Tax-Free Weekend!

If you are like me and hate crowds (and like to shop in your jammies), then I have some great information for you!   You can avoid the rush over crayons and paper this weekend and shop from home for yummy Stampin' Up! products instead!    Oh yeah!   Stampin' Up! is awesome and participates in the sales tax holiday that comes with back-to-school shopping!  Now to the list (as you can see, it is a great time to stock up on adhesives, markers, and other coloring tools!):

Item Number Description   Price

100425 2-Way Glue Pen $    3.50

100902 Dotto Refill $    6.50

101879 Watercolor Pencils (24) $   19.95

102845 Blender Pens (3) $    9.95

103179 Craft & Rubber Scissors $   19.95

103305 Dotto $   12.95

103579 Paper Snips $    9.95

103683 Mini Glue Dots $    4.95

104045 Anywhere Glue Sticks (2) $    3.95

104294 Sticky Strip $    6.95

104331 SNAIL Refill $    4.50

104332 SNAIL Adhesive $    6.95

104430 Stampin' Dimensionals $    3.95

105021 Uni-ball Signo Gel Pen $    3.95

105394 Basic Black Stampin' Write Journaler $    3.50

108360 Craft Scissors $   29.95

110755 Multipurpose Liquid Glue $    3.95

Varies Stampin' Write Marker $    3.50

119700 Subtles Collection Stampin' Write Markers (10) $   28.95

119701 Regals Collection Stampin' Write Markers (10) $   28.95

119702 Brights Collection Stampin' Write Markers (10) $   28.95

119703 Neutrals Collection Stampin' Write Markers (8) $   22.95

119801 2010-2012 In Color Stampin' Write Markers (5) $   14.95

119802 Subtles Collection Watercolor Wonder Crayons (10) $   16.95

119803 Regals Collection Watercolor Wonder Crayons (10) $   16.95

119804 Brights Collection Watercolor Wonder Crayons (10) $   16.95

119805 Neutrals Collection Watercolor Wonder Crayons (10) $   16.95

120962 Stampin' Pastels $   24.95

123002 2011-2013 In Color Stampin' Write Markers (5) $   14.95

If you are in Texas and would like to take advantage of this savings, please have your order to me by 3pm on Sunday OR you can place an online order on my website.   (and of course your order can include anything (including the designer paper from the paper promotion, but only the above items will be exempt from sales tax).  

Drum roll please...

I just realized that I totally forgot to announce my awesome news!    I think it was (well, is) still sinking in for me.  :)   A couple of weeks ago I was moping around feeling sorry for myself because I really, really, REALLY wanted to be on a design team.   I enjoyed my month as guest designer at the Paper Players so much that I wanted to have that challenge and camaraderie every month.   Well, Lesley surprised me last week by asking me to join her new sketch challenge site, Freshly Made Sketches!    Like a silly girl, I cried....and stressed...and then said YES!    I'm very excited and I hope you'll join us for our first sketch challenge on September 7th.   In the meantime, be sure to go visit the new blog and follow us!

Creative Crew Open Sea

Here's the last of my July Creative Crew projects.   I LOVE this stamp set!    I can't believe it will be gone in just a little over 2 weeks.   I hope you have added it to your collection by now; if not, what are you waiting for?   It's THE perfect masculine set and you can buy the equally perfect designer paper to match!   Shoot, you can even buy 3 packs of it and get another one free right now!    What? You don't hoard designer paper?  Really?   Hmm...  Me either.  :o)  

This set uses my absolute favorite color, Island Indigo with two neutrals, Early Espresso and Crumb Cake.    (Doesn't a coffee with some crumb cake sound delish?  We've been following the South Beach Diet for about 2.5 weeks now and I am very sugar deprived.)   Anyway...   I embossed the compass stamp with white embossing powder on watercolor paper and then used my Aquapainter and stamp pad to color the rest of the paper before stamping the ship and travel log in Early Espresso.  While I was at it, I added some personality to my Island Indigo layer by stamping the other images from the set on it.   Isn't it just screaming MAN?  Thankfully it doesn't smell like one!

Stamps:  The Open Sea
Ink:  Island Indigo, Early Espresso, Versamark
Paper:  Island Indigo, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, watercolor paper, Nautical Expedition designer paper
Accessories:  white embossing powder
Tools:  Aquapainter, heat tool

Bright Doilies

This fun, bright card was another one of my Creative Crew designs for July.    We were asked to use some of our favorite new products from the catalog.   I dug in and used tons of new stuff; the Delicate Doilies stamp set, the Flirtatious designer paper, and two of the new In Colors!   (and notice, I did manage to overlap my doilies, but just a tad bit!)  

