Otterly Lost

This card makes me soooooo happy.  Who doesn't love otters???  Seriously, who???  Send me their names!  Otters are so cute, I love them!  Did you know they sleep holding hands so they don't float away.......if that's not the sweetest, most caring thing ever I don't know what is!  Here' is my version, except they're awake...they probably hold hands when they're awake too, that's just how cute they are!  They're actually really simple to make, all punches are listed below.  For the background I used watercolor paper and did a messy, simple color wash with some Coastal Cabana.  I used my rotary stamp for the greeting, "I'd be otterly lost without you" {I love puns-even typing this weeks later I just giggled :)}

Here's the punches used.  Body-XL Oval, Head-Oval, Ears and Cheeks-1/2" Circle, Nose-3/8" Circle, Arms-Word Window, Eyes-Googlie eyes or you can use circles 1/2" and 3/8", Tail-Small Oval (retired).  I covered their noses with some glossy accents to make them look wet.  This card is one of those cards that I just want to hang up and look at forever :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Love You More Than Chocolate

We're down to the final 5 projects from Scrapbook weekend and honestly these are my top 5 favorites....maybe ever!  I love them all so much and I really couldn't decide which order to put them in.  Just know that these 5 over the next 5 days are my all time favorite!  The first is the sweet candy bar, don't you love it!?!  When I saw this greeting from the stamp set Lovely Amazing You (it's one of the Photopolymer releases), I knew I was making a candy bar.  I didn't know it would be this elaborate though :)  There's probably a whole package of dimensionals holding this card together but that's a story for a different day ;)

I started with the squares for the chocolate.  The larger ones are 1"x1" then they're layered with a smaller 3/4"x3/4" square, all sponged in coordinating Chocolate Chip ink all attached with dimensionals.  For the wrapper I adhered some silver foil paper and some DSP back to back then I tore and crinkled it up like a candy bar.  This too is attached with dimensionals....many of them..... :)  Finally for the greeting I wanted a white greeting, in my opinion the best way to get a crisp white greeting is embossing, plus I love embossing.  This too is attached with dimensionals.  This card is really thick and would probably need a padded envelope to mail it, but it's oh so cute!!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Work Of Art CASE

I have wanted to CASE this card ever since I saw it, right after the Work Of Art Set came out last year.  Make sure to check out the original one, she also has other samples using this set that will make your jaw drop.  So cute and creative!  I loved the colors that she used so I didn't even change those.  Lining everything up was a little challenging, I think next time I might use my Stamp A Ma Jig for easy placement :)

I embossed the greeting and added some rhinestones because a ballerina has to sparkle and shine!  I also used my glitter brush pen over her dress for some added sparkle too.  I only have 5 more cards to share from Scrapbook Weekend.  Next week we'll finish those up and then move on to some other things I've been working on :) 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Beautiful Butterfly

I'm taking a small break from punch art today and tomorrow and I'll share some of the actual 'stamped' cards I made.  I love this butterfly, sometimes I have trouble finding ways to use it though.  It's really large, and sometimes I find larger stamps challenging.  They take up so much of the card that there's not much room to add embellishments.  When I saw this on Pintrest I thought it was a brilliant idea!  It makes the butterfly look like it's flying and it's a new creative way to use this set!  I stamped the butterfly twice and colored and cut out the same side of each butterfly.

I used my Blendabilities to color the butterfly, but this butterfly image is so forgiving you could color it with almost anything or even just embossed in gold or silver would be gorgeous!!!!  I did emboss the greeting on some vellum.  I love this technique!  The flower was simple to make I used 4 (I think) scallop circles.  Fold them all in half then glue them together and it fans out like a 3D flower.  So pretty!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Megan's Kangaroo

While Logan requested a falcon, Megan was much kinder to me and requested a kangaroo.  I've made kangaroos before so I knew that I could that one.  I did modify this one slightly from the last one I made...it's been years!  This one is so cute though!!!  And look at that sweet baby peeking out of his mamas pouch, so cute!!!  The greeting is from the photopolymer stamp set Lovely Amazing You.  I adore this stamp set.  The greetings are all so fun and I love the font!  I used this set a lot at scrapbook weekend! 

