STRENGTH AND HOPE CARD CLASS - FUNDRAISER FOR BREAST CANCER RESEARCH

Tonight is our first ever fundraiser for Breast Cancer Research!  Linda, Hsiao-hui and I will be demonstrating cards using the stamp set Strength and Hope which SU! has designated as a set that they will donate money to this worthy cause.  Although this is not one of the cards we will be making, it does use the same set.  I'll be posting the class card samples later.  This is a great set to have because there are a lot of possibilities for cards and crafts.  In addition to making the cards, we will be selling handcrafted purses and also the ribbon of hope rhinestone pin and handcrafted hope rings.  All monies collected go to Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Today is the last day you can order the stamp Strength and Hope.  You can get it in wood mount or clear mount.  Order directly from my website.  The wood mount is $17.95 and the clear mount is $13.95.

CK SCRAP AND PLAY - LANCASTER PA WAS SO MUCH FUN

My friend Lisa Chatterjee and I went on a girls get away weekend to Lancaster Pa.  It was Amazing!  We had a great time scrapbooking and cropping and crafting and meeting new friends.  It was a great weekend.  Last year was the first time that they did this weekend and they held it in Valley Forge.  This year they moved it to Lancaster and it was even closer for us to drive to.  Hurricane Irene came up the coast this same weekend but it didn't keep us away.  We were glad to be safe and dry in the convention center crafting up our own storm.

In this photo above, we are having the time of our lives at the CK SCRAP and PLAY.  We met up with the Creative Editor of the Creating Keepsakes Magazine - Megan Hoeppner- who is super nice and really a talented crafter.  She reminded me so much of Lisa Bearnson who is the Founding Editor of the magazine.  Megan is pictured on the left with the large lolly.  I am in the middle.  My dear friend Lisa Chatterjee (and my absolute BEST Scrappin Friend) is on the right!

This is a photo of Me with Lisa and our new friend Christine from Connecticut (middle).  She was super nice. We met Christine on the line to get in and we sat together all weekend.

 

The classes were awesome. We had several classes included in our crop fee, a Free class for registering at CKC in July, and we added the class My Life in Lyrics.  Megan Hoeppner and my long time friend Annette Hardy from my CKU days - taught most of the classes.

This is Lisa cropping in class.  We sat beside each other all weekend - basically "inseparable!"

They gave us a ton of stuff and we won lots of prizes!  The loot above is the door prize I won. It's 2 HUGE pads of scrapbooking paper stacks, rubons, stickers, quote gooks and chipboard kits. I estimated the value of this pack at least $50.  I also won some huge mutipacks of embellishments and bling scrappin paper estimated at another $50, and they gave us tons of giveaways. Each day we were greeted by the friendly staff handing out awesome crop bags filled with adhesives, embellishments, buttons, papers, markers, discount coupons.  We each easily took home almost $200 worth of Freebies and they were so well worth it - meaning...usable!  It was fun to get back what we paid for the weekend and then some!  And...my friend Lisa won a deluxe Die Cutting Machine.  She won one last year and her name was called again this year.  What is the chance of that?  Lisa was so overwhelmed and grateful that she honestly gave it back to them so someone else could win it!  The staff thought that was so awesome and had her pick out some other things from the prize table that matched the value of the machine.

 OK, so mustaches are in.  Here's a photo from the Scrap and Play.  I love my mustache!

And here is Lisa with hers!  Too fun!

During the weekend, we got quite a bit accomplished.  We took some great classes and we brought our own projects to work on as well. We really didn't even need our own projects, they had so much for us to do!

The cards below are from our first class!  These are some holiday cards.  They are just in time to get us ready for the upcoming season.  I know, I know....the holidays are about 4 months away.  But ... it is never too early to think about them and to start prepping for them.  Last night I had a few minutes of free time, so out of curiosity I looked in my address book and counted up the number of people I wanted to send homemade holiday cards to this year.  I counted about 85 for sure and I am going to guess that once I add in my local stamping friends, I'm going to surpass 100 cards to be made.  So...for me... I have to get going and these cards are a real jumpstart.

This class was taught by one of the stamping companies and was filled with techniques.  The colors of the cards are so cheerful and work so well together.  I'm looking forward to recreating these cards with SU! supplies.  These were all super easy to make and I love that they have a real "wow" factor. 

We also made 2 scrapbooks, lots of layouts, other cards, and had the best time.  We are looking forward to attending another one of these events again next year.  We can't wait til they get the next ones on the schedule.  When I add photos to the layouts we made, I'll post those too.  They were super cute!

We are looking forward to our next get away event...we are headed to Black Rock Pa next (this Sept) to visit with some more scrapbook friends!  

WELCOME CARD AND AUGUST PROMOTION SU!

SU! BUY 3 GET 1 FREE Paper packs are on sale until August 31st.  Here is a project from my business website showing you something new that can be done with paper.

Welcome Card

Stamps
• Fabulous Phrases
• House & Home
• Now You’re Cookin’

Paper
• Whisper White Card Stock
• Pool Party Textured Card Stock
• Berry Blossom Designer Series Paper*
• Domestic Goddess Designer Series Paper*

Ink
• Basic Gray Classic Stampin’ Pad®
• Calypso Coral Classic Stampin’ Pad
• Lucky Limeade Classic Stampin’ Pad
• Pool Party Classic Stampin’ Pad

Accessories
• Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon
• White Baker’s Twine
• Stampin’ Dimensionals®
• Big Shot™
• Scallop Square Bigz™ Clear Die

*During August, get a FREE pack of Designer Series Paper when you buy three!

TRIP TO CAPE HATTERAS LIGHTHOUSE - MDS

This past week we spent a wonderful family vacation at the Outer Banks.  We had a really great time.  We loved the ocean and the peace and quiet.  We even took our baby Luigi with us.  Here's an MDS page of our family at the Hatteras Lighthouse - the oldest lighthouse in America.

