Have you seen the scented embossing powders in the Occasions Mini Catalog?  There are soooooo sweet smelling!  Choose your favorite scent; Vanilla, Melon or Cherry!  What person wouldn't love a card that tantalizes both your sight and olfactory senses!  Here's an example to tantalize at least your sense of sight – they haven't created smell o vision for the web yet!   hehe!

At my classes this week, my customers will have their sight and olfactory senses tantalized – want to be one of them?  Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evenings – give me a call!

Blessings!

Available right now!  You are going to love this simple, easy and inexpensive addition to your Simply Scored board.  Check this out!

• Sits on top of the Simply Scored base
• Held securely in place by rubber pads on back of the plate
• Has etched grooves every 1/8"
• Can score any size card stock up to 12" x 12"
• Includes instructions for creating common envelope sizes

Check out this cute project my customers will be making this week! 

The diagonal plate is of great quality and will help you perfectly create envelopes and diagonal score lines without any fuss or muss.  Check back tomorrow for a great project using the diagonal scoring plate.  If you want to come and see for yourself, I have openings Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening at 6:30pm. 

Check out this Stampin' Up! video!

Blessings!

Happy Day everyone!   I am having a pretty good time in Arizona.  I know that I will have an even better time now that I can relax about my dear hubby.  He is home.  While we don't have answers as to why he had the chest pain, I am confident that he was thoroughly checked out.  So, rest for him and we will check in with the Dr.'s next week.  Our son, Mike was with him.  (I don't know if I've talked about Mike on my blog before but he is a wonderful man and father).  Chrissy, our daughter will spend the weekend with him. 

Here is a pic of my daughter Mandy and my dad from yesterday.

So today we are off to Sedona.  Excited to do some hiking and sightseeing. 

Here's a quick card that we did last week at card class.  It uses one of the free Sale-a-Bration sets.  Simple layout that's worth copying!

Blessings!

OK, so I had a little hiatus this last week.  Sorry about that.  You might think I was on vacation – well I am!   But, I just left last night!      I'm in Phoenix with my sister Sally (from Colorado), my daughter Mandy and my sister-in-law Bev for a long weekend to visit my dad.  I'm looking forward to a little family time and relaxing.

That is, I hope I can relax.  Jim had chest pain yesterday and was taken from Hastings to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.  Why does this happen when I am leaving town?   I think the good Lord thinks I have stamina and patience to handle this from a distance. . . I hope!  At any rate, I talked with Jim this morning and he is doing OK.  No answers yet but, they are doing lots of tests and taking good care of him.  Son Mike has been a big help. 

Last week, I intended to post a few pics of fun ideas – and I happened to remember to grab my camera when I left so, here is a fun simple card to inspire you. 

I am liking this color combo – direct from the 2011-2013 In color collection – Pool Party and Calypso Coral.  Of course the wonderful designer series paper helps!  This is the Sweet Shop DSP from the Occasions Mini Catalog.  Paired with the Cupcake Builder Punch and the greeting from the Sweet Cake stamp set in the Occasions Mini Catalog. 

If you look closely, you will see that this paper is a specialty paper with yummy textures (heart and dotted pattern).  Here is the stamp set – don't you love how they coordinate?

As you may have guessed, these 2 items are part of a whole product suite (spelled "sweet" in this case!).  If you are looking for fast and easy coordination of products – and don't have to spend much time thinking about what goes together, the product suites are a fantastic option.  You can see this product suite in the Occasions Mini catalog starting on page 32. 

Enjoy the day!  Blessings to all.

Here's another card with Tea Shoppe Party – simple but fun.

I have been seeing lots of card with little pennants on them.  A hint for getting the bottom of the pennant just right is to use a square punch to get the notch just correct. 

Blessings!

I did a little playing in the craft room this weekend – not quite as much as I would have liked but, here is one of my creations. 

I was making samples for my upcoming Tea Shoppe Party class in March.  I like the Attic Boutique paper with this set – they both seem a little vintage.  Enjoy!

Blessings!

Here's another quick Valentine treat for you to consider making this weekend.  It's one that I have done before but, worth repeating.

The scalloped envelope die is used to create the "wrap" for this Valentine treat.  Here is what I used to make this treat;

Stamp Set:  P.S. I love you

Paper & Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Springtime Vintage (Free during Sale-a-Bration with qualifying order), Poppy Parade, Pool Party

Punches & Dies;  Scallop Envelope Die, Blossom Party Die, Label Punch

Accessories:  Printed Brads – Free with qualifying order during Sale-a-Bration

It's actually pretty simple and easy – I plan to crank out a few of these this weekend for my co-workers – I can't wait to give them out!

Blessings!

It's closing in on another year anniversary for me with Stampin' Up!  Soon it will be 9 years.  And it all started because I wanted to get a discount on my Stampin' Up! supplies.  I didn't think I was ever going to have a party. . .. well that is one thing that I am super glad never worked out the way it was planned.   

I know I mentioned it a week or so ago but, I still have an opportunity to give someone a gift from Stampin' Up!  Actually, I really have more than one gift to give;

• Free subscription to Stampin' Success magazine – this is the full color magazine only available to demonstrators until now.  I can give you a FREE 3 month subscription.  No strings attached except that you'll be inspired by all of the great samples in it.  PLUS – there's a BIG surprise coming up with the next catalog – you could be one of the first to know!  If you are interested in getting this from me, Please let me know.  I will be doing a drawing of customers who have ordered from me since January 24 and those who have scheduled workshops with me during Sale-a-Bration.
• Here's a gift that will keep on giving for a year – During Sale-a-Bration, you can join the Stampin' Up! family for only $125.  You get the full kit – worth $360!  You can customize this kit to suit your needs.  The additional gift is that Stampin' Up! will give you a choice of free Designer Series Paper or Digital Downloads every month for a year.  You can check out the details here.  If you sign up with me prior to February 24, I have an extra gift for you.  You too could have these things I love about Stampin' Up! for yourself. 
  • Discount on everything that I buy
  • Access to 1000's of ideas on Stampin' Up!'s website for demonstrators.   It beats pinterest hands down!
  • When you attend Stmapin' Up!'s events, you can learn tons of new ideas, develop phenomenal friendships around the country
  • Fill your personal bank with lots of warm fuzzies – that bank is not just about money – it is about the feel good fuzzies I get from sending cards and helping others be in touch with their creativity

Here's a card that I received in my swapping at Stampin' Up!'s leadership conference.  It was made by Cathy Wszelaki.  The reason I am posting this card (besides that I like it) is that it uses a set that you could receive when you join the Stampin' Up! family.  The set is called Easy Events.

Can you see the versatility in this set? 
I love how Cathy added some pizzaz to this card.  The base color of Island Indigo with the square lattice textured embossing folder and a strip of the printed paper in the same color creates just the perfect background.  She used the 2 1/2" circle punch to create the Easy Event focal point for the card.  If you look very closely, she added Dazzeling Details in Cherry Cobbler to the heart in the tree.  Love it! 

OK, so do you know what you gotta do?  Here's your homework simplified;

• get your order in or schedule your show to be in the drawing for the Stampin' Success subscription
• consider joining the Stampin' Up! family – for a discount or to build a business and a little extra income for your family
• consider getting "easy events"  such an adorable card it makes!

Blessings!

When you are a paper crafter at heart, you don't just stop at cards and scrapbooks.  I enjoy making pieces for display at home.  I've been frequently known to share them with family and friends too.  Here's just a small banner that I made for the "love" season. 

Are you wondering what wonderful new die or punch was used to create the elegant detail at the bottom of this banner?  Well you'll be surprised to learn that it's so much easier than even a punch or a die!  It's the Designer Cuts Cards & Envelopes set from the Occasions Mini Catalog. 

Here's what you get with this gorgeous set of cards and envelopes;

• 4 cards each of 2 different designs – the one shown and the heart (which is soooooo yummy!)
• 8 envelopes in Blushing Bride

Here's a pick of what you get;

So you can see that I took just one of the cards with the design on the bottom and cut it apart and backed it with Blushing Bride cardstock (by the way, I have been using this color a lot lately – it's a very nice pink.  If you don't have it, you owe it to yourself to check it out).

I did start another banner as well – not quite ready for prime time yet – I'll post it if I get it done.

Blessings!

I wanted to get some of my family valentine cards out of the way. . . . I created this one for my sister.  I really love how it turned out don't you?

Here's what I used;

Stamp Sets:  Mixed Bunch

Paper & Ink:  Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

Punches:  2 1/2 inch circle, 3/4 inch circle, Label

Sizzix;  Dotted Texture Embossing folder, Paper Doily Large Sizzlet die

Accessory:  Large Pearl Basic Jewels

I have posted picks of the Doily Die projects before.   Here is what I have learned from using this die;

• the results are stunning – and worth just a bit of extra work
• It is best to use a shim when cutting this one out – a piece of cardstock
• roll your doily from side to side and up and down – this loosens many of the delicate pieces allowing most of them to pop out
• Use your scoring tool or paper piercing tool to push out the pieces that don't fall out – front to backside

Here's a video from Stampin' Up! creating one of the gorgeous samples in the Occasions Mini Catalog - check it out, I'm sure you'll agree with me!

Leave me a note and let me know what you think!

Blessings!