Super Cute....

My neighbour is due with her second child this week so we got together on Friday to put together a baby announcement card.  What we came up with is SUPER CUTE and I think I may just have to use the same design in March when my second arrives : )

Here's the outside of the card:

Super Cute Birth Announcement

Isn't it so sweet!  Her colour combination is Chocolate Chip, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo and Pool Party.  We used some stamps from the "Nursery Necessitities" set (which is now retired).  The empty green space will eventually be filled with a picture of the baby.


Could be a card on it's own

  I thought the sailboat would fit perfectly with the "Under the Sea" theme of the nursery and the sails allowed us to incorporate all the colours to tie the whole card together.

We were guessing a little bit here on a name and date, which are yet to be determined...but I would bet money that the 18th will in fact be the day : )  While not pictured here, the interior of the card will contain all the "nitty gritty" details.

Happy Stamping!

Dasher in a Dash

I don't know about where you are right now but the weather here has been GORGEOUS the last couple of days and it promises to get even better!  YAY!  Just in time for Thanksgiving!!!  I absolutely LOVE warm, sunny Thanksgiving weekends and I'm really looking forward to this one.  Mmmm, turkey....

I had some lovely ladies over last night for my monthly card class and I needed a quick Christmas card to whet their appetites.  Once again, the ladies over at Try Stampin' on Tuesday had just what I needed...a GREAT sketch!  Add to that "Dasher" and some sparkle paper and you have a recipe for success : )

Here's the sketch:

And here's my interpretation of it:

As you may have guessed, I REALLY like sparkles!  So this project has both sparkle paper and Dazzling Details!  Stampin' Up!, in their infinite marketing wisdom, is offering SILVER sparkle paper along with the red sparkle paper in this year's Holiday Mini catalogue.  They work really well together and alone.

My colour combination for this project is Lucky Limeade, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Early Espresso and Real Red....inspired by the "Christmas Lane" Simply Scrappin' kit out of the mini.  I embellished with Real Red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon and Dazzling Details on Dasher's antlers.  The sentiment is from the "Four the Holidays" set.  I would highly recommend a Stamp-a-ma-jig to do this : )  Finally, the Cherry Cobbler strip was embossed in the Big Shot using the "Snow Burst" embossing folder.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians celebrating this weekend and Happy Stamping!

Monkey Fun and an Amazing Deal

So, have you heard?  Stampin' Up! is offering a FREE (yes, FREE) Big Shot this month if you join the Stampin' Up! family!  WOW!!!!  If you are interested in receiving your very own Big Shot for FREE please contact me!

And now onto this week's A la Card Monkey Challenge!  Terry and Shirley were kind enough to allow me to be a guest designer in this week's challenge and I had a lot of fun creating a sparkly (and jingly) Christmas card.

Here is the sketch for this week:

I LOVED this sketch and quickly decided that "Dasher" and sparkles had to be a part of the card.  Here is my take on the sketch:

Lots of sparkles for this Dasher card

So my colour combination is Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Very Vanilla and Chocolate Chip.  It's taken a while to grow on me but I'm started to love the "Holly Berry Bouquet" Speciality DSP in the Holiday Mini.  The best part is that it has Sparkle Paper in it : )  I used some for the bottom of the "Top Note" background.  I also used Real Red sparkle paper for the "rosette" behind Dasher and some more Dazzling Details sparkle on Dasher himself.  I also HAD to use the new miniature Jingle Bells on this one.  Here's a close up:

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....

They actually jingle!  It's great!  A very simple way to add something special to your holiday cards this year.  I'm really looking forward to using them in upcoming workshops.

Happy Stamping!

PP64 CAS Challenge

This week's challenge at the Paper Players was Clean and Simple (CAS) flora or fauna.  YAY!!!!  I love CAS cards!  The brown-eyed susan's have been blooming here for a couple of weeks now and I really wanted to use this stamp for a card.  This challenge gave me a reason (and a deadline) to create one!  Here it is:



Inspired by Nature

 I was truly "Inspired by Nature" with this card.  I love brown-eyed susans and wish Stampin' Up! had the shade of purple that another similar flower are.  I went about this card a little bit backwards.  I cut out a Top Note in Soft Suede using my Big Shot and then used the "frame" around the image.  I think next time I would either "pop up" the frame using dimensionals or reverse it and cut the top note out of the Very Vanilla.  To create a little more texture I sponged the edges of the Soft Suede frame.   The bottom layers are done in More Mustard and Pear Pizazz.  The "thank you" sentiment comes from the "Day of Gratitude" set.

On the inside of the card I created a couple of silhouettes of the flowers using Pear Pizazz again.

Inside flowers

I'm pleased with how this card turned out.  Again, CAS is the way to go for me : )  Happy Stamping!

