Happy Halloween

Well, Today's the day!!! The kids are very happy and we will be carving our pumpkins this morning. I thought today I would share a new look for my blog! I have been wanting to create my own blog header since I started this blog, but haven't gotten around to it! Well, my dreams came true when we came out with the My Digital Studio and then I could create a header simple and easy and using all of our actual stamp sets and paper. I am so excited. I already have another look ready to go for the holidays. I hope you enjoy them!

Here are a few little treat boxes and a Halloween card to inspire you today! I hope you have a wonderful Halloween and I hope the weather turns out nice for the trick-or-treaters!

This is the Box #2 Sizzix Bigz XL Die which I cut out of Pumpkin Pie Card Stock and decorated with a strip of the Cast-a-Spell Designer Series Paper. The little chick and greeting come from the Twick or Tweet Stamp set in the holiday mini catalogue. Punches that were used are the Word Window, 1 1/4" Circle, 1 3/8" Circle and Scallop Circle. I love my punches!!!

This next treat box was made with the Fancy Favor Bigz XL Die.
I cut out the box in Perfect Plum Card Stock and stamped images from "From the Crypt" stamp set in Perfect Plum and Basic Black ink. I attached ribbon through the sides of the box to create a handle and made the embellishment on the front of the box my circle punches and the "Eat, Drink & Be Scary" Stamp set. I used my markers to achieve different colours in the greeting.

The second box is done using the same die but this time I actually closed the box with ribbon instead of leaving it open like a basket.

I used the Sweet Treats stamp set and the circle punches to decorate the front of it.







And lastly, the card for today was one that we did at my Halloween class. I wanted to make the focal point the Designer Paper and the rub-on punched out with the Wide Oval Punch.

I made the card out of Pumpkin Pie Card Stock, stamped the Brocade image from the "From the Crypt" stamp set as a background. I layered my Card Stock and Designer Paper pieces together and wrapped the black Wide grosgrain around it and then attached it to the front of the card.
I used the spooky treats rub-ons on Whisper White Card Stock and then punched out using the Wide Oval Punch. To make a mat for that, I used the Lots of Tags Sizzlets Die. I added the crow rub-on, stamped the bat and cut it out and sponged the edges of the main card to finish off the final details. Thanks for stopping by today! Happy Halloween!!

One More Day and Counting!

Every morning Victoria wakes up and tells me how many more days until Halloween! I don't think she has ever been this excited to go Trick or Treating before.

This is one of the cards we did at my Halloween class a little while back. When I was doing my blog browsing I came across a card similar to this. Thanks for the inspiration Michelle Zindorf. I loved the way the sponging was done so thought I just had to try it.

I created the moon first by punching a 1 3/4" circle out of a post-it note. I placed it down on my whisper white card stock and then the sponging began. I started with going gray, then added basic gray and finished off with basic black on the top half of the card stock. Below the Moon I sponged sahara sand and then soft suede. I stamped the tree from the Branch Out stamp set in basic black and sponged around the edges in basic black also.

When you remove the post-it note, it looks like you have created magic. The moon is so crisp and clear and is screaming for the bats to fly through the shadows. I stamped Happy Halloween and punched it out using the Wide Oval Punch and then I stamped the tree again on the punched oval but in stamped off Basic Black ink.

I used Elegant Eggplant as my main card base and sponged eggplant around all the sides. Of course I love ribbon, so needed to add a bit of that as well. And there you have it! I hope you have a great Friday and find some time to create!! I will be... considering I have a calendar class in a week!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Sets: From the Crypt, Branch Out, House of Haunts

Card Stock: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Going Gray, Basic Gray, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Old Olive

Accessories: Stamping Sponges, Post-It Notes, Wide Oval Punch, Elegant Eggplant 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

A Special Birthday!

My husbands birthday is coming up later this week(tomorrow to be precise) and I wanted to create a card specifically for him. Usually he gets whatever I might have sitting around at the time, but this time I wanted to create a card with him in mind. This is what I came up with.....inspired by a card by Rochelle Gould. I didn't have some of the same stamps, so I altered mine to work with the product I have.

I ran a piece of Close to Cocoa Card Stock through the Big Shot with the Weathered Texturz Plate. Then I sponged Chocolate Chip Classic Ink over the raised impressions to give it the look of grainy wood. I cut my paper up in strips and then attached them to my card front and accented them with brads.

