Encre, papier, ciseaux

June Tour de Freaks - And it's gone, going, gone!

 

Psst... If you are reading this post on the 19th, please note that we are getting the tour ready and testing the links to make sure everything is working. The official tour begins on the 20th, so if you cannot make the whole round tonight, hang in there with us!

   

Welcome to our June Tour de Freaks! This tour is brought to you by the Control Freaks Stampers members and if you have been following the tour, you should have gotten to my blog by clicking on the link provided by Gretchen Barron on her blog. If you are just starting out, make sure to visit all twelve blogs that are part of the tour today by following the links provided at the bottom of each post. Our theme this month is the retirement list! With the end of the catalogue fast approaching, it's a great opportunity to showcase the wonderful items that will be taking their final bow in the upcoming weeks.

So without further ado, here are the fun projects I would like to share with you this month!

 

 

My first project: Trendy Trees Trifold

Retiring items: Trendy Trees set, You're a Gem set, Peach Passion, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, satin ribbon, Pinking Hearts border punch

Technique: The card is a Cami Trifold (you can find a tutorial for it on Splitcoast Stampers, in the Resources section). The tree image was covered with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. To do so, I stamped and punched the image, then I punched the same form out of a Big Shot adhesive sheet, glued it over the image, peeled the backing off and added the glitter.

 

 

 

Color Combo: Pear Pizzazz + Pool Party + Peach Passion +
So Saffron + Blushing Bride

 

Supplies
Stamps: Trendy Trees, Mon trésor (You're a Gem)
Cardstock: Peach Passion, So Saffron, Whisper White
Designer paper: Blushing Bride, Pool Party
Inks: Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz, Peach Passion
Punches: Modern Label, Circles, Scallop Circle, PInking Hearts border
Accessories: Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Big Shot adhesive sheets, Rhnestones,
Certainly Celery satin ribbon

 

 

 

My second project: Live Passionately

Retiring items: Notably Ornate set, Ornate Blossom stamp, Inspired by Nature set, Berry Blossoms DSP, Satin ribbon, Rhinestone brads, Stampin' Pastels, Eyelet Border punch

Technique: Poppin' Pastels, baker's twine lolly flower

Tip: The leaves of the flower were made with the center part of the Lattice die.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Inspired by Nature, Ornate Blossom, Notably Ornate
Cardstock: Whisper White, Calypso Coral, Lucky Limade, Early Espresso
Designer paper: Berry Blossoms
Inks: Early Espresso, Wisteria Wonder, Concord Crush
Accessories: 3 in. and 3-1/2 in. Circle dies, Clear rhinestone brads, Stampin' Pastels,
Certainly Celery satin ribbon, In Color polka dot brads, Wisteria Wonder baker's twine,
Circle punch, Big Shot adhesive sheet, Lattice die, Eyelet Border punch, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Designer Frames embossing folder, Ovals die, Wide Oval punch, Marker, Large pearls

 

 

My third project: Five Things I {Heart}

Retiring items: Just Eat Cake DSP, Adhesive sheets, Fine glitter, Varsity Numbers, Calendar Alphabet & Numbers set, Timeless Type alphabet dies, Empire Alphabet (Upper and Lower) sets, Simple Numbers die, Poppy Parade, Blushing Bride

Technique: I used a die to cut the adhesive sheet and then covered the sticky die-cut I created with fine glitter.

Tip: Use the peekaboo frames die on a scrapbook page to hide pictures or journaling.

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Varsity Numbers, Number It, Calendar Alphabet & Numbers, Circle Circus,
Empire Alphabet Upper and Lower
Cardstock: So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, Blushing Bride, Basic Black, Peach Passion
Designer paper: Just Eat Cake
Inks: Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, Poppy Parade, Baja Breeze, Peach Parfait
Big Shot: Peekaboo Frames die, Tasteful Trims die, Timeless Type Alphabet dies,
Scallop Squares die, 3-1/2 in. Circle die, Simple Numbers die
Accessories: Adhesive sheet, fine gold glitter, Poppy Parade ribbon, Circle punch, Markers,
Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, Corner Rounder punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Blossom punch, Chipboard

 

 

 

My fourth project: Hope Your Birthday Rocks!

Retiring items: Grunge Rock set, On Your Birthday set, Confetti White cardstock

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Grunge Rock, Pour ton anniversaire (On Your Birthday)
Cardstock: Confetti White
Inks: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Lucky Limeade, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Lucky Limeade baker's twine, Rhinestones

 

 

And now onto your next step on the tour, with Patty Bennett's wonderful creations!

 

Halloween at the Office

I made this page a couple of weeks ago when I printed a new batch of pictures. These pictures were taken at the office one year when the people from my department all decided at the last minute that we would dress up for Halloween. It was decided during the week, so we didn't have much time to get ready. I looked through my wardrobe to find ideas and found that I still had my sister's medieval dress with me.

The page was inspired by a Page Map sketch and came together pretty quickly because I used coordonated papers and some Halloween chipboard I had (the stars, the heart on the owl and the banners). The "boo," "eek," and the witch are black glittery foam stickers from Making Memories. The sparkly letters, silver sparkly stars and smaller silver letters are also Making Memories stickers.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned papers: Bo Bunny
Stickers: Making Memories
Clear Crackled Paint: Ranger
Marker: Stampin' Up! (Basic Black)
Ribbon: Basic Grey
Chipboard: Bo Bunny
Stamps: Calendar Alphabet & Numbers
Ink: Stampin' Up! (Cajun Craze)
Eyelets: Unknown

 

Memento Mall

*featuring the retiring Craft inks and rhinestone brads*

This project slept as a project to be finished at the bottom of a craft keeper for a couple of years, probably, before I got around to assembling it. I had pulled the pictures and papers one weekend that I was scrapbooking and started working on the page before I ran out of time, put the supplies away and... pretty much never got around to finishing it! I stumbled unto it when I put some order in my stash of patterned papers.

The pictures were taken at Memento Mall at the Orlando Leadership in 2009, hence the cute stuffed flamingo (I really should have gotten one!). The flower in the top corner is from the retired Pretties kit. I was dyed with ink and I covered the edges with Crystal Effects and then fine red glitter. I wished we would have carried the red Dazzling Details back then, it would have made my job a whole lot easier!! On top of the flower, I used a round piece of chipboard from an old alphabet set. I covered the circle letter with patterned paper and cut the center off with an exacto knife. I then added white embossing powder on the letter itself and placed it back in the chipboard piece. The other letters were all covered with Craft ink (Real Red and Tempting Turquoise) and embossing powder (clear and Iridescent Ice). The brackets were covered with Basic Black Craft ink.

I used some old sticky cuts for the flowers, which I covered with fine glitter in matching colors. I added a crochet flower with a rhinestone brad in the center and handwrote my journaling with a black marker.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Cardstock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise
Inks: Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black
Designer paper: Pink Flamingo
Accessories: Crochet flower, rhinestone brad, fine glitter, Sweet sticky cuts,
Chipboard letters, Pretties kit (flower), Crystal Effects,
Embossing powder (Clear, Iridescent Ice)

 

Queens of Art

*featuring retiring Spencerian Alphabet (Upper and Lower) and Grunge Rock sets, three-way flower punch, adhesive sheets*

This is a page I presented at a home workshop two weeks ago. The guests are avid scrapbookers and I wanted to show them ideas on how to use the fabric on their pages. One flower is a pompom flower, the second one was made with a fabric yoyo and the Tasteful Trims die and the third one uses the retiring adhesive sheets.

