As some of you may know I LOVE butterflies, so when I opened the Occasions catalogue I was super excited and wasn’t sure which butterfly bundle I wanted more… the Beauty Abounds Cling stamp bundle or the Butterfly Gala bundle. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to play with both. Here is the project I made with the Butterfly Gala stamp set and punch (the punch will be available to order again I believe mid-March), using Daffodil Delight and Balmy Blue, as well as the Gingham Gala 6×6 Designer Series Paper and the 3/8″ Whisper White Classic Weave Ribbon. I also used a couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up the two butterflies. Enjoy recreating this cute card!

We’re halfway through February (spring is almost here, yah!) which means that we are halfway through Sale-a-bration…. which means that the second round of awesome FREE products are here!!! So I thought I would do a quick refresher of what Sale-a-bration is all about.

First things first…. with every $60 order you earn exclusive FREE product that you can only get until March 31st (or until supplies run out – which has happened already!). So if you spend $60 you can choose 1 Level One product (like the Lovely Lattice stamp set on the left) and if you spend $120 you can either choose 2 Level One products or 1 Level Two product (such as the Painted Seasons bundle on the right) and so on and so on.

Next if you host a party that totals $300 or more you will receive an additional $30 of Stampin’ Rewards (aka FREE product from any of the current catalogues) on top of what you would usually receive.

Plus if you join the Stampin’ Up! family before March 31st you receive $225 worth of great Stampin’ Up! product for only $135 (including tax and shipping) and for an extra $40 also get the super cute Craft & Carry Tote! (I have one and am amazed at how much it can hold!)

So make sure to head over to my website for everything you need to make the most of Sale-a-bration before it’s gone!

www.stampinup.com/inkspirationcards

I hope you have all enjoyed some special time with your loved ones! These are two of the cards I made for my family. I used the Jars I’d Love stamp set for all my cards and did some #simplestamping (I seem to be doing a lot more of this lately and I’m liking it).

The one made with Berry Burst and Powder Pink I made for my daughter and the one made with Tranquil Tide and Lemon Lime Twist was for my husband. For my son I made a cross between these two.

My kids love to play and watch TV, but they also LOVE to craft! (they come by it honestly I guess, lol) Whether it’s sticking stickers, creating stories or drawing, it doesn’t really matter. And when they see me stamping they are eager to get right in there and start stamping right along with me!

This is why I love Paper Pumpkin. Everything that you would possibly need is included and ready to go, so I can spend my time working on my projects and just checking in every once in a while to see if they need help, which often they don’t! As you can tell from the pictures above my two munchkins do it all. On the left is my little guy stamping the phrase for his Valentine’s. He is very insistent that he can do it himself. On the right is my daughter putting the final touches on hers before we assemble them.

Here are their final products. My little guy loved the little heart stickers as you can see on the left and my daughter pays close attention to detail so that it looks just like it does in the instructions. All I did was put the pillow boxes together!

If you’ve got crafty kids like me or are just looking for an easy activity for your kids to do then follow the link and sign up for Paper Pumpkin. Everything you need is shipped right to your door (and shipping is included)!

www.paperpumpkin.com/en-ca

This month’s #simplestamping challenge is a birthday card. The rules are still the same… you can only use stamps, ink and paper. Last month Stampin’ Up! gave the option of using a punch, this month the option, if you choose to accept it, is to use Designer Series Paper.

I decided to do one with DSP and one without. I used all the same supplies for both cards; the Amazing Life stamp set with Granny Apple Green and Blueberry Bushel ink on Whisper White cardstock. Then I added some Granny Apple Green Gingham Gala 6×6 DSP.

A little tip…. to make sure that you’re birthday cakes are level with one another I used a piece of paper to indicate my line and then stamped just above the line. I also added the DSP first so that I could better arrange my stamped images.

The Needle & Thread stamp set did not initially catch my eye when we were introduced to it and I was able to stamp with it at OnStage in Orlando this past November, but I think it may be growing on me. This is not the card I made at OnStage, but one that I made a couple of weekends ago with my Stampin’ Up! team (family).

I really like this card (not just because of the butterflies) because it is all stamped! The background images that look as though they have been stitched is a simple stamp from the Needle & Thread stamp set. It was stamped 3 times across the page for the top half and then flipped over and stamped 3 times for the bottom half of the image. If you like you can also get a similar stitched effect with the Needlepoint Element Framelits Dies which you can see used in my earlier blog post Needlepoint Nook.

Here are the rest of the details for this project….. the ink used was Soft Suede and Flirty Flamingo, the cardstock used was Flirty Flamingo and Whisper White, the ribbon used was the 1/8″ Flirty Flamingo from the All My Love Ribbon Combo Pack and the 5/8″ Whisper White Flax Ribbon and the Detailed Trio Punch.

Last weekend I joined my Stampin’ Up! family (team) for some crafting fun. Here is one of the cards that I made featuring the Piece of Cake stamp set and a colour combination that I wouldn’t have thought of myself (Night of Navy, Mint Macaron and Smoky Slate) and now that I’ve seen it I’m going to have to remember to use that one in the future! I also love that we had to colour for this card, I don’t have the chance to colour as often as I would like so it was nice to use the Stampin’ Blends to colour the cake and stand. Plus I was excited to learn that the stars on this card are adhesive-backed!

Stampin’ Up!s #simplestamping challenge for January was to create a Valentine themed card. The rules were similar to last time (only using cardstock, stamps and ink) with the added option of using a punch if you wanted. So for my project I used the Jars of Love stamp set with Powder Pink and Lovely Lipstick ink on Whisper White Notecards & Envelopes. I also punched out two Powder Pink daisies using the Daisy Punch and placed them on top of each other, slightly bending the top petals to give an extra layer of depth to the card. I’m really happy with how this turned out and this may be what I give out this Valentine’s Day!

I’ve got another swap coming up with my team (two actually). This card swap was a colour challenge, meaning we were only able to use the four listed colours; Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla.

At first I wasn’t too sure how it was going to turn out, but I’m quite happy with the results. I made this #simplestamping card with the Incredible Like You stamp set from the Occasions catalogue.

The official card swap happens this weekend so stay tuned and I’ll even look at sharing them live on my Facebook page next week!

This card was one of the great Make & Takes that were part of OnStage this past November in Orlando. It features the all new Needlepoint Nook Suite and uses just about every product on the page (pg. 39 of the Occasions catalogue); the stamp set, the framelits, the Designer Series Paper as well as the mini buttons and Old Olive linen thread.

An important tip that I learned at OnStage with this stamp set in particular is to stamp off first onto another piece of paper before stamping on your cardstock. This is especially important if you are using a brand new inkpad, otherwise you do not get to see the fine detail that gives these stamps the look that they have actually been stitched.

So this past weekend I had my official Catalogue Launch party to celebrate the new Occasions and Sale-a-bration catalogues. We had fun stamping, checking out all the awesome new products and hanging out! This was our Make and Take and the treat boxes that I made for everyone who came.

If you haven’t checked out the new catalogues yet, make sure to head over to my website ( www.stampinup.com/inkspirationcards) or if you like to have a copy in your hands like me then send me an email at inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com and I’ll mail them out to you!

I had someone join my team recently (Welcome Cheryl!) and so I decided to create a card for her, just something simple with a little something extra added. So of course I went with the Crafting Forever stamp set… I love this set!! It’s great for some #simplestamping and goes great with either the Watercolour Pencils (which is what I used here) or Stampin’ Blends. To get the pot a little closer to the terracotta colour I actually coloured first with the Pumpkin Pie and then the Early Espresso. If you want you can also go over your Watercolour Pencils with your Blender Pen to smooth out the lines.

Just like many of you, I’m always looking for ways to store all my crafting and stamping supplies so they don’t completely take over my craft space. I also get extra excited when the storage looks good too! So I decided to re-purpose a couple of old Paper Pumpkin boxes and used some old Sale-a-bration Designer Series Paper to make them look pretty. Now they’ll hold my adhesives and Stampin’ Blends. All they need now are labels!

Today is the day that the Occasions catalogue launches and Sale-a-bration kicks off!

What makes Sale-a-bration so special you may ask.

Here’s the low down…

1. For every $60 you spend you can choose a Sale-a-bration product for FREE! (e.g. $60 spent means 1 free Level 1 product, $120 means 2 free Level 1 products or 1 Level 2 product and so on)
2. Earn $30 more in Stampin’ Rewards (choose products from either the Occasions or Annual catalogue up to the amount earned) with a $300+ order/party.
3. Purchase the Starter Kit and join my team for the best deal around!
   1. Choose $225 worth of Stampin’ Up! products for only $135 (no tax or shipping) OR
   2. Choose $225 work of Stampin’ Up! products AND get the exclusive Craft & Carry Tote (worth $68) for only $175 (no tax or shipping)

Let me know if you have any questions about Sale-a-bration, if you’d like to host a party with your favourite crafters or if you would like to have me mail you the catalogues!

I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I hope that 2019 brings you and yours lots of wonderful things!

A fellow demonstrator posted pictures of a New Year’s Hat that she had created (I wish I could remember their name) and it inkspired me to create some of my own to ring in the New Year.

Happy New Year!