You Kick BOOTY!!!

This month's My Paper Pumpkin offering is so much fun! For this card, I followed the directions in the flyer that comes in each package.

Those who know me will realize that "SERIOUSLY" is one of my favourite words - LOL! - so when I saw that it was one of the images in the card kit, I was THRILLED!!! I can definitely see me pairing it with other sentiments in the Stampin' UP! line.

I didn't get a chance to create any other cards with this kit, as I was busy prepping/planning for my Manly Man class on May 4th. The cards are all ready to go - I'm impressed with myself! :)

Here's just one of the SEVEN cards we'll be creating:

This card was inspired by a similar card I saw on Pinterest. It uses French Foliage and a sentiment from Bring on the Cake.

And once again, I have a step by step tutorial available for sale for just $2.95. Class participants will have the tutorial emailed to them following class.

What do you think?

STAMPS: French Foliage, Bring on the Cake
INK: Lucky Limeade (retiring), Always Artichoke, Island Indigo (being shuffled in to colour family)
PAPERS: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke and Lucky Limeade Cardstock
ACCESSORIES: Square Punches

Happy Stampin'!

It's a Friday - MY WAY Birthday!

Today's card is a special birthday card for my dear friend Lindsay! Her birthday was on October 1st, so I'm not ruining the surprise by showing it to you:

I started off with a base of Very Vanilla. Then I ran a piece of Crumb Cake through the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder and added that to a second piece of Very Vanilla before adhering it to the card front using Stampin' Dimensionals.

I stamped the sentiment in Soft Suede and added the bow (it's a faux bow) with a pretty pink button as the finishing touch?

What do you think? (Lindsay LOVED it!)

STAMPS: Bring on the Cake
INK: Soft Suede
PAPERS: Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake Cardstock
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Embossing Folder, Cotton Ribbon (in the Holiday Catalogue), Button, Linen Thread

Happy Stampin'!

MOJO Monday Cake

Yep! It's Friday. I know. I had a bunch of blog posts already to go for this week, so I'm fitting new posts in where I can.

The MOJO Monday sketch was very similar to our Paper Craft Crew sketch this week. What are the odds??

Today, is MIL's birthday! She's not getting the card below, she's getting this one. It's probably already there.

This one:

will be going to one of my downline when she celebrates her birthday in a little while! Just another perk of joining my Canadian Blossoms team! Two OTHER cards for my downline celebrating birthdays in the next week are already on their way to them!

Here's a close up of that awesome rosette:

I just love making those! Yes, they're a bit time consuming and little fiddly, but they're worth the effort!

Speaking of joining my downline, there's only a FEW more days left to take advantage of the FREE Halloween Tray Kit offer:

True, the offer was supposed to end on August 31st, but Stampin' UP! received such an AMAZING response to it, that they made the decision to extend it! You have until September 16th (just two more days!) to take advantage of the offer. Your Halloween Kit will ship WITH your Starter Kit.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Bring on the Cake, Carry On
INK: Staz-ON
PAPERS: Very Vanilla and Basic Black Cardstock; First Edition DSP
ACCESSORIES: Punches, Linen Thread, Lace Ribbon, Seam Binding, Large Pearls, Stampin' Dimensionals.

Bring on the Cake for Dynamic Duos

This week, over at Dynamic Duos, the challenge is a "Black Tie" colour challenge. This means, black with another colour. In this case, it's River Rock. And of course, what's a black tie event without dessert? Black Tie colour challenges feature a dessert option - this week, brads!

Here's my card:

Have you tried out the new Delicate Doilies Sizzlit Die yet? They're just adorable with SO much detail! They can be a bit troublesome, what with all those small pieces, but the end result is DEFINITELY worth it!

Here's a close up:

Isn't that GORGEOUS?? And don't you just love that little cupcake? It's from the exclusive hostess set "Carry On", which you can earn by hosting your own workshop. I stamped it in River Rock on Very Vanilla and cut it out before adhering it the card using a Stampin' Dimensional. I then adhered the sentiment/image panel to the card front using Stampin' Dimensionals as well.

Here's a close up of the two black brads I used:

This is just one of the cards we'll be making at my Birthday Card class on September 8th. And don't worry...I'll do ALL the fussy cutting for you!

What do you think?

