Yay!!! Today is the day we've been waiting for!!! The new 2013-2014 Catalog is up and ready to go! There's amazing stamps, beautiful paper, fun accessories and so so so many great samples that will leave you inspired!!! You can check out the catalog here OR contact me if you'd like your own copy! You can begin ordering from the new catalog at noon (MDT). Guess what I'll be doing at noon :)
These one layer cards have been all over the blog land and Pintrest. I think they're great! And it's a great way to just showcase our amazing ink and stamps! For this card I used a bunch of new colors, Strawberry Slush, Soft Sky, Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana! They go so well together! I have to mention that this card doesn't have any dimensionals-I know that 2 cards in one week! I might need help! The local demonstrators in our group know what a HUGE fan I am of dimensionals. They know I ALWAYS have some if they run low (I tend to stock pile them-in the event of a dimensional emergency! So it's a very rare occurrence if I don't use dimensionals on my projects :) 
The card base of this card is vellum. It's make such and elegant card base. The outside layer is slightly smaller than the inside layer. It make is look a little shaded. I love that! For my card I used post it notes to mask the center of the cardstock. Then I stamped all my flowers. Then I removed the post its and stamped and finished my greeting. It's that simple! Go try it!!! 
I sure hope you're not tired of the Mosaic Madness stamp set yet. I think it's going to be one of my favorites! Guess what else I just LOVE?! The new Pistachio Pudding In Color!!! I love this green. It's not to bold or bright it's just the right balance of green! I LOVE LOVE IT. All the in colors this year are amazing, it's hard to choose a favorite! This card was pretty simple and quick to put together. The large label is from the Apothecary Accents framelits (LOVE)! I added some light splatter to that with my aqua painter and some Pistachio Pudding ink. 
I love the greeting on it. Remember that's a hostess only set, so book your workshops or classes today to make sure you get that set!! It's another quick post for me. School has been out a week and we've already been super busy! This may be the summer of the quick cards :) 
The DSP in the new Soho Subway collection is so amazing! It makes amazing cards with nothing else added....well almost nothing. I just LOVE this DSP though, it's so vintagy, the colors are all fantastic together and every pattern just gets better! There was very little done by me on this card. The DSP speaks for itself. The only stamping I did was the 'smile' greeting. I dug out a scrap of paper and stamped it and then stapled it on. How easy and fun!!! 
I did add some torn Summer Starfruit cardstock to the bottom of the number strip and to the top of the faux wood piece. I think it frames the Summer Starfruit DSP great, and I didn't want the edges of the DSP to look 'unfinished' just stacked up on each other. Plus it gives off some nice shadows and adds to the texture of the card, which we all know I love!!! There is one thing missing on this card.....dimensionals!!!! This is the first card I've made in, gosh I don't know how long that didn't have diemensionals. Can you believe it!!!??! I sure can't, must have been an oversight on my part :)
It's a short, quick post today. It is a holiday after all. Happy Memorial Day to my American friends! Today's card is pretty simple, there is some NEW DSP on this card. Isn't is great!!!?!! I got the inspiration for this card here. I loved her card, but I wanted to keep mine simple. This would be a great make and take or card for a class. That's it I told you it was quick! 
I got an order in earlier this week that has some of the new hostess sets from the upcoming catalog. By the way we're only 1 week away from the release of the new catalog!!!! Whoooo Hooo!!! This new banner greeting hostess set was one I was pretty sure I wasn't going to love-boy was I wrong!!!!!! I earned the set free during Sale a Bration-I'm not one to pass up a free stamp set :) When I started using it I LOVED IT!!! The banners are so easy to cut out, it takes seconds! The writing is so pretty and there's pretty much a saying for any occasion! You'll be seeing this set A LOT!!! No joke-I made a bunch of cards and I used it tons-prepare yourself :)
The rest of the card was inspired by Kimberly's card. Check out that fun button too, that's some of our new foam. The button mold is sooooo cute!!! I'm such a fan of the new foam! I've made a whole stack of buttons and flowers. Then when I'm ready to use them I can just color them with a marker, aqua painter or just leave them white! It's perfect!!!! Do make sure to make a bunch ahead of time, otherwise you might be a victim to some drying time! Have great holiday weekend for my USA friends. Be safe out there. 
I know it's been a while since I broke out my new stamps so I thought I'd share a quick and simple card that you could make in no time. These would be great to make a stack and hand them to a teacher, co worker, friend, etc. I started with the note cards. I LOVE the note cards. Half the work is already done!!! I used some of our new DSP. This DSP is from the Gingham Garden pack. I LOVE it!!! 
I punched the label punch out of the front of the card and stuck the greeting onto the inside of the card so it peeks out but when you open it it's still there. Fun!!! To get the ribbon through the edge of the card, I just pulled out my hobby blade, any cutting blade would do. Just cut a small slit and thread the ribbon through. It's the first day of Summer Vacation, let's hope we're off to a good start!
