Inspired by an Invitation ...

Anyone whose stamped with me knows I love any reason to get my extra BLING on when making hand stamped projects and this grogeous wedding card was no exception!

I got totally inspired by Candice and Matt's lovely wedding invitation which reminded me of the wonderful now retired but still loved French Foilage stamp set ... this was a perfect reason to bring it back out from my retired collection!

I created some gorgeous little flower embellishments using the 1 3/4" Scallop circle and Boho Blossoms punches. Quickly sponged their edges with either Wild Wasabi or Pink Pirouette inks and than spritzed them with Smooch spray adhering them together with our glimmer brads or candy dot brads and scattered them along the stamped leaves using glue dots ... just love the effect this created of a flowering bush.

The Papillion Potpourri butterflies were stamped on vanilla card stock with Pink Pirouette ink and easily punched out with the Elegant and Bitty butterfly punches and some rhinestone bling used to accent their bodies. They float nicely around the Word Play 'Happy I Do Day' sentiment which has been punched out with the Wide Oval punch and framed nicely with the Designer Frames oval embossing folder .... creating what I hope is a stunning wedding card for my little cousin and his bride on their big day!

Sending out some love and light today to both Matt and Candice ... I am so excited to be able to share their special day with them!

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

Mashing Up Stamping 411

Had fun this weekend creating some challenge cards .... great way to stay warm on a cold rainy weekend ... there are so many inspiring challenges out there that I combined a few to come up with my card creations!

Started by Mashing up a snowflake inspired easel card for the Friday Mashup ... feel free to click the picture to see how others were inspired by the challenge ....

Then I hopped on over to the Stamping 411 and was inspired by their layout and incorporated it into my card as well ... I did flip the orientation a bit to make it work with the easel ... feel free to click the photo to see the wonderful inspirations others had from this layout!

And finally my color combination was inspired by this months Goldstar Ink team challenge  ... make a card using grey, blue and red in a card to share with the team ... and here is my final inspiration combining these three awesome challenges.

I love how the embossing powders of silver and iridescent ice really make this card 'sparkle' and I used the silver cardstock as well which is a shade of grey and adds  some additional dimension and glam to it ...almost used our new silver glimmer paper but restrained myself otherwise people might have needed sunglasses to view the card!

And the final Piece De Resistance that makes this card so yummy for me .... a little Doily snowflake accent, rhinestone bling and dazzling details were added to the snowflakes and sentiment! 

Thanks for stopping by and taking time to leave a comment - your support and encouragement means a lot!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

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'

Colour Q Challenge 66

This weeks Colour Q Challenge was so inspiring - I love blue and yellows together!

I also found this colour combination PERFECT for trying out my new Framed Tulip's Emboss folder page 28 in the new Occasions Mini and the Blessed Mother stamp set from page 18 in the Mini ... also used the wonderful Frost Smooch sponged around the edge of the embossed folder to give it a nice glittery bling!

And no card would be complete without some nice bling ... this time opted for the little pearl accents!

If you like this card and would love to make one for your Mom this is one of the cards we will be making at my Open House tomorrow .... this set is great for Birthdays, Mother's Day or just because cards - if you cannot make the Open House but are interested in ordering this set just shoot me an email or click on my Online Store link!

Happy Stampin'

This is cool - follow up from my sneak peek

This was so much FUN for me last night .... making your own designer series paper and turning it to 5 coordinating cards ... going to be making a lot of these in the near future to prepare for the Run for the Cure fundraiser!

First you choose a 'color scheme' for your card. I chose Blushing Bride, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo and Whisper White ... a think pink theme for the Breast Cancer awareness!

Than you take a 6x6 piece of card stock and choose a stamp set for your background to work with - I chose Vintage Vogue.

You than stamp your background in the lightest color and the largest stamp you are going to use ... so in this case I chose Versamark for the vines from the set for the very back ground.

Next choose your next shade of ink and your next largest stamp image - so in this case I chose Whisper White ink and the flowers from the Vintage Vogue Set.

Than you use the Quarter Wonder page cutting dimensions from Sharon's website http://createdbyu.blogspot.com/2010/06/quarter-sheet-wonder-tutorial.html to cut and prep your paper ... and finally you have fun creating your cards ... so here are my 5 card samples

Finally with a few scorelines and a couple cuts - you can even make a little box out of paper and decorate it up for a little 'gift package' for someone .... project complete ... and in one night I made FOUR of these little beauties to add to my fund raising pile!