Intro to Blendabilities Class

Hello and happy New Year!

So with Sale-A-Bration well under way, it's a great way to re-introduce the amazing and versatile Blendabilities alcohol makers from Stampin' Up! If you didn't know already- you can get a set ($15.95 CND value) FREE by spending $60 during SAB. I had always wanted to try the 'other' markers- but they did seem so difficult, not to mention expensive. Not knowing the colour theory and having to purchase individual markers at $7 a pop up here where I live (or going on line) just made it a pipe dream. I am very thankful to Stampin' Up! for coming out with their own version. Not only are they less expensive, but they bundle the colours by shade so getting the correct tones is so much easier than I thought it would be. Needless to say- almost all of the holiday cards I sold this season had Blendabilities all over them.

Now with Sale-A-Bration offering free sets, I figured it was a great time to start an intro class now that I think I have somewhat of a handle on these fine pens. Doesn't honestly take that much time to get the hang of them- but the more you use them the more fun and creative you find yourself being.

SO one of the cards I am doing is an easle card and I got this idea off Pintrest. It was done in black instead of Crumb Cake and the colours popped more vibrantly on the white ink. I was just seeing what it would do on Crumb Cake and I have to say, I absolutely love the outcome. Yes, it isn't 'perfect' when you look closely- but it didn't take a lot work and I didn't use any shading or anything. Just brushed it over the images. Well- here take a look!

 I used the Corner Garden Clear mount Stamp (134048) and stamped on Crumb Cake in Whisper White Craft Ink and embossed with white embossing powder. I used the darker hues of
Costal Cabana (131000)
Rich Razzelberry (131003)
Old Olive (130999)

All I did was brush the large tip over and colour in the lines best I could. I used some silk ribbon and Soft Sky and Island Indigo layers. I absolutely love the colour combo! You can also use Soft Suede as a base instead and have an equally dramatic effect.
To finish it off, I used the Blendabilities on the Basic Pearl Embellishments (119247). Another selling feature of the markers is that you can colour the rhinestones or pearls, buttons or ribbons and being alcohol based they aren't going to rub off.

The 2nd card we are making is just a basic layered card (no insert- just flat) using Basic Gray, Smokey Slate and Rich Razzelberry. I did the rock and roll technique on the top layer of flowers and added some Dazzling Details (LOVE THOSE) for the centers.

I used a few different techniques on the Secret Garden set (now retired- insert sad face here- that set is AMAZING for these markers!) I tried blending Rich Razzleberry with Wisteria Wonder, I did dark to medium to light on a few and then light to medium to dark on one flower. I even tried dark-medium-dark on the bottom large flower in the corner. 

SO basically I adored trying different techniques and playing with these markers to get different effects. I believe that these markers have even more potential depending on how creative you want to be. 

So that's it for me! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Brandie

Christmas

Not a very original title, I know. I also know it's been well over a year since I have blogged. I have been meaning to, desiring to, it's just I never seem to have the time. Since last year I have ventured from dayhome provider to part time worker, to 2 part time jobs to full time employee. Trying to adjust to that after a decade of being a homemaker only and still trying to make my little home business a priority plus everything that needs to be done on the home front leaves precious little time for my hobby of writing.

But that's not to say I have not been busy crafting up a storm! I have dabbled in the trade show circut and have decided it's just not for me. I loved meeting new people and have had fun networking, but the payout from table fees to making sure I have items to sell with what I earn from them is just unbalanced. I sold 2 packs of cards in 4 hours at the most recent, but was able to post the left overs on line and sell out in mere hours. Mostly from friends and family- so that's okay :) A lot of my friends are other direct sellers with various companies so it's a great way to expand and get my name out there to other markets I hadn't considered.

So here are some samples of things I whipped up just for the show.

 All of the stamps I used ARE older and retired (mostly). It's been a tough year getting back into my Stampin' Up! but after this season I really want to make 2015 more of an SU! focused year. I am so proud of my little business and this coming April will mark 4 years as a demonstrator. It's been tough and I haven't yet reached goals that I have wanted to reach- but I am getting there!

