Free is always “a happy thing”

Happy New Year & Welcome to 2015!   I’m excited about the New Year and the many things I have planned for you, my customers!  (Like MyStampinSpace on Facebook to stay abreast of all the news!)   I’m also really excited about the soon to be released 2015 Occasions Catalog, and it’s counterpart – the Sale-A-Bration catalog!

 

When the 2014 Holiday Catalog was introduced, I really thought Stampin’ Up! hit it out of the ball park, but I can honestly say that these new catalogs trump the Holiday Catalog!   It’s amazing how Stampin’ UP! is constantly outdoing themselves! Being a Stampin’ Up! demo, I get to see the new catalogs about one month before they are released to the public, AND order new products at that time too! (I love this perk that comes with being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator!)

I’ve had the new catalogs for a few weeks now, and if you are one of my regular customers, then you should too!  I’ve mailed the Occasion Catalog  to you which you should have received around mid-December.  And I’ll have the catalogs posted on my blog when they go live on Jan. 6th.

But with all the busyness of the holidays, I haven’t had a chance to actually USE any of my new products!  YIKES!!!  Well that had to change.  Earlier this week I carved out some time to clean, and organize My Stampin’ Space.  (It had gotten quite messy, I’m ashamed to admit!)  I bought a couple of storage pieces to help conquer the clutter so I could banish the chaos and create in a clean space.  (My creative side doesn’t function well in a mess).  Stop back tomorrow to take a virtual tour of My Stampin’ Space and glean some organizing tips from me.

My clean space was just calling for me to create something, so I did!

One of the ladies in my stamp club has a birthday coming up so I wanted to make her a birthday card, but, I found out that she is in the hospital!  So I had to make a Get Well Card too!.  I discovered I don’t have any current stamp sets that say “Get Well”.  (That will have to change!)  But in the meantime, I combined some old and new to create this Get Well Card.

This stamp set, “A Happy Thing” is free as part of the Sale-A-Bration promotion.  The stamp set features this lemon, and a bird, and two sentiments.  I couldn’t wait to use the lemon stamp and my Blendabilities and I thought that luscious lemon yellow was so cheerful it would brighten anyone’s day.

Here’s a close-up of the lemon.  I used the Momento Ink in Tuxedo Black, but I stamped it onto a piece of scrap paper, and then stamped my image.  This gave me a much more muted grey shade, rather than the dark, crisp black the Momento Ink produces.  The Blendabilities markers let me create depth by layering highlights and shadows.   This is what makes the lemon look so realistic and not just flat.

Daffodil Delight Seam Binding Ribbon makes the perfect drapey double bow.  Are you loving the paper behind the lemon?  Doesn’t it pair perfectly with the leaves on the lemon stamp?  It’s new too!   It’s called Painted Blooms DSP and let’s just say, you’re going to LOVE it!

Notice my layers?  Because the Daffodil Delight is such a strong bold color, I wanted the layer of Daffodil Delight Cardstock behind the image panel to be very thin so it wouldn’t be overwhelming.  That color is repeated 3 times; on the major element (the lemon), in the ribbon, and on that cardstock layer.  By contrast, the solid Wild Wasabi cardstock layer behind the DSP is alot larger to anchor it to the background.

I know you’ve been checking out how I lined the envelope with the same DSP.  Doesn’t that add such a nice touch?   The Envelope Liner Framelit dies make that a snap to do.

Are you loving this set, yet?  I thought so!  The best part of this stamp set is that it is FREE with a qualifying order.  Every item in the Sale-A-Bration catalog is free with a $50 purchase.  And there is no limit; purchase $100 get 2 items for FREE.  Purchase $150 and get 3 items FREE AND $25 in host dollars to spend anyway you want!  Purchase $200 and get 4 FREE sale-a-bration items AND $30 host dollars to spend.

You can really maximize your purchasing power by letting the Sale-A-Bration and Host Reward Dollars work for you.  If you really want to put your purchasing power on steroids, consider joining Stampin’ Up!  Many demos join Stampin’ Up! to get the 20% discount AND the added perks of seeing & ordering from the new catalogs one month prior to the release date.  If this sounds like something you’d like to explore,  email me.  I’d be happy to set a time where we could chat and see if this would be right for you.

So,  I hope that this new year brings you joy and happiness, and good health!  I hope too that you’ll find lots of time to play with paper & create lots of pretty projects.  If your New Years Resolutions include improving your paper crafting skills, then you’re in luck!  Sign up for my newsletter and stay tuned for some information that will make you a better and more educated stamper in 2015!

See you tomorrow for some organizing tips when I take you on a tour of My {freshly organized} Stampin’ Space!  Happy 2015!

Nancy