Sale-a-bration is here!

For those who are already familiar with Stampin’ Up! you know what this means and are probably just as excited as I am… for those of you who don’t know you’ll soon understand why this truly is the most wonderful time of year for us papercrafters.

Every year at this time Stampin’ Up! holds its biggest promotion of the year (Jan 4 – Mar 31). A catalogue of exclusive and free products is released and for every $60 we spend we can choose one of these items. And that’s only the beginning!

It starts simple enough with orders of $60 increments receiving one free Sale-a-bration item ($60 = 1, $120 = 2, etc.), but then if you order a My Paper Pumpkin subscription of 3 months (on sale for $74) or 12 months ($295) you can choose 1 or 4 items from the Sale-a-bration catalogue, plus if you hold a party during Sale-a-bration that amounts to $335 or more you not only get the usual hostess bonuses and Sale-a-bration items but you also get an extra $35 to spend as you wish. And if that wasn’t enough, if you sign up to be a demonstrator during Sale-a-bration you will receive $165 worth of Stampin’ Up! product, and all your business supplies, for only $135 (NO tax or shipping), plus two extra stamp sets. Just talking about this gets me even more excited for Sale-a-bration! And I just learned this weekend that Stampin’ Up! will be realeasing new Sale-a-bration items in just a couple of days.

So whether you’re looking for some new products to give you inkspiration or if you simply need to stock up on paper and adhesive, now is the perfect time to do it… how can you argue with FREE Stampin’ Up! product?!

Check out my website for all the current catalogues or feel free to email me with questions and/or orders.

http://www.stampinup.com/inkspirationcards

With the freezing rain cancelling buses (which does not happen often), I found myself having an unexpected day off from my “9 to5” job. Needless to say I was looking forward to a day of whatever I wanted… once I dropped off the munchkins of course! So once that was done I got some music going and took to my computer to sort out my schedule of upcoming events and get them posted. Then while enjoying my morning tea (my other love) I got myself organized and made room for some afternoon crafting. (Something I haven’t done in way too long!) All in all a very productive and creative day.

I played with a little bit of the old as well as a little bit of the new and here’s the result…

Check out my upcoming events here

Happy Stamping!

To you and yours, I wish you all a Happy New Year filled with lots of love and of course inkspiration!

So in the last little while the trend of adding stitching to cards has really taken flight and I have to admit I have been intrigued. It really adds a different kind of personality to the cards and gives it a special touch. I also have to admit I’ve been a little hesitant to dive in because I’ve been a little intimidated by it. I’m not quite sure where and how to start and in my head it seems like it would add so much time to my card making process, whether that’s the case or not I don’t know. I love making my own cards because it allows me to be creative as well as gives such a personal touch to the process of card giving. I also love it because once I get inkspired all I need to do is fold and stamp away.

So for those of us who are looking to add stitching to our cards Stampin’ Up! has different kits that allows you to do just that. But what has me excited is the announcement of a preorder for the month of November of a product that is not set to release until next year’s annual catalogue! It’s a set of thinlits that gives the look of stitching… plus receive 25% off certain stamp sets that would go great with these thinlits. And if that’s not enough of an incentive, when you order the thinlits I will email you a project sheet to get you on your way to making great cards!

Check it all out on my website.

www.stampinup.com/inkspirationcards/stitchedfromtheheart

So the last week or so has been pretty hectic leading up to my daughter’s birthday this past weekend. But finally after all the planning and printing and crafting, my daughter’s birthday was a big success. She had a great time with her friends goofing around and painting pottery and just about as much with the family later that night. Of course she loved the Shopkin themed birthday we did and as always cleaned up when it came to presents! (Man… I never remember cleaning up like that when I was little!)

With the birthday party done and the scramble to get decorated and ready for Halloween behind me, now it’s time to take a breath before I dive into getting ready for the holidays. I can’t believe it’s November already! Where does the time go?!

Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!

