And the winner is....

CASSANDRA! Yay Cassandra.

Actually, Cassandra had little competition as she was the only comment that I got. I guess not many people read my blog... My counter says that people visit, but I guess they don't read. Oh well. I enjoy blogging the little that I do so I will continue to clutter up my little bit of cyberspace with my ramblings and stamping projects.

By the way, be prepared for Wednesday; the new Holiday Mini Catalog will be released. I am loving all the new products and stamp sets featured in this catalog. It will be a great holiday season.

Happy Stampin'
~Carmelita

A Personal Best (and trying out a thing called Blog Candy)

A few days ago I realized that I have posted 35 blog entries this year. This is 2 more than I posted last year and the most I have ever posted since having a blog. I think this is pretty cool! I know there are some hardcore bloggers out there that can post 35 entries in one month, but I'm still proud of my achievement.

So to celebrate my personal achievement, I'm going to offer some blog candy. What's that? Well, it's free stuff for you just for reading and commenting on my blog. Leave a comment to this post letting me know what your favorite stamp set is in the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog and you will be entered in a drawing for a pack of 6x6 Patterns Pack of paper, a package of handmade Floral Fusion embellishments, and a Stampin' Up! Marina Mist pen (see photo at the top of this entry). Make sure to not leave an anonymous comment as I will not be able to know who you are and enter you in the drawing. Unfortunately, I have to limit entrants to those of you who live in the United States.

Leave your comment by August 27, and I will post on August 28 the lucky winner.

Looking forward to hearing what your favorite stamps sets are and giving some lucky reader some free stuff!

~Cita

My Stampin' Up! Story

Last month, I joined a Stampin' Up! demonstrator training program called Recruit Crew. Basically, it's a training program that teaches us the skills and helps us build confidence on recruiting demonstrators. Recruit Crew is divided up into two-week modules, requiring us to complete a set of challenges during each module. One of the challenges in both the first and second modules require us to write and share our personal Stampin' Up! story. If you "Like" my Facebook fan page, you may have already read my Stampin' Up! story, but I thought I'd share it with you here on my blog.

When I was 15, my mom bought me my first scrapbooking kit. Because of that kit, I fell in love with scrapbooking; furthermore, I fell in love with papercrafting. Fast forward several years, and I’m convinced to go to a function at my church where we hand-stamped Christmas cards. Having never stamped in my papercrafting endeavors, I was intrigued and excited about how stamps could possibly enhance my scrapbooks. I went home that night and told my husband that I had a new hobby – stamping.

It wasn’t until the next year that I really did anything with my newly declared hobby. I attended my first Stampin’ Up! event that summer, which was a Stamping 101 class, met my upline, Amber, and was just amazed at how fast I developed my hobby. The more I stamped the more I craved to know more and stamp more. Within six months, because of Stampin’ Up!, I had learned some amazing stamping techniques, acquired the basic supplies (stamps, paper, and ink) to make projects, and joined Stampin’ Up! as a demonstrator. I was drawn in specifically by 1) the discount you receive as a demonstrator, and 2) the endless resources Stampin’ Up! offers to learn different stamping techniques and get ideas for my own personal projects. I don’t know how many technique videos I have watched, and each month I wait anxiously for my copy of Stampin’ Success, the magazine you get when you become a demonstrator. I am amazed at how much I have grown as a stamper because of Stampin’ Up!, and I love how well stamping complements scrapbooking. Since joining SU! I have done loads of scrapbooking, met wonderful people, formed unexpected friendships, made some amazing paper projects that I never thought I would be able to make, and now have a reason and an inspiration to continue stamping and scrapbooking.

In other words...I Heart Stamping. :)

~Cita

PS - You can follow me on Facebook or Twitter

The Joys of Butterflies

Recently, I mentioned that Sybella's nursery theme is monkeys and butterflies, which is great because Stampin' Up! Decor Elements have both of these. There was a perfect place right above Sybella's changing table that was perfect for the Flutter Decor Element in Rose Red. It was a lot of fun putting the Decor Elements on the wall, and once all the little butterflies were up, I thought it was a perfect fit for the room. One thing I did not expect was that Sybella would be fascinated by the butterflies. There are times when she is laying on the changing table and will stare at the bright butterflies. Sometimes she will even reach out to them.

Here was the work in progress. Honestly, it took me several weeks to get all the butterflies up, but it really shouldn't take you as long (unless you have a newborn, then maybe it will take you several weeks). I'm not exactly sure how other people put these up, but I taped the butterflies up in the positions I wanted them before I applied the Decor Elements to the wall.



Here is a close-up of the butterflies on the wall. I love how Rose Red looks with the green color on the wall. (I can't remember what the actual color of the paint was, but it reminds me of Certainly Celery :) )



And here's the diaper changing area in action. Bella Bug just got her diaper changed and is admiring the butterflies. She's such a cutie. :)

I'm looking forward to purchasing more Decor Elements and placing them around our house. Hopefully now that Bella Bug is 6 months old it won't take me weeks to put up.

~Cita

EXTRA! EXTRA! Extra Hostess Benefits

Here's some good news: host a workshop with me by August 31 and get $25 extra in hostess benefits (aka FREE Stampin' Up! merchandise), starting with a $350 workshop.

This extra benefit is included along with the standard hostess benefits you receive when you host a workshop. The standard hostess benefits include

• A free 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog worth $9.95!
• Free stamp sets only available to hostesses (with qualifying orders; select from the products on pages 10-16 of the Idea Book & Catalog)!
• Free Stampin' Up! products of your choice!

Click here for the Extra Extra Hostess Benefits brochure or click here for the hostess benefits chart.

Interested in this awesome opportunity? Host a workshop! It's really easy and lots of fun. Contact me for more information or to book your workshop.

~Cita

Saying Thanks

In April, I went and visited my midwife for the last time. It was a little emotional because I had been seeing her for almost a year and had grown to really like her. She was an amazing midwife and if (IF) I ever get pregnant again, I'm going to go to her again. To show my gratitude, I decided to make her a box full of chocolate.

I absolutely love this origami box. Once I made it, it's quite easy. It looks more complicated than what it really is. I first saw this origami box on the Stampin' Up! demo website (a perk for being a demo), but it was Kathleen Hopperstad that had an awesome tutorial that I followed.
This is the outside of the box in it's closed form. I secured the box closed with ribbon by securing it with velcro. This way after the box is opened, it can be re-secured by attaching it to the velcro. I used the Big Shot and Upsy Daisy die to make the pretty flower.
Here is the box opened. Like I said, it looks a lot more complicated than what it really is. There are four rows of six decorated Hershey Nuggets.

Here's the top view into the box. I used the Jewelry Tag Medium punch to cut out the sentiments from the Tiny Tags stamp set.

Here's the matching note card that accompanied the origami box of chocolates. I love the versatility of the Scallop trim corner punch. You can use it in conjunction with the Scallop Trim Border punch to create a seamless scallop border, or you can use it alone, such as I did here, to give a simple square a little pizzazz.

My midwife seemed to like her present, and I hope you enjoy it as well. Give this origami box a try. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to make and how quick you can make these boxes once you get the hang of it. If you try it out, let me know how it goes.

Happy Stampin'

~Cita