Stamper On The Shore

Leadership Display Samples - Take SEVEN

2012-01-27T00:30:00.000-08:00

This was such a simple card to make. First it started when I stamped the sentiment on a piece of Pink Pirouette. I coloured around the sentiment with a Cherry Cobbler marker. Once I was happy with my colouring I punched it out with the Modern Label Punch. Then I mounted it on Whisper White and carefeull fussy cut around it for a white Matte. I added a few mini pearls, some Twitterpated DSP and a strip of gathered Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon and voila! Elegant, yet to the point!

Leadership Display Samples - Take SIX

2012-01-26T01:00:00.000-08:00

This card is completely CASE'd from one done by Janette Lynton. Click here for her blog. I have to say, that of all the stamp sets in the SAB mini, this one is my least favourite. I really wasn't sure what to do with this set at all when I first got it. So I decided to make my samples with it first off. Good thing too, because I had them finished before the flood, and let me tell you, I was having trouble enough with motivating myself after the flood happened. I can't imaging how difficult it would have been if I'd had to create with this set, after the flood.

All was not lost though, and I found a card made by Janette Lynton that worked perfectly as inspiration. This card is much more masculine in feel than I usually make. The set is called Sprinkled Expressions. The stars were stamped on a sheet of scratch paper and then stamped on the Whisper White for a more subtle effect. The scallop comes from the Tasteful Trims Big Shot die.
The Sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso and then punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch. I pleated a strip of the DSP for an interesting effect. I then offset it on another circle to create a bit of a funky look.

Stampin Royalty challenge #108

2012-01-25T01:30:00.000-08:00

This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a Picture Inspiration Challenge.

Here's the photo.

And here's my take on the card.

I decided to pull the filigree silver from the birdcage in the background.

I'm really happy with how this card turned out. First I punched out the doily of the new Paper Doily sizzlits die. I cut it out of simple white photocopier paper because I'd heard alot about difficulty punching out the parts of this die. Anyway, I used regular white paper and then painted it with the Silver Shimmer paint. It dried really quickly and looks fabulous.

The sentiment comes from the new Occasions Mini. It's called "Loving Thoughts".

I distressed the blue paper with a lot of rubbing and bending. Then I sprayed it with water and rubbed it again. Then I let is dry thouroughly. After all of that I sponged the edges with the Blue Azure form the Distressing Kit. Next I stamped the image from the new saleabration set "Fresh Vintage" in the Tea stain ink. I stamped it and then stamped it off. This gives a nice variation of colour.

Leadership Displays - Take FIVE

2012-01-23T01:00:00.000-08:00

Ever create something and like it so much that you just can't believe that you are the one that made it? Well that's how I felt when I finished this page. It's an 8 x 8 page I made for the displays at Leadership this year. This is one of my absolute favourite photos of Connor. He's 3 years old in this picture and I cropped it because it's actually from a photo of Connor and Teagan on the Laz-y-boy and he's been busy pushing her and bothering her (she's 2 years old) and the expression on her face is pure fury, but Connor looks like a little angel.

The stamps and paper are from the new Sale-a-bration Catalogue. I pulled the colours from the paper and added Cherry cobbler. Banners are really trendy in papercrafting this year, so I added a banner with Connor's name. I decided to try and make my banner a bit more unique, so I used various punches to create the various shapes of each banner flag. The letters of his name are in the stamps from the Outlined Occasions SAB set, so I stamped them in Cherry Cobler on white. then I carefully coloured in around themso that they look like they are actually stamped on Cherry Cobbler paper, not on Whisper White.

I used the linen thread and dipped it in Crystal Effects and then attached it to the DSP. Next I added the flags of the banner by using Stampin' Dimensionals Finally I added the letters, also with Stampin' Dimensionals for more dimension. I tied the little bows by themselves, and then I cut them down and glued them on top of the longer thread to finish off the ends (as in the photo below)

Finally, I stamped most of the images from the Fresh Vintage SAB set and cut them out by hand or with punches. I layered them all up to create a bit of a collage.

Leadership Display Samples - Take FOUR

2012-01-22T00:30:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun making this card. It took me a long time to stamp the sentiment in a straight line. Ever have one of those days when you just can't get it right? Eventually I simply trimmed the paper around it to the size I wanted. Then I coloured the image with the colours in the DSP . Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, and Pool Party. It's such a simple idea to stack these rectangles of DSP on top of each other and to add the bow to make it into a gift. I have seen this idea on a card somewhere in my travels. But I can't, for the life of me, remember who to credit for this idea. So if you know, can you drop me a line so that I can give credit to the original creator.

Leadership Display Samples - Take THREE

2012-01-21T02:30:00.000-08:00

So this card was a fun collage that I made using the Fresh Vintage Sale-a-bration stamp set. I stamped the square shapes and punched them out with the postage punch. The smaller flowers were also punched out but with the 1/2" circle punch. They were mounted on the flower image which I fussy cut out by hand. Most of the layers were cut from the Sale-a-bration DSP, except for the middle strip. I stamped the border image in parallel lines with crumb cake on Very Vanilla. Then I distressed the paper for an aged look. The ribbon was gathered by pulling on a few threads from the middle of the ribbon. And finally I added a few of the tiny pearls to the stamped images and three of the jumbo pearls to the top right corner.

Leadership Displays Take TWO

2012-01-20T00:30:00.000-08:00

Here's another cute card from the Elementary Elegance Sale-a-bration set. There's a lot going on with the card. Check out below for more details.

The DSP on this page is in the Sale-a-braion catalogue. It's called Fresh Vintage. I used a strip of the Old Olive and Pool Party print and then drew the colours from there. I used a circle of the First Edition DSP behind the top circle. The stamped butterflies and the sentiment are from the Elementary Elegance stamp set. The middle butterfly is from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit. The stiching around the edges was done with the paper piercing tool and the mat pack. Then after I poked all those holes, I added the thread by hand. It's the only way I get the stitching to look right. I really like this card and I was sad to pack it up and send it off to Stampin' up. Hopefully someone finds it on the display boards and sends me a photo of it - hint hint!

Leadership Displays - Take ONE

2012-01-19T01:00:00.000-08:00

Here she is, my little cutie. This is one of my favourite photos of Teagan. She's 11 months old in this photo. She's such an adrenaline junkie. Swings have always been her favourite thing at the park, and now she's taking to bike riding and her scooter - I'm afraid of what she'll be like as a teenager.

But anyway, that's not why you're checking out my blog. You want to know how I created this page right? Well, this page was one of my samples that I made for the Leadership Displays. This one features the Sale-a-bration Set Elementary Elegance. I have to say it was really exciting to receive a parcel of Sneak Peek items, even before the Catalogues were available for Demonstrators to see online. I really had no idea what was coming.

I made this page around the time our basement flooded. I managed to grab a drawer of photos in the mad panick to save my crafting stuff. So when I sat down to create, I started going through this drawer of photos because my printer was a victim of the flood, and I needed to create a scrapbook page - fast.

I decided to use this photo as the red in the swing is similar to Poppy Parade in the DSP. There's really not very much to this page. I mounted the photo on Poppy Parade and then tore and distressed the edges for some texture. I stamped the frame in Poppy Parade and the 'Hello' In Early Espresso. Then I used my craft scissors to carefully cut around it. Finally the letters in 'cute' were cut out with the Big Shot - from Early Espresso cardstock. Then I glued them on to add some interest.

Along the borrom of the page is a strip of ribbon which I punched with the dotted scallop border punch. Then I wove some of the organdy ribbon from Sale-a-bration through the holes for more interest. and VOILA. Such a simple page to create!

Stampin Royalty Challenge #107

2012-01-18T01:30:00.000-08:00

This week we have a colour Challenge over at stampin' Royalty. I decided to CASE a card from the Current Occasons Mini. I flipped it around and changed a few things up. I added a few details, like the embossing around the edges with the Simply Scored, and the sponging. But I'm really happy how this turned out because usually when there's a colour challenge with such bright colours I struggle.

Colour Q Challenge #120

2012-01-17T01:00:00.000-08:00

This week is a fabulous colour combo over at Colour Q When I first saw this combo I couldn't wait to get started on a page. The page above shows pictures from a really fun day that my daughter and I had over at Jenn Picard's house (my fellow Artisan Award winner and Stampin' Royalty Goddess)

Jenn and I stamped and gabbed in her craft room, while the kids made these adorable little crowns from a kit that Isabelle got for Christmas. They had so much fun - I love the sparkle in their eyes.
Can you see the way I incorporated the photo from Arielle's badge into my scrap page. I made this page with My Digital Studio. It was hard to find patterned paper with the palette colours in it, so made a lot of my own 'patterned paper' using digital stamps. Can you see how the Rich Razzleberry square with the white flowers is cropped from the Tea Shoppe Teacup stamp?

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #106

2012-01-11T00:24:00.000-08:00

This week we have a fun challenge for you over at Stampin' Royalty.

This week the challenge is to

USE FABRIC

on your project.

Please hop on over to Stampin' Royalty and check out the fabulous work by the Design Team.

This card was created using a lot of stuff from the new Occasions Mini and from the new Sale-a-bration Catalogue. The fabric was ripped to give the strip of fabric a bit of a worn look. I folded it into a bow and then tied some organza ribbon around it to make a tiny bow. The hearts are from the Take it to Heart stamp set which coordinates with the Hearts Framelits. I decided to fussy cut out the stamps and then mounted them on Early Espresso hearts cut out with the framelits.

The Fun Stuff:
From the Occasions Mini 2012
Take it to Heart Stamp Set
Hearts Collection Framelits.
Twitterpated Designer Fabric

From the Sale-a-bration 2012 Catalogue
1/8" Organdy Ribbon in Lucky Limeade

A Cute Surprise

2012-01-06T00:30:00.000-08:00

Isn't this card adorable. I got a nice surprise when it arrived in the mail a few days ago.

It was created by Andrea Withers over at Stampin' Up! Head Office.

Just look at how perfectly straight she stamped the sentiment.

And check ou this cute little ribbon and bow combination.

And the polka dotted background stamp really finishes this whole thing off.

Check out the new Occasions Mini 2012 for details on this stampset.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #105

2012-01-04T01:30:00.000-08:00

This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a sketch challenge for you.

Hop on over to check out the wonderful work by the Design Team.

Here's my take on the sketch.

