Circle Circus Christmas

Today I have a card I just LOVE!  Once again, I was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest...can you tell I spend WAY to much time on that site??  Here is my version:

Contemporary Holiday card featuring the Circle Circus stamp set with sentiment from Sassy Salutations.

I love the contemporary look of this card and the way the font of the sentiment just suits the overall feel of the card so perfectly.  It was super quick and easy to pull together using just Cherry Cobbler and Lucky Limeade ink, some red and silver glimmer paper and a bunch of different-sized circle punches.  This one is definitely going in my Christmas Card Buffet Line-up and is sure to be popular!  I was so inspired by this card I came up with a couple of other ideas using the same elements...stay tuned for more posts later this week!

Beribboned Ornament

How is it Monday already??  Where do the weekends go?  It never seems that I get through my To-Do List until Sunday night and just when I'm ready to relax, it's back to work!  Ah...can't wait to retire!  January 2026 seems a long way off!!
In the meantime, I have another card that I did with my monthly techniques group last week.  I CASE'd it from one I saw on Pinterest...what's not to love about Pinterest?!?  Check it out:

CAS Holiday card featuring the Curly Cute stamp set and lots of ribbon scraps!

Talk about a great way to use up your bits of ribbon!  I dug deep in my scrap bin for any shades of green ribbon I could find.  Even though they are all different, I think they work rather well together!  I added the red bits as an accent and finished it all with a bow.  I used the Festive Piercing template to pierce holes all the way around the ornament (did you know you can get that piercing pack for free this month?!)  The sentiment is stamped in Real Red and bordered with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon punch.  The rhinestones are simply coloured with a red sharpie!  Super easy and economical...try one today if you've got ribbon scraps laying around!

Finally Stamping again!

Well, after a few weeks of near insanity, things are finally getting back to normal in our household.  Our Austrian visitors have returned home safely and the Thanksgiving Holiday and Rockton Fair are behind us.  Now I have a few weeks of calm before the Holiday Season and all of it's accompanying craziness are upon me.  This week I held my monthly techniques group and we, of course, got started on Christmas cards.  Here is one we did that features the burnished vellum technique:

Christmas Card featuring the Snow Much Fun stamp set with sentiment from Pennant Parade.

I still love this stamp set!  The images are too cute and just beg to be coloured! Rather than watercolouring this image I used a combination of Stained Glass and Burnished Vellum techniques.   The DSP in the  background is from the Snow Festival pack...definitely going to need to order more of that stuff before long!  So many fun patterns for not only Christmas, but all winter long!  Now...off to clean up my stamp corner and finally get organized!

Another Angry Birthday

My son was invited to a birthday party today for a friend of his who is almost as into Angry Birds as he is!  So, of course, I had to pull out my punches again and create yet another Angry Birds birthday card! 

Angry birds birthday card for a 4-year old with sentiment from Grunge Rock (retired)

I'm getting pretty good at making these little critters by now!  For those of you looking for instructions, I posted a list of punches I used for various characters in this post.  They really are pretty easy to put together and the Angry Birds fan in your life will love them!

Whew!!

What a whirlwind of a weekend that was!  First of all, let me wish all of my fellow Canucks a belated Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope your weekend was spent with good company, good food and allowed for time to truly appreciate just how blessed we are here in Canada. 
I spent the majority of my weekend at the Rockton Fair with my Stampin' Up booth.  The weather wasn't always the greatest, but it was a terrific weekend in my corner of the Fair and I met so many who love SU as much as I do and many who were brand new to our products.  As always, I had great fun sharing what I love with many new faces.  Here are a few pics of my booth:

All ready to go!

Prepping the Make-n-take



Me with members of my Tri-City Stampers Team Laura Cupples and Jamie Anderson

 I would be remiss if I didn't thank several members of my team who helped me out over the course of the weekend so...a HUGE THANK YOU to Laura Bart, Laura Cupples and Stephanie VanDorp.  You  guys are the BEST!!  I couldn't have done it without you!

Now for the other big event this week:  Happy 8th Anniversary to my wonderful husband John!!  We had a chance to celebrate with a lovely dinner on Sunday evening, but today is our actual anniversary.  Hard to believe it's been 8 years! 

Now that the fair is over I'll have time to get back to some stamping, so I'll have some new projects to share soon.  Thanks for your patience!  Have a great week and I'll see you soon!

Still here!

I'm still here, in case you've been wondering!  I'm just in crazy mode getting ready for my weekend at the Rockton Fair along with working, entertaining our Austrian visitors and holding my monthly Tri-City Stampers team meeting.  I could use an extra 12 or so hours in every day this week!  I do have something new to show you, though!  This is a card I designed for one of the make-n-takes at our team meeting this week.  Have a look:

Fall-inspired card featuring leaves made with the Autumn Accents die and sentiment from the Pursuit of Happiness set.

Don't those leaves look real?!?  They're not!  They're just paper and ink and are really easy to make.  Lots of sponging and some distressing and they're ready to go.  I plan to do these with my monthly techniques group this month too...I just love them so much!  If I get REALLY ambitious and can find a few free hours I'd love to make a wreath with theses leaves...we'll see...maybe I might get it done in time for NEXT fall!  The rest of this card is pretty simple so that the leaves are the focal point.  I did use the woodgrain TIEF and some Core'dinations cardstock for the bark effect on the background and I added a bit of seam binding ribbon in Always Artichoke that I threaded through one of the gorgeous brushed bronze buttons.  Oh, how I love fall and the stunning colour...I'm so glad I was able to capture a little bit of if on this card!

BIG News!

I am completely swamped with Austrian guests and preparing my booth for the Rockton Fair this weekend, so I haven't anything new to show you just now; but I had to share this exciting news from Stampin' Up.  Starting this month, through the end of the year, Stampin' Up is conducting a pilot project offering stamps from select stamp sets for individual purchase.  They are starting with just sentiment sets and will re-evaluate at the end of the pilot project period to see if it is something worth expanding.  So...wanna know which sets you can purchase individual stamps from?  Here's the list.  Click the name of the stamp set to view the pdf with pricing information.

Word Play

Perfectly Penned

Seasonal Sayings



Here are some more details you should know:

• These stamps are available through me or  my online store. 
• You can find the stamp item numbers on the flyers.
• You won't see this offer promoted on the Stampin' Up!  website, however, the single stamps can be ordered in the online store.
• These won't be sent to you in our typical cases or packaging; they'll be packaged in cello bags. If you'd like a case for your stamp, you can buy our Clear-Mount Stamp Cases that come in packs of four (item 119105).
• This offer is available for clear-mount stamps only.
• The stamps won't come with a Clear-Mount Block, and you'll need to buy a block separately if you don't already have one. The recommended block sizes can be found on the flyers. 
• There's no limit on how many pieces you can buy.
• This offer is not available in Quebec.
• Remember that this is a pilot program, so take advantage of it while you can!

So choose your favourites and place your order today.  Would these make great stocking stuffers for the holidays?  I'm picturing a cute little treat box with a stamp inside....hmmm...the wheels are aspinning!!