I was SO jealous!

WAY back in November, I went to the Stampin' UP! On Stage event in Ottawa. At all the Stampin' UP! events, everyone usually gets to take *something* home...whether it be a stamp set, some embellishments, some paper...there's always something. And it's always something GOOD!

My friend Lindsay received the Beautiful You stamp set and I was SO jealous! Even before I saw the images stamped, I wanted that set more than any other out of the Occasions Catalogue!

I was THRILLED when I could order it and used it RIGHT AWAY! I've been keeping it under wraps, because I wanted to stamp several cards with it before showing it off. You forgive me, right??

Check it out:

I love the black background with the crisp white image panel - it just POPS! And guess what? It's NOT Blooms & Bliss DSP! I used Pop of Pink for this card. You can pick yourself up off the floor now - LOL!

My base is Basic Black with a layer of Pop of Pink. The image was stamped onto Whisper White using Archival Black Ink and coloured using the Watercolour Pencils and a Blender Pen. I then stamped the sentiment with Archival Black ink as well.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Beautiful You
INK: Archival Black
PAPERS: Whisper White and Basic Black Cardstock; Pop of Pink DSP
ACCESSORIES: Watercolour Pencils, Blender Pen

Happy Stampin'!

Inside the Lines Specialty Designer Series Paper

Get this fantastic paper for FREE with your $60 purchase during Sale-a-Bration! You're going to LOVE IT!!

Click HERE to go directly to my online store and be sure to use hostess code: 7EUW7ZBA at checkout!

Happy Stampin'!

Hey Chick - in PINK!

You may remember this card from way back in December...I had so much fun creating it and it was just a BASIC card. That Hey Chick set from Sale-a-Bration is just so darn cute!

For today's card, I decided to take it up a notch and here's the result:

I started off with a base of Blushing Bride and added a layer of Whisper White and then some Blooms and Bliss DSP (I was creating this one at the same time as the card you saw yesterday). Then I used some ovals that I'd cut while making this card for today's focal image.

I love that I can colour the chickens whichever way I feel like on any given day. Today's she's got bright pink hair that was coloured using the Watercolour Pencils (newly available in the Occasions Catalogue).

What do you think?

STAMPS: Hey Chick (Sale-a-Bration)
INK: Archival Black
PAPERS: Whisper White, Blushing Bride and Perfect Plum Cardstock; Blooms & Bliss DSP
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Dies, Stitched Satin Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Take TWO!

You may remember this card from last week. Turns out it was a sneak peek of THIS weeks challenge. :)

This week, our challenge was colour themed:

So...I used my ideas from last week, changed up the layout a bit and came up with this:

In February each year, I do a love, marriage and baby class, so this will be one of the cards we create! How fun is that?

For this card, I reversed the colours and started with a base of Perfect Plum and then added the layer of Blushing Bride. A second layer was added (this time from the Blooms & Bliss DSP) before I attached the image panel with the same onesies and sentiment as last week. You can sort of see the pearls off to the top left of the card. Doodling around the Whisper White piece of cardstock was necessary...of course! :)

You can check out what the rest of the crew have been up to HERE.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Something for Baby, So In Love
INK: Blushing Bride, Perfect Plum
PAPERS: Whisper White, Blushing Bride and Perfect Plum Cardstock; Blooms & Bliss DSP
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Dies, Markers, Basic Pearls, Glue Dots, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Hey Chick!

I'm keeping it simple today. With just a layer of Rich Razzleberry on a Thick Whisper White Cardstock base.

I stamped the chick in Archival Black Ink and coloured her in using the Watercolour Pencils that Stampin' UP! introduced with the Occasions Catalogue. There are 13 colours in the package and I am SO hoping that more will be coming in the Annual Catalogue!

A little bit of doodling around the outside edge and that was it! I think it took less than 10 minutes to whip this one up. It would be perfect as a "just" because card.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Hey Chick (available ONLY during Sale-a-Bration)
INK: Archival Black
PAPERS: Whisper White and Rich Razzleberry Cardstock; Thick Whisper White Cardstock
ACCESSORIES: Watercolour Pencils, Black Marker

Happy Stampin'!

Anatomy of a Swap - Final Product

Today's the day! It's time for the Canadian Business Conference and I can't WAIT to see all my Canadian Stampin' UP! friends, swap some cards and take part in some GREAT training!

But...I'm pretty sure you don't really care about all that...you just want to see the finished card! Right???

Well...here's one last step before I show you the final product:

This is the full card just waiting for the circle, dragonfly and sentiment.

And now.......TADA!!!

I added the circle and the dragonfly and then attached the sentiment (which was sponged) to the lower right of the circle. Then I also decided to add MORE in the form our Basic Pearls.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Dragonfly Dreams
INK: StazOn, Island Indigo (both for stamping) and Mint Macaron for sponging
PAPERS: Whisper White, Shimmer White and Mint Macaron Cardstock; Blooms & Bliss DSP
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Dies, Bakers Twine, Basic Pearls, Sponge Daubers, Stampin' Dimensionals, Glue Dots

Happy Stampin'!

SaveSave

You're the Sweetest!

Here's the last card this week from the Tasty Trucks Set.

This one started off with a base of Emerald Envy that I had laying around from another project. I don't use much Emerald Envy, because it's not my favourite of the In Colours. I mean it's not NEARLY as bad as Summer Starfruit (aka: baby sh!t yellow) from a few years ago. It's just not my favourite. Do you like it?

I was originally going to use the OTHER side of the Moroccan Designer Series Paper, but I put my adhesive on the wrong side, and...well...I'm sure we've all been there!

I punched a 2" circle and doodled around it. I then stamped the little truck and fussy cut it/coloured it in before attaching it to the front of the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

I wanted this one to be a thank you card, so that sentiment got stamped on the inside with a little bit of bunting added for good measure.

Next week? Chickens!!

What do you think?

STAMPS: Tasty Trucks
INK: Archival Black
PAPERS: Whisper White and Emerald Envy Cardstock; Moroccan DSP
ACCESSORIES: Watercolour Pencils, Blender Pens, Marker, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

It's a day to CELEBRATE!!

On Monday evening, my husband's co-worker's water broke! She's expecting TWINS!!!

When I saw the sketch, I knew I wanted to make a baby card, so the timing was just PERFECT!

Here's the sketch:

And here's what I did with it:

Adorable, right? My base is Blushing Bride and I added a layer of Perfect Plum and another layer of Whisper White Cardstock. I cut my ovals using the Layering Ovals Framelits and adhered them together. Then I stamped and die cut the cute little onesies and ADORABLE little hangers. They were attached to the front of the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

The sentiment was stamped onto Whisper White and ends were notched to create a tiny banner. A bit of ribbon makes it just that little bit extra girly. And the pearls don't hurt either. :)

I added "congratulations" to the inside:

It needed a little bit of doodling so I added that and safety pin for good measure!

You can check out what the rest of the crew have been up to HERE.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Something for Baby, So In Love (sentiments)
INK: Blushing Bride, Perfect Plum, Smoky Slate
PAPERS: Whisper White, Blushing Bride and Perfect Plum Cardstock
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Dies, Satin Ribbon, Basic Pearls, Glue Dots, Fine Tip Glue Pen, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Would you like some CHEEZE with that?

Today's card...it's totally cheezy! That's OK though, because it's also totally cute!

Check it out:

Let's TACO 'bout how awesome you are! Get it? LOL!!

I used my Watercolour Pencils again with my Blender Pens to colour the image. The sentiment was stamped in Rich Razzleberry. Easy Peasy! And it took me less than 10 minutes, since I didn't even have to cut a card base. I used the Crumb Cake Notecards and envelopes package as my base.

I'll be sending it out to a pretty awesome young lady I know. I hope she likes it!

What do you think?

STAMPS: Tasty Trucks
INK: Black Archival, Rich Razzleberry
PAPERS: Crumb Cake Notecard; Whisper White Cardstock
ACCESSORIES: Night of Navy Baker's Twine; Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

It's time to Sale-A-Brate!

You DO know what that is, right?? No??