I used a lot of brand new stuff on this card from the new Occasions Mini and the upcoming Sale-a-bration catalogue. That ribbon actually comes all ruffled up like that. Isn't that a fabulous idea? I have a list of the products in the card at the bottom of this post. Check out the dimension I added to the 'flowers' simply by folding and playing with them a bit.

The Fun Stuff:Early Espresso Cardstock
Whisper White Cardstock
Three layer punch
1 1/4" circle punch

From the Occasions Mini 2012
Apothecary Art Stamp Set
Labels Collection Framelits Dies for the Big Shot
3/8" Pleated Satin Ribbon

From the Sale-a-bration 2012 Catalogue
Everyday Enchantment DSP
Everyday Enchantment Brads

Colour Q Challenge #118

2012-01-03T01:30:00.000-08:00

This week there's a fantastic colour combo over at Colour Q. I must say that I don't usually like these colours together, but somehow they really work! I took these photos of my daughter just as we were going to get in the car for her first real ski lessons. She was so excited. I just love the light in her eyes. We had a fabulous day on the slopes. I'll have more photos later to share about our day.

Cardinal Christmas yet again

2012-01-02T01:00:00.000-08:00

So one final Christmas card for the season. I think I'll probably be making lots of them during the year, but for now, here's my final post of the Christmas Season. 2012 is here, and I'm really looking forward to another fabulous year.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-12-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

As this is the last day of 2010, I decided to end the year with my first page from 2010. Here's my daughter blowing her horn and wearing a party hat for New Years Eve, one year ago. I hope everyone has had a fabulous year. If you're interested, click here to go back to my original post about how I created this digital page.

Cardinal Christmas

2011-12-30T20:35:00.000-08:00

I pulled out this set and decided to do a bit of colouring. I used a blender pen and an ink pad. when I was finished I spritzed it with the Colour Spritzer tool. The background paper was embossed with the Big Shot for more texture.

More Masking

2011-12-29T01:30:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh Christmas is over. I have a few final Christmas cards to post up in the next few days. Hopefully I'll get them all in before New Years!

This card is another one of my Smooch Spritz masking technique cards. Click here or here to see previous cards using this technique. You'll find more details about how I did it there too. This is another hybrid card which I made with My Digital Studio.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #104

2011-12-28T01:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, you don't need to rub your eyes and look again, it's a Valentine's Card. This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a colour challenge. These colours really said Valentine's Day to me. Besides, Christmas is over right? There are a few soon-to-be-retired items on this card. Firstly the Stamp Set "You are Loved" is in the Holiday Mini. I really hope that it turns up again in next year's catalogue. This is the first time I have inked it up.

And the Designer Velvet Ribbon in Very Vanilla is going too. I have to say that I'm a bit sad that I didn't use very much of it. But it was a natural addition to this card.

Colour Q Challenge #117

2011-12-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

This week at Colour Q we have a slightly different challenge for you. Black and White and any colour of your choice. Well, I knew I wanted to add purple. Plus we had this cute photo taken last week and I found this paper to match Teagan's dress exactly. The purple DSP is from the Cheerful Treat DSP (digital, of course). I added the snowflake stamps and reduced their opacity to 50%. Then I added some satin ribbon in Basic Black and topped off the bow with an Antique Brad.

Joy at Christmas

2011-12-26T01:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a card that I started over a year ago. I stamped the poinsettia image from Bells and Boughs on watercolour paper and coloured them in with a blender pen and ink pads. Then i spritzed with Crumb Cake marker and the Colour Spritzer Tool.

JOYEUX NOEL

2011-12-25T01:00:00.000-08:00

Or as they say in English "Merry Christmas". I hope that you all woke up to a fun-filled morning, especially if you have young children like I do.

Believe it or not, this is a hybrid card that I whipped up 13 copies of in under an hour. I made it for a swap a few months ago. I layered up several of the embellishments from the Very Merry Twenty-Five digital kit. The background paper is from the Frostwood Lodge DSP. (digital version of course) I cut out the circles using the Circle Scissor Plus. I used the quited sating Cherry Cobbler ribbon and Dazzling Diamonds to add some interest. They were popped up with dimensionals as well.

Happy Christmas Eve!!

2011-12-24T01:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas Eve Everyone!!! I hope that Santa comes to all of you who believe in the Spirit of Christmas this year. Today I am sharing with you another of the cards that I smooch spritzed last month.

This card was mounted on Marina Mist cardstock and then mounted again on Night of Navy.
I used some bashful blue gosgrain and some hemp twine to add some detail and then added the jingle bell for that finishing touch.

Christmas Spritz

2011-12-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

I am finally back in the swing of crafting. It feels good to be creating a bit again. Over the next few days I will be posting several different cards that I made using the masking technique and Smooch Spritz. First I created the sentiment on My Digital Studio and printed it out. Then I trimmed the cardstock so that it was the appropriate size. Then I took a shape that I die cut from the Northern Frost Sizzlit Decorative Strip Die. I used a bit of dotto to secure the snowflake and then sprayed the smooch over it. Then I quickly removed the snowflake. When the Smooch Spritz was dry, I used the Adhesive Eraser to remove any extra that was stuck on. I let these pieces of spritzed paper sit for over a month. I just couldn't find any time to finish the cards.

But anyway, I digress... next I decided that the simple white cardstock needed something to jazz it up, so I pulled out my new Lucky Limeade orgazna ribbon from the upcoming Sale-a-bration catty. I really love how delicate and versatile this ribbon is. So I wrapped it around the cardstock and then added the bow. I attached it together with some Luckey Limeade bakers twine and one of the adorable jingle bells in the current Holiday Mini. Then I added the Basic Jewel Rhinestone to the centre of the snowflake. Finally I mounted it on Cherry Cobbler and then again on Old Olive cardstock

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #103

2011-12-21T02:27:00.000-08:00

Well I'm back in the saddle, two posts on two days in a row - kinda amazing right? This week over at Stampin' Royalty we have a theme challenge for you. The theme is, of course, CHRISTMAS!!

I whipped up this card very quickly (well in my brain, the planning went really quick) but, in actuality, it took a few days as I really glued that rosette and it needed to dry properly. I'm a bit bummed because all the photos I took of it make the circle in the middle look off-centre, and it's actually straight in real life, but now I've given the card to Teagan's daycare, so I can't really ask for it back now, can I? This was super easy to make though. The rosette and the background paper are from the 'letters to Santa' DSP which is NOT retiring soon as it's in the main Catalogue. I used the tea stain and the mahogany inks from the distressing kit to sponge the edges for a more vintage feel.

Colour Q Challenge #116

2011-12-20T02:18:00.000-08:00

So I think I have recovered from the mudslide in our front yard (see my last post if you don't know what I'm talking about.) And now that school's out and I've had a few nights of good sleep, I'm ready to start crafting again. This week is a fabulous Christmasy Colour Combo over at Colour Q. I really enjoyed this challenge. Of course I'm trying to use up all my felt embellishments from the current Holiday Mini so I substituted Garden Green for Glorious Green. Besides, all of my retired SU product was destroyed in the flood last month, so I don't even have the Glorious Green ink pad left.

This card was really fun to make though. I had fun distressing and sponging and smooch spritzing to make all the details. The ribbon and the baker's twine are both Lucky Limeade, and they're in the upcoming Sale-a-bration, and Occasions Minis which will be available for purchase in two weeks! And aren't those little mittens absolutely adorable???

The sentiment is a soon to be retired hostess set from the current Holiday Mini. I stamped it in two colours, and then cut out the words and adhered them over the other image. Then I cut the entire thing out very carefully.

The state of my home now...

2011-12-13T23:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I haven't done a lot of crafting these days. Remember that flood in my crafting room, here's how it's getting fixed. Here's a little look at what my home, or at least my yard is like these days. This is a photo of my front yard

Here's my front door. Notice how easy it is to get IN the front door. (well actually we are using the basement door these days)

Ah yes, and here is my driveway. It's so easy to start your frozen car in the winter when it's parked on the street! (sorry for the sarcasm) I'll post some photos of my crafting room in the next few days.

The good news is that only 3 more days of work and then I'll have time to get back to my design team duties and all that entails. I can't wait to sit down and do some crafting.

Stampin' Up! Facebook Project

2011-12-10T12:44:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it, but in the middle of all my construction crisis at home, I completely forot to post up about my Stampin' Up! facebook project. So here it is.

This is the actual photo they posted on facebook. I had to digitally alter the background to remove the stocking banner as it was too busy a background. That's why the photo looks so fake. The top photo was taken in my light box, so it's a better photo, but I couldn't fit the entire forest of trees in there. But check out the top photo for a closer look at the details.

I traced out a cone pattern onto some retired cardstock and made a template. Then I traced each template again, and then altered them to be smaller. So I think I used around 5 sizes of cone. I used the Red Glimmer and the Silver Glimmer paper with the Letters to Santa DSP. Once I had assembled the entire thing, I decided it needed more bling, so I coated the DSP with Tombo glue using a paintbrush, and then dumped glitter all over them. It sure made a mess.

I wound up covered in glitter. Each cone was topped with a little flag. I used the 25 and counting stamp set from the current mini, and I stamped them all in Early Espresso on Whisper White Card Stock. Then I punched them out with the 1" square punch and mounted them on a shape punched with the postage stamp punch. I used my scraps from this project for these postage stamp shapes. So they are a variety of colours. I mounted them each on a strip of Early Espresso cardstock, and then inserted it into the top of the cone and glued it down inside. I originally found this idea on the webiste eighteen25.com

Redecorating my crafting room

2011-12-02T21:37:00.001-08:00

Last week I posted briefly about a flood in our basement. Well last week we had a few wet puddles in the corners. The drain tile work started on monday, but Sunday morning we woke up to this...

Nope, that's not a shiny laminate floor in my crafting room - it's 2 inches of water through my entire house!!!

Here's some more shots of my floating craft room. My kids were shocked into silence when they ran down the stairs. Connor was so surprised that he calmly stepped onto his hockey bag, picked up his shoes, and went back over to the stairs to put them on. Brad and I were getting everything together to go out, so when we stepped down the stairs, there was Connor quietly putting his shoes on, and Teagan standing there watching him as our shoes and sports gear literally floated around the mudroom. My craft room is just off the mudroom, so I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. Well it looks like we will be getting new flooring and all kinds of restoration work in our basement. I'm actually looking forward to renovating my crafting space. But, the timing is, shall we say, inconvenient? Christmas is only 3 weeks away and all.
Ah well, I have now taken over the dining room for the forseable future and let the family know that our traditional Christmas Day brunch is probably not happening. I can't imagine entertaining 30 people with all the stuff from the basement being stored all over the living space upstairs. But anyway, the bright side is that I will be getting a new crafting space - I can't wait for that!

