INKin' All Night! with Rhonda

I'm moving!

Yep, it's that time, my blog is moving and I have about a weeks worth of posts already up there for you to read!  I was posting and wanting to get used to the new interface and how things work.  And I was waiting for my new custom domain name to get all linked up ... but I think I am ready for visitors

So check it out        Rhonda's blog is now 

   www.inkinallnight.com

Please change your reader to subscribe to the new blog address and if you subscribe by email, there's a link at the new site for you to join that way too!

Thanks and I really think that I'll be blogging more often as I'm finding it a bit easier to use -- which makes it quicker and that's a good thing!

For now, I believe this blog address will remain here with my old posts, as I have not yet figured out if or how I can import/export them to the new address.

Thanks and have a great day!
Rhonda

BOOTIFUL warm wishes

 

Hi

Well, it's not Monday and I missed posting yesterday!  I spent yesterday driving down to Tucson to pick up Nicole from U of A to head back up to Phoenix for a doctors appointment (her 3 mo surgery post op).  We grabbed a quick lunch to eat in the car on the way back down to Tucson.  Made a really quick stop, barely got a hug and then I was on the road again, stuck in the slowest moving traffic jam ... it finally opened up and eventually made it back to the house!  All said, I think I was gone close to 10 hours!  Seriously and it's really only about an hour and 45 minutes from our exit to her dorm ...

 

So for today, here's another project & a tip from my BOOTIFUL play date with Elizabeth!

 

 

 

This card was one of our last cards to make that day, as we both weren't in love with the holiday boot, but we combined several things from here and there and this is what we ended up with (and remember to make sure your envelope is cute too!).  New textured impressions embossing folder, framelit die cut for the red polka dots layer, and the white layer beneath the boot too, then the cool trick of adding a layer to it, new gumball green ribbon and tied off with some baker's twine and a tag --- oh and TONS of dazzling details glitter glue!  We stamped the boot actually 3 times, once on red polka dot dsp, then cut out boot section (not the top cloud puffy section or off to the side pom pom, and 2 times on white.  On one of the white layers you cut out everything, this becomes your base layer, then you piece your polka dot layer on, and then you add the very last layer of white which is the top puffy cloud and the little pom pom that is on the boot (polka dot side) - to bring the white glittery pom pom back to the top!

 

 

note: never mind the hole punches ... this is actually a picture for a tutorial that's coming up later for another project Here's a picture showing you how to create the layer around the framelit (which is the white layer), you simply measure and add a rectangle of choice color (gumball green) and then the 1" circle punch is added to each edge around the rounded part!  Tah-dah!!!  A perfect layer that is easy peasy!

Have a great day!  See you tomorrow!
Rhonda

 

It's Play Time!

Hi
I hope you are having a great weekend and getting to do some fun, creative things! One of my very dear friends Elizabeth called the other day and said, hey do you wanna come over and play?  Well, I said absolutely, see you in an hour ... I brought the stamp set BOOTIFUL OCCASIONS and some designer series papers, and off we went.

 Here's what we did!  I may spread it out over a few days but I will show you all of the projects because it was super fun!  We had each pulled some favorites from the web to get our own creative juices going, sometimes its fun to CASE (Copy And Share/Steal Everything) but more times, we start with a layout or color combination or just have a certain piece of the project that you like ...  so, thanks to the others that share their ideas online and I hope you can find some inspiration from our play date too!

Here's one of our personal favorite cards of the day!  It's not the first one we made, but we definitely were in our groove by the time we came to using the cowboy boot!  Here's the card and another angel so you can see the depth, we just kept adding more and more until we finally felt like it was complete!  We LOVE it, so I hope you do too!

 

 

 

We used the woodgrain textured embossing folder on the crumb cake layer, the red scallop was done using the large scallop edgelit, and the red polka dot lollie layer was created using the rosette die, the blue scallop ribbon layer was created using the BLUE RIBBON stamp set, and we added some Midnight Muse ribbon to the ribbon tails to give it just a bit more texture.  We stamped the boot and just colored in pieces and hand cut it out and added some twine to give us a lasso to complete the cowboy look.  

 

Thanks for stopping by and come back soon!
Rhonda

 

Fall Fest, the rest of the story!

