How very fitting that the stamp set I'm featuring today is called At Home With You. Because Saturday morning we were given the "all{mostly}clear" to go home!! We are still actually on pre-evacuation status because there's no way of knowing what the fires will do, but! We are home! We are only a 6 minute drive to the school instead of 45-minutes-in-good-traffic.... We are in our own beds with our own toys and books because that is a very important thing to small children. And we're not limited to the clothes that got packed, haha....
And here's an updated view from my back door, taken about an hour ago. You can see there is still some smoldering areas, and maybe you can see the smoke behind that mountain...the fire moved to the back side of these mountains. And still, after all these days, only a shed has been lost. Which is absolutely amazing.
Anyway, last week I did these two Christmas cards for my mom's stash too. I wanted to show off the versatility but still keep them both Christmas. My mom needs a ton of Christmas cards. So, I kept one very simple...
Supplies:
Stamps: At Home With You
Ink: Black Stazon, Real Red, Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadow
Paper: Real Red & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Blender Pens, At Home Framelits, Big Shot,
...and this one is much more detailed.
Supplies:
Stamps: At Home With You
Ink: Black Stazon, Real Red, Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadow
Paper: Real Red, Sage Shadow (RETIRED), Crushed Curry and Whisper White card stocks, Wood Textures DP
Accessories: Blender Pens, At Home Framelits, Big Shot
Between us, we got 9 Christmas cards done for her stash last week. Considering we only stamped one afternoon, that's pretty good.
I'm hoping to stamp more this week, but we thought we'd still be evacuated for another week and I gotta say, it was kind of weird just going back to normal this morning, haha....
It's been a while.
It feels like ages ago, but I blogged, then I had a class, then my family was evacuated due to wild fires. Three of them, headed right for us. UGH.
This pic (below) was taken from across the street from my front door, just as I drove away...
We did have about a 6 hour warning, but I kinda think nothing prepares you for that. We went to my parents, which is where we lived while building our house. But, it's roughly an hour away from our end of the world, and that has been tricky, to say the least. 1/3 of the high school is evacuated, and many of them evacuated within school boundaries. So, they're keeping schools open so that kids have a place to go while parents are at work and also to keep some consistency for all the kids. There have been countless miracles and sooo many instances of amazing, generous people. It has been truly amazing to watch. But, it has also been difficult convincing a toddler to sleep at grandparents' for naps and bedtime, day after day after day.... We're a week into this, and we're supposed to expect at least another week. We're also getting up an hour earlier than usual so that my husband can get the kids to school on time, and then one or both of us have to be out there in the evenings with all the sports and appointments and all the things...! It has been an adventure...! haha!
We have been able to get up to our home a couple times. When we left, we literally took the bare essentials, and three days worth of clothes, which we thought was excessive. When my husband went back the first time, he got the food that would go bad, the dirty clothes hamper (best idea ever, from my neighbor) and a couple more "essentials". And then he got to go back again, after we were told to expect 2 more weeks. He needed work clothes, but since he was there...! I had him grab some of my stamp supplies, like my Big Shot and inks, and he got a few stamp sets too. Hooray!!
Anyway, yesterday I was home all day long, and my mom and I decided we needed some creative time! We each made four Christmas cards for her to use (since we're using her supplies). I wanted to try an idea that's been spinning, for a suuuper simple card I may use at an upcoming class. Very quick, very pretty!
A slightly different one...
And finally a different idea I saw another demonstrator share.
All three cards use exactly the same supplies. I wanted to see if I thought it would be striking enough with white on white and I really like how it turned out. Really, this is going to be a favorite set!
Supplies:
Stamps: Wishing You Well
Ink: Granny Apple Green, Real Red
Paper: Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Dimensionals
Today I have a baby card, likely for a boy. Really, I decided to get this gray ink and I wanted to try it out, haha, and then it ended up part of my class!
For once, I have a few dimensions for those who like that when recreating a card. Since I was making it for a class, I wanted to get the most out of the sheets of DP without any waste. So! The card is {almost always} the regular A2 size. The gray star pattern is 3 inches wide and the dotty pattern is 1 inch wide, then I scotch taped the two together.
Supplies:
Stamps: Little Twinkle
Ink: Gray Granite, Pool Party
Paper: Pool Party & Whisper White card stock, Twinkle Twinkle DP
Accessories: Metallic Sequins, Glue Dots, Take Your Pick Tool
The layout was inspired by THIS card. So far I've only used this set for baby cards. The original looks more wedding-y, and I definitely see Valentine's potential from this set!