The background is stamped with the Sanded Background stamp and then sponged with close to cocoa classic ink. I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set all over the front. The Tools are stamped with Black Staz-on ink and then Watercoloured and cut out and mounted on the front with dimensionals.

I hope you enjoy today's post. Sorry it has been so long! I have had a busy week and last night I had 11 gals here for the Delightful Decorations Class. It went very well despite the large attendance and I will be sharing the projects with you in the very near future.

Have a great day!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Totally Tool 113256 $34.95, Teeny Tiny Wishes 115370 $48.95

Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel and Watercolour Paper

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Going Gray, Black Staz-on ink

Accessories: Stamping Sponges, Aquapainter, Big Shot, Texturz Plates Kit #4, Paper Snips, Vintage Brads, Paper Piercer, Mat Pack, Dimensionals

Final Deal of the Week!!

The final deals of the week are from October 26, 10 AM (MT) through October 31, 11:50 PM (MT).

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
116214	174	Princess Party Kit	$21.95	$13.99
116213	175	Pirate Party Kit	$21.95	$13.99

If you would like to take advantage of these great deals, click HERE to order online or e-mail me at cathmsand@cogeco.ca. Orders must be in by Saturday 31 Oct at 8am.

Get Well Soon.......

I hope everyone is keeping well and evading the cold and sicknesses that are going around. The card I am sharing today is one that I made for a friend who doesn't have a cold or the flu but was hit by a car when riding her bike! Can you believe it? Wearing reflector gear from head to toe, a headlamp on her bike helmet and the driver still didn't see her riding down Hwy 2 towards the base. I couldn't believe it. She was asked by the police why she wasn't riding on the sidewalk! I guess it is allowed in Trenton! She is doing well despite the head spins and nausea she is still having from hitting her head so hard. Stamping has been good therapy for her as she can't read books, watch tv or be on the computer.

I was so excited about the card I made for her. I was having a fantastically (my new word) creative night on Fri night and came up with 4 cards. This one along with 3 other Christmas Cards that will be offered as a class in the near future. I stayed away from the computer this weekend and committed myself to my stamp room. It was a wonderful weekend.

I created the Background on Pixie Pink Card Stock with the Stampin' Up! Perfect Details Texturz Plates and the Big Shot and then highlighted all the raised dots with my white gel pen.

I stamped the band-aid image from the Wellness Wishes stamp set in Staz-on Black Ink and then coloured it in with Pixie Pink ink and a Blender Pen. I cut it out and then mounted it on top of the same image (using dimensionals), which was stamped and punched out with the Wide Oval Punch. I love the Lots of Tags Sizzlets, because there is one that perfectly mats the wide oval punch. I added some Black card stock and ribbon and voila!!! I hope you like it.

Have a great day! Check back tomorrow for another exciting card!

Supplies Used:

115962 Perfect Details Texturz Plate $5.95

115356 Wellness Wishes $19.95

114508 Lots of Tags Sizzlets Set of 4 $29.95

112082 Wide Oval Punch $22.95

115605 Black 5/8" Grosgrain $11.95

A Halloween Hi!

The kids are busy counting down the days until they can go trick or treating! I hope the weather on the 31st will be as mild as the past few days have been. Their costumes are ready to go and now I just need to figure out how I am going to paint their faces :)

This card was another one that we did at the class on 7 Oct. We used the More the Merrier stamp set which is a Level 3 Hostess Set. You can earn this stamp set free by hosting a workshop with sales of $655.

I stamped the pumpkins with Black Staz-on Ink on Watercolour Paper and then watercoloured the image with Apricot Appeal, Dusty Durango, Chocolate Chip and Old Olive. I watercoloured the ground in soft suede and the sky in Bashful Blue.

I used Dusty Durango, Soft Suede and Apricot Appeal Card Stock. As you can see I love sponging and have sponged all the edges with ink. The apricot background was done with the Texture Plates Kit #4 and the Big Shot. This card measures 3" x 6" and fits nicely into our small open end envelopes. This card is also the perfect size for money!!

Have a great day!

Deal of the Week #3 - Embellishments!!!!!

How wonderful to have some fantastic embellishments on sale. Yes, these are the things that make your postage more, but I love using them!! Guess who will be ordering some of all of these?

