New Blog Finally Here!!!

My new blog is finally here:

www.inkspiredcreations.com

Please pay me a visit and leave a comment to let me know what you think!!

I hope you will enjoy my new setup!

Happy Stamping...
Jen : )

New Blog Coming Soon!

I just wanted to let you all know that I am setting up a new blog which should be up and running early next week! I will post web address here when it is available.

Happy Stamping!

Jen : )

Happy World Card Making Day!!

OK so I'm a couple of days late but I know everyone else has been busy this Holiday weekend, so I am sure you will forgive me...LOL. I just wanted to thank everyone who attended my First Annual World Card Making Day Event. I actually had my event yesterday. We made cards for the troops in Iraq that will be there over the Holidays. The cards will be donated to a local Amvets Ladies Auxiliary. They will be sending the cards along with care packages to some of our local troops stationed in Iraq. Here are the cards that we made:

I think the kids had the most fun of all. My girls could not wait for me to let them stamp!! They are my future demonstrators..LOL!

Sam also came over with her mom. She made a card for the troops and then decided she wanted to do another one. I had cards set up in the kitchen for make-n-takes. Sam did an awesome job! She really liked using the pastels and later asked her mom when she could come back to stamp! Kids are so much fun to stamp with!

The cards above are the make-n-takes I had set up. I hope you like them. I am sure you will see them at a future card class. I couldn't resist taking pictures of the cards next to my new flowers! My mother-in-law saw them at work and gave them to me to dress up the table while we stamped. Wasn't that so sweet of her!! I just think they are so pretty.

And...I was interviewed by our local newspaper the Tantasqua Town Common for a feature article. The kids are excited that their pictures may be in the paper!

Well, I hope everyone had a nice Holiday weekend. I hope you were able to do some stamping to celebrate World Card Making Day. Happy Stamping!

New look... and more craft fair projects!

I had time to play with a different look for my blog. I haven't decided if I like it better than the last layout. I am going to have a custom banner created for my blog soon, so this look is only temporary too. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

As you know I have been preparing for future craft fairs. Here are some folded frame ornaments for your viewing pleasure (LOL):

I found the directions on the HGTV website a few weeks ago. It is made with two 6"x6" pieces of Double Sided Paper. Each piece is folded to create a frame. Adhesive is only used to attach the 2 frames to one another (back to back). After the first one the directions are easy to follow. You can fit a small picture on each side of the ornament. This would be a great gift for family and close friends!

CAUTION!! If you do not like origami this project is not for you!! : )

Hope you like it! Happy Stamping!

5 Sided Star

Here is my version of the 5 sided star on page 171 in the catalog... I wanted to make a star ornament for the craft fairs, but I had a hard time finding a template or a technique that would make the Designer Series Paper (DSP) strong enough to last.

The Template for this ornament can be found Here. These are actually directions to make a princess wand for a young girl. You are supposed to make 2 stars and glue them together with a stick or rolled up piece of paper in the middle. Gluing the tabs together at the end of each star point, gives the paper strength! So, I just made one star and before I glued the last 2 tabs together I made a hanger out of a piece of gold cord and placed that under the tabs.

This ornament is SO SIMPLE. A great project for at night while sitting in front of the TV!! And check out what the back looks like... I LOVE IT!

TIPS: Print out the template on printer paper. I used the 2 way glue pen for a temporary adhesive to hold the template on the DSP. I use a ruler and the scorer from the cutter kit to score on every line before folding. Again, the Glue Stick is the best adhesive for this project!!

I hope you enjoy this project! Leave a comment to let me know what you think..have a good night!!

I'm back!

Sorry I haven't posted this week. I have been very deep into planning the craft fairs for this year. Here is another geodesic ornament I made with retired Designer Series Paper.

Adhesive tip: I tried several adhesives for this project and the SU! Glue Stick has the strongest hold overall! I wouldn't use any other adhesive for this project.

I hope you have a chance to try this ornament for this holiday season! Leave a comment and let me know what you think of this project. Happy Stamping!

Denver Day 5!

