Sale-A-Bration! Why am I sale-a-brating?!

So you've just read my 2012 Occasions Mini Wish List post, and now I've got a list running of what I'll get for placing my order...  Gotta love a freebie!

Number One:  Fresh Vintage Stamp Set (page 6).  Lovely images which I'll enjoy highlighting with a bit of paper piercing...

Number Two:  Coordinating Designer Series Paper "Everyday Enchantment" (page 7).  Fabulous!  Offered in some of this year's In-Colors!

Number Three:  Sprinkled Expressions Stamp Set (page 8).  I love the sentiments and negative images!

Number Four:  Outlined Occasions Stamp Set (page 10).  Fun sentiments that scream for coloring with Stampin' Write Markers or Watercolor Pencils teamed with a Blender Pen!

Number Five:  Elementary Elegance Stamp Set (page 15).  I think the key image and sparrow image are my favorite...

Number Six:  One Big Sale-A-Bration CD (page 19)!  Imagine having all of the fun Sale-A-Bration images offered in a digital format!

Drop me a line if you'd like a hard copy of the Sale-A-Bration (or any other) catalog!  Enjoy and Happy Sale-A-Bration!

My Wish List for the New Occasions Mini!

As you can see from my right-hand border, there's a new Mini Catalog on the scene!  Yes, the Occasions Mini has arrived!  I'm making my Wish List (I'll wait to order until I can take advantage of the Sale-A-Bration bennies).


Numero Uno on my list?  I have to say it's the Framelits and Edgelits dies:

These versatile tools (pages 6 and 7) will add pop to any project!

What else am I pining for?  Here are Numbers Two through Ten:

Number Two:  Tea Shoppe stamp set (page 19)!  Oh, how I love a cuppa (one sits steeping next to me as I type)!  I love these images and I *adore* the quote from Louisa May Alcott, who is one of my favorite authors.

Number Three:  Rue des Fleurs stamp set.  A lovely variety of images and sentiments.  I love vintage! Pages 22-3.

Number Four:  Found on the same page in the Mini is the Attic Boutique Designer Series Paper.  Contains a lot of these Rue des Fleurs images, creating some lovely papers for card-making and scrapping.

Number Five:  You're My Type stamp set.  For $13.95, it's a great price for a versatile set.  A sweet manual typewriter is the star of the show, accompanied by all "types" of useful phrases.  I will be using this set A LOT!  See it for yourself on page 27.

Number Six:  Packed for Everything Stamp Bundle (page 39)!  I look forward to using the Spotlight technique with these versatile stamps for cards celebrating all sorts of occasions.

Number Seven:  Sweet Pressed Cookie Stamps "Occasions"...  Our neighbors got to eat my mom's yummy butter cookies, stamped with the sweet snowflake image, which was available in the Holiday Mini.  The good news is that those images are available for purchase in this Mini, as well ("Holidays") on page 40.  We also have three new images to carry us through spring...

Number Eight:  Candy Conversations (page 43).  For $8.95, this is a Valentine stamp that should be on every list.  What a cute and simple way to create Valentine greetings for everyone!

Number Nine:  Mixed Bunch stamp set and matching Blossom Punch.  Oh, so fun!  I can't wait to make layered blossoms (like the one in the sample on page 17).  This will make fun cards and pages for my scrapbook.  Anyone traveling in the tropics?  These would make some lovely tropical-looking blooms!











Finally, Number Ten:  Up in the Air Hostess-only stamp set!  For any merchandise order totaling $150 before shipping and tax, one qualifies for Hostess Dollars.  One of the things exclusive to that benefit is the ability to purchase the Hostess sets (page 5).  I *LOVE* the images in this set!  I also love the beautiful script of the sentiments...  You know how I love a useful set!

Why am I waiting until January 24th to place my order?  Sale-A-Bration benefits, of course!  I'll be posting about my favorites soon...  Thanks for the visit!

{12 Weeks of... WHAT?!}

I am embarrassed...  Back in mid-December, I wrote three final {12 Weeks of Christmas} posts and scheduled them to be published in the final days before Christmas.  The kids would be out of school, so I wanted it to happen automatically while I was busy with them, enjoying the last bit of the anticipation before Christmas.  However...  The posts never published.

Imagine my disgust when I went into my blog to update the banner, buttons and Mini Catalog, only to find my last post from December 15.  Ugh...

I'll publish them now; please enjoy and tuck them away for next year.

Happy 2012!  It's going to be a good one; I can just tell...

{12 Weeks of Christmas}: Week 12 -- Smeby Family Thank You Note

Once again, I've had fun using My Digital Studio to create a card for our family.  MDS is my go-to program for photo Thank You notes.  For example, I like to use a photo from each of my kid's birthdays as the backdrop for their Thank You note for friends and family.


This is our Christmas Thank You picture.  I'll trim it (which is why there's so much blue space below the photo) on the right side and bottom to fit a 4 1/4 by 5 1/2-inch card base.

The background color is one the I chose using the Color Picker function (I wanted it to coordinate with the kids' outfits); I simply guided my mouse over the photo and chose my color.  The snowflakes are from the Season of Cheer stamp set and the pinecone arrangement is from Pines and Poinsettias.  The Modern Label Punch is Always Artichoke and I lowered the opacity to make it translucent (one of my favorite effects to use!).  I've also added a silver brad to the Modern Label punch, as I would to a "hard copy" version.  The "Thank You" comes from one of my favorite sets, Thank You Kindly.  Finally, the photo has a small black mat and as well, I used the "Drop Shadow" effect on it.

Our Christmas Thank You notes turn out to be "hybrid" (which is often the case).  I usually add buttons, ribbon or some other embellishment as well as sometimes mounting it upon two different pieces of card stock for visual interest.  Here, I've simply trimmed the picture and mounted it on a Very Vanilla card base.  I've added a length of Whisper White Narrow Grosgrain and made a Faux Bow and added a rhinestone to the center of the small snowflake on the right.  So simple and just enough "Wow!"

Here are some past Thank You notes I've made with My Digital Studio:

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps:  None

Paper:  Very Vanilla card stock (#101650)

Ink:  None

Accessories:  My Digital Studio (#118108), Whisper White Narrow Grosgrain ribbon (#109025), and Basic Rhinestones (#119246)

{12 Weeks of Christmas}: Week 11 -- Smeby Family Christmas Card

I thought I'd show some photos of how I put together my family's Christmas card...  I make a ton of them, so I need to piece it apart and do it assembly line-style.

I started with a 5.25 x 4-inch piece of Wild Wasabi.  Above, you see it with a piece of Chocolate Chip, run through my Big Shot with the Perfect Pennants Die.  I laced the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding Ribbon through the holes of the die cut...

This is a picture of the pieces of Jolly Holiday Designer Series Paper that I've punched using the Scallop Edge Border Punch.  I've done the same thing below with a piece of Cherry Cobbler card stock before I ran it through the Big Shot in the Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.

The sentiment is from the Petite Pairs set.

The chickadee is stamped again on Very Vanilla, punched with the 1-1/4-inch Circle Punch and then mounted on a circle of Cherry Cobbler, punched with a 1-3/8-inch Circle Punch.  To make it stand out, I colored the holly berries with my Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker.  If I weren't making 150+ of these, I'd probably color the "highlighted" image in it's entirety with Watercolor Pencils.

All in all, this was a manageable card to make.  The optimum way to do this is in phases, like this (just wish I hadn't made them as close to Christmas--I was really cranking them out toward the end!).

