It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

Sale-a-bration is here - now through March 31st you can buy all the wonderful Stampin' Up! products you love and get FREE stamps to boot - how great is that!!
DOWNLOAD the Sale-A-Bration mini-catalog (just click the Sale-a-bration catalog icon on my sidebar) to see the wonderful things you can earn for each of your $50 in orders. Even better now is a great time to go into business for yourself for LESS than $150! The Stampin’ Up! starter kit is 15% off, bringing it to $148.75 for over $300 in merchandise, how great is that? How can you not start a business doing what you'll LOVE at that low price - plus you'll get $50 in bonus product. Email me now for full details - mrauchfuss@aol.com

Haven’t had a workshop in awhile? Now’s the time! You'll earn SAB sets for every $50 you spend and when your workshop reaches $300 you'll earn another. You'll receive our current catalog, a hostess gift from me and you'll earn free stamps and product dependant on the sales. Email me for more information about Sale-A-Bration - my calendar is filling up quickly - only a couple dates left in February.

What an honor....

Last Monday a wonderful fellow stamper Penny Hanuszak http://pennytokensstampinspot.blogspot.com/ nominated me for this award - and I am so honored. Between being gone and being sick, I am just catching up on my emails and blogging so I apologize for not seeing this sooner. Thank you so much Penny! Be sure to check out her amazing blog.

As part of receiving this award the recipient must share 8 random things about themselves and then pass the award along to other deserving bloggers! So, here are my random things -

1) I got married to my sweetie, Paul, when I was 18 and even though they said it wouldn't last, we'll be celebrating our 35th anniversary this coming June!

2) I have two amazing and beautiful daughters, Jenee (Robert) and Heidi (Aaron), and they each have two daughters and one son - so I am blessed with six wonderful grandchildren. Family means the world to me.

3) I am a Christian and my faith has gotten me through many a difficult time in my life - I pray each day that I am able to be a blessing in someone's life.

4) I live in southern California, but was born and raised in central Wisconsin in a family of nine children - seven brothers and one sister - and wonderful loving parents who have now passed; and I miss them every day.

5) I was on Wheel of Fortune years ago and got the final puzzle which was "Michael Keaton" and I won a car!

6) I am a coffee ADDICT - love the stuff - don't need to drink anything else. Rarely will anyone see me without a coffee cup in my hand.

7) I work full time at a local community college as a Matriculation Specialist and with International Students and immigration.

8) I love to blow bubbles. I keep a bottle in my desk at work as well as always having them at home. I don't need grandkids around to blow bubbles :) When I'm stressed - I go outside and blow bubbles and let them carry all of my cares away. I think they are just amazingly beautiful when the wind takes them and the rainbow colors swirl. Once when I was blowing bubbles with my then 3 year old grand-daughter Paisley - she said "I want to go in there and float" - I feel the same way.

Wow - I thought I couldn't think of 8 things and now my mind is racing - anyway, now I want to pass this award on to some of my favorite stampers - please check out their websites. Enjoy!!

Heidi - http://stampinking.blogspot.com/
Julie - http://simistamper.blogspot.com/
Maria - http://stampinista.blogspot.com/
Lisa - http://putnamstamper.blogspot.com/
Sandy - http://shadeeladee.blogspot.com/
Theresa - http://thecardkitchenblog.blogspot.com/

Stampers Club

My Stampers Club met this past Friday evening - and what a great group. It was at Diane's home and she invited some of her friends to join us for the evening. We had a full house. This month we did the Imbedded Embossing technique that is everywhere right now - it is so neat. Here's the card we did for our Technique binders with a sample and instructions:You can check out all the techniques we've done by clicking on Techniques from our Stampers Club right under my banner at the top of this blog. Next is the actual greeting card we made. Diane had requested a Valentine theme, and I love this Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder - it has a romantic feel to me - so was perfect with the theme. Doesn't it look like the hearts were part of that piece of cardstock all along?

