I really loved this little balloon set when I saw it.  I knew that I needed to do something simple in order to show it off to its best advantage.  How better to do this then to create a simple sky backdrop to feature the lively colors in the balloons.  I simply created a background wash for the sky, and then for the balloons, I used direct to rubber with marker.  On the whole I think it ended up with a simple elegance that shows it off perfectly!

Supplies:

• Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Poppy Parade, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango, Early Espresso, Basic Black, Distress Tea Dye ink (Ranger inc)
• Paper:  Watercolor paper, Basic Black, Real Red
• Stamps:  Up and Away
• Other:  Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals, scissors, Gold Krylon pen,  Stamp-a-ma-jig, brushes

Hope you enjoy,

I don’t know about you all, but I go through a TON of Sticky Strip for all my 3D projects, PLUS anything else where I need to guarantee a super strong hold.  The problem of course is that with the volume I use for classes and personal projects, at Stampin’ Up!’s price of $8.50 (Canadian) plus tax, plus shipping price it can get really pricy.

A couple of years ago I found a source for super jumbo rolls – 36 yards (108 feet) of 1/4″ Red Liner Tape (exactly the same thing as Sticky Strip).  The only issue being that I needed to put in a massive order.  Which I did, but it’s pretty much all gone now between classes and personal use, so I need to order more.

That’s why I thought I’d put it out there for all of you avid paper crafters. 

I’m offering these 36 yard rolls of 1/4″ Red Liner Tape for only $10 CAN each.  I’m doing it on a pre-order since I don’t want to end up in the position of ordering way too much or way too little.  Shipping is $2.50 per roll within Canada, $3 per roll to the US and $5.50 per roll to the UK.  I anticipate that these will likely start shipping the week of Sept. 26th.  If the response is good enough and I can place my order sooner, then I’ll try and ship them out with the Calendar and Note Pad pre-orders which are due to start shipping on the 19th of Sept.

Note about shipping:  I only charge exact shipping.  Because I don’t know exactly how much something will be until I actually go to ship it out (it depends on quantity ordered, size and weight) – I have estimated what shipping of one roll will be.  Of course the more rolls you get, the better the value so when I do ship out, I will adjust shipping if necessary (i.e. offer a refund if you were charged too much).

Click HERE to Pre-order your Red Liner Tape.

I’m very sad to say that I’m writing today’s post here from home,  rather than from New York *sniff sniff*  After anxiously watching the progress and forecasts regarding Hurricane Irene on CNN and other news channels, on Friday morning we “officially” decided that it would probably be best if we cancelled our trip. 

It was such a hard decision to make because of course things could have gone either way – the hurricane could have downgraded in severity (which it did), or it could have gone as (or worse than) predicted.   When your own country is sending out travel advisories and your intended desitnation is shutting things down and putting evacuation plans in place it seemed like a no-brainer.   

Unfortunately though, as it stands, it looks like we’re going to end up losing about $600 over this.  We had already booked our tickets to the Broadway show Mary Poppins – and at this point in time they are refusing to refund our tickets unless Broadway itself cancels the show (which is scheduled for tomorrow night).  And, the hotel (called the Time Hotel) is holding onto a $283 “cancellation fee” despite the fact that we cancelled more than 24 hours before our booking, and despite the fact that we couldn’t get into New York anyways since trains and planes were cancelled on Sunday.  Pretty ludicrous if you ask me!

We’re hoping to re-book our trip for the first or second week of October, although that’s kind of  up in the air since my husband’s work schedule is pretty full in the fall – well actually, just about all year except for summer.  So we’ll see I guess.

Today I wanted to share with you a project I posted on Paper Crafter’s Library this past Friday – it’s a Back to School gift card holder.  You can see the inside in the picture below.

My almost 13 year old son is quite down about summer coming to a close and having to go back to school so I thought I’d cheer him up with a hand-made card (he loves it when I make him things) and a gift card to EB games (not pictured here).

Ink: Signo White Gel Pen, Real Red Craft ink
Paper:   Crumb Cake CS, Basic Black CS, Poppy Parade CS, Just Add Cake DP, Pacific Point DP (Stampin’ Up!)
Accessories:  Red Liner Tape (Sunny Stampin’ Store), Tombow Mono Multi-Liquid Glue, Stars #2 die, Timeless Type Junior Alphabet, Big Shot, heat tool, Iridescent Ice embossing powder (Stampin’ Up!); double-sided adhesive (Thermoweb); stapler (office supply store); chipboard number  (other)

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to enter into our draw for the 2012 Calendar and Note Pad tins – and if you’re interested, don’t forget to pre-order your bundles.  All the information is in this post.  Please note that we are no longer pre-ordering the Calendar and Tin kits as we’ve pretty much reached our max for what we’ll have time to pre-cut and prepare.

At this point in time, I’m only planning on continuing the pre-order until Sept. 12th and they are due to ship out starting the week of Sept. 19th.  When I place my order with the printer, I’ll probably order a few extra but not huge amounts since they are time sensitive (given that they are dated).  Once they are gone, they’ll be gone until 2013.

Oh, and one other piece of news, with all that was going on last week (first booking our trip and then cancelling our trip) I wasn’t able to put out the free video and tutorial. I anticipate that that will be out tomorrow.  The video and handout will be for the tin using all SU product.