Follow Your Dragonfly Dreams for As You See It Challenges

It's such a pleasure in this time between the end of Sale-A-Bration and the introduction of the new Annual Catalogue, to be able to go back to the current Annual Catalogue and have the time to play with some old favourites from that underused document!! And that's what I decided to do today as I created my Design Team sample for As You See It Challenge #198. It's a great sketch challenge called Wings and I pulled out two past favourites to play along - Dragonfly Dreams and Follow Your Dreams stamp sets. Here's the Challenge Banner:

Watercolour backgrounds seem to be de rigueur these days in card making, and I really enjoy doing them, so I added one here in Highland Heather and Coastal Cabana. See if you can see it in the close up:

• The dragonfly die cut is from the Detailed Dragonfly dies that coordinate with the stamp set, which I didn't actually use to do any stamping. I cut it from some Sparkle Shimmer paper which was mounted on a Multipurpose Adhesive sheet and then I coloured it with my Stampin' Blends markers in Highland Heather Combo, Bermuda Bay Combo and Shaded Spruce Combo to give it that iridescent dragonfly look.
• I stamped the dream catcher from Follow Your Dreams in Highland Heather ink and die cut with the coordinating die from Chase Your Dreams dies.
• The Coastal Cabana banner is from the How Sweet It Is Designer Series Paper, punched with the Banner Triple Punch on both ends. I started with a piece 5" x 1".
• When I peeled the film off the back of the dragonfly, I added a "nest" of silver metallic thread to it's sticky back, but it was still sticky enough to adhere down to the card front on the dream catcher.
• The sentiment is the die cut word dream, also from the Chase Your Dreams die set, and works perfectly here. I skipped the little bow on the butterfly in the sketch because it just didn't seem to fit on my design, but I did add a couple of vellum feathers hanging on the left, tied on with some of the silver metallic thread.

Cardstock Prices are Rising But You Can Save!

I shared with you on Wednesday about some big news from Stampin' Up! regarding our dies and embossing folders and die cutting machine. Today I'd like to share some more information about some price increases happening with the new Annual Catalogue that comes out in June and help you beat the increases a bit.

The Retiring List comes out next week, by the way, so watch this space on Monday for more information about that as well as about my weekend in Vancouver at our OnStage Local Event! But I do know that cardstock is going to be increasing in price in the new catalogue, so it will be worth your while to stock up before it comes out. I don't anticipate the colour families changing at all this year, so it's safe to say that you could stock up on most of them without worrying that they won't be around next year. The only colours that are going to be retiring are the 2017 - 19 In Colours and if you like them and can't do without them, you might want to act quickly to get the cardstock and refills for your ink pads before they are all gone. 

Other significant increases will be embossing powder, foil sheets, vellum and envelopes, among others. So think about your future needs and make some strategic purchases now to save yourself some money!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Follow Your Dreams Clear-Mount Stamp Set [146620] $22.00	Follow Your Dreams Wood-Mount Stamp Set [146617] $29.00	Follow Your Dreams Clear-Mount Bundle [148370] $49.50	Follow Your Dreams Wood-Mount Bundle [148369] $55.75	Sparkle Glimmer Paper [146957] $6.75
How Sweet It Is 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [148568] $15.00	Vellum 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101856] $12.25	Shimmery White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101910] $12.25	Highland Heather 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146986] $11.50	Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131297] $11.50
Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Pad [147103] $10.25	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad [147097] $10.25	Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [147276] $12.00	Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144600] $12.00	Shaded Spruce Combo Pack Stampin' Blends [147938] $12.00
Silver Metallic Thread [138402] $4.75	Aqua Painters [103954] $23.00	Chase Your Dreams Framelits Dies [146826] $33.00	Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits Dies [142749] $42.00	Big Shot [143263] $150.00
Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets [144106] $13.50	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.50	Glue Dots [103683] $7.25	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108] $5.50

Sweet Cups for My Craft Crop to Aid Refugees

This Friday and Saturday, I'm hosting a Craft Crop to raise funds to aid our sponsored Syrian refugee family. They have made a remarkable adjustment to Canada and their first year has been difficult for them. They have worked hard at learning English and adjusting to the new culture and facing homesickness, but they are doing well now and looking forward to a new life in their adopted country. I'm so proud of them. But the struggle is really just beginning, because they will be on their own financially next year and it will be very hard to make ends meet. The mom has never held a job before, but is now a widow with six kids so will somehow have to find employment that will help her pay rent, utilities, food and basics for her family. The older children will be helping with jobs of their own, I'm sure, but we wanted to raise more funds to give them a boost going into the next year.

