Saturday Sketch Challenge

please excuse the spill to the left of the sketch. i'm blaming it on the cat. that's my story and i'm sticking to it.

i almost forgot to post this week's sketch challenge. we are now four weeks into the new group of sketches. i would love to hear some feedback and your opinons on the addition of the "shaving cream" technique. we have plans to incorporate some other little ditties in the coming weeks. if you have something in particular you would like to see please leave us a message and we will try to work it in to the challenge.

please feel free to participate in our sketches. we would love to see what you come up with. thanx again for taking a peek. have a good weekend.

Carol

Leonie

Adriana

Tammy

Ruthie

Jeannette

Finally Friday with Christmas!!

Hello all!! Sorry for the late post, but I just got my computer back from the computer doctor!! It had a virus, but it is now all better!!

Up for your viewing pleasure today is a card from Kristine Memmott. This card uses new product from the upcoming Holiday Mini catalog, available on September 1st!!! You wont want to miss out on all the wonderful and new products!

Kristine re-created the card on page 24 of the mini, using the Delightful Decorations set and the new ornament punch! And if you think this punch is only for Christmas time, think again!!! Many talented stampers have discovered ways to use this. I'm sure we'll see those ideas in upcoming posts.

Delightful Decorations (Taken from the Holiday Mini)
Stamps: Delightful Decorations, Two Cool Dudes
Ink: Real Red, Old Olive, Crushed Curry, Bashful Blue
Paper: Bashful Blue, Whisper White
Accessories: Mistletoe Ribbon Originals, Ornament Punch

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Diva Inspiration Challenge #58

This week inspiration is bright and happy. I found this picture over at Better Homes and Gardens. I love the simplicity of this picture as well as how your eyes are immediately drawn to the bright colors of the vase and flowers - you almost don't even notice the tea cup sitting in front of the vase. I don't know about you, but I found this picture quite easy to work with!

To see what my creative team came up with, just click on their name:
Maria
Elizabeth
Carol
Karen
Katy

To view the submissions on SCS click here.

Post a link in the comments section with your blog entry or SCS gallery showing us what creation you were inspired to come up with!! If you upload to SCS be sure to put DivaIC58 (no spaces) as the keyword. Have fun!!

Inspire Stampin' happiness wherever you go!! :)
~~Maria~~

I'll have a blue, blue Christmas...

It's actually Taken with Teal. LOL

Today's card comes to us from the fabulously talented, award-winning demonstrator Gretchen Barron! (She and Selene Kempton, another fabulous UDI sister, were the Heart of Stampin' Up! award winners at this year's Convention in Salt Lake City!) This card is just gorgeous! Here's what Gretchen has to say about it...

For today's card I'm using the new Designer Series Papers called Holiday Lounge and the beautiful new Gifts of Christmas stamp set. These are certainly non-traditional colors for Christmas -- Taken with Teal and Sahara Sand, but I must say I love how this card turned out. As you can see, I gave the Dove more than a little bling with Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (applied with a 2-way glue pen) and added some of the luxurious 5/8" Whisper White Satin Ribbon. The three Square Rhinestone Brads on the Photo Corner add a bit more bling and I thought a nice touch. The circles were cut out with the Circle Scissor Plus. And, of course, I added a little something to the inside of the card as well!

More photos and details can been seen on my blog at http://gretchenbarron.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/on-the-fourth-day-of-christmas-.html.

Thanks for looking!

Blessings, Gretchen

Thanks for sharing with us, Gretchen!

Until next Wednesday...
Happy Stampin'!
Elizabeth

Workshop Wizard is Our Friend!

I don't know about you - but I have the tendency to make things harder for myself than is really necessary. For example, when preparing a workshop, I'm so intent on creating "my own" projects that I drive myself and my family crazy! So you can imagine my shock and surprise at how easy it was to create projects for my workshop last week using the Workshop Wizard!

Ok, it's not like I've never looked at it before - but I definitely haven't utilized it the way that I could have! Within a few minutes, I had decided on the projects I wanted to demonstrate, printed the instructions and began assembling my samples. Wow! Why have I been trying to reinvent the wheel?

Here are the projects that I demonstrated:

*I'm pretty new to the Circle Scissor Plus - I don't even have it yet! However, my sister bought one and has let me play with it. I desperately tried to get it to cut through 2 sheets of cardstock to cut the card itself, but I never could get it to work. I'm assuming that it will only cut through one sheet - if anyone knows how to make it work please let me know! In the end, I cut the size of circle that I wanted with the Circle Scissor as a template, then traced that onto the cardstock and cut it out with my paper snips.

