Catching Up... New Stuff Party Make-N-Takes

Time sure has gotten away from me with my blog posts... I guess I have a good excuse with my husband coming home from his deployment and all. :-) He gets 2 weeks off before he has to go back to work here, so we've been taking advantage of that and going on fun day trips--lunch and margaritas on the Riverwalk, touring caverns and panning for gems, touring the Shiner Brewery... and sampling some new brews, of course! We were lucky enough to be the first of the public to taste their newest beer, Shiner 101. Yumm! This morning, my hubby and I took a drive over to Comfort to visit my favorite Texas yarn shop, The Tinsmith's Wife. We ate lunch at a little bistro around the corner that happens to have the best burger ever and browsed through some of the quaint antique shops.

I explain all of this so that you understand my delay in posting pictures of the make-n-takes we made at my New Stuff Party a couple weeks ago. Here they are:

The Friends card was made with the Vintage Vogue set from the Occasions Mini. The striped paper is from the Sweet Pea Designer Paper Stack. Notice I said STACK, not pack. The Sweet Pea Stack has 48 sheets (2 each of 24 double-sided designs)! This paper is GORGEOUS! The bookmark was made using the Vintage Labels stamp set from the Sale-A-Bration brochure and the Medallion background stamp from the IB&C. Everyone had the chance to try the clear mount stamps. They make it easy to see exactly where you're stamping!

When I finally got around to unpacking from the party a few days later, I noticed I had a some extra supplies from the projects and decided to make them up. Here's how they came out:

The top one is the original card. The middle 2 cards were made with the Fox & Friends set in the Occasions Mini. The vine on the monkey card is from Baroque Motifs. I made the bottom 2 cards using other stamps in the Vintage Vogue set and embellished them with some brads. Here's a closer look:

This brad is from the Silver Hodgepodge Hardware kit. It says Genuine.

The flower was stamp using the rock-n-roll technique, cut out, embellished with a So Saffron Brad and mounted on the card using a dimensional. I added some texture to the backgrounds of all the cards using the texturz plates and my Big Shot.

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I'm not sure what fun trips we'll be going on this coming week, but I know I will need to sneak some time away in my stamp room so I can start working on the projects for my upcoming All-Occasion card class on February 9. If you're interested in attending the class, we'll be making 6 cards (2 each of 3 designs). The class fee is $10 and all you have to bring is adhesive and scissors. There are 2 times available: 9am-noon and 6:30-9:30pm. Contact me by February 2 to sign up.

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Happy Stampin!

Brenda

bbstampin@yahoo.com

Here's one for the Birds!

They're here, THEY'RE HERE! The OCCASIONS MINI CATALOG & SALE-A-BRATION ARE HERE!

I am having a NEW STAMPIN' STUFF PARTY to celebrate!

When: Tuesday, January 12 @ 7pm

Where: My House (in the San Antonio, Texas area)

Contact me to RSVP and to get directions

bbstampin@yahoo.com

I hope you can make it! We'll be getting our fingers inky while playing with some of the new clear-mount stamps! There will be class sign-ups, refreshments and DOOR PRIZES!

I'll even have some project samples to hopefully inspire you! Here's one you'll see:

This card features one of Stampin' Up!'s new punches... Two-Step Bird (117191/$15.95). I sponged some chocolate chip ink around the edges of the bashful blue bird to give him some depth. I also attached a small piece of a dimensional adhesive behind the tip of the wing and attached the shoulder of the wing with regular adhesive to give him even more dimension!

And here's a close-up:

Check out that epoxy brad! Isn't it too cool! It's new in the Occasions Mini!

To create the scalloped border around the 3" square, I simply pieced together several scallop square punches, overlapping the squares in the middle.


Hope to see you at my party! We'll be Happy Stampin!

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)
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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

While Supplies Last means While Supplies Last...

I have been a smidge busy this week. With a workshop scheduled on Tuesday, I thought I was all set with a 6x6 scrapbook page and card all designed and ready to go. Well, as I mentioned when the Last Chance lists came out, the retiring accessories are only available while supplies last. Unfortunately, as the workshop got closer, most of the accessories I had planned to use were sold out! Here's my original page:

The Baja Breeze striped ribbon and Baja Breeze card stock are both sold out. When I last checked, the Baja Breeze ink pad and Walk in the Park DSP were still available.

I had even come up with a 12x12 page to show at the workshop--so people could see how to incorporate the 6x6 page into a standard sized album

Also retiring, but still available is the Big Deal Alphabet set. The Great Friend stamp set from the Occasions Mini will be coming back in the 2009-2010 Idea Book & Catalog!

SO, on the morning of the workshop, I went about designing a new page for the make-n-take:

This time, I used regular colors & accessories that aren't going anywhere and planned the page around a retiring stamp set (Seaside), which will be available to order right up until the end (June 30). In the end, I think it turned out to be a better page for the group. One person at the workshop said she was going to use her page as a gift for her dad for Father's Day. They had just gone to the beach and she had the perfect picture to add to the layout!

I did create a 12x12 page to show with this page, but I'm having technical difficulties with uploading it with the correct orientation. So I will have to upload it separately through my backup, the photo sharing site Flickr.com.

Happy Stampin!

A Work of Butterfly Art!

True Friend Butterfly 6x6 page
Originally uploaded by bbstampin

Have I mentioned that True Friends is one of my favorite stamp sets? Well, here's another project I made using it. This 6 x 6 scrapbook page is a project we did at a workshop the other day. Aside from True Friends, we also used a stamp from Yummy (a Sale-A-Bration set) on the bottom edge of the Top Note. If you don't know, this stamp also has "a little something for you" above the swirls. We used a Rose Red marker to ink just the swirls to create a border for a picture that will be added later.

The process of coming up with the perfect butterfly was like a mini science experiment. At first I tried the rock-n-rock technique on regular Whisper White card stock--which was nice enough, but lacked a little something (no pun intended). I also tried coloring the entire stamp with markers, stamping on various types of card stock, spraying the stamp after doing the rock-n-roll technique, etc.

And after many other variation, I ultimately inked the butterfly in Pink Pirouette ink, used a sponge dauber with Rose Red ink around the edges to add dimension to the wings, colored the body using an Old Olive marker and, finally, I spritzed the stamp with a little water and stamped it onto WATERCOLOR PAPER. I have to tell you, the watercolor paper made all the difference in the world! When I stamped the water spritzed image onto regular card stock, the colors blended into a mucky mess. But on the watercolor paper, it's like a work of art!

Go ahead, give it a try! ...and you'll be Happy Stampin!

Howdy! Y'all come on over for my New Catalog Open House!

Come see what's new in Stampin' Up!'s Spring-Summer '09 Idea Book & Catalog!

Saturday (Jan 23) between 1-3pm @ my house

There will be a free make-n-take project, snacks, door prizes, class & club sign-ups, lots of samples and, of course, THE NEW CATALOG TO BROWSE!

RSVP by Friday so I will have enough project supplies--my contact info is on my website.

Here's a sneak peek at one of the samples you'll see displayed:

New Stamp Set: A Little Something (Level 2 Hostess Set)

New Paper: Raspberry Tart Designer Series Paper

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Happy Stampin!

Brenda

The Red Scarf Project

As with many crafty people, I am not monogamous to just one craft. At any one moment, I probably have half a dozen various craft projects in progress. Believe it or not, many of those projects are knitting related. Right now, on my various sized knitting needles, I have a pair of socks, stuffed toy turtle, lace scarf and (most recently started) a RED SCARF. I plan to donate my red scarf to the Red Scarf Project. As soon as I heard about this project via an email I received on Friday, I ran out to find the perfect color red yarn (limited by the selection at Hobby Lobby) and cast on for this 60" long scarf.

One of the reasons I love knitting, is because it is so portable and can be done almost anywhere. Last night, my family and I went to a jazz festival at a park in downtown San Antonio and... yup, you probably guessed it... I brought my red scarf to work on! Before the sun went down, I was able to get about 6" of this cable patterned scarf knitted. I still have a ways to go... but I feel confident that I will finish it in time for the October 31 deadline. I will be sure to take a picture of it before I send it off, so I can show you all.

With all this talk about knitting, you might be wondering about my workshop preparations (or not), but don't fear! I have finally decided on the two projects we'll be doing (I think). As of right now, we'll be making a card and Halloween bag topper. You'll have to wait until Wednesday for me to post a picture of what we make... I don't want to give away the surprise to any of my guests that are coming to the workshop (who may be reading this)... and it's also possible that I may change my mind--again. ;)

Happy Stampin... and Knittin!

Upcoming Workshop!

I'm excited to tell you that I have scheduled my first workshop since we moved to Texas. Over the last few months, I have been busy meeting new people, stampin' (as you can see from the projects I've been posting on my blog)... oh yeah... and blogging! But, for whatever reason, I have been putting off telling my new friends about my stampin' obsession. Well, I'm delaying NO MORE! My workshop will be next Tuesday, Sept. 23 at my house on Randolph AFB. If you are in the San Antonio area, I would love for you to come! Please RSVP by Sunday, Sept. 21!