more Stampin' Up!® Convention 2012 adventures

This was my most favorite Make and Take from convention, and I actually finished it completely during the first, alternate session on Wednesday afternoon:

stamp set- You're Amazing; ink: Early Espresso, Midnight Muse, More Mustard, Primrose Petals; card stock - Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Midnight Muse, More Mustard, Primrose Petals, Very Vanilla; punches - Ticket Duo, 1/16" Circle, Itty Bitty Shapes; Big Shot™ with Apothecary Accents Framelits™; Paper Piercing Tool with Stampin' Pierce Mat and Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack; Linen Thread, Basic Pearls, Stampin' Dimensionals®, Glue Dots®, paper snips, needle

Aren't those little tickets awesome?  Stringing them on the linen thread was almost therapeutic after my frustration with the flower on a stick...

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were the "actual" days of convention, when we attended General Sessions and class presentations.  I learned so much!

Donna Griffith introduced demonstrators Meg Wheeler, Dawn Griffith and Laura Milligan, who presented "I Am...Savvy" projects using fabric, ribbon, and kits (both card and scrapbook); of course now I have to buy more supplies {grin}!

Pam Morgan gave us tips on taking advantage of performance bonuses in "I Am...Making Money".

Shannon West (and her "sidekick" Brian Pilling) informed us of how beneficial smiles are and had us dancing in the aisles to show that "I Am...Having Fun" is the #1 ingredient to maximize workshop possibilities.

Emily Montoya taught me some texting acronyms I didn't know before (Y! = typical man) and really inspired me to do more with social media to improve my efforts at "I Am...Reaching Out" to the emerging demographic of GenY.  Emily and "Kate" made me feel better about preferring text messaging to telephone conversations - bonus!

Sandra Manwill, Natalia Danko and Teresa Giordano totally rocked Hispanic Night, an extra event held in the evening. It was full of awesome projects as well as ideas for connecting with customers from Hispanic backgrounds.  They had some of the best give-aways, too, and I came home with the new heat tool - WooHoo!

I hadn't seen Bonnie Thurber before, but I'm pretty sure she's my favorite Stampin' Up!® employee - she's so funny, and she's my generation!  She introduced demonstrators Ronda Wade and Tami White who told us their "recipes" for "I Am...Doing Business 'My Way'", which are methods any of us can adapt for our own success.

Carrie Cudney related a "Gone Fishing" story to illustrate the need to look in new places and try new things in order to find new customers; now I can show everyone that "I Am...Open for Business".

There were also stamping demonstrations (with give-aways), lunches (with give-aways), shopping at Memento Mall (with give-aways), and awards.  Oh my!  I'm already putting away $1s and $5s for next year - won't you plan on joining us?

convention adventures

I've been home from Stampin' Up!® national convention a week now, and the Kites Over Branch County competition has been completed as well, so I'm finally getting some crafting and blogging time.  There was so much going on at convention, I can't begin to tell you all about it, but how about some highlights?  After I met my llama friends in person for the first time Wednesday morning, some of us went to Riverton to see Stampin' Up!® headquarters:

We returned to the Salt Palace convention center to work on our Make & Take projects.  The first one I worked on totally frustrated me, I just couldn't get it right.  My friend, Buffy, did it correctly and posted hers on her blog:

I made the flower and attempted twice to make the banner; I brought it home incomplete.  I tried the banner again two more times last night, and I tore the flower completely apart and put it completely back together, but I still didn't like any of it.  And, I can't figure out what purpose the pouch might serve.  So, I put the flower in a vase and the banner on a card:

stamp set - Affection Collection; ink - Daffodil Delight, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals; card stock - Daffodil Delight, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Whisper White; Big Shot with Delicate Designs textured impressions embossing folder; Basic Rhinestones

Since I opted not to use More Mustard for the wings (the way the instructions and sample were done), I believe my colors fit the current Play Date Cafe challenge - bonus!

