A Sweet Card for Valentines Day or Anytime

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Hey y'all. I hope today finds you feeling well or at least better than it finds me. I will hopefully be in possession of some antibiotics in about 5 hours and feeling much better in the next 24. My cold has turned into a sinus infection and my teeth and jaws hurt sooo bad I can't even begin to tell you. :'(

On a happier note I have a card today for you that just makes me smile and I'm sure it's going to make you smile too. (At least I hope it does) It's one we did this weekend at my stampcamp and the girls loved it! It was one of their favorite cards this weekend. It's one of my original ideas and can I just say that when I finally finished it I definitely did a happy dance. This was the first time I had done this design with the 3 panels and the layers, so you know it took me forever to get the measurements just right, right? But once they were done, Wow! I was so stoked! I had originally planned on doing this in Pool Party but didn't have enough for Saturday and I'm so glad it worked out that way.

Here's today's card-

Sorry about the lighting. I didn't get a chance to use the good light last night since I crawled into bed at 7:30. Isn't it precious! I have to tell you, I wasn't too sure about this stamp set when I first saw it, but I am really starting to love it and the coordinating DSP is simply fabulous. I used Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, and Sweet Shop DSP and layered them as a base for my fabulous focal point. I also used our beautiful White Organza ribbon and Lucky Limeade Ribbon (a Sale-A-Bration Exclusive) to anchor the bottom of the card (isn't it nice how it fits just perfectly in the center of the organza ribbon?) I tied a little triple bow to finish it off and adhered it to the card with a Mini-Glue Dot.

I used my Stampin Write Markers to color in my stamp for my large focal point. I used Lucky Limeade for everything except the following, Crumb Cake for the cupcake base, Real Red for the heart and the cherry and Garden Green for the stem. I used Dazzling Diamonds and my Two-Way Glue Pen for the cherry and the heart but for the frosting I used our new Vanilla Scented Embossing Powder and Dazzling Diamonds mixed together in a 1:1 ratio. I used my VersaMark Pen and colored in the area and then embossed the area with my Heat and Stick powder and then again with my Vanilla/Diamonds mixture. As you can see in the picture above it gave a nice effect. I wish you could have smelled my kitchen. It was like baking custard without the calories, or the mess!

Here's a closeup-

Don't you just want to take a bite out of it?

I went with the "You're So Sweet" stamp to show the versatility of this set, and I didn't even use my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, a big leap of faith for me. (:

Here's the inside-

Sorry about the paperclip at the top. Like I said earlier, I didn't get to do these pictures at home so it was either the paperclip or my fat fingers. I figured the paperclip was more attractive. I used the chocolate covered strawberry from P.S. I Love You (which I have to say is fast becoming one of my all time favorite seasonal sets) colored it with my Stampin Write Markers in Chocolate Chip, Real Red and Garden Green and added some Dazzling Diamonds to the top of the Strawberry to give it a "Sugared" look. If you look back at the first picture you can see that the DSP has chocolate covered strawberries on it. That's one of the reasons I chose this image, v.s. say a cupcake or a cherry. I purposefully left the sentiment blank, since this was for my camp and I wanted them to be able to envision it as not only a Valentine's day card but a card for a friend, or even for that special someone, just not on VD.

Well, that's all I have for you today. What do you think? I hope you like it & I hope it inspires you to try a new design layout of your own.

If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

I hope to see you back here soon.

Till next time-

Remember- Life is not about waiting out the storm, It's about learning to Dance in the rain,

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

MDS Monday - Sale-A-Bration- A Q&E Note of Thanks

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope y'all had a great weekend. I know I sure did. In spite of what is, I'm sure turning into a sinus infection, my StampCamp girls were Amazing! They had a blast and did such beautiful cards. 2 of them were new to stamping and were just pros at it and I know they we will be coming back for more. Look for pictures later in the week.

Today I have a Q&E, a Quick and Easy, MDS Monday card for you. This came together so quick yesterday I can't even tell you. I think I spent about 15 minutes on it and it was done. I was actually inspired by a card I saw on someones blog when I was surfing and now I can't find it. If you know who's card it is (or if it's yours) or if I can find it again I will edit to give credit here.

This is just a really simple design that you can use in MDS or with your regular cardstock to use up scraps. The original card I saw used our "notecard" set and this would make a great class. It would also be a great beginner class or get to know you class.

Here's today's card-

A simple Whisper White notecard with Pool Party punched out with the Scalloped Square Punch. On top of that I layered 3 squares of Everyday Enchantment DSP from Sale-A-Bration DSP which you can get Free with a $50.00 purchase now through the end of March. I stamped my sentiment in Pool Party as well. Clean, Elegant, Simple.

Here's the inside-

Sorry, It's kind of hard to tell where the card starts and my background begins. ):  I left the inside blank since it's a notecard, so there was plenty of room for the sender to write their message. I used another strip of the Everyday Enchantment DSP to lay across the bottom of my notecard and the cute little butterfly is actually not a stamp but a "punch" that I just decreased the size on. It matches the butterfly in the DSP on the front and just below it. Isn't it cool how we can do that?

Wouldn't you love to get this card from someone? I know I would and that's always the standard I set for myself in whether or not I think a card of mine is "up-to-snuff" or not.

Do you have your MDS yet? How would you like a Free 1 month trial of Stampin Up's My Digital Studio FREE of Charge with NO Strings Attached? Yes, I said NO Strings Attached! Stay tuned for more information.

Well, that's all I have for today. I hope you liked this weeks MDS Monday offering. I know I enjoyed coming up with it, even sick! I'll be back tomorrow with a new card for you. I hope to see you back then.

If you need to purchase supplies to make this card or cards of your own, you can shop in my ONLINE STORE 24-7.

If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

Till next time-

Remember- Life is not about waiting out the storm, it's about learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

A Challenging Challenge - Paper Players # 79-Tag It

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Hey y'all. Happy Friday to you. I hope yours is starting out better than mine. I have what I fear is more than the beginning of the first cold vs sinus infection I've had in about 6-8 months. It started yesterday and now the coughing and real yuckiness is setting in and me with stampcamp and 2 weekend shifts ahead, not cool. Like I said, hopefully your day is going better than mine. With that in mind, I have a card that at least brings a smile to my face and hopefully will bring one to your face as well, and having just checked the site I found out I'm going to get it in just in time.

If you follow me at all, one of the things I resolved to do this year was at least one challenge a week. I saw this one over at Paper Players and thought it would be nice. In fact, as soon as I saw it I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Does that happen often for you? You see a challenge or a sketch and immediately know just what you want to do. Not me. Nope. No Sir-ree! I usually have to sit there and channel my inner Pooh-Bear (come-on you know you want to do it with me) and Think, Think, Think, Think, before something comes about. This time I knew what I wanted, I had just never done it before, so I wasn't sure how easy it was going to be or how it was going to turn out.

