I am so excited you are here on the hop with us! I had the pleasure of presenting at Stampin' Up!'s convention (called OnStage) last weekend and a few of the projects I made for the display boards are perfect for Mother's Day! I was given a new stamp set (called Daisy Lane) and a medium Daisy punch to play with and here is what I made...

The card is a fancy fold with a Pear Pizzaz base and it uses some of the White Polka Dot tulle ribbon! So soft and pretty!

Here are the steps to creating this fancy fold card using the tag topper punch. 

I then stamped the stem on the front, the fern looking leaves and a sentiment on the inside-- all in Mossy Meadow, and stamped and punched the daisy petals in Memento ink and colored them with my Blend markers.

For one of my 3D projects I wanted to create a Texas rustic look, so I created the look of denim by sponging Blueberry Bushel on a pizza box, then used markers to create the look of a Indian Blanket wildflower.

For this box I took it apart at the seam with the help of my heat gun, punched the large daisy, stamped a piece of cardstock to back it, and then glued it all back together again. I love using the Well Written dies with this set-- I think this box will be terrific for my mom! She will love opening a box and seeing this in it!

Don't forget to keep hopping around!!! We have some wonderful projects planned for you... 

And if you comment below I will enter you into a drawing to get the three cards I showcased this weekend at OnStage-- featured on my blog post here!

Hoppers

1. Pia Gerhardt 
2. Rachael Rife 
3. Katja Ettig 
4. Maureen Rauchfuss 
5. Anastasia Radloff 
6. Cheryl Taylor
7. Steph Jandrow
8. Melissa Thomas (you are here)
9. Barbara Welch

Happy crafting,
​Melissa

What a wonderful weekend we demonstrators had! We got to preview the new annual catalog (coming out to customers on June 4th) at OnStage and even make a few items with new catalog items-- plus win prize patrol, learn important business information, and meet 850+ other demonstrator friends!!

An obvious highlight for me was presenting to these new friends... My friend Crystal got a great picture of the crowd that was there to give some perspective.

Here are some shots of me presenting-- it was so fun! I can't believe they gave me 30 minutes to talk about product based classes using the Daisy Lane Stamp set, which everyone got in their bags!

I had so much fun creating with this set-- it features a new coordinating Medium Daisy punch but also coordinates with the existing Large Daisy punch! I didn't have the older set but I am in love with the detail on this and coloring them with Blender Pens, Blend markers, or Watercolor Pencils was so fun!! 

And for those of you who saw me present last weekend thank you for your kind words and laughter! Make sure to connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest! 

And stay tuned because next Monday I will post the 3D items and scrapbook page I made with this same set and punch combo! It's a great deal at only $35!

And for those of you who want to see what all the hoopla is about-- I will be sharing samples from the new catalog and all the fun stuff we got at my Tuesday at 2pm at Facebook Live! 

Don't forget to keep hopping around the blog hop to see more incredible new products and projects coming in the new catalog on June 4th! Plus, if you comment on this post then I will enter you into a drawing to win the three cards I stamped ON STAGE! How fun is that?

1. Melissa Thomas (you are here!!)- http://www.seatoseastampin.weebly.com/blog/onstage-san-antonio-2019-blog-hop
2. Karin Menghini- http://karinsstampingstudio.com/?p=1758
3. Amy Storrie- https://www.stampedwithjoy.com/2019/04/san-antonio-onstage-presenters-blog-hop-sneak-peek-of-new-products.htm
4. Barbara Greenlee- https://greenmoonstampstudio.com/san-antonio-onstage-blog-hop
5. Anne Marie Hile- http://www.stampinanne.com/2019/04/san-antonio-on-stage-blog-hop.html

Happy crafting,
​Melissa

Hi everyone! Thanks for hopping over here from Alejandra's blog! Weren't her projects fun? And aren't you SO excited about the new catalog??!! I wanted to show off another part of the Delightfully Detailed Suite that I was tasked with creating with at Ft. Worth OnStage-- the Memories & More card kit! This month's blog hop is all about the customers-- thinking about what you want and what you need...

I love pocket memory keeping because it is fast and I can do it incrementally, or as I have time. But I really love the Memories & More line because we can do so much MORE with it. I love making cards with it, giftbag tags, 3x3 love notes, lunch box notes, banners, and the list goes on and on... 

So, want to see what I made exclusively with the Memories and More card kit? First, check out the small love notes that I made...

And here are the other items that I made exclusively with the card kit- no extra stamp sets!

