Being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is so much fun for me.  (No – this isn't a "recruiting blog!"  You know me better than that!)  I really didn't want to get into another "sales gig," after selling skin care products in college.  But because Sarah, my "upline," was more into building relationships than sales and recruiting, I haven't been pressured to turn my business into a big-time, money making career.  You can make money as a SU! demo, but right now, it's still more "hobby" than career – although it does help with groceries.  And with two teenage boys and an oversized dog, I need all the help I can get with the grocery budget!

Back to the fun part.  I have made so many wonderful friends through this venture.  I have "real"friends and cyber friends – and they're all so much fun.  Darrah (a cyber friend) makes me laugh more than anyone I can think of.  She has a very dry wit – and is very funny.  Then there's Shelley.  Several posts ago, you saw some of the ideas I got from Shelley – the ski cap for the sock monkey, and the cupcake/muffin box.  Well – here's another one!

I had this card on the table at my "office," wondering what to do with it.  It was actually a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card and the base was Confetti Cream.  I hated it.  (I posted the reject several weeks ago.)  Shelley saw it and said, "Oh, I like this!"  (Are you kidding me???) "It's very Andy Warhol."  (I was just playing around with bleach – but – sure!  Andy Warhol was what I was going for.  That sounds so much more "artsy.")  When I mentioned I didn't like it, she said, "Oh, it needs to be square."  Yep.  And trying to figure out what color (other than cream, which really washed it out) would go with all the other colors was tough.  Laura came by one day, and in the course of our conversation, we decided plum.

So here's the finished product – and I'm actually not ashamed to send it out now.  It's a 4 1/4" square card.  The flowers (background) are stamped in bleach on  (L-R) Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, Only Orange and Night of Navy.  They were "overtamped" with the same color as the card stock.  Background colors are Old Olive, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip and Brocade Blue.  The card base is Perfect Plum and the ribbon is Vanille stamped in Chocolate Chip and edged with a Chocolate Chip marker.  See the original (and instructions for stamping in bleach) here.

Sometimes it's easier to stamp when you have a color theme and/or a layout template to start with.  There was a challenge on splitcoaststampers.com this week to make a fall card without using Earth Elements colors.  (i.e. – no rust, pumpkin, olive or mustard.  And no chocolate.  Eek!!)

Thank goodness Tangerine Tango and Kiwi Kiss are In Colors – not Earth Elements!  I stamped the tree ("Lovely as a Tree") in Black StazOn on Glossy White card stock, then sponged Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, Baja Breeze and Pacific Point over it.  I think there a little Always Artichoke, too.

The background piece is also Glossy White.  I stamped the leaf in VersaMark and brayed over it with Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango.  I cut the ovals with my Coluzzle and layered the whole thing together.  I like it – and it can be a card for anything.  I'm a little short on "man cards," and my Jonathan always has a friend with a birthday.  I don't think he wants to give his guy friends a card that says, "You're the sweetest" or is covered with flowers.  Except for the ribbon, this one's pretty manly.

So that's it for today.  DH is coming by to pick me up in a few minutes, and I'm going to run errands with him – so I'd better scoot! 

Jackie – I'm still working on the Back to School monkey.  Hopefully I'll have him this weekend!