Artisan Dinner Swaps again...

 When we went for our Artisan Award Dinner during Convention a few weeks back, we all swapped with each other.  I have been posting some of those swaps for you lately.  This swap was made by Laura Millinger.  She made this adorable pocket card and filled it with fabulous treats.  There was some gum which I immediately chewed :) , this adorable pen which she filled with DSP and added the little flower tag to, the cute books mard and tag that say THANKS and a pack of crystal light powder.  This is an adorable Thank You gift for a teacher, or babysitter.  The amount of detail is fabulous.  There's Crystal Effects on all of the Thanks letters on the book mark, and there's a tiny magnet on the pen, to hold the flower tag.  This is adorable.

More Artisan Award Dinner Swaps

Here's another fabulous swap I received from the Artisan Award Dinner at Convention.  This fantastic swap was made by Heidi King, one of this year's Artisan Award Winners.  I love the little details in this:  the swoop to the Spooky 'ribbon', the cutting around the hat and shoes, the way she frayed the striped grosgrain ribbon, and the fact the made a little box out of window sheets to protect it.  Remember that she made 16 of these.  My kids are going to love it when I bring this out for Halloween decor.

Convention Artisan Dinner Swaps

Here's another swap I received from the Artisan Dinner at Convention.  This cute countdown clock was made by Heather Stevens.  If you were at convention, and had a peek at the Artisan Winners boards, you would have seen Heather's larger countdown calendar.  She decided to make all of us a mini one with only 10 days on it.  The background is a piece of metal flashing which has been painted green.  You are supposed to put all the cupcakes on the back of the board, and then 10 days before the birthday you cover up number 10, and the next day you cover up the 9 and so on...  I think it's adorable, and as Teagan's birthday is next month, we're going to have to put it on the fridge and count down!

Stampin Royalty Challenge #82

This week at Stampin Royalty we have a theme challenge.  It's been so cloudy and cool here in Vancouver that we're desperately waiting for Summer to arrive.  So the theme this week is

SUMMER. 

Bring on the heat.  This is a my digital studio page using the new Noteworthy My Digital Studio kit and some images from the 'King of the Grill' stamp brush set.  The photos are from the rehearsal dinner/ BBQ for Brad's brother's wedding on July 1st.

Colour Q Challenge #95

This week we have a fabulous colour combo over at Colour Q.  There's a lot of the new In Colours in this pallette.   I decided to try out this combo with a photo from Convention, last week.  In this photo are me, LeAnne, and Jenn.  LeAnne is a fellow Colour Q Royal Court Design Team member.  One of the nice things about blogging is meeting new people online. 

purchasing templates

Hi everyone.
Some of you have emailed me about problems trying to purchase a template.  I played around with the buttons at Paypal, but things are still not working properly.  All I can say is that if I click on the Pay Now button, it takes literally over a minute, but then the invoice pops up.  So I guess you just need to sit back and wait for it today.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Cheers
Sandra

