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« November 2008 | Main | January 2009 »
Here are just a few samples of some of the lovely Christmas cards I received this year. Thank you so much to all who thought of me and took the time to send me a holiday greeting! It's the people in my world that make my life so good!!
The artists here are Karen Rogers, June Abbott, and Hannah Pham.
I have to confess my dearest and long-timest (hate to say "oldest") friend, Melinda, sent these for my girls . . . a long time ago! It took me shoveling out my craft closet to find them again. And bonus! Perfect stocking stuffers.
Aren't they adorable?! Pefect for three little girls who love to doll themselves up. She's a clever lady, that Melinda. She made up this little project, too. Now maybe if we all write to her, she might come and visit-teach us. She's timid of airplanes, so she'll need lot of encouragment.
The stamps used here are Stampin' Up! stamps, but from a retired set. the colours are from the Bold Brights collection.
In giant size!! This turned out very cool! I wanted to give my dad this really really yummy vanilla hot chocolate (order here), and thought a giant bag in a box was the perfect presentation.
The papers are the Wanted series and the stamps are from the Wanted stamp set. And, imagine this, they work really well together.
Now, the really perceptive people out there might wonder where I got the circle to go under the scallop punch. Take a close look - it's two tabs from the round tab punch layered on top of each other to make a perfect circle!
Colours are Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Really Rust, and Very Vanilla. Contact me to order your sets today!
I had a lot of fun making these! This year my eldest daughter and I combined efforts and made coaster boxes and gift bags for the Stampin Up demonstrators on my team and for a few friends. Madeleine did most of the colouring, employing the waterbrush and markers on the boxes. Tip: When you use watercolour paper, you can add colour with the markers and then spread the colour with the watercolour brush to acheive the painted look. It's quite time-effective and easy enough for even a ten
year old to master.
The bags were coloured using the ink pads and a blender pen, again another easy technique to create an image that matches the project perfectly!
The stamp set here is a new one from the Summer Mini Catalogue called Time for You for $39.95. A matching wheel is also available.
The papers are the three new collections from the Summer Mini Catalogue - Bali Breeze, Ginger Blossom, and Afternoon Tea. I love them! Which is your favouorite? Mine, at the moment, is Ginger Blossom.
I filled each box or bag with bits and pieces; chocolates, special project things from the usa, ink pads, ribbons, and the like. It made for a very colourful display! My three girls were begging to have one! So I let them make their own that afternoon, which they then filled with chocolates and gave to their Sunday School Teachers.
This was my small token of appreciation to my team. Thank you for all your hard work, your patience, your friendship to each other, and thank you for being part of my life. Merry Christmas to everyone!
This is a photo sent to me by one of my stamp club member, Victoria. I thought it was a beautiful shot of her tree and what she did with our stamp club ornaments!
How gorgeous would it be to have a tree full of those angels and some twinkling lights . . .
And below is a picture of what the same lovely lady gave to me for Christmas. She spoils me! Right after I took this picture, the girls and I ate up all the
homemade cookies inside!
Thanks for sharing, Victoria; I always love to see what people come up with!
This is a beautiful Christmas card sent to me by my good friend, Nadine. Isn't she talented?
The base of this card is done with an acetate sheet, which are widely available. They are a bit difficult to get folded flat, but a good bone scorer will do the job nicely.
The only thing tricky about these is you have to be a bit sneaky about where you hide your adhesive . . but it's a project sure to get a wow from your friends!
Thanks, Nadine!
2009 will be an outstanding stamping year! I have quite a number of things brewing already. How would you like to be involved?
Please see both my calendar and my 2009 Class Options and Fees page for more informations. The Options and Fees page is just a sampler; I can be flexible to suit your purposes.
See you soon!
The papers featured here actually are available; they were just mistakenly left out of the catalogue! They are called Spring Flowers and there is a Bashful Blue version called Spring Showers available as well.
The S is a covered chipboard letter that has also been stamped with the stamp set that coordinates with these papers, Looks Like Spring. And of course, we can't forget the punch that goes with the set as well, Spring Bouquet, which is where all the little flowers come from.
I love this new set in the Summer Mini Catalogue! And I have SO Many baby photos . . .
But I was thinking this particular stamp would also be great to make a little album for a new mum or a set of thank you cards. Fun and cheery!
I've also used our new Felt Flowers here. What do you think of them? Nice way to add some new texture. The little onsie heart has some of the pink Chunky Glitter on it. Wow, did my girls love that! Sofie asked me if I would put some in her hair like a real fairy.
Colours used are Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, and Whisper White.
What a great page! Made by my team member and friend, Denise.
I love the colour combination and the fun use of various star images and sets. She's used a wheel that is traditionally a Christmas wheel, but used in purple, it becomes quite apprpriate on this non-holiday page.
Such clever ladies out there!
I was so excited about this colour combination - I love combining colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel. I'm sure there's a name for that. Analagous?
I had several ideas for this one and couldn't wait to get started, but nothing came together like I envisioned. So I've ended up with something totally different. That's okay - the other ideas will work with another colour scheme and on another day.
The first element I thought of with these colours was hydrangeas - my most favourite flower ever. I pulled out this gorgeous pictures of my youngest daughter and added pastels (chalks) to highlight the hydrangeas in her hand. (I believe those hydrangeas were actually pale green, but with the magic of tinting your photos, they can be any colour you want!). If you already own the Stampin Up pastels, here's another fantastic use for them. If not, then put them on your wish list for January because there's a big sale coming . . .
These papers are from the one and only scrapbook show I've attended in the states. I took a class taught by the designer and just loved these. My friend, Melinda, who went with me, thought they were awful, so I ended up with her lot as well. She's got two boys anyway, so just as well.
I've used bits from the Pretties Kit here, the half back pearls on the corners and in the flowers specifically. These flowers are technically prima flowers, but the hydrangeas from the pretties kit can easily be dyed to match the plum and blues of this theme.
The only stamping I've done is at the bottom and came out a bit more pale than I wanted. The word grace is from a beatiful set called Graceful Words, one that is retired and I am never parting with mine. You'll have to come over and borrow it then.
Questions? Feel free to contact me any time!
This was a neat project sniffed out and sent to me by the lovely Jane. The possibilities are endless with this one! I very much like the idea of attaching this to a card and letting the recipent remove for an ornament/gift in one.
Change the colours around to make poinsettas, stars & flowers. Add metallic embossing and more layers for an even more stunning look.
So this star is made using the two tag punches and vellum. You can use either paper vellum or cardstock vellum and stamp it or not, as you choose. I did stamp mine with En Francais in River Rock, but it's not showing very well in the photo. Again this is such an easy, quick project, it's perfect for children. For complete directions,email me.
This is a photo sent to me by one of my stamp club member, Victoria. I thought it was a beautiful shot of her tree and what she did with our stamp club ornaments!
How gorgeous would it be to have a tree full of those angels and some twinkling lights . . .
And below is a picture of what the same lovely lady gave to me for Christmas. She spoils me! Right after I took this picture, the girls and I ate up all the
homemade cookies inside!
Thanks for sharing, Victoria; I always love to see what people come up with!
I really enjoyed this little project and intend to let me three daughters make more of these. How gorgeous would that be to have a tree covered in pastel-coloured angels?!
These beautiful creatures are made with the stamp set Fabulous Flowers, and this project was created by Lorraine in New Jersey. Her complete tutorial can be found here. If you do a bit of search on her site, you can also find a similar project, but made into a tree rather than an angel. Both very clever and super cute. I just love to find ways to use my images and tools in "extra" ways!
The beads are from the Pretties Kit; you need both a large and a small pearl. The cord is just some extra I had here - Order this set and mention this post, and I'll throw in a few metres of the cord for FREE.
This is another design done up at Jacqui Mitchell's stamp camp using the hostess set, Oh So Lovely. That stamp set is not available for purchase; you must be a hostess to get one. And when you hostess a workshop or organize a class for your friends, you get all kind of free goodies! And if hostessing is not your thing, ask me how you can get one for FREE without having a workshop!
We stamped the poppy in Basic Black on Whisper White card and then coloured the beauty in with blender pens and using our ink pads for a colour medium. No embossing needed as the Basic Black ink is waterproof! How easy is that?!
I will be offering some classes early next year featuring some colouring techniques - keep an eye on my calendar for those!
I normally do not have the time to participate in challenges, but today I did! I am stuck at home for three days, and this was just the perfect thing. I REALLY enjoyed this; scrapbooking just for fun is extremely soothing, as you can see by the therapy all over the table:
I challenged myself to do a scrapbook page because this is an area of non-expertise for me. What do you think?
The challenge was to use Taken with Teal, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, and Whisper White.
That sounded like a Bali Breeze page to me!
I've also used the new scallop punch - which is a real time-saver! The stamps are from the set called Eastern Blossoms, a new one from the Summer Mini Catalogue. I achieved the multi-coloured image by using markers rather than the ink pads.
The flower in the Aged Copper Hodge Podge frame is also done with markers. I've distressed a few of the edges and used our fantastic Textured card, but for the most part left the page with clean lines. Which was hard for me using Chocolate Chip to not age it a bit . . .
I've also added Crystal Effects to the flower centers just for a little oomph but without the distraction of glitter for this one.
Designed by Jacqui Mitchell! I taught this class by the seat of my pants, working it out as we went along! I decided I should not have cropped the photo so closely so you couldn't see all the mistakes . . .
But I do like her clean design here and the rich colour combination. But what I really loved was her idea of stamping on the Certainly Celery printed paper! The Thank You stamp from Lovely Labels . . is stamped in Old Olive on the paisley printed Certainly Celery papers. You can just see the paisleys peeking through the image. It's a cool look; I don't think to stamp on printed paper, but I like!
Another spinner card! To see the first on, scroll down.
This is one that brings back memories from when I was a beginning stamper and an enthusiastic customer when I lived in Seattle! I made this card at a class my demonstrator put on one year.
Loads of Love was the #1 selling stamp set in New Zealand last year (if memory serves). It's adorable and fits most any occasion. And there are so many different ways to colour in . . .
I just had a brainstorm. Send me your favourite ways to colour in, I will compile a list, and add a page on the blog. You can embellish and add why you like it, etc if you wish; I'll be sure to give credit, of course. Look forward to hearing from you!
This is another case from the net from an unknown source. I love how this design showcases two lovely background stamps - Fine Lace on the Old Olive and Paisley stamped in Ruby Red.
The greenery image from Peaceful Wishes is stamped using the markers rather than traditional ink pads. Using the side of the brush tip, colour the green parts of the image in Certainly Celery. Then colour in the berries with the Ruby Red marker. Breathe on the stamp (huffing) to rewet the ink and then stamp! This is also the way to omit certain parts of a stamp if you wish (by not colouring them in) when you stamp.