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #100

2011-11-30T01:30:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been 100 challenges for Stampin' Royalty. I remember when we were all trying to put this challenge blog together. It was about this time 2 years ago. We were trying to come up with a name, trying to design the blog template, and trying to decide when we would start our first post. And as you probably all know, getting a group of women to agree on something is sometimes a bit of a challenge. But we had a lot of laughs along the way. We launched the first week of January 2010. It's been tons of fun for me. Angela and I are the only original design team members left, but we've been joined by some fabulous designers along the way. I'm so happy to be a part of this, and I'm so happy that we have Georgeann running the show these days. She gets it all organized, and keeps us all on track. :)

This page might look familiar to you, if you checked out my blog yesterday. Click here to check out that post. You are NOT seeing double, I really did make two copies of this page. The page started out as a vintage inspired colour challenge for the Colour Q but I could not decided on which page I liked better. So I chose one to give to Colour Q for yesterday, and the other is for Stampin' Royalty today. This fits well as this week's challenge is ANYTHING BUT A CARD

So, why not a scrapbook page??

Mixing up the colours like this gives the page more of a vintage feel. If you zoom in on the date, you will see how this type has a bit of a worn look. I love it.

Colour Q Challenge #113

2011-11-29T01:30:00.000-08:00

When I saw this combo I knew I had to participate this week. I love the subtle difference with the tones of blue, and I really love the colour blue in general (well, not as much as purple, but almost) Blue made me think of the ocean, so I decided to scrap this photo I took of my kids. They are sitting on the bow of the boat, as we head in to dock it at the end of the day. This photo looks fantastic in colour as well. I love how you can see the mountains, and the blue, blue sky.

My Project is Up on Craft Project Central (and a FREEBIE)

2011-11-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

I must apologize for neglecting my blog. Besides the crazy lifestyle I lead being a full time mother, wife, and Grade 2 Teacher, I also have 2 blogs, I'm on 2 design teams, and I have a life as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. So all of that aside, I'm furiously trying to complete 24 projects for the display boards at Leadership which need to be in Salt Lake City by December 15th.

With all that on my plate, I decided to join a gym and try to loose some weight. I've been going for a month now and trying to take it easy as I haven't been in many years. Well,I woke up last week and couldn't get out of bed one day. My back completely seized up. Yup, I pushed myself too hard. I was laid up for over a week, but today I managed an entire day at work. YAY!

To top all of that off, we're right in the middle of having new windows installed (remember I live in Canada and it's almost December) and yesterday we discovered that our basement has flooded so we need new drain tiles - argh!

But enough complaining, let's just say the next month is going to be a challenge as far as stamping and blogging goes. Now how about something fun!!!

My project is up at Craft Project Central. Hop on over and sign up to get copies of not only my tutorial above, but a whole month's worth of tutorials. Below are a few close-up photos of the details. Scroll all the way down to get your own copy of the subway art for FREE

Below is my free subway art which is in the photo above. You can click on the photo to download it as a jpeg, or you can download it by clicking here. As you can probably see, the colours match the photo above.

Craft Project Central This Week

2011-11-24T20:50:00.001-08:00

Brooch & Earrings Gift Set!

At this time of the year we're all looking for fun gifts to make for our family and friends. We might also be in need of accessories to match our outfits when attending holiday parties! Here is a great Brooch & Earrings gift set that you can make for yourself and for gift giving! This is a quick and fun project that you can make for your downline members, or any of your crafty friends! This project is also a fun club, class or Stamp Camp project! Included in the project are instructions for turning the flowers into a gorgeous gift set for a little girl as well!

To get the instructions for this great gift set designed by Kris, just head over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to November!

Gingerbread Bear Holiday Ensemble!

Make these yummy Gingerbread Bears this holiday season! This paper-crafting version of a Christmas favorite will be just as fun as making the real deal, but will last much longer and are calorie free!! You'll learn how to make a Gingerbread Bear paper chain ( that you'll turn into a cute card), a holiday Gingerbread Bear Banner, and an adorable Gingerbread Bear Ornament!

To get the instructions for this cute and festive project designed by Carrie, just head over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to November!

Colour Q Challenge #111

2011-11-15T07:56:00.001-08:00

It's Tuesday!!! That means another challenge over at Colour Q. Hop on over to check out the fabulous samples by the Design Team. This page I whipped up after Halloween. I didn't get very many good pictures that night as my camera is starting to get fussy. (time for another camera - Santa - Hint hint??) But back to the photo. The background paper is from the Downtown Grunge suite and I added the halloween stamps to the background. I simply reduced the opacity to 10 to keep the background very neutral. The pumpkins are from the gratitutde download and the banner is from the Party Animal download.

Craft Project Central this week.

2011-11-13T20:49:00.001-08:00

Santa’s Sleigh & Christmas Door Card – CPC November Bonus Project!

Are you looking for a special Christmas gift ensemble that will delight? Here is a great project that will step you through the process to create this adorable little Santa Sleigh and card, complete with felt and fabric pieces that beg to be touched! The sleigh will make a perfect table center piece or decor item for the season! This project is also a great holiday class or stamp camp project!

To get the instructions for this fun and festive project designed by Heidi, just head over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to November and meet one of the other bonus project requirements!

Fabric Coasters Holiday Hostess Gift!

These fabric coasters are fun and easy to put together! Bundle a set of four coasters together and tuck them into a cello bag with a Christmas tag and you have a great Hostess Gift. Be sure to make up several sets and you can grab them on your way out the door to all your holiday parties! It's always nice to have a hostess gift ready to go, even when you get a last minute invite!

To get the instructions for this fun and festive project designed by Julie, just head over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to November!

Star Book Mini Album!

This Star Book mini album will hold your cherished photos and look good sitting on your desk. The unique shape will be sure to catch everyone's eye! Easy to assemble and perfect for any age or occasion! Change up the color theme and make little mini albums for the grandparents or friends for Christmas or birthdays! This project is a fun club, class or Stamp Camp project too!

To get the instructions for this fun project designed by Monika, just head over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to November!

Stampin Royalty Challenge #97

2011-11-09T01:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Hump Day everyone. It's Wednesday (aka: hump day) and it's time for another fabulous challenge over at Stampin' Royalty. This week's challenge is a photo inspiration challenge.

The challenge is to use the above photo for inspiration. You really need to go over to Stampin' Royalty and check out the samples from the Design Team. I was really wow'ed by what they came up. Such creativitiy!!!

For myself, I knew that I had to use the Timeless Portrait DSP.

I was inspired by all the circles made by the embroidery hoops in the inspiration photo, and I really got the sense that this collage was made by a mother for her children, which started me thinking about my own family. And luckily, I finally got a copy of the official photos from my Brother's In Law's wedding so I knew I needed to use them in this collage. (By the way, these photos were taken by my friend Lee Halliday, who is an amazing photographer. Click here for her webpage)

The photos on my page were placed on the page in a way to evoke the shape of the circles in the inspiration photo. I chose this page of DSP because the tree made me think of a family tree.

Colour Q Challenge # 110

2011-11-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday means its another challenge over at the Colour Q. Hop on over to check out the Design Team samples. For this challenge I decided to use some of the fabulous free downloads that were available from Stampin' Up! this past weekend. I absolutely love this patterned paper. And check out those stamps. I knew I had to use these photos that I took of Teagan last week This colour palette is totally perfect for falling leaves this time of year.

More projects from Craft Project Central

2011-11-07T07:52:00.000-08:00

Holly Berry Bouquet Gift Wrap Ensemble!

Wrap up the holidays in style with Stampin' Up!'s Holly Berry Bouquet Designer Series Paper! These easy-to-do projects are perfect for making someone feel "extra special" knowing you made the wrapping just for them! Project includes instructions for a Rosette Paper Gift Box, Paper Treat Cone, Decorated Kraft Gift Box, and a Gift Bow. Make one project at your class, club, or workshop, or make them all!!

To get the instructions for this festive gift wrap ensemble designed by Lauri, just head over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to November.

This week on Craft Project Central

2011-11-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

Well I've joined the crew at Craft Project Central again this month. Here is what's up for you this week on CPC.

Scallop Octagon Box & Card!

This fancy looking octagon shaped box is so surprisingly easy to make that you'll want to make a bunch for gifts! The beautiful layered and glittery doily card compliments it perfectly. Change up the colors and use it for any gift giving occasion year round! Makes a great club or class project too!

To get the instructions for this great project designed by Kim, just head over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to November!

Mini CD Calendar!

This mini CD desk calendar is a great project and just in time for Christmas! It makes a great Christmas gift for your friends and family and is easy to duplicate. The calendar is a great gift especially for teachers, co-workers, and best of all, it's a gift that they will use all year round! This project is also a fun class or club project!

To get the instructions for this great desk calendar designed by Sonya, just head over to Craft Project Central and subscribe to November!

Post Halloween Buzz...

2011-11-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

I hope you all enjoyed your Halloween last night. If you have small children, I hope that they are recovering from the sugar overdose from yesterday. (I know that mine are) Here are some photos from my neighbourhood last night.

Does anyone know how to make one of these???? My neighbour told me that she bought it at a craft fair.

Here are some of my favourite projects from last year.

Scroll down to find the links for each project.

I'm having trouble posting the links. So, for the witch's shoe click here, the box and card set click here, and the scrapbook page click here.

Here are some of my favourite Jack's from last night. Connor (my son) named them all.

Here is Jack-O-Mad!!!

Here is Jack-O-Kitty

Here are Jack-O-BIG-and-SMALL.

Haunting Witch's Hat

2011-10-29T00:16:00.000-07:00

Well I promised another Halloween project and here it is.

I was going through the aisles of my local box crafting store when I stumbled upon this paper witches hat. I knew I wanted to alter it, but it took me a few weeks to figure out what to do.

I am in LOVE, LOVE, LOVE with the Mocha Morning Specialty DSP. I knew I wanted to cover this hat with it, but...

I only had one piece of the black, flocked DSP left. ARGHHHHHH!