I have one more fun card any teacher would love to get (I hope)! This is yet another Pintrest inspired card :) Of course!!!! I love Pintrest. Where else can you get a bazillion great (and some not so great) ideas, recipes and more!!!! But I loved the idea of this card and used it as inspiration! So let me tell you about my thought process on this card. Bear with me :) 
Because I wanted the window sheet panel on the front I wanted to make sure it was lined on the inside so the writing didn't show through the front, that wouldn't be pretty. So I added another layer in the card. Of course there would be a gift card in the card so I had to have a pocket for that. So in the end I used a 12x5 1/2 piece of cardstock for this card. Score on the 12 inch side at 4 1/4 and 8 1/2. 
So when you fold it, the bottom will fold up, and the top, will fold over that. I added some DSP to the inside panel of the card. The white was too white (I know that sounds silly). I wanted to apple to 'pop' and it wasn't doing that on the white, so I added some DSP and it really changed the entire look of the card. Plus I had ribbon to match :)
So that part unfolds, and the gift card is there. I added a piece of cardstock with sticky strip for the gift card. It's nice and secure so you won't loose the gift card :) There's plenty of room to write.
The last card was my 'girly' card. I seem to always have a girly card at my classes I think this is it for this class. We used the Just Believe set. It's a great set with lots of elements. We used the marker to color the stamp, then added the splatter to it with an aqua painter and ink pad. Just like I did for this card. I think it's my new favorite way to add splatter, I had to figure out a new way since the color spritzer is gone :( 
Can you believe we're less than 2 weeks from the release of the new catalog?!?? Whooo Hoooo!!!!! But there are some great sets that we're loosing. My May class on Saturday was all about the stamp sets that are leaving. I chose 4 of my favorites. The first one was Button Buddies! How can this one go? I just love it! this card is simple and sweet! You could make a stack of these in no time! Also leaving is the stamp set Curly Cute! It's one of my favorite greeting sets! 
The next set is Perfect Punches. This set is such a great set to own. It has images for every occasion and they coordinate with some of our most popular punches. This card could easily be a masculine card just leave off the flowers and add some linen thread and/or our natural buttons. Easy to switch out! I'll have the other 2 cards from the class to share with you tomorrow! 
Welcome to our monthly blog hop! If you just hopped over from Michelle's blog WELCOME! If not make sure you hop around the loop, you'll see some amazing projects! We are only 2 weeks away from the new catalog, I'm so super excited!!!! I can't wait!!!! But as it always is, with new you have to say good bye to the old. So this month's hop we're saying good bye to our retiring stamp sets. For my card I'm using the Forever Young set. I actually got this set for free when I won a monthly contest offered to demonstrators (a long time ago). However I didn't use it until my 10th anniversary class 2 months ago! I might have used it before here and there, but 2 month's ago I fell in love with it and started using it ALL the time! So of course it ended up on the retiring list :( But it also means I get to share it with you today! This card was inspired by Kimberly Van Diepen. I love her vintage style of cards :) I CASED this card pretty closely. I just loved hers why change it! :)
You'll notice that this does say Mother's Day, but this would be a great card for a new mom, birthday or maybe just a Wednesday :) I added a little new product on the card! Did you notice the Summer Starfruit rose? I again used the new clay and molds that I LOVE!!! Once the clay was dry I used my marker and colored the rose. It's just that easy! If you're interested in the clay and molds you can get them in only 2 weeks! 
This card is inspired by this card that I came across on Pintrest. There's one more new product on this card. Can you spot it? It's the button! I've become a huge button fan, but I'm also a button hoarder. I'm really working on it though, so hopefully you'll see me use more and more buttons :) We'll see how that goes.
The end of the school year is rapidly approaching. Logan only has one week of school left! YIKES! So that means it's time for teacher gifts! Of course I appreciate his teachers year round but I always try to give gifts at the end of the school year :) This year it's all about the gift card :) They're easy and when I polled my teacher friends that was the number one gift teachers want. I saw this super cute punched creation on Pintrest, and came up with this sweet version of it.
The worm is simply done with a variety of sizes of circle punches and an oval punch for his head. I do adore his little glasses though! Aren't they just the cutest!!!?!?!? To get his glasses I punched the small circle from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, then I punched the 1/4 inch (I'm pretty positive it was the 1/4 inch--I made this a few days ago and now seem to be questioning myself--but I'm pretty sure). Then for the sides of the glasses I just used a tiny strip of black cardstock and folded it over the edge of the circle. Just gluing it on didn't work well but when you fold it over it works well. the books are made with the word window punch. The apple is, well, the apple frame lit :) Why reinvent the wheel? 
I added a little pocket in the inside of the card for the gift card. Gotta love the gift cards! 
You know you're getting old when the children you used to babysit for are graduating high school, though while I type this I realize that the kids I used to spend my summers babysitting are now seniors in college! YIKES! I guess a high school grad isn't so bad :) This is a pretty simple card, but when made in the school colors can be a pretty striking card. If you read my post yesterday about my crooked words you'll understand why I kept the stamp a ma jig in the drawer for this card, and would you believe it-they came out pretty straight! Who would have ever guessed! 
There's really not much to say about this card. For the flowers I used the little scalloped flower from the Itty Bitty Punch pack. Before I glued them down I crumpled them up to give them a little texture. Of course no flower is complete without a little rhinestone in the center! There's room for a gift card to be added inside and then it's all set to go to that graduate! 
Yesterday was Mother's Day, so of course I couldn't share this card prior to Mother's Day :) This is the card I gave to my Mom. Over all it's a pretty simple card. I have a love/hate relationship with my stamp a ma jig. I have friends who love it and don't stamp without it. Normally I don't use my stamp a ma jig, there are very few stamps that I'll dig it out for. I thought it would be helpful with this card but as you can see my words are still crooked even with the use of the stamp a ma jig, so now you understand my love/hate relationship. It seems that I can only make it work properly with 2 step stamps such as this one. But when it comes to words no matter what I do, they never come out straight. This was try number 4 and I decided it was going to have to work :)
Fortunately there's a lot going on with this card, so hopefully that distracts from the crooked stamping :) The rose on top is made with the new clay and flower molds that will be in the new catalog. I just love this clay!!! I've made a bunch of flowers to have on hand. You never know when you might need one on the spot! I used my aqua painter and painted the rose first in Pink Pirouette, then once that was dry I used my aqua painter and went over it with Strawberry Slush. Some parts are darker and shaded which I love! Of course I had to add pearls and a doily, more of my faves!!! 
I love this sweet simple card. The inspiration for this card came from this blog. I love theses flowers, this set (Stippled Blossoms) is probably my all time favorite stamp set! The flowers are so beautiful! Of course I used my stamp a ma jig to line them up exactly :) To get the splattered background I dropped a couple drops of Chocolate Chip reinker onto the lid of the Chocolate Chip pad, then took my aqua painter-make sure it's really wet--that's key. Use your really wet aquapainter and pick up a little reinker and then holding it with one hand tap it on the other hand holding it over your card and the ink will splatter all over your card. It's easy, quick and best of all not messy! None of the ink spots will be the same size and every time you do it, it will be different and wonderful!
Don't you just love the colors of these flowers! They're both new In Colors. The blue flower is Coastal Cabana (NEW) with Bermuda Bay stamped on top. The orange flower is Crisp Cantaloupe (NEW) with Calypso Coral stamped on top. LOVE both these flowers! I crumpled up a doily to stick behind the flowers, it adds the perfect softness and sweetness to the card! That's all for me today, have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there! 
I can't tell you how much I love this years In Colors! I'm so glad that we'll have 2 years with them, though it will be hard to say good bye to them in 2015 :) Three of the new incolors are shown on this card. Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding and Strawberry Slush. YUM!!!! I kept this card clean and simple. Crisp white on white cards are super trendy :) The only problem with white cards is that they're often hard to photograph. I didn't get a chance to take pictures early in the day, thanks to a little messy situation from Megan :) So I had to wait until the afternoon when the light isn't great. 
This set is so fun and what's better than a fun set but having a fun punch that coordinates with that set! I LOVE that!!!! I'm a punch-a-holic though :) Hate to keep it short and sweet but May is turning out to be the busiest month of the year :) Gotta love the end of the school year!
The first is Karen's. Karen never ceases to amaze me. Every month she is full of new and amazing ideas-I don't know how she does it! For her swap we made little mirrors, there's a hook on the back to hang it, mine is already hung :) She requested colors from us prior to the swap, so that they could coordinate with our homes, it's that so stinkin' sweet of her!!! Mine is the Marina Mist one, my craft room and bedroom are blue so I knew whatever it was and where ever it went it would coordinate. They all turned out beautiful though! She punched 70 ornaments per person in each color! Then she dyed all the flower trim ribbon for us. She's did soooo much prep work, and goodness I can't thank her enough for that :) We embossed, sponged and glued on all those ornaments-well not all of them I kept my extras I'll make something fun with them. I love it and it's hanging in my craft room!!
Cassie's project is up next. We stamped the pot and then made the little bird house. I love 3-D projects but I was worried the birdhouse would be complicated. But she had a pattern and it was super easy! The pot was a little tricky to stamp on. But mine came out pretty well, I do have one wonky looking bird, but he'll sit in the back :) I'm going to try to not kill my plant. I do not have any gardening skills. I'm pretty sure plants come to my home to die, but I'll work hard on this one! 
Kathy's project is next. She and I must have been on the same thought process. She did a mason jar candle too! Here's is so cute!!! I love that the candle is sitting in birdseed. How stinking cute!!!! With the help of a glue gun this project came together quickly! This sweet little candle is sitting in my kitchen. 
Finally to Amber's project. Amber made liners for our clear cases. The clear cases we'll use to hold pearls and rhinestones. How cute!! Amber did the liners in MDS then had them printed. This was huge for Amber, she hasn't played with MDS as much as me :) They came out fantastic though and I'm so proud of her for stepping outside her comfort zone and venture into MDS! I don't think I need to tell you how these are in use in my home :) 
Did you guess what my swap was on Friday? I had a couple people email me some guesses and while they were all wonderful and creative ideas (I'm stealing some of them) no one guessed what it was. For our swap I lined mason jars with our Stampin' Up! fabric and then placed some candles in them--battery operated. They make such sweet candles!! The patterns are so fun!!!! I used the Two For Tea fabric for the jars. Everyone made 3 jars, one in each size and finished each jar with a little bakers twine. 
So how did I get the fabric in there?? Well I saw on Pintrest this idea of lining jars with fabric and using them for all sorts of things. So it was easy to put two and two together-we have fabric, I can find jars-perfect!!! I cut the fabric into about 1 1/2 inch strips, then I used a foam brush and brushed some mod podge on the inside of the jar. Stick the fabric down, make sure it's nice and snug on the bottom. Once you do the whole jar, go over it again with another layer of the mod podge, just to make sure it all stays where it's supposed to be :) Let dry, cut off any excess fabric on the top of the jar, put the lid on, tie your twine and plop your candle in. It was a little time consuming-not bad though but really easy. You can't be afraid to get a little sticky though-but you wash :)
I used battery tea light candles. They're easy to get in and out and you won't have to worry about any fire dangers in case the mod podge and fabric decide to catch fire. So make sure you stick with the battery candles :) The rest of the swaps were amazing!!! I'll share them tomorrow. All of my swaps this year were put right to use as soon as I walked in the door :) Make sure you stop by tomorrow for some amazing ideas!!!! 
Super quick post today! Tomorrow is our Over The Top Swap. This is where we get together and do a 'shoebox' swap. But instead of cards we're making over the top projects. This is one of my favorite events of the year. Here's a sneak peek at my project, I just LOVE my project this year. I share the whole thing on Monday along with the rest of the swaps! Can't wait!! 
Where did the year go?? How can we already be in May?! What!?! This year is flying by and I'm running to keep up with it :) We're down to our last few weeks of the 2012-2013 Catalog. Let the countdown begin!!! I've already made my wishlist for the new catalog....just have to figure out how I'm gonna pay for it all :) Today's card is super sweet, simple, bright and fun!! The DSP is from the Gingham Garden collection. Just wait until you see this DSP it's AWESOME! I used one of the stamps from the Mosaic Madness set for a little Melon Mambo border. CUTE! 
Let's get to my button. The new catalog has a plethora of new adorable buttons and accessories. I took one of the new button, flipped it over to the smooth side and covered it with the Gingham Garden Washi Tape. Don't get me wrong the other side of the button is super duper cute but I wanted to see what the button would look like with a little washi tape on it. IT'S CUTE!!! The button has a scalloped edge, so to make sure that I kept that scalloped edge I trimmed closely around it and then gently sanded the edges to get rid of any excess washi tape and to make sure it was fitting snugly on the button. I used my paper piercer and made the holes in the center of the button as well as along the scalloped edge. I love it!!!!! 
I think the person I'm directing this post to, will know who she is without me naming names. But I wanted to share with you my love of the Seam Binding Ribbon today :) Plus there's a new stamp set and DSP on this card so it's still a fun post for all! First let's get to the DSP and stamp set. The stamp set is super cute! It's called Label Love and has a coordinating punch. Don't you LOVE that! The DSP is from a set call Gingham Garden! It's so stinkin' cute! The brown on the card is also new, that's Baked Brown Sugar. It's such a yummy brown!!! I'm a huge fan of Crumb Cake but this might be my second favorite brown!!! Mmmm that would make a really yummy dessert-Baked Brown Sugar Crumb Cake!! I hope someone's working on that! 
Anyway let's get to the seam binding! Who doesn't LOVE seam binding. This is one of my favorite ribbons!!! I love the width of it---I'm not a fan of the skinny thin ribbons :) I love the soft, subtle look of the seam binding. And the best part. I think the seam biding makes the prettiest bows and it's sooooo easy to tie and work with! I tied the banner onto the card with the seam binding-it's pretty and functional too!!! I hope you get out there and use some seam binding ribbon today!!! 
