For my next swap sample, I started with a nine patch using Tea Party DSP. This shows both sides of one page with  a narrow border of Pretty in Pink around each square. I placed a whisper white square in the center with a bunny from the Cute and Cuddly stamp set. I turned the nine patch on point and trimmed the squares on the right and left sides to triangles. With a textured background made from the texturz dotted plate using Garden Green cs this card front is now finished!!

We are now at convention. My daughter and downline, Jennifer and I are off to a great start.

    My Secret Sister gave me this too cool set and I just had to use it for some of my convention swaps. I had a little fun making the same card with minor changes in each one. When it’s Art no two are the same , right? I used Chocolate Chip cs as my base , then layered a rectangle of Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, and topped that with my chocolate birthday cake on whisper white cs. To finish the front I stamped the birthday sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set, punched it out with the large oval punched and layered it on a scallop oval punched out of Dusty Durango. For my first one I kept the Dusty Durango plain fr a more masculine take but on the others I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to  the scallop oval.It certainly changes the look. As I write I am at the airport on my way to Convention. I am so excited!! More samples and news from Convention tomorrow.

I am so happy to share my swap card for the WOW card front swap with the ladies attending the 3rd Annual Convention Stamp Camp put on by Joanne Tofte and Karen Pichura. This card uses the Game Night stamp set; the Large star punch, the Modern Label punch; Jackpot DSP;Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock; Melon Mambo Classic ink and Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Now on to the fun stuff- the swaps with everybody.  As I age, I have discovered that I bore easily, so to compensate while creating swaps, I did several small groups of different designs. This first group I decided to use up a lot of my Jackpot DSP and challenged myself to work in back and white with just a touch of color. (I like colors – so black and white is hard) Here is the first card front . I used a sketch from VC Designs Challenge blog. Interesting sketch I may play with this one again later. Recipe: Game Night stamp set; Jackpot DSP; Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock; Basic Black Classic ink , Versamark ink, gold embossing powder and snail.

#2 in my Black & White series is from another sketch from the web (source unknown). I did take the 2 squares in the middle and offset them a little both from each other and from the background — just because it felt right. This one I tried to keep crisp and clean with just the touch of color on the bird.  Recipe: Peace Within stamp set; Jackpot DSP; Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock; Basic Black Classic ink , Stampin’ Write Markers, Water Brush and snail.

#3 in my Black & White series is from the same sketch as the previous one I just used a different stamp from the Peace Within Stamp set.  I made the cat match my sister-in-law, Sarah’s favorite kitty.  Recipe: Peace Within stamp set; Jackpot DSP; Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock; Basic Black Classic ink , Stampin’ Write Markers, Water Brush and snail.

The final card front in this series is just black and white. Living in a place where many folks visit the casinos and gamble for recreation and the dream of winning big, I found this sentiment in the Peace within stamp set especially appropriate. For me to win big at anything but love would indeed be a miracle.  But then with love and family that all gets along what more do you need?!  Recipe: Peace Within stamp set; Jackpot DSP; Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock; Basic Black Classic ink , and snail.

I arrived in hot and sunny Portland at my daughters yesterday. We fly out of Portland together for our first Stampin’ up! convention. We spent several hours last night working on swaps and having fun. For the next few posts I will be sharing some of my swaps. 

Aren’t the In Colors yummy! I am in a 3D swap and we needed to make 6 of the item. So I made these little suitcases ; one per color. I put a little chocolate in each one to sweeten the gift. The suitcase outsides  were stamped with versamark using the Circus Circles stamp set. I quickly discovered that versamark shows up much better on some colors than others. All look good in person but some are lighter than another. 

Here is another view of these delightful cases.  I found the pattern from Mirkwood Designs for the suitcase itself, then started making tweaks. I used SU natural hemp twine to make the handle. with the Add of our Crystal effects, I turned two pieces of twine into a flat handle, a little messy but I liked the effect. I also enjoyed the look of the new In Color ribbon that I used for the straps.

Welcome to a small view of the many ways which you can use the Animal Stories Stamp Set. During this blog tour I will be showing you some samples I have done using this fun new stamp set.

In this first sample, I have used the owl in Soft Suede in Crushed Curry cardstock, and the Elephant in going gray on Whisper white. I had fun using the Razzleberry DSp on a Kraft base and mats of Rich Razzleberry and Melon Mambo. Yummy colors! To make the Good stand out i added a last minute application of dazzling diamonds Glitter.

Sample number 2 was an exploration into the Tall Tales dsp and the Movers and Shapers die. Don’t cha just love that purple elephant peeking out of the star. And when you open up the card you find …

…. a spot for your personal message. This card ought to cheer up any sick soul.

For my final sample of the blog tour I will show you a notebook for keeping tabs on those important details

The Royal Blog Tour is three days long, and you’ll be happy it is!
There are four tours – a total of 80 fabulous blogs!

But wait – there’s more!
Blog Candy, Blog Candy, and more Blog Candy. Over 50% of the blogs on this tour are offering Blog Candy.
Check the Princess list on launch day. Every name with an asterisk next to it is offering
blog candy.
That’s not all! The Royal Blog Tour Home Page is offering their own Blog Candy. And it is — a Big Shot Die Cut Machine!!!! Honestly – you don’t want to miss this tour!

This drawing is open to all countries represented by Princesses in this tour, including Canada and Australia!

Today I am going to share with you another card made with the Friends 24/7 set. Here’s the outside:

and here is what I did with the inside of this card.

More Certainly Celery ribbon enhanced the out side of the card while on the inside I place the message on the left and left the whole right side empty to fill with a personal note. the message on the left started out as an oops for the front of another card. I had the flourish stamped on all four sides, liked the way it looked and realized that for the recipe I was following I was only supposed to stamp 3 sides. So I set aside that piece of dsp and redid the card front then took a look to figure out how to use this stamped piece- with the addition of the text stamp it was a perfect addition to this card. IMHO

Here is a fun card I made for my secret friend’s 2nd package of goodies. I tried to make as many of her special goodies using the Friends 24/7 set. Each package had at least one card and one 3-d item ; after that it was whatever i could come up with.

Don’t you just love the fun bag in a box?! They are so much fun to make – though I rarely find the right person and occassion to give one. I put some sweets and some ribbon in this one.

And what gift could be complete without a few more cards like this next one with its use of the matching wheel as well as the bird fom this set.

…more friends 24/7 projects tomorrow. And for those that pay attention to details I am again using stamping up inks, cardstock and of course the Tea Party designer paper. The Ribbon is Certainly Celery and the brown on the bird is the new in color Soft Suede. It is such a versatile color and goes so well with chocolate chip , our favorite dark brown.