Totally Loving "Tote-ally Tess"!!!!

Hi stampers! I wanted to get a blog post out before I go scrapbooking ALL weekend!!! YIPPIE! I am so excited! A whole weekend to play!! Just what I need after being cooped up in the house for basically 2 weeks from all the crazy snow we got!

I just got a big order in the mail from Stampin' Up! Since I had taken a "break" from stamping, it has been a while since I've placed an order....I almost forgot how exciting it is to get that brown box delivered!! I have been playing with the new Clear mounted stamps and I cannot say enough good things about them!!! As I mentioned in the past post I LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM!!!!!!! What a difference they make!

I am a part of a fantastic swap group with my up line and many extremely talented SU! Demonstrators and this time we had to use sets from the Occasions Mini Catalog! I chose to use Tote-ally Tess and I have fallen in love with her! I made an Easel Card and was surprised at how easy it was to make! At first I made this card with a cute little paper flower, made from the scallop punch. I really like how it turned out, but I thought it would be really tough to mail this card (and really expensive!) so....this card will be one that gets hand delivered to someone special and I changed the next one around just a tad.

I decided to make it something that we, as demonstrators, could use as part of our business....a business card holder. HOWEVER, you can easily place a gift card in place of a business card and wa-la...it's a bday card!! The DSP paper I used in this picture is a retired pattern, however, in the swap cards I used the chocolate chip & white polka dots DSP that is in the Sweet Pea package! LOVE IT!

I hope you have a great weekend! Please check out the previous post regarding a great Fundraiser I am involved in and contact me if you would like to help out in any way!!! Thanks for looking!

"Share the Love" Fundraiser!!

Hi Stampers,
I wanted to let you know about a fantastic Fundraiser
"Share the Love for Haley!"
My good friend, Renee, is family friends with a 7 year old girl who is battling a nasty kidney disease and her medical bills are huge!! Renee is having an Open House Style Fundraiser on Saturday, Feb 27th at her home in Stafford, VA from 4:00 - 7:00.

The fundraiser will have the following Direct Sales Companies represented:
Silpada Designs Jewelry with Renee (Hostess!) www.mysilpada.com/Renee.Marshall
Pampered Chef with Helen Krupp: www.papmeredchef.biz/kruppkitchen
Golden Girls with Katie Bugge: katiebugge@golddoesgood.com
Longaberger with Dawn Burroughs: 703.850.4403

The vendors will be donating their commission from any orders placed to Haley's family to help with her medical bills. We are also accepting donations toward the cause! If you would like to help Haley and her family in their fight against this awful disease, but you are not able to make it to the open house, you may place an order with ANY of these vendors prior to the 27th! You will also be eligible for the raffle tickets (see below) and you do not have to be present to win the prizes.

Raffle Tickets will be given for the following:
1 ticket for each of the following:
*attending Fundraiser
*each friend that you RSVP for and they attend
*RSVPing by Tues, Feb 23rd
*placing an order with one of our vendors (outside orders DO count!)
*each $50 you spend with one of our vendors (1 ticket per $50!!) (outside orders DO count!)
*modeling some of the Silpada jewelry! (who wouldn't want to do that?!?!)
*participating in the make & take with me, your SU! lady! (who wouldn't want to do that?!?!)
*sampling a delicious treat made by the Pampered Chef consultant! (who wouldn't want to do that?!?!)

We will be having 6 raffle prizes, donated from the Silpada, Pampered Chef and Stampin' Up vendors! You do not have to be present to win, you will be contacted the next day, Sun Feb 28th!


I would LOVE to see you there or hear from you regarding this fundraiser! There will be loads of fun, yummy snacks & I will be doing a make & take! Come on out for a fun evening and help support a great cause and a special little girl! Please RSVP to me ( jaimiegvozdas@earthlink.net ) by Tues, Feb 23rd if you plan on attending. I will give you the detailed info then. Contact me by Sat, Feb 27th at 1:00 pm to place an order and to be entered into the Raffle Prizes!!! Hope you are having a GREAT day and staying warm!!! Thanks for looking!!

Sale-A-Bration and more!

Hi stampers! Hope you are having a great day! My hubby, daughter and I are just coming in from the first outing in days, due to the 35+ inches of snow sitting outside of our house, and it felt GREAT to get out of the house! The sun is {finally} out, the snow is {finally} melting (until it freezes again tonight!) and we are enjoying the day!

So, as promised, I am back today to catch up on all of the fabulous things that Stampin' Up! is offering these days! I'm sure all of you know by now that it is Sale-A-Bration time!! From now until March 31st, for every $50 you, as a customer spend, you get to choose a S-A-B item for FREE!!! And as if that wasn't great enough, SU! has added that you may choose a set from the regular catalog that is $15.95 or cheaper for FREE in place of a S-A-B item!!! WOW! If you host a Stampin' Up! party of at least $300, you will earn a FREE S-A-B item IN ADDITION TO the other great hostess benefits! If you decide to join the great Stampin' Up! family, you can choose a FREE STAMP SET from the regular catalog (valued up to $47.95) PLUS you will receive a 15% discount on your starter kit!!! WOW!!!Be sure to check out the fabulous S-A-B catalog on the right side of my blog!

