Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Changes Coming..............Dates to Remember

Well, it's the end of another month and heading into one of the most exciting times of the year!  National Scrapbooking Month is officially over at midnight tonight and along with it Stampin' Up's amazing 30% Off discount on a variety of scrapbook products ends too.   But don't be sad, we'll still be doing scrapbooking and Stampin' Up! will still have some amazing promotions heading your way.

In fact, tomorrow June 1st will be super exciting as the "Last Chance Item Lists of Supplies and Accessories will be posted", and so begins the count down to July 1st when the 2011/2012 Idea Book and Catalogue is launched.   Check in daily on my shop now button because the lists will be updated daily.



Cal

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Masculine Cards

Yesterday I held a Men's Card Class.  Not too many came but with the Canucks Hockey game playoffs happening and the day after a long weekend what can you expect.  Here's what they missed:



Monday, May 23, 2011

Making Masculine Cards Just Got Simpler


I often hear from my customers that they really struggle when it comes to making masculine cards.  This has been a real dilemma for me too.  Usually at this time of year I'm really struggling to come up with masculine cards for upcoming birthdays and Father's Day, but not this year!  I have to tell you I'm absolutely thrilled with the Open Sea and Sail Away stamp sets featured in Stampin' Ups! Summer Mini Catalogue.  These stamp sets along with the beautiful Nautical Expedition Designer Series Paper have made it super easy for me to design masculine cards for these occasions. 

On Tuesday night I'm hosting a "Men's Card Class" which features three cards made from these sets and the wonderful designer series paper. I think you'll agree these cards would work great for Father's Day or any other masculine occasion.  I'll be posting pictures of the individual cards and details following the class so come back and visit again soon.

Friday, May 13, 2011

MDS: Kids in the Park

Recently I've been having so much fun with My Digital Studio turning my niece's and nephew's photos into scrapbook pages, and today was no exception.  Here are two more pages made with existing templates in MDS.  Hope you like them.

Monkey56: A Kid Card + Sketch Challenge and Guest Designer

Last week I posted a My Digital Studio Scrapbook layout for the A La Card Monkey54:  challenge.  My entry was a picture of my dog Murphy and I was absolutely thrilled to find out I was a runner up along with Heidi and Lucianna ........whoo hoo!!!!! The blog candy was won by Kathy the Paper Stamper for her absolutely fabulous "Serengeti" design.   Anyway one of the great things about being a runner up on this site  is you're invited to be a Guest Designer for one of the next challenges, and here it is, Monkey56: a Kid Card + Sketch
I have to say this challenge really had me putting on my thinking cap as I don't make a lot of kid cards and as such, don't have many kid orientated stamp sets or designer papers. While I was struggling with what's current and what kids like inspiration finally hit me. My soon to be 3 years old nephew loves all things Sesame Street so why not make him a card based on one of the Sesame Street characters.  Forgive me but not having kids and being relatively old in the what's "hip" department I couldn't remember what the characters looked like apart from Big Bird so I had to hunt for some pictures before tackling this sketch.  In the end I was able to design this card for him by using Stampin' Ups beautiful Celebrations DSP, Brights Collection cardstock, and a variety of circle punches.  And here is the card:

What do you think?  I think Ian will love it.  The outside is pretty straight-forward and follows the sketch but I've added a twist on the inside of the card.  I've repeated the character on the inside but scored across the top three scallops so that it folds back revealing a birthday message. layered underneath it.
Closeup of Embellishment on Card Front.  Since it's Ian's 3rd birthday I added some circles stacked with dimensionals and a # 3 cut out from the DSP to lend a focal point and provide interest to the card front. 

This is the inside of the card.  The face lifts up to reveal a hidden message.



This shows the label flipped up and the Happy Birthday stamp from the Punch a Bunch set in Pear Pizzazz.
Recipe:
Sketch:  A La Card Monkey  Monkey56:  Kid Card and Sketch
Cardstock:  Pacific Point, Real Red (card base), Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Black, Pumpkin Pie
DSP: Celebrations Designer Series Paper Pg. 173 IB&C  #117164
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz
Stamp Set:  Happy Birthday Sentiment from Punch Bunch (Occasions Mini)
Accessories:  Pear Pizzazz Satin Ribbon, Scallop Circle Punch, 3/4" 1" and 11/4" circle punches, 2" and 2  1/2" Circles die cut, 3 large gold brads (non  SU).
                  

A Visit to the Park


I thought I'd try my hand at designing some more My Digital Studio (MDS) scrapbook pages today.  These pictures feature my darling niece Laura on a recent visit to Lion's Park.  Isn't she sweet?  I wanted to see how easy it was to do two different layouts using the same photo, so I chose a predesigned template from the MDS library and just dragged and dropped the same photo in the templates.  I've changed up some of the embellishments and text and here is the result.  Let me know which is your favourite of the two. 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Love is in the Air

It's that "Love" time of year again, with lots of weddings, anniversary's and engagement parties coming up.  With that in mind I thought I better start putting some ideas together for cards so I'll have a good supply on hand, and not be doing things at the last minute.  

Usually I make a more traditional card featuring flowers or scrolls, but when I saw these two adorable birds on Laura Lipe's blog, I knew I just had to case her card.  Don't you just love punch art? 



Closeup of the love birds.  The punches used were the ornament punch for the base, the round tab punch (you could also use the Butterfly punch for this section of the body), small heart for the beak, wings are from the 2-step bird punch, and the feet and head feathers are fromthe small flower in the Boho Blossoms punch.

 My second card is based on a two-step card made from a 6 x 6 sheet of cardstock that I've attached to a 6 x 4 1/2 card base.   I used Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz and Poppy Parade Incolors for the DSP, cardstocks and ink.  The Flower stamp is from the Punch Bunch stamp set and the Love sentiment is from one of the recent Valentine stamp promotion sets.

Zany Birthday FMS#628

Well another week has flown by and there's a promise of Spring between the rain drops.  I'm thrilled to see all the cherry trees sta...