25% OFF 25 Stamp Sets: One Week Only!

We're celebrating Stampin' Up!'s 25th anniversary all year long, but during the week of the actual date (October 25th to be exact) we thought we should pump up the party even more. So what better way than a sale on the very products that started it all: stamps, of course! Dates: October 22-28, 2013 Offer: Get 25 percent off 25 stamp sets. Go to my Stampin’ Up website to see the list of all the stamp sets that are 25% for one week only!! Then place your order online using the hostess code: MZJ4MJBS If I sell 25 sets during this period, Stampin’ Up will give me a free set from the upcoming Occasions mini catalog—and you know how I like FREE stuff. But I’m going to share the wealth with you: If I sell 25 sets by Sunday Oct 27, everyone who places a $25 order will get one entry into a drawing for the hostess benefits for this order. If you place a $50 order, you’ll get two entries into the drawing. A $75 order will get you three entries…and so on. You must submit your order by 7:00 PM on Sunday night—and you must be available at 8:00 PM on Sunday night. If I sell 25 sets by then, I’ll draw a winner and call them around 8:00. The workshop total should be at least $300, so the winner will have at least $50 in FREE SU merchandise. So be ready at 8:00 PM on Sunday night with your wish list of $50 of SU merchandise—place an order, help me meet the goal of selling 25 sets, and you could be a winner!!!

Another Challenge!

I had so much fun playing along with challenges last week, that I decided to keep the momentum going!  This time I'm playing along with another of Lyssa Zwolenak's color challenges.  Last week's (10//13)  "In Love with Color Challenge" had these three choices:

1. Smoky Slate, So Saffron, Real Red and Basic Gray
2. Rich Razzleberry, Midnight Muse, Pool Party and Old Olive
3. Pacific Point, Dafodill Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Real Red

I chose color combination number 1: Smoky Slate, So Saffron, Real Red and Basic Gray.  I had the extra added challenge of using a really dry pad of Basic Gray ink.  My older felt pad was pretty dry and my new firm foam pad was bone dry. And there I was without a Basic Gray reinker.  I tried Basic Gray marker, but I didn't like the way that turned out. So I opted for a not-so-Basic Gray main imagine.  I still think this turned out pretty well...but I'm sooo glad my reinker came in my order last week so I could ink that firm foam pad up, baby!  

(Stamp Set: My Friend; Inks: Real Red, Basic Gray, So Safrron; Card Stock: Basic Gray, So Saffron, Real Red, Smoky Slate: Accessories: Neutrals Buttons)

This is the first time I've used the "My Friend" stamp set--I hadn't even mounted it yet!  Sometimes I have to wonder why I have so many sets that are just begging to be inked!

Two Challenges in One!

So sad!  It's the last day of my week of blog challenges.  I've had a great time playing along with a variety of challenges.  I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog and seeing my creations--and more than that, I hope you've been challenged to try something new, too!

Today, I've got one card that meets two challenges!  So clever of me, huh?  Both challenges come from Splitcoast Stampers.  The first is a sketch challenge (SC456):



And the second is a color challenge: Crazy Suede Starfruit (CC446):

Cajun Craze, Soft Suede, Summer Starfruit

I had a flash of inspiration and actually knew exactly what set I wanted to use:  Six-Sided Sampler.  Here's my two, two, two challenges in one card:

(Stamp Set: Six-Sided Sampler; Ink: Cajun Craze;  Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, Summer Starfruit; DSP: Soho Subway; Accessories:  Hexagon Punch, Honeycomb and Square Lattice Embossing Folders, Soft Suede 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon)

Doesn't the Cajun Craze ink on the Summer Starfruit card stock look great?  It almost makes the Summer Starfruit golden!  I fussy cut the stamped hexagons right on the edge of the image and backed them with a punched Soft Suede hexagon.  I backed each hexagon with a 1.5" square embossed with the Square Lattice Folder.  Lots of texture and yummy colors--and two, two, two challenges in one!!


