Weekend Stamping Event

I'm excited to share the details about a weekend long stamping event that is being hosted by Wholly Scrap! (The store where I teach!) We held a Stamping Around event last year and it was a blast! You can read about last year's event here. The event will be held on March 4-5, 2011 and the cost for the entire weekend is $150, which includes the following: -Five stamping classes, taught by some of the industries biggest and brightest instructors, designers, and bloggers (This year we have Jodi Collins, Erika Martin, Cindy Lawrence, Julie Masse, and Melissa Bickford) -Snacks and drinks on Friday evening -Snacks and lunch on Saturday -An opportunity to win stamping products and supplies -Fun, laughter, and friendships to last a lifetime For additional details on this event, please visit the Stamping Around web site. The registration link can be found on the left hand side of the site. Space is limited, with half of our seats already being sold, so please register asap!

Tiffany Doodles Challenge - TD08

It's the 7th and that means it's time for our Tiffany Doodles monthly challenge! This month, being just a week away from Valentines Day, it's all about love!! Our challenge for this month is to create a love-themed card or project. Ohhh la la... My card features two digi images; one from the Heart Wings set and the Love Banners set. Note that both of these images are part of a set, which means you'll receive multiple images for one price. Yeah!! I confess that when I saw the heart wings image I thought of an old time tattoo, especially when I imagined the banner across the front of the heart. That meant I had to go with a nice vintage look and I got that adding walnut stain Distress Ink on the embossed panels as well as on my printed and colored digi images.

I used Copic markers to color the images and then added some dry embossed lines to the heart, along with a few white gel pen polka dots. On the banner, I cut off the swirls that are included with the image so I could layer it on the top of the heart without losing too much of the heart design. The entire piece was layered with foam tape onto a scalloped, pierced circle. A few rhinestones on the banner added a tiny bit of bling. So...how about the rules for the challenge...Please read carefully because the dates and prizes have changed. The dates! Start date: Today, February 7 End date: February 21, Midnight EST Winners Announced: February 21 (This is now a two week challenge vs. a month long one) The challenge! Create a love-themed card or project. Don't forget to add your card to the Tiffany Doodles Flickr Gallery! Tagged with: TD08 The Prizes! You have two chances to win Tiffany Doodles gift certificates! 1st place - $10.00 gift certificate (Note that you must use a Tiffany Doodles digi image in order to qualify for this prize) 2nd place - $5.00 gift certificate (This prize will go participants who do not use a Tiffany Doodles digi image) Want to see what the rest of the team came up with? You're in for a treat, their designs are amazing! For details on any of the team cards just click on their name to visit their blog! Tiffany Doodles Tiffany Richards Cammy Wall Collette Landwer Donna Mikasa Jeannie DeGruccio Jill Foster Jodi Ann Lee Joy Taylor Karen Baker Lindsay Amrhein Lisa Summerhays Pattie Goldman Peet Roeven Shannon Neparko Simone Naoum Sue McRae Willemien Katerberg

Keep it Simple Sunday

Today's Tip: When in a rush, go with a tried and true layout!

OK, I confess...I've used this layout before...but...it works! Late last week Sweet 'n Sassy released the February stamp sets and we had an awesome release party on the SNSS forum at Christian Paper Crafts. You can find the forum here, why not sign up to be a fan so you can join us at the next party! A release party consists of lots of fun chit chat, revealing of the new stamp sets, specials, and challenges. One of the challenge for this month's party was to create a CAS (Clean and Simple) card the featured the colors white and red. I used this darling new image from the Let it Rain set, colored my girl's dress red and popped her up on a polka dot embossed background. How simple is that?! And now for this week's news....On 2/7 I'll be posting the new Tiffany Doodles challenge, complete with new rules and even better prizes! On 2/9, I'll have a post on the new Sweet 'n Sassy stamp blog, and on 2/11, the SNSS DT will be hosting a "Love is in the Air" blog hop!! (Click on the badge on the right hand side for more details...) So...it's going to be a busy but super fun week; check back often!!

Papertreyink - 2010 Review

Have you guys seen the amazing contest that Nichole is holding on her blog? A prize of over $700 in fabulous Papertreyink products!! Fantastic! You can read about the rules and how to enter here. One way to enter is to post your favorite product from 2010, using PTI stamps. First things first, I realized that I didn't purchase enough PTI stamp sets in 2010! LOL! On to more shopping in 2011! And second, this is by far one of my favorite stamp sets from PTI, Through the Trees. I used this stamp set numerous times last year but this is my favorite project, a card I created for a SALT DT challenge. I used a direct to paper technique for this project; sweeping my ink pads across the paper to create the background. I also used the rock 'n roll technique for the tree leaves so I could have two greens on the leaf image. The background is a combination of a few strips of dry embossed cardstock. The sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy. Stop by Nichole's blog to read all about the contest and to enter!! Enjoy!

