Puzzling

Howdy, Howdy - just a quick post before I run to work.  

This is one of the cards I'll be doing at my technique class next month.  I went onto Splitcoast Stamper's Tutorial section to see if I could find any new techniques that I hadn't done, and came across the "Puzzle Piece Resist" technique.

If you're not able to attend my technique class on March 8th - HERE is the link to the tutorial.

Gotta run - Hope you have a fabulous Thursday.

Thanks for stopping by - Joan

Easter Bunny

Happy Tuesday - Hope you're having a hoppy day...sorry - it might be a bit early for Easter humour....but it is around the corner.  This card was created for the Friday Mashup challenge this week.  

Here is  the Challenge:

1. Make a project "using the Sketch".
2. Or Make a project with "Bunnies".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with the "Sketch featuring Bunnies".

I used a piece of the Print Poetry Design Series as the base - I am enjoying this little pallet of paper!   I finally remembered that you can stamp a light colour for a base and stamp a darker sentiment on top....I'm always intimidated by "negative" stamps because I see them as dark....but I worked out of that box today.

The little flowers were created from the Boho Blossoms punch - I do love spritzing flowers with water and distressing them!

Here's the sketch - check out their blog to see the great inspiration by their design team.....lots of awfully awesome cards!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Joan

A muddy discovery...

Holly has a great sketch for us this week at MDS Monday and along with the sketch we're asking you to give the "torn paper" technique a try.  HERE is a link to the Stampin'Up! tutorial on how to add ripped photo edges.  I've used the technique around the edges of my photos.  I happened across a fun "discovery" while creating this page.  I had initially started with a DSP background, but when I made my "discovery" I changed everything completely.

I've used overlays plenty of times and  thought I would put an overlay onto my original background, but when I recoloured it, I discovered that it looked exactly like mud.  Since we were walking on the ocean floor - in this gorgeous New Brunswick mud....it worked perfectly just to leave it on the top of the page....once I had the "mud" placed, I really didn't want to add any more "embellishments".  :)

Here's the sketch!

When you play along with us please remember:

1. In your blog post you must mention that you are playing along with MDS Monday - we'd love it if you went one step further and linked back to the challenge blog and posted our challenge photo!
2. Your project must be new and not posted prior to the MDS Monday challenge date.
3. Enter as many times as you like!
4. When linking your entry, please link directly to your blog post, not your entire blog. 
5. Entries must be in by 11:59pm EST the following Friday (that means you have 12 full days to enter!)
6. Have fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  

Hope your day is either digital or inky!

Joan

You are my Sunshine

It's a colour day at Sunday Stamps today and Kathya had me looking to the sun for this one...bright and fun.

I pulled out two of the newest single stamps and put them together...They are called "Sunshine" and "Spec-tacular" and will be available until March 31.

For the Sunshine block, I cut out and popped up the letters for the word "YOU" and I also popped up the sun in middle of the O after stamping the image on Daffodil Delight cardstock.

The one pair of glasses has been coloured in and I added some Crystal Effects for the lenses.

I hope you have fun with this colour challenge - Don't forget to pop over to the Sunday Stamps challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team came up with for inspiration.  Then post your creation by March 1, 2013.

If you're interested in the single stamps - you can find them at my on-line store.

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Happy Stamping - Joan

Butterfly Wings

I thought of this card this morning before I went to school after checking what the sketch was yesterday over at Freshly Made Sketches.  I knew right away that I wanted to do something different than the Top Note Shape - and decided on the butterfly....and I knew right away that I didn't want it to be lying flat on the paper.  So, before I left for school I stamped two "exact" images of the Swallowtail and left them to dry.

It's taken a while to finish the card this afternoon - I'm a bit distractive these days - but here she is.  

I cut out both butterflies, but only attached one duplicate wing so that only the wing flies off the page.

I am totally loving this Swallowtail!  Hope to see it in the July Idea Book!  (Just saying.)

Hope you've had a marvelous day.  I came home to cupboards and a fridge all cleaned out and re-organized.  Gotta love Reading Week!  And my husband is hot on the campaign trail for Vice President of the Alberta Teacher's Association....so it's been a good day for everyone here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Joan

Elegant Christmas

Today, at Merry Monday, Lesley and her team are looking for elegant Christmas cards.  I lucked out and had these two embossed pieces on my desk already - just asking to be used.  (Next week, I'm going to have to move away from Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla, 'cause I used them last week too)

Embossing is always elegant (and magical) so this wonderful Snow Swirled tree came out to be used.  I had tried to stamp the greeting on a piece of ribbon, but it just got too messy, so I stamped a piece of Vanilla, cut the strip close to the words and then ran my craft scissors over the paper as though I were curling a piece of gift wrap ribbon.  It breaks down the fibers wonderfully and they curve.

Now I'm off to add some paint to a canvas for another mixed media piece....we'll see how it turns out.

Hope your day is flowing along wonderfully - thanks for stopping by!

Joan

Friends Accept Us...

Hayley has an awesome sketch for us today at Sunday Stamps -  I love the simplicity of it and the shapes are wide, wide open to interpretation!

