A cool cactus

My mom is from Arizona. We left in 1985, but if you ask her where she's from, she'll tell you she's from Arizona, and then tell you where she currently lives, haha. As soon as I saw this set, I knew she was going to have to get it. And then I realized I could do one thing better- and I bought it for her birthday! But then! I needed to make her a birthday card with it, right? haha....

For this card, I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, and the color scheme from Inky Friends. It also qualifies for the SUO Challenge this week to feature the Occasions (or Sale-A-Bration) Mini! So that's fun! haha.... And this, cute, simple card is what I made first:

Supplies:
Stamps: Flowering Desert
Ink: Old Olive, Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Memento Black
Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White

However, it didn't say "mom's birthday" to me. So I had to keep playing. And now you'll just have to come back some other days,and see what else I did!

Rainbow!

So, this is how I store my current ink pads. I keep the box standing up just like that most of the time, but if I need to take my inks somewhere I just turn it on its side and stick it in the car! 

The other day, the box was knocked over, so I used my catalog to make sure all the inks I own were picked up, so some of them ended up in the exact color order shown in the catalog (as far as I own them...I don't have a complete collection). Later, I noticed this stack of colors 

and how happy and bright they all looked together. I know it's been very snowy and cold all over lately, and my house is definitely part of that winter dreariness. So of course I decided I had to make a background out of that exact color combination! 

Here's what I did- including my sweet Sale-A-Bration greeting set. 

Supplies:

Stamps: Wishing You Well, Part of My Story

Ink: Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Pacific Point, Gorgeous Grape

Paper: Whisper White, Bermuda Bay

Accessories: Calypso Coral ombre ribbon, Circle Dies, Big Shot 

I even know exactly who to send this to! 

Don't you think this would really brighten someone's day? What are you crafting to send out? 

Sale-A-Bration 2019

I know, I know, we're about 6 weeks in, but today, we're going to discuss Sale-A-Bration!

If you're new around here, Sale-A-Bration is the best promotion of the Stampin' Up! year! During Sale-A-Bration, every time you spend $50 (before tax and shipping) you get to choose an exclusive stamp set or other product for FREE! I've got the brochure linked right at the top of my sidebar, if you don't have your own copy.
For a $50 purchase, you can pick between 7 new stamp sets, a card kit, a ribbon set (backordered already!) and a pack of beautiful butterfly DP!
For a $100 purchase, you can select a stamp set, or a set of dies that coordinate with the Tea Together set in the Occasions Mini!

And! Did you know that in addition to the Sale-A-Bration mini there were three more items released last week? Here they are!

All Adorned stamp set is available with $50 order - before tax & shipping.

 Country Floral Embossing Folder is available with $50 order - before tax & shipping.

 Painted Seasons Bundle is available with $100 order - before tax & shipping.

What are your favorites? Which one are you getting next??

Cling Stamps!

In my {intended to be} monthly newsletter, I said I'd share a video about the new Cling stamps.
In the new Occasions Mini, and the new Sale-A-Bration Mini you'll only find Cling or Photopolymer stamp options. Cling look just like the Clear Mount we've had for a while, but they're much more tacky. That is a good thing!! But because of the increase in tackiness, there's a bit of "getting used to" you'll want to be aware of. So here is that video to help you out:



While I was looking for that video, I decided to share a video about the latest Paper Pumpkin kit!
At the moment, we can't order it as a "past kit" but often they are made available after all the subscribers orders have been filled. Past kits are only available to subscribers, so if you love it, sign up! You can find Past Kits HERE.
I also want to make sure you know that the March kit is the 6th Birthday of Paper Pumpkin and so a bonus FREE set will be included in every kit! You're not going to want to miss this! Signing up is easy- just click the pumpkin button on my side bar and sign up. You can skip a month any time you want, you can pre-pay for a period of time (and earn Sale-A-Bration freebies right now toooo!!!)
 

Retired Valentines!

Are you still making Valentine's cards- maybe a little something with dinner?! haha...
Well I finally got something made for my kiddos. I started by searching for a sketch. I picked the latest from TGIF Challenges.
Then I had to rummage thru all my retired supplies! Really, the only thing current on these three cards is the Whisper White card stock and the ink pads. And then I decided to make them all pretty much identical! The sentiments come from the same Paper Pumpkin kit, and the glitter paper came from the same pack, so that made it come together quickly!

Supplies:
Stamps: Old Paper Pumpkin kit
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Mint Macaron, Rich Razzleberry
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Glimmer Paper Asst (retired)
Accessories: Big Shot, Dimensionals, unlabeled SU! Ribbon (retired), Sweetheart Punch (retired) Heart Dies (retired)

What are your Valentine's traditions? At our house, the kids wake up to a card and some candy at their seat at the table.

(and someone got a bonus gift to keep the peace of sharing....)

I got beautiful roses delivered yesterday morning!