That was a fun page to make. The picture is a team picture we took when we all attended the Quebec City Regionals a few years ago (hence the title, which is my team's name).

The papers, fabrics and buttons all come from the Twitterpated line, from the Occasions mini. You'll notice I used the Lattice die at the bottom of the page, decorated the center with buttons and recycled the center pieces to make the leaves on my top flower! Neat, huh?

The title was stamped using the Spencerian Alphabet Upper and Lower sets. So sad to see this one go so fast! Such a beautiful alpha set... I also used the Grunge Rock to add a crown in the center of the title and the "No. 1" at the right of the picture. I rolled the Very Vintage wheel on the side of the cardstock and added two rows of stitching using my unmounted In Stitches wheel as well.

Happy National Scrapbooking Month!

 

 

Inspiration: April Page Map Sketch

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Very Vintage wheel, In Stitches wheel, Spencerian Alphabet Upper,
Spencerian Alphabet Lower
Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz
Designer paper: Twitterpated
Inks: Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Versamark
Big Shot: Framelits, Edgelits, embossing folder, Lattice, Circles die
Accessories: Twitterpated buttons, marker, Twitterpated fabrics, Brights buttons,
Silver embossing powder, Circle punch, Summer Smooches brad, three-way flower punch,
adhesive sheets

 

Knock Knock

This is a second page I prepared to show at my home workshop. I didn't make this page during my presentation, I just pulled the finished project to show the Vintage Attic line of products. I literally put this page together in an hour. Thanks to the matching products, everything came together very quickly. I also used a page published in the March edition of the Scrapbook Trends magazine as inspiration. The picture was taken when my sister went to Europe last year. The picture seemed perfect to go with the shabby chic vintage feel of those papers.

The journaling spot embellishments are my favorite part. They are made of thick cardstock and they are gorgeous.

To create my title, I used the Billboard die. I matted my picture with one of the die-cuts and added the title at the bottom. Another element of the Vintage Attic suite is the matching stamp set, which I used to stamp and emboss the umbrella at the bottom of the page. I then used my paper cutter to create a frame out of patterned paper to put around the umbrella, held in place with staples. On the page, the original scrapbooker had framed two sides of her picture with twine, which I thought looked really cool, but it didn't really work with the placement of my picture, so I decided to recreate the look around the frame at the bottom instead.

I used multiple buttons to decorate the page (remember, you can get some for free during SAB, so you can go crazy and put them everywhere!), including a big button from the retired Spice Cake collection, which fit very nicely on one of the scallop circle die-cuts. I threaded it with matching Pool Party twine before adding it to the page.

All I need to add is the date and place on the banner seen on the die-cut, but I need to ask my sister where exactly the picture was taken first. I think it might be when she visited the Pisa tower, but I want to make sure.

Toodle-do!

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Grenier antique (Rue des fleurs)
Cardstock: Soft Suede, Daffodil Delight
Patterned paper: Vintage Attic
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Vintage Attic die-cuts, Embossing powder, staples,
Pool Party baker's twine, Billboard die, buttons, Tasteful Trims die

 

Lace Butterfly Minialbum

SAB countdown: 8 days left

If you are not a member of my hostess club, this is the project you've missed last month! It was inspired by something Missy Shipman shared at Leadership. The inside was different from any minialbum I had ever seen or done before and I thought she had used the SAB supplies so beautiful. My version evolved a little bit as I was pulling it together but Missy's project was definitely the starting point for it.

We used the Beautiful Butterflies die twice: once on pink patterned paper (from the Everyday Enchantment SAB pack) and a second time on Very Vanilla cardstock. The vanilla butterfly was then run through the Big Shot using the Paper Doily die to create a lacy overlay. My reason for die-cutting the doily second instead of first? Less holes to empty out!!

The center of the butterfly was decorated with a stamped flower from the Fresh Vintage SAB set, which was stamped in Pear Pizzazz, die-cut, accented with pearls and popped up in the center of the butterfly. The background was die-cut and matted using the Labels collection Framelits and we distressed the edges a bit using the Cutting kit. The corner of the Soft Suede cardtock was stamped with the flourish from the Fresh Vintage set.

The edge was decorated with a piece of paper that was die-cut and embossed using the Edgelits and matching embossing folders sold in the Occasions mini. One of my fave new product that I already cannot live without. I added a piece of organza ribbon from the Everyday Enchantment embellishment pack. The back of the min-album was dry-embossed using a folder and the BIg Shot as well.

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Fresh Vintage
Cardstock: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
Design papers: Everyday Enchantment
Inks: Pear Pizzazz, Soft Suede
Big SHot: Labels Collection Framelits, Paper Doily die, Edgelits, embossing folders
Accessories: Pearls, Everyday Enchantment ribbon and brad (SAB), Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Key to my Heart

SAB countdown: 11 days left

I had a home workshop last week with a crowd of scrapbookers, so today I am sharing a page I had designed for them using some of the SAB supplies.

I started by showing them how to use the SImply Score to create a frame around the page, on Crumb Cake cardstock. Then, I used the Stamp-a-Ma-Jig to add crowns in each corner using the Elementary Elegance SAB set, and added pearls on each crown. I then embossed the frame from the same set with Pewter powder on Early Espresso cardstock, cut it out with a circle cutter and punched the middle out using the Curly Label punch. Underneath, I layered a Pool Party cardstock on which I had stamped the words "Key to my Heart," from the You're a Gem stamp set.

Since the Curly Label punch was already out, I decided to use it to create a decorative border under a strip of patterned paper from the Everyday Enchantment paper pack. (Great way to use cardstock scraps!) I then added organza ribbon from the Everyday Enchantment embellishment pack.

For the center of the page, I layered a piece of patterned paper over a piece of Vanilla cardstock. The patterned paper was sprayed with the Log Cabin Smooch Spritz using the Mostly Vintage stencil (which comes in a pack of two, and I used the positive mask stencil on my project, held in place with Dotto). I embellished the center of the stenciled image using a brad from the Everyday Enchantment embellishment pack.

At the top left of the page, I stamped the word "Love" and the matching sentence from the Outlined Occasions SAB set. The first word was embossed with Pewter powder and colored with a Poppy Parade marker.

To finish off, I used the Paper Doily die to add a frill at the edge of my picture.

I was very happy with how the page turned out (but I'm in love with those patterned papers, so I might be biased) and even more so after one of the guests told me this was hands down the best SU! page she had ever seen! So sweet!

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Il faut bien le dire (Outlined Occasions),
Élégance élémentaire (Elementary Elegance), Mon trésor (You're a Gem)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pool Party
Designer paper: Everyday Enchantment
Inks: Versamark, Early Espresso
Accessories: Curly Label punch, Everyday Enchantment embellishment pack (ribbons and brads),
Circle cutter, Pewter embossing powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Log Cabin Smooch spray,¨
Mostly Vintage stencils, Poppy Parade marker, Pearls, Simply Scored, Paper Doily die

 

Kids!!!

I love to buy magazines of all sorts, especially crafting magazines. Truthfully, though, while I read them all, I don't really use them for inspiration as much as I should. A while ago, I went through the whole stack to try and organize them. I gave some away, and I put some aside with little post-it notes of projects I wanted to CASE. This page is inspired by one of the projects I had flagged. 12 x 12 is usually my size of choice, mainly because by sticking to one format, I can have all of my pages pertaining to one subject in the same album, but I do love to switch format once in a while for stand-alone pictures.

