A La Card Monkey Challenge 85 ...

Made this little 'Sweet Pea' color combo card using my Color Coach for inspiration along with the sketch from the awesome ladies over at the A La Card Monkey this week ... isn't it cute?

Hard to see in the photo but the pink 'flower' is stamped with a Snowflake from Serene Snowflakes using a bleach technique - it is a very subtle Winter Holiday card that I thought would be awesome for a Thank you card this season!

Still time to play along if you want - here is the sketch! And come on back on Friday night and check out the card I am making as Guest Designer for Saturdays Sketch of the week!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Glittering Gift Ornaments

I saw the tutorial for these over on Created by You website and just had to make some for myself - gorgeous, glimmer rich Gift-box ornaments using the Stampin' Up Bitty Box and Envelope die!

I tweaked the design a little bit to make it my own first by making use of some really pretty Chrystal's I found on sale at Micheal's for a few of them as seen in this one here.

A couple of them I added the pearl accent from our Stampin' Up Simply Adorned Jewellery collection to showcase how you can use the 'gift box' ornament to house the Simply Adorned jewellery!  

The accent piece features our paper daisies which were smooch sprayed with Vanilla Smooch and a Cherry Cobbler scallop circle tucked in behind it and accented with a 3/4 inch red glimmer circle and a darling Vintage Brad to hold it together!

These are just amazing on the Christmas tree and the ornament still  works as a gift box and will hold the Simple Adorned jewellery, some some specially chocolates or other Lottery tickets or some other fun gift you come up with!

If you love the look of this and would like a chance to make one in time for Christmas just make sure to RSVP to December's Stamp A Stack on Saturday December 17th from 1-4. A Holiday Stamp a Stack which will be featuring paper crafting ornaments for your tree and personalized gift bags for your loved ones!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Online Extravaganza

Stampin' Up!' Online Extravaganza, our annual sale to kick off the holiday shopping season, will begin Monday, November 21, 2011, and run through Wednesday, November 30, 2011. 

This promotion is perfect for those would like to shop online during this especially busy time of year and avoid the store line ups or traffic -  however sale prices will be available on all order types so if you prefer the personal interaction of a demonstrator to help place your order please feel free to drop me a line and I can order your 'sale' items for you :)

So make sure to come back and click the above link to my Online Store on Monday November 21st to take advantage of great savings! Savings such as FREE digital downloads valued at $42 when you buy the My Digital Studio Express or 60 % off select Designer Fabrics - these are awesome in all sorts of paper crafting too for texture and embellishments and 30 % off an exclusive ribbon bundle! 

In the meantime here is a little Fall Centerpiece offering to enjoy before the reality of the snow arrives and brings us into Winter ... these are centre pieces I made recently for the AECEO when we helped to sponsor the Quality Child Care Project Mentorship Evening and Raising the Bar celebration.

I made 20 for the tables in a variety of designs but all featuring the Spice Cake Designer Series paper and our Bigz Fun Flowers die, the large scallop punch for the smaller rosettes and with the Petal Cone die inverted for the vase!

 Here are some up close of the flowers ... each one unique!

 I used My Digital Studio to create a coordinating verse for the vases ... Celebrating ECE Everywhere and than the Vintage Vogue floral image in coordination Pool Party, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Pear Pizzaz and some Pacific Point for fun!

 And how can we celebrate without a chance to be spoiled and pampered with a change to win DOOR PRIZES ... so I donated a couple of start sets with stamp, paper, markers, ink and some embellishments to make a few cards!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Scrap & Crop Weekend

A huge thank you to Alicia from Crop Scene Inc for an amazing Scrap and Crop Weekend retreat ... truly had an amazing time!

My first scrapping retreat and I really enjoyed the whole thing ... the energy in the room and seeing some amazing new ideas and tricks for layouts!

I finally made my 'title page' for my first scrapbook which has long since been a work in progress scrapping photos from my family and childhood!

I had fun with the Petite Pennant Builder punch for my title and went with vintage colors but with some glitter and distressing.

 I paired the now retired Sense of Time with the Medallion stamp set for my back ground and layering with the Scallop punch to make some flowers!

It was a productive weekend and I was able to complete of 14 layouts which I look forward to sharing.

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!

Scallop Flowers

I have always wanted to try this technique and finally was inspired by this weeks Mojo Monday sketch .... so had to try some different styled ones - these ones feature the small scallop punch and the Boho Blossoms punch!