The Rumor is TRUE...

Did you know that a great many of the people who sign up to be a demonstrator with Stampin' Up! do so ONLY for the discount on things they would purchase anyway? I welcome hobby stampers to my downline! Time is running out for the best ever deal on the Stampin' Up! Ultimate bundle. 

That's right. You never have to "sell" anything. You never have to hold a party or workshop. You WILL get the opportunity to see and purchase products before the general public gets a chance and you can sign up JUST for the discount YOU receive! 

However, if you have friends that like to stamp, this is a way for you to offer them a chance to play with and purchase Stampin' Up! products from you. 

Details: 

Purchase the $99 starter kit plus 2 stamp sets of your choice! The extra 2 stamp set offer ends March 31!

This is what you get with the $99 kit!

• For $99 you choose:   Up to $125 worth of Stampin’ Up! product for your kit.  That’s $26 in FREE product.  Products in the kit can be from any current catalog, including 10% off bundles. The kit ships to you FREE, for another 10% savings
• BONUS!  GET TWO FREE STAMP SETS of your choice (ANY PRICE) as a bonus with the $99 Starter Kit during Sale-A-Bration (Jan. 4 – March 31).  Host stamps excluded.
• Buy everything you want at a 20% discount! After you purchase the $99 Starter Kit and join, you can stock up and save 20% or more on your favorite Stampin’ Up! paper, stamps, inks and tools PLUS earn more free and discounted products thru Stampin’ Rewards and Stampin’ Up! promotions.
• Tease your friends with your ability to be FIRST! Preview and purchase new products a month in advance–one of my favorite benefits.
• Earn extra money and/or free products!  Stampin’ Up! offers a fun opportunity to share your passion for stamping and earn extra income and product.  The choices are yours!
• No risk.  From the time you join through the end of the first full Stampin’ Up! quarter you can “test drive” demonstrator discounts and benefits. Stampin’ Up! quarters are Jan. – March, April – June, July – Sept., Oct. – Dec.
• No penalty to drop!  If you reach $300 in sales by the end of the first full Stampin’ Up! quarter, you renew your demonstrator discounts and benefits for another quarter. If you don’t reach $300 in sales, you can “drop” with no penalty.
• Decide to do it JUST for you!  There’s no obligation to host workshops or parties, sell products to others or personally purchase anything beyond the kit!

Joining Stampin' Up! was the best crafting decision I have ever made. I have used their products since 1999 and think the quality is unparalleled in the paper crafting industry. If you have questions, please let me know. If you want to sign up under me and instantly become part of the Stampin' Pretty Pals virtual community, click here or on the Join Now picture above. 

Don't forget to browse the new Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog and Sale-a-bration catalog. Links to the pdf versions are on the right side-bar.  For every $50 spent from any catalog (before tax & shipping) you earn a FREE item from the catalog below. The Sale-A-Bration catalog is only good through March 31, 2017. 

Do you have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? If not, I would love to be your source for these amazing products (unless you want to take advantage of the opportunity above) and hopefully give you a good dose of inspiration from time to time. This is not just a hobby for me, it is a passion! Click here or on the header above to find out more info on how you can earn free stamp sets just by shopping with me. Earn Frequent Buy Rewards!

Please use the hostess code shown in the top right corner when ordering online, unless your order will total $150 before shipping & tax. At that point, you become your own hostess and get all the rewards! 

As always, let me know if you have any questions about the project or the products used. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Artfully Yours,

Kim

Fancy "Gilded" Handwriting

There are times when an idea pops in my head and it never works the way I intended. This time, my idea worked pretty well. I figured that since handmade cards are such a personal way to let someone know you are thinking about them, that it would be cool to be able to use my handwriting as part of the design. Keep in mind that even though I stay at the Holiday Inn Express, I'm not doctor. However, my handwriting is perilously close to looking like I'm signing a prescription order. I had to work hard to make the handwritten words on these cards look legible, but then again, EVERYTHING looks better when it is a fancy gold color! All of the words that are on the following cards were handwritten by me and gold embossed. What do you think?

The floral image I used on all cards is from the Stampin' Up! Birthday Blooms stamp set. I thought the largest image from this set was a perfect backdrop for my popped up gilded handwriting. 

The "wonky" shaped sequins are the Gold Sequin trim from Stampin' Up! I heat them with my heat tool and they end up deliciously misshapen. 

I used the corner rounder on my Stampin' Up! Envelope punch board to selectively round certain corners. 

I absolutely LOVE how they all turned out. 

How did I do it? 

I tried this method on various types of Stampin' Up! paper. I found that the colored and watercolor papers work pretty well, but the smooth Very Vanilla and Whisper White didn't really work well. 

This is something you need to be well prepared for beforehand, because you need to work quickly. I used the watercolor paper for my projects. I did the watercoloring after the embossing, because it doesn't seem to work well if you try this after you have watercolored the paper. The surface of the paper changes so much once it is wet, then dry, it just didn't work well. 