Here is a close up so you can see just how neat the embossing plate presses the heart right into the background - love that!

As many of you know I also have a challenge each month for the club members to make their best card using the previous month's technique - last month we did the reflection technique (see here -
http://crazystampinglady.blogspot.com/2010/11/november-stamp-club-technique.html ). I was the only one to bring a card for the challenge this month - but I wanted to share it. I used the sweet little girl from Greeting Card Kids and had her looking into a mirror on the wall - hope that's how it came across. Let me know what you think.

Big Bear in a Nut Shell.....

So I mentioned we took a long weekend to a cabin in Big Bear that we rented right on the lake. It was great - Big enough for the older kids to have a room with bunk beds and each of the couples to have their own rooms (that they shared with their babies, and Paul and I to have the loft. Here's our trip starting from when we arrived in Big Bear and were greeted by this amazing sunset cloud display - it was just beautiful. I think God was saying "welcome - have a wonderful weekend."Once we got settled in we played pool - Did a lot of Wii - (I'm getting this dance game this weekend - it was sooo fun and what a workout!)

We put puzzles together, colored and beaded...

There was even a little hot tubbing :)

Got a day in snowtubing - here are the Kings - and the Joneses -

and spent a lot of time just enjoying each other's company. Hope we'll be blessed enough to do it again next year.

I think we built some wonderful memories - and I can' think of a group I'd rather be with!

Sorry!

Hi all - sorry I did not post for 10 days - first we went to Big Bear Lake to a cabin where I thought I'd have internet access - but was wrong. So no posting. Then we got home and within 24 hours almost all of us came down with the stomach flu - yuck!! Enjoy the post below and I'll be back tomorrow with more! Thanks for sticking with me.

My 13 Year Stampin' Up! Anniversary

I cannot believe that yesterday was my 13th anniversary of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I went to my first SU workshop a week before joining - fell in love with the product - signed up just to get and pay for my demonstrator kit - and the rest is history! I fell in love with the company, the customers, the FUN!! I hope to be stamping for many, many years to come.

Here are two congrats cards I received -

The first one is from Toni - wish I had that figure :)
The second is from Jeri - that DSP sooo reminds me of vintagey wall-paper.
Thanks ladies for thinking of me!

POSTPONED - Clock Class - Come Join the FUN!

THIS CLASS POSTPONED DUE TO ILLNESS - WATCH FOR AN UPDATE!

Wednesday, January 26- 7:00 - 9:30 PM
Anything But a Card (ABC) Stamp Camp - Heidi and Maureen

Vintage Working Desk Clock

Cost: $25 or FREE with a $50 merchandise purchase at the event.*
Maureen's Home in Simi Valley

At this event we’ll be making this amazing desk clock using beautiful DSP and flowers. You can choose to do your clock in blue tones as shown, or green tones or pink tones.

Limit 10 and we are starting to fill up. Must RSVP to hold your spot.
On-time drawing at 7:10 PM


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*Stamp Camp/Class Cancellation Policy - If you cancel your reservation at least 48 hours in advance of the event there will be no cost to you. If you cancel within that 48 hours I will try and place someone from the waiting and if that works there will be no charge to you; otherwise you will be responsible for the class fee but you will receive the material packet with pictures (by email) to make your projects. Stamping will not be done for you, so you may need to adjust the project slightly using what stamps you have available. Or you can choose to purchase the purchase requirement for the event in merchandise from Maureen.

Top Sales for December

Here are the cards I mailed out to my downline for Top Sales in December 2010. I used a discontinued Simply Sent kit, but there are several Simply Sent kits in our current catalog and an adorable on in the current mini. These kits are great as they contain just about everything you need to make your cards - the card stock, stickers, embellishments, envelopes - all you need to add is your adhesive (and even some of that my be included) and stamp sentiments with any stamp set you like. They even have cute ones you can buy to go with the sets. They are quick and easy and look great.Here's what's in the inside of the card - and I attached it with just a little sticky in the middle, so the layer can be removed, another added and the card can be used again. Congrats to all in my downline who had a great sales month in December!!

