September Monthly Swaps

New month, new swaps, new theme! For September the theme was fall/Halloween. Almost half were Halloween, but could easily be changed to fall, a birthday, or something else. If this is your first time visiting my blog, I'm part of a group of about 10 Stampin' Up! Demonstrators and we take turns being the host of our monthly swap. When it's your month, you get to choose the theme of the swap.

This first card was done by Jen. She used Merry Cafe in the Holiday Mini and coordinates with Coffee Cup Framelits in the annual catalog. This stamp set several sentiments for fall, Christmas, the New Year, & more. I think you could use this year round and would be great for those who love coffee or tea. Jen also stamped the first layer of Fresh Fig with the Burlap background stamp in Archival Black, then layered the Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper. I love the use of the Black Vintage Crochet Trim just under the cup cap. She also used a few of the Black Rhinestones from the Holiday Mini as well.

This next card uses the Spooky Cat Bundle which I featured last month as my Product of the Month. The cat image is from the Spooky Night Designer Series Paper as is the striped background. I don't know why but I really like those chemistry beakers. The beakers themselves is one stamp and then there are 3 separate stamps to fill in the beakers. Pat also used the Stitched Shapes and Layering Circles Framelits and added a bit of Clear Wink of Stella to the beakers. This is a great card sketch. You can easily change out the elements for any theme!

This next card was done by Gayle. She shows the same cat as in the previous card as well as the orange cat. Both of these were punched with the Cat Punch out of the Spooky Night Designer Series Paper. The hat on the one cat is from another sheet of the paper as well as the background. Gayle also used a tiny bit of the Black Vintage Crochet Trim by the sentiment and tied a Black Baker's Twine around the one cat.

I hope you enjoyed this first group of swaps. I'll have have a few each Wednesday in October. If you don't have a demonstrator and would like to purchase any of these products, you can find them all in my STORE. Don't forget to use my VIP Host Code.

Thanks for stopping by and look forward to hearing from you.

Fall Fest and Swaps

Just to warn you, this is a long blog post! So bare with me! In case you're wondering why I'm not talking about my new product of the month, not to worry. I'm switching things around a bit and going to have my Product of the Month posts on Friday's. I think I'll call it "Feature Friday" (at least for now). I do have a new product already lined up and almost ready to go. I'm in the process of having to learn a new editing system so as long as it's not too complicated, I should be ok.

I'm not sure what I'll have each Monday, but this month I'll have my swaps from Fall Fest and my monthly swap will be on Wednesday's.

So Saturday was our annual Fall Fest gathering. Fall Fest is where a bunch of demonstrators get together to learn about new products, share ideas, talk business, and best of all get to see those we haven't seen in awhile. We had a great time and everyone loved the projects! Our fearless leader, Tina had me demonstrate how to use the new embossing paste in the annual catalog before all our make and take began. Surprisingly not many had purchased this product! It was one of the first things I got! My presentation went longer then I expected.

For the morning, they made a Mixed Media Canvas. Some were a bit intimidated by seeing the project, but once they got going, they really enjoyed it and glad they were able to try out the new embossing paste. I haven't planned this for a class yet, but if there's interest I'll schedule one.

This is a picture of the table I helped make their canvas! They loved it!

For the afternoon, they made a couple of winter themed cards. Here's a picture of those. Everyone also received one of the acetate boxes in the Holiday Mini. I showed them what they could do with the box. Such an easy way to decorate the box without doing much. I just used the Winter Wonder Embossing Folder for this.

The other afternoon project was a mini pizza box with 3 gift cards inside. I love these mini pizza boxes! They are adorable and in case you didn't know are food safe, so if you want to fill it with cookies or fudge, you're all set! These are also in the Holiday Mini. We used the Years to Cheer Suite on both projects. This Designer Series Paper is just gorgeous! It's a specialty paper. There are 4 designs and you get 3 sheets of each design. These cards all had some bling to them!




Now that you got to see what we made at Fall Fest, now you'll get to see some of the swaps from the organized swap I participated in! The rest of these swaps will be on each Monday in October. We all selected a stamp set from the Holiday Mini to use for this swap.

This first swap is by Pauline. This also showcases the Spooky Cat Bundle I did as Product of the Month in September. If you'd like to see some other ideas using that you can find those posts HERE, HERE, HERE, & HERE. I always love her creations. She does really beautiful work. She used the Spooky Night Designer Series paper along with the Spooky Cat & Labels to Love stamp sets. The Spooky Cat is bundled with a cat punch and the Labels to Love coordinates with the Everyday Label punch. All can be found in the Holiday Mini. Those cute little bats you see are from the Seasonal Tags Framelits.  She also filled in the owl eyes with the black rhinestones.


This next card was done by our fearless leader! She used Half Full. Love this card! Nice and clean and simple! I don't have this set but this is a great sketch you can use on ANY card! She also used 2 of my favorite colors! Card base is Whisper White, with a layer of Sahara Sand. She embossed the Old Olive with the thick Layered Leaves embossing folder. Tina also used the Scalloped Tag Topper punch to punch the Fresh Fig tag and the sentiment piece as well and put a piece of 1/8" Sheer Ribbon in Fresh Fig through the holes and topped it off with a Metal Rimmed Pearl.

This last card (for today) was done by Gina. Gina used Wonderful Life and the background set called Tree Rings. I have to get that background stamp! The Wonderful Life set also has words and images for Christmas and "Just Married" occasions.  She used Crumb Cake for her base, then stamped the Tree Rings on Very Vanilla with Crumb Cake ink & added strip of Daffodil Delight to divide the two sections. The car & other images are also stamped on Very Vanilla with Crumb Cake ink and colored in with Old Olive, Tangerine Tango, & Daffodil Delight. This was die cut with the Stitched Framelits and Layering Oval framelits. The leaves were punched with the Leaf Punch.

I hope you enjoyed these swaps and samples from Fall Fest. Thank you soooo much for reading through this VERY LONG post! I appreciate it! You can find all these products in my STORE. Make sure to use this month's VIP Host Code, when shopping. If you have any questions, or need help with anything, please let contact me. Thanks for stopping by!

Last Group of Holiday Mini Swaps

This is the last group of the Holiday Mini Swap I participated in and will have more for you next month! Tomorrow is our annual Fall Fest and I signed up to be a part of another organized swap with the Holiday Mini. So if you'd like to see more and have even more ideas, stay tuned!

 This card was done by Leslie. She organized the swap. This is one of those cards that is easy to duplicate. She used a bundle called Merry Little Labels. Leslie stamped one of the images with Dapper Denim on Pool Party then punched it with the Everyday Label punch. That is layered on a piece of Dapper Denim that was die cut with the Layering Square framelits. Yes you see a rectangle there. To achieve a rectangle, you don't cut the full square, you can do this a couple of different ways. So if you need help to do this, contact me and I can walk you through it. This was layered on a piece of Merry Little Christmas Designer Series Paper. Leslie then embossed a piece of Pool Party with the Sparkle Embossing Folder. Her card base is Dapper Denim. To finish it off, she used some rhinestones.




This next card, I don't know who to give credit. Unfortunately they didn't give their name. This is a set from the mini, I thought about getting but there is only so much you can afford! The stamp set is called Season Like Christmas. This is a three step stamp set. Which means it takes 3 stamps to make the tree. Two stamps actually make the tree and the third stamp adds the ornaments or lights. Depends on how you stamp it.  I think there is actually one more stamp for the trunk. She used Crumb Cake for the base and stamped the splotches with Soft Suede. The tree was stamped in Garden Green, one part must have been stamped off to get the two tones. To finish the tree off, she stamped the ornaments in VersaMark and used Gold Embossing Powder. This was all done on Whisper White and layered on Real Red. The sentiment was also embossed with the gold and die cut with the Layering Oval Framelits. That was layered on a piece of the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper. Isn't it great how you can use some pattern paper that isn't holidayish and works! To finish off this card, she used the 1/8" Gold Ribbon.

Mena made this next card. Here is another card easy to duplicate. She used Feeling of Christmas and stamped the wreath with Old Olive, Pool Party, and Cherry Cobbler. The bow on the wreath is from Pretty Pines Thinlits. This was all done on Whisper White and then layered on Cherry Cobbler. The sentiment is stamped in Old Olive on Whisper White and layered on Old Olive. Both of these pieces were punched with the Triple Banner punch. The card base is Pool Party and she used the Softly Falling Embossing Folder. This is another versatile embossing folder. Mena also used some rhinestones to finish off her card.

I saved my card for last again! I used the Carols of Christmas, which was something Stampin' Up! had as a pre order for customers. I really like this bundle. I've made many samples using it. On this card I only used the deer from the framelits. I die cut here in the Gold Foil paper. The two main images are the phrases. I stamped the phrase in VersaMark and used Gold Embossing Powder on Basic Black card stock. I think it really pops! I did die cut this with the Stitched Framelits. This is another product I use A LOT! The holly is Always Artichoke. To get a decent circle, I die cut a post it so it would stick a bit to the card stock and give me a template so I'd know where to stamp the holly. Since I was making several of these, I got better as I went along! I think this is another card easy to duplicate. My card base and layers are Crumb Cake and Basic Black. The trim you see is the Jute Twine in the Holiday Mini. This trim would be great to use to wrap your holiday packages.

Well that's it for now and I'll have new swaps next week to start sharing along with pictures from our Fall Fest. I'll be demonstrating our new Embossing Paste and the projects we made. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by! I look forward to your comments.

If you don't have a demonstrator, I'd love to be yours! Contact me know if you have any questions for need help with anything. All these products can be found in my STORE. When shopping, don't forget to use this month's VIP Host Code.

Last group of monthly swaps

I can't believe September is almost over! This month has really flown by! In just a few days we will be having our Fall Fest event and I may be getting more swaps! (From my monthly group and another organized Holiday Mini Swap).

So just to refresh if you haven't seen my other posts, I'm part of a group of usually ten women that swap every month. Each month the theme of the swap changes. Whoever is the host gets to determine the theme. For August the theme was a color combo. The colors were Crumb Cake, Dapper Denim, and Peekaboo Peach.

This first card was done a new member of our group, Laura. The sentiment on the card front was computer generated. She used some Designer Series paper from Pick a Pattern which uses the colors from the combo. Besides the combo, she also used Emerald Envy and Firty Flamingo. Laura die cut from the Swirly Scribbles in Peekaboo Peach and added some Burlap Ribbon and a Glitter Enamel Dot.

Carol did this next card and would be great sending to your friends and family that live at or near the beach! This is from Beachy Little Christmas. She used markers to color in the ornaments and used the banner from the Large Numbers Framelits. This is a great quick and simple card.

This last card I did. I saw something similar but using different colors. I'm not sure what papers they used but I stamped on Shimmery White. First I spritzed the card stock with water and then stamped the images so they would bleed and give a bit of a water color effect. If it wasn't bleeding enough I would spritz it a bit more. I used Oh So Eclectic. I really like this set. Unfortunately I haven't used it too much yet, but look out! The sentiment is from Label me Pretty. Both of these sets are bundles and new in the annual catalog. Oh So Eclectic coordinates with a framelit and the Label me Pretty has a coordinating punch. I used the combo color inks and card stock. (Crumb Cake, Dapper Denim, & Peekaboo Peach). I did add Whisper White as well. I stamped the sentiment and punched it with the 1 1/4" circle punch and then another circle in Peekaboo Peach with the 1 3/8" circle punch and then layered all that on the Pretty Label punch then popped it up on dimensionals. The Peekaboo Peach 5/8" Crinkle Seam Binding Ribbon goes great with this card as well. Before I added all my layers I did use the Dapper Denim marker and flicked it with the cap to give it a spray look.

