Well, you'll never believe it!

As my dear friend and professor, Dr. Marsha Ellis-Smith, would say, "Well, slap me naked and hide my clothes!" :D Why? Let me tell you the story. :D

Saturday was the Chattanooga Regional Stampin' Up! Demonstrators Convention; it was a one-day seminar for demos and their guests; we get to stamp, learn some fun things, get fun prizes, and meet with other demos from the region.

As most of you know, I was gone most of this week; because of that, I wanted to get my swaps done for the group I'm online with (I know I've mentioned SUDSOL before; it stands for STAMPIN' UP! DEMONSTRATORS SHARING ONLINE.) before we left for our trip. I did one design, and got 20 cards almost done before I realized: I'd designed it with a stamp set that was retired, and I'd not pulled it out of my collection! AUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, back to the drawing board. And the above is what I came up with. (It's pretty ME, right? Christmas and both heat and Big Shot embossing? :D)

So, back to Regional. There's a basket where you can put your swap cards; they post them for everyone to see, and I'm not sure what else they do with them.

Except pick a winner for design.

The person who was choosing couldn't choose just one. She chose two.

AND I WAS ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so danged excited! Ladies (and gentlemen!), you can now tell everyone that YOUR Stampin' Up! demonstrator is an award-winning designer. Yup, got a prize and everything.

I still am in shock, but can't wipe the smile off my face. :) It was a total fluke that I put a card front in the basket. I did another design for general swapping, and swapped them all out before I could put one into the basket. There are so many people at Regionals, and this was my second-choice design - I expected NOTHING. :D

So. I'm gonna go work on what I want for my Christmas cards, because that's what I'm going to use my prize for. How incredibly blessed am I?!?!??!?!

Have a WONDERFUL day! And be SURE to make the time to STAMP SOMETHING!!!!

It's JUNE, and you know what that means!

That's right! It's time for the ANNUAL BIRTHDAY CARD CONTEST!

Now, I don't want anyone to think I'm perfect at sending out stuff. HA! Our winner from LAST year is finally notified that I've sent her prize. ::::::::::::SIGH:::::::::: But I'll do better, I promise! THIS year, your prize(s) will come out of my stash! :D So I won't have a HUGE reason for not sending them. LOL!

Since I usually start this contest earlier, I'm giving you until the end of the month - JUNE 30!! - to get your cards to me.

There are TWO categories this year: popular vote and MY vote.

You may use whatever you wish to create your birthday card for me. HOWEVER, for My Vote, all Stampin' Up! counts more. :D

All cards must arrive at my house by June 30, 2011. If you need my address, please email me!

Anything goes! I can't wait to see what you create for me. :) On the 1st of July, I'll put up a gallery where you will vote on your favorite by leaving a message. I will announce the winner on July 11, giving you 10 days to vote!


Get creative - and INSPIRE ME!!!!!!!! Here it is, the beginning of June, and we've got less than 28 days until the new Idea Book goes LIVE! Give me something to start thinking how I can copy without being obvious. ROFL!!

Have a WONDERFUL day! And please, take the time to stamp something. I promise I will, too. :)

I can FINALLY announce my personal pick! :D

OK, so you all know Gina won the popular pick for best birthday card - and, again, CONGRATULATIONS, Gina! But I'd like to show you MY personal pick! :D

Congratulations, Tory! :)

Tory received her prize from me today - I've been waiting until she got it. She received, ordered and delivered directly from Stampin' Up!, a new MEDALLION BACKGROUND STAMP! She told me she'd seen it recently, and it was moving up her "Wish List" - so I marked it off for her. :D

She just got home from work and opened it a little bit ago, and here's what she said:

Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Lori! I was expecting something along the line of deminsionals or a blender pen or MAYBE a single stamp (you know like Dasher or somesuch) But, WOW! It's even grander IRL than I imagined! I can't wait to try this baby out. I've seen this used on several different blogs and it had creeped further up my wish list. Thank you so much! Wow! Thank you! You really shouldn't have. I'm already dreaming up ways to try this out. This is too cool! I love it! Thanks so much!

:D I like making people happy - and my Annual Birthday Card Contest is the BIG contest I run. :) So, start thinking about YOUR entry for next year! :D Have fun, Tory!!!

What a party!

If you weren't invited to this year's Hostess Appreciation Luncheon, I sure hope you'll host a party this coming year so you can come!!!! :) Here are some photos of what you missed!

These are the table favors, drying and getting ready to be filled. :D

And to the right is what they looked like in-place. You can see that each person's name was on them, so everyone knew where to sit. The criss-cross boxes are filled with Thanksgiving Blessing Mix. All the attendees received the templates for all the boxes we made, as well as a punch guide template - and it was all in a folder I rolled and signed with my thanks!

Here's what each place setting looked like....

And what the whole table looked like!

I make everything for lunch from scratch, ladies! You get treated like royalty! :) This year's menu:
Oven-fried chicken breasts
Carrots
Green bean casserole
Cranberry Jello salad
Corn spoon bread
Spinach salad
Chocolate caramel tart
Mint iced tea, water, two types of coffee







And now, the projects we did!

(Mini pizza box, Votive tealight holder, Birthday in a Box)

The Inspiration Station was totally refreshed, with LOTS of new samples that I'm going to try to show you in the next few days. :) Music, stamping, friends, prizes - did I tell you that the prize value averaged $20 each this year, and EVERYONE ATTENDING RECEIVED ONE????

I had a wonderful time; I have the BEST stampers in the world, I guarantee it!!!! :) This year's is over, so planning begins for next year. Will YOU be here???? I sure hope so!!! Contact me to find out how to get invited!!!

Come on over!

What do you say?? Give me a buzz tonight, and say, "I want some of that beautiful cake!" :D Kenn requested a pineapple upside-down cake, and here it is, fresh from the oven. I didn't get it centered on the plate, and tried to push it over - that's why you can see a huge crack up the left corner. OH, WELL. :D

I'd love to sit down and chat with each one of you, to enjoy the person YOU are, and to develop our friendship. If you get a chance to meet me in person (if you don't know me already!:D), I'd SO love to do that!!! If you're one of my dear friends/customers already, I'd love to spend some one-on-one time with you. Just drop me a line, and let's get it on the calendar! I want to spend 2008 enjoying more of life, instead of wondering where it went! :D

That's a GOAL for me. I don't do resolutions; there's nothing to say it's what I want to accomplish. So, what do you want to accomplish in 2008? Let's hear some ideas; there might be a prize in it for someone.... :)

Happy Independence Day, America!

I hope your celebration today is safe, fun, and full of yummy treats and happy memories. :)

As promised, here is one of the card samples from my New Idea Book Open House Monday night. The colors are Whisper White, Certainly Celery, and Brilliant Blue; the matted saying is from WORD ON WORD, a new Level 2 hostess set, and the other is from Hugs & Wishes, a new set in this year's IB&C. Don't forget - hostess sets are only good for the six months of the current IB&C now, so book your party to get your choice for FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway. :) See the new rhinestone brad?? They are SO awesome! What a great way to add some bling to your card! This is an ice-colored square brad - but they all look like diamond shapes to me.... :)

Cheryl emailed me; that's HER card that won the Birthday Card Contest!! Congrats, Cheryl! :) I'll have your prize out sometime within the next week! And I'll be announcing yet another contest soon - you have so many ways to get free stuff from me! :D

Have a wonderful day! Do some stampin' - and share your passion with someone else!

OK, go VOTE!!!

I spent some time today uploading all the scans of birthday cards I received, so it's time to get this contest going. There are seven entries for you to choose from; you might have a hard time with this one!

Simply go to http://www.pbase.com/ifistand/bd_cards and leave a comment, telling me which one you think should win. It's that easy to vote! I haven't RAK'd back the senders yet, not all of them. Life just never seems to stop going, does it?!? If we could only tap the way time speeds ahead, we'd need no crude oil! LOL!!

Now, I don't think I'll tell you what the prize will be; but I promise, I give GREAT prizes! Here's what Cheryl - the prize-winner from the May scrapbooking contest - said when she received hers:
I got my package from you in the mail today! Thank you SO much for the simply scrappin pack! I've never had one of these, and it is perfect for me! I love the colors and the die cuts! I am so excited! I can't wait to play with it! Thanks so much. I hope you had a great birthday!

:) I like to make people happy! So, GOOD LUCK if yours is one of the seven entries! If you're not, maybe you want to go stamp a little! Who knows when I'll have another contest going on? :)

Have a wonderful day! Keep cool, and count your blessings!

Happy Thursday! :D

Phew, what a week it's been! Can you believe I've been home just over three weeks already? Time is FLYING - can't I get back on the plane?? PLEASE? :D

ANYWAY. Enough whining from me. Tonight is my "Shake, Rattle, & Roll" class; this card design is one of the five we're doing. I don't know; five MAY be way overboard. They took me a lot of time to do - but maybe it won't be so bad for my customers, since I had to figure out what the heck I was doing. :D This card is a slider card; you can see a fantastic tutorial here - http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/spinner.php - the only difference is, I used my Word Window Punch for the spinner channel. (Sorry the scan is crooked; the bed of my scanner is difficult to work with when the thing I'm scanning isn't perfectly flat!!!) The set is POLKA DOTS & PAISLEY, from the Spring Mini Catalog. It's an unusual color choice for me, but I find this one refreshing, somehow - Green Galore, Glorious Green, and YoYo Yellow. I widened the channel a bit to accommodate the Stampin' Dimensionals, and had to use a NICKEL to put behind it! :D It's a HEAVY spinner, for sure! I finished it up with the ticket corner punch and the saying. The class is more about the TECHNIQUE involved, not necessarily the design - but I like both! :)

Congratulations again to Cheryl, our contest-winner from the May Scrapbooking Contest! Your prize went out in the mail today! (Speaking of which, this is my first time to send out anything via USPS since the postage hike. And I thought that paying for GAS was ridiculous!!!!) Anyway. :D I hope you enjoy your prize; please let me know when you receive it!

Only five more days to enter the Birthday Card Contest; see previous posts for details! I want everyone to have a chance to win! :D

Off to work some more! Have a wonderful evening, everyone!