3/28 Oval All Coming Soon!

What a crazy busy week it has been! But, after church tonight . . . and my second spaghetti dinner fundraiser of the week . . . I had a chance to stamp something quick and easy. I turned to the Weekend Sketch Challenge and I was tickled to find a sketch that just screams OVAL ALL!! Oval All is a brand new stamp set that coordinates with a brand new scallop oval punch. It is featured in our Occasions Mini Catalog April 1 - June 30.

I wanted to find some paper that could make a big statement and stand alone. I think this one does the job, don't you? I used some Riding Hood Red paper to mat the designer paper and it gave it just the pop I was looking for. The brads are from the Earth Elements collection. Of course the stamped sentiment and the new punch are so much fun. I added a little fun with some paper piercing along the corners.

.

A quick "hey there!" and ((hugs)) to Kathy and Debby! Thank YOU both so much for joining my Stamping to Share team! We are going to have so much fun stamping, sharing, creating, crafting, inspiring and enriching the lives of those around us.

.

Supplies:

.

Stamps: Oval All

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze, Urban Garden DSP

Ink: Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Mat Pack with Paper Piercer, Earth Elements Brads, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch

3/28 Shaving Cream Get Whale!

This is the card we are going to make at our April Equal Hostess Opportunity Week. We will explore the Shaving Cream Technique and make several backgrounds and a technique card to go with our cute Pun Fun Whale card. If you are local to me and want to join us, check out my Events Calender or e-mail me for more information!

Supplies:

Stamps: Pun Fun
Paper: Brilliant Blue, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, Glossy White
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Shaving Cream, Re-inkers in Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue and Tempting Turquoise, Tempting Turquoise Marker, Scallop Edge Border Punch, 5/8" Whisper White Satin Ribbon, Photo Corner Punch, Dimensionals

Shop with Me 24/7! Only three more days to take advantage of Sale-a-bration Rewards!

3/23 Kind Words with Roses

Time to get my Mojo ON! It is such a drabby, dreary day today. I would like to do nothing. But, knowing I would feel sooooo much better if I stamped, I decided to check out the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge. What a nice one! Of course . . . as I worked on it, I realized that I had to turn it around upside down to make it work for me! I like to do things backwards and upside down . . . it's why I am so creative! (ya, right.)



Anyway, I love how it turned out. BEAUTIFUL! Of course, I LOVE Bella Rose DSP and have been using it a lot all year. I think it is my very most favorite DSP pack. I cut one of the roses out to use as an accent on the long panel. Pretty, huh? I thought so, too! Makes my Monday not so dreary after all. Thanks for dropping by my blog!

Supplies:

Stamps: Echoes of Kindness (Lvl Two Hostess Set)
Paper: Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Black 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Shopping is easy and 24/7 at my Stampin'Up website!

Fifth Avenue Floral Class

Add a touch of elegance and class to your Mother’s Day gift this year with this gorgeous Fifth Avenue Floral card set! The card set includes four trendy card designs packaged in a unique window box.

I will offer this class the last Monday and Tuesday night in April and on the first Friday morning in May. Please see my Events Calender for more details.

Supplies:

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Thank You Kindly
Ink: Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze Classic ink
Paper: Urban Oasis DP, Whisper White, Kraft, Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss 8 ½” x 11” CS, Medium Whisper White Envelopes
Accessories: Sticky Strip, Snail adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Kraft Corduroy Buttons, Linen Thread, Window Sheet (also called acetate sheet or transparency), paper snips, wide oval punch, paper piercer and foam mat, large oval punch, bone folder, Stamp-a-ma-jig, blender pens, Stampin’ Scrub, Stampin’ Mist, Paper Trimmer and scoring blade, pencil and ruler, hobby blade and craft mat.

3/18 Saffron Sympathy

This is a card my customers are making at my Christian Inspiration Class. I wanted to showcase a couple of Sale-a-bration Reward items on this card as we still have 13 days to place a $50 Sale-a-bration order to get a free stamp set, or a set of designer series papers called Delicate Dots or to select the Ribbon Bundle featuring this Saffron Ribbon and another ribbon in Celery.

It's amazing to me how generous Stampin'Up is to give us two full months to place Sale-a-bration orders. I mean, really, how many companies do you know that would have such an awesome special lasting two months! I am so happy to be a SU demonstrator. The longer I am one, the happier I seem to be!! What a great job.

