Blooming with Kindness

Good Hump day morning everyone! Up early with my son to get him off to school after being sick yesterday. The air is cool and the geese are quite active, can't wait until fall has arrived for good (not just in the am!). I thought I would take a step away from posting Christmas cards today. This is a case from ????, sorry I searched and searched and can't remember what blog I found this inspiration on. I search so many blogs that sometimes the exact blog that gave me my inspiration escapes me. Thanks to whoever you are! Anyhoo, I used the Blooming with Kindness set (Item #126422) for this card. Isn't this set just fabulous??? Love the flower and all the words. A little hint on the flower stamp, I removed the stem to make it easier to use. I still have the stem with the set but when just using the flower image (which will be most of the time), I don't have to fight with trying to either mask or use markers to color it separately.

The colors I used were Baja Breeze, Marina Mist (the new reformulated pad/ink - what a difference the new ink formula makes!), Midnight Muse, and Wild Wasabi. I first stamped the flowers and sponged a little into the centers to mute some of the "white" that was glaring at me. Then masked the flowers and used large post it notes to cover around the edges to make a "frame" of white around the edges. Then I sponged with the Wild Wasabi. After removing the masking, I used my Color Spritzer tool (Item #107066) with the Midnight Muse marker to get the speckled look (was a little heavy handed on the spritz, would have a liked it to be a little less). I did try the new spritzers that Stampin Up has now but because you have to mix the ink with a liquid, it wasn't the dark spritz that I was looking for. The sentiment is stamped in Midnight Muse as well.

In the center of the flowers I put a pretty heavy blob of dazzling details and then put the pearl on top. Love the little extra it added to the card. Gotta have a little bling right?

For the inside of the card I just stamped the flowers and then a bit more spritz. Hope you enjoyed the project today. Have a great day!

Ice Skates

 Hello friends! Hope today finds you well. Today's project is another Christmas card. I just love the way this card turned out so elegant. It just looked like my hostess to me. I was right she loved it! I used the set Winter Memories (Item #127937) from the Holiday catalog. Can you believe the Holiday catalog this year???? Something on EVERY page you just have to have right? Yeah I know me too! The image was stamped in Versa Mark and embossed with gold emboss powder. Then I watercolored the leaves with Old Olive and the skates with River Rock. The berries and "ribbon" (actually the shoelaces but who's counting?) with Cherry Cobbler marker. Tip for the marker part, make sure to blot it dry or you will transfer ink all over the place because it doesn't dry when it is on the embossed section. Not that it happened to me or anything???? (see cherry smudge on image wink, wink).

For the background pieces I used the Petals a Plenty emboss folder, Versamark and clear emboss with snowflakes on smaller vanilla piece (hard to tell in a pic), and the new Champagne Glimmer paper (Item #127885). The Merry Christmas sentiment is from the Open Sleigh set (Item #126462) and stamped with Cherry Cobbler. Just like how it's font seemed old fashioned.

Don't forget to dress up the inside of your card! The sentiment is from set More Merry Messages (Item #126402) and stamped in Cherry Cobbler. Then I added more texture and a strip of the Champagne Glimmer paper.

Hope you enjoyed the project today. Have a great day!

Snowmen on Canvas

 Happy Labor Day to all! Hope you all got to have the day off. Today's project is the first of many Christmas cards to be posted. In the mood for Christmas yet???? Hopefully these cute snowmen get you there. I used a piece of canvas that I bought a the fabric store. I bought a yard for around $10 and I think I will have enough canvas for the rest of my days!! Even after prepping about 70 kits. Good bang for your buck! The Frosty Friends (Item #128117) were stamped in Staz On brown ink (make sure to ink the pad well and press fairly hard on stamp to get a good impression) and colored in with markers. Not sure if you can tell but the heart on the one snowmans chest was filled in with the Cherry Cobbler dazzling details (Item #125585). Aren't they stinkin cute!! After stamping and coloring them I frayed the edges and "mucked" it up with some crumb cake ink and sponges/blender pen.

For the rest of the card I used the new Core'dinations card stock in Gumball Green (Item #127847) and the new sanding system (Item #129367). What fun that was. You first run the piece of cardstock thru the Big Shot using a emboss folder and then sand away. Messy but worth the end results. I also used Naturals Ivory (Item #101849), Gumball Green, and a couple of different patterns of Be of Good Cheer DSP (Item #126896). Add some Cherry Cobbler Tulle (Item #127841), ribbons, button, tag and your all dressed up!

Make sure you don't forget to dress up the inside of your card too! I used More Merry Messages (Item #126402) for the sentiment (a must for your collection!) and the tree from the set Stylin' Snowfolk (Item #126287).

