My Confession...

I have to confess something.  I've been sorting out my crafting room and have come to the conclusion that I have a problem.  What is my problem, you ask?  I have come to the conclusion that I am a stamp-a-holic.  You don't see this, but I'm hanging my head in shame right now.  What makes me a stamp-a-holic?  Well, I can't seem to say "no" to a stamp set and have accumulated far too many that have, so far, not even had a taste of ink.  For a stamp set, that's like starvation.  Yikes!  I'm guilty of starving these poor, innocent, hopeful stamp sets.  The problem is even worse than I first realized!

The Stampin' Connection is a genuine life-line for those of us demonstrating for Stampin' Up! who need the support and inspiration of our peers but don't live close to other demonstrators.  A friend that I've made there (Terri Antoniw) suggested that we could make a "game" of the situation.  What if, Terri suggested, we start a discussion on the Stampin' Connection and invite people to meet the Challenge of using our poor, unused and neglected stamp sets.  We all have them.  Some of us have more that we neglect than others of us, but let's face it, we all have fallen in love with a stamp set and by the time it arrives, have no immediate project for which to use the set.  We put it aside and that is the beginning of the road to oblivion for the stamp.  Frequently, because it hasn't been used, it doesn't get used.  Our minds haven't made a connection with it yet.

Remember, this is true of just about everyone at one time or another.  It's not just you.  Of course, when you are in the stamping business, usually stamps arrive in bunches.  Believe me, having stamp sets make their sad way down that road to "forgotten-land" happens a lot more frequently when several arrive at once.

Hence the Challenge.  I am embracing the challenge and am committed to introducing each and every set in my crafting room to ink at least once over the next few weeks (months).  Are you also a stamp-a-holic?  Are you guilty of hiding unused stamp sets from the world?  Do you want to make a change this year?  Are you up for the Challenge?  Join me (and Terri and countless others) and begin today.  Use one of those poor, whimpering, neglected stamp sets and create a masterpiece.  You can do it!

My first "rescue".  A stamp set I bought right after the new Annual Catalogue came out eight months ago: Moving Forward.  I bought this set because I believe in supporting the Ronald McDonald house and Stampin' Up donates $3.00 US for each set sold.  But I haven't used it and decided that it would be my first challenge project.

What is your first "rescued" stamp set going to be?  Email me a photo of your results and I'll post your card on my blog if you like.  Go rescue a stamp today!

Shared tools

I'm sure everyone, at some point or another, shares her/his tools.  Sometimes it's because of the expense of an item.  It's a gift to be able to use another person's tool when the price and your pocketbook don't match up. Other times it's because a tool is used so seldom that friends or relatives share the cost and then have the use of it at those times that they need it.  Those are the more common reasons for sharing tools.

Well, sometimes there is an uncommon reason as well.  Early last year I bought the Simply Scored. I don't know what I would do without it.  Scoring the fold for a card makes such a difference.  There are no little wrinkles along the fold-line---an unfortunate side-effect when folding paper that has not been scored.  The Simply Scored is a nice size and fits even 12" x 12" sheets of cardstock easily.  The scoring surface allows  well-scored lines as close together as 1/8" and there are place markers as well as a hidden storage compartment for things like your stylus.  I really love this tool!

My problem is that I am sharing this tool and don't have the use of it as frequently as I would like.  I've considered buying another one so that I would have the use of one at my convenience, but somehow it just seems like overkill to have two of the Simply Scored.  So I continue to share it.

As I sit here typing, my Simply Scored is being used on the table behind me.  No, I don't currently have another stamper in the room with me.  The Simply Scored is being used by my darling long-haired Siamese, Mei Li, who considers it her personal cat-nap station.  When she is off doing whatever feline business she finds to occupy her time away from the Simply Scored, I am allowed to use it.  There are times when I'm quickly scoring a dozen or so pieces of cardstock so that I will be able to carry on during another of Mei Li's lengthy cat-naps.  *sigh*

Whoever said that cats have servants must have met my dear Mei Li.

The Chalkboard meets the Secret Garden

I had wanted to use the chalkboard technique on a card for the Optimist Scrapbooking event yesterday.  I had been asked to present a make-n-take and that was definitely the technique I had in my mind.  Yes, I know.  In your heads you're already thinking: she couldn't just have left it at that.  And you're right.  There is something inside me that looks at a card and just keeps thinking and adding and thinking and adding.  And then we wind up with a WOW card.  Yes, I said it.  We wound up with a WOW card.