WHAT to do???!??!??!!?!?!? The ONLY thing that bothers me about Stampin' Up! is that because it's a mail-order company, you have to wait a week for your supplies to arrive. And with the start of my new teaching blog, and everything else going on in my life, I have been toooo busy to think about getting more paper. And now here we are, only a few days before the big day. SO, what to do.....???? Well I cleverly decided to get out my Basic Black ink pad and a sponge, and sponge over the Crumb Cake flocked pattern of this DSP. Let me tell you that it took a loooooonnnngggg time. BUT, I am really pleased with the final result. Check out all my photos, and you can see the different flocking patterns around the hat. The whispy floral image was sponged in, and the "fleur de lis" flourish, was always black.

Well, then I knew I needed ribbon to hide the joints between the paper, and I really wanted to make something interesting for the hat band, and the floral rosette.

The rosette was made by cutting the DSP to 1 1/2 inches and then scored at 1/4 inch all the way along (with the Simply Scored) and then folded like an accordian. After I creased all the folds, I added the strip of Basic Black Satin ribbon, along the back with Sticky Strip. Then I creased it all again so that the black ribbon added a nice edge to the rosette. Finally I used the 2 3/8" scallop circle punch and the Fancy Flower punch to punch out a few shapes. I then scrunched, and scrunched the paper, and then spritzed it with water. Finally I separated the paper into 2 strips. This gives it the faux suede look. Eventually I scrunched these 'faux suede' pieces into a shape I like, and let them dry. I popped an antique brad in the middle, and voila! a cute little rosette.

The hat band was a bit more difficult. I think I'm going to save that tutorial for another day. I have a project coming up with Craft Project Central in November, and I think I'll included a tutorial about the hat band in that project. Currently this hat is sitting amongst all my Halloween goodies in my little Halloween Vignette. I truly hope you all have a fabulous Halloween - especially those of you who have the magic of children to excite your day!

A Simple Halloween -- FREEBIE!!

2011-10-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I've posted up another FREEBIE on Sandra's Savvy Teaching Tips. Hop on over to check out my post, or scroll down to download your own copy from here - because it's FREE!

You can download this little lesson here.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge Number 95

2011-10-26T01:00:00.000-07:00

This week we have a HALLOWEEN theme challenge over at Stampin' Royalty. Click here to check out the samples from the fabulous design team.

I decided to make another banner with my digital templates from My Digital Studio. Click here to grab free copies of the images and create your own banner. I've got them posted up on my teaching blog. Savvy Teaching Tips.

I printed out the images, trimmed them, and then mounted them on Basic Black cardstock. I used my fabulous Simply Scored to create the rosettes out of First Edition DSP. The letters were stamped from the Lovely Letters set. I punched them out and then mounted it on Basic Black and punched it out with a larger punch. I added the glitter with a two way glue pen and dazzling diamonds. The little forked paper ribbons were punched out with the Big Shot and the Petal Cone die. I added some basic Jewels Rhinestones for some final bling!

Here's a final photo of my little Halloween Vingette. I've got something to add to it, so I'll be posting that up later this week once I actually finish it. So check back later to check out my final Halloween project!

Colour Q Challenge #108

2011-10-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

We have a fabulous candy corn'y colour challenge over at Colour Q this week. When I saw this combo, I just knew that I needed to use the new Spook Central Digital Kit from Stampin' Up! I pulled out some photos from last Halloween and went to work. The pennant is a stamp brush and I added the scallops from the Petite Penant punch. Hop on over to Colour Q and check out the fabulous samples from the design team.

Spooky Swap

2011-10-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

I received this swap at a recent upline meeting. I have to say, I think that we have the most talented group. We have the fabulously artistic, and artisan award finalist Carrie Gaskin, the amazingly talented and artisan award finalist Marlene Peters, as well as my fellow artisan award winner Jenn Picard. So the bar is always set high at our swaps. I cannot remember who made this swap, but it's such a fun card. I believe it was chosen as the best swap of the evening. I love all the texture from the embossing folder, the sponging, and the layers. I believe the stamps are from Spooky Bingo Bits.

Freebie!

2011-10-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Who -hoo I finally got my first tutorial up on Teachers-pay-Teachers. This little baby is for K - 2 and the best part is that it's FREE. Free???? YES it's free!!! Click here to hop on over to check out my teaching blog and download your own copy if you'd like one.

Stampin' Up! Facebook Project (and a freebie!)

2011-10-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

I was pleasantly surprised last week to receive a phone call from Stampin' Up! Because I am an Artisan Award Winner, they asked me to create a Halloween project for their Facebook page. Click here to go there.

I decided to make a project that was easily reproduced. I really wanted to make a banner, but I don't have any Halloween paper. So again, My Digital Studio to the rescue!!! I decided to make a banner and print it out. You can scroll down to the bottom of this post for freebie jpegs. Simply left click on the photos and save them.

Then cut them out and assemble the banner. I used the fabulous Simply Scored to make the pinwheels. The letters are a FONT, not a stamp brush for MDS. Scroll down for the supply list and the freebie jpegs!!

The Fun Stuff:
Traditional products:
119684: Cajun Craze Card Stock
100730: Whisper White Card Stock
101179: Basic Black Classic Stampin’ Pad
121045: Basic Black Card Stock
102023: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
100425: 2-Way Glue Pen
119261: Basic Black 1/8” Taffeta Ribbon
117285: Basic Black 5/8” Satin Ribbon
115615: Basic Black 1-1/4” Striped Grosgrain Ribbon
124105: Cherry Cobbler 3/8” Quilted Satin Ribbon
108362: Crop-A-Dile
101610: Stampin Sponges
122334: Simply Scored

Digital products:
118108: My Digital Studio
123144: Frightful Sight Designer Series Paper
127352: Petite Pennants Punch

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #92

2011-10-19T01:52:00.000-07:00

Today at Stampin' Royalty we have a fabulous Sketch Chalenge for you.

Hop on over to Stampin' Royalty and check out the other samples from the fabulous design team.
My card is a hybrid card - oh yeah, yet another hybrid. I'm completely addicted to MDS. I think I need a support group or something. Anyway, I was inspired by the fabulous Dawn Olchefske. I cannot find the card on her blog, so I must have seen it on Stampin' Connection or something. Anyway, the background of this card is the Woodgrain stamp on Crumb Cake paper. All of the other images are from MyDigital Studio: French Foilage, Hand Penned Holidays, Noteworthy (oval frame) and the Perfect Label Punch for MDS. I added a bit of depth by popping parts up on Stampin' Dimensionals.

Trick Or Treat Subway Art and a Freebie

2011-10-17T00:58:00.000-07:00

Today I wanted to share a cool project with you. This project was simple and quick to create. I found this fabulous Eye Chart project on Tatertots and Jello. So I decided to create my own with My Digital Studio. I must apologize for the washed out photo above. But if you want a better image, check out the digital image below. Feel free to download the photo and print out your own copy. It's sized as a 8 1/2 by 11 inch photo.

To make this page I used the Pick Your Pson DSP and the Timeless Type digital punch set.

Freebies from MDS

2011-10-16T04:10:00.000-07:00

Below are some worksheets that I made for my students at work. I used My Digital Studio to create them. Feel free to grab copies of these for your own use if you'd like. For more information on how I made them, hop on over to Savvy Teaching Tips for more information.

Gratitude Spice Take 3

2011-10-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post today. This is the final card I made using my Spice Cake Suite. Click here and here for my two other posts and for the materials list.

A New Venture

2011-10-14T01:33:00.000-07:00

Well I've decided to add yet another aspect to my already busy hectic life. I LOVE papercrafting and I LOVE teaching Grade 2. Lately I have begun blog stalking a number of teacher blogs out there. And I've been fighting the urge, but really I am addicted, so I finally gave in and started another blog. YES, another one. It's a teaching blog. I've been teaching since 1992, and I have learned a few tips along the way, so TA-DAH! Sandra's Savvy Teaching Tips has been born!

Hop on over to the new site.

http://savvyteachingtips.blogspot.com/

My first post features a fabulous art project that my kids did last week called FALL INCHIES. I used a lot of my old scrapbooking supplies and Stampin' Up! tools to do this. I think that in the future I will try to connect these two blogs as much as possible. I'm sure I can combine my passion for teaching

with my passion for paper! I hope you enjoy my new adventure - I'm pretty excited.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #93

2011-10-12T01:30:00.000-07:00

Today at Stampin' Royalty we have a Photo Inspiration Challenge for you. This past weekend it was Canadian Thanksgiving, and I was still feeling the spirit of thankfulness when I decided to make this card.

When I decided to make this card, I remembered a card I saw on Sankari Wegman's site last week. Click here for her original card. I knew I wanted to make that background fan of leaves. Unfortunately I do not own any leaf stamps that are current. So - TA DA!!! My Digital Studio to the rescue. Yes, it's yet another hybrid card. They seem to be becoming my speciality. (I just reread that sentence - does it make sense??) I think you get what I mean.

I have French Foilage in a digital brush set, so I printed it out in fall colours - Riding Hood Red, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, and Soft Suede. Then I cut them out (fussy cutting style) and layered them to make a fan shape.

If you've checked out Sankari's original card, she used a much smaller button, but, who can resist these fabulously large buttons from the Spice Cake suite? I used a narrow strip of the matching fabric to tie a little bow in the mddle.

After I had finished the card, I decided that the top of the card was missing 'something'. So I added some triangles to the corners and a few of the cute little button brads from the Vintage Trinkets. That seemed to add the perfect finish to the card.

The Fun Stuff:
1.    Paper - Spice Cake DSP, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
2.    Ink - Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Early Espresso
3.    Digital Stamp Brushes - French Foilage, Hand Penned Holidays
4.    Accessories - Spice Cake Designer Fabric, Spice Cake Designer Buttons,Vintage Trinkets, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Folder for the Big Shot, Stampin' Dimensionals

Colour Q Challenge #106

2011-10-11T01:03:00.000-07:00

Don't these colours simply scream Halloween??? Here's a cute page that I whipped together using My Digital Studio. I used paper and embellishments from the Pick Your Poison Suite. I took these adorable photos of my daughter last year when we were goofing around in the Halloween Costume displays at a local drugstore. She's got a cowboy hat on and is waving a devil's trident. So I thought the title was appropriate.

Hop on over to Colour Q to check out the other fabulous samples from the Design Team.

