A Little Help for Haiti

If you're like me, my heart breaks each time I hear, read, or see of the devastation that happened in Haiti last week. It's frustrating to know that there is pretty much nothing I can do but offer up my prayers and donate money. What's great is that Stampin' Up! is giving me an opportunity and an outlet to provide just a tiniest bit of help to Haiti.

From now until February 28, 2010, Stampin' Up! will donate $2 from every I {Heart} Hearts stamp set purchased to the American Red Cross’ Haiti Relief and Development Fund. SU chose the Red Cross as it is already well-established in Haiti, and this money will be used to provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need.

Help make a difference in the lives of the Haitian people. Click here to order your set today.

~Cita

Come and Sale-a-Brate: Peek #2

As mentioned in a previous post, on January 30, several Ladybug stampers and I will be hosting a Sale-a-Bration class featuring this year's awesome Sale-a-Bration (SAB) products. Visit my website for more information on this class or contact me (stampincita@gmail.com) if you would like to attend.

This second project features the Mini Milk Carton Big Shot Die from the Occasions Mini Catalog and the SAB Vintage Labels stamp set. The very talented Ladybug Stamper, Ruth Norton, designed this cute project.

Hope to see you at the SAB class on January 30th!

~Cita

Heart Treat Cups

You're probably familiar by now with SU!'s treat cups as they have been a hit these past couple of months among the stamping community. (Although, it wasn't until recently that I actually used them for the first time.) Well, now SU! has taken that idea a little further and came out with the Heart Treat Cups (120435). Here's the scoop on these adorable cups.

• Coordinates with the Sweetheart stamp set (120415) and the Full Heart Punch (113693)
• This is not a limited-time offer, but make sure to order your Heart Treat Cups as soon as possible if you plan on using them for Valentine's Day. They may be back ordered during this time due to the high-demand.
• Heart Treat Cups are great for making unique Valentine's Day projects, but they can also be used for other occasions, including Mother's day, weddings, bridal showers, anniversary cards, etc.
• Purchase the Heart Treat Cups and coordinating accessories before March 31 and you are on your way to earning Sale-a-Bration awards (remember for EVERY $50 you spend, you get a Sale-a-Bration reward). Head on over to my website and click the Shop Now link to order your Heart Treat Cups.

~ Cita

Come and Sale-a-Brate: Peek #1

On January 30th, a few ladybug stampers and I will be hosting a Sale-a-Bration (SAB) class where we will dive into awesomeness of this year's SAB products.

Here's a glance at one of the projects we will be making. This card features the SAB Happy Moments stamp set and the new Scallop Trim Border punch (which I am falling in love with). All of the projects for this class were designed by fellow Ladybug Stamper, Ruth Norton. She's amazingly talented.

If you are interested in attending the SAB class, click here for more details or contact me (stampincita@gmail.com) .

Hope to see you there.

~Cita

Tiny Thanks

I have been so blessed these past few weeks with several baby showers and one more to go. I am amazed at how excited people are for my baby and how generous they are as they shower Steve and me with gifts for the the baby. It is such a blessing and we are so thankful. Because of this, I have been very busy making thank you cards. I want everyone to get a hand made card to show how thankful my husband and I are for their generosity. What's great is that once I get a design cranked out, I can make replicates of that design in no time.

By now, many of you are fully aware of the new design for the punches. Let me just say that I LOVE the new design. I love how light they are, the potential for easier storage, and how it seems to be a little easier to punch things out.

Furthermore, I LOVE the Tiny Tags (118091) stamp set and coordinating punch. When I first saw it my mind started swirling of all the awesome ways you can use this stamp set, like for small, simple thank you cards.

Tiny Thank You Card details:

• Color scheme: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, and Pretty in Pink
• Use the SU! Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die (118138) to cut out three butterflies using Pretty in Pink. You will have to cut these out one at a time, but save the other butterflies for future projects.
• Stamp the "Thanks so Much" greeting from the Tiny Tags stamp set in Chocolate Chip on the Certainly Celery strip before adhering the butterflies to the strip. This will allow for better positioning on the butterflies.
• Use mini glue dots to adhere the embossed butterflies to the Certainly Celery strip. Fluff the butterflies' wings to add some more dimension to the card.
• Stamp the tag outline on Pretty in Pink and "Baby" (or whatever greeting you want) on Very Vanilla
• Punch these images out using the Medium Jewelry Tag punch (117190). Also, punch a blank tag out of Certainly Celery. You'll have three tags.
• Gather all three tags and use the Paper-Piercing Tool (116631) to punch a hole in the notch area through all three tags.
• Thread a short piece of Hemp Twine (100982) through all tags. Tie off at the top and place around the middle butterfly.
• Fan out the tags and place a mini glue dot on the back of the fanned tags and attach to the card.

