Another Great Year

It's the beginning of another great year and I'm back into the stamping swing of things.  This is my last birthday card in the week-long blog series.  It uses a great birthday set, "Another Great Year," along with Retro Fresh Designer Series Paper and washi tape--all from the NEW Occasions catalog! These colors are really sunny and bright and the card could be sent to either a man or a woman.

(Stamp Set: Another Great Year; Ink: Baked Brown Sugar; Card Stock: Baked Brown Sugar, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, Whisper White; DSP: Retro Fresh; Acessories: Retro Fresh washi tape, Coastal Cabana, So Saffron & Tangerine Tango markers)

You can order the supplies to make this card from my Stampin' Up website--it's open 24/7! Or you can host a party and earn some hostess bucks toward the purchase of the supplies for this card. Or you can come to my birthday card making class (details below) and make a couple yourself.

Six-Sided Birthday

I fell in love with the Six-Sided Sampler stamp set when we demonstrators got a sneak preview of the 2013-14 annual catalog. I snapped it up right way during the pre-order period.  Then, at the Stampin' Up convention, I received so many awesome swaps using this set--and I fell in love with it all over again.  As I was deciding which cards I would CASE for my birthday card making class, I went through my boxes (yes, plural) of swap cards and found one that I thought would fill the bill.  It wasn't a birthday card, so I swapped out the "My Friend" sentiment that comes with the set and used the Petite Pairs set to add birthday wishes.  It wasn't until I'd already made up my card that I turned over the swap card to see that it was from the one and only Shana Gaff--again!  I told you she's one of my favorite stampers!

Here's my take on Shana's awesome swap card--and remember, we'll be making this at the birthday card making class (stamp-a-stack) on January 25th (details below).  I still have a couple of spots open.  Email me to reserve your spot!!

(Stamp Sets: Six-Sided Sampler & Petite Pairs; Inks: Smoky Slate, Pool Party; Card Stock: Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Pool Party; Accessories:  Honeycomb and Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folders, Hexagon Punch, Whisper White Baker's Twine, Basic Rhinestones)

 BIRTHDAY CARD MAKING CLASS:  JANUARY 25, 2014

Time:  1:00-5:00 at my house

Make:  2 cards of each of 5 designs, including one distinctly male design

Cost:   $20--or $10 with a $50 order. Plus, if you order $50 you can choose a FREE Sale-a-Bration item. (Sale-a-Bration starts on January 28^th, but I’ll hold the order until then so you can take advantage of SAB!)

Kaleidoscope Birthday

Today's entry in my week of birthday cards is a colorful card. I received a swap at the Stampin' Up convention using this layout and I knew it would be awesome with the NEW Kaleidoscope Designer Series Paper from the Occasions mini catalog.  I really like how the colors pop on the Basic Gray background. I don't think I would have come up with the Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry, and Bermuda Bay color combination on my own--thank goodness the Kaleidoscope DSP did that for me! I used the hexagon punch to cut out the end of the flags--so super easy (easier than using the 1" square punch, IMHO). I added a little bling by adhering the largest basic rhinestones to the "ears" of the Strawberry Slush piece, to which I added dimension by running it through the Stripes embossing folder. I put it all together and gave it depth with Stampin' Dimensionals. Quick, easy, and colorful!

(Stamp Set: Label Love; Ink: Bermuda Bay; Card Stock: Basic Gray, Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry, Whisper White; DSP: Kaleidoscope; Accessories:  Hexagon, Artisan Label, Decorative Label Punches; Apothecary Accents Framelits; Stripes Embossing Folder; Basic Rhinestones)

 BIRTHDAY CARD MAKING CLASS:  JANUARY 25, 2014

Time:  1:00-5:00 at my house

Make:  2 cards of each of 5 designs, including one distinctly male design

Cost:   $20--or $10 with a $50 order. Plus, if you order $50 you can choose a FREE Sale-a-Bration item. (Sale-a-Bration starts on January 28^th, but I’ll hold the order until then so you can take advantage of SAB!)

The Open Sea Birthday

It's  Tuesday, so it's time for the second entry in my week-long blog series featuring the birthday cards we'll be making at my birthday card making class on January 25th. I still have a few openings, so let me know if you'd like to attend. The details are below. 

I received this card as a swap at the annual Stampin' Up convention.  The creator of this card is Paula Cannon.  I've loved The Open Sea set since it was first featured in an Occasions mini and I love how Paula used Island Indigo and Summer Starfruit together on this card!  I added the "Happy Birthday" from Teeny Tiny Wishes so it fits the theme of my birthday card making class. I'm also in love with the Soho Subway designer series paper--it was the first pack of DSP I bought as soon as demonstrators could place a preview order!!

