Happy Mother's Day

Today is my first "almost" Mother's Day.  My little one didn't want to arrive before Mother's Day, but I still got some snuggle and love from my first born furbaby.  I did send out two Mother's Day cards, though.  One for my mom and one for my mother-in-law.  And they have a good story to go with them!

I wanted to emboss on my cards, so I got out the glossy cardstock, inked up my stamp with Versamark, stamped, painstakingly colored the image with Stampin' Pastels, inked up the stamp with Versamark again and overstamped, poured embossing powder on my cardstock................and my embossing gun wouldn't work!!!!  I tried it in a different outlet (even though the lamp plugged into that outlet was working) and it still wouldn't work!!  I was so upset!  Not that it is now dead.  It is almost 6 years old after all, but because I took all that time to color in the image and now I had no way to heat it.  So, with a resourceful eye I scanned the craft room to see what I could do.  And it hit me!  The iron!!  So I headed over to sewing land and grabbed the iron.  I turned it on, held it upside down, and set my cardstock on top of it.  It worked!!!!!!  I did have to kind of hold the cardstock down on the iron (not with my fingers!) to melt all the embossing powder and it did overcook the embossing powder easier, but it turned out OK.

Supplies

Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Whimsical Words

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Versamark

Paper: Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive, Whisper White

Accessories: Stampin' Pastels, Circle Scissor Plus, Earth Elements Buttons, Stampin' Dimensionals, Lattice Texturz Plate, Big Shot, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Old Olive 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Sponges, Clear Embossing Powder

National Scrapbooking Month

Take your scrapbooking to a whole new level with Stampin' Up! Celebrate National Scrapbooking Month throughout May by stamping in your scrapbook. Stamping is great for creating titles, journaling, and embellishments on scrapbook pages, and this month you can earn free Designer brads when you purchase a qualifying scrapbooking stamp set.

During National Scrapbooking Month, May 1-31, get a FREE package of Designer brads with the purchase of My Digital Studio (item 118108) or any of the following stamp sets:

Page	Description	Wood-Mount Item	Wood-Mount Price	Clear-Mount Item	Clear-Mount Price
81	Extreme Elements	115181	$26.95	---	---
119	Framed with Love**	114389	$27.95	---	---
128	Certified**	113706	$27.95	---	---
129	Circle Circus	115778	$28.95	---	---
12*	Elements of Style	118611	$27.95	120045	$19.95
13*	Momentos	119910	$27.95	120105	$19.95
13*	Éléments de style	119900	$27.95	120099	$19.95
14*	Rough Type	118659	$26.95	120072	$18.95
22*	Sentimental Journey	118513	$23.95	120075	$17.95
25*	First Day	118521	$23.95	120051	$17.95
25*	Camino a la Escuela	120152	$23.95	120154	$17.95

*From the Summer Mini Catalog
**A Last Chance stamp set!

Choose from the following Designer brads with qualifying purchase:

Page	Description	Item
179	Flower Designer brads	112579
179	Filigree Designer brads	112577
179	Circle Designer brads	112571
179	Star Designer brads	112572

Smooched Butterflies

My 8 year old niece had a birthday this weekend so I had to make a girly card.  This was the perfect opportunity to use my new Smooch Spritz that will be available in the Summer Mini starting next month.  I used the Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz on my Bashful Blue card base.  It gave a very soft shimmery effect.  I can't wait to use this spritz on more projects (and get the other two colors I didn't preorder).  I'm going to have fun with this stuff!!!!!

The four colors of Smooch Spritz coming are Vanilla Shimmer, Silver Foil, Gold Glow, and Log Cabin.

Supplies

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly

Ink: Pixie Pink, Chocolate Chip

Paper: Bashful Blue, Pixie Pink

Accessories: Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz, Piercing Tool, Stampin' Dimensionals

Punch Buggy

No, no, not the VW kind.  The baby kind! 

So are you tired of the baby thank you cards, yet?  Sorry........I have a one track mind these days.  And a lot of thank you cards to write.  This baby buggy is so easy to make with the 1 3/4" Circle Punch.  And using the 1 3/8" square punch for the "cut out" part.  This card was so easy to make.  Just piece everything together, glue it down, stamp your sentiment and you're done!

Supplies

Stamps: Trendy Trees

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Paper: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Whisper White

Accessories: 1 3/4" Circle, 1 3/8" Square, 3/4" Circle, Double Circle, Scallop Square Punches

Color Rennovation

You wanted retired In Colors to come back?

There are several colors in the core 48 colors you don't like?

You want new In Colors to stick around for more than 1 year?

Well, guess, what!  You get it!  Stampin' Up! announced a renovation to the core colors they offer.  There will be 4 color collections with 10 colors each.  25 of those colors are carryover colors (colors from current color families).  10 of those are returning In Colors.  5 are new colors.

Just think of all the fresh and new color combinations you can make!!  Here's a chart of what the new color collections will be.  This will get your brain juices flowing!!

