The Stamp Review Crew: Sale-a-Bration Free for All!

Welcome to another Stamp Crew Review Blog Hop!  Today we have a special bonus hop focusing on FREE Sale-a-Bration products.  I love this time of year... first it's winter, so it is great time to stay indoors for some crafting.  And Stampin' Up always offers great products we can earn for FREE!!  You can check out all the Sale-a-Bration offerings HERE.  If you are following the hop in order, you've arrived from the fantastic Bruno Bertucci's blog.

I sat down to play around with Inside the Lines DSP.  Coloring the whole background can be overwhelming, so this paper is perfect for the spotlighting technique.

To warm up with this paper, I tried some watercoloring and also the pencils with a blender pen.  Both methods work, although I would recommend the blender pen option if you have a large area to color, resulting in less pilling and warping.  I used a subtle background stamp to help texturize the blank space.  This ended up being a take off Freshly Made Sketches #270.

In order to make the bumblebee pop, I stamped a larger bee from Dragonfly Dreams.  Tip: In order to raise the bubblebee up slightly, but not as high as with Dimensionals, use card stock circle punch-outs under the image to glue it down.

Stamps: Dragonfly Dreams, Endless Birthday Wishes, Netting BG; Paper: Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Inside the Lines DSP (SAB); Ink: Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight, Memento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Rhinestone Jewels, Dazzling Diamonds, Watercolor Pencils, Blender Pen, Aquapainter, Sponge.

Saturday was the start of the Chinese New Year festivities, with this year being the Year of the Rooster.  Is it a coincidence that there is a chicken stamp set in the Sale-a-Bration catalog?

I pulled together a few images from various sets to create a long, skinny Chinese New Year card for my upcoming downline swap.  A real fun card to make!

The chinese lanterns were watercolored, punched out, and then gold embossed with the eclectic stamp from Balloon Celebration.  Finally found a use for that image.  ;)

Stamps: Hey, Chick (SAB), Balloon Celebration, Celebrate Today, Weather Together; Paper: Crushed Curry, Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, Sending Love DSP, Watercolor Paper; Ink: Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Smoky Slate, Jet Black Stazon, Versamark; Accessories: Gold Embossing Powder, 1" Circle Punch, Aquapainter, Balloon Framelits, Big Shot.

Hop on over to Rochelle Blok's blog to see what she put together with some Sale-a-Bration items. Her projects are always beautiful!