Time For Retirement!

 You may have heard already that the Stampin' Up retiring list is available.  This is such an exciting time of year to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator!  I can barley stand it waiting to see the new stamp sets and products that will be in the new catalog.  Sometimes I'm sad when things retire because I can't show them at my workshops anymore.  It would be aggravating to be at a workshop and use a great stamp set that you love and the demonstrator says it is retired and you can't buy it from her.  So sometimes you will hear demonstrators say they are "losing" a stamp set or punch or die.  Well, I "lost" a LOT of stamp sets.  Now I'm impatiently waiting to see what I can replace all those lost sets.  Sometimes my jaw nearly hit the computer keyboard when I saw something retire that was brand new in the catalog just last year like the beautiful Lace Ribbon Border Punch that is used as an accent on these 2 cards.  It is so pretty and I was surprised it was discontinued after just appearing in 1 catalog.  The 3-step punches were also discontinued after only 1 year in the catalog.  Click here to see the whole list.
Here are before and after pictures of my stamp shelf.  The first one shows what it looked like before I pulled out the retiring sets.  A lot of them will be saved on a different shelf where I keep the retired sets that I love too much to get rid of.  Others I will give away or sell.  The second picture is what the shelf looked like after I pulled out the retiring sets.  Big difference, huh?  Look at all that space I get to fill with NEW stamp sets!  I can't wait to place my new catalog pre-order!

Since I'm showing before and after pictures, I thought I would show how much my baby chicks and ducks have grown.  What a difference 4 weeks makes for these little ones.  The ducks amazingly still peep instead of quacking, it is so funny to hear such small voices from those big guys!  One of the chicks was making a kind of cackling noise today so I reckon they will be making big girl noises instead of peeping real soon.

Thoughts of You

I've been wanting to use the Boarding on Romance set but it seems I always end up using something else.  I like the flowers in the set and the long border that goes with the new Adorning Accents Edgelits Die has been begging me to use it as a border.  Well, I finally had the chance to listen and stamp with this set tonight and this is what I came up with.  I used the Twitterpated DSP for the background and the Loving Thoughts set to stamp the sentiment.  It is always a good time to send someone a card to let them know you are thinking of them, right? 

Did you know baby grapes started out so small?  It looks like I'm going to have a great crop of them again this year!  Grape juice is one of my favorite things.

The blackberries are blooming too.  In no time I'll be having blackberry pancakes, smoothies, and pie.  I also noticed that what I had been thinking was a mulberry tree the past few years is indeed a mulberry tree!  It has berries on it this year.  It is in the edge of the woods so I may have to trim a few trees so it gets more sun.  It isn't where I would have planted it but a bird saw fit to drop a berry there and it seems to like the location.  The birds helped me get the blackberries planted in the fence rows with my grape vines too.  I like birds! 

Here is one thing that kept me away from my stamps this week, I planted my garden!  I planted 4 rows of corn.  The other 4 rows are combinations of snow peas, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash and beets.  I always get excited when I'm planning and planting my garden but then the weeds start growing . . .

It is a bit hard to tell from the picture that there is anything there but dirt.  I know that there are lots of wild onions and Johnson grass roots there besides the seeds I planted!  I was hoping for rain after I finished planting but I didn't want the total downpour we got!  I hope the seeds are still in the ground.  It was way too muddy to walk down the rows and look for stray seeds.  I reckon by Monday afternoon I can get a closer look.  We will expect good things, right?

Mother's Day Card

This is one of the cards we made in card club today.  I kind of pulled out all the stops, I mean, our Mothers do so much they deserve extra trouble.  It actually wasn't very hard but I love how it turned out.  First we embossed the Packed For Mom stamp on Blushing Bride cardstock with white embossing powder.  After it was embossed we tore it diagonally and adhered the White Waffle Paper behind it.  I put a piece of Whisper White cardstock behind because the Pacific Point cardstock showed through the waffle paper too much. 

The top of the card is decorated with a 1 1/2" strip of Whisper White cardstock that was punched along the bottom with the Eyelet Border Punch and stamped in Pacific Point with the Happy Mother's Day sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Verses stamp set.   It is finished off with a length of Blushing Bride Pleated Ribbon and then a 6" piece of White Organdy ribbon is gathered on a Hat Pin along with 3 hearts from the Heart to Heart Punch and a purse from the Packed For Mom set is cut out and colored with Stamp and Write Markers and tied on with 1/8" ribbon.  I think any mom would love such a special card!

Another one of the cards we made uses the Twitterpated DSP and the Not So Seriously stamp set.  I'm sad that this set is being discontinued, it has only been in the catalog one year.  If you love the set too you better order it while you still can! 

I originally had the flower punched in white with the shopping bag stamped directly on it.  I inked the edges of the flower because it didn't look right.  Still wasn't what I wanted.  Then I decided to punch it in black and stamp white and punch that out with a circle punch.  Much better!  Then that shopping bag told me it would look much better with some bling.   I reckon I had to agree. 

