AN ACCIDENTAL SIMILARITY

This dragonfly card is one I made to send to one of my Demonstrator friends whom I swap with each week. You'll notice there isn't a lot of stamping on this card; instead, it's pretty much made up of doodles, punches, and bling. Whenever I reach for a punch, my mind just seems to relax because the "work" is being done for me. Love that! The second card is one that I made to send to my grandmother. She hasn't been feeling well since the first of the year, so I try to send a card to her from time to time. You know what a nice feeling it is when you send someone a card and then when you visit, you find the card on display in their home? Well, that's what it's like when I go to mamaw's! She doesn't just have the most recent card out where she can see it, she has a lot of my cards sitting around. Sometimes cards can take a lot of time and product, and you really don't mind that "investment" when you know that your creation will be appreciated--and kept. For mamaw's card, I used a non-SU stamp and a design that was 99.9% CASE'd. I know . . . shame on me . . . but I made someone's day a little brighter, so that makes it okay. Isn't it odd that these two cards--made for two special people at two different times--both have the same shades of color? Purely accidental!

ANOTHER "EMBRACE LIFE" SAMPLE

The floral image on this card was colored with watercolor pencils and a blender pen and then accented with an Orchid Opulence marker.

ADDRESS BOOK

I'm so excited about this project!!! Is it cool or what???? It was inspired by one that Beate Johns created. You would not believe how incredibly quick this project was!

Some of the Stampin' Up! products used to create this book were Brocade Backgrounds Designer Series Paper, Trio Flower Punch (the one that's in the "Three for You Punch Box"), Round Tab Punch, Rough Edges Alphabet, Gold Brads, Chocolate Chip Classic and Old Olive Classic inks. SU card stock used: River Rock, Old Olive, and Chocolate Chip.

The "simulated brocade" design on the cover of the book was created with the Big Shot and a brand new Sizzix Bigz die that I just bought yesterday, and I'm loving it! It was cut from River Rock card stock, and I sponged Old Olive and Chocolate Chip inks on it. It actually has a dirty suede look IRL.

And finally, I used my Bind-It-All to bind the address book. I didn't have any black O-Wire, so the white had to suffice.

"THREE FOR YOU" PUNCH BOX PROMOTION

It's not too late to order your punch box and receive FREE 3x3 note cards and envelopes from Stampin' Up! . . . AND . . . instructions for making a 3x3 Note Card Holder (shown above on the brass stand) from me. I've been enjoying the punch and stamp set and wanted to share some of my creations. One of my favorite discoveries with this punch kit is faux dotted ribbon (see the So Saffron card at the top of this post)!!!! How cool is that???

The stamps in this punch kit offer a lot of versatility, used with or without the punch, and the punched flowers are adorable! I like how they get punched with curved petal tips!

If you'd like to get this punch box AND the freebies outlined above, just let me know before month end.