Coming up ....

Hello.   I just wanted to give you a heads up that it's time for our Stylin' Stampin' Squad Blog Hop soon.    Check in on Thursday, August 2nd to see what the Squad has been up to.     I know I can't wait!!    See you soon!

Pat

Christmas in July Card Class

I had a wonderful group of ladies attend my Christmas in July card class on July 25th.   It so happens that meant that Christmas was exactly five months away which is almost motivation enough to get working on those Christmas projects.    All of the cards used product from the holiday catalogue which is effective August 1st.     Here are the cards we created:

This is a complete CASE from the holiday catalogue.   I absolutely love the new embossing folder.

Card supplies:

- Card Stock - gumball green, cherry cobbler, whisper white
- Ink - gumball green, cherry cobbler
- Stamps - Joyous Celebrations
- Accessories - Big Shot, Holiday Frame embossing folder, square punch, x-large oval punch, basic rhinestones, scalloped ribbon border punch

I also CASEd this card but changed it up a little bit.

Card supplies:

- Card Stock - marina mist, real red, old olive, watercolour paper, very vanilla
- Inks - basic black, marina mist, bashful blue, real red, old olive, pumpkin pie
- Stamps - Frosty Friends
- Accessories - Big Shot, Finishing Touches edgelits, polka dot and Delicate Designs embossing folders, cherry cobbler bakers twine, basic rhinestones

I'm in love with the new Core'dinations card stock and the new Lacy Brocade embossing folder.   Sanding the core'dination card stock gives a beautiful vintage effect.

Card Supplies:

- Card stock - crumb cake, early espresso core'dination card stock, very vanilla
- Ink - early espresso
- Stamps - Scentsational Season
- Accessories - Big Shot, labels collection framelits, holiday collection framelits, square punch, cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon, basic rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

Daphne's kids class

Every once in a while I get asked to do a kids class - usually during a school break or summer holidays.   This is a great opportunity for the kids to relieve their boredom and do something crafty.    Kids always amaze me with their wonderful imaginations and crafting skills.   It seems as children we have no fear of expressing ourselves creatively and somehow, along the way, we get older and it gets more intimidating.    Maybe it's the fear of criticism from others on the work we do but I have found that we are each our own worst critic.    That's the fun of crafting with children - they dive right in with gusto, put their own spin on things and keep looking for more. 

I am always looking for ideas for kids crafts and was sure to bookmark Connie Stewart's page on a cute project.   Here's the first project I had the girls work on:

Thank you for the inspiration Connie!    This is my version of Connie's project.  I used a white paper gift bag for our base.   The bow is punched from pretty in pink cardstock.  The butterfly punch that Connie used has retired and (gasp!) I didn't keep it but sold it recently at my Open House.    Kinda kicked myself when I saw this project and realized I needed to put my thinking cap on to figure out how to make the bow.      I was pretty happy to see that my brain does still work and came up with the plan to use petals punched from the blossom petals builder punch.    Four of the petals are attached to the back of a punched circle and a basic rhinestone gives it some sparkle.   Small circles are punched from basic black card stock for the eyes and a small oval is punched from daffodil delight for the nose.   Strips of basic black are attached to the oval for whiskers.   A tiny hello from the Tiny Tags set is stamped on pretty in pink with basic black and then punched out using the full heart punch.     Kids love punch art so this was a great project to get the class started.   I told them I had a little something to put in their bag at the end of class to thank them for coming.

Next we worked on another punch art project that, unfortunately, I do not have a picture of.   We created a jumbo paper clip bookmark using the scallop circle and owl punches.   Another great project!

Here is the card I had the girls work on:

This card uses the images from the retired Build-A-Bear set called Beary Best Friends.   I let the girls stamp whatever images they wanted from the set on to their card.   I loved what they created with the girl bear and all of her accessories.    They then coloured their images with crayons.  The whisper white layer was then attached to a layer of lucky limeade and then on to the wisteria wonder base.

