One Day Paper Pumpkin Sale

Hey would you like to try Paper Pumpkin at a Super Deal? Well for 31 hours you can do just that. Starting this evening Thursday June 8 at 5:00pm till Friday June 9 at midnight Paper Pumpkin will be offered for $7.00 which includes shipping (HST) extra. You can subscribe for one month and then unsubscribe or if you like it you can keep getting it for a few months at the regular price, your choice. Simply go to mypaperpumkin.com to try it out.

Labour of Love

Our daughter got engaged last October and as many of you know when your daughter gets married and the family is handy there is opportunity to make a lot of things. Well we started talking about the invitation and 8 months later the final product was complete. It is 8 pages of information, pictures, verses, reply cards, registry and menu. I don't think either one of us anticipated how long it would take or we never would have started out with them but we were very pleased with the end result and the response to the invitations has been phenomenal. No matter where we go or who we meet someone mentions that they have seen the invitation. Watch for the next post I will include a picture of some of the inside pages.

In a recent catalogue Stampin Up came out with a Gift Box Punch Board (item 135863 $24.95) and this week I thought I would play around with it and see what kind of boxes it made. I was thrilled to see the end result and amazed at the possibilities using this handy too. We have a wedding in the family this year so I can see many uses for the new Punch Board. Pictured below are three of the sixteen sizes this Punch Board makes. We will be having a class at the Hanover Public Library on April 15 and here at the studio on Friday April 17 making one of these boxes as well as a couple of spring cards. Watch for further news and pictures on that class.

Colour is Everything

Last night Karen hosted a Stampin Up workshop here in my studio. She warned me before the workshop that I had better wear something green to celebrate St. Patricks Day. So just before she came I put on my green scarf and then the guests started to arrive. Some of the guests remembered to wear a smattering of green others did not but the most amazing thing was that Karen not only wore green in her ensemble she also brought green refreshments! Look at the amazing cake, the candy and the green drinks! Her scarf, her watch, her ring, all matched the look she had going too. Well done Karen, what a hoot!

March Madness Card #2

Today I have for you card #2 in the class March Madness scheduled for March 28th from 1-5pm. This card was designed by Sara Hoogendoorn who did a beautiful job on the colouring of this card. The students in this class will have a choice of the Moon Lake stamp set and accessories or the Butterfly Basics Stamp Set and accessories. Which will you choose?

Upcoming Class

March is almost here and I am in denial, where did February go? I love the winter months when all is quiet and we can spend guilt free time making projects and staying indoors. I love winter for the outdoor activities too when we can bundle up and head outdoors to defy the elements. Today I have a card idea for you that we will be making in a new Card Class I have created taking place on Saturday afternoon March 28th. Everyone will be getting a Bundle valued at $75 and you will be making the cards featured here in the next couple of weeks. Today's card is a version of one I saw at jaydeestamping.com. I hope you like it. Watch for more samples here.

This past weekend we went to my brothers cottage and bundled up for one of those outdoor activities I was talking about above. What a lot of fun we had cross country skiing and snowshoeing. The funniest part of all was trying to get on top of the snow bank pictured here and all of us falling in a domino effect when one of us lost our balance.

And finally here are this weeks Weekly Deals, check them out!

Library Class Fun

Together, a bunch of us have been meeting at the Hanover Public Library for quite a few years, we have a steady faithful group that gets together every third Wednesday of the month for most of the year. Sometimes not everyone can make it and sometimes we have new students and sometimes students take a break to attend to other things in their lives but for the most part we are group that has been together for a long time. Last night I asked the group if I could take a picture of them so that I could share the fun times we have when we are together. If you would like to join us we would love to have you. We meet for two hours and I have all the items in a kit for you so you can have the fun of making the card projects. The girls are holding up some of the card creations they are working on or have completed. See those smiling faces?

Weekly Deals

Stampin Up has been announcing Weekly Deals for the past year and I thought I would share this weeks deals with you. These deals are valid from Tuesday morning to Monday of the following week. (Feb 23) There are usually a half a dozen items and there is usually one or two items that I think are a great value. This week I noticed the 2014-2016 In Colour Designer Series Paper is on for the great price of $20.21. This pack has 40 sheets in the 5 new colours, 8 sheets of each colour and double sided paper. That figures out to about fifty cents per sheet. The colours this year are Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow, Hello Honey and Tangelo Twist. If you would like a pack let me know by Monday night and I will be happy to get it for you.

