I AM SO CLOSE!!

After I added my post today on my blog, I checked out my "counter" to see how many people had been visiting the Rubber Room since my blog began. I have a bit of a "competitive" streak, and now I'm psyched to challenge myself to hit 31,000 visitors before the days is out. I mean, REALLY, come on, all I need is 120 people to visit my blog today, and I am there~~31,000 visitors before July 1st!

SO to entice you to share the Rubber Room blog link with your friends and help me reach my goal, I am offering a little incentive! Share the Rubber Room blog link with one person, leave a comment below this post, and I will enter your name in a drawing for $10 in FREE Stampin' Up! merchandise. Share the link with two friends, leave two comments, and I will enter your name in the drawing twice. For every person you share the link with, and every comment you post, I will enter your name into the drawing. The more you share, the better your chances of winning.

Please join the fun, help me reach my goal and win some FREE goodies!

WELLNESS WISHES TISSUE HOLDER!

Here is a great little project that was shared in one of the demonstrator Yahoo Groups I belong to. The idea came from Madeline Morcelo, and you can find her blog HERE. I was not signed up for her INKspirations4U-Summer Edition, so I did not have access to her projects and/or tutorials. But once I saw this adorable box, I had to make one. So, when my friend, Lisa, came over for a play date last night, I surprised her by letting her enjoy her time in the Rubber Room coming up with a pattern. Oh yeah, she was so excited~~well, maybe because she looked at her new catalog first... Anyhow, she's always a great sport when it comes to my crazy ideas, so she played right along. We took out a little travel pack of tissue and got to work. And here is what we came up with. I am not sure how close and/or different it is from Madeline's pattern, but it works!! Be sure to check out the post below for more photos and details too.

Lisa and I picked out some Designer Series Paper from the Noveau Chic DSP collection and then used some Basic Gray, So Saffron and Very Vanilla card stock to go with it. I added some little black brads to the corners of mine also. The sick little doggie is from the Stampin' Up! stamp set called Wellness Wishes, and he is so cute! The Get Well Wishes sentiment on the front of the box is from the Stampin' Up! stamp set called Teeny Tiny Wishes. We also used a little bit of the 1/8" Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon, which is available in the new 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog! The sentiment was punched out with the Word Window Punch and then layered onto a Modern Label Punch. We used the Watercolor Wonder Crayons to put the finishing touches on the doggie.

Once we got our "pattern" figured out, this was a pretty easy little box to put together. I will be sharing it with my demonstrator group tonight, and I hope they like it!

Again, thank you, Madeline Morcelo for the inspiration for this cute little tissue holder!

WELLNESS WISHES FINISHING TOUCHES!

Here are some photos of the "unseen" parts of the tissue holder. The photo that looks like just a piece of Designer Series Paper is the back of the tissue holder. When we finished the holder last night, I had not added this finishing touch. I wanted to add some brads to the front of the stand-up part of the tissue holder (as Madeline had done), but I did not want you to be able to see them on the back. So, I added this piece of Designer Series Paper to cover the back of my brads.

The other photos are of the side of the box. One side of the box was taped closed with some sticky strip and the other side was "unadhered" so that you could open it and insert your tissues into the holder. So, there is a photo of the side closed, and a photo of the side opened and the tissue neatly stored inside the holder!

BIG SHOT BIRTHDAY BAG!

This is a cool little bag that my upline, Christina Proffer, made for me for my birthday. It is the perfect size to hold handmade cards, or even stamp sets and ink pads....

Christina used the Big Shot die to cut the material for her bag and then had a little help sewing it all together. You can get the material to fray once you put the whole bag together and wash it.

I have seen lots and lots of these bags on the internet, and now I have one of my own and didn't even have to figure out how to use my sewing machine! Spoiled, yep, I sure am~~and I love it!!

Thanks so much for the awesome gift, Christina!

TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

Only three days remain to take advantage of some great deals!

First, the Last Chance Items! Stamps, accessories and Decor Elements are all being retired so that Stampin' Up! can unveil some awesome new products and stamps in their new 2010-2011 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog. You can get some great deals now on buttons, ribbons, Designer Series Paper... And you won't want to miss your last chance to order retiring stamp sets and decor elements. Use the links on my left side bar to see what's on the list and order by June 30th, 2010! You can order 24/7 online from my website HERE. Or contact me, and I will be happy to place your order for you.

Second, the Mini Starter Kit for only $99! Check out the flyer with all the details HERE. You can signup online 24/7 HERE. You'll need the password Rubber Room when you sign up. You must sign up by June 30th to take advantage of this awesome savings.

