Prairie Sky Paper Crafts

 Sometimes, it is incredibly hard to find inspiration with a stamp set. This was the case for me with Beetles & Bugs from the current Occasions catalogue... When I saw it, I immediately thought I NEED THAT!!! (along with nearly everything else in that catalogue, but I digress...) I have a five  year old boy, who is more than slightly obsessed with all things creepy crawly with which he can torture his sister. However, when I actually got the set, it sat on my desk for a very long while before I even knew what I wanted to do with it. Several attempts went into the recycling bin. There wasn't much inspiration with it online, either. But, one morning last week, I woke up determined to make something with that set- and an upcoming birthday party was the perfect reason to get it inky. This first card was created for my launch party- the ladybugs coloured in Real Red, paired with Mint Macaron and the flower from Avant Garden (free Saleabration set) stamped in Versamark. Aft...

With all the excitement about the new Occasions catalogue, and Saleabration, some of the sets from the annual catalogue have gone by the wayside. My dad's birthday is next week, and I wasn't really getting inspired by any of the new sets, so I decided to break out one of my favourite sets from the annual catalogue. I absolutely love the simplicity of The Wilderness Awaits. The images are crisp and clear, and look amazing either coloured, or, like I did here- just stamped on the card. The stag was stamped on Crumb Cake using Chocolate Chip ink, and was layered on Dapper Denim and then placed on Subtle Suede.  I decided it needed a little something else, and used the leaves from the free Saleabration kit Avant Garden. They were stamped in Versamark and then the Happy Birthday sentiment (from another Saleabration set- Designer Tee) was stamped in Chocolate chip. Quick and easy card, already on its way to my dad. If you'd like information about how to get FREE stamp...

I love it when inspiration comes from unexpected places. This was the case for this background technique. Last week, I was cleaning up my craft space from the holiday cardmaking extravaganza, and unpacked some of the items I purchased during the year-end closeouts. One of the items I purchased was a punch board. It came in a bubble wrap bag. I took it and put it on my desk, intending to put the packaging in the garbage. It landed on my Versamark pad, and inspiration was born! Hope over to my Facebook page to check out the video tutorial for the background . Materials: Watermelon Wonder, and Mint Macaron cardstock (In Colour 2015-2017) Basic Black cardstock Clear embossing powder Bubble wrap Versamark pad Embossing Buddy Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits dies Playful Pallet washi tape Wink of Stella clear glitter pen Create the background using the bubble wrap, Versamark and embossing powder Cut the background piece to 3.25x3.5 Cut a piece of Mint Macaron to 3.5x3.7...

Christmas is just over, and yet, I have Valentine's Day on my mind. I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but my kids love giving cards to their school friends, so, every year, we head to the store and get them. This year, I decided to change things up a bit. I was mulling over ideas yesterday, trying to figure out what I was going to do with their class cards this year. After all, I have some beautiful paper, amazing stamps and other fun things from the Occasions and Salabration catalogues that started this week. I had decided that I would use Real Red cardstock, the sentiment from Cool Treats stamp set and the ladybug from Beetles & Bugs. Then I started thinking about other paper I have... and remembered the Candy Cane Lane paper from the holiday catalogue. I still had a few pieces left, and they match with Real Red, so I thought- why not? There's patterns in there that don't look Christmas specific, and I AM on a quest to use more of what I already ha...