Spring Blooms...

... they're a way's off. Today we got some SNOW!!! Christmas is coming, but I'm somewhat "Christmas'ed" out - not for good, just for today - so I thought I'd do something more spring-like. This week the Pals Paper Arts had a sketch challenge for us. Nice, clean, simple lines - just the way I love sketches :)

I did two-tone embossing using Tangerine Tango and Melon Mambo embossing powders on the flowers from Fabulous Florets. Gives the flowers a nice and fresh feeling. The Beyond the Garden DSP also has Daffodil Delight in it. So I used the 1/8" Daffodil Delight Taffeta Ribbon on my card. I love how colors in DSP tie together so well. And isn't it great how the stamp set and DSP coordinate so well together?

Tips & Tricks:

*I always do simple cheater bows. Today I decided to mix it up. I wrapped my ribbon around the Whisper White base twice and ended in a full bow. Uses a lot more ribbon, but it gives my card a more original look, too.
*The Whisper White background looked too plain so I embossed it with my Flower Garden embossing folder. It also coordinates with my DSP and stamp set, creating a perfectly coordinated look. Product coordination is one of my favorite things about Stampin' Up!
*Love the two-tone embossed look? It's easy. I did a quick tutorial a few months back. I actually called it 'tie-dye heat embossing' :)

Hope you've enjoyed my completely unseasonal card ;) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Christmas Lane Scrap Page

This past Saturday, our local mall had an event for kids to welcome Santa. I took my almost 6-year-old daughter to meet him, write him a letter, get cookies from Mrs. Clause and also get her face painted. She had a blast and I was one happy mommy when they told me Santa pictures were free for the special event :)

Next week, I'm doing a scrapbooking class using the Christmas Lane Scrapbooking Kit in the Holiday Mini. I had yet to make one page but with my daughter's new Santa photo as well as the class looming I thought I'd better get cracking :) I used this week's Mojo Monday Sketch for inspiration. A few months ago, my upline Marlayne posted her fall scrapbook pages and I CASEd some elements from them, too.

Tips & Tricks:

*For my big 10" diameter circle I used Marlayne's 'plate technique'. I took a paper plate, traced it on the wrong side of the DSP and cut it out with my Paper Snips.
*I love Simply Scrappin' Kits for scrapbooking and card making. They come with textured paper, DSP and adhesive decorative elements. You could do a bunch of pages with just the kit!!!  Easy peasy.
*I used Dazzling Diamonds Glitter and my 2-Way Glue Pen to add a bit of 'bling' to my snowflake.
*The Delightful Decorations stamp set is perfect for any project: home decor, cards and scrapbook pages.

I hope my daughter loves her page as much as I do ~ and I hope you like it too. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

A Note of Gratitude

When you're in direct sales, and especially with Stampin' Up!, having a great upline is key. Having a good relationship with your sidelines and other demos is also important. But the upline, she's absolutely key. The business itself isn't hard, but sometimes, especially at this busy time of year, extra support is sometimes needed. Like extra card stock when you unexpectedly run out or DSP when you don't have the right pattern for your project. Or sometimes you just need to bounce ideas off someone a bit more experienced

I am so lucky because I have the.most.fantastic upline. She's helped me many times before and I always try to help her when I can. But this past week I was in a real bind with DSP. She came through. Then, a few hours later, I realized I was out of Real Red card stock and I had forgotten to order it! YIKES!!! In less than 6 hours, she came through for me twice! How lucky am I?

To show her how grateful I am I made her a card using today's Freshly Made Sketch. I love the simple stripes in today's sketch and I jazzed it up a bit with the Victoria Trim Crochet Ribbon. My upline's favorite color is Pink Pirouette and I know she loves vintage so I used the Beau Chateau DSP for my card. I also know she loves pearls :)

Tips & Tricks:

*Do you love the ruffled ribbons? Don't pre-cut it to ensure you have enough. Adhere one end on the card with Snail or scotch tape and ruffle. That way you can make sure you have enough.

*I love the strips of Adhesive Jewels - they're perfect for underlining words like I did with the Pearls and 'gratitude'.

*To add a bit of interesting texture I ruffled the two lines of ribbon in opposite directions.

*This card took me about 10 minutes to make. A great looking card doesn't have to take hours to make :)

I really hope my upline knows how much her help means to me. And I hope she loves this card! 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Snowflake Shaker Card

I just love shaker cards. They are super fun for kids and adults. Who doesn't like shaking a snowglobe. Well, this is the same idea but in a card :) I had to design a project for my Stamper's Group on Saturday and knew we would be using SU!'s new Shaker Frames and Mica Flakes. But I had no idea what my card would look like. Then I saw this week's lovely Mojo Monday Sketch. And my card materialized.

I've been using the Sweet Snowglobe so much this year, I wanted to do something different. So I used the gorgeous big snowflake from the Snow Swirled stamp set. I also wanted to show my ladies how to emboss ~ many of them haven't done it before. Our embossing will be done using the gorgeous new Pewter embossing powder.

Tips & Tricks:

*I love the new Shaker Frames. They make making shaker cards a snap! I've had a lot of questions on how to use them. I will be back with a tutorial next week, after my ladies have done their class. 
*Use SU!'s Window Sheets to create the window on your shaker. They can be punched with punches, cut with a paper cutter or die-cut with the Big Shot.
*To create interesting dimension, I embossed both the Whisper White layer and Marina Mist 2-1/2" circle with the Snowburst Embossing Folder. I love the look!
*The Shaker Frames are about 1/8" high whereas Stampin' Dimensionals are about 1/16" high. To adhere my top Marina Mist layer, I doubled up on the Dimensionals - one on top of the other!
*Yes, I used retired ribbon. It's the 1-1/4" Early Espresso Ribbon. But it worked so well with this card :)

Hope you've enjoyed my card and love my little 'snow flurry'. I also hope my ladies will love it on Saturday. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

A Very Sparkly Christmas

*Quick* post from me today. It's November, which means it's a very very busy time of year! This week's Freshly Made Sketch is so simple and fresh. Love it!

I've been doing tonnes of card classes and private stampin' parties (I have one tonight :) ) and this has been hands down the most popular card. It's funny, because I call it a 'Pool Party Christmas Tree', which is a bit ironic, but that's what it is. What I especially love about this card is how easy it is to make. Stamp the tree, attach the ribbon with cheater bow, stamp the greeting, punch out a few snowflakes and you've got a gorgeous, simple, fresh Christmas card.

Tips & Tricks:

*Don't you just love how everything SU! coordinates so well? I adore how the ribbon is exactly the same color as the card stock!

*The pictures of the Glimmer Papers in the Holiday Mini just don't do them justice! The silver is just so sparkly and bright ~ when I first got it the sun was shining on it and I was almost blinded :p  Love. It.
*A gorgeous card doesn't have to be complicated. This card takes no more than 5 minutes to make yet it's my most popular card of the year. At my workshop last year, one of the ladies said she had no idea how easy it was to make a card like this ~ she thought it took hours! Now *that* is what I'm going for.
*The color is Pool Party but I also think it makes a really great icy blue for Christmas cards. It works so well with the silver!

Well, that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed this simple yet beautiful card and keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!