A Musical Thank You

This is the time of year that I start making Musical Thank You cards for the parents who have helped me out in my music program through the year.....thus the reason I keep ALL retired Stampin'Up! musical sets!

This week, the girls over at Raise The Bar were requesting Thank you cards for Teachers - I no longer have children in school - but being a teacher - I give the Thanks You's out instead.

The Paper Players challenge this week has been "Anything Goes" - So - I've used two of my favorite stamp sets, I've used one of my favorite techniques - embossing! and then of course, my favorite add-on for almost EVERY card I make is Dimensionals!

I'm chomping at the bit now - only four school days until concert day - and somehow some teachers are still sneaking in a field trip. Arggggghhhhhhh! I do have fantastic kids - but I'm not feeling as confident about this concert as I have for others. Oh well - ya never want good rehearsals anyway!

So - take it as it comes - it will all be good. Thanks so much for stopping by!!!!! Have a Fantastic Day.
Joan

Mojo full of Butterflies

The last number of posts I've had, have been scheduled while I was away in Edmonton to stay with my husband while he attended meetings for the Alberta Teacher's Association. It was a nice little holiday - not far from home!!!! The two of us were also able to attend a "Parent's Barbeque & Party" held by my son and his housemates. They had awesome food, and most of the parents and siblings of the 6 housemates got to meet. It was a very nice evening - a perfect way to end the weekend. So - I came home and went right to my stamping room to see what challenges were at hand and found myself using mostly butterflies....

I tried my hand again with the Faux Mother of Pearl again - using a butterfly die. I've ordered some white Shimmer Paint - so I can't wait to see what this technique will look like with that. I am pleased with the butterflies although I forgot to use glossy paper - it's just regular Whisper White cardstock.
The challenge for this card was a Sympathy card for Raise the Bar. I've also used the Frayed Ribbon technique from Stamping 411's How-To Wednesday. The frayed ribbon made for a different body on the butterfly.

I used a leftover background piece on my Mojo Monday Sketch card - I had embossed the Baroque Motif in white and put it through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing folder. It didn't end up working for the card I was working on back then, so I kept it on my desk to remember to use it. I didn't realize, until it was together, that the leaves in the Baroque background and the leaves on the butterfly match. I must say I think there is something missing on the card, but I'm not sure what. Any ideas!

Well, we're in to a short week now - and the long haul until the end of the school year. I'm hoping to remain sane until my spring concert is over! Now that the leaves and blossoms are out I know it will add to my sanity!
Hope things are blooming for you - and thanks for taking the time to stop by for a visit. Joan

Awash with Orange

Thought I would give this stamp set another try. Thursday night I came across a blog with this technique and for the life of me I couldn't find it again today. It used the Shimmer Paint - I used the Champagne because it was the only colour I had, but on the explanation she used Pearl - to give it the Faux Pearl look. On Beate Johns tutorial HERE she used white acrylic paint. I think I have a few too many globs of shimmer paint - I will try this technique again though.

Thanks to Kerin, I found the tutorial for this technique - which I had seen on Thursday - over at Stamping 411 - so HERE is the tutorial they have. Both 411's and Beate's are easy to follow. Give it a try.

The sketch today is from Stamping 411 and the colours are from Raise the Bar - {Green} Apples and Oranges.

Hope you're having a productive Saturday - we've got wind back here again - makes it a bit difficult to get things done outside.

Have a great day - and thanks for dropping by for a visit. Joan

Stamp Set - Awash with Flowers, Inspired by Nature Paper - Peach Parfait, In-Colour Patterns DSP, Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Glossy White Ink - Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Peach Parfait, Old Olive Accessories - Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding Ribbon, Basic Pearls (coloured with black Sharpie), Champagne Shimmer Paint, Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer Punch, Dimensionals, Glue Dot

Hydrangeas Raising the Bar

Wow, I was honored last week to be given a scoop on this week's challenge over at Raise the Bar. My Sailboat Imagining entry gave me that honor - it was so exciting. So.....The Raise the Bar challenge this week is to include flowers on your project and three different Designer Series Paper.
You can't see the difference in the photo, but the strip with the scallop edge is the Vanilla and White dotted paper (just like the green) from the Neutrals Patterns Package. I absolutely love that neutral package!!!
I coloured the, left over, Pretties Kit flowers with the Night of Navy Watercolour Wonder Crayons and the Aquapainter. The Hydrangea was stamped onto the watercolour paper with StazOn ink and coloured with the Watercolour Wonder crayons too. It looks like I kept the centres of the flowers perfectly clean - but they are actually the tiniest pearls in our Basic Pearls set.
Stamp Set - Because I Care Paper - Whisper White, Regals Patterns DSP, Watercolor Paper Ink - StazOn Black, Watercolor Wonder Crayons Accessories - Aquapainter, Scallop Trim Border, Scallop Trim Corner, Pretties Kit (Retired), Basic Pearls

Today I'm also sharing the notebook that we created at the Extravaganza on the Weekend.

On a side note, for anyone who caught yesterday's post -

THE BOYS MADE IT TO THE FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's my drummer boy!!! Sticks flying!



Signal Sounds - WoooHooo!

Well, we're at the weekend - hope you have something fun planned.....
Thanks for stopping by -
Joan

Sailboat Imagining

Wow - I lucked out on the watercolours today - if I do say so myself.
I was working through the Colour Throw Down - which is Navy, White and another colour. I pulled out all sorts of scraps to gain the second colour, but wasn't satisfied with what I was seeing. I knew I wanted to use the striped piece from the Regals Patterns DSP, and I knew I wanted to use the Sailboat image from the upcoming Summer Mini......so I finally decided to use Marina Mist as my second colour and tried creating a sky scene.

I just happened across a challenge that included a Nautical theme this week - over at Raise the Bar Challenge Blog. I had been looking for some sort of sketch challenge through the "Daily Dare" - and clicked on Raise the Bar's link - I was happy to join their challenge this week since I already had my sailboat in mind. They are looking for Blue/White/Stripes in the creations for this week.

I've also found a new Challenge Blog using mostly SU designs - Stampin' Royalty - and they are looking for "wet" watercolour cards this week.

The sailboat is stamped on watercolour paper with Staz-On Ink and being inexperienced in watercolour, I was excited to see how the clouds sort of formed by themselves through the ink. I was working with an aqua painter and just a dab of re-inker in the lids of the inkpads. For the sails, I used my aqua painter to apply Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint.

I got our taxes done today too - so I'm clear for the rest of the weekend to relax and craft.

Thanks for stopping by - Joan