It's Retirement Time!

No, not me, but lots of stamps and accessories! It's your last chance to get these goodies before they go, to make room for all the new products we'll get in the new Idea Book & Catalog.

Join us on Friday, June 3rd at 7PM for my Annual Mystery Hostess Retirement Party. What is a Mystery Hostess Party, you ask? Here’s how it works: You come to my house for a fun night of stamping. We’ll do three projects using sets and accessories on the Retiring List. After orders are complete, we’ll pass out tickets.

You will get one ticket for each of the following:

· RSVP by June 1st

· Every $15 you spend in catalog merchandise

· Being on time

· Just showing up!

You will get TWO tickets for:

· Booking a workshop (firm date) the night of the party for August or Sept.

· Bringing a friend that I did not invite

You will get FIVE tickets for:

· Booking a workshop (firm date) for August or September when you RSVP

We will have at least two winners. One person will win a Level 1, 2 or 3 Hostess Set, depending on the total. Another person will win the Hostess Credits. If the party goes over $500, we’ll split the Hostess Credits between two or three people. Everyone has a chance to win!

Call or e-mail (by June 1st for an extra ticket!) if you plan to attend.

Happy Stampin'!

Shari

VC Rocks Blog Hop May 2011

Welcome to my blog, and the first VC Rocks Blog Hop of 2011! If you've been hopping along, you should have arrived from Robbie's blog, InkedX2. If you started here and you'd like to go to the beginning of the hop, click here.

VC Rocks is a Virtual Convention - a celebration of all things Stampin' Up! You don't have to be a demonstrator to join, but you do have to participate. It's all fun! And a bit crazy at times. I won't name names. Mostly because one of those names would be mine. :o) We are only accepting new members through the end of May, so now is the time, ladies! Click here.

Now, on to my post. Our Hop theme this month is Color My World - using different coloring techniques.

For this project, I used our Many Marvelous Markers and Aqua Painters to color the lily.

I colored the flower with markers, using oranges on the edges and yellow in the center. I blended with the AquaPainter. Then I re-colored and blended some more until it looked like this. You need to use our watercolor paper for this technique, as it will be able to handle all the re-coloring and blending without pilling and disintegrating!

MATERIALS:

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Inks: Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Markers. Black Staz-On pad, Early Espresso Classic Pad

Paper: So Saffron, Tangerine Tango, and Natural Ivory card stock, Watercolor paper

Accessories: Very Vanilla Grosgrain, gold brad, Stampin' Dimensionals

Tools: 1/16" circle punch, Manhattan Flower Embossing folder, Big Shot, Paper Snips scissors, SNAIL adhesive, Aqua Painter

I hope you've enjoyed my project! I'll have some Blog Candy for a random comment. How about some card stock quarters embossed with Manhattan Flower? You can even pick the colors.

Your next stop on the Hop is Stamper Shirley. I'm sure she'll have something Sassy for us!

Happy Hoppin' and Stampin'!
Shari

Swaps Swaps Swaps! Pt. 2

Spring and summer means warmer weather, flowers, and sunshine. For me, it also means swaps, swaps, swaps! VC Rocks has many swaps, SUStars has swaps, not to mention all the swaps I'll make for the Stampin' Up! convention in July. Busy busy busy!

Here is another card I made! The card is for a swap on VC, using a Color Challenge from SUStars! I love this combo: Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake.

Now, I need to get to the post office to mail all these swaps!

Happy Stampin', and see you tomorrow for the Hop!

Shari

Swaps Swaps Swaps!

This is a card I made for a Masculine Swap I've joined on SUStars. The colors are from a challenge on VC_Rocks! I'm going to be VERY busy over the next few days finishing up swaps!

And speaking of swaps... if Grunge Rock, the set used here, doesn't retire, I'll be making about 100 of these to swap at the Stampin' Up! convention in July! Wooo Hoooooooooo!!! I can't wait!

I will be in a very big VC Rocks Blog Hop this weekend! I believe there are 30 blogs participating. Our theme is Color My World, so we're showcasing different coloring techniques. Come back and visit this weekend!

Happy Stampin'

Shari

Confirmation Card

My nephew (and godson), Ryan, was Confirmed last weekend. I made this card for him for his party yesterday. I took a couple ideas I found online and combined them into this.

Thank you to the genius who discovered that we can make a cross with our Lattice Big Shot die! Where would I be without those people??? :o)

Happy Stampin'

Shari

May Birthday Card Bonanza!

Here is this month's card. It was time to pull out Circle Circus again, one of my all-time favorites. It's just so versatile!

Have you procrastinated on your Mother's Day card? You can use this card for that, too! Just change the greeting. You can use Fifth Avenue Floral instead of Circle Circus if your mom really likes roses and lilies.

As always, just let me know how many cards you'd like to make. $1 each, including the envelope.

We'll start at 7PM on Friday, May 6th. See you then!

Happy Stampin'
Shari

SUStars Blog Hop April 2011

Welcome to my blog! The SUStars April Blog Hop starts on Saturday, but I'll be at camp so I'm posting early. If you're here early, come back over the weekend!

If you are following our Hop, you should have arrived from FancyNancyKay's blog. If you'd like to start at the beginning, click here. SUStars is a Yahoo!Group just for SU! demos. If you're interested in joining us, click here.

This month our Blog Hop theme is ABC - Anything But a Card. These are some cute tin pails I found at the Dollar Spot at one of my favorite stores. You know the one, I'm sure!

The pails are decorated using our exclusive Island Floral Big Shot die. I used Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight card stocks. The Tempting Turquoise flowers are sponged with Pacific Point classic ink. The Pumpkin Pie flowers are sponged with Tangerine Tango. The Melon Mambo flowers are sponged with Melon Mambo ink. The white and yellow center flowers are sponged with Daffodil Delight.

After sponging them, I curled each petal around my finger for some dimension.

The flowers are held together with a silver brad. The leaves are stuck on with Glue Dots, and each entire flower is stuck on the pail using a hot glue gun.

I tied Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White and Daffodil Delight grosgrain ribbons around the handles for the final touch. I wish we still carried Tempting Turquoise grosgrain!

If anyone is local to me and would like one of these pails, I am selling them for $5 each. I am raising funds for my Relay for Life walk next month. I have four left!

Blog Candy: Would you like some of these flowers to play with? I'll make a packet of flowers and send it to one lucky person who comments on this post!

Your next stop on the hop is Bluegrass Stamper's Studio. You'll love her work!

Happy Hopping!
Shari