Color Fusers--July!

Hi friends! Welcome to July—as a teacher, this is an exciting month. I think I live for not setting my alarm clock! And I now have time for more crafting, which is everyone’s dream!

This month the Color Fusers are creating with Cloud Cover, Crisp Cantaloupe (a new In Color but a returning color) and Poppy Parade. I decided to use this combo to create a scrapbook layout.

Isn’t my dog so adorable! I love that he wanted to join me for this picture!

I started my page with Cloud Cover Two Tone card stock on the original color side. I used the Fragrant Layers stamp set (one of my current favourites) as the main stamp for my page.

The new Gingham In Color DSP is at the top of my DSP list at the moment. I wish we had it for every color family as you cannot go wrong with gingham! I used a section in the small gingham in Crisp Cantaloupe under my photo. My last day of school picture is mounted on Cloud Cover card stock with some Crumb Cake Bakers Twine wrapped around.

The sentiment is from the Fragrant Layers stamp set and is accentuated by a little scallop border detail in Poppy Parade. This was cut using the Bordered in Beauty Dies.

I also added a die cut flower and leaf from the Heirloom Boutique Die set.

The flowers on my page are coloured using the lazy watercoloring technique and the leaves are coloured with a Cloud Cover Stampin’ Blend. I used a Golden Glow dark Stampin’ Blend for the flower centers.

I use one of my larger blocks to press my ink pad to it to create a palette. Then I used a water painter to lightly color the image. The trick is to really dilute the ink for your first pass or wash of color. Then you can go back and add shading.

I am also really enjoying our new Shimmer Pens and I added some Crisp Canataloupe over top of this flowers for a little bit of sparkle!

I also used a tiny leaf from the Extraordinary Life die set and some pearls from the Pearlized Faceted Circles on my page. Some background stamping with the same floral image also creates interest in the foreground of the page.

I really enjoyed crafting with this color combo as Crisp Cantaloupe and Poppy Parade both have a bit of orange undertone to them so they do buddy up really well.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the team has designed this month! Next on the hop is the amazing Tami, who has such a fantastic style of stamping. I know you will be inspired!

If the hop gets broken, you can go in reverse from here to see what the talented Lou Kitzelman has designed for us this month!

Either way, please see what the Color Fusers team has designed! Feel free to leave me a comment or shop with me if you are in Canada! Every order helps me keep loving what I do!

12 Days of Christmas--Day 9!

Hi friends! Its day 9 already! The months leading up to Christmas always seem to go so fast don’t you think? And its definitely time to start thinking about holiday baking!

For my project today I wanted to share a fun little card that is 99% created from the Homemade Treats bundle. This is a bundle that I will designate as a ‘keeper set’ because I like to hang onto any sets that have to do with baking, food, treat giving etc. Its a genre we don’t see quite as often.

I started with a base of Real Red card stock and then added a panel of the Silent Snowfall specialty 12x12 paper—it has a cute little snowflake pattern embossed on it. I love this paper! Its such a great alternative to a panel of white where you do not plan to do any stamping.

Next I added a panel of polka dots from the Traditions of Christmas DSP and to bridge the two panels I cut a 1/2 x 3 3/4 piece of Garden Green card stock and added two strips of the new Garden Green & White Chevron Ribbon. Because this ribbon is so thin it was fun to add to strips of it for a bit of a different design element.

 

I love how you can see the little snowflakes printed on the Silent Snowfall paper—they are in perfect proportion to the other elements on this card as well.

The best part of this card was adding all of the little elements from the Homemade Treats bundle—the only thing that is added from the Gingerbread Man bundle are the Garden Green gumdrops.

I modified the sentiment to just say ‘Tis the Season’ and stamped it in Coastal Cabana. If you have been following along you can probably notice a color theme to my projects!

The rolling pin, little gingerbread men and mini candy canes are just so fun! And the icing piping bag full of icing is a cute touch to this eclectic mix of images.

I punched a couple banners from the Garden Green plain pattern from the Christmas Tags & More DSP stack and added this between the layers on my sentiment. A few red sequins from the Traditional Sparkling Sequins completed this card project.

I really love this project and already can think of a few friends that will enjoy getting it from me this holiday season.

Make sure to visit Melanie’s blog to see what awesome projects she has been creating! So far you should have 10 different projects to be inspired from!

And if you are wanting to place an order for any projects you have seen so far please consider me when making your order! All support helps me to keep loving what I do!

And if warm sun and crafting are on your bucket list, Melanie and I are hosting a crafting cruise together in July/August of 2026! We would love to have you join us!

12 Days of Christmas--Day 7!

Have you been enjoying our 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop so far? I hope you have been inspired by the projects that we have been sharing every day! Don’t forget to check out both of our blogs so that you don’t miss anything!

My next project is another tag of sorts! I cam across this adorable mug at a local grocery story and could not resist buying it as I knew I could use the Gingerbread Man Bundle to make a fun tag for some Swiss Miss Cocoa Flavored Popcorn.

TOP TIP: I have a couple good popcorn recipes on my blog!

I used a cello bag (found in the party section at the grocery store) to hold my popcorn by adding the empty bag to the mug then scooping in some popcorn and adding some Real Red Shiny Ribbon.

The Gingerbread Man dies are fun because they are designed to open like a tag! Isn’t that fun? So I knew that I needed to use it in the way it was designed and adding a tag to this matching mug was just perfect.

The dies also come with so many fun add ons like the candy cane, wrapped candies, accessories to dress up your gingerbread person and more.

Top Tip: Use a Basic Black Stampin’ Blend to color the handle on your sucker

My gingerbread girl is stamped on Pecan Pie card stock using White Craft ink and embossing powder. I then added a couple cute treats to their hand a bow for her hair.

On the inside I decided to combine elements from the Homemade Treats bundle and I was so happy that when the tag is closed, you don’t really see that there is something fun hiding on the inside!

I stamped the sentiment 2x and fussy cut out ‘Christmas’ to pop it up a bit. It is one of my favorite tricks. A cute little candy cane, heart (from the Bee Builder Punch) and a couple banners from the Joy of Christmas DSP and this fun little mug gift was complete.

Make sure to check out what Melanie shared yesterday and hit this button to see what she has in store for tomorrow. Between the 12 of us we are sharing projects every day!

Don’t forget to leave a fun comment or send me an invite into our Stampin’ Fun in the Sun Cruise Facebook group to get more details on our next adventure!

12 Days of Christmas--Day 11!

On the 11th day of Christmas my friend shared with me a really fun hot chocolate treat! I hope you were singing that with the tune in mind! Welcome to another 12 Days of Christmas post!

Today I wanted to share a fun treat idea inspired by the piping bag in the Homemade Treats bundle! I ordered myself some icing piping bags off Amazon and filled them up with hot chocolate, mini chocolate chips and mini marshmallows for a fun treat giving idea.

I love to make things for my customers and co-workers and thought these would make a really fun treat to leave in someone stamping spot or on their desk. It has already snowed here in Edmonton so a little cup of warm on a chilly day is a nice surprise.

I used the Real Red Shiny ribbon to tie and attach the tags for these hot chocolate bags. The first tag is on Pool Party card stock and I ran the bottom of the tag (custom cut to 2 x 4 inches) through the Plaid embossing folder. I decided to use the ‘From the Kitchen of’ stamp on both of my projects. This one is stamped and layered on Garden Green with some of the new Garden Green & White chevron ribbon layered in between the circles.

I stamped out a Real Red oven mitt (so cute) and added a cute little gingerbread man and a fun little coastal cabana icing piping bag.

On my second tag, I used Real Red and stamped the little sprinkles all over it. I used the Gingerbread Man dies to create a pink candy cane to add to the tag and then once again stamped little gingerbread men in Pecan Pie and a piping bag in Garden Green.

These tags were so fun to make and they dress this little hot chocolate treat up so well.

Make sure to check in with Melanie to see what she has to post tomorrow and then come back here to see what I am sharing for our final project!

If my projects have inspired you, please consider shopping my online store so I can continue to love what I do!

Fancy a cruise and some crafting? Ask to join our Fun in the Sun Crafting Cruise Facebook group to get the details on setting sail with us in July/August 2026.


Memories in Bloom!

Hey friends—its been a while. Its been the worst two years of my life. I was not really prepared for the direction my life was taking but now that I am here I am grateful for the things that God was lining up for me before I knew what was happening. It was not an accident, it was a plan designed to save me.

I am thankful for my crafting community, especially those who were in the nitty gritty with me as I cried through teaching classes or needed to vent, who kindly offered me reassurance that I would not be stuck in that space for long. Because that is the thing right—we are never actually in that space for long. No matter what we are always moving forward. For a long time I was coasting along on the tide of life into an ocean where I did not want to be. But now I have the chance to bring myself and my kids into a space where we are meant to be.

I want to get back to share my creativity with others and focusing on creating life long memories with my kids and friends, and capturing these in a paper legacy! I look foward to sharing with you in this space. Including recipes and just general life stuff. One day my kids can look back on this too :)

I hadn’t been to disney since before Covid…its the same nostalgic feeling!

In May I spent a week in Disney with Reese. It was a amazing. Every mom should be so lucky to spend time on a vacation with their son, and in a place as fun as Disneyworld. I could not have asked for a better travel companion! Our first stop in the Magic Kingdom was for a Starbucks and a picture in front of the castle.

I created this page as part of a series for my Scrapbook the Day event that I have been hosting every few months in my Home Studio. Its been fun to take our kits and turn them into other designs, treat people to a homemade lunch and dessert and have happy energy in my crafting studio.

I used the Memories in Bloom kit as the backdrop for this page. Personally I feel like you can use flowers for almost anything. I really loved the colors of the kit and the fact that there was a matching bundle to incorporate. The Pretty Florals bundle was a great add on to bring dimension into my design as I am not prone to just using the pop out images from our kits. My personal style is for things to be more dynamic.

However, I did pull in a lot of other supplies as well to complete my page. I am loving the new Party Banners Dies and the Celebrate Together stamp set is an #addtocart moment if you have not already. I have used the ‘A Day to Remember’ so many times already! It’s a perfect scrapbooking or memory keeping stamp set. Storybook Life is another fantastic memory keeping stamp set and that is where ‘Big Smiles’ is found.

My sentiments are stamped in Secret Sea ink which is such a great alternative to Memento ink.

TOP TIPS:

Combining pop out pieces with stamping and die cuts is a great way to use a kit and bring a design to life. I like my pages to have texture and interest.

Balancing out a busy pattern by layering a solid card stock over top is a great tip when you do not know how to use those busy pattern.

I used one of the large flowers from the Thankful Garden stamp set to fill in some space on the Petunia Paper base (stamping tone on tone). A combination of different embellishments is also fun (use up those random sequins or gems that you have left, it’s a crime they get abandoned!)

I hope this page sparks some new ideas in your own memory keeping!

If you are just starting your memory keeping journey—check out my gallery for a bunch of inspiration and follow me on instagram @stampwithbrenda if you are not already!

And wish me luck on my new journey—as I have been saying Brenda2.0 has just launched! If you are inspired to create this page please consider shopping with me in Canada—this helps me to keep loving what I do!