Going Global

Hello,

I hope this finds everyone doing well and staying warm…the temperatures are beginning to drop to more normal (freezing) temps for around here. It sure makes me grateful to have a warm fire that’s for sure.  Today, I wanted to show you a card made by my mom, which she submitted into the sketch challenge taking place over on my FB page, www.facebook.com/snsfromtheheart using the Going Global stamp set.



I think she did a fantastic job using this stamp set and meeting the challenge quite well. I love the colors she chose, Lost Lagoon along with the coordinating ribbon and ink. What do you think? You can find all of these great products over on my online store, just click the “Shop Now” above to find your way there. You can also click on either of the catalogs over to the right.

I also wanted to remind you all that now is probably one of THE best times to join Stampin’ Up!. During Sale-a-bration, you get to choose $155 in product, (anything you want) for just $99! Normally, you pick $125 for $99, so that is an extra $30 in product added to your starter kit! Who can pass that up, not to mention, as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, you get a 20% discount on ALL future orders, and once you reach a certain dollar amount in sales and purchases, that savings goes up to 25%! And the best part? The best part is you get an early pre-view of ALL new product coming out! Yes, you get to see and order before ANYONE else! I don’t know about you, but I LOVE getting to see and try new stuff and being the first makes it even sweeter. You also have the opportunity to earn free stuff, attend On Stage events, both local and global. There really is NO downside to joining the Stampin’ Up! family. In addition to all this, you get a quarterly magazine designed exclusively for demonstrators to help you with your business as well as access to an exclusive demonstrator website and forum. If any of this sounds good to you, please feel free to contact me with ANY questions and I will get you the answers to them. I would LOVE to have you join me, so feel free to “Join my Team” from the SU business opportunity in the banner above.



Have a great day and Happy Stamping!

Katrina

Finding Inspiration

Hello! Happy Saturday! Any crafty plans for you? Now that the winter chill has returned here in CNY, I'm snuggling in and hanging out in my craft room today. Got my coffee, and cozy fire burning and I'm ready to create. In the meantime, I wanted to stop by to share a little bit about finding inspiration with you. I know I had talked about this in the past, but it is still a pretty popular questions so I thought it was worth bringing up again.
And the answer is.....anywhere you look! Look around. You will find color combinations that you will love, you will find a photo or magazine layout that can get you thinking about card and scrapbook layouts; but the absolute best place to find inspiration, is in your catalogs, new and old! Yes! Old catalogs can be a wealthy source of inspiration for a card! Stampin' Up! has some of the BEST designers in the business and they are literally handing you over idea after idea. You can CASE ("copy and share everything") exactly or you change up the color combinations, change out the stamp set or just change a few elements, it's completely up to you. That is one of the greatest parts about the paper crafting industry, you are actually encouraged to CASE! We're flattered when you like something enough to copy! Now, don't get me wrong, it is completely appreciated when you credit the originator and is the right thing to do, but the point is, don't sweat it and think, "I'm just not creative enough to make my own cards", because that's just not true! You do not need to come up with any idea on your own!
Here is an example of a card I cased using last years annual catalog! Yes, a catalog that is a year old was my source of inspiration! I just down sized the card and changed the orientation of it as well as changed the verse as I needed a thank you card for a customer and I thought the overall design of the card was perfect. So, what do you think?
Here is my card:

 

And here is Stampin' Up's version: 

 

I would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave me a comment and let me know. I would also love to hear from you regarding what you would like to see and any other questions you would like me to answer. In the meantime, happy stamping and until next time,

Katrina

Oh Baby!

Hello,

I am so excited! I have been invited to bring my hand-made cards to a local children’s clothing consignment shop. This is such an honor and a blessing. I was so surprised and so excited when the owner asked. This was certainly not on my radar. I guess this just goes to show, God works things in his own way and in his own time and opens doors we never noticed on our own.

Being a children’s clothing consignment, I decided I had better get making more child themed and baby themed cards to offer with my selection, so here is an example:

 

I created this one to go along with this weeks card sketch challenge taking place on my Facebook page.  Please stop by and join us. There are so many wonderful ideas being shared by such friendly and lovely women, who support one another and encourage each other, that I’m sure you will find inspiration for your own creativity. You can find us at www.facebook.com/snsfromtheheart.  

