It's Time!!

Stampin' Up! had an error with mailing everyone's Sale-A-Bration, Occasions Mini, and new Definitely Decorative catalogs!

So... they decided to post them all to the customer side of the Stampin' Up! website!

I've included the links here too!

Sale-A-Bration

Occasions Mini

Definitely Decorative

Please remember that you will not be able to order from these catalogs until January 5.

There is a BIG change to Sale-A-Bration this year! When you spend $50 you can earn an exclusive SAB set, paper pad, or punch. These are not available for purchase - you must earn them! If you acquire all of the items you want, or don't care for any of the SAB offerings - you can now select from a list of stamps that are in the 09-10 catalog! Woo hoo!

So on January 5 you can place your order

Color Combos!

Do you have a sheet of Bermuda Bay (or other Stampin' Up! color) that you want to use and aren't sure what colors coordinate? Try out the Color Combo Machine! It is awesome!! Just click the picture below. You will be able to select the colors you want to see. Hit search, and view all of the coordinating colors! Simple and fun!

Table Setting

Can you see these on your Thanksgiving table to greet your guests? So cute! This project is directly from my Stampin' Up! website. If you would like more great ideas please visit my site. You can also place an order while you are there and have your items shipped right to you!

www.andreamason.stampinup.net

Name Place Setting
Stamps• Autumn Splendor*• Calendar Alphabet & Numbers

Paper• Chocolate Chip card stock• Naturals Ivory card stock• Taken with Teal card stock• Autumn Meadows Designer Series paper*

Ink• Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad®• More Mustard Classic Stampin' Pad• Really Rust Classic Stampin' Pad• Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write marker

Accessories• Chocolate Chip 1" double-stitched grosgrain ribbon• Stampin' Dimensionals• Blender pens• Sizzix Big Shot• Serif Essentials Alphabet Bigz die

*From Holiday 2009 Mini Catalog

Licorice Wrap

Graveyard Gala Treat Holder
Graveyard Gala stamp set

Going Gray textured card stock

Pumpkin Pie textured card stock

Whisper White textured card stock

VersaMark® pad

Black Stampin’ Emboss® powder

Old Olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon

Linen thread

Spooky Treats Rub-Ons

Stampin' Dimensionals®

1/16" Circle punch

3/4" Circle punch

Sizzix® Big Shot™

Pillow Box Bigz™ die

Click HERE to place an order.

Introducing Hannah

Here is my excuse for not having my blog up to date!

Hannah Alyssa Mason
Born 07-08-09
3:36 AM
8 pounds 5 ounces
21" long

She is amazing! Her big brothers adore her. Daddy's little girl!

She is 3 weeks old, and still has wild hair!

We are still getting our schedule worked out, but I will be back to crafting and stamping soon! Be sure to check out my website for specials and great project ideas! www.andreamason.stampinup.net

Deal of the Week Q&A

Now through July 31, 2009 you can take advantage of the Stampin' Up! Deal of the Week!

The current Deal of the Week is only valid for 1 week. A new deal will be posted on my online website every Monday at 10:00 am (MT).

If you have visited my the Stampin' Up! website to view the Deal of the Week special you may notice that the price listed is different than the price advertised.

This is because in order to receive the special (Preferred) price of $49.99 you must select me as your demonstrator! So you must Login first.

After you Login... you will see the demonstrator you have selected. But the price will still show the same price as before.

Add the item(s) to your cart to view the special (Preferred) price! You can delete it from your cart at any time if you change your mind.

This scenario is the same for any purchase you wish to make on my online website. Just be sure you select me as your demonstrator, and you will receive the same pricing as the catalog or advertised special!

As always, if you have any questions, please let me know!

Lots of birthday's this week!

So much to celebrate this week! My nephew turns 10, my oldest son turns 11 on Thursday, our friends are expecting baby Max on Thursday, and my parents are celebrating their anniversary on July 4!

Here is the card I made for my nephew. He's having a Special Ops celebration. I used this image from the Free & the Brave, now retired (but not to worry - there is another awesome set in the new catty), on Old Olive card stock in VersaMark with clear embossing powder. I added the Old Olive ribbon to the bottom with a star punched from Old Olive card stock. Super fast and easy.

Thanks from Hannah!

Here are a few pictures of Hannah's nursery and a Thank You card.

Her room is painted Pale Plum!

The rocking chair is the same chair that I had with my first son 11 years ago!

We still need to paint her name letters to hang on the wall. The hold up is that I'm not sure if I want to paint them purple or stain them the same color as the furniture. What do you think?



