Have a Safe and Happy Halloween

More Stamping Up Cards

Earlier this month Mom and I did a Stamping Up card class at Denise's house, along with my friends Marissa and Ria. It was sooooo much fun!!!!!! One can't help but have fun when the Divas are in the house :) We made three fabulous cards and had a great day!!!!

I love the cupcakes on this one. You can't tell from the picture, but they are pop dotted. I love the colour combination on this one too.

This one was fun to do. I am in love with the punch we used and now have it on my wish list. Bunching up the ribbon was ... well ... tedious ... but now I know how to do it so I hope to use that technique again.

I love all the folds on this card. It looks great folded up and great unfolded. Love it!!!!

Thanks ladies!!!! We're looking forward to doing it again in November :)

Please take a moment to check out Denise's website here. I know she'd be delighted to help you out with all of your Stamping Up needs :)

October Stamper's Club

I recently began discovering the wonderful world of Stamping Up, thanks to my friend Denise who is a demonstrator. My Mom and I have taken several classes with Denise so far and plan on taking them on a regular basis. I'm really enjoying being able to spend several hours at Denise's house creating some fabulous cards and socializing without any pressure. I still have to photograph some of the cards that we've made with Denise (from the monthly card class), but I do have the most recent ones we made photographed and ready to post.

Last Wednesday we went for our first Stamper's Club. We made three cards while we were there and had a wonderful time visiting with Denise. 

We made this cute little candy holder, complete with M&M's (Yummy!!!). Denise taught us how to use the Round Tab punch to create the bats. I fell in love with the Batty For You stamp set and had to add it to my collection.

As part of the Stamper's Club we learn a new technique each month. This month we had a lot of fun with the Marbles Technique to create this fabulous background for our Halloween card. Denise also taught us how to create the mats for the stamps with a punch. I love how this card looks -- and it uses the cute Batty For You stamp set too!!!

We used a beautiful snowflake stamp to stamp the background for this Merry Christmas card. The white snowflakes look so pretty with the Elegant Eggplant cardstock. We used the Patterned Pines stamp for the trees -- love how elegant they look stamped in white.

I'm already looking forward to our next class with Denise. Check out her website here.

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 7

Carolyn posted another wonderful challenge for the Economic Stimulus Challenge this week on the Scrapping Turtle forum. I had a lot of fun doing this one!!!!

Our requirements this week were:

1. Daisy Bucket patterned paper

2. 3 or more buttons

3. ribbon

4. letter stickers

5. stamped item

I used the A Wondrous Word line from Daisy Bucket. I love this line, but I hadn't yet gotten around to using it. Thanks to this challenge I found the inspiration I needed to put it to good use. I used five buttons on the border strip at the bottom. I made a ribbon bow for the tree. The letter stickers were used to do Sara and Sam's names under the photo. For the stamped item I used the Daisy Bucket Dainty Swirl stamp on either side of my title piece. The fabulous photo was taken by Kim Munro (love it!!!!).

Here is the card I created with my scraps:

Thanks for another fabulous challenge Carolyn!!!!

Halloween Layout Challenge

This is my week for posting a challenge on the Scrapping Turtle forum. I had to do a layout challenge and since it is almost Halloween I thought what better than a Halloween inspired layout challenge.

I found this fabulous Halloween image from B.J. WebArt to use as inspiration for my challenge. The layout doesn't have to be of Halloween, but it does have to include the colour orange and at least one photo turn. The photo turn is for my friend Wendy who won a fabulous American Crafts giveaway at the Scrapping Turtle, which including 416 photo turns LOL.

Here is the layout I created for my challenge:

I used Bazzill cardstock, American Crafts Thickers, Ranger Stickles, photo turns from the bulk wall at the store, an owl cut from a paper in the Dream Street Sam line, and Quickutz dies (Tree border, Tombstone and Cat, Haunted House, and two different Pumpkin dies).

I hope you will give my challenge a try and let me know where I can see your layouts.

