Time of Giving

December is here and there’s only 3 more weeks until Christmas! It’s also the time of year when Stampin’ Up! releases their list of retiring products from the mini catalogue. So over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing projects featuring some of the products that won’t be available after January 3rd. First off I’m sharing 2 projects using the Time of Giving bundle. This is such a fun bundle! And I love that it can be used for more than one holiday/occasion.

I got this idea for one of these projects from another demonstrator. Unfortunately I don’t remember who. And this project sparked the idea for the other. The first project uses a couple of the Giving Gifts dies. I also used some of the White Glittered Organdy ribbon and one of the Mini Jam Jars from the Annual catalogue. To start I used the Santa with his reindeer die twice on a piece of Basic White cardstock. And I attached this piece, as well as the snowflake on top, using Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue. To adhere the ribbon I used a combination of Multi-Purpose Glue and Mini Glue Dots.

Time of Giving

I can’t wait to add a tealight to this!

To go with this tealight holder I created a card using the Santa and reindeer die as the focal point. I used Night of Navy to help this die cut stand out, as well as for the card base. Then I used a combination of Night of Navy and Pool Party ink to stamp a snowflake background. I popped up both the framed Santa die cut piece and phrase using some Stampin’ Dimensionals. (The phrase is cut out using the Stitched Rectangles dies)

Time of Giving

I’ve had a lot of fun crafting with the Time of Giving bundle and I’m a little sad that it’s retiring! Not that long ago I posted a Fall themed Sampler that I created using Time of Giving as one of the stamp set. Check that out here! And if you want to get this bundle for yourself then head over to my online shop.

Sparkly Christmas Cards

Tomorrow is the first day of December! And we are less than a month away from Christmas! I’m doing pretty well with my holiday shopping, but as usual I’m behind on my holiday cards. The first batch is almost ready to go out, but I still need to start prepping for my second batch. If you’re like me and still need some inkspiration for your holiday cards, then I’ve got you covered! Here are a few more cards from a team card swap. These ones are sparkly Christmas cards and use some different stamps, etc.

This first card was made by Stephanie Nash, my upline. She used the Whimsy & Wonder Designer Series Paper and the Whimsical Trees bundle. I love the silver foil and other colours in the DSP. And I love how she silver heat embossed on some vellum. And it’s hard to see, but she also used some Wink of Stella Glitterbrush on the stamped trees. So pretty!

Sparkly Christmas cards

I often like using snowflakes for my holiday cards. So that’s probably one of the reasons why I love this card Linda Warrington made. Plus she used Blackberry Bliss, which is one of my favourite colours. Although I never would have thought to use it for a Christmas card. She used the Merry Snowflakes bundle for this card. There are some Blackberry Bliss snowflakes stamped behind the die cut ones. I love the rhinestones in the centre of the snowflakes. And how she embossed more snowflakes on some of the foil from the Silver Foil Specialty pack.

Sparkly Christmas cards

The last card is from Pam Struwing. She also used the Stitched Snowflakes dies to cut out her silver foil snowflake. And I love the pieces she used from the Peaceful Place Designer Series Paper pack! It’s a nice simple card with a neutral colour.

Sparkly Christmas cards

I just love these sparkly Christmas cards! I’m just about always adding some bling to my designs so I enjoy seeing it on other people’s cards. Especially when it’s using products I don’t have. Which is one of the many reasons why I love doing card swaps. Check out some of the other swaps cards I received here.

If you want to join my team and join in on the fun, you can do that here. Or if you want to grab a few things for your holiday cards while there’s still time, head over to my online shop.

Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

I usually used lots of reds and greens for my Christmas cards. Sometimes I even use blues and silvers. But once in a while I like to use non-traditional Christmas colours. This card design came from a colour challenge. The colours we were given were Basic Black, Bermuda Bay, Blackberry Bliss and Basic White.

I don’t know why I went with a Christmas card design, but that’s where my inkspiration took me. Something told me that the Poinsettia Petals stamp set would look nice with this colour combination. So I used Basic Back for my card base. I figured that would be the best option. Then Basic White was pretty obvious… I used it to stamp on. And the Bermuda Bay and Blackberry Bliss I used for the poinsettias, berries and leaves.

On the inside of the card I stamped a simple “Merry Christmas” with Blackberry Bliss and a few berries with Bermuda Bay. For the outside of the card I created a kind of background using the stamped images. Then I added a Basic Black framed piece of stamped cardstock on top with a few Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

I still wanted something more the for the card, but decided not to add a phrase on the outside like I ususally do. Instead I added a large Blackberry Bliss poinsettia and a medium sized one in Bermuda Bay using the coordinating dies. For each one I used two layers to make them look more full. Then I added a few Pearl Basic Jewels to the centres.

To finish it off I decided to add some of the Glittery Organza ribbon. This is where I would have usually put the phrase and I think it adds a nice touch.

Non-Traditional Christmas Colours

I really like this pairing of non-traditional Christmas colours. And I’m going to have to remember it for future projects.

Check out one of my other card designs using the Poinsettia Petals stamp set here. And if you’d like to try this card design for yourself, you can get everything you need in my online shop. Be sure to post your finished card here if you do!

Pinwheel Tower Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

The Fancy Folds Design Team is back with another blog hop! And this month we’re making a Pinwheel Tower card. I love the look of this card! And I love that it fits in one of my usual invitation envelopes! LeeAnn Greff has a good video with measurements that you can check out here.

For my design I decided to make a holiday card. I’m definitely getting into the holiday season. And for this card I decided to use some returning products. I started with the Heartwarming Hugs Designer Series Paper and used it to pull my colour combination; Pear Pizzazz and Real Red. Pear Pizzazz is such a nice shade of green. Plus I love just about all the designs in this paper pack so it didn’t take much to coordinate the different designs. I even made sure to match up the designs when the card is flat. Check it out…

To go with the Heartwarming Hugs DSP I decided to use the Poinsettia Petals stamp set and coordinating dies. I’m so glad that these are still in the Annual Catalogue! These were a go to for me last year when they first came out. And I love going back to it every once in a while. To add a little something more to my card I layered two of the small poinsettias to create a fuller one. Then I added a Pearl Basic Jewels to the centre of them as well as a few to one of the larger stamped poinsettias.

The phrase and blank piece of cardstock were cut out using the Stitched So Sweetly dies. These dies are a new favourite of mine and I love the different designs.

I had a lot of fun designing my Pinwheel Tower card. And as usual it turned out to be easier to make than I initially thought! Make sure to keep going on this month’s blog hop and check out Gina Connor’s design here.

And if you want to check out last month’s blog hop where we made a Triangle Gatefold card you can start that here.

It’s On!

Instead of an Online Extravagaza, this year Stampin’ Up! is having a Seasonal Sale. And it’s on right now! For only 2 more days you can get some great products from the Annual Catalogue for up to 20% off. I haven’t heard much about any Black Friday deals yet so I wanted to make sure I got this info out there. This is the perfect opportunity to stock up on supplies for you holiday crafting! You can get whatever you need and still have time to get them in the mail before the mailing deadlines.

It's On!

Until November 18th (that’s tomorrow night) you can get 10% off all cardstock. You’ll get 15% off all individual Stampin’ Up! inkpads. And 20% dies from the Annual Catalogue. If I hadn’t just stocked up recently on a few of these things I would totally be taking advantage of this sale. The full list of what’s included in the Seasonal Sale is at the end of this post, so make sure to keep reading.

If you’ve had some things on your wishlist for a while there won’t be a better time to add them to your craft stash. Plus when you place an order of $49 or more and use this month’s host code, you’ll get a FREE pack of Wonderful Snowflakes from me as a thank you! Here’s this month’s code…

So while it’s on make sure to take advantage of Stampin’ Up!s Seasonal Sale. Here’s the full flyer as promised. And here’s the link to my online shop.

