A Little Old & A Little New

  Happy Friday!  The past few days have been a whirlwind of personal commitments and stamping related events.  As many of you know the Stampin' Up! retirement list came out a few days ago and then demonstrators got to order some new items in a new catalog preorder (the new catalog will be live on May 31!).  My box arrived this morning and I had grand plans to play this afternoon and come up with a fabulous card for the Fab Friday challenge.  Well…….that didn't work out and so I have this mediocre card instead!  =)  My stamp room is a mess, I have supplies for about 5 projects littering not only my space but my dining room as well so I think my creativity was scared off by the mess!

  I tried to use some new supplies mixed with some old ones and this is what I came up with.  It's a very literal interpretation of the sketch but if you could see my space you'd probably be surprised I could even do that much!

  Can you spot what's old and what's new??  Head over to the Fab Friday and get some more inspiration and then play along with us!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: For the Birds

Ink: Stazon, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Coastal Cabana (new!), Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Quatrefancy Specialty DSP (new!)

Accessories: Modern Mosaic e.f. (new!), Pumpkin Pie brads, 2 Tags Die (retiring!), Bitty Buttons (retiring), 1/8" taffeta ribbon

Butterfly on Sycamore Street

  Super fast post, I have TONS of work to do in the stamp room this weekend to get ready for my Moving Forward class on Tuesday.  It will be a lot of fun but I just have to get organized.  If you could see my stamp room with supplies for about 6 different projects cluttering my desk you would say, "geez, she has a TON of work to do this weekend"!  Seriously, it's a disaster.  But luckily I already have this project from February (yes, February!) that I hadn't shared yet!

  I know you are all hoarding the Sycamore Street DSP from Sale-a-bration.  I have several packs that are still wrapped up tight!  Anyway, it's spring and there are birthdays happening everyday, engagements, teacher appreciation and all that stuff that makes up everyday life.  I'm sure there is someone in your life that needs (or deserves) one of your hand stamped lovelies.  This is a super easy and fast card to make.  And I have 2 versions to inspire you!

  Really, this one could not be any easier.  Rich Razzleberry base, Whisper White layer embossed with either the Honeycomb e.f. or the Vine Street e.f..  Then the butterfly from Serene Silhouettes stamped in Rich Razzleberry and punched out (don't forget to pop it up with a dimensional!).  Layer that over a strip of your choice of the Sycamore Street DSP.  Add a single blossom of the Flower Trim (use a glue dot or a piece of Sticky Strip) and a Sycamore Street ribbon flag and TA-DA!  A card to fit pretty much any occasion!

  Add what ever sentiment you need to the inside of the card and mail that baby off to that loved one.

  Have a fabulous weekend and I hope your stamp table isn't nearly as buried as mine is so that you can get some stamping in!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Serene Sihouettes

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Sycamore Street DSP

Accessories: Vine Street e.f., Honeycomb e.f., Flower Trim, circle punch, Sycamore Street ribbon, dimensionals

Spring Tree

  I am just a tab bit behind in posting projects lately.  I was hoping to catch up over the weekend but as usual time got away from me.  I actually spent all day Saturday in Baltimore for a Stampin' Up! regional event.  It was a lot of fun!  I swapped with some great stampers (I hope to show those at some point), met some online friends in person for the first time and just had a great day that was focused all on Stampin' Up!  Seriously, 850 people all crazy about Stampin' Up!….how could that be a bad day?    

  If you've ever thought that being a demo would be fun, now is a great time to join Stampin' Up!  You get $155 worth of products for just $99 in your starter kit….and you get to pick whatever you want!  If you join now, you'll be able to preorder from the new catalog, get sneak peeks, go to Stampin' Up! events, get a 20% discount on your orders, earn 20% commission of what you sell, get an exclusive demonstrator only magazine and so much more (yes, I sound like an infomercial but it's all true!!).  Check out your wish list and if you've got close to $99 (and really who doesn't??) then you should consider it.  I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.  I'd love to have you join my team so if you're ready to get started click here to join the fun!

  On to the stamping!  Here is a card that my ladies made at my last class.  I wanted to teach them how to stamp off and how you can get varying shades using the same color.  I CASEd this card here by Aimee Cretsinger.  It was such a sweet design that I really just tweaked it a bit to highlight some other supplies I wanted my stamping ladies to get to play with.  Thanks for the great idea Aimee!

