Quick post with a couple cards!

This will be a quick post because I have to get ready for the retiring stamp set list which I am hoping will be posted tonight shortly after 11:00 pm. I want to be sure to get it out to you all as soon as possible!

Here are two more cards that I received in the Regionals swap. These are both from demonstrators in my downline group. The first one is Stacey's - she's loving the Petal Prints stamp set and has been very creative with it! She also used the Fine Lace background stamp and the Friend to Friend set.

The second is Alicia's - she used the In Full Bloom set along with the French Script background stamp and the Warmest Regards hostess stamp set. These are both great cards!

Thanks Alicia and Stacey for these great cards!!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2007 Stampin' Up!)

I've been tagged!!

Okay, if you don't know what this is all about, it's one of those crazy blogging things... It means that someone who has a blog and reads my blog has tagged me. I've avoided answering this before, but find it fun to read others when they post so I guess it's time to get in on the game. My friend and fellow demonstrator, Eleonor, tagged me this time. So, now I'm supposed to blog 7 random things about myself and then tag 7 other bloggers. Here goes:

1. I have a huge Smurf collection - over 200 different Smurfs that I've been collecting since I was about 6. I'm still adding to my collection... yes, they still make Smurfs. My husband won't let me display them though so they sit in my Smurf bag in the closet and special little kids get to play with them (under close supervision... LOL) when they come to visit me.

2. I got my private pilot's licence on my 17th birthday making me the youngest licenced pilot in Canada... I flew a glider solo (as pilot in command, by myself with no one else in the glider) when I was 15 - before I could even drive a car alone! I don't fly anymore though... it got too expensive and I've outgrown the daredevil in me!

3. I'm a big country music fan - Faith Hill and Tim McGraw top my list along with Shania, Martina McBride, Lonestar and Reba McEntire (among others).

4. I love spicy foods - Thai is my favourite! And, Frank's Red Hot Sauce is my best friend with pizza, tacos, chili, etc.

5. Clamato juice is my favourite drink... Chai tea is right up there too! Frank's goes really well in Clamato juice!

6. I'm not as organized as I look... never look in a closet or cupboard in my house because you'll see a side of me that you probably didn't expect! Well, at least I hope you don't expect it... maybe I don't even look organized and am just trying to convince myself that I do! LOL! Oh, but I will be able to find the Smurf bag (see #1!).

7. I rarely watch movies because I usually fall asleep - at home or at a theatre! My husband and friends bug me about this all the time... I think they've even been known to place bets on how quickly I will fall asleep! The only time I don't fall asleep during a movie is when I can't sleep and turn the TV on to fall asleep - even infomercials seem to keep my interest then!

Okay, hope you learned something new about me... Now, to tag some fellow bloggers who haven't played yet - Sonia, Stacey, Alicia, Suzanne, Pam, Elaine and Debbie. Have fun!

Come back later tonight and I'll post a couple more cards. I just have to get my house cleaning done... I'm sure I can get a few more things hidden in my closet!! LOL.

Bev.

Finally... some new card samples!

Where has the day gone? I had a day to relax and I can't believe how quickly it went by!! It's about time for me to call it a day, but I did promise some card samples for you tonight... it's been a long time since I've posted cards so I'm sure some of you are anxious for new ideas! So, I've picked out three that feature stamp sets from the Spring Mini Catalogue.

This first one was a make and take at our stamping night on Friday. It was designed by Lucie. I don't have this set myself so it was fun to get a chance to make a card with it. The main set used is Office Accoutrement along with It's Your Birthday and All-Year Cheer II (this one is on sale this month). The colours are great - Vintage Violet, Cool Caribbean, Apricot Appeal and Close to Cocoa. Notice how we also used both of the new punches from the Spring Mini - I love the Spiral Punch!

