Inkspiration Cards

Giant Year End Closeout!

Posted on December 8, 2020December 7, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

It’s that time of year… Stampin’ Up! has released it’s lists of products from the August-December Mini catalogue that will be retiring! The Giant Year End Closeout sale starts today and these products will only be available while supplies last. There are some great products that are 50% so I’m guessing some things will sell out quickly.

If this is your first Year End Closeout here’s how it works. Each year around this time Stampin’ Up! makes two lists. One is a list of products that will be carrying over and will still be available once this mini catalogue is finished. The other is a list of products that won’t be coming back. This year’s lists are a little bit different because some of the products carrying over will be available right away in January, but others won’t be until the next August-December Mini catalogue. For now though the important thing to know is what’s retiring, so here’s the list…

2020-Holiday-Catalog-Retiring-List-CANADIAN Download

Once you’ve made your list head over to my online shop! If you order by December 9th you may get your order in time for the holidays, but after that it’s highly unlikely. And remember to use this month’s host code when you place your order…

This Giant Year End Closeout sale is only on until January 4th, 2021 or while supplies last, so don’t miss out!

Poinsettia Petals and Heartwarming Hugs

Posted on December 5, 2020December 5, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

December is here and we’ve got about 3 weeks til Christmas! I’m almost ready, how about you? I’m hoping to start crafting with some goodies from the new catalogues soon. So this week I thought I’d share one more holiday themed card. For this card I combined Poinsettia Petals and Heartwarming Hugs Designer Series Paper. This design is another from a recent team crafting playdate. You can check out the other design I created for this playdate here.

For the card base I used Mossy Meadow cardstock. I kept this simple, although the Subtle 3D Embossing folder would look nice with this card design too. Then I layered on some different designs from the Heartwarming Hugs DSP pack.

To add a little something more I stamped a phrase from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set and cut it out with the Stitched Shapes dies. I stamped the phrase with Pear Pizzazz ink. For the poinsettia and leaves I used Real Red, Pear Pizzazz and Mossy Meadow. I also stamped a poinsettia on the inside of the card using Real Red ink.

Then I put a small Real Red poinsettia on top and added a small Pearl Basic Jewel in the centre. I love the Poinsettia dies! I’ve been using them for a lot of different projects. Here’s the full card…

Next time around I would probably emboss the front part of the card base. Even with that though I really like this card. It’s nice and simple and looks great! The Poinsettia Petals and Heartwarming Hugs DSP really work nicely together.

Brightly Gleaming Holiday

Posted on November 27, 2020November 27, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

I was so glad when Stampin’ Up! brought back the Brightly Gleaming Designer Series Paper this year. It has such pretty designs and I love the foil elements in some of them! So of course I had to make a Brightly Gleaming holiday card. This card design came from a team card sketch challenge. I really like doing sketch challenges because it usually gives me a design I haven’t thought of.

For this card I started with the Brightly Gleaming DSP to figure out my colour combination. I kept it simple because I wanted the DSP to really stand out, so I chose Night of Navy and Whisper White. And with the gold foil in one of the DSP designs I used some of the Gold Metallic Trim from the Forever Greenery Trim Combo pack.

The phrase came from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set, which is one of my favourites from this year’s holiday catalogue. I stamped it with Night of Navy ink and cut it out with the largest squares from the Stitched Shapes dies. I also cut out some Night of Navy cardstock with one of the circle dies for that piece of the sketch design. Then I popped up the phrase using some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I like how simple all the layers are in this sketch design, it really helps the DSP stand out. Here’s the full card…

I’ve still got a lot to do for the upcoming holidays. So it was nice to not have to think about a design for this card. I really like how it turned out too.

If you liked this Brightly Gleaming holiday card then you might want to check out this card. This card is a bit fancier because it was made for a Fancy Fold Design Team Blog Hop, but was a lot of fun to make.

