Contemplating a new line...

Now that I no longer have a hook up to a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I'm debating whether it would be prudent to start selling a stamp line again. Mostly I need a good paper distributor and I was thinking of trying out Close to My Heart for something different, but I am also intrigued by the Unity line of stamps. The only problem with the Unity line is that it's just stamps, not paper.

Just a thought. What I love about Unity is in how you purchase and how they help you market. Not as much pressure as CTMH. But, CTMH will have a lot more products. My fear there is that I will wind up spending more than I make and feel pressure to do outside parties - might not be a bad idea, but not sure I have the time or dedication right now to do that.

Mulling it all over in my head. Thoughts?

I'm set up and ready for company tomorrow. Almost all of the materials are cut, I still have a few left to do before bed, but overall it's good to go! Having the day off today helped a lot. I am looking at a full house tomorrow if everyone comes and I hope that they do - I've really missed stamp camp.

Last 2

Ok, I think I figured out that it will only upload 4 pictures straight from Picasa. If I want to have more then 4 then I have to upload manually...


This is a simple and pretty card that uses an outline image and then some chalk pastels to add color.


And because it is fall I needed a card to reflect the season.

Enjoy!

November Cards 5-8 of 10

Get well card
Masculine birthday card (or could be a retirement card, good luck card, etc)
Mmmmm cookie love.
Inside this card it says Thanks for Owl You Do! Keep that sentiment or find another.

Unsure why it didn't let me post these all in the same blog post? One last card to post when I finish it later.

November Cards 4 of 10

Birthday Cake & Presents with awesome new punch!
Robot birthday card: I will be changing this so the robot is embossed instead of just stamped. New pic to come.

Another new punch (or two) for fun cupcake cards!
Shadowbox butterfly

Stamp Camp - November

Stamp Camp is on again, daytime and evening camps this month.

I had a lull this weekend and I got out to my abandoned craft area to clean it up today and take stock of what I have. I am actually missing making cards and being able to have my stamp campers over.

I know that the need was getting dire when people were starting to tell me that they were running out of cards or had used their last birthday or thank you.

I'm working hard to balance all the bits of my life so I can keep those creative juices flowing and take advantage of all of the new fun stamp items that are flooding the market.

The holiday season is right around the corner too and it's even more fun to get creative for the gift giving season!

I look forward to seeing everyone at stamp camp.

March Cards

I always have issues trying to blog with pictures - I don't know what I am doing wrong but the pics and words always wind up wonky when I preview them.

March cards are below - the bottom two are notecard sized which I thought would be different and fun. Sometimes the smaller cards can have more impact.

Enjoy!

Amazing Stamp Room

I found this blog from pictures posted on splitcoast and I had to share because it is the most amazing stamping room I've ever seen...

A Touch of Grace

It makes me envious in some ways but not envious at all in others: could you imagine having all that stuff? I know I have a lot but probably not even half of what this lady has!

Invitations were sent...

March's invitations were sent via Pingg.com so if you should be on my current mailing list and you aren't please let me know!
Check your junk mail folders first just in case it went there and you missed it.

I will be working on cards this week - Flowers/Easter is what I'm going to try to base my ideas around. Suggestions are always welcome!

See you at Stamp Camp!

February Cards

Monochromatic Pirate card using sponge and tearing techniques


Cute car and truck stickers I saw at Paper Zone or Michaels and thought I could use to make a cute kids card


Simple and easy girly card using the tearing technique and stickles!


Cute bird-day card with a unique color-scheme, using the Cuttlebug and watercolor pencils


Flowers seem to be the theme for the girly cards - maybe I should save this one for April's Stamp Camp instead...

I will try to post the cards from the last 6 months of stamp camps so keep a look out for those too.

All stamp images are copyright Stampin' Up!

Blog help

What I love about blogger.com is that it's so easy to use! I don't really have to think about it, the template is all there, I just have to add my own content. I can move things around the way I like and it's great! But, occasionally I come across a really cool looking blog like this one: Ippity Blog and I think, wow - that's what I want!
Doubtful that I have enough content to warrant a blog like that, but just knowing how to do it would be great. I am sure I could learn on my own if I had time to tweak and twiddle, but seeing as I already barely have enough time to keep up with all of my blogs AND my facebook games, I just don't know how I could manage it. (that was a joke btw - ha ha!)

Seriously though. If you are a person who has some experience tweaking a blog, I would love to learn more and would happily supply Starbucks (or beverage of your choice) and Cards to the cause.

Will trade Stamp Camp for...

...someone willing to ebay items for me - so many stamps, so little time!

...someone willing to share their culinary skills and provide appetizers/treats at stamp camp.

....more!?

I love the idea of bartering for skills so if you have some and want to share in mine, just let me know!

New Year's Resolutions

I always have lofty goals for myself and I am hoping I can stick to them. In no particular order this is what I want to achieve this year:

• Having a schedule for the year and stickin' to it
• Being prepared a week in advance for camps
• Having some more exciting refreshments that go with the theme
• Making sure to take the time to make up any extra cards
• Post pics of the cards before the stamp camp
• Keeping up with birthdays of my campers

Not too hard but the time management is always what gets me. I am hoping to stay on top of it!

