Chalk Fun

Happy MDS Monday - Tara has a fun sketch for us this week - featuring a little camera.  I turned this into a two page spread for Elliot's 2014 book - He had such good facial expressions when he got too much chalk on his hands.  I can totally understand - chalky hands are uncomfortable.

Here is Tara's sketch...

Hope you join in the challenge - remember to post your creation back to the MDS Monday blog so we can take a peak.  Have fun!

Joan

It's Your Celebration

Welcome to Sunday Stamps - we have pink colours this week - I'm sorry that the Strawberry Slush doesn't photograph very well!

The design team has a lot of wonderful variation with this colour combo - it's always fun to see how people use colours.  Pink is a hard one for me - but I thought a whack of pink icing would be perfect for someones'  birthday.

I'm sorry to say that this is my last Sunday Stamps post as a member of the Design Team.  I have decided, after long long long deliberation, to step down.  It was a very hard decision, and not easily made.  I've enjoyed working with the creative women on the design team and hope to stay in contact in the "posting world".  I will continue to participate in the challenges because I love sketch and colour challenges….!

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday

Joan

Happy Canada Day….

Welcome to MDS Monday - this week, Heidi has a family themed page for us.  Rather than doing a family tree - I turned one of our MDS trees into a Maple tree as a focal point for a couple of Canada Day pages.  Once I had all of the leaves placed on the tree I grouped them together and then copied them over to the second page.  I will also be saving this tree as a grouped object that I can use in the future.  Love that feature about MDS.

Here is Heidi's sketch - have fun with it and remember to link your creation back to the Challenge blog.

I'm still on vacation at this time - so I'm keeping this short. 

Have a great day!

Joan

Free…. and Unleashed…...

Do you love DSP? Here's your chance to stock up!  During the entire month of July, when you purchase three Designer Series Paper packs, you'll get one free. That's like getting $13.50 off your purchase AND receiving an extra--did we mention FREE?-- DSP!  

This is for the Designer paper packs ONLY listed on pages 186-187 these are also listed  below 

Item #	Description	Price
133698	Flowerpot Designer Series Paper	$13.50 CA
133699	Flashback Designer Series Paper	$13.50 CA
133693	Sweet Taffy Designer Series Paper	$13.50 CA
133692	Confetti Celebration Designer Series Paper	$13.50 CA
133694	Park Lane Designer Series Paper	$13.50 CA
133696	Maritime Designer Series Paper	$13.50 CA
133695	Lullaby Designer Series Paper	$13.50 CA
133700	Back to Black Designer Series Paper	$13.50 CA

also…..

The first six colour groups in our new Blendabilities markers are available for you to purchase.  Each of the colour groups has three colours - Light/Medium/Dark and the Skin Tone colour group has 6 colours.  Here is an introduction from Stampin'Up!

We'll be heading on a short holiday soon, so I may be absent for a while, but I'll try to do some creating digitally while I'm away.

Have a great day!

Joan

Going for a Spin

Welcome to MDS Monday with a sketch this week from Holly.  I tweaked it a wee bit so that the vertical photos worked better; and I went for flowers in the background rather than grundge.

I love sitting on my deck, and we've had good enough weather lately that our family Sundays can be spent outside.  Elliot discovered the spinning chair and had a great time spinning his Auntie Allison around.

Here's the sketch - hope you have fun with it and post your creation so we can take a look!

Have a great day,

Joan

Watercolour letters

Hey, hey, hey….it's the first Sunday of Summer and we've got a new colour challenge for you over at Sunday Stamps.

I created this card for this post a couple of weeks ago when I was experimenting with the embossing folder technique I did for my June technique class.  It works well with this alphabet folder - ya just gotta remember to ink up the negative side or else the letters end up begin backwards….gee - wonder why I need to mention that!?

Anyway - there is a wonderful variety of inspiration from the design team this week - so be sure to check out the Sunday Stamps blog.  We look forward to seeing your creation.

Have a great day.

Joan

Auntie's New Guitar

It's the last Monday in June, the last Monday of the school year….and MDS Monday - WooHoo!  Tami has the sketch for us this week and is throwing in an extra challenge of creating an ombre effect somewhere on your page.  

This is so easy with MDS - using the colour picker and changing the opacity.  I selected a blue out of Allison's jean jacket for the background and then reversed the effect in the title.

Here is Tami's sketch….have fun with it.  We look forward to seeing what you create!

Have a good day!

Joan

Goin' Round in Circles...

Hi everyone, it's Joan here with this round of MDS Monday….and yes, the pun is intended.  I've got lots of circles happening on my sketch, but you could substitute any shape that works for you…..just layering a variety of sizes and putting an image in the largest ones.  The wonderful thing about MDS pages is you can have as many layers as you like and not have to worry about bulkiness….if that's a word.  Have fun with it - we're looking forward to seeing what you create!

Here is the sketch - have fun and link your creation back to the MDS Monday Challenge blog.  

Embossing Folder Technique

Welcome to Sunday Stamps  - Sunday.  We have a fabulous sketch for you today - one which I really appreciated when planning my technique class for tomorrow.  I knew I wanted to do this cool embossing folder technique I found on Splitcoaststampers for my class tomorrow - and the large background space on our sketch was a perfect match.

HERE is a link to the tutorial on how to do the technique - it's one of those which will never turn out the same way twice.  I've used Hello Honey and Coastal Cabana together using sponge daubers to apply the ink to the embossing folder.

Here is the sketch - there are so many creative options for completing this  challenge.  We'd love to see what you come up with, so be sure to link your creation over to the Sunday Stamps Challenge Blog.  Have fun!

Yum, Yum, Yum

This week's sketch challenge comes from Cindy and she's asking us to use two or more of the overlays for the background of your project, some splatters and some sequins.  I opted out of the sequins and used brads instead.

I guess I sort of worked on this spread backwards, since the page above is the end result of a great time making Rice Krispie squares.  Elliot and Auntie had a great time counting, mixing and spreading to the goo…..and of course eating them!

Here is the "first" page of the spread for in the book.

Here is Cindy's sketch…..

We look forward to seeing what you create!

Hope you have a great beginning to your week.  Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Diva Breakfast and DSP

I attended Tamye Dunbar's Diva Breakfast this morning and this is one of the cards we did - I love it and will be doing it as a technique soon!

When I got home I decided it was time to do a challenge - so I turned to the Friday Mashup!   Their challenge was to use their sketch and an assortment of DSP - so I'm using up some scraps of retired paper.  I've left it sort of plain - but this sketch could be kicked up in a number of ways.  I'll be keeping it on hand for sure - especially since it's nice to have options for using up those scraps.

Hope your weekend is going well - thanks for stopping by.

Joan

Introducing….

It's here, it's here!!!! Chalk full of wonderful new images and products.

Click HERE to shop on-line 

All orders placed in the month of June will be entered into a draw for $35 of free product!  If combined sales reach $425 this month, I will draw two names.

Hostess Code for the Month when ordering on-line is XKC3FZZD

 My Open House takes place this Friday from 5:00-8:00pm and here is the Make-and-Take you'll be doing.

It introduces three new stamp sets and one of the new In-Colours.

I will be having...

*Retired Stamp Sets for sale

*Various Retired Products for sale

*My hand stamped cards for sale (4 for $10)

*Display of some new products

*Light snacks

*A new catalogue for you to take home

Register HERE if you would like to attend.

Have a great day.

Tickling the Ivories

Welcome to MDS Monday.  Tara has a great sketch for us this week and has offered the option of using it as a card or a scrapbook page.  I'm still plugging away at my 2013 book for Elliot - so I took the scrapbook option.

Now - for my sentiment……I knew I wanted to attach some text to a Freeform Wave because of the wonderful large sentiment section. Then I wondered how the wave would look as a musical staff.  I copied and pasted and, since the image moves over slightly, I didn't bother adjusting anything as I copied and pasted each additional line.  I love the effect.  I do dearly wish we had some actual musical images in addition to the DSP.Here's wishing

……and hoping you have a great Monday - remember to check out what the rest of the design team has come up with this week.

Thanks for dropping by.

Joan

A Beachy sort of day….

Howdy, howdy….welcome to a Sunday Stamps day.  This week we have a very blue colour combo for you:  Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay and Sahara Sand…..sorta beachy.  To be honest - I never realized there was a  beachy sort of theme until now - so my zig zaggy waves work pretty well.

Be sure to check over at the challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team has come up with and link your creation to us so we can take a peak.

Have fun with the sketch!

I sure had fun creating these new words that my spell check kept trying to correct!….

beachy and zaggy

Joan

Awesome Start-up Deal...

Have you thought about purchasing the Stampin'Up! Starter Kit?

Do you love stamping and crafting?

Would you like to make extra money doing what you love?

Would you like to save money on the Stampin'Up! products you love?

If your answer is YES to any of the above questions, then now is the perfect time to consider purchasing the starter kit!

Beginning May 28th, Stampin'Up! is offering a special on our Starter Kit - it's perfect timing so you can take advantage of the new 2014-15 Annual Catalogue launch beginning June 2.

From May 28 - June 30 you can choose from two great prices for the starter kit!

