Finding Inspiration Friday

Design Challenge + Prize Patrol

Hi Everyone,

My favorite time in stamping is finding that creative inspiration. I have dedicated Fridays as my Finding Inspiration time from creating videos of my inspiration to offering design layout challenges to get my friends inspired to stamp. Today's challenge is so fun! I love this template and hope that you do too. You have an opportunity to create, submit, and win a Stampin' Up! prize.

You have a chance to create a project using this template as your inspiration for your project. Upload it to me and see if you win. Here are the details:

• Create a project using the template as inspiration
• Upload your project to me at lennyandmary1@msn.com 
• Be sure to include your e-mail so you can be contacted if you win
• Have your project entered by January 10th 
• Winner will be announced January 12th 
• The winner will win the Stampin' Up! Blossom Builder Punch an $18.00 value

I love the Blossom Builder Punch! It creates wonderful texture for your hand stamped projects. You can use alone, or pair with the Bunch of Blossoms Stamp set.

I hope that you want to participate in my Finding Inspiration Friday Challenge. You have nothing to lose and a wonderful punch to win. There are no requirements for current Stampin' Up! products or even Stampin' Up! stamps. Use whatever stamps, paper, and ink you have and submit a project.

I have a couple of samples that might help get your creativity flowing. One is a holiday project and the other features a sneak peek into the new Occasions Catalog coming soon. These projects are not part of the contest. They are samples to help you get creating.

Connie Collins created this fun project

Charlet Mallett designed this card

There are just a few days left to take advantage of the Year-End Sales event. There are many wonderful products on sale as well as the Holiday Catalog items which many products are retiring. There are also new and wonderful items on the Clearance Rack. So many things to stock up on for sure! 

I hope you plan to create a project for your chance to win a prize. Be sure to share to your friends and get them inspired to stamp. Remember to upload your project to lennyandmary1@msn.com by January 10th. The winner will be announced January 12th.

Happy Stampin',

Mary Blocher

The PowerHuff Stamper

A Stampin' Up! Year in Review

Hi Everyone,

As I sit and reflect on 2017 and all the wonderful stamping that has taken place with many friends and family, I wanted to take some time to share a few of my favorite events and creations from this past year. From weekly class, to stamp-a-stacks, it has been a great year. I hope you enjoy my favorites.

I really love the Painted Harvest Stamp set. There are so many wonderful things you can create using this stamp set and leaf punch. For this weekly class, I focused on "Flash" Cards. These are super quick and easy to design. You simply pre-cut your focal pieces and then you can create many different designed projects. The pre-cut sizes are: the colored cardstock is 2 3/4" x 4 1/4" and the white or vanilla is 2 1/2" x 4". Once you have these, the creativity never ends.

Okay, if you have seen or played with the new Stampin' Blends, then you know how wonderful they are! I loved this weekly class where my stamping friends got to try the Stampin' Blends with these projects. The Color Me Happy Stamp set was created specifically for the premiere of the new Stampin' Blends. I had so much fun creating these projects.

One of the events that I hold each month is the "Stamp of the Month". For November, the Nature Sings Stamp set was featured. I think this set is a wonderful all season set. The images are perfect for masculine cards. I really would like to see more masculine stamp sets in the Stampin' Up! catalogs, but if you look in the catalog with a eye for masculine, you can find quite a bit and think outside the box. 

I'm sure there could be so many more things to share from this past year that I really enjoyed creating, but that would fill up too many blog pages! I hope you have enjoyed these projects too. Be sure to comment and share. I love to chat. Be sure to check out the Stampin' Blends club. It's a great way to Get your Stampin' Blends over time and benefit from upcoming Sale-A-Bration and Hostess Rewards. 

