Christmas Swap

I had so much fun making this card.  I was so overwhelmed with what to do with these hostess stamps.  Then I found THIS card from Connie Babert.  I basically copied her card and changed the colours up a bit.

Halloween Swaps from Tacoma Regionals

There were some fabulous swaps and samples at the Tacoma Regionals.

 

Check out this adorable little pumpkin.

 

 

 The core d-inations card stock works really well with the woodgrain embossing folder.

I think I've found a great little art project for my class this month.

 

This card really drew my eye. 

I love how the creator put 'spook' in the sentiment.

 

SWAPS from Regionals

I just spent the weekend in Tacoma Washington.

Stampin' Up hosted their Fall Regional there.

Some of the swaps were outstanding.

I wish I knew who made this one, but isn't it fabulous???

 

 

 Check out the close-ups of that amazing flower.

 

 

Spooky Swap

I received this swap at a recent upline meeting.  I have to say, I think that we have the most talented group.  We have the fabulously artistic, and artisan award finalist Carrie Gaskin, the amazingly talented and artisan award finalist Marlene Peters, as well as my fellow artisan award winner Jenn Picard.  So the bar is always set high at our swaps.  I cannot remember who made this swap, but it's such a fun card.  I believe it was chosen as the best swap of the evening.  I love all the texture from the embossing folder, the sponging, and the layers.  I believe the stamps are from Spooky Bingo Bits.

Swaps by Di

This amazing card was made by the watercolouring queen herself, Diana Gibbs.  I got this swap from her at Convention.  Talk about an amazingly funny lady.  Her talent is amazing.  Check out how even all her layers are.  And she did this amazing watercolouring on Shimery White cardstock.

Established Swaps

This fabulous card was made by Elizabeth Price.  Can you believe that she made 85 of these???  I got this fantastic card in a full card swap at Convention last summer.  The stamp set is called Established Elements.

Convention Swaps

Here's an adorable swap that I got from Convention.  I love how she used the circle punches to make this chocolate lollipop.  The crystal effects add a nice touch.  I also love the little rhinestone mouse on the banner at the bottom

Convention Swaps

Here's a cute little swap made by my upline Kari.  She used the new Pennant punch and the Party This Way stamp set.

Artisan Dinner Swap - My Project

Well we've had a ton of fun on this Artisan Award Winner Blog Hop.  Today we're offering you a bonus day to the hop.  When we were in Utah last month for convention, we had a special dinner out with Shelli and her hubby Sterling, and a few of the concept artists at Stampin' Up!  It was a fabulous dinner that went on much longer than planned because we were so busy laughing so much.  Click here for my post on that evening.  Well, one of the things that we organized before Convention, was a 3D or card swap for the artisan winners.  So today we are showcasing our swaps from that dinner.  The thought of swapping with people who had won the Artisan Award was very intimidating.  So I decided to try my hand at something 3D.  I've been eyeing up the fabric and decided to try and use my new Delicate Doilies fabric.  I searched the internet for ideas and came up with this little pouch.  I bought some plain white cotton fabric to line the outside, and a zipper from the fabric store.  I promise that I will post a tutorial about this in the next few weeks (whew! I've a lot of tutorials to post this month!)  Anyway, I made 16 of these 'puppies' in a week.  I used to sew my own clothes a lot so it was just a matter of practice for me to use that old skill and start sewing again.   
Not all of the Artisans are participating in this hop, but here's the list of links for you to check out today.

THE ARTISAN AWARD WINNERS BLOG HOP 2011
1. Connie Collins  
2. Sandra Farrell   (You are here)
3. Heidi King  
4. Heather Klump   
5. Cheryl LeFore   
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard    
8. Heather Stevens
9. Summer Stone    
10. Heather Summers

Artisan Dinner Swaps again...

 When we went for our Artisan Award Dinner during Convention a few weeks back, we all swapped with each other.  I have been posting some of those swaps for you lately.  This swap was made by Laura Millinger.  She made this adorable pocket card and filled it with fabulous treats.  There was some gum which I immediately chewed :) , this adorable pen which she filled with DSP and added the little flower tag to, the cute books mard and tag that say THANKS and a pack of crystal light powder.  This is an adorable Thank You gift for a teacher, or babysitter.  The amount of detail is fabulous.  There's Crystal Effects on all of the Thanks letters on the book mark, and there's a tiny magnet on the pen, to hold the flower tag.  This is adorable.

Convention Artisan Dinner Swaps

Here's another swap I received from the Artisan Dinner at Convention.  This cute countdown clock was made by Heather Stevens.  If you were at convention, and had a peek at the Artisan Winners boards, you would have seen Heather's larger countdown calendar.  She decided to make all of us a mini one with only 10 days on it.  The background is a piece of metal flashing which has been painted green.  You are supposed to put all the cupcakes on the back of the board, and then 10 days before the birthday you cover up number 10, and the next day you cover up the 9 and so on...  I think it's adorable, and as Teagan's birthday is next month, we're going to have to put it on the fridge and count down!

HOLIDAY MINI sneak peek #2 and another Artisan Award Swap!!!!

 

Here's another sneak peek from the upcoming Holiday Mini.  Isn't this owl ADORABLE???  Again, I cased most of this card from the mini itself.  I love, love, love, how all the images in this set coordinate with punches. Too much fun eh???   I must say, I'm reminded by the last sentence of how many times I got teased at Convention because of the number of times I say "eh" at the end of a sentence.  I'm not overdoing it, really.   Everyone here says it a lot. :)

Now, back to the card.  This card is super simple!!  I stamped the Owl image twice on whisper white and once on Pumpkin Pie using Early Espresso inki.  Then I punched out the best image on whisper white, and trimmed out the eye patches of the other.  Then I cut out the beak and bag of the one on orange.  I then attached the orange images using Tombo glue and popped up the eye mask with dimensionals.  The moon is a punch of Daffodil Delight using the 1 3/4 inch circle punch.  The 'grass' is a strip of Old Olive which I then ran through the crimper - super easy.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and it's punched out with the word window punch.  Oh yeah, and it's all mounted on Crumb Cake cardstock.

Next, on to another fabulous Artisan Award Dinner Swap.  Check back later this month for our Artisan Award Winner Blog Hop in which you should be able to get more details on how these cards were made.

This STUNNING card is made by Cheryl LeForge.  I was simply absolutely blown away with all the detail in this card.  I completely undersand why she won Artisan.  This card sums it all up...FABULOUS!  The funny thing is that this dinner waso on the day that Shelli and Shelae demonstrated, and one of their demonstrations was on pop-up cards.  If you scroll down you will see that this is a pop-up card as well.  Shelli loved this card!       Here's another look at all the detail.  I belive she inked up the embossing folder with Whisper White Kraft ink before she embossed it.  And check out all the Glitter!!!!!  Gotta love bling!

And here's a look at the inside of the card.  Check out all those popped up gifts.  Everything is perfect.  This card has so many layers so it's very sturdy and pretty heavy!  I want to put it in a frame and hang it on the wall just like a perfect piece of art.

HOLIDAY MINI sneak peek and an Artisan Award Swap!!!!

Today I've got 2 projects for you.  Actually, having just come home from convention yesterday, I have decided that I need to post up some of the fabulous swaps that I received.  So I will try to put up at least one swap with every post for the next few weeks.  But anyway, starting with this project.  The wreath is stamped from a set from the new Holiday Mini, which goes live on September 1st.  This set, called Warmest Wishes, is the hostess set in the new mini.  When I saw it I knew it was number one on my wish list.  There are 5 images, but I'm not allowed to show you the actual stamps right now. I can show you samples though, so why not start out with one I actually cased from the mini itself?  This wreath is so versatile.  You can use it for a fall image, like I did, or a Christmas image etc.  There are enless possibilities.  The centre is punched with the 1 1/4 inch circle punch.  All the stamps in this set coordinate with punches.  I love when things coordinate with punches.  It makes cardmaking go sooooooo quickly, and they all look great!   Here's some of the supplies I used.  Remember that I can't show you the stamps so I had to cut them out of the photo.

 Now, on to even better projects.  For our artisan dinner on Friday, we did a swap.  This card is made by Connie Collins.  Isn't it fabulous?  I love how she used all that DSP and then coordinated the background with the Dotted Textured Impressions Folder.  Now if you think this card is fabulous, check out below.

Connie didn't just present us with the card, she then packaged it in a clear box made with Window Sheets and added some crimped paper as confetti.  It really finished off the whole card and gave it a fall, or harvest feel.  What talent!  Check back tomorrow when I will have other Artisan projects to share with you.

Sew Suite Mother's Day Swap

This fantastic swap was MY FAVOURITE swap from Vancouver Regionals.   It was made by Kim Lee.  Check out her blog  http://www.kimspapercandycreations.blogspot.com/

I love how the image was stamped on vellum to create a two toned look.  Below you can see the image when I lifted the vellum up.  This card is went to go to my Mother In Law from my hubby.  Thanks Kim for designing such a fabulous card.

Vancouver Swaps!

This fantastic swap was made by Jenilee Pauls.  The colours are Old Olive, Whisper White, Night of Navy.

Vancouver Swaps!

Happy Easter Everyone!  This adorable card was another swap from Vancouver Regionals in February.  I love, love, love it.  This card was made by the talented Brunhilde Poetsch.

The Recipe:

1.  Stamps - Easter Blossoms

2.  Paper - Perfect Plum, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White

3.  Ink - Basic Black

4.  Accessories - Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dazzling Diamonds, Signo White Gel Pen

Vancouver Swaps!

This fabulous swap was created by Judith Thibault
1.  Stamps - Swe Suite, Short and Sweet
2.  Ink and Paper - Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Peach, Parfait, Not Quite Navy, Melon Mambo
3.  Accessories - Sweet Button Embosslit, Blossom Party Die, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Punches, Circles 3/4", 1", 1 1/4" Blossom Petals, Word Window punch, Small Corner punch.

Vancouver Swaps!

This adorable swap was made by Myla Barker.  This card was made using the new Fun Flowers die for the Big Shot.  The Buttons Embosslit was how she made the button for the centre of the flower.  The colours on the card are Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Whisper White

Vancouver Swaps!

This cute swap was made by Laurel Taylor.  I love how she layered all these types of DSP (patterned paper) to create this interesting and detailed card.  Once she layered it, she ran it through the Big Shot with the Top Note die.  I particulary like how she made the rosette using some Early Espresso Satin Ribbon.
The Recipe:
1.  Stamps - Fundamental Phrases
2.  Ink - Poppy Parade
3.  Paper - Poppy Parade DSP - hostess set, Whisper White, Poppy Parade
4. Punches - Scallop Trim, Scallop Edge, Scallop heart, Modern Label and Word Window punches
5.  Accessories - Top Note Die for Big Shot, Early Espresso satin ribbon, White Organza ribbon

Vancouver Swaps!

This fabulous card was one of my favourite swaps at Vancouver Regionals.    It was made by Terry Radnal.  It uses one of my favourite stamps sets - Vintage Vogue.  The large flower was stamped in VersaMark and covered in White Embossing powder.  Then Crumb Cake was sponged over it.
The Recipe:
1.  Stamps - Vintage Vogue
2.  Ink - Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, VersaMark
3.  Paper - Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
4.  Accessories - Scallop Trim Border Punch, White Embossing Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals