More Details On Retreat

Ok, I guess I better do a little background for the people who are new to my blog or Stamp Club about this retreat we have coming up!
I am a Stampin Up! demo on a very small scale. I have one Stamp Club that meets monthly, rotating hostess benefits and homes each month. We generally do 1 scrapbook project, a couple cards, and a 3-d project, and have a $15 product minimum order/person.
One of my club members suggested that we have a retreat, so I started researching it and found the lovely and reasonable Quilted Loon which is actually pretty conveniently located for us! So, we will have our monthly Stamp Club meeting while we are at this retreat, and if you are not part of our club you are still welcome to participate, and of course I won't turn orders down :)
But the rest of the weekend is totally not aimed at being Stampin Up! sales, just having fun!
So, if you are interested in coming just let me know! I believe I have 6 spots filled at this moment with several "maybe, let me check my schedule" replies.
Remember that there are only 13 sleeping spots open, and I just called to clarify how many beds that is! There are 10 beds, not 11, so to sleep 13, 6 people would have to double up on 3 beds.
I have the next few days off and I plan to come up with more details on these projects I keep promising!

Update on Scrapbooking Retreat

Well, the date is fast approaching (April 18-19) and it is time for me to start getting VERY organized! I have already contacted some of you to find out for sure who can make it. If I haven't gotten a hold of you yet, please let me know!
I just talked to Mary, the owner of the Quilted Loon, and there is enough room for up to 18 people with 4 feet of table space per person! There is only enough room for up to 13 people to sleep in beds, and 4 people would need to share beds 2 beds, one is a full size I believe, and the other is a King. Otherwise there are 11 beds. So the rest of those spots could be for people who can't spend the night but would like to come anyway.

Once I have a list of people committed to this, then I will organize a "potluck" schedule/list to cover our meals. And find out if we all want to pitch in for Pizza delivery for a meal!

Also, I plan to bring all of my stamp sets, my Cuttlebug with dies and embossing folders, my Coluzzle and Creative Memories cutting systems, my punches, and all of my stamp pads. Everyone can use them and maybe we all can pool our non-consumables and have an enormous variety of stuff to play with!

We'll also have a door prize for each day and some games to play too! Nothing will be mandatory, but if you have some supplies you would like to donate to the drawings, I sure won't turn you down!

I want to share one of the specials I will be having during the retreat. I have some extra stamp sets from Sale-A-Bration this year and last year, and a couple other new unmounted sets that I will have for our own Sale-A-Bration. What does this mean? It means that if you order at least $50 in merchandise, then you get to pick one of those sets for free! This will be on first come first serve basis!

Stampin Up!'s special for this month is the Free-Wheeling promotion:
If you haven’t experienced the fun, ease, and versatility of our Stampin’ Around® wheels, now
is your chance. From March 18 through April 30, when you buy a preselected stamp set, you’ll
receive the coordinating jumbo wheel absolutely FREE (an $8.50 value)!
You’ll be amazed at all the ways you can use wheels to add depth and dimension to your
projects—and I’m excited to show you how.

112848 Wonderful You bundle
Includes Wonderful You stamp set and free Stems & Silhouettes jumbo wheel $33.95

112851 Life’s a Breeze bundle
Includes Life’s a Breeze stamp set and free Something Fishy jumbo wheel $29.95

112850 Pun Fun bundle
Includes Pun Fun stamp set and free Sweet Stars jumbo wheel $30.95

112847 Year after Year bundle
Includes Year after Year stamp set and free See You Around jumbo wheel $30.95

112849 Stitched Exotics bundle
Includes Stitched Exotics stamp set and free It’s Beautiful jumbo wheel $33.95

112853 Enjoy Every Moment bundle
Includes Enjoy Every Moment stamp set and free Daisy Dash jumbo wheel $29.95

I'll keep adding more info as I can find the time to get it posted!

Scrapbooking Retreat

I have finally found a weekend I think will work for most of us! I have reserved the weekend of April 18-20 for us at the Quilted Loon ! Please let me know if you can attend, It will be about $50/person as long as we get at least 10 people.

I can't wait! I am getting very excited! I will be planning some activities for those that want some projects planned, and I will post pictures and supply lists. If you want to do a project, just bring the supplies from the list!

And yes, Leah, we will do those file folder Christmas list things you have wanted me to demonstrate for sooo long! Yeah!

I was also thinking of doing the new $6 ink pad holder I made with instructions created by Stampalooza on splitcoaststampers.com , she has an amazing talent! She designed the whole thing herself and built it out of 2 sheets of foam core board!

