A Little Blast from the Past

Ben & I help out with the youth group at our church here in Manhattan. Next week, we are going to a conference in Illinois with the group. In order to help pay for expenses, the youth group is holding a silent auction on Sunday. I decided to donate a basket full of Stampin' Up! products to the auction.

Since I have all kinds of retired stuff, I decided I'd give a couple retired stamp sets as well as a Simply Scrappin' kit and an assortment of cards. The Simply Scrappin' kit I decided to give was a kit included in Sell-a-Bration last spring. The stamp set that went wonderfully with the kit was another set that was also included in Sell-a-Bration last year. Since I had an extra stamp set and an extra kit, I decided to make up a card using the kit and stamp set to show the person who was buying the kit that they could make cards and scrapbook pages with the stamp set and kit.

Ironically, when I was home this past weekend, my mom had found an old SU! On Stage magazine (for demos) from last year (it came around wedding time, hence the reason she didn't find it until now...). It had all kinds of cute ideas for the Sell-a-Bration stuff from last year--including this card!



I thought it was a cute idea (originally created by Brittany Slaughter), so I copied it. I also found another card (originally created by Jodee Fraser) that I tweaked to work with my stamp sets:



I LOVE this color combo! Yay for color combos! Since I've been on the lookout for new colors, I have been overwhelmed by all the great ideas out there!

I hope whoever buys my basket will enjoy the free goodies!

Card 1:
Stamp Set: Delight in Life
Colors: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Always Artichoke (ink only)

Card 2:
Stamp Sets: Big Blossom, Make it Count
Colors: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky

Some more new colors!

When I first started demonstrating for Stampin' Up!, all I had were the Bold Brights colors...and let's face it--they're bright. Anyway, after I started getting more card stock and ink in the different colors, I really haven't used many Bold Bright colors, nor have I made very many bright cards. I think I just got really sick of the brightness.

Although this card is not made from all Bold Bright colors, it's still A LOT brighter than my cards usually are :-)



At the fitness center that I manage, I always give birthday cards to my employees on their birthdays. Unfortunately, not all my employees are girls :-) Sometimes I do have to make gender-neutral cards! Plus, none of the boys really care how long it took me to make the card or how beautiful I think the card is--they just read it and toss it (*gasp*) I've seen them do it. So, not only do I need to make gender-neutral cards, but they need to be simple...mainly so I'm not so sad when they throw them away! I think this card fits the bill perfectly!

Stamp Sets: Year After Year (my most favorite set that I'm very sad to see being retired), and Hugs & Wishes
Colors: Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon, Earth Elements buttons

Happy 4th of July!

In honor of the 4th of July, I thought I'd make a nice patriotic-themed card. I found this card on Nancy's blog, but saw that it originally came from skdeleeuw on Split Coast Stampers. So here's my take on the card:



I really like the spiral punch that was used on the original card, but for some reason I still haven't bought the punch (crazy, I know! I love punches!). So I used my paper piercing again (surprise, surprise). It seems like every time I don't have what I need for the card, I just do some paper piercing to fix it! :-)

As I was taking pictures of the card, I realized that it would also be cute on its side. I actually think I like it better on its side:



Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful (and safe) 4th of July! My husband and I are taking a weekend trip to Kansas City for our anniversary. I'm really excited to get to spend a weekend without work or school or stamping (I guess...) :-) I'll be back on Monday, so I'll post again then!

Stamp Set: Celebrate Everything (15% off this month if you buy my July Card Kit!)
Colors: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Real Red, River Rock, Prints Pack (current level 1 hostess set)

for you

I just loved Julee's sketches so much, that I decided to try another one!

Here's the sketch:



I have been really struggling lately with using the same colors over and over, so I've been striving to use new color combos that I would have never used before. Of course I was having a terrible time choosing some new colors for this card, so I went to the Stampin' Up! catalog. Who better to consult than the stamping masters themselves!? Usually when I want a new color combo, I just flip through the pages of the catalog until I come upon a color combo that I like, but today I thought I'd try something new. I went straight to the pages where all the Designer Series Paper is pictured and found a pack of paper that I liked. When I first got my new catalog in January, I looked up the coordinating colors for each pack of paper and wrote those colors in the catalog next to the picture of the paper. This way, it was easy for me to figure out which colors to use with the DSP, and it was easy for me to find a new color combo to use today!

I chose the Fall Flowers DSP for my inspiration today and pulled out the colors used in this paper: Old Olive, Really Rust, Soft Sky, and Kraft (they actually used Sahara Sand, but I didn't have any, so I substituted Kraft). Here is the lovely creation I came up with:



For the large scallop circle, check out this tutorial by Andrea Walford. She uses this technique to make little scalloped note cards that are folded on one end and open to make a card. I only used one sheet of paper (not folded) to make my scalloped circle. One scallop edge will be cut off slightly, but I just hid that scallop under the sentiment. I punched the circles in each scallop with a crop-a-dile (one of the best tools of all time!).

The next time you go to make a project and you just can't seem to find a good color combo, go to the stamping master--the SU! catalog. You're sure to find tons of cute color combos all laid out for you and ready to use!

Stamp Set: One of a Kind
Colors: Old Olive, Really Rust, Soft Sky, Kraft
Accessories: slit punch, crop-a-dile, 5/8" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon

Mojo Monday

I am terribly disappointed with myself for not seeking out this fun opportunity before now! All the ladies on SUDSOL are always talking about Julee's Mojo Monday sketches, but I never took the time to look up what everyone was talking about...until today.

Julee Tilman has an AMAZING blog where she posts sketches each Monday--her Mojo Monday sketch. I realize it's not Monday, but I was in desperate need of some mojo!

Here was her sketch for this week (June 30):



And this was the card I made:



If you notice in Julee's sketch, there are photo corners in the top right and bottom left corners. Unfortunately, I don't have the photo corners punch, so I made do with what I had:



Paper piercing! It's so much fun! Take a look at Julee's blog. She's got tons of great sketches just waiting to be used! I know I'll be using her sketches in the upcoming weeks--I've got lots of catching up to do!

Stamp Sets: Holiday Blitz, Friendship Blooms (a Sale-a-Bration set from this year that I had not used until today!)
Colors: Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla (you may be seeing a lot of the current In Colors in the upcoming weeks as I'm trying to use up all my card stock before it retires!)

It's an Exciting Month...

...both for me and for Stampin' Up! My 1-year anniversary is next Monday (whoo-hoo!). I can't believe I've been married to the most wonderful man on earth for a whole year already! How time flies!



As for Stampin' Up!'s exciting news...this is their 20th anniversary (wow!) and they're on a roll!

The first (and in my opinion, most exciting) news is the unveiling of a new line of self-adhesive vinyl wall elements, called Decor Elements.



I am particularly excited for this new line, and today is the first day you can purchase from this line for your own home! Click here for the online brochure, then be sure to contact me soon with your order! I've also put a link to the brochure on the left column of my blog.

Second, check out this great announcement from Stampin' Up! today...

We're excited to announce that all new stamp sets in the Fall-Winter 2008 Idea Book & Catalog (including new hostess sets) will be die cut for your convenience! We know you enjoy the flexibility of custom mounting your stamps, and with these die-cut sets, all you'll need to do is pop, peel, and place before you begin stamping.

Only our new stamps will be die cut; sets carried over from the last catalog and those on the dormant list will still require trimming. But, each new set will feature a die cut icon so you and your customers will have no problems identifying die-cut sets.

Isn't that exciting? Whenever I used to get new stamp sets, I always had to wait for a few days to use them until I had time to sit down and mount the sets. Now I can mount and use the stamps as soon as I get them! Yay Stampin' Up!

Third, from July 1 through August 10, Stampin' Up! is offering a special 25% discount on select Hodgepodge Hardware sets:

Item #	Page #	Item Description	Regular Price	Limited Time 25% off Discount
105532	188	Aged Copper Hodgepodge Hardware	$27.95	$20.96
105531	188	Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware	$27.95	$20.96
105515	188	Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware	$27.95	$20.96

This product is retiring and is only available while supplies last.

I'm also excited about this month because Stampin' Up! demonstrators are given the opportunity to buy a few stamp sets and accessories from the upcoming Fall-Winter catalog. I'm already putting together my order for the new In Colors, a new scalloped border punch (yay!!), and some new stamp sets. Be on the lookout for a Create with Cari announcement for a New Catalog bash in early August! Be one of the first to play with these new fun items at the party!