My name is Diana Gibbs, and I am a Wife, a Mum, and a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.
I have been a Demonstrator for 13 years and I live in Arizona with Jeff my Hubby of 27 years, our 23 year old son Eric, our 4 year old Yorkie-Poo Toby, and our five chickens, Stella, Alice, Clara, Gertie and Fiji.
I am a 2009 Stampin' Up! Artisan Award winner, #40 Demonstrator of the Year for 2010 and #30 for 2011. I am having so much fun, I love my job!
To tweak, tweaker, tweaking, tweakster", any of those words used on my Blog means to like someones card, scrapbook page, project, whatever and you copy it but you change it up a bit.
"The Gnomes"
This is actually what I was calling "the girls" our chickens before we got them, when Jeff was building their coop.
The girls are called Alice, Gertie, Clara, Stella & Fiji
"My Precious"
This is my Droid phone...I love it! Updated, now I have a Samsung Galaxy...no pet name yet...ha!
"FLICKs"
First Level Incentive Card Kit(s) - these are the card kits my girls can earn based on their monthly sales.
"BFF Tracy"
Everyone knows that BFF stands for Best Friends Forever. Tracy lives in Pennsylvania and we met through Stampin' Up! and we talk and laugh every day, and we both wish each other lived next door. We only see each other a few times a year. Everyone should be so lucky to have a BFF like my Tracy!
"Card Guts"
Left over class packets of cardstock all ready to make cards.
"MDS"
My Digital Studio - Stampin' Up!'s new Digital Paper Crafting program for making scrapbook pages, cards, calendars, DVD's, etc.
"Toby"
My dog
"Eric"
My son
"Jeff"
My hubby
"Dit"
On the ruler it is the little lines in between the big lines, they might be 16's, 18's, heck they could be 44's, to me they are dits.
"What-cha-ma-call-it"
Something I don't know the real name of, or maybe I just can't spell it right
"Dealie-bob"
What-cha-ma-call-it
"Sansodor & Stumps"
An oil for blending watercolor pencils, and the stumps are what you apply the oil with.
You can also use it with the Watercolor Wonder Crayons.
"TLC"
Technique Lover's Class
"DSP"
Designer Series Paper
"MAMMa"
My Arizona Mum Marlene
"10/10/20 Class"
10 cards, 10 envelopes for $20.00
Honk If You See Me
Order your "I've Got the Pee Giggles" T-shirt here
Make sure you get the original 2007 British version.
So many funny moments, I love swearing in a British accent. Oh and Uncle Alfie on the crapper..."it's touch and go" and "you missed a bit" - Classic
"Barefoot in the Park"
This is so funny, Jane Fonda's Mum and all the stairs is hilarious and when she gets drunk....ya gotta watch it!
"The Butterfly Effect"
Make sure to watch BOTH versions, the theatrical and the director's cut...let me know which one YOU liked best!
"Mr. Holland's Opus"
I love Richard Dreyfuss, since Jaws and this movie is so uplifting and beautiful.
"Serendipity"
I think this is one of my favorite movies of all time...well at least the one with NO vampires in it...ha! I believe in fate...do you?
The days are ticking down for the current catalog. So if there is anything you are wanting off the retiring list, please let me know right away. You only have until May 31. A bunch of the retiring accessories are running out or are already gone.
Stamp Club was fun today and I think the girls liked their make n takes. It was fun showing them the new pads and telling them how easy they are to ink up the stamps now.
Jeff, Eric and I moved half the Chuk-lets over into the second brooder. I am thinking we should have done that before they could fly. You should have seen us, trying not to lift the lid up too high so they could fly out, some did and we had to wrangle them up. We did lose one as he got behind the counter bench thing, so I am hoping he makes his way out and is ok, Jeff says he will probably die. Well I am looking at the positive side of it, why can't he when it is all quiet walk around and make his way out from the cupboard? Maybe he will figure out how to open the brooders and let all his siblings escape in the middle of the night (so Madagascar-ish) and when Jeff opens up the barn in the morning they will be ready and fly away. Wouldn't that be something. I can hear them now...
