INKin' All Night! with Rhonda

INKin' All Night! Gathering ... fun times!

Hi!

Last night we had our annual December Dinner Out team gathering!  Each year we always go out for a nice dinner as our 'meeting'.  We do a regular themed swap of course and we have an optional secret stamper gift exchange.  The basics of the meeting have been the same for gosh 13 years now - remember when we fit at one booth and I think there were only 3-4 of us!  It's a great night, it's not often that us moms and women treat ourselves to one night with friends for a few hours ... just being social, eating out, no fuss, no mess...    I don't think I will ever change this meeting idea up!  I always enjoy it so we will see!

It was sad that not as many INKers were able to join us as usual but we had a great time with those that were able to be there!  We had yummy food, a holiday beverage, maybe a bite or two of dessert even!

For the optional gift exchange, we switched things up when the economy got so tight to making the exchange gift be "Just 3 Cards" ... simple enough for everyone to participate, nothing too financial about it ... and it's just perfect with what we do best --- stamp, right!  So the idea is that it needs to be hand stamped by you  for someone else.  3 full cards and envelopes, packaged cute, that's basically the premise!  They can be 3 different cards completely, 3 from the same set so a nice sampling, or 3 of the same card as a gift set... anyhow, just 3 of something new that weren't leftovers from a prior meeting swap, etc.  We draw numbers to see who goes 1st, then 2nd, etc... and we play it white elephant style where they can be stolen and then the third owner is the keeper!  It's always fun to see if we are just gonna be polite or if we are going to mix things up and start stealing this or that ...

Anyhow, here are the pictures from last night and the optional gift exchanges.  I missed getting a picture of a couple of the packages --- WHICH by the way is almost more important than what's inside!  Hello, I had to grab a quick grab and go from my shelf to package mine last night and let's just say mine was the last one on the table ... so remember gals, package it up cute is one lesson and the second lesson is that you can't always judge a book by its cover!  hahahahahaahaa.

Oh, grab your coffee or soda, tea, water, martini or whatever cause this might get a bit long!  Click on any picture to make them larger!

Cards by Diana ... which I received 
I  will have to take a picture later of the packaging (camera battery is dead right now)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 









Cards by Elizabeth which went home with Jan

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 









Cards by Ellen which went home with Sheryl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 










Cards by Jan which went home with Diana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well this is getting a bit long and I'm nervous about it saving, so I'm going to publish this part and then come back and do the rest!

Thanks for popping by and see you later too!
Rhonda

 

3D projects from our event

Hello!

Hope you are all having a great week!  Enjoying some chillier weather here in Phoenix, so it's been a nice change to actually feel like real crisp fall weather!  We can legitimately break out the sweaters, sweatpants and slippers!  Even if it's only in the 40's, that's pretty darn chilly for us peeps that are used to 100-115's. 

Here are the last few projects that we did at our SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER event.  These are the 3D items.  CLICK on any project to view it larger if you want.

This first one is so practical!  It can be used in several different ways.  First off, it uses the TWO TAGS die and you use two of the same tag, layered up to create this little fold over pouch type item.  You can put some candy in it and it makes a lovely treat to sit on someone's desk, a quick thank you, a nice favor piece, or you could roll your napkin up and use it as a napkin ring and add a tag to make it a place card thing-y too!

 

This lovely guy is so fun and cute!  It's a calendar to stick on your fridge or wall in your office.  It's got magnet on the back (yes, we sell magnet sheets now!) and the little calendars are the medium size from vippies, found online.  LOVE the combination of all the punches!  The round circle, scallop circle, bird punch for the leaf branch and the new owl punch for our handsome little focal point!  It also uses the Square Scallop Duo Die too, folded like we did the other day on one of the tags but this time it is laid flat out to extend the length of the scallop.

