WWC210 - Heidi's "All About Occasions" Challenge

Oh, I love special occasions, don't you?  For this challenge, I decided to use that adorable Sale-a-bration So Hoppy Together stamp set and the new framelits that compliment it.  How perfect for a special birthday!

I decided to use Basic Gray cardstock as my base and then added a layer of Crushed Curry before adding the stamped Whisper White layer.  I stamped the unicycle slightly crookedly since I intended to have my frog counterbalance by standing on the seat on one leg.  Yes, this is a very daring frog!  I used the framelit die to cut out the frog image and then coloured it and attached it using Dimensionals for a 3-D look.  Above the frog, I added two mosquitoes (flies?) which I had stamped and cut out using the framelit die.

I wasn't entirely certain when I began the card, whether I would have the unicycle balanced on a lilypad or on a tightrope.  In the end I chose the tightrope, to add to his daring feat.  I think the green retired thick baker's twine is perfect, don't you?

Since the front of my birthday card is relatively simple, I decided to add a little special something to the inside.  what could be better than a little pop-up scene?  For that I combined a number of products including the So Hoppy Together bundle.

The grasses in the centre are die-cut using the Catch of the Day thinlits dies.  The little frogs and lily pad are from the So Hoppy Together bundle and those cute balloons were cut with the Balloon Bouquet Punch.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've also entered this creation in the following challenges:

The Cutie Pie Challenge #132 - One for the boys

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

WWC207 - Helen's Feminine "Anything Goes" Challenge

I love our feminine challenge!  The best part, in my opinion, is that it's an "anything goes" challenge so, as long as I stick to a feminine theme, I can do anything.  This time I decided to give some love to the gorgeous Sale-a-bration Botanical Butterfly Designer Series Paper, among other products.

I began with a base of the Heavy Whisper White, followed by a layer of Basic Black which I first cut along the right side using  one of the border framelit dies from the Be Mine Stitched Framelits dies.  Just for fun I also rounded the upper and lower corners on that side using my Detailed Trio punch.  Then I added another layer, this time the lovely Highland Heather.

For the "main image" I turned to the Sale-a-bration Botanical Butterfly DSP.  I decided to cut a piece of the black and white butterfly print.  Then I chose a beautifully coloured butterfly from another sheet and fussy cut that to be glued on top of one of the black and white butterflies.  I only glued it along the centre so that the wings appear to be ready to take off at any moment.  As you can see, that coloured butterfly is what helped me to choose the colours for this card.

Along the lower border I decided to use the open, connected hearts die, also from the Be Mine Stitched Framelits dies.  I first cut a piece of the Sale-a-bration Grapefruit Grove Foil and then cut a piece of the Highland Heather cardstock.  When I attached the openwork hearts, I did so at a slant so that there would be room for a heat-embossed white sentiment.  Then I proceeded to glue in the hearts cut from the Highland Heather.  I left one heart open and glued in the appropriate Grapefruit Grove Foil heart.

I wasn't completely happy with the card at this point.  It seemed to empty between the butterflies.  So I took the small random dots stamp from the Wonderful Romance stamp set and proceeded to fill in the white using Grapefruit Grove ink.  I think that was just what the card needed, don't you?

Remember, you can get the Grapefruit Grove Foil and/or the Botanical Butterfly DSP free with qualifying purchases from Stampin' Up! until March 31st.

I hope you'll check out the wonderful creations by the Watercooler Artists over at our Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.

I've also entered this creation in the following challenges:

Lemon Shortbread Challenge #86 - Anything Goes

Try It On Tuesday Challenge - Romance

Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes

Double "D" Challenges - Hearts

My Brain is A-Whirl

Well, March is nearly over!  Does that sound a bit dramatic considering that it's only March 9th today?  As far as workable days left for me, March is, actually, nearly over.

On Sunday (March 11th) my husband and I are taking our vacation and so two weeks will be subtracted from my March in the way of workshops and card parties.  Believe me, I wouldn't give up the two weeks of lounging on the white sand and soaking up the rays, but another part of my brain is going: "but Sale-a-bration is going to be over!"  I'll have one last card party during Sale-a-bration on March 31st since I have a Card Camp booked for that day and that's it for March.

Of course anyone wanting to take advantage of Sale-a-bration can still order directly from my Demonstrator's website by simply "clicking" on the shopping cart in the right column of this blog.  The same extras apply to online orders: buy $60 of supplies and you automatically qualify for a free gift of any one item from the Sale-a-bration booklet.  Actually you would get an additional free gift for each $60 you spend in your order PLUS, if your order adds up to $200 you get an additional $35 hostess bonus to spend.  Good stuff!  Free is always a terrific price, isn't it?

For those of you attending the March 31st Card Camp, I've already begun preparing the cards we'll make.  Maybe I'll even get some inspiration from those great beach colours, too.  Okay...maybe now I'm gloating. ;)

Keep busy during my absence.  Surprise me with your creations when I get back.

Home Sweet Home!

I love the Decor Elements, Home Sweet Home, in the Sale-a-bration booklet.  The fact that it comes in an assortment of colours is the icing on the cake.  I chose one in Chocolate Chip in the first order for which I qualified for Sale-a-bration and decided to display it in a frame with some of the Neutrals Collection DSP behind it, arranged as if it was quilted.  I added a couple of  scalloped circles cut from the Sale-a-bration Everyday Enchantment DSP with my Scallop Circle Punch and added some Soft Suede cardstock for good measure.  The finished product is really quite nice.

Tomorrow I'm attending the local Optimist Club's big all-day scrapbooking crop (just as a participant) and I've donated a similar framed Home Sweet Home as a fundraiser.  This time I've made it with the white version of the Home Sweet Home but I've backed it with the much darker Chocolate Chip DSP and Chocolate Chip cardstock.  As it happens, the same Sale-a-bration Everyday Enchantment DSP looks great with this version as well and so I'm using it cut with the Scallop Circle Punch once again.  The finished product is very similar but at the same time, is quite different.  I wound up having to buy a slightly larger frame this time around and so had to redraft my measurements, but I'm liking the results.  What do you think?

Since the frame is larger than the one I first used, the lettering seemed too crowded in the centre, so I cut apart the Home Sweet Home into three strips and placed them slightly further apart than they are actually designed to be.  I think the Chocolate Chip gives it a totally different look as does the white of the Decor Element.  I had to sponge some Chocolate Chip ink onto the Everyday Enchantment DSP scalloped circles to make them fit into the colour theme better.

Taking a break from Valentine's

I love Valentine's and all the great cards you can make for the occasion: funny cards, sweet cards, downright mushy cards and everything in between.  But sometimes you need a break and today I decided to do anything but Valentine's Day cards.  Looking at all the stamp sets that I've bought and haven't gotten around to using, I realized that today would be the day I would use at least two of the sets...if not more.  The first one I chose was "Heaven Sent".  A perfect title under the circumstances.

I decided to make a tri-fold 4" x 4" card by taking a 4" x 12" piece of Very Vanilla textured cardstock and scoring it at 4" and then again at 8".  Then I chose one of the cheeriest of the Sale-a-bration DS papers and cut a 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" piece, centering it onto the front of the card.  I used the third from the smallest framelits Labels Collection die to cut a window in the centre of the front of the card.  I set the cut out label aside to use later.

Then I cut a piece of Pool Party cardstock to match the blue in the SAB paper and used the Snail glue to attack it to the back of the front of the card.  Using the second from the smallest of the framelits Labels Collection die and lining it up from the front, I cut a window in the cardstock, effectively making a double-framed window in the front.

Using Very Vanilla cardstock, I stamped the little boy collecting Easter eggs with Early Espresso ink and then cut the image out with the same die I used for the window in the Pool Party cardstock.  I coloured the image using Watercolour Pencils and a Blending Pen.  The colours match the SAB paper perfectly, which I love!  I used Pool Party ink and a sponge to shade around the label and then used Snail glue to centre it onto the next page through the front of the card.  It worked perfectly and the boy is as visible from the front of the card as he is on the next page.  Under that label, I glued a "Happy Easter" sentiment which  was stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock with Pool Party ink and cut with the Word Label Punch and then shaded the edges with the same ink.

You can just see the three pages of the card in this picture.  On the last page I used the set aside Label from the front of the card which showed off the SAB paper.  I glued that onto the page and then stamped the long sentiment from the set onto Very Vanilla cardstock and cut it out with the Modern Label Punch, shaded the edges with Pool Party ink to match the sentiment, and glued  that down onto the SAB label.

It's cheery, it's colourful, and best of all...it's not a Valentine. :)

The "How-To's" of Hemp

I've used the Baker's Twine to loop around the centre of a punched out butterfly to give it the illusion of a body and antennae but it's a bit droopy.  I've also been eyeing the Hemp Twine in the catalogue because I thought I could use a sponge and ink on it to make it any colour I wanted and it looked as if it would have more body.  Well, I was right.  It definitely has more body!  Compared to the Baker's Twine, it stands at attention and waits for a command. ;)

I decided to try it on a card just to see what it was like using it.  I wasn't using butterflies but it's not like that's the only way to use twine, after all.  In this case I thought it might make a unique border but it didn't have enough presence.  One strand was simply too thin to make it as a border.  So I cut three strands and proceeded to braid the strands loosely.  The result was exactly the right finishing touch for my card.  I'm going to use the Hemp Twine a lot in the future!

I love the way the braided hemp surrounds the Very Vanilla.  I stamped the VV first with my large Net Stamp using Crumb Cake ink, then I used my large Scallop Circle Punch to cut a medallion of that beautiful Everyday Enchantment DSP (I'll miss it when Sale-a-bration is over) and used my 2 1/2" Circle Punch for the Soft Suede backing.  All in all I'm very happy with the results.

Sale-a-bration Begins!

Wonderful news: today Sale-a-bration begins.  With every $60 spent, a customer "wins" a free "prize" from the Sale-a-bration brochure.  There are some great stamps, unavailable for sale.  Some wonderful paper that I've already enjoyed using.  Some cute new brads as well as some lovely ribbon.  All this is available from January 24th until March 31st.

One item that I thought was absolutely perfect for my house was the Home Sweet Home Decor Elements.  I chose to get mine in Chocolate.  Here is what I did with it...

This is absolutely stunning, with a faux quilt of Designer Series Paper behind the "Home Sweet Home".  As nice as it looks in the picture, I assure you that it looks even better in person.  The Designer Series Paper looks like real fabric, too.

Nibbling Away at the Problems...

I have to take a moment to thank someone who has helped me immeasurably in getting this Blog to work for me: Sherrill Graff, the originator of the Late Night Stampers on the Stampin' Connection.  I don't know how she does it! With everything going on in her own life, she manages to come to the rescue of newbies like me every day and gives us all some pretty awesome advice.


With Sherrill's help and some late-night nibbling away at the problems, I've come a long way.  I can't believe I've got links up on this Blog and have even managed to get some followers.  Wow!  Life is good!

Of course I always have my "Grand Opening" Workshop on January 29th in mind.  I've made a Thank-you card for the Hostess using some of the items from the new Occasions mini-catalogue, some from the Sale-a-Bration event (which will be called SAB from now on)  that's coming up, beginning on January 24th and, of course, some of the old favourites. 

The primary cardstock is Marina Mist while the pretty accent layer is Everyday Enchantment Designer Series Paper from the SAB.  Then I added a splash of bright red with Real Red cardstock (embossed with one of the new Adorning Accents textured impressions folders and cut with one of the new Adorning Accents edgelit dies, both from the new Occasions mini-catalogue).  The pocket "envelope" is made from Soft Suede cardstock cut with one of my favourites, the Top Note Bigz die.  I stamped it with one of the stamps from the Outlined Occasions stamp set, also from the SAB, using black Craft ink.  Then I used some of that wonderful new Vanilla embossing powder on it.  The scent is mouth-watering!  I decided to "bling" it up a bit by colouring in the "Thanks" with the red Dazzling Details.  The little flower is cut from the red Glimmer paper.  Finally I finished it up with two pieces of cardstock cut with the Curly Label Punch, one in Marina Mist and one in Whisper White.  Using my Marina Mist and Real Red Stampin' Write markers as ink, I stamped the Whisper White with a sentiment from the Sprinkled Expressions stamp set, also from SAB.  The touch of frivolous Lucky Limeade ribbon is from the SAB Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad Pack.

I had lots of fun making the card and hope the Hostess loves it, too.