...Move It!!
As soon as I saw this hostess set I was in love...I mean you know I love to color. One of the perks of being a Demonstrator (and there are many) is we can pre-order certain things, certain times of the year. So I ordered this hostess set. I copied the card layout from my sweet friend Anna Wight (Hi Anna...hey the coop is almost done...yay!!!)
Stamp Set: Summer Afternoon - earn yours for free by booking your workshop now, or joining one of my stamp clubs.
Paper: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Watercolor paper, Comfort Cafe DSP
I was right too, it was fun to color. I have a 7 page PDF tutorial if you wanna learn how easy it is to color with the ink refills. In fact my new pads were so juicy, just one or two squeezes put enough ink on the inside of the lid to paint.
Oh I had someone email me and say "where's that cute ice cream cone card you did?"
You mean this one?
Here's the link to the tutorial to show how easy it is to make the ice cream scoops.
It sure felt good to get to bed last night after driving all over. We had to take Eric to the ER cause it was the only place open that late. Since I was gone since Friday night, Eric's eye was really bad when I got home, Jeff figured it was allergies or something...blech! After we were at the ER for an hour or so then we had to go to the 24 hour pharmacy, I guess I figured the hospital would actually have the medicine he needed, but nope. So off we went at like 12:30 am. I think by the time I got to sleep it was around 2am. Eric is doing better today, but he will be off work for a few days. This is one time I am not taking a picture.
When I was doing my display cards for Regionals I used some of the card packs that I had cut for my class, so this layout might look familiar cause I showed the class card the other day, but I changed it up by using the cute Gnome set and some of our fun trinkets.
I showed watercoloring tips at Regional and I hope that everyone learned at least one thing. If you couldn't go to the regionals and didn't see my watercoloring demonstration I do have a 7 page PDF that is available. It shows how to watercolor using ink refills.
I even got to finally watch my Breaking Dawn movie, it was better than ever cause I could turn on my subtitles and I didn't miss anything. Jeff watched it with me.
Stamp Set: Gnome Sweet Gnome, Gnomenclature (too funny, I just now realized the name of that stamp set)
Paper: Pool Party, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade, Everyday Enchantment DSP, Watercolor Paper
Misc: Riding Hood Red Pleated Satin ribbon, Pinking Hearts Border punch, Trinket Keys, Trinket hearts, vintage trinket, Pool Party twine
Well this old gal has to finish up so I can clean my room for class tomorrow, I have been prepping part of one of the Spring Fling Make n Takes, Jeff was even helping...that is all I will say, but when I show you what it is eventually, you will realize which project he helped with. I love my hubby.
Have an awesome Monday and thanks for stopping in.
Jeff was burning some wood last night and apparently unbeknownst to me he put the lighter on the bumper on the back of my truck. So today I went to Target to pick up a few things...one of those being the new Breaking Dawn soundtrack and when I got back out to the truck to put my stuff in the back, there it sat. I had to take a picture. I must drive pretty safely, cause it is about 10 miles or so to Target and I have to go down our road which is a dirt road. I showed Jeff the picture when he got home and he laughed. I put the lighter inside the truck for the ride home.
Today I got my Spice Cake Stationary Box class all figured out, I am such a procrastinator, I have had the class on the books forever and knew what I wanted to do but getting it done kept getting put off, so today I got it done and it is a...dor...able.
Here's the box closed. We had done this box at a Spring Fling event a year ago or so and we did it in pink.
Do you think I could find my notes with the dimensions? Nope. Not all my files got copied over to my laptop and I gave up looking, so basically I had to take this pretty pink box apart to get the measurements. But now I have them written down.
Added since original post...my sweet friend and upline Rhonda came to my rescue she had the PDF on her computer that we made for our event, so I am putting the PDF here, and please note that it is for the pink box, so I did not do any of the border punching for my Spice Cake box, but everything else is the same. Enjoy!!!
