anyone need a shave?

I love playing with stamps and inks, and one of my favorite techniques involves reinkers and shaving cream. You need a lid of some sort that is rather large, or a powder pal from Stampin' Up! (the large one works best). Use shaving cream (the foamy kind, not the gel kind) and fill it up, then level it out with a stick of some sort (I use a long lollipop stick). Then drop several drops of reinker color in a random pattern over the shaving cream, repeat with at least 2 more colors. Then using the same stick lightly swirl all the colors around, being careful not to muddy the colors. Then take your paper and set it into the shaving cream, making sure to press down the whole paper, so you get good coverage. Then carefully lift it up, if you pull it sideways you get a different look than if you pull it straight up. You also get very different looks if you use 3 different colors as opposed to 3 different shades of the same color. I chose to use 3 different colors for this one, but I will show you tomorrow what 3 different shades of the same color looks like. It also looks really different if you use a lot of drops or just a few of each color.


Stamps: Fast and Fabulous, Occasional Quotes
Inks: Almost Amethyst, Daffodil Delight, Certainly Celery
Papers: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight
Misc: Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, 1/8" Basic Black Taffeta Ribbon, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Dimensionals,

chugging along

A while ago my son went to a birthday party for one of his best friends, and James loves trains, so I figured it would be a perfect time to play with one of my favorite kid sets, choo choo. I also love using a ton of color on kids cards, so I decided to use as much as I could.




Stamps: Choo Choo, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Right On Track Wheel
Inks: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Perfect Plum, Basic Black
Papers: Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Real Red, Various DSP
Misc: Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Wheel Guide, 1/2" Circle Punch

a dashing good time....

We have already done the first round of Christmas Stamp-A-Stacks, and this was one of the cards we made that night. We make 4 cards, 3 of each of them for a total of 12 cards. I love the Dasher stamp, and wanted to try something a little different, so we used the Champagne Shimmer Paint to ink it up. It is hard to see in the photo, but it is soooo shimmery and pretty.



I am hoping you can see the shimmer better in this picture.
Stamps: Dasher, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Cherry Cobbler, Champagne Shimmer Paint
Papers: Jolly Holiday DSP, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Misc: Champagne Shimmer Paint, Scallop Trim Border Punch, 5/8" Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Dimensionals

I hope you all are having a great weekend, I am keeping this short so I can go outside and enjoy the wonderfully warm weather before it is gone.

Happy Birthday

This is a card I received a while back in a swap, and I LOVE IT!! I love this set, it makes such great cards. I just had to case it when one of my nieces turned 14. I hope you like it.
Stamps: Extreme Guitar, Extreme Elements
Inks: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive
Papers: Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White
Misc: Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

This is a short post since I am dead tired. I was traveling this weekend and only got home a little while ago.

beautiful butterflies

I think you all know by now that I love butterflies, and I love adding them to almost all of my projects. Stampin' Up! made that even easier for me to do when they made the Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die for the Big Shot. I love this die, it embosses and cuts out 6 butterflies in a matter of seconds. This was a card we did in my last class distressing, and while the card looks pretty without the butterflies, it looks great with them added on. I don't actually have my card to show you today, I ended up giving it to my mom to use, so I borrowed one she still had left over from class to take pictures of. Sadly I had a migraine that day and didn't realize how washed out the butterflies were until just now.



Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Perfect Plum
Paper: Going Gray (retired), Whisper White, Perfect Plum DSP
Misc: Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Movers and Shapers Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Manhattan Flower Folder, Sanding Block, Stampin Dimensionals

I am in the process of editing a video for you all, but unfortunately my regular editing program is not working right. It keeps adding video effects and skipping actual video and muting things. I am now trying to find another editing program to use, and I hope to have this sorted out by the end of the day tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Parisian birthday

I know when I was 18 the idea of going to Paris was like a dream come true, so I tried to use that as the theme for this 18th birthday card for another niece. The paper used is Parisian Breeze DSP that is retired, but perfect for this card. I also don't normally sew on my cards, but I thought it kind of needed that extra touch. I chalked the edges of the 5 petal flowers with white craft ink, and layered a baja breeze button on the chocolate chip one.


Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Whisper White Craft, Baja Breeze
Papers: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Parisian Breeze DSP (retired)
Misc: Corduroy Buttons (retired), Organza Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Sponges, Sewing, 5 petal punch, Scallop Circle #2 Bigz Die

I had a lot of fun teaching classes this past weekend and I will start showing you those cards tomorrow. We have had lots of busy days here, and hopefully I can start planning some more classes and club meetings. I have several planned for September, but am needing to get the dates set for October and November. If you are interested in coming to some classes or joining one of my clubs let me know, they are filling up fast.

mmmm cake......

I love cake but I really love making cakes, usually real cakes, but this card was sooo much fun to do. I have a couple nieces birthdays coming up so I was making birthday cards last week for them. I try really hard to make fun and special ones for the family that we don't see very often. I cased this one from Marie on SCS. I didn't have the stamps she used, but MDS does so I printed them out on whisper white cardstock and used dimensionals to add them to the card. I love MDS and love all the options it open up for me in my scrapbooking and card making.





Stamps: Party Hearty
Inks: Rose Red, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Whisper White, SAB DSP, Tempting Turquoise
Misc: Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Tag Punch, Large Tag Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch, MDS, 1/4" Daffodil Delight Grosgrain Ribbon

Simple Butterfly

I LOVE my Brayer!! I really do, it is so easy to make quick and easy cards. This one is probably the fastest yet. It takes less than 5 minutes to do the whole card, and yet it looks like it took longer. This is another card from my Brayer Basics class, the first and easiest. If you are in the Calgary area and want to take this class, email me and I'll add you to my class mailing list.

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Almost Amethyst (retired)
Papers: Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Sage Shadow (retired)
Misc: Organza Ribbon, Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Elegant Bouquet Impressions Folder, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch

I love weddings

My hubby's cousin got married last week and this is the card I made for them.


Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, En Francais
Inks: Marina Mist, Perfect Plum, Frost White Shimmer Paint
Paper: Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Perfect Plum DSP, Marina Mist
Misc: Rhinestone Brads, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Scallop Trim Punch, 5/8" Organza Ribbon

That's all for me today.... I am feeling very under the weather and to top it off I have a migraine, so I am off to bed.

Butterfly Anniversary

This post is going to be quick... I am posting while we found some free internet on our way to a family reunion this weekend.

I made this card for my sister in law and her hubby. they celebrated their 15th anniversary a little while ago, and I wanted to make sure they got it before I posted it.


Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Inks: Perfect Plum
Paper: Perfect Plum DSP (retired) Whisper White, Perfect Plum, Sahara Sand
Misc: Beautiful Wings Embosslits Die, Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Scallop Edge Punch

finally....

I have finally got back to a bit of scrapbooking. I have been having the hardest time getting any LO's done. I know what I want to do, but I can not seem to actually translate that to paper. Because of this I have been scrapbooking out of order for the first time ever. This is the very first page (title page if you will) for my son's first year album. I sketched the design about a year ago, set it aside and finally came back to it.

Want to know the best part? I really wanted to use the nursery necessities stamp set, but I do not own it. Then I remembered that MDS has it in it, so I 'stamped' up a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 'card' in the colors I wanted, and then printed it out at home, and Voila! now I have those stamps to use. The pictures are terrible, but I guess that is what I get for taking pictures at 3:45 am.


Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Inks: Perfect Plum, Baja Breeze, Marina Mist, Chocolate Chip
Papers: Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Parisian Breeze DSP (retired)
Misc: 1" Circle Punch, Square Punch, Star Punch, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, MDS, Cricut

This LO still isn't perfect, but it's almost there. I will probably end up tweaking it some, but for now it is in the album.

I am off to bed, since I have to get up soon and go to a wedding.

A Bit Late...

I am very late posting these cards. I made them for Fathers Day and we did give them to John on Fathers Day, but he took them and put them up on his desk right away and I forgot to take pictures of them before I gave them to him. I will post the other fathers day card tomorrow. This one is from my son, and the inside uses the stamp that says: He who has the most tools wins and we wrote underneath Father of the Year!, and my hubby def has a ton of tools.




Stamps: Totally Tool, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Woodgrain Background
Inks: Basic Gray, Whisper White Craft, Brilliant Blue, Green Galore, Close To Cocoa
Papers: Chocolate Chip, Brilliant Blue, Close To Cocoa, Whisper White
Misc: Linen Thread, Silver Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals, Aqua Pen, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Wire Clip from Clips Assortment

I also want to thank my friend Terrina over at Bootybella Designs for letting me use her Woodgrain Stamp since mine did not get here in time. Thanks again sweetie.

I better get off here before it rains, since I have to take the dog for a run.

Another PPA 37 challenge card

So I am not sure if I can enter more than 1 card into the Pals Paper Arts challenge, but I had so much fun making the last one, that I decided to do another. I had seen a card quite similar to this on the Stampin' Up! boards at Regionals or Conference or something and I loved it so I sketched it out and tried it today.

I also tried a few other things I have never done before. I took my Rich Razzleberry Marker and colored in the White 1/4" Grosgrain ribbon, and I took this picture while it was still wet, so it looks a lot darker than it is. I also took a sponge dauber to the edges of the flower to sort of simulate the rocker technique. And lastly, while I had done it before, I figured I should mention it anyways. For the little flowers I stamped the first one and then without re-inking it I stamped it again. for the 3rd flower I only slightly colored the stamp and then lightly pressed it to the paper, so I would have 3 levels of color. Then I sprayed the whole card with Platinum Shimmer Paint that I mixed up into a spray bottle, to make shimmer spray.



Stamps: For all you do
Ink: Basic Gray, More Mustard, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Garden Green.
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla, Basic Gray
Misc: Platinum Shimmer Paint, Word Window Punch, 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon, Sponge Daubers, Elegant Bouquet Textured Impressions Folder, Stampin Dimensionals

Crushed Curry is one of the colors on the farewell list, so if you like it, you might want to stock up on it.

Until next time, Happy Scrappin'

all that glitters.....PPA37 challenge

I love glitter! I know it is messier than other things you can add to cards but it is also so much nicer that it is worth the mess. Unfortunately it does not photograph well.... I tried and tried to get a good picture that shows just how glittery this card is, but it looks so much prettier in real life. I was sitting down on thursday afternoon trying to figure out the last card for my stampers group (yes I know I should have had it done by monday, but.... oh well) and I was perusing blogs and came across Paper Pals Arts and their challenge for a flower card. I looked at my sticky cuts, since I knew I wanted to glitter something and I saw these flowers and figured they would be great! I have never actually participated in their challenges before, I normally just get color ideas or sketch ideas, but since I needed to make a card today anyways, I figured why not do this challenge.



Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Almost Amethyst
Paper: Whisper White, Almost Amethyst, Elegant Eggplant, SAB paper
Mics: Fine Cosmo Glitter, Sticky Cuts Sweet, Stampin Dimensionals

I just had to use my Almost Amethyst paper. It is one of my favorites and I am sad to see that it will be leaving the color collection come July, but I will be stocking up on it before it leaves. If there are any cardstock colors you just love, I would highly recommend you do the same and stock up on them. If you live in Canada I would love to help you with any orders or questions, and if you live in the US and need a demo please visit my friend Diana's wonderful blog (http://dianagibbs.typepad.com/stampin_with_di/) and contact her. She is an amazing demo and can definitely help you out. I wouldn't wait either if I were you, because soon it will be while supplies last and you don't want to miss out on your favorites just because you waited an extra day.

Until next time, Happy Scrappin'