So my daughter declared that she wants a Shopkin themed birthday party. She like many girls in her class seem to be quite obsessed with these little figurines of food, household utencils, clothing accessories, etc. with faces. Usually I make her invitations and in the past it’s been themes like Cinderella, Frozen, Tinkerbell, there was even a Hallowe’en themed birthday party (since her birthday is just before Hallowe’en), so when digging through my Stampin’ Up! stamp sets it’s been pretty easy to find something that would work really well. Unfortunately for me this time around Stampin’ Up! doesn’t make Shopkin stamp sets (although maybe they should consider it considering they seem to be all the rage).

We went through all my paper, etc. and she decided that she wanted to use Flirty Flamigo (one of the 2016-2018 In Colours) and Delightful Dijion (one of the 2015-2017). A combination that I would not have thought of myself at all! Somehow though when we put the two together it worked quite well (demonstrator in the making). So now to my dilemma of finding an image/images to stamp…. Fortunately I have a retired Stampin’ Up! stamp set called “Dress Up”, which has come in handy a few times and managed to do so again when I came up with the idea of printing Shopkin faces that would then be cut out and pasted to the stamped images.

Put it all together and voila!

(For some reason even though I took the pictures vertically they rotated to horizontal, sorry about that)

It’s Thanksgiving weekend… as well for those of us who are Jewish, we are in the midst of the Jewish New Year. With the Jewish New Year we reflect on the past year, where we have gone wrong and how we would like this year to be different/better; not just in terms of ourselves, but also for our loved ones, our community and the world. For Thanksgiving we reflect on what we are grateful or most thankful for. Both are a time to gather with family, friends, loved ones and of course eat lots of food!

This year I’m grateful, as many of us are, for my family and friends who love and support me. I’m also especially grateful for my health. Earlier this year I blew out my right knee and had to be on crutches for about two months or more. Doctors were never really able to say what happened exactly and I am still recovering, almost 8 months later. This has really highlighted for me the importance of my health and well-being, as well as how lucky I am compared to others!

In terms of my stamping, there’s a couple of things I would like to do differently this year… One of which is to reach out more to friends and family with my cards. The other is try and reach out to share my love of stamping and paper crafting with more and more people.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

And for those of you who celebrate… Shana Tova! (a Sweet and Happy New Year)

There are so many great things about Stampin’ Up! and being a demonstrator. Probably one of the best things about Stampin’ Up!, if not the best, is the community that comes with it. The Stampin’ Up! community is so far reaching… not just my upline, but my upline’s upline and all the way up to Sara. It is a community that is so fun, passionate, connected, supportive and encouraging. There’s no judgement about why you decide to join Stampin’ Up! or what you want to make of it and no matter what happens that might take you away from it they are always there with open arms to welcome you back!

It was tough for me to have to take a step back for the last couple of months, but I had to shift my priorities a bit so that I could take better care of me. And even though I may not have been able to write posts or hosts classes, my mind was never from far from Stampin’ Up! and how much I love to play with the products! I kept waiting for the time when I was able to dive back in. So I was excited when I got together with my group a couple of weekends ago. It was fun, the card swaps were awesome (as usual) and they were so understanding and encouraging of me to do what I can… whatever that may look like.

Thanks Ladies!!!

Happy World Card Making Day Everyone!

www.youtube.com/worldcardmakingday

I’ve always enjoyed being creative and a number of years ago I was introduced to Stampin’ Up! Instantly I fell in love with their products, ideas, etc. and as I used the products I became more and more intrigued with the company. So almost 3 years ago I took the plunge and joined as a demonstrator and I’m so glad I did! Not just because of the sneak peeks and incentives, but also because it gives me the opportunity to share my love for stamping and what I know with you.

I’m looking to post about once a week with different tips, techniques, projects and promotions. I’m also hoping that this will be an opportunity for me to get to know you better and for you to get to know me.

I’m excited and I hope you are too!