Inspired by Spring

It's a bit drizzly today - so hopefully we will get blossoms soon.  Hand Stamped Sentiments is looking for Spring inspired projects this week.   When I arrived in Vancouver last Thursday afternoon, I loved seeing all the trees in blossom - a smile came to my face when I saw a row of trees with pink blossoms covering the branches as well as a blanket of pink below, on the ground.  It was a beautiful scene.  Our day will come in Alberta - we just need patience.

The sketch for today's card comes from Freshly Made Sketches.  I moved the arc of embellishments to the upper section of the circle so that they didn't interfere with the branch that I "pulled" off the circle.

Off to cut paper for my tea party on Sunday.  I'm excited because my daughter has offered to bake goodies for the event.  The house is going to be filled with warm smells on Saturday!  I'm just hoping for some self control!

Hope spring has blossomed where you are - thanks for visiting.
Joan

Simple Fall Gratitude

It's been a very busy weekend, and I'm glad to be home - frustrated with a stuffy nose - but glad to get home.  I had a great time at the Fine Arts Conference and learned a lot of new stuff to take into the classroom!  So - I've created a relatively simple card this afternoon to fulfill my stamping need. 

The Paper Players are looking for a fall element in this week's challenge - the trees are pretty much bare here and the leaves on the street have even been picked up so that's why I selected these lovely bare trees.  The sketch for today's card comes from Stamping 411 and the colours are inspired by a photo at Hand Stamped Sentiments.

I have a lot to look forward this week - hope you do to!  Thanks for stopping by.
Joan

Remember When

Leaves, leaves, lots of leaves...Hand Stamped Sentiments is challenging the use of Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie and Not Quite Navy - which works with SUO challenges of including leaves in your project and I've used the sketch from Stamping 411.

I did end up using Early Espresso for the bases of the leaves - and in hindsight figured that using the Not Quite Navy would have been pretty cool too.  I tried twisting the Seam Binding Ribbon, holding the twists in place with glue dots.  The punched leaf has been stamped with the veins from "Gently Falling" and then crumpled up.

The following are the A and B pages for the alphabet book I created for my husband for our 25th anniversary next week....all done on My Digital Studio.  I love the capability of being able to change the sizes of stamps - connecting them and manipulating them.

Hope your week is going well - thanks for stopping by!

Joan

Fall Brad Mashup!

 Well, I'm sad to say that this is my last posting as a guest designer for the Friday Mashup!  I have thoroughly enjoyed my opportunity to work with these talented ladies.  The mashup is a fun concept and I will continue to work on these weekly challenges!  So - for this final Friday of September the mash up, which is a Fan Favorite Pick created by Lisa Runyon, is:

• Make a "Fall themed" project
• Or Make a Project that uses "Brads...lots and lots of Brads".
• Or "Mash it Up" and create a fun "Fall themed project that uses lots and lots of Brads".

One thing I love about fall beside the crunchy leaves on the ground, are the Black Eyed Susans which come into perfect bloom at this time of year.  I walk past a yard which has a whole bed full of them, and some other little groupings scattered around in other beds.  I smile each day I pass and see this one little grouping, standing tall and unwilted while the other plants around them are beginning to fade.  They're just so happy looking.  So - they were my inspiration for this card - and I chose to use brads to highlight the "eyes".

The Crochet Trim has been changed up a bit.  At the Regionals I was at two weeks ago, one of the home-office demonstrators showed how to colour the trim with ink.  You need to wash it out a bit first to remove the chemical that is on it - otherwise the ink sort of beads on top of the fibers.  I just rinsed the trim out with a bit of handsoap, dried it with my heat gun and then applied the ink from the ink pad with a sponge dauber.

Be sure to head over to The Friday Mashup! to see all the FALL-icious cards the DT have come up with.  Be sure to link your own creation to that blogsite and when posting on a public gallery remember to use FM26.

The last two Saturdays have been spent at Stampin'Up! events - now tomorrow I'm attending an Orff workshop.  Should be full of musical fun, fun, fun.  Hope your weekend is gearing up with things to look forward to.  And thanks again to Holly for the opportunity and privilege of being a guest designer for September!

