New Year's Explosion

Well, it happened! I missed a blog post! Ohh, the guilt that caused me! But, in the end, I was just too sick to care enough to get off the couch and crawl down to my craft cave to make something! You see, I spent Christmas up north with my daughter and son-in-law and two grandkids and while we were there everyone was sick with a really nasty respiratory virus. Of course, I caught it just a day before we left and I have been fighting it ever since. It's not pretty, let me tell you and I'm still not over it, although I'm feeling half human now.

Anyway, since I didn't get to make my New Year's card the day before New Year's Eve, I'm making it New Year's Day and posting it for you on Jan. 2. I didn't want to miss an opportunity to make something gold and silver and shiny and sparkly and dramatic! Besides, I've been dying to give you a sneak peek of the Occasions Catalogue product called the Starblast Edgelit Dies**. Although they bundle with a stamp set called Birthday Blast**, I thought a New Year's explosion card would be the perfect place to use them and instead, I got out my It's a Celebration stamp set, for one more run. It's retiring in two more days, but you can still order it if you hurry! After that, it's gone for good!

• I used the It's a Celebration stamp set to emboss the sentiment and the fireworks using Silver and Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder on the Whisper White card front.
• The Large Number Framelit Dies cut the 2017 numbers from Silver and Gold Foil Sheets and Glimmer Paper. 
• The Starblast Edgelit Dies** are responsible for the stand-up decor in front of the 2017, the piece of tinsel and the star, which comes from the center of one of the stars in the stand-up decor. In the end, it looks like an explosion from a tinsel cannon!! So, Happy New Year!

**New Products from the new 2017 Occasions Catalogue, available Jan, 4, 2017.

Just a reminder that you have until Wednesday, June 3 at 10:50 PST (11:50 MT) to take advantage of the closeout sale and to get any retiring products from the Holiday Catalogue. Also any bundles that are in the Holiday Catalogue will never be offered as bundles again, even if the products are carried over, so this is the time to purchase them in order to save. Don't leave it until the last minute and be disappointed.

Also, the new Occasions Catalogue and the Sale-A-Brations Brochure will be open for business starting Thursday, January 4th at 1:00 am PST (2 am MT).  If you have not yet received one and would like to get one, please let me know and I will make sure you have one. Exciting days ahead!

On Wednesday, I'll outline how Sale-A-Bration works!

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

It's A Celebration Wood-Mount Stamp Set [142192]	It's A Celebration Clear-Mount Stamp Set [142880]	Silver Foil Sheets [132178]	Gold Foil Sheets [132622]	Silver Glimmer Paper [135314]
Gold Glimmer Paper [133719]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder [109131]
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder [109129]	Embossing Buddy [103083]	Heat Tool [129053]	Large Numbers Framelits Dies [140622]	Big Shot [143263]
Fine-Tip Glue Pen [138309]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

Starblast Edgelit Dies**

**New Products from the new 2017 Occasions Catalogue, available Jan, 4, 2017.

Happy New Year with Large Number Framelits

And here we are on the last day of 2015! I don't see how the year could have passed by so quickly, but then I'm finding myself saying things like that all the time now. What are you doing to celebrate the New Year? I am not a big fan of New Year's parties. I think it's because of the midnight kissing and hugging that happens. Now, I don't mind that with my hubby or with really good friends, but it's when you feel obligated to hug and kiss acquaintances and total strangers that my introversion really kicks in. Personal space is personal space and it doesn't really change just because the clock chimes 12 at the end of the year. But my hubby really does enjoy parties and so I soldier through for his sake. This year we have been invited to the home of some people from our new church and I won't know many people there, so I am a little more apprehensive about it, but I'm sure I will have fun.

I wanted to make a glitzy New Year's Eve card to celebrate the end of the Christmas card making season, so I got out the black, white and gold again for a last hurrah! And I used a new product from the Occasions Catalogue which you will be able to order from in 5 days! It's the Large Numbers Framelits* and they will be very handy for birthdays and anniversaries. And New Years! I used up some more scraps of Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper (I had a lot of it!!) It is retiring in 4 days so if you haven't ordered this yet, better do it soon! It is honestly my favourite holiday DSP ever!

 *These products are found in the 2016 Occasions Catalogue and will be available to order on Jan. 5, 2016.

•  On a card base of Basic Black cardstock I layered some Gold Glimmer Paper and a piece of the Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper so that there was just a narrow border of Glimmer paper - not overpowering, but upping the glitz factor.
• On the Whisper White card front I stamped some images from Gorgeous Grunge in Versamark Ink and heat embossed them in Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder and a mixture of Gold and Iridescent Ice Stampin' Emboss Powders. I was going for a kind of fireworks effect.
• The sentiment is from my favourite greeting stamp set this year, the host set, Six Sayings. It is also heat embossed with the mixture of Gold and Iridescent Ice Stampin' Emboss Powders.
• The numbers were die cut from Gold Glimmer Paper and pieces of left-over Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper with the Large Number Framelits*. I die cut the same numbers in Basic Black cardstock and glued the numbers onto them off set a little for a shadow effect.

Well, where ever you celebrate tonight, I hope you have a lot of fun. And I want to wish you all the best for a happy and prosperous New Year!