And if you are can't live without some of the colors that are on their way out you have until the end of June to stock up.  Here's a chart of the colors that will be leaving us.  I know there are a few that are on my "must stock up on" list!

Two Step Into Spring

April's promotion will have you two-stepping into spring with a great new stamp set!! This stamp set will be available in the new Idea Book & Catalog in July, but you can get it early!!! You can earn the new set, Awash with Flowers, for FREE by hosting a $350 workshop in the month of April. This set will make beautiful cards and scrapbook pages for Easter, spring, sympathy, thank yous, and any other occasion you can think of!!

As a customer you can purchase this stamp set before it is released in the IB&C.

Item	Description	Price
117062	Awash with Flowers (wood-mount)	$39.95
120549	Awash with Flowers (clear-mount)	$27.95

You can also save 20% on select two step spring sets.

Item	Page	Description	Discount Price
113824	94	Greenhouse Garden	$20.76
113734	98	Fifth Avenue Floral	$19.96
111578	101	Flower Fancy	$29.56
113258	112	Trendy Trees	$14.36

This promotion is only good for the month of April, so act fast!

Last call for........

No, no, not alcohol!! It's the last call for Sale-a-bration freebies!!! Today is THE LAST day of Sale-a-bration, so if you haven't taken advantage of this great promotion CALL ME RIGHT NOW to place your order. Don't miss out on the limited edition items that are available or go ahead and pick one of the free items from the IB&C.

More Thank Yous

It was fun to make a card here and there as gifts trickled in, but since I now need a bunch of cards at once I had to go the mass production route.  But I think I came up with a cute design that was quick to put together.  I made several cards with each animal assembly line style.  I'll probably make some more using the lion, owl, and fox, which I didn't use in these ones.  I love this stamp set!!  The animals seem to be perfect for every baby/birthday/thank you card I need these days!!  If you don't yet have it it's in the Occasions Mini which is only going to be around until the end of April, so get it while you can!!

Supplies

Stamps: Fox & Friends, Circle Circus

Ink: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Taken with Teal, Tempting Turquoise, Close to Cocoa, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke

Paper: So Saffron, Temping Turquoise, Close to Cocoa, Mellow Moss, Whisper White

Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Technique: Masking

Whale of Thanks

As the gifts trickle in I make cards!  I guess I should try to make a few ahead of time.  Maybe I will get working on that this week!  This one is going in the mail tomorrow.  I used last week's card sketch from SCS as inspiration.  I thought the Summer Sun panel needed a little something so I made a faux button!  It looks way cuter in real life!! 

Supplies

Stamps: Fox & Friends, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie

Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Summer Sun, Whisper White

Accessories: Big Shot, Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Photo Corner Punch, 3/4" Circle Punch, Crop-a-dile, Linen Thread

Sale-a-bration

Sale-a-bration is quickly coming to end so I wanted to just give you one more reminder of all the great benefits available to you during this promotion (especially since my computer went on vacation without me and I'm without the ability to edit/upload photos). 

Customers

Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $50 purchase (before tax and shipping). 

Hostesses

Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $300 in workshop sales, in addition to our regular hostess benefits.

 

Recruits

Choose any retail stamp set (valued up to $47.95) from the current catalogs when signing up during the promotion. Plus, get 15 percent off your Starter Kit (Standard or Digital+)!

Starter Kit	Regular Price	Sale-A-Bration Price (15% off)
Standard Starter Kit	$199	$169
Digital+ Starter Kit	$185	$157

The Stampin' Memories Add-On can be added to these kits, but will not be discounted.


These deals are too irresistible to pass up!   Especially if you've ever thought about becoming a demonstrator yourself.  You only have until the end of March to take advantage of these great offers, so hurry up!!

Always

Today I am going to a wedding.  And this is the card that will be included with the gift.  If you remember this card from the bridal shower you will remember that the wedding colors are burgundy, orange, yellow, and brown.  So, I used those colors in my card again.  I wanted a soft look on the card, so I used Stampin' Pastels to color the Medallion and sentiment which I had stamped in Versamark.  I added a little ribbon and my one layer card was complete!  Have a great day everyone!  I'll be dancing the night away!

Supplies

Stamps: Medallion, Define Your Life

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Whisper White

Accessories: Chocolate Chip Polytwill Ribbon (retired), Stampin' Pastels (Bravo Burgundy, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Chocolate Chip)

Gift Card Holders

I've got a class coming up at the end of this month for making gift card holders.  We will make 5 different holders with different themes.  The cost of the class is $12 or free with a $50 purchase that night.  If you are interested in registering for the class you can do so by clicking the link below and paying via Paypal.  If you are on my email list you will be receiving an evite soon.

Gift Card Holders Class
March 26th, 2010
6:30 PM
Miamisburg, OH

A $12 credit will be given to guests who prepay, but make a $50 purchase the night of the class.

