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Archive for the ‘Announcement’ Category:
Sale-a-Bration 2012 is Here!
Aloha, all!
After the holidays, my absolutely most favorite time of the Stampin' Up! year is SALE-A-BRATION! This is the time of the year when, for every $50 you spend on any kinds of Stampin' Up! products, you get something FREE from the Sale-A-Bration Catalog! And if you spend $150 or have a workshop that gets up to that amount, you get even more!!
This information is also over on the right side of my blog, and you can click on either place to find out more about what you can get for FREE!
For a quick look at some My Digital Studio designs (digital stuff you can get for FREE!) check out my New Year's Blog Post here. And for sure I'll be adding some fun projects made with Sale-A-Bration products over the next few weeks!
Subscribe to the comments for this postThe Great Tea Cover-Up!
Aloha, all!
Today's project is one born, if not out of necessity, at least out of a desire to hide something. Well, not something important, but something that just felt out of place.
Yesterday afternoon, my dear husband came home from a business meeting carrying this lovely box of tea bags. I have ALWAYS wanted to have one of these boxes to present to people to select their own teas! I just love it when I'm at a restaurant and the "tea steward" (well, wine has stewards, why not tea?) comes to the table with a box and elegantly opens it to display all kinds of tea bags. Of course I never think of these boxes when I'm anywhere that might actually have them for sale. So all these years I've gone without.
Until yesterday! Oh my – was I thrilled to have it! Except. Except that there was a BIG brass plate smack in the middle of the outside cover that advertised the not-very-elegant company that made the gift. Rats! And then I thought of all that paper and ink in my craft room – AND the brand new stamp set, Tea Shoppe! Off I went this morning to do the great cover-up of the day!
Because I'm currently working on a project for the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition that requires use of the Sale-A-Bration papers, Everyday Enchantment, I decided to stick with that for the Tea Box. Both the main background paper and the Poppy Parade print that serves as the mat are from this paper set. The mat for the sentiment is the same paper, and the two brads are from the Everyday Enchantment brads, also in the Sale-A-Bration catalog.
There are two products from the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog in this cover-up: The stamp set, Tea Shoppe, and the papers cut with the Labels Collection Sizzix Framelits. I have been going to the framelits daily since they first arrived in my craft room, and I can tell you that you'll be seeing a lot of them from now on!
I mentioned Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition – which is still in its Preview Week! I hope you won't miss a one of the fab card ideas as well as a few tutorials that are around this week for EVERYONE! And there's Blog Candy to be given away. You should check out the delightful Connie Babbert's creation today, because SHE is giving out today's Blog Candy – a free subscription to Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition! But hurry over to the Create with Connie and Mary blog for the link today, because you have to comment on her blog today to be entered into the Blog Candy giveaway.
As I'm sure you can see, I had fun with my cover-up project. It was quick and easy, too! I hope all your projects for the week are just as fun, quick and easy as mine have been!
A Bit Over the Top – and Blog Candy!
A special Aloha to all!
Today is the day that I get to be featured on the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition blog! And that means that today is the day I get to pick names for blog candy! All you have to do is leave a comment aboutmy card for today and your name will be included in the drawing for a FREE subscription to the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition!
But first my card – after all, you have to have something about which to comment, don't you!
As the title of my blog says, it's a little bit more "over the top" than I usually make. But, as this is a special "occasion" for me, I thought, "More is better!" And with all the fab products in the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, that's easy to do!
With this picture of my card, you are only beginning to see the "more." But it's still a lot fussier that I usually make my cards, don't you think? On the other hand, I had so much fun "fussing" with this, that I may just do more of that. There's that word, "more," again!
I'm sure you can see that the whole card is cut with the largest of the hearts in the Hearts Collection Sizzix Framelits now offered by Stampin' Up! I discovered in making this that the framelits will cut through two thicknesses of card stock. That's a bonus if you're trying to make a card with as many panels as this one!
From this photo of the front of the card you can see quite a few products from the Occasions Mini Catalog.
- First and foremost is the Stamp Set, "P.S. I Love You." The stamped heart in the very middle (which is actually on the back panel of the card), as well as the sentiment and the stamped frame around it, are all from the same stamp set, as are several sentiments inside the card.