One Day Flash Sale

Posted on November 24, 2020November 24, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

Stampin’ Up!s Merry & Bright one day flash sale is here! Perfect timing for the upcoming holidays for yourself or any crafters in your life. Until midnight tonight you’ll get 10% off just about everything in the Annual Catalogue. It was actually easier for Stampin’ Up! to make a list of what isn’t on sale today. Grab the exclusion list at the end of this post.

What’s on your wishlist?! Today’s a great day to cross some things off it. Maybe that tool or stamp set you have put off getting.

For all my Canadian stampers here’s the link to my online shop and make sure to use this month’s host code when you do to be entered for a chance to win this month’s host benefits!

Here’s the exclusion list…

One-Day-Sale-Nov-2020 Download

Don’t miss out on this one day flash sale!

Window Accordion Fold

Posted on November 20, 2020November 20, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

It’s time for another Fancy Fold design team blog hop! And this month we’re making cards using the Window Accordion Fold. This fold took me a little bit to wrap my head around. Kylie Bertucci’s video does a great job of walking you through it. For measurements I’ve posted them at the end of this post so make sure to keep reading.

When I was thinking of what to use for my card my first thought was Christmas, of course! Then I remembered my Butterfly Beauty dies and thought that would look great. So I decided to make both! For the first card I used Rich Razzleberry and Purple Posy for my colours. Then I used Beauty Abounds and Butterfly Wishes for the stamped images and phrase.

I decided to keep it simple with this one and used cardstock and stamped images instead of Designer Series Paper. And it was really easy to adhere the butterfly die cuts to each other and the window sheet with the adhesive sheets. I love how it turned out!

For my holiday version I used Mossy Meadow cardstock and the Heartwarming Hugs DSP for the base. The images and phrase came from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set. This is one of my favourite sets right now! And I used Real Red, Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz and Early Espresso for my ink colours. On my window sheet I used the Poinsettia dies and layered the flowers and leaves on both sides using Glue Dots. I also added some Pearl Basic Jewels to the centre of the outer poinsettias.

Once I wrapped my head around this card it was pretty easy to put together. I love how both of my Window Accordion Fold cards turned out! As promised here are the measurements I used for this card…

Window and cardstock for base: 4 1/4″ x 11″, scored at 5 1/2″

Cardstock/Patterned Paper mats: 4″ x 5 1/4″

Cardstock for stamping: 3 3/4″ x 5″

You can check out my project from last month`s hop here. And to keep going with this month`s blog hop check out Nadine Schweda`s post here!

Gold Foil Christmas

Posted on November 17, 2020November 17, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

It’s been a while since I’ve shared some cards from a now not so recent card swap with my team. This card swap was to show off products from the August-December Mini Catalogue. This time around I’m sharing some of the gold foil Christmas cards that were made. I love all the foil and metallic papers! And for the upcoming holidays using foil is a no-brainer.

This first card was made by Moira Sands. She used the Gift Wrapped bundle to create this card that looks just like a present. Along with the foil she used Pretty Peacock. I really like how these colours go together.

One of my other favourite things to do is heat embossing. It’s such an easy way to add something special! Like Moira’s card this card uses foil and heat embossing. Except this time it’s with gold and the Sweetest Time bundle. This card was made by Eileen McAuliffe and I always love her cards. Along with the foil she used some Garden Green cardstock to create some more layers. I really like how she only used a piece of Basic Black for the card. It really make the gold stand out.

Now, last but not least is my favourite of these three cards! It was made by Vicki Howie. Even though you need a die cutting machine to create the layers, this is a pretty simple card. I’m a big fan of simple cards which could be why I like this one so much. I love how she paired the Tis the Season Designer Series Paper (on the left) with the Plaid Tidings DSP (on the right). Plus she included some Gilded Gems “on the side” so we could decide if and where we wanted to use them.

If you liked these gold foil Christmas cards you should check out some of the other cards from this card swap.

I’m also in the final weeks of my 12 Weeks of Christmas! This is where my email newsletter subscribers receive exclusive holiday themed projects to help get ready for the now not so far away holidays. You won’t find these projects anywhere else! If you live in Canada, contact me to find out how you can join my mailing list.

