Happy Valentine's Day

I have a quick little post for you today to show you what my son and I made as little Valentine's for his preschool class.  I had totally intended on making some lovely cards and 3D projects to give my family members today but I've been out with a nasty bug all week and this is all I've got.....sigh....maybe next year!

When I asked my son what colour he wanted to use for his Valentine's he said, with no hesitation, "Blue!".  Fine, the base of the card can be blue.  What colour would you like the hearts; pink or red?  "Blue".....hmmm, maybe not.  So we made a compromise and made the elephant blue and the hearts red! 

He helped put most of the parts through the Big Shot and punched all of the little sparkly hearts out himself. 

Patterned Occasions Elephant Valentine's



I absolutely LOVE the little elephant from the Sale-a-bration set "Patterned Occasions".  It is so versatile and I've now used it for "Thank you" cards, a baby card and these Valentine's.   I chose to little 3 1/2" x 2 3/4" one-sided cards.  With the heart (from the Hearts Framelits collection) and the elephant on the front and this on the back:



V is for Valentine

His preschool class is beginning "Jolly Phonics" so I thought that this "V is for Valentine" stamp would be really appropriate!

My son had a lot of fun punching out the little hearts....they are now all over the basement : )

Happy Stamping!

Mickey Mouse Birthday

One of our neighbour's turned 1 this week!  His birthday party is today and the theme is Mickey Mouse.  I couldn't resist pulling out my circles and creating a little Mickey silhouette for his card!

Isn't it cute?!  I love the "Mickey" colours too....Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White.   I really like the little party hat especially.  I used my Pennant punch and Red Glimmer paper to do it and topped it with the little "star" from the "Pennant Parade" stamp set.  Here's a look at the inside:

We're off to his party right now so I'll have to be quick with the details:

Ink: Real Red, Basic Black

Paper:  Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black, Red glimmer paper

Stamp Sets: Friendly Phrases, Pennant Parade, Occasions Alphabet

Other:  Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Circles Bigz Die, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, Perfect Polka Dots TIEF, Pennant Punch, Real Red 1/8" Grosgrain ribbon

Happy Stamping!

LOVE for Monkey Challenge 93

Well, I'm cutting it close again for this week's A la Card Monkey Challenge #93.  Honestly, this card has been in pieces on my desk all week but I just haven't had the energy to get it done in the evenings.  Yay for 3rd trimester insomnia!!!  I finally got a full night's sleep last night and was able to get this finished today : )

Here it is:

LOVE for Monkey 93

 It's no secret that I'm a big fan of sparkly paper and the Dazzling Details glitter that Stampin' Up puts out.  So I jump at any chance to use them and I pulled out all the stops here : )  I'm thrilled that the silver sparkle paper is carrying over from the Holiday Mini so I knew right away that I wanted to use a combination of the red and silver sparkle papers for the pennants (using the Pennants Punch).  Here is a closer look:

Sparkly Banner

I used Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon and glue dots for the bows in the corners.  The letters come from the "Occasions Alphabet" stamp set.  I coloured them selectively before punching them out with the 1/2" circle punch.   I also took this chance to lots of products from the new Occasions Mini catalogue.  I used my Hearts Framelits and the hearts from the Adorning Accents Textured Embossing Folder to highlight the cute image from "Take it to Heart".  I added "apples" on the trees using the Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details. 

Ain't they sweet?!

Finally, for the inside I went back to the Occasions Alphabet set and framed it with Basic Black (Curly Label Punch) and Silver Sparkle paper (Decorative Label Punch).

An inside look

I've also added this card to Shirley's, "Look at My Cute Stuff" blog hop....be sure to check out the other cool projects. 

Please contact me if you have any questions about any of the products I've used in this card.

Happy Stamping!

A Fresh Start

I love using new products!  I'm especially excited about all the new things that the 2012 Occasions Mini has to offer.  When I got the catalogue in December I couldn't put it down and every page held something else to love!  So now that Christmas cards are finally over I've delved into the new stuff to create a card for my cousin's baby shower on Friday evening (so E.M. if you're reading....stop now until after Friday night!).   My cousin and I are due ONE DAY apart in March....what are the chances?!!   I'm so excited for her, as this will be her first baby. 

I based her card on this week's A la Card Monkey's sketch...."A Fresh Start"....so fitting for this time of year and also for the card I needed : )  Thanks again ladies for the inspiration!