They'll make the box, and then four notecards with envelopes to go inside. This holds the notecards #107311 and not the standard size card. If you live in Arizona and want to attend the class, I need to know right away, I only have a few seats left.
So did you watch the CMA awards? I think I've missed it the last few years or only caught a bit of it. I did miss the beginning when they sang Footloose, but it's been a while since I gave my two cents on a show...so here goes...
Natasha Beddingfield who sang with Rascall Flatts, what the heck was up with her skirt? I almost think it was the Snuffleupagus, I mean at one point I swore I saw his trunk...
...if you watch the video below when the clock gets to 3:00, tell me if you don't see it...
...maybe that is why Miss Piggy was there.
Kellie Pickler looks awesome, the last time I saw her on a show she had put on quite a bit of weight and she got to present with Emmett from Twilight...lucky lucky girl.
Seems that ball caps are the new cowboy hats...and I'll be honest I love my man in his ballcap, and if it's a camo one, that's all the better...just a little me tidbit thrown in there for y'all.
Speaking of y'all, the new movie with Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah called Joyful Noise looks good.
Keith Urban sang and I thought he was having throat surgery?
The girl that sang with Kenny Chesney must not have gotten the memo that she would be sitting on a high up stool, cause she wore a short short dress...yikes! Good thing she plays a guitar which she could hide behind, and not a harmonica. She could have used part of Natasha's fur skirt.
Glen Campbell tribute, that made me cry, boy he had some amazing songs didn't he? I did not know he had Alzheimers. I am so glad they did the tribute now when he is still himself.
Lionel Richie, he has had some amazing songs too, BUT this was the CMA's which is country music. So I would have much preferred if they were going to sing the songs let the country people sing them in a country way by themselves and maybe have Lionel in the audience, I didn't mind the first and second songs, but his duet with Darius was awful.
Faith Hill has the longest legs.
Carrie Underwood's outfits, ugh...it was like The Jetsons or something, I think I only liked a couple of them, and that last one where you could see lots of cleavage, (no wonder Brad likes being co-host) she must have used strategically placed sticky strip or that would have been quite the final send off for the evening. Holy Mackerel.
Band Perry, wow what a night for them. I love them and looks like I need to go pick up their CD.
Sugarland, who the heck was that guy that sang with her? He could not stand still and I was waiting for him to split his pants he had his legs spread so wide.
Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton - their gonna need a bigger mantel.
Reba looked amazing as ever.
I think that is all I remember, I tried to take notes, but then my phone needed charging and that was where I was taking notes...ha!
I'm gonna say nightie night. Can you believe I am actually going to start a book tonight...a real live paper book...it's a hard cover and enormous. Stephen King's "Under the Dome", it's gotta weigh 10 pounds. Not looking forward to having that lay on my chest in bed while I read, but I bought it before I got my Nook. I think I own all Stephen King's book in hard back. He's one of my favorite authors, I always said if I could meet an author he would be number one on my list...of course there are so many others I love now that the list is longer.
Have an awesome Thursday, Grey's Anatomy looks like a good one...at least the commercials make it seem that way.
Thanks for stopping in, and listening to my blabbering.
I have a "Little Friends" stamp set class this weekend, the girls will get their own set and a blender pen too. They will make three cards, and this is one of them. I love this little set. The images are adorable and the perfect size too. To learn how to watercolor with ink refills I have a 7 page PDF for sale. I want to thank all of you who have purchased this PDF, and the sweet comments and emails too, I really appreciate it.
I love the Beau Chateau paper, and the Marina Mist striped ribbon looks awesome with it. I did some faux stitching around the circle, and the edge of the card too.
