My Birthday Weekend at Virgina Beach!

Brace yourself. I look like a complete doofus in the following photo. Then again, I think that was the point:

(Ugh, my hair looks like stupid cocker spaniel ears. No offense to cocker spaniels. Our first family dog when I lived with my dad was a cocker who rocked the house.) It's going a little back in time, but I want to post a few pics from our fabulous weekend in Virginia Beach at a cropping weekend that just happened to fall on my birthday! Since I had just been to one a few weeks before with my super great friend, rescue cohort, and scrapping travelling companion, Kay, I really didn't expect to get to go to another so soon, even *if* my super crafty, uber hip, pirate princess, stampin' up minion, cleverest of pals, Jen K. (Pictured below)

was going and was actively petitioning to have me come along too. It's certainly not that I didn't want to go (Heck, if it was my choice, I'd probably go to one of these every month at the least!) but these things do cost money and take me away from home and I didn't want to be greedy.

But, oh my, how could I forget that I am the luckiest girls in the whole wide world because...I have Scott the WonderHusband who gave me the trip as a birthday gift. Yes, girls, he rocks and is totally taken. Nyah nyah!

The way things had worked out, Jen and I each ended up with our own rooms, so Jen suggested that she bring Alex and I bring Scott and they could have their own little play date while we scrapped. It turned out to be a fantastic weekend. Jen went out of her way to make me feel like the most pampered and sillified birthday girl ever, showering me with crime scene tape, mayorial banners, all topped off with a glittered purple cowgirl hat (me? In a cowgirl hat? Well, if Howard Lyman can be the Mad Cowboy, I suppose I can be the Mad Cowgirl.) And that doesn't even scratch the issue of presents. Is she a great friend or what? (And I say that knowing that she probably isn't even reading this. You *know* it's true then!)

So, while the boys played on the Playstation, we cropped and slipped little surprises to our secret sisters. I rested a lot due to my retarded spine, though Scott's gift of Degrassi High dvd's made forced resting so much cooler. For those of you who don't know what Degrassi" anything is, stay tuned for a future post on the topic. If I tried to explain the joy of Degrassi now, I would never get back to the original topic of this post. Suffice it to say: It Went There.

For those of you who don't know already, Jen is my minion--er--downline in Stampin' Up and I was SO proud of her as she took on the entire crop group with a class showing off stuff from the Occasions Mini catalog. It was great! There were three seatings (that I saw, there may have been four) and she was just brilliant--confident, knowledgeable, graceful. She did such a great job, they asked her to stay on as the official Stampin' Up rep of their crop group. That's nothing to sneeze at--people come from all over to attend their scrap weekends! Jen ROCKS!

Back to the story: Jen and Alex took us out for Indian food, then we stopped at Total Wine to pick up some Champagne Pops. If you haven't had these, they are fun and simply lovely. It's just pretty decent Champagne served single style in a sparkly little bottle with a straw attached. After all, isn't the bubbly all about fun? So we sipped them as we cropped while Scott and Alex hung out beside us, building Scott's birthday catapult which I was promptly konked in the head with a projectile from.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I have this problem. If something is going to fall on somebody, or hit them in the head, it will inevitably me it lands on. Seriously. Someone else could open and close a closet full of teetering drygoods and it would stand miraculously upright until I came along and opened that door once. I'm not the only person who has noticed this. I am convinced that I have a really intense gravitational pull on objects located directly above me. If I was given a halo, it would end up around my neck.

Later, back in the hotel room, I was trimming and mounting some stamps and began to ponder how one could put the extra sticky rubber bits to use. You know, the stuff that you trim away from the stamps when you mount them? The following photos were the result of much brainstorming:



Do *you* have a better idea to use up all this extra Stampin-uppitude? Leave a comment here with your idea and the one I find most useful will win a prize of some Stampin' goodies. Don't forget to include your email address so I can contact you if the goodiebag is yours!

Anyway, Sunday arrived all too quickly for my taste, but coming home is a good thing, too. Monday was Scott's b-day so once mine was over, it was Scott's Birthday-Day Eve, so in order to be truly festive, we dressed Scott appropriately. After all, it's only fair.


So, that was my birthday in VA. I was also lucky enough to have a birthday crop at my friend Teresa's house, but I forgot to take pictures there. Sorry folks! It was superfun too.

Don't forget to leave your ideas as described above. I'll be choosing a winner this weekend.

