Dainty Delight Thank You Card

Have you seen all the dies that come in the Dainty Delight Bundle? It’s a great value! I personally don’t own this bundle (yet!) so was overjoyed that Wendy designed her Shoebox Card with it so we could all play along. We die cut 2 of 3 flowers and two of the stems to pull this together. I think I missed including one of my flowers but it works! The centres are one die with 2 circles and two half circles. This is a great stamp set/bundle which is still available at the 10% off but only until May 1. Then the regular price applies so get it this weekend if you want 10% off.

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Lattice Card Technique

Got flower stamps? Yes, I know you do...Try out this Lattice Technique to show them off. It's a bunch of cut strips of basic white to create the look of a lattice trellis with a backdrop for your die cut/punched flowers. These Wisteria Wonder stamps are retired but you may have them in your stash or use what you do have. Thanks to Dawn for sharing with us as Creative Ambassador, this stunning card and new technique!

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Craft Room Hack Episode 6 - Lint Free Clean Up

Are you enjoying these hacks? I have more in my arsenal to share with you so comment below to keep these ideas coming. Today's hack involves keeping that Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine more securely in place and cleaning up the paper bits, fibres, dust, embossing powders, glitter, ribbon fluffs, dog hair and goodness knows what else off your non-paper work space. I show using the lint roller on the silicone mat but it works great on any non-paper surface, too.

Click on the image below to launch the YouTube video:

Set Sail On the Ocean

 A few weeks back Jane shared this card with me and I was blown away by the texture on the sails! I am so glad she decided to use it as her design for the Shoebox swap. Here’s how we got all that gorgeous texture….First die cut the sails (it’s one piece) in Smoky Slate. Next dry emboss it with the Painted Texture 3D folder. Lastly use a sponge dauber or better yet blending brush to add Tuxedo Black Memento ink. It gets into the creases so nicely and makes the sail look like it’s blowing in the wind. This is the On the Ocean bundle carrying over from the January-April Mini catalogue. Great card, Jane!

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Wisteria Wishes Birthday Card

This month I’ve been featuring some amazing cards featuring the Wisteria Wishes Bundle (SOLD OUT) by Dawn, our April Creative Ambassador on my team. For our recent Shoebox Swap, we made today’s card. Placement of the leaves and flowers was super simple. No placing this stamp first then this one and so on. Simple is good for me – how about you? I’m going to miss Wisteria Wishes as it makes me look good with minimal effort!

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What's Up Wednesday? The Reverse Stamping Technique

 Ever have one of those stamps that is positioned in one direction - like a dog with its nose to the right or a chair with the back to the left but you want to stamp it in the other direction so that the dog noses touch or the two chairs are facing each other? Well have I got a tip for you! The Reverse Stamping Technique. 

Here's the card I demonstrated it one Wed April 26 during my facebook live - look familiar? It was my Shoebox Swap card featured earlier this week.

Check out the video showing you how to do this cool technique:

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Sneak Peek: Crafting With You Stamp Set & Die Bundle

Are you a demonstrator or avid crafter? Then you’re going to fall in love with the new Crafting With You stamp set in our upcoming Annual Catalogue starting May 2. There are so many ideal images for the crafter in you: the easel, pens, baskets, knitting needles & wool, a sewing machine and a Stampin’ Cut & Emboss machine! I put some of these on the inside of my card (not shown here) as Stacey had them all cut and prepared for us to pick and choose at the Shoebox Swap. That cardbase is Lemon Lolly which is my new favourite colour. The ribbon was supposed to go around the blue paper but I missed that and glued mine down so made a few bows and added them here and there. This is a great set for memory keeping, cards and home décor projects. More on that to come!

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Sneak Peek: Cheerful Daisies

Today’s card is a sneak peek of one of our new stamp sets, Cheerful Daisies. It was designed by Brett for the Shoebox Swap and I just KNEW she’d pick this set as Daisies are Brett’s flowers. We stamped one of the daisies in coordinating Bubble Bath ink on the larger layer then the flower and greeting in Moody Mauve. I rarely use the largest Rhinestones in my crafting (don’t know why) but they’re perfect as a trio in the centre of the focal point. Love this!

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Craft Room Hack Episode 5 - Fix the Trim

Today's tip works for ANY paper trimmer with a sliding blade. Why? Because they all get dull. But we're creatures of habit and don't change them up right away, right? Frugal crafting is real. So if you find your cutting blade leaves little fibres on your card stock and you want to clean them up, here's how I take care of that job. I also show you how to get your free scoring blade refill (in Canada) and how to change out your scoring and/or cutting blade with the Stampin' Up! Paper trimmer.

