Sale-A-Brating, Freak Style!

Hello, and welcome to another episode of "Things I Can't Live Without from Sale-A-Bration" also known as the Tour de Freaks blog hop! And, in case you haven't figured it out already, the theme this month is Sale-A-Bration. We are focusing on the wonderful FREE items you can get (with qualifying purchase) and Stampin' Up! has completely outdone themselves with this year's offerings! If you started the tour at the beginning, you just landed here from Wendy's blog, Wickedly Wonderful Creations, where I'm sure she dazzled you! I am stop number two (of sixteen) this month. Just click the links at the bottom of each blog to travel on to the next one and eventually you'll come full-circle.

There were three new items added this week to kick off the second half of SAB and I'm showing two of them, along with some other SAB items. So, without further ado, let me introduce the Party Pants stamp set and the AWESOME Metallics Glitter Tape! The tape is available in gold, silver, and WHITE....which can be colored any color you want with ink and sponge daubers! And that's what I did to make the blue banners on the card below. The background paper is from the Wildflower Fields DSP pack, also a Sale-A-Bration item.

Up next is the adorable chick from Honeycomb Happiness, with the greeting from Party Pants. In fact, all the cards today used greetings from that set! This one just cracks me up for some reason, like the bird is saying, "Put your party pants on, and let's GO!" The dotty background is from Wildflower Fields again, and the silver is the Metallics Glitter Tape. (That stuff is sooo easy to use!)

It's so hard for me to choose a favorite stamp set from SAB, but if I had to pick just one, I'd say it would probably be the very versatile Flowering Fields. You can create so many different looks with it! The background on this card was created with marker scribbles on a clear block, which was lightly misted and then stamped on watercolor paper.

Lastly, is a CAS card using the What I Love set. It's a three-step photopolymer stamp set, and makes the lovliest flowers with depth and dimension! And, of course, I couldn't resist the glitter tape. Can't help it; I'm part Magpie!

That's all for me this month. I hope you saw something that made one of these SAB rewards a "must have" item on your list! Now hop on over to Barb Mullikin's blog, Barb Stamps, and see what goodies she's cooked up for you!

TOY Cards

In this case, TOY doesn't mean a plaything; it means Thinking Of You. Although, I suppose the fun of making a card is almost like playing!

Besides receiving birthday and Christmas cards, which one can almost expect every year, it's really special to receive a card for no other reason than the person sending it just wanted to say "Hi, you're in my thoughts." What a wonderful feeling it is to be the recipient of a totally out of the blue and unexpected random act of kindness!

With that in mind, I sent these four cards out this week to put a smile on a few faces. It makes me happy to make cards (my craft room isn't called "my happy place" for nothing, you know!), and it makes me happy to make other people happy. Stamps, ink, and paper can be a pretty powerful thing, when you think about it.

The "How To" for this card
Image panel: Watercolor Paper 2-1/8" x 4-1/8"
Mat behind image: Basic Black 2-3/8" x 4-5/8"
DSP: 3-7/8" x 5-1/8"
Mat behind DSP: Basic Black 4" x 5-1/4"
Card base: Whisper White Thick 5-1/2" x 8-1/2", scored and folded at 4-1/4"
Scraps Whisper White for greeting and butterfly

Stamp images and color, using Blender Pens and ink pads, on watercolor paper. Add some Clear Wink of Stella, if you want to fancy it up! Cut into thirds (1-3/8" wide) and pop up on smaller Basic Black mat using Stampin' Dimensionals, spacing them apart evenly. There should be about 1/8" Basic Black showing all around. Stamp greeting on 1/2" wide strip of Whisper White. I used the Modern Label Punch (retired) and slipped the cardstock in from the back to trim each end so the label would be longer than the punch allows.

Adhere DSP to large Basic Black mat and then to card base. Center and attach Tea Lace Paper Doily to DSP. Cut Metallic Foil Doily in half, center and adhere to back of image mat, then attach to card base.

Stamp butterfly on scrap of Whisper White, color and fussy-cut. Pop butterfly up on half a Stampin' Dimensional. Edge greeting with Gold Wink of Stella and pop greeting up on Dimensionals.

STAMPS: Flowering Fields (SAB), A Dozen Thoughts
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White Thick, Basic Black, Watercolor Paper,  Brights, Regals & In Color DSP Stacks (retired)
INK: Basic Black Archival, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Strawberry Slush (retired)
ACCESSORIES: Blender Pens, Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush, Gold Wink of Stella Glitter Brush, Tea Lace Paper Doilies, Metallic Foil Doilies, Stampin' Dimensionals

Fun With Brushos

No, that's not a typo in the post title; it's not brushes! Brusho is an intensely pigmented water-based paint powder available in various colors. It's easy to use, and fun because you never know exactly how it's going to turn out. It's a surprise every time! The easiest way to use it (I think) is to heavily mist some watercolor paper, choose some colors and then sprinkle them on randomly. If you want, you can spritz extra water on to make the colors run more. This would be great for the emboss-resist technique! After it's to your liking you can let it air dry, or speed things along with a Heat Tool on the low setting.

Now for even more artsy-fartsy fun, dip your fingers in water and flick some droplets on the dried paper. Let it sit for a minute and then blot the drops off. It removes some of the color and creates a neat Bokeh effect!

As you can see, I'm still loving the Birthday Blooms stamp set. This time I used the smaller single blossom, stamped on watercolor paper and colored with a a blender pen and ink pads. Of course, I had to add a little sparkle with some Wink of Stella on the flower and its visitor. That tiny butterfly is from the free Sale-A-Bration set called Flowering Fields. Isn't it a cutie?

After the flower image was die cut, I treaced around the outside of the die to create a mat for the image. If you look closely, you can see the edges of the flower panel are edged in Gold Wink of Stella - really makes it pop!

STAMPS: Birthday Blooms, Flowering Fields (SAB) 
CARDSTOCK: Whisper White, Watercolor Paper, Have a Cuppa DSP Stack 
INK: Basic Black Archival, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Cucumber Crush 
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Lots of Labels Dies, Blender Pens, Clear Wink of Stella, Gold Wink of Stella, Stampin' Dimensionals, Daffodil Delight ribbon (ret.)