Here's the punches I used for the kangaroo: Ears-Word Window, Eyes-Small Oval and 1/2" Circle, Nose-1/2" Circle, Cheeks-3/4" Circle, Head-XL Oval, Body and Pouch-Smallest Oval Framelit, Arms-Word Window, Legs-XL Oval, Feet-Word Window, Baby-Heart Punch (retired) and 1/4" Circle.  I finished the kangaroos with some Crystal Effects over their noses for a glossy effect.  They're so cute!! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Logan's Falcon

We're moving on from yesterday's post, I still have lots of cards to share with you from Scrapbook Weekend.  I haven't even shared my favorite ones yet!  Before I left I asked each of my children what animal they wanted me to try to make.  Logan wanted a falcon....thanks Logan..... :/ I find birds to be difficult to do in punch art, even with sponging it's hard to get the depth and perception of feathers.  Feathers are a look all their own and it's hard to achieve that look on paper.  So I try not to do a lot of birds.  When I do punch art I tend to google cartoon pictures of the animal I want to do.  They're going to look more cartoonish when they're completed so I start there.  There's not a whole lot of falcon cartoons.  There's a lot of falcons for mascots.  So I didn't have a whole lot to go on.  I kind of just did it the way I thought a cartoon falcon would look like. 

  In the end Logan liked it and so did I so that's all that matters.  He is pretty cute, maybe more eagle-ish but they're both birds of prey, in the same family so close enough :)  Here's the punches I used: Wings and Body-XL Oval, Head-1 1/4" Circle, Eye-1/2" and 3/8" Circle, Beak-Large oval, Feet-Boho Blossom, Leaves-5 Petal Flower (retired).  I'll share the animal Megan picked tomorrow! 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

It Hurts...

I don't have a project today, I promise I'll get back to scrapbook weekend projects tomorrow.  I didn't post on Friday, some of you may have noticed.  My posts up until Thursday were scheduled prior to the announcement Stampin' Up! made last week, and after the announcement well I didn't do much.  There wasn't a big part of me that even wanted to do anything.  I'm not going to sugar coat anything, but when I got the news about MDS I was stunned, shocked, in disbelief.  Any and all of those plus some more.  I read the email a few times to make sure I was reading it correctly.  Instantly tears started to fill my eyes, I just didn't see it coming it hit me like a truck. 

MDS is more than just a computer program.  I have 4 albums sitting in my living room made from MDS.  They're beautiful and I love them.  They're filled with memories and pictures of my children.  They're the first thing I'll grab if I ever need to evacuate my home (after the kids and pets of course).  MDS made me a scrapbooker, I never thought I was or could be a scrapbooker, but on my laptop I am! I've created my familys' Christmas cards in MDS.  I make cards for the artists in the gallery I run.  I could go on and on.  Sure, I know I'll still be able to do these things through other venues, but will the quality be the same?  Will the colors be the same?

Aside from my emotional attachment to MDS, this decision will effect by business negatively.  I'm not a top selling demonstrator, but I sell enough and do enough in my business that I can help with our monthly car payment, take my family out to the movies, dinner, etc., I can have lunch with friends, and so many other things that wouldn't be possible if I didn't have this, albeit modest, income from my Stampin' Up! business.  I haven't had the time to go through my sales and every order from the last year, but I would be willing to bet that the total yearly MDS related purchases (downloads, printing, etc.) will be at least 10% of my sales.  That may not sound like much, but I'll notice the difference. 

