VACATION: DAY 2 and STAMPIN' UP RUE DES FLEURS

Another beautiful 2 days on vacation!!  I am so not used to having all this sun and tempatures in the 80s, but loving every minute.  This evening I am in New Mexico, less than a mile from the Mexico border (looking at the border wall all aglow with lights right now).  We drove down from Tucson to my brothers house today and saw some gorgeous scenary on the way here.  I'll post a couple of pictures in my next update, because today I want to show you some more pictures of Kartchner Caverns State Park.  We were very lucky, because 3 people did not show up, to get tickets to tour the Caverns yesterday morning as it was booked solid until the 19th.  We had the most awesome tour guide, who gave us background information on how the caverns were created millions of years ago, how they were found, and so much more.  I am always so totally amazed at how many beautiful places there are to see right here in the USA -- one does not need a lot of money or go to another country to see God's creations!

Before the trip pictures, I actually do have a card to show you, using the new Rue Des Fleurs Stamp Set in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  I can't give you a list of all the Stampin' Up product used because I forgot to pack my catalogs -- sorry, but it is vacation time for me.

I made one like this at my last card class, but switched it up a little.  I love this card with the lacy Adorning Accents Edgelits Die and Vintage Embossing Folder.  I think this is such a beautiful wedding card.

A little bit of history, well worth reading so you have the background of the discovery of the caverns.

Shasta Ground Sloth -- bones found in caverns.  See below for story.

Inside one of the rooms in the Cavern.  The Rotunda Throne tour takes 1.3 hour and the Big Room takes 1.5. The Rotunda Tour explains the basic science of the cave and how limestone caves form. The Big Room's tour theme is Discovery: Past, Present, and Future. Tour guides also cover cave science and cave bats.

Later in the day we took a tour of the gardens around the Kartchner Caverns Visitor Center.  This is the Smooth Edge Agave Cactus.

The Butterfly Garden and a portion of the Center showing in upper left.  I never knew there was so many different varieties of Cacti.

It is so hard to show you in these few pictures how beautiful it is in person.  Plus, I was very disappointed that we were not allowed to take pictures inside of the cavern (the story behind that is way too long to put on a post, but very interesting as to why we couldn't). 

So now this girl is hitting the sheets as it was after 2 a.m. last night before I got to bed, and almost 2 a.m. now -- I need sleep!!

Until next time,
Sandi

RUE DES FLEURS MEETS EDGELITS DIE

Well it looks like ole' man winter has final stopped in town.  Here we are freezing our buns, and everybody in stampin' land is down in Texas enjoying the sun and Leadership.  I won't give it away, but get ready for an awesome new product coming soon from the company (aka Stampin' Up).  I am so excited and thrilled that I work with the best direct sales company in the country (if not the world!!).  The company doesn't keep up with the trend -- IT MAKES THE TREND, which the other companies follow.  You will just have to stay tuned for the announcement, if you don't hear it from me first. 

So getting on with today's post.  I have a beautiful card to show you today, my favorite design for this Saturday's card class.  Also, a great tip on how to use your new Edgelits and Framelits Dies (actually, I think I will use it for most of my Big Shot Dies).  So here we go:

I think this is the 1st white on white card I have every created, and I love it.  I used the new Reu Des Fleurs and Loving Thoughts Stamp Sets stamped in Basic Gray Classic Ink, on Whisper White Card Stock.  The card base was embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Embossing Folder with a 1" strip of Basic Gray Card Stock adhered behind the bottom front of the card that was cut with the new Adorning Accents Edgelits Die.

I love the inside as much as the front.  I used the beautiful sentiment stamp God's Blessing for the inside of the wedding card.  At the bottom I used the Romance Standard Wheel (sorry, I just realized it was discontinued from last year's IB&C).  Everything was stamped in Basic Gray Classic Ink.

 Here is how I cut my card stock using the new Edgelits Dies:

You might want to "right-click" your mouse on the above picture, and select "open in new tab" to show a larger picture.  First, I cut a portion of Grid Paper (p. 207 of IB&C) the same size as a Big Shot Standard Cutting Pad.  I then high-lighted the 1" lines in red marker, and extended those and the 1/4" lines (high-lighted in black marker) across to the right.  I also wrote in the inches on the left.  If you don't have grid paper and choose to make your own template, make sure you use very thin paper like copy paper or vellum.  You don't want anything thick like card stock because it will be too tight to run through the Big Shot with your dies.  To keep it clean and intact, and because I knew I would be using the template a lot, I covered the back and front with Avery Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheets.

A picture of the template laying on my Multipurpose Platform (in this case on Tab 2).  I used a little Dotto repositional adhesive on the platform to keep the template in place (you don't want it sliding all around everytime you use it).

I "built my sandwitch" laying a Standard Cutting Pad on top of the template, then my White Card Stock making sure I use the gridlines on all four sides, then I positioned my Edgelit on the template/card stock.  Notice that the left and right scallops on the card stock are even (i.e., I centered the Edgelit using the template).  For my card above I wanted to cut off 1" from the bottom of my card (so my stamped wheel would show from the inside), so I lined the Edgelit up on the 1" line (marked in red marker).  I did not have to tape the Edgelit down, I just carefully laid my Standard Cutting Pad on top to finish my "sandwitch" and ran it through the Big Shot.

I hope you can use my tip.  I know I will get a lot of use from the template, as I plan on using it with a lot more of the Big Shot Dies.  Another tip:  Use an old, scratched up Standard Cutting Pad on the bottom of your sandwitch because it will get a lot more scratches on it from the edgelit (no sense ruining a brand new cutting pad).  Have a nice weekend everybody,

Until next time,
Sandi
"The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of distress."
 -- Psalm 9:10
"No matter what, I will trust in You, for You will be with me Lord."  --  Mary Brown