December Cards

December Stamp Camp Cards

November Cards

Kids Stamp Camp

Kids stamp camp was a hit. Here are some pictures of a few of the stampers working on their cards...

October Cards

I have been working off and on all month on Octobers cards and finally am (almost) done! We're doing a mix of Halloween cards with some general cards.

I am trying a few new things this month. First I bought new cards that are ready made and come in a variety of vibrant colors but are white inside. This eliminates the problem of trying to write inside of a dark card. Of course the color range is not as varied as making my own cards, so they won't be gone completely, but the new cards are certainly more convenient.

I've also spent the month going to new stamp shops and getting a variety of fun new stamps, including some acrylics to try out. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the acrylic stamps yet or not - it's great to see right where you are stamping, but they don't seem to pick up or hold the ink as well as the rubber stamps...let me know what you think.

Here are the first 8 of Octobers cards. I have 1 more to come and then I am going to do a project - i'll get those pictures posted today when I finish them.
For the kids camp, we will be doing the frankenstein card, the ipod card, and a special project for them as well - all for $5 per child.

**All cards and projects are posted as of 10/10!

My favorite time of the year....

The new Stampin' Up catalog is out and every time this year I treat myself to a nice BIG stamp order. I replenish all of my papers, ribbons, and supplies and spoil myself with a variety of new stamp sets and accessories that are featured in the latest catalog. I don't stick to just stampin' up stuff, but I do love their products and I've adapted to using mainly their products. So all of my profits from the September stamp camp will get to go to an order that will ultimately benefit all of you who stamp with me! Look for those in the coming months.

I'm heading up to Seattle in about a week to go pick something up and i'll be swinging through A Muse stamps. I didn't make earlier in the summer so i'll go now that the kids are in school. I've never been there but they had this coffee stamp that I really liked and I'm looking forward to using in some cards.

Keep an eye out for those new purchases - I will no doubt be so excited I have to post some pictures. I also will most likely look again through my stamps and find some that I'm ready to pass on, so for those of you who love to stamp at home - great deals will be in your future!

See you at Camp!

September Cards

Here are the pics of the Sept cards. I will be adding a little bit more flair to a few before camp today!

Gearing Up

After a relaxing(?!) summer of family activity, we're less than 2 weeks away from starting our regular stamp camps again! If you haven't joined the meetup group (link to the right) please do it soon or you will miss out on invitations to stamp camps.

You may have noticed that dates have changed from the previous Thursday/Friday stamp camps, to Friday/Saturday stamp camps. I'm still offering the Friday afternoon class as well. We have family conflicts with Thursday nights through November and while I wish I could still provide that time which i know worked best for many of you, it is too hard on my kids to get up for school the next day with a house full of people here the night before :(
I always am willing to take requests for other days and times and will work them into the schedule as allowed, OR, I'm happy to bring the party to you on a modified level.

The new Stampin' Up! catalog was released a few weeks ago and I look forward to blowing all of my income from the September Stamp Camp on new stamps for the year. I also found a store up in Seattle called A Muse Stamps that I have seen some really cute card samples from. I am eager to get some of those to use as well. Feel free to take a look at the offerings from both of those places and if you see something you like - let me know! If I feel that it's something I can incorporate into stamp camp, I'm more than happy to add it to my collection.

I'm excited to see you all again, I've been missing those girl nights and the energy that everyone brings. I'll get my card pictures up hopefully this weekend, or as I am able to finish them. I bought a new computer over the summer so posting pictures should be much less of a hassle now!

~ Sus

Sus Stamps Meetup Group

After years of complaining about evites and months of debating whether the cost was worth it to create a meetup group, I wound up deciding to just try it for a month and see if it was as good as I hoped it would be. Turns out, becuase I already organize another meetup group, I can have up to 3 included in the price, so my Stamp Camp meetup is free! It's not quite everything I want, but it's so much better than what I was using before.

Meetup offers me the ability to post my upcoming stamp camps as far in advance as I'd like, with an automatic cap on the rsvp's that I can set. I can also set it up to have stampers pay their fee in order to RSVP, if I choose. That would cut down on no shows, not that there are many, but it does happen occasionally.
The meetup site also offers message boards so that stampers can chat and even those who stamp at home could trade/sell stamps and supplies if they wanted. The only downside is that it does require members to sign up to join, however I think that this gives the committed stampers the edge.

Feel free to share the meetup with you friends, the link should be on the right!

Teacher Gifts

Every year I forget until the last minute about putting together some gifts for the teachers, especially for Quest which ends earlier than regular school. Here are the gifts we put together for Guy's teachers this year. It's a box of chocolate covered Altoids with a Starbucks gift card on top in a cute wrapper. We personalized by stamping the first letter of their last name on it.

