Stamp Review Crew - Picture Perfect

It has been entirely too long since I've joined the lovely Stamp Review Crew team for a blog hop!  I'm so glad to be back with some of my favorite stampers to showcase Picture Perfect from Stampin' Up!  If you are new to the Stamp Review Crew hop, we are a group of international stampers that highlight a particular stamp set on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month.  I don't always have the set we are featuring - which has been the case for the last month and a half it seems!

Anyway, we are back to show you this beautiful set from SU! that features 2-step stamping and lots of pretty sentiments.  You can click on the image below to learn more! :)

The roses are my favorite in this set, so I chose to highlight them.

I also wanted to make a really girly card for a friend that just received some crappy news last Monday.  I met Jeanne during leadership school while we were stationed in Alaska.  She is currently still serving in the military - active duty - and is stationed on the west coast.  Sadly, at the age of 33, she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

I already thought she was a tough person - she's constantly running half and full marathons, has faced deployment and lost her mother a few years back.  I want her to know I will be praying for her!  

Will you join me?

I made a similar card for my stamp class using a different set, but I liked the layout and the shabby chic look so I decided to use it again.  Plus, I don't think I'll get tired of these Stitched Shapes Framelits. You can see that card here.

I love the "hope like crazy" sentiment in this set.  I stamped the image on the background and on a piece of Sweet Sugarplum as a focal point.

The roses were made with Pink Pirouette & Sweet Sugarplum (middle layer stamped off once).

I also added the "dream without fear" sentiment on the inside with another rose.

I hope that you like this card as much as I do.  I hope it brings a smile to Jeanne's face too.  Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

Be sure to continue on the hop!  There is a lot of talent in the group that I know will inspire you with the Picture Perfect stamp set!  You can go back to see my fellow Artisan teammate (Martha) or head on to the amazing Bruno B.!  Thanks for joining me today! Have a wonderful week!

-Holly 

     

In Everything Give Thanks - TGIFC82

Well here we are less than a week until Thanksgiving and the "fall" feeling will soon be replaced with Christmas music, holiday decorations and shopping.  Oh yeah and that white cold stuff falling out of the sky!  Today we are supposed to have our first snow fall here in Minnesota.  They're actually calling for 3-5" of snow!  So much for easing into it with some flurries. 

So to celebrate the beautiful season of Autumn one last time - we have a fall theme at TGIF Challenges this week!  Or leaves, or brown/yellow/orange.  Whatever you get out of this challenge, go for it!

We were so happy to see 20 challengers this past week! What a great turnout! :)

I had this idea in my mind to make a cornucopia with a new stamp set... I just couldn't get the ice cream cone to look right.  I was way overthinking things - but thought it'd look cute with the pumpkins and gourds.  I decided to just use this bunch of pumpkins and gourds from the Basket of Wishes stamp set and nix the cornucopia idea...

If you don't know by now, Banner Blessings is a very special set to me.  I was fortunate enough to create this stamp set for Stampin' Up! to produce.  It was a very awesome and rewarding opportunity!

I fussy cut the banner from the stamped image and covered the bottom of the pumpkins.  I actually drew in the bottoms of the pumpkins and gourds with my Project Life Journaling Pen and colored the images with my Blender Pens.

I used the Moroccan DSP for the edges of the card and finished the card off with some Delightful Dijon 5/8" Mini Striped Ribbon, Gold Metalic Thread and the Metallic Enamel Shapes.

I hope that you join us this week!  We love to see your work!

Have a blessed weekend!

-Holly

Sorrow for Snooki - GDP062

When my mother visited 2 weeks ago, I asked her to bring a few stamp sets and dies that I don't own.  One of the sets I asked her to bring was Better Together:

Unfortunately, as it always goes, we ran out of time and didn't get to sit down to stamp much.  I was able to stamp a few of the sentiments on some Whisper White CS, knowing I would use them later.  I really liked the sympathy sentiment and that's where today's card came into play.

My dear friend Tina - Tina's Crop Shop - recently lost her dog Snooki.  He wandered off and unfortunately when they found him, it was not the result they had hoped for.  So I thought I would send this card to Tina and her husband.  

The colors are a little more cheerful which I think can sometimes brighten the sorrow.  And the sketch is from the Global Design Project.  I was chosen last week to be their next guest designer for the color challenge - seriously, what an honor! I think GDP is packed full of talented challengers - you never know who's going to pull off the win!  Every time I checked back throughout the week I found a new favorite of mine.  Anyway, you can click on the image below to take you to the challenge site.

The main layer on this card was actually a piece that I almost threw away the other week.  It didn't turn out how I wanted so I ended up just coloring the whole piece with my Aqua Painter and Rich Razzleberry ink.  I set it off to the side of my table and thought it'd get around to it later.  Yay for scrap pieces!!

