Owl Punch as a vase

This card uses the owl punch to create a flower vase and includes a beveled window pane (from Occasions Mini) to highlight the greeting.

Ahhhh... Nashville - Day three

Day Three went from included more onstage demonstrations. The CFO's presentation was hysterical as he attempted to stamp and demoed the cute baseball card.

LOTS of ideas were everywhere. There were display boards lined with hundreds of cards. One of my swaps made it to the display boards! (It's the yellow card in the upper-left.)

The official day ended with 1,000 women all stamping in the same room! The actual day didn't end until the wee hours of the morning.

Open House on Saturday!

Stampin' Up Open House on Saturday....

Saturday, January 22nd - Mini Catalog, Sale-a-bration Open House - 12:00-5:00

- Stop in to browse the hundreds of card samples I'll be bringing back from Nashville

- Make a FREE card

- Sign up to participate in product "shares" (exclusive accessory bundles)

- Place your first Sale-a-bration orders! (get something FREE for every $50 you spend!)

- Earn a square on the Bonus Board for every $50 you spend (yes, that's on top of Sale-a-bration rewards and raffle tickets!)

- Earn raffle tickets... I will be raffling off 3 stamp sets!

-- How to EARN raffle tickets?

- RSVP by 1/16 and earn 2 tickets

- Attend the open house and earn 2 tickets

- Bring a friend and earn 2 tickets

- Bring a friend new to stamping and earn 10 tickets

- Place an order at the open house and earn 5 tickets

- Place an order of $50 or more and earn 5 tickets for each $50 you spend

- Book a workshop and earn 10 tickets

- Join a hostess club and earn 10 tickets

- Sign up as a demonstrator and earn 20 tickets

Ahhhh... Nashville - Day two

My girls... Amanda, Lisa and Mandy.

Day Two was chocked full of FUN! While waiting to go into the Stampin' Up! store (with all the cool logo merchandise), we stamped cards for Ronald McDonald House. There were LOTS of amazing on-stage presentations that made all 1000 of us go OOOH, AHHHH. I even got to walk on stage with my recent promotion to 'Manager'. Lunch at the Mexican restaurant came with a little staff attitude, but we had fun!

Can you believe all of this gorgeous scenery is INDOORS?

Ahhhh... Nashville - Day one

As you know, I just got back from Stampin' Up's Leadership Convention. The weather in Nashville was 20 degrees, but who cared? Not me! We were indoors at the Gaylord Opryland Resort! It was AMAZING! There were 3 main sections. Each section had 7 stories of hotel rooms and a 7 story atrium in the middle! In the picture you can just make out the balconies off the room that overlooked the atrium. The atriums had waterfalls, a river, bridges, walkways, shops, restaurants and lush gardens.

Later that night I went to a Manager's Reception at the Wild Horse Saloon where there was a southern buffet and line dancing. Did I dance??? No way! I would rather get up and speak in front of all 1000 ladies than dance in front of 2!

After the Manager's reception, we all caught up in a bar and hung out for a while. Needless to say -- not much sleep on day one!

Leadership SWAP

I'm off to Stampin' Up's Leadership convention this week! With the help of my mom and my friend Chris, I made 220 swaps to trade at convention!!!!! We have a tradition that when you meet someone, you trade a card front.

I have about 50 of this design to trade.

Sooooo.... I will be coming home with 220 new card ideas. Wooohoooo!

I was inspired by our winter weather for this card. This monochrome card includes two layers of embossing and features the "Always" stamp set. (Did I mention that you NEED a Big Shot so you can do this embossing too? LOL)

Create a Cupcake!

For this month's hostess club, I had to use my NEW stamp set from the Occasions Mini catalog, Create A Cupcake! Since it has a matching punch, it was a set that I NEEDED. The punch cuts out the wrapper, frosting and cherry! No scissors needed!

Over Christmas vacation, I vowed I needed to learn some new ribbon tricks. Here is one that I learned. It is using the 1 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and has a bit of Linen Thread tied around the center. It adds a bit of texture and interest to a pretty simple card.

Clean and Simple - Baroque Motifs

Here's a Clean and Simple Card using the Baroque Motifs Stamp Set.

Rhinestone jewels are in the center of each medallion adding a little "bling".

This clean and simple card could be used as a birthday, thank you, anniversary, sympathy, friendship or thinking of you card. Add a simple greeting on the inside and you are good to go!

Button, button SWAP

Here's a card from my friend, Maureen. It was a SWAP I received during our team meeting. Maureen used the new Stamp set -- Button, Button and the Simple Friendship Stamp Set.

My picture doesn't do the card justice. She used our rhinestone jewels on several of the smaller buttons. It really made them "pop".

Did you know the rhinestone jewels have adhesive on the back and there are 150 rhinestone jewels in each pack! (only $4.95!)

More Embossing with the BigShot...

I had to try posting from my phone, which is why the previous post of this card showed up sideways. :) This post looks much better.

I am totally addicted to embossing with the Big Shot. Over Christmas vacation it seemed that I couldn't make a card without embossing at least one layer. This card has four layers of embossing.

Layer 1 - Framed Tulips Embossing Folder ($7.95) on Very Vanilla Card Stock

Layer 2 - Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder ($7.95) on Pear Pizzzaz Card Stock

Layer 3 - Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder (again!) on Very Vanilla Card Stock

Layer 4 - Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder (yes, again!) on Baja Breeze Card Stock. Flower Petals punched with the NEW Blossom Petals XL Punch ($16.95). Flower leaves stamped in Pear Pizzaz ink on Pear Pizzaz Card Stock using the NEW Build-a-Blossom Stamp set!

The greeting is from the Simply Said Stamp set.

Gift Card Holder....

This stocking has a hidden surprise. The top flaps opens up to show a pocket to hold a gift card. I made these for Sarah and my nephew, Zack, for Christmas.

My hostess club gals already let me know that I need to hold a class next October to make these and gift tags.

I learned the "inlaid embossing" technique at our demonstrator meeting from my friend Lorena. I used the "Vintage Wallpaper" embossing folder with the Big Shot to emboss the stocking.

waiting for an x-ray....

So, back in early December, I had broncitis and was in the waiting room waiting my turn to get an x-ray...

I noticed these pictures on the wall and thought they would make good card layouts!

Where do you get inspiration?

A card from my friend Jean

Love the colors and layout!

Another post from my phone.

Embossing w the bigshot!

Testing a post from my phone.