Sorry! I should have posted this a long time ago, but I was a little sidetracked! Anyway, Day 5 was a blast...During general session I won FREE STAMPS! I won the gently used products from the Pajama Stamp-a-Rama. I think this was the best set to win! We all received:

• Sanded Background Stamp
• Monogram Alphabet Lower "c"
• Versamark Pad
• 2 Chocolate Chip Classic Pads
• 1 Real red Craft Pad
• River Rock Stamp Pad
• Really Rust Stamp Pad
• Sahara Sand Stamp Pad
• Wild Wasabi Stamp Pad

Because they were only used once they are like brand new!!! Thanks Stampin' Up!

Here are pictures of some of the projects that were demoed in the afternoon class:

That night we attended the awards dinner....I found out that I personally know 4 of the top 100 demonstrators of the year! Amy Czuba (LEFT)was #89, she is my upline that runs our monthly demonstrator meetings! Rebecca Bernzweig (RIGHT) was #49, I met her on the first day, through another demonstrator (Gwynne) and she hung out with us during general session and lunch times. Jennifer Peel (RIGHT) was #46, she is in another demonstrator group with Priscilla Meunier(BOTTOM LEFT) who was # 38. We spent a lot of time with them at the bars during convention!! Priscilla has come to several of our demonstrator meetings in Franklin. She is just about the funniest person I have ever met!

The demonstrator of the year, Rhonda Wade, was a guest speaker at our quarterly meeting in Franklin about 3 months ago. She is an amazing demonstrator! I was able to talk to her after our meeting and she is just the nicest person. By the way the I think she received $22,000 as a prize for becoming the #1 demonstrator of the year!!!! Each of the top 100 received a cash prize along with other gifts!! I wouldn't mind that next year...LOL!

Laura and I at Awards Night!

After awards were given out...there was entertainment! "Ryan Shupe and The Rubber Band" They were absolutely amazing! If you have a moment check out their website, they are so talented I had to buy a CD. I have listened to it almost every day since I came back from Denver. I checked already and they are not touring around here. Ryan Shupe is a 5th generation fiddle player. He and the lead guitarist play: guitar, fiddle, mandoline, and banjo!

After that I went back to the hotel, made sure everything was packed for the morning and went to SLEEP! Which is where I am headed right now...Good night!

Christmas is coming....

OK, so most of you are not thinking of Christmas yet, but I am! I am planning Christmas classes and Craft Fairs, so I remember this cool ornament idea from last year and tried it tonight. This is called a Geodesic Ornament...and you can find the instructions here at the HGTV website. It is easier than it looks.



I used retired Designer Series Paper (DSP) from last year. I figured I could practice on this before I order the Wintergreen Designer Series Paper. I used the 1 3/8" circle punch to cut out the circles and the cutter kit with a ruler to make the score lines.



SCORING TIP: I found placing the DSP over a piece of paper or a paperback book works great when using the cutter kit to score lines. The DSP can tear when using the scoring blade on the 12" paper cutter. However, I prefer the scoring blade on the 12" paper cutter when I score cardstock...the cutter kit does not make deep enough lines in the cardstock.



This project was a lot of fun! I hope you like it!



Happy Stamping!

Playing Around With Watercoloring....

Sorry I haven't posted regularly.....my son (Kevin) just had tubes placed in his ears on Friday, so I have been giving him extra cuddle time!! My husband took the girls to a family friend's birthday party today. I stayed home with the patient! Here is a picture of the birthday card I made for her last night.

I had so much fun learning to watercolor at Convention that I keep playing around with different colors and techniques. I sat down with Kaitlin and Emma today and we used the aquapainters and re-inkers on different papers from my scrap box. I really like watercoloring on confetti cream and the watercolor paper of course. On Whisper White and Very Vanilla I would rather use my markers and a blender pen.

Watercoloring is easier than I thought. You don't need to be an artist to use this technique with rubber stamps, just a little time and patience. Since I began stamping, I always wanted to learn how to watercolor. I would see all of the beautiful samples in the catalogs and mini catalogs and fall in love with the stamp sets because you could watercolor with them. Then when I would try to color them in , lets just say it didn't come out the way I hoped...LOL! Anyway, there are a few sets I purchased last year that I think will be pulled out of the closet now!

