I wanted to use the little butterfly brads that are in the Brad Pack that you can get free during Sale-A-Bration.  There are five different brad designs in the pack and my favorite are the little Soft Suede butterflies.  This card has a Soft Suede card base and then a Crumb Cake layer.  On this layer I stamped the flower images from the Mixed Bunch stamp set and the small medallion.  I also used the splatter from the French Foliage stamp set.  everything was stamped in Soft Suede ink.  The flowers were colored in with a Crumb Cake Stampin’ Write Marker.  I added the butterfly brads to the center of each flower.  On one flower I added a Jewelry Tag with the “thanks so much” from Tiny Tags stamp set.  And finished the front panel with a piece of Very Vanilla Seam Binding that I tied in a bow.

I’ll be back tomorrow.

We all received a fabric organizer that matched our bags – with a tag signed by Shelli – plus a box of chocolates that were hand made by one of the Stampin’ Up! employees. Here is our gang at the Make&Takes.

All the Stampin’ Up! employees (well the girls) made their own aprons using the same fabric as our bags. Here I am with Carrie Cudney and Donna Griffith

After M&Ts were over we headed out to the Riverwalk for lunch and then visited the Alamo -oh look there we are with out bags – Becky and Diane are holding theirs.

After spending the afternoon at the Alamo – we hurried back so I could get ready to got to my first Manager’s Reception!  I received my promotion to manager this past year so this was the first time I qualified for this extra special evening of fun.  This year the event was held in the convention center so we didn’t have to travel anywhere – the show was in the Theatre -

Lily Cockrell Theatre

We started the evening with a mix and mingle in the lobby and they had waiters serving us Chinese inspired appetizers.  I spent the evening with my friend Pearl and later we met up with Patty and Cindee to see the show.  I also got to talk to Shelli for a few minutes and have a quick picture with her – although not a very good picture.

The show we saw was the Chinese Acrobats – here are a few pictures of their strength, flexibility, and balance.

That wraps up another day of my trip.

We took a nice little boat tour down the river as the sun was setting.

Linda, Michele, Monika, Diane, Fran, Becky

Later we went down to this restaurant and ate on the river – it was Casa something – I’ll have to go find the name.

That’s it for today.

Dreams to Plans Decor

This one is a printed page that was created in My Digital Studio and then we embellished with card stock, ribbon and flowers and some distressing ink.  It belongs in an 8×10 frame so that you can hang it on your wall.  I don’t have a frame for it yet.

Jar o Cards

This is the Jar o Cards – we did not get jars at the leadership conference but I happened to have a wide mouth mason jar at home.  The jar is supposed to have cards inside – here is the card -

Stick the cards and envelopes inside the jar and give as a gift to a hostess.  Pretty cute idea don’t you think?

Thanks box

This one was a fun idea – it is the Fancy Favor box on it’s side and then you make a slightly smaller box to slide inside of it.  Then a belly band to wrap around it.  Tuck a little treat inside and this could also be a hostess gift.

Wonderful You Scrapbook

This one is and 8×8 scrapbook page.  So imagine a picture in the middle of it.  I thought I would print a picture of myself – maybe one from Leadership if I can find a good one and put it on there.  The little tag on the right side is a place to write the date and/or place.  We had several projects that used skewers this time for little pennant flags.

I think that was it for the Leadership Make&Takes – as you can see there were a lot and it wasn’t meant for you to finish them all there.  Since I was a helper I had to make mine ahead and that means they are all finished – yeah!

Have a nice day – it is rainy here – a pretty yucky kind of day.  I’m finishing up scrapbook layouts for my class on Friday, then my downline meeting on Saturday night and I have workshops on Sunday night and Tuesday night.  Lots going on!  So if I don’t post don’t worry – I just ran out of time.  But I will try to get something up every day.  And if I don’t these last two posts had lots to look at and provide inspiration for you.  Bye for now.

This year the Leadership conference theme was “MY WAY” and the Make&Takes were included in that theme – I think there were a total of 9 projects – which was way more than you would be able to finish – but it allowed everyone to work on what they wanted and do it “their way”.

So here are pictures of some of the projects -

Daffodil Thanks Card for the Ronald McDonald House

Everyone at the tables I was helping completed this card.  Stampin’ Up! provided supplies to make two of this card so that one could be donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.  All the donated cards were collected in baskets and Stampin’ Up! will donate them.

Dream Gift Bag

The projects used the Mixed Bunch and Loving Thoughts stamp sets that every attending demo received at Leadership in their Make&Take bags.

Happiness Card

Most of the projects also used Blossom Builders Designer Printed Kit – it included double sided printed die-cut flowers and PINK Rhinestones. It is in the Occasions Mini Catalog on page 18.

Lucky Limeade Thanks Card

We also received a full package of Brights Designer Buttons, a full pack of Lucky Limeade Baker’s Twine and half a pack of Twitterpated Designer Series Paper and a full roll of Daffodil Delight Grosgrain ribbon.  We used some on our projects but had plenty left over to take home and use on other projects.

Wonderful Card

Those were most of the cards.  I think I have maybe one more plus some 3D projects to share on another day.

Oh and one more super exciting thing is at the Manager’s Reception I got to chat with Shelli Gardner (CEO and cofounder of Stampin’ Up!) and I was carrying around my Holiday Mini catalog (the one with my picture in it) so I could get her autograph and I did!!   There is so much more to tell you but I’ll have to spread it out over time or you might get tired of reading and miss something.  Let me share some pictures with you now that I rambled on about so much.

These are all my Leadership gifts/prizes/take home goodies!

How do you like our cute bag?  New fabric – coming soon!  At the Make&Take session the tables were set with a matching folio for everyone and a cute little box filled with homemade chocolates.  I’ll share more about Make&Takes on another day.

My two winning contest entries were these -

features Loving Thoughts stamp set

This is the Gnome Sweet Gnome stamp set - an 8x8 scrapbook page

Click  here for the post on the scrapbook page. I must not have posted the card yet so I’ll put up details later this week.

These are the lists of the contest winners - the "M's" are on the third page.

My friend Linda was also a winner - here we are together with our prizes.

It was a super fun trip – now I can’t wait for convention to get here!  I’ll have more to share with you this week and probably next week too – including some announcements from Stampin’ Up! that you won’t want to miss.  So stop by again and don’t forget to say hi!

Lots of new products on this one too.  I really like this card and plan to include it as part of my Card Maker’s Club class this week.  I used the Labels Collection Framelits – can you tell I like these framelits – I’ve been using them a lot.  The Labels Framelits match perfectly with the new stamp set Apothecary Art stamp set.  Making it quick to stamp and cut them out for your projects.  I used two sizes for this card. I also entered this card into the card contest – hopefully one of my entries will win.

Stampin’ Up! Supplies:

• Card stock:  Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
  
• Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Pool Party Stampin’ Write marker
  
• Stamp sets: Apothecary Art
  
• Accessories:  Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Labels Collection Framelits Dies, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Attic Boutique Designer Series paper, Pool Party Seam Binding, Basic Pearls, Stampin’ Sponge, Stampin’ Dimensionals

To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.

Here is my second Treat Wrapper swap -

This is another version of my little Recycled Paper Treat Bag – here is the original post with some instructions on how to make the bag.

I decorated this on for Valentines Day using some of the new fabric, the Hearts Framelits and the new Blushing Bride Smooch Spritz.  I smooched the paper bag before decorating it.  The smooch is really red inside the bottle and when you first spray it but it does dry lighter and leaves a shimmery pink.  It’s hard to see in the picture.  Inside these little bags I put little bags of Jelly Beans.   I wanted to make cookies using the Sweet Pressed Cookie stamps but I just didn’t have a chance to make any.

Stampin’ Up! Supplies:

• Card stock:  Riding Hood Red, Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Baja Breeze
  
• Ink: Riding Hood Red, Blushing Bride
  
• Stamp sets: Sweet Cake, Tiny Tags
  
• Accessories:  Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Scalloped Square Die, Hearts Collection Framelits Dies, Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit, CModern Label punch, Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Whisper White Baker’s Twine, Jewelry Tag punch, Twitterpated Designer Fabric, Basic Pearls, Blushing Bride Smooch Spritz, Crimper, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Packing Paper from SU orders

To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.

The little 1″ x 8″ skinny cello bags are still available – that is what I used for these treats – they are filled with candy – skittles and conversation hearts and then folded in half and tucked inside the folded tag from the two-tags die.

Stampin’ Up! Supplies for the Birthday Treat:

• Card stock:  Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
  
• Ink: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Peach Parfait, Wisteria Wonder, Pear Pizzazz, Pretty in Pink
  
• Stamp sets: Candy Conversations
  
• Accessories:  Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Two Tags die, Petal Cone die, Adorning Accents Embossing Folder, Small Heart Punch, Pretty in Pink 1/2″ Scallop Dots Ribbon, Sweet Shop Jelly Bean Brads, 1×8 Cello bag, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Stampin’ Up! Supplies for the Valentine Treat:

• Card stock:  Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White
  
• Ink: Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Early Espresso, Stampin’ Write markers – Melon Mambo, Early Espresso
  
• Stamp sets: Sweet Cake, Create a Cupcake
  
• Accessories:  Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Two Tags die, Stripes Embossing Folder, Cupcake Builder Punch, Modern Label Punch, Lucky Limeade Baker’s Twine, Old Olive 1/2″ Scallop Dots Ribbon, , 1×8 Cello bag, Stampin’ Dimensionals

To order Stampin’ Up! Supplies to make this project click here.

It’s my last night in Texas, I’m not sure what we are doing tonight – we’ll probably go out for dinner, share all of our swaps and pack our bags so we’ll be ready to leave in the morning.