Joy of Sets Blog Hop--April!

Welcome to the Joy of Sets Blog Hop for April! Thank you so much for hopping on over to see what we are all up to this month—the theme is BIRTHDAY! Now I could have made a birthday card, but instead I decided to create a scrapbook page of my most recent birthday in January. I had a fun girls night in playing games, eating and drinking Prosecco!

The color pallet for this page was inspired by my birthday cake, however I knew that I also needed to keep it neutral to coordinate with what we are all wearing. And YES, I design my pages around my photos. I typically do not create a page without a photo and I use the subject matter and colors to dictate my color pallet choices. stamps and embellishments.

On this page I have used some current popular product, the Poppy Moments Dies, along with a stamp set from the Annual Idea Book & Catalogue—Seaside Notions. I used some up and coming new products too—the DSP strip right below the bottom photo is the new Ornate Gardens Specialty Designer Paper and I added in some Gilded Gems from this product suite as well.

One fun tip for when using the Poppy Moments Dies is to keep them tone on tone. I ran the base of the flowers through the Subtles Embossing Folder (found in the Idea Book & Catalogue) and it gives it just the right amount of texture.

The colors I used on this page are Crumb Cake, Petal Pink, Grapefruit Grove and Terracotta Tile with gold accents.

This page didn’t not take long to put together and can easily be recreated using different DSP and even different flower dies! I hope it inspires you!

Happy 44th birthday to me!

In this photo you can see the detail the Subtles Embossing folder gives to the flowers, I think is perfect! And those new Gilded Gems—on point!

Please visit Sue Allen’s blog next on the hop!

Around The World Blog Hop--April

I am so excited to be participating in this BRAND NEW international blog hop started by the amazing Angie McKenzie. Her faith in my technical skills is beyond admiration! You may also see this new blog hop being referred to as ‘aWOW Blog Hop’. We will be posting monthly on the second Wednesday of each month!

The theme for our inaugural hop is ‘Must haves for your creativity’…I thought about this quite a bit and finally settled on ‘things I can colour with’…so my project includes two colouring tools—the classic Stampin’ Write markers and the newer Stampin’ Blends.

I love the soft watercolour wash in the background of these cards and the fact that every single one is unique and special. I used the Under My Umbrella and Fable Friends stamp sets and coloured the images with Stampin’ Blends. I did add Wink of Stella on top of the flowers, its another crafty must have in my Home Studio!

The water-colour wash in the background is actually one of my favourite techniques and one that I pull out of my technique closet from time to time. Its actually a great technique to share with beginner stampers as they only need our classic Stampin’ Write markers and either water-colour or shimmery white paper. In my samples I used water color paper. I also used a cello bag as the transfer piece. You could use a window sheet as well, but a cello bag is much cheaper and chances are even a new stamper will have one of these lying around.

The first step as illustrated in the first picture is to gather all of the supplies. Stampin’ Write markers of your choice, a spritzer tool with water, a cello bag or window sheet (if using a window sheet cut it to the same size as your base), and a piece of water-colour paper or shimmery white (regular white card stock is too thin to absorb as of the moisture). You may also want to have a tissue handy to blot up any excess water.

Color each marker in a diagonal line across the cello bag.

Spritz the cello bag with water.

Press the water-colour paper onto the cello bag and let sit to for a few moments to absorb the color. When removing, have a tissue handy to soak up any loose water.

And that is it! Easy peasy and creates such a wonderful background!

Click here to visit the amazing Tricia Butts in the USA!

Hershey Nugget Treat Holders

I wanted to create some cute little Hershey Nugget treat holders to pop into my customer order bags this month. This is something I want to be more consistent with as I truly do appreciate their ongoing support! I did a quick Pinterest search and found these little guys! I also wanted to use up some so retired products as well, so you may notice sold old favourites on this project!

You really could modify the measurements on the nugget holder for any size treat you like. However, for the nugget holder here, cut your card stock to 3 3/4 x 2 1/2 and score at 1 1/2 x 2 1/4 on the long side. I then cut some DSP (this is the Flowering Foils DSP that was recently available through Sale-a-bration) to 1 1/4 x 2 1/4 and in this case I actually foam brayered over top so the color would match!

You can use one of the stitched rectangular framelits to cut DSP to wrap around the nuggets and adhere with Tear & Tape.

Then simply tie the nugget holder closed with some ribbon and add a tag and voila! Easy peasy treat holder!

The sentiment Happy Spring is from the Fable Friends stamp set found in the Idea Book & Catalogue.

These cute and easy treat holders were a good way to use some Sale-a-bration items and retired products!

So Glad We Are Friends!

Hey friends! I really do appreciate you checking out m blog! I really do hope it is inspiring you to be creative! And I you haven’t been over to my Lifestyle tab, you should check it out, especially my Favourite Recipes section as I have shared a lot of my family’s favourite recipes over there! I highly recommend the Oreo Popcorn, it would be a fun snack to make with your kids!

I just wanted to share this card with you today to let you know that I am truly loving, missing and appreciating all of my friends. I cased this card right from the Idea Book & Catalogue because I was wanting to do some therapeutic colouring. I features the Fable Friends stamp set that I coloured using Stampin’ Blends. I had to use the chubby tip because the images are quite tiny and detailed.

Dino Days!

I don’t know what it is about this cute little T-Rex but wouldn’t you be happy if he came in the mail? He is just too cute! I created a bunch of these cards for my stash and thought it was fun to share, especially because they feature two products that were recently available with Sale-a-bration, and therefore might be in your craft stash!

The card features the Dino Days stamp set and no I did not use my dies to cut them out. Why? Well because I stamped his spikes on his back…and to use the dies, you actually have to stamp them separately to cut them out. Ooopsie! Luckily for me, I have TIME on my hands so I didn’t mind fussy cutting this little guy out. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Welcome to the Team stamp set. Both of these stamp sets are in the Idea Book & Catalogue!

I ran the Whisper White base through the Stone 3D embossing folder and covered it with a strip of the Dinoroar DSP. The Old Olive label is cut from the Stitched So Sweetly Dies, and I used the edge of the largest scalloped rectangle to cut the Gorgeous Grape scallop bit tucked under the DSP. I also added some of the popular Bermuda Bay Metallic thread to loop around this whole little panel.

The little tiny heart is punched from the Twinkle Builder Punch in the Idea Book & Catalogue.

I also stamped the inside of the card too for a little extra fun! I love the bright colours of this card and its perfect for any age or gender!