creativestampingwithjan

Happy Birthday Stampin' Up!

Stampin' Up! is celebrating it's 20th birthday the entire year of 2008.   Don't we wish we were all doing that too?  They were already celebrating when I was at the convention in Salt Lake City this past August, as the convention theme was Celebrate '08.  But this is the best part--we are getting a gift too.  There will be an October birthday special to help us celebrate.  So look forward to that and I'll let you know the details very soon.

Christmas Design Studio

Let me explain the gift I have for you--it is a Gift of Time:

I have been working on Christmas cards already (92 days until Christmas).  It's really not too early to decide 1) what kind of time you will be wanting to invest in your Christmas cards this year, and 2) what theme or idea you have for your own personalized Christmas cards.  I can help you make that decision at my Christmas Design Studio to be held October 4 and 5.  You will pick one of those dates to come to my house.  You will pick from one of my pre-made Christmas cards or design your own with my supplies.  You will then order your supplies that day.  For each package of envelopes your buy, I will give  you one package of envelopes for FREE.  Now when your supplies come in, I will do all of the cutting and/or punching needed to prepare your cardstock, cut ribbon, etc. at no charge to you, and that is your Gift of Time from me to you. 

Then you will come back either on October 16 or 17, and assemble your Christmas cards.   Look how early you will have gotten your cards finished.  When Thanksgiving comes, you won't be wondering how you will find time to get your Christmas cards finished, you will just be dropping them in the mailbox and enjoying the holidays.

We all need a gift of time the closer we get to Christmas.

Let me know if you would like to be involved in this Christmas Design Studio by emailing me at jan@creativestampingwithjan.com.

Punch A Bunch Class

What a great time we had last Friday night at my Punch A Bunch Class.  There were 15 of us punching pieces like crazy to get all of our pieces punched.  Then we sat down and tried to put the pieces together that went with the correct card!  Everyone said the Hula Girl was their favorite.  Here she is:

Then I think the Choo Choo Train was our next favorite, although this card used the most pieces:

This card is a cute baby face with a scalloped punch blanket.  The baby has "hair" made from fraying a small piece of Mustard grosgrain ribbon.  The baby's face has a small amount of pink chalk to make the cheeks rosy.  This card also features our new Rainbow Sherbert designer paper.  The papers are so much more vivid and gorgeous in person than they are in the catalog.

This owl gift bag was quite a popular project Friday night too.  We weaved a piece of Mustard ribbon in and out of the top of the bag, after we used the hand-held rectangle punch to pierce the holes (just like we used to "sew" with yarn when I was a kid).   Next we put the owl together and attached to the center of the bag like he was flying.  The pumpkins were punched out of Pumpkin Pie cardstock using the large oval punch and were attached at the bottom of the bag with a piece of designer paper from the Summer Picnic package.  What do you think?

This is a close-up of the owl, just so you can get a better look.  I have a small pattern to use for his wings:

This little flower pot holds a Dum Dum sucker inside and has a flower made completely with the Die Cut Blooms pieces (on page 166 of the Fall/Winter catalog) layered on top of each other with a gold brad in the center.  Just add a piece of Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain, and you have an adorable flower treat.

And finally, this gorgeous large flower is made with 6 petals punched with the large oval punch and 6 petals punched with the small oval punch.  Then the new 1-3/4" circle punch was used for the brown center.  Each of the Riding Hood Red petals are sponged with Riding Hood Red classic ink to give the flower more definition.  My new Inspired by Nature stamp set was used for the background of this card.  I think this is a very elegant card that could be used for multiple occasions or a lovely scrapbooking piece:

 

Now those were the reasons 15 ladies were squealing about their cards Friday night.

I would love to send you the kit with directions to make these cards, and you will even have all of the pieces punched out for you, for only $10!

Just click here to email me if you would like to have this kit. 

jan@creativestampingwithjan.com

Thanks for looking!

Happy Stamping,
Jan

On Line Ordering Available With Me from Stampin' Up!

Beginning today, Sept. 9, Stampin' Up! is taking one giant step forward.  If you want to thumb (click) through the Stampin Up! Fall/Winter catalog at midnight and see something you can't wait to get, you can now order on-line through my website.  (Or any other time of the day!)  Click here  Click here to Order On-Line Now and then you will click "Shop Now" when you get there.  I am so excited that Stampin' Up! is giving us this option now.

Customers who go on Stampin' Up!'s site to order without going through a demonstrator's website will be paying 10% more for their products and also a higher shipping and handling charge.  Who wants to do that?  If you do need to speak with me, just call or email any time:

jan@creativestampingwithjan.com or 618/204-1274.

Have fun!! 

August Shoebox Swap

Hello Stampers!  Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with some talented ladies at a shoebox card swap.  Don't know what that is?  Everyone participating in the swap designs their own card as a sample, cuts and prepares all of the supplies so the card can be copied, puts all supplies, inks, punches, etc. in a "shoebox" or similar size box and then takes this to the swap so her card can be duplicated.  Look at all of these gorgeous cards I received at the swap!  These gals are my fellow Stampin' Up demonstrators in our Yes Ma'am Stampers group.

Lorelie Stone's card, made with Eastern Elegance Stamp Set and new scalloped edge punch

Mary Payne's Card, Dreams du Jour Stamp Set and new delicious Bella Rose paper

Kathy Hewlett''s card made with Bella Blossoms and Eastern Elegance Stamp Sets.  How about that cute die cut she did with her Big Shot!

Aleta Hearn's Christmas card was done with Bravo Burgancy cardstock and ink and she used the Classic Stars jumbo wheel.  The large and small star punches were also used to scatter stars among the wheeled stars.

This sock monkey was a big hit--isn't he cute?

This is the card I designed using Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss paper.  I used only one flower from the Inspired by Nature set.