I am heading to Florida tomorrow and won't be back home until about April 8. Can't wait to get out of the cold and snow.



Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

I have nothing to show this week. I have been busy getting ready for our trip to Florida (we leave on January 31) and although I have spent time in my craft room it has been trying to decide what I can bring with me and still have room to pack our clothes!

The new Stampin Up catalogue was released this week - see sidebar. Sale a bration begins on
February 1 and runs until March 31.

Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

None of these cards today are my own inspiration. I cannot even say that I saw an idea and adapted it - they are all pretty much direct copies of cards I have seen while visiting other blogs. Unfortunately, I remembered the ideas but the not the sources.

On this card I love the simplicity of the image from Pocket Silhouettes against the 'busier' pattern of the Urban Garden DSP. Could not find my black brads so I just punched some 1/8" circles from basic black and glued on clear dew drops. I am quite pleased with the effect. The card picks up colours from the DSP. Not Quite Navy, Basic Gray and Old Olive. The image and sentiment are both stamped on Whisper White using Not Quite Navy Craft Ink. I heat embossed them using clear embossing powder. The card was done in minutes.





Again, I used Pocket Silhouettes. This time I used my markers to colour directly to the stamp and then stamped the image onto my card stock. The focal image is raised up on dimensionals. I can't believe that when I first received the Raspberry Tart DSP that I was not sure I liked it.

Supplies:
Pocket Silhouettes Stamp Set
Regal Rose CS
Raspberry Tart DSP
Rose Red Ribbon
Regal Rose and Old Olive Markers
Dimensionals

I love this card. The image was stamped using versamark and then heat embossed with white embossing powder.

Supplies:

Inspired by Nature Stamp Set (not in the new catalogue, but still available - it is on the dormant list)

Kiwi Kiss Textured Card Stock

Not Quite Navy, Baha Breeze and Whisper CS

Not Quite Navy Ink, Versamark

White Embossing powder

Kiwi Kiss Ribbon, brad from Silver Hodgepodge

Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

I am still working on getting birthday cards done. I am going to need several over the next few months and although I will bring stamping supplies to Florida with me, I want to get the things that I 'have' to do before leaving.


It is amazing what a few scraps of paper can develop into. Thanks again to Ros Oakes for the inspiration. This card for our niece's son is a total CASE of hers. It is pretty busy, but fun. I really like it and look forward to giving it to him. His birthday is not until April so there is a bit of a wait.







These Sesame Street characters are so much fun to make.

I have been making cards for some upcoming birthdays. This first one is for our niece. I finally started using my nestabilities.

Recipe: Stamp - Crazy for Cupcakes, Baroque Motifs Wheel
Card Stock - Pink Pirouette, Bravo Burgundy, Watercolour Paper
Inks: Jet Black Stazon, Bravo Burgundy
Markers: Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa, Real Red

Our nephew's birthday is in early February and I just received my Winds of Grace stamp set so I decided to make this card for him. My inspiration for this came from the card Marie Kirkwood made for her Masculine Manly card swap last fall. You can see all of the cards by clicking HERE

Recipe:
Stamp Set - Winds of Grace (retiring January 18)
Cardstock - Blue Bayou (retired), Soft Sky (retired), Basic Grey, Whisper White
Ink - Blue Bayou
Other - Word Window Punch, Twine - Natural, Brads (SU - retired),
Ribbon - Blue Bayou (retired)

This card uses the new Raspberry Tart DSP. The patterns are quite a bit bolder than I had anticipated and I am having some difficulty using it but it works pretty well on the following card. I ran out of Rose Red cardstock so I pulled out Purely Pomegranate. I think it turned out OK. I layered Purely Pomegrante Ribbon over the Regal Rose grosgrain ribbon. I used brads from the Silver Hodgepodge but put some tiny flat back pearls (non SU) in the centres. I am really loving the Echoes of Kindness stamp set.

Recipe:

Card Stock - Purely Pomegranate, Watercolour paper
DSP - Raspberry Tart
Ink - Black Stazon, Old Olive and Rose Red Markers

My husband and I have been going to Florida for the past several years and are quite intrigued by pelicans. I found this pelican stamp at Michael's last year and decided today was the day to ink it up. The card has a kind of nautical feel about it (I think so anyway). I used the natural twine as an embellishment behind the focal image, but can you see that I also used it on the post the pelican is standing on? Makes me want to get going for our trip to Florida. We leave on January 31 and will be back home around April 10.

