Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Colour Q Challenge Number 122



This cute little page was easy to whip up using My Digital Studio.  I started with the Downtown Grunge Digital kit and then added a few embellishments and images to add more interest. 

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Leadership Display Samples - Take EIGHT


Here's another card I made for the Leadership Displays.  This stamp set is a Sale-a-Bration set called Elementary Elegance which is available now!  I found inspiration for this card on Pintrest.  It was a lot of fun to use punches, embosslits and the Sale-a-Bration set to complete this card.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Leadership Display Samples - Take SEVEN


This was such a simple card to make.  First it started when I stamped the sentiment on a piece of Pink Pirouette.  I coloured around the sentiment with a Cherry Cobbler marker.  Once I was happy with my colouring I punched it out with the Modern Label Punch.  Then I mounted it on Whisper White and carefeull fussy cut around it for a white Matte.  I added a few mini pearls, some Twitterpated DSP and a strip of gathered Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon and voila!  Elegant, yet to the point!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Leadership Display Samples - Take SIX

This card is completely CASE'd from one done by Janette Lynton.  Click here for her blog.   I have to say, that of all the stamp sets in the SAB mini, this one is my least favourite.  I really wasn't sure what to do with this set at all when I first got it.  So I decided to make my samples with it first off.  Good thing too, because I had them finished before the flood, and let me tell you, I was having trouble enough with motivating myself after the flood happened.  I can't imaging how difficult it would have been if I'd had to create with this set, after the flood.



All was not lost though, and I found a card made by Janette Lynton that worked perfectly as inspiration.  This card is much more masculine in feel than I usually make.  The set is called Sprinkled Expressions.  The stars were stamped on a sheet of scratch paper and then stamped on the Whisper White for a more subtle effect.  The scallop comes from the Tasteful Trims Big Shot die.
The Sentiment was stamped in Early Espresso and then punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch.  I pleated a strip of the DSP for an interesting effect.  I then offset it on another circle to create a bit of a funky look.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Stampin Royalty challenge #108


This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a Picture Inspiration Challenge.
Here's the photo.


And here's my take on the card. 
I decided to pull the filigree silver from the birdcage in the background.































I'm really happy with how this card turned out.  First I punched out the doily of the new  Paper Doily sizzlits die.  I cut it out of simple white photocopier paper because I'd heard alot about difficulty punching out the parts of this die.  Anyway, I used regular white paper and then painted it with the Silver Shimmer paint.  It dried really quickly and looks fabulous.


The sentiment comes from the new Occasions Mini.  It's called "Loving Thoughts".


I distressed the blue paper with a lot of rubbing and bending. Then I sprayed it with water and rubbed it again.  Then I let is dry thouroughly.  After all of that I sponged the edges with the Blue Azure form the Distressing Kit.  Next I stamped the image from the new saleabration set "Fresh Vintage" in the Tea stain ink.  I stamped it and then stamped it off.  This gives a nice variation of colour. 

Monday, January 23, 2012

Leadership Displays - Take FIVE


Ever create something and like it so much that you just can't believe that you are the one that made it?  Well that's how I felt when I finished this page.  It's an 8 x 8 page I made for the displays at Leadership this year.  This is one of my absolute favourite photos of Connor.  He's 3 years old in this picture and I cropped it because it's actually from a photo of Connor and Teagan on the Laz-y-boy and he's been busy pushing her and bothering her (she's 2 years old) and the expression on her face is pure fury, but Connor looks like a little angel.


The stamps and paper are from the new Sale-a-bration Catalogue.  I pulled the colours from the paper and added Cherry cobbler.  Banners are really trendy in papercrafting this year, so I added a banner with Connor's name.  I decided to try and make my banner a bit more unique, so I used various punches to create the various shapes of each banner flag.  The letters of his name are in the stamps from the Outlined Occasions SAB set, so I stamped them in Cherry Cobler on white.  then I carefully coloured in around themso that they look like they are actually stamped on Cherry Cobbler paper, not on Whisper White.

I used the linen thread and dipped it in Crystal Effects and then attached it to the DSP.  Next I added the flags of the banner by using Stampin' Dimensionals Finally I added the letters, also with Stampin' Dimensionals for more dimension.  I tied the little bows by themselves, and then I cut them down and glued them on top of the longer thread to finish off the ends (as in the photo below)


Finally, I stamped most of the images from the Fresh Vintage SAB set and cut them out by hand or with punches.  I layered them all up to create a bit of a collage.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Leadership Display Samples - Take FOUR


I had a lot of fun making this card.  It took me a long time to stamp the sentiment in a straight line.  Ever have one of those days when you just can't get it right?  Eventually I simply trimmed the paper around it to the size I wanted.  Then I coloured the image with the colours in the DSP .  Lucky Limeade, Calypso Coral, and Pool Party.  It's such a simple idea to stack these rectangles of DSP on top of each other and to add the bow to make it into a gift.  I have seen this idea on a card somewhere in my travels.  But I can't, for the life of me, remember who to credit for this idea.  So if you know, can you drop me a line so that I can give credit to the original creator.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Leadership Display Samples - Take THREE



So this card was a fun collage that I made using the Fresh Vintage Sale-a-bration stamp set.  I stamped the square shapes and punched them out with the postage punch.  The smaller flowers were also punched out but with the 1/2" circle punch.  They were mounted on the flower image which I fussy cut out by hand.  Most of the layers were cut from the Sale-a-bration DSP, except for the middle strip.  I stamped the border image in parallel lines with crumb cake on Very Vanilla.  Then I distressed the paper for an aged look.  The ribbon was gathered by pulling on a few threads from the middle of the ribbon.  And finally I added a few of the tiny pearls to the stamped images and three of the jumbo pearls to the top right corner.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Leadership Displays Take TWO

Here's another cute card from the Elementary Elegance Sale-a-bration set.  There's a lot going on with the card.  Check out below for more details.


The DSP on this page is in the Sale-a-braion catalogue.  It's called Fresh Vintage.  I used a strip of the Old Olive and Pool Party print and then drew the colours from there.  I used a circle of the First Edition DSP behind the top circle.  The stamped butterflies and the sentiment are from the Elementary Elegance stamp set.  The middle butterfly is from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit.  The stiching around the edges was done with the paper piercing tool and the mat pack.  Then after I poked all those holes, I added the thread by hand.  It's the only way I get the stitching to look right.  I really like this card and I was sad to pack it up and send it off to Stampin' up.  Hopefully someone finds it on the display boards and sends me a photo of it - hint hint!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Leadership Displays - Take ONE


Here she is, my little cutie.  This is one of my favourite photos of Teagan.  She's 11 months old in this photo.  She's such an adrenaline junkie.  Swings have always been her favourite thing at the park, and now she's taking to bike riding and her scooter - I'm afraid of what she'll be like as a teenager.

But anyway, that's not why you're checking out my blog.  You want to know how I created this page right?  Well, this page was one of my samples that I made for the Leadership Displays.   This one features the Sale-a-bration Set Elementary Elegance. I have to say it was really exciting to receive a parcel of Sneak Peek items, even before the Catalogues were available for Demonstrators to see online.  I really had no idea what was coming.

I made this page around the time our basement flooded.  I managed to grab a drawer of photos in the mad panick to save my crafting stuff.  So when I sat down to create, I started going through this drawer of photos because my printer was a victim of the flood, and I needed to create a scrapbook page - fast.

I decided to use this photo as the red in the swing is similar to Poppy Parade in the DSP.  There's really not very much to this page.  I mounted the photo on Poppy Parade and then tore and distressed the edges for some texture.  I stamped the frame in Poppy Parade and the 'Hello' In Early Espresso.  Then I used my craft scissors to carefully cut around it.  Finally the letters in 'cute' were cut out with the Big Shot - from Early Espresso cardstock.  Then I glued them on to add some interest.

Along the borrom of the page is a strip of ribbon which I punched with the dotted scallop border punch.  Then I wove some of the organdy ribbon from Sale-a-bration through the holes for more interest. and VOILA.   Such a simple page to create!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Stampin Royalty Challenge #107



 This week we have a colour Challenge over at stampin' Royalty.  I decided to CASE a card from the Current Occasons Mini.  I flipped it around and changed a few things up.    I added a few details, like the embossing around the edges with the Simply Scored, and the sponging.  But I'm really happy how this turned out because usually when there's a colour challenge with such bright colours I struggle. 







Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Colour Q Challenge #120


This week is a fabulous colour combo over at Colour Q  When I first saw this combo I couldn't wait to get started on a page.   The page above shows pictures from a really fun day that my daughter and I had over at Jenn Picard's house (my fellow Artisan Award winner and Stampin' Royalty Goddess)


Jenn and I stamped and gabbed in her craft room, while the kids made these adorable little crowns from a kit that Isabelle got for Christmas.  They had so much fun - I love the sparkle in their eyes.
Can you see the way I incorporated the photo from Arielle's badge into my scrap page.  I made this page with My Digital Studio.  It was hard to find patterned paper with the palette colours in it, so made a lot of my own 'patterned paper' using digital stamps.  Can you see how the Rich Razzleberry square with the white flowers is cropped from the Tea Shoppe Teacup stamp?

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #106

This week we have a fun challenge for you over at Stampin' Royalty. 
This week the challenge is to

USE  FABRIC
on your project.


Please hop on over to Stampin' Royalty and check out the fabulous work by the Design Team. 


This card was created using a lot of stuff from the new Occasions Mini and from the new Sale-a-bration Catalogue.  The fabric was ripped to give the strip of fabric a bit of a worn look.  I folded it into a bow and then tied some organza ribbon around it to make a tiny bow.  The hearts are from the Take it to Heart stamp set which coordinates with the Hearts Framelits.  I decided to fussy cut out the stamps and then mounted them on Early Espresso hearts cut out with the framelits.


The Fun Stuff:
From the Occasions Mini 2012
Take it to Heart Stamp Set
Hearts Collection Framelits.
Twitterpated Designer Fabric

From the Sale-a-bration 2012 Catalogue
1/8" Organdy Ribbon in Lucky Limeade

Friday, January 6, 2012

A Cute Surprise


Isn't this card adorable.  I got a nice surprise when it arrived in the mail a few days ago.


 It was created by Andrea Withers over at Stampin' Up! Head Office.

Just look at how perfectly straight she stamped the sentiment.

And check ou this cute little ribbon and bow combination.

 

And the polka dotted background stamp really finishes this whole thing off.
Check out the new Occasions Mini 2012 for details on this stampset.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #105


This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a sketch challenge for you. 
Hop on over to check out the wonderful work by the Design Team.


Here's my take on the sketch.


I used a lot of brand new stuff on this card from the new Occasions Mini and the upcoming Sale-a-bration catalogue.  That ribbon actually comes all ruffled up like that.  Isn't that a fabulous idea?   I have a list of the products in the card at the bottom of this post.  Check out the dimension I added to the 'flowers' simply by folding and playing with them a bit.


The Fun Stuff:Early Espresso Cardstock
Whisper White Cardstock
Three layer punch
1 1/4" circle punch

From the Occasions Mini 2012
Apothecary Art Stamp Set
Labels Collection Framelits Dies for the Big Shot
3/8" Pleated Satin Ribbon

From the Sale-a-bration 2012 Catalogue
Everyday Enchantment DSP
Everyday Enchantment Brads

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Colour Q Challenge #118


This week there's a fantastic colour combo over at Colour Q.  I must say that I don't usually like these colours together, but somehow they really work!  I took these photos of my daughter just as we were going to get in the car for her first real ski lessons.  She was so excited.  I just love the light in her eyes.  We had a fabulous day on the slopes.  I'll have more photos later to share about our day.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Cardinal Christmas yet again


So one final Christmas card for the season.  I think I'll probably be making lots of them during the year, but for now, here's my final post of the Christmas Season.  2012 is here, and I'm really looking forward to another fabulous year.