You don't have to clean your house or find a time when your friends can all come to a workshop. You can hold a catalog workshop and get all the hostess benefits you would get if you were to hold that workshop in your home. You gather up orders from your friends and relatives totaling $150 in product before shipping and taxes. Send me the orders and a check and I will place the order for you. The only thing you will miss is the fun of having friends gather to stamp. Here is a card I made from Stampin' Up!'s free Level 2 Hostess set, Long Fellows (118720 wood, 120136 clear mount). This set is only available to hostesses so contact me to schedule a workshop right away. I am filling up my calendar for January and February now. If you would like to order the supplies to make this project, visit my online store now.

Thanks for stopping by today and do come visit again!

Happy Holiday Stamping,

Sue

Stamp Set: Longfellows (Hostess Level 2 set)

Card Stock: Bashful Blue (105120)
                  Whisper White (100730)
                  Daffodil Delight (119683)
                  Kiwi Kiss (119795)

Inks: More Mustard (103162)
        Always Artichoke (105219)

Other: Early EspressoTaffeta Ribbon(119964)
           1" Circle Medium Punch (119868)
           Stamping Sponge (101610)

In some places of the United States, winter has arrived with a vengeance and it is drawing near for the rest of us. Are you dreading the wintery morning commute? The inch of ice on your windshield that needs scraping? The frigid ride in your car until the heater gets warmed up?

Dread that commute no more! Imagine going to work in the warmth of your own home and in the comfort of your jammies. That is one of the benefits of owning your own stamping and paper-crafting business. Yes…you still need to hold office hours because you will need to make phone calls, write copy to promote your business, and keep track of sales and finances. BUT…you can do this on your own schedule!

You determine how big your business will be and how fast it will grow. The more hours you put in to the business, the faster it will grow but your business will still grow if you put in just a few hours a week and work those hours consistently.

You say you aren't creative enough? Never fear, you would have me to back you up with training and sharing creative ideas with you are well as numerous other Stampin' Up! demos who are delighted and honored when people copy their work. Stampin' Up! gives great support to their demonstrators through training videos, podcasts, and regional events as well as an annual convention.

Other benefits are the extra money you can bring into your family budget, the formation of great friendships with customers and other demonstrators, and a sense of pride in being your own boss.

This business offer is always a great offer but right now you can get your business started with a 50% discount on the starter kit. This kit includes everything you need to get started…business forms, a small selection of stamps, some ink, a few accessories, and paper. This discount is only avaliable Nov 15-30 so decide now to take control of your destiny. Contact me for further details.

Do you have card stock and scrapbook paper scraps coming out your ears? Are you like me and save every scrap because it will come in handy for punching out a flower or butterfly? Do you wish you had a system for dealing with all these scraps other than throwing all of them away and never saving any at all?

I finally loosely organized all my scraps. I have a small tub sitting by my

Stampin' Up! tabletop paper cutter where I place my scraps as soon as they have been cut. Periodically I go through these scraps and file them in a more permanent place. Here is a picture of this tub. It looks like it is overdue to be sorted!!!

When I sort these scraps I put the true scraps into Craft Keepers by color category: yellow/orange, blues, greens…etc. I also have a craft keeper for metallic cardstock, backgrounds, and preprinted papers. These Craft Keepers are in a crate under my stamping table so they are close at hand. Here is a view of these craft keepers.

As I am cutting card stock, I try to leave portions of the sheet in 1/2  or 1/4 sheet sizes. I store these in the containers shown below.

There are many other ways to store your scraps but these seem to work pretty well for me. I hope this discussion is helpful to you. I'd be delighted for you to describe your way of storing scraps in a comment below.

Happy Holiday Stamping,

Sue

Did you know we even had such a day? I didn't either but it is a great idea. The project I had planned to share with you today falls right in line with this theme.

There were some copper embossed butterflies lying on my stamping table that were left over from an earlier project. My 1 1/2" x 2" Simply Adorned charm was also lying on my stamping table and my creative muse realized that the butterflies would make an great focal point for an insert for the charm.

I have a shallow tub by my table top paper cutter where I put my paper scraps when I am cutting layers for my projects. I started looking through these scraps for the perfect color card stock to coordinate with the butterflies. I found a small Baja Breeze scrap that had been embossed with the Elegant Lines embossing folder….perfect! Then I looked for a coordinating piece for the back side of the charm and found a scrap of Elegant Soiree Designer Series paper. I am so pleased with the end results and the whole project took maybe 15 minutes!

