Create With M.E.

APEX~A positive Example

Again I was honored to have been able to participate in this quarters APEX Swap with my upline Meg Loven.  APEX stands for A Positive Example.  We have certain criteria that we have to achieve.  And I did!  This is not at all what I had planned to make.  I was working on a Jewelry idea but after many hours "playing" with my supplies nothing was coming together.  So this morning I woke up inspired!  Phew last night I thought I had lost my MOJO, but nope this morning I layed in bed thinking of a new idea then my upline (who I had shamelessly whined too via text last night) also reinforced my idea so I went to town (not literally I just went into my studio ;-) and here are the results.  I hope you like it.

I know your first impression is well, that's an ordinary card but really if you look close, and we will.  There is nothing on this card that isn't altered in some way except maybe the half pearl from the Pretties kit.

Look closer at the Butterfly which has been cut with the Big shot.  It's the new Presto Patterns paper that I brayered with Crush curry and I pounced my pad on it then I stamped Elements of Style in Basic Brown and then I smooch spritzed it first with gold glow then with log cabin(hard to see in the photos but fabulous in person)..then yes, there is more.  I sponged the edges with close to cocoa ink to make it a little more vintage.  Lastly I added the half pearl.

If you look closely at these images you will see I cut the top note out of confetti cream then stamped it again with Elements of Style in Soft Suede this time.  I ran it through the new texture folder to get a linen look and sponged the edges, lastly spritzing it with Smooch spritz log cabin to finish it off. 

If I had finished it off with the Vanilla Satin ribbon it would have really looked stark after all this altering so I had to ink the ribbon with Soft Suede.  Wow it really made a huge difference. It almost looks linen like too. So although this card at first glance doesn't maybe look like my usual WOW swap there was a lot of altering done and I really hope the other ladies enjoy it! 

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Bouquet Bunch~Pots full of flowers

Here is card number 4 from my Forget me Not class this week.  I have to say I did a lot of copying this week for my class since I had been layed up but this card is mine and I kinda like it.  <giggle>  I love the new texture folder from Stampin' Up! it is featured in the Summer Mini Catalog.  Nice Deep impressions.  Very fun to run your fingers over this card.

 I love to watercolor but found out last night, my customers not so much.  So I will be putting together a Watercoloring 101 class soon for anyone interested in learning more about watercoloring.  I guess I forget there is a lot to learn about light sources and techniques.  Although this card is very simple.

I love the addition of the little crushed curry birdie perched on the pot.  He is the reason I could use the Crushed Curry cardstock on the card.  Needed that third color addition.   This card featured the new set Bouquet Bunches in the Summer mini Catalog.  To order your set click on my signature below. 

I Scream, YOU Scream~You know you want Ice Cream!

Just as my last post was a modified version of a fellow demonstrators card so is today's.  My friend Cathy Roy showcased this idea with her swap.  Thank you Cathy! The minute I saw it I loved it!  It so reminded me of that special Ice Cream store that used to make little "cone people" out of my favorite Ice cream!  I took her design  and made it into an easel type card. 

Doesn't it just make you smile?  It sure did make me smile when I saw it and what I really liked is that I could say Happy Birthday "from all of us!"  There are 6 of us in my household so it's always nice to have a 'group' card for that special birthday.

Here's a close up of the little fella's.

I notice my little cone hats aren't sitting square on my little guys heads but I told my girls that I am an eyeball kinda stamper and that's what I did in this case.  If it really bothers you a Stamp-a-ma-jig would be in order here.  This card features the stamp set Sweet Scoops out of the Summer Mini Catalog I also added some phrases from Family phrases.

Lucky M.E.~Talent abounds!

I can feel it...here is comes....I feel some rambling comin' on.  I can remember way back about 7 years ago (insert wavy foggy flashback image) when I signed up to become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  Oh wasn't that a HUGE decision for me.  I had never done any direct sales, didn't really ever WANT to do direct sales.  But this was different, this thing called Stampin' Up! it was creative, it allowed me to use my teaching background to teach women (mostly) the fine ART of rubber stamping.  Yes, I could use my love of all things creative and my gift of teaching and put them together to share my love of rubber stamping with others.  I'll do it! 

