Bottle caps & Butterflies

Hi stampers!  Time to start another week!  Again, where DID the weekend go???  :-)  I am sad to report that we had another open house yesterday with dismal results.  Only two people came to look at our house.  I was hoping we would have a really good turn out like the one we went to that was packed!  Oh well...if you wouldn't mind please send us good vibes!  I'm so afraid we are going to miss out on the house we want if we can't sell ours!  Anyway....

Speaking of spending money (lol) don't forget that today is the last day for free shipping!  And some of the retiring color stuff is selling out already (I believe it's a few re-inkers:  celery, baja, and rose maybe) so if you want to stock up you better do it NOW!!!!!  :-)

Remember, you can shop my online store over there to the right any time!

And here's a card today that I've had sitting around for a while.  Between work and the open house I didn't get many "new"projects done this weekend.  Well there's that and now my new addiction to the Hoggers show and Duck Dynasty...I may have come home and sat on the couch mesmerized by the interesting cast of characters on those shows, lol!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Made for you, hearts a flutter
Paper:  Whisper white, baja breeze, summer starfruit, patio party DSP
Ink:  Baja breeze, summer starfruit, primrose petals, midnight muse
Accessories:  Small butterfly punch, soda pop tops, circle punch, basic pearls, dotted scallop border punch, hearts a flutter framelits

Ok, so it's not super mailable with the bottle cap but I think it might go through with a extra piece of CS in the envelope.  And it does use a retired SAB set but I wanted to use those butterflies with the patio party paper.  And the bottle cap butterfly is from the cute itty bitties set!  I also really love that the hearts a flutter set and framelits are totally useable for many other occasions than Valentine's day!  That banner can work for anything!!!!  Something else fun you can do with it and I've done it in a few projects is to stamp it and then punch parts of it out just for the pattern and not the actual banner shape!

The sketch is actually an old challenge from Retro Sketches.  I get quite a few questions on where I get my ideas and inspirations and a great tip is to use old challenges.  Sometimes we get stuck in the notion that we have to use current ones but you don't!  Most challenge sites have an archive where you can look at their old challenges to find inspiration!  I've been getting a lot of questions lately so maybe I'll put together a FAQ.

Ok, time to go to work.  Don't forget to place your order TODAY for free shipping!

Happy stamping!

SHUTTHEFRONTDOOR!

Hi stampers!  Sorry about the shouty title but I have super exciting news!  Probably the most exciting stampy news ev-ah!  I found out this week that I've made the list of 20 finalists for the Artisan Award Design Team for Stampin' Up!!!!  Gah!!!!  I am shut-the-front-door and over-the moon excited!  And I apologize for not announcing it sooner but we have been in Vegas:-) So, it was super exciting to get the call in Vegas!  I'm still in SHOCK that they picked me as I feel very unworthy seeing the other finalists!  What a group!  I'm so excited but a little sad that some of my friends who are AWESOME-SAUCE aren't on the list with me!  But my good friend Wendy is...you can read how it went down over on her blog here.  It was kinda funny:-)  I really don't remember much of the call or what the VERY sweet lady said as I was freaking out!  I'm just glad we happened to be in our room instead of out on the strip or in the casino where I probably wouldn't have heard the phone:-)  I thought I'd try my luck at the slots after I got the call....seems my luck had run out, lol!

Anyway I've already gotten a lot of comments and congratulations and I want to thank everyone for their kind words:-)  Of course I really want to win but it's really just an honor to make the finals and again, I'm very in awe of all the talent on that short list!  It's going to be a long wait to find out the winners at convention!  I can't wait to share my projects with you but I can't just yet....so you'll have to suffer along with me and the rest of the finalists, hehe!

I can show you this card though!  I figured I'd show you a simple one after all the shouty up there...and I'm tired...I need a vacation from my vacation, lol!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Made for you
Paper:  Whisper white, baja breeze, midnight muse, patio party DSP
Ink:  Midnight muse
Accessories:  Circle punch, subtles brads, baker's twine

I've been meaning to make one of these circle banner cards for a while and since I just can't seem to get enough of the patio party DSP......well I had no choice did I?  It was quite simple to just fold the circles over.  I used mini glue dots to keep them in place and before I adhered them I made sure to crease them really good with my bone folder.

Well, I need to rest up!  I'm home for two days and then off for a work conference!  Not very good timing on my part!  I'll try to post again soon!

Happy stamping!

Stampin' Celebration

Hi stampers!  Boy was it a happy day around here yesterday!  My order from the new 2012-2013 came!  I got to drool over everything at lunch and then play with it after dinner and my workout!  I even got some of my stamps ready to go over lunch!  I also planned ahead and put dinner in the crock pot;-)  I always try to do that on order days, haha! My hubby asked me if I got my order and I said yeah to which he replied, "see you in the morning then"!  LOL!  I guess he knows me pretty well, haha!

I love getting new stuff but usually have a hard time figuring out what to use first!  I decided to break into make a cake first since I was anxious to get my hands on that one and was sad it wasn't in the pre-order....it was in a SAB special that I didn't earn so it was hard to wait, lol!  So,  I inked it up and broke into the patio party DSP and came up with this!

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps:  Make a cake, made for you
Paper:  Whisper white, midnight muse, primrose petals, summer starfruit
Ink:  Midnight muse, primrose petals, summer starfruit
Accessories:  Perfect pennants die

OHMYGOODNESS!  That cake set is just so cute and I love the colors and prints in the DSP!  Obviously I love this pattern because I love polka dots and starfruit is my fave color right now!  And surprisingly I'm really liking midnight muse as well!

I didn't get a whole lot else stamped because it looked like a tornado had torn apart my stamp room so I had to clean up!  My DSP area was especially out of control!!!  Now that it's neater hopefully I'll be more creative tonight!  I'll try to be back soon with more new stuff!

Happy stamping!