I.have.so.much.to.tell.you.

Today is a day of Big News! It does not involve lottery winning, new babies, new houses, or new hair dos. But, in my little stampin world, the news is HUGE!

Stampin Up is going back to an annual publication of the Idea Book. Personally, I loved having a new catalog come out every six months. I'm telling you, when your day consists of laundry, being a chauffeur for your children, ironing boring white dress shirts for your hubby/The Accountant, and loading the dishwasher twice a day, having a new Stampin Up Idea Book every six months was a thrill. When you get excited about a new fabric softener scent, you realize you need something else in your life to get excited about. And, for me, that was the new Stampin Up Idea Book that was published every six months.

But since Stampin Up didn't ask me before making this decision to go back to an Annually published Idea Book, I can't say a whole lot. But just so you are aware, and can plan accordingly (whatever that would entail), starting July 2009, the Stampin Up Idea Book will be new only once a year.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not upset. I'm just saying that I enjoyed the newness twice a year not just once. It was like having Christmas twice a year, or two birthdays, or two summer vacations.....

The other stuff I want to share with you is what I did on Saturday at the Stamp Seminar I attended. It was actually called a Stamp Camp--for good reason. We did a TON of stamping.

And this time, it was me in the position of sitting down at a table, figuring out the layers and the stamping involved and how to work the embellishments, and producing a card that hopefully resembles the original sample. I have not been in this position for years. Usually, I make the cards, I know what is involved and how to accomplish the final result. I cut all the papers and have everything laid out on the tables for my stampers who are coming to class. There are no surprises for me. But today, I was the student, not the teacher.

We worked with the Big Shot a lot. We used all sorts of Bigz dies, and embosslits, and texturz plates. I used a punch that I have never used before and do not own (but that will change because it was fun!).

Here are some of the cards we made:

Here is a recipe book we made--no recipes inside though:

Here is a stationery set we constructed with a Simply Scrappin Kit: sorry, pictures unable to upload

Here are more cards that we made using the large scallop oval Big Shot die: