Cards

Today’s the Day!

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Yep!  Today’s the Day!  It’s Sale-a-bration Time and the Occasions Catalog is Live!  Woo Hoo!  If you haven’t seen either of these publications yet you’re in for a treat.  You can view the Occasions Catalog here and the Sale-a-bration Brochure here!  They’re fabulous!

Love BlossomsSuite.0116The items in the picture here are from the Love Blossoms Suite from the Occasions Catalog.  We’ll be using some of these items in my very first classes of 2016 next week.  The theme of our classes is “Love & Friendship”.  I can’t wait to share these products!  If you’d like a closer view of this suite in the Occasions Catalog check out pages 16 & 17.  There are definitely some fun products.  One of my favorites is the intricate Occasions16_p16bBloomin’ Heart Thinlits Die which you can see on the large card in the background and in the friend card.  It’s gorgeous!

Don’t be scared off by this die.  Stay tuned in for a post about a fabulous new tool that you will definitely want to use with this die.  It makes using this die EASY!  🙂

20150130_161408_resizedOne of my favorite items from the Sale-a-bration Brochure is the “What I Love” stamp set.  It’s a three step stamp set meaning it takes three different stamps to make the full flower.  Isn’t this card pretty?  I used this card as a starting point for a card we’re making next week in class.  Be sure to check back next week to see what I came up with.

The great thing about this pretty little stamp set is that you can get it for FREE simply by making a $50 purchase.  You can reach this by purchasing the items used on the friend card above:

  • Bloomin’ Love Stamp Set + Bloomin’ Heart Thinlits Die Bundle  (#140818 $35.50)
  • Blushing Bride Glimmer Paper (#140550 $5)
  • Love Blossoms Cardstock Pack (#140549 $7)
  • Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack (#140548 $8)
These four items come to $55.50 so you’d be able to  get the beautiful “What I Love” Sale-a-bration stamp set for FREE!!!  Woo Hoo!  See how easy it is to get FREE stuff!  🙂
Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Sale-a-bration 2016 Starts Tomorrow!

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SAB16Cover_Core_eng-USIt’s almost here!  Sale-a-bration 2016 starts TOMORROW!  Are you ready?!  Have you made those wish lists?

Shop.  Host.  Join.  These are the three different ways you can earn FREE products.  It’s a stamper’s happiest time of the year!

SHOP.  The benefit we all know and love about Sale-a-bration is that for every $50 we spend on Stampin’ Up! products during Sale-a-bration we get to choose one FREE item from the Sale-a-bration brochure.  The best part is that there’s no limit on Sale-a-bration items.  The more you spend, the more free items you can choose!  Woo Hoo!  FREE stuff!
HOST.  Have a stamping party with your friends!  Gather your friends and we’ll do some stamping.  You choose the type of projects you want to create and I’ll do the designing, bring all the supplies and help you and your friends create!  With party sales of at least $250 you will earn an extra $50 in Stampin’ Rewards!  Woo Hoo!  More FREE stuff!
JOIN.  Sale-a-bration is the perfect time to become a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator!  Whether you want to join just for the discount on those fabulous Stampin’ Up! products or possibly earn some extra cash for your family or that tropical vacation, Sale-a-bration is the time to join.  Starter Kits are $99.  Usually you get to choose $125 in merchandise for your $99 but during Sale-a-bration you get to choose and extra $30 in merchandise!  Yes!  $155 of Stampin’ Up! merchandise for only $99!  Woo Hoo!  You can choose your merchandise from both the regular catalog and the Occasions Catalog.  It’s a win-win!  I’d love to have you join my team!  Contact me today with any questions you may have!
Most of the items in the Sale-a-bration brochure are available January 5th – March 31st.  However, three of the items are only available until February 15th.  Then Stampin’ Up! will come out with a few new Sale-a-bration items that will be available from February 16th – March 31st.  How fun!  A Sale-a-bration surprise!  🙂
I hope you have a chance to take advantage of at least one of these Sale-a-bration opportunities.  Be sure to contact me with any questions you may have.
Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

Sneak Peek: Going Global

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IMG_7466Here’s another sneak peek from Stampin’ Up!’s On Stage event.  This fun new stamp set is called Going Global and it’s perfect for those masculine cards.

We used three brand new products on this card.  We used the Going Global stamp set, The World Traveler Embossing Folder and the Going Places Designer Series Paper Stack.

The globe on the card is an image that we stamped directly on designer series paper for that fun multi-color look.   We made the background using the embossing folder but we didn’t emboss it!  We inked up the raised design, put our card stock in the folder, closed the folder and then gently rubbed with a little pressure over the enter folder.  A pretty fun techinique.

I don’t know about you but I’m feeling a little stressed today.  Too much to do, too little time.  Christmas Eve is tomorrow and I’m NOT ready!  I went to the grocery store last night after choir rehearsal (so I didn’t have to face the crowds today) and they were completely out of a number of items that I wanted.  That means that today I’m going to have to run to a number of other grocery stores to see if they might have what I need.  BUMMER!  Oh, well.

So here’s a funny story for you…..yesterday I got up, got ready and headed out to my hair appointment.  Well, I was a few minutes early and when Vanessa finished with the gal she was working on she comes out, looks me in the eye and says “Can you check your calendar, I think your appointment is tomorrow”.  I didn’t doubt her for a minute…..it doesn’t surprise me at all when I do things like that.  The funny thing was that the night before I had checked my calendar to make sure my appointment was at 9:30 and not 9 but I didn’t bother looking at what day the appointment was penciled in on.  In my defense, I usually go on Thursdays so this different day just kind of threw me off a little.  Ha!  Probably the worst part of this happening is that I hadn’t really “done” my hair before heading out since Vanessa would be making me beautiful soon.  Well, I still had errands to run so I had to do them with “un-done” hair.  Needless to say I felt a little weird but hey….no one probably cared but me!  🙂

Have a wonderful, stress-free day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Fun and Simple Gift Wrap

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IMG_7427Christmas is almost upon us so I guess it’s time to start thinking about wrapping presents.  I suppose many of you are completely done with this little chore.  Hmmm…

If you’re not done wrapping those gifts here’s a fun and simple idea for you.  Last week I went to a team Christmas party.  I had this pom pom trim on hand that I wanted to try and use.  This is what I came up with for wrapping my gift.  I had first wrapped the trim around the box going in both directions and then tried to tie a bow.  That DID NOT work.  Have your actually tried tying this stuff?  I finally just wrapped it in one direction and tied a cute little knot.  The red trim and the white box worked.  My job was done….except it needed an adorable tag.

IMG_7426You can’t get much more adorable than the little critters in the Snow Place stamp set!  Love it!  I’ll definitely be hanging on to this stamp set and the COORDINATING framelits.  Did you know that these two items are not retiring at the end of the Holiday Catalog?  Nope!  They’re among the “returning favorites” from the Holiday Catalog.  Yippee!

My favorite critter from the Snow Place stamp set is actually the stinkin’ cute penguin.  I have a fun project I made with him that I think I might just share with you tomorrow!  🙂

Have a great day!  Don’t get too stressed during these days leading up to Christmas!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

 

World of Dreams

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IMG_7391This card is another from my last class of 2015.  It’s gorgeous if I do say so myself.  Of course I didn’t come up with the idea on my own.  I did change the card up quite a bit but the sponged “sunset” idea was copied.

Isn’t the “sunset” striking?  It’s made with ink and sponges.  Start with your lightest color.  Sponge it on your card stock until you get the desired depth of color.  Then move on to the next color.  Just remember to overlap the colors a little.  Easy-peasy!

On my card I added the required multiple layers and ribbon and it was complete!