In addition to all of this, I have been learning to use my new Cricut Explore Air. I completed the little card project they have you do as a first project so that you learn to use the pen that comes with the machine as well as cut. Simple enough. So I decided I wanted to create some word art for my craft room walls, I got some vinyl to cut and it was a disaster! I cut the pattern out twice and both times I ended up with a waded up ball of vinyl! Cutting it with the Cricut is the easy part..trying to remove the negative space is a nightmare! I had vinyl sticking to everything until it literally became a wad of vinyl! So, if any of you reading this has ANY idea on how to not have the vinyl stick to itself as you are lifting and peeling back, I would be eternally grateful. I will try anything…I really want to decorate my walls with the vinyl! So, please, if you know that answer to this, leave me the answer in the comments section below. As I said, I will be eternally grateful to you!

In the meantime, happy stamping,

Katrina

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Honeycomb Sale-a-bration

Happy Saturday! I hope this finds everyone having a great day so far and I hope you are finding time to spend in your craft rooms.

 Today’s card was done using some products from the Sale-a-bration catalog. I just love everything in this year’s Sale-a-bration catalog! And the best part, I was able to get all of these products free for every $50 I spent! And you can too! Sale-a-bration is going on until March 31^st, so you have time to get yourself some of this great stuff too.

I created this card for a sketch challenge that is taking place over on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/snsfromtheheart - you should see the great ideas going on over there, stop by when you have a minute and take a look! Anyway, today’s card uses the Sale-a-bration stamp set, Honeycomb Happiness and Sale-a-bration paper, Wildflower Fields DSP along with the Honeycomb Embellishments found in the Occasions catalog. I love this stamp set, I find it to be sooooooo cute!

So, what do you think? Please let me know by leaving a comment below. I also want to remind you that today is the final day to place an order with hostess code AZHFKHGX . All orders of $30 or more before shipping and tax will be entered to win the hostess rewards.

It's a Little Sketchy

Hello! I hope everyone faired well in this past weekends blizzard that struck the East Coast. I’m very grateful, the storm missed us completely. I still managed to spend some time in my craft room and made a few cards up to share with you.

Both of these cards are inspired by a sketch challenge taking place on my Facebook page…stop by and check it out, www.facebook.com/snsfromtheheart I’m sure you will like what you see. And if you would like, feel free to join us and create something to share. The more the merrier right?

Oh, before I forget, Sale-a-bration is still going on, so remember, for every $50 you spend before shipping and tax, you can choose a free Sale-a-bration item and a 3 month Paper Pumpkin subscription counts as your $50 order! Yes, the 3 month subscription price has been decreased just for Sale-a-bration! I love my Paper Pumpkin! It’s like Christmas in a little red box every month!

Ok, well I better get on with my day. I’m glad you stopped by to visit for a bit. Please check back on Saturday and I will be sure to have something good to share. Have a great day!

Happy Stamping,

Katrina

A Bloomin’ Valentine

Hi! I hope this finds everyone safely tucked away from the storm hitting the east coast this weekend. Luckily, I’m far enough in-land here in CNY that I’m not being affected by it. Thank God! But I know many not too far off are getting a big dose of it. If you happen to be one, please stay safe!

Anyway, I have a card here to share with you using the Bloomin’ Hearts Bundle. Here I used the negative of the die cut piece and I have saved the die cut for another day. I love the Hardwood stamp and decided to use that as well. I used both Crumb Cake cardstock and ink and I cut the flowers from Blushing Bride and used the Blushing Bride cardstock to back the die cut negative. I then sponged all of the pieces with the Crumb Cake ink and put it all together.

 

So, what do you think? I would love to hear your comments so please feel free to post them below. Have a great day and I will see you again on Tuesday.

Happy Stamping,

Katrina

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Hearts a Plenty

Hello
I hope this finds you all warm and toasty. Here in Central NY we are getting a winter blast from our friend Lake Ontario. Right now, I am listening to the wind knock at my door, driving my poor little Tucker crazy! Anyway, I did manage to get a couple of cards made using the "First Sight" stamp set from the 2016 Occasions Catalog found on page 36. I just love this set. I find it to be so versatile and so pretty.

The first card I used Watermelon Wonder Ribbon and ink with Sahara Sand ink and cardstock. The second card uses Sahara Sand Cardstock and ink with Melon Mambo. Stay tuned for more ideas using this set and be sure to check out this weeks weekly deals and don't forget about my online party where you could be the hostess with the mostest...mostest Stampin' Rewards that is! So be sure to place a minimum $30 order to be placed in the drawing and you could be selecting a minimum of $15 in free product! Just use the hostess code AZHFKHGX when placing your order.
In the  meantime, have a great day, stay warm and happy stamping!
Katrina

Foxy Rose

Well hello! Have you had the opportunity to pour over the new Occasions catalog? If you haven’t, you have no idea what you’re missing! I have to tell you, I am in L-O-V-E with this catalog! Could it have something to do with Valentine’s? Maybe? But, I really think it’s just because everything is a “must have” in my opinion! OMG! Check out this card I made using the Rose Garden Thinlits and the “Foxy Oxi” technique (uses Oxiclean).