These Flower Trim flowers have been on my desk, so I decided to use them for this card and added little black brads as their centres.  It ends up being a quick and easy card to put together.  So - I'm now off to get more crafting done.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you join us in this challenge.  

1. Please provide a Link back to us in your Post.

2. Please link directly to your blog post for the challenge.

3. Feel free to use any Brand of product.

4. Deadline is Friday February 22nd @6pm EST.

5. Have FUN!!

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the design team has come up with not one of us used a trio of stars - so you'll be truly inspired!

Only One You

Woo Hoo - Happy Saturday beginning of a long weekend!  I am so looking forward to this!  Nothing planned - but I'm hoping to get various types of crafting done.

So - first off is a completed card for the Friday MashUp challenge.  I'm aiming for a card for next months' Technique Class.....I'm going to be doing the Kissing Techniqiue - but I'm NOT going to be expecting everyone to colour in the plaid with their markers!  We'll have a plain coloured little piggy for that.  But, for this challenge, I used the markers to colour in the different stripes of plaid and then kissed the pig to it.  I was thrilled to find the "There's only One You" sentiment - because it was so fitting - and therefore I decided to mask some piggy friends in the background.  I love how the Tangerine guy has wonky eyes!  There's one in every crowd!

The sketch for the card is from Freshly Made Sketches.

So - here is the challenge - I love doing Friday Mashups - I've missed a number, but they're always fun!  Have a fantastic day - thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Joan

1. Make a project "using your Markers (thumping,Color Spritzing,Coloring etc.)".
2. Or Make a project with "Texture".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with "Texture using your Markers".

Happy Valentines Day

Super quick post today before I head to work.    Here is a page from my very first hand bound book in which I've used retired Stampin'Up! DSP.  It's the first time I've doodled in the book and although the heart started to turn wonky as I worked toward the middle, I think I saved it by doodling a whole bunch of curly little hearts.

I used our old eyelets to thread the ribbon through and attached one of my last keys at the end.  I miss those keys - but this one I'll have forever.  There isn't too much room left to journal in - but sometimes you don't have to use a lot of words!

Happy Valentines Day.  Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Pearly Christmas Greeting

A quick post today with a card created for the Merry Monday Challenge.  I think these challenges are a bonus for me on two counts - 1) I get to have a stash of Christmas cards ready for December - some of which I'm sure I'll be able to use for the seasonal stacks. and 2) the sketches are such that I don't have too much difficulty thinking about what I'd like to do - which is good because I have tons of things on my plate right now.  Simplicity is best.....so thank you to Lesley and the gals on her team!

Here's the sketch....

Hope you are having a wonderful day - 

Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

First Visit....

Happy Monday morning, and welcome to an new MDS Monday sketch created for us by Tara.  I'm still working on the "missing pages" of Elliot's first year book, so I'm taking advantage of our challenges to help me along!

I haven't done anything too special with this page except recolouring the background DSP from More Mustard to So Saffron to match the "Rock-a-Bye" kit.  Also, I recoloured the tag at the bottom, and then adjusted the brown star so that it perfectly matched the star that exists on the tag.

Here is Tara's sketch for you to try out:

When you play along with us please remember:

1. In your blog post you must mention that you are playing along with MDS Monday - we'd love it if you went one step further and linked back to the challenge blog and posted our challenge photo!
2. Your project must be new and not posted prior to the MDS Monday challenge date.
3. Enter as many times as you like!
4. When linking your entry, please link directly to your blog post, not your entire blog. 
5. Entries must be in by 11:59pm EST the following Friday (that means you have 12 full days to enter!)
6. Have fun!

Thanks for stopping by - Hope your Monday is Marvelous

Joan

Here are the supplies for todays' project:
Background
     Designer Series Paper/_Designer Kits/Blast Off - designer series paper/Blast Off - 10

Embellishments
    _Designer Kits/Rock-a-Bye - labels/Rock-A-Bye - label 1 (re-colored)
    _Designer Kits/Rock-a-Bye - elements/Rock-a-Bye - star 3
    _Designer Kits/Rock-a-Bye - elements/Rock-a-Bye - star 2
    _Designer Kits/Rock-a-Bye - elements/Rock-A-Bye - star 17
    _Designer Kits/Rock-a-Bye - labels/Rock-A-Bye - label 3

Stamps
    Torn Edges/Torn Edges - hand torn, Color = CERTAINLY CELERY

Punches
    Basics/1.25 Square Punch, Fill Color = CERTAINLY CELERY

Oh Hello

Welcome to this week's Sunday Stamps Challenge - this week Melissa has an awesome colour combination for us.

These colours are right up my alley...I love all three of them!  They spoke "masculine" to me initially, but they really don't have to be.  I decided to use the new "Oh Hello" set with a piece of DSP from "Parker's Patterns" in the Occasions Catalogue.  It was surprising that I didn't have any Soft Suede ribbon - so I went with the Marina Mist and spruced up the corner with a trio of darker embellishments.

The sketch for this card came from Freshly Made Sketches.  I can always count on them to  provide inspiration when I'm in a crunch.  Soooooo much to do this weekend.....sooooo happy for the inspirational blogs out there!

