Sharing in My Bliss

Can you believe today is the last day of Sale-A-Bration?! Where does time go...?

I just couldn't let the last day go by without sharing another card I made using the Bliss set.  I CASE'd this card from another demo.  I may have changed one or two things but for the most it's the same.  I just loved how pretty this card is.

The flourish design was stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed with White embossing powder.  Soooo pretty!

Life Happens

Oooh I just love this page that I am sharing with you today.  It is so pretty and feminine.  I created a few more flower embellishments to attach to the page once I have added photos.  I've only had this page created for a year so who knows maybe in another year or three I'll actually get some photos on it LOL

The set used for this page is Vintage Vogue and if I remember correctly I based my design on a page I saw in one of last years Mini Catalogues.

Thanks for looking :)

Easter Bunny Puppet

Where did Monday go?  Seriously it was an insane day but it ended great.  I had a fantastic hostess last night for a workshop and her friends were great too.  It makes late nights worthwhile :)

I had my Mommy and Me class on Saturday afternoon and the kids had a great time.  This is another project we made for the class.  An Easter Bunny puppet.  I got the idea while browsing through the demo only site Stampin' Connection.

Is this sweet bunny not cute?!!

It's incredible what a little imagination, some punches and some BigZ dies can create :)

Timeless

As with cards, I find that creating scrapbooking pages for men or boys can be difficult.  I really have to be careful not to add too many embellishments, well frilly ones anyway.

Just a wee bit of stamping, a library clip, some torn patterned paper and photo mattes and this page is ready for pictures and journalling.

I like simple, classic pages for men.

How to Overcome Lack of Time

The biggest frustration I find my customers have is 'finding time'.  So many say they love stamping and creating, that it is a good stress reliever, but they just don't have time.

People ask me how I manage so much.  I work full time, I care for my family and I have my stamping.  Really it all comes down to time management.  I have learned to schedule time in for working in my stamping room and time scheduled for my family. 

On top of this, I write down my 'to do' list so that when it is my night to work in the stamp room I already know what I will be working on.

If I am really short on time and I want to make some cards, I will open up a folder on my computer with pictures of cards I really like and I will CASE one of them.  This saves me a lot of time coming up with my own idea.  Typically though as I re-create the card I tend to change things up here and there and before you know it the card is my own creation still.

If you know that you and your partner will be home at the same time but want some stamping time, set up parameters with your partner that those specific hours that evening will be yours and putting the kids to bed will be their task.

We all need balance in our lives we just need to take the bull by the horn.  I'm sure if you express to others that you need this time to yourself to relax and de-stress they will respect your request.

Sometimes even making something as simple as a tag can be enough to take care of that papercrafting 'fix'.

Set some goals for yourself, set up a schedule and stick to it, you'll find it works.

M is for Margaret

No I am not vain.  LOL.  I am just featuring one of the projects for this weekend's Mommy & Me Class.

The kids will be making a hanging picture frame.  They will be able to add 3 photos of themselves and diecut the first letter to their name.

The back of the frame was made using 12" x 12" chipboard with a layer of patterned paper.  The bottom photo mattes were created using the scallop square BigZ die.

A few buttons added and they have a cute hanging photo frame.

Watercolouring Made Easy

At regionals last year we were shown how easy 'watercolouring' can be.  I see people demonstrate something and it is made to look so easy and then I do it and struggle, but what I loved was that this 'watercolouring' really was easy.

Now for this particular project I stuck to the super simple.  I did not use Watercolour paper but began with Whisper White (this is actually tricky IF you use an aquapainter but here's a hint.... I didn't use it) LOL

I stamped my images with Staz On ink and let sit for a few minutes to dry.

Next I pulled out my Stampin' Write Markers and set out colouring.  Rather than using two different colour markers, on most of these projects I used one colour and just layered over top of it to achieve a darker look in some areas.  Now this is the simplest way to achieve different shades of colour on a project but I will create more projects where we will take colouring a step further still. 

The best part about these three particular images is that they are from a set called Studio Sketches and the images include 'shading' already.  This took the biggest challenge out of the colouring for me as I automatically knew where I had to add more colour.

On the jug image below, I wanted to add a bit more lighting effect and so I left a couple areas bare of colour.  Talk about making a difference in the overall look.  I LOVE it. 

Now I can't wait to use these little watercolour masterpieces on some cards. :)

Party Banner

I know I've said this before but I'm going to say it again, I love the perks I have from being a Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator.  I have so many fabulous resources that are available exclusively to demonstrators and I find so much inspiration from these resources.  One of these resources is called Stampin' Connection and its a place where we demonstrators can chat, discuss business and share our creations with one another.  I find lots of great ideas and I like that I can save a creation as My Favorite so that later on when I posting my own creation I can at least go back and say, hey my inspiration came from ....so and so.

Well today's project came about from one of these instances.  I saw a page that fellow demo Tessa Wise did and knew it was perfect for one of my scrapbooking classes.  I used mostly the same colour scheme as Tessa but made the page my own by changing the title and the format of the title.

I have so many pages that I've made but have just never shared with you so you can expect to see more in the future.

Hope you like this sweet and simple birthday page.

Mother's Garden

Monday, already? Where did the weekend go?  Sometimes time flies by too fast.  One fantastic thing about this weekend is I managed to get the perfect sized desk for my stamp room.  I love it.  Now I just need my punch racks and also put up the ribbon rack Chris made me and I can take lovely photos to share with you all. :)

Today I am SUPER excited to share this project with you today.  I spent a lot of time creating this beauty and although I love most everything I make, my heart was truly swelling with pride on this one. 

Using the owl rose technique that I learned from Valita's Fresh and Fun Folds I created nine flowers for my little flower garden.  I was looking to create a planter like you see hanging on railings of apartment building balconies.  Instead of creating the 'lip' to hang over the railing, I added handles on the ends.

Then I created 3 individual pot holders and added my flowers creating stems from cardstock.  I wanted the flowers to shimmer and shine so I spritzed Vanilla Smooch Spritz on them.

The dirt was created by shredding scrap bits of Chocolate Chip cardstock.  I wanted the focus to be on the flowers so the box I left very simple with just a nice Vanilla Hodgepodge frame and the title "Mothers's Garden"

I hope you like this project as much as I do.  This is my masterpiece :)

Is there a project you created that you are particularly fond of?  I would love to see your best creation.

Paisley Petals

Wooo hooo!!! It's FRIDAYYYYYY!!!  Sorry but it always makes me happy, but then again most days of the week make me happy.... why you might ask... simply for the fact that I am alive and that is a great blessing.

Have you signed up for my Paisley Petals class yet?  You won't want to miss making these wonderful cards.  This new Stamp Set and Designer Paper are GORGEOUS.  I love, love, love them.

Here is one of the cards we will be making in the Paisley Petals card class.

Don't you love this paper!!!  As a demonstrator I get fun little perks such as being able to order product from upcoming catalogues before customers can and this designer paper and Four Frames stamps set was the result of that perk.  Another great thing is that Stampin' Up! is an incredible resource for us demonstrators and they provided us with sample cards made with these products.  I loved the cards so much that I thought, hey why mess with perfection.  So needless to say, this card is a CASE from Stampin' Up! (with a couple minor changes)

Contact me today to reserve your spot - check out My Website for all the details.

St. Patricks Day

Well I wish I could say Happy St. Patricks Day but I received news this morning that my father is in hospital with heart problems again.  I will find out more when I go visit him after work today. I would love to go now but we are short handed at work and I would likely have a hard time sneaking past the nurses at this time of day considering visiting hours don't start until 2pm :( 
The base is Natural Ivory.  As I mentioned the other day, I have tons of this cardstock so I need to put it to better use.  I added another layer of Natural Ivory cardstock but before I adhered it I ran it through the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  Tone on tone, I really like this effect.

The large 4 leaf clover was created by clear embossing the Woodgrain background stamp on Garden Green cardstock and punching out 4 large hearts.  I layered them all together to form a clover and added a brad in the center to hold them together.

The sentiment is a strip of Natural Ivory with the ends cut in a banner shape.  I stamped Happy St. Patricks Day in Garden Green ink and curled the strip of cardstock before attaching to my card front.

This really is a basic card and I did struggle with it as I have never 'participated' in St. Patties Day before or made projects based on it.

Monkey Trouble

I return yet again to a project that I did with my Stamp Club last year.  I had decided to focus one evening on bookmarks.  Well my wonderful fiance said to me, 'what about a monkey Margaret, you could easily make a monkey'

Well, he was right, the monkey was super easy and not only that, the monkey is super cute.

Creating simple projects like this is one of the reasons I love punch art and all the creations you can make with punches.

This bookmark featured a few circle punches, an oval punch, the retired trio flower punch and the Scribbles sizzlit die used in the Big Shot.

Have you ever created a papercraft bookmark?  I would love to see your creation!

Simple Little Challenge

Who want's to join in a fun little challenge?   This one is a bit different than you would typically see on a stamping blog but how about having a little Irish fun?

Today's challenge is to create a stamping limerick.

I'll show you my stamping limerick and I hope you will make one of your own and leave your limerick in my comment section.  Let's see how creative you are.

There was a young lady who stamped,

Her studio new and revamped
She inked and she dazzled,
Never growing frazzled,
Even though her poor hand was cramped.

Now let's see your stamping limerick  :)

Card Purse

Happy Monday and hope everyone survived DST.  I am such a horrible person as I had a challenge last week to make a St. Patricks Day card and schedule a post for Saturday.   Well I have the card half completed and I had the post 3/4 completed but needless to say neither of them are completed.  Ugh! Here I was going to remind everyone about DST but no need to anymore for the next several months anyway. LOL

So last month at Stamp Club I decided that instead of just cards we would make a cute little card purse to hold some cards in.  This is a great gift idea and quite easy to make.

To make the gift even more fun the cards use the same designer paper and ribbon as the purse. 

Since I used ribbon on the cards I was only able to fit 3 cards and envelopes into the purse.

Enjoy the sunshine today and I'll see you back here tomorrow.

Coasters

Friday, one day closer to the weekend.  I'm sure most of you are with me when I say I love weekends. :) 

The other night I worked in the stamp room and managed to get a bit of work done.  I am working on getting not only my stamp room organized but myself as well. That's a tougher task LOL

I had a tile coaster class last night so I wanted to be able to show some samples of various colouring mediums used on the tiles.

The truck coaster has a couple different colouring mediums on it. First the truck is stamped in Staz On Black ink.  The front of the truck was coloured using chalk and a paintbrush. The grass is coloured with a marker.  The windows, bumper and wheels were coloured using an ink pad and paintbrush.  You can see the difference in intensity using these different mediums.

The 'Taygan' coaster was also stamped first in Staz On black ink.  The name is coloured in using Stampin' Write Markers and the images were stamped using regular classic ink.

When I began the class I quickly showed everyone how to stamp and colour and also let them know that background stamps were also a great way to go.  Here is the one I did in less than five minutes:

Everyone had  a great time and asked that I hold another coaster class so needless to say I have one scheduled for early April. :)

Interested in making tile coasters?  Contact me for more information on how you can have your own private class with a group of your friends.

Bookmark Card

Today's project is an old one for me that I did with my Stamp Club last year.  Each time I would see this card in my card rack I would remind myself that I needed to photograph it and post it.

This card is 3" x 6" and very clean and simple.  I wanted the focus to be on the bookmark.  It's great because this bookmark slides out of the front of the card.

Something I have tons of (seriously I mean it) but don't use often enough, is the Natural Ivory cardstock.  The colour of this cardstock is so pretty and soft.  Like the Whisper White and Very Vanilla cardstock, you receive 40 sheets in a package for $9.25.  The difference though is that this cardstock is not buffered and it is heavier like our coloured cardstock, which I love.

To give the cardstock a nice speckled look I put a Stampin' Write Marker in my Spritzer Tool and spritzed colour ofer the front.

My second use for my Stampin' Write Marker on this card was drawing a dotted line about an inch from the bottom.  Great little touch eh?

Mini Scrapbook Page

Before I get to today's project let me show you my talking box - during Sale-A-Bration Stampin' Up! has been sending out talking boxes.  They are so much fun.  Check out what my box had to say to me this week :)

Well I realized that I never seem to share scrapbook pages I create and yet people tell me how beautiful they are so I will try to be more faithful in taking photos and posting them.

Todays page is a 6 x 6 page that was a make n' take at a recent workshop.

I showcased crumpling and tearing as well as the great new Fun Flower die available in the Occassions Mini for $43.95.  These flowers are gorgeous and curling the ends adds some great appeal.  I have so many projects I plan to use these on.

And what about the fabulous Sweet Stitches Fabric Brads available in the Occasions Mini.  Seriously, these are so worth $8.95 for a package of 24 brads.  Is it bad that I didn't really want to share them? LOL

This page was super fun and super easy and those who came to the workshop but aren't into scrapbooking can easily make this into a 'postcard'.

Fabric Project Instructions

Happy Tuesday peeps!  Today I am sharing with you the link for the fabric project instructions available to you from Stampin' Up!  We all know that the new fabric's are GORGEOUS.  I can't wait to start creating with them, I just have to get over my desire to keep them whole first. LOL

There is a 7 page PDF file available with various projects created using the new fabrics and they are so much fun.  Here is a link to the Fabric project instructions.

Here is a little picture of one of the fabulous projects included in this 'booklet.

How lovely is this bag?  This fabric is way too gorgeous.  

If you haven't purchased the Springtime or Sew Suite Fabric yet you have until April 30th to get your order in.  I can't wait to see what you design with these lovelys. :)

Baja Bliss

If you remember last week I mentioned I had entered two swaps at the Megameeting I went to.  I showed you the card I made for the Occasions Mini swap but I never showed you the card I made for the Sale-A-Bration swap.

I also featured this card in the workshop I hosted last week Monday so those who came were able to make this as well.

The card front is Very Vanilla cardstock which I ran through the Big Shot using the Tulip Frame embossing folder.  I sponged Baja Breeze ink around the edges to make the tulips pop out more.

I inked up my Bliss image in Baja Breeze ink and stamped in the centre of my card front.  I added a Basic Pearl to the top of the image and then on scrap paper I stamped my butterfly image in Crumb Cake ink, cut it out using scissors and popped it up with dimensionals.

I layered my cardfront to a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 Crumb Cake base.  The finishing touch is the Baja Breeze seam binding.  It is gorgeous stuff and the easiest 'ribbon' to do the scrunch technique on.  I cut the end, pulled one of the little strings and gently scrunched the seam binding along my cut length. Once I was happy with this I added Sticky Strip to my card front, adhered the scrunched seam binding to it and trimmed my ends.

Idea Book CASE

Wooo hooo it's Friday - wow I am so happy. 

Last night I decided to simply play in my stamp room.  February was a hectic month for me and so far March has been quieter.  I do have to prepare for my Tile Coaster class next week but decided I haven't played just for me in a while so it was time to take a break.  With Chris out of commission every Thursday it is the perfect opportunity to do this.  I thought it would be relaxing but....no... I was worrying I wouldn't hear Chris call out for me when he came to, I was worrying that Mad's barking would interrupt Chris and he would jerk awake, I was worried about everything it seemed and didn't feel like I got into the groove.

I did however make a couple cards.  One is   enhhhh, and the other one I like, albeit mostly a CASE from one of the cards on the cover of the Idea Book & Catalogue.  This is the one I am showing you today.

I took a piece of Whisper White cardstock and torn an edge off, then I ran it through the Big Shot with the Lattice embossing folder.  I put my Marina Mist marker in my Colour Spritzer tool and spritzed 'ink' onto the card front.

I attached this to my 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 Early Espresso card base and added a couple strips of Marina Mist cardstock to the two long edges.

I coloured my stamp from the Occasions Mini Eat Chocolate set using Stampin' Write markers and stamped on a scrap of Whisper White cardstock.  I pulled out my Decorative Label punch and punched this out.  I added dimensionals to it and popped it up on my card front.  Finally I added a bow of 1/8" wide Marina Mist ribbon and attached it with a glue dot.

Simple, cute and still different than the one on the cover of the Idea Book.

Love my Timmie's Morning Crew

I love my Tim Horton's morning crew, they are a fantastic team, always cheerful and know just how I like my morning order but here is another reason I love my Timmie's morning team.

My name (spelled correctly) and a heart.

Thanks Deb, Chantal, Lisa, Cathy, Victoria, Chris and Becca (hope I didnt' miss anyone)

You rock!

More Make n' Takes

Brrr is that wind outside cold or what!  Guess it depends where you are too.  That is one thing about living in the country with an open field across the road... taking the dog for a walk is not fun sometimes.

To give us some cheer and keep our minds off winter, how about a few more make n' takes from last weekend?

Both this first card and the second card use the Occasions Mini set, Nature Walk. 

Two lovely cards with two very different styles.  I think for this second card I will add some colouring to the focal image.

For the third item, it was a WOW presentation that Jacqueline Cameron did and she had each of us make a mini card to try the technique.  We made these cute little 'flowers' using scallop circles.

If you are interested in learning how to make any of these cards and live close to me I would be happy to provide a workshop for you and your friends.

Owl Roses

Yesterday I promised I would share my WOW item that I presented at the Megameeting on Saturday.  I first saw this paper rose on a card on my dear friend Mel's blog.  As soon as I saw it I knew I had to make it.  She had kindly included a link to the person who made the tutorial for it and you can find it on Valita's blog.

Although I did not take a picture of all the completed pink roses I now have from Saturday's presentation I am thrilled that I have several ready to use on a project.

It was great to show them how to put the rose together and how beautiful it is when complete but it was even better showing them the two creations I had made using my paper roses.

Believe it or not but these sweet things were created using the Owl Punch, the 1 1/4" circle punch and the 2 3/8" Scallop Circle punch.  Also used were a bone folder, scissors, Tombow multi-purpose glue, cardstock (obviously LOL), and a pair of tweezers with a long curved tip. 
(you can substitute the 1 1/4" circle punch for a 1" circle punch and the 2 3/8" scallop circle punch for the smaller scallop circle punch - this will create a tighter rose)

Just think, if you purchased two of the punches, a bone folder and the Tombow glue you will meet the Sale-a-Bration price level of $60.00 minimum and receive a free SAB product.  How cool is that!

So my first creation was this scrapbook page.  I wanted a pop of colour on this page and the Pacific Point, Real Red and Daffodil Delight flowers certainly achieved this.

I used the Newsprint Designer paper showing the music notes and I have 3 black mattes for photos. I added some Chantilly ribbon/ lace at the bottom of the page, gathering as I went.  The top corner of the page needed a little something, so using linen thread and a needle I gathered the Chantilly lace into a 'flower' and sewed a button to it using the Linen thread as well.

My second creation that I displayed at my presentation was this soft and sweet card.  I was inspired by Mel's card and felt that the rose in the bottom left corner was a good place.  I ran Very Vanilla cardstock through my Big Shot using the Tulip Frame embossing folder from the Occasions Mini and highlighted the tulips by sponging Pretty in Pink ink on them.  I used sticky strip to adhere my Chantilly lace to my Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, then I added sticky strip to my card front and once again gathered my ribbon.  I glued the rose in place using glue dots so it had a strong hold. 

I attached my Vanilla card front to a layer of Pink Pirouette cardstock and then attached to my 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" Crumb Cake card base.  I ran my Lots of Tag die through the Big Shot three times.  Twice with Crumb Cake cardstock and once with Very Vanilla.  The sentiment is stamped on the Very Vanilla in Pretty in Pink ink (may be a bit hard to see) using a saying from the Hostess Level 3 set Occasional Quotes.  I adhered the three tags together offsetting the Crumb Cake pieces behind the Vanilla and popping up on my card front using pop dots. 

PS - The rose is actually made from Pink Pirouette cardstock

Make n' Takes from Megameeting

I mentioned yesterday how I attended a Megameeting on Saturday for demonstrators in Laura's downline.  Events like this are one of the perks to being a demo and while Sale-A-Bration is on there are some great promos for anyone looking to sign up as a demonstrato. So if you are a Canadian and interested in this opportunity, contact me today, I would love to have you on my team.

Saturday was a whirlwind of activities.  It was so much fun and before I knew it the day was over.  I was actually a WOW presenter this time around and I received some high praise from some top ranking Canadian demos.  Boy did that make me feel good.  (I know, tooting my own horn)  So be sure to come back tomorrow to see what I presented and the couple creations I made to showcase my WOW.

Today though I thought I would share a few of the make n' takes we made.  They were a lot of fun and took only minutes to put together (yes it helped that everything was pre-cut - thanks Laura!!!)

Is this first card not simply lovely.  Lattice BigZ die cut layered on Lattice embossed cardstock.  I love the colours and love the simplicity of this card.

How about a great masculine card?  I guess I am ready for Father's Day :)  There is nothing girly about this card and yet it uses the simple easel design.  Love it!



Finally for today (I do have more to share but what fun is showing them all at once) here is a cute Easter treat we made.  Simple with a couple tasty candies tucked in a little baggie inside.

See you soon for more great posts from the Megameeting.