It’s so pretty and so elegant; I wish you could see the shimmer of the rose from the clear Wink of Stella. Do you want to know the BEST part of all? The Rose Garden Thinlits are a part of a bundle! Yes, a bundle that will save you 15%! Now, who doesn’t like to save money? “I don’t” said no crafter EVER!

I will tell you, this set of Thinlits is very intricate and I do suggest you use it with the Precision Base Plate and the Big Shot Die Brush, also found in the Occasions catalog on page 19. They will ensure not only a perfect cut but an easy removal of the design from the die without having to sit and poke out each and every hole in the die with a “pokey” tool, you know, the paper piercer.

Well I hope you enjoyed today’s card, please let me know in the comments below and don’t forget about my on-line party going on right now until January 30^th. I will be drawing for a hostess to earn the hostess rewards on that date, so why not have it be you? It will be a minimum of $15 in hostess rewards, so place that minimum $30 order to get your name entered into the drawing, and if you place a $50 order, you will earn a Sale-a-bration item as well!  (All qualifying order totals are before shipping and tax)

See you Saturday and Happy Stamping!

Katrina

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Pretty in Pink

Well hi there! The new catalog has been live for almost a week now and it has been a big hit! I have another sample for you, using some new stamps from the Occasions catalog and the Sale-a-bration catty too!

 

I love how the Mellon Mambo and Smoky Slate come together to make this card. The Designer Series paper comes from the Sale-a-bration catalog while the stamped flower and sentiment comes from the stamp set Blooming Birthday found in the new Occasions Catalog. The stamped border is from the Tin of Cards stamp set found in the Annual Catalog. For the layout, I found a sketch on Pinterest and followed that and there you have it, a bright and cheery card.

In honor of the new mini catalog, I am going to have an On-line party and I would like you to come. I invite you to place a minimum order of $30 before shipping and tax, using the hostess code:  AZHFKHGX and you will be placed in to a drawing for the hostess rewards. Just go to my online store and place your order. I will close the party out on January 30th and will notify you by email that day to pick out your hostess reward items; so be sure to not check "No Contact" when placing your order, otherwise, Stampin' Up will hide your contact information from me and I will not be able to contact you. Now, if you place a $50 order, before shipping and tax, you will also be able to pick out a FREE item from the Sale-a-bration catalog as well! Now,if your order totals $150, DO NOT USE the hostess code! You will automatically qualify for hostess rewards!! And for every order placed, I will send you the complete supply list and instructions for this card as an extra little bonus from me. If you need a catalog, please feel free to contact me and I will get one out to you right away.

I hope you are all having a great start to your weekend! Be sure to enjoy and get some stamping in and I will see you all here again on Tuesday!

Happy Stamping!
Katrina

Spring Time Friends

Hello! Today starts the beginning of one of the most exciting times of the year at Stampin’ Up!, Sale-a-Bration! Yes, I love Sale-a-Bration! Where else can you get something free just for spending $50? Especially, when you were going to spend the $50 any way? The Spring Occasions catalog is to die for, so many beautiful stamp sets and accessories for birthdays, Easter, Mothers Day and Fathers Day, and of course, just because. I love new catalogs! It means, fresh, new ideas and brand new products to spark creativity. Today’s card is just an example of what you will find in the new catalog. This uses the brand new stamp set, Birthday Blooms. It’s so pretty and so feminine.  I just love it.

 

 What do you think?

To create this card, I cut a card base from So Saffron CS, 8 ½” x 5 ½” and scored it at 4 ¼” and added a piece of So Saffron DSP from the Subtles DSP pack, cut at 5 ¼”x 4” with Fast Fuse. I then cut a piece of Whisper White CS 4 ¾” x 3 ½” and stamped the large floral image from the stamp set into the bottom left corner using Momento Tuxedo Black ink. I framed the image using the same ink and the loopy border stamp from the “Tin of Cards” stamp set found in the Annual Catalog. I proceeded to color the flowers, using the blending pen and So Saffron ink and outlined them in Hello Honey ink. I colored the leaves using the Pear Pizzazz ink and outlined them in Old Olive ink, also with the blender pens.  I added a sentiment from the same Birthday Blooms stamp set and added the panel to the card base, using Stampin’ Dimensionals. A very easy card with a lot of punch, don’t you think? And to add a little something extra special, I added a little clear Wink of Stella to the flower petals and that put this card over the top as a WOW card! You really need to see it in person that’s for sure. The shimmer is just amazing.

