May Christmas Cards

Yesterday was our May Christmas Card stamp camp. I'm determined to have all my cards done by Nov. this year :) So as usual, we made two different designs. First this cute little watercolored girl - And second this elegant snowflake card -

We each made five of each design -

For a total of 10 cards for our stash -

Our next Christmas Card stamp camp is June 26th - maybe you can join us!

Heidi's gift bag -

So here is the great gift bag that Heidi made Paisley for her birthday gift - it all went along with the theme of Movie and Popcorn - isn't it great! The popcorn pulls out of the cup and was her card and the candy bar was real - what a great gift bag idea. You can't even see all the dimension this had - but it was sooo cute.

For those you've loved and lost...

In Memory of . . . . . Weekend Special

This Memorial Day weekend is all about remembering those who have lost their lives - both in serving our country - but also remembering those we've loved and lost. I've lost many I loved to the ugly disease of cancer - my beloved father, my sister-in-law Donna, my brother-in-law Dick. And then of course I had my run-in with uterine cancer last year. So I want to offer a wonderful Memorial Day special to honor them and help those affected in the future. This is your opportunity to get the beautiful Stampin' Up! set "Strength and Hope" for FREE (your choice wood or clear). You can see the beautiful imagery here - http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/Strength_Hope_Images.pdf

For each set sold, Stampin' Up! will donate $2.00 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. This has extra meaning for me, as right now my husband's cousin is battling this dreaded disease. She has a great supportive family - and a wonderful faith in God - and we would appreciate your prayers for her and her family.

Here's a card I made recently with the lovely set -

To get your FREE set, just place an order for $100 or more of Stampin' Up! products over this Memorial Day weekend - starting Friday evening and ending Monday evening at 8:00 PM. You can email me your order at crazystampinglady@gmail.com or go online to my website and order directly - do so by clicking the "SHOP ONLINE: ICON at the upper right hand side of this blog. Have a wonderful weekend with those you love.
NOTE: If you already have another Stampin' Up! demonstrator, please contact them first to see if they will honor this deal for you.

Paisley's 8th Birthday

So all week I had planned to post this - but the whole week time flew by and sooooo finally here is my little Paisley the day she was born - 8 years ago. What a cutie-pie right from the start.And here's our beautiful girl at her party last week. I can't believe I have an 8 year old grandchild. I so remember the first time I held her - my life changed forever. Believe me - if you are not a grand-parent yet, nothing will be the same for you after that moment.

Her family party was a Movie theme - so here she is by her very own "Walk of Fame" star - Ms. Paisley J!! - Love you so!

Paisley's Party

So today we're celebrating Paisley's 8th Birthday. I'm sharing the card I made her today, and tomorrow I'll be sharing her current picture and her birth picture as I've done with the other kiddos this year. She's having a Movie/Popcorn themed birthday and we'll be watching the Justin Beiber Movie :) I wanted to carry that theme into her card - here are the favors for the party - not yet filled with their goodies - So I thought - a cup of popcorn. I just mimicked the cup design, and the popcorn is made with the top of our SU Cupcake punch, sponged with so saffron. I can't take credit for that at all - my inspiration totally came from Lorri Heiling here - check out the great things she did. So I just used the ideas from her projects to add this cup of popcorn to the front of the card - And then used her movie reel strip idea to add the inside message to Paisley's card - it's all popped up on dimensionals so she can hear Gramma singing "Happy Birthday" to her better on this recordable card from SU.
I'm really happy with how it all turned out. So much so, that I'm going to try and do a scrapbook spreadsheet using these same ideas for my Scrappy Stamp Camp in June. Watch for more on that.

Employee Appreciation

As some of you know I work at a local Community College and I am the VP of our Classified Senate and a member of our Sunshine Committee. This past week was Classified Employee Appreciation week, and we wanted to do something special for each of the Classified employees at the college. Thursday we hostessed an employee break with juice, coffee and sweets. So to invite everyone we decided to do a "sweet" invitation. Our logo for the Classified Senate is a puzzle piece so we decided to go with that. Last Saturday Prince and I used a $ puzzle and took the pieces dipping the back of them (gray side) into our craft ink pads to color them. The gray side took the ink wonderfully and easily. They dried in just a few minutes. Here are all 150 - aren't they great :) Then to invite the employees we wrapped candy bars with the invitation to the "Sweet Break" and added the puzzle piece I think they turned out great - wish I would have gotten a picture of all 150 before we delivered. I really like how great inking the puzzle pieces worked out, so I'll be working on more great projects using them. If you use the idea - please send me a picture of what you make.

April Top Sales -

Just wanted to share the cards that are going went out to my first downline for their tops sales for the month of April - it is such a great group of ladies to work with -Here's a close up of one of the cards - similar to the ones we made at our stamp camp last week - Congratulations to - #1 Heidi, #2 Toni, #3 Maria, #4 Sandy and #5 Lisa - way to go ladies!!

