Dude Cards....

Well, I spent the weekend playing with the "Dude, You're Welcome" kit, and have turned it into a 

Dude, You're Welcome 12 Masculine Card Stack

April 20 - 1:00-4:00pm  OR  6:00-9:00pm

Come create some cards perfect for the male teens and men in your life.  We'll be using the "Dude, You're Welcome" kit stamps.  You can create the set to give as a gift or use them yourself for the special men in your life. I am offering this class two ways - Option 1 - Only the class - creating 3 copies of the 4 different designs.  Cost $25.00 Option 2 - Get the supplies for the class and purchase the Dude, You're Welcome Kit to take home for your own use.   My designs do not use the paper/envelopes which are included in the kit - so you will have all those supplies, plus the ink and stamps, available to you.  Cost $45.00  (The kit is $35.75 (including shipping/handling/GST) so you get the class for only $10.) If you want to sign up for Option 2 you MUST let me know by April 12 so I can have the kits ordered and available for you to take home on the 20th. Also - new today.... the petite curly label punch, which was a Sale-a-bration product - is now available for sale! And - do you have a wedding event coming up to plan for - let MDS help you! For The Bride Ensemble - Digital Download 133529 Price: $13.95 Follow Your Bliss Kit - Digital Download 133471 Price: $8.95 Sara's Sequins - Digital Download 133903 Price: $3.50 That's it for today - thanks for stopping by. Joan

In Colour Butterflies

Wow - I got totally diverted today!  I created this card in the morning, photographed it....and I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the day - except that it has rained and my head desperately wants to ache.  I'm laying low until the clock says it's a god time to go to bed.

Anyway - the butterfly dreams is for the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge today using the new set of In Colours.  I know CAS and no texture is outside of my usual realm of stamping - but that's what I went with today.  I guess that's what was needed since I did finish designing the cards for my Christmas in August on the 23rd.

Here is the layout for Lyssa's 31 pages in 31 days.  I kept the colours the same, and the layout is close - I adjusted the size of some of the squares.  I left the one photo off because I want to be sure that I have another copy of it.  It's one of my favourite pictures of Allison - I want to enlarge it before I use it for this layout.

Based on Lyssa's inspiration - I added little dots of Crystal Effects around the centre scallop and I created the butterflies with card stock vellum.

Well - lets see if the basement has cooled off.  I tell ya - if anyone complains about not having summer this year........

Hope things cool off in the evenings where you are - thanks for dropping in!

Joan

Happiness Quilt

The days of making quilts are gone for me - but it's fun putting paper ones together....Quilts was the challenge over at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I've used the Floral Districts DSP for the flowers in the middle of each square.  The squares were mounted on white card stock before being cut with the Top Note Die and then embossed with the Fancy Fan Folder.  I'm not sure about the two random strips of ribbon - but that's where I went.  

I also finished off a  Mini Album using the Serene Silhouette set.  I used a tutorial from the 2012-13 New Catalogue Edition from Create with Connie and Mary.  I had to make a few adjustments because I didn't have everything that was used in the tutorial.

My cover is pretty much the same.  I didn't have a coiling machine so I used ribbons to join all the pages together.

I don't have the English Ivy Simple Sentiments stationary - so I used the flourish from Creative Elements on Very Vanilla card stock  for the pieces that used the stationary.

Of course, since I didn't have the stationary - I didn't have the envelopes with the fancy insides or the fancy edges.  So, I "cut" off the envelope glue off a regular Vanilla envelope using one of the Adorning Accents Edgelits.

I also chose to use the Finishing Touches Edgelit for some of the parts instead of the scallop border punch.

I like the final results.....now I just have to decide who to give it to.  I must commend this group of women who create things for the tutorials.  The steps are always straight forward and easy to follow.  And they are such an inspiration!

Hope you are finding inspiration in your life today.  Thanks for stopping by.  Only three days left of school....whooooohooooo!!!!!
Joan

Thank You Snow Much!

