Valentine's Cards

Valentine's Day is just 2 weeks away, have you made your cards for your loved ones yet?  If not, here are 2 samples to get you started.  I got them in a swap at the team meeting earlier this month.  They both use Real Red, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White.  The first card is from Monica.  She uses the large swirl stamp from the Baroque Motifs set, one of my favorite stamps in my whole collection!  It is great for so many projects and a great background for scrapbook pages and cards.  I  probably use this stamp more than any other stamp I own.  Hearts of the 3 sizes are punched with the Heart to Heart XL punch and mounted to the front of the card with Stampin' Dimensional along with a few Basic Pearls to make this a gorgeous card.

The second card uses a strip of the beautiful Glimmer Paper that was introduced in the Occasions Mini Catalog earlier this month.  It gives a great sparkle that is hard to capture in a picture.  I love how just a strip down the side of the card and a tiny heart punched from it (almost hidden behind the ribbon) give this card amazing personality.  You don't need to tell everyone that you punched the heart from the strip behind the sentiment!  I love to conserve paper so that is a great idea to get the most from this special paper.  This is one of the cards I made at the Team meeting.  It was quick and easy but I love it.  I do love quick and easy!

Sale-a-Bration Special!

I'm so excited about Sale-a-Bration.  It is such a fun time of year for me because I love to share and I can give away lots of free stamps from Jan 25-March 31!  Here is another layout made with some of the Ice Cream Parlor paper and accents as well as a few of the buttons and a little bow from the Ribbon and Button pack.  I have pinata pictures that I think will look great on this bright layout.

I hope my post about the special I am running for the rest of January didn't confuse you too much.  I have a basket full of paper, stamps and ink products that I need to clear out of  my stamp room so I'm using it as an incentive to try to round up a few more orders before the end of the month.  I am about to make a promotion and need a little bit more in sales this month to make it.  I've been so excited about the cruise I'm leaving for today that I didn't have many classes or workshops this month. 

Basically, go to my website and look through the catalogs.  There is plenty in the Occasions Mini catalog to keep you busy if the big catalog overwhelms you.  You will need to go to the big catalog to order paper, ink and Big Shot dies though.  Be sure to go to the Clearance Rack for additional values, some up to 60% off!

After you place your order, you will be prompted to add your Sale-a-Bration product.  If you can't stop at a $50 order, when you go over $150 you will also be prompted to add a hostess set and $15 in free items as well as a total of 3 Sale-a-Bration items.  So, with a $150 order you would get
(1) a hostess set,
(2) $15 free merchandise,
(3) 3 Sale-a-Bration items and
(4) 3 items from my goodie basket! 
Sounds like a great time to stock up!  You can pay with a credit or debit card on my website too.

When I get home from my cruise I will look at the orders and let the first person who placed an order choose from my goodie basket first and so on until everyone has their extra free goodies.

Stylish Blogger Award and Sale-a-Bration special offer

I was so surprised and pleased to be awarded the Stylish Blogger Award!  Try as I might to be a stylish person, being a country girl usually overrides style so I was glad that either I'm more stylish than I realize or Patti likes the country girl style.  Either way, I'm just tickled about it.  Thanks Patti!

Now, here is how it works.  First I get to put this very stylish logo on my blog post.  I'm thinking I'll put it on the sidebar too, just for grins. 

Second, I post 8 things about myself.  That is easy but deciding which 8 things to post - that is hard!  I'll try to avoid things my regular blog readers know already.  Here goes:

1.  Although I have lived most of my life in TN, I have also lived in Idaho, Utah, Texas, Georgia, Alaska and New Mexico.

2.  I have been a kindergarten teacher, worked in a Girl Scout office, in a psychology clinic and in a scrapbook store.  Mostly I was a stay at home mom, now I'm happily "just a housewife" and a Stampin' Up Demonstrator!

3.  I've been a Daisy, Brownie, Junior and Cadette Girl Scout leader and a cub scout leader several times as well.

4.  I played Flute and Clarinet in the band at school and took piano lessons for 4 years.  Too bad I can't play worth anything now!

5.  I've always loved paper crafting as well as other crafts and sewing.  I made my first dress when I was 11.

6.  I majored in Early Childhood Education at Ricks College in Rexburg Idaho and in Psychology at Augusta College in Augusta Georgia.

7.  I have 4 children and 5 grandchildren. 

8.  I can build a fire without matches and catch and cook a fish on it.  (at least I could when I was a teenager)

Third (and final) thing, I am to award the Stylish Blogger Award to 8 other bloggers that I have discovered recently.  This is the hardest!  I have about 200 blogs in my favorites.  Some I go to again and again for inspiration and just to see what they are up to.  It says they are supposed to be ones I recently discovered but there are a couple of tried and true favorites here too.  Some do mostly cards, some are 3-D geniuses, but most combine these with scrapbooking.  Juanita has lots of MDS layouts and ideas mixed in with her traditional papercrafting projects.

Jan - http://stampspaperscissors.typepad.com/stamps_paper_scissors/

Linn - http://craztforcrafting.blogspot.com/ 

Jenny - http://www.stampingmoments.blogspot.com/

Karen - http://karenbarberstamps.blogspot.com/
Cindee - http://justspongeit.blogspot.com/
Sherry - http://sherrystampinroom.blogspot.com/
Juanita - http://www.stampingwithjuanita.com/
Chat - http://memystampsandi.blogspot.com/

Enjoy these talented bloggers but come back to me for a special offer.  I will be leaving Friday for a cruise but I wanted to add some incentives to the Sale-a-Bration sale to celebrate even more!  It is a great promotion by itself with a free stamp set for every $50 you order but I'm going to sweeten the pot with an extra freebie to everyone who places an online order between today and Jan 31 (Monday).  I have several discontinued stamp sets, Designer Paper packs and ink/reinker/marker/wheel cartridge sets.  I even have 2 Simply Sent packages and a set of Stampin' Spots that are a $22.50 value!

Here is how I'm going to give all these goodies away:  When I get back from my cruise and can check my website again I will email each person who ordered Friday through Monday and send a list of what I have available with pictures so they can choose what they want.  I will email the first order placed and she will have her choice.  Once she has picked what she wants I will take it off the list and email the second order and so on until all of my goodies are gone.  I'm predicting that you have a great chance to win because I filled a very large basket to overflowing when I was sorting through things in my stamp room.  Besides the ink spots and Simply Sent kits, I have 7 stamp sets, 4 unopened packs of DSP, 5 colors of ink products, the So Tweet chipboard set, 3 colors of Corduroy brads and some rubons. 

Want to make your money go even farther?  Besides ordering from our regular full-sized catalog, or the incredible new Occasions Mini Catalog, check out the Clearance Rack where they have discontinued Stampin' Up products for up to 60% off!  There is still a pretty good selection that includes ribbon spools, buttons and brads, dies for the Big Shot, DSP, cardstock and chipboard, rubons and other products.  These  bargain products are a great way to top off your order  :~)

When you finish your order, they will prompt you to add a free Sale-a-Bration set, check out the last page of the Sale-a-Bration catalog though, there is a whole page of alternate stamp sets you can order if one of the 4 special stamp sets, Chalkboard Decor Elements, Digital CD or the fun Ice Cream Parlor paper pack (used in yesterday's layout) or the adorable ribbon and Button pack (on the card I'm posting today) aren't something you want.  Seems impossible but it could happen!  Both cards I posted tonight are stamped with a stamp from the Punch Bunch Sale-a-Bration set, it can be dressed up to look elegant or stamped with fun colors for a much more casual card.

Is all that as clear as mud??  If you email me quickly with any questions you might catch me before I'm on the high seas with my sister and 8 other friends!  Here are links for aaalllllll the choices you have, have fun!

Sale-a-Bration Catalog

Regular Stampin Up Catalog

Occasions Mini Catalog

Clearancce Rack

Decor Elements vinyl Catalog 

Digital Downloads

Last, since this is such a short post, I wanted to add a picture of my grandson.  He turned 8 in Oct and joined the Cub Scouts.  His first Pinewood Derby is tomorrow night (if it isn't cancelled because of the snow) and I just had to include a picture of him working on his car.  He was having fun using the Drimmel but very cautious with the goggles and bandana!  Better safe than sorry.  I'll be posting the layout when I get back, I wonder if a blue ribbon will be in any of the pictures . . .

It's Sale-A-Bration Time!

It seemed like the end of January would never come but here it is!  Sale-a-Bration runs from Jan 25- March 31.  It is the best sale of the year for Stampin' Up!  Whenever you order $50 worth of great Stampin' Up products you get a bonus stamp set or paper pack or ribbon and button bundle or digital files!  You can also get a bonus set for a qualifying workshop.  The average workshop is $400 but you only need a $300 workshop to earn an extra set, it's like they WANT to give you free stamps!

But, if you want to have all the fun I do, creating with a great product, holding workshops and classes and earn a little money this would be the perfect time to join my Stampin' Up team.  They are not only offering the kit (which is already a great value) at an additional 15% off, they are also including one of the free stamp sets as well as another $50 gift pack.  Hummm, I need to do the math on that but it is a wonderful incentive for you to join the Stampin' Up family.

One of my favorite offerings in the Sale-a-Bration catalog this year is this fun paper pack with cardstock stickers.  I created a couple of layouts with it last week and it kind of tells you what to do so if you listen closely you will have a great layout in no time!   

Springtime Vintage Layout

I realized it had been a while since I posted a paper scrapbook page so I checked back and it was Oct 30!  That is way too long ago.  I have 4 layouts that I hadn't photographed yet so yesterday was sunny enough to get some decent lighting to take pictures.  I haven't decided on a title for this one or added journaling but it is an example of how great the Springtime Vintage paper is.  I also used the leaf from the Build A Blossom stamp set to make a border around the layout.  I stamped the leaves in Wild Wasabi around the edges and then took a Wild Wasabi marker and added "vines" to connect the leaves.  You can see this better in the close-up  picture.

I also stamped the Medallion stamp in Wild Wasabi ink on the DSP in a couple of places and used groupings of the new Vanilla Rosettes that are in the new Occasions Mini Catalog. 

Snow Card

More snow - groan!  We have been getting a little too much of a good thing lately.  It is so pretty though and I took lots of pictures, I just can't resist!

I wanted to share a snow card I made today.  I used 2 embossing folders for the background.  I ran it through the Big Shot with the Polka Dot Embossing folder and then reinserted it into the Northern Flurry Embossing folder, I didn't put it in all the way though, that would have smashed all the polka dots.  I put it in kind of sideways so it only put the snowflakes on about half the card base.  You can kind of see that some of the polka dots in the middle are smashed but I covered most of them with the snowflakes from the Northern Frost die that I cut in Brushed Silver and Bashful Blue cardstock.  I also used a square of the Brushed Silver cardstock as the background for the card.  I was going to use some of the Basic Rhinestones for the center of the snowflakes but couldn't find them so I used the Shimmer Brads instead.

I couldn't resist posting a couple of pictures, I know 2 inches of snow isn't much for a lot of you but here in TN, it causes a lot of trouble because it is wet and turns into black ice making driving treacherous.  The first picture was taken from my front porch, looking out toward the orchard.  The second picture was taken out my back window.  If you look closely you will see a Cardinal, a Red Headed Wood Pecker, a couple of Doves, some Finches and a Chickadee.  Can you find them all?  You might have to make the picture full-screen to see the finches!

2 more Valentine Projects

Don't you just love that wide ribbon?  When I first saw it I thought it would be too wide for cards but I started seeing great cards with these beautiful big bows on them and changed my mind!  This card is made in Very Vanilla and Rich Razzleberry.  The stamp set the heart was stamped from is called Punch Potpourri because every stamp in the set had a matching punch so you don't have to spend a lot of time cutting.  I think we all love that!  I used the Tulip Frame Embossing folder again on this one as well as a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Verses.   

