So, as I write this Sunday morning post on Saturday afternoon – I’m ridiculously tickled with the return of the Hummingbirds!  I’ve had my feeders out for a few weeks now and we’ve had one little dude coming by for the last couple.  Today – we’ve got TWO of them.  One – I’m pretty sure – is the same that’s been visiting.  I can tell cuz he’s green.  And his wings flap really really fast.  And he’s tiny.  So I know it’s him! 😉  But now he’s got a little friend – this one has the red band under his chin.  I just love watching them on the feeders.  

Does make it hard to wash dishes though, at least without getting water everywhere cuz I’m so busy trying to peer out the window and wash at the same time.  That’s multi-tasking.  Sometimes it works better than others! 🙂

Anywhoooo – on to the cards for today.  Yes – cards!  I have one that I made to share and two that I brought home from OnStage.  They were the Make-and-Takes, so they’ll be a good little peek at some more new Annual Catalog things.

But first, the card I dreamed up all by myself! 🙂  My friend needed another card – this time for a young (?) lady who was trying to learn to ride a motorcycle.  With her boyfriend.  They were apparently on separate bikes, riding slowly thru their neighborhood while she was getting the hang of riding.  He got a little ahead of her, she throttled up – a little more enthusiastically than she’s planned.  The bike jumped a little and she subsequently throttled up even more….and went into the curb.  The bike stopped.  She didn’t.  Here’s the kicker.

She wasn’t wearing a helmet.

Seriously?!?  Learning to ride – and no helmet.  No helmet is a bad plan for any rider, but a new rider??  She’s danged lucky to just be alive, let alone without serious injury.

So – I was asked for a card.  Now, if this was about 5 weeks from now….I might have a motorcycle stamp (that’s a hint….).  But not now.  And I couldn’t make the bike in Pedal Pusher even sort of look like a motorcycle.

I decided to go with more of a….road rash….theme.  I used some Layered Letters, a little Timeless Textures and a nice little sentiment from And Many More (sadly retiring!).  Take a look-see:

It’s a little hard to tell – black is really tough to photograph! – but the card base is black, and the card front is Blackberry Bliss.  I really went for it with the bruised and battered theme!

The main part of the card front is a panel of Whisper White, matted on Silver Foil (my nod to the motorcycle!).  Then I stamped the Timeless Textures image in Real Red three times.  It does kind of look like road rash, don’t you think? 🙂

Then I used my Layered Letters Alphabet stamp set to stamp Ouch – Owww – Ouch.  Ouch is in Night of Navy and Owww is in Basic Black Archival Ink.  I made a bit of a point to get the letters a little bit wonky – instead of straight and perfect.  Seemed more “right” to me.

I adhered the white panel to my Silver Foil mat with a bunch of tiny staples – using my tiny Handheld Stapler.  Ever wake up from surgery and find you’ve been stapled?  It’ll freak you out a little bit! 😉

Then I SNAILd that to my Blackberry Bliss card front.  The band-aids are non-Stampin’ Up! items.

You probably guessed that, huh?

I cut two regular sized bandaids down a little – otherwise they’d have totally covered the words – and added a little bit of Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue just to be sure they’d stay on the card.  And I used a piece of scotch tape to stick on a little bit of gauze.

Not having kids, all I have is basic old boring grown-up bandaids.  So I decided to spiff them up a little.  I used a few Stampin’ Write Markers and made some smiley-face suns on the scotch tape (and then covered that with another piece of scotch tape, to keep the link from smearing) and some hearts on one bandaid and flowers on the other one.  And that was it for the card front!

The inside got another piece of Whisper White on Silver Foil.  Using a little bit of Night of Navy ink, I stamped the sentiment from And Many More.  I SNAILD it to a Blackberry Bliss pane and then added some more smiley-face suns (they’re done in Crushed Curry) and another bandaid.  That one got some blue sharpie zig-zags.

Couldn’t help it – I added some more staples, too!

I SNAILd that into my Basic Black card base, popped the front on with Stampin’ Dimensionals – and the card was done!

The Whisper White Medium Envelope got more Crushed Curry smiley-face suns on the front…

…and hearts (to match the bandaid on the front of the card) on the inside flap.

