Last Day to Join for Only $99!

Today is the last day to take advantage of the $99 starter kit plus receive Christmas Keepsake kit for free.
In this Christmas Keepsake kit (the box will fit A2 size cards) you will receive (there are bunch of items from the new Holiday mini :)



•Pines & Poinsettias Set* (wood-mount)
•Keepsake box
•Scallop borders (cut from Tasteful Trim Bigz XL Die)
◦First Edition Designer Series Paper (3)
◦Holly Berry Designer Series Paper (6)
•First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper strip (2)
•Holly Berry Designer Series Paper piece*
•Real Red Top Note (cut from Top Note Bigz Die)
•Real Red Decorative Label (cut from Matchbook Bigz XL Die)
•Wild Wasabi Card Stock strips (3)
•Naturals Ivory Card Stock piece
•Holly Berry Bouquet Designer Fabric*
•Real Red 1-1/4" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon
•Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon
•Victoria 5/8" Crochet Trim
•Linen Thread
•Champagne Fine Galaxy Stampin' Glitter
•Vanilla Pearl 1/2" Simply Adorned Bauble
•Pearl Basic Jewels (1 pkg.)
•Holly Berry Bouquet Designer Buttons*
◦Large Wild Wasabi
◦Small Real Red
•Mini Vintage Tags
*From the 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog




And in the $99 starter kit you will receive:


• Easy Events Clear-Mount Set*
• Pennant Parade Wood-Mount Set*
• Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Pad®
• Old Olive Classic Stampin’ Pad
• Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin’ Pad
• Real Red Classic Stampin’ Pad
• Brights 8-1/2" x 11" Assorted Card Stock
• Just Add Cake Designer Series Paper*
• Chocolate Chip 1/2" Scallop Dots Ribbon*
• Note Cards (20)
• Clear-Mount Block C
• Blender Pen (1)
• SNAIL Adhesive®
• Business supplies


*Brand new to the 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog!


Business Supplies
The business supplies in these promotional mini kits will be the same business supplies that are in existing starter kits; no alternative selections can be made for business items.

•Getting Started DVD
•Getting Started Guide
•Guest Invitation Postcards (100)
•2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog (8)
•2011 Summer Mini Catalog (8)
•Stampin' Up! logo vinyl
•Décor Elements applicator
•To My Hostess Envelopes (10)
•My Digital Studio Marketing DVD
•Recruit Folders (5)
•Recruit Brochures (20)
•Customer Order Forms (50)

Its easy to sign up. Just email me today or go directly to my online store and click Join now! Just click here. Don't forget to use the code: AvaandSam to join my team! I will also be sure to send you a little welcome gift just from me!

Alllllll Aboard!

Here we are on a little family day. This was our trip to the Train Museum in Old Town Sacramento. The girls really wanted to go and to tell you the truth the idea was less than thrilling to Brandon and myself. But, you know, we will do anything for those little babes! Its true, they got us both wrapped around their little fingers. So there we were walking into the museum, its starts with a little room with a few model trains (the girls super excited, Brandon and myself-sigh.) Then it opens to this huge room with a steam locomotive barreling down the track and headed through the wall (you cant tell where the tunnel stops and the wall begins.) Enter Brandon and myself: Holy-Cow! This is kinda cool. Flash to about 5 minutes later and we were running around like a 3 and 4 year old. You can even see my giant husband sitting in the drivers set of one of the trains.

The day was great. The museum, followed by lunch, followed by buying too many toys, followed by carrying home a lifetime supply of salt water taffy. Its was a blast! We were exhausted.

If you live in our are and have never checked out the train museum, it is worth it. Fun for little boys, fun for little girls, fun for goofy parents too.

August Stampin Events

"Do me a Favor" Class- Thursday August 4th @6:30PM-Panera

Cost of class: $10, no minimum.

This class is anything but a card. Come and make 5 fun favor projects. We will be showcasing our wonderful (must have) Big Shot Machine and creating five fun favors to use for birthdays, showers, or just all around fun.

Stamp Camp Prep Meeting- Monday August 8th

That's right! Planning is in the works for our upcoming Fall Stamp Camp. Save the date, September 24th. Stay tuned for more info......

"It's What's on the Inside that Counts" Class- Thursday August 11th @6:30PM-Panera

Cost of class: $8, no minimum

Do you ever wonder what to do on the inside of your cards? Should you decorate? What should you write? What if all the fun was on the inside? That is the idea behind this class. Come make 4 fun cards with fun and surprises on the inside.

