FREE catalog campaign

From February 1- April 30, 2009

Each customer who places a first-time online order through my web site will receive a free Idea Book & Catalog with their order! There is no minimum order amount required, so anyone can take advantage of this offer. Stampin' Up! will be offering a free Idea Book & Catalog with the first 22,000 orders or until April 30, 2009, whichever comes first.

Suggested price:  $9.95 (+ sh & tx)

Love Ewe

Even though it is cold and the snow is waist deep in my yard, with Valentine's day a month away I thought it was time to make a "warm & fuzzy" card to get in the mood. Ok the card is not really fuzzy but sheep are in real life and there's green grass not snow, which feels warm just looking at it. Remember I have snow waist deep in my yard and as I'm writing this it is -29* outside and if you include the wind-chill it is -46* Brrrr! So trust me, this looks warm to us here in Minnesota. 

I’ve fallen in love with the various little punch art sheep that I’ve seen lately on Splitcoaststampers. There are so many variations, I’m not sure who originally created them, but the first scalloped circle punched lamb that I remember seeing was created by Meredith Burnsed.

This is a WOD designed card, "Walking Out the Door", that I came up with to demo and give to my hostesses this past week.

Stamps: Inspired by Nature
Paper: Baja Breeze, Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Baja Breeze, Old Olive, Basic Gray
Accesories: Top note die, Tombo glue, Join in the Cheer die, Scallop punch, Trio flower punch, 5-petal flower punch, White gel pen, Naturally Serif alphabet die
Techniques: sponging, masking


So here’s the story of how this little card came to be a WOD design:  
As I was loading the car to go to my Sunday afternoon workshop, this image popped into my head. I ran down to my craft room to quickly cranked out a white and red top note, black letters and the “Love” from Join in the Cheer strip die; punched the flowers and scalloped circle. Then I grabbed the Inspired by Nature stamp set and ink and headed off to the workshop. When I arrived at my hostess’s house I found out her little 1 year old daughter is totally in love with sheep. The whole time I was there, she held onto her little fisher price lamb. She was so adorable! Talk about divine intervention and inspiration to change my demonstration at the last minute. The card was a big hit. Did you notice my heart shaped moon?

Just a comment about this stamp set: 

I was surprised and disappointed to see this stamp set end up on the Spring & Summer 2009 dormant list. It is such a versatile set; it's like getting 2 background stamps for the price of one. However when you live in Minnesota and embrace the fall and winter seasons in your creations, flower stamps are not at the top of your wish list. But don't you fret there's no need to worry, even though the set is not in the Spring & Summer '09 catty, you will still be able to purchase it - whew! I'll post the new dormant list on the sidebar after Jan. 18th.

Warm winter wishes to you (that aren't Hot Flashes - whew!)
Michelle Dawn

Pick of the Patch

Last fall when I attended Scrapfest at Mall of America in Minneapolis, I noticed a lot of pumpkin pictures being scrap booked. That's when I started thinking about this title and was surprised no one had used it. I had thought of asking my youngest sister to take a picture of their little boy sitting with pumpkins, but I forgot.

The other day I was looking at some of the pictures my sister had taken and there he was sitting among all the pumpkins. I felt like I was being told to follow through with my idea. After seeing his picture, I decided to alter a picture frame that I had bought for half price at Target after Halloween. 

I water-colored  the leaves with my aqua painter, cut them out and mounted them with glue dots; they are from the "Lovely as a Tree" stamp set. The swirls are from the "Priceless" stamp set and are stamped with Stazon ink. The letters are from "Naturally Serif" Sizzix die cuts. The pumpkins were also water-colored; they are from "Autumn Harvest". While the paper was still somewhat damp, I turned the pumpkins over and rubbed on them to stretch the paper and give them a rounded appearance. They are mounted with double thick dimensionals.

We are so thankful for this precious little life that God has blessed our family with. He is the pick of the patch!

Stamp-A-Stack of Wishes on Sat. Nov. 22 '08

Drum roll please - Ta dum dum dum!

It's been a while since my last Stamp-A-Stack (SAS) class. Even though it's a busy season coming up, I delighted to have requests for another. So grab your pen & mark your calendars on Sat. Nov. 22nd, 

1-4 pm. 

These cards will be in keeping with the theme of the season: fall, Christmas, and the soon approaching winter, but still versible enough to use for birthdays, thinking of you, or as sympathy cards. The class fee will be $10 for a set of 8 cards; 2 each of 4 designs. When you call/email to RSVP let me know how many sets you would like to make.

Star of Wonder ornament

Even though I haven't had time to teach classes, I have done some stamping during the past few months. One of the things I'm rather excited and proud about is the new ornament that I've created out of paper. I showed it to my up-upline Patsy Waggoner and she encouraged me to submit it to Stampin' Up! I have wrote up step by step instructions with pictures. I'm so excited about it. Yes, yes I am. Oh dear, I'm being such a tease - he he! If it makes you feel better I will be having it as one of the projects in my upcoming classes, and then you'll be able to make your very own. Or give me a call if you can't make it to class; we can set a time that you can come over to my place and bring a couple of friends to make one.  I promise this will be an ornament you'll be proud to say "I made it myself".

Update: My "Star of Wonder" ornament has been posted in Stampin' Up!s training area for demonstrators. Woo who!

Sis is probably right . . .

My little sister jokingly says she's afraid that if I lived closer, she'd have to beat me off her doorstep and she's probably right - they are lucky I live across the state. It's going to be difficult not to spoil this little guy.

Isn't he just precious and so strong too! He's only 7 weeks old in this picture!

Extra Extra - Did you hear about it?

This past year there have been many changes at Stampin' Up! and I have been continually amazed thinking this is the best thing they have ever done. Have you been reading the announcements on their website? You are able to place individual orders directly online from my Stampin' Up! website using your credit card.

Stampin' Up!s spectacular new catalog has 297 stamp sets and 175 - that's over half of the sets are less than $25.  But wait it gets even better - all the new sets are also die cut - woo who!

There are so many wonderful new stamps and paper in the new Fall & Winter Idea Book & Catalog. I'm excited about all these new products and want them right now so you - okay so that I can have a chance to play with them, but I love sharing so come on over! I am going to have to pace myself. Check out this month's specials, and there's more coming in October, November, and in December too!

Pretty darn spiffy looking

What do you think about my right hand column? I was tired of my plain old blog and finally figured out how the other stamping blogs used pictures for links. Pretty darn spiffy looking, right?

On a roll, or should I say roller

Since I had my painting hand warmed up, I also helped my daughter and her hubby do some painting in their new place. However like the saying goes about the shoemaker's family going without shoes; it true that I still need to paint several rooms in my own home, oh well.

Why I haven't posted anything for a while

It's been awhile since my last post and I feel bad that I haven't posted anything all summer, but the truth be told I've been rather busy. Okay for those of you that don't know me and are looking at that precious little vision of peace -  you are wrong and jumping to conclusions. You need to read that info "About Me". I'm an empty-nester. That adorable little face is not my baby, but it IS a picture of what a miracle looks like. I was helping my youngest sister this spring, because she was having trouble with her first pregnancy. She was told to slow down or they would put her on bed rest. It was her final quarter of school and her internship hours were usually around 10 hours a day. That did not leave much time for fixing up and painting to get their house ready to sell. Then there was the all packing, and the move from Duluth to Minneapolis. And finally graduation - yeah! They both have been blessed to get wonderful jobs and are now proud parents of this adorable little boy. 

This spring and summer has been a whirlwind of activities including 4 weddings and 5 showers. So now you know why I 

haven't posted for awhile. I hope you are having an enjoyable 

summer.