Thought for the Day...

Hi all, I've spent the day prepping for a medical procedure tomorrow morning. So have been doing a lot of praying while fasting. I've had a rough couple weeks with some things a friend said, and they were weighing on me. But the power of prayer helps so much and I feel so much better. Anyway - while surfing the web I came across this thought for today -and loved it - so just wanted to share:

"This very moment is all that we have ~ so choose your thoughts wisely. It is too precious, to waste on the negative moments of yesterday." Written in 2011 by Sandra Ashmore --- Viet Nam

So no more dwelling on the negative thoughts - life and time are precious and I choose to move past the hurt. I have so much to be thankful for - and so many wonderful friends who are there for me. I feel soooo much better - as I have given it all to my Lord. Here's hoping you can all let something that is negative in your lives go also.

I hope to feel up to posting tomorrow! Till then - NO negative thoughts :) ~Maureen

Profiling CSL - Julie

So this month I am profiling my downline Julie! Julie is a wonderful addition to our Crazy Stamping Lady (CSL) group - and I'm so glad she decided to join our group. She brings a wonderful upbeat sense of humor to the group and that great SMILE. Plus Julie is an amazing stamper, which you'll see as you look at her work below. But first I asked her the same questions I've asked my other CSL's that I profiled, so you can get to know a bit about her and her wonderful family. Here are her answers -

1) Tell us a bit about your family.
I am a stay at home mom married for 14 years with two little girls, Sydney, 9 a third grader and Lauren, 5 who just started kindergarten. After the birth of Lauren is when I decide to leave my job as an art director at a local publishing company. My Husband is Gary, is a manager at Costco and works very hard so that I can stay home with the girls. He is very supportive of me and of my passion for paper crafting. As a family we love to camp.

2) What's your favorite stamp set in the current catalog or mini?
I think it changes from week to week. Right know I have to say Artistic Etching is my fav, it reminds me of a trip to Paris the family took 4 years ago.

3) What's your favorite color family? By far, Brights are my favorite… they make me happy.

4) Why do you love stamping and Stampin' Up! What I love most about Stampin Up! is the coordination of their products. When I pick up a piece of Designer Series paper I know there is going to be an ink, ribbon, button, glitter or brad to match perfectly. Stampin Up! takes the guess work out color matching...I love it! I never leave my Stampin Up! store frustrated, I’m my own best customer.

5) Anything else you'd like us to know about you?
I love making pretty things… I just wish I had more time to do it.

So as promised - here is a sampling of her terrific work -

And it doesn't end here - to see more of her wonderful work - check out her blog at - http://simistamper.blogspot.com - you won't be disappointed.

How would you like to stamp with our group - if you're interested in being a SU demonstrator or just joining for the discount and bonuses - contact me and I'll give you all the benefits of being a Crazy Stamping Lady!!

Cards Stamp Camp

Tonight I want to share with you the three cards we made at this month's Cards, Cards, Cards Stamp Camp. We had 10 of us there and each person got to make 6 cards - 2 each of these 3 designs. The theme was Valentine's and all of these cards used the current Stampin' Up! Bundle special that you can view here -
http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/stampingwithmaureen/promotions You can order directly through that site at my online store, or by contacting me by email - but you've got to hurry as this bundle special ends January 24th -

This first card was our masculine one and used the DSP, set and button from the bundle. The red heart is punched from the fantastic Glitter Paper in our current mini catalog. The black threaded through the little red heart button is made by cutting a very thin slice of our Basic Black cardstock and using it like thread - so cool!

The second card we made was a little fun and funky - I got this idea from a card I saw on a site earlier this year and had to do my spin on it. This uses non-traditional Valentine's colors - and I thought it would be perfect for that teen that didn't want a Valentine to look all romantic and mushy. I really like the way it turned out.

