Not everyone will appreciate my sense of humor....

But I think this card in darned funny. As soon as I saw this set I thought "that Rhino looks just a little too happy". His cheesy grin just cracks me up. I could not resist making this card, and hopefully most of you will enjoy it and appreciate the humor. And those that don't - well, the colors and layout are nice - right? LOL

This was created with our new Zoofari Set - I think it is simply adorable. Yes, it will make great kids cards too!

The ingredients for this card
Stamp Sets: Zoofari, Rough Edges Alphabet
Paper: Watercolor paper, Soft Sky, Sky DSP, Blue Bayou, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Going Gray, Close to Cocoa
Ribbon: Taupe
Accesories: Aquapainter, Ticket Corner Punch, Sponge Dauber, Dimensionals, Earth Elements brads.

Petal Pickings...

These are some samples of another FABULOUS new set...SO cute! Pick a Petal is an assortment of different sized and patterned petals to build your own flowers - I can see me doing a ton of scrapbook pages with this set! I have my fingers crossed for some designer paper to coordinate.

Ingredients for this first card:
Pick A Petal - outline petal and flower center
Hugs and Wishes
Prints Designer Papers in Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Almost Amethyst and Rose Red. Cardstock in Certainly Celery, Rose Red and Basic Black. Ink in Basic Black, and Black grosgrain ribbon.

This set is so much fun to play with! And I really love these prints designer papers!



This next sample is an accordian album made with chipboard coasters - super simple and an easy gift idea. I am thinking of doing this as a make n take at my open house.

Ingredients: Pick A Petal
Vases in Vogue (new hostess set)
Prints Designer papers in Certainly Celery and So Saffron. Cardstock in Certainly Celery, Purely Pomegranate, and Whisper White
Ink in Purely Pomegranate. White Grosgrain Ribbon, Celery button.


I LOVE the new IN COLORS, and I am leaning toward Pomegranate as my favorite - but we'll see, the Soft Sky and Bayou Blue are pretty fabulous too...and the Wild Wasabi...and the Groovy Guava...OKAY, I like them all. But watcha think? This Purely Pomegranate is pretty great, huh?



For this next card, I decided to include a little sparkle. It is hard to see in the photo, but the petals and flower center are embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the centers of the flowers in the background, and one of our new Rhinestone Brads to the flower center.

This ingredients for this one: Pick a Petal and
Vases in Vogue stamp sets.
Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Close to Cocoa and Whisper White.
Ink: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Close to Cocoa
Iridescent Ice EP, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Rhinestone Brad.



As if this adorable new stamp set were not enough...get this...this set has CHIPBOARD that coordinates. What a great way to add dimension to a card or scapbook page.

For this card I used: Pick a Petal, Hugs and Wishes, Vases in Vogue stamp sets,
On Board Blossoms and Basics chipboard,
Cardstock in Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip. Ink in Groovy Guava and Chocolate Chip.
White Grosgrain ribbon, Corner Rounder, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Mat Pack, Paper Piercer and White Signo Gel Pen

New Stuff!

One of the best things (well, okay maybe THE best thing) about being a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! is that I get to order a selection of NEW catalog merchandise early. I am so excited and anxious about the arrival of our new catalog in just 2 weeks! But I do have a few brand new items that I am working on making samples of before my NEW CATALOG INTRODUCTION open house on July 6th. All I can say is WOW! These sets have already made it to my "favorites" in just a few days - I am having so much fun with them, and they are truly
fantastic.

This card is made with my FAVORITE of the new sets so far...Baroque Motifs. I also used the coordinating patterned paper (yummy!). I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this set - It is so elegant, versatile, and easy to use! On this card I used Chocolate Chip and the new In Color cardstock River Rock, along with the Baroque Designer paper. I embossed the images on this card, using Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and Clear EP, accented with some "flirty" ribbon, and used a sponge dauber to soften the edges with Close to Cocoa ink.

This set lends itself so well to embossing - my heat gun is getting lots of lovin' these days! This next card is a super simple but elegant design for a wedding card. I used Elegant Eggplant cardstock, embossed in Silver Detail EP, cut out the detail and mounted on Brushed Silver cardstock, accented with White Wide Organdy ribbon. SO Simple, but I really think that this set is so spectacular, that you really don't need to do much to make a beautiful card.

In The Beginning...

So, I have decided to start a blog. Why you ask? Well, obviously because I have so much extra time and energy on my hands, I needed something to keep me busy,of course.
Honestly, I wonder whether I will be able to make blogging work, since my time in so limited, but I really want to give it my best effort. My goals for blogging are to create a place where my customers can come for ideas, inspiration and information any time. I also hope that it will serve to motivate me to challenge myself. I often find that I spend my available free "crafting" time preparing for workshops and classes, and not nearly as much time as I would like creating. I hope that having the goal to maintain this blog will help to keep me challenging myself to create the type of work that I can be proud of of eager to share with others. I also hope to inspire you (meaning anyone who ventures to read this) to try new things, to use your stamps and tools, be open to new color combinations, and eager to learn about new products and tools.

I don't know a lot about computers, and blogging is completely new to me, so I will keep the technical stuff on the simple side for a while. I hope to learn as I go, so watch for changes and growth in the future. My 12 year old son is learning as well - I expect him to surpass me quickly and then teach me all he knows!