Fun with Framelits ...

I am just loving playing with the new Framelits and want to thank my upline Liz for this inspired card which I am using for playing along with some Challenges this week cause it fit in perfect with the layout for A La Card Monkey and the Color inspiration over at Utah Divas.

The framelits are so versatile because they can be placed anywhere on the paper - so in this case it was placed in the middle of a 2 1/2 inch circle punched cardstock 'backwards' to create the embossed section and than flipped and centered with the cutting edge down to cut out the middle and another Framelit with the Apothecary image stamped on it nestled inside it. Our punches work perfect for popping up the middle section which was colored with the blender pens using shades of reds and pinks.

Pop on over to the Utah Divas International to see the inspirations by other card makers ...

and than over at the A La Monkey card blog with this wonderful layout!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

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

Cardinal Bliss ...

Just loved this inspiration over at JUST add INK ... the minute I saw it a Bird Builder Punch Cardinal popped into my head flying over some Pine trees this time of year!

I also just loved this one over at Stampin' Royalty blog and wanted to play along with this one with visions of glittery paper coming to mind at the back and the above sketch incorporated into the circle on this one!

And well being that I am preparing for Christmas the traditional color inspiration over at Just Us Girls was still in my head ... 

And well here is my challenge inspired offering ... A Christmas Cardinal using the Bird Builder and the Lovely as a Tree Stamp set with some 'berries' from the Cupcake Builder and well BLING from our red and silver glitter paper and a sentiment from the Many Merry Messages to tie it all together!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Welcome to the OWH Blog Hop

I am so excited to participate in my first ever blog hop with Operation Write Home and honored to have you stopping by to take a peek at my Stampin' inspirations!

As the spouse of an amazing man who served almost 25 years and participated in many tours over seas before retiring in 2009 from medical reasons I am proud to now be able to support Operation Write Home. Sometimes I wish I could do more as it is such a small thing to do to help them stay in touch with loved  - but it means so much to them and their families! 

These are the men and women who risk their lives both at home and over seas to help keep us safe and ensuring that we are able to enjoy the many freedoms we often take for granite - my heart and my gratitude goes out to them daily!

Now on to the cardmaking .... I wanted to share a card with my favorite little Christmas Greeting Girl from the Stampin Up Greeting Card Kids stamp set! She is such a sweetie and so much fun to color with our Stamp Write Watercolor markers and my Aqua Painter.

I also love how you can use one stamp set to make so many different cards by just tweaking the layout and embellishments. Here are a few more cards I made to share today using the same materials but changing up the layouts and embellishments slightly ... I will than package these up and half of them are going to OWL and the other half I will sell them to help raise money for my Run for the Cure this year...equally supporting my passions!

 

If you would like to support the Operation Write home initiative there are so many ways to do so ... visit here to learn how to donate your handmade cards for soldiers to use when over seas to keep in touch with their loved ones back home or please follow the link to give a cash donation ...

 

Happy Stampin' and Blog Hopping!

A La Card Monkey Challenge 75

Finally had some time to play along at A La Card Monkey this week ... been lurking with longing but did not have time to carve out! 

However excited to get to play along  with the following sketch and a Christmas theme!

So here is my inspiration ... featuring the Greeting Card Kids image water colored and two way glue pen used to give some Dazzling Diamond accents and paired with the Snow Swirled snowflakes  and sentiments and a little Jingle Bell accent on our Bakers Twine.

  

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stampin'

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!

Faith In Nature

Here is another sample from our Playing With Punches Shoebox Swap ... this card was designed and shared by Susan for us to make at the swap ...it features the new Faith in Nature hostess set which is so pretty!

Here is an up close of the pear image sponged with Pear Pizzaz and Peach Parfait colors and that wonderful accent paper in the back is our new Wonderfully Worn Designer Series paper!

I love attending a good Shoebox Swap!

Happy Stampin'

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!

Colour Q 70

Colour Q challenge this week as so pretty - however since I did not have the colours in traditional papers I opted for my trust MDS option!

I was a week behind in getting out my Mojo Monday - however still wanted to play along so the lay out inspired by Challenge 175.
So with the background layer Cameo Coral I layered it with the Poppy Parade and the Love Impressions Folder textured brush stamp in Vanilla with an opacity to help create the illusion of the actual emboss folder.

I than created a 2 1/2 inch circle punch and filled it with Botanical Garden DSP and than applied the Greeting Card Kids with a little heart punch in the Poppy Parada.

The banner in the background was created with the Heart to Heart punch and overlapped hearts filled with a variety of Early Espresso DSP set to a lower opacity so that the Poppy Parade shines through!

Sentiments are from the Filled With Love brush set download!

Mojo Monday 172 Challenge

Well so far sticking to my New Years Resolution to engage in more challenges and get myself thinking outside my comfort zone!

This card is inspired from the Mojo Monday Challenge ... with my Occasions Mini Open house coming this weekend I was also inspired to use my new Heart Pressed Letter Plate plate as well as the Glimmer paper and well I also snuck in a little bit of the Filled With Love promotional items as well ... multitasking where possible is another New Years Resolution :)

I love the treat cups for Valentines as well - this one I filled with some sequence X and O's!

Things are 'Looking Up'

Is this snowman not the cutest little thing you have ever seen - I love all the punch art ideas that are out and about on the Internet and am not sure who the original designer of this snowman was cause I have seen him used by several Stampers - but I loved him so tweaked him up with the punches I had!

So I used the 2 1/2 inch circle punch, 1 3/8 circle punch and 1 1/4 circle punch for this one with the branch from the 2 step bird. The eyes are made with two brads, pumpkin pie sliver for the nose and I drew on the coal with my basic black tip marker and tied a bit of Cherry Cobbler seam binding for the scarf! I than stamped tone on tone serene snowflakes on the Marina mist and paired it with the Ornament punch and the sentiment from All Holidays stamp set stamped in versamark and embossed with white emboss powder. A little bit of the Tinsel ribbon to make the hook for the ornament and we are as good as gold!

This is one of the offerings for this weekends Stamp a Stack at my house - we are making a combination of 5 projects ... some 3D paper crafting, a hostess gift and some cards - everything you need to get you started on your Holidays!

Paisley Pumpkins

Another awesome contribution from the Sneak peak Holiday Mini night with my upline Liz ... I love the combination of all the sneak peak items she combined here as well .... all are from the Holiday mini - Stampin' Up really out did themselves this time with the selection and Liz put the card design together to totally rock the Halloween theme!

Personally I wish the tradition of Halloween card sending would increase the same as Xmas cards cause well these are TOO much fun to make man!

Sensational Swaps

One of the thing I LOVE about Stampin' Up! is the wonderful supportive and collaborative nature of the business - you never feel truly 'alone' in your endeavors! Our team meetings are always inspirational and we get to do card swaps to showcase and play with products we might not yet have purchased - this card is a prime example of how AWESOME getting to do swaps is!

The card is designed by Liz Goldhawk my upline and features the Stamp set Merry Crittermas from our Holiday mini which rolls out WEDNESDAY with some awesome new products I cannot wait to add to my collection! The paper is also from the Holiday mini called Candy Cane Christmas and the new Rectangle Scallop Duo Bigz die is also featured as well as the 2 1/2 inch circle punch. It is such a cutie!