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Melon Mambo
Paper: Pink Flamingo DSP
Stamps: Circle Circus
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Blooms Die Cuts, Melon Mambo Grograin polka-dot ribbon, Flower DS brads, Scallop circle punch, 1" circle punch, Stampin' Dimensionals and Pop-up Glue Dots.

This was a really fun and super fast project to put together! I'll definitely be making more of these to have on hand when I need a quick gift to take to a friend.

Cardstock: Dusty Durango, Bashful Blue and Very Vanilla
Paper: Certainly Celery DSP
Stamps: Sweet Serendipity
Ink: Dusty Durango and Certainly Celery Stampin' Write markers
Accessories: Top Note Die, Cutter Kit, Small Flat Cello Bags, Soft Subtles Brads, 3/4" circle punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Whew! Both very easy, but very cute projects. Thanks Workshop Wizard!

Compliments to the Chef

Happy Monday Everyone!

These fabulous projects come from our newest Diva, Sharon Field. Sharon lives in Jacksonville, FL and has been following our blog for a while now.

Stamp sets used on these pages: Compliments to the Chef, and Please Come (pull-up). Once again, using the colors from the Thoroughly Modern DSP collection. I think they turned out pretty cute, don’t you?

The complimentary page uses the slider technique for a side-ways surprise pull out. I’ve had this great Classy Brass 5 7/8” “Pick a Petal” Template for years, and thought it was a great compliment to the page. (Item 109542/ $21.95 page 188) The template has piercing holes as well as embossing lines to trace. To make them all stand out better, I used my Soft Suede Marker to outline the embossing, and paper piercer to pierce the fine inside line of the faux ‘plate’. Fun!

As you can see in the photo (above) several parts of this page are removable… lots of places to record additional recipe information and/or memories!

The ‘fork-knife-spoon’ pull-out is actually 3x5. I plan to use the back side for my 3x5 recipe card.

If you are interested in joining our fabulous group of Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, please e-mail utahdivasinternational@gmail.com for more details.

Enjoy your day

Max

Saturday Surprise Sketch Challenge

In addition to the sketch today I challenged the team with a technique also. Along with the sketch I asked the team to use shaving cream on their card. I can't wait to see what they've created.

Here is the sketch for today.


Check out the team:

Adriana

Ruthie

Tammy

Leonie

Carol

Jeannette is on vacation with her family and will return to us next week.

Michelle is going to be on hiatus for a while. We will miss her and look forward to her return to the team. :)

Finally Friday with Selene!!!

Hello all!! This week we have an awesome scrapbook album from the one and only Selene Kempton!!!

Here's a project I did during my open house. I hired a friend to do make and takes, and during downtime, I made this project!
For the front and back cover, I covered the large chipboard basics with paper using the tombo multipurpose adhesive. Then I cut the cover out with the sizzix die. I put a bunch of whisper white on top of one another and cut that for the pages.

I used a cropadile to and some rings to bind the book, and it went together in about 20 minutes.

So quick and easy, this would be a fun project or mommy and me class. :)

Have fun making your own!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Diva Inspiration Challenge #57

Boy, did that week fly by fast! It is time for another inspiration challenge. Today's picture is from blank. This pic is almost too busy for me, but there's plenty of choices and directions to go.
To see what my creative team came up with, just click on their name:
Maria
Elizabeth
Carol
Katy

To view the submissions on SCS click here.

Post a link in the comments section with your blog entry or SCS gallery showing us what creation you were inspired to come up with!! If you upload to SCS be sure to put DivaIC57 (no spaces) as the keyword. Have fun!!

Inspire Stampin' happiness wherever you go!! :)
~~Maria~~

In Colors Take Flight

Here's a card I made a few weeks ago. I used the Flight of the Butterfly set and my In Color Markers (WooHoo!) to get my card started. I stamped the butterflies on a strip of Whisper White and then adhered that to a bigger piece of Basic Black. I stamped the swirly Thanks sentiment in Jet Black Stazon on my Whisper White base, and then I ran the front of the base through my Big Shot with the small polka dot Texturz plate. I adhered the image layer to the base and was done. Easy peasy. Ok...not really. I had a heck of a time getting those pretty butterflies lined up. This is not my first attempt. (Yes, I was using my Stamp-a-ma-jig. LOL) I do think the end result is worth it, though!

Supplies(all SU!): Stamps- Flight of the Butterfly, Thank You Kindly. Ink- Jet Black Stazon, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, Dusty Durango, Rich Razzleberry. Paper- Whisper White, Basic Black. Accessories- Big Shot, Texturz Backgrounds, Stamp-a-ma-jig.

Until next week...
Happy Stampin'!
Elizabeth

CASE'ing it with the best of 'em

One of the best things about Convention is all the swapping that goes on! Thumbs up if you agree...I thought so :) Sadly, I didn't have time to make as many swaps as I'd wanted to, so I missed out on some great ideas, but life happens and we go on right? I was at least able to participate in the UDI card swap and I'm so thrilled with what everyone did! I absolutely fell in love with the simplicity of this design by Lisa Stout, so when I needed a make and take for an upcoming workshop this week, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Here's Lisa's version (some of you may recognize this card). Pretty great, isn't it?

And here's my version. I had to change it because *gasp* I didn't have any Rich Razzleberry grograin ribbon! Either way, I love them both and I'm so excited to have the ladies make this on Wednesday! Oh, I also added some silver brads because I have a ton of them and besides, it never hurts to upsell!

Stamps: Circle Circus, Warm Words
Paper: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo
Accessories: Silver Brads, Bermuda Bay polka-dot grosgrain ribbon, paper piercer and Mat Pack, Stampin' Dimensionals

Lisa, if you're reading this, thank you a thousand times! I'm positive that the ladies at the workshop will have a lot of fun putting this card together!

Our talented Gretchen makes me ooh and aah again!! Look how cute this darling basket is.

Gretchen wrote:

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me ... well gee, what could you give to someone in this darling little basket, so easy and quick to make with the Baskets & Blooms Die and the Big Shot! This is a Christmas version of one of my favorite little treat boxes/baskets to make! I created it using Merry Moments Designer Series Paper, Old Olive Cardstock (and just a bit of Real Red for the Tag and Snowflake), and Very Vanilla Cardstock. The Snowflakes were punched with the new Jumbo Snowflake Punch and then coated with Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (using a 2-way glue pen). Look at that sparkle? (click on the thumbnail for a larger image). A little more holiday bling is applied with a Clear Rhinestone Brad in the middle of each snowflake. The tag is stamped with the Christmas Punch Stamp Set and punched out with the Scallop Oval Punch (sorry, the Old Olive layer will need to be cut by hand). A little of the new Real Red 5/8" Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon finishes off this darling little box. You could put Santa's Elfs to shame and crank out several of these in less than an hour! More photos and details are available at http://gretchenbarron.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/on-the-second-day-of-christmas-.html. If you would prefer to purchase kits for these little baskets (winter, fall and floral themes), I have Class-on-the-Go Kits avilable on my blog as well at http://gretchenbarron.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/08/a-bevy-of-beautiful-baskets-new-class-kitonthego.html. Thanks so much for looking! Blessings, Gretchen

Thanks as always Gretchen. You are awesome.

Enjoy your day everyone

Max

Sketchy Saturday

it is sketchy saturday here at the divas. take a look at what the sketch team has made and leave a comment please.

hope you have a great weekend. :)


Adriana

Leonie

Ruthie

Tammy

Carol

Michelle

Jeannette

Diva Inspiration Challenge #56

This week's inspiration challenge pic is absolutely gorgeous!! I don't know about you, but these shoes, crafted by Mai Lamoreare, look too pretty to wear! What a work of art! It was pretty easy for me to come up with my sample for this. I hope you can create something as quickly as I have!

To see what my creative team came up with, just click on their name:
Maria
Elizabeth
Carol
Katy
Karen

To view the submissions on SCS click here.

Post a link in the comments section with your blog entry or SCS gallery showing us what creation you were inspired to come up with!! If you upload to SCS be sure to put DivaIC56 (no spaces) as the keyword. Have fun!!

Inspire Stampin' happiness wherever you go!! :)
~~Maria~~

The Circus is in town...

...the Circle Circus! Today's project comes to us from Stephanie Gittins.
























Circle Circus 3x6 card and 6x6 page At my classes, I like to offer a scrapbooking project, but not all of my stamping friends like to scrapbook. One of the best things I learned last year at Convention was Wendy Knowles' idea to give an alternative design and make the 6x6 page into a card. I've been doing that ever since, and my friends love it! This is the project we made in July using the great, versatile new Circle Circus stamp set. I cut the Top Note image in half so that it would fit on the narrow card. Plus, that's a great way to save on paper, and it still leaves a cute spot for journaling on the scrapbook page.

