Stampin’ Up! is ”March-ing” into spring with an incredible deal! Starting March 1st, the debut of the Spring Mini catalog includes a sale! Purchase the Polka Dots & Paisley stamp set, the Petals Jumbo wheel and the cheery Petals & Paisleys Designer Series Double-Sided paper and get ANY stamp set in the Spring mini 50% OFF!! And, all March hostesses with $400 or more in orders also get to pick an item at 50% off — a doubly-delicious discount if you qualify! The only hard thing will be to choose WHICH item for HALF OFF!! There are too many favorites to name!

Including the delightful Polka Dots & Petals set that coordinates with the items above. The pretty package to the right was created using this set and the Petals wheel and Petals & Paisleys paper!! The flower centers were stamped from the set and punched out with our different sized circle punches and the flower petals used the large and small oval punches! Stitching details were made with coordinating markers and the pink box base was created with the wheel on special! Don’t you just love the coordinating paper! They are even juicier in person!! Give me a call and let’s schedule some stampin’ time and you’ll soon get as gaga over the new Spring mini as I am!!

With the deadline of a direct downline meeting looming last month, I became excited when I saw a similar project as above designed by my friend Amy Celona. I knew immediately that our Enchante Designer paper would create an elegant satchel and couldn’t wait to try it. While I know most demonstrators would use card stock for the base of this project to make it a more affordable Make & Take, I just couldn’t as I knew this two sided paper would create the perfect contrast between the flap and base.

It is quite easy to do this project. Simply take our 5-1 Envelope Template and trace two of the pattern–one with flap and one without. Apply adhesive to the bottom and side flaps and then fold the flap over and wa-la…an elegant satchel to embellish to your hearts content. What’s amazing about the particular stamp I chose from the Carte Postale set is the way the 1 1/4 Square and Circle punches punch out the shapes perfectly. To keep the flap shut on this purse, I adhered a magnet piece on the flap and where it meets the satchel front.

This satchel is a perfect container for card packaging, a mini album, scarf, mittens, socks, or just to look at and be happy in its beauty. Enjoy!

 

The Ronald McDonald House is Stampin’ Up!’s charity of choice. In fact, a percentage of the proceeds from the sale of an exclusive stamp set every catalog year is donated to this wonderful cause. In addition, Stampin’ Up! assigns demonstrators to be the Lead Demonstrator to coordinate stamping activites and other support with local demonstrators for an area house. I’ve had the pleasure to do this for the Tampa Ronald McDonald House for 2 years now and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences!

This past Christmas, we (me, my husband, and several other demonstrators and supporting spouses) went to the Tampa Ronald McDonald House to deliver and install stamped art in all 14 residential rooms in the house. The stamped art was created and donated by local demonstrators, including framed Monogram letters that spelled out inspirational words like Love, Hope, Friends, Cherish, Peace, Courage, etc. Each room also has one of our Forget-Me-Not Keepers stuffed with all occasion cards for the room occupants to use whenever they’d like. We also created a coordinating basket, tissue box and door hanger. ABOVE is the one I created which coordinated with my Monogram Letter art that spelled out Cherish!

The residents, volunteers and House Manager, who were skeptical from the descriptions we gave them were shocked at how beautiful these items made the room. It truly transformed each room from a stark hotel feel to a homey and warm sanctuary. If you ever get a chance, please take a tour of the Tampa Ronald McDonald House adjacent to Tampa General Hospital! You will truly be proud of the area’s local demonstrator and their stamped art!

 

Pocket notes, again? Yes, as I fell in love with these cutie patootie little notes when I saw how they tucked into a cute little slit. But what REALLY sold me on these is when I came up with the simple purse idea above. What a great party favor or little hand-out for kids at school or to tuck a chocolate in with a note. Then, when someone showed me the lollipop project…I was a goner! However, the fun of these little note packs with envelopes will be ending soon as they are only available until Feb. 28!!

The projects above were actually designed by Tampa Stamp Vamp (my group name) Jennifer Thomas for our group meeting. They are stamped with a new stamp set coming out on March 1 called Doodle That (only $11.95). And as you can see, the images in this set coordinate well with our 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 inch square and circle punches!! While the lollipop project uses new 2-sided Designer Paper in the Spring Mini, the purse was designed with Ribbon Originals ribbon. Flippin’ adorable!

