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!