Here are just a few randomly selected Convention swaps that I liked!  Enjoy!

In my opinion, "swapping" at Convention is one of the really fun things that goes on!  In case you are not familiar, people make just cardfronts, usually, all the same….or at least lots of several different designs, with their name and "recipe" on the back (what stamp set they used, what color inks, paper, accessories) and then you walk around and trade with other demos for what they have made.  This gives you quite a selection of different card ideas, samples of stamp sets that maybe you don't own or more samples of ones you do own, different color combinations, etc.  AND it is an opportunity to meet and talk to other demonstrators as you go around and say "Are you swapping?"  And of course they are!!  Some ladies practically have a storefront of swap choices you can pick from!  But most have maybe two or three different cards to choose from.  Some people also make 3-D swaps, which could be anything but a card….maybe a little box, maybe a notebook, maybe cute packaging for candy.  I didn't get around to making those but I wish I did!  Maybe next year!  And then there are "organized swaps" where you actually sign up in advance to participate and meet at a certain time and place to swap those items.  Some people take a little more time and effort to make something extra special for those swaps.  It is a horrible thing when you finally run out of swaps and have to stop and see others still swapping!  I can't wait for my customers to see these samples and see which ones they really like or what ideas they can get from these swaps!

Here is one of my Stampin' Up! Convention swap cards.  A long time ago I did a black and white swap where obviously we only used black and white.  That has always stuck with me as a very simple and sometimes elegant way to stamp.  This card is stamped on Glossy White cardstock with Black Stazon ink.  You just have to be a little careful as the glossy paper is slippery!  The "medallion" is stamped by coloring on the stamp with various markers.  This was too time-consuming for making 40 swap cards copying this design, so for those I used the Baby Wipe Technique as seen in this post.   I've been using the Rhinestone Brads a lot also.

I'm working on swaps for Convention and trying to find the fastest way to get the look I want for a certain card.  It's one thing to make one card or several cards with one technique, but if you are making a stack of 25 or 50 card fronts certain techniques can be slow going.  Today I happened to think of the Baby Wipe Technique…..you use a baby wipe as an ink pad and place drops of ink on the pad.  Then you ink up your stamp on the colored baby wipe pad.  It produces kind of a tie-dye multi-color look.  Very easy and rather fun to see what look you will get!

Here is an easy card using the Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware and the "Friends 24-7" stamp set.  You could add lots of different embellishments to cards and scrapbook pages with the pieces in this kit.  Get it while it is on sale!

When you are a child, you never really think you are going to be old enough to say "Forty years ago…"….. but here I am!  Forty years ago today my whole family watched the first man, Neil Armstrong, walk on the moon, at my grandmother's apartment, probably celebrating my dad's birthday.  I remember having a fit that I had to leave the TV at my house, afraid I would miss something significant, while we drove the fifteen minutes or so over to my grandmother's…..and again when it was time to go back home.  I remember my parents being just amazed, repeating over and over again how this accomplishment was only considered science fiction to them in their lifetime, and now it was really happening right before their eyes….men landing on the moon…and this was something my brother and I would be reading about in the history books!  Even now I think it is pretty amazing that we would have pictures of the moon landing and the men walking on the moon live that many years ago.  My parents wondered what accomplishments like this my brother and I would see in our lifetime.

Since Stampin' Up! doesn't have a stamp of a lunar module or an astronaut I had to be a little creative with this card!  But just a circle punch and some sponging made do for the moon (plus a little touch of "Itty Bitty Backgrounds" for those craters!) and the earth and a retired wheel created the stars in outer space! (I really think you cannot do without some stars in your stamping collection.  They are so versatile!)  Of course the rocket is from the great set "Pun Fun", not exactly Apollo 11 but it will do!

Little did I know then that forty years later I would be living in Houston, TX where we have visited the Johnson Space Center many times over the years and always find it fascinating.  There we can see the actual moon rocks and how they are stored very carefully and precisely that we watched on TV as the astronauts picked up on their missions to bring back to earth.

It's been interesting to hear the local media coverage of this anniversary here in Houston.  The great Astrodome, opened in 1965, had groundskeepers called "Earthmen" dressed in faux-spacesuits and the ushers were called "Spacettes".  The baseball team was renamed "Astros".  And of course the first word spoken from the moon was, "Houston, Tranquility Base here."