Green and Neutral Challenge

Good Morning My Stamping Friends, I hope you are enjoying a bright sunny Friday like I am. The sun is shining and while it is pretty cold outside, I'm sitting in a stream of sunshine pretending its Spring.

Anyway, I heard from my friend Robin this morning about a Bloggers Challenge. The challenge this week was to create a project using greens and neutrals. I don't normally participate in these kinds of challenges but since I'm a blogger now, and yesterday I serendipitiously made a card that fit the challenge, I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring. I made this card for my brother's first wedding anniversary that is coming up in a few days. They got married in a gorgeous setting and the color they choose for the dresses, decorations, cake, etc.was a glorious shade of green (yes we are Irish). I can tell you about the card because I'm pretty sure he doesn't read my blog yet so I think I'm safe.

Here is my card and part of the envelope (you can't have a handmade card in a plain envelope!). Kevin, if you're reading this, stop now - until the card arrives in the mail!).

I used glorious green as my base and for the front layer I used some Bride DSP. I ran it through my Big Shot using the Movers and Shapers die with the heart shaper from the Punch Window Set. I ran it through the Big Shot twice, moving the magnetic heart shaper a little bit on the second run through. I sponged and attached the two Bride heart cut-outs back into place (which really stuck them onto the inside of the card). I also used the Modern Label Punch and the coordinating Modern Label die to cut out and frame the sentiment. Teeny Tiny Wishes is my go-to stamp set for all my sentiments lately and that is where I got 'Happy Anniversary'. I just love that the stamp set covers so many holidays. I used some white taffeta ribbon behind the sentiment which I popped up with domentionals.

For the envelope I used a retired so swirly wheel and I used the Lovely Letters Alphabet for the first initial of thier last name. Of course I coordinated the colors to the card, and used my glorious green Stampin' Write Marker to finish addressing the card.

If you'd like to get any of the supplies to make this card at home, just contact me or log into my Stampin' Up! website to place the order yourself 24/7.

Hope you like my card and feel free to leave a comment. It would make my day.

Enjoy your weekend.

Rose-Ellen

P.S. Check out Robin's challenge card here.

My Rag Bag Purse

Hi there My Stamping Friends!!! I'm soooo excited about my Rag Bag Purse (also known as the purse made using the Big Shot and the Scallop Square Die). I just couldn't wait to share it with you. I finished it about 5 minutes ago and I'm downloading the photos right now. Wahooo!!
I'm going to start out by saying I do NOT sew very often. In a pinch I might be able to repair the hem on a dark colored pair of pants, if you wore them at night....and tucked them into a pair of boots (tee hee hee). Seriously I can fix a Halloween costume and sorta sew a straight line but that is about the extent of it. That is probably why I'm so proud of myself for making this purse. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Big Shot and when I heard about these scallop square bags I was intrigued. I was so excited recently to get invited to my friend Robin Merriman's house for her downline meeting, where Nancy was showing us how to make these purses. Thanks again Robin and Nancy!!
So, The bag is pretty easy (if I can do it, you can do it) so I'll give you some basic instructions but the photos should tell the story. Basically I used my Big Shot and Scallop Square die to cut out 19 squares for the outside and 19 squares for the inside of the purse. I used batting in between the squares to give it some structure.

I stitched an x on each square and lined up my squares in a pattern and stitched them all together.

My hint for the newbie trying this for the first time would be to avoid a fabric that has a directional pattern (such as animal faces that need to be straight and facing in the right direction~ a perfect example of 'Do as I say, not as I do'). After I stitched the scallops together in the shape of the bag I stitched a straight line (LOL) across the top and inserted straps into the top of the bag as I was sewing.

Doing this made the bag reversible so it has a 'scallop' side and a 'straight' side.

What's that you say? You can't live without one of these bags? You can't live without the Big Shot (#113439) and the Scallop Square die (#115950)? Just contact me and I can help you place an order so you can get exactly what you need. Don't forget that we are currently running the Sale-A-Bration promotion where you get a FREE stamp set (from a list of 70+ sets) for every $50 you spend. If you order a Big Shot, the Scallop Square Die, one more die and a few other smaller items such as snail refills, you could get three SAB sets and you would qualify for a FREE hostess set and $15 in FREE merchandise. WOW!!!

So, What do you think of my first purse? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Have a great day!!
Rose-Ellen

Ribbon and Buttons/Brad Shares

Hi there My Stamping Friends!

I wanted to let you know about two Product Shares that I’m offering. For those that haven’t done a product share before, this is a great way for you to get a sampling of different accessories without having the expense of purchasing a whole package of each and every product.

My first product share is a Ribbon Share. You will get two yards of each of the 9 new 5/8th inch satin ribbons (including: Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Real Red & Basic Black ) featured on page 27 of the Occasions Mini Catalog. That is a grand total of 18 yards of assorted ribbons for only $13.50 inclusive. If you want to get 4 yards of each ribbon, you can pay $27.00 for two ‘shares’.