Click on the image below to launch the YouTube video:

Optical Illusion Card: Which is the the 4" x 5 1/4" layer?

I found this card layout by Dawn Olechefske on Pinterest. Looking at it...I was asking myself is the heart paper the 4" x 5 1/4" layer and the sort of diamond in the middle a layer OR are the 4 corners triangles on white? Scratching my head...I head to figure this out.

After making a second with triangles, I learned that the math required to cut the angles for an inner piece of white was too much and thus faster and less paper to use the 4" x 2" cut into 4 triangles. 

Here's the second card made during my April 24 facebook live using what I learned!

Check out the video replay and let me know in the comments if you figured out the angles!

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Flowers as Trees? No way!

Take a look at your stamp in new ways! Today's card was designed by Dawn on my tea as our April 2023 Creative Ambassador and look what she has done with the Wisteria flowers - Christmas trees!

The Wisteria Wonder stamp set and dies are now retired and no longer available, but I encourage you to look at other flowers in your stash as they may very well work in new and amazing ways to expand your crafting opportunities!

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Michelle's Shoebox Card: Circle Sayings

Yesterday's Shoebox Swap was a blast! It was extra special having my daughter, Michelle, also a team member, join us for the day. And BIG THANKS to Wendy our amazing host. An all round fun and creative day.

This is Michelle's swap card. So totally versatile - swap out the colours, change the sentiment, use a different shape as the focal point and any embossing or patterned paper layers. This is another NEW bundle from the upcoming Annual Catalogue: Circle Sayings with a fabulous stamp set of images and greetings that fit on the 2 3/8" circle punch. While I love my dies - especially stitched ones - you can't beat a punch for quick and easy prep.

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Team Shoebox Swap Card: Lazy Days

I love getting together with my team members and today is going to be EPIC! We're doing a Shoebox Swap. What's that? It's where each attendee designs one card and packs up a kit of the consummable supplies for each participant. You also pack the blocks, stamp set, inks and tools into a shoebox - hence the name! There are 8 attending today so we will go home with 8 unique cards in total. As a leader, this is so nice - they design and I get to be the "customer". It helps me work with colours, products, and layouts outside my usual pattern and I remember what it's like to make a card for the first time. I'll be posting all the cards in the coming week and here's mine featuring one of the new Bundles in the upcoming 2023-2024 Annual Catalogue called Lazy Days. I'll do a video on how to do a mirror image of the rocking chair since there's one chair in the stamp set. It's magic!

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Craft Room Hack Episode 4 - Clean up Glitter and Embossing Powder with ease

Have you been watching my video series on Craft Room Hacks? Are they helpful or did you already know about them? Today's hack is for those of us who like a clean and tidy workspace. If you love glitter - the more the better - then this may not be the tip for you...But if you're like me and find the grit of embossing powder and glittler landing everywhere to be annoying, you might just like this one.

Click on image to launch the YouTube video:

Wisteria Wishes

I've got some pretty talented stampers on my team and love to showcase their work! Dawn created this card as one of four being our April 2023 Creative Ambassador. Do you recognize the stamp set? It's Wisteria Wishes in a beautiful combination of Pale Papaya, Orchid Oasis and Garden Green. Just stunning!

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Around the Bend Dies in a new way!

Today's card was one we did for my March Avid Stampers class. It features those amazing Around the Bend dies that I really didn't think I needed until now that I've been playing with them! Has that ever happened to you? I would hazard to say, YES! Shaded Spruce is a colour I wouldn't normally use outside of Christmas but boy it is a perfect match with the bright colours of this Regency Park patterned paper, right? For the front flap of the card, we die cut the floral spray then added a piece of Basic White (same die cut) to the inside flap for stability. Really like how this card - a bit of a challenge - turned out!

