Many moons ago, before I had my two munchkins, I participated in a crop for the cure event that was looking to raise funds for breast cancer. It was a 24 hour crop til you drop event, although my friend and I opted to get a little shut eye part way through over at her place which wasn’t far from the venue. This was a great chance to spread out your supplies and really dive deep into your scrapbooks or whatever other projects people decided to bring with them. At that time I was spending more of my time scrapbooking than cardmaking… that happens when you don’t have two munchkins always calling for you ;P

Nowadays it’s more cardmaking than scrapbooking and while I absolutely love making cards and other papercrafts and sharing all of that with you, I do miss scrapbooking! It’s a great way to be creative and at the same time you get the chance to reminisce about the memories you’re putting on the pages. I would usually spread out my supplies so that I could see or easily get to whatever sparked my inkspiration for that particular photo or page, so these crop for the cure events are great because you get a half a table just for you and your supplies.

This weekend I will be at another crop for the cure event, but this time it’s not 24 hours and I will be there as a vendor not a participant. I think this is why recently I’ve been thinking more and more of needing to start scrapbooking more often. I’m so excited to be a part of this event and can’t wait to meet new creative people!

There’s so much going on, even if you’re not cropping the day away and all of the funds raised as part of this event will go towards Neuroblastoma research at the Hospital for Sick Children.

For more information and to find out how you can come and say hi head over to…

kathrynskrop4akure.ca

Fall is just around the corner and I’m starting to get into it. I’ve always loved the colours of the season and then there’s the chance to get together with family and get a lot of candy!! (who doesn’t love that?!) I think it’s coming through in my crafting because I’ve been having different ideas featuring the Harvest Hellos cling stamp set.

For this week’s card I decided to pull from the colours of the upcoming season. Basic Black worked great with the Grapefruit Grove cardstock and really helped it pop. I also wanted to try and create a kind of Designer Series Paper for the background using the pumpkin and leaf. The leaves I simply stamped using Grapefruit Grove ink to give a tone on tone look. For the pumpkins I started by stamping in Tuxedo Black Memento ink and then once dry stamped the pumpkins again using Versamark ink so that I could sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds Stampin’ Glitter on top and give this card a little bling.

The phrase also comes from Harvest Hellos and I thought this one would be cute to use with the pumpkins in the background. For a little extra accent I stamped some vines in the corners using Crumb Cake, added a Rhinestone Basic Jewel and popped it up using some Stampin’ Dimensionals (I use these on almost all of my projects, they’re such a great and simple way to add an extra layer of depth).

Here’s the project sheet with all the supplies and step by step instructions you’ll need to create this for yourself. Enjoy!

2019 Harvest Sparkle Pumpkin Project Sheet

We got big into making shrinking dinks yesterday in my house as my two munchkins had a PA day. We used some different inks for our creations so I thought I would share what we discovered with all of you!

For the most part we used the Jet Black Stazon ink pad as it is a permanent ink and dries quickly. Also because of the nature of the surface we were stamping on (plastic shrinky dink sheets) this is a great option. A few months ago when I stamped on a mug at a team meeting we also used Stazon ink.

Tuxedo Black Memento ink is another option that could possibly work and while it would have been easier to wipe off when we made mistakes it would have easily smudged. As I found was the case when I experimented with some of the Classic Ink pads to attempt to give a few of the images some colour.

Unfortunately a couple of images ended up smudged before I could bake them. The ones I was able to get into the oven successfully turned out great, however it was definitely trickier to cut them out in a way that wouldn’t smudge them. I’m thinking that if you used a Heat Tool to help set the ink this may reduce the smudge factor. (I may have to test out this theory)

To add colour to the other images, we coloured using the Stampin’ Blends which worked out great. You do need to be careful not to colour over the lines of the images though otherwise they will disappear as my littlest munchkin found out.

Here’s a picture of some of my completed shrinky dinks…

Stampin’ Up! has such a great selection of ink types as well as colours for whatever projects you are working on. Here’s a summary of the different ink types that Stampin’ Up! offers so you can make sure you have the right ink for your project. (I haven’t included the new Delicata Metallic ink pads from the Holiday catalogue, but if they carry over I will look at adding them)

Stampin’ Up! Ink Types

Every year around this time Stampin’ Up! launches it’s Designer Series Paper sale and this year is no different! From now until the end of the month (September 30) whenever you buy 3 select DSP packs you’ll be able to pick another for FREE.

There are 10 different DSP packs that you can choose from to earn your free one. They are….

Perennial Essence which looks like a watercolour painting and features Balmy Blue, Blackberry Bliss, Blueberry Bushel, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Flirty Flamingo, Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, Petal Pink, So Saffron, Whisper White.

See a Silhouette offers some very creative and colourful designs, it uses Blackberry Bliss, Crushed Curry, Daffodil Delight, Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Poppy Parade, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White.

