Sale-a-bration & Occasions Swaps

Well, the Super Bowl has come and gone and the team I was rooting for did not win.  In fact, not even sure they showed up for the game!  What a disappointment.  But I am happy for Peyton Manning (Denver QB) that he is going to retire (we think) with a Super Bowl win.  Always good to go out a winner!  I am really sick of hearing about all the hype about Cam Newton.  It is time to go on to other topics!!

A bit of news from Stampin' Up:  The Woodland Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (item 139673) has been so popular that we are going to do something that we don't normally do: we've decided to bring it back in the 2016 annual catalog! It will be available in the new Upcoming catalog this June. 

This is the final week for a few items from Sale-a-Bration - like this one - Sky Is The Limit.  This has been a very popular set.  If you want it, it will only be available until Feb. 15!  With a $50 order, you can get this set for FREE!

The SAB sets will be replaced with some great items.  Check them out HERE.


This next set (Flowering Fields) has also been a popular item and one of my fav's.  I like to put all the stamps on a large clear block and stamp them all at the same time.  Sure makes things easier!

These next swap cards are from (top) Botanicals For You and (bottom) Hello.  The Hello set will also be retiring Feb. 15.

This set is from the Occasions catalog and perfect for your special Valentine!  You can find these items on pages 16-17.

Here are more swap samples that come from the Occasions Swap at Quarterly.

I hope these cards have inspired you today!

Go Panthers!! plus Playful Pals

Well .... it is SUPER SUNDAY!  Go Panthers!!!  We are going to join some friends at a restaurant/bar in Mooresville to cheer on the Carolina Panthers.  (Yes, I can cheer for a team other than the Steelers!)  I even have a couple of Panther tee shirts!  It's just that Carolina didn't have a team when I became a Steeler fan - and they didn't have one for many years while I was cheering on the Steelers.  But as you can see below, I have my own little Panther.

She didn't like having her picture made and was roaring to get down!  But makes a cute picture.

Isn't this the cutest??  I love this card.  This is one I saw when I was at Quarterly.  I think this will make a great Valentine for someone special. 

Go Wild Collage Frame

My new neighbor's daughter had their first grandchild in October.  With the holidays and all the craziness in the fall, I wasn't able to get around to making something for him.  Well, finally I did and took it to her Tuesday.  She was thrilled!

Check out my baby collage.  She had told me that their nursery theme was animals so I dug out all the animal stamps I could find!  I used the DSP from Stampin' Up's Go Wild stack.  The animal images are from various stamps I had - not all Stampin' Up.

Occasions Catalog Swaps

I still have loads of samples to share with you.  These are some of the swaps I received at Quarterly. I tried to group them together so you can get an idea of the different variations you can make with each stamp set.

A Nice Cuppa (pg 35) comes with framelets, DSP Stack, embellishments as well as the stamp set.

These are from two different balloon sets - Balloon Celebration and Balloon Builders.  There is also a Balloon Bouquet Punch that punches large and small balloons.  (pgs 12-14)

Beautiful Ride (pg 15)is a great set for several different occasions.  

Birthday Blooms (pg 9) is a beautiful set - ideal for watercoloring or just using markers or Copics.

This is one of my favorites!  Botanical Blooms (pg 26-27) comes bundled with the gorgeous DSP and the Framelits Dies.  I just got this set late last week and haven't had a lot of time to play with it yet.

Don't miss this week's Weekly Deals.  There are some good things offered up at good prices.  The Mini Treat Bog Die is a great deal as is the Crazy About You stamp set!

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NC Demos SAB Blog Hop

Welcome to the first NC Demos Blog Hop!  A group of NC Stampin' Up demonstrators have decided to start a monthly blog hop.  We will be publishing our blog hop on the last day of the month.  So make sure you mark your calendars and check out our blogs and our great projects each month!

For January, we have decided to focus on items from the Sale-a-Bration Catalog.  Remember - for every $50 you spend, you can choose an item from Sale-a-Bration for FREE!!  There are some great stamps and papers in the catalog.  Also, there are a few items that are only offered for a limited time (pg. 16 - 18) so if you want one of those items, you'd better grab them now!

I love making Framed Collages so that is what I have done this month showcasing the Flowering Fields stamp set (pg 12) and Perfectly Artistic Designer Series Paper.  Instead of making my collage in a 12"x12" frame like I normally do, I found this frame on my shelf and decided to use it.  The opening is 9 1/2" x 7 1/2".  I matted each DSP square with Basic Gray card stock and matted the whole thing on Smoky Slate card stock.  You can see all the other items I used by scrolling to the very bottom of this blog post.

Next I made a card using the same stamp set and a few other goodies to go along with the framed piece.

I love the Pool Party Glitter Ribbon!  (pg 9 Occassions)  I also used other Sale-a-Bration items - Perfect Pairings (Hooray!) and Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum Stack (pg 4).  I hope you enjoyed my portion of the Blog Hop and will hop on over and see what Mary has made to share with you.