If there was just one product I could buy from this new catalog, it would be Wink of Stella! That just takes your simple projects and makes it look like an amazing, wow project.  If you have never tried it, I would say this is a MUST have for your stamping arsenal.

Ok, well I’m off to see what else I can do with the goodies from this new catalog release. Be sure to browse through the catalog and see what wonderful goodies you find that you must have and feel free to leave a comment below to let me know your thoughts about today’s’ card and the new catalog offerings.

Happy Stamping!

Katrina

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

New Occasions Catalog Sneak Peak!

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, surrounded by family and friends. I know that I did. I feel blessed beyond measure and very, very spoiled! We had an unusually warm Christmas for CNY, Christmas Eve topped out over 60^o F! That has NEVER happened here in my lifetime! Today, is an entirely different story! Snow, sleet, and freezing rain have made it’s way here. Dreadful driving conditions, that’s for sure. Anyhoo, It was beautiful for the holiday and I truly enjoyed the day this year, and I pray that you did too.

Now, I’m back to work at my “real” job as a Clinical Informatics nurse and back at my craft room desk creating. As you may know, the new Occasions catalog goes live January 5^th, and as a demonstrator, I get to order a little earlier so that I can make a few things ahead to share and so, here is a sneak peak of one of the most adorable stamp sets in the catalog! I just love this set and there are some awesome sentiments that come with it!

 

So, what do you think? Let me know in the comments below. I got the inspiration from a bag design in the catalog. I hope to have a few more sneak peaks before the New Year.  I can’t wait for you to be able to see the catalog, once again, Stampin’ Up! has out done themselves….there are so many wonderful stamp sets and dies and punches and accessories and the list goes on. If you would like a catalog and you have not placed an order with me in the past, feel free to send my your contact information and I will be sure to get one out to you right away. This is definitely a MUST see.

Have a wonderful day and I will see you soon!

Happy Stamping,

Katrina

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

For a Friend

 

Well I had a special request from a friend at work. She asked me to make her up some Thank you cards with a Christmas theme. Hmmm, a challenge! So, I pulled out my Christmas stamps and my Thank you stamps and began to ponder. She mentioned that she “loves poinsettias”, so, here is what I came up with:

I began with a Garden Green card base cut 5 ½” x 8 ½” scored at 4 ¼”. Then I punched out 8 large petals, with the Festive Flower punch, from Real Red cardstock and 4 smaller petals and 2 of the double petals also from Real Red cardstock.  I then punched out 3 of the large petals from Garden Green cardstock for the leaves. I stamped the Thank you from the One Big Meaning stamp set found in the annual catalog, onto a piece of Whisper White CS cut 5 ¼” x 4” and adhered that to my card base. I then stamped all of the flower petals with Real Red ink and the leaves with Garden Green ink. To build the flowers, I punched 2 circles from Real Red cardstock with a 1” circle punch. I applied Fast Fuse adhesive to the first circle and began adding the larger petals. To get a nice fullness to the flower, I first folded each of the petals to add dimension. I then began placing them onto the circle. I started by placing them into a + formation then placed the remaining 4 petals in-between in a pin-wheel like formation. I then added Fast Fuse to the second 1” circle and added the 4 smaller petals, also in a + formation and adhered that on top of the larger petals off-set using a Stampin’ Dimensional. I then added the 2 double petals also with a dimensional and placed the Garden Green leaves onto the back of the completed flower using Fast Fuse. I then added 2 flower centers, off-set using Crushed Curry cardstock that I punched using the Festive Flower punch. I then added the flower to the front of the card using 3 Stampin’ Dimensionals. And finally, I added 3 tiny pearls to the center of the flower.

So, that’s the card for today. I hope you like it, please share you thoughts with me at the bottom in the comments section, and I wish you all a great day. See you Saturday!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Purple Majesty

Well Christmas is barreling ahead, are you ready? I’m not ready yet, but I am working on it. Yesterday was my husbands’ birthday. I grabbed a cake on my way home from work last night so we could at least recognize his day with a birthday cake and I made him a nice dinner. I think he liked everything. Next up, our 22^nd Anniversary, followed by MY birthday, Christmas and then my sister-in-law and my great nephew’s birthdays. Phew, I’m exhausted just writing all this!

Anyhoo, I managed to sneak into my craft room for a bit and played awhile, and this is what I came up with:

 

I used a retired stamp set for the sentiment because I just love the scripting of the font. I think it’s so pretty. I also love the dark Blackberry Bliss ink with the Basic Black ink. I just seems so majestic to me, hence why I’m calling it Purple Majesty. Yeah. I know…not too creative but it fits.