The final card we made is similar to many I've seen before - I used the DSP plus red and gray and punched out a ton of hearts - then we adhered them to look like they were pouring out of the envelope - how cute is that! This was my more feminine take on Valentine's. We had a great time - with a group of ladies just getting together to share and stamp - what a stress reliever. Hope you enjoyed - stop back soon!! Please leave a comment if you have a moment - I'd love to hear what you think!

My Health Update -

Back in December I mentioned I'd give an update on my health. Many of you know that for three years now I have been suffering from many, many different symptoms that have caused me a lot of anxiety, and missed days of life. I have seen approximately 8 different doctors during that time, and had sooooo many tests I've lost count. Well finally we have a diagnosis - I have relapsing fever - Relapsing Fever is a disease characterized by relapsing or recurring episodes of fever, often accompanied by headache,muscle and joint aches and nausea. Tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF) -
TBRF is caused by several species of spiral-shaped bacteria that are transmitted to humans through the bite of infected soft ticks. Most cases occur in the summer months and are associated in particular with sleeping in rustic cabins in mountainous areas of the Western United States. There are approximately 25 cases of TBRF in the United States each year.
Only 25 cases a year - and I get it - why couldn't I have won the lottery? :)

Shortly before all my symptoms started we had attended a wedding in Northern California where we did sleep in a cabin, and the wedding was outdoors in the woods where we spent most of the day - so the Dr. is assuming that trip is where I got bit by the tick. Below is a picture of what these creatures look like in my blood - yuck! The good news is that I can be treated with some pretty strong drugs for 10 days, and the Dr. is pretty sure that will be the end of it. Since the meds can make me sick - I probably won't start treatment till Feb due to some other commitments in Janaury. But I am soooo looking forward to getting rid of these creatures and leading a normal life again. I'll keep you posted on how it all goes.

When I'm all done with treatment and it's worked - I think I'll contact Medical Mysteries or Mystery Diagnosis to see if they'll do a show on me - as it has been a long and bumpy road of misdiagnosis toward this correct diagnosis.

CSL's Card Challenge

Here are the entries for this month's card challenge at our monthly downline meeting. The challenge was to make your best Valentine using Black and Vanilla or Black and White and one other color. We had three terrific entries - this one is mine with a fabric flower I'll talk about more below.

This gem is Julie's - great card and great use of the polka dot emossing folder on the heart and circles - nice detail. And this was our winning entry from Heidi. She and Julie were definately on the same wave length with some of the details - big heart, button/brad, pin and little tag. It is a great vintage card that I understand was made in the wee hours of the morning :) Congratulations Heidi!She got to pick her prize out of our CSL prize basket of SU goodies - I think she won the linen thread.More about the flower - I demonstrated at our meeting how to make this beautiful flower out of our 5/8" satin ribbon. I followed the tutorial found on Kelly Acheson's blog here -http://astampabove.typepad.com/my-blog/2010/12/ribbon-flower-tutorial.html

Kelly used her heat tool and said to be patient - but I guess I am not, as I gave up. So instead I used a candle flame and loved the affect it gave - the edges look as if they've been painted with dew, and they got a little black, which I liked on the rose. I also used about 18" of ribbon. Next time I'll try the heat gun again and see if I can get it to work. If you try and have any tips, please let me know. Here's a close up of the detail.

Thanks for stopping by!

Non-stamped project

So my Godson Brian and his wife, Jen, had a baby girl on Christmas day - welcome Morgan Lou! She also has an adorable brother Owen at home. I am so very happy for them and their Christmas angel as well as my sister Sharon who is the proud Gramma. Wish I was closer to Wisconsin to share this moment with them. Hubby and I spent some days in Prescott, AZ following Christmas and I used the time in the car both there and back to finish up this afgan for Morgan. Since they didn't find out the sex of the baby till she was born, I did all the yellow strips ahead of time and then just added the pink ones when she was born. I also had blue yarn on hand just in case :) I'm sending it off to them Monday with a cute little outfit for her. Hope you like it Morgan - know that every time you are wrapped in it, you are wrapped in my love!

