Christmas Ornaments 2016

Happy Sunday!

As I stated last post, it had been WAYYYYYY too long since I had been in the Craft Cave.  Yesterday was the day - I headed down and got lost for a total of about four hours.  Yay!  The down side was I had to spend the first half hour trying to find the top of my desk.  Boo!  The chaos from my class July 5th (!!!) was a sad reminder that it had, in fact, been 11 days sine I darkened the doorway.  Given that it's summer and I have nothing but time on my hands I am shocked it's been that long … alas - the mess don't lie *lol*

As I started putting things away I got distracted (quite a normal occurrence for ME!)

I had cleared off a space about 6" x 6" … good enough, right?  CERTAINLY enough room to start making Christmas decorations! … so that's what I did *lol*

Wa-LOW!  I give you the Bertram 2016 Christmas Ornament!

Side Bar - for those of you new to my blog ... that was my daughter's attempt at "voila" when she was younger - love how they constantly tried to parrot my sayings …. and got them wrong about 50% of the time hee hee.

Another Side Bar - for those of you new to my blog … every year, for the last 13 years, I have made a Christmas ornament for my daughters.  Than plan was//is to give them a box of ornaments for their trees when they move out.  After all, when you get your first apartment/home who has money to buy something as frivolous (and expensive!) as tree ornaments, right?  … and how lovely would it be to open a box of special memories and love from your mom?

Most years December sneaks up on me and I'm making my annual ornaments the day before Christmas.  Not this year!  Done mid JULY!!!

This fabulous little ornament was inspired by my friend Casey.  Last month she showed me some tiles she had picked up at the hardware store …

Casey has a Silhouette machine and is a wizard at creating fabulous personalized items and home decor using vinyl.  Her plan was/is to turn them into Christmas ornaments using vinyl.  I fell in LOVE with the idea!  Of course MINE would be with ink and paper!  Next time I was out running errands I bought the tiles and started researching how to stamp on them.  (Thank You "Uncle Google"!)

Naturally this was over a month ago *lol*.  Yes, I BOUGHT the tiles … put them in The Cave … and there they sat… until I found them yesterday under the pile of chaos on my desk.  Well … no one procrastinates on cleaning like I do … so cleaning was abandoned and 2 hours later this is what I had come up with ...

"Two HOURS?", I hear you cry.  "How could that take you two HOURS?"  Well … this is about the 9th version *lol*.  Stamping on tiles is tricky.  First and foremost the tiles are slippery making stamping on them a little more difficult than on paper.  My first few versions involved stamping the above image with black Staz-on (the recommended ink on most of the tutorials I found).  There was a definite learning curve as the image slipped and smudged.  No problem - Staz-on cleaner wiped it right off for a quick "do-over".

I DID come up with a version that was stamped in black and then coloured green and red with my Sharpies.  Alas … the tutorials said I needed to BAKE the tiles to set the ink … and then spray them with an acrylic glaze to seal everything so it doesn't chip, bleed or rub off.  Ya no.  I don't bake crafts.  NO patience for THAT nonsense.  Rather than doing as I was told I went straight to "spray with acrylic glaze".  Mistake.  BIG mistake!  The inks turned into a big runny, sloppy puddle of green, black and red.  Straight into the garbage!  *lol*.  So!  What was I going to DO with these things?  Normally they would be pushed aside to try again "another day" (of course "another day" never actually arrives and they would collect dust like the other 72 projects that have suffered the same fate!)

I wanted a project that I could use for a class … something that would be FABULOUS without being tedious, time consuming and/or involving my oven!  The above "final version" ticks all the boxes.  Yay me!

Gold is "anything" is a hot trend right now … so gold is what I wanted.

I simply stamped the image from Embellished Ornaments in Versamark …

… and heat set it with Gold Embossing Powder.  *** WARNING *** These tiles get HOT when you heat emboss them.  Holy COW!  I was vey surprised at a) how LONG it took for the embossing powder to melt (about 3 times as long as it does on paper!) and b) how screaming hot the tile got!  I guess the tile absorbs the heat from the heat gun, heating up the tile and drawing the heat away from the powder, slowing down the melting process.  Whatever the science behind it, know that if you are holding the tile in your hand it will burn you.  I quickly learned to place the tile on my desk to melt the powder (I will put the tile on a block of wood in future just to protect my desk).

I LOVE how thick the embossing powder is and how well/evenly it melted.  It looks great "live".

I made the banner using the FAB hostess set "Time of Year"

Love love LOVE this banner!  I stamped it on Whisper White with Versamark and heat set the gold embossing powder.  I then punched it out with the corresponding banner framelit from the Bunch of Banners set ...

I used a fine tip Sharpie to write '16 in the corner and popped it up on dimensionals.

Oh!  The hole!  Yes, I needed to drill a hole to HANG the ornament!  Remember, these are tiles, intended for kitchens and bathrooms, not crafting *lol*.  Last month I had Craig pick me up  drill bit specifically for drilling tile.  He set me up with a block of wood, his drill, instructions not to lose any body parts and off I went.  It worked perfectly!  No chipping, cracking or breaking!  Craig DID mention it would be a lot faster, easier and more precise if "ONE of us" had a drill press.  20 minutes later Uncle Amazon had one winging it's way to our house.  It will arrive next Monday.  Yes, it will be a business write off … but I'll let him use it from time to time *lol*

Quick, cute and no oven needed!  My kind of project!  Naturally, I'll be offering a class in the fall for my local customers so stay tuned for a date on that!

I managed to spend another two hours in The Cave after dinner last night so pop in again soon to see how that one turned out.  Until then, have a stampy Sunday!



Tam

2016 Catalogue Ribbon and DSP Share

Happy Friday!

Hope you're having a relaxing day.  We are - but my butt is KILLING me …. we just got back from bowling.  Oi VEY do I ever need to do a few lunges at home every now and then!!  I forgot I even HAD muscles back there! *lol*

Still no project to share :(  I haven't been down to my cave it WEEKS!  I need a good, solid 2 days of rain so I can justify being inside and crafting!!  Once way or another it's gunna happen at SOME point this weekend.  I'm overflowing with things I want to try/play with after going through 10 crafting magazines I found in my closet!!  Pop in again soon to see if I come up with anything fun!

In the meantime I'm posting the email I sent out to my Canadian customers yesterday.  They wanted a paper share and a ribbon share so yesterday I sat down with my trusty catalogue, calculator, coloured pens and LOTS of paper to put something together.  2 hours (and a few glasses of wine) later I had it all figured out.  Hmmmmm - now that I think about it I should probably check my work … that wine may have resulted in some errors *lol*.

If you are in Canada and would like to get in on my "shares" let me know.  Hopefully the postal strike will be avoided but if not I'll have to figure out shipping via other methods.  Send me an email to bertram4@shaw.ca if you'd like to partake :)

"Shares" are a great way to get a little bit of everything - a little bit of ribbon in each colour or a little bit of designer paper from each pack.  If you are like me you want ALL the papers and ALL the ribbons but a whole package or roll is usually way too much.  By "sharing" a pack with 3 other people you all get a portion of the pack/roll and you don't have to invest hundreds of dollars to get it all.

Here is what I have on offer ….


2016/2018 In Colour 3/8" Ruched Ribbon Share:

• Single Share - $15.00

• approximately 2 yards (or 72" … or 183 cm *lol) of EACH of the 5 new In Color Ruched Ribbons (seen on page 178 of the annual catalogue)

• Dapper Denim

• Emerald Envy

• Flirty Flamingo

• Peekaboo Peach

• Sweet Sugarplum

• Double Share - $25.00

• double the amount of the above :)

Designer Series Paper Shares (found on pages 172-173 of the annual catalogue)

• Single Share - $35 - 84 sheets of DSP

• get (2) each of 6 double-sided designs - 6" x 6" - of the following papers:

• Floral Boutique DSP

• Moroccan DSP

• Fruit Stand DSP

• Blooms & Bliss DSP

• Festive Birthday DSP

• By The Shore DSP

• This Christmas Specialty DSP

• Double Share - $65 - 84 (larger) sheets of DSP ****** PLUS 36 sheets of coordinating card stock as a BONUS!!!

• get twice the amount as above.  

• You will still get (2) each of the above but the pieces will be 6" x 12" rather than 6" x 6" (allowing you more flexibility in creating your own size)

• ** bonus - get 36 sheets of coordinating card stock to match each of the Designer Series Paper colours!  That's over $17 value FREE!

• you get (2) each of the following colours:

• Cherry Cobbler

• Garden Green

• Delightful Dijon

• Emerald Envy

• Very Vanilla

• Pear Pizzazz

• Peekaboo Peach

• Watermelon Wonder

• Island Indigo

• Mint Macaron

• Sweet Sugarplum

• Pumpkin Pie

• Tempting Turquoise

• Calypso Coral

• Dapper Denim

• Soft Sky

• Night of Navy

• Whisper White

Designer Series Paper STACK Shares (found on page 174 of the annual catalogue)

• Single Share - $30 - 72 sheets of DSPS

• get (2) each of 12 double sided designs - 6" x 6" - of the following papers:

• A Little Foxy DSPS

• Serene Scenery DSPS

• Playful Palette DSPS

• Double Share - $55 - 144 sheets of DSPS ******* PLUS 36 sheets of coordinating card stock as a BONUS!!!

• get twice the amount as above of the DSPS (so 4 each of 12 double sided designs)

• ** all pieces will be 6" x 6"

• ***** bonus - get 36 sheets of coordinating card stock to match each of the Designer Series Paper Stack colours!  That's over $17 value FREE!

• you get (4) each of the following colours:

• Calypso Coral

• Pool Party

• Smoky Slate

• Crumb Cake

• Pool Party

• Whisper White

• Blushing Bride

• Sweet Sugarplum

• Very Vanilla

So?  Who's in?  Email with which share(s) you would like (and whether you want a singe or a double).  

A reminder that the "Bonus Days" promotion runs until the end of July.  For every $60 in product you purchase you will receive a coupon for $6 to use on an August order.  Email me by July 30th if you want to take advantage of that promo.

That's it!  Have yourself a stampy night :)

Tamara

Photos, photos, photos ….

Happy Wednesday!

… it IS Wednesday, isn't it?  I woke up this morning (at 3:12 am *sigh*) and had to seriously try to figure out what day it is.  Oh sure, it could have been because it was, in fact, 3:12 AM but I think it's more because it's summer and the lack of schedule has all the days blurring together.  Not necessarily a bad thing!

I tossed and turned and TRIED to get back to sleep.  Alas, my brain wouldn't shut off so, at 5:00 am  I grabbed the dog, the cat, a coffee and an my lap tap for the ONE routine I maintain all year round - surfing the internet for news, inspiration and fun.  Yes, I AM trying to cut down on my electronics time but let's face it - at 5:00 am there isn't a lot to do … and even of there was I'm not bursting with energy to actually DO it *lol*

What I DID plan to do (and I will get to it right after this post!) was finish writing out my photographs.  By that I mean writing the dates, people, ages and place on the back of the 170 pictures I printed out on the weekend.  MUCH more manageable than the 968 I had to deal with back in March/April!  (See that post here).  My mission for today is to a) finish logging the current 170 pics and then spend a few hours getting them, and the Disneyland pictures from May, in my albums.  I've been procrastinating on this but today is the day.  Using the Project Life system is really so VERY quick and easy.  It will seriously take me less than 2 hours to get 'er done!

Why am I sharing this?  As I was surfing Pinterest I stumbled across a GREAT article on pictures … picture taking, picture managing and picture mistakes.  I wanted to share that with you.  So thanks to Lindsay Ross for sharing your tips.  They are "bang on" and a great reminder on lots of levels.

Read Lindsay's post here

Pictures ARE one of our most prized possessions.  I encourage you to PRINT them and get them in albums.  I can help you.  Just send me a message.

Right - one more coffee then I'm "up".  Cheers!  Have a stampy Wednesday!


Tam

Repurposed Frame

Happy Sunday!

MAN have I been productive the last few days!  When school ended I decided it was time to "unplug", spend less time on electronics, more time with the kids and getting around to those "one-day" items on the never ending to-do list.  I've been PRETTY good insofar as I've stayed away from Facebook for the most part and that alone has freed up HOURS of time every day.  Instead of getting lost surfing the net every morning over coffee I seem to have hit all my preferred blogs etc within about 6 minutes!  I have spent my extra time writing out recipes (yes, I'm totally addicted to Pinterest and have most of my favourite recipes saved there but I want a hand-written version to refer to and/or to pass on to the kids one day!), purging closets, drawers, printing out photographs, updating the kids' diaries and so on.  heck, this morning alone I went through EIGHT magazines!  I have some dating back to 2011! *lol*

Yesterday, amongst other things, Rebecca and I got some crafting time in.  Woo hoo!

