2016 Occasions & SAB SNEAK PEEK!!!

Oh my goodness!!!! This is one of the reasons I LOVE being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator! Not only do we get to see new products coming out, we get to buy them before they're available AND we can even get them free!!! More than half of the products shown in this post I got for free! (But of course, I want it all, so I had to buy more! HAHA!) You want in on the free stuff and fun? Click here.

Now, on to the goodies.

So, I'm still figuring out the video thing, and I realize now I should have zoomed in closer to the product. I'll do better next time I promise. The good news is I'll post pictures here so you can stare at them/drool over them/print them out to hang on your fridge as a not so subtle hint to your favorite gift giver. (You're welcome.)

Remember, unless you're a demonstrator, these products are available starting January 5th. Contact me to place your order! (Or if you happen upon this post after January 5th, just click here.) Also, check back often to see samples made with these products!

Paper Pumpkin November 2015: Mistletoe & Holly

Thank goodness it's finally December!!! For the last few weeks I have not wanted to TOUCH my Christmas card-making supplies! (It's not as bad as it sounds actually... it's because I've been completely GIDDY over the upcoming Occasions catalog and, of course, Sale-a-Bration!!!) (The most wonderful time of the stampin' year!)  Well, pre-order for demos started TODAY and you better believe my order was placed by 4AM thanks to a little mosquito. It sounds weird, but I'm serious. An actual mosquito was buzzing in my ear. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, so I thought I'd make the best of it!) Stay tuned for a fun little box opening video next week! I'm so excited!!!

While I'm off topic, I might as well mention that if you're NOT a demo yet, there IS a way to see (and better yet ORDER, and best yet GET FOR FREE) products from the upcoming catalogs! Starting today, when you buy the starter kit you can choose items from these catalogs! Oh yeah, TOTALLY worth it! Click here for more info on that.

Anyway, so with new products finally making their way to my hands, my Christmas card making has once again taken priority. Luckily, I made a BUNCH of Christmas cards throughout the year (including 18 shaker cards from the To You & Yours Kit) so I'm not too far behind. AND luckily, last month's Paper Pumpkin has all kinds of Christmas cuteness inside, INCLUDING a NOEL stamp!!!! It was love at first sight for sure.

As usual, the cards made following the included instructions are super cute! I might even finish the box up as designed so I can get my cards mailed out in the next week! But, it WAS super fun to play with other Christmas supplies.

Like the Snow Place set:

and the stars confetti punch:

Ooooh and a tip on these block images! I love the white ink, but it was a little....juicy. So I inked up the stamp and then used a push pin to quickly wipe out the excess ink of each letter so they were readable. You'll also notice a little scrap of fun Christmas paper from the Home For Christmas Designer Series Paper. Love that stuff! It's scattered all over my desk with other fun Christmas goodies.  Speaking of goodies, here's a little treat to make life a little easier: your monthly printable case insert. Don't forget to subscribe by email (top right) to get notified at the exact time I post next month's insert! That will ALSO make your life a little easier. We take what we can get, right?

As always, make sure to right click and save as a photo, that will make your printing process so much easier. I can't tell you the specifics of your printer, but you'll just print it as you would a regular full page photo.

Feel free to share with your Paper Pumpkin subscribing friends by referring them back to my website as the source for the printable case insert. Thank you! (And if by some strange reason you yourself have not yet subscribed to Paper Pumpkin, subscribe here!) Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the magic of December!

Beautiful Fall Color Inspiration

Nothing like a little color challenge to get the creativity flowing! Today's inspiration comes from my friend Olivia. Follow her here on Instagram: https://instagram.com/carre_sucre/ She's an amazing person. One of the nicest, sweetest people I know, and so talented!!! Go look at her pictures and be amazed! I saw this picture of hers and was seriously blown away. BEAUTIFUL colors and so unusual for fall!!! I LOVE IT!!!

Photo by carre_sucre on Instagram

Surprising colors for fall leaves right? Do you SEE that Watermelon Wonder in there??? Have you noticed how amazing Watermelon Wonder is yet??? It goes with SO many other colors! You just have to play around with it and try some unusual combos. I promise you will be amazed! It's surprisingly versatile! Here is a card I made using these beautiful colors and fall theme AND last month's Paper Pumpkin! Still dying over the beauty of those sentiment stamps, while I'm impatiently waiting for this month's box of wonder! (Today might be the day! Fingers crossed!)

I totally, on ACCIDENT, switched the Elegant Eggplant to Blackberry Bliss. Shhhh. I bet the card would have been even better with the Eggplant though. It's just a tad brighter, which is what I was blown away with in the inspiration photo! (I know! I feel like I just cheated on my Blackberry Bliss!!! Don't tell!!!) Now go try this unusual Fall combo and let me see what you come up with! I loved the combo so much I immediately stamped it in my planner. Ohhhhhh don't even get me started on stamping in my planner!!! TOTALLY ADDICTED. (I'll have to post more later, but just know that I use the Project Life Stamps ALL. THE. TIME. in my planner! (And yes, I realize that punctuation didn't make any sense, but we do what we can to get the point across. Am I right?)