I know a few other people that have purchased sets that look best when watercolored, and then didn't use it because they didn't actually know how to watercolor. If you are one of those people, send me an email so we can pick a day to get together. I would love to show you the techniques I learned at Convention. Trust me it isn't hard at all! It is definitely a technique you need demoed in person, but it is still easy to catch on to! I hope to hear from you soon....

Happy Stamping!

Swaps from SUDSOL Gathering...

As promised here are some of the 3D/WOW projects I swapped for:

The purse on the left was created by Vida Luth. This is a cute and easy gift bag to create for any occasion. She included a template with it, so if you would like to make this let me know and I can forward instructions to you! The cute flower pot was created by Amy Celona. I love her blog!! The flower pot actually holds a dum dum pop. The flower is attached to the pop stick...how cute is that!




This purse card was created by Jamie Kellog. It is actually one piece of card stock, cut and scored to make a purse. Trace it the next time you come over!

Snowman Soup is such a cute idea for the holidays! This design is so easy! It includes a package of hot chocolate, candy cane, and a poem:

Was told you've been real good this year...

Always glad to hear it

With freezing weather drawing near,

you'll need to warm up the spirit.

So here's a little SNOWMAN SOUP

complete with stirring stick!

Just add hot water, sip it slow, it's sure to do the trick!

My favorite projects were the wine charms. The set in the cello bag was created by Liz Miller from Valencia, CA. She stamped on shrinky dinks, and used earring hoops! The other two charms were created by Jennifer Millerd, CT. She rolled DSP inside Fish tank tubing and cut it to size. I can't wait to make these. What a great gift! I think I will try shrinky dinks with my kids and make charm bracelets!! I'll let you know how that goes....

Happy Stamping!!

Denver Day 4!

I loved general session today! Shelli showed us a lot of projects that she uses for Home Decor during the fall and winter holidays. If my kids were older I would decorate my whole house with her ideas! Other demonstrations included a lot of 3D projects. Really cute and easy. If I had some pictures I would show you-it was too hard to get good pictures from the Jumbo -Tron. I will play around with some of my favorites to post real soon! The picture to the left is Renee jumping up and down waiting for the prize patrol to bring her FREE STAMPS!


During lunch I went to the SUDSOL gathering. Laura came as my guest. SUDSOL is an online group for demonstrators only. We share business ideas and tips with each other online. I was able to put faces to the names that I have seen on countless emails over the past 6 months. I was also finishing up some swaps for a WOW CARD SWAP that was going on at the same time as the SUDSOL gathering. I swapped with other demos for 3D and WOW Projects. There were so many great projects at the SUDSOL gathering I didn't even go to the WOW swap! I will post some of the items I swapped for separately. The "Warm Wishes" card you see above and to the right is what I used as a WOW swap. Everyone loved it! The original idea came from Cathy Watson, another demonstrator that I see at my upline monthly meetings in Franklin. She is a very talented woman! The presents pop up in the center and you can fit a check or cash in the middle as a gift!



That night we went out to PF Changs for dinner. Then we finally had a chance to go to Coyote Ugly! That was the only thing I wanted to do outside of Convention all week. What a let down!! We walked in and they were playing RAP music! There were women on the bar dancing that just shouldn't have been !LOL! I guess I expected some talented dancers/bartenders to be on the bar with country western in the background .... I stayed all of 5 minutes and then we went back to the Paramount Cafe for Happy Hour!

WARM WISHES CARD RECIPE:
STAMPS: Baroque Motifs, Hugs and Wishes
INK:Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy
PAPER:Brocade Background DSP, Old Olive, Bravo Burgundy, Very Vanilla
ACCESSORIES: Rhinestone Brads, Ticket Corner Punch, sponges, 12" paper cutter with scoring blade, cream ribbon dyed with bravo burgundy reinker, dimensionals.


