Last Days to Order from the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog

Hi Everyone,

Well the end of 2010 is almost here and I am still wondering where the year went! I swear each year goes by faster than the previous one. With the end of 2010 brings us to the last days to order the fantastic products from the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog. You only have until January 3rd, 2011 to place your orders before it disappears.
Now that Christmas is over and the presents have all been unwrapped, you are probably like me and feeling a little dazed and confused. Out of all of the holidays we celebrate during the year, Christmas is the one that we invest the most time to create wonderful happy memories for our families. I have a bunch of photos that I took Christmas day as well as all the events leading up to it (decorating the tree, school holiday concerts and so on) that I now would like to use to create a record of this Holiday season.
Plus, I also have all my Halloween and Thanksgiving photos as well as my Fall photos to go through. It is easy to get behind during the last few months of the year, but that is OK. With the cold winter days ahead, I can take the time to create my scrapbook pages and projects using wonderful projects from the Holiday Mini Catalog. This mini has so many great stamp sets, embellishments, Designer Series Paper sets and more to help record my precious memories.
Stampin' Up! has also provided a list of products from this Mini that will be available after January 3rd. They are listed below:



Remember, just because the Holiday Season is over, it doesn't mean we have to stop enjoying these wonderful products. Several of my favorite stamp sets from this Mini catalog can be use beyond the holidays, such as Merry Crittermas and Paisley Prints (as well as the coordinating Paisley Party Wheel). The cute sledding bunny and the singing cat would be great on kids cards and you could alter several of the other stamp images from the Merry Crittermas set to use throughout the year.
I am already using the two different heart images from the Paisley Prints stamp set to design my Valentine cards (I will be sharing photos and details soon). The leaf image and the tree image will work well for masculine cards as well as general occasion cards such as Thank You, Get Well, Thinking of You style cards.
Another idea that I am working on, is getting an early start on next year's Christmas cards. Yes, I know, it seems a bit crazy, but seriously if I don't think about getting started soon I know they won't get done. I fall into the same trap every year in that by the time I think about making my Christmas cards for the year it is already September leading into October. At this time of the year, the kids are back at school and I am busy with their activities and we are already thinking Halloween. Before you know it, we have snowballed into Thanksgiving and Christmas and once again my Christmas cards are not finished. Sound familiar?

If this sounds like something you would consider doing, let me know and we can figure out a plan together. Stampin' Up has provided a wonderful free card design available here (it would also double as a great masculine card or thank you card,  just vary the colors used). This card is created using the Paisley Prints Stamp Set and the background was created using the Paisley Party Wheel.

You can find a wonderful library of project ideas by clicking here to help get you inspired.

So don't forget to take another look through the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog and place your order either by contacting me or by placing your order by visiting my Online Store here. Don't forget to also check out the Clearance Rack for great Stampin' Up! retired and discontinued products at fantastic discounts.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Merry Christmas Everyone

Wishing you all a

Wonderful Safe & Merry Christmas.

May you have a day filled with warm and happy memories with

your family and friends.

Thank you for visiting my blog and I look forward to sharing

with you in the future.

Until Next Time,

Merry Stampin' Hugs,

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

P.S. The above Digital card was created with My Digital Studio.

Filled With Love - Get an Early Start on your Valentine Projects

Hi Everyone,

So with Christmas just days away, how many of you have noticed that there is a shift already to the next big holiday event? I was watching a Christmas movie last night with my family on the Hallmark channel, when a commercial came on advertising there program line-up of Valentine themed movies for February! My husband said to me, "Wait a minute, we haven't even had Christmas yet" and I agreed with him that it seemed soon.

But then my brain started to tick over and consider the fact that the New Year is less than two weeks away and before I know it, January will be a memory. Now if you are like me and have kids, then you are already starting to sweat at the thought of the Valentine's Day treats and cards that they will want and suddenly I am thinking that I need to get started on my plans for Valentine's Day right now.

