Back after a wonderfully creative weekend!

I attended our team mini-convention this past Saturday and had a blast.  It was my first official Stampin' Up! event, and while I knew it would be amazing, I have to say that I truly wasn't prepared for the sheer level of awesomeness that awaited me.  WOW truly doesn't give it enough justice - I kid you not.

Along with a goodie bag of items for the make and take, and demonstrator theater where several demos went through a demonstration in 10 minutes in rather a speed dating approach to creative sparking we got to meet in person at long last several of the people that had only ever talked online before.  It was truly amazing.  It may have been my first event but I can tell you with absolute certainty that this will not be my last. :)

I will share a few pictures over the next few days..

Yesterday's crop was fabulous also, we had a few new faces join us at our creative tables as well as several drop-ins to ask ahead and plan for next time.  If the general consensus over the last few days is any indication, our tables will soon be filling up which is great!!

There is still some time to get in on the Summer Mini catalog which ends later this week - drop me a line if there's anything you need.  I will be putting an order in next week (Friday at the latest), but you can always order through my website www.iscrapnstamp.stampinup.net . Drop me a line if you have any questions.

New Product Spotlight - Distressing Essentials

Distressing Essentials includes tools that make it easier than ever for you to create a distressed, vintage appearance on your projects. Includes the following tools:

■ Sanding block and emery board for distressing Designer Series paper or smoothing the edges of paper that has been adhered to chipboard
■ Precision files for sanding intricate die cuts and sanding in tight areas
■ Blendable vintage ink and stamp for creating an aged appearance: Tea Stain, Charcoal, Mahogany, Navy ink
■ Because vintage ink contains alcohol, they are not recommended for scrapbooking.

I just picked up this new kit, and will have it with me at my classes and crops for anyone that would like to get a better look at it in person before placing an order for one.  

Big Inspiration in Tiny Packages..

Spent a little time this weekend playing with my new big shot and build a bear dies with our 4 year old niece who was down for the weekend. We don't see her very often so it's always a treat to see her. 

When I first ordered the Build a bear set, I already had Paper dolls and my mother inlaw and I had been discussing how much fun we would have sharing these with Amanda. 

Well I started out running some paper through the die cutter so I could make a few bits to get started. Of course she came by and wanted to know what I was making so I showed her. Well! There is a future Scrapbooker in the making. She made a whole army of teddybears, and was so tickled pink to make her sandwiches, and crank the arm herself. 

I teased her that I was going to take her to my scrapbooking classes. When she asked why I told her that lots of big people like Auntie think they can't do this, and she could show them how easy it is. She (gotta love her) says Oh I can show them, I do this ALL THE TIME.. I've done this a thousand times. I said Oh have you? and she says Yes, at my home. (she hasn't).. but it was truly priceless. 

I wanted to take a picture of Amanda and her army of bears but her parents aren't fond of the idea of pictures of her being shared on the net. After she went to bed I cut out some extra bears in a variety of colors and clothing in patterned and plain paper in a bunch of different colors and put them in bags. I made a couple of outfits and embellished them with eyelets. Wrote a little note with a gel pen and left it on the table besides the bags of bears and parts I'd made her. Then I took some assorted dies from my stash and put them in separate bags on the table. On my note I wrote "For Amanda: thanks for playing with me. It was beary fun. Love Auntie Tammy XOXO. 

Well I understand she got up this morning and came out to the table and saw the bags. Dumped them all out on the table and started playing right where she'd left off. Tonight before they left she (who is usually very standoffish) came over and said Thank you for helping me. I told her she was welcome. I thought she was referring to carrying her toy for her that we'd bought. She went on to say "Thank you so much for helping me make all those bears". I asked her if she'd had fun and she said she had. I told her that next time I see her she'll make some more and she was all smiles. If that isn't a glowing product endorsement I don't know what is.. 

Thanks SU for giving a Teddy Bear Nut an awesome afternoon with an amazing young lady. I can hardly wait for my friend to come over this week with her kids, as her daughter loved my paper dolls - she will be so excited when she sees all the supplies to make an army of bears. 

