Coloring Down The Lines -- Melon Mambo

Happy Wednesday.  It's blog hop time again with our coloring down the lines challenge.  Yay, we have a larger lineup today.  I guess everyone is settling back into their routines after Convention.  I'm still a little tired and trying to find my mojo.  I can't seem to think up anything out of the ordinary.  Well, hopefully it will all come back.

This week we were challenged to use Melon Mambo with either Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise or with Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant.  I decided to use the first combination.  I love Turquoise.    I believe you arrived here by way of Liz's blogsite.  She amazes me every time I see her creations.  She is always trying to cook up something different -- and she cooks up great creations in her kitchen too.

So here is my creation for this week.  I think it is pretty simple but cheery.  I may send it to a good friend whose birthday is coming up soon.

Off now to continue the hop to Teri's blogsite.  Wow, Teri has been missing in action for quite a while.  I am so happy she is back as she is such a super crafter and a great friend. 

Hope you like my creation today.

Until next time.......................

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Convention Gift

I promised to show you some of the swaps and gifts I received at Convention, as well as some of the ones I made.  Below you will find a few gifts I received from my good friend Donna at Butternut Sage Designs.  Donna is the leader of our chat group, which I have mentioned many time.  We hope you will join our chat group some time, by clicking on "chat" on her website here.  

Below are two boxes she made.  The larger held a beautiful handmade paper flower arrangement, which you can see farther below.  The second box is one she designed and made which held a beautiful bracelet.  She is so talented and so generous with her gifts.  You can see how to make the Origami box from one of her tutorials on her site.

 

 

This is a close up of the Origami box and the bracelet. 

Below is the flower arrangement from the larger box.  We were to make a gift and then when our chat group got together we picked names and received the gift that person made.  This flower arrangement is what Donna made, and I picked her name.  Isn't it gorgeous.  There is no end to her talent.  I love it.

And here is a close up showing the detail of all these beautiful flowers.

So that is one of the beautiful gifts I received.  We also did "pillow gifts" for one another.  There were many of those and I love every one.  I'll show some over the next couple days and also some of my creations.  So stay tuned...................

Until next time...................

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Convention Swap -- Hall

Real quick today because I am to leave here shortly.  This card is one of the swaps I did for convention.  We did a hall swap among our friends staying at the same hotel in Salt Lake City.  This is the one I did.  I wanted something bright and cheery.  I think I succeeded. 

I thought I took pictures of the insides of all, but I guess I didn't for this one.  Oh well, the inside and envelope had butterflies.

Tomorrow I'll be back with a beautiful gift I received, so come back again.

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

The Chat Bunch

I promise tomorrow I will start showing some of the swaps I made and some I received during the Stampin'Up! 2013 Convention.  I have been so busy yesterday and today I hardly know my name.  But tomorrow I should be home and want to play in my craft room.  In the meantime, here is another picture of some of my chat room friends.  I have been chatting with these wonderful gals for almost 2 years and did not meet them in person until this year.  I met Robbie for the first time at the Regional meet in Baltimore in April and the rest just this past week.  What a great, fun, bunch of gals.  I love them all.

Left to right are Donna, who started this chatting in the first place, Laura Lynn, Amanda, me, Robbie and Helen.  If you are wondering what the chat group is, as I have mentioned before, each week day morning from 10:00 till 11:00 Eastern, whoever is available will go to Donna' blog site here, and click "Chat" at the right of her blog.  Then you type in your name, pick a color for yourself and click "Enter Room."  Once that screen changes just click "Join Chat" at the bottom and you are in.  We hope you will join us when you can.  Everyone is friendly, and there are lots of ideas and fun bouncing around in that chat room.  Hope to chat with you soon.

Until next time...............................

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Stampin'Up! 2013 Convention Recap

Wow!  is all I can say about the 2013 Stampin'Up! Convention.  Well, there is a lot more to say, but "WOW" aptly describes the incredible time I had going to my very first Convention.  We left early last Wednesday morning to fly from Dulles to Salt Lake City and arrived at 4:00 p.m.  I finally, after almost 2 years of chatting online, met several of my cyber friends in person.  Oh what fun to finally see, hug, and interact, without having to type and imagine.  They are amazing gals, and over the next 3 days we spent wonderful time together, swapped amazing creations (some of which I will post here over the next several days), and just enjoyed our time together.  I can't say enough how warm and friendly these ladies are -- not to mention how super creative too!  And I made even more new friends while there.  Stampers really are a great bunch of friendly gals, and there are a few guys too.

The Convention itself was a whirlwind 3 days -- and I mean whirlwind from 6 in the morning until 11 at night.  I don't think I had 1 hour of downtime over the entire convention, other than when I was sleeping, and I did very little of that.  Yesterday -- Sunday -- my dear friend and oh so super up-line, Buffy Cooper, and I had to drag ourselves out of bed at 4:00 in the morning (that is the middle of the night, don't you know) so that we could catch the shuttle to the airport and get on our 7:00 a.m. flight home.  You should have seen that plane full of Stampin'Up! ladies.  That alone was like a convention!  Made even more new friends on the plane.

So, there is tons and tons of information from the Convention that I want to share with you over the next few days, but for today let's just say you will not want to miss out on the new framelits, a super new envelope cutter which does everything for you but pick out the designer paper, and a fun "Undefined Stamp Carving Kit."  Watch for these "coming soon" items.

For now let me show you a picture of me with Buffy Cooper and a new friend, Susan Horr, standing at The Rock in front of Stampin'Up!'s home office.  It was a super hot day -- over 100 -- but just about the time the picture was snapped, the water sprinkler came on and we were sprayed.  Actually it felt so good that we took several more pictures just so we could continue to stand there. 

I'll tell you more tomorrow about my experiences.  Let me just say that when I left I had a suitcase almost empty, when I came home it was crammed full of swaps and gifts from my friends, and oh so many free stamps and accessories from Stampin'Up!  What a wonderful few days it was.

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Coloring Down the Lines -- Bermuda Bay

Hi everyone.  It's blog hop Wednesday again.  Do you know what else it is?  It's time to go to the Stampin'Up! annual convention.  By the time you read this I'll either be on the way to the airport or already in the air headed for Salt Lake City.   It's Stampin'Up!'s 25th anniversary, so we are all hoping for a really great convention this year.  But you are here to see the color challenge, right?  You should have arrived from Liz's blogsite.  Terrific, once again. 

We were challenged to use Bermuda Bay and to add to it either Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry, or to add Tangerine Tango and Smokey Slate.  Oops!  Guess what I just now discovered.........I combined the wrong colors.  I used Bermuda Bay and added Crushed Curry and Smokey Slate.  Well, I hope you like my mistaken combination because it is late and I don't have time to go back and start over.   Hmmmmm........must be the rush to get ready to leave here at 6:00 in the morning for the airport. 
 
 So here is my card for this week.

In addition to using the wrong colors, I used my Framed Tulips embossing folder, the new Flower Shop stamp set and matching pansy punch, Off the Grid stamp set (love that stamp) and the Postage Collection hostess stamp set for the sentiment.  Whew, a lot of stamps there for such a small amount of action on this card.  I can't wait to get the Smokey Slate embossing powder, which is in my next order, so that I can try heat embossing Off the Grid with that powder.  I've seen it done and it is beautiful. 

Well I need to get myself off to bed.  So let's hop back to the beginning to Robbie's blogsite.  I think she is already in Salt Lake City tonight, but I know she scheduled her blog with another great challenge.    while I am in SLC I  hope to take a couple pictures to put on my blog to show you what mischief we get into.  And I have a few swaps and gifts that I've already prepared for my blog.  So, if I find the time I'm hoping to find -- around 2:00 a.m. -- I'll add some to this blog.

Until next time...............

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Coloring Down the Lines -- Pistachio Pudding

Welcome to blog hop Wednesday.  It's time to take another look at the color challenge.  You should have arrived from Liz's blogsite.  She and I got together the other day to do some crafting.  She brought her completed card for this week to show me, and I brought mine to show her.  Talk about like minds.  We both used the same colors, the same stamp, and the same designer paper.  That is the second time we have done that in the past month or so.  I know you love her card because it is beautiful and so creative.

Our colors this week are Pistachio Pudding with Baked Brown Sugar and Crisp Cantaloupe or Pistachio Pudding with Smokey Slate and Strawberry Slush.  I chose the latter.  Love that Smokey Slate color, even though I did not use very much of it on this card.  I chose to use mostly Strawberry Slush mainly because I didn't think I liked that color.  After working with it, I believe I do like it.

I used my new Tea Party stamp set and colored directly on the stamp with Basic Gray, Old Olive and Strawberry Slush.  The designer paper is Quatrefancy Specialty.  The cardstock colors are Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Smokey Slate and Strawberry Slush.

I am the last on the list for the hop, so you can go back to the beginning to Robbie's blogsite.  And if you started with me, then continue on to her and you can do the whole round.

Until next time......................

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy

Coloring Down The Lines -- Baked Brown Sugar

It's blog hop Wednesday.  You should have arrived from Liz's blogsite and I know her creation is beautiful.  I know because she told me -- hee hee (hi Liz!  (smile) )   We are challenged this week to use Baked Brown Sugar with Crisp Cantaloupe and Bermuda Bay, or Baked Brown Sugar with Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler.  I used Crisp Cantaloupe and Bermuda Bay because I just could not get that bright green to go with any design I tried.  I should have forced myself to that challenge, but I just gave up.  No pat on the back for me this week.

My card this week is very, very, simple.  In fact, I'm going to use this version as the first of a "stepped up" set to see how I can build on it to make it better.  I'll let you know how I do.

I used my brand new Tea Party stamp set and embossed it with pewter embossing powder.  I also used my brand new Beautifully Baroque embossing folder.  I have several brand, spanking, new toys.  But, alas, I am so busy trying to finish up my convention swaps, 3-D items, and convention gifts, that am not getting to play with many new things.  Once I finish swapping at convention I should have a bunch of new things to show, and then I can get my new sets inky.  And if I remember to take all my computer parts, I may even be able to blog a convention picture or two while I am there.  I'm getting excited now.  Only a couple weeks until we leave.  I didn't get to go last year so I have waited quite a while for this year, and am super excited to go and to meet several new blog friends face to face.

Enough of my rambling today, let's hop back to Robbie's blogsite at the beginning, and if you didn't start with her, you can start at the beginning and continue on with everyone and back to me.

Until next time..............

Crafty Hugs,
Sandy