I've been thinking about designs for toppers for Skinny Bag treats for Valentine's.  I love the embossed heart embosslit for the Big Shot so I embossed a Real Red and a Whisper White one for the red, white and pink M&M bag.  Since it is supposed to snow AGAIN tomorrow  - sigh -  I thought I would make a snow flake one using the great snowflakes from the Northern Flurry die.  I added Basic Pearls to the center of each snowflake and filled the bag with blue M&M's.  I had lots of blue ones left over after filling the Christmas bags with red, yellow, brown and green ones.  I couldn't find the Christmas only colors this year but then, I try not to spend too much time in the candy aisle!

I Made My Own Embossing Frame Folder

If you are like me, you are glad that January is half over.  I think we have all had crazy weather, I'm really tired of temperatures under 20 degrees and I've had enough snow for the Winter!  We are less than a  month away from Valentine's Day so we will be needing ideas for fun things to make for friends and family for that special day.

I absolutely LOVE the new Framed Tulips Embossing folder!  I have spent a bit of time hoping that the new Stampin' Up catalog this Summer will have several other embossing folders to choose from.  The frame-type folder makes creating a fantastic card so much quicker and easier!  Then I thought about the embossed card I made last year with the Heart To Heart punch and decided I could do a frame with the smallest hearts from that punch too.

I punched out a bunch of hearts and lined them up, centered them and stuck them down, 3 in a stack.  When I embossed the Pretty in Pink paper I used the platform, a Standard Cutting Plate, the Silicone pad and another Standard Cutting Plate.  It took a while to adhere all those little hearts but now I have my own Heart to Heart frame embossing folder to use as often as I want to!

The second card uses the stamp set Dreams DuJour.  I embossed the top half only with the Polka Dot Embossing folder and tied the organdy ribbon around it.  I mounted it on a piece of Rose Red cardstock for a quick and easy card.

I'm smelling my bread baking.  I reckon I need to go get it out of the oven before it gets too dark!  I'm having a dinner party tonight so I want that bread to be perfect  :~)

Blossom Petals Punch without the Stamp

Here are 2 cards made with the Blossom Petals Punch.  The first one doesn't use the stamp set at all and the second one only uses the leaf stamp.  I punched the petals and sponged them for some shading before assembling the flower.  I used the Tulip Frame Embossing folder for both of them, can you tell how much I like it!  I  am hoping that Stampin' Up will add more frame embossing folders in the next catalog.  I used one of the Antique Brads for the center of the first flower and the large glass glitter on flowers on the second card.  I also used the small oval punch to shape the front petal on this card that is based on a bud-type flower that Jackie Topa made.  I don't know if she is the original designer of this type of flower with the Blossom Petal punch but I love the design.

More Nature Walk

The first card is a CASE from one by Mary Fish.  I don't usually copy so closely but it was a great card and I didn't change much.  I kind of think I should have inked it a little around the edges of the white though.  The 3 ribbon roses in the corner are new products in the Occasions Mini Catalog, they are a quick and easy accent that makes a big impact.  I used the flower stamp from Nature Walk to create a patterned background on the Crumb Cake layer and stamped the bird on the Whisper White cardstock.  I think Mary Fish said something about Winter Whites to describe her card.  There are definitely a lot of neutrals going on here.  I love it though!

Both cards use not only the Nature Walk but also the lace trim, tied simply in a knot.  There is more color on this card, Old Olive and Pacific Point as well as a touch of More Mustard on the bee.  I stamped the flower several times in 2 generations to give dimension to the background.  I embossed the Old Olive base with the Tulip Frame embossing folder, I hope Stampin' Up comes out with more of these frame embossing folders in the next catalog, I love them!  They really make creating cards easier.  I put a layer of DSP from the Springtime Vintage between the stamped piece and the embossed background and sponged the stamped piece before adding some dots from a Soft Suede marker.  I got the sentiment (from Occasional Quotes) a little crooked but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?