Purse-onally, It Was Fun!

This was a project from a previous stamp camp I have held named, "Glitz & Glamour." I had a full house in attendance, and we made this cardstock purse and a couple of other projects. Although perhaps hard to see in the photo, the "swirl" (Baroque Motifs from Stampin' Up!) is stamped and embossed in Iridecent Ice, and the cardstock is shimmery white cardstock (also Stampin' Up!) and naturally the new Stampin' Up! Pretties kit hanging off the handle.

If you live in my area, hopefully you can attend one of my stamp camps soon... it is a great deal of fun and my participants learn a lot.

Happy Stamping!

The Christmas Race Begins!

It has been awhile since I have updated my blog. First of all, I had some "technical challenges," and then I became very time challenged. Going to school full-time, having my own business, and being a busy mom sometimes leaves me with a very full schedule. Thankfully, I have a very supportive husband. :)

My Thanksgiving was relaxing, and hope that yours was as well. We went out of town to my folks and it was good to get away and have excuses to sleep in late and lay around in pure laziness just because we were "on vacation." I did manage to get a little stamping done, but won't upload pictures just yet as they are Christmas goodies for my stamping club, Mission:Embossibles2.

I have two more weeks left of school before I have to complete a week of final exams and then am off for an entire month. I can't wait!! (My husband can't wait either). Fridays will be a non-school day for me in the Spring Semester, so I see a lot more updates to my blog again on Fridays.... that is my hope, anyway!

Hope your Thanksgiving was full of cardstock with rubber trimmings!

Lori

"B" is for Quick and Fun!

Here is something I whipped up today - literally in minutes! I purchased the "B" in my local craft store for about $2. I used Rubber Cement onto the front of the letter and added some retired Stampin' Up! Designer Series paper. I sanded the edges to remove the excess paper and to finish the edges. A few stars from the Stampin' Up! new star punch, a tie of wide twill tape, and a little sponging of Chocolate Chip ink around the edges, and I have a new wallhanging.

This was a fun and quick project, and I think I will be making more of these for Christmas presents to accompany gift cards for my neice and nephew, which are VERY hard to buy for. :)

OIF: Altering a Candle

Every month, I provide the assignment of homework to my club members as a monthly contest I hold. This contest is named, "Operation:Inky Fingers," otherwise known as OIF. This month's contest is Altering a Candle. Altering a candle is so easy and fun! Following are the steps and pictures to complete this process and make an inexpensive, yet impressive gift for someone. I will also have this project as one of 3 gifts to make in my "Thrifty Gifty" class in November. Contact me at loristamps@gmail.com to reserve your workspace for this class, or to learn more information about this or my other classes.

Supplies needed: white tissue paper, stamps/ink, pastels or markers, candle, and heat tool.

Step 1: Stamp on tissue paper, and lightly color the image without ripping the tissue (pastels are recommended, as they do not wet or deteriorate the paper).

Step 2: Cut around the images of your stamp, leaving a space around the image. The first picture demonstrates this.

Step 3: Place the image onto the candle and hold tightly in place by holding a piece of wax paper around the candle.

Step 4: Lightly heat the candle with your heat tool, just long enough to grab onto the tissue paper and for the edges to disappear. You will notice that the tissue begins to disappear and the wax paper looks as though it is sweating. The picture doesn't clearly show the image edges disappearing... you have to trust me on this one. ;) See second picture for a demonstration of Step 3 and 4.

Step 5: Peel off the wax paper. ENJOY!

Note: I find that a cream or white pillar candle works best for this process, but the candle can be of any color and shape or size. Nervous? Make a test version on an inexpensive votive candle. Any additional embellishments should be added to the bottom third of the candle, and candles should never be left unattended.

Wanted - Faux Suede

I just love the new set, "Wanted" that I received at convention! I just whipped this up while in my room at convention, and couldn't resist making it with my Mission:Embossibles2 Club meeting this month. I hope you gals enjoy this project as much as I do! (I did remove the hemp from the project to minimize the "fussiness" of the project while we are burning rubber).

The frayed hemp is just to unwind the hemp twine after it has been adhered to the card. This is something that can be accomplished while watching TV or something else that needs little attention. The horse is stamped on "faux suede" - which is cardstock that has been weathered and pulled apart - and then stamped on.

Organization Woes

I am organizing my craft room - again. When I left for convention (and with a month long vacation on top of that), I left my craft room a total mess. During my absence, anything that my dh found around the house ended up chucked there as well. "UNCLE!," I cried, and have been weeding though so much schtuff. Yesterday afternoon, dh and I headed off to do some shopping to find a more permanent solution to my organization dilemma. After all, school begins again for me soon and I need a space not only for crafting, but also for studying and the like. We ended up purchasing 2 filing cabinets and rested a 6 foot countertop on top of those.

What better to do during my organization than to stop and smell the cardstock? I am behind on many thank you notes and have decided to make a OSW (one sheet wonder - a great way to bang out a bunch of cards, mentioned on a previous post). After stamping on one sheet of cs, I made 9 thank you notes! Included here are 3 pictures - of the OSW after stamping (and coloring), of the OSW after cutting it into random pieces, and then the pic of my 9 cards.

Alright (sigh). Back to more organization! I look forward to posting pictures of my reorganized craft room before I mess it up again!!

Home Sweet Home

Home has never felt so good! :) I left home at the end of June, and here it is August already. I actually arrived very late Saturday, and spend Sunday shopping for school supplies while it was a tax free weekend. What was I thinking? I endured shoving and screaming by people, just to save about $7?? That makes absolutely no sense to me. Next year, I will shop the night before the tax free weekend begins, as everything will be in stock and I will be enjoying shopping in my own space and solitude. (Good idea, Lisa!).

School already begins in 2 weeks and I feel as though the summer is completely gone already. I had a great time in Colorado, but so glad to be back in the hot, humid, sticky part of the country. Now, the scramble is on to get the kids ready for school and to put a lot of my ideas from convention on paper (and cardstock). I have so many ideas rolling around in my head that I am about to BURST!

Here is a picture of me with Shelli Gardner, co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up! - she is such a sweet and wonderful woman.

Happy Stampin'!

Lori

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!

Tomorrow I officially head off to convention. I am *VERY* excited! This morning I am printing out all of the maps for my scheduled activities and finishing up on the roomie gift for each of the gals - an altered composition notebook, complete with "add your own" round tabs.... I found last year that on one day I took lots of notes, and on others, I took hardly any. Therefore, I made the tabs for the gals with the days printed and then they may add them as they wish (or not at all!).

My MIL and I have some errands to run this morning and then off to the airport to pick up my team member, Jenay.

I am thinking of those of you who aren't able to join me this year - especially Dana, Margo, Kittie, and Terry. Each of you have different reasons for not being able to join us, and you will be sorely missed. :(

Back Among the Living!

I thought it would kill me..... I have had little to no access to the internet for several weeks now. As of Friday, however, I officially now am back on the internet with high speed and not tying up my family's phone with dial up.

I have been enjoying the past couple of weeks of my vacation in the Longmont/Boulder, Colorado area. We have family to visit here, and are just NE of Denver, where the Stampin' Up! convention will be held in just a few more days. I am getting so excited, I can hardly sleep - although I am much more relaxed this year, as I sort of know what to expect - one huge, shindig of an event. :)

Last night I went out with my sister-in-law for a night on the town. We first went to a five star restaurant at the top of the mountain that overlooks all of Boulder. Magnificent! Afterwards, we partied at the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder - which is not a traditional mall in any sense of the word, but in fact is several blocks of restaurants, bars, and shops. After dinner, we headed to a piano bar and then finished up the night at a different bar and danced until we practically shut the place down. We had a grand time!

As it turns out, my mother-in-law has another Stampin' Up! demonstrator who lives across the street from her in Longmont, and Kirsten is such a sweet and fabulous person. I am thankful to have a resource to run across and purchase supplies to try to stamp what I can with such limited supplies on my person. (Thanks, friend!). It is awesome to have commonality with someone you have never met before - and have an instant kinship.

My downline (and also incidentally enough, my mom) arrived yesterday here in the Denver area and is visiting with an old school friend, and Jenay (another downline) is arriving here in Denver in a couple of days. Lynn (another team member/downline) arrives the first day of convention, and you will see the three of us as I bring you reports from convention. We will try to bring the fun to you as best as we are able.

So, I suppose that is enough for now. I am looking forward to seeing all that you have been working on in my absence, and sharing with you all I am working on here in Colorado.

Happy Stampin'!

Greetings from Murphy, NC

I am at the library here, one of only 2 locations that have WIFI access. Yesterday I worked on my convention swaps a bit while drinking wine (some of you might find some crooked swaps - j/k) and enjoying the fresh mountain air.

Of all things to forget for my vacation is my camera. :( Therefore, I had the excuse to purchase a new one today! :) I hope to get a picture of my sister-in-law making cards with me -- she is new to stamping and the last card she made for her mom was beautiful. You see, not only did Xiang color with watercolor pencils, but she then used a fine marker to write "Happy Birthday" in Chinese down the side of the card. It was beautiful! She is excited to see the new catalog and get some stamping time with me also.

