Sandi MacIver

Inspired by Nature - embossed and Mojoed!

Hi Stampers.  I have a quick little post for you today and a cute picture one of my stamping friends sent along yesterday.

Now WHO does this look like?  Miss Lucy for sure,

but it isn't, it is a picture going around the internet right now, isn't it cute..

I'll have to see if Miss Lucy likes Peanut Butter this much, tee hee.

When I did my Inspired by Nature card yesterday

I made 2 art pieces and I had not finished the second.

I saw the Mojo Monday Challenge come into my e-mail last night and the light went on.

and here is the card I created

I made mine into a 6 x 6 square,

all the directions from yesterday apply to this card too.

I have one more little share for you.

Did you buy the Watercolor Wonder tutorial this month?

(left sidebar if your looking for it)

Project #4 - the Wow project

also looks very cool with the peacock feather.

I'm getting a ton of e-mails telling me how much customers are liking this card set so if you need a fast and fun class for the month, give it a try.

Ok, time to get dinner on the table, so talk to you all later, thanks for stopping in and see you soon.

INSPIRED BY NATURE - EMBOSSED - Late Night Stampers Challenge

Howdy stamping friends, It's Monday, time for another Challenge over at Late Night Stampers.  This week, Embossed....I wasn't sure if we were Big Shot Embossing, or Heat embossing, so I combined both into my project.

First, I inked up my stamp, I used Melon Mambo and Rose Red for the Flowers and Old Olive for the stems and leaves.  For the "cone" on the flower, I used Soft Suede and edged that with Chocolate Chip.  I used the sponge daubers to do all this.

I stamped my image onto a piece of Whisper White, then I stamped it again, without reinking it.

I used the second faded image to cut out and "MASK" over my good image

I inked up my "En Francais background stamp with my Versamark pad, stamped over my image, sprinkled gold embossing powder over it, shook off the excess and heat set it with my Heat Tool.

Then I cut a big Hole in it, LOL!.

I used the Scallop Circle Die and my Big Shot for the Background piece (page 199),

The Circle I cut with the image on it is 3-1/8

The Black Mat is 3-1/4

My card base is 6 x 12 of Melon Mambo, scored and folded at 6,

The piece of Old Olive is 5 x 5-1/2, I embossed the bottom only, with one of my "Whacked" embossing boarders.

The Basic Black piece is 4-1/2 square, I embossed the whole thing with the Finial Press Embossing folder, (page 195), yes, the new one I bought after I "whacked" up the first one....hey, a girl's gotta have toys!"

So I layered all of these pieces

Next, I used the stamp set WHIMSICAL WORDS that I received for FREE from the Sale-a-bration catalog for spending $50.

I embossed the sentiment on a scrap of Whisper White, then, as my flower stamp still had ink on it, I huffed on it, and got a nice light background image behind my sentiment.

My layers for this piece, is the Scallop Circle Punch in Melon Mambo, the basic black mat is 1-3/8 Circle Punch and the sentiment is the 1-1/4 punch (all on pages 186 and 187).

and here it is all put together.  I made the Old Olive bow with my new satin ribbon from the Occasions Mini,  (page 27)

I also pierced some holes around the scalloped circles using the Mat Pack and Piercing Tool (page 191)

There you go, my first embossed piece for our Design team Challenge, stay tuned for more

and I have an event coming up that you might like to know about.

If you live in the Sequim, Port Angeles Area in Washington State, or you want to visit it on May 15th?  This is where I started my Stampin Up Career and as there are 3 in my downline up there now, I booked a hall and we are going to arrange an afternoon of fun filled stamping.

We are working out the details.  It is a wheel chair accessible venue, it is a half day event and we are going to fill it with Awesome stamping projects for you.  I'm so excited to be going to visit and stamp with this great group who have all become such dear friends, so if you would like more details, come on back for a visit.  As soon as I nail down all the details, we will be putting up a pre-registration and there are only a certain amount of seats, so first come - first served.

Thanks for visiting.  It happens to be an extremely sunny day here today, so I'm off to rake some leaves, and I need to cut my grass - but I won't...our daffodils are also about to bloom, how nice.....it's supposed to rain the whole rest of the week, so I have to take advantage of this.

I promise to stamp more for you tomorrow though.

Big Hugs to you all and hope you get some sunshine where you live today too.

VINTAGE VOGUE STAMP SET & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Good morning blogging friends.  Happy weekend to you.  I have a few things to share with you today.

FIRST - A warm welcome to the newest member of our team Jarrod who also lives here in Portland.  I'm so happy to have him join us. I have had the pleasure of seeing his art, it is spectacular and I know we are going to have fun stamping and learning techniques with him.

If you are interested in joining our team, please send me an e-mail and lets Chat.  During Sale-a-bration is a wonderful opportunity to sign up, free stamps and $15% off, whoo hooo, what could be better.

Ok, so who is going to be the next State  to Sign up?

I'm finishing up some swaps so thought I would share them with you. This Swap, was one card from the Sale-a-bration Mini and one from the Ocassions Mini.  I'm going to show you my swaps today as they have to go postal, then I will share what I get in return, this should be fun, cyber swapping, you can swap through me......don't you just love the internet.

This is my Vintage Vogue one.  Card is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2- Basic Black

Background is 4 x 5-1/4, I wheeled the left side then I embossed with the PERFECT POLKA DOTS embossing folder (pg 35 of the mini)

The center art piece is Whisper White, 2-1/4 x 3

the background is Basic Black, 2-3/4 x 3-1/4, punched the bottom with the boarder punch you can earn for FREE from the Sale-a-bration Special.

I stamped the flowers in Summer Sun, cut them out, shaped them, added a brad and attached with Dimensionals.

the Ribbon is the New Satin Ribbon from the Occasions Mini - in Basic Black, LOVE THAT RIBBON>

My other card is a variation of one I have already posted, so just go back a few for the details,

this one uses the stamp set Good Neighbors and the Designer Series Paper pad that matches, Welcome Neighbor, both earned for FREE from the Sale-a-bration Catalog.

If you want to earn them for free, simply place an order of $50. and take your pick...you can order HERE

Ok, so I'm going to sneak in a little picture here of the cards we made last weekend.  This was a "fun day", where you could use any stamps and paper you wanted and our theme was Asian.

didn't we have fun?

Well, the kids wanna go play and they are tearing down the house, so I better go referee so no one looses an eye, LOL..

Thank you so much for stopping in and spending a little time with me.

Hope you get a chance to get some ink on your fingers today!

BIG SHOT PROJECT - 10 MINUTES OR LESS WITH CAROLE'ANNE

Howdy stamping friends.  IT'S FRIDAY and you know what that means.....

time for 10 MINUTES OR LESS CHALLENGE WITH MY BUDDY CAROLE'ANNE (hi sis).

She is such an amazingly talented paper artist I just love seeing what she creates.

I decided to challenge myself further and use only my BIG SHOT....I call him Mr. Big!.

So our challenge this week is:

A Color Challenge, Ruby Red, So Saffron, Very Vanilla and Soft Suede,

yummy colors.

Oh yah, and Grandma and Grandpa arrived yesterday so I didn't get this done then, so I pulled a Carole'Anne and got up at 4 this morning, I know she gets up at 3, but I just could not do that, so my apologies that this is a tiny bit late.

Let's get Mr. Nasty ready to go........

I used the Flower Daisies #2 die  (page 199)

Also, I'm using the Designer paper packages you can buy all in one color, page 161, I love these, and they come in many of our regular colors and our In Colors, so this is So Saffron, and I cut 2 layers at the same time, you will see why in a minute, ok!.

Next, I used the Soft Suede designer paper and cut Pillow Box (also page 199)

and I used the new BEAUTIFUL WINGS Embosslits Die (page 24 of the Occasions Mini) for my butterfly.  The Designer paper for the butterfly is also from the Mini, SWEET PEA,( page 33)  Did you know there are 48 sheets in that pack?

wow, we are doing well on time.  See, Mr. Big is very helpful for fast and fun projects.

Here is a fast way to add depth to your flower, the backside of my designer paper was solid color, so I flipped every second flower, I used snail adhesive to attach these all together.

Ooopsy, I was missing a color - Very Vanilla, so I quickly cut out a swirl to add to the top of my box, matches the dots, how cute ey?

Yipee, Skippy, we beat Mr. Nasty,

and I was so excited I didn't wait for my camera to focus, I'm sorry, very bad picture.

here is my finished project, a cute little gift box,

here is a close up of the flower and the butterfly.

There you go, fast, fun, useful, and under 10 minutes.....

Miss Lucy has decided that Grandpa's are quite nice indeed.

and Jack, just loves his Grandma, he decided the bath he got yesterday was worth it.

Oscar, well, he was still Zooming around the house and no one could catch him, so he missed this photo op!.....

Thanks for stopping by, now lets hop on over to Carole'Anne's blog and see what amazing creation she came up with at 3 this morning, I'm sure it will knock our socks off.

Hey, maybe we should all get up at 3, and we would be as amazing as Carole'Anne is!

Happy Stamping and thank you so much for stopping by

FEBRUARY CYBER STAMP CLUB - Wedding Invitation Measurements

Howdy stamping buddies and welcome back.

I am late making the draw for the JANUARY CYBER STAMP CLUB and boy was the bowl full of names, thank you to ALL of you who joined the club last month that was our best month ever.

 

The stamp set up for grabs is the lovely Level 2 set Asian Artistry, and the winner is!

RANDI COOPER

Congratulations Randi, I will be mailing it out to you shortly.  I know Randi makes a lot of ATC's, so this set will work wonderfully with her mini art projects.

so what does CYBER STAMP CLUB have in store for you for February you ask?

Well - I was very torn, I love you guys so much BUT, I really love this stamp set too....

I had such a hard time keeping my paws off it, but I did it, CAUSE I LOVE YOU GUYS MORE!

so up for grabs this month

PICNIC PARADE - the Clear Mount set.

LEVEL 2 FROM THE OCCASIONS MINI CATALOG

To enter Cyber Stamp Club all you have to do is place a $45.00 order with me during the Month of February.  Each $45.00 enters your name into the draw for the stamp set and as a member of the club for the month, you also get the Project of the Month - which is, a free copy of the Tutorial of the Month - Wonderful Watercolors (top left sidebar of my blog), and I will send you precut kits for the basic 4 cards, with envelopes and 4 spare pieces of watercolor paper to practice on.

and by the way, if you win this stamp set, using the Watercolor Crayons would be a great way to paint them too and you will be all practiced up!.

so good luck to you all.  If you wish to place an order, the button is in the top right corner of my blog, and please feel free to e-mail me if you have problems.

don't like online ordering?  Then phone me, I will take your order and have it shipped directly to you.

WEDDING INVITATION INSTRUCTIONS.

I PROMISED many many demonstrators to share the measurements for the Wedding invitations I did with Darlene last month for her daughter, so here we go.

Here is the card standing.  I created it to stand like an easel card.

Here is the card open.

here are all the pieces.

the base of the card - the long piece in the center, was cut from 12 x 12 cardstock,

6-3/4 x 12, scored at 4-1/2 then 9-1/4

each layer after that is 1/4 inch smaller.

The RSVP card and standard S.U. envelope, tuck into the top part and how we created that was we cut a separate piece of 4-3/4 x 6-3/4 and attached it to the small 2-3/4 piece at the top of the big unit.

It is very important to watch how you tape this down.

you only want to go down each side, and across the bottom

this leaves the top open to slide the RSVP card inside

(see the middle picture)

The RSVP card measures 4 x 5-1/4 in Real Red,

   3-7/8 x 5-1/8 in Very Vanilla overlay

We tore the edges on the front art piece only.

