New Punch Design

I am so excited! Yesterday my order of new supplies arrived and I am so loving everything. I am thoroughly enjoying the new punch design! They seem even sturdier than the old design (if you can believe that!) and they are going to be so much easier to store! I am starting to work on Valentines for my upcoming Stamp-A-Stack on January 28th. Hopefully, I will be able to give you a sneak peek next week! Can't wait to share my new inspiration with all of you!

Sending Sympathy

My least favorite cards to make are sympathy cards becuase of the sadness associated with them. This should probably be on the list of "do ahead card"s so it is not something you are needing to work on when your heart is sad for someone. On the other hand, sometimes the sadness in your heart creates great inspiration to send condolences of love to those hurting deeply. Here is some inspiration for those difficult cards to make:

Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers
Paper: Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, Lavendar Lace, Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery Stampin' Write Marker, Lavendar Lace Classic Pad and Stampin' Write Marker
Accessories: Certainly Celery 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Wide Oval Punch, Sizzix Lots of Tags Die, Sizzix Big Shot

Birthdays A Plenty

As my son is getting invited to more birthday parties, I am finding myself making more birthday cards. I am going to try to make a supply of cards to have on hand for these occasions. If we have an invite at a busy time of year, I will be able to just go to my little card box and pull one out. Birthday cards tend to be the cards we need the most. So when you have a free moment, sit down and stamp a pile of birthday cards so you have one if you need it in a pinch.

Here are the supplies for this card (I love the color combo!):

Stamps Sets: Choo Choo, Flight of the Butterfly
Paper: Certainly Celery, Bermuda Bay, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery, Bermuda Bay, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: 1/2" Circle Punch, Not Quite Navy Brads

Sale-A-Bration Begins

Today starts my favorite time of the year, Sale-A-Bration! Sale-A-Bration is the time of year when Stampin' Up! offers free product for every $50 you purchase. This year we have some great stamp sets, a punch, and paper pack available through this promotion. This year Stampin' Up! made the deal even sweeter by enabling you to also choose from select catalog sets for this promo as well. To take advantage of this deal, just click my "Shop Now" button which will take you directly to my web site to place an order. If you want to get even more benefits, contact me to book a party and you can get even more free stuff!

New Things to Come in 2010

Happy New Year! Hope everyone's new year is off to a great start! I am excited to give you a peak into the new style of punches that will become available as of Tuesday, January 5 in the new 2010 Occasions Mini Catalog and continuing with all new punch designs going forward!

A few features of the new punch style:
* Low-profile, rectangular punch body allows for easier stacking and storing
* Punches lock shut for easier storage and transport
* Dual labels on top and end allow for easy identification and selection when stored
* Available in three sizes: small, medium, and extra-large
* New punches allow for larger punched images and more intricate designs while providing greater ease of use.
* Extra -large punch images also allow for two-step designs like the Two-Step Bird punch in the Occasions Mini Catalog
* Corner punches allow you to punch a corner design along the inside edges of a page, not just corners
* Larger, whole-hand handle design provides better leverage for easier use
* Available in an exclusive Stampin' Up! color

12 Days of Christmas Minus 8

Just wanted to apologize to those of you who had been looking forward to 8 more days of Christmas. As usual, this time of year tends to consume me and I had no time to post 8 more days. I'll aim for improvement in 2010! I hope to be getting back to posting new samples over the next week as we get back on track at my house. I will say, I used my Christmas break to get working on the cleaning and organizing of my craft room/play room. We are almost to a point where I can stamp and have the kids play in the same room! Yeah! For those of you who don't know my saga, this has been a work in progress for at least 2 years. One of our kids' Christmas gifts gave me motivation to get it done. I hope this Saturday concludes the project since I will only be working a half day. This means much more stamping time! So I look forward to sharing more creations with you all in the year to come. Happy New Year!

12 Days of Christmas-The Fourth Day of Christmas

Sorry it has taken me some time to get my days of Christmas up! I have been plagued with migraines this last week and all the hustle and bustle of the season. I still hope to get 8 more days up before Christmas which will call for a little doubling up! This is a great idea for those of you participating in cookie swaps or who like to give a small gift of cookies. I won prettiest cookies at my cookie swap with these. Stack your cookies on top of each other and wrap them in plastic wrap. Then take some parchment paper and roll them up. Add a rubber band to each end of the roll to hold together and add decorative ribbon to hide rubber bands. Take a copy of your recipe and embellish with stamps. Wrap your recipe around the parchment (note tape does not adhere to parchment so make sure to adhere each end of your recipe to each other).

Here is what I used:
Stamps: Autumn Days
Ink: Always Artichoke, Soft Suede Markers
Accessories: Real Red 3/4" Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon

12 Days of Christmas-The Third Day of Christmas

Using the Idea Book and Catalog is a great source of inspiration for making cards, so why not use it for some Christmas card inspiration. This card was inspired by the treat box on page 159 of the 2009-2010 Idea Book and Catalog and oh so simple.

Stamps: Winter Post
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip Patterns DS Paper
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 1-3/8" Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon

12 Days of Christmas-The Second Day of Christmas

Okay, I am starting to see I might be a bit ambitious when it comes to posting 12 days of Christmas as I am recovering from my 2 year old's birthday party today. December is such a busy month for our family with birthdays, Hanukkah, and Christmas, and we seem to add more to our plate every year. So the 12 Days of Christmas may include some decorating ideas in addition to cards. We'll see! Here are the ingredients for today's card:

Stamps: Snow Swirled
Paper: Real Red, Real Red Textured, Whisper White
Ink: White Craft
Accessories: White Embossing Powder, Sizzix Scallop Circle #2 Die, Circle Scissor Plus

12 Days of Christmas-The First Day of Christmas

In the spirit of the Christmas season, I hope to share with you 12 Christmas Cards this month to celebrate "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Most cards will be simple and easy to replicate. It is important to make sure your cards are simple when you plan on making high quantities of cards. I learned that my first year making Christmas cards when I decided to make 60 cards with 4 quilt blocks that needed to be colored in. Needless to say my cards went out December 27 :)

For this card, I used a simple sponging technique and dry embossing to add a little pizazz to this card. Here are the supplies for this card:

Stamps: Sincere Salutations, Autumn Days
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red
Ink: Old Olive, Real Red, Soft Suede
Accessories: Stylus Tool, Sponge, Markers