Sale-A-Bration is that glorious time of year when Stampin' UP! gives you stuff...for FREE...just for ordering stamps and other products you wanted to get anyway! How cool is THAT??

This week, I'm showing you some samples that I created using the Tasty Trucks set that is ONLY available while Sale-A-Bration is in effect when you spend $60 on Stampin' UP! products in either the Annual Catalogue or Occasions Catalogue.

Here's the first:

I started off with a base of Sahara Sand and a layer of - wait! What is that?? Is it Blooms & Bliss? LOL! I know...you're shocked and amazed - HA! Can't help it! :)

Anyway...then I took a piece of Whisper White Cardstock, drew some lines on it (which I erased later) and stamped the little ice cream cones from the set. They didn't end up quite as uniformly as I'd hoped, but that worked out at it gave me a few spaces to add a sentiment from the same set and some little pearls.

I used my blender pens and the new Watercolour Pencils to colour in the ice cream cones. Cute right?

The sentiment and pearls were added last. Thank goodness for Photopolymer stamps or there is NO WAY I would have been able to get that teeny sentiment just where I wanted it.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Tasty Trucks - available ONLY during Sale-A-Bration
INK: Archival Black
PAPERS: Whisper White and Sahara Sand Cardstock; Blooms & Bliss DSP
ACCESSORIES: Watercolour Pencils, Blender Pens, Basic Pearls

Happy Stampin'!

Anatomy of a Swap - Part 2

When we left off last week, I was about to tell you about my ROOKIE mistake!

Have you ever just been moving along, creating, thinking to yourself "This is going to look GREAT!" and then suddenly you realize...you missed a step. *sigh*

Yeah...that was me. And you would think I'd know by now. I was stamping before stamping was "cool" and LONG before Stampin' UP ever made it's way to Canada (think way back to 1985 or so). So, you would think that I'd be LONG past rookie mistakes...but no.

Here's what happened:

This is the layer for the front of the card. It already has the DSP strip at the top and the Baker's Twine wrapped around it. And that was fine. Then I thought I'd get another step done and attach all the Stampin' Dimensionals to the back of the layer...and that's where I went wrong.

You see (and I teach this in ALL my classes), you should NEVER attach adhesive before you're sure you're done with the piece that is getting the sticky stuff. And I thought I was...but I had planned to put the sentiment directly on the FRONT of the card! Now with the adhesive there, that wasn't going to happen...which meant - PLAN B!!

Sentiment strips that got stamped instead:

Not exactly what I was going for, but it all worked out in the end.

Next up was the dragonflies!

And a little bit of a StazOn high from stamping so many (21, in fact, so I could make sure that I had enough *perfect* ones for the swap).

Then I set about colouring them...which I did by inking them up in Soft Sky, using a sponge dauber to ink around the edges in Mint Macaron and finally spritzing them with water that was added to our Stampin' Spritzers. Lots of steps, but TOTALLY worth it!

After all my dragonflies were done, I set about attaching the circles from last week to a layer of Mint Macaron which was cut using the Layering Circles Dies and the Big Shot.

That's it for today! I'm handing these in at the Canadian Business Conference next Friday, so come back next week to see the finished product!

Happy Stampin'!

Thank You!

You may remember this card that I sent to my dad for his birthday (he loved it by the way!). As usual, I had some of the pieces sitting around on my desk and decided to play with them a bit more. I came up with this:

The base of the card is Cajun Craze and then I added a strip of the "DSP" I created using the Paisleys and Posies Stamp Set.

I added a square of Delightful Dijon and then an addition layer of Cajun Craze before adding the sentiment which was stamped onto Very Vanilla using Cajun Craze Ink. The finishing touch was squiggle border created with my Cajun Craze Marker.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Paisleys and Posies, Happy Happenings
INK: Cajun Craze
PAPERS: Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze and Delightful Dijon Cardstock
ACCESSORIES: Marker, Stampin' Dimensional

Happy Stampin'!

Happy Birthday!

Is it YOUR birthday today? If it is, leave me a comment and I'll contact you for your snail mail addy and send you this card! I only have one...so be quick!