That's not a bad thing, really, except when you are having larger numbers of people doing your make-n-take.   Quite honestly (and this is the scary part) I hadn't realized how many steps the card required from start to finish.  In a word: many.  Let's just say that I had a Cuttlebug and two Big Shots at work and they were all three busy processing embossing folders, cutting with framelits, etc.  Oh, yes, the card had two embossing folders (Honeycomb and Lacy Brocade) and two different sets of framelits (three framelits from the Secret Garden and two framelits from the new Ovals).

That would have been enough, right?  Well, in my world that is only the beginning.  On top of that we also heat embossed the sentiment and made it appear like a chalkboard.  We also used some of those darling flowers from the 5/8" Flower Trim, matching them to the appropriate flower by rubbing them into the stamp pads.  We also punched down and used one of the adorable little Soda Pop Tops, stamped an image, adhered it to the pop top and then covered it with Crystal Effects.

Yes, that's already built up into quite a card, right.  Oh---did I mention we also added a piece of that beautiful Indigo Blue and Very Vanilla lace pattern from the Fan Fair Designer Series paper?  Well, we did and it was perfect.

I couldn't just leave it at that.  Yes, it looked great already, but there was no place for that cute Soda Pop Top on the front of the card.  It just didn't look right anywhere, in my opinion.  Of course there was an easy (?) fix for that.  I decided to make it into a Twisted Easel card.  The Soda Pop Top was the perfect "stop" for the easel.

What's that peeking from under the Soda Pop Top?  Well, with the inside of the card showing when it was propped up as an easel, of course it had to be decorated, too.  Bring in the Delicate Designs edgelit embossing folder and its matching Large Scallop framelit and a bit of Island Indigo shading and the inside is done.

Was the card a success?  Yes---everyone that made it loved it.  They were delighted that they had managed to make such an involved and showy card.  That made me happy.

But on the other hand a make-n-take at an event such as a large crop should be simpler and faster so that people can go back to what they came to do: scrapbook the heck out of their growing piles of photos.

So I have to learn to make the kinds of cards that satisfy me but also to make the kinds of cards that take less time for people who are not as experienced...

It's quite the learning curve, isn't it?

The final frontier---card-making goes into space!

Just had to share this video from Stampin' Up!

Card Trek (with Stampin' Up!)

How absolutely cute is that?  We're heading for the final frontier. :)

By the Tide---revisited

By now you know that By the Tide is one of the stamp sets in the Spring Catalogue that immediately caught my attention and I knew I had to have it.  I loved making the previous card using vellum and, of course, the little milk cartons with the fish were darling.  Today I decided to use Glossy White cardstock.

For those of you that haven't had a chance to use the Glossy White cardstock, you really should try it sometime.  It captures the image from the stamp beautifully and also heat embosses very nicely, allowing a lot of detail to show.  (You know how, on some papers, the heat embossing seems to make the lines less clear? Well, that doesn't happen with the Glossy White.)

The first thing I did was to stamp the coral with Versamark and then powdered it with the Early Espresso embossing powder (so glad they added the colour in the Winter Mini) and shook off the extra.  Even before applying the heat, I could see the coral was going to be very detailed.  The heat just made it seem to come to life.  Already I was loving this card and I really hadn't done much---yet.

Next, I stamped the shell with Crumb Cake ink and let that dry.  Then I sponged the Glossy White with Pool Party ink, avoiding the shell as best I could.  The last bit of stamping I did on the Glossy White was to stamp the poem twice in Pool Party ink, staggered, across the top.  Then I used my Stampin' Markers to colour the shell.  The great quality of the Glossy White is that it "grabs" the colour permanently when you stamp, so the Crumb Cake didn't smudge at all when I coloured the shell using my Blush Blossom and River Rock markers.

I stamped the fish on Brushed Silver cardstock using black StazOn and then coloured it and hand-cut it so that I could mount it above the coral with dimensionals.  The little air bubbles turned out perfectly using Crystal Effects mixed with one drop of Island Indigo re-inker.

That's about it.  The rest is Island Indigo cardstock, Early Espresso Core'dinations, some Linen thread and a couple of round punches.

I think I like this one even better than the one with the vellum.  What do you think?

Sale-a-bration 2013 kicks off today!

