Pines & Poinsettias Sound Card

I've been having lots of fun playing with my new stuff out of the upcoming Holiday Mini Catalogue! 

This is a sound card that my Stamp Clubs will be making at our first meeting in September.  I know Christmas is a ways away, but I really wanted to try something fancy with the recordable sound cards, and I thought Christmas would be perfect so people can send their loved ones a holiday message!

I used the polished stone technique on glossy white cardstock using Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, So Saffron and Gold re-inkers.  I then used the Oval Scallop Frame with my Big Shot to punch out the oval pieces.  The stamped image is from the new Pines & Poinsettias stamp set, stamped in Black Staz-On.  I also added some new Dazzling Details glitter glue to bits & pieces of the stamped image.

For the background, I embossed some Brushed Gold cardstock with the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder and sponged Cherry Cobbler ink all over it.  After gluing the scalloped oval piece to this, I added some Cherry Cobbler Quilted Satin Ribbon across the bottom using sticky strip (how gorgeous is this ribbon!?).  I finished this off with an antique brad.

Finally I tied some crochet trim around the frame and attached a greeting with some 1/8 Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon.  The sentiment is punched with the Modern Label punched and sponged with Soft Suede ink.  Then I added the center oval piece with Stampin' Dimensionals.  The whole thing was then adhered to a layer of Cherry Cobbler cardstock.

I sponged the edges of the sound card with Cherry Cobbler ink before I glued the card front to it.  Here is the inside of the card (also stamped with Pines & Poinsettias in Cherry Cobbler and Soft Suede):

I hope everyone likes it!

Blessings to you,

April Stamp Club Cards

How on the ball am I?  I actually have my Stamp Club cards planned and posted more than a week ahead of time!

I've been wanting to try an easel card for quite some time, so I figured I'd better just do it!  I started with Bella Bleu designer series paper and went from there.  It turned into a soft, semi-masculine card since I used the paper with Close to Cocoa in it!  I stamped the tree from Pendant Park in Close to Cocoa ink on the Bella Bleu paper and layered it on some Very Vanilla.  Then I used my mat pack and paper piercer and Close to Cocoa Stampin' Write marker to add some faux stitching around that piece.  For the base piece, I added a strip of dsp to a Close to Cocoa piece that I had punched with the Scallop Trim Border punch.  A Very Vanilla taffeta bow completes that piece.

 

I've posted this card before, but I had some requests from my ladies to do this one when they saw it on my display board!  You can check out the details here.

I've seen a few cards with these tulips, so I thought I'd give it a try as well!  Since it's the last month of the Occasions Mini Catalogue, I figured I'd better use as much from there as I could this month!  I've got the Sending Love designer series paper, edged with some Lavender Lace (punched with the Scallop Edge punch).  I also added a Very Vanilla layer, embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder using the Big Shot. 

The tulips are made from the wing of the Extra Large Two-Step Bird punch.  I used Pretty in Pink, Lavender Lace and Barely Banana for the flowers and Certainly Celery for the stems.  The greeting is from Thank You Kindly, stamped in Lavender Lace.

Thanks for stopping in 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,

Butterfly Tri Shutter Card

I have seen tons of these Tri Shutter cards on blogs, and I wanted to try one myself. It was actually pretty easy to make - it just took a long time embellishing the card! Bonnie has a fantastic tutorial here.

I usually don't make cards this complicated or embellished (I prefer a simple, clean look), but there are so many surfaces to this card that I had to fill them up with stuff!

Here's the recipe of stuff I used, and hopefully it makes sense from the photo how I used them!

Stamps: Great Friend, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Flight of the Butterfly
Paper: Rich Razzleberry textured cardstock; Cottage Wall designer series paper; Old Olive, Whisper White, Orchid Opulence, Rich Razzleberry cardstock
Ink: Orchid Opulence, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive
Embellishments: Little Leaves Sizzlets, Lots of Tags Sizzlets 4-Pack, Rich Razzleberry polka dot ribbon, Clips assortment, Designer Buttons (Playground, Sherbet), Dazzling Diamonds glitter, two-way glue pen, stampin' dimensionals, mini glue dots

I think that's everything! Thanks for stopping by today!

