S.T.A.R.S.--Sharing The Art of Rubber Stamping

A Tip from the Top!

 Okay, so I'm NO-WHERE near the TOP of anything, but I thought the title was catchy!  Since there is no way I will be able to post anything nearly as cool as the Vinyl DSP Bag I just made, I thought I would post an interesting idea for you.  Ready???  Are you sitting down??  Let's go!

As most of you know, Stampin' Up!'s stamp sets come so that you GET to put them together.  THANKFULLY, Stampin' Up! has started die-cutting the new stamps, so step one of the process has been taken care of for you.  After you have cut out or popped out your new stamp, you then adhere it on the wood block where-ever you want!  That way you can mount it to the side or bottom, so that when you go to stamp the image, you can see right where to put it.  NO this part isn't my tip from the top...I'm getting there!!

When I received the Hostess Level 2 Stamp Set "Occassions Collection", I was a little taken aback when I opened the box.  See below for picture of stamp set:

 

Totally cute, right?  I guess I hadn't noticed the fine print that let me know how many stamps were in the set, well, it's 14--the 12 words, the dotted circle, & a long stamp with all those little images!  What?? I thought those were all going to be individual little stamps...NOPE!!  Know how am I supposed to stamp the heart in that little circle when it's in the middle of a huge stamp??  Have no fear...I figured it out!  I cut out each of the smaller images & attached it to the small end of it's coordinating word...see below:

As you can clearly see, I also mounted the words to the far left so that when I go to stamp it I can see where I want to stamp it.  Here's what they look like in the box...ooh...ahh!  I know isn't this like the best idea since...die cut stamps??  They should have just made this a double mounted stamp set to begin with!

 

I've had so much fun reading your comments on the Vinyl DSP Bag!  It really makes my day to know that you like what I'm showing you...so I am sooo ready to feel the love about this FABULOUS post!  Tee-Hee!  :)  I hope you day is filled with fun with your family & friends!  Erin

Subscribing to my posts!!

Thanks to Roberta, I realized that my Feedblitz subscriber box was not on my blog anymore.  I guess when I changed to the "starry" theme, it altered some of the things I had previously had in my sidebars.  As you can see over there on the left under my picture is the Feedblitz subscriber box.  What's great about subscribing to my blog or any blog, is that the posts get delivered to your inbox as an email.  You don't have to remember to check out all your favorite blogs (mine's included right??), if you subscribe to them they will be waiting for you in your inbox usually the day after it's been posted.  Happy Subscribing...Erin

I AM SO SORRY! I AM SUCH A LOSER!!

Okay, so last week, I promised to have all sorts of cool stuff to show you while I was gone at the Stampin' Up! Convention.  Well, I do have lots of fun stuff to show you, BUT I ran out of time to get the posts set up in advance.  I am typing this from Salt Lake City on my roommate's laptop.  I just wanted to apologize for leaving you high & dry this week.  I will be home on Sunday & get stuff going for you.  Maybe I'll have to offer some BLOG CANDY! (aka...FREE STUFF for a lucky winner!)  Tomorrow I'll get my hot little hands on the NEW catalog!  YEAH!  If you are wanting a new catalog, just leave a comment or send me an email.  They are $10 & will include a $5.00 coupon towards your first purchase of $30 or more! (Shipping will be extra depending on where you live & how fast you want it shipped to you.)  See you when I get back on Sunday!  Erin

Double Award Day!! Woo-Hoo!!

The other day, I was honored & tagged by 2 of my cyber-stampin', Control Freak friends. 

We'll start with being honored.  Patty nominated ME as someone who had a creative blog for the Kreativ Blogger Award!  WOWZER...coming from Patty, that's a BIG deal!!  If you haven't done so recently, you should definitely check out Patty's COOL Blog ASAP...she's got a really cute album she made for her hubby that you need to see! (just click on the link above)

So here are my nominations:

1. Rhonda (aka...stamptramp72)

2. Kelly (aka...atomicbutterfly)

I was tagged by Jenn at Stamp Your Heart Out and Patty for this fun game

So here are my 7 random &/or weird facts about myself:

1.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE dark chocolate!

2.  Even though I am not the best housekeeper in the world, there are a couple of things that are a MUST!!  "Rainbow order" can & should be applied whenever possible!  For example, in my closet & in the kid's closets, our clothes are hung ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet).  It just makes it look so much nicer.  And of course all my Stampin' Up! color products are arranged this way too, but by color family first & then rainbow order.

3.  I'm actually not very creative!  I am inspired by others & then I either blatantly copy it or put my own spin on it!

4.  My first child was delivered at work by my co-workers!!  It's a good thing I was a Labor & Delivery Nurse in the Air Force at the time!  :)

5.  In high school I was the Easter Bunny at the mall! You know, all dressed up in the costume & kids came to have their picture with me!  I also did a short stint as Santa's Helper taking pictures of kids with Santa.

6.  All my pre-married life, I couldn't wait to get married to get rid of my last name...Hagerhjelm (It's Swedish & is pronounced hager-yelm), but after I became engaged & as the wedding got closer, I started to feel real uneasy about letting go of it.  I guess my great-grandfather made it up, so only a few people actually have that last name.  So, if anyone recognized that name they had to know one of my relatives.  But, practicallity got the better of me & I gratefully accepted "Blair" as my new name.  Just try to imagine my patients in the hospital trying to ask for Lt. Hagerhjelm-Blair...that just wouldn't have sounded right, neither could they have ever remembered it nor pronounced it correctly!

7.  I have just plunged deep into the world of mega-couponing.  I have always used coupons & tried to be smart about purchases, but I have now stepped up my money saving game.  You can find out more about what I'm talking about at:  www.moneysavingmom.com , www.afullcup.com , www.couponmom.com , and www.slickdeals.com   You might think, "I don't have time to do all that", but guess what there are lots of people out there who have already done the work scouting the good deals.  You just buy your newspapers, clip them out, read about the good deals & write them down & go shopping!  So easy!

Now, to tag 7 random people:

1. Rhonda back to Rhonda's cool blog

2. Barb

3. Angie

4. Maria

5. Tracy

6. Nancy

7. Jamie

Okay girls, now its your turn!  Erin

OOPS, Sorry there was no Friday post...too busy couponing!!

I have very recently been introduced to the world of BIG TIME couponing!  I have always cut out coupons and used them, but there is this whole coupon/rebate culture out there who go out & purchase $50.00 worth of stuff for $0.10!!  I'm not kidding!  Go to:   www.afullcup.com (specifically go to the forums) or www.couponmom.com or www.retailmenot.com and you will see what I'm talking about.  Anyway, yesterday Walgreens had some great deals going on, and I didn't want to miss out.  I got so carried away organizing my coupons, writing my list of what I was going to get, and so forth that I forgot to do my post here!  For shame, I know...but I did end up saving $80 yesterday between 2 Walgreens and the Commissary (grocery store on the Air Force Base)!! 

So, if you are feeling like you want to start saving more money, just click on any of the links above & start saving!  OR you can go spend what you saved on groceries to buy more Stampin' Up! stuff!! :)

Have a super day...Erin