New Catty is Live Soon!

...actually in just 15 short hours the new catalogue goes live!  I can't wait to get my hands on all the new goodies!  In the meantime I've been celebrating with an Open House all afternoon and evening today (hence the late post!) and will continue tomorrow morning.  It has been great fun showing all my customers the new catty and making some cute projects using some of the new product.  I have another card for you using the new pennant punch and coordinating stamp set.  This time its a baby card...

Baby Card inspired by the Nursery Nest Suite of products.  SO Cute!

Sentiments from the Pennant Parade stamp set, little owls from the Aviary set.

Inside of card using A to Z background stamp and sentiment from Word Play set.

Isn't this cute?!?  I love everything in the Nursery Nest Suite and since I can't get my hands on it till tomorrow, I thought I'd try to create a card inspired by it in the meantime.  To be honest I am just too darned tired to explain how I put this together tonight.  If you have any questions or there is something you just can't figure out I'd be happy to explain...just send me an email.  For now I am off to bed to rest up for a BIG day tomorrow!

Three Days and counting...

...can you tell I'm pumped about this new catalogue???  I'm not sure which I am more excited about:  the new catalogue going live or the start of my summer holidays.  Lucky for me they happen on the same day!!  Today's post is another sneak peek at one of the Make-n-Takes for my open house this Thursday and Friday.  I used the new pennant punch and the Just Add Cake DSP.  See what you think...

Open House Make-n-take #2 using Pennant Parade set.

Inside of card with sentiment from Bring on the Cake set.

Since yesterday's card was pretty and feminine I wanted to do something contrasting and figured bright, cheerful and fun was a good way to go.  I chose my colour palette from the DSP, using daffodil delight, wild wasabi, peach parfait and poppy parade.  It makes for a fun birthday card suitable for just about anyone!  I can't wait for my open house when I get to share this fabulous new catalogue with all of my customers.  It promises to be a terrific event!

The Countdown Is On...

...only four more days till the new catalogue goes live!!!!!  I am SOOOO pumped to get my hands on some of the fantastic new goodies!  My order is ready, my credit card is warmed up and I am set to welcome the new catty with a bang!  To celebrate the arrival of our brand new catalogue, I am holding an open house this Thursday and Friday.  Details are on the Upcoming Events tab at the top of this page.  Tonight I'm going to show you one of the Make-n-Take projects my guests will be doing at the big event.  Check it out:

New Catty Open House Make-n-take Sneak Peek using the new Faith in Nature hostess set as well as the En Francais background stamp

Close up of the focal image

This card uses lots of new products!  In addition to the hostess set (my fav so far) I also used one of the new in colours:  Wisteria Wonder (isn't that a great name?!?) as well as the new lace ribbon border punch. I really like the way this turned out and it was quick and easy too!!  Perfect for a make-n-take! 
This is going to be a great week...school finishes for the summer on Thursday and Friday the new catty goes live...could it get any better???

Beautiful Birthday Card

One of the great things about having friends who are as crazy about stamping as I am is that I get some great cards for various occasions.  My friend Christine Kokiw made me a gorgeous card for my big day yesterday and I just have to share it with you all.  Check this out:

Beautiful Birthday card made for me by my stampin' buddy Christine Kokiw

This was her first attempt at a dahlia fold...not bad, eh?!?

She even made the inside pretty!

Ok, so it is widely known that I have a thing for layers and embellishments on my cards.  I am often teased because of my addiction affinity for all things pretty and Christine made sure she made a "Leena-esque" masterpiece for me.  I have to say I LOVE it!!!  First of all, she used one of my favourite DSP packs of all time:  Cottage Wall.  Secondly she used some of my favourite embellishments (pearls and ribbon) and thirdly she used LOTS of layers.  Everyone at my party yesterday thought it was stunning and so do I!  Thanks so much for working so hard on my birthday card, Christine!  It is just perfect!!