I hope you enjoyed all these swaps. September swaps will hopefully be next week and the theme is fall/halloween. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to seeing your comments. If you don't have a demonstrator, I'd love to be yours! If you need help or have any questions, please let me know. You can contact me HERE. When purchasing any of the products used you can find them in my STORE. Don't forget to use this month's VIP Host Code.

Last Product of the Month

I hope you've been enjoying this month's Product of the Month. Today is the last post for the Spooky Cat Bundle. At least as the Product of the month! As I mentioned before, I think this set would be great for some other celebrations besides Halloween, especially the cat punch.

Here is a refresh of the bundle. The stamp set is photopolymer, which makes it easy to do the 2 step stamping. There are potions bottles and 3 different stamps to put all kinds of potions in! The "trick or treat" & "Happy Halloween" both fit in the "web" image, which also works very nicely with the new Everyday Label Punch. The buckle for the witches hat and a couple images for the owl as well.

This is the Designer Series Paper, Spooky Night. The sheet with the cats works great with the punch and the sheet with the pumpkins coordinates with the Patterned Pumpkins Thinlits. As you can see this paper can also work with fall themes, great for masculine cards and more! I used this paper on all my samples from last week.

This card shows another way to use the Designer Series Paper that isn't a Halloween card. The cats are punched from the paper, the sentiment is from Thankful Thoughts and the lacy edge is the Decorative Ribbon Border, which I adhered to the Designer Series Paper. I embossed the Very Vanilla card stock partially with Oh My Stars embossing folder. You could easily make this a birthday card or anything else.







 While scanning Pinterest and watching TV I got this idea of making the cat into a lion. I saw something on Pinterest that sparked the idea and then saw a commercial on TV that had a dog with a lion's mane. I don't remember what they were selling, but thought I bet I could do that to the cat. I stamped the sunflower from the Painted Harvest with Crushed Curry and Cajon Craze, punched out the center first with the 1 1/4" Circle punch then punched it again with the Starburst punch. The cat is punched out with Crushed Curry and stamped the face from the Spooky Cat set and then put on his "mane". My lion is on a Basic Black die cut circle from the Layering Circles and used a piece of paper from Pick a Pattern Designer Series Paper. The sentiment is from A Little Wild and embellished it with the new mini gold sequin trim. I used a dimensional to pop it up.

This next card I cased from someone who use a mono chromatic look of black and white. I've always wanted a calico cat, so thought this was the next best thing! The squares are Crushed Curry and Basic Black and die cut with the Stitched Framelits and Layering Square Framelits. I then punched them together. I think next time I would do one at a time. It was a bit hard to punch both at the same time. The washi tape is from the Year of Cheer Suite and thought it had that "calico" look. I also used the a couple of pieces from the Pick a Pattern washi tape, then added a Black Baker's twine bow. I can't remember the set the "hello" is from but I did stamp that in black. I really like how this card came out.






I hope you've enjoyed all the samples for this Product of the month. As you can see, you can get a lot more from this bundle then just Halloween! Let me know if there are items you'd like to see samples of or themes, techniques or other ideas. I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Thanks for stopping by. If you don't have a demonstrator I'd love to be yours! You can find all the products I've used in my STORE. Don't forget to use this month's VIP Host Code. For questions, or help contact me.

More Holiday Mini Swap

A little late getting this one out! It's been a busy last few days! I've got one more group of swaps from  the Holiday Mini after this post.  Next Saturday will be Fall Fest and I'm participating in another Holiday Mini swap so I'll have some in October!

For this first swap Lilly used the Winter Wonder Embossing Folder and so did several others. It's a great embossing to use for winter cards. She also used the Snowflake Sentiments Bundle, which includes the Swirly Snowflake Thinlits. The stamp set has several Holiday sentiments for the outside and inside of your cards. The sentiment was stamped with Dapper Denim and so is the card base. The big snowflake was embossed with Whisper White and the small snowflake was die cut with the Silver Foil paper. Lilly embellished the card with some Rhinestones and the Mini Tinsel trim from the Holiday Mini.

