamp set and Happy Grad single stamp. I really liked the window sheet peek-through:

Next is a card by Roseanne Urbanc from the Go, Graduate set:

And one from Ann Olsen (my Stampin’ Up! “daughter” and dear friend):

And finally, this beauty by Kimberly Meyers…I really like the fact that the Happy Grad stamp is only $8.95 and by adding a punched star and brad, you have a totally cool card:

Don’t forget that you can order these stamps 24/7 on my SU! website!

Summer Mini Swap, Elements of Style

May 12, 2010April 26, 2017Leave a comment

I have been sorting and sending out a huge demonstrator card swap and it was much more work than I anticipated, but the results are stunning! I am going to share a few of the cards here on my blog over the next few days, but to get the full effect you need to see them in person (and you could do that by hosting a workshop anytime before July 31st!).

These cards were all created with stamps from the Summer Mini Catalog (click on the link in the left column to download the Summer Mini Catalog).

Let’s start with MY card 🙂 This stamp set is called Elements of Style:

Elements of Style by Debbie Greuser (one of my Stitched Stamper Demonstrators!):

And just for fun, here is a card made with this same stamp set by Shelli Gardner, CEO and co-founder of Stampin’ Up! that she shared at Leadership in January:

Come back for more Summer Mini Samples soon!

Royal Blog Tour: Sweet Scoops (of Ice Cream)!

April 30, 2010April 26, 201743 Comments

(UPDATE May 4: Scroll down for Blog Candy Winner!)

Welcome to my UTAH Ice Cream Castle along the Royal Blog Tour featuring the SWEET SCOOPS stamp set from the Stampin’ Up! Summer Mini Catalog!

Confession: I have an incurable sweet tooth, and when it comes to stamps of food…I’m totally addicted! On the last blog tour, I used cupcakes, so it only follows that you need ICE CREAM with your cake, right? Did you know the average U.S. citizen consumes an average of 5 1/2 gallons of ice cream each year?

The petite size of these “cones” make perfect gift tags. More trivia: More ice cream is sold on Sunday (Sundae?) than any other day of the week!

Is your mouth watering yet? I call this card Double Dippin’ (kudos to fellow princess Tami F. for the card pattern!) The sentiment is from the stamp set A Little Birthday Cheer and I’m so happy that Baja Breeze is one of the colors returning to Stampin’ Up!’s new color palette in July 🙂

This next card is called Cherry Topper ~ have you ever had a dipped cone? Scrumptious! But at one time, it was illegal to serve ice cream on top of cherry pie in Kansas…

To make a “shiny” ice cream cone (like the Cherry Topper), just add Crystal Effects over your stamped image (Dazzling Diamonds glitter, optional).

Here’s the scoop: 25% of Baskin Robbins’ ice cream sales are Vanilla! This card covers the other 30 flavors (sentiments also from A Little Birthday Cheer):

So, dear traveler, if you are refreshed by your stop here and would like to enter to win my BLOG CANDY (yum…another food related metaphor!), please subscribe to my blog and/or newsletter in right column (U.S. non-SU! demonstrators only, please) and you could win the Lots of Thoughts stamp set and Tag Punch (shown below with one more Sweet Scoops sample)! That’s better than a hot fudge and caramel sundae, and with much fewer calories 🙂

If you enjoyed your visit, please leave me a comment! Don’t forget to collect clues along the Royal Path to enter the BIG SHOT drawing at the Royal Blog Tour homepage, and if you are ever in Utah, let’s go out for ice cream!

MAY 4th~Drum Roll please….and the Blog Candy Winner is:

GALE SEWELL!

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments, joining my newsletter and following my blog!

Peek: Spring Stamp-a-Stack

April 14, 2010April 26, 2017Leave a comment

Stock up on beautiful hand-made cards at the Stamp-a-Stack class! Since you’ll be creating 4 different cards (and making 4 of each one), you’ll have one to keep and THREE to give away 🙂

Saturday, April 24

10 a.m.-Noon

Down Spendlove Lane

Spanish Fork, UT

16 cards for $20

Bring scissors and adhesive. All other material will be cut/prepared for you. Stamping is always more fun with a friend, so when you register with an adult friend I haven’t met, I will give you a FREE SNAIL adhesive refill! Space is limited, so register by April 19: 801-376-8685.

Make it a day of creativity and stay for the afternoon Stamp Camp!