The Big 4-0

Yep...I'm officially old.  Today I turned FORTY!  How the heck did I get this old?  I remember my mother's fortieth and I remember thinking "Wow...she's SO old!"  Now that old lady is me...yikes!!  The only upside to hitting a milestone like this is that it gives everybody an excuse to throw a party and we had a great time with family and friends this afternoon.  Lots of great food (thanks to my mom, brother and SIL) and great company.  Because I had a house full of people all day I didn't get down to my stamping corner (I thought it might be a bit rude) so I don't have a card to share with you today.  However I did get some BEAUTIFUL handstamped creations for my birthday and I'll share them with you tomorrow...stay tuned.  In the meantime enjoy your Saturday night...I hope you're feeling your age a little less than I am today!

A promise kept...

Last night I was just too tired to stamp anything to post.  Tonight I was too busy!  I just finished my Hostess Appreciation event and it was a blast!  My hostesses from the past year got spoiled silly and we had lots of fun, games and, of course, stamping!  Now don't click away mad...I do have a card for you!  It is the card I designed for my guest design gig over at A La Card Monkey.  The theme and sketch were a little tough, given that I am Canadian.  Have a look and see what I mean:

Interestingly, the challenge at the Pals Paper Arts this week is to use stars as a design element.  So, I don't have much in the way of patriotic American stamps, but I do have lots of red, white, and blue ink and cardstock and I have stars....so here is what I came up with:

"Patriotic" Red, White, and Blue card for Monkey62 and PPA99 using Grunge Rock and Extreme Elements stamp sets

Close up of focal image

Inside of card

I really love working with these two stamp sets.  They are so easy to layer and have fun with and, let's face it, they're cool!  I also got to use my spritzer tool on this card, which ALWAYS makes me happy!  The sentiment is from a retired Level 2 hostess set called Something to Celebrate and was just perfect for this card.  In the end, what started out as a major challenge ended up as something I really like!  Thanks so much to the ladies over at A La Card Monkey for giving me another guest designer experience...always such fun!

Feeling my age...

On Saturday I will turn 40.  Today I feel 100.  I am SOOO tired and worn out.  This school year has been a killer and I finished it off today with some BAD guitar performance exams.  Yikes....they were terrible.  Like run-from-the-room-screaming terrible.  I didn't, but thought about it...several times.  In the end I suffered through them all and now I am just plain tired.  I feel like the worst teacher ever and I need to sleep.  I spent the last two hours working on stuff for my event tomorrow night and now I just need to go to bed.  I will have something new for you tomorrow, I promise.

Clean and Simple for the Paper Players

If you've been following my blog for a while, you likely know that I don't do simple very well.  I find it very difficult to create a clean and simple card without layers and embellishments.  This week's challenge over at the Paper Players was REALLY tough for me, but I wanted to give it a go and come up with another make-n-take for my hostess appreciation night on Friday.  So here is the sketch:

...and here is my card...

CAS card for PP52 using the new Faith in Nature hostess set.

Close up of the focal image...sentiment is from Pocket Silhouettes

Sooooo...not sure I like this clean and simple thing.  I miss my embellishments!!  No ribbon???  No buttons or brads???  I feel naked!!!  You'll notice I couldn't resist adding just a touch of bling to the centre of the flower...a girl's gotta be able to live with herself, you know??
So what do you think of the new in-colours?  I am IN LOVE with pool party, which is what I used in this card.  I paired it with concord crush and a touch of lucky limeade for the stem.  I watercoloured the whole image with my aquapainter...I hate to say it but my blender pens are feeling neglected!   I just love how easy it is to get great colour effects with the aquapainter.  I'll have to show my blender pens some love soon...stay tuned.  There isn't much more to say about this card other than it took me a lot longer than one would think.  I did a lot of trial-and-error stuff before I got the finished product.  The good news is, my hostesses will love it and it will be a quick and easy card for them to make.
On a completely different note, I FINALLY started my swaps for convention.  I have 200 to make for various organized swaps I'm in and just tonight got going on them.  I knocked off 50 for a pre-convention event...I'd love to show them to you but don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone out there who may also be in the same swap.  I will take photos and post them for you the day of the swap.  In fact, I plan to post every day I'm at convention...I'm sure there will be a ton to blog about!  In the meantime, I need to go put my son to bed.  Be back tomorrow...

