Melinda's Stamping Corner

Celebrate Digital Scrapbooking Day with FREE Downloads

2011-11-04T12:42:00.002-04:00

Stampin’ Up!’s four-day Digital Scrapbooking celebration has begun!!! And there are free downloads for EVERYONE! Plan to visit MyDigitalStudio.net frequently throughout November 4-7 to view new project ideas.

If it’s your first time hearing about My Digital Studio—Stampin’ Up!’s digital design software—you can learn more here.

Software

My Digital Studio is an intuitive design software that allows you to be your own digital designer.
It’s easy for beginners to get designing right away—and challenging enough for advanced users.
It’s Mac and Windows compatible.

Digital Content

Digital content installs seamlessly into the My Digital Studio software and can be used in other programs.
New content is released once a week, usually on Tuesday. View our current offering here.
You can choose from designer templates, stamp brush sets, and more.

Print Products

You can professionally print your photobooks, cards, calendars, journals, and more using the My Digital Studio software.
Our print products are competitively priced, and discounted bulk pricing is available as well.
You can order online and have your projects delivered to your door.

Now for the fun part: during the online event, Stamin' Up! is giving away FREE digital content that can be used with most design software. Fill out a brief survey and then you will be given the following brand-new, never seen before FREE downloads:

· So Typefelt Stamp Brush Set

· Neutral Delightful Digital Tape

· Home for the Holidays Ensemble

· Delight in the Day Photobook Template

To learn what’s included in the downloads and how to access the downloaded files, choose one of the following:

Want another FREE download? If Stampin' Up! gets 5,000 new friends to download the content they will give everyone a fifth download. So share MyDigitalStudio.net with your friends today!

It’s simple. Get your four FREE Digital Scrapbooking Day downloads today; just fill out this brief survey!

Digital Scrapbooking Day Event

2011-11-02T08:14:00.002-04:00

To all my peeps who have My Digital Studio - Make sure to visit MyDigitalStudio.net November 4-7!!! The event will include FREE DOWNLOADS, blog posts with exciting project ideas all weekend long, and the announcement of the 2011 My Digital Studio Contest winners. Also, always make sure your software is up to date with the latest information. Stampin' Up! is continually updating the program to keep it fresh and current! Please visit here to view all the professional print options available as well.

If you don't currently own the My Digital Studio program.... why are you waiting?? Its such fun! Even if you don't do digital scrapbooking, its a wonderful resource for getting digital images for your hybrid projects as well!

Just contact me if you have any questions!

Get a Free Stamp Set!

2011-10-13T10:17:00.001-04:00

Just in time for the Holidays!

2011-10-06T09:25:00.003-04:00

Free Big Shot Offer

2011-10-03T08:21:00.001-04:00

An offer to DIE for!

If you've been looking for an opportunity to do what you love, while getting a 20 discount on your favorite products, now is the perfect time! During October, you'll get a FREE Big Shot when you join the Stampin' Up! family as a demonstrator.*

Use the Big Shot die-cutting machine and Stampin' Up!'s exclusive dies** to create uniquely beautiful projects in a flash.

In addition, the new-demonstrator Starter Kit--a steal at just $175--contains over $345 worth of stamp sets, card stock, ink, accessories, and business supplies-everything you need to start your new business.

There are so many benefits of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, including

A 20 percent product discount!
A free monthly issue of Stampin' Up!'s demonstrator-only magazine, Stampin' Success!
Sneak peeks at brand-new products!
Invitations to exclusive Stampin' Up! events!
Regular get-togethers to stamp!
Free access to an online community of 30,000+ crafters/stampers and creative artists, as well as 160,000+ project samples!
Plus, access to an exclusive video and training for your new Big Shot!

Don't miss this BIG deal! Contact me today at mcouden@frontier.com to learn how you can take advantage of this great opportunity and get your FREE Big Shot!

Holiday Mini is here!

2011-09-01T08:31:00.001-04:00

Stampin' Up's Designer Series Paper Sale - Buy 3, Get 1 FREE!

2011-08-01T12:47:00.002-04:00

Stampin' Up! is offering an awesome deal for August!!! Buy 3 packs of their truly amazing Designer Series paper and you get the 4th pack FREE!!!! How cool is that!!! Contact me or visit my webstore to place your order now!

Join Stampin' Up!

2011-07-01T09:01:00.001-04:00

$99 Starter Kit

Friends, Fun, and Fabulous Products!

During July, you can join the Stampin' Up! family as a demonstrator for only $99! This limited time Starter Kit--valued at $185--comes with the following high-quality products:

Easy Events Clear-Mount Set*

Pennant Parade Wood-Mount Set*
Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad
Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad
Brights 8-1/2" x 11" Assorted Card Stock
Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper*
Chocolate Chip 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon*
Note Cards (20)
Clear-Mount Block C
Blender Pen (1)
SNAIL Adhesive
Business supplies

*Brand new to the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog!

Plus, join in July and get a FREE Christmas Keepsake project kit--a $40 value! Imagine an afternoon spent chatting with friends while creating something beautiful--isn't that what Stampin' Up! is all about? But act now because this special kit is only available as part of this limited-time offer.

As an added bonus, first-time demonstrators can get two free months of Demonstrator Business Web Services (DBWS) when they sign up during their first 21 days as a demonstrator. Subscribing to DBWS means having your own online store, blog, hostess portal, and much more!

Join Stampin' Up! in July and get brand-new products, including an exclusive project kit--all for just $99! Download the starter paperwork now! Contact me to get started today.

Help the Joplin Tornado Victims

2011-06-03T08:05:00.003-04:00

Please help the Joplin Tornado Scrapbookers. I discovered this while blog hopping this morning and felt it was a wonderful idea to help out so I'm spreading the word. Who doesn't have a ton of extra supplies in their scrapbook room? Please help if you can!!

http://nikkisivils.com/
http://nikkisdoghouse.blogspot.com/2011/06/paying-it-forward.html

Last Chance Sale!!!

2011-06-01T08:12:00.002-04:00

July is fast approaching and that means the new Stampin' Up! catalog will be released.

In order to make room for all the new products coming in July, hundreds of stamp sets, accessories, and home décor products are retiring! These last-chance items are only available June 1-30, so click the links below to get your favorites before they’re gone. There are limited quantities available so don't hesitate in placing your order! We don't want anyone disappointed!

Visit my store today!

Farewell to Sketch Frenzy Friday (for me that is!)

2011-05-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

It is with great regret that I am announcing I will no longer be participating in the weekly Sketch Frenzy Friday blog hop. Other commitments are preventing me from having the time to devote to the sketch each week. It was great fun playing as long as I did. Using the sketches each week is such a great way to challenge yourself to try something different. Perhaps learn some things. I hope that you will continue to follow the rest of the blogs on the SFF hop as they are a great amazingly talented group of women!

So for one last time I'll say - Hop on over to Patrice's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/29/11

2011-04-29T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to the final Sketch Frenzy Friday of April. WOW! Where did the month go? Here in Indiana it seems like it has rained every single day of the month. Massive amounts of rain too! I certainly hope May brings more sunshine!

Today's sketch is provided by Ros Davidson. Thankfully she made it extremely easy.

I took a spin on my Color Coach to come up with the color combination. I grabbed my Basic Gray ink pad and got to work. I really should use the Basic Gray more often. I think it softens up the image. I apologize for the poor scan of my card. I forgot my camera at home so at the last minute I had to resort to the office scanner.

Now lets go check out what the rest of the group came up with this week. Hop on over to Patrice's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/22/11

2011-04-22T06:00:00.000-04:00

Time for Sketch Frenzy Friday. I've been spending a lot of time cleaning my house (especially my stamp room) and I just haven't had the time to just play. So this week we will once again be going with our faithful My Digital Studio. I do love it and definitely need to play more with it. I know it can do all kinds of amazing things that I haven't even learned yet. If you already own MDS, make sure you are downloading the free program upgrades. Keep it up to date!

Today's sketch is brought to us by Robbie Rubala. I had some really wonderful card ideas for this sketch so I will definitely have to use this sketch again!

Here is my MDS page:

Now lets go check out what the rest of the group came up with this week. Hop on over to Patrice's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/15/11

2011-04-15T06:00:00.004-04:00

Welcome to another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday. Seems like these weeks are flying by! Here it is the middle of April already! Now I will admit I had wished for spring to get here in a hurry but I didn't wish for time to go by too quickly! SIGH!

Today's sketch is brought to us by the SFF group leader Tammy Baldwin. Now I know Tammy loves to use My Digital Studio and since I didn't have time to get to my stamp room this week, I decided I'd give MDS a shot. I hope you like what I came up with. Here is Tammy's sketch:

Here is my digital scrapbook page:

Now lets go check out what the rest of the group came up with this week. Hop on over to Patrice's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/08/11

2011-04-08T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday and Happy Birthday to ME! And no I am not going to tell you how old I am. I will admit to a few gray hairs so you can take some wild guesses. Today's sketch is brought to you by ME. Not sure what I was thinking when I drew the sketch. Turned out to be a bit of a challenge for me.

Here is the sketch:

Here is my card. Rather quick and simple. Not much stamping but as you can see I've been playing with my Big Shot and simply loving it! Love the flower dies and I love the texture plates. I used Smooch on the flower centers before adding the rhinestones. So much fun!

Now lets go check out what the rest of the group came up with this week. Hop on over to Patrice's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Spring is Blossoming Promotion & Grab Bags are Available

2011-04-01T08:38:00.003-04:00

Promotion dates: April 1-30, 2011

Spring is Blossoming with Sneak Peek products from the upcoming 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog. You can get these brand-new products in one of two ways:

Spend $20* on any Stampin' Up! products and become eligible to purchase both the Four Frames Set and Paisley Petals Designer Series Paper.
Host a $350* workshop and get the Four Frames Set and Paisley Petals Designer Series Paper for FREE!

*Net sales before tax and shipping

Four Frames Stamp Set
Wood: item 123440 | $20.95
Clear: item 123442 | $15.95

Paisley Petals Designer Series Paper
item 122367 | $9.95

Grab a Bag of Stampin' Up! Products!

April 1, 2011

Beginning today, April 1, and continuing while supplies last, you are able to purchase special "grab bags" in my Online Store. These grab bags will come in three sizes: the $5, the $10, and the $15 grab bag. Each bag will contain a variety of discontinued products that could include a combination of any of the following: ribbons, Accents & Elements, chipboard, Designer Series Papers, and Simply Sent kit components. Grab bags will not contain stamp sets or tools.

Please keep the following in mind:

Grab bag orders can only be placed in the Online Store.
There is no minimum purchase required to participate in the grab bag special offer.
There is no limit to the number of grab bags a customer may purchase; however, grab bag items are only available while supplies last.
All grab bag sales are final. There are no refunds or exchanges.
Not all grab bags will be unique.
You should use the following item numbers when ordering grab bags:

Item	Description
125873	$5 Grab Bag (containing at least $20 worth of products!)
125874	$10 Grab Bag (containing at least $40 worth of products!)
125875	$15 Grab Bag (containing at least $60 worth of products!)

Be sure to share grab this special offer while they last!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/01/11

2011-04-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to April and another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday. Always great to see everyone's smiling face each week. LOL!

Today's sketch is brought to us by Kim Innis. It was a great sketch to work with this week!

I will admit I got a bit carried away with my card. It all started innocently enough but then I just kept thinking I would add one more thing and then... well you decide on the end result!

Note the ribbon medallion? I made that so don't make fun of it. Obviously I need a lot of practice but I like the concept in general. Just need to work on my scrunching! LOL! I punched a round circle out of the Sticky Sheets and then just scrunched the ribbon around the circle and added a large brad. Practice will make perfect.

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome a new member to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group. Patrice Herrera has joined our group. So please hop on over to Patrice's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 03/25/11

2011-03-25T06:00:00.001-04:00

There are signs of Spring! I do believe there might be hope after all! Last Friday of March! Time does fly!

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday! The place where artists face the ultimate challenge each week. Will the sketch win? Or will the artist win? Always a hard one to predict!

Today's sketch is provided by Jennifer Weide. She made it an easy one this time for which I am forever grateful!

I used this week's sketch to make a birthday card for a friend. Hope she likes it!

Now please hop on over to Robbie Rubala's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 03/18/11

2011-03-18T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday. I'm going to keep this short and sweet as I'm still mentally on vacation mode. Today's sketch is brought to us by Deb Currier. I was thrilled to work with this wonderful sketch. It came together very nicely.

Here is my card.

Can't get any more short and sweet than that, huh?

I will add a quick note - please remember that Sale*A*Bration is almost over. You don't want to miss out on this once a year event to earn wonderful free product so easily! Just place a $50 order. The Sale*A*Bration sets are only available during this promotion so don't miss out!

Now please hop on over to Robbie Rubala's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 03/11/11

2011-03-11T06:00:00.004-05:00

Its Friday! All I can say is THANK GOODNESS! Been a rather rough week. But I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with my son. We plan on taking a very short break from the world and go sit on a lazy river. Indoor lazy river that is. Don't want any fishes nibbling on my toes. But before I head out, its time to share this week's Sketch Frenzy.

Today's sketch is provided by Angela Walters. I will confess I made several attempts at working with this sketch. Nothing was coming together. Definitely not the sketches fault. All mine! But then finally it all came together.

Here is Angela's sketch:

Here is my card:

I'm afraid the photo isn't doing the card total justice. Notice the strawberries? I covered them with a really cool product I just recently discovered. Its Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink! The color I used is Illuminate Top Coat. One of those things I've just kind of ignored in the catalog and now I'm sorry because its really neat. Comes in a bottle like nail polish with a very stiff brush that allows you to do fine detail work. Adds a bit of dazzle to the card even though you can't see it in my photo. I'm anxious to try the other 3 colors. You should try them too!

Now please hop on over to Robbie Rubala's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 03/04/11

2011-03-04T06:00:00.003-05:00

Welcome to March and Sketch Frenzy Friday! Who else is ready for winter to leave and spring to rush in? Wave your hands!! Sure has been a rough one. But as we all know spring will come and everything will be happy again. In the meantime, spend lots of time in your stamp room creating your own happiness.

Today's sketch is provided by Tina Taves. A very nice sketch that provided a wonderful opportunity for creativity. Do you think that helped me at all? Of course not! I tend to stick to the sketch pretty faithfully. Brain flaw perhaps. I'm anxious to see how the rest of the group interpreted the sketch.

Here is Tina's sketch:

Here is my card:

The very first thing I did was take a spin of the Color Wheel to figure out what colors I would use. Oops! Not a Color Wheel any longer. Its now the Color Coach. My most favorite item in my stamp room. Don't have one? Well like I've said before - shame on you! It is awesome. After finding my colors, it was just a very quick hop, skip and jump to my finished card. First off, the sentiment and butterfly - FREE STAMPS! Yes you can get the same Sale-a-bration set for FREE just by placing a $50 order before the end of the month. Secondly - check out those really awesome paper flowers! This is the first time I've used them and I love them! Finally - make sure you note the flower centers. I punched the 1" circles out of cardstock but then tapped on some of the really cool Frost White Shimmer Paint. Might not be able to see it clearly in the photo but I love the Shimmer Paint. Its available in 3 colors. Just adds a fun shimmer to your cardstock. I also added the fun Basic Pearl Jewels. Love these and the Basic Rhinestones for added bling!

Now please hop on over to Robbie Rubala's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 02/25/11

2011-02-25T06:00:00.006-05:00

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday! This week's sketch is brought to us by Tammy Fite. She made a beautiful sketch! Going to guess she designed it in My Digital Studio! Here is her sketch:

I took several creative liberties with this sketch. I can't say I love my end results but you can't love them all! First off, I was very short on time and I hadn't been in my stamp room for several weeks. I discovered on my stamp desk there were several left over flowers that I had cut out for another project several weeks ago. So that started the basis for my card. Always good to utilize what is in front of you. Once I assembled the flower, I was kind of at a loss. After gluing everything down, I realized I should have done a bit more with the bottom Pacific Point left square. But too late at that point. I will say that since I already had the flowers die cut, the card ended up being a truly 5 minute project. Got to love that!

Please hop on over to Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

My Digital Studio

2011-02-23T08:58:00.004-05:00

Occasionally I've posted cards and scrapbook layouts I have created using Stampin' Up's My Digital Studio. Its a wonderful digital designing program where you can create really fun projects - cards, calendars and scrapbooks. You can even have them professionally printed and bound! I love playing with this program but confess I haven't used it to its fullest capability. What I wanted to share with you today is an awesome website Stampin' Up! has dedicated to MDS where you can learn, share and create with this wonderful program. Check it out here: My Digital Studio. Its a great source for learning all those little tricks you see shared on projects and always wondered "how did they do that?". A fun site to check out to learn how to create your own masterpieces.

Another tip I want to share is Stampin' Up! is constantly releasing new digital downloads to enhance the already wonderful MDS program. To help keep track of all the new available content, they have released a pdf catalog. It shows you what comes with the initial program plus all the available updates through January 2011. Check it out here: My Digital Studio Catalog.

Here are the February downloads:
February 22, 2011 Available Downloads
February 15, 2011 Available Downloads
February 8, 2011 Available Downloads

If you have any questions about the program, the updates or the professional printing, please contact me!

Happy Digital Creating!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 02/18/11

2011-02-18T06:00:00.002-05:00

Here is my layout:

Going to make this a very quick and easy posting as I'm a tad under the weather. Couldn't get to my stamp room to make a card for this week's Sketch Frenzy Friday so I relied on the wonderful My Digital Studio to make a quick scrapbook page.

This week's sketch is provided by Tammy Baldwin. I know she uses MDS a lot so she won't feel bad that I couldn't make a card using her sketch. Here is Tammy's sketch:

Here is my layout:

Please hop on over to Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 02/11/11

2011-02-11T06:00:00.001-05:00

Is everyone ready for Valentine's Day? You've still got time to make your special someone a very special card. Today's sketch should bring you some inspiration! Sharon provided us with a great sketch to work with today.

For the first time in a VERY LONG TIME, my card actually turned out how I envisioned it. Please mark it on the calendar!!!! Clean, simple and SPARKLY!!!! I've been using the new Glimmer Paper a lot and I LOVE IT!!!! I know you will too! So sparkly and fun and NOT MESSY at all!!!!

Please hop on over to Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see her great creation. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 02/04/11

2011-02-04T06:00:00.001-05:00

WOW! Its been a week here in Central Indiana. Lots of ice/sleet/snow. I think we've had enough now so someone please make it stop. One bright spot is I was able to stay home a couple of days and work on my Sketch Frenzy Friday cards. Always nice to have no pressures with time to play.

Today's sketch is brought to us by Ros Davidson. I aspire to be half the stamper that she is! Her creations are always spectacular. Mine... well not so much! LOL! I absolutely loved the sketch she provided this week. Can't get any more clean and simple than this one.

While I had great intentions for this card, I think it fell just a tad short. It sort of turned into a comedy of errors that I should have stopped. First off I had been wanting to play with my Big Shot, Tasteful Trim Bigz die and fabric so that is where I started. That was the easy part! Plus it was fun! I'm loving the Big Shot! So many fun dies to work with. Then came the hard part of how to finish the card. I stamped my first flower image and sentiment. I probably should have stopped there but it just seemed so plain so I kept adding flowers (after the fabric piece was put on) and that is where it all fell apart. Oh well! Lesson learned! Don't glue anything down until you are absolutely happy.

Now please head over to visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see how she interpreted the sketch this week. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/28/11

2011-01-28T06:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday! Today's sketch is brought to us by Robbie Rubala. In looking at her sketch, it seemed to scream My Digital Studio to me. I know I don't use MDS nearly enough so this was a very good excuse to make a scrapbook page. Or perhaps I was just missing my dude a bit and wanted an excuse to sit and stare at his face for awhile. Either way, I do love playing with MDS and digital layouts in general. New downloads for MDS are constantly being offered so the program continues to grow with fresh new ideas! Make sure you check them out!