A Cool Hybrid Card for Create

2011-10-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

This week at Create with Connie and Mary we have a Theme Challenge for you. The Challenge is:

COOL CHRISTMAS CARD

that one of a kind for someone special.

I'm not sure if this is really a Cool Card, but I added Marina Mist, and then Cherry Cobbler which is on the cooler side of the red spectrum. But other C words come to mind really, like "cluttered", "crazy", or "crowded". Once I put this baby together, I pulled back and realized just how much I put on it. This is a hybrid card as the images from Established Elegance, and Seasons Greetings were printed out of My Digital Studio.

I really wanted to make a card for my Mom. She loves traditional Christmas themes and I thought that vintage would be a great way to go. Below you will find several closeups to give you another peek at some of the little details!

Mojo Monday Challenge #209

2011-10-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

For this week's Mojo Monday challenge, I decided to CASE a card made by Elizabeth Price. Click here for her original card. I really like all the various elements on her card. So I copied many of them and added a few to create my card.

This card is a hybrid card. I used My Digital Studio. Below is a copy of the image I created and printed out to make the card. I printed it twice, once on Crumb Cake, and once on Very Vanilla cardstock. Then I punched, and cut, and trimmed, and distressed, and poped up, and came up with this card. I also added some First Edition, and Beau Chateau DSP.

The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper - Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, and Winstera Wonder card stock, First Edition and Beau Chateau DSP
2. Ink - Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party,
3. Stamps - Established Elegance, Hello Doily, Tiny Tags
4. Punches - 2 3/8" scallop circle, Blossom Bouquet triple layer, 1 1/4" circle, Postage Stamp
5. Accessories - Stampin' Dimensionals, Stampin' Sponges, Antique Brads, Mini Vintage Tags, vintage trinkets

Stampin Royalty Challenge #92

2011-10-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

This week at Stampin' Royalty we have an adorable Colour Challenge for you. I decided to try my hand at Vintage Halloween. The sentiment was printed out from My Digital Studio, and the image was stamped during my binge with Greeting Card Kids a few weeks ago. The image was stamped in StazOn on watercolouring paper and then coloured in using an aquapainter and ink pads. Due to my absolutely crazy month of September, I used the wrong purple on my card. This card has Rich Razzleberry instead of Elegant Eggplant. Considering my love of purple, I'm completely shocked that I made this mistake. Oh yeah, and the scallop border for the image was made using my Scallop Oval border technique which you will find a tutorial for under my lists of tutorials.

Colour Challenge with Create with Connie and Mary

2011-10-01T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well here's a colour combo that I knew I had to try. This week at Create with Connie and Mary we have an awesome colour challenge. I was in a bit of a craze with Greeting Card Kids a few weeks ago, so I whipped up this card to go along with this challenge. I really like how these non-traditional Christmas Colours make for a cute Christmas Card. The image was stamped with Staz-On on watercolouring paper and then coloured in using an Aquapainter and the various ink pads. I got the idea for the ruffled circle border from my good friend Jenn Picard. Check out her original.

Vintage, Pink, Christmas (again)

2011-10-01T00:53:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those weeks? Well it's been a doozy around here. One very sick 4 year old meant that Brad had to take a day off of work to watch her, and then I had to bring her to school on my professional day where she sat in the back of the room and played puzzles for long periods of time. I'll give her credit, she was a real rock star! (too sick to misbehave I think) Yesterday I started getting viscious abdominal pains, but nothing else, so I'm not really too sick for work, but I feel like crap. Today, I came home from work to a 5 year old who had lost his voice, and a very cranky husband. A few hours later, I was busy cleaning up all kinds of messes in the bathroom from all 3 aforementioned family members. I think the worst complainer of them all is, OF COURSE, my hubby. Anyway...

Enough about my life!

How about a card? Well I actually made this card with bits and pieces left over from this card here. I decided to enter the contest for a card with something PINK over at Practical Scrappers, but due to my amazingly crazy week... I missed the deadline. - surprise, surprise.

So here it is it all it's glory. I actually put a lot of time into this card and was really proud of it. I'm not really sure who would like a pink Christmas card, but I'm sure I can figure it out somehow.

I used a tiny scrap of fabric for the bow, and tied some baker's twine to tie it up with a mini jingle bell. These are soooooo adorable. Now that I've opened the pack, I'm sure they will find there way on to many of my Christmas Cards this year. The doily is from the flirtatious DSP and I sponged the white side with Pink Pirouette inki.

The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper - Beau Chateau DSP, Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Flirtatious DSP
2. Ink - Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
3. Stamps - Pines and Pointesettias, Teeny Tiny Wishes
4. Accessories - Beau Chateau DS Fabric, Tiny Tag Punch, 1 3/4" circle punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Mini Jingle Bells, Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Folder for the Big Shot, Stocking Punch

Clean and Simple for Stampin Royalty (again!)

2011-09-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, I goofed. Sometimes when I make a card for a design team, I change my mind before the post date, and put up a different card. Well...guess what happened this week? Some of you may have been surprised earlier to see the above card on the Stampin' Royalty site, and then come here to find a Halloween card. Scroll down for that Halloween card if you're curious. Anyway, this card was tons of fun. I started playing with Smooch Spritz and masking and voila! I hope you enjoy this cute little card as I made tons of them and will post the rest in the next few days!

Keep it Simple for Stampin Royalty

2011-09-27T01:44:00.000-07:00

This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a Clean and Simple challenge for you. Actually, the challenge is more like KISS - Keep It Simple Sweetie. I tried...I really tried to make this simple, but lately I've been practicing my Vintage and layered looks, so it was a complete U turn for me to minimize. I still can't decide if the mat stack is too much or not. This card was actually inspired by the samples in the Holiday Mini Catty. I stamped the image and then coloured in the face with an Aquapainter, and used Stampin Write markers for the rest. I layered a 1" square of Peach Parfait, a postage stamp punch of Concord Crush, and a scallop square shape of Lucky Limeade.

Colour Q Challenge #104

2011-09-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

This card was made for today's Colour Q Challenge. It's a fabulous colour challenge, but because it's Colour Q's 2year anniversary, we have the added challenge of using a prior Colour Queen as inspiration. I chose the Colour Queen for Challenge #58, Carrie Gaskin, the Artistic Avenger, my sideline, and fellow Vancouverite. Click here to check out her fabulous blog.

It's not easy to see where my inspiration came from, but I really like the layout of Carrie's Card. I struggled with how to add the butterflies so that they made sense. You don't often see butterflies in December. My card was also inspired by the fabulous Spice Cake DSP and Fabric. I used the scrap from some fabric I used with the Tasteful Trims Die for the Big Shot. The image was stamped with brown Staz0n on watercolouring paper. Then I used an Aquapainter and ink pads to watercolour in the image. I went over the girl's coat with a Stampin' Write marker to make the colour more bold. I added a bit of Rose Red as an accent colour and of course I sponged like crazy to add a roughed up feel.

Clean and Simple Christmas

2011-09-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

Well this card was amazingly easy to make. It was designed by my upline Kari as a make-n-take last month. First the white cardstock was run through the Big Shot with the Snowflakes embossing folder. The Deer image is from Winter Post. It was stamped in Basic Grey and versamark and then covered in clear embossing powder and set with a heat gun. Then I used a two way glue pen and covered the snowflakes and then threw on some Dazzling Diamonds for a bit of sparkle!

Gratitude Spice Take 2

2011-09-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

Here's another Gratitude, Spice Cake, Hybrid card. Just like this previous post here, I used the same technique of spritzing and scrunching the More Mustard layer. I tore a strip of fabric to maek the ribbon, and I layered, layered, and layered with lots of Stampin' Dimensionals.

Swaps by Di

2011-09-22T01:09:00.000-07:00

This amazing card was made by the watercolouring queen herself, Diana Gibbs. I got this swap from her at Convention. Talk about an amazingly funny lady. Her talent is amazing. Check out how even all her layers are. And she did this amazing watercolouring on Shimery White cardstock.

Hybrid CASEing

2011-09-20T22:35:00.000-07:00

So I found this fantastic card made by Jan Tink, and I decided that I needed to try to CASE it. Well, seeing as I don't own the Sweet Floral background stamp, so I quickly ordered and downloaded the Digital Brush set for My Digital Studio, and then came up with a digital layout. Instant gratification is so easy with MDS! I tried it out on a few of the latest In Colours and came up with these variations. It's so easy to change the colours with MDS. Then I printed them out on Whisper White and played around with mounting them on coordinating cardsotck. I couldn't decide on which ribbon to use so I used the Satin Ribbon, the Scallop Polka Dot Grosgrain, and the Ruffled Ribbon with each variation.

Established Swaps

2011-09-18T01:55:00.000-07:00

This fabulous card was made by Elizabeth Price. Can you believe that she made 85 of these??? I got this fantastic card in a full card swap at Convention last summer. The stamp set is called Established Elements.

Convention Swaps

2011-09-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here's an adorable swap that I got from Convention. I love how she used the circle punches to make this chocolate lollipop. The crystal effects add a nice touch. I also love the little rhinestone mouse on the banner at the bottom

Convention Swaps

2011-09-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a cute little swap made by my upline Kari. She used the new Pennant punch and the Party This Way stamp set.

Sweets for Stampin' Royalty

2011-09-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

This week at Stampin Royalty we have an inspiration challenge for you. Scroll down for the photo. Don't you just love these little cupcakes?? How cute are they? So for this card I decided to make a birthday card. The polka dots are from the Candy Cane Lane Digital set for My Digital Studio. I printed it out on Whisper White cardstock. The pink DSP is retired Regal Rose patterned paper. I really enjoyed putting this little card together and I can't wait to give it to a little girl.

Don't forget to hop on over to Stampin' Royalty to check out what the ladies have made!

Napping away with Colour Q

2011-09-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

I'ts Tuesday, so that means another fabulous colour combo over at Colour Q. When I found this adorable photo of my nephew after our day on the boat, I knew I had to scrap it. He was so cute when he fell asleep sitting up at the end of the day. That lifejacked really propped him up! He slept like that all the way home. This page was made using My Digital Studio of course. It's super easy to whip up a digital page. In order to make this fit the colour challenge, I had to make my own DSP. I used Basic Grey as my background, and then colour matched the stamps to the shadows. This way I came up with a darker shade of Basic Grey for a tone on tone effect. First, I stamped an overal from the Vintage Overlays set. Next I addedd in the nautical images from The Open Sea stamp brush set. Finally I added the title from Greatest Moments, and added the subtitle in a text box.

