Christmas and Valentine's Day this weekend!

Hello friend!

This year for Christmas, one of the gifts I gave Tim was a gift certificate to Olive Garden (his favorite) and a note that said I thought we should make the time to go “on a date” every month. Quite a lofty goal, actually, because he and I went out last night and couldn’t remember the last time we had dinner & a movie all by ourselves. It was wonderful to get away for a couple of hours! (And I recommend the new Mel Gibson movie--though I must admit I jumped practically out of my seat multiple times and had to look away from blood more than once.)
This weekend I also made time for sewing… and I have my first wall hanging done for my dining room!  I cut the hearts with the Petal Card die, and trimmed off two of the petals to create the hearts.  (this would also work on card stock if you are looking to make hearts for Valentine's Day)
 

It is not a blurry photo, or an optical illusion, the edges are not straight.  The hearts were sewn to the quilt top and then I snipped around the edges so that when it was washed it "ragged".   Gives it kinda of a fuzzy look.
It isn’t perfect—I know where all the flaws are and what I’d change if I were doing it again--but I’m still quite happy with the results. In fact, I’m thinking I should be planning a Big Shot Quilt class, or club…. Gotta think about that, but if you have any suggestions or would be interested, let me know!

Happy Stamping!
Wendy

Sale-A-Bration Fun!

Hello friend!

As you know, Sale-A-Bration is happening, and I just quickly wanted to show you something fun.  Not only has Stampin' Up added the Sale-A-Bration logo to the sides of our packing boxes, but look at this:

This should have been on our boxes all along!

Happy Stamping!
Wendy

Happy January 19th!

Hello friend!

There is so much going on right now... where do I start?  Well, I got back last week from Phoenix, Arizona.  I spent four fun-filled days there for Leadership Conference!  It is so great to spend that time sharing with demonstrators from all over the country... I wish I could take everyone with me!  (actually, I can, so if you are interested, just let me know!) 

The first night of Leadership I was thrilled with our stamping and training.  There were several great demonstrations, but the one that caught my attention was given by a demonstrator named Jill Olsen, and it was all about using the Big Shot to make quilts.  Some of you know that I used to quilt... a long time ago, before three kids!  Quilting has been a thing of the past--until now.  I've been bitten by the bug again.  In fact, after that first night, if someone had told me I had to go home I would still have been happy with what I learned in Jill's demonstration!  I took a ton of photos of her display, but this is one of my favorites:

Dont' you just love this quilt?

On Friday, our co-founder, Shelli Gardner was on stage.  It was nearing the end of the conference, and she had just given an award to Jill for her sharing her quilting ideas & expertise.  Shelli made a comment like, "we wished we could send a quilt block home with everyone."  I just laughed... how could they provide quilt blocks to 1,000 demonstrators?  What am I thinking?  Of course they did it!  Out came the Stampin' Up! employees with stacks of quilt blocks--one for everyone!  Turns out, they asked factory employees to bring their own sewing machines in to the factory, and they made enough blocks for everyone!  Thank you Stampin' Up!

This is one of the blocks made into a pot holder:

Here is another made into a pillow:

Mine is a different color scheme, and it is absolutely beautiful in my dining room.  I need to figure out exactly what to make with it.  I've also bought some more fabrics, and I'm going to make a Valentine wall-hanging for the dining room.  I'll let you know how that goes!

What else is happening?  My clubs all met last week, so that was fun.  (I hope my club members enjoy club as much as I do!)
Last Thursday night our Card Group met at church.  There were three of us, and I brought Natalie.  We had a very unexpected guest.... a bat!  Ugh!  Our first hour was not spent in stamping Valentines for the Baskets of Love next month.... instead it was spent in containing the bat.  Luckily, Tim came in and took care of it for us.  None of us wanted to get anywhere near it!  We'll meet again in March, and hopefully will only have human guests!
This Friday night is the Scrapbooking Fundraiser at Trinity.  We'll be there from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, so join us if you like.  Go to http://www.trinityashland.org/ for a registration form.

