Time to Sale-a-Brate

Happy Sale-a-Bration!!!

Today begins one of my favorite times of the year - Sale-a-Bration! There are three ways you can get free product during Sale-a-Bration, and all three are super easy.

During Sale-a-Bration for every $50 (US) you spend (you can choose one free Sale-a-Bration (SAB) item from the SAB Brochure. This year, there are 13 different items you can choose including stamp sets, DSP, a coordinating punch and embossing folder. The best part, there is no limit to how many you can earn. If you spend $100 you can choose 2 items, if you spend $150, you can choose 3 items, etc.! Sale-a-Bration runs through March 31, 2014.  

Host a class during Sale-a-Bration and when your sales reach $300 you'll earn an additional $30 in shopping money for a total of $80 to shop with. Contact me if you and your friends would like to host a class. 

Ever thought about joining Stampin Up! as a demonstrator? Now is the time to do it! Join my team of Stampin' Up! demonstrators and you can get $150 of product in your starter kit for just $99. Your kit is also fully customizable. Contact me for more information on how to become the newest Stampin' Up! demonstrator. 

Happy Sale-a-Bration!!!

~Cita 

Quick Creative Tip #3

I forgot to mention that the beginning of January was my five year anniversary as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. It has been an amazing five years as I have learned so much about papercrafting, met incredible ladies, and have achieved several promotions and incentives I didn't think were possible. One of my favorite things that has happened in the past five years is the amount of techniques, tips, and tricks I have learned to apply to my papercrafting projects. One of my favorite tricks is this week's Quick Creative Tip: Use a bone folder to curl up the petals of a paper flower.

I believe I was at a Ladybug Ink meeting (my group of SU! demonstrators) when I learned of this nifty tip. My world was changed as I saw my fellow Ladybug Stamper curl up the petals of her flower and give it a dimension that made it pop on the card she applied it to. Since then, I have grown addicted to this tip. My flowers can no longer lay flat, I have to add dimension!

One of the great techniques of the bone folder is to use it to curl paper. Here I curled the petals of a flower, but you can also curl banners, leaves, edges of paper. The opportunities are endless. It will not, however, work for curling your daughter's hair. Don't try it.
Happy Stampin',
~Cita

Quick Creative Tip #2

Quick Creative Tip #2: Put a small glue dot on the back of a banner to keep it in place on your card.

I love making cards with cute little banners on them, but I have two gripes about making them: 1) stringing the flag onto the ribbon or twine, and 2) getting my banner to stay in place so it will stay looking cute. Here's my fix for the second problem: add a glue dot to a couple of the flags of your banner to keep the entire banner in place. In this card, the flags with the multi-colored vines are adhered to the card with a glue dot. The chevron and "love" flags are just hanging loose. Adding the glue dot made all the difference in keeping the banner in place.

Side Note: I used two new Stampin' Up! items that will be available at the end of the month. Can you spot them?
See the perfect shapes of the flags on the banners? That's a punch! Making flags for banners is getting way easy these days.
And do you see that "love" banner? That is a stamp from the SAB Blanner Blast stamp set that has ten fun stamps that coordinate perfectly with the Banner Punch and the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack (which is already available in the annual catalog). Just two more weeks until Sale-a-Bration starts and you can have this stamp set and coordinating punch for FREE!

One more thing that I want to point out. See the "Big Hug" sentiment? I made that!!! I did some cool tricks with the Silhouette (and followed a tutorial) and came out with this perfect sentiment. In our family, we don't just give hugs, we give Big Hugs!!

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

Another Heartbreak

I know I committed to posting a Quick Creative Tip each Tuesday, and I have one ready for you, but my heart is dark today as I'm thinking about the kids and families in Roswell, NM who are being affected by the school shooting at Berrendo Middle School this morning. As of right now, the news is reporting that two students are injured. I have quite a bit of extended family down there and have confirmed that all are safe, but please join me as I pray for the injured students and all the families affected by this cowardice act in Roswell today.

May the Lord Protect you in all you do,

~Carmelita

A New Love

This year, I fell in love with an e-cutter called the Silhouette. After months and months of talking about it, I found an amazing Black Friday deal online and decided to purchase the e-cutter. It came in right before the onslaught of Holiday happiness/madness, and I just recently had the time and energy to sit down and play with it. This card is the result of that play session.

One of the many reasons I fell in love with the Silhouette is because it plays well with imported .SVG graphics. In other words, many images that I purchase as My Digital Studio downloads can be imported to the Silhouette software to be cut. (Also, if you are an Adobe Illustrator fan, you can do all sorts of fun stuff). The "love" in the above card is actually an image from the Hello Fall Pocket Cards download. I was able to crop the MDS image to just use the "Love" part of the image. The arrow is from the Labels Thinlets die. Seriously, this e-cutting business is super fun!

Stampin' Tips:

• Color Scheme: Summer Starfruit, Strawberry Slush, Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Whisper White
• DSP: Kaleidoscope DSP (Occasions Mini)
• Accessories: SAB Summer Starfruit Twine (available January 28), Label Cards Thinlits Die

If you have been on the fence about purchasing an e-cutter, I highly recommend a Silhouette, especially if you are a My Digital Studio user. There is a learning curve, but it's worth it and SO MUCH FUN!!!

Happy Stampin'!

~Cita 

Creative Quick Tip #1

Welcome to your Tuesday Quick Creative Tip. I come across all sort of fun creative ways to do things in life, and I want to share them with you. So, I decided that in 2014, one of my goals for my blog (other than to increase the frequency of my posts) is to post Quick Creative Tips each week. Check back each Tuesday for a new tip. You can also submit your creative tips by leaving a comment. Be creative!!

Happy Stampin'!
~Cita

Hello New Occasions Catalog!

What a great way to start the new Occasions Catalog, packed full with great ideas and products for spring entertaining, crafting, and memory-keeping. Check out the catalog and then head over to my website to place your order!

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

Mosaic Birthday CASE

In my eyes, being CASEd is one of greatest form of compliments I can receive from a fellow stamper. Next to being CASEd in being pinned on Pinterest. I found this card on Pinterest awhile ago and CASEd it for an In-Color class I held last summer. Turns out that this card is a case of a case. I couldn't find the original designer of this card, so if you are out there and come across this, thank you for your amazing creativity. 

Stampin' Details:

• Colors: Coastal Caban, Crumb Cake, Strawberry Slush, Early Espresso
• Stamp Set: You're Amazing
• Embellishments: Rhinestones Basic Jewels
• Big Shot: Honeycomb Embossing Folder, Apothecary Accents Framelits 
• Use the debossed side of the Honeycomb embossed Crumb Cake (the side that indents instead of sticks up).
• Cut strips of 1" and 1-1/4" of In-Color DSP. Cut a ribbon end on the bottom of each strip. 
• Remember to stamp first, and then cut the apothecary accent shape based on the stamped image. Using the magnetic platform makes this step super easy. 
• Embellish the sides of the apothecary accent shape with rhinestones or whatever embellishment you have on hand. The Candy Dots would be a good alternative. 

Happy Stampin'

~Cita