And last, but definitely not least, in celebration of my 50th birthday, I will treat anyone who signs up as a demonstrator and joins my Stampin' Up! downline family by June 30th, 2010 to a $50 gift certificate for Stampin' Up! merchandise!

ELEMENTS OF STYLE!

This is the third card we made at our Tuesday Card Club this month. We used the Elements of Style stamp set, available in the Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalog. We colored it with the Watercolor Wonder Crayon and then added some satin ribbon. For this card we used the same card pattern as we did in the last two posts, and we flipped the way the card opens.

TRENDY TREES!

Here is another card we made at our Tuesday Card Club this month. For this card we used the Trendy Trees stamp set, which is available in the current Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog.

WATERCOLOR TRIO!

This is one of the cards we made at our June Tuesday Card Club. At this club we made three cards all useing the same pattern. For this card we used the Watercolor Trio stamp set available in the Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalog.

LAURA TAKES THE CAKE!

This is a piece of cake that my customer, Laura Szablewski, made for her good friend's birthday. She used the Red and Purple colors to represent the Red Hat colors. On top of the cake, the "candle" is a votive candle that's been decorated. I think this is so cool with all the little jewels on the flowers and the butterfly on top. I know Laura's friend Brenda had to just love it!

Thanks for letting me share it, Laura!!

MICHELLE'S AMAZING LILLIES!

This is a scrapbook in a box that Michelle made me for my birthday. She put these amazingly beautiful lillies on the top of the box. The lillies are made with her oval punch and are much prettier in real life.

Thanks, Michelle, I love it!!

PUNCH RING!

Okay, here is my favorite "tool" for my punches! The biggest reason I love this punch ring is that I can easily see which punch I will need for my project and can pull it off my punch rack and take it to where I'm working without having to "guess" at which punch is the right one, or pulling all my oval punches off the rack to try them all and see which one fits. This is a real time saver for me!

I am going to be having a Punch Ring Party class in August where my customers can come and make a punch ring of their own for only $8. I will have all the cardstock cut and all the labels attached, so they can just move around the tables and punch the cardstock and then assemble their own punch ring. This way, my customers can mark off the punches they own and can easily see which ones they will need to purchase in the future.

How does it work? It is so easy, and I think you can pretty much tell by the photos, but here are the DEETS for all those inquiring minds.

I start with a 3 1/4" square piece of cardstock (we have some pretty big punches available now :o). I make labels for each punch, and the label includes the name of the punch, and the order number for that particular punch. (I have photographed my old punch ring, where the label included the price of the punch, but the newer labels I am using do not include the prices of the punches). Then I take that punch and punch a piece out of the cardstock. When I'm done with all the punched out squares, I use my Crop-A-Dile and put a hole in the uppper left-hand corner and slide all the punched squares onto a key ring.

I also have little "covers" that are a little bigger than the punched squares (3 1/2" x 3 1/2") to make the front and back covers of the punch ring.

AND at the punch ring class, in addition to making your own punch ring, you will get a little bag to put all of the punched out shapes in so you will have those to use at a later time on your creations. All the details for the punch ring class are on my Class Schedule so be sure to check it out and sign up early. I scheduled it for August so that I would be sure to have all my new punches on hand and could include them.

Now that your punch ring is done, how do you use it? Well, it is super easy! Simply find your image or sentiment in the catalog (or pull out your stamp set and use your stamps) and then find the card on your punch ring for the punch you'd like to use and set it right over top of the image or sentiment to see if it fits inside the punched shape. With the Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog all the stamp sets and sentiments are shown at 100%, so you can easily see which punches will work best with which stamp sets/sentiments. If I did not explain that too well, just check out the photos, and I think you'll be able to "visualize" it.

MORE ORGANIZATION!

Below are a couple more quick ideas for organization. I find that when I'm organized, I have a lot more time to "work" and need a lot less time to get cleaned up and find things....

Tomorrow I will share my Punch Ring with you. My Punch Ring is a tool that I use almost every time I make a card or project. I love my punches and rarely make something where I don't include atleast one punch. This little Punch Ring is designed to minimize my time trying to find a stamp or word that will fit inside a particular punch, and it definitely does the trick.

You won't want to miss it, so be sure to stop back by tomorrow!

CATALOG TABS!

