I'm still working on improving the look of my blog. How do you like these colors? I keep tweaking it to make sure it is easy for you to read so let me know if it is not.
We had a pretty cold weekend but that was ok. Marianne came over Saturday and we worked on our swap cards to take to Kernersville this weekend. I am doing a beginners class for the NC demonstrators on My Digital Studio and after lunch, we are going to do a card swap using products from the new mini catalog and the Sale-a-Bration catalog. I will be sharing those cards with you next week. Here is a sneak peek of mine -
I actually used the whole spool of this ribbon so now I need to order more.
On Sunday I spent all day on the computer working on my projects and presentation for next week's class. There is so much I want to share and teach but only so much time to do it! I hope the ladies come away with a better understanding of everything My Digital Studio2 can do!
I also spent the day Sunday watching football. I was quite happy with the results although, truth be told, I didn't really care if Atlanta or San Francisco won except for the fact that I had chosen San Fran. in our Football Pool. Since I chose both games correctly, I really moved up in the standings!! Don't think it will put me in the money, but Sonny might have a chance - he's in 3rd place right now. I've done pretty good and I'm only about 5 games back.
Here is a card I made last week using some retired items - the DSP and the ribbon. But I like the simplicity of the card. It could be used for Valentine or any occasion actually.
Have a good day. We are heading to the Y in just a bit. And this afternoon, we are going to the movies with the Golden Boys movie group to see Dark Thirty (I think that's the name).
Brrrr - it's sure turned cold here today! I was hoping to wake up to a yard full of snow, but no such luck. There is a dusting on our back deck and schools were delayed 3 hours this morning but that's about it. We went over to Horsefeathers last night to grab a burger and beer and coming home, a "wintry mix" was really coming down. It has been raining non stop since Monday and our yard looks like a swamp! But today the sun is out finally and the temperatures are supposed to reach the mid 40s!! Good day for making cards and drinking hot chocolate by the fire!
I had Stamp Club this week - and am actually having it again next Wednesday since 4 of the girls could not make it for one reason or another. These are a few of the cards we made this week along with the cards from THIS POST. They picked one of the Valentines to make and chose either the pink or turquoise birthday card.
This card used the new Hearts A Flutter bundle - stamp and framelits. Also the ribbon is the new Two-Tone Ribbon. I like the ribbon although it is not what I had pictured in my mind. I thought it was going to be 2 different colors but what it is is a blend of the two colors - Rose Red and Pink Pirouette. I had to go back to the catalog and read the description to figure it out. It is nice and silky and makes a very pretty bow. The "I Love You" is from the Bitty Banners stamp and framelit. The large heart was cut using the Hearts Framelits.
This is just a fun card! I recently bought this Patterned Party birthday set during one of SU's sales. It is such a great birthday set! It also has gifts and cake in the set but I just couldn't fit any more stamps on the card. On this card, I stamped the balloons separately, cut them out, and popped each one up. If you notice on the blue card below, I stamped all the balloons separately on the card using markers to color them - much easier!!
This card uses Papillion Potpourri (butterflies) and the Elegant Butterfly Punch - makes it super easy to cut out those butterflies!! I made a mask using the Labels Framelits and stamped the French background stamp on the Vanilla card stock. Next I stamped the "thanks" from the Vintage Verses Sale-a-bration set in Rich Razzleberry. After the stamping, I ran the piece through the Big Shot using the Houndstooth embossing folder. The butterfly was stamped onto Pretty in Pink and punched out. Super easy card!!
The challenge for the Paper Craft Crew this week also includes a color challenge. We are challenged to use Basic Gray, Melon Mambo and Old Olive. So, I turned to my trusty MDS2 and created this card.
