Happy Thanksgiving,

This is a special day designed for us to think about what we need to be grateful for in our lives. So this is the perfect day for me to tell you how grateful I am that you have chosen me as your Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and friend. I couldn't have this business without your continued loyalty and support. Each one of you is special to me and I want to say thank you for being part of my life. This is a wonderful opportunity for me to get to know each of you and each of you is a special person. So, enjoy this little turkey (I know most of you have seen him before but now you can download him into your stash of ideas),

I hope your Thanksgiving Day is filled with blessings and I will see you soon (right after I get off the treadmill to get rid of all that pumpkin pie--you know I skipped the turkey and went straight for the pie, right? If you didn't know that, you are on the wrong blog! LOL)

Blessings,
Sandi

Stampin'Up! has really outdone past sales, today 11/24 there are door buster sales, and from 11/24-12/2 there are more sales up to 50% off some items. Then on 12/1 there is another set of door buster sales!

Here's the link--no need for me to explain it all, go see for yourself.

Stampin'Up! Shopping extravaganza

You can order from my online store (hit the "Shop" button, call me 410 836 8016, or email me at sandihartka@sandilovesstamping.com.)

If you want to call or email and order, you will need to contact me by 9PM (11/24 or 12/1) for door buster sales in order to get your sale prices.

So don't delay--get these awesome sale prices while supplies last--go shopping now

Also, my Santa Secret Sales are in effect right now--so check out what special is on today too! Add it on to the Extravaganza sale!

Hi, Stampers!

I'm just bursting with excitement--my Christmas gifts to you are just about here. Santa is just about to hop down your chimney with some really great "sale gifts" to ease your shopping dilema.

Tomorrow (well, tonight actually at midnight) the Santa Secret Sales begin--

Want to shop without leaving your home? Want to avoid masses at the mall?  Want to buy gifts your family & friends will really enjoy? Have a limited time to shop?

I can help you with all these and make this the Christmas you 'sale' through your shopping experience

*Each day for 6 days you will see a new Special good for 24 hours of terrific Christmas shopping
    No--we do not need 12 full days to get our shopping done
    We can shop for 6 and PARTY for the last six--it's the better way!

*Each Special will be something unique and different from the other days
    Specials will include Fundles, Free stuff, Great Discounts and more!
    There will be gifts for YOU--it really is better to give, but it is FUN to receive!!

*How do you participate?
    You will need to be signed up for my newsletters--not signed up yet? Easy--
    just click on the link on my website and you can sign up immediately and
    receive the Santa Secret Sale info--don't miss out! Sign up now!
    Already on my newletter list--great, just sit back and check your email each day from

November 21 through November 26.
Then have a wonderful Thanksgiving and gloat at the table that you have your shopping already done! It will make them green with envy and you will get more pumpkin pie!

Another Big Deal is Sandi's Stampin'Up! Gift Certificates - Give someone a real treat for Christmas--they can always use cardstock, adhesive, a new stamp set, ink pads, punches! Don't know what they need? Just give them the gift certificate and let them shop (or come to a class for FREE)!

    *Available in any demonination
    *Comes in a lovely hand-stamped holder--ready to give
    *And, just may be the subject of one of Santa's Secret Sales--another good reason to watch for the       emails!

Remember:
    *Emails will arrive at midnight each day from Nov 21- Nov 26
    *You must call 410 836 8016 or email sandihartka@sandilovesstamping.com within the 24 hour       sale period each day to get the Special

Good Morning, Stampers!

We had a wonderful afternoon yesterday creating Christmas tags...below are pictures of the ladies who worked diligently..  

Nancy Neal at the Big Shot

Linda Jacobs (visiting from Georgia), Kathy Christopher, Noella Ryan-Paul, Gwyn Sirota,

Wendy Conlon (Kneeling--we all worship the Big Shot), Crystal Hernandez, Katie Mitchel, Rose Ortel,

Ellen Nordbrook, Kerrin Dame and Barbara Howe.

Below is one of the four tags we created...wish you could have joined us--check out the schedule and reserve a space in the upcoming classes.

You probably recognize the Gift Bow Bigz L die, Circles Collection framelits, 1" circle punch, 3/4" circle punchm 1/2" circle punch, Scallop Edge  Border punch, and the Beautifully Baroque embossing folder used to create this tag.

Scallop Edge Border Punch
$15.95

1/2" Circle Punch
$4.46

3/4" Circle Punch
$12.95

1" Circle Punch
$12.95

Circles Collection Framelits Die
$26.95

Gift Bow Bigz L Die
$32.95

If you need any of these items, you can order them immediately through my online store.

See you back here on Thursday! There are some really special sales on 11/21 - 11/26! If you haven't signed up for the newsletter, do it now!

Once Thanksgiving (which is only 10 days away) is over and we are facing that big time crunch before the Big Day, I always feel a little tingle of panic.  How am I going to "get it all done?" 

So, I decided to help you not panic---I'm giving you Santa's Secret Sale--the 6 Days of Christmas shopping! Yes, I said "6," not 12 because we are all busy people. We don't have 12 days to do it all, so we are going to accomplish our shopping in 6 days and party the other 6 (totaling 12)! What do you think?  Great idea, right? Who wouldn't want to party rather than shop? (Ok, if we are shopping for shoes, all bets are off--I'd rather shop than party, but Christmas shopping rarely involves shopping for shoes for me!)

Back to SSS, each day of Santa's Secret Sale (November 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26) you will have an opportunity to shop with huge savings.  Each day has a special and the special only lasts 24 hours--so be quick, watch for the daily special--from midnight to midnight. There will be 6 different specials that will include Free shipping, Free Sales Tax, Discounts on Gift Certificates (see more further down), Fundles, Discount on entire order, Free Gift Tags, Free Christmas Wrapping and FREE Gift for YOU!

Do I have your attention yet? We celebrated the 6 Days of Christmas last year and many of you enjoyed the Fun, Freebies, and Savings.

I also offer Gift Certificates in any amount. These are professionally printed certificates AND you will also get a hand made gift card holder ready for you to present your Gift Certificate--what could be an easier answer to your holiday shopping?  These certificates can be used for Stampin'Up! products or Class Fees. Below you can see a sample gift card holder (patterns may vary).

Did you write down the dates on your calendar (November 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26)---watch carefully each day for the daily Santa Secret Sale.  Get your shopping done before the Thanksgiving turkey goes in the oven. Sales start in 7 days!

Good Morning,

Because I'm having so much fun with getting this blog rolling, I decided to have 2 winners for the contest posted last week. Remember--if you could describe the 2 reasons for my blog design--you would be entered into a drawing for a $5 coupon to be used in December of this year!

Here are the winners of the coupons:

Stephanie Woods and Angie Gittles

Congratulations, ladies,  you will be receiving  your gift certificate in the mail! 

If you didn't win this contest--keep watching--we'll be having more fun soon!

Don't forget Sandi's Santa's Secret Sale--this will be the 6 days before Thanksgiving!!
You will want to sign up for the email list if you haven't already done so. This is where you will get the special emails to take advantage of Sandi's Santa's Secret Sale...sign up today!

I recently received a wonderful surprise in the mail....a Pop Up card containing a garden of flowers. A friend of mine, Sandy Zinkhan, created this lovely array of flowers, butterflies and sentiment that literally pops up when you open the card.  This 3-d creation sits up and brings tons of smiles each time you see it--the fun part is flatttening it out and then popping it up again! What do you think abou this little beauty?

I am so excited about it that I think we may be doing a class after the holidays to learn how to make these wonderful treats. Since they do not fit inside a regular medium sized envelope, we will be using the Stampin'Up! Envelope Punch Board to create a lovely presentation envelope! So let me know if you are interested and we will set up a class date.

So, thank you, Sandy, for sending this beauiful "card" to brighten my day and give me an idea for a new class after Santa comes!

By the way, many of you know that Sandy was hit by a car about 6 weeks ago and suffered a knee injury. You will be happy to know that she is mending well--she's about 30 days ahead of schedule in getting back her mobility and strength! We will all be happy when she is well enough to join us in our classes again and I will be extremely happy because she is my right hand in preparing class materials. However, while she has been unable to help out, another little angel, Penny Metz,  "winged in" to take up the slack and make sure all our classes could stay on target with packets  prepared in time. A great big "Thanks" to Penny for all her time and effort in keeping our classes on schedule.

Have you ever been frustrated when doing a project using ribbon, twine, or linen thread when the "kink" appears in exactly the wrong place like this?

If you are like me, I don't want to drag out the iron (even if I knew where I left it in 2011, the last time I used it), Try this quick and easy (and inexpensive) tip to get rid of those crease lines.

Take your Stampin'Up! Spritzer (#126185), fill it with rubbing alcohol and lightly spritz the kinks.

With your fingers gently tug out the kinks. The ribbon/twine/linen thread dries almost instantly..and it looks like this:

So try this out next time you have kinks in that ribbon, twine, and linen thread! And if you don't have a spritzer---you can get one through my online store or 410 836 8016 or email: sandihartka@sandilovesstamping.com

Good Monday Morning,

Saturday morning in my very first debut post I promised you I would post on Monday and Thursdays. And here it is Monday and you're ready for my first post after the announcement of my brand new blog.

(BTW, thanks to those of you who emailed me with the 2 names--your surprise will be in the mail this week. To the rest of you, it's not too late--did you follow directions?  Check out "What You Do" in Saturday's post--you too could get a surprise--just sayin').

Today you are in for another possible fun treat--no you won't get prizes in every post--I'm just having some fun to get us started with this blog!  Here's what you need to do-- I want you to look at my blog design--look at the banner (that's the design at  the top of the blog in case you also, like me, didn't know (or care) what a banner was until I got one). It's quite amazing how things like that suddenly become very important to you--overnight!

So here's the fun part for you today...if you will email me with the 2 reasons for the header design (and they are correct), your name will be entered into a drawing for a $5 coupon good for the month of December. Look very closely at the design elements and think about what you see, the designs used, and see if you can figure out why I chose those designs for MY Blog banner. I think it is quite clever but then I could be just a bit prejudiced. Take a look right now and get to thinking!

This opportunity is open until the end of this week (November 7th)--so get your emails to me and I will have someone at the class on Saturday 11/8 draw the winner of the $5 coupon!

Welcome to Sandilovesstamping.com!!

This blog has been a long time in coming and I'm excited to share my love of stamping with you! You can read about my SU history in About Me...I've been with SU for 11 years and loving it more each year. Hence, the name of my blog and email--sandilovesstamping!

I'm located in Maryland about 30 minutes from Baltimore (near Bel Air). If you are in this area, you are invited to join the weekly events posted on my Calendar/Schedule...check it out...new classes every weekend, and, you can hostess them and earn hostess benefits! Check out the schedule.

If you are not located in the vicinity, don't dispair, you will find lots of fun activities and info coming right here on this blog.  There will be tons of samples, projects, swaps, and much more..stay tuned.

Here's what to expect:

    *New posts on Monday & Thursday, except
     (note: 11/21-11/26 you want to stop by every single day--mark it on your calendar right now)

    *Info on cards, 3D projects, scrapping (traditional & express), products, and tips
    *Photos of projects by others
    *Stampin'Up! news
    *Quick direct link to my online store
    *...and More!!!

What you do:

    *Today, check out all the links--see what's here
    *Sign up for my news "letters" & invite your friends (you can receive a "reward"--hint, hint)
    *Provide your comments--what do you want to see here?

What's happening later:

    *In 2015 expect to see additional features. We're really busy with the holidays coming fast and furious, so after the holidays you will see new features and opportunities.

Sharing with you today:

Before I sign off today, I wanted to share with you a card that we created at the last Card Express. These cards are designed to be completed quickly but still be pretty--hence, Card Express.  Now, here's my confession...I'm a lousy photographer--but I keep trying. Most cards are much prettier in person because my photography skills are not great--any helpful hints are greatly appreciated! 

If you'd like the measurements and directions--email me. The list of supplies is below.

Here are the supplies we used to create this little lovely:

Tangelo Twist cardstock (#133677)
Old Olive cardstock (#100702)
Brushed Gold cardstock (#102935)
Very Vanilla cardstock (#101650)
Extra-Large Oval Punch (#119859)
Gorgeous Grunge stamp set (#130517)
Hand-carved stamp set (#134054)
Encore gold ink (#132141)
Pumpkin Pie Classic ink (#126945)
Four You stamp set (#130538)
Hardwood stamp set (#133035)
Early Expresso Classic Ink (#126974)
Baker's Twine - Baked Brown Sugar (#135639)