Enchanting Freshly Made ...

Loving this new Sale-bration designer series paper... Everyday Enchanted ... features many of the 2012 In Colors ... which I picked out the Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade and new Labels Collection Framelit to accent this card with...and yet another 'peekaboo embossing' technique with the grass from the Inspired by Nature set peeking out behind the Elegant Bouquet embossed image as well as the Polka Dots peeking out on the Flight of the Butterfly image.

BTW ... just loving the gorgeous ribbon and matching brads available for free in the Sale-a-bration catty as well - very elegant and subtle addition to a project! 

I did not make the cut of to submit this card over at the Freshly Made website - but pop on over and see the other wonderful entries!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Happy New Year Stampers

Sending out lots of Happy New Year blessing to all my blog hopping friends - 2011 has been a truly amazing year and I am looking forward to having an awesome healthy and prosperous 2012 ~ and send out the same wish for all of you!

Having some fun with challenges this week while trying out my sneak peak goodies from the upcoming Occasion's mini as well as Sale-a-bration items for next month! 

This is another 'peekaboo embossing' technique I used hiding the butterflies behind the Elegant Bouquet embossed image ... just loving the new Framelits from Stampin' Up!

This gorgeous ribbon and brad is available as of January 24th for FREE during Sale-a-bration! 

 My layout was inspired from the wonderful Design Team over at Stamping 411 ... head on over and check out what everyone else came up with!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Some 'Kissing' going on this season

Well Christmas was AWESOME around here ... we really scaled back on the 'presents' and instead spent some quality time together playing cards and having fun on Christmas day - which is truly what it is all about! 

And well I have to admit as much as I love the holidays I LOVE being on vacation ... carved out sometime to spend sometime playing around in the Stampin' Cave with some techniques on my 'wish I had time to try this' list and here is a sample from one of them ...

Embossed kissing ... it is a little bit tricky to master the 'timing' to get it to turn out just right - cause you need the ink to dry but not the 'versamark kiss' before applying the embossing powder! 

However I love the effect of having the 'embossed image' overlaying JUST the stamped image of the floral focal - gives my old favorite Inspired by Nature a pop having the En Francis stamp as an overlay in the Tempting Turquoise embossing powder

Here is the 'sentiment' hiding on the bow with the Tiny Tags and Jewelry Tag punch!

Freshly Made Dasher!

 Another sketch inspired card ... one of the last of my Christmas themed cards this year ... I had a Dasher sample left over from my Smooching Bleach technique class and when I saw the sketch over at Freshly Made sketches I was inspired to give him a place of honor as the  focal point on the card! 

 I just love the way the Black paper bleached out in a gold looking color and well the Gold smooch spray really helped to add pop to him ... and well than I went a little overboard on the 'bling' with the heat embossed gold glitter snowflakes and the snowburst embossed layer was spritzed with more smooch spray to give it glimmer and well than some gold around the edge of my circle and some pearls and dazzling diamonds for Dasher ... looks like he is getting ready for a New Years party!

 I added a Tiny Tags sentiment on my bow with the jewellery tag punch and a little jewellery ring to allow them the freedom to dangle like a little earring!

There is still time to play over at Freshly Made ... so pop on over and see what the Design Team and other bloggers did with this awesome sketch and get yourself inspired to spend some time down in the craft room - aka women cave!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Love is in the air ...

Having fun with more challenges this weekend ...this one is from the Try Stampin' on Tuesday blog - I tweaked the layout just a little bit adding a fourth element and well had a blast ... not trying to be a bah humbug about Christmas - I really do love it - but I have finished all my Christmas cards so need to move on to other themes!

Found a new little trick for my all time favorite Tiny Tags set and Jewellery punch - using a little jewellery ring to hang them from the ribbon - cool eh?

 If you have a minute hop on over to the Try Stampin on Tuesday blog and see what the design team and other bloggers have created using the sketch below - some amazing talent out on the net!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Bling Challenge

This months Gold Star Ink team challenge was BLING so imagine my delight to carve out some time this morning to get busy creating something to share with the team that features bling, glitter, smooch and well just WOW to anyone who gets this handmade card in their mailbox this upcoming season!

I was inspired to use the tag punches to create a snowflake I have seen making its rounds on the Internet to create an ornament.

