A Circus Birthday

BOOO!!!  Happy Hallowe'en to all my stampin' friends :)  I've shown many Hallowe'en projects so I'm going birthday today.

My friend's little guy is turning 3 on Sunday which means a card is needed :) I love using challenges for my cards, they generally make me think out of my box! I used the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge for this card.

I love the Big Top Birthday DSP for kid's birthdays - it's so fun and festive! The colors are perfect for both boys AND girls, too. I added the monkeys from Fox and Friends because I thought it was quite fitting for this little guy. Even though his older brother is more of a monkey than him, he broke his arm at the start of last summer by being a little monkey. Silly boy. Hope he enjoys this card!

Tips & Tricks:

*Don't have a Circle Scissor Plus to cut bigger circles? No problem! Neither do I! So how'd I cut out my DSP circle? I learned this little trick from my upline, Marlayne. Use a plate, glass (or in my case, a spool of 1/4" grosgrain ribbon) and trace it on your DSP (the side you won't be using). Then cut it out carefully with your Paper Snips. Voila! A circle of any size :)
*I love how the Tempting Turquoise Stampin' Emboss Powder makes my monkeys POP!
*To add a bit of texture to my stars DSP I embossed it with my Stripes Embossing Folder. I love the look of embossed DSP!
*My greeting is in French because my friend's children speak primarily French. I have Teeny Tiny Wishes in both English and French because I have a large Francophone customer base.

'Tis all for today... have a safe Hallowe'en and 'til next time... keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Waffle Ribbon - A Great Element of Style

I love the new Waffle Ribbons in the Holiday Mini. They are not as thick as they look in the picture, satiny and simply gorgeous. Their beauty and uniqueness easily makes them the focal point on any card. This week's Pals Paper Arts Challenge asked us to use ribbon as the element of style in our card this week.

As you know from my last post, I just got my beloved Christmas Lodge stamp set (why oh why did I wait 3 months to order this?!?!?) and wanted to use it with today's project as well. I then decided to kill two birds with one stone because I wanted to use this stamp set for my third Crazy 4 Christmas class along with the Early Espresso Waffle Ribbon. I just love this gorgeous Christmas tree and love the font of the greetings in this stamp set. But what steals the show? The gorgeous ribbon, of course!

Tips & Tricks:

*Although the gorgeous ribbon is the focal point on this card, I did add a bit of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter around the base of the tree and on the tree.
*A beautiful image doesn't need much embellishment. This card is quite simple, yet so beautiful and classic.
*Sure, the classic Christmas colors are red and green, but isn't this tree great in Marina Mist?

Hope you've enjoyed my marina Christmas tree - 'til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Christmas Lodge

I have loved the Christmas Lodge stamp set in the Holiday Mini since I first laid eyes on it. But I didn't get it. I already have Snow Swirled and didn't want to double up on Christmas Trees. But then I saw samples. And one of my customers ordered it. Then I got my Holiday Mini swaps with more samples. The final straw was actually using it at a SU! Demonstrator meeting. After that, I caved and ordered it :p I can justify it, of course. I will use it in my third Crazy 4 Christmas Class and will make my family's Christmas cards with it. See, justified :)

This lovely stamp set came yesterday so I had to make my card for Freshly Made Sketches with it of course. I took the idea of the scallop square and the lodge from Marlayne Hardy and finally got to ruffle my ribbon. The Seam Binding Ribbon is perfect for this because it's very fine and frays easily. I've always wanted to show this technique off but never did. As you can see, I changed my card up a bit from the sketch, but the idea is still there :)

Tips & Tricks:

*I love how the Mica Flakes in the Holiday Mini give the look of snow. An easy way to adhere them is using Tombo Multipurpose Liquid Glue.
*To ruffle your ribbon, choose one that frays easily. Pull a thread that follows the length of the ribbon out and keep pulling until you've got enough ruffle. Very easy technique but makes the ribbon look unique :)
*Christmas Lodge comes with two greetings: 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Holidays'. Both greetings are not just words ~ they're art as well.  I just love everything about this stamp set.
*The white cards stock on the scallop square was just too plain so I added some sponging in Early Espresso, giving the feeling of dusk and falling snow.

That's it for today ~ I have a class starting shortly and kids needing atttention :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Calorie-Free Advent Calendar

Today I have post to share a project that I made for two upcoming classes ~ the calorie-free advent calendar, similar to the one on Page 39 of the SU! Holiday Mini. I made a few changes to my calendar. I used a Chocolate Chip base, as well as the Holly Berry DSP. I also wanted each flap on the calendar to open, rather than some remaining closed.

I went to get a 12x12 frame last night, but the only one they had was a chocolate brown and that wouldn't have looked right. But they did have a nice 12x16 frame.  So I added 4" of textured Very Vanilla card stock at the bottom and tied a bow with 1-1/4" Ridinghood Red Ribbon that I got on the Clearance Rack.

I do still have room in my November 12 class. You'll make this calendar, get a roll of Sticky Strip, a roll of Real Red 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, and a sheet of Stampin' Dimensionals. The cost is only $35 without a canvas and $40 with a canvas. RSVP at stampingmonica@gmail.com by October 31st.

 

To make sure that everything stays together on my calendar year after year, I used Sticky Strip on pretty much every single element of my calendar. 

All in all, the calendar took about 20 hours to put together... from design to creation. But come to my class and it should only take about 3 hours :) Hope you've enjoyed my calendar ~ 'til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Dasher in Pewter

Although the Pewter Embossing Powder has been available for a couple of months now, I haven't really had a chance to show it off on my blog. Initially, I wondered what made this embossing powder so different from the Silver Embossing Powder.

I have used it a few times, but when I saw this week's Mojo Monday Sketch, I thought it was a perfect sketch for a pewter-embossed Dasher :) What is wonderful about this embossing powder is that it's thicker and gives a more thick, metallic feel to it. It would be a perfect embossing powder for the Faux Metal technique. Doesn't Dasher look elegant in pewter?

Tips & Tricks:

*The Letters to Santa DSP is perfect to make a variety of different-looking cards. There are many beautiful patterns and colors!
*Don't you just love the Mini Silver Brads? They're perfect for the little Jewelry Tags.
*Our Baker's Twine (available in White, Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso) is perfect for any card: casual and fancier.

Hope you've enjoyed my metallic Dasher. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Happy Christmas, Mate!

When I first laid eyes on this stamp set a number of years ago, I fell in love with it. The surfin' Santa, candy cane koala and gift-giving kangaroo ~ so fun! Only problem? It was only available in Australia/New Zealand! Well, imagine my excitement when my brother-in-law fell in love with a wonderful woman in Australia, a woman whom I got hooked on stamping ;) So when she returned after a visit to Canada, I asked her to send me the stamps. And Happy Christmas, Mate was mine. All mine :)

Then, a few week's back, my favorite now-retired DSP, Tropical Oasis, showed up on the Clearance Rack and I was able to order myself another package :) For today's Pals Paper Arts sketch challenge I used both of these products ~ hope you don't like this card too much because it may be a bit hard to reproduce ;) I love the tropical feel, even though it's a Christmas card :)

Tips & Tricks: 
 

*Create photo corners of any size with any SU! Square Punch: 1", 1-1/4" or 1-3/8". Punch a triangular notch into a piece of card stock, move your punch up over the notch and create your photo corner. Easy peasy! No need for a separate punch :)
*Add a bit of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to Santa's beard to give it that silver-haired glimmer - nothing's better than a blinged up Santa.
*A Christmas card can be anything you want it to be :) Tropical paper with a surfing Santa fits the bill today!

Hope you loved my unconventional Christmas card. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Sliding Treat Cup Card - Tutorial

I recently did this type of card with my stamper's group. I found a few tutorials, improvised on them for the group, but didn't really like any of them. They weren't easy to follow, the photos in them didn't really help me and I knew I could make a better one :p So below is my own tutorial. The sketch I used is from Freshly Made Sketches. It works perfectly for the Treat Cup cards.

1. For your standard A2 card, cut a 8-1/2” x 11” piece of card stock for your base, a 5-1/4” x 4” piece of card stock for your mat and a 5” x 3-3/4” piece of card stock for your card front.

2. Decorate your card front with any designer paper, etc., that you will be punching through. Choose where you will be placing the Sweet Treat Cup and punch out a hole in your card base with the 1-3/4” Punch.

3. Place your card mat (Cherry Cobbler here) and card front (Early Espresso with Designer Series Paper) on your card base and position it as desired. DO NOT adhere.

4. Carefully flip the card over. With a pencil, trace the 1-3/4” circle through the card base onto the Cherry Cobbler mat. This will mark where you will punch out the circle for the top two layers.

5. Punch out the 1-3/4” circle through the top two layers of your card. Now all three layers of your card have the 1-3/4” circle punched through them and will align properly.

6. Remove the adhesive from the Sweet Treat Cup and adhere to the middle layer (Cherry Cobbler on this card). Adhere the top layer of your card (Early Espresso here) onto the middle layer, fitting the hole over the Sweet Treat Cup.

7. Cut a 2” x 4” piece of card stock for your slider. Position it over the hole in the card base (Early Espresso layer). Using Sticky Strip (to make sure that your card doesn't fall apart – the treat cup layer is quite heavy) create a 'frame' for your slider to slide in and out of and to keep it in the right spot. Put Sticky Strip on the rest of the card base and put your card together.

