Last Day of the mini catalog & Lots of Smooches!

Good afternoon friends!

Today is the last day of the mini catalog.  Here is the carryover items list.  If there were items that you wanted from the current Occasions mini catalog that didn't make the above list.  Today is the day to get them!

Also ~ If you are looking for the buttons smooch brads that were only available during the month of April, stampin up has completely sold out!

The retirement list is out, and retired accessories are going VERY fast.  Stamps are available until May 31st, but the accessories are while supplies last!

To visit and see what's going here are the categories. NOTE** for all the lists below, once you get into the site, choose to "view all" for easy viewing! 

For retiring accessories click here
For DISCOUNTED retiring accessories click here
For retiring stamp sets, click here!  
While you are there, don't forget to check out the clearance rack!  These items cannot be placed on a workshop or club order.  :)

Do you want a new catalog the minute it's in my hot little hands?  Well, starting RIGHT NOW, place a $50 order with me, and I will send your catalog by mail as soon as they have arrived!

I'll be releasing my customer rewards program this week also!  Don't miss out on the fun! 

Here are my team swaps using the summer smooch paper preview (which also ends today!)  I love what my team came up with!  Every month we swap full cards, AND we have long distance team players too!  If you like what you see, leave them some love!

 Created by Ann Call

 Created by Gery Benton

 This one is mine  :)

 Created by Bonnie Merrill

 Created by Christine Crutcher

 Created by Deb Thomas

 Created by Joanne Cardone

Created by Regina Maginnis!

I'm so totally blessed to have each of these ladies in my life.  Would you like to swap with us?  Join my team starting tomorrow for only $99 and you can come swap every month with my favorite swappers!  :)  Ask me how!

Saturday Sketch Challenge 253

Good Evening Friends!

It's time for another fabulous sketch challenge from your stamping 411 operators!

This weeks sketch is both simple, and reproducible.

How about I start with some measurements.

Base Layer: Blushing Bride 8 1/2 x 5 1/2", scored and folded in half at 4 1/4"

Layer 2: 1 1/2" x 5 1/2" Beau Chateau DSP
Layer 3 and 4 are framelet die cuts from the mini catalog, the image is
Layer 5 is the scalloped oval punch
Layer 6: large oval punch with the sentiment from "oval all"

I'm still cryin' over the retirement list with so many sets that I wanted that I didn't get to buy.  I'm sure all will be forgotten when I get my hands on the new book! 

To check out what the other operators came up with, and to see the sketch and maybe play along, check out the stamping 411 blog. 

Rubbah hugs and TGIF!
Selene

Saturday Sketch Challenge 252

Good Evening Friends!

Boy, did I get carried away with the layers on this week's card!  :)

Also, I have to say, this card is SO much more beautiful in person.  It sparkles.  All the white card stock is shimmer white and when you're water coloring, it adds such dimension! 

I'm headed to Vermont on what's expected to be a rainy weekend.  We are in a drought situation in the northeast, so for once I hope it rains.  :)  It'll just be my hubby and I this weekend for much needed time together.  I love being a mom, but realized that my hubby and I were not having date nights.  It's so important to set time aside for that, at least it is for me.   So, I'm really looking forward to the weekend.  I'll be doing a bit of work while he is bowling, but i'll be there to cheer him on. :)

The sentiment comes from a stampin up stamp set called Pursuit of Happiness and I'm SO glad it's not retiring .  This sentiment is one of my favorites. Every chance I get I try to live by these words and live in the sunshine and I find that I go back to this stamp set over and over again.

The rose image comes from the Growing Green stamp set and that one IS being retired.  I get so sad to see all the stamp sets retiring.  They are like old friends, they bring me joy.

I stamped the rose on shimmer white card stock and water colored the image with riding hood red and cherry cobbler markers.  Then I cut out the image, leaving a border all the way around, but I water colored outside the lines, so you cant see the white.  

Here are the measurements for my card of many layers: 
Base: Shimmer white 8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored and folded in half at 4 1/4"
Layer 2: Cherry cobbler 5 3/8" x 4 1/8"
Layer 3: Shimmer White 5 1/4" x 4"
Layer 4: riding hood red 4 5/8" x 2 5/8:
Layer 5: Twitter Patted Designer Paper (from the mini) 4 1/2" x 2 1/2"
Layer 6: Riding hood red 3 x 2 5/8"
Layer 7: Shimmer white 2 1/4 x 2 5/8"
Layer 8: Cherry cobbler 2 1/8 x 2 1/2"
Layer 9: Shimmer white 2 x 2 3/8"
Layer 10: rose cut out in shimmer white and water colored.

I also made a big frumpy bow with the vintage brad.  I am loving these big bows.  I added some pearls to the focal point and to the top right hand side of the card.  although, I'm not sure that the ones on the right show up that well in the photo, they pop in real life.

That's it for me for today!  If all is well, I'm already pool side at the hotel in Vermont, or enjoying a night out with my hubby.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend and some time to play along with the operators this week!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Selene Kempton

Chat, Challenge and School Vacation Week!

Good Morning Friends!

It has been a crazy week here. My daughter Alexis has been home from school for almost the whole month of April and it's been interesting wearing so many hats. :) That is the true beauty of being a Stampin' Up demonstrator, because you can schedule around your life, then pick back up when you are ready. I'm ready already!! :)

I was so surprised when I saw the retirement list. We have over 300 sets retiring this year. There are still a few sets that I want for my personal collection that I haven't added yet. I like to take a highlighter and sit down and mark up my book so I don't miss anything. 

This set is Farm Life, and it's one of those sets that I'll be holding on to.   It's always important to have the right tool for the right job and this set is so pretty for anyone who lives

My daughter and I made these two cards for the chat and challenge that I hosted this week over on Sudsol.  I do a chat once a month.  It's fun to see all the creativity and learn from the demonstrators around Sudsol.  They are a great bunch of friends. 

Here is Alexis take on the sketch.  She took a leftover packet i had from club last month and made this sweet creation.  What do you think? 

Both of these sets are on the lengthy retirement list.  I've been put on notice that I'm not selling this set, Beary Best Friends.  :)

To shop the retirement list, and the Clearance Rack, you could visit my online store and look at the sets here. They have just added a bunch of items to the clearance rack.. For either of the above two categories, just remember to choose to view ALL.  it will make it easier for you to see everything in one place. As always, if you need help, call or email.. my phone is on!

I also want to tell you that for those of you who have chosen to make me your stampin up demonstrator, I appreciate you more than I can put into words.

It's been an interesting couple of weeks, and through diversity, I've seen some amazing friends with heart, willing to help others.. just because.  It's beautiful to see. 

Hugs to you,
Selene Kempton

A frame for Hellen and Claire

It's been an emotional week for me.  Among other things, one of my daughters friends from school had her house burn down over Easter weekend.

Those of you who know me probably know what happened next.. I am who I am.  We helped the family out with some clothes, and I started doing research for apartments for the displaced family.  As well, we found an organization in Lowell that helps people with recycled furniture.

Today ~ a stamping friend who wants to remain nameless sent me some money and I went down and got her a $50 gift card for the supermarket.  The anonymous donor reminded me that this family has NOTHING, no drier sheets, or cookware, toilet paper.. She encouraged me to do as much as I can for this family, and that I will.

Today~ i was supposed to meet with Claire's mom Hellen, and she's off meeting with her potential new land lord.  She mentioned if the apartment fits, she could move in TOMORROW!  Isn't that amazing?

So ~ for tonight's sketch challenge, I made them some artwork that they can hang in their new home until they have some more things.

I designed this primarily in my digital studio, printed it out, the mounted it to a sheet of cardstock.  I added ribbon and I was done.  I know I usually do measurements, but I didn't use any.  I love how MDS is MADE for me ~ the visual learner/user. 

If you get a chance this week, say a little prayer for Hellen and Claire that they end up better than before!

Rubbah hugs,
Selene~

Easter Wishes

For my family and I every holiday is a reason to sit and make cards for the ones we love.  This is a study of the every bunny stamp set, and the new smooches line of cardstock.

When looking at these GORGEOUS fabric buttons from the smooch line, all I see is Easter Eggs!  Alexis and I sat down earlier this week to make some Easter cards, and I'm just getting around to sharing them now!  :)  Isn't that the way?

These cards will also hold her spring photos from school.  :)  Maybe we'll share those another day, my scanner is on the blink right now.. :)  I'm going to start with my favorite, the clean and simple one.

For all 4 cards I used the designer paper from the smooch line of products.  I stamped my bunny egg on the designer paper, and cut out the egg portion, then glued it on top of my stamped bunny image.  This technique is called paper piecing. 

Measurements:
Base: Rich Razzleberry Card Stock 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored and folded in half 4 1/4"
Layer 2: and insert: Whisper white 5 1/8" x 3 7/8"
Layer 3: Rich Razzleberry Card Stock 5" x 3 3/4"

For the cool bow, I just made loops back and forth and captured the center with my fabric brad.  Note** these brads will only be available during the month of April.  Once I grabbed the bow with my brad.  I took the tip of my snips and my mat pack and punched a hole through the cardstock layers 2 & 3 and opened up the brad behind the white layer before sticking my card together.  Clean, simple, and I love the big floppy bow.. it's Like Floppy Easter Bunny Ears.

This one is the first card Alexis and I made when we sat down.  The measurements are very similar to the other card. 

Measurements:
Base: Tempting Turquoise Card Stock 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored and folded in half 4 1/4"
Layer 2: and insert: Whisper white 5 1/8" x 3 7/8"
Layer 3: Rich Razzleberry Card Stock 5" x 3 3/4"
Layer 4: 3 3/4" x 2 1/2", then the decorative border punch
Layer 5: patterned cardstock from the smooch collection 3 3/4" x 2"
Layer 6: an oval cut from a sizzix die
Layer 7: a 1/2" strip of the same designer paper.

Too cute and a far cry from the CAS card I showed first. Isn't it funny how it looks so different but it's got a lot of the same elements?

Card 3:

So this card has many of the same measurements again.. I just laid it out differently.  I flipped the egg over to get rid of the 1/2" stripe of designer paper. I like the egg highlighting the egg.. LOL  Which came first?  Chuckling here by myself.. LOL

Card 4:

I started a new exercise regimen taking my daughter with me, and after 3 cards, Alexis needed a nap.  I tuckered her out.  This one I made on my own, and went back to my happy place, clean and simple.

I know that I don't often share my religious views here.  We are all different and I respect everyone's religion.  (just sayin').  I'm very thankful that Jesus died for our sins an opened the gates of heaven for all of us.  Through God all things are possible.  May you and your family have a blessed Easter, no matter what religion you follow.

Hugs,
Selene Kempton

Dinosaur Birthday Roar! Saturday Sketch Challenge 250

Good Evening Friends!

This week's card, I stamped about 3 weeks ago.  My daughter had a birthday party to go to and I really thought this would be a good sketch to "man up"  I knew immediately that my dinosaur would sit in the front on the circle panel in the middle. 

I got to thinking about the big circle on the far right and thought... "I need dino feet to make muddy prints!"  I don't have anything that could like that, so I grabbed my medallion stamp.  I really love this background stamp. I inked it up with blue ink and stamped it.  I wanted it to hit the edge of my card to mimic the sketch more closely, but I didn't want the pretty flourishes to "girl up" my manly man boy card!  So here's my creation!  What do you think of my Roar-Birthday?  I tied the manly ribbon in a knot and added my sentiment on some leftover scraps.  I save all my 1/2" strips of white in case I need a ribbon banner sentiment.

So ~ for my measurements, I went smaller.  4 1/4" square card.
Base is 8 1/2" x 4 1/4", scored and folded in half at 4 1/4"
layer 2: 4"square
Layer 3: is that fabulous striped ribbon,
Layer 4: 2 1/2" circle punch
Layer 5: cut dinosaur. 

Easy peasy, rice and cheesy.. :)  Did I just say that?  If you're still reading, I hope I made you smile!
TGIF!
Selene~

More Summer Smooches!

Good Morning Friends!

Here's another summer smooches sneak peek from the new catalog coming up in June.  That's right, JUNE!  Can you imagine we're getting the new idea book and catalog a month early? 

It will be a slightly smaller offering, with the mini catalogs increasing in size!  So I'll be able to get new goodies to play with, more often!  :)  (love that)

There will be a retirement list for stamps on the 15th of April, and another retirement list for decor elements and accessories on April 25th.  I will keep you posted and pass the list on asap. :)  It is my understanding that Stampin' Up will discontinue the whole decor elements line this year, so if there's something you want, you may want to get it early so you don't miss out! 

You will notice that there's less holiday stuff in the big book, but Stampin' Up! will release a holiday catalog on August 1st, and that will run through the beginning of January.  There will also be a spring catalog that runs from January through May 31st of next year.    Very Exciting stuff!

This card was done with my clubs and was super simple to put together.  I was looking for a cool scalloped circle to fit my 1 3/4" circle punch and found the flower punch from the mini catalog fit the bill perfectly!  :)

Are you local to me and thought about joining a club?  Well, I have a new session starting at the end of April! Just pop me an email or call me for more details!  

This card uses 3 of the products that are available for preorder this month.

Item	Description	Price
125495	Bright Blossoms Wood-Mount Set	$16.95
125497	Bright Blossoms Clear-Mount Set	$12.95
5409	Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper	$10.95
125583	Daffodil Delight 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	$10.95
125411	Summer Smooches Designer Fabric	$9.95
125589	Summer Smooches Fabric Designer Brads*	$6.95
125626	Summer Smooches Décor Stencil*	$7.95
125606	Petite Purse Bigz L Die	$32.95
129919	Summer Smooches Photobook Template	$17.95
129601	Summer Smooches Digital Kit	$9.95

To shop from the entire line of smooches products available, click here.  Thanks so much for popping by today!

Hugs,
Selene~

Summer Smootch Swaps

Good Afternoon Friends!

Today I have this sweet swap card to share with you.  My upline Katherine, had a team social last night.  Among the 12 girls that swapped, we got some GORGEOUS cards!  Yea!!  :) 

The swap theme was a sketch challenge from split coast stampers SC344 and it's a sweet one!

I started with my new fabric buttons.  These are ONLY available from Stampin' Up demonstrators (that's me) for the month of April!  They match the beautiful designer paper and stamp sets that are on special for this month as a preview.  I'll get to that in a bit.  Looking at the sketch and my fabulous buttons, I thought it would be sweet to make a dimensional flower with my fun flowers die.  The die actually allows for 3 different flowers that stack on top of one another, but I wanted to keep my flower the size that it is.. so I used two layers, ummm twice!  :)  I was able to cut 6 sheets at a time on my big shot with the large steel rule die!  yea!!  so this went pretty quick.  Because I didnt want a whole bunch of leftovers, I cut my paper to 5 1/2" square and cut 3 whisper white and three tangerine tango all at the same time.  I put them into piles and made a total of 19 cards.

After putting a few cards together, I felt like it was taking me some time to distress my flowers, so I changed methods, and crumpled them all in a ball, in piles according to size and color first.  then when I went to go build my flowers it was easy.  I used my mat pack and piercing tool to punch a few holes, then slid my brads through.  It's good to punch a few holes, as the brads need a little extra room to slide through. The rest of this card is pretty clean and simple and they went together fairly fast after the dimensional flowers were all built.

Okay.. So my measurements are here.
Base: 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored and folded in half at 4 1/4", tangerine
Layer 2: 5 3/8 x 4 1/4", espresso
Layer 3: 5 1/4" x 4", whisper white
Layer 4: 5 1/4" x 2 1/2, espresso.  (i made this a 1/4" larger to account for the decorative border)
Layer 5: Smooch designer paper 5 1/4" x 2"
Layer 6: a 5/8" espresso satin ribbon
and the flower on top!  :)
I stamped the word "friends" and punched it with the tag punch.

What a nice evening!  Okay.. so if you need it, here are the details on this month's sale.
The fabric buttons (that i'm in love with) and stencil, are ONLY available during the month of April.  The rest of the items are a sneak peek out of the new catalog.  they will also be available for purchase during april, then will not be available again until June 1st. :)

Here's the list!  (to shop the whole smooch line in my online store, click here.
Of course, i'll be showing more projects with this line throughout the upcoming days.. :)
But here is the whole list.

Item	Description	Price
125495	Bright Blossoms Wood-Mount Set	$16.95
125497	Bright Blossoms Clear-Mount Set	$12.95
5409	Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper	$10.95
125583	Daffodil Delight 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon	$10.95
125411	Summer Smooches Designer Fabric	$9.95
125589	Summer Smooches Fabric Designer Brads*	$6.95
125626	Summer Smooches Décor Stencil*	$7.95
125606	Petite Purse Bigz L Die	$32.95
129919	Summer Smooches Photobook Template	$17.95
129601	Summer Smooches Digital Kit	$9.95

That's all for today!  Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Selene Kempton