End of an Era

(Laurie, Shery, Vanessa, Melissa & Shannon)
LeAnn & Verlene left before I got the camera out...and we missed Jody!

Stamp group has come to the end of the road. We have had a great run and I think we are up to 3 years?? (is that right, or is it 4?) We have had other members through the years and have hated to see them go, and we have picked up others to help finish our run.

Last night we had our last stamp group gathering. Shannon our fearless leader had some wonderful projects for us.Here are two of the 3. (I can't find my third one...but it was amazing too!)

I know we will be having stamp nights in the future, but I will miss our every other month food/stamping/food/chatting/food/stamp group fest. Thanks girls for the fabulous run! And thanks to Shannon for all of her amazing ideas, projects and workspace!

Chic Boutique

I had a card party on Friday and my awesome hostess, Madeline, asked me to do something French so this is how the make & take turned out....

Chic Boutique stamp set and Nouveau Chic DSP were the two main ingredients. The I used the new flower punch (4 layers of DSP), my current favorite brads and of course a little Dazzling Diamonds for the Eiffel Tower....voila!

FYI (Vanessa)

My new favorite stamp set is FYI. (page 144 in the 2009-10 catalog)


FYI, that paper came from a huge stack purchased at JoAnn's.

Vintage Suede (Shannon)

Have I really not posted anything since July? I'm going to fire myself from my own stamping blog!!!

Anyway since returning from Leadership Conference, which was last week, my mind has been buzzing with everything I want to try and make. To be honest, I've never felt this excited about stamping, post event. It was an AMAZING week last week!!!!!!

Anyway I wanted to make some cards for my friend's birthday. She's a non-frills kind of gal so I wanted to try something w/my new Vintage Vogue stamp set, and neutral colors....

Very Vanilla card stock, clear embossing powder, VersaMark, Soft Suede ink, Vintage Vogue and Chic Boutique stamp sets.
Kraft card stock and Soft Suede textured for the strip in the middle.
Soft Suede card stock, silver Encore. Lg flower is VersaMark & clear embossing powder.

Christmas Tags (Vanessa)

Wow! A new post...it's a Christmas miracle!

Back in October, Shannon had a great gift idea for Christmas. TAGS. I decided that is what I would be giving neighbors this year.

Here I am mid project after tag #800 and wondering what I had gotten myself into!

And here is the finished project:

Supplies used:
Delightful Decorations Stamp Set (2009 Holiday Mini)
Christmas Punch Stamp set (hostess set)
Oval punch, square punch, ornament punch, tag punch
Kraft, white, Real Red and Old Olive paper
Real Red polka dot grosgrain ribbon
SU Clear envelopes
Fiskars paper crimper

My fingers were a little sore after all the punching and tying of the ribbon. I did have one neighbor tell me she loved it so much that she wasn't going to use them, just look at them. And another neighbor actually used one of them on their gift to us :) That made it ALL worth it. Now that I have all the stuff, I can do it again. I just need a year to recover!

Spooky Spider Part Two (Vanessa)

Remember Shannon's spooky spider from last year? I decided to copy her. So, so easy!

(Now let's just hope it doesn't fall off the top of my bookshelf and bonk someone on the head!)

Convention 2009 (Vanessa)

LeAnn and I had the amazing opportunity of attending the Stampin' Up Convention in SLC a few weeks ago. We got to see the opening session which was exciting. We experienced all the attendees screaming like they were at a rock concert when Shelli (the founder of SU) appeared, we learned that Stampin' Up has a yearly theme song, we found out that hats can be fashioned out of die cuts from the Big Shot and we also learned that when you give out Stampin' Up Build-A-Bears, middle aged women go nuts.

The real reason we were there was to see our fellow Stamping Queen Shannon present on the big stage. We both think she has the best job ever and this just solidified it for us.Here is the big convention hall she presented in.

There she is on the jumbo tron, getting everyone pumped and ready for her presentation.

Here she is stamping and showing her creations from p.208 in the catalog (under $10 stamps). See how professional this production is? A cameraman and everything!

We are proud to say that Shannon is our friend and demonstrator. She did a great job and didn't even seem nervous presenting in front of all those people. She gets two thumbs up in our book...but we're not biased or anything!

July Club Projects (Shannon)

We had a fantastic club tonight!!! Here are the projects...using all kinds of new products!

This one uses my new favorite stamp set (not a surprise, I am sure): Chic Boutique....

