TGIF Challenges Turns TWO! Let's Celebrate!

We are celebrating a birthday over at TGIF Challenges today!  We are TWO years old already as a challenge site.  I remember playing along with the first challenge - it was a color challenge and I submitted two different cards.  But what is really neat is that Stampin' Up! had both of my cards featured on their homepage!  I may not have won the challenge over at TGIF, but the highlight from SU was huge for me! Fast forward two years and here I am as a design team member.

So much fun!

So since we are celebrating a birthday, we have a fitting challenge theme this week!  Click on the image below to go to our homepage to see the rest of the design team's creations and join the fun this week!

For this challenge I decided to make a birthday card.  It's a little stretch from the "party" theme - but a birthday is a reason to party - so it fits!

This card was actually cased almost to the T from the new catalog.  I won the Special Celebrations stamp set at OnStage earlier this month.  It's a wonderful stamp set with sentiments for both the front and inside of the card.

The flowers are from the Blooms & Wishes stamp set.  If you've followed me for awhile, you may remember that I'm not much of a floral stamp set fan, but this set is my favorite floral set.

I added some Brights Enamel Shapes - both Melon Mambo and Bermuda Bay.

When I made a second card, I decided to add a little bling instead.  (I was also short on the Bermuda Bay enamel shapes!)  I actually like both looks.  

A little shabby and chic - which one do you like best?

I hope that you like the cards I shared with you today.  Please head on over to TGIF Challenges and check out all of the fabulous creations the team made!  You won't be disappointed!

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Holly

Display Stamper Scrapbook Page - Wood Textures Sneak Peek

Earlier this month I was honored to be a Display Stamper for Stampin' Up!'s OnStage event in Minneapolis.  I've been wanting to share my samples with you, but time gets the best of me sometimes.

It's not always easy keeping a house, 3 kids in order and being 22 weeks pregnant.

So please be patient. :)

The scrapbook page that I made for my display board features 3 new items that will be available in the new catalog.  The Wood Textures DSP, the Lovely Laurel Thinlits and some wooden Touches of Nature Elements.  The DSP comes in 6x6 pieces, 4 of each print - so I actually just took 4 of the same pieces and adhered them to a 12x12" piece of cardstock.  You can barely tell it isn't one big sheet!

The Lovely Laurel Thinlits make the cutest banner.  

You can kind of see that the texture/scoring on the "flags".

I decided to use some of the wood accents to frame the circle that I made with the Stitched Shapes Framelits.  I think they add a nice touch to the page.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Holly

Ribbon Of Courage - Sneak Peek

A few weeks ago when I attended OnStage here in Minneapolis, my mom (also my upline) won a new stamp set called Ribbon of Courage.  This stamp set was inspired by Patty Bennett - one of the million dollar sales acheivers.  You can read her story here on why she chose to have a stamp set designed as such.  She also has posted many samples of this set as well.

I created this card earlier this month while my mom was still visiting.  It was nice to share some of the sets we brought home.

I embossed the heart stamps in white and watercolored over them with my Aqua Painter.  I used both Flirty Flamingo and Sweet Sugarplum.

I love this sentiment.   So sweet :)

I hope you like this sample!  Be sure to check out Patty's website to see her samples and read her story.

Have a blessed day!

-Holly

Daisy Delight Sneak Peek

Hello there!  Hope you're enjoying your weekend so far.  Today my husband and I are celebrating 10 years of marriage :)  We do have plans tonight but while we wait for playoff hockey to be over, I thought I'd share some cards I made earlier in the week.

This stamp set is called Daisy Delight and I paired it with the Delightful Daisy and Wood Textures Designer Series Papers (DSP).  

These items will be available in the new Stampin' Up! catalog coming June 1st!

I thought the Wood Textures DSP paired perfectly with this beautiful sheet of Delightful Daisy DSP.  I used the largest square framelit from the Stitched Shapes Framelits to add some extra detail to the DSP.  I added the Night of Navy CS behind with the Layering Squares Framelits.

For the smaller square card, I cut a 4 1/4" base out of Calypso Coral CS.  This card features the new Calypso Coral 1/4" Ombre Ribbon.  The sentiment was stamped in the new color Tranquil Tide - stamped off once to match the lighter DSP colors.

For the third card, I wanted to showcase a new border punch.  This is actually the less "decorative" side of the Decorative Ribbon Border Punch.  The scalloped border is just enough to bring the card all together.

I also split the "...for your kindness" stamp up to wrap around the Y.  This is so easy to do with photopolymer stamp sets.

All of these items I received either through my display stampers box or during the product perchance premier.  These are perks of being a demo!  They will be available to customers in a few weeks!  If you would like to get your hands on new product May 2nd, I would love to have you join my team.  For $99 you can pick $125 worth of product - ANYTHING you want - and you can start getting 20% off all of the stamping supplies that you love!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings, 

Holly

Easy Peasy Polka Dots - TGIFC104!

Happy Friday and welcome to another TGIF Challenge week for me!  I post every other week with the team but I hope you save the site and check in every Friday.  We'd love to see you play along too - you can click on the image below to head on over to the TGIF blog and see all of this week's inspiration from the team.

For today's card I kept it simple.

Very simple.

This is one of the new sets from the catalog called Wood Works.  I took one of the background stamps and used it for my "polka dot" theme.  Quick and easy.  The thank you also comes from the set.  I quite literally took 2 minutes to make this card.  This would be a great one to make in all of the new in colors!

There you have it!  I didn't think I could do a simple card - but I did.  Yay me! haha

Please join us this week and play along!

Have a blessed weekend,

Holly

Oh So Succulent Note Cards - Stampin' Up! Artisan Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the official Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team Blog Hop. We are a team of 20 demonstrators from all over the globe chosen to represent Stampin' Up!.  We hope to inspire you wherever you are in your paper crafting journey!  If you came from the wonderful Dani Dziama, thanks for continuing on to me.  My name is Holly and I live in Minnesota (US).  I hope that you find some inspiration from the team.

Today we are featuring the beautiful Oh So Succulent suite.  I decided to use 5 strips of DSP with various ribbons and embellishments - paired with sentiments embossed in white on black cardstock.  This has been one of my favorite DSPs that SU! has had over the last few years.

If you haven't had a chance to purchase this bundle, I would recommend ordering this as soon as possible!  This is a beautiful set that unfortunately isn't carrying over, but is a great set to own! 

As of last night in the US, the bundle was still available for purchase.  The DSP (low inventory) and stamp set are both 25% off.  Don't miss your chance to get these amazing products!

We hope you take a few moments to go through the ADT hop!  If you get lost along the way, there is a full line up at the end of everyone's blog.  Next up is my lovely and talented friend Jennifer Sootkoos from the US.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a blessed week!

-Holly

Allison Okamitsu

Aurelie Fabre

Cathy Caines

Dani Dziama

Holly Stene

Jennifer Sootkoos

Jessica Winter

Katy Harrison

Kimberly Van Diepen

Louise Sharp 

Maike Ulbrich

Martha Inchley

Mercedes Weber

Mindy Bingamon 

Miriam van Eyden

Paula Dobson

Rochelle Blok

Shannon Lane

Sylwia Schreck 

Tanya Boser 

A Special Easter Announcement!

Exciting news to share with you all today!  My husband and I are happy to announce that The Lord has blessed us with another child - a little baby girl that will be joining her 3 brothers in August.

The boys are very excited to get a sister!  Our middle son Andrew has wanted a sister all along and our youngest repeats everything he says, so he voted girl too.  Eli, our oldest, said he would like "whatever God gives us".  Be still my heart! :)  Love those boys - their sister is blessed to have them!

I decorated one of the Mini Egg Cartons from Stampin' Up! with Oh So Succulent DSP, the Basket Builder Framelits Dies and the sentiment from Easter Message.  You might also notice the ornate Eastern Palace Framelit Die in the Dazzling Diamonds Glitter Paper.

We hope that you have a wonderful Easter!  I pray you know how loved and cherished you are!

He was pierced for our transgressions,crushed for our sins.The punishment that brought us peacewas upon Him.And by His wounds, by His wounds - we are healed.

We are healed by Your sacrifice

And the life that You gave.

We are healed for You paid the price.

By Your grace, we are saved.

We are saved.

Blessings,

Holly

New Catalog Sneak Peek with Oh So Eclectic!

Last Saturday I spent the day in downtown Minneapolis with my mother, her downline, my mother-in-law and my ADT friend Tanya (along with 750+) demonstrators for Stampin' Up!'s OnStage convention.  We had a blast!  We were able to get our hands on the new upcoming catalog, see many new products and demonstrations, make a few cards and of course - win some new stamps!!

Since my mother and her downline were able to stay an extra 3 days, we stamped a few times to ink up each other's new sets.  Here is one that my mom's downline Traci won.  (My MIL also won it, so I will be inking her copy up some more this week!)  The set is called Oh So Eclectic.  If you've seen a glimpse at the catalog cover, you might recognize the set.  It's pretty and I'm looking forward to making some more samples.

For the background I used Lemon Lime Twist (one of the new in-colors!), Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo.  I loved the look of the background and hesitated before adding the stamps.  I think it turned out great though.

This set does have a coordinating framelits set, but this was simple enough to fussy cut.

You may notice 2 new ribbons - one is the Crushed Curry 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon and the other is Gold MINI sequin trim!  LOVE IT!

Here's a closer look at the watercolor background.  Tanya Boser from the Artisan Team stayed at my house and gave us all a technique class on how to get this look.  Thanks Tanya!

So there's a little sneak peek at a new set coming out.  I would love to hear what you think about the set and the new Lemon Lime Twist color!  I personally love it and didn't think I would even like it!

Have a wonderful Easter!

HE IS RISEN!

-Holly

For Being My Friend - TGIFC102

Happy Friday everyone!  I'm so stoked that it's finally Friday! My mom and her downline Traci flew into Minneapolis yesterday from PA to attend OnStage tomorrow with me.  I cannot wait :)  SU! really puts on some fun events - lots of sneak peeks, make n' takes and of course - PRIZES!  It will be a lot of fun!

But before tomorrow rolls around, we have a new challenge over at TGIF Challenges.  We will be saying goodbye to two awesome colors - two of my very favorite go to colors - so we are highlighting them and Sweet Sugarplum for this week's challenge.  Be sure to click the image below to see the rest of the team's creations and play along with us!

One thing I love to do is make a card using some scraps and pieces that I've wanted to use but decided against... Here I created a card using some scraps that I had laying around (the taupe piece that I almost tossed!)  My MIL says I keep too many scraps, so we will see if she likes this one.  (Love ya, Linda!)

This Bookcase Builder stamp set was not originally on my radar but I had some extra hostess money and thought I'd give it a shot.  I really like the sentiments in the set and thought it would be fun to work with after all.  With over 15 items to put on the shelves, the possibilities are many!  

Sure hope you like the card and that you take time to join us this week at TGIF Challenges!

Have a wonderful weekend! <3

Blessings, 

Holly 

Eastern Palace Sneak Peek - SU! Artisan Blog Hop

Welcome to another hop with the Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team!  I'm so glad you stopped by today! We are a group of about 20 demonstrators from around the world that represent SU! and we hope that you are inspired by what we have to share with you today!

Here is a sneak peek of the Eastern Palace Suite!

Customers can begin to order May 1st. Exclusive for a limited time are the Starter and Premier Bundles, designed for both the beginning and avid crafters. 

Demonstrators can now preorder the Eastern Palace Suite Starter and Premier Bundles. Get your hands on these colorful and exotic products to prepare for customer launch May 1.

Sounds exciting right?

Here are the two cards I made for today's hop.  I was really tempted to share the other two cards that I made with one of the new in-colors - FRESH FIG - but decided on these two instead.  Plus, I may just share them later in the week - so make sure you check back.  For today, I really wanted to show you the intricate framelits and the vinyl stickers. I chose to pair both Copper and Gold with Dapper Denim.

For this card, I used 3 of the Eastern Medallions Framelits Dies to create this beautiful medallion.  You have a few options with the framelits and you can change them up to make different medallions each time.  Very cool!  I also stamped some dots around the medallion with Dapper Denim ink.

Behind the medallion is a piece of Copper Foil Sheets.  I love, love, love the way it shines through!

The sentiment was straightened out and stamped in the corner.  A simple 2-toned card - easy peasy!

For the second card that I made, I wanted to highlight these gorgeous Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers.  This card literally took me 5 minutes tops.  (I know this because my 6yo son asked me if I could just use the one card I had already finished and not make another... he was anxiously waiting to play hockey with me.)

These stickers made this card so simple and easy!

I added some coordinating Eastern Palace Specialty Designer Series Paper along the edge to tie in some more gold.  I finished the card off with some Dapper Denim 3/8" Ruched Ribbon. (My fave!)

The sentiment I bent a little to curve around the corner.  I love the photopolymer sets give you a little play to change things up a bit.  The sentiment comes curved, but as I posted on the first card, you can even straighten it out.

I cannot wait to see the other creations that my teammates have made!  Make sure to check out all of the blogs and pin your favorites!  We will be back again in May to show you even more Eastern Palace goodies, so be sure to come back!  If you're not a demonstrator and would like to know how you can get this bundle now - comment below!

Next up is the very talented Jennifer Sootkoos!  If you get lost along the way, you can always find our full blog roll of the ADT at the bottom.  Thanks again for stopping by!

-Holly

Allison Okamitsu

Aurelie Fabre

Cathy Caines

Dani Dziama

Holly Stene

Jennifer Sootkoos

Jessica Winter

Katy Harrison

Kimberly Van Diepen

Louise Sharp 

Maike Ulbrich

Martha Inchley

Mercedes Weber

Mindy Bingamon 

Miriam van Eyden

Paula Dobson

Rochelle Blok

Shannon Lane

Sylwia Schreck 

Tanya Boser