Exchanging gifts with each other is a fun way we get to share our creativity with Stampin’Up! friends.  It’s so fun to see what everyone creates!

This journal was such a lovely surprise!!  It was made by my good friend Kim Sinclair.  She is a master at My Digital Studio which is how she created this beautiful project.  I LOVE it so much, thanks Kim!!!

These little pretties were made by my good friend Becky – she makes the simplest things absolutely adorable!!  You’re the packaging master Becky!

My roommate Connie was pulling out goodies, just for me, all week!  She is from Nashville Tennessee and knows I loved my visit there last year SO much, she brought a bit of Tennessee to me in San Antonio!  She brought with her boxes of Tennessee made treats, Goo Goo Clusters and Moon Pies, it was so thoughtful – but that’s Connie for you!

Connie also made this amazing card to share with a few friends.  I LOVE it!  It’s such a lovely demonstration of how to use this stamp set – Fresh Vintage – it’s a Sale-A-Bration set which means you can get it for FREE!  Connie has a much better photo of this card on her blog here.

TTFN!

Natasha

Supplies used:

Stamps – Mixed Bunch

Ink & Paper – Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla, Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight, Real Red

Accessories – On Board Merry Medley, Blossom punch, Blossoms Builders Designer Printed Kit, Daffodil Delight grograin ribbon, Brights buttons, baker’s twine

Check out this exciting news!!! 

Stampin’Up! has prepared for us a brand new product to pair with our Simply Scored product.  On March 1st, you will be able to purchase the Diagonal Plate to sit inside your Simply Scored tool to create boxes, envelopes, and more!!  I was one of the VERY lucky Leadership attendees to WIN one of my own!  And what was really coincidental, my roommate Connie Collins, won as well!  I can’t wait to show you how this works!

TTFN!

Natasha

Want to see what my 10 lbs consists of?

First up – my Leadership bag!  LOVE it!  I should have taken photos of the different ways you can “wear” your bag but didn’t think of it til just now.  See the buttons going around the middle?  Well, the bottom portion comes off and is reversable so you can have a different pattern on the outside if you wish.  The bag itself is also reversable if you want!

The matching trifold was a complete surprise to us as we walked in to do make n takes.  We were presented with these as special gifts from Shelli!  How adorable is this!  It just happened to fit my pad of notepaper perfectly so I used it a lot during the different sessions.  If you love the  colors & patterns, stay tuned…

We were each given one of these cute gifts when we sat down at make and takes.  The packaging is adorable but what really caught my attention was the 3 kinds of chocolate bark inside – milk chocolate, white with Oreos and dark chocolate.  We were told that a head office employee made all the bark for us – holy cow!!!  That’s energetic!

The remainder of our Leadership gifts are products you have already seen or ones I can’t show you yet – but I can sure tell you about them!

Everyday Enchantment DSP and matching stamp set Fresh Vintage

Mixed Bunch stamp set

Loving Thoughts stamp set

Bright Blossoms NEW stamps set (upcoming in next catalogue)

Everything Eleanor NEW stamp set (upcoming in next catalogue)

bakers twine, ribbon and buttons

pearls and rhinestone accents

jumbo pearls

Sale-A-Bration MDS CD

Blossom Builders Designer Printed Kit

Now you can see why I said I feel spoiled…and appreciated…and needed…and cared about…etc. etc. etc.

Stampin’Up! is a great company to work for and NOW is a great time to sign up – the kit is ONLY $150 during SAB!

Beautiful Everyday Enchantment DSP and matching brads

more Everyday Enchantment DSP and Fresh Vintage stamp set

Outlined Occasions stamp set

Sprinkled Expressions stamp set – so cute!!!

Beautiful details!!!

These photos show just  a few of the items you can receive for FREE with every $60 purchase.  Make sure to check out the full details of this promotion on my right side bar or my specials page!

TTFN!

Natasha

Stampin’Up! ran an Occasion Mini card contest at Leadership.  All demonstrators were encouraged to make a card using a stamp set from the mini catalogue and enter it in a contest to win….free stamps….of course!

I took on this challenge and came up with this little cutie – it didn’t win but I still think it’s adorable!

Supplies used:

Stamps – Apothecary Art

Ink & Paper – Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Blushing Bride, Twitterpated DSP

Accessories – Big Shot & Labels Framelits, Tasteful Trim die, Petit Pennants punch, corner rounder punch, piercing tools, pearl accents, baker’s twine, dimensionals

I am home from Leadership with many new ideas and things to show you.  I need a bit of time to organize all my photos, samples, new goodies and thoughts – I’ll be back ASAP to share them all with you!

TTFN!

Natasha

Aren’t these little hand towels the cutest things???

I saw something similar on Pinterest one night (holy cow – visiting that website quickly becomes addicting!!) and decided that I really wanted to try the new Twitterpated fabric line to make a few.  I love them!!

I sewed a long “tube” of fabric with tapered ends and top stitched it closed on all sides.  I gathered a hand towel in the middle and then stitched the middle of the strip to the gathered section of the towel.  This created two decorative “tie ends” to tie the towel onto a stove or in a bathroom.