 

Besides the Affection Collection stamp set, we also received the Daydream Medallions and You're Amazing stamp sets as part of our registration.  I did a lot better with those projects, and I love this little set:

stamp sets - Daydream Medallions, Affection Collection; Stampin' Around  jumbo wheel - Daydream; ink - Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Midnight Muse, More Mustard, Primrose Petals, Versamark; card stock - More Mustard, Primrose Petals, Whisper White; Big Shot with Floral Frames Framelits, linen thread, Vintage Faceted designer buttons, Basic Rhinestones, Primrose Petals 3/8" stitched satin ribbon, glue dots, kraft gift boxes, square envelopes

I've barely started to tell you about the first day, and there were three  wonderful days full of products, samples, demonstrations, sessions, friends, food - more than I can ever share!  I'll tell you more, though, I promise.

Before I log off so that I can get some sleep, I want to brag a little bit about the golden Postage Due card I posted just before convention - the Less is More team, Mandi and Chrissie, selected it as a Showcase card!

Thanks, ladies!

online learning adventure, day 2 part 2

I only made one card today, and it's one of the collage stamp lessons from Day 2.  I've been watching the videos each day and reading the material, I just can't put into practice everything I've learned at such a quick pace. Since I'll always have access to the materials, that's OK.  And since I really, really like today's card, I'm OK with being two days behind, too:

stamp sets - Postage Due, Petite Pairs; ink - River Rock, Versamark; card stock - River Rock, Brushed Gold, Window Sheet; punch - Postage Stamp; Big Shot with Beautiful Wings embosslit; Gold Stampin' Emboss powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, stamping sponge

I chose to make it in gold (really - the River Rock card stock is gold in real life even though my photo doesn't have quite the right lighting), thinking there was enough white space in the design to qualify for this week's color challenge at Less is More, but I'm not really sure it isn't a touch too detailed.

Nonetheless, I'm pretty pleased with the three completely different cards I've made from one collage-style stamp set.  I only convinced myself to buy it because I knew the Stretch Your Stamps classes would cover collage stamps (ok, and because I love the bicycle); I've never been comfortable with the style before.

online learning adventure, day 2

Yes, I'm still behind - I don't think anyone is surprised.  The good thing is that I have 20 days to post my projects and permanent access to all the class files!  While everyone else was learning techniques to get more use from alphabet stamps today, I was working with my new collage stamp.  I tried watercolor resist:

stamp sets - Postage Due, Netting; ink - Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Versamark; card stock -  Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, watercolor paper, white vellum; designer series paper - Twitterpated; punch - Postage Stamp; embossing powder - clear and white; Stampin' Dimensionals, stamping sponge

The color palette is new this week at Color Throwdown for their 200th Challenge Celebration, and the layout is the newest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Then I tried ironed-off embossing and masked color blocking:

stamp sets - Postage Due, Itty Bitty Banners; ink - Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Pacific Point, Night of Navy, Versamark; card stock - Bashful Blue, Marina Mist, Whisper White; Big Shot with Labels Collection and Bitty Banners framelits; embossing powder - clear; Stampin' Dimensionals, stamping sponges

I did this one in monochrome for this week's challenge at Card a Day, a blog I just discovered, and chose blues for the challenge at Addicted to Stamps Challenge Blog, which I just found last week.

I hope to be working with alphabet stamps tomorrow, but there's still collage squares, the floating focal point, and multiple embossing from Day 2 as well as the pigment powders and paint resist that I probably won't get to at all...

Oh, before I forget, I made this clever little number last night using Julie Davison's tutorial, which I found on Pinterest, and then discovered that the challenge this week at Shopping Our Stash is for an extra fold or pleats:

stamp sets - Curly Cute, Happy Grad (retired); ink - Real Red; card stock - Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, Window Sheet; Crystal Effects, white Bakers Twine, Simply Scored Scoring Tool and Diagonal Plate, 5/16" white brad (retired)

I'd like you to know that taking time from my Stretch Your Stamps "homework" to make this card is one reason I'm behind, but then I'd probably have to admit that Carly's open house was Saturday, and I should have mailed a card to her last week, so let's just not go there.  At least I'm only one day behind now, instead of half a week ;\

 

online learning adventure, day 1 part 2

Yes, today was day 2 (we learned different ways to use collage stamps), but I wasn't finished with day 1...

I thought I'd try using my new background stamp (it arrived today!) as a stamped element on this Just Us Girls sketch. 

