New catty blog hop coming June 1st!

Hi there friends!  I'm so excited to announce that my Crafty Paper Confectionistas group is going to have a little Blog Hop starting Sunday, June 1, to showcase some fun new stamps and products that will be available for you to order starting on Monday, June 2nd!  And, there will be BLOG CANDY, too!

Be sure to come by on Sunday and Monday, June 1 and 2 to check it out.  Also, don't forget that Stampin'Up!'s sign up promotion for just $50 to become a demonstrator is going on now til June 30th! If you see stamps and products you like and you're an avid crafter or stamping enthusiast, then I definitely encourage you to take advantage of it!  You can find out more details about this opportunity here.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend and hope to see you back on Sunday for the Blog Hop! :)

Ciao for now.

Woot woot! Join Stampin'Up! for $50!

Hi all!  Happy hump day! I had to pop in to share Stampin'Up!'s special offer!  If you love paper crafting and LOVE Stampin'Up!'s products, now is a great time to join as a demonstrator in the US for only $50! 

When you join Stampin’ Up! during this limited-time offer, you’ll receive:

• $55 worth of products
• A 30 percent discount on your first order*
• A 20 percent discount on all your orders
• Free Paper Pumpkin Kit
• Free entrance to our annual Convention* (must be registered by the 20th of June)
• Before June 2, 2014, you may also choose preorder items from the new annual catalog.
• This offer is only good until June 30, so take advantage while you can!

How cool is that, right?  I think this is a great way to take your crafting and/or entrepreneurial spirit to the next level by taking advantage of what Stampin'Up! has to offer.  If you'd like to find out more, feel free to email me and I'd be happy to chat with you more about this opportunity.  With the new catalog right around the corner, it's an exciting time to get involved with such an awesome company!

Not to mention, I would love for you to become part of my team! :)

*Certain restrictions apply. Contact me for details

Blending with Look up to father and Life in the forest

Hi there, blog friends! Hope you all are doing well! For those of you in the US, I hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day weekend.  I just wanted to pop in with a quick post on a couple of simple cards using the Blendabilities markers.  With the 3 day weekend, I was so excited to carve out some time to craft.  I've been wanting to play with the Blendabilities more, so I decided to go with a simple outline type of image with the fox from the Life in the forest stamp set and one that had more of a complex shading outline with the Look up to Father stamp.  

Here's a closer look at the Look up to Father stamp set.  

I used the new Mossy Meadow In Color for the card stock and ribbon.  Such a pretty green!  It actually coordinates well with the Old Olive Blendabilities markers I used.  To add a smidge of rustic, I secured that gorgeous ribbon with Brown Sugar twine.  I do like how the twine is a thicker weight than the baker's twine.  It's a little more rugged, which is great for a masculine card.  Now, if you take a closer look at the tree, you'll see that the leaves and the grass are colored in using the 3 shades of Old Olive, which gives it that realistic dimensional feel to the image.  I've really enjoyed playing with these fabulous markers - I think it brings out the inner artist in everyone!

Now, here's the image of the fox:

Experimenting with the shading has been fun. For this fox, I used 2 of the 3 Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities markers here - the light and medium markers in the 3 pack. You can see where I added some shading on the ears, legs and tail, but it truly does blend in so nicely.  As you can see for both cards, I opted for the Woodgrain Embossing folder.  I guess you could say I've been in a woodsy sort of theme lately! :)

Well, thanks for stopping buy today.  I have one more thing I wanted to share...you have until June 4th to order the retiring stamps and accessories from this year's catalog (while supplies last) and Stampin'Up! is having a Blowout Sale where you can get some of your favorite products up to 50% off!  

Get your Memorial Day shopping fix and stock up on retiring products!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Bye for now :)

Oh Happy Day with the new 2014-2016 In Colors!

Hi all!  Happy Monday!  Hope you had a great weekend.  I've got a fun sneak for you all today - the NEW 2014-2016 Stampin'Up! In Colors! I love the bold and vintage-y feel of these colors.  Let me introduce you to these yummy new shades.  Blog friends, I'd like you to meet Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, Mossy Meadow, Blackberry Bliss, and Lost Lagoon.  Would you like a closer look?  I stamped the background using the new Work of Art stamp set and the sentiment using the Starburst Sayings stamp set.

