New catalog Open House!

I am so thrilled with the new SU catalog this year.  I'm not sure I've been this excited about a new catalog in long time!  SO MANY beautiful new dies and products!

My New Catalog Open House is coming up next Friday, June 17th, at either 9 am or 6 pm.  We will be making 2 make 'n takes, featuring some of my favorite new products.

On this first card, we are using the new Irresistably Floral specialty DSP.  This paper has a white background, with an embossed design in it,s o when you add ink to it, the pattern pops.  There are also these new foam brayers which you just roll over your ink pad, and roll over your paper, then grab a paper towel to wipe off the excess ink, and Wa La you have this beautiful background in any color scheme you want!  Gorgeous and easy.  I paired two new In Colors, Peekaboo Peach and Flirty Flamingo inks together on this card -- such a pretty summer combo.  Those gorgeous little flower die cuts, are from the Flourish Thinlets.  Lovely little flowers and leaves and a die cut flourish in this set. The sentiment is cut with the new layering ovals dies.  This set of dies is a much tighter nested set of dies than the recently retired ones, and each oval has a coordinating little scalloped layer.  So cute!

 This card features one of my absolute favorite products in the new catalog -- the detailed floral thinlet dies.  These were first on my list of must haves.  So intricate and beautiful!  Again, I am using Sweet Sugarplum with Rich Razzleberry.  In the second photo, you can see how I used the clear Wink of Stella to color in a few of the big flowers in the design to add a bit of subtle, elegant shimmer.  Some silver Dazzling Details adds that little pop to the center of each flower.

Ok!  Off to make breakfast for my littles!

Shaker Cards!

Happy Saturday, Everyone!!!

Today, I have a couple of graduation shaker cards to share with you.  I love shaker cards, but hadn't found a good product to use for the dimensional foam part -- UNTIL NOW, that is!  SU came out with these fantastic foam adhesive strips in the new catalog, and these make shaker cards totally easy and fast!  I am so excited about this product.  No more trying to cut 1/2" foam tape in half with an exacto knife!!!  I used the hearth and home thinlets along with window sheets.  For this first one, I made a masculine looking card using the neutrals sequins for the shaker contents, and the now retired fancy silver foil vellum, and star punch from the Itty Bitty Accents punch pack.  The second card, features a new In Color, my favorite, Sweet Sugarplum.  It is a beautiful orchid color that looks amazing with Rich Razzleberry -- as I've done here.  I had some silver micro beads hanging out in my stamp drawer for a very long time, and they matched our silver foil sheets perfectly! I used the Crazy for You stamp set and Hello You thinlets to die cut the word, "Happy", out of silver foil sheet.  I stamped a spring tree using the Sheltering Tree stamp set.  Did you notice that lovely ribbon on the second card?  It is the Sweet Sugarplum ruched ribbon!  I'll be honest, I haven't been that excited about our In Color ribbons in recent years, but THIS stuff is beautiful! and easy to tie.  I will be getting all the colors this time around!

For those cute little flowers on the second card, I grabbed my tree builder punch.  This punch is so versatile -- the tree topper makes the perfect cloud or scoop of ice cream or cupcake topper!  And, the little "rain drops" from the punch, make perfect leaves.

Always an Adventure camping layout

Happy Saturday!

On Thursday, I received a VERY special box on my doorstep.... new SU toys to play with!!!  I was incredibly excited to open that box and see them for myself.  I was planning to do a camping layout with the new Always an Adventure bundle for our next scrap club next Friday.  Isn't that the cutest little camping set you've ever seen! AND there are matching framelits so you can cut the little individual cuteness out easily.  My absolute favorite part of these framelits, are the little snow capped mountains.  Ridiculously cute!  Even if you aren't a scrapbooker, the ways to use this bundle are endless -- I can see a beautiful Christmas card using the trees and the mountains, a little boy's birthday invitation using that little tent and fire and camping sign, a Father's Day or birthday card for the outdoorsy guy...

These pictures were from a camping trip we went on last June -- to some property on Little Bitterroot Lake that my boss owns.  She was kind enough to let us camp there for the weekend, and boy, did we have a blast!  Jon had gotten me a new inflatable kayak for my birthday, so we gave it it's first tryout that weekend.  The water was still a little on the cold side, but the kids didn't seem to notice!  They played and swam and played some more.  Sabina tried out her new bike on this trip, too -- thus the helmet! Lots of new things -- all in one weekend!

Now for the layout -- the background is Pool Party, and the lighter green is a retired color, Gumball Green (that I happen to have a LOT of).  I wanted some purple mountains, to tie in with Sabina's jacket and helmet, so I cut some Wisteria Wonder mountains, as well as Crumb Cake and Gumball Green ones -- then layered them all together to make a border on the left side.  I made a little "hiking path" by just cutting a wavy line and then sponging the edges.  It adds to the scene. :)  I just had to make the tent orange, cause that seems to be a popular tent color, AND it was less boring than beige!  For the tree border on the right page, I simply cut two green borders with the line of trees framelits and layered them together to look like a forest.  The title, "A Camping we will go..." is a cute Sabina-ism. When we go hiking, she constantly sings that little song and we have to find rhymes for all the little animals... "A hiking we will go, a hiking we will go, we'll catch a 'fish' and give it a 'dish', and then we'll let it go..." By the time we get to where we're going, Jon and I are completely OUT of animal rhyming ideas!

One more new thing on this layout -- the new layering circle framelits -- for the sun.  This set has a lot of dies in it, and the nesting layers are much tighter -- so the little frame is about 1/8" rather than our old ones which were at least a 1/4".  AND there is a little scalloped frame to match each circle size!  Really useful for sentiments on cards, OR a sun! :)

 Today is a BIG day for our family!  Our new puppy is arriving!  Sabina is so excited she can hardly stand it.  Jon flew to Portland to pick it up, and will be coming home today around 3:30.  I know I will be hearing -- "When will Daddy be here?" at least 200 times between now and then....  Talk about cuteness overload!...  It's a boy puppy, and we are still deciding on a name, but "Bandit" has been in the lead so far.

It's June 1st! New Catalog day!

Happy June 1st, Everyone!

The new catalog is here, and WOW! I like too many things in it this time around.  I can't wait to hear what your favorites are. :)  The first things on my order were the Flourishing Phrases bundle, the Always an Adventure bundle, and Floral Phrases Bundle.  We will be using the new adventure set for our camping layout at scrap club next Friday night.  I LOVE this little set.  So different than anything we have had before.  My favorite are the little mountains that you can make snow capped. :)  Isn't that cute!???? and the tent and camping signs and little bear that you can die cut!  The scrap layout is already forming in my head. :)  Stay tuned for coming attractions!!!  I also adore the new canning jar set -- called Jar of Love bundle and the new little Foxy Friends bundle.  I can see so many cute little cards with this little critters set.

My New Catalog Open House is on Friday, June 17th at either 9:00 am or 6:00 pm.  Read all about it and RSVP to the am class or pm class.

In the meantime, hop online and check out the brand new, AWESOME 2016/2017 catalog!