Wow! I just got my first blog award from Penny Duncan of Penny Duncan Creations. I'm thrilled, because I love her blog and it makes me happy that she loves mine right back! The requirements for the award are to:

1. Post it on my blog, and
2. Share it with whomever I like.

Wow... there are so many blogs out there that I love. Stay tuned for an update to this post when I'll tell you who I am sharing it with.

Happy Birthday, Shelly!

Last night, we celebrated my friend Shelly's birthday at Chili's. Since Shelly is a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, and MY Stampin' Up! demonstrator, AND my upline, the pressure was really on to make her a good card. (And did I mention she's my best friend too?) So... I happened to be reading my e-mails and found a link to this cool idea for a tri-shutter card:

http://stamperjoyce.blogspot.com/2009/04/experimenting.html

Thanks for the great idea, Joyce! We had a great time at dinner, but I ate way too many chips with salsa, and will be working those off in the gym for the rest of the week.



The card may look complicated, but it's really not hard to make at all. As usual, supplies are from here and there. Solid pink paper from SU! (Pink Pirouette), patterned paper from DCWV Nana's Kitchen Stack, cupcake die from QuicKutz, rub-ons from American Crafts.

Thanks, Peggy!

Peggy Ireland over at http://stampingwithpeg.blogspot.com just celebrated her 10,000th blog hit by giving away some blog candy, and I was one of her lucky winners.

Peggy had us post a comment telling her what our favorite set from the Stampin' Up Occasions Mini was - mine was Forest Friends. Those little critters are too, too cute.

I got the choice of some great SU! products and chose the Fleurettes - something I've been wanting to play with for a while now.

This is the first time I've ever won blog candy - how exciting! Thanks, Peggy!

LNS Challenge #15 - Bollywood Bouquet

I made this card today for a challenge on one of my Yahoo groups - Late Night Stampers. All challenge items must be made with only current Stampin' Up! product - a challenge indeed for me, as I like to use a little bit of everything on my cards and pages.

The theme for this challenge was "3D flowers". I went through my stash and pulled out the first flower set that caught my eye - True Friend. I seem to be inspired by India lately and the dotted style of this set reminded me of mehndi - Indian henna tattoos. I went with the Indian inspiration and used some of the spicy In Color hues for the card.

My embellishment is a narrow piece of Pacific Point CS, which I stamped in Versamark with one of the flowers from the set. I heat set the ink, then wet the paper and crumpled it up. I smoothed it back out a bit and scrunched it into the shape I wanted before attaching it to the card. I also did some needle-punching to carry through the dot motif.

It's definitely not my normal style (according to DH), but that's why I love doing challenges - they stretch my imagination and make me think outside the box. (There's just so much more room out here!) Hope you like it.

I Want It All! (an invitation)

When it comes to craft supplies, isn't that how all of us feel? Like we just have to have everything out there? Unless you have an unlimited budget, that's pretty much out of the question.

I recently signed up under my friend Shelly to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. They were having a fabulous promotoion, and offering so much stuff at a great price that I just couldn't resist. Now, when I signed up, I knew I didn't want to do home parties. For one thing, I've done it before and I just didn't enjoy it (another company, not SU). For another, I can't drive at night (cataracts) and I get really, really freaked out when I have to drive to an unfamiliar place. So... parties were pretty much out for me.

Still, I liked the idea of being a demonstrator, and I really wanted to do Shelly proud and be the best downline ever. So... this morning, inspiration struck. (Stick with me, this does get more interesting!)

I would start a group of ladies (and maybe even gentlemen) who, like me, want all of the ribbons and all of the buttons, and all of the other wonderful stuff that Stampin' Up! has to offer. I would offer that group of folks the opportunity to do a "share". That's where "x" number of people sign up, each pays for a share, and each gets a little bit of all of the ribbons, or all of the buttons, or all of the paper. This way, if there's a color or supply challenge you want to do, you can be sure you'll have just enough of everything on hand to be able to participate. I'll be sure to offer shares on all of the fabulous new SU stuff as soon as it's available so that you can get it right away.

Sound like fun? I thought so too. So... I have created a Yahoo Group called Stampin Up Shares just for this purpose. I'll be announcing the first round of shares tonight. Want to join in? This is your official invitation. There are no minimums, no limit to how much or how little you must participate - just jump in when you see something you like. Click the purple Yahoo Groups box at the top of the sidebar to join - I promise it'll be fun. I'm planning lots of surprises... gifts, give-aways and more.

Bloggy Excitement!

Okay... here's a bit of gushy fandom. I love, love, love Tina Smith's Cherry Hill Cottage blog. I've been reading it for a good long while now. There's always so much there to fuel the imagination - it makes me smile every time I visit.

Anyhow, the blog is listed on my sidebar as one that I follow. I was looking at changing things up on my blog, and worked up the nerve to e-mail Tina to see if there was a blog button for CHC that I could use on my blog.

And... she e-mailed me back! No, there's no button, but Tina Smith e-mailed me!!! And she said..... (dramatic pause).... she said she thought my blog was cute! Wow. What's next -
Kristina Werner calls me up to say she likes my cards? A girl can dream...

Finally - a new SVG!

I actually made this SVG a while ago, but haven't posted it to my blog until now because I hadn't made a sample of it. I know I always like to see what I might do with a particular file before I download it. Otherwise, I could end up with hundreds, nay, even thousands of svg files on my computer, and we certainly wouldn't want that, would we? (innocent look)

Anyway, I had some paper scraps on my work table that were left over from Kristina Werner's color challenge. I also happened to have a brand new set of Marcella acrylic stamps that I got on clearance at Target. The set is called Icon Stamps. (Did you know that K & Co. makes the Marcella line?) It's not much, but it will give you an idea of what can be done with this nifty little label and frame. You can download the svg file by clicking HERE. (I noticed after I took this picture that my cut was a bit rough. I probably should have either cut slower or changed the blade in my Cricut. )

As always, all I ask in return for my free files is that you post a comment if you download, and that you not share the file on any bulletin boards or groups. Instead, please share a link to my blog so that others can visit. Thanks!