Scrap a Sketch #178

Today I am playing along with Scrap a Sketch challenge #178 to create a 12x12 layout using the Peaceful Garden suite from Stampin’ Up!.

This suite with is gorgeous dove dies has so many possibilities and occasions it can be used for - from Sympathy, Thinking of you, Christmas to Wedding projects. 

I’ve used partial stamping of the Peace, Love & Joy sentiment from the stamp set and paired it with a retired Stampin’ Up! Alphabet die set to create my JOY title.

I sponged some Secret Sea ink around the dove to help give some additional dimension. I cut some sprigs in Cloud Cover and Vellum and tucked behind the dove.

I added the second dove flying sway with a sprig at the top and finished off by adding several floral embellishments that come with the suite. 

I like to hide my journaling by typing out on the computer and printing out and tucking in behind the layouts in my scrapbook sleeve - this way the photos are the focus on the page and people can pull out the journal page of they want more information about the photos. As I tend to have verbal diarrhea when telling the stories that go with the photos it just never all fit when I tried in past to add a journal section on my pages - so I hide my verbal diarrhea so it doesn’t distract from my layout 🤣

Happy Stampin’

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

The Healing Power of Love 💕

Today I am playing along with Colour INKspiration Challenge #194 over on Facebook. 

This colour combo made me think of Fall sunsets so I chose to play with the Prairie Grass stamp set as the images in that make me think of sunsets.

 

The Just Us Girls has a challenge #790 this week to use a stencil so wanted to incorporate one into my design to play along with them as well.

Since I wanted a sunset vibe I couldn’t find a stencil in my collection that fit the design dancing around in my brain so I decided to create a stencil mask using a heart die from a retired set and a scrap of red paper that was large enough to cover my card base. I blended the Secret Sea, Sea Foam, Fresh Freesia and Calypso Coral palette to create a sunset vibe and then stamped the Grass from the Prairie Grass stamp set.

Love how it turned out! The ‘Sending the Healing power of Love” sentiment goes perfect with the heart vibe from the stencil. I added a few In Colour dots and decided I needed to balance the card so added some hand stitched corners using my Stamp Write Marker. I am going to really miss having a colour coordinated marker for new colours now that they’ve decided to retire the Stamp Write Marker line.

I also added some grass on the inside of the card but otherwise left it blank for a personal message to be written by the sender. Added a bit of grass to the envelope as well because friends don’t let friends envelopes go out into the world naked! 

I can’t believe it’s back to school already next week! What’s your favourite thing about Fall? 

Happy Stampin’ 

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Funky Fold Friday

I’ve challenged myself to step outside the traditional A2 cards and try making at least one card a week that’s “fancy”. So Friday will now be know as Funky Fold Friday! I even joined a blog hop group on Facebook to help with inspiration! 

I have decided to start off sharing a classic easel card but with my own twist! 

I started off by refreshing my memory on measurements - this hardly chart will come in handy.

I used a custom sentiment for my mom whose birthday is coming up along with some retired products from Stampin’ Up! 

For life of me I can’t remember the name of the DSP but it’s old enough it’s from before I started labelling everything so I wouldn’t forget the names. Yes I am a paper hoarder LOL. The stamp set is Loving Thoughts and I used the Banner blast stamp set and punch to make my banner. I love this set so couldn’t part with it when it retired! 

Now my twist is I added some custom made embellishments to the easel base that act as both the place holder for the easel to lean on but can also have a few essential oils dropped onto the clay to turn the Easel card into a diffuser for the persons desk or mental. The clay embellishments are made with retired Simply Pressed Clay Stampin’ Up! Again yes I am a crafty hoarder - I operated a home based early learning program and the kids loved this stuff so I stocked up when it retired. However you can use any clay and molds to create your embellishments with! 

When I send my aromatherapy cards out I include the following instructions.

I love that these are perfect little “home decor” art work so great to keep on display for a long time! 

Do you have a favourite Funky Fold? 

Happy Stampin’

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Sympathetic Sunflowers 🌻

Today I am creating for a Blue with Sympathy themed card swap with Canadian Cardmakers group on Facebook. Swapping is a great way to see other products you might now have and how a creator uses them! 

I wanted a chance to get my Sunflower 3D embossing folder inky and a sympathy card seemed perfect because sunflowers bring a smile to my face when I am feeling sad! Just love the deep embossed effect you get with the 3D Folders especially if you spritz your paper with a wee bit of water before hand! This is a nice large folder so I’m definitely going to put it to use on future scrapbook layouts as well! 

I used the drag the ink pad effect for the colouring initially using Pool Party, Lost Lagoon and Balmy Blue ink pads Stampin’ Up!. However felt my Sponge daubers would offer the finer control opportunity to go in add colour to some of the deeper areas not caught during the dragging process.

I pared it with the Heartfelt Prayers sentiment from the Peace On Earth stamp set. This stamp set has awesome sentiments and well in my humble opinion and based on my growing collection you just can’t have too many sentiment options! 

