Birthday Book...Finally

Remember this address book I made back in August? Well, at the same time I created that, I had planned on creating a matching birthday book as well. This month, I finally got around to actually making it. As you can see from the pictures, I didn't end up making it to match the address book because I wanted it to be more bright and fun coloured. The front and back pages were covered in mod podge using a foam brush and then the designer paper applied for a stronger hold. This project was so easy to make. I created the inner pages using Word and made the months in real red using Marni's RGB values (I love this link and use it a lot).

This book was created using my Bind-It-All machind and aside from those supplies this is an SU only project (you could substitute the SU on-board journals for a completely SU project). I used the 5" x 7.5" page covers and the 5/8" coils. Then once fully assembled I added tempting turquoise and real red 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.

Don't forget to enter for my BLOG CANDY HERE!

Supplies:

Paper: SU real red, ww, East Coast Prep dp (retired)
Ribbons: SU 1/4" and 5/8" real red grosgrain, 1/4" tempting turquoise grosgrain
Punch: SU round tab punch
Pen: SU white signo gel pen
Bind It All: machine, coils, cover

BLOG CANDY!!

It was one year ago today that I announced on my blog that I had signed up to become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator and I have decided to celebrate with some great blog candy! This is the blog candy up for grabs. It includes my favourite SAB set Botanical Blooms and a 6" x 6" designer paper pack (which includes 60 sheets: 2 each of 5 double sided designs in each of the colours - real red, pretty in pink, apricot appeal, bashful blue and wild wasabi).

RULES:
Seeing as Grant and I are making up a music playlist for our wedding, comment on this post including at least one song that you think should be played at our wedding.
You can get a second entry into the draw if you mention my blog candy on your blog. If you do this, please create a second post with a link to the post on your blog! If you are posting anonymously you must include your name and email in your post.
You must live in Canada or the US to enter!

Note: If you do not follow the rules (ie. do not include a song) I will not include your entry in the draw.

I will draw for a winnter on Thursday March 5 - You have until 7:00 PM MST to enter..

Thank you to everyone who has made my blog such a success! I have had a blast creating it and enjoy reading each and every comment that is left for me!

Final Sketch Challenge with a Twist

This card is for the final Viva La Verve sketch challenge with a twist, VLVFeb04. The twist this time was to use acetate - which I haven't used in forever although I love the look it has. I absolutely love this card. It's one of those ones that turned out even better than I had imagined it! As for the acetate: I embossed it and layered it on top of the brown layer that has the ribbon running down it.

As usual, I just can't get enough of this set or my new favourite colour, sage shadow. I really hope this stamp set sticks around when the new catalogue gets released in the summer!

Make sure you come back later to enter for some great BLOG CANDY!!

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms, SU Sweet Little Sentiments (hostess)
Ink: SU chocolate chip, sage shadow
Paper: SU chocolate chip, ww, sage shadow, Autumn vine dp (retired), acetate
Brads: SU 5/16" jumbo chocolate chip brads
Ribbon: SU 1/4" sage shadow grosgrain

Monochromatic Thanks

VLVFeb03 was to use the sketch challenge as well as only a monochromatic colour scheme. I decided to go with shades of blue so I could use up some of my supplies that I've been hoarding! This card makes me wish I had bought some not quite navy ribbon - I guess I know what'll be on my next order. Not much to say about this so if you want to know anything just send me an email.

Supplies:

Stamp: SU Full of Life (dormant list)
Ink: SU not quite navy
Paper: SU baja breeze, not quite navy, baja breeze dp
Flowers: SU Flower fusion too
Brads: SU not quite navy brads
Punch: SU 1 1/4" circle punch

Little Baby Card

This is another card from Viva La Verve challenges for February - this time for VLVFeb02. For this challenge you had to use the sketch callenge and no designer paper. I love the way this card turned out and again I tried to leave the oval as is. This is also one of my favourite colour combos - pink pirouette, baja breeze and chocolate chip! I decided to use my cuttlebug and emboss the background pink so that it wasn't really plain.

The sentiment was stamped from the Level 1 hostess set Sweet Little Sentiments - I only coloured part of the sentiment with my SU markers so it would fit in the space better. I had used the full sentiment originally then had to start again because it was too long. The girafe was also stamped in chocolate chip then coloured in with blender pens and pink pirouette and baja breeze ink.

Two things bother me about this card: 1) that at the very end I smudged my sentiment so I wasn't about to start again and 2) I didn't space the brads to have a gap between them. I still really like it though, it was a fun layout to play with!

Now I just need to know more people having babies so I can start using all of these cute cards!

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Wild About You, SU Sweet Little Sentiments (hostess)
Ink: SU chocolate chip, pink pirouette, baja breeze
Paper: SU ww, baja breeze, pink pirouette, chocolate chip
Ribbon: SU pink pirouette
Brads: SU 5/16" chocolate chip brads
Misc: Embossing folder Spots & Dots

Botanical Blooms with a Twist

I've been catching up again on some sketch challenges - in particular, Verve Stamps February Viva La Verve challenges.

This card is for VLVFeb01, in which you had to use the sketch challenge and the twist for this challenge was to include some form of embossing (heat or dry). I love the way this turned out.

This was an extra bit of a challenge for me because I hate using ovals. I usually substitute something else in place of ovals when they are icluded in sketch challenges but I decided to try to keep it this time.

Supplies

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms
Ink: SU old olive, regal rose, pretty in pink
Paper: SU old olive, ww, so saffron, georgia peach dp (retired)
Ribbon: SU 5/8" regal rose grosgrain
Brads: SU old olive brads
Punches: SU scallop edge punch
Misc: Cuttle bug swiss dots embossing folder

Long Post: Teacher Birthday

Warning: This is a very long post but has lots of cards (24) and packaging to show you - I hope you'll take the time to read it (there's a lesson I learned at the end that I think all cardmakers and scrapbookers should read)!

Yesterday, I showed you the gift card tin I created for my sisters birthday but that was not all I gave her! I also gave her a set of 24 cards made with a special purpose in mind.

For the last couple of years I have been giving her cards for Christmas for her own use but she is selective with who gets them because I can only make so many cards! Since she is a teacher, I figured parents and students are probably one of groups of people who get left out so that she can give them to family and friends. These cards are designed to change that!

Remember this card? Well, although it would have been nice to have been for Grant's TA, it was actually one of the 24 I made for my sister. All 24 cards are thank you cards for when students/teachers help out!

I made 4 each of 6 different designs:

Red Design 1: Red Design 2: Green Design 1 (the greens have a white board instead of chalkboard so there wasn't green overload): Green Design 2: Blue Design 1 (please excuse the crappy pictures of these ones): Blue Design 2: There are not too many differences between designs 1 and 2 of each of the colours but it just gave a little more variety than there otherwise would be.

Of course, after making all of these cards I had to find a cute way to package them! The clear boxes from PTI were the perfect choice. They just had to be jazzed up a bit! I made three boxes and each holds the eight cards of one of the colour schemes. SU ribbon and punched out images of the apple were the final touch to the boxes to make them extra special and teacher-y!

LESSON: I have to tell you I learned an important lesson in making all of these - to stop hoarding! I had been hoarding the SU Summer Picnic paper like you wouldn't believe because I love it so much and finally decided to use it for this project because it looked so bright and cheery. It wasn't an easy decision because I knew it would use a lot of paper. After all 24 cards were done, I actually still had quite a lot of this paper left (even after having made previous cards wtih it too) and I only bought one pack! Just shows you how much value you get out of one pack of SU paper for $11.75!

Some Supplies ('cause there were way too many to list - email me if you want more):

Stamps: SU tart & tangy, SU short & sweet, Stamping Bella Teachabella
Inks/Markers/Pastels: A lot but all SU
Paper: SU real red, old olive, ww, Summer picnic dp (retired)
Ribbon: SU 1/2" striped real read grosgrain
Punches: SU 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle, SU scallop circle
Boxes: PTI clear boxes

Birthday Gift Card Tin

This was such a fun project for me to make and I love the way it turned out - I almost don't want to give it away. I can't take credit for this idea because I actually saw it on Patty's blog here. This is for my sisters birthday and I hope she likes it! Like Patty, I cut adhered ribbon on the inside and looped it to the outside so that it's easier to open (plus I think it looks pretty). The hippo image was stamped in basic black and then coloured in with SU markers. The inside of the tin was a lot of work but well worth it. I could have made it a lot easier if I didn't use so many layers but I can't help it - I love to layer! The left hand pocket has a little insert to write a message on and the right hand side holds a gift card (note: I didn't get her a Tim's gift card that is just all I had at home for picture purposes).

These tins take a lot of work, but are well worth it if you want a new way to jazz up gift cards!

Supplies

Stamps: SU Pun Fun
Ink: SU regal rose, basic black, pretty in pink, barely banana, old olive
Paper: SU regal rose, barely banana, old olive, ww, Georgia peach dp (retired)
Punches: SU corner rounder, SU round tab punch
Ribbon: SU regal rose 5/8" grosgrain
Tin: SU silver skinny tin

Undergarment Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's a peek at the last Valentine's card I made - one with a much less child-like vibe to it! The bra section is the front view of the card, and check out the back - it's a super cute panty.
This was so easy to make - it seriously took only about 20 minutes (including the printing and cutting of the template - which you can find here on StampOwl's blog). I had seen these cards before and thought they were cute but never got around to trying one until now. I don't know what I was so afraid of!

Supplies

Paper: SU blush blossom, real red, Making Memories mini-dot dp
Ribbon: Spool O'ribbon

Bugs & Kisses Valentine

Here's another Valentine card! I just love the cute sayings that come with all these animal/bug sets! This card was for Jen's Feb 7 sketch challenge SFYTT. I love the way this card turned out and it actually looks so much cuter in person. Since I don't have my order from SU yet, I had to use my Cricut to create the hearts and then just stamped the Bugs and Kisses sentiment in them using my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the alignment just right. The bugs were stamped in regal rose and then the spaces were coloured in using blender pens and pink pirouette ink.

Note: The stamp set is on the SU Dormant List - this means although this stamp set is not in the current Spring-Summer catalogue, it is still available to purchase. There are other stamp sets on the dormant list as well. Check out the SU Dormant List here. You can also always find a quick link to it on the right side of my blog.

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Bugs and Kisses (on SU Dormant List)
Ink: SU regal rose, pink pirouette
Paper: SU regal rose, pink pirouette, ww
Misc: Cricut, blender pens

Wild About You

Seeing as it is a new sketch day over at SCS, I thought I should post the Valentine I created for last weeks sketch challenge SC214. I love the way this card turned out. It is definitely one of my favourites (plus it helps that I love pink)! I stamped the lion image three times - one for the main image, and cut out one for the mane and one for the lion face. So easy but it has such an impact when it shows the different colours!

Supplies:

Stamp: SU Wild About You
Ink: SU regal rose, pretty in pink, Versamark
Paper: SU regal rose, pretty in pink, ww
Brads: SU pretty in pink
Misc: SU circle punches, SU white embossing powder

Fairytale Valentine

I figured with Valentine's Day this week I should start posting some cards for it! Since I don't have kids, I don't have much use for Valentine's cards really but they are just so fun to make so I've made a few.

This card is for CPS102 - they are celebrating their anniversary as well as PTI (which I totally love) so I had to participate, especially since goodies are involved! It is also again for LSC206 since the only stamp I used was a sentiment stamp.

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Full of Life
Ink: SU real red, basic black
Paper: SU real red, ww, Making Memories mini dots dp
Punch: SU scallop edge punch
Misc: Making Memories tag rims

Simple Multi-Challenge Card

Here's a quick card I made when I was in a rush but I did manage to complete a few challenges all at once with it (which may be why it ended up rather boring). I'm losing momentum while anxiously awaiting my new stamps! This card is 3.5 x 6.75" and combines the following challenges:
1. Taylor's sketch challenge TECC54,
2. SCS's Limited Supplies Challenge (LSC206) to use only a sentiment stamp and
3. Papertrey Ink's challenge to create a Best Friend card.

Supplies

Stamp: SU Full of Life
Ink: SU Chocolate Chip
Paper: SU chocolate chip, baja breeze, baja breeze dp
Ribbon: SU baja breeze
Flowers: SU Flower Fusion

CASEing Myself with Botanical Blooms

I loved this card I made for Amy's sketch amyrs56 earlier that when I made it originally I had a hard time trying to decide what colour to make the flower and which papers to use. So, I decided to just make another card using the other options I was considering. There are really only a few differences in the cards: the bottom dsp and the stamped image are now sage shadow, there is a layer of chocolate chip underneath the ribbon and the sentiment is different.

Hope you enjoy these two similar but different takes. I don't even know which one I like better!

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms, Short & Sweet
Ink: SU chocolate chip, sage shadow
Paper: SU chocolate chip, sage shadow, autumn vine dp (retired)
Ribbon: SU 1/4" sage shadow grosgrain
Misc: SU 1/2" circle punch

Teacher Thank You

After getting new stamp supplies for Christmas I had to reorganize my stamping space and found this stamp set that I had ordered but yet to use. Seeing as Grant is in his last practicum on his way to become a teacher, I thought I would use it to make a card for him to give to his TA when he is done as a thank you.

This card was quite a bit of work to do just because of all of the colouring involved. I stamped the image in SU basic black then used the stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the thank you sentiment underneath. Then I used a combination of SU markers and pastels to colour in the image.

Plus, I took this as another opportunity to use the Summer Picnic designer paper - one of my supplies that I've been hoarding because I love it so much. I wish it wasn't retired.

Supplies:

Stamps: Stamping Bella Teachabella, SU Short & Sweet
Ink Pad: SU basic black
Markers: SU real red, old olive, bashful blue, pumpkin pie, summer sun, close to cocoa, pixie pink
Pastels: SU old olive, chocolate chip, creamy caramel
Paper: SU ww, old olive, summer picnic dp

Valentine's Candy Jar

I got this cute little candy jar as a sample when I was looking at options for wedding favours and of course had to keep it to alter! You can find similar ones at Ikea or Walmart if you wanted to make one.There wasn't much involved in this one because the container is so small. Had it been bigger, I would have liked to have added a bow and matching tag (then I could use some of the tag maker rims I've been hoarding).Since I haven't ordered my stuff from the new Spring Summer 2009 Catalogue yet (because I've been waiting for the deals from Sale-A-Bration to start), I couldn't use the candy lane designer paper that I really wanted to use so I dug out rubons from last years Sale-A-Bration and used them on this project. That is where the hearts on the side and the love sentiment came from.

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms
Ink: SU regal rose
Rubons: SU Love & Happiness (retired)
Ribbon: SU 1/4" pretty in pink grosgrain

mytimess22 Soft Flowers

Can you tell I've been busy with sketches? I finally had some time to stamp and I actually had my stamping mojo at the same time! That doesn't seem to happen too much lately.

This card is for Lauren's mytimess22. I love the softness of it. I finally found a way to use the not-so-subtle patterned paper. I always have a hard time using it because I find it often overtakes the stamped image but this works well I think.

I liked this card better before I added the flower on the left, but it was part of the sketch so, I left it on. Plus, it was my first time using these SU felt flowers and they are so cute (of course that is the same reason I haven't used them - because I've been hoarding them). I really need to stop hoarding stuff so much - I should make that a (late) resolution this year!


Supplies:

Stamps: SU Embrace Life
Ink: SU old olive, certainly celery
Paper: SU baja breeze, ww, green tea dp (retired)
Ribbon: SU 5/8" certainly celery grosgrain
Flowers: SU Flower Fusion
Brads: SU certainly celery

SFYTT Tart & Tangy

As soon as I saw Jen's SFYTT sketch this weekend, I knew right away I wanted to use my tart and tangy set. It worked perfectly with the four circles.

I love the brightness of this card. I played around a lot with what colour to make the "orange" image because it really can be just about anything depending on how you colour it. I didn't like it orange or yellow for a lemon because it stood out too much from the rest of the card then. I tried a lime look but then it was the only thing that was one colour. Finally, I settled on this which kind of looks like a watermelon. I figured it was close enough anyway to work!

I'm trying out new ways to photograph my projects so the background isn't so random, so you may see some changes over the next while.

I'm so glad this stamp set hasn't retired yet. I just wish the coordinating summer picnic designer paper didn't retire yet!

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Tart & Tangy
Ink: SU real red, old olive markers
Paper: SU ww, old olive, summer picnic dp (retired)
Ribbon: SU old olive 5/8" grosgrain
Punches: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches

Favourite Sale-A-Bration Image Set

Seeing as Sale-A-Bration just started yesterday, I thought I would share my favourite image stamp set from the catalogue. Botanical Blooms is one of my favourite flower sets yet and I love that it is a 2-step stamping set (for those of you who are wondering what that means - it is when you stamp one image from the set first and then stamp over it again with another to create the finished look). This card was my for Amy's sketch amyrs56. It's a great sketch that I think I will use many times over! There are so many possibilities wtih it that it'll be great when I'm in a slum for ideas like I have been the past while!

Since the promotion started yesterday, you may also be wondering how I have this set already - that's one of the benefits of becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Often times we get the opportunity to purchase sets in advance of the catalogue release. In addition, we get 20% off purchases for ourselves!

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Botanical Blooms, Upsy Daisy
Ink: SU chocolate chip, more mustard
Paper: SU ww, chocolate chip, sage shadow, autumn vine dp (retired)
Ribbon: SU sage shadows grosgrain
Misc: SU 1/2" circle punch

SU Sale-A-Bration

Please scroll down to see my card post from today.


Today marks the start of SU's Sale-A-Bration campaign (it runs Feb 1 - Mar 31). The annual Sale-A-Bration campaign is the biggest Stampin' Up promotion of the year with benefits for customers, hostesses and recruits!


Check out the amazing catalogue featuring exclusive products here!



Customers: Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $60 purchase (before taxes).

Hostesses: Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product with a $350 or more workshop (in addition to regular hostess benefits and the above customer benefits).

Recruits: If you sign up with me to become a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, choose any retail stamp set (value up to $56.95) from the current Spring Summer 2009 catalogue. Plus, get 15% off the regular $249 price of the starter kit. You get everything in the starter kit (an over $410 value) for only $209! If you are interested in becoming a demonstrator and have questions or want to know of the other benefits please contact me.

Did You Know: I signed up to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator during last years Sale-A-Bration!? I would definitely recommend it - especially if you regularly purchase products! Sale-A-Bration is the best deal SU has to offer new recruits.

TECC53 Embrace Baja Breeze

I'm back with a card for Taylor's sketch TECC53. This was a great sketch and I had a hard time deciding what to do for it because I had so many ideas. Ultimately, I ended up with this card. For this card, I used reverse masking to create a template to sponge the baja breeze ink within the flower to get a bit more shading. It didn't turn out quite like I was hoping but it was my first time doing the sponging technique so hopefully with more practice it will look like some of the great sponged flowers I've seen on other blogs. I'm not sure why the sponged flower looks like a different colour from the rest in the photo but it all looks baja breeze in person.

Supplies:

Stamps: SU Embrace Life
Ink: SU Embrace Life
Paper: SU baja breeze, ww, green tea dp (retired)
Brads: Bazzill white
Misc: SU sponge dauber