  We used Lucky Limeaid (I'm really going to miss this color!) for the tree and used different sizes of circle punches.  The stamp used is the big flower stamp from Betsy's Blossoms.  To stamp off just keep stamping without stopping to re-ink.  The trunk is a piece of Early Espresso that was embossed with the Woodgrain embossing folder and then hand cut.

  A punched butterfly, a pearl and a baker's twine bow complete the embellishments for this card.  All of this is mounted on a layer of Primrose Petals Core'dinations cardstock that was embossed with the Vine Street embossing folder and then sanded.

  I decided to leave a sentiment off of the front so it could be customized for any occasion.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms

Ink: Lucky Limeaid

Paper: Whisper White, Primrose Petals Core'dinations, Early Espresso

Accessories: Vine Street e.f., Woodgrain e.f., Early Espresso baker's twine, circle punches, butterfly punch, pearl, dimensionals

Sweet Spring Baby

  How is it that it's Friday already?  Time flies when you're having fun or running around like a madwoman…something like that.  Anyway, we're back at it over at Fab Friday.  It's another fantastic challenge to get those creative juices flowing just in time for the weekend!

  See what magic Mindy has for us this time around:

 Perfect for that spring time weather some of you are having…while it has not been snowing like in other parts of the country, Richmond has been having obscenely hot weather for April the past few days.  It was high 80s today and yesterday (according to my car thermometer) hit 91!  Yikes….we went from winter head on into summer.  But we can look at the Fab Friday challenge colors and imagine spring even if the weather isn't cooperating.

  After we got back to town from Easter break we found out that our neighbors had their first baby.  That wonderful occasion paired with our challenge colors got me into the stamp room.  Here's what I came up with.

  I tried to keep it clean and simple (CAS) with pops of the brighter colors as a backdrop to the sentiment.  I used the scalloped Edgelit for the Summer Starfruit layer, then pierced the Calypso Coral layer with the coordinating piercing template and then used Pool Party Core'dinations cardstock and my trusty Honeycomb embossing folder.  I distressed that layer a bit with my sanding block.

  Behind those layers I stamped the large flower from the Betsy's Blossom set in Crumb Cake ink onto the top Crumb Cake panel.  I cleaned and re-inked the stamp with Calypso Coral and then stamped it on Whisper White and punched it out with the small scalloped circle punch.

  I used a bit of Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon to make a fork bow and stuck it down with a glue dot  onto the scallop circle.  Then I stuck that all down on top of the banner stamped with Sweet Essentials "Hello, Baby" sentiment in Crumb Cake.  It looks crooked in the photo but I think in real life it's pretty straight!

  Now it's your turn to come up with a fabulous design using our challenge colors!  Remember to link up your card at Fab Friday so we can all oooohhhh and aaaaaahhhh over it!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Betsy's Blossoms, Sweet Essentials

Ink: Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral

Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Pool Party Core'dinations, Summer Starfruit

Accessories: Honeycomb embossing folder, piercing template, scallop Edgelit, Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, small scallop circle punch

Nautical Blocks

  Since the temps here in Richmond will be reaching into the 80s again today I thought I would share this nautical, beach inspired card using By the Tide.  My ladies made this design at my last class.

  I CASEd this card from Connie Tumm's card that I found on Pinterest.  I really liked her blocks of colors and I think the Real Red, Midnight Muse and Crumb Cake color combo is a definite winner.

  This card starts with a Midnight Muse base and then a layer of Crumb Cake that was stamped all over using the shell and script words stamp.  Even though you can't see much of the images on this panel it really gives depth to the card.

  Next, the lobster, fish and sea shell were stamped on their respective Whisper White blocks.  Don't the images just pop on that white cardstock?

  The final accent for this card is the center metal button with a Real Red 1/8" taffeta ribbon knot and banner stamped using the Itty Bitty Banners set.

  Thanks for looking! Did you stamp today?

Stamps: By the Tide, Itty Bitty Banners

Ink: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Midnight Muse

Paper: Midnight Muse, Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Accessories: metal button, 1/8" taffeta ribbon

Love in the Clouds

  Have you seen how cute this Sent with Love stamp set and matching DSP is??  Well if you haven't you should check it out, it's only available until April 30 and it's perfect for travel themed projects or for sending your love long distance.

  This was one of the cards we made at my stamp club at the end of March.  I wanted to show off the Sent with Love bundle (Stamp set, DSP and matching Calypso Coral baker's twine) and teach my ladies how fun it is to emboss vellum.

