Festival of Trees

Hi Stampers!  Today I have a fun Christmas card featuring the Festival of Trees set and punch.  I think the Festival of Trees set and punch is a must have out of this year's Holiday Catalog!

Today's card was inspired by a couple cards in the catalog...check out page 13 and page 24 and see if you can spot the cards that inspired me!

Another must have....the large polka dot embossing folder!   I am loving it a lot right now!

Shopping List

Stamps:  Festival of Trees

Ink:  Crushed Curry, Mossy Meadow

Cardstock:  Very Vanilla, Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow

Accessories:  Gold Glitz Dazzling Details, Gold Baker's Twine

Tools:  Big Shot, Large Polka Dot embossing folder, Tree Punch, Stampin' Dimensionals

**Don't forget the Festival of Trees set and Tree punch can be purchased as a bundle so you can save some $$

Everything you need to create this card can be found in my online store.  Head on over there to place your order today, or contact me directly to place an order.

Have an inspired day!

Mummy Bars with the Brownies!

Last week I did some stamping with a local Brownie group.  I love stamping with this group and have done projects with some of them since they were in Sparks!  This time around their leader asked me to do a Halloween project with them so I came up with spooky mummy bars.

The girls were super excited when they saw the full size chocolate bars in their packages!  Before we started I made them promise to not eat their candy until they had permission from their moms or dads...hmmmm, I wonder how many moms or dads ate the chocolate!!!!

This year it's a big group, but they did great!  They listened to my instructions really well and shared all the supplies wonderfully!

I had a blast with the girls and they have placed their requests for the next time I come stamp with them!!!!

These chocolate bar wrappers are so fun and easy to make, that I did up some Christmas themed ones to show you.

Super, super cute!!!   To make a wrapper to cover a full size Cookies & Cream bar you need a 5 1/2 x 6 piece of cardstock.  Score it at 1 1/2, 1 3/4, 4 & 4 1/4.  Decorate, fold up and stick the back flaps together.  I didn't stick it to the actual wrapper so that it could be slid off.

And, here's one final look at the three I made.

You can find all the supplies you need to make these in my online store (except the chocolate bars!).  Head on over there and place your order today, or you can always contact me directly to place an order.

If you like what you see and are Canadian, I would love to be your Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  Contact me and we can get your creative journey started today!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I hear a Cookies & Cream bar calling my name!  Have an inspired day!

Simple Card Sunday 8-Work of Art Merry Everything

Hi Stampers!  After taking a couple weeks off of Simple Card Sunday it's time to get back at it!  With the holiday season quickly approaching, I did quick and simple Christmas card for you this week.

Remember, for a card to be featured in Simple Card Sunday it has to use minimal supplies, be completed in 10-15 minutes and be completed in 5 easy steps.  This week's card was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest by Melissa Davies and I fell in love with the simplicity of it.

Step-by-Step

• Fold the Whisper White cardstock (5 1/2 x 8 1/2) in half.
• Stamp the large brush stroke from the Work of Art set on a piece of Whisper White cardstock (3 3/4 x 5).  Start with Always Artichoke in the middle, then Sahara Sand on the top and Cherry Cobbler on the bottom.  Stamp off the Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler ones before stamping them on your cardstock.
• Stamp Merry Christmas from the Merry Everything set with Soft Suede ink on the brush strokes.  The Merry Everything set is also available in a bundle with a coordinating punch that I didn't use on this card!
• Mat the Whisper White piece on a Cherry Cobbler piece ( 3 7/8 x 5 1/8).  Attach it to the card with Stampin' Dimensionals
• Punch 3 small stars (Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack) from Champagne Glimmer Paper and stick them to the card around the sentiment.

As always, here's the video so you can see me make the card in real time and stamp along with me if you have the supplies!

I made a couple other cards with this same layout.

I've got to say, I'm loving the Work of Art set for quick backgrounds and to color line art images in!  It definitely makes cards quick and easy!

All the supplies to make all three of the cards shown today can be found in my online store.  Head of over there to place your order or contact me to place an order.

If you like what you see and are Canadian, I would love to be your Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  Please contact me to get a catalog!

Have an inspired day!

Freaky Friends

Hi Stampers!  Now that Thanksgiving is over it's time to start thinking Halloween!  Have you made up some cute little Halloween treats for the trick-or-treaters in your neighborhood yet?  Or maybe for your kid's classmates at school? 

At the Fall Conference I attended we did Halloween themed make & takes.

The upper left project is a fun box made with the new Gift Box Punch Board!  It's a great new tool that everyone needs in their craft rooms...quick and easy boxes!  This box is finished off with a belly band made with the Motley Monsters DSP, some ribbon and a tag.

The upper right project is an altered Tag-a-Bag.  It's quick and easy to alter these little bags for any occasion!  This one uses a doily, some Motley Monsters DSP and check out that fabulous ghost!  It's cut out of Glimmer Paper with the new Fun Fall Framelits!  The eyes are pearls colored with Blendabilities.  So fun!

The card is super quick and easy.  My favorite part is the embossed eyes!!!  They are also from the Freaky Friends stamp set and were embossed with the Crushed Curry embossing powder.  Spooky and fun!

Everything you need to create these projects and more can be found in my online store.  Head on over there and place an order today so you can get started on some super fun projects!  Or, if you would prefer, you can contact me to place your order.