I also chose to use the new Take Your Pick tool from the Holiday Mini. It is a very simple way to pick out the sequin you want, and not the other three that always seem to want to tag along, haha... My customers liked it! Be sure and check it out, because it has 5 tips that do something different!
My favorite fall stamp is definitely Wishing You Well, which I've already shown. I can't wait to play with more color combos, and I have seen some really gorgeous ideas out there that are now spinning in my brain!
My favorite Halloween set is really the Toil & Trouble suite. The DP is fantastic! I seriously love it! But it also coordinates with the cute stamp set and, the dies can cut out some of the witches, some of the hats, and I believe some of the cauldrons too! Plus it's cute and not icky. haha... And it looks like a lot of fun to color! I'm interested in the Black Foil Sheets and I am very excited about that Black Glittered Organdy ribbon!
My favorite Christmas stamp set...is....tricky, haha... I think I'll have to pick Making Christmas Bright, which comes with a coordinating punch option.
Tho honestly I really love most of the Christmas sets and there's a decent chance I'll get the Winter Woods bundle first....is that really Christmas specific? haha...!
I already showed my favorite fall/Halloween DP and I cannot pick a favorite for Christmas DP- I love them both and can't wait to play with them!! The All Is Bright DP is fantastic for it's photo-quality sides and it's whimsical Christmasy sides too.
But, the Festive Farmhouse DP is just as cozy and classically "Christmas", and those festive plaids, stripes and wood grains are also perfect for autumn. All my favorite things rolled in to one!
Finally, what accessories am I most excited to get my hands on? This fantastic Tin Tile embossing folder- which is exactly what it sounds like! Of course it looks stunning on that Galvanized Foil paper, but it also looks great on any of our other Foils, and our card stock! I love the look!!
The new Chicken Wire Elements are going to be so much fun! They'll work with any of these listed DP's, for autumn, winter, Christmas.... it's going to be fantastic!
And to wrap this up, the tool I am most interested in is the Take Your Pick tool. I've already got that at my house and I'm trying it out with customers this coming week. I think it will be very handy with our tiny self-adhesive embellishments, and picking up the sequins, which is really a pain sometimes!
I think that covers my FAVORITES. haha...
This is just a tiny sampling of what's in this catalog, and of course that's just the things I love most. You have a different style than I do- what stands out to you the most?
Let me know if you need any help placing an order. Everything is linked straight to stampinup.com in this post, so prices and more pictures and information are right there at your finger tips!
Tomorrow the new Holiday Mini becomes available to order from! Today I have my first sneak peek for you!
There are many things in the new Mini that I love and want to order, haha, but this was the first thing I chose. It isn't expensive, it's quick to use and the results are beautiful! Everything I've thought of and everything I've seen made...I think this set will get a lot of love around here! Also, I really love the scripty font!
It also features a new style of stamp- what Stampin' Up! is calling "Dist-INK-tive", and it means you get different shades by inking ONE stamp, ONE time. Sort of like 2-Step stamping, but in only one step. You can see the layers in the wheat bundle, the ribbon, and the wreath. I think it's a cool look, and every Dist-INK-tive stamp set is marked in the catalog, like this:
Anyway, today I tried a new-to-me sketch for this pretty little card, and we'll make this card at my upcoming class! I know it's simple, but I really love how it turned out. And it will be perfect to stick in the mail to brighten someone's day!
Supplies:
Stamps: Wishing You Well
Ink: Crumb Cake, Fresh Fig
Paper: Crumb Cake, Fresh Fig & Very Vanilla card stock
On the first of each month, we have a blog hop to inspire your creativity. September is here! This is my very favorite month of the year!
For my card today I wanted to use the At Home With You set, but I tend to get caught up in the details of the door, and I decided I'd rather keep the focus on this cute autumn image. I based my card off last weeks' Freshly Made Sketch, using the pumpkins, flowers and bucket as the three elements, but it isn't exact. The image was colored with the Watercolor Pencils, and then die cut out and popped up on Dimensionals! Anyway, it looks very autumnal to me and that's what I wanted!
Supplies:
Stamps: At Home With You
Ink: Stazon Black, Early Espresso
Paper: So Saffron, Early Espresso & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pen, Gold Thread, Big Shot, Softy Falling Embossing Folder, At Home Dies, Dimensionals
Are you loving that it's finally cooling off, too? Hopefully fall means a little bit more crafting time in my world- how about you?
Hop on over to Cheryl's blog and see what she's created for you. Then hop all the way thru, and leave us your thoughts! We all love comments!
