Wish Big

Hey There Friends!!

Wish Big!  That's what's going on with me.... I'm dreaming just a little. 

I'm sorry that I have been MIA on my blog this past week.  I realized that my stamping team have been doing AMAZING things and putting me in line to earn a goal that I thought I couldn't possibly earn, Fiji!  As of today I'm still in need of about 8400 points, but I'm booking local parties, calling friends and family and asking them for help and very encouraged that it could actually happen.  Sorry if I'm MIA, I'm workin' it!!  :) 

There is NO WAY I could walk this road alone.  There are a lot of people that place small orders, and my amazing team that does great things and helps me to reach my goals.  I feel so totally blessed to have such awesome friends.  Every little thing helps and I appreciate you all.

I have a quick card share for you this morning.  I had fun making the pom pom, and I used leftover packets with the new Christmas paper from the upcoming idea book and catalog..

Remember, there's only a few days left to this current catalog.  Shop 24/7 at my stamping store and earn loyalty rewards . 

You can check out my NEW rewards program here.  :)  I'll be back to share MORE soon.. Promise!!
Much love to all of you and thanks for your support! 

Selene~

Build Me Up Buttercup. Saturday Sketch Challenge 257

Good Evening Friends!


Have you ever seen the most AWESOME card, decided to case it, then not do it justice when you tried to recreate it?  That's how I'm feeling about this card.

I took a cool card I saw on my friend Sandi MacIver's split coast post, and it was so clean and simple and pretty...

When I saw this week's sketch I thought it would be cool to use some of the elements she did..  I embellished a bit more, and I'm not sure I love it. 

What I DO love is the new firm foam ink pads.  4 of the 5 new in colors are shown here.  The ink pad coverage is unbelievable, and I'm going to need all the colors pronto.. :)

I think I don't care for the placement of my ribbon or somthin'  Good days, and bad ones, creatively speaking this card is "just okay" for me.. It's like I'm doing American Idol Card making... This one is not in it to win it.. LOL  I do like where the bird is, in relationship to the flower and he looks like he's coming in for a landing on that nice soft flower. 

I'll come back and look at it again in a week and see if I like it.. :)  What do you think?  Would you make any changes to this one?  I'm off for the weekend camping with my family. I'm bringing all sorts of work with me (like a crazy person).  Walking out the door and putting the laptop snugly in the front seat so i can work on the way up there.

Oh I almost forgot the measurements!!! :)

Base: 5 1/2 x 8 1/2", scored and folded in half at 4 1/4"
Layer 2: 4 1/8" square gumball green cardstock and 4 1/8" x 1 1/8" strip for the bottom
For layer 3 I cut a piece of cardstock 4 x 5 and then cut the 5" side at 1"

So, I ended up with two pieces of whisper white 4x1 and 4x4"  :)

Finally ~ and MOST IMPORTANTLY, It's memorial Day weekend.  Take a few moments to thank those of you that serve in the armed forces and to their families that have to go months without them sometimes.  Also, for those who make the ultimate sacrifice to make sure the rest of us can live free.  Thank you to our military. 

Love,
Selene~

Mojo Monday ~ Chock Full Of Cheer & NEW Rewards Program

Good Afternoon Friends!

This is technically a sneak peek, but you should have your new Stampin' Up! catalog that goes live June 1st in your hands right now.  If you do not have a demonstrator and live in the United States, and would like a catalog, please send me an email.  I would love to be your demonstrator!  I have a brand new REWARDS program, so if you are a current customer, there's wonderful news! 

Plus, I am back dating this program to start as of April 1st this year.  If you have placed an order with me, that order counts! 

Today, I'm here with my downline Christine.  We've been playing and training all day!  We decided to check out the Mojo Monday sketch.  I am still working off some leftover cut packets I have, but I paired it up with the newest Christmas designer paper which will be available June first!

I did use more paper with the retired snow burst embossing folder. Sorry to show it (I know it's retired)!  I'm using up my supplies.  I paired this up with the brand-y new paper Be of Good Cheer.  So here is my supply list

Stamps:  Chock-Full of Cheer
Ink: Cherry Cobbler Marker
Paper: Be of Good Cheer
Accessories: vintage brads, vanilla seam binding, gumball green stitched satin ribbon, dimensionals, paper snips. 

I stamped the candy canes and cut them out by hand, leaving a white border all the way around.  If you find that you have trouble with your "by hand" cutting or you end up choppy, try moving the paper and not your scissors as you cut.  ;-) 

Thanks for stopping by.  For those of you that come by and leave me comments every day, please know that you keep me going!  Thanks so much for your support. 

Big Hugs!
Selene~

NEW:  Shop 24/7 at my stamping store and earn loyalty rewards

Primrose Petals For My Mom SSC 256

Good Evening Friends!

I made this card last week for my mom.  I decided to follow the stamping 411 sketch, as I love using sketches as a jumping off point for cards.

This year for mothers day, my brother Paul & I decided to go in on a mutual gift.  He sent me his part of the gift and I made a card from my family and him and his girlfriend.  I wanted this one to be just right.  Even my daughter Alexis was wow-ed with this one.  She's my best critic.  Since I wanted this one to be for my mom, in my mom's style, it makes my heart happy to get this one right. 

If you looked around my mom's house, you'd see the color "dusty rose" everywhere.  When I looked at primrose petals I thought to myself, "yea, this is my mom's color!"  In fact, the couch in her living room is is pretty much these two colors.  With the trending vintage style, this color set is certainly going to fit the trend.

This was a true labor of love.  I started with some shimmer white card stock and stamped my leaves with soft suede.   Soft Suede is an AWESOME alternative to green.  It's a brown that is sort of in the green family, but it's not.  it really works here.

For the primrose layer, I used the "Double Boss" technique.  First, I stamped a background stamp, then I embossed that layer with the tulips embossing folder.  I sponged the tulip frame with primrose ink, then I embossed the same layer again with a different embossing folder (vintage wallpaper).  The result is so pretty! 

To make the bow, I cheated!  I made loops and captured the loops in the middle with my brad.  Then I took a pair of paper snips and busted a hole in the card right by the stem of my flower.  I opened the brad in back of the soft suede layer.

Then, I attached a pearl to the top of the brad.  I had a sheet of pearls leftover, and added random sized pearls to the center of my flower, grouping them together.  it's such a pretty addition to this card, and on top of the shimmer white, it's so breathtaking! 

When stamping the flowers, this is a two step stamp.  I stamped off with the first image on a piece of scrap paper.  Then added the top image by stamping with the color full strength.

The sentiment read, "for my wonderful mother".  Well, I was going to omit "for my" because this card is from 5 people.  When you omit the words, the word wonderful ended up in an odd place.  So I stamped wonderful first, then stamped mother underneath after cleaning the stamp. 

Finally, here are the measurements:
Base: Shimmer White 11 x 4 1/4", scored and folded in half at 5 1/2"
Layer 2: soft suede 5 1/8" x 3 7/8"
Layer 3: Primrose Petals 5 x 3 3/4"
Layer 4: Soft Suede 2 1/2" x 3 7/8"
Layer 5: Shimmer White 2 3/8" x 3 3/4"
Layer 6: A 3/4" strip of shimmer white, stamped and cut with a square punch to make the "V" in the end.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Rubbah hugs,
Selene Kempton

Papaya Collage and Summer Starfruit Sneak Peek

Good Afternoon Friends!

I really do like the vintage style, but when designing, I tend to gravitate more to clean and simple.  The new papaya collage stamp set tests my vintage scaredy cat! 

This is still not as vintage as the set will allow. I will have to play some more as I only used 2 of the 7 images in this set.

I started with the Comfort Cafe designer paper, and the sketch challenge over on split coast stampers today. 

This new designer paper is gorgeous!  He are the colors: Comfort Café ~ Cajun Craze, Midnight Muse, pool party, soft suede, Summer Starfruit, very vanilla.  


Demonstrators got the opportunity to preorder (and earn some things for free) from the new book.  yea!  The main floral image is a silhouette style stamp.  I just added 3 colors to the stamp before stamping.

I am off to do some training, but I wanted to take a moment to check in and show you what I've been stamping today. I made 12 of these.   They go together pretty quick once you get going!  :)


Have a Wonderful Wednesday!


Hugs,
Selene~
Shop 24/7 at my stamping store

Gumball Swap ~ Chock-Full of Cheer Preview

Good Morning!  

Here's a quick share for you this morning and another sneak peek!  Please forgive the stamp set shot.. I took this picture with my phone.  Not too shabby!  :)

Stamps: Chock-Full of Cheer

Ink: Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green, Vanilla, Designer Paper: Be of Good Cheer

Accessories: Gumball green Satin Stitched Ribbon, cherry cobbler bakers twine.

The layout came from my friend Mary Jo's sketch challenge from a few weeks ago.. I didn't have time to play then, but I DIG this layout.  :)

I used an embossing folder that's no longer in the new book.  I must have missed the memo that this one retired.  Guess I'll be changing embossing folders on my actual swap.  I think this particular folder matches the designer paper perfectly.. What's a girl to do?  :)

Have a Wonderful Tuesday! 

Selene Kempton

Shop 24/7 at my stamping store

Swap Season has started!

What was I thinking?? I'm signed up for THREE new catalog swaps...

Okay, so I'm thinking of all the GORGEOUS creations I'm going to get in return. I saw the super cool and simple sketch over on mojo monday and decided to try it for my first swap card of the year.  What are your thoughts?

This uses the SNEAK PEEK stamp set Betsy's Blossoms and I also pulled a favorite from a past mini "hint hint", Loving Thoughts. 

I love the big bloom flower that's in the background of this card. It's nice to have a stamp set that makes such an easy background.  I embossed that layer with the tulips embossing folder.

That pretty blue flower is just stamped tone on tone with the NEW extra rich ink pads.. I love these ink pads for bold images.  The coverage is amazing!!  :)

So how about some measurements?

Base : Very Vanilla 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored and folded in half at 4 1/4"
Layer 2: 5 1/8 x 3 7/8" soft suede
Layer 3: 5 x 3 3/4: midnight muse, stamped and embossed
Layer 4: comfort cafe designer paper, 4x3"
Layer 4: framelit with the betsy bird, stamped, then stamped off.. (very simple)
Layer 5: paper banner, I used midnight muse and soft suede markers
Layer 6: delicate flower from the same set, stamped tone on tone and cut out..(i started by punching it out with a 1 1/4" circle punch. 

So ~ I always question if my swaps are "good enough."  Is this a swap card you'd like to get?
(((hugs))
Selene~