Woohoo! I just received...well, a couple days ago anyway...my order from Stampin' Up! containing the early release of the Waves of the Ocean Collection, and couldn't wait to play with it. Discover the depths of the ocean—and your artistic abilities—with the Waves of the Ocean Collection! This coastal collection includes an inspiring set of stamps and detailed dies, both early-release products from the upcoming 2022–2023 Annual Catalog. Plus, a pack of paper made from images of hand-poured paint, blue-hued foil sheets for a sea of shine, and radiant rhinestones for a splash of sparkle—each an exclusive product you can only purchase during the promotion period!  Explore artistic expression with the Waves of the Ocean Collection. With these seaside supplies, you’ll dive into inspiration and swim in a sea of creativity!  This collection will be available for customer purchase March 1 - May 2, 2022, but note, t he following exclusive products are only available while supplies last:

Oh, how I love a color challenge!  Last week over on SplitCoastStampers the color challenge included: Stampin' Up!'s Gorgeous Grape, Smoky Slate, and Crushed Curry!  If you are a member of a fraternity, you'll recognize that these colors are similar to those of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. With that in mind, I thought... hmmm ...masculine card.  So...here we go!  I have lots of floral stamps, but I don't think florals work well for masculine cards so I searched my brain and still came back to florals...of sorts.  I decided to use the Stampin' Up! Tulip Fields Bundle...1, because I hadn't used it before and 2) I needed to create my version of a card created by Sharon Coleman for the Fabulous Fun Friday Stampers' February Shoebox swap (Click here to see the inspiration).  So this card was born! What do you think? I used a pencil and ruler to lightly draw my horizon line (remember, I can't draw a straight line to save my life) and used this as my guide. 

  Hello, Stampers!  It's time for another Stamping with Friends blog hop.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, Stamping with Friends is a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators who share our love of card making with you through monthly blog hops with various themes. If you are following the hop, then you'll have just popped over from Rachel Merrick's blog.  I hope you took a minute to leave a comment for her.  If you are starting the hop with me, thank you so much and I hope you enjoy what the other hoppers have prepared for you today! This month, the theme is to create a monochromatic card in your favorite color palette.  Wikipedia  defines monochromatic as " Monochromatic colors are all the colors of a single hue. Monochromatic color schemes are derived from a single base hue and extended using its shades, tones, and tints. Tints are achieved by adding white and shades and tones are achieved by adding a darker color, grey or black".   My favorite colors are bl