For me, this announcement came out of the blue.  Perhaps there were signs, I didn't see them.  Stampin' Up! themselves even mentioned at Convention, less than a year ago, that MDS wasn't going anywhere.  I've never been brought to tears or been so emotional about any change Stampin' Up! has undergone, and I've been through A LOT of their changes.  I'm hurt and I feel betrayed.  I'm upset that I only have 2 months to figure it all out.  I've spent a lot of the last week questioning my place with Stampin' Up!, should I continue?  The honest answer to that is I don't know. I just don't know.  I don't want to make a decision out of anger, I don't want to blindside my customers and my friends the way I was blindsided.  I care too much to just call it quits but I'd be lying if I said that thought hadn't entered my mind more than once over the past week, and I think I'd be lying to say that that thought won't enter my mind again.  The truth is, time will tell.  I promise I won't go anywhere without notice.  I won't leave people without someone to take care of their needs.  Until I know what will happen and when, I will continue to run my business as I have in the past.  Right now I'm not going anywhere, I will continue classes and events and blogging.  I wanted to write this post because even though I'm hurt about this decision by Stampin' Up! I'm ready to stop being angry about it.  I've written it down and put it out there.  I'm still hurt but I'm going to move on as gracefully as I can. 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

PS For those of you who might be looking for a replacement for MDS I found this site (Thanks to the person who posted the comment on my blog last week for the tip!)
  http://www.mymemories.com/  
This program is similar to MDS, and from what I understand you can download all you MDS downloads into their program and continue to use them there. Do it before May 31, you won't have access to them after that.  I believe they're giving a discount 50% off their newset version for MDS people.  If you want more info on this let me know I'll try to find out more info.  I'm looking into it as well.    

Card Organizers

I try to do a small gift for my guests when they attend my classes.  This month though because it was my anniversary class I wanted to do something a little bigger.  I made these awesome card organizers, 23 total!  Whew!!!  They all came out amazing!!  My friend Kim made one at scrapbook weekend and I loved them so she sent me the pattern here and I got to work.  After 23 of them I can make them blindfolded now :)

Here's a picture of some of them in progress.  I figured out they took up less space if you nested them in each other.  They took over my desk for a few days :)  Aren't all the patterns fun. 

I love the angled side on the boxes.  I used the Stacked With Love DSP stack, I love all the black and white patterns in there.  When I ran out of that DSP stack I started using the Back to Black DSP.  Those are fun patterns too!!! 

The flower I wanted to keep simple, did I mention I made 23 of these ;) I used the fun flower punch and some silver ribbon.  I punched a hole in the center of the flower, made a knot in the center of the ribbon then fed both ends through the hole in the flower.  I love this look.  The knot on the flower is the perfect center of the flower!  I hope everyone loves their box.  Megan wants a purple one so I'll be making at least one more :)

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Birthday Class Round Two

Here are the last two cards from my class.  I love this first one, with the Sale a Bration set Big Day.  This card I didn't start out loving, there were some color issues that weren't working, but once I got those worked out I loved it!  I love the glimmer paper and gold sequins.  There's lots of shine on this card!!!

This is another card where I showcased lots of the retiring In Colors.  This card features Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana and Crisp Cantaloupe.  These colors (with the exception of Coastal Cabana) weren't my favorite from the beginning, but over the last few months I've found myself reaching more and more for them....figures.....just when they're leaving :(  Guess it takes me a little longer to warm up to them.  If you love them make sure you stock up on these colors now, while they're available.  Stock up on them this month and earn Sale a Bration benefits too.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

MDS News

Today Stampin' Up! announced that they would no longer continue supporting My Digital Studio. 
I'm going to start by telling you that this has really been hard for me to deal with.  I'm truly, truly heartbroken over this news.  I found out Monday afternoon, SU sent an email to 'leaders' and broke the news.  It was then officially announced this morning.  I'm not gonna lie, yesterday there were tears.  I've done soooo much with MDS, I've printed many family albums that we cherish.  Our Christmas cards are done every year in MDS, I use it to print thank you cards for the gallery I run.  It's such an huge part of my life, I'm not doing well dealing with this news. 

So if you have MDS what does it mean for you?

-Stampin' Up! will continue to support it until May 31, 2015.  That means if there's any downloads you've been waiting to get.  If you haven't downloaded all the ones you've bought.  If you need something printed don't wait!  Do it NOW!  After May 31, 2015 you will no longer be able to purchase downloads, to access your downloads or print projects.

