Hi all!!! WOW! I can't believe it is Wednesday already, this week is flying by! Last night I had my downline meeting and I totally meant to take pictures and was having so much fun with the gals that I totally forgot - DOH!!! But, there is always next month since we meet every month, heehee!! So, today I was going to share my canvas project and then decided that I would share a workshop project instead, lol! You see, I have hearts on the brain right now since we are so close to Valentines so I decide that is what I wanted to share :-) This first card is a card we made in my last workshop and it is chock full of fun product from the new mini, and super cute to boot!!! (just sayin' :-)) Look at all the purdy color and the bling is a WOW! doncha think??!! I mean, who can resist
red glitter paper THAT DOES NOT SHED ITS GLITTER??!!! I love love love this paper and am hoarding it in great quantities, heehee!!! And, I love using it with my
punches, look how nice that heart looks? Seriously, just look at how purdy it looks all popped up proudly on this card! I used the new stamp set
Valentine Defined in the
new mini (pg. 9, item 123057(c)) and I have to be honest - I bought the set totally for the flamingos, LOL! However, all the stamps in this set are really fun and I just love the hearts all strung from side to side! The little heart is from the
I {Heart} Hearts set in the
main catty (pg. 46, item 118571(c)) which is another super cute set and is fabulous to use with our
heart punches. The sentiment is from yet another stamp set but is out of the
Sale-A-Bration catalog called Punch Bunch and can only be
earned with a purchase of $50 or more - but trust me, the whole set can be punched so you will totally LOVE this set *wink* The patterned paper is another one of my faves from the mini and is called
Love Impressions (pg. 7, item 121780) - it is soooo yummy and can be used in sooo many different ways! I can go on and on....but I won't heehee!
I do however want to quickly share with you a stepped up version of the above card to show how easy it is to add one or two embellies to an already cute card and make it that much cuter! With just a few little changes on this card, it takes it just one step up - kind of like an Emeril thing "lets kick it up a notch", LOL!! What are the changes? Well, I popped up the small hearts on
dimensionals, ran the stamped piece of
whisper white through my
Big Shot with the
perfect polka dots embossing folder, added a couple more layers behind the sentiment, switched out the thin
whisper white ribbon with the thicker
whisper white organza ribbon, and added a
button with
twine. Voila - not a lot to add, but doesn't look even more fun than before?? They gals in the workshop loved it, and I hope you do too! If you have any questions about ANY of the products or techniques you see here, please contact me, I am happy to answer any questions you may have. And, if would like to purchase any of these items, you may do so by ordering in my online store or emailing me and I will be happy to help out! I am off now to share my love of stamping with a new friend, but I want to thank you for stopping by and I hope you will leave me a comment to let me know you did! I will be back tomorrow with some more fun things to share but until then, happy stamping!!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Real Red, Whisper White, Going Gray card stock, Love Impressions specialty paper, Glitter paper
Inks - Real Red, Going Gray classic inks
Stamps - Valentine Defined, I {Heart} Hearts, Punch Bunch (avail 25 Jan in the SAB catty)
Tools - Pinking Hearts Border Punch, Full Heart punch, small heart punch, 3/4 inch circle punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Big Shot,
Accessories - Whisper White narrow grosgrain ribbon, Whisper White 5/8 inch Organza ribbon, Real Red button, twine, dimensionals
I cannot tell you how much fun I had at Leadership this year - it was a total WOW! event! I mean, every event Stampin' Up! does is a total class act, but this one was absolutely AMAZING!! From the hotel, to the classes, to the food, to the demonstrations, momento mall, and of course, the fabulous giveaways and make 'n takes! I was so inspired and so proud to be a part of such a wonderful company, I just want to shout it from the rooftops LOL! I felt special, really special - I bet not every direct sales person can say that!!! I have always thought that SU! was awesome, but I am in awe of how truly wonderful they really are in every way! From Shelly on down, they are one class act!!! So, I thought I would show you some of the fun pics I have from Leadership - I just love to share!! The first picture is of our whole group plus a few we have adopted, LOL! We had dinner out at the Steak House and this was the stairway inside the restaurant. Dinner was really good and we had a great time laughing our way through our dinner!!! 
These next few shots are of areas all around the hotel - which is more like a little city - which is absolutely beautiful! We stayed at the Opryland Hotel and I highly recommend this place if you like to have everything right on site when you are vacationing. There are several eateries, lots and lots of shopping, entertainment venues, bars, and a full service spa! I would have loved to take advantage of more of the options here, there just wasn't enough time! This is one of the archways leading out to the center and lobby area of the hotel - it's just beautiful! 
And, check out these beautiful water features - they are in the main area of the hotel as well, and there are a couple of restaurants surrounding them so you can listen to the water, watch the light show, and view the beautiful flowers while eating - just gorgeous!! This waster fountain was towards the Convention Center where we spent most of our time - isn't it purdy??!! There is a light show that goes on in these fountains each night at different times during the night and they are amazing!!! I could stand and watch these for hours if I had the time, LOL! I could not get over how many beautiful light fixtures they had hanging from the ceilings - just amazing!!! Look at how beautiful they look at night - and they had all different shapes and designs as well. The garden areas that surround each walkway were full of exotic, tropical plants and so the whole inside of the main areas felt like a hot house, LOL! But, it was totally worthy it, they were absolutely gorgeous and reminded me of Florida and Hawaii!
Well, this post would not be complete without sharing one last picture and that is of me and my upline and friend Kimberly! It is nice to be able to see her at these events because we have never lived in the same state since I have been a demonstrator (the three weeks she was in Jacksonville after I signed and she moved doesn't count!) Being military has its downfalls and one of them is you don't stay in one area very long - Kimberly has moved twice since I have been in her group - maybe someday her and Russ will move to California, LOL! In the meantime, we will continue to catch up via email, phone, and at Stampin' Up! events!! So, now you have had a little taste of what Leadership was all about - it was sooo much fun and if you ever have the chance to attend a Stampin' Up! event, I highly recommend you go! And, if you are not a demonstrator and this looks like fun to you, you are welcome to join my team - we have lots of fun, do lots of fun stamping events, and of course attend these fabulous events put on by the home office!!! I will be back tomorrow with a couple of fun class projects that I have recently done - I am excited to share them as they have become very popular with my customers!!! Until then, happy stamping!!
