Whew! My first workshop seemed to go well yesterday, thanks to the help of my upline! Thank you, Linda! She was a great support and loaned me some paper I needed and forms until my kit arrives. She also handed me the Boatloads of Love set that I ordered from a friend’s party just before I decided to sign up. I can’t wait to play with this set….I *loved* the card that Jami made with it….you can find it here. I fell in love with this card when I first saw it….it is just adorable! I love the paper piecing and the doggies in tow. And the cat with the pinwheel….well, let’s just say I never cared much for the “You’re Neat” set, but after seeing the kitty on the boat I had to order it!

When I started mounting this set, I thought it might be a good opportunity to show you how I mount my stamps. I have had a few instances when I was mounting a stamp and someone said to me “ummm…what are you doing?” LOL. So I figure this might not be the norm but it is what works best for me and what I am most comfortable with. (because I am so very picky about it) LOL.

I’m sure that you know this already, but for newbies I just want to mention to be sure to match up the stamps with the correct size blocks after separating them. Then proceed to mounting. You do not want to end up with a stamp that doesn’t fit the only block left.

I trim my stamps closely and I try to be very careful not to undercut them. It’s not fun trying to stamp a skinny stamp that wobbles because too much of the cushion underneath was cut away! I also like to trim the inside out of some stamps to avoid transferring ink to unwanted areas. If you look close in the first pic, I cut the inside out of the heart stamp. I use an exacto knife and you must be careful! I always worry that I’ll slip and cut the image, but after 7 years, it hasn’t happened yet! *knock on wood*.

OK, so here is where I get the funny looks….LOL. I want my images to be positioned on the block as best as possible to be lined up with the sticker that gets placed on the top. This method is the best way I have found to keep the words straight (crooked words really bug me!). And it is great for the two-step stamps….flowers and other images are much easier to line up the two-step stamping when mounted this way. Here I will be mounting the tow boat. First peel the backing off the trimmed stamp. Now, lay the stamp, rubber side down, onto the sticker sheet with the images.

Move so you are almost eye level with the stamp and can see the rubber underneath the gray cushion. Carefully move the stamp around a bit so that it lines up perfectly with the image on the sticker.

Next take your corresponding wood block and looking from above the stamp, slowly lower it onto the sticky foam cushion. Try to use the lines on the sticker sheet where the stickers were cut as a guide for getting your wood block square with the image. Don’t press down hard yet….only touch it to the cushion so it is lightly sticking fast. Now turn your stamp over and see if it looks centered on the block. If it is not, gently peel it back off and try it again. When it is positioned on the block the way you like it, then you can press the rubber down a little harder to stick it fast.

Apply your sticker to the top & you are done…..no more crooked words!

I have been busy trying to prepare for the whole new experience of being a demo. I don’t think it has really sunk in yet. LOL. Thankfully I have an upline who is helping me out! I have had a lot of questions and I will have many more, I’m sure. So I thought I’d celebrate my first workshop with some cookie crumbs (blog candy) and then I’ll try to be quiet about it. I’ll give my friend a break this time and ask a question to all of you. What is your favorite part of a workshop or something that you have enjoyed doing at one? It could be a game, door prize, technique, the food…LOL…, etc. I will use the random number generator to pick a winner on Monday, August 13. The winner will receive a Karen Foster chipboard book kit and set of pastel eyelets.

This is the card I made to go with the lemonade recipe page below for my first workshop. I hope it is not too simple! This “tent topper” design was originally the creation of Michele Wooderson. Isn’t it a cute layout? I think anything made with this design just makes you smile. I’m hoping the ladies like it too! I wished that I had the new Pomegranate color for the butterfly but mine is in the mail. So I substituted Rose Red instead. The butterfly was stamped twice on white cardstock and one was cut out and layered over the other. The corners of the topper were punched with the Ticket corner punch and the white layer was sponged with Apricot. I couldn’t resist adding some lines and dots with a marker. I think I will also give them the choice to add glitter and glitz up the butterfly!

stamps- Garden Whimsy, Whimsy wheel
cs- Turquoise, Celery, Apricot, White
ink- Turquoise, Apricot, Rose Red
access- black marker, Ticket corner punch

Today I started working on my projects for my first workshop….it was fun & a tiny bit stressful at the same time. LOL. I want to keep the projects simple because I will have some new stampers in a few weeks. But “simple” and “I” just don’t go well together in the same sentence. LOL. I just want to faux stitch, poke some holes & Stickle it up! Both my regular stamping friends and the new group of ladies seemed to like the 6×6 recipe pages, so I designed this recipe page and started working on a card as well. I hope I kept a good balance in level of difficulty and yet still achieve a pleasing design so they have enough time to finish both projects. I have the recipes already printed and the “glasses” traced onto cardstock so that should help. I *really* wanted to use a strawberry stamp on this but it is retired. And as I was searching for a straw to cut and attach to the top of the glass, I realized that I threw all the straws I had away on a “cleaning out” spree a few months ago. After I printed off the recipes, I also realized that I hadn’t tried this one before! oops! Let’s just hope it’s a good one! It only has 3 ingredients….how bad can it be?

I started out by playing around on my print program to find an image of a glass. I just use an old program I’ve had called Print Artist. I first tried making the words fit inside the shape but it was just going to be a bit more effort than I was up to. So I decided to size the glass to the measurements I wanted and layer the words over top. The glass was printed out, cut & traced onto heavy cardstock for a pattern and then traced onto Barely Banana cs. I am sorry but I didn’t think to scan the pattern. The words were printed onto vellum and then cut to 4″ x 5″. The Bodacious wheel was inked with Regal Rose and wheeled up the left side. Then I stamped the swirls in Garden Green on the bottom right corner. Next I stamped some flowers in Summer Sun on the top of the glass and glued it to the Regal Rose base. The vellum was just placed overtop (not attached yet). Three flowers and some leaves were stamped, cut out and carefully taped down, slightly overlapping the vellum. (The vellum is now attached to the base by the flowers). I used the Crop-A-Dile to attach 2 black eyelets on the remaining 2 corners that were still loose. To finish it off, I ran a piece of ribbon through the top eyelet & around the side. Whew! This doesn’t look like much but it took quite a bit of time today. I must be a slow stamper. *And I STILL think it needs Stickles! LOL.

stamps- Bodacious Bouquet & Bodacious Jumbo wheel (on the Dormant list)
cs- Regal Rose, Banana, vellum, white
ink- Regal Rose, Summer Sun, Garden Green
access- computer for words, eyelets, Crop-A-Dile, ribbon

Last week was just a crazy busy week but it was fun. Bible school is over, the Splitcoaststampers fan club challenges are winding down, and now I am unpacking from a last minute vacation to Lake George, NY. And…. to top it all off, I decided on a whim to sign up as a Stampin’ Up! demo! I sent my paperwork in and I’m all set. Just have to wait for my kit to arrive. I never, never thought I’d sign up. I’m not sure why I caved, but now I am looking forward to it. There will be a lot to figure out and learn, I’m sure! I plan to be mostly a hobby demo but I’ll see where it leads me.

So since I haven’t had time to stamp, I’ll share some photos from the lake. Lake George is beautiful and there’s quite a few things for families to do there. They also have trolleys that run every few minutes if you don’t want to drive to where you are going. The first pic is of some of the lake houses and was taken from the beach. I just think pics of lake houses are so charming! The next three photos were taken from Prospect Mountain. You can drive to the top and there are a few lookouts along the way. The last pic is of the sunset Friday night. I wish we were walking by the beach at the time….it would have been gorgeous!

Just a quickie card in a busy week! Actually, I made this a week or two ago and never posted it. Ha! It’s a very simple card, but the mice really need to take center stage….they’re just too cute! I have a few that I’ve collected and well….you know how it goes! LOL. So when I found this stamp I was determined to make a card with it before finding it a home with the others. I am usually the only one that eats the fortune cookies around here so I just had to get this stamp…I loved the words that went with it too!
There’s not much to tell about this one. When I made it I had my Twinkling H2O’s out and though I’d normally choose another medium, I figured I’d go for it. It turned out better than I thought….I kinda like the shimmery mice.

stamps- House Mouse (Fortune Tellers)
cs- Kraft, Lavendar Lace, non-SU
ink- Black
access- pop dots, Twinkling H2O’s