Inspire. Create. Share. Convention - Part Two

Back so soon, you say? Yep, I'm ready to share more about Convention!! Check out Part One HERE. I must admit sifting through so many pictures and deciding which ones to share is actually a pretty big task! Hopefully I can give you a taste of my experience at Convention this year!

I am not sure if you saw it or not last week when I posted my cards, but the group I am a part of (Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration) was chosen to create for the display boards. Display boards at Convention are full of Stampin' Up! inspiration and this year Stampin' Up! chose different groups of stampers to fill the boards, as well as individual stampers. We were all so excited our group was chosen!

Standing in front of our display board!

We each chose a stamp set to showcase. My four cards were made using the Sweet Stuff stamp set. 

This was taken on a different day, but here are some of the designers in front of our board.

Cynthia (far left), Kim, Pam, and myself.

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Day One - into the evening

Before Convention, we signed up for an extra class to be held on the first day in the evening. We took the class that would highlight one of the Simply Created Kits from the Holiday Catalog. The name and contents of the kit were a surprise to us. The kit we got to play with is called Watercolor Winter.

Although I stuck closely to what the samples showed, it still was a bit out of the box for me to work with because of the watercoloring. However, I loved being able to try something different! I normally would scan right over this kit, but I was thankful for this opportunity to play with it and get inspired by the other samples that were shared that night.

Here are some "out of the box" samples that were shared on the big screen. In fact, Stampin' Up! created a Pinterest page for fun and different ways to use this kit. This will be so helpful when I go to pull it out again when the Holiday Catalog comes out!

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Day Two

 Before General Session on day two, I met with other designers of SSINK for a group photo and to swap cards! We'll be sharing our swap card on our next blog hop on the second Thursday in August. So be sure to tune into our blog at SSINKspiration!

During General Session, Blendabilities were one of the main focus points of the demonstration that morning. For more information and a video on how to use Blendabilities visit HERE. I hope to share more about Blendabilities in the future! Our new Blendabilities can be used to...

...color on canvas bags. 

...color on black and white pictures.

...create your own embellishments using a hot glue gun!

...color on a cello bag (using the new dot mask).

...color in stamped images.

All color collections of Blendabilities will be available August 1st. Currently we have 7 different collections available for purchase - Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, and the Skin Tone Assortment.

One of the highlights of my day was that I got to meet Erica Cerwin (Pink Buckaroo Designs). This girl is sooooooo inspiring and INSANELY TALENTED at papercrafting and memory keeping! It was fun to say hi and chat for a minute!

 

The rest of the day was jam packed with classes, workshops, and make n takes. And, although I won't be able to share with you everything I learned saw, or heard, I will tell you that I came away so inspired in so many ways! And most of all EXCITED about my future as a demonstrator! 

 

One of our workshop make n takes...

I love what this card says: 

MAKE TODAY RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING!

See you tomorrow for more of Convention highlights! I'll try to wrap it up. ;)

Inspire. Create. Share. Convention - Part One

Whew! What a whirlwind of a week!! I had SO MUCH FUN last week at the 2014 Inspire. Create. Share. Convention in Salt Lake City, UT. The three days I was there were filled with so much inspiration and creativity (not to mention crazy fun)...I don't even know where to begin!

My sister Kim (and one of my downline members), my upline Andrea and one of her downline members, Liv all boarded a plane from Portland, Oregon and headed toward Salt Lake City, Utah.

I already knew this ahead of time, but waiting on the plane for us were two of the members of the SSINKspiration blog I am a part of. Kim and Kathy had flown from Missouri to Oregon to pick us up (not by their choice, of course...they had a super long flight!) It was so fun to fly with them to Utah and get to know them better IN PERSON.

Kathy Peck (left) - Katrina P's Creative Corner

Kim Ryden (right) - Stamping with Kim

 One more quick pic with my SSINK girls before we parted ways to separate hotels!

Liv, Andrea, & I on the way to the hotel

My sister & I ready to head to our room! Thanks to Andrea for ordering 2 cases of water to be delivered to the hotel! She's such a smart girl! ;)

When we got to our room we realized they had upgraded us to what looked like the "honeymoon suite". There was a giant sized bathtub/shower in the middle of the living area! This is my sister calling the front desk to ask what was going on. We ended up sticking with the room because they were pretty booked and we didn't want to have to move after spending one night.

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DAY ONE

After a short night's sleep, we were excited and ready for the Opening Session!

My upline Andrea & I

My sister & I

Shelli Garnder, co-founder & CEO of Stampin' Up!

After a quick introduction and hello we jumped right into...

the 2014 HOLIDAY CATALOG!!

Available to purchase from on August 28th!

I don't want to give away too much quite yet, but here are some fun things they shared on the main stage. There will be more sneak peeks to come!

One of the highlights of the opening session was the interview Shellie did with Becky Higgins, creator of Project Life. And now that we are carrying Project Life by Stampin' Up! it was so fun to be able to hear about her vision and where this idea came from.

And of course there will be some new Project Life by Stampin' Up! goodies in the Holiday Catalog! If you want to view our current Project Life by Stampin' Up! products, check out pgs. 188-189 of the Idea Book & Catalog (or check it out HERE online).

 Before they let us go from the Morning General Session they gave us an "all-attendee giveway!"...this means FREE GOODIES! Each of us got one of the single stamps in the catalog. I got Watercolor Thank You (pg. 146 in catalog).

 Our next activity of the day was a workshop where we listened to a fellow demonstrator share her tips and techniques for demonstrating at an in-home workshop. After she finished we were all able to CREATE! When we checked in at the beginning of the day we got some FREE stamp sets we would use during Convention. One of the free sets was called Kinda Eclectic. This is the set that we used to create our cards. This set didn't speak to me at first, but now that I got to play with it, it looks so fun...and definitely eclectic!

This is one of the versions of cards she showed us how to create.

Busy at work!

Finished cards!

It wasn't until near the end of our workshop time that I realized who I was actually sitting with!! I knew these ladies looked familiar (from pics I have seen online because of their blogs!)

Nance Leedy (far left) ~ Canopy Crafts

LeAnne Pugliese (middle) ~ Wee Inklings

Linda Callahan (far right) ~ Stampin' Seasons

 OK, time for a break!! 

More to come, so hope to see you here again soon!

the creation station blog hop - in the garden

I'm so glad to be back on The Creation Station Blog Hop as I had to opt out from the last one! And, boy am I sorry that I did. The projects and cards the design team created were AMAZING (to say the least)! If you'd like to hop along with last month's "Confetti-Inspired" hop, please start here at Jen's blog.

But this 3rd Sunday of the month is a whole new hop with a whole new set of stamping inspiration for you! You should have hopped on over from Sara's blog.

For today's hop we were able to choose from the following (any or all!): 

1) Flower Patch stamp set (with or without the coordinating dies)

2) Theme: In the Garden

3) Product Showcase: Decorative Masks

I don't currently own the Flower Patch stamp set (although very tempting, especially after all of the inspiring cards and projects I saw at Convention this last weekend!), so I chose to think of what I wanted for the theme "In the Garden". I haven't used my Wildflower Meadow stamp set (pg. 175) yet and I thought would fit perfectly for the theme!

And, guess what?! This set comes with a coordinating embossing folder (pg. 227).

I combined the two of these together and created this card...

I first stamped the image using White Stazon ink on Soft Suede cardstock. I then ran it through the Big Shot with the Wildflower Meadow Embossing Folder. After inking up a second time in Blushing Bride and Pool Party, I fussy cut the flowers and bird and popped each of them up with Dimensionals. I added a pearl in the middle of each of the flowers and added a trio of a Candy Dot, pearl, and rhinestone in the top right hand corner. I chose to use the Really Good Greetings stamp set and punched it out with the Modern Label Punch. Lastly I tied a piece of white organza ribbon and tied with a knot.

Stamp Sets	Really Good Greeting, Wildflower Meadow
Ink	Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Bermuda Bay, White Stazon
Paper	Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Soft Suede, Whisper White,
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Rhinestones, Subtles Candy Dot (Blushing Bride), Pearls, White Organza Ribbon
Tools	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Wildflower Meadows Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Modern Label Punch

I wanted to keep going with my projects and share a few more samples to help inspire you (I especially wanted to play around with the Decorative Masks!!), but I ran out of time before leaving for Convention!! But have no fear...the rest of the team I am sure has much in store for you!! So keep on hopping along to enjoy the rest of The Creative Station.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope that you will continue on through the hop and stop by to Jennifer Frost's blog by clicking the next button. If you are wanting to go backwards, click on the back button to visit Sara Levin. Happy hopping! 

control freaks tour - convention swaps!

Currently we are wrapping up Day 3 of Inspire. Create. Share. 2014 Stampin' Up! Convention and I have had a blast!! One exciting and fun thing (of many!) I was able to do while here was meet some of the Control Freaks!! I am one of the newbies to this group, so it was quite the treat for me to be able to meet many of these talented stampers all in one place!! We decided before Convention that those who would like to, would swap two different cards with one another.

And for this month's tour we are sharing our Convention Swap cards with all of you!  For any of the Control Freaks who weren't able to go this year, but still wanted to hop it is a FREE FOR ALL theme for them!

You should have arrived here from Justin Krieger's blog. If so, you're in the right place!! Continue on the hop with us and see all of the amazing swap card inspiration!

Swap Card #1

Stamp Sets	Really Good Greetings
Ink	Markers - Real Red, Crushed Curry, Pool Party, Basic Black
Paper	Pool Party, Real Red, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla, Flashback DSP
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Rhinestones, Natural 7/8" Cotton Ribbon, Real Red 1/4" Cotton Ribbon, Linen Thread
Tools	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Large Scallop Edgelits Die, Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Tag Topper Scalloped Punch, Dotted Scalloped Ribbon Border Punch, Chevron Punch

 Swap Card #2

Stamp Sets	Zoo Babies, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink	Black Stazon, Tangerine Tango, Smokey Slate
Paper	Tangerine Tango, Smokey Slate, Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stack
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Rhinestones
Tools	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Chevron Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Builder Owl Punch (mini hearts)

Thanks for taking the time to hop along with us today!! Continue on the hop to visit the talented Dawn Olchefske.




Control Freaks Blog Hop List

1. Cindy Elam at Heart's Delight Cards
2. Wendy Weixler at Wickedly Wonderful Creations
3. Patty Bennett at Patty Stamps
4. Melissa Davies at Rubberfunatics 
5. Mindy Backes at Bada-Bing! Paper-Crafting!
6. Debbie Henderson at Debbie's Designs
7. Mary Brown at Stamper Camper
8. Justin Krieger at JK Cards
9. Heidi Boos at Stuck on Stampin' (you are here!)
10. Dawn Olchefske at DOstamping
    
11. Judy DiScipio at Judy Stamps
12. LeeAnn Greff at Flowerbug's Inkspot
13. Connie Babbert at Inkspired Treasures

SSINK Convention Display Board Samples - more sweet stuff

Well, it's Day 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah at Stampin' Up's Annual Convention and while I'm "away to play" I wanted to share with you the other two cards I created for the Convention Display Boards. If you missed yesterday's post, I shared that the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration design team was chosen to help with some samples for the display boards.

Although these next two cards may not be seen on the display board (our board was too small to be able to fit all four of each of the designer's cards), I still wanted to share with you the last two cards I had created.

Stamp Sets	Sweet Stuff
Ink	Black Stazon, Pear Pizzazz, Blender Pens with Markers - Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride
Paper	Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, All Abloom DSP Stack
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Subtles Candy Dot (Blushing Bride), Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Whisper White Baker's Twine
Tools	Scalloped Topper Punch

Stamp Sets	Sweet Stuff
Ink	Black Stazon, Markers - Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry
Paper	Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Sweet Taffy DSP
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Brights Candy Dots (Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise)
Tools	Scalloped Dotted Ribbon Border Punch, Banner Punch

Come visit our blog to take a look at the other designer's display board cards!

{Click on the SSINK badge below.}

SSINK Convention Display Board Samples - top 2 favorites!

I am currently in Salt Lake City, Utah enjoying another year of the annual Stampin' Up! Convention and I am super excited to share that our Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration design team was chosen to be one of the group display board designers! Most of our design team members created cards (or projects) to be displayed at Convention. We each created 4 cards using a new stamp set of our choosing and although not all of them will be displayed (the space we had was small!), I am so excited to see them up on the boards...along with all the other thousands of cards from so many talented Stampin' Up! demonstrators!! :) I'll be sure to snap a pic of our board!!

While many of our team is at Convention, we thought it would be fun to share some of our display board cards on our blogs. I chose my top two favorites to show you first and the other two cards I will show you tomorrow. The set I chose to create my cards with is called Sweet Stuff. Isn't it so cute?

Stamp Sets	Sweet Stuff
Ink	Blackberry Bliss, Black Stazon, markers - Crumb Cake, Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey, Blush Blossom (retired), Rich Razzleberry Blendabilities (to color the rhinestones!)
Paper	Whisper White, Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss, Moonlight DSP Stack
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Rhinestones, Blackberry Bliss 3/8" Satin Stitched Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Tools	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Polka Dot Textured Embossing Folder (new!)

Stamp Sets	Sweet Stuff
Ink	Melon Mambo, Black Stazon, Blendabilities - Daffodil Delight, Markers - Basic Black
Paper	Whisper White, Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Back to Black DSP, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Melon Mambo 1/4" Taffeta Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter,
Tools	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, HoneycombTextured Embossing Folder, Circle Framelits, Owl Builder Punch (hearts)

Come visit our blog to take a look at the other designer's display board cards!

{Click on the SSINK badge below.}

fourth of july birthday cards

Happy 4th of July stamping friends!!

In celebration of this holiday I thought I would post some patriotic cards I have made recently...and a bonus one my daughter made!

A couple of weeks ago I had mentioned that I attended a fun team event with my downline, sideline, and upline where we each planned a card for one another to make! The two cards I want to share with you today are both fitting since they are patriotic themed!! (The remaining 6 cards I created will come in another post!)

This first card design was created by one of my downline members Terri Takashige. It is just perfect for my niece's birthday which just so happens to be TODAY on the 4th of July!! I love the little firecracker candles and the new stars template was a perfect background for this card! I also used the new bitty star punch to pop up some of the stars and added a rhinestone to the middle. Terri's card originally had the sentiment reading "July 4th" but since I knew I wanted to use it as a birthday card I pulled out my new stamp set "And Many More" to stamp the happy birthday greeting.

This next card was designed by my sideline Olivia Eckroth. She used THREE different stamp sets for this card, but I just love all of the elements together. We used the retired (and will be missed) Simply Stars stamps, along with the still available Perfect Pennants, and Gorgeous Grunge. The colors are Night of Navy, Real Red, and Smoky Slate. Such a fun card design!

This last card was one my 8-year old daughter made. She also wanted to create a card for her cousin's birthday and since it is on the 4th of July she stuck with stars with red, white, and blue! She was so cute because she actually typed in Google search "Stampin Up 4th of July birthday card" to help her come up with a design. She knows her mama's tricks when needing some inspiration! ;)

 Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

ssink - happy birthday cards

It's a "Happy Birthday" kind of day for the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration ladies as we are sharing birthday cards on our blog today!! There is ALWAYS a need for birthday cards, right? Be sure to head on over to the SSINK blog for some birthday inspiration. We'd love a little hello if you do stop by, so be sure to leave a comment for us.

To create my birthday card, I decided to pull out (again) the new set called Big News. I actually used it for Monday's Quick & Easy card as well. This set has a lot of fun sentiments for many occasions!

Stamp Sets	Big News
Ink	Coastal Cabana, Hello Honey
Paper	Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding, Lullaby DSP
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Rhinestones, In Color Sequins Assortment, Rhinestones
Tools	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Circle Framelits, Paper Snips