Trim your watercolor paper to the size you wish. Rub the Embossing Buddy over the surface of the paper, making sure you cover it well. Grab a Stampin' Write marker in a color of your choice and write your word. Immediately cover the written word with embossing powder, shake off the excess and emboss like you would any other embossing project. I used Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder for this project. Another tip: Use a coordinating color of marker to write your word. That way when you are watercoloring this piece after you emboss it, if there is any stray part of your word that didn't emboss perfectly, that little bit of color will just be included with your watercoloring. I used inks from the matching Stampin' Up! ink pads and an Aqua Painter to swish on the color. The gold embossed area will resist and just "pop" off the page once you watercolor it. (on a side note: I did use a bit of Bermuda Bay ink on the Mint Macaron project)

Don't forget to browse the new Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog and Sale-a-bration catalogs. Links to the pdf versions are on the right side-bar.  For every $50 spent from any catalog (before tax & shipping) you earn a FREE item from the catalog below. The Sale-A-Bration catalogs are only good through March 31, 2017. Keep in mind that the free items are in limited supply, so grab what you want now. 

Do you have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? If not, I would love to be your source for these amazing products and hopefully give you a good dose of inspiration from time to time. This is not just a hobby for me, it is a passion! Click here or on the header above to find out more info on how you can earn free stamp sets just by shopping with me. Earn Frequent Buy Rewards!

Please use the hostess code shown in the top right corner when ordering online, unless your order will total $150 before shipping & tax. At that point, you become your own hostess and get all the rewards! 

As always, let me know if you have any questions about the project or the products used. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Artfully Yours,

Kim

Valentine's Card with a Grunge Twist (video tutorial included!)

Happy Valentine's Day! I didn't make even one traditional colored V-Day card this year. I was in the mood for different colors and am happy with the few I made. The card below was inspired by an artist I follow on Instagram. Her blog is here.  All products Stampin' Up!

**Edit: I've had so many comments and emails about this technique I am calling #foolproofwatercolor, that I wanted to make sure new blog readers looked at my very first projects I did when I came up with this technique this past November. Click Here for a very interesting bridge scene using the set called Wherever You Go and Here for 3 projects using this technique with the set called Lovely as a Tree. I also used stamps from Timeless Textures for all of those projects. There is a pdf tutorial available on the Lovely as a Tree post, but no video yet. It is in the works. There is also a sample HERE using the Dragonfly Dreams set and the #foolproofwatercolor technique. This technique makes the most gorgeous backgrounds!**

I'm adding a simple video just to show the background technique I used. It's a sample of my #foolproofwatercolor using baby wipes.  

The heart was colored a bit with Clear Wink of Stella, but it is hard to see in the photo. 

Supply list:

Don't forget to browse the new Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog and Sale-a-bration catalog. Links to the pdf versions are on the right side-bar.  For every $50 spent from any catalog (before tax & shipping) you earn a FREE item from the catalog below. The Sale-A-Bration catalog is only good through March 31, 2017. 

Do you have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? If not, I would love to be your source for these amazing products and hopefully give you a good dose of inspiration from time to time. This is not just a hobby for me, it is a passion! Click here or on the header above to find out more info on how you can earn free stamp sets just by shopping with me. Earn Frequent Buy Rewards!

Please use the hostess code shown in the top right corner when ordering online, unless your order will total $150 before shipping & tax. At that point, you become your own hostess and get all the rewards! 

As always, let me know if you have any questions about the project or the products used. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Artfully Yours,

Kim

Weather Together Valentine's Day Card

This simple card packs a lot of punch. I adore anything black & white, with a touch of red. Don't you? I also think the font used for the word "love" is divine!

If you have not realized all of the possibilities the Weather Together Bundle has, do a quick Pinterest search. I even used portions of the die cuts for my Gypsy Wagon on this post. 

Supply list:

Don't forget to browse the new Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog and Sale-a-bration catalog. Links to the pdf versions are on the right side-bar.  For every $50 spent from any catalog (before tax & shipping) you earn a FREE item from the catalog below. The Sale-A-Bration catalog is only good through March 31, 2017. 

Do you have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? If not, I would love to be your source for these amazing products and hopefully give you a good dose of inspiration from time to time. This is not just a hobby for me, it is a passion! Click here or on the header above to find out more info on how you can earn free stamp sets just by shopping with me. Earn Frequent Buy Rewards!

Please use the hostess code shown in the top right corner when ordering online, unless your order will total $150 before shipping & tax. At that point, you become your own hostess and get all the rewards! 

As always, let me know if you have any questions about the project or the products used. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Artfully Yours,

Kim

Non-Traditional Valentine Card

I wanted something non-traditional this year for my Hubby's Valentine's Day card.  He never reads my blog until I say "look at this!", so I'm not too worried about posting this one before the big day. All products Stampin' Up!

I've done some sort of random stamping, basically grabbing stamps from different sets to create this. It is the first time I've used the Playful Backgrounds set and I'm hooked. I started out the card by using my #foolproofwatercolor technique for the watercolor-y look before I stamped. Click here for a link to the tutorial I posted back on 11/29/16. The tutorial is not for this card, but you will see how  I easily achieved the base layer of color on this card. I used Pear Pizzazz and Marina Mist inks, along with Tuxedo Black Memento ink.

