First Stamp A Stack of 2010

With Stampin' Up's Sale-A-Bration event going on right now, I figured that I'd take advantage of it by hosting a workshop.  A few hours of stamping with friends and FREE products to boot, I'd say that's a pretty sweet deal.

The theme for this workshop will be Easter and Birthdays.  For those that are attending who don't give out Easter cards, the images and sentiments can be replaced with Thank You ones.

Here's a look at the Easter/Thank You cards:

This one is a cutie!  I just love the diagonal dsp and the bunny rabbit.  The big fat bow just finishes it off nicely.















This was my first attempt at panelling.  I've seen it done and really like the effect that it gives without too much effort.















This card is my ABSOLUTE favourite out of the bunch!  The new corner and edge punch just gives the card so much more life!

Here are the birthday cards:

With so many stamps and cards leaning towards the feminine side, I thought I'd try to offer some "gender neutral" cards.  I just love the versatility of this set.














This card idea was case'd from my dear friend Paola, who was kind enough to let me use it.  Thanks Paola!! I changed the layout around a little from the original but the concept is the same. 













So with two pretty masculine cards, I just had to throw a really girly one into the mix.  Can I just say, "Oh My Gawd!!" I am in LOVE with this new embosslit!!  It's so stinking cute!


















Thanks for looking!

A Good Friend's Swaps

I joined a couple of swaps on Splitcoaststampers hosted by my dear friend Paola, aka Sama, aka Sweet P, aka the temptress.  Although I've never had the priveledge of meeting her in person, as she lives in our wonderful Olympic host city, I feel as though I have met her.  If you are lucky enough to know who I'm talking about, you'll know what I mean.  If you don't know her, hop on over to her current swaps and I know she'll welcome you with open arms!   Her Embossing Folder Challenge swap is due in a little less than a month so you still have time to get it completed.  There's also her Asian Flair swap which isn't due until April 25 so there won't be any problems there.

Here's a sneak peek at my submissions for these swaps:

These are for the Embossing Folder Challenge.  At first I thought it would be a piece of cake, since how hard can it be to use two embossing folders in one card, right? But it did prove to be a challenge as the swap name suggests.  The first card (left/pink) is as it looks.  The lighter pink layer was embossed with my Cuttlebug Bloom Dots folder while the darker pink layer was embossed with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.  The ribbon in the middle hides where both pieces meet and ties it all together.    The second card (right/turquoise) was a little trickier.  I first ran the white cardstock through in my Cuttlebug Victoria folder, then I brayered the debossed side with SU Certainly Celery, ran the cs through again with my Cuttlebug Thanks folder and brayered the embossed side with SU Tempting Turquoise.  This was my first attempt at this technique but I think it turned out quite well. 

This card was made for Paola's Asian Flair swap.  I embossed the main image and the "dream" image in gold and stamped the two black panels with the "dream" image in versamark.  The card is tied together with gold ribbon and is looped through a chinese coin. 

Thanks for looking

Crafty Friends

A few months ago, I had the incredible honour of meeting some amazing women that I now have the pleasure of calling my friends.  It's pretty amazing how this "hobby" (it's a lot more than that as those of you who do it know) brought us together.  And over the months we've gotten to know each other more and have grown closer.  It started out as card swaps on Splitcoaststampers, and has now evolved into beautiful and wonderful friendships.  You ladies know who you are!  xoxo I love you guys!  So on to the crafty side of things, we try to meet at least once a month for coffee or dinner or anything where we like to give each other a little creative inspiration.  For our second get together I made these purses to give to the ladies.

There were 6 of us meeting at that time.  Karen, Christyne, Teresa, Ina, Melissa, and I.  I wanted to give one to Paola as well so luckily Karen was heading out to BC a few weeks after our get together and was kind enough to deliver it for me.

Here are close ups of them individually.

 

This is what it looks like from the side and opened.

Here's the front view of the inside.

These accordian purses are sized to fit a few A2 cards into each slot.

Thanks for looking!

My Haven

I can't believe that we're already a month into 2010!  I remember as a kid I would think that time didn't move fast enough and I just couldn't wait to grow up.  But now as an adult, I wish that time would slow down, I haven't done everything that I want to yet!  That includes spending more time in my beautiful new craft room that my wonderful DH built for me from top to bottom, side to side.  Here are some pics of my haven!

This is the view when you first enter the room.  The shelving unit is a 5 X 5 cube and is home to all my Nesties, Cuttlebug accessories, embossing powders, scrapbooks, and other knick knacks.

These bookcases are enclosed with beautiful semi-transparent glass doors with a very cute floral print.  They house all my stamp sets, my Big Shot, Cuttlebug, and various other tools.

To the left of the bookcases is my work area.  For those that are wondering, the black stand that holds my punches is actually an old cd stand that we had laying around collecting dust.  The punches fit so well in there.  The ribbon holders that are on top of my cabinets are going to be mounted on the wall above my punches.

This is the view from the back of the room.  Another shot of my work area and the door.

To the left of my work area is where I keep all my cardstock and patterned paper.  I love that shelf.  It's the same make as the 5 X 5 cube but it's two single units stacked together.

Here's a close up of it.  The unit didn't come with the shelves so my DH measured the space and I asked my dad to cut the shelves out of glass for me.  DH installed them for me but since there weren't any pre-existing holes in the units, it was quite a challenge to get them leveled but it all worked out.  Each cube is a different SU colour family and there are 2 colours per shelf.  Now I can easily find the colour that I'm looking for and/or can see if I'm running low.

These tables are to the left of my cardstock shelves and are used when I have friends over to craft.  The canvases sitting on the tables are going to be mounted on the wall directly above the tables but I'm waiting to get the third Decor Element so I can properly space them out.

Here's a close up look at my "Inspire" board.

Here's a close up look at my "Create" board. 

Thanks for walking through my space with me!

Valentine Treat Bags

Seeing as how today is the first day of February and it's "Love Month" I thought that it was fitting to post my Valentine creations.  This will be my first post that will include a project made by me! I made these for my older boys' to give away to their classmates for Valentine's Day. 35 classmates X 2 kids = 70 treat bags! YIKES!!! But it makes them happy so it's all worth it!

Here are some different views of the treat bags:

FRONT VIEW

SIDE VIEW

INSIDE VIEW

CLOSE UP VIEW