Thanks with a Flourish!

I mentioned a while back that every year at this time, I organize an outreach event for our church, entitled "One Night in Bethlehem".  I explained it more fully on this particular post.  I have an amazing committee helping me to get this huge event off the ground each year, and each year I like to thank them with a small gift and a hand-stamped card.  This year was no exception.  I picked up a nice poinsettia plant for each one and created a Thank You card for them.

Not easy taking photos of such a silvery, shiny card.  My camera needs a flash for good focus, but the glare is blinding!  Sorry for any of you with sensitive eyes...or migraines!  I did try to tone it down without darkening the whole shot.  The colour palette was chosen in order to enter the Dynamic Duos challenge #30 this week:  Midnight Muse and Silver.  Very classy together, I must say.

 And I took advantage of this design to use up my Flourish Designer Frames.  The card base is Midnight Muse, but that's kind of obvious isn't it.  I layered it with Whisper White and you might be able to see a little peek of the Houndstooth embossing folder around the edges of the next panel of Midnight Muse.  The sentiment is one of my favourite fonts from Lacy and Lovely and you may have noticed how the Decorative Label punch coordinates with the Flourish Designer frame.  The main image is from a stamp set that I've just now used for the first time: Rejoicing with You.  It is perfect for heat embossing with silver embossing powder.  And I used Window Frames framelits for the Silver Glimmer Paper and Midnight Muse backing.


 My special VIPs, the One Night in Bethlehem committe members, were so happy to get these cards, so I was happy that they were happy, and it was all one big happy fest!!  We will all be genuinely happy when the event is successfully completed and we can actually start planning our own Christmas celebrations!  But it is so rewarding to see something like this help people to understand the real reason for the season!

  

I want to remind you that Wednesday, Nov. 28 is the last day to take advantage of our On-Line Extravaganza sale.  Wednesday only, the door busters are:

 

Pg. 7	118941	Clear Block Bundle (Blocks A-I)	$89.95	$71.96
Pg. 7	120279	Clear Block Storage Caddy	$18.95	$15.16
Pg. 175	109127	Stack & Store Caddy	$44.95	$35.96



On top of this are all the other amazing deals: up to 50% off!  Don't lose out.  Email me or call today.  Order goes in at 6 pm. 

Several items are in backorder status or are running low and may not be shipped until some time in January.  They are: Crosses of Hope Clear Mount set; 25 and Counting Clear Mount set, Dr. Bag for the Big Shot, You are Loved Clear Mount set; Scallop Edge Punch; Petite Pocket Bigz XL die and Rhinestone Basic Jewels.  If you have ordered one of these items during the sale, there is a chance that it is back-ordered and unavailable until January.  If it doesn't arrive within 21 days, you could get a full refund or exchange.


Stamps:  Rejoicing with You (w126300; c126302); Lacy and Lovely (w122885: c122887)
Paper: Midnight Muse (126843) and Whisper White (100730) card stock; Silver Glimmer paper (124005)
Ink:  VersaMark (102283); Classic Stampin' Pad in Midnight Muse (126860)
Accessories:  Flourish Designer Frames (127835); Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (109131); 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon in Midnight Muse (126847); 1/8" Mini Brads in Silver (122941)
Tools:  Window Frames Collection Framelits (129021), Heat Tool (129053); Houndstooth Embossing Folder (123134); Paper Snips (103579)

Taking Notes

Just wondering....how do you take notes?  I do it because it keeps me awake when I'm not listening to riveting material.  I've sat through so many workshops that I can't even recall now, even though I'm sure they were important at the time.  Unless I'm excited about the material I so easily get bored and restless.  Kind of helped me relate to what my own students went through back when I was teaching.
Anyway, when I take notes, they are usually in the form of doodles.  Creative ways of writing the important points down for future reference.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  I sure hope that's true because otherwise, those doodles are not going to mean a thing when I go to them for reference.  Here's an example of a notebook page:

 
See what I mean?  Half the battle is to have something beautiful to write (or doodle) your thoughts in.  At a recent Technique Night, I had these projects prepared  for my class to make:

It turns an ordinary boring old coil notebook into something you might look forward to writing in.  It might even brighten up otherwise dull lectures.  These were so easy to make and used several new Stampin' Up products.  The grey polkadot background is from a new DSP series called Howlstooth and Scaringbone in the new Holiday Mini Catalogue. It has some great graphic designs you're going to love for all your fall projects.  I love how well it coordinates with Daffodil Delight and to make the rosette on the front, I used two strips of Polka Dot Parade DSP, 2" x 12" and scored them every 1/4" or every 1/2" on the Simply Scored tool, depending on the height you want your rosette.  Every 1/2" is easier, but it produces a rosette that's about 1/2" tall, which can make it kind of difficult to write on the left hand page.  You then join both ends of the 2 strips of scored paper and gather one edge together a little and press in the middle to flatten the rosette.  I used the new Jumbo Sticky Rounds from the Holiday Mini to secure the back and the front of the rosette, fastening it onto the notebook cover and using it to adhere the flower on the front of the rosette.

The flower was made using two stamp sets, Quint-Essential Flower formed the top three layers.  I stamped it three times using Basic Grey, Daffodil Delight and Real Red.  I punched out the entire grey flower with the 2 3/8" Scalloped Circles punch, I fussy cut the Daffodil Delight flower at the inner scalloped circle because I don't yet have the 1 3/4" Scalloped Circle punch, and I used the 1" circle punch to punch out the center of the Real Red Flowers.  The back Real Red base was stamped using Daydream Medallions in Basic Grey and cut out using the Flower Collection Framelits.  I used my paper piercing tool to pierce a hole through the center of each layer and secured them with an Antique Brad, then attached to the rosette using the jumbo sticky round previously mentioned.  (I've really got to get the technology to make tutorial videos going soon!)

The ribbons on the front are two lengths of Victorian Crochet trim and Daffodil Delight Seam Binding ribbon in between them, adhered with Snail.  My favourite part is the little tag at the top.

I used a background stamp from Affection Collection, stamped off once first, in Daffodil Delight, and the sentiment from the Creative Elements set in Basic Grey.  I punched it out with the decorative label punch, which coordinates perfectly with the new Flourish Designer Frames from the Holiday Mini Catalogue.  A few Rhinestone Basic Jewels to add a little bling, and there you have it.  You might also like this alternative design.

Let me know how you take notes, and which of the two designs you like! 

Stamp sets:  Quintessential Flower (w126790); Daydream Medallions (w126465; c126467); Affection Collection (w127946; c127949); Creative Elements (w122645; c122647)

Paper: Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP (126906); Polka Dot Parade DSP (126902); Real Red (102482) and Whisper White (100730) cardstock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Basic Grey (126981), Daffodil Delight (126944), Real Red (126949)

Accessories: Victorian Crochet Trim (118481); Daffodil Delight Seam Binding Ribbon (125583); Antique Brads (117273); Flourish Designer Frames (127835); Mini Brads (122941); Rhinestone Basic Jewels (1192416)

Tools: Simply Scored Scoring Tool (122334)

Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP

Flourish Designer Frames

Quint-Essential Flower