Easter Blossoms

This is a card I featured at a recent Chicks-n-Chocolate Sale-a-bration Workshop for my friend Kelly ... a nice simple card with some nice bling factor which the camera of course did not pick up!

Easter Blossom branch was stamped on Whisper White with staz on ink and than sponged with So Saffron and Marina Mist ... once sponged the leaves on the branch were colored with Versamarker and embossed with Iridescent Ice.

The Sending Springtime Smiles sentiment was stamped in Marina Mist.

The stamped image than mounted on Marina Mist cardstock on a Certainly Celery which was run through the Framed Tulip emboss folder and tied with a Marina Mist taffeta ribbon!

The coordinating envelope was stamped with the Easter Eggs in Marina Mist and Certainly Celery!

Signs of Spring

I volunteered to make 'centre pieces' for an upcoming Association of Early Childhood Educators of Ontario conference ... 2 down and 40 odd more to go ... at least they are lots of fun to make!

The Petal Cone Bigz Die makes an awesome 'vase' and the Fun Flowers from the current Occasions Mini and the Daisy 2 Bigz Dies work great together for paper flowers! Combined with the Sending Springtime Smiles from the Easter Blooms set.

Fabulous Sneak Peeks

One of the things I LOVE about being a Stampin' Up Demo is the sneak peek perks ... among numerous others ;) This month were were able to order a sneak peek of a few of the stamp set that will be in the Summer mini come May 1st!

Here is a card sample I made combining the Easter Blooms from the current mini with the sneak peek MDS Strength and Hope digital download Designer Series Papers and the Four Frames stamp set which coordinates perfectly with our Decorative Label punch to make some truly gorgeous sentiments!

Here is a close up of one of the four stamp images in the set ... which I have paired with the Fabulous Phrases stamp to create a Best wishes sentiment and added some 3D Rosettes for more pop factor!

Hybrid Motorcycle

I missed out on getting this stamp in the Summer mini last year but was ecstatic to see it come out on MDS cause that gave me a second chance - with the added benefits of no need for storage plus 'resizing' options.

Again - I printed this at home directly to Watercolour paper and than colored it with my Stamp Write Markers and Aquapainter and added a little bling with gold glitter and the two way glue pen! Also brought out my Colour Spritz to spray some 'crumb cake dirt' onto the cardstock back layer - love this tool!

And for the sentiment I paired together the enjoy and life words from the fabulous phrases stamp set and stamped it along the envelope as well - which will leave a nice 'generic card' for when an occasion arises to send this babe out to a loved one!

First Day of Spring

In honour of the First Day of Spring and a glorious day it has been out there today .... thought I would share a 'Blue Jay'!

I made this adorable little fellow using the My Digital Studio version of the Christmas Cardinal which I printed out at home onto Watercolour paper ... I than used my Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point on the bird and the Wild Wasabi Stamp Write Markers on the leaves and blended with the Aqua Painter to colour the image in...and instead of red Christmas berries I opted for some white spring flower buds using the half back pearls. I also used the En Francis background stamp tone on tone on the Pacific Point for some texture on the back layer and than roughed the edges up using the Cutting tool.

I also got a chance to finally use the Beveled Window panes from the Occasions Mini as well as my Cute by the Inch hostess set for the sentiment ... sorry about the reflection of the beveled pane 0 it makes it look like the sentiment is blurred but it is just an illusion!

Hope everyone is enjoying the signs of spring finally coming our way ... I have tulips poking out of my garden and we saw a Robin in our backyard today!

Playing with the Brayer

I have been challenged to get reacquainted with my brayer from a friend who just bought a brayer and is looking for tips in an upcoming technique class ... so this is a card that I made which used the brayer with the Texturz Plates through the Big Shot to create the pretty Plum paper in the back layer here.

Effect is created using Very Vanilla cardstock and the texturz plate inked up with the brayer filled with Perfect Plum -helps togives a nice 'vintage feel' to this card seeing it peek out from back there.

Also wanted to showcase the upcoming Strength and Hope set from the Summer mini which will be available as of May 1st cause it is just my FAVORITE out of the mini ... although there are a few others in there that customers are going to be loving I am sure!

I used all 4 of the stamp sets in this layout as inspired by a card I saw over on Splitcoast Stampers here ... love the 'word stamp' repeatedly stamped to make the background paper and well the H Hope stamp fits perfectly in the 1 1/4 square punch layered with the 1 3/8 punch over top of the 'swirl' stamp and well this little butterfly is just gorgeous - it almost looks like it is jumping off the card.

Also got a chance to incorporate some of the Chantilly Lace which paired well here I think - over all just LOVED all the elements in this card!

Black Magic Easter Blooms

Playing with the Easter Blooms and Black Magic technique while using up some leftover card scraps from events gone past!

Downline Team Challenge

This month's team challenge for the Gold Stars Ink is to create something 'floral themed' so this is going to be my offering! I just love the Springtime Vintage DSP and think that it matches perfectly with the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set!

Embossed the flowers with gold embossing powder and than sponged the inside of the flowers with So Saffron and Baja Breeze and than some Dazzling Diamond and Baja Breeze Seam binding finish it off nicely!

Stength & Hope Hybrid Mash Up

Playing along to the Friday Mashup Challenge again this week! Which is awesome cause I was looking for a nice clean and simple card for an upcoming Stamp a Stack and this layout was perfect!

I am so loving the upcoming new set Strength and Hope that will be in the new Summer Mini catalog ... both the traditional and the My Digital Studio download - which has many awesome patterns of DSP to coordinate with the set - which is what I have used here in this card to create my 'strip'.

Turns out that the mind is an amazing thing! Creating this card over the weekend with the layout above I must have subconsciously CASED it from over on Splitcoaststampers ... such a pretty card it must have been in the back of my mind from having been over there looking for inspiration from for something else - so thank you to the original inspirer!

I added a different sentiment, changed the placement of the butterfly and of course added some 'bling' to mine with some half back pearls - such a simple card but so elegant at the same time!

Hope the ladies at Saturdays Stamp a Stack enjoy this one as much as I do - and if you are looking for something fun to do this weekend I still have a couple of spots left for the Stamp a Stack so come on out and enjoy some great company, hilarious conversation and some awesome cards for your collection!

Mojo Monday Challenge 181

Here is last weeks Mojo Monday Challenge just squeezing it in before tomorrows new challenge comes out!

And here is my inspiration from the sketch! Featuring the Springtime vintage DSP combined with the Easter Blossoms stamp set and the Vintage flower Adornments!

Other products used were the Pinking Hearts border, 3 inch circle Bigz Die, Large Scallop Circle Bigz Die, Medium Oval and Scallop Oval punches and of course no card would be complete without some wonderful bling with the Dazzling Diamonds and Half Back pearls!.

Cultivating Cupcakes

This is a card from a recent Chicks-n-Chocolate workshop ... had a request to showcase the Create a Cupcake and Build a Cupcake punch someone had already purchased and wanted to practice with it ... they are just so yummy I want to gobble them up ... and the scraps of red glitter are just PERFECT for those cherries on top!

I made the pedestal with the Eyelet border punch and the Round tab punches and sponged to give some shadow and depth!

More Vintage Magic

Here is another card showcased at our Technique Tuesday Black Magic class ... loving the Tempting Turquoise against the black as well and the pinking hearts border is just so delicate - perfect with a floral card and of course some pretty gold glitter added as the floral middles just adds the extra bit of bling!

This is a perfect card to share today as we got hit with another snow storm in the night and the signs of spring from yesterday are now once again buried under the fluffy white stuff ... so we can admire the spring cards and long for seeing them in real life!

Vintage Black Magic

This is one of the cards we made at our Technique Tuesday exploring the Black Magic!

This card features the Vintage Vogue stamp set stamped on Basic Black with Whisper White and than coloured with the Stampin' Up Watercolor Pencils and embellished with white gel pen, a gold glitter brad and half back pearls!

I just love this technique!

March Technique Tuesday

This month we practiced a little bit of BLACK MAGIC at our technique class - and boy was it alot of fun!

I just love the way the images POP from the paper ... each month participants of the tehcnique class get to make a 6x6 instruction sample for future inspiration with the technique as well as two different cards showcasing the technique ... this is the sample of the instruction sheets!