Happy Stampin',

Mary Blocher

The PowerHuff Stamper

12 Days of Christmas Swap Stampin' UP!|PowerHuff Stamper|Part 2

12 Days of Christmas Swap Stampin' Up!|PowerHuff Stamper|Part 1

Let the Gifting Begin

with Hand Stamped Projects

Hi Everyone,

This is the time for fast and cute gifts for friends, family, and coworkers. The cute nutcracker treat box above was made using the mini clear treat boxes from Stampin' Up! as well as the Christmas Quilt Designer Series Paper and Christmas Around the World Designer Series Paper. If you can believe it, I didn't stamp a thing for this box. The nutcracker and oval sayings were cut out of the DSP. I simply added the bow using the Quilted Christmas Ribbon and filled the box with chocolates. I was able to create 15 of the boxes in just an hour. I say that is fantastic. 

During this past summer, I came across a few boxes of really nice clear ornaments at our church rummage sale. I knew I had to have them and couldn't wait for the holidays. 

I love curling designer series paper and putting it into the glass ornament. I then punched out mini stars out of the gold and silver glimmer papers to also put inside. I added a tag using the Oh What Fun stamp set and have quick and cute gifts. Both of the DSP used in the ornaments are going to be retiring at the end of this month. 

I hope you enjoyed my quick and cute gifts I created. Comment and share if you do. Thanks for stopping in today.

If you are in need of any products you can place an order online. I appreciate you choosing me as your demonstrator. Be sure to use my December Hostess Code #NSWKCN7N for your chance to win hostess rewards. A minimum $25.00 qualifies you. Please do not mark "No Contact" when you order. I won't be able to contact you if you win the December Hostess. 

Remember that when you order on-line, you can earn "Loyalty Bucks". For every $25.00 you order, you receive 1 loyalty bucks. Collect 20 loyalty bucks and you receive $30.00 free merchandise. Be sure to comment and share this blog. I'd love to hear from you. You can subscribe at the top or side of my blog.

Happy Stampin'

Mary Blocher

The Power Huff Stamper

Holiday Creativity

with Stampin' Up!

Hi Everyone,

I hope this time of year finds you sipping hot cocoa and adding that bit of peppermint to it. I love this time of year because it seems more special to hold that hot mug of goodness. Today I wanted to share with you a way to go a little further in creating and being creative with stamping. When creating a card, sometimes you can stare at your cardstock and go blank. You struggle with a layout and it can be discouraging. I have found that creating a tag can help get your creativity started. Tags are smaller and more focused. Once you have a tag created like the one above (isn't it fantastic)? you can expand to your card. This cute tag was created using the Stanta's Sleigh bundle. This is a wonderful bundle that makes it easy to be creative. This tag was created quickly and has a lot of wow. 

It's super easy to step up this tag by using the Foil Snowflakes from the Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog which is soon to be retired and then mount the tag onto the card front. I stamped a cute holly stamp on the background of the Real Red base. I also changed the ribbon at the top to the Red Tinsel ribbon also in the Holiday Catalog and on sale through the rest of the month.

Thanks for stopping in. I hope you get inspired to create and share. It's a great time to jump into your wishlist with my Mystery Grab Bag opportunity. Be sure to check it out.

If you are in need of any products you can place an order online. I appreciate you choosing me as your demonstrator. Be sure to use my December Hostess Code #NSWKCN7N for your chance to win hostess rewards. A minimum $25.00 qualifies you. Please do not mark "No Contact" when you order. I won't be able to contact you if you win the December Hostess. 

Remember that when you order on-line, you can earn "Loyalty Bucks". For every $25.00 you order, you receive 1 loyalty bucks. Collect 20 loyalty bucks and you receive $30.00 free merchandise. Be sure to comment and share this blog. I'd love to hear from you. You can subscribe at the top or side of my blog.

