Our bus driver of 10 years is "retiring" from our route. It is the longest route in our district, which is geographically speaking, a very large district. He truly did a great job keeping kids safe, on time, and in line for 10 years. It's the only driver my son has known. Dave just grew weary of the hours and miles. He was never sick and rarely took time off. Cannot ask for a better driver.  We gave him a Gander Mountain gift card as a thank you because he was all about the Hunt Fish Camp in his free time.  I had about five minutes and no stamps that would really fit the occasion so I focused on the colors of Hunt Fish Camp.  The finished card is 5x7 to accommodate the 4x6 photo inside. My son has gotten so tall this year! Using the woodgrain background stamp to set the stage for the theme. I used tthree of the new InColors - tangelo twist, which is my substitute for blaze orange, and mossy meadow, which is a real nice outdoorsy green. Hello honey added a lighter punch to

Tonight's Catalog launch projects.  First card features the Work of Art stamp set 134111 in wood (134114 clear) using the new InColor Hello Honey.  The second card features Sea Street stamp set 133988 clear (133985 wood) and the new thick bakers twine.  I will upload a complete list of supplies to my documents section later. 

  Cinderella Supplies used for the Disney Princesses Big Shot Framelits Dress Up 130101 (retiring June 1, 2014) get it from my store today!!! And a retired multipetal flower punch. ++ Flower Frenzy Bigz L 133728 will work! (Avail June 2)   Again, I made these way over a year ago. Any flower type punch will do for the white skirt part and the epaulets (the white shoulder poofs). The cardstock I used was Marina Mist for the bodice. I ran the MM piece through the Big Shot with the framelit. It trimmed it down below the waist.   Base dress was made using retired Bashful Blue, but a any lighter blue will suffice. I attached all pieces to this base. I sponged using Marina Mist ink.   The white ruffle underskirt was made using the other dress framelit from the package and trimmed down.   The bird was made using the Bird Builder Punch 117191. And I added googlie eyes.   In fact I wonder if the bird wing might work for the white skirt poofs in place of th

Thursday May 29, 5-8  Caribou Coffee Coon Rapids on Main Open House Samples * Make n Takes Catalog * Clubs

While cleaning the garage today we had a couple of unexpected guests. They checked out every nook and cranny of the garage. I invited them to stay if the promised fresh eggs every morning. They went home shortly thereafter. (smile)

This item is so spot on with the return of shiny gold in fashion, decor, and more.  DISCLOSURE: It is not mine, though I wish that it were. Terri had this as a project for her Stamp Share for Leaders group I believe.  It uses the postage punch, the gold foil paper, boho blossoms punch, mini butterfly punch, petite curly label punch, and thats about it. And the gold glitter cardstock. I am not able to identify the mini stamps, The Celebrate Today stamped words is from Perfectly Penned.  This or something similar would make a great gift for someone special in your life. It is mostly punched paper and minimal stamping, and then adhering it all together. Get a nice frame, or if you are on a budget, Goodwill often has frames for around a dollar, and repaint it, or just sand it to distress it (purposefully).  Thank you for stopping by, happy stamping, Sandy

For our April downline meeting Diva Day, we swapped! No surprise, right?!!! The theme was Masculine. boy did I mess up on that one....I got confused on what the blog themes and meeting themes were. Oh well, mine was an Easter swap and I am sure it came in handy for some folks. I already posted it weeks ago.  Above is Julianne's card. So funny, she is great at saving scraps and reusing them for a later purpose. I just do not usually have that kind of patience. The center piece is leftover from a previous project. Perfect right?   Autumn's card. I got the victrola crooked on my sample. It's handmade, right? this woud be a great card to give my music loving hubby. Hmm...shhhh.  Cyndi's card. Great great idea using the woodgrain background stamp and cutting it and rounding the corners to make a faux wood frame. I may have to come back to this technique.  Deb's card using the faux lattice technique using the chevron punch two strips and weaving them together.   Denise

Polka Dot cutie Hello card! Fuzzy wuzzy caterpillar Hello! These cards were inspired by the card below. I used the 1", 1 1/4" 1 3/8" circle punches.  (Modified post) --------- I belive this cute little creature was created by Autumn W. from my Stampin Divas local group for a swap a year ago! The paper is long since retired but the idea is not. I just think he is the cutest thing! If it was someone else, please correct me so I can correct my post. I just came across him when I was cleaning up my office. I took the time, for probably the first time ever, when I was pulling my retiring products to pull swaps with retiring stuff on them. Some never got posted because of all the XXX that went on in the last year. Mr. (or Ms?) Caterpillar was just to cute an idea not to share.  This would be a good idea for a kids party, or birthday card, or maybe scrapbooking about some gardening fun. You could even do him in the oh ---- what is that caterpillar called? Wooly bear? Fuzzy Wuzz

At our Red Carpet New Catalog Premier on April 29th, my upline Sue organized a swap and was unfortunately unable to be there due to the flu. Who gets the flu in the spring? Poor dear. I wish you well Sue! If there is a Stampin' Up! event there is always bound to be some swapping. I was surprised by how many that attended our local event (around 350?) didn't swap. Country-wide too. I was hearing a lot of chatter about no one swapping that was attending the big event. This is the time of the year as products and catalogs change that I want ideas to carry me through.  You can tell I am getting more on top of my game in that I am only posting these cards a week late (smile)! Might have gotten to it this weekend but since it was actually nice in MN we cleaned out the garage. If we finished our patio and I sold the rest of my retired Stampin' Up! products we could park two cars easy into the garage. Getting closer all the time. We do not have a very deep garage. It looks deceivin

At the 2013 Stampin' Up! Convention our local Inking of You group had a 2013-15 In Color Swap. The In Colors are Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Pistashio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe and Baked Brown Sugar. Available in ink pads, ink refills, both sizes of paper, ruffled ribbons (retiring with new ribbon June 2), markers, buttons, and what am I forgetting??? Above is my card for the swap. Full Disclosure : Some products on the swaps you will see below are retired. Most specifically the InColor ruffled ribbons, and maybe a few stamp sets.  The stamp sets should still be available to purchase until June 1st. No guarantee on any retiring accessories. And I would love to give credit to the lovely ladies individually for each swap, but some of the name tags have gotten lost in the last few months. Again, this should have been posted in July or August, but knees fail and replacements are made (smile). Better late than never. You can always use the swaps as layout ideas or color combinatio