And how could I forget?  Sale-A-Bration is going on now.  Can you say, "FREE STAMPS?"  (some of my favorite words!)

Last, but certainly not least, the Overnight Stamp & Scrap is a little over a month away.  I'm planning my gift packages, projects, and such.  I think the soups were a big enough hit that we'll be having a soup & bread lunch again on Saturday.  I'm always up for suggestions on anything--and while I can't promise to put your idea in action, I'm certainly willing to look into it!  Keep those registrations rolling in!

Happy Stamping!  (and Quilting!)
Wendy

Happy New Year!

Hello again!  I usually take most of December off for Christmas... but this year I went a little bit overboard...  thanks for your patience!

There's lots to talk about now, because Sale-A-Bration and a new Occasions Mini are coming on the 5th. 

Stampin' Up! has added something new to Sale-A-Bration, and I'm anxious to see how you respond.  Not only are there 6 great Sale-A-Bration gifts you can receive for FREE when you purchase $50 in products, but this year there is also a long list of regular-line items from our main catalog that are also an option--for free!  Your dilemna will be whether to choose that limited edition item you'd like to have, or one of those stamp sets you've been thinking about but just have not purchased yet....  Decisions, decisions.

Another choice you need to make in both the SAB catalog and the Occasions Mini is whether to purchase our stamps to be mounted on our wooden blocks, or stamps that are clear-mounted!  If you need to play with them to decide, let me know and you can come on over.

This week I'll be attending Leadership Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, and I'm hoping to learn more so I can help you with your "wood-mount or clear-mount" decision.  Honestly, I'm still coming to terms with it myself, and don't have an answer yet. Luckily for us, if your decision is the clear-mount and mine is the wood-mount, we can both be happy, because Stampin' Up! is giving us a choice.  Whew.

While I'm in Phoenix, I'll have classes and can't wait to see what I learn--and can share with you!

See you soon!
Wendy

(By the way, if you wondered after that November post what I did with my dining room, the answer is red.  It was perfect for Christmas... and now that the decorations are coming down I am anxious to decorate it again!)

Gotta show you what I did....

I told you yesterday that I've been spending a lot of time on a ladder... so I'll show you what I've been doing.

Here is the "before".  Tearing down that paper was difficult, because I really loved it--but it was just

 time for it to go....

...and here is the decision I'm trying to make.

The gray is out, but the red is a possibility.  I'm still thinking.  What do you suggest?

Wendy

I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!

I feel like a "Who" from Dr Seuss's book, Horton Hears a Who.  You may not have heard me, but I really am here!  What a crazy couple of weeks this has been!  On November 3 I had my Stamp Tramps here, and within a few days I was sick enough to go to the doctor for a bronchial infection.  Then we've had the excitement of our high school football team going into post season play (two wins so far--Go Arrows!), and I got the brilliant idea to paint my dining room ceiling on Veteran's Day (I was either out of my mind or feeling better, I'm not sure which.)  Of course the new paint made the wallpaper and woodwork look old & tired, so pretty soon we'll have a new dining room!  (I'm really tired of being on that ladder to paint and strip wallpaper!)  So let me show you what I've been up to...

This is a card I designed for a new stamping group at my church. 

This is a card I made for my nephew, Jake.  He is a starting defensive player for the Arrows, and it has been SO EXCITING watching him play this year!

I'll have to take a picture in my dining room and post it later.  Normally I have no trouble deciding on a color when I want to paint, but for some reason I'm having some difficulty making a decision.  Right now I've put my third test color on the walls.  There are actually two colors up there now--gray and red.... looks like Ohio State!  (Go Bucks, beat Michigan!)  Maybe I should leave the final decision for after the game Saturday....

And have you heard the news from Stampin' Up?  In January we get not only our Sale-A-Bration catalog, but also the Occasions Mini catalog... and the big news is that we will have clear-mounted stamps!  From what I understand, they will be the same great rubber stamps we all know and love, but you can mount them on clear blocks.  When you are done stamping, you remove the images to a special storage container.  If you are looking for a way to save space in your stamp room, it sounds like this will be something you'll want to check out.  I can make my first purchase of these stamps in December, and then they will be here for you to see.

