Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference 2011

I am still pinching myself!

I just got back from attending the Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

All I can say is OH. MY. GOSH!

The place is absolutely fantastic. It has 4000 rooms and is more than huge. Everything is under one roof...restaurants, shopping, bars, atrium with lush foliage, boat rides, entertainment and convention halls.

It is unbelievable that just nine months ago the place was under water. If I didn't know that had happened, I never would have suspected it. They have done an amazing job of restoring it. Here are a couple of youtube videos that say it much better than I can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfL5j9ckcyo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFjaQoOdJvI

God Bless you, Nashville!

Following a map on the way to our room,(yes! they give you a map when you check in. It is THAT big!), I had to turn around and take a picture of how pretty this was.
We had breakfast one early morning at this little restaurant.
I had to take a picture of this creation in the middle of the lobby for my daughter, Megan, who is an artist. I knew she would appreciate it.
Once I saw the banjos up above on this stained glass dome, I was reminded that, yes, we were in Nashville.
I wish you could hear how lovely this little waterfall sounded. I could have sat there all day.

Did I tell you this place was big? This is a mansion in the middle of one of the areas. A MANSION!

While we were there, they were in the process of taking down the Christmas decorations, which were beautiful, and putting up Mardi Gras decorations.

How could you not love this?

Yes, those are little hot air balloons hanging from the ceiling in the distance.

If you are the Gaylord Resort, you have to have BIG Christmas trees!

These were B I G!

More waterfalls.

Oops, added this picture twice, but since we are here, notice the hanging strings of lights? They are lit at night and are just breathtaking.

Told ya!

I learned so much at this Leadership conference, but these two women were why I had so much fun.

Julie Kasper, on the right, is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. I took in every little tidbit of advice she had. Her beautiful laugh, was infectious. You just want to be around her!

On the left, is my precious sister, Penny Thomas. She is my best friend and I just can't imagine attending without her. We 'get' each other, and finish each other's sentences. We can give each other a look and not need to say a word. What a treat to do what I love best, with one of my favorite people in the world!

Wouldn't you like to go to fabulous places like this too? Join my team and let's do it together!

Mini Heart Boxes

I found and purchased the tutorial for these darling little mini heart boxes on Kay Sha's blog, http://creationsonpaper.blogspot.com/.

If you would like the directions, please contact her there.

Mine are not nearly as pretty as hers. I had to improvise a bit,

but what cute party favors these would make.

They are just big enough to hold two chocolate Kisses.

I think the tiny roses are just as cute as the boxes.

Using various sized circle punches, you spiral cut around from the outside to the middle.

Then, starting from the outside, roll it up until you have a sweet little rose.

Easel Calendars for 2011

Nope, still no solution to my background problem, but I'm not giving up. I'll get it fixed eventually. Hang in there with me.

Every year, we make a calender, and over the years there have been some very interesting ones. This one, however, has got to be the simplest and maybe one of my favorites. It's using the easel-style that is actually the size of a standard card. It folds down, so, if you wanted, (and I do), you could insert it into a standard greeting card envelope to send to a friend.

The flowers are from the Upsy-Daisy stamp set and using Baja Blue and River Rock markers, (try that combo together, it's really pretty), I stamped off once so as not to take away from the sentiment stamped in Basic Black. The Sentiment, "To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." - Henry David Thoreau, is from the retired, (sorry), set called The Art of Life. I love the saying and it just seemed to fit. The base is Soft Suede. My friend, Christine, said the colors remind her of the beach. Very soft and calming.
This is the calendar I made for my downline. This little lady is from the stamp set called Tote-ally Tess. It includes all kinds of 'tools' we stampers use everyday, such a wheel, snips, etc. Tess is holding a popped-up heart stamp, ready for her Stamp Camp! I believe I stole this idea from Dawn Olchefske, (www.dostamping.typepad.com), who is a fabulous stamper. The little calendars are from http://www.stamponthis.com/.
The possibilities are endless!

And you'll always know what day it is!

HELP!

As you can see, my blog looks a bit bland today.

Since it's a new year, I wanted a new background. So I went to http://www.shabbyblogs.com/ and started looking for something that would portray ME. Found a great one, actually found several, love that site. Anyway, I couldn't get it to load. So, like always, when I have a computer problem, I go to my resident geek...Steve. He watched as I went through the steps, only to have that maddening little box pop up that tells me the action I had taken was aborted, (?) kinda harsh wording, don't ya think? And like always, he tells me to get up so HE can sit down and go through the steps....with the same results. That's when it starts to get interesting. NOT! He started moving things around and deleting things. To make a long story short, not only do I not have a new background, now I don't even have the old background. Poor Steve, he was trying to help, and I DID ask, but we are frustrated because it should be simple and we have no clue how to fix it. So, if you know what we did wrong, or have a suggestion...

HELP!

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Pieces of Heart Stampers Christmas Cards

Whew! The holidays are over.

But before I move on to Valentine's Day,

I just had to show you the pretty cards made by the Pieces of Heart Stampers.

Thank you, ladies. You continue to inspire me!

What a great idea, a New Year's card!

This is from Judy Sumner.

I'm going to remember this idea for 2012!

Judy Sumner
Penny Thomas.
I love this one because it is simply elegant.
Unfortunately, my camera does not do it justice.
Jayne Singleton

Becca Sadler

Susanne Jeffery

Patty Schnell

Back to the Real World From Paradise!

I haven't posted anything for a while, because I was

HERE!

Yep, those are my little, sand-covered, pudgy toes on the beach of Princess Cays in the Turks and Cacaos Islands. Rough, huh? I was actually sipping a margarita and enjoying the view of our ship, the Crown Princess. Ahhhhhh......

But then reality hit, and we had to come home to the cold and snow.

PLUS, I found a bad cold somewhere along the way that knocked me up side of the head for a while. Still trying to shake that.

But anyway, I am back and ready to

STAMP!

'All Wrapped Up' Gift Card Holder

What a pretty little 'package' for a gift card.

I am sure the recipient will be just a pleased to get the 'package' as they will the gift card inside!

The bow is made from two different sizes of the Oval punch.

Too cute!

Easy Christmas Tree

This is my kind of Christmas tree! No dropped needles.

It is made using strips (6" x 1") of designer paper, pinned onto a Styrofoam cone. That's it!

If I could just figure out how to hang lights on it, my Christmas decorating would be done!

Christmas Anything But a Card Stamp Camp

I look forward to this camp all year because I love making 3-D projects.

This camp is set aside just for those fun little holiday items.

My sister, Penny Thomas, (please visit her blog, she is an awesome stamper! http://www.penguinstamper.blogspot.com/), gave me this idea, back in the spring, using the Mini Milk Carton die, #117310. I thought it would be fun to 'winterize' it. Punch a 1 1/4" circle #119861, on one of the sides, insert a battery operated votive and add a pretty roof. The holly and cardinal are from the Two-Step Bird Punch, #117191. The Designer Paper roof is 'Deck the Halls', #120810, with the scalloped edge punch, #119882. Makes it looks so cozy inside.


This little Santa is fat enough for you to put goodies inside him. He is a triangle shape and would look pretty on the tree as an ornament too. His face is fashioned from various punches, and is quick to put together. I stole this from my friend, Judy Sumner, who gave me this shape as a witches' hat on Halloween. Love it! His nose and cheeks are 'flushed' because he's been putting packages in his sleigh,
and baby, it's COLD outside....it really is!

I named this camp, Anything But a Card....I kinda lied. This is actually a card, but since it has a job, I couldn't pass it up. Have you ever made a 'Slider' Card with the Word Window #119857Punch? This is along that same line. I saw a beautiful card made by a fellow stamper and friend, Kirsteen Gill, http://www.creatinwithkirsteen.com/ using the stamp set Bells & Boughs #120831, focusing on the bells. She used the 3/4" Circle Punch #119873, pennies, and Dimensionals #104430. The bells seem to be ringing when you hold the card. I just loved it and reduced it for my gift card holder.

Isn't this cute? It's a little triangle that keeps Kisses snugly inside. How nice would this be to find on your desk at work, or to give to that someone you want to show appreciation, maybe a waitress, barista, or hairstylist?

I snatched this idea from a wonderful stamper, Carrie Kliethermes.

Clever lady! Thank you, Carrie!

Not sure where I saw this idea. Probably on our fantastic demonstrator website.

(One of the MANY perks of being a SU Demonstrator.)

It is simply two little tea light votives and a box of matches all wrapped up for the holidays in our Candy Cane Designer Paper. To get the image on the wax candle, stamp tissue paper, (the kind you use for stuffing in gift bags), punch it out, along with a hole for the wick. Slide it onto the candle and melt the image onto the wax with the Heat Tool #100005. Place the little goodies into one of our medium Cellophane Bags, #102572, and fancy it up with a topper of some kind. I used a Top Note die #113463, folded in half and tied up with satin ribbon.

Tah-Dah!
Many thanks to all the stampers I stole from this month! Keep the ideas coming! Valentines Day is coming and I need ideas!

:o)

Top Note Reindeer Box

Rudolph has gone Top Note vintage this year.

I found a similar idea on Angie Juda's blog. If you are a fellow stamping blog-surfer, you KNOW Angie Juda. She is AMAZING! I like her idea of making the Big Shot Top Note into a little box. And the punch art Rudolph is just so stinkin' cute sitting on that gorgeous Deck The Halls Designer Paper.

You could put all kinds of little trinkets in there. For instance, packets of hot chocolate, cookies, candy canes, diamond bracelets, diamond earrings, diamond rings, gift cards to a jewelry store.......

Oh, sorry. Kinda got carried away there for a minute.

Pumpkin Wagon

I know Thanksgiving is over and we are on our way to Christmas, but I just had to show you this little paper wagon before I put it away. I saw one on a blog somewhere and of course, I wanted to steal it. But she was selling the template, and I wanted it NOW! I'm kind of impatient... Anyway, I pulled out my card stock and started playing with a template of my own. This is what I came up with. Don't ask me to reproduce it, I have no clue how it got to this point. But it did, (must have been the card stock angels), and when I was finished, I piled my little punch pumpkins inside. Not bad, if I do say so myself!