Regionals and the business of life!

Regionals in San Antonio was a whole lot of fun. I did not see anyone I know but I made a few new friends - which is the best part of being in Stampin' Up! - you are never a stranger. 

There were so many great ideas, I am going to post a couple of them here. I need to take some photos of the things that I have made getting ready for the holiday season. That, however, would require time and motivation, neither of which I seem to have a lot of. 

Anyway, here are the pictures of some of the fabulous things that I saw at Regionals. I hope you enjoy them. 

These are made from the Big Shot scallop and were demonstrated on stage. It is the cutest thing that I have ever seen. 

The following picture is of some truly darling goody bags that Carrie Cudney of Stampin' Up! demonstrated on stage. The are made with the Stampin' Up! exclusive Pennant Die. They are so much fun. I am trying to make them like a Santa's hat and a Reindeer to use for Christmas treats. Oh I love good ideas.

Danielle

Hurricane Ike

Well, we made it through. We have a little roof damage and were without power for a few hours. Nothing like our friends who have been without power for days and do not know when they will be getting it back. We are out of school for at least another couple of days so I am going to take the time to stamp. Hopefully I will have something to share in the next few hours. That would mean that I would remember to take the time and post it. 

The destruction is amazing. There are houses with trees down, roofs off, trees as part of the roof - etc. We are truly blessed to have the little damage that we did have. I have learned one lesson through all of this - blessings are meant to be shared. We have been blessed to share our home, food, freezer space with those that have been without power. We know that they would have done the same for us in a heartbeat. 

Danielle

Online Ordering

You can now order Stampin' Up! online. Simply login to my Demonstrator Website. Choose Shop Online and shop away.

Demonstrator website address is: http://daniestamps.stampinup.net!

The first 10 customers to place an order for $50 or more will receive a package of handmade cards from me!

Convention Swaps

I wanted to share some of my convention swaps that I did for Salt Lake. I had a great time making them and one of my dearest friends spent her time cutting circles for my dragon fly card. 

The first card is made with tempting turquoise and whisper white. It uses the Zoofari and Family Phrases stamp sets. It also uses the black gingham ribbon from SU!. I love this card it is simple, but fun. Hope you will like it as well.

The second card uses bravo burgundy, night of navy and very vanilla. It uses the Moose you Stamp set. (I love that Moose). It also uses a cute SU button with linen thread. It makes a great card for that hard to stamp for guy.

Lastly, is my favorite dragon fly of all time. It uses Pick a Petal. The wings are stamped in Riding Hood Red and cut out. The body is made stamping the solid circle from the set in Tango Tangerine and then cut out (thanks Jen!). It uses Pacific Point, Riding Hood Red and Whisper White papers. I faux stitched around the outer edge of the card, drew on antennae and used silver brads to finish it off. I really do love this card. Hope you do too.

Convention

Well, I am at convention in Salt Lake City, Utah and having a blast. My camera is not downloading to the computer so I have no pictures but there are no worries. 

There is big news. Stampin' Up! is partnering with Sizzix to offer an exclusive line of die cuts for Stampin' Up! customers. Woo hoo!  There is lots of other great news as well. Let you know all about it soon.

D

The country

Well, it is not a card - but it is a picture of my kids. When we came back from Gatlinburg we made a quick trip to my dad's house in Fredricksburg. The kids always have a great time going to the country. We went to the back side of the ranch where there use to be a small cottage. The windmill (which they climbed and I snapped a photo of) use to be a working windmill that pumped water to the small cottage. It does not work anymore - but it is awesome to look at. If it was not 4 hours from home - we would definitely go there more often. 

I promise to be back with more cards soon. I have been stamping away getting ready for the SU convention and I have tons to show!!!

Vacation - Keeps me from stamping!

I have not created anything in a while because we have been on vacation. The picture shows us white water rafting in Hartford, Tennesee. Oh my was it fun. We had a great time. It was a little scary - worrying about if your child is going to fall in and get hurt. The scenery is amazingly beautiful. God's creation is magnificent. Of course, I did not get to stamp. But it was so much fun being with my family. We saw American Black Bears crossing the road. We got to hike to a waterfall in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (okay, that only served to tell me that I need to work out more!). However, it was beautiful. We got to go to Dollywood and Dollywood's Splash Country. Dolly Parton really has put her mark on the Smokies. We drove over 2000 miles and we all survived. My kids even had a great time on our ride from Gatlinburg to Hernando, Mississippi and almost seemed like friends. I even finished reading 3 books. I am so glad that I can read in the car!

Anyway, I am getting back to stamping today. You will probably see more of our pictures as time goes by - hopefully on scrapbook pages.

Thanks for reading. Be back later with a new card creation.

Danielle

Howdy Card for SC182 Challenge

I am really starting to get into the challenges. If you have never done one you should. It launches the creative process. Today's card was tough - I did not start with what I wanted to do. Then when I started going I did not have a 4th of July stamp that I liked - so I decided to make it a "Howdy" card. That is what Texans - like me - are suppose to say to address people. I like the outcome so much that I might make a bunch up to send to friends for the 4th anyway! The stamps used are from Starstruck and Cowboy Kid. I used craft white to stamp the images on the black. I sponged brilliant blue around the outer edges of both white pieces.

I hope you enjoy. The weather here has just turned foul. No more swimming for a couple of hours. So I will be staming!!!

All images are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted.

SCS Color Challenge June 24, 2008

Today I decided to participate in my first ever color challenge on Splitcoast. It was a lot of fun. I created two totally different cards for the challenge. The first was made with a retired set called Beautiful Beach - it is a 3x3 card using Wild Wasabi (boo hoo, this will be gone soon), Taken with Teal and Whisper White. I stamped the shell and sentiment in Wild Wasabi. I then sponged the shell with Wild Wasabi and Taken With Teal. I used 2-way glue on the lines of the shell and added dazzling diamonds for a sparly touch. I then placed the Taken with Teal Square on the card front, wrapped front with twine and then popped up the shell on dimensionals. (Oh yeah, I cut out the shell!). I think it turned out great. I might find a set that is not retired and make something close to this for convention swaps. Oh yeah, I can not wait until convention.

The second card uses the same colors with Lovely as a Tree for the stamped image. I used glossy card stock, after stamping the image with Versamark and white embossing said image, I sponged Taken with Teal and Wild Wasabi over the entire image. I like this card too, but not as much as the first.

All images are from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. I hope you enjoy and thanks for looking.

Wildflower Hunting

My daughter and I went in search of wildflowers today. We had some luck. The bluebonnets are just starting to appear and they are radiant. We had a great time together - however, I dumped a huge glass of tea on my lap by accident - that made for a little less fun. Have you ever had the experience to see your child fall in love with things that you love. She was taking photos, zooming in close and enjoying looking through the viewfinder to find the exact right angle. Of course, with the cost of gas it cost us way more than the space on our digital card to take these photos. I will be uploading them soon. They are wonderful. I am hoping to create a wonderful birthday gift for my grandmother. She loves bluebonnets and a personalized photo is a perfect gift for the woman who has everything.