Punch Art #4 Class (Fall Fun) Thursday August 18th @6:30PM- Panera

Cost of class: continuing from previous class-$2 class fee, $15 minimum. New-$3 (includes your book), $15 minimum.

Come and add 10 new Fall inspired creations to your punch art book. New Punch Art attendees welcome too. Start this class at any point in the series.

8 for $8- Thursday August 25th @ 6:30PM- Panera

Always a class favorite. Come make 8 cards for only $8. These cards are clean and simple and easy to put together. These cards use minimal supplies and are great for express cards.

Please be sure to RSVP to all classes as early as possible to be sure to reserve your space and ensure your supply packet is ready for you at the time of class.

Soccer Star

Time for another MDS page. As I am sure you know I am hugely inspired by Heather Summers so most pages have lots or bits of CASes in them from her. I just want to say that of a lot of my pages. You can check out her work on MyDigitalStudio.net.

This page I really love. Ava has recently gotten hooked on soccer and she is really good! When she plays, that is. Its kinda hit or miss with her. She is either 100% on or shy on the sidelines. I never know what I am gonna get. But when she does play, there is no stopping her and it is so exciting. So far for this season, she has scored four goals. And yes, I am that crazy mom on the sideline screaming my head off non-stop. I even get misty eyed when she scores. I know, its ridiculous. I am gonna really embarrass my children when they get older. But I cant help it. I am just so proud and its so fun.

She's my little Hope Solo....or Mia Ham! (those are the only two names I know) but that her. That my girl. My little soccer star!

Easy Workshop Make and Take

Just a quick post today, I am off and running again;) This was the make and take we did at a recent workshop. This is a monochromatic card (meaning the inks and paper are in the same shade.) The ladies got a chance to do some stampin (of course) and use a few punches.

I just love the way the new Lace Ribbon Border looks layered on the same color card stock. It almost makes it have an embossed look to me. We used our Butterfly punch to pop up one of the butterflies to give the card some dimension and embellished with a Boho Blossom flower and a little bling.

Thanks for stoppin' by, gotta run!

Mommy and Me Class Projects

So here is the loot that each of our little kiddos got to make last Sunday. They turned out adorable. I think the more crooked the better;) And they were so proud of their creations. It was darling! So here was the idea, they made something for Mommy to keep, something for them to keep and (of course) a hand stamped card to give to someone they love.

Is there anything cuter than little hands, really?? Little crafty hands? This is one of my favorite classes to date. But just so you don't think I love my big stampers too. I do! But little "stampers in training" really steal my heart.

So check out Ava and Sam's versions. I just love how in Ava's version I have black hair (huh?) and in Sam's version I am blue, okay!?! Isn't the crooked word "Family" adorable?

And here are their bedroom signs hanging proudly in their room.

And of course, the card. Punch art for kiddos is super easy and always fun. The punch art ice cream cone was fun because they were aloud to have as much ice cream as they wanted and it was funny to see how they made each of their cones.

"Only one scoop, please"

"I only like chocolate."

"I don't want a cherry, I don't like them."

For this class, all supplies were cut and ready to go in each kit. It was just some basic assembling. The kiddos were just asked to bring their own "Mini" stampin kit (glue stick and safety scissors.) No little hands were harmed in the making of this class;)

So Darn Cute!

So yesterdays class went off without a hitch. It was our Mommy and Me class, and to tell you the truth, I was more nervous with my little stampers than I have been with any other class. They had three projects to do. Would they like the projects? Would they be too easy or too hard? And if it takes then too long will they loose interest?

They were awesome!! Why am I surprised? So are their Mommies. These little kiddos were pros from the start. They have been stampin and crafting with there mommies already. (good mommies!) And these were my speediest group of stampers I have ever had. They whipped through the projects (maybe they saw the cupcakes and goodies they got afterwards;)

Here are my little stampers working hard on those creations. And everything came out so adorable.

We had six little ones all together. My youngest was 2 years old. So sweet.

Thanks to all the mommies that brought their little ones. I hope you had fun and enjoyed the class. I cant wait to see more creations from these little ones.

Stay tuned to see more pictures of the actual projects we made.

