STAMPIN' UP! AND CHANGES TO MY BLOG

 Good morning, everyone!

I know it's been awhile. I had to take some time to decide which direction I needed to go. Namely, was I staying with Stampin' Up! or would I be leaving my demo status behind to 'broaden my creativity'.

By the time I got direction, Bob and I came down with a horrendous stomach flu that lasted 7 days... as in a good 3-4 or truly being sick then another 3 days to gain strength to do anything again. Bob even took a couple extra days before going back to work.. something he NEVER does. He went bck to work on Thursday, and me being a day behind him, was Friday before I felt up to leaving the house. 

If you've not heard, Stampin' Up! is really enforcing the 'compliance' issue.... meaning we can't use affiliate links, be on other design teams, or promote other companies in any way. Our focus has to be solely on Stampin' Up! Now, I can see where they are coming from but I also don't think that should apply to Hobby Dems... those of us who just join for the product discount... not to build a business. 

I spend a lot of time and money with Spectrum Art Creations. I've done haul videos and shown what I make with some of the things I've purchased. I always link back to their website. Sadly, I can't do that any longer. Oh... I'm still buying! LOL I just can't link to their store or YouTube channel.

I was also on the Design Team for Dear Julie Julie. I love a lot of her digitals and was finally getting back on track with featuring items I made with them each week. I've had to drop my design team status.

Don't get me wrong!  If you want to do Stampin' Up! as a business... then this is a great company and I'll help anyone I can build their business. But if you just want the discount, as long as you have a contract with Stampin' Up! you can't promote other companies/ products. 

I've also heard the questions - how does 'so and so' get away with it. I can't answer that question and it's none of my bees wax. I can only answer about ME.

Okay... so "why did you make the choice to stay with Stampin' Up!"?  might be the question I'm hearing?

First and foremost, I do love Stampin' Up! product. Do I intend to make it a career? No... more like a side hustle and for the 25% discount on the products I love.  I also have 1 team member in my downline. Rhonda DOES want to make this a business. If I drop, she will no longer have someone in her corner to help train her. Mind you, I've learned a lot from her, too. Neither of us were trained by the upline I signed under. 

So, I'm giving this a year. I'm training Rhonda while training myself and giving Stampin' Up! a fair shake. Really walk the business. 

I've set up my demonstrator website - or DBWS - with Stampin' Up! This will allow me to direct-link products and promotions directly to my account so that potential customers won't have to search for me.  You'll find my website HERE

I have a calendar set up so you'll know when I'm posting here and/ or to YouTube. You'll also find my group on FB. I'm trying to get better about posting to FB though I still don't like the platform. 

I was supposed to have a card on YouTube today but I'm fighting with iMovie about uploading videos. I hope to have that fixed in the next day or two.

In the meantime, Stampin' Up! has an awesome special going on!  20% off select product bundles as well as the Mini Stamp n Cut embossing machine! I have a couple of the sets and just ordered a couple more as well as the Stamp n Cut. Y'all know I love my Tim Holtz sidekick but the mini Stamp n Cut is just a bit wider ... closer to a 2.5" plate I believe.  I'll be doing a video - hopefully tomorrow, showing the flyer. In the mean time, if you'd like a copy emailed to you, just leave me a comment with your email address down below. 

That's where I'm at for now.  I'll be back tomorrow to fill you in on the 'direction' my business will be taking. I'm not just about cards! Wait til you see...  in the mean time...

Creative Blessings

~Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Spring Stashbuster Junk Journal Challenge

dearjuliejulie on YouTube has started our next junk journal challenge round. This time we're doing a Spring Stash Busting Junk Journal Challenge (#SSJJC) ... aka No BUYING for this one. We are to use what we have in our stash to make one (or more) junk journals.  The No Buying is our only stipulation. I think I speak for a lot of us when I say, I have plenty here to work with.

I just found the papers on Thursday that I want to use for the signatures so I hope to have those put together to show next week. In the mean time, this post is all about our first mini-challenge. We were challenged to make 6 embellishments. Our only parameters were the following:

Each embellishment must include:
     Metal
     Circle
     Lace
     Something from our right.

Well, since my ScrapRack is to my right, I had lots to pick from. My stamps and embossing powders are also to my right. All of the words were from Tim Holtz Seasonal Chat Stickers

Here's a close-up of each tag:

the bunny is stamped in Chocolate Chip then clear embossed

I've had this dress cut out for at least three years. 

The metal pin fastener is in the Stampin' UP! catalog

I cut the circle from an Easter Egg sticker

While the button is a circle, so is the base... with part of it folded in to 

show the book page on the back

This is the second one I used the tulip image on. 

These were in my stash from a swap I did 8 years ago or more.

The image is from a retired Stampin' UP! set

Bob left on Saturday. I've spent the weekend crafting so I can get some posts ready to go. I'll have my granddaughters at the end of the month and we'll be doing stuff. Not a lot of computer time for Grandma that week. ;-)

Tomorrow I'll have a couple of Teapot Tuesday cards to show then Wednesday I should be back on WOYWW. I've missed the past couple of weeks. 

COLOR CHALLENGE - April

Can you believe it's time for the April Color Challenge already? Where is this year going!

April brings to mind, Spring... Spring Cleaning, Easter Eggs, First Flowers... So I found this image on Pinterest:

Soft, Springy... perfect for our challenge this round.

I chose to work with the softer pink/ lavenders this round. 

I went with Melon Mambo, Powder Pink and Wisteria Wonder. 

Painted With Love DSP carried 2 of these colors and paired well with the Wisteria Wonder.

Fairy Celebration seemed like the perfect stamp pairing with these colors:

And here's my card:

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

RULES:

There aren't any rules. You may use any company product you like. My only request is if you use a stamp or something special, link to the company so we may add to our stash, too :-D

KEYWORD: KCC18APR

THURSDAY THREADS - Dish Towels Pt. 2

Last week, I stamped the Daisies onto paper then used the light box to transfer them to the dish towel with a graphite pencil. I thought I'd try a different technique this week.

I am using You're Inspiring from the Spring Occasions Catalog.  

In place of the Daffodil Delight marker, I used the Crushed Curry I did have. The stamped color won't make any difference. Since Stampin' Write markers and inks are water soluble, I decided to stamp directly to the towel this time. If it all washes out, fabulous. If not, if I pay attention to what I'm doing then the lights should be covered anyway.

I did run into a snag last week so I don't have progress on the daisy dish towel. I can't find a single embroidery hoop in this house! Well, that's not true. I've not checked the tub in the old sewing room downstairs - the room where tubs of fabric are stored. I'm going to look down there today. If not, then I'll pick one up while I'm out shopping this weekend. I'd really love to have these done before Easter!

Creative Blessings!

TEAPOT TUESDAY - Or Card Chicks

This week is all about the card chicks. I think that's what I'm going to plan for the 3rd Tuesday of every month. We post our cards from the kit to the thread on Splitcoast Stampers around the 21st of each month.

Kits are mailed out to reach us around the 3rd of the month. That gives us over two full weeks to play with the contents. Of course, I'm a 'last minute' kind of gal so I was working on these yesterday and this morning.

This is the last envelope we will receive from Paula. She's having to take some personal time so has dropped from the group for now. I hope she's able to return in the future.

I never thought to take a picture of the kit. I'll try to remember to do that in the future. But here's what her note in the packet had to say:

The image is from a stamp set from Sparkle and Sprinkle. They are kind of local to me here in Florida and used to have a brick and mortar store, but now they only do expos. The ribbon is from SU Daffodil Delight. Paper is from a value pad from Michaels. The butterflies and thank you die cuts I have and hardly ever use. The bling is from my stash.

Tulips are stamped on Neena Cardstock with Ranger Archival so you should be able to use just about any color medium on them. I gave you 2, so fussy cut them, pop them up or just make 2 cards!

The first 2 cards incorporate the tulip images. I used Stampin' Blends - one in the Daffodil Delight and the other in Pink Pirouette. Leaves are done in Old Olive.

This first one is a A5 card. I incorporated the bling, the ribbon and one of the papers she sent. The ovals were cut from the SU Nesting Ovals. Now that I've figured out how they mat, I'm loving working with them!

This one is an A4. I used a Strawberry Slush card base and for the mat altered with Pink Pirouette. The sentiment is from Petal Palette

Then I made use of the other piece of DSP and created two additional A4 cards. This first one uses a Dapper Denim card base and Pistachio Pudding mats. I chose SU's Beautiful Peacock. The feathers are a second generation stamp. Even though these are clear stamps, they are still hare to position the body perfectly within the opening in the feathers - at least for me.

For the second card, I flipped the base colors around. Dapper Denim on a Pistashio Pudding base.

That's our cards for this month. I am excited to see what our April hostess has in store!

THURSDAY THREADS - Dish Towels

Thank you for your patience. I'm running on about four hours sleep and I have a full day.

Last fall I talked about wanting to do dish towels for Halloween. I still do and the towels/ embroidery thread are still paired up for that project. But I'm in serious SPRING mode around here. The dish towels I embroidered for a county fair entry twelve-plus years ago are seeing the last of their days so I decided with fresh spring kitchen towels/ dish rags I'd get at least a couple of dish towels up.

The designs I chose are from Stampin' Up! sets - Daisy Delight and You're Inspiring. Since I can only embroidery one towel at a time, I'm going with Daisy Delight this week. I'm also going to use two different forms of transfer. This week is all about the light box and a graphite pencil.

First, I stamped the design as I want it to look on the towel.. well, close enough:

I had a masked image of the daisy (stamped on cardstock then punched out with the Daisy punch) to do the overlay. I stamped the main full daisy, then masked it off while I stamped other daisy's and the leaves to make them appear as if they were in the background. Everything was done in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I started by folding my dish towel the way I do to put them in the drawer. This gives me the corner that will display when I hang the towel on the oven door handle:

Next, I took this image to the light box:

I sketched it out with the graphite pencil on a corner of the flour sack towel. I have to tell you, the ones from walmart are not the good towels. These are thread bare. I'll be lucky to get two years out of these. Gives me time to find better quality? Maybe something on the Spring Quilt Shop Hop next month. 

And here's the final product - ready for stitching. I'm thinking I'm going to have to start taking needlework away from the house one day a week to keep it free from pet hair while I'm working.. either that or turn my office into a no-critter zone. But I don't see that happening any time soon.

I decided to do the daisies in pink to give them a pop of color. White would just be to bland against the white background. Now if I were doing these on blue dish towels... hmmmm now I'm thinking.

Next Thursday I'll show the other design - Daffodils and how I plan to stamp them directly to the towel. I think it will work. We shall see!

COLOR CHALLENGE #2

Happy Monday, everyone!
Welcome to KellysColorChallenge #2

You'll notice I've added something new this week. Beginning this week you can upload a thumbnail of your card and that becomes part of your link. I've seen this particular 'Mister Linky' used on Tim Holt's site and a couple of others. Since our focus is the card or project, I thought this would be more enticing to click around to everyone. Please email me if you have issues and I'll do my best to fix.

So here we go....

This month's color combo is:

Whether you've been experiencing snow on the East Coast or the Spring-like weather I'm having now (Feb. 11 and we hit 80*!) I thought the softer colors would inspire you wherever you are and whatever your weather.

I apologize for my card being late. This stupid headcold that went into a sinus infection just kept me off balance the past two days. I promise to have March card up in time. 

And here's my card: 

The closest colors I could come up with in SU were:

Pink Pirouette, Old Olive, Marina Mist and Soft Sky

I showcased three of the new stamp sets from Stampin' UP!:

Delicate Details - FREE in Sale A Bration 

Make A Medallion - FREE in Sale A Bration - available for purchase Wednesday Feb. 22nd

Suite Sentiments

Marina Mist card base

Whisper White base to stamp three of the lace stamps from Delicate Details in a repeating pattern using Soft Sky, Marina Mist, Pink Pirouette.

To do the Medallion, I stamped just the outside border of the stamp set, then cut it out using the #2 (from the outside) of Stitched Framelits then again with the #2 to remove the center, creating a wreath. I used the #2 cut out to stamp FRIEND from Make A Medallion in Memento Black followed by the touch of Old Olive above and below the word.

Using a glue dot, I adhered the sentiment circle directly to the card mat. Then I used dimensional strips cut into small sections (about 1.5" lengths) to raise up the outer Medallion. 

On the inside I stamped, 'Hoping Your Day Is Perfect' from Suite Sentiments in Marina Mist.

RULES:

There aren't any rules. You may use any company product you like. My only request is if you use a stamp or something special, link to the company so we may add to our stash, too :-D

When linking up anywhere else, use KEYWORD: KellysColorChallenge2 and please link back to this page.Thanks~

Creative Blessings!