Congratulations Scott, Andy, & Tyler

Okay, truth be told when your son quits his job to go solo (or do you call it trio?) to write programs for the iPhone and iTouch; I was concerned because of the economy.  

I made this card for them, and wanted to share it with all of you, how proud we are of him and his friends. Their program is a "Staff Favorite" for the second week of the iTunes app store. You can find the Staff Favorites at the bottom of the iTunes app store page. 

Way to go boys! Congrats!!!

To play the game all you do is pop (by touching) the balls and or wiggle your iPhone/iTouch to get 4 balls to touch and that's how you get points. Very easy concept, but surprisingly challenging. It's a fun game that can even be enjoyed by the young as well as the rest of us. They also have a Mac version and the version for PC's will soon be released.

Three easy payments for the Starter Kit

Dates: March 13-April 30, 2009

The limited-time Three Easy Payments option for purchasing the Starter Kit is intended to benefit you. In these challenging economic times, some may consider the up-front cost of signing up to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator a financial barrier. In an effort to assist you and to remove this possible barrier for you, we're trying out the Three Easy Payments option. (Any future payment plan offering will be determined at a later date.)

The Three Easy Payments option allows a you to make a partial initial Starter Kit payment and still receive the Starter Kit right away in order to get your business up and running. 

Contact me for a complete list of what comes in the Starter Kit and for more information on how to get started.

My March Hostess gift

This was the Hostess gift for my March hostesses. Isn't this just an adorable little bag. It's like it was tailor made for a Ghiradelli chocolate. This was a perfect project because I was able to showcase SAB DSP paper, ribbon, and stamps; it also provided me with an opportunity to demonstrate a technique, Rock & Roll, and the Big Shot.

I'm not sure who to give credit to for creating these little bags, for I had seen several examples of these little bags on SCS (Splitcoaststamers) thank you for sharing. Please leave a comment so that you can get proper recognition.  

I love the way this flower with the 5 petal flower punch and Sweet stem emboslit look together. After punching the flower I folded up 2 of the petals before adhering it to the stem. I was inspired by the Raspberry Tart DSP paper when I put it together. (I hope I'm not taking credit for someone else's creation - I've searched SCS and couldn't find any examples of this little flower).

Happy Birthday Wow

I made this card for my son's birthday. Wow, I am having a hard time believing my baby is now 24 years old. I really need to stop referring to him as my baby, he's probably 8 inches taller than I am (and I'm no shorty).

I really like the crisp contrast of the Pacific Point and Kiwi Kiss, with the white accents. I'm always looking for inspiration to make cards that are fast and easy. When I saw this card on my up-up-line's bulletin board, I thought "Ah-ha, I could make that card in less than 10 minutes!" I consider this card a success. 

Stamps: Wow Flowers, Short & Sweet (envelope)

Paper: Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White

Ink: Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss

Punch: Circles: 1 3/8", 1 1/4", 1", and 1/4"; Word Window, Snow Blossom 

Other: Circle Ice brad

I've been cased - How cool is that!

My little lambie card has been copied. What an honor!  Michelle from down under in Australia has copied my card. She has an adorable story about the changes she made in creating her little lamb cards.

My card was also posted on Patsy Waggoner's blog, my second-up-line. When I shared the card in the Definitely Divas shoe-box swap, we were suppose to include an embellishment, so that little lamb is feeling all fancy with a little bow on her head.

I've just gotten home from babysitting my youngest sister's little 6 month old boy who is sick with RSV. Please include all children who are suffering from an illness in you prayers. Thank you.

So glad we are friends

Every weekend my hubby and I look forward to spending time with our friends playing cards or dominoes. We joke that we are in withdrawal if we are unable to get together and it's been more than a week since we last played. I felt the saying "Live with Passion", that comes in this stamp set, was calling out to be used in a Valentine card and it was perfect for the inside of the card for our newlywed friends. 

I love the stamp set "Inspired by Nature"; remember I used it on my little lambie card. I cased this card that Patsy, my 2nd-up-line made. It's crisp clean simplicity glows with elegance and style. 

So when you change the colors of the paper and ink, and the stamped saying, can you still call it a CASED card? Whatever it's called; you can certainly see that my card was directly inspired by her card. 

Triangular Gift Bags

The first time I made a 3-sided gift bag was for a Home Business Christmas  fair. But now trying to fill my new empty shelves, I decided to make a new triangle bag to display for Valentine's. 

While making it, I thought I should submit it in the SoShelli challenge. As I was setting it up to take a picture, I felt it was missing something. I literally only had minutes left before the deadline and I decided to quickly stick a bottle of wine in it. Rip went the bottom corners, and that was the end of trying to do a last minute entry. 

After letting it sit for a while, I decided to try and salvage it. I added the bands at the bottom to hold in and cover up the rips. 

I think that was the finishing touch it needed from the start. 

I'm planning to make an other 
triangle gift bag for Easter. 
I would love to see your 
triangle bags creations. 
Check back next month for 
my post and in the comments
leave a link to your gift bag.

My Craft room

This has been a busy year helping my family with their moving, remodeling, painting, and decorating projects. Plus I have enjoyed helping with the Christmas decorating at church. In January my daughter decided it was my turn to be helped and drove two and a half hours to help me put the boarder in my craft room. Isn't it perfect for a craft room? 

I'm such a recycler (some would say penny pincher) my mom had a shelving unit cut down so it wasn't so deep and I couldn't justify tossing the the shelving pieces that were only 4 inches deep. So with help from my hubby, he cut it in half, so I'd have two short ones. With the addition of angle brackets - ta-da, I had a whole wall of shelves to display cards and projects.

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