Don't forget to browse the new Stampin' Up! Occasions catalog and Sale-a-bration catalog. Links to the pdf versions are on the right side-bar.  For every $50 spent from any catalog (before tax & shipping) you earn a FREE item from the catalog below. The Sale-A-Bration catalog is only good through March 31, 2017. 

Do you have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? If not, I would love to be your source for these amazing products and hopefully give you a good dose of inspiration from time to time. This is not just a hobby for me, it is a passion! Click here or on the header above to find out more info on how you can earn free stamp sets just by shopping with me. Earn Frequent Buy Rewards!

Please use the hostess code shown in the top right corner when ordering online, unless your order will total $150 before shipping & tax. At that point, you become your own hostess and get all the rewards! 

As always, let me know if you have any questions about the project or the products used. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Artfully Yours,

Kim

Pals February 2017 Blog Hop: CASE the Catty

Welcome to the Pals Blog Hop for February 2017. We are thankful you stopped by to take a look at our 2017 Blog Hop monthly themes.  This month we are CASE’ing a project shown in a current Stampin’ Up! catalog. After all, with the Annual, Occasions and Sale-a-Bration catalogs available right now, there is much inspiration from which to choose. We hope you enjoy our creations.

You may just be starting the Blog Hop or may have come from the previous link from the Line-up on the Pals Blog Hop listing shown below.  The full lineup will help you move along from blog to blog so you may see all the projects.

For this blog hop, I chose this particular image from the 2017 Occasions catalog. This lovely piece of artwork is showcasing one of my favorites, the Dragonfly Dreams Bundle. 

I changed it up a bit, but still gave it a watercolor look using my #foolproofwatercolor technique and used the same colors as the original. Isn't this bundle (which includes stamp set & thinlit dies) just gorgeous? 

I used a bit of frayed cheese cloth behind the double dragonflies to add a bit of interest. 

See the slight double layer showing on the sentiment? I realized after I had already put the card together that the sentiment was not stamped straight. To repair this, I applied ink to another piece of watercolor paper the same size, stamped the sentiment again and adhered on top of the crooked one. 

Thanks for visiting. To continue with the hop, please refer to the Blog Hop Line-up below. We hope to see you on next month’s Pals Blog Hop! 

1. Mary at Stampin' Pretty
2. Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards
3. Michelle Quinno at Shell Stamps
4. Rae Harper-Burnet at Wild West Paper Arts
5. Beth McCullough at Stamping Mom
6. Patti MacLeith at Papercrafts by Patti
7. Wendy Klein at Doggone Delightful Stampin'
8. Amy Hoptay at Craft Carnivore
9. Susan Itell at simplestampin.com
10. Karen Hallam at Karen's Stampin' Habit!
11. Kim Jolley at Stampin' Artfully              ***you are here***
12. Karen Gooch at Inker's Workshop
13. Jennifer Spiller at Westside Paper Creations
14. Katy McGloin at Just Fun Stamping
15. Tricia Chuba at ButterDish Designs
16. Sue Becker at RnR Stamping
17. Pamela Sadler at Stampin Pink Rose
18. Karen Zaring Browning at Stamp With Me KZB
19. Lynn Tague at Beyond Beaches & Blessings
20. Shawn de Oliveira at ShawnStamps.com
21. Angela Curry at Kindred Stampers
22. Nicole Watt at Pixel Maven's Retreat
23. Jeanie Stark at Just Stampin'
24. Mary Hanson at Up North Stampin'
25. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations
26. Becky Retzer at Just in Thyme

Do you have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? If not, I would love to be your source for these amazing products and hopefully give you a good dose of inspiration from time to time. This is not just a hobby for me, it is a passion! Click here or on the link below the header above to find out more info on how you can earn free stamp sets just by shopping with me. Earn Frequent Buyer Rewards!

Please use the hostess code shown in the top right corner when ordering online, unless your order will total $150 before shipping & tax. At that point, you become your own hostess and get all the rewards! 

As always, let me know if you have any questions about the project or the products used. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Artfully Yours,

Kim

Occasions Catalog and Sale-A-Bration Begins Today!

The day has finally arrived!! The new Occasions Catalog has some of the most beautiful items I've ever seen available in the paper crafting world. On top of that, you have the chance to earn free items from the Sale-A-Bration Catalog! 

Click here to view the 2017 Occasions Catalog. 

For every $50 spent from any catalog (before tax & shipping) you earn a FREE item from the catalog below. The Sale-A-Bration catalog is only good through March 31, 2017.

Click here to view the 2017 Sale-A-Bration Catalog. 

Do you have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator? If not, I would love to be your source for these amazing products and hopefully give you a good dose of inspiration from time to time. This is not just a hobby for me, it is a passion! Click here or on the header above to find out more info on how you can earn free stamp sets just by shopping with me. Earn Frequent Buy Rewards!

Please use the hostess code shown in the top right corner when ordering online, unless your order will total $150 before shipping & tax. At that point, you become your own hostess and get all the rewards! 

As always, let me know if you have any questions about the project or the products used. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Artfully Yours,

Kim