Won't you be mine???

Before I dive too far into today's card, I have to share some pretty exciting news!  For some time, off and on, I've been submitting work to Paper Crafts to be published.  Well, today I got the best email ever!  I've been accepted!!!  I'll have a card published in the July/August issue of Paper Crafts.  I will admit, while very exciting for me, I was much more excited the very first time I was published - which was a couple of years ago in PC's special publication called Card Creations.  Don't get me wrong.  I stopped what I was doing and danced a little jig!!  Last time I called my mom immediately, but she's in meetings in Atlanta, so I didn't want to bug her.  I called my husband tho - he showed slight enthusiasm for me!!!  (he's not an overly affectionate kinda guy, and not terribly emotional so slight enthusiasm is good!!!)  Anyway - I'm super excited.  It's so worth all of the times that I've been disappointed with NO acceptance email.  And it goes to show, you've just got to keep trying.  If you give up, you'll never succeed.

Now, onto today's card:

This is one of the cards that my Stamp Club members made this month.  Our technique this month was emboss resist, except we did all of emboss resist on patterned papers.  It just adds a little more interest this way.

For this one, I heat embossed the hearts using clear embossing powder (be VERY careful not to overheat, or the powder melts right into the paper), then I sponged on some Blushing Bride ink and then some Basic Grey ink over the top of that.

Recipe:
Stamps: I {heart} Hearts, PS I love you

Paper: Blushing Bride, Basic Grey, Twitterpated DSP, Whisper White, Ridinghood Red
Ink: Basic Gray, Ridinghood Red, Versamark
Accessories: Full Heart Punch, Clear EP, Modern Label Punch, Basic Gray ribbon, button, white bakers twine

This too is a test

Edited to add: YOU KNOW what this is??  I've FINALLY figured out how to blog from my phone!!!  And you know what that means???  I can blog from Leadership! YESSSSS!!!  I wasn't planning to take my laptop - it's gonna go to the dr. for a much needed checkup.  Anyway - don't count on the picture quality being wonderful - it wasn't that long ago that Aubrie dunked my phone in a bucket of paint.  So, what you see above it what you'll get.  But it's something.  I'll also try and schedule a few posts while I'm gone to keep you entertained!

This is a test

Stamping 411: Saturday Sketch Challenge

Good day!  I think blogger is experiencing some technical difficulties today, so I'm gonna keep this short and sweet before it gives me the ol' boot! 

My card today is for Stamping 411's Saturday sketch. 

I broke out my much beloved, yet underused as of late, Crazy for Cupcakes.  Went with a new color scheme that I could fall head over heals for - Tempting Turq, Pear Pizzazz, Rose Red, and a titch of Always Artichoke (sponged on die cut).

I used the Herringbone Embossing Folder to add some texture.  And opted for some Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink to to the frosting instead of my go to Dazzling Diamonds - way less mess!!!

Oh - and how about that ever so sweet brad?  You can find that in the upcoming Sale-A-Bration catty!  If you didn't get one in the mail - contact me and I'll send one your way!

I {heart} Flowers

Hello!  How's everyone today?  I think Winter has decided to finally arrive in Iowa.  It is cold and very windy today!  We've been experiencing an unusually warm winter and a lack of snow.  Some Iowans rejoice in this fact.  I one the other hand am one who relishes in the change of seasons.  I like SNOW!  I don't love super cold - but I like to hang out in my turtleneck sweaters, sweatshirts, etc.  I like to hunker down and enjoy a hot cup of coffee and watch the snow fall, or the wind blow the snow into works of art - some may call them snowdrifts, but I think they are beautiful.  The way Mother Nature can blow the snow around into curvy, billowy wonders!  Now, while I'm ready for a good snow storm, it really needs to wait until after Jan. 21st.  I need to be able to make it to Leadership Conference next week in San Antonio!  And my husband says that I need to make it back!  (don't you feel the sarcastic love!)
I can't wait to go to Leadership - it's my first ever!  What a thrill to be able to chum with 1300 other Stampin' Up! Demonstrators - on a trip that's a tax deduction - in a place that is warm, magnificent and historical!  This is one of the perks of SU!  I GET to go to a conference that will be SO MUCH FUN!  I'll be taking classes that I am anticipating.  How different from the Continuing Ed classes that I HAD to take when I worked in the Insurance Industry!  How would you like to join me next year?  I'd love to have you join the Stamp Us Silly group of demonstrators - if you would like to hear some more information about this wonderful opportunity - CONTACT ME!  There is a wonderful special coming around the corner that you DON'T want to miss out on.

