October 1st!

Wow, it is October 1st already. Due to the uncommonly warm weather we have been having lately it really doesn't seem like fall but since tomorrow is Oktoberfest in Sidney I know it is that time of year.
Here is a cute little vampire card make with several items in the Holiday Mini Catalog. The web background is the Spider Web embossing folder #120889, $7.95. Just run your black paper through the Big Shot machine, then sponge over the raised up areas with white craft ink and a sponge. The cute little vampire boy is from the set "Fang-tastic" #120853 $24.95 for woodmount (also available in clear mount). Cardstock colors include Concord Crush and Pumpkin Pie and Rhinestone embellishments add a little "bling" to the oval punched shape message. I used Stampin' Dimensionals to pop up the oval image.
Enjoy fall,
Jennifer

Gorgeous GLASS GLITTER!

Here is a make and take we did at a class last weekend in Sterling, Colorado. I just love this glass glitter, really adds some "wow" to any card project.

Use the "sticky strip" to apply the glass glitter and it is super easy! This Glass Glitter can be found on pg. 21 of the Holiday Mini Catalog.
#120997 Champagne
#120995 Silver
only $3.95 (1 oz. bottle)
Please remember that you can order online anytime through my website. You can access online ordering by clicking on the shopping logo on the right of this page.

Let me know if you need a holiday mini catalog!

Pink & Black Vintage Wallpaper

This pink and black card uses the new Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder as well as other new product like Antique Brads, Basic Pearls, Blushing Bride cardstock and an adorable new set called Birthday Bakery (Hostess Level 1 set). I really like the pink and black color combination and this Birthday Bakery set is so cute. One image reads: If you are what you eat, eat something cute!
Fun stuff!
Have a great weekend,
Jennifer

Punch Potpourri & matching punch

Have you noticed in the new Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog the any image that has a coordinating punch will have a thin outline around the image? Have your noticed that? I think that is a great resource. I used the Level 1 Hostess set Punch Potpourri for this card. The butterfly image was stamped on Whisper White cardstock in So Saffron, Bashful Blue and Riding Hood Red, then punched out with the matching punch. I also used Basic Rhinestones, Tasteful Trim XL die for the white small paper ric-rac trim (Love that DIE!) Stampin' Dimensionals pop up some of the butterfly wings and the main large piece on the front.

Happy Friday!
TGIF! Yeah Coyote Football Season starts tonight! Go Kaleb! Go Coyotes!

Jennifer

On the road again....

Here are 2 of the card projects for the monthly stamp workshop I do for a group of gals in Mitchell, Nebraska (75 mile drive and where I am headed tonight). Both card use new sets, new cardstock, new big shot dies and much more. The birthday card is Crumb Cake cardstock with Play Date dsp. The red card is Poppy Parade cardstock and ribbon, The Best Things stamp set and the new die in the fabulous Holiday Mini catalog: Tasteful Trims.....it is a 12" long die of 4 different fun shapes of small and large ric-rac, the scallop on this card and another bubble like trim embellishment. I can't wait to use that die on scrapbook pages.
Contact me to get on the email list for upcoming classes in this and any area.
Have a great day, hope you find time to stamp something!
Jennifer

Anniversary Card

Here is a card I made for some friends for a 50th Wedding anniversary. Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder was used on the background piece. Cardstock colors are Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler. The punched piece that says "Happy Anniversary" is a new punch found the in the holiday mini catalog...I'll be passing those out at classes this week if you haven't already received one in the mail. This mini catalog is the best one yet, my wish list is very long. This mini includes Fabric!, new dies with a long jumbo ric rac as my absolute favorite, awesome holiday sets, gorgeous fall designer paper and so much more...you just need to get your hands on a copy. Let me know if you need a holiday mini catalog or want to place an order after Sept. 1 for any of these items.
Oh, back to the card. The rhinestone embellishments are in the new Idea Book & Catalog on pg. 188 and they come in pearls too. They are self adhesive and really add some "bling" to your cards.

My inspiration for this card was a card done by Rochelle Gould. Just click her name to go to her blog. I just realized that Rochelle is also an Artisan Award Finalist for this year. Here's the complete list of the runners up to the Artisan Award for this year. Stampin' Up! picks the top 10 winners and announces that back in June...then at convention they announce the finalists so we are happy if we see our names on that list. So we are the ones that came really close to winning...but didn't :-(. I'm sure it was a 21 way tie for 11th place! LOL
Deborah Paise
Cindy Beach
Heidi King
Melissa Riker
Sandra Farrell
Lynsay Mahon
Beth Prout
Ellen Raymond
Amy O'Neill
Jennifer Thomas
Ilina Crouse
Ashley Van Camp
Ann M. Fitton
Jan Tinklenberg
Deborah Pippin
Rochelle Gould
Staci Lynch
Amy Bollman
Mary Bieber
Lynn Pratt
Jennifer Picard
Jennifer Diercks