Stamp Camp Summer Schedule

Summer should be relaxing and easy without too much hassle, so I've simplified stamp camps for July and August. Instead of 10 cards for $20, we will create 5 cards for $10. It will only be on Friday nights with 2 different times most likely 6 - 8 pm and 8 - 10 pm, possibly with an earlier time during the day.

You are more than welcome to create 2 of each card for a total of 10 cards for $20, just let me know in your RSVP so that I have enough materials.


I will also be introducing some Mom & Me stamp camps for the summer. They will be held on Thursday nights, one per month, with cards or projects that will be easy enough for your children to create! I haven't worked out the details yet, but keep watching the blog I will post them soon!


There is also the possibility of some project stamp camps, but I have not worked them into my calendar yet. I hope to know by this week's classes.

I look forward to seeing you this summer! Happy Stamping!

Muffins with Mom

We had a Muffins with Mom event at the school recently and I wanted to make a thank you card that reflected it and here's what I came up with:

The blur...

I blinked and here it is May already. Last month I was sick during stamp camp and had to cancel my friday camps - that just added to my misery! I am hoping to line up a sub just in case this ever happens again. It was one of my worst fears realized!

May is so busy with kids, PTA, and finally a long overdue trip to Arizona, that I wasn't able to squeeze in Stamp Camp while trying to wrap up the school year. June's dates are set and I have tentative dates for camps through June of 2009!!

I am still working on a line-up for camps this summer, including some Mom & Me stamp camps which have been requested. This will be fairly new as I've only done 1 before, so any ideas or feedback on what works and what doesn't would be very welcome!

That's it for this month I think. My goal with life in general is to plan ahead as much as possible so I can enjoy this summer with my kids to the fullest.

Thanks for keeping tuned in and being patient while I catch up with my life! :)

March of Dimes

I've been a member of the MOMS Club of South Hill for almost 3 years now and this will be the third year our chapter has participated in the March of Dimes walk at Pt. Defiance. I am unable to walk the walk this year, but I am going to donate $50 of my stamp camp proceeds to the chapters efforts!

If you would like to check our chapters progress or donate some money yourself, please check out this link March for Babies. The walk is coming up on April 19th so pledge soon!

Karen's Auction Stamp Camp

My friend and neighbor, Karen, won the stamp camp I put up for auction at the Puyallup South Co-op auction last month, which was awesome, and she booked her date almost immediately and got together with me to discuss what kind of cards she wanted. I pulled a few ideas from the internet and added my own twist to create new cards for her and her friends to create. She had looked through my boxes of cards as well and pulled out a few cards that we had done previously that she liked and I pulled those ideas into the cards as well. Overall she was thrilled with the cards we wound up making and totally excited to bring her friends over to make cards!

You can click on the image to see a larger version.

She opted to have a potluck instead of having me provide the refreshements, and her friends brought lots of goodies to share! We had chocolate covered strawberries, mousse, crackers and cheese, wine and more. Everyone had a great time and it was a success all around!

April's Stamp Camp and more....

The word has been spreading like wildfire and now, before I even get my evite out, Friday camps are full! I wish I had more space to offer, but for the meantime - at least until it warms up outside - we'll just have to make due and hope that everyone is still enjoying themselves!

Because of the timing of Mother's Day and the conflict with my own schedule, I am going to have to include Mother's Day cards in with April's camp. I dont' think I will make specific Mother's Day cards, but I will have stamps out for anyone who would like to use them to add the sentiment.

For May, after looking at my calendar, I'm worried I won't have enough time to do a full stamp camp. I am toying with the idea of taking the month off and instead holding another open house like I had back in September. It would be a free evening, I would have a couple of projects for everyone to make, refreshments, giveaways, and a bunch of stamps for sale that I no longer use. I would also be able to have some new ideas to share a line-up of upcoming classes and camps. This would be the perfect opportunity to bring friends who are new to stamping with me, and to visit with the fellow stamp campers that you might see but don't get a chance to talk to while stamping.

Some other ideas I have that I would love to share at an open house are:
*Stamp Camp Sign Up's (for those who come regularly - reserve your spot every time)
*Mom & Me Stamp Camps
*Private Parties
*Card Kits for sale
*Stamps, Tools, & Accessories for Sale


Again, I'm not 100% sure that I will do the open house now, or wait until fall, but I will keep everyone posted and be sure to watch the blog for more info!

