Catalogue Kick-Off Party Projects

Today was my Inspiration Book/Catalogue Kick-Off party for the new TAC catalogue. This year, since I made it to the Club MED lunch, I decided to have my own special invitation "velvet rope catalogue brunch" for my top ten customers to thank them for helping me achieve my goals. The brunch was held before the open house started and we had a nice meal and the guests got to see the catalogue, the new paper kits, and do all the make and take projects first. They each got a tote bag and a free catalogue and a little goodie bag too. Not all of the invitees could attend due to prior commitments, but those that came had a great time! In fact, it was so nice that I'm planning to offer it to my top ten customers every year.

Here is a picture of the tote bag with goodies that each attendee received.



Everyone that came to the party got to create the following make and takes as well. The first was an 8 x 8 scrapbook page made with Cobalt paper from Pg. 113 of the catalogue, brown accent paper, Amberly Grace scraps and ribbon, Burnt Umber Palette Ink, the Curls and Swirls, Sweet Goodies and Linear Sentiments stamp sets and the Scor Pal. The scalloped circles were created with the Giga and Mega Scalloped Punches. I put a picture from San Antonio in my sample to show it off.



Attendees also made this super quick and easy card using a Kaleidacolor Spectrum Ink Pad and Claret Palette Ink Pad and the new Linear Sentiments and Celebration Invitation stamp sets set off with the Mega Scalloped punch, the Silver Shadow Metallic pens and Pop Dots.



The last project was a gift card/business card holder using a 3 1/2 x 8 inch piece of Gentle Beginnings paper, scored at the 1/2" and 3" marks on the Scor Pal, cut and folded. A circle punch was used to make the notch on the front and the holder was decorated with a white flower with a small circle stamped with a saying from Tag Tidbits in Noir Palette ink.



Each of these projects took less than ten minutes to make and were a big hit. They were easy enough for beginners, but showed off several tools and how they worked. Hopefully they'll give you some ideas and inspire you to get out your stamps and create!

Pictures from Seminar

We are back from seminar. What an awesome trip! This was definitely my favorite seminar ever - and not just because I got to go to the Club MED luncheon or because I got to walk across the stage at the awards ceremony. This was just a super great, relaxing and most of all FUN time. I got to catch up with friends that I've made in the company and see only rarely. We had lots of time to socialize and talk to people and did some great projects and attended classes too. I got a sneak peak at the catalogue at the Club MED luncheon and received the Hostess Level D stamp set. Here's a picture of Lezli and Leah holding theirs up for me.



I got to participate in the Club MED prop swap, and the person that received the star book I made told me it was the best Club MED gift she'd ever gotten (and she's been in Club MED for several years now). And the gift I received, was from my very own friend, Leah! A beautifully decorated picture frame.

The new inspiration book/catalogue was officially released on my birthday. It's a great catalogue, and Leah and I were both honored to have cards and scrapbook pages in this one too! So far there has been no bigger thrill than seeing your samples in the catalogue at the sneak peak.

Because it was my 40th birthday, my super wonderful Mom,(real mother, not stamp mother), whom I love with all my heart, set it up so that lots and lots of friends from The Angel Company made me cards and helped me celebrate my birthday in a big way. It was so much fun, and really touching. Every time I turned around, someone was wishing me a great birthday. My friend Leah even made me a scrapbook of "40 reasons why I like Meri" :) It was cute, funny and so much fun to go through with reasons from "She wears a crown and pink sweatpants when she buys beer at a gas station" (and yes I really did that at last year's seminar) to "She is my angel goal buddy. We seem to follow the same path and reach the same milestones together, and that makes those accomplishments even more special. She is the best!" I think Leah's the best too, and I will cherish her present forever!



We had a great banquet where my stamp mom was on stage for just about every award you can think of, and several members of the team I'm on got to walk across the stage and announce their promotions and team names. Leah and I also got recognized for being in the catalogue. Here's a picture of Leah and I in front of the stage after announcing our names.



We even did some crazy stuff as a group, like participate in bling night and play in the waterfall fountain in front of the hotel.



We also went to a couple of great scrapbook stores in Wichita: Scrapbook Garden and Mrs. O'Leary's. Scrapbook Garden is a good sized store with lots of different product, and Mrs. O'Leary's was a small shop with an eclectic feel where they treated us exceptionally well. We even got to take pictures of samples they had in the store, which is so refreshing compared to many other places you go. If you're in Wichita, you should check both places out.