Just as well Stampin' Up! has already thought of this dilemma that we are facing and is currently offering a wonderful promotion called Filled with Love to help us be prepared in time. The Filled with Love Bundle not only provides you with a fantastic stamp set called Filled with Love but an exclusive, limited Designer Series paper set that will have you creating Valentine's projects in no time. Add to that, Stampin' Up will also send you a set of Bitty Buttons for free when you purchase this bundle! This button set contains 16 buttons in 4 different shapes for a total of 64 clear buttons.
You can download a copy of the Filled with Love Flyer here for more details.

Filled With Love Promotion

The Filled with Love Bundle includes the Filled with Love Stamp Set (choice of Wood or Clear Mount) and exclusive Love Patterns Designer Series Paper Pack. Plus, you'll get a FREE package of Bitty Buttons--a $4.95 value--when you order this bundle! Bitty Buttons will be added to your order at checkout.

Clear Mount Bundle    124381      Price: $26.90

Wood Mount Bundle  124380      Price: $32.90

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
You can also order additional packs of the Designer Series Paper Love Patterns using the following information.
Designer Series Paper Love Patterns 


124156      Price: $9.95 This Designer Series Paper Pack--exclusive to the Filled with Love Promotion--contains 12 sheets total: three 12" x 12" sheets of two double-sided designs in Real Red and Pretty in Pink. This paper pack is included in each Filled with Love bundle or can be purchased separately. When the promotion ends January 24, 2011, these colors and designs will only be available in the color collection Designer Series Paper Stacks.

Looking for some ideas to help you get started? Just click here to download a free PDF file with two amazing Valentine projects to inspire you.
Remember you can place your order by contacting me or by visiting my Online Store here to place your order 24/7.
Also a reminder to place your orders for products from the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog by January 3rd, 2011 before they disappear.
Have a wonderful day filled with Love.
Until Next Time.
Happy Stampin',
Tricia Butts
http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Christmas Card Share: Cute Little Cardinals

Hi Everyone,
I am back with another Christmas card share for you that we created in one of my holiday classes this year. I just love these cute little cardinals and the Little Cardinals Builder Wheel available in the Holiday Mini catalog makes this card an easy card to create multiples to save time. I used Jet Black Stazon ink to stamp this image to make sure that the image doesn't smudge.
I used my Stampin' Write Markers to color my cardinals with, and if you wanted to you could color each of you cards differently to make each card unique. I chose Real Red for my Cardinals and Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Wild Wasabi and Daffodil Delight for the accents of this particular card.
The cardbase is created from Baja Breeze cardstock and embossed using the Big Shot and the Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. The cardinals are stamped on Whisper White cardstock and matted with a strip of Cherry Cobbler cardstock, which has a sweet border created using the Pinking Hearts Border punch.

The sentiment is from the stamp set, Teeny Tiny Wishes, stamped on Whisper White cardstock with Cherry Cobbler Classic ink. It is punched out with the Modern Label Extra Large punch and matted with Cherry Cobbler cardstock also punched with the Modern Label Extra Large punch. To create the matte, just cut the Cherry Cobbler piece in half and attach to each end of the Whisper White punched sentiment (on the reverse).  I then added two Gold Brads to make the sentiment pop.

For a little sparkle to the snow, I used my Two Way Glue Pen to add Dazzling Diamonds to the stamped image to finish off the card.

This card would also make a cute winter birthday card or even a get well card to cheer someone up. These cute little birds can't help but bring a smile to your face when you see them.

I hope you have enjoyed this Christmas Card Share and I hope it helps you to get creative with your cards and projects.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up unless indicated):

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White

Ink: Stazon Jet Black, Cherry Cobbler Classic ink

Stamps: Little Cardinals Builder Wheel*, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Accessories: Big Shot, Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder*, Stampin' Around Jumbo Wheel Handle, Builder Wheel Spindle & Spacers, Pinking Hearts Border punch, Modern Label Extra Large punch, Stampin' Write Markers (various colors), Dazzling Diamonds, Two Way Glue Pen, Gold Brads, Dimensionals, Snail Adhesive

Christmas Card Share: Sparkling Peace

Hi Everyone,
Well it is just 3 days until Christmas and I thought I would share some of the card designs that I created this year for the holidays. This was one of the cards we created in this year's holiday cards classes and it was a big hit. I love the hint of sparkle the Dazzling Diamonds adds to the snowflake and the adhesive rhinestone jewel just finishes it off.
This card has a wonderful snowy winter feel to it and the great thing is that it can be changed to use beyond the holidays simply by varying the sentiment used. This would be a wonderful card design for a thank you card and would also work as a birthday, thinking of you, anniversary or a winter wedding card.

This card design can be changed by varying the colors used to give it a whole new look as well. This is the card design I used to create my husband's Christmas cards for his team at work. The only thing I altered was the sentiment, using instead Merry Christmas from the stamp set Four the Holidays.

Using the Big Shot to help you create your cards really does help to cut down on the amount of time it takes to create multiples of a card design. With this card I used the Big Shot to emboss the Whisper White cardstock background with the Northern Flurry Textured Embossing Folder (exclusive to Stampin' Up) and to die cut the snowflake using the Northern Frost Sizzix Decorative Strip (also a Stampin' Up Exclusive) from Marina Mist cardstock.

The great thing about the decorative strip is that there are 8 different snowflakes of varying sizes that you can choose from, so you can make each card a little more unique by varying the snowflake die cut that you use.

I hope you have enjoyed this Christmas card share and hope it helps to inspire you.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up unless otherwise indicated):

Cardstock: Marina Mist, Whisper White

Ink: Marina Mist

Stamp Set: Peaceful Season (Level 2 Hostess Set from Holiday Mini Catalog)*

Accessories: Big Shot, Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Embossing Folder*, Northern Frost Sizzix Decorative Strip*, Dazzling Diamonds, Two Way Glue Pen, Basic Rhinestone Jewels, Snail Adhesive.

* These products are available from the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog which ends January 3rd, 2011.

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all enjoying the Holiday Season and finding time to be creative. I love creating Holiday projects, whether they are Christmas cards, scrapbook pages or gifts for family, friends and my children's teachers.
Unfortunately, my children have been caught up in a vicious cycle of catching all the various illnesses in the past two weeks which has made it difficult for me to find any crafting time. I hate it when my children are sick and miserable and I am really hoping this week we have turned the corner and can all get healthy again.
My Holiday Card Share for today features two cards using the same layout, colors and stamp set.  The new stamp set Jolly Bingo Bits currently available in the Holiday Mini Catalog and it contains 24 different stamp images to help you not only with your Holiday crafts but also your projects throughout the year.
This was one of the cards we created at last month's Holiday card class and everyone loved that they could create their own unique version of this card, simply by varying the stamped images they used. This is a great card for making a large quantity of cards while still providing a unique feel to each card.

The card base is made from Very Vanilla cardstock and the layers are Cherry Cobbler cardstock and Chocolate Chip cardstock. I stamped the gingerbread men images onto Very Vanilla cardstock with Soft Suede Classic ink and then punched them out using my 1" Circle punch. I matted two of the gingerbread men with 1 1/4" circles punched from Old Olive cardstock using my 1 1/4" Circle Punch and then punched one more 1 1/4" circle from Cherry Cobbler cardstock for the remaining gingerbread man.

I punched the bottom of the Cherry Cobbler layer using the Eyelet Border Punch and I embossed the Chocolate Chip layer using my Big Shot and the Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for a little added texture.

As you know, every Christmas card deserves a little bling, and for this card design I used the Clear Tinsel Trim (available in the Holiday Mini Catalog) to add that special holiday touch.

For the finishing touch, I stamped Happy Holidays from the stamp set, Four the Holidays (item #116921 price $13.95) as my sentiment across the bottom of the card.

This second card shows that I stamped the cute reindeer image in Chocolate Chip Classic ink and I used the Silver Tinsel Trim this time to add the sparkle. The Season's Greetings sentiment is also from the Four the Holidays stamp set stamped with Cherry Cobbler Classic ink.

As you can see, this is a very simple card to make but it makes a wonderful card design to give friends and family this holiday season. By varying the stamped images and even the colors that you use, you can make each card a unique work of art that will have you creating cards all through the year.

I hope you have enjoyed today's Holiday Card Share, and I hope it will inspire you to create your own creations for the Holidays and beyond.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Supplies Used:

Stamp sets: Holly Jolly Bits available in Clear Mount Item # 121187 price $26.95 or

Wood Mount Item #120857 Price $37.95  Set of 24 Stamps

Four the Holidays (available in Wood Mount Only) Item #116921 Price $13.95

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive

Inks: Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip and Cherry Cobbler Classic inks

Accessories: 1" Circle Punch, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Silver Tinsel Trim, Clear Tinsel Trim, Snail Adhesive, Dimensionals.

Creative Holiday Ideas: Create your own Holiday Ornaments

Hi Everyone,
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I don't know about you, but it is about this time of the year that I realize how close Christmas is (just 27 days away, yikes!) and how much I still have to do to get ready.
The good news is that there is still time to add your own personal touch to the holidays with the cards, gifts and decorations you can create for family and friends. It is also a wonderful way to spend time with your family and create special memories.

Today I wanted to share with you how simple it is to create your own Christmas ornaments to give to family and friends. I love the vintage look created by the watercolored stamped images on the ceramic ornaments.
The images were stamped with Stazon Jet Black Ink and I "watercolored" them using Classic Inks and a Blender Pen to create an heirloom feel. The above ornaments were stamped with images from the Bells & Boughs stamp set, that is currently on sale as part of the ABC Holiday Bundle Sale.  It is a part of the Vintage Christmas Card Bundle and is available in either traditional Wood Mount or the new Clear Mount stamp sets. You can learn more about this wonderful sale here.

The second set of ornaments I want to share with you are stamped with the Merry Crittermas stamp set available in the Holiday Mini Catalog. I love this whimsical stamp set and it reminds me of the joys of childhood at Christmas. Imagine creating personalized ornaments for your children and/or grandchildren that they can treasure and use from year to year to decorate the tree. This beautiful stamp set is also available in wood mount or clear mount and can be found here.

I hope you have enjoyed today's holiday share and I hope that it will inspire you to create your own family heirlooms to treasure for years to come. Please contact me if you have any questions or you would like to place an order. You can also place an order through my Stampin' Up! Online store. Don't forget to check out the wonderful Online Spectacular Sale that runs now through November 30th for great savings of 20-50% off. Click here to visit my Online Store.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Supplies Used:

Blender Pen Item # 102845 (set of 3) $9.95

Assorted Classic ink pads

Stazon Jet Black Ink Pad Item # 101406 $7.95

Counting my Blessings this Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone,
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I hope that you are having a wonderful day with family and friends. We are celebrating this Thanksgiving here in Colorado in a very quiet and relaxed way, which is a blessing in itself. Earlier this week, three of my children all came down with a nasty stomach flu and I thought that we would be eating chicken soup this Thanksgiving rather than our delicious Turkey dinner. Thankfully they are all doing much better and are back to their normal energetic selves.
Today I would like to share with you the Thanksgiving Card I created to email to my family and friends. I used Stampin' Up!'s amazing digital software, My Digital Studio, to create this holiday postcard. I am so thrilled with how it turned out.
The photo I chose is one that was taken last month on our annual visit to the pumpkin farm. We don't often get the chance to have a family photo taken, but this particularly day we were fortunate enough to have a kind and generous passerby offer to take the photo for us and I just love how it turned out.

The colors I chose for this card are Cajun Craze and Early Espresso for the cardstock and ink and the Designer Paper is from the Geometric Designer Series paper. I used the Gratitude stamp image from the Define Your Life Stamp Brush set, which is included with the My Digital Studio software.

Don't forget that you can order My Digital Studio and save 50% off the regular price now until November 30th.  Contact me to place your order or visit my Online Store to place your order 24/7.

I hope you have enjoyed my digital card share for this Thanksgiving Day and hope that you will be inspired to share your Holiday memories with family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Merry Christmas with My Digital Studio

Hi Everyone,

Well, it's the day before Thanksgiving and I decided to have some fun designing a digital postcard with My Digital Studio. I love this program and could quite happily play around for hours creating my digital projects. The wonderful thing is, I really don't need that long to create projects and if I don't like something, I can change it with the click of my mouse. No waste, no stress involved. Doesn't that sound perfect for the holidays?

