stampjunkie

"I'm So Excited, and I Just Can't Hide It!"

2009-08-05T05:05:00.002-06:00

WhooHoo! I'm off to the annual Stampin' Up Convention this morning! I'm so excited, I could hardly sleep a wink last night. I got up this morning and had the hiccups because I slept so little, but now I'm wide awake and ready to go (and running on pure adrenaline, I'm sure)! Off to swap, shop and stamp the next 5 days away in Utah!

Flower Pot Card For Mother's Day

2009-06-26T14:45:00.002-06:00

I'm having a lot of fun playing catch-up on my blog; since being away for so long, I sure have a lot of projects to post! I am starting to get to some more recent projects now though, so I know I'm not far from being caught up.

Here is a really fun card I made for my Mother-in-law for Mother's Day! It's called a Flower Pot card, but is basically made the same way as a regular pocket card (see here for a tutorial on Splitcoast!) The only difference is that you taper the sides instead of leaving the card as a rectangle. That's it! Then decorate the inside message piece that slides into the card and you're done!

My daughter decided it HAD to have pink and purple in it, and picked out which ones she liked best. Once that was done it seemed only natural to go with the "Bold Brights" color scheme, so I picked out Only Orange and Yoyo Yellow to go with the Lovely Lilac and Pink Passion for the flowers. The leaves are Gable Green and sponged on the edges with Green Galore. If you click on the first picture, you can see that I also used a Texturz Plate on the pot, from the Stampin' Up! Backgrounds 1 set, and sponged the embossed images a little with Creamy Caramel for a little extra texture. The flowers are made using pieces from the Stampin' Up! Birds & Blooms Sizzlits 4-Pack dies as well as the Scallop Circle punch. The leaves are also made with the Birds & Blooms Sizzlits, and the Stampin' Up! Little Leaves single Sizzlit die.

I also made a little kickstand for the card, so that my Mother-in-law could stand it up and display it. Here's a picture of the kickstand:

I have been having so much fun lately, making lots of personal projects as well as cards and items for my stamp clubs. In the coming months I even hope to get to some scrapbooking! (insert ooh's and ahhh's here!) I haven't done much scrapbooking, but am very excited to get started on my son's 12x12 items; I've got so many ideas floating around in this brain of mine! I just can't wait to get them on paper!

Tomorrow I'm off to a spa weekend with my best friend Judy. I can't wait to get some down time! We had to book our trip a year in advance; this place books up fast! In fact, we've been trying to go for 2 years now, but could never call and book soon enough until I decided to take the plunge last summer for this weekend. Am I glad I did; in fact, while we're there I think we'll pre-book again for next year!

Well, Happy Stampin' and hope you're enjoying your summer as much as I'm enjoying mine!

Pizza Box Prize!

2009-06-25T15:07:00.003-06:00

I am gearing up for another New Catalog Open House on July 2nd, and came across a picture of a door prize I made for my last Open House at the end of January!

This is a pizza box and 4 little 3x3 cards, perfect for Valentine's Day or just to show a friend how much you care. The ladies who attended the open house really liked it, and the door prize winner was a very happy lady! I have to be honest and say that I did not think of this on my own. I found the instructions for the box on Splitcoaststampers here and cased the project from "whats_her_name" (I didn't forget her name - that IS her user name on Splitcoast!) with her post here. It was a quick and easy box to make, and I had a lot of fun decorating it and making the matching cards. Now that I've made it once, it would be so easy to make this box set for any occasion and it would make such a nice gift for anyone on your list!

Happy Birthday Brother!

2009-06-22T11:54:00.004-06:00

I'm posting this a little late, seeing as my brother's birthday was actually in February! At least I'm not that late actually GIVING him the card! He was pretty impressed with this one, I have to say. This stamp set, Friends 24-7, instantly became one of my new favorite sets; I've been using it quite a bit! I love the brocade stamp, and that bird is so pretty! For the sunset background
on the bird paper, I used a brayer on whisper white cardstock and first brayered So Saffron at the bottom, then Pumpkin Pie in the middle and Really Rust at the top of the page, making sure to go over each previous color to blend them together. For the bird's stomach, I sponged on some white chalk from our Stampin Pastels.

Big Shot Box and Accordion Fold

2009-06-22T11:36:00.003-06:00

I have to admit, I didn't buy the Big Shot die cut machine right away, not being sure if I'd actually use it. After seeing countless beautiful projects made with it though, I decided to order it and see what all the fuss was about. Well, am I ever in love with this machine! Look at this cute little box I made using the Top Notes Bigz die and some chipboard! This is a project I did with my stamp clubs a couple of months ago. It was easy and it took no time at all!

The other project we did was this card, using the accordion fold technique. This one took a little practice, but is so worth it! I found it was much easier if you use designer paper instead of cardstock, but just be careful you don't push too hard when scoring each fold!

Big Shot Price Increase

2009-06-18T16:35:00.005-06:00

Do you have your Big Shot yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Until June 30th, the Big Shot is only $118.95 (item #113439). After July 1st with the new catalog, the price increases to $132.95! So if you have been thinking about buyng the Big Shot do it today and save yourself $14 plus the tax and shipping savings.

Order by June 25th and I will include a FREE Daisies #2 bigz die, item # 114520, $23.95 or any other die priced $25.95 or less.

And there will not be a Big Shot Starter kit in the next catalogue so you can save even more by ordering the kit.

Big Shot Starter Kit, #116314, $232.95 includes the machine, Top Note and Scallop Envelope dies, Birds & Blooms sizzlits, Billboard decorative strip and decorative strip cutting pads and extended spacer platform. A value of $245.20 if purchased separately. Add the Doctor’s bag for $308.95.

For a quick video to see how the Big Shot works and what it can do for you, click on this link here!

Wild About This Stamp Set!

2009-06-18T16:02:00.003-06:00

Check this out! This stamp set, "Wild About You" is my favorite set to use for baby cards, children's cards and children's decor (see the frame I did for my son's room!). This time I used it to make this cute spinner card for a birthday party my daughter went to. I think it turned out well, don't you? It was a very easy card to make, and fun too. I loved popping up parts of the animals, and who doesn't love a spinner card?

Have you had a look at the Stampin' Up retirement list yet? Well, I'm sad to say that this stamp set is on that list! If you haven't had a chance to see the list yet, click the link here! Some great favorites are on that list, but they do need to make room for all the amazing new sets in the upcoming catalog! These retiring sets are only available until June 30th. If you have a list ready, hop on over to http://www.sherivanhooren.stampinup.net/ to place your online order today! Online orders are so easy, and convenient too! Your order will be shipped directly to your door!

2009-04-06T00:37:00.009-06:00

Wow - it's already April, and this is only my first post of 2009! I sure have been delinquint with this blog lately, but have been understandably busy over the past while. I was reading my previous posts for 2008, and realized that my last one of that year was posted one day after my due date, and 4 days before I gave birth to my second child - a son! Nathan Scott Van Hooren joined us September 21st, looking just like his grandpa. Later that day though he started to change (already!) and looked quite a bit like his older sister, Kaitlyn. I now have a few pictures of him in the same sleepers his sister wore, and 20 years from now will not be able to tell them which of them is in those pictures! Thankfully I have them logged on cd and on computer so I can keep track... One day I will actually scrapbook them!

Well, 2 days before Nathan's arrival, I couldn't sit still, so I made another project for his room. Here is a picture of it:
I used a frame from Creative Memories (love these frames!), stamped the animals from the Wild About You stamp set, and went to town. This frame is now hung above my son's crib, and I smile every time I look at it. I'm still thinking that I will put his name at the bottom, overtop of the scallops and ribbon. I had left it blank since I didn't know if I was having a boy or girl at the time. Just one more thing to do though, and since this project is already hanging, I'm not sure it will find it's way back down to my craft room any time soon. Too many other projects in the works!

Here it is over Nathan's crib:

And here are a couple of other pictures of his room, before we brought him home (which is why it's so clean and organized!).

I also made the jungle blanket; my first attempt at sewing! Instead of getting the "nesting instinct", I got this huge surge of creativity and urge to do anything crafty. It paid off though, I think! You can see Nathan's ultrasound picture on the dresser in this picture; I framed that one actually for my daughter's room, and framed one of her for his room, but every other day Kaitlyn would switch them around. I thought it would be nice for her to have a picture of him, so it would maybe feel more real for her while he was still growing inside; I also wanted her to know that her unborn sibling would love her too, and would want a picture of her close by. I think she really liked the picture of herself though (it is a cute one!), so she kept switching them back and forth. Oh well, it was the thought that counts, right? ;)

My First Decore Elements!

2008-09-17T17:21:00.001-06:00

With the arrival of my new addition close at hand, I wanted to make some things for his/her room. When I got my copy of Stampin' Up's new Decore Elements brochure in July, I loved the ideas, and couldn't wait to try them out! I decided to start small, so I ordered the small Lollipop Flower. I thought it would look great in a child's room! Off I went to Michael's to get a frame, and came back with one measuing 12x18. I haven't used much chipboard before either, so I decided to try that out too, with some inspiration from the "Home" project on the cover of the DE brochure.

To make the "lollipop's" different colors, I simply punched out 1 1/4" circles and placed them behind the glass, after applying the DE to the front of the glass. The "SWEET" letters are also in front of the glass, while papers and ribbon are behind it.

This is a picture of it hung up in the nursery. A few more things need to be added to the walls, but overall I think this project made a great addition to the baby's room!

Baby Shower Fun

2008-09-16T15:46:00.002-06:00

I threw a shower for my sister-in-law the day after her due date (I took a chance, I know!). She had 9 family members coming in from Ontario that weekend including her mom, so I wanted to make sure to include them. I figured if she had the baby early, then baby would be there for the fun, and if not, the shower would be a good distraction while she waits for his/her arrival. I wanted a surprise shower, so asked my brother for all the emails and phone numbers, and planned with him very carefully. It was a huge success! She had no idea, and was very happy. She didn't think anyone would throw a shower for her, and was kind of sad - but there was NO way I was letting her get away without a shower! I had so much fun planning; our little ones will be about 6 weeks apart (mine has yet to arrive - due date: today!), so it's not like I didn't have a lot of other things to do. I think I was avoiding those things though, so made myself busy planning her gift, the games we'd play, the prizes they'd win, party favors and food. Whew!

In this picture you can see the party favors I made: little Kit Kat's wrapped with designer paper, with a little rattle attached to a pink elephant (my sister-in-law knew she was having a baby girl). Also in the picture is my gift to her: a fuzzy bin filled with homemade blankets, clothes, breastfeeding supplies, etc. I had intended to wrap it very simply in some cello wrap, but discovered (about an hour before I needed to leave!) that I didn't have enough! So, I stuffed it with pink tissue paper, and made a chipboard flower to peek out of it!

How can you help but have a tonne of fun planning one of these parties; you don't need to spend a lot to be successful, and having the internet to browse for ideas is a life-saver! Thanks to everyone who has posted their baby shower ideas to the internet - there were so many great ideas; it made my task so much easier!

Oh Baby!!!

2008-07-15T17:56:00.005-06:00

Well, this year we've had it pretty easy as far as being invited to weddings goes. We had one in Kelowna, and as far as I know, that's the one and only this year! When the subject changes to babies, well, that's another story! There seems to be a HUGE baby boom over the last few years, and this year is no exception. Including mine (coming in September), I know of at least 6 babies being born (or already here!) this year! Not to mention the 3 or 4 I already know of for next year! Well, one thing's for sure, my newest little one won't be lonely! :)

The newest arrival came about 3 weeks ago; a little girl to my good friends Anita and Joel. I have been so excited to meet their new addition, and I wanted to have a special card for the occasion. I've seen some diaper shirt cards come up on Splitcoast once in awhile, and always thought I'd love to try one out. Well, here's my attempt! For my first time making one of these, it was surprisingly fast and easy - only took me about 35 minutes! Even my husband was surprised at how fast I was done. Now that I've done one though, others would only take me about 10 minutes - a very fast, cute card!

This card is done on Whisper White cardstock, with Pretty In Pink accents. It measures 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 (a regular card), after cutting an 8 1/2 x 11 piece in half lengthwise (measuring 4 1/4 x 11). Fold in half, and use your 1 3/8" or 1 1/4" circle punch to punch out the legs (insert cs on each end so that it makes a right angle, and the point or corner touches the other side of the punch. make sense?) Then use your scallop punch to make the bottom "leg" accents, and add some brads or buttons to the bottom. For the top, use the same circle and scallop punch for the "neck". To make the sleeves, I used my paper cutter and cut into each side 3/4", then cut down from each inner cut to the outside of the "legs". I'm fairly comfortable with my cutter, but I know some people who would prefer to use their hobby blade for this step. Now for the hardest part of the card - choosing the stamp to go in the middle of your shirt! No kidding - I spent most of my time deciding which image to choose... Gotta love a card this easy!

Now that I've made one, I'm addicted and can see myself making a tonne of these! If the directions above aren't clear enough, or you just have a couple questions, please let me know. I'll try to remember to take some pictures while I'm making the next one, and post a little tutorial for it. :)

Congrats to all the new moms and moms - to - be out there - there sure are a lot of us! :)

2008-06-29T21:19:00.002-06:00

I came into contact with a long lost friend in November; she was my next-door neighbor in Ontario when I was 8 years old, and we were best friends. She moved away when I was 11, to Quebec; we kept in contact for a few years, and tried to visit whenever we could. Then I moved to Alberta when I was 15, and we lost contact. Well, thanks to Facebook we were reunited! And not only did we make contact, but it turns out that she also lives in Edmonton, and has for 3 years! What a small world.

Anyway, my friend got married in February this year (in Quebec), and while I would have LOVED to be there, it wasn't meant to be. So, when she came back I gave her this wedding card. It is another example of using the Bursting With Joy set, and I really like using it! Those sunbursts are really pretty, and I love layering the stamps - the sunburst with a light ink and the swirly thing over top in a dark ink. This card was really easy and fun to make; since the popular wedding color this year seems to be green (either apple or celery, usually with some kind of brown), I opted to use Certainly Celery for this card. I just love when you can do an entire project with ONE stamp set!

So, my friend is moving back to Quebec at the end of this month. :( Very sad to see her go! She's going to spend Canada Day with my family and I, and I'm glad for the oportunity to see her a few times before she leaves. I will definitely have to make a visit to Quebec a priority on my list of trips!

The Season of Love Has Arrived!

2008-06-27T14:54:00.003-06:00

The birds are singing, the sun is shining... and the weddings are a-happenin'! This year, my husband, daughter and I were invited to my husband's cousin's wedding in Kelowna B.C. His whole family was there, and it turned out to be quite a wonderful event. A few weeks before his cousin's bridal shower, my mother-in-law asked if I would be willing to make some Thank You cards for the bride as a shower gift. Well, of course!!! I'd been eyeing a couple of cards in the Stampin' Success magazine (sent to all Stampin' Up demonstrators) and thought I'd like to try to make something similar. The cards in the magazine used the Simply Scrappin' kit "Tie the Knot", and since I was making 50 cards, I didn't want to buy a tonne of those kits for just a couple pieces. So, I improvised, using different stamp sets for my images, instead of the die-cuts from the kit. My intention was to make a few of each of these 3 designs, totalling 50 cards. Well, after making the Certainly Celery "Congratulations" card (which I would have put "Thank You" instead), I realized how much work it would be to cut out all of those flowers! So, I opted to use this card as the one I'd give to congratulate the bride.

Then I tried the Chocolate Chip card. I figured this card would take me no more than a few minutes to whip up, but I was wrong (again!). First I started with a background stamp (Canvas), then I punched my circles. I stamped a bunch of branch images from "Embrace Life" stamp set, and colored all the leaves, then punched out circles from those. Then I stamped the hearts, and cut them out. Making one of these wasn't too bad, but to make 50 would have been a little time consuming, so I made 10 of them instead.

Then as I was playing around, I threw the Very Vanilla card together, and really liked it! It's simple, elegant, and quick to make! So I made 40 of these. I loved using the "Bursting With Joy" stamp set. I'd had it for awhile but had not touched it; once I had, my mind started whizzing with ideas (see my card tomorrow for another example!)! So in the end, I ended up with 40 "simple" cards and 10 more "intricate" cards she could give to special guests. I was pleased with the results and she was very happy when she received them!

We Love Our Teacher!

2008-06-25T20:52:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Kaitlyn and I had our last class with her Kindermusik teacher, Miss Carly. Kate was in 2 classes this semester with her, and we've been coming to her classes for the last 2 and a bit years. Miss Carly has been a wonderful teacher, whom we have loved dearly and will miss, because she is off to finish her teaching degree! We weren't the only ones sad to see her go; the whole class (both actually) were in tears as we said our goodbyes. Over the last couple of years Miss Carly and I have become friends, and I hope to see her during the summer holidays before she goes off to school. Anyway, to show our appreciation for all the hard work, effort and creativity she puts into each class, I let my daughter know that we could bring her a goodbye/thank you gift. "What would you like to bring her?" I asked. "Well," said Kaitlyn, "I think I'd like to give her a glass slipper." A little astonished by this, I said that's sounds like a nice gift, "but why a glass slipper?" Kaitlyn replied "because every girl deserves a glass slipper Mommy!" Well, that settled it; we were on the hunt for a glass slipper. I looked everywhere I could think of, in downtown Edmonton, and came up empty handed. Then I took Kate to West Edmonton Mall, thinking that if there was a glass slipper anywhere in the city, this would be the place we would find it. Well, wouldn't you know, the 2nd store we looked in had one! We were walking along when I spotted Royal Doulton and thought "I wonder...". I also wondered about the price if we found it there, but decided it was worth a look. Not only did they have a lovely glass slipper, but it was also only $7! Whew! I didn't have to break the bank for that one! Kaitlyn was very pleased we found her gift too. I decided the perfect thing to go with a glass slipper would be a pedicure, so I also got her a gift certificate for some pretty toes for the summer. Then I made this purse out of the Carousel Notes from the Occasions Mini Collection catalog (which you can still order from for 5 more days!) and the envelopes they come with .

I've actually made 2 of these lovely little purses; the first I gave as part of a charity auction item, and forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it away! Anyway, they are very easy to make; I got the directions from another blog, which you can find here at Stamp a Little Love. I love her examples too! Once I had made one of these, I bought a couple more packages of the Carousel Notes; I just knew I'd be making more! I encourage you to try this little project, and if you do, I'd love to see what you come up with! You can post a link to your picture in your reply to this post; and don't forget a link to your blog too, if you have one!

Thanks for looking! Oh yeah - 47 more days until the new Stampin' Up Catalog!!! Yippee!

For My Mother In Law

2008-04-06T22:19:00.002-06:00

Whew, has it ever been awhile! I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to post again; I found out in the middle of January that I am pregnant, and it has sure been a busy (and sick) time since then! I am now 17 weeks along, and while I'm still not back to my old self, I am trying my best to get back into some kind of groove. My head is so full of stamping ideas; I just need to find the time (and energy!) to let them out!

In the mean time, here are a few cards I made for my Mother-in-law, as a gift. She loves hand-stamped cards, and it's always nice to have a few different ones on hand, so every year I make her a stack to give for birthdays, thank you's, etc. I fully admit that these were CASED by some very talented ladies at Splitcoaststampers.com! They are a bunch of very talented ladies, and when I saw these cards, I knew I had to make them! In some cases, I don't have the same colors, or stamps or accessories, so have changed a couple of details here and there, but mostly they are totally CASED (copy and share everything!). I loved making all three of these cards; the dragonfly is so very creative; the "ever greatful" card is so bright and cheery, and I always love using the color combo on the "thinking of you" card. Enjoy! Here are the links to the original card makers (click on each): Dragonfly, Ever Greatful, Thinking of You.

Shoebox Swap - Part 2

2008-01-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Here are the other 4 cards from the shoebox swap at my upline Terri's Christmas party. We had so much fun doing this, that we're talking about meeting throughout the year for a swap! That would be so much fun! :)
This is my 1st upline Bonnie's swap card. Every time I see this "Fabulous" flower I think of how much work it must be to cut out. Well, while I wouldn't want to make a large number of these cards (over 30), it was a lot easier and less time-consuming than I had thought. I really like this flower and now that I have the stamp set, I'm sure I'll be cutting it out frequently. The rest of this card is gorgeous too; I loved how we did Direct to Paper on the bottom half, and doesn't it look like designer paper? The top half IS designer paper; the bottom was stamped by moi. Love the jumbo eyelet too!

This card was so fast and easy to make, but what a "wow" card it is! I haven't used the brushed gold cs before, and I really liked how it looked. This color combo isn't one I would have thought of either, but I really like it; very fresh looking!

This was my card for the swap. I was very busy this Christmas season and wanted something fast. I haven't used the Simply Said set in awhile, so I dug it out. I like the color combo, but I definitely could have done a lot better with coloring the stems! Actually I made quite a few of these cards, as gifts for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law; those ones had much nicer stems... Why I didn't take a picture of THOSE ones, is beyond me!

This was another simple one, and the lady (I'm sorry I can't remember her name!) was even nice (and organized) enough to pre-stamp the "C" and the background for each of us! All we had to do was assemble! I love the Pomegranite and Chocolate Chip together! And ohhh, that ribbon!

Upline Christmas Party

2008-01-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

I know I promised no more Christmas cards for the next long while, and I'll live up to that promise - honestly! I will talk a bit about the fantastic time I had a my upline Terri's Christmas party and am only sorry I haven't posted about it earlier!

I always wait for Terri's Christmas party every year; I've been twice now, and every time has been so much fun! This year (well I guess last year already!) we did a Secret Santa gift exchange, a Chinese gift exchange, a shoebox swap, and enjoyed so many great treats while we talked about stamping and other fun things that we're all up to. I received some amazing gifts from my Secret Santa Kerri; I need to take some pictures to post for you! In the meantime, I DID take pictures of the shoebox swap cards we made and I'll share those with you. We wanted to make non-Christmas cards, since most of us had been in full Christmas mode since July and we wanted a break! Here are 3 of the cards we made; I'll post more next time! :)

This first card is made with the brand new set Embrace Life and the new papers Bali Breeze. I loved the sponging we did with this card!

This next card was designed by my up line Terri (you can visit her blog here). I loved using the 5/8 ribbon and that Flowers For You designer paper is really pretty. I thought this card was perfect for getting me in a "Springy" mood! We also got to use a build-a-brad for the centre of the flower - long awaited and long coveted! I think they're a great way to finish off a project.

The last card uses papers from the Cutie Pie designer paper set, as well as the 5 petal flower punch (I HAVE to have it now!) and the Three for You punch. This was an easy but fun card to make - so many pretty colors, you can't help but be happy when you look at this one!

Stay tuned for more cards from the Christmas party! :)

Faux Postage Technique

2008-01-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

These are the last Christmas cards I'm posting again until much later in the year, I promise! I had so many different Christmas cards to show you this year, and not enough time to get on the computer and post them before the big Dec 25! These were the other cards from my last stamp club meeting in November. Again, I couldn't decide which card for them to do, so I cut everything the same, showed them both cards and let them choose which one they wanted to attempt. The snoman card was a little more difficult to do, because you had to mask the area around each rectangle so you didn't get the rest of that stamp (snowman from the now retired Holiday Tag Team) anywhere you didn't want it. This was a great technique I always wanted to try; if you visit www.Splitcoaststampers.com they have a great tutorial for this technique, along with a link to a file so you can print out the "stamps". If you haven't tried this one yet and have a little extra time to play, I would definitely try it. I've so many beautiful examples with it! I have to say, I had a fun experience trying to get acetate though. You need window sheets for this technique, and have to cut out rectangles (or just one) to mask the other stamps. Well, since I didn't have enough acetate to go around, I was on the hunt. I went to Michael's and asked for sheets of acetate. I had to explain what I was using it for, that it was clear pieces of plastic to make windows on cards, etc. The lady had no idea what I was talking about, so asked someone else to help us. Well, the next lady pointed me in the direction of Staples Office Depot, because she said it was an office item, not a craft item. Doesn't she know ANYTHING can be a craft item? ;) At least she knew what I was talking about! So off I went to Staples, where I proceded to explain to this 16 year old boy what I was looking for. Eventually he said "do you mean transparency films for overheads?" And I figured that would work, so he showed me the way. Well, I had no idea there was such a selection! And what a price range too! In the end I found, tucked behind a bunch of others, a small pack of transparency sheets for the cheapest price. Whew! What an ordeal! All this with my then 2 year old tagging along; poor girl! So, if you want to do this Faux Postage technique, now you know where to get those window sheets and what they are called to those "non-crafting" people!

Just a quick note, because I'm such a proud mommy - my baby turned 3 today! I have been on the verge of tears for half of the day, first last night thinking about the experience of having her, and then today thinking about my first hours with her in my arms. Even typing this, my chest is getting heavy and my eyes are tearing up! She was so cute this morning, waking up asking "is my birthday starting yet?" What a girl; she's amazing and makes me feel like the luckiest mom in the world! *sniff*

Happy New Year! - And Some Cards

2008-01-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday. My brother and sister-in-law came over to spend Christmas day with us, and New Year's Eve was spent with some friends; a very relaxing but fun time. Now that January 1st has come and gone, I am gearing up for all my classes, clubs and other stamping fun coming up this year! I'm starting a new stamp club this January (the 18th), and have 2 spots left! Let me know if you'd like to join (and are in the Edmonton area). I also have 2 Marker Clubs starting this January, and both are full. I'll have so many projects to show you each month from all of these clubs! I have a tonne of fun classes planned as well; including a Valentine's bundle class, a 6x6 bragbook class (create an entire 26 page scrapbook in one day!), a recipe box class, calendar class, etc. etc... I will be a busy year! I am also attending the Stampin' Up Convention in Salt Lake City this July - it's the 20th anniversary, and it is guaranteed to be an AMAZING time! Anyone who signs up to be a demonstrator before Convention is eligible to come; ask me for more details! I also plan to be at Scrapfest again this year; the last 2 years have been great, and I have every reason to think this year will be just as great! What a year this is going to be!

Well, to get on to the cards I've posted... These 2 were from my last Club meeting in November, where members learned the shadow technique. This was such a funny class (at least to me) because while making the cards (the other technique will be posted later) I couldn't for the life of me decide what I wanted to do! For this card, I knew everything about the card except for the layout I wanted, and couldn't for some reason decide between using a brad or a button for the centre of the scallop piece. I just couldn't decide! So, I made sure all the pieces were the same size, showed my club both cards, and let them decide which they liked better and wanted to make. Whew! These cards were made using the Wanted set, and C. Chip, Bordering Blue, R. Rock and V. Vanilla were the card stock colors I used. All you do is stamp your image on the V.Vanilla CS, then again on a piece of acetate; then you place the acetate with the image where you want it to go (this case, under the original horse for a reflection effect) and rub it on! The image will transfer from the acetate onto your CS! Then I just drew a line to look like grass, and sponged and aqua painted the sky and water. Not a difficult technique at all!

I hope you all have a great year ahead with lots of time to do the things that make you most happy!

So Many Occasions!

2007-12-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

I made this card for a friend's birthday this December. I love the Baroque Motifs stamp set, and use those Rhinestone Circle Brads whenever I can! I made a similar card for Christmas, using the Soft Sky/Blue Bayou combination, with "Warm Wishes" for the sentiment. I also decided it would look nice with Real Red and Whisper White for Christmas! So many ways to use this card! It is done with the Crayon Resist technique on glossy paper. For instructions on this technique, see my other Crayon Resist card here! This looks like a very fast card, but it is deceiving.... Adding crayon to all those little lines and loops is a lot of work - especially if you're making more than one (or ten! My fingers were cramping by the end of it!) ;) If you're going to make this card, take your time doing it, or you may find yourself with a stamping injury!

Wintergreen - Beautiful!

2007-12-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

Awhile back I posted a card that I had made for a special class I did at a customer's church "Super Saturday" (see that card here). Well, I forgot to post the other projects! We actually did 2 different cards, as well as these cute tags and holder! I forgot to take a picture of the other card before I sent it as one of my own Christmas cards, but it was CASED from this card by girl3boys0 at Splitcoaststampers.com. Such a beautiful card, I couldn't resist! I actually made a bunch of them for my Christmas cards, with the only change being that I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the little snowflakes in the background (on the white card), and on some of them added Irredescent Ice to some White EP for the trees and saying.
These tags were gorgeous when I saw them on Splitcoast; I love that Wintergreen paper, and as soon as I saw this project on SCS, I knew it was just what I wanted for my class. Simple tags, but SO beautiful, and I love the holder. My friend asked what anyone would do with that holder after they'd used their tags, and I realized you could very easily turn it into a pocket card by slipping a piece of cardstock inside the pouch! I made a few of these and gave them away as prizes at my Hostess Christmas Appreciation Party and also included one in a Secret Santa gift exchange I was in at my upline Terri's Christmas party.
I'm a little sad they've retired this paper, but I anticipated it and bought a whole bunch! I love every project I see it on, and am looking forward to some stamping time this holiday to make a few more things with it.

Almost... But Not A Chance!

2007-12-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

When I was at the Bloomin Inn this November, I brought everything I would need to make my Christmas cards; or at least what I had planned to be my Christmas cards. Then I sat down and made one. And that was the end, since it took me 2 hours to make!!! I had used some stamps from the Punch Pals set (beautiful set!), and every image I used was drawn double line. I decided to color them in; every tree, every trunk, every snowman. Add to that all the sponging and masking, and it was too much work to be a mass-produced Christmas card. Back at home, I tried again, using some different stamps. I thought that if I used different stamps (that had solid lines - not ones I thought needed to be more bold), it would go quicker. Well, maybe it did.... but not much quicker. At least not nearly fast enough for me to think I'd ever attempt to make a tonne of these! They were both fun to make, and turned out nice; whoever I send them to will be happy knowing they are each really one of a kind!

