I just noticed that it's been awhile since I posted something! Just a quick post today.  I have stamp club tonight and I need to get ready for that!

This is a journal I made as a hostess gift.  It uses the Cottage Wall designer series paper with the Great Friend stamp set. 

I really hope to have some time over the Christmas holidays to do some stamping "just for fun" (not that it all isn't fun, but it seems I'm always stamping for workshops or clubs!), so I'll post those over the holidays.

If I'm not back before next week, have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Blessings to you,
Shannon

Keep Praying for Diane

Just found out that the liver Diane was supposed to get wasn't good.  Very disappointing for her and her family.  Please keep praying that they get the one she needs soon.

Prayers for Diane

My blog-friend, Diane (ddnjoys2stamp) has finally received word that she will be getting a liver transplant!  She has been waiting for a loooooong time for this, and I'm so thrilled for her that she will soon be in much better health.  Please pray for her as she is on her way to London, Ontario, to have the surgery.  From what I understand, her niece, Shannon, will be updating us on Diane's blog.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with Diane - she is an avid crafter, blogger and encourager.  She is just an amazing person, and I'm so happy for her!

Stamp-a-Stack Cards

I've been pretty busy this November with lots of different activities, including some stamp-a-stacks!  This is the time of year people want to book a party where they get to make a bunch of Christmas cards to send out.  Here are some of the cards I've done at my stamp-a-stacks so far.

This one uses the Petals-A-Plenty Impressions Folder and the Season of Joy stamp set.

For this one, I stamped the Patterned Pines stamp in Soft Suede and dabbed Champagne Shimmer Paint over the trees.  I also used the Christmas Cocoa designer series paper.

I totally CASEd this snowman card - I forget who from, so if it's you, please let me know and I'll give you credit!  Below, I adapted it to use the Cold & Cuddly stamp set (less colouring!).

For this one, I used the Delightful Decorations in Glorious Green, Real Red and Crushed Curry.  The red decoration is punched from the flocked paper in the Christmas Cocoa designer series pack.  I also used the Sparkle & Shine jumbo wheel.

November Scrapbook Club Layout

Look how on the ball I am this month: I actually have my Scrapbook Club layout planned and posted more than a week before our club meeting! 

We will be making this Christmas layout using the Christmas Cocoa flocked snowflake designer paper.  I added some Real Red as a complementary colour.  On the first page, I used the eyelet border punch to make fancy corners on the red mat piece.  The title piece is the "Join in the Cheer" decorative strip die.  On the second page, I used the Snowflake Stampin' Around wheel with Whisper White craft ink on the border piece at the bottom.  I stamped some snowflakes from Serene Snowflakes in the top right corner to balance out the flocked snowflakes on the first page.  I added some chunky glitter in the centers of the stamped snowflakes.  Then I used the Snowflake punch with Brushed Gold, Soft Suede and Vellum cardstock to make the other snowflakes on the page.

November Stamp Club Projects

This month's Stamp Club is all about Christmas!  I am so excited to be making Christmas cards again, and I have to share the excitement!

This first card uses some non-traditional colours (Bravo Burgundy, Pretty in Pink, Shimmery White).  I CASEd it from a card made by Lorna Raczynski.  I also used Frost White Shimmer Paint on the snowflakes (which are made with the Snowflakes Sizzlits 4-Pack and my Big Shot) and around the edge of the pink part.  The center part of the card has a snowflakes window sheet and some snowflakes from Christmas Punch stamped behind it in Bravo Burgundy.  I also wrapped some silver elastic cord around the card.

This second card is one I've already posted, but I wanted to make it at Stamp Club as well.  It uses polished stone technique with Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Pale Plum and silver reinkers.  I embossed the snowflakes from Serene Snowflakes on the polished stone background in silver.  To finish, I used the Snowflake punch to make a vellum and silver snowflake and attached those with a clear rhinestone brad.  There's also some Whisper White organdy ribbon wrapped around and the sentiment from Four the Holidays stamped in Night of Navy.

This final card is another CASE, this time of a card by Christy Harsch.  The photo is doesn't quite show it properly, but the poinsettia is made of two Ruby Red and one Garden Green 5-Petal Flower punches.  I didn't notice that the green one had turned before I took the photo, so you can't really see it!  It's supposed to be offsetting the flower so it looks like leaves in the background!

Anyway, I also used the Scallop Edge punch and the Heard from the Heart stamp set for this one.

I'm looking forward to getting together with all my Stamp Club ladies on Monday and Tuesday!