More #SimpleStamping

It’s time for some more #SimpleStamping! You’ve probably noticed that most of my card designs are fairly simple. I love to add bling, but I’m not big into adding layers upon layers of stuff. And so I love the idea of Stampin’ Up!s #SimpleStamping challenges! They started with just being able to use stamps, ink and paper for the cards. And then eventually they add in an extra element once in a while… like a punch or Designer Series Paper. For this month’s challenge though it’s just the basics. And it needed to be a thank you card. I’m always digging around for thank you cards so this is a great chance for my to stock up on a few.

I also like this challenge because I don’t want to get bored with crafting holiday cards too soon. It is only the beginning of November. For my card design I started with looking for the “thank you” I wanted to use. I have a few different stamp sets with a thank you and ended up using the one from the Timeless Tropical stamp set. The font is just so nice! From there I needed my images. I haven’t made a card using the Quiet Moments stamp set in a while so I decided to go with that one. Plus I love the variety of the images in this set!

Next up was my colour combination. For this card design I used Petal Pink and Mint Macaron. This is one of my favourite colour combinations! I also added in a little bit of Crumb Cake to create a background. The typed words image is such a great image to create a background or some Designer Series Paper of your own. Then I used Petal Pink for the flowers.

I popped up the phrase and blooms using some Stampin’ Dimensionals. Part of me was tempted to add some bling, but I was able to hold off. I love how this card turned out, but if you want to level it up that would be easy to do with some Rhinestone Basic Jewels, Wink of Stella or some ribbon/twine. Here’s my card…

more #SimpleStamping

Check out one of my most recent #SimpleStamping projects here. And you can get the Quiet Meadow stamp set, along with anything else you need in my online shop.

Take the Plunge!

I often share things in my social posts about how much I love my team and enjoy being a demonstrator for Stampin’ Up! My team are a great group of creative people who are so kind, thoughtful and supportive. And Stampin’ Up! of course has fantastic products, but also knows how to have fun and is super supportive to it’s customers and demonstrators. I wouldn’t have stuck around for 9 years otherwise and I’m so glad that I decided to take the plunge!

Like most demonstrators I found something that I loved doing and couldn’t resist the discount. Fellow crafters you know how easy it is to spend ALOT on our supplies, so 20-25% off is hard to pass up! Especially when it’s great quality products. Over the years I’ve been sharing my love of crafting and Stampin’ Up!. First with classes for friends and family. Then on social media and here. And lately I’ve been wanting to share this great opportunity more and more.

After the discount, the best thing about being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator are the people you get to meet. I refer to my team as my Stampin’ family and that’s because whenever we get together it’s like no time has passed. And once this pandemic is past us I know that it’ll be just like I saw them last week. I’ve even had the chance to meet demonstrators from around the world and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to attend my 10th anniversary in person at OnStage next year. Here are some pics of me and my teams.

If after all this you still need a little something more to take the plunge, I have it for you. From now until the end of this month (Nov. 30th) you can get the awesome Starter kit for only $100! The Starter kit comes with catalogues, business supplies and $165 worth of Stampin’ Up! product of your choice. Usually the kit is $135 and even at that price it’s a great deal. But with the discount and the fact that you don’t have to pay taxes or shipping, there isn’t a better time to sign up then now.

Send me an email if you have any questions (inkspirationwithteresa@gmail.com). Or you can dive right in and join my team here! I’m happy to help in any way I can and I can’t wait to get to know you!

Take the plunge

Make Handmade Holidays Easy

November is here! And there are only 53 more days until Christmas! Have you started getting ready yet? I’m almost there. I’ve got a couple of birthdays first before I really start thinking about the upcoming holidays. In the meantime I’ve got a couple of ideas floating around in my head. I make a lot of cards for the holidays and so I tend to keep my designs for these cards fairly simple. Making beautiful cards doesn’t have to be hard or involve all kinds of layers. I’d love to help you make handmade holidays easy!

