Oh just look at it!  Isn’t it beautiful?  Clean, fresh and modern!!  Just wait until you see what is in it – click the image to open it up!!  I already have some new favorites.  Here are some of the highlights of what I love.

• More Merry Messages  (p. 15) – A Christmas word set that is top of my list
• Star Tee and Christmas Blessings (p. 19) – Lovely new Christmas sets
• Two by Two (p. 60) – A lovely little stamp for baby cards (set of 1)
• Blast Off (p. 65) – A space set….fantastic!
• Serene Silhouettes (p. 75) – Gorgeous art work for elegant cards
• Page 85 – For stampers who love realistic images to color
• International Bazaar suite (pp 96 – 99) – Dramatic new patterns and striking images
• Papillon Potpourri (p. 115) – A beautiful butterfly set that has a coordinating new punch!
• Daydream Medallions (p. 117) – Medallion stamps with coordinating Framelits
• DSPs (p. 162 -165) – Natural Composition, Floral District, Polka Dot Parade
• Piercing Template and Mat (p. 181) – New larger size with coordinating piercing guides…wow!
• New Big Shot accessories (pp. 188 – 194) – Just look for the new tag in front of the title.  So many great tools!
• New Hostess items (pp. 200 – 205) – Hostess choices for every stamping style!
• Moving Forward (p. 209) – Our Ronald McDonald House set this year…adorable!

And yes, that is just the highlights.  New items are codes with “NEW” before the title so they are easy to find.  If you don’t already have a demonstrator and need a personal copy of the catalog, please just let me know (go to the My Stampin’ Up Website tab above and you will link to my demonstrator page with all the information).

Lesley Croghan of Always Playing with Paper has brought us the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge layout for this week!  At first the layers had me stumped but then I realized I could use any shape and I knew just what to do!

I pulled out my Beautiful Butterflies Die and the Berry Blossoms DSP!  I cut out the butterfly using my Big Shot and the rest of the layers fell into place quickly.  I love these busier prints when they are scaled down like the Big Shot dies can do.  I had out some of my Sale-a-bration goodies from yesterday’s card and found that these brads would work perfectly here.  That awesome 3/8″ Ruffled Ribbon was calling out to be used too.  I have started organizing my stamp drawers in preparation for new catalog things and came across some things I hadn’t used in a while.  Hmmm…you might be seeing some more of these!  Hard to see it in the picture but the Early Espresso layer is embossed with the Stripes Embossing Folder.  Ok, one more thing.  You may notice that there is a new watermark on the bottom of my picture.  That was created for the design team by Lesley Croghan.  Again, I have to say that the evidence points to the fact that she may never actually sleep!  *smile*

I hope you can join us this week.  Last week’s entries were so varied and fantastic.  I continue to be so inspired by everyone’s work!  The design team has worked hard creating some beautiful cards and we are joined by two new guest designers for the month, Erna Logtenberg and Tara Murphy Bourgoin.  Make sure you link on over to their blogs and let them know how awesome their card are!

Thanks for dropping in today.  I’m so appreciative of the support you continually give.  How fortunate I am to be a stamper!

Stamp: None; Paper:  Berry Blossoms DSP, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Early Espresso;  Ink:  None; Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies Die, Stripes EF, 3/8″ Ruffled Calypso Coral Ribbon, SAB brads, Dimensionals

Craft Project Central has another amazing project available with a May subscription today.  This one is courtesy of Laurie Zoellmer at Laurie’s Stampin’ Spot.

This beautiful Acrylic Box and coordinating Fabric Cards/envelopes are all included in the tutorial.  Talk about timely!  I am starting to think about teacher gifts for the end of the year and these would certainly be appreciated!  Having this tutorial on hand will be a big time saver.

My project for May is done, I just have to finish the tutorial.  I think you are going to love it!  But…since stamping is more fun than typing, I’m off to play with the Creating Pretty Cards Monthly Card Challenge.  There is a new sketch and it is really cool!  You have the whole month to play but you know I can’t resist a great sketch!!  I hope to have it to share with you in the next couple of days.

Thanks so much for stopping in today.  Don’t forget to go tell Laurie how great her project is!  See you soon!

My Hostess Club is the most fantastic group!  We met yesterday and had so much fun (as always!).  They seem to have endless patience with me as I “make” them tie bows and have been so supportive with my transition back to flying.  Like many things with the crafting world, I’m sure I get back more from them than I could possible give!

Well, back next week with some more projects from the club.  Thanks for stopping in today.  See you again soon!