I hope you loved my projects and I hope that this encouraged you to go ahead and spend the $10 to buy a Memories & More card kit, start cutting them up, and have some fun!! Make sure to keep hopping along on our Ft. Worth OnStage Presenters Blog Hop to get more inspiration for NEW CATALOG LAUNCH DAY! 

Make sure to click the Next button to see what Jessica has in store for you... or go back to Alejandra's blog through the Previous button.

​I am offering this class as a to-go options for all my customers that don't live close, but want to take a class with me! It is $30 and that includes priority shipping, plus the Memories & More card kit which includes 56 cards and 2 sticker sheets, full package of the gorgeous Faceted Dots, 2 yards of white Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon, card bases and envelopes to make 8 cards, and glimmer letters cut out to spell a word of your choice to make the banner! You can use my Paypal Me link to place your order and it will will ship within two weeks of your order! 

Happy crafting!
​Melissa

I am so excited to see what spring time projects our Stampin' Friends have crafted! Weren't Lynn's projects great? She was asked to present for Stampin' Up! at our convention called OnStage in Hartford, I believe, and I was asked to present in Ft. Worth! So fun! I am taking two of my projects from there to give you a sneak peek into the Stampin' Up! annual catalog that will be out on June 1.

The suite I presented was called Delightfull Detailed and you can see a picture I took of the products in the suite below. The laser cut paper is so pretty and has a Whisper White and Very Vanilla side to it- so it coordinates with any projects! The larger open floral work piece looked intimidating to me, until I realized it actually held up pretty well as a mask!

So I used it on a piece of our Shimmery White cardstock and spritzed some blue re-inker and water all over, let it dry, and viola! A beautiful backgroun for this card. The ribbon is so pretty and so is the new in-color Grapefruit Grove card stock behind it.

I used a Memories and More card from the Delightfully Detailed Memories and More card pack for the sentiment, trimmed to two inches wide and punched with the Scalloped Tag Topper punch. Boom. Card done! Springy for sure.

For my 3D project I knew I wanted to use the bellyband piece of the laser cut paper but what I didn't know was that if you cut an Acetate card box in half, the two halves will slide together to make a tighter smaller box. Love it! I put a large piece of dark chocolate in there with some of the crinkle filling from the spring catalog and tada!

​I do love that the sentiment "I Love You" fits in the Classic Label punch. And did you see? It's in Blackberry Bliss ink on Mint Macaron paper!!! My two favorite colors are BACK!!!

I must say... the new Polka Dot Tulle Ribbon ties terrific bows and will actually lie flat for shipping-- that's my kind of ribbon! Want a yard of it? Comment below and I will personally pick a winner to get a surprise sampling of my suite in the mail!!!!

Don't forget to keep hopping and let's see how spring is looking where they are...

Happy crafting,
​Melissa

What a terrific time we had this weekend! From rehearsal on Friday to CentreStage leadership dinner that night, to a full day of stamping and swapping, OnStage Local in Ft Worth was awesome! But the best part was having this ginormous crew of awesome stamping friends to share it with! Candy Rattray is my upline and we had 21 of our uplines, sidelines, and downlines there-- what a fun group! Want to see some fun pictures of the weekend?

Below is a picture of my table of goodies to present backstage...

This was the display board that I put together for my suite of products from the new annual catalog, Delightfully Detailed (out June 1 for customers, but May 1 for all demonstrators- just another perk of joining Stampin' Up!)

Below is a picture of Gigi (Patsy, my mother-in-law) and Marianne in front of a green screen at the Cowgirl Museum at the Will Rogers Memorial Center where OnStage was held. They had to kill some time on Friday afternoon while I rehearsed so they and Sara (one of my downline) all went over there and had a blast!

We rented a house in the TCU neighborhood for 10 of our team to stay at and Marianne loved the slide out back!The house was gorgeous but I totally forgot to take pictures... ugh!

She also really loved the Lego Discovery Center in Grapevine with my sister-in-law Dawn on Saturday! They had a whole weekend of fun time together!!

Friday night the leadership enjoyed a nice catered BBQ dinner with peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert (yummy!) and a rad 80's themed party to launch the new ink line and celebrate Stampin' Up!'s 30th anniversary! It was totally tubular!

I was excited to spend all day Saturday with my downline (Patsy, my mother-in-law and Sara, a friend from Austin)!!

See that joy from Candy? That's what it is like to win Prize Patrol! We all won something awesome but she was particularly excited about the stamp set she won!