  The base is Island Indigo.  How cool is it that Island Indigo will be sticking around as regular color?  We used the Cloudy Days embossing folder to emboss the sheet of vellum.  If your Big Shot tends to be tight you might want to open up your platform and use no tabs to make sure that the vellum doesn't tear.  Also, you can see adhesive through the vellum so make sure your card layout will account for hiding the adhesive behind another layer.  On this card we attached our strip of DSP to the front of the vellum and then used it to hide a strip of adhesive on the backside to attach the vellum to the card base.

  To make the cute little airplane tag we used the single stamp Basic Label (Item #132669).  Stampin' Up! also just announced that the current offerings of single stamps will stay available until July 31!  So if you forgot to add some of them to your last order you're still in luck!  We stamped the Basic Label with Island Indigo and then cut it out with the matching Label Framelit.

  Next, the airplane and contrail stamp from Sent with Love was inked up with markers and lined up inside of the label.  A punched heart in Red Glimmer paper was added to the contrail heart….not a perfect match but close enough!

  Next we added a ribbon tie on one side using the now retired Sycamore Street Sale-a-bration ribbon.  To balance the other side a small scalloped circle was punched out of Pool Party Core'dinations cardstock.  Pool Party is another color that is being added to the regular collection!  Woo-Hoo!  The whole tag piece is popped up on dimensionals.

  Don't wait to get this cute set, it will be gone before you know it.  It is also available for MDS for those digital scrapbookers out there.

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stamps: Basic Label (single stamp),  Sent with Love

Ink: Island Indigo, Pool Party

Paper: Island Indigo, vellum, Sent with Love DSP, Whisper White, Pool Party Core'dinations, red Glimmer paper

Accessories: Apothecary accents framelits, Sycamore Street ribbon (SAB- retired), scallop circle punch, Cloudy Days e.f.

Punch Art Bunny Treat

  Easter break has completely thrown me for a loop.  This is the first regular day I've had in almost 2 weeks so I'm trying to play some catch up!  This adorable project was made by one of my stamping ladies Denise C.  She was one of our hostesses last month for stamp club and she made these cute little Easter treats to share with the ladies.  She told me she found her inspiration on Pinterest and combined several different punch art bunnies to make this one.

  So I know it's too late for this year but definitely pin this baby for next year!

Created by Denise C.

I love those spring colors!  And do you see the ornament punch??

  Don't forget about FREE shipping from Stampin' Up! today!  What a deal!  Place your order sooner rather than later to take advantage of this special!

  Thanks for looking!  Did you stamp today?

Stampin' Up! News & Promotions!

A lot of new things happening at Stampin' Up!  Check out this whole post for details on retiring colors, new colors and exciting new products!

FREE SHIPPING FOR ORDERS PLACED April 6-8.   Check out the below specials and new products and see if you'd like to take advantage of the free shipping offer from Stampin' Up!.  Remember it's only good until Monday April 8 at 11:50 (mountain time).  Let me know if you have questions about anything!

It's a Color Refresh!

Stampin' Up! has announced a color refresh for the upcoming 2013-2014 annual catalog.  Some colors will be retiring, some colors will change color collections and new colors will be added…some of our favorites from past In Color Collections!

Check out the list and check your supplies to make sure you have your favorites!

The one new color is called Smoky Slate. The nine returning In Colors as core colors are Bermuda Bay, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Soft Sky, and Wisteria Wonder. Check out these colors displayed in their new collections!

Next up is the new This and That collection!

This and That is a wonderful set of products to make capturing memories so easy.  This collection of five new products (with more to come!) includes a journal, Designer Series Paper, stickers, washi tape, and a rotary stamp.  This is also a great gift for the pre-teen/teen set!

These products will be available in the new 2013-2014 annual catalog but are available only until April 30 at a discount for the bundle of 5 products.

Check out these products up close at my online store HERE.

Next is the Best of April Stamp set….Butterflies!

 These sweet butterfly images are the April stamp set in the "Best of" series to celebrate Stampin' Up!'s 25th anniversary.

  Item # 133345  $14.95 clearmount

  Check it out at my online store HERE.

Only a few days left to sign up for the April mailing for My Paper Pumpkin Kit!

Sign up by April 10th to get your Welcome Kit which includes products to make 4 cards, 2 cute stamps and the clear block needed for future kits.  Have some fun creating cards and other paper crafting projects.  Get some girl friends together and a have a night "in" of crafting and fun.  Or sign up for an excuse for some me time!

  To sign up head over to My Paper Pumpkin.  I would love it if you chose me, Amanda Mertz (Glen Allen, VA) as your demonstrator!

As always, if you have any questions don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an e-mail.  I'm happy to help in any way I can!