This is a really easy card to re-create, I used the Lovely as a Tree set, Blackberry Bliss cardstock of the card base, a layer of Basic Black and stamped the image onto Whisper White cardstock using the new Basic Black Archival ink. I then sponged Blackberry Bliss ink starting at the bottom, working my way up, over the stamped image. That helped me get a heavier color on the bottom and gradually lighten as I worked my way up.

So that’s my card for today. I hope you like it. Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate it. Please feel free to leave me any comments in the comments section below.

Happy Stamping!

Katrina

 

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Christmas is in the Air!

Hi all. I hope everyone is recovered from their turkey coma. I finally have and now I have my house filled with the Christmas spirit. I finally got my tree up Sunday and all of the inside decorations too. All that’s left is the outside and I will be done with that. I still have to finish my Christmas shopping but I did get a good start on that too awhile back I really hoping I am going to have my first “stress free” Christmas?? I hope anyway. I am usually running around like a chicken Christmas week trying to finish up the Christmas shopping, and this year I made myself get an early start. I had my great niece and nephews all done before Halloween! And now I just pick away at someone every week or two. I will let you know after Christmas how that works out for me.

Anyway, I have a cute Christmas card to share with you that I put together. I am really happy with how this card came together. I started with a left over card “kit” that I had cut for a class last year! I challenged myself to pull out left over kits and make something out of them. I have several different kits from several different classes that are just sitting there waiting for something to be done with them, hence my challenge to myself and this is what I came up with.

 

I started with a piece of Early Espresso cut at 6”x6” scored at 3” for the card base, I then stamped Happy Christmas from the  Oh What Fun stamp set in the lower right hand corner of a Very Vanilla piece cut to 2 ¾”x 5 ¾” using Real Red ink. I cut 2 of the small round ornaments from the Delicate Ornament Thinlits dies in the Holiday Mini catalog and I used the new Precision Plate, one from gold foil paper and one from Real Red foil paper and adhered them to the left side of the card using the new  Fine Tip Glue pen also from the Holiday Mini catalog. I tucked a piece of gold cording behind the Very Vanilla and strung it to the red ornament and added a bow from the cording to it using a glue dot. I adhered a second piece of Very Vanilla card stock cut to 3”x5 ¾” inside the card base and then I made a matching envelope from the Neutrals Envelope paper from the Annual catalog using the envelope punch board. My paper was cut 7 5/8” square and I made the first score and punch at 2 ¾”.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I truly appreciate you taking the time to spend with me here. Please let me know what you think of the card by leaving a comment down below.

Have a great day and Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog

Quick and Easy Gift Card Holders

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I got to do it twice. Thursday I spent the day with my mom and dad and dinner with them since hubby had work. We had a great day together, then Friday, while the masses were out shopping til they dropped, I cooked a complete turkey dinner for my husband so he could enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner. 

Wow, is it me or is Christmas coming at full speed ahead or what? Did you realize Christmas will be here in 28 days? Yep, that’s right, 28 days until Santa and his eight Reindeer arrive bearing all those gifts. Will you be ready? I’m working on it. 

Today, I have a quick and easy gift card holder for you. Yes, really, you can whip up a dozen of these in no time.

Start with a medium Whisper White envelope and score it down the middle.

Cut the flap through the middle and tuck the right half into the envelope and then adhere the left side down. It should look like this:

It is in the right side you will slip your gift card.

You will then need a 2 ¾”x5 ¼” piece of Designer Series Paper. I used paper from the Merry Moments Designer Paper Pack, but you can use whatever paper you like. Now adhere that to the front of the envelope turned gift card holder.

Using a scrap of Whisper White cardstock I stamped the Christmas Image from the Among the Branches stamp set using Cherry Cobbler Ink and punched the image out with the 2” circle punch and punched out a scrap piece of Crumb Cake using the 2 3/8” scalloped circle punch and adhered the  two together. I then wrapped a 16” piece of Cherry Cobbler ribbon (retired) around the card holder  and tied it into a ribbon off to the side and placed the punched image over the ribbon using 2 Dimentionals straddling over the ribbon.

There you have it, a quick and easy gift card holder. Change up the images and the paper and ribbon for a completely different look. How about for a birthday? Lots of ideas and options. Go ahead and give it a try.

Thank you for stopping by. Please leave a comment and let me know you were here and what your thoughts are. Happy Stamping!

Built for Free Using: My Stampin Blog