Good Monday to all! Many, MANY thanks to all of you that popped on the blog over the weekend and left a message for the BLOG CANDY! It was super fun to read the comments and wow…we are all over this beautiful country! (I have my eye of you stampers in the Pacific Northwest….you never know when I might pop in as I do love your area and with Hannah moving there for at least the next 6 years…..hmmmmmm – sounds like a stampin’ fun time)

Before we get to the winner, I need some help. It has been brought to my attention that some people are having a difficult time leaving a comment on my blog. Some say it is an error message, some say that I have blocked you….not we all know….I would NEVER block you…so please send me an email if these have happened so I can communicate to Intergrant Services (they take care of the behinds of my blog)

Ok – enough housekeeping (I will put the broom away) – Let’s get to the fun stuff….who won and this super fun and layout that I have for you today! The WINNER-WINNER Chicken Dinner for the 7 new Holiday Catalog Swatch Books is…..

WANDA BEERS from Delaware

Woot-Woot and I hope that you PUSH THAT CHAIR AWAY and get up and DO THAT DANCE…the HAPPY DANCE as we all should never go a day without a little dance in our day! (Trust me, if my dogs could talk – they would tell you what a pathetic dancer and singer I am but heck…in my own home it makes me feel good and no one else will know)

Please email me with your address and I will gladly send you this card today with your DSP Swatches! Later in this week I will blog about the next Product Share….from the NEW upcoming Holiday Catalog that will be making its debut on Wednesday, September 5th!

There is one thing that is common with us stampers and Wanda touched on it with her comment….many of us love to make our Holiday Cards… and  – I get it – as it is a reflection of your love for creating with your own hands to celebrate and unite with family and friends! The new upcoming catalog will get your creative juices flowing….

On to this SUPER CUTE CARD…..I am just bonkers over it as it looks like a Designer Series Paper on the front of the card but NOPE…it is just SIMPLE stamping…using the super simple (and a lot of times forgotten) stamping off technique. For you newbies….saying WHAT THE HECK is stamping off??? Let me shine the light for you….is is just this –  plain and oh so simple!!!

Stamp FULL STRENGTH and then WITHOUT INKING…stamp again…

I told you that was easy….right??? I do forget about doing this and now that I have all of the NEW Ink Pads…they are good and juicy so the effect is ever that much better. I did CAVE IN and purchase all of them as I not only love how they stamp, but I love the new way of opening and shutting them.

CONFESSIONS of an honest stamper….(I always try to give you the good, bad and ugly) as face it – we all have certain preferences in what we like etc. At first I was a bit grumpy with how tight the new ink pads are but hang in there, the more you open and close them…they DO GET much easier so now my frown turned into a smile!

This fun and colorful card is made using the Tropical Chic Bundle. Is that font beautiful or what! Right up my classic and clean alley! The colors that you could use with this bundle are simply endless but today I was also working with the Tropical Textures DSP stack (for the envelope back flap ONLY) so I kept it super clean and classic just using white, granny apple green and good old basic black!

I do want to point out the (5) elements that MAKE this card. I am pointing them out as you might miss it in the pictures and you know me, it is the little touches that make the difference! (as always, all of the products that I use will be at the end of the post)

• I know that I have already touched on this but the stamping off of the granny apple green and turning the stamp to a different angle when I stamped of really made a difference and also gave the card a bit of depth.

• I scored a line on all 4 sides of the granny apple green card front. I always use the thick whisper white as my card base as I am a stickler for a heavy/solid card foundation and then if I am using a solid color (like I am doing today) I simple cut that to the size of the front, 4 1/4″ X 5 1/2″ . (I wish that you could see my simply scored board….it has so many wear makes as I reach for it ALL OF THETIME – I sooooo much prefer scoring like this over the trimmer as I think you can get a deeper score line with this tool)

• I sprinkled clear embossing powder over the black stamped sentiment and heat set it with the heat tool. It is super easy to do and YES, if you work quickly all you have to do is sprinkle the clear embossing over your stamped image and POOF – a super classic and added touch that will make the recipient run their hand over and over with a WOW – how did she do that?

• Check out that BEAUTIFUL die-cut geometrical piece! It is from the Stained Glass Thinlit die offering. I rarely and I mean rarely do this but I did NOT purchase the bundle for this offering…..(as truth be told I did not like the style of the font for the sentiments) but I was WOWED by the die-cuts. Look how fun this is as I took the ribbon and weaved it simply in and out…..LOVE IT!!!! Here is a tip that will make you smile….I used the multipurpose adhesive sheets on the back of the white cardstock…PRESTO no sticky fingers!

• I used the stitched shape circle on the large one and then did a quick and simple black dot accent around the sentiment circle and also added larger black dots randomly around the stamped leave background!

Hopefully this all make sense to you but I invite you to read and re-read the above points and then think about this….are the imperative to do? NOPE, not at all but I will say….try them and they ask yourself again…..and my hunch is….you will agree with me, the little extras DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Trust me, I totally “get it” that there are many times that we simply do not have the extra time (especially with the heat embossing) but I am pointing them out to you as it is my hope and desires to continue to teach you that there are many ways that you can bump it up a bit.

Once you start integrating adding little touches to your work, it will become a habit. (I have to smile as many cards that I receive from blog readers will come with a “fun envelope” and you say….thanks for getting me started  in not sending out a “naked envelope”)

Last week I shared with you that I think that many of you forget about using the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets for projects you work on and I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE you to try them…..once you understand and practice with them you will never be without them.

Here is YOUR OPPORTUNITY to get try the Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets…

I usually offer an incentive with orders of the threshold of $75.00 + but this month I will do it for orders of $50.00+. I will send you (12) 6 ” X 6″ pieces of the multipurpose adhesive sheets along with THIS FANTASTIC geometric border so you can see your for YOURSELF how wonderful it is to be able to peel back the adhesive sheet and adhere to a project!

Why am I change the threshold this month??? – well I thought that this is fair as it would be like “peanut butter and jelly” with the incentive that Stampin’ Up! offering…for every $50.00 you spend (before tax & shipping) they will send you a $5.00 off coupon code that you can spend next month!!!

WOOT-WOOT – I do not know about you but I’ll take each and every $5.00 off that I can get…..(I am racking mine up myself) but please remember……KEEP THE CODE …you’ll need it next month!

One question I have been asked….(for example)…if I spend $110.00 will I get (2) coupons….and the answer is YEP….you will be able to take $10.00 on your order next month.

There you go my friends! I hope that you found this post informative and I hope that you do take the time to think about how you can add some simple steps into your creating to make a difference. The biggest walkaway I want you to have is…

Whatever you do…it DOES make a difference as YOU DID IT and that in itself is a gift that no one can put a price tag on. Simply kindness is ALWAYS in style and we all know how proud we are when we send a homemade card of love to others!

Let’s all have a GREAT week….I will be sending out the Holiday Catalogs out to my customers that have ordered $50.00 + from me over the past 6 months along with something that will make you say….well – I just HAVE TO HAVE THIS……starting towards the end of the week. Yep, HAPPY MAIL from Maryland….

I am playing catch-up on incentives from June (the simply shammy) and July (the natures twine) so they will also be with your catalog (and depending on the orders this week….I will go ahead and send you THIS MONTHS incentive of the (12) 6″ X 6″ sheets of multipurpose adhesive sheets and a sample of the geometric thinlit with the adhesive on it)