-You will be able to use MDS after May 31 but you'll have to find another place that will print.  If anyone knows of places that print albums and cards please let me know.  I did a little research yesterday and the only places I found that printed albums were albums that I couldn't design, it was a 'plug in the picture on our premade page' kind of thing.  So I'm in the market for a vendor to print albums, and cards, fronts backs and inside, not just the cover.  Comment or send me an email if you know of a place that will do that. 

-You'll want to back up your downloads, projects etc.  I'm going to get an external hard drive to store it all on.  If your computer crashes or you have to get a new one the only way you'll have access to MDS and all your downloads is if it's on an external hard drive.

Again, I'm really heartbroken about this news.  This is a line that even if they took a step back I never thought they'd get rid of all together.  If you're upset about this.  I encourage you to call Stampin' Up! and let them know! I plan to do that, just as soon as I can get my thoughts together. 

I'll be back tomorrow with more cards from my class.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Birthday Card Class

A couple years ago I started doing a birthday card stamp a stack in March.  March is the month that I signed up with Stampin' Up! so it's kind of an anniversary class too.  It's become a tradition, every March is my Birthday Stamp a Stack, put it on your calendar for next year :)  Instead of the 4 cards my guests normally make at my class they make 12 cards.  Three each of four designs.  Here's 2 of the cards.  This ice cream cone one I love, so cute!!!!!!  I don't normally reach for my subtles colors but for this card the softness of them was perfect!

I wanted to showcase some of the 2013-2015 In Colors.  We don't have much longer with these colors.  I'm going to grieve Coastal Cabana leaving :(  This is all Pistachio pudding.  I love the mono-chromatic look of this card.  I'll share the other 2 cards tomorrow.  

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Pink Peacock

I know I mentioned Friday that I'd be taking a short break from Scrapbook Weekend posts to share about my class, I will, I just didn't have any pictures ready to go.  The plan was to take pictures Friday, but everything was packed (I planned poorly).  I will take pictures today and share over the next 3 days. For today I have one more Scrapbook weekend project.  This peacock is so soft and pretty in the pinks.  I really love it.

When I was done with the card though I still thought it needed something.  That the peacock needed more dimension some how.  I pulled out Crystal Effects and covered the entire peacock.  This gives the peacock a nice raised glossy look.  So pretty!  and exactly what it needed!!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!! 

Birthday Shaker

When I arrived at the scrapbook weekend a couple weeks ago, I got my station all set up and then I thought about what I wanted to work on.  For a little while I thought that I would spend the entire weekend with no inspiration or creativity.  Fortunately once others started to arrive so did my creativity, perhaps I just needed some company :)  This was the first card that I made at the weekend, while I thought my creativity was still escaping me.  I'll be honest, out of all the cards I made over the weekend, this is my least favorite, still fun and cute though.  I cut out the balloons from vellum then colored them with Blendabilities.  I tied some string on the bottom of them and assembled the rest of my shaker card. 

I went into the weekend, will plans to make lots of shaker cards.  I've really loved making them lately and I wanted to make a bunch.  I made one :)  Oh well there's always next time right!  For the greeting I embossed it on vellum and attached it.  I'll be back Monday with another scrapbook weekend project, then I'll take a break for a few days so I can share my cards and other fun things from my upcoming class!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

Painted Petals Watercolored

I thought I'd take a break from the punch art for today and share another card I made at scrapbook weekend.  This one is pretty simple, but it's so pretty!!!  You'll be surprised how easy and quick it comes together too.  This card was inspired by a card that Shelli Gardner (CEO and Co Founder of Stampin' Up!) demonstrated at this years Leadership conference.  I thought she had posted it on her blog but I couldn't find it :(  I thought the look was so pretty and wanted to make my own.  You need stamps, ink, watercolor paper and a water spritzer.  That's it!!! 

I stamped my flowers in Blackberry Bliss and Old Olive ink on watercolor paper.  Then I used a spritz bottle (you could use any water bottle).  Gently spray your stamped images.  You want to spray them enough that the color will run, but not too much that it washes your color out completely.  Once you've achieved the look you want you can let the paper dry on it's own or speed it up with a heat tool.  I added my greeting and embossed it with some black-glitter embossing powder (mix 2 parts black embossing powder and 1 part Dazzling Diamonds glitter).  The sparkle is so pretty!!!

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Bunny Bottom

Here's day 2 of my bunnies.  This card does make me smile.  He's so cute!!!!  I started this card knowing it would be a shaking bottom card.  I just love making these.  I made my bunny bottom (all punches will be listed below) and bunny head separately.  After they were made I used them to determine how big the hole in my card needed to be.  I used the circle framelits to cut that hole.

The true beauty of this card is that his bottom shakes, or twerks as it was mentioned at scrapbook weekend.  He then became known as the twerking bunny :)  The bottom isn't attached to the card base instead I used a little spring (Stampin' Up! doesn't sell them....though I wish they did.  I got them at a big box craft store).  His bottom is attached to the back of head with the spring.....

So his bottom wiggles.  EEEEEEK  SOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!  This isn't a card I would mail, maybe a padded envelope.  The spring adds some thickness to the card, but the real reason I wouldn't mail it is the tail.  I used 4 circles folded in half, then glued together so it's nice and 'fluffy' :)

The inside of the card has the front of the bunny, so stinkin' cute!!!!  His paws and ears and attached to the card leaving his bottom free to twerk :) LOL!!!!!  So cute!!  Thanks Nikki for giving him his nickname!

I used the rotary stamp to stamp 'because' and the Sale a Bration set, Simply Wonderful, to finish the greeting.  I love the addition of the flowers and rhinestones.  It ties the front of the card and the inside of the card together.

Punches:  Tail- 3/4" Circle Punch. Feet-Oval, Small Heart and Heart Border. Bottom-1 3/4" Circle. Head-1 3/4" Circle.  Paws-Small Oval.  Ears-Oval and Word Window.  Eyes-3/4" and 1/2" Circle.  Nose-Small Heart.  Cheeks 3/4" Circle.

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!

Ballerina Bunny

Today begins the first of 2 days of bunnies.  I made 2 bunny cards at Craft in the City, then late one night there were baby bunnies.  I won't be sharing the baby bunnies.  I didn't bring any of them home to photograph.  Today though I have the cutest little card to share.  There's lots of things I would change on this card if I made it again.   I'll point out the mistakes as I see them, just so that if you recreate this card you don't have the same issues.  I don't think they're mistakes that draw away from the bunnies major cuteness just things I would consider changing in the future.  The bunny is really cute and actually pretty simple.  She is pretty big though, I think the finished card is 5x7, and she takes up most of the card.  I'll list the punches I used below.

The beauty of this card is that when you open it she spins.  It's simple to make her spin, before you close the card and put it in an envelope 'wind' her up.  Just give her a few spins then close the card.  When you open the card she'll spin to her little hearts desire.  So cute and fun!!!!!  To make the spinner you just need to cut a hole in your card base and then another piece cut the same size with the same hole in it.  Pull the twine tight on top and bottom and adhere it between the two layers.  Here's mistake number 1: I should have used a more translucent string, like fishing line, for the spinner. The white bakers twine is very noticeable, which isn't a horrible thing, it would just look better if it were hidden more.  Since this card wasn't planned, and just happened I didn't have any with me.

Mistake number 2: It wasn't until the entire body was put together that I realized that I should have used another oval for her back to hide the twine down her back.  I used 2 circles for the head, but it didn't occur to me to cover her back too.....{face palm} duh!  She was completely put together with the twine and everything when I flipped her over and noticed that baker's twine peeking out......I couldn't bear to spend another hour assembling the bunny again.  I tried to sponge the twine in Smoky slate to try to 'conceal' the twine better, it worked a little......next time I'll know better :)

Even with the mistakes I still love this card, it's crazy cute and one of my favorites from the weekend.  My little dancer bunny even inspired someone else to make the card.  Nichole's daughter, Amari, was there for a little while on the last day with Nichole.  I showed her my card and she made her own ballerina bunny card.  She did a great job too!!!  I hope she loves her card as much as I do!  So cute!!!!