Monkey Challenge 89 Sketch

Here's my card:

Baby Prints Card

And here's a different angle of the same card:

Baby Prints...a second view

I wish I could say that I just "whipped" this card out, but in reality it went through a number of incarnations.  One of the choices I had to make was what colour to make the hand prints.  Neither of us know the gender of our baby so I decided to one of each colour.....as I finished I realised it could double as a wedding card : )  

So many fun new products....Twitterpated DSP, Blushing Bride Smooch Spritz, Blushing Bride Pleated Satin Ribbon, Hearts FRAMELITS  (I LOVE these!!!!!), new embossing folders.....so great!

Hearts close-up

The other stamp I've been wanting to use is "All Packed for Baby".   I selectively coloured just the onesie from it for this card....but stayed tuned for more using the whole stamp.

Inside view

I could go on and on about this new mini....but it's time for bed : )  Here are the details:

Stamp Sets:  Baby Prints, All Packed for Baby, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Four Frames, Occasions Alphabet

Papers:  Basic Grey CS, Blushing Bride CS, Pear Pizazz CS, Whisper White CS, Twitterpated DSP

Inks:  Riding Hood Red, Island Indigo, Blushing Bride, Basic Grey, Pear Pizazz

Accessories:  Hearts Framelits, Adorning Accents Embossing Folders, Blushing Bride Pleated Satin Ribbon, Baja Breeze Seam Binding Ribbon, Blushing Bride Smooch Spritz, various punches


Happy Stamping!!  More to come : )

I'm ba-ack...

...for a short time at least.  I've just enjoyed 10 days away with my family, camping in Quebec.  What a fabulous province!  This is the second summer that we've spent vacationing there and we've loved both experiences.  The province itself is absolutely GORGEOUS and there is so much diversity in the landscape.  The people are friendly and the food amazing!  It was so nice to get out canoeing again this year.  It was my son's first time in a canoe and I have to admit, he did pretty well.  Our first outing was only about 1/2 hour but the second was 3 hours!  Not bad for a 2 year old....the key is to bring lots of snacks and a bag of rocks : )

We ended our trip at my sister-in-law's place for my father-in-law's 60th birthday.  We spent a lovely day canoeing the Saugeen River near Walkerton and then had a nice family dinner at a local restaurant.  All-in-all a great day for a great dad!

We began our trip at my cousin's wedding and I'd like to share the card that I made for her and her new husband.  I had a lot of fun with my new "Occasions Alphabet" stamp set for this one!



Summer Wedding

 
I chose to stick with a relatively simple colour palette that was similar to the bride's colours for the day; Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Very Vanilla.  I wanted to incorporate butterflies somehow and I really like how they look against the flowers from the "Just Believe" set.  The largest butterfly has had it's wings brushed with Rich Razzleberry to give them a little more depth (thanks to S.M. from TheMuseum for the idea!).

Monogram using Occasions Alphabet

For the monogram I simply coloured just the letter from the "Occasions Alphabet" stamp and framed it using one of the frames from "Four Frames".  The "bling" on the monogram and butterfly are rhinestones.

For the Newlyweds

 Finally, for the inside of the card, I wanted to say something about being "Newlywed".  I framed the sentiment again with a frame from "Four Frames"...the one with the bird, but coloured to omit the bird.

Where has the time gone...

This summer is going by so quickly and I feel as though I've hardly had time to enjoy it yet!  It's been so busy....hence, my lack of posting...and it just keeps going!  I'm starting to understand that expression, "I need a vacation from my vacation" : )

I had a couple of events this week that went really well and thanks to the ladies over at Try Stamping on Tuesday I was able to pull out a project last minute for my Idea Book and Catalogue Launch Party on Tuesday.  Thank you!

Here's their sketch:

Try Stamping on Tuesday Challenge 23

Here's my version:

Occasions Alphabet card

Everthing about this card was last minute.  I had ordered the Occasions Alphabet stamp set as part of my Sale-a-bration reward and it didn't arrive until Tuesday, the same day as my party!  I absolutely LOVE that set wanted to use it right away.  I was also stuck for an idea for a layout....so again, thanks to CherylAnn and the other ladies for this template. 

The colour combination for this card is Baja Breeze, Rich Razzleberry, and Island Indigo.  So pretty!  I sponged Baja Breeze ink onto the card stock base to add a little texture to the background and then layered Pocketful of Posies DSP, Island Indigo (using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder) and Rich Razzleberry again. 

The sentiment is framed in Baja Breeze using one of the Four Frames stamps and punched using the Decorative Label punch.

I'm looking forward to some time off over the next couple of weeks but I'll be back in August.