At Home With You

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....

Minimal Supplies!

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

Little Twinkle - Boy

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!

New Holiday Mini!

Wednesday the newest Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini catalog went live! Here's a cute video highlighting it -

There are SO many things I love in this mini!! Let me show you some of my very favorites!

My favorite all-occasion stamp is this great Buffalo Check background stamp!

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!

Simple Note

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

We Create Fall Blog Hop

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!

Paper Pumpkin Birthday

In all the August busy-ness I mentioned in Friday's post, I have mailed cards out. I've had a lot of people on my mind that just needed a little hug in the mail. The card I'm sharing today went out too, even tho it went out late.
...I'm also linking up late so I guess that's today's theme. ha!

Today's card uses the April 2018 Paper Pumpkin kit. Also differently. I looove this set, but again it's all note cards, which don't fit in the mail. Soo I cut one up (the strip of DP on the side) and used my inks, and the latest Fall to Layout sketch to make something different. And I like how it turned out!

Supplies:
Stamps: April 2018 Paper Pumpkin: You Are My Anchor, Aug 2014 Paper Pumpkin
Ink: Calypso Coral, Pool Party, So Saffron, Early Espresso, Island Indigo (retired)
Paper: Pool Party, Whisper White card stocks, April 2018 Paper Pumpkin: You Are My Anchor
Accessories: April 2018 Paper Pumpkin: You Are My Anchor, Metallic Sequins, Glue Dots

I guess I also used a very old Paper Pumpkin stamp set for the "It's Your Birthday" part. But of course keeping the stamps and inks well past using up the supplies is one of the great things about these kits! If you love this nautical style as much as I do, the kit IS still available HERE for subscribers. And if you want to sign up- just click the Pumpkin image on my side bar! You can stay active as long or as short of a time as you'd like. You can stay active and skip a month when money is tighter. And the kits are always there whenever you need a quick crafting time, and you don't want to spend that time searching for things that work well together!

Paper Pumpkin!

ohhh what a month! Family vacation, buying a new family car, another trip for a funeral, all the back-to-school shopping, all the extracurricular activities starting up the same week as school....!!! And the month is still going!
So it took me til the third day of school to get some stamp time in, and I decided to pick up my July Paper Pumpkin kit I'd only peeked at before yesterday. Here's the video all about it.

Honestly, I don't use note cards...ever? Maybe if I remember when I'm dropping something off to someone, but really, I use full size cards all the time and note cards rarely. As adorable as this kit is with the baskets and note cards, (and I really do think it's sweet) I chose to make my own designs. I've said it before and I'll say it again- that's one of the things I love about Paper Pumpkin kits!

Since I haven't been creating, I obviously hadn't checked challenges in a while. So, I mixed things up and used recent sketches (not necessarily current) for my three cards, and a little bit of everything from the kit. All I added was the Whisper White card bases.

The first card I used the new CAS(E) this Sketch, found HERE.

The second card uses a recent TGIF sketch challenge, found HERE.

And this card uses a missed Fab Friday sketch HERE.

Here's the full set, just to show the variety of supplies.

Best of all? I even stuck one of these cards in the mail yesterday!

This cute kit is no longer available, but maybe you were looking for a different way to use it too? I really think it will make great scrapbook pages...just as soon as I get some printed. Goodness knows we have lots of picnic-y photos! We also have gardening pictures and canning pictures that might be fun with the fruit! And my kids eat apples almost every day, so there's no limit to those pictures. haha!

Typewriters!

Okay, remember on {last} Monday when I played with the Embossing Paste? And back a month ago when I said this typewriter set was one of my favorite things in the new catalog? Well, let's combine those with this awesome brick stencil and the fact that I really love brick and I really love these cards! So much that I just kept going!
...it just took me a few days to get the blog post typed up.....!

I made the first two brick walls just after I did the clouds on the baby card. I pictured a blue and a pink typewriter on the side like this, but I couldn't decide which shade of pink to go with... So I had to make more brick walls, haha! I also used different methods to color in the typewriters, getting slightly different results. I really needed "thinking of you" type cards and the greetings that come with the typewriter didn't fit the people I need cards for, so I used the "hello" from Tabs For Everything instead. The font is different and yet I think it works. I'm really happy with each of them.

This is the simplest card of the set. This typewriter was colored with the colored pencils and a Blender Pen.

Supplies:

Stamps: PS You're The Best, Tabs For Everything

Ink: Stazon Black, Melon Mambo 

Paper: Melon Mambo, Smoky Slate, Shimmery White card stocks

Accessories: White Baker's Twine, White Embossing Paste, Pattern Party Decorative Masks, Palette Knives, Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pens, Dimensionals

This one ended up my favorite coloring job. In this case, I used the Flirty Flamingo ink pad and the Aquapainter on the Shimmery card stock. And it was one of those times I rather impressed myself, haha. Later my daughter made pretty much the same comment so there you go!

Supplies:

Stamps: PS You're The Best, Tabs For Everything

Ink: Stazon Black, Flirty Flamingo, Smoky Slate

Paper: Flirty Flamingo, Smoky Slate, Shimmery White card stocks

Accessories: Calypso Coral Ombre ribbon, Metallic Sequins, White Embossing Paste, Pattern Party Decorative Masks, Palette Knives, Aquapainter, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

For these next two cards, I took a brilliant idea (from Jeanna HERE) to stick the flowers behind the typewriter. I think it adds a lot, both in color and just that extra something it needed. 

