Since it was launched with the new In Colours last year, I haven’t been a big fan of Terracotta Tile. I’ve loved crafting with the other colours, but I think I just haven’t been so sure what to coordinate with Terracotta Tile. So this week I decided to challenge myself and started my design with using this as one of my colours; for my other colour I went with Old Olive.

I took the “safe” route and decided to use Old Olive cardstock for the card base and then Terracotta Tile cardstock for my card mat. For stamping I really like how the Whisper White cardstock makes the other colours pop and so that’s what I used here.

Knowing that I was using Terracotta Tile as one of the colours for my card, the squares from the Tasteful Touches cling stamp set caught my eye. They reminded me of tiles and I thought that would work really well. I also really liked the idea of the “tiles” going across the cardstock.

I used both Terracotta Tile and Old Olive to stamp the squares a few times diagonally across my cardstock. It turned out nicely and it’s such a simple look.

Next I used a phrase from the Tasteful Touches stamp set, again with Terracotta Tile, and cut it out using the Stitched Nested Labels dies.

I felt like there was still something missing from the card and while one of my go tos are the Rhinestone Basic Jewels I didn’t feel like that would fit. So instead I went with some Linen Thread which has been another go to of mine in the past.

At first I wasn’t so sure about this card, but it came together nicely! I’m going to see if I can come up with some other projects using Terracotta Tile, after all it’s going to be around for another year.

If you like this project make sure to follow my blog so you’ll get an email every time I post.

This year for my littlest munchkin’s birthday he decided that he wanted a Super Mario birthday, which of course was sparked by his choice of birthday cake… a Mario Cart ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins.

Now while we couldn’t have our usual birthday party I still wanted to make it special for him. Usually I would have all kinds of cool things for decorations and games/activities, so for this birthday I scaled back a bit.

In terms of decorations I found a Super Mario birthday banner and we picked up some Super Mario balloons. I also found some boxes that I printed and put together to made 3D cubes that look like some of the boxes from the game.

I was also able to organize a party on Zoom for him and a few of his friends. He loved showing off the presents he’d gotten so far and we also played a few games of BINGO using characters from different Nintendo games, including the Super Mario games. It was really nice to see him catching up and having fun with his friends. That’s something that both of my munchkins have been missing since this whole thing started.

We also did a celebration with just the four of us. My little guy said that he wanted to do a scavenger hunt for his presents and so my oldest and I put it together for him. He had a great time following the clues all around the house to find his presents and an even better time opening them all up!

So with this whole Super Mario theme I of course had to make a birthday card to match. I used Granny Apple Green (Luigi) and Real Red (Mario) for the colours. The leaves for the plants came from the Free as a Bird cling stamp set and for the plants themselves I used the Layering Circles and Layering Ovals dies. For the spots I used the now retired 1/2″ circle punch.

His face lit up when he opened his card and that made it all totally worth it!

If you like this card be sure to follow my blog so that you’ll get an email whenever I post. You can also check out some of the other parties I’ve put on for my munchkins…

A Harry Potter Birthday!

Pokemon Birthday Party

Unicorn & Mermaid Birthday

I’m so excited that the new Annual Catalogue is here! I’m always eager to see what’s new… new stamp sets, new Designer Series Paper packs, ribbons, dies, etc. I might even be more excited about the new In Colours that were launched.

This is my first card using some of the products from the new Annual Catalgoue. At first I wasn’t sure about the Tasteful Touches cling stamp set, but I kept getting pulled back to it. I love the variety of the images and the phrases are really nice too. I’m looking forward to creating more cards and projects with this stamp set.

For this card I really wanted the flowers to be the main focus and I knew that I wanted to use one of the new In Colours. Fortunately I have the Misty Moonlight Stampin’ Spot from the May Paper Pumpkin kit (I’m still waiting to get my In Colour inkpads) and so this was my jumping off point.

From there I chose Purple Posy, one of the In Colours launched with last year’s Annual Catalogue, as the other colour for this card. I love how these two colours go together! I will definitely be using this colour combination again.

