Christmas is coming!!!

Happy November already.  Its hard to believe how fast the months are flying by.  The Christmas season is fast approaching. And its my favourite time of year.  The days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping and inside the house all is warm and cozy with lights and decorations.  

A few weeks ago I helped out Denise and Natasha at their CraftDBear Christmas Retreat at the Elm Hurst Inn in Ingersoll.  It was a weekend heavy on laughter and Christmas crafts and very light on sleep.  LOL  One of the classes was this gorgeous wreath that Denise help us make.  It is hard to see in the picture, but it is gorgeous.  My wreath is  made with the now discontinued Candy Cane Fabric, which is now available through our clearance rack at just $1.19 per pack.  This wreath used about 1 1/2 packages.  Other ladies used Deck the Halls, also discontinued from the catalogue but available on the clearance rack.   It was super easy to make.  Basically it is strips of fabric ribbed from the fat quarter, and tied onto a wire wreath frame with ribbons to give some added depth.   So easy, but the end result is stunning.

A close up of the wreath to see the fabric and ribbons in closer detail.  

Stampin' Up! is also allowing our customers a sneak peak at our Stampin' Success magazine normally available only to consultants. You check it out HERE And if you join Stampin' Up! as an independent Consultant this month, you will receive a free collection of ink pads from any one of our Brights, Subtles, and Regals collection.  That's FREE product worth $64.95. What an amazing opportunity!!!

Not interested in the Stampin' Up! consultant opportunity, you can still earn a set of ink pads for free by hosting a Qualifying Workshop of $575 or more,  And along with the free set of Ink Pads, you also get $90 in hostess dollars and purchase any item in our main and holiday catalogues for 50%.  That is over $150.00 of FREE product. Contact me today!!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions I am only a click away.  Either via the comment link below or email me at riajenkins@rogers.com  

And I leave this post with a picture of a visitor we had in our backyard this morning.  We have had quite a number of squirrels busy in our yard getting ready for winter, and this falcon landed just as two were playing on the roof in front of him.  And yes, the squirrels made a clean get away.  Didn't see one squirrel for a good 1/2 hour after the falcon left.  

Monday is Going to be Marvelous!!!

Hello everyone,

I am back.  It has been a crazy few months here with my own surgery and then my mother became gravely ill the beginning of September.  She is starting to do a bit better, but still has a long stay in the hospital ahead of her among many other things.  So she is not completely out of the woods yet.  I have been pretty much living in my van some days. 

Right now I should be packing and finishing samples for my weekend away to Elmhurst Inn.  My upline, Denise aka CraftDBear, along with my sideline Natasha aka StampinEnchantment, are hosting their annual Christmas at Elmhurst retreat this weekend.  I will be helping out with classes, etc. And having some much needed girlfriend time.  This will be my first time attending their event, and I am so excited to be able to do so. 

Back to the reason for this blog post.  I received a special email from head office that got my all pumped up and excited, I stopped what I was doing to let you in on the exciting news!!!  It appears Christmas is coming early at  Stampin' Up!  We have some pretty amazing incentives for this coming Monday, October 29.  And I for one am so excited to let you in on these amazing opportunities.

1.  From 12 am to 11:50 pm (MST) Stampin' Up!! will be offering all stamp sets (Excluding hostess sets, bundled stamp sets, and digital stamp brush sets) at 15% OFF!!!  This offer includes background stamps, personalized name stamps, cookie press stamps and we are now offering single image stamp sets. 

A bit more on the Single Stamps.  Until January 3, 2013 you have the opportunity to purchase single stamps from selected collections.  An amazing idea if you only want one stamp from a specific set.  To see the various stamps available for purchase please see these following links:

http://www.stampinup.com/ca/documents/Single_Flyers_assorted1_CA.pdf

http://www.stampinup.com/ca/documents/Single_Flyers_assorted2_CA.pdf

http://www.stampinup.com/ca/documents/SSF_Word_Play.pdf.pdf

http://www.stampinup.com/ca/documents/SSF_Perfectly_Penned.pdf.pdf

http://www.stampinup.com/ca/documents/SSF_Seasonal_Sayings.pdf.pdf

Because I think having 15% off all stamp sets is such a sweet deal I have decided to make it even sweeter  by offering free shipping on all orders received between now and Monday.  I will be placing an order Monday evening.   

2.   For my Digital Crafters, starting on Monday we will be kicking off our Digital Scrapbooking Day, for a whole week.  October 20-November 5 there will be THREE FREE downloads, 50% of ALL digital kits, and there is going to be some Mega Blogging over at http://mydigitalstudio.net/.  The bloggers at My Digital Studio always have some fabulous ideas to get your creative juices going!!  To get your free downloads and digital kits go to my personal Stampin' Up! website:  http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/riajenkins  Simply click on "SHOP NOW" tab, "Products" a new screen will pop up, go down to "My Digital Studio" and shop away.  You will be able to instantly download all digital content right after purchase. 

3.  If you follow me on Facebook you will have noticed a link I posted for a Kit Project contest that Stampin' Up! had.  Stampin' Up! will be offering a kit program in the future and they used demonstrators and customers as their inspiration.  On Monday the winning project kits will be revealed!!!  I know I can't wait to see what kits will be offered.   Stampin' Up! head office has been pretty secretive on the nature of these kits, they hinted that home decor will be inlcuded, as well as cards, and scrapbooking.  So exciting!!!!  I will keep you posted and let you know. 

4.  And until October 31 Stampin' Up! is offering two exclusive bundles.  Ornament Keepsakes Stamp Set and Candlelight Christmas Speciality Designer Series Paper Pack Bundle and Ornament Keepsakes Bundle and Candlelight Christmas Speciality Designer Series Paper Pack Bundle.  Purchase any one of these bundles and recieve Festive Paper-Piercing Pack for FREE!!!

You view details on this exclusive offer here:  http://www.stampinup.com/ca/documents/Flyer_ChristmasGift_Oct2012_CA.pdf

I am always open to suggestions and ideas on what you would like to see in terms of projects, classes and workshops.  My inspiration is you, my customers.

Have an amazing weekend everyone!!

I am looking forward to hearing from you!!  Contact me today!!

What I Have Been Up To

Hello world!!!   Just a quick update on what has been going with me.  As many of you know, I have taken the month of August off due to surgery I had on August 3.    I had a hysterectomy at that time, and was suppose to keep both ovaries, but when my surgeon got in there, he realized one ovary had to go.  Luckily for me it was nothing serious, uterine fibroids that I had to deal with for most of my life, and it turns out endometriosis  as well.  Which explains a lot of the symptoms I was having.  But with what they found, I ended up with a larger incision than expected, which also means a little more discomfort.  Thank goodness for hospital drugs!!!   Of course, there is a six week recovery with this.  My family has stepped up to the plate and has been amazing.  No one is starving, or wearing dirty clothes.  Woohoo!!

And today was an added bonus.  I have been going a little squirrelly around here.  I am not one to sit down and after the drugs had worn off, and the pain started to subside, I got bored bored bored.  LOL  So I convinced Dave that today would be a good day to drive out to Paris, to enjoy tea, sandwich and of course a fabulous home made apple fritter at the Brown Dog Coffee Shoppe, while sitting on their patio overlooking the Grand River.  

And now I am sore and tired.  LOL  But it was worth it!!!!  

During my recovery the last three weeks, and for my birthday, I have received a whack of flowers.  I could almost open my own florist shop!!!  But I love love love flowers, and since I am not allowed to garden right now (anybody wanna come over and weed my gardens???) at least I have these beautiful flowers to look at and smell.   Here are a couple of the arrangements I have received.  GORGEOUS!!!

And during my recovery process, Dave decided to borrow my camera (apparently its nicer than his) and try some astrophotography.  I found a whack of shots when I downloaded pics off my camera the other day.  Here are a couple,  I don't have Photoshop to clean these images up, that's Dave's department.  But pretty cool, even with the light pollution we have around here.

See the meteoroid in this one?    You can see more of Dave's astrophotography on his blog here

I also had my birthday last week, and was thoroughly spoiled.  Laura and Amanda made me cake!!!   Yummmmm.  

The night before I went into the hospital I got to play around around a bit with my stamps.  As you know, our Holiday Catalogue went live earlier this month, and its AWESOME!!!  I wish I could have it all.  LOL  One of the stamp sets I purchased right away was Perfectly Perserved (#126692)  and the coordinating Cannery Set Framelits (#127822)  I decided instead of putting food in my jars, to play around with some other sets and put bugs and frogs in my jars.  Like most children, I remember how much fun it was to collect caterpillars, butterflies, and put them in jars with holes in the lid.  I used the frog from our new Toxic Treats stamp set (#127901), and color in some grass into the jar as well.

For this jar I used the butterflies from the Make a Cake set (#126742).  I colored the stamp using our amazing Stampin Write markers to get various colored butterflies.  I have no recollection of what colors I used, bad I know.  But I was just goofing around and had to go to  bed early, had to be at the hospital at 7:30 am and we live about 30 mins or so away.  But I do have some other ideas floating around me head with these jars and I forgot to put toppers on these ones so my little critters could escape.  LOL

I have also designed a thank you card for the numerous thank you notes I need to send out. I made one card about a week ago, and I needed a week long nap after that.  LOL But in designing this card I was inspired for a class later in September after I have given been given the green light by the surgeon to return to normal life stuff.  Cannot wait!!!!

Its August 1!!!!

Its hard to believe its August 1 already!!  Wow.  So many things to tell you about!!

First, its the launch of our new, bigger, and better Holiday Catalogue.  Its gorgeous!!!!  You can see the PDF version here . And the best part is Stampin' Up! now has bundles, we are taking selected coordinating products and bundling them together at a discount.  Love it!!!

Second, MDS2 is released today as well.  I am awaiting my download so I can start to play.  A ton of new features, can't wait to see it. If you are sitting on the fence and not sure if you would like to purchase MDS2, you can try it for free for 30 days.  Yes FREE!!! for 30 days.  Get your free download here.

And because it seems that releasing MDS2 is not enough, we are also having 31% off digital for 31 days.  For the month of August we have 31 digital content downloads available for 31% off.  Contact me at riajenkins@rogers.com for the list of content available at 31% off.  

And of course, as in my previous post, you can get this gorgeous Printer's Tray kit for free just by joining my team!!!  Contact me today for further details on this amazing opportunity.  

And August gets even better!!  For all my customers, current and of course brand new.  I have free shipping on all orders.  Contact me today at riajenkins@rogers.com, and get everything on your wishlist and pay no shipping.  

And I leave you with a project.  When I received the Holiday Catalogue, I fell in love with the ornament on the front cover.  I knew I had to recreate it.  How gorgeous will this be on my Christmas tree!!.  

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  I would love to hear from you!!  Just leave a comment below.  

A Happy Little Tune

Stampin' Up! recently had their convention in Salt Lake City.  I haven't  been able to attend yet, my goal is to attend convention in 2013, so look out Salt Lake City, I am coming with my friends.  The town just might never be the same again. lol  During this year's convention I watched video clips, as well as reading facebook and blog updates from home, dreaming to go. This video is the Convention song of this year, and I love it.  Makes me excited for next July.  Enjoy!!!!

Spooktacular or What!!!

Don't know about you, even though its another gorgeous hot hot July day here, I am thinking and looking forward to fall.  I love fall, the colours, Thanksgiving and of course Halloween.  We still have August to look forward to and the new Holiday Mini being released August 1.  It is full of fall and Christmas amazement.  Here is something absolutely spooktacular that will make August even more amazing.  During the month of August, all new demonstrators and recruiting demonstrators will receive this Howl-o-ween Printer's Tray project for free!!  Yes FREE!!! The kit contains everything to create this super spooky Halloween decoration. This is one amazing offer you know you don't want to miss!!  More information will be available August 1.      

Anniversary and Teacher Thank You Cards

I may not be around much, but I have being trying to do some crafting when I can, or else I start to go squirrelly.  LOL  

On July 4 Dave and I celebrated our 20th anniversary.  The kids were at his parents house for the week (greatly appreciated) and we enjoyed a week of quiet and catching up on some much needed sleep amongst dinner out almost every single night, a play up in Drayton etc.  The kids are now back for the last couple of weeks and I am trying to catch up on my blogging this week, in between running at least one of the three kids somewhere.  In fact I have about 45 mins before I have to run out the door and get Laura from another activity.   Whew.

This first card is what I threw together to give to Dave for our Anniversary.  I wanted romantic but nothing to flowery.   And Paris is definitely one of the first things I think of when it comes to romantic. I have had this stamp set sitting on my shelf for a while, and decided to incorporate it with a simple but always elegant black and white colour combination.  This card is a mixture of discontinued and current Stampin' Up! product.  My goal was to use what I have, which is a lot!!!  LOL   

I will start by listing the discontinued product that I used in this project.  First up was Stampin' Glitter in black to give the card base some punch and the heart trinket to give it that little extra something I was looking for.

Current product I used was as follows:   

Stamp Set:  Artistic Etchings

Cardstock:   Basic Black and Whisper White

Inks and Embossing Powder:  VersaMark, Heat and Stick Powder and Black Stampin' Emboss Powder

Miscellaneous: Ticket Duo Builder Punch, Heat Gun, and Linen Thread

School this year ended on June 29, and this is the card I made as a simple thank you card for the teachers.  I forgot to take a picture of the inside, where I designed a simple pocket to hold a Chapters gift card.  

Again, there is a discontinued product that I used which is the Punch Bunch stamp set for the owl, this stamp set was from the 2011 Sale A Bration event.  (Have I mentioned I have a hard time letting crafting supplies go despite how full my studio gets?  LOL)  Patterned paper was just some bits I had in my stash that I am trying to use up as I accumulate more Stampin' Up! papers.

Current product used is:

Stamp Sets: Betsy's Blossom's for the branch the owl is sitting on, and Itty Bitty Banners
Dies and Punches:  Bitty Banners Framelits and Owl Builder Punch
Inks and Markers:   Staz On in black, Early Espresso Classic Ink Pad, Early Espresso and Old Olive Stampin' write markers.
Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip and Whisper.

And don't forget that for the month of July for every $60 you spend you can buy this exclusive Reason to Smile stamp set for only $5.00!!!!  How sweet a deal is that!!!  And this stamp set is not available in the current catalogue.  Believe me its even sweeter seeing it in real life!!!  Contact me today at riajenkins@rogers.com

That's it for today.  And Laura just texted me and it appears I screwed up the timing of her appointment and dropped her off 1/2 hour early.  Whoops, but bonus is I have some extra time to get stuff done before I am out the door again to pick her up.  Hmmm what shall I do???   Too hot and muggy to go for a walk or garden.   I know!!!!  I will  place a preorder from the new Holiday Mini Catalogue that will be going live August 1.  I love being a Stampin' Up demo, one of the perks besides a discount is getting my hands on product before its available to anybody else.  Awesome!!!  And, somehow during the chaos of June I lost my Stampin' Mist Stamp Cleaner.  Don't ask me how, maybe a Stampin' Up! gremlin snuck into my studio and stole it, that's gotta be it, because there is no way that my studio is a creative mess.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  And I would love it if you left some comments, if you like what you saw or if there is a particular project you would like to see me feature on my blog.  Enjoy the day!!!!