Vintage Christmas for Create with Connie and Mary

2011-09-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I have designed a fabulous project for Create with Connie and Mary.

The Christmas edition goes live September 18th and you can sign up for early bird pricing before then. Click here to go and sign up And if you sign up NOW, you will receive the Early Bird price of $29.95 (which is $5 off the regular subscription price).This little stocking card features the paper, fabrics, and stamps that I used for my project. Check below for more details about the card. I can't show you my project, but I can tell you that it's vintage, it's Christmas, and it's 3D. My project will be posted up on Week 6 which goes live on October 23rd.

The Fun Stuff:
Stamps: Pines and Pointsettias
Paper: Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Beau Cheateau
Ink: Very Vanilla Craft, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake Classic
Accessories: Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Folder, 1 3/4" circle punch, Stocking Builder Punch, Pearls Basics, Beau Chateau Designer Series Fabric, Stampin' Dimensionals

Gratitude Spice

2011-09-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

This card started out as a case of a card by Shelli, but after many hours of playing around it looks nothing like the original card. In fact, it's so different, I wont link you back to the original card. But I knew I wanted to use the new Spice Cake DSP and I don't own any Thanksgiving stamps, so I went into My Digital Studio, and printed out some digital images to make this hybrid card. The flower on the top left of the card, was case'd from the lovely Ann Schach. I copied her flower and then mounted it on a flower punched out with the Fancy Flower punch. I printed out the sentiment and images on Very Vanilla card stock, and then I ran it through the Big Shot with the new Designer Frames Textured Impressions Folder. I tilted the fram to give the sentiment a funky look. I tore the paper to the shape I wanted first. The Pool Party coloured DSP behind it was torn, squished, spritzed with water and then scrunched up into a ball and then laid out in the sun to dry so that it looked extremely distressed. The bow was made with Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon which was tied into the bow, spritzed with water, scrunched up into a ball and laid in the sun to dry. Everything was sponged around the edges and sprayed with a Soft Suede marker and the colour spritzer tool. Don't you just love those extra large buttons. This card was so much fun to make that along the way I tried out some other techniques and actually came up with 3 different cards. I'll be posting the other two in the days to come!!

Another fun card

2011-09-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

Here is another card I made using My Digital Studio. This card is a direct copy of one by Teneale Williams. Click here to see her original card. I made this card using My Digital Studio because I don't own the actual stamps. One of the nice things about MDS is that you can line things up perfectly. The background of this card is made by 'stamping' the phrase stamp over and over again. Below you will find the MDS image that I created. I cut and trimmed and layered and sponged to come up with this card.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #88

2011-09-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

This wek at Stampin' Royalty we have a colour challenge for you. It's a BRIGHT one! Sometimes I can't remember what I was thinking when I came up with these crazy colour combos. So anyway, when I made this card, I really tried to tone down the brightness. I figured watercolouring was the best way to do this. I was over at my good friend (and fellow SR Goddess) Jenn Picard's house when I made this card. I stamped the image on Confetti White to make the Watercolouring work. It was so easy and fun to use an aquapainter and ink pads to colour in the images.

Colour Q Challenge #101

2011-09-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

We have a fabulous colour challenge for you this week at Colour Q. Of course I absolutely had to join in this week, even though it's not really my week, but I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE purple and green. So I whipped up this page of us at the PNE last week. Of course I used My Digital Studio. It's so easy to alter the photos to black and white, and use whatever colours you'd like for the page.

Wow, what an evening...

2011-09-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

So I have a little story for you. I finished up this cute little card tonight and was getting ready to post it, (challenge details at the bottom of this post) but with my photos taken of my card, I realized that my drink was empty, so I headed out to the carport, to get another Diet Coke. I got to the door and ran into this...

So I ran back inside, and remembering my camera was around my neck from taking photos of my card, I snapped a few photos through the glass in the door. We live in an area that gets a lot of bears, so you may be wondering why we have a fridge full of food in our carport. Well, actually, the fridge is only full of drinks like Diet Coke, and Perrier. And we do have a plan to build a little shed in our carport in the next while. ( Now, Brad says we might be building that shed next week.) Anyway, I couldn't figure out what the bear was doing in the frigde, and then I remembered that we went to Costco today, and when we got home we were furriously getting ready for Teagan's princess party today, so to save time, a few things were tossed in the carport freezer until we had time to deal with them later today. Well...guess who forgot about the food in the freezer downstairs. So, now I'm thrilled to say that my shopping spree at Costco for next week's meals, has made for one very happy bear.

He took the food and found a comfy seat on the lawn across the street. Check out the spooky eyes in the middle of the photo.

Brad and I ran up to our bedroom and took a few photos from our bedroom window. Here he is coming back down our driveway...

And here he is heading back into the carport for another course. He actually spent quite a while emptying out our freezer. We eventually realized that perhaps we should go empty our freezer when he was across the street muching away. So I ran lookout, as Brad went downstairs and emptied the freezer, I kept an eye on the bear from the upstairs window. On the last trip he realized that the freezer was empty, and wandered off towards the trail at the end of the street.

Oh, and back to the card. I made this card for two challenges. Firstly for the Monochromatic colour challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments. And also for the sketch challenge at Just Add Ink. I was totally inspired by the fabulous Teneale Williams, yet again.

Altered Baby Box

2011-09-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

Today I have a cute little project to share. I found this little wooden box at a local craft store all roughed up and ready for some colour. I decided to try my hand at altering it. I pulled out my retired Nursery Suite DSP and went to work,. I struggled to cover over the letters, so I pried them off and die cut some out of chipboard with the Big Shot. I used a sponge and ink to cover over the actual parts of the box that were visible, but once they were inked up, the colour was too vibrant, so I decided to sponge over it with Very Vanilla Craft Ink which added a nice soft feel to the block. This little block opens up into a little keepsake box. This box is perfect for parents who don't know if they are expecting a little boy, or a little girl.

Stampin Royalty Challenge #87

2011-08-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

This week we have a timely challenge for you at Stampin' Royalty. This week our theme is

BACK TO SCHOOL.

And most of us here in Canada are heading back to school on Tuesday. As a teacher, I always have such mixed feelings this time of year. Good thing I love my job right!!
When I saw this stamp set (Recess) in the summer Mini I knew I had to have it, but I need to say that it's now retired as we are about to go live with the Holiday Mini tomorrow. I love this set, and it was really good for me to work on my colouring. On these cards I used ink pads and a blender pen for most of it. I can't seem to find my watercolour paper anywhere, and I just don't have the knack for watercolouring on Whisper White. Anyway, these were all done on Whisper white with a Blender Pen, and then I used my new frames textured impression folders, and a variety of In Colour cardstock and made the frames for each picture. The background was stamped tone on tone for a more subtle look. Scroll down for closeups of each card and a list of supplies at the bottom.

The Fun Stuff:

1. Stamps - Recess

2. Ink – Island Indigo, Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Blush Blossom, Peach Parfait, Calypso Coral, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Wisteria Wonder, Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Pretty In Pink, Blushing Bride, More Mustard, Crumb Cake

3. Card Stock – Whisper White, Peach Parfait, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Concord Crush, Island Indigo,

4. Accessories – Designer Frames Textured Impressions Folder for Big Shot, Black Satin Ribbon

Colour Q Challenge #100

2011-08-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

This week at Colour Q we are celebrating 100 weeks of past challenges. This week there's a fantastic sketch. You need to go back through the Colour Q pallettes and pick your favourite for the sketch. Don't worry, all the pallettes are shown on the sidebar of Colour Q for easy reference.

Last week we went to the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) which is an annual fair here in Vancouver. One of the highlights of my childhood was riding the Carousel. The PNE has an old carousel that was around when I was a child. Last year, my children were afraid of the carousel. But this year Teagan really wanted a ride. I was thrilled to go along as I haven't been on it since I was a child myself.

My page was created with My Digital Studio. The background paper is from the Sweet Pea DSP. I layered over a Vintage Overlay in Basic Grey for an aged look. The frame is from the Downtown Grunge Digital Kit and I also placed a vintage overlay over the photo in Basic Black. Accessories include Pompom Trim, Sallop Polka Dot ribbon and bow, Paper Daisies, and Playdate Accessories.

Princess Party Project is Live

2011-08-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to tell you that my project has gone live over at Craft Project Central. This fabulous party collection has everything you need to create that perfect party for your little princess. This kit includes,invitations, party banner, favour purses, crowns and wands, and a coordinating cupcake, straw, and bottle cover. Everything you need for your little princess. I am especially pleased with my cupcake cover that you can see in the photo above.

Button Buddies for Babies

2011-08-26T01:41:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to receive my new stamp set - Button Buddies. It was on backorder, and I was desperately impatient, as it was the first set I really wanted when I saw the new catty back in June.

Anyway, once I sat down with it, my mojo completely disappeared. Have you ever had times like that? I was on the phone today with my fellow Artisan Award winner, Jenn Picard, and we were lamenting about when we have a dry spot of creativity. And after searching through Splitcoast, and Stampin' Connection, and all my other sources of creativity, I remembered the name of this sweet Australian Demo that I met, briefly at Convention this year, Teneale Williams. This woman came all the way to the USA with her Mum, (that's how they spell it down under). They came for something like 4 days - CRAZY. I know they had a blast. I actually had a great conversation with her Mum. They are both very sweet. So, after starting to check out her blog - click here - I decided to copy one of her cards. Well...maybe I tweaked it to suit my style a bit. Teneale's style is one that I would love to learn. I really don't think I have a signature style and I would love to develop one. I ususally just get inspired by things that attract me, but I can't narrow it down to a signature style. Anyway after a lot of time spent looking through Teneale's blog, I decided to case this card here. I have a friend who is due in a few weeks, and they don't know the sex of the baby, so this card will be perfect. Something that Teneale always does, is finish the insides of her cards, so I was inspired to try my best at copying that as well.