Here is Robbie's sketch:

Here is the layout I created:

I will admit my layouts always seem to come out a bit clean and simple but hey! I've decided that is the style I like.

Now please head over to visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see how she interpreted the sketch this week. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Its Time to SaleABrate!!!

2011-01-25T10:25:00.002-05:00

Join the Sale-A-Bration!

It's Sale-A-Bration time again at Stampin' Up!, and friends, fresh ideas, and free product is what it's all about!

Every year Stampin' Up! gives customers, hostesses, and new demonstrators the opportunity to earn fantastic, FREE, limited-edition products they'll enjoy for years to come.

Here's how Sale-A-Bration works:

Spend
When you spend $50 on Stampin' Up! merchandise, you'll receive a free Sale-A-Bration reward. There's no limit--for every $50 you spend, you can select another FREE Sale-A-Bration reward! To start earning free, exclusive Sale-A-Bration rewards, contact me or visit my on line store now.

Host
When you host a workshop of at least $300 (before tax and shipping), you'll receive a free Sale-A-Bration reward in addition to all of the regular hostess benefits!

Join
During Sale-A-Bration, anyone who joins as a demonstrator gets 15 percent off the price of the standard or Digital+ Starter Kits--that's over $310 worth of high-quality Stampin' Up! products for just $148.75! In addition, new demonstrators get a FREE Bonus Bundle worth up to $50! To take advantage of this special, limited-time offer, contact me today.

The Sale-A-Bration promotion starts on January 25 and runs through March 31, so don't miss your chance to earn free products! Contact me today to book your workshop or learn more about this promotion.

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/21/11

2011-01-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

Today's Sketch Frenzy Friday template is brought to us by Melissa Hedine-Tootle and it was so easy for me. Highly unusual! For some reason, it just all came together in a matter of minutes. So this card is truly a 5 minute card! Make sure you check out the awesome glimmer paper I used too! Yes I'm in love!!!

Here is Melissa's sketch. I'm fairly certain she used My Digital Studio to create her template! Awesome!

Here is my very quick, simple, 5 minute card:

Now please head over to visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see how she interpreted her own sketch. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/14/11

2011-01-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

Have you seen the new Stampin' Up! Occasions Mini catalog? Sometimes I wonder how in the world Stampin' Up! keeps coming up with all these awesome items that I just have to have! They never cease to amaze me. Suffice to say that yes I want it all yet again! If you haven't received your copy of the mini, please contact me and I'll make sure to get you a hard copy. You can also view it on line here. Don't forget - our annual Sale*a*bration will start on January 25. You know what that means! Free product for placing your orders! Got to love it!

Now on to Sketch Frenzy Friday. This weeks sketch responsibility fell to me. I tried to make it clean and simple.

Here is my card which ended up being very clean and simple.

Now please head over to visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see what wonderful creation she has this week. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/07/11 - FINALLY!

2011-01-07T08:13:00.004-05:00

Major apologies for being a tad behind today. Holidays really messed up my thought process and I honestly thought I had another day. Perhaps I'll get caught back up eventually.

So without further ado... Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday. This weeks sketch is brought to us by Kim Innis. Of course, you will soon see that my card really ended up nothing like the sketch. But hey! You expect that from me! I had great intentions but it just didn't pan out.

Here is Kim's sketch:

Here is my card:

Check out that awesome little cupcake!!!! I'm in absolute heaven. Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE CUPCAKES!!!! There is quite an argument with my son that cake and cupcakes are the same. He just doesn't get it. There is absolutely no comparison. So when Stampin' Up! came out with this cupcake punch, I pounced on it immediately!! Its just awesome. I fear you will be seeing a ton of samples from me using this cutie! I'll just apologize up front for that!

Now please head over to visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see what wonderful creation she has come up this week. Remember if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/07/11

2011-01-06T18:16:00.001-05:00

A wonderful New Year has started and I'm not off to a good start. I have my card ready but its not photographed. I thought I had another day. Oops! I will get it posted as quickly as I can later today but for now please visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see what wonderful creation she has come up this week. Remember that if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Happy New Years!

2010-12-31T06:00:00.001-05:00

Another year! I hope everyone had a wonderful 2010. I'm hoping 2011 is as nice. I see some changes in my life that will occur in 2011 which will be exciting and I am committed to losing that final 10 pounds! Check back with me on 12/31/11 to see if I actually accomplished it! LOL!

Now on to Sketch Frenzy Friday! Today's sketch is brought to us by Jennifer Weide.

I chose to go with something very quick and simple due to time restraints but something that also would express my wish to all of you. So here it is! A very simple but heartfelt wish to all of you for a wonderful 2011!

Now please visit Robbie Rubala's blog to see what wonderful creation she has come up created this week. Remember that if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Yes its finally Christmas Eve and I'm sure everyone is excited! I'd like to wish all my wonderful blog readers and customers a very Merry Christmas and hope that the season brings you everything wonderful!!!

Today I have a very simple card to share. First the sketch which is brought to us by Deb Currier.

I had very limited time to make my card so I went with all materials that were currently sitting on my desk. I love the added challenge of only using the materials sitting in front of me. As I said, its quick and easy.

Now please visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see what wonderful creation she has come up created this week. Remember that if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 12/17/10

2010-12-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

I'm back! Did you miss me last week? Tap, tap, tap.... is there anyone out there listening? LOL! I took a short vacation last week and spent a whole week doing absolutely nothing. Sometimes you just got to do that. But I'm back on track now!!!

This week's sketch is brought to us by Angela Walters. First I will say it was a very easy looking sketch when I first looked at it. Then the normal panic set in and well... my card ended up absolutely NOTHING like the sketch. But then again, that is pretty much the norm for me. How many times have I said "its all about the inspiration".

Here is Angela's sketch:

When I looked at Angela's sketch, the star was just glaring out at me. I don't have any star punches so I was a tad concerned. Now I know it didn't actually have to a STAR but that is what stuck in my brain. Then I got thinking about origami stars. I'd never made one so off to the 'net to see what creations I could find with an origami star. The 'net is such an awesome tool. What would we do without it? I found this video that demonstrated an awesome 8 point star. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2188852/origami_moon_and_star_eight_point_star
Being kind of challenged with folding, I wasn't sure I could pull it off. But it WORKED!!!! I was quite pleased with my end result. You should give it a try and share your creation with me.

Here's my card:

Now please visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see what wonderful creation she has come up created this week. Remember that if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 12/03/10

2010-12-03T06:00:00.001-05:00

Welcome to December and another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday. How are your holiday festivities shaping up? Is your your shopping done? Stampin' Up! is suggesting you will need to have your order in by December 15 in order to receive it before Christmas. Don't forget all the wonderful gift ideas we have like the Simply Adorned jewelry!

Now for our Sketch Frenzy Friday. Today's sketch is provided by Tina Taves. She made it so extremely simple for us but since I was preparing for a class I didn't have time to make a real card so My Digital Studio to the rescue! I love playing with MDS!

Here is Tina's sketch:

Here is the card I created in MDS:

Now please visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see what wonderful creation she has come up created this week. Remember that if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 11/26/10

2010-11-26T06:00:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Today should be the Black Friday Frenzy but I refuse to participate in such madness. So I shall stay home safe, warm and snug! Don't forget you can still participate in Stampin' Up's version of Black Friday by checking my webstore and picking up some wonderful deals. You also will get free shipping with a $150 order. Can't beat that awesome deal and all from the comfort of your home!

Today's sketch is provided by Tammy Baldwin. A fun sketch!

Here is my card. I fear that I tend to keep going back to this color combo. It obviously is one of my favorites.

Now please visit Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see what wonderful creation she has come up created this week. Remember that if ever a link is not working or you simply get lost in the blog hop, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog page to find the list of all the blogs.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Thanksgiving OnLine Spectacular!

2010-11-22T08:34:00.002-05:00

Click photo above to discover some AMAZING specials Stampin' Up! is offering this Thanksgiving week. Here are just a few highlights:

My Digital Studio - 50 percent off!
Designer Fabric - 50 percent off!
Free shipping on online or demonstrator orders of $150 or more!
Lots of items at 50%-40%-30% off!

ALSO... Don't forget! They are still offering the Demostrator Starter Kit for 50% off! From November 15 through November 30, 2010 you can purchase the Standard or Digital+ Starter Kits for only $87.50--that is 50 percent off the regular price of $175 for over $310 worth of paper or digital crafting and business supplies!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 11/19/10

2010-11-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

Its My Turn!!!! My turn to provide a sketch for the group. I'm hoping I made it simple enough for the group and they won't hate me.

Here is my sketch:

Here is my card. I made this birthday card special for a dear friend of mine. Her birthday is coming up very soon. It gave me a chance to use my new Big Shot and Big Shot dies. Isn't the cupcake AWESOME? I used my much neglected paper crimper too! Boy that thing definitely does not get used like it should. Hope my friend loves her card!

Now pop on over to Melissa Hedine-Tootle's blog to see what wonderful creation she has come up with.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Demonstrator Starter Kit for 50 percent off!

2010-11-18T15:44:00.003-05:00

If you have ever consider joining Stampin' Up!, NOW IS THE TIME!! For a very limited time, they are offering their demonstrator starter kits for 50% off. Even if you have no desire to actually sell, you might still want to consider this promotion simply for the AWESOME value!!!

Demonstrator Starter Kit for 50 percent off!

What do you call it when you get over $310 in crafting and business supplies for only $87.50? You can call it an amazing deal, but we're calling it an amazing opportunity! From November 15-30, you can purchase either our Standard or Digital+ Starter Kits at 50 percent off the regular retail price of $175 (plus free shipping!), and enjoy these great benefits as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.

Earn additional income while sharing creativity.
Make new and lasting friendships.
Enjoy access to nearly unlimited creative ideas.
Receive a free subscription to our exclusive monthly magazine.
Receive free two-month subscription to your own business website.
Opportunity to earn free products and incentive trips.