CAS Birthday

Here is a CAS (clean and simple) birthday card made at our Birthday Emergency Class. This card is a gate fold card. We used the Just Add Cake DSP and a birthday sentiment from the new fabulous Birthday Hostess set.

Here is a shot of the card open. The main highlight on this card was the glimmer brad and that fabulous new ruffled ribbon. It is so adorable in person. Not to mention, Pool Party is my favorite In Color at the moment.

Alright, gonna run this morning. Gotta do some last minute prep for a super exciting Stampin Day today!! I am so excited for some fun "little" stampin. I cant wait to show you more tomorrow. Stay tuned.........

In Color Labels

When I got my new catalog there was one stamp set that really jumped out to me. Creatively Yours. I love it. Did you like it too? I love it because I always think it is important to stamp your cards or any project you make so the recipient knows its handmade. This set is so cool because not only will it work for cards, but anything handmade. If you bake, your need this set. If you sew, you need this set. If you do any DIY project, guess what? You need this set.

I couldn't wait to get to play with it. So, of course, I will use it for my projects but I also decided to make a couple of door prize packets with it too. I love how they came out.

I packaged them up in a med cello bag and topped with a top note. Then I used my new Occasions Alphabet just to say, "thanks for comin' "

Fourth of July-MDS

We are due for another MDS page. The Fourth of July already seems like ages ago. But here we are with some family and friends enjoying a little swimming and backyard fun. It amazes me how long those kiddos can swim. We even got onto a water fight (it was mostly my brother and I. And we were out for blood, as usual. Everyone else just had to choose a side.) But that's always the best part. Look, my little Sammie was even after Uncle Sean.

The funny part was that the next day, Sean and I were both laughing at each other because we were so sore we could barley move.......Boy, we're getting old! Its all in good fun though, right?

More from Chan's party

Back to Chan's party. This card was the Dry Embossing Demo. Its also showcased our Big Shot machine. Dry Embossing adds texture to your card stock and gives your card a ton on depth. I used my new Broadsheet Alphabet stamp set also, which is so much fun. The color combo inspiration (Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Peach Parfait, Calypso Coral, and Poppy Parade) I pulled from the beautiful Celebrando Creatividad cover.

I showed this card first as an express card and then stepped it up with a few embellishments (bakers twine and rhinestones) and gave that one to my hostess.

Now, can I just show you how adorable my hostess was?? Look at what she did. She decorated all the waters and gave each guest a goodie bag to thank them for coming. I thought that was so cool. And the sweetheart that she is, she even made special little bags for me to bring home to Ava and Sam.

Chan, thanks so much! The girls were so excited. They love stuff like that!

Domestic Goddess Class

This super awesome Menu Board was created by my Up-Up-Line, Karen Flores. She made it for me (and a few other ladies) that all roomed together for our trip to Leadership this year. An awesome gift and I use it every week. I love it! It also catches a lot of eyes when friends/customers come over to my house. So here is your chance to make one.

Join us for our Domestic Goddess Class. Thursday July 28th @ 6:30PM. Cost of class is $8, with no minimum.

Here is the one I made for myself. Pretty simple. Very fun! This is a "free to create" class so you can design yours however you choose. Choose the DSPs you love the best (that's the hard part. When you see this DSP in person you will see why. Its my favorite!) and embellish to your hearts content. Stamp sets, punches, and inks will also be provided for use during the class.

Please be sure to RSVP by tomorrow July 19th to be sure I have enough frames and supplies.

And remember this would make a really great gift for a newlywed, a housewarming gift or Christmas gift idea.

Simple Birthday Spinner

This one had a very simple layout. But the technique is what I wanted to teach the ladies at the Birthday Emergency class. These are always fun. Whether it is a cupcake, a graduation hat or a fun little critter rolling around, you cant help but have fun tilting the card back and forth.

I just love the texture of the cupcake too. We chose to omit the stamp set and just build our cupcake with the punch itself. The bottom we ran through the crimper (great tool!) for that waffle paper look and the top we ran through the Elegant Lines Embossing fold (who would have thunk it?? That idea I got from my down line April;) It really does make it look like frosting, huh?)

Thanks for stopping by today! Gotta run. Working on those little projects for our Mommy and Me class this weekend. Whoo Hoo, I am so excited!

