Leadership Swaps

At the beginning of January, I had the awesome priviledge to attend Stampin' Up!'s Leadership confernce. As is the tradition at any Stampin' Up! events, I took several swaps with me. I think that I may be addicted to swapping! I didn't (OK, I still don't) NEED any more swaps but they are so much fun to make and to share with everyone!

The Alien doing the hokey pokey was a lot of fun but more work than you realize. Between coloring him in, dragging all the edges in ink, punching the stars and "stitching" the stars, these babies took quite a bit of time! I do LOVE the way they turned out though. Doesn't he look like he is doing the hokey pokey? Put your left foot in, put your left foot out, put your left foot in and shake it all about. Let's do the hokey pokey and turn yourself about. That's what it's all about!

Stamps: Greeting Eartlings, Smarty Pants

Inks: Not Quite Navy, Tempting Turquoise

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Whisper White

Accessories: Large Star punch, Star punch, silver brads, 1/16" handheld punch, white gel pen, Not Quite Navy and Green Galore markers, dimensionals

This card I made for the Stampin' Addicts dinner at Leadership. There were about 35 of us that got together and ate dinner together. We had lots of fun and got to know each other better. One of my favorite things about the dinner is that we were able to go around the room and tell everyone a little bit about our cards that we were swapping that evening.

I used the technique of faux silk to make the piece that the butterfly is sitting on. It's really quite simple to do. Stamp your image on tissue paper, crumble it up and then smooth it out. Layer it onto a piece of cardstock and there you have it! It really does look like silk. It's hard to see in my photo but it's quite neat looking.

Stamps: Flower Fancy, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, Basic Black

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive, Whisper White, Cardstock Vellum

Accessories: Big Shot, Beautiful Butterfly die, Perfect Details Texture plate, Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon, hemp, tissue paper

I LOVE the way this last card turned out. I won the stamp set Pendant Park at Convention this past summer. I haven't used it very much and really wanted to do something different with it. So I masked the bench with the two cute little squirrels on it and then stamped the bush behind them. Well, that's not all that different! Many people have done that before! I inked my bush with Cameo Coral and rocked in Ruby Red. Now that's different! I added the heart above the squirrels as well as the strip below and the other heart and I was very pleased with the outcome!

Stamps: Pendant Park, All Holidays

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Ruby Red

Cardstock: Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Accessories: Crop-a-dile, Heart to Heart punch, Metallic eyelets, dimensionals

Keep Stampin', Until next time

Shelley

Leadership!

I had the great pleasure of attending Leadership this year. It was great fun! I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time. I roomed with 3 wonderful women whom I hadn't really met before. We have been "talking" to each other online (Stampin' Addicts) for quite some time. We decided to room together and had a blast!

Left to right: Yapha, Staci, Lyssa, and Shelley (me)

We were able to leave our window open all night and day if we chose and it was the first week of January! That is something that we don't get to do in WI very often!(Remember the January tornado of a couple of years ago?) We saw some beautiful sunrises from the 16th floor of the Wyndham hotel. I love the mosaic look to the sunrise.

This is another reflection from our hotel room window. You can see the hotel we were in. It's the short building with the round looking windows in the center of the photo.

I really was awed by the reflections! You would think I've never seen a mirror before. What can I say! When I don't have the mom and wife responsibilities I just let me hair down! I got to meet Sterling Gardner (Shelli's husband). What a patient man to put up with all those women! He always had a smile, even when one in my group decided to sit in his lap!


I have to show you the picture of the integrate Stampin' Up! logo that was hanging at the front of the stage. I LOVE the way this looks.

If you even have the opportunity to attend any Stampin' Up! function, RUN TO IT! They do a fabulous job of putting on these events. I am planning to attend the Milwaukee regional in April, want to go?