A New Ink on Life

Dasher Christmas Sketch SR# 47

This week at Stampin Royalty week have a Sketch Challenge for you! I really like using sketches as a jumping off point, especially when my stamping Mojo has been running on empty,lol! I have been so busy getting ready for a Craft Fair this weekend that ist was Nice to just sit down and stamp a card. Be sure to check out what the Design Team came up with.

Here is the Sketch:

And here is my card:

 
 I actually CASE'd myself for this card from a card that I had made a few months ago for one of my Christmas classes. I used some of the same basic elements just shifted them to match the Sketch.
The card base is Marina Mist, and I then layered on a piece of Early Espresso. The Crumb Cake piece has been stamped with snowflakes from Northern Hearts (Level 1 hostess set) in Marina Mist, Crumb Cake and Soft Suede Ink. I then used the Northern Flurry Textured Impressions Folder on that piece to give it some more interest. The main image is Dasher (a great single stamp) and I stamped it on Very Vanilla with Soft Suede Ink and then matted it with a Soft Suede tag from the Two Tags Die.(The sentiment is from Many Merry Messages) I scalloped the end of the tag with the Scallop Trim Border Punch. (I also used this punch along with some Elegant Soireee DSP for the scalloped edge under the Crumb Cake layer) For the top of the tag I used some Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Marina Mist 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon and a Silver Glimmer Brad. 
 
In keeping with the Sketch, I chose to add a delicate snowflake for my embelishment. I cut the snowflake out using the Northern Frost Decorative Strip and Very Vanilla Textured Card stock. The edges were sponged with Marina Mist Ink and I then applied a generous amount of Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz (it is so pretty and shimmery in real life). To finish it all off, I popped a Rhinestone Jewel in the center.

Have a great day,

A Peaceful Season of Gift Giving

Well it is Staurday and I am sad to say that it is the last challenge for the Create with Connie and Mary Holiday Edition. We have had a blast sharing so many different projects over the last 8 weeks, all using the fabulous items from the current Stampin' Up! Holiday Mini. But remember you can still join and take advantage of recreating the projects anytime you want, as the site will still stay up for months to come.

Now on to the challenge! This week is for the Design Team only and we were asked to create Gift Packaging. The projects that we were working on this week focused on using Tags Til Christmas stamp set, Jolly Jingles Wheel, Peaceful Season Level 2 Hostess stamp set and the fun new Designer Fabrics. I still had a few items left out from my project tutorial so I decided to use them for todays challenge.

  
  I LOVE the cute little Mini Lunch Sacks! Now I know you are all thinking -"they are brown paper bags and I can buy them anywhere" but honestly the quality is amazing. They are thick, sturdy and are also so easy to stamp on. You can use them for so many different out of the box ideas :)  I inked up the holly and leaves from the Peaceful Season Hostess Set with my Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke Markers and randomly stamped all over the bag. Then I folded over the scalloped top of the bag and using my Crop a dile I punched two holes and threaded some of the beautiful Deck the Halls Designer Fabric through it.

  The tag I made by cutting out one of the tags  from Naturals Ivory card stock using the SU! exclusive Two Tags Die. (My favourite die). I sponged the edges with Always Artichoke then stamped the dove image with Crumb Cake ink and the greeting with Early Espresso. To finish it off I used a little bit of Victoria Crochet Trim and a beautiful Antique Brad. This is just the perfect size to put a special treat in.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Design Team did this week:

Mary Brown – StamperCamper

Cristena Bagne – Gettin' Crafty

Rochelle Gould – I stamp, I create, I have fun!

Connie Babbert - Inkspired Treasures

I also wanted to say how truly inspired I was over the past 8 weeks. And I am so very grateful to have had the pleasure of being on the Design Team with these fabulous ladies. Thank you again to Connie and Mary for letting me share my love of Stampin' Up! and creating with all of your subscribers.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Celebrations with Stampin' Royalty #46

We have such a great challenge this week at Stampin' Royalty, and it's an easy one too! It is a Recipe Challenge to use Patterned Paper. Now if any of you are like me (and I am betting you are :) you have a ton of beautiful papers just waiting to be used, so get creative and make something with them. For added inspiration be sure to check out all the Design Team samples.

For my project I decided to create a fun birthday gift bag, tag and matching card using the Celebrations Designer Series Paper. I needed to take a little break from holiday projects and this paper is so fun to work with. I love the bright colour combination of Real Red, Pear Pizzazz, Pacific Point and Bashful Blue. I started with a plain white gift bag and using the SU! exclusive Tasteful Trim Die and my Big Shot I cut out the large scalloped strip from Real Red textured card stock and attached them to a large piece of the the polka dot patterned paper. 
  I also wanted to make a coordinating tag but instead of having it hang from the bag I attached it with Dimensionals. The tag was created using another SU! exclusive; Two Tags Die (this has to be one of my favourite dies-it is so versitile). 1 1/4" Striped Old Olive Ribbon and a Real Red button with some Linen thread was used through the top slit in the tag. And I still had a few premade images lying around from THIS CARD. 
The Party This Way stamp set is the perfect match with this paper and the whole Birthday Bash Suite can be found in the current Stampin' Up! Catalogue (p. 52&53)  

 
For the card I started with a Bashful Blue base and used the Perfect Polka Dots Impressions folder on the full front of the card. I then just took three 1 x 4 1/2" strips of DSP and for the main focal point I used alot of punches. I first punched out a 2 3/8 Scallop Circle then a 1 3/4 Circle and finally a 1 3/8 Circle. The number 8 was die cut using  SU! Timeless Type Junior Alphabet. 