Simple Cheerful Treat project

Today's post is another project I designed as a make-n-take for my hostess appreciation night coming up this Friday.  It is a cute little wine bottle tag, perfect to add to your favourite beverage the next time you're invited to dinner.  We are heading to my husband's sister's on Sunday  for a BBQ and this will be perfect to add to a yummy bottle of ready-to-serve-chocolate martini!  Check it out:

Bottle tag using the Pretty Postage set (from the Summer mini, but also in the new Catty!!) as well as Cheerful Treat Hostess-only DSP.

Flowers were punched using my boho blossoms punch...one I neglect far too much!

Isn't this a cute little tag?  My hostesses are going to love it even more when they see what they're going to receive to to with it ;o)  I can't wait to spoil them all silly on Friday night!  We are going to have a blast!  I have lots of games and prizes for them and one more project which I'll post tomorrow.  I am so busy with school work and getting ready for this event I haven't even had time to think about designing anything for this week's challenges.  Here's hoping tomorrow night is a creative one! 

Some more Sneak Peek fun...

Today's card is a simple one, compared to yesterdays!  This weekend I was working on designs for the Make-n-Takes for my Hostess Appreciation event this Friday night.  I want to use all new products to showcase the upcoming catalogue as well as to promote the new Hostess plan.  Here is one of the cards I came up with:

Cheerful card made using the Hello Blossoms A La Carte stamp from the Summer Mini and the Cheerful Treat DSP from the upcoming new IB&C

I kept this card really simple, knowing that I have LOTS of other fun activities planned for my Hostess Night.  I like the way the flowers from the stamped image are echoed in the DSP...I also LOVE the colour combo:  melon mambo, concord crush and lucky limeade...can't go wrong with such yummy colours!
I am SO excited about the new Hostess program and cant' wait to tell all of my past hostesses about it.  If you'd like to learn more I'd be happy to explain it to you too!  Just drop me a line and I'll give you the deets!

Till tomorrow, happy stamping!

Sunflowers for a colleague and MU11

Last week I was asked to create a retirement card for a colleague.  She is leaving teaching to go on to bigger (and better!) things...can't say I'm not envious!!  Anyhow, she loves sunflowers and I was asked to do something with them for her card.  I SOOOOO wish I could order the one of the new background stamps from the new catty in time...when you see the new catty you'll know which one I'm talking about!  But since I can't order it until July 1st and the lady's retirement party is June 28th, I had to improvise.  I got out my Build-A-Blossom stamp set and punch and went to town.  Conveniently, sunflowers are also one of my favourite things about summer which means this card also works for this week's Friday Mash-up challenge, which is to create a summer-themed project with polka dots.  So...here is my card:

Sunflower card for a colleague and for MU11 using the Build-A-Blossom stamp set with sentiment from the Word Play set.

Inside of card using Love and Care and Occasional Quotes hostess sets.

 So this card is BIG...it had to be to allow enough room for everyone on our staff of 60 to sign it.  I also made it so that the inside opens up to reveal a full 8 1/2" x 11" area for signatures.  The sunflowers on the front were made by stamping the solid petal image in more mustard ink on daffodil delight cardstock.  I then stamped the shaded petal over top using peach parfait ink.  The result are petals with lots of depth without the extra effort of sponging each individual one.  I punch each petal out using the build-a-blossom punch and then textured them using my stylus and the foam from my mat pack.  It makes them curl a little and gives them dimension that makes them look almost real.  The centres of the flowers are punched from chocolate chip cardstock, sponged and then covered with Crystal Effects and clear micro beads (retired), again to give them texture and depth.  The leaves are also made using the Build-A-Blossom set but this time I stamped the largest solid petal image in wild wasabi ink on cardstock of the same colour.  I then stamped the shaded petal of the same size over top in garden green ink.  To make them look like leaves, rather than petals, I just turned them around so the narrow end was showing.  I again textured them using my stylus and mat pack.  The rest of the card is pretty simple and straightforward.  It had to be with those big flowers on the front!  I really hope my colleague likes this card...it took me quite a while to make!!