 

This next project is so stinking cute!  It's a corner bookmark to help you keep your place in style!  The bling doesnt show up well in the photo but it's so precious in real life.  A wonderful gift for any friend that loves to read. Change it up and they're great for kids too!  Everyone is looking for home made gifts these days and a favorite book and book mark would be awesome!

 

This next project is a spin on one of the make-n-takes that we did at convention this year.  This is the front of the "card wallet".  Paper roses, punches, laces, pearls ... embossing ... so YUMMY!

 

this is the inside, it's all one big pocket but it looks like an opening on the left & right

 

and here's what you can tuck inside .. gift cards and envelopes.  perfect for anyone that needs cards on hand to say happy birthday, thank you or to use as a gift card tucked in a package.

 

Well I hope you enjoyed the projects!  I think I have shown you all of them but if not, I will certainly upload anything else I find!

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon,
Hugs
Rhonda 

Event Projects

Hi

Well I wanted to be sure to make good on the promise to upload the pictures of the projects that we made at our SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER event.  So here they are! 

All of the attendees received the Love Letter DSP, Vintage Brads, Both of the new Lace Ribbons, New Rhinestone Bling and Pearls, Paper Daisies, and all projects precut and sorted ready to assemble!

 

This is a small 4" square box (available online or craft store) that we decorated and it was intended to hold the following gift tags.  This would make a great gift!  Click on ANY IMAGE to view it larger!

This tag uses the new Scallop Square Duo die with one edge folded to make a small tag that opens... 

complete with glass glitter, amazing in person!

 

 

 

Many of our tags also used the Two Tag die 

paper daisies, new decorative label punch, rhinestones and a vintage brad

 

 

 

 

 

 

This tag also used the Two Tags die, the ribbon trim border punch, the lace and vintage trinkets (pin) and circle tags.

 

 

 

 

This tag uses the Scallop Circles #2 die, the circle punch, the full heart punch, the heart embosslit, tiny tags punch and set, vintage trinkets and pearls!

 

 

 

 

This tag uses the scallop-y tag from the Two Tags die, the scallop circle punch, tiny tags punch and set, vintage brads, lace and 1/8" taffeta ribbon too!

 

 

 

and for the last of the six tags, it also uses the Two Tags die, trimmed shorter at the bottom edge.

the beautiful flower is the paper daisies died with reinker & water, amazingly beautiful.  so rich and elegant looking with the wide black satin ribbon, the vintage brad, the pearls ... just screams yummy!

 

 

So there are the first of your projects!  I want to hit save & publish before I lose this post, it always amazes me how long it takes to actually type a blog post!

Come back for more!
Rhonda

Dark & Dreary, gotta have it!

Hello!!

Well the new HOLIDAY Mini Catalog is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite mini catalogs!  There are just so many things that I love that are in this mini!  I tried to control myself with my initial pre-order purchase (fun perk as a demonstrator, we get to order 1 mo early to play before the catalog goes live!) and geeeeesh, now I am totally not happy that I didn't order enough the 1st time!  That'll teach me to have self control... I want it all and I want it now!  It's really okay but in the past month I have been pushed over the want to need for several stamp sets!

Dark & Dreary is one of those!  Featured on page 7 of the Holiday Mini, it kind of looked a little dark at first for me, so I skipped it.  But I have seen a ZILLION (yes, really) things stamped with it and I truly LOVE them all!  Here are a few to tempt your tastebuds too!

Dark & Dreary, # 120837, $19.95, wood mount & #121151, $14.95, clear mount (set of 5  images) and coordinating Designer Series Paper, Nite Owl, #123012, $9.95, 12 sheets of 2-sided 12x12 paper.

 
swapped at our Shoe Box Swap by Melissa

 
 swapped at our Shoe Box Swap by Diana

 
swapped at our Shoe Box Swap by Dale

 
swapped at our Shoe Box Swap by Marlene

 
swapped by Lucinda -- part of my Holiday Mini Swap

 
swapped by Theresa -- part of my Holiday Mini Swap

Thanks to all of these marvelous stampers for making me NEED this stamp set.  From grungy to glitter, lace and rhinestones, seriously this set can do it all!