Here are all the products I used to make this card (except for the fact that the Blissful Bouquet Refill Kit does NOT include the stamps, I just wanted to show you which kit I used! That's the thing with Paper Pumpkin! You can buy refills or sometimes the whole kit you missed out on if you're a subscriber, but it's no guarantee which ones will be available or for how long!) (You should probably just sign up right now so you don't miss out! Just sayin'!)

Paper Pumpkin October 2015: Blissful Bouquet

I will openly admit I'm not so much a "flower" person as I am a typography or "object" kind-of person (especially if that word or object has anything to do with French, France, or Europe in general). But the watercolor style flower that's in right now? LOVE IT! So when I opened my bright pink box last night and saw this month's Paper Pumpkin stamp set I about died. Not really. But my heart rate certainly went up. In a good way. Watercolor flower images AND pretty words?!? Say whaaaat??? Ok, enough talk. I gotta get stampin'.

Here's the printable insert. (Just remember to save it, then print it just as you would any picture. I just save it as a jpeg and then print it as a full page photo. Sorry I'm not more technical about it, but everyone's computers and printers are so different. Feel free to comment with questions, tips or advice for others.  Also, check out my facebook group. It's a little more interactive. https://www.facebook.com/groups/855463004494076/)

The possibilities with this set are swirling in my head. Here's one card I made REALLY quick with an upcoming wedding in mind. The bride has a thing for peacocks, and these are their colors. The Perfect Peacock set was made for this. Beautiful Perfect Peacock Bouquet... or something like that. I should have done the Watercolor Wash background stamp lighter, but it's still pretty. I softened it a little by adding the flower image from the Paper Pumpkin set in Whisper White as a watermark in the background and then repeated it attached to that beautiful sentiment!

So so so pretty!!! This was also my first attempt with the aqua painters. I love how the silver embossed peacock outlines the watercolored image. Beautiful. Anyway, here are the supplies I used for this card in addition to this months BEAUTIFUL Paper Pumpkin set! I hope you enjoy the card and the free case insert! I should also mention I added a place on the right side for you to subscribe by email! Get new posts delivered right to your mailbox! Thanks again for stopping by and have fun creating with this month's beautiful stamps!

Craft Room Tour (Don't get too comfortable!)

Ah the lovely coveted craft room. Do you drool over all those beautiful, charming, perfectly neat and organized spaces on Pinterest like I do? I love seeing a beautiful space. And I HAVE a beautiful space. An upstairs guest room all to myself. Full of fun tools and supplies, and a fabulous desk space, and lots of shelf space... and you know what? I never use it! Never say never, but it's a rare day when I really AM able to use the space without being interrupted. So, I'm giving it up.

This.

Beautiful.

Space.

It's a beautiful functional space, but it doesn't function so well for me. Occasionally, I can hide-away in my office undisturbed, but most of the time I have a family that needs me. And every once in awhile we DO need a guest room... so, I decided it was time to relocate my office to a main area of the house where I can get my craft on while
still being awesome-multi-tasker-mom.  The man of the house wasn't too excited about all the above being moved into the front room of the house. (I believe my reaction here sounded a little like "you dare doubt my abilities?") I then came up with two presentations. 1- We could spend thousands of dollars and turn it into a dining room/hidden office or 2- I could buy this amazing desk for $100 off Craigslist and it could be more "cozy library" feel. (Either way would have been fine with me.)

We decided on the desk.

(Can you believe this beauty was only $100??? NO I am NOT going to paint it! It's so beautiful!!! I can't wait to organize my toys in all those little cubbies!)

Paper Pumpkin September 2015: Wickedly Sweet

Ok, first of all, I think I'm always the LAST person on the planet to get my monthly Paper Pumpkin! I see so many of you checking my site for the case insert and I haven't even received it yet! I just got this one 2 days ago, but we ALSO got the flu that day, so pardon the delay.
Anyway, these little treat bags are SO adorable!!! My first thought was it needed a caramel apple inside there, but it would have to be a pretty small apple, and besides, the best part of a caramel apple is the caramel, so candy it is!!!

Usually I try to change things up a bit with the kit, but this month's is all about the treat bag. The stamp set however, is going to make some fun little fall cards! My favorite part is that tiny little acorn! PERFECT to coordinate with that cute acorn punch and set in the Holiday catalog! There are lots of little pieces to the stamp set and I highly recommend playing with different colors of ink to create something unique and fun!


Speaking of unique and fun, my kit was 1 bag short, so I had an extra fringe piece. I'm thinking of turning it into a grass skirt on a card for my sister that lives in Hawaii. Aloha!
Since we're all about gifts with this months kit, here's YOUR gift! A free printable case insert! Just right click and save before in order to print it full size. You can find all the inserts by clicking on "Paper Pumpkin" or "case insert" at the bottom of this post or to the right of the site. Thanks for stopping by!

To You & Yours Shaker Card Kit