Both the Standard Starter Kit and the Digital + Kit are available at this amazing price! The standard kit includes a variety of paper crafting products, and the Digital + Kit is a great option to showcase both traditional crafting products and our exciting digital design software, My Digital Studio.

This irresistible offer is only available until November 30, 2010.

Sketch Frenzy Friday 11/12/10

2010-11-12T06:00:00.002-05:00

Sketch Frenzy Friday is so much fun for me! There is nothing I love more than having a wonderfully easy sketch to work with and wonderful Stampin' Up! products to use.

First off we start with the sketch provided by Ros. Clean and simple. Got to love her!!

Second step is to take out our trusty Stampin' Up! Color Coach. I would simply be a mess without it. I live and breathe for my Color Coach. Trust me! So now that we have the Color Coach in our hot little hands we just randomly select a card and use whatever color combo it tells us to. Makes for such fun! Ok now that we have the sketch and the colors, next step is the image. I will admit that I struggle with this step since I have such awesome images to choose from. But after I have that struggle worked out then it all comes together right nicely since with Stampin' Up! all my cardstock, inks, ribbons and embellishments coordinate so nicely together.

Here is my card. It appears I am leaning more and more to simple and clean cards. This one turned out exactly as I had pictured it.

As I told you last week, we have some new members in the Sketch Frenzy Friday group. We are thrilled to have them joining us. I've updated my blog list on the sidebar so you can easily see everyone in the group. Now I have the privilege of introducing you to Melissa Hedine-Tootle. Please hop over to her blog to see what wonderful creation she has come up with.

Melissa may be a bit delayed in getting her card up so if she hasn't posted yet, please hop on over to Robbie's blog to continue the journey.

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 11/05/10

2010-11-04T23:59:00.003-04:00

Sketch Frenzy Friday is here. In the background, we are making some additions to the group. Our new artists will (hopefully) be unveiled next week. I'm pretty excited about the additions so make sure you stop by next week!

This week's sketch is brought to us by Tess Davis. I felt it was a wonderful sketch to work with. My card seemed to come together rather easily!

Here is Tess' sketch:

Here is my card:

Next stop on the Sketch Frenzy tour is Sharon Fields's blog. Remember if you get lost in the tour, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/29/10

2010-10-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday. Today I've decided to share a scrapbook page using the My Digital Studio program from Stampin' Up! This weeks sketch is provided by Kim. I thought her sketch was easy enough to translate into a nice quick scrapbook page.

My Digital Studio (MDS) allows you to design pages in several different sizes so I tried to stick with the card concept size using a 8.5x11 landscape format instead of using the more traditional 12x12 or 8x8 square layouts. I also stayed as close to her sketch as possible. Its always fun to play with MDS because you can easily make changes to see how colors or elements will work together without wasting any of your traditional supplies. Also you can easily resize elements to fit the layout.

Here is Kim's sketch:

Here is my scrapbook page. Sunday is my son's 22nd birthday so this layout is dedicated to him. He is my world!

Thank you for stopping by. Now proceed over to Ros Davidson's blog and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/22/10

2010-10-22T06:00:00.000-04:00

WOW! This month is flying by! Here we are almost to the end of the month and time for Halloween! Welcome to another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday!

Today's sketch is brought to us by Sharon Field. Her sketch looks like an awesome card to me! Kind of hard to make my card justify her awesome "sketch"!!! LOL!

My card is another Halloween type creation. As we discussed last week, I will post Halloween cards at Halloween time! Not in July! I know that makes it difficult for you to purchase the items to recreate it yourself but that's not really why I share anyway. I just like to share my love of cardmaking with you and hopefully inspire you in some way. I hope that is ok with you!

For this card, I used the Wicked Fun Specialty paper from the main catalog. The bat is part of a 12x12 sheet that is flocked. I cut him out and put him on the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Thank you for stopping by. Now proceed over to Ros Davidson's blog and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

The Latest My Digital Studio Update is Now Available

2010-10-21T10:29:00.002-04:00

The Latest My Digital Studio Update is Now Available

The My Digital Studio version 1.0.5 update is now available. With this latest update, you will receive functionality upgrades as well as access to seven new professional print output products--including a trifold card, a journal, a 5.5" x 6.5" calendar with easel, and four postcards.

It is important that you have the most recent version of the My Digital Studio software prior to installing the Professional Print Product Update.

Updating your software:

* If you have installed the initial update (version 1.0.1), simply click "Help" and select "Check for Updates" in the My Digital Studio software. The update will be performed automatically.
* If you have not completed the initial update, download the My Digital Studio update for a PC (version 1.0.1), or download the My Digital Studio update for a Mac (version 1.0.1). Then, complete the steps listed above to get the most recent update.
* Please note: once you download and install the update, your My Digital Studio software will display as My Digital Studio "1.0.5.665" in the About My Digital Studio screen under the Help menu.

Along with these great additional project options, nearly all of our current professional print products have been permanently reduced approximately 15-60 percent--just in time for all your holiday printing needs!

The ABC's of a Perfect Handmade Holiday

2010-10-19T08:40:00.001-04:00

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/15/10

2010-10-15T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday! There was some confusion on what sketch we were to work with this week so I hope that I got the right one! This sketch is brought to us by Connie Smith. When I set down to work with it, I was a tad concerned with the tag. I even considered switching to My Digitial Studio instead of a traditional card but then it all came together. Quite nicely if I may say so myself. I don't have a tag punch so my tag edges aren't quite even but hey it is a HANDMADE card after all.

Here is Connie's sketch:

Here is my card. For not knowing what in the world I was doing, I'm quite happy with the results!! A fun Halloween card if I may say so myself. You will note that most blogs are already doing Christmas cards but that is not how I roll! You won't see me doing Halloween cards in August or Christmas cards in October. I'm just not that type of stamper. Sorry! Hope you like my card! And yes those brads are the new glitter brads. But you already knew that I love them!

Thank you for stopping by. Now proceed over to Ros Davidson's blog and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Clearance Rack Blitz - There is still time!

2010-10-14T15:12:00.001-04:00

Clearance Rack Blitz Ends on 10/18

The Clearance Rack Blitz has been a big hit!! But if you want to take advantage of up to 80 percent off of discontinued Stampin’ Up! products, you need to act fast. The Clearance Rack Blitz ends on October 18, so make sure you get your orders in before the blitz ends!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/08/10

2010-10-08T06:00:00.000-04:00

You got to love a Sketch Frenzy Friday when the template artist makes it so easy for you. Today's sketch is brought to us by Brenda. A very nice clean classic template. I'm forever in her debt!

Here is Brenda's sketch:

Here is my card. Make sure you note that background! I've been seeing so many people doing what I'm calling letter pressing with their embossing folders and figured I'd give it a shot. WOW! SO COOL! For this particular one, I rubbed the green ink on the Square Lattice embossing folder, inserted my Sahara Sand cardstock in between the embossing folder and ran it through the Big Shot. Viola!!! The ink rinses off the embossing folder very nicely. Also check out those awesome glitter brads I was telling you about a couple of weeks ago. I LOVE THEM!!!!

Thank you for stopping by. Now proceed over to Ros Davidson's blog and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/01/10

2010-10-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to October and the first sketch of the month! I love October! Fall is so me! I'm praying for a perfect fall weather month! Ok, that's not why you are here. You are here for Sketch Frenzy Friday!

Today's sketch is brought to us by Angela Waters and its a very nice sketch too! Very easy to work with. I can envision this as a scrapbook layout too!

Here is my card. You will note the fallish theme!!! I think this would make a great masculine card too. One of my harder cards to design.

Thank you for stopping by. Now proceed over to Ros Davidson's blog and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 09/24/10

2010-09-24T06:00:00.001-04:00

Friday! Friday! Friday! There is a local radio station that plays this kind of annoying song on Fridays at 5:00pm to mark the launch to the weekend. I will spare you the song but let's all celebrate Friday's anyway. Its also the last Friday of September. WOW! Where did the time go?

Ok so it's time for another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday. Today's sketch is provided by Tina Taves. Very simple and easy to work with. BLESS YOU TINA!!

Here is Tina's sketch:

Here is my card:

First I will apologize for the random glitter specks all over my image. I didn't notice them until after I had already downloaded the pictures. Just pretend they are confetti raining down upon the balloon! LOL! But what I really want you to notice is actually the glitter on the balloon! I LOVE GLITTER!!!! I especially love Stampin' Ups glitter. What? You don't have any? Well shame on you! Fix that problem immediately. Glitter makes everything AWESOME! Now secondly check out the brads in the lower right corner. Yep those are GLITTER BRADS! Currently available in the Holiday Mini catalog. Yes you want some! They are awesome! Trust me. Just call me right now and order your own glitter and glitter brads. I'll be standing by the phone to take your calls!

Ok now that you've called me with your glitter order, I want to thank you for stopping by. You may now proceed over to Ros Davidson's blog and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 09/17/10

2010-09-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

Sketch Frenzy Friday! Always the best day of the week. Well provided you have your card prepared. But not to worry! I may be a bit disorganized lately but I at least did get a card finished this week. Today's sketch is brought to us by Kathryne Knowles. Can't say my card ended up anything like the sketch but like I said last week - its all about the interpretation! Keep repeating that to self! LOL!

Here is Kathryne Knowles' sketch:

And here is my card. See what i mean about being totally not like the sketch? But its all good! FYI - what do you think of this color combination? Its another one of those selections from the awesome Color Coach. Makes a world of difference in my cards I think.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Now pop over to Ros Davidson and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 09/10/10

2010-09-10T06:00:00.004-04:00

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed the wonderful holiday weekend. I can't say I did anything spectacular but its always good to have 3 days of no commitments. Did a bit of relaxing, did a bit of shopping, spent some time organizing my stamp room, weeding out the retired items and finding a good home for them. So it was all good!

Today's sketch is brought to us by Tammy. I will admit a bit of apprehension when I saw it and frankly my card really didn't end up much like the sketch. But as we always say the sketch is simply for inspiration. How it turns out is all in your interpretation. Go with what makes you happy. I will say I'm fairly happy with the card. Could be because I used my new favorite paper and favorite stamp set.