 Click on the page to make it larger.

THANK YOU CARD FROM HSIAO-HUI

Hsiao-hui is one of the most talented stampers and crafters I know.  The other day I posted the gift I made for her.  This is the Thank You card she gave me.  I told her it wasn't necessary, but honestly...I love getting my hands on anything she creates.  I love her cards.

This card uses the stamp set Elements of Style.  She also did some cool embossing with her Big Shot and the Lattice Embossing Folder.

 The colors she used are fabulous.  I love regal rose.

Hsiao-hui used another machine she has to do the Pop Up Thank You.  I think this is really cool.

LINDA KINCAID'S PENNANT PARADE CARD

Linda Kincaid designed this Awesome card for our last Demonstrator Shoebox Swap. She used the Cheerful Treat Designer Papers and the Pennant Parade stamp set.  She punched out the pennants with the pennant punch.  Oh this is so cool.  Inside the pennants hang and have a terrific wish for the birthday recipient.  I think this is really a clever card Linda!

 The little Happy Birthday Cake is stamped using the Pretty Postage Stamp. 

MORE EASY EVENTS

Here are some more EASY EVENTS cards.  These continue from yesterday's post.  I love this set.

This is a great one for Christmas.  I embossed the cardstock that the image was stamped on with clear embossing powder and iridescent ice.  I love the addition of the small pearls - just enough to make the card really special.

This one makes a great birthday card.  The little flower on top of the cupcake is dimensionalized.

I love this tree and the little heart inside of it.  I embossed the cardstock with the NEW houndstooth embossing folder.  

BRAND NEW SU! STAMP SET IS EASY TO USE!

This set is so cool.  It is called Easy Events.  And...it is so easy to use.  I was over at my upline Janet Wakeland's home a few weeks ago.  She invited a few of us over to make cards using brand NEW stamp sets from the New SU! Idea Book.  I didn't have this stamp set yet, so I thought it might be fun to play with it.  Some of the cards are cased, but in most cases, I really tried to make the cards more of my own.  This set is so neat and I had so much fun with it.  It's got something for just about every event you might need to send a card for.  It's a worthwhile all around stamp set if you'd like to have something like this in your collection.

 These little ducks are so adorable.  The sentiment is from Friendly Phrases - another new stamp set.

 This is so elegant.  I love the addition of the key embellishment.  SU! sells these!  White on white really lends itself to the feel of elegance for a wedding.

 This snail is so cute.  And do you like my hand stamped clouds?  I made them by sponging about a punched out SU! scalloped circle.
The papers are brand new DSP - which is on sale this month for Buy 3 Get 1 FREE.

PART 2 - GIFT FOR HSIAO-HUI - FAITH IN NATURE

I really wanted to share the rest of the cards in the gift box I made for Hsiao-hui.  See yesterday's post for the lovely box that the cards coordinate so nicely with.

The butterfly is stamped with calypso coral classic ink ( a NEW IN COLOR).  The background stamp is French Filigree and stamped with lucky limeade classic ink (another IN COLOR). The butterfly stamp is from Creative Elements stamp set (a MUST have!).

The inside sentiment is from Petite Pairs.

This gorgeous leaf is from Faith in Nature (Oh how I love that set!)

And the inside - again using Petite Pairs.

MORE FAITH IN NATURE - GIFT FOR HSIAO-HUI PART 1

Using the same template as the card I made Friday, I made some cards to be put into the fabric box shown below.  I gave this to Hsiao-hui for her birthday.  Today I'll show you the first few cards.  Tomorrow I'll share the rest.  I was so pleased that the colors matched.  I used new in colors calypso coral and lucky limeade.   The primary stamp set is Faith in Nature.  I used some other new sets like Petite Pairs as well.

This is the lovely box I put the homemade cards in.

 Even the inside of the box is gorgeous and matches our In Color Designer Paper.

This was the first card in there.  I used the hostess set from the summer mini for this card and the background stamp Sanded.

Here's another card I made.

The sentiment is from Herb Expressions.

The flower on this card and envelope is from the stamp set Creative Elements.  The background is also from the same set.

Tomorrow I'll publish the other cards.

75TH BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR MY AUNT ANGIE

A few Saturday's ago I drove up to NJ for my Aunt Angie's 75th Birthday party.  It was some cool extravaganza.  We had the best food, dancing, chatting with relatives, and lots of tributes. My aunt is a great woman.  She has raised a wonderful family and she is such a terrific person. I wanted to post the card I made for her.  I used some NEW SPECIALTY PAPER from SU!  called Mocha Morning.  OMG! You have to get this paper - it's got velvet on some of the pieces, and the others have shimmer. I love this paper. 

This paper is really wonderful!  I used a few different pieces and coordinated them with brushed gold card stock.  The numbers were die cut with my SU! Big Shot from Simple Numbers.  I added Gold Glass Glitter to them.  Ooooh, what shine and glitz!

 I printed our sentiment on the inside of the card on brushed gold card stock.  It was printed with my home Canon printer and I used My Digital Studio to do it!

Here are some photos from the party.  

 My mother is having a great time dancing.

My cousin Anne Marie on the right in the black and white dress.  She organized the whole get together with her brothers.

Aunt Angie is in the center of this photo and my mom is on her right.  You can see how young all these people look.

This is my Uncle Charlie - Aunt Angie's husband.

 More fun dancing.

 The meal was wonderful.  There were so many people and a lot of tables.

 Anne Marie was hysterical with her tribute to her mom. We learned a lot of inside secrets!  lol!

Uncle Charlie and Aunt Angie enjoying the tributes.