Tomorrow, a visit to a peach orchard, then fireworks and ribs on the 4th, then visiting our property up here to pick wild blackberries to make jam with later at home, and then Friday onto Colorado. Never a dull moment!

Enjoy your 4th! God Bless America. :)

Convention-bound

We are packed and ready to go. Convention isn't until the end of July, but we are first visiting family in NC and then fly to CO on the 6th of July.



I am looking forward to sharing my travels with you as much as I am able over the coming month - especially when I am at convention! For the most part, I will only have access to a dial-up connection, therefore, my blog updates will be limited until my return. A suggestion would be to check in at least once a week to get updates of what I am doing and learning.



Excitement is in the air! I have a new catalog to browse through (I have imagined already spending about $1500+ thus far and counting!), and convention is sure to fire me up even more. I am thrilled to share the excitement with you!



Wherever you may go this summer, be safe and HAVE FUN!

Training Topic: One Sheet Wonder

Do you have a lot of cards to make and not a lot of time? You need to make a One Sheet Wonder, or OSW!



The basic idea of this is that you stamp a sheet of cardstock (most often white, but can be any color) with random stamped images from a stamp set in the colors you choose. After completing this, use the random stamped images as decorative paper on your cards. It is a fabulous way to kick out a bunch of cards all at once that all coordinate with each other, and makes a quick and impressive uniform stationary notecard set.



You can also use the OSW in any way that one would utilize decorative paper. Alter notepads, tins, make bookmarks - the sky is the limit!



Try making your own OSW and see what the excitement is all about! For more ideas on One Sheet Wonder, search for that topic in the Gallery of SCS, or search for OSW. Warning: OSWs can be addicting and too much fun! :)

Poison Ivy

Well, I have recently taken up gardening, and I have stumbled upon my first ever case of the attack of Poison Ivy. The strangest thing is that I am totally miserable, and yet the rash is SPREADING instead of getting better. I have had the rash for exactly a week now. When will it get better and go away? Not only is it spreading onto areas I already have the rash, but it is starting in new locations as well. Is this normal? Perhaps it isn't Poison Ivy after all? Ugh.

Today I went to Wal-Mart and ran errands. I also am finishing up the preparations for my upcoming Mission:Embossibles2 Club Meeting. Michelle is so awesome for helping me out so much this month - I don't know what I would do without her! (Big hug, Michelle - I will be sure to get you something from convention.....). So, no pictures to upload today, as it would be a spoiler for my club meeting participants. I will wait until after the meeting to upload.

(gulp). OK. There went the Benedryl. Good night. ;)

HOORAY!

My catalogs arrived today, although UPS lost them at first.

UPS arrived and dropped off a package that clearly was NOT my beloved and much anticipated catalogs. The driver then put the truck in reverse and took the package from my hand and said that there was a mistake and he needed to get the correct package for me.

He went into the back of his truck, and turned up empty-handed. I thought that this was some sort of a joke, as everyone knows how excited us demonstrators become when a new catalog is being distributed. :) No mistake. He searched his truck, and gave me the promise that as soon as he found the package, he would deliver it.

He did arrive about 40 minutes later, with package in hand. As it turns out, my catalogs were sent onto the wrong truck, and just after leaving my house, the UPS driver received a call from another UPS driver, stating that my package was mis-delivered to the wrong truck! WHEW. So glad to have them, now!

For those who haven't seen them yet, hold onto your butts. This is our best catalog yet, in my opinion! The sets are magnificent, and the accessories are simply to die for! C'mon July 1st - I want to place an order! :)

No Catalog Yet!

No Fall/Winter Collection here yet. I know that there are other Demonstrators in California that have already received theirs, and I am hoping that they will make their way to the East Coast very soon. :) I am doing what I can to get ahead of schedule so I can set aside several hours to just enjoy flipping through those glossy pages. This is my favorite time of year at Stampin' Up!

As I am busy working on other projects at this time, I thought I would once again share something older that I had created. This shows a teacher appreciation/Christmas gift for my daughter's awesome teacher, Ms. Sossamon (we love you, gal!). It was small in size, but big in heart. We made her all monogrammed items, including chocolate labels. I have an upcoming stamp camp this fall called, "Nifty Gifty" that demonstrates how to use your stamping supplies to alter items or make gifts for someone on your list. Won't you join me? Check out my schedule - http://lorigladders.stampinup.net/Events.aspx.

Wine Journal

This wine journal was a gift for my dad for Christmas this last year. I am embarrassed to admit that it was made from a Dollar Store notebook. I made new pages that provided leaders of information about the wine for him to complete, and a location for the wine labels to be added in a sort of scrapbook form. I also added a notes section. The rings were made by dipping the bottom of a coffee cup into some wine.

