Happy Sunday!  I've spent the past week getting back into the groove again at work which also included handing out thank you notes to co-workers for some really lovely Christmas gifts.  Creating feminine cards is FAR easier for me than masculine.  I'm always wanting to add some "bling" or some other embellishment that likely would not be appreciated by my male coworkers.  Fortunately, Stampin' Up! has created  some really great masculine or gender neutral sets that helps making these kind of cards easier.  The card below uses the set, Wetlands (#126697).  With the addition of some retired designer scrapbook paper and a bit of baker's twine and a button, my work was done!  This card was inspired by the a sample in the Stampin' UP! catalog. 

Thank you for stopping by!  Have a great week!

Mary Ann

There's still a few more weeks until the official start of Sale-a-bration, but my card today showcases a couple of products that will be available when it begins on January 22nd. 

Not familiar with Sale-a-bration? 

It's the biggest promotion on the Stampin' Up! calendar!  For every $50 you spend on Stampin' Up! products, you earn a free item in the Sale-a-bration brochure.  There are some incredible items available including stamps, designer paper, buttons, ribbons and more.  There's something for everyone!  Need a Sale-a-bration brochure?  Contact me and I will get one to you right away.

Every other month I participate in a swap with 10 other demonstrators across the country.  This month's theme is to use anything in the Sale-a-bration brochure (which demonstrators have access to one month prior).  My items are the designer paper and the button.  I LOVE these colors together but would have never imagined they looked so good together without seeing this paper.  The stamped image is from the stamp set From My Heart which is a great 8 piece set that offers unique and interesting sentiments.

Here are my swaps completed and ready to be mailed!

Over the next couple of days I will be getting ready for the Stampin' Up! Leadership convention that will be held here in Orlando at the end of next week.  It's a great time to be a part of the Stampin' Up! family! 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Today is my birthday and as a result, have received some lovely cards and gifts. This unexpected beauty came from my brother and sister-in-law.

I know flowers are so expensive to send and I have frequently told my husband not to send them for the mere fact that the money could be better spent. But, I have to be honest, when these arrived on my doorstep, I felt so special!

This was a perfect opportunity for me to create a thank you card using product from the Holiday catalog. I'm really drawn to the Perfectly Preserved stamp set and the coordinating Orchard Harvest designer series paper.

I love the colors in this new paper!  And, the striped and cross-stitched piece is my favorite. 

I used a number of accessories to add interest to this card including the Cannery set framelits (#127822), Adorning Accents edgelits (#125595) and the dotted scallop ribbon border punch (#119275).  I also added an additional sentiment from the Sweet Essentials stamp set.

So, I am off to enjoy my day with a friend for lunch and then a wonderful Mexican dinner with my husband and daughter. I will be back in the craft room first thing on Thursday getting ready for my Blooming with Kindness card class in Clermont Thursday night.  I can't wait!

Have a great day!

Mary Ann

During the Stampin' Up! convention, Shelli, Stampin' Up!'s co-founder, presented a card she made with the Friendship Preserves stamp set (#127912 C #127910 W) and Window Frames Framelits (#129021).  What I loved most about the card was the interesting card fold and knew I wanted to re-create it.

Here is Shelli's version:

Here's my version of it:

I love the colors in the new Orchard Harvest designer paper (#126895), especially the striped paper.  The rich colors are so soothing to me!  I used the striped paper as my guide to the colors of the rest of the card.  Never in a million years would I have put Island Indigo and More Mustard together, but paired with that striped paper, it looks great!

Interested in making this card?  Here's how I did it:

The base of the card is a 4 x 5.5" piece of Crumb Cake.  It is specifically cut at 4" because the striped framelit hangs over the card by .25" so you need to make sure it will fit in an A2 envelope.  By reducing the card base, it will fit perfectly.

There are six sizes of Window Frames framelits (#129021) in one pack, ranging from small to large.  The Indigo and Mustard frames were created by using the two largest framelits.  The striped and sentiment were created by using 2nd and 3rd smallest.

On the Indigo and Mustard frame, score at 1".  It's the 1" piece that folds behind the card and is secured in the back.  Once the frames are secured, you will likely want to use either another piece of card stock or something else to cover up the back of the card.

It's a fun and easy card to put together and it's interesting too!  Have questions?  Please contact me.

I was able to enjoy some time in my craft room last night and decided to pull out a new stamp set that will be featured in the upcoming Stampin' Up! catalog.  Betsy's Blossom is a fun, whimsical set that has a lot of possibilities!  In addition, I  paired it with some new designer series paper called Floral District.  That, too, will make it's debut in the soon-to-be-released catalog.  The colors is this paper are SO beautiful together!  My project today will give you a nice hint at some of the various patterns available in that paper pack.

I've made a few cards with the Betsy's Blossom stamp set that I will be featuring over the next couple of days. The cards are simple but they will show you many of the images in the set.  Really fun and really versatile.

Have you reserved your copy of th new Stampin' Up! catalog?  No?  Then contact me today!

With just a little more than a month left to order from the Occasions Mini Catalog, it's high time for me to show you a super embellishment kit for cards and scrapbook pages alike. Blossom Builders (#125410) located on page 18, is a simple way to dimension to your project.  Here's a description:

Making beautiful flower embellishments for a card or page has never been easier! Double-sided, printed, die-cut flowers on textured paper make it easy to mix, match, and layer one-of-a-kind flowers. Also includes half-back pink rhinestones (exclusive to this kit) to dress up your unique flowers. 2 sheets of printed flowers. 12" x 12". 1 sheet rhinestones (30 ea. in 2 sizes: 7 mm and 2 mm). Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade, Blushing Bride, So Saffron, Baja Breeze, Rich Razzleberry, Poppy Parade, and Daffodil Delight.

There are dozens of flowers to choose from, making it a lot of fun to create multi-layered flowers.  Each flower is so cute there really is no right or wrong when stacking them. Here's my version on a thank you card I made:

The pink rhinestones included with the kit are a great way to add bling to an otherwise bling-less project.  Bring on the bling! 

Interested in your own Blossom Builder Kit?  Shop my On-line store now and get it while you can!

After a brief hiatus, I'm back with a sneak peek of another fantastic stamp set from Stampin' Up! - Bright Blossoms.  This set is only available to demonstrators at the present time, but on April 1st, you can own it too!  This is such a sweet set and has so much versatility.  It also has coordinating designer series paper that is a must have.

The tulip image was a perfect fit for the smallest size Labels Framelit. All of the images in this set are small to medium in size so you won't have any problem finding a Framelit to fit.

There are a lot of great products available to you on April 1st, but don't forget that Sale-a-bration is only in effect for a few more weeks.  All products are great, but they're even better when they are FREE.  Don't miss out on your opportunity to get your Sale-a-bration items today.

SHOP NOWin my on-line store.  Remember, for every $50 in product you buy, you receive one Sale-a-bration item for free!

I finally received the orders from my workshop last weekend.  Even after all these years as a demonstrator,  I still get giddy when the UPS man delivers an order.  I'm not sure what it is but when I open those boxes and see all of those stamps, inks and paper I can't wait to get back into my stamp room.

See that box on the bottom?  My hostess, Sarah, earned herself a Big Shot at 1/2 off! Now it's time to get sorting!

To accompany all the orders, I made 3x3 thank you notes using the Elementary Elegance Stamp set.  Sarah's favorite color is purple so it was a no brain-er to me as to what color they would be.  The curly label punch (#119851)is a perfect fit to punch out the center section of the card.  Popping the center up with dimensionals gives it that added pop than an otherwise ordinary card wouldn't have.  I also added some bling with a rhinestone (#119246) on the crown.

Interested in owning the Elementary Elegance set for FREE?  This set and MORE can be yours for free duringSale-a-bration.  There are just a few more weeks left of this fabulous promotion.  Don't miss out on the opportunity to get your free items! 

Contact me to book your Sale-a-bration workshop before it's too late!

At Sarah's workshop on Saturday we had several new stampers.  So as not to overwhelm her guests, I decided to showcase the extremely versatile stamp set Easy Events (#123225C/#116958W).  Coupled with the new Twitterpated designer paper and some ink and blender pens, this card came together quickly and easily.

Blender pens (#102845) are a great way to add color to your stamped image.  Easy to clean and even easier to use! With 3 dual-tipped pens in each pack these are a great value and a must-have in your stamping tool box. 

Are you ready to share stamping with your friends? Let's get your workshop on my calendar and let's plan the projects you would like to showcase.  Have a favorite stamp set or technique? Let me know so we can incorporate it.  We can customize your workshop to YOUR liking. Contact me today!