November Calendar Workshop

Friday, November 13, 2009 - FULL
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Cost: $20.00

Here is the November Calendar Page. It is a simpler layout, but still a bit time consuming. We are using Pebbles Inc. Lil' Buddy Collection Bots Two Sided Patterned Paper and Bubba Two Sided Patterned Paper. The time consuming part is the 108 or so Stamping Bella Diamond Ice Baubles that you will be adhering to the layout.

I tried making it easier for you by ordering in Basic Grey's Designer Bling Snowflakes, but they were a one time deal for production and none of my wholesalers have any in stock. So, the snowflake that we will be putting on our layout will be made by using the Bazzill Jewel Templates with the Bazzill Rhinestones.

I placed my Basic Grey snowflake on the layout to show you what the layout will look like complete. My photos aren't on my page yet because I am going to be putting Yap 'N' Scrap photos on my layout and maybe some Terri Clark concert photos.

The photos on the blog never do my cards or layouts any justice. If you want to get a better look at the layout, it is up in the store for you to see.

October Calendar Workshop

Friday, October 23, 2009
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Cost: $20.00

Here is the October Calendar Page. We are using fabric squares mixed in with paper squares and "real" sewing mixed in with "fake" sewing. The paper line we are using is We R Memory Keepers Precious Metal. The muted fall colours in the patterned papers gives me a warm, cozy feeling of an old blanket; which around here most of us are pulling out this time of year. We are also using some small black buttons, Stamping Bella Black Dots and Close to My Heart Stamp Sets to add the perfect words to enhance your photo array.

The words that I chose were "Celebrate" and "Grow Together". These words were perfect for my layout because the photos are of my brother and I celebrating our birthdays last weekend during our Thanksgiving Supper. My brother and I are a day a part and our birthdays land on or close to Thanksgiving Day. So, we normally always join our birthdays and Thanksgiving celebration together.

Tattered Angel's Make 'N' Take

DAT'S Scrapbooking's
6th Birthday Celebration Make 'N' Take

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Cost: $3.00
No Registration - First Come, First Serve Basis

Here is a quick make 'n' take that I have come up with to show you a simple way to use Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. The red paper on the card is not patterned paper. It is a red cardstock that I have glimmer misted with a stencil.

With this quick little make 'n' take, you will not only learn one way of using the glimmer mist, but you will also get a Christmas Card made to give to a loved one.

Donna's First Sketch Challenge

This is my first Stamping Bella Sketch Challenge that I have taken on; actually it is the first of any kind of sketch challenge that I have ever done. I love to give myself challenges, but I have never taken on a design challenge like this before.

I always check out Stamping Bella's Blog to see how everyone interprets the Sketch Challenge that she puts out every week. I have been wanting to participate in one ever since I started following her blog, but I have never made the time to do so until now.

Two years ago during the Thanksgiving weekend at my brother's house, our grandfather had taught us how to pick stump mushrooms. These mushrooms are edible and we had a blast hiking through my brother's property picking bags full of them. Last Thanksgiving, our aunt joined us on the mushroom hike. We didn't find the mushrooms like we had the previous year, but we did find some prickly hitch hikers that we had to pluck from our clothes in very sensitive areas.

As soon as I saw the new Earth Love Cosmo Cricket paper with the mushrooms all over it, I knew I had to use it to make my aunt's birthday card. I then decided to have some fun and take on the Stamping Bella Sketch Challenge. I have had this turtle stamp from Stamping Bella since April and I am so glad that I finally got to play with it.

I used both sides of the Cosmo Cricket Earth Love - Reuse Two-Sided Patterned Paper, Worldwin Dark Spring Green, Deep Chocolate Malt & Deep Totally Tan Cardstock, Marvy Extra Giga Scalloped Oval Punch, Stampin' Up Scalloped Border Punch, Fiskars Hand Held 1/8 inch Punch, Die Cuts with a View Green Brads and ribbon from the Christmas clearance section at Shopper's Drug Mart last January for 75% off.

The Copic Sketch Markers that I used were: The Turtle ~ G94 & YG95; The Flowers ~ E34, R08 & YR23.

I really enjoyed doing the challenge and I will definitely be trying to fit more challenges into my schedule in the near future. I loved how all the colours came together and that I finally got to use the ribbon I had bought on an actual project like I had intended it for and not just for decorating my brown paper wrapped gifts.

