September Product of the Month

I hope you're enjoying the new Holiday Mini! Isn't it wonderful? It can be so hard to pin down just a few items to purchase, so have a party! Stampin' Up! has a great special for hosts this month thru October! Last month I gave you a jump start on your holiday cards and this month I'll have samples of things you can make for the fall or your trick or treaters! As I did last month, I'll post every Monday some samples using the Product of the Month. So for the month of September I chose the Spooky Cat Bundle. I really love getting stamp sets that coordinate with a punch for thinlit/framelit. Even though some of the images are geared toward Halloween, I can see using this bundle for those Harry Potter enthusiasts, themed parties, cat lovers and more!

This stamp set is a photopolymer set, which is great for doing 2 step stamping. There's a face to put on the cat, you can give the buckle on the hat a different color, the owl has a couple of extra pieces to add as do the bottles and you can add the Trick or Treat or the Happy Halloween to the piece with the cobweb.

I did case all the projects for this week. The second 2 I did change up a bit to make them my own. Sometimes I find I don't want or need to tweak anything!

 This first card I cased exactly from one of our fabulous Artisians. I think it was Mindy. After looking at it some more I thought you could easily step it up a bit by adding some black metallic thread and put behind the square. I love these potion bottles. The bottles are all three together but each bottle has it's own stamp to fill in! That made it so easy to give each bottle a different color! To know where to place the images I die cut a square from the Stitched Framelits. This helped to know how close to stamp both images. I first stamped the bottles onto a post it and cut it out then I stamped my first image then used the mask I just made to stamp the 2nd image. This way it looks like it's behind the other bottles! I used the Pick a Pattern Washi Tape and a piece of Lemon Lime Twist 1/4" Ombre Ribbon behind the squares. You could also make this a great invitation by changing out the "Happy Halloween" with a "You're Invited". I love the clean look of this card.

This next card I tweaked a bit. Not sure the color of the moon they used but I used Crushed Curry and sponged some Crushed Curry ink around the outside edges of the moon. To make this cat in the moon I first punched the cat out of a piece of cardstock then took the circle die and lined up the bottom edge of the cat so it would cut off the bottom. I thought this was a super cute idea! I felt just the "Happy Holloween" just sat there on the strip so I added a piece of the new Vintage Crochet Trim in the Holiday Mini along the bottom of the sentiment piece and a couple of Black Rhinestones also in the new Holiday Mini. I really like how these two extra steps added just a bit to the card. I hope you like it as well!

This next project is great to just hand out, party favors, or give out for Halloween! These are so simple to make. The cats with the writing on them, I stamped first then punched it out. You will need two punched cats for these treat holders and a piece of matching cardstock 3/4" x 2 1/2" scored at 3/4" from each end. You want to use a strong adhesive to hold them together. I used our Tombo liquid glue but the Fast Fuze would work just as well. You adhere the strip of cardstock to the back of one cat and the front of the other, trying to make sure they are right behind each other. Once that's done adhere the tops of their heads together, again making sure they're aligned. Using the liquid glue helps in case it's not exact, you have a little "wiggle" time! I tied Baker's Twine around two of the cats, the other I used the new Black Mini Sequin Trim and glue dots. The Hershey kisses will bit in here and I think the Hershey nuggets would too, but don't have any to try. Use a glue dot to attach the kiss inside of the cats. I'm away right now and thought it would look great to stamp the face of the black cat with emboss it with White Embossing Powder, but don't have any with me :(

I hope you enjoyed these first few projects using this month's product focus. Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment and tell me how you liked these projects and what else you'd like to see. To purchase any of these products, you can find them at my STORE, make sure you use this month's VIP Host Code. I appreciate all your business. Don't forget I have my own Vacation special going on until September 6 and this month's new VIP Gift.

New VIP Host Special!

Opps! Here's another post of thought I posted! That's what happens when I go on vacation and don't get this all done ahead of time and I'm on limited data!

New Month, new VIP Host Code! You can check out all the details HERE! It's something new in the Holiday Mini catalog and will add some extra bling to your projects!

Happy shopping!

Holiday Mini Starts Today!

Just a quick post today! The Holiday Mini Catalog is Now LIVE! 

Have you seen this fabulous new catalog! You'll have a hard time just selecting a few items! Want to have a party? Stampin' Up! has a great Host Special for September & October. Contact me to schedule your party today! Start shopping HERE! Don't forget to use this month's new VIP Host Code!

Product of the Month Last Week

Here's another post I thought published! 

So anyway. I've been working on samples for today and next week. I hope you enjoy them. Just to review what the product of the month is, it's the Carols of Christmas Bundle. It's in the new Holiday Mini Catalog and available to customers for purchase so they can get a jump start on their holiday cards! If you'd like to look at the other posts click HERE, HERE, and HERE.

This first card I cased and love how it turned out! Inside the circle is a piece of Designer Series Paper from the Daisy pack! The border die is just used on the top. I also used the Layering Circle and Stitched framelits for the opening and the snowy hills. The trees in the front were die cut using the Thick Whisper White card stock and then water colored them slightly with Pool Party. The other tree and card base I used the new Tranquil Tide cardstock, along with the ink for the flowers and "Peace". I used Crumb Cake for the deer.

This second card, I used the Merry Music Designer Series Paper. The card base is Cherry Cobbler as well as the scallop circle layer. I also used Cherry Cobbler ink for half of the "Peace on Earth" and the flower. When I inked the "Peace on Earth", I first inked the Garden Green on the bottom half and then inked the Cherry Cobbler for the "Peace". The inks overlapped in the middle. I used the Stitched framelits here again to die cut this piece after stamping it. I also layered the burlap ribbon with the 1/4" Double Stitched ribbon.  This did have a lot of die cutting but think it was so worth it! This will go to someone special!

