Last Day for August Specials and Retiring Products!

Today is last days of August and I just wanted to quickly remind you of the THREE great things that are disappearing with the month.

1.  Basically the Best
2.  August Stamp of the Month
3.  Expressions II
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1. Basically the Best:  During the month of August, when you order one each of our Whimsy, Adventure, and Enchantment Fundamental papers, you can choose to get either the Rustic Home or Uptown Fundamentals for FREE! Both of these Basics packs feature foil designs and specialty materials for making your artwork unique. Yep, this deal is basically the best!  To take advantage of this special in one easy click, go here.

The layout you see at the top of the post is one I created combining the bright and happy pints of some of the Adventure Fundamentals and the bold and neutral prints of Basic Uptown Fundamentals (which is one of the paper packets you can get free with this special).

Here are a few more details of the layout:

2.  August Stamp of the Month: 

This set is yours in August only for $5 ($12.95 savings) with every $50 you order (before shipping and tax).  Order $100, get 2...and so on! When ordering on my website, you'll be prompted to add your set(s) before checking out.

3.  Expressions II: 

This beautiful publication is saying it's last goodbye on August 31 at 11:59 MST (tomorrow!) to make new for the Holiday Expressions publication that will debut on September 1.  If there is anything you want or need (hard keeping those two straight sometimes!), get it now!  Here's a link to view this beautiful publication page by delicious page (scroll down a bit, the first book you see is the annual book and that one is still good through July 2017.  The Expressions II is a just below that.), and here's a link to the shopping portion of my website to get your goodies.  Happy shopping!

Thank You Cards with Sea Glass and Basic Fundamentals

I know we've been talking a lot about the Fundamentals papers this month because of the Basically the Best Fundamentals special (I'll remind you how that works again in just a minute), but have I really taken the time to introduce you to our Color of the Year, Seaglass?  If I haven't, I have been remiss because it is GORGEOUS (swoon!). I will be sharing several thank you cards  today that mix papers from the Basic Fundamentals (some from Rustic Home, some from Uptown, and even some from Memo).  Don't worry, I'll include a list of the products used, complete with photos and links for your convenience, at the very end of this post.

The 6" x 6" thank you card you see at the top of the post, just incorporates little touches of Sea Glass.  It also uses papers from the Rustic Home Basic Fundamentals and the Uptown Basic Fundamentals.  I embossed the sentiment in white on Black Cardstock.

Before I share a bit more artwork, let me just show you the beautiful Sea Glass products:

Sea Glass Cardstock:

Sea Glass Stamp Pad:

Sea Glass Reinker:


Sea Glass Glitter Paper:

The next 3 cards are 3" x 3" little babies. This size of card is so great to put on a plate of cookies, or tie to a cupcake box (with a cupcake inside, of course!), or tie to a candy bar (can you tell I'm hungry?) to say thanks to someone special. Plus, you can get 8 of these cards out of one piece of 12" x 12" cardstock.  Cut your 12" x 12" paper in half at 6". Then take each of those two 6" x 12" pieces and cut them into four 3" x 6" pieces and fold in half.  Again, I just added a bit of Sea Glass to Basic Fundamentals and a bit of Black Cardstock.  All the sentiments are embossed in white.

Don't you just love those Basic Fundamentals? Well, you can get either the Rustic Home or Uptown packages for FREE this month with the Basically the Best special.

You can take advantage of this special in one easy click here.

All the Thanks	Let's Go	Rustic Home Fundamentals	Uptown Fundamentals
Memo Fundamentals	All About the Gold Fundamentals	12" � 12" Sea Glass Cardstock	12" X 12" White Daisy Cardstock
12" X 12" Black Cardstock	Sea Glass Exclusive Inks� Stamp Pad	VersaMark� Ink Pad	Ranger� White Super Fine Embossing Powder
Rustic Home Ribbon Pack	Mini Stapler	Mini Staples	Craft Heater
Surecut� Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer	Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors	3" X 3" My Acrylix® Block	Thin 3-D Foam Tape
3L® E-Z Dots® Adhesive

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It's All About the Polka Dots Layout

This little grandson guy never ceases to bring a smile to my face. In fact, yesterday as I was watching him while his big sister, Livvi was at chemo with her mom and dad, we were watching the Olympics together. I'm telling you, this little 14 1/2 month old was into it!  We were watching the men's 200 meter qualifying heats and whenever they got into the starting blocks he would yell, "GO!" So cute.

Anyway, back to the artwork.  This layout showcases both the Rustic Home and Uptown Fundamentals paper packs. All I added was a bit of Poppy Cardstock, Black Cardstock and White Daisy Cardstock.  This month, when you purchase the Whimsy, Adventure and Enchantment Fundamentals packs, you get to choose either the Rustic Home or the Uptown pack for FREE!  You can do this easily, with one little click here.

The little detail I wanted to point out on this layout is the Poppy Cardstock polka dots. The black and white polka dot print paper is from the Uptown Fundamentals pack.  When creating this layout I thought it would be cute to add a few Poppy polka dots to tie in the accent color I used on this layout. The polka dots on the paper are just larger than 1/2" so I pulled out my 1/2" punch and punched a few Poppy Cardstock circles and added them strategically to the layout.  I love that they are just a tad but smaller than the white ones printed on the paper because it makes for a nice little edge around the Poppy ones.  It was a simple but fun way to add a bit of color detail to this layout. 

I used my Tuxedo Black stamp pad and  trusty watercolor paints and brushes to create the little boy and balloons from the True Love Stamp Set (you can find this set on the back cover of our Annual Inspirations Idea Book. It is the set that is dedicated to helping Operation Smile. When you purchase this set, $7 of your purchase price goes straight to Operation Smile!).  And, how about that dreamy font I used for Stade's name? I'll bet you thought I hand lettered it. NOPE!  It is a brand new alphabet stamp set called Bistro Script that has become one of my new obsessions.  Tip: when stamping this alphabet, you won't want to line those letters up on a long block. I suggest you stamp them one at a time so it's easy to connect them and make it look like it's hand lettered.  Easy, peasy, but it makes all the difference! Also, notice the wood grain on the brown paper is actually embossed. Fancy, schmancy!  I didn't emboss it. It came that way in the Rustic Home Fundamentals paper pack. Yes, please!

Here's another fun tip.When using twine, tie your knot and then take your piercing tool (I think it should be called the pokey tool because I use it for so much more than piercing) and with the pokey end, carefully unwind the twine ends. It creates a fun, frayed look.  I do it all the time and I love that look.

Never fear! I have included a handy list of all the products I used on this layout, complete with links and photos at the very end of this post. 

Rustic Home Fundamentals	Uptown Fundamentals	12" X 12" Black Cardstock	Enchantment Cardstock Combo Pack
12" X 12" White Daisy Cardstock	Watercolor Paper	True Love	Bistro Script
Pen Pal Alphabet	Black Memento� Ink Pad	Watercolor Paints	Waterbrush�Small Round
You & Me Complements	White Twine	Rustic Home Ribbon Pack	Surecut� Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer
Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors	Piercing & Embossing Tool Kit	3" X 3" My Acrylix® Block	3-D Foam Tape
3L® E-Z Dots® Adhesive

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