Monday, November 24, 2014

Online Extravaganza!!

 Today's the day...the Stampin' Up! Online Extravaganza!!  The first three things listed are for today only!  The second set is for next Monday, December 1 only!  Everything else is UP to 50% off!!  Each category lists the deals for you.

If you'd like to place an order through me click HERE.  That will take you right to my website, and all you have to do is click on shop in the right hand corner.  Then you will have to log into your account or create an account.  




Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Friday, November 21, 2014

Shimmering Snowfall

Update...I've added a few pics toward the bottom of this post with some instructions on how I made this first card. :)

Have you ever taken a walk out in the snow on a cold evening and as you're walking along you can see the snow shimmering everywhere you look when the light hits it just right?  I sure have and that's what inspired this card...well that and the fact that we've had more snow here in Michigan than we know what to do with right now! lol  We're in for a break I think, but I'm not ready for the rain and sloppy mess that we might have the next few days.  Yup, give me a good snow storm over rain and mud when it's cold out!  So this week at the Friday Mashup Avery has challenged us to do a couple of things...

        Create a project using "a Metal Embellishment (Staple, Brad, Grommet etc.)".                    
 Create a project using "Weather as your Inspiration"

 think storms, Clouds, Rain, Sun, Warm Sandy Beaches. 

     or Mash it Up! and create a "Weather inspired project with a Metal Embellishment".


Now you can see why I made a card with snow...the weather was definitely my inspiration!  I added a few retired brads that I had stashed away to use as my metal embellishment.


Lots of great cards over at the Friday Mashup this week.  Check them out HERE and play along when you get a chance.


I'm actually adding a second card to this post also since I was kind of working on both cards at the same time.  Believe it or not I had this picture stashed away to use another time.  I didn't like how it had turned out when I originally made it, so I did a little more work on it until I was happy with what I had. :)  Wish I had taken a pic of it before I started working on it again so you could have seen the difference.  Too late now though!



I hope you've enjoyed my shimmery snow cards. :)
Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

A picture tutorial for you...

Take a 3 1/4" x 4 3/8" piece of whisper white card stock and a scrap piece of paper or sticky note and cut a curve on it like the pic below.  Attache it to your card stock if you don't have a sticky note using a removable adhesive.


Use the embossing buddy, VersaMark pad and oak tree from Lovely as a Tree for the next step.  Ink up the whole tree with the VersaMark pad, and color the trunk gray with a marker after using VersaMark on the whole tree.  Stamp tree using the stamp-a-ma-jig to place it correctly.  Use white embossing powder for top and clear on the trunk.  Yup, that means you need to be careful when putting on the embossing powder.


Punch out a 1" circle on a thin piece of scrap paper and place it where you want the moon in the sky. Now sponge or use a brayer to color the sky (I used a brayer).  I started with Pool Party and brayered it all the way to the yellow piece of scrap paper.


Next sponge or brayer on Island Indigo going down about half way.


The last color you need to sponge of brayer is Night of Navy.  Go down about 1/3 of the way.


Now that you have the sky done lift off your scrap piece of paper and reposition it so you can start sponging your rolling hills. It's hard to tell in this picture, but if you look closely you can see I've sponged Pool Party about half way up the "hill".  I started by the yellow of my scrap paper and sponged my way up.


Next I sponged Island Indigo starting once again at the bottom of the hill and sponging upward.


In this picture you can see that I've finished off my first hill using Night of Navy and repeated the whole process again on the second hill.


Here's my third hill following the same step each time...sponge on Pool Party, Island Indigo and Night of Navy.


Carefully peel off your moon and if there is any sticky residue left use your adhesive remover to get it off.  You can see in this picture that I also finished off the last hill like the previous three.  I just didn't need to use the scrap piece of paper anymore.  To make it shimmery I spritzed the scene with Smooch Spritz.  If I spray it directly from that spritzer it will have bigger clumps.  For a shimmery look without the clumps I mix a bit of Smooch Spritz with 70% rubbing alcohol and spray it using one of the Stampin' Up! spritzer bottles.  Since I needed a thank you card I added that to this card. :)


Instead of using the Chevron embossing folder for this card I used the Stylish Stripes embossing folder.  I used Island Indigo card stock cut at 4"x 5 1/4".  I then layered that on Night of Navy card stock cut at 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored at 4 1/4".


I hope my instructions with pictures helps anyone who wants to give this card a try!  If you have more questions don't hesitate to ask. :)

Supplies used on these cards:

retired brads & sticky notes

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog




Thursday, November 20, 2014

Merry!

Today's card is a fun one that I made for 'Tis the Season's 30th Christmas card challenge.  As you can see this week we have a color challenge for you.  I really liked working with these colors, that's for sure!  Make sure you head over to 'Tis the Season's blog HERE to see what the other designers made...pretty nice cards!  Oh, and don't forget to play along.  Christmas will be here before you know it!



I can't forget to say where I got my design for this card...it's from Stampin' Celebration.  I don't get to play with other challenges very often and this is one I used to play with pretty regularly.  They have a great sketch so I couldn't resist using it this time. :)


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara 

Supplies used on this card:

I'll have to add these later...I can't get my page to load. :(

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

pssst...you make me HAPPY

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!  Here in my crazy part of  Michigan we're still in the midst of a snowstorm.  I can't believe how much snow we've had and it's only November 18!  Well as you can see all the snow made me think of warmer weather. lol  I just needed a break from Christmas cards and came up with this card instead.  The sketch is from this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge #194, and the theme is Twice is Nice.


Well, the "Twice is Nice" on my card are the symmetrical wings on the butterfly.  I tell ya I just was not sure what else to do! lol  Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE to check out all the cards from the rest of the design team.  They are great! 


Just another quick pic. :)  Guess I forgot to mention how I did this card, so I figured I should pop back in and let you know.  I stamped the butterfly with memento ink and colored it in with Coastal Cabana Blendabilities.  Then I inked it up everywhere with VersaMark, covered it with Heat and Stick powder and heated it.  Then I covered it with Dazzling Diamonds and heated it one more time.


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Happy Watercolor - retired

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog




Sunday, November 16, 2014

Open House Make & Take -1

Today I'd like to show you my first make and take that I had at my open house last week.  Since I did the diamond dust technique previously on a Friday Mashup challenge I decided I wanted to do it with the cardinal stamp Beauty of the Season from the Holiday catalog.  I definitely think this was the ladies' favorite!


This pic doesn't look too bad, but seeing the diamond dust technique in person is SO much better!  I stamped it with Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black and colored the cardinal in with Cherry Cobbler and Pumpkin Pie Blendabilities. I also used the Stampin' Write Basic Black for the branches and on the bird, plus Basic Gray for his legs.  I didn't have enough candy dots for everyone coming and didn't feel like making my own, so I used the cupcake punch to punch out three circles. 

Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used to make this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog



Friday, November 14, 2014

Coffee & Friends

Wow, is it Friday again?!  Where did this week go?  Well one thing that kept me busy was the open house that I had last Tuesday.  I'll be posting more about that tomorrow or Sunday.  It definitely kept me busy, but I had so much fun with each of the ladies.  I like to have an open house as a way to say thank you to the ladies who faithfully attend my stamp a stacks each month and to meet new ladies that might be interested in stamping too. :)

Now I did say it was Friday and that's really what this post is about...another challenge from the Friday Mashup.  This week Tara brings us a great sketch and challenge to use an unexpected embellishment...


Create a project using the "Sketch". 
Create a project using a "surprise element, something you wouldn't expect to see on a card/or an unexpected embellishment". 
or Mash it Up! and create a project "using the Sketch and a unexpected Embellishment".


I definitely managed the sketch, but that was only after I decided to use a small coffee packet on my card as the unexpected embellishment.  Not sure if that really counts as one, but I had to come up with something. lol



This was definitely a fun sketch to play along with.  Make sure you check out what the rest of the designers made HERE and take the time to play along too.  We'd love to see what you come up with!


Just another quick pic. :)


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:

retired DSP from 2013 Holiday Catalog

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog


Friday, November 7, 2014

Ornamental Pine

Today's card was intended as a birthday card for someone, but I guess the idea that popped into my head ended up looking more like a Christmas card, so that's what I went with. lol  Anyway it's Friday so you know that means it's time for the Friday Mashup challenge which I happen to be hostessing this week. :)  My challenge is kind of fun I think, so I hope you'll give it a try. 

Create a project using the "Diamond Dust Technique" Tutorial Here

Create a project using the colors "Island Indigo, Garden Green & Rich Razzleberry (or similar colors if you don't have these exact colors). 

or Mash it Up! and create a project "using the colors above and the Diamond Dust Technique".

Sorry there are so many pictures, but I was trying to get one that actually looked like the card when I look at it so you could see what I was seeing too...no such luck!  lol  I guess I'll let you choose which one you like the best. 



Make sure you head over to the Friday Mashup HERE to check out all the fun cards made, and to play along too.  We always love to see what everyone creates. :)


I almost forgot to add where my sketch came from!  I haven't had much time to enter other challenges, so I managed to last Sunday with one card and I did for today's card too. :)  The sketch challenge over at the Paper Craft Crew challenge #117 looked like a good fit for the different colors I was using, and I'm glad I played along because I really like how this card turned out. :)




Just a bit of glimmer in the above pic, but the one below hardly has any at all.  Now why can't that camera take a picture the way I see it through my eyes. lol



I had to take one pic of it a little closer.  It sure isn't shimmery like the card.  It actually looks like it has white in it a little bit.  Oh well, better luck for me next time. :)



Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Christmas Blessings

I've been working away on my Christmas cards this year thanks to 'Tis the Season's Christmas card challenge blog.  I really have no idea how many Christmas cards I have, but I'm sure it's close to what I need for this year.  If I make more than I need, then I guess I have a head start for Christmas 2015. lol  Anyway this time around 'Tis the Season has a sketch for us to play with.  I have to admit I kept on adding to this card.  At first I just had the pic in the oval and the bow, then I added "Christmas Blessings".  I finally finished it off with the star because that top left corner looked blank without it.  I also couldn't decide if I should use Coastal Cabana or Pool Party so I went with both.  



Make sure you head over to 'Tis the Season HERE to check out all the other fun Christmas cards and to play along too!  Christmas is less that two months away!  Good thing my daughters love to shop and bargain shop at that.  They pick up all the gifts for me...whew!!!!








Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on these cards;

More Merry Messages (retired)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog



Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving

A few weeks ago I made a bottle tag for the Friday Mashup challenge and it's been pretty well liked, so I thought, "Why not make up one for Thanksgiving too?".  So here's my Thanksgiving bottle tag using the same stamp set, but putting fall colors on it using the 2014-2016 In Colors from Stampin' Up!  I've seen a lot of cards and projects using the baby wipe technique, but I chose to sponge directly on the stamp instead.  That blends the colors well too and it was pretty simple to whip a bunch of them up.


Just an up close pic so you can see a little more detail. :)



Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this project:

Tags for You (retired set)

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog


Warm and Fuzzy White Christmas

Today's card is made for this week's Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge #192.  I did take the sketch and rotate it a turn, but didn't really put the sentiment where it was supposed to be.  I tried, but it just didn't work! lol  If you want to play along with this week's theme it's "Warm and Fuzzy"  Ok, so my card is not exactly warm and fuzzy, but it gives me the warm fuzzies thinking about the snow blowing outside and me inside by the warm wood stove stamping away.  I hope that counts! :)


I didn't realize how I practically copied the colors on the sketch for my card until I put them together on my post! lol  Well, I love how it turned out so I'm ok with it. :)  Make sure you head over to Try Stampin' on Tuesday HERE to check out all the other fun cards using this week's sketch and theme. 


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:  

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Scenic Anniversary

A post on a Sunday!  Can you believe it? lol  Since it's my anniversary I figured I should really make my hubby a card. :)  As much as I love to make masculine cards, I still always wonder what I'm going to put on them. I saw a picture somewhere online and couldn't get it out of my mind, so I decided to do my own re-creation using sponges and one stamp from Wetlands.  I have to admit I wish I had a stamp of trees similar to what's in Lovely as a Tree just on a smaller scale.  I was hoping to put small trees in the distance on my pic, but sponging in the colors had to do for this card. :)


I was looking through a few challenges to help me come up with this card and liked the challenge at the Paper Players this week.  Not sure how "vintage" or antique this card is, but I did distress the edges of the picture trying to give it a look of being a little older. :)


Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Sara

Supplies used on this card:

Sticky notes


Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog