Inkspiration for Stamping and Scrapbooking

Tart & Tangy, comin' up?

Did you say you like your stampin' tart & tangy?

Well, you'll get it just the way you like it at this Wednesday night's class - an evening of nothing but Tart & Tangy ideas!

Here's what we're making! I'll show you pictures of each individual card after the class. The ladies attending get to see it first - that's fair, right?

This is a technique oriented class so we'll be learning these techniques:

• loaded marker
• faux postage
• scratch n sniff
• faux tile
• as well as a really neat cutting trick for the cherry card (which is a very close copy of a card by Sharon Johnston - you've heard me rave about her work before)

The orange card is inspired by one I saw on SCS and I wrote down the name of person who uploaded it, but I can't find it just now; I'll be sure to give credit when I post each card individually on Thursday.

Come back tomorrow when I'll share a little problem and an easy solution for it.

Happy stampin' and blessings! - Ann

Texture Goes Cute

In my last post, I showed you a card that I had made for 2 purposes - to stamp something that meets Sharon's challenge, and to make up something for our stamp club. Well, our club meeting was last night and they loved the card, with its curved corners. And they loved playing with the glitter. The ribbon technique takes some practice, so some got that better than others. That's the way it is with life, isn't it?

This card was a huge hit with them. The texture here is created only with paper. We used the paper piecing technique to create some visual texture on those Unfroggetable frogs. If you haven't tried this technique, you really should - it's very easy and fun!

This technique works really well with line art images. Simply stamp your image twice, once on the cardstock that is your top layer of your card, and once on patterned paper. Trim out the patterned paper piece, cutting just on the stamped line. Adhere the cutouts to the stamped images and voila - cute and easy paper piecing. Try it with such images as funky flowers, animals, shapes, dresses etc. Check your stash, I  bet you have a set this would work with!

The water was created using the Wonderful Watercolour Crayons and the Aquapainter - that's how the dragonfly was coloured in as well. The lily pad and rock are done by punching out the shapes. The Sahara Sand cardstock was crumpled after punching and a little direct to paper with the ink to add some tactile texture and make it appear rock-like. The lily pad was trimmed into with the paper snips and a little additional green was painted on with the Aquapainter and the WWC.

How's this for texture - this one has been sitting on my shelf for about a week now, and every time I look at it, I want to touch that strawberry!

The colours are Real Red and Certainly Celery - the celery changed a little somewhere in the photographing/editing process... I am still learning!

The strawberry comes from the Tart & Tangy set - such a cute, versatile set, isn't it? I stamped the berry in Real Red on to Whisper White and punched it out. Then I used the Tombow multi, fine tip, to spread glue on the hull part. The beads are from the bead duo - so fun! You get big beads and microbeads in matching colours all in one package. So we sprinkled on the bigger tube beads first, and then sprinkled on the microbeads to fill in spots. Then repeated the process with the red duo.

The patterned paper comes from the matching called Summer Picnic and we used the white gel pen to accentuate just a few dots and play up the visual texture a bit.

I hope that gives you some great ideas to try to add texture to your stamped art - now, go get stamping, and leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

Happy stampin' and blessings! - Ann

Enjoy Texture!

This week's stamp club meeting is about texture. I'll show you more of our projects later in the week - wouldn't want to spoil it for them. But I will show you one card we're making.

As well as being a card that speaks to our theme of texture for this week's class, it is also my response to Sharon Johnston's rounded corner challenge of this past Friday. Since I had rounded my corners the usual way on Kristina's colour challenge, I made this card with convex corners, using the ticket corner punch. I used the punch on the layers, and on the So Saffron card base itself.

The Purely Pomegranate layer is wheeled with the Daisy Dash jumbo wheel, which matches the Enjoy Life set so nicely. And you can get the wheel free when you order the set during SU!'s Free Wheelin' promo on until April 30th. The patterned paper comes from the Cutie Pie designer series paper and I stamped it with the "wonderful" greeting from Warm Words.

The focal image, created with stamps from Enjoy Every Moment, is stamped and cut or punched out to build up the layers and I played with the blue cosmo glitter and the dazzling diamonds glitter.

You can see the glitter and the ribbon more closely here:

What do you think of this ribbon treatment? I read about it somewhere, but can't remember where, so apologies to the originator.

Here's a quick how-to:

To ruffle the ribbon like this, you simply start with double stitched ribbon and then gently tug on the white stitching. Anyone whose sewn will know how to do gathering, pulling the thread to create a gathered skirt or apron, for example. This is the same technique. Gently pull those white threads until your ribbon is gathered. Tie the white threads together behind the ribbon and cut the ends. I added a dab of 2 way glue so they would stay behind and adhered the ribbon to the card with glue dots.

Texture? I'd say this card has it: visually with the unexpected corners and glitter, and in a tactile sense, with the ribbon. I'll be back with the other two club cards later this week.

Meantime, leave me a comment to let me know what you think of the card, or to share some of your favourite ways to add texture to a project. 

Til next time,

Happy stampin' and blessings! - Ann

And the winner is...

Deanna!

Please contact me Deanna and we'll arrange to get your blog candy to you. And thanks to everyone else who played!

For those of you who love wedding stories, here are some of the stories shared:

Cool, my first visit and your giving away blog candy!! I found your blog by way of KWerner's blog. Great card by the way. Hmmm, my wedding was the first in my group of friends, so nothing really unique. I did go to a wedding recently where the cake was made of cupcakes!! So awesome. I think that's the trend right now. Loved it!

Hello! Here's one from my wedding 10 years ago....Since I am very Irish, we decided to have the priest say an Irish Blessing at the end of the ceremony. Everyone thought it was a unique and fun touch.
Awesome candy too - I have always loved those stamps!!

At my BIL's wedding all the men in the wedding wore sunglasses including the groom

We'll celebrate our 35th this May. At the altar when my husband was kneeling someone had written on the bottom of one show HE and the other LP so it said "Help" Everyone was laughing (obviously our priest was in on it!) and we eventually figured out why. My husband was so nervous at the beginning of the sermon that when the priest told him why everyone was laughing it put him right at ease. It's a moment we won't forget!

I loved the bubbles instead of the rice for the bride and groom as they emerged from the church.... it was magical and no mess to clean up!

For our wedding, we asked the guests a series of questions on their reply card. These questions included their favourite fall activity and their favourite cheesecake. From this informal survey, we chose the top nine cheesecake flavours and this is what we served for our wedding day dessert!

We also sang to each other at the end of our speeches. That was pretty special.

Last June I was attending my nephew's wedding in a cute little chapel near Niagara Falls, Ontario. The wedding had started and the bridemaids started walking down the aisle. They were wearing these lovely pink halter dresses when suddenly there was the bride (or so we all thought in the family sitting close to us) ALSO wearing pink.

That's different when then who comes through the door but the true bride in her wedding gown. None of knew that Jessica was a 'twin' until that very moment!

We were all surprised....

Blog candy is so much fun, isn't it? We'll have to do it again sometime soon. Stay tuned...

Happy stampin' and blessings, Ann

Really Quick and Cute Thank You

My very good friend Christa bailed me out of a childcare crunch yesterday and I wanted to thank her, so I made up this thank you card to express my appreciation to her. She stamps too, so she loved it.

It's a Certainly Celery cardbase with Tempting Turquoise accents. The origami pocket holds an individually wrapped lifesaver. The dotted circle stamp plays on the round lifesaver shape and the dots in the Bali Breeze designer paper and comes from the Enjoy Life set. Thanks comes from Live Your Dream, in the Occasions mini.

The sentiment "You are a Lifesaver" is computer generated and mounted on Tempting Turquoise. I ran the 2 way glue around all 4 sides and glittered it up for a bit of zing. I like how it came together for me so quickly. Really, the more you work your craft, the easier it comes together for you. So go stamp or scrap today and show me what you made! Leave me a comment with a link to what you created. Or email me a photo of your card/scrapbook page/project if you don't upload to a blog/website. Remember that today is the last day to leave me your wedding memories for my blog candy draw - I am hearing some great stories and will share them with you soon! The draw is tonight, so you still have time!

Happy stampin' and blessings, Ann

Blushing from the Garden

Isn't this beautiful in its simplicity? It's the first day of spring on Thursday and I wanted to do something spring-ish.

The set is From the Garden, a level 1 hostess set, and if you love colouring, you will love this stamp.

The colours are Blush Blossom, Groovy Guava, So Saffron and Wild Wasabi - colours from Kristina's colour challenge. I'm about an hour late to submit it because I was working today, but I still wanted to give it a try, since I had so much fun with my first challenge card last week.

I think this card would make a beautiful Thinking of You or Sympathy card, and I'll probably make a few more and pass them on to the church office to use.

I suppose it could make a lovely Easter card, too.

There is some dazzling diamonds on the flower centre for a little visual texture and interest.

Let me know what you think! Your comments really make me smile!

Happy stampin' and blessings, Ann

P.S. Just one day left to get in the blog candy - see this post for details!

Embrace Life

Last week was my Embrace Life class. A LONG time ago, I gave you a sneak peek at the cards. Wouldn't you  like to see them in their entirety? I know when I am teased with a sneak peek, like when SU! sneaks a few new products into our demonstrator-only magazine a month or so before a new catty, I'm always hoping they'll show us more sometime soon.

This was a class designed for intermediate and above stampers and all 5 cards used the Embrace Life set. Here we go!

Rub-ons and the build-a-brad, along with gentle shading all add wow to this card.

The template for this card is found here.

Wouldn't this make a great anniversary or wedding card?

Felt fusion and rhinestone brads add tons of fun and bling to this square card.

Pocket card using new stylized silver Hodgepodge hardware ribbon slide and dyed Pretties flowers.

The insert for the pocket card features a popped up stamped flower. A punch out from the Word Window punch, folded in half forms the pull tab for the insert.

This is the deluxe version of the card I showed you last week, here.

What can I say, it's just plain gorgeous and I wish I had dreamt it up entirely myself, but I didn't. The main idea for this one came from Sophia Landry. 

