papermonkey.org {make time for playtime}

In Your Easter Bonnet...

Hello and welcome! Today's card was made for this week's Splitcoast Color Challenge, which was to use the colors Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. What better stamps to use for such spring-ish Easter colors than the new Easter stamps that just arrived from Magnolia-Licious?

I colored Tilda with Bunny and Wagon With Eggs with Copic Markers using the colors you see above. I know that there are color charts matching Stampin' Up! colors to the Copic shades, but I find you really need to blend different colors sometimes, hence the whole boatload of markers you see lol.

I love these stamps so much and really like how the coloring came out, but I heard *tink tink* as the card layout came together (that is the sound of the wheels falling off my artistic wagon). I feel my design is off balance; in my rush to get the card out for the challenge I produced this - blah! Oh well, the stamps are just adorable, aren't they? So fun to color.

I added a bit of Signo White Gel Pen to the speckled eggs in the wagon, and also to the flowers in Tilda's basket and hat. Final touches include embossing the textured pink cardstock with Stampin' Up!'s Bella Toile using Bridal Embossing Tinsel by Ranger, a Fancy Pants felt flourish, and some Hero Arts pearls.

Have you joined the Magnolia-Licious Yahoo Group for Magnolia lovers yet? Diana Crick, the owner, has a special discount code just for members that will be revealed on April 1st. She is also offering perks like free shipping for US/Canadian shipments with no minimums (!), and special treats with each order (the bigger the order, the bigger the treat!).  Join up and join in the fun! Be sure to say hi :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Christmas Pics & Videos, Butter Tarts & A Few Sales

Hi everyone,

I hope you are enjoying the holidays! I apologize for not updating the blog - we are enjoying some much needed family time. I have so enjoyed doing nothing but visiting friends, speaking with family on the phone and eating way too much. That is one of my New Year's resolutions - to lose weight. I have yet to succeed at keeping a resolution, but I am not a quitter :) I can't wait to get back to crafting and have so much to post this coming week. One of the gifts Allan got me was an Ott floor lamp so I can actually craft at night now woo hoo!

Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to:

Waking the THREE kids up on Christmas morning.

 

Christmas Brunch: Truffled Eggs with Chives on a Portobello Mushroom, topped with Shaved Parmesan. Kiwi and Orange Compote on the side. It tasted better than it looks :)

It was Freeway's first Christmas and he handled it quite well overall. The tree traumatized him at first (It's big! It blinks! Why is a tree my house? Wait, can I tinkle on it?) but he got used to it.

When Rosie tore open her presents Christmas morning, Freeway just looked at her and then to us, wondering why we were not stopping her from such destruction. He let her open all the toys and treats then he took them and ran to play.

The video above is Freeway discovering that one of the toys makes an extra noise (and my very annoying laugh). Christmas dinner and all of the treats ensured that come tree time next year he will be just as excited as the rest of us.

The day after Christmas was very cold (about 15-20 F) but sunny. Heavy rains had washed away a lot of the snow, so we decided to head to the dog park. We were only able to stay for a few minutes before the dogs got too cold but here is Rosie making friends. Who am I kidding -  she barked and scared that poor dog lol - she likes to be on her own to investigate, while Freeway instantly goes and makes friends.

We also head out to Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America, and Signal Hill where Marconi received the first transatlantic telegraph message. I think I need glasses - I saw people by these statues of a Labrador and Newfoundland dog and said to Allan WOW look how big those dogs are! I didn't know they weren't real :(

Today we are headed to Rod and Colleen's house. Allan works with Rod, his wife Colleen is very fun. I made Butter Tarts, one of the few desserts that is truly unique to Canada. They are similar to a pecan pie but without pecans.  Here is the recipe - I really have no idea if it is good as this is the first time I am making or tasting these things. The recipe I used is from The Best of Bridge, one of the most famous Canadian cookbook series - I think it is the equivalent of the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook for us Americans. I found it on the Joy of Baking site *here*.

Sales, Specials & Happenings

Embellish-Online.com Store

Check out Embellish-Online's Deal of The Day! Every day there is a new sale for you to check out. You can use code word GLITTER to save an EXTRA 20% off your entire order - even items that are deals of the day! Today May Arts ribbon is 20% off!