Have a great day and happy stampin'

Have A Cute Christmas!

 Today is Saturday and that means another fun Challenge with Create with Connie and Mary Holiday Edition.This challenge is for our subscribers to participate in and earn a chance to win one of two $75 gift certificates or one of two free subscriptions to the next Edition of Create with Connie and Mary. This week the focus has been on using A Cute Christmas, Merry Crittermas, Builder Wheels, Candy Cane Rub-ons and/or the Candy Cane Christmas Decor Elements. For my project I decided to use A Cute Christmas so I thought it would be only fitting to also use it for my challenge card :)

This week is a colour challenge. The colours are Garden Green, Blushing Bride, Real Red and Baja Breeze. All these colours can be found in the fun and whimsical Candy Cane Christmas Designer Series Paper.

 
 The snowman in this set is just adorable so I thought the card would be even cuter if I had three snowmen! I started with a Garden Green base then added a strip of the the striped pattern from the Candy Cane Christmas DSP. I then punched out a decorative edge with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch and Real Red Card stock. For my Blushing Bride panel I embossed it with the Perfect Polka dots Textured Impressions Folder and the Big Shot. Using Jet Black Staz On I stamped the snowman image three times and coloured him in using markers.

 I then used my Two Way Glue pen and Dazzling Diamond glitter to add some sparkle along the snowline under the snowmen. Of course you can never have too much bling so I punched out two Decorative Labels and added some Rhinestone Jewels. I also added a Garden Green Button and some Marina Mist 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon. The sentiment was stamped on Whisper White punched out then layer on apiece of Baja Breeze.

 

Be sure to check out what the other Design team Members came up with!

Mary Brown – StamperCamper

Cristena Bagne – Gettin' Crafty

Rochelle Gould – I stamp, I create, I have fun!

Connie Babbert - Inkspired Treasures

Remember it is not to late to join us at Create with Connie and Mary! We feature new Holiday Mini products every week.  There is a new project posted every day and there will be an average of two fabulous tutorials each and every week and a Project Sheet to print out for every project not having a tutorial!  The site stays up long after the 8 week session is done, so you will still have access to the site and the tutorials. For more information and to see our Preview Week projects please visit at Create with Connie and Mary! 

 

Lest We Forget SR#45

This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a Photo Inspiration Challenge for you. Be sure sure to check out all the DT's samples and we would love to have you play along!

These pictures really inspired me and although my card is quite simple in design to me it speaks volumes. For those of us in Canada tomorrow is Nov.11 and is known as Remembrance Day. Every year on November 11, Canadians pause in a silent moment of remembrance for the men and women who have served, and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and peace.. More than 1,500,000 Canadians have served our country in this way, and more than 100,000 have died. They gave their lives and their futures so that we may live in peace.

Here is my card: 

 
* NOTE if you are just interested in  just reading about the card please scroll down to the end*

Now I usually like to keep my blog posts light and not very personal but I do feel the need to share my true inspiration for this card as it actually has quite a personal meaning to me. My grandfather on my mother's side served in the second world war and thankfully was able to come back from war, meet my grandmother have 5 children and live a wonderful life. I would spend my summers visiting them every year from the time I was a very small child until well into my teens. My "Poppy" (as we all called him) was my world and we did everything together, we went to the beach,  to the park and fed the ducks and pigeons, visited the petting zoo. The list goes on. And every day after our morning adventure my "Gran" would have lunch waiting for us and then we would go off again to find more places to explore.

I remember him telling me stories of when he served in the war and being so proud to see the medals he had. He was an amazing man and I still miss him greatly everyday, but I am also so very fortunate to have those wonderful memories to hold onto and cherish. October 31st would have been his birthday which of course had me thinking about him a great deal lately. So when I saw the challenge for this week I was inspired by the pictures, but also by him. That is why I also used a specific piece of Designer Series Paper on the card as well. If you look closely you will see an island and it is on the most Eastern side of North America; a beautiful Province called Newfoundland (and Labrador). This is where my grandfather was born and raised and he was very proud to be a Newfoundlander. (yes,I too am from there and only moved to the West Coast when I was 18).

Okay now on to the card info:

This card base is Very Vanilla. I attached a strip of Textured Basic Black Card stock and then used a larger strip of DSP from the Newsprint Designer Series Paper pack. I then tied a bow around the card with the rich Real Red Satin Ribbon. To create the Poppy Flower, I first punched out (2) 1 3/4" Circles and distressed the edges. Next I just cut out pieces with my Paper Snips so that they ressembled a flower. For the center I used a one of the little flowers from the Boho Blossom Punch and a silver brad. Then I attached it to the card with Dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped using Staz on Jet Black ink and is from the World Play stamp set.

Have a wonderful day everyone,

French Foliage Sympathy

 
 Sympathy cards are never easy to make and unfortunately I was in need of one this weekend. A good friend of mine's grandmother passed away and I wanted to bring her a card just to let her know she was in my thoughts. I decided to use the very elegant and versitile French Foliage stamp set. I tried to keep the card relatively understated but it kind of had a mind of it's own. For whatever reason it took me a while to actually finish the card even though there is not a lot of layering or embelishments.
 
 For the card base I used Confetti White Card stock and stamped the leaves using Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake and Peach Parfait.  The main image was matted on Soft Suede and I inked up a Clear Block with Crumb Cake and stamped directly onto the paper, creating an uneven block of colour. This is a really quick and cool technique and while blog surfing I came across this video that explains how to do the technique. For mine I wanted a more contrasted look so I didn't stamp off the ink first.  I also attached and pleated some Chantilly Crochet Trim with Sticky Strip, and very ligtly sponged it with Soft Suede. For the sentiment I used Teeny Tiny Wishes but I really wanted it to fit inside the Jewlery Tag Punch so I inked up the words seperately with an Early Espresso Marker and stamped them so that one was under the other. To finish it off I attached two little tiny button brads from Vintage Trinkets. Lastly I stamped a Very Vanilla Envelope to match.

Have a great day,
  

Jolly Bingo Bits - CCMC H6

  Hey everyone, it's Saturday and that means another fun Saturday Challenge with Create with Connie and Mary Holiday Edition.This challenge is for our subscribers to participate in and earn a change to win one of two $75 gift certificates or one of two free subscriptions to the next Edition of Create with Connie and Mary. This week the Design Team has been hard at work creating projects using Jolly Bingo Bits, Bingo Card, Sweet Snowglobe and/or the Jolly Old Saint Nick stamp sets. I had a lot of fun creating my project using Jolly Bingo Bits and the Bingo Card stamps, so I decided I would use them again for this week's challenge.

This week we have a fun Sketch Challenge, if you haven't already  you can still join us for this holiday session!

I had  great time designing this card, as the images are just so cute! I started with a Crumb Cake base and stamped the Bingo Card with the matching ink. I then inked it up again with Eary Espresso and stamped the "BINGO" on a scrap piece of Very Vanilla and individually cut the letters out. I then cut out a circle using the largest circle from the Sizzix Circles #2 Die and line up the part of the image I wanted and stamped. The cute little Gingerbread Man is from the Jolly Bingo Bits and I inked him up using Soft Suede and stamped it off first to create a lighter colour. The Candy and Mittens are also from the same set and I stamped them using Cherry Cobbler and Always Artichoke ink, then cut them out with my Paper Snips.

The paterned paper is from Deck the Halls DSP and  as per the sketch I added some ribbon, well actually Always Artichoke Seam Binding and the decorative scalloped strip was made using the Scallop Trim Border Punch and Cherry Cobbler Card stock.

 

 

Be sure to check out what the other Design team Members came up with!

Mary Brown – StamperCamper

Cristena Bagne – Gettin' Crafty

Rochelle Gould – I stamp, I create, I have fun!

Connie Babbert - Inkspired Treasures

Remember it is not to late to join us at Create with Connie and Mary! We feature new Holiday Mini products every week.  There is a new project posted every day and there will be an average of two fabulous tutorials each and every week and a Project Sheet to print out for every project not having a tutorial!  The site stays up long after the 8 week session is done, so you will still have access to the site and the tutorials. For more information and to see our Preview Week projects please visit at Create with Connie and Mary! 

Perk Up! With Stampin Royalty

This week at Stampin' Royalty we have a fun colur challenge for you! I love colour challenges and had a great time creating this card with some new rubber! I have been seeing so many cute cards with the Morning Cup set that I finally had to break down and get it. Be sure to check out all the awesome DT's samples here.

 

 

 I started with a Naturals Ivory base then layered a piece of Pear Pizzazz. For the next layer I used Daffodil Delight and randomly stamped the mug all over with matching ink. I then took a piece of Cajun Craze and dry embossed it using the Big Shot and the Perfect Polka Dots Textured Impressions Folder.To that pice I added to Marina Mist brads and attached the card stock on a slight angle to add interest. (I was inspired by this amazing card's layout).

For the main image panel I used Watercolour Paper and stamped the images with Jet Black Staz On Ink. I then used Marina Mist, Cajun Craze and Daffodil Delight Markers and an Aqua painter to colour them in. I also sponged around the edges with Daffodil Delight Ink. I used two sentiments on this card; the "Perk Up!" is from the Morning Cup set and I stamped it on the Coffee Pot then I also used the "Get Well Wishes" from Teeny Tiny Wishes and stamped it using the Staz On ink and Pear Pizzazz card stock. The bow was made using Marina Mist Satin Ribbon and tying it around the Daffodil Delight card stock. I then attached a Basic Black Button to the middle with some Linen Thread.
 

Have a great day,