More Snow Swirled Elegance...for Halloween!?

Before I get to today's project I have to tell you about the Digital Scrapbooking promotion that is happening right now!  Did you know you can access three FREE digital downloads through my online store?  Just click SHOP NOW and then select Free Digital Downloads to get yours today.  Not only that, every digital kit is on sale for 50% OFF!!  Yes, you read that right!  Click the Digital Scrapbooking button to the right of this post and check out the fabulous kits available at a great price!

Now for a non-digital project!  I know today is Halloween, but I couldn't resist showing you another Christmas card to get you in the festive spirit.  Tomorrow is November and it is time to get cracking on those Christmas projects!!  This card is another one I created for my Snow Swirled Kit-to-Go.  Have a look:

Holiday card featuring the Snow Swirled stamp set.

I really love the way the new Lacy Brocade embossing folder works with the tree image.  It really gives a tried and true stamp new life.  As I mentioned above, this card is part of my new Snow Swirled Kit-to-go.  The kit features the Snow Swirled stamp set, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake ink pads and all the materials to make 12 cards.  there are also options to purchase the materials without the stamps and ink for those who already own them.  Check out the details on my Kits-to-Go tab at the top of this page.

Chock-full of fun

So?  Did you get your order in to take advantage of yesterday's big sale?  I certainly did and got several sets that have been on my wishlist for a while!
For anyone who may have ordered the Chock-full of Cheer stamp set, here is a little inspiration for you:

Christmas card featuring the Chock-full of Cheer stamp set.

One of the things I like most about this set is the fact that it includes both images and sentiments, making it a great choice for the holidays.  This card will be featured at some of my upcoming classes and is also part of a new Kit-to-Go I am offering.  The kit includes the stamp set, a Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green ink pad and all of the materials required to make 12 cards.  There is also an option to purchase just the supplies if you already own the inks and stamps.  A great option for anyone who just can't fit a class into their schedule! 

Today's the Day!!

In case you missed the news, today is the BIG day! All stamps are ON SALE today only!!  Every stamp set, personalized stamp, individual stamp and cookie press stamp is 15% off.  Plus, orders placed through me via phone or email before 9:00 pm tonight will receive FREE SHIPPING!  That's a combined savings of 25%...it doesn't get better than this folks!  If you haven't already done so, get your list together and send me your order before 9:00 pm ET tonight.

Now for some inspiration...if you don't already own the Snow Swirled set you may want to add it to your order today.  Have a look at this card I designed for next month's classes:

Snowy Holiday card featuring the Snow Swirled stamp set.

Pretty, eh?  I love this neutral colour palette for Christmas.  I used Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla and added a little silver and champagne glimmer paper for some sparkle.

So....got your order together yet??  Remember, orders phoned or emailed to me before 9:00 tonight will receive FREE SHIPPING in addition to the 15% discount.  If you miss my deadline, you can till order through my online store and get the  15% discount until midnight MT (that's 2:00 am for us!)

BIG BIG BIG NEWS!!!

 

Ok, have I got your attention?  Stampin' Up just announced a never-before-seen sale coming up this Monday, October 29th.  For one day only all stamp sets, individual stamps, personalized stamps and Sweet Pressed Cookie stamps will be on sale for15% OFF!!!

Yes, you read that right. You can order any stamp sold by SU on Monday only for 15% off the catalogue price.  As if that weren't enough, to sweeten the deal even more I am offering FREE SHIPPING on all stamp orders placed on Monday too!!!  That's a combined savings of 25%!!!

Sorry for shouting so  much, but this is one seriously good deal. So get out your wishlist and get your order in to me by phone or email before 9:00 pm on Monday, October 29th.  If you miss my deadline, you can still place orders through my online store until midnight and receive the 15% off sale price but you won't be eligible for my free shipping offer.

One more thing...keep in mind that bundles that contain stamp sets are not eligible for the 15% off deal as they are already discounted in the bundle.  But you can still order the bundle on Monday and get free shipping on it!

What are you doing still reading?  Go get your catalogue and put your order together!  Go...hurry!  You don't want to miss this!

An Oldie...

