Breezy Thanks

I hope everyone had a good weekend! Mine was busy, but it was fun :o)
Okay, quick post this morning - I have to leave in a few minutes for work-related training... Just had enough time to make this card to unwind before my day starts!
This card is a double-challenge card. It is for today's SCS Colour Challenge (Really Rust, Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip), and also fulfils the Thanksgiving-theme challenge swap that I entered (organized by a friend who moderates a Yahoo SU! demo group). Can you tell I just love this set?? I realized today what it's missing tho - an APPLE!! Wouldn't that just complete the set? Ah well. I guess my little blue jay will just have to do :o) (Besides, a blue apple wouldn't be too appetizing now, would it? LOL)
I hope everyone has a fantastic Tuesday! And Happy Stampin'!
A-M

Luv that Kiwi...

I think Kiwi Kiss has got to be my favourite In Colour to date. Even better than Purely Pomegranate :o) I love its fresh and tangy green hue. And it goes with so many other colours! Today is Sunday, which means it is Featured Stamper Challenge day at SCS. This week the Featured Stamper is Terrore3, a wonderfully talented stamper! The challenge is to pick a card from the featured stamper's gallery, and to CASE it (Copy And Share Everything) - basically, recreate it, but change one or two elements. I picked this card of Terry's - I love that it featured Kiwi Kiss :o) but I also appreciated the crisp simplicity of it. I LOVED the combination of the kiwi with the burgundy, but I didn't want to duplicate her card LOL so I subbed Basic Gray instead of the Bravo Burgundy.

I also chose a different stamp from the Oh So Lovely set, and used a different sentiment (from Upsy Daisy). And seeing as I don't have the large shape stamps, I used a reverse masking technique (with my brayer) to make the green highlight square at the centre of the card. Do you like it? You can never have too many birthday cards on hand, so this one will go into my stash.

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

This is the dawning...

...of the Age of Aquarius!! I'M IN, BABY!! :o) Got the call on Wednesday that I was cast as a member of the 'tribe', by the name of Linda - WHOOP! WHOOP!! OMGosh, I could hardly believe it - you shoulda heard me SCREAM when I hung up the phone! LMAO! Rehearsals start in a few weeks and I am PSYCHED!

In the meantime...

I've been prepping for a class I am doing tomorrow. We will be making these ADORABLE 'family' frames (sorry the photo is so small!!).

My good friend Vicki inspired us all to CASE the frame she had designed for an upcoming class when we spent the weekend at her place in the spring (for "Victopia" LOL) - I think each and every one of us made one! Mine is hanging in my foyer, and it didn't take long for some of my customers to notice it when they came for classes. Next thing I knew they were asking me to offer a class so they could make one too! The project uses the All in the Family stamp set (and Family Accessories), as well as the Neighbourhood wheel (the houses in the background) and the Define Your Life stamp set; the paper is Summer Picnic Designer Paper. The frames are 5" x 12".

And after all that cutting and prepping, I figured I deserved some stamping myself, so I combined Beate's weekend sketch challenge and the SCS Inspiration Challenge, and came up with this card:

We had to find inspiration from one of the rooms on an interior design website; I chose this one. I loved how the pale blue contrasted with the deep red couch. I also drew inspiration from the black accents (the bookshelf, the photo frame). I used the Eastern Blooms stamp set, as well as the Happy Birthday greeting from Amazing to Zany (retired). The blue is Bashful Blue and the red is the new Riding Hood Red.

OK, time to get back to work... now I need to set up my tables and supplies for tomorrow's class...

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

Breezy Vanilla Kisses

That was the name of today's colour challenge on SCS - if that title doesn't inspire you, then I don't know what will! :o) The colours, in case you hadn't guessed, were Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla and Kiwi Kiss - which happen to be my favourite colour palette these days! (If you don't believe me, scroll down and look at the cards I've been making this past few weeks LOL) I didn't do a fantastic job of my stamping on this card (one of the leaves is not fully stamped at the top, and I had to fill in the top portion of the sentiment with my black journalling pen LOL) but oh well.

The rock 'n roll inking technique was CASE'd from a fellow SU! demo named Suzy - I've used this technique a bajillion times before, but I never would have thought to do it with these two colours together! I love it!

And I recently saw a medallion element that used this silver hodgepodge hardware piece as its base and thought it was a fantastic idea! So I CASE'd that as well (and I apologize, I can't recall where I saw it, nor did I bookmark it!!) Here it is close up:

The felt flower is one of the new Flower Fusion Too pieces, in Baja Breeze. And the brad is one of the new SU! flower brads. The card will be going out as a thank you to my aunt, who subscribes all three of my kids to fantastic French kids' magazines (their renewals just recently came in).

