A New Ink on Life

Artisan Award Winning Project #7 Blog Hop Day 7

 Here I am back again today sharing another one of my Stampin' Up! Artisan Enteries:) And just to break things up a little I will be back tomorrow morning with my DT sample for Try Stampin' on Tuesday.
If you have been following along on the hop you should have just arrived here from the very talented Laura Mellinger's blog, and if not there is a full list of all of the blog's at the end of this post, so be sure to check out their amazing projects.

Today I am sharing the last of my 3 scrapbook pages, it is of my oldest daughter. This year when I entered each one of my children got there own page:) Trust me I am sure there would have been a little complaining if it wasn't that way,lol!

 These pictures were taken while visiting my dad in Ontario. We had such a fabulous day at the beach that I just smile everytime I look at the photos from that day. I absolutely love the look of pinwheels and knew that it would add a fun whimsical feel to the page. I used one of the die cut pages from the now retired Nursery Suite Specialty Paper. The patterned papers on the page are also from this pack.To create the banner I used some medium Paper Dasies and glued them on some Linen Thread. I also took a larger daisy and coloured it with some Regal Rose Ink and my Aqua Painter and placed it in the the center of my pinwheel along with a Jumbo Chocolate Chip Brad.

 As part of the requirements for the Contest all scrapbook pages must include journaling, now I am not one for lots of stuff on my pages and I liked the very clean look of this page so I made a hidden jounaling pocket behind the smaller photo. I tend to create hidden journaling on most of my pages especially if I have a lot to say. (which is most of the time,lol!)

Supplies used:

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases

Ink: Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Regal Rose,

Paper: Nursery Suite Specialy Paper, Pretty in Pink, Pear Pizzazz, Play Date Quick Accents, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Big Shot, Tasteful Trim Die, Polka Dot Impressions Folder, Subtles Buttons, Linen Thread, Paper Dasies, Circle Punches, Sweet Stiches Fabric Brads, Brights Brads, Small Heart Punch

 

Now be sure to hop on over to Heather Stevens blog and her amazing project!

And here is the list and order of the full hop:

1. Connie Collins  
2. Sandra Farrell
3. Heidi King  
4. Heather Klump   
5. Cheryl LeFore   
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard    
8. Heather Stevens       
9. Summer Stone    
10. Heather Summers   

Have a great day and be sure to check out the next sketch challenge for Try Stampin' On Tuesday tomorrow!

 

Artisan Award Winning Project #6 Blog Hop Day 6

 

So for those of you that have been following a long these past few days, we have certainly seen a lot of fabulous projects. For those of you that may be here for the first time; thank you for visiting  and to give you an overview, the Stampin' Up! Artisan Award winners for 2011 are having a blog hop showcasing the 10 entries that we submitted to this years contest. You should have arrived here from the very talented Laura Mellinger's blog, and if not there is a full list of all of the blog's at the end of this post.

Today I decided to share with you another one of my card entries:

 I know this card may look pretty clean and simple but there was actually a lot of steps involved in creating it. The base of the card is a 5 x 5" Chocolate Chip square. I dry embossed it with the Perfect Polka Dots Impressions Folder and the Big Shot. Because the card is bigger then a standard size card base I lined up the base and embossed it again so that all parts of it had the polka dots design.

 
 I am not sure if you can tell or not from the photo but each baby onesies were stamped first on the Very Vanilla card stock then again on Watercolour Paper and cut out. I water coloured the imagaes with my Aqua Painter, Markers and Classic Ink Pads. The colour blocked panels were stamped tone on tone with images from the Baby Bundle stamp set. The whole front panel was attached to the card base with Dimensionals for added depth.

 For the inside I added the cute baby and carriage and watercoloured it. The sentiment is from the Full of Life Stamp set.

Supplies used:

Stamps: Baby Bundle, Full of Life

Ink: Stazon Black, Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Peach Parfait, Sahara Sand, Blush Blossom Marker

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Peach Parfait, Pretty In Pink, Pink Pirouette, Rose Red, Very Vanilla, Watercolour Paper

Accessories: Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots Folder, Sewing Machine, Dimesionals, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Aqua Painter, Paper Snips

Now be sure to hop on over to Heather Stevens blog and her amazing project!

And here is the list and order of the full hop:

1. Connie Collins  
2. Sandra Farrell
3. Heidi King  
4. Heather Klump   
5. Cheryl LeFore   
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard    
8. Heather Stevens       
9. Summer Stone    
10. Heather Summers   

Have a great day!

Artisan Award Winning Project #5 Blog Hop Day 5

 

Wow we are already half way throught the Artisan Award Blog Hop! I know I certainly have been blown away by all the amazing projects that have been posted. If you have been following along you should have arrived here from the talented Laura Mellinger's blog, and if not there is a full list of all of the blog's at the end of this post. Thank you again for taking the time to visit us on this hop and we hope we have inspired you a little:) As I have mentioned earlier in the week, I really encourage those of you that are interested in entering Artisan to really go for it this year and enter! It has been an amazing experience so far and I can not wait to see what the rest of this year has to offer.

Today I decided to share one of my 3 D projects. Now those of you that know me know that I tend to procrastinate, so when I confess that this next project was done the night before I shipped my package off you may not be surprised:) I do work best under pressure and although I had  this idea for this project weeks before completing it, it did not come together until the 11th hour!

Here is the picture I used:

 and here is the Canvas I created:

I do apologize for this quality and location of this photo, but to be honest it was taken at the UPS store before I packaged everthing up and sent it on it's way! Again there is LOTS of sponging and destressing on this project. It is also a hybrid project , meaning I combined My Digital Studio with trational paper crafting. I altered my photo in MDS using several of the Vintage Overlays and then typed the words "You're Amazing" over top. I actually used the colour picking tool in MDS and took the colour from my daughter's hair for the words. All the edges of the canvas were sponged with Soft Suede Ink and on the bottom left corner I stencil one of the imagaes from the Elegant Trio Stencils using Blushing Bride Ink.

Here are a few close ups of the project:

The flower was created by cutting some Very Vanilla Ribbon with the Tasterful Trim Die and then using my Heat Tool to seal and wrinkle the edges. I then sponged it with Blushing Bride Classic Ink.

The photo was mounted on a piece of Presto Patterns Designer Series Paper that had been sponged with Soft Suede and Blushing Bride Inks as well as spritzed with Smooth Spritz Spray in Vanilla Shimmer. I also stenciled the Flower image again using Peach Parfait on the DSP. A lot of times people will ask me wher my inspiration comes from and to be honest for this project I kept hearing the Lyrics from the Bruno Mars song "Just the way You Are".

Supplies used:

My Digital Studio

Stamps: Musical Notes Wheel

Paper: Presto Patterns Designer Series paper

Stencils: Elegant Trio

Ink: Blushing Bride, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake

Accessories: Big Shot, Tasteful Trim Die, Very Vanilla Satin Ribbon, Pearl Jewels, Heat Tool, Sponges, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz, Sticky Strip, Hot Glue Gun

Now be sure to hop on over to Heather Stevens blog and her amazing project!

And here is the list and order of the full hop:

1. Connie Collins  
2. Sandra Farrell
3. Heidi King  
4. Heather Klump   
5. Cheryl LeFore   
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard    
8. Heather Stevens       
9. Summer Stone    
10. Heather Summers   

Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

Artisan Award Winning Project #4 Blog Hop Day 4

So we are now on day four of our fun little hop through this year's Stampin' Up! Artisan Award winning projects (as if you didn't know that from the title, lol).  You should have arrived here from the talented Laura Mellinger's blog, and if not there is a full list of all of the blog's at the end of this post:)

Today I decide to share another one of my scrapbook pages. I really love how this page turned out and it was the second projects that I had completed. These pictures just crack me up. I have very few photos of my son as he usually never stands still long enough for me to get a good one. Or I end up with one that has him making faces in it-BOYS!

Here's the page:

This photo was taken the same time as the ones that I used for the last page that I posted. As you can tell he was a pirate for halloween last year and we had a lot of fun creating a beard for him out of coffee grounds.

 
 There is so much going on, on this page that I would have to babble more then I usually do, to explain it all:) Let's just that there is lots of destressing and sponging, misting and crumpling, sanding and even some cutting out! (I really do not enjoy fussy cutting). For the title I actually cut out the letter "X" from the Newsprint Designer Series paper and I created the "treasure map" also using this DSP and some Very Vanilla card stock. The journaling was created in My Digital Studio and I used the Extreme Elements stamp brush (in MDS) to create a background then typed the journalling. There is even a little sewing on this one! I am not a sewer;I am a wanna be sewer, so thank you to my wonderful downline and friend Leigha for helping me with this one (she was so patient showing me what to do).