Then, as so often often happens, I got busy and all of a sudden it's Thursday night and I still have a card to design for Saturday's StampCamp and with work on Friday that's the only time to do it so that's my priority and I got it done (wait till you see it next week, sooo pretty!) but I still wanted this card and this challenge, so I set out to try and get it done.

First - It had to have a tag. I didn't have any tag's, I was going to have to make one. Oiy! That involved measuring. The OCD in me was not going to have fun with that. Second, the tag I wanted to make was a "bookmark". Now we have a "Bookmark" die, which I've been meaning to get, unfortunately it wouldn't have helped here because my chosen image wouldn't have fit on it.

Second - I had to make sure the tag was the right size to hold my image plus a "border" tag plus I wanted it to sit on my card at an angle to actually be a part of the card. I couldn't very well just slap it on the card, now could I?

Third - I wanted to do some shading and masking on the tag, something I had never done before. I blame Michelle Zindorf and all her brilliant work all over the web. I could see in my minds eye what I wanted, but with limited resources at home (read mostly markers not pads, and no brayers) I had my doubts.

Fourth- What in the world was I going to do for the actual "card" background itself? I would have to figure that out if and when I made that far.

So at about 9:30 last night my journey began and 2 hours later after multiple attempts at getting this "tag/bookmark" just right I came up with what is perhaps, one of my all time favorite projects.

I hope you like it as well-

What do you think? I started with a base of Island Indigo one of my All -Time Favorite Colors. I'm from Florida and it takes me back home every-time I look at it. Then I took a piece of Whisper White c/s and made sure it was wide enough to stamp my image on. I ensured this by first stamping my image with my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig and laying it over the W.W. c/s to get the appropriate measurements. Do you have a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig yet? They are an essential tool for your stamping toolbox. Even if you're not an OCD stamper like me. Once I had my measurements I set out to cut my tag and the underlying base/border tag. I don't think they turned out too bad. (:

Next came that sun. Who knew a little yellow sun could be so hard. Geesh! When we were kids, they seemed soooo easy! This only took me 4 tries. I punched a hole with my 1 3/4" circle punch on a post-it note and used that for my template. I used Daffodil Delight Stampin Write Marker to ink up a sponge and sponged around the circle and then  lightly inked up a sponge with a Pumpkin Pie Stampin Write Marker and went just around the edges. You have to be very careful, because attempt 3 got a "streaky-glob" (very technical term, streaky glob) of Pumpkin Pie and was rendered unusable. I would also recommend using extra post-it notes to hold down the bottom and sides of the first one to help keep it from lifting up and to make sure you don't get any color off the side of the post-it especially if you're using a small square instead of a big one. Ask me how I know.

After I finished my sun I inked up my stamp, which is unfortunately retired. Stampin Up has others you could use that would also make a beautiful card and/or bookmark including the Open Seas set that I used for the background of the card base. I chose this particular stamp however because my boyfriend and I often talk about sailing away on a sailboat to get away from the stresses of our lives and, as his job keeps us apart for long stretches at a time I made the bookmark, thinking I would think of him whenever I used it.

*Tip* - Be careful not to push to hard when inking up a stamp with this much solid line detail. It's easy to  push too hard and actually get ink on the soft rubber, non-image, portion of the stamp including the areas around the edges, which can then transfer when you stamp your image onto your cardstock. Again, ask me how I know.

I actually ended up using my Stampin Write Marker to get the coverage I wanted, to make sure everything was inked up just right for this project. I then used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, positioned my image where I wanted it and finally was on my way! You know what time it was? That's right. Happy Dance. But, only a little one. I still needed to do the VersaMark and Heat Emboss it. So, I got out my VersaMark pad but once again felt like I was getting a little too much coverage with the pad so I cleaned my stamp and inked it up with my VersaMark Pen, lined everything up with my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, and Voila! Too Easy! Clear Embossing Powder & a quick blast of heat and my glossy little boat was just waiting for ocean and a sky to be able to sail off into.

I used the circle I had punched out earlier to mask the sun and luckily this time had ink pads to work with. I used Pool Party and started by sponging the bottom of the card and ended up lightly sponging all over including the top. I then went over the bottom of the card with Island Indigo to add some depth to the water, and then sponged the edges of the tag with Island Indigo. I didn't get quite the delineation I wanted between water and sky but for a first time and at almost midnight and as tired as I was I wasn't willing to risk messing this up. I mounted this to my Island Indigo tag with Tombow and using my Crop-A-Dile punched a hole at the top with the largest hole punch. I ran a strip of our Chantilly Lace through this for my bookmark's ribbon and my "tag/bookmark" was finished"

Here's what just the tag looks like-

Wow! That being said and done,  I still needed to do the card base. Augh!  Back to my Island Indigo/ Whisper White combo. I pulled out my Open Seas stamp set (which I LOVE) so glad they kept that on as a write in. I hope they surprise us all and have it in this years big catalog! I used the manifest stamp and inking it in Soft Suede and stamping off once each time stamped on the Whisper White c/s. Then I did something almost unheard of. Calling All Trinity Stampers- Are you Listening? Are You Reading? This is something that has only been seen here once before.... and let me tell you I was so tired last night when I did this, that I channeled my inner Nike, and "Just Did It"

I Crumpled Cardstock!


Yes! You read that correctly. I Shannon Angel willingly and voluntarily crumpled cardstock. (Not only that, but I ended up liking the project so much, that I am going to change the sentiment, so I am going to have to do the base again ):  )  For those of you that don't follow me, you can read more about that HERE. The short of it is, Distressing, Distresses me! It stresses me out! I don't do it! But I did. (And I liked it!) I then sponged over the cardstock with the Soft Suede, Tombowed that to the Island Indigo base and could see the finish line... I was almost done.

I put two holes at the top corner of the card with my Crop-A-Dile and threaded my lace through them to secure my "tag" to the card and since it was a card I felt it needed a sentiment. I got out the "Love you, Kiss You, Miss You" stamp from the new P.S. I Love You stamp set from the Occasions Mini and stamped it in Early Espresso in the upper right corner. I wanted something small and subtle, I didn't want to detract from the main focus of the card.

What do you think? I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out! I actually went upstairs and put it in a frame. I'm going to change the base with another sentiment but didn't want anything to happen to it until I could get a chance to do that.

I hope this inspires you to try something new, whether it's a new challenge or a new technique like masking or heat embossing or playing with your Stamp-A-Ma-Jig or even just making your own tags. The whole point of this blog is to inspire to Just Try!

If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

Today's Supplies
Cardstock- Island Indigo, Whisper White
Stamps- Open Seas, Sail Away
Ink- Island Indigo, Pool Party, Soft Suede Classic Ink Pads, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie Stampin Write Markers, VersaMark Marker
Ribbon- Chantilly Lace
Punches- 1 3/4" Circle
Accesories- Crop-A-Dile, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Powder Trays, Sponges (3 per pack)

If you need supplies to recreate today's card or to make your own card, you can shop in my Online Store 24/7.

I hope you have a great weekend, full of time to spend with family and friends and of course time for creativity and designing.

Till next time-

Remember- It's not about waiting out the storm, it's about learning to dance in the rain,

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

Scalloped Heart Framelet Valentine

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Hey y'all. I'm baaaaack!  Ha. How many of you just flashed back to little Carol Ann and Poltergeist? Well, I have something much happier for you now. My second card of the day.

This is a card we're doing this weekend in my Valentine's Day Stampcamp. The weather is supposed to be nice. No snow or ice storms forecast for our region so it should be a go. (: I mostly had fun making this card.

Mostly. You'll see why.


*Edited*
*Spoiler Alert*
I have to tell you - we did this project this weekend for stampcamp and I can not tell you how SIMPLE this card was for my ladies to put together! The hardest part on it is ruffling the ribbon. If you're looking for a project with a lot of "WOW" read on, your clients and your card recipients will thank you!


But for now, here it is-

Sorry about the lines. I really do need to get a real camera instead of my darn BB. For some reason it occasionally gives me those wavy lines when I photograph with my OTT light. Seriously, anyone that knows how to take care of this, please leave me a comment. I would hate to actually buy a camera and have it still happen!

Isn't it pretty? Simple, but striking. Probably the worst thing about it (that most people would say) is that it won't fit in a standard envelope. It would definitely be a hand delivered or leave on the pillow type valentine.

The first thing I did was to fold a piece of Island Indigo c/s and run it through my Big Shot with my new Hearts Framelets. I used the largest one. It has the beautiful scalloped edges. I laid it just inside the edge of the left side so there were 3 or 4 scallops that didn't cut. This way my card stayed together with a hinge in the middle. Once that was cut I set it to the side for a few minutes.  (This is unfortunately a paper heavy project. You will use most of a piece of 8.5 x 11 piece of c/s for each card. I used two. One in Island Indigo and then another in Whisper White since the Island Indigo was too dark to stamp and write on inside)

For the front panel I used Whisper White c/s that I ran through my Big Shot with my the same framelet, I used the whole framelet this time because I wanted the whole heart to be cutout for the front. I also cut out a second one for the inside to use later. I also ran a piece of the floral DSP from the Twitterpated collection (Love It!) through with this framelet as well. I then stamped Love You, from the PS I Love You Stamp Set in the new Occasions Catalog, in Island Indigo (one of my all time favorite colors) on a Whisper White scrap and punched it out with the Decorative Label Punch. Once I had all these pieces ready, I sponged all the edges with Island Indigo. I used Tombow to adhere the label behind the DSP and to  adhere it to the Whisper White c/s.

Then I went to work on the inside-

Here's what it looks like opened up

I decided to use the Bordering on Romance stamp set. I love all the cards I've seen with it, but I haven't used it yet. How in the world has that happened? So I inked up the largest floral image in Classic Black and stamped it along the bottom. I used my Blender Pens and Classic Ink Pads to color it in. I used Island Indigo, Blushing Bride, and Lucky Limeade. Here's a closer Picture. I also stamped the sentiment in Island Indigo from the P.S. I love you Stamp Set.

Before I Tombowed this layer onto the base I trimmed the 3 inner scallops where the hinged section was so it wouldn't lie in that fold and this portion was done.

Remember how I said I "Mostly had fun" making this card? Well, if you noticed earlier, we didn't complete the front.  I know we have that nice pleated ribbon where the pleats are all done for you and it's all perfect, but, I had to make a choice when I was purchasing my ribbons and I chose to get that in Blushing Bride and the beautiful, soft, flowy, Seam Binding in Baja Breeze. Now, I guess I could have just put a straight strip of Seam Binding across the card and maybe a bow and it might have worked but I kinda felt like it needed the ruffles so I had to just suck it up and go for it. If you know me personally, or have followed me on here for any length of time, you know I am more than a little OCD about my cardmaking/crafting. The fact that I was about to have to bunch up ribbon in uneven and quite likely an unstraight line was not a happy thought for me. But it was what the design was dictating to me, so I Snailed that card front and the edges of the back (let me tell you SNAIL works Amazingly well with Seam Binding!) and started scrunching and as you can tell, it is not in a straight line, but I have to say, overall, once it was done and I Tombowed the panel and stuck it to the cardbase and took a look at my card, I was glad I did it.

Here's a close up view of my torture, I ah mean my finished product-

Not perfect, but I think maybe it adds to it's charm.

Do you Pinterest? I saw something in one of my reader feeds that I pinned today-

I SOOOOO Wish I Had This! I need to remind my self of this...DAILY.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked my card. It's a new style for me. As always if it inspires you to try something new I would love to see it. If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

If you need supplies to recreate this card or to make others you can visit my Online Store 24/7.
Todays Supplies-
Card Stock- Island Indigo, Whisper White, Twitterpated DSP
Ink- Classic Black, Island Indigo, Blushing Bride, Lucky Limeade Classic Ink Pads
Stamp Sets- P.S. I Love You, Bordering on Romance
Big Shot- Hearts Framelets
Decorative Label Punch
Baja Breeze Seam Binding Ribbon
Accessories- Blender Pens, Tombow, Sponges

Don't forget Sale-A-Bration is going on through March 31. Free merchandise with every $50 in purchases and special Exclusive offers for Hostesses in addition to your regular benefits. Contact me to learn more.


I hope to see you back here soon-

Till next time-

Remember- Life isn't about waiting out the storm. It's about learning to dance in the rain

Be Safe,
Shan

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FMS#19 Challenge- Special Birthday Card Part 2 / My Challenge #4

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Hey y'all. Happy Thursday! I hope you're having a great day.

Well, we're almost to the end of January. Hard to believe it, huh? Do you make resolutions? If you follow me at all, you know I don't believe it "resolutions" per-se, I just resolved "To Try" (Ha! That was a FMS Challenge too!) Any-who, one of my resolves was to do a challenge a week. This would accomplish two things, 1- it would help force me out of my creative box, and 2- hopefully would get just a few more visitors to stop by my humble little site here (hopefully some of them will even leave comments and and maybe follow) So far, I'm doing pretty good with all of my resolves, not just my stamping related ones. How about you?

To that end, I have a challenge entry for you today, and hopefully another one that I will get to tonight. Although I originally posted this card yesterday, I felt something was missing and if you read the original post HERE, you know there was No Way I could give my sister that card with those 2 letters showing when that card was closed. NOPE! Unacceptable. The OCD in me would not allow it! I also kind of felt like the front was just missing something, so when I saw the sketch for this weeks challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches I knew just what I needed to do. So, I went home yesterday, made just a slight change to the front, re-did the inside of the card and ever so carefully mounted it over the original (that OCD comes in handy sometimes) and not only was my card ready for giving, but I had a this weeks Challenge card, and one I felt certain was going to be different from anyone else's.

Here's my new and improved card (which by the way my sister loved!)-

And here's the FMS #19 Challenge Sketch for this week-

Do you see it? I turned the sketch on it's side and the dancing cupcakes are the border going down the side. Instead of the 2 Rectangles shown in the sketch my spinning cupcake is the center rectangle bordered by the  Scalloped Circle. The 3 Pearls well, they were just what the card front needed. Thanks FMS for the inspiration!

Well, I hope you like my card. I hope it encourages you to try something new today. Maybe it's a challenge, or a technique, or maybe it's just turning a sketch and "looking at something in a different light". Remember what this blog is all about- Just Try! If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

I'll be back later today with another post and hopefully tomorrow as well. I have to get ready tonight for this weekends stampcamp, so I don't know about tomorrow.

I hope to see you back here real soon. As always- if you like what you see, please feel free to leave a comment, I'd love the feedback. Also feel free to follow. (:

Till next time-

Remember- Life isn't about waiting out the storm, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

End of the Week Technique #17 Floating Spinner - Special Birthday Card

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Hey y'all. Happy Humpday! I hope you're having a great Wednesday. I have a special card to show you today. It's my sister's birthday card. Shhhh- don't tell her about it- kay? I told her she couldn't visit here today, 'cuz I was gonna post it on here. (:

I know it's only Wednesday, but I figured we'd move our EWT up a day or two and use this for it this week, because let me tell you after all the work I put into this last night, I'm surely not coming up with any other "new techniques" this week. You hear? Good. (:

You ever have one of the concepts where you know just what you want and how it's gonna play out and everything you need and you sit down to make it happen and then 2 hours later look at the mess Catastrophe around you that has still failed to produce said end product and wonder "How the **** did this happen?" Yeah. That was me last night. I was inspired by a combination of a card I saw Sunday and a card I had seen online to do a Z-fold type of a card but have a floating spinner in the fold. Since it's my Sis' birthday I wanted a Spectacular Card! I decided to use cupcakes and I wanted to have a floating, spinning cupcake. Sounded so simple ... in my head. Not! I couldn't have the card situated the way I wanted,  couldn't punch through double cardstock, when you score and fold 2 pieces of punched and scalloped cardstock, multiple times, that are separated, the edges may not line up perfectly anymore. Do you see where I am going? Add to that new score measurements that I obviously didn't measure twice and score once for because I messed up a couple of pieces of paper. It's a good thing I made two of these, one for my sis and one for my techniques book that I am making because I tell you what, otherwise, who knows when I would have made another one.

However, since it's for my sister- I have to say the 4 hours, yes I said 4 hours from start to finish was worth it. At least I think so. Are you ready to see it?

Because of the odd (even for a z-fold shape) shape I had a hard time getting a picture of the front. This makes it look like there's a lot of open space, but it's really only to about the center. (Truth is I stamped the sentiment at almost midnight in the upper left hand corner and I didn't stamp it far enough over and you can see the last 2 letters or so if I took the picture full on frontal and I was too tired to finish the inside of the second card and take more pictures ):  )  I stamped the cupcakes down the right side for two reasons. 1- You know I like the inside to look as pretty as the outside and 2- I wanted there to be some motion there to mirror the motion of the cupcake spinning in the cutout window. I stamped off once before stamping each image except the cherry and then let Tink have her way. Don't they look pretty?

Here's a closer picture of the inside page-

I stamped the cupcakes with Crumb Cake and Blushing Bride, the cherry with Real Red and Garden Green and the sentiment in Chocolate Chip is from the Create a CupCake set.

Here's a picture of the card opened up-

I used a base of Blushing Bride c/s and for the inside panel used a piece of DSP from Beau Chateau that I sponged with Crumb Cake. All of the c/s edges on all surfaces were sponged with Crumb Cake.

Here's a closer picture of the cupcake panel-

As you can see the cupcake is suspended in the middle of a Large Scalloped Circle Punch. To make the punched area I simply marked my halfway point on the card and slid my Large Scalloped Circle Punch in there (at the mid point- you could use any punch you wanted) and went as deep as I could with the punch and punched. I also did this with my DSP, but as a back-up I also laid my DSP under my c/s and traced an outline of where the punch should be to make sure I was in the correct spot. I tried to get my punch points directly on the score lines and they just missed. I think I would have made this a little easier on myself if I had used a large circle punch, unfortunately I didn't have one, maybe I'll try it again when I get one.

Here's a close-up of the cupcake-

I used heat and stick powder and then our new Vanilla Embossing powder and my kitchen smelled sooo yummy! It was like baking custard without the guilt or the calories. However, I think that adding the glitter and setting it takes away some of the smell.

*Tip*- When doing double sided images like this when you are going to "sandwich" something remember you have to do opposite sides. I had initially heat embossed all the frosting on the same side and when I went to sandwich them together they didn't match up, so I had to turn it over and emboss it- does that make sense?

The hardest part of the cupcake was getting Tombow on the "candle and flame" and then lining up the thread in the center of them and then lining it up down the center of the cupcake. I secured it down the rest of the cupcake with dimensionals, and then secured it to my c/s with SNAIL. Clear fishing line or monofilament thread would have been the best for this, but I didn't have any, so I used a very fine flesh colored sewing thread that if you scroll back up to the first picture, you can barely see when the card is in it's regular position, and even open like this is not much of a distraction.

So, what do you think of today's EWT? It's a little harder than most of our previous EWT's. Are you going to give it a try? I would love to see your efforts? I would also love to hear what you think of my efforts. If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

I really hope my sis likes her card!

I hope to see you back here soon. Don't forget Sale-A-Bration is going on. Now is a Great time to host a Workshop or Stampcamp or even place an order and get great FREE and Exclusive Stampin Up merchandise. You can go to my ONLINE STORE for more information.

Till next time-
Remember- it's not about waiting out the storm, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan








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MDS Monday (Yes I know It's Really Tuesday) Sale-A-Bration Is Here!

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Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday! I hope you're having an Amazing day.

As promised I have this weeks MDS Monday card for you today and because Sale-A-Bration officially kicks off today, I thought it would be appropriate to make it using Exclusive Sale-A-Bration MDS Content. I got this MDS CD for free last month during the pre-order and you can get it for FREE now through the end of March with any order of $50.

Here's this week's MDS card-

I used the colors from Sale-A-Brations Exclusive DSP Everday Enchantment for my color palate and went with Baja Breeze and Lucky Limeade and Not Quite Navy. I love the way I was able to layer the DSP over the punch and to add a punched out center to the central stamp in a different color and "bring it forward" so it appears as if it's "popped up". I also love being able to change all the sizes to suit my desires for that particular card.

Stampin Up has started making their stamped images much larger so they don't "pixelate" when you increase them. In fact they are so large now that I actually called customer service to report it as a problem and that's when I was told they had changed the format, so we would have to decrease the size instead of increasing the size so the pixelation wouldn't be an issue. Pretty cool once you get used t o the idea.

