Soft and Subtle

My crocus are starting to appear under their warm mulch blanket, which can only mean spring is in the air, can you feel it :) The layout was inspired by the Wed SCS Sketch Challenge (SC219) and I kept with my feeling of spring by using Soft Subtles; Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, and Apricot Appeal and this sweet little bird from the Spring Song set. I inked the bird in Basic Black on Watercolor Paper and used my Barely Banana and Apricot Appeal markers to bring his body to life (why is it the male birds are always the prettier - hmpf!). I sponged the edges of my layers to make them pop a bit more and used the Scallop Edge Punch to kreate a delicate edge around my Pretty in Pink layer. I ran my Barely Banana card through the Big Shot with the Texturz Backgrounds to kreate a subtle and soft embossed look.

Stamps: Spring Song, Fresh Cuts
Paper: Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink, Pretty in Pink DSP (retired hostess pack), Apricot Appeal, Watercolor
Ink: Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, Close To Cocoa, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Large Oval Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Soft Subtle Buttons (retired)

For now, go kreate
Kim

The Big 10

My nephew is turning 10 - double digits, WOW!! I wasn't quite sure what type of a 'masculine' card to make him - but I think this turned out cute (probably not the right word for a boys card, but you know what I mean). A little whimsy with the truck puffing out the number 10, not too manly and not babyish. I think it will work! I'm sure all he'll care about is the paper inside anyway :)
Basic card to make, just some coloring and some eyelet accessories. Easy peasy!

Stamps: Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories, non-SU Numbers
Paper: Old Olive, Ghostly Greetings DSP (retired), Very Vanilla
Ink: Basic Black, More Mustard, Really Rust, Old Olive, Certainly Celery
Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note Die, Crop a dile, Metallic Eyelets, Dauber

For now, go kreate
Kim

A Kind Word

Candles are such a quick and cute gift idea. I learned the technique a long time ago and its been awhile since I've kreated one and I knew I wanted to use this set. I love how this little girl, from A Kind Word set, turned out. If you've never done this before, it really is quite easy. Ready for how easy this is? Take a piece of tissue paper (in this case white) ink your image/s and stamp however you'd like them to be on your candle - you can measure the circumference of your candle and cut your tissue paper to that length or cut out your image like I did for this candle.
Ok, I cut out a large square around my image stamped in Black Stazon and colored her in with various SU Markers - Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Barely Banana, Blush Blosson, Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Lavendar Lace, and Certainly Celery and sentiment is in Regal Rose. (Sorry, the colors look a bit distorted from what it looks like in person.) Around the image I used my Bashful Blue chalk from the Pastels kit to give the appearance of a sky. I placed my tissue paper on top of my white candle and placed a piece of wax paper over that. Then using my heat gun, I went over the wax paper and image and could see that my image was 'absorbing'/melting into the candle. Remove the wax paper slowly and voila', instant adorable candle. What's so cool is once the wax melts/absorbs the tissue, you can't even tell there was tissue there. I added a few Filigree Brads and Soft Subtle (Pretty in Pink) Brad to the center to embellish the candle just a bit more. What do you think? Are you going to give it a try? Have fun :)

For now, go kreate
Kim

There's No Place Like Home

As wonderful as it is to go away and relax on vacation, there truly is no place like home. I haven't had a chance to kreate any cards, but hopefully tonight I will see if I still have my MOJO :)
In the meantime, let me remind you of all the great things going on

Pre-Order Occasions Mini Catalog SPECIAL
The Occasions Mini catalog will not be available to order from for another month, April 1, BUT you can order some of the stamp sets NOW - just in time to prepare for Easter! And you can still receive SAB benefits with your order until the end of March. Here are the sets available to order early (click on images to view larger):

Item Description Retail Price
113196 An Egg-cellent Easter $21.95
113262 Wagon Full of Fun $34.95
113822 Eight Great Greetings $27.95
113833 Egg Hunt Stampin' Around wheel $6.50





















And if that wasn't enough, the Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions Die is available now as well! I should be receiving mine any day now and I can't wait! It is in the catalog on page 202. It's item #114517 and is available for $7.95. Here are the deets:

* Exclusive Stampin' Up! design
* Coordinates with Stampin' Up!'s Manhattan Collection
* Use with standard cutting pads and a Big Shot
* Creates a deep, bold embossed image
* Does not cut
* Clear design makes alignment a breeze
* Sized for a standard card front

Go to my Stampin' Up Website to order your Easter sets, new Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions Die, or anything else you like. Shop online with me 24/7!

JOIN THE SALE-A-BRATION
Sale-A-Bration is still going on until March 31st! FREE products is what it's all about!