Now - how about today's card?

 This one was created using an old sketch from the Clean and Simple archives - you can go to their site and print off all of their old sketches if you'd like for future reference.  The good thing about a sketch is that they don't usually go out of style! 

This card was so quick to make.  I used the I {heart} Hearts stamp set for the hearts (inked in real red) and cut them by hand.  I placed them where I wanted to (without sticking them down) in order to gauze where I wanted the stems to be.  I used the ribbon from the Sale-A-Bration catalog to create the stems.  Pretty easy - they were glued down with two-way glue.  THEN I popped up the hearts.  I love how the Real Red patterned paper (from the Stacks) goes so good with the doily print from Twitterpated DSP.  Do you ever mix and match your DSP??? The sentiment comes from P.S. I love you (Occasions Mini). 

Of course, I feel like it's missing something....some ribbon - oh wait, I did use ribbon...BUTTONS!!! I need to throw in some buttons!  Personally, I think I should have put a cardstock layer under my strip of gray, and I think it would have looked more complete.  What do you think??  I know. I know.  You're too busy wishing you could go to Leadership Conference with me! Guess what - you can!  Next year!!!!

Technical Tuesday

Hi there!  I'm back today with another edition of Technical Tuesday.  Today I'd like to tell you about a little problem that I had with My Digitial Studio. 
Recently I was creating a couple of wedding invitation samples for a customer.  Her colors are eggplant and champagne.  Well, when I was trying to get my Elegant Eggplant onto my invite "As a page layer" I was having a difficult time.  You see, most of the time, I use the icons on my left sidebar as opposed to the right sidebar.  Well, Elegant Eggplant wasn't showing up as a cardstock option on the left sidebar.  But, it did show up on the right sidebar, but I couldn't add as a page layer on that side.  I then noticed that I was missing several colors of cardstock.  So, I emailed SU.  The "helpers" at SU are wonderful.  They emailed back with the solution.....I simply hadn't downloaded all of the free updates to the colors.  Do you have all of the colors you need???  Here's how you get them:

What you want to do is go to http://www.mydigitalstudio.net/. Then run your cursor over the tab that says Resources and choose Updates from the drop down menu. Everything is there that you need to get your MDS updated.

I'm all fixed up and ready to go now!  I'd know like to show you what I came up with for the wedding invites, except there's one little problem....I haven't taken any pictures of them yet....Maybe I'll get them photographed and have them up here to so you next week!  SORRY!  In the meantime - take a look at the new downloads that Stampin' Up! released this morning:

Tell me, how cute are those Crush on You Color Printables???  ka---ute!

Makeover Monday....

So, I have a little confession to make.  Some of you already know what I'm about to tell you, and to some, you'll be shocked!!!  What's my secret?  Well, I'm infatuated with another stamp company and it's designers.  I'm obsessed!  I love most things Papertrey Ink.  There. I said it.  Are you happy??  In fact, I love PTI and their designers so much that I often find myself jealous!  I love their stamp sets.  I love the designs.  Their designers just rock my world.  Dawn McVey, Betsy Veldman, Maile Belles, Lisa Johnson, and of course! Nicole Heady!!!  I keep a file on my computer of cards that I love and I have to admit that most of the file consists of cards by these fab ladies.  However, being in love with PTI is NOT good for my business.  I really do try and resist purchasing things from them.  Now, that's not saying that I haven't, or that I won't buy certain things from them, I just don't want it to get out of control.  So, what am I getting at???  Well, my love for these gals' creativity and my jealousy to own all things PTI got my brain storming.  I can't always justify buying PTI stamps (or any other company for that matter), and so I need to look to SU to find similar stamps of theirs and then CASE (Copy and steal everything).  That leads me to this new little segment I'd like to start - Makeover Monday.  Each Monday I'm going to take a card from my file and make it over using Stampin' Up! products.  Now, there may be times that I'll have to sneak in some other products - like dies or something, but my goal is to stick to SU only!!!  We'll see how I do!

The first card on my line up - one by Dawn McVey.  She's a peach - I love her blog, and find her work pure inspiration!  She's got it going on!  Her style is pretty clean and simple, and she does wonders when it comes to layering dies.  The card I opted for here is one she actually did for her Studio Calico design team.  I'll be honest, sometimes I feel that the Studio Calico designs she does is a little more busy than her typical vibrant work, but none-the-less, this one pulled at my heart strings.  Here is her card:

And this is what I came up with - using only Stampin' Up! things that I have on hand!

Sorry for the poor lighting in this picture.  Not sure what happened here.  My card isn't as bright as her's, but I still like it anyway.  It was a little difficult to come up with a replica for several reasons, but when I CASE, I don't always want it to be exact. 

So let's disect this card shall we? 

First off, I used textured Very Vanilla cardstock for my cardbase.  Then I grabbed some paper from the Everyday Enchantment DSP pack (go figure-eh?) and heat embossed Hello in pewter from the Elementary Elegance stamp set - another SAB item!  For the ruler border that Dawn used, I opted for some Early Espresso taffeta ribbon.  I picked this one, because when I started the card, I smooched the base with Log Cabin Smooch.  I wasn't thrilled with how it sprayed on this card, but you know what, I think that's something I just have to get over.  It'll never spray just the way I want it to.  Is anyone else hoping that SU comes up with many more smooch colors??? I like it, but I really like how Dawn usually gets just a couple of drops on her cards and not a big spray.  I need to play more.  I then did mix up some of my own smooch with Frost White shimmer paint, Pool Party reinker and a bit of water.  I must not have mixed it well enough, because I can see that the paint settled to the middle???  More practice!  I applied the dots by dipping an old paint brush into the bottle and letting it just drip onto the card.  I really like this method as it/s a little cleaner looking.  Will practice a bit more with this. 

For the flower, I started with a base of Crumb Cake that was cut with the new Framelits Label die.  I stamped that with one of the circles in Circle Circus, using Whisper White Ink.  The flower was cut from First Edition with a couple of dies - The very back layer and the top layer were from the Blossom Pary die, and the center scallop was from Scalloped Circle #2.  I could have just used my punch, as they are pretty much the same.  I used a sponge dauber the apply some Poppy Parade ink to each layer. I took my bone folder to curl up the edges and then stacked them together.  I put a cute little button from the Twitterpated buttons in the center.  The leaves are cut from the Build a Blossom punch - I used Nursery Neccesities Dsp.  I think that's the DSP???? 

It was really a quick card to create - in fact, I was able to make four of them at once.  Each a little different b/c of the smooch spray variations!

So what do you think?  Do you think you'll enjoy this segment on my blog? If there is anything you'd like to see me makeover, send me an email, I'd be glad to give it a shot!

That's all for today...enjoy!

Clean & Simple

How are you today?  We are still recovering from the stomach flu at our house.  I have never seen my little Alex so quiet, so still, so pleasant???  :)  The poor little guy is on his third day of being down and out and that is just so unlike him.  Usually he's in time-out at least 10 times/day and talks constantly.  Seriously.  Constantly.  Will and Aubrie have sprung back to "normal", and Andy seems to be on his way back - well, he's lipping off to me again, so he must be feeling better!  I'm still escaping the evil bug, but my stomach has been churning since Friday.  I'll keep my fingers crossed to elude this nastiness.

