I held an Open House this past weekend to kick off the Occasions mini catalog and the start of Sale-a-Bration. Everyone who came got to create two fun make-n-takes featuring a variety of new stamps and accessories. I had a lot of the new product on display along with the many beautiful swap cards I received at Leadership last week in Nashville... a big THANK YOU to everyone who came, it was great seeing you all!
For those of you who couldn't come, I wanted to share some photos of the projects and displays. Above you'll see the first of two make-n-takes - it features the Sweet Stitches fabric, designer paper and button from the Oh Sew Suite style line.
I learned how to make fabric yoyos at Leadership last week and lo and behold our 3-1/2" Big Shot bigz die in the Occasions mini catalog can cut out 8, yes I said 8, of these circles at a time! They are really quite easy - it's harder for me to thread the needle than sew one! You just hand-stitch around the outside of the fabric circle and then cinch it closed. I then stitched through the middle of the circle a couple of times and secured it with one of the buttons from the Big Designer buttons assortment. I actually took the cut circles to swim practice one day last week and sewed a bunch of them while waiting for my kids so my stampers could just choose one and attach it to the card with a stampin' dimensional at the Open House. The "leaves" of the flower were cut out using the wing from the 2-step bird punch and the "happy birthday" sentiment is from the Something to Celebrate hostess level 2 stamp set we were given at Leadership last week (thank you, Stampin' Up!). I just love the bright and fun colors in the Sweet Stitches DSP, fabric and buttons: melon mambo, tempting turquoise, tangering tango, chocolate chip, regal rose, wild wasabi and daffodil delight.
![IMG_5701 [640x480] IMG_5701 [640x480]](https://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/.a/6a010534cd912e970b0148c7ee5fc2970c-320wi)
Here's project #2, it features several of the new Big Shot accessories found in the Occasions Mini (Fun Flowers bigz L die and Framed Tulips impression folder). It is a CASE of the red card pictured below that I received from Linda Barnes as a swap in Nashville.
I changed the color scheme of my make-n-take to one of chocolate chip, pretty in pink, whisper white and real red rather than going for the monochromatic look of Linda's card. I also decided to use the debossed side of the Framed Tulips impression folder for my card and whisper white satin ribbon instead of a strip of card stock to anchor the flower embellishment. In addition, my flower is embellished with a rhinestone brad in the center of the flower and the sentiment "celebrate" from the Something to Celebrate hostess level 2 stamp set (I love this set, can you tell?!) is punched out and matted with the large and scallop oval punches. I'm so glad I focused on these Big Shot items as many people commented that they had overlooked them in the Occasions Mini catalog!
![IMG_5710 [640x480] IMG_5710 [640x480]](https://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/.a/6a010534cd912e970b0147e1e5ae39970b-320wi)
![IMG_5711 [640x480] IMG_5711 [640x480]](https://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/.a/6a010534cd912e970b0147e1e5ae8c970b-320wi)
Here's a great sample featuring the Fun Flowers die - it is a bookmark that was enclosed with this beautiful planner that I received as a gift from my Service Account Manager (thanks, Max!) - it matches the beautiful purse we received with our Leadership materials!
![IMG_5704 [640x480] IMG_5704 [640x480]](https://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/.a/6a010534cd912e970b0147e1e5b57c970b-320wi)
![IMG_5705 [640x480] IMG_5705 [640x480]](https://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/.a/6a010534cd912e970b0147e1e5b7c3970b-320wi)
For my door prizes, I created a bunch of scalloped envelopes using my Big Shot and made belly bands with an embellishment using the flower image from the Punch Bunch stamp set - one you can earn for FREE with a qualifying $50 purchase during Sale-a-Bration. Each envelope had a different product in it from the Occasions mini catalog and as winning numbers were drawn the winner got to choose her envelope to reveal her prize.
I took some photos of the displays I had around my stamping studio to share with you, too...
![IMG_5706 [640x480] IMG_5706 [640x480]](https://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/.a/6a010534cd912e970b0147e1e5b123970b-320wi)
This display featured some printed samples made with our phenomenal digital design software, My Digital Studio. I love having real life samples to share with my customers... yes, I do have MDS but have not had a chance to get anything printed yet so this was a great buy at Memento Mall last week!
![IMG_5707 [640x480] IMG_5707 [640x480]](https://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/.a/6a010534cd912e970b0148c7eeb504970c-320wi)
This table featured many of the Occasions Mini catalog and Sale-a-Bration stamp sets that I've purchased.
![IMG_5715 [640x480] IMG_5715 [640x480]](https://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/.a/6a010534cd912e970b0148c7eeb5b8970c-320wi)
This trifold display shows many of the wonderful swap cards I received last week as well as the fabric, big shot dies and accessories that I purchased.
![IMG_5720 [640x480] IMG_5720 [640x480]](https://unfrogettablestamping.typepad.com/.a/6a010534cd912e970b0147e1e5b27a970b-320wi)
This is my trifold display of cards and scrapbook pages featuring items in the Idea Book and Catalog. I added quite a few new samples that I received as swaps.
I hope you get a sense of the fun we had at my Open House events this weekend and that you're excited for the start of Sale-a-Bration tomorrow! If you're local to the Lynchburg area and would like to book a workshop or private class to earn lots of FREEBIES, give me a call and we'll set your date! If you're interested in attending a class, please be sure and check out my calendar of events.