The original page was in shades of pink and blue. My color combo was mainly dictated by the pictures and my stash of retired cardstock, which I'd like to slowly deplete. That is how I ended up pairing Cranberry Crisp (remember that color? First year of In Colors...) with Kiwi Kiss, Bermuda Bay and Marigold Morning.

To make the big scallops at the bottom of the page, I drew a pencil line and used my Circle Coluzzle to cut half-circles following that line. I then picked a stamp from the Circle Circus set and added an image in each scallop. I used this set on the Marigold Morning cardstock as well, and I punched the bottom edge of that cardstock using the Spirals punch.

The title gave me a little bit of grief. I was looking through my rub-ons and stickers to find something suitable to create the title when I stumbled unto a kit of sticky rub-on letters that you cover with glitter. The glitter in the pack included green, teal and copper, so I thought it would work perfectly. Anyway, I don't know it those are old and losing their "sticky" over time, but I couldn't get the glitter to cover half of them. I also had trouble getting them to stay down, so some of the letters either moved or even ripped the cardstock off. Very disappointing! To try and salvage the letters, I pulled out my Pearl Ex powders, found matching colors and rubbed the pigment on the letters using a dry brush, which helped some.

Notice the scallop border of the left edge of my top picture? Those were stamped using the doily from the Kindness Matters set, which is one of the current SAB offerings.

 

 

Color Combo: Marigold Morning + Cranberry Crisp + Bermuda Bay + Kiwi Kiss

 

Supplies
Stamps: Circle Circus, Kindness Matters
Cardstock: Marigold Morning, Kiwi Kiss, Bermuda Bay, Cranberry Crisp
Inks: Cranberry Crisp, Marigold Morning
Accessories: Circle Coluzzle, Pearls, Chipboard stickers, Bermuda Bay polka dot ribbon,
stitching rub-on, Letter rub-ons, glitter, Pearl Ex, Markers, Letter stickers, Spirals punch,
glittered chipboard, Scallop Edge punch, white gel pen, Corner Rounder punch

 

London at Night

When I received the new Simply Scrappin' from the Occasions mini, it inspired me to do some scrapbooking. I seem to have a pattern where I get so involved with Christmas projects at the end of fall that I don't get any scrapbooking done at all for months and then when January rolls around, I want to work on something different so I get inspired to crank out pages.

This page was made with a picture that my sister took when she went to London to visit a friend who was studying there. I thought the colors in the picture matched the colors of the kit nicely, and I used one of the February Page Maps sketches as additional inspiration.

I had first planned on adding my title to the right side of my picture, but when the letters moved on the page and created sort of an arc, I thought they would look better as a banner at the top. You can see I used the awesome Letter It set to create the first part of the title, and I completed the rest using the Spencerian Lower Alphabet. I embossed the words with the Pewter embossing powder (which is being carried over from the Holidays mini) and I found the letters didn't pop enough on the patterned paper so I rubbed some White Frost shimmer paint over it using a sponge dauber.

The cute little yellow tickets are from the Vintage Attic journaling blocks kit. Aren't they darling? I didn't think they would be this mini, which makes them even cuter! They were just the perfect touch to finish this page.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Spencerian Alphabet Lower, Letter It, Merci beaucoup,
Everything Eleanor, Textured wheel
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Basic Grey
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Spring Fever
Inks: Versamark, Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Buttons, Pewter embossing powder, brads, Vintage Attic journaling blocks,
White embossing powder, markers, rhinestones, Stampin' Dimensionals,
Scallop Ribbon punch, White Frost shimmer paint, dauber

 

December Creative Crew #1 - Inspire. Create. Share.

I cannot believe it is already my last month on the Creative Crew team. The four months sure flew by!

This month's challenges are centered around a single colour combo you must pick yourself and use on all four of your projects. I personally settled my choice on Concord Crush + Lucky Limeade + Island Indigo + Rose red.

For one of the challenges, we had the choice to make a project other than a card of our choice, so I knew I wanted to make a SUO page. I looked through my pictures and when I found this one of me taken in front of the main stage at the 2009 convention, I thought the colours would work just perfectly. I always try to take a picture of myself in front of the main stage when I go to an event and I use that picture as the front page of my album when I scrapbook the pictures of my trip.

I decided to use the big block from the decor as inspiration to create the title. I also wanted to mimick the different fonts, so I pulled out three different alphabet sets (Empire, Spencerian and Sweet Shoppe) and embossed them with white powder to get a crisp look. I added mini silver brads on each side of the words and I stamped the background with stamps that mimicked the patterns on the stage decor.

The design was inspired by a Page Map sketch. I die-cut a strip of silver glimmer paper with the Tasteful Trims die and added rhinestones on the scallops. I used the glimmer paper to add the date to my page as well, die-cutting the numbers using the Timeless Type Alphabet.

The bottom of the page was wheeled using the Very Vintage wheel and I stamped the flourish from the Baroque Motifs set in the corner. I added a stenciled image in the corner using the Mostly Vintage stencil, a dauber and some Champagne Mist shimmer paint, plus a few rhinestones to embellish.

I layered flowers cut out of different Designer papers that were die-cut using the Big Shot. The center was decorated with a white-embossed flower from the Baroque Motifs set and layered button on top, held in place with a thin strip of silver glimmer paper.

I added a bow made out of Rose Red seam binding and hung a key charm from it, on which I added a matching brad. Two Island Indigo polka dot brads holding a mini tag in place finished the look.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Empire Lower Alphabet, Spencerian Lower Alphabet,
Sweet Shoppe Lower Alphabet, SImple Shapes, Very Vintage wheel
Cardstock: Concord Crush, Rose Red, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White,
In Colors 2011-2012 DSP
Inks: Versamark, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Concord Crush, Rose Red
Accessories: White embossing powder, Key charm, Rose Red seam binding,
Mostly Vintage stencil, FLower die, buttons, rhinestones, silver glimmer paper,
Tasteful Trims die, mini silver brads, polka dot brads,
Champagne Mist shimmer paint, Mini Tag punch

 

November Creative Crew #4 - The Beekeeper

This is the third project I created for the Creative Crew gallery on Splitcoast Stampers. You can see my original post with the challenges details here.

I'm leaving Christmas behind today and sharing something I haven't shared in a little while, now - a scrapbooking page! My scrapbook album tends to get pushed on the backburner in the fall, since I have a ton of cards and gifts to get ready. The CC challenge was a great excuse to get a page done in between the rest.

The challenge was to turn the library pocket concept into a full page. I looked through my pictures for something that would work and when I found those pics that were snapped before a concert, I thought I could use the pocket to slide the tickets and set list in. Perfect!

Those are old pictures - I can't believe they go all the way back to 2005 (as per the ticket date) and hadn't been scrapbooked yet! I could never really find the right sketch or inspiration for them, and I am glad I waited because the Pocketful of Posies DSP worked beautifully with them. Tori's tour was for her Beekeeper album and if you look closely at the bottom paper, it looks just like beehives! I handcut the bottom following the hexagon shapes and I added colorful brads in the bottom row. The top was punched with the Scallop Edge punch and turned over to reveal the backside of the paper. I punched holes and threaded a piece of Wisteria Wonder ribbon, then added pearls in between.

The title was created in parts with the Big Shot (Timeless Type and Simple Numbers dies) and in parts with stamps (Empire Alphabet Lower and Letter It). The first letter was handcut and glued in one of our big Spice Cake buttons. The "Os" were decorated with a In Color polka dot brad and a Designer button, and I also added Dazzling Details on the white rain drops printed on the background paper.