Blessings to you,

May Stamp Club Cards

I am very excited about Stamp Club this month and the promotions that Stampin' Up! has for National Scrapbooking Month! I wanted to incorporate the specials into the projects, so here's what we're doing. Since designer paper and textured cardstock are on sale (buy 3, get one free!), I wanted to make sure I used lots of them in our cards.
The first card is a Triangle Trifold card (an oldie but goodie!). I used the Walk in the Park designer series paper from the Occasions mini catalogue, and pulled the Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze and Regal Rose from there as my colour scheme. I used the Great Friend stamp set (also from the Occasions Mini) because it goes so well with the paper! To finish off, I added some Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon.
This birthday card uses designer series paper and textured card stock, plus features the Jumble Alphabet that will be in the new catalogue in July (and is on sale this month as a Sneak Peek promotion!). I used the Good Morning Sunshine paper with Tangerine Tango textured cardstock. I haven't used Tangerine Tango very much, so I thought it was time to pull some out! I also used Certainly Celery, Pacific Point and Old Olive, along with some Celery twill ribbon. The tag has stamps from Party Hearty and On Your Birthday.
The final card is one I received in a swap. It was designed by Donna Wizniuk, a very talented stamper! I had it up on my display board and everyone kept asking to make it, so I thought it was time! I used the sticky pages with the Beautiful Butterflies die to cut out the butterfly. Then it's covered with silver microbeads and Dazzling Diamonds glitter. There is a layer of vellum underneath dry embossed with the Big Shot swirly texturz plate. It also features one of my new favourite ribbons - Organza ribbon! The antennae are stems from the flowers in the Pretties kit. I love this combination of Very Vanilla and Whisper White. I never would have thought of putting those two together, but it's such a beautiful, soft look.

I hope the ladies enjoy these cards! Thanks for reading!

Blessings to you,

Pop-Up Bird

So much for posting every week! I'm trying, but there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day for all I want to get done! So here's a quick entry so I can say I've posted at least a few times in April!

This is a pop-up card my Stamp Club made this month using the Birds & Branches decorative strip die with the Word Window punch. It was really quick to make since there wasn't much stamping, and lots of Big Shot use! We used the Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red In Colors (love this colour combo!).
Thanks so much for reading! I appreciate you coming back even though I'm not very consistent.

Blessings to you,

Love You Much Confetti Flinger

This is a card I CASEd from my former upline, Sarah Hunter (a very talented stamper!). She got the instructions for the confetti flinger card from Rachel Korpi. I have included them after my card recipe.

I used the Love You Much bundle to make this card. I love the new Candy Lane designer series paper! The stamp set is, of course, Love You Much, stamped in Basic Brown and coloured in with blender pens in Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss ink. I matted the "Love You Much" image on Close to Cocoa". Then I stamped the triple hearts in Riding Hood Red on Pink Pirouette and punched them out with the Three Heart Punch. The Candy Lane paper is matted on Pink Pirouette as well.

You can see on the inside of the card that there is a "flinger" for confetti. It actually springs out when you open the card and throws confetti! Here are the instructions for that (if you would like a printable copy, just email me and I'll send it to you):

1. Create a standard-sized card.
2. Cut coloured cardstock to 6 1/2 x 2" for the flinger.
3. Score 1/4" in from the edge of each long side.
4. Score at every 1 1/2" from the short side. This will leave a 1/2" tab on the end (your score marks will be at 1 1/2, 3, 4 1/2 and 6").
5. Cut notches at all intersections of teh scored lines.
6. Punch a 1/8" hole at the first and third intersections of the scored lines (the tab section being the bottom, and therefore the fourth intersection).
7. Fold in the 1/4" scores and adhere.
8. Fold in to create a box. Use the 1/2" tab to adhere it closed (you will have a box with no sides).
9. Press the box flat and attach a #2 rubber band through the punched notches.
10. Create a pocket using a 2 3/4" square of designer paper. Fold in the corners to create a 2" square. (This will hold your confetti.)
11. Adhere the bottom of the box, using sticky strip, to the inside of the card (towards the bottom right). The highest point of the rubber band should be toward the fold in the card, and the bottom of the rubber band should be toward the opening. This allows the flinger to fire in the right direction.
12. Adhere the pocket to the top of your box.
13. Fill with confetti and close the card.

I hope this makes sense! Thank you to Rachel Korpi for these instructions!

Blessings to you,

Designer Flowers

When I saw these tag punch flowers in this month's Stampin' Success magazine, I knew I had to make them. Yes, I'm a chronic CASEr. I even copied the cards from the magazine (I did change the colours, though!)

To make the flowers, use the small tag punch to punch eight tags out of designer series paper (Bella Rose and Summer Picnic here). Fold them in half vertically, then fold the top half back from the bottom-left corner to the top of the vertical fold on a diagonal. There is a 1 3/8" circle as the base, to which I adhered the "petals". Then punch a 1 3/8" circle out of textured cardstock (Riding Hood Red and Bashful Blue) to cover the center of the flower.

The flower image in the center circle is from Simply Said, covered with a button tied with linen thread (Button Bouquet and Soft Subtles, respectively).

I think I'll be making a lot of these

Blessings to you,

More Circle Cards (Using Up My In Colors!)

I had so much fun making circle cards for Tamara's Sketch #54 that I had to make more! Plus, I have tons of In Color paper left that I need to use up before it's retired.

I made these cards for the people in my Birthday Club for August (my customers sign up for the Birthday Club, and when it's their birthday month, I send them a card that I don't write in so they can reuse it, plus they get some special birthday coupons).

I used the Scallop Circle Cards that I have left from the Mini Catalogue, along with some Afternoon Tea designer series paper, layered with Wild Wasabi or Chocolate Chip. For the image, I stamped the butterfly from Priceless on a rectangle of Whisper White, then stamped it again on some scrap paper, cut it out and adhered it with a dimensional for a 3-D look. I used my paper piercer to make some crazy lines and faux-stitched with my Chocolate Chip and Bashful Blue Stampin' Write Markers. Then I tied some linen thread around it, tied a Soft Subtles button through, and adhered it with a mini glue dot.

These were quick and easy to make a whole bunch of! I hope there are some more Scallop Circle cards in the new catalogue!

Thanks for reading!

Blessings to you,

More Hostess Appreciation Stuff!

I had a lot of fun at my Hostess Appreciation Open House. Thank you all for your encouraging comments. The weather was absolutely gorgeous here, so not as many ladies turned up as I had expected. I think they wanted to play outside instead! But for those who did stop in, we had a lot of fun! There was tons of food and make & takes. My SIL, Wendy, won the door prize draw (no, it wasn't fixed!).

This is the final make & take. I found this card in the new Company's Coming Card Making book (Yes! Company's Coming has a crafting book!) I modified it a bit to make it standard size. This is a great card for using your scrap designer paper! We just punched 14 circles with the 1 inch circle punch and adhered them in rows on the Kraft cardstock card. They stamped their choice of sentiment from the For a Friend hostess set in Close to Cocoa ink and edged it with ink as well. Then just add a few random buttons using mini glue dots.

As well, I promised to show the hostess gifts I made. I made Patty's Two-Pocket Card for them (CASEing Diane's) with a coupon book inside, some seeds and a little chocolate bar, all stamped of course! I used the Le Jardin designer paper and matched the cardstock accordingly (I had So Saffron, Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue and Always Artichoke cards for them to choose from). I used the French Flair and Carte Postale stamp sets to decorate (can you believe these are retiring?!)
I also thought I'd include some photos of what my boys were doing while we were all inside making cards (forgive my parental indulgence! I think they look really cute - I know I'm biased though!). It was the first time this year we were able to pull out the little pool and the sprinklers, so they had a blast! Thanks for reading!

Hostess Appreciation!

I'm really excited to be hosting my Hostess Appreciation Open House tomorrow! I really appreciate the ladies who have hosted workshops and stamp-a-stacks for me and who have been in stamp and scrapbooking clubs. It's so wonderful getting to know all these ladies that I probably wouldn't have met had I not become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I have made so many wonderful friends through this amazingly fun obsession I have!

I've been working all week getting things ready - planning make & takes, making gifts, preparing a menu, etc. I'll show the gifts after the open house because I want to surprise my hostesses. But here's a sneak peek at a few other things:

I'll be having a door prize draw, of course, with many chances to enter. Each lady will receive an entry form for each of the following:

• coming to the open house
• doing the make & takes
• signing up for a club in the fall
• placing an order
• booking a workshop or stamp-a-stack
• signing up as a demonstrator with me

And what can they win? A gift basket that includes a Simply Scrappin' Kit (Creative License), a package of Love & Happiness Rub-Ons, the Friendship Blooms stamp set and a package of assorted 8 1/2 x 11" cardstock (one of each colour).For the make & takes, the ladies will make this "Cami's Trifold Card" that I made using Porcelain Prints (with Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi and River Rock to coordinate) and my Wild Rose stamp set.They will also make this brag book page (that I CASEd from the Stampers' Showcase on the Stampin' Up! demonstrator site - it was created by Debra Gray).
There will also be a surprise card that they will get to create using some punches and designer paper (I'll post that one later!).