Nursery Art

 I haven't been able to share anything with you recently as my laptop went on a business trip with the hubby.  But I've got it back and I have some art work to share with you!  I bought these frames from IKEA to make some sort of art work for the nursery.  I knew I wanted to use Fox & Friends, but wasn't sure how I was going to make them.  One afternoon I sat down and just got to work.  I like the idea of the uppercase and lowercase alphabet like in Defining Alphabet, but since I don't own it I'm improvised.  I used Short Order Alphabet and my Stamp-a-ma-jig.  The theme of the nursery is brown and white, so the monkey and owl tie in with that.  I'm planning on hanging the giraffe picture in the middle since it's got some color on it.  I'm so excited about how they turned out.  Now I just need to get them on the wall.

Supplies
Stamps: Fox & Friends, Short Order Alphabet, Cheap Talk, Season of Friendship, Trendy Trees
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, So Saffron
Paper: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Old Olive, Whisper White
Accessories: Tag Corner Punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Beerthday Invites

Today is my husband's birthday!!  Happy birthday, hubby!!!  We're having a get together at his favorite beer drinking place tonight and these are the invites I sent out for it.  I made more than just 4 so you can imagine how tired my hand was after punching out all of those beer mugs!!  

Supplies

Stamps: Cheers to You, Hugs & Wishes

Ink: Jet Black StazOn

Paper: More Mustard, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla

Accessories: Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pens, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, Modern Label Punch, Big Shot, Polka Dot Embossing Folder

Thank You Friends

I guess I should get started on mass producing thank you cards for when gifts start coming in.  They may not be this detailed, though.  This thank you card is for the first baby gift we have received.  Can you believe I've had the Scallop Square Bigz die for 2 weeks and this is the first time I used it!?!?  What was I thinking!?!?  It's so cute..........I'm definitely going to put it to better use from here on out.  

Supplies

Stamps: Fox & Friends, Short & Sweet

Ink: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip

Paper: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

Accessories: Big Shot, Polka Dot Embossing Folder, Scallop Square Clear Bigz die, Chocolate Chip 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon

Glass Etching

I originally had a glass etching class scheduled for last Saturday, but due to a winter storm the class was rescheduled for Thursday.  Luckily the weather held out this time around.  We've still got a lot of snow on the ground, but the roads are clear.  

These are the two projects we made.  The dessert plate was made with embossing.  We stamped on the back of the plate with I {heart} Hearts, embossed them, and then put the etching cream on.  When you wash the etching cream off the embossing comes off, too.  Sometimes you have to scrub a bit, but it will eventually come off completely.

We also etched a candle holder.  This one was done with the Big Shot.  We ran some contact paper through the Big Shot with the Little Leaves die.  After removing the leaf, we stuck the "frame" down on the the candle holder and put the etching cream in the negative image.  This is a much cleaner (and less time consuming) method of etching. 

3 Beers to You!!

Earlier this week I needed a birthday card for a beer drinker.  This is what he got.  I wanted to add some dimension to the foam on this card, so I colored the "foam" in with my Versamarker and embossed with white embossing powder.  I like the effect!!  

Supplies

Stamps: Cheers to You

Ink: Jet Black StazOn, More Mustard Stampin' Write Marker, Versamarker

Paper: So Saffron, More Mustard, Basic Black, Very Vanilla

Accessories: So Saffron Striped Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals, White Embossing Powderc

Elephant Out of the Box

This week's Clean and Simple Challenge on SCS was to get some inspiration from a candy store website.  I chose this candy for my inspiration.  I loved the black stripes.  I decided to use two new stamp sets on my card because you know how fun it is to play with new stamps!!  Now I don't often use hostess stamp sets (not sure why), but I just think this one is soooo cute!!  I'm surprised I waited so long to get it for myself!  I chose the 'happy' definition because this little elephant is so cute and smiley.  How could you not be happy just looking at him?!?!

Supplies

Stamps: Out of the Box, Define Your Life

Ink: Bravo Burgundy

Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Bravo Burgundy

Accessories: Black Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals

Virgin Daiquiri

I needed a card for a non-drinking bride to be, so I made her a virgin daiquiri!!  I busted out my old trusty watercolor pencils for this one.  The watercolor pencils are one of my favorite ways to color in line art images (especially when I don't have the right marker colors).

Supplies
Stamps: Cheers to You
Ink: Jet Black StazOn
Paper: Pink Passion, Gable Green, Basic Black, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Scallop Trim Edge and Border punches, Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pens, Very Vanilla 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon

Haitian Relief Update

Stampin′ Up! demonstrators are working hard to make a difference in the lives of those who continue to be affected by the January 12 earthquake in Haiti. In just fifteen days, demonstrators around the world have already sold 7524 of the I {heart} Hearts stamp sets. From each of these sets, Stampin′ Up! will donate $2 to the Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund.

This offer lasts until February 28, 2010, so you still have time to lend a helping hand to those who are so much in need.