Do You Quilt?

Buy your Big Shot Machine from me and you will earn 2 free products from the Sale-a-Bration Cattie. Let me tell you how.

Hi everyone.  Today I want to introduce you to another feature of the Big Shot Machine.  Did you know that the Stampin' Up! Big Shot is not just for card making and scrapbooking?  Hold on to your hats all you guilters out there because I want you to know that it can be one of your best tools in quilting and fabric projects, too!  Fabric is one of the industry's hottest trends right now, and while Stampin' Up! doesn't sell fabric, many of our accessories will compliment your textiles projects.
What do you think of this Flower Quilt Square?  It was made using the 5-Point 3D Star Bigz die and the Scallop Circle #2 Bigz die.  Wouldn't this look good as a cushion cover or purse front?   Most Stampin' Up Big Shot dies will cut up to 8 layers of fabric at the same time. The precision and accuracy of repeated cuts with Big Shot dies is such a convenience when making this and other projects.  The Big Shot die cuts also work with leather and suede.  If you're interested in checking out this project Click HERE for the Fabric Quilt Square Idea and the full instructions to create your own quilt square.

If you'd like more informaton about the Big Shot and what it can do for you, please contact me at pennyhanuszak@telus.net or check out my online shopping tab and read up on the Big Shot under Products, Die Cuts.  You can also see all the great die cuts offered by Stampin' Up in the Idea Book and Catalogue for 2010 on pages 194 to 202. 

You can can earn two free stamp sets or products from the Sale-A-Bration catalogue simply by purchasing the Big Shot Die-Cut Machine from me.  Here are the details: 

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine 113439


Price: $132.95

With the Big Shot machine, you can create die cuts with any of our exclusive Stampin’ Up! dies—or any Sizzix die. The Big Shot machine comes with Standard Cutting Pads and a multipurpose platform so you can start cutting immediately.  The Big Shot works with card stock, designer paper, fabric, chipboard, plastic and more.  With this machine your projects will come together in seconds.

Heather Neidig Winner of Blog Candy

A big apology to everyone and especially Heather Neidig, the winner of my blog candy.  I have been laid up the past week and not doing much posting, so didn't realize my annoucement on February 14th was sitting in draft on my Edit posts file...................blush I'm embarrassed.  So, Heather if you're reading this, please contact me and I will arrange for your free pass to arrive in your email for the start of the Spring Soiree!!! 

Early Bird Pricing - Only Two Days to Go!!!!

Just a reminder that Dawn's UStamp with Dawn and Friends Spring Soiree 2010 is scheduled to begin on March 19th.  Right now you can get in on the Early Bird Special Pricing of just $19.99 US, but you will need to hurry, because the price will go up to $24.98 on Feb 19th.   Check out Dawn's website for payment options click here.

UStamp with Dawn & Friends!! "Spring Soirée...2010" will deliver all same opportunity to do something REALLY FUN, even if only or a few minutes a day, to check out a project or peak into the chat room to say hello to some friends around the world or be inspired by a challenge or two or three :)

Don't we all deserve a few minutes of fun to help us re-charge and enjoy what we love??!! Of course we do!! One of the many great things about UStamp is that YOU create when YOU are ready. LOVE the projects, but don't have time to make them yourself right away?? No worries!! The website will remain open for many months, ready when you are to create so you won't miss out "Spring Soirée...2010" is going to be a spectacular event so get ready for a ginormous shot of inspiration adrenaline!! Here is what you can expect...

• 40+ Projects all with Step by Step PDF Tutorials with photo's for you to download!!
• Each project is translated in French, German and Spanish and inches are also converted to CM in the English documents.
• Swaps - Both within your country and Internationally
• Designer hosted chats with prizes
• Open Chat Room 24x7
• Gallery to share your re-creations
• A cool blinkie for your website/blog
• Prizes, Prizes and MORE Prizes!!

 **COOL NEW STUFF**

• Weekly Color Challange
• Weekly Inspiration Challenge
• Weekly Master Plan Challenge
• Yep!! You guessed it!! All with Prize Winners!! 
• The Hot Picks Pack is back too!!

Dawn Raspas will be announcing a shopping list for those of you that would like to order your Stampin' Up! supplies to stamp along with us. So I'll be posting that around the 2nd week of March, which will give you plenty of time to get your orders in and delivered to you.  You can order on line directly from me.  See my shop now button.

Valentine's Day Blog Candy Winner

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Also, since today also marks the Lunar New Year have a happy "Year of the Tiger".   Which ever occasion you're celebrating, I hope your day has been just fantastic!

Wow what a great response I've received this time for my Valentine's Day Blog Candy.  20 of you sent me comments and it seems like curiosity is the main feature.  You all want to know what I'm excited about!!!  So, I'm not going to keep the suspense up any longer, as I know some of you are hanging in there waiting for my news and for the winner of the blog candy!

And, here's the news you've been anticipating and that I've been so excited to share with you.  Dawn Raspas is launching another session of UStamp With Dawn and Friends in March 2010 called the Spring Soiree and I've been invited to participate as a Guest Designer.  YAHOOOO.  If you've been following my blog you'll know that I'm truly excited to accept this challenge and stretch my skills even further.  Now I'm busy trying to come up with an absolute WOW project to share with all the fabulous gals who sign up around the world. 

Okay, and now for our winner.  I used a random number generator from Randomorg.com and my lucky winner is #8............Heather Neidig.  Congratulations Heather............ you've won a  free guest pass to join in all the fun of the Spring Soiree!  This prize is worth $24.95 US, and entitles you to participate in all the fun on UStamp's Spring Soiree.  Just so you know there will be at least 40 fun, fabulous tutorials that you'll have access to as well as your very own blog page and access to the photo gallerys.  Please contact me by email at pennyhanuszak@telus.net and I will go through the details with you.  Heather's comment was:
"Hey Penny! Your blog is great... I can't wait to hear your great news... you must meet us at OG for lunch sometime."


Thanks again to everyone who participated and visited my blog this past week.  I love all of you for your encouragement and fantastic comments.  I'm going to be giving away blog candy for my 5000th visitor to my blog so come back and visit again............. who knows you may win my prize.  Stay tuned for a sneak peak picture of that blog candy............... coming soon!!!

Borders and Corner Punches

Punches are a quick and easy way to add interest, dimension, and color to your cards, tags, and scrapbook pages. You can glue punched shapes directly onto your projects or layer a sheet of card stock that has been punched over a coordinating card stock for a reverse effect.

Stampin' Up has added eight new punches to its already great lineup of punches.  These new, sleek punches have a large cutting surface and offer better punching leverage and cutting precision, and the sleeker body makes them easier to store.If you haven't seen them yet, check them out in the new Mini Occasions and Sale-A-Bration catties.  

1. 117191 Extra Large Two-Step Bird $22.95
2. 118073 Extra Large Fancy Flower $22.95
3. 117649 Pinking Hearts Border $22.95
4. 118072 Pinking Hearts Corner $13.95
5. 118870 Scallop Trim Corner* $13.95
6. 117190 Medium Jewelry Tag $15.95
7. 117193 Small Heart $8.50
8. 118402 Scallop Trim Border Punch Free*

Two of the new border punches also have matching corner punches to offer you even more versatility in your stamping creations.    These are the Pinking Hearts Border and Corner Punches (Mini Occasions) and the Scallop Trim Border (Sale-A-Bration). 

Because the addition of corner punching is a whole new concept in punching, there are some tricks you need to learn.  Check out this great video on using the Border and Corner Punches to make your punching experience even better. Video Tutorial click here.  And to assist you even more check out this great tutorial I found by Gretchen Barron.  Gretchen's tutorial called "A Guide for Cutting Squares and Rectangles with the Scallop Trim Border and Corner Punches" will take the mystery out of sizing your squares and rectangles.  