- Then there are the delightful Twitterpated Designer Buttons (in Blushing Bride and Baja Breeze)
- And the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper
- And finally the Blushing Bride Pleated Satin Ribbon.
Now for the inside of the card – yes, there are FOUR panels to this card, with all of them including a stamped image or sentiment from the "P.S. I Love You" stamp set! The final panel has a bit of an addition from another Occasions Mini, images from the Stamp Set, Take It To Heart. All of the Designer Series Paper on the inside is also from the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper Set.
I had so much fun with this card that I'll be making several for really good friends (and my very own sweetheart) for Valentine's Day this year! In fact, I've been having a lot of fun with ALL my projects for the Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition, and I'd love to share them all with you! But I can only do that if you're a subscriber to the Occasions Edition. The Occasions Edition is now in Preview and there's an Early Bird Special price if you sign up this week! And of course you can always try to win a FREE subscription by commenting on this blog post today!
I'm not the only one offering blog candy this week. Keep an eye out for others who are offering it by checking the Create with Connie and Mary blog the rest of the week. Did you see that gorgeous card that Artisan Award Winner Elizabeth Price showed off yesterday? Was that not the most fabulous card?? I can hardly wait to see her projects for the Occasions Edition – or to see what the rest of the team has to offer. You don't want to miss the projects either. So leave a comment and then head over to Create with Connie and Mary!
A Bit More About Watercolors
Aloha, all!
In my last post, I talked about how I dragged my watercolors out after they've sat stored away in a dusty (really dusty!) drawer since they were purchased! Working on that card reminded me why I like watercolor. For the most part, no matter how badly you bungle a watercolored picture, if you stand back a bit, more times than not it's still going to look good – if you have at least a little bit of an inkling how to use it.
You can see by the lines on these flowers that I did some of them pretty well and also that I tried to fuss with some of the color just a bit too much, especially with the flower at the far left. But if you go back and look at the larger picture of the card in the previous post, the whole picture doesn't really look so bad (if I say so myself!)
So now that I've got that last little bit of a watercolor lesson-ette done, I'm headed back to work on my projects for Create with Connie and Mary Occasions Edition.
Something New!
Aloha, all!
One of my hobbies used to be painting with watercolors. I took several years of lessons, but that was ages ago, and I probably have forgotten more about how to use watercolor than I remember. Nonetheless, I have had the Stampin' Up! Watercolor Wonder Crayons in my craft room since back when you could buy all the colors at once in a big tin (awhile ago!). And even though I hadn't used them in a long time, when the new Stampin' Up! color families came out in 2010, I went ahead and ordered the updated colors of the crayons.
Yesterday, for the first time since I ordered them, I opened them up. In fact, when I went to the drawer in which I keep the crayons and the Watercolor Pencils, I was surprised to have to remove the paper from the packaging and then find that there were only 3 or 4 crayons in the boxes I opened! It took awhile to remember that that's how they came back when we were able just to purchase updates for our collections. So I think that I'm comfortable with my Stampin' Up! Only Challenge entry for the week! The challenge was to use a new technique – or one that you've not used in a long while. Using Watercolor Wonder Crayons with an Aquapainter certainly meets that criterion!
The stamp set that I used for my card is one that cries out to be watercolored! It's the set, Bordering on Romance from the Stampin' Up! 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog, and its line art is perfect for this. For my stamped image, I combined two of the stamps to make an L-shaped image and then went after the watercolors. I started the pink flowers with Pretty in Pink and then started adding in a big of Riding Hood Red. I let the Riding Hood Red bleed into the Pretty in Pink for the start, and then added just a bit more at the centers when the paint had dried. For the leaves, I laid down a base of Wild Wasabi and then some darker accents with Always Artichoke. For the blue, I started with Baja Breeze and, just in the larger flowers, accented that color with Night of Navy.
It's a lot of fun making card fronts with the new Sizzix Framelits with their wonderful curves and overall shapes! For this card, I used two of the shapes from the Labels Collection Framelits. They cut into the Watercolor Paper beautifully – just in case you were wondering! I accented the card with the larger lable framelit and Riding Hood Red (nice touch to bring out the Riding Hood Red in the coloring).
I tied the whole thing together with ribbon (what a surprise), this time Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, and accented that with one of the Trinket Hearts, also from the Occasions Mini Catalog.