Yes, it's Sale-a-bration time.  It's that time of the year when buying what you planned to buy anyway earns you something extra free.  For every $60 that you spend (before shipping and tax), you can choose one free item from about 20 different and wonderful items.  These are all listed in the new Sale-a-bration brochure which I will be happy to give you OR you can check it out online.

There are some awesome stamp sets.  I used one last night and am enjoying the vintage look of the stamps in  the Feeling Sentimental set.  I used Early Espresso and Sahara Sand for the cardstock, Designer paper and ink.

I'll be using the Ferris Wheel and Bicycle on more cards, but last night this one "spoke" to me.

Some of the terrific free items available during Sale-a-bration are special Designer Paper, a packet of Designer buttons and 3 spools of ribbon, several stamp sets, a brand-new bitty labels punch that will be available in the catalogue after Sale-a-bration is over, the Essentials paper-piercing package that is shown on page 181 of the Annual catalogue, the Simply Scored diagonal plate also shown on page 181...and so much more.  

You won't be disappointed!

Check out the brochure by going to my online store.  Just click the huge FREE PRODUCTS icon there and see what appeals to you.

Sale-a-bration only last until March 22nd this year so plan out your spending to get the most out of it that you can.

Love the Whale!

What's not to love?  The little whale is adorable.  The little whale has his/her own Clearlits die.  The little whale is so much fun to use!

Valentine's Day is coming up and so the little whale and I decided to focus on that.  What's cuter than asking "Whale you be mine?"  Actually I used a whole lot of different products to make this card.

My base had to be Island Indigo because, well, it compliments the Pool Party so well and also it's a prime colour in the Sale-a-bration Designer paper that I planned to use.  I just received the Pool Party Core'dination paper and, of course, had to use that with my brand new Cloudy Day embossing folder.  A touch from the Stampin' sanding block, and the white core of the paper shows through wonderfully.

Because I decided that this was going to be a "side-step" fold card, I had a piece of the Core'dination paper left over and that was perfect for the back step, framed by the Sale-a-bration "rainbow" paper.  First, before mounting it, I rolled the Oh, Wave! jumbo stamp wheel across 2/3 of the paper.  After all, the whale needs some water, right?  I also stamped the little "hearts spout" from the Oh, Whale! stamp set using Primrose Petals ink.

So, the little boy whale was stamped in Island Indigo ink and cut with the Clearlits die.  The little girl whale was simply cut from some Primrose Petals Designer paper.  Each was mounted in place on dimensionals.  Each of their eyes are sparkling with a small rhinestone.  The little heart and spout above the boy whale are cut using the clearlits die as well.

"Whale you be mine?" was stamped in Primrose Petals ink on Whisper White, punched out using the Modern Label punch, and then shaded along the edges using a sponge and Pool Party ink.  It was mounted on a Heart cut from the Primrose Petals Designer paper using one of the Hearts framelits.  The "Love you" was stamped using Versamark and then heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I cut that with one of the Apothecary Accents framelits.  And, finally, I punched out a star from some silver Glimmer paper and mounted that.

I love the colours!  I love the little whales!  Who wouldn't want to receive a cute Valentine like this?

Prize when I reach 50 members!

Back on February 3rd, 2012 I posted this:

To make things interesting, when this Blog reaches 50 members,  I am going to draw among the 50 names and send a beautiful one-of-a kind hand-made card as well as 5 yards of assorted ribbon to the lucky winner.  Become a member today!

Sadly I checked my member numbers and I'm only up to 38 so far.  The prize is still waiting for the lucky person who wins the draw once I hit 50 members.  Join my blog today!

Elegant Swallowtail

Yes, the Swallowtail stamp is enormous!  It's best to get that comment out of the way first.  But it's not hard to use.  It can be a wonderful background stamp or it can be the stunning focus of your card.  I chose to make it the focus of this "Z"-fold card.

I began with Elegant Eggplant.  It's a purple that has a sense of majesty to it and suits this stamp perfectly.  Being a Z-fold, the first section of the card is simply not wide enough to hold even half the Swallowtail.  So I chose to use a piece of Wisteria Wonder to heat emboss half the butterfly.  I used the Iridescent Ice and was  delighted to see how sparkly the wing became when I heated it up.  I cut the wing out carefully and then, after using my Flower Garden embossing folder to emboss the front fold of the card, mounted just about a half inch of it against the left outside edge of the Elegant Eggplant cardstock.  The effect was everything I had hoped for.