Snow Special

Another class card today! This one is a pop-up card and just perfect to show off this darling snowman image from Sweet 'n Sassy. This image, and sentiment, is from the Snow Special stamp set that released last month. The background of the card (behind the snowman) was embossed with a Tim Holtz snowflake embossing folder. The image was colored with Copics and the designer paper is a new line from Bo Bunny. You can find the directions for how to create a pop-up on Splitcoast....or you can attend my class next Friday at Wholly Scrap! Contact the store for details! Enjoy!

SALT Challenge - Love Your Enemies

It's time for another SALT challenge and this week it was Pauline's turn to set the challenge and she chose "love your enemies." You can read her write up on the SALT blog. I confess that I'm posting this just this morning vs. last night and therefore haven't had much time to think through a detailed post. However, I will share that I chose my Scripture verse based upon what is needed for us to truly love our enemies...God's grace. It is not natural for us to love our enemies or those who mock us or our beliefs or who dislike us for no apparant reason. It's natural for us to either seek revenge or to fight for our own reputation, to want to come out of the corner ready for a fight. Yet Christ commands us to love those who don't love us and pray for those who hate us. And what Christ commands He did Himself. For as he hung upon the cross, he prayed for his crucifiers, who were then used Him in the most despiteful, as well as cruel manner; saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Matthew Henry has this to say on loving your enemies and a Christian's duty, "The Jewish teachers by neighbour understood only those who were of their own country, nation, and religion, whom they were pleased to look upon as their friends. The Lord Jesus teaches that we must do all the real kindness we can to all, especially to their souls. We must pray for them. While many will render good for good, we must render good for evil; and this will speak a nobler principle than most men act by. Others salute their brethren, and embrace those of their own party, and way, and opinion, but we must not so confine our respect. It is the duty of Christians to desire, and aim at, and press towards perfection in grace and holiness. And therein we must study to conform ourselves to the example of our heavenly Father. Surely more is to be expected from the followers of Christ than from others; surely more will be found in them than in others. Let us beg of God to enable us to prove ourselves his children." That leads me to the verse that I used on my card for how can the natural man really care about and truly love those who are unlovely in their conduct and words? Only by the grace of God, who is able to transform our hearts. We are weak in our own strength, unable to do this grand thing that Christ commands. But it is in our own weakness that we can take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before we can have victory. May God be pleased to grant us grace to love our enemies and to pray for those who use us for He may be pleased to use our conduct to touch their hearts. As the centurion said as he gazed upon Christ on the cross, his heart obviously changed by all that had happened that day, "Truly, this was the Son of God." Please stop by the SALT blog to see the other lovely works created by the design team and feel free to create a project based on this week's challenge. We'd love to share in your work!! PS - OK...don't laugh because it appears I rarely have nothing to say...so much for being unprepared! LOL!

Accordian Card

Morning bloggers! Let's see a show of hands of who is snowed or iced in this morning? :-) Wow! Talk about snow this winter...I think this might be the most snow I've seen since moving to New England 12 years ago. I'm so thankful that my entire family is snug in our home today, hanging in our PJ's, and hopefully crafting later! Today, I'm sharing a project that I'll be demonstrating at an upcoming class at Wholly Scrap! This is our monthly PMS Class (that would be Pizza, Music, and Stamping) and next week it's going to be all about winter and love. This darling project is from a tutorial that I found on Splitcoast (my favorite place for all things crafty!) The covers of the card, which measured 4.25" x 4.25", are cardboard pieces that have been covered with love-inspired paper from Bo Bunny. Once the ribbon is untied, the card folds out to four panels, created by taping together a few pieces of scored cardstock (designer paper is layered on the cardstock). And now you have four little panels that are perfect for decorating. Here's a close up of the left side and I confess that I didn't really stamp a darn thing on this project! This Bo Bunny paper line came with two pages of paper embellies and cut outs that were just perfect for decorating. On the left side I added a small pocket that I stuffed with tickets. And the other panel has a Nestibilities scalloped frame, created by placing a plain oval die inside a scalloped oval and running through the Big Shot. A tiny picture of a bird and flower filled the frame and a 'love' sentiment was punched from the DT and adhered with foam tape. The right side went a bit faster as I simply cut out a few of the decorative panels from the paper and added it to the card with foam tape. I also added a few heart stickers here and there throughout the album. It was really an easy project, especially when I was using the paper for embellishments. This paper was so much fun I just couldn't bring myself to add anything else to it! :-) Enjoy and hope everyone is warm, safe, and cozy today! And if you're in the NH area, contact Wholly Scrap! about my upcoming classes!