 I did want to stray away from typical fold cards so most of the ones I did were a real hit as they were folded or cut in unique ways. I loved using the SU! labels collection to create this swing card. The paper is old stock from last year- I can't remember what it was called but it was postage themed. I loved the colours and thought they could be very festive. Another thing I have enjoyed doing is using double stick adhesive strips in lines on my projects and rubbing glitter over it.

  

No despite what it may look like- the little Gingerbread men cards are NOT side step cards (though I am thinking I am going to have to try it!) I just scored a 5.5x4.25 piece of paper in half and then added blocks up from the bottom to create a neat visual effect. The little man is from Pink Cat Studio and I had so much fun using my SU! Blendabilities creating the coloring. In fact, I used those puppies so much this season that I am now in need of a new Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler set!
On the note of Blendabilities, I simply cannot WAIT for SaleABration- but that's all I am going to say about that ;)
The last card was created using vellum for the front. Now, I tell all my customers how much I love Stampin' Up! cardstock compared to big box store CS. The difference in quality is obvious- SU! card stock is tougher (in a good way) and able to uphold in different card forms as well as being used for 3D projects. It's never let me down! The reason I am stating that is that I have recently bought vellum from Stampin' Up! and it's the same thing. Stronger, better quality. I am proud to be part of a company that has such quality products. Anyways- using vellum for my card fronts and finishing them off with an old Stampin' Around Wheel (wish they'd bring those puppies back!), Adorning  Edgelits dies, ribbon and Scentsational Season stamps and dies finish off this card in a fun, yummy way.

So that's what I have been up to recently. Hoping to keep up on this thing is another goal (I know I know- I have said THAT before) but being part of my business it is a valuable tool to reach out to all the other stampers out there!

Thanks for visiting,

Brandie

Post Valentine Kisses

What a weekend! I know down in the States my American friends just celebrated their Presidents day and up here in the frozen north of Alberta (though it's been strangely mild this February. I don't trust it) we celebrated Family Day. The idea is to go no-tech and enjoy each other's company, and while I DO love my hubs and kids, we're not very out doorsy/large groups of people-people. So we stayed tucked in and had pizza and a movie night. Then being as the kids had Friday off for in service day those lucky ducks had an extended weekend and momma hadn't had time to blog Valentine's treats til now.

Have I mentioned that I love pinterest? I was going to go all rustic and start making my own crackers (epic fail) paints (so epic fail) and body cleansers/detoxes (still on the fence). After many fails there I gave up on trying to make my own lotions and face scrub. SCREW IT! says I. I'll just keep the local grocery store in service that way. But that aside, pintrest has some amazing ideas for home renos, refurbishing old items around the house AND baking/crafting :D (my two most favouritest of things! lol) So I got this nifty idea off of there to buy some strawberry wafer cookies (on sale- thank you Save On foods!) and dip them half way into chocolate. So I bought white chocolate melts (can't stand the stuff- good thing too or I would have eaten all the kids treats) and some Valentine's sprinkles. I wanted to do Inking Idaho's purse tutorial but it was too small for what I had in mind so mine just became a bag topper. I got to use my new Sale A Bration goodies (just over a month left!!!!!!! make sure you get your parties in folks!) and my Hearts a Flutter bundle stamps and dies.

 So I used my Top Note die and turned and scored it length ways instead of width ways, used 4x6 cellophane baggies which fit 3 dipped bars nicely. I used the small heart found in the Create A Cupcake stamp set. I also got to use my brand new That's the Ticket Stamp set and duo ticket punch :) A cute versatile little set. You can also get the Take A Ticket Stampin' Around wheel for the punch. The tickets on it ARE a bit smaller than the punch, but you can still punch the center out and have a cute little ticket :)

Now, for the past few years I have also made a
Valentine's treat for my kiddos. You will notice that there are only 3- that's because Mat is 3 and wouldn't care (don't worry! He DID get candy too! lol). I used 4 of Stampin' Up!'s 1x8 cellophane bags and put M&M's in them. 2 bags of candy filled 4 cellophane bags. Being as they are 8 inches I then trimmed 1/2-1/4 inch off the side of a standard sheet of cardstock. So the cardstock is trimmed to 8x10 inches. I scored each side length wise at 3 and 3.5 inches so I have a half inch rise on both sides. The flaps on both sides don't meet in the middle perfectly, there is a bit of an overlap, and I used this to my advantage. Now I wanted to use my Hearts a Flutter die to cut those window hearts out, but my paper was too big to feed through my Big Shot so I cheated and used another punch. If you can figure out how to feed a larger piece of paper through the Big Shot without scrunching the paper up, I'm all ears ;) . So I created a back ground with a retired So Swirly Jumbo Wheel and then various hearts from my stamp sets. I layered some coordinating cardstock and DSP and then made some belly bands. I grabbed some ribbon I had laying around and made the strands super long so I could use some cut-out hearts and layer them with dimensionals and added a wooden button in the center of them. I used my Fabulous Phrases stamp set, along with that same little heart, and my 1 inch circle punch and the coordinating 1 1/4 scalloped circle punch found in the Spring Catalogue.
The kids loved them and I had a blast making them over coffee with a friend.

Well that's it for me for today. Thanks for stopping by!

~Brandie~

Sweet Grandma Valentine's

Okay- I guess I don't celebrate Valentine's with my grandmother ;) but with the new installment of lace and doilies and silver trinkets for embellishments in the new Spring Catalogue, it seems that they were inspired by my Grandmother's own old china cabinet.

They are classic and elegant and, a lot of fun! I would highly recommend getting the Artisan Embellishment Kit (129328) ...or two- for scrapbooks, cards or any project you may have your eye on. It coordinates wonderfully with the More Amore DSP (129309). I have now also decided that I LOVE the idea of using sales tickets type embellishments after using the cute LOVE ones in the Artisan kit. So needless to say, my Stampers 10 order for this month will include the Ticket Punch duo as well as the really versatile "That's the Ticket" stamp set (128075 c 128072 w). I am eager to play with it!

Along with the Artisan kit and Amore DSP- I grabbed the super cute Ciao Bella stamp set in clear. It's amazingly cute and coordinates with the 7/8 Scalloped Circle punch (THIS IS NEW! Lol- this is NOT the 1 1/2 inch scalloped circle punch that I mistakenly got. Ah well- it'll have it's use!) and the NEW Petite Curly Label punch from our Sale A Bration Flyer. Trust me- you have to have it ;)

Another thing with the Artisan Kit- the ribbons and lace come wrapped on these cute little heart cardstock pieces. Why not hold onto them and utilize them in your projects? I cut phrase off of one of the pieces of DSP and used it as my sentiment, and trimmed the stems off my paper roses. They needed a few glue dots- but they went nicely onto this easel card. With the colours and lace it really reminded me of elegant older ladies. I added the doily that came with the kit (get extras to make more cards or other fun projects from the new Spring Catalogue- Paper Doilies 129399)

There is so much good stuff in this season's mini that I can't wait to get more presents in and show you even more. Have a few friends over and host a party and get some of the amazing products from the Sale-a-Bration flyer- there is so much there that it'll be hard to chose just one!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Brandie~

New Spring Catalogue Is HERE!

And how excited am I?
Oh- I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Holiday- sorry, I was really busy with my other little business- making cards and gifts that I unfortunately didn't have time to blog (new years resolution perhaps? We'll see- it's been my resolution for the past few years now).

So new Spring Catalogue- just the word spring is making me yearn for longer days and sunshine. Up here in Northern Alberta we've had the snow come with vengence and stick around til- well- now. It's not that great around Hallowe'en (we usually get a bit of snow- but not this much), but we get enough for a beautiful white Christmas, then come January winter comes full force and leaves completely in about May sometime. I hope being as we had winter early we get spring early. 
Spring.... ahhh, :) Well until the grass starts peeking up, we can play with spring themes and colours in the 2013 Spring Catalogue- make sure to check out the link on the right! SO many neat ideas. Those crafter folks up at SU! headquarters brought back product bundling to save you money (to buy more products :D ), as well as brought in neat Embellishment packs and new innovative products. The one I want to get my grubby paws on is the cross stitch card kit. How fun would that be? I hope it's a hit as I think it's really a cool concept.

Now, would it even BE a Stampin' Up! Catalogue release without some sort of deal? I think not :D

Dates: January 3-21, 2013 Details: During the My Little Valentine promotion, your customers will get the Sealed with Love Simply Sent Kit FREE-a $9.95 value-when they purchase the brand-new My Little Valentine Set. This four-piece set was created exclusively for this promotion and will not be available again after January 21!

The My Little Valentine Stamp Set is only available in clear-mount.

Buy one of the following:

Item	Description	Price
132242	My Little Valentine (English; clear-mount)	$11.95
132245	Enamorados (Spanish; clear-mount)	$11.95
132248	Mon petit amour (French; clear-mount)	$11.95

Get this FREE:

Page	Publication	Item	Description	Retail Value
35	holiday catalogue	126923	Sealed with Love Simply Sent	$9.95

So here's Stampin' Up!'s deal for the new Catalogue- how neat is that? Bundle it up with the Hearts a Flutter Bundle on page 11 and you, my friend, are SET for Valentine goodies for your friends and family alike (or the famous class treats for the kiddos!) Plus, reading the print this promotion is only good until the 21st. After that it's gone for good- for such a great deal PLUS a free goodie- it's worth it ;)


Well, that is it for me. I'm back into the grind after a hectic holiday (in a good way) and the house all cleaned and back to pre-Christmas order, I can huddle in my corner of paradise and put these sweet new products into use!

Thanks for stopping by,
~Brandie~

Halloween Fun!

For some reason blogger wouldn't let me save and publish yesterday, so here we go today.
Yesterday was so much fun! I tried my hand at making costumes for the kids for the first time ever. It was more expensive for Lexie's, but there was a lot of detail in her Mad Hatter inspired costume:

I had made the Gaga inspired hat a few years ago. Those were our colour choices for this ensemble. What started out as a white oxford shirt got dyed Pretty Ink Pink with Stampin' Up! reinker (WHO'D A THUNK IT! lol!) I poured a half a bottle in a bowl full of cold water and soaked the shirt in it. I added some Calypso Coral to make it a deeper colours as I had no Melon Mambo (which would have been PERFECT!) but it was more light pink and we made it work ;) I do NOT sew, but I stitched a few darts in the back to make this small ladies top fit my junior youth more snuggly. I then found some fabric flowers and glued them along the button holes and cut 1/3 of the sleeves off, stitched them up and added some black lace. Then we added some ghastly make up and some trinkets we found with the gloves and leggings at Claires in the mall :) If you look closely, that's even Silver Dazzling Details swirled on the corner of her eyes ;) lol



Bella was easier. A kitty. She just wanted to be a kitty. But not ANY kitty- no, kitty soft paws. But not the Killy Softpaws from the Dreamworks franchise, the kitty softpaws who belongs to our neighbours and her best friend-lol. Do you know how hard it is to find a cat costume for someone who isn't a toddler? Hard- that's how hard! lol. So we bought a black shirt, white mittens, cat makeup and ears/tail combo. She's  a pretty kitty if I do say so myself!

Then there was my little mister! He wanted to be Lloyd Garmadon, the green ninja off of Ninjago (such a cute series! I don't think I'll ever out grow cartoons- lol!) And I didn't know where to buy one- so before I went costume shopping, a friend had posted costumes she made for her boys. They wanted to be lego characters and she used a cardboard box and created the look. Now, hers were AWESOME and she even used old helmets and duct tape and created lego heads, which I wasn't able to do :(, but I found the tutorial on line and bought a big box from Home Depot and cut out the pieces. Used duct tape to tape them together and spray painted them green.I used a black sharpie and white paint to detail it- and then some Basic Grey cut into a long hexagon for his belt.

