World Card Making Day - This Saturday!

I don't know about you, but when I open my mailbox each day and sort through the bills and junk mail and countless credit card offers, I am really hoping to have some happy mail!  Who doesn't love getting a card or letter in the mail that a friend took time to send??

That's one of the reasons I love what I do.  Each month I list family and friend's birthdays in my planner and dedicated some time to make and send cards out.  Sometimes I send a card to to let a friend know I'm thinking of them. (Those are my faves) :)  

To help celebrate World Card Making Day this Saturday, Stampin' Up! has released a few card making staples on sale - up to 25% off - for a short period of time.  Sales period is Oct 1-5th!

138339 - 2015-2017 In Color Card Stock          15% off   $8.00 on sale for $6.80

   141697 - 2015-2017 In Color Envelope Paper    25% off   $11.00 on sale for $8.25

141413 - 2016-2018 In Color Card Stock          15% off   $8.00 on sale for $6.80

   141698 - 2016-2018 In Color Envelope Paper    25% off   $11.00 on sale for $8.25

    133774 - Envelope Punch Board                         25% off   $20.00 on sale for $15.00

    141651 - Designer Tin of Cards Project Kit         25% off   $27.00 on sale for $20.25

129027 - Fast Fuse Adhesive Refill - FREE w/ the purchase of Fast Fuse Adhesive (129026)

Great deals right??

But wait, there is more good news! - how about getting some FREE Designer Series Paper (DSP)?

All October long, for every (3) packs of DSP that you buy, you get a pack free!  This is the best time to stock up on the beautiful designed background paper that really brings life to your cards!  The colors coordinate perfectly with the ink, ribbon and card stock - and some even coordinate with certain stamp sets!

**This sale includes Designer Series Paper from both the annual catalog and the recently released holiday catalog (not including Specialty Designer Series Paper or Designer Series Paper Stacks)**

If you need some ideas on how your DSP can make your cards shine - check this out!

Important info for ordering :)

I will be closing out an order Wednesday October 5th!  If you want to take advantage of these awesome deals from Oct 1st-5th, and will be placing an order for less than $150, please use hostess code: 

FPQYUSUQ

If you are ordering DSP or any other products after October 5th and will be placing an order for less than $150, please use hostess code:

FWBW2VBN

I hope you that you all take a moment Saturday (or even during football on Sunday) to make some cards!  Don't just make them and put them away in a box - make it a point to brighten someone's day!

Blessings to you!

-Holly

Stamp Review Crew - Bonus Hop! Hostess Sets Highlight

Hey! We have a special treat for you today!  We have a bonus hop going on with the Stamp Review Crew. :)  Now usually we only blog on the first and third Monday of the month, but with the new holiday catalog and 2 new hostess sets, we thought we'd do a hostess set highlight!  Right now is a great time to host a party and get some fantastic holiday sets - so why not encourage you to want to earn a hostess set, right??

Here are the current hostess sets that you can only earn by hosting a party and qualifying with a minimum of $150USD in sales.

Now unfortunately, I do not own either of the two holiday catalog hostess sets but if I were to get one, it would be the one right above this - the middle set on the bottom row.  Perfect for the layering circles and ovals.  Today though, I am showing you two cards that I made using the Love Ya Lots hostess set.

Now there are 4 really cute little animal stamps in this set, but these are my two favorite.  Plus, as cute as the hedgehogs are, they aren't made for fussy cutting. :)

Both of these cards also feature the By the Shore Designer Series Paper (DSP).  You don't need to make nautical cards to make these work!

I also planned ahead and cut the Lots of Labels diecut from this card layer towards the top middle, knowing that I could use both pieces.

I stamped the lady bugs on the DSP, the Very Vanilla Layer and also fussy cut it from another scrap piece.  This helps with the little antenna, legs and arms that you don't have to cut.

And who doesn't love ribbon?? It is my absolute favorite accessory for a card <3

I hope you enjoyed my cards!  I know you will enjoy what you see on the hop too!  You can head back to Baks (Heidi, that is!) or on to sweet Betty :)  You pick - just make sure you make you way around the entire blog hop! Pin your favorites and be sure to leave us some blog love - we love to hear from our readers!

Have a great week!

-Holly

   

Grateful for You - TGIFC74

Happy Friday!  We have a fun theme for you this week at TGIF Challenges! Sewing and stitching!  Sewing on cards has been around for awhile, but has been trending lately.  Stampin' Up! even has a Stitched with Cheer Project Kit in the catalog where you get needles and thread to stitch on your cards!  It's super cute and fun to do.

