Watercolor Pencils Class!

I had a Watercolor Pencils Technique Class on Tuesday evening - and I wanted to show you one of the cards we made that day! I wanted to show at the class how the pencils can be used with a variety of papers and coloring mediums. This one *might* be my favorite :)

It would be SO easy to make a whack of these. You could change up the colors super easily, too. To make this card, I used watercolor paper and colored 4 sections with 4 different watercolor pencils, making the sections overlap into one another (Delightful Daffodil went into Pumpkin Pie which went into Calypso Coral which overlapped into Melon Mambo). Then, I used my Clear Wink of Stella pen to blend the colors - just like you would with an Aqua Painter or Blender Pen. Now tell me that's not awesome!! No, don' tell me. Because it is. And another thing - the only color on this card comes from the watercolor pencils. So it would be soooo easy to change up this card by using a different stamp set or set of colors. It's like a blank canvas! You could do anything with it!!

I set it aside for a few minutes and then assembled it when it was dry. When I went back to make some other color combinations, I wasn't so patient and I dried them with my heat tool. That works too. I stamped the sentiment from the Big on Birthdays stamp set (p. 6 in the Occasions Catalog). Don't you just love large sentiments on a watercolored background?! I sure do! And there ya go! A super easy, super beautiful card, done!

Thanks for stopping by; happy stamping!

Jenilee

Product Spotlight Blog Hop: Balloon Adventures!!

Hi friends!

This week, I'm participating in the Product Spotlight Blog Hop with a few of my friends from down South in the USA. They asked me to play and I said yes because, hello?! I love to stamp. So you may have come from my friend Helen's blog. If not, go back and check out what she made. So cute!!

So this month we're featuring the Balloon Adventures Stamp set and coordinating Balloon Pop-Up Thinlits Dies (found on p. 5 of the Occasions mini catalog - don't have one? email me your address and I'll send you one!). I wanted to play with the Party Animal Designer Series Paper so I tossed that in the mix too. So I took a sheet of cardstock, and, rather than making the inside of the card pop out like the die's designed to do, I made it into a card front. Now, you can take some of those dies and cut out some balloon layers but I decided to go easy-peasy on this baby and stamp them instead. The stamps are photopolymer, so they're see-through and easy to place. I love our photopolymer stamps! They're not at all squooshy like acrylic ones. They're the nicest clear stamps I've ever used. And no, I'm not just saying that because I sell them. ha! Curious what I used to make this card? Check out the list below! And clicking on any of those images will take you to my store where you can buy them and have them delivered to your very own doorstep!

SO. Here's your Sale-a-Bration bundle for the day (remember - these are Canadian prices! Here it's spend $60, get a free Sale-a-bration item!):
144708    $68.25    Balloon Adventures Bundle (stamp set and framelits)
143833    FREE     Gold and White Striped Card Tin (to keep all your birthday cards organized!)

Thanks for stopping by! Now go check out Amanda's blog!

Jenilee

Dragonflies Dream of Looking This Good

hey friends! So whaddaya think? Like my card for today? I designed this card for my friend Leanna's workshop. I hadn't played much with this set yet and I was excited to dig into it. And I LOVE the result. This is another one of those bundles where the stamps pretty much just tell you what to make with them; there's not a whole lot of creativity necessary to make awesome-looking cards!!

AND the bonus - when you purchase the Dragonfly Dreams bundle that includes the stamps and framelits, you can also get the Inside the Lines Designer Paper for free. (yay, sale-a-bration!) I'm including the product numbers for you here:

144728    $60.25    Dragonfly Dreams Bundle
143830    FREE     Inside the Lines Designer Series Paper

Happy Stamping!

Jenilee

Mexican Sunrise is where I want to spend MY birthday!!

*sigh*

It's winter in BC. I miss Mexico.

It's not my birthday, but if it was, a trip to Mexico is what I'd want. I absolutely ADORE this sunrise background. I did it using our Stampin' Sponges and Classic Stampin' Ink Pads in Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, and Melon Mambo. What do you think?

HEY - I have another Sale-a-bration bundle for you today. Purchase the Birthday Fiesta bundle with the Fiesta Time Framelits as well as the Festive Birthday Designer Series Paper, and choose a FREE Sale-a-bration item!

Jenilee

Cloudy Days Can Be Fun, too!

OK, when I got this bundle after Onstage Vancouver, I was SO excited. It's hands-down my absolute favorite thing in the Occasions Catalog. When I discovered that there was a coordinating Designer Paper that I could get FREE during Sale-a-bration, that only sweetened the deal.

