Connor Camping

I made this page with My Digital Studio. I had a lot of fun playing with the various elements in order to add lots of detail to this page. This summer Connor and I went camping with some of my friends. It was a 'no husbands allowed' camping trip. There were 7 women (we all work together) and 9 children. Connor was the youngest, but I think he had a lot of fun. The weather wasn't spectacular, but it was warm. I love the colours in the page as it really emphasizes the colour of the water.

Stampin Royalty Challenge #39

This week it's a sketch challenge over at Stampin Royalty. We have some fabulous new Stampin Goddesses on our Design Team as well. Click here to check out what is going on at SR.

This card was whipped together using my favourite new In Color - Concord Crush. I used my retired coluzze, my distressing kit and lots of Crystal effects and Glitter to create this card. I'm not completely happy with the final product, but a lot of work went into this card. Make sure you go on over to SR to see what the goddesses have come up with and what our final group of guest designers have made.

Concord Play Date

This Clean and Simple card was very easy to whip up. I used the colours from this week's Play Date Cafe. If you've been following my blog for a while now you will know that my favourite colour combination is PURPLE and GREEN.

The colours I used are Concord Crush, Kiwi Kiss, and Whisper White. I stamped the image and punched it out with the 1 1/4" square punch. Everything was cut and popped up on dimensionals.

The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper – Concord Crush, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White
2. Ink – Concord Crush
3. Stamps – Cute by the Inch
4. Accessories – Vintage Wallpaper textured impression folder, White Brads, Mini Pearls, 1 1/4” inch square and 1 3/8 inch square punches, Kiwi Kiss satin ribbon

Colour Q Friend

When I saw this colour combo at Colour Q I knew I had to play this week. I pulled out a stamp set that hasn't been out of the cupboard in a long time - Great Friend. The butterflies were stamped and cut out with craft scissors. The leaves were stamped in old olive and then stamped off to give the images depth. I used the mat pack and paper piercing tool to make th erow of holes by the ribbon. The butterflies were given 'bodies' with rhinestones.

I used the colours from Colour Q and the sketch from this week's Pals Paper Arts challenge to create this card.

The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper – Whisper White, So Saffron, Poppy Parade, Old Olive cardstock and Peach Parfait DSP
2. Stamps – Great Friend, Teeny Tiny Wishes
3. Punches – Large Rounded Corner (retired), Scallop Trim Border, Word Window
4. Accessories – Rhinestones, Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, Mat Pack and Paper Piercing Tool, Stampin’ Dimensionals

4 Crafty Fall

This card was made for this week's challenge over at Stamp Something and at 4 Crafty Chicks. This week they both have a Fall / Autumn theme challenge. I am now back at work and so I haven't really had a lot of time to play in my craft room, so I finally had some time to sit down and come up with this quick and simple thank you card.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #38

No Pennant die????? No Problem!!!!!! I do NOT own the pennant die but was able to make these fabulous banners using my score pal, a paper cutter, and border punches. If you are interested in a tutorial, please leave me a comment and I'll put one together this week. These banners were made for my daughter's birthday. I pulled out my retired papers to create them. The Happy Birthday banner uses the Island Oasis paper from the last Summer Mini, and the Teagan banner uses the Good Neighbour paper from the last Sale-a-bration Mini. The birthday images on the top banner were made using My Digital Studio and then printed out on Whisper White cardstock and cut out with craft scissors.

Here are some closeups of the details.

The Fun Stuff:
1. Digital Stamps – Big Bold Birthday
2. Paper – Island Oasis DSP, Good Neighbour DSP, Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, So Saffron, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Pumpkin Pie
3. Big Shot Dies – Island Floral, Beautiful Butterflies, Scallop Circle, Scallop Circle #2, Serif Essentials,
4. Punches – Butterfly Extra Large, Scallop Trim and Scallop Edge border
5. Accessories – Satin Ribbon, Crop-a-dile, Silver Thread

Choo Choo Suite

I found this cute card here, made by Ilina Crouse. I changed it up a bit and then decided to make a girly version too.

The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper – Nursery Suite DSP, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Rose Red, Baja Breeze
2. Stamps – Choo Choo
3. Ink – Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake
4. Accessories – Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, Button Bouquet, Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Birdcage Birthday

This card was a lot of fun to make. I got to use a fabulous stamp set and my favourite colour. The birdcages and birds were stamped from a variety of colours and then I cut them out with craft scissors. I used Bashful Blue ink and a blender pen to add depth to the birdcages. The white background was embossed with the square lattice textured impressions folder in order to add some interest. I arranged the birdcages in a balanced manner and added the birds to add colour.
The Fun Stuff:
1. Stamps – Aviary, Teeny Tiny Wishes
2. Ink – Soft Suede, Basic Grey, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Poppy Parade
3. Paper – Concord Crush DSP, Whisper White, Concord Crush, and Soft Suede cardstock
4. Accessories – Word Window Punch, Neutrals Brads, Pearls, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Square Lattice Textured Impessions Folder.

