Sale-A-Bration Last Call Adventure

It's the Last Call to get FREE Stampin' Up!® products - offer expires Friday March 22, 2013!

And, it's a Stampin' Llamas Blog Hop!  If you haven't arrived from Marsha's Coffepot Cafe you can go back with the Previous button found at the bottom of this post.  You will also find button-links to go to the Next hop page at Stephanie's Please Pass the Snail or to the Stampin' Llamas blog hop Home page, which has a list of all the stops.

Just look at the adorable and useful Petite Curly Label punch you can earn FREE with any $50 order:

stamp set - One in a Million; ink - Basic Black; card stock - Basic Black, Naturals White, So Saffron; punches - Itty Bitty Shapes, Petite Curly Label, Curly Label; 1/8" taffeta ribbon - Basic Black; Big Shot with Finishing Touches edgelit

 

My "assignment" for our team meeting this weekend was "wedding or shower" so naturally I remembered the way the Itty Bitty heart shape fits perfectly on the Petite Curly label; with the coordinating Curly Label, they were perfect for the Paper Players sketch, which in turn had the perfect spot for the ribbon "dessert" option for the Dynamic Duos Black Tie color challenge! (Slightly less perfect is my timing, since Dynamic Duos challenges end at noon Thursdays...)

 

 Your $50 order could include the fabulous new Cloudy Day Textured Impressions embossing folder, the Ovals Collection Framelits, the 48-piece Print Poetry designer series paper stack or Pool Party Core'dinations card stock and Stampin' Sanding System  from the Spring catalog, or any of other items shown below (available from the big annual catalog):

 

stamp sets - Everybunny, Teeny Tiny Wishes; ink - Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, Not Quite Navy, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit; Stampin' Write Marker - Raspberry Ripple; card stock - Not Quite Navy, Pool Party Core'dinations, Very Vanilla, Watercolor paper; designer series paper - Print Poetry; punches - Large Oval, Extra-Large Oval; Big Shot with Large Scallop edgelit, Ovals Collection and Bitty Banners framelits; AquaPainter, Stampin' Sanding System, Stampin' Dimensionals 

I was at a big crafts supplies store this weekend and these little 4"x4" canvasses were on sale. There was a collage-style sample with a large chipboard initial.  I thought I might make one similar for my friend's birthday, but when I got started, I made a few changes.  Instead of a collage, I thought a quilt style would be more meaningful, since her mother taught us to quilt.  Then, instead of her initial, this phrase from the Feel Goods set in the Spring Catalog reminds me of her:

stamp set - Feel Goods; ink - Versamark; Stampin' Emboss® powder - Black; card stock - Vellum; designer series paper - Pear Pizzazz (retired); Big Shot with Labels Collection framelit and Honeycomb embossing folder

 

I used a retired color, but any Color Collection Designer Series Paper Stack will work - each color in the collections includes all four designs!

 

You can find more Spring and Sale-A-Bration inspiration at Stephanie's blog - please hop on:

 

Easter adventures

I was preparing for Stamp-a-Stack and went web-surfing through challenge blogs looking for a spring color palette.  I thought I was looking for something with Calypso Coral, but I think the suggestion at Color Throwdown worked even better:

stamp set - Delightful Dozen; ink - Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Pink Pirouette; card stock - Certainly Celery, Pink Pirouette, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla; punches - Bird Builder, Extra-Large Oval; Big Shot with Framed Tulips textured embossing folder and Apothecary Accents framelit; Stampin' Sponges

Then I thought it was time to try a bit of watercoloring, but since my skills in that area are still beginner-level, I wanted a small, simple image, which then needed a frame (as suggested at  Less is More) to make it stand out:

stamp set - Everybunny; ink - Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, Pool Party, PrimrosePetals, Raspberry Ripple, Summer Starfruit; Stampin' Write marker - Raspberry Ripple; card stock - Watercolor, Raspberry Ripple, Naturals Ivory; designer series paper - Print Poetry; Big Shot with Ovals Collection and Window Collection framelits; AquaPainter