The paper strip I was left with after using the Scallop Border punch on the pocket was glued at the top of my page and held in place with mini silver brads. (Have you noticed those in the catalogue? They are new and they are great! They're smaller than our regular brads and fit in every tiny little nooks.)

Finally, I created a tag on which I handwrote my journaling on one side and printed the set list from the show on patterned paper that I glued to the other side.

Hope you like this one as much as I do!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Empire Alphabet Lower, Letter It
Cardstock: Perfect Plum, Wisteria Wonder, More Mustard, Rich Razzleberry,
Elegant Eggplant, Pocketful of Posies DSP, In colors DSP
Big Shot: Simple Numbers dies, Timeless Type dies
Accessories: Dazzling Details, Spice Cake button, Pearls, ribbons, brads, button, white gel pen,
Curly Label punch, Scallop Edge punch, mini silver brads, Corner Rounder punch

  

Creative Crew #3 - Rolled Cake

For my third Creative Crew challenge, which was to use the Domestic Goddess papers. The cooking theme of the papers inspired me to make a page about my mom's famous rolled cake. (And before anyone asks, no, I don't have an English version of the recipe...) The overall theme for the September challenges was transformation and drawing inspiration from somewhere and turning it into something SUO (Stampin' Up! only), so I leafed through an old copy of Scrapbooks Etc. and jotted down ideas that I wanted to try (tabs on side of picture, stitching around elements, heart chipboard).

I used one of the sheets of papers from the pack as is and decorated the bottom with a row of ustensils cutted out of another sheet. At the top, I added a piece of ruffle ribbon and used a windowpane on at as a ribbon charm, then glued a dotted brad on it using Dimensional foams. I printed the recipe using my printer and the RGB codes to make it match the paper. I printed the ingredients and instructions separately, so that I wouldn't have one big, bulky panel on my page. It allowed me to mat the two panels in different colours and use my border and corner punches on one of them. I added handstitching on both panels using yellow embroidery floss. I did a continuous stitch on one and little dashes on the other. I also added pearls between each scallops on the border. I covered a chipboard heart with Basic Grey ink and added Dazzling Details (our new glitter glue from the mini) on the top to mimick icing. The title was created using the Just Perfect Alphabet and the Timeless Type die. I added some white chalk on the grey die-cut letters to mimick sugar and a bit of Dazzling Details as well, and the Just Perfect letters were punched with the 1/2 Circle punch and added on punched pennants. Those pennants were hung on a piece of silver glimmer paper rickrack, on which I added a Pool Party button from the Spice Cake collection. Before gluing the button in place, I ran a scallop ribbon punched strip of paper through the crimper and used sticky strip to glue the ruffle underneath the button. I also used two narrow strips of paper to thread the button as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Just Perfect Alphabet, Pennant Parade
Cardstock: Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Basic Grey, Whisper White
Designer papers: Domestic Goddess
Inks: Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, Calypso Coral
Big Shot: Tasteful Trims, Timeless Type dies
Punches: Scallop Ribbon, Pennant, Circle, Heart to Heart, Scallop Trim border and corner
Accessories: Spice Cake button, Stampin' Pastels, Dazzling Details, Silver glimmer paper, Pearls Basic Jewel, In Colors polka dot brad, Windowpane, Calypso Coral ribbon, needlework floss

 

Creative Crew #2 - Young and in Love

This is my second sample for the September Creative Crew challenges. This one was inspired by the scrapbooking sketch. When looking at it, I noticed it used all of the colours from the Paisley Petals paper pack, so this was my starting point for this design. I pulled out some pictures that matched those colours (professional pictures that were taken of my sister and her boyfriend a couple of years ago).

The challenge called for a vintage or steam punk look to go along with the sketch, so I inked everything on the page to give it a vintage feel. I even rubbed my black StazOn ink pad against the edges of the pictures. The paisley flowers were handcut from a sheet of patterned paper and since we have two of each design, I cut the corner flower from the second sheet and layered it over the first one to give it some dimension.

The words were all stamped with the You're a Gem set, since they all fitted the love theme ("dream your life, live your dream," "Always," "Key to my Heart," etc.) I also hung a key trinket on the tag to match the sentiment.

In the top corner, I used the Mostly Vintage stencil with some Bravo Burgundy ink and I added a filigree brad in the center. The date was added using chipboard numbers from the Merry Medley kit.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Letter It, Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Lower, Mon trésor (You're a Gem),
Calendar Alphabet, Weathered
Cardstock: Very Vanilla
Designer papers: Paisley Petals
Inks: Tango Tangerine, Black StazOn, Bravo Burgundy, Basic Grey, Marina Mist
Big Shot: Two Tags die
Punches: Corner Rounder, Scallop Circle, Circles, Word Window, Scallop Trim border and corner
Accessories: Filigree brad, Merry Medley On Board chipboard, Lace Border punch,
Brads, Daubers, Markers, Stampin' Dimensionals, Button, Victoria lace trim,
Linen thread, Key trinket, Windowpane, Vanilla seam binding, Mostly Vintage stencil

 

Miam Miam

This is a fun page that I put together quickly a few weeks ago. It is about this strawberry jam-filled cake that my mom cooks that is favorite with the whole family. I don't think we've ever let a single piece go to waste!

You'll recognize my favorite die, Tasteful Trims, used at the bottom to do my cardstock strips. The last one (the big rickrack) was cut out of a sticky page and I covered it with yellow glitter. The title was done with Thickers that were already glittered like that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inkspirations #81 - At Bella World

  
 

 

 

I kept looking at this week's sketch and trying to decide from which angle I would approach it. I knew it could work for a card but couldn't decide which set to pair it with and then I thought maybe I could use it as a scrapbook sketch. Once I did, then it all came together very quickly. I remembered I had some pics Keesh had sent me from her visit in Toronto that I wanted to scrap and had a flash about some papers that had been in my stash for a while that would pair up very nicely with the pictures. The rest of the design just flowed very naturally. I wished things would always work out like that... You'll notice that I did a mirror image of the sketch to make sure I was facing the inside of the page on the picture.

The gorgeous flower ribbon is something that I brought back from my trip to Toronto last summer. I had seen it used in LOs published in magazine and thought it was beautiful and I was really excited to find some at a local store in Kingston on the way. I had been hoarding it up until now but thought it matched the style and colours of the papers beautifully. I added some pearls and a hatpin from the Pretties kit to the ribbon as well.

The title was created with some alphabet stickers and a grungeboard shape that was part of a number set. I remember when I first got this set (and also when I bought the Simple Numbers dies from SU!) wondering when I would ever get to use the @ symbol. I guess it just makes more sense if you're creating in English, to replace the word "at." In French, unless you are doing a card with a computer on it, there are not many uses for it. Anyway, when I decided that I wanted my title to be "At Bella World," I jumped at the chance to use that chipboard piece.

The lady between Keesh and I in the top picture is Emily, the store owner. She's just a hoot and she kept keeping a straight face while muttering stuff under her breath that would crack me up, as you can see in the picture. Funny, funny lady.