So, how about another sketch challenge today?  Are you tired of them yet?  I have to tell you - I do best working off of a sketch, and I don't do so well with Color Challenges.  In fact, I have a book of sketches that I've been accumulating for quite some time.  Most sketches are from Clean and Simple, Taylored Expressions and Karen Giron.  Recently I added a whole bunch from My Favorite Things.  I've never participated in their challenges, but do like their sketches.  In the front of my sketch book is a "color board" of my fave color combos to work with.  However, I do best working with the colors in a patterened paper.  That was kinda how I came up with today's card.

I went pretty literal with this card.  I really liked how SU used the butterfly with the embossing on the cover of the Sale-A-Bration catty, that I wanted to do something like that.  And I am loving how this card tured out.  I realy like the minimal colors - Pure Poppy and Very Vanilla with that small touch of black.  I had to use the black (Black Craft ink + Black Embossing Powder) in order for the sentiment to show and not get lost in all that pattern.  Doesn't this kind of remind you of those red and white quilts or needle work items???

  Wondering about my scalloped rectangle?  I created that with the new Adorning Accents Dies.  It was pretty simple - I cut my paper to 4 x 5, then cut one side with the die (use a little masking tape to keep the die from moving), then I cut the top, lining up the die just right with the last whole scallop.  Then I worked my way around.  Maybe I should do a video on this to ease verbal/typed instructions???!!!  Anyway, it wasn't difficult to figure out, and it helps that the SU edge dies have the cutting edge right at the edge of the die so you can tell exactly where it will cut.

What do you think of my card??? Let's hear your thoughts!

Mojo Sketch

I'm back today with yet! another sketch challenge card.  This one comes from MOJO Monday's blog.  This is another great source for sketches - and hundreds of them!

For this sketch, I opted to use my new fave DSP - Everyday Enchantment.  It's a good thing that this paper is a Free Sale-A-Bration item.  And I'm so glad that as a demonstrator, I could earn it free ahead of time!  Cuz, wowza! 

I used the Fresh Vintage SAB stamp set for this one too, along with the sentiments from Thoughts and Prayers.  I was in need of a couple of sympathy cards this week and thought that this worked well for that.

 The flower is from the retired Sizzlet die - Birds and Blooms.  I love the size of flowers this creates. I don't love the bird in the set, but I absolutely love the flowers!  I am hoping for a set that includes this sized flowers in the future...I'll pray to the SU Gods!

 I liked this sketch enough, that I came up with another card, from the same DSP, just with a completely different color scheme.  This is one thing I love about Stampin' Up's DSP - it really takes the guess work out of figuring out what colors will go together.

What do you think???  Do you like?  I'd like to know.

On the homefront...the kids spent the entire! day on the couches.  Watching episode after episode of Curious George (Alex), thanks to Netflix.  Aubrie tho was WOUND UP!  She felt better for sure.  I think tomorrow they'll all be perky.  Bad news, my dear hubby went down for the count tonight!  Poor guy.  He said he shouldn't have eaten any supper.....yick!  I'm praying for an escape.  It doesn't look too promising.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Love you!

Good Morning!  I tried and tried to write this post last night so that it was up right away this morning....but my kids had other plans.  We ended up having 3 kiddos with the stomach flu.  Started at 3 yesterday afternoon and ended at 8am this morning.  I'm just waiting for my turn.  Aubrie seems to be the only one who doesn't want to lounge on the couch today.  Even I want to lounge today.  After being up most of the night, I'm a bit wiped out myself.  So....as I type this, I'm still in my pj's and rubbing Will's feet occasionally!  He's a dramatic sick kid.  He goes thru spurts of whining about how bad he hurts, only to make his head hurt worse.  Alex is a great sick kid.  He just takes care of himself and yells for us to empty his bucket!  :)  Aubrie, well, she just doesn't understand yet.  I think it really freaked the poor little thing out.  She seemed so helpless.  But, to look at this with a positive note, I have to be SO terribly thankful for Stampin' Up!  Why?  Because I'm a demonstrator with them, I CAN stay home with my kids.  I CAN take care of them when they need me. And on days like today when I didn't sleep much, I CAN take a little snooze later if I need to.  I wouldn't be so lucky if I was still working full time.  It's just one of the many perks to this business! 

