Big Shot Blog Hop

Welcome! This month, I'm so excited to show off one of my very favorite tools: the Big Shot! For those who aren't familiar, the Big Shot is an epic multi-tool. Check it out.

Run dies through it to cut shapes out of all sorts of materials. Use it with Textured Impressions Embossing Folders to give dimension and texture to your projects. Also be sure to check out the Framelits, Embosslis, Bigz dies, Edgelits, and Thinlits. So many options!

If you've been waiting for the right time to purchase a Big Shot, that time is now! When you buy a Big Shot during the month of August, you'll receive your choice of one of five FREE exclusive stamp set and Framelits bundles (see bundles here)--that's up to a $60 value absolutely free! If you already own a Big Shot, we're also offering a 15-percent discount on these select bundles.

My project today showcases a few of the fun things you can do with the Big Shot. I had a friend ask me if we could make invitations for her daughter's 4th birthday. What a fun project! So we brainstormed and came up with these super-cute invitations.

The texture on top is the Mosaic Madness embossing folder, and the cute little butterflies are part of an Embosslit. We took a strip of DSP and creased it into an adorable ruffle to stick underneath the edge of the Tempting Turquoise paper.

This is just such a small sample of all the great things the Big Shot can do, so be sure to hop through to the other bloggers to see what they've showcased!

Blog Hop! Don't Miss Your "Last Chance" to Get Retiring Products

Welcome back to our Blog Hop! Was it just me, or did April fly by super fast? I could hardly believe it when Julie reminded me that it was time again to get our blog hop posts ready again! This last week, Stampin Up released this year's list of retiring products in anticipation of the brand-spankin'-new catalog that launches in just one month! (Can ya tell I'm excited? I'm pretty darn excited.) Thanks to Julie, who went to a catalog premiere party, I got to see the catalog early -- and let me tell you, it's SO GOOD! I'm really excited for all the new products and accessories that are coming out.

But at the same time, I'm sad to see some of the great stamps and accessories I love go on the retiring list. So this blog hop is a chance to say "farewell" to some of the great stuff that will be retiring. I'll be showcasing the "Simply Stars" set, along with some of the word sets that are going away as well. Be sure to check out the other blogs in the hop to see what they're saying goodbye to, as well.

***These stamp sets are only available
 until June 4 -- and only while supplies last! -- 
so get them before they're gone!***

This first card is a simple baby card in soft pinks and blues. The greeting is from "Cuddles & Kisses" set which is, sadly, also retiring come June 1.

It's a little hard to tell, but this card is Real Red and Crumb Cake. It's showing you the Simply Stars set as well as the Bring on the Cake set, which is also retiring. I colored in the letters with our blender pens.

I made some simple color changes to make the card from above more girly. This Melon Mambo and Whisper White card shows off a few retiring products: the Simply Stars set, the Bring on the Cake set, and (sad!) the Melon Mambo embossing powder, which you can kinda see on the pink stars here.

Oh, and the embossing in the background of the pink card there? You may want to keep an eye out for that one. Just sayin'. It's pretty darn cute. 

Thanks for stopping by the Hop again this month! As always, Pins, comments, and shares are appreciated. And be sure to grab your favorite retiring products before they're gone for good! Feel free to contact me with questions or if you want to place an order. Hop through to see everyone else's great projects, too, of course!

Promotion Playtime - "We Create" Blog Hop

Welcome back! This month, we wanted to show you some of the great products that are available outside of our traditional catalog. Sometimes these fun offerings are overlooked, but they are too awesome to miss out on!

My projects use a few products from our Sale-a-Bration catalog that you can earn for FREE for every $50 you spend this month. Yep, for every $50 you spend, you get to chose a FREE item from the SAB mini catalog! (check out the sidebar for more info!) 

I started with a simple outline, inspired by Pinterest.

The banner "string" between pennants was simply drawn
in with the Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write marker - easy!

This simple, cute card uses the Banner Blast set and coordinating punch from the SAB catalog, as well as one of our new totally clear photopolymer stamps. The photopolymer stamps take some getting used to, but they do give a super-sharp image, as you can see above with the "Thank You." A little Cherry Cobbler baker's twine and a "string" (drawn with the Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker) finish off the card. Love!

Then I moved on to a more-involved card. This one uses the same stamps and punches as the first, but I also used our super-fun Envelope Punch Board! You can use the punch board to make a custom envelope in pretty much any size, and it's so easy!

As you can see, I also added some DSP to this card, as well as using the polka-dot Textured Embossing Folder from the SAB catalog. I LOVE that the embossing folder coordinates so well with the pattern on one of the pennant stamps! (The orange one on the right end). I went through about 5 different color/paper/texture combinations before finally settling on this one, so now I have a bunch of itty-bitty envelopes laying around -- oh darn!  ;)  The layout for this card, and the instructions for the custom-sized envelope, were found over on Julie Kettlewell's blog.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Be sure to check out the rest of the ladies in the Hop, and don't miss out on all these great products!!

It's Time to "Sale-A-Brate" - We Create Blog Hop

Thanks for stopping by this month's We Create Blog Hop! This month, we are super-duper excited because it's time for SALE-A-BRATION! In case you haven't heard before, Sale-a-bration is our biggest sale of the year. For every $50 you spend in Stampin Up product, you get a FREE product of your choice from the SAB catalog. You can check out the Sale-a-bration catalog here (it's also in the sidebar). This deal is available until March 31 -- so you've got plenty of time to look at all the pretty things and fill up your wish list!

For today's blog hop, we're all featuring some of the fun products you can earn for free during this great promotion! I first saw the banner stamp set & coordinating punch, and I love them! I also got the fun polka-dotted Textured Embossing Folder, which is just so festive!

I made this cute card tonight, and I intended for it to be brighter, like a birthday card. But it turned out a bit more pastel and calm, so it's more like a "Welcome Baby" card -- I guess you could still say it's a *birth*day card! (Please forgive the horrible pun -- I've been fighting bronchitis and I'm on some strong meds right now. ... Yeah, I'm gonna blame the meds, because I would never make a horrible pun like that normally..... nope....)

I intended to make a cute bag topper to go with this card, and make it a card-and-gift combo, but my creative juices ran out and it just didn't happen tonight. Oh well, maybe next time.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Blog Hop to get inspiration for all the other Sale-a-bration offerings! There are so many great products; you don't want to miss out! Contact me if you ever have any questions or want to host a party. I'm always up for a party!

3 Challenges with Mosaic Madness (But Too Late)

This is, I think, the first card that I've made at home for weeks. This is sad, people! I have really fallen out of my stampin' groove. However, I'm really quite happy with how this one turned out. It went through at least 3 iterations before I ended up with the final product. It's a more modern look than I've been doing lately, but I think that works well with the clean gray-green-white color scheme.

I made this card based on THREE challenges - talk about getting back into the groove of things! Yeah! Go me!! Aaaaannnnddd then I completely forgot to post this early enough (I blame the holiday - Hope you had a happy 4th!) and I missed TWO of the three deadlines. FAIL. Ugh. Oh well, I still got a great card out of it.

The layout came from this week's Clean and Simple sketch challenge (FTL247), which was a great - but challenging! - layout to work with. And thankfully, I haven't missed this deadline. Hooray for only incomplete failure!

Dynamic Duos provided the color palette ... kinda. The challenge was to use Basic Gray and a choose-your-own color. (Neutrals are always allowed.) So I chose green - Lucky Limeaid in the paper and Old Olive in the stamp. It's hard to tell them apart, so I'm just counting them as the same color, okay? Okay. This deadline I did miss, so sad day.

My favorite part of this challenge combo, though, was one I was very sad to have missed: PaperPlayers issued another tic-tac-toe challenge! I LOVE these! They give you a grid, like the one below, and you have to pick one row/column/diagonal to work with.

