Who doesn't love a bargain???

Stampin' Up has announced that starting on June 1st there will be a MINI starter kit that will sell for $119 and will contain over $220 worth of supplies in it! The information on this kit will be released on June 1st. Check back then!

When I first signed to be a demo, I never intended to sell! The kit was such a great deal, and I wanted to add to my growing supplies of stamps, and paper and ink! This offer may be the chance YOU have been waiting for! Check back on tues, as there will be more information available then.

In the meantime, I am getting ready for another day of salsa and jam making. We made over 300 jars yesterday and hope to get another 200 jars done today. It is hot, exhausting work...but we will be ready for the rhubarb festival...all that is left to do is back our pies, and we will do that on the day before the festival.

Enjoy your Sunday. Do you like the wreath...so easy to do. The base is a styro form, and I punched out alot of scallop circles from lunch bags! Poke them through the wreath with a bit of glue on the end. I added some butterflies from the big shot, and voila, a really cute decoration.

Q-tips...not just for cleaning your ears!

One of the best things about Stampin UP is getting free stuff! Today I received this new set, Elements of Style, for free! I earned it during Salebration! Now, I am just a part timer, doing this mostly for fun! Wouldn't you like to do something you love, and get free stuff as a result? I would love to fill you in on all the benefits of becoming a demo...just ask!

Now, the q-tips! Dawn O, a very talented demo, showed us how to colour images using a q-tip. The image is stamped in sahara sand, then I used pretty in pink and melon mambo for the flowers, and old olive for the leaves. Just dip your q-tip into some ink that is smushed onto the lid of the ink pad! Take your glue pen, and add some dazzling diamonds...and voila....a beautiful card, even if I do say so myself! (just did, didn't I??)

Elements of Style is new in the summer mini, very reasonably priced at $26.95 for the clear mount. There are 2 sentiments, a cute little hummingbird, a lovely swirl, and the image on the cards.

Hope you are all enjoying this lovely warm weather. It would sure be nice if this is what our real summer will be like!!

Butterflies into Pansies!

Check out these great ideas. The card was textured with the newest embossing folder in the summer mini...LOVE IT! The pansies are made from the butterfly punch. The gift bag is a die for the big shot...The card and bag were items from the Spring Fling! There are so many reasons to become a demo...let me know how I can help you get started!!

Short post tonight...I will be back before the weekend with details on my upcoming Father's day event...Save the date, Wed June 9th, 7-9, my house. We will make a great card, and a coordinating treat bag...all for Dad!

Roses are red....

Good Sunday Morning. Hope you are enjoying this lovely long weekend. Don't let the rain dampen your mood...get out and enjoy the warm weather, do a little gardening, or if that isn't to your liking...go stamp something!
This card was made by Alicia at the Spring Fling. She demo'd the ever popular paper rose, made with the Flower punch from the mini. These can be a little intimidating, but with patience, a little spray of water, a dab of glue and a little clip..you too can create these lovely flowers. There are tons of tutorials out there, but HERE is the one I like the best. The secret really is in the spritzing with water...just a little, but it makes the paper more workable. Add some glitter, and you will have a stunning flower to decorate a card, or a cake box, or a fancy little box...the possibilities are endless.
Let me know if you give it a try, or if you have any questions.

Wednesday WOW!

Welcome to Wednesday...only 2 more sleeps till the weekend. Weekends for us are what we look forward to especially this time of year. We have a little tin can (trailer) at a lovely park in Sauble Beach. Without a doubt, and the internet will attest, this is the best stretch of beach in Ontario. We love it there. We have a peaceful spot of heaven, and can relax and unwind as soon as we hit the road. Even though rain is predicted, for once, it sounds like we will have a warm weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed.

At our Spring Fling event, in fact all the events Alicia plans, there are getting to know you gifts. As you enter, we always get a special treat, along with someone's name and we need to find our new (or old) friend, ask some questions, then give her the gift. At the same time, someone is looking for me to give me my gift! This time we all received one of the little treat boxes from the mini. On top is a flower made with velum paper. Punch out 6 or 7 layers, using basically whatever punch you have. Seriously...any punch will do. Experiment, as each punch will give you a different look. Stack them up, stick a brad through, spritz them with water, add a little colour with marker, and scrunch them up. As the water dries, they turn quite hard, and in real life, look amazing.

Give them a try...paper, velum, designer paper, the sky is the limit!

Tip for Tuesday

Good Morning Stamping Friends. Have you seen the stencils that Stampin Up sells? Let me show and tell you how much fun they are. I demo'd these cards on Saturday at our Spring Event. The card on the left is embossed with clear embossing powdered, then I smootched on some ink. Give the edges a little rip, add more ink, distress it up, add some stamping and bob's your uncle...a really pretty card. This was totally cased from Tami White. When I went to demo this card, I realized I had left my versamark pad at home. Not to worry...just change up the plan. I just took my sponges and sponged the colours onto the stencil. This gives a lovely vintage look. The butterflies are from the embosslit die.