Overall, this was the best trip. Between stamping, shopping, partying and recognizing each other's accomplishments, we had the most awesome time. It is the perfect example of why I LOVE being an Angel.

Off to Seminar!

Well, tomorrow morning we leave for Wichita, Kansas to attend The Angel Company's yearly seminar and award ceremony. Above is a picture of some of the girls and I being paparazzi for the Club MED (Managers, Executives, and Directors) luncheon last year. We had an awesome time getting in the spirit and whooping it up for all the Club MED attendees. This year, I will get to be one of the Club MED attendees, and see it from another perspective. In fact, three of the four of us shown in this picture became Managers this year and will get to see the paparazzi from the middle of the red carpet. What fun!

Anyway, I will be away this weekend and not posting, so I thought I'd just post this as a reminder. If you're looking to order any of the retiring stamps before the new catalogue comes out, you'll have until 4:00 on Friday to order through my website at http://meri.ismyangel.net.

Talk to you all when I get back, when I'll be sure to share my take on the new catalogue and the awesome new products we'll be offering.

Father's Day Cards

Wow, things have been busy! I got commissioned to make several cards this week, some Father's Day cards, a sympathy card and a 20 page scrapbook/comment book for people at work to sign for someone's going away party. I've also had my hands full getting all of my trades done for seminar, but things are finally starting to come together and I have time to post the Father's Day cards that I started over the weekend. All of them use the Just Like Dad paper from The Angel Company and the Trendy Greetings stamp set.

Once I started making the card for Taylor's cupcake challenge, I just kept going so that I could use up all the pieces of paper I'd started. Here are the cards. I hope they give you some ideas for Father's Day.

Cup Cake Challenge - Father's Day Card

Taylor's Cup Cake Challenges have become very addicting for me. If you haven't been following my blog, about two months ago, I started reading Taylor VanBruggen's Taylored Expressions blog. Every Friday she has what she calls a "Cup Cake Challenge" where she posts a card sketch and people participate by making a card using that sketch and posting it to their blogs. Then they leave Taylor a comment on her blog with a link to their entry.

Here's the Father's Day card I made using Taylor's sketch. It used The Angel Company's Just Like Dad paper and the Trendy Greetings Stamp set.



I had also seen some advice from another blogger that recommended that once you have a piece of paper out, you should use the whole thing so that you cut down on your scraps. It's a little more challenging, but it's also kind of nice. The paper is already out, and you can create something to store for later, instead of having to make it at the time you need it (which is the habbit I've fallen into recently). Plus, there are no scraps to store when you're finished. So, with that in mind, I also created some other Father's Day cards using the Just Like Dad paper and I'll be posting them later.

Ten Minute Gift Bag

I've got an adult graduation party to go to this weekend. My friend Deb has been going to school for what seems like forever, and she's finally graduated and on her way to becoming a teacher. Way to go Deb! You've worked so hard for this and finally siezed the brass ring.

My husband and I bought Deb a bottle of wine for the occasion. I had trouble finding a wine bag that I really liked, so I went to Target and purchased a plain white one for 99 cents to decorate myself. Here are the supplies I used.


Plain white bag, 4 pieces of 4 1/2 x 6 black cardstock, Congratulations Cuttlebug embossing template and Cuttlebug, ribbon, Giga and Mega Scalloped Clever Lever punches, white paper, silver paper, adhesive, grey marker, pop-dots, and The Angel Company's Congrats Grad set stamped with Noir Palette ink.

This bag was very, very simple to make. I ran the 4 pieces of black cardstock through the Cuttlebug; adhered them to the bag; put adhesive on the ribbon and ran it around the middle of the bag to cover the seam from the paper; cut two scalloped squares with the punches and stamped the diploma on the white one; layered the two together and stuck them to the ribbon in the center of the bag with pop dots.

The only thing remotely challenging about this is that you have to push the bottom of the bag up into a "V" so that you have flat pannels to work with on both the front and the back of the bag.



Here's the final gift (card made using the Scor-Pal, a paper piercer, and the same Clever Lever scalloped punches and stamp set):



And here's a close up of the embossing detail:



Now you have a classy wine bag that cost maybe $2 and took only 10 minutes of your time. I have used this trick to cover a gift bag with wrapping paper to cover spots or designs that didn't go with the theme I was giving the gift for, and I always gets a lot of ooohs and aaahs. I've also taken bags that have patterns that I like and dressed them up by adhering ribbon and adding an embellished fabric flower.



These are all quick ways you can make a store bought bag into something more without taking much of your time.