Sale-a-Bration Sneak Peek

It's Sale-a-Bration Time!  Where every $50 purchase gets you a FREE item from the Sale-a-Bration brochure.  What a great time to place an order!

Today I'm featuring a Sale-a-Bration offering called Perfect Pairings.  This cute set of phrases will be popular due to the numbers of reasons to use it--from birthdays, to thanks yous, to celebrations and congrats, this set has the just-right sentiment.  Take a look:

 I need a card for my brother's birthday (have you noticed a pattern here this week?  Yeah, I have LOTS to celebrate in January!) and this set just hit the right note.

I started with a card base of Soft Suede and added a piece of delicious English Garden Designer Series Paper--a piece with a more masculine feel.

I punched a circle of Soft Suede using the 2-1/2" Circle Punch and then cut another piece of the DSP (I love that they all coordinate!) with my Circle Framelits.

For my sentiment I didn't want a plain white background, so using my Aquapainters and some Mint Macaron reinker, I gave it a wash of color, over which I stamped my sentiment using Night Of Navy ink.

Adding a little snippet of (retired) Champagne Glimmer Paper and a Gold Basic Metal Button with some Mint Macaron Bakers Twine (this came in a kit, now retired, but still sitting on my shelf--read about my need to use my stuff here).

A new set, Sunburst Sayings, just having made it's debut in the new Occasions Catalog, had just the right saying for my card.  It's stamped in Night of Navy ink and mounted on a small piece of Soft Suede.

And inside?  Another stamp from Perfect Pairings, along with some dots (Sunburst Sayings).

I'm really happy with the way this card turned out.  Simple and masculine, but with just enough panache to make it special!

What do you think?  Is Perfect Pairings on your wish list?

Supplies can be purchased here.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Weekly Deals

In case yo need to bump up an order to $50 so you can take advantage of those great Sale-a-Bration items, here are this week's Weekly Deals:

	Honeycomb Hello Wood-Mount Stamp Set Item # 134075 Regular Price: $22.00 US/$27.00 CAN Discounted Price: $16.50 US/$20.25 CAN
	Tiny Triangles Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Item # 133740 Regular Price: $7.50 US/$9.25 CAN Discounted Price: $5.63 US/$6.94 CAN
	2015-2017 In Color Blossom Accents Item # 138383 Regular Price: $8.00 US/$10.00 CAN Discounted Price: $6.00 US/$7.50 CAN
	Eclectic Paper-Piercing Pack Item # 133778 Regular Price: $8.00 US/$10.00 CAN Discounted Price: $6.00 US/$7.50 CAN

All products can be purchased here.

Paper Pumpkin Meets Birthday Bouquet

Did you know that every Paper Pumpkin kit comes with an exclusive stamp set?  While they are meant to be used for the enclosed contents of the kit, they are also great for using after your kit is complete.

December's Paper Pumpkin was a beautiful desk calendar (mine is done and on my desk at work, but you can see what it looks like here).

Here's an idea for a birthday card using the Paper Pumpkin stamp:

I have a niece with a January birthday.  I mounted all the stamps (January - December) on one clear block until I got the size that I wanted.  I then removed January, inked up the others with Mint Macaroon and stamped on Whisper White.  I then stamped January with Watermelon Wonder.  Because the stamps are clear photopolymer, it's easy to see right where you want it. 

The card base is Whisper White Thick Cardstock.  The beautiful, subtle balloon paper is from Birthday Bouquet (available Tuesday!); both the balloon paper and the paper with the months are mounted on thin layers of Mint Macaroon.

The numbers were cut from a very old die that I have lying around (got it to use with an old machine, prior to getting my hands on the Big Shot), but these could be stamped using either the Alphabet Rotary Stamp or the Back To Basics Alphabet.

The "Your Special Day" sentiment is a pared down version from Botanicals for You, a Sale-a-bration offering (also starting Tuesday) and can be yours for FREE with a $50 purchase.  The actual phrase is "...on your special day", but I omitted the "...on".

