Sunday Swap

So this was my swap for my upline's meeting yesterday.  I got some AMAZING swaps in return from the other ladies.  I used my Elegant Soiree DSP.  First I used the Vintage Wallpaper Texutred Impressions folder and then I used the debossed side, so that the pattern receeds rather than pops out.  The flower was cut using an  embosslit  and then I sponged and then curled, and curled, and curled the edges.  I popped a brad through the middle to attach it to the backing.  I ran a strip of Baja Breeze cardstock through the crimper.  The Crumb Cake Seam Binding Ribbon was gathered.  I frayed one end and then separated a thread in the middle and then gathered up the remaining ribbon.  If you know how to gather when sewing you will find this technique VERY easy.

The Fun Stuff:

1.  Paper - Elegant Soiree DSP, Baja Breeze and Early Espresso cardstock.

2.  Ink - Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

3.  Accessories - Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Folder, Birds and Blooms Sizzlits, Scallop Edge Border Punch, Crimper, Seam Binding Ribbon, Subtles Brads

More Big Bows

More  big bows.  I'm taking  a cue from my fellow Stampin' Royalty Goddess, Marlene.  She is the QUEEN of bows.  In fact I copied this bow from the one she sent to me with her Christmas Card this year.  Seeing as I'm so bow-crazy this weekend, I am entering this card into the current challenge over at Pals Paper Arts as well.  Check out my post yesterday with another giant bow.  Just like yesterday I stamped the image on Watercolour Paper and then filled it in with Stampin' Write markers and an Aquapainter.
The Fun Stuff:
1.  Paper - Pear Pizzaz DSP, Peach Parfait, Very Vanilla, Watercolour Paper
2.  Ink - Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzaz
3.  Stamps - Fast and Fabulous
4.  Accessories - Corduroy Button, Hemp Twine, Framed Tulips and Swiss Dots Textured Impressions Folders, Stampin' Write Markers, Aquapainter, Striped Chocolate Chip Grosgrain Ribbon

Hydrageas and Bows

This week at Pals Paper Arts they are challenging us to create a proejct with as bow.  I whipped up this little card as I was making samples for my demonstration tomorrow.  I made the frame with the Framed Tulips Impressions Folder.  It's pretty easy to do.  Go on over to Butternut Sage designs to find her tutorial.  I love making this on DSP because then I can sand it down to bring out the white in the middle of the paper.  I also distressed the edges a bit for a vintage feel.  I used Stampin' Write markers to colour in the image and an Aquapainter to fill it all in.

The Fun Stuff
1.   Paper - Blushing Bride DSP, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Pear Pizzaz cardstock and Watercolour Paper.
2.   Ink - Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzaz, Chocolate Chip
3.   Stamps - Because I Care
4.   Accessories - Old Olive Striped Grosgrain, Pink Pirouette Button, Hemp Twine, Framed Tulips Textured Impression Folder,Aquapainter

Remember

So a few days ago I posted a page made with a new template for My Digital Studio.  I used that template as the start of this page.  What I did was bring the first page into MDS as a photo and then reduced the opacity.  Next I layered punches over it and filled them with Botanical Gardens DSP.  The background paper was too yellow for the photo, so I reduced the opacity of the background and placed some Crumb Cake behind it.  Next I layered over 2 stamps from the Vintage Overlays set.  One of the things that I struggle with about MDS, is the fact that the digital paper looks, well, too digital.  I wish it looked a little more realistic.  The Vintage Overlays help with this, and Botanical Gardens and Love Letter DSP are fabulous for this.

This photo is another one of my Mom and her younger sister.  The photo was originally taken in Black and White.  Then it was printed and hand painted with colour as was the fashion in the 1930's and '40's.  They are playing in a wading pool.  What is cool about this wading pool is that it still exists and the city still fills it with water every July and August.

Memories

This page is a template that I downloaded for My Digital Studio.  It uses the Love Letter DSP and the Artistic Etchings and Vintage Overlays Stamp Brush Sets.    I thought it was perfect to showcase this photo is of my Mom and her younger sister as girls.  My Grandfather was from Norway, and the girls are wearing traditional Norwegian outfits.  The photo was taken during WWII in Vancouver, very close to where I now work.

Stampin Royalty Challenge #56

     Well this week we have a sketch challenge at Stampin' Royalty, designed by yours truly.  I seem to be on a Valentine's Day kick right now - must be because of the fabulous Occasions Mini we have going on.  Anyway  the heart is framed with the Tulip Frame Textured Impressions Folder.  I found a tutorial on this somewhere on the web and can't figure out where from.  Once I figure it out I'll post up the link for you.  It's really easy.  The only problem for me is that once I sanded it down to do the texture, it started to look uneven.  I'll have to try again seeing as I'm teaching a tutorial on this to a group of Demonstrators this weekend. 

