FINALLY! SOMETHING CRAFTY TO SHARE :-)

Hi all!!! I thought I should share something crafty today before everyone stops visiting me, lol!!! I thought I would share one of my swaps and then the invite I made for our Housewarming now that the house is almost done!! YAY!! I will be sooooo happy when there are no construction workers outside my bedroom window at the crack of dawn - I wake up to hammering and sawing every morning at 6am, uggghhh......don't they know I stamp until 1am, lol!!!  So anyway, this first card is one of the three swaps I made for Convention - I thought I had kept one of each but this is the only one I have so I cannot even share the other two with you!  I hate when I forget to take pictures *sigh*  This card uses the Out West set and something about this set spoke to me so I had to have it! I decided I wanted to make a retirement card and play around with it a little and this is what I came up with :-)  I was quite surprised, this turned out to be a favorite at Convention which made me grin!  I used Espresso for the base and embossed it with the Big Shot and then added some of the Elegant Soiree' Designer Series Paper.  I spritzed the main image with my marker spritzer and then popped up the hat and made a lasso out of twine. I thought it was a fun card, and I was happy that I made a male swap card as they were few and far between at Convention it seemed.  Here is the recipe for this one:
Card Recipe:
Paper - Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Naturals Ivory card stock, Elegant Soiree' Designer Series Paper
Inks - Early Espresso, Going Gray classic stampin' pads
Stamps - Out West, Teeny Tiny Wishes (sentiment)
Accessories - Twine, Color Spritzer, Scalloped Edge border punch, Modern Label punch, Square Lattice Big shot embossing folder

This next card is the invitation that I made for my friends and family for my upcoming Housewarming party. Although we have lived in our house more than three years, it was not until about six months ago that we settled the law suit with the builder and were able to finish the house and yard.  So, now that we are almost done, we are going to celebrate by having a big barbeque around the pool!  Don't shoot me - this card DOES use a ton of retired product BUT my family and friends don't care and it gave me one last chance to use some of my favorites that have now gone away.  I will not list the recipe for this one, but the stamp set is current and will be available in the Summer Mini catalog until the end of August. It is called King of the Grill and I love it - such a fun image to color and the chef makes me giggle! Also, the Eyelet Border Punch and the Corner Rounder Punch were both used on this card and are also still available.  They can be found in the main catalog.  All catalogs are linked on the right side of my blog so if you want to take a peek, they are there to do so! 

Here is a quick shot of what the pullout looks like - it lists all the details for the upcoming event! I love this style because it mails flat and they don't cost a ton of money to mail, LOL!  So, today is another busy day of prepping for class tomorrow night and my Open House on Saturday, but first I have to take my son to physical therapy and then off to the DMV to get his permit - ack!! Why do they grow up so fast??!!  I am really hoping to take some time this afternoon and do some blurfing as I am woefully behind and just know I am missing out on some fabulous things!!! Thanks so much for stopping by, please leave me a comment to let me know that you did!!! I will be back tomorrow with some sneak peeks of projects for my Open House  so 'till then, Happy Stampin'!

SOME FUN THINGS TO SHARE

Hi all!! WOW! I am posting this really late BUT my little girl woke up with a really bad ear ache and turns out she has a bad infection in both ears - ack!!! So, off to the pharmacy we went to get her some antibiotics and something for the pain.  Hopefully she will feel better by tomorrow once everything starts kicking in, but right now she is pretty miserable :-(  So, I thought I would share some more Convention pics today and this first one is me at the Breakfast with Shelli! Yep, I earned this special morning with Shelli for recruiting to my downline during Recruit Crew and it was a really nice little perk of Convention!  The tables were done up beautifully and there were lots of yummy goodies! During Recruit Crew, I got to "meet" some great demos online and two in particular I really connected with.  Both ladies are from Canada - Jodi and Anne! Well, Jodi and I had decided to have breakfast together but I was worried that we would not be able to find each other - well, I did not need to worry at all! Jodi make these super cute signs for both Anne and me and found us both, LOL!

 Here is a picture of all together with the wonderful gifts from Jodi - they are both sweethearts and meeting them in person was definitely a highlight of Convention for me! I loved having breakfast with them and we had a great time when we went and sat in the VIP seats for General Session - that was another really nice perk of being in this group *wink*  I am hoping to see both of these fun gals at Leadership this January in Nashville, although I know it is really far for them to have to come from Canada!

 This next pic is one Jodi took of me standing under the Convention theme sign - I totally love the theme this year because I think it really embodies what we are all about! Sharing our love of creativity through stamping with others who will become friends - how great is that?!!!!  I think that is what I love best about being a demonstrator - how many wonderful friends like Jodi and Anne I have had the chance to meet! It is definitely a fabulous part of doing what I love! And, even if you are not a demonstrator, I totally know you know what I mean because we ALL meet wonderful people in this crazy place called Blog Land and, even though we may have never met in person, we know that we are friends and will have that instant connection when we DO meet :-)  Which is why I LOVE LOVE LOVE to stamp!!!  I wanted to share one last picture with you today of another fabulous and fun demonstrator I got to meet during Convention! His name is Mike, and he is sooooo much fun to be around and mad talented to boot! Mike was also at the breakfast and I got to know him while we were waiting to go in and he had me laughing in no time! He is a very happy person and he really makes others feel that same happiness with his fun personality!

He also loves to dance and I caught him at it right before General Session getting his groove on, lol!! He is such a good sport he kept right on dancing even as I was snapping away!  And, he has a fun blog too if you want to check it out. His blog address is http://stampin-style.typepad.com/ so drop on by and show him some love and tell him I sent ya *wink*  So, another fun day from Convention - I already miss seeing everyone and the energy and excitement you feel in a room full of thousands of demonstrators! I am already thinking about Leadership, LOL!!  I hope you enjoyed my pictures of Convention and tomorrow I will share the swaps that I did while I was there along with some fun pics of Candice and I on our last night in SLC.  Till then, thanks sooo much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

BACK FROM CONVENTION!

Hi all!! I am back from Convention and I have TONS to share with you!  I am catching up on household stuff, business stuff, and well, family stuff BUT I will be back with a really FUN post tomorrow that shows some fabulous projects and some fun pictures of the last week of events!! Till then I am leaving you with a picture of Candice and I at our VIP lunch! Yep, we were randomly chosen to participate in a VIP lunch with the rest of the gals you see at the table, such fun!  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stampin'!