Sale-a-Bration Samples

I got a lot of great cards last week-end and got samples of just about every stamp set in the Occasions and Sale-a-bration catalogs.  It is so different to see the cards made with the stamps than just having to see them in the catalog.

Here are samples from Sale-a-Bration Catalog that were on the display board:

Flowering Fields (pg 12)

Honeycomb Happiness (pg 15)

Perfect Pairings (pg 11) plus Wildflower Fiels DSP (pg 13)

Sky Is the Limit (pg 16) plus Perfectly Artistic DSP (pg 19)

What I Love (pg 7)

What I Love (pg 7)

Botanicals For You (pg 4) plus Botanical Builder Framelits (Occasions catalog pg 26)

I have been making cards with the few stamp sets that I have bought (so far) from the two new catalogs.  I am trying to be a little more frugal this time and love having all the samples for my customers to see.  I have been working hard in my craft room all week.   Except for last night when I had to get dressed to have dinner at a friends house, I have been in my pj's for 3 days!  It has been great!  Sonny went with some guys yesterday on a duck hunting trip.  He came home late last night. He said if he had this on his bucket list, he could check it off.  He won't be going duck hunting again! He never even fired his rifle!!  One of the guys with them got a duck but out of the four of them, one got a duck, one fired his rifle once and Sonny and the other guy never took a shot.  It was a 5 1/2 hour drive to the NC coast Wednesday.  They got up at 5:30 a.m. Thursday (no thank you!) and stared at the blue sky and then drove back home, another 5 1/2 hour!  Sonny was really stiff when he got home from all the sitting.  I had much more fun at home!!

Countdown to Occasions 2016 Catalog and Sale-a-Bration!

The countdown is on .... and we are almost to the launch of the Stampin' Up! 2016 Occasions catalog and Sale-a-Bration promotion!!  I love this time of year when it's so easy to get FREE products!

Here is the scoop -

• Occasions 2016 Catalog:  first day for customer orders, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016
• Sale-a-Bration Promotion:  first day to receive FREE PRODUCTS with each $50 you order:  Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016.

To clarify things, you do NOT need to purchase the suggested items shown in the Sale-a-Bration brochure to receive those free Sale-a-Bration products.  You will earn one (1) free Sale-a-Bration item with EACH $50 purchase from ANY Stampin' Up! Catalog OR any online store product OR Clearance Rack product purchase!

Another way to earn free Sale-a-Bration products is with a Paper Pumpkin 3-month Prepaid Subscription for $55.  Watch the video below to learn more.

Club Projects

This is my Stamp Club week.  We had fun making these cards this week:

This first one uses the birthday stamp from Sale-A-Bration along with the birthday DSP and Chalk Paper from the Occasions catalog along with the popular Bow Punch.

This is our Easter card. Most of the pieces for the card are retired - Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery card stock, ribbon and DSP.  I don't want to tell you how many cards I made trying to come up with this one!  We stamped the flowers directly onto the DSP.

This card uses Washi Tape - something I don't use very much  Some of the tape is from Stampin' Up and some is from one of the big box stores but since it matched Coastal Cabana so well, I had to use it!  We also used one of the newer photopolymer stamps - Lovely Amazing You - and the Bitty Butterfly Punch.

.Another easy card using the Vellum from Sale-A-Bration.  I just love this DSP! You can color it with markers but I decided to go simple.  I just cut a square of In Color DSP and backed the square of vellum allowing the DSP to show through the vellum.

More new Sale-A-Bration items:



We are now at the end of Sale-A-Bration with only 2 weeks left.  It's been a rough ride over the last few months with crazy back orders.  The west coast port strike has done a number of back-logged products sitting in crates for too long.  Stampin' Up! is trying their best to keep on top of it but I'm not sure anyone could fully keep up.  The good news is SU has kept us abreast of the situation and even given us a few new options during this period of time.  (See the new items added to Sale-a-Bration above.)  It didn't help that the Blendabilties are now discontinued.  In a way, it is a good thing because of the constant issues we were having with them.  I will miss them but think in due time Stampin' Up! will come up with another option down the road.

Stampin' Up! did make an announcement today that has broken my heart though and that is the discontinuation of My Digital Studio.  Last year it was announced that they would not be putting much effort into the program.  I have adored MDS, as you know, and have created many beautiful albums, hundreds of layouts and have enjoyed teaching digital art to others.  But the writing was on the wall and I knew this was coming; just not sure when so I can't say I was too surprised today. 