Send me a picture of a project you make with recycled scraps and I will be happy to share it here on my blog. Tomorrow I will share my scrap storage system with you.

Happy Holiday Stamping,

Sue

        Back                            Front

Paper: Elegant Soiree Designer Series Paper 117163)
           Baja Breeze Card Stock (111352)

Other: Elegant Lines Embossing Folder (119277)
           Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die (118138)
           Copper Flashing (from your hardware store)
            Mini Glue Dots (103683)

We welcomed our 7th great-grandchild into the world last Sunday, November 7. Ashley and Nathaniel named her Emery Faith. Such a pretty name and such a sweet baby! I feel way too young to have 7 great-grandchildren! Our older daughter started her family when she was a teenager and her children have followed suit.  Here is a scrapbook page I created with Stampin' Up!'s My Digital Studio software using a picture they shared on Facebook. Thanks for visiting. Please sign my guestbook by leaving a comment.

Blessings,

Sue

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Happy Holiday Stamping,

Sue

Surprise, I am actually posting to this blog. The days just slip by and I have so much to do and so little time. Yeah, yeah, I know you hear that all the time. Anyway, I am here and I want to share my thoughts with you today.

Let's all take some time today to give thanks to our veterans and military personnel who put their lives in jeopardy to guarantee security and safety for us. Even better…if you see a military person, give them a handshake or hug. I have a demonstrator friend who stops to hug any soldier she sees. That is gratitude in person! I created this Veteran's Day Thank You card with My Digital Studio. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to forward it on to all the military people you know.

Blessings,

Sue

Card Stock: Night of Navy, Craft

Designer Paper: Travel Journal Series paper

Font: Thanks – Elephant 28, the rest of text – Ariel 20

Let's all take some time today to give thanks to our veterans and military personnel who put their lives in jeopardy to guarantee security and safety for us. Even better…if you see a military person, give them a handshake or hug. I have a demonstrator friend who stops to hug any soldier she sees. That is gratitude in person! I created this Veteran's Day Thank You card with My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up!. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to forward it on to all the military people you know.

Blessings,

Sue

Card Stock: Night of Navy, Craft

Designer Paper: Travel Journal Series paper

Font: Thanks – Elephant 28, the rest of text – Ariel 20

The other day Lynn Pratt posted a twisted pyramid card on her blog along with a link to the template she made for it. Thanks so much, Lynn! I have been featuring my favorite product from the Holiday Mini which is the Deck the Halls Designer paper. The other day I realized that the Christmas Collage background stamp is the stamp version of one of the designs in the set of designer paper. I inked this stamp with Cherry Cobbler and spritzed it with Vanilla Shimmer Spritz before stamping the image on River Rock cardstock. This resulted in the wonderful shimmer. I combined that image with the Twisted Pyramid technique to make this card. I edged the layers with a Krylon Gold Leafing pen. Of course my hands shake just when I want perfectly straight lines so I apologize for the uneveness of the gold borders. I still love this card and think it is stunning. I wouldn't want to have to mass produce it though. So it won't be the card we mail out to everyone this year. Thanks for visiting today. The coffee pot is always on and I'd love to share a few minutes with you each day. You don't have to come here each day, my blog posts will come to your inbox instead if you subscribe on the sidebar to this blog's feed.

Happy Holiday Stamping,

Sue

Stamp: Christmas Collage (121279)

Ink: Cherry Cobbler Classic Stamp pad (119669)

Card Stock: Cherry Cobbler (119685), River Rock (108640)

Other: Krylon Gold Leafing pen, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz (118772), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430), Always Artichoke 1/2" Seam Binding (121000)

Yesterday I mentioned that I had even framed two of the collage sheets from Deck the Halls Designer Series Paper because they were too beautiful to cut up or to cover up. Here is a picture of them. I am going to hang them on the wall by our stairs during the Christmas season. Stay tuned for more projects using this beautiful designer paper.

Happy Holiday Stamping,

Sue

…item from the Holiday Mini? I must say my favorite item is the Deck the Halls Designer Series paper (and all the rest of the stamps and embellishments that go with it)! Not only is this designer paper beautiful and perfect for Christmas but many of the designs can be used year-round. I like this paper so much that I purchased two 12" x 12" frames to frame the collage sheets they are just so beautiful all by themselves. Furthermore, many of the images in the collage sheets have been made into stamps such as Bells and Boughs and the Christmas Collage stamp.

I have already posted here a couple of candy wrapper boxes I made using the Deck the Halls Designer Series paper and now share with you a card I made using a different part of the same sheet of paper. I also used the music notes wheel. I cut a slit along the edge of the poinsettias so I could slip the edge of the 'music' under them.

