Convention 2013 Swaps: Part 4

If you're wondering, I swapped between 40-50 cards at convention. 50 is my personal magic swaps number. I feel like 50 makes me feel like I came home with a lot, but doesn't kill me (or my roommates, in this year's case) making them. I talked to some demonstrators who prep hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of swaps for convention. Wow!!

Here's another round of convention swaps.

I'll once aging tout the simple, yet elegant card. Isn't this a beautiful card?

I like how this lady used the polka dot embossing folder. 

Convention was very special this year, but one of the things that I most appreciated and enjoyed was seeing and meeting all the demonstrators from the other side of the world participating in convention this year. These demonstrators earned an incentive trip to SLC for convention. I met demonstrators from the UK, Australia, and France. This swap was made from a lady in France. I feel privileged that she swapped with me. 

I need to make more "Get Well Cards." We received this set, Tag It, at convention this year.  

I. Love. This. Card. I forget constantly to buy this stamp set, but need to as I could put it to good use. I come from a family of car-aholics. I used to joke that my brothers bought and sold cards more than they changed their underwear (sorry for the bad analogy, but you get the point). They, along with my stepdad, love racing cars. I could make them amazing cards with this stamp set. And I could start with CASEing this card. 

I love the colors on this card. I like to avoid any type of yellows, but look how beautiful the Daffodil Delight is against the Not Quite Navy card base. 

This card is beautiful! I appreciate the lady who put all this effort into making this card and swapping with me.

This last batch completes all the card swaps I received at convention. The next post will feature the 3D swaps I received from people who so graciously swapped with me. 

Hope you enjoyed!

Happy Stampin'!

~Cita 

Convention 2013 Swaps: Part 3

I'm continuing posting the swaps I received during Convention in July. I love looking at these from time to time because they are so inspiring.

I love simple cards, and this definitely fits the bill. I also like the use of the Modern Medley DSP. 

I swoon over this card. I love the use of the Modern Medley DSP and the strips of Basic Black cardstock on the left. And the button to hold up the Chalk Talk tag is the perfect splash of color to this card. I'm hoping to CASE this card soon. 

Check out the background of stamped flowers. It's so subtle, but very eye-catching. 

Here's another lovely simple card. I love how this lady punched out a butterfly at the bottom of the Whisper White cardstock.

This is obviously not a simple card, but it's SO STINKIN' CUTE!! Doesn't the punch-art Santa Claus make you happy? It makes me happy, and I don't really like Santa Claus. 

I still have a few more swaps to share with you from convention. Check back soon!

Happy Stampin'!

~Cita 

Convention 2013 Swaps: Part 2

I think swapping is one of my favorite activities at convention. There are just so many talented ladies (and men) out there that inspire me through their swaps. I hope these swaps can inspire you too!

I. Love. This. Card. I love the tree. I love the polka dots that so subtly hint at snow. I love how the "Christmas" is stamped on the window sheet. I love the tree in the background. This is a great Christmas card. I may be CASEing this card for an upcoming class.

Here's another MDS hybrid card.

I love how this lady created the candles. Did you notice that each candle is a different 2013-2015 In-Color?

Here's another amazing butterfly card. I'm amazed at this yellow/gray color scheme that seems to be "in fashion" right now. Gray is starting to grow on me.

I will swap with anyone, even someone who only has a 3x3 card swap left. I'm glad I got one these swaps. Look how this lady punched a mosaic from the DSP and then added the window mosaic sheet in the background. How clever!

There's the second batch of my convention swaps. I have a few more to post, so check back soon to see  more. 

Happy Stampin'

~Cita 

Saying Goodbye: Moving Forward

I always think it's sad when I have a stamp set for months and months before I even open the case and put it together to use it. Moving Forward, the 2012-2013 Ronald McDonald House Charities stamp set, is one of those stamp sets. I received it at the 2012 Convention and I didn't touch it until May, when I found out it was retiring. As I prepped for my Saying Goodbye class, I decided to use this stamp set, and oh my, fell in love with it. It's such a cute and simple stamp set and so easy to use to make cute and simple cards, such as this one. This card is so easy to make and was one of the favorites among the Saying Goodbye class attendees. Pretty much everything is used on this card (except for the Whisper White Cardstock) is now retired, but the layout it such a simple, basic layout that you can use almost any stamp set with.

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

Convention 2013 Swaps: Part 1

I feel like my life has been a bit of a whirlwind for the last month and a half. I travelled most of July, and then have spent the last few weeks trying to catch up on all the things I didn't do. But now, I have things under control and have had a chance to reminisce and reflect on convention. So in the next few weeks I plan on posting about my convention experience, starting with swaps.

I had my swap all designed in June, but I didn't finish my swaps until Friday night of convention and only because my amazing roommates helped me get them done. I was surprised at how many people were still swapping on Saturday. Here's the first batch.

I have to admit, that out of all my swaps, this yellow and gray butterfly swap is my favorite. 

I was really excited to get a MDS hybrid swap. I also love the colors. 

Another great idea: using Mosaic Madness for Halloween cards. Never would have thought about that on my own.

 This swap is beautiful. It reminds me of the ocean.

Santa Claus!!!

I love the simplicity of this swap; however it's still beautiful. You can change the monogram letter and make these for your friends as little gifts.

 The lady who gave me this swap warned me that this swap contained retired stamps, but really, I didn't care. This is such a beautiful card. I love how she created the sun and the background. I'm temped to frame this swap and use it as a decoration in my house.