Supplies:

Stamps: PS You're The Best

Ink: Stazon Black, Dark Old Olive Stampin' Blends marker, Dark Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends marker, Color Lifter Stampin' Blends marker

Paper: Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate, Shimmery White card stocks

Accessories: Burlap Ribbon, White Baker's Twine, White Embossing Paste, Pattern Party Decorative Masks, Palette Knives, Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pens, Dimensionals

And I think this one ended up my favorite, because the Gold Thread worked out better than the Baker's Twine in the blue card. Also I love the coloring again, which this time was done with Stampin' Blends markers.

Supplies:

Stamps: PS You're The Best, Tabs For Everything

Ink: Memento Black, Old Olive, Dark Old Olive Stampin' Blends marker, Dark Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends marker, Color Lifter Stampin' Blends marker

Paper: Old Olive, Smoky Slate, Shimmery White card stocks

Accessories: Gold metallic thread, White Embossing Paste, Pattern Party Decorative Masks, Palette Knives, Dimensionals

I think it's safe to say I have some favorite toys, haha.... What do you think? Do you have a favorite of these? 

Now I just have to get them written in and mailed out.... very, very soon! 

We Create Summer Blog Hop

At the first of every month, we have a fun little blog hop to inspire you. And it seems like every month is coming at me faster and faster! August already?? YIKES!!

Well, in my neck of the woods, it is HOT. It is way hot. And dry. Sooo dry. And since our theme this month is summer, I went with hot, summery colors! And flowers, because even without rain for weeks we have wildflowers growing in the field behind my house.

My card today uses the latest Fall to Layout. I happen to need at least four Thinking of You cards mailed out right now, so that's the greeting I picked. I love the look the Stampin' Blends give and I hadn't tried it on this flower yet. I thought it was time, plus, I really love this flower image!

Supplies:
Stamps: Love What You Do, Colorful Seasons
Ink: Memento Black, Dark Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends, Stampin' Blends Color Lifter
Paper: Calypso Coral, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Calypso Coral Ombre Ribbon, Seasonal Layers Thinlit Dies, Big Shot

What does summer look like to you?
Hop on over to Cheryl's blog, and then hop all the way thru- we have some great players along here! I hope you feel motivated to create something beautiful too! And leave us your thoughts, everyone loves comments!

Techniques!!

Annnd then I quit stamping..... Summer is so busy!! However, today I got several things stamped, so I'm set for posts for a few days...
This past week I had two rounds of my missed Christmas Card class. That was fun! And I was so excited to get planning my next class! That's a different story, haha, but at my classes when I would try to point out a tool or a technique on my display board, I kept discovering I didn't have any! With a little one, my crafting has become even more simple than it already was, and I literally use stamps, ink and paper and that's pretty much it! So when I placed my order I got stuff for a new-to-me technique! And today's card is full of them!

My card {mostly} uses the color combination found on the Fab Friday blog, the second sketch from the Fall to Layouts, and is heavily inspired by THIS card by Cathy Caines. It includes watercoloring, embossing paste, a punch, Wink of Stella and a little basic stamping. haha...!

Supplies:
Stamps: Little Twinkle
Ink: Stazon Black, Mint Macaron, Tranquil Tide
Paper: Powder Pink, Mint Macaron, Watercolor Paper, Silver Glimmer Paper 
Accessories: Twinkle Builder Punch, Aquapainter, Embossing Paste, Pattern Party Decorative Masks, Palette Knives, Wink of Stella pen, White Bakers Twine, Glue Dots 

Maybe you can see the Wink of Stella on the big "twinkle" better here?

Anyway, it obviously took more time than my normal creations, but it was fun! I used Tranquil Tide ink, with an Aquapainter to make the background. After it dried I tried my hand at the Embossing Paste for the first time. I only wanted a few clouds, and they are more transparent than I expected but maybe I didn't use enough? I stamped the greeting, and after a minute added the Wink of Stella just to the scripty "twinkle". And then I used the punch on the glitter paper, sticking scraps in to get more stars. All of that was adhered with Glue Dots. I stamped the little constellation around the edges of the card base for a little interest and to reiterate the star thing. Finally I wrapped some Baker's Twine to keep with the sketch, and I love how it turned out!

And just to show I used the set again already, I threw together this baby card using an image I stamped and colored a few months ago.

Yeay card making!!

Things to know...

There are lots of things going on with the world of Stampin' Up!
First- this great sale on our beautiful patterned papers!!

This sale includes the following DP packs:
Nature's Poem
Twinkle Twinkle
Under the Mistletoe
Animal Expedition
Best Route
Petal Promenade
Tranquil Textures
Garden Impressions
Tropical Escape
Wood Textures

Next, if you sign up to be an independent Demonstrator, you can get a full color family of ink pads FREE. You should know there is no penalty for signing up just to get the starter kit- and you should know it is an AMAZING value. You select $125 worth of product and pay only $99. And, an entire color family of ink pads is another $75 added to that, which you would get absolutely FREE. With the color revamp, this is such great timing, and think of the money you'd save!

If you have never subscribed to Paper Pumpkin, today is a great time to give it a try! If you sign up before Aug 10, you'll get 50% off your first month! There is no penalty for dropping after that first month, but I know I sure love my kits! Sometimes I haven't loved the project that was designed, but I can always find another way to use the supplies- and you keep the stamps and ink spot forever!

Finally- I have a Christmas {cards} In July class coming up! This is the exact class I wasn't able to hold last winter, and so a few of the supplies are now retired. Some are on the Clearance Rack, and at least two are just gone forever. But I had several customers request the class, so if you want to come, it's my house on July 25. The cards are $12, and I need your RSVP by July 23rd so I can get your supplies prepared for you!

Whew! There it all is! Which are you most interested in??