Saturday 30 November 2013

Once the Ornament is gone...

That Festive Flurry Pop 'n Cut WOW card looks gorgeous with the removable ornament on the front, doesn't it?  You're probably wondering why a person would put so much work into the 3-D inside only to have an empty card front once the ornament is removed.  Well, it's not as if I'm going to leave my card like that.  Surely you didn't expect me to, did you?

So this is the card that some lucky person receives.


It looks great with that big ornament, right?  You can see from the portions of the card that are showing that the front has some Festive Flurry Specialty Designer paper on one side while the other side is simply the Soft Sky.  Just seeing the "Peace on Earth" heat embossed in silver on the fancy Island Indigo label at the bottom isn't going to make anyone look at that card twice once the ornament is on the tree.  Right?  Wrong!  I thought ahead and had a plan.


That cute little penguin has a fuzzy snowball in its flipper, ready to throw at some unsuspecting passer-by.   The fuzzy portion of the velcro sticker is a perfect snowball.  This is so much more cute in person!  The ornament also looks gorgeous on its own, doesn't it?  So instead of having a "ruined" card front once the ornament is removed, you have an adorable little penguin.  How sweet is that?

Tuesday 26 November 2013

'Tis the Season for WOW cards!

Another season of WOW cards and I have so many from which people can choose.  The most popular by far to date has been the Festive Flurry Pop 'n Cut card and I don't expect that to change anytime soon.  What could be more fun to give than a card that invites an involuntary "wow!" from the recipient as well as gives the recipient a brand new ornament for the tree?  This card has it all!

Yes, the gorgeous snowflake ornament that crowns the front of the card is hanging on by means of a stick-on velcro fastener.   The 4-layer snowflake comes from the Festive Flurry Ornament Kit.  There is sufficient product to assemble 10 of these wonderful ornaments (all you need is a glue-gun) at the low cost of only $17.95.  These are available only while the supplies last.


Don't you just love the front of the card?  The inside doesn't disappoint.  The Pop 'n Cut dies make 3-D cards a cinch.  For this one I had a flurry of snowflakes coming out of the centre of the card.  With the help of a strip of the Window Sheets, two of the snowflakes are suspended in the air.  The glare of the light makes them visible in this photo, but in real life, they are invisible and the illusion of suspension is very real.


So you've fallen in love with this card but don't want to buy all the products necessary to make it.  Fair enough.  Going into paper crafting is like a lot of hobbies---there seems to be an endless list of products you need.  That's where I come in.  If you live in the area, you get to use my products and tools.  

There are another eight cards to choose from for my WOW class.  If you're in the area and are interested in taking a class, check out the details at the top of this page.


Wednesday 20 November 2013

Change of Name? Savings just the same!

Everyone always looks forward to Stampin' Up!'s huge Extravaganza Sale this time of the year.  The savings are always phenomenal.  Well, this year that Extravaganza has been changed into a Holiday Sale.  You know what they say about a rose by any other name, right?  In this case, no matter what the name, the fantastic savings are just the same.

Today is opening day and, of course, there is the usual DOORBUSTER.  For today only, three of our most popular items are being heavily discounted.


After midnight tonight, the doorbuster turns into a pumpkin.  Whoa!  No, I mean it ceases to be effective.  Time to do some fast thinking, right?

The rest of the Holiday Sale continues right through to (and including) December 2nd.  Of course if an item sells out, procrastinators will be unhappy.  But that's what happens when you go downtown, too, right?  You snooze, you lose.

There is a list of all the sale items for you to click right here that you can either download or read online.  The page numbers in the catalogues are in the far left column for your convenience so that you can easily see the product in full colour right there in front of you.  Sweet!

You have a choice in making your order, too.  Either you can use my online store (just check it out in the right column of this blog) or you can contact me and I'll add your products to my current orders.  

With the huge amounts of snow we've had around here, this is an awesome way to do some shopping without leaving the warmth of your home.  

Monday 18 November 2013

A Real Time Saver---and so handy!

This time of the year time seems to shrink, doesn't it?  I look at all the things I want to do and the time in which I want to get them all done and I feel as if I should clone myself.  That way I might have a chance.

Sometimes it's the little things that can mean a lot.  I plan to make quite a number of cards in the next few weeks (big surprise?) and since some of those cards will be the ones I send out to "my people", I'm glad that Stampin' Up! is actually trying to help me out.  How?  This year they're offering some Cut & Ready Card Bases.  You get 20 already cut and scored pieces of cardstock in the perfect size to make 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" cards.  Sweet!  That's 20 sheets I don't have to cut or score.  That's 20 card bases that I know won't be slightly off because I accidentally moved my cardstock.  If you make your own Christmas cards you know how huge a deal this is.

Below you can see the colours and prices for these card bases.

DescriptionItem NumberPrice
Whisper White Cut & Ready Card Bases135804$5.95
Very Vanilla Cut & Ready Card Bases135805$5.95
Crumb Cake Cut & Ready Card Bases135806$5.95
Smoky Slate Cut & Ready Card Bases135807$5.95
Cherry Cobbler Cut & Ready Card Bases135808$5.95
Old Olive Cut & Ready Card Bases135809$5.95
Pool Party Cut & Ready Card Bases135810$5.95

These are actually the colours that I would be using.  Cherry Cobbler is one of my go-to colours for Christmas Cards. 

 I'm using a lot of Crumb Cake and Whisper White this year, too. 


For me, it's a time-saver and this time of the year I need to save as much time as I can.  For everyone else, however, it's a money-saver.  A lot of you don't need a whole package of, say Cherry Cobbler or Crumb Cake.  That's what these pre-cut and pre-scored card bases are for: people who want those colours for their bases but in moderation, so that they don't wind up with a lot of one colour of cardstock that will take them a long time to use up.

Let me know if you're interested in adding some of these Cut & Ready Card Bases to my next order.

Thursday 14 November 2013

The Wacky Watercooler 2013 Year End Blog Hop

Wacky Watercooler New Catalog(ue) Blog Hop

Welcome to the Hop from Blackfalds, Alberta, Canada.  That's quite a leap if you just left the talented Jeanne Kupsch who is stationed over in Germany right now.  Wasn't her post wonderful?

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For my first project, I'm featuring Christmas and that wonderful Pop 'n Cuts Card Base die and matching Dress Form die designed by Karen Burniston exclusively for Stampin' Up!  The dress-form has undergone a bit of a transformation in my card, but the bones are there and they provided a wonderful base for my design.

I chose to use Basic Black as my base cardstock because I had plans to decorate the card using my favourite Designer Paper from the Annual Catalog(ue), Modern Medley.  I love the designs in that pack!  Because I had plans to make the inside of the card look like a living room, I used two of the designs: one for the "wallpaper" and one for the "floor".  The dress form quickly disappeared and became a fireplace with the top portion of the cut-out covered by a feature picture stamped with the Wetlands stamp set.  The logs and fire were made using my Word Window punch and the wing from the Bird Builder punch.  Love what a little embossing or sponging will do, don't you?  I free-handed the little stockings from some Modern Medley paper and coloured in the heels, toes and tops and then sponged the rest with Cherry Cobbler ink.

The final touch to the inside was to stamp the sentiment from the Joyful Christmas stamp set onto a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock and then cut it out using my Apothecary Accents framelits.  With a bit of Basic Black sponging, it looks just like an area rug, doesn't it?


Since my base was Basic Black, I decided to layer the front of the card with some Cherry Cobbler and a piece of the Modern Medley, this time the music notes.  I used another of the Apothecary Accents framelits to cut out the Greeting which I had heat embossed in silver.  Then I tied a pretty bow using the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding ribbon.  But the card still needed a focal point.

For the focal point on the front of the card, I decided to use the Joyful Christmas stamp set.  I simply can't get enough of that wonderful Poinsettia!  This time, however, I only used the centre portion of the flower because otherwise it would have taken over the entire front of the card and I had other plans.


I heat embossed the flower using Silver embossing powder and cut out the centre, smaller flower.  Then I heat embossed two leaves using the Wild Wasabi embossing powder on the new Silver Foil sheets.  I love how that turned out!  


This is definitely a card that is fun both inside and out!

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Since Stampin' Up! carried over that beautiful Jewish Celebrations stamp set from last year, I decided I would try my hand at a Hanukkah card using the new Thinlits Circle flip flop card die.  For my base, I used Pacific Point cardstock, which is one of my favourite deep blues.  Even though it's not one of the colours in the Winter Frost Specialty Designer Paper, the colours compliment each other beautifully.  The card has the extra fold that I explained back in this post.

This is the front of the card with a strip of the foil pattern from the Designer Paper.  The other foil pattern is on the inside flap that you can see.  I stamped the design using Pacific Point ink on Shimmery White cardstock and then heat embossed the Star of David on a Silver Foil sheet using Pool Party embossing powder and punched it out using my 1" circle punch.


For the inside I cut a strip of the Designer Paper and adhered it to a piece of Whisper White.  On the reverse of the circle flip-flop, I stamped the Menorah using the new Metallic Silver Encore ink and then heat embossed the sentiment on the Pacific Point using silver embossing powder.  The folded star below the sentiment can hold money or a chocolate coin.


And that's my interpretation of a Hanukkah card.  

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My final project is geared for the man in my life.  My husband loves fishing and so I decided to use one of the wonderful new Wood-Mount Cases that Stampin' Up! introduced in the Annual Catalogue.  Those cases are so nice and strong and will hold all sorts of goodies.  I plan to fill this one up with some little things that he's been muttering about needing.  The way I see it, a fly-fisherman who ties his own flies "needs" about as much as a paper crafter.

We used to see a lot of wildlife when we lived in British Columbia so I decided to use the Walk in the Wild stamp set and the Lovely as a Tree stamp set for this project.  I masked off the grass on the ground so that I could give the illusion of a snowy landscape.  Then I used my Aqua Painter and watercoloured the scene, adding some Dazzling Details on the tree and on the ground.


Then I made a starburst using embossed pieces of Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso Core'dinations, and Marina Mist, mounting it on a piece of the Marina Mist Polka Dot Parade Designer paper.  The finished piece slipped under the plastic window of the Wood-Mount Case perfectly.


This is the way my husband will probably use the case, but to dress it up for Christmas I had to add a little bit of extra.  For that I created a "girdle" using the 1 1/4" Burlap Ribbon.  I attached one of the brown buttons from the Designer Naturals with a brad and safety pin from the Vintage Trinkets.  That provided me with the perfect way to attach my snowflake (from the Festive Flurries bundle) and tag (from the Very Merry Tags).


I know he's going to love this.  Wouldn't the man in your life be happy to receive something like this, too?  It's easy to make and so handy.

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Well that's it for my blog hop post.  I hope you've enjoyed my projects.  I'd love to hear what you thought about them if you have a moment.  Your next stop will be Terri Antoniw's inspiring blog.  I'm sure she'll have some amazing projects to share with you.   Thanks so much.

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Tuesday 12 November 2013

Making Cardinals AWO5

I've been preparing for a WOW class and one of the cards I had in mind used the Backyard Basics framelits to cut bird shapes along one side of the musical note patterned DSP from the Modern Medley's pack.  Underneath I planned to have Cherry Cobbler cardstock which would show the cut-outs as red birds.  A little cut with my craft knife and voila, a row of cardinals.  I just had to colour their faces with my black marker and add a tiny pearl and they were almost perfect.

I hate the word almost.  It means you got close but didn't quite make it.  My little row of cardinals just wasn't quite there and I wasn't sure what to do about it.  And then inspiration hit.  I love it when that happens, don't you?  I got my Bird Builder punch out of my drawer, barely breathing because I was sure it was going to be the wrong size.  But it wasn't!  The size was absolutely perfect and so I punched three little wings out of Cherry Cobbler, sponged them with a bit of Basic Black, and added them with Dimensionals.


I love how they turned out and how the card looks.  Inside and out, it's a WOW card.


Check my times in the heading of my blog to see if you can attend a class that I've scheduled.

Snowflakes for Christmas!

This year's wonderful new snowflake stamps and matching framelits bundle is hard to pass up.  The Festive Flurry stamp set seems to be cropping up in a lot of the Christmas cards.  There have been some terrific ornaments posted on Pinterest as well, using the set.  Too much work?  If you're strapped for time but want that home-made glamour, Stampin' Up! has created the perfect kit for you.

Beginning today and only while their limited quantities last, Stampin' Up! is offering a kit that provides more than enough product to make ten wonderful ornaments.  Yes, the pieces are pre-stamped and die-cut for your convenience.  Yes, all the ribbon and glitz is already included.  And the price is an affordable $17.95.

Heard enough?  I wouldn't wait to order these from my online store (or contact me to include a few kits in my order).


Friday 8 November 2013

Guess what! There's another blog hop next week!



Exciting news!  There's another blog hop coming up next Thursday, November 14th.  Isn't that exciting?  There are going to be some new blogs to visit and some awesome projects to ooh and ahh over.  Tell a friend!  There will be some wonderful ideas to share.


Saturday 2 November 2013

Remembrance Day is coming up---an owl remembers.

I borrowed an image from the internet and combined it with a little soldier owl, made using my wonderful owl builder punch.  I've used Always Artichoke, Soft Suede, Crushed Curry and Crumb Cake for the base and the layers.  I love the way the colours all work together so very well with the borrowed image.

The poppy is from the Simply Sketched stamp set.  I've stamped it on watercolour paper and used my aqua pen to colour it in with shades of Real Red.



Let's all remember---and be thankful for those who gave everything for us.