Ladybug Landing

Demonstrator Web Site

2010-04-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

I bit the bullet after a lot of thought and signed up to have a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Business Website. I will hold onto this blog, but will mostly be updating my DBWS. So check it out at:

www.amyjasper.stampinup.net

Let me know what you think of it.

Black and White Tri-fold Shutter Card

2010-03-08T06:07:00.000-08:00

I've seen a lot of these types of cards and thought I'd give it a try for my friend's birthday. I thought this black and white designer series paper (retired from the holiday mini catalogue) would look elegant for this card along with my favorite green - Old Olive. Most items on this card are retired, I'm afraid, but there are always substitutions out there to consider.

Notice the paper piercing, the distressed edge on the card front, and the use of the new Border Punch.

Supplies: Basic Grey CS, Basic Black CS, Old Olive CS, Night and Day Specialty Designer Series Paper (Retired), Ribbon Originals "Mistletoe" (Retired), Heart image from "Sketch It" stamp set (Retired, but I have a used one available for purchase), Friends image from a retired rub-on package (sorry, don't have the name of it), paper piercer and mat pack, Old Olive ink, cutter kit (for distressing paper edges), stampin' dimensionals, adhesive.

Hybrid Valentine

2010-03-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day has come and gone and I'm only finishing this post now. Sad, but better late than never. Hopefully, you get some inspiration for an anniversary or wedding card with this one. I'm still pleased with the final result.

This is my hybrid card - a combination of paper crafting and digital crafting. The heart and the "love forever" are images from My Digital Studio which I sized and positioned to print on whisper white cardstock. My printer doesn't print colours very true, but it worked fine.

This layout was one I saw done by another demo named Tessa Wise and thought it was uniquely attractive. The background image is inspired by her card as well. I started with a piece of Close to Cocoa cardstock and very lightly and unevenly sponged it with Close to Cocoa ink. After using my embossing buddy over the entire piece of cardstock (this step prevents embossing powder from sticking where you don't want it to), I stamped my French Script background in Versamark ink (this background stamp is retired, but very similar to the current En Francais stamp). I embossed the background stamp with clear embossing powder, then thoroughly, but still unevenly, sponged chocolate chip over the entire image. The ink doesn't stick to the embossed image, leaving it lighter coloured than the paper. The effect is lovely, though not captured well in this photo.

Supplies: Real Red CS, Close to Cocoa CS, Chocolate Chip CS, Whisper White CS, Border Punch, My Digital Studio (Images from "Always" and "Fundamental Phrases"), French Script stamp, sponges, Chocolate Chip ink, Versamark ink, embossing buddy, clear embossing powder, heat gun, mini library clip, White organza ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, adhesive.

Hoping for Spring Snowglobe Card

2010-02-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

Here is my version of a snow globe card. I got the basic layout from my downline and worked my own style into it. The bird was stamped with stazon on white cardstock, then coloured with blender pens and ink. After I finished colouring it, I covered the entire image with versamark using my versamark pen and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I sponged my background over the bird. The clear embossing resists the ink and the colour of the bird can stay true.

Supplies:

Little Leaves sizzix die
Leaves are cut from SU Designer paper in old olive and sponged with old olive ink
little bird is only available for demonstrators to give as gifts
Bird: black stazon, blender pens, Pacific Point ink, Apricot Appeal ink
Sponging: Soft Suede, Old Olive, Sage Shadow
white stazon
SU Medium Window sheet
Snowflakes from Serene Snowflakes set
Soft Suede ribbon
black mini clip
Rich Razzleberry CS
Soft Suede CS
Whisper White CS
Versamark ink
heat gun
Clear embossing powder (for bird)
Black embossing powder (for sentiment)
sentiment from Heard from the Heart stamp set.

Clearly Inspired

2010-01-25T13:32:00.000-08:00

I just love acetate cards and am really pleased with the combination of Dusty Durango and Bravo Burgandy. The picture above shows the front of this 6x3 card. The picture below shows the inside left of the card. Hope you like.

supplies:
Window sheet
white stazon ink
dusty durango CS
whisper white CS
Bravo Burgandy CS
stampin dimensionals
sticky strip
Bravo Burgandy ink
Organza Ribbon
Baroque Motifs stamp set
Inspired by Nature stamp set
versamark ink
clear embossing powder
heat gun
sponge

Robotic Well Wishes

2010-01-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

A simple card, but a cheerful colour combination to brighten someone's day just a little bit.

Supplies:
Burmuda Bay CS
Crushed Curry CS
Soft Suede CS
Kraft CS
Basic Black classic ink
Stampin' Dimensionals
Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon
Paper piercing tool
Mat Pack
Lots of Bots stamp set

Bumble Bee in the Window

2010-01-13T12:58:00.000-08:00

I just love this little bumble bee from the Bloomin' Beautiful stamp set.

Supplies:
Soft Suede textured CS
Crushed Curry CS
Medallion stamp
Versamark ink
Clear embossing powder
Heat Gun
Soft Suede ink
sponge
Bloomin' Beautiful stamp set
White stazon ink
Stampin' Dimensionals
Soft Suede ribbon
Sticky strip adhesive
Fresh Cuts stamp set

Bleached Suede Christmas

2009-12-11T13:56:00.000-08:00

This card is done with real red, soft suede, bermuda bay and very vanilla. The snowflake background was done by first sponging very vanilla cardstock quite heavily (especially the edges) with soft suede ink. Then I put some bleach on a folded up piece of paper towel (in a flat bottomed container - the plastic box that holds your stamp sets works well) and used it as an "ink" pad. The snowflakes are from the Serene Snowflakes stamp set. After the bleached images were stamped, I stamped a few more snowflakes in Soft Suede ink.

Other supplies used include:

Spiral Punch, Corner Rounder punch, Tag punch, Heard from the Heart stamp set, Soft Suede ribbon, jumbo eyelet, crop-a-dial, stampin' dimensionals.

Hope you like it!

Jolly Christmas Cheer

2009-11-22T06:51:00.000-08:00

This card was one I found on the Splitcoast Stampers website while I was perusing ideas. I slightly adapted the original to develop my version of the card.

Whisper White, Real Red, Always Artichoke and Chocolate Chip are the colours used to make this 5x5 card. I used the "Christmas Punch" hostess set and used my squares and circle punches to punch out the images. The center sentiment was stamped after using my Real Red and Chocolate Chip SU Markers to ink up the rubber stamp while covering the parts of that stamp with masking tape that I didn't want to stamp onto my paper. And, of course folks, this gal used stampin' dimensionals to pop up the circle image in the center. I wonder how often I actually don't use any on a card. hehe.

I'm failing aren't I?

2009-11-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Forgive me, friends, for I have failed you. It's been more than two months since my last post.

Okay, but hey, I haven't completely given up on trying, because here I am once again!

I'm wading deep in the busy-ness of my life and am wishing for better, guilt-free stamping days to come. I am happily forced to find stamping time as I have commited to a stampers group and a scattering of parties to keep me going. Thanks to that "obligation" I MUST stamp! LOL!

This card came to me quickly and I really like how it turned out. It's difficult to really see it in this photo (my apologies).

I used acetate (SU has some fantastic window sheets available) as the base of this card. The patterned paper is from the current holiday mini and is a lovely paper pack. I used real red ribbon with the organza white ribbon (such a pretty ribbon, too). The sentiment is from my Many Merry Messages stamp set which may now becoming overused, but I still love it! I embossed the words with black embossing powder for some extra punch.

Glad There is You

2009-09-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

I made this card a while back for my Mom. There are a few items on here that are no longer available as they have retired, but you could easily substitute using the same idea. Many of us are great at taking an idea and making it work with what we have!

Recipe
Card Stock -- Sahara Sand, Basic Grey, Not Quite Navy, SU Designer Series Paper
Ink -- Sahara Sand (sponged around edges), Baja Breeze
Stamps -- flourish from "Baroque Motifs"
Accessories -- Scallop Edge Punch, brads, jumbo eyelet, rub-ons, Crop-a-dial, Sizzix Daisy die, Big Shot, Sticky Strip

Wedding Invitation

2009-09-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

With the bride's help, we made these lovely wedding invitations. I used the Fifth Avenue stamp set in Elegant Eggplant and Apricot Appeal on Very Vanilla cardstock. The eggplant cardstock was dry embossed using an embossing folder. Stampin' Up! doesn't have this particular one, but has a number of dry emboss options with folders, texture plates, and templates. A great way to add texture and interest to your projects!

The photo is matted with Very Vanilla cs and mounted with Stampin' dimensionals. We used the white organza ribbon with a single silver brad for interest.

Inside the card was done on paper vellum by printing it from my computer in red ink and quickly clear embossing it while the ink was still wet. I used vellum tape (not available with SU) to apply the vellum to the vanilla cardstock. Leanne wanted to have a place for her bridal registry information as well as a map to the wedding location, so she wanted a pocket area to put everything into to keep it tidy. We did the pocket on the inside of the card front by adhering only 3 sides, leaving one side open and punching a half circle to make the pocket obvious and easy to access the contents. The purple writing on the top inside of the card was also done on the computer.

I'm excited to see if the new My Digital Studio now available through SU will make formatting these things easier. I'll let you know as soon as I get mine in the beginning of October!

38 Long

2009-08-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

I love the jokes that go along with this stamp set (not from SU, I'm sorry to say).

This one says:

"your bra size is 38 long" !! LOL!

The card base is the new Melon Mambo and I stamped the bra images with the same ink. I used blender pens with ink from my ink pads to colour the image after stamping it with black Stazon ink on whisper white cardstock. The white CS is sponged around the edges with Rich Razzleberry ink and matted with Rich Razzleberry CS. The yellow paper is textured Whisper White CS that I sponged with Crushed Curry ink. I used my Spiral punch on the strip of Old Olive CS and I punched out hearts from Rich Razzleberry CS with my Heart to Heart punch. My corners are rounded with the 3/16" Corner Rounder punch. And, of course, Stampin Dimensionals were used to apply the white paper to the Rich Razzleberry matting as well as to apply the hearts to the card.

I don't have very many non-SU stamps, but I had to get this one. It was just too funny!

WINNER!!

2009-07-17T09:16:00.001-07:00

Unfortuneately, I was camping in Golden Ears Provincial Park through the 15th and could not pick and reveal a name at that time.

But today is the day!! My son picked a name today. The winner will receive two SU stamp sets. A paper crimper with kids hands all over it, fabric flowers, brads, buttons, grommets, eyelets, an assortment of new SU In Colours, 2 yards of the new SU Soft Suede grosgrain ribbon, 2 each of precut sizzix die cuts that I have (matchbox die, topnote, circle ornament, pillow box), and more!

I'm so pleased at those who have commented with such loyalty. I will be continueing my blog, but since only a handful of people have showed an interest, I will have to cut back on time spent uploading my cards and updating information on this site. Soooo . . . I will be more slack on how frequently I post and will not be taking the time to add links to updates on the Stampin' Up website. You will have to rely on the website itself to be informed on current specials. (or you may receive information through me directly if you're on my customer list)

So without further ado, I'm happy to announce that the winner of my blog candy is . . .

PATRICIA JASPER!!!

2009-07-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

This will remain at the top of my blog until a name is drawn July 15th.

From April 5 to July 15, every time you comment on a post on my blog, your name will be entered into a draw to receive a package of goodies from me! You may comment more than once per post (bless your heart if you do), but your name will only be entered once per post. So, send me your comments and thoughts about my projects and cards and I will draw a name July 15!

Please scroll down for more recent post.

Coming Soon!

2009-07-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

Well, folks, it's getting closer to the day that I draw a name. I have many entries, but only one person has commented on just about every post since I began this blog candy offer. I want to make sure it's clear that your name will be entered once for each time you comment on a single post. If you comment more than once on a single posting, I will only put your name in once. If you comment on this post and commented on my post for June 6th, then you will be entered two times, once for each post.

I've been away for holidays and just wanted to let you know I haven't dropped off the earth! I've been busy making wedding cards for a friend, working madly to spread some mulch in my garden, off camping and then to visit family in Alberta. I haven't had much time to think about my blog and so here it is . . . neglected, I'm afraid.

I'll catch up with some cards and projects over the next couple days, so don't forget to comment on this, what has been and what is to come, so you can have a better chance at some happy mail!

Wonderful Wonder Crayon Thoughts

2009-06-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased with this card. I gave it to my good and dear friend who's dad just passed away. Love you, Tammy.

This card uses Very Vanilla cardstock for the base layer as well as the second layer which was stamped with my Bella Toile background stamp in Creamy Caramel ink. I stamped the ink off once on a scrap piece of paper before stamping it on my card to give a softer colour.

The main image is from the stamp set "Thoughts and Prayers". I used my Water Colour Wonder Crayons (Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Regal Rose, Rose Red) to colour the rubber after dampening it by misting it with water from a spray bottle. Once coloured, I misted it again a few times until it was slightly wet, then stamped it onto water colour paper. I used my white gel pen for the flower centers after the colour dried.

The edges of the water colour paper were sponged with Creamy Caramel ink. The White Organza ribbon was a couple of scraps that I attached with Sticky Strip just to the edges of the Toile stamped cardstock so that it appears to go all the way through behind the water colour paper. I stamped the sentiment in Always Artichoke ink on Very Vanilla CS from my "Wonderful You" stamp set (retiring at the end of this month) and punched it out with the small oval punch. I then framed it with a large oval punch out of Creamy Caramel CS. As a final framing touch, I used the Vanilla Hodgepodge designer label and attached it to the card front with the coordinating brads. The oval sentiments were attached with stampin dimensionals to the center of the label.

All layers were attached with dimensionals (I'm a bit dimensional happy, LOL!)

The Last Chance Lists!

2009-06-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Stampin' Up! is getting ready for the new catalogue coming in July so it's that time again to move out the old to make room for new great stuff! I'll post the lists on the left for you to view sometime today. If you need to order something feel free to contact me. Remember, accessories are only available while supplies last while stamp sets are available until June 30th.

There are some great new In Colours that will be in the next catalogue. It's always fun to use new colours. They have some great polkadot grosgrain ribbon in the In Colours as well as SU Markers!

Sparkly Edward Cullen

2009-06-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

My friend Melanie and I read the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer. Easy read and definitely hold your interest.

This is a fun card I made for her. I found a poster photo of the main male character, Edward and changed it up a bit (for personal use only) adding his name, making it black and white and taking off the advertisement for the movie coming out. I printed it on Whisper White cardstock and coloured his face and chest with Versamarker so I could emboss that area with Iridescent Ice embossing powder!! In the movie, vampires (for he is a vampire, ladies), glisten in the sun like diamonds! So I made his skin shimmer, then used my Versamark ink pad to cover the entire image and clear embossed the rest (this blended the Iridescent Ice embossing in with the rest as well as prevents the ink from bleeding or smudging).

The Real Red ribbon was added to the image using Sticky Strip after I distressed the edges with my SU distressing tool. I used the medium weight window sheet from SU as the card base. This product is much more sturdy as the acetate overhead sheets which I have used in the past.

The image was then applied to the cardfront with Stampin' Dimensionals and matted on the other side of the clear window sheet on the inside of the card with Basic Black textured cardstock.

You can sort of see his sparkling chest in this photo. Of course, Melanie loved the card and had a good laugh!

Hope you did too. lol!

Mother's Day Shadow Box Cards

2009-05-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

Here are the shadow box cards I made for my moms for Mother's Day. I used a tutorial from The Sunset House blog. I chose Pacific Point and Certainly Celery for my colour pallet with a splash of So Saffron.

The one card uses a Cuttlebug embossing folder to make the diamond embossed background. I made the cutout circles with my Spellbinder Nestibilities (you could also use the Coluzzle cutter or the Circle Scissor Plus cutter). The flowers inside the box are coloured using a blender pen and some pacific point ink.

The second card has some 3D butterflies which were stamped on Vellum (cardstock weight) with Black Stazon ink and carefully cut out. Then I coloured around the edges with a blender pen and some Pacific Point ink, folded the wings up and glued the body of the butterfly to the paper (lining it up with a prestamped image on the card base).

The butterfly stamp is from the "Dreams Du Jour" stamp set; the flourish is from "Baroque Motifs"; the sentiment is from a retired set from a few years ago; flowers from the Pretties Kit; brads are Old Olive and So Saffron; I used the ticket corner punch to finish the edges; paper piercing was guided with the Mat Pack.

Saffron Toile

2009-05-12T18:28:00.001-07:00

This is a 3x6 card in So Saffron stamped with the Bella Toile background in So Saffron ink. I used a similar layout to a previous card I posted, but switched up the colours and the ribbon for a more casual look. The textured paper is Basic Grey while the flower is cut from Regal Rose cardstock with my daisy #2 sizzix die in my Big Shot. The stripey paper is from the Urban Garden Designer Series paper. The sentiment is from the "Fresh Cuts" stamp set.

The ribbon is So Saffron grosgrain, which unfortunately is no longer available as it was a Sale-a-bration promotion item. I used the Aged Copper Jumbo eyelet for the flower center.

To put it all together, I simply used my cropadial to punch a 3/16" hole in the paper layers. I also used the cropadial to set the eyelet onto the center of the flower. The ribbon was threaded through the hole from the back and through the eyelet, while the other end came around to the front of the card and went under the flower and up through the eyelet where I tied the ends together in a single knot.

Let me know if that's too confusing and I'll happily show you in person (if possible) or I can photograph the steps to put on my blog.

Thanks for visiting me today :)

Please leave a comment and have your name entered for the blog candy draw on July 15th.

Baby Shower Invitations

2009-05-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

A friend asked me to make some invitations for a baby shower. She gave me the Bible verse that she wanted on the front of the card and said she was going for a star theme. Since I didn't have a stamp with this verse, I had to use my computer and format it.

The formatting took quite a bit of time as I wanted the verse to continue on over and over even when it was in black ink as the focal point. I'm fussy with formatting. I'll spare you the details on how I got it to print just as it did, but there was probably a way to do it more quickly with less fuss if I had greater technical know-how or a more advanced software program to work with.

The stars are from a retired hostess set "Love It" and are (I realized) the only star stamps I own! I used Pink Pirouette and Whisper White cardstock (thank you to Gwen and Seana for rescuing me when I discovered I didn't have enough!). The ribbon is Whisper White Tafetta and Pretty in Pink Tafetta. I did the scalloped edges with the scallop edge punch. The small stars on the front are stamped in Versamark and clear embossed. The large star was first inked with versamark, then in pretty in pink so that it could also be embossed with clear embossing powder over the coloured ink. The Versamark ink keeps it from drying too fast for it to work with embossing.

The inside of the card was also done on my computer, but on decent quality computer paper rather than cardstock. The star is stamped in Pink Pirouette. The paper is adhered with SNAIL adhesive on the inside front of the card only.

Garden Dreams

2009-04-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

I absolutely LOVE this card! I made it with my new Stampers group this week. It is a simple 3x3 gift or note card. The base is Kiwi Kiss cardstock. I punched the window out of my Urban Garden Designer Series Paper with my Designer Label punch. The butterfly stamp is from my "Dreams Du Jour" stamp set which I stamped in White Stazon ink onto clear acetate (in this case, I used a clear piece of overhead projector acetate, but SU now has "Window Sheets" available in different thicknesses for this type of project and for other great projects).

I adhered the acetate to the backside of my DS paper with sticky strip. The Basic Grey tafetta ribbon was added, then the DS paper was attached to the card base with my beloved Stampin' Dimensionals. I adore the finished result!

Don't forget to leave a comment and have your name entered for the draw July 15th!

Take a Look

2009-04-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

Debbie in England has some amazing blogcandy. Incredibly generous, you should check it out!

Passion for Crafts

Organza Elegance

2009-04-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

I really love how this card turned out. It's so simple and one of my favorite card sizes (3x6).

The base of the card is textured Sahara Sand. I used a strip of Pale Plum cardstock along the top of the card. The flower is cut with my Sizzix flower daisies #2 die (the smallest of the three flowers) from Elegant Eggplant cardstock. I punched a hole through all three layers of paper with my 3/16th" hole punch on my Cropadile. After placing the Jumbo Eyelet in the center of the flower (without finishing the eyelet) I threaded the White Organza ribbon between the flower and the Pale Plum paper and up through the unfinished eyelet before using the Cropadile to finish the eyelet. I had to pull the ribbon carefully to keep it snug while I clamped the eyelet closed. Then I continued the ribbon around the back of the card front and up the hole to tie it into place.

The sentiment is from my Fresh Cuts stamp set, which I stamped in Basic Black ink and very carefully filled in the letters with my Black SU journaler pen where they didn't stamp as clearly because of the textured surface.

For a final touch, I gently lifted the edges of the petals off of the card to create a more 3-dimensional look.

Leave a comment and have your name entered in my draw on July 15th!

Embossed Flower Sillouette

2009-04-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

Once again, this card has some retired paper on it, but you could easily use other paper and get a beautiful result

I used River Rock (retired) cardstock for the base of this card. The stamp is from the "Inspired by Nature" stamp set, which I stamped with Versamark ink on some Designer Paper (also retired) and used white embossing powder over the image before heating it.

I tore the edge of the Blue Bayou textured cardstock (retired) and rolled up the torn edge before adhering it to the card beside the patterned paper. I tied the Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon around the card front. The sentiment is stamped in Blue Bayou ink (retired) on Whisper White cardstock. I didn't tear these edges, but simply rolled them up. The white cardstock was adhered to the card with stampin' dimensionals for a bit more "pop"!

For a similar look, you could try this combination:
Designer Series Paper - Urban Garden
Sahara Sand cardstock (for the base)
Not Quite Navy in place of the Blue Bayou
Always Artichoke grosgrain

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered into my July15th draw!

Heartfelt Sympathy

2009-04-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

I made this card a while back. The patterned paper and the River Rock cardstock (the card base) are now retired, but I thought you might like to know how I placed the flourish at the top of this card. This is a 3x6 card.

The flourish is from the stamp set "Baroque Motifs", which I stamped with Versamark ink on the card base and clear embossed it. I stamped the sympathy stamp from the "Close as a Memory" set in Always Artichoke ink. Then, after insuring the sentiment was dry and using my embossing buddy over the cardstock, I used my stampamajig to help place the same stamp onto the Summer Sun cardstock so that it lined up with the one on the base and again used the clear embossing technique.

The final touch is tying the Mellow Moss tafetta ribbon around the top of the patterned paper before adhering it to the card front.

Don't forget to leave a comment and have your name entered into my July 15th draw!

Pretty Cute in Pink

2009-04-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a little baby card I made while just playing around with ideas. I got a baby card from my dear friend Melanie and really liked the layout so I thought I'd give it a try. This one has a few retired items on it. If you like those, I'm sure you could find a substitute.

The base is on Very Vanilla cardstock. I started with a basic 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" card and cut it with my Fiskars paper cutter to make the shape of the sleeves and the angle of the sides of the shirt. I then used my 1-3/8" circle punch to punch the neck hole and the leg holes. The scalloped edges around the neck and legs was made by first punching a 1-3/8" circle out of pink patterned paper (this is a retired paper), then placing the scalloped circle punch over the hole that I made and punched again, resulting in a scalloped circle with a 1-3/8" hole in the middle. The scalloped "donuts" were then trimmed to size and adhered using a small amount of my Tombow adhesive. The pink gingham ribbon (retired) was tied in a bow and adhered with a small amount of Tombow as well.