Every year Stampin' Up! gives customers, hostesses, and new demonstrators the opportunity to earn fantastic, FREE, limited-edition products they'll enjoy for years to come. No limit, for every $50 spent, earn free Sale-a-bration products, Host a party of at least $300 (before tax and shipping), you'll receive a free Sale-A-Bration reward, in addition to all of the regular hostess benefits!
Click on the CATALOG to view available items.

Join My Team
During Sale-A-Bration, anyone who joins as a demonstrator can choose any stamp set-a value of up to $47.95-from the current Idea Book & Catalog! And right NOW your kit is 15% off, that's $169 (for over $350 worth of products - WOW!) View Starter Kit Contents here.

Contact me today to book a workshop or learn more about these promotions.

Thanks for sticking with me while I was on vacation. I'll be back with some fun things soon!

For now, go kreate - Happy Stamping :)
Kim

Lighthouse

Before leaving for vacation, I put this card together quickly to bring for my FILs b-day. I had stamped out the lighthouse image moons ago,from the retired A Light Unto My Path, but at the time ended up changing my mind about the card. Lucky me to have found it among some scraps. I don't own many masculine sets, but with the lighthouse stamped in Not Quite Navy on Very Vanilla I was able to kreate a quick manly card. I tore the edges of the Very Vanilla and then accented the image with my Pastels (chalks). Ran Not Quite Navy cardstock through the Big Shot with my Texturz background plate and then added a piece of torn and distressed Real Red along the bottom. The sentiment from A Little Birthday Cheer was inked in Not Quite Navy Craft ink and embossed with Clear EP. And finally, two Real Red accents (using the Word Window Punch) with Pewter Brads draw your attention to the main image.
Not my favorite card, but ok for a masculine card. And my FIL thought it was really nice, so that's what counts :)
I'll be heading home from vacation tomorrow - say your prayers for a safe flight for us - I've usually got a death grip on hubbys hand, not a big fan of flying!

For now, go kreate
Kim

Inspired By Nature, CC207

While I'm still in Florida, hopefully enjoying the warmer weather, I was able to pre-post this before leaving. Hopefully no technical issues will occur. This card was inspired by last weeks SCS color challenge (CC207) and a sketch from Stamps and Smiles blog. Not my usual colors, but I think it turned out ok. I inked up this large stamp by using daubers to isolate the colors I wanted and then 'huffed' on the stamp to remoisten it before setting it on my Whisper White. I used my Scallop Edge Punch to decorate the edges of my Kiwi Kiss layer and then placed that on Pumpkin Pie and Summer Sun. The sentiment from Sincere Salutations was inked in Pumpkin Pie Craft ink and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. Punched it out with the Wide Oval Punch and sponged the edges with Pumpkin Pie and offset it with a Summer Sun Wide Oval. Hope you liked it.

You will be able to view the Occasions Mini in its entirety on April 1st. But going on now, Pre-order select sets from the upcoming Occasions Mini Catalog. You'll get brand new limited time Easter sets, make sure to check these out.
Also available now is the new exclusive SU Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions Die (pg 202 of the Spring Summer Catalog -item #114517) for $7.95. And don't forget you can still earn Sale-a-bration rewards too! Fun Fun!

For now go kreate
Kim

Big Shot gets a workout :)

Don't forget about Sale-a-bration! You have until the end of this month to get some FREE goodies! The stamp I used here is from the Yummy set which could be yours free if you place an order of $50+ (before shipping and tax). Click here for more Sale-a-bration details.
Not too much stamping on this card, but the Big Shot got a workout. I started off rolling Whisper White and So Saffron through my Big Shot with the Top Note Die. I cut along the perforations of the Whisper White and layered it on top of the So Saffron. Ran Bashful Blue through with the scrolled Texturz plate (Backgrounds 1). Layered my Top Notes on the Bashful Blue with the Certainly Celery Poly Twill ribbon (SAB freebie) peeking out from behind. Then stamped along the bottom of the Whisper White with this 'Yummy' flourish. I wanted to use a different sentiment, so I isolated the scroll/flourish by using my Certainly Celery and So Saffron Markers to ink up that portion of the stamp. Then I huffed the image to remoisten the ink and stamped. I inked up my sentiment from the Best Yet set (retired hostess set) in Bashful Blue.
Then I ran the Simple Flower Embosslits Die through with Pink Pirouette and So Saffron and the Certainly Celery leaves are from the Birds and Blooms sizzlits. Placed some half pearls from the Pretties Kit in the center of my flowers and sponged the edges of the flowers and leaves. Pretty simple card to kreate. Hope you like it :)
For all of you in the cold, I'm hopefully sitting on the beach sending warm thoughts your way :)

For now, go kreate
Kim