Things that make me proud to be a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

I've always been proud to represent such a wonderful company as Stampin' Up! I have been a Demonstrator for the past 5 1/2 years and I've been impressed by the integrity that the CEO and Co-founder, Shelli Gardner, has shown time and time again. Recently, we learned that the General Manager of Stampin' Up! Australia, Dave Abbott, passed away. In Mr. Abbott's honour, Stampin' Up! has decided to donate 100% of the proceeds from the worldwide sale of the stamp set, All in the Family, during November to Mr. Abbott's wife and 3 children. I think this is an extraordinarily thoughtful, generous and meaningful tribute to Mr. Abbott and his family.

Here is part of the communication we received from Stampin' Up! regarding Mr. Abbott and his many contributions to the development of the Australian office. It is obvious how well respected and loved he was by the Executive and staff of Stampin' Up!

Dave-the man who lived life with a sparkle in his eye and a schoolboy grin, and who saw life with such a positive perspective.

Dave Abbott, Stampin' Up!'s Australia general manager, passed away on Thursday, 18 October from hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare blood disease. Dave became ill in November 2006 and went through various treatments to fight the disease. Although he was in and out of the hospital, Dave remained keenly interested in building the company and involved with the demonstrators to the very end. Dave was a great friend and employee as well as a beloved manager and mentor.

Dave joined Stampin' Up! in October 2005, six months prior to our launch in Australia. His energetic, outgoing, and caring personality drew us to Dave as we searched for a general manager. Dave was instrumental in establishing the business in Australia and growing Stampin' Up! over the past year and a half.

In Dave's honour, we're setting up a fund to help his family through this difficult time. During the month of November, we're donating 100 percent of the proceeds from the 28-piece All in the Family stamp set in all our markets to directly benefit Dave's wife and three children.

Dave taught us so much, and he was a remarkable man. We miss him.

I will be ordering this set for myself in November and know that when I use it, it will be extra special knowing the contribution that is being made.

With warm regards,

Bev.

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

SPECIAL - Wishing You Cheer

Stampin' Up! is offering the adorable little stamp set called Wishing You Cheer (page 33) for 20% off the regular price from now until November 3rd only. It's such a cute set and for the price of $15.95 how can you go wrong? Don't miss out - email me to take advantage of this very time limited offer.

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

PS - I will be away celebrating my Dad's 80th birthday for the next couple of days so if you don't hear back from me right away, don't worry... I will be placing an order on November 3rd and will respond to all of your emails as soon as I can!

Happy Halloween!

Here's a cute Halloween card that we made at a class last weekend. The pumpkin is stamped from the Carved & Candlelit stamp set. The background was stamped with Background Basics set and the greeting comes from the All Holidays set. The little corner folded up and tied with a piece of hemp is a nice touch.

I'll be holding another Santa's Workshop on Friday, November 23rd at 7:00 pm. This evening is great for Christmas inspiration - I'll have 15 different cards for you to choose from. Contact me to register - only 8 seats remain!!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

Trick or Treat!

I received a couple of Halloween surprises this week... The first is this card that came in the mail from a customer and friend, Jo. Isn't it fun? It sure made me smile to see that in my stack of mail! I've never actually given Halloween cards, but receiving this one may have inspired me to rethink this! It's always fun to receive a handmade greeting so any occasion is worth letting someone know you are thinking about them. Thanks for thinking of me, Jo!

Last night I went for dinner at Japanese Village (yummy!) with friends and received this cute little stack of York Peppermint Patties from Sonia. What a cute little gift! And what a simple way to dress up some goodies! I was thinking that this idea would also be great for Christmas so keep this in mind! You could set a table with this little stack to decorate... Or give them out to everyone at work... Or have them set out at your holiday party... Sonia used the Scallop Circle Punch and attached one punched out piece of card stock to the top and bottom of each Peppermint Pattie. She stamped an image from the Batty for You set and attached it to the top. Thanks for this great idea, Sonia.

Halloween is an extra special day in our family because it's my Dad's birthday. This year is his 80th so we are looking forward to celebrating this milestone!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

It's a day to celebrate!

This adorable card was a make and take at one of our demonstrator meetings - the original was made by Robin. I was so thrilled to stamp this card because ladybugs have taken on a special meaning in our life... I'll get to that in a minute though! The ladybug is made using two circle punches - 1 1/4" and 1 3/8". The wings are made from the Pick a Petal stamp set - isn't this a creative way to use the petals in a different way? The antenna and the ladybug's trail are drawn on using a Basic Black Stampin' Write Journaler. And the little scalloped edge at the bottom was created using a slit punch - just punch repetitively making sure that each scallop is connected as you punch across the card stock. I will definitely be making this card again!