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
114348	179	Basic Jumbo grommets	$9.50	$6.49
109857	179	Mini Library clips	$18.95	$12.99
112571	179	Circle Designer brads	$8.50	$5.49
112581	179	1/2" Library clips	$9.75	$5.49

If you would like to take advantage of these great deals, click HERE to order online or e-mail me at cathmsand@cogeco.ca. Orders must be in by Monday 26 Oct at 8am. The next and final deal of the week will be announced on Monday as well.

Friends Forever!!

That is what all of you are to me! I love my Stampin' Up! Business for that reason! I get to meet so many incredible people and the relationships I start turn into lifelong friendships. Stamping wouldn't be the same without all my friends. Thank you all for being such an important part of my life.

Between all the Christmas Cards that I am currently planning I am also busy thinking of my upcoming Calendar Class on Nov 7th. I still have some spots available if anyone is interested. Click HERE to view more information.

6 x 6 Scrapbook Pages always seem much more manageable for me. A few key components to think of and voila.... it's done. You need your photo, a basic layout, a title/journalling and an accent or embellishment. Your photo is your focal point and then I build around it. Because the size is only 6 x 6, it doesn't take much to fill the space.

I do have plans for more scrapbooking in my life and now with My Digital Studio, I think those plans will happen much sooner.

Have a great day!

Supplies Used:

Card Stock: Basic Black, Regal Rose, Rose Red

Ink: Rose Red

Accessories: Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper, Whisper White 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Photo Corners Punch, Vintage Brads, Big Shot, Billboard Sissix Decorative Strip, Blossom Party Sissix Originals Die, 1/2" Circle Punch, Rhinestone Brad, Sponges, Dimensionals

My Digital Studio Card Creation!

I have been playing with the My Digital Studio as much as I can and I thought I would try out creating a card. How easy and how cool to be able to change the size and shape and orientation of everything. This was a lot of fun and I can even print it either on my own colour printer or I can send it to Stampin' Up!'s professional printer to get accurate colour matching. I am so excited about all the things you can do with My Digital Studio, it is a fantastic promotion. To find out more information click HERE and don't forget about the great promotion I am offering to anyone who purchases the My Digital Studio. I am planning on a "My Digital Studio" Info night in Nov, so stay tuned to more info. This would make a fantastic Christmas gift.

Have a great Friday!!

Simplicity.... Is a Good Thing!

Simplicity in cards is a good thing. Not only can you create a card in minutes the simple elegance is sharp and clean. I love the jewel tones used in this card. Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry and Taken with Teal. The card base is Whisper White Textured Card Stock and each 1 3/4" Punched Circle is also Textured Card Stock. I used the Silver Basic Small Grommets and a large Aluminum Metal Edge Tags. This would be a great card for a Trio of Snowflakes and maybe with some sparkly rhinestone brads in the centers. I think I will give it a try and you might see it at the Christmas Card Buffet on Sat 28 Nov. Have a great day and we will see you soon at my upcoming Christmas Classes!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Best Wishes & More

Card Stock: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive & Taken With Teal Textured Card Stock

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Taken With Teal Classic Pads

Accessories: 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, Aluminum Metal Edge Tags, Basic Small Grommets, Dimensionals

Deal of the Week! - Week 2!!!

Time for Week 2 of The Deal of the Week!!! Don't delay! Take advantage of these great offers today. And how exciting that they are Big Shot Dies!!! If you purchase the XL Dies you will also need to buy the extended cutting pads. If you have any questions about the Big Shot or how you can use these dies in your current machine, please drop me a line.

On Sale from Oct 12 until Oct 19th!

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
115961	200	Perfect Setting Bigz XL die	$57.95	$34.99
114515	195	Flower Burst Embosslits die	$15.95	$7.49
116760	201	Pop-Up Three Tier Cake Bigz XL die	$53.95	$34.99

Phone or e-mail me to place you order. Or Click HERE to place an online order and check out the clearance sale rack that Stampin' Up! has just started to offer!

I hope your Thanksgiving was a nice relaxing one. What's next....... Halloween!! Get ready for some more Halloween posts and then we will be ready to start our Christmas planning! Yikes!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you have been enjoying a nice weekend with family and friends. For today's post I wanted to share with you the last card that we did for the Falling Leaves Class. Everyone really loved this card and I loved getting some use out of my Big Shot and Leaf Die.