I chose the diagonal Embossing-Bling-Birthday, and I really like the result! But again, I missed the deadline (UGH!) so I wasn't able to enter. *Sigh* Maybe next time I won't fail so badly and actually get these things posted on time!

May Day Blog Hop! (And SUO 69!)

Welcome to our May Day Blog Hop! Take a hop through and see all of the fun May Day projects we've come up with for you. As always, please hop all the way through. Comments and pins are always appreciated. Enjoy!

Today, I wanted to show off one of my FAVORITE new stamp sets. You'll get to see this gorgeous set in the upcoming catalog, and I just can't wait until all of you can use it with me! To me, May means birthdays. My family has at least 6 birthdays in May, and so I wanted to create fun, happy, special cards with specific people in mind. So here's what I've come up with.

I made this 3x3 card last, but it's absolutely my favorite! I love how you can create
your own "DSP" look in the background by lining up the stamps!

Since these adorable little 3x3 cards can't be mailed, this mosaic card is for one of my dear friends here in the Provo area. It's such a perfect little pick-me-up card! The students here at BYU have just finished finals, so I think I'll send this as a "Welcome to summer!" note for a friend.


This next one might be my favorite. It's so hard to choose, though -- it's like picking a favorite kid!

This one was CASE'd from a card by Illina Crouse,
and I'm totally in love with the details of it! 

"Today calls for something pink with sprinkles on top!" The saying on this card absolutely, positively reminded me of one person in particular - my old roommate and best friend, April. She LOVES everything pink and sparkly! Which is just fantastic, since she's expecting a little baby girl this summer! This may just turn out to be her baby shower card. (But shhh! Don't tell her!)

If the SUO Challenge I entered (see below for details) only lets me enter one card, it's this one! It's my favorite of the three -- if I really, really had to choose.



Next up, a colorful variation!

This one was a total mess until my dear husband suggested the
dimensional gray flowers at the bottom. Perfect touch!!

And this card is most likely destined to be a thank-you card for a friend of mine. I have so many great friends to be thankful for, so it's going to be hard to choose! I guess I'll just have to make more!

Card Details:

All of these cards were made with the Mosaic Madness stamp set, the coordinating punch and Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, and just a few colors - Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, Silver Glimmer Paper (or embossing powder), and Very Vanilla.

Since 2 of the 3 cards I made used the Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for the Big Shot (both Sizzix products, sold by SU), I've decided to enter these cards in the SUO Challenge this week! Their challenge, SUO69, features ANY Sizzix product, and you should go check out the fun entries there!

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my creations.

ColourQ and Messy Deadlines

This week's ColourQ challenge gave me a gorgeous palette to work with - Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Kraft (Crumb Cake), and (Whisper) White. Such fun, springy colors! I came up with two freaking adorable cards for this challenge, and it was going to be the perfect post for our upcoming May Day blog hop -- except that the challenge ends tonight (!!) and not on Wednesday when our hop is. Oops! So here's the challenge projects, and you can look forward to seeing some brand NEW (hint, hint - sneak peeks!) projects for the hop in a few days.

My favorite part of this one? The details!

My second favorite part? The adorable coordinating 3x3 card I made to go with it!

I like the torn honeycomb background in particular. Isn't it fun?


Like I said, this was for the ColourQ cQc182 Challenge, which has this fun and Spring-themed inspiration photo:

This card was CASE'd! I also want to give credit to the card that inspired these projects. I found this card by Amanda Mertz over at Did You Stamp Today, and I just LOVED it! So I decided to basically use her layout with the ColourQ color challenge.

REMINDER: Look forward to our May Day Blog Hop this Wednesday! My projects will feature some of the fun BRAND NEW, will-be-debuting-in-June's-catalog products I bought at the Salt Lake Regional event.

