• …Join a Stamper’s Club,
  get free stamps & more!
  
  
  When your wish list is longer than your grocery list, this is a terrific way to budget your purchases over a 6 month period AND receive hostess benefits! By purchasing $25 of product a month for 6 months (approximately $31 after shipping and taxes), not only will you be able to slowly build up your stamping supplies while staying within your budget, you’ll also receive the following:
  
  1. 2009 Spring - Summer Idea Book & Catalog
  2. Exclusive hostess stamp set
  3. $15 of Stampin’ Up! Merchandise of your choice…and more!
  
  
  As an added bonus….
  
  I am including 6 monthly stamping classes where you will have the opportunity to learn more advanced stamping techniques than you would at a workshop. Each class is between 2 to 3 hours long, and you get to make 3 projects each and every month! All your project supplies are also FREE. Be sure to check back for a peek of upcoming projects.
  
  
  Even if your schedule won’t allow you to make it to the classes, it’s still worth your while to join because you’ll receive all the hostess benefits without having to host a workshop!
  
  Stamper’s Clubs are forming now ~ so contact me to join!
  Szeto72858@aol.com
  

Better late than never....

So, I seem to be a little behind, but that is nothing new for me. This is the Mojo Monday sketch from last week (1/5) that I just got around to last evening. While I missed the deadline to enter the contest, I did have fun playing and making the card. Again, for me, having a layout to work with is half the battle. Each Monday, Julee posts another sketch challenge to work with. You can check out her sketch blog by clicking on her Mojo Monday button on the right side of my blog or go to http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/.
The card (details below) I made is for a dear friend who received some wonderful news. She is working and going to nursing school and now has been accepted for an internship in a local hospital. We are going to lunch today to try to catch up on what has been happening in each others' lives and to peruse our new catalog. That's right! I said new catalog!

I received my shipment of catalogs as the new catalog period begins next Monday, January 19th! It is full of lots of new cool stuff! Catalogs are $5, but you can receive one FREE with a $25 order or FREE as one of the many benefits of hostessing a workshop or class. Contact me to reserve your copy today! Also, if there are any stamp sets from the retiring list that you haven't ordered yet, contact me to place that order before January 18th or you can order directly from my website here and click "shop now". After the 18th, those retiring stamp sets will be gone....

Hopefully tonight I will get to work on this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge. Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Pun Fun
Ink: Black Stazon, Garden Green (sponging the white edges)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Going Gray, Prestwick DSP
Accessories: Watercolor Crayons, blender pen, white brads, white grosgrain ribbon, circle punches, oval punches

This morning's card used up some scraps that I had laying on my desk.It is pretty simple and self-explanatory, so I won't go into a whole lot of detail about it. The layout is one that I have used before. It always makes it easier to have a layout in mind as that is usually half the battle for me. I ended up using three separate stamp sets, though, so that the images would fit. Since I was working with such a small scrap and didn't want to cut a new piece of white paper, I tried to improvise.

Supplies:
Stamps: Best Yet (sentiment, Level 1 Hostess), Heartfelt Thanks (flower), Flower Fancy (leaves)
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Ridinghood Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP
Inks: Ridinghood Red, Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Kiwi Kiss ribbon, scalloped edge punch, dimensionals

Off to work on my sample for Tuesday's class. We will be making card organizers again. I will try to post a picture of my latest sample when it is completed. Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Today's card uses a set that I have had sitting on the shelf, but have never used before ~ Eastern Blooms. I am pleased with the way it came out and the sentiment can easily be changed to accommodate a variety of card needs. I think the paper piercing definitely adds to the card. What do you think? The flowers are all cut out and adhered with dimensionals after the brads are put in. Very simple!

Supplies:
Stamps: Eastern Blooms, Bella Rose (sentiment)
Card Stock: Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, Ridinghood Red, Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Ridinghood Red
Accessories: Ridinghood Red taffeta ribbon, oval punches, dimensionals, chocolate brads

Thanks for looking!

