A couple exciting free things to share with you today…..

1. If you have My Digital Studio installed on your computer, be sure to run the most recent update.  One of the things that update does is install the 5 brand-new In Colors to your color palette! Be aware it does not include cardstock and accessories….. although those things are available for purchase as downloads at my online store as of today.
2. A FREE Designer Greeting Card template!  It's yours for free; just go to my online store to view it and order product 127547!

So there you go – some fresh and fun gifts! For free!

How darling is THIS?!?  This was the "thank you for coming" favor that Katie made for her Saturday night workshop guests!  Is this precious or what?!?

From the laughter ringing through the air, and the crowd gathered 'round her ENORMOUS table (man, how I wish I had a table THAT size! So jealous, lol!), I'm pretty sure a good time was had by all! 

I know *I* sure had a great time! Thanks for hosting your fun workshop, Katie! 🙂

Oh! And Katie, watch for your special invite to my annual Hostess Appreciation Party! (Fun, food, frivolity and free stamps – and of course all the scoop fresh from Convention!)  Hope to get the invites into mailboxes before I head off to Convention….. but in the meantime, go ahead and save the date on your calendar – July 22!

And I still have a couple of openings left for June workshops, so there's still time to squeak in and qualify for YOUR exclusive invite to my annual hostess shindig, too!  (Not to mention, hosting a workshop means having a lot of fun with your girlfriends, too, of course.)  All hostesses between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011 will be invited! I've still got June 25 and 26 available before my June is totally booked, so let's party……

….. and help bid a fond farewell to the 2010/2011 Idea Book & Catalog!

The last chance lists have been published!  See what's retiring to make room for new goodies in the 2011/2012 catalog, which will be debut July 1!

Here are some tips to simplify your last-chance orders:

• Stamps:  You may order stamps at any time from June 1 – June 30, and Stampin' Up! will manufacture and fill orders according to demand
• Accessories & Definitely Decorative items:  These are available on a "while supplies last" basis, and are subject to running out at any moment without warning.  If you want something from these categories, it is best to shop early in the month while supplies are most plentiful, and be sure to use my online store.  That way you know you'll get what you are ordering and paying for, because if the item is still available it will show up there.  Once no longer available it will not show up in my online store. Review and shop specifically for "last chance" items here. 

Certain select Last Chance items are being offered at discounts of up to 40%, too – so there's another good reason to claim yours early while they're still available.  

If you're a ribbon-lover, you'll want to know that many, many ribbons are included on this year's Last Chance list, and several are being discounted, as well.

There are several types of hardware (eyelets, brads, & Hodgepodge) on the list, along with some glitters, too (including the Baja Breeze glass glitter that had just recently been "held over" from the Occasions Mini.  Apparently it will NOT be in the upcoming catalog as we had expected…. huh!)

Several storage items are being retired (including both sizes of Craft Keepers, so don't forget to grab a few of those; they're SO useful!)……. and some of the more recently popular accessories among my ladies include the stylus (which I've always said was the biggest bargain in the entire book due to its outstanding everyday usefulness & modest $2.50 price tag), and the Tearing Edge (which we just used at last month's Card Class – did you got yours yet?!?), and the Hobby Blade (Exacto knife) and cutting mat.

And a surprising number of punches and Big Shot DIES!!!  LOTS of dies, as a matter of fact – many of which are being discounted up to 40%, so this might be the month to treat yourself to the ones you've had on your wish list – before it's too late!

Oh, and if you place a qualifying ($20 or $30) order at my online store between June 1 and the time you attend your card class/Stamp-a-Stack this weekend, I'll count it towards your free or discounted class fee!  Bending the rules a little bit here to give you the opportunity to take advantage of the online order system for your Last Chance accessories and ALSO count it for your discounted or free card class!  :-)

Happy Shoppin'!

Had a great time at Scrap Camp yesterday, and came home all in the mood to keep on scrappin'!  (Will post more about that this upcoming week….)  But today I changed mediums and decided to work digitally instead.  Here's a glimpse of our "BIG WAIT" last Friday afternoon while hoping to get a chance to wave at this year's Stampin' Up!® cruiser achievers on their way to Alaska aboard the Celebrity Infinity. 

So – nearly on the spur of the moment I talked my parents into joining me on a sudden field trip to go stalk the ship, and we grabbed my niece and headed up-Island for Fort Casey, which was the best potential public viewing point I could think of.  With a good stiff wind blowing, it was pretty cold – but at least it hadn't started raining (yet).  So we grabbed the binoculars and waited….. and waited….. and waited…..

But instead of coming home with a camera full of cruise ship pictures, I ended up with a whole bunch of "this-is-what-an-energetic-7-year-old-does-in-the-absence-of-a-cruise-ship" pictures instead! (And it turns out the ship passed by one hour after we finally gave up and headed home.)

So using 2 of the pre-designed layouts included with My Digital Studio, here's how I put the pix together.

Now, gotta tell you about the background(s) of each page, 'cuz I'm kinda proud of 'em.  It all actually started out as part of a long shot with that shy little girl in the middle – and with lots of scenery all around.  But by itself the photo didn't turn out to be very good.  So I cropped out all but the upper left corner with Photoshop Elements to make an independent picture (just showing the landscape), which I then used for the background of the left-hand page.  And then did the same with the upper right-hand corner of that photo for my right-hand page.  It did require a little bit of careful manipulation to get the lines to carry across precisely from left page to right…… but My Digital Studio was certainly up to the challenge!

(Have I mentioned recently how much I LOVE My Digital Studio, btw – even though MOST of what I use it for ISN'T even scrapping?!?)

Oh, but then I remembered that because it's still National Scrapbooking Month, many of the professional print items are on sale for 30% off this month…… so of course I HAD to upload these pages to take advantage of the 30%-off sale price.  And now I can hardly WAIT to see these in print! 

Seems like a lotta life is about "BIG WAITS", huh?

The more I work on my share of this event for this coming Saturday, the more excited I'm getting!  This week I've been creating a packet of sketches that will be included in our handout, inventorying my 12 x 12 cardstock (since 12 sheets of any color will be included), selecting grab bag contents, packing up stamps and punches and Big Shot dies, and working on the mini classes I'll be leading. It's going to be a fun day!

A couple days ago I was asked if there was a possibility we might repeat this in the fall, and I'm happy to announce that we have now scheduled our next Scrap Camp – for Saturday, September 24th (again, in Oak Harbor).  So save the date and plan to join us!

As mentioned in my post of a few days ago, Stampin' Up!® is celebrating National Scrapbooking Month with a bunch of products (both digital and traditional) at 30% off.

See what all's included HERE , and then leave a comment below sharing your favorite(s)!

My fave?  The print prices for the albums! Love getting 30%-off of those – and HAVE to get some of my partially-complete albums ready this month for printing so I can take advantage!