Favorite door prizes

Still no stamping for me, but maybe later today! I'm getting closer, that's for sure! I'm actually hanging pictures on the walls and getting shelves up - yay! Anyway, today should be the last of my StampMania pictures. These are some of my favorite door prizes from the hand-made door prize table. I love that they are all on display so we can check out all the great ideas! The first is a set of darling candy jars altered with Tart and Tangy by Nancy Hill. I am trying really hard to resist that set, but StampMania did not help that cause!
This is a darling altered clock - instead of numbers, it reads "Stamp Time!" We can all use more of that, right? Robyn, aka FunnyGirlRobyn, made this one.
This was my favorite of all the door prizes - she made a flower pot with altered paper flowers, and in the center used tiny paint pots filled with stamping goodies: ribbon, buttons, eyelets, Primas! It was so, so cute! And what a clever idea. Adela R. came up with this idea, which I so want to CASE!
Amanda Sewell made this gardening set - I love the papers, colors, and the idea of putting a little set like this.
This is another beauty - I have no idea who made it, but I thought it was so pretty. I think it's a Valentine's Day candy box. I love the patterned papers, and all that yummy chocolate ribbon!

More goodies from SCSM5!

I have a couple more posts of SoCal StampMania stuff to share, and when that's over, I hope to finally have some new stuff of my own to share. My craft room/office is coming along and I hope to be stamping sometime this weekend. Yay! Anyway, I didn't have time before SCSM to make any swaps to trade before the shoebox swap, so I made a few extras of my shoebox swap card to trade with some friends and my table-mates. The top two cards were from my tablemates; the card on the left was by Cindy/Chiripa and the card on the right was by thumbunny. Isn't that fruit kabob a clever idea? She also included a fruit kabob recipe inside. So cute!
The bottom two projects were by Kim/MamaKim on the left and Toni/tonistamping on the right. I met those girls last year when Kim invited me to carpool with them. We got to stamp together at another, micro Mania shoebox swap last summer. They are great girls, and both are very talented stampers!
The second photo is of the two make-n-takes we made during the event. The top is the cover of the roster - each page inside lists the name, screen name and other details for each participant at the event. I haven't had a chance to put it together yet because I can't find my Crop-a-dile yet! The second card was the Stampendous-sponsored make-n-take using the Sushi stamp set that is exclusive to Eclectic Paperie. That's the set I won! It is such a cute set. I can't wait to play with it a bit!

Swap city!

SoCal StampMania lives up to its name! The shoebox swap is set up so everybody gets to do 11 swap projects, while mixing and mingling with lots of different stampers. This year's projects were just fabulous. I got some really great ideas and got to try some stamps and techniques I wouldn't have tried on my own! The swaps are SU only (except for embellies not made by SU) which helps ensure quality. It's also a good way to see what's hot and popular! I can tell you that Tart and Tangy and the Summer Picnic paper; the Always set; and pomegranate, blue bayou and soft sky are all very popular right now! These pics are of the projects I made. Some of my favorites were the Fabulous Flowers square card - the smaller square is the opening, folding down to open and closing using the round tab. I also loved the belly band card with the bright summer colors and DP.
The next group includes a z-fold card, an adorable Cami scallop treat box, another type of treat holder, a double-pocket card and a square baby card! I love the double pocket with all those cherries, and the treat holder has a great color combo with blue bayou and celery!

Awesome door prize

One of the things I love about StampMania is the door prizes. Each attendee who wants to participate in the door prize drawing brings a hand-stamped or stamp-related door prize valued around $10 for the raffle. When you put yours on the display table, you get write your name on a ticket for the drawing. Then throughout the day, stampers go to the table, get their prize, then go to the hostess (Jami) and pull a name from all those participating. So you get to give your prize to another stamper! I gave my prize to Leann Yoho (check out her blog HERE!). Then an hour later, when it was Leann's turn, she pulled out my name and I got her prize. What a cool coincidence! Leann made this beautiful CD case with matching cards using the yummy ginger blossom paper. The cards have wonderful details, too, with all the different embellishments and GLITTER! Thank you, Leann!

A berry blissful day ...

When I set out to design my goodies for SoCal StampMania, I knew I wanted to use the Berry Bliss paper and One of a Kind for my shoebox card. Because the supplies were out, and to make it easier on myself, I used the same papers, colors and coordinating accessories for all of my SCSM5 goodies this year!
My shoebox card was designed around the envelope! I picked up a box of 100 check-sized envies at the dollar store - woohoo! So I made a card to go with the envie. I like non-traditional card sizes and thought this would be a good change at StampMania. The card measures 6 3/8 by 3 1/2. I used pretty in pink for the base, and added a strip of Berry Bliss dp mounted on chocolate chip cardstock, then tied the pink taffeta ribbon around it before placing in on the base. The stamp set is One of a Kind; the sentiment is inked in chocolate chip and the main flower image is inked in pretty in pink then the edges are rock-n-rolled in chocolate chip. The image is stamped on whisper white, then layered on pretty in pink and chocolate chip. The flower center is a punched chocolate chip flower from the small boho flowers punch, attached with a brad. The flower is mounted on dimensionals!

