Showing Off the Paper

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Chris Slogar

This is an idea I brought home from OnStage – it was part of one of the presentations, but I am sorry, I cannot remember who to credit. I love it when the designer paper is the focal point of a card. With this layout, you can show off a pattern, and this is an easy card to create.

The designer paper started as a 4″ square. The diagonal line is cut starting 3/4″ above the bottom left corner to 1 3/4″ above the bottom right corner. The resulting two pieces are adhered to a 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ piece of Whisper White cardstock mat. I stamped the sentiment before adhering the mat to the Blackberry Bliss card base.

Here’s a tip for the balloon string – simply tie a bow on one end and adhere it to the top of the greeting with a glue dot. Then adhere the longer tail to the designer paper with a glue dot where the balloon will cover it.

I hope you can see the possibilities with this layout. I have used retired Sale-a-bration paper here, but you can use any paper, any greeting, and any accent pieces.

I also have a throwback today…

My daughter Julia received this card in the mail this week from my Mom. It is one of the earliest cards that I made – I am not even sure when I made it, maybe 2004 or 2005? I guess my Mom has quite the stash! Please let me know if you recognize the stamp set. I was using my friend’s stamps at the time.

Anyway, today is Julia’s birthday – my “baby” is 18!!

Sweetest Sketch

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Chris Slogar

For this sketch, I used one of my favorite sets for fussy-cutting – “Apple of My Eye”. I think the images in this set are my favorite to cut out because they are easy shapes!

The background pattern is from the Farmer’s Market designer paper collection. I stamped the pear with Old Olive ink on Pear Pizzazz cardstock. I was able to create darker edges on the pear by first stamping off Old Olive. Then I rolled the edges of the stamp over the Old Olive pad. I used a dauber to blend the dark and light areas before stamping.

Please visit Create with Connie and Mary to see all of the cards created for this challenge by my talented teammates. I hope you’ll be inspired to play along!

Fun Fringe

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Chris Slogar

We made this card last night in our team meeting. It is a CASE of a card I saw on the Stampin’ Up! idea boards at OnStage. Something about the bright Watermelon Wonder/Cucumber Crush combination appealed to me – and of course, who can resist a fun fringe?

My pre-order box came yesterday afternoon, so I had just enough time before the meeting to cut strips from the new Affectionately Yours designer paper collection. The new papers will be available when our 2016-2017 Annual Catalog goes live on June 1. In the meantime, I think this is a fun layout for any designer papers – you may have some other coordinating patterns lying around 🙂 The thick twine in Cucumber Crush will be part of the new catalog as well.

Here’s a quick tip to make your flower centers look dimensional. Distress the edges with your stylus against a 1/2″ circle on the pierce mat. I pressed with a tiny circular motion around the edge of each circle on the back of the designer paper to make my raised centers. The curved edge that is created hides a dimensional nicely.

The birthday greeting is from the extra stamp set included with the April 2016 Paper Pumpkin kit – you’ll be seeing more of that set here. I think it is fabulous!

Have a great day!

OnStage Wrap-up

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Chris Slogar

I have a few more pictures from OnStage, as well as a peek at the Annual Catalog that will go live in June. First, the people, because it’s the friendships that make this business special…

We had four from our team at OnStage. This is a shot of Carol and I with my upline Mindy Gray (in the Cucumber Crush sweater).

Carol and I with my upline (two levels up) Terri Meehan (in Elegant Eggplant)

Our table at CentreStage

I walked the stage during awards for my $100,000 milestone sales award. I also had my 5-year anniversary this past year. With just a little math, I figure that I could be in my 90’s when I hit a million, so I hope I will still be able to make it to the stage. 🙂 We’ll see if I can accelerate that sales rate and beat this projection!

Of course, product is also a highlight…

This is the cover of the upcoming 2016-2017 Annual Catalog. Isn’t it exciting? The contents are super-exciting, too!! I am expecting my pre-order to arrive today, just in time for my team meeting tonight. I will surely share Sneak Peeks through the month of May.

We actually got to use the new product at OnStage. Check out this fabulous Make-n-Take setup! It was fun to learn about the product, and then use it!

Stampin’ Up!’s highlight is below.

Retiring List

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Chris Slogar

The Retiring List is now available, and I am posting it as a pdf below. There are seven pages. Note that an “x” in the right column indicates an item has sold out.

Download (PDF, 86KB)

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More OnStage Goodies

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Chris Slogar

Today I want to show off some of the gifts I received at OnStage. First, my roomie gift from teammate Carol Coy – this sweet bag that included a cardstock box of note cards and a wrapped candy bar 🙂

Here’s a better look at the box – the belly band pulled off to reveal the fun envelope framelit-shaped flap. Love it!!

Next, this “Bag of Sunshine” from my upline Mindy Gray. Doesn’t it just live up to its name? There are a lot of yellow snacks here – but also a package of 4 yellow cards, a 3D hand sanitizer (middle of picture with stamped lemon), and polka dot treat bag with sunshine tag. So fun and cheery!

I also received this gift of products from Mindy – made so cute with the ribbon and tag! I also received a project from Mindy that I will share soon. I would like to make it first with my clubs this weekend, and I don’t want to spoil the surprise for them.

And last but not least, these gifts from my upline’s upline, Terri Meehan. There is an adorable hand-crafted notebook with embossed initials and a coordinating luggage tag along with a very special bracelet. On the right, the flower conceals a roll of Washi Tape – isn’t that a cute idea? It coordinates with the thank you card.

Like I said on Friday, there was a lot of swapping and gifting – it’s always so fun, and I feel very spoiled with all of these beautiful gifts!