This card is 3" x 6" and fits into our Open End Envelopes. I cut out my leaves first using the BigZ Leaves #2 Original Die and then stamped with versamark on them and clear embossed the stem like image. Sponging the edges really brings everything together, so you will notice every piece has been sponged.

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Autumn Days, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Always Artichoke, Versamark

Card Stock: Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry, Mellow Moss

Accessories: Autumn Traditions Designer Series Paper, Leaves #2 Originals Die, Big Shot, Crystal Clear Embossing Powder, Stampin' Sponges, Rich Regal Brads, Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon, Paper Piercer, Mat Pack, Modern Label Punch, Large Oval Punch, Dimensionals

Cheers to You

I am happy that I made it through the week and am now enjoying a nice long weekend with my family. This is one of the cards we did last Wednesday night at my "a little bit of everything" class. We made a tri fold card, a fall card, a flower card and this masculine card. I find that we never have enough masculine cards and I really wanted to make a card with this stamp set, so here it is.

I had to do some creative masking to get the handle on the left side of the mug and of course using the Stamp-a-ma-Jig made the task much easier. I stamped the mugs on Whisper White Card Stock with Staz-on Black Ink, then coloured them in with More Mustard ink and a Blender Pen. I applied Versamark directly over the coloured image and embossed it with Crystal Clear Embossing Powder. I then punched them out with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch and mounted them onto Basic Gray 1 1/2" Circles. The Striped Paper comes from the Nouveau Chic Designer Series Paper and the Corners were detailed with a bit of paper piercing and then was mounted onto a Basic Gray Card. A strip of Sage Shadow was sponged with Basic Gray and then added to the front of the card, this was then followed by the punched circles which were mounted with Stampin' Dimensionals. To finish it all off I stamped the greeting in Basic Gray, punched it out with the Lg Oval Punch, sponged the edges with More Mustard and then mounted that onto a Basic Gray punched Scallop Oval and then onto the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals! Oh yeah, I did add a Silver Mini Library Clip as well just to step it up a little bit more...... and to cost me more in postage :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Catherine

Here are some catalogue pictures of the product used:

114944 Cheers to You $23.95

115670 Nouveau Chic Designer Series Paper $13.25 (12 - 12x12 sheets)

Boo!!

Boo! Did I scare you? Can you believe Halloween is just around the corner, where is the time going? I have a little bit of a break before my next class, so I thought I had better get caught up with my blog. This card was actually one that I did last year with the In Colours Kiwi Kiss and Tangerine Tango. I really like this layout and the use of the Boo letters that I had to recreate it in some new colours. I just love this colour combo - Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Basic Black. What do you think of it? More posts to come soon with cards from my last class and some new projects created with the My Digital Studio. Have a great Friday!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Batty for You, Sanded Background, All Holidays

Card Stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry

Ink: Old Olive, Basic Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Serif Essentials Alphabet Die, Sponges, 1 1/4" Circle Punch, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 " Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Rich Razzleberry Polka Dot Grosgrain, Dimensionals

My Digital Studio is HERE!

My Digital Studio is now available for customers to purchase! And believe me, you're going to LOVE it! Watch this quick video for a great introduction to this revolutionary new Digital Crafting Solution and check my blog often for more inspirational projects, ideas, tips and tricks.

Purchase The My Digital Studio software from me (either directly or through my ONLINE STORE - click on "shop now" at the top of the page) during the month of October and I will send you a FREE pack of 8 1/2 x 11" Card Stock (24 sheets -- your choice of 54 different colors) as my gift to you. Just e-mail your color choice to me after you place your order.

Host a workshop during October or November and you could receive 50% off the cost of My Digital Studio if your workshop order totals $525 or more -- how's that for a deal!

E-mail me for more information or to book a workshop!

Deal of the Week!

The Deal of the Week is Back!!! Don't delay! Take advantage of these great offers today.

On Sale from today until Oct 12th!

Item	Page	Description	Regular Price	Special Price
109183	186	Trio Flower punch	$22.95	$15.99
109041	187	5-Petal Flower punch	$22.95	$15.99
110709	187	My Way punch	$22.95	$16.99

Phone or e-mail me to place you order. Or Click HERE to place an online order and check out the clearance sale rack that Stampin' Up! has just started to offer!

I am off to Stampin' Palooza in Toronto and when I get back I will be sending some inspiration your way. Sorry I haven't posted this week, it has been one extremely busy week.

Hope you are all well,

Happy Stampin'!