As part of my Craft Crop, I wanted to give every participant a little treat each day and I thank Stampin' Up! for their great ideas for treat holders, especially in the current Occasions Catalogue! Did you know that these great Sweet Cups were available on page 15? They have a lid and you get 10 cups for $11.50. I made a template so I could cut Designer Series paper to dress them up.

And the Annual Catalogue has the Mini Gable Boxes in Silver and Lustrous White! These are beautiful all on their own but you can also dress them up a bit. I'm planning to use the Lustrous White but I haven't got them yet. They're due in on Tuesday. But I turned a Silver one inside out to come up with a design.

 Here's what I came up with:

• The Gable Box has some texture from the Timeless Textures stamp set stamped on in Poppy Parade and then some of the new Painted Seasons Designer Series Paper in Grapefruit Grove, glued over it. 
• I stamped the Treats sentiment from the Sweetest Thing stamp set from the Occasions Catalogue and die cut it with the coordinating die from the Jar of Sweets Framelits, which you can bundle and backed it with a punched 1 3/8" Scallop Circle in Poppy Parade and some Grapefruit Grove 1/8" Grosgrain Ribbon. The Organdy Ribbon on the handle is a SAB reward, but is unfortunately all sold out.
• The second treat holder in the Sweet Cup is covered with How Sweet It Is Designer Series Paper. You can't just cut out a rectangle and wrap it around because of the sloped sides. I had to sacrifice a cup to cut a template to use. You can't see the top of the lid, but it has a Stitched Shape Circle in the same DSP backed by a Melon Mambo scallop circle die cut with a Layering Circle die.
• I doubled some Lemon Lime Twist Mini Ruffled Ribbon to tie a double bow and perched it on top. The sentiment is also from the Sweetest Thing stamp set and is die cut with one of the label dies from the Lily Framelits dies. It's backed with a panel in Gorgeous Grape punched with the Pretty Label Punch. There are a couple of Glitter Enamel Dots to embellish.

And just because I haven't for awhile, here's Chad with one of the SAB reward options:

           

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Sweetest Thing Photopolymer Stamp Set [148575] $27.00	Sweetest Thing Photopolymer Bundle [150568] $61.00	Timeless Textures Wood-Mount Stamp Set [140514] $38.00	Timeless Textures Clear-Mount Stamp Set [140517] $27.00	Sweet Cups [148573] $11.50
Lustrous White Mini Gable Boxes [146961] $11.00	Painted Seasons Designer Series Paper [149574] $0.00	How Sweet It Is 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [148568] $15.00	Melon Mambo 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [115320] $11.50	Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131297] $11.50
Gorgeous Grape 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146987] $11.50	Poppy Parade 8-1/2" x 11"" Card Stock" [119793] $11.50	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $13.25	Gorgeous Grape Classic Stampin' Pad [147099] $10.25	Grapefruit Grove Classic Stampin' Pad [147142] $10.25
Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad [147050] $10.25	Lemon Lime Twist 3/8" (1 Cm) Mini Ruffled Ribbon [146947] $11.00	Grapefruit Grove 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon [146954] $8.25	Organdy Ribbon Combo Pack [149623] $0.00	Glitter Enamel Dots [146934] $9.50
1-3/8" (3.5 Cm) Scallop Circle Punch [146139] $22.00	Pretty Label Punch [143715] $24.00	Lily Framelits Dies [150071] $37.00	Jar Of Sweets Framelits Dies [148524] $41.00	Big Shot [143263] $150.00
Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.50	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332] $9.50	Glue Dots [103683] $7.25	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $5.50