House Mouse Christmas Cards

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of taking one of Bev's fabulous House Mouse card classes at the Scrapping Turtle. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work, but so worth it. I love the cards I made :) I learned a lot about colouring with my Copic markers, got to do some heat embossing, made six fabulous cards, and spent time with some wonderful people. I'm looking forward to taking another one of Bev's card classes in November --- after I recover from this one LOL. Thanks Bev!!!! I had a great time :)

Aren't they fabulous?

Spooky

Each month Two Scrapbook Friends puts together a Product Challenge Kit. Participants are required to take the products in the kit, create a layout and post it in the gallery. At the end of the month one layout is chosen to win a gift certificate. 

This month we were given some papers from the Eerie line by Basic Grey, ribbon, black cardstock, an embossed spider and embossed bats. Here is the layout I created with those products:

I cut out the spider and the bats, and sanded the spider. I added the spider webs in the corners using white ink and an Inkadinkado stamp. I added some highlighting dots to the title. The photo is of Sara Trick or Treating last year.

Can't wait to get photos this year :)

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 6

This week Carolyn brought us the Economic Stimulus challenge at the Scrapping Turtle. Kim is away on a fabulous vacation and Carolyn very kindly offered to step up. She gave us a great challenge, but it was certainly a challenge. I had a struggle with deciding what to do for this one.

This week we had to use:

1. Karen Foster patterned paper

2. charm or plastic/metal token

3. Quickutz other than font

4. two different colours of cardstock

5. flower embelishment

The only Karen Foster paper I was able to find was this bandana paper. I trimmed around the outside edge so that the cardstock would show. The charm is a rocking horse -- the only one I could find that related to this paper (most of my charms are baby related). For Quickutz I used the Rocking Horse and the Lucky Horseshoe (as well as the Holiday font). I actually used three different colours of cardstock. The flower embellishment is from Pink Paislee.

Thanks Carolyn!!!!

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 5

Kim brought us another fabulous challenge for week five of the Economic Stimulus Challenge on the Scrapping Turtle forum.

 

In order to get all five ballots we had to use:

1. polka dot patterned paper

2. Crate Paper patterned paper

3. zig zag edge

4. at least 3 eyelets

5. alcohol ink

Bonus ballots were given for creating a card using our scraps and for using something from the Design Team Tips and Techniques on the forum.

You cannot see this in the photo, but two of the Crate Paper papers that I used have tiny polka dots on them. I used papers from the Mia line from Crate Paper. The zig zag edge is on the flower stem. I used four eyelets on the photo mat (one is hidden) and threaded the twine through them. I used a bottle cap technique from the DT Tips and Techniques thread and flattened out the bottle cap. Then I inked it with alcohol inks --- it was originally orange and is now a combination of Cranberry, Lettuce and Ginger. The fabulous photo was taken by Kim Munro.

To create my cute little tag card I used a tutorial by Brenda Rowe on the Scrapping Turtle forum. The tutorial was about making a tag from double sided papers. I opted to make a card rather than a tag, but the technique came from Brenda.

Thanks for another great week of the Economic Stimulus Kim!!!!

Scrapping Turtle Challenges

Each week at the Scrapping Turtle the Design Team posts a challenge. We take turns creating the challenge and posting it to the group.

 Last week Tracey posted her card challenge. She challenged all of us to use embossing (dry or heat) on our cards. I opted to use my newest Quickutz embossing folder, a cute Christmas tree, and some Coredinations cardstock. After embossing I sanded the embossed image and decorated it with Ranger Stickles. It certainly sparkles :)

This week Marissa has challenged us to use a fabulous sketch by Allison Cope. Ally creates amazing sketches that are wonderfully inspiring. Check out her blog here. I used the sketch and some old papers I found in my stash to create my layout. I cut out a large pumpkin for the circle part of the sketch and coloured it with my Copic markers. The pumpkin border is a Bazzill Just The Edge Halloween border, coloured with Copic markers. I used a stamp by Inkadinkado for the flourishes. The font is Quickutz Holiday font (left over from the last QA class, which is why I mixed upper and lower case letters -- I also thought it looked fun).