OK, I think that's it for tonight. I still have some paperwork to do (yuck), so I should skedaddle.

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

In a Festive Mood

I don't know why, but I'm in a Xmas card kinda mood :o) I made these on the weekend and had planned on making a third one before I posted the set, but one of my fellow Canadian demos emailed one of my Yahoo groups asking for ideas using the new "Felt Flurries" felt snowflakes, so I decided to post these for her.

I really like the Deer Friends hostess set - it's so cute! And I'm a sucker for circle punchables :o) I decided to inset these images by punching out a 1 3/8" circle out of the DP panel, and to affix this panel to the card front using dimensionals, and then adhering the stamped circle (stamped once in one colour and then again in a contrasting colour and punched out) to the card base for a 3D effect. Here is a close-up of this element:

When I make the third card, it will be using the tree image from the same set, and DP from the same collection with more of the Old Olive. I'm thinking this might be my Xmas card this year, what do you think?...

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

Inspiring dishes

Today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS involved some very funky dishware. I was immediately stuck by the mustard coloured batik-style print on the one plate, so that's where I started for this card:

The effect on the embossed panel was achieved by inking my brayer in More Mustard, and rolling it on the de-bossed side of my "Textile" cuttlebug folder. I then carefully placed a white piece of c/s on the opposite side and folded the folder shut (you have to be careful not to let your c/s move around, or you will get smudges of ink everywhere). When you run the folder and c/s through the cuttlebug, the embossed part stays white, while the rest of the surface picks up some of the ink on the folder. Doesn't that look neat? It was a technique featured a few months ago on SCS (I believe it was a Technique Lovers Challenge?) and I loved the effect it gave!

The rest of the card is pretty straightforward: I used the large image from Friendly Flowers (retired) and inked it in Baja Breeze, and the sentiment (inked in Ruby Red) is from Best Yet (current Hostess set). If I had a do-over, I would probably dye the twill tape in More Mustard but oh well LOL! And the large silver brad is, well, because you can't have dishes without silverware ;o) Oh and I had started using True Friend for the Baja Breeze piece, but found the largest flower image was too small. But I had already stamped the triple lower image in Ruby Red on the base of the card. I decided to leave it.

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

My house is haunted

Because that is the only explanation for this story.

Seeing as I had already done today's challenge (see post below), and was still in a stampin' mood, I decided to do Beate's weekend sketch challenge early. I've been seeing some very nice Xmas cards on SCS so I decided to also use this as an opportunity to start playing around and designing some cards for a stamp camp (or perhaps even for my own use! :o) ) Anyway, I don't own a lot of current Xmas sets - suppose I haven't gotten in the mood yet? - so I decided to use my tried and true Season of Joy.

I searched high, I searched low. I read and re-read the labels on the stacks of stamps on my shelves, I went through my box of Xmas sets AT LEAST a dozen times (I don't usually leave Xmas sets out until it's time to use them - besides, most of my faves are retired anyway...) I panicked and thought OMG! Did I SELL it (illegally) to someone?!? Went through my 'for sale' list as well as all the recent emails from people who have bought my retired sets - not there. Not in my boxes of retired stamps. Not in my hidden stash of retired sets in that old dresser in the basement. I recruited my daughter to have a look through all the sets on my shelves, thinking that maybe my eyes were deceiving me and I was looking at it all along - no luck for her either. I phoned and emailed some of my stamping buddies, asking if I had perhaps lent it to them and forgot to get it back from them? Nope.

We're talking, FULL FLEDGED PANIC ATTACK!!

Then I took a few deep breaths, looked forlornly at my shelves, and decided to put it behind me and pulled out Season of Friendship instead. I made this card:

In a way, the missing stamp set story was serendipidous, as I really like this card. It was partly inspired by this beauty from my friend Debi on SCS - I loved her tree in the snow! :o) But I gave mine a splash of Riding Hood Red for that Xmas feel. The paper is the new Ski Slope DP that will be available beginning Oct. 1 (in the Holiday Mini). And I thought that filigree brad kind of looked like a snowflake, so I used it also (I think we definitely need snowflake filigree brads though, don't you??) The sentiment is from the Best Yet hostess set and was punched out using the new large oval punch.

But here's where the story REALLY gets weird... As I am tidying up my table after I finish this card, guess what I find underneath my pack of DP? *insert Twilight Zone theme here*

THE SEASON OF JOY STAMP SET!!

There is no way on God's green earth that that stamp set was there all along - NO WAY!! I tell ya, I turned my stamping room UPSIDE DOWN looking for that durn set! There is a ghost in this house and it is playing a sick joke on me. NOBODY messes with my stamps.

Nobody.

