Monday, July 27, 2009

Final Deal of the Week

Here's the final Deal of the Week:

To take advantage of this deal, you may place your order online through my website or by contacting me directly at 210-557-1455 (mobile) or bbstampin@yahoo.com. To save on shipping charges on smaller local orders (San Antonio area), be sure to email or call me to place your order and I will combine these orders. This deal is only good through FRIDAY, July 31, so don't wait too long to order the Heart to Heart punch for only $10.99.

Happy Stampin!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Before the Chaos Begins: A Couple Card Class Projects

Before the packers arrive and I am surrounded by boxes and the sound of tearing tape, here's one more happy stampin' blog post. I had a wonderful group of stampers (brand-spanking new & well-seasoned) over for a card class yesterday. Here are a couple of the projects I designed for them to make:

Stamp Sets: Circle Circus, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Accessories: Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Eyelet Border Punch, Oval Punches.
Colors: Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, So Saffron, Very Vanilla



Stamp Sets: Nature's Nest, Fundamental Phrases
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Antique Brads, 1/16" Handheld Circle Punch, Stampin' Sponge, Distressing Tool (cutter kit), Blender Pen, Stampin' Pastels, Sanding Block, Big Shot, Texturz Plate.
Colors: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Naturals Ivory.


It's always fun watching stampers (new & old) go to town on making the projects I've designed. During my classes, everyone is free to change up whatever they'd like. Some people are more comfortable making their cards exactly like the sample, while others use my ideas for a spring board to make new and totally personalized cards. Of course, there are always moments where creative alterations are necessary--like when an image doesn't get stamped completely, a hole gets punched in the wrong place OR when a step is completely missed. These are not mistakes, they are moments of God inspired creativity! I've had a few of those myself and I have to say that the card usually comes out even better than my original plan--like it was meant to be!

I hope it won't be long before I'm back to share more creative projects with y'all. For now, my card stock and inks are packed away and ready to be moved to our new house 4 blocks away.

Hope you're Happy Stampin!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Jet-Lagged and Checking In

I'm home! Did ya miss me?

Boy, was our trip fun! If you didn't read my last post, my family and I went on an Alaskan cruise! We could not have been luckier with the weather--13 days of no rain, warm temps and lots of sunshine! It was almost like my hubby paid Mother Nature to make Alaska the most perfect place in the world so that I will want to move there some day! Whale-watching, zip-lining, climbing (not me), hiking, tram-riding, SHOPPING, dancing, and EATING are just a few of the things we had a blast doing. I did get a bit of knitting in--some on the ship, but mostly during our travels to and from the cruise. Of course, I managed to find almost all the yarn shops at every port we docked at! LOL Thanks for being so patient, family!
After being away for 2 weeks, I'm climbing a mountain of laundry and catching up with stuff around the house. But I wanted to check in and let you know I'm still alive! I haven't done any stampin' in the last couple weeks, so I don't have anything "new" to show you. However, I do have a project from about a month ago that I hadn't posted yet. It's an end-of-the-year teacher gift (an altered notebook, pen & gift card set).
Close-up of the Designer Hardware:


Even though our big summer vacation is over, my busy-ness is not! Here's what I've got coming up:

One week from today, we will be moving to a new house about 4 blocks away. It will be a week-long ordeal--with the packers & movers doing most of the heavy lifting--thank goodness. But once everything is moved, my "job" of cleaning, unpacking and getting everything in order will begin. I will have about 4 days to do all that and then I'll be heading to the....

STAMPIN' UP! CONVENTION in Salt Lake City, Utah!!!!! I am so excited! I can't wait to come back and share all the exciting new ideas with you! Just so you know, I'll be in Utah August 5-9.

A couple weeks after I return home my kids' summer vacation will come to an end and my hubby will be deploying to the middle east. Soooooo, I will do my best to post regularly... but just understand why, if it's not as regular as you'd like. Feel free to post a comment once in awhile to keep me motivated... ;)

One more thing, in case you hadn't already seen it on my website. Here's this week's "deal of the week":

If you've ever thought about getting the Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware kit, now is definitely the time to get it! You can't beat $18.99! With 200 pieces in the kit, that's less than 10 cents a piece! This sale is only good through July 26, so don't wait! Hurry over to my website and SHOP NOW!
Happy Stampin!
Brenda

Monday, July 6, 2009

More Knit Projects: Cruiseware

Happy Monday! I hope y'all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! My family and I enjoyed some "mandatory family fun" moments... if you have teenagers, I think you know that that means. If you don't, it means that we made our boys break away from the computer/video games to do some fun stuff--going to the pool, a movie, playing cards, etc. For some reason, they weren't interested in my idea of stamping patriotic bookmarks. So I did that on my own:

Yes, this was one of my New Catty Kick-off Party projects. I had some leftovers, so I made them up and gave them away to my hubby's boss and the ladies at the library.

Anyway... just as fireworks were going off around the country, so was our AC blower motor! How convenient in the 100+ temps, on a holiday evening! We live in military base housing, so we were able to get a maintenance guy to come out that night and at least bring us a portable AC unit to hold us over until they can order a part. I think this is God's way of making us really appreciate a trip we have coming up. We are setting sail on an Alaskan Cruise in a few days. We'll be leaving Texas tomorrow.

As you know, I knit, and when my hubby shared his exciting idea about this trip-of-a-lifetime, in the back of my head I thought "Hey, what can I knit for the trip?!" It's a good thing that we planned this trip several months out... because I decided to knit a shawl and a sweater (I must keep warm!). Well, here are my hand knit cruiseware creations:

Pattern: Mr. Greenjeans


Pattern: Rectangle Shawl

We'll be gone for almost 2 weeks. I have aspirations of writing several blog posts and scheduling them to be published throughout the next 13 days. However, I have yet to pack and have a to do list A MILE LONG... so, if you don't hear from me, don't worry. I'll have lots to share when I get back!

Happy Stampin!... and Cruisin!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

New Catalog Kick-Off Party!

Tonight, I'm holding my New Catalog Kick-Off Party! If you can't make it, you're gonna miss out on some great projects. Here's a peek:




Don't worry though, you can still participate in some of the fun. Email or call me by the end of tonight with an order and you will be entered in a drawing for a new/unmounted retired hostess set! (US customers only)
~
Of course, if you're in the area and would like to come to the party, RSVP NOW!
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Happy Stampin!
Brenda
bbstampin@yahoo.com

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

July Promotion: Deal of the Week!


As part of Stampin' Up!'s Summer Fun Promotion, there will be a "Deal of the Week" during the month of July. Starting today at noon (MT), the first deal will be the Scalloped Edge Punch for $10.99 (reg. price 15.95). If you live nearby and you'd like to take advantage of this offer, I will be placing a workshop order tomorrow evening after my New Catalog Kick-Off Party. So either come out to my party (Thurs, 7-9pm) or contact me with your order by 7pm. If you are one of my long distance customers, feel free to either call me to place your individual customer order or shop directly online through my website.
Future deals will be announced each Monday during July at 10am (MT) on my official Stampin' Up! website. I will be out of town without internet access between July 7-19, so if you want to take advantage of any deals announced during those times, you can place your order online through the SHOP NOW page on my website.
With all the excitement of the new catalog release and recent updates to my website, please be patient when browsing and shopping at my website. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me: bbstampin@yahoo.com
Happy Stampin!