While the girls were busy working on their cards, I had a card for the ladies to do as well:

This card was CASEd from the wonderfully talented Patty Bennett.   I modified my version by using different  DSP and card stock and not embossing the card base.   The card base used here is primrose petals with a layer of DSP from the Patio Party pack.   Whisper white is layered on midnight muse after being stamped with the floral image from the Blooming with Kindness set in primrose petals ink.   Some daffodil delight is applied to the flower using a sponge dauber.    Thank you also comes from the same set and is stamped on whisper white with midnight muse, punched out with a circle punch and layered on a primrose petals scallop circle.  A pretty butterfly comes from the set Papallon Potpourri and is stamped on whisper white with midnight muse and punched out using the new Elegant Butterfly punch.  Some midnight muse stitched ribbon and basic pearls are the simple embellishments for this card.   Thank you Patty for the inspiration.    I am a big fan!

Our final project (again - no picture) was a sticky note holder.    I had the holders already assembled and let the girls stamp and colour their images for the front.

Everyone seemed to enjoy their projects.    I had a great time!    It's always a pleasure to share what I love with others, especially kids with tons of enthusiasm!   

My next post will be of some of the new cards I have created.   Check in again soon!   Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

Keep the mojo coming!

I had to go out of town for the day yesterday and I was a little upset about that.    It was a perfect day to stay inside and stamp and I still had ideas for card projects that I wanted to work on.    Hopefully the ideas will keep coming and I will find some time in the next day or two to create some more cards.    Here are a couple more samples of the cards I have been working on:

This card uses a lot of new product.   The card base is a new in colour - primrose petals.   A layer of baja breeze is cut using the new large scallop edgelit and then embossed with the new delicate designs embossing folder.   A layer of DSP from the Patio Party pack is my source for the colour combination as it contains primrose petals, baja breeze, starfruit and whisper white butterflies on a midnight muse background.   Butterfly images from the new set Papillon Potpourri are stamped on whisper white with primrose petals and midnight muse inks.   The color spritzer and a primrose petals marker add some colour to the whisper white background.   The centre butterfly is stamped again on a scrap of whisper white with midnight muse ink and punched out with the new elegant butterfly punch.     Placing the punched butterfly over the stamped butterfly gives it some dimension as I like to make sure the wings are up off of the paper.    White stitched ribbon gives a nice background to the oval punched sentiment which comes from the Petite Pairs set.

Of course I had to create another card using my new favourite set - Blooming with Kindness.    I love the look of the new starfruit colour combined with soft suede.    The floral image is stamped with soft suede directly to the starfruit layer.    The top of this layer is embossed with the new fancy fan embossing folder.   A strip of retired soft suede polka dot ribbon is flipped over to use the plain side and embellished with basic pearls.   With Sympathy comes from a retired set that I absolutely refuse to part with - Hope for Comfort.   This retired set has some great verses for the inside of sympathy cards.   The sentiment is stamped on very vanilla with soft suede and given a scallop border punched edge of soft suede card stock.   So sorry also comes from the Hope for Comfort set and is also stamped on very vanilla with soft suede then punched out using the jewellery tag punch.   A tiny bow of linen thread and some more basic pearls finish off this card.  

That is all I have for now and I hope to have some more samples to show you in the next day or two.   Thank you for stopping by.

Pat

Mojo kicked in!

Hello.    I am so happy that my stamping mojo has kicked in.    I really needed to replenish my card supply as I sell my cards at our local farmers market and at craft sales/trade shows.    The last day or two have shown an increase in my creativity and I'm hoping it continues.    Here are a couple of samples of what I have been working on:

This wedding card uses a new set from the big catalogue called Road to Happiness.   This is a very versatile set as it has different items to put in the car to celebrate weddings, birthdays, thanks and more.   For this card I used a card base of real red with layers of basic black and whisper white.   The car, passengers and tin cans are stamped in basic black on the whisper white and the hearts are stamped in real red.    A real red and whisper white banner express the best wishes and are highlighted with small hearts punched from red shimmer paper with the owl punch.   Another red glimmer heart highlights the first heart coming from the car.   Some Big Shot items used on this card were the large scallop edgelit and the hearts folder from the adorning accents embossing set.

Next:

A sympathy card with one of the new colours, midnight muse, for the card base.   The card base is embossed with the new Lacy Brocade embossing folder from the holiday catalogue (sneak peek).  Layers of bashful blue and whisper white are cut with the labels collection framelits and paper pierced with the new festive paper piercing pack (another sneek peak from the holiday catalogue).  The floral image is from the Love & Sympathy set and are coloured with marina mist and old olive markers.   Two of the images are stamped off once before stamping on to the whisper white and the centre image is stamped directly.   Beautiful wings embosslit is used to create the two bashful blue butterflies.   With sympathy comes from Teeny Tiny Wishes and is stamped in midnight muse on whisper white then punched out with the word window punch and layered on midnight muse punched with the modern label punch.