I created this framed art for an Inspirational Monogram art swap I was in when our large Monogram letters came out last year. I’d forgotten about it as I’d stored it away with the others while I was renovating my stamp room and office. I recently uncovered it again and am excited to hang it in my stamp room! I love it as a daily reminder as to why I love my Stampin’ Up! demonstratorship!

Supplies used:

Monogram Letter A stamped in Bashful Blue Classic ink and kissed with the Floral Background stamp in Night of Navy Classic, layered on Navy.

All the The Letterpress Alphabet letters were stamped in NavyClassic ink on Bashful Blue card stock then layered on Night of Navy card stock.

The Statement of the Heart stamp (available on a demonstrator supply order) was stamped in Classic Night of Navy on Vellum card stock and torn.

All the letters and the Statement of the Heart were layered on Bashful Blue card stock and Oxford Designer Series paper tucked into the Wrought Iron corner punch.

Stamped and cut-out floral and butterfly accents from the Natural Beauty stamp set were stamped on vellum, watercolored and accented with Dazzling Diamonds then popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Other accents include a white gel pen, Hodge Podge hardware, blue button, hemp, various gingham, narrow organdy and grosgrain ribbons.

Days before leaving for Stampin’ Up! Leadership training last month, I was getting nervous about what kind of card I was going to come up with for my pal Amy Celona’s WOW! swap … oh, the pressure! ) Usually, when faced with this challenge I start scouring websites for a glimmer of an idea I can go with. Sure enough, I ran across a card shaped like a phone and the connection was made—Very Punny‘s Bug Me Anytime in the center of an old fashioned phone dial! Of course, being the over-achiever I am, my original swap also included twirled wire from the phone to the head set. WAY TOO MUCH WORK for not much more cuteness impact! )

The funny thing about this is that the true cuteness from this card came from my wonderful hubby! I said, “Honey, I want to have this phone receiver attached to my business card that slides out of a pocket. What can I do to let people know to lift this receiver up?” What did he answer?

“Just tell them to “pick up the phone”!  Well, duh! Why didn’t I think of that. Simplify the complicated…. ha ha ha! What a dunce I am!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Went to Sunday brunch a couple weekend’s ago to celebrate my sister-in-law Angela’s birthday at a local restaurant called Mimi’s. Of course we had to indulge in a toast to the birthday girl with some champagne mimosas. Much to our surprise, they came out with these little itty bitty individual bottles of champagne to accompany our oj. Of course, the first thing I think of is those altered Starbucks Frappuccino bottles I’d seen on Splitcoaststampers.com and this idea was born!

I made a few of these cute little gifts tonight for my hubby to take into work for Valentine’s Day and I filled them with M&M’s. I topped them with a tissue topper so as not to lose any precious chocolate! The bottle labels were made from our Loves Me paper and layered with a watercolored image from the Winter Mini Sweet On You stamp set. Add ribbon embellishments from our Flirty Ribbon Originals, stuff into our large gusset cello bags with some crinkly paper and you’ve got some expensive looking chocolate champagne! A toast for you on Valentine’s Day!

Here’s a great project I designed for an upcoming Camp Stamp Vamp’s incentive event that utilizes the Carte Postale stamp set and the coordinating Leaves a la Carte Stampin’ Around Jumbo wheel. When I’ve demonstrated this project at workshops, it always gets a “WOW” from the crowd and it is such a simple technique!

This set is beautiful stamped in plums, no? My favorite part of this set is that most of the images can be punched out and layered with our large and small circle ( 1 1/4 & 1 3/8) and square punches as well as our new layering tag punches! Ahhh….pure elegance is merely a few stamps away!

This adorable “altered” altoid tin used the “Very Punny” SAB set (get yours while you can!).

I used the “Loves Me” Designer Series papers and the Flirty Ribbon Originals from the Winter Mini Catalog (see this mini catalog here while they are available). The Taken with Teal flower petals around the silver circle metal edge tags were punched out from the 3/4″ circle punch. The goodies tumbled about are Hershey’s nuggets wrapped in white address labels that were stamped with the Very Punny set and then watercolored. This was given away at my last workshop as a door prize! Don’t you wish it could have been you?