I can remember when my big brown box arrived on my doorstep.  It was like Christmas looking at everything in that box.  I remember inside was a magazine which featured some of the demonstrators in the company and as I paged through that magazine full of wonderful ideas and inspirational demonstrators I stopped on a page of a family from Mahomet.  Hey that's right by me!  The featured demonstrator was Kim Peck, hey I knew that name.  Why did I know that name? My new upline told me that her upline (all new terminology to me at the time) was a lady named Kim Peck from Mahomet.  AH yes, that's right.  As I read her story I was inspired and then realized I think, shearly by luck, I was born into a great group.  Kim was a top demonstrator in the company 7 years ago and still is and I was going to learn from her. 

Well, my upline Meg Loven, who really at the time was a new acquaintance of mine, also has been inspired by Kim and she also is one of the top demonstrators in the company and although we live in a rural area of central Illinois and our group is quite large I still run into many, many women who have never heard of Stampin' Up! <gasp>  So why are you rambling about this M.E.?  Because today I am sharing a card that I am doing in my Forget Me Not card keeper class this week and it comes from one of the many talented women that we have in our group.  Everytime a mini catalog comes out our group of demonstrators (now from all over the country) does a swap.  We each pick a stamp set and create a card and share them with other demonstrators. 

Todays card is a modification of this card by Tracy McCrae a talented demonstrator in our group.

Here is my version.  My modifications are few.  This card featured the Stamp Set Elements of Style from the Summer Mini Catalog. I changed one of the colors from Close to Cocoa to Bravo Burgundy.  (sometimes you have to use what you got ;-) I have the beautiful new smooch spray but not enough for this size class.  I can sometimes have upwards of 25 women come of the course of 2 days and I would have run out of spray fast when they are each making 2 of each card.  But I do love that spray!! 

I also eliminated the ribbon although I really loved the ribbon in Tracy's original design.  Just coming back after surgery I was going for simple but elegant designs when I put this card together a few days ago.  Now that I am feeling better every day I might add that ribbon back in before tonights class if I am feeling especially peppy! (you'll just have to wait and see girls) 

Lollipop Flowers~They look good enough to eat!

Hello! Yes, I know I have been incomunicato for awhile.  I had some major surgery a couple weeks ago and although I would have liked to been posting the drugs kept it from happening.  My head and body was in a pain killer fog, necessary when dealing with major surgery, but not good for creating!  I am doing much better now and hope to get back to business as usual.  (whatever that means in my crazy busy world)  I have my Forget-Me-Not Card Keeper class this week and we are doing 4 cards, 2 of each card.  (I will be sharing one card a day this week)

I have been dying to make one of those "lollipop flower" cards I have seen around so I finally put one together with the adorable new Itty Bitty Bits stamp set, Bitty Buttons and Itty Bitty Shapes punch set out of the new summer Mini catalog.  This is definitely a new favorite of mine.  I loved the way this card turned out.  I saw a similar card on Stampin' Connection a resource for Stampin' Up! demonstrators and tweaked it to meet my needs, I am not sure of the original artist but here is my version of her card.

I learned a new bow tying technique at a Stampin' Up! regional one day event in Milwaukee and this card seemed like the perfect place to showcase it.  If you google "fork bow" you can find many tutorials on this technique and yes, you use a real fork to make it. I can't wait to show the "girls" this technique this week.  I teach this class twice a month on the first Monday and Wednesday because our venue was too small for us to all meet on one day anymore because we have grown so much.  If you are in the Champaign-Urbana, IL area and want to join us one month drop me a line I'd love to have you we have a ton of fun!

Here's a close up below of the Bitty Button embellishments on the flowers.  Aren't these just the cutest?  First there is a stamp set that you stamp then you punch with the coordinating shaped punch then you layer them under a clear matching button with a drop of crystal effects.  Just adorable!  I love them and they were the perfect center for my lollipop flowers.

Hope you are inspired by my version of the Lollipop flower.  It sure is nice to be back stamping!  I really missed it and I missed sharing with you most of all!