I put a really good dent in the using up of my Stash of other source paper this weekend so it's an extra win win for everyone. I will post some samples this week.. 

Have you made anything with the build a bear dies or stamps?  I'd love to see your creations! Drop me a line either in comments here or via e-mail at iscrapnstamp@gmail.com 

Friday's Challenge - OOPS

I was doing a little blog surfing and saw a track-back to my earlier challenge post and someone had commented on the card I made a few weeks ago as part of my challenge.  I went looking to see the one I made last week only to see that though I'd posted it on a forum, I had inadvertantly forgotten to post it here on my blog... OOPS.. 


So here it is a little later than planned.. I reposted the original entry from when I shared it on the Scrappy Quilting Forum. 


 I made this one today for my Sister-inlaw's birthday. In a sense I lost my challenge since I used one of my new textures embossing plates and the Big Shot, I used my pastels to essentially sponge paint the embossed background, and then I used some retired Stampin' Up Ribbon also - but I figured the overall idea was to make sure I was making at least one card a week to get back in the habit. I do consider myself somewhat redeemed since the Card stock I used isn't SU, the ribbon is retired, and I used my fiskars paper edgers as well. Last but not least the Stamp I chose was from a retired stamp set. 

Today it was a challenge just to figure out which of the new toys I wanted to play with first, so having finished something may very well be a freakin' miracle.

Would anyone like to get into the challenge with me? Don't forget to share your work - we'd love to see it!

Mommy & Me Classes Start August 26th - Space is Limited - Reserve your spot Early!

Beginning Thursday, August 26th - I will be hosting "Mommy and Me" Classes at the United Church Hall here in Cardinal.

I am now taking sign-ups for our Thursday morning class (one class every two weeks), and our monthly Saturday morning class beginning in September. 


All classes run from 9:30 AM - 12:00 - If these days/times don't work for you let me know.  If there is enough interest I can run a class on another day or add a different time slot.

My August Class will focus on the "Build-a-Bear" Collection of Stamps, Designer Series Paper and Big Shot dies and. exclusive to Stampin' Up!

Upcoming Dates:

 Thursday, August 26th, Thursday, Sept 9th

 Thursday, Sept 23rd,  Saturday, Sept 25th 

For more upcoming classes and events check my demo website at www.iscrapnstamp.stampinup.net or call me at 613-655-1010 (a local call in Cardinal).  Not local?  I have FREE reverse calling - Check http://www.thevoiphighway.com/reverse.asp for a reverse calling number in your area to avoid Long distance charges. 

Class Synopsis:

Mommy & Me Class

A morning out for Mom and child to come out and have some fun together. (Please note - Dads, aunts/uncles, grandparents are also welcome to bring their respective little one(s) - Mom & Me classes aren't just for Mommy's. )

Please bring an adhesive with you to class - or one can be purchased at the beginning of class.  All other supplies are included with the class fee.

Class fee is $15 for Mom and one child, bring a sibling or second child for an additional $10.  Registration is required as space is limited.  Registration is not confirmed until payment is received.  No refunds on class fee if canceled within 48 hours of class. 

Projects will vary from month to month.

Please Note: Dads, Caregivers, Aunts & Uncles, Grandparents and Other Childcare Professionals are also welcome to book a spot with their chosen little one. 

Addition to October Crop - SCRAP AND STAMP YARD SALE!

As a special feature at my October Crop - We are holding a Scrap and Stamp YARD SALE! 


For this crop only a $10 fee will buy you a second table on which to sell your goodies.  It can be any items from your Scrapbooking and stamping stash,  gently used items and well loved items also. 


Can't make the October Event? Contact me and we'll see what we can work out for you :)


Clean out your stash before the holidays - make a little cash to re-invest as you wish. 


I'd like to keep things fun and friendly - so let me get this out of the way -  Other Demos are welcome to join in, but I ask that you refrain from bringing any current catalog items, or soliciting new customers at this event. 


All Fees from the Yard Sale tables will be donated by me to the Cardinal Legion, Branch #105 to go towards their projects in the community.  


