I have been away from my blog for a bit - but I have been very busy in my craft room!  . . . so this might be a long blog to catch up a bit! We are running full speed with the new Occasions catalog and the Sale-A-Brations mini catalog! They are both jam packed with some VERY awesome new Stampin' Up! products!! 

Link to Occasions Catalog

Link to Sale-A-Brations Mini Catalog

So . . . . . This is some of what I have been up to . . . . 

These are a couple paper bead bracelets I made for my boss at my day job for Christmas. I use Stampin' Up! black card stock for the black one and silver foil sheets for the silver one. ~ LOVE paper!!! There is so much you can do with it!

I just had to have the bouquet kit that is featured on the front of the 2015 Occasions catalog! It was actually a lot of fun to put together. I opted to not get the stamp set that went with it because I thought I might like it better with out the blooms stamped - and I really do. It is all a personal preference,  . . . but you now know for sure that you really do not need to buy the stamp set too.  . . . . this did make my decide to go ahead and get the bouquet die that is in the Occasions catalog though! It was so much fun putting these flowers together, I wanted to be able to do more!

This adorable Berry Basket is also another great new die! I also used the new Hello You thinlits and the new Ornate Tag Topper punch with the Crazy About You stamp set which they have bundled with the Hello You thinlits ~ Love when they bundle the stuff you want together to add that nice little discount!!

Another super fun new thinlit set is the Mini Treat Bag! Love this set ~ the things that you can do with it are endless! I made this mini treat bag with the DSP that is in the Sale-A-Brations mini catalog ~ it is called Irresistibly Yours and it is white, and you apply ink to it by either spritzing, sponging or by using your brayer. I sponged this one, and added a tag with another one of my favorites from the Sale-A-Brations catalog, the Lotus Bloom stamp set.

An awesome new technique I have recently learned is the Bokeh technique. I came upon it on Youtube. This card and the next card also have the Lotus Bloom stamp  - I had made the other one first and then made this one putting the Lotus Bloom on vellum because as you will see on the next care, you can;t see the Lotus Bloom very well. 

Another card using the bokeh technique! I just love all the color in this one!! I used a stamp from the Hello Life stamp set from the Occasions calalog.

This one didn't come out in the picture quite as well as I had hoped. I used the Butterfly Basics bundle from the Occasions catalog. I used the larger butterfly thinlit as a mask and spritzed with Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive. 

Both the paper and stamp on this card is from the Sale-A-Brations calalog I used the Lotus Bloom stamp set and the Irresistibly Yours DSP, I colored this paper with a sponge using Old Olive. 

A fun new product in the Occasions catalog is the Chalk inks and the Chalkboard paper! We will be making this card in my January monthly club :)

I used the new Happy Hearts embossing folder from the Occasions catalog, also the Hello Life stamp set from the Occasions and the You Brighten My Day stamp set from the Sale-A-Brations mini. This is another card that we will be making in my January stamp club.