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

I sewed!!

I was given a sewing machine a few years ago by my mom. She works at Nancy's Notions in Beaver Dam, WI. If you are into sewing and quilting, that will sound familiar to you. She got this sewing machine pretty cheap and passed it on to me because I'm the creative one in our family. Well, it's been sitting in the basement for quite some time. I have sewn a couple of pillow coverings out of old shirts, fix the occasional hem, gotten a costume together, nothing fancy. Well, I was inspired by all the textiles that I'm seeing on the web using our Big Shot so I thought, "Why not?" Mom gave me a bag of rements from Nancy's so I pulled a couple out and went at it. I wasn't going to be out anything other than my time! This is what I created! Aren't you proud of me? Now the only problem that I have is that all four of my girls want one! I guess I better not put the sewing machine away.

Shelley

Leadership Textiles

At Leadership, Stampin' Up! had several women make different things using the Big Shot, different dies that we sell and fabric. What these women came up with just blew my mind! I'm NOT a sewer but I can and do appreciate the finished product. My idea of sewing is a handful of pillows for my sofa, mending a seam, fixing a button or Halloween costumes. These women did a FANTASTIC job of putting these works of art together. I'm sharing a couple of pictures from that booth.

The first picture has a banner that I just love. I want to make one of these for may family. We have a wall in our dining room that we have hung many of my children's art projects up. I think it would look neat to have "Zarling" hanging over them. Now I need to find the right fabric for the job. I also like the quilt on the top of this photo. Having all girls in my house (other than my hubby), pink is a favorite.

The second photo is another quilt done with the Pennant die but they are butted up against each other. I think this layout is very unique and fun!

The star is my all time favorite. I love Americana stuff and this quilt just screams my name. This is using the 5 point star die.

The last quilt is really cool too. I like that is uses the inside of the oval frame die to create a flower. Again all the pinks are wonderful and very striking with the black and white border.

I have several other pictures that I would be willing to share with you if you are interested in seeing what else can be done using the Big Shot and the dies. The dies will cut 8 layers of fabric if they don't have any fold lines in them. They will cut 3 layers if they have the fold lines in them. I have tried it out and am amazed at how easy it works! Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

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?

And then came volleyball!

Hoodoos in Bryce

After our amazing trip to the National parks, (Bryce being the family favorite by far!) I came home to find out that I would be coaching 7th grade volleyball. A day later I had an interview for a part time job at Curves that I was later hired for! So between practices, games and my new job I was gone full time! It was fabulous and I LOVED coaching the girls. I'm still enjoying Curves but it left little time for updating my blog!

Then I thought that I would have more time when volleyball was over. Well, that all changed when I was asked to assist a friend with cheerleading! We also had two ladies quit at Curves and one fell and broke her ankle! So the hours have steadily been rising! Then there was Halloween costumes to make, Thanksgiving to prepare for and then Christmas was upon us!

Missing Miriam who was a monkey.

There are many other things that have happened to me this fall but I won't go into detail! I know that you are here for projects so I will get to them very soon. I would like to post at least 3 times a week with projects that I have done or am working on. I'm stating this to you so that I'm held accountable for this.