That's all I have for now.    More to come though so check back in!   Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

Stylin' Stampin' Squad July Blog Hop

Happy July! Happy Canada Day! Happy US Independence Day!! So much to celebrate, as if just FINALLY being summer wasn't enough. You may have just arrived from Dawn's blog. This month's blog hop is all about celebration. We are celebrating how blessed we are to live in the land of the free. We are also celebrating birthdays. Our challenges this month were America/Canada/Birthday with the stamp challenge to feature a cake or cupcake. The colour challenge is red, white and blue.

My first project represents my Canadian pride:

Very plain and simple but to the point. I created the base for the flag in My Digital Studio by altering a square punch and colour filling with real red. I did this twice, leaving the centre white. This image was printed on whisper white card stock. Forgive me but I used a retired stamp set for the remainder of the images. The maple leaf and verse come from the recently retired set Glorious and Free. The maple leaf was stamped using real red on whisper white, trimmed and popped up with dimensionals. Glorious and free is stamped with basic black on whisper white, punched out with a small oval punch and layered on a larger real red oval.

This 3D project is supposed to represent a cupcake:

This gift box is created with the fancy favour die which has been embossed with the stripes embossing folder before assembling. I made a lid for the box and topped it off with a pom pom made of white and pink felt cut using the big shot and the scallop circle die. The scallop circles are folded and glued with a hot glue gun and added in layers. A small circle punch is used to create a cherry out of red shimmer paper. The band around the box is made from a layer of pretty in pink trimmed with the scallop trim border punch. A whisper white layer is stamped with an image from Tiny Tags using early espresso ink. Pretty in pink ribbon adds a pretty touch.

Finally, this card meets the stamp and colour challenges:

The card base is night of navy. A large scallop circle is cut from real red using the big shot and the scallop circle die. A 2 1/2 punch of whisper white is spritzed with bashful blue using a marker and the colour spritzer. The cupcake is created using the cupcake builder punch. The base of the cupcake is crumb cake with a night of navy bow. Real red icing and a night of navy candle top off the cupcake. Dazzling details sparkle up the icing and the flame of the candle.

I hope you enjoyed my projects. You can continue on to the next stop by clicking on the NEXT button below. Please make sure to leave comments for our blog participants so they can feel the love!

Pat

Heather's Blog

Blog Hop Participants:

1. Shellie G. of Creative Electica
2. Annie L. of Love Me Cards
3. Pam S. of Stampin' in the Sun!
4. Nancy B. of Lady Stamps a Lot
5. Rose C. of Stamp with Rose
6. Tonya B. of Stampin' with Tonya
7. Dawn S. of Dawn's Creative Chalet
8. Patricia T. of Sunnyone Stampin'
9. Heather W. of Heather's Stampin' Blog
10. Marla R. of Marla's Stampin' Spot
11. Darcy J. of DJ's Stampin' Place
12. Kim R. of Stamping with Kim

Are you ready??? Stylin' Stampin' Squad

It's almost that time again - time for the next Stylin' Stampin' Squad Blog Hop.    Make sure to tune in tomorrow to see what our wonderfully creative participants have prepared for your viewing pleasure!

Our hop is always the first Thursday of every month.    We schedule our blogs to post bright and early in the morning so that you can enjoy the hop with your morning cup of coffee.     Everyone appreciates hearing how much their work is appreciated so please make sure to take the time to leave a comment.

See you tomorrow!

Pat

Creative Crew - Christmas in July Challenges

Someone had to point out to me the other day that Christmas is just over five months away.     We have barely had summer so I wasn't really prepared to start thinking of Christmas just yet.   That all changed once I started working on the challenges for this month's Splitcoaststampers Creative Crew.    The theme is Christmas in July and we are focusing on the colours cherry cobbler, gumball green and very vanilla.   We are also using some great new DSP called Be of Good Cheer.  And here they are:

DSP/colour focus - create a Christmas card using the focus colours and this sketch:



Here's my project:

The card base is gumball green and the DSP from Be of Good Cheer is layered on cherry cobbler.  The ornament comes from the set Chock-Ful of Cheer and is stamped in gumball green on very vanilla and layered with more gumball green and cherry cobbler.   There are a lot of layers here!   The centre of the ornament is from a piece that was stamped in cherry cobbler and then punched out with a circle punch.   The top of the ornament is heat embossed with gold embossing powder and topped with a gumball green stitched ribbon.   Add a basic pearl and it's done!