Next up is my name tag! I don't like pins and find name tags pinned to my shirt or jacket a bit annoying. So I used a name badge to make a name tag I could wear around my neck. I printed my name and SCS screen name on the computer and the color actually came out pretty darn close to pomegranate! I added some punched flowers, eyelets and a brad then layered the names on more Berry Bliss dp and pomegranate cardstock. I added some misc. ribbons to the top. It totally clashed with my red outfit, but coordinated with all my other stuff, and that's what matters most, right? Last, but not least, was the door prize I made. Between moving and coordinating VSN right before StampMania, I didn't have the time or creative energy to come up with a cool door prize - I'm going to share some pics of some of them later in the week, they were amazing this year! So I cheated. I went to my stash and put together a plain kraft gable box full of alterables. Here's what's inside: one large and two mini composition books; a medium clear pillow box; 2 name badges (they make great luggage tags); a Target mailbox; a round tin; a rectangular tin; a mini Maya Road tin; a key chain; a mini chipboard book; and the gable box. I wrapped them all up in cellophane and tied them with some pretty ribbons and a big tag I made using the Berry Bliss dp and coordinating ink, papers and accessories. I hope the recipient can find some inspiration in there!

Goodies from StampMania!

I had an absolutely fabulous time at SoCal StampMania V yesterday! It was a great day of stamping, friends, food, fun and goodies! Last year I was so nervous to go, since I'd never met a single SCSer in person. This year I was still a little nervous for about five minutes, but then I was fine - I met lots of great new people and saw lots of people I met last year, including a few I've been able to stay in touch with since then. It was a great break from the new job and moving!
I'm feeling particularly spoiled today because I won one of two grand prizes at the dinner following StampMania. eclectic Paperie and Copic contributed to my prize: a beautiful Copic storage case with six of the markers in it (my first Copics - now I have to learn how to use them!); a fun and brand new Stampendous Sushi clear stamp set (an EP exclusive); a darling Olivia owl stamp and sentiment from Stampendous; a package of white and shimmery cardstock (think shimmery white, but in vanilla, caramel and brown - yum!); a Spica glitter pen; a Brilliance dew drop; and a bottle of Ultra clean with scrubber. What an awesome prize! I'm still in shock that I won. I really need to get my stamp room organized so I can start playing with all this fun stuff!
Lucky girl that I was yesterday, I also won a raffle prize during the stamping event. Jami, Joy and Emily got so many cool prizes of all kinds from all kinds of cool companies! I won a great backgrounder stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms. I've never used their backgrounders and I can't wait to give this one a try!
We all received a few goodies in our tote bags when we checked in. A bunch of companies offered coupons or flyers with discount codes; eclectic Paperie handed out tags that had been Glimmer-misted! Mine was periwinkle - it's a beautiful color and I may have to order it. Stampendous provided pens and sticky notes so we could jot things down during the day. And the coolest little freebie was the cute little box from Ellen Hutson/Lockhart Stamps/Inchie Arts. The box contained all the things you'd need to make some cute little cards using inchies: Lockhart stamp images, chipboard inchie squares, designer paper, two tiny notecards and some fun bling! What a cute idea!
Tomorrow I'll share the projects I made!

Fashion and flowers

My poor blog has been so neglected! And so have my stamps! This new job and moving are kicking my butt! I still have a ton of stuff to unpack and organize in the craft room, and the kitchen is a bit of a mess. Then there's the stack of boxes in my friend's garage ... guess I'll have to go get those this weekend! First, though, tomorrow morning I'm headed to Long Beach for SoCal StampMania V! I can't wait!
Here are some more cards I haven't shared yet from VSN. The first one was for Suzy_H's challenge to use flowers on your card. I wanted to use this fun designer paper since it went so well with the fashion theme, and my co-coordinator, Denise, sent me a cool green felt flower to use. So I added another flower, a simple sentiment, and voila!
Supplies:
Stamps: Short and sweet
Ink: stazon black
Paper: DCWV textured notecard, Reminisce DP, tempting turquoise, pink passion
Accessories: felt flowers (one is Creative Cafe, the other is unknown), large Karen Foster brad, CB
The second card was for Sarahzoe's (JoAnn) "scbool uniform" challenge to use limited supplies from the list she provided. This was one of my favorite VSN cards. I love how the sentiment turned out. I used the stampamajig to line it all up!
Supplies:
Stamps: Embrace life
Ink: blue bayou, soft sky
Paper: whisper white, blue bayou, soft sky
Accessories: hodgepodge hardware, hemp twine, Heidi Swapp distresser, sponge

VSN to the rescue!