I also added a piece of the balloon print on the envelope flap:

So how do you use your Paper Pumpkin stamps?  What?  You're not a member?  Well fix that right now by clicking on the Paper Pumpkin link on the right.  Just $19.95 a month gets you a wonderful orange box loaded with everything you need for some crafting heaven, and it's delivered right to your door! 

All supplies can be purchased here.  Now go make something pretty!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Simply Sports meets Birthday

Last summer, while surfing some of my favorite blog spots for ideas, I came across a post by James Weber.  Although I'm not sure he's still a demonstrator (as he has not updated his blog since August), he had an idea that got my juices flowing.  Using Simply Sports, he turned it into a party.  So here is my version:

I don't know if you are familiar with Simply Sports.  It's a great set of silhouette bodies playing their favorite sports:

By omitting the balls these stamps became a party!

I started with a Basic Black card base, but it's big:  4 1/2" x 6 1/2".  Stampin' UP! doesn't make paper long enough to make a 13" card base (folded in half), so I used a 4 1/2" x 7 1/2", with a score at 1", and then adhered the 1" tab to a 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" piece.  It worked perfectly.

I then layered on a skinny Mint Macaroon layer and on top of that I adhered some new It's My Party Designer Series Paper Stack.  Oh my goodness!  This stack is huge, 48 sheets of  double sided 12" x 12" paper, four of each design.  And the colors and designs are to die for!  Black, Mint Macaroon, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Sahara Sand...I'll be using LOTS of this!

I stamped the figures using the fabulous Archival Basic Black Ink--so rich and black!  I added a pony tail to one of the dancers (OK, true confessions--I had to stamp this panel about four times to get it right--I either dropped a stamp on it, stamped the music notes upside down, or missed the pony tail!  Geez...but the outcome was worth the frustration!).

The pinata horse is from Zoo Babies--I used the zebra and painted all the stripes using Stampin' Write markers.  This was cut out and popped up with Dimensionals after I added a piece of Gold Thread. 

The party hats are from No Bones About It; stamped, cut and popped up on tiny pieces of Dimensionals.

The sentiment is from Boys Will Be Boys, stamped on Mint Macaroon and punched with the Banner Punch.

And of course, due to the size, I had to make my own envelope, using more of the DSP and my Envelope Punch Board.  Due to the unusual size, I had to look up measurements on this site:  http://www.thecraftyowl.co.uk/EnvelopeExpert/
Hang on to that address--you can make ANY size cards and this will help you figure out the measurements for your envelope.

So this card is going to my nephew...do you think he'll like it?


And don't forget; the Occasions Catalog goes live Tuesday, along with Sale-A-Bration--where any $50 purchase gets you a FREE item from the Sale-a-bration selection!

All supplies can be purchased here.

Now go make something pretty!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Sending Hugs

When I attended the Stampin' UP! On Stage Local event in San Diego last month, I won a Prize Patrol featuring a new set from the upcoming Occasions Catalog (only 3 more days until it's debut!).  Bear Hugs has matching framelits and I couldn't wait to make something to send my grandsons.  (Save by purchasing the Bear Hugs Bundle--stamp set AND framelits for 15% discount)

I stamped the bear with Chocolate Chip ink, cut it out with the framelit, turned it over and stamped it again--this gave me the "arms" that could be folded around the heart.  Totally adorbs!

The heart is popped up on THREE Dimensionals, and then the "hands" are attached to the heart with more Dimensionals.

The card base is a Whisper White Note Card, with a layer of Mossy Meadow and then a piece of some new Designer Series Paper--Birthday Bouquet is the yummiest collection of soft colors and pretty prints.

My sentiment wraps to the inside of the card...

...where two little bears are all decked out in their fancy bow ties.