Mystery Stamping

Posted on November 14, 2020November 14, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

A couple of weeks ago I joined my team for an online crafting playdate. There were games, prizes and of course lots of stamping. As part of this playdate we also did some mystery stamping. If you’ve never done this before here’s how it works. We got a basic supply list in advance and I mean basic… cardstock, Designer Series Paper, stamps and ink. Then we got measurements and steps to complete our project over the whole day. At first I wasn’t so sure how this would go, but it turned out to be a lot of fun!

For my design I started by picking my Designer Series Paper. I went with the Heartwarming Hugs DSP. Once I figured that out it was pretty easy to choose my cardstock colours and inks. I used being Real Red and Whisper White for the cardstock and Mossy Meadow and Smoky Slate for the ink.

It was hard to pick a stamp set though. So I picked out a couple to give me some options as I crafted. The stamp sets I used were Cherish the Season and Snowman Season. I especially liked the Cherish the Season stamps because they have coordinating dies that I used later.

I got my ideas for the embellishments as I crafted. On the inside I added some small Mossy Meadow pine branches and stamped a small bell.

On the outside I used the Stitched Rectangle dies to cut out a phrase from the Snowman Season stamp set. I wrapped the cardstock flap on the left side of the card with the Faux Linen ribbon from the Flowers for Every Season ribbon combo pack. Then I die cut a few stamped bells and added a few Pearl Basic Jewels.

This kind of card actually has a name. I just realized it now. It’s a Joy Fold card and you can check out one I made earlier this year here. I love how my card turned out! And it was fun seeing all the different cards that were made using the same mystery stamping clues. We’ll be having another playdate in the New Year and I can’t wait to see what we end up doing!

OnStage at Home

Posted on November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

2 years ago I was hanging out in Florida with one of my best friends and hundreds of other Stampin’ Up! demonstrators for OnStage. I had such an amazing time stamping and celebrating Stampin’ Up!s 30th anniversary! This year though OnStage was different. This year I attended OnStage at home.

For obvious reasons Stampin’ Up! switched to a completely virtual event. Even with that they kept as close as they could to how they would have run it in person. There were great information and business sessions and amazing speakers. And of course we got a sneak peek at the upcoming new catalogue and got to see some samples using some of the new products. We even got to do some stamping with some of the new products! They sent all the measurements we needed and we were able to order to the new products in advance if we wanted. I totally wanted to so I ordered the products and here are the 2 of the cards we made together, so to speak.

The one downside though of course was that we couldn’t do it in person. I haven’t seen my team, my Stampin’ Up! family, in person since before this whole pandemic. This reminded me of how much I miss being able to sit with them and whisper back and forth during the stamping presentations. We made due and I chatted in messenger with my smaller team. I chatted with my larger team in a special Facebook group that we set up just for this. We even did a ZOOM team photo since we couldn’t do an in person photo.

OnStage at home was still alot of fun and as always we got free Stampin’ Up! product! Once I get my new goodies from the upcoming new catalogue I’ll share them on my Facebook page, so make sure to check that out. Or if you live in Canada and would like to get in on all the fun then join my team. I’d love to work (aka stamp) with you!

Snowman Season

Posted on November 6, 2020November 6, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

November is here and there are only 49 days until the holidays! That also means that snow and colder weather are just around the corner. Now I can really dive into my holiday crafting. I’ve been doing a lot of crafting lately with some of the newer stamp sets from the August-December Mini catalogue. So I thought it was time to bring out a favourite of mine that was carried over from last year’s Holiday catalogue; Snowman Season.

There are so many things I love about this stamp set! The snowman images are super cute and I really like the fonts and phrases. Plus if you love to colour like I do you can colour the snowmen, but you don’t have to.

The idea for this card came from a recent team sketch challenge. So with the design of the card taken care of I focused on colours and images. In this case what came first was the image to go in the oval in the centre. The larger snowman from the Snowman Season stamp set I thought would be a great focal point.