My husband and I hardly ever go out on Valentine's Day, but often a different day the same week. We've done nice dinners as a family, and heart themed dinners, and personally I love having our hot artichoke dip with toasted baguette slices as part of our Valentine's meal. This year I'm making our peanut butter cup (bars) but cutting them out with heart cutters and topping them with some fun Valentine sprinkles. hee hee. It's all about the little things! I might also do some cake mix sugar cookies (smaller batch!) for decorating later...

Send A Card!

Last night I read that yesterday was Send A Card To a Friend Day! I know, I know, we have sooo many tiny, obscure things to "celebrate", but you already know this one is important to me, haha. Did you know you were supposed to send cards yesterday? Did you send any?? I didn't mail anything yesterday but I did mail a card recently that I haven't shared here yet.

I used an old Paper Pumpkin kit (July 2017) to create this variation of the designed card. The stamping came out a little wonky but it worked out. 

Supplies:
Stamps: July 2017 Paper Pumpkin Kit
Ink: Tranquil Tide, Powder Pink
Paper: Powder Pink, Whisper White
Accessories: July 2017 Paper Pumpkin Kit

And, since it's a new month, I totaled up my paper crafting so far and have mailed more than half as many cards as I have made this year, and that is a win in my book!

We Create Blushing Blog Hop

Hello, hello! Another month, another blog hop!

This month, in honor of Valentine's Day, we're focusing on our selection of red and pink colors. I used two shades: Cherry Cobbler & Petal Pink! I also used a set from the still new Occasions Mini catalog.

This card uses a great sketch from a couple weeks ago on the TGIF Challenges blog. For the couple, I colored his hair with the Bronze marker, and then used a little Color Lifter. For her hair, I drew with the Dark Basic Black marker, then I colored over all of it with the Light Basic Black. Both of their skin was colored with the Ivory marker, and then a little Color Lifter on his arm. His shirt is done with the Dark Cherry Cobbler, and a little Color Lifter. Her shirt is layers of the Dark Petal Pink, which is still really pale! I wasn't 100% sure how I'm going to use this card so I picked the most generic greeting of the set, haha!

Supplies:
Stamps: To Have & To Hold
Ink: Memento Black
Stampin' Blends: Dark & Light Basic Black, Dark Cherry Cobbler, Dark Petal Pink, Bronze, Ivory, Color Lifter
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Petal Pink, Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: White Bakers Twine, Big Shot, Circle Dies, Dimensionals

This is definitely a card for my Valentine/Love class! I wanted this set the second I saw it, I just am going to need more Stampin' Blends to color these two in! haha!

Now hop on over to Cheryl's blog to see her creations, and then hop thru to everyone else's! We'll get you in the mood for some bright, happy February crafting!

Hey Love!

Today's card uses a technique I learned at the very first Stampin' Up! workshop I ever attended, waaay back in 2003. Yep. For the Make & Take, we used a stamp set that was all images, and a stamp set that was all words and repeated the word of our choice in Versamark, as subtle "patterned paper". We used one image to go along with it, and we used silver cord, haha! I didn't even realize the metallic thread connection til I typed that sentence! Anyway, back then everything I did was very much considered #simplestamping. I was trying to save money on supplies by not buying them, haha, and saving {hoarding?} what I did buy. I even know who I mailed that first card to.

For this card, I used the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, and built the card around the stamp set I wanted to play with. This is easily the most Valentine-y card I have in my upcoming class. The colors, the jar of hearts, and the repeated sentiment make it very festive, haha! With all the pink, it is likely going to go to my daughter. But I really like how it turned out and I hope my class attendees do too!

Supplies:
Stamps: Jar Of Love
Ink: Memento Black, Berry Burst, Powder Pink
Paper: Powder Pink, Whisper White & Berry Burst card stock
Accessories: Gold Thread, Dimensionals

annnd a less washed-out view, that is too dark, ha...

Tips-
- I mounted both the "HEY," and the "Love" on the block at the same time and stamped that way.
- I inked the Powder Pink hearts before the Berry Burst. Maybe that's obvious, but maybe it isn't, but it can be important with the clear, photopolymer stamp sets.
- I don't really know how to make thread look good, haha, I just stick Dimensionals all over the back and twist the thread around. Then it's stuck! haha!

Bright Little Note

I got to stamp yesterday, and I also planned out a few more cards to make, haha, so hopefully I'll get a little more stamping time soon! Do you ever do that? I couldn't decide which set I wanted to play with, so I came up with a few ideas, then I picked one! 

For this one, I used the latest Fab Friday sketch, and made a cute, happy card for my upcoming class! It also definitely qualifies for the #simplestamping challenge, since I really only used stamps, ink and paper! 

Supplies:

Stamps: Wishing You Well, Buffalo Check

Ink: Melon Mambo, Lemon Lime Twist

Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White card stocks

Accessories: Dimensionals 

I left the actual banner off from the sketch, but I put the greeting in the same spot, so it should work. I liked the bright colors to off set the huge storm we had yesterday. I'm really happy with how it turned out, which is always a good thing! Let me know if you want to attend my class!  