About a month ago she asked me if she could get a cork board for her room so she could pin up pictures of her and her friends.  What???  A CORK BOARD??!!!  No child of MINE is going to have a plain old CORK BOARD in her room!  Seriously - I thought I was going to faint!  No, no NO!  I had visions of FINALLY having a reason to grab a canvas, some batting, some cute fabric and ribbon and making a fabric covered board with ribbon criss-crossing it - you know the ones I mean … something like this …

Then I thought NOOOOOOOO!  I wanna make one of those repurposed picture frame boards that are all the rage - something like this …

 … or this ...

So!  Last week we headed over to Value Village to see if we could find a frame that would work.  Score!  We found this monster and it was PERFECT!

** As an aside, I had to laugh when Craig came home, saw this *lovely* picture in the garage.  He very delicately asked "what's with the picture?"  Of course I HAD to wind him up and tell him how much I loved it and that it was going to be the focal piece in our living room.  Hee hee.  Not saying it's TOTALLY hideous, just not our cup of tea at ALL!

Aside from the great size of the frame (it's about 30" x 36"!) it was a great price ($22.50) but best of all was the texture on the frame.  It is ridged - looks like waves …

When I saw it I immediately envisioned it painted white, which the ridges painted black.  Rebecca has some zebra print in her room and this would look great!

This picture doesn't look very different to the original, gold colour but it is.  It's a great white-wash white with black highlights.  For paint I just grabbed what I had - an Ikea white paint and some black from Michaels.  We used sponge brushes to paint it.

 The whole project only took a few hours.  Once the paint was dry (which was fairly immediately) I headed down to my ribbon stash and we agreed on some retired white sweater trim.  I grabbed Craig's staple gun, stapled it across the frame and Wa-LOW!  Done!

 Craig hung it up and I gave Rebecca a roll of some metal clothespins I had picked up at Michael's last week on Clearance.  I think the roll (probably 30 pins?) was $3.99.

I believe they are "Alphabet Soup" brand - if you're in Edmonton, check the clearance aisles - these were about 5 aisles away from the tills, with all the monogram/alphabet stuff that is was 70% off.

I have sent off a bunch of pictures to be developed so Rebecca can decorate the board to her heart's content.  If I have my way I'll get her to decorate the pictures with journalling cards, punched out embellishments and framelit phrases …. but it's not my room so we'll see *lol*

That's it for now - the kids are both out for sleepovers so it's Date Night.  Craig is making dinner then we'll watch a movie.  Fingers crossed I can stay awake past 8:30 pm!  hee hee

Whatever you get up to tonight I hope you have a stampy evening … and week!  Pop in again soon :)


Tam

Bonus Days Promotion

Happy Saturday!

Another week has come and gone.  I can tell already this summer is going to FLY by!

It was a fun week as we spent lots of time with my mom, dad and brother.  Bowling, shopping, lunches, dinners - so relaxing!  He left yesterday and for the first time in three weeks I had a "down day" - nothing on the calendar.  Just the way I like it!  It was also my birthday so I took full advantage of doing what I pleased.  Oddly that involved cleaning.  Yes, I love a day when I get to just putz from room to room, organizing, tidying and cleaning as I go.  I allowed the girls to play their computer game all day so it was a win/win :)  We had a Chinese Take-Away followed by ice cream and "Finding Dory".  All in all a fabulous, relaxing day filled with the people I love.  Perfect!

With all the comings and goings lately I haven't had much time to create so today I'll just be sharing the latest SU promotion - "Bonus Days".  In a nutshell, for every $60 CDN you spend between now and July 31st gets you a $6 coupon to redeem in August.  It may not seem like a lot but it covers the cost of shipping and you can bet I'll be taking advantage of it!  The details are noted below.  My next order goes in July 14th.  Make sure you get in touch prior to the 14th to place your order.

Not sure what today holds but, as always, it starts with walking Doodle Dog so off I go.  Whatever YOU get up to I hope you have a stampy day :)


Tam

Sunshine Sayings with Sweet Sugarplum

Happy Tuesday!

Holy COW was it an epic busy weekend … and by weekend I mean Thursday until now!  Not only was it busy but it was emotionally exhausting - I had ALL the emotions going on - excitement, anticipation, relaxation, elation, stress, worry, love … you name it, I had it!

