MY 1ST STAMP SESSION

For my first stamp session of 2008, I created this stack of Valentine's Cards to send to a platoon in Iraq near and dear to my heart. The sentiment is, "Always on my mind, forever in my heart." I like how they came out ... sort of rough and soldier-y. Hope they make it in time!
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STAMP SET: ALWAYS, HOLIDAYS & WISHES, CANVAS BG
CARDSTOCK: OLD OLIVE, KRAFT, ROSE RED
INK: OLD OLIVE CHOCOLATE CHIP
ACCESSORIES: BRADS, 5/8" WIDE GROSGRAIN RIBBON

DEEP BREATH ...

YES! YES! YES! The UPS lady brought me my box of brand-new product from the Spring-Summer '08 Catty! OMIGOSH - I just love new stamp days!

"Okay, deep breath, Laurel." Now, here's what Rylee & I dug out of that beautiful brown box:


GLITTER!!!! Goodie goodie gumdrops!

Oh, yea ... and a *few* other things:

STAMP SETS!

BOHO BLOSSOMS PUNCH!

STICKY LETTERS!

SIMPLY SCRAPPIN' KITS!

RUB ONS!

FELT FLOWERS!

Cool, huh?! What's going to be in YOUR first order?!

ISN'T IT PURDY?!

*** Well, it's been a quiet, wait-ing kind of weekend. I'm waiting to hear from my darling hubby, I'm waiting for my 1st shipment of Spring-Summer '08 product to arrive, I'm waiting for the kids to wake up ...

*** So I figured I'd better stamp a little to kill time! I was inspired by a stamper named Cathy LeDonne and her Valentine's wreath card. I changed the color scheme a bit, used my slightly neglected Office Accoutrement Stamp set and ... VOILA!

*** I'm just tickled with how this card came out!

Now, I just have to wait 'till Mr. Brown brings me goodies ... 24 hours and counting!

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STAMP SET: OFFICE ACCOUTREMENT, WONDERFUL WORDS

CARDSTOCK: ROSE RED, GOING GRAY, WHISPER & SHIMMERY WHITES

INK: ROSE RED CLASSIC & CRAFT (EMBOSSED WITH IRRIDESCENT ICE EP), BASIC GRAY

ACCESSORIES: PRETTIES PEARLS, ROUND TAB PUNCH

ALL IMAGES COPYRIGHT STAMPIN' UP! 1998-2008

GET YOUR *STAMP* ON!

Finally, after long last, I'm forming a Stampin' Club!

I'm looking for 6 dedicated stampers to kick it off with. We will meet once a month for six months. At each meeting, I'll provide two fantastic, fully-embellished projects to create. Each member commits to purchasing $25 or more in Stampin' Up! products each month, and each will take a turn at being the "hostess" - picking the project theme or technique and recieving the Hostess Benefits for that month's collective order (to include FREE stamp sets and merchandise!!!)

In addition to getting FREE stuff, each member will also receive:
* A FREE catalog
* A hostess-only coupon book
* A standing $5 discount to any other stampin' event during club duration
* Special hand-crafted gifts
* A fun, productive, crafty girls'-night out with friends!

SIGN UP BY JAN. 31ST!

COLOR CODES

For the birth announcements above, I printed the inside message on my home computer in Chocolate Chip brown, to match the colors. How, you might ask?! Well, it's the coolest thing. Some genius ladies on SCS have collaborated and put together the following custom computer RGB (red, green, blue) codes for each of SU!'s exclusive colors. Try it out sometime!

2007-2008 IN-COLORS
Blue Bayou R-83 G-134 B-142
Soft Sky R-182 G-229 B-223
Wild Wasabi R-133 G-179 B-113
River Rock R-210 G-198 B-141
Groovy Guava R-244 G-159 B-140
Purely Pomegranate R-176 G-74 B-107