Check back later today for the Retiring List – I will post it as soon as it is available. Don’t forget, today is also the last day for the Weekly Deals shown below. These are the last of the Weekly Deals, and there are a lot of good ones here. In the future, Stampin’ Up! will change the way it makes special offers.

	Acorn Builder Punch Item # 139681 Regular Price: $18.00 US/$22.00 CAN Discounted Price: $13.50 US/$16.50 CAN
	Perfect Pines Framelits Dies Item # 139665 Regular Price: $27.00 US/$33.00 CAN Discounted Price: $20.25 US/$24.75 CAN
	Very Vanilla Thick Baker’s Twine Item # 138411 Regular Price: $3.50 US/$4.50 CAN Discounted Price: $2.63 US/$3.38 CAN
	Bermuda Bay Baker’s Twine Item # 134575 Regular Price: $3.00 US/$3.75 CAN Discounted Price: $2.25 US/$2.81 CAN
	Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Dies Item # 137547 Regular Price: $40.00 US/$49.00 CAN Discounted Price: $30.00 US/$36.75 CAN
	Delicate Ornament Thinlits Dies Item # 139667 Regular Price: $29.00 US/$33.00 CAN Discounted Price: $21.75 US/$24.75 CAN
	Silver Stampin’ Glitter Item # 133756 Regular Price: $4.00 US/$5.00 CAN Discounted Price: $3.00 US/$3.75 CAN
	Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details Item # 127845 Regular Price: $2.50 US/$3.25 CAN Discounted Price: $1.88 US/$2.44 CAN
	Sweetheart Punch Item # 133786 Regular Price: $16.00 US/$20.00 CAN Discounted Price: $12.00 US/$15.00 CAN
	Hearts & Stars Decorative Masks Item # 133777 Regular Price: $3.00 US/$3.75 CAN Discounted Price: $2.25 US/$2.81 CAN
	Baker’s Box Thinlits Dies Item # 138279 Regular Price: $33.00 US/$41.00 CAN Discounted Price: $24.75 US/$30.75 CAN
	2015-2017 In Color Stampin’ Write Markers Item # 138333 Regular Price: $15.00 US/$19.00 CAN Discounted Price: $11.25 US/$14.25 CAN
	Stars Framelits Dies Item # 133723 Regular Price: $27.00 US/$33.00 CAN Discounted Price: $20.25 US/$24.75 CAN
	Snow Friends Framelits Dies Item # 139664 Regular Price: $27.00 US/$33.00 CAN Discounted Price: $20.25 US/$24.75 CAN
	Silver Sequin Trim Item # 138399 Regular Price: $5.00 US/$6.25 CAN Discounted Price: $3.75 US/$4.69 CAN
	Metallic Foil Doilies Item # 138392 Regular Price: $4.00 US/$5.00 CAN Discounted Price: $3.00 US/$3.75 CAN
	Rose Garden Thinlits Dies Item # 140619 Regular Price: $31.00 US/$38.00 CAN Discounted Price: $23.25 US/$28.50 CAN

OnStage Gift

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Chris Slogar

I made note card sets as gifts for my roommate and uplines at OnStage. The base is the container from the Love Blossoms Embellishment kit, and I wrapped it with cardstock and added some designer paper and ribbon.

I added four watercolored notecards, using the stamp set “Helping Me Grow”.

I heat embossed the flowers in black on the designer newsprint, and then watercolored with my aquapainter.

There’s a lot of swapping and gifting going on here! I will post a picture of the fun things I have been receiving, too. Have a great Friday!

Pre-OnStage Pictures

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Chris Slogar

OnStage starts today, but we did have a chance to visit Stampin’ Up!’s home office and distribution center in Riverton, Utah yesterday.

With my teammate Carol Coy

Not only is the facility beautiful, inside and out…check out the view!

In the atrium

I am looking forward to the start of sessions today. We are already swapping…cards, gifts, ideas, stories. It’s fun to be immersed in stamping for a few days! I’ll share a project I made for gifts tomorrow.

What Kind of Cake Is It?

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Chris Slogar

We have a sweet color challenge this week at Create with Connie and Mary. I started off with a nature set, but didn’t like the direction I was going. The end result?…a cake!

Even the cake started out as one thing, and ended as another. I thought I would make a birthday cake, but all of the added flowers makes it look more like a wedding cake. I will decide which it is later, and add a greeting to correspond on the inside.

Thank you for checking out my challenge card this week. You can see all of the challenge team cards at Create with Connie and Mary, as well as the entries as they come in. Hope you’ll be inspired to play along!

OnStage…OnMyWay!

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Chris Slogar

Today I am on my way to OnStage Live in Salt Lake City. OnStage Live is Stampin’ Up!’s convention. Demonstrators gather for three days to share their love of stamping. It is my first-ever convention; while I have been to other Stampin’ Up! conferences, I have never been to the main event in Salt Lake City before. So, I can’t wait!

Swapping is always a part of these events, so I thought it would be appropriate to share my swaps today. I like to make both a full card and a card front for swapping.

My full card is a gift card holder for a grad. I used one of our little 3 1/8″ square envelopes for my pocket. I sealed it, cut off a sliver of the top edge, and punched a notch with my 1-1/2″ circle punch. I used the Confetti Textured Embossing Folder along with products from the It’s My Party Suite in the Occasions Catalog. So festive, isn’t it?

The inside explains the abbreviation and leaves space for a note.

This is the card front that I made for swapping. If you follow my blog, it may look familiar to you – the card I posted Friday (shown below with a background of “Botanical Blooms”) was my prototype for this one. For my swap card, I used “Dots for Days” in the background, with Soft Sky stamped off. The flowers are from “Wild About Flowers”, and the greeting is from “Suite Sayings”.

Thanks for stopping by! I will post more from OnStage Live over the next few days – here, on facebook and Instagram.

Supplies for Gift Card Holder: