Hawaii Incentive Trip - My Swap Card

Hello My Friends

Just a quick post to show you the swap card I made to exchange with other demonstrators here in Hawaii.

Very similar to the Thank You card I made for everyone who put in an order during the month of April - except there is an extra layer in this card.


I thought of adding a few rhinestones.  
Or pearls.  
Or twine or ribbon or dimensionals or embossing or something.  Anything.  But honest-to-goodness, sometimes the simplicity of something is the piece de resistance.

And that's definitely how I felt about this card.
Less is more.  And this card is stunning all by itself.  Just some tone-on-tone sponging on top of the embossed flower and voila --> It was good to go.

Another lovely thing about swapping in Hawaii....?  I only had to make 26 copies of this card!  You might recall I had to make 125 copies of my Founder's Circle card.  So 26?  Ha!  That was a piece of cake.

I am so, so, so looking forward to receiving 25 copies back of various cards by various Stampin' Up! achieving demonstrators later this week.  And I can't wait to share some of them with you too.  Don't forget to check back later to see if I have news about those swaps.

In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful day.  
God Bless,    ~Cynthia    <><

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Blendabilities - Can You See the Difference?

Hi Friends

Blendabilities Comparison - Whisper White on top, Very Vanilla on bottom

Still here in southern Ontario enjoying time with my family....but I am *also* enjoying a chance to play with my Blendabilities a bit.  I really liked how Sunday's card turned out and I wanted to see if the Blendabilities looked any different when used on Very Vanilla cardstock instead of Whisper White.  

Blendabilities on Whisper White

Blendabilities on Very Vanilla

You tell me.....

I tried to make my colouring and card construction as identical as possible so that any differences beween Whisper White or Very Vanilla might be more pronounced.  

But honestly?  

Except for the fact that I might have been a bit more vigorous in my use of the Colour Lifter for the Vanilla-based images than the White ones, well aside from that there is very little difference at all.  

And certainly nothing that would make you think you *had* to use Whisper White as your card backing.

Good to know!

But I'd like to hear from you.  Tell me...do YOU see a difference?

So there you have it folks.  Our Blendabilities can be used equally successfully on our Whisper White cardstock and our Very Vanilla cardstock!  And trust me, I can see me using them a LOT in the future.  

If you'd like to play with your very own Blendabilities (at the very best price possible), check out my Blendabilities (virtual) club HERE.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!   God Bless,    ~Cynthia    <><

So Thankful - and It's Not Even Thursday!

Hello My Dear and Wonderful Friends!

I am still basking in the glow and happiness of finding out on Friday night that I had been named as one of the 2014 Founder's Circle Achievers.  E-mails, FB messages, texts and phone calls have all arrived to remind me of just how wonderful all of you are.

And then I went to Mass and I got to praise God for the profound blessings He has bestowed upon me!

I am blessed, so very blessed!

At any rate, I wanted to present a big THANK YOU to all of you, once again, for making this Founder's Circle achievement possible!  And what better way than with a gorgeous card created using the new Blendabilities;  Coastal Cabana and Daffodil Delight for the large Blended Bloom image.  Daffodil Delight for the butterflies.  And Calypso Coral and Daffodil for the small flowers.  Since I am still visiting family and did not bring any punches with me, I was forced to fussy cut all of these images!  So those of you who know me will understand exactly *how* appreciative I must be of all of you, in order for me to do that!     ;)

If you have not yet purchased the Blendabilities, then trust me, you really want to.  And if you want them ALL (like I do), then check out my Blendabilities Club HERE.  You can get ALL of the markers, plus the accessories, plus 2 stamp pads...all for less than the cost of purchasing them individually.  It's a sweet deal my friends.  And heaven knows my sweet friends deserve a sweet deal!

Going to a Family Reunion this afternoon so I'll be reconnecting with a lot of family for the rest of the day.  But know this....YOU are also my family.  Each and every one of you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Enjoy the rest of your day and God Bless,     ~Cynthia    <><

Lovin' My New Embossing Powder!

Hello Friends

Confession time....when they retired my Bright embossing powders (Tempting Turquoise, Tangerine Tango and Melon Mambo) I was pretty sad.  I had just started to really use all the gorgeous bright colours against black backgrounds and I was loving the effect.

Well, I needn't have worried.  Enter Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral and Crushed Curry embossing powders!  Love, love LOVE the way they pop against a dark background!

And just to show you what I mean - voila!  Today's gorgeous card!

The Blended Bloom stamp set has been used a lot by demonstrators lately to show off the colouring potential of the Blendabilities....but it is a gorgeous image in its own right and just perfect as an outline image to show off the new colours of embossing powder.  Against black, the contrast is stunning.

Of course, we shouldn't ignore tone-on-tone effects -- it might not show up well in this photo, but just that little bit of Blushing Bride detail on the left-hand panel of this card breaks up all the "white space" and adds visual interest.

And just to make this card a wee tiny bit more special - it was created as a fancy fold card.  This particular arrangement of panels is called a Joy-fold and is easy to make, despite how involved it might seem.  Honestly friends, sometimes you can jazz up a card and kick it up a notch just by changing it from a standard card opening to something a little different!

I am really going to have to make a few more samples to show you the other great new colours of embossing powder.  And just for the record....No one makes higher quality embossing powders than Stampin' Up!  I've used powders over the years from various sources, many of them famous and reputable names in the crafting world....but I still haven't found any I like as much as the ones sold through SU!  Trust me when I say that they are the best of the best.

Off to do a little more prep now for my BOGO and New Catalogue Kick-Off party tomorrow night.  There is still time to join us if you haven't RSVP'd yet.  I'd love to get inky with you.  Just contact me to let me know!

Have a terrific day everyone, and I'll "see you" tomorrow!   God Bless,     ~Cynthia     <><