My own paper parade

You know, when you think of the relationship between a demonstrator (the upline) and her recruit (the downline), one might typically think that it should be the upline who inspires the downline. But in my case, I am consistently inspired by my downline. Though small in numbers, my first level girls are full of talent and creativity. Cheryl is constantly busy and into everything; the local paper even did an article on her and all she does. Julie is living a life familiar to me--the spouse of a seminary graduate waiting to receive his first call and be ordained in the Lutheran church, but she also works part-time and is a mother of three girls, whom she home schools; yet she has forced me to move the Lovely Letters alphabet stamp set to the top of my wish list, whether it is retiring next month or not. ;) And Beth, oh Beth.

You see Cheryl found me via the Demonstrator Locator and wanted to become a demonstrator, so she was familiar with the company and had done some paper crafting before; Julie had been stamping for years, and in fact, her mom once owned a stamp store, so when she found out about the demonstrator opportunity, she almost immediately jumped on board; but Beth...to think that I totally introduced her to stamping and Stampin' Up!, and then to look at her now. She is constantly creating beautiful art and inspiring me with everything she posts on her blog.

So a few weekends ago Beth participated in the Parade of Papers blog hop. Here is her entry. I was inspired to create a desk set for DJ's teacher, Miss Tallie, for her end-of-the-year gift. Below is a picture of the whole set, and then I have some close-up pics of everything but the pen. Here's the calendar. I found it in the $ bin at Michaels, and it was cute enough, but I wanted everything to coordinate, so I decorated an insert and voilà!
This is an acrylic frame post-it note holder. It's a 4x6 horizontal frame turned upside down so that you can write on the post-it notes. I've made more of these that are posted on my blog in a few places, but the ones I've made in the past were 3x5 vertical frames.

Here is a simple frame from the $ store, that I just added rub-ons to. Miss Tallie has a 2-yr-old daughter, so I thought she could put a picture of her darling little gal in this darling little frame.

I got the pattern for this Jr. Legal Padfolio from Kim (nutsymuhl)'s challenge during the Viva Las VSN {Virtual Stamp Night}, May 15-16 on Splitcoast. The original creator of the template is the "Fantabulous Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR)." I didn't get the notebook made in time to submit it for the VSN challenge, but I knew I had to try it out. I totally CASEd Beth on this one. You can see the cover in the top pic, and then the cool pocket on the inside in the smaller pic to the right.

And what gift is complete without a coordinating card and gift bag?

All these projects were created using the Walk in the Park DSP, which is found in the Occasions Mini Catalog, and is part of the BUY 3, GET 1 FREE SALE! Remember now through May 31 (that means there's just 4 days left), when you purchase any 3 packs of Designer Series Paper or Textured Card Stock, you receive a 4th pack FREE!!!

Sweet wishes!