Supplies used: Card Stock\Old Olive Embellishments: Taffeta Trimmings\Taffeta Trimmings - ripple melon mambo (re-colored) A to Z Woodpress - embellishments\A to Z Woodpress - uppercase l (re-colored) A to Z Woodpress - embellishments\A to Z Woodpress - uppercase o (re-colored) A to Z Woodpress - embellishments\A to Z Woodpress - uppercase v (re-colored) A to Z Woodpress - embellishments\A to Z Woodpress - uppercase e (re-colored) Taffeta Trimmings\Taffeta Trimmings - short bow melon mambo (re-colored) Stamps: Presto Patterns Overlays\Presto Patterns Overlays - script, Color = WHISPER WHITE Punches: Basics\1.25 Square Punch, Filled with: Designer Series Paper\Small Polka Dot\Basic Gray Small Polka Dot Photo Box filled w/Card Stock\Old Olive, Card Stock\Melon Mambo, Card Stock\Basic Gray
I got carried away and decided to create another card using the same criteria. What do you think? Designer Series Paper\Designer Kits\Days to Remember - designer series paper\Days to Remember - 2 Embellishments: Taffeta Trimmings\Taffeta Trimmings - ripple melon mambo Designer Kits\Love Birds - elements\Love Birds - patterned heart 1 (re-colored) Designer Kits\Love Birds - elements\Love Birds - patterned heart 1 (re-colored) Designer Kits\Love Birds - elements\Love Birds - patterned heart 1 (re-colored) Designer Kits\Love Birds - elements\Love Birds - patterned heart 1 (re-colored) Taffeta Trimmings\Taffeta Trimmings - short bow melon mambo Stamps: Designer Kits\Days to Remember\Days to Remember - heart group, Color = MELON MAMBO / Valentine Defined - love Card Stock\Textured Card Stock - Basic Gray Designer Series Paper\Small Polka Dot\Melon Mambo Small Polka Dot Card Stock\Old Olive Card Stock\Whisper White
As part of Stampin' Up's 25-year anniversary celebration, they are bringing back
some of our favorite stamp images from the last quarter century and
combining them into 12 sets, which will be released - one set per month - during
2013. Even better, along with some great classic images, each "Best of"
set will also include a never-before-seen image!
All Best of stamp sets will include 3-5 images, including a never-before seen image, and will be priced at $14.95.
While SU is releasing just one Best of stamp set per
month (with a new theme each month), all of the Best of sets will be
available until March 31, 2014.
A new flyer will be released every month for each new Best of set.
All Best of stamp sets are available in Clear-Mount only.
And that's not all ..... As a special incentive to collect the Best of stamps, starting in
February SU is including a collector's card and 25-year proof of
purchase sticker with every Best of set. Collect six stickers, and send
it in to redeem a FREE set of your choice valued up to $14.95! Free sets
must be redeemed no later than April 30, 2014.
This past week was Leadership and Stampin' Up announced a couple of key things. One being a kit for a guy. They introduced the new, very manly stamping kit: the Dude, You're Welcome! kit.
Guys don't always have the easiest time expressing themselves, but with the Dude, You're Welcome! kit, they'll have
Four wood-mount stamps (double-mounted) with the perfect sentiment for every occasion
Twelve 4" x 6" postcards in four different (manly) colors
Twelve gray envelopes
A Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad
An instructional guide (for the most novice stamper!)
Basically, the kit includes everything a dude needs to create the
perfect manly card that any woman would adore, all packaged in an
appropriately masculine box.
Check out the video:
Did you love the way he casually tosses aside the instructions?
Fortunately, this set doesn’t really need instructions for the man in
your life to make you a great heartfelt card. Order one of these sets for the man in your life. He may not say so,
but he’ll appreciate it and out of curiosity, he’ll use it! (And, maybe
if you’re really nice, he’ll let you use it, too!) And you’re better
half isn’t the only one who would benefit from this easy and fun set:
suggest it to the other men you know, too!
*******************************************************************************
That's not all the news!! Stampin' Up has had a great response so far to their experiment with single stamps.
So much so that they are making ten more never-before-seen images
available as single stamps available through March 31, 2013. And boy, are they cute ones!
Stampin' Up is now joining a lot of other companies who offer a monthly kit!! How fun!! The products will be delivered straight to your door!
It's so easy to get started. Simply sign up for the program starting TODAY (Monday) 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 SU sends you a unique, surprise kit with a project-cards,
journals, décor, and more! (They've even color-coordinated, measured, and
cut everything for you!)
Each kit includes stamps, ink, paper, and accessories-everything but adhesive.
Each kit gives you a 30-minute creativity escape.
They 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 is $19.95 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, they will offer a Try-It kit if you'd like to try Paper Pumpkin for one month.
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!
I had a very good weekend. Sonny has been talking about getting a new truck for over a year but because of the economy, he kept putting it off. Last week he went to a few dealers in the area and looked at different trucks. Friday he visited the Dodge dealership and found "his" truck! So he and I went together on Saturday and made the deal. He will be picking up his new Dodge Ram Truck tomorrow. He's pretty sad about trading his 13 year old Dodge truck - it's like a part of the family but it's time!! I would have preferred he get a different color but there was not any other colors on the lot of the truck he wanted. He likes the dark gray - I do too - it's just kinda of close to the silver truck that he is trading in.
