Addicted to Stamping

Big Shot Garden Stakes

All of the presentations were great at the San Antonio Regionals but this was the project I couldn't wait to come home and try. These garden stakes were popular last spring but I didn't realize how quick and easy they were until I saw them demoed.  Linda Barnes was the demonstrator and she did a great job presenting and had lots of nice samples.

My hubby is away for the weekend so I might make a trip to the hardware store and give these a try (it frightens him when I shop there).

The supplies Linda used were Aluminum Flashing and 12 gauge hanging wire if you want to make your own stakes. You might also want to purchase some metal spray paint.

Some additionals supplies you'll need: Big Shot, Embossing folders, crop-o-dile, dies and brads. For tools you'll need some large pliers to form the curl on your plant stakes or you can purchase premade stakes. You'll also need something to cut the flashing into workable pieces. She used a utility knife and metal ruler, scored the metal and bent it back and forth until it broke on the score line. I've also heard that the Stampin' Up craft and rubber scissors work. I'm going to use hubby's tin snips. As long as I don't leave any glitter behind he'll never know I was in his tool box.  

To get started cut out a shape from the flashing with one of your Big Shot dies then emboss it with one of the empressions folders. Punch a hole with the crop-o-dile to hang it on the stake.

On some of the samples she used the chalk board elements to make a label. The letters were cut from white vinyl decor elements sheets.

The colored magnets were spray painted with metal paint

The stakes that have more than one layer like the butterfly on the scallop circle, she attached the element with a brad.  

More Leadership Samples

Here are some more samples from Leadership 2012 and the San Antonio Regional.

 

Leadership Samples Video (Part 1)

I took hundreds of photos while I was at Leadership. Since I can't post them all on my blog I put them into a video so they would be easier to view. The video moves through the photos fairly quick so if you spot a card you like and want to look longer, just pause the video. Music would have been nice but that's way beyond my technical skills. Sorry

 

Leadership Samples

Here are a few more leadership samples. I never get tired of looking at the display boards at Stampin' Up events. There's so much talent out there.

Cute Valentines

This card was on display at Leadership and I thought it was such a neat idea I had to share. There were tons of cute samples on display so stay tuned and I'll keep posting some of my favorites. The photos that have clothes pins were the cards that were entered in the stamp set challenge. They hung clotheslines for each set and demos pinned their card up in the appropriate spot. I hope they do this again for convention. The cards were amazing!

The next two cards were made by Michelle Hall. Didn't she do a great job?

I've had several people ask what stamp set the sentiments were from. The cards below used Candy Conversations and the card above used Sweet Cake. Both can be found in the Stampin' Up 2012 Occasions mini.

Roommate Gifts

I made a couple of these make up bags and accessories as roommate gifts. One for my Convention Roommate Rita who I was hoping to run into  at the San Antonio Regional (and I did). It was great to see her again. She's so sweet.

 

The other I made for my Leadership roommate Beth. Thanks Beth for sharing your room with me. I hope I didn't snore. 

Beth was great. I've never met anyone whose sense of direction is as bad as mine. I'm surprised we managed to find our way around the city. I'm not sure about her taste in jewelry though. Check out her photo below. 

Yeah!!! I Won.

This was even more exciting than winning prize patrol! I know, this pic doesn't look too exciting but it had me jumping up and down and hugging the demo beside me. It's the list of the card contest winners. They had tons of amazing entries so it's really an honour to make the list. The card I won with was the piniata card I made with the Bundled for Birthday stamp.

Hello from Leadership

I'm having a great time at my first Leadership Conference. Here’s a pic of all my goodies. You gotta love free stuff especially when you can use it for stamping. I won the new Simply Scored Diagonal Plate during prize patrol. I can’t wait to try it out! The bags this year are the cutest thing ever and so is the matching portfolio with the tag that was  signed by Shelli.

There were several announcements today. The most exciting is the new changes to the catalogues. The main catty will be thinner (208 pages), with lighter paper and cost demos ½ the price of the old ones. We will also be able to send them out now using the mail selector program. Mail selector will stay open for the entire selling period not just during preorder (yeah!)

The minis won’t be so mini anymore. They’ll still have about 40 pages but they’ll be 8½” x 11” and will still cost demos the same price as they do now.  Starting this year, there won’t be a summer mini. The next catty will be the Annual Catalogue which starts June 1 so we’ll be able to preorder  May 1.  The Holiday Catty period will be Aug 1 to Dec 31 and the Spring Catty period will be from the beginning of January until May 31.

The other big announcement is that Stampin’ Up will be getting rid of a few of their product lines and focusing on paper crafting. The lines they told us about so far are Decor Elements and the Simply Sent jewellery.  Well that’s it for tonight. Tune in again for more leadership news and some pics of all the awesome cards and projects on display.

Pinked Flowers

I made some flowers using the tasteful trim die. I cut the Ziggy strip (I'm sure that's the technical term) and used the negative strips from each side to make the flowers. I cut each strip into 4" pieces and gathered the straight edge with a needle and thread. The stamp set is Loved Ones

A Card For My Honey

Oh crap! I made this card to leave under my husband's pillow when I left but I think I brought it with me. Oh well. I wanted a card that wasn't too feminine. I used the new edgelits and embossing folders from the occasions mini.

I can't remember the name of the stamp set that the sentiment was from and I'm too lazy to get out of my chair and go look (sorry)