REMINDER:  I'll be selling new and used retired Stampin' Up stamps, inks, papers, tools--and other non-Stampin' Up items at the 3rd Annual Cropmania Fall Scrapbook Indoor Yard Sale on Sunday October 13.  Details below. Hope you'll come out and get some great deals!

HUGE MARKDOWNS AND GREAT DEALS AND BARGAINS!!!
Sunday October 13th
9am-2pm

Elks Lodge #622
2 Pythian Dr (off Rt 2)
Edgewater, MD 21037

51 Tables of Marked Down Scrapbooking/Stamping Supplies!
5 online stores (2-3 tables each), 8 Consultants,  30 ladies with way too much stuff!!!!

$5 at the door to get in

Bottled water and snacks available onsite for purchase.

For more info and directions, go to www.cropmania.com and click on Yardsale.

Wrap It Up (I'll Take It)

Today is day four of my week of challenge blog creations.  Today's challenge comes from Splitcoast Stampers--that awesome site for stamping inspiration.  Never heard of it? You really must check it out!!  Splitcoast has a challenge everyday of the week.  I'm playing along with the Thursday "Ways To Use It" challenge.  The "Ways To Use It" challenge says:  "So just what is the Ways to Use It Challenge? It is simply an invitation to create a card using a particular product or tool. Everyone is invited to play along!"  (Read more: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/ways-use-f46/what-ways-use-challenge-link-master-list-all-wt-challenges-t202428.html#ixzz2gzzXX3B5)

WT447 challenge is to use ribbon.  Well, since I use ribbon on just about every card I make, that's not much of a challenge.  But I've been wanting to try a technique where ribbon becomes the image of the card.  Lay down some sticky strip, line up your ribbon, cut a shape and put the negative image on top of the ribbon--et voila!

(Stamp Set: Hello Lovely; Ink: Midnight Muse; Card Stock:  Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Midnight Muse;  Accessories: Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, and Midnight Muse 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon, Decorative Label Punch, Deco Labels Collection Framelits)

To give it a little dimension, I punched a piece of Midnight Muse card stock with the Decorative Label Punch and cut it in half lengthwise to make the frame for the "Hello Lovely" frame.


REMINDER:  I'll be selling new and used retired Stampin' Up stamps, inks, papers, tools--and other non-Stampin' Up items at the 3rd Annual Cropmania Fall Scrapbook Indoor Yard Sale on Sunday October 13.  Details below. Hope you'll come out and get some great deals!

HUGE MARKDOWNS AND GREAT DEALS AND BARGAINS!!!
Sunday October 13th
9am-2pm

Elks Lodge #622
2 Pythian Dr (off Rt 2)
Edgewater, MD 21037

51 Tables of Marked Down Scrapbooking/Stamping Supplies!
5 online stores (2-3 tables each), 8 Consultants,  30 ladies with way too much stuff!!!!

$5 at the door to get in

Bottled water and snacks available onsite for purchase.

For more info and directions, go to www.cropmania.com and click on Yardsale.

Fab Friday Color Challenge

Welcome to day three of my series on stamping challenge blogs.  I hope you'll play along with me!   

Today I'm playing along with the Fab Friday gang and this week's challenge is a color challenge!

 
These colors are great for Halloween and the Fab Friday design team did either a Fall or Halloween card (or muslin bag with awesome tag) with them.  You should check them out--their designs are awesome, as usual!  I decided I wanted to stray from the "obvious" and see if I could use this color combination on an "everyday" card.  Here's what I came up with: 

(Stamp Sets: Pleasant Poppies, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Inks: Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive; Card Stock:  Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive, Very Vanilla; Accessories: Stripes and Square Lattice Embossing Folders, Labels Collection Framelits, Word Window and Modern Label Punches, Brights Candy Dots, Basic Black 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon; Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Blender Pen)

Also in keeping with this week's theme of trying things outside my comfort zone, I colored the image.  I hate to color.  I never have liked it--oh, maybe when I was a kid--but now that I'm grown I don't like to color...because I'm not very good at it and I'm never satisfied with the results.  This card turned out right cute, if I do say so myself. 


