SU Open House on Sep 27th

I am participating in the ultimate SU Open House with several other demonstrators, and it's coming up soon! With ALL the new stuff going on with SU, we demonstrators decided that it would take a co-op effort to show it ALL.....the new Fall/Winter Catalog, the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog, the new Decor Elements line (vinyl wall decor), new partnership with the die-cut company Sizzix, and so much more!

The event is on Saturday, September 27th at the Hampton Inn and Suites, behind Meijer. Come anytime between 9am-3pm. There will be a make-n-take, refreshments, In-Color charts to make, demonstrations, lots of samples, and door prizes every half hour! And the best news....the event is completely FREE!!!

I am responsible for cutting and providing make-n-take supplies for my own stampers in attendance. So please let me know if there's a chance that you might stop by. I want to make sure I have enough for everyone.

I'm super excited about this awesome event. I hope you will join us!

Hostess Gift

Here is one of my latest concoctions for a hostess gift. It's just a Starbucks Frappachino bottle topped with Chocolate Chip cardstock. Filled with samples of new SU ribbons and finished off with a cute tag.

Stamp Club: Sep Swap

I've had these baby food jars in my garage for months now. When my club gals decided on a Halloween 3D swap for this month, I decided to put these babies to use. I had just the right number of them on hand. Yay for using them up!

I first got the jars all clean by soaking them in hot, soapy water. This helps for getting the labels and residue completely removed. Once they were plain, I washed them and gave them a day to dry. The sticks were from my large stash of fondue supplies...some of you know that story. I used the jack-o-lantern face from the new Autumn Fest stamp set and layered it on punched circles and the scallop punch. Dotted the scallops with the white gel pen. Finished off with a little bow on the stick and some colorful, festive candies....and there you have it.

New Door Prize Bucket

My friend Mandy picked up this cute tin at Target for $1. I thought it would make a nice door prize bucket. So I got busy tonight and just couldn't stop putting stuff on it, ha, ha. Maybe it's over the top. Oh well. It makes me happy. I used Decor Elements, felt flowers and brads using the Crop-A-Dile, ribbons ran through the Xyron, and that's about it. Can't wait to show the Club Girls in person tomorrow night. :)

Big Shot Club: Members Needed

If you are interested in getting the new Big Shot die cut machine on a budget, you may want to check out my idea for a Big Shot Club. We are still looking for a couple people to sign on. Here are the details about club. We would love to start this month so that everyone can get their goodies in time for Christmas. Even if you are long-distance, this club would work for you too.

Let me know if you are interested or have questions. Thanks!

Stamp Club: Aug

I had a flower pow wow for August Club. Just had to get the flowers out of my system before Fall and Winter creep in. This card uses the small oval punches to make a flower. Used the ever famous Bella Rose Designer Paper. This punch idea was not my own but I cannot remember where I saw it. Maybe an SU magazine?


And this was our "Catalog Copy" for the night. See page 22 of the catalog. Look familiar? I love to show my stampers how the samples in the catalog or any other samples can be great launching points for creative ideas. With this card, I liked using a different accessory in each flower. That way you use a little bit of everything instead of exhausting one kind of accessory. Perfect for when you just have a little this and a little that lying around.

Stamp Club: September Demo

I found the directions for this cute "Bag in a Box" project over at Stamp a Little Love Baby. I am demonstrating the full size version as seen over there. But I also made a miniature version with my own measurements. These teeny treat holders are perfect to hand out to the kiddos. Go to Stamp a Little Love for general directions....and here are the measurements I used for the smaller version.

Cardstock for Box: 2.25" x 2.25" (that reads two and a quarter inches) scored 1/2" on each side
Designer Paper: 3" x 5.5"
Designer Paper Strip for Bottom: 1" x 5.5"

For this bag I used SU's Ghostly Greetings paper. If I am figuring right, you should be able to get 8 bags from one 12x12 sheet of paper (not counting the bottom strip). But that is a LOT of bags from one package of designer paper! That's how I like to design....making the most of our papers and cardstock. Let us know if you try this at home!

My First Ever Sketch Challenge Submission

My good friend Jennifer is on a design team now, and I'm so proud of her! They do weekly sketch challenges, and I finally got a chance to play along. Here's what I came up with. Check out the faux rick rack using the scallop border punch! I actually came across this idea when I first broke out that new punch. But I wasn't sure if it was such a cool idea or just a silly mistake I had made. But then I later saw other stampers had caught on to the idea too....so I guess it was a good one!