I hope you enjoyed these last cards for the Product of the Month. I will be posting more in the coming months because this is such a great bundle, but wanted to give you some ideas on different uses for this bundle. I thank you for stopping by and would love to hear from you! If you don't have a demonstrator in the US, I'd love to have you and be your Creative Coach! To purchase any of these items, you can go to my store HERE.

Vacation Special for August

Well I'm just seeing I didn't publish this Post!!! LOL! I guess I'm really on vacation! This special is until September 6, so don't worry! If you placed an order from August 22 until September 6, you're still in! The special is, for ANY orders placed, you'll receive a sampling of Year of Cheer Embellishments! How great is that! When your order reaches $50 you'll also receive my monthly card kit along with a PDF on how to assemble. Make sure you use this month's VIP Host Code 3DSR7NFJ. To get this month's VIP Host Special you'll need to place a $60 order.

These are just a few thank you's for shopping with me. I appreciate all of your support!

Final Group 4 of Monthly Swap

Here's the last group of swaps from July. With all these, you'll have plenty ideas to get your cards started for the holidays. If you'd like me to do the cards for you, I have a class already planned out, just contact me to set a date!

So for this first card Mena used pieces of the Be Merry Designer Series Paper for her background and the sentiment is from Christmas Pines and used Cherry Cobbler ink then die cut it with the Stitched Shapes framelits. The pieces of DSP were layered on Whisper White and the base card is Garden Green. This a great card to replicate easily.

This next card was done by Lilly. Again it's amazing how different these cards look and the same Designer Series paper was used! Now I know Mena and Lilly live near each other. I wonder if they were stamping together when they both came up with their cards! Lilly used just strips of the Be Merry. What a great way to use up your scraps! The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is stamped in Garden Green and punched out with Classic Label punch. The strips of DSP were layered on Whisper White, then Cherry Cobbler, then onto the base of Whisper White. She also added 1/8" Silver ribbon.

A couple of very simple cards to make for your holiday cards. If you don't have the stamp set, you can certainly use whatever sentiment you do have on hand and you can change both of these cards into any occasion by just using different papers, stamps, and inks!

Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear from you and see what you're working on!

To purchase any of the items used, click HERE.

Camp Gift

I was going to post this last week, but wanted to make sure this wasn't seen by the recipient. In case you don't know, I'm a Girl Scout and have been for most of my life! The Girl Scouts has done so much for me and have enjoyed traveling with them. I guess I wasn't your typical Girl Scout. I didn't go to summer camp. I went to camp at different times of the year. There was just too many bugs during the summer! Then it turned out when we (husband & kids) moved to the northwest part of New Jersey I wasn't that far from my childhood camp! Yay! I now go there for an annual Octoberfest for adults and I teach all kinds of stamping home decor. I love it and have a great time! As with stamping when we have gatherings it's so nice to see our old friends and make new ones, so is with Girl Scouts. Well anyway, the woman who runs the camp (Camp Director) has been doing so for 30 years! Some of the old timers had a surprise luncheon for her and I offered to make a few things for her to give as a gift from everyone.

So here is the card I made. I didn't do this in the "A4" size. Not sure what size they call this but it's a sheet of card stock (8.5 x 11) folded in half. I wanted it bigger so everyone attending could sign it. I used Number of Years and the coordinating framelit call Large Numbers. The image behind the "30" is the punch Best Badge. If you don't recognize the other stamps, that's because the are retired. I purchased these my first year as a demonstrator and retired that year. I love these and don't think I'll ever get rid of them! I think they're called Girl Power and Camp Out. The Girl Power was made to imitate the Girl Scouts. They also had one that imitated the Boy Scouts.

So initially I was just going to make the card and thought why not make this piece of home decor! It's basically a scrapbook page on a clipboard. I bought some paper that had the Girl Scout theme and thought that would be perfect for this! Everything I used here was retired! As you can see I still have them because they were favorites of mine and worked great! There are no pictures because I was sending this to the coordinator of the luncheon and she was to put the pictures in. My thought was to put  now and then pictures. In case you don't know what that "thing" is next to the lined card, it's a friendship knot. When you're a counselor at camp they give out a strip of fabric and you have a "friend" tie the knot for you! A very nice tradition!

So I was having so much fun making everything and as I was scanning the internet for some inspiration I came across this saying "I'm _________ what's your super power? and thought this would be perfect for a "badge" so I had to make one! I had made a sleeping bag button (out of shrinky dinks we used to sell) and it wasn't working for the clipboard and thought it would fit perfect on the badge! Then, still having so much fun, I thought I'd make a backpack! I've been wanting to make one of those for years! I love the way this turned out! I made another button to match the rope hearts that I stamped all over as a faux closure. This also gave me another idea to have a class using the Gift Bag Punch Board! So stayed tuned for that! It'll probably be next year at this rate, but you never know!

I hope you liked these gifts. I really had such a great time creating them! It was great to be able to just create!

If you didn't get my weekly newsletter, I'm running a special while I'm on vacation. The special is to just place ANY order and I'll send you a sampling of the Year of Cheer Embellishments. Now if your order reaches $50, not only do you earn a Butterfly, you'll also receive this month's card kit with a PDF and when your order reaches $60, you'll get all that I mentioned but you'll also receive the 1/4" Copper Trim! To receive all these things, you need to use HOST CODE 3DSR7NFJ to make it easy for you, you can Click HERE to Shop! My little way of saying Thank You for your support! I always appreciate it!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a great weekend!