There is also the Occasions Mini Catalog out and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!! I am so excited about what is in this catalog! I have been one who has thought that the clear mounted stamps that are popular these days are a fantastic idea! I love the idea that you can see through the block so that you can line up the image exactly where you want it! However, I haven't been happy with the quality of the clear stamps I have bought. They have had a blurred image and, well, not the quality of stamped image I am used to with SU! Stampin' Up! has out-done themselves with the clear - mount stamps they have produced! They are made of the same high-quality rubber & foam that the wood mounted stamps are made from, but you mount them onto a repositionable clear block and they are FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! You may now choose between Wood-mounted or clear- mounted stamps on all the sets in this mini catalog!!!! LOVE IT! Try them out, you won't be disappointed! This mini catalog is out until April 30th, so check it out on the right side of my blog and contact me with any questions and to place your order!

Also, SU! is helping in the relief efforts in Haiti! From now until Feb 28th, when you purchase the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set, SU! will donate $2 to American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. It is a great stamp set, and even though Valentine's Day is on Sunday, you can use this set all year round....birthday cards for loved ones, wedding & anniversary cards, I love you cards, etc! Click here for more info and then contact me!
I {Heart} Hearts - clear-mount (block D recommended) Item 118571 $18.95
I {Heart} Hearts - wood-mount Item 117010 $26.95

Ok! I think that is everything right now! Shew!!! That will teach me for being "out of the loop" for so long!! PLEASE, let me know if I can answer any questions for you or if you would like to host a party of your own or place an order!
I hope you are having a great day and thanks for looking!

BAD BLOGGER!!!!!

Hello stampers! I have been such a bad blogger and stamper lately!!! And as I reread my previous posts......I say "I'm back" A LOT!!!!!! Sorry about that! ;o) So, where have I been??? BUSY BUSY BUSY!! I have had a lot going on in my life lately and unfortunately, stamping and blogging has had to take a back seat the past few months!!! (How sad is that!!!) As some of you know, I am a SAHM to my busy 4 year old as well as a Stampin' Up! Demo, but lately I have added to my already busy list of "jobs!" A few months ago I joined Gymboree Play & Music as a teacher on the weekends! What a great job! I am having the best time with it, but it has also taken a lot of my weekend time up, so when I am home on the weekends I have been spending it with my family. I have ALSO become a preschool teacher at my daughter's school! Yes, I am now a teacher to 6 of the cutest 2 1/2 year olds!! And while I am having a blast, it has definitely taken a lot of time to learn how to be a teacher and to plan and prepare for the day to day activities of a 2 1/2 year old!! THEREFORE....MY LIFE HAS GOTTEN EVEN MORE CRAZY AND BUSY THAN IT WAS PRIOR TO THE 2 NEW JOBS!!! Well, I think that things are becoming as "routine" as it's going to get now and I have vowed that I am going to get back into stamping (my favorite hobby and my personal therapy!) and then...blogging about it!

I live in Northern VA and if you have been watching the news at all since last Friday, you have seen that we have gotten hammered with snow!!!! As of this post (and it's still snowing out right now!!) we have gotten 37 inches of snow since Friday!!!!!!! WOW!!!! And while I am beginning to feel the effects of Cabin Fever (I say as my daughter is running circles upstairs in our kitchen and my husband is timing her!!) I have REALLY ENJOYED being snowed in with my hubby and daughter!! As I said above, it has been so crazy around here and we haven't gotten a lot of family time lately and I have loved it!!! We have had so much fun playing in the snow, snuggling on the couch with popcorn watching endless movies and just being together! I know I know, I'm not usually mushy, but I have really enjoyed it! So....on top of all the family bonding...I have also had time to STAMP!!!!!!!! YIPPIE!!!!!!

I have FINALLY finished my "Christmas turned into Valentine's Day" Cards (insert embarrassed face HERE!) and they are in the mail as we speak. {Now, I have nothing to do with how long it takes for the mailman to get to the mailbox through all this snow...but I did my part, they are in there! ;o) } Yup, I have been so busy that I didn't even get my Christmas Cards out! Isn't that AWFUL! I had them all cut and ready to assemble, I had the pictures not only taken but developed.....and just ran out of time to put them together and in the mailbox! Thank gosh they were made with red cardstock...they made perfect Valentines'! ;o) I will post them on Sunday, because my friends and family haven't recieved them yet~

My daughter and I also made her school Valentine's Day cards! We had fun making them and she was sooo proud of them! Now the only issue is that school has been canceled for the rest of the week...I really hope they reschedule her party, she will be crushed! What do you think?? Leave me a comment and let me know what YOU are doing for Valentine's Day!
(Click on picture to enlarge!)
How cute is her little signature?!?
Well, I think that is a big enough post to bore you with today! But I haven't even talked about Stampin' Up! and Sale-a-Bration going on right now!!! I WILL be back tomorrow...cross my heart!...and we will chat about ALL of the great things SU! has going on right now! Until then, check out my new links to the right of the blog and drool over what SU! has to offer! Contact me if you have any questions and to place your orders. I hope you are staying warm and thanks for looking!