 

This is a little taster of that hot-air-balloon set - Lift Me Up - that will be available come January. It is sure to be a hit!! And when you purchase the bundle with the wood stamp set and framelits, you qualify for the FREE coordinating designer series paper (if you get the clear-mount rubber set, you can add a roll of twine or something like that and then you'll qualify)! I'll be using it at my January workshops. I still have a few dates left so if you'd like to host a workshop and score some extra $$ to spend on Stampin' Up!, then shoot me a message! I'll get you on the books and we'll make some pretty stuff together!

Sheesh I love those clouds.

Jenilee

Celebrate Snow!!

It's crazy over here. In this part of the world, we don't get snow every year, and when it does come, it's usually only here for a little while. I'm talking sometimes less than a day. SO, this year is pretty fantastic if you ask my kids!

All of this snow has meant no school for my kids. Some of you may look at these pictures and think, "pshaw, that's nothing!" And you'd be right, in comparison. But our area is not well-equipped or practiced to deal with the snow, and so we mostly just try to stay off the roads when it looks like this. :) So far my kids have had two snow days and so I've been having fun with them! And not blogging. So here we go again. I sent them out to play and I'm taking a few quick minutes to blog!

I created this card for my December club classes - and I just absolutely LOVE this one. It's deceptively simple, and just looks great!

It's made using the Balloon Celebration stamp set. I realized that if you use the Balloon Bouquet punch on a square of paper, you can make a template that, when you arrange the photopolymer stamps on top of the template and press the block on top, will allow you to perfectly stamp and punch the balloons over. and over. and over. again! I love those tricks that make my stamping more efficient!!

The paper in the background is the Fancy Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper which is on clearance this month! Check out the clearance items here!

And my tip for attaching that Silver Metallic Thread? Place the end on the back of your balloon and press the dimensional on top. That way, you can pop up your balloons AND have your thread attached with only one step! boom!

Hope you're enjoying the weather outside as much as we are! AND PS, I hope the kids go back to school tomorrow. I love them dearly, but I gots stuff to do!

Jenilee

Masculine Monday: Fiesta Time!

I love that alpaca. Or llama. Or whatever it is. It's just so cute and happy!! It looks like it's all shaggy and ready to be shaved so that its hair can be made into a sweater. I love it!! Some of you know that I've taken up knitting this year, so this little guy is particularly cute to me. As is that embossing folder. I KNOW how much time it takes to make those cables now!! lol! 

This card may have a few different pieces, but they are easy to make and cut with the Birthday Fiesta stamp set and Fiesta Time Framelits. I like to lay them all out on my Big Shot and run them through on one pass :) The magnetic plate makes doing that easy!! A tip for this one though - with that Delightful Dijon banner - you will want to cut it first and then stamp it. The photopolymer stamps make it easy to see where you're stamping! And the Garden Green banner - it's flexible when you cut it so you can easily curve it to suit your needs! Awesome!

Enjoy, and have a wonderful day! I'm going to be working on cutting paper for club tomorrow and working on ideas for classes for the new year! What would you like to see on my calendar for the new year? Send me your ideas!

Jenilee

Here's what I used to make this card:

Fabulous Mexi-Friday!

Mexico is my happy place. If you've known me for any length of time, you probably know that. I was playing around with the Birthday Fiesta stamp set at our retreat earlier this month, and I came up with this card. I LOVE it. I love the cactus, I love the sunset, I love that little tiny heart. I just love it. It's Mexico in a card!!

 

That background is sponged using our Stampin' Sponges. I like to cut them into sixths, and then staple a tag on as a little handle in the color of cardstock I intend to use the sponge for. Now I have a sponge for every color, and they never get mixed up! Anyways, the trick to sponging like this is PRESSURE. You want to start with your lightest color and rub the color in with heavy pressure in a circular motion. I really can't emphasize that enough - I often get stampers in my classes who try to just dab the color on the paper. You're not dabbing - you're rubbing it in. You want that paper to become the color on your sponge. You don't need to be careful! Then add in your next lightest color, all the way to your darkest color. I used Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, and Melon Mambo here. And then I punched the circle out and layered it with the Basic Black circle.  

PS - Don't forget to check out the YearEnd Closeout Sale happening on the Clearance Rack! Here are just a few of the items in the sale:

Thanks for stopping in!

Where is your happy place?

Jenilee

One-set Wednesday

I thought it would be fun to do blog posts on Wednesdays featuring cards that use ONLY ONE stamp set. If you know me... you'll know that I like to mix & match (which is fine). BUT I want to show you cards that YOU can make super easily using just a single stamp set - since many of you may not have a huge collection. I want to make cards that you can reproduce without breaking the bank!

