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  :)