Tip: When using SU's Tombow adhesive, be sure to use a small amount so that it will not ooze out from under what you've glued down. This glue remains sticky even when dry If any is left exposed, it will be sticky and collect dust and dirt. Drying sticky is handy however, when making sticky notes or other items that you wish to be removable or repositioned.

The image (retired stamp set called "Punches Three") was first stamped in Pretty in Pink on the shirt. Then I stamped the image again on a separate piece of Very Vanilla cardstock in Close to Cocoa ink and trimmed around the center part of the stamped image. This was placed over the first image with Stampin' Dimensionals for a bit of "pop".

Don't forget to leave a comment and get your name entered into my draw on July 15th!

Thank you notes.

2009-04-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a simple little thank you note. I made a number of these as thank you cards for baby shower gifts I received. Many people gave money toward a Joovy stroller! I am so thankful!!

This is just a little 3x3 note made out of SU kraft cardstock. The Classic Stripes background stamp is stamped on the envelope in Pink Pirouette and on the kraft CS in Whisper White craft ink. Using the Scalloped Square, I punched the Pink Pirouette paper. I used the 1-1/4" square punch to punch out the white square and sponged the edges with Pretty in Pink ink. The heart is from my "Moose You" set (now retired) and was stamped in Pretty in Pink on Whisper White cardstock which I then punched out with my 3/4" square punch (unfortunately no longer available with SU). I love stampin' dimensionals and they are placed under the scallop square and the 3/4" square to add depth and interest to the cards.

Don't forget to leave a comment and have your name entered into a draw for July!

Too Long...

2009-04-05T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been far too long since I last posted. Nothing has been unusual in my life to take me away from my blog, but life is simply ... busy. I deeply apologize for my absence and hope to post more regularly. However, I need a bit of encouragement. There are very few people who comment on my posts. A big thank you to those who have. I would love to hear more from all of you and know if you like what you see or if I should pack up and go home! LOL!

So, here's the deal. In the next three months I am going to do my best to post at least once per week. For every comment you make, your name will be put into a jar on my computer desk. You will only be counted once per posts. So even if you comment more than once (and bless you if you do), your name will be entered only once into my jar. So, please be sure to give me your name and an email (or check back on the draw date). On July 15th, I will draw a name and it might be yours to win ... A BRAND NEW CAR!!!

just kidding

Seriously, the winner will be sent a wonderful package of Stampin' Up! and non-Stampin' Up! crafting goodies for your comments.

Thank you for participating. And I will try to hold up my end of the bargain and keep on postin'.

"do, or do not. there is no try" - Master Yoda

Brayered Sunrise

2009-01-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

This is a card I made using some of Michelle Zindorf's tutorial techniques. The brayer makes some beautiful backgrounds.

The base of the card is in Cool Caribbean (retired SU cardstock). I can't remember all of the colours I used to brayer (Apricot Appeal, More Mustard, Cool Caribbean, Really Rust, and Basic Black, I think). The moon was made by first brayering on some Apricot Appeal, then I punched out a circle with my 1-3/8" circle punch from a sticky note and used it as a mask where I wanted the moon to be while I continued to brayer the other colours. The leaves are from on of my favorite SU stamp sets, "Wonderful You", and the sentiment is from the "Heard from the Heart" stamp set.

The edges of the cardstock were sponged with Basic Black ink and I used my Mat Pack to paper pierce the left and top edges of the main image. I then used my white gel pen to connect the dots and make it appear stitched.

It's a fairly quick technique, using the brayer for the background, but it's very effective and creates a great WOW! factor on a card.

Have a look at Michelles tutorials and give them a try for yourself. If you don't have a brayer, you can achieve a similar look using sponges (although, it is more time consuming)

Back in July

2009-01-13T21:08:00.000-08:00

Back in July I made this little gift for my Secret Sister. The swap that I was involved in was a 6 month commitment. Now that it's done and I have a new SS in a new swap, I can share some of the projects that I made for her without revealing my secret identity!! hehe.

The card layout is a favorite of mine. Simple and clean.

I made this card and a box for her as it was her anniversary that month. I knew she liked wine, so I made some little wine charms for her to use for guests to be able to identify their individual glasses of wine.

The charms were fun to make, but took quite a bit of time as I was unfamiliar with techniques used to make jewelry and I fussed a lot with my presentation. They could make fun earrings, too, if you don't mind mismatched ones!

This last photo turned sideways on me for some reason, but you can see how the charm rests around the stem of the glass. I would love to make more of these for myself...I just don't seem to have time.

If you have any questions about these projects, feel free to leave a comment.

Altered Coffee Break Tin

2009-01-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

I covered this tin with some paper given to me at a Crazy Croppers event in Lake Country a couple of years ago. I always liked the paper, but ended up hoarding it instead of using it. It turned out beautifully on this tin.

The underside of the lid was stamped and decorated with SU products. Some of the stamps are long since retired, but I just found them on Ebay recently and was soooo excited!! I had my eye on them from about 3 years ago when the stamps were a level 3 hostess set (completely unattainable to me at the time).

I sent this full of little gifts to my Secret Sister in Calgary. Unfortunately, the post office delivered it, but it somehow did not end up in her hands. So annoying. I hope whoever did receive it enjoyed it as much as I think my SS would have!

These tins are really nice to cover as the front buckle and the handle are removable. No fancy moves required to fit your paper around them!

If you'd like to know more about this project, feel free to leave a comment/question.

Christmas Notes

2008-12-10T07:59:00.001-08:00

I made these cute little gift cards to show a very quick easy card to make. They are 2.75" square using a variety of colours. The images are from the Level 2 hostess set "Deer Friends" (soon to be retired). I stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock and punched them out with the 1-3/8" circle punch and also the 1-1/4" circle punch (you can use either). With Stampin' Dimensionals, I adhered the circles onto the scallop punched coloured cardstock. These were then adhered to the card with more Stampin' Dimensionals. These fit beautifully into the mini square envelopes.

I think they turned out pretty good. What do you think?

Open House Projects

2008-11-16T11:36:00.000-08:00

Here are the projects we did at my Stampin' Up! Open House.

This is a Baja Breeze shaker card. I used baja breeze ink for the snowflake background with my Jumbo Bold Snowflakes wheel. The "be merry" stamp from the "Warm Words" stamp set was inked in Real Red craft ink. Craft ink keeps a truer colour than the classic ink because the pigment sits on top of the paper rather than blending with the paper colour.

The scallop frame chipboard was inked with Whisper White craft ink and embossed with iridescent ice embossing powder (may favorite for this time of year). I then made the window by stamping a partial of this flourish from the "Baroque Motifs" set with white Stazon ink on a piece of acetate. This was attached to the chipboard with Sticky Strip. The "shakees" are styrafoam filling from a pillow that Mel took apart. These are extremely staticky and get on everything, but everyone survived it!

I used foam strips that I got at Micheals to make the box and backed it with a piece of baja breeze. The 1/4" Real Red grosgrain ribbon was then tied around the box and the entire shaker box was applied with more Sticky Strip to the card.

This second project was made using the pillow box sizzix die that Stampin' Up! now offers. The box is made with Ridinghood Red cardstock and cut with the die in the die cut machine. (I still don't have my Big Shot, but it works in my Cuttlebug).

We then stamped the Classic Stripes background stamp in Ridinghood Red ink over the paper before shaping the box (Sticky Strip was used again here to hold the box together). The stamped image is from the SU hostess set "Punches Three" which was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and punched out with SU's Scallop Square punch.

Finally, the 1/4" Chocolate grosgrain ribbon was applied and the stamped image was adhered with stampin' dimensionals.

This box would be great for candies, jewelry, scrapbook/card embellishments, and even a sweet little note. It would fit great in a stocking or even as a party favor at a wedding (with a few changes, of course).

For those of you who like Stampin' Up! products, right now you can get 20% off any rub-ons in the current catalogues if you purchase $20 of product.

Pun Fun Birthday

2008-11-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the bad colour on the photo. My husband cleaned up our computer and hasn't put our photo editing program back on yet. I'm afraid my photo turned out quite dark.

I made this card for a little girls 4th birthday. The base card is Whisper White cardstock and I used the SU retired Soft Sky cardstock and Designer Series Paper. The stamp is from the set "Pun Fun" which I coloured with SU markers in Tempting Turquoise and Real Red. The ribbon and eyelets are Real Red as well.

The circle and scalloped circle are made with my new Nestabilities! So fun to have easy ways to cut out difficult shapes. I used them in my Cuttlebug die cut and embossing machine. I hope to get a Big Shot machine so I can see how it compares to the Cuttlebug. The Big Shot is the machine that SU sells and it sounds more heavy duty than the Cuttlbug.

Pet Sympathy Card

2008-10-29T20:32:00.000-07:00

My parents dog of 8 years had to be put down recently. He was a very important member of the family and will be greatly missed...especially by my Dad. I made this card for them.

The base card is of Not Quite Navy cardstock with a Kraft cardstock layer on top. I used a strip of Basic Black paper and a strip of paper with the paw prints on it from an unknown source. The ribbon is an SU retired ribbon. I paper pierced the Kraft CS on the corners and the stamps are from the "Close as a Memory" set - flowers are stamped in versamark, sentiment is stampes in black Stazon ink.

My 4-1/2 year old boy also made a card for his Papa. He even decorated an envelope that I'd made a while back (I used SU's 5-in-1 Envelope Template). Here are some pics of his card. The pics show the front of the card, the back, the back of the envelope, the inside of the card and the front of the envelope. My son is very thorough to decorate every surface. He learned how to hammer in the eyelets himself, too!

He was sad to hear of Harley's passing, but was so brave. He just gingerly wiped his tears from his eyes with his favorite blanket as he asked me questions. Then decided he should make a card for his Papa and for himself too (to "help us feel better").

To answer a question...

2008-10-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. Spending time on the computer has been such a low priority for me lately. My new little baby along with my two other kids and life in general make for a full day.

Carol wrote a comment on my last post and asked a question about adhering ribbon to cards. Thanks for your comment, Carol, and your compliment!

How do I attach my ribbon so that it stays attached? Carol stated that ribbon tends to fall off with the adhesive she uses. I usually secure my ribbon by tying all the way around the front of my card. Sometimes I will make a hole in the front of the card so I can pull the ribbon through the hole and tie it in place (as on my "play of light" card which you can see if you scroll down the page). The bow hides the hole in most cases.

However, there are times when a ribbon is required to be attached by other means. Sometimes I use a brad or an eyelet to secure the ribbon in place. When using adhesive, I vary between glue dots, sticky strip, and basic white glue. I looked back at a couple cards and found that the ones with glue dots still held after a year (in storage, not in a sunny window, so maybe not a true test :). The plain glue holds well also, but is more difficult to hide when using it to apply ribbon because it makes a permanent wet-look. Liquid glue also takes longer to dry and can be messy. I couldn't find a card that I used sticky strip on, but I think it would hold fairly well. One thing I definitely don't have success with securing ribbon to a project, is SNAIL adhesive. This product is btter left for adhering flat paper to flat paper and is not very reliable for anything else. I love SNAIL for that purpose because it's quick and it's tidy.

So, let me know what you think? Anyone have good luck with any other adhesives for attaching ribbon to a project? I'd love to hear it.

And Carol, I hope you find some better luck with your ribbon from now on!

Happy Stamping!

Play of Light

2008-09-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Here's another card inspired directly from Michelle Zindorf's tutorial.

I used baja breeze for the base card and sponged it with not quite navy ink and a bit of basic black ink also. I stamped the "Baroque Motifs" background flourish in not quite navy ink (stamped off once).

The main image is done on whisper white paper. I first brayered baja breeze over the entire piece, then sponged the outside with not quite navy, night of navy, and basic black. The flowers from "Close as a Memory" were stamped in not quite navy ink and highlighted with a white gel pen, then low-lighted with a not quite navy marker and basic black journaling pen. The ground was made by first tearing a piece of paper to use as a mask, then I brayered not quite navy ink below the placed paper. Then I moved the paper down slightly and brayered basic black ink. The ground is also highlighted with a white gel pen.

I stamped the "Baroque Motifs" flourish over the main image in whisper white craft ink (stamped off once for a more subtle look).

The edges of the main image are distressed with the edge distressing tool from SU's "Cutter Kit" and gently rolled to distress it even more. This was mounted on the card with stampin' dimensionals. The ribbon is white tafetta which is threaded through a hole punched in the base card.

I hope to make some more attempts at Michelle's tutorials. They are all so beautiful and inspiring. A big thank you to her for sharing her talents!!

Collage card

2008-09-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by the tutorial of a gorgeous card by Michelle Zindorf. I still love her card more, but think mine turned out pretty good, too.

The base card is Hansome Hunter with some brayered hansome hunter ink around the edges and stamped with a stamp from SU's "Fresh Cuts" stamp set.

The main collage was done on whisper white cardstock. I used a brayer to apply a mix of barely banana and so saffron ink over the entire piece, then masked off the center with a piece of paper so I could brayer a "frame" with some kiwi kiss. The edges are brayered with not quite navy and I wiped the tangerine tango directly over the edges of the paper from the ink pad. I did some tangerine tango (stamped off once) with another stamp from the "Fresh Cuts" set. I also used not quite navy with the background stamp of the same set. The centre image is from the "Lovely as a Tree" stamp set, which I did in old olive ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I lightly coloured the image with kiwi kiss and a hint of not quite navy ink using my blender pen.

The edges of the main image are distressed (using the Cutter Kit) and slightly rolled before applying it to the base card with stampin' dimensionals.

I like how it turned out. What do you think?

Card book

2008-08-25T09:50:00.001-07:00

This is a card book that I made and gave away in a draw at my open house last week. I recycled 6-1/4" x 6-1/4" pieces of a cereal box for the covers and covered them with purely pomegranate cardstock with river rock cardstock on the inside of the covers.

I decorated the front cover by clear embossing a 1" wide strip of purely pomegranate paper for across the front of the book. A piece of pewter hodgepodge was used for the label and the label is made from a piece of river rock paper punched with my oval punch. I used my Rough alphabet stamp set for the letters in purely pomegranate ink, then sponges lightly with versamark ink and clear embossed to give a bit of texture to the label. The solid leaves are randomly stamped with purely pomegranate ink, while the outline leaves were stamped with versamark and clear embossed.

Sorry I don't have pictures of the inside pages, but I used chocolate chip paper and made pockets on each page to slot in cards for storage. The pocket portions of the pages were decorated similarly to the bottom front of the cover except I didn't clear emboss the leaf outline images.

The entire book is bound together with brown wire binding using my bind-it-all. I added the purely pomegranate satin ribbon for extra flourish.

I realize as I describe this, that I used a lot of now retired items. This project can be easily adapted with other colours and the new SU silver or vanilla hodgpodge. There are also some beautiful new ribbons that could accent a book like this quite nicely.

I think I'd like to offer a project like this as a class (if I can get my act together. LOL!). If I do another one, I'll show it as well.

Happy stamping!

3x3 Scallop Cards

2008-08-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

I love these 3x3 scallop cards made using the slit punch and the 1-3/8" circle punch and the Coluzzle Cutter. I made them using the tutorial on Andrea Walford's blog.

That's all I have to say about that. If you'd like to know what paper and stamps I used, just leave a comment.

Stinkin' Sweet Birthday

2008-07-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

My niece turned 4 this month. Here is the card I made for her birthday. Of course, it's late (as usual), but better late than never...I hope.

This is a 5x5" card made with Pixie Pink cardstock. I used Gable Green and Basic Black cardstock to frame the image. I used the Pretty Petals background stamp over the base card with Versamark ink. The image is from the "Pun Fun" stamp set and is stamped with black Stazon ink and coloured using a blender pen and Stampin' Pastels. You can't see it very well in this photo, but I also paper-pierced the black frames using my Mat Pack as a piercing guide. The entire matted centre of this card is raised up slightly with stampin' dimensionals and I used Black Gingham ribbon as the final touch.

Build-a-brad Bracelet

2008-07-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

Melanie and I made bracelets back in June using some jewelry materials along with the SU Build-a-Brads. I think they turned out really neat. I would do a couple things differently next time to help the clear plastic bubble covers stick better. We used the wire pliers in the SU Tool Kit to manipulate the tales of the brads around the hoops in the chain that we put them on. Next time I will do that first before finishing the brads as the pinching required to secure the brads in placed caused the "bubble" to mark and also lift up on the edges. This particular bracelet will need some adjustments made to fix the lifting edges. I think I'll try taking the "bubble" tops off and just use some Glassy Glaze Enamel embossing powder to protect the paper on top of the brads.

Maybe Mel can tell us where she got the idea to do the bracelets. It was a blog she frequently visits. Could you write it in my comments, Mel? Thanks.

Fresh Cuts with sponging

2008-07-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

I made this card as a thank you to my brother for having us stay with them in Victoria and showing us around. We had a great time.

This card is made with the "Fresh Cuts" stamp set (available again in August) and the laser cut, 4" square Fresh Cuts Notes. To make this look, I first removed the laser cut sections of the flower and stamped the background stamp in versamark ink. Then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. After that, I sponged on my colours (Wild Wasabi, Blue Bayou, Purely Pomegranate, and Groovy Guava) and wiped the excess off of the embossed areas.

I used Purely Pomegranate cardstock as an insert inside the card after I sponged a bit of Purely Pomegranate and Blue Bayou ink in a circular pattern so that it would add some richness to the outside of the card where it showed through the laser cut petals. The clear round rhinestone brad (from the Pretties Kit) is holding the fabric flower (from the pretties kit also), which I dyed with Blue Bayou ink by pressing it directly on the ink pad, to the Purely Pomegranate cardstock. That way, when the card is opened the pomegranate insert opens also.

I think my laser cut flower would look better if it was turned around. I'm pretty sure I have it up-side-down right now. The single point should be at the top. Oops!

I think I'll miss the richness of these colours when they retire in August. But I'm sure I'll fall in love with the new colours just like I did with these. (I actually wasn't very excited about these colours at first...they definitely grew on me!)

Father's Day card

2008-06-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

My 4 year old son stamped this card to give to my husband for Father's Day. He picked the pink cardstock and amazingly stamped the "print pattern" background stamp straight all by himself!! Sadly, that stamp set will be retiring at the end of July.

He and his 2 year old sister both took part in the stamping and decorating of the card. She stamped the flowers and the sentiment and glued on the circles after I punched them out with my 3/4" circle punch. My son cut out the sentiment and highlighted it with the yellow marker. I folded over the pumkin pie paper edge and pierced the holes, while my son picked out the brads and then proceeded to put them in the holes and fold over the backs himself. He also stamped the hedge hog image from the "Moose You" stamp set.

The inside of the card is beautifully scribbled with my daughter's artwork in a multiple colour design using my SU markers. My son printed his name by himself across the middle of the inside of the card.

Their Daddy loved it!

We had a great two week holiday in Victoria, then in Mission, then camping in Golden Ears Provincial Park (with a few too many black flies for our liking, of which most loved the taste of our children - especially that tender tasty spot behind their ears!). In the middle of all that, my husband and I enjoyed a Cirque du Soleil perfomance of Corteo in Vancouver...absolutely phenomenal!! I highly recommend it to everyone. It was amazing and shocking and beautiful!

I hope to post a few things now that I'm back. Thanks for looking today!

A Little Note Book

2008-06-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

This is the first book I made with my new Bind-it-all. I used two 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" coasters for the front and back cover. The papers inside are cut from blank computer paper and I used my corner rounder punch for the corners to match the coaster corners.

The paper used to cover the coasters is from the retired SU "Linen Prints" designer series paper. After adhering the paper with modge podge, I lightly sanded the edges and rubbed Whisper White craft ink over all the edges as well with a sponge dauber.

The stamp is from the set "Sweet Thing" which I chose as an encouragement for one who longs for love. It was stamped with Old Olive ink on Apricot Appeal textured cardstock. The ribbon used is the Old Olive polytwill ribbon from SU which I used, not only to accent the book, but to help hold the Aged Copper hodge podge small oval in place. I also used a couple of Stampin' Dimensionals to raise up the paper label in the metal holder and help to keep it more securely where I wanted it.

To finish the book, I used white wire in my Bind-it-all machine. I was really pleased with how this book turned out. I had a little trouble with the binding, trying to keep the wire in their tidy circles after being pressed in the machine. It seems to pinch them too much. I'll have to fiddle with that a bit and figure out how to fix that so it works great everytime.

I'm going to miss this finish on the Hodge Podge hardware. Stampin' Up! is retiring their current finishes and apparently bringing in some new ones. I love these aged finishes and will be sad to see them go, but I'm always excited to see what will come next!

Salvaging Scraps

2008-06-04T09:12:00.000-07:00

I've never been very good at remembering to use up scrap paper. I'm at the point now where I don't even try to save small remnants. I'm determined to change that and this is my first attempt.

This card front is made entirely of scrap paper. I will do my best to tell you the colours and papers used, but don't hold me to it: Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Going Grey, Blush Blossom, and Whisper White. The patterned papers are of my favorite retirees and I believe it was called Spring Flowers. I also used the retired 1/4" ribbon (can't remember what the colour was, but it matches the cocoa paper). I used Blush Blossom ink to stamp the "welcome" at the top (hard to see in this photo) from the stamp set "Warm Words" and the main front image from the set "Sweet Thing", was stamped with versamark and embossed with retired pink embossing powder. I used stampin' dimensionals to raise up the Close to Cocoa square and the white square on top of it.

I was going for a bit of a quilted look, but didn't feel like taking the time to actually pull out my sewing machine for the final touch. I'll have to try that next time as I think it would add a lot.

Another one with "She's All That"

2008-05-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

This card was partly inspired by a technique shown by Beate Johns on her blogsite as well as on the splitcoaststampers website. The grid lines on this card are made by scoring every 1/2" across your paper and then again in this case at a 90 degree angle from the first parallel set of lines. After scoring, I stamped my background stamp over the indentations.

Here's the details...

I used my Coluzzle cutter kit to cut the large circle in white, then stamped the girl in Soft Sky. After that, I scored the grid, then used my Canvas background stamp and unevenly stamped Apricot Appeal ink over the girl. Then I sponged the edges of the circle with more Apricot Appeal ink. To finish off the circle, I added a few flower outlines in more Apricot Appeal using the "Wonderful You" stamp set. The scalloped edge is made from punching out 1/2" circles from Purely Pomegranate cardstock and adhering them to the back of the circle. "Life is good" was stamped on whisper white cardstock in Purely Pomegranate ink and was punched out using my small oval punch. The edges of the oval were sponged with Purely Pomegranate ink before putting it in my Pewter Hodgepodge hardware oval label. The left side of the label was attached to the card with the matching brad from the hardware kit while the right side was attached with a piece of Purely Pomegranate double stitched ribbon. The base of this 5x5 card was made with Apricol Appeal textured cardstock to which I added a strip of Soft Sky designer series paper along the bottom of the card.

Hope you like it! Thanks for looking.

Make a Wish

2008-05-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

I was able to take another photo of this card and re-upload it. It's a bit easier to look at, don't you think? I still don't understand why the other photo wouldn't stay upright!! CRAZY!!

A very strange little glitch here, requiring you to view this card with your head tilted 90 degrees to the right!! I don't know why this has happened. I even tried turning it on its other side before uploading it, but then it actually stayed that way! Annoying, I must say! I do apologise, but have no control over the issue, so you'll just have to consider it a new way to experience a card. LOL!!

I really like this colour combo - bright and cheery. On this 5x5 card, I used Old Olive, Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie, and Bashful Blue cardstock. The background is stamped with the "Stems and Silhoettes" stampin around jumbo wheel in Old Olive ink. The girl (stamped in old olive) and sentiment are from the "She's All That" set in the current mini catalogue. I used my ticket corner punch on the bashful blue cardstock and made the pumpkin pie scalloped edge using my 1/2" circle punch and tucking the circles just under the edge of the apricot appeal cardstock. The ovals are punched using the large and small oval stampin' up punches. I also used stampin' dimensionals behind the matted girl and again to raise up the ovals with the "make a wish" stamped on them. Finally, I used my striped Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon to accent the card.

All and all, I think I like it (she says, with a sideways glance)

(:

A wedding card for Daniel and Tammi

2008-05-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

The wedding colours were in navy blue and gold. I didn't have any gold, so yellow was the next best thing. I had a hard time with the colours at first, which is actually quite funny since my own wedding colours were navy blue and banana cream yellow! LOL!

I used Night of Navy and Barely Banana cardstock. The wedding girl from the "She's All That" stamp set was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with Clear embossing powder (which I embossed twice to make a smooth finish). The background is stamped with my "Wonderful You" stamp set with the outline in Apricot Appeal and the solid flowers in So Saffron. I used Vanilla 5/8" wide grosgrain ribbon for the accent and a stamp from the retired set "Love Matters" for the sentiment on the front.

Note: you can't see in this photo very well, but the base Night of Navy cardstock is actually slightly larger than the Barely Banana cardstock layered on the front, revealing a 1/8" border of Night of Navy.

The Barely Banana cardstock is torn by hand on the bottom and applied with SU Dimensionals to the base cardstock as is the image of the wedding girl over that in the Night of Navy.

I'm happy with how it turned out in the end. I hope Daniel and Tammi like it, too.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2008-05-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

My Mom's birthday fell on Mother's Day this year, so she received 2 cards! (that's how special my Mom is). For this card, I used the ribbon weaving technique shown by kwernerdesign. I chose Purely Pomegranate 15/16th" satin ribbon (now retired...*sniff*) for the weaving. The card base is Chocolate Chip cardstock with a layer of another sadly retired designer series double sided paper called "Brocade Background". In this case, a sheet of Prints Designer Series paper in River Rock would also work beautifully.

I used two flowers from SU's Pretties kit and dyed them with my Purely Pomegranate and River Rock classic ink pads. To do this, I pressed the fabric flowers directly onto the ink pads using the back of a spoon. (My Purely Pomegranate pad was a bit dry for this technique, so I had to pause to re-ink it). After dying my flowers, I removed excess ink by pressing it between paper towel a few times until I was satisfied that most of it was blotted out.

Lastly, I used an Aged Brass Jumbo eyelet in the centre of my flowers with a clear rhinestone brad (from the Pretties kit) to finish it off. Then entire flower assembly was adhered with mini gluedots to the ribbons. If I had thought ahead, I would have tried attaching the flower to the ribbon-covered cardstock with the eyelet instead of using gluedots, but I had already attached my ribbon weaving accent with stampin' dimensionals.

I'm pretty confident my Mom really liked this card since she gasped when she opened it!

Mother's Day Cards

2008-05-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

I made these cards for my Mom and my Mother-in-law for Mother's Day. The background is stamped in Versamark ink on Cameo Coral paper with my new stamp set, "Wonderful You". My Mom likes blue, so her card has a Brilliant Blue cup and matting. I used the 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and the 15/16" Chocolate satin ribbon to accent the card. The cup is coloured with SU Markers and blended with a blender pen. The cup is from the stamp set, "Pun Fun". Dimension is added to the card by using SU Dimensionals under the matting as well as the paper with the stamped image on it.

My Mother-in-law likes green, so I did the same card, only used Old Olive instead of the blue and I used the Old Olive Poytwill ribbon.

The one thing that makes these cards really fun (and is actually the reason I used the stamp that I did) is the Card Scent!! I brushed on "Espresso" scent over the edge of the matting and the coffee area of the cup. At first, I thought maybe I put on too much, but by the time my moms got there cards, the scent had become much more subtle and I think I could have actually used more scent. I'll have to experiment with it more.

Visiting Old Friends

2008-05-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to upload a few new cards, but have not been able to find my USB connecting cord from my camera...Grrr. So I thought I'd show you a few cards I did in the past that I still like. I hope you enjoy them as well. Each of these cards is made with SU products, but all of the stamp sets are now retired.

This is a baby card I made for my Uncle's little boy. I still love SU Classy Copper embossing powder and continue to lament it's retirement. That also goes for the Copper metal edged tags. Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Brocade Blue (I think); Chocolate Chip 1/4" grosgrain ribbon; I did some peekaboo holes with tht 3/4" circle punch and matched the stamped images through the holes; I can't remember what the stamp set was called, but I believe it was a hostess set.

As a demonstrator, I'm always trying to come up with simple and quick cards to do for workshops in peoples homes. This card was one of my first simple cards that I actually liked. If I were to do it again, I know I would be forced to add to it and it wouldn't be as simple, but I still really like the basic elements, the colors, and the layout of this card. (I would definitely add a wider ribbon to start with). You can't really see it in this photo, but I used a direct ink to paper technique to make a suede-like look on the base card simply by sliding the ink pad over the paper maintaining a horizontal directing with each pass. Simple, but effective. This retired stamp set is "Lexicon of Love".

This last card I wanted to show you was done for a workshop as well. The card base is a retired little gift card (you can get them in other colors still) that, when closed, a tab slides in a slot. I used the retired set "Love Matters". The background is stamped with the much loved "Canvas" background stamp in Tempting Turquoise; the words stamped with Regal Rose ink. I used Tempting Turquoise, Regal Rose, and Very Vanilla paper. The image is colored with SU markers.

So, there's a few to fill the void until my camera USB cord is found. Even then, I haven't been doing a whole lot. I keep hoping that will change, but life is kind of getting in the way between being fatigued with pregnancy and all of the household duties (which now include the dreaded yardwork -- normally I like working in the soil, but we have sooooo many weeds)

Congratulations Brenda!

2008-04-24T09:55:00.001-07:00

Thank you all for your comments on my blog for the blog candy. When I asked my 4 yr old son to tell me a number, he originally picked 47, but since I only had 21 posts, the next number he picked was 16. Since Brenda was the 16th comment, she wins the candy!! I really enjoyed the baby names you all shared. Once the baby is born in September, I'll post birth stats and what name we choose. The biggest trouble is that my DH and I don't agree on what we like.

For girls I'm drawn to names with an old fashioned femininity like Ada (Biblical name pronounced Ah-da), Emily, Lily. I also like Cora and the Japanese name Aiko and even the use of Dylan for a girl.

For boys, I like Eric, Ian, Zacariah, and since I'm still investigating girls names in my baby name book, I'm sure when I get to the boy section I'll like a few more.

My husband liked the suggestion for Rebbekah (I really like the spelling for that one, but not sure about the name yet) and he liked Aaron for a boy.

So, we still have to work on it, but appreciate your help!

So, Brenda, I hope you can message me to give me your mailing information and I will send out your prize!

Time for Blog Candy!!

2008-04-18T16:00:00.001-07:00

I've had over 3000 hits now and would like to give you a chance to get some free stuff to help me celebrate!! I have a stamp set (from Stampin' Up's Sale-a-bration 2008) as well as a small assortment of 12x12 papers including textured ones, a couple embossed samples (done with my cuttlebug) along with some embellishments and a couple other items.

If you want this stuff mailed to your house all you have to do is leave me a comment on this post and give me some baby name suggestions for my baby-to-be in September. I don't know if I will have a boy or a girl, so please suggest one of each! If you know the meaning of the name, that would be extra cool! I will pick a random winner next week. Make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you.

Thanks for looking at my blog!

Sooo Close to 3000 hits and Blog Candy!!

2008-04-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

We're only 25 or so hits away from the blog candy being posted. I'll only look once per day to see if I can post the prize. As soon as I see I've reached 3000 hits, I'll show you what you can win...but you're going to have to work for it!!

Mwaahahahaaa!!

(Okay, okay, I won't make you work too hard.)

Altered Canvas #3

2008-04-16T14:57:00.001-07:00

This one was inspired by a layout I saw in a Close to My Heart catalogue. I needed to use colors to somewhat coordinate with the very first canvas I did. Stampin' Up didn't have any colors that were an exact match to that canvas (which was done in a scrapbook store in Abbotsford), so these were as close as I could get.

I first applied my Close to Cocoa ink pad directly to the canvas and rubbed it evenly across the surface, adding a little extra around the edges for a distressed look. The ink came out more like Chocolate Chip than Close to Cocoa...must be a combination of the surface medium plus the direct from ink pad concentrated approach. Now I'm too impatient to wait for the ink to dry, so I then took the time to sprinkle my clear embossing powder over the entire canvas surface (manageable sections at a time) and heat embossed it with my heat gun. It not only "dries" the ink, but it also adds a subtle sheen to the canvas.

The color combination I used is Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel and Basic Black. To try to get the caramel more golden, I sponged on some More Mustard ink and a touch of Close to Cocoa on the edges of the Creamy Caramel paper. The Bashful Blue is also sponged around the edges with the Close to Cocoa ink.

I also used my new Cuttlebug to make the dry emboss diamond impressions on the one piece of Creamy Caramel paper (The Cuttlebut is so fun and easy to use, it's almost embarrassing!). The photo of my son is distressed aroung the edges with Stampin' Up's distressing tool and I puffed up the photo with my handy dandy stampin' dimensionals. The only stamp I actually used for this canvas is in the bottom left corner from the "It's All Good" stamp set. The stars have been inked with Bashfull Blue and More Mustard and are chipboard from the "On Board Accents" collection. I also used Jumbo eyelets, brads from my hodgepodge hardware, black hemp twine, and More Mustard grosgrain ribbon as embellishments.

I really struggled with what to put in the space where the stars are. The stars alone didn't seem like enough, but anything else just looked like clutter. Adding the brads with the stars was all I needed in the end to feel like I had balanced the space without making it look like I "tried to hard".

In the end, I'm pleased with how it turned out. I have to actually find where I can hand it on the wall now. That seems just as challenging as creating it in the first place!! lol!

Another bookmark card

2008-04-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

Here's a card I made by playing around with my rub-ons. Most of the images are done with rub-ons, except for the word "smile" which was done with my Rough Edge alphabet set and the bookmark has a couple stamps on it from the sets "Merci" and "Smarty Pants".

This is another pocket card with a bookmark in it...it's actually my first attempt. You can't see it in the picture, but the bookmark comes out of the pocket on the back of the card instead of the front. That was due to an error in adhering my pocket closed!

I tried making a narrow bookmark for this card, but found it slid around in a very untidy manner in the pocket, so I had to get creative to have it hold still (I slipped a bit of glue on either side of the inside of the pocket and slapped on an eyelet to help hold the bookmark more securely). My next bookmark card had a wider bookmark to avoid all of the fuss.

I don't love this card, but it's nice and I like it enough that I wouldn't be embarrassed to give it away.

One thing that I do like about it though is how quick it was to make using the rub-ons. They are so tidy and mess free. Needless to say, I have bought more since.

Thanks for looking.

I'm getting closer to 3000 hits, so keep watching for upcoming blog candy!!

Consider Me Tagged!!

2008-03-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

So, I was checking out Silke Ledlow's blog and read one of her posts where she was "tagged" to reveal 7 facts about herself. After her facts she wrote that anyone who read the blog post should consider themselves tagged also and reveal 7 facts of their own...I thought it could be fun, so here it goes...