Shavron Borders

Regina Campbell

Tamra Davis

Kitty Helton

Jo Anne Hewins

Amy Ingram

Michelle Irinyi
Melissa Kerman

Tracie Langley

Sharon Maranich (you are here)

Mary Robinette

Sue Root

Pam Staples
Lisa Tedder
Frances Wagner

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Sunsets and Birthday

Well - I keep saying I am going to do better about posting my blog posts but so far, I'm not doing so well!  This week was a pretty busy one for me plus I don't even want to think how many pounds I put on.  I went out to eat every day this week and am going out tonight for my sister's birthday!  Monday Sonny and I went into town to escape the snow to the movies and had dinner at an Italian restaurant. This is the sunset that we saw when we came out of the movies!

Those cars in the picture are on I-77!

The day before I took some great sunset pictures from my back deck.

And the following day, I saw another beautiful sunset as I was driving home.  I tried to snap a few photos while I was driving but they didn't turn out so good!  (I know - not a smart thing to do.)

Tonight we are taking my sister (Angela) out to eat for her birthday which is Monday.  This is the card I have made for her using some new stamps that I just got yesterday.  I think I am really going to be using this large number set a lot.

Occasion Samples from Quarterly

I've got more samples to show you from Quarterly.  These are still some pictures I took of the Display Board.  I still have lots of swap card to share with you too!

GOING GLOBAL (pg 39)

GOING GLOBAL w/World Traveler Embossing Folder

GOING GLOBAL

GRATEFUL BUNCH (pg 22)  Love this color combo!

HAPPY HOME (pg 21) coordinates w/Hearth and Home Thinlets

HAPPY HOME

HELPING ME GROW (pg 20)  Love the way they stamped the flower on DSP and "fussy cut" it.

Background Techniques

At the Charlotte Quarterly, we did a Technique Swap.  Not many people signed up for it so I didn't have to do many to swap.  I really like the Bokeh Technique and that is what I decided to do.

 

 

Here are the other techniques that I swapped for: 

 

This next one - Salt Resist - is one I haven't tried.

There was also a Background class offered Friday morning.  I didn't take it but here are the unique backgrounds they completed using hot glue!!

We have had snow, ice, thundersnow, freezing rain .... you name it - if it's cold, we've had it the past few days.  It started after midnight Thursday.  I think we got a layer of ice; then snow; then more ice.  I have just stayed nice and warm inside working on a digital scrapbook and I finished it!!  The temps got above freezing today so a little melting has started.  But, our neighborhood has not been touched so I won't be driving in it for a while.  School was canceled Friday and has already been canceled for Monday - as well as my bridge game.  I like these kind of snowy days.  I can always find something to do but Sonny gets a little stir crazy!  He went out today and cleared a path in the driveway.  Then he drove my car and his truck up the driveway and I think he drove his truck to the post office just to see how the roads were. 

In the meantime, I just finished watching the Broncos beat New England (did my heart good to see Tom Brady's sad face!) and I am pulling for the Panthers to beat Arizona.  I usually pull for Arizona .... but not against the Steelers or the Panthers!  I think Carolina can beat Denver in the Super Bowl!

January Stamp Club cards

Luckily, the sun is still shining here this morning so my friends can make it to Stamp Club today!  I'm ready and feeling better today.  Think my cold is on it's way to bother someone else - just hopefully not Sonny!!

I wanted to do cards from the Occasions Catalog as well as throw in a little bit of Sale-a-Bration stamps this month.

More Occasion samples for you!

I am fighting a cold so a short post today.  These are a few more cards that I snapped a picture of from the display board at Quarterly.  Hope these are giving you some ideas for using the stamps in the Occasions catalog.

I have stamp club this week and will be sharing our cards from it using the Occasions catalog also.

Birthday Blooms (pg 9)  If you like to color or watercolor, this is a great set!

Isn't this paper gorgeous?  It is the Birthday Bouquet DSP on pg. 9

Birthday Blooms again - this time in a color resist technique.

Time to start on your Valentines! This beautiful Bloomin' Heart Thinlit Die makes it easy!!  (pg 16-17_

This valentine uses the stamp set, Bloomin' Love (pg 17)

Love this use of the Botanical Gardens DSP (pg 27)  You can get the DSP, framelits AND stamp set as a bundle and save 15%!!  What a deal!

This beautiful card was made by JoAnne Hewlins.  She won the WOW card contest with this beauty!  I can just guess at how long it took her to put this all together.  It will have to go to someone really special!  She used the Botanical Blooms stamp set and framelits.  Also, check out the pretty ribbon - you can find it in the Annual Catalog on pg 159.

Another beauty using Botanical Blooms.  I just love that leaf framelit!!