We are at the halfway point of this year's biggest sale of the Stampin' Up! year - which means they also give us some NEW things to pick from!!
Here is the $100 selection - a fun bundle of an adorable basket set and a coordinating embossing basket weave folder. Make sure you read to the bottom of this post - as one of my teammates has a great sample made with this bundle.
If you are a fan of all the metallics - then hold on to your hats - here's a new one - ROSE GOLD! A wonderful Designer Series Paper in one of the trendy metals that is currently seen everywhere.
Both the Basket Bundle and the Designer Series Paper will be used on projects at March Camp.
The final new selection is a great sentiment/background combo set.
Here is a great card made by my friend Susan to show off the basket bundle. She used the Blends to color in the basket.
Aren't you ready for Spring? This set bundle can be yours for FREE with a $100 purchase just in time for using it for Easter, Spring, Mother's Day - even Summer projects.
March Camp will feature a LOT of Sale-A-Bration - since the majority of them are limited edition and once March is over.....the chance to get them will be too! I know we will be using the Basket Bundle, Heartfelt Blooms (both seen above) - the new metallic DSP - which leaves room for just TWO other sets. (the 6th project will feature the cross bundle for an Easter project). If you will be coming to camp - feel free to send me your vote for those last two spots!!
Don't forget - I am doing a Paper Pumpkin giveaway - and a Paper Pumpkin subscription is a great way to get Sale-A-Bration items! For details - click here
All online orders placed on my website that include the host code 3PTEB4HY when prompted will receive a pack of mini dimensionals as a thank you gift! If your order is over $75 - in addition to the mini dimensionals you will receive a Fast Fuse adhesive! This offer is good through February 28th.
Did you know that now through March 30 - when you sign up for a 3, 6 or 12 month subscription to Paper Pumpkin you can earn Sale-A-Bration freebies?
(and check back here tomorrow for the new Sale-A-Bration releases!)
paper pumpkin arrives to your door each month - with everything you need to complete 8 cards - (or some months it is other projects, you can visit their website for past projects)
Each month you get a STAMP SET and A STAMP INK SPOT - sometimes there are even other surprises!
This March - Paper Pumpkin turns FIVE. All subscribers will get an additional free gift in their box. Don't Miss Out! To get the March kit, you must have your subscription reserved by no later than March 10.
Here is a quick look back at the projects that showed up in my mailbox over the 12 months of 2017!
Visit my website - and shop the Paper Pumpkin link along the left. It will look just like the screen shown here.
A 3 month subscription - get 1 SAB choice.
A 6 month subscription - gets you 2 SAB (or 1 of the $100 choices!) Sale-A-Bration choices. You can also add $36 to your cart while shopping to get hostess benefits. This means you get another SAB freebie and $15 in whatever you like free!
A 12 month subscription - gets you 4 SAB choices and the above hostess benefits ($20 in free merchandise) You can also add another $35 to your cart and to get $45 in WHATEVER you like from the catalogs FREE!
I will be sending out thank you gifts for each level of subscription in early April.
Once you check out with your cart on my website - you will be sent a code. Take the code to the Paper Pumpkin website (www.paperpumpkin.com) and enter your sign up details there! You can also purchase the codes as gifts.
GIVEAWAYS - I AM DOING 2 GIVEAWAYS - HERE IS HOW YOU CAN BE ENTERED TO WIN A JANUARY 2018 KIT:
1) I WILL BE DRAWING 2 NAMES FROM ALL OF MY SUBSCRIBERS ON FEBRUARY 28TH - TWO OF YOU WILL WIN A JANUARY 2018 KIT!!
2) INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS WINNER - FOLLOW ME ON INTSTAGRAM - FIND THE POST THAT LOOKS LIKE THE ONE BELOW. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS IN THAT POST. I WILL DRAW FROM THOSE NAMES AND SOMEONE IN THOSE COMMENTS WILL WIN A JANUARY 2018 KIT!!
Day Six of our Scottish adventure was one for the record books. We crammed so much in to it. We started the morning off in the beautiful Highland Mountains of Glencoe. This could be one of the most stunning places on earth. We stopped off for a look at Inverary Castle for our own little Downton Abbey experience. We drove through the Trossachs and Loch Lomand to stop for tea where I had lived in the 80s.
We had reservations to stay that night in a Bed and Breakfast on a working sheep farm in the Borders but there were a couple of more places on the drive down we hoped we could fit in.
They were at two ends of the Scottish spectrum!
First was Drumlanrig Castle.
It sits on 120,000 acres with Victorian Gardens, parks, art collections, Dukes, Duchesses and more!
