Creative Blog Hop Monday!

Today I'm participating in my very first blog hop!  I was nominated by my fellow weSTAMP team member and friend, Sue Parker, to participate in the Creative Blog Hop which is filled with talented Stampin' Up! Demos and bloggers.  The only rule is to create with Stampin' Up! only products. 

My card is actually lots of cards.  Sunday was my Mother-in-law's birthday and for her birthday, I wanted to make her something she could use instead of something else for the house that she had to use. 

I started with a set of our Notecards and Envelopes in Crumb Cake (133766).  There are 20 cards in the set, although I only made 10 for Mom and thought I'd make up the other 10 later in the year, probably for Mother's Day with a different design.

The first layer is 4 7/8" x 3 3/8" in both Daffodil Delight and Strawberry Slush.
The 2nd layer is 4 3/4" x 3 1/4" in Very Vanilla

My favorite stamps are the ones made using Photopolymer (p).  They are especially my favorite for this type of stamping.  My 2nd choice would be the wood mount (m). 

Using Painted Petals (w-138819 / c-138822 / p - 137146) I stamped the stems with Wild Wasabi at varying heights and then stamped the flowers at the tops of the stems. 

For the flowers, I used Daffodil Delight first - stamped all 10 cards where I wanted the Daffodil Delight, then Strawberry Slush and finally some with Tangerine Tango. 

The sentiments come from "And Many More" (w-134273 / c-134276).  I chose several that I thought would be needed sentiments and stamped them all with Strawberry Slush onto Very Vanilla.  After punching them out with Word Window (119857) I lightly sponged the edges with Strawberry Slush.

Then the sentiments were popped up using Stampin' Dimensionals (104430) placing them in different locations across the cards.

 

Since I'm only using half of the envelopes, I decided they needed a cute little band to go around them to hold them together.  I used my absolutely FAVORITE new DSP from the Occasions Catalog.  Be sure to check out the Painted Blooms Designer Series Paper.  If you haven't seen it yet, you must check it out as soon as possible. 

 

If you don't already have a Demonstrator, I'd be happy to send you an Occasions and Sale-a-bration Catalog.  Just send me an email and give me your name and mailing address and I'll get the put in the mail to you right away.

 



 

 

Now, onto the rest of the blog hop... I have four questions to answer and I'm still not sure what I'm going to say!!!  Here goes!

 

1.  What are you working on?  Right now I'm working on the Perpetual Calendar Project Kit from the Occasions Catalog.  I have a couple of girls coming over this coming weekend to put their kits together and they need a sample to work from, right?  I'll be working on this all week!  I can be such a procrastinator sometimes!  Ugh!  I'm also working on a Valentine theme for a workshop this weekend as well. 

 

2.  How does your work differ from others in your genre?  I'm a simple stamper.  I enjoy putting together projects that are easy to look at without being so busy that you can't see the point of the project.  When I'm looking at blogs and ideas, if it's too busy, I just fly right by it.  I prefer making mine pleasing to the eye, easy to take in and if someone loves it, maybe they'll CASE (Copy And Share Everything) it and share where they found it.  It's great advertising, right?

 

3.  Why do you create what you do?   Being a simple stamper, creating helps me to relax.  Working a full time job on top of taking care of a home, hubby and houseful of pets, stamping and coloring are my escape and I enjoy having that escape.  Creating cards for friends and family on their special days makes me happy.

 

4.  How does your creative process work?  My creative process comes from admiring the talents of others who also create stamped projects.  Checking on SplitcoastStampers and through the blogs that I follow regularly, I see things that I love and then either CASE them or just run with the idea and switch it all around or even mix and match ideas to come up with something I like.  My workspace is usually a total disaster with inkpads (always closed as soon as I've stamped), card stock, stamp sets and tools.  It looks like a tornado blew through!   Ha!  As I finish a project and have something else in mind, I usually just push things towards the other end of my long dining table (that's my workspace) and start the next project.  Please tell me I'm not the only one that does that!  Please!

 

Ok, now on to my nominee's. 

 

My first nominee is Lisa Jones at LJ Creations.  Lisa is a team member in my upline group Stampahowlics.  Lisa has some really cute creations going on so be sure to check her out and definitely check her out on Monday, January 19th when she'll be posting her Creative Blog Hop post.  Thank You Lisa for agreeing to post your creation in our blog hop!

 

Laura Milligan is my second nominee and is also part of Stampahowlics and is also an Executive at Stampin' Up!  You won't want to miss her fabulous blog "I'd Rather "Bee" Stampin'!"  Is that a cute name or what!!??  I just love it and I know you will too!  Laura will also be posting to the hop on Monday, January 19th, so don't miss it!  Laura, thank you for participating with me in the blog adventure!

 

Be sure to subscribe to these ladies blogs so you too will be inspired with greatness! 

 

Thank you so much for looking in today.  If you have time, I'd love it if you'd leave a comment for me below.  Blog Lovin' is always a nice surprise on a Monday!

 

Have a Great Week!

 

~ Donna

 

 

 

 

 

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