Free Shipping for Cyber Monday and In Praise of Stampin' Blends

Well, if you snoozed, you loozed out on the great deals from Online Extravaganza, which ended yesterday. The last order went in last night! But good news! All is not lost, because today, Stampin' Up! has announced FREE SHIPPING all day long, Cyber Monday! That's like 10% off everything in the catalogues! WAIT!! That's more than 10%, because our tax is calculated on the shipping as well as the product, so BONUS! But don't snooze again! Get your orders in to me today by 7:30 pm at the latest. Order will go in at 8:00 pm. But because there are no minimum orders on this, you could submit your own order online and not worry about that high flat rate shipping charge because - IT WON'T BE THERE! Just head over to my On-Line Store and shop to your heart's content. Just be done by 10:55 pm.!!  If your order is less than $200, please use the Hostess Code:    Q2CT33CB when placing your order online. If you do, I will include a package of Rhinestone Basic Jewels with your order, free from me as a thank you! And who doesn't need a little extra bling over the holidays??

Today, I want to share a card with you that I made to show you more of the benefits of the Stampin' Blends alcohol markers. This card has a layout that follows a sketch that I love from Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #314:

I took a swirl that I had die cut from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper using the Swirly Scribbles Thinlits and I coloured it using the darker shade of my Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends marker. Because it's an alcohol marker, and permanent, you can colour all sorts of things, Glimmer Paper included. You just don't want to do it a lot with the same marker, because it has the potential to ruin the brush nib of the pen. Conversely, you could purchase an alcohol marker of each colour eventually just for the purpose of colouring other objects. Let's see if you can find anything else that I coloured with my Stampin' Blends:

• I started with a fairly clean look with lots of Whisper White space on a base of Cherry Cobbler. I added a narrow strip of Merry Music Specialty Designer Series Paper for the bottom-most element of the sketch, then added the Glimmer Paper swirl. I had added a Multipurpose Adhesive sheet to the back before die-cutting, so after colouring it with my Stampin' Blends, I just had to remove the backing and stick it to my project.
• Next was the "Sentiment/Strip" from the sketch. I found this NOEL edgelit in the Christmas Stocking Thinlit Dies. It was the perfect thing for this element. I tried it in Cherry Cobbler, too, but it needed the black to make it pop!
• The smaller shape in front is represented by the detailed star here. This was die cut from Silver Glimmer Paper using one of the dies from the Starlight Thinlit Dies. It was also backed with the Multipurpose Adhesive sheet, so was easy to stick down.
• That brings us to something else coloured by the Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends marker - some small and medium Clear Faceted Gems. I added them to the card front to balance things, then added a couple of rhinestones to complete the balance. The Cherry Cobbler faceted gem in the middle of the star really helps it to show up better.

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

Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper [135315]	Silver Glimmer Paper [135314]	Merry Music Specialty Designer Series Paper [144623]	Cherry Cobbler 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [119685]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Cherry Cobbler Dark Stampin' Blends Marker [144575]	Clear Faceted Gems [144142]	Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220]	Swirly Scribbles Thinlits Dies [141497]
Starlight Thinlits Dies [141840]	Christmas Stockings Thinlits Dies [141841]	Big Shot [143263]	Big Shot Die Brush - New Configuration [144262]	Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets [144106]
Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]

Star of Light Shines on Online Extravaganza!

Well, today is an exciting day! The Online Extravaganza kicks off today with a 24hr FLASH SALE of selected stamp sets for 20% off!! More about that later in this post, but I wanted to share a card using the Star of Light stamp set, that I made just because Color Throwdown had such an enchanting inspiration banner this week!

Tell me that you find this colour combo and photo irresistible too! I love the icy blueness along with the shiny silver very appealing! As I looked for a design, I decided that the Star of Light stamp set along with the Starlight Thinlits would be the best to use, even though they have had a pretty good workout this season so far. They just seem to work with blue and silver.

• I first had to decide which blues to use. I kind of wish now I had tried a different combo and gone with Pacific Point and Marina Mist, but I wasn't sure that Marina Mist would be light enough, so I stuck with tried and true Night of Navy and Soft Sky.
• I decided to do some ink smooshing on my front panel and tried two different designs. One was heavily smooshed with many blues, while the one I chose left lots of white space with just a little Marina Mist and Soft Sky down in the bottom third.
• I just love the star dust stamp and I embossed that in Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder and purposely let a little silver powder spread and stick in other places. It's a technique I like to call emboss overspray (like when you are spray painting and extra paint spray ends up on surrounding surfaces)! It just adds a little finer stardust to the image.
• The sentiments are from the same Star of Light stamp set (it has some great ones) and I stamped them in Night of Navy. I made a little banner for the Merry Christmas with the help of the Everyday Label Punch. I trimmed the paper down to the width of the sentiment and then used the knob ends of the punch to round off the ends of the sentiment strip. I then punched a Night of Navy backing with the same punch and trimmed off the top and bottom until I had one with just a narrow border larger than the sentiment.
• I added some Silver Glimmer Paper to a Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet and then die cut the large star from the Starlight Thinlits. It was easy to peel off the backing then and just stick it to the card front like a sticker.

One of Stampin' Up!'s great yearly sales is here! We start today with a 24hr. FLASH SALE with 20% OFF selected STAMP SETS! After today, it's the rest of the items on the list on sale until Sunday the 26th. On Monday, Nov. 27th there will be another Flash Sale with items still to be announced, and I will let you know as soon as they are! I'll be putting in an order on Monday and another toward the end of the week. If there's interest, I'll likely put another one in for the last 24hr Flash Sale on Mon., Nov. 27. Message me promptly if you want in on any of these orders, or go to my On-Line Store, and submit your own order. Here's what we know so far:

If you want my input on the best stamp sets to go for, I'll give you my list of the best ones and my reasons, but just remember, it's only my humble opinion and you may have different taste!

My Favourite Stamp Sets from the Flash Sale for Online Extravaganza

1.Remarkable You Clear-Mount Stamp Set
	Great Art Work
2.Cool Treats Photopolymer Stamp Set
	Who doesn't love Ice Cream?
3.Garden Girl Clear-Mount Stamp Set
	Great to use with our new Stampin' Blends.
4.Every Good Wish Clear-Mount Stamp Set
	Good faux water colour look!
5.Good Tidings Photopolymer Stamp Set
	You have to see how awesome these holly branches look when they are stamped!
6.Milestone Moments Photopolymer Stamp Set
	Very useful set!
7.Number Of Years Photopolymer Stamp Set
	I've made some awesome cards with this set and it's pricier, so great to get 20% off of this one!
8.Oh, What Fun Photopolymer Stamp Set
	A very useful Christmas sentiment set.
9.Touches Of Texture Clear-Mount Stamp Set
	I love the artistry you can achieve with this set!

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

Star Of Light Photopolymer Stamp Set [142110]	Silver Glimmer Paper [135314]	Night Of Navy 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100867]	Soft Sky 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131203]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]
Night Of Navy Classic Stampin' Pad [126970]	Versamark Pad [102283]	Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad [131181]	Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad [126962]	Stampin' Spritzer [126185]
Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder [109131]	Heat Tool [129053]	Starlight Thinlits Dies [141840]	Everyday Label Punch [144668]	Big Shot [143263]
Precision Base Plate [139684]	Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets [144106]	SNAIL Permanent Adhesive [104332]