P. S. I Love you Framed hearts

Don't you just love the P. S. I love you set? So many cute images and sayings - I had to have it of course. Then the matching framelets die just got me hook, line and sinker. The base card is real red of course with whisper white layered on it. I took crumbcake CS and die cut the largest heart from the framelet die set. Took another whisper white and used the same die to cut another whisper white which I embossed using the Elegant Lines EF and layered it exactly over it and put some jewel rhinestones into the little circle embossed areas.

I stamped the little cherub in real red craft ink and angled it (yes, using the stamp positioner! Ouch!) and emobssed with iridescent ice EP and stamped the cicle heart in crumbcake. Stamped the modern label image in chocolate chip again on white and stamped the sentiment in real red and punched it out and used dimensionals to layer it. Added some more rhinestone jewels to make it look like the arrow was shooting out the message.

The little heart was stamped with Kraft white and embossed with iridescent ice- really sparkly in real person, then framelet cut with coordinating heart frame. Mount it with dimensionals to pop it up.

It is a really sweet card. Now if I would send it to someone......

Why is it that with all the cards I make, I still don't seem to be able to get it out to all the people I love? I end up just calling them at the last minute to tell them I love them or sometime not even that. But know this, I am thinking of you, and I really do love you and some day I may get my cards out to you so you would know for sure....

Happy Friday!

Lynda

My First Leadship Experience

At my first Stampin Up convention umteen years ago I wanted to get a picture with Shelly Gardener the cofounder but the lines were an hour and a half long with all the hundreds of women who wanted the same. So I gave up and went to the bathroom and who came up behind me? Shelly! I was so excited I had someone take a picture of the two of us on my 24 picture instamatic- remember those before we went digital?- and Shelly told me that this was the first time she had been asked to get a picture taken in the bathroom. Well the sad story is that it was the 25th picture on my roll, and it never came out. I was hearbroken. But at the more sedate leadership meeting I ran into Shelly and I told her the story and how I had to have another. She then tells me she has had a few more incidents like that in the bathroom since. She was so incredibly sweet. Can you believe that she is over 50? Just beautiful inside and out, I tell you.

But Leadership was more than that for me. It was about stamping, swapping, learning about new items, give-a ways but it was really more about relationship and friends.

Mercedes and I got to room and hang out together and when she went up to Shelly, she remembered her and her beautiful cards that Mercedes had won. I feel honored to have such wonderful and talented person to call my friend.

We saw wonderful samples and creative ideas like this bracelet made of our buttons!

We saw demonstrations on stage and news about things happening at Stampin Up and ALL GOOD!

This was one of our make and takes using the Send Me Soaring set from the occasion mini. The polka dot kite was stamped then punched out with the heart punch. Darling!

My upline Tami treated her downlines to a dinner on the riverwalk where Shelly was dining with her family just outside the glass window at the same time. Such amazing talented women!

Tami is sitting, second from the left and Liz Price - our own amazing Artisan of the Year - on the far right. And my sweet friend Dena Rekow standing far right- she moved to Iowa and I was so happy to see her again!

They had some really fun stage action, dancing, harleys, and amazing demos. The theme was MY WAY- that you need to make this the way you want to make it work for you.

I was so inspired that I set a goal to go to Leadership every year if I can. It was the most amazing 3 days of my stamping life and I can't wait until next year to do it again!

Maybe some of you will join me!

Lynda

I WON!

I was so excited to find out that one of my cards I submitted from the Occasion Mini won the card contest. I submitted several - which I will show you over the next week- but this one landed me this booty of sweet shop suite with the Designer paper, stickers (just gorgeous! ) and the Jelly bean brads.

This was my card that was hanging in the winner's gallery-shucks!

The base is Island Indigo with a layer of crumbcake stamped with A to Z stamp in crumbcake and sponged around the edges with the same ink. I cut a piece of First Edition DSP 3/4 inches tall and then stamped the You're My Type onto the crumbcake piece above the DSP. I then put a piece of scallop border ( but in the submission I useed a ribbon border punched out and cut in half lengthwise). I then stamped the typewriter and message in Island indigo and adhered it to the typewriter image on the crumb cake using dimensionals. (Note that I stamped the image on the bottom so I could see the handle on the right and left side but did not want to cut it out.... Take calendar alphabet ( and you can say practically anything) stamp your message coming out of the letter with island indigo- another card I made said - to my sweet...." you could put a heart inside to say sweetheart.... or put the words, sister, mother, friend, as you wish. I changed up the color to use pool party, Indigo and white and that one is also oh so pretty... I've been so jazzed up by this meeting- details and pictures to follow...

Lynda

Happy Leadership!

I was promoted with Stampin Up to Supervisor and had an opportunity to go to Leadership which I had only heard of before with dreamy expression from my demonstrator friends and now I know why. I am in San Antonio having a ball!

For the first time there is a contest with each of the stampsets in the Occasion Mini - which is my absolute favorite of ALL TIME- of course I say that about each and every one- but really, truly, this is my ALL TIME favorite!

This was one of the cards I submitted using the Candy Conversation stamp- which I split into the heart and word image separately. Base card is Crumbcake, with a layer of real red then whisper white stamped with (down the line) pink pirouette, pretty in pink, regal rose, melon mambo and then real red. I used the cling stamps with clear acrylic block with the Clear Mount Perfectly Placed Guides- I aligned the middle heart with one of the lines so it was really easy to align it perfectly! Used the markers to stampe th arrow and sentiment (black and real red) then took a 1/4 inch real red grosgrain ribbon. Cut a length abouy 10 inches long then took the middle part made two bunnyears and tied it into a bow then taped the edges behind the red card stock to make a neat and tidy bow.

