I'm Here!!!

This is going to be a really quick one!  I just wanted to tell you all that I made it safe and sound to Salt Lake City!!  I am SOOOOOOOO excited to be here for my very first convention!  It has already been  a great experience...last night I attend a dinner, swap and Make-n-take session organized by Lisa Rodrigues.  I just heard about it on our demonstrator forum and decided it might be a fun way to kick off my convention experience!  Man, was I ever right!  We had a blast!  I met a bunch of fantastic ladies from Western Canada and the US and we had ourselves a very fun evening.  Thanks so much to Lisa for organizing this terrific event!  This morning I am up early and off to check in for convention and go SHOPPING!!!! at Memento Mall.  I'll try to do a post later today and tell you what I bought!!

They're Done!!!!!!

FINALLY...I finished all of my swaps for convention!  I even did a couple dozen general swaps to help pass the time while I'm standing in all those wonderful line-ups!  I feel SO much better and now finally feel like I can start to get excited about going to convention.  Now if only my open house order would arrive, life would be perfect!  The card I have for you tonight is one I did for a Christmas WOW swap.  It also happens to work for this week's challenge at A La Card Monkey.  I don't quite know how that happened because I didn't really look at the sketch, just that it was a "Christmas in July" challenge.  I must have subliminally picked up on the sketch though...you'll see what I mean in a minute!  Here is the sketch...

...and here is my card:

Christmas card for Monkey 64 and Convention WOW Christmas swap using the Bells and Boughs stamp set.

See what I mean about the sketch?!?  I totally did not look at the sketch, but there you have it...the card I designed follows the sketch almost exactly!  Doo-doo, doo-doo (that's me humming the twilight zone theme).
Anyhow...I hope my fellow swappers in SLC like it!  I used champagne mist shimmer paint to stamp the focal image.  It gives a lovely, soft, sparkly effect, not entirely visible in the photo.  I have to say I'm loving the lace ribbon border punch!  Such a quick and easy way to add the WOW factor to a project!  The rest of this card is pretty self-explanatory...let me know if you have questions and I'll be happy to answer 'em for you!  I'm off to bed now...have to be up early to send my little guy off to a week at Grammy's house...sniff, sniff...I won't miss him a bit...sniff, sniff...

SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

This has been SUCH a frustrating day!  I was expecting to take delivery of my new catalogue open house order yesterday.  It was a very large order that also contains several items I need to finish my convention swaps.  The order didn't arrive yesterday...nor did it come today!  The only information I can get on the tracking website is that as of 12:30 this afternoon it was STILL in Winnipeg (where it has been since Wednesday!).  Since Winnipeg is a LONG way from my living room, I'm not holding out much hope it will arrive before I have to leave for convention.  The really frustrating part is that I paid an extra $50 to expedite the order so that my customers wouldn't have to wait until I get back to get their new goodies...so much for customer service!  I just hope they'll understand that this is completely out of my hands and that I've done everything I could to ensure they receive their purchases.  I am not loving FEDEX right now, let me tell ya!
Anyhow...enough ranting.  Let's look at the card I have for you!  I know that last night I said I would post my SIL's birthday card...well I did make her a REALLY cute cupcake card...but forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to her tonight!  Instead I have another card I designed for an organized swap I am participating in at convention.  It is simply a vintage card swap and since I just designed it today, I used the sketch from Mojo Monday and the colour scheme from Just Add Ink as the starting point.  First of all, here is the sketch:

The colour challenge was to use basic black, cherry cobbler, very vanilla and soft suede.  Since these lend themselves perfectly to a vintage card, here is my vintage swap card:

Vintage Swap card for Mojo198 and JAI75 using Artistic Etchings, Notably Ornate and French Foliage stamp sets.

I love doing Vintage...it just is so easy to layer lots of images and embellishments to get something unique.  I also love playing with my Distressing Kit...so much fun crumpling, sanding and sponging!  I hope my fellow swappers will be happy with this card.  I had to start from scratch, since I won't get my new catty goodies in time!  As it is, I'm going to have to beg, borrow or steal some cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon...I ran out with seven cards to go!  Anybody out there able to spare some till after convention???
The good news (and I sure NEED some after today!) is that I only have one more set of swaps to make!  Hopefully I will be able to get them done tomorrow so that I can whip up some general swap cards on Sunday!  Off now to design my last one...I'll show you what I come up with!

170 down...30 to go!

I am thrilled to say that I am finished the two largest chunks of my swaps for convention!!!  It is SUCH a relief to have them finished...like a weight lifted off my shoulders!  Now I only have two more much smaller sets to complete and then, if I'm lucky and can find a few extra hours somewhere, a few general swaps...oh and my sun hat for the kick-off party!  I was so hoping to get started on those last two sets but my new catty order was delayed!!!  It is still in Winnipeg (a LONG way from where I am!) when it was supposed to be in my living room this afternoon!  I sure hope it gets here tomorrow...I have a huge order for my customers that I expedited so they wouldn't have to wait until after I got back from convention to receive their new goodies.  Plus, there are new stamps and accessories in there that I want to use for my last two swaps!!!  PLEASE FEDEX, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER!!!!!!
Ok...now that I have that off my chest, I want to show you my second centre-step card for the WOW swap I told you about last night.  It uses one of my favourite colour combos and stamp sets!  Check it out:

WOW swap card using Just Believe stamp set and sentiment from Sincere Salutations set.

Inside of card...this was my prototype...I didn't end up actually doing the inside of the 60 I made to swap...no time!!!!

So while I was lost in stamping craziness, I was thinking..."Why the heck did I do so much heat embossing and sponging on these cards?!?!"  I love both those techniques, but really, if I don't sponge or heat emboss again for a long time I'm ok with that!  I won't lie and say these were quick and easy...they weren't...but it is pretty darned satisfying knowing I'll have some nice cards to swap at my first convention!  I really can't wait...I fly out at 9:00 am on Tuesday!  So much to do and so little time!  I'll try to check in tomorrow, as I have to find time to make a birthday card for my SIL (I'm hosting her B-day dinner tomorrow night!) and will show you what I come up with.  In the meantime, happy stamping!!

The end is in sight...sort of...

Well, I am nearly finished my biggest chunk of swap cards.  It is for a WOW swap that has 120 participants!  Yep, that means I am making 120 cards for just this swap!  Can you see now why I've been neglecting my poor blog?!?  Tonight I am posting one of the cards for this WOW swap.  It is a centre-step card.  I decided to do a funky fold as my wow...plus I had a bunch of basic gray 12 x 12 cardstock to use up!  Conveniently, the challenge over at Just Add Ink this week is to do a fancy fold so I'm going to enter this card for that challenge.  Since I made it a Christmas card (can't start too early!!) I am also entering it in the Christmas in July challenge over at the Paper Players too!  So, here is my twofer challenge-convention WOW-swap card:

Christmas Centre-Step card for JAI 74 and PP54 using the Serene Snowflakes stamp set and Northern Flurries embossing folder.

Sentiment is from the old-stand-by stamp set Sincere Salutations...gotta love something that stands the test of time!

Waffle Paper detail...I often have customers ask me what to do with it and I figured my fellow swappers likely have the same questions...so here is an answer!

So...can you believe I am making SIXTY of these things?????  Yep, I'm nuts, I know.  It was one of those "It seemed like a good idea at the time" kinda things.  Thankfully I've had a little help.  My stamping buddy Christine helped me out yesterday doing all the tearing and sponging of the focal image layer.  Thanks Christine...it was a HUGE help!  One less step for me to have to do!  I honestly don't have the energy tonight to post the instructions for this card...it is a bit involved.  You can find the tutorial for how to make a Centre-Step card here.  It from Splitcoast stampers and is the one I used to design this card.  The colour scheme is basic gray, pool party, whisper white and just a hint of island indigo.  I also used irridescent ice embossing powder on the side panels and vanilla shimmer smooch spritz on the centre focal image.  Its not very visible in the photo, but this card is very pretty and sparkly...very festive!  Tomorrow I'll try and post the other design I did for this swap.  I had to split the 120 into two designs of 60 each or I'd go completely bonkers!!!  For now its off to bed...I have another long day of stamping tomorrow!!

Up to my eyeballs...

...in convention swaps!!!  That's where I've been all weekend, in case you were wondering!  I was finally able to get going on making the 200 swap cards for the 4 organized swaps I am signed up to participate in!  I think I should be able to get them all done but I don't know if I'll get to make any cards for general swapping.  I'll do my darndest, though!  I may even bring some supplies along to stamp some cards in my hotel room!  I did take a bit of a break from mass-production this morning to put together a card for this week's challenge over at A La Card Monkey.  Here is the sketch:

...and here is my almost-naked card!

Card for Monkey63 using the Sunny Fun set from the the Summer Mini

Close up of the paper-pieced frozen treats with Crystal Effects added to make them look almost-edible.

I could leave this card without some kind of embellishment, so I chose to add a kiss and a hug (x and o) using some Itty Bitty Clear Buttons and a bit of bakers twine.

Yeesh...not sure what happened to the colour on this one!  This is the inside of the card (supposed to be chocolate chip with melon mambo and pretty in pink!!)

So in addition to the sketch, the challenge was to  create a card showing one of our favourite summer activities.  Is it any surprise I chose ice cream?!?  It is by far one of my very favourite things about summer and the frozen treats on this card look yummy enough to eat, no?  I upped the yum-factor by paper-piecing each image and then added a layer of Crystal Effects to really make 'em pop.  Yu-um...I think I need to go fine me some of my new fav mango ice cream!  Let me know if you have any questions about how I put together this simple card...I'll be in the kitchen...

HAPPY CANADA DAY...AND NEW CATTY!!

Today is the BIG day!  The new catty goes live at noon Mountain Time, which means 2:00 pm for us in the Eastern Time Zone.  Its also Canada Day...the day we celebrate our nation's birthday.  This year is extra-special as we are celebrating with some Royal guests.  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka newleyweds Wil and Kate) are here for a visit and are celebrating Canada Day in Ottawa...the perfect place to be for this holiday!
I've just wrapped up my Open House and we're preparing to take our son to the parade in an hour or so and then to the fireworks tonight.  Where ever you are, I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day and spending it with friends and family.  To our American neighbours, I'm sure you'll all be celebrating with BBQ's and fireworks this weekend as well as you prepare for Independence Day on Monday.  Happy Summer everyone!!