BLOG CANDY TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm thrilled to announce CHRISTMAS blog candy. Now this time, I'd like to change the terms for earning an entry into the pot. I am trying to increase my blog traffic, and already, my wonderful followers have been increasing along with my blog hits. To thank all of you, I'd like to let everyone have the chance to earn a spot in the draw.
Here's what you can win.
- Over 30 pages of Christmas DSP from Imagine That,
- Envelopes and Card fronts to make your own cards
- Ribbon
- Christmas Die Cuts
- Sequins
It's enough to get started on next year's Christmas cards, or to scrap your photos from this year.

So here's the deal. In order to earn a spot you need to:
1. Sign up as a follower - if you are already a follower, then you only need to complete #2 and #3
2. Post a link to my blog on your blog.
3. Post a comment on this post telling me that you have linked my blog to yours.
AND
you can earn another spot if you post that link on your sidebar - not just in your main text. PLUS I will post a link to your blog on MY sidebar which should increase the traffic to your blog - so it's a win-win situation for both us us!!! But - because my life is so crazy
This contest will end on Christmas day at 12:00 midnight. Then on Boxing Day I will announce the winner (s) - Oh yeah, I always have extra surprise candy to give away. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

SPCC #26

It's SPCC time again. This week's card came together fairly quickly for me. It's hard to tell with the watermark, but the sentiment is actually a rub-on. The red cardstock was cut out with the Top Note die and the lavendar cardstock was punched out with the large snowflake punch. The white snowflake is a felt flurry and I used a rhinestone brad to hold it all together.

Just a little something...

Sorry I've been away for a few days. I've been sick, writing report cards, and doing stamp-a-stacks and other card making classes. I'll have those PDF files up on my blog in a day or two.

Here's just a little card that I whipped up in a few minutes. I had a blast with this one. I think that I might do this with my Grade 2 class.

Here's the Recipe:

1. Paper - Very Vanilla, Lavendar Lace

2. Embossing folder - Christmas tree from Cuttlebug

3. Bling - stickers from Mike's

Christmas House Mini Album

If you follow my blog regularly you will remember a post from late summer that featured a haunted birdhouse mini album. Click here to go back to that post. Well I've been meaning to put together a Christmas one. When I came upon this sketch at Our Creative Corner, I knew it was time. I will be posting a PDF file soon about this project, so if you are interested, check back in a week or so.

Anyway, the album cover is made from the thick cardstock that come as a support for DSP. It's easy to cut and cover with paper. The pages are made from celophane envelopes. And the whole thing is held together with rings which are fed through the holes made by large eyelets.

SPCC Christmas again?

This color combo just screams Christmas to me. It was fairly simple for me to come out with this layout. Don’t you just love it when some cards just ‘come’ to you? The layout for this is very similar to one I made last Christmas. Click here for the post.

Here’s the Recipe:
1. Stamps – Snow Swirled
2. Paper – Handsome Hunter, Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, Kraft Cardstock
3. Ink – VersaMark, Old Olive
4. Accessories – Top Note Die and Final Press Impressions folder for Big Shot
5. Ribbon – ½” White Satin and ¼” Certainly Celery Grosgrain
6. White Embossing powder and Heat Gun

Circle Circus Case

This card was cased from the fabulous Mary Fish. She posted this fabulous masculine card last week. Here's the recipe:
1 - stamps - circle circus, happy birthday
2 - punches - 1/2", 3/4", 1", and 1 1/4" circle
3 - ink - Not Quite Navy
4 - cardstock - whisper white, old olive, chocolate chip, not quite navy
5 - accessories - silver brads

Christmas Stamp-a-Stack #2

Interested in making Christmas Cards? Below you will find the three cards at my next stamp-a-stack. $20 for 15 cards and envelopes. The first card uses the Delightful Decorations Stamp set and the Holiday Lounge DSP. The second card uses some retired Kiwi Kiss DSP and ink, as well as the retired stamp set from last year's Country Living Kit. And the bottom card uses some non-SU paper that I love with the Deer Friends Stamp set. Please email me for the location in East Vancouver. The class is Nov 25 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm.