Fun card! I hope whatever you do with your crafting today, you have just as much fun! And maybe you can even share a project with the Stampin' Up! Only Challenge Team!
The New Mini Catalog is Here!
Aloha, all!
I've been so busy cleaning up after the holiday (we had our last party on the 2nd!) that I've been neglecting my Occasions Mini Catalog projects! So I'll be making a few today to share with you over the next week so you can really get a sense of all the new products that Stampin' Up! is offering. Not just new stamp sets. NEW PRODUCTS!
I've sent or given catalogs to all my current customers. If you'd like me to send YOU one, please just send me a quick e-mail, and I'll get one off to you today.
Meanwhile, here's a link to the catalog for you to use while you're waiting for the paper copy!
Now I'm off to play in my craft room! I hope you have some fun with papercrafting today, too!
Whew! A busy holiday weekend!
Aloha, all!
I am definitely taking a big breath after these last few days of madly working to get my 2011 Greeting Layout eBook done. And I'M DONE!!
So why am I showing you a Christmas Card?! It's because this is one of the NEW cards I made from one of the layouts that's included in the eBooks. I promised to make new samples for at least a dozen of the layouts/sketches from 2011 – that would be exclusive to the eBooks – and so far I've made 15. So I've decided to share a couple of them here with you as something of a teaser. And actually, this card is in the center of the photo collage that I made for the eBook cover, so you'll see it in other places, too.
You may have noticed that I've used the plural – eBooks. That's because there are two different versions of the 2011 Greeting Card Layout eBook available. The first is in the same form as last year's collection – it's a .pdf file that I send to you on a CD. The second is an actual eBook that you can download from Amazon.com for any of your Kindle applications, whether they're on an actual Kindle or a Kindle application for a PC, tablet computer, or even your smart phone (I tried it on mine, and I prefer something a little larger!). You can click here or on the picture/link up at the top of the column on the right to find out more about the difference in these two products and how you can order either one – or both!
One big benefit to buying the CD is that you can buy it as a gift. I had several people who purchased last year's layout book who ordered second and third copies just for that! In fact, I'll be giving it as a gift to several people, including my best customers! If you're not already one of those (and you know who you are!) you can become an instant "best customer," if even for a short while, if you place at least a $50 online order of Stampin' Up! products from my website by December 3rd. That should be easy if you're getting ready for that big Christmas Card-making push as December begins! And I'll send a CD right off to you.
For now, I'm going to go read a good book on my Kindle – no, not my Card Layout eBook – no more crafting tonight! But I'll be back at it tomorrow and having a lot of fun with it! I hope you have some fun crafting time this week, too!
Quilt Block Christmas Tree
Aloha, all!
As I was putting the finishing touches on the content of my new Card Layout eBook, I decided that I wanted to group together the few cards that I've made using "quilt blocks." I haven't made one since earlier this summer, so off I went to make one with a Christmas Theme!
Once I got the squares figured out, I had to decide what to do as far as my quilting paper for the designs. After a few tries at some of the current Designer Series Paper sets, I retreated to my tried-and-true paper from the Patterns Stacks, this time from the Regals collection, using Garden Green and Robin Hood Red.
As an aside, I just got a couple of new books of the Patterns Stack papers and found that the papers are arranged in the stacks in a delightfully different way. Instead of each of the two identical sheets placed in the book both facing the same way, the second of each sheet is turned around. This way you can see all four patterns right away without having to go back and forth among the 4 sheets to see all of them. Great change, Stampin' Up!
So, back to the tree. I actually did use a little piece of the Early Espresso patterned paper from the Letters to Santa Designer Series Paper. It was a small scrap that I had left on my work table from an earlier project. In fact, that's what these little "quilt" patterns are great for – making use of all those otherwise nearly useless scraps left over from fine-trimming some squares and rectangles.
I've matted up the tree motif onto some Riding Hood Red and Garden Green Card stock, with a layer of brushed gold on which I stamped the Merry Christmas from the Holiday Mini stamp set, Christmas Lodge. The two Christmas Greetings in that set are so very versatile, and I think I would have bought that set just for the greetings – if I didn't like that tree so much!
I have the layout for the "Quilt Block" and the card itself all done and safely tucked away in my 2011 Greeting Card Layout eBook – to be published soon! Keep an eye out her for the publication date announcement!
Punch Pals for One More Year?
Aloha, all!
You might recall that, last year, I did quite a few of my Christmas cards for this blog – including a big blog hop – using the stamp set Punch Pals. It's a favorite of mine, and I was so sure that it would be retiring this past summer because of its age. But no!!! Punch Pals did not retire and it's lived for at least one more Christmas season, and I'm going to take advantage of it while it lasts.
Actually I made the card for today based on a layout that's going to be featured in my upcoming 2011 Greeting Card Layout eBook. I'm still plugging away at it and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, very likely before Thanksgiving – cross my fingers and toes for that one!
The Punch Pals set has quite a few stamps that can be punched out with Stampin' Up!'s fun punches. But those penguins do NOT have a punch so I just stamped them on the horizontal strip. The colors that I used for these little guys – after I colored in their little black feathers – were Marina Mist and Pumpkin Pie. Orange and blue make a classic color combination because they're complementary colors – opposite to each other on the basic color wheel. If you get into details, Marina Mist is off to the side a bit, but this is paper crafting, not high-powered art!
Back to my 2011 eBook – I said that I would have a dozen cards in the book this year that are EXCLUSIVE to my eBook, all of them remakes of layouts that I shared earlier in the year. This is not one of the dozen; but it and its layout will definitely be in the book, along with the original card. I just know you're going to like this year's book as much as you liked last years!
Also, I'm going to be offering an early-bird special (an appropriate announcement when I'm showing off penguins!) for those of you who bought my 2010 eBook or are on my Newsletter mailing list. If you'd like to be one of the first to know when I'm ready to mail them out, be sure to sign up for my Newsletter (up on the left column of this blog) – or better still, buy a copy of last year's book while it's still available! More information about that at the top of the right column!
Now back to work so I can get my writing done! I'm having a lot of fun with it, and I hope you're having as much fun with something in your craft room this weekend!
A Quick and Easy Christmas Card
Aloha, all!
I first have to tell you that my card for today was inspired by terrifically artistic fellow Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Mary Brown. Mary is the "Mary" of Create With Connie and Mary, and has a fabulously unique ability to make clean and simple cards that make me say, "Wow!" then I first see them. I really like her style – can you tell?
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When Mary made a similar card she used the Pool Party color as the accent for the Whisper White Card Stock and Silver Glimmer Paper. Somewhere along the way between then and now, I saw another card that used Island Indigo for an accent, and that caught my eye, too. So why not combine the two ideas!
The Christmas Tree is one of the die cuts that you can make with the new Sizzix Die, Stocking Accents, which is in the Stampin' Up! 2011 Holiday Mini Catalog. I initially decided not to purchase this die, but now I'm in love with all the little pieces – that aren't really so little! There's a Candy Cane, some Ornaments and Holly pieces that are all just perfect for CARD accents – the heck with stocking accents! The greeting is from the new stamp set, Petite Pairs, and there is a second part to this greeting that you can stamp inside the card – thus the "Pairs" part of the stamp set's name. Every one of those has two stamps that go together so you can put one on the outside and one on the inside – or both of them on different elements on the front – of your card. Pretty neat!!
Now here's the fun part for those of you who have been waiting for my new 2011 Greeting Card Layout eBook! I'm making a card with these very same colors to include in the card and layout collection using one of the layouts I shared with you here earlier in the year. And I'm going to be doing that with a dozen or so of the early layouts! I'm going to show you how easy it is to use different products with the same layouts – which is why a book of layout suggestions is so helpful to have when you need some inspiration to get something done! Last night in no time at all I had 5 brand new cards made and ready to photograph!
The best part? I'll only be sharing the photos of those cards with those of you who purchase a copy of the new eBook! I'm well into its preparation and I only have to make a few more cards and do what amounts to a couple of days worth of editing. So it's going to be available in time to have it for your Christmas Cards – or for giving as a Christmas gift!
Now back to getting those last few cards made – and for preparing for Saturday's class! I hope you'll have as much fun with whatever you're doing this week as I'm planning to have with my projects!
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Click for information about purchasing the CD by Paypal or ordering the Kindle eBook from Amazon.com.