After making the deal, we enjoyed a late lunch / early dinner. Surprisingly, Sonny wanted to try a Chinese restaurant. It was very good and what a presentation of the food!! Almost too pretty to eat!
The rest of the weekend was spent watching NFL football play-offs while I played in my stamp room actually making several cards which I will be sharing with you this week. Sammie was really funny. I have a small webbed trash receptacle next to my desk on the floor. She climbed in it to get a Q-Tip that was in the bottom and rolled around on the floor a few times before turning around (while inside) so she could peek out the open part! I was surprised she let me take her picture but she was pretty cute.
I found this picture of a card I made several months ago that I thought I had shared. It is a sympathy card using Fabulous Florets.
I was supposed to post this last week but just found it & I had not posted it. So ......One final Christmas project that you can put this on your "to do" list for next year! This little Santa Treat Box is sooo easy and is so cute!
SANTA TRIANGLE TREAT BOX
Red cardstock:4 ¼” x 11”
Score in half (@ 5 1/2”)
Score diagonally from top center to center fold on top and bottom.
Santa:
White :2 ½” Scallop Circle Punch
White:2 petals from 5 Flower Punch
White:5-6 small scallops from Itty Bitty Shape Punches
Pink:1 3/8” Circle Punch
Pink:½” circle punch
Black:Owl Punch
Black:4” x ½” strip
Black square for middle of belt buckle
Shimmer Paper:1” square punch
This is what I had written a few days after Christmas & thought I had posted it - we were still in Texas!
It turned pretty cold here and I'm loving it! The past two nights the temp. has dropped to the low 30's and only warming up to the 50s during the day. But I think today is supposed to be around 65. Which will be nice since we are driving to Gruen to have lunch and poke around the shops. Thursday we went to the outlet shops in San Marcos for a couple of hours. We also met up with my nephew and his wife and Jack IV for lunch. Jack is the cutest baby - just like a Gerber baby!! I can't believe he was a premie since he is such a chubby little baby. He'll be one in early February and is such a good baby. Jack and Katrina are doing really great with him. When we returned to San Antonio, we went to a naming ceremony for one of Ashley's friends' baby, Nora who was born in August. It was a Jewish ceremony held in their home. I learned that Jewish parents not only give their baby a secular name but also a Hebrew name which also has a connection to the past and honors those important people in the child's life. I am totally clueless about the Jewish faith but it was a very nice ceremony similar to the Christian christening. The thing that really got to me was how irrevelent the guests were. There were several young parents there with their children for the ceremony and the children were into the food that was laid out for the ceremony - putting their hands all over the cheeses, crackers, etc. We watched one little girl, about 4-5 years old who filled her plate with about 20 crackers and I never figured out where her parents were - they sure weren't supervising her! All throughout the ceremony, the children were fussing, talking, eating so much that it was hard to pay attention to the ceremony. It was just not very respectful to allow them to run wild during the ceremony. If it was a Christian ceremony and held in a church, they would keep the kids quiet (I hope!)
I had my flu shot today! I kept putting it off when I was at home before driving to TX and about talked myself out of getting one. But I kept hearing how bad the flu is supposed to be this year so Ashley brought a shot home to me yesterday morning and gave it to me before we headed out shopping. Now .... I better not get the flu! I didn't get to talk to my son for Christmas because they were all sick. My daughter in law sent me a text Christmas that they were so sick they could hardly move. My mom talked to Jeff yesterday and she said he sounded pretty bad. He told her that the flu had run through their family like wild fire - hitting all of them and even Darcie's grandparents who were visiting. So, I hope to talk to him later this weekend when he feels better!
Stampin' Up offers a challenge every two weeks or so for digital creators. It is open to anyone who has MDS or MDS2 - not just demonstrators. I have entered a few of their challenges and even got a Honorable Mention a couple of months ago. But I want to WIN!! This week the challenge is to create a journal to write your goals or New Year's resolutions down. They say that it can’t hurt your chances if other people think your sample is
grand too. So I would love your you to sign up at MyDigitalStudio.net so you can comment or just click on "like" or "favorite" on my journal creation! Here is a link to my journal but I think you have to sign up first (link above).
If you are a MDS creator, why not create something yourself for the challenge and post it!!