During this offer, the special $60 starter kit will also be accompanied by $65 in FREE product and the traditional $125 starter kit is also still available.

Why does it make sense to join Stampin'Up! ?

#1 - Discounts!!! 

 Receive 30% off your first qualifying order of $200 (before shipping and taxes) 

Receive 20% off other orders.  

It's a fabulous way to get a discount on your wish list of new products!!!!  Hobby stampers can benefit as well as anyone who is thinking about building a home-based business.

#2 - Perks!!! 

* Join before June 2 and you will be able to pre-order new products before the catalog goes live.

*Receive the "Stampin' Success demonstrators magazine - full of training and inspiration.

*View Stampin'Up! videos and attend Stampin'Up! webinars

*Earn money based on your monthly sales - or save money as a hobbiest.

*Earn bonuses and incentive trips!

*Become a member of my "Inkspired Divas" and subsequently the SUDS group (my awesome upline team) - which helps you obtain a sense of belonging as you stamp and socialize with fellow stamping enthusiasts.

I'd love to answer any questions you may have about joining my group!  You can e-mail me at  

( j-jeffery@live.com  )

Or, if you are ready to begin right now you can visit this page to sign up today...

I look forward to hearing from you!!!

Joan

Go Change the World

Should have posted this last night - but got distracted - again…….

I did the Paper Players challenge, but turned it on it's side.  I absolutely love this new Traveler stamp set - the images are old fashioned and wonderful!  I've paired some old and new DSP and some old and new embellishments - I love the Antique Brads and am glad they're still around and I've already said that I love the new Stitched Satin Ribbon in the new 2014-15 In Colours…..

Here is the sketch - Hope you're Thursday continues to go well!

Thanks for stopping by.

Joan

So Many Smiles….

Howdy, howdy - hope you're having a fabulous day!  I got one card done for two challenges and have posted two days in a row - so that's pretty good for me…..lately!

The Friday Mashup was to include a tree and embossing - I only have one tree right now.  Thankfully Lovely as a Tree is still around - so so versatile!  The sketch I've used is from Hand Stamped Sentiments.  

I've used paper from the upcoming "Lullaby" DSP and a strip of Mossy Meadow ribbon…which isn't part of the colour scheme for the Lullaby DSP, but it blends well - in person.  Sorry the ribbon looks so dark in the photo.

I stamped the "Petite Pairs" sentiment on one of the Essentials Wooden Elements using the Mossy Meadow ink and "distressing" around the edges of the wood with Hello Honey ink.

Well - I'm off to finish purging under my basement stairs - didn't get done yesterday.  Then I want to get outside to enjoy the FABULOUS sunshine.

Thanks for stopping by,

Joan

Heartfelt Thank You

Okay - this is the third morning in a row that I've posted what I created the day before as I'm heading out the door for school……I must get incredibly distracted at night!  However, I did have choir last night so that filled a portion of my time.

Anyway - I'm not sure about the outcome of this one - the colours are from the Colour Me! challenge and I'm using the upcoming "Work of Art" stamp set.  To be absolutely honest about this - I had only the top row of hearts, but when I stamped the "thank" I left a ridge of espresso - so I had to add another line.  Somehow, it reminds me of a Ukranian dance headband.

Anyway - I'm off to school - have a good Friday.

Thanks for visiting.

Joan

Blended Blooms

Another quick morning post - 

I created this card for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week while tidying up my desk.  I had coloured these blossoms last week when I was playing with my new Blendabilities, but hadn't worked with them since - they work perfectly for this clean sketch.

I must apologize for the use of the same piece of DSP for the last three projects I've done!  I guess it's been lying on my desk and has worked for all three.

Also - today's announcement

Get excited! We are currently offering a 25%-50% discount on many of the retiring products. This will be live on May 22, but you have to act fast, as this special offer is only available until June 4, 2014. If you missed out on a product the first time, this is your last chance to get it before it's gone for good! 

Be sure to pop over to my on-line store to snatch up any deals that catch your eye - nows the time to get ready for your summer crafting!

My website is HERE

Hope you have a marvellous day!

Thanks for stopping by,

Joan

Blended Pointsettia

Just a quick post that should have been done yesterday - I got distracted after I made the card!

Merry Monday  is asking us to use flowers this week.  I still have a couple of these embossed poinsettias (embossed on vellum), so I decided to try colouring it in with the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities.  All the veins made it a bit difficult, but it worked nicely.  Also - as a bonus, I was able to colour the rhinestones with the Old Olive Blendabilities - they still sparkle beautifully, but they're green!

Short and Quick - gotta get to school.  Hope you have a great day.

Joan