The best thing is that you can take advantage of the fantastic special price on My Digital Studio (item #118108) between now and November 30th, and save 50% off the regular price - just $39.98!
Here is the Christmas Postcard I created and to be honest, the most time consuming part about this card was choosing the right photo (you know, making sure they are all smiling etc.). The Designer Paper is from the Deck the Halls Photocard Digital Kit (item #122176) which is just one of the Digital Downloads on sale as part of Stampin' Up!'s Online Spectacular Sale.  You can download the list here.

The great thing about this Digital Christmas card is that I can choose to send it via email as an E-card or I can print it as a traditional postcard.  Better yet, I can do a combination of both and take care of all my family and friends with one card design.  

My Digital Studio is a great tool for someone who is just starting out and has limited supplies, as it provides you with Stampin' Up!'s fantastic range of colors in cardstock and ink colors, as well as Digital Stamp images, punches and embellishments to help you create cards, scrapbook pages, calendars and multi media projects. This would be a great gift for a teenager to help them explore their creativity or for a new mother/father wanting to record their memories of their precious new family member and share it quickly and easily with family and friends.

My Digital Studio is also a wonderful asset to an experienced papercrafter as it provides them with a wonderful design tool to plan and create their projects. Once they have their design the way they want it, they can create it with traditional supplies or they can print it and embellish it as a hybrid project. 

There are so many ways that you can use this program and you can customize and add to it with Stampin' Up!'s Digital Downloads that you can purchase from my Online Store through my Stampin' Up! Website. Click on the Digital Crafting Link to see the full range of My Digital Studio products available.

I hope you have enjoyed today's digital card share and hope that it will help to inspire you with your holiday projects.

Wishing you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving Holiday.

Until Next Time.

Stampin' Hugs,

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

It's Here! Stampin' Up!'s Online Holiday Spectacular Sale!

Hi Everyone,
I love the week of Thanksgiving for so many reasons. It is a wonderful time to spend with my family and my kids love the fact that they only have 2 days of school (I love it because I get to sleep in the rest of the week, lol). We have a very relaxing and informal Thanksgiving Day meal with a turkey and all the trimmings and we sit around watching the Macy's Parade, the Dog Show and of course the all important football games.
There is one other thing that I look forward to this time every year and that is Stampin' Up!'s Online Holiday Spectacular Sale! They have such wonderful specials with amazing savings and I can shop from the comfort of my own home. How can you go wrong?
This year's Online Spectacular has some incredible specials that I know you will just love!

Image 50% off My Digital Studio Software! That's right - you can order your very own copy of My Digital Studio for just $39.98. Plus, there are My Digital Studio Downloads on sale from 20-40% off the regular price.

This is just one of the amazing Stampin' Up! products that can be found here on this list of discounted products, especially for the Online Spectacular. Just click this link to download the list.

This sale runs from November 22 through to November 30th and you must use the item numbers from the Online Spectacular product list in order to take advantage of the great savings. All orders must be placed online through my Online Store to be eligible for these discounts. Just click this link to place your order.

There is no minimum purchase required and you can combine sale items with other Stampin' Up! product purchases on the same order (take advantage of the ABC Holiday Bundle Promotion in addition to the Online Spectacular Sales for further savings!).

Plus, if your order totals $150 or more (not including Taxes and Shipping and Handling), you will recieve Free Shipping on your order.

So get started on your Holiday Shopping today without having to drive to a single store and take advantage of the fantastic savings from Stampin' Up! Please contact me if you have any questions and I will be happy to help you.

Happy Shopping,
Tricia Butts
http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Shop Now!

