Saturday 31 December 2016

Wishing You A Happy New Year








 








 Next blog post from MiRan









Previous blog post from Bruni                                                    


Saturday 26 November 2016

Quick & Easy Christmas Card


Your Christmas Cards are made and mailed.  Another item off the Christmas checklist.  You are on schedule - now onto Christmas presents, decorating the house and settling on the menus for the Festive Season.

Lots of cards being received and here are a couple of cards from friends you have not seen in a long time and you don't have any cards left from the ones you made this year with your favourite stamp set. Here is a quick and easy card to make in minutes.  One stamp set, one colour, 2 colours of cardstock. What could be easier!



Have a Joyful and Festive Merry Christmas!


Take a look at the next post from MiRan
Take a look at the previous post from Bruni

Saturday 29 October 2016

Stocking Stuffers



Did you know that as of today there are only 9 Mondays until Christmas!

With that in mind, the Seashore Stampers have decided to think about Stocking Stuffers.  Filling stockings for my family is my favorite part of  our Christmas traditions.  Choosing just the right small items for those special people in my life.  Last year my husband and I put a note in each stocking, telling that person how very much they mean to us and what qualities we admire most about them.  I believe we must take every opportunity we can to tell those we love how much they mean to us.

Now onto the reason for this post ... Stocking Stuffers.  My very favorite Stocking Stuffer is the Christmas Cracker made with Stampin'Up! designer papers.  I know many videos and tutorials can be found on Pinterest and YouTube but I must share again as I love making them.  The first video I saw was by Connie Stewart, a Stampin'Up! demonstrator in the U.S.  I have made Christmas Crackers for my family, clients and craft fairs.  They are always a success.

In case you have not seen them before, here are the instructions and photo.  The Christmas paper in the photo retired last year so is no longer available.  However, SU has lots of Christmas designer series paper that is current.

Cut a piece of DSP (designer series paper) 4 1/2 x 6 1/2.  Using your score board or trimmer, with the long side of the paper at the top, score at 1, 1 1/2, 2, 4 1/2, 5, 5 1/2.  With the short side of the paper at the top, score at 1, 2,3, 4.  Burnish all score lines. Using your Envelope Punch Board (another favorite tool), place the short side of the paper at the top and fold over along the first score line (at 1").  Put the edge at 1 1/2" and punch.  Slide the fold along to 5" and punch.  Repeat with each of the score lines (2", 3", 4").  There is a small section left - flatten out the DSP, put the small section at the top and punch at 1 1/2" and 5".   Fold up the small section covering it with Tear and Tape or Sticky Strip and stick it down.  Tie your ribbon around the cracker, fill with chocolates, tie up the other end and you are done.   First Stocking Stuffer done, now onto the rest!!!

Remember, only 9 Mondays left ... better get going.

Let's see what MiRan has made                                          


Here is the previous post by Bruni








Saturday 1 October 2016

Happy Birthday to Me



I am feeling a bit nostalgic after just celebrating a milestone birthday last month.  My day was quiet and wonderful spending it with my husband and our little dog "Ricky".  I received lots of birthday wishes, texts from my three beautiful granddaughters, a phone call from my son-in-law and lots of other messages on Facebook.  I feel truly blessed.

On that note, I decided to hold a Birthday Card class which turned out to be quite successful and inspired the card I am sharing with you today.  I featured the Butterfly Basics stamp set and the Butterflies thinlits.  I love clean and simple cards and this one is no exception.

The base card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2) is Watermelon Wonder cardstock.  The layer on the card is Whisper White which measures 4 x 5 1/4.  I ran the Whisper White cardstock through the Big Shot using the medium butterfly from the thinlits.  I used Watermelon Wonder to stamp the broken line across the bottom of the white layer and just above that I stamped the sentiment.  I adhered the white layer to the card base and placed the butterfly I had cut out into the outline of the butterfly on the card using glue dots.  The card, of course, has to have some bling, so I adhered small rhinestones down the center of the butterfly.  I finished the inside of the card with a white layer with a sentiment from the Better Together stamp set.  I also stamped two stars from that set emphasize the sentiment.






Saturday 24 September 2016

Lovely As A Tree




This month's blog hop is "favourite Christmas stamp set", but instead of going with a set from the New Holiday Catalog, I went with an 'oldie but a goodie' one of my all time favourites.  Lovely As A Tree is the oldest in Stampin'Up! but so very versatile.

I did second generation stamping to create the background trees and then stamped the image again in full strength to create the foreground.  I used the Merry Christmas from the Better Together stamp set. I used Dazzling Details to add sparkle to the trees.



Cardstock used is Old Olive and Whisper White.  The trees are stamped in Old Olive and the Merry Christmas is stamped in Real Red.

Wishing you a September Merry Christmas!







Saturday 27 August 2016

My Toolbox




When I returned home after teaching a class the other day, I could not find one of my tools I use for card making. I was devastated. Sorting through the box of “stuff”  I realized I was not organized.  What an awful feeling! Where was the tool? This causes me anxiety and dollars if I have to replace the tool. I knew I had to find a way to get organized with my tools so this did not happen again.

Here is the Toolbox I had my husband build for me.



No matter the task, the Toolbox makes it easy to find the tool I want and makes my card making more enjoyable.  All items are within easy reach. One item I use continuously is the Tombow glue. The glue is stored upside down in the Toolbox so it is always ready to use.  

The Toolbox sits on my desk while I am prepping for a class and sits at the end of the table when I am teaching a class.  At the end of my card making or class I re-load the items into the Toolbox and at a glance can see if anything is missing. There is also a space on one side that holds miscellaneous packaged items along with a shelf underneath large enough to hold my scrubber, paper piercing mat, etc.

My Toolbox enables me to enjoy paper crafting to a higher degree.  Everyone has a box of stuff that they take to crops, classes or sitting in the closet waiting to be pulled out when needed.   How often have you suffered from anxiety because you're sure that something is missing and can't find it. What a waste of time looking for tools, taking time away from the enjoyment of our craft.


In case you missed it, check out the previous post with Bruni



Check out the next post with Mi Ran



My Toolbox ... "a place for everything and everything is in its place". 





Sunday 31 July 2016

Embellished Ornaments Christmas Card

Hello Fellow Stampers

Well here goes ... First Blog Post Ever ... First Christmas Card of the Season

The base of my card is one of the new Stampin Up 2016 - 2018 In Colors, Dapper Denim, which measures 5 1/2 by 11 and scored at 4 1/4.  The layers, inside and out are Very Vanilla which measure 5 1/4 x 4.  Today I chose one of my favorite Christmas stamp sets, Embellished Ornaments.  I stamped the bauble in Dapper Denim along with the lovely sentiment.  The corners are stamped with Garden Green and I used a Blender Pen to color in the leaves and the Real Red Stamp and Write marker to color the berries on the holly and bauble.  Using the Delicate Ornament Thinlits which co-ordinate with the Embellished Ornaments stamp set, I cut out the center and top of the bauble in Silver Glimmer Paper and finished off the card with a bow using Silver 1/8 inch ribbon and 3 Metallic Silver Sequins.  The Very Vanilla layer on the inside of the card is stamped with holly in Garden Green, again filling in the leaves with the Blender Pen and coloring the berries with the Real Red marker.