I added the little dove die from the coordinating Peaceful Garden die set and added some ink sponging to the dove to give it some dimension. Finished it off with a few pearls for that bling effect. 

Then I wanted to use my second embossed image for a landscape view which turned out adorable as well. Instead of adding the second glitter label frame I placed some retired glitter ribbon behind the sentiment.

Finished both cards off by adding a dove to my envelope because I just can’t let an envelope go out into the world naked! Have to dress it up too! 

Do you dress up your envelopes too? 

Happy Stampin’

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Sending Love 💕

Hello again!

Excited to play with another challenge this week - the Inspired By blog offers two inspiration challenges - a mood board #IB350 and a sketch.

 I opted for the blues in the image which is perfect pairing for the gorgeous DSP in the Peaceful Gardens suite!

The sketch challenge with squares was too fun! I tweaked a little bit in my design.

I’ve also incorporated the CAS on a Friday #316 challenge to use a clean and simple design with vellum. Vellum is awesome for adding soft subtle texture to a design. 

As well as the Inspire.Create challenge #199 which is also a clean and simple card this week!

The Inkspirational challenge #348 which also had a clean and simple with a floral twist this week which tie on with the florals and vellum leaves on my design.

I have chosen to keep playing along to challenges this week with my Peaceful Gardens suite as my other preorder goodies have not arrived yet and well I just love it.

I love how the combined design challenges turned out! Clean and simple with elegant pops of colour and texture!

The Sending Love sentiment from the Peace on Earth stamp set on the front makes it a perfect card for many occasions - sympathy, encouragement or even wedding or anniversary! I left the inside blank so can write a personal message based on the occasion it is used for! 

 

The Forever Plaid 3D embossing folder paired well with the square theme adding pops of depth and texture while still being a clean and simple vibe of lots of open space! 

Happy Stampin’ 

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Peaceful Garden Suite

I am just in love with this suite! The colour combo in the DSP is stunning, the sentiments are perfect for a variety of occasions and the dies with the doves and nesting labels! 

I tried to play along with the Global Design Project sketch challenge #510 but was late to post in the challenge but was still inspired by the circles.

I used the Peaceful on Earth stamp set with the Dotted Circle 3D embossing folder.

Inspired by the Festive Friday choose 3 word prompt challenge.  

I chose to use hues of blue with Stampin’ Up’ Misty Moonlight and Cloud Cover inks for my stamping and blending edges of my circles, pretty Pearl embellishments and I loved the play on the theme of ‘sand’ in the list to use the sanding technique on my two toned embossed paper. My nail buffer comes in very handy for this technique!

Pleased with my end product and think it will make a great card for someone who’s heading off full circle on a new adventure! 

Lots of textures to enjoy! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stampin’

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Case-ing Tuesday challenge

Playing along with the Case-bling Tuesday challenge over on Facebook.

They’ve shared the following card from the Annual Catalog for sketch #526 inspired by a card on page 79.

Also playing along with a couple other challenges to help guide my design.

The Festive Friday pick 3 from the list - Shades of Blue using Stampin’ Up! Misty Midnight and Cloud Cover, Pearl’s and Sanding technique.

CAS on Friday offered up a challenge to use Vellum - so have added some sprigs die cut with it for a nice clean and simple pop. Clean and Simple doesn’t fit the overall design though so I will likely need to try again. 🤣

In addition to my ink chocked choose to play along with the Peaceful Garden bundle and the Dotted Circle and Peaceful Greenery embossing folders and a circle punch all from Stampin’ Up!.

I think it came together nicely - lots of textures!

Happy Stampin’ 

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Sneak Peek 👀 part 4

My name is Margaret and I am a stamp-o-holic. So yes as you can see from my prior posts my preorder cart is filling up fast!

Today I am sharing a sneak peek of the Christmas Tags & More 6”x6” DSP pack and how well it pairs with the Joyful Days Memories and More card pack, the Christmas Greetings Mix and Match specialty cards and envelopes and the Greetings for You mix and match ephemera pack. 

The DSP comes with some adorable stickers!

The Memories and More card are awesome for layering onto the Greeting cards and envelopes. Many are so stunning you won’t need to do much work to make them pop for quick and easy holiday cards and decor!

 

I’m partial to the plaid gingham during the holidays so these popped out for me. Also love the matching envelopes in the Christmas Greetings cards and envelopes pack - I always say “friends don’t let friends send out naked envelopes!” so have to set a good example myself! 

The ephemera Greetings For You pack in the Willow White with the gold foil add the perfect finishing touch! 

 

Together adding these to my cart will allow me to make some stunning quick and easy projects for the upcoming holiday season! From scrapbooking to greeting cards stunning colour coordinating pieces that will make them memorable.

Now I have to learn to be patient while I wait for my order to ship! Thankfully I already have my Peaceful Garden Suite to play with while I wait! Off to get inky with some upcoming challenges!

Happy Stampin’

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life