A Vintage Swap Card from Leadership 2014

So I've been up for 22 hours now, travelling back from Leadership 2014 and visiting with my daughter in Vancouver, so this is going to be a kind of a short blog post.  I wanted to share the swap card that I made for Barbara Welch's Wow Vintage Swap!  (I just about wrote Very Vintrage, which I think would compliment Stampin' Up!'s Brian Pilling's Festive Furies very well - if you were at Leadership you will know what I mean!!)

Without further ado, here is my swap:

It combines the old with the new, by using the Peaceful Petals flower from the new Occasions Catalogue with images from Postage Due and Background Builders from the Annual Catalogue. There's lots of sponging with Soft Suede ink going on here and plentiful pearling (that's a verb!)  And just a tad of Gorgeous Grunge thrown in for good measure!

• The Peaceful Petals flower was stamped twice on vellum cardstock with Versamark in and embossed in gold Stampin' Emboss Powder.  It was then coloured in in some areas with a Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker.  Layers were hand trimmed with Paper Snips and it was assembled with Dimensionals to give it a 3D look.  The smallest pearls adorned the flower center.
• The banner tag with the double furled end was created by stamping the sentiment from Blessings From Heaven in Soft Suede ink on the strip of Very Vanilla cardstock, cutting the flag end on the right and then working the other end with the bone folder until the paper plies separate.  You then sponge everything in Soft Suede and curl the plies separately to make the double furl.

Must go to bed now before I drop!  See you tomorrow with new weekly specials!

• Peaceful Petals [wood]
• Peaceful Petals [clear]
• Postage Due
• Postage Due Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Background Builders Wood-Mount
• Background Builders Clear-Mount
• Blessings From Heaven - Clear-Mount Stamp
• Blessings From Heaven Wood-mount Stamp Set
• Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• White Vellum 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad
• Versamark Pad
• Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
• Heat Tool
• Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers
• Paper Snips
• Basic Pearls Jewel Accents
• Brushed Gold 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

• Gorgeous Grunge Wood-mount Stamp Set
• Gorgeous Grunge Clear-mount Stamp Set

Leadership Excitement and As You See It Challenge #19

First of all, I have to apologize for no post yesterday, but when you hear my woeful tale, you'll understand why.  We were supposed to fly from Seattle to Houston for Leadership on Wednesday and arrive by 3:30 pm or so, giving us lots of time to visit, eat supper with room left over to write my blog post. We arrived at Seatac Airport at 6:30 am and got to our gate on time and boarding had even commenced on time, when they announced that the plane was broken and we needed a new one.  But it took until 11:30 am to arrive and so that meant we missed our connection to Houston in Las Vegas.  Southwest rerouted us from Seattle to Vegas to Denver and then to Houston and we didn't arrive until 10:30 pm.  Of course, then we found out that they lost our luggage and by the time we filed the report it was after midnight and we still had to make a midnight run to Walmart to get some things that we needed that were in our suitcases.  And my laptop was in my suitcase.  And we had to order in a pizza since we had not had time to eat more than the pretzels and peanuts they gave us on our flights, plus a quick sandwich in Denver.  So we didn't get much sleep that night.

Thankfully, our suitcases had arrived by morning, and we headed out with clean clothes to the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.  Here we heard about some amazing news from Stampin' Up that I will share with you as soon as I'm allowed.  Or better yet, join my team, become a demonstrator, and learn about all the news first hand!!

But today is As You See It Challenges #019 and here's the colour challenge this week:

Beautiful!  And here's my sample for the Design Team:

• This card would be of the Quick and Cute variety, so it's not too hard to replicate.
• The Champagne Glimmer Paper is actually raised up on Dimensionals, which is hard to see from this angle.
• I've used two stamp sets here, Simply Celebrate, from the Occasions catalogue and Banner Blast from the Sale-A-Bration brochure, which you will be able to earn starting Jan. 28 for a $60 or more order. 

• Here you can see the 3D version a little more clearly.
• The coloured twine that the banner is on is also from the Sale-A-Bration brochure as part of the Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack with colours in Pool Party (seen above), Crisp Cantaloupe and Summer Starfruit.
• The banners were made with the new banner punch, another product you can earn during Sale-A-Bration!  Aren't you getting excited?  The longer ones were cut just slightly narrower than the punch and inserted in the top of the punch and out through the side, so only one end of the paper strip is punched, leaving the longer end to be cut the length needed.  The triangular banners were made with the Petite Pennants Builder Punch.

