SoCal StampMania!

Yesterday I spent the day at SoCal StampMania IV in Long Beach. I'm on the left in the photo, with Toni (ToniStamping on SCS), Kim (MamaKim), and Minnie (Minnie Cieslak) - the girls I carpooled with. I had a great time - made much easier by Kim. I'm pretty shy, especially at large events where I won't know anyone, so I was reluctant to sign up for SCSM. But I took the plunge, and posted on the thread that I was nervous, but coming anyway, and Kim invited me to join her carpool so I wouldn't have to show up alone. I am so glad I took her up on her offer. We met up at the Rite Aid in Woodland Hills, and by the time we got to the event (after stopping to pick up JustHeather in El Segundo) I felt like I had a great group of new friends!

I met a lot of other fun and really nice people and had a great time stamping and chatting. If you saw me and I didn't say hi, I apologize - I am really shy! The projects, handmade door prizes and raffle prizes were awesome. I will be sharing those throughout the week. But first, here's the card I made for my shoebox project. I hope everyone liked it.

Since we were supposed to use all current Stampin Up products with the exception of embellishments not available to SU. I had to see what I had enough of in my stash of paper to make 18 cards - 10 for the shoebox, 2 for extras, 3 to RAK the hostesses - Jami, JoyofStamping and Waterpixie (Emily) - and three for the girls in my carpool since we agreed to swap our cards, too. Glorious green is one color of cardstock I have plenty of, so I used it for the base of this 3.75 inch triangle trifold. The stamp set is Booglie Eyes - I love that set - and I mounted the ghost on green galore and tempting turquoise. Ribbon is from Michaels. Watch for more pictures from StampMania throughout the week - I have swaps, my door and raffle prizes, and other goodies to share!

Tagged again!

Kimberly Schofield of Colorful World - who provided me with my great blog candy win last week - tagged me in the latest round of tag! So now I have to think up seven random facts about me to share with all of you. Here goes:
1) We had a book-reading contest in first grade and I won by reading the most books and earning circles on the class bookworm that we built throughout the year. My mom saved at least a dozen of the worm segments and put them in my baby trunk to save for me. I found them a couple of years ago when I was going through the trunk, and someday I imagine they'll be in a scrapbook somewhere. The book that won me the contest was one of the books in the Little House on the Prairie series, though I can't remember now which one!
2) I was on the swim team during high school, lettering three of four years not because I was very good, but because I was willing to swim the long distance events that not a lot of other people wanted to. I won a race once, and the local weekly paper happened to be there and put my picture on the front of the sports section. My mom saved that, too!
3) I was in a Masonic youth group call Rainbow when I was growing up. I met two of my best friends in the group, and we are still friends today.
4) I'm half Norwegian. My mom is from a long line of Norwegians who came to the U.S. and settled in Minnesota and North Dakota before her branch of the family headed further west to Oregon. I love lefse (think tortillas made with potatoes), a Norwegian tradition. The other half of my ethnic background is a mix of Northern European stuff, mostly German, I think, but I don't know for sure.
5) I was 17 the first time I flew on a plane. I went to Phoenix with the youth group mentioned above. It was July and hotter than heck! My friend and I spent most of one day in the pool at her grandparents' house and even though I had put on sunscreen, I fried. That is the sunburn I will blame when I develop skin cancer. I know better now - this pale Norwegian skin needs lots and lots of sunscreen, and frequently!
6) I spent my sophomore year of college living in Salzburg, Austria, and travelling all over Europe on weekends and holidays. It was truly one of the best experiences of my life, and I discovered several places in Europe that I love! My favorite spots are probably Venice, Italy, Brugges, Belgium, and Salzburg, of course. Sadly, I have not made it back to Europe since then.
7) I've eaten at the Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo, Texas. It's definitely a tacky tourist stop but worth it if you're passing through. And if you can eat a 72 oz. steak (plus salad, baked potato and other trimmings) in an hour, they'll give it to you free. I didn't even try!