Hi

Back again today to share with you the other projects that we made at Fall Fest!  I hope that you enjoy these and can be inspired to try them out for yourself!

We had a great day and I think this little guy was a big hit, a fan favorite of the day you might just say!  Sometimes people love 3D, sometimes not so much... it's always cute to have those little things but where do you put them all and what do you do with them (we hear this a lot) ...  well this little guy was LOVED by pretty much everyone that attended!

  


A clear glass ornament from any craft store and we used TWO of the 4x6 pieces of paper from the Festival of Prints designer series pack from the holiday mini catalog ... cut into 1/2" strips, curl and insert them until the ornament is full.  Do one pattern (you get two sides anyhow) or mix and match pieces for a different look.  This is the new Cotton Ribbon from the holiday mini catalog too, tied off with a simple greeting attached with a vintage pin, add some 1/8" taffeta ribbon and it's ready to hang on the tree!  And better yet, they fit perfectly in our Kraft Gift Boxes and lovely Tulle Ribbon!  We kept the box very simple, you could decorate or stamp it, add a tag!  Tah-dah, gift giving, simple, easy, adorable, duplicable and even functional! 
You could do these for any occasion really!!  Make a birthday one, Easter one, welcome baby ... oh my, I could just keep going! 

Okay, moving along ... we wanted to show another way to use our Kraft Gift Boxes.  For this one we left the box open and did not fold the top flap down, instead we left it up and supported to make it kind of a back drop for the gift going inside!  A set of fall themed notecards and envelopes.



  

These notecards feature the Howlstooth and Scaringbone designer series paper, the Perfectly Preserved Stamp Set and the coordinating Framelit dies, aw well as the Labels Collection framelits and Window Frames Collection framelits from the holiday mini catalog as well as the Cotton Ribbon which we simply cut in 1/2 and then frayed the edge!  Although somehow I don't have a picture of it, this gift ensemble was placed in one of our new Cellophane Gusset bags from the holiday mini and tied off with a large bow using the Cotton Ribbon.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the projects!  Come back tomorrow for something new!

Thanks,
Rhonda

Fall Fest in review...

Hi!

Today I am going to share with you the card projects that we made at my AZ INKers FALL FEST event which was held August 25th in the East Valley area of Phoenix ... if you live close by or are just looking for a great day of stamping and need an excuse to visit the great southwest, this is an open event - welcome to demonstrators and guests.  The next event will be SPRING FLING on February 24th, 2013 - email me for more information if you're interested!  Save the date!

One of the best parts of hosting these events is that I get to co-host with my downline member and dear friend Diana Gibbs.  For years I have been hosting events and stamp camps for customes and gosh, I can't even remember how many years its been now that I have been hosting events for my INKin' All Night! demonstrator team and my Adopted INKers team (my upline dropped and I've adopted them all) so that we could all stay connected.  I welcome other local demonstrators too, so holler if you're in the area and looking for a group to connect with.

Diana and I love doing these together and we make a pretty great team (if I do say so myself).  We balance each other out so well and we just plain get along, can take each other in large doses, and we love to create and stamp together ... and I get to do the math and all the computing that's required behind the scenes!

Our goal is to deliver an awesome day of fellowship, friendship, fun, and creative inspiration with projects that are fresh and showcase our wonderful Stampin' Up! products.  We want everyone that attends to feel spoiled with what they receive in their goodie bag and to enjoy all the make-n-takes too!  For our demonstrators we design the day so that they can break it down into smaller sections and recreate the day/projects for their customers in their own classes and camps.  And for our customers attending, we want them to be able to complete their projects and be inspired to duplicate the ideas at home in their own personal stamping too! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well that's probably enough blabbing and plenty of samples for you to enjoy today!  Tomorrow I will share with you the other projects that we made!

Stay tuned, stay stampin!

Hugs,
Rhonda

Fall is just around the corner!

Fall is just around the corner, and so am I! 

It has been a long break since I've been blogging and teaching my classes but I hope to be back!  I've been busy in the studio creating, organizing and cleaning things up and getting ready to open the doors! 

