Hello my friends! I am back home! My flight from Salt Lake City was uneventful, a welcome change from going out there! LOL! First, I apologize for not getting back to your comments in a timely manner, I did finish replying last night! Today is going to be a long one, we have our golf event at work and I’ll be there from 8:00am until 11:00pm. Kind of kills the week off! So, the last day of Convention was definitely the best day! I was randomly selected for a VIP Backstage Tour for me and three friends!! It was at 11:00am on Saturday and much to my delight Donna Griffith was our lovely tour guide! I took Wendy, Maggie and Brian with me. We got to see all of the goings on behind the scenes. Sterling and Sarah were in the green room so we got to say a quick hello to them. We also got to see Shelli who I have to say is one of the most genuine and sweetest people I have ever met. She chatted with us for a bit and then patiently posed with us through four mobile phones for pictures! We also had the pleasure of meeting the make-up artist, who’s name escapes me at the moment. She was great, very funny and beautiful! Here are a few pictures from out little adventure…
That’s the four of us with Shelli and the Production Manager.
Me getting beatified! LOL!
The lovely master of making people look better than they really are!
The wonderful Donna, isn’t she a cutie?!
I really did have the best time at Convention. I will miss everyone but we’ll keep in touch and I can’t wait to see them all again!
Today I also have a double post! I needed to get my Freshly Made Sketches card in before the deadline and I also have my Monday mainstay, the Paper Players! First up is the Paper Players, they have a CAS Monochromatic challenge this week…
Did I need to see the feathers or the blues, nope! LOL! I started my card off with a base of Soft Sky Card Stock. The background is a piece of Whisper White and I stamped the leaves from the Kinda Eclectic Stamp Set in Soft Sky, Pool Party and Lost Lagoon. I spritzed it with some Lost Lagoon and Soft Sky before adhering it to the base. The tag is a piece of Coastal Cabana that I punched with the Scalloped Tag Topper Punch and stamped the burst, also from the Kinda Eclectic Set, in Coastal Cabana. To create the feathers I stamped the Love Who You Are Stamp in Soft Sky, Pool Party and Lost Lagoon on the same color card stock and cut them out with the leaf from the Flower Fair Framelits. A quick score down the middle and some notches created with the star punch from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack and they are done. The feathers were on one of Shelli’s cards during her presentation. They will have to do until I can get the new set from the Holiday Catalog! A pice of 1 1/4″ Burlap Ribbon that I dyed with Bermuda Bay Ink is adhered across the bottom of the tag. A few scattered 2013-2015 In-Color Designer Sequins complete my card. I love the Kind of Eclectic Set and am so happy to have it now and the feathers are fun and simple to make!
Next up is my card for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge…
As soon as I saw the sketch I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to show you some goodies from the new Holiday Catalog! The base of this card is also Soft Sky and I used the Dotty Angles Photopolymer Stamp Set to stamp the dots in Soft Sky right on the base. The middle Panel is a piece of paper from the All is Calm Specialty Designer Series Paper* Pack backed with a piece of Cherry Cobbler. The wreath is from the Wondrous Wreath Photopolymer Stamp Set* and is stamped in Pear Pizzaz, Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler. I cut out the wreath, bow (a piece of Red Glimmer Paper) and greeting (a piece of Gold Foil Sheet) using the Wonderful Wreath Framelits*. I assembled the wreath and then adhered it to the card with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Two more pieces of Red Glimmer Paper are flagged and adhered under the right side of the wreath. I LOVE the new wreath and Framelits, so cool! The photopolymer makes it so easy to line up the elements and blues are my favorite colors for Christmas! I really hope that you enjoyed the pictures and double dose of cards today for the Paper Players and Freshly Made Sketches! Thank you very much for checking in to see what I’m up to and enjoy your Monday! 🙂
Stampin’ Up! products used:
Paper Players:
Stamp Sets: Kinda Eclectic Clear Mount and Love Who You Are Wood Mount
Ink: Soft Sky, Pool Party, Lost Lagoon and Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin’ Ink
Card Stock: Soft Sky, Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Pool Party and Lost Lagoon
Framelits: Flower Patch
Punches: Scalloped Tag Topper and Itty Bitty Accents Pack
Embellishments: 1 1/4″ Burlap Ribbon and 2013-2015 In-Color Sequins
Tools: Big Shot, Simply Scored, Stampin’ Spritzer, Multi-Purpose Glue, Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals and SNAIL
Freshly Made Sketches:
Stamp Sets: Wondrous Wreath* and Dotty Angles Photopolymer
Ink: Pear Pizzaz, Garden Green and Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin’ Ink
Card Stock: Soft Sky, Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: All is Calm Specialty*
Specialty Paper: Red Glimmer and Gold Foil Sheet
Framelits: Wonderful Wreath
Tools; Bog Shot, Stampin’ Spritzer, 2-Way Glue, Stampin’ Dimensionals and SNAIL
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Welcome Back. So happy you had a good trip back home. Your two cards are very nice. I’m partial to the monochromatic one today. I love that you dyed the burlap ribbon. I think I just don’t want to think about Christmas right now, or even the Holiday Catalog . . . I just want everything! That wreath is gorgeous. Joy!
🙂
Thank you Nancy! I’m happy that my trip home was uneventful too! LOL! I don’t war to think about Christmas yet either but the set was just too much fun not to play with! I want everything in the Holiday Catalog too! 🙂
Welcome back to your busy week. Looks like you had a ton of fun. Your cards are both gorgeous but just like Nancy I am not ready to think about XMas just yet…. As for “wanting” /”needing” all in the Holiday catty…..
Thank you Louise! I had the BEST time at Convention! I know what you mean but Christmas will be here before you know it! 🙂
Hi Justin! Happy Monday! Oh my—-I LOVE your cards for today (I know, I say that almost everyday to you!). But these are both gorgeous! I love the first one, especially how you dyed the burlap…so clever!! And I love the blues mixed together. And your second card…well…I don’t know how you can continue to top yourself, but you do!! I am in love with this wreath set and the way you tied in both the glimmer paper for the bow and flags and the gold foil sentiment. Just gorgeous!!! Thanks for taking time to reply to all of our comments…my goodness, you were very busy and I don’t think any of us expected you to do that. You are a very kind soul, Justin! Love your pics from convention and how fun to get a backstage pass??!! Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy! Sounds like a long day for you today, hope it’s a good one. See you tomorrow! 😉
Hello Karen!
Happy Monday to you too, well, it’s actually Tuesday! Thank you so much!! It’s a good thing that you say it every day! I would be worried if you didn’t! I wanted to keep the card really monochromatic so I had to dye the ribbon. Blues and feathers, my favorites! The Wondrous Wreath Set is just great and the Framelits, who doesn’t love those?! I reply because you take the time out of your day to come by and see what I’m doing and leave a comment, it’s the very least that I can do. I appreciate all the time that you give to me! The backstage pass was so much fun! I was so glad to get to take my friends with me! It was a very long day and I should be in bed! LOL! 🙂
Justin I love your card for The Paper Players, so right-on monochromatic, but that wreath card is to die for!!! I can testify that is even more gorgeous in person! Thanks, as always, for playing!
Thank you Sandy! I’m so happy that you love the wreath card, and yes you did see it in person! It was great to see you on Sunday, thanks for coming by! 🙂
Hi Justin! I LOVE both of these cards!!! The first has my favorite colors and feathers. Love the starburst image – that can be used almost anywhere – don’t cha think? And the colored burlap is fabulous!! I have to try that…
And the Christmas card is beautiful! I can’t wait till I can get my hands on that set. Love the way you used the Dotty Angles set in the background. Love it!! Thanks so much for sharing again!
Hello Gerri!
Thank you very much! I love the blues and well, I don;t have to say anything about the feathers! LOL! I was dying for the Kinda Eclectic Set, but I was good and waited for Convention! The burlap was fun to color and I used the heat tool to speed up the drying. You are going to love the Wondrous Wreath Set! 🙂
Hi Justin,
I have to 2nd everything Karen posted. Word for word as a matter of fact.
Now in my own words, I enjoyed the wreath card, but I love the 1st card it is absolutely amazing. Love the colors and how nicely it flows together. Gorgeous!
I sure hope you have your thinking cap on, or took some stamping items along to work on during your lunch and dinner breaks, if not we all know what that means… another early morning, bed time. Lol!
Take care and enjoy your lonnnnnng day. 🙂 Donna
Hey Donna!
Thank you so very much! The Paper Players card has my favorite colors and feathers! LOL! Lunch and dinner breaks?! Hmm… they were 15 minutes each! I should be in bed now, but again I’m not! There is just not enough time in the day for me! 🙂
So glad your trip home was easy, it looks like it was a wonderful weekend-I even saw you in the video! Thanks for giving those of us who cannot go a peek of what it is like.
Thank you Jeffie! Yes, there I am in the video acting like a fool! I’m glad that you enjoyed my pictures! 🙂
Love your use of the burlap ribbon. It took me a minute to figure out what you used (I peeked at the card before I finished your description).
Thank you Dana! I always try to be as descriptive as I can be but you can always ask! 🙂
Oh my gosh!!! Justin both of these cards are phenominal. I love the Christmas one. By the way, thank you for stopping long enough at convention for me to get a picture taken with you. I love it!! It was great to meet you in person and hopefully I will see you again at Leadership.
Thank you Sandy! I’m happy that you like both of the cards! And I thank you for wanting your picture taken with me! It was wonderful to meet you too! I will be at Leadership so I will see you then! 🙂
I thought nothing could top your first card, loved the colors, layout, stamp sets used, presentation etc. Loved everything. Then I got to the second card. Need I go on Fantastic. Just beautiful. I think I better get a second job so I can purchase all these new goodies
Yeah! Thank you Linda! The first card was fun to put together and the second card was a joy! I love that new stamp set and Framelits! LOL! I need a third job! 🙂
Thank you for the sneak peaks from holiday catalogue the wreath is gorgeous and pleased to hear there is a framelit for it. Like the photo of you getting beautified, LOL. I read Shelli’s blog often and have always thought how nice and down to earth she is and it’s great to hear that from someone who has met her. I hope you had fun at the golf event at work even though it’s a long day back at work. Take care, Michelle xx
You’re welcome Michelle! I was so happy when I saw the matching framelits, I fussy cut last years wreath one too many times! LOL! Ha1 I enjoyed sitting in the make-up chair, a little powder goes a long way huh?! Shelli is just a wonderful person. Golf wasn’t too bad and it ended earlier than I thought it would! I hope that you had a nice day! XO
Fabulous cards, Justin! Did you win that wreath bundle as a door prize? If so, you had the luckiest convention ever with winning it AND the tour. I hope you bought a lottery ticket too! It was fun seeing you again! I’m glad you had a great time, and I’m glad you had an uneventful trip home.
Thank you Amy! I actually won the Project Life Prize Patrol but they ran out, happy me! I had so much fun on the tour! I should have bought a lotto ticket, I will tomorrow! I really enjoyed seeing you too! You are so talented, I love your work! 🙂
Holy cow! I can’t think of a better way of saying it (at least that I can print here). Yikes! Beautiful cards! I love both of them, and you are teasing us with all that Holiday Catty info. Sounds like you had an awesome time at convention and of course, having that back stage inspection must have been so cool! On that burlap, I know you dyed it, but it looks like you may have cut out some of the shredded pieces? I love how it looks,…sort of cut out like a tooth is missing! Very cool! Can’t wait to get my Holiday catalog… framelits in wreaths? And, I love that paper! 🙂
LOL! Thank you very much Bobbi! I’m not teasing, I’m giving you a peek at a lovely Stamp Set! LOL! Convention was superb and backstage was the icing on a very tasty sweet cake! I did take off some of the lines of the burlap too. You are going to be in big trouble when you get your holiday catty! 🙂
Wow, you must be still on SLC time to get home, unpack your goodies and make two amazing cards! I saw Shelli’s trick with making the notched feathers on the live streamed events!! Knew you’d showcase them too!!! Love all of the blues on the first card… What … no Island Indigo?! The Christmas wreath is beautiful with the three different stamp layers! Aren’t the polymer stamps great for lining images up! Hopefully you are getting overtime pay today at work that can be used for items from the Holiday Catalog!! Get some rest!!!