January CSL's Downline Meeting

Yesterday was our monthly downline meeting for my first level Crazy Stamping Ladies - and we had such a great time. Yes - that is my Christmas tree in the background - all the Christmas stuff comes down - TOMORROW :) This month Sandy brought a project for the group to do using our Watercolor Crayons. Several in the group had not used them at all, so it was great for her to demo some different ways of using them, and share some tips.

Here Maria and Heidi watch Sandy demonstrate.

And here is the beautiful card we each got to make! Thanks Sandy for a fun and cute project for the group.

And I had to share this amazing basket of Home-made muffins Julie brought for our snack. She was even so kind as to make most of them low-fat for those of us in the group who are in Weight Watchers - the Raspberry/Almond ones in the middle were delish. Thanks Julie!

Snow in them thar hills -

This was taken Jan 3, 2011 leaving my driveway - it's hard to see but the hills on the picture are covered with snow - it was absolutely breath-taking. Here in Simi Valley it doesn't snow, occasionally we see snow in the distant mountains - much farther than these. But during this storm the snow levels dropped and the hills were covered. Here's a close up cropped from the picture - where you can probably see the snow better. I'm from Wisconsin and I love to see the snow - but hated to live in it - so this is the best of both :)

January Stamp Camps - Come Join the FUN!!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 7:00 - 9:30 PM
Cards, Cards, Cards Stamp Camp

Cost: $15 or FREE with a $30 merchandise purchase at the event.*
Maureen’s Home in Simi Valley.

At Cards, Cards, Cards we make 6 cards (2 each of 3 different designs) using the Valentine's Bundle available from Stampin' Up! Please note, due to a delay in shipping from SU we will be using only part of the available bundle. You'll be ready to make feminine, masculine and children's valentine's. Join us and be ready to SHARE THE LOVE. Limit 12.
Must RSVP to hold your spot.
On-time drawing at 7:10 PM

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Wednesday, January 26- 7:00 - 9:30 PM
Anything But a Card (ABC) Stamp Camp

Cost: $25 or FREE with a $50 merchandise purchase at the event.*
Location to be announced - most likely Maureen's Home in Simi Valley.
At this event we’ll be making an amazing working desk clock using beautiful DSP and flowers similar to the one on the cover of the current Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog (see my sidebar). Watch for a picture of this project coming soon. We are currently awaiting the arrival of the clock parts to complete our sample. Limit 12. Must RSVP to hold your spot.
On-time drawing at 7:10 PM

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*Stamp Camp/Class Cancellation Policy - If you cancel your reservation at least 48 hours in advance of the event there will be no cost to you. If you cancel within that 48 hours I will try and place someone from the waiting and if that works there will be no charge to you; otherwise you will be responsible for the class fee but you will receive the material packet with pictures (by email) to make your projects. Stamping will not be done for you, so you may need to adjust the project slightly using what stamps you have available. Or you can choose to purchase the purchase requirement for the event in merchandise from Maureen.

The Occasions Mini is here -

This mini catalog is amazing and you can browse through it and see all it has to offer, by clicking the mini catalog ICON on my sidebar. You will not be disappointed! To order email me or visit my SU website here - www.stampingwithmaureen.stampinup.net

If you'd like a mini catalog just contact me with your name and mailing address and I'll get one right out to you. Please note that if you already have a SU demonstrator, please contact them to receive your mini catalog. Thanks!

Christmas Day!

On Christmas Day - Jenee and Heidi's families celebrated at their homes with their families in the morning. So all was quiet here at our house. Here's a picture of the tree ready for all to arrive. At 1:00 PM we had dinner and I was able to shoot a quick picture of the table all set up and ready.

Then the kiddos arrived. They were all wearing matching PJ's with their names on them - so we thought we'd take some pictures - you can see the craziness in the next few shots!

I think this last one is the best! What a crew! Didn't get many other still pictures of the day, as I always video Christmas!