STAMPS: Bring on the Cake, Carry On

INK: Staz-On, River Rock

PAPERS: Very Vanilla, River Rock and Basic Black Cardstock; River Rock DSP

ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Sizzlit, Brads, Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

Too late for Dynamic Duos, but too cute to not share!

OK, so I KNOW I said yesterday was my last Dynamic Duos card. And TECHNICALLY it was, since the Dynamic Duos challenge closed yesterday, but I created this one for a SUDSOL challenge using the Dynamic Duos challenge colours and I just HAD to share!

I started off with a Rich Razzleberry base and added a layer of Old Olive Designer Series Paper from the Brights Paper Stack. These stacks are SO much fun! You get four sheets of EACH colour in the Brights colour family. Forty 12 x 12 pages of DSP for $26.95. You can't beat that!

For my Whisper White layer, I took a large post-it note and laid it across the paper being sure to line it up with my grid paper to ensure the line would be straight. Then I stamped the top of the sheet. I removed the post-it, flipped it the other way and did the bottom.

Then, I lined up my Whisper White again and using a ruler and my SU! markers I drew the lines. Then...I crossed all my parts, took a deep breath and stamped the sentiment from Bring on the Cake WITHOUT my Stamp-a-majig. PHEW! It worked!  :)

I had a little smudge and a bit too much white space, so I added this cute flower punched using the Boho Blossoms Punch. Just as I always tell my class participants, "There are no mistakes, only opportunity for creativity!".

Then, I finished the inside:

It's a dear friend's birthday today, so this went into the mail to her earlier this week. I sure hope it gets to her on time!!!

What do you think?

STAMPS: Reason to Smile, Bring on the Cake
INK: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
PAPERS: Whisper White and Rich Razzleberry Cardstock; Old Olive DSP
ACCESSORIES: Punches, Basic Rhinestones, Markers

Happy Stampin'!

Bring on the Cake - CASE

Remember this post? I just love that Stampin' UP! provides us with so many wonderful ideas. Sometimes the MOJO just isn't flowin' and it's good to know that as demonstrators we have a place to turn!!

This is my version of the card:

It's pretty much the same...though I think one of the flower buttons might be different. We made this during my birthday card/calendar class on Saturday and everyone LOVED it!

What do you think?

STAMPS: Bring on the Cake
INK: Staz-On
PAPERS: Whisper White, Rose Red and Pool Party Cardstock; Wild Wasabi DSP
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot!!, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Scallop Punch, Baker's Twine, Stampin' Write Markers, Subtles Buttons

Happy Stampin'!

Flower Fancy for the Stampin' Queens

Happy Wednesday my friends and Happy Hump Day! If you work outside the home, you're on the downside of the week. Friday will be here before you know it!

As for me, I'm counting down the minutes till the kids are back in school! With Christmas falling as it did this year, the kids didn't have their last day of school before the break till December 23rd. That means they don't go back till January 9th!! I KNOW that it's still the standard two week break, but it just seems to be dragging on FOREVER! Thank goodness I have my stamps to keep me sane! :)

Today's card features Flower Fancy, one of my favourite two-step stamping sets:

I started off by using Melon Mambo and Garden Green markers and the direct to rubber technique to stamp the outline of the image. Then I reached for my Wild Wasabi and Pretty in Pink markers to stamp the "middles". I didn't use my Stamp-a-majig (though if you're coming to class on Saturday, I'll have it with me) and my stamping was a teeny bit off, but I'm OK with that. It's one of the things I LOVE about two-step stamping. It doesn't HAVE to be perfect.

I added some colour to the edges of the Whisper White panels to soften them and then added a sentiment along the bottom of the image panel using a stamp from Bring on the Cake.

What do you think?

STAMPS: Flower Fancy and Bring on the Cake
INK: Garden Green, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi
PAPERS: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink and Melon Mambo Cardstock
ACCESSORIES: Punch

Happy Stampin'!

Bring on the Cake from the Stampin' UP! website

I just LOVE that the many talented designers at Stampin' UP! have created such wonderful samples to showcase our products.

This card will be a gift in and of itself when it is handmade by you. When you combine Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, Designer Series Paper, and the Bring On the Cake Stamp Set, you have a happy birthday for anyone.

Isn't it GORGEOUS?

