It All Ends Saturday!

The Sale-a-Bration for 2012 is drawing to a close.  Saturday is the last day to get the great free products with your orders.  I thought I would check through my pictures and post something with each of the 4 stamp sets, some of them also feature the Designer Series Paper and the ribbon and brad bundle you can get free. 

First, a card using the Elementary Elegance stamp set.  It is certainly very elegant, I like the frame piece and the little crown, key, butterfly and bird are such a nice touch to use on a card.  It is a very versatile set.  I paired the butterflies with 2 die cut ones from the Beautiful Wings Sizzlet die on one card I made.  The were a great match! 

Another great free set is the Outlined Occasions.  This one uses the Celebration sentiment but it also has one that says Thanks and one that says Love.  I love all the swirlys and the outlined letters so you can color them different colors or just leave them empty.   Or color the letters all one color like I did on my card and do the swirls and confetti in coordinating colors.  The paper on this card is from the free pack of Everyday Enchantment DSP and the ribbon is from the free ribbon and brad bundle, also called Everyday Enchantment.  I love the narrow, sheer ribbon in this pack.  The brads are great too, I used one on the next card.

This card uses the set called Sprinkled Expressions.  It is a clever little set that features a flower, star and heart with the trailing images and fun sentiment. 

And one last card that features the Fresh Vintage stamp set.  This is a great set that is probably the most versatile of all the Sale-a-bration sets.   It has a border stamp, one that looks like a postage stamp and a couple of smaller flower stamps besides this wonderful floral stamp that is a great background stamp as well as a beautiful focal image. 

I can't decide which is my favorite, that must be why I got them all!  But time is running out, you better hurry and get yours too.  I'll be glad to help  :~)

You can place an order directly from my website, http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/elainestamps

Just place your order and when it goes over $50 you will be directed to add your free Sale-a-bration product. 

Easter Card

I pinned a couple of Easter cards made by Alecia Connelly onto my Pinterest board a few weeks ago and finally got time to make one of them.  She used a wood grain background and Crumb Cake cardstock but I wanted my bunny to be jumping down a hole in the ground so I pulled out my wonderful Inspired By Nature stamp (that hasn't seen as much ink as it should have lately) and stamped a grassy card front.  I used Certainly Celery ink first, then Wild Wasabi and last I used Garden Green.  Since I was going from lightest to darkest ink I didn't have to clean my stamp between each color.  I stamped the image several times with each color. 

Then I did the sky using a scalloped circle punch and Bashful Blue ink.  I placed the scalloped circle punched piece above the grass and sponged ink on, then moved the scalloped circle and sponged more.  I moved it 8 or 10 times and added ink wherever it needed it.  It turns out amazingly natural I think.

The punch art bunny uses quite a few punches, several circle and oval punches as well as one of the flowers from the Boho Blossoms punch for his cotton tail, the Ornament Punch is his face, and heart punch for his nose.  I love how you see the bunny's face when you open  the card.  How clever!

Admittedly, it took a little longer than some cards but that bunny coming and going is so cute that it is worth it!

We only have 11 more days until Easter, have some fun creating and brighten someone's day!

Wow, what a busy week!  I was finally able to take my car in to get it repaired from the damage of hitting the deer.  The shop I took it to is so good that they were booking 3 weeks out.  It is good not to be driving a smashed up car again.  We had venison stew tonight for supper.  It was sooooo yummy!

 I also got some new babies yesterday.  Here are a couple of pictures:

There are 7 chicks and 3 ducks.  It's a bit hard to see the little black chick, he is so small.  I think he is a bantee or other small breed.  I took the pictures with my cell phone too so they aren't great pictures either.  The chicks and ducks all had fun pecking at the leaves and finding little treasures under them.  Isn't it funny how instinctively they look for worms and bugs.  They had been kept in a house all their little lives so they are enjoying a more natural environment.  We haven't had chickens in a couple of years so I keep worrying that I'm going to forget to close the chicken house door at night and some of the local critters will get in and eat my babies.

The ducklings especially enjoyed the half-tire full of water.  I'll have to fix up some kind of pond for them.  All of my new babies kept pretty close to the gate where we brought them in.  Eventually they will get bold enough to explore all the chicken yard.  We have nearly 1/2 acre fenced in for them!

Here is the picture I took of one of the shoebox cards I haven't made yet.  I really should get the kit out and make it, isn't it pretty?  I love the shimmer that she used on the main sentiment piece.  I have Stampin' Up's shimmer paint but haven't used it in a long time.  I wonder why, it is beautiful and I enjoy adding the shimmer to my projects.  Hummm, I reckon you will be seeing more shimmer here soon!

Temperatures at 80 degrees!

Although Spring doesn't technically come till next week, the forecast is for the temperature to be at or slightly above 80 degrees for the next week.  I have been thinking that I was looking forward to warmer temperatures but wasn't thinking it would come so soon.  I know there will be repercussions in my garden this Summer but I can't help enjoying this great weather!  I finally noticed that I still had snowflakes on my blog background - they had to go!  I went for something more Spring-like, and it has the popular banner look too.

Easter is early this year, just 3 more weeks.  It always seems to sneak up on me when it is so early in April.  I'm going to try to be more ready this year.  My Easter card I made today is all about girly spring colors and ruffles!  When I saw the White Waffle paper in the Occasions Mini catalog I was so excited because we can just  sponge on ink  to make it any color!  I wanted to make a soft pastel ruffly Easter card using the White Waffle paper.  I cut off a few pieces about 1 1/2 inch wide and sponged on ink from the Wild Wasabi, Regal Rose and Baja Breeze ink pads.  Then I ran the adhesive along the edges of the cardstock and gathered the Waffle paper into the adhesive.  I was pleased that it turned out so nicely, I love the ruffles! 
The DSP that I used is from the Twitterpated paper.  It is very pretty paper and I love the colors.  I used the Fancy Flower punch to punch out 4 layers for the flower, then I wrinkled them all up, sponged on Regal Rose ink and  used one of the Everyday Enchantment brads for the center.  I used an Antique Brad for the bow, I'm wondering if I should have used a brad from the Everyday Enchantment pack there too.