Now you know a few random things about me. But I don't know who else to tag - maybe Melinda, Denise, Jen, or any of the rest of you listed in my blogroll?

An old favorite

My week of little stamping continues *sigh* so I thought I would post an old favorite of mine. I had a bad day today - one of those days where all the little things catch up to you. So I may still stamp later, but I can't guarantee I'll like it. I should be at my book club tonight, but I just wasn't up for it. Anyway, this is an old favorite card of mine - one of those that didn't get much feedback on SCS, but I always liked it. It's chocolate chip, creamy caramel and rose red, using noteworthy, print pattern and All I Have Seen. Noteworthy and All I Have Seen were both free sets from SU's Sellabration - I love free stamps, and many of my sets were freebies from SU.

Speaking of SU, I got a glimpse of the new In Colors for 2008 on Michelle Laycock's blog and I am very excited about them - especially the pomegranate, river rock and bayou blue! I only bought four of this year's In Colors. I'm in LOVE with cool Carribean and cranberry crisp, so I am stocking up on cardstock and reinkers in those colors. I really like the violet paper and stitched ribbon, but the ink is too dark. And I like true thyme - but I can probably live without it.

I wonder what I will decide on next year's set of colors? Any of you have thoughts yet?

Getting ready

So I am going to my first-ever shoebox swap this weekend, and I picked a huge one for my first time! I am going to the fourth annual SoCal StampMania in Long Beach, where more than 100 stampers, including some of SCS's biggest names (think Jenn Balcer, Jami, 11Valerie11, Showmestamper, etc.) will be in attendance for an afternoon of stamping fun. I was nervous about going, since I'm an introvert at heart, but one of the nicest SCSers around, MamaKim, offered to let me carpool with her and her friends. That should make it much easier on me! So one of the things we have to take with us is a nametag with our real name and SCS user name. I modified a luggage tag I made for VSN in March by adding a Tim Holtz metal circle medallion wiht another flower and sticker alphabet letters spelling out my SCS name. I used my cropadile (love that thing!!!) to punch a hole in the metal circle and tied ribbon to attach it to the luggage tag. I'm recycling a lanyard so I can wear the whole thing around my neck! If any of my blog readers are attending SCSM, come say hi! I can't wait to meet you.

Happy Mail!

I have to offer a great big thanks to Kim Schofield - author of the blog Colorful World
- for a wonderful mail day on Saturday! I entered Kim's blog candy contest and won! I was so excited to open it up and check out all the goodies inside! Along with an absolutely beautiful card, Kim sent SU designer papers, cardstock stickers from the Accent and Elements collection, a bag full of cool hardware and brads, a selection of yummy Primas and chipboard flowers, an alterable chipboard book, a stamp and Stampin Spot, and some black hemp twine. It's wonderful stuff and I can't wait to put it to use! I'm starting to put together my own selection of blog candy - I think I might call it kitty treats - to hopefully offer up when I hit 500 hits. There's been a lot of discussion and debate over blog candy lately, but my only motive is to say thanks to my readers, and pay it forward for all the inspiration I've received from other bloggers!

Playing Tag!