Supplies I used on this card:

Stamps: Close as a Memory
Paper: Kraft, Confetti White, Sale-a-bration Delicate Dots Designer Series Paper
Ink: More Mustard
Accessories: Tag Corner Punch, Saffron Ribbon from the Sale-a-bration Bundle, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals

Shop with me 24/7!

3/16 Mojo Bookmark Card

When the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge was posted this morning I kept thinking that the panel on the left side of the sketch looked like a bookmark. So much so, that I based my whole card around that thought and this was was what I came up with . . . it's one of those bookmarks that has magnets on each side of the inner flap so that when you put it over your page, it grabs together to securely mark your place. Awesome, huh?


I picked the colors red and blue because I was thinking about my husband at the time and his favorite color is red. My favorite color is blue. Don't they look wonderful together? To keep the card from looking too much like the Fourth of July, I grounded everything with a panel of brown . . . designer series paper from Bella Rose to be exact. The red lattice designer series paper is from the paper pack called Jackpot. It has a whole different look on a card like this.

I also included a picture of the card with the bookmark off to the side. If you look closely, you can see the magnetic strip that I have on the inside back panel of the page marker. And you know what is really amazing . . . the card doesn't look too bad without the bookmark! I think the bow helps to anchor it or something.

.

So, are you wondering how in the world I was able to create such a perfect rounded edge on my white flower panel? Well, just look on down! I will show you!!

Take your panel of paper, cut it just a shred shorter than 1 3/4" and pull it through the opening of your 1 3/4" Circle Punch. Then just punch and you have your rounded edge! I learned that little trick years ago but don't know any more where it was that I picked it up. It's a handy little trick to have up your sleeve - you just never know when you will need a rounded edge like that! The best part is . . . you can do this with any size circle.

.

Supplies I used to create this card:

.

Stamps: Heard from the Heart, Echoes of Kindess

Paper: Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Whisper White, Jackpot DSP, Bella Rose DSP

Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Brilliant Blue, White Craft

Accessories: Heart to Heart Punch, White Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, Glue Dots, Dimensional, Magnetic Strips

.

Shop for Stampin'Up products 24/7 at my Stampin'Up website!
.

3/16 Kind Words Echo

Jen Balcer hosted the Weekend Sketch Challenge and what a lovely sketch it was. I LOVE the Top Note in the background and as soon as I saw this sketch, I knew I would do it . . . just a matter of time. I finally found the time late yesterday afternoon and this is what I came up with.

I'm especially pleased with the perfect match the flower is to the Kraft cardstock. I squirted two kinds of re-inker onto a sheet of plastic hoping that the combination would resemble Kraft. I used a good squirt of Sahara Sand and about a third of a good squirt of Creamy Caramel. Mixed the two colors together with a very wet Aqua Painter and then pressed and dunked my Pretties Kit flower into it. Isn't it a WOW? I thought so, too!

I used my Big Shot and the die called Swirly to make some vine-like tendrils on my card. The smaller flowers are all punched from the Boho Blossoms Punch. The sentiment is from a Level Two Hostess Set called Echoes of Kindness.

Supplies I used to create this card:

Stamps: Echoes of Kindness
Paper: Kraft, Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Pretties Kit, Boho Blossoms Punch, Vintage Brads, Swirly Die, Top Note Die, Big Shot Machine, Kraft Taffeta Ribbon, Mini Glue Dot, Pop Up Glue Dots

Shop with me 24/7!

3/15 Do What You Love

I still remember the day I signed my demonstrator agreement with Stampin'Up. My hubby was like, "Well, it's about time!" and my kids were excited for me simply because I was excited. I didn't know what exactly it was going to mean for me in the future, but I figured, "Well, if I don't like it, I can always quit."

You may have noticed . . . I haven't quit! lol! In fact, I love and appreciate this business even more since becoming a demonstrator in July of 2007. I am doing what I love. Are you?

How long have you been debating about whether or not you should become a demo? I'm embarrassed to say that I debated it for FOUR years before I submitted my agreement to Stampin'Up. Good grief. If only I would have known what I know now! And you know how I finally KNEW? I just did it!! So simple, isn't it! lol! To make it even simpler for you, Stampin'Up announced that you can get your starter kit for 15% off through the end of March along with an extra stamp set of your choice as part of our Sale-a-bration Celebration. (That's kind of funny! lol!) Clap, clap, clap . . .what a good deal that is!

