Love You and the Lots of Love Letterpress Plate

I did some stamping this weekend just for fun. No swap cards, no class projects, just playing. I haven't done that for awhile! I've been experimenting with the Letterpress Plates (page 7 in the Occasions Mini Catalog) and decided to make cards with some of the results. This was the first one, using the Lots of Love Letterpress Plate. It's kind of hard to see, but there are more words on the watercolor paper besides the one in red. I just chose to highlight one. I did this by using a Real Red craft spot to ink over the letters, ran it thru the Big Shot, and this was the result. The other words are embossed/debosssed but have no ink on them. I tied a piece of Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon around the watercolor paper and attached it to a piece of Real Red cardstock. Stamped the word "you" (from the Hostess Set Because I Care, page 11 in the Idea Book & Catalog) on a scrap of watercolor paper, punched it out with the 3/4 x 15/16" Oval Punch (was in the Holiday Mini catalog and is still available as a write in), layered it on a piece of Real Red cardstock punched with the 1 3/4 x 7/8" Oval Punch.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing the second part of my organizational series with you. The topic will be Ink Pads. I hope you come back to read it! Then the rest of the week will be more cards I made over the weekend.

Project 52- Week 4

I actually got my picture taken and uploaded to the site this week! Woohoo!

This is Sydne, our yellow Lab who is almost white. I was hoping to catch more of her tongue out, but after a few minutes of licking my hand and not finding anything, she gave up. This was the best of the bunch.

The assignment for week #5 is "Muse".



Cards from the January Stamp-A-Stack - Card #5

I wasn't sure if I liked this card as much as the others, but I heard lots of positive comments on it at the Stamp-A-Stack. I used Love You Much and the swirl from Baroque Motifs. It's Sahara Sand and Pink Piroutte cardstock, Chocolate Chip ink and ribbon (discontiued, but any would work!). The Designer Series Paper was from a Hostess Level 1 Paper Pack that is discontinued now. This is a great layout that can be altered for most sets and colors and any occasion. I wanted to show that Valentine's sets aren't just for Valentine's Day!

Cards from the January Stamp-A-Stack - Card #4

Sometimes you just don't want layers and all the extra "stuff"...clean and simple! This was CASE'd from Robin M. I love the simplicity of it, and it would be great with any group of similar stamps- snowflakes, flowers, etc. The colors I used are Rose Red, Regal Rose, and Pretty In Pink. The lines are drawn in with a marker.

Cards from the January Stamp-A-Stack - Card #3

This was one of my swap cards that I did recently and I decided to use it as one of the cards for the Stamp-A-Stack, too. XOXO stamp set, Full Heart, Small Heart, and Pinking Hearts Border punches, Glimmer Paper (LOVE it!), and Love Impressions Designer Series Paper. Colors are Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray, and Whisper White. I love using Designer Series Paper- all the work of picking colors that go together is done for you!

Cards from the January Stamp-A-Stack - Card #2

There is no stamping on these cards, but they are so elegant looking and everyone liked them! This is CASE'd from Debra C. The snowflakes are from the Northern Frost Decorative Strip die that was in the Holiday Mini Catalog and is STILL AVAILABLE! The colored brad is in the smaller snowflake, that is attached to the larger snowflake with a dimensional, which is attached to the Brushed Silver with a dimensional, and the whole layer is attached to the Whisper White cardbase with dimensionals. The ribbons are current colors (Rose Red, Pacific Point, and Bashful Blue) but are discontinued. They are wrapped around the silver and then have a Rhinestone Brad holding them together. These go together quickly once the snowflakes are cut out. We had to usse a stylus to push some of the little pieces out so that was a little time consuming.  

Both today's cards and yesterdays Snowman card could be used for a variety of occasions.

SALE-A-BRATION HAS STARTED!

Get a free S-A-B product for every $50 you order (before shipping and tax)!

Sale-A-Bration Is Here!!

Dates: January 25-March 31, 2011

Promotion Details

Our biggest sales event of the year--Sale-A-Bration--is here! This year we've got four great Sale-A-Bration sets for you to choose from--as well as a Designer Series Paper & Quick Accents pack, a Ribbon & Button pack, digital downloads, and Décor Elements!

There are three ways to earn free products:

Order: You will receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $50 you order (before tax and shipping)!

