It was a year ago that we went to Chicago to see Triston and the Village Green Singers at the Field Museum.  There's no way that we would travel so far for just one day so we went for a few days and had time to do some shopping.  When we went to the Navy Pier there was a Build A Bear store.   A couple of years ago Stampin' Up! had bears that we could buy at convention.  Well, my little bear only had one outfit that I had made her so when I found the store I had to buy her some new clothes.  Well she's been wearing this outfit for a year now so maybe it's time to shop for some new clothes.  But I'm not planning on going to Chicago anytime soon so I guess I'll have to find another store closer to home.  It's a good excuse to travel.

Here's the last card from Thurs card class.  This one doesn't use the Flash Card method.  I decided that we needed to make a Mother's Day card, since that holiday is coming way to fast.  So this card is pretty simple but very pretty.  That's one of the new doilies.  I think they're so nice on a card.  And the embossing folder here is one that's retiring.  I don't have a catalog handy but this is by far my favorite folder and now it's going.  I sure hope there's a new one that I'll like as well. 

 

 

And here's the 3-D project that we made.  It's a card box big enough for 5 or 6 cards plus envelopes. Since we make cards we should be using them as gifts and this is a handy way to give them to people.  The only problem is that I put a Velcro closure on mine and I was going to get some more when I went to town but I didn't write it down so I never remembered.  It's hard getting old.  But then again, I'm not really aging because I read a cute email the other day that said that we don't get smarter as we get older.  We just run out of stupid things to do.  Well, so far I haven't run out of stupid things to do so that must mean that I'm not getting older.  I hope.

Here are six of the cards that we did yesterday at card class.  These were all made following the method called "flash cards" by the very talented Connie Stewart.  You can find video's by her on You Tube and on her web page.  The secret to these cards is how you cut the layers.  There's almost no scraps left over when you get done.  And these were so much fun and so easy that I'm going to offer another class next week with a challenge.  See if you can make 8 cards in 20 minutes.  And what's great about this class is that I have absolutely no prep time because you're going to do it all when you come to class.  Just a note, the cards that you make at this class will all be alike except for the greeting.  Let me know if you're interested.  I'll post the last card and the 3-D project from yesterdays class tomorrow. 

 

Quick and easy storage tip.

 

Just a quick storage tip today.  This is how I store my bakers twine.  These are salt and pepper shakers that I bought at a dollar store.  I just wound the twine around a skinny piece of cardboard,  dropped it into the shaker and pulled the end out one of the holes.  Now everything is neat and tidy.  Do you have any quick and easy storage tips to share?  Please send them to me. 

I can hardly wait for my next trip.  I don't have any idea when it will be or where it will be.  But the reason I'm excited is because of a new product from Stampin' Up!  It's a bundle called This and That.  It includes a 30 page journal, stickers, washi tape, date stamp and some new designer series paper.  Here's a picture of everything in the bundle.  It's similar to the popular Smash books.  You just smash everything into the book.  It could be used for lots of things but when I look at it I'm thinking "vacation"  I always keep a journal when I travel.  I've got journals from England, Germany, Southwest and one for Disney that take with me each time I go so there's years of Disney memories in the same book.  So I can hardly wait for my next vacation. 

 

 

Here's a close up of the date stamp and the washi tape.  The date stamp has a lot of words included.  And the tape will be wonderful for taping in all of the tickets, brochures and receipts that I always collect.

 

There are four sheets of stickers included. 

 

Here's a couple of pages of the journal.  Each set of facing pages is different pattern.  The covers of the book are heavy chip board that can be decorated.

 

There are 12 sheets of designer paper that can be used to decorate the pages.  Or make envelopes to attach to the book. 

The book could be used in many different ways.  With 30 pages it could be used to record a child year at school.  I know one lady who is using it to record her weight loss adventure.  And in a couple of weeks I'm taking a workshop on how to make and use a prayer journal.  And now until April 30th you can get the whole bundle for only $32.08.  Or you can buy each element separately.

 

This and That bundle      # 133350    $32.08

Journal only                    # 131268     $10.95

Designer Series Paper       # 130814     $10.95

Date stamp                      # 130133      $5.95

Stickers                           # 131271      $4.95

Washi tape                      # 131269      $4.95

 

Let me know if you want one.  I'll be glad to help you.

 

Here are the colors that will be retired at the end of May.  If you want any of these please let me know ASAP because some of the re-inkers are already sold out. 

Free Shipping

Don't forget!!  FREE SHIPPING starts today.  For three days only.  Until Monday night you can order as little or as much as you want from Stampin' Up! and the shipping is free.  Just let me know if there's anything you want or you can order online if you want. 

 

 

Here's another card from card class.  I love this dress form now but when I first saw it I didn't think that I needed it.  I thought that it would be good for someone who sews a lot but I didn't want it.  And then of course I started seeing cards made with it and I was hooked. So this dress is a brides dress and I couldn't resist adding the little jacket.  You can see a close up of the jacket below.  We stamped a flower on the jacket and embossed it with white embossing powder. And the pear necklace is the finishing touch.  Do you like it?  

There's so much going on right now that I can hardly keep up.  Today I have to get my taxes done and then Laurel and I are going to run away for a couple of days.  Have to take advantage of spring break.  So I'm going to try and list all the news from Stampin' Up!  The biggest and best is

FREE SHIPPING!!!!!

That's right.  For three days only you can order anything you want and the shipping is totally free.  April 5, 6 and 7.  So let me know if there's anything that you want or you can always order online.  The next thing is that I've got the new color renovation.  There are new colors, returning colors and some retiring colors.  The retiring colors are available only until they run out so if there's one of these colors that are your favorite better get it soon before it's gone. 

Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, Riding Hood Red, Bravo Burgundy, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard and River Rock.  I have to admit that some of these colors are ones that I don't use much but a couple of them I love.  Pretty in Pink and Bashful Blue are two of my favorites. 

And guess what else is going away.  Watercolor pencils and watercolor crayons.  And I just ordered some watercolor paper so I could do some crayon cards.  Better hurry and do it soon.  The reason for these being discontinued is because there are problems with the supplier.

But there's good news too.  I've seen a sneak peek at some new items that will be in the next catalog and there's some great stuff.  And how many of you knew that the new catalog starts on June 1 this year?  That means that May will be very busy with retired stuff.  Can hardly wait to see what's going away and then to see all of the new stuff. 

Well, I'd better get busy so I can sneak away.  Remember the free shipping and let me know if there's something that you need.

 

I know it's funny but when I first saw this stamp set in the spring catalog I thought it was a baby set but when I got it there are no baby greetings with it.  So this card from last weeks card class is a "get whale soon" card. 

Dapper Dad

 

Here's a quick card that we did last week at card class.  The stamp set is "Dapper Dad".  The watch is stamped n basic gray and then we stamped it again in versamark on some scrap card stock and embossed it in silver.  Then used a 1" circle punch to punch out just the face of the watch and adhered it with a dimentional.  The sentiment was printed on the computer.  Stampin' Up! has a stamp with this greeting but I don't have the stamp.  I like this greeting because then the card can be used for so many different occasions.  On this card I goofed up and the DSP is running different ways but I did it right for card class.  The DSP is called "Parker's Patterns" and it's in the spring catalog.

Best of 25 - April Butterflies

 

Here's April's Best of 25 Years stamp set.  Aren't these pretty?  I wasn't going to put in an order for a while but I really want this stamp set before the next card class.  I think these will make beautiful Mother's Day cards.  Let me know if you want this set.  And remember that when you buy one of the best of 25 stamp sets there's a sticker that you can put on your collector's card and when you get 6 stickers you'll get a free stamp set.