Pinking Hearts Border Punch 117649 Price $22.95  The pinking design in this punch is accented with tiny hearts, creating the perfect border for stamped images, frames and more.  Aligns with Pinking Heart Corner Punch to make perfect frames.

Pinking Hearts Corner Punch 118072  Price: $13.95 The classic pinking style in this punch gets an added bit of love with little hearts in this unique corner punch.  Use to create photo corners with the punched out image.  Aligns with the end of the Pinking Heart Corner punch. 

The Scallop Trim Corner Punch #118870 Price $13.95 coordinates with the Scallop Trim Border Punch #118402, which is available in the Sale-A-Bration cattie. This is the first time that Stampin' Up has ever offered a punch as a free Sale-A-Bration product.   You can earn this new punch for free by purchasing $65.00 in Stampin Up Product(s) between now and March 31st, 2010. 

*  The Scallop Trip Border Punch will be offered at regular punch prices with the release of the 2010/2011 Idea Book and Catalogue in the summer of 2010.  Can you wait that long?????

My Digital Studio........ ENJOY

Here's my latest creations with My Digital Studio. Hope you enjoy them. I know I've enjoyed using the program and I'm looking forward to completing an album from this year's vacation photos. Here are two that I'll be including.  Stampin' Up is continually adding new images for downloading to this program so the possibilities for creating cards, banners, scrapbook pages, invitations, announcements and many more creative applications are endless.  If you haven't discovered My Digital Studio yet, check it out on my Stamping Up Webpage under promotions!  If you have any questions just send me an email, and I'll be happy to respond. 

One Last Valentine Post.............

I totally missed my deadlines this month. Last Tuesday I played golf for the first time in a while, and made this absolutely great shot, right over the fairway.  Anyway on my backswing I felt this pop and not being too smart, I continued to play.  Consequently I've been laid up for a week with a pulled muscle in my back.  I know, I know, it's no excuse, but it's true.  I have been in so much pain I haven't even been able to play with my new corner punches.....  now you know how much pain that I'm in!  
So to all my friends and family who haven't received Valentines wishes yet, here's that familiar refrain ......."they're in the mail"...........soooooo sorry there late!!!!

You'll have to be content with these views for now and next year I promise to be on time.  Love You All and Happy Valentines Day tomorrow!

I Believe - Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games

I Believe!!!! I am so proud to be from Vancouver, British Columbia Canada on the eve of one of the biggest events ever staged in our beautiful city.  Want to see why I am so proud, click here  and watch the amazing and beautiful "I Believe" by Nikki Yanofsky (Vancouver 2010 Music Video: Olympic Torch Relay).  If you're a Canadian and proud pass along this link ..................I'm sure you'll feel overwhelmed like I did and want to share with your friends and family.  Happy Olympics Vancouver............I'll be watching!!!!!

2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Logo based on Inuit Inukshuk

The logo and mascot of the future 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics is based on the Canadian Inuit inukshuk. The inukshuk is a stone marker that has been used by the Inuit to help guide through the northern Arctic terrain for centuries. The Inuit inukshuk has also become a symbol of leadership, cooperation, friendship and the human spirit. This contemporary design of an inukshuk by Vancouver based Elena Rivera MacGregor and her team of designers was chosen from 1,600 entries from across Canada by an international panel of nine judges. The mascot will be named Ilanaaq which means ‘friend’ in the native Inuit Inuktitut language. Rivera MacGregor claims that her winning design represents the culture, environment and people of Canada.

Valentine's Day Blog Candy Giveaway................. Will You Be A Winner?

I have a very exciting announcement to share with you, but I can't share it just yet. To celebrate, I will be giving away some Blog Candy when I make my announcement on Feb 14th. Everyone who makes a comment on my blog from today until Feb 14th will be entered to win my Valentines Day Blog Candy. When I share my announcement I will announce what the Blog Candy is and who the random winner is. 

It's in the Bag!

I just finished making a fantastic purse/ bag and three cards using the new Sweet Pea DSP, and just have to share it with you.  This particular DSP was so easy to work with and made matching up the cardstock a cinch.......... I used Chocolate Chip, Dusty Durango and Bermuda Bay.    I used the Great Friends stamp set for my sentiments and one of the flower stamps from the Pocket Silouettes Stamp set.  Ribbons and bling were non SU.

The tutorial for this great project was posted on the UStamp With Dawn and Friends "With Love 2010" site by Creative Designer Becky Roberts.  Becky's was made with the beautiful Sending Love Speciality DSP from the 2010 Mini Occasons cattie...............and it just rocks!  If you haven't had a chance to check out Becky's website Inking Idaho be sure to pop in by clicking on her name above - all of her projects are just so super cool and her tutorials are written and shown in clear and concise step by step instructions. There's still time if you're interested to join in all the fun at UStamp and taking advantage of all the great tutorials for this series.  Just click on Dawn's website for registration information. 
 Here is a closeup view of one of the cards I made following Becky's instructions.  Can you guess what new punch was used for the flower vase?  Here's a view of the inside of the card too.

Today is My Birthday!!!!

Hi Everyone. Just a quick note to say hello and many, many, thanks to all the great gals from around the world (UStamp, Swap Sisters, Just Say Ink, Family, Friends, Colleagues) who have called, sent cards and emails today wishing me a Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!  Wow what great friends I have!  You know who you are and you've all absolutely made my day.   

I've reached the point where there are too many candles on the cake........the big 60!  Never really thought I'd make it to this age, but now that I'm here I'm looking forward to what life has in store for me.

I spent some time today looking back at my blog and my goals that I stated in my very first blog post one year ago and mulling over what I have achieved and thinking about what further goals I want to add.  So here's the list.

My Original Goals:

• Get out there and grasp life, try new things and stop procrastinating about everything.  Bring about some positive changes and help usher me into a new life style.
• One of my goals was to start a blog that I could share with my friends who love cardmaking, stamping and paper engineering ...... a fun place I could showoff some of my creations and thoughts.
• Post regularly

Things I've achieved and I'm proud of:

• Helping out a friend with cancer who needed assistance and care in her final months;
• Helping my mom with her physical care and organizing and helping with her move to a new home following her fall and recovery from breaking her hip;
• Going back to work providing vacation coverage........... just enough to keep me happy and keep my hand in;
• Learning to play shuffle board and play golf - even though I'm not good at either, I'm enjoying the participation and the outings;
• Surviving my kitchen reno in Palm Springs..... living for 2 months off a two-burner hot plate and without a kitchen sink.......... who knew it would take that long!!!
• Making new friends in Palm Springs and joining these gals for outings to restaurants and plays, and not worrying about taking time out to do those things;
• Joining Ustamp with Dawn and Friends and finding new friends around the world to share my love of stamping and paper designs
• Becoming a Guest Demo on UStamp with Dawn and Friends twice this year............ yeah what fun!
• Attempting card making challenges and swaps and feeling like what I make "is okay".........I'm always my worst critic. 
• Getting in touch with old friends who I haven't been in touch with for a long time and making the connection again.............. very important in some cases to let go and in other cases to get going again!
• Doing my blog posts and taking pictures of my work to share with others.
• Having fun making projects and doing what I love and not feeling totally guilty about not doing the housework, or errands or whatever life deals out while I'm having fun.
• Meeting all of you and having you as new friends!

Well that just about sums it up for today.  I'm off to watch Super Bowl with 30 friends in our park.  We'll be making bets, eating, laughing and having fun for sure! Oh yeah, we'll be sharing my birthday cake and having more fun.  Hope your day is as good as mine................. it's my birthday and my anniversary of my blog!!!!

Origami Heart Card

Maria Pane a Guest Designer on UStamp with Dawn and Friends "With Love 2010" session, shared her awesome tutorial for an Origami Heart Card. 

