Last week was my great niece Lily Bugs 4th birthday. Lily is both a girlie girl and a little tom boy all rolled up into one! I love the snot out of her! (no weird comments please It's just a saying!) A couple of weeks ago she got to go to Disney world with her Mom, Grandma, Auntie and Cousins. I saw pictures of her in all of her princess dresses but when they got the opportunity to have their face painted or get fun souveniers they were always pirates! She loves Pirates I think her birthday party was even pirates. Like I said girlie and tom boy all rolled into one awesome kid package.
I made some minor changes on mine. I needed a little girlie color so I changed the bandana color to a shade of pink and added a little pirate bling after sending a picture to my daughter and she said "Um mom, needs gold earring and gold tooth!" Brilliant! Nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of.
I like it! It's an unconventional size card so note the Pirate Map Envelope. I will add the Red X to it somewhere because X marks the spot of the pirates treasure of course!
This Top Note Die and Mustache Framelit will be retiring at the end of the month so don't wait to pick yours up!
Last week I received this awesome card in the mail from my friend Betsy Crider from BCreative Stampers! She is super creative and I think this card is to die for adorable. I love everything about it.
Every detail is so well thought out. I mean seriously look at the little centers of the tiny flowers how she ran them through an embossing folder and then sanded the little dots so they showed up like little sunflower seeds.
I started this post Friday in the car and took the pictures on my dashboard in the full sun I was hoping that you could see the glitter but instead it just kind of looks washed out. Hope you can enjoy it in spite of my poor photography. I am enjoying it ever so much.
Now I must run to Technique Club. I can't wait I love stamping with these ladies! Hey, would you let Betsy know that I sent you?!! What are you waiting for? Go check out her page!
That is what it takes to be a successful Graduate and this is the season for Graduates. I have two myself that will be graduating this weekend from College. My oldest daughter Hannah with her Masters in Science specializing in Crop Science and my youngest son with his Bachelors in Science specializing in Animal Science/Meat Science with a Minor in Agri-Business. But this post is not about them although I am as proud as a peacock that they are both graduating from the University of Illinois. I am sure I will be talking about them more next week after we get through this big day in their lives and send them off on the next chapter of their life.
This post is about our local high school where my youngest daughter is now a sophomore. Tonight is our last Choir concert of the year and a couple of weeks ago was our last Band concert of the season and we have 5 senior boys who will be leaving the band and or Choir. Each year I am asked to create a graduation card for all the kids to sign for the Seniors to celebrate them. This year I went simple and I used retired stamps but I thought maybe there was something you could glean from this card to use on your graduation cards.
Perhaps it's the cute little mortar board made from card stock and bakers twine with a fun little candy dot for the button. Or maybe it is the idea of taking your old sheet music to cut up for a card layer to put on the card. Whatever it is I hope you enjoy this quick post for our graduation. Happy Future to all the graduates in your life!
Ok so I got a little carried away on the title...go with M.E. here. This weekend was our annual gathering of demonstrators along with a few guests who belong to or are a part of our whole demonstrator group. We Inspire, We Create & We Share.
This was our 10th annual. I have been to and learned from every single one of them!
Our Theme was "Events" and our guest speaker Carol Payne didn't let us down. She filled our heads and our calendars with all kinds of classes to show you! Thanks Carol!
Glenda Travelstead was just one of many who shared during our demonstration "fair". So many ideas to share. There were 12 different stations over the course of the day.
We got to make the most awesome make n take projects together, designed by the talented Julie Davison
The best part for me is I got to spend the day with some of my favorite people! Here is Ramona, Cathy and Jackie. Stamping friends are the best. I would have never met any of these beautiful ladies without being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator! If you want to be a part of a great talented (we all start somewhere) group of women please drop me a line. I would love to have you join the Create With M.E. team.
I even got to demonstrate this fun technique on stage which I call "Poly Reverse". Named because you are using the reverse side of your Photopolymer stamps to create the colored background before you use your stamp in the traditional way to add the image. Here is one card I demonstrated on stage.
Supplies listed below
Here is the leadership team that planned our Spring into Stamping event.
Kim Peck, M.E., Meg Loven and Julie Davison
I am blessed to be a part of such a GREAT team!
Here are the weekly deals and the products used to create my Poly Reverse Card above. All links are clickable.
This weekend I got to spend Saturday with some of my favorite people, at our annual Spring into Stamping meeting. Many of my fellow demonstrators. It was a group of about 100 women who Create, Inspire and Share. This was our 10th annual and I have been so lucky and blessed to have been involved in all 10 of them, and as usually I can say this one was the BEST ever!
I have so much to share with you about the weekend. Friends and Projects but that will have to wait. 2 weeks ago I had a little studio time for myself <#neverseemstohappen> and I wanted to figure out how to make those cute little paper satchel purse bags that I have seen popping up on Facebook and Pinterest. I found a pattern for one that was from the UK (sorry can't find it now to give credit but when I do will add) and had to convert it to imperial measurements. When I finished it, it was WAY too big for what I wanted. I liked the shape and idea, so although it took me 2 tries, I got it down to the perfect size for what I was wanting. To hold a gift of notecards and maybe a pen and a few postage stamps perhaps.
Well, I brought my 3 samples with me this weekend for the display table and so many lovely ladies asked me to share that I thought I would spend my, what was now an unexpected day off making a video! It's been awhile so be kind. I love to know what you think so please watch and leave me a comment on what you think and if something isn't clear.
So before you get started here are the pieces you will want to have ready to go:
Designer Series Paper:
2- 8" x 4" pieces
Coordinating Cardstock:
1- 7 1/2" x 4" scored at 1" from all 4 sides
4- 1/2" x 8" strips. You can add faux stitching to 2 of these pieces
2- 1" x 8" strips. Scallop edge these along one long edge and faux stitch as shown.
2- 1" x 11" strips score in half lengthwise between 1 1/2" + 9 1/2"
Now that you have all your pieces prepped please watch the video to put your purse together.
Here is a snapshot of the cards that you can put inside to complete your gift. Use the left over pieces from your Designer Series Paper and Coordinating card stock along with the matching Painted Petals stamp set. If you put 4 cards in each purse along with the matching envelopes you can make 5 of these purses with minimal supplies out of hand. That will make 5 happy people in your life! Of course the purse will hold many more cards if you like too.
Here are the supplies you need to purchase to complete many of these beautiful purses. Click on each picture to purchase these items and have them delivered to your door.
My name is Mary Ellen (M.E.) Stites, I LOVE what I do and I LOVE sharing it with others at classes, in-home workshops, and online.
I have been married for 33 years to my best friend Chuck. I am the mother of 4 wonderful children. 2 boys and 2 girls 30, 26, 24, and 18 years old.
I have been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator since 2003 and have no plans to stop! Stampin' Up! is cutting edge in the Memory Keeping and Stamping industry and I only want to present the best to my customers!
Stamp Woman
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