Hearts for Haiti and Under Bed Disaster Kit

January 27, 2010April 26, 2017Leave a comment

My heart goes out to those in Haiti who have suffered loss and pain. So many are left without families, homes or even basic necessities like food and water. I have made donations and hope to continue to do all I can to help. As we assist the people of Haiti and help them rebuild, I pray we can also help them prepare for future crisis and become a strong independent nation. Since Utah has it’s own active fault line, I have pulled out information from the newspaper to help my family prepare for an emergency like this, as well. (READ ON to learn what YOU should keep under your bed to be prepared in an emergency…)

At times like this, I am grateful to represent a company like Stampin’ Up! who has created 5,000 hygiene kits and are donating $2 from the sale of every I {heart} Hearts stamp set (through February 28th) to the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund, which will be used to provide immediate relief as well as long-term support. Here are a few samples using this set (available in wood mount-$26.95 or clear mount-$18.95):

I love the simplicity of that card 🙂

We’ll be making this card at the Stamp-a-Stack class this Saturday 🙂

Have a Heart, Share Some Love! If you would like to order this set and do some good for Haiti, go to my website and click “Shop Now” on the top right under my name or give me a call 801-376-8685.

Now, as promised, I recently learned that if you were sleeping when an emergency happened (such as an earthquake, tornado or hurricane), most likely you won’t have time to find what you need or can’t see to find these important items. Take just a few minutes this week to assemble this kit and BE PREPARED! This is NOT your 72 hour kit (which I hope you have and may also want to keep close at hand or in your car), but a 72 SECOND Disaster Kit. Not only is it CREATIVE, but it just may save your life. If you have children, help them make one, too.

Under Bed 72-Second Disaster Kit –

Keep items in a Bag/backpack (this will prevent glass and other debris from getting in your shoes)

Sturdy Shoes
Pair of Socks
Emergency contact list
Whistle (to attract the attention of emergency personnel)
Dust mask (Useful in fires and earthquakes)
Work gloves (To protect your hands when moving glass or debris)
Several bottles of water
Flashlight (Don’t use if you smell gas)
Light stick on a lanyard
Pry bar
Portable radio with spare batteries

On Bedside Night Stand Keep:
Extra car keys
Cell phone and charger
Glasses
Wallet

Joy…clean and simple

December 11, 2009April 26, 20171 Comment

I followed this Clean & Simple layout pretty faithfully…
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Supplies by Stampin’ Up!: Very Vanilla and Old Olive card stock, Real Red craft ink, clear embossing powder, Merry Moments Designer Series Paper, Delightful Decorations stamp set, Ornament and 1 3/4″ circle punches, Gold elastic cord, Read Red polka dot grosgrain ribbon

Dasher: FTL70

December 1, 2009April 26, 20171 Comment

Finally got new batteries for my camera and I’m back with another Fall-to Layout by Clean & Simple! Here is FTL #70 Sketch:

and here is my version using the Dasher stamp (the most popular Stampin’ Up! stamp right now!):

Supplies by Stampin’ Up!: Very Vanilla, Real Red, Old Olive card stock, Merry Moments Designer Series Paper, Chocolate Chip craft ink, Real Red classic ink, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Dasher stamp and Old Olive taffeta ribbon.

My Digital Studio: Christmas Card

October 29, 2009April 26, 2017Leave a comment

Sharing my first card that I created in the new “My Digital Studio” (MDS) software from Stampin’ Up! This is a great solution to all your digital crafting needs: You can create Scrapbook Pages, Bound Scrapbooks, Calendars, Multimedia Programs AND cards with MDS! You can incorporate photos, videos, Stampin’ Up! images/accessories/paper/embellishments, music and even link to web pages (on the multimedia side of the software). I’m working on getting “certified” to be able to show you more. I’ll try to share more as I play with it 🙂

Inspire: FTL64

October 20, 2009April 26, 2017Leave a comment

I love a challenge, especially a “simple” one 🙂 See the Clean & Simple Fall-to Layout #64 sketch:

I wanted to use this Big Shot Die on something, so here is my version (sideways) of the sketch:

Supplies (by Stampin’ Up!): Very Vanilla, Rose Red and Old Olive card stock, Bird with Leaves & Flower Die, Big Shot, Thoroughly Modern Designer Series Paper, Charming Stamp Set, En Francais background stamp, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive ink, Two-way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Mini Library clip (on sale this week only!)