Yipee - 1) It's Friday....2) I have the morning off to play in my stamping room before going to school... 3) it's the last day of school...4) Life is peachy keen....5) - It's Friday Mashup! day.  What more can be said?!

I used today's Friday Mashup! and Splitcoasts Color Challenge for this week to create this card to give to our school secretary from my husband and I.   She took care of our concert programs (for his band concert and my elementary concert) without a blink and created a wonderful display table at the entrance of the gym for the programs to be available.  I'm always appreciative of the people in the world who take initiative to do things while some of us have our heads full of other things at the time.

Today's Mashup! was a sketch and/or the use of watercolours.  The colours from Splitcoast were Calypso Coral, Wisteria Wonder and Lucky Limeade.  Not really for this particular season - which is what they were trying to move away from for the week - but a snowman can be dressed in anything so it all works out.  I thought this snowman image was perfect two because of the two little birds singing out their thanks!

I'm off to finish some more gift card holders and maybe do a bit of cleaning before heading to school.  Hope your day is fantastic and that someone helps you out in some way today.  Thanks for taking the time to visit.
Joan

Bleached out Paper

 Today at our Extravaganza I am doing a technique demonstration and I decided to try the Bleaching Technique.  That means that the last couple of days I've been experimenting with bleach and paper and having a ton of fun doing it!  It's almost as magical as embossing powder!  I really don't like sharing so many cards at once - but since they all centre on the same thing I guess I will. 

For this first card (above) I used Elegant Eggplant and Wisteria Wonder.  After punching out the flowers I also sponged bleach around the edges to change the colour.

 Soft Suede created a yellow bleached area - and as long as the stamp isn't saturated with bleach the writing comes out okay too.

 Baroque Motif worked well for this technique, and again, I sponged around the edges just to add a bit.

 I love the colour that gets bleached out with the Pacific Point.  I loved it so much that I bleached a whole strip after punching out the lace border.  The butterfly from Creative Elements was a bit hard to do with bleach - the lines were a bit too delicate.

Finally - just for fun - I crumpled up a piece of Poppy Parade after wetting it with a bit of water.  Then I dabbed it onto the little towel of bleach  and let it dry.  When I opened it there was a cool yellow colour in a "sort-of" tie-dyed effect.  After I tore my piece, I punched out circles to create the matching pumpkin.


It just takes patience, willingness to experiment, and be sure that you recondition your stamps with Stampin' Mist before putting them away again!

I know I'll be having tons of fun at the Extravaganza, and I'll share those projects with you later.  Hope you are having a fun day too!
Joan

Clean and Simple Leaves

 I truly believe I have NEVER made a card quite as clean and simple as this - which is probably why I went ahead and tried another less clean one below.  The challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week is for Clean and Simple - and I must admit that I do like this crisp gold embossed card.  

I made things even simpler in creating it but putting all of my clear-mount stamps on the large block and stamping them all at once.  I used the SIMPLY SCORED to create the subtle lines in the background.

With this second try - I did exactly the same thing as above except I coloured the leaves with sponge daubers, not minding if I went outside the embossing.  I was going to leave the background plain, but the leaves looked a bit odd.  The bit of ribbon is slipped through holes created by the retired double slit punch; I then used the crop-a-dile to punch through the cardstock and ribbon to put the brad on.  To be honest - I really think I prefer my first attempt.

It was gorgeous today - I was happy to walk to and from school today with my husband.  He walks almost every day - even if it means walking home to pick up his car to go to a meeting.  I think I may be able to keep up with him this year - Knees complain a bit, but the walking should make them stronger!  Hope your day was fabulous to - thanks for stopping by!

Joan

And We're Done....

I must say that after a productive morning/afternoon - the afternoon/evening took a tailspin and I'm done!  After I'm done posting here, I'm going to hunker down with a bowl of popcorn and watch some mindless television....which I rarely do.  Better find a good movie I guess.

Today's card is courtesy of the Friday Mash-Up!  I so look forward to these to see what the combination is going to be...

• Create a card with buttons OR
• Create a card with cupcakes OR
• Create a card with buttons and cupcakes.