SO, you want to hear about today's card right - not about our sicky household!!! 

This one is so, SO simple and easy.  I followed the sketch (yeah, another sketch challenge!!!) from CPS .

The most difficult part about the card was my attempt at not smashing the heart embossing strips as I tried to emboss the next strip.  The hearts were from the brand new Adorning Accents Embossing folder pack.  There are two other mini folders that coordinate with the new Edgleits Dies!  And I LOVE them all!

That little chocolate dipped strawberry - you're wondering how I did that???  Maybe?  Well, really pretty simple.  I colored the stamp with markers, stamped it, then went over the "chocolate" part with a Versamarker, and heat embossed with using the new scented embossing powder.  Don't you wish you could smell thru your computer??  I used the cherry scent....and it is smelly! 

Okie doke....must get back to nursing my kids back to health.  Wonder how long I can justify sitting on the couch with the kiddos?  I'm thinking some Pinning on Pinterest might be in order while they watch their movies today!  But, maybe, just maybe, I'll slip into "my room" and do some stamping while they veg.  I do have two cards sitting on top of my desk that didn't get finished yesterday when I was interrupted.....

Sweet Sunday Sketch #149

I told you earlier that one of my "goals" for 2012 is to participate in more sketch challenges.  So, I might as well start the first week of the year off on the right foot.  One of my favorite challenges is that hosted by Karen Giron.  I love her sketches and love her work too.  I've been following her blog for a LONG time, back when I started Stampin' Up!, and she was still with them too.  She has a wonderful way with layering...

Anywho....here is my take on her sketch.  I love the fact that she's now keeping her sketches alive for 2 weeks.  This gives me another opportunity to play with this one.

 I'm not really sure I love what I've done here.  It seems a bit fussy for my taste, but I really wanted to try the paper doilies that I see everyone using.  I just don't love my mesh of DSP.  I like them on their own, but here I think it's too busy or something???  I don't know.  I'll try it again in something a little more clean and graphic.....

Recipe:
Paper: Baja Breeze, Ridinghood Red, Whisper White, Basic Grey and Twitterpated DSP
Stamps: P.S. I love you, Heart to Heart
Ink: Basic Grey, Ridinghood Red
Other: Tasteful Trim Die, Rhinestone Jewels, Pinking Circle Die (Nestie), Paper Doily

New Mini Catalog is LIVE today!!!

Click on the photo to see a pdf copy of the catty.

Starting TODAY!  you can get your hands on the new awesome products in the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog!!!  Oh....and Stampin' Up! has stepped up it's game!!  We all know that they offer the best products on the market in terms of quality and design, so to know that they are finally jumping into the pond of nestable dies....I'm just giddy with excitement.  These dies are made with awesome quality and are much larger than those other favorite nestable dies I've used in the past.  Let's cross our fingers that they keep on offering more, more, more!!! 

Be the first to get your hands on all of the amazing products by going to my ONLINE STORE!

Wondering what you can still get out of the Holiday Mini?  Here is a flyer with the products that are being carried over:

Click on picture to see in full!

Exciting stuff for today - see ya back here tomorrow for much more!!!

Technical Tuesdays

Greetings....Tuesday's are release days for new My Digital Studio downloads.  I always look forward to Tuesday's because you just never know what the powers that be at SU will come up with next.  I especially like the fact that usually the designs that they come up with are unique to My Digital Studio...and I even sometimes wish that they would/could release them in actual paper....Like that Number One Kit above...Those papers look super cool.  However, I can use the papers digitally to no end....I love that. 

What are you doing with MDS?  Would you like to learn more about the things you can do with it?  In the coming year, I am going to devote Tuesdays to the technical aspect of MDS so that you can learn and USE your program.

One thing I get asked most frequently is: How do I print an A2 card at home so that the card front does not print right in the middle of the paper?