Happy Birthday from Edward

Well, I finally made time to play with my Edward stamp from The Greeting Farm. I received this stamp in the mail on Thursday, August 13th and my best-friend, Shanna, used it that weekend to make a birthday card & some bookmarks. I did receive one of her beautiful bookmarks, but I was still a bit envious that she got to play with the stamp while I had to prep for my upcoming workshops.

Anyways, it was my cousin's birthday last week and she is in love with Edward. I still have more workshops to prep for, a charity stamping party to get ready for and a store to run, but I really wanted to make her an Edward card. All of my young cousins, nieces & nephews appreciate my homemade cards. So, I love putting a little more thought into their cards and personalizing them to fit their interests.

Two of my cousins come to my house with my daughter after school when their dad is working out of town. This was the first day that I have had them since the new school year started. Both of their birthdays were within the last month and I hadn't seen them until today. So, I had until 3 p.m. today to get this Edward card done.

I began colouring my Edward image and then another and another and by the time I got to number six, it was pushing 1 p.m. They all looked good, I was just having fun playing with the highlights in his hair with my Copics. I really haven't played with my Copics and I got caught up in it. So, I got myself back on track and I was able to finish the card by 2:00 p.m.

I used both sides of the Little Yellow Bicycle Purple/Black Harlequin Two-Sided Patterned Paper, Bazzill Black Cardstock, BoBunny Heather Double Dot Patterned Paper, EK Success Postage Border Punch & Medium Photo Corner Punch, Kaiser Craft Black Rhinestones and a Hero Arts Sentiment Stamp.

The Copic Sketch Markers that I used were: Hair ~ E29, E39 & E99; Face ~ V0000; Clothes ~ 100 (Black), N0, N4 & V95

In the end, I used the first Edward image that I coloured. I am pretty proud of how the hair turned out since it was my first time colouring hair with more than one colour. My cousin loved the card.

DAT'S Spring Yap 'N' Scrap Thank You Card

This is the Thank You Card that I designed for all my fantastic friends, family & local business owners who donated or assisted us with our DAT'S Spring Yap 'N' Scrap 17 Hour Crop. Part of the proceeds from our event went to the Thunder Bay Therapeutic Riding Association. So, I used blue as the main colour for the card because that is the charity's colour and I stamped a horseshoe and a heart to represent a bit of what the charity is about (people with big hearts helping physically and mentally challenged children and adults find freedom on horseback).

I used Bazzill Scalloped paper for the base of the card and BoBunny Double Dot & a Two-Sided Patterned Paper from their old calendar line. BoBunny ribbon and CTMH stamps. Punched out some circles and flowers, stipple brushed some white paper for the inside of the card and there you have a fun, colourful Thank You Card. In the empty space on the inside, I hand wrote the Thank You note.

I actually made too many Thank You Cards and instead of gluing the thank you circle on the card, I made Happy Birthday ones to give to a couple of my Aunts for their birthdays.

September Calendar Workshop

Friday, September 11, 2009 - FULL
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Cost: $20.00

I used My Mind's Eye Garden Party Lush Blooms Clear Skies, Flower Stand & Happy Days Patterned Paper with Bazzill Apricot & Painted Desert Cardstock for matting & my journal box. The journal box stamp came from CTMH's Frame of Mind stamp set and was stamped with Stampin' Up's Tangerine Tango Ink Pad & journaled with Stampin' Up's Ruby Red Marker. To enhance my journal box, I punched out the photo corners using one of EK Success' newer medium photo corner punches. I used Making Memories Jumbo Silver Brads & Large Circle Metal Tag Rims to frame my photos of my daughter's back to school supplies. The decorative stiched swirls beside my 4 x 6 mat was pierced out using one of the Bazzill's Stitchz Formal Flourishes templates and stitched in with embroidery floss from my stash.

My page will be finished off on September 1st with photos of my daughter on her first day of school. On the top right photo in the bottom right corner, I plan on embellishing the photo with two 5mm Stamping Bella Hyacinth Bonbons.

August Calendar Workshop

Friday, August 28, 2009 - FULL
Time: 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Cost: $20.00

I used Scenic Route's North Shore Stoked Stripe & In The Tube Two-Sided Patterned Papers as well as My Mind's Eye Just Dreamy 2 Brilliant "All Star" Starburst/Green Deco Two-Sided Patterned Paper. I matted with Worldwin's Dark Terra-Cotta & Light Terrific Teal and threw in a scalloped rectangle piece of Light Heritage White Cardstock. For embellishments, I used Stamping Bella Glitter Sky & Glitter Pumpkin Donuts & Dots, Stampin' Up Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon & a Scrapbook Sally Large White Brad.

Throw it all together and you get a bright, cheerful summer page. Perfect for photos of my husband, Trevor, body surfing at our hotel on our mini summer vacation to Minneapolis.

World Card Making Day Workshop

The Snowman Card

For this card we will be paper piecing, drawing in stitches with a white pen and accenting with ribbon & Stamping Bella Bonbons.

The Snow Girl Card

For this card we will be random stamping on patterned paper, colouring with water colour pencil crayons, creating our own background paper with a CTMH foam tool and the Stampin' Up Colour Spritzer Tool. We will also be adding bling by using Stamping Bella Glitter Dots, rhinestones, Stickles & an ultra fine glitter dust.

The Penguin Card

For this card we will be paper piecing, adding dimension with liquid applique and having fun with the back fold that I like to do on a lot of my cards.

Saturday, October 03, 2009 - FULL
11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Cost: $60.00 + tax
Registration Begins: Tues., Aug. 18 at noon

Workshop Includes:
Stampendous Snowy Short Stacks Clear Stamp Set
(photo of the stamp set was posted last week)
1 Bottle of Diamond Stickles
1 Signo White Gel Pen
All the supplies to make 9 Christmas Cards.
(3 cards of each of the 3 designs above)

Supplies to Bring:
Straight Cutter with Scoring Blade
Small Nosed Scissors
Tweezers
Acrylic Blocks: 1 x 1.5, 2 x 2 and 2.5 x 2.5
Adhesive: Glue dots, glue lines, glue pen and your
regular paper to paper adhesive.

The acrylic blocks don't have to be those exact sizes. That is what I used to make the above cards. You need 3 different blocks that are around that size grouping. If you don't have any acrylic blocks and you want to take the workshop, please let me know and we will work something out. The acrylic blocks aren't a deal breaker, but you must have all the other supplies in order to take this workshop.

Donna's November Card Workshop

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - FULL
Time: 7:00 p.m. Cost: $7.00

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - FULL
Time: 7:00 p.m. Cost: $7.00

Here I have designed a fun Christmas Card using BoBunny paper, Kimberly Poloson paper (neither paper belong to a Christmas line), Stamping Bella stamp, Stamping Bella glitter dots, Vintage Christmas flower soft, Copic Markers, rhinestones, Bazzill Stitchz template & floss.

Registration for this Card Workshop and the other workshops being offered at DAT'S begins Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. Payment for the workshops must be in cash, workshop fees are due upon registration and are non-refundable.

Donna's October Card Workshop

World Card Making Day
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Time: 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Cost: Unknown

The above Stampendous Clear Stamp Set is what each participant from my workshop will go home with, other than that I haven't quite figured out all the specifics of this workshop as of yet.

Since there is no price or concept for this workshop, registration for this workshop will begin Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. I will have samples and all the specifics up on my blog by that date.

Donna's September Card Workshop

Tuesday, September 08, 2009 - FULL
Time: 7:00 p.m. Cost: $7.00

Wednesday, September 09, 2009 - 2 Spots Available
Time: 7:00 p.m. Cost: $7.00

I have decided to change up my workshop schedule at DAT'S and I will no longer offer Open Workshops and in its place I will be offering a Card Workshop. I am trying to offer something different from what is already being offered in the store by my wonderful and very talented friends Ellena & Krista. So, my card workshop will normally be one card and there will not be a specific technique being taught. I am just going to design a card that I think will be fun to teach.

The above card is using Cosmo Cricket paper, one of the new Lulu stamps (Emma) from Stamping Bella, Stamping Bella Dots, punches, ribbon, brads, white flowers and a red re-inker to make the white flowers red. This card is great for any occasion.

Registration for this Card Workshop and the other workshops being offered at DAT'S begins Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. Payment for the workshops must be in cash, workshop fees are due upon registration and are non-refundable.

Mother's Day Card 2009

This was the Mother's Day Card that I made for my mom this year. I do own other types of stamps besides Bellas, but the Bella stamps are new to my store and I have been trying to make as many samples with them as possible to help inspire my customers. Since I don't have a lot of time to separate samples for the store from cards that I need to make for friends and family; I tend to make my cards based on what I want to showcase in the store. Also, they are fun to colour with my Copics; which are still new to me (I started playing with Copics back in March).