The color combo for this card is Basic Black, Basic Gray, Rich Razzleberry and Peekaboo Peach.

It's never easy to lose a pet.  We had our 3yo son tested for allergies this week because he has patches of eczema on his legs.  After some testing of various pollens and foods, we find out he has a small allergy to cats.  (Like, so small it barely made any indication - but it's still there). It made me really stop to think about how important pets are in our lives.  We have a cat named Snickers that has been in our lives for 9 years and I know it will be so tough on the kids and I (husband not so much) when we have to say goodbye to her.

Okay, now someone please leave me a happy comment!  Tell me something funny about your pet.  I feel like Sadness from Inside Out has taken over my blog... 

Creation Station Blog Hop - Give Thanks!

Happy Sunday and welcome to our Creation Station blog hop!  It's been 2 months since I've participated in this hop and I missed it!  We are a group of international SU! demos that blog on the first Sunday of the month.  This month we are sharing our "give thanks" ideas for you - just in time for Thanksgiving here in the states.  If you're outside of the US, no worries!  There's plenty to be thankful for, right?

So I wanted to share with you today 3 things that I made really quick with the Vintage Leaves stamp set, the Leaflets Framelits Dies, Large Letter Framelits and a few other accessories.

I bought this Indian corn from a local farmer on Thursday.  $1 each.. Guess that's a Buck-an-ear right? :)  I loved the colors and detail in each ear of corn, but I narrowed it down to these three.  I tied them together with some heavy duty jute and finished it off with some Delightful Dijon 5/8" Mini Striped Ribbon, Linen Thread and a few sponged leaves.  

I also cut some letters the other day to make a little banner.  My mom was so kind of have accidentally leave them at my house.  I got a few things precut before I shipped them back!  I guess I'll have to order the Large Letters Framelits soon!  I can already tell they'd be worth the cost!

Again, just kept it super simple with Linen Thread and the Delightful Dijon 5/8" Mini Striped Ribbon (which I cut it half to make little ties on the end).

Lastly, I got a head start for our Thanksgiving dinner "place cards".  This year we will be hosting Thanksgiving - 21 total family members - so I have a little work to do.  These are just mini "bags" that I made using Delightful Dijon Cardstock (cut to 4"x11") and the Gift Bag Punch Board.  I stamped the cardstock using Gorgeous Grunge in Soft Suede and Crumb Cake.  I added the same ribbon, a few sponged leaves, some Warmth & Cheer DSP, an initial for each person layered on an Stitched Shapes Framelits Oval.  The name is stamped with the Labeler Alphabet stamp set.

So there you have it!  I hope this puts you in a thankful (or fall) mood!  Don't stop here - make sure you make your way around the hop!  Pin your favorites and leave some blog love!  We love to hear from our readers :)

If you feeling like going back - you will find the talented Kathy Kartak from Faithful INKspirations, or you can head on to the next with the lovely Mikaela Titheridge from The Crafty oINK Pen!

Again, thank you for stopping by!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

-Holly

   

Oh, JOY! Tin of Tags highlight

For the month of November, Stampin' Up! is offering 9 stamp sets that coordinate with the new Stitched Shapes Framelits at a discount of 25% off .  One of the sets is called Tin of Tags and it is perfect for holiday gift tags.  It is the set in the bottom right corner.

This set is versatile and is perfect for cards too!  Here are 2 cards that I made using the Tin of Tags set, Gorgeous Grunge and the Large Letters Framelits.

For this card, I took a piece of Soft Sky Cardstock and embossed it with the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  For the stars around the circle, I placed the circle down first and stamped around it with Dapper Denim Ink.  I added some stars in Crushed Curry Ink, and some Soft Sky splatter from the Gorgeous Grunge set.  I then took the letters that I cut from the cardstock and layered them onto the largest circle from the Stitched Shaped Framelits.  

The "to the world" part of the sentiment was colored with the Dapper Denim Stampin' Write Marker and added to a piece of Crushed Curry Cardstock punched out with the Medium Star Punch.  A little bit of Dapper Denim Ruched Ribbon and this card was complete! 

For the "negative" card - I simply took the cutout of the JOY letters and used this as a layer.  I did plan this ahead when I laid the framelits on the Big Shot.  I don't like to waste paper! haha!

The card base is the Thick Whisper White CS - perfect for card bases.  I stamped snowflakes, stars and splatter again using the same colors in the other card.  I added Stampin' Dimensionals to the Soft Sky layer to pop it up and wrapped the bottom of the card with the Dapper Denim Ruched Ribbon. 

I love this set for Christmas tags, but I really enjoy when stamp sets can give you more bang for your buck.  Tin of Tags is certainly a set that you can get both cards and tags out of with little effort!

If you'd like to take advantage of this current promotion, you can save 25% through the end of November!  If you're placing an order for less than $150, please use hostess code KFHZAVUZ at checkout.

Have a wonderful weekend!  Be sure to check back tomorrow for the Creation Station Blog Hop.  It's a "thankful" theme!

Blessings,

Holly 

Make the Switch to Stitch! - New Stitched Shapes Framelits Highlight

I remember when my mother would make hand-sewn cards - the embroidery ones with a needle and thread.  I always thought they looked so neat and you could certainly see the love in every detail.  That was before she started stamping but there's still something neat about thread and cardstock.  I like to sew on cards too, but like I mentioned a few posts back, my sewing machine has been down for the count for a few months.  Thankfully, my mom fixed it and Stampin' Up! has come up with an alternative to a sewing machine!

SU! has released (early) the Stitched Shapes Framelits.  These framelits will be in next year's catalog but for some awesome reason, they're available now! These framelits work well enough on their own - or they can be paired with our Layering Circles, Squares and Ovals Framelits.  

Here are 2 cards that I made with the Merry Mice stamp set (on sale right now for $12.75!)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the two cards and which one you like more!

To make life even better, Stampin' Up! has 9 stamp sets marked down 25% through the end of the month.  They all coordinate with these framelits so nicely!  You can find out pricing here. 

I will be sharing more ideas with you over the next few weeks of the stamps on sale and the new stitches. 

(I'm really trying to hold back from sharing the awesome new stuff that is in the upcoming Occasions and Sale-a-Bration catalogs.)

Thank you for stopping by today!

Have a wonderful night!

-Holly

***Current hostess code is KFHZAVUZ -  If you order the Stitched Shapes Framelits using this code, I will send you a pack of Enamel Dots!***

An Exciting Announcement & Sneak Peek!

Last Monday night my parents drove to Minnesota from Pennsylvania for a week long visit.  My mom and I had wanted to attend OnStage earlier in the year and we had put it off too long.  When I told her I was able to find 2 tickets, they planned their visit around last Saturday so that I could attend OnStage with my mom (who is also my upline).  I had a little surprise I was bursting at the seams to share with her! We drove to Madison Friday and had a nice mother/daughter visit and then Saturday we had some more fun!

I am so honored and privileged to have been named on of the new members of Stampin' Up!'s Artisan Design Team!!! This is such a dream come true and I am still on cloud 9!  If you are unfamiliar with the Artisan Design Team (ADT), Stampin' Up! selects a limited number of demos worldwide from submissions of cards, project life pages, etc.  There are 20 demos worldwide (7 from the US).  To be chosen by SU! to make samples for the blog hop and SU's homepage is so amazing and humbling!  For my friends that didn't make it this year - keep reaching for your dream! <3

Isn't this box gorgeous?!

I received a beautiful bracelet too!

And honestly, my favorite thing - this personalized stamp! Whoop whoop!

I shared the excitement in Madison with Mindy B too who was also named an Artisan!  So well deserved too!  Love her!

I also got to see some great stamping friends (but we've never met in person!)

Lori Brausen, Dena Rekow, Marisa Gunn and Becky Cowley

I want to thank my husband (who will most likely never read this) for being my biggest support!  My mother has been a very close second and I'm so grateful for her too!  Thanks to all my customers and online friends that have encouraged me along the way!  I cannot wait to share with you the exciting products SU! is releasing soon!

In fact, do you want to see a sneak peek??

I won a beautiful new stamp set called Beautiful You.  It has some great sentiments and 3 pretty sketched girls.  It reminds me of an old set - Seaside Sketches?  I knew I wanted to play along with it and the new Stitched Shapes Framelits as soon as I got back home.  Here is what I came up with using the color challenge from the Global Design Project.

When I first saw this set pop up on the Prize Patrol screen, I was kind of hoping my letter wouldn't be called - but boy am I delighted it was the set I won!  This set gets better then more I look at it.  I can't wait to create more with it!  For these two cards, I used a sheet of Emerald Envy DSP from the Fiesta DSP pack.  I also wanted to highlight the new Stitched Shapes Framelits.  The girl is actually framed with the largest square framelit but I "stretched" it by only cutting half at a time and elongating it.

My favorite sentiment from this set is this one.  So so pretty!

The other perk about having my mom here to visit is that she was able to fix my sewing machine!  Love the look of real stitching mixed with the faux stitching. :)

Here is another version of the card - a little simpler.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  

Be a blessing,

Holly