Gift Cards Boring??? I say not!

Sometimes the best gift is either money or a gift card, but this seems so boring...nothing to unwrap. Well not any more!!

Using the Fuse It Tool and the 4x6 Pockets from We R Memory Keepers, you can create shake it surprises for those favourite people on your Christmas List.

 It all started with the Tim Holtz Crazy Bird Stamps, Dies and Accessories Stamp and Dies.  I colored these little bad boys/girls in, cut them out.

Then I pasted them on the top of the photo sleeves, stuffed them with either the Gift Card or Money and added sequins, other loose embellishments and fused them together. I then added an eyelet and string so they can be hung on the tree.

 Please support your LSS this holiday season!

Winter Wonderland

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...at least where I live! Drive 10mins away and it's spring again.

Each scene is lit up at night is gives me the feeling of days gone by.

We tried to use all nature products this year and was even able to include a few made by my dad.

Christmas Card Series: Card Six

This is the last blog post in this series featuring Carta Bella's Winter Wonderland Collection. (Card 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 in previous post)

I also used a variety of die cuts from thin wafer dies, added a lot of stitching and a variety of texture elements such as UTEE, hemp and cheese cloth.

I love the thickness of their paper and the colors are amazing. Hope these samples inspire you to create!

Card 6

Christmas Card Series: Card Five

The next Two blog posts will be featuring cards created using Carta Bella's Winter Wonderland Collection. (Card 1, 2, 3 & 4  in previous post)

I also used a variety of die cuts from thin wafer dies, added a lot of stitching and a variety of texture elements such as UTEE, hemp and cheese cloth.

I love the thickness of their paper and the colors are amazing. Hope these samples inspire you to create!

Card 5

Christmas Card Series: Card Four

The next three blog posts will be featuring cards created using Carta Bella's Winter Wonderland Collection. (Card 1, 2 & 3  in previous post)

I also used a variety of die cuts from thin wafer dies, added a lot of stitching and a variety of texture elements such as UTEE, hemp and cheese cloth.

I love the thickness of their paper and the colors are amazing. Hope these samples inspire you to create!

Card 4

Christmas Card Series: Card Three

The next Four blog posts will be featuring cards created using Carta Bella's Winter Wonderland Collection. (Card 1 & 2 in previous post)

I also used a variety of die cuts from thin wafer dies, added a lot of stitching and a variety of texture elements such as UTEE, hemp and cheese cloth.

I love the thickness of their paper and the colors are amazing. Hope these samples inspire you to create!

Card 3

Christmas Card Series: Card two

The next Five blog posts will be featuring cards created using Carta Bella's Winter Wonderland Collection. (Card 1 in previous post)

I also used a variety of die cuts from thin wafer dies, added a lot of stitching and a variety of texture elements such as UTEE, hemp and cheese cloth.

I love the thickness of their paper and the colors are amazing. Hope these samples inspire you to create!

Card 2

Christmas Card Series: Card One

The next six blog posts will be featuring cards created using Carta Bella's Winter Wonderland Collection.

I also used a variety of die cuts from thin wafer dies, added a lot of stitching and a variety of texture elements such as UTEE, hemp and cheese cloth.

I love the thickness of their paper and the colors are amazing. Hope these samples inspire you to create!

Card 1

Heartfelt Creations Weekend

Well what a weekend with My Stamping Studio and Karan Gerber!!

As always I like to give my view point on any weekend long papercrafting activities I participate in so those who maybe looking at doing something similar will have at least one opinion.

If I had to rate this weekend out of 10, I'd give it a 10++!

Why rate so high? you may ask:

• Expert instructor! Karan has a vast resume and she prepared 2 days of extensive classes


• The stamps and dies used are some of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen/used


• Many tips and tricks included in the weekend


• All 4 classes were very high quality, interactive and challenging


• Well worth the money spent


• Generous door prizes from both Heartfelt Creations and Creative Embellishments


• Very comfortable accommodations with nearby amenities

I highly recommend classes by Karan and weekend events hosted by My Stamping Studio

Now the beautiful creations:

Two double page lay-outs. Even though Karan had everything pre-cut each class took 4 hours to complete so you know how detailed they were.

Sunflower Layout: This is a mixed media project

Christmas Lay-out: This project has 2 mini albums included right on the pages and each one hold 8-10 photo's!

These two projects will find a home in frames and will be displayed as décor as they are just too stunning to keep in an album.

Then there were two card classes. Again, nothing short of gorgeous! Must be very selective to chose the receivers of these :)

Christmas Card Class:

Everyday Cards Class:

AND a Bonus Make & Take, Envelope made with a 12x12 paper:

Home Free

How delighted I was to go VIP to a Home Free Concert with my best friend, Christa. As a VIP we received pre-show Q&A period, a song not being performed during the show, a CD and opportunity for photo's and signatures.

This amazing, 5 man Country Acappella band were beyond anything I've ever experienced in music. The pureness of sound that flowed through their vocal cords and escaped their lips was nothing short then magical. I strongly encourage you to see this band should ever the opportunity arise.

This is another one of those events that I had many photo's to use and was able to get away with one double page layout by using the fuse tool and creating waterfall photo's.

Paper used: Simple Stories Pumpkin Spice line, rub ons, Distress spray, Dies

Nature's Beauty

My husband has tried for several years in a row to grow giant sunflowers, without success. The critters always got to the seedlings before they could develop and grow.

However this year we noticed an odd growth in between our rose bushes and fought the urge to pull it early in the season. How happy we were to see it grow into a beautiful 8 headed sunflower {this photo shows six heads with two more to bloom after photo's were taken}.

Not sure how it got there but we learned from natures brilliance and realized perhaps this was the best place to grow sunflowers. The prickly branches of the roses makes them a difficult target for critter food.

Used Bo Bunny's beautiful, and most suitable paper, Enchanted Harvest along with embellishments; Distress Sprays, UTEE, White Enamel Dots, Maya Road envelope.

Shania Twain PEI, 2014

Not sure about you but I find doing one double page lay-out per event is plenty. However if you have lots of great photo's the only way to capture them all is by doing more then that which can get boring....not any more!!!

The We R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool is the BEST invention ever! This tool allows you to create pockets on your page so that you can layer photo's and flip through them while the page is in the page protector, a water fall effect. There are lots of things you can do with this nifty tool!

Check out this video on this wonderful tool to see what I mean.

On these one double page lay-out I was able to scrapbook a total of 16 photo's by using the water fall technique!!

I'll be using this a lot more!

Paper used: Fancy Pants, As you Wish Collection and embellishments