SUPPLIES:

• Big Shot Die-Cut Machine
• Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die 
• Bring On The Cake Stamp Set
• Jet Black Stazon Pad 
• 2011 In Color Stampin Write Markers 
• Certainly Celery Stampin' Write Marker 
• Pink Pirouette Stampin Write Marker 
• So Saffron Stampin' Write Marker
• Pool Party 8-1/2 X 11 Card Stock
• Soft Suede 8-1/2 X 11 Card Stock
• Whisper White 8-1/2 X 11 Smooth Card Stock
• Subtles Designer Series Paper
• Designer Buttons
• Scallop Edge Border Punch
• Stampin' Dimensionals
• White Bakers Twine

Here's an idea!!! I'm adding this card to a class! On January 7th, I'll be teaching a class during which we'll be decorating the Perpetual Birthday Calendar and creating FIVE Birthday cards to get you well on your way to sending out birthday cards in a timely manner during 2012. Since I like this card so much, I'll create it and YOU can create it too as part of the class. How does that sound?

I only have a few spots left in the class and the cost is only $20! You can't afford NOT to come!!

Happy Stampin'!

Garden Green for the Stampin' Queens!

So...you know that song, "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas"? Well, I don't want a hippopotamus, I want a new camera!!! I don't even care if it's new to me (in fact, if Santa brings me one, I hope it's NOT new) as I would REALLY like a Canon 30D. It's a discontinued model, but I had the 20D (it was stolen) and this one is a step up. You can get them used for a fairly reasonable price.

WHY do I want a new camera? *sigh*

THIS:

is why I want a new camera. While I LOVE my iPhone (in fact, I just figured out to BLOG from it, which should be a BLAST at Leadership next month!), it SUCKS at taking pictures of my work. *sigh* On this one, I ended up with glare from the Whisper White AND the Basic Rhinestones. I want the rhinestones to sparkle, but this is ridiculous!

Anyway...I started off with a base of Garden Green. I want to call it a scrapling, but I'm not sure if it qualifies as scrapling size. It's 2 1/2 x 5". I have a LOT of pieces that are 2 1/2 x 11" because this past summer I made some 3 x 3" golf cards for a charity event. It was kind of short notice, so I didn't have time to order 12 x 12" cardstock. I had to trim down my 8 1/2 x 11" and ended up with the 2 1/2 x 11" pieces.

When I started making the card, I didn't really like the 5 1/2" size, so I trimmed it down to 5" and that made me happier.

I added a couple of layers...some Whisper White and Wild Wasabi Designer Series Paper. The labels were made using the Matchbox Die and I stamped the sentiment from Bring on the Cake in Wild Wasabi.

The card was based (kind of loosely - LOL!) on this sketch:

What do you think?

STAMPS: Bring on the Cake
INK: Wild Wasabi
PAPERS: Whisper White and Garden Green Cardstock; Wild Wasabi DSP
ACCESSORIES: Sponges (for the edges), Big Shot + Die, Baker's Twine, Basic Rhinestones and Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!

It's Wednesday! That must mean STAMPIN' QUEENS!

Good morning friends! This week's card is SPECIAL because it's actually going in the mail - LOL! Cristena's (THE Stampin' Queen) birthday is this week and one of our designers asked if we could make our cards this week as birthday cards for Cristena. No easy task I tell you as I am in FULL ON Christmas mode with still FOUR more Christmas classes to teach and THREE craft fairs in which to participate in the next 9 weeks - YIKES!

But, for Cristena, I took a break from Christmas and created this:

On the left hand side, I was going for the faux vellum technique. I'm not quite sure I mastered it, but I like the look. You can't REALLY see the stamp on the right as I used Pool Party and stamped off before stamping on the card. I used the "En Français" stamp (one of my FAVOURITE background stamps!)

For the focal image, I used the large flower from Array of Sunshine and stamped it three times, cutting out each "layer" and adhering them with Stampin' Dimensionals.

I'm still LOVING the Spice Cake Designer Series Paper so I had to use it - LOL! Just a small piece though...it's only available till January 3rd, so I plan on ordering more and HOARDING IT!!!

The sentiment was stamped using Island Indigo.

I added a ribbon down the left hand side, like in the sketch:

What do you think?

STAMPS: Bring on the Cake, Array of Sunshine (Hostess Set), En Français
INK: Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Island Indigo
PAPERS: Very Vanilla Cardstock and Spice Cake DSP
ACCESSORIES: Sponges, Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

Happy Stampin'!