SSINK - kind koala color challenge

This little koala came in my favorite brown box last week and I couldn't wait to get him all inky. However, I had to do a little minor adjustment to this single wood mount stamp. You see...he started out looking like this...

 

The words "thinking of YOU" are attached to the stamp.

Although I thought it was cute, I wanted him to be a little more versatile, so before mounting the stamp I trimmed off the words and so now I only have the koala with the flower. I normally don't recommend butchering your stamps, but in this case I knew I would use him more without the words. It was tough to trim off the bottom, so you will see that there is part where it doesn't stamp as crisp as the rest of the outline of the koala. The risk I took! ;)

This card is a little thank you for all of my Craft Cleanout Sale participants and since there were 15 who joined me, I needed a quick and easy card to duplicate 15 times! I opted for using the Whisper White Note Cards & Envelopes. These are smaller cards already pre-cut and folded and include envelopes...20 cards for only $5.95! Easy to whip up a handful of cards lickety-split!

I used the Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration August Color Challenge to help inspire me. Not gonna lie...the Mossy Meadow color threw me for a loop (still waiting for the dark green to grow on me!), but in the end the splash of green was a good compliment to the extra heavy Strawberry Slush I used!

Stamp Sets	Kind Koala, Big News (thank you!)
Ink	Black Stazon, Tempting Turquoise, Blender Pen used with Smokey Slate & Crumb Cake ink pads, Strawberry Slush Marker
Paper	Whisper White, Strawberry Slush, Mossy Meadow, 2013-2015 In-Color Background DSP (Strawberry Slush Chevron)
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Brights Candy Dots (Tempting Turquoise)
Tools	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Bitty Banners Framelits

Come on by to see what the other designers have created with this color combo.We would love for you to come play along, too! We post a new color combo on the 1st Monday of each month. We also have a card sketch on the 2nd Monday and a Layout Sketch on the 3rd Monday.  Click on the badge below to take you to our blog!

the creation station blog hop - amazing birthday

Yay! It's the 1st Sunday of the month which means it's time for The Creation Station to share with you some fun and inspiring ways to use your Stampin' Up! products. You should have just hopped on over from Sara's blog.

For today's hop we were able to choose from the following (any or all!): 

1) Amazing Birthday stamp set

2) All Things PARTY!

3) Tag-A-Bags & Accessory Kit

It was so fun to receive the Amazing Birthday stamp set at Convention this year, so of course I took this opportunity to get it nice and inky (well some of the images anyway)!

To help inspire me, I used this week's Freshly Made Sketches 147.

I stamped the "Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday to YOU!" sentiment in three different colors (Tangelo Twist, Pistachio Pudding, and Crushed Curry). I chose these three colors to coordinate with the Confetti Celebration DSP strips on the right of the card. After inking the three "happy" words, I cut them apart using my Paper Snips and popped each of them up on Dimensionals. I added the word "birthday" from the photopolymer Endless Birthday Wishes stamp set using Basic Gray ink. I just think it needed some extra whimsy (and I love that font!). The birthday cake image is stamped in Tangelo Twist (I also added some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to it) and then punched it out with the 1-1/4" Circle Punch with a border of Basic Gray using the 1-3/8" Circle Punch. Finally it's backed by the second smallest Starburst Framelits in Pistachio Pudding. I wrapped a piece of Tangelo Twist Satin Stitched Ribbon around the Bermuda Bay card base and ended it by tying a knot. Lastly I added random Rhinestones throughout the card.

Stamp Sets	Amazing Birthday, Endless Birthday Wishes
Ink	Tangelo Twist, Pistachio Pudding, Crushed Curry, Basic Gray
Paper	Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Basic Gray, Pistachio Pudding, Confetti Celebration DSP
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Rhinestones, Tangelo Twist Satin Stitched Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Tools	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Starburst Framelits, Paper Snips

My second card focuses on the largest image in the set. I turned to my Color Coach for this color combo of Rich Razzleberry and Pool Party. I decided to also bring in Pear Pizzazz. The main image was stamped in Rich Razzleberry and then trimmed around the edges using my Paper Trimmer. I stamped the image again in Pear Pizzazz but only used the word "AMAZING" by trimming using my Paper Snips. Before popping it up on the front I added a strip of Rich Razzleberry and snipped the ends to create a banner. I added a couple of Rhinestones to each end of the banner. The Pool Party background is embossed with the Polka Dot Embossing Folder (one of my new favorites!) I added the tiny stars (from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack) punched out of Silver Glimmer Paper and popped them up with Dimensionals to look like they were spreading from one corner to the other.

Stamp Sets	Amazing Birthday
Ink	Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzazz
Paper	Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party, Silver Glimmer Paper
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Rhinestones
Tools	Paper Snips, Itty Bitty Accents Pack (star)

The last little treat I have to share with you today uses the new Polka Dot Tag-A- Bags and Accessory Kit along with the Amazing Birthday stamp set. Instead of using the bag flat like they come, I created it to be 3-D by simply scoring the two sides and bottom of the bag each at 1". I then folded the bag on the sides and pinched them on the bottom, gluing the flaps to the bottom. (I saw this on Cindee Wilkinson's blog if you need better instructions.) Because I wanted to use this bag for some Bath & Body Works hand soap, I decided to fold down a bit around the top. To do this a little more easily, I had to cut a slit in the sides, but was able to cover it up with the White Thick Baker's Twine that comes with the Accessory Kit. I wanted to keep it somewhat simple, so I inked up the birthday image using Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, and Basic Gray markers. Each of these colors are featured in the Accessory Kit. I die-cut it out with the Banner Framelits. I then took the pre-cut pennant from the Accessory Kit (in Calypso Coral) and clipped them both together to the bag using the fun clips that come in the kit. To add a little something to the inside, I cut tiny strips of Coastal Cabana cardstock and then crinkled them up to look like "filling" for the bag.

Stamp Sets	Amazing Birthday
Ink	Markers - Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Basic Gray
Paper	Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral pre-cut banner tag
Accessories	SNAIL Adhesive, White Thick Baker's Twine (comes in Tag-A-Bag Accessory Kit), Polka Dot Tag-A-Bags, Calypso Coral binder clip (comes in Tag-A-Bag Accessory Kit)
Tools	Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine, Banner Framelits

I hope you're having a fun time on today's hop and that you can't wait to see more! We so appreciate you coming by for a visit and would love for you to leave a comment if you like what you see or if you have any questions on any of the cards or project, please feel free to ask!

Now head on over to Jennifer Frost's blog by clicking the next button below. You're in for some awesome inspiration! If you want to go backwards on the hop, click on the back button to go back to Sara Levin's blog where she is sure to impress, as well!

See you on the 3rd Sunday for another Creation Station Blog Hop!

August Big Shot Promotion ~ FREE Bundle with Big Shot purchase or 15% off Framelit Bundles

Today is a SWEET day!! Not only because it's Friday (who doesn't love the start of a weekend?!) but because today is the day Stampin' Up! begins their August Big Shot promotion. Have you been holding out for awhile wondering if the Big Shot is worth the purchase?! Well...I am here to say ~ yes, it is!! Not only because the Big Shot can take a card from drab to flab, but for this month only if you purchase a Big Shot, you will get a Framelit/Stamp Set bundle for FREE (that's up to $60 in additional product for FREE)!!

Already have the Big Shot and loving it? During the month of August you can purchase any of these bundles for an additional 15% off, including a new stamp set that will be featured in the 2014 Holiday Catalog called Bright & Beautiful.

This is exciting stuff and I don't want you to miss out on this opportunity! Please visit my online website to order yours today (heidiboos.stampinup.net)

When ordering your Big Shot and FREE bundle, be sure to use the product numbers as shown below:

CM = Clear Mount
WM = Wood Mount

Bundle	Item Number	Stamp Set	Framelits	Discounted Price
Sumthin' with Bubbly Words Bundle WM	138923	Sumthin' Sumthin'	Word Bubbles	$33.75
Sumthin' with Bubbly Words Bundle CM	138920	Sumthin' Sumthin'	Word Bubbles	$31.25
Decorative Goodies Bundle WM	138924	Oh My Goodies	Deco Labels Collection	$42.25
Decorative Goodies Bundle CM	138921	Oh My Goodies	Deco Labels Collection	$35.95
Celebrating Chalk Talk Bundle WM	138925	Day of Celebration	Chalk Talk	$43.25
Celebrating Chalk Talk Bundle CM	138922	Day of Celebration	Chalk Talk	$37.25
Flowery Daydream Bundle WM	138911	Daydream Medallions	Floral Collection	$54.25
Flowery Daydream Bundle CM	138910	Daydream Medallions	Floral Collection	$45.75
Bright & Beautiful Stars Bundle WM	138644	Bright & Beautiful	Star	$50.75
Bright & Beautiful Stars Bundle CM	138200	Bright & Beautiful	Star	$43.95

Inspire. Create. Share. Convention - Part Three

OK, I'm going to try to wrap up Convention highlights today. Hold on tight...there are a ton of pictures in this post. If you have a question about anything, please leave me a comment or shoot me an email! I'm happy to try to answer any questions or comments. 

Friday afternoon I got to meet up with the Control Freaks group! What an HONOR to be a part of this group full of amazingly talented paper artists...seriously!! We got together so we could swap cards. If you haven't visited our blog hop yet, you can start HERE.

Friday night before Awards Night, some of the SSINK gals got together for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It was so fun to be able to get to know these ladies better without having a computer in between us! We will be celebrating one year of our blog on August 8th. It's been a fun year!

Me, Cynthia, Darla, Pam, Diana, Kim, Breelin, & Kathy

Kim & I ~ my fellow night owl...even though she's THREE hours ahead of me!!

Me and my roomies ~ Andrea & Olivia ~ getting ready for Awards Night to begin!

The beautiful Shelli Gardner, our hostess for the evening. These were the closest seats we were able to sit in all weekend, so we were super excited to actually be able to see the faces of those on stage from our seats!

Olivia got to go up stage (she's the one holding the blue "H") to help reveal the location of the Getaway Trip. For those who earn the Getaway, they will be going to Newport Beach!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Day Three

During the General Session on Saturday morning, those who have met a milestone got to participate in their "walk" across the stage. This is my 5th year as a demonstrator, so I was able to do the walk for my anniversary!! I had my paparazzi (aka Andrea & Kim) take pictures of me on stage. It was pretty fun!

Eek! Even on the "jumbo-tron". LOL!

My "official" 5 year photo taken in the Recognition Room.

The rest of Saturday afternoon went by in a blur. We had a couple of breakout classes we took, as well as another general session with more fun demonstrations both by Sara Douglass (Shelli's daughter) and Shelli. All of Sara's projects she demonstrated are on Shelli's blog, so you can click HERE to go take a peek!

A quick snapshot of Blendabilities technique from one of the breakout classes.

And, to top off a super fun Convention, I won PRIZE PATROL! This is the Halloween Wreath Simply Created Kit. I had taken pictures of Sara demonstrating it up on stage, but my battery was dying on my camera so a lot of the pictures turned out blurry! Sara did share some other ways to use the kit besides using the directions it comes with. You can see those ideas HERE on Shelli's blog.

 

It was such a fun time at Inspire. Create. Share. Convention 2014

Until next year...

It might be quiet here for the better part of a week. My family and I are off to camping in the beautiful outdoors enjoying just being together and resting. I was hoping to have some posts scheduled before I go, but this may not happen, so forgive me! But have no fear, I'll be back soon! :)

Buy 3 DSP, Get 1 FREE - which one is your favorite? (& a special bonus for ordering!)

Now is the PERFECT time to stock up on your favorite Designer Series Paper!! The Buy 3 DSP Get 1 Free promotion runs through Thursday, July 31st, so you have 7 days left to take advantage of this savings! You can pick and choose which packs of paper you would like, so find your favorites and order through my online store at heidiboos.stampinup.net before the end of July!

To get your free DSP, enter it in your order separately from the three packs you're paying for. For example, if you want four packs of the same type of paper, put in the three you're paying for and enter the fourth as a separate item. Easy peasy!!

**Need a little more of an incentive? For anyone who takes advantage of this promotion before the end of July, I will personally mail you coordinating cardstock CARD BASES (pre-cut and scored) for each coordinating color in the paper packs you order. That is potentially 24 FREE card bases making it easy for you to create a card in coordinating style!**

The three I would order (again) would be...

Confetti Celebration

Flashback

Sweet Taffy

and my free pack would be...

Maritime (save $10.95!!)

Which ones are YOUR favorites?

Back To Black Designer Series Paper Price: $10.95	Confetti Celebration Designer Series Paper Price: $10.95	Flashback Designer Series Paper Price: $10.95	Flower Pot Designer Series Paper Price: $10.95
Lullaby Designer Series Paper Price: $10.95	Maritime Designer Series Paper Price: $10.95	Park Lane Designer Series Paper Price: $10.95	Sweet Taffy Designer Series Paper Price: $10.95

Inspire. Create. Share. Convention - Part Two

Back so soon, you say? Yep, I'm ready to share more about Convention!! Check out Part One HERE. I must admit sifting through so many pictures and deciding which ones to share is actually a pretty big task! Hopefully I can give you a taste of my experience at Convention this year!

I am not sure if you saw it or not last week when I posted my cards, but the group I am a part of (Stylin' Stampin' INKspiration) was chosen to create for the display boards. Display boards at Convention are full of Stampin' Up! inspiration and this year Stampin' Up! chose different groups of stampers to fill the boards, as well as individual stampers. We were all so excited our group was chosen!

Standing in front of our display board!

We each chose a stamp set to showcase. My four cards were made using the Sweet Stuff stamp set. 

This was taken on a different day, but here are some of the designers in front of our board.

Cynthia (far left), Kim, Pam, and myself.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Day One - into the evening

Before Convention, we signed up for an extra class to be held on the first day in the evening. We took the class that would highlight one of the Simply Created Kits from the Holiday Catalog. The name and contents of the kit were a surprise to us. The kit we got to play with is called Watercolor Winter.

Although I stuck closely to what the samples showed, it still was a bit out of the box for me to work with because of the watercoloring. However, I loved being able to try something different! I normally would scan right over this kit, but I was thankful for this opportunity to play with it and get inspired by the other samples that were shared that night.

Here are some "out of the box" samples that were shared on the big screen. In fact, Stampin' Up! created a Pinterest page for fun and different ways to use this kit. This will be so helpful when I go to pull it out again when the Holiday Catalog comes out!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Day Two

 Before General Session on day two, I met with other designers of SSINK for a group photo and to swap cards! We'll be sharing our swap card on our next blog hop on the second Thursday in August. So be sure to tune into our blog at SSINKspiration!

During General Session, Blendabilities were one of the main focus points of the demonstration that morning. For more information and a video on how to use Blendabilities visit HERE. I hope to share more about Blendabilities in the future! Our new Blendabilities can be used to...

...color on canvas bags. 

...color on black and white pictures.

...create your own embellishments using a hot glue gun!

...color on a cello bag (using the new dot mask).

...color in stamped images.

All color collections of Blendabilities will be available August 1st. Currently we have 7 different collections available for purchase - Cherry Cobbler, Coastal Cabana, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry, and the Skin Tone Assortment.

One of the highlights of my day was that I got to meet Erica Cerwin (Pink Buckaroo Designs). This girl is sooooooo inspiring and INSANELY TALENTED at papercrafting and memory keeping! It was fun to say hi and chat for a minute!

 

The rest of the day was jam packed with classes, workshops, and make n takes. And, although I won't be able to share with you everything I learned saw, or heard, I will tell you that I came away so inspired in so many ways! And most of all EXCITED about my future as a demonstrator! 

 

One of our workshop make n takes...

I love what this card says: 

MAKE TODAY RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING!

See you tomorrow for more of Convention highlights! I'll try to wrap it up. ;)