Beautiful Bloomin' Inn - In Any Kind Of Weather!

2007-12-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures from my trip with some friends to a scrapbook retreat called the Bloomin' Inn, in Pincher Creek, Alberta. We went on the first weekend of November, and when we arrived, it was cool and VERY windy, but fairly typical fall weather. A couple of hours before we left for home, we were greeted with a blizzard! For driving home, that was the last thing we wanted, but it sure made for some beautiful pictures! We arrived Friday night, and scrapped until midnight, then crawled into bed. We scrapped all day Saturday and Sunday morning before our journey home as well! I loved this trip, especially because of the Inn itself. It was so warm and comfy; it was a place that encouraged you to relax and just enjoy being in the country with some good company and great food! The owners cooked every meal, and they were all delicious! One of my friend's also has a toddler at home, and we were both looking forward to sleeping in a bit each day (neither of our children sleep through the night). The food was too good to miss however, and breakfast was served at 8am; so no sleeping in for us! It was definitely a sacrifice we were willing to make though; the food was so good that we bought some to take home with us! They have farm eggs, sausages, steaks, baking, preserves, etc that you can buy before you go. I now know that next year I need to buy more; none of it lasted even a month in my house!

If you're thinking this is something you'd like to do,you'd better call early to book! They run this retreat every weekend of the year, and it takes about a year to get in! We've already booked for next year! :) Can't wait; next year I'll work on more of my own projects (I swear!) too. Here are a couple more pictures to leave you with:

The Retirement List Is Here!!!

2007-12-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

I woke up early this morning to check the Stampin' Up website to see what stamp sets had made the retirement list. Well, the good news is, the list is short - much shorter than the last one! I was a little shocked to see some of the brand new sets make the list, but overall, I didn't fair too badly - I lost only 6 sets!

Click HERE for a link to the list, in order by page number.

SPECIAL: I am having a special on retired sets; from now until December 31st, order 1 set at 5% off, 2nd set at 10% off, 3rd set at 15% off and the 4th set at 20% off! Need more than 4 sets? No problem, because this offer will keep rolling over, every 4th set (so the 5th set will be 5% off, 2nd set at 10%, etc). This is a great way to get all the retiring stamp sets before they're gone! Email your order to me today!

Stay tuned for the Retiring Accessories list coming December 10th!

April 6x6 Bragbook Pages

2007-11-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

It was nice to be able to think of spring a little bit this fall; I enjoyed using pink papers and making the tree with spring "blossoms". I'm not much of a scrapbooker, but managed to come up with this all by myself! Sometimes even I am struck by inspiration! ;)

This layout is for a 6x6 bragbook class I am offering in the new year. I was in a swap with 3 of my upline, and each of us had to come up with 2-page layouts for 3 months. I had April, May and June. For this one, I knew I wanted to use some fresh spring-like colors, and the striped paper from the Petals and Paisley DSP pack was just what I was looking for. I don't own any current Easter sets (yet! Stay tuned for the new 2008 Spring/Summer Catalog!), so I couldn't do an Easter themed layout. Instead I stuck to "Spring" as my theme, and that tree from "Lovely As A Tree" was perfect for this project. To make that tree multi-colored, I first colored it with my Marvelous Markers in Mellow Moss for the leaves and Chocolate Chip for the trunk. Then I used Pretty in Pink and Cameo Coral, and "bounced" them (one at a time) on the stamp. You need to use the paintbrush side of the marker to do this technique. Then I huffed and stamped! I didn't even mind doing this technique 4 times; it takes a little bit of time, but was not at all hard to do.

With spring on my mind, I have begun to look at my 2008 classes and clubs schedule. I'm starting 2 stamp clubs in January - one that will be held on a Friday of each month, and the other that will be either a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday of each month.
I also have a marker club starting, where there are 4 members and each month you receive a color family of markers, and one member will receive the box to store them in. Also each month I will teach this club 2 techniques using their markers.
February 1st I am holding a Valentine's card class. Please see my website for more information about this class.

Well, I'm off to get back in the Christmas frame of mind! Time to finish off my Christmas cards (before it's too late!) :)

A Penguin to Cow Twist!

2007-11-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

I had my last Christmas Bundle class last week, where we made shaker cards. One of the ladies who came to the class is in love with cows. I don't mean she likes cows, I mean she's bonkers over anything cow! SO, she asked if she could bring her cow stamp to make special cow Christmas cards! It fit nicely where the penguin was supposed to go (see the original card here); I thought it was a nice way to personalize the card! We even sponged Green Galore around the cow, to give it a little extra something. I really like how it turned out, don't you? :)

Fun Fast Stampin'!

2007-11-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

I held a class last week where we made some small Christmas gifts. Some were more intricate than others; some took a lot of preparation time, others took almost none - like these Christmas Gift Card holders! These were SO easy to make, and I think even with just a little effort they look beautiful! I used 2 stamps from the Punch Pals set, put the little snowflake in the middle on dimensionals, and tied Stampin' Up's beautiful ribbon in an easy knot - simple as that! What a nice way to give a gift card to someone special.

Here is a picture of all of the projects we made at that gifts class:

I gave them some chocolate treats to put inside the penguin pouch, and delicious hot chocolate to put inside the snowman slider. These are all great gifts to give anyone on your list: as a stocking stuffer, for a hostess gift, a teacher gift, etc. Anyone would love to receive a hand made gift like these, and none of them took longer than 45 minutes to make!

Have some fun this season making homemade gifts; whether it's a card, a book or home decor, they are all too much fun to make! :)

Simple Sparkly Christmas

2007-11-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

I'm still searching for just the right Christmas card to send out to all my family and friends. I've seen tonnes of beautiful cards, but I haven't seen "the one" yet. In the meantime, I'm working on other Christmas projects. I made this card for a friend's workshop. I wanted a simple project that still had that "Wow!" factor, and I think this one did the trick! I embossed each snowflake with white embossing powder, then added Dazzling Diamonds to the ends of each one. Simple as that, but I love how the white pops on the red!

I Love This Scallop Punch!

2007-10-29T16:20:00.000-06:00

About a month ago, one of the ladies in my stamp club asked if I would like to do a class for her church's Super Saturday, a day when a bunch of different craft classes are offered to the congregation and anyone else who wants to attend. Of course I said "Yes!", and went searching for some great ideas. I decided to teach them how to make 10 Christmas gift tags, a tag holder and 2 cards. On one card we will do some embossing, and the other will have Dazzling Diamonds. This is the card with the diamonds! I just got the scallop punch and decided I HAD to use it! I also haven't pulled out my Holiday Tag Team stamp set much this season since I've been so in love with all of our new Christmas stamp sets, and I love that little snowman! I thought he'd be perfect for this card. Blue Bayou and Soft Sky cardstock, Soft Sky ribbon, and Dazzling Diamonds around the edge of the scallop circle, and - voila! - a cute Christmas card! Since Blue Bayou doesn't come in a marker (and neither do any of the "In Colors" by the way), I pressed the top of my ink pad case into the ink pad itself, getting some ink on it, then used my blender pen to pick up the ink, turning it into a temporary marker! I like when ALL the colors on the card can match, and was glad to know I could do that so I didn't have to pick another color of blue for that little snowman's accessories! :)

I'll post the pictures for the other Super Saturday projects another time. Hope you enjoyed this one! :)

And The Winner Is...

2007-10-26T21:36:00.000-06:00

...Gina Wrona! Using the Random Number Generator to pick the winner, number 19 was Gina! :) I have contacted Gina, and will get that candy out to her as soon as I hear from her.

Thanks everyone for your wonderful comments! One poster commented that sometimes people who visit blogs just like to "lurk", and I know that must be true as I'm one of those lurkers! That being the case, it was very nice to hear from all of those who regularly visit, and also from some new readers - welcome! :) Thanks for visiting, and I look forward to posting many more projects for all of you! :)

Trick or Treat!

2007-10-25T23:55:00.000-06:00

At Scrapfest this year, my upline Bonnie brought a really cute altered bucket for display. It was decorated in a Halloween theme, with designer papers, Booglie Eyes stamp set and lots of ribbon on the handle. It was SO cute, I just HAD to make one too! So here's mine:

I think the "Creepy Crawly" designer paper is amazing: I love the colors! I have mixed feelings about the way my bucket turned out; I love it because it's done, and has been on my mind to do for a long time. I'm not so thrilled with the dazzling diamonds on the spider webs (I only did that on the one side), and I know I need more ribbon on the handle. But overall I'm happy with it, and think it will be a nice addition at the front door, filled with candy for the kiddies! :)

Halloween Cards - Do You or Don't You?

2007-10-24T16:21:00.000-06:00

Just in time for Halloween, this was the second card made at my last stamp club. One of my ladies asked specifically for a Halloween card, and I was eager to grant her wish! I only own one Halloween stamp set though, so was a little limited. I also wanted to teach them how to do dry embossing, and I think the circles went well with the small stamps. I loved using the dry embossing template "Punches Plus"; it not only allowed for embossing, but also provided a template for circular holes (using the poker from the crafter's tool kit), as well as a good template for sponging (on the outer edges of each circle). I also taught them how to emboss using the Crop-a-dile! What a fun tool that is! Using the crop-a-dile for embossing does take a little practice; if you're not careful you'll have a hole instead of a raised circle!

To finish off the card, I sponged Only Orange onto the little "Eek" and "Happy Halloween" pieces. The "Happy Halloween" is from Everyday Flexible Phrases (the only stamps I had with that sentiment!).

I have to say that I have never given a Halloween card before, nor have I ever received one. As shocking as that might be to some, I know I'm not the only one, as most of my stamp club said the same thing! So, do you give Halloween cards out? I'd love to know if maybe I'm missing out on something here! ;)

Blog Candy Picture

2007-10-22T11:10:00.000-06:00

Here it is! I went through my cupboards this morning, and came up with quite a few nice things: Apple Green ribbon, Turquoise Ribbon, Copper cord, 8 6x6 sheets of designer paper, pretty primas and some Icicles frames.

I'm enjoying your comments; thank you for all the nice feedback! :) To enter the contest, scroll to the next post and enter a comment there. Good luck! :)

Card, Cake And Candy!

2007-10-21T22:44:00.000-06:00

I just checked my stat counter, and it's at 5015!!! You know, when I started this blog, I never and I mean NEVER thought I'd get to 5000 hits. I saw other blogs with 5000 and more hits, and wondered with admiration how they ever got so many people to look at their blog! Well, I'm not quite sure how, but somehow I did it! (Insert proud moment, and self-pat on the back here!) I really enjoy writing these posts; it helps me keep track of my projects, and it's also a bit of a diary of my stampin' life. Thank you to all of you out there who have been reading my blog; I enjoy your comments, and am happy to have you visit! :)

I'll talk about the "Candy" in a bit, but first I want to get to the Card and the Cake. My very good friend (and upline) Bonnie just had a baby girl 2 weeks ago today. Once I heard the news, I knew I wanted to do something special. I knew I'd make her a card (a given!), but I also wanted her gift to be different, and something I spent some time on. So off I went to Splitcoast in search of some ideas. What I ended up finding was this post of a "Diaper Cake"! WOW! - I thought; that's exactly what I want to do! Well, Joeknee (who made the cake on Splitcoast) even posted a link to a website that gave directions on how to make a diaper cake, so off I went. Once I knew all the things I needed to make it, I headed out to buy some baby clothes, diapers, pretty pink ribbon, and all the other items I needed to make my "cake". I splurged quite a bit on this one, but I just really wanted to make this, so I didn't mind spending the extra $$. I bought a pack of size 2 diapers (the directions say to buy more than one size, but at $18 a pack of diapers, that adds up - especially since you want to put gifts in there too!), and started rolling. I think I used about 52 of the 60 in the package! This cake was REALLY easy to make; the hardest part (I found) about it was wrapping it in the cello-wrap! The short ends wouldn't stay tucked in, so I had to tape them shut with a little piece of clear tape. For gifts, I added some sleepers, onesies and a little dress outfit (with wee little tights!). Other good things to include would be: receiving blankets, socks, stuffed animals, hats, etc. You could really go all out with this one! I had a lot of fun making this, and would do it again in a heartbeat. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it wrapped in the cello; it looks really special all wrapped up with a nice pink bow at the top!

For the card I needed something really simple, since I had spend so much time on the gift, I had little time left to whip up the card (I was meeting the new little one the next day!)! I really like using PearlEx, so I VersaMarked the front of the card, and sprinkled some on. I love this little giraffe, and also really wanted to use a scalloped edge, so I came up with this little "window" card. It's hard to see the shiny surface in this picture, but if you click on it to make it bigger, you might be able to see it better. I used stamps from the "So Very" SAB set, and to finish it off, added some primas and of course a little glitz - a rhinestone brad.

SO, now for the Candy! Who wants some primas? How about ribbon? Maybe some designer paper? I'm putting together a nice little package for the winner, and will post a picture of it tomorrow! I will keep this open until Friday the 25th, at 7pm (Mountain time), when I will use the Random Number Selector to determine a winner! Here's what I want you to do: I love entering these posts, and enjoy watching the stat counter go up everyday, but other than the counter, I don't get a lot of comments on my blog. So, to enter for the blog candy, I would like you to reply to this post, and tell me which project on my blog you like the best, and why. I'd also like to hear any feedback about my blog; what you like, what you'd like to see, etc. I see that 5000 of you have visited, but I'd love to know what you actually think about what you see while you're here! :)

See you tomorrow with the yummy candy picture! :)

6x6 Ladybug Pages

2007-10-18T22:15:00.000-06:00

I'm working on some pages for the newest 6x6 bragbook class I will be offering, and this layout is for May. I love the color combo with Soft Sky and Purely Pomegranite, and I saw that little ladybug made somewhere and knew I had to make one for this page! She is made by stamping the polka dot petal image from "Pick A Petal" twice and cutting them out, then punching a 1" circle for the head, and a 1 1/4" circle for the body! Simple as that! The flowers are from the Three For You punch box, with a little white dabbed inside with a gel pen. It's hard to see in the photo, but if you click on it you'll see that I've also stamped a background on both pages. I think this will be a good layout for spring photos, as well as Mother's Day pictures! :)

When Creativity Comes-A-Knockin'...

2007-10-15T23:42:00.000-06:00

Lately I've been learning a lot about myself in the way of creativity, and in the last little while I've noticed I thrive on a deadline (nothing like leaving things till the last minute!), and I also create best late at night. I've been working away tonight on a card I'm doing with my stamp club this Friday, using the Crayon Resist technique. At first I went through Splitcoast (as I'm "sometimes" known to do!) looking for inspiration, or even a card I could C.A.S.E. I did find one I wanted to try, but then an idea struck me and I decided to try it instead. So, here it is, in it's finished format!

I thought of that little penguin, and had no idea in the beginning how the rest of the card would go; I only knew I wanted two little penguins holding "hands". Soft Sky gives a nice "icy" feeling, so I knew I wanted to use that to brayer overtop. So, on glossy cardstock, I stamped the penguins using Basic Black ink. I then used a white crayon to color their faces and tummies, making sure not to miss a spot. Anywhere I got the crayon where I didn't want it, I just lightly scratched it off with my fingernail. Then I brayered the Soft Sky ink overtop, and - voila! - 2 little blue penguins with nice white faces and tummies! I also used our Marvelous Markers to color their bodies, beaks and feet. I stamped some small snowflakes directly on the card in Craft White, and "Happy Holiday" in Basick Black. That's it! :) I thought that using Only Orange on a Christmas card was a little unusual, but I like it.

If you want to learn how to make cards like this (and many others!), ask me about joining my stamp club! :)

Blog Candy in the Horizon?

2007-10-12T12:38:00.000-06:00

"It's beginning to look a lot like..." blog candy! I just looked at my sitemeter, and it's already passed 4800! Not long now until 5000, when I've decided I will give away a little extra something to celebrate and thank my blog readers. I'll post again when the "clock" hits the big 5 G's, with a picture of what's up for grabs! There will of course be a "skill testing question"... ;) I'll have to think of a good one!

Stay tuned, and the more people you refer to my site, the faster the blog candy will arrive! :)

A Little Inspiration...

2007-10-04T23:07:00.000-06:00

...Is what I got when I stumbled upon this blog: Greatful Heart. I bought 2 packs of On Board Trimmings and a pack of On Board Garland Greetings, not really knowing what I was going to do with them, when I came across this amazing blog! Susan has some beautiful examples of holiday banners made with the Garland Greetings, and also some tree ornaments made with the On Board Trimmings - just what I needed to give my imagination a boost! Susan is also giving away some blog candy, so hurry over there and take a look - I'll bet she'll inspire you too! :)

Impressed With Myself!

2007-10-02T00:23:00.000-06:00

While I was at Scrapfest this year, I bought a frame from the Creative Memories booth. I had several "plans" for it, but wondered if I would actually get around to even opening the box it came in! Well, tonight, around 9:30 I decided to open that box and try out a project I've been dreaming of. By midnight I was done, and I must say - Very proud of myself! I think it turned out lovely, and am SO glad I stayed up to do it!
While at Convention this summer, I saw a project that I loved, using a pine cone stamp and a stamp from the Peaceful Wishes set for the background. It was a 6x6 page in a smaller frame, and it really did look peaceful to me! So I tried it out on this frame using the Lovely As A Tree set for the trees, the branches from the Pines set, and "Season's Greetings" from Many Merry Messages. Then I faux stitched, roughed up, and sponged the edges! The frame already came "weathered", and it came with these great magnets to attach the sheet (making it easier to change the project anytime I want!), and also with these tiny little clothespins - so cute! Of course I added glitter and gold brads for some sparkle; otherwise it was looking to "fall", and not "holiday" enough. What do you think? I think my next project with it will involve some photos of my daughter, and I'll dress it up to put in her room - there are endless posibilities with this marvelous frame!
Click on the image to see the details up close!

September Projects, And A Whole Lot of Life!

2007-09-23T20:01:00.000-06:00

Has life ever been busy lately! It just got busier in the last couple of weeks; not just my stamping life either - the whole kit and kaboodle has been off the charts! First, one of my cousins from Ontario moved out here (and is now moving back home this weekend... ), to try life on her own. Well, thank God she was here, because I ran into a babysitting emergency about 5 days after she got here, and well, even though I had to drive across the city to get her, and across the city again to bring her home, I'm so glad she was there to help!

Next, we had some friends stay with us for an emergency visit to a specialist; so our house was unexpectedly full for a few days. I never mind when they stay with us though; they are our best friends, and our kids love to see each other too!

I enrolled Kaitlyn into a few classes this fall, to help ease the boredom we are both feeling. I take her to 2 classes on Tuesday mornings; an Art and Stories class, and Kindermusik; both taught by the same teacher back to back, so at least I'm not driving here, there and everywhere! On Wednesdays I'm trying to go to yoga, and on Thursdays Kaitlyn is in a parented/unparented "My First" pre-school at the YMCA. I can tell you, all this has definitely eased our boredom!

On top of all this, I am in full swing when it comes to my Christmas classes! I had my first bundle class last Tuesday, and have a second round this coming Tuesday. I really enjoy having classes, and people seeing that they really can make some beautiful things with their own hands!

I also had my September stamp club meeting of Friday, and showed my ladies how to do the Polished Stone technique as well as Reverse Masking. I figured that since I had introduced the Masking technique last month, they would love to see how Reverse Masking works too. My best friend attended the class, and I think she was proud of me for the RM card - it was only 2 layers of paper!!! I love to use multiple layers, so this card was a definite departure for me. I love how it turned out, and love Splitcoast more for the inspiration! Since Stampin' Up doesn't sell an oval scallop punch, and I don't use any other company (I'm definitely an SU snob!), I cut out an oval using the oval Coluzzle template, then used the Slit punch to punch around the oval, making scallops. I did 6 of these for my ladies to share for the class, so they didn't have to make the mask themselves. Normally I let them do everything for the card they are making (other than the initial paper cutting), but since a number of them had been to my Christmas card bundle class that week and had used that Coluzzle until they were sick of it, I figured I would do them that small favor. Plus it cut the time involved in making the card. I did punch one out while they watched though, so they would get the idea of how to do it themselves.

The other card we did was for the Polished Stone technique, and I have to say that Splitcoast did not let me down for this one either (warning: blatent CASE!). I would have loved to put some ribbon on mine too, but didn't have the color I needed! :( I do love this technique though. I haven't done it in awhile, and now that I have again, I think I will do it more often on my own projects - it's just so easy! Everyone loved using the crimper on the bashful blue piece, and I showed them how to make a scalloped edge using the Corner Rounder punch. I am SO addicted to that Lovely As A Tree set though; I really need to find a new favorite now that I think everyone in the club has this one! ;) I can't help it; almost every card I want to make just screams out for that set! I'd love to know, what's your favorite, most used set?

Any Suggestions?

2007-09-15T23:35:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting at my craft table tonight, with some actual time to stamp! My husband is gone for the evening, and my daughter is asleep, so I am so happy to be able to sit down and create without interuptions! :)

Tonight I am working on some pages for a 6x6 album I'm putting together for a class. I decided to use a color I have never used before - Elegant Eggplant! I've also used Certainly Celery, Rose Red, and So Saffron, which are some of my favorites. This page is meant to be the "June" page, in which Father's Day falls. I didn't want it to necessarily be ONLY for Father's Day, so I wanted to keep it more neutral; not a lot of froof (if you know what I mean). I do think it needs something else though; but cannot for the life of me decide what to do! Here's a picture:

I'm thinking I'd like to put something on the bottom left of the first page, and the top left of the second page. I'm not sure if it should be an image of some kind, or just a piece of embellishment, or what. If you have any ideas for me, I'd love to hear your suggestions! :)

Advent Calendar

2007-09-09T21:27:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of the Advent Calendar you could make if you join my Christmas Card Bundle classes! See below post for more information on this class, or view details in the calendar section of my website! :)

Christmas Card Bundle Class

2007-09-09T21:16:00.000-06:00

I am holding a whole bunch of classes at my home this year, and many are already filled up! I do have some spaces in a few of them though, so if you are interested in any that you see on my blog or on my website, please contact me at sherivan@telus.net to register! :)

Here are the pictures of the projects we will do at my Christmas Card Bundle class. This is a 3 part class, which runs once a month for three months (Sept., Oct., and Nov.). At each class you will make 8 cards, of 1 design, and at the end of the 3 classes you will have 24 cards of 3 designs. Also included if you take all 3 classes is a free advent calendar class which I will hold at the end of November. The fee for this class is $60 for the bundle, or $20 per class.

Here are the pictures! :)

Here is a picture of the inside of "Warm Wishes" card.

Stamp-A-Stack Christmas Cards

2007-09-09T20:39:00.000-06:00

By popular request, I have found some time to get these pictures up so you can see what cards we will be making in the Stamp-A-Stack class in October. I still have a couple of spots left, so if you are interested please email me and I will get in touch with you to add you to the class! :)

This class consists of 5 each of 3 card designs, making 15 total. The cost for this class is $35.00, and will be on Sunday October 14th, at 1pm.

Here are the cards! :) Let me know what you think, and if you would like to join us!

What A Scrappy Weekend!

2007-09-09T20:17:00.000-06:00

Whew! I just took the day to recuperate from 2 days of scrappin' mania at Scrapfest. We set up in the afternoon on Thursday, and were there meeting fellow scrappers and doing some shopping ourselves all day Friday (9am-9:30pm) and Saturday (9am-6pm). I met so many nice people this weekend; I went away smiling, thinking of all the ideas I saw and the contacts I made. I also got to spend a lot of time with 3 other demonstrators; the same demos I went to Convention with. They are all a lot of fun, and we made sure to have a good time while we were there. :) Here's a picture of me standing in our booth; we had retired stamp sets for sale, examples of the classes we are offering in the next few months, and other samples of projects you can make with SU supplies. I was very happy to be a part of Scrapfest, and can't wait for next year!

September Scrapfest!

2007-08-21T13:47:00.000-06:00

September is almost here, and with it brings Scrapfest in Edmonton Sept. 7th and 8th! I am participating in the Marketplace, along with 3 other Stampin' Up demonstrators who are members of my upline. We've been planning like crazy, and are excited for it to get here! Of course we're excited to meet all the scrapbookers gathering to see the latest in scrapping gear; we're also excited to walk through the Marketplace ourselves! Yes, last year when we were there, it was really hard on our pocketbooks; all the papers, ribbons and all kinds of other accessories - it was like being a kid at Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (Sorry - that movie was just on, so it popped into my head when I thought of really excited children!)! We'll be setting up for a few hours on the 6th, and then we'll be there all day Friday and Saturday, from 9am to I think 9pm! A long couple of days (and on our feet too!), but so much fun! Check out Scrapfest.ca, register for some classes, buy a ticket to the Marketplace (over 30 vendors to oggle!) and come and visit us! :) Hope to see you there!

Tin Full of Cards

2007-08-19T10:59:00.000-06:00

On a post further below, I mentioned I am doing a class using the Build a Flower tin from the SU catalog, and posted a picture of the altered tin. Well, I am now getting ready for that class, and have made the 5 cards that will go into the tin. Here is a picture of the whole project:

I had SO much fun making these little 3x3 cards last night! I flipped through the catalog, looking for inspiration, then went to work. 4 of these cards were inspired by other cards and projects out of the SU catalog (see if you can figure out which ones! ;) ), but the one with 3 flowers and grass was my own idea. I hope the ladies taking this class have as much fun as I did! Of course, they won't take NEARLY as long making these cards as I did - I worked non-stop from about 7:30 pm until 1 am! I have to say these little flowers are a little intimidating to use at first. Not that they are hard to use or anything, but I am a person who has trouble making decisions, and once you have decided to use one of these, that's it! Once you stamp on the little labels, if you screw it up you can't redo it! Yikes!!! You can pull the flower off the page a few times though, before it looses it's stickiness, so that helped ease my tension. This project actually helped me get over a little of that perfectionism; using these flowers is kind of fool-proof. They all look nice, no matter how you use them, and once I got over my idea that I had to have everything "perfect", they turned out pretty perfect after all (in my opinion, anyway!)! Let me know what you think! :)

An Amazing Starter Kit Special!

2007-08-15T10:33:00.000-06:00

Promotions like this don't come around every day! From now until the end of September, you can get a full set of ink pads in one color family FREE with your starter kit!! That's a value of 79.95!! Yippee!!

Here's the details:

From August 10 - September 30, new demonstrators will get to choose a colour family of Classic Stampin' Pads® free when they purchase the Starter Kit. That's up to a $79.95 value in addition to the excellent value of the kit itself, valued at over $500! The cost of the Starter Kit is only $275 CDN (no S&H or GST!)

New recruits can choose between the four colour families (Bold Brights, Earth Elements, Rich Regals, and Soft Subtles - 12 pads each) or choose a 6-pack of our 2007 In Color pads.

Want to know more about the Demonstrator opportunity? Check out these links!

Request your free information package here! (Canadians only!)

My Own Website!

2007-08-09T21:57:00.000-06:00

I finally did it - I signed up for the Stampin' Up Demonstrator Website! I'm so excited to use it; I love that I can put my classes up on the web for my customers to see, as well as any SU specials (and mine too!), etc. They're going to re-vamp it in the fall too, so that we can send ecards and newsletters, keep track of our classes/appointments, and our "to do's" for workshops, etc. What a great tool this will be! I need to do a few more things to tweak it, but here it is: http://sherivanhooren.stampinup.net . I'll put a link to it on the side of this blog so you can check it out any time you want! :)

Build A Flower Tin

2007-08-05T23:26:00.000-06:00

Our first night at Convention we had a Slumber Party with 2600 Stampin' Up demo's! It was an absolute blast; everyone was in their pajamas, hootin' and hollerin', stampin' and having a great time. At the party, we had a few make n' takes, and one of them was decorating the tin from "Build A Flower" (Fall/Winter Collection, pg 178). Stampin Up gave us all the tin along with 3 stamp sets for attending Convention. Here is the tin after I decorated it:

It was so much fun to decorate this tin, and make some cards using the flower pieces inside it, that I decided to offer a class with it. In the class we'll decorate the tin and make 5 cards to put inside, all for $25! I think this would be a great gift for any occasion. I'm thinking of buying a few more for myself, decorating them and giving them out as gifts this Christmas season. So cute!

When we did this tin, we got to use the Crop-A-Dile. WOW! Is that ever an amazing tool! It punched through this tin like it was butter. We used it on some other projects for various purposes, and I was totally impressed. Another item to add on my "Must Have" list!

We also used the Build A Brads on a few of our make n' takes, and they're really neat. I'm not sure why we can't sell them yet; they say there are some quality control issues, but I'm not sure what it could be, because they worked fine when I used them. Well, I sure hope they get it figured out soon so I can buy more of them! :)

Wow! Card Convention Swap

2007-08-01T20:46:00.000-06:00

Here is the card I made for the Wow! Card Swap, with other Splitcoast Stampers members. I had to make 21 of these, and they were NOT quick - let me tell you! I chose to do a shadowbox card (I wonder why? ;) I love these cards, but now that I've made so many of them, I'm thinking I just MAY take a break for awhile!), so I punched out a "window" using the 3/4" square punch. I added "curtains" using Mellow Moss cs; I crimped each one then tied them with Moss gingham ribbon and stuck them to the back of the windows using glue dots. Then I punched out flowers from the Spring Bouquet and Three For You punches, added stems, and stamped the Simply Said flowers stamp with markers. I stamped the "Weathered" background stamp on the Sage Shadow front, and cut out the oval with my Coluzzle (awesome tool!). Then I added my saying, from the new Hugs & Wishes set, distressing the sides and adding some sponging. That's it! Didn't seem so bad when I made the first one; by the time I'd made 21 though, I had some pretty good tendonitis from all that punching!

I did get a lot of great cards back from this swap though, and am glad I joined and made the effort. I can't wait to show my customers all the cards and ideas I got back! I'm hosting an open house this Saturday to sell my retired sets, and show off my great swaps. If you're in Edmonton and are interested in joining us, email me for further details! :)

Back From Convention!

2007-07-31T14:18:00.001-06:00

I'm back!!! My first Convention experience was SO amazing; my head is just spinning with all the ideas and projects I saw! I'm trying very hard to get all my ideas on paper so I don't forget them. I know I've already forgotten some things; I just don't think my brain had the capacity to remember all that I saw and heard. Good think for digital cameras, and for the fact that many demonstrations are included on a cd! I met so many wonderful people; all demo's who were just as excited to be there as I was. :) I participated in 2 organized swaps, as well as swapped with demo's at random, and the projects I received in return are so inspiring! I'm glad I got to take them home with me; I get so much inspiration from actually seeing the project up close. I have class ideas galore running through my head right now, and can't wait to make the projects for them and promote them to my customers!

Anyway, while there, Stamping wasn't the only thing I did - if you can believe it! ;) I also went shopping - a tonne - with my upline/friends! Here's a picture of our first trip to the outlet mall!

This is my up-upline Terri, who has been a huge inspiration to me this weekend. We rented the van behind her, and 6 of us headed off to the outlet mall after our last class on Thursday. Needless to say, our way back was pretty uncomfortable, with bags stacked and crammed into the back "trunk" area (right to the ceiling!), bags at our legs, beside out seats, on our laps! It was incredible! This picture is of the shopping damage done by 4 of our spending dynamo's; our hotel bellman was laughing at us when we unloaded the van! Our second day shopping wasn't much different; you can bet we had to sit on our suitcases to close them at the end of our trip, even though we had brought extra bags just for this reason! ;)

Next time I'll post some of the make n' takes we did at the SU Pajama Party Wednesday night! SO much fun - everyone in their pajamas, stampin away! :)

I've Been Tagged!

2007-07-24T13:57:00.001-06:00

Does everyone have a post titled something like that now? I've seen quite a few people "tagged" lately, and have enjoyed reading the neat little tidbits posted about themselves. So, it turns out that Kim at Inked has tagged ME! Wow; and just when I thought I was going to escape it... ;)

So here it is; these are the rules:

* I must post 7 random things about me.
* Tag 7 other Bloggers to do the same.
* Post the rules and the Bloggers I tagged here.
* Leave Tagged Bloggers a comment on their blog so they know they have been tagged.

7 Random Fact about me:

1. I am a huge choco-holic, and hope to have chocolate of some form or another delivered to my hotel room every day that I'm at Convention!
2. I LOVE cartoons! In fact, I just went to see the Backyardigans live at the Edmonton Capital Ex! Of course, I took my 2 and a half year old daughter with me so I didn't look too silly ;)
3. I am a SAHM right now, but would like to go back to work once my daughter is in school. I would eventually like to own my own business (other than being an SU demo - I want a real storefront!), but am still thinking about what type of business it would be...
4. My favorite place to be is relaxing by a lake (Not IN a lake... I am definitely NOT a swimmer) with a good book and good friends.
5. I am almost 31 years old, but have only had my driver's liscence for 4 years!
6. I love to travel, and not just to beach locations. I like to explore where I'm visiting, and find out what makes it a unique place to be.
7. My guilty pleasure (chocolate is definitely a pleasure, but for me it's not a guilty one!) is shopping. I LOVE to shop for almost anything, but the guilt comes in spending all that money! :(

There you have it! Now I need to tag 7 other Bloggers. Hmm... Okay, here they are:

1. Judy at Squashjunkie
2. Jen at Jen's Life of Stampin'
3. Tanis at Paper Princess at Play
4. Abra Leah at Abra Leah Stamps
5. Sara at Desperate Samper
6. Lisa at Inkerdoodles
7. Kim at Two Pink Fairies

Whew! That was harder than I thought! Many of you have already been tagged, so I had to try to find people who haven't yet! Hopefully I did it, and none of these 7 have been tagged yet. All of these blogs are on my personal blog roll, because I find much inspiration from them. Check them out! :)

A Quick Post

2007-07-22T23:56:00.000-06:00

It's almost midnight, and I'm still awake working on my swaps for convention! Crazy, I know. Only 3 more sleeps!!! I'm so excited to get there and see all the amazing projects, go to Memento Mall, and hang out with a tonne of crazy stampers!

Here is a 6x6 page that I created all by myself! I can hardly believe it, since I am not a very experienced scrapbooker, and actually find the whole process a little overwhelming. While this is a simple page, I really liked the colors together, and can see so many other things I could add to it for embellishments! I used a retired stamp on it though - "Sew Sweet" from the retired hostess set "Tags So Much". I think I'll change it somehow to the "Wild About You" stamp, so everything on it is current. What do you think? Do I pass Scrapbooking 101? If you look closer at the page (click on the picture), you can see that I versamarked little polka dots from the "Three For You" set, under the flowers. I hope you like it! :)

Cinderella in Pearls!

2007-07-21T22:40:00.000-06:00

My daughter went to a birthday party today for her friend who is turning 2. Her friend is princess Crazy (so is my daughter for that matter!), so I decided to make a card with a princess on it. I was inspired by this card on SCS; I loved the castle, and her watercoloring is beautiful too! I don't have any castle or other fairytale-like stamps, so I resorted to good old Clipart! I found the castle on my computer clipart, but the Cinderella image came from http://www.disneyclips.com/ . I found the Perfect image of her walking "toward" the castle! I used Pearl Ex in "Interference Gold" all over the front of the Groovy Guava cardstock, and I just love how it turned out!

I decided to post 2 pictures, to give you the full effect of the Pearl Ex. For those of you who haven't used it before, turning the page in different directions will give you different effects! So in one picture, you can see the Groovy Guava color behind a slightly golden "wash", and in the other picture all you see is this brilliant gold - beautiful! I also used some primas in the corner held together with one of SU's new Rhinestone Brads in Fire.

Overall, even though I "cheated" and didn't actually make the images, I think this card turned out pretty well! The party was a success as well; all the kids had a great time, and I think they will all sleep very well tonight! :) I have to say I think my daughter was very happy to have some other little girls her age to play with; most of her friends (with the exception of the birthday girl) are boys! She's a little more rough and tumble as a result of hanging out with the boys, but she loved dressing up with a pretty necklace and bracelet, and donning a princess crown at the party. A girly-girl at heart - I just Know she is! (somewhere in there anyway... ;) )

In Colors Shadowbox Card

2007-07-21T22:15:00.000-06:00

Can I tell you how much I LOVE the new "In Colors" from Stampin' UP! ? They're gorgeous! Every one of them; I don't have a favorite. Each one has so much potential, and summons my creativity!
For my July Stamp Club meeting on Friday, I tought my ladies two techniques on one card, using all of the In Colors! I tought them how to do a shadowbox card, which we all know I am in love with making these days. They learned the Saran Wrap background technique, and also how to dye ribbon. I searched SCS for an idea, and found this card by Keurigirl. I liked the layout, and the idea of using a piece of designer paper in the center, so I let her card inspire me! I used the Bud Basics stamp set, and the saying is from the Polka Dots and Paisley set. I decided to do both techniques on one card because the Shadowbox card takes a little longer to make, and I really wanted to teach them how to do one of those! Well, was I ever impressed! One of my ladies brought her 11 year old grand-daughter with her, and she was right in there with the rest of them, her card looking just beautiful at the end! Now there's a girl just Born to make cards! ;)

If you get a chance to make one of these Shadowbox cards, I really recommend trying one! As you can see from the pictures of my other projects, I'm quite addicted to them, and not nearly close to getting over it! TFL! :)

5 Years And Still SO Much In Love

2007-07-14T23:33:00.000-06:00

July 5th was our 5th wedding anniversary, and amidst the near-chaos of packing up and cleaning the whole house, we actually took some time to celebrate our special day! My mother-in-law looked after our daughter, and we went to a restaurant called Unheardof, a small, quaint restaurant on White Avenue. You can order two ways at this restaurant: The first way is to order each item you want, like at any other restaurant, and pay the price of each item. The second way is to order a package - a full 5 course meal, and choose one item out of each course menu. Of course we decided on the full 5 courses! And as it was the first Thursday of the month, we also received 3 complimentary glasses of wine with our meal (a promotion they have each month). What an amazing restaurant! The food was delicious, and the service was incredible. It was the perfect place to reminisce about the last 5 years, and dream about what the next 5 (and beyond!) will bring. A beautiful evening!

So here's the card I made for my husband:
I loved the card made by Rascal and posted on Splitcoaststampers. It was perfect for my needs: beautiful, with some nice details, but also quick to make! I even got to use some of the ribbon from the blog candy I won! I love this reverse masking technique, and will use it again often.
My husband loved the card, but of course, while mine was beautiful on the outside, his was (always is!) filled with beautiful sentiments inside. I always have trouble finding the right words to put in a card; I find that I end up writing a novel, and the inside looks very messy and crammed. So this year I opted to use a sentiment from Versalog.com; it was simple, sweet, said exactly what I wanted to say and didn't clutter the inside of my card! Check it out if you're stumped for what to write on the inside of your cards! :)

Practicing Pick A Petal

2007-07-04T19:37:00.001-06:00

I had my New Catalog Party on Saturday, and made a couple of cards from the new set "Pick A Petal"; one for a make n' take, the other just because I really wanted to make another one! :)

This one is the make n' take we did. I CASED it from SCS, from "memoriesbybrenda". Here is her card. Since I don't have any of the new In Colors, I used Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy instead. I really like this card; my favorite color is blue, so it was easy for this card to speak to me. I have to say, the petals took a little practice to get them where I wanted them, but thankfully I got them close enough that most mistakes were covered by the circle in the middle. I loved that I could use these petals directly on the card, and not have to cut them out! Usually when I make a large flower, my first instinct is to cut it out and mount it on dimentionals. What a nice, easy card this was to make!

When I saw this card on SCS by "Kari", I knew I had to make my own version! I also don't own any Kraft cardstock, so I improvised by using Creamy Caramel. Since I didn't have any light blue gingham ribbon, but I do have pink, I opted to make my card with Pretty in Pink accents and paper. I thought about offering this card for a make n' take, but the white craft ink takes a long time to dry (it is the first step in making the flower), and I wanted some cards that were faster to make. I love the sponging around both pieces of Caramel, the little ribbon accent at the top, and the "bling" of the new Fire Circle Rhinestone brad! That was a little harder to use than I had thought; instead of laying nicely like a regular brad, these brads are set higher (it reminds me of a ring setting). Also, as I was deciding which size to use, I unbent the arms intending to try another one. Well, it snapped! So, I thought, instead of using and possibly breaking another of these little beauties, I would make this one work. So, I snipped off the other arm and used Crystal Effects to adhere it flush to the middle of the flower. I also stamped another smaller flower and cut it out, and punched 2 flowers from the Spring Flowers punch, for the middle. This one really Wowed me! :)

SO Spoiled!!! A HUGE Thank You!

2007-07-04T19:03:00.000-06:00

I want to thank Tanis over at http://paperprincessatplay.blogspot.com/ for this HUGE blog candy! All the papers, ribbon, flowers and other accessories are SO beautiful; I actually got little butterflies in my stomach when I opened them up, dreaming of all the creations I will make with them! I can't wait until this move is over so I can sit down and really play with all my new things! Thank you Tanis for some truly mouth-watering candy!!! :)

The New Catty Is Here!!!

2007-07-01T20:06:00.000-06:00

Just a note to say, "Happy New Catty Day"! I actually got my complimentary copy on Tuesday, and my pre-ordered boxes arrived on Thursday. I had a New Catalog Party yesterday, and gave my stamp group their copies. Everyone was so excited to see the new catty, and at one point, the room was so silent as everyone was turning page after page. You could just see their minds working on a wish list! I showed them mine: 2 - 8 1/2x11 pages so far! There has to be over 50 stamp sets on the list, and SO many of the designer papers! I have to have all of the new In Color products (LOVE them!), and the Crop-A-Dile too!

Anyway, I've been counting down till the day, and here it is! If you go to www.stampinup.com you can now view the new catty on-line! Happy shopping! :)

My 3-D swap for Convention

2007-07-01T18:54:00.001-06:00

As if I don't have enough to do in the next few weeks, I have joined not one, but 2 swaps for convention! One is a Wow! card swap, and the other is a 3-D item swap. I need to make 21 of each swap project, so I've got to get cracking!

Today, while my daughter was napping, I sat down and decided what to do for the 3-D swap. This is what I came up with. This little notebook measures 3"x4". I bought the Spiral punch, thinking it would really help me do these in a lot less time, with a lot less trouble. What ended up happening is this: I punched my 3"x4" piece of cardstock with the spiral punch, and it didn't line up! The holes of the notebook are closer together than I can make with the spiral punch. So I spent almost an hour trying to make that punch work for me, and in the end, ended up using a 1/8" circle punch (I don't own a small square punch) and then cutting slits to get the coils in. ARGH!!! Oh well, I figured out that spiral punch will work on a larger notebook (I measured it against another one I have that is about 6"x8"). I then went punch crazy, and decided I wanted to make "spots" out of 1/16" and 1/8" punched out holes for the giraffe. Then I used the 1/4" punch for the "NOTES" letters, and the 1/2" punch for the Celery background. Holy circles!!!

So, it took me 2 and a half hours to make this one, but now that it's done, I think it'll only take me about 20 minutes per notebook. I also want to decorate a pen to go with it, but I haven't been able to find any with clear lids that I can put paper into. I've heard of some beaded pens, so maybe I'll check out how to do those...

By the way, what do you think of the ribbon covering the coils? Too much? I can't decide. My husband says he likes it better this way, but I don't know if I should trust him (isn't that always the way? "Honey, which shirt should I wear?" "The blue one" "I think I'll wear the pink one!") Heehee! :) Tfl!

June Stamp Club Projects

2007-06-28T14:07:00.001-06:00

This month for our Stamper's club, I showed the ladies the Cracked Glass technique, and also how to use a wheel. I have to admit, since I've been so busy lately (wedding invites, vacation, moving), I shamelessly CASED both of our projects! Who am I kidding? I love to CASE! Most of the time though, I change at least a few things about the card if not most of it. These two cards however, are just about Exactly the same as the ones I CASED. Thanks ladies for the ideas and inspiration! :)

The first card we did is from Terri over at http://www.stampinterri.typepad.com/. Check out her blog - she has awesome ideas! She's also my up-upline! When I saw this card, I just knew it was the perfect one for me to demonstrate at my next club. I wanted to do the Cracked Glass technique, and also wanted to use some of our designer papers, as well as use up my Cool Caribbean cardstock. This card allowed me to do all 3! I think the only thing that is different from Terri's card is that I used Old Olive cardstock instead of True Thyme. See Terri's card here. This technique is very cool; and I don't mean that just because you need to put it in the freezer! ;) (SO corny; I know!) The ladies had a great time making this one. The supplies you need are: Glassy Glaze Ultrathick Embossing Enamel (UTEE), a heat gun, and Versamark. Stamp your image on cardstock, and apply Versamark over your image. Sprinkle UTEE liberally over the entire image, then heat. The directions say to apply 3 times, but check it after 2 times; if it's nice and thick, don't worry about doing it again. The UTEE is used up fast, so if you have a larger group, think about buying 2 jars, and use 2 layers instead of 3 (just make sure you instruct them to make the layers thick). Then just put your piece in the freezer for about 10 minutes and then bend the paper, "snapping" it, and creating the cracked look. Here is a closeup of the Cracked Glass:

Hopefully you can see the lines across the image; click on the picture for a larger view. To make the lines stand out more, apply the same colored ink (I used Cool Caribbean ink) over the glaze, then wipe off. The ink will seep into the cracks, making them a bit darker. You can also use a different color of ink, like a light brown, and it will make your image look more "vintage".

The second card we did, I found on Splitcoast, from Kris (parkerquilter). Click here for her card. I loved how she watercolored the jellyfish and used Crystal Effects on his head, so I had to do that too! :) This card was a great opportunity to showcase the Wheel Guide, and also the grid paper. Not many of my members use wheels very often, so I wanted to show them how to do it properly, and make them more comfortable with the technique. I'm just so sad they retired Fishy Friends, so I had to use it one last time!

I Won CANDY!!!!

2007-06-28T13:50:00.000-06:00

Look a these beautiful things I won from http://inkerdoodles.blogspot.com/! I entered a few weeks ago in her blog candy contest, and I actually won! I don't win a lot of things, so this blew me away when I saw MY name was picked. Actually I won a $10 gift certificate to Jacksonbelle Embellishments, then off I went shopping! Both pages are double sided, and I LOVE how everything co-ordinates - even the Primas! These are the first primas I've ever owned, and I'm very excited to use them. I love Primas; I think they're SO beautiful - I just hope they don't become one more of those things I hoard! I will put myself to work using them, just as soon as we finish moving to the new house. Did I mention I am moving? Not far, just from one end of the city to the other. A bigger house though, and most importantly - a room dedicated to my stamping! YAY!!! It's been taking up the spare bedroom for a long time now, and has started migrating into my husband's "man room" - which he has not been pleased about! So, it was one of the key things we looked for when house shopping. I can't wait to get in there! I am now looking for storage solutions for all my supplies, and would love to hear/see how you organize your stamping rooms. I would like to buy some kind of wall unit or something to hold all my paper and supplies, and also maybe showcase some extra special projects. Any ideas?

Anyway, check out Jacksonbelle Embellishments; they've got TONNES of stuff to drool over - I had such a hard time picking out just $10 worth of stuff! I must have spent over an hour online just at their store. Have fun!

A Vacation Well Needed

2007-06-26T16:30:00.000-06:00

I'm back! Wow, what a vacation! We started with landing in Toronto at about 2:30 Saturday afternoon, then were whisked away to the Toronto Zoo so my little Kaitlyn didn't go too stir-crazy. After the zoo we went to Peterborough to stay with my cousin and her family. Sunday morning, my husband and I got up and (leaving Kate with my cousin) we went into Toronto to see the Hockey Hall of Fame and the CN Tower. It was so nice to spend a day with my husband, just the two of us. He LOVED the HHF, and the CN Tower is always amazing.

Monday morning we woke up and headed to Algonquin Park, to a cabin that belongs to my cousin's husband's family. We stayed there for 4 nights, where my daughter learned to fish, and roaster her first marshmallows! My husband even got to experience shaving in the river, which I don't think he even minded that much!

After 4 days of "roughing it", we left the cabin for Jackson' Point, on Lake Simcoe, where my brother's wedding took place. How beautiful! We enjoyed our stay, and even talked about (just talking, mind you - we'd never buy so far from home!) buying a place on the lake. We can dream, right? Anyway, after an awesome wedding reception (one of the best I've been to in a long time!) and catching up with all my family (my brother and I are the only family out west), we zoomed back to good ole Alberta Sunday night. It may sound like a whirlwind trip, but there was much time to relax too. A great trip!

Just wanted to post so you know I'm alive! I'll post again soon, but now I've got to get ready for a stamp club meeting. Life doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon! I'm SO thankful for that vacation! :)

And The Winner Is...

2007-06-13T17:23:00.000-06:00

I have to say I'm quite pleased with the responses I received for this blog candy! One of the reasons I did this candy offer was to see who was reading my blog, how many regularly, and what your thoughts were on my blog and stamping in general. Well, it turns out that there are more than a few of you who visit very regularly, and I received some nice comments on my most recent wedding card as well as my cards in general. Thank you to everyone who left me a comment; I now have a little extra spring in my step and a pleased little smile on my face! Anyone who needs a little extra sunshine, and some positive thoughts thrown their way, should give away some blog candy! Sure makes a girl feel good about herself! :)

So, the winner of this round of candy is: Claudia F. who said "Congratulations! You have a great blog and I'll be back often." So Claudia, please email me your address, and I'll get that candy out to you right away! If I don't hear from you by Friday morning, it will take a little longer to get it out to you, since I'm going away for a week. But I WILL get it to you! :)

Thanks again everyone!

Fishy Thanks - Shadowbox Technique

2007-06-13T16:48:00.000-06:00

While we're in Ontario next week, we'll be staying with my cousin and her family. We're going to her family cabin for 4 nights, which has no electricity, no running water (we pump it in from the river) and only an outhouse for a bathroom. What fun, I say! My husband on the other hand is less than enthusiastic, but then, he's not from a "roughing it" kind of background. Sure he likes to camp for a day or 2, but I think he's a little frightened of what we're getting ourselves into. I've been there before; in fact I took my then 6 month old daughter, and stayed there a whole week with my cousin and her two children (then 2 1/2 and 9 months)! We had a great time, and I expect nothing less this time around. So, to thank her family for being such great hosts, I made them this "Fishy" card. I am in love with the Shadow box card, and have been making them non-stop for a little while (I'll post another from a swap I'm doing soon, and I've also got another one on the blog here). So here's a little tutorial for how to make this card:

Step 1: Cut 2 pieces of cardstock into 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" (regular card size). Then score at 1/2" and 1" on each side. You can do this width-ways (on the 4 1/4" side) or length-ways (on the 5 1/2" side) as shown on this card. Fold along scored lines, so that when put together, your pieces form a "box". I started with some "Naturals White" and Tempting Turquoise cardstock.

Step 2: Cut a circle into the Turquoise cardstock using a Coluzzle. Using a piece of Saran Wrap, dab into turquoise ink pad then apply liberally on front of turquoise cardstock for background.

Step 3:Decorate inside piece of cardstock. Make sure when you place your background, you line it up with the circle you cut in the other piece. I used Fishy Friends here, and then cut out some pieces of Green Galore and Gable Green cardstock to make "seaweed". I punched out 3 little circles for bubbles, and put Crystal effects on each of them. I also waterpainted some turquoise "waves" behind the fish, and added some Dazzling Diamonds on each wave with a 2-way glue pen.

Step 4: Decorate the outside of your card. I cut a piece of Naturals White cardstock and folded it in half, so I would have somewhere to write a note (otherwise, on these cards you need to write on the back). I covered it with a Gable Green piece that I had dabbed Green Galore and T. Turquoise ink with the saran wrap. Then I added my "Thank you So much" tag and the little seahorse (with my attempt at watercoloring - I really need to practice that more!).

Sorry this picture is so blurry!

Final Step: Place Sticky Strip along the edges of your card (see picture #1 for placement), then put together for this great card! I must say, I'm pretty happy with it - considering I thought of it all by myself. And I did it in the 2 hours my daughter slept for her nap (which is good - it usually takes me that long to make a regular card if I have to think of it myself!)! :)

Have fun with this technique; if you're like me, you'll be using all sorts of stamps and making tonnes of these cards too!

Who Wants Candy??

2007-06-12T15:47:00.000-06:00

Holy Moly! It's only been about 4 hours since I posted about blog candy, and already we're at 2000 hits! I didn't even have time to get the picture up! Well, here it is! This candy includes: 6 - 6x6 pages of designer paper, about 4 yards of ribbon and fancy fibres, a package of gold brads, and a bag of googlie eyes. How's that for celebrating 2000 hits? I'm already thinking about what to give for 5000 and 10,000!

Well, I did say that I'd draw a winner when we got to 2000 hits, but since that happened way faster than I thought (I thought sometime tomorrow!), I will continue the draw until 2:30 pm tomorrow afternoon (mountain time). At that time, I will draw and post the winner! Click here to get to the original post to leave a comment, or scroll down. Yay candy!!!

My First Blog Candy! - 2000 Hits!!!

2007-06-12T09:16:00.000-06:00

Wow, my blog is almost at 2000 hits! I've been visiting some blogs lately that have had some great candy posted for all kinds of reasons, and I figure what better reason than because I've reached 2000? Of course, this idea just came to me about 5 minutes ago, and I have no idea what the candy will be - but I DO know it will be good! I will hunt around today to see what kinds of things I will include, and then will post a picture later today. In the meantime, leave a comment here, and I will choose a number once the counter gets to 2000 - I'm thinking that'll be sometime tomorrow. Leave any comment you want; it could be about my blog, about why you love to stamp, what your favorite technique is, what your favorite color combination is, or anything else! :) Good luck!

A Little Silver Saves The Day!

2007-06-11T21:58:00.000-06:00

I recieved a few suggestions both here on my blog, and through email, and all were awesome suggestions and would have made really nice cards. In the end, I didn't want to change the whole card if I didn't have to, so I chose only to work on the "mistake" I had made on the first one. So for the correction, I stamped "Congratulations" on white Card stock, THEN cut it down and rounded the corners. After that I cut and rounded an Almost Amethyst piece, and a silver piece. The silver piece I glued right over the whole I had punched through the background, making it so you couldn't see that I had stamped "Congratulations" underneath it (I was worried that when they opened the card they would see it, since it's on white cardstock). Then I glued the white and Amethyst pieces together and mounted them on dimensionals for a little "pop". I also removed the scalloped edged piece and put dimentionals under it as well. There - phew! A lot of agonizing over such a small detail! Now you know why it takes me so long to make 1 little card, and also why I (so many times!) end up casing from SCS.

I'm in the middle of making a "Wow" swap card for Convention, and it is completely my own idea; it's practically killing me! I'm very proud of myself for coming up with it, but I hate how I need to agonize over every little detail. Thank God for my husband being around to bounce ideas off of... even if he really isn't that much help, at least I can voice my problem, and after hearing it out loud I usually can find the answer. I'll post my swap card when it is finished... probably not for a few weeks yet, since I'm waiting for my new punch box to arrive, and then I'm off to Ontario for a week!

Looking for a Solution

2007-06-07T22:37:00.000-06:00

I'm making a card for my brother's wedding next week, and this is what I came up with. I made her wedding invitations, and her color was Amethyst, and we also used the French Script, so I thought it would be nice to do a nod to her invites. This card has been a lot tougher to make than I thought! I messed up the scalloped edge in the left corner (I'm new at using the corner rounder punch for scalloping), and just when I thought I had only one more step left, I stamped "Congratulations" in black StayzOn in the lower right corner, on top of the silver French Script. Well, what happened was the StayzOn lifted some of the silver instead of stamping over top! It looked terrible, so I thought maybe I could make a word window and put the Congratulations underneath the Amethyst! Well, I tried it... And this is the result. I'm not at all happy with it, and am thinking I will re-do it tomorrow. The problem is that the "Congratulations doesn't fit into the Word Window punch, even if you lengthen it. I had to widen it on top and bottom too, which is why it ended up looking lop-sided. Anyway, I wanted to ask what you all thought of it, and what I could do to make it better? If I re-did the background, would black Classic ink stick better than the StayzOn? I don't have any Craft black, which I think would work a lot better. Any other ideas on how to "fix" this card? I'd love to hear your opinion, and will post the re-done one tomorrow or Saturday.

2007-06-07T12:57:00.000-06:00

Lately (the past few days) I've been spending some time finding and looking at some other blogs. I'm curious to see that others write about, and I also LOVE to see project samples from fellow stampers. I have found at least a few so far that I have been following every day, making sure not to miss any posts. They are inspiring, informative and fun! Here they are for you to "discover" too!

First, I check Wanda's My Creative Corner every day, sometimes several times a day. Even if she hasn't added a new post since my last visit, I always find something on her site that catches my eye. I have been following her blog for a couple of months now, and am always impressed with her projects as well as her writing style.

Next, I found Allison's Stampin When I Can a few days ago, and it has also become a blog that I religiously check every day. Allison updates her blog frequently, giving us tips on where to find blog candy, techniques, and other neat sites. She also posts some very nice cards!

I have also been checking my up-upline Terri's blog everyday, to see what she's got going on. I'm so glad she's my upline; she's always got neat project ideas and I almost always love what she's come up with. You can find her blog at Stampin Terri.

One more that I have found to be a great inspiration, and lately giving me a good kick in the butt to get my Father's Day projects on the go, is Jen's Life of Stampin'. Right now she has 2 really beautiful Father's Day scrapbook projects that really have me thinking! :) Thanks Jen!

And thanks to all of these bloggers who give me inspiration, great information, and usually a good giggle in there too! You can look for links to these bloggers on the right side of my blog, under "My Favorite Links".

I do also check some others from time to time, and will post them another day. Right now I'm off to pick up my dog at the groomer's, and then it's garage sale time!

New Stampin' Up Colors!!! ... And MORE!!!

2007-06-04T15:45:00.000-06:00

Hello all! I'm very excited to introduce to you Stampin' Up!'s newest "In Color" family! I can't wait any longer, so here they are!

Gorgeous, aren't they? And the names are incredible; I hope you can read them on this screen. If you can't, here they are in order from left to right: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, River Rock, Groovy Guava and Purely Pomegranite. I just love them all! I'm not sure if I love each one as a color on it's own, but as a team, they are perfect together! I can see myself using these A LOT this year!

On top of the new colors, Stampin' Up! has released their Fall/Winter Preview Catalog. Inside are a small taste of what's to come in the new catalog July 1st. Check it out here: http://www.stampinup.com/ca/documents/fallwinterpreview_07CAN.pdf I'm SO excited about all the new things in here - I can't wait to see what ELSE they'll have in the new catty! I've made my list for my pre-buy (as a demonstrator, I am able to buy these items early!), and boy, am I in trouble! I only have what I would call a modest list (I was VERY disciplined), but even at that, it's going to set me back a bit. Oh well, all in the name of creative happiness! ;)

Baby Wipe Technique

2007-06-01T23:19:00.000-06:00

Two posts in two days?!!? I must be crazy - or at least have a little more time on my hands than usual! Whatever it is, I'll take it!

I've been on a "Pastelly" kick for quite awhile now. I just love that Bashful Blue, and Certainly Celery too. I also use Apricot Appeal quite a bit. Once in awhile I stray from these, but most of the time you'll see them in some combination with other colors on my cards!

I made this card using the Baby Wipe Technique awhile ago. To do this, all you need is a fresh baby wipe and some reinkers of your color choice. Using 2 or 3 different colors will give you a great effect. First I put a few drops of A. Appeal onto the wipe and dragged it across the A. Appeal cardstock (behind the flower), giving it a "whispy" look (click on the picture to see a close-up of the card). Then, to make the flower I put a few drops each of A. Appeal, C. Celery and Bashful Blue close together, onto a folded baby wipe. I then used it as a stamp pad, stamping the flower from Heartfelt Thanks into the wipe then onto Whisper White cardstock. I finished the card with a strip of Moss Gingham ribbon, and some Soft Subtles brads.

I have to say, I'm quite sad they're retiring the French Script background stamp; but I can't wait to see what they come out with as an alternative! 29 days and counting!!! I'm putting in my pre-order tomorrow, and can't wait to get my hands on those new stamps and accessories! :)

April Stamp Club Projects

2007-05-30T22:10:00.000-06:00

So, I'm a little behind on posting projects! These cards are from my April Stamp Club. I taught them how to do the Iris Twist, and the Faux Pearl technique. We started with the Faux Pearl, which I think is just a beautiful technique to do. I love the shimmer, and no matter what color you use it with, it still looks fantastic! This card was cased from SCS, from a stamper named WaterPixie (click for her card). We started with glossy white cardstock, and using saran wrap, we dabbed Lumiere, careful to leave a few spaces and not fill the whole piece. Next, after the lumiere was dry (didn't take long - maybe 5 minutes. Just be careful of how much you put on), we brayered Bashful Blue classic ink over top. Then, using black StayzOn, we stamped the tree image (from the Lovely As A Tree set). The background on the Bashful Blue card is stamped with the Canvas background stamp, as well as the leaves (both stamped off so they're not so dark) from the LAAT set. To finish it off, I stamped the Thinking of You saying on Mellow Moss, and added a couple of black brads from the vintage collection.

For our second card, I wanted to show them how to do Iris Twist, but I also wanted to showcase some of our accessories. Many times we have used ribbon and brads, but I wanted my club to see and use other accessories, so I had them thread some Soft Subtles beads and buttons onto either thin white thread or dental floss (their choice). When I did this card, I used linen thread, but because I didn't have a needle whose head was small enough to fit through the beads, I had to hand thread each piece. Using the linen thread, each piece that went on frayed the thread, leaving me with almost half as much as I started with! So, since the ladies also needed to hand thread, I chose some better mediums to work with, and they really liked it! I also gave them a piece of white Magic Mesh to put under the beads and buttons. I loved making this card because I got to use some designer paper, something I'm usually afraid to do. I'm a paper hoarder, and usually can't bear to cut those beautiful 12x12 sheets! This designer paper from the Spring Mini Catalog has such beautiful colors and patterns; I have found it very easy to use in my projects. It has truly helped me come out of my shell when it comes to using those gorgeous papers!

Mixing Stress with Stamping = A Little Relaxation!

2007-05-28T14:36:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been a VERY busy last couple of weeks, and it's not going to get any LESS busy as the next few weeks go by either! We bought a house about 3 weeks ago, and then my husband and I worked like dogs at getting our house ready to sell. We had some amazing help from my mother and father-in-law, who worked right along side us. We put a tile backsplash into our kitchen, did some stucco work on the house, painted like crazy (inside and out), planted in the garden, and packed away anything visible that we didn't need. What a lot of work! But we did it, and we listed our house at 11:30 last Tuesday night. 4 days later, our house is sold!!! That's the Edmonton market for you! Of course we are now a little sad to be leaving this house, since it now looks like a million bucks, and so much has happened in our lives in the 7 years we've lived here. But, we are going to a very nice new house, and we will make many new memories there. After a day, we started to get more excited and less sad, so by the time our possession date arrives (June 29th - only 4 and a half weeks away!) we will be very excited to get into our new place. It's always a little sad leaving a home you love though, isn't it?

Anyway, that wasn't all we were busy with! My sister-in-law and her fiance came to town last weekend from Vancouver to make their wedding invitations. I had 7 people helping make 100 invites, and with only a couple of glitches, we managed to make them in record time! Some friends also hosted a wedding shower for my sister-in-law, which we went to after breaking from 3 hours of invitation making. Here is the card and a little something I made for her:

I cased the card from Chantel over at Splitcoast (you can see her card here), using different designer paper on the card. I made the box using 8 1/2 x 11 paper. I cut it to 4 1/2 x 10, and then scored it at 3 1/4", 4 3/4", 8" and 9 1/2", leaving 1/2" at the end to attach the box together. I also scored 1" along the bottom, so I knew where to fold the bottom pieces in. I used sticky tape to hold it all together, and put in some 3x3" thank you cards with envelopes! The little flower on the box is from "Doodle That" in the Spring Mini Catalog. I didn't think I'd like these doodle stamps, but thought I'd try them out anyway. Guess what? I LOVE these stamps! They're so cute, and I can see SO many ways to use them. I hope we get some in the new catalog so I can use them all year long! :)

Thanks for looking!

Denver, Here I Come!!!

2007-05-09T12:51:00.000-06:00

Yay!!! I'm going to Convention! I'm so excited, even as I registered at 7am this morning, I called my friend (who was also in the middle of registering) and we were both squealing into the phone at each other with delight. I missed out on this experience last year, so I am extra excited to be going this year. I am going to the first session, which runs July 25th to 29th.

What is convention? Stampin' Up convention is held once a year (this year in Denver), and allows 3500 crazy, excited stampers to get together and take classes, participate in make n' takes and swaps, go to an awards cerimony to see all the stamping "gurus", and hang out with tonnes of people who share the same love of stamping. I can't wait! Each year, Stampin' Up gives special treats to everyone who attends; they pack a stamping bag (usually a backpack or other kind of tote bag) with make n' take goodies, new stamp sets and other amazing stuff! I'm also excited about going to Memento Mall, where you can buy lots of neat Stampin' Up merchandise. I'll be staying with all of my uplines, and we've got a very nice hotel room booked.

I'll be sure to post ALL the great details of my Adventures in Denver when I get back!

All Wrapped Up... Again!

2007-04-29T15:09:00.000-06:00

This is another card I made for a little boy's birthday, using the stamp set All Wrapped Up. I stamped the circles in the background with Craft White ink. The bag is stamped with Bordering Blue Classic ink, and the fish is done with markers and the "thumping" technique. I first colored on the stamp with Only Orange, then "thumped" Yoyo Yellow overtop (kind of a flicking motion), leaving bits of yellow mixed with orange. I stamped the image, then drew out some of the ink color with my aquapainter to color the fish. The "Happy Birthday" is from the set All Year Cheer II (stamp is Happy Happy Birthday)and is also done with markers so I could get the words side by side instead of one on top of the other. I thought the white Magic Mesh under the greeting was a nice touch; it reminds me of a fishing net!

Thanks for looking!

All Wrapped Up Frog - Trifold

2007-04-27T15:13:00.000-06:00

Here is a cute and easy birthday card I made for my friend's son's 2nd birthday. I don't have many "boyish" stamp sets, since I have a daughter, so I love this set because the frog is perfect for little boy cards and scrapbook pages! This is a trifold card, which means you fold it at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8", so that when folded the card measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". Then I stuck the Creamy Caramel CS onto the left portion of the card only. The frog is stamped in Classic Black ink, then colored with watercolor crayons and an aqua painter. I also dabbed a bit of Crystal Effects on the frogs' eye so it shines! :)

What a Neat Idea!

2007-04-20T14:20:00.000-06:00

I have to say, I'm loving the brown/any other color combinations! Mostly Chocolate Chip or Close To Cocoa with any pink, and most blue's (especially turquoise!); but I have seen other colors with the browns, and they look great too!
This is a card I made for one of my stamp classes, and I also gave it to my Mother-In-Law for her birthday. I am very proud (and surprised!) to say that my husband actually helped me come up with this card idea! If you click on the picture, you can see that the right hand side of the front of the card is chopped off, revealing more of the polka dots inside. That was my husband's idea! I'm so amazed, and glad that he's finally taking an interest in my hobby. Or at least he's not totally mystified by it! :)

I really like using the Petals and Paisley set from the Spring Mini, and you can also see that I've used some Dazzling Diamonds on the paisleys (I love that glitter!). "happy" is also from that stamp set, and the "birthday" is from the Everyday Flexible Phrases, which is part of our "Say It With Stamps" promotion, at 20% off the catalog price! I love those little words (56 of them!), and use them ALL the time.

Thanks for looking!

More Easter Cards

2007-04-11T17:17:00.000-06:00

Here are the Easter cards we did at my last class. I really loved doing these cards; I got to use a lot of my accessories, some designer (Ack!) paper, and a little creativity too! :)

I love the color combination of this card! I really like that In Color "Cool Carribean" paper, and have being using it quite a bit lately. Of course, I also used Chocolate Chip, as you will probably notice as you browse this blog, I use a lot of that or Close to Cocoa. I never realized I was a "brown" fan, but it's just so easy to use! :)

This little bunny just Screamed for me to buy him! I normally don't buy many sets from the mini's, but when I saw him, I HAD to have him! He's the same bunny I used to decorate the chocolate nuggets (a few posts down). I used my pastels to color the animals, and I bleached the little chick so the yellow would "pop" more. I also bleached the bunny's tail. Very quick card to make, but a lot of fun!

This card was neat to make, and I really wanted to show the ladies how to do one of these - the bunny/flower spin! Very easy to do; just use your large tag punch to make the holes, and make 2 tags using the small tag punch to put your designs on. Stick your 2 tags together with a piece of linen thread in between, then adhere the linen thread ends under your second card layer. That's it!

The High Beams Are At It Again!

2007-04-10T13:31:00.000-06:00

Last year my best friend Judy and her friend Sally joined together to create Team High Beams, to participate in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer in support of the Alberta Breast Cancer Foundation. They had an amazing experience last year, and have decided to do it again this year! I'm very proud of them, and to show my support and help them raise the $2000 each they need to participate in the walk, I am having a Rubber Stampin' Workshop on May 6th. Just in time for Mother's Day, we will be making an amazing card for Mom, as well as 4 cards and a coordinating decorative holder as a gift(I'll post pictures of the projects soon)! The fee for this event will be donated to the High Beam Team(minus my supply costs). I'll be taking orders that day as well, and will also donate my entire 20% instant income from the orders! I'm so excited about this event, and hope we have a great turnout. One of the YMCA's in Edmonton has very nicely donated a room for us to use, so we won't all be squished into my basement! I tried to link my flyer to this post, but can't seem to get it to work, SO, if you're in the Edmonton area and are interested in joining us, please email me, and I will give you more information. I'll post after the event too, and let you know how it went! :)

Labor of Love

2007-04-03T22:01:00.000-06:00

Here's the card I made for our Fort McMurray friends. I saw this one on - you guessed it! - Splitcoast, and really wanted to make it. I used a different background stamp, and a different saying inside, but other than that, it's pretty much the same as the one on Splitcoast. It is called a shadow box card. I loved making this card, because (even though I totally copied it) it gave me a chance to be a little creative. You see, I don't have a "cloud template", so I had to make one on my own. I just cut out some bumps on a piece of paper, and sponged over them, making "clouds"! Pretty easy, but I felt kinda proud of myself for my accomplishment. Anyway, thanks for looking, and Happy Easter!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail...

2007-04-03T21:42:00.000-06:00

... Hopping down the bunny trail... hee hee! I love Easter! I love the colors, the visits with friends and family, and of course the chocolate! This year we are going to drive 5 hours north to Fort McMurray, to visit with our very good friends Alain and Susan, and their 2 kids. 5 hours is a LONG time to be in a vehicle, especially when you've got a 2 year old! So, we're breaking down and buying a personal dvd player for when times get tough. Oh, my husband isn't thrilled with the idea, believe me! "We never had those things when I was growing up, and we did just fine!" I'm sure you've heard that one before. We say the same thing about cell phones, and also said that when we bought our little putt-putt (our 1995 Mazda Protege), which doesn't have air conditioning. Well, we now both own vehicles with air conditioning, and we're folding on the dvd player... Our friends are actually begging our parents to get us a cell phone for Christmas since we haven't caved on that one yet! We'll see...

Anyway, I HAD to buy the Easter set in the Spring Mini, "Bunny Hugs". The little rabbit is SO cute! I did a class last Saturday where we made some Easter cards, Mother's Day and Father's Day cards, and Birthday cards. I saw a cute idea on Splitcoast (my all-time FAVORITE website!), and had to duplicate it. I gave these little "bunnies" to each of the ladies who attended my class.

These were very easy to do: I found some small chocolate bars (I think some people call them nuggets), and wrapped them in designer paper, then stuck the bunny head at the front. For the "tail", I cut of one end of a Q-Tip, and stuck it on with a glue dot! SO easy, but SO cute!

A Year of Weddings

2007-03-26T22:13:00.000-06:00

My sister-in law was here from Vancouver last week, and we worked on her wedding invitations. She is getting married in August in Vancouver; another Canadian "destination" wedding for us! She brought the dress my daughter will be wearing as the flower girl, and when Kaitlyn tried it on, she said "Princess!" and ran to Grandma. SO cute!!! She now has both flower girl dresses, one for my sister-in-law's wedding, and one for my brother's in June. What a lucky girl! Now I just have to figure out how to keep those pretty hair pieces in her hair and out of her mouth.... ;)

Here is a picture of my sister-in-law's wedding invitation. It has a pocket along the left side when you open it, and is in her wedding colors, navy and burnt orange. She wanted simple and elegant, and I think we achieved it! She loved the "Love" stamp when she saw it, and really liked the retired Soft Swirls. I embossed the background stamp in copper, and we're thinking of embossing the "Love" too in Navy, but haven't decided yet. My husband teases her that she's still an Oiler fan at heart, because she chose their colors for her wedding! She wasn't impressed. While they are not "usual" wedding colors, I do love them together, and think the invitations turned out very beautiful - simple, elegant and warm, with a touch of drama. I'd love to hear what you think of them!

A Sad Note

2007-03-22T16:15:00.000-06:00

The last couple of weeks have been very busy for me, and I've been grateful for the distractions. My Aunt Madge passed away two weekends ago; she was one of those people that when you think of her, you can only remember good things. All of my memories of her are happy ones; I hope that someone can say that about me one day. She was a wonderful lady; a very fun Aunt who always had a story to tell. I'll never forget her, and will continue to speak of her often, as she has had much impact on my life.

I made a card for her daughter and son (my Aunt is actually my Great-Aunt; I suppose her children are still my cousins, just "great" cousins!), to express how much I loved their mom, and how much we all will miss her. This is what I made:

I actually had a lot of fun making this card, and did something that I NEVER usually do - I actually used my designer paper!!! *Gasp!* I find it VERY hard to bring myself to use those beautiful papers, not because I don't like them, or they don't inspire me, but because they are in limited supply (some of them even retired and no longer available), and I am afraid to make a mistake. What if I cut the paper too small for my project, or maybe I decide after cutting it, that I don't want to use it for that project? Now I've cut the paper, and may have ruined it for another (unknown) project! Yikes!!! Anyway, I've decided to try to break out of my "Phobia", and actually use the stuff. Hopefully you will see a few more examples in the next few weeks of projects using my beautiful, precious paper. :)

After I made the card, I wondered what to write in it. In fact I am still avoiding that task, as I love making the cards, but hate writing in them! I never know what to say, in ANY situation (I even have trouble with birthday cards!). I wonder if there's a class I could take, or better yet, a website I could visit that would help? If anyone knows, please let me in on it! I have imposed a deadline for myself to write in that card by the end of tonight. Wish me luck; I'm sure I will write it out 10+ times before I send it!

March Stamp Club

2007-03-19T19:03:00.000-06:00

I had a TONNE of fun on Friday at our last stamp club! I had 9 ladies here, and since I only have one table that sits 6 downstairs, we had to sit in the kitchen and livingroom upstairs! My husband was LESS than impressed, saying "Great; now your stamps have invaded the Entire house!" Heehee :)

So, here are the cards and techniques we did. No worries ladies (and husband!), I am getting another table for downstairs for next month!

The first card we made was using Pearl Ex. We stamped the card in Versamark, then dusted the Pearl Ex powder on the image with a stipple brush (the ladies could choose whatever color they wanted from the Assortment III box). I gave them a white paper to make an example for their book, and also a black paper to see the difference in how the Pearl Ex looks! The butterfly on this card is from a retired set, I think "Ageless Adornment", so we used the butterfly from our current hostess set "Measure of A Life". It worked really well, and I love how it looks! It's not often I make a card out of black and white, and really enjoyed doing this one.

The second card we made using a brayer and spectrum pad. This card is similar to the one I made for my father-in-law (a few posts down from this one), and was a big hit with the club ladies! It was a pretty easy card to do, even for newer stampers. We used the Pumpkin Patch Spectrum Pad on glossy cardstock, then stamped the trees, birds and bear in Classic Black ink. I used a Stamp-A-Majig to stamp the bear a second time, to make him more solid. To make the "ground", I tore a sheet of paper and laid it over the top of the image, then brayered Classic Black ink over the bottom. Voila! The image is complete! Then I just used a Simplicity Corner Slot punch and inserted the bear image, and tied on a small tag with linen thread, stamped with a word from Everyday Flexible Phrases. I used "brother" because it's a masculine card, and I haven't made one yet for my brother, so - there it is! :)

My Brother's Getting Married!

2007-03-14T15:31:00.000-06:00

That's right; my little (not so much anymore!) brother Ian is getting married this June to his fiance, Sara. I'm so excited! My daughter Kaitlyn will be a flower girl, so our whole family is flying out to Ontario for the event! When they started planning their wedding they asked if I would help with their invitations. This is what we came up with:

I think it's beautiful. We incorporated their wedding color "lilac" into the invitation using Almost Amethyst, and I love how it looks with the silver. We tried to use Lovely Lilac, but it seemed too bright; not soft enough for this project. I love that this invitation has a little pocket with dividers for all their information! Inside the dividers they have hotel information, a map to the wedding site, and dinner and reception information. I had a lot of fun creating this invitation, since embossing is my most favorite technique!

Well, my husband's sister is also getting married this August in Vancouver, and I'll be helping with her invitations too. I can't wait to see what we come up with for hers! :) We have a very busy summer ahead of us, with lots of travelling. We've booked a week off for each wedding, so we can spend some time visiting, site seeing and relaxing. I'm very much looking forward to it! :)

February's Techniques

2007-03-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I forgot to post the techniques we did at my stamp club in February! Both were fun, although one was a little scary! ;) I saw a few raised eyebrows when I told my ladies we would be playing with fire that night. That's right, we did the Colored Soot Stamping technique! *Please use caution when attempting this technique!* This technique requires the use of glossy cardstock, a candle, and a laquer spray to set the image. The instructions are simple, but it did take a couple of times to get the look I wanted. First, sponge the preferred ink colors (I used Barely Banana and Certainly Celery) onto the glossy cardstock. Next, hold the cardstock directly over the flame of the candle (I used my tweezers from the Crafter's Tool Kit to hold the paper), taking care not to burn through the paper. You do need to get the paper very close to the flame. Once the glossy side has the desired amount of soot on it, lay paper on table and stamp your image directly into the soot. Spray with laquer and you're done! :)

The second technique we played with was Ghosting. I love this technique; it looks really neat, and is versatile with a lot of different stamps and projects! For this technique, we simply stamped our image onto glossy cardstock using Versamark, then sponged over the entire paper with our desired ink color (I used Tempting Turquoise). Buff cardstock with a paper towel, especially over your images, and they will "pop"; the Versamark keeps the image the color of the cardstock, even when an ink color is applied over top! We finished this card using the Delight In Life Sell-A-Bration stamp set on Shimmering White cardstock (very pretty paper!), the Daisy and 1 3/8" Circle punches, some hardware, ribbon and the crimper! This is one of my favorite color combinations, and I found it on the SU color wheel. I love that wheel! I have become severely addicted to it; in a pinch, I can always find the perfect color combination for any project!

Quarter-fold Card Instructions

2007-03-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

Thank you for your emails and responses to my blog posts; it's nice to know someone is actually out there reading this! :) I've had a few emails asking for directions on how to make the Quarter-fold Valentine's Day card that I made for my husband, so I decided to post the directions for anyone else who might like to try it.

It's actually a very easy card to do: Using a full sheet of 8 1/2x 11 cardstock, I scored the 11" side at 2 3/4 on each end (leaving 5 1/2" in the middle of the card) and on the 8 1/2" side, I scored at 2 1/8" on each end (leaving 4 1/4" in the middle). This made the card, when closed, measure 5 1/2 x 4 1/4", like a regular card. Then I cut out the 4 corners, leaving "flaps" on each side, and folded!

I hope you have fun making this card. It was kind of a "wow" card for me; simple to make, after I figured it out, but something a little different for my husband, who has seen A Lot of my cards! :)

Finally Finished!

2007-03-03T21:31:00.000-07:00

My Father-in-law is turning 60 in a couple of weeks, and I wanted to make him a really nice card. I struggled with ideas for quite awhile, until I stumbled on two beautiful cards on Splitcoast (one made by "Rascal", the other by "Qbee"). They were similar cards, with different layouts, and I thought they were both gorgeous! So, filled with inspiration from these ladies, I set out to design my card. This is what I came up with:

This is of course the finished card; the one I'll give to my Father-in-law. It is NOT the card I stared at for hours yesterday, trying to figure out how to finish it! Well okay, it's mostly the card I stared at ;) In the end, I added a small piece of linen thread at the bottom of the card, and tied a knot. I can't believe I agonized over such a small detail; sad but true that I did.

Anyway, I hope he likes it! It was actually a really easy card to make, using one of my now favorite techniques. The "sunset" background is made using the Pumpkin Patch spectrum pad, and brayering it on glossy cardstock. After that, I simply stamped all the images using SU's Classic Black ink, and re-stamped the bear (after waiting for him to dry first) using a Stamp-A-Majig. After all the images were dry, I ripped a piece of paper and placed it over the images, and brayered black over the bottom. That's it! Just make sure each step is totally dry before going on. I'm so glad I got the "Lovely As A Tree" stamp set; it's turning into one of my favorites! And for a masculine card, who can resist using a little piece of hardware? I have to say, I think this is my favorite card (of the ones I've made, anyway); even my husband was impressed (a major feat - he just doesn't "get" this whole homemade card thing)!

My Special Valentine

2007-02-16T00:18:00.000-07:00

As promised, here is the Valentine I made for my husband. He loved it - A man after my own heart, he confesses he loves the sparkles too ;) Inside, I wrote that he is booked for a "stress-relief" massage on Sunday, since he's been working like a crazy man lately!

I saw a card made like this one (it folds closed like you would close a box), and Had to try it. It turned out nicely, I think. I have to say that the longer I've been doing this, the more "ingredients" I accumulate, but also the more techniques I learn and the braver I get! I'm always attempting something "new" (to me anyway) lately, which feels really good. And having everything I need to complete a project makes me a very happy stamper indeed!

Valentine's For Everyone!

2007-02-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

On Monday a group of ladies came to my Valentine's Day card class, to make 10 cards each. Before I offered this class, I hadn't really thought that people gave Valentine's cards to very many people. Sure, their most loved ones (spouse, kids, grandparents), kid's classmates, and maybe even the teacher, but I had thought that was about it. Along came a good friend who said she needed to make 25 Valentine's cards, and would I hold a class? Wow! I thought - why would she need 25 cards?? Well, turns out (and she's not the only one) that she's giving them to family, friends, and co-workers too! Not all of them have declarations of love (which I hadn't thought of either!); some have friendship sayings, and others sentiments of appreciation. What a nice thought, to let everyone around you know you care and are thinking of them! So, the class was born, and we had a blast!

Here is the first card we did. I love the color combo in this card! We used Stampin' Up! cardstock in Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Regal Rose, Pretty In Pink and White. The stamps we used are from the following sets: Little Pieces, Loving Hearts, Canvas Background and Everyday Flexible Phrases. We used Soft Subtles eyelets, and Rose grosgrain ribbon.

The second card we did, I faught with for 2 hours while designing it, until I was finally happy with it! I actually gave the ladies a couple of choices for this one: The "Love You!" stamp could be replaced by the "Be My Valentine" stamp from the "Tags So Much" Hostess set, also using the 2 tag punches instead of the square punches. The paper is Real Red and White, and the stamp sets used were Brushstroke Alphabet and Loving Hearts. We used red wide organdy ribbon, as well as criss-crossed gold cord. Nice and simple!

The third card we did is my favorite. I just love sparkles, and "Simply Said" is one of my favorite stamp sets!

Using Real Red and White cardstock, I stamped the heart and flowers using Real Red ink. Then I pulled the color from the image using a blender pen, to color in some of the flowers. To get the sparkles on, I used a two-way glue pen, then sprinkle on the glitter. The heart is stamped on a separate piece of cardstock, and attached underneath with dimensionals. Add a piece of red gingham ribbon, and - Voila! So simple, but so sweet!

The last card we did was a little "teaser" for the ladies. First we stamped the "Big Blossom" Sell-A-Bration stamp on a piece of cardstock, and cut it out. Then we used a paisley stamp from the "Polka Dots & Paisley" stamp set that is not yet available to customers (get this stamp set from March 1 to June 30th!), and stamped on the flower. The background dots are also from the "teaser" stamp set; the hearts are from the "Love It" Hostess set, and "SO" and "loved" are from the Sell-A-Bration set "So Very". We also used the Crafter's Tool Kit to make the small holes around the "SO" circle.

So, a very fun class, and of course I showed my husband the cards we made, which means I now have to make him a different one! I'll post that one next time... :)

Valentine Suprises

2007-02-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!! I look after an 18 month old little girl every Wednesday, and this morning when I opened her bag, I received a really nice surprise! Inside the bag was a beautiful Valentine card! I have to tell you, it just made my day. Nothing makes a person feel better than when someone shows they care! What a wonderful way to start my day!

Later this morning, I printed off some projects for the girls, and they made Valentines for our little friends' mommy and daddy, and one for Kaitlyn's daddy. They had a lot of fun coloring and gluing the pieces on! They got to use crayons AND markers, and I also let them dip their fingers into my stamp pads and "color" with fingerprints. They were such a mess after, but very happy with themselves!

All Wrapped Up!

2007-02-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, have cards ever been flying off my stampin' table lately! It seems I need to make one every time I turn around! Today I'm posting one that I'm particularly proud of. I made it for my daughter's friend who turned 2 last weekend. It's the first time I've used the little frog, and I just love him! The frog and jar are from the "All Wrapped Up" Stampin' Up stamp set, the background is Canvas, and I used Watercolor Wonder Crayons with my aqua painter to paint the frog and jar. What fun I had! I also liked the fold of the card, which (I don't know if you can tell from the picture) is a tri-fold card. Just something a little different. I think I'll use this little guy a lot, now that I've discovered how much I love him; especially since my daughter knows so many boys! Well - I better get back to stamping!

Our Technique Projects

2007-01-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

Since I'm new at this blogging thing, I haven't figured out how to put pictures in different parts of the text, or even know if it's possible. So instead I'm posting 3 times today!

At my stamp club, I teach my ladies 2 techniques each month, and they make a project using each technique. Above are the two cards we made. The first one is made with the Sell-A-Bration set "Delight in Life", using the Watercolor Wonder Crayons, and the technique was called "Watercoloring with Crayons". The other card was made also using a Sell-A-Bration set called "Big Blossom", and the "Paisley" background stamp. This card also uses our new "In Color" color Cool Caribbean, and the ribbon is from our Winter Mini Catalog, Ribbon Originals in Flirty. The technique we used for this card was called "the Kissing Technique". Very cool! The middle of the flower also has micro beads set in Crystal Effects. I love the look of these beads, but boy, can they be messy! Use them when you're ready for a bit of crafting adventure!

I mentioned in my last post that this was the last month for this stamp club. No fear - we're starting another one next month that will go for another 6 months! My usual ladies have re-signed for the next club, and our two guests at this months meeting have decided to join us as well! So stay tuned for our next club meetings - Which techniques will we use, and what will our projects look like?? :)

More Pictures!

2007-01-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

I love my stamp club! My ladies have been meeting since August last year, and this month was the last for this club. I've made some good friends from this club, and have such a fun time with them, that I decided to give them a little something special as a thank you. I made each of them a purse box (hand-stamped and decorated with SU products), and inside I added 1 re-inker in their favorite color, 2 sponge daubers, 1 yard of each ribbon in their color choice (from our "Ribbon Originals"; 5 yards total), and a full sheet of Stampin' Dimensionals! We also had 2 ladies join us as guests that night, and I felt I couldn't leave them out, so I made them little gift bags with chocolate almonds wrapped in a cello-bag and topped with a piece of ribbon from our Ribbon Originals, in Sweet Shop. Can you tell I had SO much fun?!?!

My First Uploaded Picture!

2007-01-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

Wow, where does the time go?? I really meant to post a LOT sooner than this, but I guess life got in the way! Oh well, here I am now!
I've been very busy this month, with 2 stamp club meetings, my daughter's 2nd birthday party, my husband's birthday 3 days later, and tonnes more.
I'm very proud of the birthday card I made for Kaitlyn, who LOVES Dora the Explorer.

The kids had a great time at Kaitlyn's birthday party. I hired her Kindermusic teacher (Miss Carly) to come and entertain the kids for 1/2 hour. They sang songs, made a cute giraffe with fingerprint painting, played with a parachute, and danced. To thank her, I made her a card, and a purse box filled with chocolate almonds. I hope she likes it!

My First Post On My First Blog!!!

2007-01-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

Wow! Well, first I just wanted to see how this works, and if it's actually as easy as it looks! I wanted a place to be able to post some card and scrapbooking ideas and examples, and keep in touch with customers and fellow stampers/card makers/scrapbookers. I think this will be a great tool! Well, no pictures yet; but I will post some soon - so look for them! :)