Then I got the idea to also use the background stamp as the background, so it turned out to be more like a spotlight or highlight:

stamp sets - Itty Bitty Banners, Pleasant Poppies; ink - Tangerine Tango; card stock - Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Lucky Limeade; designer series paper - Floral District; punches - 1-1/4" circle, 1-3/8" circle;  Big Shot with Bitty Banners and Apothecary Accents framelits; Stampin' Dimensionals

Collage stamps, and collage style, are not anything I'm comfortable with, but I had some unwarranted self-confidence that I could learn something *and apply it* in time to make a vintage style card (another style I'm not comfortable with) for Jingle Belles before tomorrow.  Yeah, probably not.  So, here's the card I made last week and put off posting (huh - looks like the JUGS sketch infiltrated my subconscious):

stamp set: Pines & Poinsettias (retired?! how did I miss that?!); ink: Early Espresso; Stampin' Write markers - Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke; card stock - Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke; designer series paper - Deck the Halls (retired); punch - Decorative Label; Victoria 5/8" crochet trim, Simply Scored, Stampin' Dimensionals  

So, I'll go back to Online Card Classes Stretch Your Stamps to review today's two videos, seven techniques, nine-page .pdf document, seven samples and six links to additional inspiration and see what I can do with my new collage stamp (it arrived yesterday!).  Meanwhile, you should probably click right over to Online Card Classes and sign up - I don't know where you'll find a better deal!

online learning adventure

I signed up for Online Card Classes Stretch Your Stamps - today was day 1, for background-type stamps.  I watched two videos, learned five different techniques, was inspired by five different card samples and eight links to more ideas - WOW!  What a great value for the price, and there are still 9 more days!  One of the techniques was a pieced background, which I tried here, using colors from the Paper Players and a sketch from Stamping 411:

stamp sets - One in a Million and Hello, Doily; ink - Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight; card stock - Naturals White, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight; punch - Full Heart; Stampin' Dimensionals

Since I stamped the Hello, Doily image three times (once in each color), I really made three cards (one of which I mounted upside down, but we could say I meant to do that for a little variety - see how the curve of the sentiment follows the curve of the background design?):

stamp sets - Curly Cute (on left), Perfectly Penned (on right) and Hello, Doily; ink - Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight; card stock - Naturals White, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight; punch - Full Heart; Stampin' Dimensionals

I had so much fun, and I still want to try a DIY inkpad, double stamping, and stamped elements with background stamps. This is my first online learning adventure for stamping/card making, but it won't be my last.

fixation adventure

I hope you have followed one (hopefully more) of our llama hops - we also swap!  We make a card for each participant and mail them to each other.  In most swaps, I think all the cards (or whatever is being swapped) are mailed to one person, who divides them so everyone gets one of each and sends them back to the participants.  Llamas don't tend to be herd-followers, though, or at least not the llamas (and one alpaca) that I know.  We've been swapping ideas from the new Stampin' Up!® annual catalog this month.  Here's the one I sent:

stamp set - Blessings from Heaven; ink - Basic Black; card stock - Island Indigo, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight; designer series paper - Summer Smooches; Big Shot with Chevron textured impressions folder; Stampin' Dimensionals

I've been a little fixated on rainbows for a couple of months, now, as you can see on my Pinterest board.  I loved how the papers in the Summer Smooches package fed right into my fixation!  I take the swaps I receive to work  and show them to my coworkers.  I include the one I've made but don't identify it (unless they ask) - it's fun to see if they guess which one is mine.  Last week one of them asked what this style would be called.  She knew it wasn't vintage, or whimsical, or one of those descriptions, but couldn't think of what described this - I suggested bold graphic. 

Another fixation I admit to is Christmas. Although I did better last year at early card-making, I'm starting to feel the pull again now, and found another challenge blog to stimulate my imagination in Nicole Derendorf's Festive Friday.  This week she's offered a sketch, and I did this with it:

stamp sets - Netting, Word Play; Stampin' Around wheel - Music Notes; ink - Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Versamark; Stampin' Around marker - Riding Hood Red; card stock - Very Vanilla, textured Chocolate Chip (retired), Riding Hood Red; punches - 1-1/4" circle, 1-3/4" scallop circle; Stampin' Dimensionals, sponge dauber

Oh, and there's my fixation on music, too...  I'd also like to thank Paper Players for encouraging those of us with Christmas fixations by posting a Christmas in July challenge this week!