Embrace Life, Friend

Hello all, this is like 3 days in a row that we've woke up to sunshine! Gosh, it's so nice and warm sitting here in the sunbeam. It would probably be too much to ask for the sunshine to remain for days on end...I hear it's supposed to change tomorrow again.

I posted this card because I am thinking of my friend Bev this morning. We're meeting for dinner tonight which should be great fun. I must remember the few little goodies I have for her this time!

This card isn't difficult but very pretty and soft looking (not a great photo)in person. I used the Embrace Life stamp set along with the Three For You punch box.

I found it easiest to punch out the three flowers and then stamp their centres on them. Then I sponged the edges of each of them with Elegant Eggplant ink. The main image is sponged with Old Olive.

Recipe: Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive Whisper White; Ink: Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant; Accessories: Vintage Brads

Thanks for looking.

Alicia

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all of you mothers out there! I wish you all a glorious day of sunshine and happiness with family (or without!).

I received my Mothers Day gift tonight already because Isaac, my 4 yr old couldn't wait until tomorrow. It was either receive the gift tonight or I'm guessing at around 5am he'd be at my bedside wanting me to see his 'secret'.




I've been wanting some shelving of some sort in my stamping room to hang up (or display) my collection of paper punches. I've seen some great ideas on other people's blogs. I've been to Home Depot and a few other hardware stores but hadn't had any luck finding what I wanted. Well, lucky for me my hubby is a fantastic carpenter so he and Isaac built me a little shelving unit to house my punches! Isn't it great! Isaac is so very proud of it! Daddy took pictures and video of him sanding the wood and then painting it. They did a great job and I am thrilled to pieces with it! :)






Here's a Mothers Day card I made for a class back in April. I finally broke out my Earth Elements textured card stock (comes in 12x12 only). I don't know why but I have some materials and supplies that I for some reason keep hanging onto instead of using them! Hopefully I'm not the only one that does this!

Recipe:
Stampset: Blooming with Love
Cardstock: Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Whisper White, Certainly Celery
Supplies: Marvelous Markers, Blender Pen, Basic Black Ink, Scallop and 1 1/4" punch, Paper piercer, dimensionals

Cheers!

A new layout

I just realized that this card is actually hard to view, sorry about that...This is a layout that I found in our monthly Stampin' Success magazine. Its not often that I actually use alot of their ideas but I was stumped one day for layouts, ideas etc, so I went looking for inspiration.

I just love this little rocket ship and have been meaning for quite some time to make a card with it. I've seen some great cards using this stamp (from Pun Fun). And I know its hard to see but I also used the Sweet Stars jumbo Wheel on both the River Rock and Soft Sky card stock. I coloured the rocket ship using Blender Pens and the ink pads. I also used the Wild Wasabit striped ribbon which I love!

In the end I wasn't crazy about this card and it was for a group of ladies that I thought might not have much use for a children's card so here's the next card I came up with.

This time I used the See You Around jumbo wheel and the cute butterfly stamp from the Just Celebrate stamp set (avaiable only from the Occasions Mini). I sponged the edges around the Whipser White cardstock before layering it onto the Purely Pomegranate cardstock.

Recipe for both: River Rock, Wild Wasabi, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper white and Soft Sky cardstock; Wild Wasabi striped ribbon; Blender Pens and classic ink pads; Basic Black classic ink

Thats all for now. Thanks for stopping by. Today is a school day for Isaac and the sun is shining! Here's hoping its here to stay!!

Doodle This

Hello all, its been awhile since I've posted. Gosh, the weeks just fly by! I've had a great month of stamping, with 3 workshops, all being alot of great fun and great ladies!

I think it was already last month that I had this card at a workshop. It's fairly straightforward. The polka dots are actually stamped on the widest (1-1/2") twill tape. I used the polka dot stamp from the Three For You punch box set. And the flowers are stamped and then cut out, layered and I added a Felt Flower and rhinestone brad to finish it off. I also lightly sponged the edges with Tempting Turquiose.

Recipe: Very Vanilla, Tempting Turquiose cardstock; Tempting Turquiose grosgrain ribbon, Twill Tape; Tempting Turquiose and Pumpkin Pie Classic ink; Felt Flowers and Rhinestone brad

Thanks for visiting.

Bundled In Love

Here's a card I designed for a workshop a while back. I was very happy with the outcome and so were the ladies that made it.

It's a pocket card. The card with the ribbon pulls out allowing you to write your greeting there. Start with an 11" x 4 1/2" piece of cardstock (8 1/2 x 11 cut in half lengthwise). Score in half and then score at the front end 1 1/2" (going by memory, this can vary). This is the front that folds over (where the designer paper is).

Insert an eyelet where you want your ribbon pull. I just used markers to colour. The Welcome Baby wit the stars is one stamp so use your markers to colour right on the stamp.

Card recipe: Mellow Moss, Confetti White, So Saffron cardstock, Bundled In love stamp set; So Saffron double sided designer paper; Moss gingham ribbon; Eyelets; Stampin' Write Markers

Thanks for stopping by.

Alicia

Happy Easter

Any plans for Easter? We had a very non traditional Easter dinner with Darren's family last night. Isaac enjoyed a little easter egg hunt with his Auntie Shannon while the rest of us pigged out on Cookies 'n Cream cheesecake - yummy!!

Tomorrow morning we're attending an Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt with a neighbour friend and others. This is our third year with Kathy and the gang. It's always so much fun. After a huge tasty brunch of waffles, quiche (the best I've ever tasted), bacon, sausage, fruit, etc we then all head outside for the Easter Egg Hunt. The kids have to follow clues to each different point in the yard where they each get a little something. Along with this there are eggs hidden all over the yard! Its loads of fun no matter what age.

Here's a card we did at one of my last workshops. Unfortunately, the girls had a bit of a problem with the glitter. Apparently, the wax from the crayons was still a bit wet when they went to add the glitter so there was glitter everywhere...I am sure the glitter would just brush off when the wax dried.

Card recipe: A Good Egg stamp set; Almost Amethyst, Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, Whisper White card stock; Almost Amethyst double sided designer paper; Apricot Appeal grosgrain ribbon; fine Cosmo glitter (green, purple); Basic Black ink; Soft Subtles crayons; Aqua painter to water colour

Have a Happy Easter!

Alicia

Zoofari Waterfall Card

This is one of my son's favorite cards! I made this at my friend Sonia's house. I have so say I get an awful lot of inspiration from her cards! I quite often get layout ideas from her - so Thanks! Sonia!!

Isaac is still fighting a terrible cold today. We thought he was feeling better so we went for a short walk to the mailboxes but this just led to a major coughing fit and a whole lot of tears so here we are - back in the house taking it easy...

Back to the card details...This type of card can be quite intimidating at first but believe me, once all the paper is cut, it goes together pretty quick.

It's called a Waterfall card because of how it cascades when you pull on the ribbon. As you pull the picture changes. And then you see the greeting 'They say it's your birthday'.

Isn't this fun! This makes a great children's b'day card. It still opens like a typical card so there's plenty of room to write inside.

Card recipe: Tempting Turquiose, Garden Green, Whisper White cardstock; East Coast Prep designer paper; white eyelets, red grosgrain ribbon

Thanks for stopping by!

Alicia

Birthday Wishes

This is one of the cards I designed for a workshop that Julie hosted on the weekend. All the girls commented on the ribbon. Notice the edges are coloured. A new little trick that was in this months Stampin' Success.

This 'colour-edged' ribbon is so easy to achieve - just take what ever colour Stampin' Write marker and run it along your White Grosgrain ribbon. Colour the back side of the ribbon - the side where there is a wee bit of a lip along the edge.

The glitter was applied with Tombow adhesive. Another way to apply the glitter would be to take your VersaMarker and 'colour' where you want the glitter to be. Then apply Heat & Stick powder, and then the glitter. This will give you the same look, just a couple more steps involved.

Card recipe: Sahara Sand (covered the front), Regal Rose, Tempting Turquiose and Whisper White cardstock; Bali Breeze double sided designer paper; Crimper; Staz-on black ink; markers to colour; Tombow and Turquiose Fine Cosmo Glitter; White Grosgrain ribbon; For A Friend (level 1 hostess set) and Just Celebrate (from Occasions Mini) stamp set

Garden Whimsy

This was a quick and straight forward card I made a few weeks ago with my cousins Cherie and Lana. This is one of the few stamp sets I don't have! There is nothing frilly or technical about this card, thats for sure. Hope you enjoy none the less...

Recipe: Ballet Blue, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock; Ballet Blue and Basic Black classic ink, Versamark; Cutie Pie designer paper; Purely Pomegranate double-stitched ribbon

Bold Brights Birthday

Here's a bright and sassy birthday card for any age! The girls at my workshop the other day really seemed to love this card. This card looks pretty straight forward and it is but my first time stampers loved it because there were a few fun products and techniques to be learnt from it. First of all we used the jumbo See You Around wheel. The wheels are great to use for card backgrounds or even making quick wrapping paper. Stampin' Up! does sell a limited selection of coloured cartridges for the jumbo wheels but if you haven't got the colour you'd like, not too worry, simply ink up your wheel using your classic ink pad. Just like that you've got 48 plus colours to choose from! An easy way to clean the wheel is to pull it off the handle and wipe clean with a baby wipe or wet paper towel.

