Confessions....

Alright, alright! I confess! I've been holed up in my scrap room DEVOURING my new Stampin' Up! Catalog!! YES! I got my 2 boxes earlier this week and I have not wanted to put it down since I got it!! Once you get a glimpse of this catalog and if you have the whole "demonstrator/stamping" sickness you'll see why! It is....Beautiful. The cover, the stamps....oh, the accessories! I'm trying not to drool on my keyboard as I'm telling you all of this! LOL Ok, so you can tell I've got the "sickness" bad! I really do think this is one of Stampin' Up!'s best catalogs yet. I feel like they are truly in touch with the market on this one. If you haven't seen one PLEASE get a hold of a demonstrator, quickly!!

Well, since now you know the REAL truth of why I haven't been stamping I'll show you a scrapbook page I did a while ago. On this page I used a 12x12 sheet of Pretty in Pink card stock and I wheeled the Petals Wheel (found in the Spring Mini) with Pretty in Pink ink across the bottom. The "Happy Together" is from the Double sided Petals & Paisleys Designer Paper. The three little flowers and the little saying "find joy in the little things" are from the stamp set Polka Dots & Paisley. On the flowers I stamped them with Versa Mark then used daubers & chalks to color them.

All Supplies from Stampin' Up!:
Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisley & Jumbo Petals Wheel
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Whisper White & Tempting Turquoise Card stock
Ink: Versa Mark & Tempting Turquoise
Other: Silver Brads, Narrow Light Pink & White Organdy Ribbon

I don't scrap book very much, I will get a page done here and there as I need them for samples. It's not that I don't enjoy doing them but that I never feel that they turn out "cute" enough. Oh, well. Although I was quite pleased with this one. My husband, Jeremy, is holding our youngest daughter Arell Lynn and cuddling a little bit with her. She was about 3 months old in that picture and now she is about to turn 9 months!!! Where does the time go!

Wild about You!!

Well I'm still at it....playing Bingo with Julee!!!! I haven't had too much time to actually stamp much these past few days but Julee posted another sketch for the Bingo game that I just had to try it! I'm not sure how well I like this card. I really love this set. I'll post more info on this card tomorrow along with a recipe. It is way past my bedtime. :)

All Supplies from Stampin' Up!:
Stamps: Wild About You
Paper: Only Orange, Confetti White, Taken with Teal & Old Olive Card stock & Simply Scrappin' Party Pieces Designer Paper
Ink: Only Orange, Old Olive & Basic Black Classic Inks
Other: Silver Eyelets; Slider, Corner Rounder 1 1/4" circle & Key Tag Punch; Coluzzle, Metal Edge Tags, Crafters Tool Kit

Another Blogger Bingo Card

Alright, I told you a few days ago that I had joined a Bloggers Bingo Game over at Poetic Artistry.
Well here is my 2nd attempt at the card challenge. I used Real Red as my card base , then I stamped the cake from a BRAND NEW stamp set out of the Preview Brochure called "Year after Year". I used a blender pen to pick up some sliver ink from my Silver Encore pad to color the platter stand, a Real Red Marker for the heart and added a bit of Dazzling Diamonds around he edges. I used the sentiment from another stamp set that was in the Preview Brochure, "Hugs & Wishes". I added a little flower and a silver brad to the corner of the sentiment and adhered it using a dimensional. I then used the Silver Encore pad to ink up French Flair stamp that was in one of Stampin' Up!'s minis a few months ago, I really hope it makes it into the new catalog.

All Supplies from Stampin' Up!:
Stamps: Year after Year, Hugs & Wishes, & French Flair
Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, & Brushed Silver Card stock
Ink: Basic Black, Silver Encore Pad
Other: Real Red Stampin' Write Journaler, Silver Brad, Dazzling Diamonds

Stampin' Up! Color Combos

Well today I have been busy stamping a few goodies but I can't share them with you yet because they are the gifts that I am giving to my hostesses for my Hostess Appreciation party!! I hope they will like them as much I do! Maybe I'll get busy later tonight and make another card for Shadowcatchers Bingo Game she has going on her blog, Poetic Artistry. It has been so much fun playing along!

But I did want to share with you, for those that haven't seen this before, this great tool for coordinating Stampin' Up! colors! Color Combos. It just blew my socks off! I hope you have as much fun with it as I did! And hopefully I will have something more visual to share with you tomorrow!

Stampin' Up! Accessories Retirement List

Stampin' Up! has posted their Accessories Retirement List!! I just get so excited because this means the new catalog is so close!! I've even got an email saying it had been shipped, but no tracking number so who knows when it will get here.

I've added a link below that you can go and see what they are retiring, some of the things though they said they were on the retiring list because this year, they will be offering the following items differently in the Fall-Winter Collection 2007:

• Select individual color packs of 12" x 12" card stock
• Confetti White & Kraft Tiny Takeout boxes & tags
• Select embossing powder colors
• Select 1/4" grosgrain ribbon colors
• Corner Rounder punch

These items appear on the retired list and will be retired in their current quantity or assortment, but you will be able to purchase these or similar items in a different configuration, quantity, or assortment in the Fall-Winter Collection 2007.