REMINDER:  I'll be selling new and used retired Stampin' Up stamps, inks, papers, tools--and other non-Stampin' Up items at the 3rd Annual Cropmania Fall Scrapbook Indoor Yard Sale on Sunday October 13.  Details below. Hope you'll come out and get some great deals!

HUGE MARKDOWNS AND GREAT DEALS AND BARGAINS!!!
Sunday October 13th
9am-2pm

Elks Lodge #622
2 Pythian Dr (off Rt 2)
Edgewater, MD 21037

51 Tables of Marked Down Scrapbooking/Stamping Supplies!
5 online stores (2-3 tables each), 8 Consultants,  30 ladies with way too much stuff!!!!

$5 at the door to get in

Bottled water and snacks available onsite for purchase.

For more info and directions, go to www.cropmania.com and click on Yardsale.

New From Stampin' Up: Weekly Deals!!!

I plucked this from the Stampin' Up customer website.  I thought you'd enjoy this article--and the weekly deals!!  You can order from my Stampin' Up demonstrator website anytime. It's open 24/7/365.  Just click on the link on the "shop online" link over there on the right.

Weekly Deals

One of my favorite things in life is to see when someone is truly surprised. Not a hiding-behind-the-door “boo!”-type surprise, but genuine, excited surprise. I can’t count how many times my eyes have welled up with tears watching viral videos—of soldiers coming home, or of little ones being told they are headed to Disneyland. (Fill-in-the-blank with your favorite surprise!) So . . . I’m happy to be able to surprise YOU by announcing that starting today we will be running a “weekly deal” program.

Starting on Tuesday, October 8, we will update the online store with a few weekly deals for you to enjoy. You’ll want to make sure you check back every week to see what we’re offering. Please note that these deals will be offered “while supplies last” and that the discount will appear in your shopping bag when you check out.
This week’s deals are as follows:

	Squares Collection Framelits Dies: 130921 Regular Price: $26.95 US/$32.95 CAN Discounted Price: $20.21 US/$24.71 CAN
	Chevron Textured Impressions Embossing Folder: 127749 Regular Price: $7.95 US/$9.95 CAN Discounted Price: $5.96 US/$7.46 CAN
	Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack: 126187 Regular Price: $7.95 US/$10.95 CAN Discounted Price: $5.96 US/$8.21 CAN
	Festive Paper-Piercing Pack: 127857 Regular Price: $7.95 US/$10.95 CAN Discounted Price: $5.96 US/$8.21 CAN
	Petite Curly Label Punch: 129405 Regular Price: $12.95 US/$15.95 CAN Discount Price: $9.71 US/$11.96 CAN
	Today & Everyday Designer Photobook Template - Digital Download :126157 Regular Price: $14.95 US/$16.50 CAN Discount Price: $7.48 US/$8.25 CAN

We hope you enjoy these weekly deals! We look forward to seeing you every Tuesday!

P.S. Don’t forget about our Thank You Thursdays—another chance to get great Stampin’ Up! product at a discount!

Addicted to CAS challenge

Welcome to day two of my series on stamping challenge blogs.  I hope you'll play along with me!

Today's challenge is from the Addicted to CAS blog--another blog that I found on my new friend Shana's blog.  The ATC challenge this fortnight (they're in Australia) is:



The ATC blog describes the clean and simple style like this: "a project with very few embellishments, clean lines and lots of 'white' space.  White space just means an area of your card with nothing on it at all. It doesn't have to be 'white'. It could be brown, pink or red. Any colour as long as there is lots of SPACE."

I've admitted before that CAS is not my forte and it's much, much harder to pull off than you would imagine.  But I thought I'd have a go at it.  What do you think?

(Stamp Sets: Gently Falling, Blessings From Heaven; Ink: Early Espresso; Markers:  Cajun Craze, Tangerine Tango, Summer Starfruit; Card Stock:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla; Accessories: Simply Scored Scoring Tool)

I knew I couldn't let all that "white" space go without some kind of texture, so I added a couple of lines using the Simply Scored Scoring Tool to add a frame.  Since Gently Falling is a two-step stamp, I first stamped the outline of each leaf in Early Espresso.  To fill in the leaves, I used a variation of the "Shana technique"--I scribbled with my marker on the stamps themselves and then spritzed the stamp with alcohol before I stamped the image onto the outline.  I did this with each of the three colors, so I stamped the leaves a total of four times:  once with the outline and three times with each color.  Then I fussy cut (another term I learned from Shana) the leaves and adhered them to the card.


REMINDER:  I'll be selling new and used retired Stampin' Up stamps, inks, papers, tools--and other non-Stampin' Up items at the 3rd Annual Cropmania Fall Scrapbook Indoor Yard Sale on Sunday October 13.  Details below. Hope you'll come out and get some great deals!

HUGE MARKDOWNS AND GREAT DEALS AND BARGAINS!!!
Sunday October 13th
9am-2pm

Elks Lodge #622
2 Pythian Dr (off Rt 2)
Edgewater, MD 21037

51 Tables of Marked Down Scrapbooking/Stamping Supplies!
5 online stores (2-3 tables each), 8 Consultants,  30 ladies with way too much stuff!!!!

$5 at the door to get in

Bottled water and snacks available onsite for purchase.

For more info and directions, go to www.cropmania.com and click on Yardsale.

CAS(E) this Sketch! Challenge

I'm trying to step outside my stamping "box" by participating in some online stamping challenges.  This week, I'm going to do a blog series on stamping challenge blogs.  I hope you'll play along with me!

My new friend Shana--who I met at the Stampin' Up convention this summer--is on a bunch of stamping challenge design teams and she plays in the online challenges.  I love Shana's stamping style and I'm glad that she links to all the challenges she participates in so that I could find some new and different challenges.

Today's challenge comes from the CAS(E) this Sketch! blog.  CASE stands for "copy and share everything", but you'll see that the "E" is in parentheses--CAS means clean and simple.  So this challenge blog is all about copying and sharing the clean and simple sketch.  Get it?!  

Here's the sketch for CTS challenge #48.



And here's my creation:

(Stamp Sets: Tags 4 You, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Ink: Basic Black: Markers: Cajun Craze, Tangerine Tango, Summer Starfruit; Card Stock: Cajun Craze, Basic Black, Very Vanilla; Accessories:  Bracket Label, Elegant Butterfly, and Word Window Punches, Stripes Embossing Folder)

I also CASEd a technique that Shana has been using lately on her creations.  To make the background of the top two medallions, I scribbled on my acrylic block with Cajun Craze, Tangerine Tango, and Summer Starfruit markers.  Then I spritzed the block with alcohol and stamped onto Very Vanilla card stock.  

I made the bats using the Elegant Butterfly punch.  No, really! I did!  First, I punched the butterfly.  Then I adhered the butterfly to a post-it note and put it back into the punch and chomped off the bottom party of the butterfly.  (If you search on You Tube, using "elegant butterfly Halloween bat" you'll find at least one how-to video.)

REMINDER:  I'll be selling new and used retired Stampin' Up stamps, inks, papers, tools--and other non-Stampin' Up items at the 3rd Annual Cropmania Fall Scrapbook Indoor Yard Sale on Sunday October 13.  Details below. Hope you'll come out and get some great deals!

HUGE MARKDOWNS AND GREAT DEALS AND BARGAINS!!!
Sunday October 13th
9am-2pm

Elks Lodge #622
2 Pythian Dr (off Rt 2)
Edgewater, MD 21037

51 Tables of Marked Down Scrapbooking/Stamping Supplies!
5 online stores (2-3 tables each), 8 Consultants,  30 ladies with way too much stuff!!!!

$5 at the door to get in

Bottled water and snacks available onsite for purchase.

For more info and directions, go to www.cropmania.com and click on Yardsale.