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!

Colors of Spring Blog Hop! (Plus challenges!)

Is anyone else ready for Winter to be over?

I know I sure am! So creating cute, Spring-themed projects for this month's Blog Hop was a fun "escape" from the fact that it's not quite done being winter yet. Welcome to our Colors of Spring Blog Hop! We've added a few wonderful new ladies to our hop this time, to be sure to check out all the fun posts!

As I've mentioned a few times recently, I'm trying to find ways to use the same elements to create fresh new cards. So today I've put together a mini-showcase of some fabulous Spring cards.

Make sure to stop by the other blogs in our hop to see what Spring inspiration they've created for you, too!

Hop Forward: Kris Kilkenny

I created this simple, one-layer card a while ago to give out with my business card when people asked about my Stampin' Up! business. (Of course, I was too shy to actually talk to people, so I have a lot of these cards hanging around in my apartment!)

Using that first card and a Retro Sketches sketch (for their choose-your-own adventure sketch challenge) as inspiration, I created this second Spring card. I used the same stamp set and same colors, but ended up with a completely different card. I love it! I added some of the Basic Pearls to the center of the Subtles Designer Buttons to give them that extra "something special" (and to tie in with the pearls in the upper right -- remember my whole thing about liking pairs? Yeah. That.)

But two cards just wasn't enough! (Did I mention how sick I am of winter? Cute spring cards help dispel "winter blues" - at least temporarily.) And so I created another card! Same colors, same stamps. But yet another completely different look! This one was inspired by the Create with Connie & Mary sketch -- CCMC241 (down below). And as an added bonus, the fun Silver Glimmer Paper behind the sentiment qualifies this card for CAS-ual Fridays CFC91! I love the sparkle it adds. Here's a close-up so you can fully appreciate its happiness:

So those are my projects! What do you guys think? Ready for Spring yet?? Be sure to check out the rest of the blog hop for even more Spring-themed crafting inspiration! (You can check out our other blog hops here and here and here.)

Hop Forward: Kris Kilkenny

And here's the challenge info:

For the "Choose your own sketch" challenge, I chose RS#3

Isn't this an adorable sketch? Love Create with Connie & Mary!

CFC91: The object of this game? Simple! Add silver to your CAS project.

Fab Friday - Lost and Found!

I made this card over a week ago, during the same late-night stamp session that I made this card. But then I put it in an envelope and set it aside -- and completely LOST it! I looked everywhere! Or so I thought. Turns out it was sitting underneath a bag I took with me to a Demonstrator meeting at the beginning of the month. Don't ask me how it got there, because heaven knows I haven't got a clue! Pretty much the story of my life. Who knew you could lose so many things in a 2-room apartment!

So, from the "Lost and Found" files of Michelle's Living Room, here's an adorably pastel baby card I made for the Fab Friday 11 Challenge:

A close-up of the banner, since it's a little hard to read.
And isn't that itty bitty bow adorable?
(I'm rather proud of myself for tying it so tiny!)

I love the pastel colors in this card, and the polka dot DSP is just perfect for a baby card!

Here's the Fab Friday Sketch (so you can see that I pretty much just copied it exactly... including the "frillies" from an Edgelits on top of the green mat layer.) But that's what is so great about these sketch challenges -- they give you some fantastic layouts to work with!

In other news, I've fallen completely behind on my Month of Letters Challenge mailings. So I apologize to all of those who are still waiting on a card in the mail -- I will send them, and soon! These last few weeks have just seen a LOT of changes and unexpectedness, so some things have had to take a back burner. But don't worry! I'll be back to normal very soon (I hope!).

Are any of you doing the Letter Month challenge? How's it going for you? Better than I'm doing, I hope!

Happy Stamping!

Patterns & Textures: Layered Birthday Card

In preparation for our "Birthday Bash Blog Hop" coming this Friday, I've had birthday cards on the brain. I found a cute sketch over on Seize the Birthday, but I totally missed the deadline for linking up! Oh, well. I still ended up with a cute, colorful birthday card.

I love the patterns in this Summer Smooches DSP - and the colors!! The colors are just fantastic: Rich Razzleberry and Lucky Limeade. Add a quick cutout from the Labels Collection Framelits stamped with a "Bring on the Cake" phrase, and I was almost done. It just needed .... something. So I grabbed a clear Bitty Button and some Linen Thread, and voila! The card was complete.

Don't forget to come back for more Birthday inspiration during our Birthday Bash Blog Hop on Friday!

Card Details

Paper: Chocolate Chip Textured CS, Whisper White CS, Summer Smooches DSP

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry

Tools & Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits dies (Big Shot), Bitty Buttons, Linen Thread

"Hello Baby" Card - Subtles collection colors for FMS #68

It seems like everyone I know is pregnant right now! Seriously, in the last 3 weeks, I've found out at least 9 people are pregnant. Maybe it's just because I'm in that early-to-mid-20's age group in the Provo area, but wow, are there a lot of babies showing up on my Facebook news feed! So chances are, soon enough I'm going to need a lot of "Welcome, Baby!" cards for my friends and neighbors. With this in mind (and kind of being inspired by this week's Dynamic Duo pastel color combo), I decided to start building my stash with this sketch challenge card:

Close-up of the cute details on this card:
Subtles Collection Designer buttons, a "hello baby" banner,
Edgelits design, and a bitty bow on the rattle.

This is possibly the first time I've taken a sketch so literally. No, really, check out the sketch provided by Freshly Made Sketches this week:

With such a great layout, how could I go wrong? As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew that I wanted to use my Button Buddies set to fill that blue space, and some buttons (of course) for the details to the left. So I set to work (again at 11 pm.... that really needs to stop!) and came up with my adorable card a little while later. I love the soft color combo, and the polka-dot background (thanks to the textured embossing folder for the Big Shot) is such a cute addition, too! Overall, I'm very happy with this card -- and it goes back to the bolder, cleaner style that I used to stamp (like this post here).

Now to find out which of my friends is having a girl....

Card Details:
Paper: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, and Whisper White CS
Stamps: Button Buddies, Pennant Parade
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Soft Suede 
Accessories & Tools: Subtles Collection Designer Buttons, 3/16" Corner punch, Finishing Touches Edgelits (Big Shot),
     Perfect Polka Dots Textured Embossing Folder (Big Shot), Linen Thread, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

Birthday Month!

In my family, there are two HUGE birthday months - May and September. It seems like there are a ton of birthdays in those months, so I'm always scrambling to make cards for everyone. I decided to keep them super simple this year, and found an awesome layout while browsing Pinterest, SU forums, and other Demonstrator blogs. There are SO many great ideas floating around out there, and Stampin' Up fully encourages the CASE mentality - Create And Share EVERYTHING! So thank you to whoever I actually got this idea from, because I don't remember who it was (sorry!). You an check out some of my inspiration on Pinterest. Just click the "Follow me on Pinterest" button in the sidebar and look for my "Stampin Up and Cards/Papercrafting" board.

Below are two of the cards I made (my dad never reads this blog as far as I know, so posting his card should be safe, right? ... Right? Well, it's here anyway.)

sorry, the color's washed out on this one.
Simple layout, rounded corners.
Labels Collection framelits, linen twine, basic pearls.
Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Tempting Turquoise.
Make a Cake, Tiny Tags

Closer shot of the interesting part of the card. My favorite part
is the touch of pearls on the cake stand.

My Dad's birthday card.
Close to Cocoa, Tempting Turquoise.
Chevron texture folder, linen twine, Labels Collection Framelits.