Another round of leftovers

What a crazy day yesterday was!  I was supposed to be taking three of my bands from school up to Collingwood (about 2-1/2 hours north of us) to perform at a music festival.  We set out first thing in the morning to bright sunshine and bare roads.  Within 45 minutes the world suddenly turned white as wicked snow squalls hit.  We were surrounded by white...I have never been in such a severe white-out in my life.  It scared the daylights out of me and the bus driver alike and we made the decision to turn around and head back home as soon as we could safely do so.  We made it back to school safe and sound and am I ever thankful we did!  Every road leading into and out of Collingwood was closed by dinnertime and the major highway had a 96-car-pile-up right at about the time we would have been driving on it!  If we had managed to make it up there we would have been stranded in -30 C cold with no place to stay!!  I am so grateful that I and all of my students and staff are safe at home!  It was very disappointing for my kids, as they have worked hard to prepare their repertoire, but it certainly wasn't worth risking their lives to perform!  So, after that craziness, I have a crazy card made from leftovers found while tidying up my desk...

Birthday card featuring the Tag It stamp set.

Now don't adjust your screen...the DSP strip in the background really is cut crooked!  Haha!  I didn't realize just how crooked it was until I had finished the card and was photographing it!  I just found the perfectly sized scrap of DSP and used it on this card without really measuring it!  That'll teach me to use up scraps willynilly, huh??  The cool thing about this one is that every single item on it was in the heap of scraps and odd bits sitting on my desk, left from various failed projects.One thing I did discover, rather by accident is that the new Scalloped Tag Topper Punch makes a perfect mat for one of the tag dies from the Chalk Talk Framelits!  Gotta love that! 
I hope you've had a great week (at least better than mine ended up!).  I'll have a new challenge from The Technique Twist for you tomorrow...another bi-weekly Saturday post!  Till then take care and TGIF!

What's on your Desk??

This weekend I found a bit of time to clean up my stamping desk after the frenzied flurry of making all of the decorations for the baby shower I recently hosted.  It was a big mess, so rather than put everything away I decided to try to create a few projects using the items that were sitting out.  Here is the first card I made...

Thank you card featuring the Happy Watercolour  stamp set.

This one features some leftover practice bits from the Bubble Background challenge over at the Technique Twist a while back!  Yep, that's how deep my pile was!   I stamped the dot image from the Happy Watercolour  stamp set over top of the bubbles using Silver Metallic Encore ink.  I found a bit of Wisteria Wonder baker's twine leftover from an event ages ago, as well as a small Vintage Faceted button that was buried under a stack of scraps.

The focal image was one that I stamped at some point after receiving my Occasions Catalogue pre-order and trying out some of the new products.  The colour scheme is Pool Party, Wisteria Wonder and Pear Pizzazz, with all stamped off once before stamping the background colour blocks.  The flower is stampe in Basic Gray.  The embossed background layer is Smokey Slate card stock that I ran through the Decorative Dots TIEF.  I had the corner rounder punch sitting out so I rounded the opposite corners on all of the layers.  The sentiment was stamped in Basic Gray and then die cut using the Bitty Banners Framelits.  I had a few odd rhinestones laying around so I added them for some sparkle.
It's really amazing what you find when you finally clean up!  If your work area is looking less-than-tidy, try using the stuff instead of trying to find places to store it...you might be surprised with the result!

Card for Baby

Today I have the card I made to go with my gift at the shower last Friday.  It was pretty last-minute, as I was so busy making all of the decor stuff I kind of forgot about a card!  I threw this together the night before the shower...not my best work, but it's ok...

Baby card featuring the Banner Blast, Sweet Essentials and Itty Bitties (retired) stamp sets.

I'm not exactly thrilled with this card, but I was under a time crunch, which always tends to stifle my creativity.  I started with a piece of DSP from the Fresh Prints pack and then layered half of a doily, some pennants stamped with the Banner Blast set and punched with the coordinating punch and some stitched grosgrain ribbon.  The teeny little feet are from the Itty Bitties stamp set, which was in last year's Occasions catalogue.  Sadly it is no longer available, but I kept it just for this one image...aren't they adorable??

The sentiment is from the Sweet Essentials set and is die cut using the Bitty Banners framelits.  I added a small Vintage Faceted button and a bit of twine from the Sweet Sorbet Accessory pack.  Like I said, not my best work, but not bad for last minute ;)

Now, here are this week's Weekly Deals...some great items here!  I'm ordering a  few myself!

We hope you enjoy this week's Weekly Deals!

	Backyard Basics Framelits Dies Item # 129380 Regular Price: 30.95  Discounted Price: 23.21
	Gold Metallic Encore Pad Item # 132141 Regular Price: 12.95 Discounted Price: 9.71
	Basics Glimmer Brads Item # 121003 Regular Price: 6.95 Discounted Price: 4.88
	Paper Doily Sizzlits Die Item # 125592 Regular Price: 26.95 Discounted Price: 20.21
	Primrose Petals 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon Item # 126844 Regular Price: 12.25 Discounted Price: 9.19
	Summer Starfruit 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon Item # 126846 Regular Price: 12.25  Discounted Price:  /9.19
	Season By Season Kit - Digital Download Item # 130060 Regular Price:  10.95  Discounted Price:  6.57

Baby Shower Success!

Well Operation Baby Shower was a huge success.  The Mommy-to-be had a wonderful time and received some lovely gifts.  I know I said I would post photos of the decor items last Friday, but honestly, I was just too busy getting ready for the actual event (and then cleaning up afterwards) to sneak in a post.  My apologies for keeping you waiting...here they are!

Baby shower Banner and garland.

 I made the banner using the largest of the Banners Framelits, cutting a folded piece of  textured Smokey Slate card stock so that the fold was just below the cutting edge.  This created tent-fold pennants that I could then just drape over the Summer Starfruit stitched satin ribbon, allowing me to reuse the almost-8-foot-long piece of ribbon!  The white circles were cut using the Starburst Framelits and embossed with the Argyle TIEF.  The Summer Starfruit letters were die cut using the retired Serif Essentials Alphabet dies.  I love these because they cut big 2" letters which are perfect for projects like this.  I added a bit of bling to the banner with some small hearts punched from silver glimmer paper.

The garland in each of the above photos was made by punching (a lot!) of hexagons from Smokey Slate, Summer Starfruit, Crisp Cantaloupe and Silver Glimmer paper using the Hexagon punch.  It was then just a matter of sewing them all together.  I did them in strands of 100 hexagons each, which made the length quite manageable.  The one on the chandelier was shorter, made from the leftovers.  Those garlands were a huge hit with everyone...in fact, the Mommy-to-be asked if she could keep them for baby's first birthday party!  Of course I said yes!

Heart confetti

Instead of throwing out the scraps when I was finished punching all of those hexagons, I punched as many small hearts as I could from what was left and used them as confetti on the tables.  It was a great way to carry the colour scheme to the tables and use up scraps at the same time!

Cupcake toppers

I made little toppers for the yummy cupcakes using the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and Bitty Banners Framelits. 

 

Favour wrapper made using the Scalloped Tag Topper punch...so loving that thing!

 For the favours I packaged up pairs of yummy-smelling votive candles in some small cello bags and then created a wrapper using the Scalloped Tag Topper punch.  I simply cut a 10" x 2" strip of Smokey Slate card stock and punched both ends.  I scored each strip at 4-1/4 and 5-3/4" and folded along the score lines.  I embossed each strip with the Perfect Polka Dots TIEF.  I added a strip of Sticky Strip between the score lines to hold the bag of candles in place and then tied the wrapper closed with some Summer Starfruit Stitched Satin Ribbon.  The label is cut using the Chalk Talk Framelits from Summer Starfruit Core'dinations card stock, embossed with the Argyle TIEF and then lightly sanded.  The sentiment is from the A Fitting Occasion stamp set.  It is punched with the 1" circle and layered on a 1-1/4" scalloped circle.  The tiny heart is from the Owl Builder Punch.

Thank you card featuring the Cuddles and Kisses stamp set.

As part of my gift for the Mommy-to-be I made a set of 20 of these thank you cards.  I kept many of the same elements I used on the invitations, but made these much simpler.  It didn't take long to whip them up!

I have to say that this colour scheme was a huge hit!  Everyone commented on how nicely the colours (Smokey Slate, Summer Starfruit, Crisp Cantaloupe and Whisper White) work together for a gender-neutral shower.  The bling is a bit girlie, but it was more for Mommy-to-be than for baby...she is a real girlie girl!  Here is a shot of the guest of honour:

I can't wait to meet her little one!!

Quckie Baby card

Today's post will be a quickie...I am busily preparing to host a baby shower for my teaching partner at school.  Friday afternoon my home will be filled with colleagues as we wish the momma-to-be well and shower her with all of the necessities of mommyhood.  I've handmade all of the decor and favours as well as a set of thank you cards to give as a gift...I'll post photos tomorrow ;)
Yesterday I showed you three cards I made using the Watercolour Wonder Designer Note Cards...today I have another, appropriately, baby themed one!

Baby card featuring the Baby We've Grown stamp set and Watercolour Wonder Designer Note Cards.

Cute, huh?  And so darned easy!  I just stamped the two images in Staz On and then coloured them using my blender pen and ink pads.  Piece o' cake!  Good thing, 'cuz I've got 20 women coming over tomorrow and my house is a disaster!  Wish me luck...I'll let you know how it goes!

Quick and Easy Watercolour

I just love the new Watercolour Wonder Designer Note Cards and Envelopes.  They make it so quick and easy to create gorgeous cards in minutes!  Check these out:

Quick and easy card ensemble featuring the Happy Watercolour stamp set and Watercolour Wonder Designer Note Cards

This set of three cards took me less than 15 minutes, in total, to make!  Talk about easy elegance!  Here is a closer look at each one:

All of the notecards come pre-printed.  There are 4 of each of 5 designs, for a total of 20 notecards in all.  They are so pretty you could even give them as they are, but I had fun stamping and colouring directly on them...no layers required to get gorgeous watercolour-effect images.  So pretty and easy...even you (and I!) can look like an expert watercolourer!
Have a great Wednesday...just two more days till the weekend...woohoo!

Wishing it was still the weekend...

We had a long weekend here, in Ontario, in honour of Family Day.  It is a time to spend quality time with those you love and we had a fantastic Family Day!  It was a technology-free day, which meant no cell phones, computers, iPads, or video games!  Both my son and my DH were a wee bit stressed, at first, to think that they had to find other ways to entertain themselves for the day, but it turned out to be a great day of family togetherness.  We read books, played games, went bowling and had a family dinner out at one of our favourite restaurants.  Now can you see why I'm wishing it was still the weekend?  I didn't want our wonderful day to end!  To kick off the shortened workweek, I have a quick and easy card for you.  It sums up how I'm feeling today:

Any-occasion card featuring the Perfect Pennants and Petite Petals stamp sets.

Life really doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful...yesterday proved that!  This card is really quick and easy to put together thanks to some fabulous new products.  Here is a quick how-to:

• I stamped the sentiment using Pool Party ink on Whisper White card stock and then die cut it using the Banners Framelits.  I also die cut two additional banners from Sweet Sorbet DSP.
• I stamped a couple of flowers on the die cut banner using Crisp Cantaloupe ink.
• I stamped two more flowers and punched them using the Petite Petals punch.  They are adhered using dimensionals.
• The DSP at the top of the card is from the Sweet Sorbet DSP pack.
• The little scalloped border is punched from Crisp Cantaloupe card stock using the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch.
• The background is embossed using the Decorative Dots TIEF.
• The twine is from the Sweet Sorbet Accessory pack.
• I added a wee bit of bling with a rhinestone in the centre of each flower.

Havea great day and a week filled with unexpected blessings! :)