Thanks for sticking with me through this really long entry! I hope my hostesses will enjoy their day tomorrow!

Blessings to you,

Farewell Wild Rose!

I first saw this two-pocket card on Diane's blog, and she found it on Patty's blog (there's a great tutorial here). I've been making tons and tons of these! This is one I made with my downline at our meeting last night. I've also made thirty of them for my Hostess Appreciation Open House that's this Saturday (but I won't show them until after the open house so it's a surprise for my guests!).

These cards couldn't be easier! I kept this one pretty simple since I didn't have a lot of time! For this one, I used Blue Bayou and Wild Wasabi with my Porcelain Prints designer paper. It's stamped with Wild Rose (I can't believe this one is retiring!). All of the materials for this card will be retiring, as there will be new In Colors as well. I will miss this stamp set, though!

Displaying Watercolour Paintings

Wow! I haven't posted in a long time. I've been really busy this week - good busy! I had Stamp Club on Monday, Shopping Club on Tuesday (this is a fun one!), my presentation to the Allied Arts Council on Wednesday, a workshop on Saturday (which was lots of fun), and now I can breathe for a bit!

Thank you to those who have been asking about my Art Council presentation. I was so nervous! I think I was shaking for the first half of the presentation! I actually started out talking about watercolouring, and once I showed them the Aquapainters, they were hooked! They were so impressed that they could paint without having to have a cup of water for their paint (lots of them said they are always spilling their water all over the place!), so that was exciting. After that, I relaxed a bit. They really liked that they could display their art in a "fancier" setting than just a plain card. They actually want me to come back and help them make cards for their Christmas Gallery (where they sell cards in the fall), so that's exciting.

I also showed emboss resist, Stampin' Pastels (a few things you can do with them), VersaMark resist, and using blender pens.

Here are some of the cards I showed them (including the one at the top of the post). My super-talented SIL, Twyla, painted the watercolour paintings for me, then I chose some colours that complemented the paintings and showed some different ways they could display the paintings in a card. I didn't want to make them too complicated because I didn't want to detract from the paintings - just to highlight them.

Comfort Card for Church

This is the final card I made for the Women's Ministry at church. It is meant as a comfort card.

I CASEd this card from Summerthyme64 on Splitcoast Stampers, modifying it a bit to make it easier to mass-produce!

I used Kraft as the card base, then layered on some Bravo Burgundy that I had stamped with the French Flair background stamp in the same colour of ink. I put a little Word Window tab around the bottom right corner with a gold brad before adhering it to the card base. I then stamped the poppies from Oh So Lovely in Bravo Burgundy and shaded them in with a blender pen. The background stamp is in Mellow Moss. I matted this onto Moss and tied a burgundy ribbon around it before adhering it to the card.

One More Princess Card

If you've visited my blog before, you probably know that I'm not really into mixing lots of colours and patterns - I'm more of a monochromatic girl! So I'm not sure about this card. I was asked to make Princess cards for the Women's Ministry at our church, and they wanted girly, pink Princess cards! So I hope they like this one. I found the sketch on Card Positioning Systems, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I chose the Petals & Paisleys designer paper because it has lots of flowers in it. I matched it with Pretty in Pink as the card base, on which I rolled the Petals jumbo wheel across the top in Pretty in Pink ink. I wanted the crown to be gold and shiny, so I stamped it on Brushed Gold cardstock and embossed it in gold. I put a strip of gold across the card front, then added the rectangle out of Petals & Paisleys and Pretty in Pink. I cut out the crown and adhered it to the rectangle with dimensionals. I wanted the word "Princess" on the card as well, but it had to be shiny too, so I embossed it in gold on the bottom left side of the card.

I hope it's girly and princess-y enough!

Princess Cards

The Women's Ministry Group came up with a theme for this year that I think is really cute. Since we're Daughters of the King, we are technically Princesses! So they asked me to make some princess cards for the group to give out. This was lots of fun since I have two boys and I don't often make very girly cards! I used the Perfect Princess stamp set for these.

This first card is CASEd from Nancy (iSTAMP). I found it on Splitcoast Stampers, and I absolutely loved it! You can see her card here. Nancy has beautiful work on her blog, so make sure you check it out!