If you have downloaded My Digital Studio, no worries.  You can still use the program.  Stampin' Up! will not support the program after May 31st.  All digital downloads will be discontinued.  If there is something that you want or need .... NOW is the time to grab it.  The BIGGEST thing is to back up your current digital downloads.  I recommend an external hard drive - that is what I am going to do.  You can copy your components folder and put it on the external hardIoptions for printing.  I am going to be checking into Persnickety Prints as well as Shutterfly.

I will continue to create layouts and scrapbooks using digital files.  Stampin' Up got me hooked on digital and I see no reason to quit!


This week's weekly deals - 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Big Day Sale-a-Bration

We had a beautiful weekend for a change!  I think the end of winter is in sight.

I was busy over the weekend trying to decide on my shoebox card for next weekend as well as my 3x3 card.  I was successful!!

Have you seen the Chalkboard Paper in the Occasions catalog and wondered what to do with it? Well, you can make a card like this one I made.  I stamped the (Sale-a-Bration) Big Day stamp onto chalkboard paper in White Craft Ink and heat embossed it (but you don't have to emboss it). Then I stamped the "celebrate" part of the stamp and the cake on a piece of Pink Pirouette, cut them out and added them to the card.  The DSP is the Back to Black in the big catalog.  I just love the look of this card.

And in other good news ....I won again this week with the MDS Monday page.  If you missed my page, here is the link to it.  I used pictures from a trip we took in 2005 to Tucson.  The cactus background is what makes the page, don't you think?

February Stamp Club

My February Stamp Club continues to drag itself out.  I have had gals come last Thursday, Saturday and the final two are coming on Tuesday .... all due to Mother Nature!  But we will get there.  I thought I'd at least share the cards we made this month in club:

Isn't this a great masculine card?  And oh so easy!!  If you haven't taken a look at the Adventure Bound Paper Stack in the Occasions catalog along with the Hello You Thinlets Dies, run (don't walk) to your catalog and look at it!  You can make some great cards with very little effort with this paper.  I put the paper on the table with some card stock backings and let the gals create their own card.

This beauty is a bundle that you can purchase - getting the Butterfly Thinlet Dies and the Basic Butterfly stamp set.  They makes beautiful cards.  The stamp set also coordinates with the Bitty Butterfly and 3/4" Circle punches.

This card had lots of parts to it but was another simple one to make using the Saleabration DSP and the pretty embossing folder.

This set is one of my favorites in the Occasions Catalog - Painted Petals.  I love how the Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant all blend together.





STARTING TODAY!  Stampin' Up! has added FOUR new products to the Sale-a-Bration list of free gift choices.  Earn an exclusive, free Sale-a-Bration gift with every $50 you spend (before shipping and tax).  Sale-a-Bration ends March 31.

IMPORTANT BLENDABILITIES UPDATE!  Unfortunately there have been quality issues with the Stampin' Up! Blendabilities Markers.  They are currently unavailable (including as a Sale-a-Bration gift) and back orders cannot be filled.  I'll keep you posted when the problem is resolved, and they are available for purchase again.  I know this is frustrating for those who were planning on ordering them through Sale-a-Bration, but I'm glad that Stampin' Up! believes that quality comes first.

More of the White Stuff!

Would you believe we woke up this morning to more snow!!  It was just snow this time and no ice mixed in so it did not bother the roads as much.  But Sonny's skeet shooting got canceled and I decided to stay home instead of meeting a group in Davidson for lunch.  Sonny and I escaped in the afternoon and drove into town to get a sandwich.  It hasn't gotten above freezing today but tomorrow's high is supposed to be in the mid 40s!!  Yay!  Maybe I'll be able to have my Stamp Club on Thursday after all.  When I looked at the long range forecast, looks like we'll be in the 60s next Wednesday!!


Sonny and I spent a couple of hours today going through old photo slides that we had.  Ashley bought us a converter for Christmas.  We did pictures from 1982 and 1983 today!  So you can see, we have a long way to go!  Plus in the years before that, we had a movie camera and have those reels somewhere.  I'd like to find them and get them converted also.

New Items Added to Sale-a-Bration.  Starting March 1 and running through March 31, there are four new items you can earn during Sale-a-Bration – and they are all GREAT ones.  Earn one of these with each $50 order – OR add them to a Starter Kit when you join my team .   




Here is a card made with one of the new sets.  It was colored with Blendabilities!





AND let's not forget - Tuesday Weekly Deals

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

You Brighten My Day

Here are a couple of cards I made using the Sale-a-Bration set, You Brighten My Day.

My nephew and his family recently moved to a new home in Austin.  I made this card for them to celebrate their move.  I used a piece of the Adventure Bound DSP stack for the background and cut it with the Project Life Thinlet.  The houses are stamped onto Naturals card stock with the middle house heat embossed with white craft ink.  The little banner at the top uses paper from the Adventure Bound stack also.

This card is a CASE.  I love it!!  I stamped the light bulbs on Naturals card stock and cut each one out.  Then I popped them up on dimensionals and drew a black line to the bottom.

Each week, Stampin' Up! features a Sale-a-bration product to give you inspiration for projects.  This week, it's the You Brighten My Day stamp set.

Simply Wonderful

In need of a few Thank You cards?  I made a few last week using different stamp sets.  These two use a set from the Sale-A-Bration catalog called Simply Wonderful.  I also used Best Year Ever DSP.

For the card above, I made the card base Hello Honey and the banner Calypso Coral.  It is a really simple card to make and who doesn't like quick and easy???

This card base is Calypso Coral.  The ribbon is the chevron ribbon but it is in Pumpkin Pie.  I thought it matched these colors really well.  I masked the "Thanks so very much" stamp for the top 3 "thanks" and stamped in Memento Black Ink.  I used different colors of Blendabilities to color in the "thanks."  The DSP is Sale-A-Bration Best Year Ever.

Final Shoebox Swap Cards

A few more cards to share from the Occasions & Sale-a-Bration catalogs.

Balloons are from Balloon Bash (pg 13 - Occ.) and saying is a Sale-a-Bration stamp

DSP  from Sale-a-Bration

Stacked With Love DSP Stack and stamp from You Plus Me (both on pg 5 -  Occ.)

Hey Valentine decorated bag

Best Day Ever stamp and Best Year Ever DSP - both Sale-a-Bration

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.

Petal Parade .... going, going ..... almost over!

Sale-a-Bration is fast coming to an end.  You have until Monday to take advantage of getting something FREE!!  So I made several cards this week using some of the items from the Sale-a-bration catalog.

I have not really used this stamp (Petal Parade) much so decided to dust it off and stamp with it before it's too late!!  I also used the twine in Summer Starfruit that is a Sale-a-bration item.  I really love the twine and hope it will be an item in the new catalog this summer.  The DSP pieces I cut into banner shapes.  As much as I love the Sweet Sorbet DSP, the piece that I used here (with the black and multi-colors) is not my favorite and I have had a hard time figuring out how to use it.  But I really like the way it pulls the other colors out in this card.  So, looks like if you just use a small piece in a background, it will pull your card together.  I lined the Summer Starfruit and Pool Party arrows up using my favorite tool, my Stamp-a-ma-jig! Love that tool!  In fact, I lost mine a few months ago (still haven't found it) and have had to replace it.  I also used it to line up the sentiment.  I love how that sentiment (from Perfect Pennants) fit perfectly beside the pennants.  Believe me, I did NOT plan it!!  I don't tend to plan when making a card - I just stamp.  Sometimes that's a good thing, other times not so much.  On this card, I was originally going to stamp the sentiment on top of the stamped flowers.  When I looked at the card I decided there was too much white space at the top so set out to find a sentiment to fill it up.  This one was perfect, don't you think?

Don't know if you can tell, but I took this card outside to take my picture .... in the SUNSHINE!!  It's not warm but the sun did shine yesterday.  On Tuesday, we had a little more snow mixed in with rain in the afternoon!  Crazy!!  Today's temps are supposed to almost get to 60 degrees so we are getting there!  I just hope the weather will be nice for our Quarterly weekend (April 4-5).  I have been really busy getting everything made for it.  Can't wait to share some of the things I have made but I want to wait until after Quarterly so as not to spoil the surprise for those who read my blog.  Marianne and I have made some cute things (in my humble opinion!!)

Sonny is still feeling poorly although he did go skeet shooting yesterday against my advice.  He is in charge of the Catawba group and felt like he had to go.  But when he got home, he called the doctor and is going to see him today.  It's about time!  I'm still fighting it - I'm congested and have been really sleepy.  I went out yesterday and ran a few errands.  It was good to get out of the house but I took a nap about 6:00 pm!  I think I am just getting a cold and I can handle that!

Club Card #2

Today was such a beautiful day!  I went out this morning with a "hoodie" on and by the afternoon, was able to ditch it.  And tomorrow will be even better!!

We had a good time today at Stamp Club.  Here are the final two cards that we made with the Spring colors.  I am going to miss this Sweet Sorbet DSP .... it is so pretty!

I tried to make the cards simple but with a Wow factor.  This one uses the Sweet Sorbet DSP on a Pistachio Pudding card.  I sponged a little portion of the doily Cantaloupe with a dauber.  The little white piece of card stock is actually a little note card that Stampin' Up had a few years ago.  I had a whole package of them that I had never even opened so thought it fit well with this card.  I stamped piece on top with Cantaloupe ink from the Label Love stamp set.  It actually says "Just for You" but we stamped Happy Easter on a scrap, cut it out and adhered it on top of the stamped sentiment.  The twine that is thread through the button is from Sale-a-bration also.

Here is the final card again using Sale-a-bration products.  The card base is Sahara Sand.  I stamped my sentiment in Sahara Sand but I think it is too light so I had the gals stamp theirs with Baked Brown Sugar ink.  This card uses the Sorbet DSP and the Petal Parade stamp,

Club Cards #1

This week is Stamp Club. You can tell from looking at the cards I designed that I am ready for SPRING!! This has been the winter that will never end all over the country.  Monday and Tuesday was bitter cold here - never got out of the 30s either day.  Today wasn't so bad - It did get up into the mid 50s and I only had to wear a sweater when I went outside.  But tomorrow - the first day of spring - the predicted high is supposed to be 66 and Friday in the 70's!!  I'm more than ready.

My club cards are not only spring based but also use a lot of Sale-a-bration items.  This is the final month that you can get these items FREE - or for that matter, get the items at all.  After March 31, they will be gone (except for the Banner Punch.)

This card is one I CASE'd from Monica Gale, a UK demo.  I used the Deco Labels framelit for the opening. The banners are from the Sale-a-bration set, Banner Blast (love it!!) and punched out with the coordinating punch which will be in the 2014-15 SU catalog,   I used a couple of other Sale-a-bration items too - the Decorative Dots embossing folder and the Summer Starfruit twine which I love.  The sentiment is from the Happy Watercolor stamp set.

This is a fun card (above) similar to the one we made last week at Allison's.  I used Soft Suede cardstock cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2.  Fold it over without creasing and slide it into the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch, center and punch.  Next score at 4 1/4" from one side.  Cut away the pieces on either side of the scallops and crease one of the scallops - on the larger side.  Decorate as desired.  One interesting thing I did on this card is to stamp on the ribbon.  I used the Petite Petals stamp and Word Bubbles Bundle on the card.

Tomorrow is my eye doctor appointment.  I'm anxious to see what my vision is.  I'm starting to think I miss my old bifocals!  I've been wearing readers that I bought at Michaels for close up.  But taking them on and off constantly is a pain!!  Guess I'll get it figured out soon enough.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get whatever crud my husband has.  We think it is the flu even though he had his flu shot.  He said he can't remember ever feeling this bad before.  I better not get it!!!!

Paper Craft Crew Challenge

It's time for another Paper Craft Crew Challenge.  I made a card (with MDS) this time using Sale-a-Bration products.  This would be an easy one to reproduce (or CASE) and you wouldn't have to use MDS.

Sketch 

So, what do you think??

Stamp Club Cards for February

This week is my Stamp Club.  We made a Card in a Box project and 2 easy cards.  The Card in a Box was a rather lengthy project so I made sure to make the other two cards easy and quick.  I will share the Card in a Box tomorrow with directions.

The other two cards used items from the Sale-a-Bration catalog.  I wanted to use the Good As Gold kit so the gals could see what was included and how easy it would be to put together a card but that you could also amp up the card with things you have in your arsenal.

This is the card I made from the Sale-a-Bration Gold kit.  I used one of the banners that is written in another language and stamped the "hello" hexagon and put it over the foreign language greeting.  So you can use everything in the kit!  The kit comes with an envelope and a gold liner.  I cut a portion of the liner off the bottom to use it on my card.  Once you put the liner in the envelope, you can't tell that I cut any of it off.  I backed the polka dot card with a piece of Island Indigo cardstock BUT later discovered that by adding the additional card stock, it won't fit in the envelopes provided.  The note cards and envelopes are smaller than our standard cards.

The second card we did was about a 10 minute card!  

This is my Washi Tape Card.  Washi Tape is growing on me.  This is the Watercolor Wonder Washi Tape that is in the Occasions Catalog.  There are three rolls of tape in gold - stripes, plain and dots.  We just took strips of tape and put them in the center of the Naturals White card stock.  Stamp a sentiment from See Ya Later (Sale-a-bration) in Versamark and emboss with gold embossing powder.  Use dimensionals to pop up the sentiment in the center of the card.  Adhere the whole thing to a Naturals White card.  Easy Peasy!!