Build-a-Bear Coupons

Who likes coupons?!?
Pick me! Pick me!

As mentioned before, Stampin' Up! has teamed with Build-a-Bear workshop to offer some pretty awesome products. They are also offering coupons to be used at Build-a-Bear Workshop stores. For every $20 spent on products from the Build-A-Bear Workshop Collection, you will receive a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase at any Build-A-Bear Workshop store. This offer is good until April 30, 2010.

Here's a list of qualifying Build-a-Bear products:

• Beary Best Friends stamp set (118052, $18.95)
• SU! Bear Bigz Die (117977, $23.95)
• SU! Beary Hoppy Sizzlit Die (117327, $5.95)
• SU! Bearly Lovely Sizzlit Die (117987, $5.95)
• Beary Best Times stamp set (118088 $15.95)
  
• Bear Tracks (118090, $6.50)
• SU! Beary Essentials Sizzix Die (117978, $23.95)
• SU! Beary Boy Sizzix Die (117981, $5.95)
• SU! Beary Girl Sizzix Die (117982, $5.95)
• SU! Pawsitively Sizzix Die (117983, $11.95)
  
• SU! Lil' Paws Sizzix Die (117984, $11.95)
• SU! Beary Merry Sizzix Die (117980, $18.95)
• SU! Kooky Spooky Sizzix Die (117979, $18.95)
• Beary Nice Wishes stamp set (118050, $16.95)
• Seal of Pawthencity stamp set (118054, $9.95)
• Pawsitively Prints Designer Series Paper (118060, $9.95)

Head on over to my website to take advantage of this offer. And don't forget about Sale-a-Bration! You can get the Build-a-Bear Workshop coupon AND some free stamps with qualifying orders.

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

Birthday Bots

Last summer, when the new catalog came out, I fell in love with the Lots of Bots stamp set. Since my husband used to work on robots, I was super excited when I saw the stamp set. I tend to make a lot of "girly" cards, and the Lots of Bots allowed me to make not only masculine cards, but nerdy masculine cards! I made the Lots of Bots cards before I got my act together on the blog, so a lot of these cards haven't made it on the blog; however, recently I came across these cards and thought it would be a good time to share. So here's the Lots of Bots birthday card that I made sometime in the summer for the monthly Ladybug Ink swap.

Lots of Bots birthday card details:

• Color scheme: Very Vanilla, Bermuda Bay, and Basic Gray
• Use the 1-1/4" Square punch (104400) to punch out squares in Bermuda Bay and Very Vanilla cardstock.
  
• Position the squares in three rows with four squares to a row, alternating the colors.
• Stamp the birthday robot from the Lots of Bots stamp set (115293) in Basic Black on Very Vanilla. Layer this piece on on Bermuda Bay, and then layer that piece on Basic Gray.
  
• Use the Bermuda Bay Stampin' Write marker (set of 6 In-Colors, 116329) to color the robot.
• Add three silver brads (104336) in the lower left-hand square. A couple of tips on doing this. 1) Place the brads before you adhere this square to the card. 2) Use the paper-piercing template you get in the Mat Pack (105826) to evenly space the brads and keep them straight. I learned about the awesome piercing template after I made this card and am highly dependent on that template now.
  

Remember that it's still Sale-a-Bration and you still have some time to get some awesome free stuff for every $50 that you spend. Head on over to my website to take advantage of this great deal that will end on March 31.

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

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

Show and Tell: Baby Shower Invite

Well, now that Christmas has passed, I'm focusing on the next big event - having the baby. I have about six more weeks to go and I swear each day goes by faster than the day before.

My best friend is throwing me a baby shower, and many months ago when I first learned that I was expecting, I decided that I was going to make the baby shower invitations. I came up with two designs using my nursery theme (monkeys and butterflies) and trying to match the nursery colors (green, brown, and pink). The first design is displayed in this post; I'll share the second design later.

A word of caution for those who insist on making their own baby shower invites - it takes a lot of time. :) However, I enjoyed it and I hope the recipients of these baby shower invites enjoy them. How can you not enjoy monkeys?

~Cita

Say Goodbye (Part 2)

As stated in a previous post (Say Goodbye - Part 1), Stampin' Up! will be discontinuing stamps on the dormant list on January 4, 2010. Although it seems far away, January 4 is just arou the corner (next week, in fact). So if you want any of these stamps, hurry on over to my website and order these before it's too late. Click on the Shop Now link and then search by product number (included below) in the "Search the Store" field on the left side of the page. Contact me if you have any questions.

Friend by Definition, 109425

Fun Flower, 114488

Garden Greetings, 113716

Glad Friends, 114490

Hit the Road, 113242

Lexicon of Leaves, 113710

Man's Best Friend, 113236


Ocean Commotion, 114423

Playful Petals, 113728

Polka Dot, 109276

Putt Putt, 111544

Quilt Quips, 113240

Really Retro,113754
Sip by Sip, 113403


Sweet Stems, 113726
That's Funny, 113250

Wonderful Watercolors, 113688

~Cita

Merry Christmas

Feliz Navidad! I hope everyone has a wonderful and splendid Christmas. This Christmas, I have family all over the place at my house. It makes for a full house, but a joyous time, and I am enjoying every moment of it.

Since I have now run out of days before Christmas, I wanted to share this one last Christmas card with you. I actually made this card way back in November for the November Ladybug Card Swap where we had to make a card that featured punches. I’m not very good with punch art, although I enjoy it when someone else comes up with it. And in this case, my gingerbread card was inspired by Patti Lee, who did all the hard work. Thanks Patti!


~Cita

A Christmas Treat

I know the saying goes that “it’s better to give than to receive,” and I’m in total agreement with it, but man, does it feel good to receive presents, big and small. And the present doesn’t necessarily have to be in the material form. Services and little things people do for me are great presents too.

So, I felt pretty excited when one of my stamping friends, Kathy, gave me this little treat for Christmas. Kathy is a huge fan of punch art, and I love how she used her punches to decorate this bag of popcorn. When she gave it to me, she pointed out how she used the stamp from the Christmas Punch hostess set, which she earned at the last workshop she hosted with me.

I loved Kathy’s design, and wanted to share it with you. Enjoy!

~Cita

Say goodbye! (Part 1)

Stampin' Up! has a little secret - they have a dormant list of stamps. The stamps on this list are still available to purchase, but they are not featured in the current catalogs. What's more is that we will have to say goodbye to these stamps as SU! will be discontinuing them after January 4, 2010. So, if any of these stamps are on your wish list, hurry on over to my website to purchase them before it's too late.

Back Woods - 1113407
Beautiful Baby -114492
Birthday Wish - 114486
Branch Out - 113200
Celebrations - 114496
Central Park - 113732
Classic Sketches - 113206
Classy & Fabulous - 113226
Easter Beauty - 113750
Bella Pascua-114024
Flowers in Silhouette - 114498
Font of You - 113405
For the Bride - 113216
Forever - 114494

This is only half the list; I will post the remainder later. Remember that these stamps will only be available until January 4th. To order any of these, head on over to my website, click on the Shop Now link in the upper right-hand corner, and then enter the stamp product number in the "Search the Store" box on the left side.

Happy Stampin'
~Cita

Gift Tags - So Simple!

I've said it before, and I will say it again - I LOVE the Big Shot. And the SU! Two Tags die makes cutting out and decorating gift tags easy and fun. This gift tag is CASEd from a gift tag we made during Convention, and they can easily be replicated using different types of stamps.

Gift Tag Details:

• Use the SU! Two Tags die to cut out the gift tag with Chocolate Chip cardstock.
  
• Stamp the Christmas sentiment in Chocolate Chip on Whisper White. This stamp is from the Hostess Level 1 Stamp Set, Holiday Best.
  
• Emboss the image using Clear Embossing Powder. To do this, I used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to stamp the Christmas sentiment in Versamark over the image I just stamped in Chocolate Chip. I then applied the Clear Embossing Powder to the Versamark image and used the heating tool to heat the powder.
  
• Use the Scallop Oval punch to punch out the image and then the Wide Oval punch to punch out a Real Red Oval. Layer the scalloped image onto the oval.
• Use a strip of Merry Moments DSP in the back and place the ovals on top of this. If you are a paper scrap saver, this is a great way to use small scraps.
  
• Thread some Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon at the top and wa-la, you have a simple and easy gift tag.

You can write a nice little note in the inside of this tag or even use the inside to hold a piece of candy or maybe some mula!

Happy Stampin'
~Carmelita