     The sentiment comes from the 'Be My Valentine' single stamp from the current Occasions Mini.  I stamped it on some DSP and carefully cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.  The heart and flowers were also stamped on DSP and punched out with their coordinating punches - love that Punch Potpourri set.  I then mounted the heart on some Cherry Cobbler cardstock and cut it out to matte it.  Then I used the distressing kit to rough up the edges and add some colour texture.  I really like how this hides my uneven cutting.  The Flowers were stamped on Cherry Cobbler and punched out.  Then I turned them a bit and mounted the vanilla flowers over top.   

The Fun Stuff:
1.  Paper - Botanical Gardens DSP, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler cardstock
2   Ink - Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso
3.  Stamps - Be My Valentine, Punch Potpourri
4.  Punches - Large Heart, Boho Blossoms, Scallop Trim Border
5.  Accessories - Small Pears, Tulip Frame Textured Impressions Folder, Distressing Kit

CAS Valentine

     This card was my swap for my Upline's meeting last night.  I was thrilled to get together with many members of Stampin' Royalty's Design team.  Last night we had past members Shanda, Sarah, and Sabriena, as well as current DT members Marlene, Jenn, and Angela.  There was lots of talking, laughing, swapping, and make'n takes. 
     So this was a clean and simple swap that I put together.  The card was stamped with Fine Flourish in Blushing Bride.  I then masked it out and sprayed Smooch Spritz on it.  It's hard to tell in the photo but it looks great in real life.  The Heart was made with the Scalloped Heart of Hearts Embosslit and Real Red cardstock.  I then stamped the sentiment from the 'Be My Valentine' stamp from the new Occasions Mini.  Then I cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.
   After checking out Stampin' Up Only Challenges, I saw they have a Valentine's Day Challenge this week.  So I thought I'd enter that.

Girl Land DOES Exist

Well this page has a story behind it.  It started out as a page to accompany yesterday's post.  Yesterday's post was from last week and this week I got more photos of Teagan at Dance class.  After many years of trying, she has finally agreed to let me put ponytails in her hair.  She really likes the one in the middle.  I think she looks like Cindy Lu Who.  Even Teagan figured out I was referring to 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas."  Anyway, this page was designed around this week's sketch at Sketchy Thursdays. 

So I started with a photo from dance class.  I layered it over some Pink Pirouette Script DSP.  I took all these photos with my IPhone so they aren't the best.  Anyway, back to the page.  The title refers to a few things.  Firstly, poor Teagan is the only granddaughter on both sides.  She has tons of boy cousins.  All the grandchildren in our family are 4 years old or younger.  My son is the oldest.  But Teagan is the ONLY girl.  So especially after Christmas and a LOT of time with family, poor Teaggie has not had very much girl time.  So when she started dance class a few weeks ago she was IN HEAVEN!!!!  All those PINK tutu's really made her day.  I've never seen her sooooooo excited as when we are on our way to dance class.  So when she first walked into the dance studio, it was like she's finally found her place in life.

The title also referrs to a time when I had 2 roomates in a 3 story duplex.  The male roommate lived in the basement with his own bathroom, and me and my other roomate who was female, lived upstairs.  So Greg, started referring to the upstairs of the house as 'girl land'.  He said we needed a big pink sign to hang over the stairs.  We laughed a lot over this. 

So Teagan has finally found GIRL LAND.  And I'm thrilled that she's happy with dance class. 

This page was done with My |Digital Studio and is a Stampin' Up ONLY page.

Dancing in the rain?????

Oh yeah did I have FUN making this page.  The photos are from Teagan's dance class.  This is a digital page made with My Digital Studio.   I made the 'raindrops' by layering punches.  I started with the bird wing from the 2 step bird punch and then layered others to fill out the raindrops.The background paper is from the Shades of Spring digital DSP and then I layered on several stamped backgrounds from the Vintage Overlays set.  The Clouds at the top of the page are from the Sunny Day kit.

A Few Challenges

 I've been home most of this week battling a nasty cold/ flu or something...  Finally I went to the doctor and got some drugs.  Turns out that the nasty cold had turned into a nasty sinus infection.  Anyway, my point is that because my kids are in daycare, when I wasn't napping, I've been able to sit down and make a few cards.  This card above has been made for a few challenges.  There's a sketch challenge over at Pals Paper Arts, a colour challenge over at the Paper Players, and a recipe challenge over at 4 Crafty Chicks.  4 Crafty Chicks is looking for something with Ribbon, Brads, and Patterned paper.  It doesn't show up very well on the card, but I stamped the French Script background stamp in River Rock Ink.  It

The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper – Very Vanilla, Elegant Soiree DSP, Rose Red cardstock
2. Ink – River Rock, Baja Breeze, Rose Red
3. Stamps – French Script, Punch Potpourri
4. Accessories – Large Heart Punch, Antique Brads, Rose Red double stitched ribbon and Beachfront Ribbon Originals, stampin dimensional, distressing kit.

