Awesome April Card Mailing Challenge

At the start of April I posted on my private group stampin’ page a request for those who wanted to participate in a card mailing challenge for the month of April. I set up an exclusive page for us (12 members in total) and each day our goal was to post a mailbox selfie of us sending out a card. Let me tell you, these ladies rose to the challenge typically sending more than one card a day for the ENTIRE month. One of the members sent 150 cards prior to Easter to her church family! The best part of this challenge was it gave many of us a purpose during this challenging time. It forced us to leave our homes every day to post a picture at our mailbox or post office and I looked forward to seeing everyone with their pets or their kids assisting in sending out these cards. Think of how many happy smiles were on the other end of those cards. I have been known to say that a card is a “happiness with a fold in the middle”!

I wanted to share one of the cards that I made in bulk to send out over the course of this month. Many of these cards also had pictures inside of me and the recipient as well as I am someone who regularly prints photos and I wanted to share some happy memories with them!

This card features products from the new Ornate Garden suite and Designer Series paper from the Peaceful Poppies Suite.

The sentiment is from the Sale-a-bration stamp set Rise and Shine

Scrappy Strip Technique

Well it is true that Bruno Bertucci’s Scrappy Strip technique is taking the world by storm! It is a really easy technique and a great one to share virtually in a team meeting or class. I recently shared the technique with my team and then went on to make a whole bunch of these cards for Mother’s Day. This technique is a great way to use up scraps and showcase our wonderful DSP.

After creating a card with this technique I decided to apply the technique to a scrapbook page, and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!

My Scrappy Strip card features the Best Dressed DSP which is in the current Occasions Catalogue. The flower is from the Healing Hugs stamp set and is stamped in Highland Heather. The Textile Ribbon in Mint Macaron is perfect for this card. You can find the Happy Mother’s Day sentiment in the Itty Bitty Greetings stamp set. Both stamp sets are in the Idea Book & Catalogue.

On my scrapbook page, I cut the base white strip to 3 1/5 x 8 and then cut three 4x4 squares that I applied the Scrappy Strip technique to. I used the new Ornate Gardens Specialty DSP. I think this is a fantastic page that showcases many elements from this suite well. The Under my Umbrella bundle felt like a create option to pair with this spring photo taken earlier in March.

Around The World Blog Hop--April

I am so excited to be participating in this BRAND NEW international blog hop started by the amazing Angie McKenzie. Her faith in my technical skills is beyond admiration! You may also see this new blog hop being referred to as ‘aWOW Blog Hop’. We will be posting monthly on the second Wednesday of each month!

The theme for our inaugural hop is ‘Must haves for your creativity’…I thought about this quite a bit and finally settled on ‘things I can colour with’…so my project includes two colouring tools—the classic Stampin’ Write markers and the newer Stampin’ Blends.

I love the soft watercolour wash in the background of these cards and the fact that every single one is unique and special. I used the Under My Umbrella and Fable Friends stamp sets and coloured the images with Stampin’ Blends. I did add Wink of Stella on top of the flowers, its another crafty must have in my Home Studio!

The water-colour wash in the background is actually one of my favourite techniques and one that I pull out of my technique closet from time to time. Its actually a great technique to share with beginner stampers as they only need our classic Stampin’ Write markers and either water-colour or shimmery white paper. In my samples I used water color paper. I also used a cello bag as the transfer piece. You could use a window sheet as well, but a cello bag is much cheaper and chances are even a new stamper will have one of these lying around.

The first step as illustrated in the first picture is to gather all of the supplies. Stampin’ Write markers of your choice, a spritzer tool with water, a cello bag or window sheet (if using a window sheet cut it to the same size as your base), and a piece of water-colour paper or shimmery white (regular white card stock is too thin to absorb as of the moisture). You may also want to have a tissue handy to blot up any excess water.

Color each marker in a diagonal line across the cello bag.

Spritz the cello bag with water.

Press the water-colour paper onto the cello bag and let sit to for a few moments to absorb the color. When removing, have a tissue handy to soak up any loose water.

And that is it! Easy peasy and creates such a wonderful background!

Click here to visit the amazing Tricia Butts in the USA!

So Glad We Are Friends!

Hey friends! I really do appreciate you checking out m blog! I really do hope it is inspiring you to be creative! And I you haven’t been over to my Lifestyle tab, you should check it out, especially my Favourite Recipes section as I have shared a lot of my family’s favourite recipes over there! I highly recommend the Oreo Popcorn, it would be a fun snack to make with your kids!

I just wanted to share this card with you today to let you know that I am truly loving, missing and appreciating all of my friends. I cased this card right from the Idea Book & Catalogue because I was wanting to do some therapeutic colouring. I features the Fable Friends stamp set that I coloured using Stampin’ Blends. I had to use the chubby tip because the images are quite tiny and detailed.

Dino Days!

I don’t know what it is about this cute little T-Rex but wouldn’t you be happy if he came in the mail? He is just too cute! I created a bunch of these cards for my stash and thought it was fun to share, especially because they feature two products that were recently available with Sale-a-bration, and therefore might be in your craft stash!

The card features the Dino Days stamp set and no I did not use my dies to cut them out. Why? Well because I stamped his spikes on his back…and to use the dies, you actually have to stamp them separately to cut them out. Ooopsie! Luckily for me, I have TIME on my hands so I didn’t mind fussy cutting this little guy out. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Welcome to the Team stamp set. Both of these stamp sets are in the Idea Book & Catalogue!

I ran the Whisper White base through the Stone 3D embossing folder and covered it with a strip of the Dinoroar DSP. The Old Olive label is cut from the Stitched So Sweetly Dies, and I used the edge of the largest scalloped rectangle to cut the Gorgeous Grape scallop bit tucked under the DSP. I also added some of the popular Bermuda Bay Metallic thread to loop around this whole little panel.

The little tiny heart is punched from the Twinkle Builder Punch in the Idea Book & Catalogue.

I also stamped the inside of the card too for a little extra fun! I love the bright colours of this card and its perfect for any age or gender!