I stamped the flowers using Misty Moonlight and Purple Posy. The branches in the background were stamped with Purple Posy and the phrase using Misty Moonlight.

To step up the card a little bit more I used the Stitched Rectangles dies for the Whisper White cardstock that had the flowers on it and to create a border with another piece of Misty Moonlight cardstock. I debated about using the Stitched Rectangles for the phrase too, but in the end decided to leave it alone.

I also decided not to pop up the flowers, but I did use Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up the phrase. Then instead of adding a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels for my bling, cause you always have to add some bling to your cards, I went with the Misty Moonlight & Silver Baker’s Twine from the Flowers for Every Season Ribbon Combo Pack.

I can’t wait to get crafting with the rest of my new products from the new Annual Catalogue… so stay tuned for more!

If you like this card make sure to follow my blog so that you’ll get an email whenever I post and if you live in Canada and would like to get your hands on the new catalogue send me an email at inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com

The idea to #sharesunshine has been a welcome one during these challenging times. I’ve seen tons of pictures of people sharing what someone dropped off on their doorstep and it’s really nice to see people trying to connect even though we can’t do it like we’re used to. This is probably why I jumped at the chance to send some cards to my family members who I usually only send Holiday cards to. I even found an article in Better Homes & Garden about this whole thing…

www.bhg.com/sunshineboxes

I also found a group of women that are spreading sunshine, or in their case fairy dust, across Ontario. So when I found this group on Facebook I offered cards for those who are sharing sunshine in and around my area. I love being able to donate my cards knowing that they’re going to helping bring a smile to someone’s face.

One woman asked if I could make some tags and so I thought I would share what I made for her.

I’ve been loving crafting with the See a Silhouette Designer Series Paper lately and so of course I wanted to use it to create these tags. Next I grabbed my Delightful Tag Topper Punch to use on my Whisper White cardstock and the Crumb Cake twine from the Nature’s Twine pack…I’m so sad this is retiring 🙁

The “for you” came from the Beauty Abounds cling stamp set which I stamped in Night of Navy to pull from the colours in the DSP. I also used the bubbles and paint splatter images from the Beauty Abounds stamp set and again using the colours from the DSP I stamped with Daffodil Delight and Real Red.

I cut out the phrase and images using the Stitched Shaped dies and the Layering Circles dies. Then I popped up the phrase with some Stampin’ Dimensionals and added a few of the small Rhinestone Basic Jewels. I always need to add a bit of bling to my designs.

I hope that the women who receive these with their #sunshineboxes enjoy them as I definitely enjoyed making them.

If you like this project be sure to follow my blog so that you are notified whenever I post and if you would like to do something during these challenging times check out my post about Stamping for COVID-19.

To help support the World Health Organization and United Way, Stampin’ Up! created some digital stamps that can be used to create cards just for this challenging time we are all experiencing right now. I got mine pretty quickly, but I needed to wait for a printer toner to arrive, grrr! I guess I could have printed them in black in white, but I really liked the colours and so I just had to wait.

With 15 pages of images and phrases to choose from it took me a couple times going through them all to figure out which ones I wanted to start with. I still have a bunch of images to use, but I wanted to share a few of the cards that I’ve made so far.

Stampin’ Up! used a couple of my favourite colours, Rich Razzleberry and Petal Pink, and so that’s where I started. I also used the Heartfelt and Beauty Abounds stamp sets and popped up the other images and phrases using Stampin’ Dimensionals for these cards.

And of course I had to create some cards using the martini/”quaran-tini”. For that one I used Old Olive cardstock for the base (I honestly don’t know what other colour I would have used). I used the Beauty Abounds stamp set for these cards too.

After that I thought I’d just do some simple ones… I put some of the See a Silhouette Designer Series Paper on a few of the Whisper White Note Cards. The other DSP was some leftovers I have from the Lily Impressions DSP from this past Sale-a-bration. I also added some Whisper White Solid Bakers Twine, a few Pearl Basic Jewels and of course some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I only printed a few pages and I still have lots to create with so it was definitely $12 USD well spent, plus 100% of sales goes to support the World Health Organization and the United Way.