Finally stamping again!

My crazy week has ended, I am finished my course (YAY!) and there are only 1 1/2 more days of classes before exams.  Even though I have a TON of marking to do, I did manage to find a bit of time to get down to my stampin' corner this afternoon.  I felt guilty being inside on such a beautiful day, but I was missing my stamps and ink...it has been nearly a week!!  That's far too long and I often find my creativity is a bit stunted when I've been away for this long.  So, to get my mojo working again, I created a card using the sketch from this week's challenge at Pals Paper Arts.  Check it out:

Since I had Mr. UPS pay me a visit this week, bringing a pack of the new hostess-only DSP, I decided to crack it open and use the colour combo as the basis for my card.  Here it is...

Card for PPA98 using the new My Friend stamp set from the soon-to-be-released new IB&C.

Close up...sentiment is from the Perfect Punches set.

I just love this colour combo:  concord crush, melon mambo and lucky limeade.  It is so fresh and rich. This card features several new products from the upcoming Idea Book and Catalogue:  My Friend stamp set (p.139), Cheerful Treat DSP (p. 11) and the Lace Ribbon Border punch (211).  I'm including page numbers because Stampin' Up! has set Monday as the date we demonstrators are allowed to release our new catalogues.  Yep, you can get your hands on the new catty as of Monday, gals!  If you'd like me to send you one, drop me a line and I'll get one to you pronto.  Now, keep in mind you won't be able to ORDER from the new catty until July 1st at noon, but you sure can get started on your Wish List!  I sure have...mine is 4 pages long!!!  My credit card is going to get a serious workout come July 1st!
I'll be back tomorrow with some more sneak peeks at what you'll see in the new catty...till then, happy stamping!

A Black & White Threefer...

This week is going to be a little nutty.  It is the last full week of classes and as such I have a TON of marking to do, not to mention being out two nights this week for my senior recitals.  I likely won't have much time to stamp between now and Friday, never mind getting a photo taken and posting it for you.  I will do my best, but no promises.  The good news is that after this week my life becomes much simpler as I head into exams and the end of the school year...yippee!!
I did get a chance to whip up a quickie for you tonight.  It is a threefer for the Stamping 411 sketch challenge, the Handstamped Sentiments wedding challenge, as well as the Just Add Ink Black and White challenge.  First of all here is the 411 sketch:

 I like that this sketch is so simple...it made this card easy to pull together quickly...

Card for JAI71, HSSWD & SSC207...sorry about the blurry image...not sure what's up with my camera!

Sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes, frame from Four Frames sets...and then of course there's the Medallion!

Inside of card

This was super fast and easy to put together...good thing because I had literally 15 minutes of stamping time before my husband left for the evening and I was on full-time Mommy-duty!  Here is what I did:

Starting with a piece of textured basic black cardstock I stamped the medallion image using frost white shimmer paint.  After it dried, I ran it through my Big Shot with my Finial Press embossing folder.  I tried sponging the edge using shimmer paint...don't try it...it doesn't work!  I just ended up with a gloopy mess, so I tore the edge of the cardstock to get rid of it.  I then layered it on a slightly larger piece of whisper white cardstock, which I also tore to match.  I wrapped a piece of white satin ribbon around and added a clear rhinestone brad.  I then stamped the frame and sentiment in basic black ink on a scrap of whisper white cardstock and then punched it out with my decorative label punch.  I added a row of rhinestones and adhered it to my card using dimensionals.  For this inside I stamped the medallion again in basic black on whisper white cardstock and adhered it.  See...told you this was a fast and easy one!

Another weekend in the books!