You will also need a boxcutter or exacto/hobby blade, pencil, and straight edge ruler.

I'll post some more ideas later!

I'm Back!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in over a month! I did have a little bit of a creativity block for a couple weeks there, and had a big birthday party for #3 son who just turned 16 this past weekend. But what the heck, I bet most of you all are getting distracted by the possibility of Spring finally arriving!

I was playing around with the ovals that were left over from the votive surrounds we made in November and ended up making an Easter banner that is just soo cute!

Now to find some little nails so I can hang this thing up! I used SU! ink, paper, rhinestone brads, and stamps, but the cutting system and flowers are not SU!, I've had these Prima flowers for quite a while too!

Now, as to our March club meeting, it's looking like it might be a bit scattered! I'll have to get back to you all!

Anniversaries, Birthdays, Babies, and Valentines!

I had a very busy morning today! I needed to do 3 anniversary cards/gifts, 3 birthday cards/gifts, 1 baby card to go with gift already made, and 6 Valentines to go out to nieces and nephews and grandma and stuff! Then I had to package and take them all to the post office and boy, was it busy there!

These are the Valentine's I did with the Happy Heart Day set , Pretty in Pink and Purely Pomegranate paper, Purely Pomegrante, Green Galore, Going Grey, and So Saffron ink. They are pretty simple, but I think they will do the job.

I have fallen in love with the little Take Out boxes I can make with the coluzzle template! I made 3 of them for the Annirsary cards. I even stamped Happy Anniversary with some blossoms branches in the bottom of the box before I folded them all up. Sorry I forgot to take a pic of that though!

Valentine Time!

Once again, it is time for me to come up with some good boy styled Valentine's for my sons to give to their friends and classmates. That is a bit challenging as many of you probably know! Well, I got to thinking about the Matey's Map jumbo wheel that I just got in my MASSIVE order this week. I have been itching to use it and this seems like a good time. So Geoffrey and I sat down and figured out how we wanted to do them and made 4o Valentine's for his classmates and friends. I think they turned out pretty cute! They are basiclally a matchbook with candy glued inside. We used the red marker to color in all of the X's. Geoffrey was actually very helpful. He likes this stuff!

Stamps: Matey's Map JW, Hugs and Wishes, Like it a Latte'

Ink: Basic Brown, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Real Red marker

Paper: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Slit punch, Wheel guide, Small and Large Tag punches, Sponge

Then Geoffrey wanted something special for his teacher, Miss Erickson. He found a stamp that is the Chinese character for Friend and said that his teacher loves the Asian theme, so I dug out the Embrace Life set I got a little while ago and used versamark to make a pretty cherry blossom background. I then colored each flower with the blender pen marker I made with Groovy Guava reinker a while back. It makes a very subtle color difference on the Pomegranate paper. Then I used the white gel pen to add the white accents on the flower centers. I got to use my new coluzzle Take Out Box template too! And doesn't that ribbon look yummy! I used the Tag ounches again to make a cute tag, coloring the blossoms with Groovy Guava and Purely Pomegranate blender pen markers. I filled it with Nuggets, can't go wrong with Chocolate!

Stamps: Embrace Life, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Skin Deep (Technique Tuesday)

Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White

Ink: Versamark, Basic Black, Basic Brown, white gel pen, Groovy Guava marker, Purely Pomegranate marker

Accessories: Purely Pomegranate 15/16" satin ribbon, coluzzle take out box template, small and large tag punches

Cool new product and myfirst big idea with it!

We are getting new hodgepodge hardware at Stampin up! in the Occassions mini that starts on March 1st. I was able to preorder one element of that hardware and I LOVE IT!

I was unpacking my box of goodies last night when I got home from a 14 hour crazy long day at work (and those of you who worked that day KNOW what I'm talking about, LOL! Have I mentioned that charting is my least favorite part of nursing?) when I had an amazing idea. I was falling asleep on my feet, so I couldn't play with the idea, but I managed to remember it in the morning. Here are some pictures of my idea using the new Boho Blossoms punch and the new Flower Ribbon Sliders, and the new polytwill 1/4" ribbon in Chocolate chip (new ribbon also in Occassions mini).

I set this on a piece of the Berry Bliss paper I just got too. It is so YUMMY!

I was going for a sunflower look with this one, but the next one is a little closer. Mind you, I haven't used any of this on a project yet. In fact I pulled them all apart already!

I did use pretty in pink grosgrain on one also.

Let me know what you think!