Odd Bird Planet

Odd Bird Planet has tons of new releases you just have to check out - I will have lots of inspiration to show you this coming week! There is also a sale going on! Each day, leading up to the 12th day of Christmas, Odd Bird Planetwill have a coupon for a  percentage off your entire order. Starting on the 25th at 11%, increasing by 1% each day, ending with 22% on the last day. Keep an eye on Johanna's blog for the daily sale.
 
In addition to the percent (%) off your entire order, specific items will be on sale each day. Your percent (%) off will be an additional % off of that day's sale items, clearance items, and regular priced items. Nothing will be excluded from the percent (%) off that day. However, you will not be able to combine your % off with any other discount codes you may already have.
 
If you decide to shop on more than one day of The 12 Days of Christmas Sale and you want us to combine your orders to save on shipping, just include that comment along with your original order number in the "special instructions" section of each subsequent order during checkout.
 
Odd Bird Planet will be closed from December 24th through January 4th. So, no new orders placed during that period will be processed or shipped during that time. We'll begin order fulfillment the week of January 5th, when the elves come back from vacation.

Sweet 'n Sassy Shop

The Sweet 'n Sassy Store is celebrating the holidays with a huge year end sale. Save 10-40% off many items in the store!

Look for the Sweet 'n Sassy Blog Hop starting on the 31st - challenges, inspiration galore and prizes to be had! Stay tuned for details!

The Rubber Cafe

Shimmerz Paints are $3.24 a jar on sale!

Toodles & Binks

For a limited time they’ve got a choice of any three of the current designs for £11.00, under the 3 stamp bundle - all you need to do when you buy that product is place your choice in the comments box on the order. Additionally, if one of those stamps happens to be Toodles & Binks Skate, they will also include the Figures of 8 quote. They will ship internationally.

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Suzy

Toodles & Binks Stamp Bundle Special Plus Free Shipping

To celebrate Toodles (Kay the owner's daughter) party, Kay is offering all three of the stamps now released for £11.50 plus free shipping. This includes Celeste the Fairy, Joel the Deer and the newest release, Simone. There are a limited number of these bundles available for purchase at the Stamp Galaxy website here.

 

Sale on Halloween and Fall Magnolia Stamps

 

Diana is having a huge sale on the newest Magnolia Stamps from Sweden over at her store Magnolia-Licious. You will save 30% on all Halloween and Fall stamps. While they may be labelled for fall, many of them can be used year round. They are my favorite collection so far - can't wait to have them in my inky little hands.

You can see all the stamps here - the ones that are on sale will be listed as such, and are at the bottom of each category's stamps.

Diana is also selling a special Copic Marker set hand picked by Copic specialist Marianne Walker for coloring these stamps. It includes 35 markers, a blender pen, liner pen and a Magnolia stamp.

All orders over $100 ship for free to boot.

I will be back to post two recipes just in time for the weekend, and a card in a bit :)

Hope you are having a great day in your corner of the world!

Suzy

Copic Markers are Coming to Embellish-It

Copic Sketch Markers are coming to the Embellish-It store! They are on order, it will be about 8 weeks before they come in. The good news is that Barb has matched the colors to the Stampin' Up colors for you. You can buy them individually, and you can pre-order them. Be sure to use code GLITTER in the voucher box and you will save 20% off your whole order - yes that includes Copics! The Copics are in the What's New and Pre-Order sections of the store.

Using the New In Colors in an Archaic Way: Masculine & Fall Cards

Today's cards were created for the Embellish-Online.com Design Team Gallery, which opens today. Got your weapon of choice (its coffee for me!)? Settle in for a long post with lots of eye candy.

This month's theme is Fall & Fellas. I have to admit: I HATE making man-cards! I am just no good at it. I like adding girly accents, shiny ribbons, and PEENK. Another reason I hated making masculine cards - I didn't cared for the masculine patterned paper/embellishment lines until recently.  Manufacturers like BasicGrey, Fancy Pants, Making Memories and Cosmo Cricket seem to have gotten the message and have modernized their masculine lines and given us a lot more options.  Lately the masculine trends have been very fun and inspiring, which makes it so much easier to do a man card.

The first card I wanted to share with you is my favorite of the batch. I love the wavy patterns of this Pod paper from the BasicGrey Archaic line. I cut the waves into strips and placed them on a sheet of Primal with very thick 3D Pop Dots.

Using Stampin' Up! circle punches, I cut out various Archaic papers and Stampin' Up! In Colors Tangerine Tango and Baja Breeze.

• Design Tips:
• Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip and Tangerine Tango work beautifully together, and with the BasicGrey Archaic Line.
• Create your own patterned paper details by adding Crystal Effects, Glitter, or Flocking to patterned paper. Here, Crystal Effects was added over circles existing in the paper, and on punched circles.

Next is a kooky scene created with A Muse stamps Moose, Tiny Bird and Three Trees. I wanted to take the sentiment of Happy Fall literally, and created a bird falling. I drew in the dots that symbolize the falling pattern - Allan didn't get it at all and asked me why the bird was upside down. 

Details: The coloring was done with Copic Markers. Crystal Effects were added to the antlers. The little birdy is on pop dots. The brown matting (Archaic paper) was created with the new Cuttlebug Forest Branches Embossing Folder.

The sentiment was created with my Around the Block Tape Writer Kit (like a Dymo label maker). If you dig these, there are four left in the store on deep discount. The refill tapes are on sale too. Check out the bottom of this post for a code to save even more.

Since I was so silly with my Happy Fall card, I went for a more traditional card next using a Lockhart Adirondack Chair and sentiment. To me an Adirondack chair always means the last days of summer or early fall. I love laying back in them and just relaxing, taking in nature's beauty.


I also wanted to show that Archaic patterns are not just funky - here Pods paper mimics the sea in form, and early fall in colors. Bygone Plaid is behind the main image, and also glued to a clear button at the bottom right of the card.

The images were colored with Copic Markers - I used a lot of 0 Colorless Blender Pen to get a bleached out wood look on the chair.

The sky is created with a sponge and chalk ink.

Linen twine, twill, and Fruit Punch Stickles on the flowers act are additional accents.

My final card was created with three patterns from the Fancy Pants Papa Collection and one of my fave A Muse images, Rock Star.

First I cut out stars from the Brave patterned paper and sponged the edges with a Krylon Gold Leafing Pen. Next I cut out a strip of card from the Cards paper (the small diamond pattern) and fit it on the Leader large star paper.

The A Muse sentiment was stamped with Memento Rhubarb Stalk Ink - a great and unusual color. The image was colored with Copics then mounted onto a Marvy Scallop punch square of cardstock with pop dots.

I think this is an easy, fun masculine card that a teenager or teen at heart would love to receive.

Goings On at Embellish-Online:

Sales and New Discount Code - Right now at Embellish-Online.com you can save $5 on on 12x12 BasicGrey paper packs. There is also a new discount code ~ GLITTER will save you 20% off your whole order (put the word in the voucher box on the order form)- I am not sure if this applies to the $5 off papers, I have to check on that, but it is good for your entire order including the other sale items. Click *here* to get to the store.

Guest Designer Kim Frantz - be sure to see the wonderful work Kim has done for us this month. She won our first Friday Free For All Challenge. Her gallery is a must see - that is one talented woman. Wait until you see the CAR CARD she created! No wonder she was named  Memory Makers Master for 2009. Shock and awe, people. Shock and awe! Stay tuned for her Halloween cards next month - we just had to have her for two months.

New Basic Grey - Ambrosia, Eva and Offbeat patterned papers are in the store right now; the matching chipboard stickers and albums etc will be arriving later this month.

Cuttlebug Folders are still on sale.

Friday Free For All Challenge ~ This week Norma is blinging us out with a Shimmer & Glimmer challenge. Be sure to join in the fun. We are choosing our future Guest Designers from challenge uploads - you never know when you could be chosen!

Whew! My fingers hurt. Thank you for stopping by :)

Suzy

Sweet and Simple with the Cuttlebug & Nestabilities Tips

Michelle's challenge over at Embellish-Online.com is to use folded paper as an embellishment. I tried to go big and create a stage complete with pleated curtains and a box for my little ballet mouse to dance on but could not get it the way I like it. I really, really need to practice the art of SELF EDITING. Time and time again the designers of Project Runway are told to do that, and I am trying to take it to heart on my own little paper designs. Make it work! So I went for simple and sweet with this adorable House Mouse Twinkle Toes image.

In the above photo you can see the Copic Markers I used to color in the mouse. The oval shapes are Nestabilities.

Nestabilities Tips: Do you get "dirty edges" on your cardstock when you cut with the Nestabilities, or worse dirty marks right on the cardstock from the tape used to adhere the die cuts to the packaging? I hate that! I have found that you can erase them all away though with a gummy type eraser! Woo hoo! I now use Goo Gone on the Nesties when I first get them - it seems to help. I used just  a tiny bit with a Q-Tip, then went over it all with a damp cloth to remove the Goo Gone, then dried it.

I have also been asked what size I use - ALL of my Nesties are the large size. I may eventually get the small sets too but I just don't see that I really need them.

Card Details: I embossed the vellum scallop oval with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder (available and still on sale in the store - use code SHIMMER in the voucher box for an ADDITIONAL 20% off your entire order).

I stamped the tutu on vellum and folded it by hand where the creases would be on the tutu, then attached it with Zip Dry glue (my Holy Grail of glues, also available in the store). I went over the inner oval with my Copic marker in RV13 Tender Pink. The pink polka dot ribbon is by American Crafts; the Doily Lace punch is by Martha Stewart. The cardstock is Bazzill Bling.

Be sure and play along in the challenge over at the Forum! Michelle has a little prize for a random draw of participants. Don't forget to use keyword FC5 when uploading your projects so we can all see your work!

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Suzy

Blog of the Week & Award Received and Given! Deal Alert!

The Papermonkey Blog of the Week award is something I plan to do every Thursday - I haven't kept up with those plans and have a huge long list of blogs this needs to be awarded to now. Bad bad me :(

This week I am late but in my effort to finally get on the ball I am posting it anyway! I have been a fan of this lady's blog since way before ever starting one of my own. Nancy at Inkcicles, come on down - you are the next BOTW! Your creativity and the love you have for what you do shines from every post you write. You give us wonderful glimpses of your family and life in Alaska, and show us what a strong and wonderful woman you are.

I keep on planning to upgrade this award image *ties note around finger*

I also have the privilege of receiving the Excellent Blogger Award from Michelle Rodgers at Stamper's Dream. In turns I am supposed to nominate blogs who have not received this award before. I nominate:

• Durcan Designs
• Shabbychick Junk
• M.A.D. Stamper

Deal Alert!

Jacksonbelle Embellishments is having a huge blowout in her store with 35% off a ton of stuff including Lizzie Anne Stamps.

Layered Hot Stuff and a Couple of Sweet Stamping Deals

Hi everyone!

I hope you are keeping warm! We haven't had more snow but the frost is out in force.

Today's card was made for the My Favorite Things Guest Designer contest on Splitcoast. The challenge was to create an ATC card and then to layer it over a regular sized card. ATC stands for Artist Trading Card and is a mini card front that measures 2.5 x 3.5. 10 are usually made at a time from one sheet of cardstock, then signed and numbered. To make one see the tutorial here on Splitcoast.

I had a lot of fun making this card and went a little wild with the layers. I was going for a Boho look that was very rich and layered with jewel tones.

This is the ATC and it has several layers in itself.  I distressed the papers and used lots of pop dots.

I embossed the main image, the sentiment and the coffee beans with copper embossing powder, then used an aqua pen to watercolor with Distress Inks, keeping some of the area "splattered" to look like coffee stains.

The gorgeous Turquoise Paisley paper is from The Paper Company. I bought it at my local art supply store. I am not sure why this company is not more popular - maybe it is hard to find? I couldn't even find the website to give you a link. But their patterns are so unique and amazing, and the paper has an almost fabric feel that is SO different. I have a few more patterns by them which I hoard them as I am afraid I won't be able to find more.

This velvet Bling Blossom is by Imaginisce  and another thing I hoard just because I love it. You just want to touch it - it has a soft texture but is stiff enough to keep it's shape. I added a Prima Crystal to the center. The crystal bits are affixed to one big clear sticker.

I am off to do laundry and head to the store - ah fun times! Have a great day!

{hugs}

Suzy

Stamps: Hot Stuff by My Favorite Things Stamps

Paper: Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip (textured); Taken With Teal, Purely Pomegranate; BasicGrey Blush; The Paper Company Turquoise Paisley

Ink: VersaMark, Distress Ink in Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Broken China and Worn Lipstick

Accessories: Artful Stamper Copper embossing powder, pop up glue dots, Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, Aqua Pen (to watercolor), Prima Crystals, Imaginisce Bling Blossom, Heidi Swapp Distressor

Card Size: 5x5.5inches

Sweet Stamping Deals

My Favorite Things is offering a coupon code. Use the code SCS1207 to get 20% off you order. This includes stamps, inks, mounts and Memory Box Papers (but not Copics) and is good through December 8th.

Peaches Gifts is offering free shipping on their entire stock from December 7th until. There is no minimum or maximum. You must place your order and pay this weekend in order to qualify.

Deal Alerts For Free Shipping

One of my fave eBay sellers Peaches has free shipping WORLD WIDE today, November 23rd only. You need to pay for it November 23rd too. I just paid the cost of my items and removed the ship charges during checkout. You can see her store here.  There is no minimum or maximum.

Lizzie Anne Designs who makes the cutest stamps has free shipping for purchases over $35 IN THE US ONLY when you use code TURKEY.  This deal is good November 23 and 24.

Have a great night everyone!

Suzy

Some things old, some things blue

Hi friends!

I am sorry to say I did not make a new card today, but I do have a couple that I really like from the past show you. It was quite a busy day cleaning the house and prepping for Allan's birthday tomorrow night. I like to make him a special dinner every year.  Then we went to the premiere of Rendition starring Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhal. It was a very good movie - I highly recommend it.

This card was made for one of Beate's Sketch Challenges last month. My friend Kim let me borrow her Stampin' Up Like it a Latte set. Oh how I covet this set! I really  have to get my hands on one. The designer paper is by Memory Box and is called Studio. I just love how the pattern of the paper swirled around the cup of cocoa so perfectly. The grosgrain Wasabi double ribbon is May Arts. I got it in one of Jody's ribbon shares. She has them all the time so check her blog out of you are interested. It is a great way to get lots of colors in 5 yard increments without breaking the bank.

This next card uses a Canadian exclusive set by Stampin' Up called Images de mon Pays (Images of my Country). If you live in Canada and want this set, it is not in the catalog but is still available from the Stampin' Up Dormant list for Canada. I believe it can be bought until the end of December.

The olive gold shimmery paper is a textweight shimmer paper that I get from my LSS. Sorry I do not know the company who makes it as my LSS gets it from a distributor in bulk. I stamped the image in Distress Tea Dye Ink and then used my pencils and gamsol. The Prima flowers are two new designs - the white lacey one is from a line called Chatres, and the green mesh is Prima Fancies. I used River Rock and Pomegranate paper too.

News and Deals ~

Anna at Sweet & Sassy Notes is having a special in her store for her blog readers. If you like crafty Secrets, you will want to check out her blog's October 17th entry.

Barb at Embellish Online is still having 20% off all orders if you use the code "fall whimsy" (put it in the VOUCHER area of your order).  Her BasicGrey Christmas stuff (the new line is called Figgy Pudding and is deliciousness in print) has been shipped to her so if you preordered it, it will be there any day. If you haven't it is still not too late to order and save 20%. You may remember that I posted about her Fall theme card contest she was having on her forum a couple of weeks ago. Paula and I were like the only people who entered, so we BOTH won. How awesome is that? We won a Marvy Uchida punch of our choice, any BasicGrey 12x12 we wanted, a BasicGrey file set, and a BasicGrey rubon of our choice. She always has the best specials and contests - I highly recommend signing up for her newsletter. I get no compensation for gushing, I just think she is a great SCS sister with a great store.

Prima Marketing has released their new line of Paintables Paper Collection. Paintables are 12x12 designer paper with patterns that you color with pencils, markers, paints, chalks - whatever - to make your own. They have Christmas styles now too and are really neat - check em out! They are on my wish list :)

Keep an eye on Stamping Bella's blog Friday - she is releasing a new Bella AND a whole new line of stamps. I can't wait to see what she has up her sleeve!

Christy Tomlinson at The Scarlet Lime has announces that starting in November, her scrapbooking and papercrafting kits (she sells carmaking kits too) will include not only her line of exclusive stamps, but designer paper she helped design. You can peek at her new paper here and the new stamps that will be in her November kit here. Her October kit sold out BEFORE October and I was really bummed. But I am good to go for November. They seem to be a good value - I will let you know when my kit arrives.