Stamps:  Delicate Doilies, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight
Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Flirtatious designer paper
Accessories:  Brights buttons, linen thread
Tools:  Dotted Scalloped Ribbon Border Punch (say that three times fast!)

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!   Thanks for stopping by to visit.
~Rita

Pool Party!

I just realized that I haven't posted quite a few of my projects from the July and August Creative Crew challenges.   Not familiar with the Creative Crew?  It's an awesome group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators who work hard each month to design cards for super fun challenges over on Splitcoast Stampers!  We love making sure that there are plenty of cards featuring our wonderful line of products for all to see!   This was a July challenge to use one of the new In Colors.  I chose Pool Party and used my favorite tool and best friend the Color Coach to find the perfect combination for my card.   I seriously couldn't stamp without this thing.  If you don't have it yet, GET IT!   :)

Stamps:  Just Believe

Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Not Quite Navy, Pool Party

Paper: So Saffron, ot Quite Navy, Pool Party, Naturals White

Accessories:  So Saffron Grosgrain ribbon (retired)

Tools:  Paper Piercer, Big Shot, Square Lattice embossing folder

Side Note:  I'm disappointed in the quality of photos on Blogger lately.  If you want to see a better image, you can click on the picture and it will show you a larger, clearer picture.  

Enjoy your weekend! 

Creative Sketches meets Connie & Mary

Please tell me I'm not the only messy crafter out there.   I didn't straighten up after my dinosaur card yesterday, so this was what I found when I went in my room to create today.   Oh my!   It's no surprise that I lose things a lot.   :)

Enough of my messy desk...what do you think about my card?   I combined the colors from the Creative Sketches challenge with the sketch from Create with Connie & Mary and here's what I came up with.   I love these clean and simple cards.   I used to be offended when someone called my card simple (well, I still am sometimes), but I'm learning to deal with it.  :)   It's probably fairly simple to recreate, but the concept and design part is not so simple.

I'm still not a big fan of Raining Flowers, but I have come to love the shape of the big flower.   I just stamp it, cut it out, and use the reverse side.  :)    Now I have fallen in love with Poppy Parade.  It was not a color that I was drawn to at first, but after buying the markers and a pack of the assorted card stock, I think I'm going to have to invest in the ink pad and full pack of it.  Now Peach Parfait is a whole other story...   :)  

I do need to buy some neutrals buttons; I had to pull a retired one out of my stash and it isn't nearly as pretty as the current ones.  

Stamps:  Tiny Tags, Raining Flowers, En Francais
Ink: Basic Black, Poppy Parade
Paper:  Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Neutrals DSP stack, Basic Gray
Accessories:  Basic Gray 3/8 taffeta ribbon (retired), Basic Black button (retired), White Baker's Twine
Tools:  Big Shot, Houndstooth embossing folder, jewelry tag punch, Blossom Petals punch

Hope you are having a wonderful Thursday!
Come again soon,
~Rita

Roar!!!!!

I love this new stamp set!    I couldn't wait to break it out and use it, so here's my card for today's sketch challenge from Splitcoast Stampers.   It was so fun to design and color.   I also used a few other new products, the houndstooth and stripes embossing folders.   Don't you love it?!    My BFF the Color Coach picked out the colors.  

Stamps:  Dinoroar

Ink:  Cajun Craze, Staz-On, Stampin' Up! markers

Paper:  Cajun Craze, Pear Pizzazz, More Mustard, Whisper White, In Color Hostess pack (retired)

Tools:  Big Shot, Stripes and Houndstooth embossing folders, circle punches

I thought I'd share a picture from our yard.  Eli's tree is all bloomed out now.   It always waits for his birthday month to really show how beautiful it is.

Oh sorry...

...did I wake you?  No need for coffee this morning; this bright card should wake you up in a snap!   When I saw the colors of the colourQ challenge this week I knew it would be a difficult one for me.  Tangerine Tango is another color that I struggle to use.  I only hope that it falls in love with my Daffodil Delight and they run off into the sun together one day.   I did get to play with new stuff today, so I was excited about that.  I love new stuff.  :)    (oh, before you start planning an intervention for my Tiny Tags usage, I promise not to use it on the next card.)

Stamps:  Hello Doily, Tiny Tags
Ink:   Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Versamark
Paper:  Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Pool Party
Accessories:  In Color Brads, Pool Party ruffled ribbon, black embossing powder
Tools:  Heat Tool, Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, sponge daubers, jewelry tag punch