Reader's Digest Version:

• Thursday morning my brother came to town as a surprise for my Mom's 75th birthday
• Thursday afternoon we "revealed" the big surprise
• Friday morning Alicia headed off to a friend's lake for the weekend
• Friday afternoon Craig and I hosted a BBQ for both of our families (which required Craig to get up at 4:00 am to start smoking the brisket and me in the kitchen prepping all day)
• Friday evening Rebecca's sniffles from the day before had turned into the nastiest cold known to mankind
• Saturday day Rebecca looked like death, felt worse and was in agony from a super tight chest
• Saturday night I "slept" with one eye open as Rebecca's breathing was totally freaking me out - shallow, gurgle noises like I've never heard and wheezing like a 99 year old man
• Sunday morning spent 3 hours at the medicentre getting Rebecca checked out and treated for bronchitis 
• Sunday afternoon drove to Stony Plain to pick up Alicia
• Sunday evening got all dolled up and went to dinner theatre with everyone (except Rebecca and Craig) to celebrate mom's birthday
• Monday afternoon spent the day with my brother
• Monday night prepped for my stamping classes … that start in a few hours

It's been just NUTS around here!  But it's all good now.  Rebecca is on the mend, my brother is here for the rest of the week and there is no real schedule to adhere to.  Summer is here and the living is easy (well, last weekend notwithstanding *lol*)

So let's take a look at on of the projects we're making today at my class, shall we?  OK!  Here it is …

I wasn't too sure how I felt about this one when I first made it … but when I went back to it yesterday I decided "yup" I like it :)

Started off with a standard card base (5 1/2" x 4 1/4")

Added a layer of Rich Razzleberry Card Stock - 3 3/4" x 5" 

Added a layer of Whisper White 3 1/2" x 4 3/4"

***  Tip - make sure when you tape the top whisper white layer down that it is parallel to the card base - you don't want the top layer to be tilted at all of the word "sunshine" and/or stamping will look (or actually BE) crooked. ***

The flower and "sunshine" are from the Sunshine Wishes Framelits (page 194 of the catalogue)

The flower is cut from the new Sweet Sugarplum card stock, the "sunshine" from Rich Razzleberry.

The "You are my" is stamped in Rich Razzleberry and is from the set that corresponds with the above framelits, Sunshine Sayings ...

Love love LOVE these two items - absolute MUSTS, in m opinion!

I glued the flower and sentiment down with my Fine Tip Glue pen, added 3 enamel dots and then, as always, reached for my Clear Wink of Stella to add a bit of bling.  MAN I have NEVER used a product as much as the Wink.  Every card we are making today uses it … and I'd say 95% of the cards I've made since this product has become available have at least a BIT of it.  Can't seem to craft without it!  LOVE that stuff!

So there you have it - a run down on my "crazy" and a quick, easy, cute project to try.  I must dash - need to walk the Doodle Dog before my crafters get here.

thanks for popping in and have your self a super stampy day!

Tam

Teacher Note Cards

Happy Sunday!

Well today is one for the books … I think I feel rested!  Usually at 9:03 am I'm ready to take a nap!  Perhaps months (or years?) of waking every night for an hour or two has finally taken it's toll on me.  Perhaps I'm relaxed enough to NOT wake in the middle of the night.  Perhaps I've mastered not drinking anything after 6:00 pm so my bladder can sleep through the night (yes, the joys if getting older!).  Whatever the reason I slept in until almost 8:00 am two days in a row … PLUS I had a 1.5 hour sleep yesterday (I would say "nap" but I'm not sure 1.5 HOURS qualifies as a nap *lol*)

So here we are - fairly bright eyed and bushy tailed on a Sunday morning.  I kinda like it!

Today I'm sharing some Note Cards I whipped up for the teachers.  Check 'em out …

I love how they turned out!  When I made the first one I declared "Ya - super cute but life is too short to make 25 of them" and figured I would just have one for display purposes.  Then I said to myself "who are you kidding?  You KNOW you're going to make 25 of them" … and I did *lol*.

I hate to say it but I used a number of retired products for these. Sorry!  Here is the low-down ..

I used my "must have" Whisper White Note Cards and Envelopes for these.  I NEVER have any less than 5 packs on hand … and every June and December I pat myself on the back for having them around as I rush to do up cards last-minute :)  They are SO economical!  20 notecards (5" x 3.5") and envelopes for $8.00!  Can't beat that deal with a STICK, as Dad would say!