It had already closed for the day, but we were able to walk the grounds.
The scope of everything was huge. After being in the Highlands, the south of Scotland has a much more gentle, rolling hills, and far less wild feel.
Add this to one of the places that I would love to go back to see one day when it is open. Had our second week not been in Iceland - we would have had time to see more of these things....had they been open. Make sure if you are planning to visit Scotland and getting IN to see places is important to you that you a) go when more of them are open (past April) and b) plan far less stops than we did or twice as many days!
We leave for Ireland in about a month - again a lot of things not open (we won't be able to sail out to Luke Skywalker's island!) but we are there for longer than our trip to Scotland...so stay tuned for those pictures!
While we saw NO people while on the estate - we saw hundreds of Grouse and dozens of sheep.
Next up - one last stop - and this is how it is described on the official Scotland tourism website
Notoriously difficult to find, it’s situated on a triangular spur of land, surrounded by steep drops to an artificial loch.
Because nothing says - what a way to end your day to us better than notoriously hard to find! It was down a lot of tiny little lanes (but we have driven in Italy) and it was easier to find than our B&B would prove to be....
Also from the tourism website:
Discover one of Scotland’s most enigmatic castles: a rare hall-house standing in a location as breathtaking as it is remote.The dating of Morton Castle has been debated, but it was probably built in the late 1200s or early 1300s. It’s one of only a few surviving hall-houses that have been identified, and by far the most complex. It retains some of its original impressive presence, and carries a real sense of discovery.
It was SO incredibly quiet here. Actually it reminded me more of my memories of Scotland than the ACTUAL place that I had lived reminded me of Scotland.
It was peaceful and remote - again just us and some wildlife.
The sun was beginning to lower in the sky - playing off of the hills and walls of the Castle itself.
One thing that is striking to me when visiting many of these castles is the size.
I suppose from TV and movies in my imagination they are grand large buildings. But in reality the old ones are rather small.
You can see Serg down in the corner of this photo. So - the height of the tower is tall - several floors I suppose.
Here is the family standing in between floors.
And here they are "inside" - this shot shows basically the entire bottom floor of the castle.
For a building built in 1200-1300 - it has stood the test of time remarkably well.
I can only imagine how cold it must have been to have lived here. I froze for so much of the time when I lived in a building that at least had some sort of heat (not central, but at least heat). These windows are small but they would have allowed in the cold winds and rain.
Take a listen to the sounds of the Scottish Borders:
It was a lovely last sight to see on this day.
From Morton's Castle we needed to find our way to our Bed and Breakfast.
Such narrow roads! Thankfully there is also very little traffic.
If you haven't traveled through Great Britain - you do need to know if you come upon a road with a closed gate - you open the gate, drive through, just make sure to close the gate! Ris was the gate closer - and we knew we were getting closer to our B&B as sheep were EVERY where - and lots and lots of baby sheep too!
We made passed through just a couple of small villages but didn't stop. Once we literally arrived on the farm - our lovely host directed us back to one for a nice dinner. It had been a long day and we were starving.
It was a fancy Pub Meal kind of night - Serg had a Gammon Steak with Pineapple. (otherwise known as ham)
Ris had Balmoral Chicken. Although it has been too long now - she surely got it without the Haggis...or it was some kind of special....but it was a Pub and this is chicken - so Balmoral is my educated guess, lol.
Fish and Chips would be mine - but I likely got it as much for the peas as for anything. And because I was likely cold.....
For dessert it was Sticky Toffee Pudding and Lemon Tart.
The perfect ending to a very long and wonderful day.
This is a lovely stamp that is a new style from Stampin' Up! You will love it! I have a couple of cards that I have made using the same stamp. One of them will be a camp project....I just have not decided which one yet. For those of you who are coming - feel free to vote your choice after I have posted them all!
Take a second to watch the video - I wish that you could see all the shimmer......
I will admit that I have colored this stamp more than once - and each time I seem to pick different petals. You can see it even happened here on the card I made the first time and the one I made on video.
If you have not used the Brusho yet - Why?! It is so much fun!! I used it in two different ways on this card. Once to watercolor the main image and also on the background as a spritz for some fun speckle to add to the vintage feel of the card.
The embossing folder I used tends to rip through all of the cardstock. For this design, I just went with the rips and let it add to the Shabby Chic look. This style was popular with our card designs back in the 2000's - I did resist the urge to tear the paper and sponge!
All online orders placed on my website that include the host code 3PTEB4HY when prompted will receive a pack of mini dimensionals as a thank you gift! If your order is over $75 - in addition to the mini dimensionals you will receive a Fast Fuse adhesive! This offer is good through February 28th.
