A late Freebie Friday!

While it's late, it IS still Friday, and since I'm at convention, I thought it would be fun to share a bit of that with you. For this week's Freebie Friday giveaway, I'm giving away one of the recycleable shopping bags below...AND the winner will get to choose the print they want. How's that for a freebie? Here they are:

To play for this week's giveaway, all you need to do is leave me a comment along with your blog website or email address on this post by midnight on Sunday, August 9th! You can comment about anything or answer this question: What grocery store do you shop at? I thought this was only fitting since this week's giveaway is a grocery shopping bag - but, you can basically use it for anything you carry stuff around in! It's great for the beach, crafting stuff, or just your casual "bag" for errands - they are just too cute!!

That's it for now...time for bed! Have a great one and thanks for stopping by!

How Cool! In the Spotlight!!

I was so giddy to find out that I made Dawn Mc'Vey's In the Spotlight 13!! :) Woohoo! What a pleasant surprise..I found out from all the sweet comments I got on my card post!! My card is letter "K" and you can check it out at this post. Thanks, gals - you all are awesome. Very much appreciate it! Ciao for now!!

Greetings from Convention!

Hi all! I'm in Salt Lake City right now at the Stampin'Up! Convention, so I apologize for my lack of posting this week...it's been a little hectic, plus, I've been a bit internet challenged the last couple of days. Once I get back, I'll do more of a "proper" recap of the events, but for now, I'm gonna share a couple of pictures of some fun highlights...These are convention pins I made for my roomies. I used 2 layers of the 3rd largest flower folds die and notched one layer with the tip of the 5 petal flower punch.
This is my little convention bear - isn't she cute? I named her Bella Bear. Stampin'Up! has a brand new partnership with Build-a-bear, so stay tuned for lots of cute products in this new line!
Here's a group pic was taken just before this morning's session of most of the Woo Hoo demonstrators that were able to attend!

Chic meets Damask cards and Freebie Friday Winner

Hello all! I'm back again with a second post for today! Hope you had a nice and relaxing weekend. Convention is just a few days away, so I've been busy doing my swaps, and trying to get everything wrapped up before I go. If you guys saw my post from a few days ago, you'll know that I got some fun packages, and among them was my first order from Papertrey! And, can you believe it - I have never used clear stamps EVER before until Saturday! I know, crazy, huh? Well, I have been a long admirer of Papertrey - pretty much since I started blurfing the end of last year. I've seen so many cute stamps and cards people were making, that after many months of being on the other side of the looking glass, I finally took the plunge and bought some stamps. I mean, I had to go and run to Michaels to buy some acrylic blocks cuz I didn't realize I needed them to use the stamps! {You're probably thinking, "Silly clear stamp newbie!"} So my first share with you is a trio of mixed media cards, meaning part Stampin'Up! (the Chic Boutique stamp set, which I just LOVE) and part Papertrey's Damask Designs by Dawn McVey (which I also really love!).
These cards are 3 1/2" x 5" and I made them all different because I was practicing stamping with the Damask stamp and trying to play with different looks. What do you think? Here's a closer view of each card individually. I think my favorite is the one with the 3 flowers in the corner. Believe it or not, those 3 flowers were added because I accidently dropped the corner of the cardstock onto my Melon Mambo ink pad. To hide the schmutz, I put the flowers there and I actually really like how it came out. So remember - sometimes your best creations are a result of a mistake! Here are the cards individually:

I had fun dressing up the cards in different ways. Plus, I was all the while intrigued with the clear stamps. I'm still learning, so I will keep you posted. Here's the recipe:

{Recipe}
All supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted.
* Stamps: Chic Boutique, Damask Designs (PTI)
* Cardstock: Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry; Razzleberry Lemonade DSP
* Inks: Melon Mambo and Chocolate Chip Classic Ink Pads; Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, and Sahara Sand markers
* Accessories: Crushed Curry grosgrain ribbon,Filigree brad, scallop border punch, trio flower punch, vintage brads

Speaking of post - this post is getting super long, so how about we find out who the winner of the Freebie Friday stamp set is? The winner is:Lucky number 4, who happens to be Pearlann! Congratulations Pearlann! And THANK YOU all for playing! Hope you enjoyed today's posts.

Have a great day!

Dream Big with Shelli!

Hi all! How fun is this picture with Shelli!?! The theme of this convention was "Dream Big" and one of the events was a Pajama Party. Here I am with Shelli Gardner, the Stampin'Up! CEO and Co-Founder, and my roomie and fellow demonstrator, Robin Castagnola. Don't we look cute in our matchy-matchy pj's? Heehee.

I just figured out how to do a collage in Photoshop Elements, so this batch of photos is in a fun collage format! You can click on it to get a bigger collage photo in a new window:
Thanks for peekin in today :)

A trip down memory lane...SU Conventions!

Hi there! Thank goodness for digital technology...it makes it easy to pull pictures from the past together and post online :) Today, in the spirit of Stampin'Up!'s convention coming up this week, I thought I'd share some photos from conventions past. I became a demonstrator in November of 2000 and have been to all but one convention - I didn't make it to 2003. For some reason, I'm also missing 2001, but that might be because I probable didn't have a digital camera yet...who knows! I do vividly remember it though, since it was my first one! Unless I can dig up some hard copies of that convention, I'll have to just share 2002-2008 for you. Here's a glimpse of convention from my point of view. I'm part of the WooHoo stampers, led by Michelle Halleen, our awesome fearless leader.

For today, you'll see the pics from 2002-2005 and the rest you can see tomorrow. You have to keep in mind that I took hundreds of pictures of samples and such, but here, I'm just gonna share a few "people" photos. Hope you enjoy!

{2002 - Kansas City, KS}Here's a picture with the celebrity stamp icons, Punchy and Stampy. Very exciting.
Here's a group of us WooHoo stampers, with Michelle in the front row center :)
Don't we look so cool in our paper engineer caps?

{2004 - Orlando, FL}Can you feel the magic? You gotta love our little Brady Bunch pose!
Where'd they all go? Just me.

{2005 - Salt Lake City, UT}Don't you just love that Retro Bus? Clearly, this was the start of the vinyl revolution. :)
A group shot in Downtown Salt Lake. Fun times.

Every convention is always filled with excitement, stamping, and lots of memorable moments. I've made some great friends over the years and I have to say I look forward to this time of year with anticipation, when I get to see my demonstrator friends from all over the country at our annual "reunion." Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures of the last 3 conventions. Bye for now!

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge 5 meets Chic Boutique

Yay! It's the weekend! I've got lots of things to finish up on my plate in preparation for the Stampin'Up! convention coming up this week, but of course, for some reason, I always find a time to sneak in a challenge. Since I love traveling and am inspired by photos of far away places, I had to play! Here's the card I created for Traveler's Inspiration Challenge 5:Here's a photo that provided the inspiration:Pretty place, huh? Lots of blues - I just love the ocean! So, for my card I used 3 blues - Pacific Point, Baja Breeze and Bermuda Bay, and I got to play with some new toys! Mr. Brown just happened to deliver a few things to me yesterday, including the lattice die cut, the Chic Boutique stamp set, my Bermuda Bay replacement ink, and the wood buttons from Papertrey Ink (along with some other fun stuff from Papertrey, too - my first package!).

{Recipe}:
All supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted.
*Chic Boutique Stamp set
*Stampin'Up! Lattice die cut, Sizzix bigs scallop square
*Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, Baja Breeze, Kraft, and Whisper White cardstock
*Pacific Point and Bermuda Bay Classic Ink pads
*Bermuda Bay Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon
*Wood Buttons (PTI)

Hope you all have a great weekend!