If you're looking for some inspiration in using Melissa's colours this week, make sure you check out the Sunday Stamps Challenge Blog because there are some stunning cards from the rest of the Design Team!

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you join us.

1. Please provide a Link back to us in your Post.

2. Please link directly to your blog post for the challenge.

3. Feel free to use any Brand of product.

4. Deadline is Friday February 8th @12pm EST.

5. Have FUN!!

Have a Terrific Sunday

Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Busy Week

Wow - it has been a very busy, productive, fantastic week - sorry I didn't get anything posted between last Sunday and now.  I was frantically prepping to get ready for the North Central Teachers' Convention this past Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday night I had finally gotten everything created, and packed and used my toboggan to help haul everything to the car in one-fell-swoop.  (Toboggans are wonderful things)  Sorry the photo is blurry!

Wednesday afternoon was spent setting up the booth... I had created this banner Monday and Tuesday....it says  "We can go way beyond just cards!".....'cause we can!

I'm happy to say that I got rid of a lot of my retired stamp sets, and quite a number of my cards got sold also!  I had tons of teacher's coming by and it was fantastic to see old friends I hadn't seen in a while, and current colleagues that I don't get to see very often.  It was fun working with Colette and Allison in the booth too.

Wednesday evening I snapped the view out of the hotel window - I love reflections in buildings!

Thursday and....

Friday were beautiful mornings!  

I had a fantastic time, and today I'm working on some creative deadlines, unpacking and cleaning, and then gearing up for the next event - this Friday!

To leave you with something creative - this is an 8X8 piece that I created pretty much exactly from the tutorial from the "Spring Edition 2013" from Create with Connie and Mary.  I used different paper for the bird, and the stamps I added are different, but everything else is the same.  The instructions were wonderful and I got lots of compliments on it at Convention.  I thank Connie, Mary and the rest of their Design Team for the inspiration they provide in their Tutorials.

Off to get more things crossed off my "To Do" list.  Thanks for stopping by - Have a Great Day.

Joan

Black Magic Butterfly

Welcome everyone to a sketch day at Sunday Stamps....and Holly has a quick and easy sketch for us this week that I'm sure could have tons of wonderfully creative interpretations.

I've kept my card relatively simple.  I've used the Black Magic Technique for the butterfly and this card will be done at my Technique class on February 15.  The link to the technique, demonstrated on Splitcoast is HERE.  It's really easy to do, and gives some use to those pencil crayons that a lot of us have hanging around if we have school children.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you join us.

1. Please provide a Link back to us in your Post.

2. Please link directly to your blog post for the challenge.

3. Feel free to use any Brand of product.

4. Deadline is Friday February 8th @12pm EST.

5. Have FUN!!

Be sure to check out the Sunday Stamps blog to see what the rest of the design team has created with Holly's sketch.

Thanks for stopping by - Have a fabulous Sunday.

Joan

Butterflies and Posies

I can't seem to get the reds to photo properly - or to edit them properly either for that matter...the colour I've used is Raspberry Ripple.  I've created this mashup of a card for the Friday Mashup this week.  My initial intention was to create a card using the Faux Linen technique because that is the second technique we will be doing at the February 15th class.  Here are the parameters for the Friday Mashup....

1. Make a project with the colors "Raspberry Ripple, Daffodil Delight & Old Olive".
2. Or Make a project "Creating your own Sentiment (No Stamps, Stickers, Chipboard etc.).
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project "With your own Sentiment using the Colors above". 

I've sort of gone outside my "style" and comfort zone with this card using bits and pieces to create a sort of collage.  I've pulled the little "cupcake" holders from the Pop-up Posies Kit, sponged them with Daffodil Delight, scrunched them AND cut them to get them so be something I'm happy with.  I've also taken one of the Vanilla Fabric Brads from that kit and tapped it in the Old Olive ink to change its colour.

The sketch for the card is from Freshly Made Sketches - The sketch was quite simple with the element of a tag required and then a coordinating element to go with it.

I haven't done nearly enough doodling lately - could have gone a lot further on that little tag, but I controlled myself.  So - I'll share another altered page with you - one from a while ago though....

                           

Have a super Saturday - Thanks for taking the time to visit.

Joan

Flowers & Butterflies

Wow - I've lost track of time getting ready for my 15 Birthday/All Occasion Card Stack tomorrow.....and then helping my husband & friends stuff campaign envelopes for the Alberta Teacher's Association election - time flies!!!

Here are two cards created at the Extravaganza last week.  I love monochromatic cards - and the above is no exception.  When I saw these flowers in the spring catalogue I completely looked them over with a firm No Thank You.  Yeah - well - I've now ordered about 3 packages.  I LOVE them - and so does my daughter.  Just goes to show you  - some things you need to play with before you make a final decision.

I love, love, love, this butterfly!  Even embossed in Pool Party!

Well - Friday evening is almost over - I still have bits and pieces to plan for tomorrow - so I'll keep this post short.

Thanks for dropping by - Have a fantastic weekend.

Joan