I hope to be able to come up with some more great ideas for the White Waffle Paper soon.  It is fun to play with.  If you need some I can take care of that "need" for you!  Check my online store.

St. Patrick's Day Projects

I've been working on a couple of more St. Patrick's Day projects.  Even though I'm not Irish it is fun to play along with the "don't pinch me" fun.  I taught a class about 10 years ago where we painted a wooden leprechaun that I wear every year to prevent mischievous people from inflicting pain on me  :~) 

Here are a couple of fun treats, a bag of gold "nuggets" and a skinny bag of green M&M's.  The shamrock stamp is from the Got Treats stamp set and the Luck stamp is from the Occasions Alphabet set.  That is a fun set, I don't know why I don't use it more.  I think it may have a stamp for any occasion, yes, even sympathy, new baby and thanks for the delicious food.  The Happy St. Patrick's Day sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.  See, I didn't have to buy a St. Patrick's only set to make my projects.  I love versatile!

The card uses the shamrock as the background, 1st and 2nd generation stamping to give it extra depth, all in Wild Wasabi ink.  A little bit of the Everyday Enchantment sheer ribbon finishes it off with additional green.  I like the Got Green sentiment that comes with the Got Treats set. 

My daughter makes St. Patrick's Day special for her children in several ways, I thought I would share today so if you want to do some of these you would have time to get set for it.  Of course, you can use our new Cookie Press to stamp shamrocks in your sugar cookies but if you didn't order it you can still have shamrock cookies.  Wow, my little Malia has grown a lot since this picture was taken!  She is holding the green shamrock pancakes they had for breakfast.

They had a green wig that everyone got to wear a while.  You can tell Easton thought it was fun!  Later they had rainbow cupcakes with a bit o gold on top.

In the last picture, they helped the kids set a trap to catch the leprechaun before they went to bed.  In the morning they found the little green footprints leading up to the basket and the leprechaun's hat under the basket.  The little guy escaped with everything but his hat!  This was a fun way to start the day and then they had green pancakes for breakfast.  Whatever you do to celebrate, make it a fun day!

Got Green? Also, save $340!

I have been trying to find a little time to work on a St.Patrick's Day class.  I've been so busy this week I haven't even posted anything since Monday.  I tried last night when I got home but kept falling asleep so I finally gave up.  I made this card tonight.  It changed several times before I was satisfied with it.  I'm still debating restamping the shamrocks because I didn't have my Pear Pizazz ink with me when I made it and used Wild Wasabi instead.  It doesn't look too bad but I'm thinking to make the middle one Pear Pizazz and leave the other 2 Wild Wasabi would look better. 

I used the beautiful Twitterpated DSP for theb3 strips of paper.  I tried the stripe one for the middle piece but it just didn't look right so I changed it for the pink.  Much better!

I had different ribbon on at first too but decided the white would look better.  I realized after I had already adhered the shamrocks that I had my Pear Pizazz marker with me so I colored the words "Got Green" with it.  I did one word at a time and stamped them separately so I could punch them out with the tiny tag punch and tie them to the ribbon.

No wonder I CASE so often.  I don't  have to think and it takes less time to copy!  All in all I like the way this card turned out though.  I have another St Patrick's card I'll show later when I can get a better picture.  It was nearly midnight when I took this one and the colors aren't all that great with just the overhead light.  I also have green toenails with white shamrocks.  If they aren't chipped too bad I reckon I'll take a quick picture of them to post one March 17th!

Don't forget, March is nearly half over so Sale-a-Bration is drawing to a close.  Here are your options with clickable links to make it even easier to get great Stampin'  Up products:

Order - for every $50 in orders you get a free product from the Sale-a-Bration catalog (link on right)
Hostess - You get the regular hostess gifts plus a free tote bag when you hostess a qualifying party but you also get a free hostess bundle with a $400 workshop!  This bundle has the Fresh Vintage Stamp set, Everyday Enchantment DSP and the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack!  What a great bonus in addition to the $65 free product plus one item half price.  I have a few dates open if you want to book now!
Join - Sign up to be on my Stampin' Up team and get a greatly discounted price on the Demonstrator kit, For only $125 you will get a kit worth more than $345 PLUS a pack of Designer Series Paper (or digital download) every month for a year (worth about $120 or so) making it $465 worth of Stampin' Up product for $125.  It isn't every day you can save $340 on stamp and scrapbook supplies!  It just doesn't get any better than that. Email me and I'll fill you in on all the details.
 wrightplace4@ mindspring dot com

Too Pink?

Whew, what a week!  I spent the first half of the week butchering the deer I hit last Sunday night and the last half of the week working on flowers for my niece's wedding.  I reckon you could call me versatile.  Anyway, I only found time to make this one card.  What do you think, is it too pink? 

I made the first one and wasn't sure.  A friend suggested that I tie a white ribbon around the lower part of the card to balance the white embossing on the top.  I put less ink on the flower on the second card too.  It helps some but I still think it is mighty pink. 

Stampin' Up supplies used: Fun Flowers die, Elegant Lines embossing folder, Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, Pretty in Pink ink pad and 5/8" Whisper White Organza Ribbon.