The next card is one that I received in the Regionals swap. We had made 100 cards - 50 each of 2 different designs. So, I came home with lots of new samples and ideas! This one was made by a demonstrator from Seattle who has the best name - Maria Card... how perfect is that?!! This is done with one stamp set - You Make Me Happy. These are not colours that I normally select but I think they look great on this card - Always Artichoke, Really Rust and Summer Sun. I like the layout with the two ovals that have been cut out with the Coluzzle Cutting System.

And, one more for tonight... this little teddy bear just keeps growing on me! I think he's so adorable!! He's from the Bundle of Joy stamp set. The word "BABY" comes from one of the stamps in the That's Nice set and the circle stamp is from one of the best hostess stamp sets - Riveting. The patterned paper is from the Four Seasons Designer Series Paper package. The card stock colours coordinate with this paper - Bravo Burgundy, Bashful Blue and Barely Banana. A little Dazzling Diamonds Glitter finishes this card off. I don't know who made this one, but I'm glad that I had a chance to swap for this card!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2007 Stampin' Up!)

Stamping fun!!

I have just been spoiled this month with stamping events... We had a fantastic time in Vancouver at the Stampin' Up! Regional Training Seminar!! There were 9 people from my group there and I was so thrilled to spend the weekend with all of them!

Here's a picture of everyone from my group who attended. We were excited to have Shelli Gardner join us for this photo! Check out our t-shirts - Melanie made these fun shirts for all of us! Do you recognize the Bodacious Bouquet stamps that she used? It was fun to have matching shirts with our group name - Canadian INKspirations - on them. To make the shirts, Melanie used iron on transfers. She printed "Canadian INKspirations" on them using the Write Me a Memory Font CD and then stamped the flowers with Craft Ink. She ironed the transfer onto our t-shirts - so cute!!

We learned all sorts of great things... I'll be including lots of the great ideas in upcoming classes but here's one that was a favourite - you might like to try this out! Instead of using a 2 Way Glue Pen and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to add sparkle to your stamped projects, try using a VersaMarker with Iridescent Ice Emboss Powder. Use the VersaMarker to draw on your card stock or paper where you would like sparkle, then sprinkle on the Iridescent Ice Emboss Powder and heat to emboss. It's a tidier way to add sparkle!

We were also invited to put a team together to play a friendly Stampin' Up! version of Family Feud. Sonia, Stacey and Maggie joined me on our "INKspirations" family team... The questions were all related to being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and we had a blast! We were tied going into the third and final round and unfortunately the other team managed to steal the 140 points we had managed to get up on the board... oh well, we each left with a free stamp set and some extra memories! Here's a picture of us up on stage - I'm just getting ready to ring in on the first question.

Check back in a little while. I'm going to scan a few of my swap cards that I received and post them this evening.

One last reminder about the "Say it with Stamps" special which ends on Monday... You can order any of the following stamp sets for 20% off:

Warm Words (pg. 177) - $22.36

All-Year Cheer II (pg. 178) - $32.76

In My Thoughts (pg. 183) - $31.96

Tiny Talk (pg. 190) - $18.36

Everyday Flexible Phrases (pg. 191) - $43.96

Short Order Alphabet (pg. 194) - $43.16

Make sure you get your order to me by 6:00 pm on Monday if you'd like to get in on these great prices! There is no purchase required for this special!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

Sneak Peek!!

I thought you might like a sneak peek at the six new "In Colour" colours that will be available July 1st! Of course, they're way better in person, but this gives you an idea. I love them... Wild Wasabi is my favourite new colour and I can't wait to play with it!!

I'm on my way to Vancouver this afternoon for Stampin' Up!'s Regional Training Seminar. Tonight, we're getting together with some demonstrators from the lower mainland for a stampin' evening! Should be great fun!

Tomorrow, we have the Regional Training Seminar all day. We'll be receiving a stamp set from the new catalogue and will have a chance to stamp with it! That's always exciting! Speaking of the new catalogue - it's only 2 months away now and next week, the retiring stamp set list will be announced! Watch your email - I'll be sending it to you if you are on my email list.

Don't forget that Monday is the last day of the Say it With Stamps special - 20% off some wonderful greeting stamps with no additional purchase required. Click here for more information and make sure you get your orders to me by 6:00 pm on Monday!

I'll be back on Sunday with some card samples... It's been a slow week for me as I get back to a normal routine after cruise. See you soon!

Bev.

What an amazing vacation!!!

We're home! Our cruise was absolutely wonderful!! I thought you might like to see a few photos... it's hard to pick though - I have over 1400! I know, I'm a little photo crazy, but digital makes it so easy and I like to take lots to be sure I have everything!

We started our trip with a flight to Fort Lauderdale. It was a long day as we had two stops - Seattle and Memphis - before making it to Fort Lauderdale. We had some bad weather going into Memphis which delayed us. We arrived into Fort Lauderdale after midnight so we were pretty wiped! It didn't slow us down though and we were up by 8:00 the next morning ready to see the sites before we left for the ship. Here I am on the beach just outside the hotel - we literally walked out the back door of the hotel and were on the sand!

We boarded Holland America's ms Zuiderdam in the early afternoon of Saturday, April 14th. The ship was chartered by Stampin' Up! as our incentive trip. It was amazing to see the details that went into welcoming us on board. All of the staff on board wore "Welcome Stampin' Up!" pins. The cruise logo was on the backs of lounge chairs and on the decks. There were banners hanging and the Stampin' Up! logo was everywhere! Even the coasters and napkins had the cruise logo on them. It made us all feel pretty special!

The ship left at 5:00 pm and we headed towards the Bahamas. We arrived at Half Moon Cay on Sunday morning. I've already told you how amazing the beach was here... We've never seen anything like it! We rented a "clam shell" on the beach - a shelter that fits 2 lounge chairs so we were able to sit in the shade most of the day. It was so beautiful and so relaxing! We both visited the spa back on board that afternoon so it was a perfect day!

The next day was a day at sea. In the morning, Stampin' Up! had a general session to welcome us on board. Here's a photo with Shelli Gardner, the CEO and co-founder of Stampin' Up! Melanie is with me in this photo - she's one of the demonstrators in my downline who also earned the cruise this year... they were both standing on a step. Okay, they weren't - I'm just short!! My upline, Alison, was also on cruise with us so it was lots of fun to be all together.

Our next stop was in Aruba. Mom and I had booked an excursion called "See and Sea". It was a boat and bus tour. We were amazed by the landscape. One part of the island was as we expected - beaches and tourist areas. The rest of the island was more rustic. There was a lot of desert with cactus and rock. We stopped at the Natural Bridge which used to be Aruba's main tourist attraction - it was bridge that had been carved in the rock by the ocean. The main portion of the bridge collapsed in 2005 but there is a smaller bridge which was interesting to see.

We saw a few interesting critters in our travels... the first was flying fish which we saw most everyday in the Caribbean Sea. These fish jumped out of the water and would glide along the water then dive back in. I tried and tried to get a photo of them without luck - they were just too fast! Mom saw a sea turtle when we were on the boat tour in Aruba and we saw some dolphins from our verandah on the ship. We also saw some iguanas... This one just amazed me on the cactus - he was huge!

Wednesday was another day at sea. There were some stamping demonstrations throughout the day so I had lots to keep me busy!

On Thursday, we were in the Panama Canal. It was amazing to watch our ship go through the first 3 locks into Gatun Lake. We followed another cruise ship through the locks and there was a third cruise ship directly behind us. We disembarked the ship in Gatun Lake and took a train ride to Panama City. We were amazed to see all of the different trees along the way. It was beautiful. Once we arrived in Panama City, we continued our tour from a bus that weaved its way back to Colon where we would meet our ship. There was a shopping area, much like a market, right at the pier so we were able to look around and buy a few souvenirs as we waited to get back on our ship.

Friday and Saturday were days at sea. This meant more stamping demonstrations and also a chance for us to stamp ourselves. We were so spoiled during the cruise... We received gifts most nights... Here's a photo of most of the things I received. Most exciting was the stamp set and wheel that we were given - they are both from the next catalogue and are very cute! We had a sneak peek at some of the products coming up in the new catalogue... very exciting! They showed us the six new "In Colour" colours - I can't wait to have them! They have some pretty catchy names: River Rock, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi and Groovy Guava (my new favourite name!).

We arrived back in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday morning. We started our travels home just after noon, but didn't get to Victoria until a few minutes past midnight. It made for a long day and I'm looking forward to getting to bed early tonight!

Thanks for having a look at our adventure! It was a very special trip and I am very fortunate to have been able to share it with my Mom. I'll leave you with a few other photos from our trip. Can you believe that I even found a "snowman" on the beach?

I'm anxious to try some of the new stamping techniques and ideas that we learned and to be able to share them with you!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

Sitting by the pool and blogging!

Hello from the Caribbean! We are having a wonderful cruise! Our first stop was Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas – Holland America’s private island. The beach was incredible – the softest white sand and most beautiful turquoise clear water! We had a fabulous day relaxing on the beach and then finished it off with a trip to the spa back on the ship.

Then we had a day at sea… It was busy though as we had Stampin’ Up! events! I’ll be coming home with some great new ideas to share with you!

Our next stop was in Aruba. We took a boat and bus tour that was a little over 4 hours. The highlight was the boat trip – we were on a boat with seats that are 5 feet under the water’s surface and we saw a sunken German ship from the Second World War and thousands of fish! We did a bit of shopping after the tour… it was a great day!

Today is another day at sea which meant lots of stamping demonstrations! I continue to be amazed by all of the different things you can do with stamps, ink and paper! This ship is full of very creative and inspiring people. We have display boards all around the ship with different samples… so amazing!

It’s still hard to believe that we’re actually here. We’re have a great time!! Unfortunately, the connection is too slow for me to upload any photos so those will have to wait until we are home!

Happy stampin’!

Bev.

Smooth sailing...

Our bags are packed and at the front door ready for our 6:30 am departure for the airport! Thank you to everyone who has sent warm wishes for our trip over the last few days... we really appreciate that you are keeping us in mind! I'm very excited about this trip and can't wait to come back to share all of the great ideas with you all! A huge thanks to each and every one of you who have been so wonderful in helping me to acheive this cruise - I consider myself very fortunate to have met so many wonderful stamping friends along this journey!

So, one more card as we get ready to go... This is one that Mom made a while back and I've always loved it. I picked it to post tonight again because of the image that I love so much in this scene but also to say that I'll be thinking of you while I'm enjoying this vacation.

Have a wonderful week and I'll be back soon!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2007 Stampin' Up!)

Where has the time gone??

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted... the worst part is that I don't have a new card to share with you tonight! But I do have this great card that I made a couple of years ago and it kind of makes me think of where I'll be by the weekend... can't wait!

When I made this card, I was experimenting with watercolouring for the first time. I think I did fairly well although there are a few things I would do differently if I tried it again... first, I would use our Watercolour Paper which would probably give me a much nicer result. And, I would be careful that the water went right up to my island with the three trees! Right now, the skyline comes below the island... Oh well - it's an original! : )

So, I've been busy... my sister and brother-in-law were visiting for the long weekend. We went to some of the curling games at Bear Mountain and enjoyed a nice Thai dinner together on Friday night. I managed to slip away to a hockey game in Vancouver with Brent on Saturday night, but that meant a late night ferry (10:45 pm) back to Nanaimo and a very late drive home. I cooked a great Easter brunch... I don't have time to cook as often as I would like so this was a real treat for me. Our company left on Sunday night. On Monday, I enjoyed a nice lunch with a friend and then had a woman from work come over to get help with stamping her wedding invitations... she had never stamped before, but designed her invitations herself and they turned out great! I've managed to finish off my swap cards for the cruise (with a little help from my trusty assistant - Mom!) and started laying out my cruise clothes... oh the decisions that go into deciding what to pack!

