Rose Garden for Pals Paper Arts

I'm a little preoccupied today, as I try to decide what I will be ordering from the new Annual Catalogue, through the Demonstrator PreOrder Program. It's important to have a strategy, especially this year, because the 2016/17 Annual Catalogue is epic! It's amazing! Start saving up your pennies loonies and toonies because you're going to need them. You might consider a second mortgage even, or at least selling off one car. You're going to be holed up in your craft room anyway - you won't want to be driving anywhere! But seriously, I haven't squealed this many times looking through the catty in a long, long time! I can hardly wait until my order comes in so I can give you some sneak peeks!

My Technique Night Classes are on this week and the theme is Mother's and Father's day (with alternate sentiments available)! I needed one more sample and decided to get out the Rose Wonder stamp set and Rose Garden Thinlits. These two coordinating sets come in a bundle, and if you're seriously thinking of ordering them, do it before the end of May. Although they are not retiring themselves, the bundle will be. Stampin' Up! has a new policy regarding bundles. Products will be bundled only as long as the catalogue they are first featured in is current. They will not be bundled in subsequent catalogues. Which means you should be getting any bundles from the current Annual Catalogue or Occasions Catalogue before the end of May.

This card was designed roughly using the sketch from the Pals Paper Arts Challenge this week:

• The roses, die cut with one of the Rose Garden Thinlit Dies, represent the two front panels. They are mounted on some Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper. I was going to use the piece that has those beautiful shaded roses on the front, but the die cuts got lost with that paper, so I found a more subdued design from the same package and I liked the way they became much more visible.
• I die cut the roses from a Silver Foil Sheet and some Blushing Bride cardstock. I used the Precision Base Plate to do it. If you don't have a Precision Base Plate yet, you're going to want to get one. The number of intricate (and really beautiful) dies in the new Annual Catalogue has increased exponentially and you will have so much better success at getting all the little pieces fully cut when you use it.
• I added a piece of Sahara Sand Lace Trim to the bottom, because the card just seemed to need something else.
• The sentiment, from the And Many More set, which is retiring come June, fits perfectly inside the label stamp from Rose Wonder, and then you can die cut them using the label framelit from Rose Garden.

Only one month until this new Annual Catalogue goes live, and you're going to want your own hard copy of it so you can plan your strategy. Regular customers will have a copy delivered in their next order, so the fastest way to get one is to place an order with me. Otherwise, let me know that you would like a copy and I will mail you one (or hand deliver if you're in my area) for just the cost of postage.

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

Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set [140697]	Rose Wonder Photopolymer Bundle [140804]	And Many More Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134276]	And Many More Wood-Mount Stamp Set [134273]	Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper [138444]
Silver Foil Sheets [132178]	Sahara Sand 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121043]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]	Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101650]	Blushing Bride 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131198]
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [131172]	Sahara Sand 7/8" (2.2 Cm) Lace Trim [137866]	Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments [119247]	Rose Garden Thinlits Dies [140619]
Big Shot [113439]	Precision Base Plate [139684]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

Quick and Cute with You've Got This!

I just held a Quick and Cute Night class which doubles as a Beginner's Class. I love introducing new people to stamping and the idea that they can be creative without the need to be able to draw! I love the look on their faces when they stamp their first image and the pride in their voices when they look at the finished product! It's heady stuff! And it's fun designing Quick and Cute cards for these classes. I like to use a showy stamp and I steer clear of all but the simplest Big "Shotting" (yes, that's a verb!), opting more for punches to shape my paper.

The layout of this card was inspired by, but not strictly adhered to, a Mojo Monday Sketch:

This was the sketch for last week, so I am not entering the challenge, just using it as a design guide. In fact, Card Challenge sites are a great source of inspiration for your card making, even if you don't enter the challenges. Check out the ones I participate in regularly on the left side bar or just google card making or stamping challenges - there are dozens of them.

• The stamp set, You've Got This, is a good showy stamp set to use in a beginner's card. They don't have to colour it in for it to look good and the sentiments use a wonderful font. Here the flower is stamped in Blushing Bride and Crumb Cake, although you can't see much of the stem and leaves.
• The flag is made from paper in the Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack. This will be retiring at the end of May and will only be available until supplies last, so get it soon if you like it. The background DSP is from Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper. It is a favourite of many and will likewise be retiring.
• Good old Decorative Label Punch! It was one of the first I bought and it's still going strong, making a return appearance in the new Annual Catalogue! I stamped the sentiment on Blushing Bride cardstock and punched it out, then punched out another Decorative Label shape in Basic Black cardstock and mounted it just below and to the right of the Blushing Bride label, like a shadow.

So I said I'd share with you some of a game we played at my Celebrate Sale-A-Bration Event, held last Saturday. In this quiz, you have to change 1 letter in each word to make the name of a Stampin' Up! product.  For example - You're Not Thin becomes You've Got This by changing the v to an r in the first word, the n to a g in the second word and the n to an s in the third. Now see if you can figure out the next 5:

Baler's Twins _____________________________

Pig Show Dig Brush ______________________________

Rote Ponder ______________________________

Lumber or Yearn ____________________________

Tip Lap Top ______________________________________

Leave me the answers in the comments! Have fun! I'll share some more another time.

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

You've Got This Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139575]	You've Got This Wood-Mount Stamp Set [139572]	Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper [138444]	Love Blossoms Designer Series Paper Stack [140548]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]
Blushing Bride 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131198]	Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101650]	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [131172]	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [126975]	Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931]
Decorative Label Punch [120907]	Banner Triple Punch [138292]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

Number of Years - Timeless Elegance

I'm really rather excited this week because two of my daughters and their families are coming home for Easter! I'll get to see my girls and their hubbies and four of my five grandbabies!

These four and...

...these four!

And I'm getting the house ship shape for their arrival, including major baby-proofing! And I'm also directing a minor drama at our church for Easter Sunday, so we have rehearsals this week.

 I'm trying to complete prep for my Birthday Stamper's Dozen on Wednesday evening early to be a bit ahead of the game. I had one more card to design today, so I got out the Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper and the Number of Years stamp set to see what I could come up with that would be simple enough for customers to make multiples of and would be pretty and elegant.

• I decided to go with a tried and true colour scheme with Basic Black, Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride and Very Vanilla. It gives such a delicate, but vintage feel to your projects.
• Number of Years stamp set seems dominated by those large, lovely numbers, but there are other elements that are equally lovely that may get overlooked. Look at the awesome font of the Happy Birthday sentiment! And then there's the plant with separate flowers so you can stamp them different colours. So cute! Take a second look at this stamp set! You might find that there's more than meets the eye!
• A little Sahara Sand Lace trim adds another touch of elegance to the card and some pearls seem like the right embellishment for this design.
• The colour on the flowers is sponged there with Blushing Bride ink and Stamping Sponges!

It's Tuesday! Time for new Weekly Deals!!

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

Number Of Years Photopolymer Stamp Set [140653]	Number Of Years Photopolymer Bundle [140811]	Timeless Elegance Designer Series Paper [138444]	Sahara Sand 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121043]	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045]
Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101650]	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708]	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [131172]	Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad [126976]	Sahara Sand 7/8" (2.2 Cm) Lace Trim [137866]
Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments [119247]	Ovals Collection Framelits Die [129381]	Big Shot [113439]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]	Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]
Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]