Recipe:

Stamps - Pelican (non SU); Winds of Grace

Card Stock - Soft Sky (retired); Blue Bayou (retired), Basic Grey, Watercolour paper

Ink - Black Stazon and Blue Bayou. Close to Cocoa, Basic Grey, Really Rust, Barely Banana Markers. Non SU watercolour pencil (blue)

Thanks for looking

Marjorie

I made this card for our nephew's son who is turning 2 on Friday. I don't have the scallop circle die for the Big Shot yet, but I do have the scallop circle Nestabilities so I used the largest one. I had already folded the card stock and just made sure to position the die so that a few of the scallops overlapped the folded edge. I wanted the Elmo to be the card, but decided he needed to be mounted on a standard card size base. Here is the inside of the card.Recipe: Card Stock - Real Red, Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
DSP - Summper Picnic
Ink - Real Red
Stamps - It's Your Birthday

Inspiration: Ros Oakes - click HERE

The next card is one I made as a birthday card for a friend's mother. I used squares cut from the new Raspberry Tart DSP. For the middle square I cut one of the flowers from the DSP and adhered it to a square of Rose Red CS.

Recipe: Card Stock - Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Rose Red
DSP - Raspberry Tart
Other - Kiwi Kiss/Vanilla ribbon, White Signo Gel Pen, Paper Piercer

Inspiration: Catherine Coté - Click HERE

I bought this Santa stamp many years ago (it was probably the first stamp I ever bought). I still love it and will never part with it. It is a perfect size for making coasters and when I was making Cards for the Troops it was perfect for making no layers cards (I had previously posted a photo). Here is a photo of one of the coasters I made using this stamp. Did you know that the IKEA thin cork coasters are a perfect fit for the 4 x 4 tumbled tiles (I got the tiles at Home Depot).

Thanks for stopping by.

Marjorie

Happy New Year!!



2009 came in very quietly at our home, but that is just the way we wanted it. We usually stay home and quite honestly for the past many year we have not even been awake to usher in the new year. This year we woke up at 11:57 and turned the TV on just in time to see the big ball fall at New York's Times Square.



We took it easy on New Year's Day as well. We made a lovely roast beef dinner and watched a few movies.



I signed up for a swap using stamps from the new catalogue. Although I will be away at the time the swap out is done, I wanted to participate. I had ordered a couple of new stamp sets from the demonstrator preorder so felt I would have time to get my 11 card fronts done before going away. Bonus - my order arrived today instead of Monday. I had already planned out my card so decided to get busy and get them done.

The idea of the swap is to make 11 identical card fronts and send them in to the organizer. She then sorts all the cards received and sends each participant 11 different card fronts.



This is my card

Stamp Sets: Sincere Salutations, Echoes of Kindness (NEW - Level 2 Hostess Set)

Card Stock: Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Whisper White

DSP: Raspberry Tart (NEW)

Ink: Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery markers; Jet Black Stazon

Ribbon : Whisper White 1/4 inch grosgrain

Thanks for looking

Marjorie

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. It is so hard to believe that after weeks and months of preparation it is all over. I have a few project to share. I made these before Christmas but never got to posting them. I did some other cards (including one done with the new Valentine's Day bundle), but forgot to take photos before I packaged them up and gave them away.

I picked up this frosted glass candleholder at Dollarama and simply used a Stampin Up rubon. Voila - instant gift! Note - the candleholder is not as dark as this looks.




These are ornaments I picked up at Michael's (they were on sale for only $0.68 each). I embellished them with some of the chocolate brown rubons. I intended to use them as little gifts, but I was not able to part with them - maybe they will get tucked away for next year (or maybe not).

I saw these little chocolate boxes on a blog one night - marked down the address, but cannot remember where I put it. The little boxes are each made from two of the scalloped envelopes cut out with the exclusive stampin up die. The little boxes each hold 2 Ghiradellie chocolate squares - too cute! I cut them from Baha Breeze textured card stock and decorated them with a little bit of DSP from the Ski Slope pack, some of the Baha Breeze striped ribbon and some snow flurries.

If you have not seen these little reindeer, you must go to Angie Juda's site - click here to see her video and follow her directions. These are just adorable and only take a few minutes to put together.

I picked up some composition books and this is my first attempt at altering one. I used Soft Sky cardstock, DSP, ribbon and ink. It is pretty plain - I may have to do a little more, but right now can't think of what. I also put some matching DSP in the barrel of the pen. Not too bad for a first attempt!

Bye for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Marjorie

Can you believe that in just two short weeks it will be boxing day! Where has the time gone?

I still have a few gifts to buy and baking to do. I have not baked one single cookie, tart or tourtiere as of today. When I was working full time I always had all the shopping done and gifts wrapped long before this. The baking was always done by the end of November. Not sure what I am doing with my time (well stamping does take up a lot of my time).

I tried out the stained glass techinique to make this gift card holder. I stamped the image on vellum cardstock, embossed it and then coloured in the back with my SU markers. I used my nestabilities to cut out the circles and the white gel pen to make the dots. It is amazing that it only took a few minutes to complete.

Stamp Set - Cardinal Christmas

CS - Riding Hood Red, Basic, Black, Whisper White (placed behind vellum) and vellum.

I even stamped and coloured the envelope!

I tried stamping on mirror tiles this week as well (I had never done that before) and stamping on candles. I had done that before and given the candles away as gifts. Those candles sat on a tumbled tile that had been decorated to match.

This photo is not the greatest, but here it is anyway.

Stamp Set - Snow Swirled

Ink - Not Quite Navy (for the candle); white StazOn for the mirror tile

Again, it did not take very long, but they are beautiful. I am going to a dinner party on Wednesday, so one of these sets will make a perfect hostess gift!

I got the mirror tiles at Dollarama and the candles were in packages of 3 at Michael's.

That is it for today!

Marjorie

Not much has been happening - we finally got all our Christmas cards into their envelopes so they are addressed, stamped and ready to go to the post office. We are trying to get our Christmas shopping done and it is proving to be a little more difficult than I had imagined. On Christmas Day my parents are taking us out to brunch - we will be a total of 11. After brunch we are going to do a little gift exchange, but this year with a twist. Previously we each had to bring one gift each (so the girls would bring a gift appropriate for a lady and the guys would bring one appropriate for a man). We would then do a 'chinese auction'.


This year we are bringing an inexpensive gift for each person who will be there. So basically 10 gifts. Trying to find appropriate, nice gifts in the designated price range is driving me crazy. To further complicate it I volunteered to do the shopping for all the people in my immediate family (husband, two sons and one son's friend). Not sure I will do that again. I was able to do most of the gifts for the ladies while I was in Syracuse a couple of weeks ago. The gifts from me will be handmade, but I can't say what in case they check my blog. Yesterday I was able to get all the gifts for my dad and brother in law. Almost done!

We have a couple of birthdays this week - in fact today is my niece Roxanne's 13th birthday. My dad's birthday is on the 12th. Of course with all the cards and card fronts I have on hand, I was not able to choose one that I wanted to use, so I have spent the morning doing some cards.

I decided to try a popup card for Roxanne. It turned out not too bad - not sure this would be a project that I would do again.



Recipe:
Stamp Set: Crazy for Cupcakes
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Creamy Caramel and Sweet Always DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Other: Ribbon (nonSU); Grommet

For my dad's card I decided to try the brayered sky technique that Michelle Zindorf does so beautifully. I ended up not using the brayer, but used my sponge daubers. I am quite pleased with my results and will definitely try this technique again.

Recipe:

Stamp Set: Lovely as a Tree (is this not the best set!); Upsy Daisy for the sentiment

Paper: Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Glossy CS

Ink: More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black

Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

While shopping in Syracuse a few weeks ago, I picked up some Holiday M&M's. The candies are red, green and white and are mint flavoured. I knew I wanted to package them somehow to give as little friendship gifts to some of the people at my office and for my husband to give to some of the other volunteers at the Heart Institute. When I was at Michael's yesterday I was just browsing and I found a package of 20 clear boxes that are intended as wedding favours. They were on sale for $14.99 so I picked up a package (I am going to have to go back and get more!). I hope I can find some of the M&M's here in Ottawa because I am going to need more of those as well!

I filled each box with some of the candies, taped it closed and then decorated them with SU's Real Red grosgrain ribbon. To that I tied a little medallion with silver cording. The image on the medallion is from the Holiday Trinkets stamp set. It was stamped on Whisper White using Real Red ink. I punched that out with my 1 1/4 inch circle punch and mounted that onto a 1 3/8 circle punched from garden green. The whole was then adhered to a real red scalloped circle. I finished it by adding little dots in each scallop with my signo gel pen.

I was playing with the pillow box die again. This time I embossed the card stock using the Cuttlebug Snowflake folder. It gives a very subtle texture. I had some white ribbon and some snowflakes embellishments from Michael's and used those to decorate. The box holds a Ghiradelli chocolate very nicely. This would make a great table favour or a cute little thank you to tuck into a customer's order!

This is the birthday card I made for my mother in law. I followed the same layout from previous post where I used all blues. On the card I used DSP from the Pink Pirouette pack. I used Pink Pirouette textured CS, Purely Pomegranate and Whisper White. The greeting is stamped with Purely Pomegranate ink.

This is going to be my husband's christmas card. Since we started watching Sesame Street with our oldest son (who is now 33) my husband has loved Oscar the Grouch. I saw Ros Oakes' card and knew I would have to CASE it. Here is my version - just a tiny bit different from Ros'. You can hers here. I used Whisper White, River Rock (textured), Real Red, Basic Black and Old Olive cardstock. DSP is from my precious supply of the retired Dashing. The ink and ribbon are both Real Red. The sentiment is a non SU stamp and is framed with a piece from the Silver Hodgepodge. The little bit of glitter on the pom pom is Stardust Stickles.

Thanks for looking.

Marjorie

I have finally made the cards from the Upsy Daisy Class Planner designed by Andrea Walford. I have had the planner for quite some time now but was concentrating on making Christmas cards and getting the cards for the troops done and sent. I can now relax a bit and start making cards. The next four cards are all from the class planner. All use the Upsy Daisy stamp set - a set that initially I did not like. As I use it I am realizing how versatile it really is. The cards all use different papers from the Urban Garden DSP. You can see all of Andrea's class planners here.


This first card is stamped on Whisper White using Kiwi Kiss classic ink for the flowers and Not Quite Navy for the sentiment. The band in the middle is Not Quite Navy CS and is embellished with several dew drops. Andrea's original used two silver brads - one on each end of the blue band. The DSP as mentioned is from the Urban Garden package.






This next card is stamped on Whisper White with Not Quite Navy ink - both the sentiment and the flowers. It also features some of the striped Kiwi Kiss ribbon.

This card is also stamped with Not Quite Navy. The ribbon is Baha Breeze.

This final card from the Upsy Daisy class planner also uses the Baha Breeze striped ribbon. The flowers are stamped with Baha Breeze classic ink and the sentiment is Not Quite Navy.

While visiting some blogs recently (and after clicking links within blogs, within blogs .....) and saw these next two cards. The first one is again using Upsy Daisy and the Urban Garden DSP.

This next one has almost no stamping (only the sentiment). The flowers are from the Urban Garden DSP.

I love this next card and wish I could remember whose blog I saw it on. The flower from the Inspired by Nature set is stamped with Baha Breeze. The papers are Baha Breeze CS, Urban Garden DSP and Not Quite Navy CS. The sentiment is from the level one hostess set Best is Yet. Features the wide oval punch and the designer label punch. A quick, but very beautiful card.

I had a little fun with my punches last week and created this little ATC. I saw it on Ros Oakes blog and had to make one myself. What fun!

And finally here is a Santa gift tag I made this morning. I saw the santa face (you guessed it, I can't remember where) and made that. I got to thinking how I could make it into a gift tag and decided to cut out a tag with my Sizzix die as a starting point. I added the strip of whisper white and then the black belt. I cut out the buckle from brushed gold CS. I tied the cord (I wish I had some gold) and then mounted the santa face with dimensionals. Is it not cute!

That is it for today - thanks for stopping by.

Marjorie

Now that I have sorted, packed up and taken the cards we made for the troops (final count 360) I have been able to just 'play'. I saw a card while blog surfing yesterday and although I downloaded the picture, I forgot to note the site. Although almost exact, I did change a few things (but not very much). I used: CS - Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Brushed Gold; DSP - Holiday Treasures; Ribbon - Riding Hood Rood Taffeta; Stamp Set - A Flower for all Seasons

I had an opportunity to try out a couple of the Big Shot dies this weekend - a huge thank you to Tracie St-Louis.

I had the Pillow Box, Pennant and Baskets & Blooms dies. I did not make very much, but I did cut out a bunch of each. Here are a couple of the pillow boxes I did - would they not make great table favours? Although they are not big enough to hold a gift card, I have heard that they are the perfect size for the Laura Secord mini chocolate bars!

I used: CS - Real Red, Kraft, Whisper White; Ribbon - Real Red Striped, Alpine (Felt)

Here is my version of the Rudolph displayed at Convention. It uses the Pennant Die (Small). I did not have the Tulipz die, so used a punch for the antlers. I think next time I would use big googly eyes rather than the punched ovals.

I used: CS - Creamy Caramel, Basic Black, Real Red, Chocolate Chip; Holly Leaves (non SU)

Here is another use for the small pennant die. Is he not cute!

I used: CS - Real Red, Whisper White, Blush Blossom; White Signo Gel Pen

Last week I participated in a fundraiser for GI Cancer Research. The event was actually held in London, Ontario on November 8 and was organized by Heather Summers. I had read about it on her blog so signed up. Heather shipped my package to me after the event - it included the Holiday Trinkets stamp set and all of the instructions and supplies for 10 projects. I was thrilled to find out that I had won a doorprize as well.

Here are a couple of the projects.

The first is similar to the Santa project above - the only difference is that the hat is not cut out with the Pennant die. The real red card stock is simply cut into the triangle shape. On the back there is a little pouch to hold a gift card or small note.

All colours are the same as the project above.

These are the three cards that were included in the package - there were enough supplies to make two of each. They all feature images from the Holiday Trinkets stamp sets and paper from the Ski Slope Designer Papers.

On this next card I added the medallion on the upper left side. It is from the Hostess Level 1 set Punches Three.

Thanks for stopping by

Marjorie

Yesterday my mother and two of my sisters came over to bake mum's christmas shortbreads. This has become an annual event and we always have a lot of fun. 33 dozen shortbreads and several dozen bird's nests (you may know them as thumbprint cookies) made my house look like we were in a bakery.

We did a count of the cards for the troops - 335 - and sorted the cards by theme in preparation to shipping them to Angeie Zuber. My friend Judy had not 'signed' a few of the ones she had made so they are not included in the count yet. Once they are added in I think we will have over 340.

One of the projects for UStamp Holidays was a cute little scrapbook made using the SU clear envelopes. I did not have any more of those on hand, but I did have some others. My envelopes open on the long side, so I had to adjust the dimensions for the cover. I am very pleased with the results. There are 10 pages inside the book held together with brads from the silver hodgepodge.

Card Stock - Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White

DSP - Holiday Treasures

Ink - Basic Black, Riding Hood Red

Ribbon - Alpine

Other - dimensionals, crystal effects, brads (Silver Hodgepodge), clear envelopes

I made this one pretty plain because I used the felt ribbon. I plan to make more using other DSP and felt flurries!

Thanks for looking

Marjorie

More Cards for the Troops

Here are some more of the cards we made on Sunday. Again, sorry for the glare - I sealed the cards into their protective envelopes before remembering that I wanted to take pictures.

This next card is one I made following instructions from UStamp Holidays. To say I followed the instructions is a bit of a stretch. When I adhered the blue panel to the card, it should have been on the bottom. I had my folded card upside down without realizing it and after it was stuck down I also realized that I had not cut the blue panel to the proper size. I adapted and am pretty happy with the results.

Have a great day and thanks for looking.

Marjorie