Twitterpated Layouts

I actually got some time to scrapbook last night!  I haven't done a layout in soooo long.  They aren't really completely finished, I will add finishing touches when I decide which pictures to put on them but I was so excited about scrapbooking that I wanted to show them anyway.

First I used 2 patterns of the Twitterpated paper and chose coordinating Cardstock in Certainly Celery, Blushing Bride and Basic Gray to finish the layout.  The flowers are made from punched circles that I cut little wedges out of.  Easy and I really like the look.  There is room on the left page for a 4X6 photo and on the right page for four 3X3 photos and some journaling.  The title will go above the flowers and reach as far as needed.  If I choose a long title there is room for it to reach across the second page.

Then I used 3 other patterns of the Twitterpated DSP, one reaching across the middle and the others on opposite pages.  there is room for two 4X6 photos on each page and a tag for journaling.  I enjoyed those circle flowers so much on the first layout that I used the same technique to create a flower for the journaling tag.  The title will also be spelled out on circles, I may need more than 5 circles depending on what I decide to use for the title.  I added 12 of the In Colors printed brads around the layout but the rest of the design will be decided on once I add photos.  I really need to order some prints so I can finish these layouts.

The Twitterpated DSP is one of the great papers in the Occasions Mini Catalog, isn't it great paper?  It is only available until the end of April so you only have 2 weeks left to order it.  The bad news is the Occasions Mini Catalog is nearly history.  The good news is that the new catalog will be out on June 1 so there will be new stamps, colors, embellishments and die cuts!  You will be seeing samples with the new goodies soon since Stampin' Up demonstrators will be able to preorder from the new catalog beginning on May first.  I'm pretty excited to see the new products!

Clearance Rack Additions and Summer Smooches Special Offer! Oh, and Blog Candy too!

Hi, I've been busy around here and haven't stamped in several days.  I don't have a new project to show but wanted to share a couple of things you will be interested in.  First, they just added 55 new items to the Clearance Rack!  It is a great time to save on Stampin' Up products.  If you notice, under each item it has the regular sale price and the Preferred Price.  To get the preferred price you will have to order from a Stampin' Up demonstrator's website instead of just going to the Universal Stampin' Up website.  If you follow this link it will take you to the Clearance Rack on my website so you can get the Preferred price.  We will both like that!

You will see punches, that doesn't necessarily mean that the punch is being discontinued, it is the old body style that they are clearancing out.  If you like the lever punch better than the new design you better act fast!  There are lots of punches now but they will probably go quickly.  There are also lots of dies and Sizzlets and ribbons and brads and other great items!

Second, Stampin Up is running a special offer on some fun stamps and beautiful bright Designer Series Paper called Sumner Smooches.  Click to see all the fun, it also includes ribbon, brads, fabric, a stencil, digital items and an amazingly cute purse die!

They said there are 2 items that will be available just for the month of April during the special.  Post a comment to let me know which 2 items WON'T be in the new catalog and I will enter you in a drawing for blog candy!  I haven't offered blog candy in a while so I thought it was about time to give something away.  The blog candy will be a set of 4 monogrammed note cards and envelopes.  I'll be featuring monogrammed cards in my upcoming Mother's Day classes so these will be a bit of a sneak peek for you.   Good luck!

Happy Easter!

I had some fun ladies come to my Easter Treats Class this week.  Boy, did we laugh a lot!  I have a squirrel who comes to my kitchen window looking for the sunflower seeds I put out for the birds in the Winter and they enjoyed seeing him.  They even named him!  I never thought to give him a name.

You can see how pleased these 3 ladies were with the projects they made.  We did a lot but the time flew by!  I loved the clear paint cans but the other projects were fun as well.  Here are the punch designs I decided on for the skinny bags.  You might recognize the bunny from the card I posted earlier.  He is coming from the front and going from behind.  The duck is the one I did last year, I just love him! 

My little chicks and ducks are growing fast, the ducks are nearly grown, their fuzz is fading with the yellow and will soon be completely white.  Still no feathers on the ducks but the chicks are completely feathered out with white feathers, except for the little black one.

For the card we used the Flower Garden embossing folder and a bit of Twitterpated DSP for the card.  I love that embossing folder, I don't know why I don't use it on EVERY card I do!  Have a happy Easter, I hope you feel the peace that Christ's victory over death can bring.

Easter Treats Class is Thursday!

It is less than a week until Easter, time to get hopping!  I'm having an Easter Treats class at my house Thursday morning at 10:00 so you can have a few extra things to add to the Easter baskets this year. 

I bought some of the clear paint cans for this class, I love decorating them so the goodies show through.  I'm also doing skinny bags, they are always a hit!  You will get to choose a cute little Easter purse for girls or a carrot box to hold treats for the boys and make an Easter card.  I reckon you might oughta mail that Easter card on the way home if the recipient lives far away!

Email me if you want to attend the class, I need to know how many kits to prepare.  If we are going to be making this many projects I want to get as much prepared as possible.  With a cute paint can, purse or carrot, skinny bags and a card this class is a great value for only $15!