If you do not have a regular demonstrator that you work with, I would be happy to help you. 
You can order online at anytime via my website by clicking on the SHOP NOW button at   http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/rhondamorgan/catalogs

Have a great stamping day!  Thanks for stopping by!
Rhonda


Bonus Card for my swappers!

Hi!

Welcome back friends and fellow stamping enthusiasts! 

I've been busy stamping and unfortunately there a couple things I can't show you just yet -  as they are for our upcoming SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER annual all day stamping event!  So those of you that live in the Phoenix East Valley area, please email me << inkinallnight@cox.net >> if you are interested in a fun filled stamping day!  We have limited seating and are already 70% full!  The date is Saturday, September 18th from 9a - 4p and is open to demonstrators and guests, available to any skill level!  I met with my girls Diana and Marlene on Monday and all I can tell you is WOWZA, we each worked on designs and we were each like Oh, then the next one AH, and then WOW, and we can hardly wait to show them to you BUT we don't want to spoil the surprise for those that are attending!  I promise you will see everything after the event!

I also stamped and created my swap card for a Holiday Mini Catalog swap that I joined ... but I failed to take a picture of my swap card before I sent it off.  So I'll just have to show you that card in a week or so when I get them back!  sorry!

I also spent a day crafting with my good friend Mary's daughter (my daughter #3 as we call her) as she is getting ready to head off to NAU for college and she wanted to have some personalized items to decorate her dorm room.  We made a custom bulletin board and coordinating file folders and stuff to go with the colors of her new bedding.  I can hardly believe she is in college ... but as she is daughter #3, lucky for me I don't have to pay for her tuition since she's really only mine in our hearts!  And par for the week, NOPE I totally forgot to take a picture of her stuff either!

And my dear friend Debbie (hey there!!) came over Friday morning and we were going to stamp together since she is finally retired from the schools now!  We've been "gonna stamp" for years ... yeah right!  Well she came over and we got her going on her swap card (for the swap I'm hosting) but I didn't seem to be too productive that morning.  But I did play with an idea for my bonus card --- but scratched that idea in the end and then started playing with ideas for my upcoming TEAM Shoe Box Swap that's in a week but didn't get it quite finished just yet.  You'll see it sometime soon though!!

But I can show you what I have been working on today!  I host a Mini Catalog Swap for my "INKin' All Night!" demonstrator team and my "Adopted INKers" demonstrator team and each time I offer a BONUS CARD for those that join that get their swap cards in a week before the due date!  So those that get their cards to my little o house (in the desert) by tonight will recieve this card from me!

Supplies:

new HOLIDAY MINI stamp set:  Frech Foliage & Falling Leaves from the main IB&C for the greeting

inks are: Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso & Marina Mist  (color combo from the new Color Coach)

Direct to Paper & Collage Style Stamping on the main card panel which is Very Vanilla
 
Wheeling (leaves w/ the Texture Jumbo Wheel) and die cut with Big Shot and Leaves #2 die

Texturz Plate on the Top Espresso Panel and the flip side of the plate on the Cajun Leaves

Build A Brads with the 1/2" cirlce punch

The tag is from the SU Sizzlit Lots of Tags set

Ribbons are the 3/8" Vanilla & 1/8" Espresso Taffeta

The giant scallop border is from the new XL Trim die

 

And here are a couple of other shots for you ... just playing around to see if you can see the detail in the leaves with the close up shot ...

 

and trying to get a shot of the build a brad which seem to get over looked too often!

Anyhow!!  Hope you enjoy the swap card and have a great day stamping!

Hugs,
Rhonda

Swap Shares!

Hi

I had a team meeting last night for my INKin' All Night! demonstrator group and we had a very nice (small) gathering.  Each month there is a meeting swap and this months theme was Anything Spring and here are the cards that were swapped ... and darn it Dana, I completely forgot to get a picture of your cute little cupcakes!