 So to start I cut some brush silver cardstock and punched out 16 small tags leaving space on the strip as shown. Than using the lag tag punch I carefully re-punched the strip of tags ... creating the 'window' at the bottom shown here ... 

Than you use a 4 x 4 piece of velum and using glue attach 4 tag windows snuggle together at the corner edges to the vellum as shown below.

Please note my first one I used the two way glue as this is what someone online had said they used - however I noted that it did not stick as well to the vellum once I started cutting later so on my second one I chose to use the Multi Purpose Tombo which worked better IMO however is messier - so to each her own on glue choices ;)

Repeat the pattern with a second layer slightly rotated to the right ... as shown here ...

Once you have your two pieces of vellum with the tag pattern glued on and dry - than you need to take your paper snips and carefully snip away the flat edges to  reveal the snowflake as shown here ....

 Snip both pieces as shown here ...

Than I used the Northern Frost snowflake die to cut out a snowflake focal point  - however you could use any alternative 'focal' piece in the middle here. I used the paper pierce to pierce the focal point and ONE snowflake and attached a silver glimmer brad through and using fishing wire I tied a loop around the brad before 'closing' the prongs to secure it in place for use as an ornament hanger. Than attach the top snowflake to the second layer at a slight angle as shown here - I chose to use a 'dimensional' to give it a little more depth.

Now you could just use this as an ornament on your tree or hang them from a window as a sun catcher throughout the winter season - it really is striking and I am very please with my first effort ... however when I was done I decided I wanted more BLING for this particular challenge ;)

 So I repeated the entire process using the new Stampin' Up Silver Glimmer paper ... and well can you say BLING - photos do not do this justice but  you might need some sunglasses to view this baby in person!

 And well I wanted to create a card to go with it ... so that it could serve as both a Christmas card and a small token of thanks for someone special this season - so here is the card i created to hold the ornament

 There was so much bling going on here I was afraid a sentiment would take away from the glimmer - so thank goodness for the Tiny Tags sentiments and Jewelery punch ... cause a little Merry sends the message of Holiday tidings while not taking away too much from the snowflake ornament!

 Side view to show the dimension on the card ... the Framed Tulips and Snow burst embossing folders both smooched with some Vanilla smooch  really add some additional glimmer to the card in person

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Just Add Ink Color Q challenge

Combined the following three challenges to create my Masculine Fall cards for OWH this month ... just have to learn how to do my 'envelope tuck' and I can send out a bunch for the end of the month!

Click the photos to links to the awesome website challenges and to see other peoples inspirations from these sketches! 

And here are my offerings inspired by the above sketches ... I was inspired by the Just Add Ink photo to pull out my Lovely as a Tree Stamp set ... and the Color Q inkspiration of Black, Basic Grey, More Mustard (do not have Crushed Curry anymore as it is retired) and Tangerine Tango.

I am loving the new Peekaboo Frame die cause it is awesome for creating 'sentiments' on card bases ... for this card I used the Petite Pairs stamp set for the sentiment of I am here for you - no matter what! 

Note to self in future - sponge your sentiment inside before you glue it in otherwise the ink does not stick to the glue - however I like the 'marble look' it created  it looks better in real life!

 This is another offering using the same Inkspirations  but I changes up the layout a wee bit ... to be honest this was an accident card I tries to salvage ... as I accidentally cut one of my pieces wrong for the OWH sketch and wanted to savage of the brayer work I had done.

 I used the Jewellery Tag punch and the Tiny Tags to add a little hint of sentiment to the front ... and tied it all together with a Vintage brad and some black grosgrain ribbon!

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Stampin
Margaret

Selective Embossing Tricks

This is one of the samples I was going to use AT the Selective Embossing technique class this Tuesday ... however decided that making Christmas cards in August felt like I was rushing the summer - so it will just be a sample to showcase how they can use this technique in a couple months to make awesome homemade Christmas cards for family and friends!

This card features a Black, Gold and Vanilla color combo ... it showcases our gorgeous Chantilly Lace ribbon and the Waffle paper as well as the Tiny Tags stamp set and Jewellery Punch and the Basic Pearls and Rhinestones on the Petals a Plenty embossing folder which was selectively embossed here to just have a tree shape come through!

Happy Stampin'