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.

3 Challenges!

Hello, all. Today is a day of multiple blog posts, so make sure to catch them all! I've already posted about Sale-A-Bration -- which starts tomorrow!! -- so make sure to get the details. Later this week, I should be posting about at least one other card -- a sneak peak for Valentine's Day. Then with this post, I'm proud to show off a card I made over the weekend combining THREE different card challenges! I Think that's a record for me!

Ta-da! I love it. Here's the info:

Colors come courtesy of The Fab Friday (Fab Fri 10) challenge: 

I used the Cherry Cobbler, Pool Party, Very Vanilla, and Crumb Cake. As you may remember, I don't really like pink and red together very often, so I decided to leave the pink out, though in this color scheme it would have worked. I just think it would have been too much for this little card to handle.

The layout comes from this week's Create with Connie and Mary challenge (CCMC235) - a sketch! 

As you can see, I've flipped the sketch around a bit,
and used a banner instead of a bow. Great layout!

And finally, the theme comes from this week's Friday Mashup (FM93): "Make a Wish!" The challenge was:

1. Make a project with a "Birthday Theme."
2. Or Make a project using "Brads."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Birthday project with some brads."

As you can see, I chose the third option and used the itty bitty tiny Silver Mini Brads to add delightful touches. 

And once again -- again! -- my "Butterflies fix everything" motto came through. The silhouette flowers needed a pop of color, and I needed to tie in the gorgeous Pool Party seam binding ribbon (isn't it fantastic?!). So out came the Beautiful Wings Embosslit yet again to save the day! Aren't they just the perfect touch on this lovely birthday card?

Card Details

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake

Ink: Crumb Cake, Pool Party (including sponged onto the Very Vanilla butterflies)

Accessories: Silver Mini Brads, Pool Party Seam Binding ribbon, Glue Dots

Stamp Sets: Teeny Tiny Wishes, Just Believe

Tools: Big Shot, Beautiful Wings Embosslits, 3/16" Corner punch, 1/16" Circle Handheld punch (for making holes for brads), Stamp-a-majig (to line up the saying on the banner)

Sale-a-Bration!

It's time for Stampin' Up!'s BIGGEST promotion of the year! Sale-a-Bration starts tomorrow, January 22, 2013.  And there are three amazing ways to PARTY during this annual celebration!

At your party, you'll get to:

• create fun, beautiful projects to show off to your friends (or on Pinterest)
• earn fabulous freebies
• enjoy time with friends

Once you have gathered your friends, you will:

• get a free pack of Silver Glimmer Paper AND $25 hostess dollars! (with a qualifying party order)

If you invite even MORE friends:

• get free pack of Silver Glimmer Paper AND $65 hostess spending dollars AND free Sale-A-Bration product bundle AND 50% off any full priced item! (with a qualifying party order)

Do you have a wish list?  If not, go here to get one started!

• For EVERY $50 you spend, you receive one FREE product from the Sale-A-Bration catalog!

What you'll get when you join my SU! team during SAB:

• 25% more free product in your COMPLETELY customizable kit.  (That means $156.50 worth of product for on $99!)
• 20% off all product -- all the time!
• Access to Stampin' Success -- the exclusive Demonstrator magazine
• Opportunity to pre-order items before they are released to the public.

LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED! 

Contact me today to host, shop, or join!

"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