Lovely Amazing You

It's a beautiful day here today but just a tad on the cold side!!  As I'm writing this, it's 3:30 pm and it's only 38 degrees!  I played Hand and Foot today and a couple of the gals said they have put away their "Cuddle-Duds" and heavy coats.  I'm not there yet but hopefully in a week, I will be.  We play cards and Mahjong at the Mooresville Bowling Alley and it is always freezing in there as it is at the NY Deli where I play bridge on Mondays.  So I still wear my Cuddle-Dud under my shirt along with a sweater to stay warm at these places.  I need to get some fingerless gloves because my fingers get so cold.  (and it's not because I don't have enough meat on my body!!)

 These are two of the projects we made at Allison's house on Monday night.  The first one would hold a candy bar in it.  It uses the Photopolymer stamp set, Lovely Amazing You.  I just love this set.

The next card is a Shaker Card.  Allison said this was the first shaker she had done (and she has been a demonstrator for ten years!)

Well, short post today.  We are meeting the family for Angela's birthday dinner.  Her birthday was Feb. 1 but this is the first time we could all get together!

New Photopolymer Christmas Stamp

We had a great trip but as always, it's good to be back home and sleep in my own bed!  We left home Wednesday morning and drove to Ft. Belvoir to pick up Ashley for our drive to Pittsburgh on Thursday.  Thursday started out a little rough - Ashley was supposed to meet up with her classmates to go to the State Department.  She thought they were meeting at 6:30 but turns out, they were meeting at 5:30 a.m.!  Sonny got up and took her to the Metro and as it turns out, she arrived before anyone else!  After she finished up for the day, we hit the road for Pittsburgh arriving there about 6:30 - just in time to find a parking spot downtown and a short walk to the Consol Energy Center to watch the Penguins for the first hockey have of the season.  It was a great one - high scoring.  The final score was 6-4 with the Pens winning.

I didn't get the message that we were supposed to be looking to our right!

Final score - 6-4 PENS!

This was a cool mosaic of Mario Lemieux (former player and now owner of Penguins) of a collections of photographs that have been pieced together.

The Pittsburgh PENGUINS!

No Neck Sharon!!

Stampin' Up has released a beautiful Christmas stamp - as seen below.  Gentle Peace Photopolymer stamp was designed to work with the Blendabilties to create the stained glass look.  Just when I thought I didn't need any more Christmas stamps!  This image is just gorgeous!

Here is a LINK to the flier with details.





Here are the Tuesday specials for this week.  They will be available through next Monday.

Darling Doily Thinlits Die [133736] $24.95 $18.71	Decorative Window Gift Box [132146] $4.95 $3.71	Floral Frames Framelits Dies [127012] $26.95 $20.21	Mustache Framelits Die [133741] $7.95 $5.96
Perfect Print Numbers Bigz Die [133726] $24.95 $18.71	Spooky Treats Designer Template - Digital Download [127588] $12.95 $7.77	Tiny Triangles Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [133740] $7.95 $5.96	Truly Grateful Wood-Mount Stamp Set [131730] $27.95 $20.96

Tips for Your Card Making

I love it when I learn something new!  One of my blog readers left me a comment yesterday in response to my problem of losing my photopolymer stamps.  (Thanks, Kim!)  Kim had a very good hint which I incorporated today.  Here was her tip:

I use an acrylic free standing photo frame to keep track of the loose stamps. I too clean at the end of creating. Cleaning kills the creative buzz. lol I keep the photo frame on my desk where I stamp. It's one left over from making those post it holders. I can stick those single stamps on to it, and they don't get lost. I can't see them when I drop them either. 

As it happens, I had a clear acrylic frame in my stash of Dollar Store items.  I slid a piece of card stock inside to make it a little easier to see and used it today while I was stamping.  (If you don't recognize these stamps, they are from the latest Paper Pumpkin.)  It's pretty cool - the stamps stick to the frame great!  Hopefully, no more crawling around on the floor looking for my stamps!

I also learned another tip today.  When you stamp an image and want to cut it out with a Framelit, do you find yourself going through all your framelits until you find the right size?  Well, that was what I was doing.  So, I spent a little time today solving that dilemma.  I cut some retired card stock (who doesn't have that laying around???) to 4 1/2" x 5 1/2" (whatever size works for you) and die cut a lot of my framelits.  I punched a hole in the top and have it hanging near my stamp table.  I may end up putting them in page protectors but haven't decided yet.  It already came in handy for me tonight as I was making a Christmas card and trying to decide on the sentiment.  Read the article HERE

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Stamp Club Cards

I had Stamp Club this week and we made these cards:

Our first Christmas card!

This was such an easy card to make!  The sentiment is from Everyday Wishes which will be available to order from the Holiday Catalog in about a week.  It was offered last year and I purchased it then so I was happy to see that it was carried over to the Holiday Catalog.  The strips of DSP and the yarn are retired.  The Cherry Cobbler Sweater Trim has been on the Clearance Rack for a long time.  But I just checked and this color is gone but Gumball Green is still available for $3.59.  First I used the Mosaic Punch to punch the ornament shape into a piece of Silver Glimmer paper and then used the 1 3/4" Circle Punch to punch out the circle shape.  The pretty Cherry Cobbler 1" Sheer Linen Ribbon is also from the Holiday Catalog.  It ties like a dream!

Flower Frenzy Die

 I won this Flower Frenzy Bigz Die at the Late Night Stampers event in Salt Lake City.  It makes a really cute flower.  The dots are stamped in white ink with a stamp from Kinda Eclectic.  The "happy birthday" sentiment is from another photopolymer stamp - Endless Birthday Wishes.  It is not in the catalog but is available for sale for $13.95.  It is a very versatile stamp for birthdays.

