En Route to Leadership

Good morning!  We are in Seattle, heading to the airport for our flight to Houston for Leadership 2014.  Hope everything is on time!  I will update you with more pictures once we are settled!

I wanted to share one of my Swap cards with you.  I didn't do many this time as time ran out, but here is one that I will be swapping as part of a WOW! Valentine Swap:

• I knew I wanted to do something with hearts made from the music page from the Modern Medley DSP, but I wanted a little extra sparkle to add that WOW factor.  Did you know that you could sponge glimmer paper?  Well, you can.  Obviously, you would start with the Silver Glimmer paper because the other two kinds are too dark to add a different colour.  But silver works perfectly.  For this card I sponged the silver hearts with Crisp Cantaloupe ink refill.
• You know how hard it is to adhere anything to glimmer paper, right?  Well, it turns out it's even harder when you recolour the paper.  You have to let the ink really dry and wipe it off the back of the paper, too.  With the ink even slightly wet, NOTHING will work to adhere it.  I ended up only sponging the glimmer paper around the edges, as I knew the middle would be covered with the music hearts.

• I made rolled paper flowers using the 2 3/8" Scallop Circle punch and cutting a spiral out of the outer edge.  I rolled it on a skewer, the let it relax slightly and adhered it to a 3/4" circle punched out of the middle of the scallop circle, using a little Sticky Strip to hold it well.  Then curl/push the edges out a bit and add a Pearl Basic Jewel in the middle.
• The leaves are from Soft Suede cardstock, die cut with the Little Leaves Sizzlet.
• The background DSP is from the Venetian Romance collection and the sentiment is from the stamp set, Hello, Lovely, and they both add just the right vintage look to the card.

Stampin' Up! is promising some big announcements this week.  I can hardly wait to find out!  I will pass the info on to you as I am able!  TTFN! (Ta ta for now!)

• Hello Lovely Wood-mount Stamp Set
• Hello Lovely Clear-mount Stamp Set
• Venetian Romance Designer Series Paper
• Crisp Cantaloupe 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Soft Suede 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
• Modern Medley Designer Series Paper
• Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Silver Glimmer Paper
• Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad
• Stamping Sponges
• Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Ink Refill
• Hearts Collection Framelits Dies
• 2-3/8 Inch Scallop Circle Punch
• 3/4 Inch Circle Punch
• Little Leaves Stampin' Up! Sizzlits Die
• Basic Pearls Jewel Accents
• Sticky Strip
• Decorative Label Punch