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!