Stampin Royalty Challenge #55

This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a recipe challenge for you.  We'd like to see...

Anything With Wings

So I decided to pull out my favourite Big Shot Die, Beautiful Butterflies, and make a set of cards.  I pulled out the Lap of Luxury DSP that I had not opened before.  Once I got in to this pack I just couldn't stop.  That's why I came up with 3 different cards. 

The Fun Stuff:
1. Paper – Lap of Luxury, Basic Gray, Very Vanilla
2. Ink – Concord Crush
3. Stamps – Oval All
4. Embellishments – Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die, Scallop Oval, Large Oval and Scallop Trim Border Punches, Taffeta Ribbon, Stampin Dimensionals, Basic Rhinestones

Colour Q Challenge #68

This is my fist page for the Colour Q design team.  I'm totally excited and also a bit intimidated by the talent in the Colour Q Royal Court.  Many of these ladies have blogs that I have been following for years.  gulp!!  Anyway, with the bar set so high, I knew I had to pull out all the stops for this one.  I decided to make a digital page using My Digital Studio.  The vast majority of items that I used are from Stampin' Up, and the rest are freebies that I have picked up on the net.  If you look closely you can see the Christmas Collage background stamp which I reduced the opacity down to almost nothing, so there's just a hint in the background.

The Fun Stuff:
1. Cardstock – Cherry Cobbler, Poppy Parade, So Saffron
2. Ink – Always Artichoke, So Saffron, Basic Black
3. Stamps – Welcome Christmas, Christmas Collage
4. Embellishments – Buttons, Seam Binding Ribbon, Basic Pearls

Introducing the Flower Arrangement Card Tutorial

 

Please note that the Build a Bear Template is now on sale.  Click here for more details.

Introducing the Flower Arangement card tutorial (just in time for Valentine's Day).  Check this out.  Here's a photo of the closed card - it looks like a boquet of flowers right?

Then you carefully pull the flowers out of the pocket

And VOILA! you open it up to reveal the message.  How about that??





If you want your own copy of the tutorial it's only $3.99 USD.  Click the link below to buy.  You will receive an email within 24 hours of purchasing with your tutorial PDF.

Stylish Blogger Award

Well I received this award this week from two different blogging friends.  Thanks to Gardenia Pepworth and Tara Bilabo for this Stylish Blogger Award.  Update - since then I have also received a nod from Alison Day and Lori Turner.

Part of this award is to list 8 things about myself.  So why not try some unique ones that you all probably don't know.

1.  I have a Cook Islands Drivers License - yes I had to take a test.  Actually, I spent a summer backpacking around the South Pacific Islands by myself.  Highlights included a 24 hour trip on a cargo ship to Bora Bora, with just some locals, and watching dolphins jump off the bow in the morning.  I also learned to drive a moke, to drive a motorcycle, and to snorkel with sharks. 

2.  I spent the year 2000 teaching in a small town in New Zealand.  I did a job exchange, and my partner came from the small town and lived in my home and taught in my job in inner city Vancouver.

3.  I have a Piano Teacher's certificate.  That's what 10 years of classical Piano Training got for me.

4.  My husband is 10 years younger than me.  We still agree that he is more mature than I am.  That year I spent in the South Pacific - well he was still in high school.

5.  I love, love, love my job as a teacher.  I have been teaching since 1992.  I have been in my fabulous school since 2002 and I have no plans to ever leave it.

6.  I have moved home 18 different times.  (19 if you count that year in New Zealand).  Let's just say that in my 20's I had a hard time settling down.  Conversely, my parents still live in the house I grew up in.  Update - I just signed a deal on a new house and we will be moving at the end of April - I'd like to think that this is the LAST move as this house is almost perfect

7.  I am a night owl.  I don't usually go to bed before midnight.  I also HATE mornings.  Turns out that my daughter is the same.

8.  I am a Viking and I'm strong and stubborn too.  My grandparents were all immigrants to Canada.  My dad's first language was Icelandic.  He did not learn English until he was 7 years old.  My other grandparents were Norwegian and Danish.  My student's find this fascinating as most of them have asian heritage and so they assume that I'm English because I'm white.

Now I need to pass this on to 8 other bloggers...
So I'm passing it on to

1. Georgeann Manning
2.  Marlene Peters
3.  Kari Linder
4.  Arielle Gordon
5. LeAnne Pugilese
6. Lesley Croghan
7. Denise Pettingill
8. Alison Day

You can click on their names to link to their blogs.  Whew this post has taken me a long time to do.