My Day with My Prince

Saturday was a Gramma day for Prince - we spent the day together doing what he wanted to do -which meant driving up the coast to a airplane museum at the Camarillo aiport - after going through the museum and seeing a lot of the history a docent took us outside to show us some more planes. Here is Prince in front of one of his Papa's favorite planes - And here I am with Prince inside the museum hangar - Next we had lunch at the little restaurant located on the airport and it was amazing. Prince wanted the double chocolate shake which they brought right out - and it was huge. By the time his lunch came out - he ate 1/2 a pickle, and a piece of bacon off my burger and was full. But the neat thing is that we sat next to a table full of air force pilots in their flying gear; and we sat outside and got to see the planes taking off and landing.Then we headed to Gramma's house for a couple hours of playing Wii before I took him home. He beat me in Mario Karts, Bowling and Tennis - yikes!! And I got a work out :) All in all it was a wonderful day. On the way to his house Prince said, "Gramma, today was a really nice day." How sweet is that. He is truly a sweetheart - and I'm so blessed to have him nearby.

This Week's Stamp Camp

Just thought I'd share the three cards we made this week at my May Cards, Cards, Cards, Stamp Camp. The focus was the new mini catalog - the first card was made using Flower Garden Embossing folder, and the beautiful Strength & Hope set. From May 1 - Aug 31, 2011 Stampin' Up! will donate $2.00 from the sale of any Strength & Hope set to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. You can view the imagery here - http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/Strength_Hope_Images.pdf

To order you can click on the Shop Online Icon at the top right or email me now!

The second card used our Bold Blossom Set and the fantastic new Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch - how fun and sunny is that -

The final card we made used the new Nautical Expedition DSP, The Open Sea stamp set and the wonderful new Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine. This card is perfect for that masculine birthday - or even father's day.

Stop by again soon!

Metal Sheet Magnets

Each month at our Downline meeting I try and do a demonstration of some sort. This month I wanted to feature these amazing metal sheets I found. You can check out Monica Weaver's blog here - http://www.addalittledazzle.com/ and see all the wonderful things she does with these sheets. But, I used them to make these beautiful refrigerator magnets. The pictures are a little hard to see, but trust me - they are beautiful. They cut so easily with the big shot Bigz dies, and then I embossed the back layer with the polka dots folder and adhered the layers together with glue dots - then put a magnet on the back. Easy Peasy!

The sheets are very light weight and easy to use, but also bend very easily, so you need to be careful while using them. But the effect the metal gives is just lovely!! It's always fun to find a new way to use our Stampin' Up! products. Thanks for stopping by!

Downline Meeting

Last Saturday was our monthly downline meeting. Here's a picture of Julie demonstrating the project she brought for the group to do.We made these adorable post it note holders, but what Julie showed us was how to make these neat flowers using our oval punch. Three ovals are folded several times and pinched together and glued to make this adorable flower. It' always fun to learn something new - thanks sooooo much Julie for a great project.Here are Heidi and Sandy working on their project -

And some of the goodies Heidi brought for our snack. It was a fun meeting. Next month is our "Calling all CSL's" Quarterly meeting. Can't wait!! Stop by tomorrow for my demo using metal sheets.

May Downline Challenge Cards

This month's challenge was to take a card from our current mini or regular catalog and duplicate it as closely as possible in a different color scheme. We had three entries - Sandy did this first one and she decided to duplicate the card on the front of the current mini - how great is that - My card duplicates the card on page 6 of the current mini - I really like the totally different look these colors give -

And the final and winning card was Heidi's and she chose to duplicate the card on page 36 of the current IB&C.

I think all of the cards are wonderful and met the challenge perfectly!! Nice job ladies!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I just wanted to take a minute today to honor four of the most amazing Mom's I know - First my Mom. She's in this picture below with my sister and six of my seven brothers. We lost my beautiful Mom, Bernice, over two years ago - and I still miss her each day. She was an amazing women, one of the kindest, gentlest and loving people you could ever meet - and I'd like to think a little of that wore off on me. Miss you Mom!!The next person I want to honor is my mother-in-law, Gloria. She has been such a blessing in my life - a woman of God, so faithful in her prayers. She lives 2,000 miles away, but is always near in our hearts. I thank God for her and for the wonderful man she raised, that is now my husband.And finally I want to honor my daughters -Jenee - and Heidi - They are truly amazing women - wonderful Mom's to each of their three children. I am so proud that they are my daughters. God has richly blessed me, I am sure beyond what I deserve. Happy Mother's Day!!

Downline Congrats Cards and Roses -

Just a quick post of the cards I mailed out to my TOP SALES downline for the month of March!! They went out in April after the stats wer finalized - I showed you how I did them earlier - but I just think they turned out darn cute. I also wanted to share these beautiful roses that I picked from my yard this morning. The bushes are all in full bloom right now, and I think they are just lovely. Fresh flowers just bring the wonderful feeling of outside in - they make my day brighter!! See you all soon!!

New SUMMER Mini Catalog is HERE!!

Check out the new Summer Mini - just click on the Summer mini icon below or on the side bar of my blog. It is full of wonderful, fresh and amazing stamp sets and accessories.

If you don't have a summer mini and would like one sent to you, just email me at mrauchfuss@aol.com and I'll get one right out to you. You can check out the supplies used to create each project in the catalog by clicking here - Supply List

My Stamp Camp on 5/10/11 will feature cards made with projects from this mini catalog - you can get full details by clicking on my "Upcoming Events" link at the top of this blog. Come join us!