I wanted to leave you with a few pictures of Nova Scotia - I took these mainly in Peggy's Cove this past year. I hope you like them.

{hugs}

Suzy

This was taken at Peggy's Cove earlier in the year (may or June). A fisherman brought that huge lobster in. The owner keeps it for a while and then releases it at the end of the season. He is at LEAST 60 years old.

He keeps Cuttlefish in the tank too (they keep the tank clean; they will also be released end of season).

I can't remember why they are different colors I think it had to do with sex.

It was a beautiful and foggy day. We took a boat from Halifax to Peggy's Cove. Allan couldn't handle the open ocean rough waves in our little boat and puked *giggle* I won't show a picture of that lol.

Peggy's Cove is a very picturesque village so draws many tourists, but it really is a working fishing village. Lobster traps are in the forefront.

On the way to Peggy's Cove September 29th.

Peggy's Cove lighthouse - I believe it is the only lighthouse that is now a post office in the world. We send people postcards from there and the postmark has the lighthouse on it :)

View from by the lighthouse. Many a ship crashed along those rocks over the years.

Rosie thought we were crazy nuts and couldn't wait to get off those rocks.

Rosie: This sucks.

Another perfect sunset. We had fish chowder and salt water taffy, and then drove home. I love living here :)

Saturday in Halifax

Hi everyone ~

Busy day here in Halifax. It is cool, humid and overcast. The leaves are finally beginning to turn in my neighborhood. Being from California, I still am in awe of the change of seasons here in Canada. So beautiful. This post will mainly be about my rather uninteresting day.

This morning we made crepes - wonderful way to get rid of that extra cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. I use the recipe found here at allrecipes.com except I add vanilla. Last night we had turkey enchiladas. I am finally done with Thanksgiving leftovers! YAY!

This is the street I live on. Notice anything unusual? Yep, that is a cruise ship! I live right across the street from the pier and they are always stopping by. It took a while to get used to, I thought they were parked in the parking lot! That is a Tim Horton's coffee shop, the equivalent of Starbucks in the US in terms of popularity and number of locations. They are everywhere, but especially popular here in the Maritimes.

After breakfast, Allan drove me to Carousel (my local stamp store) where they were having an anniversary celebration. We got to make cards and got free Inque Boutique stamps. Lots of demonstrations - it was great fun!

This card is what I made there. The mitten is a die cut (I think that would be easy to cut out and make on your own). I sponged the mitten with blue chalk, then silver embossed the sentiment.

The snowflake is actually a double sided sticker (both sides have adhesive on them). Perfect for adding glitter, which is what I did here. The cuff is liquid applique swirled  with glitter.

We also went to Point Pleasant Park, a park on the harbor with trails and such. Very pretty.

Rosie loves to play with other dogs there, and hunt for squirrels.

Sadly, there is a fungus covering most of the trees. I forget what it is called but it is not harmful to the trees, just ugly. The city is trying to control it. So far the fungus is winning.

Thought I would leave you, for now, with some Stampin' Up news: November's promotion will be buy 4 designer paper packs and get one free.

Paperosity is having a 40% off sale. They have great ship rates to Canada, and the VersaMagic dewdrops you always see me use here are just $1.41 each!

Be back later with card porn!

{hugs}

Suzy

Deals and Codes

Happy World Card Making Day everyone! The following stores and sites have special sales and/or events going on this weekend to celebrate. They ship to the US and Canada, please contact them to see if they ship anywhere else. If you know of a deal or code going on this weekend please e-mail me and I will post it. I will keep the weekend deals posted on this post so check back I may add more.

• Get 25% off your first item at Paper Pretties Corner Store through Monday.
• Jacksonbelle is having 15% all Inkadinkado and many other products at her store through Sunday.
• Use code "fall whimsy" at Embellish-It for 20% off your whole order. Put the code in the field marked "voucher" towards the bottom of the ordering page.
• Use code c76338 at Stamping Bella for free shipping on orders over $20.
• Kristi Ferro has started a brand new stamping company called Hanna Stamps, named after her daughter. To celebrate the launch she is offering free shipping TO EVERYONE regardless of country for the entire month of October.
• Lizzie Anne Designs has five sets on sale for $12 today: Spooked, Celebrations, Celebrations II, Celebrations Sayings and the brand new Celebration Frame set!
• Check the official World Card Making Day Sponsor's List for more links to special events and sales. The official site is full of great ideas to celebrate too.
• Papercrafts Magazine's list of Paper Parties has lots of free digital downloads and links to card making contests.
• Nichole of Papertey Ink has three free digital downloads for you on her blog and a contest to use them to win Papertrey stamp sets!