For a Friend Monkey Challenge

I have been mulling over the Monkey Challenge sketch all week and finally sat down tonight to make it come to fruition.  I really liked the sketch for this week, here it is:

Here's my version:


My Friend Monkey Challenge

  I had a lot of ideas for this challenge and this was one of them going into tonight.  I really liked how Shirley used the sparkle paper on her card and the clean lines of Terry's.  I thought I'd head in that direction.  However, my hands had different ideas and I started distressing the circles as soon as they were punched!  Not sure about the result....it looks a bit of a mess here.  I think it looks better in "real" life.

I used the "My Friend" stamp set for this card and although you can't really see it here I used the circle stamp from that set on the Baja Breeze circles.  I also sponged the base card stock to give it that "faux suede" look.

Here's a look at the interior of the card:

My Friend inside

I used the "Friendly Phrases" set here.  I like the versatility of this phrase because now the card could be a birthday card or simply a "you're a great friend and I'd like to tell you that" card.  You decide : )

Happy stamping!

SSC 221

Thanks to a rainy day and a son who decided to have a 2 hour nap I was able to put something together for this week's Saturday Sketch Challenge over at Stamping 411 .

Here is the sketch for the Saturday Sketch Challenge:



Saturday Sketch Challenge 221



And here's my version:



Day of Gratitude Embossing for SSC 221



 As you can see, I took a little creative license with the layout of the sketch but I think it adheres to the overall idea.  I have mentioned previously that I am really enjoying working with the colour scheme from the Spice Cake suite from the Holiday Mini.  This card is no exception; Pear Pizazz, Soft Suede, More Mustard, Pool Party and Very Vanilla.

This card is a case from a card I did with my upline about a year ago before I became I demonstrator.  It uses a really neat embossing technique that involves "inking" the stamp on the VersaMark and then inking it with Classic Ink before stamping the image on the page.  After the image is stamped then it is heat embossed using clear embossing powder.  This allows for a shiny embossed image but with your desired colour (since I learned this technique a year ago Stampin' Up has started producing coloured embossing powder but this technique allows you to use any colour).  Here is a close-up of the medallion:



Embossed Medallion

I inked the medallion from the "Day of Gratitude" set with VersaMark and the More Mustard classic ink.  Then I sponged Pear Pizazz and Pool Party around the medallion and added a little brad to the centre.  

Acorns and leaf close-up

To finish the card off I use Pool Party ruffled ribbon and embellished with a couple of acorns and a leaf.  First I threaded the images onto Linen Thread using a sewing needle and then tied them around the ribbon.

Happy Stamping!

Rainy Day

Hi All!  Well after a gorgeous day yesterday it's pouring again today.  Just as well I guess because I've actually been down to my stamping corner today!!  I was reminded last night at a workshop hosted by one of my friends that I've been neglecting my blog.  So fear not, AP, I resolve to do better : )

Here are some ideas I came up with last week.  Thanks to Stampin' Up! and LeAnne over at Wee Inklings (you must check out her blog!) for the inspiration.


Fun with Spice Cake fabric

  I am absolutely loving the Spice Cake series from the new Holiday Mini catalogue.  The colour combination is so fresh and the fact that the fabric matches the DSP is just fabulous!  I wanted a way to showcase the use of fabric on cards without sewing so I headed over to LeAnne's blog (Wee Inklings) for some inspiration and wasn't disappointed.  I loved the look that is created by taking a strip of fabric and "ruffling" it on the card.  Sticky strip is a girl's best friend here...put a strip on the DSP and adhere the fabric, "ruffling" it on the way.  I frayed the edges to give it a little more of worn look.



Ruffled fabric thank you

 I could have done more to distress this card but decided to stick just to the "Thanks" part of it.  This is a little 3 x 3 card by the way.  Perfect for quick thank yous or notes in gifts.

In last month's "Stampin' Success" magazine (our demonstrator mag.), Stampin' Up! gave instructions for how to make these cute little gift "boxes".  They are super simple but impressive looking for favours at birthday parties or at table settings.

Treat container

Treat container

Start with a 5 1/4" x 4 1/4" piece of card stock.  Decorate/emboss your card stock as desired.  Roll into a cylinder (I made mine 4 1/4" tall) and adhere with sticky strip (see, I told you, a girl's best friend).  Seal one end with sticky.  Fill with your favourite treats (about 2/3 full) and then fold the open end down to close, perpendicular to the bottom.  Embellish as desired.  So simple!

I used the fabric on mine to create a little "bow" but ribbon would be just as cute.  You could attach name cards or little thank yous....really whatever you want to fit with the occasion.   And simply change the dimensions of your card stock to create bigger treat containers.

Happy Stamping!