SOFT SUBTLES
Almost Amethyst: R-189 G-189 B-255 OR H-170 S-255 L-222
Apricot Appeal: R-255 G-184 B-73 OR H-26 S-255 L-164
Barely Banana: R-248 G-250 B-156 OR H-44 S-230 L-203
Bashful Blue: R-215 G-235 B-255 OR H-149 S-255 L-235
Blush Blossom: R-255 G-226 B-204 OR H-18 S-255 L-230
Certainly Celery: R-125 G-153 B-63 OR H-56 S-106 L-108
Lavender Lace: R-215 G-215 B-255 OR H-170 S-255 L-235
Mellow Moss: R-111 G-136 B-60 OR H-57 S-100 L-98
Pale Plum: R-215 G-173 B-211 OR H-217 S-88 L-194
Perfect Plum: R-125 G-61 B-119 OR H-217 S-88 L-93
Pretty In Pink: R-250 G-181 B-201 OR H-243 S-223 L-216
Sage Shadow: R-147 G-187 B-115 OR H-66 S-88 L-151

BOLD BRIGHTS
Brilliant Blue: R-46 G-46 B-182 OR H-170 S-152 L-114
Gable Green: R-197 G-254 B-154 OR H-67 S-250 L-204
Glorious Green: R-57 G-155 B-66 OR H-89 S-118 L-106
Green Galore: R-159 G-253 B-89 OR H-67 S-249 L-171
Lovely Lilac: R-170 G-54 B-255 OR H-194 S-255 L-155
Only Orange: R-254 G-103 B-0 OR H-17 S-255 L-127
Orchid Opulence: R-182 G-109 B-255 OR H-191 S-255 L-182
Pink Passion: R-255 G-83 B-169 OR H-234 S-255 L-169
Pixie Pink: R- 255 G-118 B-194 OR H-232 S-255 L-187
Real Red: R-212 G-0 B-0 OR H-0 S-255 L-106
Tempting Turquoise: R-113 G-252 B-255 OR H-129 S-255 L-184
YoYo Yellow: R-251 G-229 B-19 OR H-38 S-247 L-135

EARTH ELEMENTS
Cameo Coral: R-255 G-113 B-143 OR H-246 S-232 L-155
Chocolate Chip: R-66 G-28 B-28 OR H-0 S-101 L-47
Close To Cocoa: R-147 G-97 B-69 OR H-15 S-92 L-108
Creamy Caramel: R-214 G-160 B-88 OR H-24 S-154 L-151
Garden Green: R-57 G-125 B-55 OR H-84 S-99 L-90
More Mustard: R-216 G-175 B-0 OR H-34 S-255 L-108
Not Quite Navy: R-0 G-79 B-118 OR H-142 S-255 L-59
Old Olive: R-149 G-146 B-0 OR H-41 S-255 L-75
Really Rust: R-199 G-77 B-9 OR H-15 S-233 L-104
Ruby Red: R-212 G-29 B-30 OR H-0 S-194 L-121
Summer Sun: R-242 G-204 B-16 OR H-35 S-229 L-129
Pumpkin Pie: R-232 G-138 B-0 OR H-25 S-255 L-116

RICH REGALS
Always Artichoke: R-68 G-79 B-55 OR H-62 S-46 L-67
Ballet Blue: R-97 G-134 B-205 OR H-156 S-132 L-151
Bordering Blue: R-155 G-155 B-168 OR H-170 S-7 L-158
Bravo Burgundy: R-100 G-15 B-35 OR H-245 S-188 L-58
Brocade Blue: R-135 G-176 B-219 OR H-150 S-137 L-177
Elegant Eggplant: R-108 G-0 B-77 OR H-255 S-255 L-54
Handsome Hunter: R-15 G-51 B-23 OR H-94 S-139 L-33
Night of Navy: R-0 G-0 B-75 OR H-170 S-255 L-38
Regal Rose: R-251 G-129 B-175 OR H-239 S-239 L-190
Rose Red: R-255 G-27 B-130 OR H-236 S-255 L-141
So Saffron: R-246 G-210 B-127 OR H-29 S-221 L-187
Taken With Teal: R-0 G-156 B-152 OR H-126 S-255 L-78

NEUTRALS
Going Gray: R-150 G-150 B-150 OR H-170 S-0 L-150
Sahara Sand: R-149 G-151 B-121 OR H-46 S-32 L-136
Whisper White: R-255 G-255 B-255 OR H-170 S-0 L-255
Very Vanilla: R-249 G-248 B-224 OR H-40 S-172 L-237
Basic Brown: (using Chocolate Chip) R-66 G-28 B-28 OR H-0 S-101 L-47

Your view of my PRE*view

Today marked the arrival of my demo-only PREorder from the Spring-Summer Catalog, to be released in just a few short weeks!!!



