and the Mystery Hostess Winner is. . .

Pat Schulte! Congratulations. I had some last minute Sale-a-bration orders. Everyone who submitted a qualifying SAB order ($50 net) was put into a drawing. The winner, Pat, was the recipient of the hostess benefits. I hope you enjoy your new merchandise, Pat! Congrats to all those who submitted orders because they got a FREE item from the SAB catalog.

Finding Joy

I went on a retreat last month in Santa Cruz and it was wonderful! The speaker talked about what blocks our joy and what facilitates our joy. I was part of the planning committee and one of the other planning team members thought it would be fun to hand out "Almond Joy" candy bars. OK, bad pun, but it's kind of cute at the same time, right?

Of course, being an avid stamper I immediately thought about how I could package them. I came up with these little treats to hand out after one of the sessions. Note to self: these are easy if you are just making a couple, but 64? Really, they are pretty easy!





I started by cutting two tags out of Cool Carribbean card stock with my Big Shot and the "Two Tags" die (which I just had to buy so I could make these, lol). I Stamped the outside of each and then adhered them together. I put in a little candy bar, adhering it in place with snail. Then I tied it up with a little turquoise ribbon. All the supplies are retired and it felt good to use some of my stash!

Happy Stamping! Mary

Muhlenkamp Sign and One More Pansy Card

These pansy cards are so much fun to make! You just punch two pieces of shimmery white card stock with the butterfly punch, spritz them with water until it pools, touch an Aquapainter in Elegant Eggplant ink refill and then on the edges of the butterfly. It is so cool to watch the way the ink spreads. Touch a clean Aquapainter in Daffodil Delight ink refill and then in the center of the butterfly. When they are dry, draw lines with an Elegant Eggplant marker and curl the edges a little with a dowel. Put the two punches together with a brad and add to card with a dimensional. The greeting on this card is from "Bring on the Cake" from the Occasions Mini. I'm happy to have another birthday set. I also used the flower images from the hostess set "Because I Care."



These are signs I bought at my son's school as part of a fundraiser for his wood-shop class. My husband thought they needed to be painted so the words would show up better. I painted the first one when I got it back in December, but didn't like the way the Basic Brown ink refill spread through the grain of the wood. Today I finally painted the 2nd sign. I used craft chocolate chip ink and it worked better. I heat set them, so hopefully they won't run when it rains. Now I just need to ask Dave to hang them on our house. I'm so glad I can finally cross that item off my "TO DO"list. Sometimes when somethings on my list too long I just throw away the list! lol.

Happy Stamping! Mary

Wild Turkeys on St. Patrick's Day & a TY to Billie!

This is the actual card we made at my Technique Class on March 18th. I gave it to Billie who fixed a magnetic bracelet for my son. You are so wonderful and talented with jewelry, Billie. A HUGE Thank You to you!

On St. Pat's Day we had wild turkeys on our roof! Did they want some corned beef and cabbage? Or was it the Irish soda bread that they wanted?

Mary

Technique Class Projects

I held my techniques class today and here are the great projects we made. I will try to add more details next week, but at least you can see the photos. NOTE: the supplies have now been added.

We used a different sentiment on this card, but I don't have a photo of it yet. I think the ladies liked this sentiment, which is from a retired set. ADDED NOTE: See post on 3/24/11 to view the card we made in class.
Supplies:
sets- well scripted, (Hodgepodge Happiness is what we used on the actual card)
cs- very vanilla, shimmery white
ink- elegant eggplant pad, refill, and marker, daffodil delight and perfect plum ink refills
access- butterfly punch, wide oval punch, designer label punch (on actual card, shown here, big shot, top note die, manhattan flower embossing folder, vanilla grograin ribbon, aquapointers and mister bottles, hobby blade, mat pack, paper piercer, brads, dimensionals


Supplies:
sets- easter blossoms
cs- rose red, springtime vintge dsp, pear pizzazz, very vanilla
ink- pear pizzazz pad, rose red craft & classic pad
access- rose red seam binding, clear ep, vintage flower adornments, mini glue dots, big shot, tulip frame embossing folder, saning block, pinking hearts border punch

Supplies:
sets- create a cupcake, a word for you, punch bunch
cs- pacific point, basic black, whisper white, old olive, melon mambo and tempting turquoise scraps
ink- pacific point, old olive, melon mambo pads
access- ice crea parlor ribbon, crop-a-dile, tombo all purpose glue, dimensionals, big shot, square lattice embossing folder, build a cupcake punch, scallop square punch

Supplies:
sets- optional greeting from something to celebrate (not shown)
cs- whisper white, old olive ice cream parlor dsp
ink- basic black pad
access- 2-3/8" scallop circle punch, ice cream parlor ribbon and flower buttons, 5/16" neutral brads, dimensionals

If you'd like to learn all the fun techniques we used on these cards and more, you can schedule a workshop. Also, I can hold a class for you and friends where you each pay a $12 fee and make these 4 or a different 4 other cards.

