Depressed......

Each year as with many other companies items are retired and never sold again.  Stampin' Up is no different.  Each year, I look forward to the retiring list.....order those few sets that I must have before they disappear and then anxiously look forward to the new catalogue to come out a month later.

This year it was different......

This year I'm a demonstrator......

This year the Retiring List had me in a panic........

Today Some MANY of my FAVORITE STAMPS are going away.......

Why is this year different now that I'm a demonstrator??  Well if you are trying to sell a product you want to demonstrate with products your customers can actually buy from the current catalogue.  So when stamps are retired I can't use them in classes or anything else with customers.  And I believe there are some other restrictions that I have to clarify before I fly off the handle about that one!!

I have a feeling that there will be a stamping frenzy tonight with all my favorite stamps!  =)

For now I'm going to leave you with some images using some of my favorite sets that are retiring.....

Awash of Flowers

Four the Holidays (sentiment stamp)

Triple Treat Flower

Sincere Salutations (sentiment stamp)

I {Heart} Hearts

 For All You Do

Loads of Love

Season of Friendship

Can you hear my heart breaking after you see these beautiful cards and sets?!?

Embossing Folder Holder!

So Pinterest......oh dear, dear Pinterest.  You keep me up at night with all of your beautiful crafting ideas!

If you are a stamper, and have embossing folders to use in your Big Shot you may have the same issue that I have.  Just how to do you store them?  Up until today mine have been flying around in a 12x12 drawer.  I've got so many these days that it is getting hard to find them when I need one!

Enter Pinterest!  I saw this idea and immediately I was like OMG, I HAVE to make THAT!
I went to Michaels the next afternoon in search of the tin!  Score! It was on clearance and marked down to $1.99 (I ended up buying 4!)  Combine that with my Teacher ID and I think I got another 15-20% off!

Currently I'm still working on mine.  Haven't gotten it just right.  However, when I mentioned it to my mom, she was interested in one too!  So I made her one this evening.  Below are the photos of how it turned out!

Plain White Tin wrapped in DSP Tempting Turquoise Paper

Add some Ribbon and Buttons

Dots Folder

Stripes Folder

Folders in the Tin 

I have 3 more I need to make for my mom but she has some folders that I don't have.  So I'll have to make them at her place this weekend.

Finished Tin!

From another angle

Supplies Used:

• Paper/Colors: Melon Mambo, Pear Pizazz, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
• Top Note Die
• Pear Pizazz Pleated Ribbon
• Triple Treat Flower
• Brights DSP and Buttons
• Tags Punch

Valentine's Treats!

For Valentine's Day I made some treats for all of Taylor's friends at day care and Ms. Karyn!  While they didn't turn out exactly as I had planned they were somewhat cute.  =)    I used Rainbow Goldfish and Peanut M&M's to fill the treats!  I got both of the ideas from Pinterest!  Love that site!

 Tags for Valentine's

Fishing Rods!

Another view!

I Dig You Bag of M&M's for Ms. Karyn!

Original Ideas

Source: thefryfamilyblog.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Source: jaihartjustlovelydesigns.blogspot.com via Carrie on Pinterest

More Valentine's!

Today I worked on two more Valentine's for my special friends who purchased some for their friends/family.  Below are two new designs.  I still have two or three more to work on before I'm through!

Ink:  Real Red, Black Staz On

Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red DSP

Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts, P.S. I Love You

Other: Hearts Embossing Folder, Circle Punch, Scalloped Circle Punch, Rhinestones

Cased from Debra Currier

Ink: Melon Mambo, Tempting Turquoise, Black Staz On

Paper: Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Tempting Turquoise DSP, Crumb Cake

Stamps: P.S. I Love You

Other: Border Punch, Heart Punch, Scalloped Circle Punch, Rhinestones

Cased from Jill Hilliard

Valentines & Thank You's

Last night I needed to craft some more since I had an unproductive night the previous evening. I made another Valentine and then I needed 2 thank you's so I made those as well. I'm pretty happy with the results.  I'll  come back and update with stamp supplies later tonight but for now I wanted to get the pictures out.  

Ink: Calypso Coral

Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts, P.S. I Love you

Paper: Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Whisper White

Other: Hearts Embossing Folder, In Color Brads

Cased from: Debra Currier

Ink: Not Quite Navy

Paper: Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy, Everyday Enchantment DSP

Punches: Blossom Punch

Other: Polka Dot & Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folders, Framelits

Cased and Modified from Jill Hilliard

Ink: Island Indigo, Pool Party

Paper: Whisper White, Island Indigo, Pool Party

Stamps: Perfectly Penned, Mixed Bunch

Other: In Color Brad, Ribbon, Stripes Embossing Folder, Blossom Punch

Cased from Shari Dudek

Will You Be My Valentine?

So I've been stamping some Valentine's cards using ideas that I have pinned on Pinterest.....my new favorite site.  Last night was great!  I made two cards that turned out so cute, that I didn't vary the original design at all!  Tonight, well scroll down, because that is a different story.

To View This Card's Inspiration Click Here

Ink: Real Read, Black Staz On, Baja Breeze

Stamps: Outlined Expressions, P.S. I Love You

Punches, Heart, Border Punch

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Real Red, Whisper White

To View This Card's Inspiration Click Here

Ink: Riding Hood Red, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette

Paper: Riding Hood Red, Whisper White

Punches: Heart

Embellishments: Stitched Ribbon, Bakers Twine

So tonight, I was all excited to stamp again.  I saw this really cute idea and saw it as a great opportunity to use some of my new items I just got in my recent order.

Cute Right?  Yes!!  I don't have the little heart embosslit, but I had a plan.  And I was off!

I cut my paper, started do use my new edgelit and embossing folders.....and that is where it went downhill quickly.  The edgelits kept sliding before I could get them into the Big Shot, My paper wouldn't line up, I embossed them in the wrong directions.....you name it, it happened.  This is how it ended......

Stamp Smudged!

Edge of paper torn up by Bakers Twine.

From a distance, it looks ok......

When I stamp I always make two cards.  This is the other one, not even going to try again.

So onward I went to make another card.  This one turned out much better.  Different flavor then your traditional valentines, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

To View This Card's Inspiration Click Here

Ink: Basic Black, Pool Party, Lucky Limade, Calypso Coral, Regal Rose

Stamps: P.S. I Love You, I {Heart} Hearts

Punches: Word Window, Label

Paper, Lucky Limade, Crumb Cake, Vanilla, Everyday Enchantment DSP

Embellishment: Knockoff Pool Party Ribbon, Everyday Enchantment DSP Brad

So apparently, I was a little off.....now that I look at the pictures I see that I used the wrong color paper for the Be My Valentine sentiment on the card.....so I'll be fixing that sometime soon!

Hopefully tomorrow night I'll get two more card designs done and not have more frustrations.  I did learn a good bit about some of my new tools this evening.  Hopefully this new knowledge will help me to make better progress tomorrow night.

Happy Hanukkah #8

This is the second Hanukkah card that I made.  Again I love the color combination and how the card came together.  =)

Ink: Versa Mark, Not Quite Navy, Baja Blue

Paper: Not Quite Navy, Baja Blue, Whisper White

Stamps: Hebrew Holidays

Accessories: Silver Embossing Powder

Happy Hanukkah #7

So I didn't have any Hanukkah cards yet so I decided to work on few.  This one is the first.  It is very simple but I like the color combination and how it turned out.  Hopefully Others will like it too!

Ink: Pacific Point

Stamps: Hebrew Holidays

Paper: Whisper White, Pacific Point

Accessories:  Scallop Circle Punch, Ribbon, Dots Embossing Folder