A Twist at The Technique Twist

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend and a wonderful Mother's Day!  I was spoiled with breakfast in bed, a dozen roses and some new gardening gloves.  I put them to good use yesterday, as the weather here was picture perfect! 
I was so busy enjoying my weekend that I forgot to post about the new challenge over at The Technique Twist!  This time we're twisting our challenge...rather than a technique, we're all about 3D flowers.  For my sample I pulled out some of the oh-so-versatile filter paper and went to town...

Any Occasion card featuring the Feel Goods stamp set and filter paper 3D flowers.

Aren't those flowers pretty?  I made them using the Floral Frames framelits.  Each flower has 20 layers of filter paper diecuts!  You could certainly use less, but your flowers wouldn't be as full. 

I started by die cutting the floral frames - you can cut several layers of filter paper at once - and then spritzed them with some Blushing Bride and Gold Glow Smooch I had in my stash.  If you dont' have any Smooch you could use some rubbing alcohol with reinkers in Blushing Bride and Daffodil Delight in a Stampin' Spritzer.  I layered the coloured die cuts on top of each other and then pierced a hole in the middle.  I inserted a silver mini brad and opened the prongs to secure it.  Then I started scrunching each layer.  Once they were all scrunched I fluffed them up a bit and that's it!  Easy peasy flowers!

Why not try bringing some spring blossoms into your stamping space by creating your favourite 3D flowers.  Then be sure to enter your creation over at The Technique Twist...we'd love to see your work!

Candy Bouquet, Anyone?

No fooling, it's April!!  Bring on the spring!!

You may have noticed I've been neglecting my poor blog of late. In addition to the challenges my family has faced over the past couple of weeks, I've also been busy preparing for my school's annual Arts Awards event coming up this Thursday.  Each year the fine arts department puts on a big shindig to honour the students who have made significant contributions to the arts programs at our school.  This year we are doing a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme.  The decor, entertainment and food will all centre around candy and chocolate!  Fun!!  I am in charge of table settings and decor and (naiively) decided to make candy bouquets for the centrepieces, thinking I'd be making ten, as we usually have about that number of tables.  Here is what I came up with:

Candy bouquet made using the (retired) Flower Folds die and the (current) Spiral Flower die.

Fun, huh?  Well...surprise!  We sold 150 tickets, which means 36 centrepieces!!  Yikes!!  That's A LOT of flowers...19 per bouquet to be exact!  My poor Big Shot has been working overtime but I got them done last weekend.  In case you're wondering, here is what 36 bouquets look like:

Thank goodness I have a large diningroom table!  My son and I had quite the assembly line going...he was a big help!  Lots of work, but they look great!  I think my students will love them...some will even be taking them home as we are giving them away as doorprizes.  Just a word to the wise, if you ever volunteer to do something like this make sure you know exactly what you're getting into!!

Whew!

I am exhausted!  This past weekend I was in mass-production mode, cranking out Tootsie Pop flowers for an event I am involved in.  What event?  I am participataing in the Flamborough Baptist Church Mom-Mom sale on Saturday, March 2nd.  Part of the event is that the first 200 attendees receive a grab bag full of goodies.  Enter my bright idea to give everyone a Tootsie Pop flower with my contact info attached to it!  Have a look:

A whole lotta Tootsie Pop flowers...200 to be exact!

A Tootsie Bouquet!

A solitary bloom

To make these pretty blooms I used the three smallest-sized flowers on my Flower Folds Bigz XL die, embossing the smallest one with my Perfect Polka Dots TIEF.  Then it was literally just a matter of sticking the stick of the Tootsie Pop through the centre of each flower.  That's it!  Not terribly tough, but an awful lot of cranking that Big Shot handle to make 200 of them!!  In addition to the stamped tag, each flower has a sticker on the stem with all of my contact info on it.  I'm hoping these will be a hit and generate some interest in my table.  I'm going to be  selling off a ton of retired product, both new and used, as well as promoting my classes and events.  If you're free and in the area, stop by and say hi!

Today is the Day!

My Customer Appreciation Sale-a-bration Open House Extravaganza is here!  I am so excited to welcome my stamping friends into my home for yummy treats, fun games, prizes and, of course, lots of stamping!  Because this is also my chance to say thank you to them all for their business over the past year, I wanted to give them a little gift of appreciation.  I have had a number of almost-square tins sitting in my stash for years and this was the perfect use for them!  I decorated them using products from both Sale-a-bration and the Spring Catalogue.  Take a look:

Decorated using Sycamore Street DSP and coordinating buttons, flowers made from new Creped Filter Paper (129393) with sentiment from Itty Bitty Banners (also available as a Sale-a-bration freebie!)

Decorated using Sycamore Street DSP and coordinating ribbon as well as the Pop-up Posies Designer Kit (131395)

Decorated using Sycamore Street DSP and the Pop-up Posies Designer Kit (131395)

Fun, huh?  Now I bet your next question will be what's in them, right?  Well that is a surprise!  You'll just have to stop in this afternoon between 2 and 5 to find out!! 
Have a great Saturday everyone!!

Happy First Day of School!

Today is the BIG day!  My baby started Kindergarten!!  He was so excited to get to school this morning and he did GREAT with the whole saying good-bye thing.  Mommy on the other hand, was a soggy mess!  He just kind of looked at me and said "Uh...can I go in now?"  I sat in the card and had a good long cry and then was good to go. 

The big drop off...I was already sniffling while taking this photo!

When I picked him up at the end of the day he told me it was a great day and he wanted a chocolate-dipped doughnut from Tim Horton's.  That was all he had to say. 
Today also marks back-to-work for me and, no surprise, here I am posting at 6:00 pm instead of 6:00 am!  Get used to it, folks!  The fall is always chaotic and I often find a week has passed without my putting ink to paper.  Today, though, I did get some stamping done and I have some new projects to show you later in the week.  But first, you have to see these fun fabric flowers from Craft Project Central:

Die cut fabric flowers designed by Carrie Sampsel

I really love each of these little gems!  I can't wait to try them out with some of the fabric I bought on sale.  Did you know Stampin' Up is offering all of it's retired fabrics for just $1.19 a box??  That's three fat quarters for just over a dollar...doesn't get any better than that!!  I bought tons and am sure going to try my hand at these flowers.  If you'd like to try them yourself you can access the tutorial by subscribing to September over at Craft Project Central.  It's only $10 and you'll get 10 great step-by-step tutorials.

If you'd rather win, than buy, you're in luck!  Hold a party or private class with me in the month of September and you will receive a month's subscription FREE!!  That's right, 10 free tutorials just for hosting a fun night with your friends.  Call or email today to schedule your event.

Another XL Card

Today I have another of the retirement cards I was asked to make for our retiring colleagues at school.  This one is pretty and feminine and is for a member of my Inky Paws monthly club.  Inky Paws is our monthly card class that I run in the staff room after school.  Have a look...

Soft and pretty card for a retiring colleague.  Sentiment is from the retired Well Scripted set.  Flourish on the butterfly is from the Creative Elements set.  The flower is inspired by the cover of last month's Stampin' Success (Stampin' Up!'s demonstrator magazine)

Flower detail

Inside detail with images from the Creative Elements set.

Sooo...this one took a while.  That flower was not quick or easy, but so worth the effort.  I wanted to do something over-the-top for this special lady, as she will be moving to the west coast to be near her son and his family.  I likely won't get to stamp with her anytime soon and I wanted to give her something special to honour her retirement as well as our many hours spent stamping together.  I sure hope she likes it!

On another note...time is running out to order retiring stamps and accessories from the Last Chance List.  If you haven't already done so, get your order in before tomorrow at midnight or you will be disappointed.  Also, if you haven't yet RSVP'd for my New Catalogue Open House...what are you waiting for??  Leave me a comment here or drop me a quick email to let me know you'll be joining us on the 2nd.  It promises to be a ton of fun!!