Stamp: Moose You & A Little Birthday Cheer
DSP: Plum Designer Series Prints
Ink: Creamy Caramel & Perfect Plum
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Perfect Plum, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: SS Button & Linen Thread

Taking Individual Orders

I will be placing an order tomorrow, September 4th. If anyone is wanting to place an order, I can put it on my order to minimize your shipping. Let me know by 5pm tomorrow if you are interested. Thanks!

My Scrapbooking Style

I thought I'd take a minute to share my personal preferences for tackling scrapbooking.

• Album size 8.5x11 or smaller. Although, I do the 12x12 size with Scrap Club.
  
• 3-Ring albums. They fit more pages and post bound make me crazy.
• Simply Scrappin Kits. I choose a kit, coordinating papers and cardstock, matching ink pads, a stamp set, an alphabet set, a couple punches, a spool of ribbon, and an accessory....throw them into my carrier and don't look back. I like this method of efficiency, even if it means my pages don't always match the colors in the pictures perfectly. Oh well. I do however go with the custom made pages for our Scrap Club.
• Do it all at Once. I prefer short-term scrapbooking. For example, when Graham turned one, I printed his whole first year of pictures and completed his album in a couple months. You could call it intense scrapbooking. I'm not good at scrapping as I go. I like to see the big picture and plug away. Although, with Scrap Club, I do scrap month to month.
  
• Scrap the Best.....Box the Rest. I am pretty good at weeding down pictures for the scrapbook. Then I keep what I don't scrap in a nice photobox. I have a photobox for each of the boys and organize each box of pictures by their ages.
• Collage. I'm a big fan of squeezing lots of pictures on one page. I did this for both boys' first years as i take a lot of baby pictures.
  
• Linear. Nothing was more freeing for me than to discover the scrapbooking style of Cathy Zielske from the magazine Simple Scrapbooks. I loved her simple, block style. Few embellishments. Lots of journaling. Everyone has their own style, and this is definitely mine...although it still took me awhile to get the hang of it and to "perfect" it.
  
• Online Prints. I heart Snapfish! I love prepaid prints costing 8 cents each, showing up at my doorstep. And the quality is superb. Can you say, "matte finish!"?
  

I think that's all for now. What is your style? What is your system?

Graham's First Year Album Done

Graham turns 14 months in a couple weeks so I am happy to have his first year done. I used the baby boy kit from the last SU catalog. And this is the layout that I started each month with...my favorite picture in black and white on the left with a list of accomplishments and activities from that month. Then a collage on the right.



Then if I had other pictures for that month, I made special spreads for them before I started the next month. Here are a few of my special layouts.

Now on to Miles's 2nd year album. It's going to be an ABC book so I hope it doesn't take too terribly long.

Raw Materials For Big Shot!

Whether you want to create a vinyl die cut for your wall or a chipboard cut out for a special project, you can now do it using Stampin' Up! products! Stampin' Up! is now offering four colors of Décor Elements Sheets (Dark Gray, White, Kraft, and Chocolate) as well as specially-shaped chipboard to fit into your Big Shot without any trimming!

Décor Elements Sheets
Each package comes with two (2) 12" x 24" sheets of vinyl in specified color, along with two (2) 12" x 24" sheets of transfer tape to make using your vinyl pieces easy to use. Instructions for use are included in the package.

Item	Product Name	Price
114334	Dark Gray Décor Elements Sheets	$12.95
114335	White Décor Elements Sheets	$12.95
114336	Kraft Décor Elements Sheets	$12.95
114337	Chocolate Décor Elements Sheets	$12.95

On Board Longboard
Each package contains six (6) sheets of natural colored chipboard (5-3/4" x 13-3/4"). This size is perfect for sliding into the Big Shot without needing to trim or cut pieces. Use with rule-based dies (Originals, Bigz, and Bigz XL dies).

Item	Product Name	Price
114320	On Board Longboard	$6.95

And The Winner Is.......

LISA! Lisa will receive the free stamp set and Wasabi Package for voting on her favorite new catalog items. Thanks to everyone who entered. I think we all love to see people's favorites. Feel free to post your favorites even if you didn't get a chance to get in the contest.

And I'm sorry for the delay in announcing. We spent the afternoon in the ER after I accidentally fed Miles a regular grilled cheese for lunch. I'm a little devastated over the whole thing. It's definitely the kick I needed to make sure I get more sleep at night.

Anyways, thank you again everyone!