Ink: Jetblack stazon, Marina Mist, Sahara Sand, More Mustard, Basic Gray, Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Lucky Limeade, Real Red
Misc: Perfect Pennant Die, 2 1/2" circle punch, 3" circle die, Marina Mist striped ribbon, paper piercer, white gel pen, vintage trinket, jewelry tag punch (here is how to make it longer)
I told you I would show you Fiji's new mini coop-er.
I took this first thing this morning, check out Toby, I practically have to drag him away. You can see Fiji looking out too.
She has quite a bit of room now, and here you can see how close she is to the other girls, they can all see each other.
She sat on her perch a lot today. I have been freezing my own blocks of ice (I stopped buying the jugs of water and freezing them), I have a few old square tupperware containers and I fill them half way and freeze them and then I pop out the ice block and put it in with the girls, and they love it, it keeps them cool, Clara is the first one to stand on it every day. I have made smaller blocks for Fiji, so she hops down and stands on the block for a while and then back on the perch.
I had them all running around again tonight, had to scold Clara a few times, I am hoping as Fiji grows they'll all just get along. I think she is going to be bigger then all of them. So tonight while I was sittin out there I looked in the back yard and there was a danged cat, a calico like one, and I got up and shooed it away, then as I am turning to sit down, my eyes move to the corner of the yard and there is another one identical to the one I just shooed...and I shooed it away too. Again I turn and I'll be danged if there was not another one identical sitting up on top of the outside kitchen counter, and I threw a stone by it...not to hit it, but the sound scared it. I was like freaking out...three cats!!! Where the heck did they come from? I never ever saw baby kittens and now we have three cats. Ugh I don't want wild cats around the yard, they pee and stink up the place and who knows if they have bugs, gonna have to set some traps and call the pound.
While I was cutting paper I had this tv show on called "Plain Jane" have you ever seen it? Well I doubt I ever watch it again, the host girl of the show had this poor girl doing some wild things, coming onto guys at a dog park trying to get her out of her shell, yet she made her wear these high heel shoes, and no make up or anything at the dog park, and they had her hitting on guys and asking for phone numbers and if she said something they didn't like, they had put this thing on her arm, and they would zap her, when she asked for phone numbers the first guy was like "no thanks", the next guy was like "I'm gay", she finally did get a business card from one guy. By the time they had her all changed over, new hair color, clothes, make up...she looked like the danged host of the show, luckily the guy she was trying to take their relationship to the next level with had a crush on her too, so it ended good, but I was like is this for real?
Well I better stop my jabbering.
Have an awesome Friday (I need to run those jeans back to the store and have that security thing removed from them) I have not had time with Fall Fest and class prep to go there, and some days lately I feel a little odd in my stomach/side, I am wondering if I am starting menopause, would that give me pains?
...to have the crud. Ha! I guess a few other Demonstrators came home from convention with a cold or whatever and I was one of them. Today I went to the store grabbed some cold medicine and some more cough drops and came home and went to bed, I have been go-go-going since I got back from convention and maybe that was not the best thing. Toby loves when I nap during the day, he is a good spooner, or snuggler.
So I didn't get any work done today, but I do feel a bit better tonight, still stuffed up, but no aches or anything, so I am sure it is just a cold, a summer one in Arizona, no less, not fun...but hey, it waited till I got back and that I am thankful for.
At convention we swap with such amazing demonstrators and the reasoning behind it is to come back with awesome ideas for our businesses but more important I feel it is to get to meet people, I always try to thank the person and look at them when I swap as my mind is horrible but I want to try to remember every face I have swapped with.
This is one of the cards we did at stamp club this weekend and I got a swap from Judi Cayton (thanks Judi - you were so sweet to swap with me!) and I love love love it. I used the crochet trim ribbon only cause I didn't have enough of the Baja Breeze seam binding that she used on hers, but the card is basically hers. I also used watercolor paper for my image cause that is my favorite "go-to" paper for watercoloring. Speaking of watercoloring, I want to thank all of you that have purchased my PDF in how to watercolor, I appreciate it so much and I love hearing back from you that you find it easy to follow. Mwah!!