Stamps: Circle Circus, Teeny Tiny Wishes Inks: Certainly Celery & Rich Razzleberry Classic Pads Paper: Certainly Celery, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White & Kraft cardstock Accessories: White UniBall Gel Pen, Paper Clip, Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, assorted Circle punches, Sizzix Big Shot, Top Note die, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals.

Until next week...
Happy Stampin'!
Elizabeth

I swap, you swap, we all scream for swaps!

Today Brenda Taylor has this adorable card to share with us! I think you'll agree with me when I say that there are some sets out there that we just pass by in the catalog without thinking much about. With each of us having a different style as well as having so many fantastic items in the catalog to choose from, it's bound to happen! So I was pleasantly surprised to see this great swap idea from Brenda. Embarrassing as it is to admit - I couldn't even tell you where this set is in the catalog; but I LOVE this sample!

Here's some more info on the card:

Here is a card that I made for a swap, there is more details at www.memoriesbybrenda.com Thanks for looking!!


Farm Life stamp set

Always Artichoke, More Mustard & Whisper White card stock

Basic Black and More Mustard ink pads

SU Markers, Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon

Thank you so much Brenda - I really do love this card!

Convention News

Hello Friends,

Oh my stars! Convention was absolutely fantabulous this year. Everything was awesome (except for the L -O- N- G line for Memento Mall....:)

How wonderful it was for the Divas to meet up for General Session and classes and our annual dinners on Wednesday and Saturday. Michael and Kellie Paxton, pictured above did us Divas proud. They made it such an enjoyable time. Michael made this awesome sign so that the Divas could easily meet up and Kellie took care of all the arrangements for our dinners and swaps. I believe our convention for the Divas was all the better thanks to Michael and Kellie. They were awarded with a $150 shopping spree for ALL of their efforts.

Awards Night - The following Divas are in the top 100 Demonstrators of the company in the US:
Ann Clemmer, Barb Mulikin, Dawn Rapsas, Glenda Travelstead, Laurie Krauss, Patty Bennett, Robin Merriman and Tiffany Bauer.
Edie Bunting who is a Diva and also my direct recruit placed in the top 15 Rising Stars for 2008/09.
All these Divas will enjoy a trip to Southern Utah for Founders Circle in September.
Many Congratulations dear friends!

Two of our Divas entered the Artisan Award Contest and whilst they weren't winners (in our eyes of course they were:) they were finalists. Brenda Weaver and Strephanie Wagstaff Gittins. I know there were so many entries. What an accomplishment this is. Way to go girls!

I am also happy to let you know that 2 of our Divas were chosen by Shelli (CEO and Co-Founder of Stampin' Up!) to serve on the Advisory Board. Ann Clemmer and Robin Merriman! What an absolute honor.

The Heart of Stampin' Up award was presented to Gretchen Barron and Selene Kempton and how deserved that was. Gretchen and Selene have done so much to help those affected by disasters. Click here to read more about their service.

I am absolutely thrilled that we have so many wonderful people in our group. Not just these fabulous women who earned awards but everyone one of you! I did feel the need to congratulate these Divas on their accomplishments.

Please post a comment!

Happy' Stampin'
Max

Sketchy Saturday

Welcome once again to the diva sketch challenge. We are on week 42. Take a look at our talented team's creations. Hmmmm, the sketch didn't come out to well. I'll work on that for next week. Remember, I'm new at this and still getting the kinks out.


Ruthie

Leonie

Adriana

Jeannette

Michelle

Tammy

carol


Thanx again for checking us out.

Thanks in Mambo is Heavenly!!!

Hello all!! While a majority of the Diva's & Dude, are experiencing the awesomeness of convention, the sample for today is from little ole me! Enjoy!

Here is my card I created for this week's IC on SCS!! Stef found us another great site for the IC this week!!

She chose the site Heavenly Hostess, which is filled with tons of gorgeous aprons, kitchen towels and headbands. However, I'm not sure if the person wearing these aprons is the one really doing the cooking!!!

My inspiration came from this apron here:
http://www.heavenlyhostess.com/aprons_lauren.html

I was instantly drawn to the colors, flowers and the contrasting prints on the tie. I tried to recreate that by using a piece of Razzleberry Lemonade, in Melon Mambo, with the small flowers, and then layered two strips of Pretty in Pink I had run through the newest texture plates: Perfect Details. I then took my Melon Mambo marker (love it!) and put a small dot on all the embossed dots.