 

 

 

 

 

Come join the fun! Here is the LINK to our challenge blog, where you can share a link to your creation, and links to the other DT members' creations:

 

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Makeesha
Marisa
Renée

 

 

Supplies
Patterned papers: Bo Bunny (Jazmyne)
Accessories:  Alphabet stickers (American Crafts), Buttons (Autumn Leaves),
Ribbons (various sources), Pretties kit (SU!), white gel pen, Die-cuts (Making Memories,
Pink Paisley), Grungeboard (Tim Holtz), Brads (SU!), Fiber (Making Memories),
Rhinestones (SU!), glitter (SU!), Whisper White Craft ink (SU!)

 

Visit from the Other End of the World

It feels like I haven't stamped in ages! Mild exaggeration, but I haven't been in my stamp room in over a week. A few weeks ago, I bought a new bedroom furniture set and it was delivered to my place last week. Which meant I had to empty the whole room and then find a new place for everything. I am really pleased with the result and I owe a big thanks for my parents, who were a huge help in this endeavour. That being said, as much as I love my brand new bedroom, I am looking forward to slipping back into my favorite spot, i.e. behind my stamp desk!  I am expecting my Holidays mini preorder tomorrow and I really want to work on the DTGD challenges that are posted on SCS all through the week, but in the meantime, here's a pic of a project I made a couple of weeks ago.

I was in a scrapbooking mood and pulled out some pictures of Keesh and me that were taken last year when she visited and that she had sent me when she came back from her trip. This page came together quite quickly, as the patterned papers I used were already pretty full and I didn't have to add much to complete the page. I liked the top of one of the pages with the plane and I liked the bottom of another one, with the mail, so I used the cutter from the Cutting Kit to cut the first page in a wave pattern and glue it to the second one. Using alphabet stickers, I followed the wavy pattern on the paper to add my title.

To embellish the rest of the page, I used matching rub-ons (including some that I added directly to my picture) and some image that I handcut from the patterned papers. The sun is a die-cut from Fancy Pants Designs that I added to the page before gluing the title letters in place.

I like that we have the plane at the top for Keesh for flew all the way around the globe and the cute little car at the bottom since I drove all the way to Toronto. There was also a camera in the rub-ons, which was perfect to go with the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Prima Marketing Inc. (Road Trip)
Rub-Ons: Prima Marketing Inc. (Road Trip)
Aphabet stickers: American Crafts (Yellow and White Thickers),
My Mind's Eye (small striped letters)
Die-Cuts: Fancy Pants Designs
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Oops!

Just a silly page about how my sister mistakenly used a bottle opener on a twist cap a few Christmases ago. To add to the irony, she was the one who had bought the bottle as a gift to my parents. It was a bottle of maple cider, which we knew we weren't going to drink in one sitting. Oops...

I've used a mix of newer and older supplies on this page (also inspired by a Page Map sketch). The paper are from Basic Grey's latest Christmas line and so are the funky fabric brads, but the alphabet stickers, eyelets tags and ribbons are supplies I've had in my stash for a long time. The mistletoe branch was handcut from a patterned paper and I added pearls from the Pretties kit to it for dimension. The little snowman peeking from the side of the picture is also a pattern I handcut from one of the papers.

 

 
Inspiration: May Page Map sketch

 

Handmade in Senneterre

Here's another page I did during my scrapbooking blitz in May. There's a lady in my hometown that recycles wool sweater and turn them into mittens. I had those lovely papers that were perfect for this theme and that I had been waiting to use on a page. I like how the background houndstooth paper has just the right "winter" texture and that the bottom band I cut out of one of the paper has some mittens on it! To draw attention to that detail, I emptied a metal-rimmed tag and stitched the metal rim in place with some embroidery floss. I also used the floss to add a few stitches on edges.

The snowman is also an element I handcut from one of the pattern paper. I just loved his cheery little face so I really wanted to find a place for him in my scrapbook. There was a colored border at his feet, which made for awkward (I can never spell that word without looking it up!!) cutting so I rounded the bottom of the image and added glue and a bit of fake snow. The trees and snowflake were from the same paper, and I glued the paper snowflake to the center of a clear acrylic one and added it to the right of my title. The title was created entirely with letter stickers. I had to do a bit of creative cutting to get all of the letters I needed (cut off a "d" to turn it into an "a", use a "c" and add a line to turn it into an "e"). The brackets are the title were created with a punch. I handwrote my journaling, added a glittery chipboard flourish, some pearls to the border underneath the picture and decorative staples to the bottom border and I was done.

 

 

 
Inspiration: May Page Maps sketch

 

Inkspirations #72 - Chain Work

 
   
 

 
I was looking forward to this week's challenge, as the colours are absolutely stunning together. Perfect for a summery, nautical  or a masculine project, I find. I liked it so much I decided I wanted to make a page I could keep in my album using those colours.

I was looking at my stack of pictures and settled on the ones I had taken in Utah during the Riverton tour, which includes a peek at the warerhouse where our orders are packed and shipped from. The colour of the boxes sort of fitted with the Peach Parfait colour, which is how I decided on those pictures. The design was inspired by one of the May Page Maps sketches. Don't you like all those little ribbons on the border? Great way to use scraps and add pizzazz to a page.

I also reached for the Grunge Rock set, which I got in May during the Scrapbooking promotion. I used the argyle stamp to create a background, the "No. 1" in White ink and the "Real" stamp to create a dimensional accent. I was thinking of chain work and thought I could line up characters created with the All in the Family set, which I stamped tone on tone at the bottom of the page. I think it turned out pretty cute! Just a different way of using this set, without using watercoloring. I picked out an arrow from the Perfect Pair On Board chipboard set, covered it with Celery Craft ink, added clear embossing powder and then wrapped the middle part of the arrow with white baker's twine. The big letters were die-cut out of Peach Passion Designer paper (level 1 hostess pack) and covered with Crystal Effects for an epoxy letter look. At the top of the pictures, I added two matching paper ribbons and added some matching fabric brads from the Occasions mini over them.

I used another piece of paper from the same paper pack to create my journaling block. I trimmed it down to size, punched two of the corners with the corner rounder punch and the other side with the Spirals punch. I handwrote my journaling with a marker and added a Designer brad in the top corner. To make the details of the metal brad stand out more, I dipped the head of the brad in Not Quite Navy Craft ink and then wiped the extra ink off with a tissue. I dryed the ink with my embossing tool (be sure to use plyers to hold the brad, as the metal will get very hot!) before adding the brad to the page. I also used the distressing tool from the Cutting Kit to distress the edges of the Pear Pizzazz cardstock.

 

 

 
Inspirations: May Page Maps sketch
 
 
  

 

Come join the fun! Here is the LINK to our challenge blog, where you can share a link to your creation, and links to the other DT members' creations:

 

Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Kirsty
Lee-Anne
Makeesha
Marisa
Renée

 

 

Stampin' up! Supplies
Stamps: All in the Family, Grunge Rock, Calendar Alphabet & Numbers
Cardstock: Peach Parfait, Not Quite Navy, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White
Designer papers: In Colour DSP (hostess pack)
Inks: Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White
Punches: Spiral, Corner Rounder, Circles
Accessories: Brads, baker's twine, chipboard (Perfect Pair), clear embossing powder,
white gel pen, Stampin' Dimensionals, Crystal Effects, Designer brad, marker,
distressing tool, paper piercer and mat pack, Timeless Type Alphabet dies

 

Page Maps sketch: What to Do Next?