Unlike last weekend when I felt like I was spinning my wheels and accomplished next to nothing, this weekend has been a productive one.  Yesterday I held my "Out with the Old" Stamp-A-Stack.  It was a great morning with lots of stamping fun.  One of my customers arrived with a treat for our family...check this out...

How fun is that??  This lady, who is also a fellow teacher, made this giant oatmeal chocolate chip cookie!  My son LOVED it and we all dug into it after dinner last night.  It was as yummy as it looks!
Today I prepped for this week's class and got two of my final three assignments for my course done...what a relief that was!  Just one more to go...I'll be SO glad when I'm finished...it will mean more time for stamping and more attention for my business.  I also managed to do a little stamping.  I made this card for both the A La Card Monkey and the Paper Players challenges.  The Paper Players is a colour challenge this week, using the colours wild wasabi, melon mambo and daffodil delight.  I decided to use those colours with the Monkey sketch shown below...

So here is my two-for-one card:

Card for PP#51 and Monkey #60 (turned upside down!) using the Fabulous Florets stamp set from the Summer Mini...and the NEW IB&C!!

Close-up of the watercoloured flowers.

I was so happy to see the Fabulous Florets stamp set in the new catalogue.  It is a great one to play with and such fun to watercolour!  Here is how I put this card together.

Starting with a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Beyond the Garden DSP, I stamped the stem image twice using Versamark ink and then heat embossed them using wild wasabi embossing powder.  I matted that on a 4 1/8" x 5 3/8" piece of melon mambo cardstock.  Setting that aside, I stamped the larger flower once and the smaller one three times, using Versamark ink, on a scrap piece of whisper white cardstock.  (Normally I would using watercolour paper, but I am out and am waiting to order the new, larger-sized pieces in the up-coming catty!)  I then heat embossed them using melon mambo embossing powder.  Next came the fun part!  Using my aquapainter, I coloured the flowers using daffodil delight and melon mambo ink.  I then fussy cut each flower out, arranged them on the stems and adhered them using Tombow liquid glue for some and dimensionals for others to give some depth.  On another scrap of whisper white cardstock I stamped the sentiment in wild wasabi ink.  I trimmed the cardstock into a banner, sponged the edges in melon mambo ink,  and adhered it to the cardfront.  I added a brad and then adhered the whole cardfront to a wild wasabi cardbase.  That's it...pretty simple to put together, but quite pretty, I think!

One more Flirtation for this week...

It has been such a busy week with an equally busy weekend ahead!  This is crunch-time at school...the final few days of summatives before we head into exams.  Summer still seems like a long way off, knowing how much I still have to get done at work and for my course.  The good news is that the end IS in sight...I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and I'll get there...I hope!  Today's post is a quick little bookmark I made for our monthly team meeting swap.  There were no rules other than to make a bookmark, so of course, I had to use some sneak peek products for mine!  Have a look...

Cute little book mark using a host of new products from the upcoming IB&C...can't wait to share this new catty with you all!

This was super-easy to put together, with one exception...threading the strip of Flirtatious fabric through that button was a HUGE pain in the neck!!!  And I did TEN of them!  I certainly won't be doing that again (though I do like the look!).  The other new products I used include the Delicate Doilies stamp set, Flirtatious DSP and the Lace Ribbon border punch.  I cut the base of the bookmark out with my Two Tags die and my Big Shot.  This bookmark is a bit unique in that it is designed to slide onto the page...you can see in the photo that it is hanging from a piece of cardstock.  I achieved that by adding a second scallop circle punch-out on the back that I adhered using dimensionals across the top portion of the circle.  The bookmark then slides over the page and stays put better than just tucking it between pages.
Ok...that's all I have time for tonight...I have to get ready for my "Out-With-The-Old" Stamp-a-Stack tomorrow morning!  I have some ladies coming to help me use up my retiring DSP and ribbon on 12 cards each!  Busy, busy, busy...

More Flirtatious Fun!