For the inside of the Z-fold, I used a 4" x 5" piece of Elegant Eggplant designer paper from the Regals Designer Stack.  I placed a cut out butterfly from the Beautiful Butterfly Bigz die in the centre and sponged around it using Elegant Eggplant ink.  Then I stamped my sentiment in the unsponged centre and finally used the new distressing tool to distress around all four sides.

Since my Z-fold is made from a piece of 5 1/4" x 8 1/2" cardstock and is scored and folded at 2 1/8" and 4 1/4", half of the back part of the card is still showing when it's closed.  The sponged and distressed designer paper is completely hidden when the card is closed.  I really didn't want to take any focus from the gorgeous Swallowtail wing and so I chose to cut a piece of 2 1/2" x 5" piece of Wisteria Wonder cardstock for that section.  First I tore the right edge in a ragged line to make it no wider than 2 1/8" at its widest.  Then I stamped three of the large butterflies from Papillon Potpourri in Elegant Eggplant ink.  Then I embossed the piece using my Flower Garden embossing folder.  I distressed the top and bottom edge and attached the piece, lining it up against the designer paper.

The finishing touches are rhinestones for each butterfly and the body of the swallowtail and some Dazzling Details along the entire perimeter of the card, using my fingertip as a tool.

Isn't it gorgeous?  It's much more dazzling in real life.

Twitterpated all over again!

I love the Twitterpated Designer paper.  I loved it when Stampin' Up! brought it out in the 2012 Spring Mini and was delighted when it was included in the Annual Catalogue.  There is something in it for everyone.  Today I used a very feminine, flowered design that includes Whisper White, Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red and two retired colours: Pear Pizzazz and Blushing Bride.  For my card, I decided to use the Naturals White as the base and I layered it with Pink Pirouette which, while not an exact match, manages to compliment the pink in the paper.

I used varying sizes of the Hearts framelits to get alternating hearts, designer paper and then Pink Pirouette. They were adhered to the card with dimensionals.  It's an attractive but subtle effect.  To give the card a bit more texture, I added some embossed scallops and dots above and below the coloured layers, using the new Borders Scoring Plate.  I was surprised at how easy it was to use and how effective the embossing turned out to be.  I would recommend it to anyone.  What a great new tool!

Finally, my single word sentiment, "Happiness", is stamped on Island Indigo in Versamark and then heat embossed in White embossing powder.  I cut that out with the largest of the Bitty Banners framelits and used dimensionals to adhere it to the side of t he layered hearts.

I love the finished card.  I kept it very simple and decided not to add any ribbon or other embellishment, outside one rhinestone on the smallest of the hearts.  Sometimes you just have to leave it at that.

What do you think?

Valentine's Day meets Sale-a-Bration

Yes, it is coming up to Valentine's Day.  Wasn't it just Christmas?

A couple of weeks before Valentine's Day, Stampin' Up! begins its big "Sale-a-bration" sale.  This is an annual celebration and sale-a-bration, where we try to forget that it's still Winter outside by playing with all the wonderful free products that we can get during this time.  From January 22nd until March 22nd, for each $60.00 of product that we buy, we get to choose from 20 varied and wonderful items that are featured in the Sale-a-bration Flyer.  If you haven't received one yet, let me know and I will make sure you have one this week.  Email or phone me---you don't want to miss the goodies they're giving away this year!

Today I was playing around with the gorgeous Sycamore Designer Paper that is only available through Sale-a-bration.  Its rainbow colours really lift my spirits which took a nose-dive when I looked through the window and saw the falling snow.  The colours are so very cheerful in the paper, it was hard to decide which design I wanted to try using in my card.

The design I did use is full of bright and beautiful colours: a veritable rainbow.  I chose all my cardstocks and inks based on the designer paper.  The finished result really makes me happy.  I hope you enjoy it, too.

The card opens in the centre, which makes it a gate-fold card.  I was inspired by the card which Anja Beckmann made a short while ago.  It's not much harder than the conventional fold and really suits this card.  Wouldn't you love to receive a Valentine's card like this?