Host: A hostess will receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $300 in workshop sales, in addition to our regular hostess benefits!

Join: New recruits will receive 15 percent off their Starter Kit (Standard or Digital+), plus a special Sale-A-Bration bonus bundle valued up to $50!

Things to Remember

•Online orders of $300 or more do not qualify for the free hostess Sale-A-Bration item.

•All Sale-A-Bration products are exclusive to this promotion and will never be offered again.

Sale-A-Bration Stamp Sets

2011 Additional Sale-A-Bration Offering

In addition to the limited-time Sale-A-Bration items listed above, you can choose to redeem your Sale-A-Bration rewards for any one wood-mount stamp set of $14.95 or lesser value or any one clear-mount stamp set of $11.95 or lesser value from the Idea Book & Catalog.

•This benefit is not an additional benefit to the free Sale-A-Bration item, but must be used in replacement of a Sale-A-Bration item.

•You may only choose from the Idea Book & Catalog or Celebrando Creatividad, NOT the Occasions Mini Catalog.

•You must use the special promotional item number found in the Sale-A-Bration brochure to redeem for these catalog sets.

•Though not included in the Sale-A-Bration brochure, Élégance éternelle (French Always Elegant, page 67) is available as a Sale-A-Bration reward option. You must use the following item numbers to get this stamp set free with a $50 purchase.

Wood-Mount Item #123942
Clear-Mount Item #123943

Cards from the January Stamp-A-Stack

The January Stamp-A-Stack was last Saturday (the 22nd) and everyone made 3 each of 5 designs for 15 cards total. The theme this time was "Snowflakes & Hearts". Here is Card #1, an Aerial Snowman:

I've seen the snowman made this way by lots of people, so I took bits and pieces and made him my own. He's made with the 2 1/2", 1 3/4" and 1 1/4" Circle punches. Each circle is edged with Bashful Blue ink directly from the pad. His hat is half of the Round Tab punch and the Word Window punch. His arms are from the Snowflake punch. His nose is just a scrap of Pumpkin Pie cardstock, the eyes and mouth are drawn with a Basic Black marker. The scarf is Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon. The background is the Northern Flurry Embossing Folder that was in the Holiday Mini Catalog and is STILL AVAILABLE! The card base is Bashful Blue. I also used the 2-Way Glue Pen to add some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. Can you believe it? I used glitter? It's usually so messy and ends up everywhere, but I now keep my glitter in a Ziploc Container which really helps keep it under control. Not perfect, but much better!

If you would like to buy any of the supplies used to make this card, please go to my website: http://www.denalenneman.stampinup.net/ and click on "Shop Now" in the upper right hand corner. Don't forget tomorrow is the 1st day of Sale-A-Bration! For every $50 you order (before shipping and tax) you get a FREE Sale-A-Bration item!

Project 52- Week 3

2 posts in one day...just trying to catch up!

Pictures from yesterday's Stamp-A-Stack will start tomorrow!

Late again, but this time it was because I was busy getting things ready for the Stamp-A-Stack on Saturday. I was so focused on stamping I completely forgot about photography. Earlier in the week I was thinking about the assignment and wanted to take a picture of the farm. I thought all the snow would make an interesting "shades of gray" photo. Yeah, then it got a little cold. Friday morning it was 29 below for the actual temperature. Saturday the high was zero. This morning it was 24 below. Too cold to be standing outside taking pictures!

Instead, here's a picture I took a day or 2 after Christmas. As I was walking upstairs, I looked out the window on the landing and saw this turkey hen in the pasture. We've had turkeys out in the fields, but never this close to the house.

I thought the program I use to edit my pictures would change it to black and white, but it doesn't. So I just played around with the saturation and made it gray.

Not exactly what I had in mind, but it turned out kind of cool.

The assignment for Week 4 is "Soothing Repetition". My first thought was all of the cards I made before I went to Leadership. I should have taken a picture of them all spread out. Too late now! I'll have to think of something else...

Operation Write Home

Thank you to everyone who donated cards! 629 cards in 2 boxes! I'm so glad we were able to contribute!

I've got another box almost ready to go but there's room for more cards. Let me know if you have any to donate- all I ask is that you also donate $1-2 to help with the postage.