Scrapbooking!!

Over the weekend I finally set some goals for my new year, ha! Seriously... One of the things I really want to do more of is scrapbooking! I kept calling last year's scrapbooking accomplishments "abysmal". I got three pages done for the people in my house, and I didn't even print two of them. That means ONE page is complete from last year. blah! But scrapbooking is why I fell in love with stamps in the first place, not to mention the color options from Stampin' Up! And that is why I became a demonstrator. For scrapbooking! ...can't you tell?

So, once I set myself a goal and updated my yearly achievements at the bottom of the side bar here, I decided to pick some pictures and get to work! I loved these pics of my baby's second birthday so that's what I started with. I picked this pack of DP I got off the retiring list last summer, and haven't touched. This print with these Richard Scarry kind of animals and the balloons is adorably fabulous but it really could be a page all by itself.

Um... I have enough photos to do that I don't want a sheet of DP in this book, no matter how cute it is. So, I laid out my pictures to see how many pages I would need and then cut the DP in 3 inch sections to make a border for each page! Perfect!

Supplies:
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Sweet Sugarplum (retired), Soft Sky (retired) card stocks, Birthday Memories DP (retired)
Accessories:Cupcakes & Carousels Embellishment Kit (retired), Large Numbers Dies (retired), Big Shot

The colors come from the DP. I die cut the number, and used a little printed die cut from an accessory kit from a mini catalog I think a year ago....but maybe two years now? I need to find a good pen for journaling, but then I'm four pages closer to my goal! And a whole page more than I did last year!! Hooray!!!

As a side note, while I haven't done actual scrapbooking for a year, I have still worked on photos and journaling. I've been working on scanning pictures that came from my grandparents houses (they have all passed away) and adding captions of information (names, dates, locations, stories if someone knows something...). Then my dad has uploaded them to the cloud and shared them with family members. That way everyone has all the photos...eventually. But since June of 2017, I have done 2156 photos for my mom's family, 140 for my dad's family and 198 photos from my parents house. Really really. That is a lot.

#simplestamping

This fall, with the 30th Anniversary of Stampin' Up! they issued a challenge to demonstrators, to encourage more "simple" stamping. Showing off the fact that we can still make something pretty without owning everything in the catalog (as fun as that would absolutely be, haha!). Well, my style has always been closer to simple stamping than it has to the more complicated, layered projects. I love them, I just struggle to make it work together well. I've had to learn to incorporate all the accessories and embellishments and beautiful papers on my cards, haha. Also, if you've been a long-time reader, you'll know that our monthly blog hop used to focus on a simple card and a stepped up version, so simple is usually pretty easy for me.

I haven't stamped much in the last several weeks, like early December, so I thought starting off very simple would be a good jumping-back-in point. Also, I need to mail out at least four cards...so I picked an easy stamp set, a variety of colors to vary the card (the In Colors that retire THIS summer!!) and went for a super mailable, easy design! What do you think? I did use multiple stamp sets for the greetings so that these cards fit who I needed to send them to, but it really is just stamps, ink and paper!

Powder Pink is tricky to see in a picture, haha,

so here's a close up.

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do, Part of My Story
Ink: Powder Pink, Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do
Ink: Berry Burst , Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do
Ink: Fresh Fig, Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do, PS You're The Best
Ink: Tranquil Tide, Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do, Wishing You Well
Ink: Lemon Lime Twist, Memento Black
Paper: Whisper White

These are really very simple cards. Do you like simple stamping or do you prefer to add a little bit of everything? Or maybe somewhere in the middle, like I usually do? haha....
Anyway, the best part of this story is that two of these cards went out yesterday and I should get two more out tomorrow too!

We Create The Blues Blog Hop

And here we are, starting a brand new year, with a great blog hop, full of inspiration to get you creating your own projects! Welcome 2019!

This month we went with a color theme- the cold, wintery BLUES! Blue can be exactly that- cold and crisp. But it can also be calm and soothing. Blue has always been one of my favorite colors so this was a perfect place to start the new year.

My card uses two shades of blue- selected from the DP that coordinates with the stamp set I picked! I also used the latest sketch from the Global Design Project page.  I liked this sketch because it allows the DP to shine, which makes the phrase work so well!

Supplies:
Stamps: Little Twinkle
Ink: Night of Navy, Pool Party
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Twinkle Twinkle DP
Accessories: Wink of Stella, Pearlized Doilies, Glue Dots

I'm working on designing an upcoming Valentine/Love themed card class and this will probably be one of the cards we make- using this cute set as an "I love you" card instead of for a baby card! What do you think? There really is Wink of Stella on "you" and "stars" but it is very hard to see, especially on a cloudy, snowy day, haha....

Anyway, hop on to see what Cheryl has made to inspire you, and then hop on to see everyone else's creations too! It's not a long blog hop, but it will get your creative wheels turning! And have a very happy new year!