My stamp room is still in boxes from the big move, and I've had a busy first couple of days at work, so no new stamping for me yet! Fortunately, I still have lots of fun cards to share from VSN a few days ago. The first card today was for ambouth's (Anne-Marie) challenge to use the baby wipe technique. I hadn't done this version before; it was fun! I only have reinkers in a handful of retired colors, so I inked my baby wipes with cranberry crisp, vintage violet androse romance. It turned out to be a pretty cool color combo!
Supplies:
Stamps: Fabulous flowers, short and sweet
Ink: violet, cranberry, rose romance
Paper: whisper white, DCWV textured notecard, rose romance, vintage violet
Accessories: ribbon

The second card was for Melinda's (wonkaismycat) challenge to use animal prints on your card. I could not find any animal print paper anywhere! So I searched through my scrapbooking stash and found this cat die-cut and the tiger print frame. I combined them with a sentiment from Wild About You and a CB background for my animal print. I think it turned out pretty cool!

Supplies: Paper: basic black, pumpkin pie, saffron Accessories: die cuts, CB, word window punch

More VSN samples ...

Sorry for the lack of posts! I spent the last week moving from one side of the greater Los Angeles area to the other - about 120 miles from the old place to the new place. My office/stamp room is still in boxes, so I haven't stamped a thing in a week, and it'll probably be at least another week before I can do any stamping! :( The good news is I still have lots of stuff to share from April VSN Fashion Weekend. The first card was for Faith's (Markie's Mom) challenge to use "sketch-style" stamps. I had to pull out All Natural, one of my favorite SU sets. I love how the image came out; I only wish I had dropped the brown Cb'd strip down underneath the ribbon. But with only 45 minutes to create, I went with what I had!
Supplies:
Stamps: All Natural, print pattern
Ink: stazon brown, mellow moss, old olive, banana,mustard, saffron
Paper: moss, saffron, chocolate chip, watercolor
Accessories: HP hardware, ribbon, aquapainter, CB

The second project, hosted by Karolyn (garkarlon) was to make a genie bag (covered lunch sack gift bag) in a purse design. I cut my bag way down, then added a second panel of cardstock as a flap. I thought the Au Chocolate papers would make a cute purse, so I used some of them. The handle is a piece of wide chocolate chip satin ribbon.

Supplies: Stamps: Lots of thoughts Ink: chocolate chip Paper: vanilla, chocolate chip, Au chocolate Accessories: chocolate satin ribbon, hardware, CM circle cutter, scallop punch

Fashion weekend

This weekend was VSN Fashion Weekend on SCS! We've been planning it for about two months and I have been busy stamping to get ready, but I couldn't share any of it until now! We had a good turnout and lots of creative entries for all the fashion-themed challenges! If you get a chance, visit the Splitcoast gallery and check out all the entries.
We opened the show Friday night with an inspiration challenge using this wild dress from the runway that looked a bit like a peacock or parrot with its bright colors and feathers. So I pulled out my Word Window punch and made a Rainbow-colored peacock similar to the Thanksgiving turkeys I'd seen before. The sentiment seemed appropriate for this crazy card!
Supplies:
Stamps: One of a Kind
Paper: basic black, whisper white, tempting turquoise, bold brights
Accessories: rainbow organdy ribbon, word window punch, googly eyes, marker for legs

The second challenge was to use "thread" on your card. I don't sew AT ALL! So I pulled out some Daisy D's rub-on tape that is designed to look like stitching. I also added some real thread to the button center. I don't like naked buttons! The sketch is courtesy of Taylored Expressions, who posted one like this a few days ago on her blog! Thanks Taylor, for the inspiration!
Supplies:
Stamps: Short and sweet
Ink: black stazon
Paper: turquoise, white, only orange, pixie pink, Making Memories DP
Accessories: primas, button, eyelets, thread, ribbon, Daisy D's rub-on tape.

Spoiled!

Spoiled - that's how I felt this year on my birthday. A number of the Virtual Stamp Night hostesses sent me birthday cards, so my mailbox was full of happy mail for several days! One of things I've loved about VSN is the friends I've made. You can make some too, if you join us Friday and Saturday! The fun is at SCS all weekend long!
The first card here is from Faith, aka Markie's Mom. Faith is having a rough time right now. ((HUGS)) Faith! You can read more about Faith's troubles, and send her some support, at her blog HERE!
The second card came from my wonderful friend PeggySue. I love the colors in this card, and that really cool brad in the center of the flower. PeggySue is an admitted dork - she chats in a thread called the Dork Sisters on SCS - so I know she won't mind when I tell you, the funniest thing about this card is that she put the sentiment upside down! So the opening is at the top of the card. The great thing about PeggySue is that she sent the card despite its minor flaw, and I love it more because of it!
The last card for today is from Paula, aka PCM2004. She and I have a lot in common - we're both relocated in the midst of VSN time! She and her family moved from Washington to San Diego County just a few weeks ago, and she still managed to stamp and send me a card. Isn't that sweet? Also, the black paper on this card is the coolest - it has these little glitter bits embedded in it. Thanks everyone, for the great cards!