Please join us on the Scrapping Turtle forum to see what the rest of the Design Team created for these challenges and to join us for these and future weekly challenges.

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 4

I am running a week behind in posting my creations so I need to play catch up over the next few days.

Kim gave us another fabulous challenge for week 4 of the Economic Stimulus Challenge at the Scrapping Turtle. In order to get all of the ballots for week 4 we had to use:

1. American Crafts patterned paper

2. SEI patterned paper

3. 5 brads

4. fabric

5. Quickutz

We also received a bonus ballot for creating a card with our scraps.

"Little Bird" meets all of the requirements. The cage paper is American Crafts and the light blue paper behind the photos is SEI (it didn't photograph well). There are five brads on the bird cage paper. For the fabric, I cut apart some fabric leaves for the bird to stand on. The bird is a Quickutz Bird die.

Here is the card I created:

Thanks for another fun challenge Kim!!!! This is great!!!

October Design Team Reveal

I had so much fun playing with my Scrapping Turtle October Design Team kit. I had the privilege of playing with Dream Street's Sam line --- Love it!!!!! It is great for Autumn layouts, has adorable little owls, has matching chipboard and rub ons, AND it has the same name as my sweet little man. How could I not love it? LOL

"What A Hoot" showcases photos of Sammy at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. We plopped him down amongst these beautiful Autumn coloured mum plants. He thought it was hilarious!!!! The 'What A Hoot' title piece was cut from one of the patterned papers. The phrase 'Whoo-Hoo' is one of the rub ons that match the line and the frame around it is one of the chipboard pieces (it originally said School Is Cool, so I cut the centre out to create a frame). There are three chipboard pieces below the photos as well. In the centre of the photos I used two tiles from Technique Tuesday, which I had painted with Ranger Distress Crackle Paint in Pine Needles. The Autumn trees were created using my Quickutz Trees die. I cut the medium and large owls from two of the patterned papers to add to the trees. The two small owls are rub ons. The loops and ribbon are from the bulk wall at the Scrapping Turtle.

"Give Thanks" displays a photo of Sara saying grace at supper time. She started saying grace with us when she was two and now says it independently. She keeps it short right now ("Bless this food, amen"), but she knows that we can't have a meal without it. The photo corners, journaling piece, and small flowers are chipboard pieces that match the paper line. The rub on in the corner also matches the paper line. I added Kaiser Craft rhinestones to the three chipboard flowers. The scalloped edge was created with my Quickutz Scallop border. The title is also a Quickutz die. The flowers in the bottom left corner were created using Quickutz Trees and Turkey dies (the feathers were used as petals), as well as Technique Tuesday tiles which I inked then painted with Ranger Distress Crackle Paint in Rock Candy.

"Monkey Boy" is one of my favourite layouts. When I saw the leaf ribbon in my kit I immediately thought of it as a vine that monkeys could be hanging from in the jungle. Then I found the fabulous Prima Dancing Monkey in the store. I knew I had to include it on a layout. To create the background I cut two different kinds of leaves out of two different colours of green cardstock using my Quickutz Tropical Leaves die. At first I was only going to have them form a small frame around the photo, but I kept adding more until I had the thick frame that I was then able to mount my monkeys on. I used the Quickutz Anime monkey to make the two monkeys on the vine, as well as the monkey heads that the two 'o's in my title are mounted on. The title is created with American Crafts Thickers. My journaling was done on a Jillibean Soup Journaling Sprout. Thanks to Cindy who showed me that the Tropical Leaves die could be used to form a background for the animal dies -- I was inspired to move her idea even further to make it a complete frame).

My fellow Design Team members did a fabulous job with their kits as well this month. We'd love for you to join us in the Scrapping Turtle forum so that you can see the wonderful creations that were revealed this month by the team. Also keep an eye on the blog where the reveals should be posted very soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Happy Day

Happy birthday to my little man!!! Can't believe you are two already!!!! Where did the time go? I think Mommy will be doing a lot of hugging today :(

October 11, 2007

Last week at the Royal Botanical Gardens.