The next challenge was to create a non traditional fold Christmas card using at least two of the colours and at least two big shot items on your card:

 Looks like a regular card on the outside but on the inside ....

This is called a tunnel card.   The card base is cherry cobbler with layers of the Be of Good Cheer DSP, gumball green and very vanilla.   The frames on the front and inside were cut using the labels collection framelits and Merry Christmas is framed using the designer frames embossing folder.   This meets the requirement of two big shot items.   The mittens and Merry Christmas are from the Chock-ful of Cheer set and the inside verse comes from the Petite Pairs set.

Our next challenge was to make a masculine Christmas card using the designated colors and the DSP, if you wanted.  Embellish lightly (that's the hard part) as it is a masculine card:

It is very hard to see but I used a tone on tone combination for this card.   The cherry cobbler card base is layered with another piece of cherry cobbler that has a trim on both sides using the outside edge of a dotted scallop ribbon border piece.   Another layer of DSP from Be of Good Cheer is topped with a strip of gumball green.   Merry Christmas is stamped on whisper white using gumball green ink and then cut using a framelit from the apothecary accents pack.    Very clean and simple - too much so for my liking!

Finally, the scrap challenge:  create a Christmas page layout using the designated colours and/or Be of Good Cheer DSP:

 This 12 x 12 layout uses a base of cherry cobbler layered with the Be of Good Cheer DSP, gumball green and very vanilla.    The ornaments come from the Chock-ful of Cheer set and are stamped on very vanilla using cherry cobbler.   The ornaments were then punched out using a circle punch and topped with a bow of cherry cobbler bakers twine.   The journaling was created using My Digital Studio and printed on very vanilla.  Some cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon and basic rhinestones are the last of the embellishments on this simple layout.

I hope you enjoyed the projects I created this month.    Being on the Creative Crew has definitely made me think outside of the box - especially when thinking about Christmas in July!!   Thanks for stopping by!

Pat

End of Year Thank You projects - Part 3

This is the last of the end of year thank you projects.  I created a different thank you card for each teacher:

The card base for this card is the new raspberry ripple.    A layer of whisper white was used for the printed thank you teacher which was created using My Digital Studio.   After printing this out, I trimmed it down to card front size and stamped the flower image from Blooming with Kindness with raspberry ripple ink.   A layer of vellum was heat embossed with the butterfly from this set using versamark and iridescent ice embossing powder.   Two embossed butterflies add a soft shimmer to the front of the card.   Another butterfly was stamped on whisper white with raspberry ripple ink and cut out to place on the front.    I didn't have any raspberry ripple ribbon so I dyed whisper white stitched ribbon.   This was a very messy process and the ribbon takes forever to dry.     I will make sure to order some raspberry ripple ribbon soon!

The next card was much simpler:

The card base is real red with a layer of gumball green that has been punched with the scallop border punch.  The MDS thank you was printed on whisper white and then stamped using a retired set called First Day.   The stamps were coloured with real red and gumball green markers and then stamped on the whisper white.    Some new gumball green stitched ribbon added the final touch to this card.

My next post will be the projects created for the Creative Crew July Challenges on Splitcoaststampers.    It's all about Christmas in July.  Come back to check it out!    Thanks for stopping by.

Pat

End of Year Thank You projects - Part 2

Teachers are AMAZING!!    They never get enough credit, recognition or appreciation.    To think that these wonderful people are taking our precious children and helping to shape them into the people they are meant to be - that's a job with a lot of pressure!   With that in mind, it is very, very hard to come up with a gift that expresses my gratitude for what they do and how great they are with my son.    My son had two teachers this year.    I decided to make each teacher a basket with a little bit of usefulness/craftiness.    Here are the contents of the basket:

I made two flower book marks and a personalized notebook for each of them.    Some note pads, dry erase markers and a stamp with a stampin' spot were decorated with flowers and ribbon.   Hopefully these are things the teachers will find useful!

Here are the items in the basket:

And the final wrapped version:

The tag was created using My Digital Studio and cut using a labels collection framelit.    I love MDS!

My next post will be of the thank you cards I made for the teachers.     Thank you for stopping by!

Pat