For this card, I used tons, and tons, and tons of layers. I think I used half a pack of Stampin' Dimensionals - (kidding) I sometimes find that if you carefully try to copy the work of a great artist, you learn a lot of fabulous techniques. Once I started looking very closely at Teneale's cards, I realized how she really loves to layer cardstock. She always sponges the edges of the top layer, and then matte's it on a sheet of the same cardstock, with just a tiny border so that It really defines the edges. On this card, I also did my first crinkle ribbon. My buddy Jenn Picard explained it to me and it's super easy. You use seam binding ribbon, and you tie your bow (I made a double bow here). Then you spray it with water from a spritzer, and then you squish it up into a ball, and let it dry. Voila - crinkle ribbon. Super easy.

The Fun Stuff:

1. Stamps - Button Buddies, BFF
2. Ink – Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz, Regal Rose, Crumb Cake
3. Paper – Paisley Prints DSP, Baja Breeze, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla card stock
4. Accessories – Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Pearls Basic Jewels,

Stampin Royalty Challenge #86

2011-08-24T00:42:00.000-07:00

This week we have another fabulous challenge for you over at Stampin' Royalty. Hop on over to check out the fabulous work from the Stampin' Royalty Godesses. This week we want you to

BRING ON THE BLING!!!!

That means Rhinestones, Glitter, Shimmer Paint, you name it!!! As my daughter's birthday is this week, and we're having a princess party this weekend, I decided to try out my new Little Princess stamp set and add some of the new Dazzling Details for some Bling. Of course, in the end I also added some Dazzling Diamonds because I wanted lots of shimmer! I actually made 4 cards because I stamped the image several times, and then used a blender pen and some reinkers to try out various variations of pinks to make these cards. I liked all the ones' I coloured, so I decided to use each of them on their own card. The card above is the one I decided to give to Teagan, the others I'll add to my large stash of cards.

The Fun Stuff!
Stamps – Little Princess, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper – Melon Mambo, Pretty In Pink, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Whisper White, Retired Pretty In Pink DSP
Ink – Daffodil Delight, – Melon Mambo, Pretty In Pink, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Blush Blossom, Basic Black
Accessories – Designer Frames Textured Impressions folders for the Big Shot, Word Window, Wide Oval, Lace Ribbon Border, and Modern Label punches, 5/8” Organza Ribbon, Dazzling Details, Dazzling Diamonds, Retired Pompom Trim, Stampin’ Dimensionals

More Weekend Retreat Pages

2011-08-23T23:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pages from my weekend away. These pages were sooooooo easy to make. I inserted the photos and added the text - that was it!!! Click on the photos to enlarge them and see more details.

Stampin' Retreat!

2011-08-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

Well I just returned from a very fun weekend. My upline rewards people in her downline who promote every year with a retreat where she pampers you and all you need to do is laugh, drink wine, sleep, oh yeah and stamp a bit if you want. If you are interested in being eligible for perks like this, sign up to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator with me and you could be on this fun trip next summer!

It was a secret location, which we actually didn't know what or where it was until we got there. Now of course, when we pulled into the BC Ferries terminal, we knew we were going somewhere across the sea...Well, across Howe Sound anyway. We drove in the dark for what seemed like hours until we found our way to Stone's Throw cottage. And it was cute! I don't actually have a photo of the outside, but when I got home tonight I sat down and scrapped a few quick pages using My Digital Studio and the Downtown Grunge Digital Kit. I'll share more photos and stories over the next week or so. I've got a TON of tutorials to try and type up for all of you before I go back to work in 2 weeks - gulp!

Array of Sunshine Box & Note Cards!

2011-08-20T23:08:00.000-07:00

As a special thank you to subscribers Craft Project Central has not one, but two bonus projects for you this month!! Head on over there to check out the details! This cute little project makes a great gift! The box is filled with darling little note cards that the recipient can use, and once the cards are gone it makes a great Post-it note holder too! This project is also a great class or club project!!

To get the instructions for this cute bonus project designed by Laurie, just head on over to Craft Project Central, subscribe to August and meet one of the other bonus project requirements, of subscribing to two or more months in a row, adding the Craft Project Central badge to your blog or referring a friend and when they subscribe, letting them know.

The Domestic Goddess Scrap 'n Card Kit - NEW

2011-08-18T01:19:00.000-07:00

Well I never thought that I would find a use for the Domestic Goddess DSP from the latest Catty from Stampin' Up! But there was something about the colours in it that really attracted me. I love, love, LOVE Pool Party. Anyway the blues and the yellows reminded me of Baby things. I was itching to scrap this new paper, and suddenly inspiration struck, so voila! The Domestic Goddess Scrap 'n Card Kit was born.

Above you will find the scrap page, and here is the card. This kit is available for a Boy or a Girl. I have included all the printables from My Digital Studio as a part of the kit so you don't need to own any stamps or ink to make this page. All the other supplies are listed in the tutorial.

Fortunately my kids are away for a few days with their Grandparents, so I had time to type this tutorial up. Don't worry, the Artisan Award Tutorials are coming, I'm just going to have to recreate the projects with current product, so I'll have to come up with a plan for retired items. But hey, I'm a resourceful girl! Anyhow, this latest tutorial is part of a new venture for me. I am going to try to post new tutorials and templates on a regular basis. For those of you who are new to my blog, if you look along the top there are some tabs that say things like 'Home', 'Templates', 'Tutorials', 'Awards', etc. On my blog Tutorials are free, and Templates have a small charge because templates take me hours and hours to put together.

So if you're interested please click below to purchase this tutorial template for $3.99 USD

Box Pleat Tutorial:

2011-08-18T01:17:00.000-07:00

This tutorial is based on one developed by Susan Stringfellow.

To make these pleats I scored each strip by one and then by 3. What I mean by this is that I scored some papers at ¼ “ and after another ¾” and then after another ¼ “ and after another ¾” and so on…

For this paper I imagined that one red and one white strip made a whole unit. Then I scored half way through the first stripe and then at the end of the next stripe and then half way through that stripe and at the end of the next stripe and so on…

For this paper I used the scallop trim border punch along the edge first. Then I scored after one scallop and next after 3 more scallops, and then after one scallop, and then after 3 more and so on…

Here's some more views...

When I was done scoring, I folded each paper along the score lines, just like in the photos above. I ran a strip of sticky tape along the back of each pleated paper in order to secure them. You can stitch along them with a sewing machine for a different look.

Stampin Royalty Challenge #85

2011-08-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

This week we have a sketch challenge for you over at Stampin' Royalty. I decided to scrap another photo from my DH's brother's wedding last month. This photo is of my DH's sister. The pashmina she's wearing really reminded me of Calypso Coral. So I decided to use the Berry Blossoms DSP. Even the Wisteria Wonder seems to compliment the colour of the shadows in the background of the photo. When I first put this page together I really felt that the lime and coral page with the flowers was TOO bright, so I reduced the opacity of it so that it wasn't so vivid, and I really like the effect.

Colour Q Challenge #98

2011-08-16T00:45:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday and there's another fabulous colour combo over at Colour Q. This combo totally had me stumped. I eventually decided to scrap this photo of me on my wedding day. We got married in Mexico, and many of the buildings are painted these extremely bright colours. Well, originally I wanted to use this photo because I'm standing in front of a Turquoise wall - yup - TURQUOISE!! Scroll down for the colour version of the photo. It's actually a great photo, but once I actually pulled the photo into MDS I realized that it actually clashed with the blues in this challenge, so I decided to change the photo to Sepia to compliment the Soft Suede. I tried to evoke a vintage feel with this page. There are TONS of layers.

Friends

2011-08-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a page that was SUPER easy to make. I used the template from the digital DSP Sun Garden. All I did was plug in the photos and add the text at the bottom of the page. Nothing else. This is a page of me and my good friend Jenn Picard who is also an Artisan Award Winner this year, and was my roomate at Convention this year. The bottom are some silly photos that we took with the front camera on my IPhone as we goofed around during the General Session. They are very fuzzy from the IPhone, but they show just how much fun we were having.

Coming soon...

2011-08-14T01:35:00.000-07:00

Christmas Keepsake Box Card Kit

Coming soon...
Did you get your Christmas Keepsake Box and now you're not sure if you want to create the Box, or make Christmas Cards. Personally, I love to make cards the most, so I've made this collection of Christmas cards using only the products from the kit and some Very Vanilla Cardstock. I'll be posting the tutorial this upcoming week. If you did NOT get the kit, but are interested in the tutorial, I'll include the product list for all Stampin' Up! products needed.

Artisan Dinner Swap - My Project

2011-08-13T12:20:00.000-07:00

Well we've had a ton of fun on this Artisan Award Winner Blog Hop. Today we're offering you a bonus day to the hop. When we were in Utah last month for convention, we had a special dinner out with Shelli and her hubby Sterling, and a few of the concept artists at Stampin' Up! It was a fabulous dinner that went on much longer than planned because we were so busy laughing so much. Click here for my post on that evening. Well, one of the things that we organized before Convention, was a 3D or card swap for the artisan winners. So today we are showcasing our swaps from that dinner. The thought of swapping with people who had won the Artisan Award was very intimidating. So I decided to try my hand at something 3D. I've been eyeing up the fabric and decided to try and use my new Delicate Doilies fabric. I searched the internet for ideas and came up with this little pouch. I bought some plain white cotton fabric to line the outside, and a zipper from the fabric store. I promise that I will post a tutorial about this in the next few weeks (whew! I've a lot of tutorials to post this month!) Anyway, I made 16 of these 'puppies' in a week. I used to sew my own clothes a lot so it was just a matter of practice for me to use that old skill and start sewing again.
Not all of the Artisans are participating in this hop, but here's the list of links for you to check out today.

THE ARTISAN AWARD WINNERS BLOG HOP 2011
1. Connie Collins
2. Sandra Farrell (You are here)
3. Heidi King
4. Heather Klump
5. Cheryl LeFore
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard
8. Heather Stevens
9. Summer Stone
10. Heather Summers

Artisan Blog Hop Day #10

2011-08-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Day #10 of the Artsan Award Blog Hop. If you have been following the past few days just skip down to the information below the photo If this is your first visit, let me explain. This years' Artisan Award winners are having a BLOG HOP. We're going to show you all of our winning projects, and let you know a bit about how we made them. If you check out all projects over the whole hop you will see 100 winning projects. So don't forget to stop by tomorrow! Underneath my project, you will find a link to the next blog on the tour, and at the very bottom of this post you will find a complete list of all 10 blogs, in case you get lost on the tour. You should have just come from Connie Collins' blog. Isn't she terribly talented. I love her work.