Et Voila!  I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out – it’s not motorcycle-accident-specific, but….I think it’ll fit the bill.  At least – I hope so! 🙂

So – the make-and-takes that we made and…took…last week.  The first showcases the new Affectionately Yours Suite of products.

It was quite simple to put together. Two panels of the pretty new Affectionately Yours DSP were SNAILd to a Mint Macaron card base.  It’s hard to see – but the top piece has Copper Foil accents – really pretty!  Then we ran the Whisper White card stock panel thru the Big Shot in one of the Floral Affection TIEFs.  This set has two small embossing folders in it – this one and one that’s designed to have a sentiment stamped inside.  We added some flowers and leaves from Affectionately Yours and then stamped the sentiment on the banner.  Cute, huh?

The second make and take was a card from a new Project Kit called Oh Happy Day!

You know this one was easy!  All the pieces and parts were right there ready to go – and isn’t that cute how it’s kind of a three-fold card?  Project kits are great – they’ve got everything you need except some Adhesive!

These will both be available on 1 June!  Counting the days, aren’t you!? 🙂

Only a week left for FREE shipping on any order of $50 (before shipping and taxes) and DOUBLE peppermints on the same order! Don’t miss out, okay?

And – can I recommend this And Many More stamp set if you don’t already have it in your stash?  It’s got so many great sentiments – and it’s going to be gone on 31 May! 🙁

See you tomorrow – TTFN!

Mary

P.S.  Did you see all the display board pictures over on my Facebook page?  That’s only half of them! 🙂

Stamps-N-Lingers Ordering Specials!

Thru 1 May 2016

For all orders of $50 or greater (before taxes and shipping) placed through me from now through Sunday, 1 May, I’m offering free shipping. Here are the four ways that you can order and receive your free shipping rebate:

• Place your order through my online store:
• Provide me with your mailing address and I’ll send you a check to rebate your shipping costs
  or
  Provide me with your PayPal account and I’ll send you your rebate via PayPal
• Send me your order via email, I’ll deduct the shipping costs and send you an invoice through PayPal.
• Send me your order via email and let me know that you’d prefer to pay with a credit card. I’ll contact you to make arrangements and I’ll deduct the shipping costs from your order total.

AND

When you place a $50 order (before shipping and taxes – of any product – retiring or no!) – I’ll be giving you DOUBLE Peppermint Rewards Points.  When you get 16 Peppermint Points – you get to select a gift with a value up to $40!  See more info on my Punkin’ Head Rewards Program for my loyal customer right here! 

So – take advantage of the good deals in the Retiring List, get extra peppermint points AND earn free shipping! 🙂

Now’s the time to get your favorites – with discounts of up to 50% off! – before they’re gone. Stamps will be available thru 31 May – everything else is while supplies last! Click right here to go straight to the Retiring Products in my Online Store! You can see them in the store, or check out either of these documents:

Retiring List (PDF)
Retiring List (Excel – sortable)

HOST CODE FOR 16 Apr – 30 Apr 16: CAZKY77C

Use this host code when you order and receive a free gift from me! But, if your order is over $150, please don’t use this code (you’ll miss out on your own Stampin’ Rewards if you use it) but you’ll still get the free gift. The free gift is your choice of any item valued up to $8.00 in the 2015-16 Annual Catalog or the 2015 Occasions Catalog.

STAMPIN’ UP PRODUCTS USED IN TODAY’S PROJECT:

CARD CUTS USED IN TODAY’S PROJECT:

Basic Black Card Stock: 4 1/4″ x 11″ (card base; scored and folded at 5 1/2″)

Blackberry Bliss Card Stock: 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ (card front and inner liner)

Whisper White Card Stock: 3 1/4″ x 3 7/8″ (front sentiment panel and inner liner sentiment panel)

Silver Foil: 3 3/8″ x 4″ (mats for front and inner liner sentiment panels)

If you need any stamping supplies, I’d be very happy to be your Demonstrator. Just click on the Order Stampin’ Up! Online Now button on the right side of the screen to go directly to my online store or drop me an email if you have any questions. Happy Stamping!