Stampin' Up! Supplies:

Stamps:  Beautiful Season (#122680W, #122682C), Petite Pairs (#122495W, #122497C)

Paper:  Wild Wasabi (108641), Cherry Cobbler (119685), Chocolate Chip (102128), and Very Vanilla (101650) card stocks, and Jolly Holiday DSP

Inks:  Cherry Cobbler Classic (119669), Jet Black StazOn (101406), Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker (#119681)

Accessories:  Big Shot (113439), Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (117335), Perfect Pennants Bigz L die (123126), 1-1/4" Circle (#119861), 1-3/8" Circle (#119860), Large Oval (#119855), and Scallop Edge Border (#119882) punches, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding (#112920)

{12 Weeks of Christmas}: Week 10 -- My Digital Studio Christmas Picture

One portion of our family Christmas card is the picture.  These beautiful shots were taken by Yuen Lui, a local photography studio which has photographed everything from our engagement photos to our wedding, to countless pictures of our children.  We've had sittings in their studio, at our home and on-location.  They're terrific!

I like to create a collage with captions in My Digital Studio, have it printed in 4 X 6-format and then trim it to fit into my Christmas card (which is 4 1/4 X 5 1/2-inches).  The images are from the Pines and Poinsettias brush set.  I fiddled with the opacity of my rectangular punches to make them translucent (you'll see that again in our Christmas Thank You note).  I left the big Chocolate Chip bottom border because I'll trim an inch from it.  So simple!

My next post shows you part of my process in creating our family Christmas card.  It's a big job, but it's manageable because I do it assembly line-style...

{12 Weeks of Christmas}: Week 9 -- Belly Band Gift Idea

O, the Belly Band!  How I love thee!  There are so many fun ways to use a Belly Band. In today's {12 Weeks of Christmas} post, I wanted to share a gift idea with you...

This funky origami project is actually a gift card holder!  It's so very simple, uses supplies which are readily on-hand and quick to make with a great WOW factor.

Start with a 4-1/4 by 10-3/4" piece of Always Artichoke card stock.  I scored it (using my FABULOUS Simply Scored tool) at 2-1/4, 3, 3-3/4, and 7-1/4 inches.  I made a careful slit in the 3-inch cut, being sure not to cut all the way across the piece (you're making a slit for the gift card here--note in the picture below that a scant 1/2-inch is left on either side, uncut).  You can easily use your paper trimmer to make this slit.  Add adhesive to the "inside" of the gift card holder part at those uncut places so that it stands up when opened.

Once folded closed, I added a 3-1/4 by 4-inch piece of So Saffron card stock, which I'd run through my Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  I made the sentiment tag using a scrap of Whisper White card stock and the Modern Label punch (do you see how much I love to lop off a side of that punch?  I use it all of the time). 

Finally, the Belly Band...  I created it starting with a piece of Always Artichoke card stock (measuring 9-1/2 by 1-1/2 inches), run through the Big Shot with my new Snow Burst (Holiday Mini) Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  Oh, how I love those snowflakes!  I scored it at 2-3/4 inches and 7-1/2 inches and adhered the flaps to make the band.  

It is adorned with an image from Sweet Season, which I colored with my Always Artichoke and Cajun Craze Stampin' Write Markers.  It's punched with the 1-3/4-inch Scallop Circle and popped up on Stampin' Dimensionals on a piece of Cajun Craze, which I punched with the larger, 2-3/4-inch Scallop Circle.  This piece is adhered to the Belly Band in an off-set manner to give visual interest.  A strand of white Baker's Twine completes the look.

Stampin' Up! Supplies:


Stamps:  Sweet Season (#116471) and Short and Sweet (#115060)

Paper:  Always Artichoke (105119), Cajun Craze (119684), So Saffron (#105118) and Whisper White (#100730) card stocks

Ink:  Always Artichoke Classic (#105219) and Stampin' Write Marker (#105113), and Cajun Craze Classic (#119671) and Stampin' Write Marker (#119678)

Accessories:  Big Shot (#113439), Snow Burst (#124096) and Perfect Polka Dots (#117335) Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, Simply Scored Scoring Tool (#122334), 1-3/4" (#119854) and 2-3/8" (#118874) Scallop Circle and Modern Label (#119849) Punches, Baker's Twine (#124262), Stampin' Dimensionals (#104430) and Stamping Sponges (#101610)

We're closing in on Christmas -- I hope you're able to find time to slow down and enjoy the festive spirit.  Stay tuned for a corresponding video and more {12 Weeks of Christmas} posts!