The Original Scrapbox Giveaway

Would you love to win a Workbox from The Original Scrapbox? I know I would!!!!

Enter today (last day). There are ten blogs you can visit in order to enter and lots of ways to earn extra entries.

Capadia Designs

Priscillastyles

Vanillajoy

Auntie Thesis 

The Mommy Files

My Organized Chaos

Life As Lou

Cricut Christmas

Rachelle Writes

Make It and Love It

Good luck!!!

5 Products 5 People

I participated in a fun little 5 Products 5 People challenge on The Scrapping Nook forum. We received in the mail five products and had to use them all on a creation. I chose to use them to make this card for my Mom (yes I was a little late getting it to her).

I painted the large pendant (Spellbinders) with Worn Lipstick Distress Crackle Paint (which is the product highlight for October at the Scrapping Turtle). The smaller pendant was spritzed with Maya Mist and pop dotted to the large one. I then layered the two green flowers on top. I wasn't sure what to do with the Maya Road clear ribbon, then decided to try bunching it for the ribbon border. That was trickier than I expected it to be, but it turned out okay (it isn't actually crooked, it just photographed that way). I attached the butterfly, then stamped the sentiment with a Studio G stamp. Inside I printed a poem for my Mom --- love you Mom!!!!

 

October Product Highlight

Each month at the Scrapping Turtle we highlight a different product. The Design Team creates projects featuring that product and the store offers it to customers for 15% off. 

For the month of October we are highlighting the fabulous Ranger Distress Crackle Paints. Love these paints!!!! The effect makes such a huge difference on the finished project.

I decided to create a card for my Crackle Paint project. I used my Quickutz Picket Fence border die and painted it with the Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint. The trees are Maya Road chipboard. I painted the trunks with Vintage Photo Distress Crackle Paint and the tops with Pine Needles Distress Crackle Paint. I stamped the We R Memory Keepers house onto a separate piece of cardstock, then cut it out and pop dotted it to the card. I added a couple of dots of Stickles for the hinges on the gate. 

I think this is one of my most favourite cards.

A close up of the fence:

Close up of the trees:

Please visit the Scrapping Turtle blog to see the fabulous projects created by my fellow Design Team members. 

Economic Stimulus Challenge Week 3

Kim gave us another fabulous challenge this week at the Scrapping Turtle for the Economic Stimulus. Each week she has been giving us a list of things to include in a layout and for each one we include we get a ballot for a surprise. This week was another great list, along with two ways to get a bonus ballot -- make a card with the scraps AND use a turtle sketch for the layout.

This week Kim was looking for:

1. Basic Grey patterned paper

2. My Mind's Eye patterned paper

3. chipboard shape

4. bling

5. stamping

I used the Basic Grey Archaic line and the My Mind's Eye Abbey Road Stomp line to create my layout of Sam at the Waterloo Region Children's Museum. As you can see, he wasn't overly thrilled to meet this big fellow. I stamped the footprints around the outside of the paper using my Basic Grey Archaic stamps. The title "Roar" is Maya Road chipboard, which I inked. I used some Kaiser Craft rhinestones on the title and on the dinosaur that I hand cut from the paper. The arrow is also from Kaiser Craft. Thank you to Vicki Murray for the fabulous sketch posted on the Turtle forum which I used for inspiration for this layout.

Here is my bonus card that uses scraps from the papers I used on the layout, as well as another stamp from the Basic Grey Archaic stamp set. The "happy birthday to you" is a Studio G stamp.

Thanks Kim for a great challenge!!! I'm having a lot of fun with the Economic Stimulus!!!!

Mellissa's Challenge

Mellissa's Design Team layout challenge at the Scrapping Turtle this week involves using a lot of shapes on your layout --- circles, triangles, rectangles, etc.

I was inspired to scrap this photo of Sara playing dress up in her witch's costume. This isn't her Halloween costume for this year. We actually picked it up at a used store some time ago so that she could play dress up, but it needed some repairs. My Mom had it at her house for awhile and just brought it back this week. Sara immediately put it on and modeled for us. 

The background paper is from Paper Pizzazz. The bracket was cut from a Halloween paper I had in my stash (I can't remember the manufacturer -- Rusty Pickle? Jenni Bowlin? not sure) -- I also used it to mat the photo. I cut the diamonds and the triangles using Little Yellow Bicycle. I punched circles from a Halloween paper by The Paper Company. The title words were cut from a Little Yellow Bicycle paper. I added some Kaiser Craft rhinestones and some doodling.

Bella Blvd. Giveaway and Sneak Peeks

Bella Blvd. is showcasing their new lines on their blog right now. Here is a link to yesterday's post. The line revealed yesterday has the cutest owls with it. Stop in, leave a comment and tell them that Heather H. sent you :) Then spread the word to all of your friends. 

You can also look back at posts from earlier in the week to see what else they've shared and take a peek at the new Christmas line, which is today's post. For a chance to win the Christmas line all you have to do is leave a comment on Friday's post. 

I Made It and Today It Is Official!!!!!

I am delighted to announce that today is the first day of my term as a Scrapping Turtle Design Team member. I am thrilled and excited!!!!!!! I worked very hard to get my application completed and submitted before I left on vacation in September, then I worried and wondered and hoped. I think I cried with joy when I was asked to join the team. It was so hard not to shout it from the roof tops when I first found out, but I managed to keep it a secret until today when the official announcement was made. I am deeply honoured to be a member of the Turtle Design Team. The next six months are going to be a blast!!!!!

Today was Sneak Peek day, in which we post a layout created with our Design Team kits as a preview of the big reveal on the 15th. For our first kits we were given papers by Dream Street. Each DT member received a different line. The line I received is my favourite --- Sam :) How could I not love this line? It's named after my own sweet Sam (okay, so they didn't name it after HIM specifically, but you get the idea LOL). It is a great Autumn coloured line and I love all of the fabulous owls. The line also includes adorable rub ons and chipboard shapes. Love it!!!

To create my layout I used Bazzill cardstock, Colorbox Ink, Ranger Crackle Paint in Pine Needles, Sakura Gelly Roll pen, Kaiser Craft Rhinestones, and Quickutz dies (Scallop border, Sign, Birds, Grass, and some scraps from a Flourish I used on a previous layout).

Please stop by the Scrapping Turtle blog to see the fabulous Sneak Peeks posted by my fellow Design Team members -- Mellissa, Marissa, Anne Marie, Tracey and our guest DT member Vicki. They all did a fantastic job with their kits. I am thrilled to be working with these wonderful ladies!!!!

If you aren't a member of the Scrapping Turtle forum (Turtle Soup), please come and join us. It is a wonderful place to hang out, meet new friends, and be inspired. I hope you will become a Turtle too :)

Stamping Up Open House

Mom and I attended a Stamping Up open house at my friend Denise's on Wednesday. We had a wonderful time visiting with Denise, seeing some of the fabulous cards she has created, and making two adorable make and take cards (not to forget, doing some shopping LOL). Aren't these cards cute?

We are looking forward to taking some card classes with Denise and learning some new techniques. I am so happy to have someone I know selling Stamping Up so that I can take some classes. 

Thanks Denise!!!! I'm looking forward to our card class on the 9th :)

Check out Denise's blog here. She's a fabulous lady and I'm delighted to call her my friend :)

September Product Challenge

The September Product Challenge kit at Two Scrapbook Friends used one of my favourite Scenic Route lines. I think this is such a fun line to work with. I took inspiration from Melanie's sketch challenge at the Scrapping Turtle in creating my layout. Melanie posted a card sketch by Valerie Salmon and challenged us to create either a layout or a card based on the sketch. I opted for a layout of Sara practicing her piano (she started lessons on the 26th of September).