Paper:  122923        Island Indigo cardstock
            122924        Pool Party cardstock
            126839        Summer Starfruit cardstock
            122926        Lucky Limeade cardstock
            100730        Whisper White cardstock
            127540        Sycamore Designer Paper (Sale-a-bration only)

Ink:      126986         Island Indigo stamp pad
            126946         Tangerine Tango stamp pad
            126950         Rich Razzleberry stamp pad

Stamps:  129144 (clear) or 129141 (wood)  Secret Garden stamp set
              128075 (clear) or 128072 (wood) That's the Ticket stamp set

Dies:    129372      Secret Garden Framelits
           120893      Tasteful Trim Bigz die

Punches: 126883   Ticket Duo Builder punch

You can get any products that you need by placing an order with me or through my online store.

Instant Creativity---and it comes right to your door!

IT'S A MAGICAL PAPER ESCAPE EVERY MONTH!

How about a sneak peek?

The Try It Kit also contains a D sized acrylic block, 2 small stamps – one a row of dots and the other says Jots and Thoughts.  This kit makes 2 small pocket journals.  It contains 12 butterflies, an Island Indigo ink spot, and more!What is NOT to love about these kits!  These are great projects to do on your own, with a friend, and even with your kids!

Think about the possibilities.  These would make great gifts, wonderfully portable little travel projects, and fun projects for get-togethers with your creative friends.  

Heavens!  They may become addictive. 


Get Started

It's so easy to get started. Simply sign up for the program starting Monday, January 14 by visiting www.mypaperpumpkin.com and click Get it. Every month a new, surprise project kit arrives at your doorstep. Just think of the anticipation of creating a fun project to pin, showoff, and share with your friends and family-every month!

Of course, you'll want to know more. So here's the nitty gritty:

• Each month we send you a unique, surprise kit with a project-cards, journals, décor, and more! (We've even colour-coordinated, measured, and cut everything for you!)

• Each kit includes stamps, ink, paper, and accessories-everything but adhesive.

• Each kit gives you and your customer a 30-minute creativity escape.

• We will ship your Paper Pumpkin on or around the 15th of the month.  

• You need to sign up for a kit by the 10th of the month to get that month's kit. If you sign up on the 11th of the month, your first kit will come the next month. (Let's say you sign up on May 10th, we'll send your kit around May 15th. If you sign up on May 11th, we'll send your first kit around June 15th.)

• A Paper Pumpkin membership $24.95 per month (and shipping is included!) 

• There's no commitment, you can cancel your monthly Paper Pumpkin at anytime. You can also skip a month if you want.

• Starting in early March, we'll offer a Try-It kit if you'd like to try Paper Pumpkin for one month.

A Free Gift in Your Very First Kit

The Welcome Kit is the very first Paper Pumpkin you will receive in your first month of membership.  The Welcome Kit includes a free gift---a clear acrylic block!

Something Fishy!

I've admitted to falling instantly in love with the Secret Garden stamp set and matching framelits.  You can see why, I'm sure, from the cards I've posted.  Those framelits cut around the stamped images as closely as if done with little scissors---with so very much less work.  But this post isn't about them.

Another stamp set caught my eye when I was going through the Spring catalogue: By The Tide.  Yes, there is an ocean themed stamp set in the Annual Catalogue.  It, too, is a striking set which I bought, but hesitantly.    I wasn't entirely certain that I liked the stylistic appearance of the stamps in that set.  They've since grown on me.  Still, the attention to detail and the artistry of the stamps in the By The Tide set just won me over the moment I opened that page.

With Chistmas over, I'm turning my attention to all the little goodies that have arrived.  By The Tide came in my first pre-order from the Spring Catalogue.  I was so anxious to try the stamp set when the box arrived that I almost---and please note that I did stop myself---I almost tried a Christmas card using the fish wearing a Santa hat.  Thank goodness I came to my senses in time!

I really wanted my first card to give a 3-dimensional effect.  To that end, I used some cardstock vellum and stamped it with the coral aptly using Calypso Coral.  The nice thing about stamping on the vellum is that the ink dries very, very slowly.  This makes it perfect for using clear embossing powder on the coloured ink, which I did.  The embossed coral looks wonderful.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  To give some dimension to the scene, I stamped two sea horses on the reverse side of the vellum, one fully behind the coral and one half-exposed.  Once they were coloured, they looked as if they were really swimming behind the coral plant.

