Stampin' Up Convention

So my "upline" Claire and my "sideline" Kristin are both at the Stampin Up! convention in Denver right now. They're having a great time.

Here are some links to SU bloggers who have been writing about convention:

• Kristin
• Diane
• Dina


• Teresa


• Gwen


• Stasia


• Debbie


• Michele


• Kathy

While I wasn't able to make it to the big convention this year, I am participating in the SU Regional conference in Philly. Regional conferences are open to guests, so let me know if you'd like to join me at the conference. Click on Sept. 14 on my google calendar for more info about the convention.

Waterfall cards from an in-home workshop

When I do an in-home workshop, I try to demonstrate projects that the hostess is interested in trying out. For a recent in-home workshop, the hostess requested the waterfall card. It's what's called a "movement card". When you pull the tag on the right, it waterfalls open revealing a message inside. I demonstrated the waterfall card at a workshop last week. The hostess really liked the sage shadow/chocolate chip color combination that she saw on a sample at my Open House, so I chose a waterfall card design that incorporated those colors. I love the Baroque Motifs set looks with this color

combination. I think this would be a very elegant card for a wedding, since it says "cherish" inside. You could certainly change the sentiment inside to make it a thank-you or birthday card, too.

Here are a couple other examples of waterfall cards. I learned how to make waterfall cards when I participated in Stampin' Down the Shore with Claire and Kristin. (You can see pictures of the weekend if you click those links.) We spent the weekend at the Jersey Shore making all sorts of crafty projects.

Adding a layer of neutral cardstock on each layer of the waterfall can make for a more polished design, but it's a bit more complicated. Both these cards use hostess sets that I got for free when I signed up to be an SU demonstrator.

If you would like a template for making the waterfall card, e-mail me at alison@shilohstamps.com. PLEASE INCLUDE "WATERFALL CARD" IN THE SUBJECT LINE, SO I KNOW THAT IT ISN'T SPAM. I would be glad to mail you a sample if you will send me your address. There's also a tutorial about making waterfall cards on Splitcoast Stampers. They have an amazing gallery of waterfall cards, too. There is also a sample of a waterfall card on Claire's blog here.

Thank you - 2 versions

So I've been very thankful lately and I've been making lots of thank-you cards. I can't decide which design I like best here. What do you think?

I'm thankful for my dear friends and family who are so good to me. I am so thankful to my husband, who gives me a comfortable stretch when needed. I am thankful for Claire, who introduced me to Stampin' Up, and offered me the opportunity to start a new business. I am thankful to my hostesses and customers, who are enjoying learning new stamping techniques and supporting me as I start my business. So if you fit one of those categories, you might be getting a thank you note in the mail soon! Who are you thankful for?

This is a really simple card to make. The two cards shown here use the same color background cardstock, regal rose. (Sorry they look so different in the pictures). I stamped the flowers in basic black with the stems coming off the edges, so it looks like you're looking down into a bouquet. I stamped the sentiment, and punched a perfect square using the 1 3/8" square punch, and then mounted it on black cardstock and wrapped some gingham ribbon around. Then on one of the cards, I colored in the flowers using stampin' write markers. I don't normally like doing so much coloring on my cards, since it takes so much time. However, since this set is kind of sketch-like, you don't need to be so careful about staying in the lines. This makes the coloring go much faster!

Some of the supplies used:

• year after year stamp set
• figures of speech stamp set
• black gingham ribbon
• stampin' write markers - regal rose, so saffron, mellow moss

You may have noticed the Google calendar in the toolbar on the right. My software developer hubby has convinced me of the virtues of Google calendar. I think it will be a good way to inform my blog readers about upcoming stamping events. You'll notice that I have a Birthday Calendar class coming up next week. I have one space left in the class, so click the date you'd like to attend for more information. I'm also having a Christmas in August stamp camp. We'll be making a variety of Christmas cards to help people get started on making their Christmas cards before the holiday season. Let me know what you think of the new addition!

Sorry for the silence...

...but I've been a busy gal lately. Last weekend, my family and I took a trip to Las Vegas to celebrate my 30th birthday. That's right, I'm turning 30 on August 2nd. Hard to believe. Anyhow, we had a blast. My mom got me a Stampin' Up apron and money bag to help me in my new endeavor as a Stampin' Up demonstrator. She also got me The Martha Rules, a book that inspired my fabulous Shiloh Stamps Christmas in August special. Click here for more details.

We had dinner at the top of the Stratosphere, where Michael Buble happened to be dining, too. Do you see him in between our heads? We were trying to be slick and pretend like we weren't taking his picture.

We went to Red Rock Canyon, M&M's world, and Ethel M's chocolate factory. Outside the chocolate factory, there's a cactus garden. That's where we took the picture up top.

We saw the Bellagio fountains and dined at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

While we were in Vegas, my family and I each made a coaster book. Even my Dad made one!