Up, Up and Away-MDS

This was SO much fun! This Fourth of July, our hometown wasn't able to do fireworks and we were pretty bummed about it. Although, for the most part, the girls get scarred of the loud booms and 9 times out of 10 they fall asleep before they are over and then there we are trying to carry out sleeping children, blankets and chairs. The work to fun ration is way out of whack at the end of the night. But we found a really fun alternative to fireworks.

Instead of staying up late, we got up early. Way early! Like 5am early and went to watch the hot air balloon launch. The girls loved it. And although Brandon had golf on the brain, he was a good sport about it. There was suppose to be lots of balloons and only a few went off that day but it was so cool to be that close to them, see how fast they fill up and take off. There is something kinda magical about it. I would love to watch it again next year if I can talk the hubs into it. In my opinion it was better than fireworks especially when Grandma and Papa pick up donuts! And we still ended our day with fireworks. Its was just the Macy's New York show (which is awesome) in our jammies, on the comfy couch (and yes the girls still fell asleep.)

Workshop Demo

Thanks to my Chan for hostessing a party yesterday. I had a really fun day hanging out with you and your family. I hope you enjoyed the party and all the projects. I have to admit I was a little forgetful yesterday and forgot to snap a picture of a few projects I wanted to share here on my blog, including the hostess gift I made for Chan (an altered journal) and a matching candle I made to go with this card. Oh well.

At Chan's party, because she is already and master stamper, I had to demo something that might be new to her but would also wow the new stampers as well. The topic was embossing. I demonstrated the two different kinds of embossing. First, dry embossing and then heat embossing. As I am sure you can see, this is the heat embossing card. I then showed the ladies how you can heat a stamped image onto a candle as well (another use for that super cool heat gun.)

When stamping this card I reminded the ladies that this set is available through August, and if you are considering getting one stamp set, then I would suggest this one because not only is it beautiful and easy to use, but because $2 from the profit of each of these sets goes to helping fight Breast Cancer. There is nothing better than stamping and knowing your are helping a cause at the same time!

Click here to read more about the Hope and Strength Promotion.

Thanks again, Chan! And be sure to stay tuned to see more projects from Chan's party. If you are interested in hostessing a workshop or silent party of your own to earn free SU products email me: niki176@aol.com

Happy Sunday!

Fair Day-MDS

Boy, I was feeling a little behind there for a while. I had pictures piling up and just waiting to be thrown into MDS. That's the great part about MDS, when I am ready to create, it is quick and with no mess at all. Love that!

But actually, I have been waiting for a few of my catalog favorites to show up in digital form, and they finally did. So I spent a bit of time the other day shopping my own online store for new downloads. I love the prices too. Do you know you can score a new digital punch for about $0.95. Cant beat that, right? Might as well throw them all in the shopping basket. But my favorite was the Up, Up and Away set and the Big Top Birthday kit. Yeah, I have been busy. But I got three more pages done. So stay tuned to see those fun new downloads in action.

Happy Saturday!

Birthday Emergency

Last night was our Birthday Emergency class. In our class each participant received a Stampin Up Birthday Calendar, and essential tool for keeping track of all those important dates. We also made three birthday cards to have on hand for those instances when you need a quick card. I tried to make the cards simple and neutral. This first one features our new Striped Embossing Folder, the new Pennant set and punch and the new Birthday Hostess set. Lots of new fun products to play with!

We also added a bit of Bakers Twine to the card. The twine we dyed to match our card stock using a reinker (and a bit of water.) This step I did for the ladies at home before the class.

Here is a little tip:

-mix color solution first and then add in the ribbon after (if you drip the reinker directly on the ribbon your colors are not going to be even.)

-only do a couple at a time. You want to leave enough room to agitate them around.

Sew-Easy!

The other day I came across this super easy DIY Maxi shirt tutorial and I thought I would give it a try. The instructions say to re-purpose a couple of old shirts but as I rummaged through the girls' closets I couldn't find two shirts that I wanted to combine. So while at Old Navy I rummaged through the clearance rack and came across these. The shirts above were a few sizes to big for Ava but I loved the print. And they were on clearance from $14.99 down to a whopping $1.20 each, yeah!

I found these two for Sam. Perfect for her. Just her size and everything. So I brought them home and got to work. I think making the skirts took me all of an hour to make two!

Ava loved hers. As you can tell. I love how hers rotates colors. There is just something about a long skirt that is so comfy too, right?

And here is my little Sammie. Once again, she wasn't feelin' the photo shoot. But you get the idea. I love hers because it has that great ruffled bottom.

