Saying Good Bye - Sympathy Cards

It's been a sad time for me over the past few weeks as I've lost another two friends and an aunt to cancer, heart disease and old age.  I'm glad to have had these wonderful people in my life and to have shared in their journey.  I'm so sad for their loss and my heart goes out to their families. 

These occasions always necessitate making sympathy cards, which I find as difficult to make as masculine cards.  One is never sure what level of comfort a card will bring. 

For my cards, I try to keep the design and messaging simple, yet comforting.  I want the family to know they are in my thoughts and to have enough space on the interior of the card to share a memory or two.  

Here is the latest sympathy card's I've made:

Supplies:
Stamp Set:

The Two Kind item #130447 (Wood Mount) or #130450 (Clear Mount) is a very reasonably priced stamp set featuring 7 stamps including two lovely sentiments.  This is what's called a two-step stamp set.  The fist image is stamped in a light colour and then the second bolder image in stamped in a darker colour.

 

I love the sentiments in the Wetlands stamp set and use them often.  For this card I used the "Thinking of You" rather than a sympathy sentiment, to express my feelings. 

Cardstock:  

• Perfect Plum for card base 8 1/2 x 5 12"
• Whisper White - 5 1/4 x 4 for first layer
• Pear Pizzazz - 5 x 3 3/4" for second layer
• Whisper White - 4 3/4" x 3" for stamped layer and 5 x 3 3/4" for inside layer.

Ink:

• Perfect Plum
• Blackberry Bliss (NEW 2014/15 InColour)
• Pear Pizzazz 

Accessories:Decorative Dots Embossing Folder, Big Shot, Gold cord (enough to wrap around Pear Pizzazz card stock 3 times and knot), adhesive and trimmer.

The Pear Pizzazz layer is embossed with the Decorative Dots Embossing Folder (Sale-a-bration cattie).  I used enough gold cord (retired SU product) to wrap the green layer three times and tie a knot. 

 Penny

Owl Friendship Cards

Recently some very good friends of ours came for dinner.  They arrived with this absolutely stunning white bouquet, to thank us for our hospitality.  I can't even begin to describe how wonderful a gesture that was.  

For me, there is something so absolutely special about receiving flowers in the first place, but when I get an all white bouquet it simply takes my breath away.  

These beauties lasted for over a week and brought me joy each and every time I walked in the room.  What great friends and how thoughtful!  

During their visit my girlfriend spent some time in the card room with me and she got a big kick out of this owl card I made while CASing one of Dawn Griffiths projects (see original post here).  

She liked it so much in fact, that she asked me to make her five cards to give to her friends.  I changed up a few of the colour details, but basically kept the same design features.  I thought I'd share the cards I made for her, because they are just so darned cute.  

The highlight of this card is the Owl Builder Punch.  This unique punch is a two-step punch that cuts out all of the pieces you need to build an owl. The punch includes an owl body, detailed eyes (not just one circle size but three so you can create dimension), and a small heart. All you have to do to start creating just punch and then layer the pieces.
 

Owl Punch #118074  Price $22.95

Owl Punch #118074  Price $22.95

The card base is done in Night of Navy with Whisper White and Cherry Cobbler layers.  The Night of Navy DSP is from an old retired DSP pack I had and worked really well on the front of the card.

Here's a view of the inside of the card complete with this dressed up little owl.  Isn't she cute!

 

I've added some google eyes and her dress is cut from beautiful red glimmer paper. The flower was cut from Silver glimmer paper and is topped off with a basic white rhinestone. 

Hope you enjoyed this post.  The owl builder is such a versatile punch.  There's no end to the characters you can make with it.  

Penny

2014 Catalogue Premiere & Sneak Peak

This isn't going to be my usual post today because I want to share an exciting event I attended last night in North Vancouver.  

When you get a chance to be the first to see the 2014-2015 annual catalogue you jump at it, and I did! 

Yesterday Canadian demos from across the country were made to feel just as if we were attending a star-studded Hollywood movie premiere.  For the first time ever, Stampin' Up premiered their annual catalogue through video simulcast across North America to over 7000 Stampin' Up! demonstrators. 

While the LIVE premiere and simulcast was actually held in Long Beach California on April 28th, Canadian demos had to wait two extra days to participate due to a booking glitch.  Regardless, it was no less exciting to join other British Columbian and Canadian demos and get an early sneak peak at the new catalogue and brand new products.

 

A group of ten of us who use to be part of Kristina Koch's Colourful Impressions group met at Boston Pizza on Esplanade in North Vancouver.  This was no small feat as we came from as far away as Richmond and Hope and areas in between.  That's lots of bridges to cross, believe me!  Once we arrived in North Vancouver were able to sit, relax and enjoy a wonderful meal on the Boston Pizza patio overlooking Vancouver's waterfront.  The weather gods were certainly smiling down and blessing us with clear skies and 22 degree Celcius.  Sunscreen weather for sure!

This is the beautiful patio location before we took it over.

We had lively discussions at dinner trying to guess what the new InColours would be and what changes had taken place in the catalogue. Most of us had avoided looking at Stampin' Connection and other sites where US blogs might post some spoilers!  

My beautiful friends and stamping demos: Debbie, Maureen and Sheri.

Following dinner the anticipation was growing.  We walked over to the theatre with 20 or 30 other demos we met up with.  Upon entering the Landmark Theatre we were thrilled to see Shannon West and Katy sitting at the registration table.  Personally I was blown away to see these Stampin' Up! reps.  Both gals are beautiful, talented and genuine nice people and of course great ambassadors for Stampin' Up!.

Shannon West and Katy taking a break after registration.

When the production began it was exciting to see Shelli Gardner, Stampin' Ups! matriarch and founder on the big screen.  She really made us feel welcome and excited about the 2 1/2 hour presentation we were about to see.  It was as though we stepped through a time warp and were back at Convention once again.  Presentations by Bonnie Thurber, Brian Pilling, Carrie Cuddnie, and Donna Griffiths were also entertaining and inspiring. It didn't take long for us to be hooting and hollering, especially when Prize Patrols were announced.

My new "Work of Art Stamp Set" we received for attending the event. See the beautiful images it creates.

There were lots of breaks for prizes and Prize Patrol was very generous!  Our group of five demos each won a prize. Diane, Debby and myself each won three of the brand new In Colour ink pads...........can you say exciting!!!!  And, Sheri and Maureen won beautiful new stamp sets they simply can't wait to ink up.

Through on-screen demonstrations and sneak peaks we received heaps of information and inspiration.  Over the coming weeks I'll be sharing some of that information with you so stay tuned.  

As we exited the theatre we were presented with our brand new 2014-15 annual catalogues and an awesome free stamp set.  What fun!  I just wanted to sit on the floor and pour through my cattie but couldn't.  Instead, I had to wait through an excruciatingly long drive home before I could do so. What can I say, I was the driver. And, as you can well imagine, I saw the other side of midnight examining it when I got home.  It was well worth it though.  

The 2014-2015 Annual Catalogue and Stampin Connection Magazine.  If you look carefully you may be able to see some of the new products..........just saying!

For all my loyal customers who have placed orders throughout the year, you'll be able to join me in the excitement soon because your "free" catalogues have been ordered and will arrive on your doorstep before it goes live on June 1st.  If you're a new customer and would like to get your copy of the new catalogue contact me, and I'll help you get one.

You're going to love this catalogue.  Although I can't show it to you on line you're welcome to drop by and take a peak in my studio.  Some of the great features of this catalogue are:

• 03 New Stamp Sets  
• 9 New Punches, including 3 New Handheld punches
• 7 New Hostess Exclusive sets
• 5 New In Colors
• 49 New Ribbons
• 5 New Embossing Folders 
• QR codes to "how to videos"
• Copy and Case information
• Indexes including sections and Picture index of all the Word Stamps

Made with the three new InColours I was lucky enough to win:  Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss

  

This is the theme for Stampin' Ups! 26th Annual Convention being held in Salt Lake City in July.  Did you know that if you sign up now to be a demonstrator under me that you can get to go to the Convention for free!  Ask me how. 

Penny






   

Girls Night Out - Stamping!

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of getting together with two fellow demos from the Lower Mainland area, Debby Evoy and Maureen Pollock.  We decided to do shoebox swaps and so each of us came prepared with kits to make cards.  What a great relaxed and fun evening this was!  We even had a visitor we all knew from previous stamping get-togethers drop in, so it was like "old times".  

Debby's Card Swap:

Debby's Mother's Day card featured the Pansy, Petite Petal and Itty Bitty punches.  The technique used to texturize the flowers on the card is called Faux dry embossing.  We used sponges to apply the colour to the die cut flowers before gluing them to the card layer and running them through the Big Shot machine. I'd forgotten this technique so it was fun to re-learn the steps and create this wonderful card. 
 

Maureen's Card Swap:

Maureen showed us how to make a box card.  What fun!  I loved making the balloons but found it quite tricky getting them attached to the box.  Can you say patience!  I think I had more glue dots stuck to me than to the transparencies. 

These little banners are made with the banner punch and stamp set from this year's Sale-a-bration catalogue. 

My Swap Card:

For my swap card, I decided to make a card using the same design as in my post "Make A Wish - Birthday Banner Card" tutorial.  The only change I made was in the colour layout.  We had fun making this card
 

If you're making this card be careful with  the placement of your dimensionals.  As you can see in this photo, I should have centered the dimensionals so they didn't hang off the sides of the banner.  Fortunately I was able to fix this problem.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the cards we made.  It was truly a fun night.  I'll be looking forward to getting together with these gals again soon.

Penny

Catching Up on Easter - Part Two

Here's another Easter "catch-up" post showing the Easter card I made for my mom.  She was thrilled and I'm sure you'll like it too.  

I watched a video by Dawn Griffith using the Watercolour Stamp Set and Fringed Scissors that inspired me to make this card.  You can check out Dawn's video at this link for measurements and tips on cutting out the half circle on this card. 

For my card I used Pool Party card stock for the base, topped with Whisper White.  Since I loved, loved, loved the egg in the EGGstra Spectacular stamp set I decided to make it the main image showcased by the half circle on the card front.  The addition of the other stamped images, the ribbon and the embossing really made the whole card come together in a pleasing way. 

This next pictures shows off the inside of this great card. I'm going to be adding this technique to my "Fancy Fold" technique classes because it's one everyone should know about. 

The cute little bunny on the inside cover is another of the great stamps from the EGGstra Spectacular stamp set.  The vine and eggs are from  a retired stamp set called Flower-Filled.  It was one of the first stamp sets I ever bought from Stampin' Up! and has seen some serious ink. I think the images really compliment the EGGstra Spectacular set and the theme of this card.

On the right you can see all the stamps in this 9-piece two-step stamp set.  It was always an awesome set.  If you're wondering why I'm showing you the stamped images instead of the wooden blocks, it's because I found in the old Stampin' Up! days, before they added Clear Mounts and changed the packaging for their stamp sets, that it was sometimes difficult to imagine how a stamp image would look before it was stamped. To remedy this and make it easier for me and the folks I stamped with, I began stamping all the stamp images from the set on a piece of cardstock which I glued to the inside of the box lid with glue dots. Voila, you could really see what was in the box!

In this view you can see the front and back of the card. The Pool Party piece measures 4 1/4 x 5 1/2"  and the Whisper White piece measured 5 1/4" x 9 1/2" before it was scored at 2 1/2 and 5 1/2" and folded back on itself. 

 

I stamped the egg in Staz On Black Ink and then used Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio Pudding markers to underline the writing.  Small and medium sized basic pearls were glued to the top and bottom of the egg.  This added such a soft feminine touch.  The vine was stamped in Pistachio Pudding and the small eggs were added with dimensionals. 

How do you like the Coastal Cabana Ruffled Stretch ribbon on this card front?  I'm really sad to see this ribbon retiring as it always adds such a delicate fun flair to whatever I'm making and it's so easy to attach with sticky strip.  I like it paired up with the Crisp Cantaloupe Designer Series Paper too.  The final touch for this card front was to emboss just the front panel of this piece with the Perfect Dots embossing folder.  

I wish you could see this card in real life because it is fabulous..........even if I do say so myself.  

Penny

Catching up on Easter

As usual, time has been flying by faster than fur at a cat fight, so I'm running behind with a couple of posts.  

In fact, the first one I'm sharing with you features the Easter cards I sent out to friends and family.  Even though it's late, I think you'll like seeing these fun and festive cards.

EGGstra Spectacular:  
I hemmed and hawed about ordering the EGGstra Spectacular, 4-piece stamp set from Stampin' Up!s Occasion's catalogue.  After seeing a card posted by Robin Messenheimer from Pahoa, Hawai'i I just couldn't resist the sweet line-art images and funny sentiments and made one in a similar style.  

Eggstra Spectacular available in Wood Mount #133068 Price: $19.95 or Clear Mount #133071 for $14.95.  Available in English and French, however the French version is only available in clear mount. This limited-time stamp is only available from January 3 through May 31, 2014, so order yours today!

HERE IS MY CARD:

Isn't it adorable?  I love those cute little bunny tails (non-Stampin' Up! product).  They are teeniest little pom poms I've ever seen and just perfect for this card.  I found them at the local dollar store. They came in pink and white. Here are the rest of the supplies:

SUPPLIES: 

Cardstock and DSP:  

• First Layer Pistachio Pudding 5 4/8 x 4 1/8" and a strip measuring 5 1/4 x 4" for the layer beneath the bunnies.  Also you need a scrap for the Large Oval under the sentiment. Save a 1/8" x 5 1/4" strip for inside card.
• Second Layer -cut a piece of 5 4/8 x 4 1/8" piece of Watercolour Wonder DSP.
• Third Layer and card base - cut a 1 1/4" x 4 5/8" piece of Crisp Cantaloupe for the third layer and a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2"for the card base.  You'll also need a 1/8" x 5 1/4" strip for inside the card.
• Cut a 1 1/8" x 4 1/2" piece of Whisper White cardstock for the bunny layer.  You'll also need a scrap for the Happy Easter sentiment and a piece measuring 3 1/2 x 5 1/4" for the inside of the card. 

Ink:  Pistachio Pudding Classic Ink and Marker , Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Ink and Marker, So Saffron Marker, Basic Black Marker and Staz On Black Ink

Accessories:  Trimmer, Adhesive Sticky Strips, Dimensionals, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Crisp Cantaloupe Ruffled Stretch Ribbon, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Oval Punches, 5 White Pompoms

These little bunnies are all perfectly aligned on the Whisper White strip.  See the instructions below for some tips.  I sponged around the edges of the layers with the corresponding inks.  You might notice the center bunny looks a bit different from the others.  It's not just a white bunny.  If you look really close you can see dots of colour below it's ears and bum.  To achieve this effect, I stamped a bunny on the DSP, fussy cut it out with scissors and then glued it to the center image.  You can just see a wee bit of the coloured dots on this one and it varied from card to card.

View of the inside of the card.  I stamped the EGGstra Spectacular sentiment with Staz On Ink and then coloured the eggs with the coloured markers.  The two 1/8" x 5 1/4" strips of card stock are lined up on the Whisper White cardstock with just an 1/8" space in between them. 

In this view you get a glimpse of all the cards I made.  They just kept multiplying. 

Getting the Bunnies all in a Row
I'm not good at just diving in and eyeballing where a stamp should be placed so I have to rely on doing some prep work before beginning to stamp.  Believe me the 5 minutes this prep takes is more than worth it.

My trick for getting the bunnies all stamped in a row with equal spacing is to use your Stamp-a-ma-jig and grid paper together. 

First I drew an outline of the Whisper White card stock piece on the grid paper.  This rectangle outline serves as a placement marker and each time I stamped a bunny, I made sure before starting to stamp that the cardstock was back in the same place. 

To make it even easier, I stamped all the bunny images I needed for the center bunnies onto DSP and then fussy cut-out these little rabbits.  This gave me some more templates.

I used five of the cutouts to line up with the downward lines of the grid paper.  Above each of the template bunnies I drew a small box on the grid line they were centered on. When I lined up my image from the Stamp-a-ma-jig below each of these boxes, it was easy to get the bunnies perfectly spaced and in a neat row.  

Because I didn't want the rest of the stamped image, only the bunny, I used my black marker to outline the image I wanted to stamp.  Make sure you don't get any ink on the other parts of the image or it will show up when you stamp.  Also make sure that you stamp down into the Stamp-a-ma-jig hold for a second to set the image and then lift the stamp directly out of the slot.  You'll obtain a clearer image and less likelihood of rocking the stamp.  

 

Well I hope you enjoyed this post.  Leave me a comment if you did, I'd love to hear from you.  Tomorrow I'll be posting my second Easter card and some fun cards I made at a Stampin' Up! Demo card evening, so be sure to come back again.

Penny

Last Day For Free Shipping

We're getting down to the wire.  Today is the last day for free shipping.  While the retired lists and other products are still available the Free Shipping ends at 11:50 PM (MT) tonight.  Just saying.................

Penny