Hello! This has got to be one of my favorite cards this fall. AND *it's my birthday in a week.* So I love birthday cards this week :)

I had just ordered this stamp set, Better Together, and started using it. I love that the sentiment fits so nicely inside the stitched oval! And I love those roses. They are watercolored using the Melon Mambo & Old Olive ink pads and the Aquapainter. TIP - before opening the ink pad, squish the top & bottom together. You'll get ink on the inside of the lid and it's perfect for picking up with the Aquapainter! Just be careful not to squeeze too hard while coloring with the Aquapainter so you don't get any big globs of water on your flowers. You want to color them daintily.

Don't you love how those ovals fit so perfectly together?! The stitched one nestles in so nicely with the scalloped one. All of our Stitched Shapes framelits work that well together. It's awesome.

OK, hope you have an awesome day! Don't forget about this fabulous deal I have going on right now - order from me during the Online Extravaganza (which doesn't have to be an online order, by the way) and get a FREE roll of Black Metallic Thread. Just for ordering! Please use hostess code YZK3MEM2 if you're placing your order online!

https://www.stampinup.com/ecweb/default.aspx?demoid=2042416

Thanks, and have a great week!

Jenilee

Online Extravaganza! And Masculine Monday :)

 Ummm... so this is my favorite week of the year. NOT just because it's my birthday. OK, well, mostly. My birthday's actually NEXT Monday, but it often falls during Black Friday week, which always just feels so festive and exciting. Even for a Canadian!! haha!

Stampin' Up! always has their awesome sale this week, so I decided to add a little sumpin' of my own to the sweetness - a free roll of black metallic thread when you place an order with me between Nov. 21 & 28! I love that thread; it just adds that little bit of shine that just makes a project stand out!

OK, now for my today's project. I've decided that I'm going to be featuring cards that can be used for the male population on Mondays - hence, Masculine Mondays. These won't just be cards for men - they could be for all ages: babies, boys, teens, sons, brothers, husbands, dads, grandpas (or if you're in our family, Opas!). So without further ado, here's my Masculine Monday card for today!

I love this sweet little card - and I'll give you a couple of tips for insight into how I build my cards. First of all, for this card, I wanted to use the Foxy Friends stamp set and Fox builder punch - and that Foxy Friends designer series paper stack just matches perfectly! So I knew that I would be basing my card on the DSP which meant the colors were going to be Smoky Slate, Pool Party, Whisper White, and Calypso Coral. Great! That fox was super cute stamped in Calypso Coral! A note when using the fox builder punch - some of the images are stamped mirror image - so that means that you can either punch them first and then stamp them (which is super easy considering the stamps are photopolymer) or stamp the miscellaneous pieces which are aligned the right way for the punch, and then punch and assemble them. It just means that the fox's tail will be pointing the OTHER way if you choose to use the separate stamps (ie - stamping the tail only as opposed to the stamp with the entire fox).

Anyways. Isn't that bowtie just too cute?? I love it! Now all he needs are a pair of specs.

Another tip for this card - the designer paper pieces are cut into 2"x3" which means that you can get 6 from each sheet in the 6"x6" stack! With no waste! Love it!

Jenilee

Here's another card we made at our demonstrator meeting last week. I love getting together with these ladies! They are so fun! I designed this one to be one of our make & takes because I wanted to showcase some of the products from the upcoming Occasions mini. This card is a super-fast one - especially with some of the new tools from the new mini! 

The Hip Hip Hooray piece in Basic Black was cut using a die from the Pop-Up Party thinlits. It's super cute - but this is only one way that it can be used. Stay tuned for my next blog post that will show you another way. :) Those adorable little balloons are a punch, too - in a cute little pack of three. There's also a cupcake & candle. Perfect for those birthday cards! AND THAT TWINE! so sweet!

And my favorite part of this card has got to be the paper stack that the background paper is from. It's like 4 packs of designer paper in one. I love it! And I love that you get 4 sheets of each design. That way it is super easy to replicate your cards. I smell a stamp-a-stack!

Hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

Jenilee

Does this ever happen to you? You're trying to make a card, but none of the stamps you have say what you want to say?

Me too. That's when I break out the mix & match. I decide what I want to say, and then I use parts of a few different stamps to piece it together! It kinda reminds me of clipped letters from magazines. 

Can you spot the sneak peeks in this card? There are a couple!

The background is stamped using a stamp set from the Occasions mini which will go live in January. So's the birthday stamp. :)

Hope you like!

Jenilee

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