But now . . . there has been another announcement!! Stampin'Up is offering you the opportunity to get your kit in three monthly payments and still get the Sale-a-bration benefits! Bravo, bravo! So for $56.34 you get your kit in March. Then you make two more payments in April and May for $56.33 each.

This three payment promo goes into April . . . but of course in April you will pay the regular price for the kit which will make your payments $10 higher each month. Please see the Three Easy Payments for the Starter Kit Form. Both options of a March and an April start date are detailed out for you. Please feel free to E-Mail me if you would like me to help you get started Doing What You Love!

Now . . . onto the card!

Isn't it pretty? This card uses a technique called Gel Pen Resist that I read about on Janine Tinklenberg's blog HERE. My stamp clubs created this card last month along with a technique panel. For some reason, I never posted this . . . got busy I guess! Anyway, I love the Asian feel this card has. The medallion is created with the Scallop Edge Punch centered on each edge of a 2 3/4" panel of Chocolate Chip. I actually made two medallions to create this card. One of which is used with the scallop edge and the other one where I cut the scallop edge out leaving me with just the square frame. To highlight the gel pen resist, I used a stipple brush instead of a sponge on my flower panel. Then, I just erased the gel pen with a white eraser to reveal the white flower underneath.

Supplies to create this card:

Stamps: Sanded, Sweet Stems, Wow Flowers

Paper: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: White Gel Pen, White Eraser, Stipple Brush, Scallop Edge Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Word Window Punch, Circle Scissors, Sponges to define the edges of the card stock panels, Dimensionals

You are welcome to shop with me 24/7 at my Stampin'Up website!

3/13 RAK & Club Projects for March

Ooooh, look at the pretty card that I got this week! Let's see . . . wasn't it about 6 degrees the day I pulled this out of my mailbox? Of course we KNOW that spring is on the way and this card confirms it!! Thank you so much, Mary Kiley, for this BEAUTY! The crystal effects on the blooms is just stunning IRL! Mary is one of the new demonstrators to join my team during the Sale-a-bration Starter Kit Special Offer. A shout out and HI THERE to Jen B from Hudson, WI who also joined my Stamping to Share team this past week! Glad to have you join us, Jen!!

It was club week at my house and this was the technique we focused on: Glittering Sticky Cuts. Club members always make a panel explaining the technique with a small sample attached and then of course a card demonstrating the technique. In this case, we made a 3x3 card. So cute with the sweetest stems die cut from Kiwi Kiss textured paper. The glittered flowers were cut from Sticky Pages using the Birds & Blooms Die with the Big Shot Machine.
.

Supplies Used to Create the Technique Panel and Card:

.

Stamps: All Holidays

Paper: Tangerine Tango, Confetti White, Pacific Blue, Basic Black

Ink: Pacific Point

Accessories: 1 3/4" Circle Punch, White Gel Pen, Mat Pack, Sweetest Stem Die, Birds & Blooms Die, Big Shot Machine, Pretties Kit, Glue Dots, Sticky Pages

And, we made an Easter card using the Polka Dot Punches set (a Sale-a-bration Rewards item!) along with the All Holidays set. I used this card at several Sale-a-bration workshops, too. It's so pretty and goes together so quickly with punches.

.

Easter Card Supplies:

.

Stamps: All Holidays, Polka Dot Punches

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Whisper White

Ink: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: 5-Star Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1/2" Circle Punch, Sponges, Dimensionals, Sale-a-bration Ribbon Bundle

And, lastly, we made a treat box to hold the Hershey Nuggets. Of course I had Hershey nuggets on hand to put in the box and I thought I would scatter them out so I could take the picture with them, too. But . . . I guess we ate them all! oops! This little box is made with the Box #2 BigzXL die from Stampin'Up. The Yummy is one of our Sale-a-bration Reward Items that you get when you purchase $50.
.

Supplies to make this Yummy Box for Chocolates:

.

Stamps: Yummy

Paper: Chocolate Chip

Ink: White Craft

Accessories: BigzXL Box #2 Die, Big Shot Machine, Clips Assortment, Organza Whisper White Ribbon, White Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Dimensionals, Pink Pirouette 1 1/4" Ribbon
.

You are welcome to shop with me 24/7 at my Stampin'Up website!

Remember for every $50 purchased, you will be able to select a Sale-a-bration Reward item! Check out the Sale-a-bration brochure HERE.

