French Foliage Lansing Regional Card Swap Winner!!!

Today's card is extra special in a few different ways for me, so I'm afraid this post is going to be a LOT longer than normal, so just hold tight and read fast! lol  Saturday I went to Lansing for a Stampin' Up! Regional...my first time ever to any Stampin' Up! event.  My upline Glenda had sent out an email to her downline the Red Hot Stampers saying to get the true regional experience we should participate in the swaps.  I really didn't know if I wanted to so I kind of put it off...but if I did do it I wanted to do something that was simple and quick to make, yet looked elegant.  Well on Friday at 12:30 just after lunch I decided I wanted to do them since it was going to be the card the Red Hots did in a shoe box swap the night before the regional and I really liked it. :)  I asked my daughter to help me and we got BUSY (btw I had two hours to make about 30!)  Well, the poor girl found out I was very particular and finicky! lol  But she helped anyway ($$$ is always a good incentive!).  So how did the swap go?  Just fine...after one of my fellow Red Hots dragged me out there to get my butt busy swapping! lol  I managed to swap all my cards and get a lot of nice ones in return - which I'm sure I'll be posting in the coming weeks. :)  Anyway I found out we could put one of our swaps in a basket and Shelli would pick out a few of her favorite swaps from the day.  For those of you who don't know who Shelli is, she is the co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up!  Well, I had actually traded all of my swaps.  However I had a few extra cards left over from our shoe box swap and had decided to make them up after were were done making each others cards.  Glad I did because I traded one of them, but still had one left over and decided to enter it.  After having a long, but fun day Shelli concluded it by showing the cards she had picked as her favorite swaps. Lo and behold, mine was the first one that she held up and flashed on the screen!!!  Oh  my word!!!  I actually have NO idea what she said after I saw the picture of my card, but there was a lot of racket going on at the Red Hot's table!!  I found out I had to go to the front to get my gift right from Shelli!  Yikes!  I don't know how I made it up there with all those ladies watching, but at least she didn't make me go on the stage...whew!  I probably would have tripped going up the steps! lol  Well, as great of an honor as that was for me, the story doesn't end there...  As I was walking back to my seat Shelli showed the second card she had picked out and I had to turn and check it out...  The second card she had picked was made by a fellow Red Hot Stamper too!!  How awesome is that!!!  Two of us from the same table out of 800+ ladies (not sure on the number of swaps entered though).  Believe it or not, quiet Sara actually let out a yell and cheer because I was so excited for her too! lol  (I hope to show a picture of the two of us with our cards and will add it when I can).  I'm sure I'll never have another experience like this if I ever go to another regional, so it's a day I will always treasure. :)  So thankful for my upline Glenda who made it so easy for all of us to be able to go, and for the group of ladies she has brought together through Stampin' Up!  

Thanks for taking the time to read this special post!  And now here is the pile of swaps and a close up of my card....

Here is my fellow Red Hot Stamper who also won!!  Congrats Belinda!

...and a pic of her card up close.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  French Foliage

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, 

Always Artichoke & Crumb Cake

Punches:  1 1/4" & 1 3/8" Square

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Snowflake Soiree

It's Sunday so that means it's time for another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge.  Today I used a new stamp set (new to me!) that I won at the Lansing Regional!!  Yes, I thought I would get out of standing and waving my arms and clapping when I made it through all the prize patrols...except the last one!  I think everyone at my table would be so excited when it was prize patrol time, and I would groan just a little. lol  I don't mind winning, but something about being in the spotlight just isn't for me!  If I thought that was bad I had the biggest surprise of all at the very end of the day.  You'll have to check out my blog tomorrow to find out what that surprise was. :)  Remember to check out the other Red Hot Stampers cards here.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Snowflake Soiree & Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Pool Party & Island Indigo

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Jewels:  Classic Pearls

Sponges

Little Green Tractor

Today's card is definitely not the norm of what I make, but it was my nephew's first birthday.  I had to make something special for him!  I know one of his brothers loves tractors, so I thought maybe he would too.  I did a little researching on punch art to find a tractor, pulled out my punches and got busy.  As a matter of fact I was in such a hurry to get it done and take a pic before I left for his party that I totally forgot to put on the steering wheel!  I found the pieces sitting on my craft table later on. lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Card Stock:  Garden Green, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Garden Green, Daffodil Delight & Basic Black

Stampin' Write Marker:  Basic Black

Embossing Folder:  Chevron

Punches:  1 3/4" Circle Scallop, 1" Circle, 1/2" Circle, Extra-Lg. Tag,
Word Window, Heart to Hear (retired), Trio Flower (retired)

RHSSC61

It's Sunday and time for another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge.  This week I used the set Everything Eleanor and used colors from the color challenge blog Color Me Beautiful.  I wanted the card to be simple, yet elegant.  I just wish I could have caught the shimmer on the card, but it just wasn't cooperating this time! lol  Check out the other cards at The Red Hot Stampers here.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Everything Eleanor & Curly Cute

Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Early Espresso & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, 

River Rock, Early Espresso & Basic Gray

Stampin' Write Marker:  River Rock

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Warmest Wishes

Last month at our Red Hot Stampers' meeting we were challenged by our upline Glenda to make a card using a couple of different techniques that she showed us.  I don't remember what they all were, but I do remember the one I used to make this card.  It was to take the brown packing paper that comes with your Stampin' Up! order and cut out the leaves using the Bigz Autumn Accents Die.  Next scrunch it up, slap it with the ink pad (only the old pads, doesn't work with the new ones) and there you have it...some pretty cool looking leaves with color.  Oh, I ended up spritzing them with shimmer paint too.  I also sponged mine a little because I must not have whacked it hard enough with the ink pad. lol   My friend and fellow demonstrator Christi also made some cards using the same or similar technique.  She made a bunch of cards and a tag.  Wow did she ever go over the top with her cards!  You can check them out on her blog here.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Early Espresso & Very Vanilla

Packing Paper

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Cherry Cobbler, Tangerine Tango

Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight & Early Espresso

Embossing Folder:  Chevron

Bigz Die:  Autumn Accents

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

French Foliage

I'm finally getting back to posting another card after missing a couple of days.  Of course I went to the challenges I follow to come up with today's card.  I used the colors from Color Me Beautiful and the sketch from Less is More.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Perfectly Penned & French Foliage

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Perfect Plum, Crumb Cake,

Raspberry Ripple, Chocolate Chip & Summer Starfruit

VersaMark

Stampin' Emboss Power:  White

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Simply Scored

Sponges

Stampin' Up! Stamp Sets 15% off!

Remember today is the day to get your stamp sets 15% off from Stampin' Up!  I've been seeing this posted ALL over the place...must mean it's a pretty big deal.  That's because it is!!  Here is all the info...

All stamps in the two current catalogs including 

- Background stamps
- Personalized name stamps
- Cookie press stamps

- Single-image stamps - This is new!  Some stamp sets are broken up so you can buy just one stamp instead of the whole set!  Remember to read all the details on fliers as these are clear stamps and you will need a block to use these. (all images listed below.  Just click on the links to see which individual stamps are for sale)

Word Play - click here; Perfectly Penned - click here; Seasonal Sayings - click here; Assortment 1 - click here; Assortment 2 - click here 

This DOES NOT include 
- Hostess sets
- Bundled stamp sets
- Digital stamp brush sets

***Also in October you can get a FREE Festive Paper-Piercing Pack when you purchase the Ornament Keepsakes Set and Candlelight Christmas Specialty Designer Series Paper Click HERE for all of the details.*** 

To place an order through me click HERE.

Now on to today's card.  Last night when I was driving home I looked out my side window and saw the moon glowing in the sky with the fields and trees below.  It was absolutely beautiful, so I tried to capture some of the beauty I saw and put it on a card.  Not quite the same, but I sure enjoyed making it and do like how it looks. :)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Lovely as a Tree

Card Stock:  Always Artichoke, Basic Black & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Always Artichoke, Basic Black, 

Elegant Eggplant & Basic Gray

StazOn:  Black

Embossing Folder:  Argoyle

Punch:  1" Circle

Hemp Twine (retired)