So, why are ladybugs special to us? Well, there is a belief that ladybugs are a sign of good luck for China adoptions. We can certainly use as much good luck as possible these days! The basic story is this: Several years ago in China, as the international adoption programs were beginning to take off, there was a fall season where the ladybug population grew unusually large. This was thought to be a lucky charm for those that were adopting, so now whenever ladybugs are seen, it is said that more beautiful children are being referred to wonderful waiting parents.

Today was the perfect day to post this card because... we received word of our login date (LID)! What does this mean? First, it means that we have confirmation that China has received our dossier (application). Second, it basically tells us where we are in the waiting line... everyone else with this same LID will receive their referral at the same time as us.

This is a huge milestone!! I couldn't believe my eyes as I read the email... when we received word that our file had been sent to China on September 27, I thought, "wouldn't it be amazing if our login date is our anniversary?" We didn't really think that it would happen that quickly though. Still, on our anniversary, I kept wondering if maybe our file was being received in China... Well, our LID is October 12, 2007 - our 11th wedding anniversary! Oh my gosh, I can't even believe it!! And, I can't tell you how happy we are!

Since I've strayed off of stamping and am again talking about our adoption, I want to send out a big thank you to everyone who has already given/sent us a piece of fabric and a wish for our 100 Good Wishes Quilt. We're still collecting and will be for some time - my sister is going to put our quilt together for us, but it will be sometime in the spring before we start this... Click here if you'd like more information. If you need ideas for your good wish, have a look at this blog where you can see the good wishes that another adoptive family received.

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

Fun night of stamping!

Tonight was a fun evening of stamping! Twelve enthusiastic stampers managed to create 120 cards! Very impressive...

I think that almost everyone stamped this card tonight. It was certainly popular! It's such a fun card, and very simple to make. The main card is Whisper White and I've added a strip of the textured Soft Sky card stock at the bottom. The greeting is stamped directly on this piece so you need to stamp it firmly to get it on the textured card stock. The only ink colour used is Blue Bayou and it's just one stamp set - The Snowflake Spot. The Blue Bayou Stitched Grosgrain adds just the right amount of detail and the Rhinestone Brad in the middle of the big snowflake adds some fun bling!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

Is the week really almost over?

Oh my goodness, does anyone know where the week has gone? I had good intentions of being back here to blog sooner than this, but time just got away on me... This will be a quick post since it's late - yes, the time on this post is the actual time that I am blogging! I just finished getting everything ready for this weekend's Santa's Workshop. We have 15 new Christmas cards ready to go! And, I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with them!! This is a preview of one of them... Isn't it cute? I saw a similar card online somewhere (can't remember where just now, sorry!) and I adapted the idea a bit. This is a simple card that would be great to mass produce!

This birthday card is one that I received from my friend, Stacey... my birthday was a couple months ago, but I just hadn't scanned this card until tonight. I've always thought that the Unfroggetable stamp set is really fun! This card brings a smile to my face.

Well, I better call it a night... need to get some rest before a busy stamping weekend ahead! I'm looking forward to spending time with some of you over the weekend!!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

I'm back!!

We were in Edmonton this past weekend for my niece's wedding - it was a beautiful day and things were perfect for this wonderful event! Now that I'm back, I'm getting things ready for Santa's Workshop this weekend... lots of fun Christmas cards for everyone to stamp!! If you haven't registered yet, there are a few seats still available on Saturday morning - be sure to email me (bevennis@shaw.ca) if you'd like to come.

Here are a couple more cards that might inspire your stamped creations... The first card was stamped by Alicia for our Christmas card swap. This card is very eye catching with the bright Real Red combined with Bashful Blue and Old Olive. The stamp set, from the Holiday Mini Catalogue, is called Season of Joy. So far, I have not ordered this set for myself but if I keep getting such nice cards made with it, I may not be able to resist much longer!

Alicia also made this next card and we had it as a make and take at our group meeting. I wasn't able to resist on this one... I had to order the Stem Sayings stamp set so that I would be able to duplicate this card! The flowers come from the level 2 hostess set called In the Spotlight... Notice how it is punched out with the Scallop Circle punch and the centre is punched with the 1/2" Circle punch. This is such a cute card!