Thanks for stopping by,

Joan

"Quilted" Leaves

 

Oh, I just love these huge buttons - I just got my first package yesterday.  I didn't think I'd like them, but then I worked with them helping Tamye get her swaps ready for Founder's Circle....and I changed my mind!  I just may have to get more!

Today's card covers two challenges....Hand Stamped Sentiments is looking for embossing - either with an embossing folder or powder - I used both because I love how the square lattice embossing folder embeds punched pieces into the background so that it's almost quilted.  SUO Challenges are looking for fall colours.  

I absolutely love fall colours - they're just so me.  I miss the wide range of colours available in Ontario with the huge oaks and maples - however, on my walk to school this morning I noticed that Mountain Ash trees give a wonderful shade of red.  So it's all good...and...since I walked home by myself, I did some major shuffling!  Happy, happy, happy!

Hope you find something to bring a smile to your face today - and thanks for stopping by for a visit.

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

Changing Seasons

 I didn't intend to make two "cool weather" cards today - it's nice and sunny here and after posting this I'll be heading to the deck to enjoy it - sat out for a while this morning with my coffee and had a beautiful red dragonfly land on me and visit for a while.

Anyway - Stampin' Royalty are asking you to "Bring on the Bling" with their challenge this week - and holy crow does this new silver Glimmer Paper dazzle!!!!!  In a sunny room you almost need sunglasses to work with it!  (I don't usually use my flash when I take pictures of my cards, but I did today to bring out the bling!) This paper will certainly add a lot to Christmas projects!!!!

This was actually the first card I created this morning - but couldn't see how to add any bling to it.  The sketch is from SCS (I didn't keep to it totally) and I was inspired by THIS card by Taylor Ursy.  I loved the flowers she had on the watercolor paper - so I tried it with these leaves and this will turn into one of my workshop cards for this fall!!!

S0 - off to enjoy the sun - hope you have some in your area of the world to enjoy today.  Thanks for taking time to stop by for a visit!
Joan

Oh - and a special thanks to Lesley for adding some music to my banner - I love it!

Sweet Life

One of the great things about summer in our little city is the annual opening of the outdoor ice cream stand.  They have wonderful ice cream and places to sit under umbrellas.  So, for the Stampin' Royalty challenge of a Summer Card this week, I chose to create an ice cream cone, because it's the only time we get to go to Millers.

The sketch is from Splitcoast's Sketch challenge.

I'm loving the new white Baker's Twine - I prefer to sew my buttons on - being an old seamstress.

I hope your summer is full of treats - Thanks for stopping by!
Joan

Summer Camping

Wow - I'm not sure about all the redness in this card - but it'll have to do.  There are three different challenges incorporated in today's card:

Color Throwdown - Using the rainbow palette....so we have very colourful sleeping bags today.  I used Elegant Eggplant, Marina Mist, Lucky Limeade, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango and Poppy Parade.  I had started out with Bear being Tangerine and Daffodil (thank goodness for watercolour paper!!!!!)  Once he was on the card though, there was just too much red going on - so I dirtied him up with some crumb cake.

I had to give Bear a pair of Sock Monkey's glasses so that he didn't look so angry about camping. His teeth have been whitened with gel pen.

The sketch comes from The Paper Players this week.  I told Nance that I was going to try and think outside the box for the two circle areas (where the sleeping bags are)....but I still ended up using paper. :(       Ooops!!!  I just noticed on the Paper Players blog that this is suppose to be a Clean and Simple Sketch - Sorry - this may be a little overdone for that.

Finally, the summer theme of the card comes from Hand Stamped Sentiments.

We have a beautiful day outside so I think I'm going to go for a walk - I walked SOOOOOO much when I was in Ottawa - I need to make it a better routine.  We're also excited in our house tonight because we're going to see WICKED!  WoooooHoooooo!!!!!!

Hope your day is full of sunshine and excitement!  Thanks for visiting - Joan

Flip Flopping with Laughter

I'm loving the bright fun colours that The Paper Players have put out as a colour challenge this week: Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, and Daffodil Delight. As soon as I saw them together I thought of a bright summer day - and grabbed the flip flops.

I've used the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge for today and incorporated the Spotlighting Technique. I haven't done it in a very very long time.

We have a BBQ tonight to go to for our Church Music Ministry windup - the sun has started to shine now too so that's fantastic. Hope you have something to look forward to this evening. Thanks for visiting.
Joan