I'm also adding a link for the retiring stamp sets in case anyone wants to take one last look at those stamps before they are gone forever!

Accessories Retiring List

Retiring Stamp Set List


So a so long farewell to all of Stampin' Up!'s 2006-2007 Collection! Definitely retiring "In Style"!!

Taking the Challenge

Last night I thought it was about time to break into my Baroque Motifs Stamp. I've had it for a few weeks now and still hadn't played with it!! I loved this stamp set when I first saw it in SU! Preview Brochure, I love swirly's! Now the REAL reason for making this card was because as I was stalking my favorite blogs last night I went to Shadowcatchers (she has such an awesome blog!!) and saw that she was doing "Bloggers Bingo" well who can pass up Bingo and she has some cool Blog Candy for the winners! Along with this cool game she has a sketch challenge for anyone that wants to participate! So I figured it was great way to really push myself to make a card on my own instead of C.A.S.E.-ing one. So besides challenging myself with the sketch I thought I would really push myself to use the new "In colors". So the main card is Purely Pomegranate, with Wild Wasabi, River Rock and the Designer Paper that matches the Stamp set Baroque Motifs. I'm not quite sure if I like it or not. What do you think??

Editing to add that the overlapping of the swirly's was something I saw on Stamping & Stuff I loved the effect that I had to try it!!

Editing to add the Recipe:
All Supplies from Stampin' Up!:
Stamps: Baroque Motifs
Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, River Rock Card stock, Brocade Background Designer Paper, & Vellum
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi Classic Ink, & Whisper White Craft Ink
Other: Wrought Iron Punch, Dimensionals

Grandpas' Happy Birthday Gift

I had a goal, really I did!! My goal was that I would post to this blog everyday (at least REALLY try), if not at least every other day. And here it is Tuesday!! 5 days after my last post!! Where does the time go!!

Well let me share something with you that I made for my father-in-law for his birthday (we have the same birthday, June 12!!) . We have a tradition of always getting together and having pizza for our birthdays and this year our birthdays were in the middle of the week so we decided we would do something over the weekend and cover Father's day along with the celebration! It was a good weekend, we had pizza, presents, cooked out, and the boys went and played Golf. Anyway, getting back to what I made my Father-in-law...I love the way this turned out! I made him a little mini album of his 3 granddaughters!! I used the Stampin' Up! On Board Bitty Book and Simply Scrappin' Kit-At Home to create it. All Supplies from Stampin' Up!

Now off to plan Hostess Appreciation get together and a New Stampin' Up! Catalog Open House! I'm working on some really cute gifts for my Hostess Appreciation party, I'll post those as soon as I get them done!!

Big Clippies

How did we ever survive without computers before!? I went all weekend without internet because our providers router "blew up"!! I was feeling very deprived especially since I had JUST started this blog and then I couldn't do anything with it!

Well I did do SOMETHING this weekend with some of my new Stampin' Up! stuff!! I've been seeing the cutest bookmarks made from jumbo paper clips and decided I would give it a try...do you want to see them? I thought they turned out pretty cute! So here they are!

I traced the flower out on to the designer paper, cut it out and then covered the fronts of the flower chipboard with the pallet o' prints paper and then used the 3 flower punch (it is in the new Preview Brochure...it is AWESOME!! If you haven't looked at it you will definitely have to ask your demo or contact me to get one) to punch out a small flower for the middle that I mounted with dimensionals. Then I sanded down the edges and stuck a pop up glue dot onto the back and and used the
3/4 " to punch out a circle from some coasters that I have and covered it with So Saffron cardstock to stick it to the back of the flower. I've seen a lot of these made using the matching flower for the back too but I didn't want to use them up so fast so that is why I opted to use just a little circle for the back. Some of my favorite ones that I've seen are done by Cambria she always makes the cutest things!!

Supplies:
SU! Pallet O' Prints Designer Paper, SU! Whisper White Cardstock, SU! So Saffron Cardstock, SU! On Board Blossoms & Basics Chipboard, SU! Three for you Punch, SU! Large Slider Punch, SU! 1 1/4" Circle Punch, SU! 1/16" Punch, SU! 3/4" Circle Punch, 3.5" Paper clip, SU! Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, SU! Silver Cord, SU! Pop Up Glue Dots, SU! Dimensionals

My Very First Blog.....

Alright here I go....I am taking my first plunge into the blogging world. I actually feel really nervous about posting my first post! I am not quite sure why I'm starting a blog other than I've been stalking a few...ok, A LOT for a few weeks now and I really have fun reading about what everyone is up to and being inspired by all their art work!

I love to stamp! I especially love to C.A.S.E. (Copy And Steal/Share Everything). I really enjoy stamping but it seems like I never have quite have enough time to come up with my own stuff so I'm always CASE-ing someone else's work...but isn't there a saying that says "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"? I do try sometimes to take what I see and make it my own by adding a new little twist, using different stamps or even a different color combo but there are times when I say, "Why mess with perfection?" and I'll just copy as is!! But maybe by having a blog I can draw inspiration from all of you and start doing my own stuff!

Well if you made it this far, Thanks so much! and I hope you'll come back and visit regularly. If you feel like it you are more than welcome to link my site up to yours or just bookmark it and come hang out! Thanks!