Always on My Mind

I had Valentine's Day on the brain when I came up with this page.  I found this picture of Brad and I when we were first dating.  I really like this picture because it shows us happy and in love.  It's hard to catch that in a photograph.  We actually took this photo ourselves.  I think I'm the one holding the camera.  This page was made with My Digital Studio.

The Fun Stuff  - all MDS

1.  Paper - Shades of Spring, Sweet Pea DSP, Soft Suede, Whisper White

2.  Stamp brushes - Always

3.  Punches - Square punch, Scallop Trim Border and Corner

4.  Accessories - Satin Ribbon, Stitching, Paper Daisies, Glimmer Brads

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #54

It's wednesday and this means it another challenge over at Stampin' Royalty.  This week we have a colour challenge for you.  And let me tell you, even though I came up with this combination, I found these colours a real challenge.  I couldn't decide on which combination.  All I knew from the start was that I wanted to use this stamp set - Fast & Fabulous.  So first I pulled out the Lap of Luxury DSP as I LOOOOOVE  CONCORD CRUSH.  I originally planned to use the blue flowers with the purple DSP, but then found out that I really didn't like the Marina Mist with this DSP.  So I decided to mount it on a blue background.  I don't have any Marina Mist DSP, so I used cardstock and my embossing folders.  In the end I posted the top photo on Stampin' Royalty because the card in the foreground has all the challenge colours, but I wanted to include the other card because I am really proud of how I watercoloured it.

The Fun Stuff

1   Paper - Lap Of Luxury DSP, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Concord Crush, Watercolour Paper

2.  Ink - Concord Crush, Old Olive, Marina Mist and black Staz On

3   Stamps - Fast and Fabulous, Teeny Tiny Wishes

4   Embossing  Folders - Vintage Wallpaper, Framed Tulips

5   Punches - Word Window, Modern Label

6   Accessories - Aquapainter, Victoria Crochet Trim, Concord Crush Stitched Poly Ribbon, Marina Mist, Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon,  Antique Brads

I'm a Member of the Royal Court Design Team

Yeah, I would like to share with you that I have been asked to join the design team over at my 2nd favourite challenge site.  (Stampin' Royalty is my #1 challenge site of course.) 

 Anyway, I am now a member of the Royal Court Design Team over at COLOUR Q!!!!  My samples will show up every 2nd week, so this week I have not made one.  But I'd like to share with you the challenge colours this week.  I love the way Arielle sets up her colour combo images.  Click on the link above or on the photo to go to Colour Q and see what fabulous creations the Design Team has come up with.

Happy Birthday Cupcake

These cards were originally made for last week's Stampin' Royalty challenge which was to celebrate our birthday!!!  It's been one year!  Anyway, I just looooooove the new cupcake punch and Create a Cupcake Stamp set.  I used the new Ice Cream Parlour paper from the new Saleabration catty for these cards.  Of course I pulled the colours from the DSP.  I pulled out the retired love notes to use as a background for those adorable cupcakes.  The glitter was Dazzline Diamonds and it was added with a two-way glue pen.
THE FUN STUFF:
1   Paper - Ice Cream Parlour, Melon Mambo, Whisper White
2.  Ink - Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette
3.  Stamps - Create a Cupcake
4.  Accessories - Build a Cupcake Punch, Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon, Love notes (ret), Modern Label Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Two-way glue pen.

How to use the Cupcake Punch

Last weekend I was putting together my birthday cake slider tutorial and having a lot of fun with my cupcake punch.  My 4 year old son came in and "helped" me for a while.  He took all the extra punch outs and put them together to make his own cupcakes and used tape to stick them together.  Then he took some scrap paper and drew me directions on how to put the whole thing together.  I love this.  So I apologize for being such a 'mom' but I was so proud, I needed to share this with you.

Introducing the Birthday Cake Slider card

This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a birthday challenge.  It's been one year since we started up our challenge blog and we've been having a ton of fun along the way.  This week we'd like you to join us by showing a project which celebrates birthdays.  This can be a card, scrapbook page, or 3D project.

I'm totally excited to introduce my new Birthday Cake slider card.  You can purchase the template for only $3.99  Just click on the paypal link below.

This card comes with it's own matching envelope template.  When you slide the cake down it easily fits into this specially designed envelope.  Below you can find several examples of this card.

Birthday Cake Slider Card   $3.99

New Years 2010

We had a ton of fun at our house last night. Here in Vancouver we are in the Pacific Time Zone which puts us 3 hours behind New York City. So we had Brad's sister and family over to celebrate 'new year's' at 9pm. Thanks to digital television we were able to get the eastern feed of Dick Clark's New Year's Eve and we watched the ball drop in Times Square. We used noisemakers and party hats and ran around yelling "Happy New Year!!" This page features my daughter Teagan.