Shake It Up!

I love to make Shaker Cards, but they're a bit of work, so I don't make them too often!  Well, Stampin' Up! to the rescue!  In the Holiday Mini you will find a new product called Shaker Frames.  They are foam circles that are sticky on each side to make Shaker Cards super easy!  In each pack of Shaker Frames you get 6 sets of circles and each set has 6 circles in it...that's 36 for just over $6!

This month, my clubs made some shaker cards with these new Shaker Frames as well as the new Mica Flakes (so fun...but only if you don't sneeze, cough or sigh when the Mica Flakes are open!).

I just love that little fat snowman...and the fact that his belly is the shaker part of the card makes me want to just shake him up!!!!!  If you look close you will see that his snowball and his face are sparkly too.  I used the new Dazzling Details to achieve that look.  This card sparkles, shimmers and shakes and is SO fun!!!

Have an inspired day!

St. Croix

A couple years ago I earned the Stampin' Up! incentive trip to the Southern Caribbean.  It was the first cruise Kevin and I had ever been on and it was a great experience!  We were pampered by both Stampin' Up! and Royal Caribbean for a whole week...it was heaven, and hard to come back home!  I took loads of pictures, notes and saved lots of little stuff from the trip for a scrapbook.  I have slowly (emphasis on slowly!) been scrapping the pictures and momentos from that trip and today I'm going to share one of the layouts.  This layout was from Day Seven on our trip...the day we visited St. Criox.

At each island we visited, I wrote where we were in the sand on a beach.  I also took a picture of the licence plates on each island, some of the flowers as well as the architecture and what the streets look like!

To give  my album some continuity, I chose a pack of DSP (I think it was called Island Floral..maybe?) and have been pulling my colors out of that pack of DSP for each page.  I can't wait to have my album finished...my goal is to complete it before Christmas because come spring I will have a new incentive trip to scrapbook!!!

Have an inspired day!

Winter Wishes Stamp-A-Stack

Join me on December 12 for a fun Stamp-A-Stack using the new Winter Wishes stitched felt accents.  Each person will received a pack of the Winter Wishes felt accents to use on their cards.  We will complete 16 cards (4 of each of 4 designs).  Cost is $30.

If you're interested in joining me for this class please RSVP (with your fee) by December 2.

Have an inspired day!

Iris Ornament

Hi!  I'm going to start by saying Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!  Today I'm going to share one of the cards my clubs did this month.  Each month my clubs learn a technique and this month it was the Iris Folding technique.

My inspiration for this card was a card I saw on Stampin' Connection which is an online group like Facebook, but for Stampin' Up! Demonstrators only.  I didn't save the picture and I can't remember who made the one that inspired me...so if it was you, thanks!

We started by punching an ornament out of a piece of Old Olive cardstock and then used the Letters to Santa DSP to do the Iris Folding technique to give the ornament some pizzazz!  I stamped the swirl from Baroque Motifs to make a branch and "hung" the ornament with some Whisper White Bakers Twine.  To finish it off, I added a sweet little bow made from Whisper White Taffeta ribbon.

For the next little while, my posts are going to be short and sweet.  Let me explain!  For the last year and a half my left wrist has been hurting on and off.  Fast forward to this week...Monday it was really sore and I noticed that a rather large lump has formed on the side of it.  It hurts up my thumb and some days all the way down my arm to my elbow.  Typing really hurts right now.  Thankfully it's my left writs and I'm right-handed!  Long story short, next week I have an appointment to get it checked out and I'm hoping for the best.  I do have some posts scheduled to publish over the next week, so you will have some fun stuff to look at!

Have an inspired day!

Simple Merry Christmas

Have you started on your Christmas cards yet?  Today I have another quick and simple card that will definitely inspire you to get your Christmas cards started!

I truly believe that Stampin' Up! has some of the most gorgeous Designer Papers.  They are so gorgeous that they can easily be the focal point of a card, which makes your card quick and easy to mass produce.  Let me show you what I mean...

The Designer Paper on this card is from the Letters to Santa set which you can find in the Idea Book & Catalog.  This fantastic sentiment is from the Delightful Dozen set...a new one in the catalog this year that you're going to want to check out for sure!

Something hard and something soft completes a card!  In keeping with that "rule", I added some silver brads and some of the yummy Early Espresso quilted ribbon (which you can find in the Holiday Mini...and you're definitely going to want to order a roll or two!).

This card may look familiar to you!  I did one with the same layout using the Spice Cake Designer Paper at my World Card Day event.  You can see it here.

Have an inspired day!

Peek-A-Boo!

Time to dust off your Movers & Shapers dies people!  The Movers & Shapers dies are so fun to use and you can get some fantastic results from them.  And, most of the shapes that you punch out with this die have coordinating punches.  The piece punched from the die is a touch bigger than the punched shape, so they layer perfectly!

I was inspired by a card that Tara in my downline did for our last big group swap.  Her card was a Thanksgiving card, and I changed it up to be a Christmas card.

I used the Frostwood Lodge DSP (from the Holiday Mini) and took my color palatte from there.  The base of my card is Garden Green, accented with Cherry Cobbler and Whisper White.  I put a piece of Whisper White cardstock on the inside of my card and stamped the ornament (from the Delightful Decorations set) through the ornament shaped hole which I made with the Movers & Shapers die.  There's a rhinestone in the middle of the ornament and on the inside of the card I drew a line from the ornament up to the top of the card so it looks like the ornament is hanging in the card!

The Frostwood Lodge DSP is all plaids and wood grains and is so warm and cozy feeling!  Check out all the designs in this set of DSP here.  And, for all you digital fans out there, this set of DSP is available as a digital download!  You can find it here.

Have an inspired day!

Simple Stocking

I've said it before and I'm gonna say it again today...I *heart* the Notecards with Envelopes!  They are perfect for quick cards and today I have a fun and quick Christmas card to share with you!

This was one of my make & takes for my workshops in October!  The workshop guests started by stamping a stocking with Cherry Cobbler ink on Whisper White cardstock.  Then they got to punch it out with the coordinating Stocking Punch...love that punch!  The stocking is put on an Old Olive layer which was embossed with the snowflake embossing folder.  It's layered on a piece of Whisper White and then on a layer of Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  The finishing touches are a little loop of Old Olive Scallop Dot Ribbon and a Rhinestone on the stocking (in the middle of the snowflake).  That Merry Christmas sentiment is from the Petite Pairs set...another favorite product of mine!

Have an inspired day!

A First Birthday

We have celebrated 3 first birthdays in our family complete with some special traditions.  Today I'm going to share the layout I recently did for Carter's first birthday.  He's 7 now...yikes!

Carter's first birthday was a kite theme and I made him a fun kite cake as well as his own little kite cake to smash, get messy and eat all by himself!  Each of our boys had a smash up cake for their first birthdays and it was so fun watching all of their reactions to their own cake. 

I took my colors from his cake...Pacific Point, Real Red and Old Olive.  I have no plans for a title for this page or any journaling because I think the pictures pretty much tell the story.  I do think there's something missing on the left page right where my watermark is.  I think it needs something red, but I'm not sure what yet!  What do you think?

Well, that's all for today.  Have an inspired day!

Triangles

As promised, today I have the second project from my die class to share.  Remember, I featured the Petite Pockets die.  The second project is a triangle box, made by attaching 3 of the Petite Pockets together.

The box was made from Soft Suede cardstock, which was stamped with an image from the Delicate Doilies set.   The belly band is a piece of Pool Party cardstock that I crimped and then there's a piece of Spice Cake fabric, tied through a Spice Cake Button, wrapped around it.

Here's how it opens...

There's quite a bit of space in this little box and you could definitely fit all kinds of fun little gifts inside this box.

Have an inspired day!

It's Petite!

One of the new dies this year is the Petite Pocket die...and I love it!  Tonight I had my To Die For class and the Petite Pocket was the featured die.  Check it out...

We used Lucky Limeade and the Letters to Santa DSP.  See how the little flap is embossed?  That was done with the Petals a Plenty embossing folder...just to give the flap a little something extra.  The little circles are attached with Whisper White brads and the flap gets secured shut with a piece of Early Espresso Baker's Twine.  It's finished off with a cute little tag!

I found that a gift card just fits into this pocket and a tea bag also fits nicely.  Of course, money would also fit and you might be able to get some smaller jewellery in it.  It's a fun die to play with and tomorrow I will show you the other project we did at the class!

Have an inspired day!

FREE Digital Downloads

"Capture, design & share your life events."

Today is the first day of all kinds of crazy digital fun brought to you by Stampin' Up!...join us on mydigitalstudio.net and get your FREE downloads!!!

Come on over and check it out!  And, here is a fun card made with two of the free downloads you can get...

I did one of my favorite tricks with this card.  My background is Pear Pizzazz and the flowers stamped on it are Old Olive.  To make it look like I stamped them with Versamark, I changed the opacity of the flowers to about 50%.  The two free digital downloads I used on this card are the So Typefelt Stamp Brush set and the Neutral Delightful Digital Tape.

Head on over to mydigitalstudio.net and vote for your favorite entries into the digital contest, get your free downloads and check out all the inspiration!

Have an inspired day!

Poppies

What a crazy week I've had...lots of family time with Kevin coming home after 2 weeks of being in Ottawa, sick kids, last minute Halloween prep and lots more so my blog got pushed to the bottom of my priority list!  But things have calmed a bit and I'm back.

It's November which means it's time to get a poppy and remember the sacrifices made for the life we enjoy today.  Now, I know that the poppies are sold to raise money for veterans and I'm all for that, but those silly poppies always fall off my coat and get lost.  So, this year I made my own poppy.  Actually I made it last spring for a demo I did and have been saving it in a safe place until now!

For some reason I can't get a good picture, but I will describe as best I can for you!  I used Poppy Parade cardstock and cut it with the Fun Flowers die.  I cut two flowers (the one with the points on the petals), cut the points off the flowers, scrunched them and then peeled just the petals apart (so the flower is still attached together in the middle).  I layered the two flowers together off-setting the petals.  Then I kind of scrunched the petals a bit.  The middle of the poppy is a black button from the Neutrals package.  I put a little knot of black ribbon in the middle and made some leaves with Old Olive Satin Ribbon.  The whole flower is attached to a pin back and it looks awesome on my black Stampin' Up! jacket!!!  This poppy isn't going anywhere...until I want it to!

Here's a look at Halloween at hour house this year...

Cookies for Preschool!  Sawyer and I made sugar cookies...black bats and orange pumpkins.  Sawyer had fun stamping the jack-o-lantern faces before I cut them with a pumpkin shape cutter.

Our pumpkins!  Kevin is super proud of his Oilers pumpkin!!!

My kids dressed up as Phineas, Ferb and Agent P!!!!

Have an inspired day!