Now it is your turn to share. Leave a comment telling me what is your favorite item from the Holiday Mini. Thanks for visiting today, do come back soon..you hear? "Cause I'm posting more creations from the Deck the Halls DSP over the next few days.

Happy Holiday Stamping,

Sue

Stamps: Bells and Boughs (120831, wood) (121142, clear)

Paper: card stock – Cherry Cobbler (119685), Very Vanilla (101650), Crumb Cake (120953), Deck the Halls Designer Paper (120810)

Inks: Cherry Cobbler Classic stamp pad (119669), Crumb Cake Classic stamp pad (121030), Basic Black stamp pad (101179)

Other: Music Notes Stampin' Around wheel (120327), Stampin' Around Handle (102971), Sponge Daubers (102892), Scallop Trim Corner punch (118870)

All Holidays

Alphabet Balloon

All About Autumn

A Little Birdie Told Me

Amazing to Zany

A Little Somethin’ (L2 H set)

Alphabet Antiques Upper

Elegant Sayings

Doodle Alphabet

Definitely D Bold Butterfly

Dream a Little (L3 H set)

Good Times

Headline Alphabet

Mini Mates

Office Accoutrement

Roses In Winter

Tag Alphabet & Numbers sold as a set

Versatile Verses

Well-worn Alphabet

Wonderful You

Words by Wilson

Yuletide Christmas

 Backgrounds – $10 each

Antique Cracking

Ephemera

Floral

French Flair

French Script

Holiday Print

Linen

Soft Swirls

Tres Chic

 $10 Sets

Aged to Perfection

All About You

All God’s Children

Artfully Asian

Beautifully Batik

Bloomin’ Beautiful

Botanical Blooms SAB

Cute Converse

Delightful Doodles

Designer Label

Embrace Life

Fruit Medley

Fresh Flowers

Frolicking Frogs

Give Thanks

Happy Harvest

Happy Moments (clear mount)

Heartfelt Thanks

Hearts & Posies

Hugs and Wishes

In Full Bloom

Love Ya Bunches

Nature’s Secret

Nice & Easy Notes (- 1 stamp)

Merci

One of a Kind

Sketch an Event

Spring Garden

Spring Gifts

Thanks Be to Thee

True Friend

Warm Words

Watercolor Garden

Watercolor Minis

Whimsical Words

Wishing You

Words by Wanda

Yummy

 $5 sets

All I Have Seen

Best Yet ( L1 H set)

Birthday Whimsy

Comfort Food (L1 H set )

Country Morning (L 1 H set)

Dear Friend (L1 H set)

Early Spring

Flower Lines (L 3 H bundle stamp)

Fun Phrases

God’s Beauty (L1 H set)

Happiest of Holidays

Happy Occasions

Holidays and Wishes

Itty Bitty Borders

Make It Count

Mini Messages

Nice and Narrow

Of the Earth

Play on Words

Polka Dots and Paisley

Punches Three (L1 H set)

Riveting

Say It with Scallops (RMH set)

Season by Season

Simply Circles

Smorgasborders

Sweetest Stems

Warmest Regards

Wonderful Woodcuts

$3 sets

I Did It

Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Doodle That

Jumbo Wheels $5 each

Buds (floral)

Basic Outline (floral)

Poinsettia

Flitting By (butterflies)

Standard Wheels $3 each

Heart of Africa

Size It Up (ruler –stained)

Pindot

Joy of Spring

Wings and Things

Illuminated (never used)

Blizzard (snowflakes)

Punches $3 each

Paper Piecing Punch

Concave Square

Corner Rounder (not SU)

Fancy corner slit (not SU)

All Holidays

Alphabet Balloon

All About Autumn

A Little Birdie Told Me

Amazing to Zany

A Little Somethin’ (L2 H set)

Alphabet Antiques Upper

Elegant Sayings

Doodle Alphabet

Definitely D Bold Butterfly

Dream a Little (L3 H set)

Good Times

Headline Alphabet

Mini Mates

Office Accoutrement

Roses In Winter

Tag Alphabet & Numbers sold as a set

Versatile Verses

Well-worn Alphabet

Wonderful You

Words by Wilson

Yuletide Christmas

Backgrounds – $10 each

Antique Cracking

Ephemera

Floral

French Flair

French Script

Holiday Print

Linen

Soft Swirls

Tres Chic

$10 Sets

Aged to Perfection

All About You

All God’s Children

Artfully Asian

Beautifully Batik

Bloomin’ Beautiful

Botanical Blooms SAB

Cute Converse

Delightful Doodles

Designer Label

Embrace Life

Fruit Medley

Fresh Flowers

Frolicking Frogs

Give Thanks

Happy Harvest

Happy Moments (clear mount)

Heartfelt Thanks

Hearts & Posies

Hugs and Wishes

In Full Bloom

Love Ya Bunches

Nature’s Secret

Nice & Easy Notes (- 1 stamp)

Merci

One of a Kind

Sketch an Event

Spring Garden

Spring Gifts

Thanks Be to Thee

True Friend

Warm Words

Watercolor Garden

Watercolor Minis

Whimsical Words

Wishing You

Words by Wanda

Yummy

$5 sets

All I Have Seen

Best Yet ( L1 H set)

Birthday Whimsy

Comfort Food (L1 H set )

Country Morning (L 1 H set)

Dear Friend (L1 H set)

Early Spring

Flower Lines (L 3 H bundle stamp)

Fun Phrases

God’s Beauty (L1 H set)

Happiest of Holidays

Happy Occasions

Holidays and Wishes

Itty Bitty Borders

Make It Count

Mini Messages

Nice and Narrow

Of the Earth

Play on Words

Polka Dots and Paisley

Punches Three (L1 H set)

Riveting

Say It with Scallops (RMH set)

Season by Season

Simply Circles

Smorgasborders

Sweetest Stems

Warmest Regards

Wonderful Woodcuts

 $3 sets

I Did It

Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Doodle That

 Jumbo Wheels $5 each

Buds (floral)

Basic Outline (floral)

Poinsettia

Flitting By (butterflies)

 Standard Wheels $3 each

Heart of Africa

Size It Up (ruler –stained)

Pindot

Joy of Spring

Wings and Things

Illuminated (never used)

Blizzard (snowflakes)

 Punches $3 each

Paper Piecing Punch

Concave Square

Corner Rounder (not SU)

Fancy corner slit (not SU)

I went through all the retired stamps I am selling and made an updated list just in time for Holiday shopping. Most of my wood blocks have been sealed with varathane and most of my stamps are carefully mounted with minimal if any staining. Contact me if you would like to buy any of these for yourself or to give as a gift.

Shipping will be in addition to the price but several sets/wheels can be fitted into priority boxes. Unfortunately, Stampin' Up! does not allow their demos to sell even retired product internationally so I will only ship to U.S. addresses.

My preferred method of payment is PayPal debit, not credit card. If you with to use a credit card, you will need to email me or call me to give me your credit card information. I will accept money orders but will not ship until I receive the money. Thanks for looking and helping me reduce my stash. It has outgrown my stamping room by 7 boxes. Click Download Retired Stamps for sale updated 11-7-10 to access the file.

Happy Holiday Stamping,

Sue

Did you know that you can cut the cork sheets sold by Stampin' Up! with the Big Shot? Yep, cork and 49 other types of materials. I wanted a quick gift for our daughter-in-law's birthday that I could enclose in a card and made these cork coasters. I have shared the card before as a Stamping 411 sketch response but wanted to include the card along with the coasters as a set. I used the same Just Believe image on the card and the coasters. I cut out the coasters with the larger scalloped square of the Scalloped Squares Duo Bigz die. After stamping on the cork, I used my markers to darken the image. I am definitely going to make more of these coasters. Actually, I am going to teach a class on November 21st at 2 p.m. on quick gifts and gift wrapping. Watch for further information. You can order the materials for these coasters by visiting my online store. Thanks for visiting today. I love receiving happy mail so leave a coment if you like this gift idea.

Happy Holiday Stamping,

Sue

Stamp Set: Just Believe (116948, wood; 120453, clear)

Curvy Verses (114948)

Ink: Concord Crush Classic Ink pad (119785)

Card Stock: Concord Crush (119792),

Pear Pizzazz (119795),

Blushing Bride 119796),

Very Vanilla (101650)

Other: Elegant Lines Embossing Folder (119277)

Scallop Squares Duo Bigz die (120903)

Big Shot machine113439)

Cork Sheets (119819)

Beautiful Wings Embosslit (118138)

Always Artichoke Stampin' Write marker (105113)

Concord Crush Stampin' Write marker (in 119801 set of 5 markers)

Very Vanilla 5/8" satin ribbon (117291)

Edited 11-6-10: I forgot to mention that I sealed the coasters with Krylon Matte Finish to protect the stamped images.