STARS Guinea Pigs

Don't you love a good sport? Someone who smiles and goes along for the fun; gosh, it just makes me smile thinking about it. Last night we had a small turnout for stamp club with only 7 of us present, but it sure didn't stop the fun. We did our usual show & tell, and my, did we have some great things to pass around. I'd bought a sampler cake for our dessert which included a quarter cake each of Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, Chocolate, and Chocolate cream. Clayton thanks all you gals who couldn't make it last night because now he has all weekend to finish off the leftovers!
As for last night, we did our usual business portion of the meeting, and wow, have we got some fun things planned for the upcoming months! I passed around a 5x7 legal pad that had been faced with a piece of mat board, and then a piece of cardstock wrapped from back to front, overlapping about 3" down from the top, trimmed with a scalloped edge. Simple, pretty, and of course very practical. But you know what I've always said, that myth about "less is more" is just that...a myth. Less is less! So the wheels were spinning in my little head and I could just imagine that piece of mat board inked and stamped. And that overlap of cardstock would have more of the same, along with 3D embellishments, stickers, jewels, etc. So next month's swap item will be one of those legal pads, decorated as much or as little as each player chooses. And we'll put them in a box, draw numbers, and see what we leave with at the end of the night. I liked the idea of these for a swap because (a) everyone has them on the shelves as part of the back-to-school sales, but (b) because I knew they'd be great little gifts. I expect everyone will make at least 2...one to keep and one to swap. Or maybe they'll get a headstart on their holiday gift giving and make several.
Then we started bouncing ideas around about other swaps and we agreed on a project for next month's meeting. Everyone will cover a black & white composition book with decorative paper of their choosing. I proposed that we do a version of a round robin, by bring little tidbits and embellishments and passing the composition books around the tables, letting each club member add their little touch to all the books. When your book returns to you it should be FABULOUS! Of course we discussed the amount of "real estate" available on the covers, so we know to keep it small and simple, yet show a bit of our own personalities at the same time. Which means if you didn't make it to last night's meeting, but you want to come next month and play, you'd better mark your calendar now for October 9th and be sure to pack not only your book but also goodies for decorating all the others. Just think of the possibilities: tiny tags, buttons, fibers & ribbons, beads, stickers, postage stamps, inchies, rub-ons, punched works of art...ooh, I can hardly wait! And again, these composition books are part of those back-to-school sales, so stock up and plan to make several!
And if you're wondering why the tables are pushed together and covered with stencils, ink pads, mesh, sponges, spritzer bottles, Clearsnap's Magic Stamp blue foam, etc. it's because our "project" last night was a guinea pig class for my upcoming teaching gig in Cleveland on the 25-28th. Can't tell too many secrets because I know several of the store owners who will be attending that trade show event also read my blog, and I wouldn't want to spoil anyone's surprise. But I will tell you this: when it came time to punch the finished masterpieces, Joyce said no way. She took hers home to stamp! And I hope stamping is all she has planned, because she and all the other ladies were gracious enough to loan me some of their punches to take with me to Ohio for my classes.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I've got great friends and we always have great fun. Wish you were here.