...and a little bit of Melon Mambo card stock & ribbon....bummer that the dazzling diamonds on the Eiffel Tower didn't show up in the photo!

Next....Rich Razzleberry CS, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP cut out w/Big Shot butterflies, and Razzle Dazzle stamp set to make the background....

Lastly, I made a card using Medallion. I copied one of the samples in the catalog and used pastels--love love love the little halo it leaves behind! I did two-tone pastels. Then used a metal edge tag for the center....for the club, everyone made one w/the Really Rust pastel and a Dusty Durango center. But after club, I started messing around with other colors and made these.....

This one is my favorite.....for obvious reasons: PURPLE! (I used Lovely Lilac & Elegant Eggplant pastels, with a Rich Razzleberry center).

Accordion folded flowers (Shannon)

I saw a card sample online and I tried to recreate it from my mind but was having a really difficult time--it just wasn't turning out! So I started playing around and this is what I made instead....


This was the first one I tried and made such a mess of it that i went back after and figured out how to make it work. Zoey chose the DSP so I made it for her.




Not the cutest cards I've ever made but they were fun and I want to try some more.....

Merci (Shannon)

Last month, I made my sis some thank you notes for her Moulin Rouge shower....and here they are. Inside they say "merci".
I used an Eiffel Tower stamp set from a far inferior stamp company--but it was the best one I had so it had to do....however I just got Stampin' Up!'s newest Eiffel Tower stamp, and I seriously cannot wait to use it! It will definitely be on one of our club projects this month!

Simple B-day Thanks (Shannon)

I love the Simple Birthday Thanks stamp and have been dying to use it sime it appeared in the catty last July....so last weekend I made a couple thank you notes for my b-day gifts. I gave one to my mama, and one for each of my 3 sisters.
I stamped the side of the cupcake exactly on the fold of cardstock--so it was a darling little cucake card (you can see the back of it in the above picture). Then I restamped the image on DSP and cut out just the frosting so that it looked perfect! Lastly I added the cherry on top and a little bling.

I just loved how cute these cards turned out--and after I handed them out, I didn't get one comment from those that know they should comment on my cards! So I said "Do ya'll not like the cards? You didn't say one thing!" And Allyson said "Well yeah they are cute but they aren't the cutest cards you've ever made or anything." hahaha I can always count on her to say something completely unexpected.

But I didn't care b/c I think they are the cutest ever!

Pop's Shower (Shannon)

My little sis is getting married and we are having a shower for her in a couple weeks....she's having a Moulin Rouge theme so that is what inspired the invitations that I made.....

And a close-up....eve though it's fuzzy......

I loved they way they turned out so I wanted to share them w/all ya'll. :)

Stamp Club (Shannon)

This week was stamp club again and all the projects featured Designer Series Paper, since Stampin' Up! has a promotion this month where you can buy 3 packs of paper, get one free!!

This first one uses the Rockabilly paper--that has some glossy stuff on each page....I paired it with the Tart & Tangy stamp set...

You can sort of see that I've also lined the inside of the envelope with the same shiny, cherry paper. I got a card from my friend Lacey this week--it was such a fabulous card with the same idea--DSP on the inside of the envelope that matched the card. So I immediately stole that idea and this card is the result. :) (Lacey, there is one on its way to you!)

This next card was inspired by one of the cards we made in Virginia, during the card class that Robin Merriman did for my friends. I took the same idea--Manhattan flower die--and just changed the colors a little to incorporate Parisian Breeze DSP.

I'm going to be so sad when Baja Breeze retires! :(

Lastly, I used Trendy Trees and Tangerine Tango Patterns DSP...nice photgraphy, eh?

Manhattan (Vanessa)

I tried out the Urban Oasis Designer Series paper along with the Bloom Again Die Cuts from the Manhattan Collection coordinating accessories. (p.9 in the SU! catalog) And I used my free stamp set from the Sale-a-bration catalog: Polka Dot Punches.

I love how they turned out!

Crowns (Shannon)

I love glitter. And I love these cards. Coincidentally, so does Sina--at least I hope she does love them if she has received them! :) I used craft ink, heat & stick & glitter.These cards were the first ones I made--and then I tried using Grand Soiree--which also looks completely amazing and that's why we made them in stamp club this week!

This crown is not a Stampin' Up! stamp, unfortunately. You can't win 'em all. :)

This last one is my fave--it was stamped in black craft w/hot pink glitter over. Totally amazing! :)