Well, here we are!  The last day of our blog hop!  If you have landed here from Melissa Stout’s blog, welcome!  I have really enjoyed her posts these past ten days, as well as the posts of the other finalists.  It has been fun seeing their projects in detail and learning about what they enjoyed doing and what their struggles were.

My post today shows my last 3-D item.  This was my last item to make and it seems that I always struggle with the 3-D items the most.  I never know what to make!  So I put it off for as long as I can, and then I’m struggling to get something made by the deadline.

I found this paper mache letter at a big box store.  I painted it white and then covered the front with the scalloped designer paper.  I sanded all of the edges, and then proceeded to embellish it.  I stamped the balloons and paper pieced the colored panels on them, including the flag panel hanging down on the bottom one (can you say, T-E-D-I-O-U-S?).   Lots of fussy cutting on this one.   

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed viewing these ten projects the past ten days.  I’ve truly loved reading your comments on them!  I hope you’ll come back and visit my blog often. 

Now it’s time to hop on over to Sandie Conner’s blog and view her last Artisan project.  You’ll love it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Up, Up & Away
Paper:  Island Indigo, Whisper White, 2011-2013 In Color Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack
Ink:  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Island Indigo, Blushing Bride
Embellishments:  Blushing Bride ½” Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones Jewels, Billboard Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die, Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die, paper mache letter and paint from big box store

Wow!  We’re almost to the end of our blog hop.  If you’ve arrived here from Melissa Stout’s blog, welcome!  If not, you are most definitely welcome too.  You are in the middle of a blog hop and you can just follow along and make the complete loop if you’d like.

My card today is my favorite that I entered.  I saw a similar card made with non-Stampin’ Up supplies and I thought it would look even better made with Stampin’ Up supplies in Stampin’ Up colors.  This card is very much my style — clean lines, flowers, buttons, etc…

I colored in the flowers with ink and a blender pen on the newsprint paper.  I used a sponge dauber on the cut-out flowers.  It made for a soft and pretty look.

Well, now it’s time to venture on to Sandie Conner’s blog.  She has another beautiful project to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to come back tomorrow for our last day of the blog hop!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Perfectly Penned, Flower Fest
Paper:  Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango and Whisper White Smooth Card Stock, First Edition Specialty Designer Series Paper, Brights Collection Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz
Embellishments:   Boho Blossoms Punch, Brights and Subtles Designer Buttons, Lucky Limeade Baker’s Twine

Here we are on Day 7 of our blog hop now.  If you’ve arrived here from Melissa Stout’s blog, welcome.  If not, you’re welcome too!  Please feel free to join us in the blog hop.

My project today is another of my card entries.  This one is so NOT me!  I really felt like I needed to have a variety of styles in my submission, so this is my attempt at vintage/shabby chic.

I started by embossing the crumb cake card stock with white embossing powder using the Woodgrain background stamp.  I sewed around the pink Twitterpated paper and roughed up the edges, and then I piled on the embellishments.  This is where I have a hard time — I never know when to stop!  I glittered up a chipboard butterfly with Dazzling Diamonds and then added some glass glitter on top of that (you can never have too much bling, right?).  I tied a big, scrunchy (is that a word?) bow with seam binding ribbon, which I embellished with a layered flower.

My favorite part is the Hello, Doily stamp.  I stamped it on vellum paper and heat embossed it with white embossing powder and then cut it out by hand.  It almost looks like a real doily that way.

Well, now it’s time to hop on over to Sandie Conner’s blog.  She has a treat for you today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Hello, Doily; Loving Thoughts, Woodgrain
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz Smooth Card Stock, White Vellum Paper, Pocketful of Posies Designer Series Paper, Twitterpated Designer Series Paper
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, VersaMark, Whisper White Craft
Embellishments:  On Board Merry Medley, Sponge Daubers, White Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Baja Breeze ½” Seam Binding Ribbon, white crochet thread, Twitterpated Designer Buttons, Paper Daisies, Antique Brads, Silver Glass Stampin’ Glitter, Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter, Boho Blossoms Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Labels Collection Framelits Dies, sewing machine

Moving right along to Day 6 of our Blog Hop.  Did you land here after visiting Melissa Stout’s blog?  I have really enjoyed seeing all of her projects these past few days, haven’t you?

My project today is another of my card entries.

My inspiration for this card came from a magazine.  Sometimes when I see something I really like, I decide to try to create something similar using only products I have on hand.  That’s what I did with this card.