She won't go naked - that's for sure!



And now for the thank you card...



I used a Whisper White base and stamped the carriage from the Fun & Fast Notes set in Basic Black, and colored it in with a Pale Plum marker and Pretty in Pink marker. I ran the card stock through my Big Shot using the Polka Dot textures plate. The top strip is Pale Plum (of course). The greeting is from the Heard from the Heart set. I added two gems to give it a little something.

Hannah will be here soon!

Not much time for crafting these days. I've been MIA because we have been preparing for baby Hannah. There is a very real chance that she could be here this weekend!

I am so very excited to meet my baby girl, but so very scared too! We have been praying for her health and safe delivery. Last Friday we received some test results that caused some concern and decided to induce labor to help protect her and myself. So, if you would... please say a little prayer for us.

Sneak a Peek!

I made this card super quick for a friend's baby shower. We are due 2 weeks apart. It's quite funny how many looks we get when we go out together. Anyway...

Don't you LOVE this color? Yes, it is a new In-Color! It's called Rich Razzleberry!

Don't you LOVE the polka-dot ribbon? Yes, it is Rich Razzleberry too. And yes, it will be in the new catalog!

Don't you LOVE the elephant stamp? Yes, it is new too! It's called Animal Stories. Wait until you see the adorable DSP that coordinates with the Animal Stories set!! Soo cute!

Bear with me

I love this bear from the Under the Stars set! It's "grrreat!"

This is a clear envelope brag book that we made at Hostess Club. We used Sahara Sand card stock, Sweet Slumber DSP, and Very Vanilla card stock. For a tutorial on how to create your own brag book... go here.

Just bleach it!

Here's a card made at our Hostess night using the Inspired by Nature set. The set is currently on the Dormant List - but it will be back in the catalog in July! Woo hoo! I love this set!!

We used a So Saffron base, Basic Black mat that we scratched the edges of, and Basic Gray to actually stamp the image on.

To get the bleached image - just pour some fresh bleach onto a paper towel to create your "stamp pad" then "ink" the stamp with the bleach and stamp away!

This is quite a scarry technique if you've never tried it before. But it is so cool! I love how the Basic Gray turned So Saffron! You've got to try your favorite color - they all produce something different!

Matchbox and Chocolate!

This was a fun project! I used the Matchbox die that is available in the Occasions Mini Catalog. I used a Chocolate Chip card stock base with To the Nines Specialty DSP for the cover.

I stamped Avery labels with the paisley stamp from the Wanted set in Chocolate Chip and Mellow Moss Classic Ink, and then wrapped the label around a Hershey nugget. 4 nuggets fit nicely in the Matchbox.

The Just for You sentiment is from the Only Oval set, also available in the Occasions Mini. I stamped it twice on Sahara Sand card stock in Chocolate Chip Classic ink. I then punched one image out with the Large Oval punch, and the other image was punched using the new Scallop Oval punch. I layered the Large oval on top of the Scallop Oval using 2 dimensionals. This created a place to slide the Chocolate Chip ribbon through the tag, so the ribbon could be wrapped around the Matchbox.

You have until June 30th to take advantage of the Occasions Mini!

Hannah at 31 weeks!

Here is baby Hannah at 31 weeks! That would be her foot pressed up against her face!

She was practicing her yoga poses. In another pose she had the back of her hand up against her forehead - think Southern Belle! She has my nose and little indentation above her top lip.

Here she is actually smiling!

The measurements taken support my theory that she will be here before the 17th! She is estimated to be 4 lbs 4 oz - which is about a pound bigger than where she should be at 31 weeks. Her overall body measurement is showing a gestational age of 34 weeks!

I guess time will tell!

Thoughts & Prayers

Here is a card we made at our Hostess Club. We used Kraft card stock for the base. The card stock was cut from 8-1/2 x 11, but cut length wise rather than by the width. Yes, it still fits in a regular size envelope - it just opens from right to left rather than top to bottom!

Paper: Kraft card stock, Urban Oasis DSP, Chocolate Chip card stock, Close to Cocoa card stock, Very Vanilla card stock

Ink: Close to Cocoa Classic ink

Accessories: Chocolate Chip 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Antique Brass brad

Sunshine Garden Challenge

Each Hostess Club, I give my members a challenge piece. They received a piece of the Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin' Kit, and a sheet of the die cuts to go with it. This page is what I came up with.

I cut the strip of flowers from the 12x12 page and added it to a piece of Baja Breeze card stock. I cut the strip of stripes from the same page and adhered them to pieces of Kiwi Kiss card stock. I really like these colors, and am going to miss them when they retire this summer!