Happy Stampin'

Mary Blocher

The Power Huff Stamper

Stampin' Up! Free Shipping 

Rewind

Hi Everyone,

As I'm flying to Michigan for a week to visit family, I'm excited to share that Stampin' UP! is giving one last holiday gift of free shipping. You might remember that on Cyber Monday, Stampin' Up! also offered free shipping. This is a "rewind". For 24 hours, you can take advantage of all the wonderful products on your wish list and enjoy free shipping. I love when this happens. Shipping costs are so high and you always compromise your order so that the total cost doesn't break the bank when shipping and tax are added. 

There is no better time that the Stampin' Up! Year-End Sales Event. Now with free shipping, it makes the Year-End Sale even better. There are so many wonderful products on special this month. It's also a great time to get the holiday catalog items that are retiring. Here are a few of my favorites from the Holiday catalog that are retiring.

The Year of Cheer Suite of products is such a beautiful set of stamping things. The Cheers to the Year Stamp set and Year of Cheer Specialty Designer Series paper are fantastic. There are so many wonderful parts to this suite like the Foil Snowflakes, which I've used like crazy! The washi tape and the Winter Wonder Embossing folder are must haves. These all are being retired and on some on sale. 

If you haven't seen the Be Merry Kit, you are missing out! This wonderful "All-Inclusive" kit have everything you need to create these 12 fantastic rosette ornaments. There are 2 colors and everything is cut and ready for you to quickly create these ornaments. They make wonderful gifts and can tie on to any package for a festive wrap.

We have all heard about Christmas in the country and this Quilted Christmas Suite makes it a warm and inviting Christmas in the country. This suite will give your creations a homey, handmade feel. The Christmas Quilt Stamp bundle with framelits allow you to create endless possibilities. I especially like the Stitched Felt Embellishments and the Quilted Christmas 1/4" Ribbon.

There is still time to create gifts from the heart. Take advantage of the free shipping. If you don't think that is a good enough incentive to order, well I have a special going on as well. It's my Mystery Grab bag. With a $50.00 order, you receive a free Mystery Grab bag filled with stamping gooodies. 

What could be better than this Year-End Sales Event? Well I have my very own holiday tradition each December. It's my...

Mystery Grab Bag Offer

Wouldn't you love to get a mystery grab bag with fun stamping products? Here are the details

• Place a minimum $50.00 order before shipping and tax online. Be sure to use the December Hostess Code. This will also put you in a drawing to receive mystery hostess dollars. 
• Choose me as your demonstrator, so that I can mail your grab bag to you when your order is placed.
• The grab bag will have retired, current, and maybe even something not available yet to purchase. Some items may have been used a little bit. Most things are new and unopened and purchased for the Mystery Grab Bag offer. 
• Grab Bags values are valued at approximately $50 or more of product.
• A random # of grab bags also include a $10.00 gift certificate to use after the 1st of the year. 
• Use Hostess Code #NSWKCN7N when shopping on-line.
• If you spend $100.00, you will receive 2 grab bags.

This is an exciting offer to combine with Stampin' Up's event. If you order, remember to use the Hostess Code #NSWKCN7N for a chance to win hostess dollars. 

I hope this makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I love to treat my customers, so thank you for stopping at my blog today. In fact, share this blog and comment and include #MysteryGrabBag in the comment, and one lucky winner will get a grab bag simply for commenting (please include an e-mail so that I can contact you to send your mystery grab bag to you)

Happy Stampin',

Mary Blocher

The Power Huff Stamper

Sharing What I Love

about Stampin' Up!

Hi Everyone,

One of the best things about being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator is gathering friends together to create wonderful projects. During one of my recent classes, I had a guest who was from out of state named Tonja. She was working with my school district as an English Language Arts Coach for a new curriculum. Tonja didn't have any plans for the evening, so I invited her to class. She came and had a blast. Tonja kept saying that she was going to show off her projects to her sister, who wouldn't believe that she had made the cards herself. Tonja had such a great time. She said that she wasn't a creative person and really didn't have time for anything due to traveling so much for work. This is what I absolutely love about being a demonstrator! It's the best feeling when people have so much fun at class and feel proud of their creations.