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Pop Up Diorama Card

Oh wow...we learned a new fun fold tonight: Pop Up Diorama card. And if fits in a regular envelope. What a bonus! Did you miss it? Not to worry...got ya covered. Here's the first one I made:

FRONT VIEW

INSIDE VIEW

And here's the one I made during the Facebook Live April 19, 2023 - both a front and side view:

MEASUREMENTS

Cardbase: 10 3/4" x 5 1/2" 

Score along the long side at 3 5/8", 6 7/8", 7 1/4"  and 10 1/2"

Patterned Papers: 3 3/8" x 5 1/4" and 3" x 5 1/4"

Basic White for inside the peep hole: 3" x 5 1/4"

Scrap patterned paper or cardstock for decorating with punched/die cut shapes

Watch the video replay for complete assembly instructions:

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Wall Decor Project: Spring

Here's my project from the Elmira Community Living class this week! Super pumped to make this with the 10 folks in my class. Such bright colours for Spring! The products featured on this project are: Around the Bend dies which were the bundle product at my March Avid Stampers Class, Alphabet A La Mode die cut letters, the retiring Stitched Greenery Die and Petal Park punch for the flowers. The frames were just $3.75 from Dollarama, measures 8" x 10" and turned out to be a perfect shadowbox to showcase their work. They loved it!

The project was CASED from Cindy Brumbaugh, a US Demonstrator.

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Craft Room Hack Episode 3 - Magnetic Tray

Craft Room Hack #3 is for everyone! Whether you leave your dies all over the craft table and have to go looking for them later OR are diligent and put them away but need to keep them out for multiples. Don't inadvertently lose one or - gasp - have it fall into the garbage bin and get thrown out. Check out your local hardware store for this helpful tool: magnetic tray. I'll be when the crafting stores figure this out, it will be twice the price there.

Click on the image below to launch the YouTube video:

Triple Step Stamping Technique

There are two stamps involved in bringing this spray of flowers to you: one done in Granny Apple Green for the leaves and the second for the flowers. But I wanted the centres of the flowers to be yet another colour. How'd she do that?

First: Stamp the flowers using Highland Heather. That will leave space for the leaves and flower centres. Next use two Stampin' Write markers directly onto the leaf stamp - Gorgeous Grape for the flower centres and Granny Apple Green for the leaves. They line up super well!

My second photo shows a few iterations of this technique before I got it right! Stamping isn't always perfect but that's part of the creative process.

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The "Use up your Scraps" card with 1" paper strips

We've all got them....left over strips of pretty patterned paper we simply can't bring ourselves to part with. Let's put them to good use!

When digging through my stash of retiring patterned paper, I found the Tea Boutique paper scraps were a perfect size! Lots of small patterns - some busier than others - boasting a variety of bright colours. Ideal for this card layout. Here's the first card I made:

Then during my Creative Escape over Facebook Live on Monday, April 17, 2023 I made this version with the brand new Bright & Beautiful Designer Series Paper stack coming out May 2, 2023:

Can you see yourself using this over and over? If you're like me you always have scraps to use up and while these are 1" x 4", just use whatever width you have. With 4" long, there's a bunch that gets cut off so you could trim to shorter if you like.

Measurements:

Cardbase: 11" x 4 1/4"

Cardstock layer: 4" x 5 1/4"

Basic White layer (on which you will place your strips): 3 3/4" x 5"

Patterned paper: 1" x 4" (cut 6 to 8 strips)

Check out the video replay for tips and tricks to putting your card together:

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Apples or Cherries?

These are apples from the Apple Harvest stamp set, but I'm wondering if they could double as cherries? When we first moved into the house I live in today there was a huge cherry tree in the middle of the backyard. After one season of the birds pecking at them and the juice getting absolutely everywhere, we decided to take the tree down. All that aside, this is a great card for colouring which was what I needed to do last weekend to relax and chill out.

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In the Moment

From the shelf of not-used-in-a-while stamp sets...I bring you In the Moment. Beautiful artwork that's perfect for colouring if that's your jam. I like using watercolor pencils or Stampin' Blends best. And the Fern 3D embossing folder had dust on it (really) so it hadn't been used in a wee while. I always know which inks I haven't created with because they're at the bottom of the shelf. Hope you like this card!

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Card inspiration from daily walks

I've been inspired to create a card with some nuts on it as all along our walks lately, I see peanut shells, walnut shells and more. Those squirrels have been busy digging up their stashes! So while today's card has an autumn feel to it, rest assured it's come to me as a result of current findings on the pathways around our home and even the backyard. It's also part of my initiative to use products that haven't seen ink for a while as with this one, Ringed with Nature. I stamped the leaves and flowers along a strip of Basic White cardstock in Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight inks. Thinking of all those busy squirrels!

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Craft Room Hack Episode 2 - Post It Notes

Ready for another Craft Room Hack? Today's video tutorial will save you time and money which equals more TIME for stamping and more MONEY for supplies LOL.

This was a game changer hack when I found it. Yeah there is fancy tape on a roll for this, but why buy that when you probably already have some sticky notes kicking around the house somewhere. I hope this helps you save time and cardstock by die cutting straight the first time.