 Marlene also used the Winter Wonder Embossing Folder and embossed the Silver Foil paper, which is layered on Whisper White and then Cherry Cobbler for the base. The sentiment is form Watercolor Christmas, which is stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink on Whisper White card stock and die cut with the Stitched Framelits and then layered on Cherry Cobbler and die cut with the Layering Oval Framelits and popped it up with Dimensionals.

 For this card Pat also used the Winter Wonder and the Softly Falling Embossing Folders. She added Dazzling Diamonds to the snowflake and fussy cut it. The sentiment is from Half Full in Fresh Fig. I forgot to take a picture of the inside. Pat stamped more images from the set and colored them in with the aqua painter, including the wine glasses from the set. This was all done, tone on tone of Whisper White. Cute card.

This last card was done by Vicki. Again she used the same embossing folder, Winter Wonder. You can see how popular this folder is! The other stamp set that is part of the suite with Snowflake Sentiments is Cheers to the Year, which is the greeting and the snowflake on this card. Vicki heat embossed the snowflake with Gold Embossing Powder and used a strip of paper from Cheers to the Year Designer Series. I love this paper, so elegant and versatile.  Not only does this paper work for the holidays, but great for weddings, anniversaries, christenings, baptisms, or any celebrations you want to glitz up. This is the paper to do it with. This paper is a speciality pack. It has foil in of Gold, Silver, Copper, and Champagne. It's really stunning. It's only one sided and you get 3 sheets of 4 different patterns.

I hope you enjoyed these cards and have given you some inspiration to create some of your own! Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a fabulous weekend! Here in the northwest corner of NJ the weather is suppose to be close to summer, even though fall has just started!

Please post comments, I'd love to read them and if you have any questions, or need help with something, you can contact me HERE.

If you don't have a demonstrator, I'd love to be yours! To purchase any of these items, you can find them in my STORE. When shopping, make sure to use this month's VIP Host Code.

More of August Monthly Swaps

Here is the next group of my monthly swap. If you'd like to see last week, you can find it HERE. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, I participate in a monthly swap with a group of about 10 very talented demonstrators. The theme changes each month and whoever hosts that month has picked what the theme will be. For August, Gayle was the host and she did a color combo of Dapper Denim, Peekaboo Peach, and Crumb Cake.

This first card was done by Mena. She used Flower Shop and Dragonfly Dreams stamp sets. The flowers were stamped in Peekaboo Peach and the sentiment was done in Dapper Denim. Mena used Whisper White along with Dapper Denim and Crumb Cake. The butterfly was a die cut from the Butterfly Thinlits. There is another butterfly die called Bold Butterfly Framelits and coordinates nicely with the one Mena used. The center of the butterfly has one of those Clear Faceted Gems.

 This next card was done by our host Gayle. She used Special Celebrations stamp set and stamped the sentiment in Dapper Denium. The rest of the card was the Layered Leaves Embossing Folder and several dies. The sentiment was die cut with the Stitched Framelits and Layered Ovals and the 1/8" handheld punch so she could put the Peekaboo Peach Crinkled Ribbon through and added some Rhinestones. All the leaves were die cut with the Bouquet Bunch Framelits.

Jen made this next card. Such a simple but beautiful card! She used the Lovely Friends Bundle. It's hard to see but she embossed the Dapper Denim layer with the Layered Leaves Embossing Folder. The flower and leaves in the lower left corner are from the bundle. She also used the Peekaboo Peach Crinkled Ribbon and put a sequin from the Iridescent Sequin pack.

I'll have the last bund of swaps next week for you. I hope you enjoyed these cards and have given you some inspiration to create your own! It's ok to CASE (Copy And Share Everything) your own! I'd love to see them. They can be exactly what you see or change them up a little or a lot to make it your own!

If you don't have a demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I true appreciate ALL my customers! If you'd like to get any of these products you can find them in my STORE and don't forget to use this month's VIP Host Code!