A Belated Valentine

My daughter, Sybella, was born on Valentine's Day, much to our surprise. The day before she was born, I spent most of the day stamping. You know, stamping is a great activity to do while pregnant. It's fun, relaxing, and doesn't require to move a lot, which is one thing that is hard to do at 5 days past your due date. :)
Anyways, I was really proud of a project I made during that last day and was planning on posting it on Valentine's Day, but I went into labor instead. So, 3.5 months later I decided that since I had already took the effort to make this project and take pictures of it, I might as well post it. So consider this as a belated Valentine's gift.

Swivel Valentine details:

• This idea came from Jacqueline Nimrichter's blog. You can get a great tutorial on her site on how to make this Swivel Valentine
  
• Color scheme: Basic black, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzelberry, and Whisper White
  
• Stamp sets: Tiny Tags, Hello Again, and Whimsical Words
• Use the Scallop border punch to punch a border around the Basic Black piece
• Stamp two flower vines (from Tiny Tags) in Whisper White Craft Ink. Sprinkle the images with some White Embossing Powder and use the heat tool to emboss these images. Repeat with your greeting (I used "Happiness Always" from Whimsical Words)
• Stamp three hearts in Rich Razzelberry and use the Snips to cut these images out. Attach the hearts using dimensionals.
  

This project can be customized for pretty much any occasion - wedding favors, birthday favors, birthday gifts, Christmas favors, etc. The possibilities are endless! Try it out and let me know what you come up with.

~Cita

Simple Birthday

Simple cards are great. They are quick and easy and can still say and mean a lot. I made this card for a customer of mine and thought for a simple card it's pretty.

Simple Birthday Card details:

• Color scheme: Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum, Whisper White, and Rose Red
• Use the Fast Flower Stampin' Wheel with Pretty in Pink to get the flowers across the Whisper White piece. After that, clean your wheel, roll it through Versamark, and then apply the wheel again. Before the Versamark dries, add some Iridescent Ice embossing powder and emboss it using a heat tool
  
• Use the scallop punch to punch out a scallop and then cut between each scallop to get a flower. Stamp the flower from the Hello Again stamp set and cut it out. Adhere it to the middle of your scallop flower.
  
• The birthday greeting is from Upsy Daisy

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

National Scrapbooking Month

I LOVE scrapbooking! It's my first love in the world of papercrafting. I started scrapbooking when I was 15 years old after my mom bought me a scrapbooking kit for Christmas. Now a days, I combine stamping with scrapbooking, and it's a perfect combination.

During the month of May (May 1-31), which is National Scrapbooking Month, Stampin' Up! is catering to all of us scrapbooking addicts. When you purchase a qualifying scrapbooking stamp set or the My Digital Studio software (118108) you will receive a FREE package of Designer brads--choose from four designs!

The qualifying scrapbooking stamp sets include the following:

• Extreme Elements (115181)
• Framed with Love (114389)
• Certified (113709)
• Circus Circus (115778)
• Elements of Style (Wood-mounted 118611, Clear-mounted 120045)
• Mementos (Wood-mounted 119910, Clear-mounted 120105)
• Rough Type (Wood-mounted 118659, Clear-mounted 120072)
• Sentimental Journey (Wood-mounted 118513, Clear-mounted 120075)
• First Day (Wood-mounted 118521, Clear-mounted 120051)
  

Choose from the following designer brads.

• Flower Designer Brads (112579)
• Filigree Designer Brads (112577)
• Circle Designer Brads (112571)
• Star Designer Brads (112572)
  

Head on over to my website and click the Shop Now to take advantage of this super promotion!

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

April Ladybug Swap

At this month's Ladybug Ink meeting we focused the swap theme on using items and stamp sets from the new Summer Mini Catalog. I decided that I really wanted to play with the new Smooch Spritz, and boy did I have fun. Can you see it? It's the stuff that makes the card look all sparkly! I had a blast with the Smooch Spritz, but be careful when you use it. If you don't pay attention you may accidentally spray your computer screen or yourself.

Here's some details on my swap:

• Colors used: Perfect Plum, Pretty in Pink, and Rose Red.
  
• Use the Beautiful Butterflies Big Shot die to cut out the butterflies using the Presto Patterns Specialty paper. This paper comes white, but has glossy images that you can reveal. I used a sponge dauber and ink to color the butterflies.
  
• Use the flowers from the Itty Bitty Bits stamp set to stamp a background on the Pretty in Pink strip. I have this stamp set in the clear mounted form and put two flower stamps on one block to make things go by faster.
  
• The "Journey" sentiment is from the Define Your Life stamp set. I layered it on top of a Rose Red piece that I sprayed with Smooch Spritz and fringed the edges with my snips.
  

You should definitely check out the Smooch Spritz. If anything, there is something extremely fun about spraying it on your card and sometimes all over the place. Good thing Stampin' Up! offers a Color Catcher to help control the mess.

Happy Stampin'

~Cita

Stamping for a Mission

My good friends, Ginny and Stephen Bracht, are preparing to go to Sudan to work on a water project with SIM (Serving in Mission). I'm very excited for them and want to support them in every way that I can. That is why I have decided that during the month of May, I will be donating 20% of my personal sales to their mission. Keep this in mind as you make purchases this month. You can always contact me to make a purchase or head on over to my website and go to "Shop Now."

To read more about the Brachts, you can visit their blog.

Happy Stampin',
~Cita

Summer Mini Catalog now available

The new Summer Mini Catalog is now available for your viewing, ordering, and stamping pleasures! There are some great new stamp sets and products, of which I'm excited about the following:

• Punched Poises Hostess Level 2 Stamp set (page 5). Contact me to find out how you can get this stamp set for free.
  
• Stampin' Around Builder Wheel (page 8). This new wheel design lets you customize your wheel any way you'd like using one, two, or three builder wheels.
• Itty Bitty Bits stamp set and corresponding Bitty Buttons and Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pak (Page 11).
  
• Smooch Spritz (page 15), which is a pearlized accent spray.
  
• Chalkboard Decor Elements (page 18)

If you see anything you like, head on over to me website and make an order. :)

Happy Stampin'

~Cita