I have things to share with you, after all I did attend my 15th consecutive annual Stampin' Up! convention this past July ... so I'm sure that should give me some topic's and pics to blog!  And I did host my annual AZ INKers Fall Fest event in August too ... so there's plenty of projects to share from that too!  And I have been hosting my monthly INK'in All Night! team meetings for my downline too, so there's pics and swaps to share as well!  And yes, I have even had a play date or two just to get some fun stamping back in my 'bones' so to speak!  So, YES, there's plenty to share and definitely some blog posts to come! *note:  must force myself to write short posts daily*

To start off with I will share with you my swap card from my Sep team meeting, which was Monday. 

Stamps:    Toxic Treats (holiday mini)
Inks:          StazOn Jet Black, Tangerine Tango
Paper:       Whisper White, Basic Black, Neutrals DSP Basic Gray
Accessories:      Black/Gray Striped Ribbon (holiday mini), Paper Doily Lg Sizzlit, Labels Collection Framelits

The past year was a very busy one around here.  I won't bore you with the details of what kept me away but I will let you know that things are coming back to a nice normal routine and I'm ready to get Stampin' again with all of you!  Nicole is now a freshman attending the University of Arizona and lil' Rachel is no longer little, and she's a sophomore at Desert Vista High School. 

I hope you have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by and for not deleting me from your reader! 

 

Hugs
Rhonda

Inspiration all around

Hi!

One of the things I love the most about stamping in general is that ANYONE can be SUCCESSFUL at it!  There is inspriation all around us, everywhere we look! 

A couple of the things that I like to do when I am at a Stampin Up corporate event surrounded by plenty of inspriation is to look for NEW WAYS to do things, or new color combinations to try, new folds, new techniques.  Or search for samples from stamp sets that I own but haven't used enough yet. 

So first off today is a color combination that for some reason just made me HAPPY!  I loved this card, it just made me smile!  So "thanks" to whomever was swapping at Leadership and made this card.  It was on the 'clothes line of samples'.  This year instead of velcro'ng samples to huge display boards that require special lighting and fencing off so that the boards don't get bumped, etc as they are huge and could easily hurt someone ... this year SU did it a new way, had clothes lines hung up and you just 'pinned' your card to the line!  Which made it really easy to zoom in and capture a close up of the card (and I did some cropping at home too!). 

And this next picture is a little bit blurry but I earned this stamp set FREE and I wasn't sure it was my style or that I'd ever use it but there were some cute samples... so I may just have to give it a try!  Sorry this picture is a bit blurry but hopefully you can see through it to it's cuteness & fun happy color combo too!

Thanks and have a great weekend!
Rhonda

Couple of Favorites from Leadership

Hi

Today is all about the pretty stuff ... so here ya go!  I have TOO many pictures to sift through but here are a couple of my favorites from last week!

This picture is from a demonstration on main stage that my wonderful friend Donna Griffith (SU Staff) did using our new, soon to be announced ... SIMPLY SCORED DIAGONAL TOOL ... which I won as a door prize at the Regional event on Saturday!! Hot in my hands before you can get one!  So much fun!  Now we will be scoring in every direction!  You can get yours soon, pre-order for demonstrators is later in Feb (20th i think) and customers can order beginning Mar 1st (i believe).

This card & set of boxes feature products from the Occasions Mini Catalog .. the So Sweet Product Suite and the new Simply Scored Diagonal Tool!

And Donna led the SU Staff team in a new product HAPPY DANCE, here they are on stage 'a shufflin' ...it was so fun and the excitement in the air was Huge!



And this card features a quilted pattern, accomplished by using the postage stamp punch to create a bunch of squares using the new SAB Designer Series Paper, new Hat Pins, new Seam Binding Ribbon, new Buttons ... lots of fun new yummy embellishments!

Well, thanks for stopping by today and I hope you enjoyed a couple of my favorites!  I love that we have our own SU Version of the Diagonal Tool ... so many patterns will be so easy to create now!  And if you haven't fallen in love with the SAB Everyday Enchantment DSP & other coordinating accessories, once you see them, trust me you will be in love!  And you can earn them all for FREE!!

Have a great day!
Rhonda

 

 

Best part of Stampin' Up! is ... the friendships!