I will be adding more later along with my creations! I am off to chop and prep for Canadian Thanksgiving :)

{hugs} and happy stamping

Suzy

Paperosity: 25% off

Good morning friends,

I am sad to say that Paperosity is closing, hopefully temporarily. What this means for you is a 25% off sale on all items in stock. I bought almost every VersaMagic Dew Drop color in existence from her a while ago. They are now $1.76 each. These are the perfect ink for clear stamps. She also has those adorable Rusty Pickle Bottle Jars in lots of colors. Ship costs to Canada are fair too. I hope Paperosity will be back soon but understand that life and family must come before stamping.

Tonight I am taking an acetate class at my LSS Carousel Rubber Stamps. I am so excited! Dejah really inspires me.

I will be back a bit later with some cards I have been making. Have to get Allan off to work!

hugs,

Suzy

Tools of the Trade: Tonic 12 inch Small Base Guillotine Cutter

Behind every great paper crafter is a Tonic Guillotine Cutter.  It is not a "sexy" purchase. I for one would rather be spending my money on ribbon and stamps, but trust me, you will be so glad you did. This is a workhorse you use everyday. It cuts with such precision and is SELF SHARPENING. It makes trimming so much quicker and easier. Yay no more buying blades!

I chose the small base because of the ease of portability, and the fact that I just do not have a lot of craft space. That slot on the side holds the measurement extension, which is stored under the base when not in use.

Here is a pic of the underside of the base. The space above the ruler is used to store the large orange handle that moves the blade.

Measuring between the split can be a little annoying but my other trimmer was the same way. I just plan to add a mark to the 5.5 I use frequently. Easy cheesy!

This is the exact same model being sold in the Stampin Up catalog for over $60.00 CDN (except theirs is black) but Barb at Embellish-It , where I got mine, is having a special just for papermonkey readers. She normally sells it for $34, but will sell it for $30 if you mention my site. Buttttt get this - you can use code "Fall whimsy" to get another 20% off! So it will be $24 plus shipping.  It is heavy and bulky - she has to ship it Priority which is $23 (she makes no profit from shipping), but even then it was way cheaper than anywhere else I looked. I am in no way affiliated with Embellish-It, I just really like Barb and love her store :D

UPDATE: Poor Barb has really been fretting over this shipping issue. She is looking into just wrapping the sturdy box in butcher paper and shipping it regular mail to save you $$.

p.s she is now out of stock, but you can still contact Barb through her site here <-- click this link to order one.

Figgy Pudding

BasicGrey's new Christmas line, Figgy Pudding is due to be released any day now. It is fantastically gorgeous and includes CLEAR STAMPS! I never knew they made clear stamps, or is this a first? They are really lovely.

Winter Wonderland is my favorite stamp set of the three being released. I see it being a great set to use far beyond Christmas. Couldn't you just see the most adorable girly cards made with Sugar & Spice? And the flourishes. So nice.

Barb at Embellish-It is taking pre-orders for Figgy Pudding. What is even better is that you can use code "fall whimsy" for 20% off this and EVERYTHING else in her store! I love her customer service and she has great shipping rates, even to Canada. She also has the matching BasicGrey buttons for all the recently released Fall collection - the Mellow buttons are so perfect for fall cards.

I will be back later with a post on a couple of tools I am really liking right now, as well as a card I am working on. Hope your day is going great!

Hugs across the miles,

Suzy

Free stamp alert

Good morning!

I wanted to let you know about a free stamp offer: Today from 12am-12pm PST Inque Boutique will be giving a free stamp to those who sign up on their website for a free membership.  Those who are already members can post a creation in their gallery (using their stamps) to get a free stamp. Make sure they have your address in your profile.

I do not know much about this company but can't wait to get my free stamp and find out :) Anyone have any experience with Inque Boutique?