Stamps:  Bright Blossoms, Precious Butterflies; Paper:  Summer Smooches DSP, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink:  Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Basic Black; Accessories:  Daffodil Delight Seam Binding, Neutrals Buttons, Thread, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip

I wanted to try and new fold, the Joy Fold, and I knew that the Summer Smooches DSP and the Bright Blossoms stamp would be perfect for it!  I’m not sure why I have never used this fold before because it is really easy and such a wow.  I used this tutorial.  The Basic Black background pieces use the measurements given in the tutorial for DSP with a small exception.  It seems that there was an error on the measurements needed for the inner and outer panels on the small section.  My Basic Black layers are 2 3/4″ x 3 3/4″ (since the inner card folded becomes 3″ x 4″).  As an experiment I wanted to see if a bow would hold the card closed and it does.  The trick is to put a Dimensional under the outer loop and a piece of Sticky Strip under the knot.  That keeps it from pulling up.  The inner loop has no adhesive so that you can tuck the inner section under it.  The bow is a double “potato masher bow” with a button tied onto it.

Here are some more pictures of the card in various stages of being opened.  This designer paper really makes it easy to make a cute card!  The club loved this one and you can count on seeing more of this fold from me!

Stamps:  Bright Blossoms, Precious Butterflies; Paper:  Summer Smooches DSP, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink:  Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Basic Black; Accessories:  Daffodil Delight Seam Binding, Neutrals Buttons, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip

As promised, I wanted to post one of the cards I made at Cindy’s house while visiting.  It was so amazing to be at her house and overwhelming to be able to stamp with her lovely things.  In fact, I struggled to know what to make.  So Cindy challenged me to use……Sahara Sand.  Oh my!

Blessedly, she also pulled out her Color Coach to see what it put together and it coordinated Pink Pirouette and, drumroll, Bravo Burgandy.  Again, oh my.  Well, I held up the colors and you know what?  They look great together!!  Those brilliant people at SU.  Now I tried some watercolored flowers and then finally settled on using Just Believe.  This is a set I have loved since I first saw it but somehow never have gotten.  Using markers, I inked up the stamp in the Sahara Sand and Bravo Burgandy and stamped on Whisper White.  So pretty.  I thought the image was a stand alone kind of panel so I kept the rest of the card simple.  Cindy had some retired Bravo Burgandy Wide Grosgrain (really, she has EVERYTHING!!) and I tied it up with some Linen Thread.  So Cindy, I met your challenge and actually made a card I like using two colors that Ihardly every use.  This is why I love stamping with friends (my stamp group at home inspires me the same way)!!

I have two more cards to show you but not yet!  Cindy has also put together a video of me tying a double bow and we will post it as soon as she finishes the final touches.

Thanks for stopping in today.  The post is a little late going up but my boys are out of school and we’ve been busy all day.  See you again soon!

Happy New Year to all of you!  I hope that the beginning of your 2012 is off to a great start.  I do not have a card for you today but wanted to share some exciting news.  Most of you know that I am a pilot for United Airlines.  I have been on leave for over three years.  This is partly because United Airlines has many pilots still laid off and my schedule would be less than wonderful.  It is partly because my husband is in the Air National Guard and flies long trips.  The time has come for United to ask me to return to flying.  As of today, I am back on the books at the company.  With three years off I have lots of training to do, of course, and some of that will start on Wednesday.  I will be flying the Airbus 319/320 (which I was flying when I took my leave of absence) with mostly domestic US flying (some Canadian, Mexican and Caribbean routes).

What does this mean for my stamping??  Not much really.  You haven’t seen much in the way of posting over the last couple of weeks.  Some of that is the typical holiday schedule with little time to post.  Much of it though is that I have been getting ahead.  I will continue my design team work with both SUO Challenges and Freshly Made Sketches.  I will continue to be a Stampin’ Up demonstrator as well.  I love the products from Stampin’ Up and my stamping customers are so supportive of my non-stamping work.  I have a one-month training period starting on Jan. 17th that will be academically intensive so you can expect to see nothing other than design team work during that time.  I hope to “sneak” in something here and there but it is hard to predict when.

Thanks for all the support you give me in my creative efforts.  I find that my stamping and  the people in this crafting community bring such joy to my life.  I look forward to continuing these “adventures in stamping” with you.

Oh, I almost forgot…I also got a brand new computer for Christmas…a MacBook Pro!!  I have always been a Windows user so my learning curve is steep.  Bear with me as I learn how to edit photos with my new toy!  Happy and safe new year to all of you!  I’m stamping today so with any luck, I’ll have a card to show you with some of Stampin’ Up’s latest products tomorrow!