All the printing was done on the computer right onto the Very Vanilla card stock.

we did the bottom and the middle at the same time on one piece of 8-1/2 x 11 card stock, then cut them to fit.

Same thing with the RSVP cards, made one, then cut and pasted until we had 4 on one sheet of card stock, then printed them.

This all took a little figuring, but I preordered the supplies and we did all 100 in 3 days, so it can be done, we even had time to get some shopping in, the Mother of the Bride needed a new dress yah know!.

Total cost was around $300. and we happened to hit a paper store over the weekend that specialized in invitations, the printing alone would have cost over $500.  So, it is a labor of love, that saves a lot of $$$ which the Bride and Groom can now spend on their honeymoon...:0)

and Sarah, I better get a post card!.......

LATE NIGHT STAMPERS DESIGN TEAM CHALLENGE & VERY COOL OTHER STUFF.

Hello stamping friends, sorry to miss a day on you, I had a good reason though.....sales of the tutorial have been extremely brisk.  Many of you are writing that your customers are loving these classes and I'm so happy to hear that.  I taught these techniques this past Saturday to my stamping friends and they just loved them, so have fun and stay tuned for the next one.

A Very Big WELCOME to Sandy, Sherry and Merrill, the 3 newest members of my Stampin Up Team.  These ladies all signed up during Sale-a-bration so they earned their extra stamp sets and became part of the fun family that is a Stampin Up.  I'm looking forward to working with them and getting to know them all better.  Ian and I have have been having fun with this, my team now covers 4 states, California, Texas, Washington State and Oregon...Ian thought I should challenge myself to a demonstrator in each state!....hmmmmmm wanna help me out with that?????

because of all this sign up fun, I am a little late with my first LNS design team share, and my apologies for that, but as you can see, I did have a good reason!

I got to playing today, first I embossed a piece of Melon Mambo with my Finial Press Embossing folder (page 195), and yes, the new one that is not WHACKED!

next I got out the ones I had WHACKED.  I cut a butterfly with my Sizzix die, BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES (page 198), then I put 2 of my boarder folders on, and ran it through the machine to emboss the B/F

When you do yours, maybe you could have both the folders going the right way!....ok people, indented side to the top - as my sister in law would say "what are you - NEW"?  yah would think, what a dork I am.

Ok, so here are my two butterflies, they will be my main attraction.

I decided to use the Mojo Monday #124 sketch too

and as it is FINALLY a nice sunny day here, I got out my HAPPY paper, Razzleberry Lemonade - now doesn't the name just sound like a NICE day....

here are the pieces.

Card - Melon Mambo, 4-1/4 x 5-1/2

Mat - Crushed Curry 4 x 5-1/4

DSP 3-7/8 x 5-1/8

left side image,

DSP 1-3/4 x 3-1/4

Mat - Melon Mambo 1-7/8 x 3-3/8

small right side image

DSP - 1-1/4 x 2

mat - Melon Mambo 1-3/8 x 2-1/8

Bottom piece - Melon Mambo 4-1/4 x 1-1/4 (I trimmed this unit out once I attached it to the front pieces).

Mat - Crushed Curry 4-1/4 x 3/4

Ribbon - Bermuda Bay, 4-1/4 (yes, I swapped out the ribbon after I took the picture - no e-mails please!)

using the distressing tool from my cutter kit, place the paper horizontally into one of those slots, and rub it back and forth, it distresses the edges....I did this to almost all the pieces.

I inked the butterfly embossed parts and edges, and the edges of all my pieces (in matching ink)

Next I used Soft Suede Ink, and the SANDED BACKGROUND STAMP (page 134), and stamped over my pieces

including the ribbon unit.

I layered my butterflies placing dimensionals in between to keep the wings separated, then used a yellow, FIRE ICE CIRCLE RHINESTONE BRAD for the head, and ANTIQUE BRASS VINTAGE BRADS for the body.  (all on page 179)

and here is my finished card.  Kind of Shabby Chic I think.  Come on over to LATE NIGHT STAMPERS and see what the rest of the gang has been creating, just click on the name and sign up to become a member there is a Demo Only side, and a side for demo and non demo.  We have a lot of fun over there, won't you join us?

and I have some more good news!

