Pink and Orange Friends

I'm having a fun play day today, so I was able to do a couple of fun challenges!   For this card, I combined the color challenge from Stampin' Royalty with the sketch challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  Those colors just screamed teen girl to me, so I tried to make a card appropriate for one.   After not liking this stamp set, I've managed to use it two days in a row!

Stamps:  Best Friends Forever
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride
Paper:  Peach Parfait, Melon Mambo, Blushing Bride, In Color DSP stack (retired)
Tools/Accessories:  Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Paper Snips, Basic Rhinestones, Melon Mambo scallop dots ribbon

Drum Roll please....

The Random Generator picked #56 for the winner of my card for last week's blog hop!
LILIANA said...

Two very cute projects! Love that dsp. Thanks for sharing.

Liliana, if you email me your address, I'll get this out in the mail to you! 

colourQ 109: BFF

I didn't think I was going to get anything made for this week's colourQ challenge, so this post is a bit of a miracle.  :)   I worked on ideas for hours yesterday and couldn't get them in the right combination to look right.  I LOVE anything with a retro feel, so I was very disappointed in myself.    I failed miserably at the challenge AND the new recipe I tried turned out horrible and had to be thrown out.  

This morning I woke up determined to have a better day and headed off to my room to make something for the challenge...successfully this time!    I put aside everything I had tried yesterday and started fresh.   I grabbed a stamp set I hadn't used yet and started putting together different ideas until I finally felt like I had something I could actually post!   (I also made pumpkin bread today to make up for yesterday's recipe disaster.  I hope my club ladies will like it tonight.)

Now of course I made something that was difficult to photograph!   :)   I finally used the Best Friends Forever stamp set that we received at Convention back in July.   It is not once that I would have normally purchases, but since I had it, I thought I'd try inking it up.   I also had to add some Fun Flowers from my favorite die.  I hope you enjoyed my card and will give the colors a chance to work for you!

Stamps:  Best Friends Forever
Ink:  Soft Suede, Island Indigo, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler
Paper:  Island Indigo, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Fun Flowers die, Stripes embossing folder, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch, Brights buttons, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Pumpkin Pie satin ribbon (retired)

Digital Scrapbooking Celebration!

Dates: November 4-7, 2011

Celebrate Digital Scrapbooking Day with Stampin' Up! for a four-day online event designed to introduce more of you to our digital content.  Digital Scrapbooking Day is November 5, but we'll keep the celebration going from November 4-7! The event will include free downloads, blog posts with exciting project ideas all weekend long, and the announcement of the 2011 My Digital Studio Contest winners.

Visit MyDigitalStudio.net to get these free, fun new downloads and find out more about the My Digital Studio program!

Brand-new, never seen before FREE downloads include:

I have found many uses for My Digital Studio and find myself opening it up for so many things!   It will help you design wonderful gifts, make flyers or signs, scrapbook your memories, and let you print out images that you can use on traditional paper crafting projects!     If you'd like to learn more about it, please contact me today to arrange a time to come over and play!  

Hostess Club Card #2

This beauty is the second card we'll be making at my stamp clubs this month.   Isn't it pretty?!  I am such a big fan of Lovely as a Tree.   One of the ladies in my Friday night group mentioned she'd like to try to the Crayon Resist technique so I decided to plan a card with it.   I love how it looks like snow!   I hope you can see it; I didn't want a lot of sponging on my main panel, but of course the more you add, the more the resist will stand out.   I'm really loving this combination of colors for Christmas this year.  I've never been a big fan of Wild Wasabi in the past, but I have to say, I love it right now!

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Woodgrain
Ink:  Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Early Espresso marker
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Garden Green, Naturals White, Cherry Cobbler, Frostwood Lodge designer paper
Tools/Accessories:   white crayon, sponges, blender pen, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

FMS9: Cherry Leaves

It's Freshly Made Sketches day!   Tui designed this fun sketch for us this week; isn't it cool?    Because it is a new month, we also have 2 new featured designers so be sure to stop by and say hello to Lauri and Christy.   