I wanted to share a couple more cards, but Blogger is not being cooperative tonight so I'm going to end my post here and I'll post some more cards tomorrow night if things are working better!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

More art from Lucie...

You've seen Lucie's beautiful creations on my blog before and here's another! This was a card for our techniques swap - Lucie did the Cracked Glass technique on this very elegant and antiqued card. There are so many details that Lucie has pulled together on this card... She used the Slit Punch to create the corners and added eyelets. She has used different colours of ink on the Fine Lace background stamp - I'm guessing that she inked the stamp in Apricot Appeal and then sponged some Handsome Hunter ink on top of it. The ovals were cut using the Coluzzle and the main images are stamped with the Wild Rose stamp set - one of Lucie's favourites! I love the added touch of Mellow Moss Tafetta Ribbon. Thanks for another wonderful card, Lucie!

I'm going to be away from my computer for the weekend so will be back next week with some more posts... Just a reminder that Santa's Workshop is coming up next weekend - Friday night is full but there are seats still available for Saturday morning (the 20th). Send me an email to register - bevennis@shaw.ca - and get ready to stamp some fantastic holiday greetings!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

Bugs & Kisses

Here's a cute card made by Kirsten using the Bugs & Kisses stamp set... You might not notice unless you have a close look that Kirsten used the Popping Pastels technique on this card. That's what makes the caterpillar look so soft and fuzzy. She stamped him in VersaMark ink and then used a sponge dauber to apply Stampin' Pastels to make him pop off the card stock. Such a happy little card that would be perfect for a young one or someone young at heart!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

Techniques Swap

Last weekend, I participated in a techniques card swap with my group... I've already posted one of cards from that swap and here are three more. They all look better in real life so you'll have to see them at the next stampin' class that you come to!

This first one uses Glitter Windows so it's full of sparkle! This one was stamped by Robin. I love how she used the different circle punches to create the windows on this card. It's a very fun card using the Priceless stamp set!

This next one is Stacey's design using the Joseph's Coat technique. The stamps are all from the Just Like You stamp set which is our Ronald McDonald House Charities set for this year - see it on page 150. A donation of $2 will be made to Ronald McDonald House Charities from the sale of each one of these stamp sets.



And, this card has the Waxed Crayon Resist technique. Alicia made this one using the Doodle This stamp set. The greeting comes from the level 3 hostess stamp set called Vases in Vogue.

I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

Card making... for men!

Here's a little humour for your day... Click here to watch a man's version of card making! You might enjoy sharing this with the men in your life who claim that they can't make you a home-made card... this might give them some inspiration!

I'll be back later today with a few card samples... Happy Thanksgiving and of course, happy stampin'!

Bev.

World Card Making Day

Today is World Card Making Day! To recognize this, Stampin' Up! is offering all of the Simply Sent card kits for 20 percent off their regular price until October 8th! You can see the five different Simply Sent on pages 12-14 of the Fall-Winter Collection 2007. These kits make stamping cards quick and easy with pre-cut card stock and all of the supplies needed to make the great cards that are shown in the instruction booklet included in the kit. I will be placing an order on Monday, October 8th in the evening so if you would like to order these kits during this special, please contact me!

I hope you are able to find some time to stamp on this rainy day...

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

100 Good Wishes Quilt

Warning - this is not a stamping post! : ) I've always tried to keep this blog focused on stamping, but I'm going to temporarily "hijack" it for this post...

As many of you know, my husband and I are in the process of adopting a baby from China. We received some fantastic news last week - our dossier (application) was sent to China on Thursday, September 27th. So, now all we have to do is wait for our referral and get ready to welcome our Baby Girl into our family. And, we have one big project that we would love to invite you to help us with... We are creating a 100 Good Wishes Quilt. To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. Friends and family contribute a square of cloth and a wish for the baby. The pieces of cloth are made into a quilt, and the good wishes go into a memory book. The quilt is said to contain the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed. This wonderful quilt will wrap our baby in love and good wishes.

Since we have received so many good wishes from my stamping friends already, I thought some of you may be interested in contributing to our 100 Good Wishes Quilt. Here's what you would do if you want to contribute:

~ Choose any 100% cotton, washable fabric that you like. You can get creative and have fabric that represents something special about you or you can pick a colour or design that you like.

~ Please prewash the fabric so it has done all the shrinking it is going to do before you cut it. Send an 8"x 8" square of the fabric for the quilt.

