A little bit of beauty

I wanted to share this card with you.  I case'd it right off the facebook page of my team stic girl Paula.  Isn't she talented?  I loved this card so much when I saw it like a month ago but it took until now for me to make it.  No matter how busy we all are, making time to make something beautiful is always worth it.  It's like a little pick me up in an otherwise busy, long day. 
Making something beautiful brightens my spirit.  I hope it brightens yours.  Just take a moment for yourself and craft a little something.  I know you'll be glad you did!
I actually made this card as a demonstration with my church small group friends.  One of our activities was to share our life story, significant events etc so that we could get to know each other better.  Kevin came up with the idea for me to share my life story while making a card, with the elements being metaphors for my significant life events.  Because this card had so many elements: the tearing, ribbon, embossing, sponging etc, it was a good choice.  If you want to hear about my life journey, just ask!  I'd be happy to share with you.
Recipie:
River rock , soft suede, pink pirouette, rose red, naturals ivory cardstock
first edition dsp
textured embossing frame
beautiful butterfly embosslit
pretty in pink satin ribbon

A great party.

It was a great new catalogue party yesterday. As you know, I love socializing and snacking...espcially when stampin' is involved.
Here's a couple of the projects we made. This one uses the new in colour: Wisteria Wonder. I love how the new ruffled ribbon matches so perfectly with the paper and ink.

This card uses the new hostess products: Posy Punch and the Cheerful Treat DSP. If you want to get your hands on these cute products, make sure you book a time with me to get your friends together for some stampin' fun. I will customize projects for your tastes and interest.

The ink colour is concord crush.

If there are too many beautiful things in the catalogue to order all at once, consider joining one of my Stampers Clubs or signing up as a demonstrator. Contact me anytime! genevieve.ko@sympatico.ca

birthday bakery

I felt so blah this past weekend. One highlight was my "girls night out" evening where we made this cute card. I also did this card with my club girls last week. It's actually not as hard as it looks. The scallop edge punch and the word window punch are essential. The hostess set "birthday bakery" is perfect for this type of awning card but I've seen this card done with the sweet scoops ice creams as well. If you want to learn to make this card, just get a few girlfriends together and I'll be happy to show you all.

I don't know why I felt so tired. I didn't even want to stamp. Now that's sad. I figure I must be fighting a bug because my daughter is sick today. (she suddenly felt unwell and threw up when we were at the grocery store.) I actually took a two hour nap on Saturday and slept 9 hours at night on Saturday and Sunday. I feel a bit better today and the itch to stamp as returned. I hope you all stay healthy with all those winter bugs floating around.

Conference highs

A quick post before I hit the sack. I'm getting picked up at 6am tommorrow to head out to Hamilton for the Stampin' Up! regional conference. It'll be my first time at a regional conference or any kind of Stampin' Up! conference for that matter. It's like a first date. I'm a little nervous. Will people think my swaps are too plain? Will I look too excited when I see Shelli Gardner? Will I not be dressed appropriately? (at a team meeting someone showed off their decor elements poncho and crazy pants they had made and worn to convension) Am I supposed to dress using designer series paper? Anyway, I think I will wear a real red t shirt and jeans.

Lyne gave me cards she made so that I can swap for her. Here's her cool card:

I'm already on a conference high because I was on a full day conference for my occupational therapy professional association. I went not expecting much. I was wrong! The keynote, introductory speaker was Heather Moyse. She was the gold medal bobsleigh pusher from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Did you know she is an occupational therapist? I have something in common with a gold medal bobsledder! Her talk was truly inspirational and reminded me that challenges in life can later become a significant factor in great success. She passed around her medal for us to see and touch but sadly it never made it to my table. I did make a point of taking a quick photo:

Today was a good learning day. I'm looking forward to a great stamping day tommorrow AND tommorrow is the day hubby is getting his truck so he will be very happy too!

Big shot fun

Here are a couple of other projects made with the assistance of my friend the Big Shot. The above card uses the lattice die and the beautiful wings embosslit. That embosslit results in such delicate butterflies and each roll through the big shot results in 5 different butterflies: each dry embossed with a different design.
The card below uses the new letterpress plate. Lots of Love. The debossed, inked image gives the look of an old fashioned letterpress. If you'd like to make these cards with your friends, make sure to contact me to book your own workshop.

Emboss resist twist

Here's a card using the emboss resist technique. I'm using Inspired by Nature heat embossed with white embossing powder. Then brayered layers of colour: cherry cobbler, pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, marina mist. The embossed portion resists the colour to give this stunning effect. The embosslit beautiful wings die was used to finish off with vellum butterflies stuck down with the two way glue pen.

A twist on the traditional emboss resist technique is a technique called emerging colour. Here's a card with the emerging colour technique. Can you guess how it was done? First stamp the background with a small solid image stamp in various colours. Then stamp on top with versamark in a larger solid image stamp then heat emboss in clear. Finally cover with a darker ink with the brayer. Wipe off the embossed portion with a moist kleenex.

The colours I used here are melon mambo, tempting turquoise, pumpkin pie. I think the cute tempting turquoise button in the middle totally makes the card! I love a little card candy.

Give the emerging colour technique a try. Then try it using some designer series paper. Cool huh?