RaissaStamps

Workshop of a lifetime!

2010-03-10T21:24:15-05:00

Have you heard? Shelli Gardner, co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up!, recently announced a recruiting challenge at our Leadership meeting. The winners would have the opportunity to host a workshop with Shelli! Woo hoo! Shelli would come to the winner's hometown to help with the workshop! How cool is that?! Anyway several demonstrators in our stampin' INKredible Impressions family have won! One demonstrator in particular, Dawn Rapsas has made it a two day event! All are invited to attend! Click on the button to get more information:

Looks like it will be a fun couple of days!

Back online!

2010-03-02T20:11:32-05:00

Well hello my fellow stampin' peoples!! I missed you guys! I'm happy to report that my computer is back up and functioning 100%. I performed the hard drive replacement surgery myself and with a super cool program called Data Rescue 3 I was able to salvage all but my emails. Let this be a lesson for all of us. Be sure to back up regularly! The last time I had backed up was in August and it didn't include my email program!! I know, I know, bad Raissa!!

Because I have been so tied up with getting the computer back on board I haven't done much in the way of stamping. Major bummer! Doesn't that stink! But I am currently working on projects for my March newsletter. Workee, Workee, Busy Bee!

But before I run off to stamp, have you heard of the new rage in die cutting? Quilting! Yes, you heard that right, Quilting. Using your favorite fabrics and your Big Shot! This quilted bag was made by fellow demo Barbara D.:

While sewing isn't one of my favorite things to do, I think I might try to make one of these super cute bags! Its even reversible if you don't like the raveled edge look!

Of course you can even make squares for your quilts too:

If you would like instructions on how to make the above quilt square (along with the pattern) click on the Big Shot Quilting link in the side bar to the left.

Until next time. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T20:36:48-05:00

I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day with their significant other! I had a quiet day myself. I had prepared 7 cards that I made at the shoebox swap I mentioned a few weeks ago to share with you but I had an accident. I dropped my MacBook Pro laptop computer. When I first started it up everything was working fine, or so I thought. I shut it down and I went to work. When I got to work and tried to restart it, it wasn't booting from the hard drive. I tried several different things and found that my hard drive failed...note to myself, make sure to back up the computer more often!! That being said the pictures are no longer on the camera and for right now I cannot access them on the laptop's hard drive along with everything else I've stored on it!

I made an appointment at the Apple store and the "Genius" there went through the same diagnostics I did myself and was told they don't do data recovery. I have a few more things I am going to try, but for now I am working on a PC that I haven't used since 2008. So I've pretty much spent my entire day today, updating it, doing a virus scan (found a trojan horse - UGH!) and trying to get myself organized again. It may be a while before I can start posting up pictures for you. But I will keep you updated on my adventures!

Oh and I cannot forget to mention that on top of the laptop, my Blackberry decided to quit. Wanna talk about being ready to cry?! Seriously I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown! After a trip yesterday to the Verizon store and them putting some code in it, it is back to normal. Phew! But I was told it badly needed a software update...well the software was on the Parallels portion of my laptop. Nice!

Anyway if you've emailed me in the last two days, please send your message again, since I might not have gotten it with all the glitches I've been having.

Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience while I work through this nightmare!

Happy Stamping!

Raissa

Altered Gift Card Tins

2010-02-06T09:48:00-05:00

Got a plain gift card tin - dress it up! I helped alter these super cute gift card tins (they already had the houndstooth pre-printed design) for a bunch of February birthday girls! I had a lot of fun. Unfortunately many of the supplies used are retired. But you could certainly duplicate this using other supplies you have on hand.

Paper:
Basic Black, Real Red, Whisper White

Ink:
Real Red

Stamp:
Letterpress Alphabet

Accessories:
Basic Black Grosgrain Ribbon
Silver Cord (retired)
Vintage Brads (retired)

Enjoy!

True Blue Meeting and swaps

2010-02-05T21:47:41-05:00

Did you know that when you become part of the Stampin' Up demonstrator family you are welcomed into several smaller Stampin' Up families? Your upline's family and your upline's-upline's family, and so on. Each demonstrator that begins a family gets to choose a name. So I am part of the True Blue Stampers, as well as the INKredibles. All very talented ladies I might add! And to think I get to go to events that each stamping family holds! How cool is that? At most of our gatherings everyone enjoys to swap card fronts and or 3-D projects. Its always fun to see what others have created.

Here are some swaps I received at a recent meeting:

This one is from Nicole

The Jack in the box and heart stamps are from the "Out of the Box" hostess set.

Another creative use of supplies on hand, Nicole used the Join in the Cheer Decorative Strip die for the "Love"

This next one is from Barbara...she is showcasing several new products here: Well Scripted, I {Heart} Hearts, the new Scallop Trim border and Small Heart punches

Am I sensing a pattern? Oh, I just crack myself up! Both Nicole's and Barbara's cards are using the Texturz Plates - Backgrounds 1.

This next card swap is from my Upline June (my Stampin' Mom)

June used the ever popular Tea Party DSP the Simple Flower Embosslit, Little Leaves Sizzlit Die, Scallop Edge Punch and the Thank you Kindly stamp set.

And finally this vintage card is from Denise (my Stampin' Grandma)

Denise showcased a few new products as well; Vintage Vogue stamp set and the Scallop Trim border punch.

If you would like more information about joining me and the Stampin' Up! family contact me today for more information.

SuperBowl Mystery Hostess Special

2010-02-02T17:00:00-05:00

Its that time of year again...and you're invited! Place an order and have fun watching the Super Bowl!

When?
February 7th 2009, 6:30 pm, ET

Details
Email me your order during the Super Bowl game...not through my website.

Earn tickets for various prize drawings throughout the game PLUS the final mystery hostess drawing.

Earnings scale
Place an order up to $49 earn 3 tickets
Place an order from $50 - $99 and earn 4 tickets
Place an order from $100 or more and earn 5 tickets
Refer a friend (who does not receive my e-newsletter) who places an order earn 6 tickets
Schedule a workshop for March/April earn 10 tickets

Its Sale-A-Bration, so any orders of $50 or more are entitled to pick a FREE set from the Sale-A-Bration mini catalog! PLUS, with any order over $75 you can pick a FREE stamp set from a list which I'll post shortly.

Game Specials (in addition to the scale above):

Place an order during these Quarters and receive something for free. Please email with the quarter.

1st Quarter - FREE Gift from my Goodie Basket with any order! Minimum 3 tickets

2nd Quarter - FREE Classic Ink pad with a $45 or more order. This will also allow you to receive a free Sale-A-Bration stamp set. 3 Tickets

Half Time - FREE Designer Series Paper with a $65 order (plus a free Sale-a- Bration stamp set) 3 tickets

3rd Quarter - FREE Linen Thread with a $25 order! 3 tickets

4th Quarter - FREE Card Stock package with any order placed, 3 tickets

Block Party Extra:
The first 2 people to email me with their order after the first touchdown will get two free tickets.

NOTE: I must have a minimum of $150 in orders. If I do not meet this minimum then I will give away a free item from my Goodie Basket. US Orders only.

After the game I will draw a ticket for the Mystery Hostess. The name I pick for hostess will be entitled to all of the hostess benefits from this party. I will contact the winner to get their picks of free Stampin' Up! products. I will contact everyone with their totals by Tuesday.

My Valentine Shoebox Swap

2010-01-18T22:56:31-05:00

I am going to a Shoebox Swap tomorrow night. Fun! Fun! If you've never heard of a shoebox swap, its where you create a card as a sample; then you provide all the supplies to make the card. You cut all paper to size, cut the ribbon, include punches you put all of them in a "shoebox" so that others can duplicate your card design. As you finish making one card, you pass the box to the next person and you receive the next box with a new card design. At the end of the night each person has made all the cards that everyone has designed. Its a lot of fun! Oftentimes we get to chit-chatting that we don't always finish the cards while we're out. I usually end up finishing 1 or 2 of them at home. (I don't do well sitting and stamping. I like to stamp standing up.)