Christmas Case

This card is a CASE of this card here by Andrea Walford. I started with her basic layout and then decided to glam it up with extra mini rhinestones. Once I had put the background together I decided that it made a nice Christmas card and decided to add the holiday sentiment.

The Fun Stuff
1. Stamps – Christmas Greetings
2. Ink – Old Olive
3. Paper – Nursery Suite DSP, Old Olive, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Crumb Cake
4. Punches – Wide Label
5. Accessories – Satin Ribbon, Designer Buttons, Basic Rhinestones

Autumn Birthday

Well here's another girly birthday card with Princess Shona. This time she's a brunette. I used orange and purple to complement the colour of her hair. The background was stamped with the French Script background stamp. I printed the princess on Whisper White and on Tangerine Tango DSP and then cut out the dress and hat and attached them.

The Fun Stuff
1. Stamps – French Script, Party This Way, Princess Shona, Well Scripted
2. Ink – Concord Crush, Peach Parfait, Soft Suede, Blush Blossom
3. Paper – Whisper White, Concord Crush, Peach Parfait, Tangerine Tango DSP
4. Punches – Large Oval, Scallop Oval, Wide Label
5. Accessories – Glimmer Brads, Chocolate Chip Satin Ribbon, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Stampin Royalty Challenge #37

This week at Stampin' Royalty the challenge is to use stitching - real or fake. I actually dusted off my sewing machine and stiched up the sides of these cards. I used the nursery suite DSP and quick accents to make this card.

The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper – Nursery Suite DSP, Chocolate Chip, Confetti White, So Saffron, Baja Breeze
2. Accessories – Nursery Suite Accents, 1/8’ taffeta ribbon, antique brads, Scallop Trim Border Punch, Stampin’ Dimensionals, 1 ¼” circle punch.

A Nice Surprise!!

I had a nice surprise last week when I found out that Lesley Croghan of Paper Players and Always Playing With Paper, was coming to Vancouver. She lives a 2 hour ferry ride away. She wanted to meet up for coffee. That's me on the left with the goofy smile (bad hair day meant I was hiding under a hat) and Lesley on the right looking fabulous. We are both teachers. Lesley teaches Grade 2/3 and I teach Grade 1/2. We had a long chat about teaching and Stampin' Up! I really enjoyed my afternoon. One of the great things about blogging is all the friendships I have made.

MDS and Connor

Here's another page made with My Digital Studio. I was once again inspired by a page done by the wonderfully talented Kristina Werner. Click here for her blog. I used mostly the Geometric Lines Designer Paper. I filled punches and used stamps to create most of the effects on this page.
The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper - Geometric Lines, Soft Suede, Baja Breeze
2. Ink - Soft Suede, Basic Black, Basic Gray,
3. Accessories - Paper Clip and Jumbo Brads from Hodgepodge Hardware, Grosgrain Ribbon
4. Stamps - Torn Edges, Greatest Moments, Vintage Overlays, Textured

laugher, joy, happiness, bliss, delight

I made this page for the challenge over at penscrappers. This page is made with My Digital Studio. The background paper is from the kit at penscrappers. Then I used a photo I had taken of a carousel horse and layered it over the background paper. Then I reduced the opacity to 20% so that the other paper showed through. The title is a digital stamp from the set Best Wishes and More.

Stampin Royalty Challenge #36

Ahh it's Wednesday and that means a new challenge over at Stampin' Royalty. This week it's an inspiration challenge using the photo below.Like many of the SR Goddesses, I was inspired by the banners in the photo. I used the new set 'Party This Way' for my card because of the fabulous banner stamps. I felt that the colours really popped against the kraft (crumb cake) background. I also stamped some fireworks in the background to give some texture to the kraft. They are from the new set 'Canada Day'. There is a similar set called 'July 4' in the American Catalogue I believe.
The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper – Crumb Cake, Whisper White
2. Stamps – Party This Way, Canada Day
3. Ink – Concord Crush, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait, Crumb Cake
4. Accessories – Pumpkin Pie 1/8” taffeta ribbon, Small black eyelets, Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Oh Yeah, Mojo Monday

Well, technically it's Tuesday and my first day back at work after 9 weeks off - I'm not expecting any sympathy here. :) Anyway, I decided to try my hand at this week's Mojo Sketch. This is the first week of the month so it's the Contest week where you could actually win a prize, but the competition is stiff. I had so much trouble getting this card started that I finally decided to create a digital card using My Digital Studio. The images were free, and from the web, but I cannot find the source. (which is really irritating because I like to credit the creators). I'm going to try to keep sourcing and if I find the creators, I'll link them here.

Anyway...

Here's my card. I love the colours in this image set. I also used the stamp brush set 'Once Upon a Time'.

Day of Gratitude CASE

...And a clean and simple card for the Paper Players. This card was inspired by a card made by the great MaryFish. Click here to see her blog and directions on how to make the red die cut. I tipped the card on its side and changed it up a bit. This image is from the new set 'Day of Gratitude which you will find in the current Holiday Mini. I stamped the image in Poppy Parade, cut it out and sponged the edges with Early Espresso. The flower in the middle was made with the 5 petal flower punch. I cut out 2 flowers, sponged the edges, and offset them to make the flower. Then I popped an antique brad in the middle to finish it off. The whole thing was popped up on dimensionals. I finished off the bottom with chocolate chip grosgrain and some of the new buttons and pumpkin pie taffeta ribbon.

The Fun Stuff:
1. Stamps - Day of Gratitude
2. Ink - Poppy Parade, Early Espresso, Soft Suede
3. Paper - Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
4. Accessories - Top Note die for the Big Shot, 5 Petal Flower punch, 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon, Antique Brads, Neutrals Designer Buttons

Two Peas...

I took this adorable photo recently at Teagan's 3rd birthday party. The little girl who's face is blocked out is my BFF's daughter Anna. Anna is only 2 months younger than Teagan. The two of them are just starting to get old enough to play together and it's adorable. When I pulled out the camera, the 2 of them started making faces together. This page is a premade template in MDS which I added my text to. It's so simple to put these pages together with My Digital Studio.

Connor

This page was CASE'd from a page made by Kristina Werner. Click here for her fabulous blog. I used My Digital Studio and I used Elegant Soiree Designer Series Paper and it's coordinating colours to finish up the page.
The Fun Stuff: (all with My Digital Studio)
1. Paper - Elegant Soiree
2. Ink - Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Marina Mist
3. Stamps - Baroque Motifs, Extreme Elements, Vintage Overlays, Textured,
4. Accessories - Grosgrain Ribbon, Eyelets, Stitching,

Mojo etc.

This card was started for this week's Mojo Monday sketch. Then I decided to try to include lots of challenges with this card. So here's the list

1. Mojo Monday - sketch - see below

2. Curtain Call - colour combo - see below
3. Sweet Stampin' - distressed birthday card

4. Party Time Tuesday - brads

Day of Gratitude

So this card was made using 'Day of Gratitude' one of the latest stamp sets from the new Holiday Mini. I stamped the images and then cut them out with craft scissors. The red background was cut out with the Top Note die and then rotated and cut out again.

The Fun Stuff:

1. Stamps - Day Of Gratitude

2. Ink - Cherry Cobbler, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Parfait

3. Paper - Whisper White, Crumb Cake and Cherry Cobbler cardstock, Key tag punch (retired)

4. Accessories - Top Note die for the Big Shot, 1 1/4" striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

Princess Q

I'm back to one challenge at a time. I love the colou combo over at Colour Q this week. I pulled out my adorable Princess Shona image to make this card. The layout for this card was inspired by a card made by Silke Ledlow. Click here to see her original card. I think she used a border punch for the scallop edge, but I used my 1 1/4" circle punch and lined up all the circles to create a border look. I printed out the princess on white cardstock and on Tangerine Tango DSP. Then I cut out her dress, and coloured the rest in with markers, except the veil which I coloured in with watercolour pencils. What I really like about the layout of this card is all the white on white, which appears to be a signature of Silke Ledlow. I might have to try this myself in the future.
The Fun Stuff:
1. Stamps – Princess Shona, Broadsheet Alphabet
2. Paper – Whisper White, Greenhouse Gala DSP, Tangerine Tango DSP, Cherry Cobbler,
3. Punches – 1 ¼” circle, word window, large oval punch, label punch
4. Ink – Daffodil Delight, Bermuda Bay, Cherry Cobbler, Bashful Blue
5. Accessories - Stampin’ Dimensionals, Stampin’ Write Markers, ½” Polka Dot Grosgrain, Yellow Brads from Making Memories, Button and red ribbon from my stash.

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #35

This week at Stampin' Royalty the challenge is Rhinestones and Pearls. I used the new Christmas Collage background stamp. I couldn't decide whether to use rhinestones OR pearls, so I used both. I used the little pearls that are new in the SU catty and the rhinestone brads. I stamped the image several times on Crumb Cake paper. I cut the images out and sponged them and popped them up on dimensionals. The date was created in MDS and printed out, cut, and attached over the label image in the stamp.

The Fun Stuff

1. Paper – Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Early Espresso
2. Ink – Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi, Riding Hood Red, River Rock
3. Accessories – Mini Pearls, Rhinestone Brads, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon (retired)