Peaceful Poppies Galore

Hi Stampin' Friends!
I'm back today to share the projects we made in my "Poppies Galore" class this week. Although a nasty flu bug wiped out a few from attending, several were still able to make it and we had a lot of fun with this incredible suite from the 2020 Mini Catalog. My goals for the class were to use all the products in the suite and really give each person a good look at what they could do with it. I'll share what we did and then give you more details on how to get your own suite!

One of the best features of this suite (very hard to pick a favorite) is the "Peaceful Moments" stamp set with so many greetings for various occasions and lovely sentiments to add the perfect heartfelt touch to a card or other project. Be sure to note what sentiments were used in each card/project!

 
The first card we made involved some background stamping on the card base. We used Real Red Ink on a Poppy Parade card stock base so the ink would show up a little better than if we used Poppy Parade Ink. We added a small piece of the gorgeous Peaceful Poppies Designer Series Paper, some Whisper White crinkled ribbon, a Mossy Meadow circular die cut and sequins!  To attach the sequins, we place a "glob" of the Shimmery Crystal Effects (carried over from the Holiday Catalog) and then gently pressed some sequins into the glob with the Take A Pick tool.  You do have to set it aside for awhile to let the Crystal Effects glue completely dry!  The sequins are rich jewel tones of reds and purples with some gold bling thrown in - stunning!

Our second card played with the "Peaceful Poppies Elements" pack of paper. There are 2 sheets of pre embossed watercolor paper, 2 sheets of pre embossed vellum, 2 sheets of black accents and some poppy die cuts. We used the watercolor paper and our Aqua Painters and colored poppies and leaves for this card. Depending on the saturation of the ink, you get various shades with your watercoloring, making it look quite artistic!  I thought the striped DSP paper on the bottom give the impression of "stems" for the poppies!

Our third card featured the use of the large poppy dies cut out of Poppy Parade cardstock and then layered on a Pear Pizazz background piece that was embossed with the Coastal Weave 3D embossing folder, also from the 2020 Mini Catalog. There are several sentiment dies that also come with the Painted Poppies bundle, perfect for adding that special sentiment to a card.

The 4th card features my favorite sheet of Designer Series Paper. It's a full sheet of beautifully watercolored poppies that can be cut into six panels of 5-1/4" x 4" for a card background. We tore aware a couple of the corners of the paper and daubed it with some black ink with sponge daubers. There's a tiny cardstock "ribbon" die that was also used for this card, just a subtle accent under the sentiment.

Our final project was a oversize tag that can be used as a gift or even something to hang in your home. The tag was 2" x 6". We daubed the edges with Soft Suede ink, added some Poppy Parade "blotches" from the Painted Poppies stamp set and a beautiful life-affirming sentiment. The poppies were fussy cut from one sheet of the Designer Series Paper and then we added some ribbon at the time, retired varieties from my stash. The ladies really enjoyed making the tags for something different. You can purchase these types of tags at an office supply store.

Because the Designer Series Paper is my favorite, I wanted to show you a great picture of all the pieces!



With gorgeous paper like this, it is very difficult to not be inspired with your crafting efforts!

The entire suite is available for $136.50 (#153938) or you can purchase each individual component if that works for you. My supplies are listed below so please click on them and you'll be directed to the online store for more information and ordering.

I definitely plan to revisit the Poppy field soon and am already thinking of some Memorial Day cards and other ideas. This set is perfect!

Thanks for taking a peek at what I'm up to!  I enjoy sharing my ideas with you and hope you are doing something creative as part of your busy life. It's so good for the soul!

Happy Stampin' and have a great weekend!
Sarah

Honey Bee Bundle

Happy Wednesday Stampers!
I'm back today with a super cute bundle you will want to get, especially if you like cute insects and honey!  Did that give you enough clues?  Over the years, Stampin'Up! has given us bugs, dragonflies and oodles of butterflies, but this year, we get super cute honey bees!  It's a great bundle that gives you so many options for creativity and coordinates beautifully with some of our other products - Yay for coordination!

I featured this set in my monthly class this month and it was a hit! It's fun to stamp, emboss, die cut and color. Here are some of my ideas:

I really had fun with this first card!  I used gold embossing powder to heat emboss the hive. I used Black Momento ink for my bees and colored the stripes in with a So Saffron Stampin'Write marker. I also wanted to incorporate the "Golden Honey" Specialty Designer Series Paper, a Sale-A-Bration freebie (coordination for the win!). There's a great honeycomb die that's fun to use and after I cut the honeycomb piece, I actually glued it back into the space I cut it from on this card. There are great sentiments included with this bundle too.

This card features an inside that is almost as special as the outside!  Did you realize how well the "All Wired Up" background stamp coordinates?  It's amazing!

I wanted to feature some more examples of the Designer Series Paper and this card has two of them. The gold accent honeycomb paper I left alone but the bee and flower paper and sponged to a purple shade with my sponge brayer and Highland Heather ink. I also used the Dotted Lace embossing folder for some texture on one of the layers.

This card features some more DSP, with gold flower accents, a great black border to enhance the transition from each side of the card and perfect stamping with the help of the Stamparatus!

Finally, I played with some more paper by coloring just the flowers with some Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Blends!  You can see the honeycomb die by itself on this card. I also added some texture with the Coastal Weave 3D embossing folder, new in the Mini Catalog.

I never get bored with making cards and when you have a constant infusion of new products from Stampin'Up! throughout the year, it's really easy to stay interested. I've listed all my supplies below if you want to purchase them or need more information. You can always contact me with questions or help with any order as well. Winter is the perfect stamping season!  It's a great reason to stay inside, keep warm and be productive while giving you some creative therapy on the side. 

Don't forget about Sale-A-Bration and all the opportunities you have to save even more! For every $50 you spend, you can choose a freebie from the SAB brochure (on the right) and it's a no brainer if you get the Honey Bee Bundle, you're going to want the coordinating paper too!  Don't miss out! SAB products are available until March 31st, or while supplies last!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Stampin'!
Sarah

Maybe you should join Stampin'Up!

Hi Friends,
Today I want to share the incredible opportunity I've had to create, grow, meet friends and build up my stash of fun papercrafting products!  I started out as a demonstrator because I wanted the discount on products (20-25%). I then started with some easy classes, inviting some friends and fellow crafters and putting in a few orders, earning a commission and then having some money to plow back into my stash of stuff. Well, 9 years later, it's become quite an adventure! I'd love to share how to become a demonstrator and see if it's something you'd enjoy!

Here are the up front, tangible benefits:
-- 20% discount immediately, going to 25% discount once you reach the $1800 sales mark, no matter how long that takes.
--Free supply of catalogs, order forms and other business tools to help you if you want to try to sell product.
--Absolutely no pressure to sell! You can be your best and only customer and are entitled to all the benefits of a demonstrator.
--Early access to new catalogs, promotions, news etc with special opportunities to buy product early.
--Extra rewards for sales achievements or recruiting achievements.
--Access to online training and team training from me.
--Opportunity to attend Stampin'Up! events around the country.

Here are some of the less tangible but just as important benefits:
--You belong to my team, "Big Sky Stampin' Stars" and become a member of our private, team only Facebook group.
--Frequent emails and FB posts with training, heads up information and encouragement.
-- Periodic swaps within our group, luncheons and team meetings where we have fun, talk shop and swap our cards to the delight of each other.
--Opportunity to start a business by holding classes and selling product and even growing your own team of demonstrators.

Right now, during Sale-A-Bration, you can sign up as a demo for $99 and you get to choose $125 worth of products as well as receive a free mini cutter, a sample pack of Designer Series Paper and a free stamp set of your choice. This is easily a $50 additional value or more!  Here's a picture!



When you join now, you have until June 30th to meet your first quarterly minimum of $300. During the next few months, there will be even more new products introduced as well as the upcoming 2020-2021 Annual Catalog! It doesn't matter how you meet your minimum, only that you do to stay active. If you choose to not continue, that's okay too and you will be deactivated after a pending month of July. I would love to explain how this all works and we can do that over the phone, via email or even FaceTime. It doesn't matter where in the United States you live, you can be part of my group. We have a great time and love to welcome new members!

Leave me a message or contact me via phone/text (on the right) for more information. Ready to dive in?  Go directly to this link!

Join the Fun!

Make 2020 the year you made a great decision and became a Stampin'Up! Demonstrator!

Happy Stampin'!
Sarah

Thoughtful Blooms

Hi Stampin' Friends!

I'm continuing my fun with the Sale-A-Bration products from this year's promotion. It's always a fun surprise to see what Stampin'Up! can come up with as SAB unveils. As a special treat this year, there is a punch included as a free product with a qualifying order of $100 or more. It's a sweet "Small Bloom" punch that coordinates with a stamp set and will have you putting little blooms on everything!

I recently played with this set and love what happened!

Here's a fun idea - make your own Designer Series Paper for a background on your card, all with stamps!  I used the delicate branch and berries stamps to create my background and then added the blooms and leaves on top with a great sentiment. These berries remind me of the huckleberries we pick every August here in Montana and then enjoy all year long!

This card features a neglected color - Purple Posy. We don't have an ink to go with our cardstock and DSP with this color, but we have lots of other options to fill in. I used "Highland Heather" ink on the blooms and I love how it turned out. It's fun to feature little bits of Designer Series Paper from other collections too.  The ribbon on this card is one of my favorites as well.

For my last idea, I used a four branch leaf stamp and then stamped a bloom for each branch that needed one. I stamped with Terracotta Tile ink on Petal Pink card stock and added some faceted gems that coordinate. My background paper is a fun Bird of Paradise design from the Timeless Tropics suite.  There is so much you can do with must some stamping, paper and a punch!

Check out all you can earn through the Sale-A-Bration promotion here:

2020 Sale-A-Bration promotion

I'm off to see what other goodies I can come up with using my Sale-a-Bration rewards. Have you jumped on the bandwagon yet? I hope you do soon!

Happy Stampin',
Sarah

Happy Birthday to You - Another Sale-A-Bration free product!

Hi Stampers!
Today as promised, I'm back with more SAB products that you can earn for free with qualifying orders. And, guess what!  There are some exciting coordinating products that are coming in February for purchase, that go with these SAB freebies!

The stamp set I'm featuring today is one of those!  It's called "Happy Birthday to You" and features a pretty cake to emboss, stamp, color, whatever you wish. Even better, the coordinating dies that are coming in February will help you cut out all the pieces to need to really celebrate!  Here are some ideas for you:

For this first idea, I heat embossed the cake stamp on my background wood grain paper and then also on some Whisper White cardstock. I cut the flowers out using the dies, colored them with my Stampin' Blends and then put them back on the cake. You'll also see a cake stand that is cut from some foil paper as well, also one of the dies that is coming in February. I loved the serene look of Seaside Spray for the color blue.

For my second card, I stamped everything with Tuxedo Black Momento ink, then colored with Stampin' Blends on the cake just a bit and the flowers. There are extra dies coming which include some sprigs (cut out of gold foil) and leaves. I also cut out the cake stand from gold foil.  This is a really pretty cake and obviously can be used for any celebration.

You can earn the Happy Birthday to You Stamp set now and then purchase the coordinating dies in February. Simply place an order totaling $50 more to earn the free stamp set. It's part of our Sale-a-Bration promotion and I'm so glad it is!  Did you know that birthdays are the #1 reason people send a card?  I figure you can't have too many stamp sets that focus on birthdays then!

Check out my supplies below and see more of our fabulous line of Stampin'Up! products in the online store. Click on "shop now" to the right and it will direct you to the store.  Thanks for stopping by! I love to share my ideas with you!

Happy Stampin'!
Sarah

The Gang's All Meer !

Hey Stampin' Friends!
I'll bet you are excited to know that it's Sale-A-Bration time!  That's the annual promotion Stampin'Up! has which makes it a great time to shop, host or join!  Shopping is especially easy for everyone to participate in. For every $50 you spend with SU, you can choose something from the SAB brochure as a free gift!  There are a few items that require a $100 purchase but even that's not too hard to get to.

The first stamp in the brochure is a cute set featuring the meerkat.  They seem really happy and friendly in this particular set and like something that would bring a smile to your face.  I had fun playing with this set, even though I'm not familiar with a meerkat at all! I played with different Designer Series Paper sheets and other stamp sets or punches as I created some cards:

One of my favorite things to try is combining Stampin'Up! products, especially for holiday purposes, i.e. making Valentine's out of a non Valentine stamp set. It's a great challenge and I love when I can stretch a stamp set a little further than its intended use. 

I hope you'll shop soon and take advantage of some more Sale-A-Bration goodies!  The promotion lasts through March 31st and you can place as many orders as you like! Click on the links below or to the right to get to the store and see the SAB brochure up close.  Stay tuned for more SAB products and fun this week!

Happy Stampin'!
Sarah

Stamping Gone to the Dogs and Cats!

Hey Stamper Friends!
I have something a little out of the ordinary but fun to share today. It's always bothered me a little bit that I have all this ink, paper and stamps, more than I can possibly use personally. I've wanted to put my excess supplies to good use, for a noble cause, for some time now. One of my 2020 Stampin'Up! goals is to do more "charity stamping". That is, gather some stampers together, see how many cards we can make and then donate them to a local charity for their use. I'd done this once before, several years ago, but want to make it a monthly or quarterly habit this year.  Everyone can use some cheer from a handmade card and a charity is especially grateful!

Our first charity is our local humane society, called "Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter". I called them ahead of time to ask what type of cards they would most like to receive and the answer as "sympathy cards". So, this past Saturday, about 7 of us gathered at my house and one did her stamping at her house because she was fighting off a nasty cold, but still wanted to participate. We spent about 5 hours altogether with people coming and going. I set up a paper area, a stamp and punch area, a die cutting/embossing area and of course, a food area!  People were turned loose to come up with their own ideas but could also copy some of mine. It was so fun and of course, we chatted the whole time. By the time we were done, we had about 160 cards that I'll be delivering early next week and we all felt like our time was especially well spent! 

I thought you'd be curious about what we came up with. I took quick photos as I was gathering them up so they are unedited but genuine!  Have a look:

It was so fun to put our creative stamping and design abilities to work. We all agreed we need to do this more often and are excitedly brainstorming about other charities to donate cards to next. I couldn't have done it without my faithful friends (the human kind ;) ) and am grateful for their big hearts and love of animals too.

Happy Stampin'!
Sarah

So what does one do at a Sip N Stamp??

Hey Stampers!
How are you doing on this bitterly cold day in Montana?  I hope it's a tad warmer where you are!  I did make it to a cycling class this morning at the "Y" but since I came home, I decided to just get real and put sweatpants on for the rest of the day. I'm not going ANYWHERE!

We had a great time at the January version of "Sip N Stamp" last night! I'm holding these monthly get togethers as a way to stamp some, sip some and socialize much!  The atmosphere is pretty laid back and people are free to make as many or as few cards as they wish. I usually have about 6 options plus a couple kits laid out for people to choose from. People are also free to bring their own projects to work on and do it surrounded by friends. I hope you can join us one of these months. The next one will be February 27th so mark your calendars.

I wanted to share the cards that were made last night, including some choices from the December Paper Pumpkin. Here they are:

The first two cards use the "Positive Thoughts" stamp set and good news! Dies that coordinate with this stamp set are coming in February - woohoo!

This lovely thank you card features the Sale-A-Bration "Lily Impressions" Designer Series Paper and the "Seriously the Best" stamp set, which comes with a card kit (pg 60 of Mini Catalog). The paper is available with a qualifying order of $50 or more during SAB!

I wanted to get at least one "Poppy" card in so we made a birthday card using stamps and paper from the Peaceful Poppies Suite. This paper is so pretty.

And I threw in a Valentine card since that holiday is not tooooo far away! We have coordinating paper and punches this year which make Valentines a cinch to make!

I love this style of event as I can feature new or different products and even do a little stamping myself.  It was a great time with good friends, snacks, wine and laughter. What could be better on a cold winter evening?!

Hope you have a great weekend!
Sarah

My Meadow

Hi Stampers!
If you have been around Stampin'Up! for the last 4-5 years, you are familiar with a scene building type of stamp that includes vague watercolor shapes and images to combine and build a scene with. I have had a blast with these stamp sets and guess what?!! There's another one in the new Jan-June Mini Catalog!  It's called My Meadow and speaks of lovely spring and summer days in a pastoral setting. I've only had a little time with this set but it was well worth it. With these type of stamp sets, you almost have to just start stamping and then see what happens and how to combine them. Here are my first couple results:

As a note, I did all my stamping first and then embossed the entire white background piece with the new Coastal Weave 3D embossing folder. That accounts for the bumpy surface you see on this card!  I used a couple of different stamps to create the stream and pond and then used some trees, grass and gazebo. Figuring out the correct scale is also a challenge. You usually have several options for trees so you have to choose the one that makes sense given the size of the rest of the elements. In this example, my gazebo is obviously larger than the trees so these trees are not ginormous.

In my second scene, I used both sizes of trees, the larger in the foreground and the smaller in the background. I created some grass and clouds and then had to try the wheelbarrow! I love the flowers as well too.

For my sentiments, I used a new stamp set that combines with the Ornate Frame Dies which were featured in the 2019 Holiday catalog (part of the Halloween Suite). This is a great example of how Stampin'Up! does a great job of making their products even more versatile but carrying over dies and creating different stamps to coordinate with them. This new stamp set is called "Perfectly Framed" and it has some general all occasions sentiments that are sure to help you out!

If you haven't already, it's time to jump on the Sale-a-Bration bandwagon!  It's a great time to shop by placing an order in the online store or directly with me via text, email or phone. For every $50 you spend, you'll get to choose a free product out of the SAB brochure. All the links are on the right and also the supplies for the cards I featured today are at the bottom of this blog post. It's easy to take advantage of the SAB rewards and there is no limit. If you place a $!00 order, you get two freebies, $200, four freebies, etc. The promotion  goes until March 31 and you can take advantage of it as often as you like! Contact me with any questions or more details.

Here's a peek at the stamp set so you can see what I mean about scene building:



And, just to refresh your memory, here is the other popular set that coordinates with this.  My plan is to make a card using both in the near future!

Waterfront stamp set:



Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at what I'm up to!  I love to make cards and love to share what I'm doing and inspire others with the easy and amazing hobby of stamping. I used to say your imagination was the only limit but with Pinterest, friends, blogs and other social media, your imagination isn't even an issue any more!  You can find inspiration all around you and translate that to paper and ink with the medium or stamping. It's awesome!

Happy Stampin'!
Sarah