My mom loves butterflies, so this was the perfect Bella Stamp to use for her card. The saying on the card came from a stamp that I saw in California two years ago. I talked myself out of the stamp and then kicked myself for doing so because I couldn't exactly remember how the wording went. Last year while in Duluth, I saw a sign with the correct wording on it and I jotted it down in my notepad that I always carry in my purse.

The paper is Basic Grey - Sugared, the ribbon is an old line from Karen Foster, Prima Flowers and I am not sure what company the brads came from. The butterfly on the inside of the card is from Close to My Heart - Butterfly Wings Stamp Set. The cardstock I used on my card is Worldwin.

It has been tough getting photos done for this blog. The lighting in my house is terrible, it has been raining or over cast every day and when I finally did get to take some photos, the sun was positioned wrong for where I was. Then there are the dogs. I have a pug, but my parents live in my basement apartment with their three dogs. The grass was still a bit damp, so I wanted to get my photos done as quick as possible.

Well, that was easier said than done. BJ, my parents' Samoyed was constantly throwing a toy at me to play with him. Razor, my parents' Papillon kept trying to get into the shot. Sparkle, my pug was also trying to get into the shot. She finally got out of my direct shot, but then lied down right beside my card and I would move and she would inch closer. So I finally took a photo of her with the card as you can see above. I was able to get one shot off before a child went by our yard on the other side fence and she had to become the guard dog and bark at him. The other Papillon that lives here, Aurora, hates getting her photos taken. So she is normally no where near me when I have my camera out. My photos definitely didn't look this dark on my camera. So, I will work on perfecting the colouring of my photos for future posts.

Mom & Dad's Anniversary Card

Here is an anniversary card that I made for my parents. I wanted to find a recent card that hasn't been on display in my store and this is one of those rare ones. I took a Hero Arts workshop at the Mall of America (MOA) Scrapfest last year that taught us this unique fold for cards. I loved the idea and came up with this style of card that I have used for my Christmas Cards, Valentine's Day Cards, Easter Cards & Birthday Cards for the past year. I have had a very hectic personal life this past year and instead of not making any cards for the occasions, I used the same style. Why continuously re-invent the wheel when you have something that works. This style of card is fun to do and is very easy to incorporate with just about any scrap of paper you have lying around. My goal lately is to try and use up what I already have, but that wasn't the case for this card. I used the back side of BoBunny's Powder Blue Double Dot paper and made my own "patterned" paper using the Intrinsic Backgrounds stamp from Close to My Heart, VersaMark and clear embossing powder. My parent's wedding colours were blue and white. My dad did wear a grey tuxedo; which made me happy because a black tuxedo on this card would have been too over powering.

The stamp is from Stamping Bella, the flowers are an old line of Prima, Kaiser Craft Pearls, Worldwin White Cardstock, Marvy Scalloped Punches & Circle Punch, Copic Markers for colouring and a Stampin' Up Marker for the drawn lines to match the ink that I used to stamp my words. The blue behind the bride & groom was punched out from the BoBunny paper and I paper pieced the bride & groom onto it. I know some of you will be shocked to see me use white cardstock for the card and leave it mostly white, but no other colours would work. So, I had no choice, but to work with the white and not fight it.

A Big Thank You to Shanna

I would like to thank my best-friend Shanna for coming over yesterday on her day off from work with having no children at home to help me get this blog off the ground. I just kind of threw this at her yesterday and she dropped her alone time plans and came out in the rain to give me a hand. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the BEST of the BEST.

The "Famous" Frog Card

Here is The "Famous" Frog Card. It is titled that because I have sold more of these Stamping Bella Ketto Frog stamps in my store than any other stamp since putting this card on my display shelf. My sister-in-law loves frogs and her birthday was coming up. So, I pulled out my scrap paper bin and found the perfect background paper. Then I called my girlfriend, Krista, and asked her if I could borrow her Copic Markers and the frog stamp. I had just come back from taking the Copic Instructor Training course in Toronto and my first shipment of Copics hadn't come in. I had only picked up a handful of them while visiting the Stamping Bella store and of course I didn't have a green one. As for borrowing the frog stamp, it was a new line in the store and I promised myself that I wouldn't touch the first shipment. I would give my customers first dibs on the stamps and I could wait until the next shipment came in. Of course, that promised back fired on me, but fortunately I have enough friends with the same addiction to stamps who are willing to share. This ended up being my first Copic Marker attempt and my first time playing with the new Ketto stamp line and I am very pleased with my end result. I apologize for the glare on my photos from my flash, it is an over cast day here and that was the best lighting that I could find in my house today.