Come Sail Away is a great option for masculine card designs and features Balmy Blue, Basic Black, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, Soft Suede, Whisper White. This DSP is also part of the Come Sail Away Suite.

Magnolia Lane is a favourite of mine and I’ve posted a few of the cards I’ve made with this DSP here. The colours in this pack are Basic Black, Early Espresso, Mossy Meadow, Petal Pink, So Saffron, Whisper White. This pack is also part of a suite, the Magnolia Lane Suite.

Garden Lane has a number of really nice designs featuring of course… different shades of green; Garden Green, Mint Macaron, Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sea Foam, Whisper White.

Follow Your Art is great for projects for the teachers and crafters in your life and uses Basic Gray, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Crushed Curry, Pacific Point, Whisper White.

Woven Threads uses some great colours to give the look of woven rugs and textured fabrics. It features the new In Colours as well as a couple others; Pretty Peacock, Purple Posy, Rococo Rose, Sahara Sand, Seaside Spray, Terracotta Tile, Whisper White.

Dinoroar works well for those who love dinosaurs (both young and old) and uses Flirty Flamingo, Lovely Lipstick, Mango Melody, Old Olive, Pineapple Punch, Pool Party, Pretty Peacock, Whisper White.

Bird Ballad uses a lot of different colours to give a nice soft blended look. This pack is part of the Bird Ballad Suite and is also very popular. It features Basic Black, Basic Gray, Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Petal Pink, Pool Party, Smoky Slate, Soft Suede, Whisper White.

And last but definitely not least, as it is the only Specialty DSP that’s part of this sale, is…

Pressed Petals offers some nice vintage designs as well as designs with pressed petals. It uses Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Merry Merlot, Mossy Meadow, Night of Navy, Pear Pizzazz, Rococo Rose, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla.

For more about the different Designer Series Paper packs or to fill up your cart, head over to my website…

www.stampinup.com/inkspirationcards/3for1DSP

I was out at a local Dollarama just yesterday and saw the store had cleared space in order to make room for Christmas/Holiday products. While I do enjoy the Holidays I’m not quite ready to take the plunge just yet. I think that’s while I decided to use stamp sets from the Annual Catalogue for this project.

For this project I decided to use the Crafting Forever and Beauty Abounds cling stamp sets. For the colours I wanted to use something bold and so I chose Bermuda Bay for my card base and really liked how the Mint Macaron looked with it so picked that for the coordinating colour. I also used Mint Macaron ink on the Mint Macaron cardstock to create my own Designer Series Paper and cut the Very Vanilla cardstock smaller than usual so that you could see the images better.

The paint splatters were stamped with Bermuda Bay and the phrase in Mint Macaron; both of these came from the Beauty Abounds cling stamp set. To finish it off I popped up the phrase using Stampin’ Dimensionals and some Basic Adhesive-Backed Sequins.

This one was fun to create! To CASE this for yourself just click on the project sheet and you’re all set.

2019 Crafting For You Project Sheet

For this month’s #simplestamping challenge Stampin’ Up! wanted a Christmas or New Year’s themed card using only stamps, ink, paper and Designer Series Paper. I have fallen in love with the Feels Like Frost Specialty 6 x 6 Designer Series Paper and thought it would be fun to see what I could come up with that as my DSP.

For the card base and ink colour I went with Call Me Clover. It’s such a nice vibrant green and I thought that it would help the Designer Series Paper really stand out. For the background I just cut four 1″ x 5 1/4″ different strips of the Feels Like Frost DSP. The phrase came from the First Frost cling stamp set and I stamped it on a 1 1/2″ x 2″ piece of Whisper White cardstock and then made a Call Me Clover border that was just a bit bigger (1 3/4″ x 2 1/4″).

I debated about how I would step this card up a notch, maybe pop up the phrase with some Stampin’ Dimensionals, add some flowers from the same stamp set, cut out to add a corner accent to the phrase or even add some Silver Metallic Thread. In the end I really love how this turned out and decided to leave it as a single #simplestamping card.

This week has been one filled with ups and downs for our family and those that we love. As a result of one of these downs I went back to the Artfully Aware cling stamp set to make this week’s project and I’m hoping that it will bring some comfort in this difficult time.

For this project I went with Seaside Spray and Crumb Cake for my colours. They go together really nicely, but aren’t too somber. I started with Seaside Spray cardstock as the base and then layered Crumb Cake cardstock on top and used Very Vanilla cardstock to stamps the phrase and images onto.

I wanted to keep the card simple while still adding a little something more to it. The Seaside Spray 1/4″ Metallic Ribbon along with a Rhinestone Basic Jewel and the Stitched Shapes dies I think managed this really well. I debated popping up the phrase using Stampin’ Dimensionals like I did for the image of the two people hugging, but decided I wanted to emphasize that image more than the phrase and so just used SNAIL Adhesive.

I really love how this card turned out! For a list of supplies and step by step instructions simply click on the project sheet.

2019 Artfully Aware Blue Project Sheet

At the end of next month I will be at a crop for the cure event (details below) and so I thought that I would start creating with the Artfully Aware cling stamp set. Plus Breast Cancer Awareness month is coming up soon and so I thought that I would start with pink as my feature colour for this project.

For the colours for this project I decided to use Petal Pink and Crumb Cake in order to highlight the pink ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness. I used a lot more Petal Pink cardstock than Crumb Cake cardstock for that same reason.

For the ribbon I stamped the image onto Petal Pink cardstock using Crumb Cake ink and then cut it out using my Paper Snips. There is also the option to use the Support Ribbon dies with your die cutting machine. I don’t have those particular dies, so thankfully it wasn’t too much to just cut the ribbon out.

I then stamped the people using Crumb Cake ink and for the phrase I went with Petal Pink ink. Then I used some Rose Metallic Thread and a Rhinestone Basic Jewel to bring the card up a level and add some bling. I love how the Rose Metallic Thread adds another level of pink to the project.

Finally to really make the ribbon pop I used some Stampin’ Dimensionals to have it stand above the rest of the words and images.

Here’s the project sheet complete with supply list and step by step instructions…

2019 Artfully Aware Pink

And here’s all the info for the crop for the cure event I will be at at the end of next month. There are still spaces available if you want to scrap the day away or you can just pop in and say hi.

For this month’s Stampin’ Up! #simplestamping challenge we were asked to use just stamps, ink and paper to create a birthday card. So for this project I chose the Broadway Birthday photopolymer stamp set. I really love this set to create birthday cards or any kind of celebratory card really, plus it has a great set of coordinating dies; Broadway Lights dies.

In terms of colours I decided to keep it simple and fairly monochromatic and chose Blueberry Bushel and Whisper White cardstock. For the ink colour I used Blueberry Bushel and went with both straight stamped images as well as some images that I stamped off first before stamping on the cardstock to give the card a bit of variation.

I also decided to kick things up a knotch and step this card up a bit.

I simply used Wink of Stella on the word “Hooray” and then I used the Fine-Tip Glue Pen to sprinkle a few Iridescent Sequins to give the card a pop of colour. If you wanted you could also add a few Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up the smaller squares of cardstock.

When I was thinking of what I wanted to create for this week’s project sheet the Beautiful You cling stamp set seemed to be calling to me from my drawer. It also seems that I’m using more purples again in my projects this past week with Rich Razzleberry being the colour I chose to feature for this project.

The project actually came together really nicely. When I looked at the image from the Beautiful You stamp set that I chose for this card the idea of Rich Razzleberry on Basic Black seemed to go with the elegance of the woman’s pose.

For the background image behind the woman I decided to stamp the larger squiggly image using Rich Razzleberry ink on the Rich Razzleberry cardstock. I really like the effect you get when you stamp ink onto the coordinating cardstock.

For the woman I really wanted to use my Aqua Painter. (I’ve been wanting to colour a lot of my images lately, a couple of weeks ago I used my Watercolour Pencils for the This Little Piggy project.) I went over the image with my Aqua Painter and Rich Razzleberry ink a few times to get the colour I wanted for her hat and dress.

I then used the Stitched Nested Label dies to frame both the woman and the phrase I had chosen. Finally once I had attached the strip of Basic Black cardstock and the stamped phrase and image, I decided to add 3 Rhinestone Basic Jewels just underneath the woman. As we all know “diamonds are a girl’s best friend!”, plus I felt the card needed a bit of bling.

I really love how this card turned out! If you would like to recreate (CASE) it simply click on the project sheet and you’ll have the full list of supplies and step by step instructions.

2019 Beautiful Birthday Project Sheet

This week I decided to play along with the Paper Craft Crew Sketch challenge. I love how these get me thinking outside of the usual way that I stamp and craft!

Here’s is what we were given for this week’s challenge…

For my project I decided I would use the Butterfly Beauty dies and the Butterfly Wishes cling stamp set. I’m also a big fan of pairing purples and greens together and so went with one of my favourite purples, Blackberry Bliss, and paired it with Old Olive. I also used Very Vanilla cardstock, instead of Whisper White for a bit of a more subtle white.

The Fine-Tip Glue Pen made it easy to attach the butterflies and leaves to the cardstock and I really like how the Stitched Shapes dies cut out the flowers that I stamped off first and then added some Wink of Stella to once they were dry. I also used some Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up the banners and flowers.

I had a lot of fun creating this project, I hope you enjoy it too! For more check out the Paper Craft Crew website…

papercraftcrew.com/pcc347

One of the supervisors at my “9 to 5” is getting married at the end of this month and as usual we’re throwing a potluck party to celebrate (we do potlucks really well!!). I also created the card that we will all be signing and giving to her at the party and so I thought that I would share it here.

As you can tell I’m still totally loving the Magnolia Lane Designer Series Paper! So I decided to use two of the colours featured in this DSP; Petal Pink cardstock for the card base and Mossy Meadow cardstock for the card mat. I then added a larger layer of one of the designs from the DSP on top of the Mossy Meadow card mat (I don’t know what I’m going to do when I run out of this particular design, it’s totally my favourite!) and then a band of a different design on top of that.

With all the colour and pattern from the DSP I kept the rest of the card simple. I simply stamped the phrase “Congratulations” from the First Frost cling stamp set using Petal Pink ink onto some Whisper White cardstock and then punched it out with the 2 1/4″ Circle Punch.

I debated about leaving it just like this, it would look really nice if you do, but I decided I wanted to add a little bit more to the card. So I added some Rose Metallic Thread behind the phrase (this thread has quickly become a favourite!) and then a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

For a list of all the supplies and step by step instructions to CASE (copy and share everything) this card for yourself, click on the project sheet!

Magnolia Congratulations Project Sheet

I joined the Stampin’ Up! family seven years ago this month (where has the time gone?!) and I have loved every moment of it! I have had so much fun creating and meeting other crafty people like me that it doesn’t even feel like a job.

Want to get in on the creative fun? Now is the perfect time!

Here’s what’s included in the starter kit…

• $70 worth of business supplies; this includes a pack of catalogues, postcard invitations and other brochures and supplies
• $165 worth of Stampin Up! product of your choosing

The cost of the starter kit is $135 and includes tax and shipping!

Plus right now Stampin’ Up! is offering an extra $40 worth of Stampin’ Up! product, so you actually get to choose $205 worth of Stampin’ Up! product. And if that wasn’t enough when you sign up to become a new demonstrator before August 31st you will also get a $14 coupon emailed to you in September. (hence the extra, extra)

Becoming a demonstrator also allows you to make it what you want… a creative discount, a side hustle or even a full time gig. You also get myself, my team and all of Stampin’ Up! to help answer any questions you might have and to help guide you through this process.

If you have any questions simply send me an email (inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com) or check out my website for more…

www.stampinup.com/inkspirationcards/jointhefun

And here’s a little something for those that are thinking about joining, but aren’t sure what to choose (I feel you… my wishlist is a mile long and never seems to get shorter).

Starter Kit Suggestions

I have been so caught up in creating with the new products from the Annual Catalogue that just launched two months ago that I haven’t spent much crafting time with others sets that I have. So I decided it was time to get crafty with some of the other not so new stamp sets in the catalogue. First up… the This Little Piggy cling stamp set. I just love the expressions and poses of the pigs and the phrases that are part of this set are great!

Since I was stamping with This Little Piggy I went with Rococo Rose as the ink colour and in the end I couldn’t decide which piggy I liked more so I designed the card so that I could stamp all 4 of them. For cardstock I used Rococo Rose (of course to coordinate with the ink) as well as Whisper White.

When I was creating the frames for the pigs I used the Stitched Shapes Dies and simply put them onto some more Rococo Rose cardstock. Then in keeping with the pig/barnyard theme I used the Pinewood Planks 3D Embossing Folder which gave a nice texture to the card.

I then used some Stampin’ Dimensionals to attach the pigs to the card. I really like how it turned out. Here’s the project sheet so you can CASE this card for yourself.

2019 This Little Piggy Project Sheet

I’m on the road all this week for a family road trip. We spent a couple of days with my brother and sister in law and their two daughters and now we’re getting ready to cross over into the States tomorrow. So this blog post is coming to you via my iPhone.

When I was packing up what I wanted to bring with me for this 8 day road trip I of course brought some supplies to do some stamping and I thought that I would share what I brought with me.

Everything I need, except the Stampin’ Scrub, fit into a Paper Pumpkin box. If I had a Stampin’ Shammy I bet it would fit in the box no problem. I love using a Paper Pumpkin box because they aren’t too big, they’re very sturdy and you can fit a lot into it.

Inside the box I have whatever card stock, Stampin’ Dimensionals, ribbon/twine or embellishments I might need along with these…

• a clear block big enough for my largest stamp
• my Bone Folder (I just love the crisp fold you get!)
• a stamp set – this time it’s a Paper Pumpkin stamp set
• adhesive; I still have some Fast Fuse left over, but I also have glue dots with me
• Paper Snips to cut any ribbon/twine
• and an ink pad; often I’ll use a Stampin’ Spot, but this time I have a full sized ink pad

You’d be surprised how much fits in this little box! This is similar to what I took along to OnStage in Orlando this past November and whenever we go camping.

I hope this helps you take your crafting with you wherever you go!