Gift Box For My SAM

I wanted to make something special for my SAM. That is a Service Account Manager at Stampin' Up!. You get your own SAM when you earn the cruise!

My SAM, Jennelee Radcliff has been so helpful to me especially as I transitioned my business from CA to ID this year. For any demonstrator who has had to relocate, you know how hard that is, and she has been there every step of the way with her encouragement and support! Having a SAM is a GREAT perk to your Stampin' Up! business. They keep you informed of deadlines, your downline reports, weekly messages and updates and all kinds of things you wouldn't normally get to be a part of. Plus they are available to you all the time!

I've really enjoyed getting to work with you this year Jennelee, and I hope you enjoy your new life as a stay at home mom with your boys.

I made extra boxes to give to a couple other special people at convention too. I'll post up close pictures of the cards and contents tomorrow.

Gifts For My downline Girls

Adorable if I do say so myself!!

These little purses contain a plethora of decorated gifts for attending the Stampin' Up! convention, all covered in the new Bella Rose Designer Series Paper. The purses came with a brand name embellishment on them, I ripped it off and added one of our Build A Brads to it and some ribbons to the handle. Don't know if you can see it or not but they have a tiny zipper purse hanging on the front of them. The purses are about 8" x 4" without handles, have two zipper compartments and an inside zipper pocket...perfect for a make-up bag after convention!

Hope you all love your gift!

This year I have 6 of my downline attending convention. Jennifer Valk, Kim Sinclair, Lori Terry, Trina Tarczy, Danee Hoang and Pauling Hoang. Yeah girls! What a way to invest in your business...or just have fun ;o)

Scallop Cards and Box

Andrea Walford shares the instructions for these darling little

3 x 3 Scallop Edge Cards & Envelopes and Box on her Demo to Demo blog! The directions say to use DSP and for good reason...it was impossible to punch through both layers of cardstock with the Slit Punch! I ended up doing each side separately and luckily they lined up!

The first photo shows the front, back and inside of the little cards.

Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP

Stamp Set: Pun Fun, Big Flowers (for the flower on the back)

Accessories: Slit Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Word Window Punch, 1/8" Punch, Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, White Gel Pen

Business Cards...of sorts

I wanted to have something to hand out to friends I meet at convention with my contact information on them so found these cute little matchbook notepads and matching calendars from www.Vippies.com, one of my favorite sites for fun things to stamp with. I'll give you the link because if you mistype it, you get some sick-o porno site!!! Wonder how I know that???

The adorable matchbooks come with pads of paper stapled in them. You purchase the tiny stick on calendar pads, peel and attach to the inside of the book and decorate. Matchbook Notepads were 50/$12.50 and the Self Stick Calendars (size 1 3/4" x 1 1/2") were 50/$14.00. FYI: The pads have slick white covers...M-E-S-S-Y!! Unless you emboss it's best to plan on covering them with paper then stamping on them.

Also...I have several posting on auto post while I am at convention next week. I'll be gone Tuesday thru Sunday. Check to see what fabulous gifts I'm taking to my downline girls and other things I've made that I can't show before I leave ;o). It's set post the first one on Wednesday!

Blogging Awards

I'm so grateful for the compliments I receive on my blog! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to post a comment or drop me a line with your kind remarks. I've been nominated by several for a couple different awards and have successfully put off posting them until today...when 3 more came in. I am grateful, please know that I am, it's just that I would rather be at my stamp desk than on my computer!

I honestly can't remember all the nominations I've received since I told myself I wasn't interested in posting those silly awards (sorry, still grateful) and now I wish I had kept a list because I've really enjoyed reading interesting facts about others on their blogs. Not that I have anything interesting to share however! I know it all started with that darn Nancy Riley at iSTAMP. I've also been tagged by Karen and others I'm sorry I can't remember and lastly today by Amy Celona. It was Amy who threw me over the edge today and quilted me into posting because it's her WOW! swaps I've joined for convention and don't want to be kicked out until I've collected my goods ;o)

OK, here it goes, 7 random or weird facts about myself.

1. I'll start easy, I'll be 45 this year and have 2 boys ages 9 and 12. I've been married 25 years, the last 15 to the man I will love and be with forever.

