Brrr, It's Winter and Time for Snowflakes

Hello Stamping Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family. Ours was very nice. It's Fabulous Friday with the Sisters in Stamping. This week's theme is winter or snow. I must admit, I am already over this winter and the snow and it just began. Yikes, I've got a long road ahead until warmer temps.

I used one of my favorite sets (despite me not loving winter and snow right now) to make my card. Whenever I make a snowflake card, my favorite colors t use are blues, greens and purples. I saw it on wrapping paper years ago and I just love it. This is a simple card to make, you start with a base and then cut another piece of whisper white at 5" x 3 3/4" to leave a 1/2" border around. I stamped my snowflakes in pear pizzazz, wisteria wonder, and soft sky (that color is hard to see in this pic). Then I stamped the greeting in Night of Navy. I finished the card off with a few rhinestones and that was the perfect touch.

This card is so easy to make you can make a bunch of them to use as your winter thank you cards in no time at all. They would also make a great gift if you packaged some up and put them in one of the acetate card boxes.

Don't forget to head over to the Sisters in Stamping to see more winter/snow themed projects.

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon.

Time to Trim the Tree

Hello Stamping Friends,

Wherever you are, I'm hoping you are staying warm on this very cold morning. It is a bitter 8 degrees outside this morning. Brrrrrr. I guess it's that time of year and there's no escaping it for those of us living in the Northeast. Time to bundle up and stay inside if at all possible.

It's Friday and you know that means it's time for a pot with the Sisters in Stamping. This week we are sharing different Christmas ornaments with you. Giving a handmade ornament to someone will surely be treasured for years to come. As a matter of fact, I have many handmade ornaments on my tree that mean so much to me. Many my mom made, a sure treasure with her being gone for over 20 years. I also have another ornament that means a lot to me on my tree. It's from my 6th grade teacher (let's just say it's over 30 year old). He hand painted them and then wrote our name and year on it and signed them. Yes, every year it goes on the tree and I get to think of my 6th grade school year. Thank you Mr. Mazur.

 I do get to see him on occasion and a few years back, I told him I still put it on my tree and he  said he stopped doing it not long after our class because the students didn't appreciate them anymore. Well, I made sure to let him know that I really appreciated it and absolutely love putting it on the tree every year.

For my ornaments, I found these ceramic plain ornaments at the Target dollar spot. You know the spot they have right in front of the store when you walk in and you spend $50 before actually entering the store. LOL Anyway, it was a pack of 3 ornaments for $3. My thought was that I could stamp on them and then use the Stampin' Blends to color them in. Well, my thoughts worked out. Love it when that happens. 

I stamped the little Eskimo (have to admit, first time inking it up) from Cookie Cutter Christmas using the Momento Ink and colored with the blends. I also doodled along the edge of the ornament to finish it off. And to make it sparkle (because we all know we need more sparkle) I used the fine tip glue pen to add glue to the "fur" parts and then added dazzling diamonds. The fine tip glue pen glue is really strong and the glitter is NOT coming off.

For this one, I stamped the Santa from Cookie Cutter Christmas using Momento ink and then colored him in. I used the Stampin' Blends to also color the rest of the ornament old olive with a dark border too. Of course, he needed to be finished off with some glitter as well.

This was the third ornament in the pack. A cute little bow. Unfortunately, this one won't be hanging on any tree this year. If you look close enough, I obviously don't realize my own strength and I pressed down way too hard and cracked the ornament right in half. I still wanted to show you this one though because I used the paisley set to make a paisley ornament. It would have been so cute if I wasn't such a bully to an innocent ornament though.

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to head over to Sisters in Stamping for more great ornament ideas. 

See you soon.

Non-Traditional Christmas Stamper's Dozen Blog Hop

Hello Stamping Friends,

It's time for another great blog hop with the Stamper's Dozen. This month's theme is non-traditional Christmas. That means absolutely NO RED OR GREEN. Not an easy task but definitely a run challenge. I selected basic black, whisper white and berry burst for my colors. I really like how my finished card turned out. You know, that doesn't always happen.