Take care!

Wendy

Some Halloween fun!

I have two more things to show you today.  First, this is an update of the card I posted the other day.  (Shhhh.... this one is going to Hannah at university!)  I updated it by using my Big Shot to cut the letters.  Using two "O"'s made the word too big for the card, so I used the centers from the "O"'s.  And then they sorta looked like eyes, so I pulled out my punches!   When you can combine the Big Shot and punches, it is a good thing!

I have to show you our pumpkins!  We have fun carving pumpkins every year.  In fact, there has been a bit of competition....  We sent a copy of this photo to Hannah so that she could be our "impartial" judge.  She chose the pumpkin on the right, so as usual, my brother Mark won.  Someday I'll beat him!

We always have fun lighting our candles for Trick or Treat!  Stop by and see them!

Wendy

Here are the final deals of the week from today through October 31.

Princess Party Kit, item # 116214, Price: $9.99 (regularly $15.95)

You can make your princess's fantasies come true with our Princess Party kit. Your little princess and seven of her ladies-in-waiting can celebrate a splendid happily-ever-after complete with invitations, decorations, and dazzling crowns to create and wear.

■ Contains products to create invitations, crowns, purse boxes, banner, and food toppers for eight

■ Coordinates with the Princess Time stamp set and Princess personalized name stamp

Pirate Party Kit, item # 116213, Price: $9.99 (regularly $15.95)

Hoist the Jolly Roger and get ready to have a swashbuckling good time! Gather your little buccaneer and his or her mateys for a pirate party of the finest sort, complete with invitations, decorations, and eye patches to create and wear. This kit contains products you need to create party invitations and decorations for eight guests.

■ Contains products to create invitations, eye patches, banner, treasure boxes, and food toppers for eight

■ Coordinates with our Pirate Time stamp set and Pirate personalized name stamp




I'm pretty excited that I managed to post pictures!  Maybe I'll get the hang of this after all....

Wendy

Boo!

I was going through an old file, looking for something else... but when I came across this card I couldn't resist showing it to you--even though it is not new.

Maybe I should go get the All in the Family set out again and make some more of these. This time I could use the Big Shot for the letters....

Happy Stamping!

Wendy

A new "Deal of the Week" special!

Here is the next Deal of the Week:



114348 179 Basic Jumbo grommets, regular price $6.95, now only $4.49

109857 179 Mini Library clips, regular price $12.95, now only $8.99

112571 179 Circle Designer brads, regular price $5.95, now only $3.99

112581 179 1/2" Library clips, regular price $6.95, now only $3.99


This special started this morning, and ends in the morning on Monday, October 26. All orders need to me by Sunday the 25th, or you can go to my web site to place orders direct: http://www.wendy.stampinup.net/


Wendy

Pac Man Birthday

This us what we made for my brother Scott's birthday. Scott is VERY talented at repairing pinball machines, video games, and just about anything else. The week before his birthday, my Stamp Tramps club was here, and one of the projects I had for them was a Halloween card decorated with monsters. The monsters were made entirely with punches. (the one in this photo was made by our daughter, Natalie) One of the stampers--sorry, can't remember which-- said the monsters reminded her of Pac Man. I jumped on the idea, and created this fun Pac Man card for Scott.

We also planned to take him a plate of cookies--and Nick said we should make them shaped like Pac Man. So of course we made cut-out cookies that matched our theme. I think Scott really appreciated his "Pac Man Birthday"!

Wendy

A new blog...

There always seems to be so much information I'd like to share, and so I've decided to try blogging again. I do not intend to post every day (how do people find time for that?), but I have made a resolution to post weekly.

To blog or not to blog, that was the question -- and once I decided the answer was yes, my big decision was what to call it. Every name I came up with was already taken... until I realized that not many stampers have a Stamp Cave! (The room I stamp in is a corner of our basement, and is nothing fancy. Before I painted the walls it was positively gloomy, and so my family began referring to it as "the Stamp Cave".)

I've already thought of many things I'd like to show you, so stop by often!

Wendy