More Leadership Swaps

Here are some more of my favorites.  I am missing a name for the bottom card. If you made that one, tell me in a comment and I will add your name to your card.

 Lori Brausen

 Susie Wood

 Carrie King

 Jodi Reinert

 Alicia Motyka

Leadership Swaps

One of my favorite parts of any Stampin' Up! event is the swapping.  I made 100 cards to swap/trade with others and I got some amazing samples in return.  Here are some of my favorites.  Enjoy!

 Twila Mooneyham

 SCS name: Thyme

 Maureen Hallman

 Kathie Rotti

 Linda Madison

 Rene Watson

Jarmila Vik

Petite Petals

I am a sucker for a stamp and matching punch.  There is nothing better than stamping an image and punching it out in a matter of seconds.  When SU introduced Petite Petals stamp set and the matching punch in the Occasions catalog, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  To make this card, I combined stamps and punch with a few of my favorites: Natural Composition DSP, Crisp Cantaloupe, vintage buttons, linen thread and a doily.  Enjoy!

Inspiration

Inspiration can strike me in the strangest ways.  This morning, it happened as I was driving my boys to school.  Once in a while, they change the radio station without me noticing.  Today just happened to be one of those mornings and before I could change it back, I realized I was listening to music that I loved in high school.  When I questioned it, my oldest told me that it was Throwback Thursday.  You realize you're old when the music you thought was cool is now chosen for Throwback Thursday.  Instead of letting it bother me, I decided to sing along and an idea hit me.  Throwback Thursday would be fun for my blog.  I keep lots of my retired stamp sets and I use them when an idea hits me.  I never think to share them because they are retired.  Not anymore!  Starting today, it is time to say hello to some old favorites.  To kick-off Throwback Thursday, I have 2 of my favorites cards to share with you.  Enjoy!

As a mom of boys, this first card showcases one of my most loved stamp sets, By Land.  This was the 2nd birthday invitation for my little guy.  I used the truck to create the belly band.  When you remove the belly band, the flaps open to reveal the party details.

The next card uses a set that I had a lot of fun with but it never seemed too popular.  Totally A-maze-ing appeared in the Occasions Catalog in 2012.  I created this card as part of a contest for our annual Leadership Conference and won!  I had to keep it because it brings back memories of a fun trip to San Antonio.

Now, I want to offer the opportunity to win some blog candy!!! 

I'm giving away an Artisan Embellishments kit perfect for Valentines' Day along with some Dazzling Details.  Tell me your favorite retired Stampin' Up! stamp set in the comment section to have your name entered into the drawing.  You have until 11:00pm on Sunday evening to leave a comment.  I will randomly choose one name and then post the lucky winner on Monday morning.  And, I may even use your favorite retired set on a Throwback Thursday!

Handmade Christmas Gift

One of the things that I want to focus on this year is spending more quality time with the ones that I love.  I had been thinking about this a lot when I came upon a gift idea for my husband, 12 months of dates.  The idea I found was a basket filled with 12 envelopes, each holding a date for that month.  On the first of each month, he would open the envelope labeled with that month and they would plan a day to have that date.  I loved the idea but the thought of waiting to open each envelope didn't appeal to me.  I wanted J to see what he was getting for Christmas so I decided to create a little book.  My big dilemma was making it masculine enough to seem like a gift for him.  I'm not sure that I accomplished that but I knew that as soon as he saw Carolina Hurricanes hockey tickets in it, he wouldn't care.

I started with chipboard book pieces that Stampin' Up! sold a long time ago.  I bought some extra packs because I knew they would come in handy one day.  Without these, you can just cut chipboard to the size you prefer.  I used a pack of DSP, I Am Me, and cut it into 5 x 7.5 inch pieces.  I rounded the corners of each piece, covered the chipboard with glue stick and stuck them on.  After the glue dried, I sanded the edges to give it that finished touch.  Once the pages were all covered, I used my Big Shot letters and cut the names of the months.

You can see that I glued the month on the left side and then glued a pocket made from the chevron bags on the right.  My plan is to take a picture and glue it on the left so that this will become a little memory book of our 2014 dates.  In each pocket, I put a tag describing the date for the month and anything that goes with it.  For some of the dates, I went ahead and purchased a gift card so that the date would already be paid for leaving us with no excuse to skip the month.  I punched my holes with the crop-a-dile and put it all together with large binder rings.  I'm so excited with the final product and J loved it.  With Valentine's Day coming up, this is a perfect gift idea for your sweetie.  For dating ideas to go in the book, I highly recommend the Dating Divas.  Even if you aren't making a book, they have great ideas to check out!