The second product share is the Buttons and Brads Share. Dress up your projects and add texture with these assorted Epoxy Brads and custom colored Corduroy Buttons and Brads from page 13 of the Occasions Mini Catalog.
This share includes:
½” Pretty In Pink Sending Love Epoxy Brads: 4 each of 2 designs
½” Real Red Sending Love Epoxy Brads: 4 each of 2 designs
¼” Chocolate Chip Sending Love Epoxy Brads: 4 each of 2 designs
Pretty in Pink Corduroy Buttons and Brads: 2 each of 3 styles
Real Red Corduroy Buttons and Brads: 2 each of 3 styles
You get a grand total of 36 assorted buttons and brads for only $5.75 inclusive. If you want to get 72 yards of assorted buttons and brads you can pay $11.50 for two ‘shares’.

Please let me know right away if you are interested in one or more spots in either or both product shares. There are 7 slots available for the Ribbon Share and 4 slots available for the Button Share. If those slots fill up I will open up a second set of slots for each share. I will close this share on Wednesday, February 3rd at 5pm ET and place the order that evening. If the first round of slots fill up, I will randomly pick someone that joined the share to get a Sale-A-Bration set. If two rounds fill up I will pick two names to get a Sale-A-Bration set. I will contact you on Wednesday evening to find out which item you'd like as your SAB choice.
If you are long distance just let me know how you would like the merchandise shipped to you and we can work out the details. This share is only open to customers in the United States.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Until next time~ Happy Stamping,
Rose-Ellen

A few Valentine cards swapped in Phoenix

Leadership and Regional in Phoenix, AZ

I'm back from Leadership and I'm so excited to share everything with you. Unfortunately I had to wait a little bit because my laptop is STILL in for repair. UGH!!! I borrowed this laptop (thanks Shannon!) and downloaded my photos and I'm hoping the post works out (reminder: I'm new at this so I'll be proud if I can get the photos posted at all ! If someone can tell me the trick of how to get photos placed int he right place on the page that would be huge!! If they look good now, it is just luck.)

While I was at Leadership I was in two organized swaps. One was using product from the Occasions Mini and one used products from the SAB catalog. Here are my two submissions for that. For the first one I went to the Occasions Mini and used Something Sweet (#118589) which is one of our new clear mount stamp sets. You can also get it in the regular wood mount (#117688). Stampin' Up! didn't want to compromise quality so we are still using the same red rubber and foam that gives the wonderful impressions that you associate with Stampin' Up! We've added a different mounting option and now you can mount these stamps to any one of our 9 sizes of acrylic blocks (page 6 of the mini). All four sides of the acrylic blocks are grooved with finger grips and you won't believe how easy it is to stamp with them.

For the second card I used the Sale-A-Bration set called Vintage Labels (wood mount # 118392; clear mount #119122) and I added in the Very Vintage wheel (#117693) and a touch of our whisper white organza ribbon (#114319).

This next one (with the tiger) is a swap from my fantastic up-up-up-up-upline Carol Bartle. Whenever I see her she is happy and smiling. She is so enthusiastic and its contagious. She's also very caring and happy to share tips. She's a wonderful lady!

For this card she used the top note die (#113463) in the Big Shot machine (#113439), Fox and Friends (wood mount #117002 or clear mount #118565).

Hopefully I'll get some more photos downloaded and posted later on. I saw a bunch of cute Valentine cards in my swap bag so I'll work on those.

I'm also swamped with the Pajama-Scrap-A-Rama that I've got on the calendar for this weekend. We'll be in Dunn Loring scrapping, creating and papercrafting for 20 straight hours. Want to join us? Let me know and I can send you all the details. Until later....

Rose-Ellen

Upcoming Event for My Stamping Friends that are local

Just wanted to let you all know that on January 15th and 16th the Dunn Loring Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department is hosting thier next Overnight Pajama-Scrap-A-Rama. Starting at 6:30 on Friday evening and going straight through till Saturday at 2:30 in the afternoon, we'll be stamping and scrapping our hearts out. I'll be there will some make and takes and a break out session or two. I'll also have lots of things to share with you from Leadership and the Phoenix regional.

Want to come stamp and scrap with us? Contact me (StampingWithRose-Ellen@cox.net)and I can e-mail you a flyer and registration form.

I'm heading to the Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference and Regional Seminar in Phoenix, AZ this week but feel free to email me with any questions since I'll be checking e-mail daily.

Happy Stamping!
Rose-Ellen

Welcome to My Stamping Friends

Happy New Year to My Stamping Friends!!
I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful beginning to 2010. My main ‘umbrella’ resolution this year is to be more organized. I’m calling it an umbrella resolution because it really covers so many areas that will fall in line if I get more organized. No more trips to the grocery store every other day if I just plan out the meals for the week and do one larger grocery store trip. That in turn will give me more time in the evenings to plan the next day lunches for the girls, which will give us more time in the mornings for when we can’t find a missing shoe (but now we’ll know where the shoe is because it will be in the very organized closet). I know this probably sounds like a pretty big resolution but I’ll take small bites and before I know it, things will just fall into place (I hope!).
One of the things that will help me be more organized is that I now have an actual craft room. More on that at a later date, but a HUGE THANK YOU to my darlin’ hubby for the wonderful gift.
Another thing I will be doing for my business is to introduce you all to my blog. Welcome!!! I started this a while back and spent some time teaching myself how to post text and photos and items on the sidebar. I’m not sure I have everything down 100% yet but with my life being more organized I’m sure I’ll have more time to play with it, and the more often I post, the more I’ll learn. I can tell you that I won’t be promising to post something every day and I don’t know how often I will post but I will say that I’ll put something up here several times a week at least. Probably the best way to keep up is to follow me on a Google reader (a Google webpage where you subscribe to blogs and you get notified when something new is posted. If you want more info about that just let me know).
This post is going to be long one but it’s got LOTS of information that you’ll be glad I reminded you about.

1. Dormant List – As promised, many of the stamp sets currently on our dormant list have been available for a year and now it is time to say goodbye. (In June we communicated that these stamp sets would be available for another year, but since there has been very low demand for these sets, we have decided to discontinue them earlier than expected.) They will be discontinued and no longer available after January 4th, 2010. To see the list of discontinued sets please see my earlier post below. You can order through my website or by calling or e-mailing me at StampingWithRose-Ellen@cox.net
2. The current Holiday Mini Catalog ends on January 4th so if there is something you want to order out of that catalog, order it before it’s gone! We have been told that a few of the items will carry over (Build A Bear Workshop stamps and accessories, the shimmer paint, the Simply Adorned products and the Charming stamp set). Click on the photo of the catalog on the right side of the blog to see the holiday mini catalog.
3. The new Occasions Mini Catalog will start on Tuesday, January 5th. Stampin’ Up! announced an unexpected delay in mailing the catalogs so they have posted the catalog on line for our wonderful customers. Click on the photo of the catalog on the right side of the blog to see the Occasions Mini catalog.
4. SALE-A-Bration is almost here. The best sale of the year starts on Jan 5th and runs through March 31st. That’s three months of Sale-A-Bration celebrations. Call me or e-mail me if you’d like to host your own SAB event. Check out the details and benefits here in my earlier post. Check out the catalog on the right side of the blog.
5. I’m heading off to Leadership and the Phoenix Regional from Jan 5th through the 9th. You can still place an order with me while I’m gone. I am going to try and post to my blog from Phoenix but I just don’t know how that will work out. I promise lots of great photos and fun when I return.
6. Finally, I wanted to let you know that I’m rescheduling my new catalog Open House until after I return from Leadership and the Regional in Phoenix, AZ. This way I can show you photos of all the new things I saw while I was there.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the blog so far. I’ll try to post swap samples from the new catalogs while I'm in Phoenix, AZ so keep your eyes open.
Have a great day!
Rose-Ellen

Sale-A-Bration 2010

Preorder Dates: December 1, 2009-January 4, 2010

Promotion Dates: January 5-March 31, 2010

Promotion Details:
Our Sale-A-Bration promotion gives reason for everyone to celebrate!

Customers: Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $50 purchase (before tax and shipping).
Hostesses: Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $300 in workshop sales*, in addition to our regular hostess benefits.
*Note: This benefit only available on qualifying customer, demonstrator, and workshop orders. Online orders do not qualify.
Recruits: Choose any retail stamp set (valued up to $47.95) from the current catalogs when signing up during the promotion. Plus, get 15 percent off your Starter Kit (Standard or Digital+)!

Starter Kit Regular Price Sale-A-Bration Price (15% off)
Standard Starter Kit $199 $169
Digital+ Starter Kit $185 $157

Dormant Stamp Sets Discontinued on Jan 4, 2010

As promised, many of the stamp sets currently on our dormant list have been available for a year and now it is time to say goodbye. (In June we communicated that these stamp sets would be available for another year, but since there has been very low demand for these sets, we have decided to discontinue them earlier than expected.)

The following stamp sets will be discontinued on January 4, 2010.

