January Hostess Gift

So today I just want to share my hostess gift for my January Club Hostess - as always I package it in a Chevron treat bag closed with a decorated clothespin.  Sorry this pic is a bit blurry.

And inside - this set of beautiful cards.  I am so in love with all of the watercolor merchandise in our Occasions catalog.  I totally cased the bottom left card from an image I saw on Pinterest - and then adjusted it with different colors and sentiments and layouts to get this set of four cards.  I also love both of these sentiments - "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful" - how true!

 And "You make me Happy"  how great is that to send to someone you care about.

I hope Julie loved the cards - she was a great hostess!!  ~Maureen

Card Challenge Winner!

So Julie was the winner of our card challenge at this month's downline meeting.  Thanks for driving down to be with us Julie!!  She made this amazing card using the Festive Flurry bundle from the current SU Holiday Catalog, and the Frosted Finishes Embellishment. It looks great here.....

But then look at this detail.  The way she folded the snowflake layer underneath just made it pop and gave it all sorts of dimension.  Love it!!

Thanks for an amazing card Julie!!  ~Maureen

Appreciation Lunch gift!

Today's my last post regarding this year's downline luncheon. First a couple pictures of those of us who were there.  I think it's everyone that attended (except Toni - who had to leave early and didn't get in the pictures :( - sorry Toni) -

Heidi, Kathy B, Me, Kathy S and Julie

Heidi, Lyn, Julie, Lois and Me

We took several pics and had to get Julie in a bunch of them, as she was moving out of town right after this picture ( I mean literally right after) - but she promises to make it back often - hopefully all our quarterly meetings!!  We'll miss seeing you every month Julie- but are so excited for your new adventure - can't wait to hear all about it.

I forgot to mention what we ate, as we were so busy I didn't get a picture - but I ordered family platters from Daphne's Greek restaurant so we indulged with warm pita break, gyros, grilled chicken, rice pilaf, greek salad, and taziki sauce.  Plus I made a greek pasta salad and we got some tabouli - it was so fresh and good and pretty healthy.  Then for dessert I put out a make your own sundae spread and the ladies did just that - made their own and ate them - it was all very Yummy!!!  A special thanks to my daughter Jenee who was our food runner for all these hungry ladies - thanks hon!!

So here's the little gift that welcomed each of them to the table.  I am a coffee fanatic (as many of you know) so I wanted to do something with the Perfect Blend set - and I thought what better gift than a package of "Espresso" twine :)   The little tag is very simple with paper-piecing for the band around the cup, and the perfect saying for the day.  I decorated a little clothespin with some DSP to match my color scheme for the day and a cute tiny flower with a pearl center.  It's my new go-to way to close a package or attach a tag - because the gift recipient can re-use it in many ways - clip papers together, close a back of chips, add a magnet to the back to clip a picture and hang on the fridge - the uses are endless.  So ladies, just know, I really do appreciate all of you and your friendships!!  ~Maureen

Challenge Card Winner

The challenge at our last downline meeting was to make your best tri-fold card.  Julie was our winner and here is her beautiful card.  The heart section opens to the right, while the dicut section opens to the left. It was our only entry so she won - but it looks like a winner to me anyway.

You can go to Julie's blog and see more of her work - on my sidebar - Simi Stamper!!.  Way to go Julie.  ~Maureen

Downline Surprises

Today I want to share a couple of items my downline members gave to me.  These talented ladies do wonderful stamping - and I am so thankful for them even thinking of me.  The first item I received is from Annette - she made me this great packet of simmering potpourri - even drying some of the elements themselves. 

Isn't a beautiful package full of wonderful fragrances.  I plan to simmer it Christmas day - but currently it sits in a bowl on my table in my stamping room and the entire room smells wonderful! Thank you Annette!

I also wanted to share this adorable gift card holder from my downline Julie - isn't it great!!! I am a snowman fanatic - so I really love this.  Inside was a Starbucks card - Julie definitely knows my coffee addiction.  Thank you so much Julie!!

I know I've said it before - but it bears repeating - the best part of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator to me- is the wonderful friends I've made both in my customers and downline!!  I so appreciate all of you!  ~Maureen

CSL gifts - Part III

Here we go with another round of gifts ~Maureen

Here is Elaine's with her adorable tissue holder from Christel, using our Storytime paper.

Heidi's is a Secret Sister gift so a bit more - Julie made her this great apron in a jar using our SU fabrics - how cute is that!

Here is Karen's great Secret Sister gift from Lois - it's a pot with paperwhite bulbs in it for the holidays - and a set of our adorable SU ornaments from Convention.  Karen was not able to make it, so wasn't able to be in the picture.

Secret Sisters - II

Okay - today I'm sharing Julie's Secret Sister gift, and again I'm apologizing for the blurry picture.  This was taken the same day as the other bad ones, when I had my camera on the wrong setting.  Julie got a bunch of great goodies from her Secret Sis, and I hope you can see them all - the bright butterfly card, a cute patriotic necklace, a couple different post-it notes and the adorable red shoe tape dispenser.  Very cute!!  

Hopefully that is my last bad picture for awhile, but I'm making no promises!  See you all soon. ~Maureen

Downline Meeting Challenge and SSS

Our card challenge for last week was your best Spring card using the Subtles color group from Stampin' Up! and the winner was this beauty from Julie - how pretty is that!!You can see more of her work at www.SimiStamper.blogspot.com -

While we were in our meeting a little Easter Bunny - in the form of a Secret Sister dropped off these goodies for Karen!  Pretty sneaky little bunny!!

See you all soon! ~Maureen

Secret Sister gifts -

Today I'm going to share a couple more of our March secret Sister gifts.  First is the one Heidi got - this adorable "You're So Sweet" box filled with her favorite - yummy caramels.  