1. I LOVE ladybugs. I think they represent the purity of the great outdoors and God's creation. I love that they are so cute but are absolutely vicious when it comes to aphids!! hehe. Unfortunately, I'm not vicious, just cute. :P

2. I'm a bit of a loner. I like my alone time and sometimes my need for it (with 2 toddlers I don't get much time to myself) takes time and energy away from the opportunity to develop relationships with friends.

3. I love the outdoors, but somehow don't get out there much. When I do have a chance, I love to go camping far away from people (forestry campsites are the best), or I'll get out for a run on a local path beside the river.

4. I grew up with holidays consisting of camping/hiking/canoeing trips. I did the West Coast Trail when I was 12 years old, the Bowren Lake chain when I was 15, and as I got older we continued to do some great adventures on the Broken Group, Tweedsmeir Park, Bunsby Islands, and many other trips that where only a bit less fantastic. I love my experiences and in no way do I feel ripped off that we never went to Disney Land. (I will find an opportunity to take my kids one day, though)

5. I hated cross-country skiing as a kid. I took classes every winter and was always the last kid, the complaining and cold kid in the group. I was miserable. Then I realized at about 12 years old that I was pretty good at it and it started to be fun. I raced in BC for a number of years and enjoyed some Loppets (kind of the equivalent of a marathon for running). I still really enjoy it, but as a family, I find it harder to get out.

Here's a photo of me and my 2 year old out for a ski. She chatted in my ear happily the entire time we were skiing. Even though she's not smiling in this picture, she really did love it! Next year she'll be too heavy to carry, so she'll ride in a Polk (a sled that you pull behind you when you ski).

6. I'm a very messy housekeeper. If you come to my house and it looks tidy and clean, that's because I'm trying to pretend I'm like everyone else and cleaned my house like mad before you arrived!! If you come over and my house is a mess, that usually means that I'm finished pretending and I'm comfortable with you knowing the horrible truth about me!!

7. I like acting on stage. Started that in highschool. I was a shy, quiet kid who wanted to be an artist. I took art classed in grade 8, but the program in our school forced you to do half a year in art and half a year in drama. I won an award for drama and wasn't recognised for my artwork, so I took drama in grade 9, 10, 11, and 12!! Sorry to say my drawing abilities have gone downhill, but I still am involved in drama in my church. I've always loved the idea of being in a community theatre production, but most often, it seems, they do musicals, and I CAN'T SING!!

So, there you have it. My seven facts.

I have some cards to show you soon. Just have to take some pictures of them first.

Upcoming blog candy!!

2008-03-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't been very active on my blog site. I apologize for that. My pregnancy has been a bit rough this first trimester with nausea and fatigue, so my stamping activities have been affected.

I have good news! I will be posting some great blog candy when my blog hits 3000! There will be a Stampin' Up stamp set among the loot, plus a few extras! So keep visiting because you won't want to miss it!

I promise to put up a new project soon for you to check out as well. Remember to comment on what you see if you like it. It will spur me on to show you more projects. I will feel like my time is well spent with each comment I receive from you.

Faux Silk Pocket Card

2008-03-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

This is a lovely technique that is really very simple. I'm very pleased with how this card turned out. I made it for my faithful customer and friend, Gwen, as a make-and-take project for her stampin' party with my other most faithful customers and friends!! Gwen requested a pocket card with a book mark inside. This is what I came up with.

I decribe in brief how to do the faux silk technique on a previous post. For this one, I used my new Pretty Petals background stamp and inked it using Stampin' Up markers. Once inked, I huffed my breath over the inked stamp before stamping it on my tissue paper to re-moisten the ink. The base of my card is made with kraft cardstock (I've been using that a lot lately). I also used purely pomegranate, groovy guava, and whisper white cardstock. The "thank you" is done with one of the new rub-on's from Stampin' Up. Of course, the background stamp was also used on the kraft paper, but done in Versamark ink for a subtle look.

The bookmark was made with the same colours and techniques. I used a jumbo eyelet at the top to put the bravo burgandy and double stitched groovy guava grosgrain ribbon through. The "happiness" was stamped using my ABC lower alphabet set and heat embossed with white embossing powder.

This card has a number of steps. I won't explain them all unless you have questions as it would be an aweful lot.

Hope you like my card and bookmark!

For My Valentine

2008-02-29T08:56:00.000-08:00

I made this card for my DH on Valentine's Day. I needed it to be relatively simple as I started it that morning and wanted to finish before he woke up. I had to do a do-over with the buckle chipboard once, because I bent it and smudged the ink...the joys of working with the slower drying craft ink!

I used the Kraft paper for the base. The chipboard buckle and heart are from Stampin' Up's On Board chipboard. I started by using Whisper White craft ink to cover the buckle. I did it a couple times, heat setting it with my heat gun in between coats (it still doesn't completely set this way, but it helps reduce mess, oh, and it smoked just a little bit...hehe). Once I was satisfied that it wouldn't get any whiter, I used my Real Red craft ink and the hearts stamp from the hostess set "A Little Bit of Happiness" to apply over the white ink, then I clear embossed over that so that the red inked image became raised and shiny (hard to see in this photo). The heart was inked thoroughly with the real red craft ink and clear embossed twice to give a glossy finish. This changes the true red color a bit, so I opted for the Bravo Burgandy 1/4" grosgrain ribbon to attach the buckle to the card (I also secured the buckle to the paper with some Sticky Strip). The heart was attached to the cardstock with a couple Stampin' Dimensionals. I used a favorite retired stamp inside the card with the sentiment: "I love you more today than yesterday, but less today than I will tomorrow".

A Simple Kid's Card

2008-02-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't been doing very much stamping lately. Not feeling terribly creative, I'm afraid. Here's a simple card I put together for my nephew's 7th birthday. I used Garden Green for my base color, then used Summer Sun to mat the birdie image. The Whisper White cardstock is edged with Garden Green ink using a Marvelous Marker. I also coloured the image (from the stamp set "Pun Fun") using my Stampin' Up! (SU) Marvelous Markers and a blender pen to pull the colour around a bit to give a simple water coloured look. The ribbon is SU's More Mustard 1/4" grosgrain ribbon. And to give a bit more pop, I used my handy dandy Stampin' Dimensionals to adhere the matted image to the green cardstock.

I would be much more impressed with myself if I not only managed to make a card, but actually got it in the mail before his birthday!

Cards, cards, cards

2008-02-05T08:18:00.000-08:00

I haven't done much lately. These cards I made a couple weeks ago at an all day stamp event. I was there for 8 hours and managed to make 4 cards!! Oh well, I do like how they turned out.

This first card is a baby card using Stampin' Up! craft paper for the base, Ruby Red and Groovy Guava. I used the Kraft taffeta ribbon and did some faux stitching on the strip of Groovy Guava near the bottom. This is done by piercing a row of holes, then connecting the dots with a white gel pen (Stampin' Up! has a very nice one). I used this technique on all of these cards...I guess I was a little stitch happy. I used Stampin' dimensionals to raise the large rectangle as well as the smaller rectangle on top of it. The image is embossed with black embossing powder and the stamp is from "Sweet Thing" stamp set. Finally, I used my corner rounder punch to add the scalloped edge at the bottom of the card. Oh, and the patterned paper is Groovy Guava Prints Designer paper.

This card is clearly similar to the one above. I just used Wild Wasabi, Certainly Celery, and Garden Green instead of the pink combo above. The ribbon is the Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon. I think that the striped Wild Wasabi (it's new in the catalogue this season) would have looked good with this as well.

This card is similar to the first. I needed to swap the Kraft ribbon for the Guava double stitched ribbon when I used the white cardstock for the stamped image as the Kraft ribbon just looked dingy next to the white paper. The stamped image is from the "It's All Good" stamp set, which, after stamping with Ruby Red classic ink, I quickly embossed it with clear embossing powder. I heard from Beate Johns that you can make a smoother look if you quickly add more embossing powder when your image is still warm and heat emboss it again. I must agree, it does look more finished that way. I punched out the image with my circle punch (1-1/4", I think) and adhered it with Stampin' Dimensionals to the Ruby Red scallop circle (used my scallop punch).

This last card is a similar layout to one I posted not very long ago. The stamp set is, again, from the "It's All Good" set and I double embossed it with clear embossing powder over Old Olive ink. I used my 1-1/4" square punch to cut it out and my 1-3/8" square punch to frame it in Old Olive paper. The background is Kraft cardstock and I used Summer Sun and Real Rust cardstock, which I sponged the edges of with a slighly darker ink to give a sort of antiqued look. The Kraft cardstock is also sponged around the edges. The ribbon is Chocolate 15/16th" Satin Ribbon which you can find in Stampin' Up!'s Ribbon Original Theatre set. And I used a piece of hodgepodge aged copper hardware to embellish the ribbon using the technique I showed you in one of my earliest posts. Stampin' Dimensionals once again add depth to my card by slightly raising up the stamped image.

Hope you like these cards. Thanks for visiting!

Another Canvas

2008-01-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

I did my first canvas class today and I think it went well. I like to encourage individual creativity with projects as much as I can. Everyone in the class did something different, it was great! In hind site I wish I had taken photos of everyone's artwork so I could display them here for you to see. They all turned out so beautifully even though the embossing powder seemed to be a bit finnicky and unreliable.

My canvas here is done with an acrylic painted background in the black and dark chocolate colours. We used a Heidi Swapp mask which I purchased through Lisa's Scrap Shack with very reasonable shipping expenses. We used Versamark over the mask, removed the mask, then applied clear thick embossing powder and melted it with a heat tool. The photo is of my sister-in-law and family which I mounted on the black and old olive paper. I used a small piece of patterned paper to make the little photo corner and used wide old olive grosgrain ribbon along with the wide chocolate satin ribbon and 1/4" black grosgrain ribbon as accents.

I like how it turned out, but I'm looking forward to playing around with different ways of decorating the canvas in the future. I've seen some very beautiful pieces out there and have a few ideas up my sleave, too.

If any of you have done canvas scrapping projects, I'd love to see what you've done and have you share any tips you may have. Feel free to leave a comment and a link to your photo if you have one!

COLOR INSPIRED

2008-01-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

Color inspiration: from a Beth Moore video series on Daniel. Some of these colors are part of her set. You can find all sorts of color combination ideas everywhere you look!

Techniques: faux stitching using a paper piercer and white gel pen; faux silk by stamp on tissue paper first, then crumple tissue paper up, flatten it out and glue it to a piece of cardstock.

Stamps used: unfortunately, this set is retired. It's called "All I Have Seen". I used it for my last time on this card and gave the card and the set to a friend for her birthday. Happy Birthday, Gwen!

Supplies: textured Wild Wasabi cardstock, Pumkin Pie, Summer Sun, and Very Vanilla cardstock. 15/16th inch satin chocolate ribbon, sponge with Pumkin Pie ink and Wild Wasabi ink for the paper edges. SU white gel pen, paper piercer, mat pack, snail adhesive, stampin' dimensionals, crystal brad (crystal removed from its setting), aged copper hodgepodge buckle. Image is stamped with Certainly Celery and Wild Wasabi ink using the "rock and roll" technique.

I love how this card turned out. Thanks for looking.

Happy 21st!

2008-01-07T09:44:00.000-08:00

My friend, Seana, turned 21 on January 1st. This is the card that I made for her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SEANA!!

I saw a card with these colors together and really liked it (not really surprised that it includes old olive...hehe). The colors include: Rose Red, Taken with Teal, Old Olive and textured Basic Black paper with Pumkin Pie grosgrain ribbon. I didn't have any large number stamps or anything precut (chipboard would have been nice), so I traced numbers from a stamp set in the SU catalogue ("Big Deal Numbers" set) and carefully cut them out of textured basic black card stock. The Old Olive printed paper is from the retired Linen Prints from the last SU catalogue (sorry, not available to purchase anymore). I made the matching envelope out of the same double sided patterned paper with my 5-in-1 Envelope Template. I used my double rectangular hole punch for the holes in which I wove (is that a real word?) the ribbon through. The "Happy Birthday" is from the "It's Your Birthday" stamp set. The "st" is from the "Short Order Numbers" set. The numbers are raised from the page with stampin' dimensionals.

Photo on Canvas

2008-01-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

I still don't have any new projects to put up for you, but I thought I could show you a project that I will be doing in an upcoming class.

This is an 8x10 canvas that I finished in a class at a scrapbook store in Abbotsford with my friend Melanie. It was fun to do and I really liked the result. The background is painted with acrylic paints. The word "cherish" is done in painted chipboard letters. A stencil was used to help make the reversed image that we embossed with a clear, thick, embossing powder. If you look a little closer, you'll see that a bit of paint was also used on the edges of the photo.

The canvas project for my class will look quite different from this one, but I will be using some of the techniques (embossing, matting the photo, acrylic paint for the background). Once I come up with a finished product to show you, I'll definitely put it up on my blog.

By the way, those are my kids in the photo. The picture was taken in the fall of 2006 by a wonderful friend (Thank you again, Lindsay). Isaac will be 4 in March and Serena will be 2 in February.

I have a little tip for you that I learned after doing this canvas project. Many of us often print our photos ourselves with our home printers and photo paper. One thing I have discovered is that if any moisture gets on your picture, the colour on the photo will run/smudge, so you have to put your photo in a frame or a page protected scrapbook. I wanted to protect future projects like this from any moisture, so...I tried clear embossing the entire photo surface - it worked! And it added a cool look to the photo without compromising the colours and clarity of the image. You just need to be careful not to overheat the photo paper as it will melt. Of course, you still will want to protect projects like this from moisture (don't display it in the bathroom) as well as direct sunlight as it might cause fading.

Lower Prices for 2008

2008-01-03T21:31:00.000-08:00

Many of you are already aware of this, but in case you haven't heard the good news...

Stampin' Up! has reduced the new 2008 catalogue prices by 7%!! They are trying to reflect the increased value of the Canadian dollar. Unfortuneately, due to the higher cost to them for doing business in Canada, they are still not able to match the US prices. They have also reduced the first level hostess amount to $200 from $225, so you can earn hostess sets and free product a little bit easier! I expect a few more adjustments to be made with the next catalogue in the way of the hostess levels.

Also, I only just noticed that the new catalogue has brought back the 12x12 individual colour packs of paper! Select colours were removed from the last catalogue and made for some unhappy customers, so they were able to fix their mistake. I'm pretty happy with that as I do use a lot of the same colour of paper for workshop and class projects.

Sorry that I haven't put up any projects lately. I will soon, I promise.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Thoughts of Christmas

2007-12-26T20:34:00.001-08:00

Christmas wasn't always a celebration of Jesus for me. Christmas was about love; it was about family; it was about peace on earth and good will toward men. All these things are good things. But, I first understood the true meaning of Christmas 10 years ago, when I made a choice to follow the teachings and the love of Jesus. My life attitude has been very different since then and many of my life activities have changed. I wouldn't say that life is easier, in fact, in many ways it's more difficult as I wrestle down my faults and do my best to show God's love through my actions. I still have many challenges and struggles and I am very humanly flawed, but I know that I am not doing it alone. My struggles are building my character and teaching me about faith. God provides me with His guidance through it all (hopefully I'm listening) and I frequently find myself leaning on Him for support during the trials of life. I am ever grateful that I can put my life in His hands knowing that He sees the bigger picture and has ultimate and intimate understanding of my thoughts and experiences.

What is the true meaning of Christmas in your life? I know that everyone does not believe the same as I do. I hope that you will take a moment to reflect on this season... Is it about the presents under the tree? I love the tradition of giving and receiving and being thankful... Or is it more about spending time with the ones you love, making amends, maybe offering grace for their shortcomings (we all have them), and showing them how much you love them and how grateful you are for having them in your life? ... Or maybe you struggle at Christmastime. Maybe it brings with it a sadness; some loneliness, maybe some bitterness. I hope not. I hope that you will find peace this season. I hope you will find joy. I hope that you will discover a deeper meaning, far beyond the commercialism which envelopes our Christmas celebrations.

Merry Christmas to you and yours wherever you are. I wish you peace and joy at this special time of year.

How to Use the Stamp-a-ma-jig

2007-12-19T08:18:00.000-08:00

I made good use of my Stamp-a-ma-jig while making my Christmas cards this year. When used properly, it's a great tool to help you position your stamp images with precision. No more crooked words! It's great if you're looking for precise overlapping of images also. Here's a little tutorial to show you how it works:

1. Start by lining up your clear image sheet into the side of your "jig" being sure it's neatly tucked in and flush with the edges.

2. While holding your jig and the clear sheet steady, line up your stamp flush and snug into your jig and slide it down to stamp your image on the clear sheet.

3. The clear sheet then becomes your guide for positioning your stamp onto your project.

4. Lay your clear sheet over your project to where you want the image to be. Then line your jig up snug as you did before while you hold your image sheet in place over your project.

5. Remove the imaging sheet while firmly holding the jig in place.

6. In the same fashion as you did when stamping on the clear sheet, you will hold the jig firmly in place, line up your stamp flush and snug into the jig and slide the stamp down to stamp the image on your project.

I love how little effort it took to center my "noel" onto my card!

MORE Christmas Cards!!

2007-12-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

After making 40 cards for all of the people involved in the Christmas production, I had to do all of the Christmas cards for my family and closest friends. I got the idea for these cards from kwernerdesigns and adapted it for the supplies that I had on hand (thankfully, I took great advantage of last month's Stampin' Up! promotion and got loads of paper!...phew!!) I also needed them to be simple so that I could make them quickly.

I like how they turned out, but I ended up destroying my Coluzzle cutting mat doing all those special circles. I think my blade had gotten dull with use and it ended up tearing through my mat. I think I can get a replacement at a local craft store without having to re-purchase my whole Coluzzle kit.

Some of the red ones with the green ribbon remind me of Norwegian artwork and designs (my Great-Grandmother came to Canada from Norway). I think for that reason those ones are my favorites.

40 Cards!

2007-12-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

I made 40 cards for our cast and crew to thank them for doing such a great job in our Christmas play at our church. We performed a play called "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". It was a hoot!! Everyone in the cast had to play kids, so it was a great excuse to goof off and have a lot of fun. I wore high pigtails, a cute little skirt, freckles, false eyelashes, and LOTS of dark pink (kind of like this Rose Red paper).

This photo shows some of the color combos that I used for my cards. The ones with the Rose Red and the Not Quite Navy cardstock base are probably my favorite combinations. I started out by using the Flannel background stamp, but when I used my Print Patterns background stamp, I liked the playful look it made better. After stamping the snowflake from the Perfect Presentation hostess stamp set, I inked the entire 1-1/4" square of paper with Versamark and heat embossed the paper with iridescent ice embossing powder. It added a touch of glitter, which just seems to make a Christmas card complete.

Now I have to get my butt in gear and make another 50 or so Christmas cards to send out to my family! I better get a move on!

Even though it's such a busy time of year....I LOVE Christmas!!!

WHAT IF YOUR INK PAD COMES APART!!

2007-11-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine called me up with great concern over her retired Vintage Violet classic ink pad. The silly thing had come apart and she couldn't get it together again...it would dry up if she couldn't get it to go together soon!

Have you had that happen? It takes a bit of figuring to get it back together with the cool sliding mechanism designed for Stampin' Up! ink pads. The design allows the ink pads to be upside down when stored which keeps the surface of the pad moist.

I tried explaining how to put it back together again over the phone, but without a visual, it was pretty confusing. In the meantime, she wrapped it in plastic wrap. So, here it is. I hope it's helpful.

Figure #1

The pictures say more than I can. This first photo (figure #1) shows which ends to put together. The "outy part of the ink side goes into the inny part of the non-ink side" (I think that's about what I told my friend over the phone). Notice the sliding track where the "outy part" goes and that it goes in the end of the ink pad base that has the semicircle below the track.

Figure #2

In figure #2, I'm trying to show how you "walk" the other "outy part" forward to fit it into the track.

Figure #3

Then slide that second side back into the track while keeping the first side in its place as well (figure #3). Make sure you slide it as far as you can before trying to flip it back closed again.

Figure #4

Finally, you can flip the lid over to close it. (figure #4)

So, if you happen to have the Stampin' Up ink pads, this may one day be something that you have to do for yourself (you may have already done it). Just come back here and hopefully, these instructions will walk you through it.

Acetate Christmas

2007-11-23T08:08:00.000-08:00

Can you say "Amy likes old olive!" Ya, I know, but old olive is just right for all things Christmas. I'll try to make my next card without olive, I promise!!

This one is made by stamping and embossing on acetate (overhead projector sheet). I used whisper white craft ink and embossed with iridescent ice embossing powder using my new Perfect Presentation hostess stamp set. Note: when embossing on acetate you need to be very careful not to overheat as you could melt the plastic. I then used my coluzzle cutter to make the oval window (textured soft sky and a piece of brocade background designer series paper). The paper piercing around the window didn't add as much as I'd hoped. The background stamp on the olive was done while masking off the oval centre so that the area behind the acetate would be plain.

Try embossing on acetate. It's a great effect!

Blog Candy Winner!!

2007-11-20T22:29:00.000-08:00

I loved reading about all of your Christmas traditions. Some brought a tear to my eye as I thought of my own family and our traditions. I look forward to carrying ours on and creating new ones with my own family. I think my favorite Christmas tradition is Christmas eve. We always get together with an array of finger foods and treats, some tasty drinks (once I was old enough), and sit by the fire (a real one) with the Christmas tree (also real) lights twinkling. We'd visit and joke, often enjoying a special Ice Wine or Port (once I was old enough). I still look forward to that evening every year. As a child I also enjoyed being able to open our stockings before anyone else was up Christmas morning (we always had to wait for my oldest brother to get up...I think he did it on purpose), and I especially loved getting up before everyone else, turning on the Christmas tree lights and, with the rest of the house still dark and quiet, sitting or lying at the foot of that tree and bathing in its glowing delight.

Congratulations to the winner of my first blog candy offer!!!

CAKVD said...
OMG!!! I LOVE all these SU goodies!!! My favorite tradition is getting together to decorate the Christmas tree. We are all happy and together (even the cat joins in!)Thanks!Cheryl KVD

If you could email me your mailing address, I will send your candy asap.
CONGRATULATIONS!! And thank you everyone for sharing.

BLOG CANDY!!

2007-11-16T23:42:00.000-08:00

Whooohooo! I've got over a thousand hits on my blog! Thanks everyone for visiting me!

I am pleased to offer my first blog candy. For a chance to win this assortment of Stampin' Up! and non-Stampin' Up! items, I would like you to leave a comment telling me what your favorite family Christmas tradition is and why. I'll draw the winner on Tuesday, Nov. 20th.

Among the loot:

-heavy weight stickers

-In Colour cardstock sample pack with coordinating ribbon

-Stampin' Dimensionals

-technique booklet

-cut and scored note cards and envelopes (very vanilla)

-rub-on transfers

-a couple cute stamps

-assortment of brads, buttons, flowers, and scallop circles.

Happy Birthday to Melanie!

2007-11-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

I made this card using the same card base as was used for my Christmas tree card on the previous post. The scalloped window is from Stampin' Up!'s "Accents and Elements" tin of stickers made with heavy weight paper. This one is from the Borders and Blossoms tin which are all in easy to use neutral colours.

I added depth to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals to pop-up the scalloped window. The image is a hostess set (Oh, So Lovely) which I first stamped on Soft Sky textured paper with Blue Bayou ink. Then I stamped the same image on my watercolour paper using Stazon black ink, coloured it with a blender pen and ink pad, and punched it out with a circle punch so it would fit behind my window.

I black embossed my Happy Birthday sentiment (from "It's Your Birthday" stamp set). Embossing adds such a nice finished look to projects. Another technique I often use is tearing my paper as I did with my layers at the bottom of this card.

This card uses River Rock, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, and Purely Pomegranate.

HIT ME!!

2007-11-13T15:55:00.001-08:00

Okay folks, I'm just not getting enough hits on this blog!

Soooooo....I'm going to give away some blog candy, but if you want it, you have to help me get to 1000 hits on my counter!

Seriously, it will be some great blog candy, you won't want to miss it.

Once I hit 1000, I will post what the candy will be and what you'll need to do to win it.

Spread the word about my blogsite and I'll do my best to post something at least once per week for you to look at.

Chistmas Tree

2007-11-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

I just love this origami tree that Melanie showed me last year. It adds such beautiful depth to a card. This card was done for my open house. Again, I just love the pomegranate/old olive combo. And doesn't the Bravo Burgandy ribbon look lovely with the Purely Pomegranate paper. I was so excited to discover that colour combination. I used River Rock cardstock for the base and cut the card so that the back was wider than the front. I used old olive and purely pomegranate layered on the front with the 5/8" bravo burgandy grosgrain ribbon. The tree is made with the brocade background designer series paper. The background of the pomegranate paper is stamped using pomegranate ink with the flannel background stamp (a favorite for me at Christmas). The Season's Greetings is from Many Merry Messages stamp set and was heat embossed black. I was so pleased with this one. My husband helped me a bit...I had originally left the pomegranate blank and he suggested to add some sort of subtle background. I wonder if he might be a closet stamper. hehe.

Okay, I'm planning to do some blog candy when I hit 1000 on my counter. Be ready and I will post it properly when the time comes.

2007-10-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

I've always loved Old Olive and Real Red for traditional Christmas cards. I was very happy with this card. I think some of my influence came from a friend of mine (you always make such classy cards, Gwen).

Here I used my Print Pattern background stamp with old olive ink on my old olive card stock. I then used a sponge (again with old olive ink) for the shading all around the card base as well as the white cardstock. The stamp is from the level one hostess set, Sidekick Sayings. I used my Stampin' Up! markers to colour the words in real red and old olive, then used my basic black ink pad to ink the tree. After stamping the image, I coloured it with my Stampin' Pastels chalk set using a blender pen as my application tool. I then added the wide grosgrain real red ribbon, adhered the white cardstock to the base with Stampin' Dimensionals. Finally, to balance the card with colour, I added the three real red brads in the top left corner of the card using my handy dandy Stampin' Up! Mat Pack to help me line them up nice and evenly.

My First Shaker Card

2007-10-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine gave me some stuffing from inside a pillow. She used it for snow in a shaker card, so I thought I'd try it for myself. After making the shaker portion of my card, I needed to figure out what to do with it. I was a bit bored with my usual card layouts, so I headed off to the Splitcoast Stampers web site and looked at their Card Sketches weekly challenges. I came across challenge #110 and thought I'd give it a try.

I fell in love with the combination of colour on this card; particularly the purely pomegranate with the old olive. They are such a beautiful and rich colour combination, don't you think? I also used soft sky and textured certainly celery which, unfortuneately takes away a little bit from the rich colour, but I still love how it turned out.

So, thank you Splitcoast and thank you Melanie for your inspiration!

And now for something completely different...

2007-10-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is a slight deviation from stamping, but I did use Stampin' Up! wide old olive grosgrain ribbon.

I was in my garden trying to get some things under control and I began cutting back one of my lavendar bushes. As I was trimming it, I was thoroughly enjoying the scent of the leaves and remaining flowers. I thought "how can I just throw these in the compost bin?" and I decided then that I would do something with them so we could enjoy the scent in our home. I found some old floral wire and began aimlessly bunching and wrapping until I ended up with a wreath. Then with some manipulation and adjustment I managed to make it look pretty good. I did a final wrap with a thin black satin ribbon that I got at Walmart mostly to distract from the wire. Then, of course, I used my SU olive ribbon as an accent.

My husband insisted that we hang it upstairs where we can always enjoy the fragrance! I love bringing the outdoors into my home. Eventually the colour will fade and it will get dusty, but the scent will hold for quite a while, even after it's dried, I think. I'm pretty happy with it for a first attempt at making a natural wreath.

Origami Box

2007-10-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd try the origami box, but with an acetate lid. I think it turned out quite pretty. I used the Real Red cardstock for the base and embellished the lid with wide old olive grosgrain ribbon and a buckle from my pewter Hodgepodge kit. I attached the buckle with the same method I showed you in one of my earliest posts, then used a couple of glue dots strategically placed to keep it secure. This box would make a great gift filled with chocolates.

Check out the directions for an origami box from kwernerdesign. She has been doing video on her blog for mini tutorials!

Little Christmas gift boxes

2007-10-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

Last year I did a grand Christmas Stamping party in my home. Here are a couple of the gift boxes I made to give as door prizes. I love being able to have a door prize for every person who attends.

Hmm...I'm pretty tired at the moment. My son had a one hour nap this afternoon and now is unable to sleep (it's 90 minutes past his bedtime) so I haven't been able to accomplish much this evening. I'm afraid I haven't anything intelligent or inspirational to say...

I hope you like my boxes.

Acetate Card

2007-09-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

Acetate cards are a nice change from the usual cardstock base that we have become so accustomed to. It can be finicky at times: lining up cardstock paper with the acetate between; stamping on the slippery surface while being careful not to smudge your image; trying to avoid getting fingerprints on the acetate; creatively covering up visible adhesive on the opposite side of your clear acetate. But it's worth the effort for a special card. I have seen some of the most beautifully stunning cards made with acetate. You can purchase acetate (overhead projector sheets) from an office supply store, such as Staples.

RIBBON SAMPLERS until Sept 30th

2007-09-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

I have a very special LIMITED TIME offer for you. Everyone likes the Stampin' Up ribbons, but it's hard to start collecting all the different types and colours. Where do you start? Well, the perfect place to start is to purchase a Ribbon Sampler.

This is how it works: Instead of the huge expense of buying all of the ribbons so that you have an assortment to choose from, you can buy a grouping of ribbons by the yard! Here are the collections and prices for each yard. If you would like, you can buy more than one yard (when my Stampin' Up demo did this over a year ago, I bought 3 yards of all of the gingham ribbons and am still enjoying the benefits of having this selection.)

1 yard each of:
1/4" grosgrain ribbon collection-----$9.46*
5/8" grosgrain ribbon collection-----$7.78*
Tafetta ribbon collection------------$9.94*
In Colour Double Stitched-----------$6.74*
Gingham ribbon collection-----------$5.72*
*BC taxes and shipping are included in the price. If you are out of my area, we can work out the cost of mailing it to your home.

If you get all of the collections at once, I'll give you the gingham collection for free!!

I would like to order these by the end of the month, so please contact me before Sept 30th if you're interested!

Dyeing Ribbon and Flowers

2007-09-15T21:59:00.001-07:00

In my recent technique class, I showed everyone how to dye ribbon and the flowers from the Stampin' Up! Pretties Kit. With the moose card, we used a direct to ink pad technique to saturate our ribbon with color (wild wasabi). For the happiness card, we used a solution of Soft Sky ink refill and water and dipped our flower and ribbon to achieve a great color match (ratio was 50 drops of ink to 1 tsp water). I have to say, I much prefer the results with dying tafetta ribbon than grosgrain ribbon. The grosgrain doesn't seem to dye as evenly which isn't very noticeable with lighter colors, but definitely is visible with darker tones.

Christmas Ball Ornament

2007-09-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I have officially begun my Christmas crafts. Here is the first for this year.

I can remember doing these with old greeting card paper in elementary school and I recently saw a kit for one in a scrapbooking store in Abbotsford. That one was a bit bigger, but the basic principles are the same and it really didn't take as long as I thought it would.

In this case I used my 1-3/8" circle punch to make 20 circles out of my Baroque designer series paper from Stampin' Up! Then I scored each circle with three lines so that it looks like a circle with an equilateral triangle drawn inside it with each corner of the triangle touching the edge of the circle. Then the edges are folded in at each score. Each of these folded circle/triangles are then glued together by the flipped up edges until you have a sphere. After that you just get creative with attaching a ribbon so you can hang it from a tree or a garland! I used the lovely chocolate taffeta ribbon.

The next one I make will be a bit bigger and I'm going to try it with my Cerise designer series paper. It will look more festive with some real red, don't you think?

Another way to Attach Ribbon

2007-08-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

I was playing around with my new 5/8" old olive ribbon and was pleased to find a new way to attach it to a card with my hodge podge hardware buckle. I love how it looks.

I started by wrapping the ribbon around the back of the cardstock as is often done when you are going to simply tie ribbon to your project. In these photos I have glued two pieces of ribbon to either side of my paper rather than wrapping it all the way around the back. This is one way that you can make your ribbon last a bit longer.

1. pull both ends of the ribbon up through one side of your hodge podge hardware buckle

2. then pull both ends of your ribbon down through the other side of your buckle.3. tighten the ribbon by alternately pulling on each end of ribbon gently while securing the buckle with your other hand

4. And you have a lovely way to apply a ribbon so you can make fun cards like this:This card is made with groovy guava textured cardstock that was run through my friend's Cuddlebug. This little gadget does some beautiful embossing. The flowers are from the hostess stamp set "Oh, So Lovely" which were coloured with cameo coral and old olive Stampin' markers. I framed this with old olive cardstock tearing the bottom and applying it with dimensionals. Finally, I used a stamp from "It's Your Birthday" to put on the Happy at the bottom of the page. I must admit that I am quite happy with how this turned out.

Let me know what you think!

A Great Time!!

2007-07-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

I had a really great time at my Stampin' Up party in my home. Thank you to everyone who came. I'm glad that I was able to provide door prizes for everyone of you and that you were able to take advantage of 15% off of one item in your order. I loved having you in my home to share my obsession with stamping!

Congratulations to Shirley who won the draw for a free stamp set;

to Karen who won the draw for the hand-crafted lunch box tin;

and to Seana who won the draw for the hand-crafted card storage tin.

Now I can start making new tins for my next gathering in October!!

Hope you can join me then for more fun!!

Sneak Peak for Upcoming Mini Catalogue

2007-07-19T09:20:00.001-07:00

Check out this sneak peak for the upcoming Stampin' Up Holiday Mini Catalogue with new products available Sept 1 -Nov 30th. All of the stamp sets in this mini are die cut, so no rubber trimmings for you! Look to the left of this page for the link to the mini. One of the stamps is a double sided background stamp. Check it out!

The New In Colors

2007-07-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

The new In Colors with Stampin' Up are growing on me. I have to admit that I wasn't ready to give up the old In Colors and didn't get too excited about the new In Colors. Now that I've had a chance to use them, I'm much more excited about them. I love how they are so easy to coordinate with each other. I'm also really excited about the new textured cardstock! I just put in an order for some, so if you come to my home for my Stampin' Up party on July 21st, you can have a look for yourself!

2007-06-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

Join me in my home on Saturday, July 21st at 6pm for a celebration!

The new Stampin' Up! catalogue is out July 1st

with lots of new stamp sets and accessories to celebrate.

There will be

door prizes a plenty

yummy appetizers

some stamping projects for you to make

and many friends and customers to visit!

If you wish to attend, please RSVP by July 19

so I can have enough food and supplies for everyone.

I'm so excited to celebrate the new catalogue with you!!

2007-06-11T00:31:00.001-07:00

This is where I hope to keep you updated on my Stampin' Up classes, schedule, projects, promotions, events, and anything else that I can think of to help you have more fun and develop more skills with your stamping crafts.

I'm new at the blog thing, so this will be a trial run for the first few months. Your input would be greatly appreciated.