My bird, from Fun and Fast Notes, is paper pieced with Afternoon Tea dsp and the Razzleberry/Mambo. I used a Fleurette that I dyed with my PIP re inker, a 1/2: circle of Melon Mambo text and a clear rhinestone brad from my Pretties Kit.
The white taffeta ribbon is for the ribbon tie and the silver library clip is just because! I should have moved things up just a titch, because the upper right corner seemed bare - hence the library clip!

And how goofy am I? I haven't used this set in forever, and actually thought it had retired until I saw it in this years new catalog!! How how easily we forget what we have!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Diva Inspiration Challenge #55

I came across this pic when I was just browsing around the internet and thought how peaceful and relaxing it was. It looks like you're leaving an underwater cave and I can only imagine how the sight of the rest of the ocean must be.
To see what my creative team came up with, just click on their name:

Elizabeth
Carol
Katy


To view the submissions on SCS click here.

Post a link in the comments section with your blog entry or SCS gallery showing us what creation you were inspired to come up with!! If you upload to SCS be sure to put DivaIC55 (no spaces) as the keyword. Have fun!!

Inspire Stampin' happiness wherever you go!! :)
~~Maria~~

Happiness...

is a new home!

This is another one of my projects :)

I made this card to give to my mom. She and her new husband just closed on a brand-new home. I am so excited for them! To make the card, I used the Neighborhood wheel and colored the houses in with watercolor pencils, Watercolor Wonder Crayons (Bold Brights) and a blender pen. The brads are SU!'s silver brads that I smooshed on my Jet Black Stazon pad. I lined them up all in a row with my mat pack and paper piercer. I ran the Kraft background layer through the Big Shot on the Distressed Texturz plate. I also ran the envelope flap through. I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture. The sentiment is actually part of a sentiment stamp...Heard from the Heart. I used my marker to ink up just the one word. A piece of black gingham ribbon covers the seam between the watercolor paper and the strip of Summer Picnic DSP(retired). The entire image panel is adhered to the Kraft background with dimensionals.

Supplies(all SU!): Stamps- Heard from the Heart. Ink- Jet Black Stazon, Classic Black. Paper- Kraft, Basic Black, watercolor, Summer Picnic DSP(retired). Accessories- Big Shot, Distressed Texturz plate, silver brads, black gingham ribbon, Neighborhood SA Jumbo wheel, watercolor pencils, Watercolor Wonder Crayons (Bold Brights), blender pen, dimensionals.

I'm off to play with my new mini catalog goodies that Mr. Brown delivered today! Maybe that will keep my mind off not being in Salt Lake City with all my stampin' buddies!

Until next week...
Happy stampin'!
Elizabeth

Razzleberry Lemonade...Mmmmm!

These fun samples come to us from Ruthie Burkey!

Wouldn't you like to get a birthday card like that? It's so bright and cheery! Really, I think Razzleberry Lemonade should be an actual drink, just the name sounds yummy :) Thanks Ruthie!

Hello Everyone and Happy Monday!

WOWZERS! I am so excited to let you know that our Yahoo group is growing leaps and bounds. If you or any one you know is interested in joining the most fabulous group of demonstrators, please contact me at maxstamps@yahoo.com for more information.

Our newest member is Patty Bennett from Hercules, CA. I have known Patty for a little over a year now and she is awesome. Many of you will visit her blog as she is known for her 'videos' and I have to mention, the video for the Matchbox Die helped me tremendously. Patty has served as a member of the Advisory Board this year and I have really enjoyed getting to know her.

Our annual Stampin' Up! convention is this week! They are always fabulous. I checked out Patty's blog today and the above cards are Patty's swaps. Any Stampin' Up! event would not be the same without the swaps! :)

To learn more about Patty and her fabulous creativity, visit her blog at www.pattystamps.com
You will also find the products Patty used to make these wonderful cards.

Enjoy your day
Max

Saturday Sketch Challenge

Here is a quick and easy sketch if you need a card in a hurry. Just stamp a couple of images and layer them on your card down one side.


Let's see what the design team did with the sketch this week.

Show us what you've got. Make a card with the sketch here and post it to your blog linking it back to the divas. We'd love to see what you've come up with.

Adriana

Jeannette

Leonie

Michelle

Ruthie

Tammy

Carol

until next week ~ happy stamping!