Mail A Card Monday With Lovely Lattice

Hello there!

It's Mail A Card Monday, and it just so happens that I had cards to mail out to my awesome team members. It was just a little something to say Happy New Year to them. I decided I wanted to play with the beautiful new Lovely Lattice that you can get FREE right now with Sale-a-Bration. Isn't it a gorgeous set?

I really wanted to play around with this one and do some watercoloring, so I used watercolor paper. I started by embossing the image in gold which made the watercoloring much easier. I just kind of had to stay in the lines.

For the watercoloring I first got my "palettes" ready. I squished some ink onto the lid of my ink pad by firmly pressing the bottom and top of the pad together. I then placed a drop of reinker of the same color off to one side. This gave me basically two shades of the same color with the reinker drop being the darker. To do each flower, I started by spreading a layer of plain water over the entire flower with an Aqua Painter and then filled in with the lighter color of the flower. I then made sure a couple of petals were wet (sometimes I had to lean my head over to get a reflection from the window to make sure it was wet) and then I just touched the tip of my Aqua Painter in the reinker drop and then touched it to the base of the petals. As long as the petal was still wet, the reinker would spread out giving a nice gradient look. I did this all around the petal working a few petals at a time. The smaller flowers were done in one go. I actually made each of the cards with different colors so I could see how they looked, but I got so excited about mailing them out I forgot to take pictures until I'd already sealed three of them in their envelopes. :o( At least they will be a bit of a surprise to the recipients. The one was done with Flirty Flamingo, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive.

Have you seen the new Butterfly Beauty Thinlet dies. Oh my! So many butterflies! It has two large, absolutely amazing dies, but it also includes LOTS and LOTS of small and tiny butterflies. The tiny ones are the size of rhinestones and were the perfect accent to my bouquet. I cut them from gold foil paper to match the embossing and the gold foil strip along the side. To give my focal point a little extra "somthin' somthin' ", I rounded and punched each corner with our Detailed Trio Punch.

It was really hard to photograph this so you could see the shiny embossing.

What do you think? I hope you get a chance to put something in the mail soon to brighten someone's day. 

Till next time...

God's love and blessings!

Hand Delivered Birthday Card

Hello there!

I've been working on cards for this month's Card Buffet. Each month I make 4 new cards, and my crafters get to choose between those 4 plus the 4 from the month before. They choose any 4 they like and they get to make 2 of each. I have everything pre-cut and instructions in each box, so they can work at their own pace and we get to chat together for a couple of hours. I always have hot tea and cocoa available, but I do need to get better at having some snacks to go alongside. If you know of any good recipes, please comment below. Maybe muffins, or coffee cake and such.

Here is one of the cards I've designed for this month using the Hand Delivered hostess set.

I'm always in need of more birthday cards, and this one was just fun! It does come together pretty quickly as there is very little coloring. Really, just her blouse and shoes. The stamp fills in the skirt and belt, and the balloons are punched. I used the 1 inch punch for all but the light blue balloon in the front. That one was just a bit too small to fill in the front, so I used a 1 1/4 inch for that one.

The patterned paper on the front comes from the Twinkle Twinkle Designer Series Paper. That set is originally designed as a "baby" set, but the colors in it are quite versatile.

You may notice that the balloon on the envelope in each picture is in a different spot. I couldn't decide where I liked it, in the lower corner, or right next to where you'd write the recipient's address. Since I did two samples for this card, I did each envelope different. Which one do you like better?

Don't forget to take advantage of Sale-a-Bration. There are some pretty amazing things you can get for FREE. It's not just stamp sets either, there's ribbon, embellishments, super cool foil paper, an entire card kit, and even some dies. I love getting rewarded for shopping. :o)

You can find links to the products I've used below or, if you're local to me I'd love to have you at my Card Buffet.

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!

Hostess Code Bonus: Please use this month's Hostess Code when you place an order. It will allow me to pick up some goodies to share with you when I send out your Thank You gift at the end of the month. (If you check the "Do No Contact" button when you order, I cannot legally contact you in any way, which means I cannot send you a Thank You gift or any extra goodies. :o(  )

New Spring Occasions Catalog!

Hello there! I know it's been quite a while. Let's just say life happened. :o) It's a new year, can you believe it? I'm so excited to see what is in store this year. A new year also means Sale-A-Bration!!!

For those who don't know, this is the best time of year for crafters. Stampin' Up! rewards you for shopping! With two earning levels, you receive FREE product with qualifying orders, and there is no limit to how many free products you can earn. Of course, with Sale-A-Bration also comes our new Spring Occasions Catalog.

Isn't that a fun video? So many great products. Of course, it's a spring catalog so there's butterflies and flowers, but I absolutely LOVE the new masculine style sets. I mean isn't this one awesome?

And the coordinating die set--love those gears:

Here are some samples from the catalog. I love it! Unfortunately I don't have it just yet, so I've just been collecting ideas for when I do get mine in. My daughter says the fist card I have to make with it is a pair of jeans with the oil spill on it. If you've ever seen my hubby's laundry, you'll know why. ;o)

I have had a chance to play with some of the other new sets though. These two projects will be featured in my upcoming TNT (Tips N Techniques) Class this month.

I used products from the All My Love Suite for both of these. The background papers are made with the glossy paper, reinkers and some rubbing alcohol. I believe it's called the "polished stone" technique. If I get a chance I'll try and put together a tutorial for both projects.

If you're interested in seeing the new Occasions and Sale-A-Brations products, you can click on the Sale-A-Bration image above, or message me and I will get a hard copy out to you as quick as I can.

Hostess Code Bonus: Please use this month's Hostess Code when you place an order. It will allow me to pick up some goodies to share with you when I send out your Thank You gift at the end of the month. (If you check the "Do No Contact" button when you order, I cannot legally contact you in any way, which means I cannot send you a Thank You gift or any extra goodies. :o(  )

Till next time...
God's love and blessings!