Lotus Blossom

I've been taking a trip down memory lane the past couple of days.  I am trying to get my pictures organized.  I found 10-15 CD's going back about 10-15 years so I have been going through them and transferring them to my portable hard drive, labeling them and deleting duplicates, etc.  Whew! I've been reviewing graduations, weddings, babies, etc!  Tuesday I ran across my son's wedding video from 10 years ago.  It was so sweet to sit and watch it all over again and reminisce when our relationship was better.  I still can't find the pictures I wanted that started me on this journey.  Back before the digital age, remember all the pictures we got developed and stuck in a box somewhere? Well, I'm afraid that is going to be my next task!

Oh well - on to a card that I CASE'd this weekend from Jan Tinkelberg.  She has a video on her blog (Stamps, Paper, Scissors) on how to make this card.  I can't take the credit!  But it is a gorgeous card using the Lotus Blossom.  It took me several tries to get it to look like I want but I finally got there.

Stamp Club Cards for January

I have January Stamp Club projects to share with you today.  My Stamp Club members met yesterday and the rest will come next Tuesday to do their projects.  I think they were very pleased with this month's projects.

Since we won't meet again until the week after Valentine's, we made a cute Valentine card using one of the new stamp sets from Occasions.  I was given this set when I attended the live unveiling of the Occasions Catalog in Charlotte in November.  It's a pretty versatile set with sentiments for a new baby, birthday, love and this one plus a tag to stamp that matches up with the new Note Tag Punch (pg 28).  I punched out the heart in the center of the Real Red card, pricked little holes all around the heart and adhered a piece of Designer Paper (from the Stacked With Love stack) behind the heart.  I used the cute little Bow Builder punch for the bow.

The next card was the favorite of the day!

This one uses the Sheltering Tree set (pg 22) which is one of my favorites in the catalog.  The pink striped paper is from Sale-a-Bration.  It is the white glossy paper that we brayered (or sponged) with Pink Pirouette ink to color it.  Really pretty!!

Our final project was a vellum note card box with three note cards and envelopes inside.

I made this set at Allison's Stampaganza last Saturday and knew my gals would love it.  It is made with the Lotus Blossom stamp set from Sale-a-bration.   The instructions for the box can be found on QBee's Quest blog.  I love it when demonstrators share their tutorials!

Marianne and I are attending a Girls Weekend Stamp-a-thon in Spartanburg this weekend.  I am meeting her tomorrow after my chiropractic visit and we are heading to Spartanburg.  I didn't know what projects I wanted to work on so I have pack way too much stuff!!!

I have been having back issues.  Last Friday when I got out of bed, I could hardly straighten up my back was hurting so bad.  I found a chiropractor in Mooresville who could see me right away and headed there.  He took x-rays and did some adjustments which helped tremendously.  I have gone to see him three times this week but should be tapering down to one or two visits a week for the next few weeks.  Whatever he is doing is really helping a lot!  I am still having pain shooting down my left side from my hip to my knee but my right side seems ok and that was where the major pain was last week..  I have had this pain on my left side for a couple of months and should have gone to see a chiropractor much earlier so I am paying for it now.  He thinks the pain on the right side was because I was overcompensating for the pain I was having on the left.

Hope your weekend is a great one!

Lotus Blossom 1-2-3

Only 1 more day until Sale-a-Bration (and the Occasions catalog) starts!!  Woo - Hoo!  It's the best time of the year to earn free products from Stampin' Up!  For every $50 you spend on Stampin' Up! products between January 6 and March 31, you earn a FREE Sale-a-Bration product.  And this year, there are some really amazing Sale-a-Bration products.  I'll be sharing a few of them in the next several days.

My favorite stamp set from Sale-a-Bration is Lotus Blossom.  I just hate that after Sale-a-Bration, it will be gone.  Yes .... any item in the Sale-a-Bration Catalog will only be available from Jan. 6 - March 31 so if you see something you like, don't wait until April to try to get it - it will be gone.

I made a few thank you cards today with Lotus Blossom and stamped them onto some of the Watercolor Note Cards that are in the Year End Clearance NOW.  Not sure how long they will be there but they are a good deal.  You get 20 printed note cards (on watercolor paper) with 20 envelopes for $5.19!!

Think 1, 2,3!  Three coordinating stamp images merge to create the layered Lotus Blossom.  Two stamps are combined for the stem.  And Stampin' Up has even numbered the Photopolymer stamps with #1, #2, and #3 to make it easy.

Watercolor Wonder Note Cards - $5.19

Marianne made this card for Ashley for her birthday using Lotus Blossom.

Lotus Blossom using shades of Cherry Cobbler.

I made a couple of charts today showing different ways to stamp Lotus Blossom.  This first one uses three different colors of ink.  Some I stamped off before stamping on my card and some I stamped full strength.  (I noted the "stamped off" ones on the sheet).

This second chart uses just two colors of ink.  I stamped off on #2 image and #3 image as noted below in the instructions.