I have a few other things I want to share today. It's always fun to come up with ways to share other stamping techniques to help stampers branch out into other fun projects. 3-D projects are always fun to create. From little gift pouches to home decor. 

This note pad holder was really quick to make, but is a real wow! The plastic stand up picture frame is perfect for these. I used the Delightful Daisy Stamp set and punch with the coordinating Designer Series Paper. The paper slides right into the space that would usually have a picture. Adding the wide organza ribbon adds the final touch.

There is nothing better than to have tissue at the ready and why not have it in a cute container that fits travel packs of tissue. Soft Suede paired with the gold foil paper is striking and so festive. Both of these projects will make great gifts for my co-workers. They always expect a set of cards or something from me each year. 

Another thing I love about being a demonstrator is that I get to share new things with my customers. I'm getting ready for my annual Occasions & Sale-A-Bration Catalogs Open House on January 6th. This is a great time for stampers to come and see some of the new products and make a couple of Make-n-takes. They also can sign up for specialty classes, clubs, and more. Of course I have door prizes and specials. Who doesn't love sneak peeks.

In the Occasions Catalog, the Sweet Soriee Suite of products is Fantastic! I love everything about it all. I also like the Petal Passion Memories & More Card Pack and Soiree Embellishment kit. One thing I try to do is to help new stampers feel like they can be successful without having all the inks, papers, and stamp sets. By using the kits and other products, wonderful projects can be created with little to no stamping. I call that a perfect way to help new stampers get started. 

Here are a few cards that I hope to feature for a Memories and More Specialty class in the New Year.

As you can see, these cards really look like they took so much work! They all were created using the Memories and More Card pack and the Sweet Soiree Embellishment kit. I just added some cardstock and a couple of stamped sayings. On the last project (my favorite), I didn't stamp anything. I love the contrast of the white and black.

If you thought you saw the best of today, well I have one more thing to share. I love being able to show off my daughters and I always love our time at the beach near our house in Seabeck, WA. During this trip, there was a record low tide and tons of people came out to see the sea life that would be exposed. Years ago, I couldn't get into Memory Keeping very well because it was so daunting and time consuming. I love Stampin' Up! and Memories and More! I can complete a layout super quick and easy. As you can see from my cards, I love that I can use Memories and More for stamping and memory keeping. It's a win/win!

Thanks for stopping in today and seeing what I love about Stampin' Up! and being a Demonstrator. 

If you are in need of any products you can place an order online. I appreciate you choosing me as your demonstrator. Be sure to use my December Hostess Code #NSWKCN7N for your chance to win hostess rewards. A minimum $25.00 qualifies you. Please do not mark "No Contact" when you order. I won't be able to contact you if you win the December Hostess. 

Remember that when you order on-line, you can earn "Loyalty Bucks". For every $25.00 you order, you receive 1 loyalty bucks. Collect 20 loyalty bucks and you receive $30.00 free merchandise. Be sure to comment and share this blog. I'd love to hear from you. You can subscribe at the top or side of my blog.

Happy Stampin'

Mary Blocher

The Power Huff Stamper

Stampin' Up! Year-End Extravaganza

&

My Mystery Grab Bags

Hi Everyone,

It is the most exciting time when Stampin' Up! releases not only the retiring list from the Holiday Catalog, they also have a Year End Sales Event that is filled with savings. I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite things that are being retired from the Holiday Catalog and won't be available after January 2nd or before if they sell out.

Christmas in the Making is one of my favorite stamp sets in the Holiday Catalog. My daughter is really into the vintage look and this reminds me of her. The couple of projects below were a lot of fun to make.

I love the sparkle added with Wink of Stella. The Quilted Christmas DSP is being retired.

The 1/8" Gold Trim is on Sale this month. I use
it on so many of my projects.