To keep with the butterflies and monkey theme, I stamped the monkey from Fox and Friends (117020) inside using Versamark (102283). This way it's there, but if needed, I can write over it to express my thanks!

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

Show and Tell: Baby Shower Invite #2

As promised, here is my second Baby Shower invite. I love this design as it incorporates the Fox and Friends stamp set from the Occasions Mini Catalog. When I saw that stamp set, I had to have it just for the monkey. What's awesome is that there is a Decor Element of the Monkey as well that is available.

The butterflies were fun as well. I cut these cute little things out with the new SU! Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die. They are the perfect size, and I love how each butterfly is uniquely embossed.


Now that the invitations are all set, and sent out according to my friends, I'm going to be making the thank you cards. I have some great ideas for these cards and hope to share these designs with you in the upcoming weeks.

~Cita

Oh Yeah! The Occasions Mini Catalog

I got so excited about Sale-a-Bration, I forgot to mention the new Occasions Mini Catalog, which is also now available for your viewing, drooling, and ordering pleasures. This new catalog includes some new stuff. Here's some highlights:

• Two new hostess stamp sets
• New clear mount stamps (pg. 6-7)
  
• Recipes by Design kit (pg. 8)
  
• New punch style and new exclusive SU! punches (pg. 10-11)
  
• Love Bots valentines (pg. 17)
• New Decor Stencils (pg. 18)
• Glassine envelopes and bags (pg. 19)
  
• Milk carton Big Shot die (pg. 23)
• Fox and Friends Stamp Set - my new favorite stamp set (pg. 31)
• Sweet Pea Designer Series Paper pak (pg. 33)
• On-board books (pg. 34)

You can order anything out of the Occasions Mini Catalog from my website. And remember that for every $50 you spend you get free product from the Sale-a-Bration catalog. Hope you enjoy the new catalog.

Sale-A-Brate good stamps..Come on!

Yesterday marked the first day of Sale-a-Bration, an awesome Stampin' Up! promotion that gives every stamping enthusiast a reason to celebrate because it allows you to earn free merchandise. Yes, I said free. How's that for bringing in the new year? Here's how Sale-a-Bration works.

1. Purchase merchandise and receive a free item from the SAB catalog for EVERY $50 (before tax and shipping) you spend.
   Example: If you spend $50, you can select one item from the SAB catalog. If you spend $100, you can select TWO items from the SAB catalog.
   
2. Host a workshop and receive free items from the SAB catalog for every $300 purchased at your workshop IN ADDITION to the regular hostess benefits.
   Example: You hold a workshop with $600 in sales. You will get to select two items from the SAB catalog, choose up to three hostess sets, and receive $75.00 in free merchandise.
   
3. Join Stampin' Up! as a demonstrator and get ANY retail stamp (valued up to $47.95) from the current catalogs PLUS get 15% off your Starter Kit. It's normally $199, but with 15% off, it's $169. Starter kits come with more than $300 worth of merchandise.
   

Something new that Stampin' Up! is doing this year is offering over 75 select stamp sets in the 2009-2010 Idea Book and Catalog as Sale-a-Bration sets. Check out page 11 of the SAB catalog to see what stamp sets are being offered.

So you want to earn some SAB stuff? Here's how you can do it.

• Contact me to place an order.
• Visit my website and shop online.
• Host a workshop with me. Contact me if you would like to get this set up. I have some excellent resources to help you figure out who to invite and what to do. I'm the one that actually has to do the "hard" work. :)
• Become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and join the team of Ladybugs stampers that I am part of. Contact me to see how to do this.

If you have any questions, contact me and I can get them answered. Sale-a-Bration lasts until March 31.

~Cita