My friend Jen of Inking Along tagged me in the latest game going through the SCS blogs! Thanks Jen - or maybe I should blame your alter-ego, Nej???? Jen and I met while serving as hostesses for February's Virtual Stamp Night. She is a lot of fun and her blog is a riot. And she creates really beautiful work, with lots of techniques I am too intimidated to try. She has great tutorials on things like pergamano and encaustic art. So go check her out!
So now, since Jen tagged me, I have to list (and tag) five of my favorite blogs! Most of my favorites have been tagged already, but I am going to offer you a few anyway (and hopefully I don't become the kid who always has to be "It" because they can't tag anyone else, LOL! Why do I have visions of middle school all over again?)
1) Handmade by ME! is a blog by my friend Denise, another former February VSN hostess. Denise has gorgeous cards on her site, and a funny penguin video! And if you're in the New York area where Denise lives, you might be able to find her stuff for sale at a local craft fair.
2) Endless Embellishments is another former February VSN hostess blog by my friend Melinda. Melinda always had the coolest ideas for folds and layouts. She taught me the quarter-fold card recently. She is also a new Stampin UP! demo.
3) Fresh and Fun is the blog of the great Beate from SCS. I check her blog every day. She often posts more than one new post a day, offers up the best blog candy and always, always, has great ideas and fun samples to look at!
4) Sassy & Sweet Notes by Anna, also known as Sweet Miss Daisy. I love the cards she's been making with Rosie's Roadshow stamps, and I love, love, love the stories and photos she shares from life on the Texas farm. The farm animal photos are simply beautiful!
5) I{heart} to stamp! is probably the first blog I started stalking regularly. A few months ago I discovered Jen, or Genie1314 on SCS, and have become a huge fan! I used her idea for turning brown paper lunch sacks into pretty gifts bags, also known as genie bags, as my challenge during February VSN. I love the clean style of her stamping and now I check her site every day. I also love the posts by her hubby, Tony, who has been filling in for Jen this week. He makes me laugh!

Hope you enjoy these blogs - they are just a few I have discovered in the last few months. I have others in my blogroll on the left side of the screen. Now I'm off to check out the challenges for SCS's Virtual Scrapbook Night preview party. I need to get some scrapping done and the challenges are a great kick start.

Something new to look at

I haven't had much time to stamp lately - I'm getting ready for the SoCal StampMania shoebox swap, so I have been working on prepping those cards, my door prize and my name tag - the thing that is vexing me right now! I will share those after the big event on April 28. In the meantime, I dug through my card files to see if I could find something that hadn't been uploaded to my gallery. I found this card - a baby card I made last summer for a friend from college. Her baby, a boy, was born in January, and in a few weeks I'll be going to his baptism! I've made a ton of baby cards since I started stamping, they probably rank third behind holiday and birthday cards in terms of my cardmaking history! I guess it is the time in my life, from mid-20s to mid-30s, when all my friends, my close cousins and even coworkers are all having babies. I'm lucky to be an honorary auntie to about 10 little ones, a job I thoroughly enjoy (especially the spoiling!) And making baby cards is fun - all those soft pastel colors and color combos. This one was a generic - sage shadow, barely banana, and amethyst - since we didn't know yet if it was a boy or a girl. I used a white gel pen to add some interest to the print pattern background, and stickles to the stroller for a little sparkle. I don't love how the ribbon was tied, but otherwise, I'm pretty happy with this card!

Trash to treasure and other good deals

One of the cool things about papercrafting is how easy it is to use paper and ink to make something beautiful! I'm a big fan of Starbucks frappucino - though I cringe at the price unless they are on sale - and was so excited when somebody on SCS found a way to recycle them into something pretty. So the next time I bought frappucino, I saved the bottles and the carrier, and turned them into a sweet little gift. When I give the package away, it'll be filled with chocolates. (I just can't buy them too soon, or I will eat them all!) This set is a particularly great bargain because the papers I used to alter the set were in a package I found in the clearance shelves at Target. A set of 12 coordinating sheets of patterned paper for $2.48! Woohoo!

Something worth celebrating

My 17-year-old cousin just found out he was accepted at Harvard as part of the class of 2011. He is the first person from his (relatively new) high school to get accepted there, and the first in our extended family to get into an Ivy League school. He worked very hard to get in, but never thought he would - he's not a straight-A student or class valedictorian (though he's in the top 10 at his school) and he was never very involved in school activities like sports or student government. He's very independent, likes to read and think and talk about philosophy and religion and politics, a real intellectual. Harvard is the perfect place for him, and his friends and family are thrilled he got accepted and can go. It was definitely a card-worthy occasion. The cardstock base is cranberry crisp - the closest I could find to Harvard crimson - and over that I stamped print pattern in cranberry crisp. I found the Harvard seal on Google images and printed it out on whisper white cardstock, mounting it on true thyme and black card stock with black brads. I then stamped Congratulations in basic black ink along the bottom. It is so much fun to come up with cards specific to the recipient, and this one was a big hit - it's on display right next to his Harvard acceptance letter (now framed and hanging on the wall.)

