Happy 'A La Card Monkey' Easter

Hope everyone is having a peaceful and restful long Easter Weekend ... I have so been relishing the wonderful extra days! Friday we took in a Toronto Blue Jays game which was totally awesome - close action packed game that went into extra innings!

Then 'reality' hit for yesterday with errands - what a zoo at Holiday can make of the grocery stores man - twice as many shoppers equals three times as long line ups for some reason!

Thankfully today I got to spend lots of time in the craft room catching up and relaxing ... partaking in some challenge inspired card making!

Thank you to the Colour Q for the following color combo ...

Along with the A La Card Monkey Challenge for the following layout challenge ... which was just too cute and inspired the card belong!

So had to tweak the Color Q colour combo a wee bit using a Subtle's collection of Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, So Saffron and Pink Pirouette and incorporating the Easter Blossoms stamp set with the Inspired by Nature set and using the Scallop Edge border punch with the Decorative Label punch ...

and of course a nice close up of some bling on the sentiment as well as in the basket of the little girl!

Happy Easter too all - and for those of you who get tomorrow off as well enjoy the extra long weekend and for those heading back to normal work life - hope the Bunny was good to you and that his arrival will continue to mean sunny warm days for those of us who have so been longing for more signs of SPRING that we have had this weekend!

Elastic Easter Blossoms

Hope I am not boring everyone with the brayer themed cards - but it sure has been fun playing with my brayer again - it really is a versatile tool that should be in every stampers arsenal!

For this card card I wrapped the brayer with three elastics and than inked up with Daffodil Delight and rolled over glossy card stock and repeated with Old Olive, Melon Mambo and Pacific Point. This created a background that reminded me of Easter Grass so I thought the Eater Blossom stamp set would be perfect to use with it!

I really love how the Eggs stamped on the glossy paper - you get a really strong sharp color which popped and the 'shine' makes them look more like authentic eggs!

And of course no card of mine would be complete without some sort of bling hiding in it - so accented with some Rhinestones on the eggs and sentiment!

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!

Black Magic Easter Blooms

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