Simple Wishes

OK, I love this card. I will send it to its intended recipient (sorry, not gonna tell you who it is cuz I don't want to spoil the surprise :o) ) but I will be sad to drop it in that mailbox later this morning... which is why I love being able to immortalize my cards here and on SCS - this way I can always look back at some of my faves and recreate them easily when inspiration fails me... LOL!

I made this as a double-challenge card, for this week's Ways to Use It challenge (using silhouette stamps), and today's Limited Supplies challenge (using white as a predominant colour and only one stamped image). This is the first time I have inked this Upsy Daisy flower image (I have only used the sentiments until now) - it's stamped in Basic Gray. The accent colour is Kiwi Kiss - don't these two colours look great together? So elegant and fresh. And yeah, I'm in love with that Kiwi Kiss double-sided satin ribbon LOL! The card is 5 1/4" x 5 1/4".

I'm working from home today - I have a ton of reading and recording to do, plus I have a meeting with an agency just down the road from my house, so I decided to stay here. And instead of a coffee break, I took a stamping break ;o) And on that note, I guess I better get back to the grind...

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

Good friends

*sigh* This one will be going out to my good friend Catherine. Catherine is just one of those friends who, even if don't talk for months, and even if we live clear across the country from each other now, it's always such a comfortable place when we do get to talk to each other or see each other. Catherine always knows the right thing to say, she always finds the positive in every person and in every situation, yet she is always very direct and unafraid to tell it like it is (while always being so amazingly diplomatic about it! LOL) I trust her and respect her completely and miss her terribly. So I am going to send her this card to remind her of what a great friend she is :o)

This card is also for this week's SCS Colour Challenge: Riding Hood Red, Basic Gray and Always Artichoke. Even though it is a near repeat of last week's colours, it's all good because I didn't get to play last week anyway (and to be honest, Green Galore is NOT on my list of faves... LOL) I got some new rubber today (YAY!!) and had to break it in. This is a set from the upcoming Holiday Mini-Catalogue - I LOVE IT!!! It's called Season of Friendship. I love how bold and yet simple it is. Totally my style. And FULL of possibilities!! (There are also a small snowflake and a small flower, as well as a sentiment: "The season of friendship lasts forever" - Awwwww... ;o) ) I also broke out my new Riding Hood Red striped grosgrain ribbon for the first time. And the two shades of leaves were done by stamping the image twice in Always Artichoke without reinking.

I also got two Sizzix Big Shot dies in my order (the Baskets and Blooms one, and the pillow box). I'm still playing around with those trying to use them in my cuttlebug. That part works fine (WOOHOO!!), I'm just having a wee bit of difficulty getting the lil baskets to look right. My second one looks way better than my first one, though - so it's not that hard LOL! Diana Gibbs makes it look way easy - I just need to work on making the ends line up properly, and on trying to get a rounder shape (rather than a squished shape). I'm getting there...

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

I got a callback!!

I know! I can hardly believe it myself! Didn't think I was actually going to survive the audition, let alone get a CALLBACK?!?!!! OMG I am so excited! :o) Although this means I will have another week of being nervous and of psyching myself up to sing in front of a bunch of near-strangers... LOL! (Did I mention that they made us sing our vocal piece IN FRONT OF EVERYONE WHO AUDITIONED?!? Talk about nerve-wracking!! But at least no one else did my song LOL).

So to relax and get my mind off of it, I decided to stamp a card tonight. This is for a weekly swap I sometimes do with a bunch of fellow SU! demos that I keep in touch with. The challenge was to make an unusually shaped card. I decided to make a triangle trifold card.

They're a lot easier to make than they look, honestly! I once again used the Green Tea DP (mounted on Old Olive c/s as a base), and stamped images from the new Eastern Blooms stamp set, in Baja Breeze and Certainly Celery. And I hadn't used the new filigree flower brads yet, so decided to integrate one into the design as well. Aren't they pretty? They're quite heavy, too.

I won't find out who I am sending this card to until later this week. So for now it will decorate my work table :o)

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

Let the Sunshine in...

So, umm, I'm doing something a little crazy today... I'm auditioning for a local production of Hair. Have I ever done anything like this? No. Am I nervous as heck? Yep. But if I don't do it, I will regret it forever. This is my favourite musical and I can't pass up the opportunity to be a part of it. So aside from the 11 swaps I had to make (done!), and the banner for our dragon boat team (done!), I have also been preparing for my audition all week. Hence my lack of stamping/posting.

But I did take the time to make a card this morning. I used Beate's sketch challenge to make a card for my lovely neighbour, a very talented piano instructor who was kind enough to help me prepare.

The card uses the Eastern Blooms (new!) and All Holidays stamp sets, as well as some new goodies from the Fall-Winter cattie: Green Tea DP, Flower Fusion Too felt flower, flower button and Baja Breeze striped grosgrain ribbon. I will drop it off in her mailbox when I head over to the theatre in about ONE HOUR!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!