Punches Used:

Ears: Oval and Word Window

Nose: Heart Border

Head: 1 3/4" Circle

Eyes: Small Oval and 1/2" Circle

Body: Oval Framelits (smallest one I think)

Arms: Small oval (retired)

Skirt: Scalloped Circle 

Legs and Shoes: Word Window

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!

Frog Prince

Today begins the many days (I don't know how many yet) of sharing my numerous, mostly punch art projects, from Scrapbook weekend.  They're not in any order but I will try to mix in the few non punch art items here and there.  Today's card is the only one I didn't bring home with me, I gave this card to Angela at the weekend.  I posted on Facebook what people wanted me to make.  There were a few suggestions, and Angela suggested I make Prince Charming for her.  Well after some thought I thought I'd go with a frog....who could be a prince.  I did a quick search on Pintrest for frog punch art.

My frog ended up as a mixture of a couple that I saw on Pintrest.  I knew I wanted big eyes.   I thought about making him with all circles but was worried that would look too much like a toad and not a frog.  I went with ovals instead.  This card was really quick.  I used the Oval framelits for his body, I think it was the smallest one, the rest of him is just the XL Oval punch (legs, tummy and head). Boho Blossom for his feet, and the small oval with a 1/2" circle for his eyes  That's it!  Super simple!  I just hand cut his crown.

You'll see me use lots of this A-MA-ZING rotary stamp in my punch art cards coming up.  Custom greetings and puns are no longer a problem for me!!!  I really love this thing!  It does take a little practice to learn and get use to using it but that's what scrap paper is for right?  I did use rulers to draw pencil lines on my cardstock so I could at least get the greetings mostly straight.... I learned I needed to do that the hard way :)  The pencil lines can easily be erased you'd never know they were there.  This is only day one, there's so many adorable things to share!  Keep checking back you won't be disappointed! 

 

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!

   

Craft In The City Wrap Up

Now that I've shared all the items I helped Michelle out with for her weekend, I thought I'd wrap up the weekend from my end of the room now :)  I'll have my projects coming up in the coming weeks beginning Monday.  They're so fun and cute!  I'm not sure how/if I'll ever be able to part with them!  Back to the weekend.  I arrived early!  I got there before Michelle, but I still had possession of the jars so I wanted to make sure that those were delivered before anyone else arrived so I made a plan to get there early.  The candles were already set out (Michelle had done most of the set up the night before) So I went around and put them in the jars.  There's so many awesome surprises just when you arrive!  Michelle made the awesome skyline and posted our weekend schedule on it.  We also got a cup with our 'apartment number' for the weekend in in, a notebook and some sheets of black and Melon Mambo cardstock to use in our own crafting!  The taxi is our door prize slip.

Once I set out all the jars I went to get my stuff......unpacking was a lot easier and faster than packing.  I brought an extra table this time and boy was I glad I did!!!  It made everything so much easier.  I'll be traveling with my table from now on!

Here's another look at my table all set up.  It really stayed pretty neat the whole weekend.  I think I have my spare table to thank for that :)  Michelle also added the frames (mine is white on the right) when she arrived after I took my arrival picture.  I used the notebook all weekend and sketched my punch creations before I made them.