Look MOM - no cone! (and her ear is FINALLY up)

Me too MOM.

THANK GOD - Jack says, he was getting very tired of being run into by little Cone fighters......now we have little ZOOMIES - running all over the house, happy to be free at last.  We went to the vet today and all stitches are healed up, back to normal - what ever NORMAL is - does anyone know??????

Anyway, I'm happy for them, we have had to keep them apart and quiet for 12 days and that is hard for little puppies, now they can just be themselves again and the 3 of them are back to chasing each other around the yard!.

Ok, thanks so much for visiting, if you are considering becoming a demonstrator, please e-mail me, I would love to help you out, especially if you live in one of the other states not mention, LOL - I'm an over achiever, can you tell?????

Hug the ones you love, scritch your doggies (and kitties), and get some ink on your fingers.

Come back soon won't you?  Tomorrow I will post the Cyber Stamp Club Hostess Set winner, and the measurements for the Wedding invitation that everyone has been asking about, one day late, I'm sorry.

Grandma and Grandpa are coming to meet the grand dogs on Thursday, so been getting ready for that....

February - Wonderful Watercolors- Tutorial up on my blog NOW

Howdy, just a short note, as many of you have been waiting, I finally got my February tutorial finished, and loaded all by myself on my blog.  I want to send out a HUGE thank you to Heather over at

BLOGS BY HEATHER

for her patience and help.  She is the GO TO GIRL for blog help my friends.

She has also started a whole new program for doing blog updates for Stampin Up Demonstrators and her price is awesome, so go check her out.

------------------------------------------------------

As I promised, this months Tutorial previews

Stampin Up's Watercolor Wonder Crayons.

As you know, if you have been following me for awhile, I am a HUGE fan of these little beauties,

and just for you, I did some creating.

I even did a little Science Project, that turned into a very cool WOW project that your customers and friends are going to love.

I have included four very different projects for you to create AND, as promised, I made the cards very simple.  I like to do that when I create an art piece because I want the recipient to see the art.  A simplistic background makes this possible.  For 3 of the cards, I gave you a simple version, then a stepped up version.

 

Something else you will like this month, all the cuts are exactly the same.  After last month, I figured you all deserved it :0)

The stamp set used this month are STAMPIN UP’S NATURE’S NEST  in the U.S. catalog on page 111.  I fell in love with this stamp set immediately for it’s artistic value and I’m going to share my visions with you.

just show your customers this card and tell them you can teach them how to make it in 10 minutes......You won't believe the WOW factor this will cause at your workshops!

Just click on the image in my left sidebar for further information and the Paypal button.

Happy Stamping and happy coloring my friends.

INSPIRED BY NATURE - CASE - BLOG CANDY AND CALL OUT FOR HELP

I am very proud to announce,  I have become the lead for one of the Ronald McDonald houses here in Portland

I am going for a tour next week and have been chatting with my contacts about what I as a Stampin Up demonstrator can contribute and how we as a stamping community can help them.

Well, they e-mailed back with a request yesterday, AND I NEED YOUR HELP

They need Thank you cards.

thank you cards for the kids to send

thank you cards for the parents of the sick kids to send

thank you cards for the staff to send

so, while you are stamping this week, if you could slip in a couple of extra cards for this worthwhile cause, they would so appreciate it.

you can mail them to me as I will now be making very regular trips over there.

If you can help, please e-mail me for my address.

and THANK YOU

Ok, next.  I Cased Jennifer McGuire:  she is one of the staff over at (another stamp company) and she did a card a few weeks back, that not only made me go buy the stamp she used, I decided to recreate it myself.

as you can see, I used the grass from Inspired by Nature.  I was working on the February tutorial which is our Watercolor Wonder Crayons, so what I did was "direct to rubber".  I colored my stamp, spritzed it a couple of times with water, then stamped it onto a piece of watercolor paper.  I think I used Old Olive and Taken with Teal for this one, doesn't it give a cool effect to the grass, I love it.

you can check out Jennifer's card here.

AND

You all take such good care of me.

Yesterday I did the 10 minute or less challenge with my buddy CaroleAnne.

Mr. Nasty won, and it took me 23 minutes, and I was so stressed out, I put the wrong year on my page.

thank you for all your e-mails pointing out my little boo boo, including my Auntie Gene," HI".  Yep, there is another stamper in my family~!

Ok, here you go, I FIXED IT>>>>>>>

OK, LETS GIVE AWAY SOME BLOG CANDY SHALL WE

First Winner:  Darla

who wrote

LOVE your page. Was it 12x12? I gotta start doing this! BTW, I love your blog and check it everyday during lunch! (Shhhh! Don't tell my boss!) Darla

Congrats Darla - thanks for sneaking me in on your lunch - please e-mail me with your choice of prizes and your snail mail addy please.

Second Winner:KAREN

who wrote

I just found your blog and I think I looked at EVERY single item on it....(that took a while) but I LOVE IT....and I am further drawn to it because you live in Oregon AND you have 2 CORGIs.....my very favorite dog...trust me - I will be following along here on a regular basis - WONDERFUL STUFF.

Karen, I'm so glad you found me too, and look at you girl, you got blog candy for all that hard searching, LOL....please send me an e-mail with your snail addy

sandi_maciver@comcast.net

Ok, It's Play Day here today.  me and 9 friends I think, will be spending the whole day stamping, cutting, coloring, embossing and our theme today is ASIAN.  I will bore you with pictures in the next couple of days, haha.

Thanks for visiting, congratulations to the winners, and if you can help me out with some thank you cards, THANK YOU.  I will be hosting some events for RMHC, so stay tuned.

Hope you get to have a FUN DAY stamping today too -

WHAT WERE WE THINKING????? CAROLE'ANNE & SANDI'S 10 MINUTE CHALLENGE.

Hi Welcome Back.  It's Friday and that means it's 10 minute challenge day.

Here is the sketch that my oh so talented Partner in Crime CAROLANNE created.

and she had this great idea -" LETS DO A SCRAP PAGE SHE SAID"

"GREAT I SAID" WHAT A GOOD IDEA, we have not done one. 

(yah, what's that saying - be careful what you wish for?) 

I set up Mr. Nasty, who, judging by the temp. has been visiting his friends down under (No, I mean, really down under - I think he has relatives down there you know!).

and I just bet you can't guess who I decided to start a scrap book of!

Notice that Lucy's tongue won out on the cut, and Ian's eye's lost!  LOL.

and did you notice another cool reason to be working on Stampin Up Graph paper, nice and square!

You NEED graph paper my friends.

wow, just cutting paper takes time, goodness me.

Because we got the babies for Christmas, I decided to do a snowflake theme 

I did my background piece, then I used a piece left over from one of the Holiday mini sets. 

There is a shortage of Christmas paper around here - that means I planned well for a change right!

oh goodness, you should hear him, he is humming, for a good reason I guess,

I ran around the table and quickly cut out some letters with my Mr. Big!

and tripped over a dog on the way back.

Ok, so this is not 23 seconds left, this is 23 seconds to the dark side, and the buzzer is a blazin, he is a humming, and LUCY is a howling, you should see the look on Jack's face, he is not happy.  Oscar, well, Oscar slept through all this!.

got my letters organized, I decided to let Mr. Nasty have his day, and just let him run, mostly because I was quite curious just how long this was going to take.

and now we know.  21 excruciating minutes and 43 long seconds before I could turn him off.

WHAT WHERE WE THINKING?

Well, happily, I have a new book started, now if we did this challenge once a month, I might get caught up!.  Ok, now that you have shared my pain, leave me a comment to get in on

BLOG CANDY

then lets go see what Carole'Anne came up with.  I know it will be lovely, she is so creative and talented, but I'm wondering if she suffered the same fate as I!

