Baby It's Cold Outside - Friday Mash Up ...

This is my Friday Mash Up inspired card .... create a Snowman themed card in the colors Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze and Basic Grey .... LOVED IT!

So I am more in a 'spreading the love' mood than a Christmas card mood so opted for another Winter Valentine themed card using the Stamp from the Build a Cupcake, the Heart Trio punch and a Punch Art Snowman for this card ... not as noticeable in the photo but I had to sneak some Real Red glimmer paper into the card as well!

If you have a moment head on over to the Friday Mash Up and see what the Design Team and other card makers were inspired to create with this sketch idea!

Also sharing this card offering over at There She Goes Clear Stamps

with the color challenge of Blue, Pink and Red so check out the wonderful offerings over there as well and get creative in the craft room!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Trick or Treat Vampire Bats

Spooky fun ..... Vampire Bat style! 

I had seen these litlte Bat samples all over the Internet and was exited to get to make one of these cool trick or treat bags as a sample at my upline Liz's class this weekend and see how easy they actually were that I thought what a cool project to make with the daycare kids for their trick or treat bags this weekend.

I tweaked the sample a bit by having the kids add some versamark via a brayer to the wings and than we heat embossed them hand over hand. As a result of little hands helping we got some embossing powder where it did not belong but that is ok I think it gives the wings that 'wet look' that bats have and well the crew loves playing with my Big Shot and other stampin materials - makes them feel grown up! 

The kids picked through my glitter brads to choose their favorite eye colors and helped with punching out some fangs using the small Pennant builder punch and of course the Dazzling Details to add the slippery vampire bat smile!

I also made up an encore offering of some of the spooky butterfly magnets and pins for the crew cause they were a hit last year!

Happy Stampin

Margaret

Spooky Cute Monkey Challenge

Fun with the A La Card Monkey this week as well ... click the link to check out how others were inspired!

Here is my take on the sketch ... making use of the Fright Night DSP and my Wicked Cool stamp set!

Of course being a punch addict - I love that the Owl builder punch can be turned into a spooky ghost and also that the Tiny Tiny tags boo makes an awesome mouth sentiment for him!

I wanted some brads for this section but realized I was out of the 'black' ones - so I made my own glitter 'brads' by using some Chrystal effects and black glitter!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving so many encouraging comments!

Happy Stampin

Margaret

Button Buddies meet Berry Blossom

Finally had a chance to play along with one of the Utah Diva's International sketches this week - I love their blog lots of great inspirations and challenges - just wish I had the time to play along more often!

I used the inspired sketch to showcase the Berry Blossoms DSP along with our new In Colors ... Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade!

The focal image was made using the 2 1/2 inch circle punch in Limeasde and the 1 3/4 circle punch in Whisper White after I had hand colored and stamped the Cherries from the Button Buddies set.

I added the sentiment using the Tiny Tags stamp and jewellery punch to look as if the cherries were tied in a bunch as an offering to someone!

It is hard to see in the photo but I versamarked the cherries and clear embossed them to give a 'shine'.

I also used the versamarker, some heat stick powder and the fine green glitter to add some 'bling' to the DSP here and there!

 

Happy Stampin!

A La Card Monkey Challenge 68

Playing along with the A La Card Monkey this week and having some fun showcasing our awesome 'Pocketful of Posies' Designer Series Paper!

So here is my inspired  card using the above sketch ... this DSP is designed to coordinate awesome with the My Friend Stamp set which I used in the middle strip on Baja Breeze cardstock run through the Square Lattice to create an additional piece of my own designer paper!

The sentiment accent features the Perfect Pennants Die in Not Quite Navy cardstock and the Happy Greetings stamp set from the Summer mini on a piece of Whisper White punched with the 1 3/4" circle punch which was than distressed with our Cutter Kit distressing tool and sponges with Not Quite Navy ink and than I choose a lovely piece of Baja Breeze seam binding to tie it all together!

Happy Stampin'

Day at the Beach

This is how I wish I could be spending the last stretch of my staycation .... on the beach watching the sun set.

I used the Color coach for inspiration here showcasing the new 2011-12 In Color of Pool Party with Chocolate Chip and Island Indigo accents.

This is another Playing with punches card ... for the Straw hat in So Saffron using the Large Oval punch, 1 3/4 circle punch run through the Square Lattice embossing folder and the Boho  Blossoms punch which a nice Basic pearl for the accent on the ribbon of the hat ... I used the Flight of the Butterfly stamp set in Island Indigo stamped on Pool Party cardstock to create the 'bathing suit' and the Full Heart punch for the neck and arms.

The sunset is created using the Stampin' Pastels collection and the sentiment is from the Happy Greetings sentiment set in the Summer mini ... available until August 31st!

Playing with Punches!

Playing with Punches is this months 'Team Challenge' with my upline Liz and our upcoming Team swap is going to also feature playing with punches - so I have been having some fun thinking of ways to use our lovely Stampin' Up punches in different ways.

I will admit that I cased the 'Lovely Lady' concept from the Stampin' Connection website, not sure who belonged to the original idea ... but it looked like so much fun I always wanted to try it out .... so figured why not use it for my Challenge card.

Punch art certainly makes use of lots of punches ... this card features:

Whisper White paper which was run through the Square Lattice emboss folder and punched with the Large Oval and a 1 3/4 circle to create the hat with the now retired Triple Flower punch for the accent on the hat ribbon which is a double punched 1 3/4 circle.

The Scallop Oval punch for the Early Espresso Hair.

The Wedding Dress is made with the Butterfly punch and Whisper White paper which was run through the Elegant Lines embossing folder and spritzed with the Vanilla Shimmer smooch spritz.

The neckline and arms are made with the Full Heart punch in the now retired Blush Blossom paper although we still carry the marker so you could create the blush colored using Whisper White and the marker to sponge the color on.

The gorgeous wedding bouquet also features the now retired Triple Flower punch - however the small flower from the Boho Blossom punch would work equally as well, the Build a Blossom punch for the greenery and is accented with Vanilla Shimmer smooch spritz and some basic pearls!

Finally I wanted a sentiment for the front of the card but did not want to take away from the elegance of the bride .... so used the Tiny Tags and Jewelery punch to create a sentiment 'train' from the back of the dress .... too cute!

Truly a gorgeous shimmery sparkly card in person ... so fun to make that I am going to try making some more and find one that is a little quicker for our swap cause we have to be able to make it in less than 5 minutes and while elegant this one took a wee bit longer to punch and put together than 5 minutes - definitely a labor of love for the Bride to Be!

Happy Stampin'

St Patricks Day Hybrid

St Patrick's Day is just around the corner and here is a sample of a card we made at last weekends Stamp a Stack to help celebrate the day!

This card had NO stampin' (gasp I know) but packed a lot of punch instead ... it was still loads of fun to make ... it featured the Square Lattice emboss folder for the background in Wild Wasabi, the large Heart punch in Garden Green for the Shamrock and the rainbow is made up of Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Marina Mist, Certainly Celery and Concord grape punched with the scallop edge punch!

The sentiment was created in My Digital Studio from the Calandar Basics and the Circle Circus stamp sets in Wild Wasabi and Garden Green colours and than printed out and punched with the 1 3/4 circle punch.

( the glitter paper is not Stampin Up - we have some gorgeous Real Red glitter paper and my fingers are crossed that they choose to sell some more colours in the future)

ETA .. a blog I follow participated in the following Blog Challenge on their blog recently - so I went over to check it out and thought this card would be a perfect one for the challenge - so wanted to share it and am looking forward to new challenges to play along with - love the challenge sites they help me think outside the box!

Valentines Games

These are some cute little games that I made up for the daycare kids this Valentines ... they loved the Dollar Store version of these games from a previous b-day party goodie bags so thought making a home made version would be fun!

Up close peek ... took me forever to get them all inline for the photo - thankfully the kids are much better at this game!

... love the shiny glitter paper and it made for a nice firm backing for the games ... stamped with Greeting Card girl and coloured with Stamp Write markers and holes punched with the Crop-o-dile ... and that using the sweet treat cups added some edible silver balls from the Wedding section of the Bulk Barn for the metal balls - so with this version if the kids rip it open the little pieces are at least edible and not so much a choking hazzard than the Dollar Store version!

Ho Ho Ho ...

Is this guy just not the cutest little Santa you have every seen? He is a punched card using Stampin' Up's various circle punches and than a little embossed Snow swirled snowflake for his pom pom!

He was really easy to make - can you just imagine yourself sending out this cute ditty to all your loved ones this season ... sign up for a card making class today and get started!