Well Spring officially arrived yesterday afternoon which makes today the first full day of Spring!! It is yet to be seen whether Winter will hang around for a little while longer or not, but so far I am enjoying all the sunlight we have been getting lately. Either way I thought that I would welcome Spring and so I dug out an old Paper Pumpkin kit to make this wreath.

Unfortunately this kit isn’t available anymore, but if you would like to make something like this it wouldn’t be that difficult. All you would need is a Styrofoam wreath which you can pick up at a Dollar or Craft store, some ribbon of your choosing (here are Stampin’ Up!s options), strips of cardstock (Mossy Meadow cardstock would work well) that you can cut using a pair of fringe or another kind of patterned scissors, Tear & Tape adhesive to wrap/attach the strips around the wreath, you could use Basic Black cardstock, Whisper White Craft ink and Whisper White Solid Baker’s Twine to create the sign or see what your local Dollar/Craft store has in stock. For embellishments you can add whatever you would like, the Blossoms Elements and Leaves Trinkets are my surrent favourites and would be easy enough to attach using Mini Glue dots or a hot glue gun. I myself am thinking about adding some butterflies from Butterfly Beauty Thinlits Dies!

I would love to see how yours turns out! Please email me your pictures (inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com) and I will feature them on my blog!

The Painted Seasons bundle is part of the Sale-a-bration freebies and it has definitely been a popular choice, so much so that you can either earn the bundle (stamp set and Designer Series Paper) with any purchase of $120 or just the Designer Series Paper with any $60 purchase until the end of this month (March 31st).

This card in particular I received from my upline at our most recent team meeting. It features the Painted Seasons and Part of My Story (which you can also earn free during Sale-a-bration) stamp sets and uses some of the 2017-2019 In Colours; Fresh Fig, Powder Pink and Tranquil Tide (which will be retiring at the end of May!).

I love attending these team meetings because it gives me a chance to spend some time with my smaller team (aka Stampin’ Up! family) where we motivate each other, offer great ideas and inkspiration (just like this card) and catch up on life outside of Stampin’ Up! If you would like to be a part of this there has never been a better time, just head over to my website and check out this amazing opportunity!

www.stampinup.com/inkspirationcards/jointhefun

I just love playing and creating with the Beauty Abounds Cling Bundle and with Spring on it’s way (in theory), I’m also loving using more spring like colour combinations, like Old Olive and Powder Pink.

For this project I used Old Olive cardstock for the card base, Powder Pink cardstock for the card mat and Whisper White cardstock for the card front as well as for the banner and the two larger butterflies. I stamped the two smaller butterflies and phrase using Powder Pink ink and then stamped three paint splotches using Old Olive ink. The two larger butterflies were leftover from a project where I separated the butterflies from the Butterfly Beauty Thinlits dies and I sponged Old Olive ink onto them. To sponge you can either use the Sponge Daubers or Stamping Sponges. I placed them on top of two of the paint splotches using the Fine-Tip Glue Pen. The two Old Olive sprigs behind the banner also came from the Butterfly Beauty Thinlits Dies and I simply secured them using a bit of SNAIL Adhesive.

For the banner I stamped the words which came from the Amazing Life stamp set using Powder Pink and used Old Olive to stamp the dots, from the same stamp set, underneath. I then wrapped some Old Olive Linen Thread around the Whisper White cardstock. To attach it to the card front I used two Stampin’ Dimensionals and then I added a Clear Rhinestone Jewel to add a little bit of bling.

Not that long ago a saw a post by another demonstrator where they had designed their own mug and I thought “I totally need to try that!” Well apparently my upline saw this as well and thought the same thing that I did because when we had our team meeting to talk about Stampin’ Up! and how we’re sharing our inkspiration with others, we made our own!

The great thing is that it’s not that difficult to do…. the tough thing is to have enough patience. All you need is a plain white mug (I bought the ones we used at a local Dollarama), Jet Black StazOn inkpad and whatever stamps you want to use to create your design. These images came from the Crafting Forever (the “stamping” and banner phrases came from a stamp set exclusively for demonstrators).

Once you’ve got your images and phrases stamped on the mug the way you would like (this may take a few attempts, so give yourself plenty of time) place the mug in the oven and set the temperature to 350 degrees (DO NOT PREHEAT) and then set the timer for 30 minutes. When the timer goes off simply turn off the oven and let the mug cool down.