There's the first batch of swaps. Hope you enjoyed. Check back soon for another batch of convention swaps.

Happy Stampin',
~Cita

The Return of My Digital Studio

My Digital Studio (MDS) never really went anywhere. In fact as time progresses, Stampin' Up! makes it better and better. I've been a believer of MDS since the beginning, but unfortunately my MDS time was scarce because it was not running well on my computer. This was my computer's fault, not the software. Well, last week I got a new computer and, oh my!, what a difference a brand new computer makes. MDS is running amazingly on my new lappy and I'm falling in love with the program all over again.

The above layout if the first one made on my new computer. It went so fast and I was inspired by participating in an online challenge. This week, I made sure to focus on punches and included two different punches on my page. The circle picture is actually a circle punch that I inserted a picture into. I also played with the stamp coloring tool.

I'm also a huge fan of grouping. I group in all sorts of programs and love this feature. Last week, Stampin' Up! released a video about how you can save groups and use them in other layouts/projects. Check out the video.
 

Have you tried MDS? Did you know you can get a 30-day trial? Try it. I don't think you will regret it.

Happy Digital Scrappin'!

~Cita

Ladybug Ink Blog Hop: Ribbon Style

Welcome to my blog and the August edition of the Ladybug Ink Blog Hop. This month we are focusing on ribbon. Stampin' Up! has some beautiful ribbon this year (and every year) and we wanted to highlight some of the many ways you can use ribbon to brighten up your cards or someone's life.

I love putting ribbon on my cards. It's a perfect embellishment that can give almost any card that extra little "wow." However, as with most of my stamping supplies, I tend to hoard my ribbon. And even more, I tend to try to save any little scrap of ribbon. Because of this, I'm always on the look out for neat and creative ways to use my ribbon scraps. I have this cute little box of ribbon scraps that is getting way too full. I need to find things to do with my ribbon scraps.

See how my ribbon box is overflowing?

As I was thinking about projects to do for this month's blog hop I was reminded of a card fad from last year - making Christmas trees out of scraps of paper. I thought, well, you could make Christmas trees out of scraps of ribbon too! So there you have it, I'm using scraps of Gumball Green 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon to make a Christmas Tree. I know it's August! 

Stampin' Tips: 

• Color scheme: Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Early Espresso, and Summer Starfruit
• Stamp set: Seasonal sayings
• Accessories: 3/8" Gumball Green Stitched Satin Ribbon, In Color Dahlias 
• Cut a short piece of 1/2" wide Early Espresso Cardstock to use as your tree trunk. Position this before you start to lay your Christmas tree ribbon. 
• Use strips of scrap ribbon to form your Christmas tree. Lay all the ribbon out and then cut each ribbon to change the length. I then gave each ribbon imperfect ribbon edges. 
• Top your Christmas tree with a Summer Starfruit Dahlia 
• Distress the edges of the Whisper White piece. The Stampin Distress Tool is perfect for this task.

And speaking of ribbon, have you heard of the Ribbon Roll Control? This amazing piece of ribbon storage was designed by an honorary Ladybug stamper and her husband, Trish and Steve. After talking to her at convention, she so graciously sent me my very own Ribbon Roll Control, and I'm hooked. This is a great storage tool. 

Here's my Ribbon Roll Control in action. It sits on the bottom of stamp pad organizer. I will be ordering more of these. 

If you would like to order yourself a Ribbon Roll Control or get more information about it, check out Trish's website. 

Thank you for visiting my blog. Head on over to Cassie's blog to see how she used our amazing ribbon. 

Happy Stampin', 

~Cita

Ruth Norton http://ruthsstampingcorner.blogspot.com/

Amber Wilson http://amberladybugink.blogspot.com/

Nichole Gonzales Jaramillo http://nicholesu.blogspot.com/

Kay Jantz http://ktmyldyandlife.blogspot.com

Liz Kay www.kraftasticmrskay.blogspot.com

You are Here: Carmelita Wasson http://carmenacita.blogspot.com/

Cassie Rogers http://lucyslovelies.blogspot.com/
Michelle Carrion www.ilovecrafttime.blogspot.com

Seriously...Paper Pumpkin!!

Have you signed up for Paper Pumpkin yet? I hope you have.

Paper Pumpkin is turning out to be more than I ever could have hoped and wished for. Being a demonstrator, I enjoy creating and designing cards and classes; however, sometimes it's really nice to just sit down and just stamp. Paper Pumpkin allows me to just do that. Each month, that cute little orange box arrives in my mailbox and when I open it, there's a special project all ready for me to create. No designing. No prepping. No planning. I just sit down, get my adhesive, and stamp the project. Everything else that I need (stamps, ink, paper, etc) is already in the box. These little boxes of joy are designed to be completed in 30 minutes. It hasn't take me that long yet. Seriously....check out Paper Pumpkin.

I received this Paper Pumpkin kit in April, and it's been one of my favorites. I especially like the "love your guts" stamp. It reminds me of my brother (he was the recipient of the card). I did most of my kit outside at a consignment sale that I was sitting at.

If you sign up for Paper Pumpkin before August 31, 2013,  you get a the first two months for $10 a month instead of the normal $19.95. It's a great time to check out the Paper Pumpkin carriage. For more information on this great promotion click here.

Happy Stampin',
~Cita