I wanted to add the fish to the scene but didn't think that simply stamping it on the front of the vellum would be all that effective, so I stamped it on some Brushed Silver cardstock using Staz-On.  Once dry it was easy to colour the fish using my Stampin' Markers.  The brushed silver finish of the cardstock made the fish glisten as if it had scales.  I loved it!  I cut that out with my little snips, thinking framelits would have been a logical product.  Unfortunately, however, By The Tide does not have matching framelits.  Mounted on dimensionals, the fish looked as if it was hovering above the coral and sea-horses.

I tried a couple of coloured cardstocks under the vellum but found the results were overall discouraging.  So I turned to Whisper White, which made the images on the vellum "pop".  To get a bit of a water effect, I stamped the poem included in the stamp set repeatedly on the Whisper White using Pool Party ink.  Once the pieces were assembled, the poem was still reasonably visible through the vellum and gave the effect of ripples of water.

I also used the Woodgrain embossing folder on the Island Indigo cardstock and think that, since it's been used sideways, it looks almost like ripples of water as well.

What do you think of the By The Tide stamp set?  I'm sure I'll be making quite a few more cards using it.

Creative Pay-It-Forward 2013

On January 5th I began a Creative-Pay-It-Forward on my Stampin' Up! Facebook page.  Yes, I have a Facebook page, too, and if you want to know if something is coming up that hasn't made it to my blog, that's where you'll find it.

This is what I posted on my Facebook page:

2013 Creative Pay-It-Forward: The first five people to comment on this status will receive from me, sometime in the next calendar year, a gift - perhaps a card, or tutorial, a fun trinket, or some kind of intangible favor-- a surprise! There will likely be no warning and it will happen whenever the mood strikes me. Please inbox your mailing address to me. This should be fun!

I have five people through my Facebook page that will be receiving something suddenly during this year.  They won't know what or when they'll receive their surprise, but that's the fun.  It's called a Pay-It-Forward because that's what I'm hoping the participants will also do: pay it forward.

If you want to participate here on my blog, then let me have your name and address.  The first five are the "winners".  Winning comes with a price, however.  You, my winners, will also be paying it forward.  Just imagine how many people we might reach creatively this way...

The Open House card---A big success!

I already showed you the little milk carton projects we put together at my Open House last Saturday.  Well, now I'm going to show you the card.  Yes, I admit I do get a bit fancy with my projects, but people seem to enjoy being challenged and love the results.

This card  is a take-off on the previous card I posted with the three Secret Garden flowers.  I kept the concept but changed it out somewhat.

Okay, the elements of the card that are the same are the base cardstock of Midnight Muse, the second layer of cardstock which is Summer Starfruit (but in this card I did not use the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder), the Whisper White cardstock layer that I've embossed using the Honeycomb embossing folder, the splatter left by the Colour Spritzer tool, the stamped cannery jar die-cut out of Window Sheet material and the Secret Garden flower cut out with the matching framelit.  Yes, a lot in this card matches what I did in the other card.

There are major differences as well.  For example, look at that sweet little Pinwheel.  The size is the perfect balance for the flower and, besides that, it's just absolutely cute!  I have to tell you that the new Pinwheel Sizzlits S die makes pinwheels a breeze.  It even punches the holes for the brad.  After the first fiddly try, putting the brad in becomes really easy.  I discovered that gathering the holes with the tip of the brad and then pushing the whole shebang through the centre hole is the way to go.  And the results are stunning!  This one was cut from the newest In-Colour Designer Series paper.

Yes, you do see Designer Paper in two of those honeycomb patterns.  Since Stampin' Up! hasn't included a honeycomb punch or framelits in this catalogue, I had to get creative.  That Honeycomb embossing folder is rough on paper--it's all those sharp angles.  Normal cardstock can hold up to it but Designer Paper is much lighter weight and if you emboss it and hold the paper up to the light, you'll see the light filtering through a lot of spots.  So I took advantage of that and put a shim under the plates when I put the Designer Paper through my Big Shot (the Cuttlebug works, too, if you still haven't purchased a Big Shot) and  voila!  The paper was really just hanging together.  It was nothing to take my little scissors and cut two of those hexagonal shapes from it and adhere them to my cardstock.

The sentiment is one of the cute little That's the Ticket stamps.  I was so happy that this stamp set was included in the catalogue and I could finally have more stamps that co-ordinate with my Ticket Builder punch.  And finally, the adorable little butterfly was cut with the brand new Bitty Butterfly punch.  It's such a relief not to have to cut the small butterfly from Papillon Potpourri stamp set out by hand any longer.