Just a few weeks ago I launched my 12 Weeks of Christmas newsletters for 2021. Not sure what that is… Each week I send out an exclusive holiday themed PDF tutuorial, complete with a list of supplies and step by step instructions. You won’t find these projects anywhere else! Right now I’m sharing card ideas. I always like to start with these so you have lots of time to make your cards and get them in the mail, especially given current shipping/mailing delays. Coming up soon will be tags, gift bags and favours.

This is ONLY for my email newsletter subscribers. But there’s still lots of time to sign up. So if you, or someone you know, would like to make handmade holidays easy make sure to sign up for my mailing list. You can do that here. And then once you’ve got your inkspiration and are ready to go you can head over to my online shop.

Contact Me

Special Birthday Card

October has a few birthdays for us. This is a special birthday card that I made for my mom. I always like to make something a little different for her. Lately I’ve been making fancy fold cards for her. Check out the card I made for her for Mother’s Day here. I got the idea for this fun fold from Patty Bennett. She’s a successful demonstrator from the United States and recently got a chance to do some crafting with Shelli and Sara Douglas.

For the cut out in my card I decided to do something different… I thought it would be fun to use the Cloche dies and make a shaker card. I love shaker cards! They’re so much fun and so easy to make. Since this is a birthday card I went with the cupcakes for inside the cloche. I’m just loving the Sweet Treats stamp set. The images are so cute and it covers more than one holiday.

In terms of the colour combination I wanted to keep it nice and bright. So I chose from the newest In Colours; Pale Papaya and Fresh Fressia. I also used the In Colour Designer Series Paper. Usually I wouldn’t have thought of putting these colours together, but they actually work nicely with each other. For ink I used Pale Papaya and Fresh Fressia of course, but I also added some Crumb Cake. That way the colours would really pop on the cupcakes.

For each panel I switched it up just a little bit. And then I used the Stitched So Sweetly dies for the Basic White pieces on the inside and outside of the card. Inside the cloche shaker dome I added a bunch of the Subtle Shimmer Sequins. These sequins are so pretty and you know that I love to add bling to just about all my cards!

I hope you like how this special birthday card turned out as much as I did!

And here’s the link to Patty’s video if you’d like to try to make one yourself.

Fall Themed Sampler

I’ve been thinking about making a Fall themed sampler for a while now. (If you’re not sure what that is, it’s similar in size to a scrapbook page and is meant as a home decor piece) I already had a couple of ideas of what I wanted to do, but just hadn’t had the chance to get to it. So when I saw this week’s Tic Tac Toe challenge from the Paper Craft Crew (PCC448) I was inkspired to get it done. For my row I went diagonal and chose Metallic, Patterned Paper and Die Cuts. Here are all the options…

Tic Tac Toe Challenge

I started my design with my patterned paper. I used one of the designs from the Beauty of the Earth Designer Series Paper pack as my base. Then I added a little bit of the wood grain design in the centre. For the die cuts I used the Detailed Pumpkins dies. I knew that one of the stamp sets I was going to use was the Pretty Pumpkins stamp set. So it made total sense to use those. Then for the metallic square I used some of the Brushed Metallic cardstock. I also added a couple of the Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots.

I love all the colours of fall! So it was nice to use a bunch of different colours for this piece. I used a combination of Cajun Craze, Bumblebee and Mossy Meadow from the DSP. And I also used some Crumb Cake and Pale Papaya. In terms of stamp sets I used a few different ones as well. Pretty Pumpkins of course, as well as Time of Giving and Beauty of Friendship.

I really like how this Fall themed sampler turned out! You can check out the other entries for this Tic Tac Toe challenge here. And you can check out one of my previous entries into the Paper Craft Crew Challenges here.

A Different Kind of Halloween Card

Halloween is next weekend, can you believe it?! Where has this year gone? For Halloween I’m usually more into making home decor pieces or treat packages. I don’t hand out very many Halloween cards. But I thought I’d try a different kind of Halloween card. Most Halloween projects are full of ghosts and jack-o-lanterns, but I just love these cute little pumpkins from the Giving Gifts dies.