From there I decided on a colour combination. I wanted to use the Seaside Spray Metallic ribbon on this card so that became one of my colours. To go with Seaside Spray I picked Pretty Peacock. I love using different blues when I’m making holiday cards and I love how these two go together.

Next I wanted to add some texture to the piece of Pretty Peacock cardstock. So I used the Winter Snow Embossing folder, but not before I stamped the raised snowflakes with my Whisper White inkpad. I really like how it helps the embossed snowflakes stand out, but it’s not overpowering.

Then I coloured the snowman with some Stampin’ Blends. I’ll take any chance I can to colour with those! And I cut out the snowman with one of the ovals from the Stitched Shapes dies and popped it up using some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I shared this version with my team, but then felt like it still needed something more. When that happens my go to is to add bling! So that’s what I did with this card. I pulled out my Rhinestone Basic Jewels (a favourite go to of mine) and added a few in the center of a few of the snowflakes.

I really like how this card turned out, even the inside…

If you like this project check out another post featuring the Snowman Season stamp set (link). Or you can sign up for my weekly email newsletter. We’re in the middle of my 12 Weeks of Christmas featuring exclusive holiday themed projects that you won’t find anywhere else! For more info and to sign up go here.

Woodland Themed Birthday

Posted on November 3, 2020November 3, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

For my daughter’s birthday this year she decided she wanted a woodland themed birthday party. Obviously with everything going on it was just us, but I still wanted to make it special. I wasn’t quite sure where to start so of course I searched Pintrest. Most of the ideas I found were for much younger kids, but I did get some inspiration.

I started with creating a birthday banner. A few years ago I got the Celebration Basics kit and had been using it for craft fairs. Since then I’ve revamped how I do up my tables and so I took the banner apart to make a birthday banner. To have it go with the woodland theme I cut out a couple of evergreen trees using some retired green glimmer paper. I also used a butterfly to separate the words and behind the letters I used some retired Designer Series Paper with a brown marble look.

For more woodland themed decorations I grabbed a log from our fire pit stash. I also brought out a birch branch that I found on a recent family hike. I set them up on our dining room table with some fall coloured leaves and acorns. Then to top it off I added a bunch of my munchkins woodland stuffies. Even though my daughter’s eleven now she still loves her stuffies. So I loved being able to use them to celebrate her!

Next up I had to create a woodland themed birthday card. I didn’t have anything in my stamp stash that would work. Fortunately someone from my team let me borrow the Someone Special stamp set. I paired that with some current and some retired products and I think it turned out really nicely. Most importantly she loved it!

And of course there had to be a cake! I found a local business that did a fabulous job creating something with the woodland theme. I asked for a birch tree stump looking cake with some flowers. Once I picked it up I added a few die cut butterflies and the candles. It turned out awesome!

My daughter is also a huge Harry Potter fan. And for those of you who aren’t… Harry receives his letter to Hogwarts on his eleventh birthday. So to top everything off I found a Hogwarts Acceptance Letter and envelope. I put the letter in the envelope which I had delivered to her bed via owl post. (Last year was the big Harry Potter birthday party)

Given current circumstances I think things turned out really well. We’ve still got everything for her woodland themed birthday all set up actually. Maybe this weekend I’ll take it all down. I hope you enjoyed this and that it gives you some ideas to use for yourself.

Halloween Shadow Box

Posted on October 30, 2020October 30, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

Even though Halloween is looking a little different this year, we’re trying to make the best of it. My munchkins have been decorating inside and outside our house. Our pumpkins were carved earlier this week and I’m putting some treats together. I’ve also been having fun creating different projects for Halloween. Usually I’m not much for Halloween cards so I’ve been making treat boxes and other things. My last “big” project for Halloween this year is a Halloween shadow box.