Here is an up close shot of a few of the Black Magic tricks and twists we explored ... from highlighting the coloured image with a white gel pen to using the versamark pen for coloring and embossing a couple key areas to help them pop and finally adding some glittery bling to small sections of the image!

If you are interested in coming out to a Technique Tuesday class please drop me a line or give me a call we would love to have more company around the stampin' table ... we are always a source of laughter and great conversation between stampin' !

Double sided Laylout

This double sided layout ties together the challenge from over on My Digital Studio as well as Sketchy Thursdays 3.03 sketch challenge.

The right side page was inspired by this layout from Alesha Walls on My Digital Studio ... just loved the rolling hills look!

Here is my creation using her layout template ... I used quite the potpourri of products to create this including the new DSP from the Strength and Hope campaign digital kit, floral stamps from Printed Petals, Petal Pizazz, So Happy for You and Just Believe stamp sets and some Gold Glimmer brads to accent the white flowers.

The left hand side was a mirror of the right hand side with the photo layout and journaling inspired from the Sketchy Thursday 3.03 this week.

I felt the the photos spoke for themselves with this layout and as a result chose to borrow the sentiment stamp from my new Strength and Hope Campaign digital download as my journal words for this layout because they are all words that come to mind when I think of my little nephew here!

Butterfly Wing Hybrd

Another card from last weeks Stamp a Stack ... I just love the way this one turned out and cannot wait to send it out to someone!

This card features the Elegant Bouquet emboss folder sponged with Melon Mambo and Old Olive embellished with Butterfly Wings Embosslit to make a rainbow of butterflies and a hybrid sentiment done with the Medium Oval punch and highlighted with the Melon Mambo Scallop Oval and some pretty little half back pearls for bling to finish it off!

Up close of the hybrid sentiment done in My Digital Studio ... one of my challenges as a demo is that sometimes I tend to be drawn to the 'image stamp sets' and therefore do not have as large a selection of sentiments ... making the hybrid cards allows some wonderful versatility in creating personalized sentiments that fit right into our punches as well as using the 'designer stamp' sentiments ... this hybrid sentiment features the stamp from Chat Room Thoughts of You and Artistic Etchings.

Donna's Chick's-n-Chocolate Afternoon

This is a card we are making tomorrow for Donna's Chicks-n-Chocolates party ... featuring a color palette Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Marina Mist and So Saffron and showcasing the Eat Chocolate Stamp set, Red Glitter paper, Scallop Trim Border, Decorative Label and Word Window and of course what ever stamper needs ... SWISS CHOCOLATES ... yummy!

This is an up close shot of the little Decorative Label pocket I made that is the perfect size to hold a little Swiss Deuce chocolate I bought Costco! It also highlights the fabulous shiny sprinkle bling on the chocolates which were colored in with real red Stampin' Write Marker and than a dab of Chrystal effects!

Cannot wait to make this with Donna and her friends tomorrow ... hope they have as much fun as I did ... I just love this stamp set!

Sneak Peek ...

This is a scrap page made with the sneak peek digital download ' Strength and Hope' which I was able to pre-purchase yesterday as a Demonstrator!

Starting May 1st the digital download kit as well as the traditional Stamp set will be available to customers during the Summer Mini ... during the Strength and Hope Campaign Stampin' Up will donate $2 from the sale of every Digital Kit downloaded as well as every Stamp set sold to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation!

I love the designer series paper that comes with this digital kit - I only used a fraction of the 12 sheets you get. The stamp set includes the Butterfly, the H hope, the swirl accent as well as a script set that is hard to see in the paper here but repeats words 'courage hope believe unity survivor caring together love kindness support strength blessed thank you.'

This kit seemed perfect to scrap the photo that appeared in the paper this past Fall of my Run for the Cure team leader Linz who organized our Bold and Boobiful Run team for the Run here in London last October :)

Bountiful Blossom Petals

I just love this new Blossom Petals punch from the Occasions Mini ... it is so versatile!

We played with it at last weekends Stamp a Stack to make this card ... stamping tone on tone in the Tempting Turquoise and holding it together with a Fabric Designer Brad and than paired it with the FREE Ice-cream Parlor DSP from Sale-a-bration catalog and Eyelet Border punch in Daffodil Delight! Sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes - a must have for every stamper!