This card has Pretty in Pink as the base with Lovely Lilac, Tempting Turquoise and Pixie Pink as accent colours. Most of the designer paper is Flowers for You, except the purple (I can't remember what kind it is - I won it playing Barb's Bingo!). The crown is stamped in Basic Black and cut out. I put a big rhinestone from my Pretties kit on the diamond (I would have used a square rhinestone, but I don't have any), I stuck it on the card with a dimensional. After it was attached, I put some Crystal Effects on the points of the crown and added some glitter (from the dollar store!). The pink background page is just stamped with the flourish in Perfect Princess with Whisper White craft ink.


This second card I actually came up with myself. I started by making some polished stone paper using silver, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum and Bashful Blue ink refills. I sprayed it with a bit of acrylic sealer once it dried because the silver tends to rub off on everything!

I then decided on Perfect Plum as my card base, so I stamped the flourish all over it in Elegant Eggplant as a background. I cut the polished stone paper to fit in the middle and used my ticket corner punch on the corners. I wrapped some Eggplant ribbon around it and punched out some Brushed Silver cardstock with my scallop circle punch. I adhered this to the card before stamping the butterfly in Elegant Eggplant. Then I stamped Princess in VersaMark and embossed it in silver. I added a small purple rhinestone brad to dot the "i", then adhered the whole thing to the card with dimensionals. (Since the brads are really big in the back, it would have left a funny lump if I'd adhered it flat.)

Hope you like them! Thanks for reading.

November Stamp Club Cards

Here are the cards we will be making at November's Stamp Clubs. I wanted to stick with a Christmas theme, but still teach some new techniques and cards and use the designer paper as much as possible (since it's on special in November!), so here's what I came up with.



















The first card has been on my blog before. I just love the effect of the puffy paint to look like snow! It's Tulip puffy paint, which I heat set with my heat tool until it puffed up like popcorn! This card also uses the Wintergreen designer paper with Soft Sky and Mellow Moss cardstock. The tree is from Lovely as a Tree (stamped in Always Artichoke), and the sentiment is from Greetings Galore.

The second card uses Poppin' Pastels technique with the Wondrous Gift set. For my colours, I used Bravo Burgundy, Handsome Hunter, Close to Cocoa and Very Vanilla. I used some gold elastic cord as an embellishment.

The final card is a pocket card that's open on the sides (it's held together with the wide burgundy grosgrain ribbon across the flap, which is tied with some gold elastic cord). I used Wintergreen designer paper with Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Bravo Burgundy and Soft Sky cardstock. The stamp set is Season of Joy. I turned the insert into a gift card holder by adhering a strip of cardstock across it with sticky strip. I just marked off where the gift card would fit and put sticky strip from those points to the edges of the insert.

I hope my stamp clubs enjoy these cards! I always agonize so much when I'm planning for clubs! I want them to like the cards they're making, obviously, but I also want to be able to show different techniques and showcase different products and projects. I probably put way too much pressure on myself!

Thanks for reading!

Christmas Pocket Card

This is a pocket card that I made for a class I did on the weekend for the Dutch Canadian Association. (By the way, what a fun group of ladies they were! There are several ladies who meet each Saturday to make cards and crafts, and I was honoured that they invited me to show them some stamping crafts. They were so nice, and definitely didn't need my help with crafting!)

Anyway, I will likely do this project with my stamp clubs this month as well. I love pocket cards! I'm going to add a variation to the insert so that a gift card can be attached to it (I'll show that when I figure it out!). Perfect for Christmas!

For this one, I used Always Artichoke as the base and decorated the front with Wintergreen designer paper. On the flap, I first stamped "Merry Christmas" from Holidays and Wishes in Bravo Burgundy, then adhered some burgundy grosgrain ribbon over top. I used the poinsettia from the Season of Joy set with Bravo Burgundy ink on Soft Sky and punched it out with the Scallop Circle punch. I also punched a second scallop circle in burgundy to layer underneath. The whole thing is held together and attached to the flap with a gold brad. I glued the flap down after I had decorated it.

The insert is a piece of Certainly Celery, stamped with the flourish from Season of Joy in the same colour of ink. The tab is made using the Round Tab punch with Bravo Burgundy. I stamped the tiny poinsettia from the stamp set in the same colour ink to decorate it. I think for the gift card "holder", I will adhere a band across the front of the insert using sticky strip (leaving an opening wide enough for a gift card through the center).

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy this!

Don't forget to enter my blog candy draw for a Stampin' Up! stamp set here!