Friendship... Yes Please!

Hello there! Yesterday I got my Stampin' Up! order in the mail... yippee!!! It's always a great day when the UPS man brings me some Stampin' Up! I was waiting for this order to arrive so that I could play along with this weeks Mojo Monday sketch. When I saw the sketch I knew right away which stamp set I wanted to use so that was where I started. I also knew I wanted to use some designer series paper that I hadn't used yet.

Here is this weeks sketch.



And here is my card.

The paper is from the Floral District designer series paper pack and I also used a bit from the Brights paper stack. I am loving those paper stacks. Anytime I need a certain color of patterned paper and can't find it in any of my dsp's I can just reach for my paper stacks and find exactly what I need. So convenient! The card stock colors are Baja Breeze, Rich Razzleberry and Rose Red. I have stamped the focal image four times! Once in baja, razzleberry, rose red and tangerine tango. Then I cut out some parts and popped them up. The image comes from a brand new set called From My Heart. The flower is from a little sizzlit die called Flower Fusion. The adorable little flags peeking out on the left side there are cut from the Bitty Banner die set. I am really enjoying my new Stampin' Up! goodies! Can you tell!?!

You know, I bet you could get all of the goodies I just listed in a brand new demonstrator start up kit! It is so easy to sign up and there is absolutely no commitment for future sales on your part! For $99 you will get $125 worth of Stampin' Up! product, plus if you join before June 30th you will get some fantastic bonus products as well! Did I mention the starter kit ships for free! It really is worth it my friends. Come join my team, I'd love to have you!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a great week!

~Sara~

Up, Up & Away

Good Monday morning to you! This morning before I opened my email containing the Mojo Monday sketch, I knew I would be making a Father's Day card, so when I opened it and saw the awesome sketch I was excited to get right to work on my card.

Here is the sketch...

And here is my card...

I chose to create flag ends rather than scalloped ends because I think scallops are a bit feminine, but that is just my opinion! The balloons are from a set called Up, Up & Away and the sentiment is from a set called Delightful Dozen.

That's all I have time for right now, I am off and running all day. Hope you have a great Monday.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Sara~



Big fat copy catter!

Hello there, gosh I am on a roll lately! It isn't uncommon for me to have a burst of creativity like this but I often get so busy creating that I don't want to stop and blog about it. I am not sure what has inspired me to take the time to blog lately but I have been enjoying sharing my creations with all of you.

Today I am going to let you in on a little secret.... I am a huge copy catter (is catter a word!?!) Well if it is, it applies to me. What I really enjoy doing is finding something that inspires me and then making it my own. I think I have mentioned before that in the paper crafting world we call that CASEing, copy and share everything. So it is quite acceptable to be a copy catter... I just think I am one of the biggest haha!

A few days ago I was looking around for inspiration for a new stamp set I got, it's from the brand new 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! catalog. It's called Papaya Collage and it's quite different from anything else I have so naturally I was struggling with how to use it. I found inspiration in a card by a follow Stampin' Up! demonstrator named Justin Krieger. Here is his card...

And here is my card...



Can you spot all of the changes I made to make it my own? I started with an extra layer of Midnight Muse cardstock which I embossed with the polka dots embossing folder... have you noticed I loooove layers!?! I also embossed the piece of Summer Starfruit cardstock that is matted in the frame with the same embossing folder for consistancy. I changed the sentiment to "Wish Big" but only because I don't own the Perfectly Penned stamp set that Justin used... gotta get that one! Then I blinged it out, I added rhinestones to the centers of the butteflies, to the dot of the "i" in "Wish Big," to the Raspberry Ripple flags and finally to the decorative label I punched out of Midnight Muse.

So there you go, a glimpse at my life as a copy catter.

Have a wonderful day, thanks for stopping by!

~Sara~

It's finally here!!!

Good morning everyone! It is finally here! The brand spankin' new 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! catalog! Woohoo!! I have put a link to the catalog right over there -----> for your viewing pleasure. What the heck... I'll put it right here as well!

There are so many things I love about the new catalog such as the amazing art work throughout. I want to CASE everything in it! So many beautiful things! I also love the new stamp sets with coordinating dies such as the Floral Frames dies on page 191 that coordinate with the stamp set Daydream Medallions on page 117. Lucky me... this is one of the stamp sets I will be getting when I go to convention next month. Can't wait!! No seriously... I can't wait, gosh it is going to be hard not to go bananas and order everything I want today!

(Taking some calming breaths.....) Phew, I gotta get a grip! Haha!

Something else that is super exciting that Stampin' Up! is rolling out with the new catalog... a very exciting opportunity for those of you thinking about becoming demonstrators. For the first time ever you can become a demonstrator for just $99 (and you'll get $125 worth of product for that price!) And the best part, wait for it... the starter kit is 100% customizable! So if your wish list is $99 or greater... whose isn't!?! well you can get $125 worth of product for just $99... did I mention you will get free shipping on your starter kit? Seriously, this is a no brainer! And just in case this isn't an awesome enough deal for you already, you will get a 30% discount on your first order you place as a new demonstrator. If this is something you are interested in doing or knowing more about just send me an email and we can talk about it further. I would LOVE for you to join my team!

I think that is enough enthusiasm for one morning. I'll just share a card with you real quick and be on my way.

I created this card for the make and take for my catalog launch party I am having on Saturday. I have used the Comfort Cafe dsp, Layered Labels stamp set with coordinating dies (again!), I added some texture to the card front with the Stripes embossing folder. I doubt you can see from the picture but I actually stamped and cut out two of the Midnight Muse frames. On the first one I added a sentiment from the Petite Pairs stamp set which I stamped in Summer Starfruit and punched out with the large oval punch. For the second one I punched out the oval from the center and then layered it over the first frame with pop dots, I love the way that turned out and will be playing with that idea more in the near future I am sure! For the finishing touch I added wood like button tied with linen thread. I wanted something simple so my stampers can spend most of their time looking at the new catalog, checking out my card samples I have made using the new products and eating the yummy lunch I am preparing for them. I am really looking forward to it!

Well thank you so much for stopping by today and I applaud you if you have made it to the end of this rambling post.

~Sara~

Getting masculine on "The Open Sea"

Welcome! Today I have another July class to share with you. It seems everyone is always in need of more masculine cards. Lol, not cards that are more masculine than other masculine cards but rather additional masculine cards... as in, they can't get enough. Sheesh I am cracking myself up here haha!

Without further adieu...

This is a super easy drawer box. It holds all four of these cards plus envelopes. I suppose if you weren't obsessed with layers the way I am, you could probably get a set of eight cards in the box. The designer paper I used is called Nautical Expedition, it has retired, but not before I could scoop up enough for this class! I love it, it pairs perfectly with The Open Sea stamp set I have also used... along with the Word Play stamp set.

Can you believe this is not all I have created this week!?! I have lots more to share with you. Check back tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Sara~

Hello there...

Hi there friends! I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. I sure did. On Saturday we celebrated my daughter's 15th birthday here at our house... (warning! this is a photo heavy post!) after her party we went to my brother's house to celebrate his kids birthdays! Busy birthday weekend.

The birthday girl with Nick

 My brother Jeff and his wife Amie

My niece Abigail and her brother Caleb

 My silly husband and my beautiful mother... Hey, they are sitting on the new piece of furniture I was going to show you!

 My dad with my brother Jeff

 Saved the best for last, haha! Me and my wonderful husband Daniel

On Sunday I took Hannah, Justin and Nick to Cedar Point. An awesome amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. It is about two and a half hours from our house but so worth the trip. It was a blast!

 Nick and Hannah

Me, Justin, Nick and Hannah



On Monday we went to see Men in Black III, which was awesome! Better than the first two hands down. When we got home I had to get to work because I have a crazy busy week! I am preparing for my catalog launch party on Saturday which means party favors, make and takes, door prizes and preparing for my July classes so that I can showcase those as well that day! Phew!! Since Monday I have gotten quite a bit done... let me show you a couple of things.

This is another card for my Christmas in July stamp-a-stack class. (See the previous post if you missed the first card in the set.) I gotta tell you, I am loving the new Layered Labels stamp set and coordinating dies. They really layer beautifully. The sentiment is from the Christimas Lodge stamp set. I cut it out and popped it up once again covering up the "For You" sentiment that is on the green label.

This is the final card for my Christmas in July stamp-a-stack class. Once again I have used the Layered Labels stamp set and coordinating dies and another sentiment from the Christmas Lodge stamp set. I love these cards and hope my girls will too.

Well, I think that I have rambled on long enough here tonight. Thank you so much for stopping by!

~Sara~

 

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday everyone, and a happy belated Mother's Day to all of you moms out there too!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It sure was lovely weather here in Howell, Michigan. Daniel and I had a great time working on our "To Do" list over the weekend, probably because it included lounging around at Art Van on various love seat recliners, had to test them all out before making our decision! We currently have two black leather recliners in our living room sitting side by side with a small table between them. We were wanting a reclining love seat so we can sit riiiiight next to each other instead... we are just kind of touchy feely like that I guess! So Wednesday the new piece of furniture will be delivered... yippee!! If I remember I will take before and after pictures to share with you.

We also shopped for some new pans, inquired about fixing our garage door, which we fixed by ourselves. Nothing too exciting, some how the sensor that prevents the door from closing if something is in the way got bumped so it wouldn't close. It still counts as a check off of the "To Do" list though in my book!  We also spent some time in our current recliners watching movies. We saw The Thing, which was dumb and a tiny bit scary... mostly dumb, and we saw Milk which we both really liked. I decided I am a big fan of James Franco and Sean Penn... both tremendously talented actors!

Ok, on to this weeks Mojo Monday sketch.

Before I even saw the sketch I knew I was going to use this new Be of Good Cheer designer series paper. It was the only new sneak peek paper from the brand spankin' new 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! catalog that I hadn't used yet so that was an easy decision.  I also knew I wanted to incorporate a few more of the new things I purchased from the sneak peek, take a look!

Isn't that a lovely label I have used for my focal image? It is from a new set called Layered Labels. My favorite thing about this stamp set is that it coordinates with the new Apothecary Accents framelit dies!! Yippee, I didn't have to cut that out by hand! Also, the stamp I used actually says "For You" in the center of it but since it coordinates perfectly with the large oval punch I was able to stamp the sentiment from Petite Pairs and punch it out to layer on my label.... so cool! I created a rosette to put under my label, then added a little row of sticky strip around the outer edge (before assembling) then dipped the edge in Dazzling Diamonds glitter, it really turned out pretty. I used the four petal flower from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack to create the tiny flowers, curled them up a bit and added a small pearl to the center of them. I really love this new paper, I think I will get a lot of use out of it this holiday season! This card will be part of my Christmas in July stamp-a-stack. I'll post the others as soon as I have created them.

Have a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping by!

~Sara~

Long time, no see my friends!

Hello there, gosh it has been a long time since I updated my blog! I think since January! Where has the time gone? I wish I had some great reason for not posting but I just don't... mostly I think it is simply because I am the type of person that needs to know that what I am spending my time on is worth while and in the blog-o-sphere (is that a word?) it is hard to know if anyone is really out there noticing little ole' me! However, here lately I have had several people ask me why I am not blogging and it certainly isn't because I am not creating! I am a creating fool!

So I think it is fitting that today I show you my MojoMonday creation for this week, you all know how I love my Mojo Monday sketches!

Here is the sketch...

And here is my first take on it... (actually my second take because I made a card for my dear friend Sue's birthday yesterday with this sketch but I neglected to photograph that one!)

I used a few of the brand spankin' new sneak peek items from the upcoming Stampin' Up! catalog, such as that stunning new blue... that is called Midnight Muse and it is so lovely! The yellowy green color is also new, it is called Summer Starfruit. It is a very different color and I am not sure I love it just yet but I do like how it looks on this card. The designer series paper is called Comfort Cafe, it reminds me of old wallpaper... I really like it. The flowers are from a new stamp set called Betsy's Blossoms and the sentiment is from a current set called Pursuit of Happiness. I really don't think the picture does this card justice, it is very pretty in real life!

Here is my second take, erm third take on this Mojo Monday sketch. (Can you tell I ♥ this sketch, gonna get lots of use out of it!)

This card I made for my niece, Katie, who is graduating from high school on Friday. The designer series paper is another sneak peek item. It is called Floral District. It is super bright and cheery with colors such as Lucky Limeade, Rich Razzleberry and Daffodil Delight. The sweet ribbon is also new, it is a 1/4" stitched grosgrain. I am sorry to say the sentiment on this card is retired. I don't have any other great sentiments for a graduate other than "Congratulations!" and that just was not going to fit on the little flag I created.

So that is it for today... phew, that wasn't so hard. I'll have to come back more often! There are a lot of new and exciting things happening with Stampin' Up! and I will be back soon to share them with you.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Sara~

Mojo Monday

Hi there, happy Monday! Today I decided I would play along with the girls for Mojo Monday. This weeks card sketch is round or square. Since I have never successfully created a round card... I went square. Here is the sketch...

And here is my card. I will tell you this took entirely too long and I still don't love it! I have changed out the focal image three times! It was time to just leave it alone. I used to be a big fan of the Tilda from Magnolia Stamps but I am not so crazy about them anymore... weird how our tastes change and evolve!

Here is another card I created this weekend. I made it for my daughter to give to her boyfriend for his birthday on Thursday. She picked the stamps and the papers from my stash... the sketch is one of my favorites that I have used many times. This card I LOVE!! I made several, perhaps I will get them into my etsy shop.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a great week!

~Sara~

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday! I have had a happy kind of week. Something inspired me to drag out my copic markers and color some fun images and I have really been enjoying myself. This first card came from a kit for a class I taught a year or so ago. I changed out the focal image so that I could incorporate one of the images I colored this week. I did a lot of paper piecing on the image as well. The darling little girl's shirt, pants, shoes, hair bow and the flower she is holding are all paper pieced! (I went a little paper piecing crazy!)

This second card I created for the Wednesday Stamp Club over at My Favorite Things. Again I used my copics to color the sweet little girl and her cake. I paper pieced her dress and crown and then added some bling. I stamped her cake a second time, colored it and popped it up to add some dimension. So much fun!!!

The last project I created I kind of stumbled upon. While visiting My Favorite Things blog I found a super fun joint blog hop with My Favorite Things and Scor Pal. I cased this project from Gini Cagle. Her project can be found here. I absolutely love how adorable this turned out! Thanks for the tutorial Gini!

And here is the inside. It isn't quite done. I am not sure if I want to stamp a sentiment on the inside or just decorate it like Gini did. It feels like it should have a place to write a little message to the recipient doesn't it?

We'll see... I just may have to make a few more of these to give to all my little Valentine's.

And there you have it... what I have been busy doing all week! Having fun! Thanks for stopping by today.
Have a great weekend!

~Sara~

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! A little late I know but I have been busy... neglecting my blog. To be honest I was looking around yesterday to see if I could suspend it rather than take it down permanently... no such luck.
So, here are some random things I have created since my last post.

I created these cards for a class I will be having in February. The fabulous paper is from the Stampin' Up! Sale-A-Bration brochure which goes "live" on January 24th. I have also used some of the new products from the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog... so many great products, but so little time!!

These are some scrapbook pages I created last week. I case'd them from the very talented Andrea Deer. Her layout was much more boyish and I wanted to use up this girlie birthday paper I had. I love how they turned out! I think I will use them to scrap my daughters 15th birthday in May.

I created these adorable houses at the Stampin' Up! convention this past summer. Well actually, I took a class at the convention and while I was there I got them painted, distressed and stamped, the rest I finished up a couple of weeks ago. When I showed them to some ladies that were here for a class they said they would like to make some as well so this is on my calendar for the end of January. I love them!

Well I think that is it for today. I have a few more things to share with you but it is just about time for me to go and get Hannah from school.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, thanks for stopping by today!

~Sara~