Here are some pics of my sis and my mom each making their mini book. We covered coasters with patterned paper, and then made a small book inside. Here are the directions on Splitcoast Stampers.

This weekend, we went to The Police reunion concert with some friends. (My husband is HUGE fan of The Police). I think that was probably the closest I've been to the stage for a big-name concert. My ears are still ringing, but it was a very exciting show. (and no, I didn't take that picture)

Just a little something + fun with punches!

Here's another card we made at my recent Open House. I like how the polka-dots on the card coordinate with the ladybug polka-dots. It's super-easy to make, and involves very little stamping and coloring. You just punch out circles of cardstock to make the polka dots (using the 3/4" circle punch), then stamp the greeting, cut it in a perfect square with the square punch, it in using the blender pens, and then attach some gingham ribbon! I also like to stamp something special on the back as a "Hallmark" signature.

Some of the supplies:

• Figures of Speech stamp set
  
• 3/4 inch circle punch
• square punch
  
• blender pens
  
• gingham ribbon
• I Did It stamp set

Stampin' Tip: Did you know that you can align images in punches pefectly by just turning the punch over? For example, instead of punching out the square in this card first and then trying to line up the stamp perfectly in the center, you can stamp the image first and then punch it out.

Thank you very much + an experiment with brads

This is one of the cards that we made at my Open House last weekend. I love its simple design and crisp palette. I made a bunch of these cards, and I just changed the sentiment at the bottom to "Birthday Hugs and Wishes" on a few.


This card was inspired by a few stampin' things I've learned on the web. First, I was hoping to use up my Vintage Violet cardstock, since it's no longer available. I discovered the Color Combinations Tool, a website that helps you coordinate Stampin' Up colors. I selected Vintage Violet, and then clicked "search". It gave me all sorts of color combinations that use vintage violet. I don't think I would've put these colors together on my own. There's a link to the Color Combinations tool in the Stampin' Links list on the sidebar of my blog.


Also, I have new favorite tool, thanks to this card. I'm really enjoying the paper piercing tool and the paper piercing template. Using the guide, I can punch evenly spaced holes in my cardstock. It makes a really cool effect, and I like how it looks with this stamp set that already has dots around the edges. I can punch holes wherever I like, which means that I can punch holes to put brads in the center of these flowers.


I got this stamp set for free when I signed up to be Stampin' Up Demonstrator. It's called "In the Spotlight" and it's a hostess set from the new Fall-Winter Collection 2007 which debuted July 1st. You can get it for free when you host a Stampin' Up workshop in your home. I got it in May, though, so I got a head start on making projects with it. (My stamping friends were jealous!) I'll be posting some other samples soon.



So I learned a lesson with brads while working on this card. I haven't worked with brads very much before. I was trying to use up my stash of non-Stampin' Up brads, while I was waiting for my SU brads to arrive. (It doesn't make sense to demonstrate products that I don't sell.) I discovered that these pewter mini circle brads (pictured on the left) are really hard to open. You know how the legs on brads are usually two different lengths, so you can open them up? Not so with these brads... so you have to try and pry them open with your fingernail, and they don't come open easily, let me tell you. I chipped my nail and risked sending a brad under the fingernail trying to get these open. When the Stampin' Up brads finally arrived, I discovered that not only do the brad-legs have different lengths, but that they're already slightly open, thus saving the fingernails. Only SU brads from now-on for me!

By the way, the other thing I learned online before making this card is that the dotted line in this stamp set can actually be used as a flower stem! It wasn't until looking through the In the Spotlight gallery on Splitcoaststampers.com that I connected the dots, so to speak.

Carte Postale bookends

I found these great bookends at Circle Thrift, and I thought, "I can use these for a craft project!". I made these bookends as a belated anniversary gift for my sister and brother-in-law. "How belated?" you might ask. Well, they're anniversary was in March and I mailed the book-end/frames last week. Their house is decorated with lots of reds and purples, so I think these will fit in just fine.


Some of the supplies I used:

• carte postale stamp set
• white craft ink pad
  
• 1 3/8" square punch
• brads
  
• 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

b-day card - fun with pastels

I made this card for my sis, who wanted some birthday cards. (She was my first paying customer!) I had lots of fun playing with my new stampin' pastels. So you stamp a pretty image with a versamark ink. It's a clear sticky ink that you can use for lots of things. Then you take a Q-tip and dab some stampin' pastel color on top of the versamark ink. It looks lovely!

Supplies:

• Heartfelt Thanks stamp set
• Itty Bitty backgrounds stamp set
• God's Blessings stamp set
• versamark ink pad
• stampin' pastels
• barely banana cardstock
• old olive cardstock
• whisper white ultrasmooth cardstock
  

Did you know that you can click on pictures to get a closer look?