So without further ado, here is Tammy's sketch:

and here is my interpretation:

Thanks so much for stopping by. Now pop over to Ros Davidson and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 09/03/10

2010-09-03T06:00:00.002-04:00

Sliding in under the wire. Just about forgot that I hadn't gotten my card ready for this week. Would have been rather embarrassing as it was my week for the sketch! So since I'm running behind, I'll keep it short. We'll just get right to the point.

Heres the sketch:

Here is my card. Since I was in such a hurry I didn't get a chance to edit the photo. Sorry for the poor quality. Take note of the new stamp set I used French Foliage from the Holiday Mini catalog. I absolutely love it!! I'm sure I'll be using it alot.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Now pop over to Ros Davidson and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Craft Tote Recruiting Promotion

2010-09-01T11:36:00.001-04:00

New recruits who join the Stampin' Up! family as a demonstrator during the promotion period (September 1-October 18, 2010, or while supplies last) will receive a FREE craft tote (valued at $39.95) with the purchase of their Starter Kit.

Greenhouse Gala Craft Tote Description

100% twill nylon exterior; 100% nylon interior
Dimensions: 15-3/4" x 7-5/8" x 8-7/8"
Includes attachable shoulder strap for easy transport
Center section fits 12" x 12" card stock, Craft Keepers, and Paper Cutter
Outside pockets fit extra-large punches perfectly
Outside flap pockets offer secure spot for accessories
Back zipper pocket holds up to seven Stampin' Pads

Contact me directly to find out all the details!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 08/27/10

2010-08-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

Sketch Frenzy Friday! YES! Don't you just love Fridays now that you have all these wonderful team creations to check out!

I will admit I avoided this weeks sketch like the plague because I just don't do large circles! But here's a hint - starting September 1, you will be able to purchase a wonderful 2 1/2" circle punch from Stampin' Up that would have made this sketch a whole lot easier. So make sure to check it out in the Holiday Mini that will be available next week. Another item that would have been very handy to have is the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border (#119275). But alas it was not in my possession as I made this card. So I muddled through.

Here is Susan's wonderful sketch:

Here is my card. Forgive the fact that I had to scan it again this week as I forgot my camera!!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Now pop over to Ros Davidson and don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 08/20/10

2010-08-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

SKETCH FRENZY FRIDAY!!!! Oh yes it is time once again! I'll get straight to the point. Today's sketch is provided by Ros! Simple and easy! I LOVE IT!

My card will be sent to my parents for their wedding anniversary. Hope they enjoy it! (and yes I do seem to have a love affair going with the CONCORD CRUSH!)

Thanks so much for stopping by. Now pop over to Ros Davidson's blog to see what she's cooked up this week.

Don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 08/13/10

2010-08-13T06:00:00.001-04:00

What a week! And here it is already time for Sketch Frenzy Friday! Our favorite time of the week, right? Ok well maybe not the most favorite but Sketch Frenzy Friday does mean that Saturday and Sunday will soon be here. AWESOME!!!!

Today's sketch is provided by Pam Browne. Pam is not longer in the group but she did leave us with one last wonderful sketch to use. I'm hoping she will return to the group soon!

I used her sketch to make this birthday card for my sister in law. Got to love the cupcakes right? Hope she likes it!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Now pop over to Ros Davidson (or should I say pop on DOWN UNDER to our wonderful Aussie friend's blog).

Don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 08/06/10

2010-08-06T06:00:00.003-04:00

What do you do when you realize it is time for Sketch Frenzy Friday and you haven't gotten a card done yet? You quickly open your My Digital Studio program and viola! Crisis solved! On that note, I'm posting a slight variation to the sketch this week by showing you a scrapbook layout that I quickly threw together instead of a traditional card. I'm sure most of you know that I am not a traditional scrapbooker. Just can't seem to wrap my head around that one but I am a digital scrapbooker. Why? Because its so easy and fun! My Digital Studio makes it even easier too! Contact me and I'll share all the information with you!

So without further delay, here is the sketch provided by Pam Browne.

Here is my digital layout.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Now pop over to Ros Davidson (or should I say pop on DOWN UNDER to our wonderful Aussie friend's blog).

Don't forget that if you get lost you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday group blog which will show you the sketch of the week, the blog hop list and a place for you to share your wonderful creations!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/30/10

2010-07-30T06:00:00.005-04:00

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday! Before I share this weeks sketch and card, I'd like to share with you a new blog we have set up for the group. You can now go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog to see the sketch of the week and then find all the links to each team member. Also, you will have an option of sharing your creation using the special Mr. Linky option. We wanted to have an easy starting place for you to visit each week to launch yourself through the entire team. Plus we are dying to see your creations so please share! Make sure you bookmark the site!

Now on to the sketch for the week. This week's sketch is provided by Tess. She made such a beautiful sketch for us to work with.

Here is my card. I apologize for the scan but I forgot my camera! AGAIN! Major apologies!

Make sure you take time to visit everyone's blog. Next stop is Pam Browne.

As always, Keep Your Ink to The Paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/23/10

2010-07-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

This time tomorrow I will be preparing for my high school class reunion. I could tell you how many years it has been but then you'd know how old I was and that would just ruin all the mystery. Let's just say its been many, many, many years. Then take on a few more years. I'm not particularly looking forward to it either. LOL! The one thing I am looking forward to is getting together with just a few friends in the morning to make cookies. We are attempting to make 15 dozen cookies that we will donate to a local victim awareness and support center in our county. Now that part I am excited about. Good friends, good cause. Can't get better than that.

But I've wandered from the real reason for your visit. Today is Sketch Frenzy Friday!!!! Time for another wonderful sketch. This sketch is provided by Kim Innis. At first glance I thought it would be an easy peasy task but I soon found out I was wrong. Here is Kim's sketch:

My card seemed to fall flat with no hope for survival. But that seems to happen on a regular basis with me and I've learned to accept and move on. We will point out the positives that I do like about this card which are the colors!!!! I just the new colors introduced by Stampin' Up! in the new catalog and I LOVE THEM!!!!! Concord Grape is awesome! Definitely check out that ribbon too! I love the texture of it!!! So in all things you can find a positive! Let that be a lesson for today.

Make sure to head on over to Nancy Legate's blog to see her weekly masterpiece. Then from Nancy's blog continue along the blog hop until you get back here.

As always, Keep Your Ink to the Paper and Happy Stamping!

Because I Care

2010-07-18T06:00:00.001-04:00

Because I care, I wanted to sneak in a quick post here to share a card I recently made for a friend's birthday. I will admit I CASE'd it from some wonderful demo and I can't for the life of me remember who. If it was you, let me know and I'll credit appropriately least anyone thing I have the ability to create on my own. I'd be lost without all the inspiration my fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators share!!

The stamp set is called Because I Care. Its an awesome Level 1 Hostess set that can be yours for hostessing a qualifying workshop. I LOVE THIS STAMP! Ok that is all I will say about that.

As always Keep Your Ink To The Paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/16/10

2010-07-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

Has it been another week already? Another summer is flying by in a blur and never enough time to just sit and ponder. I need to work on that problem! Tonight I'm anxiously looking forward to the chicken/noodle dinner at our local 4H fair. Always a great time! Can't wait to check out the fun festivities.

But you aren't here to find out about my evening plans. You are here for another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday. This week Kelli Waters provides us with a wonderful sketch to work with. However, she must not have gotten the memo that I don't do circles! LOL! But I used my usual trick to get around that problem. Here is Kelli's sketch:

For my card I used the absolutely fabulous Medallion stamp! My absolute go to when having to make cards with a large circle focus. LOL! Oh heck! What am I saying? Its just my favorite stamp! A must have for everyone's collection. You don't own one? Well that is a problem you should rectify immediately.

Make sure you continue the blog tour by hopping on over to Nancy Legate's blog to see what wonderful creation she has to share this week.

As always Keep your Ink to the Paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/09/10

2010-07-09T06:00:00.002-04:00

Welcome back for another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday! I have my card done this week! Go me! I was so excited to use some of the new Stampin' Up! colors! Have you received your new catalog to see all the wonderful new colors? If not, you are missing out! Contact me and I'll get one in your hot little hands!

Today's sketch is brought to us by Sharon Field. Sharon provided a wonderful sketch that made it easy for it all to come together nicely.

Here is my take on the sketch:

Check out that wonderful Daffodil Delight and Pacific Point! Yellow isn't necessarily a color I'd go to first but this is so yummy! Especially with the Pacific Point. Don't you love the distressing on the center square edges? Got to love the Distressing tool!!!!

Now hop on over to Nancy's blog to find out how she was inspired by the sketch. Don't forget to visit the whole Sketch Frenzy Friday team too!

As always, keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/02/10 - Part 2

2010-07-02T09:31:00.004-04:00

MDS to the rescue!!!! I felt so bad about not have a card done for this weeks sketch (see my earlier post). Then after checking out the wonderful creations by the rest of the team, I realized that I could whip up a quick card using MDS! Can you say DUH? Why didn't I think of that? Having worked on a few design teams for digital scrapbook designers, you would have thought that I'd remember how easy it is to do.

So here is my creation!

Thanks for your patience!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/02/10

2010-07-02T07:45:00.003-04:00

Epic fail! Its been a crazy week with the new catalog launch yesterday and I didn't have time to get my Sketch Frenzy Friday card done. But I know the rest of the team will have plenty of wonderful ideas for you to check out.

The sketch is provided by Connie Smith this week.

Next stop on the blog hop is Nancy Legate's blog. Head over there to see her take on the sketch and don't forget the rest of the wonderful team members as well!

As always, Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

2010-07-01T12:45:00.006-04:00

It's Here!!!! The 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog

Ok so I'm just a tad bit excited! Is it because I have no life? Well yeah probably. Thank you for pointing that out! But you really need to see this wonderful new publication! There are all new color collections, wood and clear-mount stamps, accessories, punch designs, and more! You should be able to view the wonderful Idea Book online here. But you know you want a hard copy so call me!

Please note: Ordering will go live beginning TODAY at 2:00pm EST.