I used the awesome sheet music designer series paper as my background and built the card up from that. I stamped the ornaments from the Carols of Christmas stamp set directly on the designer paper and also on a scrap piece of whisper white so I could cut them out and put them on dimensionals while still having the strings flat. Yes, I purposely cut the designer paper so that you can see the title of the song.

I also used a stampin' sponge to edge the sides of the paper with black ink to distress it a bit. The berry burst ribbon gives the appearance of holding all the ornaments together. Or so, I think anyway. I also stamped the little dots (berries???) randomly on the sheet music paper to just add an extra little touch. I also love how the black and white striped ribbon is the top of the card. 

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Don't just stop here though, continue on the blog hop to see all the other great non-traditional Christmas cards and goodies.

Be sure to click the button below to head over to Bonnie's Blog 

Visit Judy's Blog if you are just coming here.

Stamparatus Preorder Information

Hello Stamping Friends,

The results are in! The first Stamparatus reservation window reached its maximum number of reservations in just 15 minutes, which provided SU! with some very important information: You LOVE this new stamping tool! We couldn’t be more thrilled; in fact, your response was so amazing that SU! has decided to make some important adjustments to the reservation process.

As was previously announced, the second reservation window will remain open from December 5–30; however, during this reservation period we will take as many orders as we receive (yay!) and not close the window until December 30. So whether the total number of reservations is 100 or 100,000, the window will stay open!

Please note the following changes:

Beginning March 19, we will ship Stamparatuses in the order the reservations were received (first in, first out) and continue through the next few months and beyond as product arrives in our warehouse.

Because shipment dates are based on manufacturing lead times, not all of the reservations made during the December 5–30 window will ship on March 19 (as was previously announced).
In order to accommodate demand, limits have changed as follows: one reservation per customer 

Because we are not limiting the maximum number of reservations for the second window, we will not offer a third window. This is the last chance for you to reserve a Stamparatus before it becomes available in the 2018-2019 annual catalog.

Please note what has not changed:

If you reserved more than one stamping tool during the first reservation period, that number will not change; you will still receive the same number you reserved.

If you reserved one or more stamping tool(s) during the first reservation period, you may still order during the second window.

The reservation window will open at 2:00 PM (MT) on December 5.

We can’t wait for you to get your hands on your very own Stamparatus and look forward to seeing the projects you’ll make with this incredible stamping tool.

Make sure you select me as your demonstrator!  Rachel Yurkanin #33960

Year- End Sales Event and Retiring Favorites

Hello Stamping Friends,

Stampin’ Up! is ending 2017 with a bang! This is your opportunity to take advantage of special year-end deals on retiring and surplus items. The items in the sale are last-chance and limited-inventory, so take note that these items are available only while supplies last!

Promotion Dates : 1st December – 2nd January 2018. All products are of course available while supplies last.

CLICK HERE to see the discounted list. 

CLICK HERE to see the retiring favorites. 

Keep in mind:

• All order types qualify for this promotion.
• No minimum purchase required.
• Discounts apply to select items only.
• Retiring items from the 2017 holiday catalog are available while supplies last.
• Excess items from 2017 annual catalog are available in limited quantities at the promotional price.
• Discounted items may be added to a Starter Kit—or purchased with Stampin’ Rewards—at the promotional price.
• Items and discounts may vary by market (depending on inventory levels).
• Host sets can be purchased using only Stampin’ Rewards from a qualifying party.
• Due to high demand for retiring stamps, we’ll keep producing retiring stamps until December 21 (not accessories—accessories are only while supplies last).

This list contains all of the retiring and surplus items featured in the Year-End Sales Event. Retiring products will no longer be available for purchase after January 2, 2018. But again, items are available while supplies last, so check my online store for the most up-to-date information.

If you have any questions, please just ask me!