We had a great time raising money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation!  Our efforts resulted in a donation of exactly $354 towards the cause, and every Strength and Hope stamp set sold generated another $2.  Raising money and having a good time stamping with friends – what more could you ask?

• Strength and Hope stamp set
• Whisper White, Pirouette Pink, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose card stock
• Pretty in Pink Patterns Designer Series Paper
• Crumb Cake, Regal Rose, and Chocolate Chip classic ink pads
• Pretty in Pink 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon
• Stampin’ Sponge, Pearl Jewels
• Stampin’ Dimensionals, Small open-end envelope

This is a prototype project so it’s a little different than the project we did.  I discovered that all of those little pearls on  the butterflies on the front of the gift cards made it almost impossible to close the gift envelope, so it was back to the drawing board.  Sometimes you have to sacrifice embellishments for function.

Peggy was a teaching wonder, guiding the brand new stampers through all of the stations.  She did a great job – no one could tell their projects were first-timer projects!

Kellie – in her fabulous pink-ribbon tee – brought her mom and her daughter along.   Her family knows personally the impact of breast cancer, and they were all very generous donors and supporters of our fund-raising effort.

I’ve known Sue since Girl Scout days waaayy back, and she is a regular at my classes.  She’s also a wonderful and generous teacher, and offered lots of encouragement to our new stampers.

Our Maui Stampers Mascot…the cutest, happiest boy around.  How could he not be?  He was surrounded by a house full of loving women all taking turns playing with him and swooping him up and giving him smooches.  This one happens to be his mama, Crystal.

Yvette won the raffle and I have NEVER seen anyone so thrilled!  Her excitement was contagious and we were all so happy for her.

And here we are, just before we did the raffle drawing.  Kellie, Crystal, Robbie, Anne and Peggy – our two Cheryl’s couldn’t be there – and what a hard-working team we were!  Thanks to everyone who attended and made this first fundraiser such a success!

We still have space to come stamp and raise money to put an end to breast cancer:

Stampin’ for the Girls
Saturday May 14
9am til noon
Maui Masonic Lodge
190 W Kamehameha, Kahului

Admission plus the Strength and Hope Stamp set – $29 for Clear, $33 for wood.

By popular request, we’ve added an option for the event only (no stamp set) at $15.  RSVP today!

• Strength and Hope stamp set
• Whisper White, Basic Black and Pretty in Pink card stock
• River Rock and Basic Black Classic ink pads
• Pretty in Pink taffeta ribbon
• Big Shot and Beautiful Wings Embosslit
• Rhinestone jewels

This is Crystal’s design, and we’re making this card on the 14th.  I love the thoughts the Stampin’ Up! Rubber Designers chose for the “words” stamp.  Aren’t we all survivors, each of us in our own way?  These are such strong, empowering words, and the thing that strikes me about them is that each word is so powerful in the context of relationship.  We can be courageous alone, but it is when we join together that our courage becomes a tremendous force.  We can hope alone, but it is when our candle lights another that the darkness fades away.  Our individual beliefs are deep and personal, but when we share and act upon them in community we can do great things together.

Please join us in the fight against breast cancer, against all cancer.  Together, we can make a difference.

The beautiful stamps from the Strength and Hope set coming May 1 with the new Summer Mini catalog  work together in so many ways.  I’ve done a lot of creating with this set, and I have many more ideas still waiting in the wings.  This is one of the first cards I stamped:

• Strength and Hope stamp set
• Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso and Naturals White card stock
• Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pads
• Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Write marker and a Blender pen
• Full Heart punch
• Pearl Jewels
• Vanilla Smooch Spritz
  
• Piercing tool, mat and template
• Cherry Cobbler seam binding
  
• Stampin’ Dimensionals

Don’t be fooled by that gathered ribbon – I have a sewing machine but didn’t use it here!  Just take a pair of tweezers and pull a few threads in the center of one cut end of the the ribbon, then flip it around and do the same from the opposite end.  Trim those long threads (but not too short!) and turn in the cut ends, then attach the gathered ribbon to some Sticky Strip and you are ready to Rock and Roll!

I smooched the heart, but I think it should be Vanilla or Naturals Ivory – it looks a little bright in the photo.  Do you ever photograph your cards to see them from another point of view?  If you’re having trouble with a layout, try taking a quick digital picture and looking at the card that way.  You’ll be AMAZED at how differently you see it!

These are 3 of the 4 images from Strength and Hope, and I hope if you’re going to be on Maui on May 14 you’ll be joining us at the Maui Stampers Stampin’ for the Girls fundraiser.  We’ll be having a great time AND raising money for research that can’t wait one more day!

I have one more silly photo for you…yep…I’m losin’ it.  The other afternoon I was crafting like mad and reached over to clean a stamp and almost sprayed Stampin’ Mist – well, almost sprayed it where it doesn’t belong:

Captain Stampin’ Scrub wants Shelli to know that he is willing to stand in during the current Stampin’ Scrub backorder situation.  Ha!  If I would have hit him with that mist, he would have launched off my craftin’ counter and been down the stairs before you could say Stampin’ Up!  See my grid paper over there to the left?  Yes, he needs to be THAT close to me.