ABC's of the Perfect Handmade Holiday

Hi Everyone,

One of the things I love best about the Holiday Season is the chance to create my own handmade cards and gifts for my family and friends. Whether it is something vintage and classic in style or more of modern and whimsical theme, I know that I can find what I am looking for from Stampin' Up! to meet my Holiday needs.
Plus, Stampin' Up! has this amazing special called the ABC Holiday Bundle Special Offer to help us save 20% on select Stampin' Up! products, available now through to December 16th. 
These bundles include wonderful Holiday Stamp Sets (in either traditional wood mount or the new Clear mount option), Holiday theme Designer Series Paper (Perfect for Cards, Scrap Book pages and Gift ideas), Coordinating Punches (for quick and easy cards and tags), Simply Adorned jewelry (great for a personalized gift) and Definitely Decorative Home Decor products.
To view the great Holiday Promotion Bundles Click Here to download the Flyer.
Please note: the Tags Til Christmas 2 Bundle is currently unavailable to order due to the Ornament Punch currently being unavailable.
You can place your order through my Stampin' Up! Online Store here  from the comfort of your home or feel free to contact me to place your order. Let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to help you.
I will be sharing some of my Holiday Cards and Gifts to help get you in the Holiday Spirit over the next few weeks, so please feel free to subscribe to my blog to receive the latest updates.
Until Next Time.
Happy Stampin',
Tricia Butts
http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Simply Amazing! Become a Demonstrator and save 50% off SU Starter Kits!

Hi Everyone,

Well, it has been a busy last few months and the holidays are approaching quickly. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by since I last posted and how busy my life has been with all 4 of my children in school. Funny, I was under the impression that I was going to have more free time when my youngest started Kindergarten, but alas, it has yet to materialize. Anyway, it is great to be back and I am looking forward to sharing with you some great ideas for the Holidays as well as some fantastic special offers that Stampin' Up! has made available to help you with your Holiday Shopping.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator? Perhaps you have thought it would be nice to be able get a discount on your Stampin' Up! purchases or maybe you have been looking for a way to earn some extra income.
Well, now is the perfect time to sign up to become a Stampin' Up Demonstrator and save 50% off the price of either the Standard Starter Kit or the Digital + Starter Kit. Normally these kits are priced at $175, but Stampin' Up! is currently offering an amazing Special where you can purchase either kit for just $87.50! That is a 50% saving, plus you get Free Shipping!
Each Starter kit is valued at over $310 in crafting and business supplies, plus as a Stampin' Up Demonstrator you can enjoy these great benefits:

 Earn Additional Income while sharing creativity

 Opportunity to Earn Free Products and Incentive Trips

 Receive a Free Subscription to an Exclusive monthly magazine

 Receive 2 free months subscription to your own Business Website

 Enjoy access to nearly unlimited creative ideas

These are just a few of the wonderful benefits that you can enjoy as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and now is the perfect time to sign up! The kit alone provides you with fabulous Stampin' Up! products at an amazing price too good to pass up. Just remember that this offer is only available for a limited time, so sign up by November 30th to take advantage of this Simply Amazing Offer!

To learn more about the Starter Kits, Click here for details. You can also view important information about becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator on my website here.
Please contact me with any questions you may have and I will be happy to help you. I would love to have you as a member of my team and help you on your Stampin' Up! Creative Journey!

Have a fantastic Day!
Stampin' Hugs,
Tricia Butts
http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Friday Card Share - Wanted Birthday Card

Hi Everyone,
TGIF! It has been a long week for our family this week with this being the first full week of school. Plus there were a lot of changes for my son in his kindergarten class and to top it off it was HOT! I know that when the weather gets cold in a couple of months I am going to be wishing for some hot weather, but for right now, I am wishing it was more like Fall weather.
Today I wanted to share with you a birthday card that I created for my Dad. Now anyone that knows my Dad knows how much he loves his horses. So I knew instantly what stamp set I wanted to use. I love the Stampin' Up stamp set Wanted, but unfortunately it retired at the end of the last catalog as well as the small star punch, boo hoo!

I love the way you can use the horse stamp to create the feeling of motion and the repeat stamping without reinking the stamp gives that variation in color of the 3 horses that I just love.

The background was a piece of patterned paper that I had from when I first started paper crafting and it fit perfectly for this card. The Birthday Wishes stamp is from Stampin' Up's Level 3 Hostess Set, Occasional Quotes, and I just love this stamp set. It has such a wonderful variety of sentiments and quotes that I find myself reaching for it over and over again.