My sister seems to be making such a huge decision in this picture, but she's really just haming it up for the camera. The Jackpot papers (now retired) were just perfect for this 8½ x 8½ creation. I used a retired mini envelope pattern to create the envelope at right and I punched a heart out of red glimmer paper with the Full Heart punch and tied a knot made out of black satin ribbon over it. The insert was made with a piece of Vanilla cardstock on which I glued a scallop circle punched out of red patterned paper. I added a punched circle and a handcut chip (also from one of the patterned paper) in the center and handwrote "Pull" so that readers would know there's journaling in there.

I also used the red glimmer paper to create my title. I was going to use chipboard and had already pulled out all the letters I need, but then I thought I could cover the letter with the sparkly paper instead of using craft ink and once the letters were cut out, I decided I didn't need the chipboard letters underneath.

Tip: Use your chipboard letters as template to trace out titles out of patterned paper. The chipboard alphabet packs include various fonts, which will give you a variety of looks for your pages and by using the letters as template, you will not run out of letters to spell out words.

The chipboard alphabet didn't include any question mark (nor do most of the die-cut sets, I noticed...) so I had to use the only one I had available, which was from the Go Go Boots Alphabet die set (now retiring so get it while you can). It was a big smaller than the letters, so I decided to use the negative part of the paper. I also used the Go Go Boots Alphabet to create the first part of my title.

Since I had a heart on my pocket, I wanted to create a club so I looked through my chipboard pieces to see what I could use to make one. I finally settled on the leaves from the Perfect Pair set. I cut the top of the stem off, trimmed a leaf on a second chipboard piece and added it to my first piece using Crystal Effects. Then, I covered the whole thing with Crystal Effects and dunked glitter on it and put it aside to dry. Here's my advice to you: leave the extra glitter on top of the chipboard while the CE dries and pour it back into the container later. If you try to get the extra glitter off right away, the CE will drip! (Ask me how I know...)

To finish the page off, I added a heart epoxy brad from last year's mini and a row of sticky strip covered with clear chunky glitter (another item that'll be retiring with the current catalogue).

 

 
Inspiration: May Page Maps Sketch

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Papers: Jackpot DSP, red glimmer paper
Big Shot: Go Go Boots Alphabet dies
Punches: Full Heart, Corner Rounder, Circles, Scallop Circle
Accessories: Epoxy brad, glitter, Perfect Pair chipboard, black satin ribbon,
marker, sticky strip, chipboard letters

 

Page Maps Sketches: Funny Without Knowing It

One last page before the month of May rolls away. I am still working on the May Page Maps sketches, but I am afraid I am still one short. Not too worry, I'll just finish it in June and know that my scrapbook album is now ten pages bigger.

I had a funny story about my sister rolling around in my head and even though I didn't have a picture of this exact moment, I wanted to put it to paper, so I simply selected a random picture of her and made this page. I reached again for the Playful Polka Dots Simply Scrappin' kit. You'vseen quite a lot of this kit since it came out but it's just so fun and cheery, I just can't help but want to create with it. Which is good, because now that I've bought it, I might as well use it! (What a novel idea for a lot of us, right?...)

Here's the story behind the page: My sister wanted to tell us that she had met some Latino guys in the bus who spoke Spanish, but what actually came out when she told the story was that she had met guys who spoke Latin on the bus. I burst out laughing and was like, "Those were some smart guys you met there, conversing in Latin!" Needless to say, we teased her quite a bit about it and it's still a recurring joke even years later.

The page is pretty straightforward. I used a lot of die-cut pieces from the kit and a whole lot of brads - a quick, inexpensive way to embellish. The title was created with a mix of die-cut letters and stamped letters embossed with Tango Tangerine powder. At the bottom, I glued my letters on punched squares (3/4 Square punch) and added dotted lines with a marker to create an argyle pattern. I also used my markers to doodle around the flower petals, the letters and to write my journaling. The flower in the upper left corner was punched with our new three-way punch from the Summer mini and the right border was created by using the Spiral punch.

 

 

 

 
Inspiration: May Page Maps sketch

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Lower
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Playful Polka Dots
Designer papers: Brights Collection
Ink: Versamark
Punches: Three-way flower, Spiral, 3/4 Square, Corner Rounder
Big Shot: Billboard die, Simple Letters dies
Accessories: Markers, Springtime Vintage Flower, Stampin'Dimensionals,
Brads, Button, Wite baker's twine

 

Page Maps sketches: Tonic Sol-Fa

I've been working diligently on finishing all of the May Page Maps sketches and I am proud to report that I have finished eight out of the ten sketches so far. I'm not quite at the finish line, but I can't remember the last time I've produced so many pages in a month. Probably back in the days before I discovered stamping and card-making.

Anyway, the page I am sharing today was made with the Sunny Day SS kit, which I was happy to snag from the Clearance Rack. I *heart* using SS kits for pages and cards and it bottles my mind why I never sell any of those kits. The sketch had a row of circles on the left side, which I immediately associated with the Circle Circus set. Doesn't it look totally cheerful with all of those bright circles? Looking at my pictures, I also thought the pictures from the Tonic Sol-Fa show at convention were the perfect match to the papers. I was looking at the sticky die-cuts, trying to find a journaling spot in the bunch and when I saw the tickets, I thought, "Perfect!"

The title was stamped with the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet and embossed with the Tango Tangerine and Melon Mambo embossing powders. I added two borders from the die-cuts selection and a Hodgepodge Hardware metal frame around one of the Circle Circus images, on which I added the date.

If you are wondering where the heart charm comes from, it's actually a charm I recycled from my latest purchase. I splurged on a Guess handbag (this one here, but in pink), on which were hanging three metal charms. They were rubbing together and making a constant clicking sound which I found really annoying so I used plyers to take two of them off and kept it on my stamping desk, thinking I could use them on a project.

 

 
inspiration: Page Maps May sketch

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Circle Circus, Schoolbook Serif Alphabet
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Sunny Day
Inks: Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark
Accessories: Melon Mambo and Tango Tangerine embossing powders,
circle punches, rhinestones, Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, date stamp,
heart charm, markers, Stampin' Dimensionals

 

Imagine the Possibilities

First of all, happy National Scrapbooking month! I am so psyched that May is National scrapbooking month because then we see pages erupt everywhere, and even demos who are not usually big on scrapbooking are giving it a whirl, which gets me really pumped and inspired. So, this being said...

The page I am sharing today was created with the wonderful Playful Polka Dots SS kit from the Summer mini and will be the title page for my 2009 Leadership album. I have been focusing on scrapbooking lately since May is National Scrapbooking Month and I have decided to challenge myself to do all ten sketches published by Page Maps this month. Two down so far, let's see if I can make the remaining eight pages in the upcoming weeks...

I drew inspiration not only from the sketch for this page, but also from the Leadership logo as well. That's where I got the idea to doodle the vine with an Old Olive marker and add the Daffodil button between the two parts of my title. Spraking of which, it was created using the Schoolbook Serif Alphabet for the first word (the latest addition to my alphabet collection, a gift offered by SU! as a thank you for the work I submitted for publication) and the second part was created with the Just Perfect Alphabet. As its name suggest, it is just perfect, as the size is big enough to be visible on a 12x12 page but still small enough to stamp longer words like I did here. The Stamp-a-Ma-Jig is the key to suggest when lining up letters, even when working with clear-mounted stamps, if you really like things to be straight like I do. Althoguh the first word was not stamped directly on the page, but was stamped and embossed with the new Melon Mambo embossing powder on a sheet of Whisper White cardstock, handcut and glued on the page. The reason why I proceeded that way is that I wanted the letters to overlap the border of the patterned paper matted with cardstock and when you have so many layers, the stamping is not always crisp due to the layers, as you tend to get uninked spots close to the edges. Handcutting the letters allowed me to avoid this problem.

