Happy Birthday!

Today is my son's 15th birthday!  It's hard to believe that the small baby that I brought home is now 6'3 and about to become a certified scuba diver.  It amazes me how quickly the time passes, and how fast they change.  I am enjoying watching him grow into the wonderful man I know that he will be.

So, Happy Birthday, Christopher, I am very proud of you!

All A Twitter...pated

Hello everyone!

Today's card is one that I did for a swap that I attended with my upline (and dear friend) Margaret last week.  It was actually hosted by her upline.  Imagine 17 ladies all around tables stamping, laughing and having a blast.  It was a really fun time.

The base is Basic Grey, all of the mats are Baja Breeze, and the DSP is from the Twitterpated Designer Series Paper pack.  I was worried that I wouldn't have enough of the first background pattern because usually SU! only gives 2 of each design but this time luck was on my side and I got 3 of the pink pattern!  I had JUST enough.  I used my spritzer tool and a Baja Breeze marker on the white layer and the image and  sentiment are from the beautiful Just Because set. The sentiment is highlighted with basic pearls, and is mounted on a modern label punch in Baja Breeze on the word window punch.  The pretty ruffled ribbon is actually Pool Party but I thought it was a close enough match that it didn't look too terribly out of place.  

Thanks for having a look, and may your day be a sunny one!

Mel.

Stampin Up Convention 2012 - Lip Dub

This past week Salt Lake City Utah was host to about 3000 Stampin Up demonstrators at the annual Stampin Up convention.  This video was done by the employees at head office and shown at Convention.  Looks like a fun place to work, I think I need a hula hoop at work, too!

I am starting to plan and save now in the hopes to go to Convention next year.  It will be the 25th anniversary and I am sure that Stampin Up is going to pull out all of the stops!  What better time to attend my first convention!

That being said, I am considering adding some classes or workshops to my schedule to help finance this trip.  Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss either option!

More Brayering

Hello my friends!  Today I have a lovely brayered card that I did recently for a friend at work who had recently lost a very dear girlfriend to cancer.  She had know this lady since kindergarten!  I can't imagine losing someone that close to my heart.

I started with Whisper White and brayered Baja Breeze, Marina Mist and Not Quite Navy at the top after masking a circle for my sun.  I stamped the cone flower image from the retired Inspired by Nature set (was anyone else sad to see this one go?) in Early Espresso and then sponged Chocolate Chip and Basic Black at the bottom.

It's layered with Chocolate chip and Marina Mist and the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes on a word window punch secured with silver brads.

She was very appreciative of the card and I hope it gave her some small comfort.

I hope you all have a wonderful day and give those you love a quick hug just because.

Mel.

OMG I did it....

Firstly, I must apologise for not having posted in so long.  I can't believe it's been since April that I posted!  Life gets in the way sometimes and some things get left behind.


Since my brayering classes in April I have been teaching Margaret a few of the techniques we learned.  I also had a chance to teach the last stamp club in June a brayering class.  We made one basic card, but I think it went over very well.

We used So Saffron, Peach Parfait and Tangerine Tango for the sky and Baja Breeze, Marina Mist and Night of Navy for the water.  The stamp is the a la carte stamp Sail Away from the current mini catalogue.  I have loved this stamp since I first saw it and absolutely had to have it.  After stamping we colored it with the brush end of a basic black marker to create a silhouette and highlighted the sails and water with a white gel pen.  

I hope your day is a wonderful one!

Brayering With Michelle Zindorf

This weekend past I had the pleasure to attend a beginner and advanced brayering workshop with Michelle Zindorf.  For those you unfamiliar with her she is an amazing artist and travels all over the states teaching her techniques to eager students. 

We made a total of 6 cards in the workshops, each more beautiful than the rest.  She covered not only basic brayering but sponging and emboss resist techniques, as well as reflection cards and other topics.  I don't want to give all her secrets away here, but suffice to say I came away with LOTS to think about.  :)

I had originally posted the cards we made here on my blog for everyone to see but I read somewhere that Michelle likes to keep the cards a suprise for upcoming students, so out of respect for her I have deleted all of the ones that we did in class.  The blue palms card is based on a card that we made, that we were challenged to do in two different color families.  I haven't decided the second family yet.  :)

Blue Palms

I am really thrilled with this one, I was a little worried that I would not be able to remember the techniques we learned.  Michelle has over 400 tutorials on her website for cards.  I plan on spending a lot of time time there.   :)  Thanks for looking!

Camper's Wedding

How cute is this!!  A collegue at work asked me to make a wedding/shower card for a wedding that she is going to. The couple are apparently avid campers and outdoors lovers and she asked specifically for something with a tent on it.  I had a look through my bazillion stamps and realised I didn't have anything even remotely camping themed.  My next stop was, of course, the web for inspiration.  I came across this website:

http://crafts.kaboose.com/tent-card.html

Which had the perfect template for me. 

I used basic white card stock for the base, sponged lightly with Blushing Bride to add some dimension. I also stamped "congratulations"  from the All Year Cheer 2 set from 2002.

For the tent layer I used the square lattice folder and for the tent fly I used a cuttlebug folder that I can't recall the name of.  The flowers looked wedding-ish to me.  :)  For the netting I used a piece of net with silver threads from my stash and pieces of silver cord for the "ropes". 

I think it's totally adorable, and hope that it will work for my collegue's needs. 

Hope your day is a sunny one!