I’ve had some of these supplies for a while and have used them in different projects. Recently when I was cleaning up my craft stash I found them and decided I’d pull them together to make a home decor piece. Then about a week ago when I was at a local Michael’s picking up some stuff for my daughter’s birthday I saw that they had shadow boxes and frames on sale. So of course I grabbed a shadow box, black of course, for my other pieces.

Here are some of the supplies I used…

The Designer Series Paper I used came from the Magic in the Night pack, which is on sale until tomorrow. The spiders are ones that have usually ended up on our front porch with webs for decoration. The shiny pumpkins came from a local Dollarama and the ribbon was from a previous project.

The other pieces came from project kit I got when I joined the Stampin’ Up! family. It came with a black tray, some other Halloween themed patterned paper and the ribbon I mentionned. The tray has recently been painted white because I decided I want to use it for something else. So I was left with the other pieces. I think the pieces I used worked really well together.

I love how the Halloween shadow box turned out and I hope you do too. If you’re interested in how to make some easy Halloween themed treat boxes then you’ll definitely want to check out this post from a couple of weeks ago!

Pressed Leaves Bookmarks

Posted on October 27, 2020October 27, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

I was trying to think of something to do with my munchkins for fall. Then something caught my eye on Pintrest and I came up with the idea to make pressed leaves bookmarks. We’ve got a bunch of readers in our house and so I thought this would work out great, not just something that ends up getting tossed later. So we started collecting leaves on our walks to and from school. My oldest was a bit picky with her leaf choices, but my little guy was picking up all kinds of leaves. He ended up filling up his paper bag twice. Once that was done I got them all set to press.

After a few days they were all set and ready to go. I gave them each a piece of Whisper White cardstock that I had punched with the Delightful Tag Topper punch. Once they had gone through all their leaves they picked their favourites.

I gave them the Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue to help get the leaves to stick to the cardstock. I also had some wax paper ready to wrap around the bookmarks. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about anything happening to the leaves or the books. So once they were ready I ironed the was paper wrapped bookmarks. It worked fairly well. I still ended up added a strip of clear tape at the back for good measure though. I even made one for myself! Here they are before we added some ribbon…

The next step was to add some ribbon or twine. Since I’ve been a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator for over 8 years now I have a pretty good stash. (one of the hazards of the job… I buy new before I’ve used up my other ribbon and twine. although I think most crafters do this too.) I showed them all the options and they went with some retired ribbon for their bookmarks. They picked from my stash of retired ribbons, but I went with something current…

I used a piece of the Just Jade Gingham ribbon from the Flowers for Every Season combo pack. And then I tied a bow with a piece of Linen Thread to keep it in place. I debated about adding a stamped phrase on top of the leaves, but decided I didn’t want to cover them up.

We had a lot of fun making these pressed leaves bookmarks. Now I have to swap out my bookmark from the book I’m reading right now! If you liked this project you might want to check out the shrinky-dinks I made with my munchkins. Enjoy!

Diagonal Square Fold Card

Posted on October 23, 2020October 23, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these and so was excited to get back to it. This month’s Fancy Fold Design Team Blog Hop is the Diagonal Square Fold card. These cards are super cute and really easy to make! I’ve made a simple project sheet if you want to try this for yourself, so keep reading. And here’s a video if you’d like to see this in action.

For this month’s hop I decided to make two cards. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to make one for Halloween or Christmas. So I did both! For my Halloween card I used the Magic is in the Night Designer Series Paper and Harvest Hellos stamp set. The card base is of course Basic Black and I coloured my pumpkin using Stampin’ Blends.

On the inside of this card I used one of the squares from the Stitched Shapes dies. Then to help keep the card closed I added some Linen Thread under the pumpkin. This way I wouldn’t have to worry about losing my thread.

For my Christmas version I simply switched things up a bit. I used Pretty Peacock for the card base and the Brightly Gleaming DSP. The phrase and inside image came from the Poinsettia Petals stamp set, one of my current favourites.

