Butterfly Sympathy

This truly is a pretty card, if I say so myself! When we go to Ft. Myers Beach, I make a point of visiting a stamping store in Ft. Myers, the Owl and the Pussycat. On this visit to the store, the owner was showing me the new dies from Memory Box. There were quite a few that I did not have, but I decided on getting the Vivienne and Darla butterflies which can be used alone or together. Needless to say, I had to try the dies as soon as I got home and had access to my Big Shot. The Vivienne die has many little pieces that need to get cut out and the owner of the store gave me a little hint: add a few little pieces of masking tape to the die so that enough pressure is given to cut the tiniest section. Well, I did add the masking tape and it certainly worked like a charm! A friend of mine gave me a set of oval Nestabilities (thank you, Nancy) which I used to make the Very Vanilla background for the butterflies. I sponged the edges, added a couple of butterflies from my SU embosslit and stamped the sentiment using a stamp from Teeny Tiny Wishes (a go-to stamp set that you need to have). The card was pretty plain, so I punched the corners with the scallop trim corner punch and lined the inside with Very Vanilla cardstock. I can see myself making quite a few variations of this card. Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!

Petite Pocket Valentine

The Petite Pocket Die for my Big Shot is very neglected, yet it should not be. While organizing for Saturday's Valentine class, I got sidetracked--nothing new! I found retired Stampin' Up Valentine paper and decided to use that paper and the Petite Pocket die to make Valentine candy favors. Inside the pocket is a little Herhsey's candy bar, the bars that come 8 to a pack. To finish off the favor, I stamped a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set and used one of the heart Framelits to cut around the sentiment. After sponging the edges, I tied the heart diecut to retired ribbon and added a little red glimmer heart. When we make these at class on Saturday, I will use a smaller hole punch. Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!

Free MDS Express Trial

If you are like me, you have thought about using digital software for your scrapping and cardmaking, but there were too many "what ifs": What if I purchase the My Digital Studio software and don't like digital scrapbooking or cardmaking? What if I don't understand how to use My Digital Studio software for my cardmaking? Well Stampin' Up is offering a free trial of My Digital Studio Express during the month of February and I made this flyer using it! There are no strings attached to the free trial offer. Just head over to my SU website and click on shop now, follow the prompts and then download it to your computer. Play with it during the month and if you like it, you can purchase the software. If you find it is not for you, then you can say you tried digital scrapping and/or cardmaking. So try it out and let me know what you think about the software. I will be playing with my free version on and off during the month. And if I come up with anything really special, I will post it here. Enjoy!

SAB Ribbon & Brad. . .

. . . were used on this get well card. I really like that everything on this card is so perfectly coordinated. Of course, that is thanks to Sale-a-bration. The paper is from the Everyday Enchantment DSP pack and the ribbon and brad are from the Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack, both items in the SAB catalog. I see endless possibilities when it comes to making creations using these two products plus cardstock and ink. The sentiment is from the Delightful Dozen set on page 167 of the IB&C. It was stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and then die cut using one of the Labels framelits introduced in the Occasions Mini and layered on a Pool Party label. I am hoping that Stampin' Up will introduce more framelits in the future--one of my very favorite SU products. Have a great day!