I so rarely use this cupcake die for the Big Shot I thought I'd pull it out for this challenge.  The colours are from Just Add Ink - Cajun Craze, Peach Parfait, Bashful Blue and Very Vanilla.  

For the icing on the cupcake I used the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder and then added some of the new Dazzling Details to the ridges.  I did put the cupcake holder through the crimper, but after squooshing it to get the sticky tape to stick, the ridges disappeared a little.

The card is good - I'm happy with it, I just need to sit and not move for a while, because I can't seem to just do one thing alone this evening.  I went upstairs after finishing this card and somehow proceeded to clean out the sideboard, and a china cupboard, and iron  (yes I said IRON) some linen napkins.  That's after repotting a whole whack of house plants earlier.

Sheeesh - I need school to start soon !!!!  Hope your evening/day is restful!  Thanks for dropping by!
Joan

Tri Fold Nature Walk

 

Today, over at Hand Stamped Sentiments, they've laid down the challenge for fancy fold cards - I don't think I've ever actually finished one of these Tri Fold Shutter Cards - but I'm relatively happy with the way this one turned out.  Lots of little pieces depending on the sections you want to highlight.  It's interesting to look through the gallery on Splitcoast for this type of card  - just to see the different ways that people have place their papers and what they've done to embellish their creation.

AND, over at Hand Stamped Sentiments, the DT has a wide variety of fancy folds cards to share for inspiration.

I'm off to the city to do some shopping and then I'm looking forward to having dinner this evening with a few of my former (won't say "old") college roommates.  We've been staying in touch for over 30 years!!!

Hope you have some life long friends to share good times with.

Thanks for stopping by to visit

Joan

Sock Monkey in the Flowers

I'm pretty sure that if Sock Monkey didn't insist on coming out to play today, I wouldn't have taken so long to get this card put together. I had to walk away from it for a while!

The sketch is this week's challenge from Stampin' Royalty. I was surprised and honored to have my Sailboat Imagining picked as one of three "Stampin' Royalty Goddess Picks". Thank you Ladies!

Sock Monkey was coloured and cut out before I put her through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder. Gives her a bit of texture that I may use again.

Tomorrow is the last school day of the week - the kids got off easy this week with only three days because of Easter Monday and our "Professional Development" day on Friday. Then there's another Extravaganza on Saturday - Wooooo Hooo!!!!! Livin' for the weekend.

Hope you have good plans on the horizon of your week - thanks for stopping by! Joan

Stealing (Casing) on a Sunday

I am featuring a "stolen" card today.....but I just had to case it because I found it so beautiful.

I'm not sure how I ventured onto Erna's blog - Elog Cards a couple of days ago - but I did - saw this card and just HAD to have it. HERE is the original which has a few more stunning layers which pops the images even more.

I had to play hand bells with the grade 6's today at a Gala Performance winding up Music Festival. My good friend, Joan, is their director and was missing a student to ring so I filled in. I think I hit all the right notes.

I spent the rest of the afternoon coming up with projects for upcoming workshops. I'll get back into being "challenged" tomorrow.

Have a wonderful week - and thank you for dropping by.

Natural Birthday

Good Monday Morning -
I am planning on having a Birthday Card Camp at the end of the month and this is one of the projects. I love how the images from "Nature's Nest" turn out. The etching is so wonderful. I am not the best colourer - but I look forward to working with these images more.
The base of the card is Mellow Moss with a layer of So Saffron which has been distressed along the edges - although it doesn't show up much in the photo. I had thought of using the new Satin Ribbon (from the new All Occasions Catalogue), but decided that a strip of black paper would work better for the card camp. The ribbon is wonderful though - so I'll be using it soon. I sponged Ballet Blue ink around the edges of the Top Note and decided the Curly Label Punch matches pretty well.

Well, this will be posted as I'm getting ready for school. I'm looking forward to music classes that don't centre around a Christmas concert! The kids were fantastic though - I'm always in awe of what they can do. I hope you are having a wonderful day.

Thanks for dropping by