…from some amazing, sparkly friends! And get ready because I’m about to enable you! Before I talk about the card, I have so much amazing news! First up, the new Sparkle Blends are now available in the Doodles Paper Playground Etsy shop. What’s awesome this month…there is a new release bundle! This is awesome for so many reasons: 1. You get ALL the new blends. 2. You get them at a discount. 3. It comes with a free gift. What more could you ask for! Order soon because these bundles won’t last.

Ok, I know you thought that was the exciting part but it’s really not. Drumroll please…DPP has asked me to be part of their May release blog hop! I could not be more excited! So make sure to check in beginning 9am on May 15. There will be gorgeous projects using the new blends and prizes! Yay for free stuff! Stay tuned for more info coming soon.

Now for the card:

After I finished working on some other top secret projects, (don’t I sound mysterious?) I used my leftovers for this birthday card. I always like to have extra cards on hand just in case. The paper, silver thread, ribbon and square die are from Stampin’ Up. The lighter cardstock is one of my favorite retired colors called Sweet Sugar Plum. The circle die is from Elizabeth Crafts, and the “Let’s Celebrate” die was a freebie I received in one of my past Sparkle Blends order. It’s from Simon Says Stamps. The sequins were individually chosen from the Cozy Sparkle Blends. One of the things I really love about Sparkle Blends is their versatility. Although each pack is themed, by choosing just some of the elements they can easily be transformed into something else. And accenting with them is another great way to use them. And although it’s hard to tell from the picture, I used a Clear Glitter Wink of Stella on the words to add some more sparkle. Thanks for checking it out! I’ll be back soon with more fun projects!

Yes…it’s me! I’m back! It’s been longer than I care to admit. But I will admit this, social media has made me laaaaazzzzzyyyy. You know the drill. Post a pic. Run some filters. Witty hashtags. AND DONE! So needless to say the blog is left with chirping crickets. (The cute crickets. Not the nasty cave cricket that I found in my office tonight.)

So I have been creating and posting, just not here. Enter…awesome opportunity which requires me to blog (and awesome people who inspire me!) and now I have refreshed the blog and here I sit tapping away. So behold…craftiness!!! Oh, and as for the awesome opportunity with the awesome people…stay tuned!!!!

A special little boy is turning 2 next week and I had just got the Dino Days stamp set and papers in from Stampin’ Up. The paper is retiring so I got it on a sweet discount but the stamp set did carry over to the new catalog and is available for another year. There are dies for it but I did not splurge on those. And besides, I enjoy fussy cutting way too much. Although tonight I was a little tired and I told my husband I wished he could fussy cut. He said he could fuss AND cut, but nobody wants to hear that! The scalloped ovals are from Stampin’ Up and the “2” stamp was from a past Paper Pumpkin kit.

Cardstock is also Stampin’ Up. I have to say, their’s has always been my favorite. I’m always happy with the quality, choice of colors and how inks, papers, and everything else coordinate. Not to mention I have a stockpile of it.

And, since I had also just received another fun order in last night from Doodles Paper Playground, filled with a bunch of my favorite Sparkle Blends, it had to be a shaker card. Can you say “Covid Christmas!” (Well Amber from DPP said it and I stole it.) Although I ordered a bunch of new blends, I ended up using one of my favorites, “Grandma’s Knit Sweater.” Luckily, I had ordered a replacement pack because I was almost out. If you don’t own any Sparkle Blends, I suggest you leave my blog right now and head over to the store. You won’t be disappointed. Tell them the crazy, obsessed girl sent you! They’ll have no idea who you mean, because aren’t all us crafters obsessed with pretty thing?!?! I posted a second photo so you can see the blends spread out and appreciate their true beauty. I also hope you will appreciate my craftiness and come back and visit me again. There will be a lot more excitement coming up, I promise!

I finally got a chance to try the floating frame technique using Press N’ Seal. This was fun but a bit tedious. I worked off the same color combos from my last class.

So I always say a crop day feels like Christmas! Well this weekend I am headed to a “Christmas in July” scrapbooking Weekend retreat. I’m so excited to spend the weekend crafting with some of my favorite ladies. This is my first time vending so I’ve been busy all week preparing. I’ll be teaching a “Memories & More” card workshop. This set was one of my favorites. Unfortunately it retired by the time my workshop was scheduled. But I kept a few extra sets on hand, just in case. All these cards were created with half a set of the M&M cards and some card stock. I added a few stamped images & sentiments, some embellishments and here ya have it…

Sometimes all it takes is a simple little touch to change everything. One of my favorite things is to make things for my son to bring into school for the different holidays. But this can be time consuming. I did cave in and buy a pre-wrapped candy treat, but I had to personalize it somehow. So I used one of my favorite techniques – white pen on dark paper. I was able to create something striking and cute but it was simple, quick and easy to do. I attached these to a little baggy with the treat in it and voila!

Supplies: SU “Hey, Valentine” stamp set, VersaFine black in, White Gelly Roll pen, Real Red CS.

I’m finally getting back into the crafty swing of things. Although a little delayed, I am back on the crafting wagon! This weekend I got ready for a local SU event by making cards for a swap. These use the new Party Animal paper, stamps and dies from the Occasions catalog. The enamel accents are from the annual catalog. And one of my favorite SU products used here is the fine tip glue pen. I used this as glossy accents. It’s also great for gluing on sequins and other tiny embellishments. And as most you know, this is the most exciting time of the SU year…Sale-A-Bration!!! For every $50 you spend, you get to pick one item from the SAB catalog. There are lots of awesome items this year besides the fantastic new stamp sets!

I had the pleasure of teaching this workshop at a crop this weekend. It was a huge turnout. I had 11 people. 3 that came just to tale my class. This has definitely been my most favorite SU paper yet!!!

I am thankful for all things beautiful from Stampin’ Up!!! This is a class I taught at the Scrapbooking Circle of Tuxedo. I had seen something similar done for Halloween and decided to create my own version of it. In attempt to keep cost down, I found a great solution for the base. I used cake disks from Wilton. I bought a pack of 10 at AC Moore for a few bucks (coupon!). I used a plate to trace a circle in the center and voila! Wreath form!
Paper strips are 6″ X 1″. All the materials are from the Petals & Paisleys Suite in the 2016-2017 Holiday Catalog of amazingness. I embossed some of the die cuts with the new copper embossing powder. As far as workshops go, this was a pretty smooth one. The only stamping to do was the “Thankful•Grateful•Blessed.” I pre-cut & pre-stamped/embossed all the paisley shapes (a LOT of work!). Staggering the strip so that the reverse side showed definitely added some depth. I kept the darker tones for the inside and the lighter tones on the reverse created another “row” or “layer” if you will. I do recomend using glue dots or fast fuse. Initially I used a typical tombow adhesive runner and the strips kept popping off.

My favorite day of the year is here!!! To celebrate I created this Halloween Banner using all new products from Stampin’ Ups Holiday Catalog. I taught this class twice with great success!