Tip: Still prefer to stamp directly on the project? Use markers in colors matching your inks to fill in the gaps in your image or letters, if there's any.

The flower was created with sticky die-cut petals from the Simply Scrappin' kit. I wanted a yellow centre to my flower but the sticky circles were all too big, so I used one of my circle punches to cut it to a smaller size and then added it to my flower, with a vintage brad on top. To make life easier on myself, I cut the prongs off of the brad and glued it in place with a glue dot instead (or Crystal Effects would also work nicely). I made sure to shape the petals a bit to give them dimensions and added Stampin' Dimensionals in the centre of each petal to keep them in place. I still thought the flower looked a little drab, so I pulled out the Champagne Mist shimmer paint and used my Aquapainter to add shimmer to the petals, a trick we learned at Leadership.

On my bottom strip, where I had used the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, I used the holes as a guide to pierce through the cardstock and used the Baker's twine from the Summer mini to add stitching to my project. The Page Maps sketch I was using had a mini banner on the left-hand side of the paper and wouldn't you know it, the SS kit also has banner stickers in it! (It was fate...)

 

 

 
 
 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Schoolbook Serif Alphabet, Just Perfect Alphabet
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Playful Polka Dots
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pumpkin pie
Inks: Pumpkin Pie, Versamark
Accessories: Circle punch, Melon Mambo embossing powder, Antique brads,
Designer buttons, Markers, White Baker's Twine, brads, Aquapainter,
Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch, Stampin' Dimensionals, Champagne Mist shimmer paint

 

Serendipity

The first year I attended Convention, I had the pleasure of running into Brent Steele in the lobby of the hotel and chatting with him for a little while. It was a big deal for me as he was head of the Creative team at the Home office. I asked him if we could take a picture together and you can see on it that I was pleased as punch to meet him.

The papers and accents I used on this page are from the brand new Playful Polka Dots SS kit. Isn't it sunny and cheerful? Better yet - the kit doesn't have any word on it, so you can use all of the pieces whether you scrap in French or in English!

The title was die-cut with the Timeless Type alphabet, my latest acquisition. And did you notice the cute orange flowers? Those were punched with the new three-way punch. I just had to purchase one to see those up close for myself. They are unlike any other punch I've tried before.

 

 
 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Broadsheet Alphabet
Cardstock: Rose Red
Simply Scrappin' Kit: Playful Polka Dots
Ink: Old Olive
Big Shot: Timeless Type Alphabet
Accessories: Build-a-Brad, Three-Way Punch, satin ribbon, stapler,
button, rhinestones, brads, markers

 

MDS Winner {Almost}

This picture was taken at convention two summers ago right after I had won the MDS. To say I was excited would be an understatement... I think the picture says it all... or maybe not.

The upcoming MDS had been announced at Leadership in 2009. Being that I am a scrapbooker, I was quite excited and curious about this new product and patiently waiting for it to become available. Somewhere in between the unveiling of the product and its launch, Quebec demonstrators were informed that the product would not be made available in Quebec. What a bummer... So then when I went to convention, I was hoping and praying that I could win a copy during Prize Patrol because it was the only way I would be able to get it for myself. I'm sure I must have annoyed some of my traveling buddies because I kept on repeating that Orange would be the winning color for MDS.

So convention rolled around and on the very first morning, they showed the MDS to us, then announced they would be giving some away. On with the drum rolls and - ta-da! Orange wins! I jump up and down, we take the picture you see below and then... they announce that the MDS isn't quite ready to hand out just yet but should be in a month or so so they say they'll write down the name and adress of the winners and send it to us when it's ready.

Can you guess the rest? Yup - my prize cannot be mailed to me in Quebec. I was SOO bummed! I may even have pouted a little. SU! did come through by offering me a shopping spree in the amount of the MDS, which was a very substantial prize and which allowed me to get the Simple Letters die for free.

Made for a good scrapbook page...

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Success Projects: 1920s

This is the third page I created for the Stampin' Success publication. This time, I decided to try a 8½ x 11 page to showcase a different page size. The picture was taken at our office party. I was part of the planning committee last year, along with the two other ladies you see with me in the pic. The theme was the 1920s, hence the costumes.

I wanted to create  a vintage feel, so I used a piece of First Edition paper in the background. I cut a circle out of Pear Pizzazz polka dot paper (from the In Color Hostess pack) and then layered a couple of cardstock strips over it. The Vanilla one was used as a journaling block, and I stamped the Crumb Cake one with the In Stitches wheel. I pulled out a chipboard scallop border from the Mix & Match set and covered it with Pink Pirouette Craft ink, then added Iridescent Ice embossing powder on top. A Sweet Stitches fabric brad was added to the cardstock strip.

The flowers were colored and shaded with Watercolor Wonder crayons right on the rubber, spritzed with water and stamped on Very Vanilla cardstock. It gives the flower a very nice, soft watercolor effect. I then handcut the two flowers and glued the big one at the left of the journaling block.

To create the title, I cut numbers out of sticky sheets using the Simple Numbers die. Before glueing them to the page, I slipped the stem of the long flower through the "0", glued it down and then I covered the numbers with fine Chocolate glitter. The sparkly title looks SO nice in person, I just love it! 

I wanted to add the date somewhere and as I was looking for an idea for a small tag or something, I came across a scallop circle that was leftover from the last time I had used the Banner die. The nice thing about those scallop circles is that they are already scored, since the idea is to glue a few together at the bottom of the pennant, so I figured I could just fold one in half over my picture and handwrite the info on it. Granted, you could also use your scallop circle punch and make the score line yourself, but the die-cut version also has a nice perforated circle border as well. I added a third watercolored flower on it as well.

Once I was done, I realized I had forgotten a very important 1920s accessory: pearls!!!! Can't do a 1920s page without pearls... So I added some between each scallop on the tab, on the chipboard banner and an assortment of sizes in the middle of my big flower as well.

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Tendresse (Love & Care), In Stitches wheel
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Pear Pizzazz
Designer paper: In Color Hostess pack, First Edition
Inks: Early Espresso, Petite Pirouette (Craft)
Big Shot: Simple Numbers dies, Pennant die
Accessories: Watercolor Wonder crayons, Pearls Basic Jewels, Chocolate fine glitter,
Sweet Stitches fabric brad, Early Espresso marker, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sticky sheets,
Mix & Match chipboard, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Circle Scissors Plus

 

Stampin' Success Projects: Nature

This is the second page that was published in the Stampin' Success. I started by stamping the stems from the Love & Care set in Craft ink on the Crumb Cake cardstock. Then, I stamped the big flower in Very Vanilla ink six times and handcut the flowers to create a scallop border at the bottom of the page. I really like how that detail turned out!

I reached for the Tasteful Trims die again and cut out eight scallop strips out of Pear Pizzazz cardstock. On half of those strips, I stamped a small flower in each scallop (which, as you can see, is just the right size to fit perfectly). I layered those on the page and then added ribbon at the top. I wanted to use twill but I thought it looked too narrow, so I glued down two pieces of twill on the page and hid the seam with a piece of Vanilla taffeta ribbon. I then used linen thread to tie a Vanilla button around the ribbons, and added a pearl in the middle of the button.

I matted my picture with a piece of Early Espresso cardstock torn at the bottom. I then die-cut my title out of Very Vanilla cardstock using the Go Go Boots alphabet (upper-case letters) and added backstitch around the letters using linen thread. I really like the texture it adds to the page.