We also received these beautiful notebooks which have a calendar in the front and plenty of room to take notes! They had them in five different ombré colors but this was my favorite! I am actually make this my new calendar because I love it so much!!!

I also love that we had time to craft in the morning and afternoon with new catalog products but they put this super cute sign on it until then...

We also got a snack in the afternoon- these pretty chocolate cupcakes with the 30th anniversary logo on them! I saved mine until after my presentation and boy, was it tasty!

Here is a terrific picture of my presenting! I must say, I loved it! I finally relaxed after a day full of crafting and fun and let my true personality come out! I admitted that this suite would not have been my first choice because words like “detailed” or “feminine” aren’t really in my craft lexicon but I found ways to use it that made it fresh and modern— even using some pieces to make a Moroccan looking window! (Stay tuned for more samples from me over the next few weeks!)

The temperature was crazy cold in Ft Worth but we bundled up afterwards and had a nice dinner at the HG Supply Co with Jamie (stamping friend from California), Sara, and Patsy!

I love all the stamping goodies I came back with (more on those next week) but what I love even more is the exclusive SU brand items we got, like the beautiful Night of Navy steel mug, beautiful reversible bag, pens, calendar, and light box!

I need some cute sayings to put on the light box! Comment below with an idea and I will send you a swap card from OnStage! That way you can have a piece of the excitement too!!!

happy crafting,
Melissa

I am super excited to be attending OnStage Local in Fort Worth, Texas this weekend! My mother-in-law, daughter, and I are loading up the car early Friday morning and the picking up a teammate in north Austin and driving northward! I have rehearsals for my OnStage presentation that afternoon, so we will stop for lunch and then after rehearsals we will go to the house we are renting for the team-- so fun! It's like a huge crafting slumber party!

So, I didn't think I had participated in many swaps, but when it's all said and done, I should come home with about 60 swaps-- which is awesome! I signed up for two sets of ATCs (Artisan Trading Cards) which are like mini works of art (baseball card size). For these I went more mixed media, as that seems to be the trend-- so Brusho all the way!

Then I did a fun fold swap and had to feature one of my favorite fun folds- the Flap Fold but this time with the Petal Palette suite. I just love that little birdie! For directions and measurements on this fold, check out my previous post here. 

Then I did one regular full card swap and for that I went with the theme of CentreStage (our leadership dinner), which is 1988, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Stampin' Up! 

And my final swaps were for a shoebox swap at the house (think simple) but they showcase how to use the Stamparatus to do the "hinge step" which makes an ombre look down the side of the card. Fun right?

Now, if you want to follow along with all the fun, make sure you are following my Facebook page here!! I will be posting there all weekend!

And if you want to get a sneak peek at the annual catalog (out for customers on June 1) then you need to become a demonstrator and join my team! Not only can you see the catalog on Monday, April 9th, but you would get projects from the suite I am showcasing on Saturday for the April team meeting packet and you can order from the new catalog on May 1st!

Hope you do something crafty this weekend- I know I will be!
Happy crafting,
​Melissa

​Thanks for joining six of the presenters from OnStage Local in Ft. Worth on this blog hop! We are going to do several more over the next few months, so stay tuned...

For this first hop we are featuring the highlights of our presentations from OnStage. I was thrilled to be asked to present a suite from the upcoming Annual Catalog for Stampin’ Up! and my business building ideas for this suite. But I will be the first to admit that this suite would not have been my first purchase. The laser cut paper looked too delicate to me and soft, feminine looks aren’t really my style, but the more I played with it, the more I loved it!

​First, the products— they include the Delightfully Detailed Stamp Set, Delightfully Detailed Laser Cut Specialty Designer Series Paper (which has two designs and has a Whisper White and Very Vanilla side), the NEW trio punch, and the watercolor notecards! There are also faceted dots in Mint Macaron, Blackberry Bliss, Grapefruit Grove, and Black, plus two rolls of Polka Dot ribbons in Very Vanilla and Whisper White!

The suite also features a Memories and More card pack for just $10 and I will do a full class for it next month on our next blog hop! It has two sets of stickers and three different kinds of laser cut pieces which make fun Moroccan windows!

I made this cute banner from the Memories and More card set that hopefully I will give to the hostess of my first class idea...

Which was the "Power of Gratitude" where we take stamping to the workplace as a professional development activity! I am actually doing this class this weekend at the East Austin YMCA. I will talk a little about the research behind gratitude and then everyone will do a gratitude activity and make two simple thank you cards, like these below. 

