crazy savings on the SU! Clearance Rack

Hi all - just wanted to pop in with a quick post on the crazy savings in the Stampin'Up! Clearance Rack!  Great savings on some cool retired Big Shot dies, lots of paper products and accessories.   You  can check it out on my Demonstrator Website by clicking on "Shop Now" in the upper right corner.  You've got to at least take a peek and see what's on there.  Lots of great bargains!  Enjoy!

polka dot flower {Birthday Wishes}

Happy Saturday to you, blog friends!  I've had a productive morning so far - I ran 4 miles and then I got to play with my stamps!  Today, as I was blurfing, I was inspired to play in the Stamping411 challenge.  I had cut some dies out of the Circles Originals die the other day because I wanted to make one of those lollipop flowers, which seem to be all the rage right now - on purses, tops, shoes...you name it!  So, I created this flower, and it just so happened that it would work out for this sketch.  How do you like that little snippet of my card so far?  The flower is so fun! Plus, I love the Love Letter DSP..so pretty and romantic!  Here's what the sketch looks like:

And here's a full look at my card:

I used the Cherry Cobbler seem binding ribbon from the Holiday Mini.  I love the delicate texture - it makes such pretty bows too!  On this card, I had made a few bow loops, then I just tied the knot around the middle, and viola!  You've got a pretty full and loopy bow!  For the flower, I sponged the edges with Crumb Cake, then I misted each circle and crumpled them up into tiny balls.  After that, you unfold them and let them dry, the you layer them on top of each other until you get the flower look you like.  Finally, I secured it with one of the glimmer brads.  So easy and it makes such a statement!  Hope you like it.  Here's the recipe for you:

{Polka Dot Flower Birthday Wishes}

All supplies Stampin'Up!

*Stamp Set:  Occasional Quotes

*Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Love Letter DSP

*Inks: Crumb Cake, Basic Black

*Accessories: Circles 2 Originals die, Cherry Cobbler Seem Binding, Modern Label punch, Champagne Glimmer Brad, Corner Rounder punch

Hope you have a great weekend!  Thanks for coming by :)

Happy Monday!

Hey there!  Happy Monday!  For this week's 2S4Y sketch, we got another "free" week to use any products we wanted to for the sketch, so I opted to use more fun new toys from the new Stampin'Up! catty.  How do you like those lanterns?  I think they are just adorable!  They're from a set called Kimono Kids, which is super cute, too.  Before I show you the full card, how about a look at the sketch?

When I first saw the sketch, I was envisioning an ocean/water theme, but then I really wanted to play with the lanterns, so I had to rework my idea.  I think it turned out ok.  I am really into this color palette lately, so I guess I'm just drawn to these happy summer colors!  Sidenote - I actually had lanterns at my birthday in the pink and orange motif, so the idea I came up with wasn't really that big of a stretch!  Once you get to the bottom of the post, you'll see what I mean.  Let's take a look-see at the full card, shall we?

I can't get enough of these colors!  They put me in a happy place.  Hope you like it! Here's the recipe for you:

{Lantern Thanks}

All supplies Stampin'Up!

*Stamp Set: Kimono Kids, Just Believe

*Cardstock: Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Whisper White

*Inks: Basic Black and Regal Rose Classic Ink Pad, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron Markers

*Acessories: White Gel Pen, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, 1 3/8" Circle punch

Now, here's the source of my inspiration - the lanterns from my birthday shindig.  You can see them in the background in the pic below with my dear hubby.  {I wish the picture was clearer!!}...oh well.  It captures a fun memory for me from that evening and that picture of us makes me smile.  I'm a lucky girl!

Anyways, cheers to you!  Have a great day!  Now, don't forget to head over to 2S4Y and play along with this week's sketch challenge!

{happy} 4th!

Hi there blog peeps!  I hope you're having a fantastic day so far.  I'm enjoying a relaxing day at home, catching up and taking a breath from this past week and my whirlwind birthday weekend.  I can't believe it went by so fast!  I had a lot of fun seeing a lot of friends and family last weekend that I wish the time didn't speed by so fast.  I think my last birthday is my favorite so far, believe it or not!  Anyway, today, I have a 4th of July card to share with you!  And, what's great about it is that I got my inspiration from 2 challenges...woohoo!  The sketch it from the Stamping 411 challenge and the theme is from this week's Pals Paper Arts challenge!  Here's what the sketch looks like:

And here's my interpretation with the 4th of July theme:

I love this newly retired DSP called Pink Flamingo.  I am such a hoarder that I still have lots of this paper pack left!  I was searching for a DSP with Real Red in it, and was happy to have rediscovered this paper! I thought the hibiscus flowers in Real Red would make a great non-traditional looking background for my 4th of July card.  What do you think?  Hope you like my "island" spin :)  Here's the recipe for you:

{happy 4th!}

All supplies Stampin'Up!

*Stamp set: All Holidays

*Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red, Night of Navy, Pink Flamingo DSP

*Inks: Night of Navy marker

*Accessories: Scallop Trim Border, Billboard Sizzlits Decorative Strip, Alphabet Simple Bigz die, Real Red double stitched grosgrain ribbon, Star punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder

Hope you enjoy your 4th of July festivities!  Thanks for visiting :)

Mojo Pals Challenge!

Hi there blog peeps - I've got a quick post for you today...it's a challenge card! I made this for the Mojo Monday 132 challenge and the Pals Paper Arts color challenge {PPA36}.  The colors reminded me of Spring and Easter!  Here's what the challenges look like:

I used the exact colors for the PPA challenge, and added Whisper White, too! Here's another look at the card

And a look at how I did the back - I scored the top of the scallop card back and then glued the front and back scallops together.  That way, you don't see any sort of crease on the front of the card!

Here are the supplies I used:

{Mojo Pals Butterfly card}

All supplies Stampin'UP!

*Stamp Set: Tiny Tags

*Cardstock: Lavender Lace, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana, Whisper White

*Inks: Lavendar Lace

*Accessories: Polka Dot embossing folder, Perfect Details Texturz plate, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, Scallop Circle Bigz die, Clear Circle Bigz die, So Saffron {retired} twill ribbon, Hemp Twine, Playground button

Hope you have a great day!  Bye for now :)

Embellish and Stamping 411 Challenge combo

Hi there blog peeps! Hope you're enjoying your weekend! We started the weekend off with some heavy rain yesterday, but today is just a gorgeous and clear day in Southern CA. It's a little cool (high 50's or low 60's) but I guess for other regions around the globe, that's probably pretty temperate! Anyway, I'm back to share a card that incorporates 2 challenges - the Embellish Color Challenge with Borders and this week's Stamping 411 Saturday Sketch 140 Challenge Here's what they look like: I love the colors in the Embellish challenge - so springy and Easter-y! The colors I used are Stampin'Up!'s Barely Banana, Pretty In Pink, Certainly Celery and splashes of Melon Mambo, and Old Olive. The peach color I used was ribbon from PTI. The challenge also included using a border, so I used SU's Scallop Trim Border punch.
The sketch from 411 was a nice and clean sketch, so I wanted to incorporate it in my card. Here's what I came up with:
Isn't that flower fun? I was inspired to try this circle flower from Mary Fish's card from Stampin'Pretty. Then I wanted to add a little texture to "make it my own" by folding each petal in half and then crimping it. For the flower center, I went around the circle using my papersnips to cut lines about 1/4" long to create the fringe, then wrinkled the circle to add more texture. The scallop leaves are crimped the same way I did the petals. Here's the recipe for you:

{Circle Flower Birthday Card}
*Cardstock: Barely Banana, Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP, Sweet Pea DSP, and Tall Tales DSP
*Stamp Set: Wow Flowers (for the birthday sentiment)
*Inks: Certainly Celery and Melon Mambo Markers
*Accessories: Scallop Trim Border punch, Modern Label punch, Scallop Oval punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Word Window punch, Sherbet buttons, Linen Thread, PTI hibiscus ribbon, Polka Dot embossing folder

Hope you like it! Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Thanks for visiting :)

Monkeying around with Stampin 411's Challenge

Hi all! So glad it's the weekend! Not only did I get to sleep in, but I then proceeded to make some cards while I had my morning coffee. What a great start to the day! I was hankering to do a challenge, so I created 2 cards for the Stampin 411 challenge. How do you like that monkey? Isn't he just too stinkin' cute? He's another stamp from the Fox and Friends stamp set, which I can't seem to get enough of right now! Well, here's a peek at what the sketch looks like and then I'll show you the cards I made. I like the simplicity of the layout and the diagonal background gives you a lot of options to play around with colors and patterns. Here's the full cards I made - basically the same card, but the focal points are completely different. My Monkey card is more kiddish or can even go masculine, while the Sweet Pea is definitely a girly card. Here they are:
I had so much fun playing with a bunch of my new toys from the Occasions Mini! :) Here are the recipes:

{Monkey Card}
All supplies Stampin'Up!
*Stamps: Fox&Friends, Cheap Talk
*Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack
*Inks: Chocolate Chip
*Accessories: Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Scallop Trim Border, 2 Step Bird Punch, Basic Jumbo Grommets, Sweet Pea stitched felt

{Sweet Pea Birthday Card}
All supplies Stampin'Up! except for the twine
*Stamps: Well Scripted
*Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper Stack
*Inks: Melon Mambo
*Accessories: Old Olive and Pretty In Pink Satin Ribbon, Playground Button, Sweet Pea stitched felt

Thanks for stopping by today - have a great weekend!

Stamping 411 Challenge

Hey there! Happy Saturday to you all! Remember I said it was rainy earlier this week? Well, today it's back up to the high 80's! Crazy weather here. The sun is up, the sky is a beautiful blue with some billowy clouds, and the ocean looks awesome, AND I got to stamp, so I really can't complain! For today's card share, I eeked in some stamping time this morning to create a card for the Stamping 411 challenge. It's my first time to participate, so I was excited to give it a whirl. Here's the sketch - SSC121: This is another great layout with clean lines. I also love that the sketch itself was created in MDS - how fun is that! While I should be making more Halloween and Thanksgiving cards, I was inspired to create a Christmas card. Here's what I came up with: I've been using the Ornament punch and Delightful Decorations so much, that I had kind of forgotten about this fun set of cute ornaments from the Tree Trimming stamp set. Aren't these 2 ornaments cute? I dressed them up a little with the half pearls from the Pretties kit. I also used the Christmas Punch hostess set for my sentiment. Do you like the glittered tag I created? It's from the sizzlits called Lots of Tags. Fun, huh? Here's the complete recipe.

{Christmas Tree Trimmings}
All supplies Stampin'Up! except where noted
*Stamp Sets: Tree Trimmings, Christmas Punch
*Cardstock: Bashful Blue Textured, Whisper White, Real Red
*Inks: Real Red Classic Ink Pad, River Rock {retired} Classic Ink Pad, Whisper White Craft pad
*Accessories: Lots of Tags sizzlit, Linen Thread, Wide Oval punch, Real Red Grosgrain polka dot ribbon, Pretties kit, Button {PTI}, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder

Hope you like it. Thanks for stopping in today!