If you would like to add colour to your design simply choose whatever colour Stampin’ Blends you want and colour away! Once you’ve coloured your design, repeat the step above and bake the mug one more time. You will then end up with something like this…

This is one of the many reasons why I have loved being apart of the Stampin’ Up! family! Everyone is so willing to share their ideas and provide inkspiration and motivation. If you would like to learn more about joining head over to my website. I would happy to have you join my team and there’s never been a better time!

www.stampinup.com/inkspirationcards/jointhefun

My inkspiration has been running a bit low lately, but with my cold on it’s way out and the sun starting to make a few more appearances recently it’s starting to come back! I thought I would try to create a card to honour International Women’s Day and I really like how it turned out.

I used the Beautiful You stamp set with Mint Macaron as my card base, Rich Razzleberry as the mat and the polka-dotted strip of DSP came from the Botanical Butterfly Designer Series Paper that you can earn FREE until the end of this month as part of Sale-a-bration. I stamped the woman using the Memento Black inkpad and coloured her using the Rich Razzleberry Watercolour Pencil and for the words I used Mint Macaron for the word “celebrate” and Rich Razzleberry for the rest. I then cut them out on my Big Shot using the Stitched Shapes Framelit Dies and popped it up using a couple of Dimensionals, but not before I laced some Gold Metallic Thread behind. Then last but definitely not least I added 3 Gingham Gala Adhesive Backed Sequins. I hope that you enjoy my project!

My projects seem to be bringing in more colours and Spring themes these days. Thank goodness Spring is almost here! This project features the Beauty Abounds bundle along with the Botanical Butterfly DSP that you can earn for FREE as part of Sale-a-bration until the end of March. I used Old Olive as my card base and Whisper White for the butterflies (which I cut apart after running through the Big Shot) as well as the cardstock for the phrase. I used the Stitched Shapes Framelits to cut out the phrase and raised it up using Dimensionals, but not before I placed some Gold Metallic Thread behind it and then I finished it off with a Gingham Gala Adhesive-Backed Sequin. Enjoy recreating this project!

For whatever reason over the past few days it’s been hard to just tap into my creativity and find some inkspiration. So I thought I would share a few things that I do sometimes to help spark something.

• One thing I find helpful is to create projects using a kit. Whether it’s a Paper Pumpkin kit or just a kit from one of the catalogues I find that following the instructions to create an already determined project is nice in and of itself and sometimes may even open the door for other ideas (although not always).

• Craft with a purpose in mind. If someone you know has a birthday or anniversary coming up then maybe you can tap into a sense of urgency to get the project done in time. I actually needed to create a thank you card for a customer and afterwards I felt glad that I had been able to accomplish something.
• Look for inkspiration in the world around you. The picture below was taken on a hike with my family and made me immediately think of the Dandelion Wishes stamp set and I’ve seen others on my team be inspired by people’s houses or even today when I saw the stained-glass windows.

Or sometimes you may just need to take a break, get your energy back and then the inkspiration will flow. Inkspiration can be found everywhere, but sometimes different things get in the way of being able to tap into it. I hope that this is helpful when you’re feeling a bit stuck and struggling to find your creativity!

As some of you may know I LOVE butterflies, so when I opened the Occasions catalogue I was super excited and wasn’t sure which butterfly bundle I wanted more… the Beauty Abounds Cling stamp bundle or the Butterfly Gala bundle. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to play with both. Here is the project I made with the Butterfly Gala stamp set and punch (the punch will be available to order again I believe mid-March), using Daffodil Delight and Balmy Blue, as well as the Gingham Gala 6×6 Designer Series Paper and the 3/8″ Whisper White Classic Weave Ribbon. I also used a couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals to pop up the two butterflies. Enjoy recreating this cute card!

We’re halfway through February (spring is almost here, yah!) which means that we are halfway through Sale-a-bration…. which means that the second round of awesome FREE products are here!!! So I thought I would do a quick refresher of what Sale-a-bration is all about.

First things first…. with every $60 order you earn exclusive FREE product that you can only get until March 31st (or until supplies run out – which has happened already!). So if you spend $60 you can choose 1 Level One product (like the Lovely Lattice stamp set on the left) and if you spend $120 you can either choose 2 Level One products or 1 Level Two product (such as the Painted Seasons bundle on the right) and so on and so on.

Next if you host a party that totals $300 or more you will receive an additional $30 of Stampin’ Rewards (aka FREE product from any of the current catalogues) on top of what you would usually receive.