Endless Birthday Wishes - #137553

Kinda Eclectic

I was given this stamp set at Convention - Kinda Eclectic.  I have seen a lot of cards made using this stamp.  I used all the new In Colors on this card!  And the inside .....is a detachable bookmark!

Kinda Eclectic card - opened to reveal a bookmark

I cut the Mossy Meadow card stock 5.5" x 10.5".  Score it at 4.5".  Perforate a score line at 8.5".  Click HERE to watch a video showing you how to make a similar card:

I had a Card in a Box planned for us to make but one of the gals who wanted to do that card was unable to attend so we will do it next month.  Instead I substituted the next card.

The final card we made uses a darling hostess stamp set Hello Love.  You can only get this set by being a hostess at one of my clubs or by hostessing your own workshop.  (I would love to do a workshop for you!)  I try not to purchase many of the hostess sets each year for my own use but this year, I will be breaking that rule for sure!  I already have two of them and have my eye on a couple of more!  They are so cute.  Another feature of this card is the DSP.  I used Back to Black  (pg 187) and used my Blendabilities to color the DSP.  It is so cool and you can coordinate your DSP to your card!

This is the front of the card with a 1 3/4" circle punched so you can see the bird.

I used the lightest Melon Mambo Blendabilities to color the DSP.

This is the inside of the card.  This is a small 4" x 4" card with Melon Mambo as the backing for the white card.

Here are two strips of Back to Black DSP - one is colored with the dark Melon Mambo Blendability and the other with the light Calypso Coral.

New Weekly Deals

NEW WEEKLY DEALS: - prices good until August 18.

Rosette Bigz Die $32.21

Naturals Cotton Ribbon $5.96 (I love this ribbon - you can stamp on it!)

Envelope Liners Framelits - $20.21

       

Wildflowers Embossing Folder $5.96

Fancy Fan Embossing Folder $5.96

Petite Purse Die $24.71

Label Petite Curly Punch $9.71

                   














We also have a new Photopolymer Stamp that is great for the cowboys and cowgirls in your life!!


Click HERE to order on-line.

Super Hero and Card Swaps

If you are into Super Heroes, do I have the stamp set for you!  This would make a lot of cute cards for your kids and grandkids!  This photopolymer set was just released yesterday.  If you have not tried Stampin' Up's photopolymer stamps, they are great and stick to your blocks so good!

A lot of possibilities!

Here are a few more of the card swaps to share with you:

Top one is by Kathy Hunt, Way to Go by Lisa Pressley and Work of Art by Sharon Measmer

Top is mine, Baby is by Frances Wagner and Sea Street by JoAnne Hewins

Bombs Away!

Stampin' Up is excited to announce that the second photopolymer stamp set is now available. Bombs Away Birthday (item 133411) is a fun, unique set that will certainly bring a smile to anyone. Try it out today! To learn more about photopolymer stamps, check out the flyer for the Bombs Away Birthday Stamp Set HERE

I had a really long day today.  Waiting is the hardest thing, don't you think?  But Ashley came through her surgery with flying colors and is now recooperating at home.  Talk about hurry up and wait .... We had to be at the hospital at 8:00 a.m. but we sat in the waiting room until 12:30 when they finally took her back to prep her.  The doctor came out and talked to me at 5:30 and we left the hospital about 8:00 pm.  Wow!  12 hours!  She slept when she got home and just got up (10:45 pm) and wanted something to eat.  Hopefully, she won't have much pain and will sleep well tonight.

Sonny and Jack made it back home late / early Tuesday a.m. around 1 or 2 AM.  God was looking after them for sure.  They were just a few cars behind a really bad accident.  A 16-wheeler truck turned over on the median spilling it's load of steel pipes into the other lane.  Sonny said he felt sure there were probably some deaths involved because several ambulances left without their sirens on.  They were delayed by the wreck around 3 hours.  Guess there was an angel sitting on their shoulder or in the bed of their pick-up.

Clear - Photopolymer - Stamps! Whoo Hoo!!

I'm hoping to do a lot of stamping this weekend.  The weather is supposed to be cold - possibly snow - and highs in the high 30s to low 40's.  Brrrr - maybe this is the last hurrah for winter weather!!  I will be ready to go to Texas and enjoy their warm weather in a few weeks!

Stampin' Up has some great news today!  They are introducing their first really clear stamp set.  It is called a Photopolymer Stamp.

What makes them so great?

• They're entirely transparent for perfect placement every time! 
• They are durable. The photopolymer material is designed to last. 
• Can you say sticky?  These stamps stick amazingly well to the clear blocks.
• They're age tested. They won't yellow or cloud up over time. 
• They use FDA, food-safe material. How far can you stretch your stamping creativity?

They are clearly a great choice.

Photopolymer stamps will be offered on a trial basis. Based on popularity, SU hopes to release more photopolymer stamp sets over the coming months. 

• Available beginning March 1, 2013. 
• Not available in wood-mount or clear-mount.  
• All photopolymer will be packaged in cello bag w/insert, but don't forget you can store them in our clear cases.

		They are trying them out and if it's popular they will keep the photopolymer sets coming! So if you want to see more, buy! And if you like a set you see,  buy it now since there are no guarantees that it will be available later.

Features:

• Use this exclusive photopolymer alphabet set (with extras!) for titles or embellishments on scrapbook pages, cards, or any type of project. 
• Clear block sizes A, B, G, F, and I are recommended (not included in the set).
• Our photopolymer stamps offer a versatile all-clear stamping option. 
• Our top-quality photopolymer gives a perfectly stamped image every time. 
• Best of all, you get to enjoy tons of images for a great price...only $13.95 for 57 images!

In fact - at this price you can afford to get two sets.  Then you can spell out greetings like "Happy Birthday".

 I'm getting ready to order mine - what about you?