Here's what I did with that extra table.  I put it off to my right. It held all my ink, my paper cutter, markers and other fun stuff!  I had all my blocks, DSP and embossing powders to my right too.  See that amazing cup holder that hooks onto the table....BEST PURCHASE EVER!  Michelle had a few of them to sell, I quickly grabbed one!  There's also a trash can that attaches to the cup holder.  Seriously the BEST PURCHASE EVER!  I love mine and I'll also add it to the 'never travel without' list :)

Michelle's weekend was themed around the show Sex In The City, so her door prizes were shopping bags and shoe boxes.  I didn't get a picture until they were half gone :/  She also always have lots of retired DSP and cardstock that she sells at these weekends.  You can get a look at one of our snack stations there too. We were not going to go hungry this weekend!  But it's ok because calories don't count at scrapbook weekends ;)

Michelle brings all her punches, dies and bigshots to the weekend.  I love this perk!  I can't image how many bags (and how heavy they would be) if I had to pack my punches.  Plus she has a lot of retired ones that I no longer have and it's so fun to use them again!

Just about every die, framelit and embossing folder that you can image.....plus a few more!

Plus all those punches......oh the punches....... :)  When our lunch or dinner is delivered the boxes of punches just gets put on the floor while we have our meals then they're put back the table when we're done.  These weekends run so smoothly because Michelle seriously has it all together!

We always have a fun Pajama Party on Saturday night.  It's so much fun, we get in our pajama's, do group photos and fun activities!  It's also fun to get those strange looks from other hotel guests while we walk around the hotel in our PJ's :)  This time Michelle did a live auction!  She had lots of retired stamps and other products in bags that were numbered.  Before the auction started we got a chance to look at all the bags and write down which ones we liked.  We were given $5 of 'Michelle' dollars (dollars with her picture on them!) to start us off.  Anything over $5 we covered.  It was so so so much fun!!!!  Remember those 'apartment numbers' from the first picture, those were our paddles for the auction.  Seriously Michelle covers every single detail!!!!  Michelle's daughter joined us and helped out at the auction.  Here's Nikki bidding on something awesome!!!

There's so much more that I didn't cover of didn't get a picture of.  I need to make a list of things to photograph.  It always happens that when I get home and start creating this post I always think.."Oh I should have gotten a picture of that or that."  Next time though!  This weekend was so much fun!  It snowed on Friday night and we woke to about 9 inches of snow on the ground, being in New Mexico most of it was melted by the afternoon.  There were late nights and laughing, old friends and new friends and so much more that simply can't be captured in a single blog post.  Everyone is making something different, some scrapbook, some make cards, some make jewelry or work on other crafts but we're all creative and the creative energy that flows through that room is evident by the end of the weekend when we're looking through stacks of cards, copying each other ideas or admiring finished scrapbooks.  These weekends are refreshing and rejuvenating on soooo many different levels!  I'm so blessed to know Michelle personally and to know the time and love that she puts into these weekends.  Thanks Michelle!  I know you're reading this somewhere.  You're amazing and you make a difference in my life!!!! 

 

This time I was smart....I brought an empty bag...well one I knew I'd empty by the end of the weekend.  Thank goodness I did!  Michelle went over and beyond with her giveaways this time!  I normally take my 'after' photograph in my office on my desk, I had to move to the kitchen table because my desk was too small!  Look at all the stuff I brought home!!!!!

There were bags and bags of stuff!!!  There's a lot here, I'm not going to go over each item individually.  The journal was a make and take.  Michelle gave us the journals and we decorated them.  I love mine.  It's so glittery!!!!  The Tiffany bag is another favorite of mine.  I'm going to need some more shelves in my room to display some of this stuff!!! 

My favorite gift of the weekend was the Alphabet Rotary Stamp.  You'll see that as I begin to share my punch art creations over the next couple of weeks.  I'm seriously in love with that rotary stamp and will keep it forever and always smile when I use it because of the fun weekend when I got it!  It will also go onto that list of 'never travel without...' 

Also new this time, Michelle took the time and printed out what products, supplies, who made what, for all the make and takes/give aways.  I can't image how long that took.  Well I know how long it would have taken ME!  But it was so helpful to see what products were used so I could reorder them if I needed.  It was a wonderful weekend and I'm sad it's over....but I'm already looking forward to the next one!!!!  I can't wait!!!!!!               

Thanks for looking, see you soon!!!!!