Two Sketches and My Favorite "New" Color

This week, I discovered that THREE of the challenge blogs I frequent had similar sketches. I took that as the universe telling me I needed to use this layout -- so here's what I came up with:

I just LOVE how this one turned out! I don't usually "do" any of the Stampin' Up! "In Colors" (since they're only around for a relatively short time) but since this gorgeous Pool Party color has been announced as part of our Color Refresh, I am definitely looking forward to using it for years to come! (Possibly my favorite SU color ... except maybe Rich Razzleberry, but that's mostly because it's got an awesome name.)

I really like how the Basic Gray background (with the Honeycomb Textured Embossing Folder) looks with the bright, springy colors from the DSP. If you want to see another GENIUS idea for customizing this particular pattern of DSP, go check out Julie Wadlinger's entry in our Just Because blog hop. Betcha won't even recognize the paper!

And then, of course, the card needed a little bling -- so I added some of our Basic Jewels rhinestones to the DSP design to jazz it up a bit. The Tangerine Tango accents under the DSP and in the sentiment really make this a happy little "anytime" card.

I've entered this card in TWO challenges! (Because I'm daring like that.) Go check them out!
(It would have also been entered into Fab Friday, but I totally missed their deadline.... again! Go figure...)

Create with Connie and Mary (CCMC 247)

Clean and Simple Stamping 235

Card Details

Paper: Pool Party, Basic Gray, Whisper White cardstock; International Bazaar DSP

Ink: Tangerine Tango

Tools and Accessories: Honeycomb Textured Embossing Folder (Big Shot), Basic Jewels, Paper Snips (for cutting banner and placing rhinestones)

Spring Has Sprung! (Which means more butterflies)

The weather here today was GORGEOUS! I could hardly stand being inside while the sun was so bright and warm, so I called up my girlfriend and we went out. Loved it!

A week or so ago, I made a great spring-inspired card from the color challenge over at Fab Friday, and today seemed like the perfect day to share it.

I love how this card turned out! It's got so many great details. The Honeycomb Textured Embossing Folder with little hexagons of DSP in it? LOVE! I also pulled in the same DSP along the edge to give the card some cohesion. The pink butterfly is simply punched out of a different piece of DSP (from the same pack) with some Basic Pearls down the middle. The small butterfly was stamped in that lovely Island Indigo and then punched out, and then I added pearls for the body.

There's a lovely Sahara Sand floral background along the right side of the card, and I like the way it "grounds" the butterflies.

Then, of course, to tie it all together, is the fun Baker's Twine along the bottom. I just wrapped it around a few times and tied a knot (since I really suck at little tiny bows! haha). The tag below the knot was the very last thing I added to the card, and I just love how well it brings everything together. Like it's tied up in a neat little gift package or something.

And like I said earlier, this card was inspired by Fab Friday's FabFri14 color challenge, though I did "cheat" a little and use Island Indigo instead of the second pink color.  ;)

"Guest Post" (of sorts) and FM99

Around Christmas, my mother-in-law, Jolene, decided she wanted to get into stamping as a fun hobby. So I sat down with her, pored over the catalogs and seasonal offerings, and helped her create her first order. Since then, she's built up her stamping "stock" and has been really excited to create with it all. She sent me an email a few days ago with a picture of the card she made for a friend's baby shower, and it was SO stinkin' adorable that I just had to ask if I could share it here, since she doesn't have a blog of her own to show off on.

At first, she wasn't sure, since she had pulled the ideas from other cards she found online. But after explaining to her that we have a "CASE" mindset at Stampin' Up! -- "Create And Share Everything" -- and that copying or taking inspiration from other stampers' projects is what most of the SU community does all the time (I've just given away my secret!), she said I could share the card on here with you guys. 

Isn't it so cute! I love the color combination!

Here's what Jolene had to say about her card (after insisting that she's "not creative") --

I combined the "Congratulations Box" from page 41 of the 2013 catalog with a card I saw on another Stampin' Up website. I raised the duck (like the catalog pic) and cut around it so the duck would have a small white frame, and I decided using a So Saffron frame around the white backing, used the polka dot folder to made the entire background polka dotted (instead of only half like the website pic), set the framed duck towards to top right corner, put some curve in the "Congratulations" flag, and came up with my card. I had so much fun figuring it all out!