This is a card that you could easily duplicate on your own, once you own a few of the new products.

Just one more shout out for Leadership 2014.  We received an amazing bag.  Here's a quick photo:

Yes, it's Smoky Slate and it's hard to see, but there are debossed chevrons along the bottom right.  See, you've got to get in on these freebies.  Just click on "Join My Team" in the top menu!

• Petite Pennants Builder Punch
• Simply Celebrate [english, wood]
• Simply Celebrate [english, clear]
• Pool Party 8-1/2 X 11 Card Stock
• Pacific Point 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Champagne Glimmer Paper
• Squares Collection Framelits Dies
• Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad
• Banner Blast Stamp Set*
• Banner Punch*
• Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack*

*Found in the Sale-A-Bration 2014 Brochure, available to be earned on January 28.

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

Pre-Leadership Crazies and Chalk Board for The Paper Players

I leave today for Houston, Texas and Stampin' Up!'s Leadership Convention!  Very exciting!  I've never been to Houston before so that will be a new experience.  But I found myself scrambling to get everything finished on time and it all got a little crazy!  I do try to be ahead of the game, but I think there is just too much game to get ahead of!  It happens every Stampin' Up event.  Over the next few days, posts will be a bit whirlwind, I'm afraid, but I'll try to keep you up-dated on everything that happens.  I will only participate in two swaps this year so I didn't have a ton of cards to make, but I'll show you later this week.  I also made some cute roomie gifts that you'll see as well.

But I thought I would do one more challenge before I left and that would be The Paper Player's Challenge #177.  Nance came up with "The Clean Slate" challenge, since every new year is like getting a fresh clean "slate"!  A "Do-Over"!

Since I love the look of chalkboard art, I was keen to try this one and here's what I came up with:

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• I used an older stamp set with brand new DSP for this card.  The paper is from the Watercolour Wonder collection and in case you hadn't yet noticed, I'm kind of head-over-heels in love with it.  Every. Last. Piece. of it!  
• The stamp set is from You're Amazing and I chose it because the font and embellishments are perfect for the Chalkboard Technique.

• To do the chalkboard technique you just stamp with Versamark on dark cardstock and heat emboss with White Stampin' Emboss powder.  Then you sponge using Whisper White craft ink around the edges and just a tiny bit in the interior, to look like chalk residue.
• A little Daffodil Delight fork bow and some Daffodil Delight Candy Dots provide a bit of interest and contrast to complete the card.

Here are this week's weekly deals:

WEEKLY DEALS

Here are this week's Weekly Deals!

	Borders Scoring Plate Simply Scored Item # 126192 Regular Price $19.95 Discounted Price: $14.96   25% off
	Classic Pad Soft Sky Item #131181 Regular Price: $7.25 Discounted Price: $5.44   25% off
	Finishing Touches Edgelit Die Item # 127010 Regular Price: $11.95 Discounted Price: $8.96    25% off
	Houndstooth Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die Item # 123134 Regular Price: $9.95 Discounted Price: $7.46   25% off
	Marina Mist 3/4" Chevron Ribbon Item # 130016 Regular Price: $12.50 Discounted Price: $9.38   25% off
	Envelope Liners Framelits Item # 132172 Regular Price: $32.95 Discounted Price: $24.71  25% off
	Frosty Day II Digital Download Kit Item # 128875 Regular Price: $10.95 Discounted Price:  $6.57   40% off

If you would like any of these deals, good until next Monday, Feb. 13, email me, since I will not have phone contact, but will have internet access, or shop at my On-Line Store at any time, day or night.  Talk to you again from Houston Texas!

• You're Amazing Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• You're Amazing
• Watercolor Wonder Designer Series Paper
• Crisp Cantaloupe 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Versamark Pad
• Whisper White Craft Stampin' Pad
• Stamping Sponges
• White Stampin' Emboss Powder
• Heat Tool
• Daffodil Delight 1/8 Inch Taffeta Ribbon (retired,oops)
• Brights Candy Dots