Recycled Project

Recently our daughter got a job as a Librarian at the Southgate Public Library. In this position she is trying out several new programs to draw patrons to the Library. One such program is an evening a month called Make it Yours in which patrons can join a class and make a project for a nominal fee. This month she has chosen to make a bookshelf from a pallet and then hang a banner on the bottom. As soon as she mentioned the banner I remembered a Die Cut called Perfect Pennants that Stampin Up has and pulled it out. She then got some discontinued books and made the Pennants from the pages of the old books and then made a dark mat as a background. All the students will have the option of choosing a word that they want on their banner, but because she is storing her books in it she choose the word "Books". She was thrilled that the class filled immediately. 

Valentine Favours

Good friends of ours host a Valentines Dinner every year. They go all out and prepare a wonderful meal that she cooks herself (she is an excellent cook, her salads are delicious) they decorate the house with wreaths, floral picks and centrepieces on the table. In the past she has had wonderful gifts on our table settings which include pencil roses, ties with a heart motif for the guys, chocolates, etc. This year was no exception and when we came to dinner on this cold February night the house was warm with a welcoming atmosphere, the smells of the delectable dinner, the wood stove crackling, and a beautiful table set with heart shaped centrepieces. On each table setting were the favours pictured below that she had handmade. Inside the purse were 12 bite size chocolates for the girls and inside the tall box was a miniature jar of Maple Syrup for the guys. What a way to make us all feel special! Valentines is a wonderful time to celebrate your significant other, but also a great day to spend time with good friends. 

Back from Convention

Hey it was a great time in Florida at the Stampin Up Leadership Conference but I am now back in my studio at home and enjoying a different kind of warmth, (radiant heat flooring as opposed to sunshine and 70F.) We had a great time and saw a lot of the product from the Occasions Catalogue displayed and demonstrated. I roomed with several girls from the USA and we had a wonderful time together.

When attending Stampin Up events there are always lots of components to the event. First of all we always get an awesome bag and you can see us with our new bags in the photo. Then we enjoy a General Session where all demonstrators gather in once place for announcements and demonstrations. These are usually the highlight of our event. Several times throughout the event Stampin Up gives out and all attendee giveaway and we were thrilled to receive Project Life cards, accessories and a pkg of DSP. We each also get a wrist band with one of Stampin Up's colours and randomly throughout the event they announce a Prize Patrol and there is a drum roll and they announce the colour that has won that round of prizes. Loni who is standing to the left in the picture won a fantastic prize package. 

We have breaks during the 3 day session where we go to a Display Room and look at display boards, card samples, project samples and there are several booths with Stampin Up employees who are demonstrating some of the new products. If this sounds like fun and something you would like to attend talk to me about becoming a demonstrator! 

If you would like to see some of the Occasions Products and make a few projects I am hosting a Open House this Saturday afternoon Feb 7, here in Mount Forest. There is no cost to attend and I would love to see you there.

New Occasions Catalogue

On January 6th Stampin Up will release the new items in the 2015 Occasions catalogue and the excitement is running high. As demonstrators we get to pre-order the products one month in advance of the release date and I have ordered some wonderful new products to show you! The stamps and accessories are some of the best I have seen to date. Especially loved this year is the Butterfly Basics set and Framelits. I know it is one of my favourite items.

Spring Occasions Catalogue and Sale-a-bration Brochure

I am hosting a couple of Open Houses at my Studio in Mount Forest and you are welcome to attend if you live in the area. The first one will be Tuesday Jan 6th and the second one will be Saturday afternoon Jan 10th at 1:00pm.

Pictured below is a new image called From the Herd,  it such a fun set! It has all kinds of nice greetings that go along with it. I know it will be a favourite.

Happy New Year to you all!

Banner Blessings Stamp Set

Today I have a new Photopolymer Stamp Set to show you that one of Stampin Up's employees designed. It is a great little set that I am sure all of us can use on our projects. It features four words with a verse in inscribed in the centre. The set is called Banner Blessings and retails for $19.95. I am ordering this set next week and if you would like a copy please let me know and I can get one for you too!

Coming up soon at the studio are the annual Stamp-a-Stacks, this year I am hosting two, one on Monday November 24th and one on Tuesday Dec 2nd both starting at 6:30pm and going till about 9-9:30pm. You will be making 12 cards in total three each of 4 designs, pictured here below. I have room in both class so if you are interested in joining us and you live in the Mount Forest area just drop me a line and I will be happy to include you. Have a wonderful day!

Fall Frenzy Card Harvest Fundraiser

This past weekend my Team and I hosted an event called Fall Frenzy Card Harvest. We invited our customers to come out for a day and make an assortment of cards and the proceeds from the registration would be given to our local hospital's building project. We had such a great time together but rather than me tell you about it I will post a few pictures of our day to give you a better idea.

The girls all enjoyed the Discontinued Stamp Sale we held in the beginning of the day, lots of bargains to be had for everyone. 

Angie is demonstrating how to use the Big Shot in making her card.

 These girls look like they are having lots of fun making cards and enjoying each other's company.

 Elizabeth and guest are looking at our display table to check out the fantastic project ideas.

And here we are from left, demonstrator's Elizabeth, Carolyn, Kayla, Angie, Tammy and Sarah.

Happy Fall! I can hardly believe the season is upon us but as I look outside my window today the sun is shining and the temperatures are warm so hopefully the season stays that way.
I wanted to show you a special Hostess Set that Stampin Up is offering to Hostesses this fall. In addition to the great Hostess Benefits that you already received for having a Stampin Up workshop they will give all qualifying workshops this beautiful new set called Good Greetings. I have used this set in my studio and the images are crisp and clear. If you would like to host a workshop and earn this stamp set please contact me today to arrange a date.

In other news I was fortunate to be away on a trip with my daughter this summer for a trip to England and Scotland. What a great time we had and what incredible things we saw. I am enclosing a picture of the scenery near the city of York in England. I love the stone walls, the cobblestone streets, the old buildings but not so much the narrow roads, driving on the wrong side of the road and amount of rain:)

Today's post is about the upcoming class in August called Summer Stamp Club part 2. The last couple of summers I have offered the new In Colour Collection of Stamp Pads and Paper to my students and when they purchase those they get a free class. Next month, on Tuesday August 2nd they are getting the In Colour Paper Pack and Markers and these are the cards we will be making in the class. If you are interested in taking this class and live in the Mt Forest area, drop me a line and I will get you some supplies.
I am not sure where you live but over here in Mid-Western Ontario we are having a wet summer, the grass is still nice and green and the temperature is a balmy 18C today. I love these temps but not everybody does. Hope the weather is great in your area and that this note finds you well.

Blendabilities

Today I just wanted to tell you about another project I have done using the new Blendabilities Markers from Stampin Up. If you have ordered from me in the past you will know that I like to put thank you tags on my bags when I give them to you. I have made thousands of tags over the years but it is always fun to make up a new one to go on your parcel. Today I made up a bunch in readiness for the launching of the new Stampin Up Catalogue. I anticipate that like me you will "need" a few things from the new Catalogue. So I took one of flower Stamps from the stamp set called Fabulous Florets and coloured it in with the Rich Razzleberry markers in all three shades. Then I took a little Dazzling Diamonds and added just a pop to the centre of the tag. Our new Scalloped Punch did just the trick in making these 2 inch strips look like tags on top. What do you think? Would you like one of these tags on your bags?
If you have not done so already you can register for the Open House workshops on June 17 or 23rd and receive a free Stampin Up Catalogue.

Blendabilties

Stampin Up announced at Leadership in January that they would be coming out with a new marker that would allow shading and highlighting. The new marker collection is called Blendabilities. It comes in 12 colours and each colour has 3 shades to allow shadow and highlighting. I was very excited about this announcement. Having painted for 15 years I love the ability to shade and highlight and to this point Stampin up products have not been able to do this. I have gotten 6 shades of the new markers in and have been playing around with them. Here are a few samples that I am working on.

 The cake plate uses the Coastal Cabana combination and as you can see there are lots of shadow and highlight.

 This fun new stamp set called In This Together also uses several of the new colours and I had lots of fun adding in shadowing here and there.

Finally this ones shows the vividness and shadow/highlight the best. This stunning new stamp called Blended Bloom will be a hit when it comes out as you can really see the colour gradation in the three samples. I am planning to have a try it night here at the studio, anyone can come and make a sample or two and from there decide if you would like to be part of the Blendabilities Club. This club will run for a year with participants getting one colour family each month.

Sad to see it go!

The weather is warming up! As we welcome spring we say goodbye to a few favourite Stampin Up sets and accessories. To browse the items leaving, click here.

Here's a favourite I'm going to miss...

Modern Medley Designer Series Paper

$13.50

I found these cool ideas on Pinterest featuring this paper. Use the "search" feature on Pinterest and type in any Stampin Up set, paper, colour or accessory and browse through the results for some great finds!

The retired supplies are first come, first served this year so be sure to place your orders quickly. 

Enjoy the sunshine!

Two New Stamp Sets

As you know Stampin Up has been introducing us to clear mount Photopolymer stamps this past year and now we have two more stamp sets added to the collection called Sweetie Pies and Sweetie Pie Frames. These stamp sets were designed by an employee at Stampin Up, Cindy Bowden and they are the cutest little sets ever!. Take a look and see some of the ideas using this new little sets. These sets retail for $16.95 each, contact me today if you would like one or both.

Have a wonderful weekend, spring is officially here, although you can't tell outside my window yet, but for all of you with no snow and sunshine send some our way!