Look Out Birdie...he he he!

Well, I'm finally back to blogging again after taking a couple of days off.  No excuse really because I have plenty of swap cards to show!  But today I decided to get busy and do the Color Me Beautiful challenge again before the linky closed. :)  I also found a new sketch challenge on a blog called Stamping and Blogging Blog (Saturday Sketch Challenge).  You'll have to check it out.  I already follow Sandi's personal blog because I love her cards...and I always love to follow more challenge blogs to help with some inspiration along the way. :)  So...the colors were really a challenge for me this time (boy were they ever!) and it's another card that definitely is not my normal stamping style, but I think it turned out pretty cute (look out little birdie...you're about to get pelted with a snowball! lol)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Snow Much Fun

Card Stock:  Primrose Petals, Wisteria Wonder & Whisper White

StazOn:  Black

Stampin' Write Markers:  Primrose Petals, Basic Gray,

Crumb Cake, Wisteria Wonder & Old Olive

Embossing Folder: Delicate Designs

Ribbon:  3/8" Taffeta in Whisper White

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

RHSSC - Merry Christmas

Welcome to another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge.  Today I made two cards because I wasn't sure which ornament I liked better so I just used both. :)  Head on over to the Red Hot Stampers' blog here to check out a few more cards made with this challenge.  Remember you can give this challenge a try any time.  We'd love to see what you create.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Ornament Keepsakes & Mandonna and Child (retired)

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla

Versa Mark

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  Gold

Embossing Folders:  Vintage Wallpaper & Lacy Brocade

Ribbon:  3/8"  Seam Binding in Very Vanilla

Framelits:  Holiday Ornaments

Christmas Card Swaps from Lansing Regionals - Part 2

Well, with Thanksgiving over the next holiday is ready to be seen and I figured I'd start it off by showing you a couple more cards that I swapped for at the Lansing regional...these two lovely Christmas cards. I'm not sure who made them, but I'll gladly give credit if I find out who did. :)  Just a reminder that I have made all of my swaps into cards, so if you happen to see your card on here it will be altered slightly.

The first card is a great way to use DSP.  I pretty much never buy it because I don't know what to do with it, or think I won't have enough to go around if I use it for a SAS.  This card definitely proves me wrong!  Hmm...guess I need to look into DSP after all. lol

I must confess with this second card I forgot to put the ribbon and bow back on when I attached it to more cardstock. :(  There's no getting the card apart again after burnishing it either...sigh!  Anyway, I love the cute gingerbread men and sparkly heart she added to the middle one...plus they are making me really hungry for gingerbread man cookies right now! lol

Thanks to both of you who swapped with me. :)



Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Forever French Foliage

Let me start off by saying Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope that each of you who read this has a blessed day with family and friends, and remember to be thankful for the many blessings we have.  

Today's card came to mind as I was looking at a couple of challenges and wanting to use a fall set just one last time before the Christmas holiday hits full force.  I always like to do the Stampin' Celebration challenge and I've been thinking about it for a while.  Funny thing is this card is totally not what I was thinking at first, but the Paper Players sketch challenge kind of had a little sway in that choice.  They were all about gold and/or silver and Stampin' Celebration was a November/fall theme.  So I decided to combine them and this is what I came up with...  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set: French Foliage & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler & More Mustard

Versa Mark

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  Gold

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Sponges

Thinking of You

Well, today's card is definitely not my norm, but I really wanted to do the Color Me Beautiful challenge...and boy did it take a little thinking for this week's challenge!  I wanted to use all of the colors on my card so I looked for a design that I thought would help me out.  Mojo Monday fit the bill perfectly.  

Here are the colors for the Color Me Beautiful challenge...

and here is the Mojo Monday sketch...

 I really like the simplicity of my card.  Usually I'm all about sponging and using embossing folders to cover up empty space, but this time I just left it alone... 

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Field Flowers & Teeny Tiny Wishes

Card Stock: Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, 

Certainly Celery, Old Olive & Lucky Limeade

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Certainly Celery, Old Olive & Lucky Limeade

Punches:  1 1/4", 1 3/8" & 1 3/4" Circles

Ribbon:  3/8" Taffeta in Soft Suede

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Circle cutter

Christmas Card Swaps from Lansing Regionals - Part 1

Well, it's time I start sharing some of the swaps I received while I was at the Lansing convention.  There's really no rhyme or reason to the order I'll put them on.  They'll just appear randomly throughout the next month or so. :)  Most of the time swaps are card fronts only so you can get four "cards" using one piece of card stock (yes, I did most of mine that way too).  However, I've been slowly trimming as necessary and adding them to more card stock so I have a full cards for samples.  

So today's card is one that I wanted to show first (with her permission) by Cindy Smith since it was another one of Shelli's top five favorites from the Lansing Regional!  When Shelli held it up I thought, "Hey, I swapped with her and have that card!". :)  Shelli's words about Cindy's card were something like, "Yes, it's simple, yet so beautiful".  It's definitely a CAS (clean and simple) card. Shelli's words really stood out to me because that's what I was trying to do to when I was coming up with my swap.  Congrats Cindy on being one of Shelli's top five favs!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stampin' Up! Online Extravaganza

Before I post today's card I want to let you know about the Stampin' Up! Online Extravaganza going on starting today, November 19 and running through Thursday, November 28!  

Shop Now

• Discounts range between 20 and 50 percent--awesome!
• Discounted products are available on all order types (customer, demonstrator, workshop, and online).
• There's no minimum purchase required to participate in this promotion. Sale on!
• For product bundles, you need to use the bundle item numbers provided. If you use individual item numbers, you won't get the discount--bummer.
• You can buy additional products from any of our current catalogs on the same order. 
• 
  

Click Here to view pdf of all sale items

In addition, there are three products 20 percent off for 24-hours only on both the first and last days of Online Extravaganza-Woot!

Monday, November 19, midnight - 11:50 PM (MT)

Page	Item	Description	Retail Price	24-Hour Sale Price
181	125586	Simply Scored Diagonal Plate	$11.95	$9.56
186	113439	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine	$99.95	$79.96
186	113474	Big Shot Doctor's Bag	$69.95	$55.96

Wednesday, November 28, midnight - 11:50 PM (MT)

Page	Item	Description	Retail Price	24-Hour Sale Price
7	118941	Clear Block Bundle (Blocks A-I)	$66.95	$53.56
7	120279	Clear Block Storage Caddy	$16.95	$13.56
175	109127	Stack & Store Caddy	$34.95	$27.96

In addition to these sales, Stampin' Up! is now offering
Sizzix Texture Boutique Bundle while supplies last...

Click here to see the complete flyer.  This is perfect if you don't have the money to spend on a Big Shot, but still want to use embossing folders!

Finally on to my card...

This was another one of my fall SAS cards.  I usually try to make one card that is pretty simple and this was the one.  I had the leaves embossed on the card and all they had to do was the sponging, stamping the sentiment and putting the card together.  Easy, right? :)  Just watch out for inky fingers! lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  French Foliage & Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple,

Summer Starfruit, Gumball Green & Early Espresso

Stampin' Emboss Powder:  Clear

Twine (retired)

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

RHSSC 63 - Thank You

Last night as I was getting this post ready I noticed I now have fifty followers...yea!!  Thanks to each of you who are following me on my card making adventures.  I hope you're inspired by what I create or just enjoy relaxing and looking at my cards (as well as other blogs that you follow).  Even though I don't reply to posts that many of you have written (unless you have questions!) I want you to know I read every single one and appreciate your kind words that are passed my way. :)  And now on to today's card...and since it's Sunday that means it's time for another Red Hot Stampers' challenge.  This is my take on it...pretty simple this week, but I still like how it turned out. :)  Head on over to the Red Hot Stampers' blog here to check out a few more ideas using this sketch challenge.    

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Everything Eleanor & Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Perfect Plum & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pad:  Perfect Plum

Embossing Folder:  Delicate Designs

Framelits:  Apothecary Accents

Ribbon:  3/8" Taffeta in Perfect Plum

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Sponges

French Foliage Easel Card

Today's card is one that I made for my fall stamp a stack and I think my favorite one (I also sent it to my upline, so let's hope she got it in the mail before I posted this! lol).  It uses the baby wipe technique which I had never done before.  Definitely a great and quick way to stamp if you want to have a lot of colors blended together on one stamp.  One thing I did find out is only two people should probably use one baby wipe to do their stamping.  After too many people use it the colors are WELL blended! lol  I used the 2012-2013 in colors, but a few of the ladies cards did not look like they used the same colors by the time they were done.  Actually their cards looked very nice, but instead of the bright colors they had fall colors.  This card was inspired by Belinda N.'s card that I saw on Stampin' Connection.  I wish you could see her card because it is so lovely!  If I find out she has a blog I'll add the link to it.  She made a square easel card and did a lot of distressing on it...which I love!  I did not want to stress out my SAS ladies though by adding distressing since they were already learning a new technique and making an easel card. ;)

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  French Foliage & Perfectly Penned

Card Stock:  Early Espresso & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Early Espresso & Crumb Cake

Reinkers:  Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, 

Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit & Early Espresso

Punch:  3/4" Circle

Ribbon:  3/8" Seam Binding in Crumb Cake

Wet Wipes, Sponges

Field Flowers

Today's card is the last card I planned for my fall stamp a stack.  Nope it's not a fall card, but I was kind of fall'd out by the time I got to the fifth card! lol  So I went back to one of my favorite things...flowers.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Field Flowers, Hello, Doily & En Francais

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  River Rock, Sahara Sand, 

Always Artichoke & Rich Razzleberry
Ribbon:  3/8" Seam Binding in Always Artichoke

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Jewels:  Basic Pearls

French Foliage Lansing Regional Card Swap Winner!!!

Today's card is extra special in a few different ways for me, so I'm afraid this post is going to be a LOT longer than normal, so just hold tight and read fast! lol  Saturday I went to Lansing for a Stampin' Up! Regional...my first time ever to any Stampin' Up! event.  My upline Glenda had sent out an email to her downline the Red Hot Stampers saying to get the true regional experience we should participate in the swaps.  I really didn't know if I wanted to so I kind of put it off...but if I did do it I wanted to do something that was simple and quick to make, yet looked elegant.  Well on Friday at 12:30 just after lunch I decided I wanted to do them since it was going to be the card the Red Hots did in a shoe box swap the night before the regional and I really liked it. :)  I asked my daughter to help me and we got BUSY (btw I had two hours to make about 30!)  Well, the poor girl found out I was very particular and finicky! lol  But she helped anyway ($$$ is always a good incentive!).  So how did the swap go?  Just fine...after one of my fellow Red Hots dragged me out there to get my butt busy swapping! lol  I managed to swap all my cards and get a lot of nice ones in return - which I'm sure I'll be posting in the coming weeks. :)  Anyway I found out we could put one of our swaps in a basket and Shelli would pick out a few of her favorite swaps from the day.  For those of you who don't know who Shelli is, she is the co-founder and CEO of Stampin' Up!  Well, I had actually traded all of my swaps.  However I had a few extra cards left over from our shoe box swap and had decided to make them up after were were done making each others cards.  Glad I did because I traded one of them, but still had one left over and decided to enter it.  After having a long, but fun day Shelli concluded it by showing the cards she had picked as her favorite swaps. Lo and behold, mine was the first one that she held up and flashed on the screen!!!  Oh  my word!!!  I actually have NO idea what she said after I saw the picture of my card, but there was a lot of racket going on at the Red Hot's table!!  I found out I had to go to the front to get my gift right from Shelli!  Yikes!  I don't know how I made it up there with all those ladies watching, but at least she didn't make me go on the stage...whew!  I probably would have tripped going up the steps! lol  Well, as great of an honor as that was for me, the story doesn't end there...  As I was walking back to my seat Shelli showed the second card she had picked out and I had to turn and check it out...  The second card she had picked was made by a fellow Red Hot Stamper too!!  How awesome is that!!!  Two of us from the same table out of 800+ ladies (not sure on the number of swaps entered though).  Believe it or not, quiet Sara actually let out a yell and cheer because I was so excited for her too! lol  (I hope to show a picture of the two of us with our cards and will add it when I can).  I'm sure I'll never have another experience like this if I ever go to another regional, so it's a day I will always treasure. :)  So thankful for my upline Glenda who made it so easy for all of us to be able to go, and for the group of ladies she has brought together through Stampin' Up!  

Thanks for taking the time to read this special post!  And now here is the pile of swaps and a close up of my card....

Here is my fellow Red Hot Stamper who also won!!  Congrats Belinda!

...and a pic of her card up close.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  French Foliage

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, 

Always Artichoke & Crumb Cake

Punches:  1 1/4" & 1 3/8" Square

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Snowflake Soiree

It's Sunday so that means it's time for another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge.  Today I used a new stamp set (new to me!) that I won at the Lansing Regional!!  Yes, I thought I would get out of standing and waving my arms and clapping when I made it through all the prize patrols...except the last one!  I think everyone at my table would be so excited when it was prize patrol time, and I would groan just a little. lol  I don't mind winning, but something about being in the spotlight just isn't for me!  If I thought that was bad I had the biggest surprise of all at the very end of the day.  You'll have to check out my blog tomorrow to find out what that surprise was. :)  Remember to check out the other Red Hot Stampers cards here.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Snowflake Soiree & Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Pool Party & Island Indigo

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Jewels:  Classic Pearls

Sponges

Little Green Tractor

Today's card is definitely not the norm of what I make, but it was my nephew's first birthday.  I had to make something special for him!  I know one of his brothers loves tractors, so I thought maybe he would too.  I did a little researching on punch art to find a tractor, pulled out my punches and got busy.  As a matter of fact I was in such a hurry to get it done and take a pic before I left for his party that I totally forgot to put on the steering wheel!  I found the pieces sitting on my craft table later on. lol

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Card Stock:  Garden Green, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black & Whisper White

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Garden Green, Daffodil Delight & Basic Black

Stampin' Write Marker:  Basic Black

Embossing Folder:  Chevron

Punches:  1 3/4" Circle Scallop, 1" Circle, 1/2" Circle, Extra-Lg. Tag,
Word Window, Heart to Hear (retired), Trio Flower (retired)

RHSSC61

It's Sunday and time for another Red Hot Stampers' sketch challenge.  This week I used the set Everything Eleanor and used colors from the color challenge blog Color Me Beautiful.  I wanted the card to be simple, yet elegant.  I just wish I could have caught the shimmer on the card, but it just wasn't cooperating this time! lol  Check out the other cards at The Red Hot Stampers here.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Everything Eleanor & Curly Cute

Card Stock:  Soft Suede, Early Espresso & Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Soft Suede, Sahara Sand, 

River Rock, Early Espresso & Basic Gray

Stampin' Write Marker:  River Rock

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Warmest Wishes

Last month at our Red Hot Stampers' meeting we were challenged by our upline Glenda to make a card using a couple of different techniques that she showed us.  I don't remember what they all were, but I do remember the one I used to make this card.  It was to take the brown packing paper that comes with your Stampin' Up! order and cut out the leaves using the Bigz Autumn Accents Die.  Next scrunch it up, slap it with the ink pad (only the old pads, doesn't work with the new ones) and there you have it...some pretty cool looking leaves with color.  Oh, I ended up spritzing them with shimmer paint too.  I also sponged mine a little because I must not have whacked it hard enough with the ink pad. lol   My friend and fellow demonstrator Christi also made some cards using the same or similar technique.  She made a bunch of cards and a tag.  Wow did she ever go over the top with her cards!  You can check them out on her blog here.  

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Set:  Blooming with Kindness

Card Stock:  Early Espresso & Very Vanilla

Packing Paper

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Cherry Cobbler, Tangerine Tango

Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight & Early Espresso

Embossing Folder:  Chevron

Bigz Die:  Autumn Accents

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

French Foliage

I'm finally getting back to posting another card after missing a couple of days.  Of course I went to the challenges I follow to come up with today's card.  I used the colors from Color Me Beautiful and the sketch from Less is More.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Stamp Sets:  Perfectly Penned & French Foliage

Card Stock:  Very Vanilla

Classic Stampin' Pads:  Perfect Plum, Crumb Cake,

Raspberry Ripple, Chocolate Chip & Summer Starfruit

VersaMark

Stampin' Emboss Power:  White

Shimmer Paint:  Champagne Mist

Simply Scored

Sponges