This is my card design that I've prepared for tomorrow night. Most of the time there is a theme, like for this swap we needed to use products from the Occasions or Sale-A-Bration mini catalogs.

I bet you can tell what Specialty paper I used!

Oh, no! I just realized that this sentiment is from the Grateful Greetings from the Holiday Mini Catalog...oops! Well, you can switch it with the "love you much" sentiment from the Well Scripted set in the Occasions Mini or the "love you" from the Short & Sweet stamp set or finally you can try the "Valentine {please be mine}" sentiment from the Holiday Best stamp set (IBC, Hostess Level 1 set)

I also used the following supplies:
Real Red, Very Vanilla and Whisper White Card Stock
5/8" Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon
Pinking Hearts Border

Enjoy!

Heart to Heart

2010-01-17T15:36:38-05:00

Hello friends! How has the New Year been treating you? Its been good to me so far! I was just a bit under the weather last week. I guess it was because I was so busy making projects for my newsletter. Anyway I was so busy making so many projects that I completely missed including one in my subscriber only newsletter! So my mistake will be your benefit!

Stamps
I {love} Love Jumbo Wheel
A Happy Heart

Paper
Whisper White
Pretty in Pink
Real Red

Accessories
Pinking Hearts Border
Pink Taffeta Ribbon
Heart to Heart Punch
Real Red Ink Cartridge
Jumbo Wheel Handle

Smooches!

2010-01-06T23:11:17-05:00

That's what my "Hokie" Claus gets from me! (said in a sing-song voice) Its the little things in life that make you the happiest. Okay, I know, you're not sure what I mean, you think I've really gone off the deep end. Well maybe I have. No, but seriously folks, my man, "Hokie Claus," got me a table top photo studio for Christmas. AND I love it! The pictures are coming out terrific!! Like I said, its the little things! Thank you mucho Hokie Claus!

Need a quick and easy packaging project for your special Valentine? Here is one project that uses some of our newest products! Thank you to my UPS delivery person for delivering all these new goodies! Whom unfortunately I never get to meet since I am never home when they deliver, but if I was home this is what it would look like:
Hmm, okay got a bit side tracked there. Okay, yes, well, back to the Valentine project! LOL

Here is my Smooches pouch:

It features the Sending Love Specialty Designer Series paper that has glittery designs! It is so very cool! And not to mention the new Sending Love Epoxy Brads (I used the Real Red grouping. They come in Pretty in Pink and Chocolate Chip, yum!)

Added 1/18 - Side View

Ingredients
Pretty in Pink and Whisper White Card stock
Sending Love Specialty Paper (Limited offer - Occasions Mini Catalog, January 5-April 30th)
Sending Love Expoxy Brads - Real Red (Limited offer - Occasions Mini Catalog, January 5-April 30th)

No stamps were harmed making this project! (wink) So sorry its late and I'm a bit punchy, can't ya tell?!

Sentiment created using Stampin' Up!'s "My Digital Studio" and a font from my font library (Amelie) printed in Real Red on Whisper White card stock.

Added flavors
Scallop Border Punch
Velcro closure

Email me for the template.

Thanks for stopping by! Sign up for my newsletter...don't miss lots of Chocolate packaging projects...time for me to call it a night.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T16:16:15-05:00

A happy New Year to all! I wish all of my readers (and their families) a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Hopefully this post will actually make it on my blog! I had completed one right before this and thought it had posted but it never appeared on my blog. This is now the second time something like this has happened! Gotta love technology!

Anywho, I made this shimmery New Year's card for my Mom. I got the idea for the words "Cheers" from a post that Diana Gibbs had on her blog recently.

I was thinking after I made this that you could give the champagne glasses more "pop" if you cut them out and adhered them with dimensionals, or even made small paper spring so they can jiggle and move!

Supplies
Cheers to You stamp set
Stazon Jet Black
Join in the Cheer - Stampin' Up! Exclusive Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die
Brushed Gold, Brushed Silver, Bronze (retired), Shimmery White, Glossy White card stock
Apricot Appeal Stampin' Write Marker
Two way glue pen
Dazzling Diamonds

All the best to you and your families in 2010! Happy New Year! Cheers!