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

Six Sayings Wood-Mount Stamp Set [139849]	Six Sayings Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139852]	Gorgeous Grunge Wood Stamp Set [130514]	Gorgeous Grunge Clear Stamp Set [130517]	Winter Wonderland Specialty Designer Series Paper [139588]
Gold Glimmer Paper [133719]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder [109129]
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder [109131]	Iridescent Ice Stampin' Emboss Powder [101930]	Embossing Buddy [103083]	Heat Tool [129053]	Big Shot [113439]
Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

Large Numbers Framelits*

 *These products are found in the 2016 Occasions Catalogue and will be available to order on Jan. 5, 2016.

New Year's Card for Pals Paper Arts

Pals Paper Arts Challenge #185 has been out for a while, and as I was looking around for inspiration today, I found their sketch, and decided to make a New Year's card with it:


                                               
  It's a mixture of new and old products, but definitely on the glitzy side:

• I don't know if I'm breaking a cardinal rule of the Arts, but I'm mixing my metallics!  This card features gold and silver embossing powder, gold foil sheets, silver glimmer paper and gold sequins. I like the way it looks so, if it looks good, break all the rules!!!
• I decided New Year's was a good celebration to use up some of my Modern Medley designs that I tend to overlook.  Here I mixed a mosaic design with some variable width stripes.  I'm such a rebel today!

• Everyone watches the clock for midnight New Year's Eve, so I used the Clockworks stamp set for that great pocket watch.  I had to use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to center the clock face, but I had SUCH a hard time with it.  Part of the problem is that my Clockworks set is clear mount and that can pose a problem with two-step stamping, especially if you have to clean the stamp in between stamping the acetate of the Stamp-a-ma-jig and inking up in Versamark so you can add embossing powder.  The cleaning of the stamp moves it slightly on the clear mount block.  If I had it to do over, I would definitely get this set in wood mount, and that goes for any two-step stamping set.
• The sentiment is half of one of the Christmas Messages set stamps.  I carefully inked it up in Versamark ink as well and embossed it with gold embossing powder.  Don't forget to use your embossing buddy for these kinds of projects, so you don't get embossing powder where you don't want it.
• I used an old neglected friend, the Curly Label punch, for the sentiment and it was just the right look! Yay for old friends:  "Should Auld Acquaintance be forgot...."

What are your plans on New Year's Eve?  We are going with two other couples to see the Hobbit Part 2 and I am so excited about that.  Have I mentioned that I am a huge Tolkien fan?  And that the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is my favourite movie series ever?

 

Click on any of these products for a direct link to my Stampin' Up! On-Line Store!

• Clockworks Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Clockworks
• Christmas Messages Wood-Mount Stamp Set
• Christmas Messages Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Modern Medley Designer Series Paper
• Gold Foil Sheets
• Silver Glimmer Paper
• Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Versamark Pad
• Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
• Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
• Embossing Buddy
• Stamp-A-Ma-Jig
• Heat Tool
• Curly Label Punch
• Gold Sequin Trim*

*Available starting Jan. 3, 2014 from the Occasions Catalogue.

As You See It Challenge 014 - Grunge Greetings

I still haven't used all my Christmas stamps!  It's not for lack of trying!  But I'm determined to by the end of this season!  For my As You See It Challenge card this week, I was able to tick another stamp off my list! Here is the challenge sketch, by Amanda!

It is so cute and it made me think grunge right away!  Must be the splotches in the back ground because Amanda's sketches often have the same affect on me!   I wanted to do a Christmas card for the reason stated above, but I haven't wished anyone a Happy New Year yet, so I combined the two, just like one of the Christmas Messages stamps.

• I decided on a palette of Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White, with silver accents.  That's a whole lot of colours for me to use, but I really like the way it turned out.
• The sentiment is from Christmas Messages, one I hadn't used yet, but can now cross off the list!
• The background of the main panel is brought to you by the stamp set, Gorgeous Grunge and by the Encore Metallic Silver Ink pad.
• If you notice the edge of the Whisper White panel, you will see that I finally took my rotary trimmer out of the box and used the small scallop blade to create that wavy effect. It was way easy to change the track and the blade.  I see another video coming up!

• I had to cut the tag shape out by hand, but there are some punches coming in the new Occasions Catalogue that will do that job for you!
• I used a stamp from Mosaic Madness to create the little ornaments stamped in Sahara Sand and Silver Encore Ink, stamped off once first.  The sentiment is stamped in StazOn Jet Black to show up.
• I love the little touch of the three panel behind the tag, and in using the Silver Glimmer paper for the top one, I was able to try out a technique I saw on someone's blog. (I can't remember whose! -Head hung down in shame!)  You know how hard it is to adhere the Glimmer Paper with Snail either to the front or the back of it.  This person suggested separating off the back ply of paper and then you can at least use Snail on the back.  It makes it more flimsy, but it sure works!
• The silver 1/8" ribbon is the perfect accent.

Hope you enjoyed this little card, and each product listed below is linked to my Stampin' Up On-Line Store where you can order it with ease!

• Christmas Messages Wood-Mount Stamp Set
• Christmas Messages Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Gorgeous Grunge Wood-mount Stamp Set
• Gorgeous Grunge Clear-mount Stamp Set
• Mosaic Madness Wood-mount Stamp Set
• Mosaic Madness Clear-mount Stamp Set
• Silver Glimmer Paper
• Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Sahara Sand 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Rich Razzleberry 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Silver Metallic Encore Pad
• Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad
• Jet Black StazOn Pad
• Silver 1/8" Ribbon
• Stampin' Trimmer Rotary Addition
• Small Scallop Stampin’ Trimmer Rotary Cutting Blade