I've joined with my two friends Kathy (Kathy's Stamping World) and Melissa (The Stamp Doc) for a weekly challenge series.  We hope you follow along to see what we create each week and use it to spark your own projects.  

For our first week we chose the Beautiful Butterflies Bundle.  We each created a project with this bundle and are sharing them with you! I chose to use the card front die to create two different size cards.  Be sure to watch my video to see how I created each. 

There are two ways I suggest using this die.  The larger is a full half sheet of card stock.  Once you cut away the sides of the butterfly you can add your message or other papers to the base and keep the piece a full size A2 card.  The other option is to cut your card stock around the outline of the butterfly cut out to create a notecard sized card.  This is approximately  4 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches. 

Here is my video.  Be sure to subscribe so you get notice of future videos. 

Be sure to go check out Melissa and Kathy's blog posts too!  Feel free to share your creations on my Facebook or Instagram  post.  I love to see how we inspire you.  

The Nest of Winter suite, featuring the Winterly Tree Tops bundle, is so pretty and I'm thrilled it's not retiring with the fall mini catalog.  It's sticking around so you can still add to your list.  

Each month I hold a class where I feature a different suite.  We make four projects including a 5 x 7 piece that can be framed, usually a 3 D item and two cards.  These are projects from my Nests of Winter Suite class I held in October. 

The 5 x 7 piece utilized the Birch Wood embossing folder for the background. It made a perfect backdrop for the greenery cutout and birds. 

For this card I used the negative space from the greenery cut out on the 5 x 7 piece to create the border.  The piece was perfect to use as a mask with a blending brush and ink pad.  I added ink once then turned the mask and inked it a second time for more dimension. 

Being able to die cut images from the coordinating Designer Series Paper is always nice!

For this last card I cut the Designer Series Paper piece to 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 so it covered the full card front without a border.  Using a circle punch makes it easy to choose the image from the paper that I want to feature.  

Which project is your favorite?  

The hybrid embossing folders that Stampin' Up! introduced in the past couple of years are so cool. Being able to emboss and die cut in one pass through the machine is wonderful. 

Pairing this hybrid folder with the beautiful Full of Life Designer Series Paper gives you ombre options with no hard work! 

I created this simple thank you card by adding some color to my white background with a Blending Brush.  Simple, clean but so pretty with the varied colors in the paper. 

Have you tried the Hybrid Embossing folders?  I was skeptical at first about being able to cut and emboss in one pass of the machine but it works and is so easy! 

Be sure to sign up for my mailing list to keep up to date on what is going on with my classes and Stampin' Up! offerings. 

Paper Pumpkin never disappoints in my opinion! I love receiving my kit in the mail each month and opening up to the surprises inside.  

This month's kit coordinated with the Nests of Winter suite in the holiday mini catalog.  My favorite parts of the kit were the beautiful foiling on the card bases. I loved the tri fold designs and especially loved that it gave me even more options for alternatives! 

I did not do a lot of stamping on my first alternatives. I let the imagery serve as the focal points. 

Did you get the add on dies for this quarter?  The tag die is a great size and was perfect to use to create these tags from some of the card bases. 

Cardinals are always a striking bird to feature.  This card could definitely be a holiday card but doesn't have to be! I can think of lots of other occasions to use it for.  

Want to get your own kit?  Click here to subscribe or get more information. 

I love getting my Paper Pumpkin kit delivered to my door each month.  Although I rarely create the cards as intended most of the time! I love to create alternatives instead. 

However, the beauty of the kits is that if you do want an easy button for your creative time then these craft kits are perfect for you. Each kit contains everything you need to create beautiful projects (usually cards). 

To create my alternatives the first thing I always do is cut the card bases into 4 x 5 1/4 pieces which are the perfect card front size.  This months bases were printed on both sides and were absolutely gorgeous! Check out the colors of the leaves. 

By simpleing adding a little card stock you can more than double your number of cards with each kit. 

The wood slices also made these cards perfect for masculine cards if you, like me, struggle with coming up with cards that aren't covered in flowers and bling! 

Paper Pumpkin can be canceled or paused at any time so no worries that you are locked into something.  

Want to start your own Paper Pumpkin subscription?  Brand new subscribers can get 40% off the October kit by signing up using code HOLIDAY40 by October 10th! Go here to sign up. 

There are so many benefits to joining Stampin’ Up! and I would love to have you on my team.  It’s truly the best value and even better this month.  You can choose $155 worth of product for only $99 and get free shipping.  Plus a past Paper Pumpkin kit, plus catalogs, plus business supplies (you can pass on to me or another team member if you don’t need them!) You get the picture!

​The extra product is only available through the month of October. Sign up between October 1-31 to take advantage. 