I stamped the lined paper stamp in Marina Mist using one of the stamps from the newly retired Tap, Tap, Tap set.  I used the "Just a Note" stamp from Flourishing Phrases (current - woo hoo! lol) in Memento Black.  I punched an apple with the Tree Builder Punch and attached it with a glue dot.

Now for the pencil.  Credit for this little beauty goes to Stampin' Up! Artisan Mercedes Weber.  Mercedes does AMAZING work - check her out at mercedesweber.blogspot.ca whenever you need some inspiration!  I found the pencil idea there.

To make a pencil you need the (retired) Handpicked Framelits.  I'm SO sad I didn't get these when they were current.  I just bought them from a friend a few months ago and have used them on two major projects already (my Mini Cups from a few posts back and now these).

I punched out the body of the pencil using Crushed Curry card stock.  I then used the same die to cut the eraser out of Blushing Bride and the tip out of Crumb Cake.  To get the zig zag end I used the Mini Treat Bag framelit.  I then used some (retired) silver card stock to cut a 1/4" strip for the band by the eraser.  I coloured the tip of the pencil WITH a pencil for the lead.  I adhered all the pieces together using my fine tip glue pen.  Yes, it was a little fiddly but you now what?  It was Friday night - Craig was watching the hockey draft in the next room, the girls were on a video game upstairs and I had time to just relax and craft.  It ended up only taking 2 hours from start to finish … it was relaxing and fun.  Had I been TRULY pressed for time I would have come up with something faster.  I'm glad I had the time :)

Now I just have to package them up in one of our cello bags, add some ribbon and a tag and wa-low!  5 teacher gifts ready to hand out on Tuesday.  Yay me :)

I'm outta here.  Off to take Doodles for his walk and stretch out this old back of mine (aching from all the horizontal action yesterday!)

Whatever YOU get up to, I hope you have a stampy Sunday!  xoxo


Tam

Marquee Messages

Happy Monday!

MAN I'm loving life today!  My cup is overflowing with love and gratitude for the life I am so blessed to be living.  No particular "big" reason why - I've just been working around the house, as I do on any normal Monday … but just feeling so darned grateful!  I'm just SO lucky to be the wife of such an amazing person and to have built the life with him that I have.  SO grateful.  That's all :)  We now return you to your previously scheduled blog post :)

Last week I really did have a lot of time on my hands (See?  Lucky me!!)  That allowed me more time in my Craft Cave.  I felt like making a card that I wouldn't "normally" make.  I wanted to use one of my new stamp set but realized a LOT of them are swirls and flowers and such.  Wasn't in a flowery kinda mood … and then my eye fell on "Marquee Messages".  Check it out …

Hmmmm - doesn't blow your hair back?  Didn't blow mine back either, when I first saw it in the catalogue.  The second pass through the catty it caught my eye.  The third time through I was checking it out fairly intently.  The fourth time though I decided I loved the sentiments font (you know what a font junkie I am!) … and then I decided "nah - how much use would I get out of it?  Kinda a "one trick pony" kinda set" … and I decided against it.  Fast forward a few weeks … when I was placing my monthly club order.  I had earned some hostess benefits and was looking for somewhere to spend them.  After buying some "practical" products (white paper, envelopes, dimensionals) I decided to treat myself to a frivulous set … and this was the one I picked.  Who CARES if it's kind of limited in layout possibilities? I LIKED the layout … and I got it.  Well … here is what I made with it … and (of course), I love it!

Check out the sparkle I got from adding my Wink of Stella Clear to it …

LOVE!

You know I like to give credit where credit it due so I'll do that now.  I got my inspiration from a card I found made by fellow demo Brian King.  Brian is one of the relatively few MALE stampers who has made it big with Stampin' Up!  His work is fabulous.  Check him out at www.stampwithbrian.com.  Here is the card he made …

Most cards you find using this set are going to look very similar, given the size of the main image - you really just change the colours.  Brian used Pool Party and Daffodil Delight.  I used Watermelon Wonder and Daffodil Delight …. and Bermuda Bay (using that color a lot lately!) and daffodil delight.

I stamped the image and sentiments with my Memento Black Ink (my archival black has been smudging lately and I figured the colouring would just bleed so I went straight to the Memento.)  I then stamped the arrow on coloured paper and the "Awesome" and "Birthday" on Daffodil Delight.  I coloured the stars afterwards and the appropriate colour did colour on top of the coloured card stock nicely.  I then cut the pieces out "old school" with my paper snips.  I used my Stampin' Write Markers to colour the spaces … and then, once I was sure the ink was dry, went over some parts with my Wink of Stella.