I am really loving the items from the Flirtatious Suite in the upcoming catalogue.  The DSP is fabulous and I love the die-cut doilies!  The coordinating stamps are so versatile and match the paper perfectly.  Today's card is one I did for this week's challenge over at The Paper Players using the doilies from the DSP pack as well as one of the new In-Colours:  Wisteria Wonder.  Check it out...

Thank You card for The Paper Players Challenge #50 using Delicate Doilies stamp set from the upcoming IB&C and Sincere Salutations sentiment set.

Inside of card using the new Lace Border punch.

Isn't this pretty?  I love the softness of Wisteria Wonder...such a subtle shade of lilac with a hint of gray...very nice.  I pulled out my Sincere Salutations sentiment set for this card.  That set is an oldie but a must-have for creating cards for just about any occasion.  I also love that all the sentiments fit in the decorative label punch...so easy to add to any card.  The images behind the sentiment were stamped with the new Delicate Doilies set, part of the Flirtatious Product Suite in the new catalogue.  Also a part of this suite is the Lace Ribbon border punch, which is what I used for the inside of the card.  It is fabulous (which you've already seen in my last few posts!) and I cut it in half here to give a lovely, feminine accent along the bottom of the card.

Sneak Peek #3: Pennant Parade

I often blog about the perks of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator...there are many...I LOVE what I do!  A new one that SU just announced is the new Title Benefits for demonstrators who promote through a combination of sales and recruiting.  Starting with the new IBC pre-order, demonstrators  who are at the level of consultant or better have the opportunity to purchase pre-determined bundles of new products at a discount or even free!  The product bundle I had the option to purchase includes tons of fabulous new products all designed to coordinate.  Here is a card I put together using some of the products in  my bundle:

Card made using several products from the up-coming Idea Book and Catalogue


Isn't this fun??  I love the bright, cheerful colours in this new DSP.  It is called Just Add Cake and is the same DSP I used for yesterday's baby card!  Talk about versatile!  I also used the new pennant punch...so great to have a triangle-shaped punch to play with...imagine the punch art possibilities!  I also used the stamp set that coordinates with the punch called "Pennant Parade".  I just love how easy it is to create with Stampin' Up!'s products!
If you haven't reserved your copy of the new catalogue yet do it today!  I can release them as of June 20th, but need to know how many copies to order, so do let me know if you would like one.  My contact info is int he right sidebar.  You won't want to miss this one!!

Another Sneak Peek...this time for baby...

One of the things I love about Stampin' Up! is the versatility of their products.  Even though a product line may be designed with one theme or use in mind, it so often lends itself to other used.  The card I have for you today is a perfect example of that.  First...have a look:

Baby card made with items from my new IBC Sneak Peek...

Inside of card...sentiment is from God's Blessings set

Now, the letters on the front of the card are punched out from the Just Add Cake DSP.  This came as part of a bundle I earned at a discount through sales and recruiting.  The paper is definitely bright and cheerful...perfect for birthdays and kids cards.  When I turned one of the pieces over...viola...a whole sheet of letters in baja breeze and white!!  I immediately thought baby card and set about putting this together.  The front actually uses no stamps at all!  Just the letters and the gorgous new lace border punch, along with my Big Shot and Perfect Polka dots embossing folder.  For this inside I wanted to carry something over from the front and had a scrap of punched lace leftover, so it was a natural fit.  This card literally took me 10 minutes to make.  I LOVE fast and easy!  Thanks Stampin' Up!...I love these new products!

Hostess Set Sneak Peek: Faith in Nature

You are going to love the selection of hostess items in the new catalogue!  There are NINE stamps sets, two digital content CD's and a pack of 12x12 DSP to choose from.  The coolest thing is that under the new hostess program you can earn any one of these items with just a $200 workshop!!  But wait, there's more...you won't want to stop at just a $200 workshop when you see that you will earn any item in the catty at 50% OFF with a $525 workshop!!  Have you been coveting the Big Shot?  How would you like to get it for half price???  The new hostess program is FANTASTIC, offering more flexibility and incentives for hostess.  The card I have for you today is one that I made with one of the new hostess sets called Faith in Nature.  It is the one set I just had to pre-order...I think you'll understand why...