Well, better run! Hope you enjoy this card... I'll try to get back to post before I leave early Friday morning, but if I don't manage... sorry! Watch for a couple of cruise photos - we have 4 days at sea and I can't manage without a computer so yes, I plan to let you know how we're doing on the cruise.

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2007 Stampin' Up!)

Late night blogging...

Okay, it's late and I should be in bed, but... well, I'm not! I had a horrible sleep last night - couldn't fall asleep and then when I finally did, I just kept waking up every hour or so. I thought about getting in my car and driving over to a friend's house - they have twins and one baby or the other is up most of the night these days so I figured I could been useful if I was there! : )

Anyways, I wanted to share a couple of cards with you. This is a good example of being inspired by a layout and then adapting it. The first card is one that was designed by Lucie that we stamped at our last group meeting. Lucie is a talented stamper and she has created some wonderful cards, including this one. For whatever reason though, that night I was really struggling with this one (as were a couple of other demonstrators at our table). Yes, I used both sides of the card stock... I felt the way that some of the stampers at my classes have felt on occasion trying to get things to work out just right and not feeling much luck! Anyways, enough to say that although this card looks okay, Lucie's sample looked even better! I think my favourite part is the little touch of ribbon in the bottom corner... you know how I love my ribbon and this was nice change!

I had an idea in my mind to design a card with the Artfully Asian stamp set (I'm so fond of this set!) by stamping the flower repeatedly to make it look like the branches of a flowering tree. After looking at Lucie's card, I knew this would be the perfect layout for the card that I was trying to work out in my mind. So, I got busy and stamped it and was very pleased with the result! Thanks to Lucie for the inspiration!! : )

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2007 Stampin' Up!)

Tonight's creation...

I needed to make a quick card for my Techniques III class tomorrow night... here it is! It features the Wax Paper Resist Technique - one of five techniques that I'll be teaching at the class! And, to go with the flower out one of my most used stamp sets, Petal Prints, I picked a greeting from the All-Year Cheer II stamp set which is on sale (20% off) this month. I've used this little "thank you very much" stamp a lot - it's great for a little spot and I think the font is really fun! The added bonus is that if you're not quite straight when you stamp it, it's okay - the font is very forgiving!

Well, must get back to my last bit of preparation for tomorrow's class. It's one of my favourites... Polished Stone, Crayon Resist, Faux Leather and Shaving Cream along with the Wax Paper Resist. Watch for other techniques classes and join in on the fun!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2007 Stampin' Up!)

Say It With Stamps!

You can never have too many greeting or alphabet stamps and it's a great time to add to your collection! Until April 30th, you will save 20% when you order the following sets:

All-Year Cheer II (page 178) - special price $32.76!

Tiny Talk* (page 190) - special price $18.36!

Warm Words (page 177) - special price $22.36!

In My Thoughts (page 183) - special price $31.96!

Everyday Flexible Phrases (page 191) - special price $43.96!

Short Order Alphabet (page 194) - special price $43.16!

There is no minimum order... order one or order them all! Contact me at bevennis@shaw.ca when you are ready to place your order!

* Tiny Talk will be retired as of June 30, 2007 - other retiring stamp sets will be announced in May.

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2007 Stampin' Up!)

Dad's Birthday

Here's a card that my Mom designed... yay, Mom!!

I love the way she used the new Spiral down the side of her stamped image and then punched out the letters to spell "DAD" and put them inside the punched out piece. I've always really liked this particular image out of the Seaside Sketches stamp set...

Have you seen the wonderful special that Stampin' Up! has announced for April? It's a great offer on some fantastic greeting and alphabet stamp sets - 20% off and no minimum purchase required! I'll post more info soon... In the meantime, have a look at it here.

Sorry it's been a few days since my last post... I've been fairly busy! I did the last of my new clothes shopping yesterday afternoon in preparation for the cruise! Looking forward to getting my hair done later this week and then a pedicure next week... So much fun!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

(All images copyright 1990-2007 Stampin' Up!)