Click here and and lets go see shall we.

thanks for visiting

NOW WHAT? and a very cool share at the end of the post!

Howdy, and welcome back.  Well, my last post certainly has you all a chattin, GOOD,  I'm glad so many of your are seeing the benefit of signing up.

Let's take a minute and discuss the next step.  Once you pick your kit and your extra free stamp set, you go online and sign up (hopefully under me - because I'm really nice to stamp with yah know!) and Stampin Up sends you a welcome e-mail and a Demonstrator Number.  You're in my friends....in the kit that comes with all your new goodies are some booklets explaining about being a demonstrator  and if Stampin Up has not given you enough free stuff, just for signing up.....well, read on.

STAMPING UP IS GOING TO GIVE YOU 30% DISCOUNT ON YOUR FIRST ORDER.  Now, please let me explain what that can do for you if you take advantage of that during Sale-a-bration.

You already know for every $50. you spend during Sale-a-bration you get a free stamp set.  You may not know that if you hold a workshop during this same time frame (January 5 - March 31, 2010 for all you fence sitters)...and your workshop is $300.+ you earn an extra stamp set.  Ok, so, if your doing the math at home, that is now 7 FREE STAMP SETS - PLUS - because you are inputting this as a workshop, you also get hostess benefits, so at this $300. level, you just qualified for either a LEVEL 1 or a LEVEL 2 stamp set (now that is 8 FREE STAMP SETS), and $35.00 hostess awards to spend as you wish.

So, whether you are deciding this is going to be your fun new job, or you like this HOBBY Demo idea and you just want to play with everything in the catalog - between these two deals, you have amassed a smashingly wonderful pile of new rubbah......(yes I know smashingly is not a word - but I like it!)

So - instead of killing your own visa card with this purchase, get on the teli, call up all your friends and share the wonderful news that you have become their new Stampin Up Demonstrator.  Collect orders from them and send in one big honking order for your very first one.  Remember, you get paid 30% on everything they order, and you get a 30% discount on everything you order for yourself.  They get free stamp sets because it's Sale-a-bration, and WHOO HOO - so do you.

and, can you just imagine how much fun you are going to have when you open that box up, oh my, I can see it now!  I signed up during Sale-a-bration 2 years ago, and I got this big box, so I am talking from experience, I earned 12 free stamp sets from that order. (and Please don't kiss the UPS man - they really don't like it!).

Ok, speaking of fun.  Boy, did I have fun today.  I met a cyber friend today in person.  My cyber friend went through an extremely difficult surgery a while back and had a much better outcome than anyone expected and today, she visited me with her friend Dia.  Hi Trish, Hi Dia.  I so enjoyed my afternoon with these two ladies, we did a ton of gabbing, and even a little stamping.

I want to share a little project I finished up after they left.  I'm working on my next tutorial and it is Watercolor Wonder Crayons.  I'm having fun creating the cards for you and I decided I liked one of them so much, I should make it into a new piece for my Simply Adorned necklace..

so first I made a clear acrylic template from that advertising piece that came inside it, because it is the exact size you need.  Now I can "audition my art piece to see where I want to cut it.

I laid it over my piece, traced it in pencil and cut it out. 

Darn, now you know what stamp set February's tutorial is using - better go buy it now (it's on page 111 of the big caddy if you need a hint, and this feather was the reason I bought it, but wait till you see what else I did with it).

and here it is nicely tucked inside.....

and I did another.

I'm a Pisces, (which means I have a birthday coming-  Mar 2 (no I'm not telling you the year!)- don't forget now, I love receiving cards for my birthday!) so I'm partial to anything to do with the ocean, so I had to try the shell from the set too.  Can't tell you the last time I had this much fun with a necklace!.

ok, Miss Lucy is banging with her cone, she wants out, so I must run.  If you have any questions about signing up to become a demonstrator, please don't hesitate to contact me and happy stamping to you all.

Hugs