CK Convention Haul - Part 1

I haven't been to a convention in a couple of years. A friend of mine, Celia, is a semi-new stamper and has never been to a convention. Can you guess what we did? That's right... we went to the convention!! It was in uptown Charlotte so we took the Blue Line (I think it's called) straight from Pineville right into the heart of Charlotte. It was perfect. There was no fighting traffic, looking for parking, PAYING for parking, etc. Celia had to leave early so I decided to forge on ahead and stay until they closed. I had a great time and couldn't believe how many things I saw that I have never seen before. It really was a fun day for me, unfortunately, I paid for it the next day when I couldn't move! Here are the first few pics of what I got...

This was from Heartfelt Creations. They have worked with Spellbinders to have custom dies created that go with their stamps. They also have stamps that go with some of the regular Spellbinders dies. I was so amazed at the beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, extravagant (can't

think of enough words to describe the beauty) cards they had displayed in their booth. I must have spent at least 2-3 hours at the booth in awe of their creations and trying to figure out what the heck I was going to get. When I got to the booth, they were having a very short lull and the gal who was demonstrating had some time to show me the specifics of their stamps and dies. Boy did this make it HARDER to make a purchase decision! Of course I wanted everything, but

my pocketbook wouldn't allow me. :-) Anyway, I ended up with the kit that's pictured above and

bought the stamps and dies in the picture to the right. I tried to get the least amount of stuff that I could do the most with. Don't we all like to do that? I have never worked with Spellbinders dies that have matching stamps. Heartfelt Creations does have a demo on their website that shows the steps you need to go through to get the images properly aligned. Even though I spent so much time at their booth, I still need to go to the website and refresh my memory on how the whole thing was done! I know it's easy, I just can't remember!! Old age setting in I guess...

This was from my stop at Technique Tuesday. I love their stuff, but several of the newer stamp sets I wanted did not arrive in time for the convention. This is my smallest ever purchase from them. I was so good the night before going because I looked at the list of companies that would be at the convention and then went on their websites to see if there was anything I wanted. So, I went with a list that really wasn't very big at all. Where I got messed up was at the Tattered Angels and Heartfelt Creations booths! Money needs to grow on trees....

Now that I'm posting this pic, I realize that I never thought I would fall in love with these darn stamps from Motivet when I saw them on the website! In fact, I didn't even have any of these stamps on my list. They are a company out of Canada, which I've never heard of. I can't remember the name of the other stamp line they carried along with these cuties, but every single sample card was done up for the darn Miss American Card Pageant!

What happened to making very simple but pretty cards that don't have a ton of embellishments on them? I've been stamping for 10 years and I feel a bit intimidated whenever I go to some of these websites. Between the embellishments and MULTIPLE layers... my goodness! Don't get me wrong, I think those cards are absolutely stunning, but for those of us who are more simple stampers, it is hard to look at your cards quite the same way.

Hey, but I almost forgot to spill some wonderful news regarding Tickled Pink, the company I posted about a couple of posts ago... I won (or we think I won) the Kellita digi stamp and for sure recently I won the Kraftin' Kimmie I'm Batty For You stamp or digi stamp... not sure because Kellie is a busy bee trying to move and isn't able to keep up with everything right now. I will update the blog later with a card I will make for Halloween with it. I still have to make a card with the Kellita digi I won. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I promise to share in a reasonable period of time. :-) I won the Kraftin' Kimmie because of my comment about Halloween colors so I will post the Halloween cards I made several months ago. They are cute as could be and it's a style card I've never done before. I usually do just a regular "open it up normal" card, so this one was fun. It will be posted tomorrow and I will finish up with the Convention Part 2 post on Tuesday.

OK, this is the last pic for today's posting. I got these stamps at multiple booths and I saved so much money!!! Most of these were $1, the Hero Arts were 1/2 off and the JustRite stamps were on sale too. I fell in love with the JustRite stamps the second I laid my peepers on them. All I have to do is start stamping with them because I already know exactly what I want to do. Hopefully, they will turn out as good as they look in my mind. Don't worry, I will post the cards I make and I won't wait a month in between posts. Besides, I think when you want to join a DT, which is ultimately my goal, you have to post at least 3 times a week... could be a bit more, I'm not sure. So that will force me to do what Ive been wanting to do since I started this adventure!

Happy stamping til the next time!

Cards Cards Cards

I hate that I haven't been able to post much this summer. I've been so busy doing stuff outside and unfortunately since it takes me so much longer than the average person, I feel like I'm never going to get done! Hence, my decision... I am going to make posting a priority because I've come to realize that whether I make time to post or not, everything else (house, yard, etc) is not going to get done any quicker!! 



Supplies are Stampin' Up! unless noted 

Stamps: Awash With Flowers & Teeny Tiny Wishes 

C/S: Melon Mambo, Only Orange, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, ? dsp 

Ink: Melon Mambo, Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow, Orchid Opulence, Old Olive 

Tools: scallop edge punch, word window, beautiful wings embosslit, perfect polka dots embossing folder, trimmer, scissors, hole punch 

Misc: Melon Mambo dotted ribbon, rhinestone brad, Hero Arts & other various adhesive rhinestones, glue dots, adhesive, Signo white gel pen, sponge, envelope is not SU!

Here are the cards completely finished as either a Mother's Day or birthday card. The card was actually started in the monthly SU! club I go to. I don't usually finish them completely until I get home and then I never know what I'm going to end up with! Instead of using the melon polka dot ribbon for the "bow" in this card, I used a piece of ribbon from my own stash that matched the melon perfectly. Also, whenever I use embossing folders, embosslits or anything that will give me a design to work with, I will most likely take my white gel pen to it. Recently, I found another white gel pen that works very well and is super inexpensive at Michael's. It's in their individual marker section, by Marvy and called Gel Extreme. The colors available, as far as I can tell, are black, white, red, green, gold, and silver. They have a nice fine point too! I've only been using them for about 2 weeks, but so far so good.

This card was my actual Mother's Day card. I didn't use as many rhinestones on it and the butterflies are the smaller ones that were left over. Still super pretty and my mothers just loved it!

The next card I share is an all occasion style card. I thought it would make a pretty Father's Day card, but then I ended up using something else. The Kraft (or now crumb cake) as well as Sahara Sand cardstock is always so pretty to work with. For some reason those colors give the card an elegant type of look.

Supplies are SU! unless noted 

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Very Vintage wheel 

C/S: Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, Sahara Sand 

Ink: Creamy Caramel, StazOn black, AMuse black dye 

Copics: ?? 2 colors used on envelope 

Tools: perfect polka dots embossing folder, trimmer, scissors 

Misc: 5/8" black satin ribbon, Micron 05, Signo white gel pen, pop dots, clear rhinestones, sponge

The finished product! I was very pleased with how this card turned out. It's another that was started at club and I changed it once I got home. Decorating the envelopes is something I love to do because it gives the card a "completeness." I'm not super crazy about how the flower on this card turned out, but it will have to do. :-) I just used 2 Copics and tried to give it a brush stroke look, but it wasn't wanting to cooperate with me. Overall, I really like it. This is one of my favorite sets. One last card and I will REALLY try to post again tomorrow or Monday. Hey, I am trying to turn over a new leaf here...

Card stamps: Hero Arts Friend cling foam stamp 

Envie stamps: AMuse leafy vine, tiny daisy, mini flower 

C/S: AMuse blue kitchen dot & red check, Neenah Classic Crest white 

Card ink: AMuse black dye 

Envie ink: SU! Garden Green, Real Red, Ballet Blue, Yoyo Yellow 

Copics: YG01, YG13, YG67, Y13, Y17, YR16, YR18, B0000, B26, B37, B39, R29, R39, 0 

Tools: trimmer, scissors 
Misc: pop dots, glue dots, Martha Stewart winding leaves ribbon, 2mm & 4mm red rhinestones

Hope you enjoyed the samples. My next post will show some of the goodies I picked up at the CK Convention that was in Charlotte about a month ago.

Happy stamping til the next time!