I finally got my first order from the new catalog today. Using some of my stashed soft sky, I wheeled the romance wheel for the background. I also used the new A Kind Word, which I think is precious and the new border punch looked fabulous with this sweet image. Can't wait to get to play with some of my other new things later.

I think my absolutely favorite time of year to make cards is Valentines' Day. The big heart in the middle is embossed with the paisley folder for my cuttlebug. I inked the raised side with regal pink ink to get the reversed embossed look. The smaller heart in the middle of the larger heart is one of the new sets being offered for Saleabration that begins on February 1 from Stampin' Up. I paper pierced it and then added a gold dome and jeweled flowers. The bella toile background is one of my favorite background stamps that is still in the new catalog. I stamped the bg in bravo burgandy and then used a blender pen to go over it to fill in the color. I also used copic markers to do some of the pink flowers and green leaves.

Here's a little Valentine I made for the Love contest over on Kitchen Sink Stamps. Kitchen Sink Stamps must be used and I have a limited collection so decided this little squirrel would be a different little creature to be passing along a Valentine!! I love making Valentines. It's my favorite card making time of the year. So get out those stamps and make you a bunch to send to your friends and relatives. They will love getting an original, handmade card of love from you!!!

One of my favorite new challenges on Splitcoaststampers is the Scripture challenge in the new Faith based challenges in their challenges forum. This is a scripture that expresses that kindness is a characteristic of our Lord and is something He delights in. I'm making these as card fronts and punching a hole in the corners to hang on a ring to keep my collection of scriptures on in my stamp room. My creativity is certainly a God given talent and He placed me in a very creative family to learn from as well. My parents have been card makers for over 58 years so it is only a natural process for my sister, Lynn (Allee) and I to have learned from the best.

A Very special Thank You to Barbara for giving me this award. This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.And these are the lovely people that am awarding this beauty to:

wwwone4joydaily.blogspot.com
the writestuff.justrightdesigns.com
stampingwithapassion.blogspot.com
confessionofaleft-brainedstamper.blogspot.com
stamphappy-tammy.typepad.com
stamp-n-more.blogspot.com
wwww.creationbypatti.blogspot.com
notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com

All these lovely ladies have encouraged and befriended me, thank you all!

I did this card for the Flourishes Home Challenge going on at Fourishes' forum site on Splitcoaststampers.com. Check it out! It was fun going around the house trying to find something that would inspire a card. I love this embossed tin pail that I have on my wall and I thought immediately of this folder I have for my cuttlebug. Those little sweet flowers are made with a mini punch I got from Creative Memories and The stamped leaves are from Flourishes' spring ephemerals.

I did this card for the Bible Verse Challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com. I cannot think of a better way to glorify God's words than to put them out there in as many beautiful ways as we can share with the world via computer or snail mail. Share God's Words of Truth in your cards you share. It helps bring light to many dark places, so brighten the corner where you are!!! So many of my favorite rubberstamp companies have made so many scriptures into rubberstamps. Check out: Our Daily Bread, Verve, Sweet and Sassy (just to name a few) and Hobby Lobby sells many of Stampablities scripture stamps. I collect as many as I can afford.

The card below is for today's color challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I made use of an old favorite retired background stamp.

I met with one of my stamp groups yesterday and because I had just gotten back from a four day prison ministry trip 3 hours away, I had to do some really quick preparing. I pulled out one of the speciality stamps SU sold a few years back for contibutions for the American Heart Society. Many of them said "Thank you for pulling out an old stamp to use." It makes us feel less pressured to buy new stamps when we don't even have time to stamp with the ones we have." My sales are down, and I know this practice will not help me out businesswise, but it did make me think that I do need to make them feel the stamps they do already have, have worth, and they need new and fresh ideas to make use of them too. The main reason I stamp with that group is to keep them stamping and loving it. They will have to at least buy paper that way and they will be tempted to want to purchase the new things too, but too often we devalue those old stamps by always only working with the new stuff. I'm not really demoing in this group, I'm just keeping them interested and active in this hobby. So, my new year's resolution is to make use of some of my favorite retired sets. I know the argument will be that it will frustrate your customers that they can no longer purchase these sets if they want them. But then, it does make it more valuable to those who hold those sets and may want to sell them. It's time we add some value to those retired sets instead of devaluing them, don't you think??