Here are some of the other top reasons I encourage you to join:

1. You can receive/earn a 20%-25% discount on all your orders/income on sales (this includes your own Paper Pumpkin subscription). 
2. You do not have to sell anything.  MANY demonstrators join simple for the discount and this is absolutely fine.  You can purchase for yourself only.  These demonstrators are often referred to as “hobby demonstrators”.  In fact, nearly all my current team members are hobby demonstrators.
3. To stay active you must have $300 in sales every quarter. If you do not meet this, you have one month to make it up or you are dropped.  There are NO penalties to dropping.  You also have extra time when you first join.  You have the current quarter as well as the next full quarter for your first $300.
4. You get access to the catalogs early including options to order product early! A copy of each catalog is mailed to you at no cost.
5. As a team perk I offer a discount on my catalog product shares.
6. Access to a private Facebook group for my team—I keep you up to date on what is going on and we meet (some in person, some virtual) most months for a fun crafting time. These are always completely optional.
7. I also share PDFs of projects that I create for events and classes with my team in our private group. I want to share and inspire you as much as I can! If you choose to hold events you are more than welcome to use these projects.  
8. Stampin’ Up! events and trainings. Our next one will be in March in Raleigh.  There can be both regional one or two day events as well as a larger multi day convention.
9. Me! I am always here if you have questions or if you want to build a business. I am happy to offer encouragement and goal setting as well as share class ideas.  I will never pressure you to sell or to participate in any team activities.  That is all up to you!
10. If you want to build a business there are many opportunities to earn more income and free product as well. 

Ask me questions or go here to learn more and sign up.  I've love to have you join me. 

The Wildly Flowering suite in the 24-25 Stampin' Up! Annual ​Catalog is a beautiful suite that is perfect for so many occasions.  I love the muted colors in the papers.  Most of the cards I've made so far are along the lines of "thinking of you" cards.  The messages in the stamp set are sweet. 

For this first card the layout is a simple one but it packs a punch if you ask me.  The blue background helps the flowers to stand out. I fussy cut around the sentiment to give it some dimension. 

The new Dashing Designs embossing folder is such a cool background. Don't overlook it. 

I'm also a little obsessed with the Greetings of the Season Dies.  They are an online exclusive and so useful.  This stamp comes from the Everyday Greetings stamp set that is also an online exclusive. 

The die makes such a great focal point on the front of a card. 

Which card is your favorite?  Have you gotten this suite yet?

Be sure to sign up for my email list so you'll know about upcoming classes by mail that I'm offering! ​

My upline, Kathy Alt, shared this fun layout with me during our new catalog card swap.  I have to admit I have been a little obsessed!  It's so great for not only making three cards at once but it's a great way to show off multiple Designer Series Paper patterns at a time. Measurements at the bottom. 

​For the first card I created I used the Nest of Winter paper which I adore.  All the patterns are great and the birds are beautiful.  You can even die cut some of the images. 

For the second one I used the pretty Country Lace paper for a soft look.  I always need birthday cards so I made a few since the best thing about this design is you can make three at once! 

Do not overlook the Season of Elegance paper in the new mini catalog.  It's beautiful. The stamp is from the Winterly Tree Tops stamp set that is part of the Nests of Winter suite. 

Which is your favorite? 

You can also check out even more designs in my Instagram reel. Be sure to follow my account!

Want to make it yourself?  Here is the PDF with instructions. 

The new Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini catalog launched yesterday and there is so much wonderful new product to show off! Have you checked out the catalog?  You can download a digital copy on the SU! site or shop the website. If you need your own copy contact me. 

One of my favorite suites from this catalog is the Reindeer Days products which includes the Reindeer Fun bundle. As soon as I saw it I knew it needed to be the focus for a suite class.  I've been creating with it so much! Check out all these fun projects.  

The first thing I made was a wall hanging piece.  This will be a part of my suite class and I love how it turned out. I found the cut little hanging boxes at Michaels.  The adorable deer can be die cut from the coordinating paper. 

The colors are so bright and fun.  I wanted Real Red ribbon to coordinate so I created my own with the Blends.  I love that we can color white ribbon into any color we need. 

The sweet branched die cut is so perfect for a focal point on your card.  I may or may not have spent a lot of time fussy cutting deer! 

This card used so many supplies from the suite. I embossed the Designer Series Paper with the new Plaid embossing folder.  This is one of the big ones! You can fit a full 1/2 sheet of card stock in at one time. I also stamped the cute reindeer and used my Blends to give it some color. It's topped off with some twine and peppermint embellishments. 

Which project is your favorite? 

It's September! Where does the time go? Time for another Monday Montage Blog Hop. 

I am so excited for the new Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini Catalog coming out on Wednesday. Although there is lots of holiday fun in the catalog there are also some great fall friendly options.

The Regal Flora and Regal Winter Suite are great and offer so many options! I decided to switch up the colors from the beautiful papers featured in the catalog and used Berry Burst, Old Olive and Bubble Bath. 

Come back Wednesday to order! 

​Be sure to click all the way through to check out the great projects everyone shared.  Up next is Wendy.