I'm here to tell you ... get your stamp space ready for some of the most beautiful, inspiring stamped images, color combinations & accessories you have ever seen from Stampin' Up!



Top Left: Images from the Embrace Life stamp set, and the Bali Breeze double sided designer papers.


Bottom Left: Images from Celebrate Everything and Ginger Blossom double sided designer papers.

Christmas came early for SU! Demos

November brought me a suprise stamp set from Shelli, co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up! Every current demonstrator received this adorable 12-piece set (a hostess-only set from the upcoming 2008 IB&C)! What a great gift.

I adore the double-line doodle-y look - it's great with many techniques, & the sentiments are so sweet: "too much of a good thing is a GOOD THING" & "time spent with friends is time well spent."

Free stamps - one of the great perks of hangin' in there as a demonstrator!!! Artwork copyright Stampin' Up!

Thankful for Apple Cider

Yes, it's true - I'm thankful for Apple Cider Double-Sided Designer Papers! But that's not all. This season, I'm thankful for:
- Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Mini Catalog
- Inspiration (my banner is taken right out of the mini)
- Craft shows & other events to give me a creative deadline
- Empty tin cans that I can cover & make seasonal pencil cans with
- Faux stitching
- Chipboard. Yes, chipboard!
- Mini composition books on sale - ya'll know I love to alter books!
- Twill Tape & Hodgepodge Hardware (where would I be without them?)

Seriously, I'm one lucky demonstrator. I get such satisfaction from creating, but I get even more blessings from the people I've gotten to know.
- My customers who always push me to keep going & do more!
- My downline - keep on stampin' girls!
- My upline, Lynda - who taught me so much
- My adorable children, who always make the best brag book subjects!

I'm all warm & fuzzy about life this fall. Great friends, good health, glorious family & a generous supply of Apple Cider. Who could ask for more?!

AUG '07 Stamp-A-Stack

Artwork by Laurel Matthew. All images copyright Stampin' Up!
This week, I taught my monthly Stamp-A-Stack. I get the challenge of coming up with 5 projects, and precut, score, and prepare all the products for my stampers. Each guest then stamps 10 cards & envelopes themselves.


With such a variety of layouts, colors, and styles ... there is a project for every taste.
But usually, my guests like them all!!

I just pre-ordered this fantastic NEW from the Holiday Collection. It's not even available to customers yet. BUT, I loved it so much, I had to let my SAS'ers have the first go with it. We used Really Rust, Groovy Guava, and River Rock. The underlying strip is a coordinating Double Sided Designer Paper. Cool, don't you think?!

I have been extremely blessed with some of the most compassionate, understanding, helpful, generous, thoughful, and fun friends in the world. I had fun putting together these projects, and had a friend in mind behind each of them. So, check the mail, girls. I'll be RAKing my BFFs this month.

And, you could too, if you come to my NEXT Stamp-A-Stack and make some of these beauties for your friends!

Swappin' with my DLs

Artwork by Laurel Matthew. All images copyright Stampin' Up!
DLs = my downline. Demonstrators that have signed up with me. They're "my girls". My stampin' students. My creative, crafty, crazy little crickets. Having a Stampin' Up! downline feels SO good. They're motivating, validating, and great company!

Each month, we have a swap. In a swap, each member (aka swapper) comes up with one idea (usually based on a theme or template) and makes a bunch of the same thing. Then, we mail them to the hostess, who swaps them out, and returns one of each design to the swappers. It's fun and a great way to share ideas.

In July, my mom hosted. She's pictured, left, at her 1st ever stampin session with me. As a librarian, she loves books and bookmarks, of course. And, as a fledgling Demonstrator, she wanted to learn how to use her stamping supplies to make bookmarks & coordinating projects. Thus, we were challenged to design a bookmark and card from the same stamp set & supplies.

So, here's my little set. It's a bookmark collection & gift envelope. I featured all-new exclusive supplies from the Fall/Winter 2007 Collection, just released in July. I just ordered all these great accessories and HAD to use them all.