Daisy Baby

A quick progressive page made during our Hostess Club using In-Colors, and the Daisy #2 Big Shot Die, and the polka dot texture plate! We added a bit of Dazzling Diamonds to the centers of the flowers using 2-way glue. And yes, that is me at 3 months old! :)

Colors: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black, Whisper White.

2 year old rock star

This is my oldest son taken when he was 2. He's now almost 11! I so can't believe how time flies. I also can't believe that I am just now getting around to scrapbooking this photo! Yikes!!

I used the Rockabilly Designer Series Paper for this layout. Be sure to check out the current sale going on to see how you can get FREE paper!

I also used Sticky Cuts letters and glitter for the "rock" on the page. The stars were cut from Basic Black card stock using the large star punch. I did my journaling (which I am really bad about doing on my layouts) on a piece of Whisper White card stock that I punched using the round tab punch.

Hannah's Bedding!

I forgot to update you on my quest to find baby bedding!! Well, we found it. I should say... we bought it. We had seen this bedding before, but put something else on our registry. Then we went to a different baby furniture store and saw it again. We loved the way it was presented. So we went back to the store we registered at and bought it. We knew that if we didn't buy it then, that they would discontinue it or we would never find it again. :) We bought the mobile too, and added all the little accessories to our registry.

It' has super cute butterflies on it! I'm sure I'll have to cut the extra wings off once it goes through the wash... but still so cute!

And here is what the whole collection looks like. Not that Hannah's room will ever look THAT put together - but it's nice to dream!

We also bought the paint for her room. It is Pale Plum! I can't wait to see it on the walls. Sure hope the tech was right, and it is for sure a girl!! Hee hee.

We go back for our 3rd trimester ultrasound on May 15! I can't wait to see her little face!

A Note of Thanks

Today is the last day that you can get this note set for FREE! There are actually 2 note kits, and 8 single stamps to chose from. You can see them on page 208 of your catalog. All you have to do is place a $40 order from the Occasions Mini Catalog. You can place your order right now on my website. www.andreamason.stampinup.net

Back to the card. This set is great for all levels of stampers. You can use the kit by its self, or dress up your card with as many embellishments as you'd like. It includes a Note of Thanks die-cut stamp, 4 Whisper White gift cards, 4 envelopes, and a Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Spot. After today, you can order this set for $10. Which is still a great deal!

I used the Stampin' Up! Scalloped Edge punch on the bottom of the card. I then added a 1/4" grosgrain ribbon in Chocolate Chip to my card to finish it off.

Super fast, super easy!

Fe, Fi, Faux Fun!

Stampin' Up! Faux Frosting!

I had so much fun making this faux frosting for my cupcake! There is a product available called Liquid Applique that gives this puffy look to whatever you put it on. Fun flock is out there too. But I wanted to figure out how to do it using Stampin' Up! products. So after a little playing... I did it! So fun!

Begin by stamping your image onto your cardstock. I used Basic Black ink on More Mustard card stock.

Then I applied Crystal Effects to the frosting area of the cupcake!

Then I poured White Embossing Powder on top of the Crystal Effects.

It will look like this when you gently shake off the excess powder. Be sure to wipe away any stray powder that may be left on your card stock.

Now, grab your heat gun and give it a go! You can apply heat from the top or the bottom. So fun to see the "frosting" start to bubble! Careful not to cook your frosting too much.

Ta da!

So now I'm sure you are wanting to know what other embossing powder colors you can do this with! I tried clear embossing powder on my duck. Here's how she came out...

Not as fluffy as the white embossing powder, but it does give the duck a little texture and the illusion of feathers.

Alrighty! Go give it a try, and let me know what you come up with!

Hoppy Memories

A few pages that I made using my Simply Scrappin' Hoppy Memories Kit.

Now... to just add the pictures, and get them in an album!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Stampin' Up!'s Simply Scrappin' Kits. They make it so easy to put pages together. Now, finding the time to sit and do them is another story. I had this grand goal at the start of the year to work on my scrapbook albums a little each month. So far... these 4 pages are all that I've accomplished! I NEVER thought I would say this... but I am so looking forward to see the digital scrapbooking suite that Stampin' Up! is coming out with!

I have come to realize that I am a goal setter... not so much a goal achiever. I just can't believe how quickly the time gets away. Our "to do" list for the house has been reduced so I can say we are making progress, it just doesn't feel like it. My goals this weekend are to go to on the hunt for baby bedding so that I can pick a paint color for the nursery, and get to Michaels for some photo storage boxes. Mind you I have agent convention the rest of the week, a baseball game Friday night, 2 more games Saturday morning, Easter on Sunday that I still need to prepare materials for my 1st grade class, and a ton of laundry to get through. I'll let you know how far I got next week! What are your goals for this weekend?

Manhattan Flower Card

This is a card we made at our last Hostess Club using the Manhattan Flower Embossing Folder. I love how super simple, yet elegant this folder is. I sure hope we get more in the next catalog!!

We used Basic Gray cardstock with a Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon. To get the flowers to be a little more pronounced, we lightly sanded them with a sanding block. Stampin' Up!s cardstock don't have a white core, but the gentle sanding of the roses gave them just enough pop and a soft feel that it didn't need anything else!

Here is a closer look at the sanded flowers.

I actually used this card too! I gave it to my husband on Friday with his anniversary present. He was quite impressed (with the card and the present). We celebrated 11 years of marriage! Fun times!!

Yummy for your tummy!

This is the 3rd post today! I've been bad about keeping up with the blog. We've been busy doing house stuff, sports with the boys, and baby stuff that I haven't had much of a chance to craft.

Again, sorry for the bad photo. I just couldn't get this box to pose!

I will try again later in the sunlight and see if I can get it to cooperate.

Here is a cute box made out of Riding Hood Red card stock (#111348). I made the box using my Big Shot! The die is called Box #2 (#114518) and can be found on page 194 of your catalog. This is so easy to assemble! It really only takes one piece of adhesive! I used the Yummy set for the sentiment. You can get the Yummy set for FREE when you spend $50 during Sale-A-Bration. But hurry, SAB ends March 31! I used the Designer Label punch (#107590), and a piece of Styled Vanilla Hodgepodge Hardware (#112454) to attach the sentiment to the box. The ribbon is the beautiful Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon (#111365).

We will be making this box at our March 9th Hostess meeting!

A note of thanks!

We have started to receive some gifts to welcome our baby girl. I am determined to stay on top of my thank you notes! So, I sat down last night and made a few.

I used the Stampin' Up! Whisper White Note Cards (#107311) for my base. I love the size of these! I chose Raspberry Tart (#113975) as my Designer Series Paper. I then added a strip of Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon (#109070) across the front and around the back of the DSP. I stamped the Thank You using the Elegant Thank You (#114484) from page 208 of the current catalog in Old Olive Classic Ink (#102277) on Pink Pirouette card stock (#111351). I then used my Scallop Square (#112081) to punch the thank you out. Dimensionals (#104430) were used to pop the punch up a little.

This one uses the Raspberry Tart DSP, Pink Pirouette, White Taffeta ribbon, and Rose Red Classic Ink (#101778). Sorry the picture is a bit crooked here!

And this one again uses the Raspberry Tart DSP, Pink Pirouette card stock, Rose Red Classic Ink, but I used the beautiful Whisper White Organza Ribbon (#114319). I love the extra detail that the Organza adds!

Now showing...

I thought I would share these pictures from my last ultra sound.

It's a girl!

Here is her profile. That big dot on the right is her hand.

And can you see 2 legs and a hand in this picture?
Her legs are crossed, and her fist is pointing straight at you!
I so want to get another 3D/4D ultra sound done when she is a little bigger so we can see her! This will most likely be our last child, so we won't have the opportunity again. Time to start saving my pennies for that photo shoot!

So Saffron, So Cute!

I came up with this quick project while cleaning up my craft room, soon to be nursery. I found a stack of these 4x6 acrylic photo frames that go on your fridge. So, I put one to use. Can you see the marker hanging from the ribbon? That's because it's a wipe off board!I love the way it turned out.

(Sorry the ribbon is a little wonky in the first photo)

I used So Saffron for my base. The DSP that you can see peeking through is from the FREE Sale A Bration pack of paper. Yummy stuff! I then used another piece of So Saffron followed by a piece of Whisper White.

I used my Crop-O-Dile to punch a hole into the first layer of the plastic frame. Yes, it cut right through - and it didn't crack the plastic! Woo hoo! I used the So Saffron Ribbon that you can get for FREE from the Sale A Bration catalog! I attached the wipe off marker to the ribbon using a piece of Sticky Tape.

The stamped images are from Just Buzzin' By. I used Basic Black to stamp them. A So Saffron marker, a Basic Black marker, a Blush Blossom marker, and my White Gel Pen to color in the bees.

So simple, and fun. These would be great door prizes, teacher gifts, or maybe a little housewarming gift.