Awards Night

So I thought I'd give you a bit of a rundown on Awards Night last week at Convention.  I was absolutely thrilled and excited to receive an award at Awards Night.  Most of the Awards are for Top Sales and Top Recruiting, but for little ol' hobby demo me, well, the only way for ME to win an award on Awards night is the Artisan Award.  So you better believe I was ready to go to convention for my one and only trip up there.  :)
Above is a photo of us from the convention highlights video I posted a few days ago.  Anyway, my good friend Jenn Picard, also won Artisan Award this year.  In the picture above, I'm the blonde in the middle with the black dress and the White flower.  Jenn is the blond beside me with the purplish dress and yellow flower, 
Normally when they list the artisan award winners on the bi screen, they start by naming all the Artisan Award Finalists.  The way the judging process works is that they start by laying all the entries out on the floor in a very large room.  Then all the judges go over all the entries and pick their top 10 or so.  This smaller group is the finalists because between the various judges, there are different top picks and so the pool of Finalists is larger than 10, and it changes from year to year.  From the pool of finalists, the judges examine every entry carefully.  They are specifically looking to see that these finalists have all followed the rules and have all the criteria required.    From this list, they then narrow it down.  I understand that this year, they narrowed it down to the top 15, and then struggled to narrow it down to the Top 10.  But eventually they did, and I was lucky to have made the cut.  I was a finalist last year, and that inspired me to enter again this year.  Many of the winners this year have entered several times, but only one of us,Summer Stone, has won more than once.  So if you are entering and not winning, all I can say is KEEP TRYING.  Every year the entries change, so you never know when your time will come.
OK, so enough babling...
As I said, they first announce the finalists, and then they announce the winners to come up to the stage.  Well, apparently in the past, they have only listed the non-winning finalists first and then the winners.  BUT this year, they listed up all the finalists together, including those of us who were finalists that became winners.  So we were all confused, when our names were called in the finalist list. (at our dinner with Shelli Gardener, she was wondering why we all looked so confused, and not elated - because we were all panicking that we were only finalists and not winners and that there had been a mistake.  AND to top it all off, Jenn and I were standing beside each other, and they kept the camera on us for a painfully long period of time.  We were totally embarassed, and my upline was cracking jokes on the side to make us laugh. - but we made it through.
And then we were called up for our presentation, photos, and a quick congrats from Shelli.  Then we went down the side of the stage and got our Artisan Bracelets.  Below you will find some photos of it.  Wow -I'm terrified to wear it in case I lose it.  What a night.
There was an after party, with dancing, and treats, but we left early and went back to our hotel.  We had a few 'treats' in the hotel lounge with some new friends and closed down the bar.  Then Jenn and I went back to our hotel and had a really late night chatting.  It was like a real, old fashioned, slumber party.  Remember those?  Wow, it's been years, (and a husband and 2 kids ago).

The following night we had our artisan dinner.  If you haven't already, please click here, to check out my previous post about the Artisan Award Dinner.

Convention Highlights and another Holiday Mini Sneak Peek

Check out this video of Convention Highlights!!  This was my first Convention and it was soooooo AMAZING!!!!

I travelled and shared my room with Jenn Picard.  We are both Artisan Award Winners, so it was really cool to share all the big events with each other.  We are actually sidelines, so we've known each other for a few years, but this week in Salt Lake really brought us together as friends.  Jenn knows a lot of demonstrators (especially the blog Rock Stars!) and it was fabulous to meet all these people through her.  I was completely overwhelmed and excited by the whole week.  And to see my projects on display was really humbling and exciting.  I've also seen a few of my projects posted on other's blogs and I'm really touched by the recognition. I will post up more photos later in the week.

Now here's a card that I made with a new sneak peek set given to us at Convention. One of the fabulous perks of Convention is that not only do we get to see products that haven't been released yet, but we also get samples!!! This set is called Warmest Wishes and it's a hostess set in the upcoming Holiday Mini Catty.

The Fun Stuff:

1. Paper - Whisper White, Island Indigo, Pink Pirouette, Watercolour Paper

2. Stamps - Warmest Wishes, Easy Events

3.  Ink - Pretty In Pink, Island Indigo, Black Staz On

4.  Accessories - Petite Pennants Builder Punch, Stampin Dimensionals, Aquapainter, Stampin' Write Markers

Stampin Royalty Challenge #81

This week we have a sketch challenge at Stampin Royalty.  I used several pieces that I received at Convention last week.  The background paper is from the new DSP Timeless Portrait.  The large die cut is one I received in my Make-n-take bag.  This shape is available in the On Board Merry Medley die cut chipboard.  My prediction is that it will be a new Big Shot die.  Stampin Up! sometimes shows die cuts in their catty that are then available the following year.  Think about that Butterfly on the cover of the catty a few years back, and then the Big Beautiful Bigz die became availalble in the catty the next year.

Anyway, back to the card.  The medallion in the middle - see photo to the right - was given to me at Convention.  I took part of a Full Fancy Card Swap (Dont' worry, I will share all the awesome samples soon)  When we took part of the swap, we were given this medallion with a clothespin on the back so we could pin it to our convention name tag.  I knew I wanted to reuse this, and this weeks card was  the perfect place to put it.

I had this strip of Peach Parfait (orange) which was cut out with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, just lying around, and I decided that it added a nice punch of colour.  Next I took a strip of Very Vanilla, and embossed it with the Finial Press Texured Impresion Folder for the Big Shot.  I then mounted the entire piece on Basic Black cardstock.

The Fun Stuff::

1.  Paper - Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Basic Black, River Rock, Crumb Cake, Peach Parfait, Island Indigo, First Edition DSP

2.  Stamps -

3.  Ink - Cherry Cobbler

4. Accessories - Perfect Pennant, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch,  Finial Press Texured Impresion Folder, Large Star Punch, Small Oval Punch, Linen Thread

HOLIDAY MINI sneak peek #2 and another Artisan Award Swap!!!!

 

Here's another sneak peek from the upcoming Holiday Mini.  Isn't this owl ADORABLE???  Again, I cased most of this card from the mini itself.  I love, love, love, how all the images in this set coordinate with punches. Too much fun eh???   I must say, I'm reminded by the last sentence of how many times I got teased at Convention because of the number of times I say "eh" at the end of a sentence.  I'm not overdoing it, really.   Everyone here says it a lot. :)

Now, back to the card.  This card is super simple!!  I stamped the Owl image twice on whisper white and once on Pumpkin Pie using Early Espresso inki.  Then I punched out the best image on whisper white, and trimmed out the eye patches of the other.  Then I cut out the beak and bag of the one on orange.  I then attached the orange images using Tombo glue and popped up the eye mask with dimensionals.  The moon is a punch of Daffodil Delight using the 1 3/4 inch circle punch.  The 'grass' is a strip of Old Olive which I then ran through the crimper - super easy.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and it's punched out with the word window punch.  Oh yeah, and it's all mounted on Crumb Cake cardstock.

Next, on to another fabulous Artisan Award Dinner Swap.  Check back later this month for our Artisan Award Winner Blog Hop in which you should be able to get more details on how these cards were made.

This STUNNING card is made by Cheryl LeForge.  I was simply absolutely blown away with all the detail in this card.  I completely undersand why she won Artisan.  This card sums it all up...FABULOUS!  The funny thing is that this dinner waso on the day that Shelli and Shelae demonstrated, and one of their demonstrations was on pop-up cards.  If you scroll down you will see that this is a pop-up card as well.  Shelli loved this card!       Here's another look at all the detail.  I belive she inked up the embossing folder with Whisper White Kraft ink before she embossed it.  And check out all the Glitter!!!!!  Gotta love bling!

And here's a look at the inside of the card.  Check out all those popped up gifts.  Everything is perfect.  This card has so many layers so it's very sturdy and pretty heavy!  I want to put it in a frame and hang it on the wall just like a perfect piece of art.

HOLIDAY MINI sneak peek and an Artisan Award Swap!!!!

Today I've got 2 projects for you.  Actually, having just come home from convention yesterday, I have decided that I need to post up some of the fabulous swaps that I received.  So I will try to put up at least one swap with every post for the next few weeks.  But anyway, starting with this project.  The wreath is stamped from a set from the new Holiday Mini, which goes live on September 1st.  This set, called Warmest Wishes, is the hostess set in the new mini.  When I saw it I knew it was number one on my wish list.  There are 5 images, but I'm not allowed to show you the actual stamps right now. I can show you samples though, so why not start out with one I actually cased from the mini itself?  This wreath is so versatile.  You can use it for a fall image, like I did, or a Christmas image etc.  There are enless possibilities.  The centre is punched with the 1 1/4 inch circle punch.  All the stamps in this set coordinate with punches.  I love when things coordinate with punches.  It makes cardmaking go sooooooo quickly, and they all look great!   Here's some of the supplies I used.  Remember that I can't show you the stamps so I had to cut them out of the photo.