3/9 Blooming Mojo Monday

What a fun way to begin a Monday! I went right to the Mojo Monday blog to check out this week's sketch. The second I saw that wonderful big ol' circle, I knew IMMEDIATELY that I wanted to use my newest Sizzix Die called Daisies #2. Just one pass through the Big Shot and I was able to get six flowers by doubling up the card stock. I layered them all up and fastened them together with a rhinestone circle brad. I LOVE it.



You probably already noticed that I turned the sketch on its side. I needed to do that so I could get my sentiment to work right. Along with the fabulous daisy, I used another new Sizzix die set called Lots of Tags to make the panel for my sentiment. I edged the panel with Basic Gray on a sponge dauber to give it a little more definition. The card base is stamped with a scattering of tiny dots from Itty Bitty Backgrounds. I don't think I've used that set in a long time and I used to use it sooooo much. It was nice to use it again.
.
Supplies for my mojo card:
.
Stamps: Bella's Bloom, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray, Bella Rose DSP
Ink: Basic Gray
Accessories: Big Shot, Sizzix Die Daisies #2, Sizzlits Lots of Tags, Circle Fire Rhinestone Brads, Basic Gray Ribbon, Dimensionals, Stamp-a-ma-jig
.
I really have no business stamping this morning as I have sooo much to do. This is club week and though my projects are prepared, my room is not! I need to vacuum, dust, put the laundry away, set up the tables etc. My daughter is going onto regional competition for her History Day project so we are dualing for the same space! I can't believe how BIG history boards are. Kari's board takes up two of my stamping tables! So, off to work I go . . . hi ho .. hi ho!
.
Shop with me 24/7 at my Stampin'Up Website:
.

3/8 Tangerine Rose

Here is the Weekend Sketch Challenge that Sharon posted on her blog called Paperfections. I was anxious to use my new set called Fifth Avenue Floral in conjunction with the BEAUTIFUL Textured Impressions Die called Manhattan Flower. It didn't matter what the sketch challenge was because I was going to Make It WORK! lol! And, it did! It actually worked really well! Lots of room to show off all that BEAUTIFUL embossing. (I love my Big Shot, I love my new Impressions Die and I love In Colors!!)

Here is my card. SOOOOO gorgeous - - - even with little oopsies that I will not point out! lol! I thought a Tangerine Rose would be so striking with Pacific Point. I used some brand new small grommets that I pre-ordered from the new Occasions Mini Catalog. I discovered that the 5/16th inch Jumbo Brads fit perfectly into the center of these grommets. Cool, huh. (I won't discuss WHY I was led to discover this . . . lol!)

Those rose panel really turned out nice. I used my Aqua painter . . . my very MOST FAVORITE way to color anything and everything stamping related. It really looks a mess when you are in the middle of it . . . but I always keep sloshing through it and every time I am surprised just how awesome it turns out in the end. To make it shiny . . . which you probably cannot discern in the photo, I sprayed it with a couple of coats of a glossy fixative. Which I discovered makes your paper warp! So, to combat that, I glue sticked the entire image and stuck it onto a piece of white chip board that you get with your designer series paper. That took care of the warping and I liked the tiny skinny white border that was created around the whole image.

Supplies I used to create this card:

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, All Holidays
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Whisper White, White Chipboard
Ink: Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Manhattan Flower Textured Die, Big Shot Machine, Small Grommets, 5/16th Jumbo Brads, Pacific Point Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals

Shop online at my Stampin'Up website 24/7!

3/7 Special Blessings

This is another card that I plan to have my customers make at my Christian Inspiration Class later this month. It uses a stamp set called Special Blessing. You can see that I based my card from the card in the catalog . . . picture below. I used a strip of Candy Lane DSP instead of the Baja Breeze. I changed the size to a standard A-2 and as a last minute add on I did some faux embossing with a row of flowers at the base of the card punched from the Flower Trio Punch. I like extra touches like that. They don't take a lot of time and they really up the wow factor of the card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Special Blessing
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Candy Lane DSP
Ink: Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: BoHo Blossoms Punch, Flower Trio Punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Pretties Kit, Dimensionals

Shop with me 24/7 at my Stampin'Up Website!

3/7 Wow Wedding Card and Stamp Set Surgery

One of my favorite sites to browse for class and workshop ideas is Dawn Olchefske's Blog. She cased a card she got in a swap from Mary Polcin and now I'm casing it, too. You can see the card on Dawn's Blog HERE. I am going to have my customers make this later this month at my Christian Inspiration Class. We'll make a couple of wedding cards and this will be one of them.