Next I have a whole bunch of pictures of what Julie got from her secret sis.  It was Julie's birthday and her SU anniversary and here Secret Sis really honored her - here are her cards.

A beautiful journal (the pages look stamped) -

 A cute little box of 3x3" gift cards -

 And finally this glass candy dish filled with candy -

Secret Sis is so fun - I can't wait till our quarterly meetings - just to see what everyone gets.  My downline is sooooo talented.  Fun!!  Stop back soon.  ~Maureen

Secret Sister Gift

Some of you remember that at our Secret Sister reveal in December some of my ladies could not make it due to some family stuff going on.  So Julie brought Lyn's gift to this year's first meeting.  Here is what she made her - this amazing coin purse made with SU's Spice Cake fabric.  Man I wished I knew how to sew.  Isn't this great?!?!  She did say it was a lot of work and that she was never going to make another - so I guess Lyn has a one of a kind :)

 She also decoupaged this "L" for Lyn, and the elastic around it with the butterfly, flower and ribbon, can be removed and used as a book mark - so clever!

Finally - she made her this adorable lanyard that she can use for her work swipe card.  It is very similar to the ones Julie made us last year for our convention gifts.  What a great set of gifts - and Lyn was thrilled to get them.

Hope you enjoyed - my downline is so amazingly creative!  ~Maureen

Secret Sister Gifts - Part 6

A couple more Secret Sister gifts to share with you today.  The first was from Theresa to Julie.  Unfortunately Julie could not be with us - but I am sure when she got her gift -she loved it.  It was this beautiful cake stand, mix and look at that cute cupcake kit!

Theresa with her gift for Julie.

 Next I have the gift that WOWED us all for the day.  This beautiful Christmas tree that Heidi made for Sandy. It is made out of squares of SU's newsprint DSP.  She modeled it after a tree she had seen at Anthropology.  It was even more amazing in person. 

Sandy with her Christmas tree.

 She also made Sandy this giant Christmas Cracker using one of our Decor Elements tubes as the base.  I think it was filled with chocolates.  Very, very adorable!

Sandy and Theresa.

But we're not done yet - be sure to stop back tomorrow for more ideas!! -Maureen

Julie's Secret Sister Gift

Last week someone (shhhh it's a secret :) dropped off this great card for Julie! I still miss those bats :) But to go with that great card was this wonderful frame - I love it!! It is so much fun seeing all the great stuff that our secret sister's give and get. Our big reveal will be at our Holiday Party December 3rd!!

Missed Convention Photos

Was looking through my pictures and noticed I still have a few from convention that I wanted to share. First - as most of you know, my daughter Heidi (www.stampinking.blogspot.com) was an Artisan Award winner this year. Isn't she lovely!! Here she is on stage at the Awards ceremony receiving her recognition - I was (and am) sooo proud of her. I also want to share this picture of part of my downline on stage. We got to walk for recruiting - don't we look excited :) It's Heidi, myself, Julie and Maria - way to go ladies!!

More Downline Meeting Shares

Yesterday I promised to share the neat bow that Lyn made using her origami flower and "ribbon" made from Stampin' Ups! Lace Ribbon Border Punch. Look how great this package looks. Here's a better close-up of the bow - it's two of the origami flowers from yesterday's post and look at how she curled the 'ribbon' - that's just our Basic Black cardstock. I can't wait to try this.Secondly - each downline meeting we have a challenge - we are currently following the challenges in Stampin' Success (our exclusive demonstrator only monthly magazine from Stampin' Up!) The challenge was to make projects from the new Holiday mini - we only had one entry again - but it was a winner! The entry was from Annette, and she made this adorable card with the new stocking punch - looks like their hanging from the fireplace. You can see but the stocking are textured with our textured plates and look great. Nice job Annette! Finally I want to share what Julie brought to the meeting. We have a share table where people can share up coming Stamping events they are having; and projects they have recently made. Julie made this great fall ornament using our Spice Cake fabric, big buttons and striped ribbon. The picture does not do it justice. It's a unique and great way to showcase these new fall products - thanks so much for sharing this Julie!

Convention - Amazing Convention!!

July 13 - 16 a group of us "Crazy Stamping" ladies flew to Salt Lake City for the annual convention and what a great time we had - Julie, Christel, Theresa, Heidi, Maria and I all roomed at the same hotel and that meant very little sleep :) The first thing we did as soon as we arrived is SLC and dropped our luggage off was head to the Convention Center and get our bags - we're always excited to see what SU is giving us - and this year they did fantastic. Look at this beautiful bag - it's solid and slight squared off so is perfect for a tote or even lunch. And look at the beautiful embroidery on the front to match our "Grow" theme, and I love the "Grow" tag hanging from the zipper.We all just sat directly down on the floor and went through it - sooooo much fun! Here are Heidi and Maria getting out their nametags, etc. As I mentioned earlier the theme was "Grow" - here is the stage the first day - every day the colors on the stage changed, and additional flowers and foliage were added to the stage. It was amazing and beautiful to watch. The only other "Crazy Stamping" lady to attend was Diane and she was fortunate enough to be a Make and Take helper. Here she is helping out at our session and sharing a laugh with Heidi and Christel.

Secret Sister June 2011 - Part III

Here are some more of our wonderful Secret Sister gifts - first, look at this beautiful card Virginia received from her Secret Sis - I've got to try making these blocks that look like quilts - they are soooo beautiful. And here is the rest of her gift - lots and lots of gift cards and goodies to enjoy! And here is Julie's lovely card and box full of yummy chocolates - So beautiful. And we're not done yet - check back tomorrow!!

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.