Lakeshore Stamping

Where have I been??

I have been busy!  Not really busy creating like I need to but just enjoying life!  My kids had their Spring Break starting on March 23 so we took off with my Mom to visit my sister and her family in Colorado Springs.  We were there for 6 days and enjoying watching the kids play!  Now I am trying to play catch up!

I took the pictures my sister took while we were there and made a Flip Scrapbook Album using the Summer Smooches project and will be giving this to my Mom.  I know she'd enjoy showing it off!

I just love making these little flip albums.  So quick and easy to do!  I love finishing a project so this is my kind of scrapbooking!  I held a class on Tuesday for this little album and another one I will share with you later this week.

Our promotion for April is the Sneak Peak of the Summer Smooches product from the upcoming annual catalog in June.  This product is only available during April and click this link...

Download Summer Smooches April 2012

so you can see the flyer with all the details.  You won't want to miss these fabulous items.  Then go to my website, www.lakeshorestamping.stampinup.net, to order online!

I hope you and your family have a Happy Easter!

Sharing a My Digital Studio Project

I am finally sharing one of my projects with you using this amazing software!  When the software for My Digital Studio (MDS) first came out, I made a book of our Summer of 2009.  Then I didn't touch the software for a while until my friend, Mandy Grant, taught me some real cool things using MDS while we were on Stampin' Up!'s Incentive Trip.  So while we were on our Alaska cruise this past spring I started playing with the software and made a 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbook of our entire trip!  I will share a few pages with you in the next few months and here is one of my favorite layouts.

This is just one layout of the 24 page book but one of my favorites.  I created each layout from scratch and had fun doing it.  I love using this software especially when I am away from my stamp room.  This way I can still get my fix of stamping while away...and I need my fix!   I just received my hard cover book back and it is GORGEOUS!  I am so happy with how it turned out and hope to do more of these books as we travel.

If you live near me and want to learn more about this great software, I am offering a FREE introductory class using My Digital Studio on August 23rd at my Lakeshore Stamping Studio at 6:30pm.  Please contact me for more information and to register.  I may have a little something for you so I want to be prepared with how many are attending!

Have a great weekend!

 

Family Time...

I spent the day today with my family.  My sister, brother-in-law and nephew traveled from Colorado and my brother flew in from Texas and have been here all week.  It has been great watching the kids play and just relaxing and enjoying family time.

Today we squeezed in a little stamping.  Each year my sister makes a 8 1/2 x 11 scrapbook calendar and I made a 6x6 desk calendar for our Mom.  Needless to say my 6x6 desk calendar hasn't even been started but we were able to finish her 8 1/2 x 11 today.  She was thrilled and here is one of the pages we completed today.

While we stamped the kids played and of course what kids don't LOVE boxes...especially Stampin' Up! boxes?  We decided, with Amy and I both Stampin' Up! demonstrators, it would be adorable to have a picture of all three kids in Stampin' Up! boxes and of course holding stamps!! 

My nephew, Jackson, is in the middle and he is 10 months old.  Alec, 4, is on the left and Lauren, 7, is on the right.  The kids just ADORE Jackson and we wish we could see them more often!

I hope you were able to finish your last minute holiday to do list!  I finished my wrapping tonight and it feels SO good to be done!  We have a full day tomorrow as our festivities start at 10am!  Hopefully it will wear out the kids so they are tired and will go to bed at a decent time with Santa coming!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Krop Make-N-Take

Before I left for Colorado, I attended the "Krop Around the Klock" event in Pentwater.  I have been doing the event for almost 3 years and I enjoy watching it grow.  This year Tracy and Claudia had 42 ladies attend their event and they were a great group of ladies.

I had about 30 of the 42 ladies make the 6x6 page I created.  The 5 hours flew by because we were having so much fun!  This is the 6x6 page they made.

This uses Basic Gray and Very Vanilla card stock along with a favorite stamp set, Charming.  It was in the Holiday Mini Catalog but is still available!!  I wanted to teach them how to make these great paper flowers.  This time I used the Scallop Edge Punch to create the flower.  Here is a closer view.

I cut a 1x12" strip of Very Vanilla card stock and then stamped it with the wording from the Charming stamp set.  I then punched one side with the Scallop Edge punch.  Any of our border punches will work, it just depends on the look you want.  I then sponged the scalloped edges with Basic Black ink.  I covered the center of the flower with a 1" circle Basic Gray piece that was stamped with the little medallion from the set.  Then I layered the center with a 1/2" circle punch and placed a black brad in the center.  The ladies really enjoyed learning how to make this flower.  They also used the cutter kit to distress the 1x6" Basic Gray piece and the cutter kit was a hit! 

I always like to show at these events how you can add a 6x6 page to your 8 1/2 x 11 page and then add it to a 12x12 page.  It is called progressive scrapbooking and I love it.  So here is how I added it to the 8 1/2 x 11 page.

I used the Guest Book Simply Scrappin' Kit because I love the Designer Paper in this kit.  Even though it has a wedding/anniversary theme you don't have to use it that way.  Here I added a few 2 x 2 squares and added a sticker from the kit in the center one and used it for journaling. 

Here is the finished 12x12 page.

At the bottom of the 12x12 Basic Black page I added some stickers and some stamping from the Charming set again.  I even added a image stamped and punched with a brad in the center. 

I had a ton of paper and stickers left so I CASED at paper bag album and 2 cards that my friend Kimberly Van Diepen created and shared with me (Thank You Kimberly!).  The ladies LOVED the paper bag album idea and they never thought of using left over scraps to decorate cards.  These Simply Scrappin' Kits are great and I can't wait to make more using a few other kits.

I am just returning from Colorado visiting my sister's family.  I had a great time and I am in Dallas waiting for my flight home.  I was able to attend a stamp camp of Kimberly's while I was out there and had a great time stamping with friends.  I had never attended a class of her's, even though I've been to her home numerous times, and I it was wonderful to have everything cut and I was the stamper this time :)

I have a workshop tomorrow and a couple of clubs next week and I hope to share more items with you soon.

Happy Stamping!

Busy, Busy

Wow...time sure does fly by when you are busy.  I've been getting projects ready for upcoming classes and clubs and I haven't taken a minute to blog until now. 

I had a WONDERFUL time at Leadership in Phoenix.  I was so inspired by so many wonderful presentations and have been busy as a bee with my business since I've been back.  Of course I also took time to hang with my friends while in Phoenix.  We are all team members and we had a great time getting to know each other better. We are missing Kimberly Van Diepen in this picture.  This was day one of Leadership just before we started and she was up sitting with the Advisory Board. 

Left to right:  Holle, Lisa, Christy and Me.

I will share one picture with you of Kimberly...don't want her to feel left out and this is SO her!!!

Just before we took this picture of her she was trying to get on TV with a local news crew who was on the sidewalk.  So we thought this picture of her in front of the "Stage Door" was perfect.  It even looks like she had a backstage pass around her neck!  Gotta love this girl...she is so goofy!  Now I can't wait for Convention in July...I miss all of you already!!!!

During the week between Christmas and New Year's, I worked on two 6x6 desktop calendars.  One for my mother-in-law and one for my mother.  I will share more pages with you as the weeks pass but I wanted to share one of my favorite with you.  I realized this picture is a little crooked but I don't have the calendar anymore to take a new one.

 This is a page from my mother's calendar.  These are my children, Lauren & Alec, last year on Pentwater's beach on Lake Michigan.  If I remember right...the water was SUPER cold and that is why the are running in and not completely wet.  But they still had fun!

I made the sand with Kraft Cardstock torn in layers and use the Spritzer Tool along with a Chocolate Chip marker to give it some texture.  I LOVE Tempting Turquoise, Kraft and Chocolate Chip together...yum!  The "o" in "enjoy" is one of our Corduroy Buttons in Kraft and sponged around the edges.  The calendar portion has birthdays, anniversary, and holidays marked for my mom using the Holiday Blitz stamp set...a great stamp set for calendars.

I have a HUGE day on Saturday with lots of scrapbookers in Montague at their Annual FFA Stampin' and Scrappin' Social...it is from 10am - 10pm with 130 scrapbookers...Whoo Hoo!  Better get back to work getting ready for all of them.

Have a GREAT weekend!

 

Kropping fun!

Yesterday was spent with new and old friends in Pentwater at the "Krop Around the Klock" event.  I have been invited twice a year by Claudia and Tracey to come to their weekend cropping event and represent Stampin' Up!  Their first event had 9 ladies for the weekend...it has grown to 39 ladies this year!  I thought it was great!  The room could only hold a few more comfortably.  The first year I did a make-n-take with the 9 ladies and every year since.  Most of the time I have about 15 ladies do the project...this year I had 34 ladies do the make-n-take!  I was SO excited and blown away by their excitement for stamping.  Some of them had stamped before some had only a little.  The make-n-take has always been a progressive scrapbook page.  This way they can make the 6x6 with me and then I show an example of how they can make it work with either 8 1/2 x 11 or 12 x 12 pages. 

This is the 6x6 they did yesterday.

We used the stamp set "Falling Leaves" and the die Leaves #2.  We also used a technique with the rubber brayer called VersaMark Resist.  I received a lot of WOW's from this and I just love it when I hear it because I know I've showed them something new. 

The VersaMark Resist technique is done by using our Glossy White cardstock, Brayer, VersaMark, one or two color of ink pads.  In this page I used two different ink colors, Old Olive and Really Rust.  I stamped the leaves first in VersaMark on to the Glossy White cardstock.  I then inked half the brayer in Really Rust and the other half in Old Olive.  I started in the middle of the Glossy White cardstock and gradually moved the brayer while rolling left and then right without picking the brayer up off the cardstock.  This gives it more of a blended look.  If your ends don't blend good then you ink that color up again and brayer a little more on the ends. 

This is the 8 1/2 x 11 page I then created.

I added the wheel "Bright Blessings" to the right side of the page.  Then some ribbon, pictures of my cuties and a favorite of mine, Kraft Corduroy Button with Linen Thread.  When I see corduroy I think fall and winter so it fit perfect for my page.

This is the complete 12x12 page.

I added the 8 1/2 x 11 page on to a textured 12 x 12 piece of Close to Cocoa cardstock.  I LOVE leaves so I decided to add some more of the leaves from the die Leaves #2 to the right side.  I cut out the leaves with more textured Close to Cocoa and then sponged around them before adhering them with adhesive.  I am really excited how it turned out.

I love being asked to do these fun events.  I meet SO many new people and was also able to catch up with some old friends at the same time.  I even saw some of ladies get their ink pads out after making the make-n-take and use them on their own pages.  This makes me SMILE!!

Hope you have a great Sunday and a great start to a new week!

 

Progressive Scrapbook Page

Today I had a GREAT workshop with a wonderful group of ladies.  A BIG thanks to Donna for having me in her home to show her friends all about stamping.  We had two different groups of stampers, we had a group of scrapbookers and a group of card makers and we were split into two different groups.  Tonight I am sharing with you the scrapbook page the scrapbookers worked on today. 

When I scrapbook, I LOVE to start with a 6x6 page and slowly ease my way into a 12x12 page by adding a 8-1/2x11 page in between.  This is a picture of my AMAZING upline, Kimberly VanDiepen.  It is us at convention right after I won that beautiful locket from Shelli Gardner.  Boy...did we have a great time together at convention! 

 

I used the Friendly Words Jumbo Wheel and inked it in VersaMark.  I then highlighted the words using the technique Poppin' Pastels.  It uses the Stampin' Pastels and it is one of my favorite uses for the pastels.  The Crushed Curry circle on the left of the picture is so you can pull it and Stampin' Up!'s Statement of the Heart is stamped inside on a piece of Kraft.  You could also put a picture or some journaling inside instead.  I saw this on one of the idea boards at convention and just had to try it out!

I then went to a 8-1/2 x 11 page, and this is my favorite part of this page.  It uses the Kind Thoughts Brocade Stencil that I am seriously IN LOVE WITH!  I used Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay and Soft Suede with a Sponge Dauber to get the image on the page.  I then added a Build-A-Brad for the center.

At the bottom of the page is my sister, Amy, who wasn't able to attend convention with me this year because she is expecting in February...WHOO HOO.  I am so exicted!!  Her doctor didn't want her traveling so I took lots of pictures and called her frequently to make her feel like she was really there.  She is my BEST stamping buddy even though she lives in Colorado.  We send lots of pictures back and forth sharing our ideas.

The Whisper White Organza Ribbon is died using Soft Suede Ink.  This ribbon dies so easily and beautifully with a sponge and ink pad.  I then used the Lots of Tags Die for the bottom layer of the Friends tag.  The Friends saying is punched out with the Wide Oval Punch and fits perfectly.  The Bermuda Bay piece is cut out using the Top Note Die.  I trimmed the Top Note down about 3/4 of the way down to just give the bottom of the page a little something.  So the ladies left today with the 8-1/2 x 11 page finished but I of course had to show them how to layer it on to a 12x12 page.

 

On the left I added a square for journaling and a square for another picture.  The picture is of my AWESOME friend Sue Lammers from South Dakota.  I met her on the plane ride to convention last year and we have stayed in touch ever since.  That is one of the reasons I LOVE convention...you get to see all of your friends year after year...it is like a reunion!  But better!! :)

I also stamped the brocade from the stamp set Friends 24-7 along the side just to add a little.

Well, I hoped you liked learning about Progressive Scrapbooking.  I will share the card idea from today soon. 

Happy Stamping!