Space is limited so please register early to avoid disapointment..

Friday Challenge to Myself - Dig In and Scrap from your Stash!

I have been pouring over my years and years of collective Scrapbooking and Rubber Stamping Stash over the last while and feeling a little overwhelmed. 

I'd started out with Creative Memories,and somewhere along the way I bought out a friend who was leaving her demonstratorship behind so I ended up with a raft of paper. At the same time I had signed on as a demonstrator with Topline Creations and bought a lot of clearance paper and toppers in addition to other purchases - which weren't many as I always found them a little too pricey for me. In any case, it wasn't a big surprise when TLC changed hands again and became Breezy Designs and no longer had demonstrators as we had known them. 

I'd been collecting Provocraft Memory Blocks and Costco Paper Blocks as well as cleaning up on fibres, eyelets and other embellishments on Ebay - I now had 2 Sizzix machines and a variety of dies. 

By this time I'd discovered Rubber Stamping, and had become well versed in all of the pretty colors and began to immerse myself in them as well. I was almost 4 years into Stamping before I signed on as a demonstrator, but I was only buying for myself so I told myself it didn't really matter if I used other things on my cards -- after all they were MINE right? I also consoled myself that I didn't have to buy any new paper because I already had so much - but that argument only works up until the point that you want to coordinate all the pretty inks, pastels and such with the paper to match it and some of those long collected favorites aren't getting you quite so excited anymore..  It really is a bit of an emotional roller coaster once you get going..  ;)

When I recently decided to transition to teaching a little more, and holding some classes and workshops I began wondering how I would make use of what I affectionately dubbed my Crafter's warehouse. So many people I've met were of the mindset of only being able to use the products for your particular company. I'd always been of the mindset that if you add tuna or peas to Kraft Dinner, isn't it still Kraft Dinner? But my opinion is not the norm in the Scrap and Stamp world.. and now that I'm doing more workshops - the idea is to use "our" products to show off what we have and get others as enthusastic as we are about it all. This makes sense, right?

So anyhow, I've been lamenting about how I should go about making use of some of my stash...  I've been thinking that if our house ever caught on fire I'd be in a world of hurt because all this paper is certainly not going to help my case in that event. I don't want to waste the paper - I've got so many pretty vellums and mulberry paper, card stocks, punches, dies, buttons, brads, eyelets.. it seems such a waste not to use them.. 

So I challenged myself today that each week, I am going to dig into my stash and make at least ONE card, made entirely from items in my stash. I thought that this would be a great way to try out ideas and techniques before doing the samples for my boards and such.. Ultimately, I thought it would be fun.. so off I went.. 

Today I also decided to tackle a barrier I've been facing and that's that there is so much stuff to choose from much that I haven't played with in ages that I can't decide what to use so I end up feeling overwhelmed and nothing gets made. So here's what I did.. 

I chose the first 3 things that I laid eyes on when I sat at the table. A box of Tins that house some of the dies I've pre-cut with my Sizzix, A ziploc bag of buttons I bought online but hadn't sorted into my bins, and one of my bins of Fiskars paper edgers. 

As you can see I used the paper edgers to corner round the white paper for my Mat. I arranged and glued my buttons on the bottom of the page and then took 3 teddy bear die cuts from my stash and after playing with several colors I chose 3 yellow ones to match the button. I wanted to Jazz them up a little so I thought I'd try a couple of techniques. 

On one, I took a sponge dauber and sponge painted the one teddybear blue. The second, I took another dauber and used my pastel/chalk to color in the bear, and the last, I used my blender pen to color the bear in. I thought it would be fun to show the same element done 3 different ways and was pretty happy with how it turned out. 

I took one o my clear mount stamp sayings (not SU) and stamped just under the bears. I thought that the words smudged just a little but maybe it's just me being picky because I've gotten spoiled by my SU stuffs.. but the idea here was to use some of my "old" stash, rather than digging into the new.. 

So here's what I came up with.. I'm home solo this weekend - the boys are off to see the Nascar Race in Pocono so I'll have some more to share.. Let me know what you think