Itty Bitty Kitty Feets

Been feeling a little down for the last couple of days, but luckily I have Toulouse here to cheer me up with his cutest little perfectly soft pink toes...look at that little teensy curled up back paw! It took every bit of will to resist tickling it whilst I took the photos. I find cat feet unbearably cute, which probably shocks most of you who know me, since I find human feet so unbearably gross. I don't like being in the same room with someone wearing flip-flops. But cats have those itty bitty round feet. And they never, ever wear flip-flops.

Ooooh. Preeetttyy...

I was sorting through my brads and eyelets yesterday and was suddenly struck with how pretty everything was, sitting there all together, divided so nicely by color. It just got me thinking about art school when, as a writer, I was so jealous of the visual artists who got all the cool toys. Sure, office supplies are nice, but compared to paints and clay?

I love scrapbooking. This stuff rules.

Dogz Rule

The Dogz Rule: Scrapbook in an Afternoon class was super fun! So fun, in fact, that we're planning to get together again next month to work on our books some more! In this pic, we took a Mellow Moss 6x6 scrapbook and decorated it with Flower Fusion blooms, Purely Pomegranate ribbon, Soft Subtles buttons and some die cuts. Sticky Strip is really handy for this kind of thing. That stuff is *not* coming off the cover! :)

This page (below) was done using the nifty rub ons from the Sale-a-Bration mini catalog. You get 4 sheets instead of the usual two, and they are free free freeeee! You'll see these a lot in the pages to come.Aww...look at that cutie. Love those sparkle brads and the flower punch. The stamp is from the retired "Parlez Vous Francais" set, but it's too cute not to pull out for projects like this! The scalloped edge? I made it using the round tab punch, just linking one tab after another. And I thought that using it for gift card holders was the best thing it could do.

My friends Anne and Mini in Finland. Is that not one cute dog? I framed her using the copper Hodgepodge Hardware set--it comes with a bajillion (really! Count the pieces!) different kinds of metal embellishments that go on forever. The picture holders and ribbon buckle are from the same set.

Usagi's tongue hits the big time. :) I couldn't resist the heart rub on for this one. Same set from the mini catalog. The butterfly and flower are from this sheet too.

I love the white ink pad because it feels like paint and is wonderfully opaque. I also used the Close to Cocoa Craft pad for the stars that fit right into the star punch perfectly to represent dog snot. Aww...the memories.

Darcy poses with Revco in front of the wall mural we found in the closet of our motel room at the Whalebone Motel in Nag's Head. You can almost feel the sea spray. The flowers in the upper right corner were made with Classy Brass templates to dry emboss on the page. I love how well they work on cardstock. And check it out, those free rub-ons come in the same green as the Confetti Simply Scrapping set we used as a base for all of our pages.

Hooray for Mini! I made the award using the Scallop (as I've stated before, it should be called the Butter Cookie) punch and some bits of Chocolate Chip Ribbon. Cute, huh? The border at the bottom is a cardstock sticker that comes with the Simply Scrapping Set. Pretty cool and very easy!

Flower punch comes to the rescue again, this time with button centers. I love the Soft Subtles for this layout. Revco looks so relaxed, watching the world go by. Of course, this soon turned into a barking frenzy, but it was a nice moment while it lasted.

Aww! It's Revvy in his squirrel pajamas he got at the Rat Terrier Jamboree! These all are sticker embellishments on this page--it takes only seconds with the kits we have. The tag stickers came with the set, and the dog stamp is from a retired set. I made his spots glossy using Crystal Effects which is kind of like a liquid plastic that looks pretty and glassy--kind of like epoxy stickers. The guest of honor sticker was quite appropriate for this foster dog.

Revco bubbles! I just used a circle punch over and over. I embossed all the bones onto the paper bubbles using black embossing powder and a heat gun to make them a little bit 3D and shiny. Pretty, and fun!

I love the fill-in-the-blank stickers in this set. Yeah they're made for kids, but if you tweak them a little they are perfect for our dogs. All those circles are...more stickers that came with the pack. Each pack comes with 6 big sheets of cardstock stickers so you don't have to be stingy with them like when you buy tiny, expensive sheets in the store for too much money. :) I really like to go nuts with them.

Usagi Flowers using the circle and the Butter Cookie punch! The stems are Wild Wasabi ribbon. Neat, huh? I cut the grass freehand (that sounds like I was in the yard with a pair of scissors, but you know what I mean.)