Item Number Stamp Set
113407 Back Woods
114492 Beautiful Baby
114486 Birthday Wish
113200 Branch Out
114496 Celebrations
113732 Central Park
113206 Classic Sketches
113226 Classy & Fabulous
114498 Flowers in Silhouette
113405 Font of You
113216 For the Bride
114494 Forever
109425 Friend by Definition
114488 Fun Flowers
113716 Garden Greetings
114490 Glad Friends
111580 Grand Soiree
113242 Hit the Road
113710 Lexicon of Leaves
113236 Man's Best Friend
114423 Ocean Commotion
113728 Playful Petals
109276 Polka Dot
111544 Putt Putt
113240 Quilt Quips
113754 Really Retro
113403 Sip by Sip
113726 Sweet Stems
113250 That's Funny
113688 Wonderful Watercolors
114028 Para la novia
114032 Acuarelas Maravillosas

If any of these stamp sets are on your wish list (or your customers' wish lists), make sure to purchase them before they are gone for good!

October is a busy month

Hi there Stamping Friends,

October is usually a very busy and festive time around here because we LOVE Halloween. This year we were booked solid with our neighborhood parade, Halloween parties at two different elementary schools, a preschooler birthday party and an adult birthday/Halloween party. We were busy, busy, busy and we loved it. The only drawback? Not enough stamping time, of course.

I did hold a Stamp-A-Stack on the 27th that was lots of fun. Some of my most fun stamping friends came over and spent a few hours chatting, stamping and catching up. I also had a new stamping friend join us and all in all it was a wonderful time. I do have to say that the icing on the cake was that my friend Karen showed up with a fantastic item to share. I was so excited that she brought this with her and so proud that she is one of my stamping friends. I'll attach a photo so you can love her project as much as I did. I'll also attach a photo of the girls during the Stamp-A-Stack.

Enjoy!!
Rose-Ellen

Autumn Splendor Card

Autumn Splendor card

Stamps
Autumn Splendor*
Grateful Greetings*
Paper
Chocolate Chip card stock (11" x 4-1/4")
Autumn Meadows Designer Series paper*
Ink
Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad
Close to Cocoa Classic Stampin' Pad
Dusty Durango Classic Stampin' Pad
Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker
Accessories
Linen thread
Mini Library clips
Stampin' Dimensionals
Color Spritzer Tool
3/16" Corner Rounder punch
*From the Holiday 2009 Mini Catalog

Instructions
Spritz Chocolate Chip card stock with Chocolate Chip ink using Color Spritzer Tool. Round card corners using 3/16" Corner Rounder punch.
Stamp leaf image in Dusty Durango ink on grid Autumn Meadows Designer Series paper, and cut out.
Cut Taken with Teal leaf from multicolored leaf Autumn Meadows Designer Series paper.
Repeatedly stamp leaf image in Chocolate Chip ink on grid Autumn Meadows Designer Series paper. Stamp sentiment in Chocolate Chip ink on grid paper. Tear top edge of grid paper. Adhere strip of Taken with Teal Autumn Meadows Designer Series paper to bottom of grid paper. Round corners of striped Autumn Meadows Designer Series paper using 3/16" Corner Rounder punch; adhere grid paper to it. Adhere cut-out leaves to grid paper using Stampin' Dimensionals.
Tie linen thread around Mini Library clip and attach clip to layered Designer Series paper.
Adhere layered paper to card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Deals of the Week #2 - Oct 12th through Oct 19th at 9:45am (MT)

Do you have a Big Shot yet? If you don't, you should and if you do, you'll love these Deals of the Week.

#1-- Item # 115961, Page # 200, Perfect Setting Bigz XL die reg $42.95
now only $25.99!!!

#2--Item# 116760, Page # 201, Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL die reg $39.95
now only $25.49!!!

#3--Item# 114515, Page# 195, Flower Burst Embosslits die reg $11.95
now only $5.99!!!

Let me know anytime before 9am (MT) on Monday, October 19th if you want to take advantage of any of these deals or order online anytime at http://www.roseelleneastman.stampinup.net/

Have a great day!!

Rose-Ellen

Hostess Promotion through Nov 30th

Have you been thinking about hosting a Stampin' Up! workshop? Maybe this sweet promotion will help make the decision a little easier.

We're excited to bring you this sweet deal for hostesses September through November:

Host a workshop totaling $250 or more and choose any one item* from the 2009 Holiday Mini Catalog for only $10! *Offer excludes hostess sets and My Digital Studio.

On October 1, when My Digital Studio is released to customers, this offer will become even sweeter:
Host a workshop of at least $400 and get My Digital Studio for 50 percent off the retail price (retail price: $79.95; promotional price: $39.97) when you use your free hostess dollars!

This offer is not valid on online orders.

Digital Starter Kit Promotion

Promotion Details: With the launch of our much anticipated My Digital Studio software, new recruits can purchase an exclusive Starter Kit that includes My Digital Studio, in addition to stamps, inks, and accessories.
Starter Kit Price: $185 (over $295 value!)

Want to become part of my team? I can tell you all about the benefits of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, whether you want to start your own business or join to get a discount on your own purchases.