Wow, three Jennifer's on the list! :-)
Congrats to all my fellow demo finalists. This is my second year of being a finalist and I know Jan Tinklenberg is also a repeat finalist. Might just have to try again next year but will have to wait and see if I have the time, $ and inspiration. My contest entries were blog post back in June, Juen 6-16.
Have a great day, Jennifer

Cute Cards

I saw these cute cards at convention and just had to photograph them. I wish I knew the creator's name so I could give them the credit. If you come to my monthly stamp classes and like these cards let me know and I can figure out how to make them and use them as a class project.
Happy stamping,
Jennifer

Have you ever stamped in a parking lot?

It's high noon in western Nebraska on a hot summer day. I met my friend Jennifer at the local Walmart parking lot which is 20 miles from each of our houses. She wants to borrow some Big Shot dies for her daughters upcoming wedding so we meet here to make the switch. Besides just giving her the dies and letting her go on her merry way I wanted to show her the cool new embossing folders in the new Stampin' Up!Idea Book & Catalog. The aroma of the nearby feedyard fills the air in Sidney, Nebraska, it's a hot summer day and we pop open the back of my Sante Fe so we have room to use the Big Shot. Jennifer tries out the new embossing folders and makes all the parts to put this card together at home. We giggled of course, worked up a sweat and got a few odd stares from the cart boys but other than that no one thought we were too crazy...it was really too hot to stop and pay too close attention! :-) So now I can say I had my customers stamp in a busy parking lot. Have stamps will travel!!!!

Convention thoughts......part 1:

Going to Stampin' Up! annual convention is one of the highlights of my summer. This was convention #14 for me. I always enjoy seeing stamping friends I have met over the years and rooming with friends in my upline and downline, we always seem to have so much fun.


Me, upline Kim, downline Joanne.



Highlights of convention for me this year was going early on check in day and having the entire sample display area almost to myself (everyone else was in line for Momento Mall). It was fun to take samples of everything that caught my eye and not have to wait for masses of people to get out of my road so I could take pictures. I was in this area for about 30 minutes and took tons of pictures.
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Our annual lunch time swap with Sue Hyer and Deb Valder's group proved once again to be an awesome swap with very talented stampers.

Another thing I like to do at convention each year is find a new restaurant to try. This year I went to Dear Lizzie's with Deb Valder and Kathy and Amy in her downline. We enjoyed shopping in this adorable little shop and then sat down in the bistro for a little lunch. Amy purchased a gorgeous necklace to wear at awards night...Congrats Amy for placing high in the Rising Star Award! Here's a picture of my table while I was waiting for my sandwich to arrive. The place was decorated very fun with antiques, lace,& alot of shabby chic style deco. Lunch was delicious and I enjoyed a chocolate cupcake for dessert! YUM! Next time I go I would like to go for afternoon tea.

Decor' Elements Cheer & Dance Fundraiser

I recently did a fundraiser for our Cheer & Dance squads. We met at one of their houses and I showed off the vinyl wall art items. I put a few samples on some glass jars and gave those away as doorprizes. I also gave away vinyl images as doorprizes. Then the host mom got a special treat my having me apply the image of her choice (that she picked out a few weeks in advance so I had time to order it) to the wall of her choice. Lori picked this "Many Welcomes" and we applied it above some cupboards that sit above a bar counter in her kitchen. The wall was extremely rough but with a little extra rubbing I managed to get there on there. I like the way this image looks, espeically the white on the dark green walls.
These would make great Christmas presents so if you are in the mood to think about your Christmas gift giving keep these Decor' Elements in mind.

Open House

My Open House was fun. Thanks to everyone who came to see me that day, many of you drove from Colorado & Wyoming! Here's a pictures of my sample table showing the scrapbook layouts and also the candy dish with some of the fun salt water taffy I bought at convention. Info about fall classes will be coming soon. School starts for teachers tomorrow here at Potter-Dix H.S......I'm not sure where my summer went :-).

Open House Make and Take

My stamp open house is this coming Thursday August 5, at the Potter Fire Hall on Front Street. Time: 10:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
I will be showing off my swaps from convention, make and takes from convention, new color chart samples and this cute owl card is the free make and take project. You can create your card from the variety of cardstock and designer papers provided. Yes, this is a discontinued color but I really need to get the retired colors out of my stamp room and make more room for the new colors (which are fabulous!).

Also available:

*Garage sale items - two tubs full of goodies with most sets being $5 or $10.