More jammies. I just had to get a pic of that cute little tail sticking out. On the side, I used the "Good Dog" wheel and with a glue pen, applied our superfine glitter to the detals. The bones and tennis balls were filled in using our fabulous Uni-ball white pens. They are the only white pens that work this well--totally opaque and you don't have to keep running over it to cover. It's very generous with the ink. As far as I know, I've only seen them in our catalog. They are a must-have.

Usagi! What a cute! She gets a turn in her pajamas Again, the rest is stickers, except for the fire hydrant from the current Yappy Day dog set from the catalog. So cute. The sticker below it, meant for a kid again, states, "This is how I sign my name." Too perfect to pass up.

Love the frame on this one. So easy. It's just the "Ticket" punch, but it comes out looking so cool. The little dog, framed the same way, is also from the current Yappy Day set in the catalog. The people are my aunt and uncle in law. Is that a real thing?

The scallops on this one? Just circles cut in half! I love punches.

Is my boy not gorgeous. All he needed was a border created with the corner punches, and a pretty flower made with the Flower Fusion set and topped off with a jewel brad. The squares are my favorite. The etched edges just add so much,

Pardon the fuzziness of this photo. I had trouble getting a good one. I love the stickers (both Usagi and her beloved teddy bear have dream bubbles over their heads. The simple line of Earth Elements brads (which for some reason totally match the in-colors. Very cool!)

Thus ends Album One of the Dogz Rule series. Want to make your own? Come to my classes which you can see on my calendar at:

http://veronica.stampinup.net

or, email me to order the kit: Princess.puppy@gmail.com

I offer both a basic (for around $60) and deluxe (around $120) kit to help you make your own scrapbook like this one, and have plenty of extra stuff left over for more projects.

My Friends Rule!

I had to show off this beautiful creation by my friend, Teresa B. As you can see by the Christmas theme, it took me a while to get around to posting it, but it's still a really neat project. It uses the Purely Pomegranate satin ribbon, which I wish Stampin' Up would bring back in the main catalog. It was really pretty stuff, with little stitches down the sides. I wrapped most of my gifts this year using the Chocolate Chip version. Sigh. I miss it so. Can you imagine how pretty it would be in Taken with Teal. Ooooh.

Class Work

I've been really quiet for a few weeks, partly because I have a second blog now on my Stampin' Up demonstrator website: http://veronica.stampinup.net
Yeah, I was surprised that I got that address. I can't be the only Veronica out there. Maybe other people just never checked? Or really like to use their last names too? I nearly jumped on RatGirl right away, but then I figured maybe my customer peeps would look for "Veronica" first. So there you go. Fascinating story.

I've been busying myself with a number of projects, including card classes for Stampin' Up. So, here is a smorgasbord of cards you *could* have made if you had just signed up for my classes. If you were in my classes and did make them, I say to thee, rock on.

Of course, if you want to join me in making some stuff in the future, click on the demo site mentioned above to check out my calendar. I have a lot of fun making up all the designs for my projects and despite my snotty demeanor, I am really nervous every time I do a class, hoping you guys will like what I've come up with. If you have any ideas or suggestions for classes you'd like to see offered, I'd be really happy to see what I can do. On the other hand, if there's a design you like (or want something designed for you) and you don't want to have to make the cards yourself, I am also happy to just make a set for you instead. We can figure out a fee based on materials and work--I promise not to gouge you. :)

The purple thank you card is one I made a set for to sell at the 3R (www.raleighrodentrescue.org) bake sale to hopefully make some donations. No, I didn't bake the cards, but you don't have to eat them either!

This one's from the rub-ons class we just did. This one totally makes the Partridge Family theme cycle in my head. It was fun to use this Christmas paper in a decided non-Christmas fashion.

You can't see on this pic, but there are sparkly glassy dots of Crystal Effects on the tips of the large snowflake as well some of the inner dots. The other flakes are rub-ons. I totally love Crystal Effects. It reminds me of that plastic stuff that my dad dropped quarters and stuff into in the 70's to make clear blocks with bubbles and stuff in them. I know that's a really vague description, but some of you out there know what I'm talking about, I'm sure. I was fascinated by all that suspended animation stuff as a kid, which may explain why I love this stuff so much.

Yet another rub-on card from the Card-n-Crop class this weekend. The circle is a monogram base stamp from one of the most sadly overlooked sets: Together Forever. Sure, it has one stamp that's just for engagement announcements, but all the others are wonderfully versitile for any romantic or formal project. The Mr./Mrs. stamp would be supercool for making your own address labels (not to be unfair to Mr./Mr. or Mrs./Mrs. couples, it would be very easy to just stamp each twice. Now, if only they could use the engagement stamp officially too, I for one would be very pleased.) Formal stationery, valentines for your sweetie, and so much more could come from this great set. Of course, you probably could use it for engagement announcements, wedding invitations, and congratulatory cards as well, but that would be nuts! ;)

I have to credit my friend Jen K. (not only a demonstrator, but also my first official Stampin' Up minion.) for my thorough appreciation of pirates. Oh, I always liked them, but not nearly as much as I have come to. So, here is a card I designed to celebrate parrot love. The lacey edges are made using the "scallop punch" or as I prefer to call it, the Butter Cookie Punch ("scallop punch" could be any number of things, including for example, an actual scallop shape) and the blue bits are just more cookies shoved under the edges. I saw a lacey card on Martha Stewart (I looooove Martha!) and it just reminded me of these scallop bites. Fun!

I was trying to think of a use for the alphabet rub ons outside of the obvious spelling things out. So, A-B-C-D Deer! I love this set too. Not nearly as cute in the catalog as it is in the things you make! A lot of the animal sets seem to be this way. Once you get creative with them, they really blossom.

Okay, I didn't really notice till after I made this one that it should really be renamed, "To my doppleganger, you're one of a kind!" since everything is doubled on this card. Oops.

Love notes (as Stampin' Up likes to call their 3x3 cards) are my favorite because they are sooo cute! This is a little valentine I made using my favorite new set, Pun Fun. This little skunk is just SO cute. I love the superfine glitter too. Excellent price, too, for the amount you get. Rumor has it, there will be even more glitter in the upcoming Occasions mini catalog!

Penguin and a little flock of pink birds congregate on this card from the Big Ass Birthday Class! For this one, I used the tab cards in the back of the catalog. I love these and the scallop cards too. They just so cute and little and the envelopes they come with are cute and tiny too! They come 30 to a package, so they're reasonably priced, yet another forgotten item no one seems to notice. It's too bad, too. They're SO adorable and quick to embellish. Think about all the cards you hand-deliver...birthday cards stuck to packages, little encouragements left on a co-worker's desk, love notes in lunches, etc. These are so sweet and small. I'm hooked.

This is kind of an odd color combination, but I felt a need for some really dazzling, way-80's colors. The basic design was from an old idea sheet I picked up somewhere, but I changed this and that to suit my own tastes.

I wanted to think of some excuse to use my fancy ticket punch. :) I like using the swirl as a vine, too.

One of my favorites...I like the retro colors and designs. I like to cut my stamps to separate the words from the pics and in this case, I was really glad I did. The "wedding" cakes are just so 60's in these colors. An homage to my favorite sweet!

Really unusual color combo for my tastes, but I had all this extra pastel paper, soo...sooner or later I had to use yellow on something. :) I like the stem in this set but most of the time I think what I make with it turns out stupid. I was happy with this one though. A little purple always helps. I would have called this shade "Mimeograph Lilac".

Yay for felt flowers. And the nifty patterned paper. This one's just a 6x6 piece folded in half.

Groundhog day is often ignored by the cardmakers, but you no longer have to shop in vain! Wish your favorite groundhog a happy one with this layered design.

I love these colors together!

Whew. Yep, we made a lot of cards at the b-day class. Another similar to one I found on an inspiration sheet, but with colors, stamps, etc. switched around. I like the lions vs. crocodiles theme. I'm a crocodile girl myself. And I don't mean those horrible plastic shoes!

Wow. That's bright. If you want to get your recipient's attention, burn their retinas.

Darn, I just accidentally deleted the hippo card. I'll add it later. Sorry, hippo lovers!

Dots! Dots! Dots! And another use for a calendar stamp.

I'm a sucker for anything French, so here's one from the previous Card-n-Crop class featuring filigre and a fleur de lis.

Kitty birthday greetings are the best! My cats never get me anything, but then, I don't give them an allowance either.

Wow. This is one long post. I'll let this one go on its own.

Betcha thought I'd use the mouse stamp for the Valentine card. :) Well, the elephant needed a chance too.

Fun with punches. Can you tell I just got the long-thin word window one by how much I'm using it? I'm totally into punches. I just got some neat Creative Memories ones too you'll get to see later. I'm really disappointed that Stampin' Up doesn't make a heart one. I want to see a large classic heart punch. Like one as big as the butter cookie one. Hello, design team, I'm waiting...