I have to post a warning about the Whisper White cardstock that I used for my honeycomb layer.  Even though the Whisper White is technically the same weight as the rest of the cardstock, it has been compressed so tightly to give us that wonderful polished surface we love to stamp on, it is more fragile than the rest of the cardstock.  What I suggest is that you do your shading around the white cardstock before going on to put it through the Honeycomb embossing folder.  That way you won't accidentally tear it along one of the angled lines.

Anyway, that should help if you want to try your hand at this card.  Everyone had a wonderful time making this card.  I love it---don't you?

Valentine's Specials---Too Good to Miss! Really!

Don't those pictures look great?  The one offered on the left side is a special offer single stamp created just for this Valentine's.  It is the perfect size for the Full Heart punch which many people already own.

 If you order this stamp, you get, free of charge, a package of 50 1" x 8" cellophane bags.  Those cellophane bags are in the main catalogue on page 162 at a cost of $3.25.  In other words, this has a retail value of $9.20 but you can buy it for $7.25 until January 21st.  There is no limit while quantities last.

The one offered on the right side is a special offer four stamp set created just for this Valentine's.


 If you order this set, you get, free of charge, a special Valentine's Simply Sent kit that includes a patterned envelope (not acceptable by the Post Office for mailing), a note, stickers, and twine as shown below:


Actually you can see an even better picture if you still have your Fall and Winter Occasions Mini catalogue.  It is featured on page 35.  The Simply sent kit alone is priced at $9.95 but is FREE when you buy the four piece stamp set for $11.95. This is only going to be available until January 21st while quantities last.

With these great freebies, I would suggest that the sooner you buy the bundle, the more chance you'll have of getting it.

Good luck!

Time to Relax!

The Open House is over.  Time to relax.  Yes, my crafting room is a mess.  Yes, I have a dishwasher that has to be emptied.  Yes, I have the workshop orders to enter into OEX.  Yes---all that and more.  But I'm heading for my nice cup of hot milk, my book and a half hour of simple relaxation.  Tomorrow is another day (wasn't Scarlett O'Hara brilliant?)

Oh, and before I forget, I thought I'd just post the 3-D project I offered for the Open House.  This time I had a choice of a "girlie" project or a "masculine" one.  They're all candy holders (love the Milk Carton die) but sometimes it's nice to have a choice.

The fish is from the new By the Tide stamp set, the greenery was cut with a Secret Garden framelit, the ribbon on the right-hand project is that new Natural Trim Ribbon, and that one also has a "ticket" made with the That's the Ticket stamp set and Ticket Builder punch.  The feminine one in the centre used both the Mini Butterfly punch and the Elegant Butterfly punch and showcases one of the cute flowers from the 5/8" Flower Trim strip (rubbed on the Marina Mist stamp pad for some blue shading).

Everyone loved making them.  What do you think?  

The Spring Catalogue is Active!

Finally!  The Spring Catalogue is active.  There are so many great new products in this catalogue.  You know how I like to cut out some of my stamped flowers, right?  Well, after a while that gets extremely tiresome.  Especially when I go overboard and use six cut out flowers on one card.  Well, when I saw the Secret Garden bundle, a stamp set with assorted flowers and leaves with---are you ready for this---matching framelits, I almost fell over.  That was the first item that made it to my Wish List.

I don't know about you, but I work my way through a new catalogue by jotting down my immediate favourites on a Wish List form.  It's great, because then I can refer to the list and decide what I might order first and then what I will put on subsequent orders.  I was definitely excited when I put the Secret Garden bundle on my list.

This is how well the flowers were cut out with the framelits.

There are a lot of other really different items, too.  One really cute little Sizzlits Die is going to be very popular, I'm sure!  It's the Pinwheel Die, which, with its small size and perfectly placed holes, will make pinwheels a breeze.  I've already got a card in mind!

But why am I telling you about the Spring Catalogue when you can have a look at it yourself?  Just "click" on the Shopping Cart in the right-hand column and you will get to my Stampin' Up! page.  At the top of the left-hand column you will see "Spring Catalogue" and once you "click" on that, you can browse through the catalogue to your heart's content.

Of course if you would rather enjoy working your way through a real catalogue, just call me or come on by this Saturday for my Open House.  I'll be welcoming people from 12:30 p.m. till 6:00 p.m. and offering snacks, fun company, some prizes and, of course, a couple of great make-n-takes.  And you will get your very own Spring Catalogue as well.