This is another card that can really be used for any occasion but I think it would be perfect for a sympathy card.  You just never seem to have one of those on hand when you need one.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Get Well Soup

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IMG_7387Well, it’s that time of year.  The time of colds, flue and all around yuck.  Luckily (knock on wood) no one in my family has gotten sick yet.

Since it’s “that time of year” it’s always good to have a few get well cards on hand.  This Get Well Soup stamp is perfect!  Isn’t it cute?  The hardest part of the card was figuring out the design.  I got this idea from my favorite source….Pinterest!

I didn’t want to color in the entire bowl so I stamped the image a second time on Crumb Cake card stock, cut out the front portion of the bowl and adhered it the image I had stamped on the Whisper White card stock.  Quite a creative idea if I do say so myself.  🙂

Unfortunately I had to use a retired product for the red heart.  Stampin’ Up! no longer has heart framelits but that’s what I used.  Oh, well….there’s a reason I don’t get rid of retired product!  Ha!

I’m hoping that I don’t have to use this card too soon.  Stay healthy, have a great weekend, take care and Happy Stamping!

Joyful Season

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IMG_7384A beautiful and simple card.  This is a great card because it can be a Christmas card or a card for almost any occasion.  We actually made it this week in class.

I was suppose to have three classes this week, two on Tuesday and one on Wednesday.  Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate.  I knew I’d wake up to snow on Tuesday but I didn’t quite realize how much.  I got up early to shovel a little but the further along I got the more I realized no one would want to come out in this mess.  At 7:30 am we probably had 8″-10″ of snow already and it was still snowing.  We ended up with close to a foot of snow.  I did cancel both classes on Tuesday and had only 3 people show up on Wednesday.  That’s ok.  It really is a bit close to Christmas.

Christmas….YIKES!  It’s only a week away!  I’m not ready!!!!!

Back to the card…..I fell in love with this cardinal when I first saw it in the catalog but I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  I didn’t use it on any Christmas projects but I wanted to use it before it goes away on January 4th so I came up with this card.  I wanted something pretty easy.  I’ve figured out that my favorite 4 1/4″ x 4 1/4″ size works perfectly for easy!  🙂

A few fancy punches on the corners and this card goes from easy to WOW!  Did you notice that I used two of the punches on the Curvy Corner Trio Punch?  One on the Early Espresso piece and one on the white piece.  It’s becoming one of my favorite punches.

I think this card will be perfect for winter birthdays, thank you notes or almost any occasion.  OK…I have to ask….did anyone notice that I forgot to stamp the beak?  Yikes!  I did remedy that before class but never got another picture taken.  Oh, well….

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Flurry of Wishes Gift Card Holder

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IMG_7373Some people like giving gift cards, some people don’t.  Some people like receiving gift cards, some people don’t.

I kind of like giving and receiving gift cards.  At least with a gift card you can’t buy the wrong thing or get the gift in the wrong size or color.  The recipient can get exactly what they want.  As the recipient of a gift card I can get exactly what I want.  I especially love gift cards for e-books!

If you like to give gift cards then you really must have an attractive gift card holder, right?  I got the idea for this gift card holder online from another talented demonstrator.  I love when those talented stampers share their ideas!  🙂

IMG_7374This gift card holder starts with a Sketched Dot Tag a Bag.  Simple!  Just score and fold and you have two pockets.  One pocket for the gift card and one pocket for a little card to put your sentiment on.

To begin with, score your bag at 3″.  With the bag in front of you fold the bottom edge up along the score line.  You don’t need to use adhesive to adhere the bottom portion of the bag to the top to form your front pocket.  Your decorated belly band holds the bag together.

The sentiment card for the back pocket is 3 3/4″ x 4 1/4″.  I decorated the top corners of mine with the new Curvy Corner Trio Punch.  The other piece of card stock for the front pocket is 5 3/4″ x 4 1/4″.  Score at 3 3/8″ to from the pocket.  You will need to use adhesive on the edges of this to form the pocket.