And of course, because you know, I like to give you a complete card and I think the inside should be just as nice as the outside... Here's the inside-

I stuck with the same color palate here and added some Very Vanilla here for the writing area. I took the image of the bird from the front and added it in Not Quite Navy and changed the opacity, for a "water-mark" type of effect. It's a little heavier than that, but any lighter and it just looked too "grey". Plus, I think it picks up on the heavier "vintagy" areas on the edges of the DSP. Overall, I'm very happy with the way this card turned out and I did design elements on this card that I had not done with other cards and it still came together very quickly.

So what do you think? I hope you like it, and I hope it inspires you to try something new with your MDS or with your regular cardmaking materials. If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

Now's the perfect time with Sale-A-Bration getting started. I would love to tell you more about it, if you don't currently have a demonstrator of your own. Remember for every $50 pre-tax you get your choice of  1 item from the Sale-A-Bration catalog. It's really that simple! If you hold a workshop or stampcamp and your sales reach $150 you get a Free re-usable tote, and $25 in free merchandise. For $400 in sales you get the tote, $60 in merchandise and an Exclusive Sale-A-Bration Hostess Bundle (Stamp Set, DSP, Ribbon and Brad Pack) and the benefits just go up with your sales.

Have you ever thought of trying Stampin Up? If you join my team now you get your starter kit for $125. That's $50 off. The best part is it's totally customizable. You get to pick the sets you like! And, for every month you're active, you get either a free pack of DSP ($10.95 value) or a free Digital download (any value) and you can switch back and forth between DSP and Digital. You can choose to be a hobby demonstrator or a business demonstrator or if you find that Stampin Up is not for you, No Worries! You still have an Amazing Value  in stamping supplies that is sure to last you for some time. There's NO commitment required! Just give it a try.

Well, that's all I have for today!

I hope to see you here again soon.

Till next time-

Remember - Life isn't about waiting out the storm, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

Sale-A-Bration Swaps - A CASE of Myself

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you're having a good day. Mine started off with the remnants of an "ice storm" that was passing through so I got to sleep in a few extra hours. Of course that meant I had to drive to work, because there was no one to slug in with and that's costing me a $20.00 garage fee so, thinking back on it, it might have been cheaper to get up early and drive slowly in and take the bus (EEEEWWWW!!!!) Oh well! You live and you learn. It's been years since I had to commute. Hopefully this winter won't see too much more of this.

Did you see football yesterday? Oh, sooo good! The Pats are going to the Super Bowl! One more week of that kind of post and then you get a few months of football-free posts. I'm sure you are so excited.

Well, I know today is supposed to be MDS-Monday, but due to the unbelievably hectic weekend I had, MDS did not get done yesterday. In fact as I was getting ready to head out to my team meeting yesterday I realized I had the "stamp" portion of my swaps facing the wrong direction and had to take them down and re-do them. Luckily, I was able to do so without damaging the cards. *WHEW*

I'll get a MDS done tonight and have it ready for you guys tomorrow. I also realized that even though I did cards last week for my stampcamp (that didn't hold because of a snow and ice storm that came through on Friday night, *UGH! I hate winter!) I forgot to take pictures and upload them so that's why you're getting this CASE so soon after the original. Sorry.

Lucky for me my stampcamp didn't hold because the storm coming through brought with it a horrible migraine! The kind that makes everything smell horrible and everything sound super loud. I had to work at the Olive Garden Friday night with it. Ever try working around all those smells with a migraine? Yeah, not pleasant at all. And then one of the girls next to me put lotion on from BBW. Bless her heart I made her go to the bathroom and wash  scrub her hands. I felt like such a meanie. ): However, I got to go home and crawl in the bed and felt better the next day and was able to go dress shopping for our Firehouse Installation banquet, where I wore this-

It was a good night!

So Sunday morning I got up and finished these for our team swaps.  The theme was Sale-A-Bration. Here's the card-

Oops! It looks like I didn't get it quite centered in my rush to get out of the house.

Here's the original that I did for 2 challenges over at OWH-

When I first did this card, I really wanted to use the new Edgelets but there just wasn't room, because I had to have the space at the bottom for the brads. This time I was able to use the Edgelet and I am so happy that it followed the curve just like I knew it would! I also knotted the ribbon under the card & turned the stamps so they were facing down towards the curve of the card.

On the inside I stamped a second image after stamping one of the front images and added a little touch of bling to it.

If I were to do this card again though, I think I would do a Very Vanilla layer here and then stamp this image. I didn't stamp a sentiment so it could be given later as any type of an occasion card. I did have to put this image a little towards the center edge because of the curved edge and next time I might even put it in the upper corner.

When I originally did the outside of the cards, I put the "stamps" facing down" the front of the card instead of towards the curved edge, similar to the original card. Like this-

I think this is also a beautiful look, but since I had stamped the "Flower stamp" image on the inside facing the  curved edge, that's what necessitated the change in the outside placement. In the future though, I think either way works.

Well. that's all I have for you today. I hope you like my newly updated card. I hope it inspires you to look at something you have done in the past, (even something you really liked) and see if you can update it, even a little. If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)


As always, I would love to see what you come up with.

Don't forget, tomorrow starts Sale-A-Bration. I can't wait to share it with you. How would you love Free Stampin Up supplies and Exclusive merchandise? I can help you get just that!

I hope to see you back here tomorrow.

Till then-

Remember- It's not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

The Countdown is On

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Hey y'all.

No project today. I went home last night and spent 5 hours cutting cardstock and ribbon and finishing designing cards for tomorrow's Stampcamp to the point that I worked through dinner and was so tired I mis-counted, so now I have an original card set ready to go for my next camp. I was too tired to do the last one that needed the embossing so I'll do it tonight when I get home from job #2. ):  Swaps for Sunday's meeting will have to get worked on then too and Sunday morning. Luckily there's only 4 of them and I know what I'm doing & it's a CASE of me, so it shouldn't be too hard.

So, bed at 1 last night, 2 jobs today, Stampcamp tomorrow, Firehouse installation tomorrow night, finish swaps Sunday morning and team meeting Sunday afternoon... not too busy, what do you think?

The good news is that by Sunday I'll have 4 cards for next week and will just have to try and squeeze in my MDS Sunday night. YEA!

Don't forget the countdown is on  to Sale-A-Bration! It's here on January 24th and let me just tell you now... Be prepared to be WOW'ed! I'm sure you have seen all the amazing cards and projects everyone has been doing with the exclusive stamp sets and DSP that you can get for FREE, yes I said FREE. SU is also offering some Amazing product from it's everyday line in the Idea Book & Catalog including Embossing Folders, Stamp Sets, Design Decor Elements and more and it's all presented in one catalog this year with pictures.

Remember with every $50.00 you purchase you get a free Sale-A-Bration item of your choice. If you Host during SAB and have sales of just $150.00 you get $25.00 & a free re-usable SU shopping tote as well. With sales of $400 you would get the tote, a SAB bundle with 3 of the SAB pieces (Stamp set, DSP, Ribbon & Brad pack) $65 in Free merchandise and 1 half off item and that's not even counting if you had planned on purchasing anything!

It gets even better! I know you're thinking  "No Way!" WAY!!!! If you join my team during SAB the cost of your kit is decreased from $175 to $125 a $50 savings. (You could put that towards MDS- a wise move during your initial purchase) Not only that but every month for your first year you will get one pack of DSP or a Digital Download for FREE! WOW! What a way to increase your DSP especially once the new catalog comes out. So cool.

Ok- so that's all I have for you today. I still haven't done a new challenge for this week. I actually did 2 over at OWH but I used an old card, so I guess technically it counts in that it will help bring traffic by, but I still want to try and get a card done. I just don't know that it's going to get done with the time constraints that I have for the rest of the weekend. We'll see what I can figure out. I don't want to throw something together just to say I did it.

I hope you have a fabulous weekend and manage to get more rest in that it looks like I'm gonna get. I hope you have plenty of time for family and friends and of course for designing and crafting.

Till next time-

Remember life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

End of the Week Technique # 16 - Framelet Valentine Candy Holder

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Hey y'all. Happy Thursday! I hope you're having a good day. It's cold here in the DMV with flurries forecast for later today but for now the sun is shining.

I have to confess that this is not the EWT I had in mind for you today. I know... you heard that last week too. Truth is I had planned to do lots of stamping and crafting yesterday to get ready for this weekend, (like I said I was going to do in yesterday's post) and then a little miracle happened. Right as I was finishing that post and about to hit "publish" my Oh-So-Handsome Boyfriend, who I took the day off from work to be with (don't worry I got it covered early, all legit like) and who had a last minute schedule change at 5:55 yesterday morning and wasn't going to be able to get off work, was able to get off work! SCORE!!!!! He lives nearby but his work schedule is soooo crazy (we're talking 6 days/week 12-14 hour days) that our time together is at a premium, so I have to say, there was not a lot of design - creativity happening in my household after I hit publish yesterday.

That being said, the project I have for you is super cute, super easy and can be adapted to anytime of the year, not just Valentines Day. I was inspired to make a Valentine's Day Treat holder after going to a Stampcamp this weekend and using the "Pillowbox" Die and the Big Shot to make one. Since I didn't have that die, I needed to find another option. I could have used the TopNote and made one like THIS from Halloween, but I wanted to try something else. So I got out my thinking cap, looked around and what do you know, I found the inspiration I needed right in front of me on my table. It was on the cover of the new Occasions-Mini. I changed it a little, theirs is simply rolled (so I'm thinking it's probably not a treat holder) and mine is scored with the Simply Scored Tool. Do you have yours yet? I'm telling you it is a must have! I don't even fold cardstock for card bases anymore without scoring them on that first. It just makes the fold so much nicer.

Here's today's project-

Cute right? Wouldn't you love to find this on your desk at work, or on your pillow at home? It's so easy even your crafting-challenged significant others could do this or could help your little ones do it to give you a nice surprise. If they can crank the handle of the Big Shot, Score cardstock, Punch a hole, Tie a knot/bow they're home free. They get bonus points if they can stamp the image and punch it out! (:

I used DSP from my Brights pack and the largest Framelet and simply ran it through the Big Shot. So simple.  Next, I laid this on my Simply Scored Tool with the "points" in a channel. I then counted over 1/2 inch or 4 "channels" on either side and scored, and then reinforced those scores. Then, using my Crop-A-Dile I punched a hole through both sides at the top and took a length of about 12 inches of Pretty in Pink ribbon (although you could realistically get away with less) wrapped it around the outside and through the holes.

Here's what it looks like open-

As you can see 4 Kisses or Mini- Reese's Cups fit nicely, or 3 "Nuggets" You can use a little Snail to hold them in.

Once they were in, I tied my Pretty in Pink ribbon in a simple knot and flagged the ends. I stamped 2 of the images from the P.S. I Love You set in Real Red and Pretty in Pink on Whisper White and then punched it out using my Small Scalloped Circle Punch. A quick hole punched to the top and I tied some Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine through that and around the knotted ribbon and easy as that my sweet treat is ready to bring a smile to someones face.

So what do you think? Will you be "accidentally" forwarding this link to someone you love so they can make  you something sweet for VD instead of buying something for you? I don't know about you, but I would rather get this, or something similar, that someone took the time to make for me than something from one of the big stores.

I hope you liked today's Quick and Easy EWT and I hope it inspires you to try something new and to remember that just because you don't have "exactly what someone else used" doesn't mean that you can't still make something your own. Just Try! If you liked today's project, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

If you need supplies to make today's project or one similar to it you can shop at my ONLINE STORE 24/7.
Today's Recipe-
Cardstock- Real Red Pattern Paper Brights Stack
Ink- Real Red and Pretty in Pink Stampin Write Markers
Ribbons- Pretty in Pink Grosgrain, Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine
Big Shot- Labels Framelets
Stamps- P.S. I Love You
Accesories- Crop-A-Dile, SNAIL


It's not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to Dance in the rain.

Till next time-

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

MDS Moday- Punch Art/Happy Birthday / UDI-MDS Monday / My Challenge #3

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Hey y'all! Happy Humpday! I'm writing from home today as I had hoped to be able to spend at least part of it with my ever so handsome BF and then he had a last minute schedule change at work so it's you guys (No complaints there- you know I lurv you!) and then cleaning the house, and getting stuff ready for this weekends stampcamp and swaps ready for my upline team meeting. Geesh- it's a good thing I got some time off, huh? (:

So I know I'm a little behind on posting this weeks MDS Monday, but it's a holiday week and that always throws me off, but I brought us a bright little celebration to brighten up our humpday.

This is a CASE of a regular card I saw somewhere on the Internet, one day while I was trolling made with cardstock, DSP and a punched flower. I liked it so much I knew that one day I would case it that way, but until then I could CASE it with MDS. I got the 2 punches I needed for a few dollars and I was set to go.

Last week I showed you my first "real card" that was all "punch art". Here's my first MDS card that's all "punch art". The thing with MDS though is that you can manipulate your shapes and sizes, so even though there is no rectangle punch, I changed the square to become one and voila, I have just what I need. How cool is that?

Here's my card-

I started with a base of Pacific Point. To that I added layers of Whisper White and Baja Breeze. I then added a Square Punch, one of the Pennant Parade Punches, and one of the flowers from the Boho Flowers Punch set. I just adjusted the sizes and rotated them until they fit in the area I wanted them to and then filled them in. I used Celebration DSP for the center of the hat. A Happy Birthday sentiment that I enlarged to fill the top area and this section is done. Wouldn't this be cute for a little boy's birthday card? Not really the direction I was heading, but so glad where it took me!

Ok for the inside, because you know- just because it's digital doesn't mean it shouldn't have an inside too-

Same color scheme and dimensions here, I just carried them through. I used more pennants from the Pennant Parade set to create banners hanging from the ceiling and then put my birthday sentiment under them.

You know by now that I try to put a little extra something on the inside of all my cards, so I stamped another little "punch-art" birthday hat in the corner in Night of Navy and lightened it up. I even made the flower and brim of the hat a different opacity than the middle of the hat. So cool how you can do that! It looks like I stamped 3 different images. WOW!

Well, that's all I have for you today. I'm off to clean so I can get down to the fun stuff, yep, playing with the SU supplies!

I hope you thought today's post was worth the wait. I also hope it encourages you to try something new either with your MDS or with your regular Stamping/Crafting supplies. Whatever you do- I hope you have fun and do what the whole point of this blog is and that is to just Try. If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

Till tomorrow-

Remember life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to Dance in the rain. 

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

Quick and Easy Nursery Nest Shower Card

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Hey y'all! Happy Monday-Tuesday! I hope you're having a good day. While the sun is not shining here in the DMV, the rain has stopped for the time being at least. (:

I know I'm supposed to have a MDS Monday card for you today but sadly I didn't upload one so, I'll have to show it to you tomorrow. But I do have a card for you anyways.

Did you have a good 3-day weekend? I hope so! I got to do lots of stamping and crafting, including a Valentine's Stampcamp at my up-line's house on Saturday morning. When I left there I raced home to schedule the DVR to tape the Saints and the 49'ers (I'm soooo sad. I heard the outcome as I was watching the Pats - Broncos game which I just wanted to be close and exciting and was another let-down. *tear*) and make a quick baby-shower card and get ready to head out to Md. for any afternoon of fun. My friend Jackie is having a little girl and I wanted to make a cute little card. Let me tell you I wasn't sure what I was gonna make, but you know it was gonna be cute, right? Then I discovered I had no pink paper. Yep! You read that right.

NO Pink Paper!


Not even sufficient scraps for a 3 x 3. My Blushing Bride would arrive on Monday but that would be too late. How in the world had this happened?!? What to do? What to do? Think. Think. Think. (You know you're saying it with me in your best Pooh-Bear voice)

Well, I got out my Nursery Nest DSP and got the 12 x 12 sheet with the 2 birds from the stamping studio downstairs and got busy. I went upstairs, set the timer and in under 20 minutes start to finish (and that included an extra trip downstairs for another sheet of DSP to get the OWL DSP to decorate the inside and fussy cut him out) had designed and finished a card that not only my mom-to-be loved but had some of the guests coming up to me afterwards asking me about my business and Stampin' Up.  Can I just say I LOVE how SU's DSP can not only jump start our creativity, but can take our cards from 0 to complete in nothing flat. Wanna see?

Sure it's not Pink but it sure is cute and how stinking easy was it? Even though the DSP is actually Pear Pizzazz I  layered it on Lucky Limeade and it still coordinated great! I simply cut it down from the 12 x 12 sheet, Tombowed it to the card base and then to jazz it up a little, added some Dazzling Diamonds with my Two-Way Glue Pen. So Simple, but everyone loved it and couldn't believe I made it!

Here's the inside-

A sentiment from Curvy Verses meant I didn't need to take the time to get out my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to insure everything was perfectly straight, plus that set always has great sentiments! Then I realised I needed something for the inside of the card, you know me! I couldn't give the card just plain like that! so I ran back downstairs to get more DSP and came back upstairs to fussy cut this cute little fella and Tombow him to the inside of the card. A little Two Way Glue Pen and some Dazzling Diamonds and then he and my card were pretty enough to give.

 See what I mean?

I really wish they had put some pink owls in this DSP to go with the Green and Blue ones, but my card was so well received it's hard to be too upset. (:

What do you think? I know when I first saw this page in the DSP I only thought of it as a Scrapbook page, so I had trouble seeing myself using it. It's also really hard for me to come up with cards on the fly, and I had no time to spare so it's nice to be able to tell my clients how they can totally use DSP to make a card that others will love and they can be proud to give. Besides, SU may have come up with the paper, but I came up with the card. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

I hope you like my card and I hope it inspires you to use DSP for your own card creation in a way you wouldn't have expected too. If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

I'll see you back here tomorrow.

Till then-

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

Sometimes It's Like Pulling Teeth... OWH #103 -My #2

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Hey y'all. How are you today? We're trying to stay warm and dry here in the DMV because the rain is supposed to be coming later today and they say the white stuff may be coming back tomorrow. Sheesh! You'd think it was January or something, for realls! But I have a card for you today that is bright and cheery and spring-time all the way.

In keeping with my "resolve" to "try" and do a challenge a week I found this one over at Operation Write Home.

Have you been to their site yet? They send cards to military members for them to send back home to their families. How amazing is that?!? They will also send our beautiful cards to our Heros. (Why does that not look right?) Do you love this concept? I LOVE it! So, I love the sketch, and have been working on a lot of Valentine's day cards but felt like it would be too obvious, so I decided to try something else. I saw a card yesterday that I really liked, done in the new Sweetshop DSP and it sparked my creativity for this card. I kinda knew what I wanted but I went back and forth, back and forth trying to decide. Which paper do I want to use, which stamp set, what embellishments will I use? (Are you thinking, really? Shan and embellishments?) Back and Forth, Back and Forth. Even after I narrowed down the DSP series, I still had to narrow down the actual paper I was going to use. I guess that's the problem with having so many amazing DSP's. (: Finally, I was able to pick one. But let me tell you, I bet I still spent a good 30 minutes deciding the paper and embellishments for this card. (In case you haven't been following me long, I don't usually use embellishments. (Rhinestones-that's just bling, pearls-same thing) I rarely use ribbons and I think this is post 70 something and it's the 2nd post with a brad. Prepping for this card was "Like pulling teeth!" Have you ever heard that expression? Thank goodness they did the layout for me!

I took a few liberties with the sketch, something I rarely do. If you know me, and have followed me at all you know I'm a pretty stick to it kinda girl, right down to the dimensions of the layers and the shapes they have on it. In fact there was a time, way back when, that if a sketch had a heart on it, and I didn't have a heart, well I wouldn't be doing that sketch. But, I digress... Ready for my card? Here it is-

I don't know about you but this just makes me smile.

This is Sale-A-Bration to the MAX! Are you SOOO Excited for it? I can't wait for you to see the catalog! I started with a base of Pool Party and layered it with Everyday Enchantment DSP.

Instead of the 2 - .75 x 5.5 layers they have listed on the sketch I opted to triple wrap the sheer Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeaide ribbons, criss-crossing the layers and knotting them. I originally had longer ends but it looked a little fussy. I may go back later and add bows but I think it may be too much, I think just the simple knot works. HMMMM- here's a thought too, I may try this card again without the brads using our new edgelet to frame the curve of the stamps and turn then so they face downward. What do you think?

Instead of the banner across the middle I opted once again to rebel. (I wonder if it had anything to do with the drink I was drinking as I was designing? Hmmmm? No I'm going to simply go with Design Dictate) Instead of the banner I chose to use three of the decorative brads from the Everyday Elegance Brad Pack. I used my mat Pack and Piercing tool to space and punch the holes and then place the brads. I trimmed the edge of the brad closest to the edge so it wouldn't show.

I colored the postage stamp image from Fresh Vintage with my Blender Pens and Classic Ink Pads in Pool Party, Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeaide and then stamped the image on Very Vanilla c/s. I used my Postage Stamp Punch to punch the image out and then matted it with a square of Pool Party that I punched out with my Square Punch. I adhered these with Dimensionals and this is the only part of the sketch that I stuck to. (:




Here's the inside-

A simple greeting from another Sale-A-Bration set (wouldn't you know I looked at the name last night so I wouldn't forget it and I forgot it again) I think it's Elementary Elegance. The font is so beautiful! I simply huffed on the stamp from the front and stamped on the bottom corner for a little something extra. If you send cards to OWH, they can't have any glitter on them. ): If this were going to someone here, then I would definitely let Tink have her way with that little corner.

Well, that's all I have for today. What do you think? I have to figure out something for this weeks EWT, it's coming up quick! I've also got Stampcamp coming up next week. I hope you liked today's card and I hope it encourages you to step out of your box and do something you don't often do, whether that's using an embellishment like ribbons or brads or entering a challenge. Just Try. If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

If you need supplies to recreate this card or others like it you can shop at my online store 24/7

Card Supplies-
Card stock- Pool Party, Very Vanilla, Every Day Enchantment DSP
Ink-Classic Ink Pads- Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeaide
Stampsets -Sale-A-Bration- Fresh Vintage, Elemetary Elegance
Punches- Postage Stamp, Square
Sale-A-Bration Ribbon and Brad Pack
Accesories- Mat Pack, Piercing Tool, Blender Pens, Dimensionals, Glue Stick. Clear Block - C

I hope to see you back later this week for my End of the Week Technique.
Till Next Time-

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

Some Flutter-By's, Some Sale-A-Bration and Some Huh?

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Hey y'all. I hope your Tuesday is going good! Here in the DMV it's at least starting out better than Monday ended, in that the white stuff is gone! I could not believe it when I looked out my office window and saw those Big Fat Fluffy Globs falling from the sky. Let me tell you I was NOT Amused! No Sir-Ree!
But, today's another day and the sun's shining so we won't talk about the four letter stuff anymore than we have too, kay?

Sadly, (for me, y'all are probably doing the happy dance) College Football ended last night. I have to say, I was actually a little bored with the game. I unpacked my new SU goodies and worked on today's card during the game. It was nowhere near as good as the previous game, earlier this year. Now, THAT was a game. #1 LSU and #2 ALA were meeting to determine the National Championship and it should have been a Battle Royale. Only, someone forgot to tell LSU to show up to their own stadium. They never even got on the board, in the first ever shutout in a bowl game. *shaking my head* Oh well, you now have 7 months free of college reports and only one more month of NFL to endure. (: *tear*

 So, while I was enduring the bowl game hoping that LSU would at least save face and get on the board(WOW, Never thought I'd hear myself say that!) (I was by the way cheering for ALA.) I decided to make today's card.

Now you know lately, my MOJO's been there- I've either seen a sketch and known exactly what I've wanted to do and had it come out either just like that or pretty darn close or had an idea in my head and been able to get it out on paper just like that, so I've been feeling pretty good. Yeah..... Well, I ordered these supplies December 31, and have been planning cards and I new this first card I wanted to make. I had the color combo, the stamp set, the layout everything and you know what happened at the end of last night? Actually, I bet you guessed wrong. I still used the same color combo, and the same stamp set, even the same layout and yet the whole card ended up different. Yeah- Blew my mind too!

Here's a *TIP -#1- If you plan on layering and using punches make sure your punch will be able to reach both layers from the bottom.

*Tip-#2- You can't punch a layer from the top folded edge of a card, it doesn't work! Ask me how I know! ):

So after cutting cardstock and layers and then edgelets on both and stamping, I discovered I would have to rework my plan a little. So I decided to play with my new Sizzlets, which I believe is the first time I had ever used them before. I have to say, I think I'm gonna be a huge fan.

Here's my re-worked, finished product-

It's really loaded with new product. (Told you I was bored!) I started with a base of Concord Crush and I used our new Edgelets to get that beautiful decorative edge, so sharp! I layered that with Wisteria Wonder which I also edged with our Edgelet, but I also ran it through the Big Shot again with our Decorative Embossing Folder to give that Raised Embossed Edge that follows the curve. How gorgeous is that?

The stamp in the center is new and is only available during Sale-A-Bration and I'm totally having a moment right now and can't remember the name. (AUGH!) In my original idea I was going to punch the center out with the Curly Label Punch and have the sentiment be seen through to the inside of the card. I could do the Wisteria Wonder layer off the card but couldn't then get the Concord Crush layer. I guess if I had an exacto knife I could have made it work, but alas, no knife to be found. Maybe that needs to be on my wish list. So, I had to re-work my plan because it was getting late and I had my beautiful card base I already cut and "Edglet-tized" (Yes, it is a word in Shan-landia! Why? Because I made it so. Why can it not be? Why yes, it is a Fabulous word and you can use it.)

What to do now?....Think, Think, Think.....Oh Bother...Come on now you know you're saying it with me in your best Pooh-Bear voice. Ah, Yes! Why not try my new Sizzlets? So I did. and as you can see above, I think they worked out amazingly. Of course, granted, probably a card best suited for hand delivery and not trusting to USPS. I'll have to check them out at home tonight to see how well they flatten out and spring back. I simply folded them in half, put a thin edge of Tombow along the crease and stuck them to the card base. I also layered them inside each other in the same manner. For the biggest ones I used a Mini-Glue Dot that I rolled up into an oval and placed down the spine and stuck it down with that. My baby girl used to call Butterflys, Flutter-by's. I've been wanting to get the Sizzix Die but have been trying to watch my money, you know - who hasn't- and thought I would try these since they are so economical, and I have to say I am really very impressed! (Although once again, I don't know why I am surprised by the quality of anything I have received from SU)

Here's a close up of the Flutter-by's- they all have different embossing and you can then turn each one over for a different look.

Here's the inside-

Isn't the script on the sentiment beautiful? It's from the same stamp set and so is the little butterfly. Did you notice that you can see the little butterfly peaking out from under the edge of the front flap in the first picture? Yep. It wasn't planned that way. I had already stamped him on this piece of cardstock and then mounted it when I discovered that. Nice touch though? Serendipitous.

I also took one of the little Sizzlet butterflies and added it to this little stamped fella to give him some dimension as well. you know I like the insides of my cards to have something a little special and since this one doesn't have any "bling" I thought this might be a nice little extra touch.

Well, that's all I have for today. I hope you liked my little card and I hope it reminds you the next time things aren't going the way you planned them, to just keep pushing on through- You never know what beauty might await you in the end. If you liked it, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

If you need supplies to make this card or cards like it you can shop 24-7 in my ONLINE STORE.

Today's Supplies
Cardstock- Concord Crush, Wisteria Winder
Ink- Concord Crush
Big Shot- Edgelet, Edgelet Embossing Folder,  Hearts Sizzlets

Till next time,

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It