Card made using the Faith in Nature hostess set from the upcoming 2011/2012 IBC

Close-up of focal point.

Isn't this lovely?  It was so easy to pull this card together and the image was super-easy to watercolour.  It is a perfect one for novice stampers to learn to watercolour with an aquapainter on.  It was especially easy to colour because I heat embossed the image in gold, which makes the lines raised...its almost impossible to colour outside the lines when you do that!  You may notice the waterspots on the more mustard mat...they are from the French Foliage set which was in last year's Holiday Mini...its back in the big book!!  I am thrilled about that because it is a set I loved working with.  The card base is stamped with the En Francais background set, which is also continuing in the new catty.  There are SEVEN new background stamps plus two from last year's holiday mini in this catty...lots of great ways to add texture or create a quick and simple card with a large image. 
So, have I whetted your appetite yet?  Are you dying to see the new catty?  If so, drop me a line and reserve your copy.  I charge my cost which is $5.00...or better yet, host a workshop and get yours free!  You won't want to miss all the new goodies!  Catalogues are available for distribution on June 20th and go live on July 1st.  What a way to celebrate Canada Day, eh?

Oooh Baby...my new catty is here!!

Sorry I'm posting so late...I've been busy since I got home from work drooling over my copy of the new catalogue!!!  There is SOOO much gorgeous stuff in there and I know I've missed half of it!  I started my wish list but had to stop when I hit four pages!  My poor, poor bank account...it will never be the same come July 1st.  Along with my catalogue came my sneak peek pre-order.  Of course I was torn over whether to spend the evening with the catalogue or playing with my new toys...so I did a little of both.  The following card is for the Paper Players "Anything Goes" challenge this week and uses several of the fantastic new products:  new DSP called "Flirtatious (the doily is cut from it), a new lace ribbon border punch (this may become a new favourite!), and the Delicate Doilies stamp set.  I LOVE IT ALL!!  You will too...check it out...

New catty Sneak Peek using Delicate doilies and Happy Greetings stamp sets

Close up of sentiment from the Happy Greetings set in the Summer Mini

Inside sentiment from You're A Gem set from the Occasions Mini (it made the new Catty!!)

So...whaddya think?  Could it get any more girlie?  I just love this feminine look and everything in the Flirtatious Suite is just as pretty.  You are going  to love it, I promise!  For now, I'm off to bed to spend some more quality time with my catalogue!  I'll be back with another sneak peek tomorrow!

Hello, Good-bye...

...yes, this is a Beatles song...one of my son's favourites thanks to Beatles Rock Band...but it also is what today was all about.  The new catalogue Sneak Peek and pre-order for demonstrators began today and let me tell you, I did some serious damage to my credit card!  There are some terrific new products in the new catty...I can't wait to get my pre-order...with any luck it will be here by Friday and I'll have the weekend to play with my new goodies!  Today was also the day that the Last Chance lists were released.  That means we'll be saying good-bye to some favourite stamps, decor elements and accessories.  Click on the buttons in the right side bar to view the lists.  You should know that everything but stamp sets are while supplies last only.  That means if you don't act soon you may be out of luck.  Some of the accessory items are even reduced by as much as 40%!! 
Now on to some projects...I've been planning my "Out-With-The-Old" Stamp-A-Stack for quite a while now.  I was waiting for the Last Chance Lists to be posted so that I could see what was retiring and use up those products.  So...since ALL the DSP in the current catty is going bye-bye, I used LOTS of it on the designs for this event.  Here are the 6 designs we'll be doing:

Guests will do one of each baby card

I know there are a lot of birthday cards here...I tried to do a feminine one, a masculine one and a child one.  The good news is that all but the child one could have the sentiment changed to suit whatever occasion is on the family calendar for the summer.  The details for this event are posted on the Upcoming Classes and Events page...just click the tab at the top of this page.  I hope you can join us as we bid a fond farewell to some wonderful products!