This card would be equally beautiful for Valentines Day, a wedding, anniversary or other special occasion.Maria's instructions were easy to follow and in no time I made my version of her wonderful card. 

 I'm using retired DSP paper from Stampin Up, in Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Taken with Teal color pallette.  For my sentiment inside the card I used matching markers.  To hold the card closed I made a belly band from Pink Pirouette 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and added a heart rhinestone to give it some bling. 

If you're interested in having this tutorial you can get it by signing up with UStamp With Dawn and Friends "With Love 2010".... just click here.  There are so many awesome tutorials this time around............ it's well worth joining even if there is only one week left in this session.   Once it closes on February 14th this tutorial will no longer be available. 

Some More Valentines Projects

Hi everyone.  What a great week it's been, and it's sped by so quickly..... absolutely can't believe it's Friday again.  I had a chance to play with a couple more of the great tutorials on UStamp with Dawn and Friends "With Love 2010" this week and wanted to share the results with you. 

This first project was based on Jenny Moors Love Card in a Box tutorial.  Jenny is one of the most talented designers I've seen and I absolutley love everything she does.  This little box which measures 2 x 2 is certainly no exception.  Quick and fun to make it  could be used for any occasion.   Here are a couple of other views of it ... one from the top and the other looking at the treasures inside the box.  The unique thing about this box is the lid is completely built in so you're only working with one piece of cardstock.  If you're interested in this tutorial you still have time to sign up on Dawn's blogspot just click here for more information:

My second project was designed by another fabulous Design Team Member, our only Canadian member I might add............... Jennifer Picard.  Jennifer's style is so wonderful.  Her tutorials are always so easy to follow and she always completes projects that are clean and easy to complete.  I just love all that she does and can't wait to stamp with her when I get home this month.   So here's what I made using Jenn's tutorial for a "Love You Fun Fold Out" picture folder album:

The really cool thing about this album is that at first it just looks like a card, but it's really a card and album combined. How clever!   The front cover which is held in place with a button or brad opens up to reveal your message.  The inside holds two photos.

What a great little card/album........ I loved making this with the new Sweet Pea DSP paper pack paper from the Mini Occasions cattie.  I can see using it for so many occasions including Valentines Day, Mother's Day, to name a few.

Let me know what you think...................enjoy!

Stationary Box Gift Set

What a full and exciting day this has been.  Today I played golf for the first time since before Christmas.  My back held up and I had a great game......... for me!  I so love walking the course and soaking in all the wonderful sights....... truly beautiful.  Bob and I invited over all the other players from our group for appies and drinks following the golf game and we had a wonderful couple of hours entertaining in our back yard.  Such great folks.  The last of our guests left around 3:30 and we quickly tidied up and then headed off for a wonderful roast beef dinner at Margie and John's place.......... what wonderful hosts and such an awesome meal!
And, as if that wasn't enough fun and excitement for one day I turned on the computer and discovered that my Stationary Box Tutorial had been posted on UStamp with Dawn and Friends "With Love 2010" series.   There's still time to join the "With Love 2010" series so if you're interested pop on over to Dawn's website to check it out.  All the fabulous comments and encouragement I received from the members of UStamp just sent me over the moon!...............here's some pictures of my project. Hope you enjoy.

Here's a view of the outside of the Stationary Box.  I used Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive Card Stock and Cottage Wall Designer Paper (115671) in this project. 

I used one of my favourite all time stamp sets Great Friend (113792) to do all the stamping for sentiments and design elements.  I love how feminine and sweet the images are.

Here's a view of the inside of the stationary box and stationary. 

The stationary has been hand stamped withe a flower and sentiment and is held together with a little band of DSP.  For a little bling I have used clear rhinestones both on the butterfly and the band. 

And finally, here is a picture of the finished project, which included a 3 x 3 gift card and a little notebook.  This set would make a great gift for Mother's Day or as a Teacher's Gift.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures of my latest project.  I'd love to hear from you if you did!