Finally, I covered a chipboard tag from the Mix & Match collection with Very Vanilla cardstock and stamped a flower in Pear Pizzazz in the background. I then added my quote by stamping the first word with the Broadsheet Alphabet and the Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Lower, and then handwrote the rest with a marker. The quote translates to something like this: "The day humans will not have room for nature anymore, maybe Nature will not have room for them anymore, either." I added a Big Designer button from the Spring Vintage kit on which I had tied a piece of Vanilla taffeta ribbon.

Finally, I pulled a chipboard tree from the same On Board set and I covered the trunk with Early Espresso Craft ink and the leaves with patterned paper from the In Color hostess paper pack.

As you can see, I used the same color combo as before on this page, but omitted the Blushing Bride to keep with the nature theme.

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Broadsheet Alphabet, Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Lower, Tendresse (Love & Care)
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla
Designer papers: In Color Hostess Paper Pack
Inks: Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Big Shot: Go Go Boots Alphabet dies, Tasteful Trims die
Accessories: Mix & Match On Board chipabord, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon,
Twill, Hemp twine, Neutrals Designer buttons, Springtime Vintage buttons,
Pearl Basic Jewels, paper piercing tool

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Success Projects: Love with a Capital L

Some of you know by now that I was lucky enough to have my work featured in the April issue of the Stampin' Success, the magazine SU! publishes for their demonstrators each month. I had been asked last November if I was interested in creating a few projects for publication. The answer was a resounding yes. I've been not-so-patiently waiting for the magazine to be posted on the demonstrator Website and now that it is, I can not only share the great news, but also some pictures of the pages I have created for SU!

The only guidelines I had to follow was to create scrapbook pages that were 8x8 or bigger, use the stamp set they had sent me (Love & Care, an upcoming hostess set from the Summer mini) and to use the same color combo on all pages. That last part was a bit tricky, because I usually select pictures first and colours second, to ensure that the colours really complement the pictures. I knew I wanted to use Early Espresso paired with Blushing Bride and Pear Pizzazz because this combo has been a favorite of mine ever since I made that Holidays Tradition mini album and I figured I could make it work for various themes.

The first pictures I pulled out were an easy choice. My sister and her boyfriend had a photo session with a professional photographer last year and the resulting shots are just awesome. I had some black and white pictures of them already printed, so I decided I would make a "Love with a Capital L" page. The strangest of coincidence is that I hadn't really looked all that closely at the sentiments included in the stamp set because I wasn't making cards, but it turns out that one of them says, "Avec amour." With the help of my markers, I turned the two words around to get "Amour avec" and completed the rest ("un grand A") using the Sweet Shoppe Alphabet and the Go Go Boots Alphabet dies. Don't you just love it when things work out like that? The oval frame comes from the Notably Ornate set and I also used markers to ink only the frame and omit the words inside. I used the second frame from the same set to create the insert on which I handwrote my journaling and that was slid inside the pocket.

The heart and arrow are chipboard pieces from the On Board collection. The arrow was covered with Celery Craft ink and embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. The heart was covered with patterned paper from the In Colors hostess paper pack and then I added piercing all around and created a scallop border using the Dotted Scallop Trim punch and crimper. The die-cut A was covered with Crystal Effects to give it more volume.

The pocket was created with the Top Note die. I folded a piece of Espresso cardstock in half and ran it through the BIg Shot to create the pocket, and then I die-cut two pieces of patterned paper and glue them on the back and on the front of the pocket. I added some Pear Pizzazz ribbon and a Vintage brad decorated with a pearl.

Tip: To make sure the pearl stays in place on the metal brad, I recommend adding a drop of Crystal Effects or else the pearl will shift around or even fall off the brad when you handle the project.

 The flowery paper was created with the Chalkboard technique. I started with Early Espresso cardstock, on which I stamped the flowers and leaves in Whisper White Craft ink and then rubbed some pastels on the images to color them, using multiple colors to add shading. As you can see, the pastels pop up very nicely on the dark background. I did spray the cardstock with a fixative once I was done to make sure it wouldn't smudge. I added a border that was die-cut with the Tasteful Trims die and embellished with pearls.

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Tendresse (Love & Care), Déco noble (Notably Ornate), Sweet Shoppe Alphabet Lower
Cardstock: Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Vellum
Designer papers: In Color Hostess Paper Pack
Inks: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Certainly Celery (Craft)
Big Shot: Top Note die, Go Go Boots Alphabet, Scallop Circles
Punches: Corner Rounder, Heart to Heart, Dotted Scallop Trim, Scallop Trim, Wide Oval
Accessories: On Board chipboard, Iridescent Ice powder, Crimper,
Crystal Effects, Stampin' Pastels, Daubers, Pear Pizzazz ribbon,
Vintage brads, Pearls, Markers, Paper Piercer

 

Focus on SAB: Ice Cream Parlor Suite

At my last club meeting, I taught the Faux Mosaic technique and we made a scrapbook page, for a change. I pulled out the Ice Cream Parlor papers, die-cuts, buttons and ribbon to create this page here. I also used the Bliss stamp set to create the title and background.

The Faux Mosaic technique is a great way to use paper scraps. You can use scraps cut in random shapes to look like broken tiles or, as is shown here, use a square punch to create a border. The trick to make life easy on yourself is to use a piece of sticky sheet. You can apply your tiles without having to add adhesive to your paper by just gluing it to the sticky sheet and then you fill in the empty space with either embossing powder (shown here) or glitter to create the grout. You can even add Crystal Effects to your paper to create that glossy tile look (although we didn't at the club meeting because of the long drying time involved when using Crystal Effects).

See that yellow pocket with the journaling tag? It was actually created with the Pillow Box die. I just love that trick because it allows me to create pockets in a flash and to use that die more often than I normally would. To get the box to lie flat, you simple cut the bottom on one side out, and then you create a new straight scoring line at the bottom of the other half, which you will fold over to create the bottom of your pocket. The top can be decorated or punched any way you want, and then you can just slide a piece of cardstock  decorated with a punched tab to add your journaling on inside the pocket.

Speaking of journaling, since the title says "Bliss," I used this picture of my mom eating ice cream when she visited last summer and the journaling on my tag reads, "Ice cream + chocolat + beautiful summer day = pure bliss."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Joie (SAB)
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Pacific Point
Designer papers and die-cuts: Ice Cream Parlor
Inks: Melon Mambo, Versamark
Punches: 3/4 Square, Wide Oval, Circle Tab
Big Shot: Pillow Box die, Petal Cone die (banner)
Accessories: Ice Cream Parlor buttons and ribbon, Daffodil pompom trim, Brads,
Crystal Effects, Sticky sheet, Gold embossing powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Markers

 

M for Milan

I was teaching a scrapbooking class today and this is one of the projects we made. With the wonderfully extensive Sew Suite line, it's really easy to put together a detailed project in no time.

As you can see, we played with chipboard, Craft ink, embossing, the In Stitches wheel, the Dotted Lines wheel and the Big Shot. And of course, those darling pompoms!

 

 
 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Pattern Pieces, Dotted Lines wheel, In Stitches wheel, Button Button
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise
Designer Papers: Sew Suite
Inks: Versamark, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi
Big Shot: Simple Letters alphabet
Accessories: Clear embossing powder, Circle punches,
Pompom trim, Decorative Label punch, Markers