Tour de Freaks June Swoon

Welcome to this month's Control Freaks Stampers "Tour de Freaks". Our theme this month is new catalog goodness, and I just had to call it June Swoon, because that's what I did when I saw the new catalog! I love bling, and this catalog is FULL of bling-y goodness! There are twelve of us on the tour, and if you started at the beginning, you just landed here from Patty Bennett's blog. I seriously love the Gold Vellum she used!!! If you started here on my blog, just click the link at the bottom of the page on each stop, and you'll make the full circle!

Like I said, I lurve glittery, shiny things (being part magpie, of course), and the new Glimmer Papers immediately caught my eye. All of my projects today feature one of the new Glimmer Papers!

Up first is a patriotic card using the Work of Art and Pictogram Punches stamp sets, along with the Stars Framelits Dies and the itty bitty star from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack.This is the new Silver Glimmer, which is amazingly sparkly in real life!

STAMPS: Work of Art, Pictogram Punches   CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Silver Glimmer, Red Glimmer   INK: Real Red, Night of Navy   ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Stars Framelits Dies, Zig Zag TIEF, Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, Stampin' Dimensionals

For my next project, I used the positively spectacular Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper. It really does dazzle like diamonds! Lots of punches used on this one, along with the Flower Shop and Itty Bitty Banners stamp sets.

STAMPS: Flower Shop, Itty Bitty Banners   CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black, Back to Black DSP, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper   INK: Real Red   ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Bitty Banners Framelits, Lovely Lace TIEF, Pansy Punch, Project Life Corner Punch, Bird Builder Punch, Real Red 1/4" Cotton Ribbon, Rhinestones Basic Jewels, Stampin' Dimensionals

My last project is a 3D treat using the Fry Box Bigz XL Die. It's so stinkin' CA-YOOT, and so stinkin' EASY to use! The box was cut first with Kraft Paper, to make a sturdy base, and then cut again with Lullaby Designer Series Paper. I found that cutting off the bottom of the DSP made it easier to apply the front and back panels.  Since the Almond Roca is wrapped in gold foil, I used the new Gold Glimmer Paper and Gold 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon to bling it up.

STAMPS: Flower Patch   CARDSTOCK: Kraft, Whisper White, Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi, Lullaby DSP, Gold Glimmer Paper  INK: Bermuda Bay, Versamark   ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Fry Box Bigz XL Die, Flower Fair Framelits, Coastal Cabana Baker's Twine, Bermuda Bay 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Gold 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, 1/8" Mini Brads (colored with Daffodil Delight Blendabilities Marker), Crushed Curry Stampin' Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, 4" x 6" Cellophane Bags, Clothspins

That's all for me today! Your next stop is Debbie Henderson's blog. She's got more new catalog yumminess to share!

Carrie's Thank You

One of the stamp sets we were given at the Stampin' Up! Catalog Premiere was the new Ronald MacDonald House Charity stamp set. It's called Flamingo Lingo, and my pink-plastic-yard-flamingo-loving hubby is going to love it. It's so awesome that SU donates $3.00 from the sale of every RMHC stamp set to Ronald MacDonald House! Besides a flamingo, it has a cute flower the fits the Petite Petals Punch. LOVE it!

I did use a stamp from Work of Art for the left panel, as well as Gorgeous Grunge for the gold splattered background, and Lots of Thanks for the greeting. Wow, four stamp sets on one card!

This is the Thank You that I sent to Carrie Cudney for her presentation. She showed us how to put together a stamp pad that has come apart, and then she had a contest with Brian Pilling to see how many times they could take apart and put together their stamp pads in a set time. Needless to say, it was hysterically funny, and their hands were very inky when they were finished.

Tomorrow I'll show the card I made for Shannon West using ALL new products, including the Blended Bloom stamp, Back to Black DSP, Stitched Satin Ribbon, and the new Blendabilities alcohol ink markers! Oh. My. Heck. They are so easy to use, and the results are fabulous!

STAMPS: Flamingo Lingo, Work of Art, Gorgeous Grunge, Lots of Thanks
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets
INK: Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss, Gold Metallic Encore
ACCESSORIES: Petite Petals Punch, Modern Label Punch, Decorative Label Punch

Fabulous Bonnie

Here's another thank you card for one of the presenters at last Monday's Stampin' Up! Catalog Premiere. This is for the fabulous Bonnie Thurber. She's such a delight, and always has us laughing!

The Work of Art stamp set was used on this one, too. I'm liking the ombre effect of inking up and stamping three or four times without re-inking. I lined up the edge of the wooden block with the edge of the cardstock, and then for each subsequent stmping, lined up with the cardstock and the middle of the previously stamped image. I could have used a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, but eye-balling it worked pretty well.

Mr. Brown delivered a big box of pre-ordered goodies today, and I'm having a blast playing with new products! I'll post some projects made with new goodies soon. As soon as I can drag myself away long enough to quit playing and take some pics, haha! Have I mentioned how much I love my job?

STAMP: Work of Art, Million & One
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Gold Foil Sheets
INK: Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey (NEW IN COLORS!)
ACCESSORIES: Gold Sequin Trim

New Catalog Premiere

Last night I had the delightful opportunity to attend the Stampin' Up! New Catalog Premiere live event in Long Beach, CA.

Oh. My. Gosh.

You are in for such a treat when you get your own copy of the catalog!!! Hold onto your purse strings because, if you're anything like me, you're going to want almost everything in there!

In addition to being introduced to the new layout of the catalog, which is so much easier to navigate, there were demonstrations of some of the new products, and of course, gifts for all attendees! The live event was broadcast to demonstrators in select theaters around the U.S. and Canada, and everyone got their own copy of the new catalog, the new Stampin' Success magazine (exclusively for demonstrators), and a new stamp set called Work of Art.

The lucky Long Beach attendees (who paid extra to attend the live event), got to stay after the live telecast ended, and got even MORE goodies from the catalog. And I do mean MORE! We came home with over $140-worth (retail) of shtuff, which was way more than the price of admission. (Have I mentioned how awesomely generous Stampin' Up! is with their demonstrators? They completely spoil us!)

I have a bunch of thank you notes to send to the various presenters, but my first one, shown above, is going to Shelli Gardner, co-founder and CEO. She was there last night, looking radiant, and never let on how tired I'm sure she must have been, since she's still recovering from her very serious horse riding accident last year.

This card uses the chevron stamp and the Thank You, both from Work of Art. The "Best Catalog Launch Ever" was made with the awesome new Alphabet Rotary Stamp, which makes it possible to create just about ANYTHING you want to say! There are 13 columns of alpha, numeric, and symbol characters. It is so cool!

I won Prize Patrol, which SU does at every event. We get different colored wrist bands, and at intervals throughout the event, they announce what the prize will be, and then *drum roll* the wrist band color/design. My prize was three of the new In Colors - Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon, and Hello Honey!  The other two colors are Tangelo Twist and Mossy Meadow, which I think is going to be a great Christmas color.

Well, as you can tell, I'm still riding high after last night's event. I haven't even gone through the catalog completely, but will do so as soon as I get this posted. I just had to share some of the shtuff!

If you need a copy of the new catalog, and you aren't already a customer of mine (who will get theirs in a couple weeks), send me a message so you can get one, too!