 The bottom two photos were matted on More Mustard then Basic Gray Card stock. The DSP behind the photos is from First Edition and it was stamped with images from Extreme Elements and Artistic Etchings. Then of course destressed!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Artistic Etchings, Extreme Elements, Tiny Tags

Paper: Textured Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler and Basic Gray, More Mustard, News Print and First Edition Designer Series Paper,  Cherry Cobbler DSP from the Regals Designer Series paper stack

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Basic Gray, Tea Stain ( Destressing Essentials Kit)

Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice Folder, Circle Scissors Plus, Ticket Corner Punch, Glimmer Brads, My Digital Studio, Trinket Keys, Water Bottle Mister, Destressing Essential Kit, Sewing Machine and Denim Thread, Hemp Twine

Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out Heather Stevens and her amazing project!

And here is the list and order of the full hop:

1. Connie Collins  
2. Sandra Farrell
3. Heidi King  
4. Heather Klump   
5. Cheryl LeFore   
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard    
8. Heather Stevens       
9. Summer Stone    
10. Heather Summers   

Have a great day!

 
 

 

Artisan Award Winning Project #3 Blog Hop Day 3

 
Hi everyone, hope you are enjoying the hop so far. We have been having so much fun sharing our projects with you and I just want to say thank you to all those that have visited my blog and also for all the sweet comments. Today's project that I am sharing is the first card that I made for the Artisan Contest. Funny story is that I had originally created it for a weekly online challenge that was a flower themed chellenge. After I made the card I decided that I really liked the way it came together so I put it a side for one of my entries. You should have arrived here from the talented Laura Mellinger's blog, and if not there is a full list of all of the blog's at the end of this post:)

 Now I very seldom use Whisper White as a card base, and rarely leave so much "white" space on my projects. However this card just seemed to work. When I sat down to make it I knew I wanted to use some of the Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper (as I had it for almost a year and hadn't used very much of it:) The flower was cut out using the Big shot and the Fun Flowers Die from Pumpkin Pie Card stock, I then misted it with water and crumpled it up a little. The stamped image in the center is from the Just Believe set, it was stamped in Baja Breeze then punched out, and of course I had to add a little bling. The strip of Real Red on the bottom had been cut out using the Tasteful Trim Die and I really like how the points work so well with the zig zags in the DSP.

I also decorated the inside to match. The sentiment and butterfly are from the Cottage Garden set, I just love brown and orange together.

Supplies used:

Stamps: Just Believe, Cottage Garden

Ink: Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, Early Espresso

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Whisper white, Early Espresso, Real Red Textured,
 
Accessories: Big Sot, Fun Flowers Die, Tasteful Trim Die, Basic Rhinestone Jewels, Pear Pizzazz Poly twill Ribbon,  Corner Rounder Punch, 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 Circle Punches

Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out Heather Stevens and her amazing project!

And here is the list and order of the full hop:

1. Connie Collins  
2. Sandra Farrell
3. Heidi King  
4. Heather Klump   
5. Cheryl LeFore   
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard    
8. Heather Stevens       
9. Summer Stone    
10. Heather Summers   

Have a great day!

 

Artisan Award Winning Project #2 Blog Hop Day 2

 

 

So today is the second day of our tour through this years Stampin' Up's Artisan Award winning projects. It has been so fun to see pictures of everyone's projects upclose and to read a little bit about each of them. If you are following a long on the hop you should have arrived here from the very talented Laura Mellinger's blog and if not don't worry I have a full list of all the blogs at the end of this post. Today I decided to post the first project I created for the Contest this year, a scrapbook page of my youngest daughter. As I mentioned yesterday I find scrapping the easiest to do and I actually had all 3 of my pages completed over a month before the contest deadline (this was huge for me:), now my 3D items well that another story for another day,lol!

  
 When I took this photo last halloween I knew I would just have to scrap it! I just wish I had taken better pictures of the page before I sent it off.

There are lots of little details on this page. The base is an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of Soft Suede card stock, I then layered on Rose Red and some Springtime Vintage Designer Series Paper. I peeled back the top right corner and inked up using a Early Espresso Marker, just a few of the words from one of the sentiment stamps from Sense of Time (it says "Hope for Tomorrow"). The 2 DSP strips are also from the same pack.

 

 I didn't actually create a large title for my page as I wanted all the elements and the photo to be the main focus. I used the sentiment from Butterfly Prints as the "title" with the main emphasis on the word love. To do this I stamped it twice, once in Early Espresso (punching it out with the Decorative Label Punch) and once in Rose Red (punched out using the Jewerly Tag Punch). I then sponged the edges with Soft Suede.
 

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Butterfly Prints, Sense Of Time

Ink: Rose Red, Early Espresso Ink and Marker, Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette

Paper: Soft Suede Textured, Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla, Springtime Vintage Designer Series Paper

Accessories: Decoraticve Label Punch, Jewlery Tag Punch, Butterfly Punch, Vintage Trinkets, Antique Brads, Victoria Crochet trim, Pearl Jewels, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Scallop Edge Border Punch.
 

And I just have to share one last photo off my sweet girl that was also taken that day.......

 I think the photo says it all!

Now be sure to check out Heather Stevens and her amazing project! And remember to come back tomorrow evening to see another one of my entries.

Here is the list of all of this years winners and the order of the hop

1. Connie Collins  
2. Sandra Farrell
3. Heidi King  
4. Heather Klump   
5. Cheryl LeFore   
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard    
8. Heather Stevens       
9. Summer Stone    
10. Heather Summers   

Have a great day!

Artisan Award Winning Project #1 Blog Hop Day 1

 
Welcome to the Stampin' Up!  Artisan Award Winner's Blog Hop. I know each one of us is super excited to share our projects with you and we all feel so very blessed to be choosen as this years winners. If you are following the hop you should have arrived here from Laura Mellinger's blog, if not there is a full list of everyone's blogs at the end of this post. I hope you enjoy our projects, we had a lot of fun (and maybe a little stress:) creating them. We will be sharing one project a day for the next 10 days.

For those of you that may not know what there Artisan Award is, it is a creative contest that is open to Stampin' Up! demonstrators across the US and Canada. SU! holds it once a year and if you are a demo I strongly encourage you to enter, I find it really helped stretch me creatively and I certainly learned a lot a long the way (like it is NOT a good idea to leave things to the last minute and the cost of overnighting a parcel via UPS from Canada to Utah is ridiculous!) You must submit 5 cards, 3 scrapbook pages and 2 3D items.

I have decided to share one of my cards first.

 When trying to come up with designs for my projects this year I really tried to plan out my cards. Truth be told I found coming up with 5 unique cards that showcase several different styles to be a challenge. I will be the first to admit that card making is not where I think I excel, I definately find scrapbooking and projects with photos in them come easiest to me. With that in mind I actually sketched out some ideas ahead of time. Sometimes the sketches worked out, sometimes not so much, lol!

Here is the inside:

 
The base of this card started out as a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 Square (I think, didn't write down all the measurements) of Daffodil Delight Textured Card stock. The Designer Series paper is from the now retired Play Date Pack. I freehand cut the rays for the sun and the scallops along the buttom were created with the Tasteful Trim Die, I then used the Small Heart Punch to create hearts "holes"in each scallop. The Polka Dot Real Red strip is from the Play Date Quick Accents. The clouds of course were created using the super versatile Cupcake Punch. For the inside of the card I freehanded some hills by cutting the DSP with my Paper Snips and the little strip is also from the Quick accents. 

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases, Hope Happens

Ink: Early Espresso Classic Ink and Marker

Paper: Daffodil Delight Textured, Whisper White, Play Date DSP and Quick Accents

Accessories: Itty Bitty Buttons, Early Espresso Satin Ribbon, Small Heart Punch, Paper Piercer and Matt pack,  Circle Punches, Cupcake Builder Punch, Paper Snips, Big Shot, Tasteful Trim Die, Corner Rounder Punch, Itty Bitty Buttons

 Now be sure to check out Heather Stevens  amazing project! Be sure to come back tomorrow to check out another one of my entries.

Here is the list of all of this years winners and the order of the hop

1. Connie Collins  
2. Sandra Farrell
3. Heidi King  
4. Heather Klump   
5. Cheryl LeFore   
6. Laura Mellinger
7. Jennifer Picard    
8. Heather Stevens       
9. Summer Stone    
10. Heather Summers   

 

Birthday Good Bye and Last Artisan

So there are only TWO DAYS left to order from the Current Stampin' Up! Catalogue and I knew that I was going to post my Last Artisan entry today so I thought it was only fitting to post another project made with the same supplies as well. I just love the versatility of the Simply Scrappin' kits as they can be used for so much more then just for Scrapbooking. This cute little box was created using the soon to be retired Petal Card Die for the Big Shot.

 

This was the last project that I entered for the Artisan Contest and it uses the Simply Scrappin' Kit Happy B-Day and 4 Petal Card Die Cuts. The bow was created using strips of Designer Series Paper and one of the stickers from the kit. I decorated each side a little differently.

Now that's it for the Contest projects and I think I dragged it out long enough, lol!

But the next project is one that I created for the Last round of UStamp with Dawn and Friends Big Shot Edition and it uses elements from the same Scrappin' Kit to create 8 cards and the super cute box.

 
 
  
  
 See-even if you aren't a scrapper you NEED one of these kits! And remember the current Catalogue Retires on June 30th along with this great Simply Scrappin' Kit and so many more must have items. But don't worry the NEW Idea Book and Catalogue is AMAZING!

So if there are any last minute items you just have to get you can order them through my WEBSITE or Contact Me.

Have a great day and happy stampin'

Almost Artisan the last 2 cards

Okay so to say my posting recently has been hit or miss would be an understatement! Where did last week go? I am still plugging away on wedding invites for a customer and I can not wait to show you when they are done!

So I thought today would be a good day to share with you the last 2 cards that I made for the Artisan Contest.

 
The first card is one I had in mind from the moment I first saw the Extra Postage stamp set in the previous Occasions Mini. I some how thought "baby" as soon as I saw "Handle with Care". The base of the card is Kraft (soon to be Crumb Cake) and it was dry embossed with The Big Shot and the Final Press Impressions Folder, then lightly sponged with Soft Suede. The main sentiment was stamped 3 times in Soft Suede, then once in Pretty in Pink and cut out then popped up with a dimensional. The Pretty in Pink cardstock was stamped with matching ink using the flower image from Teeny Tiny Tags, then scalloped with the Eyelet Border Punch. Then using the heart image and word from the same set I created an insert for the square charm from Stampin' Up's Simply Adorned Line. I attached the charm to the card with a little linen thread and the very yummy Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon. The pattern paper is Soft Suede from the Write Stuff Specialty Paper pack. I also used a Sanding Block to slightly age the card.

The second card is so bright and fun-boy am I going to miss Crushed Curry! This is one card that for whatever reason I just could not get a good picture of. The pocket IRL looked just like a demin pocket as I stamped the "textured" image using Whisper White Craft Ink on Textured Brocade Blue Cardstock then stamped the stitching on the pocket in Soft Suede using my Stamp a ma jig. The stamp set is a very over looked one called Made 2 Last and I am a little sad that it will be gone in just a few short days as I think it has lots of potential (although that was the first and only time it saw ink!). The little flower on the pocket was heat embossed with Iridescent Ice. The colours used on the card were Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Brocade Blue, and Soft Suede.

Well that's it for the card portion of my entries and I only have one more 3d entry left to share and by then hopefully I will be all caught up on my crafting and will be able to start sharing some really great new samples!  

And if you have't already be sure to check out some of the other "Almost Artisan's" HERE at the bottom of this post as I know some of them are starting to share their entries right now as well.

Happy Stampin'

Almost Artisan Precious Time Scrapbook Page

This was another favourite of mine and the last of the pages that I submitted for the Artisan Award.

   

 

This is the page that took me the longest to complete! Even though it is hard to tell from the photo, there is so much detail on the actual 12x12 Soft Suede paper. It was sanded, sponged then stamped on with the Woodgrain Background stamp on the right side and the Cogs from Sense of Time on the left side. I did the direct to paper technique with my Soft Suede ink pad to create a "wood feel" on the piece of card stock that the sentiment is mounted on. I just love all the texture that was on this page in real life. The title was cut out from Wood sheets using SU!'s Timeless Type Alpha. The colours that I used were Soft suede, Naturals Ivory, and Dusty Durango. And remember the Cord buttons and brads as well as Dusty Durango will be retired at the end of this month so be sure to stock up before they are gone!
 

Happy Stampin'