There’s still a few more days to get your own PDF full of these great images and phrases and they’re offered in different languages, so make sure to check out the link before June 2nd!

https://covid19.stampinup.com/

A few weeks ago I created a card using the #scrappystriptechnique and I just loved it so much that I had to create another using a different pack of Designer Series Paper! So with Father’s Day around the corner I thought it would be fun to use the Country Club Designer Series Paper. My dad loved golfing so this made me think of him when I was making it.

For my card base I used Night of Navy cardstock to coordinate with and make the colours from the DSP stand out. I added a piece of Whisper White to adhere the DSP to because I wanted something other than Night of Navy popping through between each strip. Plus that also made it easier to wrap the Linen Thread around.

Somehow I don’t have a stamp saying “Happy Father’s Day” (I’ll have to fix that soon!), so I chose a phrase from the Itty Bitty Birthdays cling stamp set that I thought would work and stamped it with Night of Navy ink. Then I cut out the phrase using the Stitched Rectangle dies and popped it up using some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I love how easy and fun this card was and how well it turned out and I can’t wait to use this technique with the Designer Series Paper from the upcoming new catalogue!

If you live in Canada and would like to get your hands on the new catalogue that launches on June 3rd send me an email at inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com and I’d be happy to send one to you.

And if you like this card be sure to follow my blog to that you’ll get notified whenever I post.

For this month’s Fancy Fold we were given the Double Easel card. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I went to look it up, but this card is very straight forward and looks really neat. I’ve created a basic instruction sheet that you can download, so keep scrolling, and here’s Sharon Armstrong’s video if you want to see another version.

As soon as I saw the video my mind went straight to the Magnolia Lane Designer Series Paper (I’m sad to see this DSP retiring). From there I decided to use Whisper White and Mossy Meadow cardstock for my card bases.

I went with the images from the Magnolia Blooms stamp set to really play up the images from the DSP, the phrase also came from this set. For the phrase I stamped with Mossy Meadow ink and for the blooms I decided to heat emboss them with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder.

After that I cut out the large bloom and popped it up on top of some Petal Pink Metallic-Edge Ribbon using some Stampin’ Dimensionals. I framed the phrase and other bloom using the Stitched Nested Labels Dies and of course I added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels to add some bling.

Here’s the view from the side to give you an idea of how the card bases overlap and create the double easel effect.

This was such a fun and easy card to make. I’m definitely going to be using this fold again!

To keep going on this month’s blog hop check out Aude Barbara’s blog next and make sure to download this simple project sheet.

2020 Double Easel Card Sheet

I make thank you cards to give my customers whenever they order from me and sometimes I’ve added some images, etc. to the bags I put their orders in. Recently I had the idea to make tags to attach to the bags instead and was inspired by another demonstrator’s design.

For my tags since I love butterflies I went with the Butterfly Wishes cling stamp set which coordinates with the Butterfly Duet Punch and for the top of the tag I used the Delightful Tag Topper Punch.

I put some Designer Series Paper from last year’s Sale-a-bration onto the Whisper White cardstock tag and chose the colour of my butterflies using some of the colours from the Nature’s Twine; Mint Macaron, Grapefruit Grove and Blackberry Bliss. “Thanks” came from the Beauty Abounds cling stamp set.

I’m wondering if the Blackberry Bliss is a little dark, so while I love it I may look at another shade of purple for my next batch. Otherwise I really like how they turned out and hope that my customers like them too!

If you like this project please follow my blog so you’ll be notified whenever I post!

Since the list of retiring products came out I’ve been trying to create with the stamp sets, etc. that soon will be gone to keep me busy while I wait for my pre-order from the upcoming Annual Catalogue to arrive. This week I pulled out the This Little Piggy cling stamp set. I actually haven’t used this set very much, but it’s so cute… I’m wondering now how come I didn’t stamp with it more often.

For this card I also wanted to use some of the Bermuda Bay 1/4″ Mini Striped Ribbon before it’s gone as well, so that’s what sparked my colour combination. I used Bermuda Bay cardstock for the card base and Petal Pink cardstock for the card mat. I really like how these colours compliment each other, plus the Petal Pink ink worked perfectly for the pigs.

To frame my pigs I used the Stitched Shapes dies and popped them up with Stampin’ Dimensionals. I also used the Pinewood Planks 3D Embossing folder to add a sort of farm feel to the card.

When my daughter saw this card this morning she commented that it was “the cutest card ever” and I do agree with her, this card is super cute!

If you like this card make sure to follow my blog so that you’re notified whenever I post a project!

Also for those of you who live in Canada who haven’t had a chance to look at this year’s list of retiring products here it is. And let me know if you have any questions, especially regarding what is still available, I’m happy to help! (inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com)

Retiring List 2020

For Mother’s Day this year I wanted to create a different kind of card, so when I saw a Double Corner Fold card created by a demonstrator from the UK I knew that was what I wanted to make.

For my design I started by deciding to use the Timeless Tulips bundle. From there I choose Old Olive for the card base, stems and leaves and Daffodil Delight for the card mat and some of the tulips. I also used Calypso Coral ink for the other tulips and went with Very Vanilla cardstock for a softer white to stamp my images on.

Using the Tulip Builder Punch made it really easy to add some tulips and leaves to the inside of the card.

For the phrase on the inside of the card I used one from the Strong & Beautiful cling stamp set.

On the outside I used the Stitched Rectangle dies to frame “Happy Mother’s Day”, which came from Timeless Tulips. I also added some Linen Thread and one Rhinestone Basic Jewel.

This was a fun and relatively easy card to make. I hope my mom likes it! Here are the measurements, etc. I used if you’d like to try this for yourself…

• card base: 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ and fold in half
• measure 2″ from each top corner along the top/fold as well as down the side, mark each point with a pencil on both sides of the card base
• score between the pencils marks on both sides of the card base
• push the corners in towards the inside of the card

If you like this card be sure to follow my blog so you’ll be notified whenever I post and if you make your own Double Corner Fold card I’d love to see a pic!

I’ve been meaning to create something for Stampin’ Up!s April #simplestamping challenge all month, but with everything going on my inkspiration has been running low and so I kept putting it off. In the last week or so my creativity and inkspiration has started making a come back and so I was finally able to tap in and come up with an idea.

The challenge for this past month was to create a birthday card using only stamps, ink and paper. One of my go to stamp sets for birthday cards has been Broadway Birthday and so that’s where I started for my card design. For the colours I pulled from the Best Dressed 6×6 Designer Series Paper because I knew that I wanted to use that in my stepped up version; I went with Petal Pink and Blackberry Bliss for my paper and ink.

I also decided to use the small bubble image from the Beauty Abounds cling stamp set because I wanted to add something other than balloons or candles for this birthday card.

Here it is…

For my stepped up version I added Stampin’ Dimensionals of course, I had to fight my urge to use dimensionals on the #simplestamping version. I also added in another colour ink; Purple Posy using the Stampin’ Write Marker to ink up the stamps. Then I also used a strip of the Best Dressed 6×6 DSP and added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

I will be sad to see Broadway Birthday and the Best Dressed DSP go, but I’m excited to see what the new Annual Catalogue will bring. If you want to grab these or any of the other products that will be retiring check out my online shop.

All over the world we are being challenged by Covid-19. We are all being asked to stay home, businesses and schools are closed and yet for many work and school are still happening.

While I thought of writing this post a couple of weeks ago, I wasn’t in the place to write it. At that point we were only a couple of weeks into this whole social distancing thing and we were still waist deep in trying to figure out what this new “normal” was going to look like without killing each other. I was also still trying to figure out what I needed to do for myself to stay positive and keep my mental health in a good place.

When this all started I was definitely struggling to find my inkspiration. I would get to the end of the day and I was exhausted, so there wasn’t much crafting happening for a while. Fortunately one weekend my youngest munchkin said he wanted to make a card and I remembered I still had some Paper Pumpkin kits that I hadn’t finished. So we all ended up making some cards from last March’s Paper Pumpkin kit. It was nice to make a card without having to really think about it.

Since then I’ve also been making it a priority to get outside for a walk everyday… read more… colour more and enjoy some peace and quiet as often as I can (and with two munchkins that can be hard to find some days).

Thankfully we seem to have found our rhythm, although we still do have our days. My creativity and inkspiration also seem to be flowing a bit more easily these days which is nice. I do realize though that there are still going to be days that are a bit more challenging and so I have a few go tos for when I need a good laugh. Laughing is another thing that I’ve found really helpful during this time.

So here’s a little something that I hope will make you laugh or at least bring a smile to your face.

Stay safe and stay positive!!

It’s that time of year when we’re about to say goodbye to a group of In Colours to make room for the next ones from the upcoming new Annual catalogue. Which is why I thought I would make some cards featuring the 2018-2020 In Colours. The inkspiration for this design came from a fellow demonstrator; Helene Den Breejen. It’s a great way to feature a single colour, plus they have butterflies…. so I couldn’t resist!

For the butterfly I used the Butterfly Wishes cling stamp set along with the coordinating Butterfly Duet punch. Then for the frames I used the 2 largest squares from the Stitched Shaped dies and the smallest die from the Stitched Rectangle dies for the phrases.

I used phrases from different stamp sets for the cards. With the Call Me Clover  and Pineapple Punch cards I used phrases from the Itty Bitty Birthdays cling stamp set. Then with the Blueberry Bushel card I used “congratulations” from the First Frost cling stamp set.

With the other two cards, using Lovely Lipstick and Grapefruit Grove, I used phrases from the Beauty Abounds cling stamp set.

To create the background I used the different inkpads on the raised side of the Scripty 3D Embossing Folder and then placed the card front in the folder and ran it through my die cutting machine.

To finish it off I popped up the butterflies and frames using Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals. I debated about adding some pearls or rhinestones, but decided to keep it simple.

I really like how these turned out and am definitely going to miss these colours when they are gone!

If you live in Canada and want to find out what else is retiring when the new catalogue arrives, or if you want to get your hands on a copy of the new Annual catalogue, send me an email and I will gladly send them to you!

It’s time for another Fancy Fold Blog Hop…. and this month’s fold is the Free Standing Pop Up card. Here’s a YouTube video to help you create one for yourself. I’ve also created a step by step instruction sheet, so make sure to scroll to the end!

For my card I started with the colours and then built up the design from there. I used Bermuda Bay cardstock for the card base, with Crushed Curry for the ribbon and cardstock behind the birds and I also decided to throw in some Pear Pizzazz cardstock for the tag and cardstock behind the phrase.

For the phrase and image I used the Free as a Bird cling stamp set and then used the Layering Circles Dies to cut them out as well as the borders behind them. I also wanted to add some extra texture to my design, so I used the Country Floral 3D Embossing Folder for the base and the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder for the tag.

To finish it off I used some of the colours from both sets of Watercolour Pencils to colour the bird image and then added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels for a little bling.

I really enjoyed making this card and love how it turned out! If you would like to make your own grab the instruction sheet and then post a pic in the comments. I’d love to see your cards!

2020 Free Standing Pop Up Card Sheet

If you liked this card make sure to hop over to Nadine Schweda’s blog and check out her card as well as all the other projects. And make sure to follow my blog so you’ll be notified whenever I post!

I enjoy decorating our house depending on the season we’re in and this Spring is no exception, although with everything happening right now I tried to stick to using what I had in my home already.

The idea for this framed piece originally came from a print I saw at a Michael’s a while ago…

I absolutely LOVE butterflies and so loved this idea!

For my version I used the Botanical Butterfly Designer Series Paper from last year’s Sale-a-bration and the Butterfly Duet Punch. I did also have to use my scissors to cut out some of the bigger butterflies, but thankfully the punch took care of most of them.

It definitely took some time and patience to get this done, but it was totally worth it. I love how it turned out! Now I just need to figure out where to hang it. Thoughts?!

If you like this project make sure to follow my blog so that you’re notified whenever I post!