Click on the image below to watch the YouTube video:

Happy Hedgehogs Scene Card

Here's a stamp set that's perfect for creating a "scene" to tell a story on your card. What I also love about this is these are great for wall decor projects, too. And by that I mean using these various card elements in 2" or 3" squares assembled onto a frame to adorn your space. I used most of the stamp from Happy Hedgehogs to design this card. The bird, butterfly, toadstools and smaller hedgehog on the right were hand cut out quite easily. The larger hedgehog on the left is a punch (yeah! no fussing cutting!). Very pleased with how it turned out.

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Wild & Sweet In the Moment

Just couldn't wait to use a new In Color coming May 2nd! Do you spot it? It's the Wild Wheat and I've used the Stampin' Blend to colour the branch on this image. I' used a number of dies on this card - some that will be obvious and one that isn't! Fo rthe stitched rectangle around the panda bear, I used the Scalloped Contours dies and cut off the scallops. Now that doubles your use for those dies! I can totally relate to this panda bear from the Wild & Sweet stamp set and needing to relax...something I enjoyed this past long weekend.

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What's Up Wednesday? Hinge Closure Fun Fold Card!

Fun Fold cards just take your card making to a new level. It can be super simple like one half of the front folded over for a "Z" fold or as complicated as a Stair Step Fold. Here's one that won't have you pulling your hair out trying to figure out.

First featured on my Facebook Live April 12, 2023, this is a show stopper with no fancy cuts or scoring. 

Here's the version I made during the Facebook Live:

MEASUREMENTS

Cardbase: 7 1/2" x 5 1/2"

Patterned Paper: 3" x 5 1/4"

Basic White: 4" x 5 1/4" and 2 1/2" x 3"
Cardstock to match your cardbase: 3" x 3 3/4"

Check out the video replay here for all the scoring and assembly instructions:

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Midnight in the Grassy Grove

The Grove dies truly make this card layout! Cut in black as a silhouette, I've added over the darkest Silver Foil paper available in our Online Exclusives section of the webstore starting May 2, 2023 while supplies last. The paper has a slight purple tinge to it so I've paired it up with Fresh Freesia for the greteing, cardbase and event colouring the Iridescent Pearls with the Fresh Freesia Dark Stampin' Blend. 

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Craft Room Hacks Episode 1 - Cleaning Blocks

For Inspiration Tuesdays and Fridays this month, I'm featuring a series on Craft Room Hacks...little everyday items to keep in your craft room to help make clean up quick and easy as well as care for the products you've lovingly invested in.

First up today is how to keep your stamping blocks clean as a whistle so they work perfectly for every stamping occasion. Now there's no magic trick to get you to DO this hack...but if you have the supplies at hand you're more likely to do it, am I right? Click the image to watch the YouTube video:

The Brewed for You "warm up" card!

Whether beer, wine or non-alcoholic is your preference, the Brewed for You bundle makes great all round cards! I love this jug image...it's a great size for stamping on the Old Olive cardstock for making my own background image. Then it's just a few stamped images using the retiring Mango Melody and Merry Merlot inks in the classes to "fill" your cup. I'm featuring the Brewed For You bundle as my April Avid Stampers Class and this was one of the "warm up" cards I made...as I am designing for a class I usually have a style of card in mind and make a few samples that get those creative juices flowing for the main event. Hope you like this one as much as I do!

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The Any Flower Card

Got a floral stamp in your stash...if you're  a crafter I KNOW you do! Grab your favourite one and the supplies below and see for yourself how easy it is. This will be a layout you'll refer to again and again when you're looking for inspiration!

Here are the four cards highlighting a few of my favourite flower stamps and patterned papers:

First Step: Gather these pieces:

Watch the video replay from my April 10, 2023 Facebook Live to see how to put your cards together:

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Happy Monday!

I'm "wildly grateful" to have Easter Monday off from work! Not everyone does these days...and it's a been a great long 4 day weekend. Today's card was one we made at my March Avid Stampers' class highlighting the Around the Bend dies. That scalloped edge is a separate piece from the white die cut strip on the left and they line up perfectly. More of the gorgeous Regency Park patterned paper in the background. The stamp is from Lovely You which is retiring May 1 (darn - I use it a lot!) and the flowers and leaves are in the Around the Bends dies set. They cut out really easily and the larger flower and leaves have texture, too! This was a great set of dies and I highly recommend you add them to your stash.

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