These cards will be repeated at Stamp-a-Stack Saturday March 23, as well.  The tulips card can be made as a birthday or Mother's Day card if you don't need many Easter cards.  There are two other designs, so we'll be making eight cards for only $10.

unsuccessful adventure

How do you define success?  I can't always, but when a card makes me think "meh", that is unsuccessful.  When I was creating cards for the blog hop I was also planning to use those cards for Stamp-a-Stack that same weekend, so I wanted to use the die cut element from the first card on a second card.  If I hadn't come down with the flu, we would have made this card:

stamp set - Best of Birthdays; ink - Cherry Cobbler; Stampin' Write marker - Pink Pirouette; card stock - Midnight Muse, Pink Pirouette; designer series paper - Storytime; Big Shot with Labels Collection and Ovals Collection framelits and Perfect Polka Dots textured embossing folder; Stampin' Dimensionals

I was still thinking "meh" when I saw the call for a birthday card for him using the sketch at Seize the Birthday, and that Storytime Label seemed like just the right element, so now the card looks like this:

stamp set - Best of Birthdays; ink - Midnight Muse; card stock - Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla; designer series paper - First Edition, Storytime; punch - Extra-Large Oval; Big Shot with Labels Collection framelits: Stampin' Dimensionals

I like it a lot better (even though I missed the posting deadline at Seize the Birthday), and we'll probably make both cards later this month at Stamp-a-Stack if I can stay healthy.  Since it's fairly masculine and clean and simple, it qualifies at Addicted to CAS.  And don't worry, I saved those pink bits for another card, and possibly another post.

Since I was all flush with success snatched from the jaws of defeat (as it were), I decided it was time to try doubling up on Christmas card challenges.  The lovely Jingle Belles are looking for stickers for Stick-y & Sweet and Lesley is asking for one my favorite color combinations at Merry Monday.  Always Artichoke with Cherry Cobbler brings to my mind the retired designer series paper Deck the Halls first, and it always seems to "want" the retired Christmas Collage stamp.  I also had to dig through my box of "free to a good home" non-Stampin' Up!® paper crafting supplies to find a sticker - it's the little greeting on the Brushed Gold Modern Label:

stamp set - Christmas Collage (retired); ink - Always Artichoke; card stock - Always Artichoke textured (retired), Brushed Gold, Cherry Cobbler, River Rock; designer series paper - Deck the Halls; punch - 1-3/4" circle, Modern Label; Big Shot with Labels Collection framelit; Stampin' Dimensionals, unknown sticker

The original iteration, on a River Rock base, had me thinking "meh" but I kept working with it.  I had the Brushed Gold cut in the Label framelit shape, but it blended into the River Rock background, so I outlined it with my Cherry Cobbler marker, but that wasn't quite enough.  I thought about using Dazzling Details for the outline, but I wasn't sure the "bling" would coordinate with the otherwise vintage style. I cut a Cherry Cobbler framelit shape and considered using it as a shadow style mat, showing at the bottom and one side; I considered splitting it in half so it would mat above and below; finally I just punched the Modern Label shape out of the Brushed Gold.  Better, but still a little "meh", and then I smeared the inside sentiment - badly.  My first thought was to mat a sentiment to cover the blunder, but instead I decided to cut the front off and mat it onto a new base.  I flipped over the smeared back, re-stamped and trimmed it with the Label framelit for the interior:

stamp sets - Bells & Boughs, Scenic Season (retired); ink - Always Artichoke, River Rock; card stock - Always Artichoke, River Rock; Big Shot with Labels Collection framelit

You can see the outline of the unused portion of the framelit where it was under the sentiment piece. I won't try to convince you that I knew it would do that and planned it that way, but I like it as an "echo" of the full shape on the front.  Although it's not likely to be my favorite card this year, I like it a lot better than the first version, so it's not unsuccessful.