I hope you have enjoyed today's card share and hope it inspires you to get out your stamps and create something today.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Fun with Black & White Tags

Hi Everyone,
Sorry I have been absent for so long. My kids are all back in school and we are slowly getting into a regular routine. With my husband away on business, I have been taking care of everything which has meant very little time for stamping and creating.
So today I thought I would share with you some tags that I created for a swap that I participated in recently. I belong to a wonderful group called Art of the Creative Mind, where we explore creating art using mixed media. It is a lot of fun and really has given me the opportunity to think outside the box.
Anyway, this particular swap was to create two Black & White Tags. Now, I have never really played with this combination before as I tend to gravitate towards color, so this was a fun challenge for me.

I decided to have one tag be black and the other white to explore the different contrasts. I also decided to use two different embossing techniques - heat embossing and dry embossing using my Sizzix Big Shot.

For the Black Tag I used the Stampin' Up Background stamp, En Francais, and stamped it with Whisper White Craft ink. Using white embossing powder and my heat gun, I heat embossed the tag and loved the texture and look of the bold white script on the black cardstock.

To embellish this tag, I used my Scallop Circle punch to punch out my flower shape and then cut between every second scallop towards the center to create the petals. I stamped the pattern using a stamp from the Elements of Style stamp set from Stampin' Up, using Basic Black Classic ink. The small black center flower was punched from black cardstock using the Boho Blossoms punch and I used a clear rhinestone jewel to accent the center of the flower.

The small white tag was dry embossed using my Big Shot and the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing folder that is exclusive to Stampin' Up. Then I created my sentiment using the For You stamp, also from the Elements of Style stamp set with Basic Black Craft ink and heat embossed it using black embossing powder to add some dimension. I matted it onto a slightly larger circle of black cardstock. The ribbons were some scraps I had left over from another project and just seemed to finish it off.

For the white tag, I decided to again use my Big Shot and the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing folder to emboss the background to add texture. I created the border across the top using the new Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch from Stampin' Up.  The flowers were punched from white and black cardstock using the Boho Blossoms punch and I accented the centers of each of the flowers with Dazzling Diamonds for a little sparkle.

The letter F and friends were stamped in Basic Black Craft ink and heat embossed using black embossing powder. The stamped images were created with the Vintage Vogue stamp set from Stampin' Up. I carefully cut out the letter F to help it stand out against the white embossed cardstock. I again used a scrap of black ribbon to create the tie for the tag.

These tags can be used for many different projects. You can use them as gift tags, bookmarks, or as an element for your card or scrapbook page. I had so much fun creating these tags and they really are a wonderful way to explore new techniques and color combinations.

I hope you have enjoyed today's creative stamping project and I hope that it will inspire you to try experimenting with tags. Have a wonderful day.

Until Next Time.

Stampin' Hugs,

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Need Your Help - Please Support Adams 12 School District

Hi Everyone,
It has been a very busy couple of weeks with my children getting ready to go back to school. Living in Northglenn, Colorado, we are fortunate to have the beautiful Rocky Mountains close by.
My eldest daughter, Kaitlyn, is preparing to start Middle School and with the current budget cuts that our school district had to make, it has meant that the Outdoor Education Program has been cut due to lack of funding for all the 6th grade students in the Adams 12 school district.
This program offers new 6th graders a wonderful experience where they have the opportunity to learn new skills and develop friendships and self confidence, as they make the transition from Elementary School to Middle School. It also benefits a number of High School students from Adams 12 school district who volunteer and provide guidance and assistance to the 6th graders during this program, teaching them leadership and responsibility.
In an effort to save this program, the organizers of the Outdoor Education Program as well as many staff from Adams 12 School district have put together a proposal for the Pepsi Challenge and the voting is currently underway for us to have an opportunity to win a grant to keep the program alive.
Please take a moment to visit this link or click on the icon on my sidebar of my blog and learn more about what we are trying to achieve and if possible, vote for our proposal. This means so much to the kids and the teachers, staff and parents are all working hard to help find ways to save the Outdoor Education Program for Adams 12 school district. Voting is open until August 31st, so please vote every day if you can and help us to have a chance of winning a grant through the Pepsi Challenge to help our children.
Thank you for your help.
Until Next Time.
Tricia Butts
http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Extra! Extra! Limited Time Offer! Stampin' Up offering $25 in Extra Hostess Benefits

Hi Everyone,

I am so excited to share the latest news from Stampin' Up!

