Merry Christmas!!!

Crafters -

As many of you know, I have been working (it seems like FOREVER) on that Sizzix Scallop Square Tote of mine. What I haven't told you is... that I have been making one for each Dame in my downline (we are called Dawn's Dames).

Thanks to the combined efforts of Jen (who showed the tote originally), Mindy (for opening her home in MAY! to have a day of making these) and to my wonderful downline and friend, Geneva, for the personalized sewing lessons. THEY ARE ALL DONE!!!! Because my downline is all over the city (and now country), I've been able to get these to them one at a time. So, only about half have been delivered. My newest downline (who is also my mom!) will receive hers after Christmas when we visit. 

For now, I'm only going to show you the totes that have been delivered. Please know that these were started BEFORE Stampin'Up! started selling fabric. All fabrics are Debbie Mumm. All of the bags have the brown coffee swirls pattern in the bag and on the handles, and the yellow coffee swirls pattern on the pocket. However, each Dame has a different fabric. (If you click on the individual picture, it makes it larger, so you can see it in more detail.)

I have enjoyed making each of these for these FABULOUS Dames and have prayed and thanked God for the wonderful ladies while I made each one. For those Dames I haven't been able to connect with yet, hopefully we can meet this week!

**UPDATE - As of Christmas Eve's day, all have been delivered... Hope each Dame enjoys her new tote. Please know that as I made each one of them, each Dame was lifted in prayer...

Merry Christmas!


Dawn's


Nina's

Nina - after she received her tote!


Stephanie's
Pam's

Geneva's

Jeannette's

Sandie's
Tina's

Beth's

Angie's
Janet's

Glad she likes her tote!  :)

The Craft Room... :)

As many of you know, we moved a couple of months ago. With the move, selling the old house (we sold it two days ago!!!!), the MBA classes, carpal tunnel surgery, and life in general, almost all of my stamping supplies were still in boxes...

until...

yesterday!

Thanks to my fabulous husband and wonderful child, we had taken a trip to Ikea a couple of weeks ago. I wanted one of those 5x5 size Expedit bookcases. We brought it home and we (finally) put it together Friday evening. :)  I was hoping that I could fit two of them side-by-side into my craft room. Well, my craft room is literally 1.75" too small! Of course. So, again, my fabulous husband said - well, instead of the 5x5 size, why not get four of those 1x5 sizes? (What a nice guy, huh?)

Because my minivan is still in the shop (recall and parts are not available until MARCH now!), I have this little tiny rental car, I had to borrow HIS car. We had to fold down seats, lean back the passenger front seat and remove all passenger headrests. With all of that, only one person could go to Ikea. So, with a 10 minute notice, I headed south! That's ok - I was able to talk with my mom by phone during the drive. Aren't moms great?!

This is what it looked like when we put the three 1x5s together. In true "Dawn fashion," Ikea only had THREE!!!! I will have to make another road trip (darn, huh?) The three 1x5s are on the right. I just LOVE how the paper lines up perfectly in the cube.


Disregard all extra stuff, but you get the idea right? Well, we rearranged it slightly, there will be two 1x5s, then the big 5x5, then the last two 1x5s (it just looks better). For right now, there is still one 1x5 missing. Here's what it looks like now!


Ignore the clutter, I will be rearranging things and getting it the way it should work well.

My downline will be the first ones to craft in my new craft room. Don't forget, you can sign up and save a BUNDLE beginning tomorrow through November 30th. If you sign up during that time frame, YOU can come over and stamp with the rest of us! I think I finally have my mom talked into signing up too. It is just such a GREAT deal!

Convention - FINAL DAY!!!

Well, we are officially home, still catching up on sleep (smile).

Here are some pictures from the final day (which was yesterday, but with flying home, I am just now posting these):
As luck would have it, guess who we sat behind on Saturday? For those of you who do NOT recognize this lovely lady, this would be Sherrill Graff. Sherrill is the moderator of an online group I belong to. She is one of the nicest people I've "met" (we only had emailed previously). She does a lot with Ronald McDonald House Charities in her area. She is also the one that reserves the block of hotel rooms for this same group. She was gracious enough to pose for a picture with me - Thanks Sherrill!


What a cute mom-and-daughter picture huh? I really liked how it was framed within the heart stamp prop behind them. Sara (the daughter, on the right) sat down first and in fun family fashion, Shelli (the mom, on the left) sat down on her lap! And then Shelli demonstrated, on Sara's lap! They eventually each had their own seats... What a GREAT family moment...

Fast forward to about 4:30pm-ish... All of a sudden, confetti begins to fall from the ceiling...

and all of the employees begin running to all of the demonstrators. This is a picture of part of the organized chaos:
AND only the demonstrators that remained received...

this gift from Stampin'Up! as Convention ended.

You probably do not recognize these (yet). The stamp set is the new Level 2 Hostess set, the new Designer Series Paper, and the new Glitter glass - all will be in the Holiday mini and are available beginning September 1st. SU! also gave each of us a Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin'Pad -- how great is that?!

And with this, I'm heading to sleep. I don't know about Stephanie and Geneva, but I'm tired. Thankfully, my wonderful family took me to dinner this evening (after I had a short nap), so I didn't have to cook AND I have enough of my dinner leftover for lunch tomorrow.

God is good!

Hope you have enjoyed these updates from Convention. Convention is only available to active demonstrators. If you would be interested in joining Dawn's Dames, or ANY other SU! group, contact me or your local demonstrator. Now is the time to sign up and you can begin to make YOUR reservations for next year with us!

Cards from March Workshops

WHEW! I finished my last workshop in March on Saturday - Thanks to all the ladies who had workshops this month. Hope you had a GREAT time.

Here are the birthday cards we did this month. I'll post the Christmas card design later... (Remember, you can double click on the pictures and they will enlarge.)



Flower Pot cards (Demo for hostess only)
Dusty Durango (InColor) for the flower pot
Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Currey, and Bermuda Bay for the flowers
Old Olive (using Little Leaves Sizzlit)
Very Vanilla and Soft Suede were also used
God's Blessings and Teeny Tiny Wishes were the stamp sets
Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Embossing Folder with my Big Shot
Eyelet Border punch
Dusty Durango (InColor) Polka-dot Grosgrain Ribbon
Brads, Paper Piercer, and Mat Pack



Well Scripted Card (Make-and-Take)

InColor Assorted Package for the cards
Welcome Neighbor DSP (FREE during Sale-a-Bration!)
Whisper White was also used
Well Scripted was the stamp set
Finial Press and Polka Dot Textured Impressions Embossing Folders
with my Big Shot
Beautiful Butterfly Embosslit (Occasions Mini Catalog)
Scallop Trim Border punch (FREE during Sale-a-Bration!)
Scallop Oval and Wide Oval Punches were also used
Ornament Punch (just cut the point off - these are still available!)
InColor Markers (I'm SO glad SU! sells these now!)
InColor Polka-dot Grosgrain Ribbons
Brads, Paper Piercer, and Mat Pack

Everyone had GREAT workshops this month - Thank you for your business!

Enjoy the cards!

My Son's Valentine's Day Card




My wonderfully talented son made this card yesterday. He knew that we were making the Valentine's Day cards for the Shut-ins at church last night. So, on the way home from school, he was telling me about his ideas for some Valentine's Day cards. I've included his sketches here too. He had two ideas. Here is the card from the sketch on the right.

A little bit of background on this... He received his own "child's" metal detector for Christmas from his Grandma Nancy. AND his Grandpa in Florida also has a "real" metal detector. At Christmastime, the boy, Daddy, and Grandpa found some change on the beach, so...

There is absolutely no stamping involved in this, no fancy scissors, no special papers. Just a child's idea and his love. Now, I like stamping - and I appreciate all the fancy things I use to make my cardmaking easier and more "WOW!" - but I think this card is the nicest card on this blog and that I have ever seen. Of course, that could just be a proud mama talking too! :)

Enjoy!

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