Ha! Maybe that is the problem, We’ll go with that, I’m still on SLC time Beth! Love the little feather trick, it will have to tide me over until August 1st! The Photopolymer makes lining up the stamps so easy indeed! Nope, no overtime, but maybe I can sneak out early sometime this week! 🙂
Love this card, Justin, and LOVE your fabulous pictures from Convention. I love the way you used the sketch, and that “joy” thinlit is awesome! Thanks for sharing with us at Freshly Made Sketches!
Thank you very much Cindy! So glad you enjoyed the pictures too! Love the Joy thinlit! Enjoy the rest of your week! 🙂
Love the wreath card! Did you win it in prize patrol? (I won the Frightful Wreath kit – so excited!)
Thank you Theresa! Yes, I did get it in Prize Patrol! The Frightful Wreath Kit is awesome! 🙂
Love the wreath card! I won the set too, and can’t wait to play with it. I haven’t even unpacked yet. I really enjoyed meeting you on Thursday – I had no idea what you had gone through to get to convention – wow! Glad the trip home was more sane.
Thank you Michele! The set is great! I unpacked as soon as I walked in the door! I had a nice time meeting you too! Yes, the trip in was a bit long but it was all worth it! 🙂
Love what you did with all those beautiful blue hues, Justin! LOVE those little feathers!
Thank you LeAnne! I love all of the blues! We know how I feel about feathers! LOL! 🙂
Beautifully done, Justin. But then I have come to expect no less from you! Thanks for playing with the Paper Players!
Thank you Mike! I appreciate it! Have a great week! 🙂
Hi Justin:
My computer was down from Sunday until I got it back about an hour ago. Now I will play catch up.
Love the photos and the cards, it looks like you have a fantastic time. I will be away from Saturday until Monday or Tuesday so most likely won’t get back to checking your blog on a daily basis until then. Your photos are fabulous as are the cards from Tuesday.
Hello Grace!
Oh no! No computer is no good my friend! I’m glad that you are caught up with me! Thank you! Have a safe trip! 🙂
Justin, it was great to meet you at Convention! Loved seeing all your pictures!
Your card is fabulous! Love all the blue tones and the feathers look fantastic on the tag! Thank you for joining us at The Paper Players this week! X
Yes Claire! It was so great to meet you too! Thank you! I am very partial to the blues! Have a wonderful weekend! XO
Wowza, Justin! Such fabby, dabby cards! I LOVE both of them! Thanks for playing with The Paper Players!
Thank you so much Ann! Congrats on all your Convention accolades again! Have a great weekend! 🙂
Two fab cards Justin – I love the monochromatic blues and the dyed burlap, but that Christmas card is to die for!!!! Thanks for playing along with The Paper Players too this week.
Thank you Joanne! I love the blues but the wreath is just so much fun! Enjoy your weekend! 🙂
Both of your designs are *fanta-bulous*, Justin! The monochromatic design is beautifully executed with the subtle sentiment that is artistically celebrated, and the backgrounds and the colors in the Christmas wreath card are tied together wonderfully! Both designs are expertly coordinated works of art that scream a celebration of happiness. I am often so frustrated with my cards when they don’t hang together as a unified whole. You knocked it out of the park with both! LOVE your blog, Justin!!!
Thank you EL! I had so much fun making the cards. I love colors challenges, they let your creativity run wild! The Christmas card uses that new wreath that I just love! I am happy when I make cards so that you feel the happy is what it’s all about! Big hugs to you my friend! 🙂