I am entering this into the contest but there was so many beautiful samples I am not sure I stand a chance but I still hope.....

I have so many samples to share with you. Stay tuned!

Lynda

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

Hopefully all my family would have received their cards for now so I thought it would be safe to post- this is my Christmas card for this year- I have 3 boys and with an engineering husband they really like moving parts so I try to make somewhat of an interactive card every year and this year I decided to do a water fall card.

Figured out the dimensions based on the pictures I wanted to print out. I was also tired of having to photoshop a picture to send out every year and thought separate pictures would be best. Basecard is whisper white with real red embossed with the Snowburst embossing folder (love the geometric pattern!). Take of strip of Holly Bouquet DSP - it has glitter on it - so sparkly! Took a piece of limeade CS with corner rounded for the right pull out side , scored it to make the waterfall- instructions are everywhere- here is one from Splitcoast Stampers- http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/waterfall_card/ . Added the pictures printed out wallet size. The cover image and sentiment is Beautiful Season from the IB&C. The image was stamped in black stazon and watercolored using the watercolor crayon then glittered with dazzling diamonds onto shimmery white CS.

Tyler, Kyle and Dylan in order and the three of them during camping this summer with sentiment from Four the Holidays set beneath. Some faraway friends got a short letter I attached to the back for a little update.

I attached a little handle made of roundtab punch- could not live without it!- 2011 stamped with Calendar Alphabet & Numbers in red and tiny snowflake from Snow Swirled in bashful blue.

The pictures have JOY on the right side bottom if you can see it - did not work out as well as I liked but it's like a secret message....

Happy Holidays to you All! and may the new year be filled with good healthy, happiness and good fortune for you all!

with much thanks and Love,

Lynda

Christmas Cards from friends

Some adorable Christmas cards from friends using punches and cut outs I thought you may enjoy- The penguin is from Mercedes, my most amazingly talented friend and her adorable family- her blog http://mercedesweber.blogspot.com/ The Elf is from Marisa- It is SO CUTE! I had not seen this one before and it cracked me up. The Santa is from Bonnie, one of my workshop regulars. I am SO proud of her! Have a Happy Holiday season and may you all be blessed with friends as lovely as mine!

A simple thank you

I can't believe Christmas is only a week away- This whole weekend was filled with just Holiday Card making, taking pictures of the kids- no group pictures this year to photoshop!- for the cards, putting the cards together and addressing all the cards. I am pretty awful with keeping up with friends- so many dear friends all over the world and life just gets in the way of staying in touch. So once a year I send out cards to family and friends from school to let them know that I am thinking about them. My birthday is right before Christmas so I never get a chance to relax with everything that needs to be done no matter what I promise myself at the beginning of the year- it always takes longer than I imagined......

but handmade cards are a labor of love.....much that is unspoken.

This is a little card I made using the Borderline (one of my current go to favorites from the Stampin Up IB&C) and Curly Cute sentiment set. Ink the stamp using the certainly celery ink then use Lucky limeade and artichoke markers to highlight some leaves then huff and stamp onto whisper white CS. Layer it on to Lucky Limeade CS and mount the whole strip onto whisper white CS. Stamp the sentiment of your choice using Lucky Limeade and a Clean and Simple almost one layer card you can whip up in a jiffy!

Do take a breath this holiday season to enjoy it for what it is!

Lynda

Only Ten more days 'til Christmas

This was one of my favorite sets from the Holiday Mini but it was really a Valentine's set and hard to demo for my workshops when things are all so hectic and no one can think about anything after the holidays so I turned it into a Christmas card and I thought it worked. It also helps that it was a 6:30 in the morning the morning of the workshop inspiration and it just sounded good after being up all night. Take the heart from the You are Loved set and stamp it using the real red CRAFT pad- it is a pigment pad so it stays wet a lot longer to allow you to heat emboss it using the iridescent ice EP and it is gorgeous IRL ! Wrap the white cardstock with the cherry cobbler bakers twine. Stamp the sentiment image with love in the center from the same set with real red craft and emboss again with iridescent icet. Punch it out and mount it on the card using dimensionals. Stamp Merry Christmas from the teeny tiny wishes set- and again the red craft inke then heat emboss with iridescent ice to make EVERYTHING sparkle! Add 2 rhinestone on either side and easy peasy christmas card using what was originally a Valentine's image- I love it still! Use the same layout but keep the image with Love sentiment for Valentine's day. No one will ever know!

Eleven Days until Christmas

I saw a variation of this in the Stampin Success - a monthly magazine for demonstrators. I liked the color combination but used the Box #2 to make it instead out of Crumbcake CS beacuse I did not have enough kraft gift boxes to use for the workshop. I used a small strip of DSP topped with white CS punched with dotted double scallop ribbon punch.

Diecut snowflakes from Northern Frost with Shimmer white and real red CS and add a rhinestone in center to add some sparkleand mount it on the box with a dimensional to add some depth. Punch a tag - stamp snowflake from Bright Hopes and sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes and tie it on with linen thread and voila! Another easy little box for someone special.

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Twelve Days until Christmas

We made this at a workshop and I loved the idea of incorporating fabric to decorate cards, packages and other items that we are using. Really mixed media. The new Spring Mini has big shot dies for Dresden plates that I am coveting - With the fat quarters they are now selling with matching stamps, Stampin' Up is bringing my love of fabric and paper together in a beautiful way.

The cherry cobbler Fancy favor box is covered with Deck the Halls DSP diecut with Tasteful Trim die. Punch 2 holes and thread Artichoke seambinding to the front and use a big button to secure.

Sentiment is from Tags til Christmas colored in with Cherry and Old Olive then punched out with scallop square.

A friend thought that this was a nasty sentiment but you just have to know my children!