This project started as a idea on how to use the Petal punch to make paper roses. The next thing I knew I decided I needed a basket for them. I played around with the Scallop Envelope box that so many people have made over the years and I decided to 'step it up' a bit. So I decided to make a 5 sided box instead of the traditional 4 sided. I also ran the envelopes through the big shot with the square lattice textured impressions folder to make it look woven.   I'll post up a tutorial on how I made these flowers sometime in the next month.  I hope you enjoyed today's project, now hop on over to Heidi King's blog to see her next amazing project.

SUPPLIES:
Cardstock – Baja Breeze, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pear Pizzazz, Always Artichoke
Classic Ink – Baja Breeze, Rose Red, Regal Rose, Pear Pizzazz
Adhesives – SNAIL adhesive, Sticky Strip, Crystal Effects, Mini Glue Dots
Accessories – Springtime Vintage Designer Fabric, Blossom Petals Punch, Scallop Envelope Bigz die, and Square Latice Textured Impressions Folder for the Big Shot

THE ARTISAN AWARD WINNERS BLOG HOP 2011
1. Connie Collins
2. Sandra Farrell (You are here)
3. Heidi King
4. Heather Klump
5. Cheryl LeFore
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard
8. Heather Stevens
9. Summer Stone
10. Heather Summers

Artisan Blog Hop Day #9

2011-08-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Day #9 of the Artsan Award Blog Hop. If you have been following the past few days just skip down to the information below the photo If this is your first visit, let me explain. This years' Artisan Award winners are having a BLOG HOP. We're going to show you all of our winning projects, and let you know a bit about how we made them. If you check out all projects over the whole hop you will see 100 winning projects. So don't forget to stop by tomorrow! Underneath my project, you will find a link to the next blog on the tour, and at the very bottom of this post you will find a complete list of all 10 blogs, in case you get lost on the tour. You should have just come from Connie Collins' blog. Isn't she terribly talented. I love her work.

I decided that I needed to create a copy of a card that I made last year. I added more layers and more detail to this card, but essentially it is the same.  I will really miss this stamp. I really enjoyed watercolouring it. Watercolouring is so simple when you use watercolour paper and an aquapainter. The frame was made by running the DSP through the big shot in the Tulip Frame Embossing Folder. IO will be posting a tutorial in the next week on how I did this. Then I used a sanding block to distress it and rub off the outer layer of paper to expose the white core.  I hope you enjoyed today's project, now hop on over to Heidi King's blog to see her next amazing project.

SUPPLIES:
Stamps - Because I Care

Cardstock – Early Espresso, Old Olive, Confetti White,
Other Paper - Blushing Bride Designer Series Paper, Watercolour Paper
Classic Ink – Old Olive, Blushing Bride
Other Ink - Black Staz On, Old Olive and Blushing Bride Stampin’ Write Markers
Adhesives – SNAIL adhesive, Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots, Crystal Effects
Accessories –Linen Thread, Framed Tulips Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for the Big Shot, Pretty In Pink Designer Button, Old Olive 1 ¼” Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Sanding Block

THE ARTISAN AWARD WINNERS BLOG HOP 2011
1. Connie Collins
2. Sandra Farrell (You are here)
3. Heidi King
4. Heather Klump
5. Cheryl LeFore
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard
8. Heather Stevens
9. Summer Stone
10. Heather Summers

Stampin Royalty Challenge #84

2011-08-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

This week at Stampin' Royalty we have an inspiration challenge for you. Hop on over to see what the fabulous Design Team has created. I have to say that when I first saw thsi photo collage, I had no idea what to make. So I searched through my photos. Let me tell you, I've been scrapbooking so much lately that it's getting hard for me to find photos of my children that I haven't already scrapped. I found these photos of my daughter when we flew to Palm Springs earlier this year. I took these photos with my phone and they are very poor quality. But I though the softness of these photos evoked a more vintage feel. I hope that comes through in the page.

Artisan Blog Hop Day #8

2011-08-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Day #8 of the Artsan Award Blog Hop. If you didn't get a chance to come by yesterday, let me explain. This years' Artisan Award winners are having a BLOG HOP. We're going to show you all of our winning projects, and let you know a bit about how we made them. If you check out all projects over the whole hop you will see 100 winning projects. So don't forget to stop by tomorrow! Underneath my project, you will find a link to the next blog on the tour, and at the very bottom of this post you will find a complete list of all 10 blogs, in case you get lost on the tour. You should have just come from Connie Collins' blog. Isn't she terribly talented. I love her work.

For this card I decided to copy the layout of a card that I had made last year. Click here to see that card. I took the layout of that card, changed the colours and changed it to a square card from a round card. I can't remember where I got the colour combo from, but I know I wanted to keep the softness of the colours in my original card. I hope you enjoyed today's project, now hop on over to Heidi King's blog to see her next amazing project.

SUPPLIES:
Stamps - Elizabeth, Punch Popourri, Great Friend
Cardstock – Rose Red, Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso, Whisper White
Classic Ink – Rose Red, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso, Pink Pirouete,
Adhesives – SNAIL adhesive, Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals
Punches - Boho Blossoms Extra-Large, Butterfly Extra-Large, Two-Step Bird Extra-Large, Full Heart Extra-Large, Scallop Trim Border, Scallop Trim Corner
Accessories –Basic Pearls Jewels,

THE ARTISAN AWARD WINNERS BLOG HOP 2011

1. Connie Collins

2. Sandra Farrell (You are here)

3. Heidi King

4. Heather Klump

5. Cheryl LeFore

6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard
8. Heather Stevens
9. Summer Stone
10. Heather Summers

Blog Candy Winner (please scroll down for more Artisan Blog Hop!)

2011-08-09T00:57:00.000-07:00

Wow ladies -what a fabulous response to my Blog Candy.

Our winner is...

Judith Oveson

from Berlin, Germany

Thanks for all your kind words ladies. I always read all the comments, I wish I had time to respond to you all. My project will be coming up at Craft Project Central later this month.

Artisan Blog Hop Day #7

2011-08-08T22:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Day #7 of the Artsan Award Blog Hop. If you have been following the past few days just skip down to the information below the photo If this is your first visit, let me explain. This years' Artisan Award winners are having a BLOG HOP. We're going to show you all of our winning projects, and let you know a bit about how we made them. If you check out all projects over the whole hop you will see 100 winning projects. So don't forget to stop by tomorrow! Underneath my project, you will find a link to the next blog on the tour, and at the very bottom of this post you will find a complete list of all 10 blogs, in case you get lost on the tour. You should have just come from Connie Collins' blog. Isn't she terribly talented? I love her work.

This was my final scrapbook page. I took this photo of my daughter with my new iphone. Believe it or not. It was really clear. I put it in My Digital Studio and added the stamps from 'Enjoy Every Moment'. I fussed over the colours because I wanted them to match the colours in the photo. I added some mini pearls to the word enjoy, and to the scallop at the bottom of the photo, which is from the perfect settings die. The pleated medallion was made from the cupcake wrap and the centre circle is covered with half pearls. The message at the bottom says 'Monkeying around on her Run Bike' to go with the pink and purple monkey images.

I hope you enjoyed today's project, now hop on over to Heidi King's blog to see her next amazing project.

SUPPLIES:

A Hybrid Page with My Digital Studio

Stamp Brushes – Enjoy Every Moment – printed on matte photo paper
Stamps - Circle Circus, Fox and Friends
Cardstock – Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Pretty In Pink, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Classic Ink – Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Pretty In Pink
Adhesives – SNAIL adhesive, Sticky Strip, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Crystal Effects
Punches - 1 ¾” Circle, 1 3/8” Circle, 1 ¼” Circle, 2 ½” Circle,
Accessories –Basic Pearls Jewels, Perfect Setting Bigz xl die for the Big Shot,

THE ARTISAN AWARD WINNERS BLOG HOP 2011

1. Connie Collins

2. Sandra Farrell (You are here)
3. Heidi King

4. Heather Klump

5. Cheryl LeFore

6. Laura Mellinger

7. Jennifer Picard
8. Heather Stevens

9. Summer Stone

10. Heather Summers

Artisan Blog Hop Day #6

2011-08-07T22:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Day #6 of the Artsan Award Blog Hop. If you didn't get a chance to come by yesterday, let me explain. This years' Artisan Award winners are having a BLOG HOP. We're going to show you all of our winning projects, and let you know a bit about how we made them. If you check out all projects over the whole hop you will see 100 winning projects. So don't forget to stop by tomorrow! Underneath my project, you will find a link to the next blog on the tour, and at the very bottom of this post you will find a complete list of all 10 blogs, in case you get lost on the tour. You should have just come from Connie Collins' blog. Isn't she terribly talented? I love her work.

This card started out as a make'n take gone wrong. I was at my upline's mini regional meeting last february and she had put together this make'n take using the Love Letter DSP. I have the digital copy of this DSP, but not the actual paper. And I LOVE IT!! The top note die cut was from the make'n take but then I stamped an image from Bliss but I got a halo from the side of the rubber and ruined it. So what I did to hide it is cut off part of it and hid the rest of the halo with the black ribbon. If you look in the top right corner you will see the image peeking out behind the ribbon. I demonstrated how to use the Tulip Border embossing folder at this meeting, so the white cardstock was just a scrap I had left over. When I layered it all together I needed something to stamp on the background, so I used the flower from Vintage Vogue. I really like how this card kind of 'fell together'.

I hope you enjoyed today's project, now hop on over to Heidi King's blog to see her next amazing project.

SUPPLIES:
Stamps - Vintage Vogue, Tiny Tags, Bliss
Cardstock – Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Confetti Cream,
DSP - Newsprint, Love Letter
Classic Ink – Riding Hood Red, Basic Black
Adhesives – SNAIL adhesive, Sticky Strip, Crystal Effects, Mini Glue Dots
Punches -Jewelry Tag Medium
Accessories –Top Note Bigz die, Framed Tulips Textured Impressions Embossing Folder for the Big Shot, Stampin Dimensionals, Chantilly ½” Crochet Trim, Basic Black 5/8” Satin Ribbon, Basic Black 1/8” Taffeta Ribbon, Linen Thread, Antique Brads,

THE ARTISAN AWARD WINNERS BLOG HOP 2011
1. Connie Collins
2. Sandra Farrell (You are here)
3. Heidi King
4. Heather Klump
5. Cheryl LeFore
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard
8. Heather Stevens
9. Summer Stone
10. Heather Summers