This gift card holder is pretty quick and easy to make depending on how fancy you get with your belly band.  I’ll probably be making a few more before Christmas arrives!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Sneak Peek: It’s My Party

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IMG_7408At Stampin’ Up!’s recent On Stage events we got introduced to many of the new products in the upcoming Occasions Catalog.  Not only did we get to see them, we got to play with them.  We didn’t actually make full projects, we just made parts that we could use on our own projects.

On today’s project I made everything but the Melon Mambo card.  The rest of the design is with all new products from the It’s My Party Suite.  This suite of course includes all sorts of fun products for birthdays!

The It’s My Party designer paper is bright and fun!  The best thing about it is that it comes in a pack of 48 sheets.  4 sheets each of 12 different designs.  This is especially great for us demonstrators that hold classes and need lots of designer paper!  🙂

Did you notice the three fun new punches?  It’s a new little punch pack that of course COORDINATES with the Party Wishes stamp set!  You know me, I LOVE coordination.  One of the great things about these new little punches and the stamp set is that the stamped image is slighty larger than the punch so you won’t end up with the white edge around your punched image.  BRILLIANT!

I know you’re going to love the new Occasions Catalog.  If you’d like a copy of it be sure to contact me.  You’re not going to want to miss out!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Adorable Punch Art Santa Tag

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IMG_7381My bank has a branch in one of the local grocery stores so I had stopped the other evening on the way to choir rehearsal to make a deposit.  After making my deposit I had walked by the bank again and Santa was there!  He was right there at the bank!  There weren’t any little kiddos around but all of the adults in the area were smiling.  It was quite a fun sight.  You just have to smile when you’re around Santa, right?  🙂

Well, this little Santa tag makes me smile too.  I received one as a swap while I was at the event in Dallas last month.  It uses about a gazillion punches but it’s pretty easy to make.  The fun part is making his beard and moustache out of the Bow Builder Punch.  Another creative person on the loose again.  I would never have made anything but a bow with Bow Builder Punch.  You?

You’ll definitely want a package of Mini Glue Dots around when you put this little tag together.  You use a ton of them!

Here’s a run-down of the uses for the different punches you’ll use on this card:

Bow Builder Punch: Moustache and Beard
Tree Punch: Hat
Word Window Punch: Hat Brim
Note Tag Punch: Tag, Face
Owl Builder Punch: Nose
¼” Handheld Punch: Eyes
Tree Builder Punch: Pom Pom on Hat

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Home for Christmas Designer Paper Card

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IMG_7321This is a swap I received in Dallas.  The images are all from the Home for Christmas Designer Series Paper.  I’m going to admit this….I do not like this paper.  It’s a bit old fashioned for me.  I do however like this card which is why I’m sharing it with you.

This card must have been a lot of work.  All of the images had to be cut out by hand….fussy cutting at it’s best (worst).  The little reindeer is pretty cute but definitely not my style.

I like how the designer used the starburst from the Kinda Eclectic stamp set underneath the focal point to add a little more pizzazz to the card and then of course the Red Foil Sheet “merry” makes everything pop.

Today’s the last day of the Online Extravaganza.  Get your shopping done here!  It’s also the last day of November which means I really need to start thinking about Christmas.  I did get all of my Thanksgiving items put away but now I need to start the Christmas decorating.  I know a number of people who already have their trees up and decorated.  Are you one of them?  🙂

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Sparkly Flurry of Wishes

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IMG_7319It’s a chilly and overcast day here in CO so I thought some sparkly snowflakes would cheer us up!  🙂

This card was designed by my friend Glenda who joined Jan and I in Dallas for Stampin’ Up!’s On Stage event earlier this month.  Isn’t it pretty?  All of the snowflakes are embossed.  The silver foil sheet and the jewels add that sparkle I am in need of today.

I’m still recovering for food overload.  We had a little over 20 people for Thanksgiving dinner the other day and then 12 of them returned last night for our annual “Leftover Night”.  Yep….in our neighborhood we kind of have two Thanksgiving dinners.  It’s a tradition we started when we first started celebrating Thanksgiving together almost 20 years ago.  Next year will be 20 years exactly so we may have to think of something special to help us celebrate.

What do you all do for Thanksgiving?  Family?  Friends?  Both?  My mom and dad joined us from the MN Homeland this year.  That was pretty nice.  I tell you though…I’m still exhausted….my mom doesn’t stop.  She’s kind of like the Energizer Bunny.  She keeps going and going and going.  We did get a chance to play a couple of games together though so that was nice.  She even joined my church choir for the service Tuesday night and sang with us.  Mom and Dad haven’t been out here to CO since my son got married 2 years ago.  They were do and they’re lucky to be healthy enough to do it.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving however you celebrated.  Take care and Happy First Day of Advent……Christmas is coming!

P.S.  Don’t forget that tomorrow is the last day of Stampin’ Up!’s Online Extravaganza!  Get those deals while you can!

To You & Yours Shaker Card Kit

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IMG_7314I was finally able to hold my Shaker Card Kit classes this week.  This kit has been so popular that it’s been on backorder forever!  They’re finally in stock!  Woo Hoo!

With this kit you make 6 each of these three different designs.  They’re really fun to make and shaker cards just make a person smile!  🙂

You do need the coordinating stamp set and three different ink pads along with liquid glue and mini glue dots to complete the kit.   Everything else needed for the cards is included.

Everyone in class had a fun time making them.  I would definitely make them again.  Hmmm….maybe I should order another kit…

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Perfect Pines Framelit Swap Card

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IMG_7331One of the fun parts of Stampin’ Up! events is the swapping.  This is where you make a bunch of cards (or just the front) and then trade or swap them with other demonstrators for their cards.  It’s a fun and easy way to get new ideas.

This card is my friend Jan’s swap card.  She’s the one I traveled with and hung out with last week.  Jan used the Perfect Pines Framelits on this card.  The great thing about this framelit set is that it COORDINATES with the Peaceful Pines stamp set!  I love when Stampin’ Up! makes my life easier!  🙂

Don’t you love the way that the tree on the left looks 3D?  The “pine boughs” were made with a framelit!  You die cut the tree from your card stock and then you run the die cut tree through the Big Shot again with another die that makes the “boughs”.  Amazing!  🙂

Jan and I left for Dallas last Wednesday even though the event wasn’t until Saturday.  We wanted to do a little site-seeing as well as just relax.  Since we knew we’d have plenty of down time we decided to work on our swap cards in Dallas.  We did all of the stamping and cutting and home but put our cards together in Dallas.  A nice and relaxing time.

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

November Valentine!

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IMG_7013What?  A valentine in November?  What am I thinking?

Well, if you’ve been following my recent posts you know that I’m in Dallas for a Stampin’ Up! event.  We demonstrators like to exchange ideas at these events by making cards that we share with each other.  This is the card I’m swapping.  Do you like it?  🙂

I was having a hard time deciding on what type of card to swap at this event.  There’s still plenty of time until Christmas so I could have used any of the fun Christmas products in the Holiday Catalog but I wanted something a little different.  I looked through the main catalog and at all of the stamp sets sitting on my shelves but nothing jumped out and grabbed me.  Then I happened to see the Red Foil Sheets in my stamp room and inspiration hit!  A Valentine!  Not just any valentine.  This valentine uses three products from the Holiday Catalog.  Yep.  Three!  Can you spot them?

Well, the first is my new favorite embossing folder:  Softly Falling.  The next is one I’ve already mentioned:  the Red Foil Sheets.  The final one is the new Curvy Corner Trio Punch.  If you haven’t played with this punch you need to give it a try.  Three punches in one!  All of this goodness in my favorite size card!

I’ll definitely share some of the fun I’ve had today over the next few days so stay tuned.  Don’t forget that you can check my Facebook page also to see what I’ve been up to!

Have a great day!  Take care and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog