waiting for the spring... while it's still snowing outside

Last weekend I did a Stampin'Up! party in my husbands hometown Sudbury. It's always makes me nervous to pack for this event. Just trying to make sure that I have all the supplies and also trying to fit all my materials into one bag, rather than hauling the whole craft room with me.

Since I knew there are card makers of different experience level, I decided to keep things simple for the first card. Just using stamps, no Big Shot needed. This is a great way to get people interested in Stampin'Up! I find if you bring all the bells and whistles, people may find it too complex and expensive to get started, but if you only need one stamp set and few ink pads and white card stock... what's to stop you from getting started.

The card uses 'Swirly Birds' stamp set. Just use two different tones of blues for the bird, kite and sentiment. The orange is Tangerine Tango and the yellow is So Saffron. The sentiment is from 'Sunshine sayings' stamp set. I did the 'sunshine' on a separate banner just because the original word wasn't stamped straight, so I had to cover it somehow :-)

Here is an other card made with the same 'swirly bird' stamp set. This stamp set is SO versatile!!

The  colours on this card are Peekaboo Peach, Dapper Denim, Watermelon Wonder and Mint Macaron. The pattern paper is from the Up&Away Sale-a-Bration designers paper. 

Christmas is DEFINiTELY not quiet time....

Okay, I had ALL the GOOD intentions of doing posts during the Xmas holidays... but you know what happens often with good intentions... LOL

Tom and I spent our holidays in Sudbury, and the week prior I was busy planning the meals and getting all the supplies. And all of a sudden it was here - Christmas!

So I packed a bag of books, magazines and some pre-prepped craft items, that I was SUPPOSED to work on during the holidays, and post pictures in here... guess if I even opened that bag? NOPE!

So here I am, back in Ottawa, unpacking bags and finding all kinds of goodies. Okay, I still need to take pictures of them. There are some technique tricks coming... so keep your eyes open.

But, for now, I have a WONDERFUL card that was inspired by Valerie Moody.

This card was done by using You Lift Me Up and Butterfly Basics stamp sets. The colours are Crumb Cake (ink and card stock), Whisper White (card stock), Early Espresso (ink), Real Red (ink) and Soft Sky (ink).

The top 'rip' was cut using various Leaflets Framelits pieces. I believe in the original version she used the Detailed Floral Thinlints to create the edge. Another great framelit to use in this would be the So Detailed Thinlits from the new occasions catalogue... hmm... where is my wishlist....

The balloons and clouds were cut out using Up & Away thinlits and the balloons were popped up by using dimensionals. I sponged the Soft Sky ink using on top of the 'chicken wire' stamped image (probably should have done it first and layer the stamp on top, as the chicken wire image got smudged a bit).

Sneak Peek - Up and Away

If you know me, you know that 

I LOVE HOT AIR BALLOONS!

So no-one could have been happier than I was seeing, that there was a stamp set with MATCHING FRAMELITS with Hot Air Balloons in the upcoming Occasions catalogue!!

Since I attended the Stampin'Up! OnStage event in Ottawa earlier this fall, I was able to do a pre-pre-order of certain sets, and this bundle was among the things we were able to order.

For this card I got inspiration from a fellow Stampin'Up! demonstrator Pamela Parker. 

The stamp set is called 'Lift me Up' and the matching framelits are Up & Away. The colours in this card are Blushing Bride (Card Stock and Glimmer Paper and ink) and the white card stock is Shimmer White. The pattern paper is also from the new Occasions catalogue and is called 'Falling in Love'

 The Balloon was cut out from Shimmer White card stock using the framelit and then I used the die to draw the shape on the back of the Blushing Bride Glimmer paper and cut it just inside the line with scissors. Then I glued the balloon cut-out using fine tip glue pen on top of the glimmer paper.