Stamp Sets: Garden Silhouettes. Colors: Groovy Guava, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, River Rock. Technique: Emboss Resist. Accessories: Jumbo Eyelets, Pretties flowers, Ribbon Originals, Eyelets, Hodgepodge, Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon.

And, no. I did not come up with this whole thing by myself. I CASE'd it from a project featured in a Feb. 2004 issue of "Stampin' Success," our monthly publication for demonstrators. The project with the flowers, left, is the original, suggested as a Stamp Camp project. The Christmas tree version is my first CASE. Both flower and tree image are from the Nice and Narrow stamp set, now retired.


Contact me for the Pattern Template and make your own CASE of this great bookmark project. Better yet, become a demonstrator yourself, and you'll have access to this pattern, and countless more great ideas, techniques, and patterns available to Stampin' Up! demonstrators.

Coordinating Colors for 07-08 DSDP

Brocade Backgrounds: Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, River Rock

Cerise: Real Red, Very Vanilla

Charbon: Basic Gray, Very Vanilla

Creepy Crawly: Basic Black, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust

Cutie Pie: Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Rose Red, So Saffron

Darling Doodles: Brocade Blue, Groovy Guava, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi

Dashing: Old Olive, Real Red, River Rock, Very Vanilla

Fall Flowers: Old Olive, Really Rust, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky

Flowers for You: Certainly Celery, Lovely Lilac, Regal Rose, Tempting Turquoise

LeJardin: River Rock, Soft Sky, So Saffron, Very Vanilla

Linen Prints: Apricot Appeal, Cameo Coral, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Pink Passion

Notations No.2: More Mustard, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi

Outlaw: Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Really Rust, Sage Shadow, Very Vanilla

Petals & Paisleys: Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean, Rose Red, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Taken with Teal

Prints: Monochromatic papers available in Almost Amethyst, Always Artichoke, Blue Bayou, Brilliant Blue, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Lovely Lilac, More Mustard, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, River Rock, Rose Red, So Saffron, Soft Sky, Tempting Turquoise

Porcelain Prints: Blue Bayou, River Rock, Wild Wasabi

Uptown: Almost Amethyst, Basic Gray, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi

Wintergreen: Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Sage Shadow, Soft Sky

HOKIE HOPE

There are a lot of stampers' taglines that say "stamping is cheaper than therapy." It's alternative medicine all right, right up there with exercise, yoga, pedicures, and chocolate. Well, more than once, stamping has actually been effective therapy for me. I've stamped to gain confidence, to prove I can still do beautiful things, to forgive, to remember, to reach out, to get out and socialize ... and in May 2007, to plain ol' deal with senseless, horrible tragedy too close to home.
These are the cards I made in honor of the Virginia Tech massacre. Must have made a hundred. Could have made more. Swapped a bunch at Virginia Beach Regionals. Gave the rest to the families left behind to grieve.

And here I am. Virginia Tech graduate of 1998. Daggum. 10 whole years ago. I love that school, and every day I was there. I love the people I met, the way I could ride my bike across campus like a banshee, how I had no fear to take a nap right there on the quad.

So, sure - stamping has been my therapy. Whether or not it's actually cheaper ... that's still up for debate. But there's no other way for me. I just "stamp it all out."

Wedding Ensemble

I was the Maid of Honor in one of my best friend's wedding. She helped me deliver my second child while my husband was away on deployment in the summer of 2003. She kept me sane and happy and helped paint the baby's room. I figured it was the least I could do to stamp her a few things for the ceremony. The only item not pictured was a last-minute guest book.













Paint cans inspired by all the brave artists on splitcoaststampers. Wedding sentiment non-SU.


This awesome DVD tin journal inspired by Donna Downey's "Yes, It's a Journal." I love these.



















We did do the name plates for each guest, and ran them through the computer. But, the pillow boxes fell off the "to do" list ... thank heavens ;)
Stamp Sets: Flowers for a Friend (ret.), Fine Lace BG, and Much Appreciated.
Colors: Almost Amethyst, Lavendar Lace & Sage Shadow.












Stampin's done ... now it's time to relax with my beautiful flower girl.