Wait! There is more! The 2010-2011 Definitely Decorative Catalog is available as well. Click photo below to be directed to the online version.

Please note there are a few items that will not be available immediately with the the new catalog release.

Watercolor Wonder Crayons: All Watercolor Wonder Crayons have been delayed due to a relocation of the supplier. These items are in production, however, and will be coming soon.
- 119802 - Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Subtles
- 119803 - Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Regals
- 119804 - Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Brights
- 119805 - Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Neutrals
- 120949 - Watercolor Wonder Crayons, New Color Kit
Punch Caddies: As noted on page 200 of the catalog, our Punch Caddy storage containers will be coming soon, but are unavailable for July 1.
- 121053 - Punch Caddy S, M, L
- 121055 - Punch Caddy L
- 121056 - Punch Caddy XL
- 121054 - Punch Caddy Borders & Corners
Stampin' Pastels: Due to a development issue from the supplier, the new Stampin' Pastels have been delayed. They are, however, currently in production and will be coming very soon.
- 120962 - Stampin' Pastels
- 120963 - Stampin' Pastels, New In Color
Rub-Ons: Stampin' Up! has experienced quality problems with our new Rub-Ons, and unfortunately these will not be available immediately. Stampin' Up! is working on some potential solutions so that you may not experience much of a delay.
- 119250 - Rub-Ons, Bday Party
- 119249 - Rub-Ons, Holly & Jolly
- 119975 - Rub-Ons, Vintage Type
- 118760 - Rub-Ons, Play Date

Also, please note that market predictions indicate there could be quite a demand for the following items so please be aware of possible limited availability on the following items. You will be able to order them and as shipments are received, backorders will be filled quickly.

119254 - 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Daffodil Delight
119261 - 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Basic Black
119959 - 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Early Espresso
119257 - 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Marina Mist
117154 - DSP Patterns Stacks, Regals
117157 - DSP Patterns Stacks, Neutrals

As always, Keep you ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 06/25/10

2010-06-25T06:00:00.002-04:00

Another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday. Boy! Where does the time go? I know July 1 can't get here fast enough for me. The new Stampin' Up! catalog will be available on that date. Make sure to contact me immediately to get your copy. I've already received my copy and there are so many wonderful ideas in there! That is why it is called an IDEA BOOK! You will want it simply for the all the wonderful creations!

This week's sketch is brought to us by Brenda Taylor. She provided me the perfect opportunity to use the Top Note die that I dearly love! So many things you can do with this die from cards to 3D giftable type items. Here is her sketch:

My card:

I relied on my new Color Coach to come up with the color combination. Yes I am in love with my Color Coach. Stampin' Up redesigned it this year and its AWESOME! You must check it out.

Make sure to blog hop on over to Nancy Legate's blog to see her take on the sketch and don't forget the rest of the wonderful team members as well!

As always, keep your ink to the paper.

Sketch Frenzy Friday 06/18/10

2010-06-18T06:00:00.002-04:00

Friday! Friday! Friday! It's Friday! Can you tell I'm excited?? Its time for Sketch Frenzy Friday. Also we are counting down the days until the new catalog release on July 1. Have you reserved your copy yet? Remember I am offering a free 2009-2010 Stampin' Up Idea Book if you place a $50 order before the end of the month. So hurry and get on the list! You will SO want this new Idea Book!

Today’s sketch is brought to us by Angela Waters. Her sketch is so colorful that I fear my card doesn't do the sketch justice!

Here is the card I designed. See! I told you it doesn't do the sketch justice but I have tendency to favor monochromatic cards. I like clean and simple.

The stamp set I used is one of the retiring Hostess sets from the current catalog. If you book a workshop before the end of the month, you can earn this set for free! Just ask me how!

You can continue the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog hop by visiting Nancy’s blog next (click the logo below). Make sure you visit the entire team!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 06/11/10

2010-06-11T06:00:00.001-04:00

Thank you for visiting! Today is Friday and of course that means another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday. I’m so excited by the wonderful talent we have in this group! Make sure you take a moment to visit everyone’s blog!

Today’s sketch is brought to us by Tina Taves. She provided a very nice easy sketch to work with. Got to love that. Here is her sketch:

Here is the card I designed. It came together very quickly. Easy too! I hate to see this Designer Series paper retire because I just love the colors! Better stock up while I can!

You can continue the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog hop by visiting Nancy’s blog next (click the logo below). Make sure you visit the entire team!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 06/04/10

2010-06-04T06:00:00.000-04:00

First off I will wish my DH a happy anniversary! Well not that he looks at my blog. We’ve been married for 27 years this year today! Gosh! I can’t be that old.

Now on to business. We are back for another round of Sketch Frenzy Friday! Today’s sketch is provided by Kathryne. Being the type of stamper that has to follow the designs EXACTLY, I was so wishing I had that butterfly punch. But alas I don’t! So I had to improvise. Here is Kathryne’s sketch:

Here is my card. I had a heck of a time getting it photographed! Someone really needs to share their photo tips with me. Also, I think I’ll add glitter to the ice cream cones before mailing to jazz it up a bit!

Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 05/28/10

2010-05-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome back to the second week of Sketch Frenzy Friday. Today’s sketch is provided by Tammy. She made it easy on us. Well, at least I think so! Hope the rest of the team thinks the same.

Here is Tammy’s sketch:

Here is the card I created. I don’t have any of the wonderful Hodgepodge Hardware yet so I improvised. I used the wonderful Melon Mambo and my favorite stamp set of all time Upsy Daisy. And yes I’m kind of partial to monochromatic cards!

Make sure you visit the rest of the team’s blogs to see what they came up with and come play along with us!!

Keep your ink on the paper and HAPPY STAMPING!

Tropical Party

2010-05-27T06:00:00.003-04:00

As with all my cards, I started out trying to case a card I saw on someone's blog. First-major apologies for not having the name of that person written down. Second - my card didn't even come close to their card. The striped paper and the tree is about all that ended up being the same. Pretty typical of all my cards. But I did like the way this one turned out. Bright and fun! I love the Island Oasis Designer Series paper and the Tropical Party stamp set (Clear Mount/Wood Mount too! 2 Must Have's for your collection!

Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Final Template Tuesday Posting

2010-05-25T06:00:00.005-04:00

Another month down! Time just flies, doesn’t it? Today is my final posting for Template Tuesday. If you saw my posting on Friday, you would have read about my participation in Sketch Frenzy Friday. It is with heavy heart that I will no longer be participating in Template Tuesday as the four of us were very close friends. However, life got in the way for the rest of the group so it was time for me to move to another group. I will miss my TT girls. Well not really because we are all still friends so we will still drive each other crazy. It was great fun while it lasted!

So here is my final installment for Template Tuesday. Now if you live in Indiana, you know the month of May is all about “the race”. Most people probably don’t care but all of Indianapolis is covered in black/white. Everything has to be black/white for May. I thought it appropriate to carry the black/white through to my card design this time.

So here is the template provided by Ami. Can you believe she had the audacity to put yellow on there!!! She must not have gotten the official Indiana memo that only black/white are approved colors of the month of May. LOL!

Here is my card in all its black/white glory!!! Interesting concept but I’m not sure if it translated well.

Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Crushed Curry - Part 2

2010-05-23T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome back to the second part of my Crushed Curry Madness! Today I’ll share the other 2 cards I made using the same cardstock and colors. If you missed the first two cards, make sure to check out my post from yesterday.

Card 3 is about as easy as they came. Just stamp, add a ribbon and brad. Viola! You are done.

Card 4 is again quick and easy! Stamp, add some glitter, punch the scallop edge and add a ribbon. Got to love quick and easy!

Keep your ink on the paper and Happy Stamping!

Crushed Curry – Part 1

2010-05-22T06:00:00.001-04:00

Recently I had a few blank card bases sitting on my desk just challenging me to do something with them. So I thought I’d do a series of cards that all used the same colors and see what I could come up with. Since I really hadn’t used the Crushed Curry very much, I thought it would be good to use some of that cardstock up.

On the first card, I recently saw a card done by a demonstrator and I wanted to give it a try. Its a basic emboss resist. Stamp the image with Versamark and emboss with clear embossing powder. I then used my Aquapainter and reinker to brush ink all over the image.

For the second card, I used the wonderful stencils that Stampin’ Up! is offering. I will admit that I never gave them a second thought until I started seeing all my fellow demonstrators making these awesome cards. I have to admit it is just about the quickest and easiest card I ever made! Lay your stencil down on your cardstock, sponge on the color and you are done! I also made sure to stencil the envelope!! Don’t ever forget to decorate your envelope!

Check back in tomorrow to see card 3 and 4!

Keep your ink on the paper and HAPPY STAMPING!!

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday!

2010-05-21T06:00:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Sketch Frenzy Friday! Each week we will feature a new sketch that everyone in the group will create a project based on. We would love to have you play along with us. So check back every Friday to see the new sketch and send us your interpretation!!! We’d love to see it!!!

I had the privilege of providing the first sketch for the group. I hope everyone in the group had an easy time with it!

Here is the card I created:

Please make sure to visit everyone’s blog to see what how the sketch inspired them. Also, leave them some love!!! You can find the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog links on the sidebar of this blog.

Thanks for visiting and as always,

Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Graduation Card

2010-05-19T06:00:00.004-04:00

A friend made an urgent request for a graduation card so I came to the rescue! I hope she likes what I came up with. It was cased from a card my upline shared with me with just a slight variation on color to match the school colors of the graduate.

Keep your ink to the paper and Happy Stamping!

Announcing Sketch Frenzy Friday!

2010-05-19T06:00:00.003-04:00

I'm moving to a new day! Come visit me and my friends!

Join me and a whole bunch of my stampin' friends for a fun and creatively inspirational sketch challenge every Friday! Each Friday, we will post a new sketch challenge with a matching project to inspire you! You'll want to visit all of my Sketch Frenzy Friday friends to see how they interpreted our weekly sketch!