My take on the sketch uses my favorite new stamp set, Gently Falling and one of my favorite new color combinations.   Cherry Cobbler is so fantastic and by using it with neutrals, it really shines!   My friend Ann inspired me to try using vellum to soften the background of my card.   I love the look of it on this one and will definitely be adding it to more cards in the future.   

Stamps:  Gently Falling, Thank You Kindly

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso

Paper:  vellum, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler

Tools/Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice embossing folder, neutrals (or antique) brads, Cherry Cobbler seam binding

FM34: Chocolate Christmas

Lesley has a fun challenge for everyone this week at The Friday Mashup.   The challenge is to make a card using Christmas as theme or to use the colors aqua, chocolate, and white.  As always, you can also choose to Mash It Up and do both!   That's what I did for my card:

Holiday Happiness is one of those sets that I just adore.   It reminds me a bit of the infamous Charlie Brown Christmas tree I think.   I thought it would be perfect for these colors!   I added some bling (aka Dazzling Diamonds and rhinestones) to make it shiny like Christmas should be!   

I hope you'll head over to the challenge blog and check out what the other ladies created to inspire you!   I can't wait to see what you create!  

November Promotions

Stampin' Up! has an awesome promotion for the next 6 weeks!   From today until December 15th, workshop hostesses will receive an extra $35 in hostess benefits for workshops over $350!    Isn't that awesome?!   If you host one and your sales reach the $350 mark, you'll get the normal $50 of free products and the bonus $35 for a total of $85 in freebies!     What a deal!   (Online orders do not qualify, so you'll need to contact me to get those extras!)

In addition, they also extended the Big Shot promotion until November 11th!   There is still time to sign up for your starter kit and get the Big Shot (or $100 in products)!    I'd love to have you join me in this fun adventure, so contact me today for more details. 

Being a demonstrator has been the best thing I've done for myself in a long time.   I have lived in Texas for 9 years now and have always struggled to make new friends.    Thanks to SU, I was able to join a hostess club and find a network of people who share my love of stamping.   Once I signed up as a demonstrator, my network expanded even more and now I have even more friends!   Stampin' Up! events and my blog have also helped me make new friends from all around the world!    

In addition to friends, being a demonstrator is also helping me build up the self-esteem that I've been lacking for most of my life.   It is so rewarding to have people love your designs and enjoy learning about stamping from you.  I get so much positive feedback from my customers and always leave events with a big goofy smile on my face.    It is such a nice change from my old job where I always felt beat down when I left each day.   

Finally,  being a demonstrator and holding events allows me to pay for my own supplies and build up a nice set of tools and products.   This is a bit surprising to me because I initially signed up just for the discount with no real intention of selling anything.   I'm a horrible salesperson and I've had enough of those type jobs to know that.  Thankfully, just doing what I love, stamping, sells the products for me and I can just relax and enjoy the time I'm spending with others.   Stampin' Up! welcomes hobby demonstrators who just want a discount on their own supplies, so if selling isn't your thing, that's okay!    You still get the perks of being a demonstrator like a free monthly magazine, 20% discount on your purchases, advance copies of catalogs, preordering products from the upcoming catalogs, and access to a demonstrator only websites with lots of samples and discussions.    

There's really nothing to lose when you sign up...  You get over $400 in products for the cost of the Starter Kit and all of that is yours to keep no matter what.   I think you'll be surprised at how exciting it is to be a demonstrator and will want to keep going though.   I love it.   I just registered for a Regional event that will be held in San Antonio in January and I'm looking forward to it so much.   I will get to meet some new friends that I've come to love through blogging and email and also reconnect with other friends that I met at Convention back in July.    Being part of the Stampin' Up! family has changed my life for the better and I'm so thankful that the opportunity worked out for me.