Here are the steps:

• Open card template in MDS.
• Create card, then duplicate that card (so that you can print two of the exact same card on one sheet of paper. To duplicate, right click on the card's icon at the bottom of the page, and insert duplicate page.
• Go to file, page setup.  Change your margins to 0.  My computer won't change to completely zero, but it's close.
• Now click on the print icon. Select your two card fronts.  Down in the lower left corner of the print screen, click on advanced.
• Change the first section (Size of Image Area) change that to Custom, width 5.3, height 4.1 (if you are doing a landscape A2 card). Depending on your printer, you can adjust these to as big/small as you need, in order to get your image just right.
• Now go down to Image Layer adjustment and change that to Custom Layout.  You will want to adjust your top margin so that your card front moves down to the bottom corner of the page. 
• Now, in the center of the screen, change the number of images per sheet to 2.  This will put your second card on the page (as long as you had initially selected both of your card fronts)
• Lastly, click okay, then click Print!

You will notice that the Number of Images will only allow 2 once you have your margins all set just right.  If your Custom width and height aren't just right, you will only be allowed to print one per page.  Just keep adjusting, even by 0.1 until your see that the number of images per page can be increased.  And keep in mind, if you didn't select both card fronts initially, you won't be able to print 2 per page.  You can also print 4 card fronts using this same technique as long as you have duplicated your image 3 times and select all 4 card fronts on the initial print screen.

I hope this helps you out, and PLEASE feel free to comment or email me with any questions.  Now, go have fun with My Digital Studio.

Sparkly snowflakes....

Heidi Ho Friends....
Just popping in to show you a quick card.  This one combines some wool felt that I've had stashed in my craft room closet from my old sewing days. ( I used to do a LOT of sewing before children - It's dangerous when I open the "sewing closet" door - I kinda miss sewing!)

I did completely CASE this card from one by Dawn McVey.  I won't pretend to have come up with this one on my own.  When I saw her card....I just couldn't resist.  Pure beauty!

I'm secretly hoping that SU comes out with some similar dies in the future.  I'm also crossing my fingers and toes....I hate to buy from other companies, but sometimes I just can't resist!!!.......

That's all for now!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all of you!  I hope you rang in the New Year safely and are ready for a fresh start to 2012!  I have so many grand plans for twenty twelve and am anticipating a successful, fulfilling year.  I'm entering into this New Year with my head held high and I'm going to face some of my obstacles head on!!!

Do you make resolutions?  I've got a few.  I've already mentioned before that I plan - or am resolutioning? - to make an appearance on this poor neglected blog more frequently!  I"m off to a good start - right???
I'm also putting on my goal list - I REALLY want to earn the Stampin' Up! trip to Fiji.  With half way to go, I'm just under the half way mark.  And, with my head held high, I think know I can do it!!!! In an effort to get to Fiji, I will be holding more workshops and classes.

That leads me to the photo collage above.  Let me introduce a new little venture that I'm getting involved with:  Artisan Studio.  Artisan Studio is a new cooperative of artists opening up in Woodbine, IA.  It will be opening this month and I will be teaching monthly classes of various sorts there.  Sometimes I'll have more than one class/month.  The collage above is a collection of the cards in my first class.  Here are the deets:

What:  Everday Enchanted Daisy Card Set and Box  Attendees will make 6 cards (envelopes included) and a sleek box to hold them all.  If you are looking for quick and easy cards to make that have a real "wow" factor, then this class is perfect for you!  Plus, you'll get your hands on some great newly released
When: January 25th, 6:30pm
Where:  Artisan Studio, Main St, Woodbine, IA
Fee: $30 - all supplies are included, you just need to bring scissors and adhesive - and yourself!
Deadline to sign up for this class is January 14th.

I will also be holding the same class in the Denison area, with date and time to be announced early this week.  Along with that I will be posting my class schedule for the next 6 months so that you can plan well in advance.

Is there anything that YOU would like to learn about?  I love to teach new techniques (even OLD techniques)  Leave me a comment with the things YOU would like to learn in 2012 and I'll try and work them into my class schedule!  And if I can't work them into my hands on classes, you might just see them here on the ol' blog as a video class!!!  :)  That's another little fun thing I'm working on...video tutorials.  I'm telling you - 2012 is going to be so much fun, I can hardly stand it!

Winter Wishes

Well, it doesn't quite feel like Winter here in Iowa.  We've been having temps in the 40's and 50's which is about 20-30 degrees above normal.  I'm okay with the temp - I'm not okay with the lack of snow....that's right - those of you who know me well, know that I like my snow.  My boys are on Christmas break, and we haven't even been ablt to go sledding....one word.....boooorrrrinnngggg!!!

Today, I'm sharing with you some cocoa packets that I made for a couple of recent craft fairs.  These were a popular item.  This one that I'm showing today was made with some retired DSP and a non-SU stamp set. (I had to pay for that stamp set somehow...so put it to use!)

 I stamped the belly band with images from Winter Post (one of my all time fav stamp sets).  The belly band slips off to reveal a card of cocoa!  I found the template over on Debbie Olson's blog.

Pretty darn cute - huh??  My Stamp Club gals had fun making these also....just a different version.

Okie doke - I probably won't be back until New Years Day!  We've got a football party to go to tonight and Christmas (the last of 6) to go to tomorrow....But, I swear, I'm gonna start the year off right by making a darn good attempt to blog (almost) daily.  Back me up here peeps - I wanna hear some comments from all of you!!!

Have a great New Years - see you in 2012!

Well...I told you I'd be back with some goodies I created with the new DSP out of the Sale-A-Bration catalog that will soon be live.  Here is one of those said goodies!  Oh - I just am in love with the DSP - it's called Everyday Enchantment - and let me tell you, lately, I've been enchanted with it everyday!  It sets on top of my desk, and I'm about to embark on my second package of it already!  :) 

 These are cute little notepads I created to sell at some craft fairs before the holiday.   I have been infatuated with a stamp set by another company that is geared towards notes.  Well, I kind of recreated that stamp set in My Digital Studio, and have printed a couple of sheets out in a couple of different colors.  I'm crossing my fingers that Stampin' Up! will release a similar set soon.  Until then, MDS will fit the bill!

That little bit of organza ribbon that you see - it too is a Sale-A-Bration item.  It comes with 10 yards of Lucky Limeade, 10 yards of Calypso Coral, AND some rocking cool printed brads.  I'm currently hoarding the brads - I just drool on them and put them back on my shelf.  I can't bring myself to use them!!!  :) 

Wanna know something really cool?  During Sale-A-Bration (Jan. 24th - March 31st) if you hold a qualifying workshop, you automatically get the DSP, Ribbon and Brad bundle and a matching stamp set free!  That's in addition to the other benefits that you get anyway!!!  If you'd like to earn tons of free stuff, contact me today and we'll get a workshop for you on my calendar.

That's all for today folks!

Stamping 411's Saturday Sketch Challenge

Hi-dee HO folks!  I know I've been pretty skittish on the ol' blog.  I am planning to resolve that here in the near future.  I've got quite a few new things planned for the New Year, and I'm including "scheduling" some time in each day to blog.  I feel like I've been letting a lot of you down by not being here consistently, and I don't want to feel that way.  So, blogging is making it onto my New Year's Resolutions List!  My hope is to inspire YOU more in the coming year.  I just need to MAKE time to be here.

One of the other things that I would like to accomplish more in the coming year is to participate more regularly in sketch challenges.  I'm starting out this week with a sketch from Stamping 411's Saturday Sketch Challenge:

This is what I've created:

I don't know that it's completely "my style" but I don't dread it - it's just a bit frilly (?) for my taste.  There are a few things I might change if I were to re-do however - this card is dripping with great new products that you will soon be able to get your hands on!  The DSP - a new line called Twitterpated!  The cute little buttons - also from the Twitterpated too.  The focal stamp set - it's a freebie from the upcoming Sale-A-Bration!  There are some AWESOME new products in the Sale-A-Bration catalog - including some paper that I'm currently infatuated with!  Don't worry - I told you my goal (and NY's Resolution) was to blog much more....you'll soon be seeing some great projects made with this paper!

Alrighty - that's all for now.....more to come!