Wish me luck! And Happy Stampin'!

A-M

WICKED stuff!

OK, taking a break from swaps and workshop prep and laundry and packing for my work trip tomorrow... and STAMPIN'! :o) This card is for the WICKED challenge on SCS, a monthly challenge for SU! demos. There are always three categories - colour, layout and technique - and you can either do three different cards or combine challenges (any two or all three) into one card. For this one I combined the colour combo (Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss and Sahara Sand) with the layout suggested by the challenge hostess.

I used the tree image from the Deer Friends hostess set for the medallion. I stamped it twice (in Not Quite Navy and in Kiwi Kiss), and punched out the navy one with the 1 1/4" circle punch, and just the kiwi tree with the 1" circle punch. I then punched out the scallop circle in Kiwi Kiss and a 1 3/8" circle in Not Quite Navy, and put together the medallion, layering the tree with a dimensional. The DP is from the Urban Garden collection, and the ribbon is the YUMMILICIOUS new Kiwi Kiss double-sided satin ribbon - MMMMMMM!!

Kind of unconventional for a Christmas card, but that's the way I like my Christmas cards. Do you like it?

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

Shh!!

I think this will be the card I make for a demo swap I'm in this month:

But don't tell anyone as it's supposed to be a surprise! ;o) We were to make a card from newly-offered stamps in the Fall-Winter catalog. I chose Inspired by Nature. The main panel was partly inked (Baja Breeze for the petals), partly markered (Not Quite Navy for the flower centres and Old Olive for the stems), and then misted before the image was stamped (only part of the image was used here, too - there is a third flower off to the left that I did not use). Then I inked the other stamp from that set (long grasses) with Versamark and stamped it onto the Basic Gray background, then embossed with clear embossing powder. The designer paper is from the new Urban Garden paper - I think when I make the rest of my cards though, I will make the strip narrower, so you can see more of the grasses in the background. The sentiment is from Upsy Daisy (another new set, which incidentally is currently on sale with 15% off!), and the ribbon is the new Baja Breeze striped grosgrain ribbon (it's tied with hemp twine). I really like how this card turned out! :o)

And I really need to get in gear to get those cards done PRONTO (I have to do 11 for the swap and they need to arrive in Vancouver - at the other end of the country - by September 19), as I have also agreed to make a banner for our Dragon Boating team at work - the race is September 13!!! ACK!! I've bought the fabric, that's a start, right? LOL! Now I need to design what I am going to draw, and execute it (in fabric paints).

So if you don't see much stamping from me in the next week or so, you'll know why. That, and I am transporting one of my clients to a placement in Quebec on Sunday, leaving first thing in them morning and not returning home until Monday after work... Maybe I'll bring my fabric paints and work on the banner at the hotel?... Hmm...

Happy Stampin'!

A-M

More retired rubbah for sale!

OK, I went through my storage and found some new sets that I am willing to part with... again, if the name of the stamp set appears 'clickable', click on it to see its SCS gallery.

As always, price does not include shipping - please contact me to make arrangements.

$5
Simple Somethings
Sweet on You - SOLD (Payment and delivery pending)
Say it Simply

$10
The Fine Print - SOLD (Payment and delivery pending)
Gently Falling
Send a Celebration
Little Layers II
Reason to Smile (NUM)

$15
Fresh Flowers
In Full Bloom
Simply the Best
All the Best

$20
Sketch It

And don't forget, I still have some sets available that are more "freshly" retired :o) - check it out here!
Thanks for looking! And Happy Stampin'!
A-M

Summer's over! Or is it?...

Kind of strange how this weekend feels more like summer than any other the past two months? LOL! Took the family to the Shelter Valley Folk Festival on Saturday (had a blast! the kids were WIPED OUT - and me, too! LOL), spent some time in my garden yesterday "putting it to bed" and yanking cartloads of weeds (ugh). I wanted to take the kids to the beach or to the local splash pad (which is by the beach) but do you think I could convince them to go outside?!? I just don't get it. So I stamped a card instead :o) It's for this week's Featured Stamper challenge. Very simple, one layer card, but it's its simplicity that I loved!

It features the Garden Whimsy stamp set, and it's inked in Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss, but since I don't have my first order yet from the new catalogue, and therefore no new In Colour ribbon, I had to make do with red gingham. Niki's original card uses a nice red satin ribbon and a wonderful Papertrey Ink stamp set that I am seriously coveting at the moment (I am a sucker for florals :o) ) But since I have a huge order of new stamps coming TOMORROW, I will be a good girl and wait...
Happy Stampin'!
A-M