Are you ready to hop on over to Sandie Conner’s blog?  She has another great project to share with you today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Perfectly Penned, Bring on the Cake, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper:   Pool Party, So Saffron, Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla, 2010-2012 In Color Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack
Ink:  Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, So Saffron, Crumb Cake
Embellishments:  Poppy Parade ½” Stitched-Poly Ribbon, Hat Pins, Alphabet Simple Numbers die, thin (white) cardboard that comes in designer series paper packs, Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die, Sponge Daubers

Did you just arrive here from Melissa Stout’s blog?  Isn’t her work amazing?  If you didn’t come from her blog, then you may have just stumbled into a blog hop for the ten Artisan finalists who were not selected for the Artisan design team.  Welcome!  We’re showcasing the ten projects that we submitted for the contest.

This post shows one of the 3-D items I made.  I bought a plain 12×12 photo frame from a big box store, and painted it white.  I then attached a sheet of designer series paper and then proceeded to embellish, and embellish, and embellish… Well, you get the idea.

I used my Big Shot for a lot of the flower dies, as well as punches.  Here’s a close-up picture of the banner:

And here’s a close-up picture of some of the flowers:

There were a lot of fun details on this project.

Now it’s time to hop on over to Sandie Conner’s blog so you can see her amazing project and continue on the blog hop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Mixed Bunch, Pennant Parade, Fabulous Phrases
Paper:  Whisper White Smooth Card Stock; Lucky Limeade, Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, and Daffodil Delight Textured Card Stock; Brights Collection Patterns Designer Series Paper Stack; Cheerful Treat Designer Series Paper (hostess)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, VersaMark
Embellishments:  Lucky Limeade Baker’s Twine, Brights and Neutrals Designer Buttons, Basic Rhinestones Jewels, Clear Rhinestone Brads, Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Boho Blossoms Punch, Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch, Blossom Petals Builder Punch, Blossom Punch, Petite Pennants Builder Punch, Fun Flowers Bigz L Die, Little Leaves Sizzlits Die, Billboard Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die, Blossom Builders Designer Printed Kit

Well, I hope you were able to enjoy the first day of our blog hop.  Did you come here from Melissa Stout’s blog?  Isn’t her project great!  It has been so fun to see all of the talent in this group!

My post today includes my simplest card.  In fact, it is so simple that I debated until the day I had to ship everything off in order to meet the deadline, about whether to include it or swap it out for something else.  I was worried it was too simple.  But since I didn’t really have anything else I liked better, and I truly love this card, I decided to send it in.  This card is so me!  I am drawn to florals and clean and simple lines. 

The hardest part about this card was lining up the polka dots border stamp to make it look like all of those polka dots were from one stamped image.  I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig and stamped them in Versamark and then embossed them with clear embossing powder.  It doesn’t matter how often I use heat embossing — I still think it is magic!  I love watching the powder melt, and you are left with such a professional look.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Now hop on over to Sandie Conner’s blog to see her amazing project and continue your blog hop journey.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Borderlines, Vintage Vogue, Loving Thoughts
Paper:  Basic Gray and Whisper White Smooth Card Stock
Ink:  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, and VersaMark
Embellishments:  2011-2013 In Color Designer Printed Brads, White Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, and Pool Party Baker’s Twine, 3/16” Corner Punch

You know the saying, “Always the bridesmaid, never the bride?”  Well, I think that could apply to me and Stampin’ Up’s Artisan Award.  Stampin’ Up has an annual contest in which its demonstrators can enter ten different projects and they then select ten winners based on creativity, craftsmanship, etc…  I’ve now entered this contest three times over the past five years, and I’ve never won, but I have been a finalist three times.  One of the good things about being a finalist this year is that there was a nice prize — a paid shopping spree with Stampin’ Up! merchandise, and they put all of the finalists’ projects on display at convention.  I’ve seen a lot of different entrants’ projects and I’m AMAZED that I was even selected as a finalist.

For those of you who didn’t get to go to Stampin’ Up’s annual convention and see all of the projects, all of us bridesmaids finalists are having a blog hop over the next ten days to show you our ten projects which we submitted.  Since we entered this contest back in May, a lot of my projects use products which were retired with the new catalog.

This is one of the five cards I entered.  I stamped the vines on the five panels, and then embossed the flowers with Cherry Cobbler embossing powder.  I made a ribbon flower with Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon and then added the embossed card stock flower on top.  This card was much more tedious than cards I usually make, but I was happy with the result.

Thanks for viewing my project! 

Now go enjoy the project of the next finalist, Sandie Conner. 

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Borderlines, Fabulous Phrases, Itty Bitty Bits
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Versamark
Paper:  Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler
Embellishments:  Cherry Cobbler embossing powder, Cherry Cobbler 1/2″ Seam Binding Ribbon, Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions embossing folder, Fun Flowers Bigz L Die, Basic Pearls, Regals Designer Buttons, Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine, Boho Blossoms punch, Scallop Edge Border punch