2. Both my boys were born on a Thursdays and were scheduled inductions. George had started a new job the Monday before each birth and was only able to have the weekend with us. It's OK, by Monday I was good and ready to do it on my own and MY way!

3. I'm an extremely private person and love listening to others but rarely share about myself...hence my hesitation to do this project. Don't tell anyone my facts and don't sell my information on the Internet ;o)

4. I've earned 2 Stampin' Up! cruises and have been unable to attend both! We were living in CA and had no family to watch the boys and it would have cost $3000 to take our kids with us on our FREE cruise.

5. I wear hearing aids that have zebra stripe covers much to the embarrassment of my oldest son! He makes a point of telling everyone up front that his mom can't hear because he is mortified when people ask me about it! Oh, those pre-teen years, aren't they fun?

6. I was a Grumman's Chinese Theater (now Mann's Chinese Theater) the day John Travolta put his Urban Cowboy boots in the cement and have a couple of the paper towels they used to clean his boots off. They are firmly cemented together by green cement and folded in a 4" square to keep forever. George also knows that the day John comes for me is the last day he will ever see me again. But I 'll still love you George!

7. I did not take my husbands last name when we got married. I am Roberts and he and the boys are Papadopoulos...see why? ;o) I love the Greeks, please don't curse me.

That's it...pretty darn boring compared to some I've read who've had these fabulous lives. I wouldn't change a thing tho unless I win the lottery!!

I'm breaking the rules slightly here, I am not nominating anyone for these awards. I wouldn't know where to start, there are so many fantastic stampers and bloggers out there. Those I love, know I love them! Please feel free to cut and paste these awards onto your blog and share some interesting facts about yourself if you would like.

Have a great day!

Discontinued Accessory List

Here is the link to the Stampin' Up! Discontinued Accessory list, http://www.stampinup.com/us/enu/11276.asp. This takes you directly to the Stampin' Up! website where they will be updating the availability on these items daily.

WOW! 3D Swap

I know you've seen 'em before, but I love them and wanted to do them for the WOW! 3D swap using all new papers and colors. These are made using Stampin' Up!'s 3 x 3 envelopes and are little scrapbook purses...so tiny and cute!!

I've updated the instructions to include all new Stampin' Up! cardstock colors & Bella Rose Designer Paper and used the Corner Rounder and Coluzzel to make the scallops and circles instead of the Marvy punches. Instructions for the project will be included with the swap.

If you are not attending this swap and would like a copy of the instructions, e-mail me at yasou@cableone.net and I'd be happy to send them to you!

Cardstock: Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Bella Rose Designer Series Paper

Ink Pads: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss

Stamp Sets: Priceless, All Holidays, Absolutely Fabulous, Bugs & Kisses

Accessories: 3/4", 1", 1 1/4", 1 3/8" Circle Punches, Scallop Punch, 3/4" Square Punch, Rectangle Punch, Coluzzel Cutting System, Corner Rounder, Old Olive Wide Grosgrain, Sticky Strip, Stampin' Dimensionals, Soft Subtle Brads, Paper Piercing Tool, Adhesive Velcro Circles.

WOW! Card Swap

These were pure Pun Fun (get it?) for me to do 25 of. I ususally choke over multiples but I loved these. I joined Amy Celona's WOW swap at convention and was accepted into the card swap and the 3D swap doing 25 for each. You can view Amy's blog here .

Cardstock: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Confetti White, Kiwi Kiss.

Paper: Bella Rose Designer Series Paper

Ink: Staz-On Jet Black, Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss

Stamp Set: Pun Fun, It's All Good (love that name!)

Accessories: Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pens, Crystal Effects, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 3/4", 1" & 1 1/4" Circle Punches, Scallop Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, More Mustard Grosgrain Ribbon

I stamped and cut out extra hippo and kitty heads and popped them up on dimensionals.

I CASEd the original idea of grouping the animals together from Alex Maldonado. Great idea Alex!

You can see it here.

Blooming With Love #2

Another swap card for convention, again using the Blooming with Love set and the new In Colors with Designer Series Paper. I love this little set. It was on my list to buy if it didn't get discontinued, so I did! I made 12 of these, now I am switching to something else before I get bored ;o) I stamped and cut out extra topiaries, popped them up on a Stampin' Dimensional for a little extra effect. I think I will make about 25 assorted cards for general swapping, so I'm almost done...yay!

