Play Stampin Bunco With Me!! Win PRIZES!!

It's time to play Stampin' Bunco!!  On Sunday, April 11, a room full of crazy stampers will set out on a Bunco adventure...Stampin' Up! Style!

Bunco is a fun and simple dice game to play. Our Stampin Bunco adds a great twist to the classic game. We're giving away your favorite stamping supplies! Win Stampin' Up! merchandise of your choice by having the Most Buncos, Last Bunco, Most Wins, or Least Wins. Nobody leaves a looser! Everyone is guaranteed to win at least $5 in merchandise!

Join us for an afternoon of Bunco fun!  We will have a fun make-n-take along with fun giveaways, a raffle and a special door prize drawing at the end of the day!

The cost to play Stampin Bunco is $15 and everyone will win a minimum of $5 in Stampin’ Up! merchandise of your choice. I will also have a special Bunco door prize that you’re sure to love! I won’t spoil the surprise but I will tell you that it includes one of my hand held Bunco games and over $30 in SU! merchandise! Everyone who prepays for Bunco by April 1 will receive an entry into the door prize drawing. Prepay and register a friend not already signed up for Bunco, you’ll get three entries into the door prize drawing! Use the Paypal button below to submit your payment.

We will be playing at a meeting hall in Downers Grove, IL.  We already have a full house registered but we can still hold lots more!  I can't wait to see you at BUNCO!!

Brayered Background

I just love my brayer...or brayers, I should say.  With a little know how and some time, you can make some beautiful and fun backgrounds for your cards and scrapbook pages!  This is one of my latest brayered background creations.  I wish you could see the sparkle.  It's covered with shimmer paint mist and this card absolutely pops!

Colors used to create this background were So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Sage Shadow, Mellow Moss, Almost Artichoke and Basic Gray.  The stamp set used is Upsy Daisy, one of my favorite standbys.

It's pretty incredible to think that this card started out as a white card front.  I had a lot of fun making this design.  So much so that I whipped up 20 of them for some special customers :-) Because of the great response I've gotten from several of the brayered backgrounds I've been working on lately, I'm looking for a date to schedule a brayer class in the very near future.  Be sure to check my Facebook Fan Page or my Meetup for information on the upcoming class date.

Let's get Hoppin!!

Thanks for joining me today on the Operation Write Home Spring Break Bloghop!  If this is your first stop on the hop, you may want to start from the beginning by heading to http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/ or you can keep on going from here!

Wasn't Denise Lynn's page wonderful?  Her stamps are super cool and she's an incredibly talented stamper!  How lucky is anyone who receives one of her special cards?!

For those of you unfamiliar, Operation Write Home is a non-profit organization that sends thousands of cards overseas to the men and women fighting in support of our country.  These handmade cards are used by these Heroes to write home since there is no Halmark in the desert!!

I love making cards for our troops.  I really believe it is a great way to use our stamping talent to provide a smile to both ther sender and receiver of the card.  I hosted several of my customers in my stamp room last Friday night with a goal of making 250 cards for Operation Write Home.  In about 5 hours, we achieved our goal and had a great time in the process! 

Our plan was to use all white card bases, helping cut my cost but also get us a little out of our comfort zone.  I know I fall into a stampin trap often of becoming very dependent on multiple layers, lots of dimension, and complicated designs.  Not all cards have to be that way!  We had a great time keeping our cards plain and simple.  We added color with ink and maybe a couple punches of Designer Series Paper.  It was a great night that turned out tons of beautiful cards and lots of new ideas!

Thanks for visiting my little place on the web and my contribution to this important Bloghop!  The next stop on the hop is with Rachel Brumley at http://www.stampingbyrachel.com/.  Rachel has lots of fun and beautiful ideas on her blog to help inspire your own stamping adventures.

Before you leave, please take a minute to let me know you were here!  Leave a comment and be sure to include your email address.  One lucky hopper will be chosen at random to receive a box full of goodies you can use to make lots of great cards to contribute to our Heros through Operation Write Home!

Thanks for visiting and God Bless our Troops!

Operation Write Home Spring Break Blog Hop Is Coming!!

On Saturday, March 20, a great spring break blog hop is ready to launch and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!!  Operation Write Home is a non-profit organization that sends thousands of hand made cards to our troops serving overseas.  I'm proud to say that I'm a donor and am thrilled to be a part of the blog hop!  Please join me on Saturday to tour many different blogs in support of Operation Write Home.  You won't be sorry you did!!

Game Night!

Yesterday was the first Stampin Bingo game I've hosted in Kelli's Korner.  We had a GREAT time!!  The final game was a cover all that ended up being worth $71 in Stampin' Up! merchandise!!  The wonderful lady who won that game added a couple bucks and is anxiously awaiting her BIG SHOT!!!  How awesome is that??

Our Make and Take for Bingo was this handy score pad.  I had some legal pads cut in half and we created a quick and easy cover with a magnetic closure.

The stamp set we used is called Game Night.  I love it.  I think it's a fun set that gets overlooked way too often.  The word "score" was stamped with what I think is one of the greatest alphabet sets ever...Just Perfect Alphabet.  They are all lower case letters.  Not too big. Not too small.  Just Perfect :-)

I added a piece of Designer Series Paper over the top of the pad so you couldn't see the office supply store logo.  I think these turned out super cute and everyone at Bingo loved them also!  I can't wait to use mine for a little Uno challenge with my son!!

Sometimes it's hard to make a card

Nothing lives forever.  Not even the special four legged friends we bring into our homes that give us such joy for so many years.  One of my coworkers lost her buddy and I wanted to send a special card to let her know he's on my mind.  D Is For Dog is one of those sets I wanted because the images are fun for dog lovers but there's a stamp I didn't want to use - "So sorry for the loss of your best friend".  It makes me sad :(

I was inspired by a card I saw on SplitCoastStampers made by "Warm Glass Goddess".  I pulled out my brayer (we've become close lately).  I created the soft night sky with Bordering Blue, Basic Gray, and Night of Navy.  The water was brayered with Tempting Turquoise and Take With Teal.  The grass is a combination of Garden Green and Handsome Hunter.  Can you see Spot's reflection in the water?  Champaign Mist Shimmer Paint was applied to the edge to give a hint of subtle shine.  The cardstock is Basic Gray for the base and Night of Navy for the mat.  My son says it looks like doggy heaven.  Ugh...

I'm a dog lover.  I have fur babies of my own that keep me sane and drive me crazy (see this post if you missed one of the reasons why!)  I don't even want to think about what our house would be like if there was nobody around to steal my fries when I turn my eyes away too long :)  One of the things I love the most about being a card maker is that I can send a kind word, warm smile, and heart felt hug in an envelope when I'm not there to give them in person.