~ Think of a good wish for Baby Girl and include it on a piece of paper with a scrap of your fabric (glued to the paper). Your wish can be simple or elaborate, handwritten or typed. It can be something you wrote or a favorite poem, lyric, quote, or anything else that strikes your fancy. Please don’t stress over the format or worry about the wording - what matters is that the wish comes from your heart. Your wish will go into a memory book so that Baby Girl knows where all of the pieces of her quilt came from and can read your good wishes as she grows up. Your good wish can be of any size up to 8 1/2" by 11". Remember to sign your wish and include your city and province/state.

~ If you need our address, please send me an email (bevennis@shaw.ca).

~ If you need inspiration for your good wish, do a Google search for "100 Good Wishes Quilt" and you will find lots of examples.

We love the idea of welcoming Baby Girl into our home with a quilt that represents the good wishes for her from our family and friends.

There are some new stamping posts below so be sure to scroll down...

Thanks so much for reading this post!

Bev.

More Christmas Inspiration...

This card was created by Stacey for our Christmas card swap and I loved it so much that I ordered this stamp set - Baby Jesus is Born.

Stacey has been amazing me lately with her watercolouring technique... she does such a lovely job! Notice how she even coloured the little lambs in white using the Whisper White Craft Pad. I didn't know that this would work - doesn't it look fantastic? Thanks for another beautiful card, Stacey.

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

Puttin' on the Glitz!

Make your holiday cards glitzy this year with a little help from the Holiday Glitz card kit. With our precut card stock and Designer Series paper, festive zigzag ribbon, and Rhinestone brads, spreading handmade holiday cheer has never been this easy! And there’s no limit to the number of kits you can buy!

There are two ways to take advantage of this fantastic kit while supplies last:

~ Purchase one of holiday stamp sets (below) and get the Holiday Glitz card kit (110286) for the special price of $34.95 each, or
~ Purchase the Holiday Glitz card kit (110286) for $39.95 each with no additional purchase required.

Each Holiday Glitz card kit makes 15 cards and includes:

~ Precut card stock and Designer Series paper (15)
~ Whisper White Envelopes (15)
~ Rhinestone brads (15)
~ Real Red zigzag ribbon (15)
~ Full-colour instruction sheet (1)

Purchase one of the following stamp sets and you will be able to buy the Holiday Glitz card kit for $34.95:

Snowfall ($32.95 )

The Snowflake Spot ($28.95)

Flocons piquetis ($28.95)

Big on Christmas ($25.95)

Love & Joy ($32.95)

Simplify your holidays with Stampin’ Up!’s Holiday Glitz card kit! Contact me at bevennis@shaw.ca to place an order.

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

Snow...

This card was made by my upline, Alison, for our Christmas card swap. There are some important details that get lost in the scan - Alison used Shimmery White and Brushed Silver card stock which adds some sparkle to the card. I love how she has embossed the Snow Jumbo Wheel (from the Holiday Mini Catalogue), added a piece of Navy Grosgrain Ribbon and then used the Scallop Circle Punch to create a main feature on the card. The snowflake comes from the Season of Joy stamp set, also in the Holiday Mini Catalogue. This is a great card!

Santa's Workshop on Friday, October 19th is filling quickly... only a few seats remain so be sure to register soon! There's lots of room still available on the Saturday morning though...

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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

Christmas Creations

Here are a couple of the cards I received in a Christmas card swap with my downline group. This first one is Lorraine's artwork. She has used the Season of Joy stamp set from the Holiday Mini Catalogue. The colours are perfect for this set - Purely Pomegranate and River Rock with a bit of Always Artichoke ink added in. Lorraine also used little touches of Crystal Effects to bring a bit of shine to this card. This is a very nice, classy card.

Robin created this next card which has so many pieces that draw your eye in. The tree and round "Do Not Open Until Christmas" stamps come from the hostess stamp set called Perfect Presentation and the greeting is from The Snowflake Spot. I love how Robin used the Word Window Punch to tuck the piece of Designer Series Paper in and how she added some bling with a Rhinestone Brad to top the tree. And, of course, the Double-Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon ties this all together for me. I love this layout!

Thanks for the great cards, Robin and Lorraine!

I've just posted the dates for this year's Santa's Workshop on my class schedule... They will be held on Friday, October 19th and Saturday, October 20th. Be sure to register early - space is limited and will fill quickly! I will likely have another date in November...

Happy stampin'!

Bev.

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