Today's project uses one of the oldest Christmas stamp sets in the catalogue:  Snow Swirled.  It has stood the test of time because it features beautiful images as well as heartfelt sentiments.  Check it out:

Elegant Holiday card featuring the Snow Swirled stamp set with sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

I really love the look of that tree heat embossed in pewter!  It is just so elegant!  I also love the way the embossed background (done with the Lacy Brocade TIEF) echoes the patterns in the tree.  I decided to use only part of the image, cutting it out with the Window Frames Framelits.  I anchored the focal image with a bit of seam binding ribbon in Crumb Cake.  The sentiment banner features a string of pearls and one of my beloved Antique Brads.  This is another project I'll be featuring at my Card Buffet this Friday and Saturday...have you registered yet???

Christmas Blessings

Sometimes you see a card someone has made and you just have to recreate it.  That was the CASE (pardon the pun) when I saw this beautiful card I've added to my offerings at my Christmas Card Buffet this coming weekend:

Elegant Holiday card featuring the Christmas Blessings stamp set.

Pretty, no?  The original card didn't include the pierced border around the focal image, but I am so in love with my piercing packs that I couldn't resist adding that little detail.  I also used my new gold Stampin' Dazzle marker to add a bit of shimmer to the centres of the poinsettias, though it doesn't show up especially well in the photo.  I really love this stamp set, as it includes both beautiful images and sentiments, making it a great choice to create plenty of projects this season.  I can't wait to play with it some more!

Jolly Christmas

I just love the No Peeking stamp set from the Annual Catalogue.  It is one that I knew I had to own the minute I saw it.  This past weekend I put it to good use designing cards for my upcoming classes.  Check this one out:

Cute Christmas card featuring the No Peeking stamp set and Snow Festival DSP.

I think that little penguin is just about the cutest thing ever!  I was so tempted to fussy-cut him out and place him in a wintry scene, but that's for another project!  This card is for my upcoming Card Buffet and I had to keep it simple.  I just stamped him in black Staz On and then coloured his hat and scarf with my Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green markers.  I cut him out using my Hearts Collection Framelits and matted him on a larger heart cut from Snow Festival DSP.  I also used my markers to ink the sentiment stamp so I got the two-coloured image.  I embossed the card base with the Northern Flurry TIEF to add a little texture.  Quick and easy and oh, so cute!

Edited to add:  This card is a CASE of one done by Connie Babbert.  Thanks for claiming your work, Connie!  Sometimes I see something online that I like and then can't find it again to give due credit.   Thanks for sharing your wonderful designs!

CASE'ing Again!

Happy Monday everyone!  I can't believe another weekend is in the books...and that we're in the last full week of October!!  Where does the time go?  As a kid, I always used to roll my eyes when my Mom commented on how quickly time passes as you get older, but now I know exactly what she was talking about!  I spent my Sunday prepping for my classes this week.  Today I want to show you a card I made for my Christmas Card Buffet, coming up next weekend.  It is a CASE of a card my upline, Jamilla Ivits,  designed to showcase the Festival of Prints DSP stack.  Her original card used a stamp set I don't own, so I changed it up a bit to use the Ornament Keepsakes set that is part of  this month's promotion :

Festive Holiday card for FM81 featuring the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set, Festival of Prints DSP and sentiment from More Merry Messages.

Pretty, eh?  I love that the design uses narrow strips of different patterns of the DSP so you can get TONS of mileage from just one sheet.  I also love the little hints of bling with the scalloped strip of Champagne Glimmer paper and the green Glimmer brad.  Just enough to add sparkle without being overwhelming.  Now, it just so happens that this card also works for this week's challenge over at Friday Mashup.  It has been AGES since I've had time to participate in a challenge, which makes me a little sad because I LOVE them!  I'm so pleased that this week's challenge worked with what I HAD to get done!  If you have time, stop by the Mashup and check out what the designers did with this fun challenge!

Star Tree

Today I have a card that uses another sadly neglected stamp in my collection.  The Star Tree A La Carte stamp is one I ordered on my first new catty order last spring, yet it just now saw ink for the first time!  I know...I need help...or at least more time to stamp!!  I designed this an another option for my upcoming Christmas Card Buffet:

Simple Christmas card featuring the Star Tree stamp with sentiment from More Merry Messages.