If you like what you see and are Canadian I would love to be your Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  Contact me today and I can get a catalog in the mail to you ASAP!

Have an inspired day!

World Card Making Day 2014

Hi Stampers!  Grab a coffee, tea, hot chocolate or whatever it is that you love to drink and get ready for a marathon post full of stamping and fun!

The first Saturday of October is World Card Making Day...a day set aside for people to gather and make cards!  This year myself and another demonstrator, Sherri, hosted a carnival themed event in celebration of World Card Making Day!

It was a BLAST!  Check out this great little poem Sherri came up with that we had on the welcome table.

Everyone who attends gets the RMHC set of the year with their registration (to make 15 cards with...a Stamper's Dozen!).  And, we encourage all participants to bring cards to donate to RMHC.  I then take all the donated cards with me to convention each summer and literally pour them into the RMHC basket!  All the donated cards get distributed to Ronald McDonald Houses across North America for the families to use while they are staying at the houses.  Look at all the cards that were donated (this was just some of them!).

Of course the decor had to be carnivalish!  So, we stuck with some fun carnival colors and went from there.  Pinwheels, popcorn and tickets for center pieces, fun tissue paper pom poms, red and white table cloths accented with our other colors, of course, and fun carnival signs!  The room looked great and I was so excited for people to come in!

 To go along with the carnival theme, we had carnival games!  Sherri was in charge of the games and she came up with stampin' versions of carnival games.  We had Punch-a-Prize, Ring Toss, Slap the Stamper , Tin Can Bowling, a Fortune Teller, a Tattoo Parlor and even a Kissing Booth (they had to stamp a kiss on Ronald McDonald!).  Of course there was loads of prizes to go along with the games throughout the day!

We had a very creative tattoo artist (Sherri!) who stamped tattoos on whoever wanted them!

We had to have a spread fit for carnival goers complete with fresh, hot popcorn, chili for lunch and so many delicious snacks!  See that picture on the bottom right, those were super delicious Caramel Apple Scones (much easier to make than caramel apples)!  You can find the recipe for those on LA Stamper Cooks.  YUM!

And, of course we had stamping...lots and lots of stamping resulting in lots of inky fingers!  Many new friends were made during this event....I love how Stampin' Up! brings people together!  I was in charge of the projects and everyone went home with 15 cards, all made with the RMHC set of the year, Flamingo Lingo.

Here's each of the cards that they made.....

Inspired by 3boysmomstamps.blogspot.com

Inspired by kristajstamps.blogspot.com

Yep, even a Christmas card!

And, a baby card!

Inspired by a card by Marelle Taylor

Inspired by stampincardsandmemories.blogspot.com

I bet you didn't think that flamingo set was that versatile, did you?!?!?!  So, out of the 15 different cards, which one is your favorite?

You can see it was a great day...full of fun, games, prizes, good eats and a lot of stamping!  If you're local you will definitely want to mark your calendar and plan to attend next year!

Thanks for hanging in there until the end of this marathon post!  Have an inspired day!

Coffee & Cards

Hi Stampers!  In September I started a new kind of class, Coffee & Cards!  This is a monthly class which I offer in a morning or evening session.  We get together, make 3 simple cards and enjoy some delicious baked goods with coffee, tea or apple cider!

Here's the line up of cards everyone did in September!

And our delicious baked good to enjoy was Spice Cake!  I used my tried and true recipe that I turn to every fall or whenever I get a craving for Spice Cake!  I have shared the recipe on my LA Stamper Cooks blog, and you can find it here.

It was a great class and I can't wait for the October one!  If you're local you can join us for Coffee & Cards on Tuesday, October 14 from 9:30-11am or 7:30-9pm!  Contact me to RSVP!

Have an inspired day!

Cotton Ball Technique

Hi Stampin' Peeps!  It's the first Tuesday of the month which means it's Technique Tuesday!  Today I have a really fun technique that adds dimension to stamped images without having to emboss them.

A while back one of my demonstrator friends was talking about the Cotton Ball Technique.  I was curious, so I googled it and watched a few videos.  Today I'm sharing my take on the technique.

• Stamp your image
• Outline the image with the small end of the Simply Scored stylus (use the Paper Piercing mat to create a spongy surface under your cardstock for this step)
• Flip your cardstock over and using the large end of the stylus, go over the whole image staying inside the outline that you made.  You are kind of stretching the cardstock a bit or breaking down the fibers of the paper.  Be careful that you don't poke through the cardstock!
• Apply Fast Fuse to the entire image (on the not stamped side!).
• Put small bits of cotton over the image
• Flip it over and stick it down to your card layer
• With the small end of the stylus go around the outside edge of the image again to make sure it's good and stuck.

Here's a close up of the puffy leaf on my card.

I did up a video so you could see how the technique is done!

Pretty cool, eh?  I had so much fun with this technique that I made a bunch more cards to share!

The wreath is puffy

Puffy little stars!

Puffy tree!

I love this technique!!!!  You definitely need to give it a try!

Anything (except the cotton balls) you need to create all of these cards is available in my online store!  Head on over there to place an order today, or contact me to place an order today!

If you like what you see and are Canadian, I would love to be your Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  Please contact me and I can send you a catalog ASAP!

Have an inspired day!