You must try these

I'm taking a break from crafting to alert you all to an essential product I recently discovered. If you haven't tried it yet, you must run to the nearest store and pick up a box of 100 calorie Hostess cupcakes. If you don't eat chocolate (I'll assume it's because of allergies - because why else wouldn't you eat chocolate?) they also come in carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. This is the BEST sweet treat around right now, as far as I am concerned. You get three cupcakes, each one about two bites, for 1oo calories! And they still come with frosting and cream filling. They are completely satisfying and are the perfect dessert or sweet snack for anyone needing a chocolate fix. And again, 100 calories!!! I turned a coworker on to them, and since she is a Weight Watchers girl, and she calculated the cupcakes: 1 point for the entire package. I'm no expert on points, but I think it's because they are pretty good on fiber content. All I can say is they taste good, are filling and they are 100 calories!!! Woohoo!

Inspiration is everywhere

So last night I pulled out my inspiration notebook last night in search of some, well, inspiration! I had saved this ad from the newspaper in there - I love the color of the flowers against the black and white. So I pulled out some stamps and attempted to replicate it. I think I captured the idea, though I am not happy about the brads at the top left corner. I thought the corner needed something, but that didn't really work as well as I'd hoped. Oh, well. I defintely love the red/green black color combination! The flower stamp is from SU's Heartfelt Thanks set, one of my all-time faves. The sentiment is a Michael's $1 stamp. Colors are real red, always artichoke and basic black. Now off to find some more inspiration!

Getting better

I love this card. It's not fancy. It's actually pretty simple. But I think it represents growth in my stamping. The layout, use of layers, the good bow (I'm bow-tying challenged!) the use of blender pens and ink to color the image, the background. It all ties together for me in this card. One way I've started working on my stamping is to keep a little journal of ideas - some of them are color combos, some are stamp set/color combos, some are pictures I've saved for inspiration. This helps me in two ways: One, it allows me to save ideas for when I really have time to explore them, and I don't forget a good idea if I don't have time to stamp it right away. Two: it gives me a source of inspiration for when I want to stamp but don't have a specific idea in mind. Plus, I'm a listmaker. I like to write things down as a way to stay organized and accomplish everything I need to! The colors and stamp set for this card were in my book - I wrote them down, then a week later, found them and remembered the card I had envisioned. Maybe tomorrow I'll share some of my inspiration pieces!

Spring is here!

Yay!!!! Spring is here. I live in Southern California, so sometimes it's hard to remember the seasons. But with Easter coming and the weather turning warm, it really feels like spring right now. Tonight I drove home from work with the sunroof open - woohoo! I've also been inspired by spring colors. These are the Easter cards I made for my close friends and family. Easter ranks third in holiday cards for me - I make about 60 for Christmas, and usually around 20 for Thanksgiving, then 10-15 for Easter, followed by 5-8 each for Valentine's Day and Halloween - usually those two holidays I just send cards to my nieces, nephews and my mom. I kind of have a ranking for who gets cards for which holidays! The people I'm closest too get the most handmade cards! Anyway, the Easter cards are triangle tri-folds (instructions available on Beate's blog - linked at the left, or on SCS, where she recently posted a tutorial). I am trying to use up my retired candy patterned paper. And I borrowed the stamp set from a friend, since I didn't have time to order the new Stampin Up Bunny Hugs set. But you can bet I will order it for next year! I love that little bunny. Oh, and the one green card is for my dad - not sure I love it, but I couldn't see making him a soft pink and yellow pastel card, so I made one using inspiration from the Dots and Dashes paper.