*Scrapbook page kits and card class kits for $5. Sit and enjoy scrapbooking or cardmaking for a few hours (air conditioned room!)

*Big Shot machine and tons of dies will be available for your use. Bring your favorite paper to cut out shapes of your choice from the dies I have there that day.

*You may also come work on projects for the day. Bring your scrapbooking or card making projects and come craft the day away!
RSVP for this so I save a table for you.

Artistic Etching convention swaps

Aren't these gorgeous cards made with the new "Artistic Etching" set from Stampin' Up!? This set is still on my wish list and the more I see such fun designs with it of course the more I want it! This set goes so well with the new Newsprint DSP and look great in any color scheme. These are more swaps I received at convention last week. Valerie Mayer from CA made this black/yellow card.


Jolene Harms from MN made this black/blue/red card. Great work gals. Thanks for swapping with me!
Stay tuned for more samples coming soon,
Jennifer

Convention Swaps

Glancing through the pile of convention swaps I just added to my sample basket I see a couple really jump out at me. I love the 3-d pink flower on this tag (Two Terrific Tags). Appears to be 6 pink and 1 green "Fancy Flower X-Large Punch". I believe I got this from one of my Canadian stamping friends. (on the last day so I was kind of exhausted & forgetful! LOL!)
This gorgeous card is from Connie Babbert. I love the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder for the Big Shot and the new Ribbon Border punch. I think this Ribbon Border punch is going to be so much easier to use than the other border punches. Those of you in my classes that complain about the other border punches will probably want to try this one for sure! It made the shape to the white vertical piece.:-)

The new "Basic Rhinestones" add the bling to this gorgeous Christmas card from Terri Brantz. The cardstock is the new Cherry Cobbler and Wild Wasabi....which you just want to use as it is fun to pronounce! :-)

More samples to post at a later day. Have a great day,
Jennifer

Wheat Harvest & a Masculine Card

Here's a quick and easy idea for a masculine card. I love the Square Lattice embossing folder for the Big Shot machine. And, I'm kind of laying low hanging out in the house today to avoid the heat and all the farm trucks out on the roads.

Yep, it is that time of year here in western Nebraska....time for wheat harvest. I live near the grain elevator as you can see from the photo of the my back yard with the tall white grain elevator peeking out over the treetops. I can hear the rumble of the trucks coming and going all day/night until the farmers get all the wheat out of the field. Of course there is always an urgency to do this once the wheat is ready and before any hail storms come. So you can't miss that window of opportunity. Here's a few picture of my son cutting wheat last year for my uncle.

And yes, next week I'll have to dust the entire house...see all the dust from the combine and we have lovely dirt streets in town too! I'll be going to convention tomorrow so it will just have to wait (as usual) ha!
Have a great summer day,
Jennifer

Time for Swim Trunks!

When I saw this adorable card on Shannon Eberhardt's blog I just had to try them.

I used them for a workshop this last week and now decided to make up more to swap at convention. For those of you that will attend the next monthly stamp class they will probably be a class project. I love the yellow trunks made from the Greenhouse Gala designer paper. What a great way to use up scraps of designer papers...the crazier the design the better!

Have a great summer day & try and stay cool. It was 104 here yesterday so it truly is "Hotter in Potter"!!! :-)

Jennifer

I might be addicted to fabric & the Big Shot! LOL!

Instead of cleaning up the fabric mess in my tiny stamp room I just keep finding more fun projects for it. This is a set of 4 coasters. Aren't they cute stacked up and tied with a fun ribbon?

I can't wait until the Stampin' Up! Holiday mini catalog comes out because there is designer fabric in there! Can't wait to get my hands on some of that. Luckily demonstrators get to pre-order items from the upcoming mini catalog a month before it is available to customers.
Hmmm, wonder what I can make next with these 3 dies (Big Flower, Scallop Square, Scallop Circles #2)

Jennifer

Yet more Big Shot Big Flower projects!

I had this simple tote/purse pattern and thought it would be fun to try it with yet more of those fabric Big Shot Big Flower shapes. I just appliqued some flower shapes onto the purse pieces before I started sewing anything together.

More Fabric & the Big Shot

From some past posts you have seen some quilt blocks made with the Big Flower die. I found some time to try some other sewing projects while I had that mess out. These are fun little coasters made from quilted fabric. I appliqued the Big Flower shape onto the quilted fabric and then cut w shapes out with the Scallop Square die....then sewed those two layers together. I think these will make fun "roomie" gifts for my roommates at convention this next week!....and if you are one of those roomies viewing this post try and act surprised! :-)

Convention Swap....something different!