New Year, New Stamp Camp

It's almost 2010 and it's been almost 6 months since my last post.

There have been some changes in Stamp Camp due to the economy and busy schedules. I've narrowed Stamp Camp down to a one day affair for the time being. Attendance has lagged lately so it's easier to have more people on one day than less people on two days. If demand goes back up then I will certainly consider expanding the class schedule.

I have also gone down to 5 card designs instead of 10. Stampers can still make their 10 cards by creating 2 of each card, which has the added benefit of having more than one of designs they love. Or if time or funds are tight, then stampers can create just the 5 cards instead.
Deciding to do this has boosted my creativity levels and made it so much easier for me to get everything prepared for camp so that I actually feel ready and relatively un-stressed by the time Stamp Camp is here!

I have some New Year's resolutions for camp that I will post soon. The coming year is going to be bringing some changes of course, so I hope to have a plan for the year ready to go!

Happy Stamping!
Sus

It's that time again...

I have been sitting at my computer for the last hour, hot cup of coffee in hand, waiting semi-patiently for the new 2009-2010 Stampin' Up! catalog to be avaiable online. Of course there is some technical error and it keeps telling me to check back in 30 minutes, of course that was at least 2 - 30 minutes ago...come on already!!!

I am feeling as stale as a week old loaf of bread with the current selection of stamps. Preparing for this last stamp camp took way more effort than it typically does, but every time I looked at these stamps all I could visualize were card ideas I had already done. While each stamp set is coordinated so really the possibilities are endless, I find that for me - there is a shelf life. I am limited, it seems, to a set few ideas per set. It's probably becuase I tend to not have enought time to sit and allow my creativity to flow as much as I should, and there are limits to what ideas are actually useable for stamp camp, but I'm ok with that. What keeps me going is the excitement of getting the new stamps and accessories, because with those new fun treats come new ideas!

I have been branching out slowly into other brands of stamps and discovering that there are endless 'cottage' stamp stores out there. Some very creative people have turned their own images into stamps and they sell just a few sets sometimes and you can find a lot more variety if you are willing to seek it out. I think at some point I'd love to turn my own drawings into stamps - but of course that requires time to sit down and draw and at this point in life my creativity gets funneled into cards instead!

Here are a few links I thought I would share for some of the stamp sites I've found. If you come to stamp camps and find one that you would love to make cards with, let me know! If it sparks my creativity I will be happy to purchase it and work it into stamp camp.

Stampin' Up - http://www.stampinup.com

Our Craft Lounge - http://www.ourcraftlounge.net

Gina K. Designs - http://www.ginakdesigns.com

Amuse Art Stamps - http://www.amuseartstamps.com

Impress - http://impressrubberstamps.com

Inkadinkadoo - http://www.inkadinkado.com


There are tons more but these are the ones I've been frequenting lately. Often the Split Coast Stampers site ( http://www.splitcoaststampers.com ) features many small companies on their banner ads.

I hope to post some pictures soon of the most recent cards, it just requires finding my memory stick which I haven't a clue where it has escaped. Now that summer is here I am finally able to finish settling into the new house and hopefully it will turn up as I get things put away and organized.

Enjoy the links and see you at stamp camp!

 

Back in the day when stamp camps were 5 cards and it was mostly a group of friends who got together to make cards, we did what we called "Shoebox Swaps". All the materials needed for a card were placed into a shoebox (or other similar container) then that container was passed around until everyone had made that card. It's more challenging to try to do that with 10 cards, especially if a card shares a tool with another card, but I am trying out an edited version. The containers will stay where they are, but all of the materials for the card are kept inside so help minimize the mess. It can definitely get confusing when you the materials for the card you are making start travelling across the table! I hope this helps make it a little bit easier and simpler to stamp, especially when it's crowded!

 

I started off the stamping year fresh with a big order of brand new stamps and supplies! There were too many cute new stamp sets in the latest catalog and at the stamp store to pass up. You will get to use all of my fun new toys over the next few months! I hope you enjoy.

Open House

We're settled enough to start tiptoe-ing into Stamp Campin' again! The kick-off open house invites went out and I hope to see many familiar faces there. I am hoping that my friend and fellow-stamper, April, comes with her fabulous spread of Tastefully Simple snacks but if not I'll be sure to provide something yummy to nosh on while there is stamping going on. We'll see how many people this house can hold!

I haven't quite decided what we will be making for the open house. I have quite a few stamps I was unable to use for Valentine's day that I may try to incorporate into some more general cards..

For those who cannot make it and want to know when the next 'real' Stamp Camp is going to happen, I am aiming for a couple of weeks from now with the Kids Birthday Cards theme!

I hope to see you soon!!

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

We are moving this month, back over by 112th near Costco. I am not sure yet if the new house will have more room for stamping or not, but we shall see.
Chances are there will be no Jan stamp camp, I will try hard to do one in February but no promises - I will keep everyone up to date on the progress.

Thanks!

December Cards

December Stamp Camp Cards