I love to have my catalog all organized so that when a customer says "Where are the wheels?" I can easily tell them without having the whole catalog memorized. I find these little tabs extremely useful for this purpose. Plus there are always things that I find myself going back to all the time, and the tabs make it super quick and easy to find those spots. I use the index in the front of the Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog as a "guide" for my tabs and then I add tabs for punches, ribbon, Big Shot, and the other spots I tend to frequent in the Idea Book and Catalog.

For the tabs, I print the words on a piece of cardstock and then punch them out with the Round Tab Punch. I like all my tabs to be different colors, so what I do is run an entire sheet of cardstock with the word "Hostess" on them; then I punch them all out (24 tabs will fit on one piece of cardstock). I use the extra 23 sets as door prizes, hostess gifts and to share with the other gals in my SU! Demonstrator group.

DAUBER STORAGE!

I had a lot of questions about how I store my daubers after they are all labeled. So, here are a couple of ideas for you. One is the plastic storage box with dividers. This is a stamp storage box from Stampin' Up! that was sold previously to hold alphabet stamps. If you have one of those around, it makes a great dauber holder.

I like to have my stuff for each color group together. So I store my ink pads, reinkers and markers altogether. I like to store my sponges and daubers together; so I just label them and put them in a basket. That way when I am "working" I can grab a color basket and have all the sponges and daubers for that color group right at hand.

The most important thing to remember when organizing is to think about how you use your supplies and your storage space. Some people like to have all of their "greens" together so they can pick from their green color pallette. Some people like to have all their flower stamps together and their word stamps together... Think about how you stamp and what's important to you when you are stamping and then sort and organize in a way that best fits your needs!

I HAVE BEEN ORGANIZING!

In anticipation of the arrival of my Sneak Peek order items, I have been busy getting myself organized and ready for all my new products and goodies. When it comes to organization, I am wrapped fairly tightly. I NEED to know what I have and where it is. I like to be able to see everything, so I will remember I have it and need to use it. When I put it in a drawer, I don't see it and don't remember I have it and then don't use it. I also like organization because it enables me to quickly locate things and know when I am missing something or need to order something.

Below are pictures of how I store my cardstock, daubers, ink pads and sponges.

I'll be back tomorrow to share with you how I keep myself organized for quick catalog searches.

INK PAD STORAGE!

I put these little color labels on the end of each ink pad. It is sometimes difficult for my customers at workshops and classes to identify what color the ink pads are, and, at times, this confusion leads to putting a stamp that has been inked with black ink onto a nice So Saffron ink pad. Then, right in the middle of my So Saffron ink pad is a perfect black-inked image. With this label, when the stamp pad is open, you will easily be able to see the color of the stamp pad printed right on the label.

The ink pad label also indicates which color group it belongs in, and that way I can easily put it right back into the correct ink pad slot.

DAUBER ORGANIZATION!

I love my daubers, and I NEED one special dauber for each color of ink. I label the dauber with the name of the ink. This "individual" recognition on each dauber for every color of ink, helps me stay organized when doing classes. It also makes it difficult for my customers stick the Chocolate Chip dauber onto the So Saffron ink pad!!

MY SPONGE ORGANIZATION!

I like to have a separate sponge, also, for each color. I used to just write the name of the color onto the sponge, but my fellow demonstrator, Keri Blake, shared with me this idea. My good friend Lisa Brown was over and helped me do all the punching, labeling and stapling! Where, oh where would I be without the help of all my friends??

So, for the sponges, there is a little label that has the name of the color on it. That color cardstock is punched with the Round Tab Punch and the label is attached and then it is stapled to a piece of sponge!

CARDSTOCK STORAGE!

I store all of my cardstock in one tall file cabinet. Each color of cardstock iS kept in a cello bag that is labeled with the cardstock color, order number and color group. Then I have a one-gallon zipper bag that contains all of my scraps for that color cardstock. The zipper bag has a label on it also that contains the color, color group and order number. These two bags go into a hanging file folder that is labelled with the name of the cardstock, color group and cardstock order number, then there is a little punch of cardstock on the end of the label.

ELEMENTS OF STYLE!

This awesome frame was given to me by Nancy Gelle, my wonderful friend and fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. She made it with the Elements of Style stamp set available in the Summer Mini Catalog. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!! Thanks again, Nancy!

TROPICAL PARTY GELLE STYLE!

This is a card I got from my demonstrator pal, Nancy Gelle. She is so talented, and I love it when I get a card she's made! Thanks so much, Nancy!!

For this card Nancy used the Tropical Party stamp set which can be found in the Stampin' Up! Summer Mini Catalog.

The colors are so bright and summery. It makes me want to head off to the beach and vacation in the sun!