Thanks for reading!
Blessings to you,

November Big Shot Club Projects

The Big Shot Club is a new club for me this year.  Lots of ladies have the Big Shot and want to know what they can do with it or they want to buy the Big Shot on a payment plan so they don't need to spend a whole bunch of money at once.  So this year, I am offering the Big Shot club over five months.  The ladies get to choose whether they are buying the machine or not.  If they do, they get hostess benefits for one of the months.  If not, they pay a class fee to cover supplies.  This month, we will be making these two projects.

This leaf card uses the Leaves #2 die with our new Wood Sheets.  I love the earthy look of these sheets!  To finish the card, I used Autumn Meadows designer series paper with Chocolate Chip and Really Rust cardstock and ink.  The stamps are from Harvest Home and Thank You Kindly.

This second project is a Christmas tree made using the Pennant Bigz XL die.  I used Old Olive, Very Vanilla and Merry Moments designer series paper for this one.  The "ornaments" are 1" and 3/4" circles of Ruby Red, Old Olive and Very Vanilla.  I also added a few buttons here and there.

Can't wait for tonight!  It should be lots of fun!  Thanks for reading!

Blessings to you,

Deal of the Week #4

Plan the perfect children's party with Stampin' Up!'s party kits, now on sale!

• Princess Party Kit - $13.99 (regularly $21.95)
• Pirate Party Kit - $13.99 (regularly $21.95)

Check out my website for more details.  If you'd like to order any of these items (or others!), feel free to contact me or order from my website.

This is the last week of deals from Stampin' Up! for now - stay tuned for more specials coming up in November!

Blessings to you,

October Scrapbook Club Layout

 

This is the layout we will be doing at my Scrapbook Club on Monday.  I can never get a good photo of my layouts!  Oh well.

Those of you who are Stampin`Up! demonstrators may recognize this from the September 2009 issue of Stampin`Success magazine.  I CASEd the first page of the layout and added a second page.  I love all the cute punch creations on this page! 

The grass is made with the Scallop Edge punch; the ladybugs are made with the Large Oval, 3/4" Circle and 1 3/8" Circle punches; the mushrooms are made with the 1 3/8" Circle and 1" Circle punches and the daisy is made with the Scallop Circle and Large Oval punches.

Blessings to you,

Alex Has Blog Candy!

I've been following Alex's blog (California Stampin') almost since I started blogging.  She is a wonderfully creative Stampin' Up! demonstrator from California, and she is one of the most generous, kind people I have come across.  Well, she is being generous once again with some seriously amazing blog candy to celebrate 100 000 hits.  If you haven't visited her blog, make sure you do - not only for the chance to win, but to check out her gorgeous creations and congratulate her!  I get a lot of inspiration from her, both for my paper crafting and for being a good person.

Click here to check out her blog candy offerings!

Congratulations, Alex, on all your hits - very well -deserved!  Thank you for inspiring us all with your creative, generous spirit. 

Blessings,

Deal of the Week #3

Stampin' Up!'s Deal of the Week this week is all about embellishments!  Here are the sale items:

•  Jumbo Grommets - $6.49 (regularly $9.50)
• Mini Library Clips - $12.99 (regularly $18.95)
• Circle Designer Brads - $5.49 (regularly $8.50)
• 1/2" Library Clips - $5.49 (regularly $9.75)
  

Check out my website for more details.  If you'd like to order any of these items (or others!), feel free to contact me or order from my website.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I'll have some Christmas stamp-a-stack cards posted later this week...

Blessings to you,

October Stamp Club Cards

Here are the cards we will be making at this month`s Stamp Clubs.

Of course, we need to make something Halloween-y!  I made this spider card last year, but not with my clubs (I learned how to make the spider after my October clubs had met last year!)  So this year we get to make him!  I used the Cast-A-Spell designer series paper.  The spider is made using the Photo Corners, Scallop Circle, 1/2" Circle and 1/4" Circle punches.

I really wanted to showcase the Sweet Treats cups, so this second card is a CASE of this card on Splitcoast.  I adjusted it to make a pull-out tab so that you can get the candies out without ruining the card. The Yoyo  Yellow tab on the right that says "Sweet Treats" (from Teeny Tiny Wishes) pulls out to uncover the candies.  I also used the Heard From the Heart set with Real Red and Tempting Turquoise Stampin' Write markers (which I realize now I should have stamped in the other direction - I'll make sure I do that at Stamp Club!).  Some Real Red polka dot grosgrain ribbon finished off the card.