8. When you've put your card together, you'll see the slider through the Treat Cup as shown in the picture below. The slider goes between the middle layer and card base (Cherry Cobbler and Early Espresso).

9. Fill your treat cup from the inside of the card.

Funny thing, I didn't actually do any stamping on this card, except the Merry Christmas. But I did use a bunch of accessories including the Letters to Santa DSP, Perfect Pennants Bigz L Die as well as the Stocking Accents Originals Die. Isn't the Cherry Cobbler Waffle Ribbon just yummy? Love it!

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and the card. Keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

A Very Unseasonal Mojo

Another Monday - which means Mojo Monday! I had an interesting sketch to work with today, very different from my usual style. I flipped it and changed it a bit, but pretty well preserved the original sketch.

At a stamping demonstrator meeting last week, I won the Fruits & Flowers stamp set as well as the Berry Blossoms Designer Series Paper. Probably not a set or paper I would have bought myself, BUT, I'm glad I won it. Because I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It's bright, colorful and fun! How on Earth could I have thought that I wouldn't like these products? Of course, having new products, I wanted to try them out.

Why do I say it's 'unseasonal'? I think fall is finally here. It's raining, cool, and the leaves are changing color and falling. So bright colors, flowers and fruits aren't exactly 'in season'. But I also think we need to switch things up once in a while from fall, Hallowe\en and Christmas projects.

Tips & Tricks:

*Love the sparkly fruits & flowers? Another trick I learned at the demo meeting. I covered the images with Crystal Effects and then sprinkled it VERY VERY lightly with Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.  You want to add just a smidge of shimmer to images. Gives your images a lovely glossy, shimmery look!

*Don't you love how easy Stampin' Up! makes color coordination? I simply used the colors in the DSP - Calypso Coral, Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder and Whisper White.
*Although I cut out all the images and adhered them with Stampin' Dimensionals, you can bypass the cutting and stamp directly on the Whisper White card stock.
*I'm still loving the Ruffled In Color Ribbon - isn't it just lovely?

Think you may be interested in the demo meetings I talked about in this post? They're monthly, in West End Ottawa and SO MUCH FUN! This month, sign up to be a Demonstrator and get a FREE Big Shot! Then you can join all the fun at these meetings as well as get a 20% discount on all your stampin' supplies! Even if you're not in Ottawa, you get to join my team Creativity Ink and get the benefit of the meetings through me :) You can sign up right here: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/stampingwithmonica/jointhefun.

That's it for today ~ 'til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!

Origami Diamond Fold Tutorial

If you read my blog on a semi-regular basis, you know that I like to do challenges. Someone recently asked my why I do so many challenges. Well, it pushes me to do things I may not think of, gives me new ideas for projects and keeps me blogging :) The challenges also bring new readers to my blog who hopefully enjoy my work!

This week's Pals Paper Arts Challenge challenged us to create a fall or Hallowe'en card based on the image to the left. Lots of leaves, Crumb Cake color and just a nice fall feel. We're doing a very autumn-feeling project with my Saturday night Stamper's Group this week-end and I thought I'd share this tutorial I made for the ladies. I love love love this special card style and hope the ladies too. I learned it at a Sparkledaisy Team Meeting a few months back.

I do have to preface this tutorial by saying that the original tutorial and idea is by Wendy Bell who made this video. I don't do well with video, I need step-by-step instructions and find they work better in my classes too. So I came up with this step-by-step text- and image-based tutorial. Enjoy!

1. Trim your favorite sheet of Designer Series Paper (DSP) to 11” x 11”. Pick the side you want showing on your card and put that side facedown on your Simply Scored Scoring Board.

2. Bring the bottom right corner of the DSP to the top left corner. Using your bone folder, create a nice, crisp fold across the middle. Make sure that the paper is folded right through the middle.

3. Turn the DSP with its folded edge to the top of board. Place your scoring board markers at 3” and 5.5” and score your DSP. Flip your DSP over and score at 3” and 5.5” again.

4. Turn your DSP 90 degrees so that the fold is straight down the 7.75” line of the scoring board and the tip of the triangle is touching the left edge of the scoring board. Make sure the folded edge is EXACTLY on the 7.75” line straight down (as shown). Score the DSP at 3.5”.

5. Cut out the small triangular notches as shown.

6. Fold inwards along all of the score lines.

7. Push the left and right folded sides 'inwards' to create the 'diamonds'. The diamond on the left-hand side will be the pocket for the top flap.

8. Open the folds of the DSP to reveal the inside. Put adhesive on all edges except what will be the left-hand diamond – as shown in red. Adhering the DSP together keeps its edges nice and clean.

9. Fold the card over on the main score line and put your Origami Diamond Fold Card together. Add embellishments, etc., as desired.

This is what it looks like opened up :

 

I used the Spice Cake DSP for my card as well as Dazzling Details on my leaves to jazz them up a bit. Hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!