Over at the Paper Craft Crew, our assignment this week was to create a birthday card...so that's just what I did. :)

I received the Birthday Blast Set at our local On Stage event back in November. I hadn't really taken it out because I wasn't a huge fan of it, but I really like the large birthday sentiment!

I stamped it onto Whisper White Cardstock with Melon Mambo Ink and then layered it onto a piece of Pop of Pink Specialty Designer Series Paper. I liked the idea of putting the sentiment on an angle, so I went with that and I love the way it turned out!

A little strip of Pop of Pink Washi along with a few Basic Rhinestones and I was DONE! Birthday card in less that 10 minutes: check!

I even had a few minutes left to spare...so I finished the inside too:

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the crew have been up to HERE.


What do you think?

STAMPS: Birthday Blast
INK: Melon Mambo
PAPERS: Whisper White, Basic Black and Melon Mambo Cardstock; Pop of Pink Specialty DSP
ACCESSROES: Basic Rhinestones, Washi Tape

Happy Stampin'!

Contagious!

Below is my last page for 2016. If you can read the journaling, you'll notice that I started reading "A Complaint Free World". I highly recommend the book! I remember studying the concept about 8 or 9 years ago via Big Picture Scrapbooking (now Big Picture Classes) and it didn't quite "click" with me back then. This time around, it has. I've realized just how MUCH I complain. And it's not even the big things...it's little things. Like, why in the world did I complain that my husband left his teaspoon from stirring his tea on the lid to my David's tea mug? Sure, I don't drink dairy...but who cares? I could have just removed the spoon, rinsed off the lid and that would have been that. But I complained. *sigh*

So...that's what this is all about. I'm going to go out there and do my best to NOT complain and by NOT complaining, maybe the rest of the world will complain a little less.

And here's what it looks like after I got all the colouring done!

I used a Pitt Artist liner pen to outline to larger font and then I coloured the letters in using my Bermuda Bay marker. The smaller font was written with Tip Top Taupe and I used Rose Red to draw the little hearts.

Won't you join me in a little less complaining? Go out there and make someone LAUGH instead!

What do you think?

Anatomy of a Swap Card - Part One

This swap started out with the sketch from a previous Paper Craft Crew Challenge. It was pretty awesome and my BFF loved it...but if it was going to be a swap card at the Canadian Business Conference, it needed...MORE.

So I went to work making it...MORE.

My original card was created on a thick Whisper White base...but swap cards require at least one layer (no single layer cards), so I added MORE and created my layer from Whisper White and opted for a Mint Macaron Base. I kept the tiny layer of Blooms & Bliss Designer Series Paper (because come on! You all KNOW it's my favourite!)

After I'd decided on my base, it was time to get to work on creating the circles. Stampin' UP! makes AWESOME DSP, but sometimes...you just need MORE. So I created my own, using Soft Sky, Mint Macaron and Island Indigo. My favourite part of this part is that NONE of the circles are EXACTLY the same!

Don't you just love the way they turned out?

Next up was cutting the strips of Blooms & Bliss DSP. That was the easy part - LOL!

Then I sponged the edges of my Whisper White layer and adhered the strips:

Finally, I tied a triple length of Whisper White Baker's Twine around the whole layer:

...and now I need to order more, because I used it all up! It's a good thing I know a GREAT Stampin' UP! demonstrator who can help me out. :)

So far so good, right?? Come back next week for the next steps and check out my ROOKIE mistake!

What do you think?

STAMPS: None yet!
INK: Soft Sky, Mint Macaron, Island Indigo
PAPERS: Whisper White Cardstock; Blooms & Bliss DSP
ACCESSORIES: Sponges, Bakers Twine

Happy Stampin'!

It's a FRESH new year!

And that calls for Freshly Made Sketches!

Here's the sketch:

And here's what I did with it:

I had the dragonflies from a previous piece of Watercolour Paper on which I did a watercolour wash and the strip of sponged cardstock is from an upcoming blog post (you'll see that tomorrow).