Swapper:  Rhonda

Stamps: Flower Fancy, Wonderful Favorites

Inks: StazOn Jet Black,
Markers: Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie and Certainly Celery

Paper: Whisper White, Apricot Appeal, and Certainly Celery

Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Details Texturz Plate, 2-way Glue, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon

Swapper:  Elizabeth 

Stamps: Thank You Kindly

Inks:  Chocolate Chip & marker in Color Spritzer Tool

Paper:  Whisper White, Summer Sun, Choc Chip, Old Olive & a Starbucks wrapper punched too!

Accessories: Choc Chip Satin Ribbon, Polka Dot Textured Impressions Folder & Big Shot, Oval Punch and Crimper, XL Fancy Flower Punch, 3/4" circle punch, Scallop border punch, Modern Label Punch

Swapper:  Monica

Stamps:  Awash with Flowers (NEW)

Inks: Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, Pixie Pink

Paper:  Apricot Appeal, Bashful Blue, Whisper White

Accessories: 1/4" Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Big Shot and Polka Dot Text Impressions Folder

Swapper:  Lynda

Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers

Inks: Certainly Celery and Brocade Blue 

Paper: Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, Whisper White

Accessories: Certainly Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Sponge Dauber and Color Spritzer Tool

Swapper:  Lori

Stamps: Awash with Flowers, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Old Olive

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP

Accessories: Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Big Shot and Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Folder 

And this month we had a small enough group that I decided to have a Make-n-Take for them to do!  Here it is, it's a CASE from a feature that I saw in a downline newsletter publication (published by www.craftyperson.com and www.stampingschool.com - contact them directly for more information about the services they offer). 

What was fun about this little gem is that it made me pull out my Stampin' Pastels, Aqua Painter and a few Stampin' Markers too!  I knew that you could do the watercoloring with the aqua painter and the markers ... and I knew that you could do the color wash BUT I had never tried it with the pastels! 

 

Thanks and I hope you have a great day!  Thanks to everyone that was able to attend and I hope to see you again next month too!  Happy Stamping!

Hugs,
Rhonda
 

The skies are CLEAR ...

The skies are clear today and so is something else!  Todays card features CLEAR CARDSTOCK, commonly referred to as acetate, window sheet, transparency, etc... and there's something really fun about stamping on it!  If you haven't tried it, you need to get it out and play!  Just remember to stamp straight down and straight up!  I let my stamping air dry while I worked on other elements of the card.

This card was inspired by Caro

I adjusted it to a standard size card and
added the black layer of cardstock as well.

  A little trick about making transparent cards is to attach a layer to the outside of the card front and then add the additional layer to the inside - this way none of the adhesive shows through!  You just line up the layers so that when your card is closed (flat) that all of the layers are in the same position so to speak (so they are lined up, stacked, etc... hidden all behind each other) ... hope that makes sense!

Supplies:
Fifth Avenue Floral & Teeny Tiny Wishes
Window Sheets (Medium) , Basic Black, Kraft, Whisper White and Real Red cardstock
White StazOn Ink & Basic Black ink
Scallop Trim Border Punch, Beautiful Wings Embosslit (and Big Shot Machine)
Real Red Polka Dot Ribbon
Clear Rhinestone Brads

Hope you have CLEAR skies and a wonderful day!  Thanks for checking back and hope that you will go dig out your "window sheets" and give it a try!

Hugs!
Rhonda

Spring Fling Showcase!

We had our annual Spring Fling "AZ INKers" event yesterday and we had 60 guests attend, it was a really great time!  Diana and I cohost these events for our own local teams and our fellow sideline demo's and open it to other local demos and to customers!  It's a great way for us to stay connected and everyone loves to come out and play!  We challenge ourselves to give every penny of the registration fee back to our guests in their goodie bags and projects as well as to never repeat a project -- so far year after year I don't think you've ever done the same thing twice! 

We arrived early and got all set up but I forgot to get a picture of the room before everyone started arriving .. it was so pretty to see the ballroom all decorated wtih the black table cloths, their nice clean white grid sheets, and to top it off a-to-die-for cute little Sweet Pea Reusable Tote bag sitting at all of their spaces!  So next time, I'll try to snag a picture of the calm before the storm!  But here's a picture of the bags, all packed and ready to go!  Because of my knee surgery and not being able to lift things yet, we took all of our supplies out to Di's house and decided to bag them their, thinking they'd fit in her truck the day of... well you know when it fits in a box somehow when you open the box, the contents double and can never go back in the box... well this is about 20+ bags, we had 60 ... needless to say they didnt fit all in one car!  Actually 3 trucks!! 

These are the projects that they got to make yesterday!  They started off with this Decor Elements Block and turned it into a cute memo cube or photo holder.  It uses the SAB Welcome Neighbor (free) designers series paper (that they all recieved) in the Melon Mambo color with hearts and then a few patterns that were used with the Big Shot Daisies #2 die and some "melon mambo" polka dot clips that Di and I found months ago on one of our shopping excursions... well we finally decided exactly what to do with them!  And we had just enough too, maybe 2 to spare!  They were clearance a long time ago so sorry, don't think you'll find them anywhere now.  But you can make your own by buying standard ones and covering them with our dsp!

 
You can decorate the sides any way that you want, the clip can hold a photo or calendar, special note or reminder ...  and one of the gals at the event shared a great tip!  Use the stretchy cord that we carry at holiday time to go around the block using mini glue dots to tack it in the top corners on each side... and then you can use the mini library clips to attach something to each side and your pics can be rotated or changed however often, or the months if you have little calender squares!  Great idea!!

The leaves were made by punching a 1-3/8" circle and then repunching to get the leaf shape!

To coordinate with the cube we made this Top Note Desktop Organizer, which was inspired by Tammy at www.funpapercandy.com ... we modified a couple of dimensions but followed her tutorial!  This uses paper from the SAB Welcome Neighbor DSP and Sweet Pea Felt Flowers and Pink Epoxy Brads!  The drawer can fit the 4"x4" post it notes perfectly!

 

To finish out this desk set ensemble, we decided to stamp on one of our new Clear Acrylic Blocks (size B) and make it be a decorative paper weight!  We used the NEW stamp set we received at Leadership from Shelli, which will be available soon in the upcoming Summer Mini catalog!  Elements of Style is the name of the stamp set and we used white StazOn ink, then let it air dry and finish it off with white ribbon!  You are actually looking through the block, so you need to use an image that works either way (not letters).

One of the other fun projects that we did was the Coffee Wrap Holders that we've seen everywhere!  After leadership it seems that fabric in the Big Shot was all the rage ... well when we stumbled across the designs that were shared at www.cardalacarte.com, we knew it would be perfect!  We went with dark chocolate wool felt which we purchased by the bolt.  We simply traced a coffee wrap from Starbucks and used my rotary fabric cutter tool to cut them out!  A simple stitch around the edges and then they were ready for them to decorate!  We did decide to use a felt glue as it provides a really secure hold. They decorated with their Sweet Pea Felt Flowers and Pink Epoxy Brads!

And we always try to include projects that can be duplicated in your personal stamping or in a class or camp, this way the demo's that come to our events can also use it in their own businesses with their customers!  So I came across an absolutely stunning card packet at www.gettincrafty.typepad.com and it was using full size cards but I wanted to use something smaller ... so she inspired me to sit down and "make my own" ... what?  well why not, right?  So on one of our design play dates at Di's house, I sat and did my math thing while she played with some design stuff... then we brought it all together.  Then we had to do a re-do when the Beautiful Wings Embosslit went on backorder (way too popular I guess!!) and ... tah-dah here is our final design that we came up with together and this is what they made at Spring Fling with the Shades of Spring DSP, Notecards & Envelopes, SAB Scallop Trim border punch, coordinating Scallop Trim corner punch, Pink Epoxy Brads and the Beautiful Butterflies BigZ die and Sweet Pea Felt Flowers!  We call it our Butterfly Book of Cards!