Happy Stamping! Mary

Card & Envelope Portfolio with So Happy for You SAB set

I love it! The So Happy for You set has sentiments and images which makes it perfect to create a set of cards for my current card and envelope portfolio. Plus, you can earn these products FREE during SAB, including the ribbon! I used the colors in the ribbon to decide what colors to use for the cards. Aren't they bright and cheery! It makes me want to smile :)

Supplies:
sets- so happy for you
cs- whisper white, daffodil delight, old olive, pacific point, melon mambo
ink- daffodil delight pad, old olive pad, melon mambo pad and marker, pacific point pad and marker
access- big shot & perfect polka dots embossing folder, 1-1/4" circle punch, wide oval punch, dimensionals, ice cream parlor ribbon

Happy Stamping! Mary

Card & Envelope Portfolio with Mini Messages Retired SAB set

Ok, here's the card and envelope portfolio that used the retired Mini Messages SAB set. When I originally made these the products were not retired. Tomorrow I'll show you a prtfolio made with current SAB items!

More Card & Envelope Portfolios

This was the original card & envelope portfolio I received and duplicated for my hostesses when I was first a demonstrator. All the supplies are now retired. It had a lot of layers, so later I created a simpler 2-step stamped one that I'll show you tomorrow

March Club Projects

Our first club project this month was a little purse made out of a 6"x6" piece of dsp. It closes with a little velcro dot and is perfect for holding a gift card, lip balm, cash, or whatever! This photo shows the front side of one and the back side of another. Frenchie has a good video that shows how they're made.


Here is the purse open.
Supplies:
sets- so happy for you
cs - night of navy dsp and cs, whisper white
ink- night of navy
access- velcro dot, sticky strip, itty bitty punch pack, large & scallop oval punches



Our second project was a card and envelope portfolio complete with four cards. I learned how to make these from my upline years ago (I'm pretty sure Michelle created the pattern for them). I gave them to my hostesses my first year I was a demonstrator. I'll show other samples over the next few days.






Supplies:
sets- a flower for all seasons (FREE as a SAB item!)
cs- whisper white, certainly celery, daffodil delight, perfect plum, real red
ink- basic black pad
access- watercolor pencils, blender pens, celery grosgrain ribbon, sticky strip, big shot & embossing folders - elegant bouquet, petals-a-plenty, perfect polka dots, framed tulips

Happy Stamping! Mary

Ornament Punch Can Be Ordered!

You can order the ornament punch now since it's issues have been resolved. The 3-D flower above was created with it. Click here to see more ways to use the ornament punch - It's not just for Christmas!

Happy Stamping! Mary

Cards for a Friend with Cancer

A good friend had breast cancer a number of years ago. She was cancer free for 5 years and then it came back. She has battled the recurring tumors a number of times and is undergoing chemo again. What a brave women. I pray daily for her healing. Another friend suggested that we make her some thank you cards for her to give when people bring her meals. Well, I thought that was a great idea. We got together last week for a couple hours and made these simple cards. They were inspired by cards in SU's IB&C. I brought them to her tonight with a meal. I hope she likes them. She does beautiful stamping herself, but hasn't been up to it too much recently.

Prayers for you, Kathy! Mary

Happy Birthday Jan!

More of Cheryl's Cards

Here are a few more cards my friend Cheryl made. I just love this first one. Maybe we'll do something like it in an upcoming class. What do you think?

This is similar to a card we made at Tami's. My camera wasn't working, so I didn't get to take photos.


This is another card that's similar to one we made at Tami's. We sanded the dp to get a cool effect. I ordered some antique brads today and can't wait until they arrive.

Happy Stamping! Mary

Kevin's First Communion

A couple weeks ago I attended my friend Cheryl's son's First Holy Communion. Kevin looked so nice all dressed up.

Her older son, Brian is the same age as my younger son, Raymond.

While I was at Cheryl's I took some photos of cards she'd made. I'll post a few more in a couple days.





Happy Stamping! Mary