If you haven't tried stenciling, I highly recommend it. Lots of fun and a very unique way to add some pop to your cards or to a scrapbook page.

My tip: use a bit of dotto adhesive to attach your stencil to your project...the dotto is not permanent and will peal right off the stencil as well as the project. The clean your stencil give it a spray with your stamp cleaner, and use a soft paper towel to clean it up.

Have fun, and be sure to let me know if you try this technique out!

Easel does it...

Happy Monday Stamping Friends. My new year's resolution this year was to actually make some of the projects I bookmark! Who else does that? You surf your favourite blogs, and jot down a note..."make this project" and week's later, you find the note, and totally can't find your inspiration!

I love easel cards, and if you search Splitcoast, you will find tons of ideas. This is a different twist...using different shapes made with a big shot die. Cut your card, run it through your favourite die, cut out one more piece. Flip back half of the top portion of the card, and voila, you now have an easel card. Hope you enjoy these, so much fun!!

Off to the rhubarb patch, but first...

Good Sunday Morning Stamping Friends. I only have a minute, as I am headed to the rhubarb patch to pick another truckload of rhubarb. Yesterday was a super fun day. Along with 50 other creative and fun women, I participated in an all day creative meeting. This is hosted by my upline Alicia, and her and her crew did an amazing job. Such great value too...4 make and takes, including a stampset and one of the new albums from the mini, all the supplies to complete the projects. There were 12 demo theatre presentations (I did 2..will show those later this week) lunch, and tons of door prizes. I was very lucky and won a big shot die as well as a roll of ribbon...so fun.

I also came home with 7 fabulous ideas for 3-d projects. Pictured here is the cake slice box I did with the butterfly punch pansy on top. Let me know if you would like the pattern. This is another perk of being a demo, on the Stampin Up demo site there are hundreds of free templates. Right now these cake boxes are really popular, and you can pay around $5.00 for the template. I can send you one for free that has 3 different sizes, so you can make a layer cake if you like. Just print them off on your paper (here I used whisper white), cut them out, while watching a show on tv, then score and pop them together. I used Tombo glue to assemble my boxes.

It is a fantastic morning here in Ontario. The sun is shining, the birds are up and I am off to chop rhubarb and peppers in preparation for our salsa weekend.

This weekend has been a bit stressful, and I am reminded that prayers can be answered. On Friday our youngest daughter was struck by a car. Luckily she is fine, just bruised and sore. Last night at 10:30 I got a call and the young man said "Hi Mrs Wheeler, I am one of Meaghan's friend she is staying with, and I just want you to know we are at the hospital (IN OHIO) but she is ok!"...the second time in 2 days that my heart has now stopped! Long story short, she was riding a homemade zip line, and the knot came untied, and she fell on her back from about 8 feet. She does have 2 cracked vertebra, but like her sister, she will be fine too. She thinks she will be able to drive home, however, we may need to meet her and get her and the car home. She was at a youth camp preparing for an upcoming conference. I made need to take a day tomorrow to recuperate from all this myself!!!

Thessalonians 5:18

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Getting Glitter to Stick...

Do you love to use glitter, but end up with more glitter on you than on the card? The answer is using Heat and Stick powder. Here is what you do. Stamp your image with versamark, here I used the swirl from "Embrace Life", then pour the Heat and Stick powder over the image, shake off the excess, then heat emboss. As soon as you have melted the powder, dump on your glitter, then give it a quick pass with the heat tool, and voila...glitter that sticks to the image like glue! On the bride's dress I used the chunky glitter, and it sure sparkles in real life.

There are tons of this type of card on the web, however, my inspiration came directly from Kelly Ward. It is a variation of the gatefold card. Cut your whisper white cardstock 7 x 12 and score at 3" for the bride, and 4" for the groom. Cut a piece of black 4 x 7, then add a little triangle for the shirt. I used flowers and brads and pearls from the Pretties kit, to dress up both the bride and groom.

Hope you enjoyed this little design. Be sure to let me know if you try it.

Happy Stamping...

Happy Mother's Day...

This weekend has been so cold and windy and rainy. I lit the fireplace last night to try and take the chill out of the air. For my loyal readers, you will know that every year my sister and I are involved in a Rhubarb Festival. This is held the second week of June in a little town called Shedden. Well, this morning Michele and her hubby Brian came over and we picked a PICK-UP truck full of rhubarb. Believe me, I am not fibbing, and entire pickup truck full!!! Now I am headed off to their house to chop and bag in preparation of our salsa, and pie making adventures. More to come on that in the weeks to come.

I made more tag cards for the Mom's in my life. I am loving this design and the wow factor it offers when they are opened.

Whatever plans you have for today, I hope they are filled with love, joy and happiness.