If you would like to check out the website instructions I used, here it is.

Sorry about the poor quality photo but I wanted to show it actually tied and ready to use.  The lighting in my bathroom is pretty yellow!

I also cut out a flower with the Big Shot and the Fun Flowers die and then embroidered it onto the bottom of the towel for decoration – cute, hey!!  I finished off the flower with a jumbo button (discontinued) sewed on with baker’s twine.

TTFN!

Natasha

Leadership 2012:  My Way  is proving to be another fabulous event put on the Stampin’Up! head office!!!  The momentum and excitement that was felt by all today, was palpable!

 The gift i had today for the sweetest roommate ever, was this wrapped tea box.  A metal tea tin from a big box store and the Tea Shoppe stamp set make a pretty little gift. 

Don’t you just love the Everyday Enchantment DSP that is a Sale-A-Bration product this year?  It’s amazing!!  The colors are so soft and warm.  They just make me happy!

Here’s a photo of the covering on the tin lid:

Supplies used:

Stamps – Tea Shoppe

Ink & Paper – Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Peach Parfait, Everyday Enchantment DSP

Accessories – Scallop Circle punch, Decorative Label punch, Large Oval punch, Scallop edge punch, corner rounder punch, SAB ribbon and brads pack, dimensionals, tin of tea leaves

TTFN!

Natasha

And look what came in the mail:

What is it you may ask.  That’s what I wondered…until I opened it up…

and found this!

It’s the invitation Stampin’Up! sent to all those attending the Manager’s Reception on Wednesday evening!  How creative is this!!  We are being treated to a private showing of the Chinese Acrobats of Hebei.  I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like this sounds, so I’m really excited.  I’ll let you know what it was like and I’m sure I’ll have some photos when I get back.

Check back all week as I will be sharing with you the projects and gifts I have made for my good friends I’ll be seeing again at Leadership.

TTFN!

Natasha

My stamp club tonight gets to work with this new stamp set, Apothecary Art, found in the Occasions Mini Catalogue.  A must-have companion product to this stamp set is the Label Collection Framelits Dies.  It’s a set of 6 layering dies specifically designed for the artwork in this stamp set.  It makes quick work of a WOW card.

Supplies used:

Stamps – Apothecary Art

Ink & Paper – Pear Pizzazz, Twitterpated DSP, Whisper White, Riding Hood Red, Blushing Bride, Black Stazon ink

Accessories – Big Shot, Large Doily Sizzlit die, Framelit die, Adorning Accents Edgelits and embossing folder, Floral Fusion die, Twitterpated Designer button, baker’s twine, 3/8″ pleated satin ribbon

 I wanted this card to look like a replica of an old-fashioned wallpapered wall with highlighted frame art – how’d I do?  It also features some Sale-A-Bration (SAB) products available soon!

Supplies used:

Stamps – Apothecary Art

Ink & Paper – Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB product), Pool Party, Lucky Limeade

Accessories – Big Shot, Framelits dies, 1″circle punch, dimensional, Soft Suede taffeta ribbon, Everyday Enchantment brad (SAB product)

Supplies used:

Stamps – Apothecary Art, Friendly Words wheel

Ink & Paper – So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Twitterpated DSP, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Black Stazon ink

Accessories – Big Shot, Framelits dies, dotted-scallop ribbon punch, Blender pen, rhinestone gems

TTFN!

Natasha

Stamp club on Thursday involves a bit of a Tea Party!!  Haha

I love this new stamp set found in the new Occasions Mini Catalogue!

These colors just make me happy!  And guess what???  No more ruching or pleating our own ribbon – YAH!!!  You will find 4 wonderful colors of 3/8″Pleated Satin Ribbon in the Occasions Mini Catalogue – it’s SO pretty!

Supplies used:

Stamps – Tea Shoppe

Ink & Paper – Whisper White, Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Pear Pizzazz, Twitterpated DSP

Accessories – Big Shot and Houndstooth embossing folder, Framelit die, dotted-scallop ribbon punch, Blushing Bride pleated satin ribbon, Twitterpated designer button, Island Indigo baker’s twine 

I love to visit Wendy Weixler’s blog as I often find card samples that I just need to re-create for myself – this was definitely one of them!  There is a great way to use the large tea cup image.

Supplies used:

Stamps – Tea Shoppe

Ink & Paper – Perfect Plum, Whisper White

Accessories – Big Shot, Scallop Squares due die, Elegant Lines embossing folder, Floral Fusion die, Adorning Accents Edgelits, Word Window punch, corner round punch, jumbo pearl accent

This card has a sneak peak of a product available in an upcoming promotion from Stampin’Up:  Sale-A-Bration – that special time of year when you can earn FREE products.  The designer series paper is from a pack called Everyday Enchantment and it is simply gorgeous!!  Stay tuned for more information…

Supplies used:

Stamps – Tea Shoppe

Ink & Paper – Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Early Espresso

Accessories – Big Shot, Top Note die, Framed Tulips embossing folder, Perfect Pennants die, dotted-scallop ribbon punch, Modern Label punch, 1 3/4″ circle punch, pearl accents, Calypso Coral baker’s twine, sponge

TTFN!

Natasha