I did try to make one for myself but it wasn't pretty. Of course, the girls have these great little figures where their tops fit their bottoms. But on myself, even thought I went up a size, my bottom half is a little (or way!) bigger than my top. So we will call that one a crafty-blooper. And no, I wont show you it! Don't ask, its not a pretty picture....seriously.

But if you would like to make one yourself here are the instructions. Click here.

It's the little things

Eshhh, sorry that one is so blurry. I will try to fix that in a bit. This card was a case of a card made by my friend Kim over at Ala Card Creations. I made this one at our last demo get together. I thought it was a really simple and sweet card. Be sure to check out her version for a clearer picture.

The watermelons are made with our new Triple Layer Blossom Bouquet Punch. I love it!

Thanks for the inspiration, Kim. Great card!

Seven Years Ago.....

Seven years ago today, I made the best decision of my life! To become Mrs. Brandon Toll. We got married in a small ceremony, on a Monday (because I was shy an kinda hoped everyone would have to work) at Edgewood Golf Course in Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful. You have the lake, the mountains, the trees and of course the golf course. Its my happy place!

Isn't the Hubs handsome? I'm a lucky girl for sure!

So here is the card I gave him this morning. I love this set and it was really fun to play around with. I thought it was fitting too considering we just took our girls to see a Hot Air Balloon launch. And though Brandon was itching to golf that morning, he sucked it up and enjoyed the morning for his girls. He loves us!

In fact, I have been dying to make a MDS page with all of our great pictures but I have been waiting for Up,Up and Away to pop up as a digital download and it did today! Whoo Hoo!!

Hey, did you know that MDS has a thing called Download Tuesday? That means new digital downloads are released every Tuesday. I think I am buying all the ones that came up today. I love it! Click here to check out today's newest additions.

Oh-My-Diva-Night!!

Oh my goodness! Last night was Diva night. What's that? It was a special night put on by my upline, Bev. There were five of us ladies that were invited based on our promotions within Stampin Up this year. I was so excited to be part of it. I was like a kid on Christmas morning waiting for the time to go and boy, it didn't disappoint!

The night started with an amazing dinner (my absolute favorite, Mexican. And everything was made by Bev. Delicious!) Then we moved into the stampin' studio for some amazing surprises. Bev had waiting for us, a gorgeous necklace, a free stamp set of our choice and a bunch of super cute projects for us to work on. Our up-up line Karen had even stopped by earlier to leave us a few goodies as well. Thank you, Karen!!!

There was lots of stampin and to our surprise Bev even had a little spa treatment for our hands as well. That was awesome!

Bev, thanks for an amazing night! I can tell how hard you worked to make a really special night for us. The dinner and desserts were amazing, the projects were all great (and I will be casing them again!) you spoiled us like crazy (and so did Karen) it was great!

I can tell you I will be sure to work my hardest to earn this again next year. Thanks for being such an amazing upline!

Easy-Peasy

This card was one of the FREE make and takes done at our Launch Party. I definitely wanted the ladies to try out my new favorite tool, of course. But I also wanted something easy, clean and neutral. That is one of my favorite things about the new Just Add Cake DSP. Its fun and adorable and very neural. Love that!

Oh and this great "happy birthday" sentiment is from the father's day set, Best Dad Ever. I love that set and I am so glad it showed up in the new catalog. Even though it is a Father's Day set I find the I am grabbing it all the time just for the great sentiments is carries.

Okay, gotta run. I am opening my garage sale items back up for sale this morning. If you want to stop by and see me (and my additional mark downs) let me know. Or just come on by after 10 this morning!

Garage Sale Success

Wow, was this fun or what! Thanks to the ladies that made the drive out to see us in Tracy last night. I hope you scored lots of great goodies, lots of discounted goodies. How could you not in a sea of product like this. There were stamp sets galore. Some you have been eyeing for a while now, some you may have forgotten about and some you may have fallen in love with at first sight.

Thanks to Bev for her great demonstration. Her project was adorable and everyone loved it. Thanks to Kim and Lorraine who had those calculators going a mile a minute. It was a success and a fun night.

Look at Bev's beautiful studio, packed full of product on display. And believe it or not I still have lots of goodies left over. If you were not able to make it to the garage sale and would like to stop by to see what I have left please let me know. I will be making additional mark downs today.

Have a great Saturday!