I had so much fun creating the journal. Here is what it looks like:
I got to play with my new stuff and let me tell you, I'm loving the Honeycomb embossing folder! I can see myself using it a lot!!
I wish now I'd gotten more stuff with my mini catalog preorder. At first glance, I wasn't totally in love with many of the products in the catalog. But as usual, as I've seen what others have done with the products, I'm wanting them!! But for now, I'll just make do with what I have!
This card uses the Polka Dot Parade DSP (pg. 164, #126902) in Rich Razzleberry along with Pink Pirouette card stock that is embossed with the Honeycomb folder. The banner is made using the Hearts A Flutter Framelits Dies. I also used a (SNEAK PEEK) item from the Sale-a-Bration catalog - can you spot it? It is the Petite Curly Label Punch. It works great with the stamps from Tiny Tags. Other punches used are the Itty Bitty Punches (flower) and the tiny heart in the center flag from the Owl Punch.
And another card using the Honeycomb folder. It would be nice to have a punch that matched the Honeycomb though. But until we do here is what I did for my card - embossed the DSP with the Honeycomb folder and just cut the individual hexagons out (I used Twitterpated DSP - pg 165). Then I just glued them to a few of the embossed hexagons. The stamp in the middle is another SNEAK PEEK from Sale-a-Bration called Vintage Verses. It fits nicely in the Labels Framelit Die. I really like the simplicity of this card.
It's Wednesday - time for my weekly challenge card with the Paper Craft Crew. We are excited to welcome 3 new
design team members this week. You may even recognize their name as all three
have been very consistent participants with the Paper Craft Crew and are
also Stampin' Up! Demonstrators. Here is this week's sketch:
We hope you play along this week.
You may flip or rotate the sketch, change or replace the shapes, but please make sure the general layout is recognizable.
Share a direct link to your creation,
not just your blog, using the InLinkz feature at the end of this post.
If InLinkz is down, please add a link with your comment.
If you don't have a blog, don't worry!
You can still use inLinkz by linking to your photo posted on Facebook
or a similar social media site.
The Paper Craft Crew Design Team are
Stampin' Up! Demonstrators and as such, we would like to see a minimum
of 2 Stampin' Up! products or stamped images used on your card but don't
let that stop you from participating.
Only those individuals that have at least 2 Stampin' Up! products or stamped images are eligible for any blog candy that may be offered along with being a "featured participant."
When uploading to online galleries, please use keyword PCCCS024.
POSTING END TIME: If you'd like to be considered as one of our Featured Friends, please be sure to link your project by Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 11:59 PM EST
VOTING: Voting on submissions starts on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 11:59 PM EST. Voting ends on Friday, January 18th at 10 AM EST.
Here is my card using My Digital Studio 2:
Check out the rest of the Design Team' creations HERE.
It's Tuesday - Digital Download Day!! Check out this week's new downloads, full of Valentine's Day stuff and spring things. Don't miss the Officially Awesome Valentines Designer Template with its tiny, trendy valentines that fit in tiny, trendy envelopes.
Did you get a tablet for Christmas? In partnership with Google Catalogs, Stampin’ Up! is thrilled to announce its first tablet-friendly catalog! It’s interactive, it’s easy–and it’s now available for iPad and Android tablets in the US.
To access the catalog:
Download the Google Catalog app (available through iTunes and Google Play).
Sign in using your Google or Gmail account. If you don’t have a Google account, you can create one by tapping the Sign Up button in the app.
After you have signed in, search for Stampin’ Up! in the Select Favorite Catalogs list.
Select Stampin’ Up! by tapping the small stamp icon next to the name, then tap Done.
Click the “Favorites” icon at the bottom of the app, then tap the Stampin’ Up! catalog cover to open it. That’s it!
Cool Features of the app:
Browse the catalog with ease on your tablet.
Get more information, see additional images (beyond what is available in the catalog), and zoom in on your favorite products.
Watch videos from our YouTube channel right inside the app! Jump to the Stampin’ Trimmer on page 180 (page 182 in the app) to see it in action.
SHOP ONLINE! Order products directly from the app with just a few taps through Stampin’ Up!’s online store.
Note: Google Catalogs is currently available in the US only and is not supported in Canada at this time. We will test this app in the US and make it available in Canada as soon as Google opens up their product to that market.
AND I have a new card to share with you!! I used some of my new goodies from the mini catalog to create this card. I made the flower vase using the Blossom Builder Punch and snipping away the top and bottom.