Simplicity at its best, but hey, it's a scrapbook page. LOL! I used some Felt Flurries from the Holiday Mini and my Big Shot with the Bounce Sizzlits. These cuties are the three children my sister adopted. Eventually they might get a whole scrapbook, but I know my sister is not holding her breath! My goal is to work on one page per week. That isn't too much to ask now, is it? You can hold me accountable!

Supplies:
Stamps: None
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Brilliant Blue, So Saffron
Ink: None
Accessories: Big Shot, Bounce Sizzlits, So Saffon button, Filigree brad, Rhinestone brad, Felt Flurries

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!

Still in my quest to find my mojo, I CASE'd another beautiful card. The overal layout of the card is the same, but I changed the cardstock colors and simplified it overall quite a bit. You can find Christine's card here. Aren't her cards gorgeous? She is quite talented! It is amazing how different a card looks in person. In looking at the picture on the screen, my poor bow looks so puny. I don't think it looks nearly as pitiful in "real-life", but.... I also cut out the large flower image on the stamp and attached it with a dimensional to make it "pop" a little. In lieu of using gold brads, I used my Zig Painty pen to make little dots. Probably should have practiced on scrap paper first as quite a few of the dots came out real oily and messy. Guess it hasn't been used in a long time...

Supplies:
Stamps: Toile Blossoms (retired)
Cardstock: Basick Black, Kiwi Kiss, Ridinghood Red, Whisper White
Ink: Black Stazon, Ridinghood Red, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Ridinghood Red taffeta ribbon, blender pen, Zig Painty pen, dimensionals

I enjoy decorating the inside of the card when I use dark colored cardstock. I usually stamp the envelopes to match as well.

Thanks for looking. Have a great Tuesday!

It appears that my tempermental computer is going to let me upload a photo or two this evening, so I am going to take advantage of the situation and publish a blog post. For some strange reason, my computer and camera have been having some communication issues lately and I have been getting increasingly frustrated!
I love using the Big Shot. It sure beats cutting out flowers...! So quick and easy! As always when I haven't stamped for a while, I find that I need to look at other stampers' creations for inspiration to get going again. I found my inspiration here with Christine's card. Her card is so beautiful and elegant and I knew immediately that I was going to need to CASE it. I did use the retired Toile Blossoms for the background on the upper portion of the card. Since I did not have any River Rock background paper, I also used the retired plastic Stripes template and rolled Vanilla Craft ink directly onto the cardstock with my foam brayer. I then took a ruler and the white gel pen and added some extra lines, hoping this would give the appearance of background paper on the lower portion of the card. White taffeta ribbon would have been really pretty on this card too, but I don't have any at the moment, so I chose to just leave it off.

Supplies:
Cardstock: River Rock
Ink: River Rock, Vanilla Craft, White Craft (edges of the River Rock large flowers)
Stamps: Toile Blossoms, Elegant Cheer
Accessories: Big Shot, Birds and Blooms Sizzlits, silver brads, ticket corner punch, white gel pen, retired Stripes plastic template, foam brayer

Thanks so much for taking the time to look and for your patience as I work through these computer "issues". Have a great day!

Show Some Love

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

You won't want to miss this Valentine Bundle promotion that Stampin' Up! is offering. I have ordered mine and am eagerly awaiting its arrival! I am most excited about the heart punch! I have lots of ideas and can't wait to start making sample cards and scrapbook pages.

Go to my DBWS and click on "Shop Now" to order yours today, or you can contact me by e-mail or phone and I can place the order for you.

Good morning and happy Sunday to ya! Hope your weekend is going well. As promised, here is the second card in the latest set I have been working on. This one is my favorite, but again, super quick and easy.

Supplies:
Stamp Set: Fresh Flowers, Wild Rose (for the envelope)
Ink: Ridinghood Red
Paper: Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Ridinghood Red, Bella Rose Designer Paper
Accessories: Scalloped edge punch, Kiwi Kiss grosgrain ribbon, glue dots

Have a wonderful Sunday! Thanks for stopping by.

