Brand New Challenge Blog Coming Soon....

Hi Everyone!
  As the title says, I just wanted to tell you that I was chosen to be a design team member of a Stampin Up Only Challenge Blog.  Our first challenge will post on September 7th.  I'd love for you to check out the blog, and play along with us.  Each challenge we will choose three winners and they will get a special blog badge for playing along with us.  I would love to see you there!! The site's address is: http://suochallenges.com/
  I had my first stamp club meeting last night--it went great!!  I'm already looking forward to next month.  I am also working on organizing my reclaimed craft space, so I haven't had a whole lot of time for creating things to show you this week.  I plan to do some more crafting this weekend, possibly tomorrow night, and so I'll have an original design to share with you then.  Until then...how about some more Convention eye candy??
  Thanks for checkin in--check out the challenge blog, I'll be looking for you!!

Happy Stampin!
Amy

 A pillow made with flowers cut from the Big Shot dies.

 A lampshade done with ribbons, buttons and Big Shot flowers.

An Evening to Remember Stamp Event-Jackie Barfield (Hi Jackie!!), Jaron Winder (Hi Jaron!!), and me.  It was a really fun night!

A Happy Haunt

Love the way these white pumpkins look with the black

The same cute Christmas house spooked out as a Halloween Haunt...

Hi Everyone!

   Back with some more pictures from Convention.  This time, for Halloween, which, with the start of school approaching will be just around the corner.  Here again is that Decor Accent Build a House that I featured in my last post as a cute Christmas Cottage.  This time, it is featured as a spooky haunted house. I LOVE these houses and can't wait to get my hands on them.  They will look so cute as a feature on my console table, and I am totally going to make a black garland to go with them.

  I gotta run--we were at a birthday party for a friend of my 8 year old.  It was a blast, but I'm beat.  Sounds like the hot humid weather we've been experiencing around here is going to be leaving us after tomorrow.  Hope so....maybe I'll get some of my energy back.  Saturday I'm spending some time just crafting, so I'll be back with some new stuff for you soon.   Hope you are enjoying the convention posts until then.  :)

Happy Stampin!

Amy

One of my favorite things from Convention

Hi Everyone--

  I don't have an original creation for you all today, but I still have something fun.  This is a new product, actually several new products, from the upcoming Holiday Mini which debuts on September 1st.  I am SO excited about this new catalog, I think it's one of Stampin' Up's best minis yet.  This adorable little house is called a Decor Accents Design-a-House.  It comes with a template if you want to dress it up with paper, it is also able to be spray painted.  There is no limit to the creativity here.  They used some of the new Deck the Halls paper that will be coming soon, and the pretty paisley like curtains--a print from our new fabric line coming out with gold tinsel trim above the windows.  LOTS to be excited about in this upcoming catalog, there truly will be something for any kind of crafter.

One of the demonstrations showed this house all decked out for Halloween with black spray paint and chunky black glitter some spiders stamped on vellum in the windows and bats punched out of designer series paper using our new bat punch attached to wire.  Very spooky, yet cute all a the same time.  During this demonstration he put one together for us as well so we could see how easy it goes together.  All you need is some sticky strip to place along the seams and it goes together great.  It took him maybe five minutes to fold along the score lines and stick together.  

I still have some spots open for workshops this fall and winter, if you are interested in checking the Holiday Mini out for yourself, or joining my team of demonstrators, let me know.  Thanks for checking in.

Happy Stampin'

Amy

Monkey Business

Hi Everyone!
  Today I have a card for you that my boys gave my husband for Father's Day this year.  My boys, who have been featured on my blog some, are 8 and 18 months.  Most days it feels like we live with 2 monkeys.  (Those of you who have boys can probably relate)  They are loveable and fun and NONSTOP energy.  What better way to convey that than a fun home made polka dots pattern and the cute monkey image from Fox and Friends?   I am SO glad that this set carried over from the mini catalog to the new Idea Book and Catalog.  I LOVE this set.  Adorable animal images great for baby cards, little kid cards, scrapbook pages and even Father's Day!
  This card was a simple card to do and didn't take a whole lot of time.  I used Whisper White as my background and my 1 3/8" circle punch to punch out Real Red and Bashful Blue polka dots.  I attached them in a random pattern with snail adhesive and clipped the edges off to make them flush with the edges of the card.  The monkeys were stamped on a piece of Whisper White in Chocolate Chip Classic Ink, and then matted with a piece of Bashful Blue and Real Red cardstock.  Inside--a handwritten message (and scribble) from the boys.  This one goes in the "keep" pile.
  Check back.  I hope to be sharing a couple of holiday ideas, and later this weekend a scrapbook page and idea.  The scrapbook I will add to as time goes on, and will be featuring a lot of my little monkeys Alex and Jack.  Thanks for stopping in!

Happy Stampin!
Amy

Mid-Life Sports Car....

Hi Everyone :)
  Today I have a card for you that I made for my husband's birthday.  He hit the big 4-0 this year and here's the card I made for him.  He didn't go for a new sports car...just a brand new grill.  :)  I used the Modern Label Punch, the Medium and Small Oval punches and the 1/2" Circle Punch.  The little guy in the driver's seat and the presents in the back are from All in the Family and the cloud paper is from the Sale-a-Bration Welcome Neighbor pack.  I have a week of cards lined up for you all and will be including my items from Stamp Camp on Tuesday.   Happy Monday!

Clean and Simple 102

Hi Everyone!
  Today I have a card I did for the Clean and Simple Challenge 102.  I got to play with my brand new set, Aviary.  It was on my wish list and when I did my holiday pre-order I had to add it in.  I'm glad that I did.  I love the variety of whimsical bird cages and cute little birds, especially the fat little owl.
   I used Whisper White cardstock as  my base, and Basic Black for each of my three birdcages.  I used Old Olive, Melon Mambo, and Pacific Point for the bird colors, and Pacific Point for the sentiment that also sits on the Modern Label Punch.  To give it a bit more interest I used my paper piercing tool along the bottom of the bird cages, and added a rhinestone at the top.
   Hope you enjoy!  I'll be back tomorrow with the 40th birthday card I made for my husband.

Happy Stampin!
Amy

 

Spoiler Alert

Hi Everyone!

First of all:

  If you are a member of my stamping club and DO NOT want to see the cute bag and bag tag you will be receiving at our meeting on Tuesday STOP READING!  




I recently attended Stampin' Up's Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.  At Memento Mall, the store they have set up onsite with Stampin' Up merchandise available only to demonstrators that go to Convention*, these cute reusable shopping bags jumped out at me as a fantastic gift to my 10 club ladies.  Who doesn't love a reusable shopping bag, especially with such a CUTE print like this??  (*occasionally they will make some of the things available later to demos who couldn't attend)




Of course, I couldn't just give them the bag, I had to personalize it a bit.  So, I made a monogram bag tag for each of them using the Play Date designer series paper that I won at Convention.  The Play Date paper is what the bags were patterned after so they look like a matching set.  I ran the tags through my Big Shot using the Top Note die.  To make them a little more firm I used a piece of the cardboard that comes with each designer series paper pack that we buy.  I then used my XL Scallop punch (new in the Summer Mini), and my XL Circle Punch to create the flower that the initial goes on.  Using Basic Black ink I stamped the first letter of each of their names with the Lovely Letters set, and embellished with some retired play ground buttons.  I then tied these cute little tags to the bag with Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon.  SO cute and easy.  Wouldn't these also be great for the kids for those backpacks when they head back to school?  Or on a bag that you give a thank you gift to a teacher or day care provider?
  That's all I have for you tonight.  I hope to be back tomorrow with a new creation for all of you.  Thanks for checking in!

Happy Stampin!
Amy