I really love this image...which is why I bought it in the first place!  I stamped it in Versamark and then heat embossed it in gold.  I added some bling with a few well-placed rhinestones and then stamped the sentiment in Gumball Green ink.  CAS yet festive...just right for doing them in multiples.  If you haven't yet registered for my card buffet, there is still time.  Details are on the Upcoming Events page.  But hurry...seating is limited and time is running out!

Blingy Cheer

I've discovered a new favourite colour combo for Christmas:  Real Red and Early Espresso with a little Champagne Glimmer Paper thrown in for good measure.  Check out this card I designed with all of these elements:

Simple holiday card featuring the Scentsational Season stamp set with sentiment from Sweet Essentials.

This is another candidate for my Christmas Card buffet.  I love how quick and easy it is to stamp and cut out the mug and steam using my Holiday Collection Framelits.  The sentiment from Sweet Essentials works perfectly with the image and the stitched grosgrain ribbon adds a homey feel.  Then there's the bling!  I so love the new Champagne glimmer paper!  I am praying it comes back in a future catalogue to join the red and silver paper...they make such a happy little family!   Want more information about my upcoming Christmas Card Buffet?  Click the Upcoming Events tab at the top of the page and scroll down, but hurry, time is running out to register!

Circle Circus Christmas

Today I have a card I just LOVE!  Once again, I was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest...can you tell I spend WAY to much time on that site??  Here is my version:

Contemporary Holiday card featuring the Circle Circus stamp set with sentiment from Sassy Salutations.

I love the contemporary look of this card and the way the font of the sentiment just suits the overall feel of the card so perfectly.  It was super quick and easy to pull together using just Cherry Cobbler and Lucky Limeade ink, some red and silver glimmer paper and a bunch of different-sized circle punches.  This one is definitely going in my Christmas Card Buffet Line-up and is sure to be popular!  I was so inspired by this card I came up with a couple of other ideas using the same elements...stay tuned for more posts later this week!

Beribboned Ornament

How is it Monday already??  Where do the weekends go?  It never seems that I get through my To-Do List until Sunday night and just when I'm ready to relax, it's back to work!  Ah...can't wait to retire!  January 2026 seems a long way off!!
In the meantime, I have another card that I did with my monthly techniques group last week.  I CASE'd it from one I saw on Pinterest...what's not to love about Pinterest?!?  Check it out:

CAS Holiday card featuring the Curly Cute stamp set and lots of ribbon scraps!

Talk about a great way to use up your bits of ribbon!  I dug deep in my scrap bin for any shades of green ribbon I could find.  Even though they are all different, I think they work rather well together!  I added the red bits as an accent and finished it all with a bow.  I used the Festive Piercing template to pierce holes all the way around the ornament (did you know you can get that piercing pack for free this month?!)  The sentiment is stamped in Real Red and bordered with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch.  The rhinestones are simply coloured with a red sharpie!  Super easy and economical...try one today if you've got ribbon scraps laying around!

Finally Stamping again!

Well, after a few weeks of near insanity, things are finally getting back to normal in our household.  Our Austrian visitors have returned home safely and the Thanksgiving Holiday and Rockton Fair are behind us.  Now I have a few weeks of calm before the Holiday Season and all of it's accompanying craziness are upon me.  This week I held my monthly techniques group and we, of course, got started on Christmas cards.  Here is one we did that features the burnished vellum technique:

Christmas Card featuring the Snow Much Fun stamp set with sentiment from Pennant Parade.

I still love this stamp set!  The images are too cute and just beg to be coloured! Rather than watercolouring this image I used a combination of Stained Glass and Burnished Vellum techniques.   The DSP in the  background is from the Snow Festival pack...definitely going to need to order more of that stuff before long!  So many fun patterns for not only Christmas, but all winter long!  Now...off to clean up my stamp corner and finally get organized!

Another Angry Birthday

My son was invited to a birthday party today for a friend of his who is almost as into Angry Birds as he is!  So, of course, I had to pull out my punches again and create yet another Angry Birds birthday card! 

Angry birds birthday card for a 4-year old with sentiment from Grunge Rock (retired)

I'm getting pretty good at making these little critters by now!  For those of you looking for instructions, I posted a list of punches I used for various characters in this post.  They really are pretty easy to put together and the Angry Birds fan in your life will love them!

Whew!!

What a whirlwind of a weekend that was!  First of all, let me wish all of my fellow Canucks a belated Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope your weekend was spent with good company, good food and allowed for time to truly appreciate just how blessed we are here in Canada. 
I spent the majority of my weekend at the Rockton Fair with my Stampin' Up booth.  The weather wasn't always the greatest, but it was a terrific weekend in my corner of the Fair and I met so many who love SU as much as I do and many who were brand new to our products.  As always, I had great fun sharing what I love with many new faces.  Here are a few pics of my booth:

All ready to go!

Prepping the Make-n-take



Me with members of my Tri-City Stampers Team Laura Cupples and Jamie Anderson

 I would be remiss if I didn't thank several members of my team who helped me out over the course of the weekend so...a HUGE THANK YOU to Laura Bart, Laura Cupples and Stephanie VanDorp.  You  guys are the BEST!!  I couldn't have done it without you!

Now for the other big event this week:  Happy 8th Anniversary to my wonderful husband John!!  We had a chance to celebrate with a lovely dinner on Sunday evening, but today is our actual anniversary.  Hard to believe it's been 8 years! 

Now that the fair is over I'll have time to get back to some stamping, so I'll have some new projects to share soon.  Thanks for your patience!  Have a great week and I'll see you soon!

Still here!

I'm still here, in case you've been wondering!  I'm just in crazy mode getting ready for my weekend at the Rockton Fair along with working, entertaining our Austrian visitors and holding my monthly Tri-City Stampers team meeting.  I could use an extra 12 or so hours in every day this week!  I do have something new to show you, though!  This is a card I designed for one of the make-n-takes at our team meeting this week.  Have a look:

Fall-inspired card featuring leaves made with the Autumn Accents die and sentiment from the Pursuit of Happiness set.

Don't those leaves look real?!?  They're not!  They're just paper and ink and are really easy to make.  Lots of sponging and some distressing and they're ready to go.  I plan to do these with my monthly techniques group this month too...I just love them so much!  If I get REALLY ambitious and can find a few free hours I'd love to make a wreath with theses leaves...we'll see...maybe I might get it done in time for NEXT fall!  The rest of this card is pretty simple so that the leaves are the focal point.  I did use the woodgrain TIEF and some Core'dinations cardstock for the bark effect on the background and I added a bit of seam binding ribbon in Always Artichoke that I threaded through one of the gorgeous brushed bronze buttons.  Oh, how I love fall and the stunning colour...I'm so glad I was able to capture a little bit of if on this card!

BIG News!

I am completely swamped with Austrian guests and preparing my booth for the Rockton Fair this weekend, so I haven't anything new to show you just now; but I had to share this exciting news from Stampin' Up.  Starting this month, through the end of the year, Stampin' Up is conducting a pilot project offering stamps from select stamp sets for individual purchase.  They are starting with just sentiment sets and will re-evaluate at the end of the pilot project period to see if it is something worth expanding.  So...wanna know which sets you can purchase individual stamps from?  Here's the list.  Click the name of the stamp set to view the pdf with pricing information.

Word Play

Perfectly Penned

Seasonal Sayings



Here are some more details you should know:

• These stamps are available through me or  my online store. 
• You can find the stamp item numbers on the flyers.
• You won't see this offer promoted on the Stampin' Up!  website, however, the single stamps can be ordered in the online store.
• These won't be sent to you in our typical cases or packaging; they'll be packaged in cello bags. If you'd like a case for your stamp, you can buy our Clear-Mount Stamp Cases that come in packs of four (item 119105).
• This offer is available for clear-mount stamps only.
• The stamps won't come with a Clear-Mount Block, and you'll need to buy a block separately if you don't already have one. The recommended block sizes can be found on the flyers. 
• There's no limit on how many pieces you can buy.
• This offer is not available in Quebec.
• Remember that this is a pilot program, so take advantage of it while you can!

So choose your favourites and place your order today.  Would these make great stocking stuffers for the holidays?  I'm picturing a cute little treat box with a stamp inside....hmmm...the wheels are aspinning!!