Here is the first card that I made for the card envelope in yesterday's post. It is pretty straightforward, I think. The stamp set that I used is retired, however, as I don't have the current rose set as of yet. It was pretty quick and easy to make, though in looking at it now on screen, I probably should have added a layer of Whisper White between the layer of Ridinghood Red and the designer paper to brighten it up a little bit.

Supplies:
Stamp Set: Wild Rose (retired)
Inks: Ridinghood Red, Kiwi Kiss
Paper: Bella Rose Designer Paper, Ridinghood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
Accessories: Ridinghood Red grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

I will post the other card that I made for this set tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

I was looking through my pile of templates and came across this envelope template. I haven't made this one in a while and so decided to give it a try. This envelope will hold 2-3 cards and matching envelopes comfortably and makes a cute little gift set. I received the actual template I have from my upline, but I have no idea where the original idea came from so I can't give credit where credit is due. For that, I apologize.

Supplies:

Stamp Sets: none

Inks: none

Paper: Pretty in Pink 12x12, Bella Rose Designer Paper

Accessories: Ridinghood Red Grosgrain Ribbon

Here is a picture of the set, but I will show the cards individually over the next couple of days. Have a wonderful day. Thanks for looking!

Another project that got worked on this past weekend was this adorable desktop calendar. I saw the idea on Cambria Turnbow's blog last week. You can see her beautiful creation here. The tutorial actually comes from Nancy Morgan here.

My calendar is a bit larger than what the tutorial calls for as I was unable to print the calendar that small. The calendar itself comes from PrintFree.com.

The base of my cardstock that everything was mounted on is 10" x 7-1/4" and for that I used Sahara Sand. I layered Artichoke before pieces of LeJardin Designer Paper (retired). The rest is pretty self-explanatory. Embellishments used were from the Pretties Kit, Designer Brads, Big and Little Felt Flurries, Flower Fusion and ribbon.

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful Thursday!

This was one of the projects I worked on this weekend, a notecard set of four in a gift bag with envelopes. I am trying to use up of some of my retired paper and so was able to put this older holiday designer paper to good use. I did use jumbo eyelets and the Crop-A-Dile at the top of the bag so that I could slip some Night of Navy grosgrain ribbon through on both sides.

The base of the first card is Certainly Celery with layers of Night of Navy and Vanilla cardstock along with the designer paper. The "for you" sentiment comes from the Fresh Cuts set, which is current. Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon and Celery brads were used to embellish.

The second card has a base of Night of Navy with layers of Certainly Celery. Again, the same sentiment as well as Celery brads were used, along with three stamps from the Baroque Motifs set inked in the same two colors and cut out before adhering with dimensionals.

The third card also uses a Night of Navy base with a layer of Certainly Celery and then designer paper. Again, Baroque Motifs stamp set was used and the images were cut out. I did place a rhinestone brad in the center as well as used the Celery grosgrain ribbon and brads again.

The final card has a base of Certainly Celery with layers of Night of Navy and designer paper to match the bag. I used the scalloped edge punch of a 2-5/8" square under the stamped images from Baroque Motifs. Another rhinestone brad was used as well as the Celery grosgrain ribbon again.

This set was very simple to make and very striking in person. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and look! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Lot's of Specials!

The Retiring List is out! You will find the list of stamp sets retiring from the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book and Catalog here. These retiring sets will only be available until January 18th. It will be sad to see some of these sets go. However, Stampin' Up! is offering a sale of 10% off the price of these retiring sets through December 23rd!

Plus, for any order of $70 or more (before tax and shipping), Stampin' Up! is offering FREE shipping.

To make this even sweeter, when you spend $20, you will receive 20% off any stamp set in the catalog sampler. Can't beat that!

So, don't delay. Check the list and order your "must-have" sets today.