Update 4 May 16:  Found out this morning that my card was selected as a Pals Paper Artist Pick!  Whoo-hoo!  Wanted to thank the folks over at PPA for picking my card amongst all the beautiful projects submitted!

Hey, y’all!  Happy Sunday!

If you’re coming over from Amy’s Blog – welcome and thanks for stopping by!  Or Welcome Back – as the case may be.

So, yesterday, my friend and I went down to the historic district in Savannah.  Our first stop was a restaurant called The Olde Pink House.

My friend Jan had given me the recommendation when she heard I was coming to Savannah – and thank the Lord for that!  We waited just a short time, cuz my friend had made us a reservation – and we watched dish after dish being carried out to hungry customers.  When we finally got to our table – in fact, the window on the second floor, just to the right of the front porch is where we sat! – we were huuuuungry!  We ended up splitting three appetizers – Fried Green Tomatoes, Mac & Cheese Jalapeño Poppers and an onion stuffed with an Andouille sausage and cheese mixture and baked.  They were ridiculously good – we barely kept ourselves from licking the plates!  And then we both ordered Country Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes and collards.  Oh.  My.  Sweet.  Lord.

I’m not a fan of boneless chicken breasts – they seem to always be dry as sawdust.  But this – this was a juicy work of pure art.  Melted in our mouths!  Aaron – who doesn’t seem like he should be a foodie, but is! – said he was pretty sure this was the best meal he’d has in his entire life!

So – if you’re ever coming down to Savannah – skip right past The Lady and Sons (trust me on this) and head to The Olde Pink House.  The house itself is gorgeous, all the tables are set up in the various rooms of the Havershams’ old and beautiful family home and the wait staff all know little tidbits of history from the house.  And the food is beyond spectacular.

In fact – let me re-phrase.  You need to start figuring out a reason to come to Savannah!  Right now! 🙂

Okay.  Card.  Not food.  On it…

The same friend that I had lunch with had asked me to make him an Anniversary card for his wife.  I seem to get a lot of commissions when I’m out on business! 🙂  So, I came up with a card that would suit his (and her) not-so-froofy natures.  I used the coming-soon Affectionately Yours DSP and Love & Affection stamp set, and combined it with Timeless Love from the current Annual Catalog.  Take a look-see:

I was going for a pretty and elegant card, with not a lot of bling, but some.  The copper accents in the new Affectionately Yours DSP was just the ticket, and I played that theme out by also using the new Copper Stampin’ Emboss Powder.

The design for this card was inspired by the Pals Paper Arts challenge #298:

To begin, I ran a panel of Crumb Cake card stock thru the Big Shot in my Woodgrain TIEF.  Here’s a trick I’ve learned.  When you’re going to emboss an entire panel, like a card front, that you want to be a certain size – cut the panel a little bigger – doesn’t have to be a lot – than you want to start.  Do your embossing and then cut it to size.  I’ve discovered that the embossing frequently will shorten your card stock.  So, the 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ panel you cut might end up at 4″ x 5 1/4″-ish.  Just a tip.

Once I’d cut the panel all the way to the size I needed, I heat embossed the edges with Copper Stampin’ Emboss Powder.  I just tapped each edge down into my Versamark pad, dipped it in my tupperware filled with the Emboss Powder, and heated it up.  I did one side at a time.  The point of this was to finish the edges of the panel and act in place of a mat for the card front.  I wanted to keep the Copper-Night of Navy-Crumb Cake color scheme and didn’t want to add anything else to the mix.

I ran a length of Night of Navy 1/2″ Seam Binding (retiring) around the panel and secured the ends in the back with scotch tape.

My two front panels are identically sized and both are matted on Night of Navy.  The panel on the right is a piece of the Copper Foil design Affectionately Yours DSP.  On the left is another piece of Crumb Cake.

The sentiment, from Timeless Love, is heat embossed in Copper.  I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to get it in the right spot – and did some dry-fitting first, cuz I wanted the sentiment straight even though the panel was going to be crooked-y.

Once I had the sentiment done, I ran the panel thru the Big Shot – twice – using the new Floral Affection TIEF.  That’s a cute little set of two small folders.

I simply arranged the TIEF where I wanted it to emboss the two corners.

I added some leaves and flowers from the Love & Affection stamp set in Night of Navy.

The DSP panel is SNAILd to the card front and the sentiment panel is popped on with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  I tied a small bow from the Night of Navy 1/2″ Seam Binding and secured it with a couple dabs of Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue.  The stamped flowers each got a tiny Pearl Basic Jewel – and the card front was done!

For the inside, I heat embossed a Crumb Cake panel with the sentiment from Timeless Love in Copper, and also did the edges in Copper – just like the card front.  I ran the corner of the panel in the Floral Effection TIEF, added a few more floral touches from Love & Affection in Night of Navy and stuck on a few more Pearl Basic Jewels.

I SNAILd that into my Night of Navy card base, popped the card front on with Stampin’ Dimensionals and the card was done!

The Crumb Cake Medium Envelope got a few more Night of Navy floral images from Love & Affection…

…and I gave the inside a liner from a different design in the Affectionately Yours DSP, cutting it with my Envelope Liner Framelits (retiring).

Et Volia!  I think this card suits Aaron – and what I know of his wife – perfectly!  I just love this new Affectionately Yours Product Suite – I think the possibilities are really pretty endless!

We’re getting so close to the new Catalog!  One month to go – and you’ll be able to get this Suite and all the others for yourself! 🙂

For today, though – this is the VERY LAST DAY to guarantee getting the new Annual Catalog from me for free.  Today’s also the last day to get your Double Peppermint Rewards and Free Shipping – get your order in now!  Before you get sidetracked by going back and drooling over the picture of yesterday’s lunch! 😉

I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow – with another card to share!  

TTFN!

Mary

Stamps-N-Lingers Ordering Specials!

LAST DAY!

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! 

This is also the time to get on “my list” of Preferred Punkin’ Head customers and be poised to receive a FREE copy of the 2016-2017 Annual Catalog.  They’ll be mailing out Mid-May! 🙂  Just be sure to check the box that says I (your demonstrator!!) can contact you.  If you don’t – I don’t see your mailing address, e-mail address….nuthin’!  And then I have no way to contact you to send you your catalog! 🙁

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 1 MAY – 15 MAY 16: 6WVSHFR7

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:

The Affectionately Yours Product Suite (Love & Affection stamp set, Affectionately Yours DSP, Floral Affection TIEF and Copper Stampin’ Emboss Powder will all be available 1 June! 🙂 

CARD CUTS USED IN TODAY’S PROJECT:

Night of Navy Card Stock: 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ (card base; scored and folded at 5 1/2″); 2 1/2″ x 3 1/4″ (x 2 – mats for front panels)

Crumb Cake Card Stock: 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ (card front and inner liner); 2 3/8″ x 3 1/8″ (sentiment panel)

Affectionately Yours DSP’ 2 3/8″ x 3 1/8″ (front panel); envelope liner

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!