Sketch #25

just about made it on Friday... oops! It's a bit different this week: 2 pages, multi-photo and LOTs of room for journaling! I know some of you are groaning... just leave it as white space if you don't have much to say.



and my layout using the September Red Star Kit (I'll post the rest of the layouts soon...):

Colour Inspiration #20

I love the colour combination Kristina Werner picked again this week and couldn't resist whipping up a card for it!

sorry for the not-fantastic night picture... I used a couple of the new SU! Level 1 hostess sets and I really like how pretty this card is... definitely feminine!

card recipe: SU! Cardstock (Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette), Inks (Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip), Stampin' Write Marker (Rose Red--I don't have Regal Rose), and Stamps (Kind Thoughts, Organic Grace, Best Yet). Coluzzle to cut oval panel

'Fresh Cuts' for you

I had my first Stamper's Club meeting on Sunday, and showcased heat embossing. We didn't have a full group, but I had fun and I think this card was a winner. It is so easy, but it looks so much harder.

I'm looking forward to September's meeting... I'll be showing faux watercolouring techniques!

card recipe: Cardstock (Baha Breeze, Whisper White), Inks (Not Quite Navy, Pacific Point, Baha Breeze), Fresh Cuts stamps, Silver Brad and clear embossing powder all by Stampin' Up! & Versamark Ink

Sketch #24

I've got a layout sketch for you this week, and although it's 8.5x11, I think it's easily adaptable to 12x12 (and maybe easier because you can make the circles bigger...). For some reason I wanted circles this week. ;) I think you could also do long skinny pictures with (smaller) circle accents too... link me up if you're inspired!

I went digi this week for the first time all summer, I think! As much as I really like circles, they are so much easier on a digi layout! See below for credits and check out the post below for a card example!

Papers (some re-coloured) by Anna Aspnes, Edge brush and journaling card by Katie Pertiet.

Colour Inspiration #19

I was inspired by this challenge on Kristina Werner's blog. I really like the colour combination (although it's a big stretch for me) but I'm not sure how I feel about this card... it was put together and taken apart a few times before I came up with this... it's also based on my sketch for this week (see post above).

card recipe: black and grey bazzill cardstock; SU! whisper white cardstock; SU! Bella Rose DSP; SU! Priceless (swirl--barely visible on the black) and Fresh Cuts stamp sets; SU! punches (scallop circle, 1 3/8" circle, 1 1/4" circle); SU! inks (Basic Black; Kiwi Kiss) and Versamark ink.

Swap/Class card...

This is a card I did for a swap with my upline Anne and sideline Nettie... and it's also part of my September card class (One stamp set, Five cards).


I made the patterned paper by stamping on Very Vanilla cardstock with the large flower from the Embrace Life set in three colours, and then used my blender pen and inkpads to randomly colour a few in. I cut out the piece I needed and inked the edges. Then I heat embossed the flower on Chocolate Chip cardstock with white embossing powder. I used a sentiment from A Little Birthday Cheer and added a couple brads.

Mid-month Challenge - Song Lyrics

The mid-month challenge is up at MSS! This month we incorporated song lyrics into our layout... I used it as my title. Looking at this layout now, I'm wondering if I should have added a label for me, too...

BYOM June 2008 kit (AC Amplified papers, AC thickers); MM velvet alpha; Fontwerks label stickers. I hand cut a template for my journaling piece and then traced and cut it out of the cardstock and sanded the edges.

Sketch #23

I'm late! I've been super busy this week (and will be all weekend too) so it's a card sketch this week... hope you like it!

and my card (Happy Birthday Chris!)

I was in a rush and forgot to put the SU! copyright on the image... here's the recipe for the card: Cardstock (Baha Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango), Inks (Chocolate Chip, Garden Green), Stamps (Embrace Life, Sanded Background, A Little Birthday Cheer) and Bella Rose Designer Series Paper all from Stampin' Up!

I also want to say thank you to everyone who came to my New Catalogue Open House last night! I hope you had fun!

Preview for tonight's Open House!

(click to see bigger)

Here's a sneak of what's in store tonight at my Open House. I'm featuring three new stamp sets (Heard from the Heart, Dreams du Jour and WOW Flowers) as well as the new In Colours, the Scallop Edge punch and the Bella Rose Designer Series paper. I CASE'd the butterfly card from the August Stampin' Success, and the Wow flower card from Jo Ann Shultz from the SCS gallery...

Butterfly card recipe: Cardstock (Whisper White, Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette), Inks (Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red), Stamps (Dreams du Jour) and Tools (1 3/8" circle punch, Scallop Edge punch) all from Stampin' Up!

Bella Happiness card recipe: Cardstock (Kraft, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip), Bella Rose DSP, Heard from the Heart stamp, and Tools (Scallop Circle Punch, 1/2" circle punch, 5-petal flower punch) all from Stampin' Up!

WowThank You card recipe: Cardstock (Pacific Point, Whisper White, Baha Breeze, Kiwi Kiss), Stamps (Wow flowers), Tools (Scallop Edge punch, 1 1/4" circle punch), and Grosgrain Ribbon all from Stampin' Up!

Fall/Winter SU! Catalogue Download

If you're having a hard time getting the pdf for the catalogue from the main Stampin' Up! site (I still haven't been able to get it to download properly) try the link on my new Stampin' Up! webpage. Just click on "Products" and then "Catalogue". It popped right up for me... hopefully you can see it too. I haven't had a chance to personalize my page yet, but I've added my event calendar for August. I'll get to the rest a bit at a time... let me know what you think of it!

If you want to see the catalogue in person, don't forget about my Open House this Thursday!

Fall/Winter Idea Book and Catalogue!

My catalogues came this morning! I'm so excited, and can't wait to show you all the new things there are to play with! The catalogue goes online this afternoon, so I'll add a link when it's live. I'm already in love with the Scallope Edge punch and the Dreams du Jour stamp set. Here's a card that uses the New In Colours and the Dreams du Jour set:

recipe: Baha Breeze, Pirouette Pink and Kiwi Kiss; Whisper White cardstocks; Dreams du Jour and Polka Dot background stamps; Whisper White grosgrain ribbon; Corner Rounder punch; Blender pens

If you're in the London, Ontario area, and would like to see the new catalogue in person and play with some of the new products, you're invited to join me at my New Catalogue Open House! It's this Thursday (the 14th) at 7:00pm. E-mail me (link in sidebar) for more details! I have some fun prizes too.

***Edited to add a link to the online Fall/Winter Idea Book & Catalogue. Right now it's a PDF file... I'm not sure if that will be changing to the flip-through catalogue like it used to be or not. I'll update again if it changes.

Make sure you check out the current stamp promotion! Stampin' Up! has reduced the price on 11 new stamp sets by 15% until September 30th. You can click here to see the flyer. Some of these are on my wishlist, so I'm excited that they're on sale!

***Edited again to note that the Fall/Winter Idea Book & Catalogue will only be available as a PDF file (and will probably be very slow to download for a couple days) until sometime this Fall when Online Ordering will be live. Sorry for any inconvenience...

Sketch #22

Here's the sketch for this week! There are so many shaped papers out there now, and I love them all, so I had to incorporate some into this sketch. If you don't have any, a torn edge will work, or use some decorative scissors if you have them laying around...

and my layout (another one using the August Red Star kit):

Link me up if you're inspired to create!

Stampin' Up! Opportunity!

For anyone who's been thinking about becoming a SU! demonstrator, and you already have a lot of stamps and product, or you haven't wanted to invest in the full Starter Kit, Stampin' Up! has a great opportunity for you! Stampin' Up! demonstrators get a discount on all of their orders (in addition to many other perks), and you can work the business as much (or as little) as it suits your lifestyle.

Beginning August 11th until October 11th, Stampin' Up! is offering three smaller starter kits for $119! Each Starter kit has a different focus (Stamping, Scrapbooking and Home Decor). Each mini-kit still includes the business items--Getting Started DVD, Getting Started Guide, Starter Kit Sample Sheet, Guest Invitation Postcard (100), Idea Book & Catalogue (8), To My Hostess Envelope (10), Recruit Folder (5), Recruit Brochure (20), Hostess Brochure (20), Hostess Benefits Form (10), Customer Order Form (50), and after 09/01/08 you will also get 8 Holiday 2008 Mini Catalogues.

STAMP-FOCUSED STARTER KIT
• Fun & Fast Notes stamp set - $36.95 ***
• Whisper White card stock (8-1/2" x 11") - $8.95***
• Bold Brights® card stock assortment (8-1/2" x 11") - $9.50 ***
• Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Pad® - $6.25***
• SNAIL® Adhesive - $8.75
• Business supplies


SCRAPBOOK-FOCUSED STARTER KIT
• Contempo Alphabet stamp set - $48.95 ***
• Petal Party Simply Scrappin’® - $23.95***
• Pixie Pink Classic Stampin’ Pad - $6.25***
• Business supplies


HOME DÉCOR-FOCUSED STARTER KIT
• Inspired by Nature stamp set - $28.95***
• Décor Elements™ Chocolate Classic F - $4.75***
• Décor Elements Medium Chocolate Long Stem Silhouettes - $20.95 ***
• Décor Elements Applicator -$2.25
• Kiwi Kiss Classic Stampin’ Pad - $6.25***
• Business supplies

***items with this symbol are recommended, but may be substituted with items of equal or lesser value.

The regular Starter kit is still the best value (more stamp sets, more inks, more tools) and even better starting August 11th! The Starter kit is $249 and from August 11-October 11, you can choose one extra stamp set (any set in the catalogue)!

If any of this has piqued your interest, and you're Canadian, please e-mail me (link in sidebar) and I'd be happy to share more information about this opportunity! I'd love to have you join my team!

August Red Star Kit - Flutter

This kit was a yummy mix of October Afternoon and KI Memories Bloom (with lots of other goodies thrown in too, of course). I love butterflies, so this kit is right up my alley! Here's what I did with the kit:

"Grow" is inspired by a combination between my sketch from last week, and a sketch by Anam Stubbington (done for Scrapbooks & Cards Today) and I love the way it turned out. There was a delay with the Red Star stamp for the kit (a butterfly) so I used a butterfly stamp from Stampin' Up! You can see what the rest of the DT did with the kit in the kit gallery.

August BYOM kit - SEI Poppy

The BYOM kit for August has just a touch of shimmer... I really like these SEI papers and accents. I really liked working with the Technique Tuesday chipboard trims... they take ink so well, and a couple of the new SU! In Colours (Riding Hood Red and Baha Breeze) were a perfect match to the papers! Here are the layouts I did with the kit:

You can check out what the rest of the DT did with the August kit here!

Sketch #21

This one's an oldie because I've got some Design Team deadlines, so hopefully it still inspires... I'm planning on making a new card with it tonight.

and my layout (check out that "vintage" KI! and the metal rimmed tags... might have to dig them back out!):

I'd love it if you link me up if you create something... I'll have a new one next week!