In side of the card: One 8"x5" piece of Very Vanilla Card stock. Fold Very vanilla card stock in half to form center crease. Place card stock in 12" paper cutter vertically (lined up at 4" mark) place cutter blade over card stock and cut from center crease out 1-1/4" in each direction (there should be a slit 2-1/2" in length). Line up card stock at 2-3/4" mark and cut from center crease out 1-1/4" in each direction. Line up card stock at 2-1/2" mark and cut from center crease out 1-3/4" in each direction (there should be a slit 3-1/2" in length). Flip card stock over and line up at the 4-1/4" mark, cut from center out 1-3/4" in each direction. Now turn card stock horizontal and connect slits for two presents with scoring blade. Fold at creases so that the presents pop up. Cut Designer paper to fit over presents (1-1/4"x 2-1/2" and 1-3/4"x 3-1/2") and adhere. TIP: When adhering to Old Olive card, don't put adhesive on 1/4" strip between boxes....you can place the money/check under this so it does not fall out of card!

I hope the instructions make sense! The card is really easy to figure out if you see it for yourself. Ask me to show it to you when I see you. Call me if the instructions don't make sense to you, I would be happy to help!

Happy Stamping!!!

Denver Day 3!

Each Day in Denver was jammed packed with things to do! I woke up at 6AM each morning to get to the Convention Center by 8AM for General Session. This was at the "MAin Stage". All Convention Attendees were together each morning during General Session for demonstrations, announcements, entertainment, and FREE STAMPS! As you can image approximately 3,000 people in one area at the same time was very LOUD! There was so much excitement in the air. After each presenter was done they would flash a wristband on the JumboTron and anyone that had that wristband won FREE merchandise that related to the previous demonstration. The requirement for receiving your FREE merchandise was that you jumped up and down until someone in the Prize Patrol ran over with your items! It was hysterical! 50-100 people jumping up and down to get their FREE stamps! I guess you had to be there, LOL...

After general session, and lunch, we were able to attend specific classes. One class was called "Color your world" where we learned watercoloring techniques. Here is one of the cards I made:

STAMPS: Fun and Fast Notes ; PAPER: Purely Pomegranate, Watercolor Paper; INKS: Soft Sky, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Wild Wasabi, Groovy Guava, Rose Red ; ACCESSORIES: Dimensionals, Watercolor Brushes, Groovy Guava Double Stitched Ribbon

I was so surprised how easy watercoloring can be!!!

Here is another card we made, this time we used color to decorate the new Pretties flowers! The flowers are white. The larger flower is colored by applying pastels with a sponge dauber. The smaller flower is color applying classic ink with an aquapainter.

STAMPS: Fun and Fast Notes; PAPER: Sahara Sand Gift Notes; INK: Groovy Guava; ACCESSORIES: Fairy Tale Ribbon Originals, Pretties Kit Flowers and half back pearl, Mini Glue Dots, Pop-up Glue Dots, Aquapainter, Sponge Dauber, Ballet Blue Pastels.

At night we attended the INKcredible Dinner hosted by Tina Rosenkrans. We had a fabulous dinner at the Crowne Plaza! One of the demonstrators in this group, Dawn Byers, completed 60 cards from the new Winterbright Simply Scrappin' Kit! I was so excited to see this because I just ordered the kit myself to plan out the Christmas Card class that I am planning for my customers! I am going to be having a 60 card class with this kit and I just loved the cards that can be made with it!!

After dinner, we went to the "Paramount" for cocktails. We became regulars that week due to their great Happy Hour Specials!!

Denver Day 2

Day 2 in Denver was Check-In Day for Convention. We showed up at the Convention Center at 8:15am because everything was scheduled to open at 9:00am. This is what the line for Momento Mall looked like soon after we showed up...

There were hundreds of people in front of us too! Momento Mall is SU!'s elite Convention shopping experience! There are items in Momento Mall that you can only get if you attend Convention. Many things sell out very quickly, which is why everyone was there early! I purchased pajamas (for the Pajama Stamp-A-Rama), a shirt, matching SU! hats for the girls and I, bracelet charms, and ribbon samplers. Kaitlin and Emma love their hats!!!

While we were in line everyone started swapping!! Here are some swaps that I received:

After Momento Mall we checked into Convention and Received our Dream Big Convention Bags, full of stuff:

• 3 Stamp sets!
• The Build a Flower Tin!
• Make-n-Take materials for the Pajama Stamp-A-Rama
• Name Tags
• Water bottle
• A "Dream Big Convention" Pin
• A "My First Convention" Pin
• A Convention Pen to take all those notes!
• A schedule of events

It felt like my birthday! After that we went to lunch, cut our stamps, and Laura and I went to our first class. It was all about the new demonstrator websites we are going to have! Look for that soon... my website will look a lot different and will give you more information about what is going on with SU! and my classes and events!

The class was great and then we went to a Stamp Camp that was run by a Demonstrator named Joanne Tofte. We completed 7 projects! One project was a cute coaster calendar that I will plan a Stamp Camp around soon. Ask me about it during the afternoon crop this month or the Post Convention Card Class....

After the Stamp Camp went to eat at a place called Sam's and then dressed in our PJ's for the Pajama Stamp-A Rama. It was a blast! We used our new stamp sets to make 7 different projects! Laura and I went to go take our picture at the photo booth and when we turned around we saw Shelli Gardner, the founder of Stampin' Up! I RAN to get my camera and we were one of the first to get a picture with her!

She is such a sweet person. Laura introduced herself and Shelli said "I know you!" I thought we were all going to pass out. She said " I have quoted you at Regionals and I am using your dream story tomorrow during general session..." SU! asked us to share our dreams with them and Laura's was one that was picked. Now what other CEO do you know , would remember the name of a person who they have never met before, and has only been with the company for a year? I can understand that she might remember Laura's name from what she was scheduled to talk about at Convention the next day, but I was amazed that she remembered using another quote from Laura last November during Regionals in Providence, RI!!! We were literally on Cloud 9! After that we went out to a bar on 16th street and stayed out WAY TOO LATE!!!

Denver Day 1

We left VERY early in the morning on Sunday July 29th! Everything went very smoothly. I traveled with my friend Laura, we signed up to be demos on the same day!!

The flight was good, although we had a very cranky flight attendant which didn't go over too good with me. He was very rude to everyone around me. Then I asked the other attendant for head phones ( they were out of stock with everything). I saw one attendant give a set of head phones to the cranky one and when I asked him for them he said other people already asked. I replied with a stern look and told him I already asked the other attendant for them a long time before. He didn't appreciate that too much, but I did get my headphones!!! Both Laura and I hoped he wasn't on our flight back to Boston!!!

We arrived in Denver on time and went straight to our hotel (The Curtis). It was the "COOL" Hotel according to everyone else. All the floors had a theme. We stayed on the "Big Hair" floor. How did they know what my hair was like in the 80's LOL!!!

The picture above is Laura trying to figure out how to get us in our room! Our keys didn't work, so she called the front desk on her cell phone and all of a sudden the keys worked!!! It was like Onstar for hotels LOL!!!

We had the whole day to do what we wanted. The Convention didn't start until Monday. So, we took a walk up to the 16th Street Mall. This was an outside Mall that ran the length of 16th Street in Downtown Denver. The entire street was only open to pedestrians. It had a FREE shuttle that ran up and down the Street at all times. The street was filled with shops, restaurants, bars, and major retail stores. We had lunch at The Hard Rock Cafe and had dinner at a place called Sams. They had the best fajitas I have had in a while. We did some shopping too! Other than that we unpacked and stamped some swaps for the next day!

Oh I forgot to tell you, the elevator talked to you at every floor! It scared the heck out of me the first time...As I said we were on the Big Hair Floor. Marge Simpson told us "Here we are on the Big Hair Floor". She also told us if the elevator was going up or down. When we came back from dinner, our roommate Lauren had a candy on her pillow!! We didn't have one and couldn't figure out where it came from!! That was it for Day 1...

My first post!!!

Well, I finally did it! I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time now, but figured I didn't have the time. Of course, I just came back from the Stampin' Up! Dream Big Convention in Denver Colorado...now I feel like I have so much to tell everyone that I can't possibly tell ALL of you about my experience without a blog! SO in order to share my experience with you I am going to tell you about my days in Denver, share pictures of the trip, and post samples I received through swapping at Convention.

After Convention talk is done I hope this Blog will serve as another form of communication to share with you the art of rubber stamping, whether you use it for scrapping, card making or gift giving. I hope to provide you with ongoing inspiration through sample pictures as well as information on HOT new techniques.