Blackberry Bliss

Hello Honey

Lost Lagoon

Mossy Meadow

Tangelo Twist

And here's a peak at the inside...a simple Happy Birthday greeting using the Remembering Your Birthday stamp set. 

Here they all are one more time. This time, they're chillin' on the patio furniture, keeping cool in the 90+ temps we've been having here in Southern CA!  I had a lot of fun making these cards and now am so glad to have a stash of new Birthday cards on hand. So, whaddaya think? Would love to get your feedback.  Leave me a comment here by next Monday, May 26th and I'll randomly pick one lucky winner to receive the New Stampin'Up! Catalog. 

Have a great week!  Bye for now. :)

Sneak peek - Blendabilities {up close}

Hi all!  Hope you had a great week!  Here's the post I wanted to share with you earlier this week - it's a closer look at the cool new Blendabilities markers by Stampin'Up!  I was so excited about this product that I couldn't wait to get my hands on them.  If you're wondering how they differ from the other markers that Stampin'Up! offers, it's that these are alcohol based markers and the original Stampin'Up! markers are water based.  For those crafters out there that like to blend and shadow, then these markers are just for you!  I used the Blended Bloom stamp, which I found works so well with these markers and really make the petals comes to life, don't you think?  One key thing I want to also point out is that you want to use the Black Memento Ink ink pad so that the stamped image doesn't bleed with the Blendabilities markers.

As you can see, the markers come in packs of 3 in a dark, medium, and light shade and are sold for $11.95/pack.  The picture above shows the colors for Coastal Cabana, Cherry Cobbler, and Rich Razzleberry.  For the flower centers, I used the Daffodil Delight Blendabilities marker assortment.  Here are a few more pics for you:

I love the way the the marker shades create such realistic shadows and make the blooms appear three dimensional.

In this pic, we have the addition of the Old Olive assortment.  Doesn't that flower look so pretty too?  You can play with the intensity and shadows by adding more color and saturating sections of the flower more. The blending of these markers is amazing, too!  They key is to color in a circular motion and then add shadows by using the different shade or layering the colors on top of each other.  I had a great time experimenting with these and can't wait to play with them some more!

Hope you liked this sneak peek!  Thanks for the visit. Have a great weekend!

Hello and Happy Mother's Day!

Hi friends!  I wanted to wish all the Mom's out there a very Happy Mother's Day! In honor of Mom, I wanted to share the card I created for my Mom.  This is the pretty Blended Bloom stamp that I colored in with the awesome new Blendabilities Markers in Rich Razzleberry.  It's amazing how real the flower looks in person.  I'll share more on this tomorrow....

Now, for a bit of nostalgia - here's a pic of my mom and I circa the early 70's....

This was taken in the Philippines when I was just a wee one!  Oh how time flies, huh?

Thanks for stopping by today.  Enjoy spending time with your Mom and/or getting pampered by your kids and hubbies!!  Bye for now.  :)

Happy May and a quick recap of the 2014 Stampin'Up! Catalog Premiere Event

Hellloooo there, friends!  How are you?  Happy May! Hope you all had a great weekend. I'm glad to say I got to catch up and relax just a smidge...  Enough to finally download my pics from last Monday's first ever Stampin'Up! Catalog Premiere event. Woot woot! It was held in Long Beach, CA so I'm excited that I got to attend in person with some fellow demos and downline.  It was a blast!  We even got the red carpet treatment, too.  Here's a sneak peek of the new catty and some pics from the event.

Here's the gorgeous new 2014-2015 Stampin'Up! Catalog!  Wait til you see all the fun goodies.  I'll be sharing a few sneak peeks with you all soon. I can't wait to try some of the new products out!

Here we are all dolled up for the night. It was fun to play dress up for this red carpet event.  In this pic we have Corey, Whitney, Norma, me, Robin and Nikki all smiles and so excited about the catalog reveal.

This is a pic of Dirk, the Stampin'Up! photographer that captured the moments for this special event. He was even nice enough to take a selfie on my camera for us to remember him by!

As event attendees, we received the Ronald McDonald stamp - one of many great surprises of the evening!

All in all, we had a great night.  As you can imagine, the event got my creative juices flowing and I was on inspiration overload by the time the event ended! Now, I'm looking forward to getting back into my crafting and sharing some sneak peek samples with you soon!  Hope you have a great week. Thanks for stopping by! :)