This final card uses the Spotlighting technique.  I really wanted to show a simple quick technique because the Sweet Treats card might take awhile!

For this card, I stamped the bird from Asian Artistry in Soft Suede, then stamped the bird portion again in Ruby Red and Garden Green (which didn't show up well in the photo!).  I punched the new section out with the 1 1/4" Circle punch, layered it on a 1 3/8" Ruby Red Circle and adhered it over the branches.  For the background white piece, I used the new Perfect Details Texturz Plate with my Big Shot.

Polished Stone Snowflakes

This is a card I made for a Christmas card swap that I'm participating in.  I can't wait to see all the cards the other ladies have made!

I've been wanting to do Polished Stone Technique with my stamp club, and I thought the Serene Snowflakes stamp set was perfect for this! 

I used Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Pale Plum and Silver re-inkers for the polished stone background on glossy white cardstock.  Then I embossed the snowflakes in silver over top.  I layered that piece on some Night of Navy cardstock and wrapped some Whisper White Organdy ribbon around it. 

To finish the card, I added some snowflakes that I punched with the Snowflake punch in Brushed Silver cardstock and Vellum paper.  I layered these and attached a clear rhinestone brad through them.  I put the whole snowflake piece on a Bashful Blue card base, stamped the sentiment from Four the Holidays in Night of Navy and voila!

Hopefully the other ladies in the swap like it!  My Stamp Club will be making this card either this month or next month (I haven't quite decided yet!).

Thanks for reading!

Blessings to you,

Christmas Advent Calendar

I was so thrilled to see the Christmas Cocoa designer series paper in the Holiday Mini catalogue this year! I've been wanting to make this advent calendar (Beate's tutorial is fantastic!) for a few years now, and the Christmas Cocoa goes so well with my house!

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. My boys are so excited and can't wait until December when they get to find out what goodies I will be hiding in the tins for them!

I will be offering this as a class in November, so stay tuned for more information about that. Until then, here's the recipe:

Stamps: Lovely Letters, Numbers (retired set - can't remember the name off-hand!)
Paper: Christmas Cocoa dsp, Real Red, Soft Suede, Whisper White
Ink: Soft Suede, VersaMark
Accessories: White embossing powder, Square Scallop punch, Scallop Circle punch, 1 1/4" Circle punch, Clear Rhinestone brads, Merry Details Sizzlits die, Sticky Strip (tons of this!)
Non Stampin' Up!: wedding favour tins, velcro dots

Thanks for reading!

Blessings to you,

Scrapbook Club Layout

Okay, this photo didn't quite work out as planned - the glare of the flash kept reflecting off the letters in the center, but not on the edge! And if I took the flash off, it was too dark. So please forgive the bad photo - the page looks a lot more impressive in real life!

Anyway, my new Scrapbook Club is having our first meeting tomorrow, and I thought we'd start with a Halloween layout. I used the Cast-A-Spell designer series paper and pulled the Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black from there. For the letters, I embossed the Jumble Alphabet letters with white embossing powder, then sponged some white shimmer paint over them for a spooky look (which, as I mentioned above, looks way better in real life!).

The pumpkins are cut with the pumpkin Sizzlitz die using the Big Shot. I sponged some Pumpkin Pie ink around the edges to give them some texture. For some added embellishments, I put some Basic Black gingham ribbon around the main photo matte and added a Pumpkin Pie corduroy button.

I'm looking forward to meeting everyone tomorrow night! I have quite a few new ladies coming, some of whom I haven't met yet, so it should be lots of fun!

Thanks for reading!

Blessings to you,

Shimmery Snowflake

This is a card i designed to use at workshops because it is simple and it showcases some items in the Holiday Mini catalogue. I bought the Platinum Shimmer Paint a few weeks ago, and I've finally discovered a few ways to use it. For this card, I painted the shimmer paint right onto the stamp from Serene Snowflakes with a paintbrush and stamped it onto some Whisper White cardstock. It`s hard to tell from the photo, but it`s really shimmery in real life! (I've ordered the White and Champagne Shimmer Paints, so I think that when they get here, I might brush some white over the whole image to make it shimmer more...)

Here's the complete recipe:
Stamps: Serene Snowflakes
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Brushed Silver, Whisper White
Accessories: Platinum Shimmer Paint, Whisper White Organdy ribbon

Just a quick post today! I haven`t had much stamping time since school started, but I`m hoping to get some in next week so I`ll have more to show you!

Blessings to you,

First Stamp Club Meeting!

