Twice in One Day!

Yeh - it's me again! Can you believe it - two posts in one day?

I wanted to remind you about the Christmas Stamp A Stack, and provide you with a convenient way for you to pay for it, but knew I'd forget about the PayPal button, if I didn't do it when I thought about it!

Hope you can come! I've got some great cards lined up for you to make.
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We had our monthly demonstrator get-together this past Sunday, and, as usual, had a great time.

It's always a challenge to come up with something just a little bit different for this group, because we want to keep each other up to date on the latest things we've learned, and want to share.

But I can always count on these ladies to bring something new to the table.

Here are the cards we exchanged.

My card this month was the Easel card I showed you the other day. They hadn't seen this, so in addition to getting the card I made, I taught them all how to make the card.


















Teresa used the Top Note die from the Big Shot, but cut it out on a fold, so instead of placing it ON a card, it IS the card.

And isn't that reindeer cute! He's made with punches and pieces of the Tulipe die for the Big Shot.














Del used the Petals Aplenty embossing folder and vellum - it's really very striking. She also used the lattice die, and the snowflake punch to add visual interest. To finish it off, she used the Ticket Corner punch.


















Veronica's card is a more traditional one, but certainly not made with traditional colors! I like her color combo.












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Stampin' Up! has some great specials going this month.

Sweet Rewards Hostess Promotion:

* Host a workshop totaling $250 or more and choose any one item* from the 2009 Holiday Mini Catalog for only $10! (Offer excludes hostess sets and My Digital Studio).

* Host a workshop of at least $400 and get My Digital Studio for 50 percent off the retail price (retail price: $79.95; promotional price: $39.97) when you use your free hostess dollars!

New Recruit Promotions:

Digital+ Starter Kit
Starter Kit Price: $185 (over $295 value!)

Digital+ Starter Kit Contents:

* My Digital Studio software
* Party Hearty and Petal Pizzazz stamp sets
* Whisper White card stock (8-1/2" x 11")
* Earth Elements assorted card stock (8-1/2" x 11")
* Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, and Tempting Turquoise Classic Stampin' Pads
* Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, and Real Red Stampin' Write markers
* Chocolate Chip 1/4" grosgrain ribbon
* Real Red 1" double-stitched grosgrain ribbon
* Button Latte Designer buttons
* Stampin' Dimensionals
* Mini Glue Dots
* SNAIL Adhesive
* Business supplies (product catalogs, order forms, training DVD, and other supplies)

Digital+ Starter Kit deadlines:

# Mail-in IDA: Wednesday, March 31, 2010 (received in the office, not postmarked)
# Online IDA: Wednesday, March 31, 2010; 11:50 PM (MT)

If you're at all "into" creating on a computer, and you've ever entertained the idea of becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, this is a great deal for you! Just go to my website and click on Join Now button. The password is "stampwithsam". I'd love to have you join my "we StAMp everything" team!

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And here are a few photos of The Kidz. They were tearing around the backyard tonight, stalking each other. It's always so fun to watch, but, believe me, it ain't easy to get good shots of this activity!

I love this picture of Smedley - flat cat! He was getting ready to pounce on Smudge.









She, on the other hand, decided to "take a break", so she sat on the chair for a while, looking beautiful.

She's getting her winter coat, and it's coming in a lot more "smudgy" than her summer one - and nice and thick and soft!






And finally, Velvet just sat in her Adirondack chair and watched the crazy goings-on.






Hope you enjoyed the cards AND the cat photos!

And give having a workshop for your friends and family some thought! You will have personal guidance on choosing those items you'll need to make your own Christmas cards - or at using My Digital Studio!

Or, if you'd rather, sign up for my Christmas Stamp A Stack - you'll walk out of my stampin' garage with them all done - all you'll have to do is address them, put on postage and mail them off!

Thanks for stopping by...

A Couple of Easel Cards

Hi Everyone

I'm still putzing with my One Sheet Wonder cards, but don't have any more ready to show yet - maybe tomorrow...

In the meantime, I thought I'd just post some photos of other items I've made recently. Hopefully, it'll help spark your creativity.

I find I sometimes have to look at another person's work in order to get my own mojo working - or I have to do something besides stamping, in order to get some new ideas to try with my stamps. There's something about this process that helps your own creativity get moving.


This card came about because of the OSWs I've been working on. The pieces were just sitting on the stamping table, and suddenly I knew they needed to GO together.








Below is an Easel Card. I saw the idea on someone's blog ( Sandi McGiver's?), which led me to Split Coast Stampers, where I got the pattern.


But it's a really easy pattern! Cut CS 4" x 8", score & fold at 4", then again at 2" from one end.

Then you'll need to cut another piece 4"x4", which you'll glue to the END fold of the card.






Here's the card from a different angle. Now can you understand why it's called an Easel Card? You prop the top of the card up against the layered piece on the INSIDE of the card, and it creates it's own easel! But it folds flat for mailing. Very clever idea!

And here it is opened, so you can see the folds.



I chose to use the Good Cheer set (# 115326) for my first attempt. The Santa and Reindeer piece fit the 4x4 size perfectly! And, besides, I'd just gotten the stamp set and it was CRYING to me to ink it up and use it! ha ha



Here's a Christmas card I made using this year's In colors.

It occurred to me that, although I really LIKE this year's In colors, I haven't been using them much, since starting down the Christmas path. So I challenged myself to make this card, using the Easel Card idea.



This is a different orientation for the Easel Card, but it still works.

I used the Level I Hostess set from the Holiday mini-catalog (did you notice there are TWO additional Hostess sets available in the mini-catalog?)

The set is titled Patterned Pines. I used Dusty Durango for the trees and popped them up with dimensionals. The star is stamped in Crushed Curry, the flower pieces in the corners are Rich Razzleberry, and the greeting was stamped in Bermuda Bay. The CS is Soft Suede.

Isn't it interesting how green it looks here? This CS does change colors somewhat, depending upon the other colors you've paired it with.

Here's a close up of the pieces I stamped, then cut out to create the "prop" for this card.









I want to remind you about my upcoming Christmas Stamp A Stack - Saturday, December 5th @ 10 AM and again Sunday, December 6th @ 1 PM Fee for the class is $25, and you'll make 12 cards - three each of four different designs.

Call or email today to reserve your spot!

Hope you saw something that sparked your creativity here tonight! Let me know what you think of my Christmas card done in the In colors - one friend looked at the card and turned up her nose. What do YOU think?