My second class idea was to host a product based class where my very awesome, advanced stampers make a box and four cards using the laser cut DSP and faceted gems. The cards will be made using four different techniques using the laser cut DSP-- embossing paste, sponge brayer, spritzer, and sponge dauber. 

I hope you loved my presentation at OnStage or the recap here! Please stay tuned for many more samples from my display board and ones I didn't have room for, plus a whole other class idea with the Memories and More card set in a few weeks when our group hops again. For now, I will leave you with the little tealight luminaria that I made from the paper (once it had dried from having shimmery embossing paste on it as a mask).  I just used some tear and tape adhesive around the base and up one side at the back, plus a little ribbon on the bottom to cover the tea light base. 

Don't forget to keep hopping along to the other presenters-- everyone has beautiful projects and products to show off!
​
1. Melissa Thomas (you are here!)
2. Alejandra Gomez
3. Susan Legits
4. Sherry Lovelady
5. Elizabeth Mayfield-Hart
6. Jessica Strange

Happy crafting,
Melissa

Guess what came last week? My box of top secret supplies for my OnStage Local presentation in Ft. Worth inApril! I am so honored and excited to be featuring one of the suites from the new annual catalog! I will be presenting on how to use this suite in your business and then I’ll lead everyone in their make n take (plus, a display board of about 15 samples)! Big work ahead! My first phone rehearsal is tomorrow...

In addition to this opportunity I will be attending an 80s themed leadership event and I can’t wait! They always spoil us and challenge us! Who’s excited to see me rock a side ponytail???

Just had to share my excitement!! And I promise to share all my projects with you here after OnStage!

Happy crafting,
Melissa

Today is all about the people. Our guest speaker last week at OnStage (Jason Hewlett, check out him here) spoke about the importance of family-and specifically our Stampin' Up! family and this includes my upline Candy Rattray and her team, Sara Douglass and Shelli Gardner (leaders of SU),  my downlines (Patsy, Andi, Tammy, Kim, Sara, and Dawn), other demonstrators who I look up to and get advice from (Jill Olsen, Julie Salva, Andrea Tucker, Elizabeth Thatcher, Jenn Gulch, Janet Wakeland, Jen Pitta, and Jamie Albanese) and YOU-- my CUSTOMERS!

So, today's challenge is EASY. I want to stay connected and since Facebook has prioritized Facebook Groups, the best way for you to stay in touch with me is to join my group. So, join my group here and comment on the this same picture posted there! Again, you have until Monday and with this challenge I will draw one winner from the FB group who will receive the Marbled Background stamp-- makes great frappucinos and great waves!

Happy crafting,
Melissa

What a week I had last week! Wow! I cannot describe how awesome it was to go to OnStage Live in Salt Lake City-- everything, from the house we rented for the team to the friendships we built, the recognition, the swaps, the goodies!! I feel so blessed and spoiled. And it's all because of you-- my loyal followers, fellow demonstrators, and supportive customers! Thank you.

And as promised-- this is my "Silver Elite Giveaway Week!" So here is how it works... Each day I will post a blog post, send a short email out, and then present you with a challenge-- a way for you to engage and stay connected with me. Each day I will have a giveaway and then at the end of the week, if you have participated in 4 out of the 7 days, you can be entered into the grand prize drawing for the Seasonal Lantern stamp set and thinlits!!!! So, keep coming back here all week long! 

Today is Day #1 and it's all about Paper Pumpkin. My Paper Pumpkin subscribers have stuck with me as I have moved across the U.S. and I am so thankful for them. Each month they subscribe for $19.95 plus tax by the 10th of the month and receive a beautiful craft kit from Stampin' Up! If you are interested in subscribing for the December kit (usually a year end item like a calendar or memory keeping album) then go here! This past month I sent all my subscribers a set of Black Rhinestone Jewels, but every month I send them an add on project-- so happy mail from me too!

At OnStage Live I got to see a preview for this month's kit (SPOILER ALERT, as each month's is a surprise)... But it is SO stinking cute and my shirt just happened to match the box this month! I was also selected to be on a panel about Paper Pumpkin at the convention-- so that was fun!

So, today's challenge is to follow my Pinterest Board for Paper Pumpkin (or my overall set of boards). Once you do that, comment below and you will be entered to win a free one-month subscription code to Paper Pumpkin! I will draw for the winners next week Tuesday for all the challenges and giveaways-- to give you all time to get them done!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow as I will be giving away a free stamp tomorrow! And again, many thanks for your support!

Happy crafting,
Melissa