Hope you enjoyed the project today and hope it got you in the mood for some Good Cheer! If you have any questions about today's project or about Stampin' Up products please leave a comment or shoot me an email. Would love to hear from you! Have a great day!

It's Back to Spool Time!

Hello everyone! Sorry for my absence, summer time is just crazy yes? With football season and school starting, things have just been super busy around my house. It has been so nice and cool in the mornings and I hear those geese flying in everyday, this means fall is almost upon us and things will finally start to slow down! Whew, hoping to get back into the blogging groove again soon! For now I wanted to share the latest Stampin Up promotion, with every $40 purchase in September, you will receive a free spool of the 3/8" stitched satin ribbon (that's an $8.95 value not including s/h or tax!). Love, love, love this ribbon! Very soft and elegant and makes great bows. Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend! Check back soon!

Spooktactular promotion and Holiday Catalog

Well ladies the new Holiday catalog has arrived! I can honestly say I couldn't believe all the great stuff that I just HAD to have out of this one! I have add the catalog to the side bar in case you didn't receive yours yet. It is simply unbelievable right??? Also, during the month of August Stampin Up is having a Spooktacular promotion for all new recruits.



When you sign up for $99, you get to choose ANYTHING worth $125 and get this awesome printers tray kit (worth $60) absolutely free! Plus get all the great benefits of being part of the Stampin Up family. If you are interested or have any questions contact me today. Have a great hump day everyone! More project pics to come tomorrow.

Reason to Smile and We Heart Our Hostess promotions

Thought I would post the latest promotion for Stampin Up. I know I am posting this almost at the end but thought you might like to check it out anyway. The other awesome promotion during July is the We Heart Our Hostess. For any workshop of $450 or more, you earn an extra $50 worth of free stuff!! So at $450 sales, instead of earning $65 + 1 item at 50% off, you earn $115!! Wow huge right? And just remember ladies, you can have a workshop all by yourself if you want! If you are interested in getting in on this great deal before it goes away, just shoot me an email or click on the "Shop Now" icon on the sidebar. Have a great day all!

Your Party Sales*

Regular Hostess Benefits

Additional Hostess Dollars

Total Hostess Benefits

$450

$65 + 1 item at 50% off

$50

$115 + 1 item at 50% off

$500

$80 + 2 items at 50% off

$50

$130 + 2 items at 50% off

$600

$100 + 2 items at 50% off

$50

$150 + 2 items at 50% off

$700

$115 + 3 items at 50% off

$50

$165 + 3 items at 50% off

$800

$130 + 3 items at 50% off

$50

$180 + 3 items at 50% off

$900

$145 + 4 items at 50% off

$50

$195 + 4 items at 50% off

$1,000+

$160 + 4 items at 50% off

$50

$210 + 4 items at 50% off

I'm Back......

Well hello long lost friends! It has been way to long since I have posted. We got moved and settled but sure took longer than I thought it would. Wow, does anyone have more stuff than us?????? The folks who helped us move are saying a resounding "NO" right about now. I hope to be back to posting regularly. I am going to start with a card I made for a swap group I am in. You can check out all the pics for previous months here http://openswappers.blogspot.com/. This was my card for July. I used my new favorite stamp set Summer Silhouettes. I love how easy it is to use. No need for markers, the images are solid and the stems and flowers are separate so all you have to do is pick your colors and stamp away! I used two of our new In Colors, Summer Starfruit and Gumball green and then combined those with two of my old favorites Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso. Don't you think this is going to make a great fall color combo??? I sure do. Can't wait until it's fall card making time! My favorite time of year!

  I hope you can see in the close up pic, I used some bling bling in the center of the flowers using the Dazzling Details. Remember the "old days" when we had to use glue and glitter??? What a pain that was yeah? So simple to add bling whenever and wherever you want now! Makes me smile ;) Also added some pearls at the bottom on the scalloped edge. The bottom strip was created using the Parlor Prints background stamp with Summer Starfruit and the new stitched satin ribbon in Gumball Green.

 

The elegant embossed border was made using the Simply Scored tool. I scored at the first and fourth hash marks. Then I turned my card 45 degrees and repeated the same scored pattern until all four sides were scored. Love how easy this is to do but how big of an impact it makes. Hey, just a thought, maybe I need to send in a suggestion to Stampin Up - more emboss folder frames please!! And don't forget your inside of the card! I used the new Fancy Fan emboss folder and Cherry Cobbler quilted satin ribbon (retired! why oh why, was one of my favorite ribbons, boo hoo). Hope you enjoyed the project today. I will be posting again soon. Hope you have a great day!