I popped the cut out pieces up on dimensionals for added interest.

Totally love how it looks, matted on black card stock, and will TOTALLY be making more of these to mail to friends.  Might be a more limited set than I would like, but I love the one look I've made with it!

That's it for today … off to finish making dinner.  Thanks for popping in - have a stampy night!


Tam

Umbrella Fun!

Happy Thursday!

OI VEY can eight ten-year-olds ever make a lot of noise!  Right after this post I'm hitting the bottle of Advil! *lol*.  Today was my monthly Kids Stamp Class.  We (generally) put together Paper Pumpkin kits.  Quick for me to set up, value for money and easy enough for the kids to do with minimal help.  With everything in the kit they have enough structure to make the projects but also enough extra product to use their own creativity to make the projects "their own".  Mom's also love the class because they get 4 hours to themselves while the kids are at my house.  Win/win/win …. except for the noise!  lol.

Before the kids came I had some time on my hands …. so down to the cave I went.  My desk was still a mess following the Pet Sympathy card I made yesterday .. and my eye fell on the Umbrella Weather bundle.  Literally in under 5 minutes I had my card …

Very minimalist, no?  Once again - quick, clean and cute … my latest favourite kind of card!

I simply used a Whisper White layer measuring 3" x 4 1/2" … used the Umbrella Weather Framelits to cut the space out and matted it on a piece of 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" pecs of Daffodil Delight card stock.

I stamped the sentiment in Bermuda Bay from the Weather Together set …

Finally I grabbed my new Sweet & Sassy Framelits ...

 … and punched out the smallest heart out of Bermuda Bay card stock.  I popped the heart, and the entire Daffodil Delight layer, up on dimensionals.  I added a single rhinestone to the umbrella and Wa-LOW!  A card that seriously took under 5 minutes to pull together.  Love quick, easy and cute!

That's it for now … I'm off to find that Advil … and  quiet room.  Thanks for popping in.

Have a stampy evening!


Tam

Pet Sympathy with Bella and Friends

Happy Wednesday!

Having a great day today!  New hair (well, less grey anyway!), lunch date with my husband, a little shopping … doesn't get much better than THAT, now, does it??

Sadly yesterday wasn't quite as good of a day.  I needed to make not one, not two but THREE pet sympathy cards :(  It's SO sad when someone loses their furry baby.  My heart goes out to Elaine and her family, Kerri Anne and our neighbour (… don't know their name or their lovely German Shepherd's name but SUCH a well trained, lovely dog … and Koda's friend).

I wanted to make pet sympathy cards using my new set Bella and Friends.  This is what I came up with …

I just LOVE how it turned out … and my hope is that it makes the recipients smile and forget their broken hearts for a few minutes.

I started with a standard 8 1/2" x 4 1/4" Whisper White base - and cut a 3 3/4" x 5" layer.  I stamped the Bella image with Memento Black Ink.  LOVE this set …

 There is an adorable cat set, called Pretty Kitty that will be on my NEXT SU order- so cute!!

 I coloured the balloon and puppy with a blender pen.  The balloon is Real Red (yes, I did wear a bit of a hole in the paper by over-working it so be careful!)  The puppy is Sahara Sand … and his collar is Bermuda Bay (I also did a red collar version).

I stamped the sentiment in black Memento ink using a retired stamp set I LOVE called "So Sorry".  It is a GREAT sympathy set!

The … was made using three rhinestones and then colouring them black with a Sharpie.  LOVE that you can get any colour jewel you want just by grabbing your Sharpies!

For the clouds I used another new toy - the Umbrella Weather framelits.

You can purchase JUST the framelits, just the coordinating set (Weather Together) ...

 .. or you can save 10% when you purchase the two together ($53 CDN for the bundle) ...

 I popped the three clouds, and the wiser white layer up on dimensionsals, coloured the clouds with my clear Wink-of-Stella pen and Wa-low!  A very cute little card.

Whilst I'm sad I have to SEND a card I'm happy with the card I have to send.

That's it for today.  Think I'll head down to the craft cave to assemble my last ten Botanical Mini Cups. Thanks for popping in and I hope you have a stampy day!


Tam