Packed Camps and Upcoming Auctions

Wow! Amazing! Fantastic! The turnout for this month's stamp camp was awesome. What an excellent compliment to have stampers enjoy it so much they are bringing friends who then bring friends. While it was a little packed on Friday night, it seemed to flow better than I had anticipated. I will try to set out a few more chairs for March, although my friend Kathleen is insisting that I expand my set up into the garage and have tables and chairs out there as well! We'll see about that, it's still a little chilly, and if you know me at all you know that the garage is our constant 'project', but someday it may actually be clean enough to expand out there.

I have added the Friday afternoon stamp camp which is open to those who are child-free during that time, although immobile infants are welcome. This month we had 6 stampers during that time and it was a very relaxed event that was a lot of fun. I hope it continues to be a popular time choice. I also am willing to offer a Saturday morning stamp camp if anyone is interested. I have posted a poll on the next evite, so please be sure to let me know if that is a time that may work for you!

As always, I really enjoy the feedback I get from those of you who are attending stamp camps regularly. Knowing what you enjoy and what could use work helps me to adjust if possible to make stamp camp consistently enjoyable. I may not be able to please everybody all the time but I will sure give it my best shot! I will be done with school at the beginning of March and after that things should get a little easier for me and I can start to really look at Stamp Camp and figure out what I want from it and how I can improve.

A few of you have asked about having private stamp camps in your home. At this point I am not offering that due to time constraints, but I am thinking about it and I may be willing to start that this spring. Keep an eye on the blog and I will keep you posted to the progress of that idea.
In the meantime, I am donating a Stamp Camp to the PSCNS Auction at the end of the month. It's a private stamp camp for 10 in my home. The host and I will choose a date and they will invite 10 friends to attend, each stamper will make 5 cards with coordinating envelopes, and will enjoy refreshments provided by April. The host will be able to pick and choose what kind of cards they would like to make at their camp and it should be a very fun evening. If you would like to attend the PSCNS auction, it will be held on February 29th at the preschool, tickets are $10 and include dinner catered by the Vault. Let me know and I can put you in contact with someone for more details!

**Update - I also am donating the same for the Firgrove Elementary auction, so look for one there too!

Thank you again to all of my stampers, it's so much fun to get to know you and be able to share this love of stamping with you!

Memory Can

I love that I am able to share the creativity of others via the web. It allows me to take my own creativity to a level that I may not have reached without learning tricks and techniques from other stampers. Another great Splitcoast Stampers idea is a memory can, which makes a very unique and wonderful shower gift. I made this one for my cousin Felicia who is due with a girl in April. For anyone out there who is a parent, we know how unexpectedly hectic life can get after baby, so these cans are a great way to keep track of those milestones or anecdotes without having to dig out the baby book every time. Just jotting it on a scrap of paper and tossing it in the can, keeps those memories safe until you have a chance to write them in the book. I wish I had these when my kids were little!

Valentine Teacher Gifts

The Target $1 spot is a great place to find little containers and odds and ends to doll up with stamps, scrapbook paper, and ribbon, like these adorable red and pink mailboxes! My best stamping resource - Splitcoast Stampers - always provides great ideas for cards and projects, in their member gallery, and once these started popping up I knew it was time to take a trip to the Target. I picked up a few and just used some paper from the Spring Stack and some extra ribbon and scrap paper leftover from stamp camp to decorate them. They came out pretty cute, and once I fill them with a few goodies, they will make great gifts for the kid's teachers for Valentine's day.

Stamp Camp snacks...

I always have great intentions to enhance my cooking skills by providing tasty treats at stamp camps and eventually I may reach the point I can do that, however, as is typical everything gets rushed at the last minute and I wind up serving whatever is handy. Sadly, those themed treats and tidbits must stay in the realm of my imagination for now *sigh*.

A solution presented itself when my good friend and regular stamp camper, April, signed up to sell Tastefully Simple. If you haven't tried thier products they make some great tasting easy to throw together dips, breads, sauces, and more. These quick snacks take the guess work out of what to serve. I asked if she would be interested in providing snacks for the stamp camps in exchange for being able to have catalogs available in case anyone would like to order and she thought that was a great idea! She will feature some seasonal items as well as some great standby's. Their website has the full line of products as well as recipes and ideas for what you can do with them. Tastefully Simple I am sure that if there is anything you are interested in trying, April will be glad to feature that if she is able to, just put a note in your evite response!

Evite glitch

If you are supposed to be on my evite list and did not recieve an invitation to stamp camp this month, I was experiencing some technical difficulties due to a glitch with my evite address book. If you can take a minute to send me an email Make sure I'm on the list! and I will fix that. I think I was able to get everyone on the current evites and update my address book so next month there should not be any problems. Sorry!!!