 Now, on to even better projects.  For our artisan dinner on Friday, we did a swap.  This card is made by Connie Collins.  Isn't it fabulous?  I love how she used all that DSP and then coordinated the background with the Dotted Textured Impressions Folder.  Now if you think this card is fabulous, check out below.

Connie didn't just present us with the card, she then packaged it in a clear box made with Window Sheets and added some crimped paper as confetti.  It really finished off the whole card and gave it a fall, or harvest feel.  What talent!  Check back tomorrow when I will have other Artisan projects to share with you.

Stampin' Up! Artisan 2011

My first Stampin' Up! Convention is an amazing experience.  Tonight I had dinner with Shelli and Sterling!!  It was so exciting.  We were presented with our Artisan Award bracelets last night at Awards night and tonight we were showered with gifts and swaps that are crazy beautiful.  Below is what was on the table when we got to the restaurant.  I really like the place card and we got to keep the holder and everything.  In the little box was this amazing stamp.  I think I'll cherish it forever. 

Stampin Royalty Challenge #80

 I'm absolutely thrilled to be here at CONVENTION in Salt Lake City!!  It's my first Convention and already I've met up with a few of the big names in the Stampin' Up! world.  Jenn Picard and I are sharing a room and she has been furiously finishing up her swaps for tomorrow (which is actually today when this post is scheduled for) 
Anyway, back to this post.  This week we have an inspiration project for you at Stampin' Royalty.  Use the above photo collage as inspiration for your project.  I came up with this page using My Digital Studio and photos from my hubby's brother's wedding last week.  This is a photo of my husband and his sister.  I used the new Sunset Serenade digital paper.  I 'filled in' the blue on the frame by using tons of punches.  If you were to zoom in on the frame you will see some flaws around the edges.  But I brought the frame stamp to the front and put in a drop shadow which hides most of them.  I used the same technique to fill in the Certified image.

Sailing Away with PPA

This week it's a colour challenge over at Pals Paper Arts.  I whipped up this little card and decided to play along.  I used The Open Sea stamp set.  Firstly I stamped the Compass image in Not Quite Navy on Marina Mist cardstock.  Then I stamped the other images in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla carstock.  I used an Aquapainter and Marina Mist and Bashful Blue to colour in the images.  I tried to make the globe image looked aged so I added a lot of water - I'm not really sure that I achieved the effect I was looking for or not.  I distressed some edges, and rolled some edges and opped a few things up on dimensionals.  

Last weekend...

So last weekend my brother-in-law got married.  The wedding was perfect.  The weather cooperated, the bride looked beautiful, and the food was fabulous.  I got a ton of fantastic photos of the family.  These are a few photos of my new sister-in-law that I took with my iphone.  Gotta love the camera phone.   I also had blushing bride on the brain, so I decided to turn it into a page.
This page is all digital done with My Digital Studio of course.  The background paper is Blushing Bride of course, and then the big overlay is in Pink Pirouette with a Whisper White drop shadow.  I added the paper daisies and Pear Pizzazz seam binding ribbon.  I also colour matched the text to match the flowers in the pictures.

Stampin Royalty Challenge #79

This week we have a fabulous collour challenge over at Stampin' Royalty.  Click here to hop over and check out the fabulous colour samples from the design team. This page features a picture taken this past weekend at my brother-in-law's wedding.  This picture has my son, my nephew, and my husband's sister.  They boys got ties to match the bridal party.   We had a fabulous weekend and because of this wonderful time, I really have a renewed sense of how important family is.

Colour Q Challenge #92

 This week we have a cute colour challenge over at Colour Q.  Click here to check out the samples from the Design Team.   To make this page I started with the Sunset Serenade DSP for the background paper.  Next I used the circle punch and filled with pieces of paper.  The tangerine papers are from the new Flirtatious paper.  I then used these adorable photos of my daughter with her brand new bike.  Of course she was wearing a lot of pink, so I changed them to Black and White to fit the colour scheme.