WCC17 -- The Valentine Challenge

VALENTINE'S DAY is just around the corner and it's such a wonderful time of year to be creative, share your love, and have fun.  

How about you, do you make Valentine's cards or special Valentine treats for your friends and family? Do you help your kids or grand kids make Valentine cards?  Well, if you haven't already started this tradition, it's not too late, there's still plenty of time before the big day.   I'd love to hear what you do  to celebrate so leave me a comment at the end of this post. and I will forward this card, to one lucky visitor. 

I'm entering this Valentine's card in the Valentine Watercooler Challenge.  Hope you'll check out this link and the design team and entrant's great cards.  And if you've got time, play along as this is such a great challenge site.

Valentine Pop Up Springer Card:
I recently attended a stamp club meeting held by Cheryl Lefore, where she demonstrated how to make a Pop Up Valentine Springer Card.  I'd never made one before, so was excited to assemble my card and learn this new to me fancy fold.  Here is the card I made at Cheryl's:

This is the back view of the card, complete with a small white greeting note card that was punched with the Confetti Heart Border Punch.  

My Take on this Card: 

I chose to do my card in red, black and white, my favourite classic Valentine's day colours and change up the card base to just a row of hearts rather than using the confetti punch.  I like the clean lines. 

What a fun card to make, and it's even more fun to see it come out of the envelope.  It virtually pops up, and is sure to bring a big smile or squeal from the lucky recipient.  I really love the fact that this card has virtually no stamping on it and it still looks fantastic!  

Supplies:
Stamp Set:  Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Card stock:  Real Red, Basic Black and Whisper White
DSP:  Stacked With Love Designer Series Paper Stack 
Accessories:  Itty Bitty Accents Heart Punch, Confetti Heart Border Punch, Balloon Framelit Die, Basic Pearls, 6" of ribbon, dimensionals, adhesive.

The back view of card  shows the pocket for inserting a gift card or a note card.  It is the folds in the back of the card that provide the spring action for the card itself. 

This is what the back of the card looks like before it is folded.  

This is a small inset note card that fits into the back of the card.  The dimensions are:  The Basic Black layer is 3 1/4 x 3 1/4, the Real Red layer is 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" and the Whisper White layer is 3 x 3.  The small hearts were punched out with the Itty Bitty Accents Heart Punch and small Basic Pearls were adhered to the center top of each heart.  The "happy valentines" sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp set. 

I made a template to make it easier to get my fold lines in exactly the right spot.  You can make this card in virtually any size, however the rule of thumb is that the length of the card stock is double the width.  In this case the cardstock measured 10 x 5".  

On the long side of the sheet it is scored at 2 1/2", 5" and at 7" put in a small pencil mark on either side of the card stock.  Turn the card stock to the short side and at the top of the card stock mark the center of the card at 2 1/2" and draw a line on each side of the 2 1/2" mark to the 7" mark.  Cut off the excess from this line and you will wind up with the diamond shape as in above photo. 

Score on the left hand side of the cardstock from the 7" mark to the 2 1/2" score line.  Repeat this last step on both sides.  Use your bone folder to make nice tight score lines and your fancy springer card will come to life.  The final step is to adhere the bottom center half triangle to the flat base section of the card.  This provides the spring in the card.  

Decorate the diamond shape of the card to your liking. For mine I layered a 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Basic Black cardstock with a 3 1/8" x 3 1/8" piece of Whisper White card stock. I punched out four perfect little hearts using the "Sweetheart" punch and the absolutely to die for Designer Series Paper from the Stacked With Love DSP featured in the Spring Occasions catalogue.  

For Valentines, anniversaries, thinking of you. The designs and colors in this paper are suited from just about anything. Great for card fronts or backgrounds. 48 sheets in each padded stack: 4 each of 12 double-sided designs. 4-1/2" x 6-1/2". Coordinates with Basic Black, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Real Red, Whisper White.

The three small red hearts on the striped heart were punched out with the Confetti Heart Border Punch. The small red heart on the bottom of the card front was punched out with the Itty Bitty Accent punch as were the heart shapes on the bottom strip of Basic Black card stock (which measures 1 1/2" x 5").  Again I added a Basic Pearl, but just a bit bigger size.  The perky little gingham bow is from some old Stampin' Up! ribbon that was in my stash.  And finally, the little banner on the XO Heart was hand cut and pearls were added.  I didn't have the Birthday Banner die set when I made my card at home, so I just fussy cut a small line of banners.  

Little Boxes Filled With Kisses:
Another cute Valentine treat we made at stamp club was this small 2"x2"x2" Tiny Treat Box.  How cute are these?  These adorable little boxes hold 5 Hershey's Kisses.  The boxes are food safe and you get 25 boxes in a package. Assembly takes no time and you can decorate to your heart's content!  

Okay, so what do you think after seeing these cute Valentine's Day cards.  I hope you liked them and will leave me a comment.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens 

Super Bowl Thank You Card Set

How about those Sea Hawks?  Last Sunday my husband and I were invited to attend a neighbor's Super Bowl party, so along with our favourite party time appetizer, I made the hostess a small gift to thank her for her generous hospitality.  

Since our hostess is a great believer and user of "thank you" cards and notes, I decided to make her a box of six cards, using the new Butterfly Basics stamp set and matching dies.  

What fun I had making this wonderful set.  This is not my original design however.  I actually watched an awesome video demonstration by Brandy Cox on Youtube, and after I turned it off I had to grab my card stock and stamps and get to work making my own version.  You can find Brandy's fantastic Butterfly video at this link.

Supplies:
Stamp Sets:  Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp set, Painted Petals and Gorgeous Grunge
Card Stock:  Whisper White and Night of Navy
Ink:  Hello Honey, Mossey Meadow, Night of Navy
Accessories:  Butterfly Basics Dies, Basic Rhinestones, Acrylic Blocks for stamps, 20" of sheer ribbon, 6 x 5 1/2" box, six Whisper White Envelopes, six cello bags, dimensionals and adhesive. 

How to Make The Cards:

1.  Cut six card bases from Whisper White card stock measuring 4 1/4 x 11. Score at 5 1/2".  
2.  Stamp a collage on the card front as follows:

• Stamp the leaf image from Butterfly Basics in Mossey Meadow ink, towards the center top of the card. Stamp the first leaf image then keeping the stem in place move the leaf slightly to the left and stamp and then move the leaf to the right of the main leaf and stamp again.  The stems should stay tightly together and the stamped off leaf will create a shadow effect. Note:  Using the photopolymer stamp set made the leaf positioning super easy as you could see what you were doing throughout the process. 
• Next ink up the honey comb image from Butterfly Basics in Hello Honey ink and stamp the image starting in the top right hand corner of the card front. Re-ink the stamp and stamp the image three more times moving the stamp downwards across the leaf each time it's stamped.  Try to keep the edges of the image just touching. 
• Using Night of Navy ink and the speckled dots image from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, stamp dots lightly and sparingly over the leaf and honeycomb areas.   
• Stamp the postage time stamp from Butterfly Basics in Night of Navy ink beside the leaf stems on the right hand side.
• Stamp the "thank you" sentiment from the Painted Petals stamp set on the bottom left hand area of the card front using Mossey Meadow ink.  
• On a scrap piece of paper stamp six of the lacey butterfly images from the Butterfly Basics stamp set in Night of Navy ink.  Cut these images out using the coordinating die cut.  Attach one of the butterflies with dimensionals beside the leaf images.  
• Add a large Basic Rhinestone to the center of the butterfly image and then scatter some various sized rhinestones around the card face.  I used six rhinestones on each card front.  

I had already packaged up this gift set - three cards and three envelopes in each cello bag, and then realized I should have taken some photographs, so it's hard to see some of the details on these cards.  

3.  Inside of the Card:

• Stamp the "You're Amazing, Amazing" image from Painted Petals in Mossey Meadow ink towards the top center of the inside of the card.
• Stamp the leaf image on the right hand side of the card.  I only used the top portion of the leaf and angled it onto the card stock and then shadow stamped it once.  
• Stamp the butterfly image in Night of Navy Ink towards the bottom of the leaf on the right hand side
• Stamp some speckles with the Gorgeous Grunge speckled stamp image in Night of Navy. 

4.  Envelopes:

• I made six white envelopes using my Envelope Punch Board.  I did not use Stampin' Up!'s Whisper White card stock for this because it's a little too heavy for envelopes, however I did use a 60lb weight card stock I'd purchased elsewhere.
• I stamped the leaf and the postage seal stamps on the bottom left hand corner of the envelopes, repeating the pattern from the card fronts.  
• I stamped the butterfly image on the envelope flap on the back of th e card in Night of Navy.

By simply repeating the same pattern as the cards you give an idea of what's to come when you open the envelope.  

5.  Card Box: 

I could have made a box to go along with these cards, however I had a white cardboard jewelry box left over from Christmas that was just the right size to hold the six cards and envelopes.  I decorated it as follows:

• I cut a 6 18" x 5 3/4" piece of Night of Navy card stock and glued it to the box top.  
• I re-stamped a piece of Whisper White card stock with the same images as the card front and adhered this to the Night of Navy card stock.
• I cut two butterfly images out and adhered them to the top right and bottom left of the card box top.  I added large Basic Rhinestones to the centers of the butterflies and some additional rhinestones scattered around the design.
• A sheer ribbon was added to hold the box together.  And, voila it was done! 

Here you can see the open box lid and the cards tucked inside.  

I hope you enjoyed these cards,  I absolutely loved them and plan on stamping a lot more of these to have on hand for gifts.  A special thanks again to Brandy Cox for her video tutorial and inspiration.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens 

The Creative Blog Hop

Today, thanks to Heidi Weaver of the blog Stampin Along With Heidi,I am posting as part of a very unique one-time only blog hop.  

Heidi nominated me to play along with the "Creative Blog Hop" and I have to say I was thrilled to accept her invitation. Why?  Well, there are a couple of reasons.  My main one was that Heidi has long been one of my Canadian "stamping idols". Seriously, she is just so uber creative and is always busy on some project that catches my eye! The second reason is that it was a one-time-only commitment. In and out so to speak and I find that awesome. So thanks Heidi, it's a real pleasure to accept your nomination!  

My Project This Week:
As a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator I earned a free stamp set called Painted Petals, when I attended the recent launch of the Spring Occasions Catalogue and Sale-A-Bration flyer.  After using this fantastic set I can honestly say I would have bought it............... it's just the best!  So today I'm going to share with you some of the projects I've made using this 13 piece set.  I hope you love these as much as I do.  

I'm disappointed this picture doesn't show the additional score lines (see step one) on the night of navy card stock.  They really add an extra  "wow"  and super finished look to this card.  

I made this card for a shoe box swap I participated in last week, and it was very well received.  Everyone commented that although it was a quick and easy card to stamp and assemble they thought it had great appeal.  

I have to admit that I had a bit of trouble positioning some of the leaves and petals with my clear mount set, but with a little practice things came together really well. No brushes are required to achieve an amazing watercolour effect, just the ink pad, and because there are 13 stamps in the set, you get lots of versatility in choosing which stamps to stamp with.

Painted Petals You’re Amazing Thank You Card
Stamp Sets:   Gorgeous Grunge, Painted Petals
Ink:   Lost Lagoon, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy
Card Stock:   Whisper White, Night of Navy, Lost Lagoon
Accessories: Lost Lagoon 3/8” Satin Ribbon, Basic Pearls, Lovely Lace Embossing Folder, Big Shot,  Simply Scored Scoring Tool

Assembly: 
1. Cut card base from Night of Navy card stock. Score at 4 ¼”, 4 ½”, 4 5/8”, 8 2/8”, and 8 3/8” with Simply Scored Scoring Tool.  Note:  The additional score lines add a really nice effect on the face of your card.2. Cut a piece of Whisper White to 5 ¼ x 3 ½” a. Emboss with the Lovely Lace embossing folder.

b. Use the speckled stamp from Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and Lost Lagoon ink to lightly add random speckles

c. Attach a 5 ¼” piece of ribbon to the left hand side leaving a 1” margin. Attach to the back of the Whisper White card stock with sticky strip or tape. Attach bow to ribbon with glue dots. 

d. Use sticky strip to adhere this piece to the front of the card base. Line it up with the scored lines and center. 3. Cut a 3 x 3” piece of Whisper White card stock. a. Stamp speckles with Gorgeous Grunge stamp set for back ground effect. b. Stamp “You Are Amazing” sentiment from Painted Petals in Mossy Meadow inkc. Stamp leaves in Mossy Meadow ink 

d. Stamp flowers in Lost Lagoon and Night of Navy and add pearls to three flower centers.

4. Cut a piece of 3 1/8” x 3 1/8” Lost Lagoon card stock and adhere to the Whisper White stamped piece

The water colour effect in this stamp set is amazing.  Beautiful images with very little effort. 

5. Cut a piece of 3 ¼” x 3 ¼” Night of Navy and adhere the previous two layers to it. Adhere with dimensionals to the right hand side of the Whisper White layer. 6. To finish the inside cut a 5 x 3 ¾” piece of Whisper White card stock. a. Stamp “Thank You” sentiment in center in Mossy Meadow 

b. Stamp the dotted border stamp from Painted Petals in Lost Lagoon ink across the bottom

c. Adhere this piece with sticky strip (only at the top) to the inside of the card.
Voila! You’re Done

Some Additional Projects with this Set:

The Lovely Lace Embossing Folder is so beautiful and there is just so much detail in it.  It's one of my new favourites!

I love the colour mix in this card. I used Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon and Night of Navy.  I've combined Painted Petals with the Butterfly Basics set and they worked well together. 

I'm still working on this card and will be doing a tutorial later on, but I just thought I'd share it here. This is a very simple pop up card that's a lot of fun to make.  

Just Answer the Questions:
As a participant in the Creative Blog Hop I was asked to answer the following four questions:

1)  What are you working on now?  My stamp space is currently cluttered with about 6 different projects.  I'm working on my customer appreciation "thank you" cards and outlines for my spring schedule of classes and stamp clubs and I have a few pop up cards in the making for up coming birthdays.

2) How does your work differ from others in your genre?  I really love vintage style.  I know a lot of stampers who think vintage is passe but for me it rocks.  I'm at my most creative when I'm working with flowers, lace and bows. Soft subtle colours like crumb cake, blushing bride and very vanilla along with basic pearls and taffeta ribbon, really work for me.  Oh and another thing, I like layers, lots and lots of layers. I'm also a sponge addict and love to sponge and distress everything to achieve the look I want. White space and clean and simple terrify me....actually CAS (clean & simple) isn't even in my vocabulary! 

3) Why do you create what you do?  I never felt talented enough to be an artist in the traditional sense but I sought out a variety of arts and crafts over the years in search of something that would fulfill my longing to make beautiful things. I taught myself calligraphy, knitting, crocheting, and every form of stitchery imaginable, and when, quite by accident, I found stamping, it was like my creative world exploded.  I'd finally found a niche where I could be creative and indulge my passion for art work but on a small and timely scale.  I can honestly say paper crafting and sharing what I love has brought me endless hours of joy and happiness. 

4) How does your creativity work?  Oh this is a tough question for me. You see, I'm one of the world's biggest procrastinators, and I have a lot of difficulty making time to stamp. Sometimes it's almost like I'm afraid to take out my stamps and ink them up, which is silly because every waking moment I'm thinking about projects and stamping.  So I think to answer this truthfully, for me the mood has to be absolutely just right, and my Mojo definitely has to be working.  But, when all the stars and planets align, look out because there's nothing that can stop me.  I've been known to jump out of bed in the middle of the night, much to my husband's surprise and consternation, so I can get an idea down on paper, or try something different.  And, I usually don't sleep until it's done, so I'm the epitome of the "late night stamper". 

Inspiration is every where for me and I love to experiment and try new techniques and to demonstrate what I've learned to anyone who wants to learn something new.  

My Nominees For Next Week's Creative Blog Hop:  
And now it's my turn to nominate two great stampers who'll post next Monday February 9th on the Creative Blog Hop. My first nominee is Karen Gilbert from Kamloops, BC. Karen is an incredibly talented stamper who posts videos and tutorials galore on her wonderful blog Simply Said With Karen.  Karen also sends out a fantastic monthly newsletter that's full of tips and information. Although we've never met in person, I feel like I know her from all our on-line communications and I'm happy to to call her a friend.  Please drop by Karen's blog and check out all her wonderful projects and leave her some comments. 

My second nominee is Carol Held from Ontario Canada. Carol's blog Stampin Ribbons is chalk full of ideas.  She is the queen of stamping and crafting videos and produces them prolifically   I know you'll enjoy Carol's projects as much as I do, and hope you'll visit her site and leave her a comment or two.  You won't be sorry.  
Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens 

Where Did January Go?

Wow!  I absolutely cannot believe we're at the end of January.   2015 seems to be passing me by in a rush and I'm not having any time to do the things I want to do, mainly stamping and posting for you. 

I've been busy organizing events for our community and I apologize but that's the real world and takes precedence over my hobby........ hmmm I think I need to change that.  

Anyway life's been hectic, but I haven't forgotten about any of you.  I've just been involved in a Shoebox Swap event and will have lots of pictures to show you of the cards I made.  Come back again real soon.  


Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens 

Christmas Cards from Friends Part II

As I mentioned in this post,  I've received some absolutely beautiful hand made cards from friends and family this season. These cards are so outstanding and I wanted to share them with you. 

The first card is from my good friend and fellow stamping demonstrator, Ethel DeTemple from Surrey, BC.  

I smiled when I took this fun Christmas card out of its envelope.  In our world, Ethel is totally the master of decorating cards and tags with her wonderful little owls.  Therefore I was simply thrilled to receive one of her signature cards. She uses the Stampin' Up! Owl Builder Punch for her creations.  

I love how she spotlighted this little gem by adding a window to the card interior.  She also combined a beautiful mixture of smokey slate and pear pizzazz designer series paper for a clean look on her card.  I have to say this card is just amazing inside and out.   Thanks so much Ethel for making my day with this great card! 

View of the interior of the card where she's added another owl image to match the one on the front.  So clever. 

My second card came from another friend and Stampin' Up! demonstrator Debby Evoy who is from the Abbotsford area.  I love Debby's cards.  She's always so creative and likes to try different techniques.  

For this card she stamped on a piece of vellum to create a snowy window scene over top of the beautiful pine bows from the Ornamental Pine stamp set (retired).  This card front is amazing!  It's like looking out a portal at a snow blizzard. Wonderful job Debby, it took my breath away! 

ov

The top layer of Debbie's card is dry embossed with the Wood Grain Embossing Folder.  It really looks like a front door the way she's layered it with the vellum on this card front.    

The snow is created by stamping the speckled stamp from Gorgeous Grunge in vellum and then heat embossing Whisper White Embossing Powder over top. Simply beautiful technique! 

The third and final Christmas card I want to share with you is from my talented sister Heather Hopson.  This card took ever so long to arrive because of an address mix up,  but when it finally did and I took it out of its envelope, you could have seen my smile from a mile away.  I loved every aspect of this card from the clean and simple lines to the textured embossing and silver pine bow. Well done Heather! 

Well that's it for Christmas 2014 season, but I hope you enjoyed seeing the beautiful cards I received from my friends and family this season.

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens 

SPRING OCCASIONS CATALOGUE IS NOW AVAILABLE

The new Spring Occasions catalogue has just gone live and it is one of the most awesome collections of stamping products yet!  If you haven't received a Spring Occasions Stampin' Up! catalogue here's a link to get you started.  

Remember if you shop in my on-line store or at one of my events and make a purchase of $25.00 or more before shipping and handling, in a stamping year, you become eligible for a free copy of this catalogue and all the other catalogues and flyers released during the Stampin' Up! year.  

Happy Stamping!
Penny Tokens

SALE-A-BRATION 2015 IS HERE!

It's the most wonderful time of the year................. Sale-a-bration is finally here!  From now until March 31st you can earn a wonderful free product from the Sale-a-bration Flyer for every $60.00 (before s&h and taxes) you spend on Stampin' Up! products from the Annual or Spring Occasions catalogues. 

It’s Sale-A-Bration Time! With so many ways to participate in Sale-A-Bration and get FREE products, you can’t miss out!

Shop: 
Earn a FREE Sale-A-Bration product for every $60 you spend between January 6 and March 31.  Just click here to go to my on-line store just click on shop now.

Host: 
Hostess Benefits are great during Sale-A-Bration. Host a  Sale-A-Bration party or a virtual event for a chance to earn discounts and extra host dollars!  Contact me to set up a date or discuss the type of party you'd like to host. 

Join: 
It’s a great time to join Stampin’ Up! as a new demonstrator! Join my team during Sale-A-Bration between January 6 and March 31.   Create your own Starter Kit – choose up to $155 in Stampin’ Up! products (from all current catalogues, or clearance rack) and pay only $125.  That's the first step, and then you can choose one of the following limited-time Sale-A-Bration offers available just for new demonstrators:

Option #1: Receive a FREE Simply Created Project Kit from the occasions catalogue with your Starter Kit.

Option #2: Receive 2 FREE Sale-A-Bration items of your choice with your Starter Kit.

You also get free shipping if you join during this event! 

Happy Stampin!
Penny Tokens