To keep this little card closed I used some of the Silver Metallic Edge Ribbon. And like my Halloween card I just wrapped it around and tucked it behind the phrase. Here’s the inside…

I had a lot of fun making these cute little cards (they’re only 3″). Plus it gave me the chance to use more of my DSP. If you’d like to make your own Diagonal Square Fold card then make sure to grab my simple project sheet.

2020-Diagonal-Square-Card-Sheet Download

To keep going on this month’s Fancy Fold Design Team Blog Hop check out Aude’s project!

Countdown to Halloween

Posted on October 20, 2020October 20, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

We’re doing a countdown to Halloween in our house! Since this year is going to look very different I thought I would do something a little different. My munchkins love Halloween and have already been decorating the house. So just in case we’re not able to go trick or treating I thought I would convert my Christmas Countdown project kit into one for Halloween. It was super easy to do and I love the Magic is in the Night Designer Series Paper!

To start I picked a bunch of different designs from the Magic is in the Night DSP pack. I wanted to make sure I had enough options to spread out the designs. Then I cut them down to fit the front of the boxes.

To make sure I didn’t cover up the groove in the top of the box I used one of the Stitched Shapes circle dies. I also used one of these dies to cut out all my numbers. The numbers came from a retired stamp set I have for just such a project, but you can use whatever you have. I stamped the numbers in Blackberry Bliss and Cajun Craze ink; alternating between odd and even numbers.

Then of course I had to fill them with something. While my munchkins enjoy some of the Halloween chocolates/treats, they really love gummies. So I went to my local Bulk Barn to get some different Halloween themed gummies. I did also pick up a box of chocolates. Since I have two munchkins and I wasn’t about to make one for each of them I had to be strategic in my treat choices. The gummies of course fit no problem. As for the rest I was able to put in 2 packages of Rockets, M & Ms and Kit Kat bars. If you only have to fit in one you’d likely be able to fit in a single Coffee Crisp or box of Smarties.

My munchkins have been really enjoying their countdown. Here’s how it turned out…

I love how easy this was and so I think I might have to do something like this for their next birthdays!

I’m having an online class using the Christmas Countdown project kit and there’s still time to RSVP. So if you live in Canada and would like some more information check out my upcoming classes and events. The deadline to RSVP is November 3rd and you can always email me with any questions; inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com.

Halloween Treat Boxes

Posted on October 16, 2020October 16, 2020 by inkspirationwithteresa

I decided this week that I needed to make some Halloween treat boxes. At this point I still don’t know what Halloween is going to look like for us this year… hopefully they’ll say something soon. In the meantime though I’m doing some things for my munchkins so that they still enjoy it no matter what it looks like.

For the boxes I used Basic Black cardstock for the base, of course, and Magic in this Night Designer Series Paper. I love this pack of patterned paper and am excited to make some other projects with it! Since I have 2 munchkins I made 2 treat boxes, but I used 2 different designs. I also wanted them to hold a good number of treats so I made them 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″.

Here are the full measurements…

cardstock base: 6 1/2″ x 6 1/2″, scored at 1 1/2″ on all sides
patterned paper lid: 5 1/8″ x 5 1/8″, scored at 3/4″ on all sides

Before I folded the base of the box I stamped a few pumpkins, etc. from the Harvest Hellos stamp set using Whisper White ink. I debated about heat embossing with white, but liked how the images look a little faded. I did heat emboss the tags for the boxes though.

From there it was a quick fold and stick; I used the Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue to hold the base and lid together. Then I tested the size of the box with a few treats. It looks like it will hold about 6 of the Halloween sized chocolate bars. You can put in any kind of candy you like.

To finish it off I used some Linen thread to secure the lids and tags to the base of the boxes. I really liked how these turned out. Plus they were super easy to make!

If you want to make your own Halloween treat boxes, now is a great time. The Magic in this Night DSP is 15% off! Check it out here along with the other Designer Series Paper packs that are on sale this month. Crafting with patterned paper is an easy way to step up any project. Check out this card I made using one of Stampin’ Up!s other Designer Series Paper packs.