I wrapped a triple length of Linen Thread around the Whisper White layer and stamped the sentiment from the BRAND NEW Dragonfly Dreams using Soft Sky Ink.

Then the whole layer was adhered to the Crumb Cake Base...and just like that, I had a card in less than FIVE MINUTES!!

Now, granted...I had a bit of a head start. But sometimes all you need is a few scraps and you're on your way! Had I needed to sponge the cardstock and create the watercolour wash from scratch, this card probably would have taken me about 20 minutes...which is still MUCH faster than having to drive to the mall, find a parking spot, navigate the crowds to the card store, pick out a card and drive back home. I'm exhausted just thinking about it!!

Why not just create at home? Especially right now during Sale-a-Bration! For every $60 you spend in my store (click the link), you'll get to choose one FREE item from the Sale-a-Bration catalogue!

What do you think?

STAMPS: Dragonfly Dreams
INK: Soft Sky, Mint Macaron, Island Indigo
PAPERS: Whisper White and Crumb Cake Cardstock; Watercolour Paper
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Dies, Linen Thread, Sponges, Fine Tip Glue Pen

Happy Stampin'!

MOJO Love

It's January 4th! Do you know what THAT means?? It means that the Occasions Catalogue and Sale-a-Bration brochure are LIVE!!!

While I was at On Stage in November, I (along with all my other fellow demonstrators) received some pretty awesome stamp sets! So in Love was one of them.

I used it to create this:

If you're coming to my Open House this coming Sunday, you'll get to see it and LOTS of other cards I've been creating!

What do you think?

STAMPS: So In Love
INK: Sweet Sugarplum, Rich Razzleberry
PAPERS: Whisper White, Sweet Sugarplum and Rich Razzleberry Cardstock; Blooms & Bliss DSP
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Watercolor Pencils by Stampin’ Up!

It starts TOMORROW!

Are you READY??

Happy Birthday!

Today is my daddy's birthday! I won't tell you how old he's turning...he'll tell you he's celebrating the (insert number here) anniversary of his 39th birthday - LOL!

I called him already, but I wanted to send him a card too, so I made this:

My daughter was watching me colour in the chicken and she was commenting that my chickens were "weird" and that she didn't think that I would be so enamoured with the chicken set...but I love it! And I love that I can colour them whatever I want! SO. MUCH. FUN!!

I made my own Designer Series Paper using the Paisleys and Posies Stamp Set and various inks (listed below). I love that I can do that! Then I always have exactly what I want. :)

What do you think?

STAMPS: Hey Chick
INK: Staz-On, Night of Navy, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso
PAPERS: Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze and Delightful Dijon Cardstock
ACCESSORIES: Watercolour Pencils, Blender Pens, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Happy New Year!

As you've seen from a few previous posts, I've discovered Bullet Journaling! If this is your first time visiting my blog and you have NO idea what I'm talking about, start HERE. Ryder Carroll does a much better job of explaining it than I do.

As I'm SURE you're aware (how could you NOT be - LOL!) today is New Years Day! While I'm out celebrating with my family (we go to brunch every year), I thought I'd share the opening pages in my Bullet Journal for 2017.

I've chosen "CHANGE" as my word for 2017. It may have chosen me...I'm never really sure how it all works, but the word just popped into my head a few weeks ago...and it KEPT popping in, so I figured that must be it. In 2016 it was PEACE and the same thing happened...the word just "appeared" and I went with it.

I'm not quite sure how "change" is going to manifest itself, but I'm excited to find out! Tomorrow I start my THIRD round of Whole30 (more on that in a future post) and this time, I've got a whole posse rounded up, so it's bound to be amazing! I know there will be change during the month and when I'm done too...so far I've lost about 20 inches and over 20 pounds during my previous rounds of Whole30.

On the right hand side of the page I had SO much fun with my watercolouring! People always say "what's the worst that could happen?" I think with "change" as my word for 2017, what's the BEST that could happen? I can't wait!

I used Blushing Bride, Rose Red and Wink of Stella to colour in my page and I just love, love, LOVE the way it turned out!

2017 is going to be my best year yet!

What do you think??