MDS Halloween

Have I mentioned how much I love MDS??? (My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up!) We had a ton of fun on Halloween . That's my very shy nephew in the Cat In The Hat costume. (And my adorable children as the Pirate and the Bunny).

Here's the recipe:

1. DSP - Cast-a-Spell

2. Colours - Old Olive, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie

3. Accessories - Circle Buttons, Brads, Pumpkin Pie grosgrain ribbon

4. Stamps - Eat, Drink & Be Scary

Build a Bear Dollhouse

So here's a project that I'm extremely proud of. I made this to enter in a contest in the Demonstrator Mag "Stampin' Success". I didn't win and having now seen the entry that did win, I'm a bit suprised. I wonder if it's because I've already won a contest in Stampin' Success, or was it some other reason? The frustrating part of this is that I will never know. Stampin' Up! doesn't answer questions regarding contest submissions. As they say in Quebec "Eh Bien, C'est la vie!"
Anyway, back to the dollhouse. I made it so that it folds down nice and small into a flat folder which is 6x6". Unfortunately I did not get a good photo of it that was in focus, so you will have to imagine it. So this is a photo of the house as it unfolds. The ribbon ties the whole thing together nicely when it's all folded up.

Above is a top view of the house. I made a kitchen, living room, and 2 bedrooms. One for each doll.

Above is the girl's room, and below is the boy's room. I used a lot of punches and sizzlits to make the furniture. The headboard is the scalloped envelope, the drawer fronts are word windows etc.

Below is the living room. The "photos" on the walls were from the build a bear stamp set. Again, I used a lot of punches. Can you spot the ornament punch in the TV?

And finally here is the kitchen. I used word windows for the taps and an oval punch for the vase. The Razzleberry Lemonade DSP was fabulous for the wallpaper and the scallop envelope made a fantastic kitchen table.

Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Beary Best Friends
Ink: Black StazOn, Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Grey
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Creamy Caramel, Old Olive, Brushed Silver, Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Basic Black, Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay
DSP: Tea Party, Cottage Wall, Razzleberry Lemonade, Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry, Tall Tales
Big Shot Sizziz Dies: Bear, Beary Essentials, Beary Boy, Beary Girl, Scallop Circle #2, Scallop Envelope, Top Note,
Punches: Word Window, Rounded Corner, 1 3/8” circle, and 1 ¾” circle,
Accessories: Circle Scissor Plus, Snail, Tombo, Sticky Strip, 2 Way Glue Pen, Stamping Sponges, Sponge Daubers, Finial Press Textured Impressions Embossing Folders,

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Just a note. I've been getting a lot of requests for instructions, diagrams, online class etc. So I have decided to put together a little instruction PDF file and will post it up on my blog in the next week.

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SPCC Birthday

Welcome to Monday and another SPCC color challenge. This is a hybrid card made from MDS (My Digital Studio). I made the card on MDS and then printed out the parts and cut them out. I then put the card together. You can see the layers in the above photos. The digital images are below. As you can probably see I altered the layout slightly with the real card.

Here’s the Recipe
1. Paper – Whisper White, Bashful Blue Cardstock, Digital Happy BDay DSP
2. Stamp Images – Party Hearty
3. Accessories – Real Red Brads, ¼” Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon

Shadowboxes Again

I recently redid my shadowboxes. The bottom picture shows what all 4 of them look like, and below are closeups of each.

I had so much fun putting these shadowboxes together. The non Stampin' Up! paper is from K&Co. I bought it on the sale rack at Mike's after Christmas last year. The snowflake sequins are from a fabric store. The recipe is at the bottom.

Here's the recipe:

1. Paper - Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Glossy White cardstock from SU.

Christmas Glitter Cardstock from K&Co.

2. Stamps - Delightful Decorations

3. Ink - Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede

4. Punches - Large Snowflake, Ornament

5. Accessories - Silver Brads, Felt Flurries, Merry & Bright Rub-ons, Snowflake Sequins

Kraft Kinda Christmas

Above you will find a card I started almost a year ago. I used the top note die and cut out the black and the vanilla shape. Then I trimmed the vanilla cardstock and ran it through the big shot using the snowblake cuttlebug folder. The stripe paper and the sentiment are from the Christmas Accents and Elements kit from last year's SU catalogue.

Here's the recipe:
1. Paper - Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Kraft cardstock
2. Big Shot - Top Note die, and snowflakes cuttelbug folder
3. Accessories - Stickers from Accents & Elements Christmas Kit 2008

More 2 Sketches 4 U

This Christmas card was another card made for the design team challenge at 2 sketches 4 U. The paper is Eskimo Kisses by Basic Grey. I cut out the interior shape with the Labels 4 die from Nestabilities. And then I traced around the die with a white Signo pen. I adhered tin foil to cardstock and ran in through the Big Shot with the snowflakes folder by Cuttlebug.

AND THE WINNER OF THE BLOG CANDY IS...

HALEY G!!!
She has a great blog - check it out here.

As well, I'm thrilled to announce that because you all helped me surpass the goal of 75 followers I'd like to send a tiny gift in appreciation to my number 75 follower, Jacklyn-Jessa, check out her blog here. And to my latest follower, and new fellow SP Diva, number 83, Juanita. You can check out her blog here.


Congratulations to all the winners. Please email me privately and send me your mailing address. You can find my email on the sidebar.

AND

I am getting very close to 15,000 hits. I would love to offer up some more blog candy so check back in the next few days for MORE BLOG CANDY!!!!

MDS Halloween

Here's a page from Halloween. I started with the From the Crypt DSP and then added the photo template on top. Next I added in the photos and small pieces of DSP in order to fill in for the photos. These are photos of the pumpkins that we found around our neighbourhood during our Trick-or-Treating. Isn't that milk bottle skeleton amazing? The letters came from the Summer Home Embellishments in the MDS kit.

Lest We Forget

Today is Remembrance Day here in Canada. We wear a poppy to remember soldiers who have given their lives for our wonderful country. Below is an excerpt from one of the most famous poems in Canada. It written by Lieutenant Colonel John McRae, MD., in 1918 in Flanders Belgium.

.............

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

...

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

...

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields

(and check back for the blog candy winner tomorrow!!!!!)

Professional Printing of MDS

These 2 cards were made using MDS software (My Digital Studio) Both cards were made with the digital papers from the Merry Moments Designer MDS kit. The embellishments (tags, stamps, stickers, and trim are all part of the embellishment kit that goes with this paper pack in MDS. I made the card on the left and my upline Angela made the one on the right. Both were sent to Stampin' Up! and printed off by the professional printers.

The above photo shows the interior of the cards. And the below photo shows the other inside page of my card. I love that I could include a photo layout of my family in my Christmas cards this year. It's going to be great for out of town friends.

SPCC Monday

It's time for SPCC once again!!! This week it's a 4 colour challenge and let me tell you that I found this one a real challenge. So I went back to my old standby of adding a lot of Whisper White. These balloons were made with circle punches and a tiny bit cut with craft scissors.

Here’s the recipe.
1. Stamps – Delightful Decorations
2. Ink – Not Quite Navy
3. Cardstock – Whisper White, Yoyo Yellow, Not Quite Navy, Melon Mambo.
4. DSP – Razzleberry Lemonade
5. Accessories: 1”, and ¾” circle punches, Finial Press Big Shot Folder,

¼” Basic Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver Thread, Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Final Butterfly Card

And here we have it - the finaly butterfly card cased from the fabulous Mary Fish. This card uses the current Tea Party DSP. The cardstock colours are Pretty In Pink, Old Olive, Almost Amethyst, and Very Vanilla. Accessories used were the Eyelet border punch, and the Big Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die for the Big Shot. I'm going to package all 5 of these cards into a little kit and give it to someone for Christmas. These cards are all blank inside, but adding a sentiment would be very simple to do.

Swaps on Saturday

This fabulous card was made by my fabulous Upline Angela McKay who is the #1 Canadian Rising Star this year. She made this swap for Founders Circle (yes, she made over 125 of them). She used stencils from Decor Elements. I just had to share this with you. If you are a demonstrator you can find this card featured on the Demonstrator Website.

2 sketches 4 U challenge

This card was made for 2 sketches 4 u. I tried out for their design team call but didn't make the cut - maybe next time. I used Tangerine Tango, Bermuda Bay and Whisper White Cardstock as well as DSP from Eskimo Kisses. The Whisper White was put throught the Big Shot using the snowflakes Cuttlebug folder. Here's the ingredients...
1. Cardstock - Tangerine Tango, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
2. Paper - DSP from Eskimo Kisses
3. Brads from SU and from Making Memories
4. Punches - corner rounder, eyelet border and snowflake
5. Ribbon - Polka Dot Grosgrain in Dusty Durango, and from my stash
6. Big Shot and Cuttlebug Snowflakes folder.

Our Creative Christmas

This card was made for this week's Our Creative Corner sketch challenge. I used the Country Living kit from Stampin' Up! to make this one. I took the chipboard and covered the wreath shape with old olive kraft ink, and then I took the other chipboard parts and covered them in white kraft ink. I adhered a piece of old olive DSP to the back of the white chipboard to make a wreath. I also partially inverted this sketch.

Here's the recipe:
1. Paper – Country Living DSP
2. Cardstock – Whisper White, Old Olive, Certainly Celery
3. Ink – Riding Hood Red Classic, Old Olive, Certainly Celery,
and Whisper White Kraft
4. Punches – Modern Label
5. Ribbon – Riding Hood Red taffeta, Whisper White Satin,
Old Olive ¼” grosgrain.
6. Accessories – rhinestone brads
7. Stamps – Teeny Tiny Wishes

Mojo 111

Well I'm trying yet again. It's the first week of the month so it's time for my Mojo Challenge entry. This card was cased from a card at Me, My Stamps, & I.

Here's the recipe.

1. Stamps – Medallion, Teeny Tiny Wishes
2. Ink - Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Soft Suede
3. Paper - Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Soft Suede, Whisper White,
Thoroughly Modern DSP
4. Punches – Modern Label, 1 ¾” Circle, Circle Scissor Plus
5. Accessories – Silver Brads, Filigree Brads, Melon Mambo ½” Polka Dot Grosgrain

Christmas Stamp a Stack

Ready to make Christmas cards???? My next stamp-a-stack Christmas Card making class will make 15 cards (5 of each of these) for only $20. Classes will be offered on the 15th and 22nd of November from 3 - 5.

Please email me if you are interested in participating.

SPCC #22

Another Monday means another fabulous colour combo over at SPCC. I had so much fun making this card. I used a sketch from Mojo Monday from a few weeks back. This colour combo immediately brought to mind last years retired DSP Autumn Vine. I know that it's a few days after Halloween, but I really wanted to try out this stampset Eat, Drinkk & Be Scary. Now I don't own a lot of Halloween stamps because I don't really give out Halloween cards, but this set was a digital stamp in MDS (My Digital Studio). So I made up a blank card with all the images in various colours, and then I printed it out. Next I cut out the stamped images using punches, and surprise, surprise, they were the right size. I punched out the images and then cut out some of the other images with craft scissors. All the images were layered and popped up with dimensionals. The ribbons used are both grosgrain. I turned over the polka dotted Dusty Durango ribbon.