I love it! And it also happens to coincide perfectly with this week's Friday Mashup challenge (FM99)! They want "Baby" cards and/or projects using their color challenge - which includes So Saffron! Here's the challenge info:

1. Make a project for a "Baby Shower or a Baby."
2. Or Make a project using the Colors "Pool Party, Real Red, So Saffron & a Neutral."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project for a "Baby/Shower using the Colors listed above."

Perfect! So, Jolene, I've entered your card in this week's challenge. Good luck! I'm sure they'll love your card!

Seize the Birthday #6 + FabFri12 (Masculine Birthday Card)

I've mentioned before that I am terrible at making masculine cards. Part of the problem is that most of my stamps have butterflies, swirly patterns, flowers, or something adorable on them; not very masculine, huh? I've been trying to remedy that, though, mostly through buying neutral colored paper & non-frilly sayings stamps. So when I was actually able to accomplish this week's Seize the Birthday Masculine Card challenge -- and I liked my end result! -- I was pretty proud of myself. Granted, what I came up with might be more suited for a little boy than a grown man, I'm fairly certain my dad would be happy to get a card like this.

I promise that I didn't pick out my curtains to match Stampin' Up! colors.
. . . It just kinda happens that way sometimes. 

The layout came from the sketch challenge over at STB, as I mentioned above. The fantastic color combo, though? Yeah, totally wish I could claim that as my own fantastic creation. But I can't. It came from the lovely folks over at Fab Friday, who gave us a phenomenal color challenge this week. (I actually made TWO cards in that color challenge, and I'll be posting the other one tomorrow.) So here are the challenges I undertook for this card. First, the sketch:

Isn't it lovely? Now on to the color challenge! (Note: I left out the Perfect Plum in an attempt to make this as masculine as possible with the cutesy background.) This is the FabFri12 color palette:

In an amazing feat of coincidence, this card ALSO qualifies for this week's Friday Mashup! Since I used our Stampin' Write© Markers to color in the word stamp elements, it qualifies for the "Markers" section, and the Textured Impressions Embossing Folder© on the bottom qualifies it for the mash-up with "texture" -- so there ya go! Here's their info, too, so go check them out! 

Here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a project "using your Markers (thumping,Color Spritzing,Coloring etc.)."
2. Or Make a project with "Texture."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with "Texture using your Markers."

Card Details

Paper: Soft Suede CS, Baja Breeze CS, Whisper White CS, Storytime DSP

Ink: Baja Breeze, Wild Wasabi

Tools: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Embossing Folder©, Ovals Collection Framelits©, Paper Piercing Pack & Paper Piercing Tool, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig© (to align text), Dimensionals

FMS#73 and Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit

 At a recent Demonstrator group meeting (Hello, fellow Positive Inkers!!), I won the Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit in a raffle. How exciting! I never win raffles, so I was pretty stoked. This adorable kit is featured in our Spring Catalog, which you can view by clicking here. This kit is fabulous -- and it's got so many uses! I decided to use the "tag" elements to make a card front for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge, and voila!

Isn't it adorable? I love the tiny little "baking cups" it comes with; they give the flowers such a great aspect of dimension. (Though I must admit, part of the reason I was so excited to win this particular raffle prize is that I am sorely tempted to use these paper cups to make itty-bitty cupcakes!! How freaking cute would that be? Anyway, back to the card.)

The tag base already had the lovely outline detail, so I just stamped a quick "Just for You" greeting on it (which is perfect for literally any occasion, by the way). It also fits the FMS#73 sketch so well: 

I love "re-purposing" things like this, finding new uses for stamp elements and making them work where they weren't intended. 

What are some of your favorite "non-traditional" uses for stamps, tags, or any other crafty item?

Card Details
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede
Tools and Accessories: Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit (includes tag base, flowers, paper cup, fabric-covered brad, and "Just for You" stamp), Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (for the Big Shot), Summer Starfruit ribbon
Ink: Black StazOn inkpad
Colors in Kit: Calypso Coral, Summer Starfruit, Pool Party, Very Vanilla

Feeling Sentimental - Showing off Fun New Products

January is coming to a close, and that means it's time for Sale-a-Bration! Stampin' Up! is offering some pretty stinkin' awesome products for FREE during this promotion, so be sure you don't miss out! (See here for more info on how you can earn these awesomely free products.) So, to whet your appetite just a bit, I've created a few fun sample cards with some of the new stamp sets & tools, and I'll be posting about them over the next few days.

My favorite set from the SAB pickings is this one: Feeling Sentimental. It's such a great, general-use set with a gorgeous "vintage sketch" art style. I love how it looks stamped in black or brown, or colored in. It's a little hard to see here (enlarge the picture to see better), but I've added  a little tiny rhinestone in the center of the Ferris wheel. A tiny silver brad would also look great. I love that it adds just a little touch of "something special" without drawing attention away from the art itself.  And the "Celebrate" sentiment stamp? Love it! It's perfect for so many occasions!

The background texture is from the Honeycomb Textured Embossing Folder (from the Spring Catalog) and it's such a great compliment to the image and banner on this card. Definitely one I'm adding to my next order! (I borrowed it from my good friend Julie to make this card. She's so nice about letting me mooch off her! haha).

I haven't quite decided what I'm going to use this card for, but it might end up being one of the birthday cards (or even a general "hello" card) I send out during the Month of Letters challenge, which starts this week! Yay! I'm definitely looking forward to (I hope) getting some fun mail to look forward to, rather than just bills and ads.

There was another card I made with this set, but it's kind of supposed to be a surprise for one of my best friends. See, she's a huge Doctor Who fan, and this Feeling Sentimental stamp set happens to have an image that looks like a call box -- or a police box, if you're a Whovian. So I made this Doctor Who card with her & her husband specifically in mind and I don't want to ruin the surprise! I'll post pictures soon, though, don't worry!

What stamp sets or other products are you most wanting from the Sale-a-Bration list? So many good options! You can't go wrong no matter what you pick.

Card Details
Paper: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla CS
Ink: Black StazOn 
Stamps & Tools: Feeling Sentimental stamp set (from SAB), Honeycomb Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (for the Big Shot), Basic Jewels Rhinestones; dimensionals & Snail adhesive, as usual

FMS70 - Happy Birthday!

This last week, I had planned a Valentine-themed card class. It turned out to be a total FLOP! Only one person came (my neighbor), so it really just turned into us watching Castle and making whatever sounded good -- so I guess it wasn't a total flop; I still got cards made. Anyway, during this impromptu Castle & Cards night, I decided to take a stab at this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

So, knowing that I have a lot of birthdays coming up, I decided to make a birthday card. It started out as a more masculine card, but once I found that gorgeous Daffodil Delight DSP and punched it with the large scallop circle, I knew my delusions of masculine card crafting were out the window. In the end, though, it didn't turn out too girly, I think. (Right? Tell me if I'm crazy.)

It's a little hard to tell from the angle in this photo, but I (once again) decided to make the banner "wave" by curling it a bit. The ends stick up off the card, and the center of the banner is raised as well.I love the dimension and movement such a simple little trick can give a card!

The layout, like I mentioned earlier, came from FMS70. Here's their sketch:

I love the butterfly! And I was pretty tempted to use it, except that I was going for a more masculine look, and evidently butterflies aren't masculine. (I guess that's something they can't fix!)


Card Details
Paper: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White CS; International Bazaar DSP
Ink: Soft Suede; Daffodil Delight & Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write© Markers 
Stamp Sets: Bring on the Cake
Tools & Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Textured Embossing Folder, Large Scallop Circle punch, Paper Snips (scissors), Dimensionals, SNAIL Adhesive.