Flowers and Cherries

Happy Thursday Everyone!!

The spotlight shines on Cindy Bergh today! She created this 3x3 card using the Felt Flowers from the Spring/Summer Collection as well as Rub-Ons, Fire Rhinestone Brads, and Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, and Only Orange Card Stock.
To find out a little more about this talented Diva, here's what she has to say:

"I have been a demo for about two years. I have a career in which I work full time and stamping is my de-stressor. I did not even know stamping or SU existed until 3 years ago. I actually was invited to a workshop but could not go. I wanted to support the hostess so I bought $50 worth of stamps. When they came, I did not even know how to mount them (no instructions either). I just slapped the entire piece of rubber onto the wood block. I just looked at them after that (I didn’t even have any ink). I had a good friend come over a few weeks later, and I wanted to show her what I bought. I think we were talking about buying things that we did not know what to do with. You all must know what it is like to impulse buy? She took one look at the beautiful stamps I had bought and said “Cindy what did you do?”. She took my stamps home so she could remount them for me and then invited a demo over to give me an individual stamping session. After the session and $200 later, I was hooked and have been ever since.

Mary Kay guided me to UDI. My upline has never been very active and it has been hard getting to know local demos. I met Mary Kay when she invited me to hang out with her at the 2006 convention. Mary Kay knew everyone, and she made sure that I was connected. I will be forever grateful to that wonderful SU sister. If it was not for her, I may not be as capable as I am today. You see everything I learn about being a demo comes from the demos I meet and greet online. UDI is my number one go to for SU information, and just general how to’s of a SU demo. You ladies are all awesome and I read the forum everyday. I know I don’t participate very much, but I really am in the phase of being teachable.

My stamping business, is what I use to support my stamping hobby. I put everything I make right back into stamping and it is what I use to purchase all the great goodies that I play with. The great news is my stamping does not come out of the family budget. The bad news is I need a bigger house. My stamping room is getting cluttered. I love teaching stamping and I have made the best friends I have ever met through stamping. You all have such warm hearts. I have learned so much about myself through my stamping. I have learned that I love to teach stamping and I love to sell SU. I have learned that a little bit of encouragement to my customers to give them pride in their projects goes a long way. But most of all I have learned that I am a very creative woman. Wow now who would have ever figured that I had this in me? Certainly not me! (I can’t even draw stick people) You know I have days where I will complete a project and just wow myself. I have grown into a creative individual, and I have each of you to thank for that.

So to complete this little blurb about who I am, I just want to say thank you. Thank you all for helping me through sharing your creativity with me. My stamping is a patchwork of what you all have shared with me. Thank you"

...........and Thank You Cindy, for sharing your creativity with all of us! :)

Cindy also has a tutorial to share with us:

Gift card holder

One piece of 4 ¼ x 11" card stock.

2 pcs of Designer paper 2 ½ x 4"

Belly band measures ¾ x 8" (cut off excess)
Sticky Strip Tape
Word Window Punch
1-1/4" Circle Punch
Scallop Punch

Take your 4-1/4" x 11" card stock and score at 2 ¾, 5 ½ and 8 ¼ so it will fold up like a "W".

Once you have your folded “W”, take your word window punch and punch at the 5 ½ score half way, and making sure you punch at least ¼ from each end. Punch out the center with your circle punch. Secure the center of the “W” with Sticky Strip, bringing the 2 ¾ and 8 ¼ score fold together. The entire piece looks a little like a book.

Secure your designer paper onto each side of the holder. Wrap your belly band around the holder, and cut off any excess. Then secure your center piece (or your scalloped piece) to your belly band. You now have your holder ready to go, just insert a gift card. It should look like the one below:
The cute little cherry stamp is from the Tart & Tangy stamp set and the Summer Picnic Designer Series Paper both can be found in the new Occasions Mini Collection that runs from March 1st - May 31st.
You can see more of Cindy's great work at her Blog.

Happy Stampin' my friends!!!

~Maria :)