Misc: Dazzling Diamonds, Two way glue pen, crochet trim ribbon
I was trying to get the camera to pick up the dazzling diamonds sparkle.
Tonight for supper I wanted to try something fun and different and quick. I had picked up some mozarella at the store the other day, it was in a ball, and I wanted to make a tomato, basil, mozarella thing that I have seen on tv or in restaurants, so I googled and it came up caprese salad, but then when I looked better I saw where you could make it into a sandwich so I did, and it was so good. I just buttered some sour dough bread sprinkled on some rosemary and cooked it on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes, then took it out and put chopped fresh basil and sliced tomatoes on half of the slices of bread, and the slices of mozarella went on the other halves. I also sprinkled some olive oil over the tomatoes. Then they went back in the oven for about ten minutes. Then I took it, out let them cool a bit, then you just put them together like a sandwich, the cheese side goes together with the tomato side. I cut them in half and voila' , I felt like a chef. Jeff and Eric really liked them too, so I will definitely be making it again.
Well as much as I would like to chat it up some more, I am going to hit the hay.
Have an awesome Wednesday and thanks so much for stopping in to see me each day, I hope you know how much it means to me that you do!
...I think I might be getting sick. I have a bit of a sore throat and feel warm, although it's danged hot in Arizona so not sure on that part. If I am, I am glad it waited till I got back from convention. I hope I am not though. I did take some cold medicine so hopefully that will nip it in the bud. Now I am tired though, so I'll post quick and go to bed.
I was so busy today, but yet I look around and still see tons to do before Saturday.
Jeff put up the second fan tonight and I had to paint a bit around them as the bases on these are smaller then the other ones. They look so pretty, they are all white, the other ones had gold on them and I am not a gold person.
I had to run to the grocery store tonight I was making cornish hens and needed a few things, and while I was there I picked up some Chester Cheese Cheese Puffs, and they are Honey BBQ...oh my gosh, this is not good...they are crazy delicious I probably ate half the bag while I got supper ready. How am I ever gonna lose weight? Jiminy Christmas.
So speaking about food, here is another of my display cards, this one uses the cupcake in the Easy Events set that we got at convention.
I'm gonna guess on my colors since I don't have the card to look at anymore and I always forget to take notes when I am doing them.
Stamp Set: Easy Events
Paper: Just Add Cake DSP, Poppy Parade, Baja Breeze, Watercolor Paper
This was a fun set to work with, cause I love to color...did you know that? I have a 7 page PDF tutorial available if you want to learn how I watercolor. You can see the post here.
Well I better be hitting the hay, cross your fingers the cold just goes away and does not come. I have no time to be sick. Does anybody really?
Have an awesome Friday and thanks for stopping in.
This is a personal website of Diana Gibbs, an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, and I am responsible for its content. Stampin' Up! does not endorse the use of or contents of the classes, services, or non-Stampin' Up! products I offer here.
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Water Coloring With Ink Refills Tutorial
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"Thanks for the video. Have been wanting to do this and once again...you have inspired me. :)" - Gladys
"Thank you so very much for continuing to show samples and "how to" instructions and videos of your fantastic and creative projects. I can't even express how much it is appreciated." - Kim
"You totally crack me up girl. I love you, and we have never met." - Wilma
"If I wasn't a demonstrator already, I'd be joining your team. :) Thanks for always sharing your ideas and excitement for SU! My upline quit several years ago, so I've been blessed to have sideline sisters that help and encourage. Convention was a blast... like a bunch of crazy family getting together for a reunion! now I'm going to "go, go, go"... LOL" - Shelly
"I highly recommend this tutorial. I have dabbled with water coloring and didn't think I was too bad at it, but this tutorial has a number of helpful tips in it that immediately helped improve my technique. Even with the low price, I was apprehensive to purchase it because I felt a video was needed. You have managed to do it with a very reasonably-priced PDF. I am sorry I didn't purchase it sooner." - Dorrie
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