Plus if you join the Stampin’ Up! family before March 31st you receive $225 worth of great Stampin’ Up! product for only $135 (including tax and shipping) and for an extra $40 also get the super cute Craft & Carry Tote! (I have one and am amazed at how much it can hold!)

So make sure to head over to my website for everything you need to make the most of Sale-a-bration before it’s gone!

www.stampinup.com/inkspirationcards

I hope you have all enjoyed some special time with your loved ones! These are two of the cards I made for my family. I used the Jars I’d Love stamp set for all my cards and did some #simplestamping (I seem to be doing a lot more of this lately and I’m liking it).

The one made with Berry Burst and Powder Pink I made for my daughter and the one made with Tranquil Tide and Lemon Lime Twist was for my husband. For my son I made a cross between these two.

My kids love to play and watch TV, but they also LOVE to craft! (they come by it honestly I guess, lol) Whether it’s sticking stickers, creating stories or drawing, it doesn’t really matter. And when they see me stamping they are eager to get right in there and start stamping right along with me!

This is why I love Paper Pumpkin. Everything that you would possibly need is included and ready to go, so I can spend my time working on my projects and just checking in every once in a while to see if they need help, which often they don’t! As you can tell from the pictures above my two munchkins do it all. On the left is my little guy stamping the phrase for his Valentine’s. He is very insistent that he can do it himself. On the right is my daughter putting the final touches on hers before we assemble them.

Here are their final products. My little guy loved the little heart stickers as you can see on the left and my daughter pays close attention to detail so that it looks just like it does in the instructions. All I did was put the pillow boxes together!

If you’ve got crafty kids like me or are just looking for an easy activity for your kids to do then follow the link and sign up for Paper Pumpkin. Everything you need is shipped right to your door (and shipping is included)!

www.paperpumpkin.com/en-ca

This month’s #simplestamping challenge is a birthday card. The rules are still the same… you can only use stamps, ink and paper. Last month Stampin’ Up! gave the option of using a punch, this month the option, if you choose to accept it, is to use Designer Series Paper.

I decided to do one with DSP and one without. I used all the same supplies for both cards; the Amazing Life stamp set with Granny Apple Green and Blueberry Bushel ink on Whisper White cardstock. Then I added some Granny Apple Green Gingham Gala 6×6 DSP.

A little tip…. to make sure that you’re birthday cakes are level with one another I used a piece of paper to indicate my line and then stamped just above the line. I also added the DSP first so that I could better arrange my stamped images.

The Needle & Thread stamp set did not initially catch my eye when we were introduced to it and I was able to stamp with it at OnStage in Orlando this past November, but I think it may be growing on me. This is not the card I made at OnStage, but one that I made a couple of weekends ago with my Stampin’ Up! team (family).

I really like this card (not just because of the butterflies) because it is all stamped! The background images that look as though they have been stitched is a simple stamp from the Needle & Thread stamp set. It was stamped 3 times across the page for the top half and then flipped over and stamped 3 times for the bottom half of the image. If you like you can also get a similar stitched effect with the Needlepoint Element Framelits Dies which you can see used in my earlier blog post Needlepoint Nook.

Here are the rest of the details for this project….. the ink used was Soft Suede and Flirty Flamingo, the cardstock used was Flirty Flamingo and Whisper White, the ribbon used was the 1/8″ Flirty Flamingo from the All My Love Ribbon Combo Pack and the 5/8″ Whisper White Flax Ribbon and the Detailed Trio Punch.

Last weekend I joined my Stampin’ Up! family (team) for some crafting fun. Here is one of the cards that I made featuring the Piece of Cake stamp set and a colour combination that I wouldn’t have thought of myself (Night of Navy, Mint Macaron and Smoky Slate) and now that I’ve seen it I’m going to have to remember to use that one in the future! I also love that we had to colour for this card, I don’t have the chance to colour as often as I would like so it was nice to use the Stampin’ Blends to colour the cake and stand. Plus I was excited to learn that the stars on this card are adhesive-backed!

Stampin’ Up!s #simplestamping challenge for January was to create a Valentine themed card. The rules were similar to last time (only using cardstock, stamps and ink) with the added option of using a punch if you wanted. So for my project I used the Jars of Love stamp set with Powder Pink and Lovely Lipstick ink on Whisper White Notecards & Envelopes. I also punched out two Powder Pink daisies using the Daisy Punch and placed them on top of each other, slightly bending the top petals to give an extra layer of depth to the card. I’m really happy with how this turned out and this may be what I give out this Valentine’s Day!