I don't want to jinx it by saying so but I think Spring may peek it's head around the corner this week. The forecast is for ABOVE zero for the first time in forEVER. Whoot! Now whilst I MUCH prefer -30 degrees to +30 degrees I have to admit I'm pretty much done with all the snow around here and am very much looking forward to walking the dog when it takes just minute to throw on my running shoes and a sweater as opposed to half an hour of layering clothes and putting booties on Koda! Of course HE loves the cooler weather but even HE isn't a fan of -26 with a wind chill! He LOVES a good spring snow romp with his favourite blue ball. He will spend HOURS out there dropping it in a snowbank then jumping in to retrieve it. HE loves it ... Craig doesn't! All those snowballs melt all over the floor!
The longer days and brighter sun have me reaching for my "brights" collection of products. My friend Elizabeth Green over at www.stampscrapandmore.com send me this gorgeous card using the FREE Home to Roost SAB set ...
I ADORE all the details on the card - time consuming but oh so striking! The texture she added to the Coastal Cabana frame. The corrugated, stitched Crumb Cake heart, the copper thread, the pearl, the sponged grass layer. SO fantastic! I wanted to CASE it for my class this week ... alas all that detail takes a LOT of time and supplies and isn't ideal for a full class ... so I tweaked it a bit to simplify it ... and I used a brighter palette of Mango Melody, Coastal Cabana and Granny Apple Green. This is my version:
I used a number of blends for the rooster ... but I actually DIDN'T use the Cajun Craze Blend shown in the picture below. Instead I swapped it out for the dark Pumpkin Pie for a bit of a brighter Rooster head.
The Coastal Cabana Frame (and the wee heart on Elizabeth's card) are from the Stitched Labels Framelits. These are a MUST HAVE set for your collection. VERY versatile!
So the rooster card is one we will be making in class this week, focusing on using the Embossing paste. I did a video last year on colouring the paste. Check that out below ... and subscribe to my YouTube Channel "Tamara's Paper Trail" while you are there. I don't do videos as often as I would like but I do hope to do more moving forward!
Focusing on "embossing" in class the next card is simply embossing with the Big Shot, using the FREE Country Floral Dynamic Embossing Folder. Holy COW is this folder incredible! I'm not a "flower girl" but this folder blew my mind! The impression is SO deep and SO striking you just HAVE to touch it
To make the images REALLY pop I simply used my finger dauber to sponge on some White Craft Ink over the raised images. That's it! I used some of the Whisper White Flax Ribbon from the Occasions Catalogue, some butterflies made using the Butterfly Gala stamp set and coordinating punch and the sentiment from the Part of My Story free SAB set, punched out with the Pretty Label Punch. (I wanted to use the new one offered in the March Promotion "Story Label Punch", alas it hasn't arrived yet. This one worked well.
Finally. we are making THIS card in class, using the Rainbow Embossing Technique and the free Lattice SAB set:
I just don't heat emboss enough these days. This was fun to do! I used the In Color Embossing Powders Lovely Lipstick, Pineapple Punch and Grapefruit Grove (of course I've OWNED them for 11 months but hadn't actually OPENED them yet! *sigh) . I matted the image on Lovely Lipstick, added some of our Polka Dot Tulle ribbon and a sentiment from "Another Wonderful Year" stamped in Lovely Lipstick and DONE! Quick, easy and lovely.
To wrap things up I'll show you a few other things I got up to this week ...
On a mission to FINISH projects I've started so I'm not crushed to death by an avalanche of "stuff" I wanted to finish the 7 (yes seven!) part kits from this retired kit ...
I volunteer with the Robin Hood Association every month and their clients and I make cards. I really wanted some Easter Cards ... and didn't "love" the bottom right hand card so I switched it up a bit. here's what I came up with ....
So pretty, right? The butterflies are from the free SAB paper. I used my Brother Scan n Cut to cut out all the butterflies ...
LOVE it! Very little waste and saves a LOT of time over using the coordinating butterfly punch!
Another kit I wanted to get off my desk was from a Paper Pumpkin kit for ages ago. I *may* have had 56 (yes 56!) leftovers! The Robin Hood clients generally don't have the manual dexterity to do fiddly things like putting brads through the holes so these envelopes weren't a good option for them ... but the CARDS that had come in the kit were. So I had the pieces to these sitting around for EVER! It took me 3 evening to get them all done but done they are .. and I donated them to my gym (Orange Theory) to hand out to their clients on their birthdays. As much as I LOVE these I can't mail them - the flowers are popped up on dimensionals and have brads and twine on them so they can't be mailed as is. They are ideal for the gym to hand out. I get them gone, they get to make people smile on their birthday. Win/win!
I also made some little Easter treats. Quick and easy using our Tiny boxes, Gingham Gala Paper, Pins and Tags and Everyday Occasions stamp set:
My last card is one I, sadly, had to make for a dear friend who had her dog head over the rainbow bridge. Quick and easy, using the new dog punch. I just punched through the top white layer, added the hearts and some Smoky Slate Blends shading to ground him. A few red rhinestones on the hearts finished it off.
So that's it for today. It's now REALLY late (11:15 am) thanks to daylight savings time. I'm officially WAY behind schedule and Koda wants to get on with our walk so I'll sign off.
Whatever YOU get up to today, I hope you have a stampy day!
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