My Thomas the Train obsessed toddler had his brother's old Thomas costume from when Gabe was obsessed with Thomas! I did get Mat a James costume as that's HIS favourite- but he went as Thomas last night. It was so cold and snowy up here in Northern Alberta that all these costumes were stuffed over winter jackets, toques and mitts- and this little guy only went down the street to grandmas. This photo wasn't even Halloween- lol. I only put his costume on over his suit :P But at least I got a good one of him in his costume for pictures :)









NOW putting my crafty skills to work for paper crafting Halloween fun- I used Stampin' Up!'s Stocking Bigz die to create witches boots. I wanted this die since last year, but didn't get it til now. I made a beautiful Christmas stocking (will show later! lol) and then I wondered what to do with it for Halloween- how to make it witchy.... WELL someone else on the SU! team had the same idea and created a wonderful tutorial that I picked up and tried out. I made 2 on each side and put a 2.5.2.5x4 inch box between them to make a cutsie container:

I used a variety of products that I had laying around in my sewing notions draw from old rick rack and lace to ribbon sliders- but most everything else is Stampin' Up! I had the Confetti stamp set that I stamped randomly on the bottom of the one boot in Versamark and embossed silver. Before that I used my Stampin' Around wheel to stamp black swirls on the Basic Grey boot and high lighted it with Melon Mambo and Rich Razzleberry strips of inked cardstock and DSP. I LOVED the Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black boot! I used the 1/2 Basic Grey stripped satin ribbon and a ribbon slider to create an old school buckle, my Spiderweb embossing folder and Basic Rhinestones for a bit of bling :) I created tags using the retired batty for you and filled the boots with cake pops that didn't quite make it to the kids' Halloween school parties :( (I have GOT to start giving myself more time!)

Another witches boot! Didn't turn out quite like I hoped- it was Basic Black- but when I embossed it with the Stripped embossing folder and dabbed shimmer paint on it, it turned a silvery grey. Ah well :) It was well received!

 A few more pics of the boots by themselves :) A good thing I didn't send the cake pops though! I found out one little guy has a nut allergy in my son's class- and the pumpkin pops used nutmeg- which I heard isn't good for someone with a nut allergy. Better safe than sorry! Gunna try the pops again for Christmas ;) This time Chocolate and Peppermint :) Stay tuned for Christmas goodies during the coming weeks!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Brandie~

Christmas in October

Good afternoon Stampers and happy fall! Outside it's overcast and dreary, but really appropriate for getting into a spooky Halloween mood- but more on that later ;)
We all know in any retail industry, whether clothing or stamping, we're always a few months ahead to say the least. Back to School hadn't even happened yet before the stores were bombarded with Halloween decor and items. So it makes sense with a mere 12? 13? weeks until Christmas that Stampin' Up! would want to give their customers their gifts a wee bit early.

So the promotion for October is their Christmas Gift to you! I am sure you've seen the beautifully paper crafted ornaments on line and especially on the cover of Stampin' Up!'s 2012 Holiday Catalogue. They are beautiful and ornate and LOOK harder than they are I am sure- especially when using the featured SU! products- the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set and Holiday Ornaments Framelits dies. Not only can you buy them bundled together and save 15% off the retail price, but for the month of October, SU! has bundled the beautiful Candlelight Christmas DSP in as well for you. And if you buy this bundle (either with or without the dies- but seriously- the dies are a MUST in creating some of the beautiful designs available to you!) Stampin' Up! wants to give you the Festive Paper Piercing Pack FREE for buying the bundle! And as warm and comforting as Christmas itself this set can be, all of SU!'s products are so versatile- so this beauty can be worked and reworked to create ornaments for ANY time of the year. It's quite a gift and available for this month only!

Now, being as we have spoke Christmas- lets not forget that in 30 short days, little ghouls and ghosts and goblins will be flocking the streets and halls of schools and malls. Keep the festivities alive by trying out the Ghoulish Googlies Bundle?  The Stamp Set is super sweet and makes the monsters not-so-scary cute- along with the Googly eyes that I can't take my eyes off of! Bundle it with the Ghoulish Googlies Designer Printed Kit and you have customized creations for the creatures in class, the neighbourhood or at the party.
What I did my MY little ghouls is a first for me. I stepped out of the girly garden of flowers and butterflies and pink (yanno, my comfort zone) and tried my hand at ghastly vintage:

These were so much fun to make and really easy to put together once I thought out of the box for myself and just started creating. I loved the Linen Thread and how rustic it looks. I also took my scissors and shredded the edges of the tags, then took a sanding block to them for a roughed look. Embossing folders, ribbon and wooden buttons finished off various tags and would be perfect adorning the closure of candy apples or pumpkin cake pops or even just treat bags.

Well, that's it for me for now- thanks for stopping by!

~Brandie~