Of course there's a matching envelope, cut with the Envelope Punch Board and In Color Envelope Paper.  (The Note Cards come with envelopes, but because of all the dimension of this card I had to make one that was a little bigger--thank goodness for the Punch Board!).  And the little butterflies?  To cover a mistake--somehow when I was working on the inside of my card, the card touched my Mossy Meadow ink pad!  Aargh!  Have you ever done that?  But as I always tell my stampin' friends, "It's not a mistake; it's an opportunity!"

You can get your own set of Bear Hugs starting Tuesday, January 5th.  Place orders here.

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Something Old, Something New (but NOT something for a wedding)

Confession time:  I have much more crafting stuff than I will EVER use!

Can anyone relate?

Somehow, in my 10+ years as a Stampin' UP! demonstrator, I have managed to accumulate more than I (ahem) "need".  When I first started stamping, I didn't have a huge stash; when I went to a craft store (my absolute fav was a scrapbook store on Cape Cod, Colorful Creations, which, sadly, is no longer there) I couldn't help myself when I saw a cute stamp or some fabulous paper.  I would take classes and buy whatever materials we were using.

But since I was also trying to start my business, I wasn't able to use these things because I couldn't sell them...and I needed to make lots of samples so I only used my Stampin' UP! goodies.

Over the years, these "contraband" stamps and accessories started to get pushed further and further back in my drawers.  And took up valuable space for my Stampin' UP! stuff! 

Enough!  I've decided to start pulling out all my stash and either use it or get rid of it (is that a New Year's Resolution?).  I started the other night with one shelf.  And what did I find?  Some wonderful Stampin' UP! card bases that were part of a Sale-a-Bration offering two years ago.  So I decided to use it:

 Do you recognize that dotted background?  I don't even remember the name of the item, but I really liked those card bases.  There are gold dots along with the colored ones.
And I need a "golden birthday" card for my niece, who is turning 23 on January 23rd.  So how perfect is this?

I started by cutting the original (dotted) card base apart, using just one side.  Then I took the wonderful new dies, Large Numbers Framelits Dies, (**sneak peek**) and cut out my numbers, using Gold Foil Sheets.  So shiny!

Ok, more confessions...the Spellbinder labels are NOT Stampin' UP! dies.  I had purchased those long ago, before we even had a Big Shot to sell, and they've been languishing ever since--but they were perfect for THIS card!  And, oh yeah, one more thing...those gold beads?  Yeah, not SU either; but if I had a gold sharpie, I could have done the same with our Pearls Basic Jewels!  There--that makes me feel a little less guilty!

Anyway, back to the card:

The numbers were mounted on Basic Black, which was mounted to Bermuda Bay; I then scrunched up some Gold Cord Trim and then stuck it all to that marvelous dotted base with Dimensionals.

It's all added to a sheet of Gold Foil, and then a Basic Black card base.  The final touch is some gold stars.

The motto of this very long story?  USE YOUR STUFF!  You bought it because you loved it--so use it!  And go create something pretty!  Then tell me what you did; can't wait to hear!

Happy New Year!  May you all have a 2016 of JOY, HEALTH, HAPPINESS and SUCCESS!   And thanks for stopping by today!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Weekly Deals

Well the Christmas holiday is now Christmas past and we're looking forward to a new year.  While you're waiting, check out these Weekly Deals:

	Amazing Birthday Wood-Mount Stamp Set Item # 134225 Regular Price: $29.00 US/$36.00 CAN Discounted Price: $21.75 US/$27.00 CAN
	Fun Frames Textured Impressions Embossing Folders Item # 133727 Regular Price: $8.50 US/$10.50 CAN Discounted Price: $6.38 US/$7.88 CAN
	Bermuda Bay Baker's Twine Item # 134575 Regular Price: $3.00 US/$3.75 CAN Discounted Price: $2.25 US/$2.81 CAN
	Ornate Tag Topper Punch Item # 137416 Regular Price: $23.00 US/$28.00 CAN Discounted Price: $17.25 US/$21.00 CAN

All products can be purchased here.