You can use a sewing machine, hand stitch, draw stitch marks or even use some of Stampin' Up!'s stamp sets that have stitching in them.  Wrapped in Warmth and the coordinating Stitched with Cheer stamp sets are two sets in the holiday catalog that have stamps with a stitched look.

There are many ways to play along :)

For me... I wanted to hand stitch. (I need my sewing machine fixed!) Hand stitching is really simple to do.  All you need is thread (or baker's twine), a needle, a paper piercing tool and a foam mat.  

I took Watermelon Wonder Thick Baker's Twine and threaded the leaves.

I added Daffodil Delight splatter, Cucumber Crush leaves and a Night of Navy flower to pull in the colors from the Affectionately Yours Washi Tape.  

I'll be honest and say, this is the first time I've colored like this and I'm so happy with the way the coloring turned out.  It really reminded me of the blendabilities.  To get the blended look, I added rubbing alcohol in my Aqua Painter.  This helps the paper not bleed or tear from getting too wet.  I also used Basic Black Archival ink.

So there you have it :)  Just a little bit of stitching - but it makes for a really neat extra detail.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you join us this week over at TGIF Challenges!

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Holly

Stamp Review Crew - Timeless Textures

Welcome to our second Stamp Review Crew hop for the month! If this is your first time seeing a hop from the Stamp Review Crew - welcome!  We are a group of stampers from all over the globe that highlight a particular stamp set on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month!  If you came from Sue's page - thank you for continuing on to me.

Today we are featuring the Timeless Textures stamp set.  This is a great set for backgrounds, but because the stamps are more accent stamps than anything, I paired this set with the Mixed Drinks set from the annual catalog.

The washi I chose for the set fits perfectly with the - "it's the weekend - let's go!" words.  It is from the Moments Like These Project Life Accessories Kit and the crumb cake washi is from the Wrapped in Warmth Washi Pack.

There are many great stamps in this set.  I am certain that you will love what you see on this hop! Next is the lovely Dawn Tidd and I did get a sneak peek and I can't wait to CASE it!  You could head back to the awesome Sue Plote (um, let's just say SU! Artisan) :)

If you get lost along the way, you can go to the SRC blog's main page!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!

-Holly

Twinkle Trees for GDP053

It seems like I haven't joined in for the challenges over at Global Design Project in awhile, so I thought I would play along in hopes to be a guest designer next month!  There is an insane amount of talent out there and I swear, every time I'm ready to sit down and make something, I see some of my friend's work and think - nah, they got this! There's no point trying :) haha!

But... I do want to play along this week because the color challenge is a tricky one, and I like a good challenge to get my mind going.  I've been trying to come up with some samples with the new Twinkle Trees set and thought this combo would work!

I love this striped washi tape from the Affectionately Yours collection.  A classy look I think. :)  I added Watermelon Wonder with the "bokeh" stamps on the Night of Navy tree.

I added gold embossing powder on top of the tree too.  I should've waited for my navy to dry though.  

(I was working way late - almost midnight... Just a tip for those in a hurry like me - dry your ink!)

I added a cute little star and bow to "top" it off!

The Metallic Enamel Dots were on the special deals last week and I couldn't pass them up.  Tomorrow there will be new deals online along with the HUGE clearance rack that was just updated Tuesday.  Some things are already gone so make sure you get what you want!

If you're ordering less than $150, would you please use hostess code SM4QQ3KS and I will send you a special thank you gift!

Have a great day!

Blessings,

Holly

Spooky Fun Treats!

The weather here in Minnesota has been amazing - still in the 70's but the humidity is gone and you can just feel the cool crisp air! I LOVE FALL and everything about this time of year!

Now you might be easing into fall like most, or diving in with decorations already and stocking up on Halloween candy... like me. haha!

I usually don't get all into Halloween, but now that I have a son in kindergarten, I wanted to think of ideas already for his school treats.  No one in his classroom has any food allergies, so we are able to send anything! So I purchased the Spooky Fun bundle from the holiday catalog and made some fun treats to share with you.  Well... share in a viewing sense.  Sorry you can't have any treats to eat!

This bundle is a really fun one!  I actually thought of just buying the edgelits because I love the tree and fence, but you really do have a great set to pair it with! Here are the treats I made:

These cute Petite Cafe Gift Bags are perfect for a chex mix, popcorn.. any kind of munchies! :)  They are food safe too!

These Clear Tiny Treat Boxes are awesome too! They are tiny but you can certainly put enough candy in them to make it worth it!  Wrapped in the two toned baker's twine, these boxes are a hit!

If you remember the skinny 1x8" cellophane bags that SU! used to sell, you might remember that not much fit inside other than 1 pencil or some m&ms.  The new 2x8" Cellophane Bags are wider and can hold bigger pieces of candy (and a few more fun pencils).

These are quick and easy to assemble.  You get 50 in a pack which should cover a classroom or two of schoolmates.

Have you noticed the new twine on these Halloween treats?  The Halloween Night Baker's Twine comes in a 2 pack (25 yards each) of Basic Black/Basic Gray and Basic Black/Pumpkin Pie.  Here I paired the Black/Gray with Perfect Plum Solid Baker's Twine.

My favorite treat that I made are these ghost sugar cookies.  I had made these cookies for our friend's daughter's 5th birthday party on Saturday and decided to make some ghosts with my leftover dough and icing.  The adorable tags are made with the Tags & Labels Framelits.

I tried to use each "scene" from the stamp set and saved the gravestones for the ghost cookies.  

Isn't it cute??

Last but not least, I wanted to show you a card that you could make with this set too.  This could be something you send to a friend, or a grandchild, maybe even your neighbor?

I just love the tree and fence!  So glad I purchased this bundle.  It has a lot of fun options for Halloween but the fence and tree could go beyond just Halloween.  I will share another "non-Halloween" card with you later this week to show you! :)

I hope you enjoyed all of these projects.  If you would like to get a head start on your Halloween treats, I would love to help you with any SU! need.

Stampin' Up! just released to items on their clearance rack and new special deals start tomorrow (the others end today!).  There is a TON of great items on the clearance that I know will not last long!

If you would like to order through me, please use hostess code SM4QQ3KS at checkout.  I would love to send you a small thank you gift!

Have a wonderful day!

-Holly

Happy Hour for TGIFC72

Happy Friday everyone!  We have a new challenge over at TGIF Challenges.  This one is a fun sketch so I hope you play along! :)

I have a vendor show coming up here in Minnesota.  It's called Market Under Glass and it has a lot of trendy decor, refurbished furniture, wood signs, etc... I'm trying to think of products that will appeal to the younger crowd so I purchased this Mixed Drinks stamp set.  I'm hoping to make a 5pk (not 6pk) of various cards with this set.  I used today sketch to make the first one and I like the way it looks!

I hope you like my card! I would love to hear from you and I would love it more if you joined us this week for the challenge!

Have a great weekend!

-Holly

Eli's First Day of Kindergarten

Wow... did this really just happen?

Our oldest boy just left for his first day of school!

I can hardly believe how fast time has gone when I look at a picture like this.  He melts my heart!

We almost missed our bus! I should've planned a little better to be out there at least 10 minutes early.  We were running down the driveway but Eli was still all smiles. I didn't get to pray WITH him as I had planned, but I covered him in prayers on my walk back. We are so blessed by The Lord with our fun, smiling and caring boy. Eli is happy and now I'm looking forward with some time with our other boys. 

Praising God for all He has done!

My mother is one of the most creative people I know.  I know she would've done this sort of thing for us but I cherish the memory of our "first day of X grade" being written on a plain composition notebook. - nothing fancy - no chalkboards, no pinterest printouts...

But I also love to create and decided last minute that I wanted to make him a sign instead of doing the notebook.  I made this last night at 1030! (yawn!)

I used the Layered Letters Alphabet for my letters.  I sponged the black cardstock with Whisper White craft ink and framed the chalkboard with strips of Soft Suede cardstock that I stamped the Hardwood background stamp on.

I added the cute little apple tree using the Thoughtful Branches bundle.  This was a special only for the month of August, but when I looked last night, this item was still in stock and available.  If you'd like to order your own set, you can order it here.

The "adventure awaits" flag comes from the stamp set Places You'll Go.  

I also stamped this sentiment from the same stamp set.

One other thing that I made was this little lunch box note using the Foxy Friends bundle.  When Eli went to pre-k 2 years ago he had a very special teacher that read this book to the kids on their first day of school.  I had never heard of it, but it became an instant favorite.  We read it again last night and I knew I wanted to make this to remind Eli in the middle of his day that we love him!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  

Blessings,

Holly