Project 52- Week 2

The assignment for Week 2 was to illustrate a song. That was a tough one for me! I was hoping I would be able to take a picture of something in Nashville that would work, but I never left the Opryland Hotel to see Nashville! I took lots of pictures of displays and a few of what was going on during Leadership, but none of them fit the assignment. Instead, here's a couple pictures of the inside of the Opryland Hotel:

The assignment for Week 3 is "Shades of Gray"...

Leadership 2011 - Nashville!

I finally got to have my picture taken with Shelli! Usually the line is so long and there isn't enough time to wait. But we went down to the area where we were going to do the Make N Takes Friday night and there she was, with no line! So we pulled out our cameras and asked if we could take pictures with her. She always has the best smile and looks great no matter what! I, on the other hand, need to lose weight!

Here is Shelli on stage, in front of the theme for Leadership this year "+one".

 This is the Gathering Place, where we ate the Stampin' Up! meals, did the Make N Takes, and had some classes. If you look on the left, the lady in the purple shirt holding the box over her head is my upline, Betty. Hi Betty! And the lady right in front, in the green flowered sleeveless shirt is Jill, who I met at last year's Leadership in Phoenix. She's from Alaska! Hi Jill!

Next year Leadership is in San Antonio! Want to join me? Sign up to become a demonstrator today, start recruiting and build your business and you could go!

Project 52

I have always been interested in photography, but never really took the time to learn how to make my pictures better. My parents bought me a Kodak Easyshare camera in the early 90's and I thought it took nice pictures.

Then I dropped it!

I was taking pictures of cards for my blog, set it down to switch cards, and somehow bumped it enough that it tipped and fell off the cabinet where I was working. I cried. Then I called my husband and asked him what I should do. I took it to the local camera store and cried again when I found out it would cost more to repair it than it did to buy it.

So my husband said "let's go buy a new camera".

I wanted another on just like the last one, but he said, no, let's get a GOOD camera.

OK, but what kind? I've been addicted to The Pioneer Woman's website for a few years now, and she does tutorials about photography on her site (as well as blogging about her life on a ranch in Oklahoma and sharing awesome recipes). She has talked a lot about Nikon vs. Canon with the pros and cons of each. I wanted to get a Nikon, because that was she uses.

We bought a Canon Rebel.

I like it, but it's taken awhile for me to get comfortable with it. I've read a couple of digital photgraphy books and have learned a few things, but I don't always get the camera out to try what I've learned. I do take pictures of my cards, did take pictures of the horses when we had them, and try to take pictures of my husband and son, but they are not willing subjects. They HATE having their picture taken.

I've read about people doing a picture-a-day project and a friend even showed me an album she made of hers. It got me thinking...the new year would be a good time to start, but I had missed almost a week already.

Then this morning I found this...

MCP Project 52: One Photo a Week – Join in Anytime!

In photography, as with any job or hobby, it is easy to get into a rut. If you have ever needed a little photography lift, challenge or some inspiration, that is what the new MCP Project 52 is all about. Imagine taking pictures once a week just because you feel like it. Visualize photographing something while not pressured for the perfect shot. Envision shooting just for yourself. Every week for up to 52, starting today, you can join MCP Project 52. You will be able to shoot something important to you, like your child, nature, the city, or something silly you just notice, like your toenail polish chipping. Or if you are up for a challenge, you can even play along with our weekly suggested theme.

This sounds much better for me! So I joined! I missed the first week, which was to take a picture of something in your home. But I did take pictures of how I organize my stamps on New Year's Day, so this will be my first picture:

Not terribly exciting, but it does show things in my home: Sydne, the carts with my stamps in them, and the wood floor in the office.

Now I need to take a picture for this week's assignment, which is to illustrate a song. Maybe I'll see something in Nashville if I can't come up with anything before I leave. We're supposed to have our pictures posted to Flickr by Friday night, which may be close to impossible since I'm not bringing my laptop with me. Maybe I'll take a picture with my phone and use it to post. We'll see what happens! I'll also be posting them on here.

My challenge for you is to do something similar! Either join Project 52 or do something on your own. I'm thinking about using My Digital Studio to scrapbook each week's picture and then have an album printed. So take new pictures and scrapbook them or work on the ones you already have!

Oh, I did buy a little Kodak pocket camera, too!

Thank You Cards For A Friend

A good friend called me last weekend and asked me to make her 100 thank you cards. She said something with flowers, any color, keep it simple. This is what I was working on most of the week and delivered to her yesterday. Everything is Stampin' Up! except the cardstock. The stamp sets are Fast & Fabulous (hostess set) and Flower Fancy.

The cards in the 1st 3 pictures are larger than normal. I forgot to write down the final measurements, but they fit in an A6 envelope. The green looked like Old Olive at first, but I found that River Rock ink looked the best with it. The pink is very similar to Cameo Coral, and luckily I still have that ink!

The cards in the following picture have Designer Series Paper from "Shades of Spring". I used a variety of pink inks to coordinate with the cardstocks.

The rest of the cards have Designer Series Paper from "Bella Birds" and use a variety of pinks and blues.

Now I need to work on my swaps for Leadership...

Happy New Year!

Sorry for my long absence...December was a very busy month! But I'm back now...ready for a New Year! Here's to a happy and healthy 2011!

Besides trying to lose weight, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to help you become more organized with your stamping supplies! I want you to know what you have and be able to use it!

Ready? Start reading...

Forget those big, impossible-to-keep resolutions! A better way to ring in the new year (conveniently, 1-1-11) is with one small thing you can do each day this month (or really, any time this year). Follow the calendar of tips and ideas on the next pages to make this year easier, more fulfilling and a whole lot of fun.

-Woman’s Day magazine, January 2011, page 13

I thought this was a good quote to introduce some organizing tips I want to share with you. The article in Woman’s Day had 31 ideas - 1 for each day in the month of January. They had some excellent ideas, and if you have access to the magazine, I would recommend reading it. But we’re talking about stamping, so I’m going to help you organize your stamping supplies!

Number 1 is, of course, stamps!

I must say I LOVE the new clear mount stamps! Having them in DVD cases that are all the same size is so helpful! And they’re so slim- I can fit two cases in the space one wood mount set would take up. But not all stamp sets are available as clear mount and you probably aren’t going to un-mount your wood mount stamps, so how do you organize them? This is what I do:

Sydne helping to show how I store my stamps



All of my current stamp sets are in drawers of carts I found at Sam’s Club. The carts have three large drawers on the bottom and four small drawers on the top. My stamps are in the large drawers, and I have them separated into categories: Holidays/Hostess/Mini Catalog, Alphabets & Greetings, Flowers/Nature/Animals, All Occasions, and Past Mini Catalogs/Misc. Sometimes one drawer will have too many for a category, so I end up moving them to another, but this is generally what I use. The stamp sets are standing on their edge so I can read them (clear mount sets) or pull them up to see what they are. I may have to move a set in the front to get to one in the back, but they are all easy to get to:

stamps in their drawers

Discontinued stamps are another story…they are stacked in a cabinet so they are out of the way, but still fairly easy to get to if I need them. I have to really like a discontinued stamp set to keep it, otherwise I sell them because I don’t like to demonstrate with something my customers can’t order. So I don’t have that many sets in the cabinet. They are stacked by size and labeled on the ends so I can see what they are without pulling them all out. This also lets me know they are discontinued and need to go back in the cabinet when I’m done with them:

discontinued stamp sets

So I know what sets I have, I stamp every stamp from each set on a piece of white cardstock that is 5 ½ x 8 ½ and keep them in a small binder. I like the smaller size, but you could use a full size binder as well. I have all the pages in the same order as they are in the catalog- then similar stamps are together. You could also keep them alphabetically. When I’m looking for a particular stamp, or want to see what would fit in a certain layout, I can page through the book rather than going through all of my stamps:

 a page from my stamp book

I also have an Excel Spreadsheet on my computer that lists each stamp set, item number, and retail price. The sets are arranged alphabetically in categories of current, mini catalogs, and discontinued. This is another way of knowing exactly what I have (if I keep it up to date!) and it’s a way of showing what I have spent in case I need it for insurance purposes.

This is what works for me, and by no means is perfect for everyone! Use what is available to you! Here are some other storage ideas that I have heard of: open shelves, under-bed storage containers, a dresser, tool box, baskets. Whatever you use, try to make it as organized as possible so you know what you have and are able to use your stamps! And make sure you put things back so you can find them again next time.

I hope this helps you to get your stamps organized! I will be highlighting a different stamping supply each month this year. Next month: ink pads!

* Feel free to add comments/tips/ideas about how you store your stamps!