I decided to do something a little bit different for one of the organized swaps I am in for this year's convention. Instead of a card or a 3-d item I decided to make an 8x8" stitched quilt block. I used my Big Shot machine and the Big Flower and Scallop #2 Dies. I can cut up to 8 flower shapes at one time so the Big Shot really makes this easy.
I went with a yellow flower that kind of reminds me of a sunflower,....sunflowers remind me of summer in the country.

I started with the yellow flower shape and stitched it into place on the 8x8 piece of ivory.

Then I added the brown scallop shape and stitched around the inside of the scallop circle shape and then continued on to make a spiral type of random stitch line to complete the look for the inside of the flower. As I sewed I just continued in smaller and smaller until I ran out of area to stitch. No two blocks look alike! :-)

I like the way these turned out. Now I have some more ideas in mind for more quilt blocks, just need to find the time to work on them.
Have a great week,
Jennifer

My new Crush! :-)

I'm in love with this new inline color: "Concord Crush"...it is just gorgeous! I've even painted my front door a deep purple recently and found out it is a perfect match to this fabulous new color. (You can see that in this post.)
This card is copied directly from page 214 of the new 2010-11 Stampin' Up! Catalog I just changed the colors of cardstock and the ribbon and this card was super easy and .....if I don't say so myself...it's awful pretty! :-) The "Elegant Lines" textured embossing folder really adds the extra special touch to this card. You can find that on page 214.
This card design could easily be any greeting card you need....just change the sentiment! I used the set: Word Play from page 147....which I earned free from Stampin' Up!. You too can earn free stampin product from Stampin' Up! as either a customer hosting a book party, home workshop or individual order; or as a new recruit. Let me know if you would like more info on that. I'm in my 14th year with this company and I just love it. It is a great creative outlet for me and I love the extra perks, extra income and all the great stamping friends I have met along the way.
Have a great summer day! It looks like a beautiful day here in western Nebraska,
Jennifer

Builder Wheels! I might be a fan!

Ok, I have to confess that I have never been much of a fan of the stampin' wheels. They have just never been my thing. I guess I always felt like once I used them that then, I was kind of... well,... bored! Yes you can change the color of the ink cartridge and yes you can roll the images on tissue paper, lunch sacks, scrapbook pages or anything that stands still long enough! :-) But honestly they were not that much of a thrill to me. However,.....the new builder wheels seem kind of exciting. I love the fact that I can create my own 3 color ink cartridge with colors of my choice and the best part is that each and every time I use my wheel I have the choice to "MIX IT UP" a bit. I can rearrange the wheel designs in any order and also can add spacers and use 1-2-3 images at a time. So thanks to this great new product from Stampin' Up! I'm becoming a fan of wheels...finally! :-)
This is a super easy card design that you can use over and over and just by changing the images I can create several different cards for a variety of occasions.
It is also a great way to use up spare pieces of cardstock and ribbon left over from previous class projects & events.
Check out all the great new Builder Wheel designs on page 219 of the new 2010-11 Stampin' Catalog

I also used a Big Shot textured folder for the strip of cardstock below the ric rac bow.
Once again this a basic layout that can be used for any theme/occasion.

New Set: "Apple Blossoms"

From the new 2010-11 Stampin' Up! catalog this new set is called "Apple Blossoms". Big Shot items used were: Finial Press Textured Impressions Embossing Folder #115963 and the Oval Scallop Die #114521.

With these card designs you could make the same layout from any set in the catalog (or in your stamp room...but you know you want a fabulous new set from the new catalog! :-)

I'm using up retired ribbon & retired Designer Paper. You can find great deals on those on the Clearance Rack...go to the "Order Online 24/7" on the right side of this blog to get to the shop now button on my Stampin' Up! website.
Enjoy your summer day...hope you find time to stamp today,
Jennifer

More Deco Elements Samples

I'm getting ready to do a Decor' Elements Fundraiser with a group from school and what to show off some samples here on my blog. This is my neighbor's house. The "Happiness" pg. 28 and chocolate flowers are on one wall in her kitchen.

The "Many Welcome Signs" pg. 29 is on the dark chocolate accent wall in her kitchen...as you walk up the steps from the porch this is the first thing you see.


The phrase "Life Milestones" pg. 31 is hanging in her living room and goes great with her son's graduation picture (which I took of him & really like! :-)




All the Decor' Elements go up on the walls very easily. The dark brown kitchen was heavily textured but the "Many Welcome Signs" sticks well. For the fundraiser I will be putting the vinyl wall up on the walls at the host mom's house to show the guests just how easy this is to apply. She chose the "Many Welcome Signs" in white to go up on her green wall in her kitchen. So this should be a fun fundraiser. I'l share more later,
Jennifer