My Top Ten Products from the New Occasions Catalogue

I've definitely had some challenges getting the Occasions catalogues into your hands. Stampin' Up! allows us to put our active customers on a mailing list and we either pay or earn that many catalogues to have mailed out to our customers.  I did that back in November and the catties supposedly mailed December 1 and I still have customers who didn't receive them. The fault lies with the carrier (I'm not naming any names, but you know who you are Canada Post!) but Stampin' Up! will make it good!

I have catalogues that I will get into your hands as soon as humanly possible. If you were on the mailing list, you will have received an email from me. Please respond to that as I need an accurate count for Stampin' Up! and also I need to know to whom to deliver one.  The same issue goes for the Sale-A-Bration Catalogue.

One complicating factor is that the Occasions Catalogue came cleverly disguised as a Sale-A-Bration Brochure, because it had a wrapper advertising Sale-A-Bration, so don't judge the catty by its cover! Check underneath the wrapper!

However, I have had a lovely month getting to know the Occasions catalogue and playing with some of the products and I wanted to give you my Top 10 list of products to guide you in your purchases. Just a disclaimer:  these are my own opinions and may not reflect your taste or your crafting needs!

So here we go:

1.  Best Valentine Value:
Bundle of You Plus Me Stamp Set and Stacked with Love Designer Series Paper Stack.

• Save 15% on these great products that will see you through all your Valentine's cards.

                                              

2.  Best Specialty Designer Series Paper:  Birthday Bash Specialty Designer Series Paper.

• Bright, cheerful designs with some embossed gold on 2 of them.

                                              

3. Best Designer Series Paper: Something Borrowed Designer Series Paper.

• The fact that these are just Sahara Sand and Whisper White make these designs so useful as Neutrals and very elegant as well.  Great for weddings! I like that you get 4 of each double sided design.

                                               


4. Best Stamp Set: Moon Lake

• Three life-like images along with 3 great sentiments that speak of nature's beauty.  You can stamp as is or add colour with Blendabilities.

                                                 

5. Best Embellishment: Something Borrowed Embellishments

• Elegant way to dress up your cards and tags!  You could make jewelry out of                                        them!

                                                          

6. Best Regular Bundle:
Butterfly Basics featuring the Butterfly Basics Stamp set and the Butterflies Thinlits Dies. 

• So beautiful!  I love all the images and the intricate thinlits. Gorgeous!

                                                       

7. Best Masculine Stamp Set:  Guy Greetings

• This set has all you need to make cool and funky masculine greeting cards. It's a great value at $42.95 for Clear or $31.95 for Photopolymer for 22 stamps!

                                                     
*Note photo is missing a couple of images.

8. Best Designer Series Paper Stack: Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper Stack

• This is almost my very favourite new product of all. I love the textures and outdoor elements among the 48 sheets of 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" paper all for only $8.50!

                                                   
9.  Best Ribbon:  White Jute Ribbon

• I haven't used it yet. It's on its way, but I love the texture and the fact that it's white!

                                                 
          and.... (I can't decide between them) The Sahara Sand 7/8" Lace Trim - so pretty!

                                                  

And last, but not least:

10.  Best Kit:  Hello Life Project Kit.

• It was a toss up between this one and the Build a Bouquet Kit, but I thought this was more unique and useful!  Take a look.

                                                 
                                                

There is so much more in the catalogue, so have a good look!  I could have named at least 5 more products here.  Luckily, we have until June to get everything we want or we'd all be broke!

Finally, I wanted to let you know about the second way to earn more products during Sale-A-Bration.

When you host a party or private class during Sale-A-Bration, you have the opportunity to add a bonus to your regular, already awesome Stampin' Rewards!  If your party sales are $330 or more (before tax and shipping) Stampin' Up! will add $35 more dollars to your Host Dollars!  So instead of earning $55 at that level, you would be earning $90!  Wow! and it applies to every level of rewards above $350 sales!  

Contact me right away to book a private class or party. My booking times are limited, but I know we can find a time that suits you!

Thanks for dropping by.  I'll be back tomorrow with another As You See It Challenge Design!

Whoa! The Snow!

Well, it finally stopped! The snow that is! It has snowed almost 2 feet since Sunday, breaking a 40 year old record for the amount of snow in a two day period! We even made the National News! In all the time I taught in this school district, we NEVER had a snow day, but there was one today. For most people, the day's agenda called for shovelling snow. PERIOD. Well, that and watching the Canadian Junior Hockey Team win a Gold Medal in the World Junior Hockey Tournament!  Yay, Canada!  Here's what our yard looked like when the snow finally stopped late this afternoon.

But, I digress, and there is so much to tell you today!  First, the big news is that the Occasions 2015 Catalogue goes live today!!

How exciting is that?!!  Click on the photo above to link to the catalogue. Also Sale-A-Bration starts today!  For every $60 you spend (before shipping and tax), you can earn one Sale-A-Bration item for free.  Here's a link to the Sale-A-Bration Brochure:

 I promise you will be thrilled with these two catalogues! There is so much awesomeness packed into both! I will be putting in an order on Thursday, so let me know if there is something you want to order.

We heard yesterday that a good friend was taken to hospital with undiagnosed symptoms and I wanted to make a get well card for him. I also wanted to enter the Pals Paper Arts Challenge #234 :

It's a colour challenge as you can see, and here's what I came up with:

• This is a fairly simple card. The only remarkable thing about it is that I used my ecutter for the ship and the anchor. I'm getting the hang of it, but there is a bit of a learning curve as I figure out what it will cut and what it won't. But I had some good results here with the ship and the anchor from The Open Sea stamp set, an old favourite.
• The layout is simple with layers of Wisteria Wonder and Brushed Silver Cardstock on a Night of Navy Base. I used the Labels Collection Framelits to cut the Night of Navy plaque and the Ovals Collection Framelits to cut the oval of Silver Glimmer Paper for the middle.
• The anchor is embossed with Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder and then cut with the ecutter! I think I'm going to love that tool!
• The sentiment is from the Four You stamp set.

Finally, there is a new set of Weekly Deals for this next week:

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

The Open Sea Wood Stamp Set [128454]	The Open Sea Clear Stamp Set [123032]	Four You Wood Stamp Set [130535]	Four You Clear Stamp Set [130538]	Silver Glimmer Paper [135314]
Brushed Silver 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100712]	Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100867]	Wisteria Wonder 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [122922]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Versamark Pad [102283]
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970]	Silver 1/8" Ribbon [132137]	Silver Baker's Twine [132976]	Regals Candy Dots [130932]
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder [109131]	Embossing Buddy [103083]	Heat Tool [129053]	Labels Collection Framelits Die [125598]	Ovals Collection Framelits Die [129381]
Big Shot [113439]	Fuse Fast Adhesive [129026]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

Butterfly Basics Make a Clean and Simple Birthday Card

It's time for a Clean and Simple card! As I explore all my new products from my Occasions Catalogue pre-order, I have so many ideas floating around in my cranium that I have difficulty deciding what to do next! I was dying to use more of my Butterfly Basics images, especially the smaller lacy butterfly so I imagined a more Clean and Simple design.

• The back panel Design Series Paper is from Best Year Ever, which is a Sale-A-Bration product. That means that during Sale-A-Bration, (January 6 - March 31, 2015) you can earn it free with every $60 spent in one order!  Awesome!
• Don't you love the script on the sentiment? It is also from the Butterfly Basics Stamp Set, available January 6.  
• The stamped lacy butterfly coordinates with one of the Thinlits in the Butterflies Thinlits Dies so it is easy to die cut it.
• To make the looped linen thread behind it, just wrap the linen thread around all four fingers of one hand three times.  Remove it from your fingers and give one end a twist so you have a figure 8.  Add a glue dot to the middle of the twist and glue down on your paper.  Adjust the loops the way you want them.  Very easy to do.
• You'll notice a little Gorgeous Grunge in the background, stamped in Coastal Cabana.  Then I added the honeycomb textured image from Butterfly Basics in Sahara Sand for contrast.

It's Tuesday and time for more:

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! *List does not include Stampin' Up! sneak peek items.  They will be available Jan. 6, 2015. 

Product List

Gorgeous Grunge Wood Stamp Set [130514]	Gorgeous Grunge Clear Stamp Set [130517]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad [131176]	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad [131175]
Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad [126976]	Linen Thread [104199]	Big Shot [113439]	Glue Dots [103683]	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive Refill [104331]

*Butterfly Basics Stamp Set

*Best Year Ever DSP

*Butterflies Thinlits Dies