I love September when new clubs and activities start up! It's like the first day of school for grown-ups! I am excited to be offering two clubs this year. For our first meeting, the ladies will be making card keeper boxes with the Stampin' Up! Forget-Me-Not Keeper. We will decorate the divider cards with different themes so the ladies will have a place to store the cards they make this year. The first night will be a busy one! With twelve stamping stations to make their dividers, I'm sure it will be a stamping frenzy! But lots of fun!

Here are the divider cards we'll be making, and which we'll attach with bits of sticky strip or mini glue dots:
Thanks for stopping by today!

Blessings to you,

Simple Masculine Birthday

Okay, this is probably one of the easiest cards ever! Again, I had to mass produce it for a friend who wanted a bunch of masculine birthday cards!

I just got the Pendant Park stamp set, and I thought it made a nice masculine image. It's stamped in Always Artichoke on Very Vanilla, layered on some Artichoke cardstock.

The card base is Naturals Ivory. I paper pierced some holes around the corners of the stamped image piece with the mat pack and paper piercer. At the bottom corner, I added some Sahara Sand eyelets (now retired) and stamped the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes in Always Artichoke.

Quick and easy!

Blessings to you,

Cottage Birthday

I have a friend who asked me to make a whole bunch of birthday cards for her, so I came up with this one. It's quite simple (I really like quick, simple cards!) because I had to make quite a few of them!

Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Asian Artistry, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Basic Black, Stampin' Write markers (Mellow Moss, Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum, Close to Cocoa)
Paper: Cottage Wall dsp, Pale Plum, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White
Accessories: Eyelet Border punch

Blessings to you,

Delightful Decorations

This is a card I made for a Holiday Mini swap that my friend, Donna, hosted on Splitcoast. I love this new Christmas Cocoa designer series paper, so I used that as the base and chose my colours from there (Soft Suede and Real Red). It's hard to tell from the photo, but the "joy" ornament is actually punched out with the Ornament punch and raised on dimensionals for a 3-d effect. When I get my other swap cards from this, I'll post them here. I'm excited to see what everyone makes!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Blessings to you,

Cheep Birthday Tri Shutter

I wanted to show the ladies in my downline how to make a Tri Shutter card, but I wanted to keep it fairly simply embellished to make sure I had enough supplies for everyone and to make sure we could finish it during our meeting!

I came up with this Happy Birthday card using the Cheep Talk stamp set and the Tall Tales designer series paper. It's pretty quick and simple, but I think it's still fun!

Just a quick post today! Thanks for reading!

Blessings to you,

Upsy Daisies Laptop

I was so excited to decorate my new laptop with the Upsy Daisies decor elements! I just got my laptop so that I can demonstrate the upcoming My Digital Studio digital scrapbooking program that Stampin' Up! is coming out with (available October 1).

I've been wanting to try digital scrapbooking for quite awhile, and when Stampin' Up! announced in January that they would have a program this year, I was beyond ecstatic! So I've been (im)patiently waiting until it's available, and I finally got to pre-order my demonstrator copy today!

Anyway, my husband thinks I'm crazy for decorating my laptop, but I think it's pretty!

Blessings to you,

Asian Spotlight

I'm very excited to be starting up new Stamp Clubs in September, and I've been trying to come up with some cards that will be easy enough for beginning stampers, but still hopefully interesting enough for my returning Stamp Club ladies.

This is a card we'll be doing that uses the Spotlighting technique. It's pretty simple, but I like it!

I stamped the bamboo from Asian Artistry (level 2 hostess set) in Soft Suede. Then I used my Ruby Red and Soft Suede Stampin' Write markers to ink the bird section of the stamp again. I stamped it on a scrap piece and punched it out with my 1 1/4" circle punch. I layered that on a 1 3/8" Ruby Red circle and adhered it to the bamboo piece. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes (what else!?), and the whole thing is layered on some Soft Suede cardstock.

For the card base, I used Ruby Red and layered some Whisper White that I textured with the new Big Shot Perfect Details Texturz plate.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Blessings to you,

Happy Daisy!

When I saw this card by Elizabeth Martinez in the Stampers' Showcase (on the SU! Demo website), I had to CASE it! I think it is such a fun card, and I think I'll have the ladies in my Big Shot Club make it as well!

I love the bright, happy colours!

Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Yoyo Yellow, Basic Black
Paper: Yoyo Yellow, Basic Black, Gable Green, Whisper White
Accessories: Whisper White Organdy Ribbon, Basic Black 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon, Daisies #2 die, Top Notes Bigz die, jumbo paper clip (from Wal-Mart), pop-up glue dots

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings to you,