Happy New Catty!!!

Today is the day we've all been anticipating for months.  The new Annual Catalogue goes live TODAY!  We can begin placing orders today at Noon MT...let me tell you, I've got a whopper to go in as soon as I get home from work!
Speaking of work, I have the last of the cards I made for my retiring colleagues.  This one is for our Office Manager, who is one of the nicest, most helpful, kindest ladies you will ever meet.  She is also the one who runs our entire school.  Some schools are run by the principal...ours is run by this lady.  She is the BEST and we will sorely miss her when she is gone.  She is a former student of our school, so retiring is a HUGE deal for her...she has been at our school, literally, her whole life!  Here is the very special card I made for her...

Pretty card for a special lady, featuring the Bordering on Romance stamp set with sentiment from Loving Thoughts.

As you can imagine, creating a card big enough for more than 60 people to sign is a challenge.  In order to create a focal image large enough for such a big card, I stamped the floral image several times and then coloured it using markers and a blender pen.  Believe it or not, the blossoms only use the Ridinghood Red marker...it really blends and shades beautifully.  Some of the flowers are fussy-cut and popped up to give dimension.  I've decided I really love the combination of Ridinghood Red and Baja Breeze.  I need to use it again on a more typically-sized project!

Now I'm off to finish the final preparations for my big Open House tomorrow.  If you haven't already RSVP'd, no worries.  Just stop by any time between 1 and 4...see you soon!

Something for the Monkey...

It truly has been ages since  I've had time to participate in the A La Card  Monkey challenge!  I've just been SO busy these last few months with my Stampin' Up business and  conducting holiday concerts for my day job as a high school music department head that I had absolutely no time to stamp for pleasure at all.  Thankfully the past few days have been much quieter and I had a chance to just sit and play with some of the new products from the Occasions Mini.  Today's card is one I designed using the this week's sketch:

 

Here is my version...

Sympathy card for Monkey89 using the new Bordering on Romance set and Twitterpated DSP from the Occasions Mini with sentiment from Petite Pairs.

I know the challenge was to do something "fresh" and what could be fresher than a new  mini with brand new products, right?  I just was dying to use this set and paper and a  baby card just didn't seem appropriate.  Anyhow, I really enjoyed watercolouring this one using my markers and blender pen...there's something so relaxing about colouring.  The design of this card is a little different...but it is still 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" in total height, though, so it still fits in a standard envelope (no extra postage required!).

Yesterday I promised I would  show you one of the cards from my One-Sheet-Wonder class each day this week, and I haven't forgotten!  So, here is card #2:

OSW Card #2 - for BABY!

Ok, now this one IS a baby card!  I love this colour combo for either a boy or a girl.  In fact, it is the same one I used for my nephew's shower invitations and favours.  Again, this uses the same sheet of DSP as yesterday's card...and the next 4 I'll show you!  If you'd like  to learn how to make this card and the other five as well as the pretty box to put them in check out my Upcoming Classes and Events page for details.