Hi!
Well, I was trying to decide what to include in today's blog post and I thought why don't I start with what I love the MOST about being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator! Sure, I joined almost 15 years ago because I was fairly new to stamping and I loved the craft, loved that SU! made it easy by selling most of their stamps in sets which takes out the hard part of figuring out what images coordinate. And of course, I joined because I wanted to save on every single purchase (still love that!) and I no longer needed to run all over town trying to find the ink that coordinated with paper I bought on sale somewhere else ... one stop shopping delivered to my door (important when toting a 3.5 & 0.5 yr old through those stores!).
I still enjoy ALL of this but what really is above and beyond merchandise is that because of being a part of this company I have met so many great friends, some I've known since I joined and I'm always meeting new people along the way.
After having attended a corporate sponsored event, you come home and realize that this company brought this goodness into my life. All the people, the hugs, the laughs until your belly hurts, the tears and true regret when you leave that you know you won't see some of these friends again until the next event. So today I am celebrating by sharing pictures of some of the highlights of my week!

First off, these gals are demonstrators in my INKin' All Night! team. I was happy to have downline to share this event with and for Jill, it was her very first leadership event! And who crazier to room with than one of my dearest downline friends, Diana.  Here they are at lunch one day!


And friends that I have met over the years and enjoy seeing each and every (ah-hem Sylvia) time I run into them at events!  I love her smile and hug ... EVERY single time we cross paths!


And we met up with Becky Roberts & Kim Sinclair, we enjoyed sitting with them during our general sessions.  Kim even visited us in Arizona last month ... lucky for us she has some relatives in AZ!

And each year you get the chance to meet new people too!  Sometimes it people who are with other people you know, sometimes it's people you've chatted with online, or maybe stalked their blog for creative inspiration.  But there's always new people and you just come home with more & more stamping friends!  Here is Kim & I getting our picture taken with Angie Juda ... it was fun meeting her and getting to know her better.


And this is Natasha ... one of my new BFF's!  We just met and got along very well.  Fun & playful, we pretended we'd been friends for years (years in dog minutes maybe! ha).

And one night we happened to be in the right place at the right time, and got included to join my upline, Tina Rosenkrans for an impromptu dinner gathering!  It was SO DELICIOUS I am not even kidding!  It was nice to get to see some of my sidelines (teammates of the same group) since they are based on the East Coast.  It's always fun to gather as a group.

And there are many more but I am trying to locate those pics... might be on my cell phone instead of my camera or perhaps another memory card.

But at any rate, I think it's a long enough post and I'm going to be back tomorrow with a couple of my favorite swaps or ideas that were shared!  So see you then!

Hugs, thanks for stopping by!
Rhonda

Sale-A-Bration is Here! FREE stuff is always fun!

One of my favorite times of the year, earning FREE products during Sale-A-Bration!  This annual promotion provides a wonderful opportunity for everyone to earn and enjoy FREE items whether you place an order, host a stampin' party, or sign up to become a demonstrator!  FREE for ALL!

If you would like to earn FREE products you may shop online at My Stampin' Up! Store 24/7 from the convenience of your own home and have it shipped right to your front door.  Super Easy!  Or you may call me at 602-570-7867 or email me at inkinallnight@cox.net and I would be very happy to help place your order for you.  You may view the SAB Brochure by clicking on the link in the right hand column.

I am also looking for hostesses that would like to earn items on their wish list for FREE!  I have been doing more classes, camps and clubs the past couple of years but I would really like to also add a few workshops to my calendar this year too!  If you are interested in hosting a stampin' party, where you gather a few friends and family to share stamping with them, please call because I'd love to be your demonstrator!  Let's pick out your party date!  Hostesses really do earn a lot!


    You get your copy of the Idea Book & Catalog for FREE,
    You get to keep the projects that are demonstrated at your workshop for FREE,
    You & your friends get to make a card for FREE,
    You earn hostess dollars to spend on exclusive hostess items, main or mini catalog items
    You can also earn a 50%off coupon with a $400 workshop (50% off any item!!)

    You also earn special SAB benefits too like the designer Tote Bag with a $150 workshop
    You can earn the exclusive SAB Hostess Bundle with a $400 workshop

And if you have made it this far, thanks and read-on because it is a GREAT time to JOIN the family!  Join early during SAB because this year not only is the starter kit on sale for $125 (you save $50!) but you also receive your choice of a digital download or a package of designer series paper for FREE each month of 2012, starting in Jan through Dec.  Ask me for more information!

Thanks for stopping by and I "will" be back tomorrow with some fun samples!
Have a great day!
Rhonda