Another of my favorites in the Holiday Catalog are the Foil Snowflakes accessories. These are beautiful in gold and silver. Don't miss out on them or the Red and Silver Tinsel ribbon I used on the cute ornaments I made.

The Quilted Christmas DSP is perfect for these little Note Pads

What could be better than this Year-End Sales Event? Well I have my very own holiday tradition each December. It's my...

Mystery Grab Bag Offer

Wouldn't you love to get a mystery grab bag with fun stamping products? Here are the details

• Place a minimum $50.00 order before shipping and tax online. Be sure to use the December Hostess Code. This will also put you in a drawing to receive mystery hostess dollars. 
• Choose me as your demonstrator, so that I can mail your grab bag to you when your order is placed.
• The grab bag will have retired, current, and maybe even something not available yet to purchase. Some items may have been used a little bit. Most things are new and unopened and purchased for the Mystery Grab Bag offer. 
• Grab Bags values are valued at approximately $50 or more of product.
• A random # of grab bags also include a $10.00 gift certificate to use after the 1st of the year. 
• Use Hostess Code #NSWKCN7N when shopping on-line.
• If you spend $100.00, you will receive 2 grab bags.

This is an exciting offer to combine with Stampin' Up's event. If you order, remember to use the Hostess Code #NSWKCN7N for a chance to win hostess dollars. 

I hope this makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I love to treat my customers, so thank you for stopping at my blog today. In fact, share this blog and comment and include #MysteryGrabBag in the comment, and one lucky winner will get a grab bag simply for commenting (please include an e-mail so that I can contact you to send your mystery grab bag to you)

Happy Stampin',

Mary Blocher

The Power Huff Stamper

Holiday Cheer

Blogging Friends

Hi Everyone,

It's another wonderful Blogging Friends Blog Hop. This month we are sharing Christmas, Hannukah, and New Years. Grab your sparkling cider and join us. There are many wonderful projects to share. Spread the cheer by sharing.

For my projects this month, I really wanted to share a bit of Christmas. First are some woodsy ornaments or gift tags I made up as gifts for my stamping friends. I used the Mini Treat Bags Thinlit dies to wrap them in. Nature Sings is the perfect stamp set to highlight for these ornaments. The natural wood rings ties in well. I hope you enjoy.

Wink of Stella in gold adds the right amount of 

bling

These were really fun to make. I plan on making many more to give some of my co-workers too. Another project I really loved was using the Large Number Framelit Dies to create a Christmas card to celebrate the "25th".

One of my favorite Designer Series Paper in the Holiday Catalog is the Merry Music Specialty DSP. It is beautiful. The paper material is thinner that the other DSPs, but is so wonderful! It's so hard to choose which side to showcase. I especially like to use the black sides for stunning effects.

I used the Gold Glimmer Paper from the Annual Catalog and the Large Number Framelits to die-cut the number 25. I just love the sparkle! I used the Layering Circles Framelits for the die-cut circle and the holly from the Carols of Christmas Stamp set.

You can't get enough of that cute cut out deer! I used a combination of products to finish off this project. I used the Card Front Builder Thinlit dies, Pretty Pines Thinlit dies, and the Musical Season's Stamp set from the Annual Catalog. 

Stampin' Up! Year End Sale

Just when you thought the holiday season couldn't get any better, here comes the Stampin' Up! Year End Sale! This holiday sale goes from today through January 2nd. Don't wait though. Items sell out quickly. 

I hope you enjoyed my holiday projects. There are many more wonderful projects to check out from the other bloggers. I'd love to hear from you, so share and comment.

Crystal Komara 
Anna Conetta Masciovecchio
Libby Fens

Mary Blocher (You are here)

Jessica Mink 

Jodi Skrip Horsley

 Leanne Dillon Johnson

Michelle Clark

Mary Ann Rossiter

Tammy Gill

Rick Adkins

Lisa Harvey Reber

Nikki Debbie Daigneau