Here is the inside of the card - so cute!! I even made a matching envelope - something I don't always do because I always forget to!!

Here are the supplies I used to create this card:

Stamps: Yummy, To Have and To Hold

Paper: Sahara Sand, Whisper White

Ink: Sahara Sand

Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Eyelet Border Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Square Punch, 1 3/8" Square Punch

You can always Shop with Me 24/7 at my Stampin'Up Website!

And now . . . onto the topic of Stamp Set Surgery!!

As a demonstrator . . . and even as a very good customer . . . I usually end up with a couple of Sale-a-bration sets that are duplicates. Sometimes I put them in my give away bin and sometimes they under go Stamp Set Surgery! Yummy is such a set that I decided to subject to the ever present Craft Scissors! I kept one set as is which you can see above. Then, I took my duplicate set and started cutting away. I separated words from borders, images from words and even clipped off part of a border to make more of a corner accent. (Notice on the wedding card above.)

Here is the "after" picture of my duplicate set. I happened to have extra wood blocks on hand because some sets I never mount. This makes it so much easier to use partial images or the words only.

I'm truly a fan of unmounted stamps and as soon as my stamp sets retire, the wood is tossed and I remount them on EZ Mount from Sunday International and use them with Acrylic Blocks. The stamps are then stored quite compactly and no one really knows how many sets I have! har har har!!

3/6 <30 minutes

The challenge today at SCS was to make a card in less than 30 minutes. This card took about 10 minutes! I used a piece of chipboard that was already colored with Summer Sun craft ink and was just sitting in my odds & ends bin. How easy is that?? lol! The ribbon was also in amongst the odds and ends and that got me digging for my Wild Wasabi card stock. (one of last year's In Colors) I put texture onto my card base by dragging my Wild Wasabi ink pad right over the top of my card base. I love that rough tone on tone look and super it's FAST! The designer paper is from a now retired Cutie Pie paper pack. I don't know that I would have had to have added the brads as I see now that they don't really "add" anything! Maybe if they had been a different color I would have liked them better. The sentiment is from the set called A Little Birthday Cheer.

A little shout out to the newest demonstrator to join my downline - - - HI MARY!! I had so much fun with Mary this morning. We got together for a little New Demonstrator training. And, of course we STAMPED at little bit!! And it involved GLITTER! and we really did have a very nice time. So, thank you again, Mary, for joining my team.

And today, SU announced on it's demonstrator website that for a limited time prospective demonstrators will have an option to purchase their starter kits in three payments!! It's a nod to the economy. And, of course Stampin'Up is responding. There are so many wonderful benefits to becoming a demonstrator - personally and economically. I'm just thrilled that SU will be offering this option before the end of March. So, if you are still on the fence and this can help you make your decision, please let me know as soon as possible so I can help you begin your new business.

Supplies:

Stamps: A Little Birthday Cheer
Paper: Wild Wasabi (retired), So Saffron, Cutie Pie DSP (retired)
Ink: Wild Wasabi (retired), Summer Sun Craft
Accessories: Chip board star, Wild Wasabi Double Stitched Ribbon (retired), Glue Dot, Silver Brads, Sponge

Shop with me 24/7 at my Online Stampin'Up! Store

3/4 Demo Meeting Cards

One of the joys I have as a demonstrator is going to Demo Meetings once a month. We always do some stamping at these meetings and here is what we stamped in February and March. Mary Rindal had us stamp this VERY cute St. Patrick's Day card using the Polka Dot Punches set. She mentioned that she was very much inspired by a card she saw by Mary Fish. It's such a cute and ever so quick card to put together.

This card was created by Shanna McLaughlin, my upline, at our February Demo meeting. I just LOVE the way she used the Sweetest Stem Embosslit die to give the elegant look of embossing on this card. And, popping out the word kind with kiwi ink and dimensional is just that extra touch that makes your card a "wow"! Shanna is a pro at accenting the little things to make your card just that much more personable.

Would you like to come to one of our demo meetings? Guests are always welcome! But with the Starter Kit on special right now . . . you might want to become a demonstrator in March and come to our April meeting as a brand new demo!! Mark your calender for Monday, April 6th at 6:30. We'll be fresh from Regionals with LOTS of new ideas and fun ways to build your business. See my side bar to help answer your questions about becoming a SU demonstrator and then e-mail me! I'll be happy to answer any additional questions you might have and help you get started in Stampin'Up!