I promised last week to show you how to do the vellum flowers, so I will be back with a tutorial on that VERY soon, so stay tuned.

The inspiration for these cards have come from a variety of beautiful stampers including Corinne Somerville, Debbie Olson, Sophia Landry, Vivian Swain, and Kristin Moore. A few of the cards I changed up a bit, some were just perfect the way they were, that all I did was CASE them. The ladies who attended last week's class were definitely wow'd by these cards, and the people who will be the recipients of their cards will be too! We felt so grateful for all the talented stampers who so graciously share their talents online!

Til next time, happy stampin' and blessings! - Ann

Candy candy candy!

I remember when we were in the Dominican about a dozen years ago, we went on an excursion and all the kids would mill around the jeep as we drove through the village calling out candy candy candy! Treats from visitors make your day, right?

Well, how about treats FOR visitors! That would make your day, right? I mentioned on the weekend that I'd go find something yummy to give away. This blog candy is for no particular reason, except that I haven't done a blog candy give away in a LONG while, and spring is right away the corner, which makes us all feel good, right!

Here's what's up for grabs:

* a new unmounted Too Terrific Tags stamp set

* approx. 5 yards of bright yellow grosgrain ribbon

* approx. 2.5 yards of bright orange ribbon

Although a LOT of snow has got to go before we see even crocuses around here, I do believe spring is in the air, and that's why I chose these bright ribbon colours.

All you have to do, to be entered in the draw to win these yummy stamping treats, like I mentioned on the weekend, is share in a sentence or two something that made your wedding (or one you attended) unique. Please share your stories in the comments section of THIS blog post. I'm looking forward to your stories! I think I said I'd do the draw on Wednesday, but I've changed my mind - I'll extend it a day to Thursday. The draw is Thursday, March 20th at 5 pm EST. Good luck!

Happy stampin' and blessings! - Ann

Last Call!

Today is the very last day of Sale-A-Bration. With every $70 purchase, you may choose an item out of the Sale-A-Bration brochure. I am placing an order today - please have your orders to me by 5 pm EST if you don't want to miss out.

More Scrapbooking Fun & Blog Candy

It's been a busy week between work, March break, fun time, etc. One of the highlights has been having my mom up for a visit - she left this morning. When mom comes, we always try to make time to make cards or scrapbook and this time we scrapbooked - mom has pictures from her recent trip to the Dominican and I am finally starting my wedding album. I've been scrapbooking since October 2003, so it's about time, right? I didn't want the first album I did to be the wedding album because I suspected there would be a learning curve with this hobby, as with any, and I was right. I love my first scrapbook pages from 2004, but trends & products have changed a lot since then, as well as my abilities. Of course, trends & products will continue to change, and swiftly, so sooner or later, I just had to jump in and start it. This week, I removed the photos from the photo album they were in so that I'm ready to scrapbook them any chance I get. Brian and I celebrate our 10th anniversary this summer, so I hope to complete the album by the end of August. I've chosen to scrapbook not just the wedding day itself, but all the other stuff that went into it - the shower, jack n jill, preparation, honeymoon etc. so that all of it is in one place. I am using the Tye the Knot scrappin' kit from the current catty, Baroque dsp from the previous catty and current cardstocks and embellishments because those green and brown colours work with our outdoor wedding theme. The scrapbook pages posted today are casual in flavour as they chronicle tings other than the big day itself, but by using similar colours throughout the entire album, these pages should flow with the whole book when it is completed.

For this page, I played with the new chocolate polytwill again -  I really like the smooth feel of it. These photos were taken at the Bridesgate Inn in Bancroft, Ontario - a beautiful spa and B & B that Brian and I enjoyed a few quiet days at after our international visitors left. There was a verandah off our room overlooking the lake. The gardens were beautiful and the food was divine. And of course, I was there with my wonderful husband. We've only been back once since then - I wonder if it's still as nice as I remember?

There were a few challenges to scrapbooking this page. One, the photos are pre-digital and were taken indoors under flourescent tube lighting, creating a very green cast to our skin tones. Not much I could do about that... Also, I wanted to include the hand made tickets our maid of honour and best man made, so I had to find a way to incorporate it, even though the colour didn't suit the page - so I matted it with the colours I'm using for the album. And if it still doesn't work entirely, well, "it's something blue" . Actually my something blue was my toenail polish, but very few people actually saw that... except when I was running the bases. Won't that be a fun page to scrapbook!

There were a lot of things that made our wedding day specialand unique to us, like palying baseball in my wedding dress. I'll share some more of those things as I create and upload more pages from this album. Meantime, it's been a VERY long time since I've done a blog candy so we're probably overdue... I've got some stampin' & scrappin' goodies to share. Once I've gathered it one place and gotten a photo of it, I'll show you. Meantime, though, you can enter to win by posting in the comments below a quick story (just a sentence or two) about something that made your wedding unique (or a wedding you went to if you aren't married). I'll select the winner by doing a draw on Wednesday, March 19th at 5 pm EST. Have fun recollecting that very special day, hug the ones you love, and good luck in the draw!

Happy stampin' and blessings,

Ann