Stay tuned for pictures of my WOW! swap card and my WOW! 3D swap project coming soon.

Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Shimmery White
Stamp Set: Blooming with Love
Accessories: New Scallop Edge Punch, Old Olive Wide Grosgrain, Earth Elements Brads.

Blooming with Love

Working on a few Convention swaps...yeah!

Stamp Set: Blooming with Love

Cardstocks: Pink Passion, Kraft & Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pens, the new Scallop Punch (everyone should own one of these...so cool!), Jumbo eyelet for wheel, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

My sisters and I, (Cindy, Kerry and Becky) had a fun time celebrating Cindy's birthday ALL weekend. Friday night I cooked Greek food and had a mini Greek Festival for her, followed by birthday cake complete with candles...she about died blowing them all out ;o) Saturday we ditched all our boys and hit the mall for 4 hours of girl fun! If you could only see the glitter on us!!! Then off to the Macaroni Grill for dinner. Sunday we made pancakes for everybody and stayed in our pajamas until noon! That was a fun weekend!

Cindy's Birthday Box

My sisters are coming for the weekend and it is my older sister Cindy's birthday. I've been wanting to make one of Jackie Topa's fantastic boxes and decided now was a good time! The instructions are here: http://jackietopa.typepad.com/Stationary.pdf

This thing was so easy and fun. Her instructions are awesome... thank you Jackie! I want to make a few more with the new papers ;o)

Cardstocks: Mellow Moss, Ruby Red, Groovy Guava, Very Vanilla, Ginger Blossom Designer Series Paper

Stamp Sets: Priceless, Little Flowers, It's Your Birthday

Lots of punches, ribbons, brads, etc.

This picture and other pictures I've seen of these gift sets really do nothing for the actual gift sets. It is so much prettier in person. You gotta make one... today!

Big Bold Birthday

I had to finish up some papers I had cut so I can start on my NEW stuff!! Big Bold Birthday stamp set, Berry Bliss Designer Series Paper, Crystal Effects on cupcake confetti and Dazzling Diamonds glitter on candles.

Lot's Goin' On Around Here!

We've just returned from a 5 day visit to our families. Being only 4 hours away is so much better than 16!

My Dad took Nicholas fishing and he brought home 3 little fish. He was soooo happy!! We stayed with Yaya; here she is with the boys. We had a great 4th of July, got home safely and how have 2 days of laundry to do ;o) Who said vacations were for resting???

I'll be busy this week making swaps for CONVENTION! It is only 2 weeks away...YEAH!!! I pre-ordered some pretty nifty stuff before we left and it hasn't even shipped yet...it was probably the thousands of other demonstrators that ordered also that is slowing things down!

You're going to love the new In Colors and the sneak peak background paper we got to see is, well...guess what??? my favorite! and I haven't even seen the new catalog yet! It has all 'my favorite' colors in it. Just get it in your head now that you will be seeing a lot of Bella Rose Designer Series Paper. Aren't you excited?? Bye-bye Cutie Pie paper, hello Bella Rose!

New In Colors

I found this great chart comparing the new In Colors to our regular colors on Dawn's blog http://www.dostamping.typepad.com/

Thanks Dawn, this is a great way of really seeing our new colors!

A couple of things came out July 1st

Decor Elements

This new line of vinyl wall Decor Elements is absolutely fantastic! They are so easy to apply and are completely removable if you need to move or change your mind. You can view the complete brochure of styles and prices here:http://204.228.150.61/DBWS_Video/Decor_Elements/decorelements_web.pdf

Hodgepodge Hardware Sale

Hodgepodge Hardware is being discontinued! Sad as it seems, we must make room for something new, fresh and better in the new catalog. You can purchase Hodgepodge Hardware at a 25% discount with NO LIMIT!! On the promotions page of my demonstrator website, you can view all of this months promotions:http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/beckyroberts/promotions

That's it for today. My nephew is here for the week and brought his Guitar Hero! I may get something stamped to show you while they are all occupied ;o)