 

We also were a little over zealous in our designing and we actually planned for 1 more project than our actual time allowed... so this Heart and Home Decorative Banner became an at HOME project!  Most seemed happy to have the project and I'm sure they'll easily be able to do it at home!  This features the Heart Chipboard Book, Serif Essentials Alphabet Die, Shades of Spring DSP, Sweet Pea Felt Flowers and Chocolate Striped Grosgrain ribbon ... a little bit of Hot Glue.

 

One last cute little project to share with you is a picture of the Thank You Gift we provided to our Workshop Wow presenters!  Diana made these up at her house while I was busy working on computer files on my end... They are just adorable!!  Scrunched ribbon band and Sweet Pea Felt Flowers all finished off with an adorable tag! 

And I will have to post later some people pictures from the day!  But for now I need to return to mommy duties as my youngest is having friends over for a Spring Break Sleepover!  Big sister is off to Mexico with a long time friend, so little sister has the run of the house and all of my attention!  <once i can free myself from this never ending post, are you still reading?>

I would like to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH to each of you that came, that you trust us to put a great day together for you!  That means a lot and it is really personally rewarding to me when I get to see you and spend the day crafting together!  I love seeing all of your smiles, getting and giving hugs and the joys, laughs and mishaps that always seem to happen (ah-hem... can you say name tags).

Special Shout Outs:
Thank you to Barbara, Marlene, and Kimberly for bringing displays!  Everyone enjoyed them very much!
Thank you to Dana, Elizabeth and Marlene for presenting Workshop Wow Demonstrations!  They were awesome!
Thank you to Pat who met us in the morning and to Sharon D for helping when you arrived too!
Thanks to Julie, Angie, Marlene, Jen and everyone else that stayed to the end and helped us clean up in record time!  From everything to helping fold table cloths, to packing supplies, to carrying things to our cars...  
And if I missed anyone I sincerely apologize, it's truly by accident!  Thanks again to ALL of you for a fabulous day!

And to Rute -- you stinker, you bought me lunch!  wink and a hug!

And to my counter part in crime and wonderful downline, Diana Gibbs ... I love ya!  Cheers to you baby for another wonderful event together!

Hugs,
Rhonda

More Rag Purses!

Hi

I had several people email or ask questions about the Rag Purses we made.  I will try to answer questions and give a couple of links, the ones that we used for tutorial help as well as inspriation.

So the other day I decided that while my machine was out, I would "whip" up another of my pre-cut sitting over there in that pile of stuff purses...! It went much faster than the 1st, since I was all "super" experienced by now!  HA!  I did have a little problem with my machine tension and had to call home just once to my Mom and Dad (he used to run the Service Dept for a major sewing machine/quilter store in Michigan) ... so they both were happy to know I was actually using my machine alone... typically doesn't get dusted off again until they come back to town!

<< for some reason the handles have fallen to the back and you can't really see them, but YES it does have handles... >>

 

And here are pictures of Rachel's bag that she made ALL on HER OWN, she did all of it by herself except for the velcro that they chose to use on the handles, so it could be easily taken on and off her bike.  Not bad for a 12 year old that has never sewn before!  She had so much fun picking out the fabric.  Her bike is a lighter shade of purple, so that was her starting point and yellow is her favorite color and then she just really like the polka dots for the inside.  So here it is!

And here is the finished bag that she made with the help from Grandma 

The links to the places that we used are as follows!  Hopefully their video and tutorials will be all that you need to make one yourself!  Of course if you have a specific question then feel free to post a comment and I'll try to answer as best I can!

http://stampwithkriss.com/my-big-shot-rag-purse

And the funny part about the link to her site is that I already had all of my Black and White fabrics purchased from after convention when I was going to make Shelli's flower pins... but hadn't gotten around to it yet, so instead decided to use them on the purse and just bought fabric for my inside!

http://songofmyheartstampers.typepad.com/song_of_my_heart_stampers/2010/01/page/2/

You need to go to January 19, 2010 and the purses are made by Jennifer Jones and they were just shown and explained on Lyssa's blog

http://www.chicnscratchlive.com/2009/11/rag-quilt-purse-video.html  has a video that you can either purchase or watch for free ... 

Frequent Q & A's
1) Where did you buy your fabric?  Joann's when it was on sale or with a coupon.  Off the bolt is way cheaper than the precut squares.

2) What seam allowance did you use?  We used either a 1/2" or 5/8", whatever my "red" line on my machine is!  On the handles we just moved the needle position to the right and sewed along even with the foot. (on each edge and if you wanted a quilted look, once down the middle)

3) What kind of batting did you use?  We bought it off the BOLT, way cheaper in price than the prepackaged option.  It was a medium - heavy weight (think it was originally ~$11 a yard) again used a 40-50% off coupon).  cut to 3.25" squares

4) How did you get yours so ruffle-y?  Do NOT WASH your fabric ahead of time.  Wait until you are all done, then it will fray nicely.  I cut about every 1/8" to make lots of cuts so it would fray up nicely.

 

Hope this helps and happy Big Shotting and Sewing!
Rhonda

 

Sneak Peek at Spring Fling!

Okay, well I am finally home again and meant to post each day but it seems that I went MIA for a couple of days!

I went to the Queen Creek Invitational Track  meet on Friday am (Yeah, DVHS Girls Track took first!) to watch Nicole run the 2 mile and then headed over to Diana's house (I think I got there about 11 AM) to work on preparing materials for our Spring Fling large group event.  Well we worked and worked and then next thing you know it was like 1:30 AM... so needless to say I was really tired and she was like you should just stay vs drive this late... so that's what I did.  When I woke up we thought, well if we just do this, then that project will be done... well it turned into a few minutes more on this and then we just need to do that and that one will be done, and so on and so on and then it was 5:30 PM when I left her house!!  I had been there almost 2 days!  So no blog posts for Friday or Saturday for me... 

So here's Friday, this is Nicole with Coach Cline and teammate Haley

 

And here's Saturday ... a little sneak peek of one of the projects they will all be making at Spring Fling!

 
 
Then on Sunday, Diana came over to my house to work on another phase of prepping, cutting and more... and we finally got pretty much everything done that needed to be done for the prep stage!  Now we will just have to meet up this week to bag everything up into each persons goodie bag!  We have such fun when working together!  We understand each other's craziness!!  We sing, we tap our feet, cracking up laughing and just chattering about everything and nothing at the same time.

For instance I am the "math thinker" and when we cut paper - we can read each others mind.  I'm going okay here's how many we can get if we cut it like this (blah blah blah is what Diana hears) ... and Diana smiles and says okay!  Just tell me what to do!  We are cutting and scoring and it's 1/16" or 1/8" and Diana is like, okay so the little dit past the thingy or the big dit past it, or wait was that two dits?  We just get along so well even with our differences, I really think thats part of what makes us work so well together!

Designing together is always fun!  She is such a fabulous stamper and so creative.  It's always fun to see where we start off, with what ideas we've each saved in our special little folders... then to see where we end up once our projects are all finished!  I definitely am a lucky girl to have her! 

So here's another sneak peek at a second project that they'll be making this Saturday at Spring Fling!

 
  
And since I spent all day yesterday finishing up some other things and didnt make time to stamp, I will share a third sneak peek with you!  This way you have a little picture posted for each day to help make up for me being absent online!!

 
  
Happy Hugs (there really shouldn't be any other kind should there)
Rhonda