Extra, Extra Hostess Promotion

From July 27 to August 31, Stampin' Up! hostesses can earn an EXTRA $25 to use toward Stampin' Up! products of their choice when they host a workshop totaling $350 or more!
This extra benefit is included along with the standard hostess benefits they receive when they host a workshop. The standard hostess benefits include
•A free 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog worth $9.95!
•Free stamp sets only available to hostesses (with qualifying orders; select from the products on pages 10-16 of the Idea Book & Catalog)!
•Free Stampin' Up! products of your choice!

Workshop total          Free                  Extra, Extra     Grand
(before tax and        Stampin' Up!         hostess           Total
shipping)                 merchandise           awards


$350 - $399              $40               +        $25              $65


$400 - $449              $45              +         $25              $70


$450 - $499              $50              +         $25              $75


$500 - $549              $60             +          $25              $85

Now is a great time to get together with friends for a fun and relaxing time. Learn new techniques and create a fun project with products from the new 2010-2011 Idea Book & Catalog. No stress involved, just lots of creative fun.
This extra hostess benefit is only being offered for a limited time, so contact me TODAY to schedule a workshop!
Until Next Time.
Happy Stampin',
Tricia Butts
http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Holidays in July Creative Card Share - Christmas in July Part 2

Hi Everyone,
I am back with the second Christmas card we created during last weekend's Christmas in July Creative Card Class. It is also the 5th and final card that we created.
This Christmas card could be considered the complete opposite of the previous card. Instead of traditional Christmas colors, I chose colors that reflect winter with icey blues and white.

The card base is created from Temptine Turquoise cardstock and the Whisper White cardstock has a stamped background created using the Sparkle and Shine Stampin' Around Jumbo Wheel in Tempting Turquoise Classic ink. I then embossed the stamped Whisper White cardstock using my Big Shot and the Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. I then matted the Whisper White carstock with a piece of Pacific Point cardstock to make it pop.

The ornaments were created with the Ornament punch, punching one of each from Tempting Turquoise and Pacific Point cardstock. I then embossed them using my Big Shot and two different Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. For the Tempting Turquoise ornament I used the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder and for the Pacific Point ornament I used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.

To adhere my ornaments to my card I used Snail adhesive for the Pacific Point ornament and then I used Stampin' Dimensionals to pop up the Tempting Turquoise ornament to create some dimension.

To finish off the card I used a sentiment from the Stampin' Up stamp set, Four the Holidays. This time I chose "Happy Holidays" and stamped it on the Tempting Turquoise card base using Pacific Point Classic ink.

This is such a fun and light hearted card that would be great to create for friends, teachers, co-workers and family. Again, you can change the colors around to vary your cards. Try adding some shimmer paint to the ornaments for a little added sparkle. Try using Platinum Shimmer paint for a silvery sheen or Frost White Shimmer paint for a softer look.

Thanks for taking the time to view my Holiday cards and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Stay tuned for more new ideas for the holidays as well as fun projects created with new and exciting products from Stampin' Up. Please contact me if you have any questions or you would like to place an order. Don't forget, you can also place an order using my Online Store that can be found on my Stampin' Up Website.

I hope you all have a wonderful, creative weekend.

Until Next Time.

Happy Stampin',

Tricia Butts

http://www.triciabutts.stampinup.net/

Supplies Used (All Stampin' Up):

Stamp Sets:

Sparkle & Shine Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Price: $8.50

Four the Holidays 116921  Price: $13.95  Set Quantity: 4

Cardstock: Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Whisper White

Inks: Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise Classic inks

Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Ornament punch, Jumbo Stampin' Around Wheel Handle, Snail Adhesive, Stampin' Dimensionals.