Welcome Baby

Today I am playing along with the Sunday stamps colour challenge SSC336

I’ve chosen the following 3 colours from my Stampin’ Blends collection: Summer Splash, Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie.

Combined the colour challenge with the CAS colours & sketches sketch challenge #556

As well as the CAS on a Friday Challenge #315 - Baby

I’ve chosen to use the Turtley Cute stamp set and dies and Full of Life 6x6 papers from Stampin’ Up! Along with a retired sentiment set We’ll Said.

Creating a cute little welcome card for an up coming baby shower for a coworker.

Happy Stampin’

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Colour INKspiration CI#193

 Loving this week’s colour inspiration from over at Colour INKspiration group on Facebook! Cloud Cover, Balmy Blue and Highland Heather … it’s just so delicious!

I decided to use this colour challenge to play with a new fun fold card I found from Susan Campfield’s YouTube channel called The Flying Finch for a card swap I signed up for in the Canadian Cardmaking group on Facebook. To go with the flying theme I paired it with the Beautiful Bokeh kit from Stampin’ Up! 

This bundle is SO stunning - came with the stamp set, coordinating dies, hybrid embossing folder, 6x6 Bokeh inspired paper pad and sparkly gems.

The Flying Finch fancy fold is aptly named because it looks like a flying bird when opened.

I coloured the focal butterfly with my colour palette coordinating Stampin’ Blends - so relaxing to colour with! Colouring is my craft therapy.

I used the Bokeh DSP for on top of the front panel and side strips. For one set of strips I embossed the white cards stock with the coordinating hybrid butterfly folder and then sponged with Balmy Blue to help the images pop.

To finish the assembly of the card I added some ribbon, sparkle gems and a Happy Birthday sentiment.

View from the top of the “flying wing” look.

This fold still fits into a regular envelope for mailing - although might need extra postage due to weight of layers.

Happy Stampin’ 

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life 

Are you creating for YOU?

I often hear card makers expressing frustration that they worked for over an hour creating a card for someone in their life and the receiver tossed it aside like meh and moved on oblivious to the time, love and care that went into it. My response is that you are gonna burn yourself out and stop enjoying if your relying on others to validate your crafting! IMO the passion needs to be in the experience of the CREATING and all the benefits that gives YOU in the DOING of the things more so than any potential accolades the receiver might give in appreciation of your byproduct. 

Does it make me feel good when someone tells me they love the card or project I gift them? ABSOLUTELY! Seriously who doesn’t like positive reinforcement!  But that’s just an added bonus when that happens because I already got my return on investing and internal positive reinforcement in the  creating! In the lowered stress and calmness and energy that creating brings me! 

I create for ME and it’s an added bonus if I can pass my creations on to others and they get some joy too! 

Or that I make money from people who want to commission a project or attend a technique class cause they want to learn to create for themselves too! 

When the doing of something brings you peace, joy and energizes you it doesn’t matter if others care! And when you’re more focused on external validation it looses all those things and becomes “a chore” where your more worried about pleasing someone else than you are about enjoying the process of creating. 

Happy Stampin’

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life.com 

Lots of Pun coming in December!

 

December's Lots of Pun Kit from Paper Pumpkin looks like it is going to be loads of fun! 

 

The kit contains enough elements to create 9 cards—3 each of 3 designs—and 9 coordinating envelopes. This all-inclusive kit includes printed card bases, die-cut paper pieces, embellishments, adhesive, and more!

 

The Lots of Pun Stamp Set is a builder stamp set! This means the included images can be mixed and matched to build a variety of unique characters with different looks and features.

• Card size: 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" (10.8 x 14 cm)
• Envelope size: 4-1/2" x 5-3/4" (11.4 x 14.6 cm)
• Coordinating colors: Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Granny Apple Green, Pool Party, Poppy Parade
• Includes a Classic Stampin’ Spot

 Order yours here before December 10th to play along!

If you order your Paper Pumpkin through my link you can either bring it with you and join us in person or via Facebook 'room' on my page for the Paper Pumpkin Club class where we create projects with it together! 

 

Happy Stampin'

 

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

 

 

 *post contains affiliate links

Start the car - this deal is too good to be true!

Love to paper craft and looking for ways to save money while you do it? 

 

Ever considered joining Stampin' Up!? 

 

There’s no better time than November for customers to transition into the demonstrators they’ve dreamed of becoming. 

 

From 4–30 November, you will be able to start your Stampin’ Up! business strong—and with big savings!

 

Choose your own products to get started - $165 worth of goodies to get you going for only $100 Canadian. If you are US its $125 worth of goodies for $75.00

The Stampin' Up! family has demonstrator options for everyone from the discount demo who is their own best customer, the hobby demo who loves to craft with friends and family, to the Building an Empire demo who wants it all - the discount, the earnings, building a team and crafting presence in their community! 

 

 

 

Would be happy to have you join my team - sign up online via here:

 

Shoot me a message by email if you have any questions! 

Happy stampin'

 

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

 

*this post contains affiliate links

Peaceful Christmas Paper Pumpkin - alternatives

 OMG how stinking adorable is this month's kit?

 

Like Laura I love maximizing all the materials in the kit including the leftover pieces. This card uses the leftover vellum die cut tree pieces as the focal point for this beautiful Christmas/Holiday handmade card.

 

 These ones from Rachel are awesome as well!

 

 

Next months is adorable too! 

We all love to see piles of presents on Christmas morning. Make that your reality with the Gifts Galore Paper Pumpkin Kit! With classic Christmas sentiments, bright and festive colors, a sweet snowman, a tree with all the trimmings, or a playful pile of presents, you’ll have everything you need to make eye-catching treat packages that are sure to spread Christmas cheer. Each Gifts Galore box contains enough supplies to create nine treat packages—three each of three designs—and nine food-safe bags that are adorably styled for easy Christmas gifting. There’s plenty of joy to share with Gifts Galore!

Plus if you do not need all the contents for the intended treats demonstrators like myself love to share lots of alternative ideas for cards, scrapbook layouts and more!

Sign up for yours here before November 10th to get in on it!

 

Happy Stampin'

 

Margaret

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life  

 

*post has affiliate links

Throwback Thursday!

 Having some fun over in the Scrapbook Nerd & Friends group on Facebook today in preparation for the weekend of crafty time!

 

This was one of my layouts from my first ever crop at the Scrap & Crop weekend retreats   at the Festival Inn in Stratford - I used a sketch from Pinterest to help get me inspired and love how it turned out - the little grids are a great way to show a sampling of papers and use up scraps!

 

Does anyone else have a photo of themself sitting on the toilet that their parents took - the good ole days when parents use to try to toilet train at like 14 months old by putting you on the thing every 10 minutes for a half hour thinking that was being trained!

 

Like you can even see my moms hand with a cup trying to force me to drink more fluids in order to get me to pee - hate to break it to you mum but it was YOU who were toilet trained at this stage in my life not ME!

 Happy Stampin' 

Margaret

Live,Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake4-life

Gnome for the Holidays

Today I am guest designing for the Scrapbook Nerds! Today I am playing with a card kit called "Gnome for the Holidays" from Photoplay.

 

 

It is such an adorable little kit! You get everything you need to make 8 adorable cards with an instruction sheet!  PLUS 3 extra sheets of each paper to create your own cards just add different embellishments!  

 These are the 8 cards I made using the instructions - cannot wait to create some more outside the box with the left overs and other stamps from my stash!

 

 

Happy Stampin'

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love

Be Totallyawake40life

*this post contains affiliate links