I intend to make many more journals this next year for Christmas, including Garden Journals and the like. I am looking forward to sharing more with you.

Addicted to Tins

I am so addicted to making tins! They are fun, so simple to make, and can hold anything. I have made many, many tins this last year for Christmas and Birthday gifts, and are great for scrapbooking (helps organize your photos!), a card organizer (my favorite!), or can even organize your recipes. The easiest way to embellish the tin is with chipboard - my latest addiction. :)

Here are some of my previous samples that I had made for family members. One is a shot of the inside, where I had covered the inside of the lid, made divider pages, and matching magnets.

I will be adding a tin making class to my schedule soon. Let me know if you are interested in learning how to make these tins!

Happy Stampin'!

Moving House

Yep. I am moving again.... but this year, only with my blog! (Sigh of relief). I created this original blog back in October of 2006 and then had two blogs going. Why? Good question. I think I was just trying to figure this all out and was in the process of getting settled and so forth. :) So, I am moving my old blog (South Carolina Stamper) over to my new/old blog (The Paper Quilter). How confusilating! Therefore, here are a couple of pictures posted from my old (as in no longer now using) blog to get me off to a kick start.

Packing Up!

Now that the official Stampin' Up! convention details have been posted, I am ready to pack my bags. Literally! I am so excited about convention in Denver, CO this year that I can hardly stand it! :)

Convention isn't until the end of July, and my in-laws live in the Denver area. A match made in heaven - built in babysitters! (BIG SMILE). As I will be attending both sessions of convention this year (I will likely have a heart attack from all of the adrenaline pumping through my body), I thought it would be fun to also stay for a couple of weeks prior to convention.... which means that I will be on vacation for a MONTH! (GASP!). Thankfully, another demonstrator lives across the street from my in-laws and when I need some time in the rubber room I can pay her a visit. (I wonder if she has a workshop going on in July?). My mother-in-law is planning for a family reunion during a part of my vacation. I am very excited to see so much family all in the same room - and not for a wedding or a funeral.

So, here I start a fresh leaf and a new blog - and head out of town.... but you have me for another week. I will be updating this blog once a week, or as often as I am able. I wish my time allowed for a daily blog.

On another note, I have some contact dermatitis from Poison Ivy. :( Uck. It is miserable, and reminds me much of having the Chicken Pox. This is what I get for getting into gardening! I am beginning to wonder if that tree we have in the backyard really is a tree or something else....

With me being a student at the University of South Carolina, I am on summer break. I thought that it would be a slow and easy summer, with time to catch up on all that I am behind on. That couldn't be farther from the truth. You see, the problem is that I have two kids that are ALSO on summer vacation and am also watching two other children most of the week. I am so worried about everyone being bored that I am so far behind that I don't know if I am coming or going. So, I decided to get a little stamping time in today... I am working on convention swaps.

Which brings me back full-circle to convention. I have 3 roomies, Kathy (my mom, actually), Jenay, and Lynn. I am excited to spend 4 days with these talented and sweet ladies that I am lucky enough to call my downline. My thoughts are with the other team members that are not able to join us this year - Margo, Dana, Deb, Christine, and Kathleen!

What is so exciting about convention? What ISN'T exciting about convention?!?!??????? I love learning about ways to use new products, fun project ideas, and just generally become even more hyped up about Stampin' Up! than I already am (is that possible??) - but most of all, I love making the personal connections with friends that I have made through SCS, and meeting new friends that I still try to keep in contact with. Last year after attending convention, I went on vacation for a month before living out of a hotel for a month while we waited for our home to finish being constructed. This year, I finish 2 sessions of convention and then 3 days later, I am HOME - to the rubber room! :)

Well, I think I am going to cut into that new rubber that I ordered! I can't wait to share.....

Thinking of Erica

Erica -

If you read this, I just thought I would let you know that I am thinking of you today! I am soooooo glad to hear that your surgery went as well as expected, and I am sending happy thoughts and my prayers your way for a speedy recovery. :)

Hugs,
Lori

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog!

You might be wondering why I have the name, "Paper Quilter." A friend, Gina, and I were both once asked by a group of ladies if we quilted. We responded that we quilted with paper. :)

Although I do really quilt now too, I still have a love for rubber stamping. I hope to share my love for rubber stamping with you through my once a week updates, and perhaps give some ideas for a project for you to work on. If you would like to attend one of my exciting and informative workshops or stamp camps, check out my workshop schedule at http://lorigladders.stampinup.net/.

Happy Stampin'!
Lori