Sketch Frenzy Friday Stampers

Angela Walters - http://lifewithawienerdog.blogspot.com/

Brenda Taylor - http://www.memoriesbybrenda.com/

Connie Smith - http://www.highdesertstamper.com/

Donna Schneidtmiller - http://www.chelybug1.blogspot.com/

Kathryne Knowles - http://craftykatcreations.blogspot.com/

Kelli Waters - http://kellistamps4u.blogspot.com/

Kim Innis - http://kimskreativeinkings.blogspot.com/

Marisol Gutierrez - http://atouchofsol.blogspot.com/

Melinda Couden - http://melindasstampingcorner.blogspot.com/

Nancy Legate - http://www.stampnnuggets.com/

Pam Browne - http://stampinforthesoul.blogspot.com/

Ros Davidson - http://rosdavidson.typepad.com/

Sherry Yeager - TBD

Tami Black - http://www.makeminestamps.com/

Tammy Baldwin - http://creativeapplescrampers.blogspot.com/

Tina Taves - http://tinataves.blogspot.com/

Template Tuesday 05/18/10

2010-05-18T06:00:00.001-04:00

So nice of you to join me once again for our weekly Template challenge. I had the pleasure of creating today’s template. Again, one of those designs that I wonder what was I thinking! But in the end, it all worked out just fine.

Here is today’s template:

I basically CASE’d my card from one I saw on another blog. Sandy MacIver posted some cards in April in celebration of Earth Day. I love what she did so definitely had to give it a try. The concept of using up your scraps (even your packing boxes) to make cards is something I love doing. Give it a try!

Happy Stamping!

Template Tuesday 5/11/10

2010-05-11T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Template Tuesday! So glad you took a moment to join me.

Today’s template is provided by Maria.

I know when I saw it what I wanted to do but didn’t have the necessary equipment. So I had to make a slight modification to my design. Hope she doesn’t mind.

I’ve also noticed that when I photographed it, I placed the card in the wrong direction! Well I guess it really didn’t make a whole lot of difference. My original thought was closer to Maria’s design with the ribbon going up and down. Not sideways. Silly me! Oh well! Turn your head sideways to get my original vision.

I wonder how many of you are really turning your heads….

Happy stamping!!

New Items Added to Clearance Rack

2010-05-06T10:36:00.005-04:00

Who doesn't love a Clearance Rack!!!! Stampin' Up! has just added new items to the Clearance Rack so make sure you stop by to check it out. You just never know what kind of deals you will find. Some of these items are discounted up to 60%! Awesome Designer Papers only $3.99! You can only get these wonderful prices by shopping directly through my web store. And remember - these items are only available while supplies last, so don't wait to start shopping!

Template Tuesday 05/04/10

2010-05-04T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to May! I’m so ready for summer to begin!!!! I’m going to keep this posting quick so…

Today’s template is brought to us by Angie. Here is her sketch:

I went for quick and simple on this one. Sometimes its the color that makes all the difference.

Happy Stamping!

Summer Mini has arrived!

2010-05-03T10:28:00.003-04:00

The Stampin' Up! Summer Mini has arrived and is AWESOME!!!! There are so many wonderful new products offered. You will want them ALL! You can click the photo below to be directed to the online version or contact me to receive your copy today! Check out the online video highlighting the wonderful products: VIDEO

Also, Stampin' Up! is celebrating National Scrapbooking Month with a wonderful offer!

Explore the Possibilities

Take your scrapbooking to a whole new level with Stampin' Up!
During National Scrapbooking Month, May 1-31, get a FREE package of Designer brads with the purchase of My Digital Studio (item 118108) or any of the following stamp sets:

Page	Description	Wood-Mount Item	Wood-Mount Price	Clear-Mount Item	Clear-Mount Price
81	Extreme Elements	115181	$26.95	---	---
119	Framed with Love**	114389	$27.95	---	---
128	Certified**	113706	$27.95	---	---
129	Circle Circus	115778	$28.95	---	---
12*	Elements of Style	118611	$27.95	120045	$19.95
13*	Momentos	119910	$27.95	120105	$19.95
13*	Éléments de style	119900	$27.95	120099	$19.95
14*	Rough Type	118659	$26.95	120072	$18.95
22*	Sentimental Journey	118513	$23.95	120075	$17.95
25*	First Day	118521	$23.95	120051	$17.95
25*	Camino a la Escuela	120152	$23.95	120154	$17.95

*From the Summer Mini Catalog
**A Last Chance stamp set!

Choose from the following Designer brads with qualifying purchase:

Page	Description	Item
179	Flower Designer brads	112579
179	Filigree Designer brads	112577
179	Circle Designer brads	112571
179	Star Designer brads	112572

Be sure to place your orders today!

As always,HAPPY STAMPING!

Final Days for Occasion Mini

2010-04-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is the final day to order from the Occasions Mini Catalog. Make sure to get your orders in!!!!

Today I wanted to share a card I made for our veterinarian staff. We recently lost our beautiful Maine Coon cat, Ted. He was almost to his 17th birthday. Its been over a week and I still feel rather empty. I won’t say sad because I know he lived an absolutely wonderful life. But I will miss him terribly.

I sent this card to the animal hospital for all their wonderful care.

Template Tuesday 04/27/10

2010-04-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

Time once again for Template Tuesday. I hope that I’m not the only one playing along this week. Seems like the rest of the team has been so incredibly busy lately. Guess they have lives!

The template this week is provided by Ami. She gave us a rather easy one to work with but even then I kind of failed in my final interpretation. But that’s ok. Its all about a starting point.

Here is Ami’s template:

When I saw this sketch, I realized that I had never played with my Stampin’ Up! Flower Daisies #2 Bigz Die. So what a perfect time to break it out. I love the flowers it makes!

I’d love to see what you come up with using this sketch! Email me!

Happy Stamping!

Template Tuesday 04/20/10

2010-04-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

WOW! The month is just absolutely flying by! I can’t believe that May is just around the corner.

Time to share another round of Template Tuesday. Today’s template was provided by me. I think I like making the templates more than I like making the cards. Once I sit down to actually make the card, I’m always at a complete loss as to what to do! Here’s the template:

One of the things I do when I’m at a loss is to start by choosing my color and cardstock and build from there. Trouble picking colors – just spin the Color Coach! (don’t forget to get yours before they are gone!) Or if you want to work with a particular Designer Series paper set, then you will note in the catalog they list the coordinating cardstock/ink colors. Sometimes when I get a new set of DSP, I will make a note listing the coordinating colors and stick it in the paper packet so I don’t have get out my catalog every time. So that is what I did this time. I decided I wanted to work with a particular DSP – To The Nines and built up from there. I absolutely love the colors in this set of DSP. My card ended up better than I imagined actually. Probably because I used one of my favorite stamps!! The Medallion stamp needs to be in every single stampers home. I love this stamp! If you don’t own one, buy one RIGHT NOW!!! And last but not least is my favorite rub ons – Chit Chat. Always the perfect sentiment that you can quickly add to your card. LOVE IT! Hope you enjoy this card.

Happy Stamping!

Template Tuesday 04/13/10

2010-04-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome back to another wonderful round of Template Tuesday. Today’s sketch was brought to us by Maria. I’m not sure that I quite got it right but hopefully I was close enough!

Here is her template:

I took a spin on the wonderful Stampin’ Up! Color Coach Wheel and came up with this fun springy color combination. Definitely not one of my normal choices but its a good thing to work outside your comfort zone. Give it a try! I believe this particular Color Coach Wheel will be discontinued with the upcoming Color Renovations. So make sure to get one before they are gone. You’ll like having it as a reference for using your cardstock in the future. The stamp set in this sample is one I just purchased - Hello Again stamp set. Its so cute! Also, very inexpensive! Just perfect for this little card.

Happy Stamping!

Awash With Flowers

2010-04-12T12:58:00.001-04:00

Stampin’ Up! recently released this wonderful preview stamp set Awash with Flowers. It is one of the Two-Step Stampin’ sets that is being featured this month in the Two-Step Into Spring promotion. This is a set that will be in the new catalog come July but you can buy it during this preview offer. At first, I wasn’t too excited about it but then as always when I started seeing samples using the set, I definitely had to have it!

Last evening, I made these really cute thank you cards using the set. I couldn’t believe how quickly it all came together. I’m love the whole Two-Step concept. Plus since I ordered it in the clear mount option, then I didn’t have to worry about getting out my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up. SWEET!!!!

From April 1-30 only, you can purchase the brand-new Awash with Flowers Two-Step Stampin' set--or get it FREE when you host a $350 workshop!

Happy Stamping!!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2010-04-08T06:00:00.000-04:00

Is it completely wrong to wish yourself Happy Birthday? Probably!

Today I’m sharing with you a birthday card that I recently made. No I didn’t make myself a birthday card. My mailbox has been overflowing with wonderful birthday wishes from all my stamping buddies so I don’t need to make my own card. This card is one I made with the Simply Scrappin’ Happy B-day kit. Thought those kits were for scrapbooking only, didn’t you? Well turns out they are absolutely PERFECT for making very quick and easy cards. No stamping necessary if you don’t want to. Last year I gave a class using the Simply Scrappin’ Christmas Jingle kit which was a huge hit! Everyone loved what a wonderful value the kits are. One of the participants remarked afterwards that she probably got over 30 cards using this kit with a few sheets of additional cardstock. There are 9 different kits available that cover all different styles! Make sure to check them out!

Once you’ve checked out the kits and placed your order then go eat a cupcake for me!

Happy Stamping!

Color Renovation: Farewell Colors

2010-04-07T13:20:00.001-04:00

As promised, below is a flyer showing the retiring Stampin’ Up! colors. I’m so thrilled they have given us so much advance warning so you will have plenty of time to stock up on your favorite retirees! Don’t forget cardstock, reinkers, ribbons and other embellishments. These colors will only be available until June 30th, 2010.

Fifth Avenue Floral

2010-04-07T09:54:00.001-04:00

Recently I joined the StampinUpLNStampers Yahoo group to get more inspired with my stamping. They posted a sketch challenge that I decided to participate in. I guess I need sketches and challenges to get myself motivated to actually use some of my stamps.

Here is the sketch provided by Mary Jo Price-Williams

My card:

I love the Fifth Avenue Floral set! It has such beautiful flowers in the set. Of course I used all Stampin’ Up! supplies.

Did You Hear the News??

2010-04-06T15:55:00.001-04:00

Exciting news coming from Stampin’ Up! There is going to be a Color Renovation coming in the new catalog!!! Yes that is right!!! New colors to play with! Some old favorite retired In Colors will be returning. Time to freshen up those palettes. I am so excited!!

5 Brand New Core Colors

Marina Mist
Daffodil Delight
Cajun Craze
Cherry Cobbler
Early Espresso

25 Current Colors Staying to Play

Pretty in Pink
Regal Rose
Rose Red
Perfect Plum
Elegant Eggplant
Night of Navy
Not Quite Navy
Tempting Turquoise
Bashful Blue
Always Artichoke
Old Olive
Garden Green
Certainly Celery
So Saffron
More Mustard
Pumpkin Pie
Real Red
Bravo Burgundy
Chocolate Chip
Crumb Cake
(formerly Kraft; now
also available in ink and
other accessories)
Sahara Sand
Very Vanilla
Whisper White
Basic Gray
Basic Black

10 Returning In Colors

Pink Pirouette
Melon Mambo
Rich Razzleberry
Pacific Point
Baja Breeze
Wild Wasabi
River Rock
Tangerine Tango
Riding Hood Red
Soft Suede

As I get more information, I will pass it along but the one most important thing to remember right now is that in order to freshen up the palettes, some colors will be retiring. So if you are particularly fond of one of the retiring colors, now is the time to stock up! Don’t be caught short without your favorite cardstock or the ever important reinkers. Check your stock now!!

Template Tuesday 04/06/10

2010-04-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

Hello?? Hello?? Is there anyone out there? I joked to someone the other day that she is probably my only blog reader. I read a ton of blogs everyday and I am always totally astounded by the amazing talent that is out there. Unfortunately I wasn’t blessed with such talent. But I’ve decided the key factor is having fun. Simple, easy cardmaking is what works for me. I don’t feel that a card has to be a masterpiece. My cards certainly are not going to end up in any museum. But as long as they bring a smile (however slight) to the recipients' face then that is all that matters. So I will no longer apologize for my lack of talent. But I will keep sharing. Just to torture that one lone blog reader that I do have! :-) So take my advice and go forth with the same attitude. Cards are meant to be shared. Elaborate or simple. Just as long as its heartfelt.

Today, of course, is Template Tuesday. If it weren’t for Template Tuesday, I might not get any cards made at all. I hope our challenge brings some inspiration to someone out there.

Today’s template was provided by me:

Here is the card I created:

I don’t believe Angie and Ami are playing along any more due to other commitments. But I know Maria is still playing along so make sure to check out her blog. If anyone would like to join us, let me know and we can get you the templates early so you can play along too!

Happy Stamping!

Two-Step into Spring Promotion

2010-04-01T14:21:00.001-04:00

Spring is finally here! I’ve seen the spring flowers blooming all around my neighborhood. Its such a welcomed sight! Now its time for you to freshen up your art creations with a wonderful new spring stamp set. Stampin’ Up! is offering everyone a sneak peek of one of the new sets that will be in the new 2010 catalog! Also there are 4 other Two Step Stampin’ sets being offered at a 20% discount.

Stampin' Up!'s Two-Step Stampin' sets allow you to quickly and easily take your creativity to the next level. From April 1-30 only, you can purchase the brand-new Awash with Flowers Two-Step Stampin' set--or get it FREE when you host a $350 workshop!

Item	Description	Price
117062	Awash with Flowers (wood-mount)	$39.95
120549	Awash with Flowers (clear-mount)	$27.95

Plus, get 20% off a selection of springy Two-Step Stampin' sets:

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Sale Price
113824	94	Greenhouse Garden	$25.95	$20.76
113734	98	Fifth Avenue Floral	$24.95	$19.96
111578	101	Flower Fancy	$36.95	$29.56
113258	112	Trendy Trees	$17.95	$14.36

Click on photo below to be directed to my store.

Template Tuesday 03/30/10

2010-03-30T07:00:00.000-04:00

My final creation with My Digital Studio for the month. I hope you’ve enjoyed the creations I’ve shared this month. Perhaps I’ll throw some of these in occasionally in the future. I do love playing with the program.

Don’t forget tomorrow is the final day for Sale-a-bration! Make sure to get your orders in immediately. This wonderful promotion only comes once a year!

Today’s template was provided by Ami. She has been working so hard on her studies but found some time to provide us with a fun sketch.

Here is my digital card:

I’m hoping you all have a wonderful Easter holiday with your friends and families!

Template Tuesday 03/23/10

2010-03-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today was my turn to provide a template to the team. Keep in mind we make these templates several weeks in advance so everyone has plenty of time to be creative. So when I made this template, I originally had planned on making it into a card. But then I decided to make this month all digital to show you how much fun My Digital Studio is. I think today’s template turned out to be perfect for making a digital scrapbook page. Completely a coincidence. Keep in mind, I am not a traditional scrapbooker. Never have been. But I am a digital scrapbooker! Digital scrapbooking is so much fun for me. I can take embellishments and make them any size I want! I can add stuff, delete stuff and never waste one single traditional element. Got to love that! But you can take it one step further and create your digital layout and then add traditional embellishments to it after you’ve printed it. Don’t forget Stampin’ Up! provides professional printing services that allow you to print your wonderful layouts and since all the colors are Stampin’ Up! colors, they will match!

Here is today’s sketch:

Here is my digital scrapbook page.

Contact me and I can show you how incredibly easy it is to get started in the digital scrapbooking world!

Template Tuesday 03/16/10

2010-03-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

Template Tuesday Digital Style. Once again, I will share with you a very quick and easy card I made using My Digital Studio. I could spend hours and hours playing with this program. Its so much fun! It has been so long since I’ve done any digital playing that I had forgotten how much I enjoy it.

Don’t forget that Sale-a-bration 2010 is almost over but you still have time to earn free items! If you purchase the MSD program, you will earn a free traditional stamp set.

Maria provided us with this template to play with this week.

Here is what I created using MSD.

Happy Digital Creating!

Template Tuesday 03/09/10

2010-03-09T09:45:00.001-05:00

Template Tuesday has arrived once again! I’m going to try something a bit different this month with my Template Tuesdays. You can let me know if its a good idea or not.

Last year, Stampin’ Up! released their My Digital Studio program. Its a fun program that allows you to create all sorts of wonderful digital projects – cards, scrapbook pages, calendars, etc… You can even print off the different patterned papers to use in your traditional creating. I recently saw a blog where someone had printed out the patterned paper to make a traditional small box. So many wonderful uses for this very simple to use program. Make sure to check it out!

For Template Tuesday this month, I’m going to try to make all digital cards to share with you. Who knows, we might even throw in a digital scrapbook page. We’ll see what kind of templates the rest of the team provides this month.

Angie provided a very simple sketch that I was able to quickly throw together a cute little card using MSD. With MSD, I’m able to print the card on my printer or I can have it professionally printed. What a wonderfully easy way to make several cards for special occasions.

Normally, I would say Happy Stamping but in this case, I will say Happy Digital Creating!

Template Tuesday 03/02/10

2010-03-02T08:15:00.001-05:00

I’m late! Hopefully no one will notice. I had made a card last week for this week’s template and it was so incredibly boring that I just could not bring myself to post it. Then the photo got lost anyway so it was a moot point. Last night I forced myself to attempt again. Not sure if it is any better but it is at least more colorful than the first attempt. Color beats all!

Here is Angie’s template. Should have been a complete breeze but we all know by now that the easiest ones are the hardest!

Here is my card:

Make sure to check out the rest of the team’s creations!

Happy Stamping!!!

Melinda's Stamping Corner

Celebrate Digital Scrapbooking Day with FREE Downloads

Digital Scrapbooking Day Event

Get a Free Stamp Set!

Just in time for the Holidays!

Free Big Shot Offer

An offer to DIE for!

Holiday Mini is here!

Stampin' Up's Designer Series Paper Sale - Buy 3, Get 1 FREE!

Join Stampin' Up!

$99 Starter Kit

Friends, Fun, and Fabulous Products!

Help the Joplin Tornado Victims

Last Chance Sale!!!

Farewell to Sketch Frenzy Friday (for me that is!)

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/29/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/22/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/15/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/08/11

Spring is Blossoming Promotion & Grab Bags are Available

Grab a Bag of Stampin' Up! Products!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 04/01/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 03/25/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 03/18/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 03/11/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 03/04/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 02/25/11

My Digital Studio

Sketch Frenzy Friday 02/18/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 02/11/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 02/04/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/28/11

Its Time to Sale*A*Brate!!!

Join the Sale-A-Bration!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/21/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/14/11

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/07/11 - FINALLY!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 01/07/11

Happy New Years!

Happy Holidays!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 12/17/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 12/03/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 11/26/10

Thanksgiving OnLine Spectacular!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 11/19/10

Demonstrator Starter Kit for 50 percent off!

If you have ever consider joining Stampin' Up!, NOW IS THE TIME!! For a very limited time, they are offering their demonstrator starter kits for 50% off. Even if you have no desire to actually sell, you might still want to consider this promotion simply for the AWESOME value!!!

Sketch Frenzy Friday 11/12/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 11/05/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/29/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/22/10

The Latest My Digital Studio Update is Now Available

The ABC's of a Perfect Handmade Holiday

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/15/10

Clearance Rack Blitz - There is still time!

Clearance Rack Blitz Ends on 10/18

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/08/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 10/01/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 09/24/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 09/17/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 09/10/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 09/03/10

Craft Tote Recruiting Promotion

Sketch Frenzy Friday 08/27/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 08/20/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 08/13/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 08/06/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/30/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/23/10

Because I Care

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/16/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/09/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/02/10 - Part 2

Sketch Frenzy Friday 07/02/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 06/25/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 06/18/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 06/11/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 06/04/10

Sketch Frenzy Friday 05/28/10

Tropical Party

Its Time to SaleABrate!!!