For my colour combination I did stick with orange and black. But instead of Pumpkin Pie I used Pale Papaya. I really like how it looks! It’s not super intense or bright and not too light. Plus I love the way the Basic Black stands out.

I knew that I wanted to use the little pumpkins from the dies and of course I needed the “Boo” from the coordinating Time of Giving stamp set. But behind it all I just stamped the leaf cluster image. I didn’t want the bigger pumpkins from the Pretty Pumpkins stamp set in the background… although you could. I like that the leaves are smaller and still give that fall feel to the card.

Once I stamped the leaves I used some Multi-Purpose Liquid glue to stick on the pumpkin patches. And the centre one I just flipped around to have the pumpkins facing the other direction. You don’t even notice that you’re looking at the “wrong side” of the cardstock. From here I popped up the phrase with some Stampin’ Dimensionals and then added a bit of bling. Can’t forget that!

A Different Kind of Halloween Card

It’s such a cute card! And it’s definitely a different kind of Halloween card. I think I’m going to use this colour combination again next Halloween. And while I might make a couple of Halloween cards, I’m still sticking with my treats and decor.

You can check out another fall card I made recently the Pretty Pumpkins bundle here. And you get both bundles in my online shop.

Triangle Gatefold Card

Fancy Folds Design Team

This month the Fancy Folds Design Team is making a triangle gatefold card for our blog hop. I love gatefold cards and so I’m excited to share this one with you. Recently I made a gatefold card with a belly band. You can check that out here. I used the gorgeous Beauty of the Earth Designer Series Paper for that one and thought that it would be great for this card too. Especially since the card base for this card is the DSP.

When I was choosing a sheet of DSP I had to make sure that I liked both sides. This can be a bit tricky sometimes, but with this pack of DSP it wasn’t. So once I figured that out I could pull out my cardstock and ink colours. For this card I just used Misty Moonlight.

For the images and phrase I used the Time of Giving stamp set. This is a new one for me and I love how this one set covers a few different holidays. In the end I decided to go with a Christmas card. I just love the snowflake and swirl image! It makes a really nice background for the phrase which also comes from this stamp set.

Triangle Gatefold Card

Once I had my DSP all folded I added my framed snowflakes and swirls with a few Stampin’ Dimensionals. You definitely want to make sure you only put them on one side of the cardstock. And since I’d popped that up I just used Stampin’ SEAL (tape runner) to add the phrase. But before I did that I cut out the phrase using one of the smaller Stitched Rectangles dies. Then of course, last but not least, I added some bling. And for this card that ended up being some Rhinestone Basic Jewels.

Triangle Gatefold Card

The triangle gatefold card was super easy to make and it looks great! Make sure to keep going on this month’s blog hop and check out Aude Barbara’s card here.

And if you’d like to try this out for yourself you can check out LeeAnn Greff’s video!

#SimpleStamping for Christmas

Now that Thanksgiving is done I can start planning for the upcoming holidays! Not to mention all the birthdays in between. This time of year is pretty busy for me. So I’m loving this month’s #SimpleStamping for Christmas challenge from Stampin’ Up! because it’s a great way to spark some inkspiration. I’ve got a lot of holiday cards to make and so I like to keep my designs fairly simple. For this month’s challenge we’ve been asked to create a Christmas or New Year’s card using just stamps, ink and paper. Plus this month we can add an embellishment.

I was so excited when I found out that the Poinsettia Petals stamp set and dies were being carried over into the Annual Catalogue. This is one of my go-to stamp sets for the holidays. And so when I saw this challenge I immediately thought of using this stamp set. There’s a lot of images in this set that work so well together. And I love the phrases! Then since I was using the poinsettia as my main image I went with a traditional colour combination; red and green. For the red I used Real Red, not just because it’s a good colour for the poinsettia but because I had a couple of embellishment options that would work really well. As for the green, I went dark and used Evening Evergreen. There’s also a little splash of Crumb Cake.

#SimpleStamping for Christmas

Most of the images I stamped with full strength ink. But to fill in the leaves I wanted to be able to still see the lines, so I stamped off on a scrap piece of paper first and then on to the cardstock. I love the effect it gives when I do this!

For my embellishment I added some of the Real Red Sheer ribbon that is back in the July-December Mini catalogue. I just wrapped a bit around the cardstock and then added a bow on top with a Mini Glue Dot. Then I popped up the phrase using some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

#SimpleStamping for Christmas

To step this up a level or two, you can use the Stitched Rectangles dies to cut out the phrase. The Stitched So Sweetly dies are a new favourite of mine that would also look really nice. You can also add some Wink of Stella to the images. I love adding bling to my cards and this is a great way to do it.

I hope you like my #SimpleStamping for Christmas card! You can check out one of my past #SimpleStamping challenge cards here. And you can stock up for your holiday card making in my online shop. Now to get to planning out my holiday cards!

Pretty Pumpkins

It’s the Thanksgiving long weekend for me and my fellow Canadians this weekend! I can’t wait to have some time off and spend some time with my family. I’m also looking forward to some crafting time. In the meantime I thought I’d share a card fitting for the holiday using the Pretty Pumpkins bundle. This is such a great set for this time of year! And I love the images and phrases.

The idea for this card was sparked by another card created by a fellow demonstrator. I loved the idea of creating a frame on a card. When I thought of creating my frame I thought of one of the black and white patterns from the Pattern Party Designer Series Paper. This one is full of leaves and I don’t know about you but I love the fall colours. So on the DSP I used the Blending Brushes to add Cajun Craze and Bumblebee. To create the frame I used one of the larger Stitched So Sweetly dies. (I’ll be using the cut out piece for another project for sure.) Then I popped up the frame using some Stampin’ Dimensionals.

The phrase came from the Pretty Pumpkins stamp set. And then I used the coordinating dies, Detailed Pumpkins, to add a few pieces of the Brushed Metallic cardstock. I love the detail on this pumpkin, don’t you?!

Pretty Pumpkins

I can’t wait for the fall colours! In the meantime I guess I’ll have to make due with my crafting. You can pick up the Pretty Pumpkins bundle in my online store. And if you’d like to check out some other fall/nature themed cards I shared some here earlier this week.

For more ideas using this great stamp set check out my YouTube channel. This month I’m featuring this stamp set in my Stamp & Jammies online card class.

Christmas Cards using Evening Evergreen

I’m back to share some more cards from a recent team card swap featuring products from the July-December Mini catalogue. With October here and Thanksgiving this coming weekend it’s hard not to think about the holidays that come after. So this time I’m sharing some Christmas cards using Evening Evergreen. Evening Evergreen is one of Stampin’ Up!s newest In Colours. It’s a very dark green and I have to admit, I’m still not sure about it. I think that’s because I don’t know how much I would use it other than for Christmas cards.

With this first card Evening Evergreen isn’t the main colour, but it does add a nice touch. This one was made by our large team leader Jenn Tinline. She used the Christmas Season bundle (stamp set and coordinating dies). I love how the images circle around the phrase in the centre. And I love how all the colour coordinates with each other. The Evening Evergreen ribbon is a nice touch. And so is the Wink of Stella Glitterbrush, although it’s hard to see in the picture.

Christmas Cards using Evening Evergreen

Evening Evergreen is definitely a featured colour in this next card which was made by Diane Kent. She used the Happy Holly-Days bundle (stamp set and coordinating punch). Diane also used the Tidings of Christmas Designer Series Paper from the Annual catalogue. I really like the strip of DSP and the Gold Shimmer Ribbon! And I love that the holly border along the bottom was made using a punch. Punches are a great way to step up your cards without having to invest in a new machine.

Christmas Cards using Evening Evergreen

I love these Christmas cards using Evening Evergreen! I think I’m going to have to make some of my own!

There are still more swap cards that I’ll share over the next few weeks so stay tuned. And in the meantime you can check out the first swap cards I shared here. You can also check out all the great products from the July-December Mini catalogue in my online shop.