(Stamp Set: The Open Sea; Ink:  Island Indigo, Summer Starfruit, Coastal Cabana, Pistachio Pudding' Card Stock: Island Indigo, Summer Starfruit, Very Vanilla; DSP: Soho Subway; Accessories: Natural Trim Ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Mini Brad)

BIRTHDAY CARD MAKING CLASS:  JANUARY 25, 2014

Time:  1:00-5:00 at my house

Make:  2 cards of each of 5 designs, including one distinctly male design

Cost:   $20--or $10 with a $50 order. Plus, if you order $50 you can choose a FREE Sale-a-Bration item. (Sale-a-Bration starts on January 28^th, but I’ll hold the order until then so you can take advantage of SAB!)

Blog Series: Birthday Cards

This week, I'm going to do a series of blog entries showcasing the birthday cards we'll be making at my upcoming birthday card making class.  Details for the class are at the end of this post. I still have a few openings, so contact me TODAY if you'd like to come!

Today's card is a CASE of a card made by one of my stampin' inspirations--Shana Gaff.  My BFF Lynn and I met Shana at last year's Stampin' Up convention and I've been following her blog ever since.  I love Shana's clean and simple (CAS) style.  When I saw this card on her blog, I knew I would copy and share everything (CASE) about it!  Because I'm doing a birthday card making class, I changed the sentiment, which means I needed to use a larger banner framelit, so I skipped the ribbon.  I also changed the candy dots on Shana's card to one of the new metal buttons from the Occasions mini catalog. And I used a different embossing folder--but the layout and idea is ALL Shana's.  (I hope you like her style 'cause you'll be seeing a little something-something from her again this week!)

(Stamp Set: Perfect Pennants: Card Stock: Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla; Ink: Marina Mist; Accessories:  Argyle Embossing Folder, Banners Framelits Dies, Basic Metal Button)

BIRTHDAY CARD MAKING CLASS:  JANUARY 25, 2014

Time:  1:00-5:00 at my house

Make:  2 cards of each of 5 designs, including one distinctly male design

Cost:   $20--or $10 with a $50 order. Plus, if you order $50 you can choose a FREE Sale-a-Bration item. (Sale-a-Bration starts on January 28^th, but I’ll hold the order until then so you can take advantage of SAB!)

A Real Life Paper Pumpkin

Before I talk about this month's Paper Pumpkin, I have an important announcement:  The Occasions mini catalog is LIVE!!! Yay! I'm so excited about this Occasions catalog because I really and truly LOVE many of the items in there! Usually it takes me a little bit to warm up to any new Stampin' Up product--but not this time! I nearly went broke putting my pre-order in!! You'll be seeing lots of posts using new items from the Occasions catalog--and from the upcoming Sale-a-Bration catalog.  

Want to see what's so exciting in the Occasions catalog? Just click on the link over there on the left.  If you're one of my regular customers, you should have received your copy in the mail. If you're not one of my regular customers, I'd love to be your Stampin' Up demonstrator. Please, oh, please contact me. And if you just want your own copy of the Occasions catalog to ooh and ahh over, let me know and I'll get one to you.

Now on to...

...this month's Paper Pumpkin is an adorbs freestyle journal. It came with bunches of little wooden people (which one stamper said looked like the people on a restroom door--heh!) It took me a minute to decide what to do with all the people, but I added my whole family to the front of my journal.  I zhuzhed it up a little bit using the "donut holes" from the designer series paper dividers. And I covered the "A" with a sticker that comes with the kit. I'm thinking about using the journal as a 365 gratitude book--and I just might. It's only the third day of the year. I think I can pretend I wrote something in it yesterday and on New Year's Day.

January 1, 2014:  I am grateful that another year is upon us full of opportunities.

January 2, 2014:  I am really grateful that God sent SNOW for my birthday! It's stunningly gorgeous.

January 3, 2014: I am really grateful I have two able-bodied (though grouchy) teenaged boys who can help me shovel the snow off our driveway so I can get to work.

That's a pretty good start. And here's the zhuzhed up MPP journal.

January 2014 My Paper Pumpkin Project

 BIRTHDAY CARD MAKING CLASS:  JANUARY 25, 2014

Time:  1:00-5:00 at my house

Make:  2 cards of each of 5 designs, including one distinctly male design

Cost:   $20--or $10 with a $50 order. Plus, if you order $50 you can choose a FREE Sale-a-Bration item. (Sale-a-Bration starts on January 28^th, but I’ll hold the order until then so you can take advantage of SAB!)