So the second neat thing we did was colour the present from Year After Year. To get multi-coloured stamped images just use your Stampin' Write Markers. So I used the Green Galore and Lovely Lilac markers to colour the stamp. Just before you stamp it, huff on your stamp to moisten any ink thats started to dry at bit. The image should come out crisp and clear.

Once the card was completely assembled I used our new adhesive Tombow to apply the new purple Fine Cosmo Glitter. You just need the smallest dab of glue, goes on white but dries clear. Add your glitter and then tap or shake off the excess. Set aside for abit as the Tombow takes a little while to dry.

Recipe: Year After Year, See You Around wheel, Hugs and Wishes stamp sets; Green Galore, Tempting Turquiose, Lovely Lilac and Whisper White cardstock; Lovely Lilac, Green Galore markers; Tempting Turquiose ink; Fine Cosmo glitter

Build-a-Brad

I love this card, I think its the colours that I love the most about it! It's bright and cheerful, which is the opposite of the way I am feeling today...went to bed last night with the first signs of a head cold. And sure enough thats what I've got today. Blah...

I think I've shown you the build-a-brad before on an earlier post. The centre of the flower is a brad that I've built. I stamped a tiny flower from Time Well Spent in Purely Pomegranate, punched it out with the 1/2" cirlce punch and then attached it to the brad. And then added the sticky pop up clear top to finish it off. I did a bit of faux stitching along the top of the card. I love the Cutie Pie designer paper, its very colourful and cheerful!

I just realized I didn't add a salutation to this cards, oops!

Recipe: Cardstock: Ballet Blue, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Whisper White; Cutie Pie designer paper; Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon; Ink: Certainly Celery, So Saffron and Purely Pomegranate; Time Well Spent stamp set.

Thanks for looking!

Scrapbook Layout

You know, before I began stamping I scrapbooked all the time, never seemed to be at a loss for ideas, I just went for it! Now, the stamping cards comes alot easier than the scrapbooking. Must be out of practice. After many hours of playing around this is a layout I came up with. I'm happy with it but of course it would look better if it had photos in it. I used the Time Well Spent stamp set (hostess level 3 set). I know you can't tell by the photo but I've stamped a tiny little flower all over the Purely Pomegranate cardstock to create a background. The photos will be mounted on River Rock and the letters are from the Big Deal Alphabet. The butterflies have purple glitter on their wings and I did some faux stitching behind each of them to make it look like a little flying swirly. The Whisper White cardstock was crumpled up a bit to make it look like a 'note' from a friend. This is where you can do your journaling. Notice I used the spiral punch also on this 'note'.

Thanks for looking, hope the sun is shining where you are today!

Layout Challenge

I've had this cute All in the Family set for awhile now but haven't used it much. This is a card that I came up with for our bi-monthly demonstrator challenges. I got a bit mixed up because this card falls into 2 different challenges, 1 challenge being the layout itself, the other challenge being - create masculine cards. So, which challenge will I enter it in...?

Recipe: Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard cardstock; All in the Family and Accessories, Everyday Flexible Phrases stamp sets; Taken with Teal, Basic Black classic ink; Spiral punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches; stampin' dimensionals

Ok, this one definitely qualifies for the layout challenge. I used a few new accessories on this card and I'm happy with the outcome. The little black flower and swirly, along with the 'funky, fresh and fun', are rub-ons! Aren't they cute! Rub-ons are new for Stampin' Up! and work on many different surfaces; glass, paper, candles, etc.

Recipe: Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White cardstock; Bali Breeze designer series paper; Flower Fusion (felt flowers); black brads; Eastern Elegance rub-ons; Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black classic ink

Here's one more to question, masculine or layout challenge? Ya, obviously I was a bit confused when I made these cards! None the less they turned out alright.

Recipe: Prink Pattern background and Loads of Love and Accessories stamp set; Stampin' Write markers; Buttons; Small and large oval punches; Brocade Blue, Basic Black classic ink and blender pen; Wasabi Green, Pumpkin Pie, Brocade Blue, Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock

Have a great day, thanks for looking.

Valentine's Class

Well, last night, I welcomed three friends over to take part in the Valentine's Card class that I was offering. We made 4 Valentines projects, 2 of which included the super cute Happy Heart Day stamp set.

I enjoyed making this card because it included a bit of extra colouring - I love colouring!! To colour the elephant I used my watercolour pencil crayons and the aquapainter to blend the colour. As for the flowers and stems I just used the Stampin' Write markers.

Recipe: Real Red, Basic Grey, Whisper White cardstock; wide Real Red grosgrain ribbon; small and large tag punches; Green Galore, Real Red Stampin' Write markers; Blender pen; Basic Grey classic ink; Hemp twine

Wouldn't you love to receive this cute little goodie for Valentines Day? This was another project the class made last night. This is called a 'sour cream container'. I remember these as a kid, growing up a block from the US, this is what your sour cream came in in restaurants.

Well, we've re-created it but filled it with yummy candies instead of sour cream! This is simply a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" piece of designer paper rolled up as a tube and then sticking the ends together in opposite directions. Super easy!

My son, Isaac, helped me make a bunch more of these today for his teachers and family members! Isaac also decided, all on his own, that he wanted to also include Mrs. Carin, the teacher of the 4 yr old program. He absolutely can not wait to go 'downstairs' to be a part of the '4's'. I wasn't suprised in the least, Isaac always wants to include others in all that he does.

Thanks for looking.

Bold Brights and Baby wipes

I used the baby wipe technique to make my background. It's simple. You'll need glossy (photo) paper, 2 or 3 different colour re-inkers and a tray or a pie plate.


On the tray or pie plate lay out your baby wipe and then squeeze a drop or two of the desired colours onto the baby wipe. The wipe will absorb the colours. Taking the baby wipe now just swipe it over the length of your glossy paper. I swiped it twice to cover my entire piece of paper starting with the orange again. I then stamped my main image using Black Staz-on.


Card recipe: A Beautiful Thing stamp set; Tempting turquoise, Only Orange and Real Red cardstock; glossy paper; Real Red grosgrain ribbon and Staz-on ink.

I don't know why but whenever I think of working with this new stamp set, I automatically go straight for the Bold Brights! And bold it is!

This stamp set 'Time Well Spent' is alot of fun to work with. Lots of colouring, which I love!

The bold background was a bit of an experiment but I liked how it turned out. I had just finished the above card with the babywipe but wasn't ready to throw it away yet. It still had a bit of ink on it, so I cut another piece of glossy paper and just started dabbing the inked babywipe all over. It kind of reminds me of what you might see looking through a kalediscope - a whole lot of colour!!

Card recipe: Time Well Spent stamp set; Tempting Turquoise, Only Orange, Whisper White and glossy card stock; Real Red, Only Orange and Tempting Turquoice stampin' write markers; and a silver brad for centre of flower.

Thanks for looking!

This card that I designed features new designer paper and a new stamp set. The designer paper is called Bali Breeze - it is so pretty and full of vibrant colour!

The stamp set featured here is called Embrace Life. It's a very pretty and elegant new stamp set.

I've also used a large brad that I've created myself using our 'build-a-brad' kit. This kit includes large (1/4") circlular brads and then clear raised dot to finish it off. So what I did for this brad is used my 1/4" cirlce punch to punch out a coordinating blossom from the designer paper used as the background, placed it on the brad and then added to top, and there you have it! The side panel of the card was created with White Staz-on on the Blue Bayou cardstock with another pretty stamp from the same set.

Card Recipe: Groovy Guava, Blue Bayou, Whisper White, and River Rock cardstock, Bali Breeze designer paper; Basic Black and River Rock classic ink; Groovy Guava classic ink applied with a blender pen.

Enjoy

My baby turns 4!

I know we all grow older but I just can't believe that Isaac is now 4 years old! I still clearly remember celebrating his first b'day, where he slept through part of his party and then when we sang Happy Birthday he began to scream and cry because he was always so sensitive to noise. And for his second b'day we rented a bouncy castle for a bunch of 2 year olds, what were we thinking! They enjoyed it but I know now that we could've waited a few years to have such a grand (and expensive) party!! That was our first year for Thomas the Train too. Then came his 3rd b'day. More Thomas the Train and fun play at the community hall. It was simple and the kids had a blast! So thats exactly what we did again this year - just played at the hall. The children are just as excited to see one another and thrilled to just run around and be crazy for an hour or so. We went with the Construction theme this year. Not much has changed as far as his interests in the past 3 years - trucks trucks trucks (and trains)!!

Here's my attempt at Isaac's construction cake. Looks a bit messy, I know. I layered a chocolate cake and then made a 'jobsite' on top using Isaac's little machines and Oreo cookies.

I realized that I really really want to take a cake decorating class. I don't remember much of anything from highschool, back when I was not so bad at this sort of thing...

No matter that he's 4, he's still my little man!

New Year, New Catalogue

Happy New Year friends! The months of November and December were so incredibly busy that it was finally nice to take a break from everything over Christmas. However, now, its been hard to get back into it all again!


Well, we demonstrators received our new Spring/Summer catalogue just the week before Christmas so we had lots to be excited about. I've spent the day stamping with a few new stamp sets! There are lots of new things to look forward to seeing; very pretty designer papers with names like Ginger Blossoms and Bali Breeze, new stamp sets of course, and many new accessories including 'rub-ons'.

My upcoming classes and workshops will include all new products and accessories so keep in touch and watch for my class schedule.



Alicia